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THE 


1 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


A  REVIEW  OP  CURRENT  PROGRESS  IN  ELECTRICtTY 
AND  ITS  PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS 


VOLUME  LX 


JULY  6  TO  DECEMBER  28,   1912 


NEW    YORK 

ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


I 
V.  Go 


INDEX  TO  VOLUME  LX 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Entries  from  the  Digest  of  Current  Electrical  Literature  are  indicated  by  D  (Digest)  and  D  R  {Digest  Reference). 


Accidents,  ElectricaL      By   G.    S.   Ram,    (D.)    161 

Advertising   by   central    stations: 

Billboard    advertising,    San    Francisco,      456 

Boston    window-lighting    display,    719 

Co-operative  advertising,  1391 

Electric    vehicles,    *941 

Fashion    week,    Oklahoma    City,    '830 

Float     in     civic     celebration,     Elwood,     Ind., 

*720 

Galveston,   Tex.,    *879 

-Match-less    light,    1151  . 

Page    in    newspaper    once    a    month,    Twin 

Falls.    Idaho,    1099 

Sharing   the    community's   burden,    53 

Traveling    electric    show,    Albany     Southern 

R.    R.,    *509 

Window    display,    54 

County  fair  ideas,   *779 

"Live"    display,    Emporia,    Kan.,    1046 

Livingston,    Mont.,    *103 

Advertising,    Electric : 

Shoe  cleaner,  Motor-driven,  as  window  at- 
traction,  *li01 

Window    display    devices,    *829 

Agricultural   communities.   Electricity  in: 

Amount  of  energy  required  for  electro-cul- 
ture,   (D.)    674 

Benton  Harbor,  Mich.,  Supply  to  farm  cus- 
tomers over  one  wire  with  ground  re- 
turn,   *259 

Dayton,     Ohio,     Central-station     service     on 

farm   of   W.    Stroop.  *250 

Dayton,  Ohio,  Rural  service  near,  259 

Denmark,    Data    for    21    stations,    1207 

Discussion.      By  C.   H.    Miles,   935 

Discussion,   Ohio   Electric   Light   Association, 

237 

Farm     of     Dr.     Robert     Cassels,     Rochester, 

Mich,,    202 

Farm  exhibit  of   Boston  Edison    Co.,  *152 

Ground-return    distribution    systems,    291 

Pacific    Power    &    Light    Co.,    552 

-Practical    applications,    *69 

Report    to     Association     of    French     Central 

Stations.      By  P.   Lecler.    (D.   R.)    518 

Stockton,  Cal.,  Rural  service  to  700  farm- 
ers   near,    508 

Uses   of   electrical    energy    in   farming,    721 

Wurtemberg,     Germany.       By     H.     Buggeln, 

(D.)    1107 

Air   compressors.    Motor-driven ; 

—  — AUis-Chalmers    gearless,    *842 

Piatt  Iron  Works,  for  torpedo  service,  *1225 

Alarm  to  indicate  operation  of  remote  rectifier 
set,   St.   Louis,  *668 

Alloys: 

Electric   conductivity.      By    A.    E.    Whitford, 

(D.)    573 

Magnetic   properties,    (D.)    160 

Alpha   rays: 

Absorption    and    scattering.    Theory    of.      By 

C.  G.   Darwin,   (D.)    64 

Chemical  action  produced  by  alpha  particles. 

By  S.   C.   Lind,    (D.)    1057 

Rays  of  Polonium.      By   V.    E.   Pound,    (D.) 

733 

Alternating-current  phenomena,  Vector  represen- 
tation of.  By  A.  A.  Nims,  *660;  Com- 
ment, 638 
Alternating  current  systems.  Grounded  versus 
unearthed  neutrals.  By  J.  S.  Peck,  (D.) 
1328 
Alternators.      (See   Generators) 

Aluminum,    Kayser   and   Cowles   process.      By   A. 

H.   Cowles,   (D.)    788 
Aluminum   conductors.     (See   Wires  and   wiring) 
American   Electric    Railway   Association,    Conven- 
tion.  756,  814 
American    Electrochemical    Society,    437 
American  Institute  of  Chemical  Engineers,  Meet- 
ing,   1359 
American     Institute     of     Consulting     Engineers, 
1124 

American    Institute   of   Electrical   Engineers: 
Affairs,   809,    1026,    1296 

Convention,    1,    4.    13.    1078 

-Meetings,   84,   342,   437,   809,    1178 

— Nominations    for    officers,    1241 

Patent  commission   recommended  by,    1178 

American   Physical  Society,   1180 

American      Society      of      Mechanical      Engineers, 

Convention.    1178 
American  Telegraph  Typewriter  Co.,   1359 


By 


414 
Wedding, 

By   R.    E. 


American    Telephone    &    Telegraph    Co. ; 

Alleged   Sherman   Act   violation,    1084 

Pension   system,    1028;    Comment,    1023 

Ammeters: 

New    design.      By    Goldschmidt,    (D.)    788 

Sensibility  and  accuracy  of  alternating-cur- 
rent.     By    M.    G.    Newman,    31 

Ampere-hour   meters,   Langamo  distant-dial,   *166 

Anemometer  for  heating  plant,  Home-made,  *507 

Anthracite  coal  situation,    1128 

Appalachian  Power  Co.,  New  River,  Virginia, 
*1141;    Comment,    1119 

Appliance    sales.      (See    Central-station    business) 

Appraisal  of  intangible  values  in  public  utilities. 
By   W.   J.   Hagenah,   866 

Arc  between  carbon  electrodes,  Starting.  By 
A.    Occhialini,    (D.)    459 

Arc  circuits,  Test  lamps  for  all-day  supervi- 
sion,   *667 

Arc  lamps: 

Candle-power  distribution  curves,  Photo- 
graphic method  for  recording.  By  Ives 
and    Luckiesh,    *153;    Comment,    131 

Converting      inclosed-arc      into      flaming-arc, 

*624 

Cradle    clamp    for    hanging   lamps.    '1214 

Feeding    mechanism,    Steinhert    patent    (D.) 

949 

Flame: 

Carbon  patent.     By  Passavant,   (D.)   517 
German,    New,    (D.)    *n0 
Johnson    &    Phillips    long-burning.    *326 
Status   and    future    possibilities.      By    W. 

Hechler,    (D.    R.)    367 
Three-phase    lamp    development,    228 

High-candle-power      lamps,       Discussion      in 

Berlin,    (D.)    62 

Hughes    non-magnet-type,    *213 

Indirect   lighting,    Armorduct,    *327 

Moving-picture  arcs,    513,   948 

Radiant    efficiency    of    the    carbon    arc. 

W.  H.   Damon  and  W.  J.  Enders,  *502; 
H.    E.    Ives.   670 

Regulation  of  electrodes,   (D.  R.) 

Three-phase,    Schaeffer.       By    W. 

(D.)    61,   414 

Arc   projectors    for   electric   vehicles. 
Neale,    (Vt.    R.)    618 

Argentine    Republic,    Electrical    progress,    295 

Armature  teeth.  Calculating  reluctance  of.  By 
David   Robertson.    (D.)    367 

Association  of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies, 
Convention,   342.    540.    594 

Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engi- 
neers,  592,  697,   757,  826 

Association  of  Railwav  Electrical  Engineers, 
Convention.    858,    980 

Atomic  weights  of  metals.  Electrolytic  method 
of  determining.  By  H.  Pecheux,  (D.) 
271 

Atoms,    Recoil,    in    ionized    air.      By 
varik.    (D.)    1220 

Austria,     Electrical     industries.       By 
mann,   (D.)  63 

Auto-converter  for  balancing  three- wire  sys- 
tems,   (D.)    *ni 

Automobile  batteries,   876 

Automobile   business    of    central    stations: 

Boston  station's  use  of  Bailey  roadsters,  791 

Chicago's  activity,  692 

Chicago   discussion,    544 

Comparative  costs  of  horse  and  electric  de- 
livery,   721 

Co-operation    of    sellers    of    gas    and    electric 

vehicles,   1081 

Cost   of    operation   nf   trucks,    723 

Memphis,    Tenn.,    Charging   service,    721 

Automobile    lamp    chest,    842 

Automobiles,    Electric: 

Argo   roadster,   '843 

Autoconverter  for.     By  J.  N.  Jacobsen,  (D.) 

*12I9 

Raker    delivery   wagon,    •1115 

Charging    stations    in    Massachusetts,    910 

Chicago    parade,    622 

Church-Field,    with    two-speed     transmission, 

463 

Cost    of   operating   trucks,    723 

Delivery  wagon   for   grocer,   *881 

Discussions  at  convention  of  Electric  Ve- 
hicle   Association,    760 

Fleischmann   Yeast   Co.,   *735 

Gear.    Efficiency   test   of,   6 

— —Lighting.      By   A.    Berthier,    (D.)    414 

Masculine  car.     By  J.  Robertson,  786 

Performance    data,    720 

•Indicates  illustrated  articles 


A.    F.    Ko- 
E.    Honig- 


Automobiles,    Electric :    (Continued) 

Research     work    at     Massachusetts    Institute 

of    Technology,    1247 
Salem,    Mass.,    Roadster    for    central-station 

service,    *165 
Status  of,  in  Southeastern  states.     By  A.  N. 

Bentley,    389 
Trucks: 

Lansden,    •167 

Louisville,    Ky.,    "68 

Urban,  Kentucky  Wagon  Mfg.  Co.,  *37\ 

Waverley   runabout,   *735 

Woods: 

Brougham,    *736 

Old  and   new   cars,   *697 
Automobiles,     Gasoline-electric.       By     J.     Simey„ 

(D.)    270.    572 
British    patent,    (D.)    1219 


B 


Bacteria,    Destruction    of,    by    electrolysis,    255 
Balancer  sets,   Direct-current.     By  A.   C.  Lanier, 

(D.)    1106 
Balancing     three-wire      systems.      Auto-converter 

for.    (D.)    •Ill 
Ball   bearings,   Hess-Bright,    118 
Base-metal    thermocouples.      By    O.    L.    Kowalke, 

(D.)    789 
Baseball  games  and  the   use  of  electricity,  811 
Bath,    Electric: 

Accident   in,    (D.)    1222 

Collapsible,   *955 

"Bathtub    trust"   case.    Supreme    Court    decision^ 

1077,    1078,    1121,    1130 
Bells,    Electric,    Batteryless   doorbell,    *117 
Bergen,    Norway,    Development    of    water-power 

ot    Samnanger    watershed,    *1257;    Com- 
ment,   1241 
Beta    rays: 

Origin   of.      By    E.    Rutherford,    (D.)    888 

Reflection     of,    by    thin    metal    plates.       By 

W.    B.   Huff,    (D.)    951 
Big  Creek  developments,    California,    *480 
Blanket,    Electric-heated,    *1111 
Bleaching    liquor.      By    F.    Charles,    (D.)    1007 
Boiler-feed    pumps.    Centrifugal,    *928 
Boiler-level  gage.  Distant-reading,  Wichita,  Kan., 

1324 
Boilers: 

Baffling,   Novel,  *146 

— —Corrosion    of.      By    C.    E.    Stromeyer,    (D.) 

1106 

Oil-burning,    Bellingham.   Wash.,    *144 

Oil-burning,    Topeka    Edison    Co.,    *50 

Test    with   hand    and    stoker    firing,    Halifax, 

N.    S..   1092 
Bolt,  Toggle,  Chicago  Nut  Co.,  *374 
Book   reviews: 

— — American     Year     Book.       By     F.     G.     Wick- 
ware,    272 

Analytical  Mechanics.     By  E.  H.  Barton,  64 

Berechnung     von      Wechselstrom-Fernleitun- 

gen.     B>r  C.  Breitfield,  952 
Claims;     Fixing    Their     Value.       By     G.     F. 

Deiser  and  F.  W.  Johnson,    113 
Commercial     Engineering     for     Central     Sta- 
tions.      By     A.     Williams    and     E.     F. 

Tweedy,   1109 
— ■ — Concentration   and   Control.      By   C.   R.   Van 

Hise,    674 
Costruzioni    Elettromeccaniche.      By   E.    Mo- 

relli,  890 
Efficiency     as    a     Basis     for    Operation    and 

Wages.      By   H.    Emerson,    1222 

Electric   Circuit.      By   V.    Karapetoff,   952 

• Electric    Ignition.      By    F.    R.    Jones,    161 

Electrical    Blue   Book,    211 

Electricite    Domestique.      By   G.    Mis,    211 

Elektrischen     Einrichtungen     der     Eisenbah- 

nen.     By  R.   Bauer,    1386 
— — Elektrizitatszahler,     Der.        By     R.     Ziegen- 

berg,    1008 
Elektrotechnische  Messkunde.      By  P.   B.   A. 

Linker,    370 
Engineering  as  a  Vocation.      By  Ernest  Mc- 

Cullough,    952 
Freezing     Point,     Boiling     Point     and     Con- 
ductivity   Methods.       By    H.    J.    Jones, 

1222 
Growing    Crops    and    Plants    bv    Electricity. 

B}^  E.  C.   Dudgeon.   1057 

Hendricks  Commercial  Register,   573 

Human   Factor  in   Works   Management.      By 

Tames   Hartness,    890 


IV 


INDEX. 


H.    Col- 


By    Horstmann    and 

By  C.  E.  Allen,  370 
Gas    Association    Pro- 


Palmer, 

By    F. 


General 
Wright, 

Abraham 

By    A. 

Theiss 


Book  reviews:    (Continued) 

KonstrUKtion,    Bau    und    Betrieb    von    Funk- 

eiiinduktoren.      By    F".    &    M.    Harrwilz, 

417 
Kiankheiten     des  •  Stationaren     Elektrischen 

Bleiakkumulaiors.       By     F.     E.     Kretz- 

schmar,    113 

■ Law   of   the  Air.      By   H.   D.   Hazeltine,    161 

Lehrbuch    der    Pho"inietrie.      By    F.    Uppen- 

born  and   B.    \'onasch,   211 
— — Machine    Shop    Mechanics.      By    F. 

vin,    462 
Magnetism     and      Electricity.        By     E.      E. 

Brooks  and  A.  W.  Peyser,  1160 
Manual    for    Engineers.      By    C.    E.    Ferris, 

573 
Manual    of   the    Railway    Signal   Association, 

520 
Memoires  sur  I'Electricite  et  I'Optique.     By 

A.  Potier,   790 
Modern    Illumination. 

Tousley,    621 

Modern  Locomotive. 

National    Commercial 

ceedings,    520 

Ornamental  Street  Lighting.  324 

Practical    Mathematics.      By    C.    I. 

1330 
Primer    of    Scientific    Management. 

B.  Gilbreth,   841 
Prufungen    in    Elektrischen    Zentralen.      By 

Lehraan-Richter,    211 
Questions     and     Answers     in     the     National 

Electrical    Code.      By    T.    S.    McLough- 

lin,    1057 
Ratgeber    fur    die    Okonomische    Erzeugung 

utid    Verwertung    Elektrischer    Energie. 

By  A.   Prasch,   1330 
Rayons   Ultra- Violets   et   Leurs  Applications, 

841 
Small    Water    Supplies.      By    F.    N.    Taylor, 

1160 

Structural    Design.      By   H.    R.    Thayer,    734 

Suir    Applicazione   dei    Parafulmini    alle    Of- 

ficine   ed    Edifizi.      By   Pasquale    Viscidi, 

1160 
Tecnia  delle  Correnti  Alternate.     By  G.  Sar- 

tori,  1386 
Testing,     Fault     Localization     and 

Hints    for    Wiremen.       By    J. 

272 
Theorie    der    Elektrizitat.      By    M. 

and  A.  FoppI,   1008 
Theorie    des    Ions    et    I'Electrolyse. 

Hallard,   1109 
Toll    Telephone    Practice.      By   J.    I 

and  G.   A.  Joy,  417 
Torsionsindikator,  Der.     By  Paul  Nettmann, 

1109 
Traite    de    Metalloeraphie.      By    Feli.x    Robin, 

790 
Travaux     du     Laboratoire     Central     d  Elec- 

tricite.    1278 
L'bungsaufgaben   aus  der  Gleich   und   Wech- 

selstromtechnik.      By  Fritz  Hoppe,   1278 
■ Valuation    of    Public    Service    Corporations. 

By  R.  H.  Wbitten.  462 
Wireless    Telegraphy    and    Wireless    Teleph- 
ony.    By   C.   G.   Ashlev  and  C.   B.   Hay- 
ward,   1008 
Boston; 

Co-operative   Information    Bureau,    438 

Electric    Motor    Car    Chih,    1080,    1247 

Electric    show,     595,     693,     736;    by     Louis 

Bell,  '694 

Electrical    construction,    297 

Brake   drum.   Water-cooled.      By   H.    H.    Brough- 

ton,    (D.)   890 
Brakes: 
Electromagnetic  track,  Investigation  of,  (D.) 

S72 
— — Electropneurvatic   railway.      By   Turner    and 

Donovan,    (D.    R.)    368,    672,    1159 
Prony.     Self-adjusting.       By    J.     D.     Coales, 

(D.)    416 

Testing.     By  D.  Robertson, 

Braking    of    alternating-current 

tors.     By  M.   Schenkel, 
Braking    of    series    commutator 

Fraenckel,    (D.)    618 
Brewery,      Electrical      equipment. 

Newell,    1111 
Bridges : 

Electrically-operated  bascule,   Chicago,   273 

Swing   bridge   carried    on    motor-driven    pad- 

dlewbeel  float.  Chicago.  *1150 

Association     for     the     Advancement     of 

Science.    641 
Municipal     Electric     Association,      (D.) 

161.  209 
British    Municipal    Tramways    Association.    (D.) 

839 
Brooklyn    Institute,   Engineering  lectures,   808 
Bucket  for  bailing  pole  holes,  '1218 
Buildings.      (See    Central    stations:    Ofifice   build- 
ings:  Transmission   plants.) 
Bureau  of  Standards.  Wsrk  of.     By  G.  K.  Bur- 
gess.  (D.  R.)  324 
Business  situation,  435 


Cable  connector.      By  A.   Kastalski,    (D.1    415 
Cable    reel.    Largest,    Western    Electric    Co.,    676 
Cables ; 

Armored   flexible,   Armourduct,    *1280 

Fault   localization    in    submarine.      By    C.    E. 

Hay,    (D.)    271 


(D.)   210 
commutator    mo- 
(D.)   571 
motors.      By    A. 

By     V.      V. 


British 
British 


Cables:     (Continued) 

— — Fracture  in  submarine  cable  of  Great  North- 
ern Telegraph  Co.  By  E.  Suenson, 
(D.)    322 

Insulated,      Broomfield     and     Tawn     patent, 

(D.)    1220 

Laving    submarine,    Hamburg,   Germany.     By 

O.    Wundram,    (D.    R.)    621 

Protective    covering.      By    F.    Fernie,     (D.) 

1329 

Semi-bridge     duplex    system     for     submarine 

cables.     By  J.   Kajiura,    (D.)   "271 

Specifications,      Raising      the      standard      of. 

Method  of  tabulating  requirements.      By 
A.  W.  Welch,  356 

Substitution  of  direct  current  for  alternat- 
ing current  in  tests.  By  J.  Uelon, 
(D.)    '1221 

Testing  apparatus  and  methods,  Boston  Edi- 
son   (^0..    *354 

Tests.     By  K.  W.   Wagner.   (D.  R.)    210 

Thirty-thousand   volt,   three-phase   cable.     By 

W.    Pfannkuch,    (D.)    -1056.    1076.    1107 

(See  also  Telegraph;  Telephone;   Wires  and 

wiring) 

California  Commission  news,  88,  139,  653,  765, 
868,   987,    1137,    1255,    1362 

California   public  utilities  act,   136 

California  Railroad  Commission,  Decision  in 
Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Co.  vs.  Great 
Western  Power  Co.,  136;  Comment. 
130 

Caloric  theory.     Bv  H.  L.  Callendar,   (D.)   672 

Calorimeter,  Bomb.  By  R.  S.  Whipple,  (D.) 
734 

Canadian  Light  &  Power  Co.,  Beauharnois  Canal, 
St.    Timothe,   Quebec,   '241 

Capacities,  Comparison  of,  at  various  frequen- 
cies.    By  A.   Campbell,    (D.)    *417 

Car  lighting.     (See   Lighting) 

Carbon    dioxide    meters,    Uehling,    *115 

Carburetor,    Novel    treatment    of    faulty,    607 

Cathode  rays.  Asymmetry  in  the  distribution  of 
secondary  rays  produced  by  X-rays,  and 
its  dependence  on  the  penetrating  power 
of  the  exciting  ravs.  By  C.  D.  Cooksey, 
(D)  518 

Cells,  Photo-electric.  By  J.  W.  Woodrow, 
(D.)    840 

Central    Massachusetts   Light    &   Power    Co.,    188 

(Central-station    business; 

.-Advantages   rnd   costs   of   purchased   energy. 

By    A.   E.    Rickards,   609 

.Advertising.     (See    .Advertising.) 

Appliance   sales; 

Demonstration,  Jersey  City,    1082 
Demonstration,    Louisville,    Ky.,    1101 
Denver  exhibit,  *132I 
Direct    and    indirect    profits,    Springfield, 

III..    1047 
Louisville,   Ky.,  '1323 
Sales     for     regular     lamp     circuits     and 
their     effect    on     load    and    income. 
By    S.    M.    Kennedy,    *1209;    Com- 
ment,  1176 
Short-sighted    campaigns.    879 

Automobiles.      (See    Automobile    business) 

Baiting   for   the  unwary   customer.   939 

Baltimore: 

Prize   contest,    1209 

Promptness     in     connecting     new     cus- 
tomers,  456 

Bills    for   ligbtinff.    Chart   showing   why   they 

increase,   512 

Boston    Fdison   Co..   Statistics,   609 

Camera  for  central-station   use.  831 

Colleges.    Selling  electricity   to,    455 

Commissions    for    non-commercial    employees 

who  aid  sales,   Emporia,   Kan..   999 

Complaints,    Adjustment    of.    Fond    du    Lac. 

Wis..    406 

— —Complaints   on   high   bills.    Reducing,   454 

(Tonsolidations    and   street-lighting   rates,    508 

Contractor  and  the  central  station.  185 

Cooking  load.     By  F.  M.    Long.    (D.)    112 

Data    sheets    for   the    solicitor.    North    .Attle- 

boro,    Mass.,    608 

Denver,  Bills  for  Christmas  appliances  pay- 
able  Feb.    1,    1269 

Detroit; 

Contract    routine    system.    '407 
Inspection    of   newly    wired    houses,    408 

Discounts.      Separation      of     prompt-payment 

and    quantity.    Canton,    Ohio,    1267 

Displacing  steam  power  in  a  group  of  manu- 
facturing buildings,   778 

Display   room   at   Youngstown,   Ohio.   *1209 

District   heating.     (See    Heating.    District) 

Dollars  and   factors.      By  C.    J.    Russell.   546 

— — Flatirons; 

Chicago,    115,   408 

Data    on    utilization    of    electric    Irons, 

1176,  1183 
Free    repairs,    Montrose,    Colo.,    831 
House-wiring    premiums,    53 
Illinois    towns,    999 
Lawrence,    Kan..    999 
Sale    at   fair.    Mobile.    Ala..    1209 
Selling   to    minimum-bill    customers.    941 
— ^Fort  Wayne,   Ind.,   S3 

<jrill    campaigns,    1046 

Heating-device     campaign,     St.     Louis.     Mo., 

665 

Ice-making.      (See    Refrigeration) 

-Identification   cards  for   line   crew,    319 

Income   per  hp-year  from   various   rates  and 

load  factors,  611 

•Indicates  illustrated  articles. 


454 
942 


719 


Central-station  business:    (Continued) 

Kansas   City,    Mo. : 

Auxiliary    service    to    telegraph    compa- 
nies,   999 
Lighting    campaign,    'llOO 

Lighting  of  company's  office,   53 

Lighting     revenue     from    six     Massachusetts 

stations,    666 

Louisville,  Ky.,  Court  decision  in  relation  to 

competition,    1183 

Manager  of  utility  company  and  his  duties, 

778 
Massachusetts    consolidation    of    companies, 

188 

Motion-picture  theaters,   Louisville,   Ky.,   666 

.Motors,    Hiring.      By    H.    H.    Holmes,    (D.) 

63 
Newsboys'     toast-eating     contest,     Oklahoma 

City,    406 

North    Attleboro,    Mass.,     Off-peak    lighting 

contract,  610 
Organization  in  electrical   undertakings.     By 

C.   M.   Shaw,    (D.)    112 

Philadelphia    Electric     Co.     secures    railway 

load,    436 
Prize-winning  suggestions   for   improvements 

in  service,  Chicago,   567 
Progressive   policies  in  small   stations,   Alva, 

Okla.,  314 

Railway   loads   for   central    stations,    227 

Rates.     (See    Charging   for    electric   current) 

Rochester,    N.    Y.,    Interest    in    public    move- 
ments,   454 
St.    Louis,    Sale    of    energy    to    factories    on 

"unrefined"   basis,   610 

Salaries  of  solicitors.  Unit  schedule  for,  940 

Shopworn  articles  sale,  Louisville,   Ky..   1047 

Show-window      lighting       contest,       Muncie, 

Ind.,    '665 

Sign    campaign,    881 

Southern    California    Edison    Co.,    Appliance 

sales.     By  S.  M.   Kennedy,  *1209;  Com- 
ment,  1176 
Street  cars.   Battery-operated,  as  an  off-peak 

load,    Billings,    Mont,    *261 
^Toaster    campaign     in     Byllesby     properties, 

508 

Track  switches,  motor  operated,  Boston, 

Twenty-four  hour   service,   Perry,    Kan. 

-Wiring   campaigns; 

Baltimore,    Old    houses,    103 

Emporia,    Kan.,    779,    1000 

Great    Falls,     Mont.,     Dull-season 
paign,    151 

Lawrence.    Kan.,    999,    '1208 

Muncie,    Ind.,    House-wiring    offer, 

Old  houses.  New  business  campaign 
by  Allegheny  Countv  Light  Co.  By 
Terrell  Croft,  *10'5,  *204,  *317, 
•361 

Rented  house.  Campaigns  against  land- 
lords,   1000,   *!208 

Rewiring  woodworking  establishment, 
104 

Wichita,  Kan.,   998 
Worcester,   Mass.,   Growth   of  motor  service, 

664 

-(See   also   Advertising) 

Central-station    citizenship.      Bv    W.    H.    Hodge, 

151 
Central-station    practice; 
— ■ — Balancing      three-wire      systems,      Auto-con- 

verteV  for,    (D.)    "Ill 
Bonus       award       for       coal-per-kilowatt-hour 

record.  Des  Moines,  la.,  *942 
Bus  and  switch  compartments.     By  E.  Bern, 

(D.)    460 
Clyde   Valley    Electrical    Power   Co.      By    D. 

A.   Starr,    (D.)    62 
Combined    heating    and    electric    plants.      By 

E.    D.    Dreyfus,    (D.    R.)    518 
— — Combined    lighting    and    power    distribution 

with    lighting    voltage    regulation,    Law- 
rence,   Kan.,    *1052 
Consolidation    in    electrical    systems.    Advan- 
tages  of,   537,   551 
Depreciation   of  power-plant   equipment.      By 

E.    Brown,   268 
Direct-current  series  system    (Kurz)   in  Eng- 
land.     By   J.    S.   Highfield.    (D.)    62 
Efficiency   of   power   plant   as   determined   by 

technical    education    of    employees.       By 

L.   Shepard,  413 
Equalizing     power     fluctuations     in     central 

stations.      By    A.    Schweiger,    (D.)    572, 

619,    672 
Gas  producers; 

Amarillo,   Tex.,   254 

Windham,    Ohio.      Bv    F.    A.    Eberwine, 
255 
Heating    loads   for   central    stations.      By    A. 

Rittershausen,      (D.)      *572;     Comment, 

538 

-Ice-making.    (See   Refrigeration) 

Interconnection    of    central    stations.    Wurt- 

temberg,     Germany.       By     H.     Buggeln, 

(D.)    209 

Labor   costs   in   central    stations,    1024,    1031 

■  Load    factors.     By   S.    A.    Fletcher,    (D.    R.) 

887 
Off-peak  load.   Value   of.      By  A.    D.    Bailey, 

998 
Profitable      peak-load      service      from      small 

water-power,   *608 

Railway   loads   for   central    stations,    227 

Reactors,   Porcelain-clad,   *1332 

Regulations  of  German  Association,    (D.)  63 

— ■ — Small    electric-light    company's    problem,    715 
Storage  batteries  in   Chicago,   778 


INDEX. 


hydroelectric 
Enlargement 

Power     Co., 
Rates     of, 


Central-station    practice:    (Continued) 

- — -Swiss  stations.      By   Uettmar,    (D.)    1160 

Water-power    stations,    Economy   of.      By    R. 

Rinkel.    (D.)    Ill 

Central-station  sales  managers.  Annual  meeting, 
296 

Central   stations: 

Amarillo,   Tex.,    Producer   experience,    254 

Appalachian     Power     Co.,     on     New     River, 

Virginia,    Hydroelectric    energy    for   coal 
fields,    *1141:    Comment,     1119 

Bellingham.    Wash.,   York   Street.    M44 

Bergen,  Norway,  Development  cf  water- 
power  of  Saninanger  watershnl,  •1257; 
Comment,    1241 

Bradford,    England : 

Financial    results,    (D.)    1006 
History     of     its     stations,     '"Jh9;     Com- 
ment. 973 

Canadian   Light  &  Power  Co.,   *2J2 

Chicago : 

Chicago   &  Northwestern   Ry.,    New  pas- 
senger  terminal,    Cost   ol    producing 
energy,    1205 
Chicago    Sanilary    District,    *822 
Fisk   Street   station,   Extension,   692 
Northwest     station,      132;      By     H.      H. 
Norris.    *701  ;    Comment.    690 

Consolidation,      I'resent-day     tendency.       By 

J.  F.  Gilchrist.  566,  590;  statistics,  1351, 
1353 

Cost   of    electricity    in   various   stations.      By 

F.  Ross,  (D.)   1329 

Cost   of   extensiun,   Amesbury,    Mass.,    566 

Cost    of    production    in    6500-kw   station,    664 

Cost   of    small    sy.-tem,    rlyannis,    Mass.,    260 

Denmark,    Data    fir    21    rural    stations.    1207 

Design    of    large    stations.      By    G.    Klingen- 

berg.     (D.)     322.     369.     459:     Comment. 
435;   By   I.   E.   Moultrop.    1097 

East  Creek   Electric  Light  &   Power  Co.,   on 

East     Canada     Creek,      Inghams     Mills, 
N.   Y.,   *443 

Eldora,       la..       Variable-head 

plant,    *42 

El   Paso    Electric   Railway   Co, 

of  station,    *349 

England: 

Clyde     Valley      Electrical 

(D.)    Ill 
Poplar     electricity     supply. 

(D.)   112 
Statistics.    (D.)    572,   619 

Estacada,    Ore.,    Portland    Railwav,    Light    & 

Power   Co.      By  E.   A.    West,   "94 

France,  Water-power  plants.  By  H.  Bres- 
son,   (D.)    1276 

Germany: 

Baden    developments.       By    Emil     Frev. 

(D.)    367 
Hydroelectric    stations    in.      By    J.    Rey- 

val,  (D.)   619 
Statistics.      By    Emil    SchiiT,    CD.)     158; 
228 

Glasgow,    Financial    report,    (D.)    949 

Greenville.   Ohio,   *52 

Guayaquil,   Ecuador.    (D.   R.)    518 

Halifax.     N.     S.,     Steam     equipment,     with 

tests    of    boilers    burning    culm,    *1089 ; 
Comment,    1075 

Idaho  Falls,  Idaho,   Snake  River  plant.  '604 

Italy: 

Adamello     Electric     Supply     Co.,      (D.) 

322.    36S 
Rome,     the     San     Paolo     steam     turbine 

station,    *303;    Comment,    291 
Statistics.      By    B.    Lecler.    (D.)    270 

Jordan  River  development  of  British  Co- 
lumbia  Electric  Railway  Co..   *676,  "817 

Lexington,  Ky.,  Kentucky  Traction  &  Ter- 
minal Co.,  New  turbine  plant,  *1035; 
Comment,    1023 

Life  of   plant,    (D.)    1220;    Comment,   1177 

London,  Deptford  station  of  London  Elec- 
tric   Supply   Corporation,    (D.)    *460 

-Louisville,   Ky.,   Legal   difficulties,   858 

Luzerne  County  Gas  &  Electric  Co.,  Kings- 
ton, Pa..  Electric  service  in  coal  re- 
gions,  *921:    Comment,    907 

Massachusetts    Lighting    revenue,    1911,    666 

Municipal,  Results  of  seven  years  at  Se- 
attle,  Wash.,    135 

Narragansett  Electric  Lighting  Co.,  Expan- 
sion,   860 

New   England   Power  Co.,   in   Massachusetts 

and     Vermont,     "1365;     Comment,     1349 

New   York  City,   First  station   in  the  world, 

•480 

New   York  Edison   Co.,   Kingsbridge   station. 

Third   Avenue   Ry.,   227,    *23l 

Niagara     Falls,     Extensions     to     stations     at 

1079 

Niagara,     Lockport    &    Ontario     Power    Co  . 

Reserve    steam    station,    1078 

Novksack    Falls,    Wash.,    *141 

Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Co.,  New  station,  183 

Pacific    Power    &   Light   Co.,    *551 

Paris,    New   stations.    (D.    R.)    63 

Pennsylvania   Water    &    Power    Co..    Susque- 
hanna River,  Holtwood,  Pa.,  •395-  Com- 
ment,   385 
Private  operation  of  a  municipal  plant    Em- 
poria,   Kan.,    1099 

Rainbow    Falls.    Mont.,    Great    Falls    Power 

Co.,     *38 

Riverdale    plant,    Weber    &    Davis    Counties 

°"    "f?£.  *^8^^"'    Utah,    *1I91;    Com- 
ment,   1175 


Central    Stations:    (Continued) 

St.   Anthony,    Newfoundland,    Small    lighting 

installation,    566 

Santos    Dock    Co.,    Santos,    Brazil.       By    F. 

Frederick,    (D.)    949 

Sears,    111.,   on   Rock    Kiver,   Davis   Brothers' 

station,    *871 

Seattle,  Wash.,  Results  of  seven  years'  op- 
eration,  135 

Small    water-power    plant,    at    Cotentin,    on 

River  Saire,   France,    (D.)   459 

State-owned  water-power  plant,  Baden,  Ger- 
many,   (D.)     1219 

Stoneleigh  Abbey,   England.   (D.)    1220 

Thousand   Springs,  Idaho,   Development,   *43 

Trinidad,    Col.,    Reconstruction,    150,    777 

Turners  Falls,  Mass.,  297 

West  Kootenay  Power  &  Light  Co.,  Elec- 
tricity in  gold  fields,  *  193 ;  Comment, 
179 

Western    Canada    Power    Co.,    Stave   Falls, 

B.    C,    *489 

Whatcom  County  Railway  &  Light  Co.,  Bel- 
lingham. Wash.,  Generating  and  dis- 
tribution system,  *141;   Comment,   129 

Chain,    Morse   silent    rocker-joint   type,   *327 

Chained  Lightning,  Louisville  company  publica- 
tion,   1000 

Charging  for  electric  current: 

Baltimore,  Hearings  on   rates,   189,  296 

Boston's  new  rates.  720 

Brooklyn,   Investigation  of  rates,    189,  238 

Chicago,     Proposed    revision    of    rates,     189, 

297,   13S2 

Classified  comparison  of  rates,   1100 

Contract    system    in    Europe.       By    D.     Ber- 

covitz,    (D.   R.)    573 

Demand    controller   as   accessory   to    metered 

service,    Beatrice,   Neb.,   939 

Discussion,   Ohio   Electric   Light  Association, 

235 

England,     Limitation     of    rate     relief     from 

trading  profits.  By  S.  L.  Pearce.  (D.) 
161 

Garage    rates    under    residence    contract,    St. 

Louis,    1150 

-Groton,   Mass.,  forbidden  to  sell  below  cost, 

10,  82 

Harrisburg,    Pa.,    Residential    rates,    1000 

Macon,   Ga.,    Street-lighting  rates,   665 

New  York  Edison  Co.,  Answer  to  rate  dis- 
crimination charge,  345.  1134.  By  P.  R. 
Moses,  1381 

OiT-peak  schedule.   Chicago,   314 

Ontario  Hydroelectric  Commission,    1361 

Poplar  electricity  supply,  (D.)   112 

Potsdam   tariff.      By    K.    Markau,    (D.)    1107 

Rate   systems   from   central-station    solicitor's 

viewpoint.      By   T.    E.    Bullard,    1042 

Residence    rates.       By    H.    G.    Briggs,    320; 

E.    C.    Anderson,    366 

Solution  of  the  rate  problem.  By  W.  Mc- 
Donald,   516 

Special-rate  customers  and  their  elimination, 

202 

Special  rates  of  Milwaukee  Electric  Rail- 
way  &   Light   Co.,    314 

Street-lighting  rates.     By  J.  R.  Cravath,  722 

Theory    of    tariffs.      By   L.    Rosenbaum,    (D. 

R.)  271;  Carl  Richter,  (D.  R.)  1056, 
1107 

Vehicle    charging    service,    Memphis,    Tenn., 

721 

Chart  for  sag  and  stress  determinations,  Thomas. 
1024,   1042,   Sup.   Nov.   16 

Chemistry  and  illuminating  engineering.  By  O. 
Kruh,    (D.)    459 

Chicago: 

Bureau   of  Fire  Prevention,   296 

Electrolysis  ordinance,  138,  294 

Office  buildings.   Electrical  features,   "556 

Prizes  for  suggestions  made  to  Common- 
wealth Edison  Co.,  567 

Rate   revision.   297 

Sanitary    District,    Cost    of    delay    in    giving 

electric   service,    345 

Subways,   Progress,   544 

^Telephone   situation.    188,    976 

Chicago  Telephone  Co.,  Appraisal  of  physical 
property,   976 

Chignecto  plant  of  Maritime  Coal.  Railway  & 
Power  Co.,  Amherst,  Nova  Scotia. 
*65S.    1053:   Comment,  637 

Chlorate  and  perchlorate.  New  electrolytic,  in 
France.    (D.    R.)     1007 

Christmas  tree.  Public,  in  New  York,  '1352 

Circuit    breakers: 

Automatic  tumbler,  Denny,   '1280 

Large  high-voltage  oil.      By  J.   N.   Mahoney, 

(D.)     733 

Cleanser   for   electric   glassware,    Myrlite,    1062 

Clock,  Moore  electric,  with  timing  mechanism, 
*1110 

Coal: 

Analyses  by  Geological   Survey,   660 

Anthracite   situation,    1128 

Burning   anthracite    coaldust.      By    W.    Kav- 

anagh,   1206 

Lignite    experience    in    Texas    station,    505 

Lignite    of    North    Dakota,    777 

Low-grade  fuel  for  the  production  of  elec- 
trical energy.  By  F.  Bartel,  (D.)  270; 
Comment.  229 

Pumping   coal    from    Susquehanna    River    by 

electricity,    Plymouth,    Pa.,    *51 

Purchase  of,   on  heat-unit  basis,   Springfield, 

Ohio,    506 

Storage    and    spontaneous    combustion.       By 

H.    C.    Porter,    934 

Storage  under  water,  *445,  *714 

*Indicates  illustrated  articles. 


Coal  fields.  Hydroelectric  energy  for: 

— ■ — Appalachian     Power     Co.,     in     New     River, 

Virginia.   "1141 ;   Comment,    1119 

Luzerne  County  Gas  &  Electric  Co.,  King- 
ston,  Pa.,    *921;   Comment.  907 

Mining     and     electric-service     properties     in 

central  Illinois,  237 

Coal  mines,  Generating  electric  energy  at,  Chig- 
necto plant  of  Maritime  Coal,  Railway 
&  Power  Co.,  "655,  1053;  Comment,  637 

Coal   mining.      (See   Mines,    Electricity   in.) 

Coils,  Changing  size  of  wire  on  shunt.  By  A. 
M.    Bennett,    253 

Colorado  Electric  Light,  Power  &  Railway  As- 
sociation,  596 

Comb  and  hair  drier,   Electric,  *418 

Commutation : 

Analysis   of  direct-current.      By  Jens   Bache- 

Wug,   605;    Comment,    590 

Theory.       By    C.     L.     K.     E.     Menges,     (D.) 

517;  Karl  Pichelmeyer,  (D.  R.)  1054, 
1106 

Complaints.      (See   Central-station   business.) 

Concrete,  Reinforced,  Action  of  electricity  on. 
By  E.  Schick,  (D.)  1222;  E.  B.  Rosa, 
1354;    Comment,    1350 

Concrete  mixer,    Motor-driven,   "942 

Condensers: 

Electrolytic,    for   sparkless   contacts.      By    K. 

Siegl,    CD.)    674 

■ Operation,  Effect  of  air  on,  1320 

Rotary  jet,  Manistee,  *1389 

Synchronous.     By  H.   E.   Bussey,   389 

Synchronous,    Power-factor    correction.      By 

C.   T.   Mosman,    (D.)    369 

With    Ruhmkorff   coil.      By    W.    H.    Wilson, 

(D.)   *620 

Condit  Electrical   Mfg.   Co.,  Legal    Icision,   1124 

Conductors: 

Inductance    of   aerial    split    conductors.      By 

Louis  Cohen,  *994;  Comment,  974;  T.  F. 
H.   Douglas,    1326 

Resistance   of  powdered.      By   A.   A.    Somer- 

ville,    en.    R.)    416 

(See  also  Cables;  Wires  and  wiring.) 

Conduit: 

Construction.      By  J.    Schmidt,    (D.    R.)    733 

Cost  of  underground  construction,    1270 

New  systems.      By  J.   Schmidt,    (D.    R.)    672 

Standard   sizes   for    wires   and   cables,    *1216 

Systems    in    concrete    buildings.      By    J.    P. 

Morrissey,  *41 1 

Versus  openwork  in  places  subject  to  mois- 
ture, corrosive  fumes,  steam,  etc.  By 
F.  G.  Waldenfels  *782,  "834.  *884, 
*1001,  *1049;  C.  M.  Jansky,  1326 

Conduit  fittings,   Bonnell,   *1011 

Conserved  resources.  Distribution  of,  through 
existing  public-utility  enterprises,  931; 
Comment,  909 

Contractors: 

Convention  of  electrical,   184 

Co-operation  with  central-station  men,  Chi- 
cago,   1125 

Wiring  contractor.  Relation  to  the  central- 
station,   855,   863 

Controllers: 

Compression     resistor     for     continuous- duty 

controller,  *1331 

Motor.     By  H.   L.   Beach,    (D.   R.)    460 

Motor-starting  and  regulating,  Cutler-Ham- 
mer,   "167 

Printing-press,  Carpenter  alternating-cur- 
rent,  "676 

Convection  and  conduction  of  heat  in  gases.  By 
Irving  Langmuir,  29 

Converters: 

Auto-converter  C.  M.  B.  of  MacFralane  and 

Burge.      By    J.    H.    Jacobsen,    (D.)    949 

— ^Commutating-pole  rotary.  Characteristics  of. 
By  J.    L.    McK.    Yardley,    (D.)    459 

Commutating-pole       rotary,        Westinghouse, 

•278 

Polyphase.      By    P.    Stein,    (D.)    208 

Rotary,    for    testing   purposes,    *164 

Small    rotary.    Pan    Electric    Mfg.    Co.,    *894 

Vertical  synchronous-booster  commutating- 
pole   rotary,    Westinghouse,    *419 

Cooking,    Electric : 

Battleships    of    the    U.    S.    Navy,    '936 

Billings,   Mont.,   54 

British  apparatus,   (D.   R.)   271 

Central-station  experience.  By  H.  F.  Hol- 
land,   664 

— ■ — Character  and  cost  of  cooking  load  to  cen- 
tral stations.  By  F.  M,  "Long,  (D.) 
112 

Design    of    apparatus.      By    H.    H.    Holmes, 

(D.)    112 

Fireless  cooker,   Sykes  Quad,   '1012 

Gas    vs.    electricity.      By    G.    Dettmar,    (D.) 

1107,   1159 

Stands  for  inverted  irons,  724 

(See   also   Heating.) 

Cooling  tower  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  sub-station, 
•256 

Cooper  Hewitt   diffusing  lamp,    '542 

Co-operative  meeting  of  central-station  men, 
manufacturers,  jobbers,  contractors  and 
dealers,  at  Association  Island,  Lake  On- 
tario,  483,   692 

Corona : 

Law  of,   and  dielectric  strength   of  air. '    By 

F.  W.  Peek.  Jr.,  13,  (D.)  1219;  J.  B. 
Whitehead.    14;    Comment,    3 

Loss  on  experimental  transmission  line.    By 

C.  F.  Harding,  13 

Losses.     By  K.  Zickler,   (D.)   733,  788 

Cost    of    producing    electrical    energy    with    low- 

Sressure     steam     turbine.        By     S.     G. 
eiier,  1205 


VI 


INDEX. 


Couplings: 

Disconnect   for  oil-switch  leads,   "361 

Sim[>lex  grip  nipple,  "325 

Crank  diagram  for  representation  of  electrical 
power.  By  A.  A.  Ninis,  '660;  Com- 
ment,  638 

Cut-outs,    Metropolitan    porcelain,    *277 


Dams: 

Big  Meadows,  of  Great  Western   Power  Co., 

•184 

Estacada.    Ore.,    "91 

Olympic   Power  Co..   Failure,    1081,   *1129 

Definitions,     Report    of     British     electrotechnical 

committee,    (D.)    520 
De    La    Rive    tube,   Theory    of   electric   discharge 

in.     By  D.   N.    Mallik,   (D.   R.)    889 
Delta     rays    produced    by     Beta    rays.       By     N. 

Campbell,     (D.)     1159 
Denmark,     Co-operative     stations     in     rural     dis- 
tricts, 1207 
Department     store,     Electricity     in.     Engineering 

and  cost  data.     By  L.   F.   Tweedy,  47  ^ 
Depreciation   of    power-plant   equipment.      By    E. 

Brown,    268 
Depreciation    data.    Use    of,    in    rate-making    and 

appraisal   problems.      By   H.    P.   Gillette, 

937,   1273;   Comment,  909 
Des  Moines  gas  case,   Decision,  436 
Dielectric   constant   produced   by  strain.    Changes 

in.     By  Adams  and  Heaps,   (D.)   889 
Dielectric  hysteresis  at  low   frequencies.     By  W. 

M.  Thornton,   (D.)   416 
Dielectric  strength  of  air.      (See  Corona.) 
Dielectrics,     Surface    leakage     experiments    with 

alternating   current.      By    G.    L.    Adden- 

brooke,   (D.)   209 
Dimmer,    Theater,    Cutler-Hammer,    623 
Discharge   from   an   electrified  point.      By  A.   M. 

Tyndall,     (D.)     733 
Disinfecting  fluid,  Electrolytic  hypochlorite,   (D.) 

519 
Distribution-main   voltage   drops   in   Kansas   City, 

"1154 
Distribution    system: 

^Alternating-current,   Sprong  and  McCoy  pat- 
ent,    CD.)     1056 

Paragon    balanced-power,    (D.)    "1055 

Dredge     using    central-station    energy,     East    St. 

•  Louis,  "712,   719 
Drills: 

Portable  electric,  *1010 

Test   of   Standard   portable   electric,   574 

Drives.       (See    Industrial    plants.) 

Dry    cells: 

Elements  of.     By  H.  K.  Richardson,  (D.  R.) 

57i 

Standard   tests   of,   341 

Duralumin.    (D.)    950 

Dust   figures   produced   by  electrical   sparks.      By 

Barton  and  Kilby.    (D.)    1108 
Dyeing    plant,    Cost    of    installing    central-station 

service,    315 
Dynamometers: 
Direct-reading,  indicating  torque,    speed   and 

horse-power     of     revolving     mechanisms 

without  calculations.      By   C.    R.   Moore, 

"449;    Comment,   434 

Electric  absorption    Diehl,  *1335 

Tubular.     By  P.  G-  Agnew,  *31 


Earth's    magnetic    field.      By    W.    F.    G.    Swann, 

(D.)    461 
East   St.    Louis,   111..    Reclaiming  shore  line   with 

central-station    energy.    "721 
Edgar,     Charles    L.,    Loving    cup    presented    to, 

"541 
Edison   label,   The.      By   Frank   Koester,    1053 
Edison  Medal  award,  1352 
Efficiency    Society,    550 
Electric    Vehicle    Association    of    America,    544, 

640,    760.    876.    1178 
Electric   waves,    Diurnal    variations    of.      By    W. 

H.    Eccles,    (D.)    461 
Electrical   Credit   Association   of   Chicago,    1129 
Electrical     engineering    students    and     graduates 

in   the    United    States.    1077.    1079 
Electrical  industry,   Future  of.     By  C.   P.   Stein- 

metz,   911 
Electrical   Manufacturers'   Club.  Meeting,   1027 
Electrical    Supply   Jobbers'    Association,    388 
Elect rodynamometer.    Tubular.      By    P.    G.    Ag- 
new,  *31 
Electrolysis: 

Chicago    ordinance,    138 

Comparison      of      Chicago      ordinance      with 

British   regulations,  294 
Concrete,   Electrolytic  action   in.      By   E,   B. 

Rosa,   1354;   Comment.    1350 
Rate   of  corrosion   of   various   kinds   of  iron 

in    street   soil.    Experiments.      By    A.    F. 

Ganz,    27;    Comment.    2 
Electrolytic    analvsis    with    platinum    electrodes. 

By  Goodi   and    Burdick.    (D.    R.)    461 
Electrolytic     deposition.     Simultaneous,     of     cop- 
per and  zinc  from  various  solutions  not 

containing    cyanide.       By    M.     de     Kay 

Thompson.    (D.)    323 
Electromagnetic  effect.  An.     By  S.   R.  Williams, 

(D.)  734 
Electrometers,  Quadrant.     By  W.  F.  G.   Swann, 

(D.)    67Z 


Electrometers,    Quadrant    (Continued) 

Measuring    high    alternating-current    voltages 

with.      By  A.    Baxmann.    (D.)    '461 

Electrons: 

Emission    of,    by   metals   under    influence    of 

alpha   rays.     By   Burnstead  and  McGou- 
gan,    (D.)    888 

Emission    velocities    of    photo-electrons.      By 

A.   L.  Hughes,   CD.)   323 

Metallic  vapors  in  filaments.  Electric  be- 
havior of.  By  E.  N.  da  C.  Andrade, 
(D.)    323 

Velocity  of  emission  of  electrons  from  ultra- 
violet light.  By  R.  A.  Millikan,  (D.) 
461 

Electro-osmose,    British   patent,    (D.)    620 

Electrothermal  calculations.  Simplification  of.  By 
Carl   Hering,    28 

Electrotyping  plant,   (D.   R.)    113 

Elementary  electric  charge,  Value  of.  By  R. 
A.  Millikan,   1181 

Empire   State   Gas  and   Electric   Association,   754 

Employees: 

Bonus     award     for     coal     per     kilowatt-hour 

record,    942 

Costs    of    labor    in   central-station    operation, 

1024,    1031 

Education   and   welfare.      By   A.    S.    Nichols, 

812 

Education  of,  and  power-plant  efficiency.    By 

L.    Shepard,    413 

Mess   committee    on    construction    gang,    721 

Pension    system    of    American    Telephone    & 

Telegraph    Co.,    1028;    Comment.    1023 

Public  relations  can  be  improved  by  em- 
ployees,   60S 

Safety  rules,   Minneapolis,   566 

Tipping  forbidden,  San  Diego,  Cal.,   1152 

Training  of,   St.    Louis,    1208 

Wages,     Locomotive    engineers,     1122,     1126 

Employers'  liability,  Massachusetts,  346;  Com- 
ment,   339 

Engine    cycle.      By    A.    Leduc,    (D.)    732 

Engineering    education : 

Discussions,  Society  for  Promotion  of  En- 
gineering   Education,    133 

Industrial    and    vocational    schools,    30 

Law    for    vocational    training,    29 

Students     and     graduates     in     the      United 

States,    1077,    1079 

University    of    Illinois,    297 

Engineers: 

Locomotive.   Compensation,   Award   of  board 

of  arbitration.   1122.    1126 

— — Training  of  electrical.  By  W.  Reichel,  (D. 
R.)    890.    (D.)   952 

Engines.      (See  Gas  engines;   Oil   engines.) 
Export  trade,  344,  751,   1241,   President  Taft  on, 
1249 


Factory-lighting    legislation    in    New    York   state, 

1360 
Fans: 
Speed    control,    Comparative    costs    of    three 

methods.      By   W.    E.    Thaw,    (D.)    1056 

Storing,    for   the   winter,    "1101 

Federal     office    buildings.     Installation     of    small 

power  plants  in.     By  D.   F.   Atkins  and 

H.    M.    Price,    257,    498,    717 
Feeder      regulation,      Automatic,        By      F.      W. 

Shackelford,    663 
Feeder    resistance.     Interchangeable    connections 

for.    •1214 
Feeder  voltaee   records.    Connections   for   obtain- 

ing.^'St.    Louis,   "725 
Feeder  voltage  regulation.      By   M.   Unger,    (D.) 

1384 
Fertilizers,  Phosphate.     By  W.  Palmaer,  (D.  R.) 

673 
Filaments.      (See    Incandescent   lamps.) 
Fire,  Jamestown,  N.  Y..  345 
Fire    alarm    systems.       By    W.    Fellenberg, 

R.)    1222 
Fire    departments    and    the    electric    truck, 

1281 
Fire    en^ne.    Converted    electrical,    •509 
Fire  extinguisher,   Pyrene,   "371 
Fire    insurance.    Reduction   of   rates: 
— ■ — Durango,   Col.,   780 

Idaho    Springs,    Col..    202 

Inspection,   Electrical,  Effect  of. 

Merrill,    1182 
Fire    protecting   apparatus,    Delaware 

Automatic.    *66 
Flasher,  Reynolds  cabinet  type,  *1331 
Flatirons.      (See   Central-station  business.) 
Floors,   Acid-proofing,  •1331 
Flumes    of   Jordan    River    development,    "818 
Four-terminal      conductor      and      the      Thomson 

bridge  discussed  by  Dr.  Frank  Wenner, 

932 
Fourth   of  July  and  the  central   station,   82,  ^"87 
France,    Water-power   stations   in.      By    H.    Bres- 
son,   (D.)    1276 
French     Association     for     the     Advancement     of 

Science,    (D.)    890 
Frequency  changers.      By  C.   TurnbuH,   fD.)    838 

Taylor   patent.    (D.)    517 

Frequency   indicators: 

Resonant   circuit.      By   Pratt   and   Price,    "34 

Thompson.  (D.)  674 

Fuel      (See   Coal;    Oil.) 

Furnace  arrangement   for   burning  oil,    *937 

Furnace  efficiency,   712 

Furnaces,  Electric: 

Heat  losses.     By  F.  A.  J.  Fitz  Gerald,   (D.) 

673 


(D. 

1247, 


By   W.   H. 

Hudson 


Furnaces,  Electric:   (Continued) 
Historical    review.      By    F.    A.    J.    Fitz   Ger- 
ald, 27 
Iron  ore  reduction  at  Trollhattan.     By  Lef- 

fier  and  Nystrom,   (D.)    113 
Laboratory  furnace.     By  Calhane  and  Bard, 

(D.)    370 
Pig-iron,    Microscopic    study    of.      By    Lyon 

and  Langenberg,   (D.   K.)   323 

Pig  steel.     By  J.  W.  Richards,   (D.)   113 

Simple    furnace.      By    R.    S.    Wile.    (D.    R.) 

416 
Steel-foundry     practice.        By     Paul     Girod, 

(D.)    788 
Transformer  crucible  furnace,  German,  (D.) 

370 
" ^Zinc    furnace.      By    W.    McA.    Johnson,    (D. 

R.)   573 
Zinc    ores,    Difficulties    in    treating.      By    F. 

Louvrier,    (D.)    1056 

Zinc    reduction,    453 

Fuse  puller,   Barry  safety,   "842 
Fuses: 

Delta-Star     high-potential,     "65,     '623 

Proposed      system      of      non-interchangeable. 

By  Hundhausen,    (D.   R.)   840 

S.    &    C.    high-potential,    "1114 

Starting    resistances    and    motor    fuses.      By 

E.   Jasse,    (D.)    518 

Weatherproof,  Delta-Star,  "623 

Future   of  the   electrical   industry,    Steinmetz   on, 

911 


Gage,  Distant-reading  boiler-level,  Wichita,  Kan., 

•1324 
Galvanometer  lamp  and  scale  arrangement,  Leeds 

lS:  Northrup,  •574 
Galvanometers: 

Duddell    vibration,    Maximum    sensibility    ot. 

By  H.   F.   Haworth.   (D.)    160,   461" 
Magnetic    shunt    vibration.      By    H.    Tinslev, 

(D.)    •734 

Marine,  of  English  make,    (D.)   210 

Rectangular.      By   A.    Ferguson,    (D.)    1108 

Vibration  characteristics  and  applications  of. 

By  Frank  Wenner,  31 
Gamma     rays,     Origin    of.       By    E.     Rutherford, 

(D.)    888 
Garage  charging  rates,  St.  Louis,   1150 
Garages,    Electric: 

Fresno,    Cal,    358 

Individual   meters   in,   Chicago,   406 

Load  curves,  in   Chicago  garage,   1046 

Milwaukee  garage  and   stable,   *831 

■ -Model,  at  Boston   Electric   Show,   780 

-Murphy   Power   Co.,    Detroit,    Mich.,    "1059 

Service  of.  Discussion,   1298 

Gas,   Prices  of,  in  Natick,  Mass.,  917 
Gas  engines: 

Aberdeen.  S.  D.,  Failures  and  successes,  261 

Factors  of  heat  flow,   (D.)   887 

Gas    producers: 

.Amarillo,   Tex.,   254 

Rotary  bituminous,    Chapman,   "792 

^Windliam,     Ohio,     experience.        By     F.     A. 

Eberwine.    255 
Gas    turbine,     Summary    of    various    researches. 

By  D.   Clerk,    (D.   R.)    788 
Gases   in   air,    Detection    of   combustible.      By    L. 

J.   Steele,    CD.)    '888 
Gases  in  vacuum  tubes.  Absorption  of,  1177;  By 

S.   E.   Hill.    (D.)    1277 
Gasoline-electric  generating  set,   Sturtevant,  *891 
Geissler    bromine    tube,    New    rays    in.      By    U. 

Ribaud,    (D.R.)    370 
Gener.nl   Electric   Co. : 

• Financial    review,    232 

Stock   dividend,    434 

Generators: 

Acoustic  tests  of  machines.     By  W.  Burstyn, 

(D.)    459 
"Automobile    lighting   generators.      By   C.    J., 

Webb.   (D.)   "1327 

British    Thomson-Houston     5000-kw,     "162 

Compensated    dynamo,    British    patent,     (D.) 

571 
Current     rushes.     Lessening     the     effect     of, 

Hunter  and   Shand  patent,    (D.)    672 
Curtis   turbo-alternators,    (D.)    270;    (D.    R.) 

322 
Direct-current     20DO-kw     unipolar,     Develop- 
ment    and     construction.        By     B.      G. 

Lamme,    *17 
Excitation       for      alternating-current      gene- 
rators.     By   D.    B.   Rushmore,    18 
Frequency    doubled    by    means    of    mercury- 
vapor    rectifier,    (D.)     1006 
High-speed   dynamo-electric   machinery,    (D.) 

1275 

Improvement  in  steam  turbo-generators,   716 

Induction,    Snuirrel-cage,    Principal    features. 

By  Hobart  and   Knowlton,    15 
large     turbo-generators    in     Germany,     (j>.) 

1219 
Loading    large     alternators,     three    methods. 

By   F.    D.   Newbury,    (D.)    519 
No-load   losses.    Determining.      By  A.    Ytter- 

berg,    (D.)    1157 
Operating     characteristics     of     large     turbo- 
generators.    By  A.  B.  Field,  16 
Parallel     operation    of    alternators.       By     L. 

Fleischmann,    (D.)    158;   C.  Czeija,    (U-) 

517 
Parallel  operation  of  gas-driven.     By  W.  O. 

Schumann,    (D.    R.)    619 


•Indicates  illustrated  articles. 


INDEX. 


VII 


Generators:    (Continued) 

Parallel   operation   of  synchronous  machines. 

By    Lee    Hagood,    (D.)    787 
Power    efficiency    of    rotating    machines,    Ue- 

termination.      By    E.    M.    Olin,    16 
Reactance      voltage.      Calculation.        By      J. 

Liska.    (D.)    949 
Regulation     of    alternators,     Thrupp     patent, 

(D.)    517 

Self-regulating    constant-voltage,    (D.)    *1005 

Shunt- voltage     regulation     in     direct-current 

generators.  Increasing  the  range  of.    By 

P.  Amsler,  *198,  570:  Comment,  293 
——Synchronizing.     By  H.   W.   Brown,    (U.)  460 

Test   of   5000-kw   Curtis   turbo-generator,    164 

Three-phase    windings    for    single- phase    serv- 
ice.     By   W.   J.   Foster,    (D.)    367 
Three-wire    direct-current,    Modern.      By    C. 

L.    Pilger,   Jr.,    *150 
Transforming    double-current    generator    into 

rotary  converter,    Chicago,    358 
-Transient  reactance  of  alternators.     By  Dur- 

gin    and    Whitehead,    17 

Turbo-converter.     By  F.   Creedy,  (D.)   '1157 

Unipolar     direct-current.     Construction     and 

transformation.     By    W.    A.    Dick,    (D. 

R.)   732- 

Vibration      recorder      on      motor-generators. 

Pacific    Gas    &    Electric    Co.      By    E.    E. 
Hall,  *200-   Comment,   181 
Voltage     regulation     of     alternating-current. 

Automatic.      By    Lester    McKenney,    996 
fWireless    telegraphy   and    telephony.      By    E. 

F.    W.    Alexanderson,    (D.)     160 
German     Association     of    Central     Stations.       By 

Eswein,    (D.)     520 
German     Association    of     Electrical     Contractors, 

(D.)    840 
German     Association     of     Electrical     Engineers, 

Convention.      By    Zehme,     (D.)     161 
German   electrical   industrv,    (D.)    1220 
German    Reichsanstalt,     (D.)     1221 
German    Rontgen    Society,    (D.)    462 
Glassware,     Investigation    of    diffusing.       By    M. 

Luckiesh,    *1040;    Comment,    1025 
Gold    refineries,    Electricity    in,    151 
Governor,    Hydraulic,    remotely    controlled,    *67 
Graduation  from  electrical  courses  in  the  United 

States,    1077,    1079 
Grand  Central  Terminal,  *1309 
Grip  for  conduit  joints,  *1279 
Ground-return    distribution    systems,    291 
Attaching  plates   for,   *165 
bathroom    fixtures,    Omaha,    Neb., 


Ground   wires, 
Grounding    of 

*945 
Grounding    of 

adopt 


secondaries,     Byllesby    com  panics 
uniform    method,    1 102 


H 


Halifax.    N.    S.: 

Halifax    Electric    Tramway    Co.,    Central-sta- 
tion   practice,    •1089;    Comment,    1075 
Nova    Scotia    Power    Co.,    Plans    for    hydro- 
electric   power,    439 
Harper     Memorial     Library,     Chicago,     Electrical 

features,    *601;    Comment,    589 
Harvesting  machine,   Gas-electric,   '1162 
Heat-storage    apparatus    for    equalizing    the    load 
curve    of   central    stations.      By    A.    Kit- 
tershausen,    (D.)    *572;    Comment,    538 
Heat     transmission,     Experimental     investigation. 
By    C.    H.    Lander    and    J.    E.    Petarel, 
(D.)    887 
Heater,    Electric,    Bastian,    (D.)    723 
Heating,    District: 

Cost  of  heating  water  from  steam  mains,  999 

Data    on    steam    heating.      By    H.    A.    Wood- 
worth,    978 

Discussion.      By    A.    G.    Rogers,    977 

Gage    recording   heating    pressure    at    distant 

customers*    premises,    *11S2 

Interest    in    devices.       By    G.    E.     Shepherd, 

1218 
National    District    Heating    Association    Con- 
vention,   6 

■ Sweden   and   Norway,    (D.)    271 

Heating,    Electric: 

House  heating  data,   103 

Milling  industry.   52 

Hetch   Hetchy  water   and  power  project  for  San 

Francisco.   1185 
Heusler   alloys.      By    P.    W.    Gumaer,    (D.)    1221 
Hodcnpyl-Hardy  &  Co.,   Convention   of  operating 

oflicers,    1082 
Hoists,    Electric: 

Mine  at   Christopher,   III.,   420 

Pulley   hoists.      By   H.   Thieme,    *1263 

Holder     for     removing     street-series     receptacles, 

*1215 
Horse-power,    Relation    of,    to   the  kilowatt,   934 
Hospital    lamp   signal   system,    *612 
Hot   plate,   Electric,   Vulcan,   *1061 
Human   engineering,   756 
Hydroelectric     plants.       (See     Central     stations; 

Transmission    plants) 
Hydrogen,    Electrolytic    manufacture,    939 
Hyperbolic    functions,    Kennelly    on,    808,    1125, 

1298 
Hysteresis    loss    in    iron.       By    M.     Rosenbaum, 
(D.)   61 

.As    affected    by    previous    magnetic    history. 

Loss  in  iron  at  atmospheric  and  Hquid- 
air  temperatures  under  three  condi- 
tions. By  Wilson,  Clayton  and  Power, 
(D.)     369 


Hysteresis:   (Continued) 

Dielectric   hysteresis  at  low  frequencies.     By 

W.    M.    Thornton,    (D.)    416 
Due     to    combined     pulsating    and     rotating 

magnetic    field.      By    T.    F.    Wall,    (U.) 

788 
Effect    of    temperature    upon    hysteresis   loss. 

By    M.    Maclaren,    807 
Transformer     iron,     cast     iron     and     stalloy. 

Experiments  with.     By  F,  Stroude,   (D.) 

369 


Ice-making.       (See    Refrigeration.) 
Ignition  of  coal  gas  and  methane  by  momentary 
electric     arcs.       By     W.     M.     Thornton, 
(D.)    1109 
Illinois   Electric   Association    Convention,   913 
Illinois,   Northern,   High-tension   distribution   and 
unification   in.      By    H.    B.    Gear,    *1095, 
1096;   Comment,   1076 
Illinois     public     service      commission      proposed, 

1133,    1186 
Illuminants.      (See   Light;    Lighting.) 
Illuminating    Engineering    Society: 

■ Annual  meeting,    1245 

Co-operation    with    British    society,    294 

Convention  at  Niagara  Falls,  230,   541,   592, 

642,    710 

New   York  section,  810 

Past  and  prospective  work,   638 

Pittsburgh   section,   808 

Primer    of    illumination,    856 

Illuminometers: 

Portable,   British  design,  *675 

Simplified.     By  Sharp  and  Millar.  •266 

Incandescent   lamp   fixtures: 

Attachment    for   pull    sockets,    Hubbell,    "325 

China  ware  receptacles.   Murphy,   *524 

— ■ — Card    connector.    Black    composition,    *521 

Fixture    loops,    *418 

Hoods    for    sign    work,    Reynolds,    *1010 

-Indirect,  Alexalite,  *1389 

Interchangeable    fixtures.    *326 

Locking  attachment,  *65 

Receptacle,   Pass  &  Seymour,   *I058 

-Reflectors: 

Magna  side  reflector,  *622 

— X-Ray,  *622 

Wheeler,    ^524 

Semi-direct    unit,    Haskins,    *329 

Shop-lighting  unit,   Delta-Star,   *422 

Socket   and    receptacle   for    large-base   lamps, 

Pass  &  Seymour,   *421 

Sockets,  Angle  pull,  Benjamin,  *1009 

Tungsten,    for    store    fronts,     Fort    Wayne, 

Ind.,  "53 
Incandescent  lamp  resistors.      By  T.  H.   Amrine, 

33 
Incandescent   lamps : 

British  patent  of  Peter  Cooper  Hewitt,  (D.) 

1276 

Coloring  for  bulbs,   1226 

Cooper  Hewitt  diffusing  lamp.  *542 

— —Electric    properties.      By    H.    Pecheux.    (D.) 
732;    Comment,  691 

-Exhaustion  of  bulbs,    (D.)   *1158 

High-candle-power  lamps.   Discussion  in  Ber- 
lin.   (D.)   62 

-Lambert's   cosine   law   of   the   emission    from 

tungsten  and  carbon.     By  A.  G.  Worth- 
ing,  (D.)   2/0 
Low-voltage    metallic    filament   lamps,    Light- 
ing with.     By  M.  Howald,   (D.)   1384 
—■ — Metallic   filaments,   Grote   and   Hoge   patents, 

(D.)   732 
— —Metallic-filament     lamps.     Results     of     many 
tests.     By  D.  H.  Ogley,  (D.)  787 

Osram   and   carbon   lamps.      By   A.    Sauquet, 

fD.)    1006 

Series   lighting.   Booth   patent,    (D.)    839 

— —Specifications  for  railroad  work,  981 
— —Temperature    of    filaments.    Table.      By    von 
Pirani   and   Meyer,    (D.)    270 

Tungsten: 

Drawn-wire,    Strength    of.       By    F.    W. 

Willcox,    (D.)   618 
Drawing  the  wire.   (D.)    1276 
Filaments    on    alternating    current.      By 

L.  W.  Wild,   (D.)  *1054 
Infringement    suit    of    General    Electric 

Co.   against   Laco-Philips  Co.,  479 
Krause  filaments,    (D.)   367 
Parabolic    reflectors.      By    G.    H.    Stick- 

ney,    (D.)    1384 
Rate    of    operation    and    permissible    de- 
crease   of    candle-power.    Theory    of 
calculating.     By  L.  Bloch,   (D.)   414 
Strength    and    ductility,    British    patent 
for   improving,    (D.)    414 
— — Tungsten-allov  filament,    1224 

Vacua  in  lamps.     By  W.   R.  Whitney,  28 

'Vacuum,     Improvement    of,     British    patent, 

(D.)    321 

Voltages,     Standard.       By     F.     W.     Willcox, 

CD.)    1006 
Income     per     hp-year     from    various     rates     and 

load  factors,  611 
Incubator,   Electricity   in.   Muskogee,   Okla.,  '55 
Indiana  Commission  news,  867 
Indiana    Electric    Light   Association,    Convention, 

977 
Indicators: 

Remote-speed,    Siemens.    (D.)    1057 

Warner  automatic  watt,  675 

•Indicates  illustrated  articles. 


Induction: 

Electromagnetic,    and    relative    motion.      By 

S.  J.   Barnett,    (U.)    1276 

Unipolar.     By  E.  H.  Kennard,  (D.)  63 

Industrial  management.  Art  of,  980 

Industrial    plants.    Electricity    in; 

Brewery  equipment.     By  V.  V.  Newell,  1111 

Cider  mill  drive.     By  K.  B.  Mateer,  829 

Comparative  costs  oi  motive  power  for  small 

machines,  753 

Cotton    mill,    Kolbermoor,    in    Austria,       By 

H.  Beckmann,  CD.)  208 

-Department     store.     Engineering     and     cost 

data.     By    E.    F.    Tweedy,   47 

Displacing  steam  power  in  a  group  of  man- 
ufacturing buildings,  778 

Dyeing  plant.  Cost  of  central-station  serv- 
ice,   315 

Machine  shop,  Worcester,  Mass.,  *1323 

Nut  and  bolt  factory,  Indiana  Harbor,  Ind., 

*1199 

Paper   machines.   Electric   drive   for.      By    E. 

C.   Morse,    19;   J.   S.  Henderson,  Jr.,    19 

— — Paper-mill  machinery.  Test  of  power  re- 
quired  by.      By    W.    E.    Byerts,   567 

^Power    for    small    shops.      By    E.    Vollhardt, 

(D.)  788 

Rolling   mill   driving.    By   A.    Keisset    (D.K.) 

839 

Rolling  mills,  Direct  current  versus  alter- 
nating current  in.  Installation  at  Fager- 
sta,  Sweden,  *1045 

Southern    Aluminum    Co.,    Whitney,    N.    C, 

755 

. -Steel  mill  electrical  engineering,   Convciiuon 

discussions,   826 

Steel-mill  electrification.      By   Wilfred   Svkcs 

and  F.  W.  Meyer,  1027 

Steel     mills,     Direct-and-alternatmg     current 

motors  in.     By  Shorer  and  Cheney  (.D.) 
415 

Varnish   works,   Denver,   Drive,   202 

Wood  sawing.  Grand  Forks,  N.  D.,   1101 

Wood  shop,  Omaha,  Neb.,  *1208 

Insect  destroyers.   Electric,  *465 

Inspection,  Municipal  electrical,  in  Chicago,  1029 

Institute  of  Radio  Engineers,  540 

Insulating  cover  for  cable  connectors.  Dessert, 
*678 

Insulating  material: 

Calculation    of    insulation    covering.      By    A. 

Michard,   (D.)   518 

Characteristic    of   an   artificial    material.      By 

E.   KnoDlauch,   (D.)   324 

D'isfico  horn  insulation,  677 

Molded  compounds.      By   R.   B.   Lattin.  *893 

Rex  compound,  66 

Insulators: 

Clamp,  without  tie-wires,  St.   Louis,  "725 

Design  and  construction,  Fundamental  prin- 
ciples. By  W.  Fellenberg,  (D.)  159, 
369 

Low-voltage  glass.  Brookfield,  *275 

Suspension  insulator  case,  1300 

^Tests     of    high-frequency.       By    Imlay    and 

Thomas,   •USS 

Intake  screens.  Motor-driven  hoist  for,  Marion, 
Ind.,  *722 

Interferometry  of  air-carrying  electrical  current. 
By  (Jarl  Barnes,  (D.)  370  _ 

International  Association  of  Municipal  Electri- 
cians, 475,  482 

International  Association  for  Testing  Materials, 
132,  476 

International  Conference  of  Time,   (D.)    1278 

International     Congress    of     Applied     Chemistry, 

476,   548   (D.)   620 
International     Congress    of    Chambers    of    Com- 
merce   and    Industrial    Associations,    592 

International    Congress    of    Electroculture,    /54 
International     Electrical     Congress,     San     Fran- 
cisco,   1915,   230 

International   Photometric   Commission,    975,    976 

International  Radio  Telegraph  Conference,  84, 
180,   182,  639;   Proceedings,  648 

Interrupter.  Connections  of  electromagnetic. 
(D.)    'lins 

Ions  from  hot  salts.  By  O.  W.  Richardson, 
(D.)    112 

Ions  in  metallic  vapor  flames.     By  E.  N,  da  C. 

Andrade.   (D.)    112 
Irrigation.      (See  Pumping,  Electric) 


Jordan    River    power    development, 

Comment,    751 
Jovian   Congress,  808 


*767.    •817; 


Kansas    Commission    news,    88,    1033 

Kansas    Gas,    Water,    Electric    Light    and    Street 

Railway    Association,    754,    861 
Kelvin.  Lord,   Memorial  to,   182.  342 
.Kilovoit   ampere.      By    C.    W.    Eisenmann.   731 
Kilowatt  as  the  only  unit   of  power,    (D.)    461 


Labor.     (See  Employees) 
Labor    incentive    of    machinery,    507 
Laboratory   of    radioactivity.      By   J.    Danne,    (D. 
R.)    64 


VIII 


INDEX. 


Lamp  post,  Central  Electric  Co.,  *I060 

(See  also  Street  lighting) 

Lamps: 

Counterbalance  for  drop  lamp,  Sachs,  •892 

Portable    electric,    Phcenix,    •574 

Portable,   of  Veluria   glass,   '844 

-Reflector  for  desk  lamp,  Cassidy,  'ISS? 

(See  also  Arc  lamps;  Incandescent  lamps) 

Lecher   system.    Vibration    of   a.      By    Blake   and 

Sheard,    (D.)    416 
Legal : 

Bathtub  case.  Supreme  Court  decision,   1077, 

1078,    1121,    1130 

Canadian    Niagara  Power  Co.,   238 

Condit    Electrical    Mfg.    Co.,    Circuit   breaker 

suit,    1124 

Des    Moines    gas    case,    436 

Enamel  insulation,  1299 

Glenwood     Springs,     Col.,     Suit     to     remove 

rival's   lines,    1268 

Lincoln     high-tension     case,     Decision,     387, 

•391,    436 
Pacific    Gas   &    Electric   Co.    vs.    Great   West- 
ern   Power   Co.,    136;    Comment,    130 

Suspension  insulator  case,  1300 

Telephone    and    high-tension    lines.    Parallel, 

87 

Telephone    merger    case    in    San    Francisco, 

1084 
— — United    Shoe    Machinery    Co.    vs.    Chapelle, 
85;   Comment,  S2 

Worcester,    Mass.,    street    lighting    case,    190 

Library,    Harper    Memorial,    Electricity   in,   •601; 

Comment,    589 
Light: 

Chemical     technology'     of     electrical     illumi- 

nants.      Comment    on    paper    by    Dr.    O. 
Kruh,    474 

Colors    of    illuminants.    Research.       By    Dr. 

Voege,    806 

Mercury    arc    lights,    Study    of.      By    H.    K. 

Ives,   *304:  Comment,  292 

Photometry    of     lights     of     different     colors. 

By   H.    E.   Ives,    (D.)    1106 
Stroboscopic    effects    obtainable    with    incan- 
descent    filaments    as    illuminants.       By 
C.    F.    Lorenz,    *1146;    Comment,    1121 

Temperature      of     sources      of      light.        By 

Buisson  and  Fabry,   (D.)   1055 

(See  also  Photometry) 

Lighting,    Electric: 

-\verage    performance     of    lighting    systems. 

By  C.  E.   Clewell,  20 

Banking  room.    Indirect   lighting,    *669 

Car  lighting: 

Brown,    Boveri   system.      By    P.    Amsler, 

(D.)  *517 
Data,  982 
Tests   at   Washington.    D.   C.      Bv   A.   J. 

Sweet.   643;    F.   T.   Leilich,   886 
Tungsten   lamps,    728 

Church: 

Denver,  Col.,  •1324,  •1380 
Halifa-x,    N.    S.,   *6I6 
Indirect   lighting   *1104 
St.    Louis   cathedral,    semi-indirect    light- 
ing,   616 
Temple   Israel   exterior,    St.    Louis,   *66S 
Tungsten  lamp  standards  for   entrances, 
•514 

Color,     Relations    of,     to    illumination.       By 

H.  E.   Ives,  22 

Comparison     of     gas     and     electric     lighting 

costs.      Diagram.      By  Norman   Macbeth, 
203 

Cost    of,    compared    with    kerosene    lighting. 

By    J.    Singer,    (D.)     158;    B.    Monasch, 
(D.)    322 

Demonstration    of    lighting    effects. 

S.    Millar.    •1083 

Direct    and    indirect    lighting.       By 

.Ashe,   (D.  R.)  459 

Drafting  room.   Indirect  illumination, 

Efficacv    in    illumination.      By   P.    S. 

775:   Comment,   752 

Exhibition   room  at  Chicago,  •833 

Factory   lighting.      By  M.    H.    Flexner,    1004 

Factory-lighting    legislation    in    New    York, 

1360 

Foreign    lighting    practice.      By    Louis 

875 

Glare,    Fight  against,   974 

Grill    room    of    Great    Northern    Hotel, 

cago.   '784 

Hearst  Building,  Chicago,   Posts,  *669 

Hotel   rooms,  ^614,   *616 

Illuminating     engineering     for     the     central- 
station   salesman,   943 

Illuminating     Engineering     Society     conven- 

tion   discussions,   642,   710 

Indirect    lighting; 

Boston  drug  store,  '569 
Chicago    auditorium    ceiling,    ^570 
Department    store,    Milwaukee,    617 
Drafting  room,   •832 

Industrial    illumination.      Bv    C.    E.    Clewell. 

20;  Ward  Harrison,  1324 

—Interior     illumination.       By     Bassett     Tones. 

.Tr.,   20 

Lawyers'     Club.     New     York.       By     W.     H. 

Spencer.    '1280 

Library.    Harper    Memorial,    Chicago,    ^601  ; 

Comment,   589 

Lumber  yard.   Flame  arcs  for,   '1216 

Measuring    of    illumination.      By   J.    S.    Dow 

and  V.   H.   Mackinney,  *363 
Method    of    working    out    illumination    prob- 
lems.    By  C.  E.  Clewell,   (D.)   367 


W.   S.   Kilmer, 


magnetite 


By     p. 

S.     W. 


•832 
Millar, 


Bell, 


Chi- 


quantity. 


from 
710 

engineering     to 
By    Louis    Bell, 


By   G.   T.    Had- 


Bv     B. 


-569 


E.    F. 

light- 


Lighting,  Electric:    (Continued) 

Office   building   lighting.      By 

•264 

Office   buildings,    Chicago,   ^556 

Playground       illumination       with 

lamps,    Chicago,    '568 

Post-office  mail-case  lighting,   1083 

Primer   of   illumination,    856 

Progress  of   1911,    473 

(Quality     as      distinguished 

Discussion    by    I.    E.    S. 

Relation      of      illuminating 

electrical    engineering. 
22 

-Residence,    St.   Louis,   '667 

St.    Louis    Public    Library. 

ley,    '107 

Semi-indirect : 

Boston    restaurant,    *523 

Chicago    bank,    1272 

St.    Louis  cathedral,    616 

Shop  lighting,   1381 

Steel     mill     illumination,     758 

Beck,   730;    Comment,   690 

Store  lighting: 

Boston   drug   store.    Indirect, 
Confectionery   shop,    ^884 
Department    store    lighting.       By 
Tweedy,   47 
England,     Tendency     in     window 

ing,   *1271 
Kansas  City,    1000 
Milwaukee,  Indirect  lighting,  617 
Showcase    lighting.      By    J.    A.    Vessey, 
•1223 

Theater,    Cutler-Hammer    dinner,    *623 

Three-phase   lamps.      By   W.    Schaeffer,    (D.) 

1158 

(See     also     Sign     and     decorative     lighting; 

Street   lighting) 
Lighting,  Gas: 

High-pressure,    810 

-I Tests    of    street    lighting,    Manchester,    Eng- 
land.     By  T.   Osborne,   1265 
Lighting  bills.  Why  they  increase,    512 
Lighting  system — the   Permel   fixture   for   intense 

spot  illumination,   '954 
Lightning,    Curious    action    of,    357 
Lightning  arresters: 

-•\daptation     of     three-phase     for     two-phase 

use.    *1153 

Demonstration    of   low-voltage,    ^842 

— — Electrolytic,    (D.)    209 
Lightning   conductors: 

German    standardization    rules.      By    Kuppel, 

(D.)   211 

Size  of.      By  E.   W.   Kellogg,  ^60 

Tests,    with    Ruppel    apparatus,    (D.) 

Lightning    detector     for    2S0-ft.     concrete 

Topeka,   Kan.,   *939 
Lightning     protection.     Potential     drop     in     con- 
ductor      for      various       discharge       fre- 
quencies,   91S 
l-ignite.      (See   Coal) 

Lincoln,   111.,  high-tension  case,   387,   "391,  436 
Line  construction.      (See  Transmission.   Electric) 
Load     fluctuations.       (See     Central-station     prac- 
tice) 
Locomotives,    Electric: 

Mining.     By  G.  W.  Hamilton,    (D.)   518 

Operation      of.      under      service      conditions. 

By  N.   W.   Storer,  982 

Single-phase : 

French   Southern  Ry.      By  R.    Van   Cau- 

wenberghe,    (D.)    1006 
Westinghouse.      By    J.    Simey,    (D.    K  ) 
1107 

Storage-battery,  for  car  shops,  *624 

Ward      Leonard      multiple-voltage      systems, 

*295 
Locomotives,     Oil-engine,     Junkers.       By     J. 

Baker,    •US:    Correction,    140 
London,    Municipal    electricity   loans.      By    T 
Bowden    and    F.    Tait,    (D.)    788   ' 
Lumeter,    Holophane.    *363 

Luzerne    County    Gas    &    Electric    Co.,    Kingston 
Pa.,   System,   ^921;   Comment,   907 


•210 
stack. 


B. 

II. 


M 

Madrid,  Spain,  Electricity  supply.  By  H.  Bin- 
demann,    (D.)    6?2 

Magnetic  concentration.  By  M.  Ruthenburg, 
(D.   R.)    113 

Magnetic  flux.     By  F.  Emde,   (D.)   1277 

.Magnetic   properties  of  alloys,    (D.)    160 

Magnetic  rays  in  different  gases.  By  A.  Righi. 
.  (D.    R.)    1160 

Magnetic  separation  in  Colorado.  By  H.  (_'. 
Parmelee.    (D.   R.)    573 

Magnetic  tests  of  iron.  By  F.  Stroude,  (1)  ) 
209:  J.  Epstein,    (D.)    1221 

Magnetite   lamps: 

— —Playground    illumination,    Chicago,    •SeS 

Street  lighting  at  Cincinnati  and  Chatta- 
nooga, 1155 

Street  lighting  in  Utica,  N.  Y.,  "521 

Magnets: 

.\Iuminum    wire.     Naked    in    electromagnets, 

.Vdvantages.  By  H.  F.  Stratton,  •400; 
Comment,    386 

Calculation  of  direct-curr'ent  electromag- 
nets.     By  F.    Kraus,    (D.)    1007 

Cutler-Hammer,   lifting,    '893 

Doubling  capacity   of   lifting.    1311 

Industrial     uses     for     electromagnets,     ^575. 

By  A.  Reisset,   (D.  R.)  619 

•Indicates  illuslrattl  .irlicles. 


Magnets:    (Continued) 

Lake    and     l.indquist    lifting    electromagnet, 

-Lifting  of  5000  lb.  of  pig  iron,   '575 

Permanent    magnets.      By    S.    P.    Thompson, 

(D.)    160;   Comment,  83 

\\  itton-Kramer,    lifting,    '1010 

.Maine  Electric  Association,  233 

^Ianllole   adapted   to   new   street  grade,   '944 

-Manhole     covers,     steam-heated,     for     policemen, 

Indianapolis,   ^724 
.Manhole     traps.     Replacing     with     water     seals, 

•1206 
Manual-training  schools,   Isolated  plants  in,   •QSS 
Map     records    of    primary    and    secondary     pole 

lines,  Milwaukee,   *613 
Maryland   Commission   news,   347,   439,   487,   548, 
598.  652.  698,   764,  918,  986,   1086,   1136, 
1188,    1254 
.Massachusetts    Commission    news,    II.    139,    191, 
239,    440,    486,    652,    764,   815,    917,    986, 
1085,    1188,    1254 
Massachusetts   workmen's  compensation  act,   346; 

Comment.  339 
Maximum    demand.      (See    Charging    for    electric 

current) 
Measurement    of    small    intervals    of    time.       By 

F.  C.  Brown,   (D.)  '209 
Measurement  standards.    Practical,    (D.)    889 
.Measurement    of   voltage   and   current    over   long 
artificial     transmission     line.       By     Ken- 
nelly   and    Lieberknecht,    15 
-Measurements,    Electrical    transmission    of    elec- 

trical.     By  O.  J.   Bliss,  30 
Measuring     alternating-current     resistance.        Hy 

E.    F.    Northrup,    32 
Measuring    capacity    and    self-induction.    Instru- 
ment for,  Thompson  patent,   (D.)    951 
Measuring     high     speeds     of     rotation.        By     J. 

_  Schillo,   (D.   R.)    520 
Measuring  instruments: 

Central     station     instruments.        By     1<      O 

Heinrich.    (D.)    1109 

Hot-wire      -■\dvantages.         By      Pierce      and 

Tressler,    34 

Iron    in.    Use    of.      By    Dolivo-Dobrowolsky. 

(D.)    -1277 
— ^Shape    of    scales    required    for    reflecting    in- 
struments    with     concave     mirrors.       By 
E.  H.  Rayner.   (D.)   323 
.Measuring    large     currents.       The     four-terminal 
conductor     and     the     Thomson     bridge, 
933 
Measuring     permeability     with     alternating     cur- 
rent.     By  Robinson   and   Ball,   32" 
.Measuring   power.    Electrical   apparatus   for.      By 

C.   R.   Moore,   *449;   Comment,   434 
Measuring    resistance    of    platinum    thermometer. 
Bridge   methods    for.      By   F.    E,    Smith, 
(D.)    ^889 
-Measuring    small    inductances.       By     S.     Butter- 

_  worth,    (D.)    *519 
Measuring      stray      currents       in       underground 

pipes.     Bv  Carl  Hering,   *36 
Mercury    arc.     Study    of    light    from.       Use     of 
Cooper   Hewitt  fluorescent  reflector.     By 
H.   E.    Ives,   *304;   Comment,   292 
.Mercury-break    converter.       By    P.    R.    Coursey. 

(D.)    '673 
Mercury  switch.   Hatfield,    (D.)    '11S9 
Mercury  vapor  lamps: 

-Mternating-current        lamp        with        quartz 

globe.     By  F.   Girard,    (D.)  208 
French   and   German  quartz-tube   lamps.    De- 
sign,   operation,    cost    and    service    life. 
By   W.    H.    Miller,   •197;    Comment,    180 

General   electric  quartz-tube.   *373 

Quartz-tube,    for    power-house    lighting,    1153 

Quartz-tube,     for     street     lighting,     Chicago, 

•478 
Mercury-vapor    rectifier.      Bv    Bela    B.    Schaefer, 
(D.)    '115";   Comment,   1123 

Hatfield  patent.    (D.)    734 

Metallic    arc.    Rotations    in.       By    W.    G     Cadv 

(D.    R.)    370 
Metallic    vapors    in    filaments.    Electric    behavior 
of.     By  E.  N.  da  C.  Andrade,    (D.)  323 
Meter    errors,    Financial    importance    of       By    S 

M.   Powell,   (D.)   788 
Meter-room   equipment.      By   E.    P.    Austin,    (D.) 

573 
Meter   seals: 

Renewable  parts.   Security  Seal  Co.,  '1110 

Watt-hour,    Palmer,    *677 

Meter-testing    board,    Topeka    Edison    Co.,    "1048 
Metering    large    direct-current    installations.      By 

F.    V.    Magolhaes,    30 
Meters,     Candle-per-vvatt.       By     W.    T.     Birdsall, 

157 
Meters,  Carbon  dioxide,  Uehling,  •US 
Meters,    Electric: 

.\utomobile.    Westinghouse,    '1161 

Commercial  meters.     Bv   -A.   Durand,   (D. )  ti4 

Isario    Electro    Co.      By    M.    Wiesengrun.l, 

(D.)   417 

Losses   from   slow  meters,   259 

Ohio    Electric    Light    Association   report,    236 

Perpipersberg     single-phase     induction,      (D. 

R.)    519 

Protection    of   meters.      By    R.    Montgomery, 

•412 
— — Westinghouse    frequencv,    •421 

Westinghouse    power-factor,    *328 

Westinehouse   switchboard,    *114,    •167 

(See   also   their   names) 

Meters.    Energy-cost.    Donkiu.    "625 
Meters,  Insulation,  the  "Omega,"    (D.)   '1007 
Meters.    N^'ave.     Calibration     of.        By   G.    W.    O. 
Howe,    (D.)    160 


INDEX. 


IX 


with 
By   A. 


cen- 
Hart- 


637 


and 


Mexico,   Hydroelectric    projects   in   the    Rio   Ala- 
meda, 910  ,     T  V 
Mica     insulation.       By     Fleming     and     Johnson, 

(D  )  952 
Michigan   Commission   news,    299,    347,   440,    549, 

653,  868,  1362 
Micro-monophone,  (D.)   *1385 
Middle   West   Utilities   Co.,   Operations   of,    I<i6» 
Mills.      {See    Industrial   plants) 
Mine  maps.   Electrical  symbols  for,    1204 
Mine    power    plants,    Competition    of, 
tral   stations,    in    Europe, 
mann,    (D.)    460 
Miners'  lamps:  „       t-     c.      u  mat 

Faerber    safety.      By    F.    Faerber,    (D.    K.) 

887 

Methods  of  testing,    (D.)   732 

Mines,    Electricity    in: 

Central  Illinois  reports,  237 

Coal  mining.     By  T.  E.  Spence,  'ZeO 

Colorado  metal  mining.     By  W.  J.  Canada, 

*1194 

Generating  energy  at  coal  mines,   Chignecto 

plant     of     Maritime     Coal,     Railway     * 
Power    Co.,    *655,    1053;    Comment, 

Historical.     By  S.  F.  Walker,  1204 

Lead    and    zinc    districts    of     Missouri 

Kansas.       System     of     Empire     Uistrict 
Electric  Co..  *445;  Comment,  433 

MogoUon,    N.    M.,    55  .  ^    .  .      w    . 

Rossband,   B.   C.     Power  furnished  by  West 

Kootenay    Power    &    Light    Co.,      193. 
Comment,    179  . 

Tandem     operation     of     motor    and     engine, 

1260  ,^  ^    ,,,„ 

Three-phase  cascade  motors,   (U.)      61S 

Winding    plant    at    coal    mine    at     Kippax, 

Yorks,    (D.)    839 

(See  also  Coal  fields) 

Money,   Paper,   Cleaning  by  electricity,  418 
Monorail    traction,    Brennan    apparatus.      By 

L.   Newkirk,    (D.)    672 
Motion-picture    industry.    Electricity    m,    420 
Motor     manufacturers.     Co-operation     with     cen- 
tral stations.     By  J.  M.  Tomb,  864 
Motor    service.       (See    Central-station    business) 
Motor   starters: 

Auto-transformer  type,     165 

Automatic,    for    direct-current    motors.       By 

H.  L.  Beach,   (D.  R.)   888 

Field  automatic,    (D.)    672 

Fire-pump       starters,       Manually       operated, 

*1U0 
Multiple-switch,    alternating    current,    Cutler- 
Hammer,  "273 

— Oil-immersed,   *576 

Westinghouse   direct-current,   '63 

. Westinghouse,   for   slip-ring   motors. 

Motor-starting  currents   as   affecting   large   'rans- 
mission  system.s.     By   P.    M.    Lincoln,  15 
Motor-starting     devices     for    alternating    current 
motors.      By   W.    E.    Kampf,    877;   Com- 
ment.   857 
Motors,   Electric: 

.Advance    single-phase,    ^372 

Armature    reaction    in    lap-wound    machines. 

By  W.  Lulofs,   (D.)    1383 

Braking    of    alternating-current    commutator. 

By   M.    Schenkel,    (D.)    571 

Braking    polyphase    series    commutator.       By 

Niethammer  and   Siegel,    (D.)    671,  949 

Braking     of     series     commutator.        By     A. 

Fraenckel,    (D.)    618 

Braking    of    three-phase    series     commutator 

motors.     By  K.   Schenfer,   (n.)   269 

Cascade     connection     of     induction     motors 

and     three-phase      commutator     motors. 
By  E.  Siegel,   (D)   208,  367 

Cast-iron     magnets    and    weight     of    motors. 

By  J.  W.  Burleigh,  (D.)    1005 
Commutaling-pole      elevator      motor, 


U. 


•463 


the  phase  difference  of 
A.  Scherbius,  (D.)  '1005 
equipment.       By     E.      l-'. 

By    F.    C.    Aldous,    (U.) 


(D. 
(U. 


R.) 
R.) 


West- 
inghouse. *624 

Compensation     of 
induction.    By 

Department     store 
Tweedy,   47 

Drying    windings. 
732 

Elevator,  Watson,  *1114 

•Hunt   cascade.      By  J.    S.    Heather, 
887:    J.    R.     Catterson-Smith, 
1054 

-Induction,  Current  and  power-factor  in. 
By  H.  J.  S.  Heather,   (D.)   571 

Induction  motor  characteristics,  Predeter- 
mining.    By   C.   R.   Moore,    (D.)    459 

-Interpole,   for   traction,    (D.)    887 

-Interpole  traction.  Use  of.  By  L.  Bac- 
queyrisse,    (D.)    518;    Comment,   539 

-Leakage  coefficient  of  interpoles.  By  L.  A. 
Doggett.   (D.)    571 

-Losses  in  induction  motors  due  to  eccen- 
tricity of  the  rotor.  By  Smith  and 
Johnson,   (D.)    321 

-Phase  advancer  for  non-synchronous  ma- 
chines.     By   .'\.    Scherbius,    (D.)    *269 

-Phase  compensation  of  induction,    (D.)    1157 

-Polyphase  of  Mechanical  Appliance  Co.,  791 

-Polyphase  commutator,  vector  diagram  and 
characteristic  features.  By  R.  Riiden- 
herg,   (D.  R.)   321 

-Production  of  high-frequency  currents.  By 
M.  Latour,   (D.)    1383 

-Railway.  Experience  with  interpole  motors. 
By  L.  Bacqueyrisse,  (D.)  518 

-Regulation  of  direct-current.  By  W. 
Lehmann,    (D.)   208 

-Resistance  of  contacts.  By  L.  Binder,  (I). ) 
787 


Motors,    Electric:    (Continued) 

Reversing    motor    drive    for    machine    tools, 

•1336  , 

Self-excitation  and  braking,  with  recovery  of 

energy  of  alternating-current  motors 
with  series  characteristics.  By  A.  Scher- 
bius,  (D.)   *1383 

Self-excitation  of  polyphase  commutator  ma- 
chines.     By  R.   Moser,    (D.)    "61 

Single-phase      commutator.        By      Hellmund 

and  Smith,  (D.)  208,  732;  M.  Latour, 
(D.)    *1327 

^Single-phase  electric.  Bell,  *1011 

Single-phase       induction.       Development      ot 

complete  vector  analysis.  By  W.  J. 
Branson,    15 

Single-phase      induction.      Theory.        By      K. 

Moser,    (D.)   949,  1005,  '1054 

Single-phase    railway,    Bergmann,    (U.)      321 

Single-phase    railway,    Nicholson    and    Haigh, 

Small   motor.    Duties   performed   by.      By   G. 

J.    Kirchgasser,   *1378 
Small      split-phase      induction.      Determining 

relative    characteristics.      By    B.    Lester. 

(U-)    1054  ,       .  „  ...  . 
Speed      regulation      of      induction,      Britisn 

patents,    (D.)   618 
— —Speed     relation     between     shunt     and    series 

direct-current    motors.       By     L.     Cohen, 

(D.  R.)   517  ^     , 
Squirrel-cage    induction,    Fairbanks,    Morse, 

'1161  -.,.     . 

Starting  large  direct-current  motors  without 

series  resistance.  By  Carl  Trettin, 
(D.)   367,  414,  459 

Submersible,    '325,    (D.)    618 

Synchronous  machines  in  parallel.     By  Lee 

Hagood,   (D.)    1385 

Synchronous,       Methods       for       determining 

performance  without  complicated  dia- 
grams or  equations.  By  N.  Stahl, 
*147;   Comment,   131 

Temperature     compensation,     Krupp     patent, 

(U.)    839  .  ,„, 

Three-phase     cascade,     (jerman     mine,     (Ll.J 

Three-phase    commutator.      By    M.    Schenkel, 

(D.)    887,   949  .  „       ,, 

Three-phase    commutator    series.       By    Urey- 

fus   and   Hillebrand,    (D.)    61 

Transformer  action  in  single-phase  com- 
mutator. By  Hellmund  and  Smith, 
(D.)    414 

Voltage     variation     of     direct-current     shunt 

machines.     By   M.   Osnos,    (D.)    671 

Mutual  inductance.  Calculation  of.  By  H. 
Nagaoka,   (D.  R.)    1160  ^    „    ,„ 

Mutual  inductance  of  solenoids.  By  O.  K.  Uls- 
hausen.    (D.  R.)   621 

Myrawatt,  the  new  unit.  By  Stott  and  O  JNeill, 
32;    Comment,    2 


N 


Natick,  Mass.,  rate  case,  Decision,  917 

National   Association   of   Railway   Commissioners, 

Annual  meeting,  1080,   1182 
National  Civic  Federation  Conference,  1358 
National  District  Heating  Association,  6 
National  Electric  Light  Association: 

.-Vftairs,   230 

Commercial  section,   754,    1241 

Committee    meeting    in    Chicago,    December, 

1241 

Commonwealth   Edison   Section.  544 

Convention  of  1913,  808,  *1179 

Georgia  Section,  183,  389 

New  England  section,  437,  692,  812,  863 

Rate   research  committee,   808 

Rate  research  conference,  388 

National  Electrical  Contractors'  Association,   13-, 

184 
National  Electrical  Credit  Association,  5 
Navy    of    the    United    States,    Recommendations 

by  Secretary  Meyer,  1246 
Neon  lamp.     By  Schroeter,   (D.)    571 
Networks:  .       ,„  ^    ,^ 

Calculation   of.      By   E.    Mattansit,    (D.)    63; 

H.   Frohmann,   (D.)   950 
Disturbances    of    potential    and    current    pro- 
duced  in    an   active   conducting   network 
by  the  application  of  a  leak  load.     By  A. 
E.   Kennelly,   *1373 

Problems.     By   R.   Appleyard,   (D.)   620 

Protecting  secondary  against  defective  trans- 
former;, "717 

Protector,    Alternating-current,   Metropolitan, 

*844 
Tramway,    Determination.      By    A.    J.    Law- 
son,    (D.)    270 
New    England    Electrical    Development    Associa- 
tion, 476,  755,  813 
New    Jersey    Commission    news,    652.    814,    867, 

987.  1188,   1254 
New  York  City: 

Electric  lighting  development,     480 

Electric  show.  696,  *759,  793,  '880 

Fourth  of  July,  82,  *87 

Grand  Central  Terminal,  *I309 

Rubber  exhibition,  640 

New  York  Edison  Co.: 

Acquires   railway  load.   227,    *231 

Address  by   Commissioner  Maltbie.    1179 

Electromedical  division,   1353 

Rate    discrimination    charge,    345,     113'';    by 

P.   R.   Moses,   1381 


New  York  Electric  Vehicle  As.sociation,  592,  1126 

New  York  Public  Service  Commission  News,  10, 
88,  138,  191,  238,  299,  347,  392,  439, 
548,  598,  652,  698,  764,  867,  917,  986, 
1032,  1085,  1136,  1187,  1253,  1761 

New  York  Public  Service  Commission,  Status  of, 
1252 

New    Zealand: 

Electrical  progress,    1248 

Patent  legislation  in,  1249 

Niagara  Falls  power  situation.  By  Louis  Bell, 
tD.)    1006 

Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Power  Co.,  Devel- 
opment plans,  755 

Nitrogen  Fixation  of,  by  alumina  and  carbon. 
By  Tucker  and  Rend,   (D.)    1006 

Northwest  Electric  Light  and  Power  Association, 
Convention,   646 


Office  buildings.  Electric  equipment: 

— — Chicago  buildings,  *556 

-Installation    of    small    power    plants 

eral    buildings.      By    D.    F.    Atkins 

H.   M.   Price,  257,  498,  717 

Muskogee,  Okla.,  *262 

Storage  battery  for  night  operation,  Omaha, 

Neb.,  "1149 
Ohio   Commission   news,   89,    139,    191,   239,    299, 

393,   486,    549,    598,    653,    699,    765,   814, 

918,  986,  1033,  1086,  1188,  1254,  1362 
Ohio  Electric  Light  Association,  5,   187,  212,  234 
Ohmmeter,     Moving-coil,     Record 

1160 


fed- 
and 


patent,     (D.) 


Oil: 


of    fuel-oil    in 


Westinghouse, 

By  E.  Owen, 

•959 
turbines.        By 

Correction, 


1098 

1080 
1032 

of     current- 
R.     Milner, 


By      H.      Busch, 
W.    Salomonson, 


-Production    and    consumption 
United  States,   1098 

Properties,   testing,   etc.,    of   transformer   oil. 

By  A.  Reisset,   (D.R.)  269 

.Requirements    of    transformer    oil.       By    A. 

Reisset,   (D.R.)  208 
Oil-drying    and    purifying    outfit, 

•1224 
Oil  engines: 

— —Diesel,   for  irrigation  service 
109 

Diesel  type,  using  crude  oil, 

Diesel     engines     vs.     steam 

Gerecke,    (D.)    518 

Junkers.     By  J.  B.  Baker,  *115; 

140 

Remington   oil-engine   generator  set,   "1113 

Oil  fuel.      By  C.  E.   Stromeyer,    (D.)    1106 

Bellingham,  Wash.,   144 

Furnace    arrangements: 

San    Francisco,   *937 
Topeka  Edison  Co.,  *S0 

In  electrical  service,   339 

Tests   on   internal   combustion    engines, 

Oil  in  boilers.  Tube  for  detecting,  *418 
Oregon  Electrical   Contractors'   Association 
Oregon  Public  Service  Commission,    "^'^ 
Oscillating     spark.     Determination 
potential     curves.       By     S. 
(D.)    1108 
Oscillographs: 

Blondell-Ortich      theory. 

(D.R.)   370 

Design    of.      By   J.    K.    A. 

(D.R.)  64 
Overhead  construction.      (See  Transmission) 
Oxygen,   Electrolytic  manufacture,  939 
Ozone,    Properties   and    production.      By    W.    H. 
Thompson  (D.)   1108 


Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Co.  vs.  Great  Western 
Power  Co.,  136;  Comment,   130 

Pacinotti,  Antonio.      By   L.    Finzi,    (D.)    113 

Panama- Pacific  International  Exposition,   118 

Paper   mills.      (See   Industrial   plants) 

Patent  cases  in  England,  984 

Patent  commission: 

Asked  for  by  Inventors'  Guild,  84 

Recommended     by     American     Institute     of 

Electrical   Engineers,   1178 

Patent  legislation  in  New  Zealand,   1249 

Patent  matters,   United   States: 

Annual   report   of   Commissioner   of   Patents, 

233 

Evils     of     patent     license     restrictions.       By 

John   Brooks,   207 

Investigation,  182,  389.  1028 

Investigation  Report  by  Economy  and  Effi- 
ciency Commission,   1243,   1250 

Legislation  in  Congress,   182,  344,   388,   1180 

Monopolies  and  patents.   Decision  in   United 

Shoe   Machinerv  case,   85;   Comment,   82 

Oldfield  substitute  bill,   344 

Protection    of   intellectual    property.      By    L. 

H.   Baekeland,   1359 

Reform.     By  R.  D.  Mershon,  1081 

Report   of   American   Society   of   Mechanical 

Engineers,  976 

Report  of  Economy  and  Efficiency  Commis- 
sion,   1243,    1250 

Report    of    House    of    Representatives    com- 

mittee,   343:   Comment,  340 

Sulzer  bill  for  a  single  court  of  patent  ap- 
peals, 1302 

Trial   of   patent   cases   affected  by   new   rules 

of   equitv   practice,    1252 

Patent  office,   German.      By  Carl  Weihl,   (D.)   64 


•Indicates  illustrated  articles. 


INDEX. 


Peat  for  power  purposes.     By  H.  V.  Tegg,   (D.) 

517;     Comment,     475;    J.    TeichmuUer, 

(D.)    1385 
Pennsvlvania  Electric  Association,  438,  476,  545, 

577  ^         ,.^     . 

Pennsylvania   electrical    properties.    Consolidation 

and  extension,  543 
Pensions.  (See  Employees) 
Phase    advancer    for    non-synchronous    machines 

By  A.   Scherbius,    (D.)   "269 
Photoelectric    action.      By    O.    W.     Richardson 

CD.)   888 
Photoelectric    cells.      By   J.    W.    Woodrow,    (D.) 

840  .  , 

Photoelectrie  effect    of   phosphorescent   material 

By  C.  A.  Butman,  (D.)   518 
Photoelectric  effect  of  some  compounds.     By  A 

L.  Hughes,    (D.)    733 
Photometric  pressure  recorders,  Dow  patent,  (U.) 

1108 
Photometry: 
Apparatus  for  measuring  light  and  illumina. 

tion.     By   J.    S.    Dow   and    V.    H.    Mac- 

kinney,  "363  . 
Central     station     photometric     practice.       By 

S.   R.  Keyes,   1267 
Color    difference,    Elimination    of,    in    incan- 
descent  lamps,    by   means    of   multi-volt- 

■age   standards.      By    D.    H.    Tuck,    (D.) 

1275 
Color  photometry.     By  Lord  Rayleigh,    (D.) 

571 
Flicker,   Comment  on  paper  by   H.   E.    Ives. 

753 

Heterochromatic.      By  H.  E.   Ives,    CD.)    110 

International    Photometric    Commission,   975, 

976 
Lights    of    different    colors.      By    H.    E.    Ives, 

(D.)    269,   671,   1384;   Comment,   1295 
Photoelectric  cell  in.     By  Nichols  and   Mer- 

ritt.   (D.)  '158 
Photoelectric    photometer.      By    Elster    and 

Geitel,    (D.)   459 
Photographic    method    for    recording   candle- 
power  distribution  curves.     By  Ives  and 

Luckiesh,  '153,;   Comment,   131 
Physical  photometers.     By  J.   S.   Dow,  873; 

Comment,  855  o     t.t      t. 
Precision     photometer,    Leeds    &    Northrup, 

10S8  „       .      „ 
Selenium  cell    and   photometry.      By   A.    tl. 

Pfund,   (D.)    110  ,      ^ 
Spectral    luminosity    curve    of    the    average 

eye.     By  H.  E,  Ives,  (D.)  127S 
Pictures,  felectric  transmission: 

Korn  method,   (D.)    789         .        ,^^  ^^, 

Marino  system.     Bv  A-  Manno,  (D.)  674 

Pig-iron,    Electric-furnace.      By    Lyon    and    Lan- 

genberg.    TD.)    323 
Pinch  phenomenon,    (D.R.)    788 
Pipe,  Design  of  high-pressure  steam,   1320 
Piping   for  transformer   oil,   air  and  cooling   wa- 

ter.  Design  of.     By  Fred  Buch,  *1201 
Platinum.     By  H.  F.  Keller.  (D.)   1222 

Diminutive  separable,.  Hubbell,  *371 

Waterproof  wall,  G.  E.,  *328 

Polarization   emf  of  a  mixture  of  clay,   feldspar 

and  quartz.     By  A.  A.  SomerviUe,  403 
Pole-height  estimator.  Milwaukee,  *944 
Pole-line  record  systems.  Milwaukee,  *613 
Poles: 
Concrete:  ,        t    j-  i* 

Cost  of  concreting  wooden,  Indianapolis, 
*724 

Hollow  reinforced-concrete,  Jones,  *89S 

Manhattan,   Kan.,   '948 

Reinforced    cement    and    concrete.      By 
Alfred  Still,  658;  Comment,  638 

Revolving  molds  for,  716 

Tests   and   deflections.   832 

V'ersus  wooden.  Tests,  456 
Cost    of    pole-line    construction.      By    S.    B. 

Hood,   781 

Joint  pole-line  construction,  *457,  780 

^Joints  for  tubular  steel  poles,  *883 

Life  tests  on  treated  and  untreated  chestnut 

poles,    Warren-Buffalo   line    and    Pough- 

keepsie-Newtown  Square  l.ine,  1148 

Painting  in  yard,  before  erecting,  *612 

. Preserving.  (See  Timber  preservation) 

Polonium,    .Mpha    rays    of.      By    V.    E.    Pound, 

(D.)  733 
Popcorn   wagon.    Electric,    *1048 
Portland,   Ore.:  .     ,     .,, 

Electrical  display  at  Rose  Carnival,  *56 

Threatened  competition  in,  86 

Posts.      (See  Street  lighting) 

Potential.    Production    of   high,    for   electrometer 

work.     By  A.  H.  Forman.  (D.)   841 
Pottery  mixtures,  Polarization  emf  of.     By  A.  A. 

SomerviUe.   403 
Power-factor    of    three-phase    circuit.    Determina- 
tion.    By  H.  N.  Lucas,   (D.R.)   789 
Power    generation.    Cost    of.    with    low-pressure 

steam  turbine.     By  S.  G.  Neiler,  1205 
Power  loads.      (See   Central-station  business) 
Power     plants.       (See     Central     stations;     Office 

buildings;  Transmission  plants) 
Power   transmission.      (See   Transmission) 
Precipitation     of     suspended     particles,     Electric. 

By    Linn    Bradley.    (D.)    840;    W.    W. 
Strong.    (D.)   840 
Primary  battery,  Burn-Boston  "Noloss."  •1110 
Protection    of    intellectual    property.      By   L.    H. 

Baekeland.   1359 
Protective    apparatus.      By    E.    E.    F.    Creighton, 
(D.)  369;  C.  C.  Badeau,  813 


Public-service  corporations: 

Relation    of    central    station    to    prospective 

consumer.     By  E.  M.  Addis,  863 
Relations   with    the   public.      By    U.    L.    Gas- 
kill,  235 
Public    utility    laws.    Investigation    by     National 

Civic  Federation,  1252 
Pumping  coal   from   Susquehanna   River  by   elec- 
tricity at  Plymouth,  Pa.,  *51 
Pumping,  Electric: 

Deep-well  pumping.     By  J.  E.   Bullard,  '510 

Emergency  work  at  Denver,  Col.,  *315 

-Empire    District    mines,    Missouri    and    Kan- 
sas, 447 

Irrigation : 

Garden   and   truck   farmers.   Pumps  for, 

•214 
Lodi,  Cal..  Irrigation  plant  near,  "714 
Pacific  Power  &  Light  Co..  552 
Southern    Idaho.      By    E.    A.    Wilcox. 
•705;   Comment.  689 
Pumps: 

— ' — Centrifugal   boiler-feed.   ^938 
— • — -Fire  pumps.  Electric.  *465.  '1012 

Goulds  vertical  centrifugal,  *843 

Irrigation  electrical  equipment,  •118.  *214 

^Molecular    air    pump.      By    W.    Gaede,    (D.) 

•1007;   Comment.  975 

Multiple-stage   centrifugal,   Manistee,    *57S 

Rotary  air  pump  and  condenser.     By  C.   E. 

C.  Shawfield.  (D.)  62 

Sand  pumps.   Cost  of  operating  electric,  879 

Sump,  Goulds  motor-driven  centrifugal,  "leS 

Punch  and  shear   press,   Cleveland  motor-driven. 

•68 
Pyrometers: 

Calibration  of  radiation  and  optical  pyrome- 
ters.    By  G.  A.  Shook,   (D.)    113,  621 
Continuous  chart  recording.  Brown,  *955 


Quarries,    Electricity    in,    Martinsburg,    W.    Va., 
•463 


Radiators,   Electric,   Simplex,   •lOlO 

Radioactive  elements.  Chemical  compounds  of 
short-lived.      By  H.    Schrader,    (D.)    416 

Radiological  Institute  of  the  University  of  Heid- 
elberg,  (D.)    1056 

Radiometer,  Joule.  By  F.  W.  Jordan,  (D.) 
1277 

Radium  C,  V'olatility  of.  By  A.  S.  Russell,  (D.) 
519 

Radium  standard.     By  W.  Neumann,  (D.)  573 

Railless  traction: 

Berlin    to    Steylitz.      By    W.    A.    T.    Muller, 

(D.)    Ill 

Dundee,    (D.R.)   840 

Railophone.      By  H.  von  Kramer,    (D.)   1385 

Kails,  Corrugation,  British  report,   (D.)  887 

Railway  loads  for  central   stations.  227 

Railway  terminal.  Grand  Central,  New  York, 
•1309 

Railways: 

.-\ustralia.   Single-phase   versus  direct   current 

for   suburban   traction,    (D.)    1276 

Berlin,    Germany,   Electrification   work,    (D.) 

63 

Billings,  Mont.,  Storage-batterv  car,  ^261 

Brazil.     By  L.  Wiener,   (D.R.)    518 

Budapest.     By  J.  F.  de  Tovaros,  (D.R.)  733, 

1056,  1107 

Car  meters.     By  W.  Clough,   (D.)   209 

-Car    mileage.    Calculating.      By    W.    Wykes, 

(D.)    518 

-Cars,    Pay-as-you-enter,    in    North    America. 

By  H.  M.  Howard.  (D.)  208 

Cars.    Storage-battery,    Billings,    Mont..   *261 

Chicago  conditions,   (D.)   839 

— —Cologne,  Germany.  Bv  R.  Kruger,  (D.R.) 
460,  518 

-Denver  &  Rio  Grande  electrification,   1078 

Dessau-Bitterfeld,   Overhead   work,    (D.)    733 

^Determination    of    tramway    networks.       By 

A.  J.  Lawson,   (D.)   270 

Direct   current  versus   single-phase  traction, 

(D.)    1328 

Discussion  of  tramways,  omnibuses  and  rail- 
less  traction.     By  A.  H.   Pott.    CD.)   208 

France,      Single-phase      system      in      Haute- 

Vienne   district.      By   P.    Chazaux,    (D.) 
788 

Generation  and  primary  distribution  of  en- 
ergy for  given  areas.  Discussion  of 
paper  by  Samuel  Insull,  22,  24 

— ■ — Hamburg,   Germany: 

Elevated.     By  W.  Mattersdorff.  (D.)  63, 

111,  209,   368 
New  Metropolitan  Ry.     By  G.  Cuvillier, 
(D.R.)    415,   51S 

Illinois    (Central,    Electrification    of    suburban 

service,   132 

Intermittency  in  traction  for  city  and  sub- 
urban service.  By  W.  Y.  Lewis,  (D.) 
63 

Italy.      By    G.    Calzolari,    (D.)    1329;    (D.) 

1385 

Leeds   municipal    system.    Financial   account. 

(D.)   368 

Light  railways  of  Belgium  and  Prussia.     By 

R.  Haas,   (D.R.)   415 

Lincoln,  England,  Financial  statement,   (D.) 

839 

'Indicates  illustrated  articles. 


system. 


By  T.  Fekl,  (D.)  270 

By   H.    Bebn-Eschen- 

W.    Kummer,    (D.R.) 

Lorain,     England. 


Railways:    (Continued) 

London  subway  extension,   (D.)   460 

Multiple-voltage        electric-traction 

Ward  Leonard  patent,  '295 
New  York  Central,  Grand  Central  Terminal, 

•1309 
New  York    New  Haven  &  Hartford,  Boston- 
Providence  electrification,  184 

Norway,   Single-phase  traction  at   Rjukanfos. 

By  F.   Marguerre,   (D.l   949.    1006,    1220 

Paris,  Reorganization,    (D.)    1329 

' Problems  of  traction. 

Single-phase   traction. 

burg,    (D.)    158; 

572 
Surface-contact     system, 

(D.)  839 
Track    maintenance.       By    W.    Thorn,    (D.) 

208 

Upper  Silesia,   (D.)  888 

Rainbow     Falls    transmission    plant,    *37:     Com- 
ment, 2 
Ranges,   Electric: 

Copeman  range  and  fireless  cooker,  ^954 

Miniature,  Simplex.  ^956 

Thompson's  Spa,  Boston,  ^892,  1012 

Rates.      (See   Charging  for   electric   current) 
Rathenau   medal    founded   in   American   Museum 

of  Safety,  *1245 
Reactance,   Synchronous   and  asynchronous.      By 

J.  Rezelman,   (D.)   61 
Reactance    coil    used    with    generator    supplying 

railway  load,  Deptford  station,   London, 

(D.)   '619 
Reactors,    Porcelain-clad,    *1332 
Receptacles,     Cutler-Hammer     attachment     plug, 

•1161 
Recoil    atoms    in    ionized    air.      By    A.    F.    Kova- 

rik,   (D.)    1220 
Records,  forms  and  files  for  solicitors.     By  J.  E, 

North,  1377 
Rectifiers: 
Crystal.  Use   of.     By  R.   H.  Goddard,    (D.) 

160 

Edison  alternating-current,  '891 

Vibrating,    for   charging   three-cell   batteries, 

Westinghouse,  *1281 
Rectifying  effect.     Bv  H.   Rohmann,    (DJ   415 
Rectifying    valves.    Connections    of    electrolytic. 

By  G.  E.  Bairstro,   (D.)  368 
Reflectors: 

Cassidy,  for  desk  lamp,  '1387 

Industrial   metal   dome,   *274 

National  X-Ray,  *1009 

Reynolds  reflector  and  flasher,  •ll? 

Refrigeration: 

(Jentral-station   ice-making.      By    H.   J.    Mac- 

intire.  359 

Household  plant  for  ice-box,  ^163 

^Lexington,    Ky.,    Central-station    ice-making, 

•1023 
— —Packing  house  and  butcher  shop,  St.  Louis, 

•623 
Regulators; 
Feeder-voltage.      By    E.     E.     Lehr,     (D.R.) 

1056 
Pressure,     Automatic.       By     S.     T.     Watson, 

(D.)    158 
Single-phase     induction,     Siemens-Schuckert, 

(D.)    1220 
Speed    regulator    for    small    motors.    Midget, 

•1009 
Voltage  regulator  for  house  lighting,  Edison, 

956 
Relativity,    Theory    of.      By    R.    D.    Carmichael, 

(D.)   950 
Relay     auxiliary     contact     for     aluminum     check 

cell,   *725 
Relays; 

On  alternating-current  circuits.   Practical  in- 
stallation of.     By  C.   E.   Freeman.   ^924 
• Protective  systems,   European  and  American 

practice.     By  L.  L.  Elden.  ^18 

Sensitive,  the  KK  detector,  (D.)  '840 

Resistance,   Effect  of  magnetic  fields  on.      By   C. 

W.  Heaps,   (D.)    1330 
Resistance    of    contacts.       By    L.     Binder,     (D.) 

787 
Resistance  of  metals.  Effect  of  vibration  on.     By 

H.  L.  Brakel,  (D.)  951 
Resistance  material,   British   patent.    (D.)    1007 
Resistivity    of    oxide    powders    with    temperature. 

By  A.  A.  SomerviUe.  (D.)   113 
Resistor,    (jraphite   compression,    for    large    rheo- 
stats, Allen-Bradley,   *1059 
Resuscitation    from    electric    shock.      By    C.    A. 

Lauffer,  545 
Rheostats: 

Allen-Bradley   small    controlling,    *1279 

• -Compound     starting    and     regulating,     Inde- 
pendent, ^576 
Water-cooled    iron-pipe,    capable    of   dissipat- 
ing 1500  kw  continuously,  ^715 
Riverdale  plant  of  Weber  &  Davis  Counties  Co., 

near    Ogden,    Utah,    •1191;     Comment, 

1175 
Riveter.   Electric,   Flohr,    (D.)    ^370 
Rock   River  hydroelectric   development,   •871 
Roentgen  radiation  from  substance  of  low  atomic 

weight.      By   Sadler   and    Mesham,    (D.) 

369' 
Roentgen     radiation     from     carbon.     Distribution 

and    qualitv    of   the    secondary.      By    H. 

Pealing,  (D.)   1159 
Rolling   mills.      (See   Industrial    plants) 
Royal   Society,  Anniversary  of.     By  Brother  Po- 

tamian,  233 
Rubber: 

Report   of   Rubber   Central   Bureau    for   Ger- 
man colonies,    (D.)    462 


INDEX. 


XI 


Kaempf, 
W.    S. 


Grip- 
By 


T.     Donnelly 
patent,     (U.) 


Rubber :    (Continued) 

Synthetic.      By   A.   J.    Beaver,    (D.)    272;    A. 

Troller,   (D.)   674 
Ruhmkorff    coil,    Influence    of   condenser    on    the 

working   of.      By    W.    H.    Wilson,    (D.) 

•620 


Safety  precautions  around  electrical  apparatus, 
•827 

Safety  rules  for  electrical  construction,  Indiana 
Harbor,    Ind.,    1270 

Sag   formulas.      (See   Transmission,    Electric) 

Salaries,    Solicitors',    Unit   schedule   for,   940 

Sale   of   energy.      (See    Central-station    business) 

Salt  vapors  in  flames.  Diffusion  of.  By  H.  A. 
Wilson,    (D.)    416 

San    Francisco: 

Board   of   Supervisors,   699 

— — Hctch  Hetchy  water  and  power  project, 
1185 

Transportation  problem,   693 

Saws,  Electrically  operated,   *524,   *1226 

Screen  cover  for  manhole  workers,  457 

Screens.    Electric,   to   kill   insects,   465 

Search-lamps,    Troubleman's    portable,    *676 

Search-lanterns: 

Gun-carriage  type,  *1279 

Linemen's,  939 

Selenium: 

Saturation  current  in.     By  F. 
1159 

Sensitive    selenium    cell.       By 

enberg.    (D.)    370 

Variation  of  resistance  of,  with  voltage. 

E.    E.    Fournier   d'Albe,    (D.)    159 

Sewage : 

—Electrolytic  purification.  By  F.  C  Cald- 
well, 236 

Purification  by  ozone,  Trenton,  N.  J.,  604 

Sewing    machines.    Motor-driven,    *67,     (D.)    733 

Shaft  lining.  Application  for  electric  iron,  455 

Shears; 

Bliss  circle-cutting,   *275 

Portable    motor-operated,    *67 

Ships: 

Electric    propulsion.       By    W. 

and  G.  A.  Orrok,  '1127 

Electric     propulsion,     British 

1276 

Electric   propulsion,   three-phase   system.      By 

Zickler    and    Czepek,    (D,)    *414;    Com- 
ment, 386 

Electric  propulsion  of  U.  S.  collier  "Jupiter," 

•251;     By    E.    Berg,    (D.)    619;    H.    A. 
Mavor,    (D.)    840 

Launching  ci   the   "Jupiter."   436 

Steering     gear.     Electro-hydraulic,     on     the 

"Orama,"   (D.)    572 

Shoe  cleaner,   motor-driven,    *1101 

Shoe   machinery,   Electric,   *957 

Shoes,  Insulating,  ^1163 

Shop  management,  Scientific.  By  G.  C.  AI ling- 
ham,   (D.)    1109 

Sign   and   decorative   lighting: 

Baltimore   search-lamp   illumination,    'lO? 

Boston  electric  show.  Exterior  lighting.      By 

Louis   Bell,   "525 

— —Buffalo   General    Electric   building,   *1215 

Fire  engineers'  sign,   *784 

Halifax.   N.  S.,   513 

Lebanon,   Pa.,   *8S3 

Louisville,    Ky.,    *998 

Muskogee,  Okia,  '262 

Portland,  Ore.,  *56,   *26S 

St.  Louis  theater  front,  *1214 

Salt    Lake    City,   Hotel    Utah,    '207 

Vancouver,  B.  C.,  '882 

(See    also    Street   lighting) 

Signals,   Electric: 

— —Ball   ground    apparatus,    Boston.    *277 

Block  system  in  Berlin,  (D.)   1385 

Hospital  lamp  signal  system,  *612 

• Railophone     wireless     inductive     system     of 

automatic    railway    signaling,    (D.)    272 

Submarine  signaling.  History  and  develop- 
ment.    By  H.  J.  W.  Fay,  25 

Signs,    Electric: 

Armorduct   Mfg.   Co.,  '65 

Clock,   *791 

Delivery  wagon  flashing  signs,   *374 

Foster   arc   lamp   signs,    *ld09 

Interchangeable     illuminated     sidewalk    sign, 

•1156 

Lincoln.    Neb.,    Co-operative   signs,    *1151 

New  type,   *956 

Newton,    Mass.,    *525 

Remote-control    switches    for    flat-rate    signs, 

Topeka.    Kan.,    1046 

Sandusky,  Ohio,  sign,  *523 

Security   of   Chicago,    358 

Talking  signs,  the  Bickley  Motograph,  De- 
troit.   *58 

Silicon  carbide  plant  of  Norton  Co.,  Chippewa, 
Ontario.     By  F.   A.   J.   Fitzgerald,    (D.) 

Singing  arc,  Experimental  investigation.  By  T. 
E.  Hoyt,    (D.)    1277 

Skin  effect  in  conductor  with  circular  cross- 
section.      By   P.   Girault,    (D.)    323 

Skin-effect  co-efficients.      By  H.   S.   Wallau,    1156 

Smelting,  Electric,  of  zinc  ores.  By  W.  R.  In- 
galls,    (D.)    323 

Smoke  prevention.  Fireman's  use  of  mirror  in 
watching  stack,  825 

Society   of   Automobile   Engineers,   6 


Society  for  Electrical  Development,  754,  858, 
1026,    1181 

Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Edu- 
cation,   5,    133 

Solar   energy.   Fixation   of,   591 

Solenoids,  Mutual  inductance  of.  By  G.  K. 
Olshausen,    (D.    R.)    621 

Sons  of  Jove.     By  H.  H.  Cudmore,  617 

Sources  of  energy  available  for  power  geneia- 
tion.     By  H.  S.  Hele-Shaw,   (D.)   1056 

South  America,  Electrical  industry  in.  By  L. 
W.    Schmidt,    (D.    R.)    840,    890 

Spain,  Electrical  industry  in.  By  von  Scheren, 
(D.)    1385 

Spark,  Oscillating,  Determination  of  current- 
potential  curves.  By  S.  R.  Milner, 
(D.)    1108 

Spark-gaps  in  running  liquids.  By  Eccles  and 
Makower,   (D.)    890 

Sparking  in  direct-current  machinery,  minimiz- 
ing. By  Jens  Bache-Wiig,  605 ;  Com- 
ment,   590 

Sparks,  Dust  figures  produced  by  electrical.  By 
Barton  and   Kilby,    (D.)    1108 

Spectacular  lighting.  (See  Sign  and  decorative 
lighting) 

Speed  indicators: 

Electric,  *954 

Telephone  transmitter  used  as,  *164 

Standardization   rules,   German,    (D.)    732 

Stands  for  working  on  inverted  electric  irons, 
724 

Starting  resistances  and  motor  fuses.  By  K. 
Jasse,    (D.)    518 

Steam    turbines: 

Commercial   efficiency,   995 

Diesel     engines     and     steam     turbines.       By 

Gercke,   (D.)   518 

Essen,    built   by   Escher,    Wyss   &   Co.,    (D.) 

1158 

Exhaust  disks,  •1376 

Exhaust  heating  from.     By  A.   H.  Kruesi,  8 

Mixed-pressure  turbine  and  steam  regener- 
ator.     By   E.    D.    Dickinson.   757 

Operation    of    mixed-pressure    turbines.      By 

R.   C.  Muir,   (D.)   367 

Parallel-flow,    Kerr,    *276 

Rateau   mixed-pressure,    *213 

Steel: 

Comparative    magnetic    tests.      By    E.    Gum- 

lich.    (D).   64 

Magnetic   and  elastic  properties.      By   C.    W. 

Waggoner,    (D.)    271 

Magnetic      properties      of      manganese      and 

nickel  steels.     Ev  Hilpert  and  Mathesius, 
(D.)    1220 

Refining,  Electric.     By  R.  Amberg.   (D.)  673 

Self-demagnetization.      By   Smith   and   Guild, 

(D)    416 

Steel   mills.      (See    Industrial    plants) 

Stcinmetz  on  the  future  of  the  electrical  indus- 
try,   911 

Sterling  Debenture   Corporation,    1359 

Storage  batteries: 

Automobile   batteries,   Discussions   at    Boston 

convention,    876 

Burning  of  plate  lugs,    (D.   R.)    1221 

Central-station   practice  in  Chicago,   778 

Charging   without    a   booster.      By   R.    Edler, 

(D.)    •368 

— — Discussion    at    Chicago,    1181 

Hannover,     in     Copenhagen,     (D.)     64 

Voltage  regulation.      By   C.   Kjar,    (D.)    '950 

Storage-battery  multiple-unit  traction  system, 
•1060 

Storage-battery  legulation  of  low-head  water- 
power   plant.    *932 

Stoves,    Electric.      (See    Cooking,    Electric) 

Street  lighting: 

^—Alameda,    Cal.,   "946 

Baltimore.    Down-town.    "726 

^Billinjrs,    Mont..    Remote   control,    "568 

Chattanooga.   Tenn.,    1380 

Chicago: 

Column    transparencies,    *785 
Dearborn   Street,    1128 
Flame  arcs.   514 
Height  of  arc   lamps,    •264 
Operations     under     contract     with     the 
Sanitarv    District,  *772,   •822;   Com- 
ment. 80S 
Park  lighting  with   flame  arcs,   *569 
Private   ornamental    lighting,    *614 
Quartz- tube    mercury- vapor    lamps,    ^478 
Standardization    of   fixtures,    1103 

Cincinnati  and  Chattanooga,  Inverted  mag- 
netite   lighting,    1155 

Columbus,   Ohio,  *]155 

Comparative  light  distribution  and   operating 

costs   of  tungsten   and   arc   lighting.     By 
H.   H.   Magdsick,  319 

Dayton.     Ohio,    Automatic    control    of    curb 

lighting  from  switchboard,  ^513 

Des   Moines,   la.: 

Co-operative    lighting.    881 
Viaduct   lighting.    "1052 

Discussion   at   Pittsburgh,    1353 

Electricity   versus  gas,   Tests  at   Manchester, 

England.      By   T.    Osborne,    1265;    Com- 
ment,   1242 

Emporia,   Kan.,  Use  of  trolley  poles,  •1218 

Fitchburg,  Mass..   202 

-Fort    Wayne,    Ind.,    Artificial    granite    posts. 


By 

111., 


361 
-Fort    Worth,    Tex., 

police-call    and 
-Future  possibilities. 


Combination    white-way. 
fire-alarm    posts,    *3]9 
By  D.  M.  Diggs,  979 


-Gas  versus  electricity,    (D.)    1106 
-Great   Falls,   Mont.,   Frontage   charges, 

"Indicates  illustrated  articles. 


•358 


Street    lighting:    (Continued) 

Height  of  arc  lamps,  Chicago,  "264 

Houston,  Tex.,   magnetite  arcs,   "153 

Jonesboro,  Ark.,   "516 

Kansas    City,    Mo.,   Tungsten   posts,    "1051 

—Lincoln,  Neb.,   "1103 

Maiden,   Mass.,   Legal   decision,   916 

Manchester,    Eng.,    Tests    of    electricity    and 

gas.      By   T.    Osborne,    1265;    Comment, 
1242 

Marion,  Ind.,  Lighting  used  as  police  aux- 
iliary,  •785,   1151 

Mercury-vapor,    quartz-tube    lamps,    Chicago, 

•478 

Milwaukee,  Grand  avenue  viaduct,   "515 

Minneapolis,  Curb  post  with  flower  bas- 
ket,  "832 

Mobile.  Ala.,  882 

New    York    illumination    for    naval    pageant, 

'811 

Omaha,   Neb.,  Flame-arcs,   "1155 

Pasadena,   Cal.,    Bronze   posts,    "1003 

Peoria,      111.,      Remote-controlled     operation, 

•1154 

Pittsburgh,    Flaming    arcs,    *677 

Pueblo,  Col.,  Flaming  arcs,   53 

Rochester,   N.    Y.,   "728 

St.   Louis,   "784 

Park  bridge,  ^832 

Standards   at   public   buildings,   *1325 

White   Way   lamp,   "1052 

Seattle,  Wash.,  "58 

Seneca   Falls,  N.   Y.,   "1270 

Toronto,  Ontario,  Features  of  the  installa- 
tion. By  K.  L.  Aitken,  "493 ;  Com- 
ment, 474 

Utica,  N.  Y.,  Luminous  arc  lamps,  438,  *521 

Wiring  arrangement,  Economical,  Worces- 
ter, Mass.,   "263 

Worcester,  Mass.,  street  lighting  case,  De- 
cision,  190 

(See  also   Sign  and  decorative  lighting) 

Street-lighting  tables,   1185,  Sup.   Dec.   7 

Stroboscopic  effects  obtainable  with  incandes- 
cent filaments  as  illuminants.  By  C. 
F.    Lorenz,    "1146;    Comment,    1121 

Substations: 

Butte,   Mont.,   Great  Falls  Power  Co.,  *41 

Chicago   Sanitary  District,  *825 

Design    of   high-tension   stations.      By  C.    M. 

Rhoades,   (D.)   949 

Jordan  River  development,  British  Colum- 
bia,  820 

-Pacific   Power   &   Light   Co.,    "554 

Portable,    "372,   "1040 

- — —Reinforced    concrete,    Sacramento,    Cal. 
R.   B.  Mateer,  "1213 

Remote-controlled     switching,     Peoria, 

"1102 

Sulphur  content  of  fuel,. 994 

Switch    boxes: 

Combined  switch  and  fuse  box,   *67S 

Convenient,   "843 

-Extension     elbows    and    boxes    for    interior 

wiring,    Fancleve,    "1061 

Switchboards: 

Garage,    "1059 

Inexpensive  temporary  panel,  "610 

Switches: 

Battery   and   magneto,    Fahnestock,   *793 

Condit    disconnecting,    "212 

Cord  switch  for  portable  device,  Cutler- 
Hammer,    *418 

Curbside     double-throw     feeder     switches    at 

Fort  Wor;h,   Tex.,  410 

^Disconnect     switch     for     feeder     regulators, 

"667 

Heating  and   cooking.      By  W.   P.    Maycock, 

(D.  R.)    518 

Light     indicating     switch     for     heating     and 

cooking  appliances,  "521 
,  Locking  device   for   disconnecting,    "1058 

Mercury,    Hatfield,    (D.)    "1159 

Oil: 

Disconnect  coupling   for   oil-switch  leads, 

"361 
Experiments.      By    F.    Marguerre,    (D.) 

322 
General    Electric,    *895 
Large-rating,    Condit,    "166 
Tests    of    different    types.      By    F.    Mar- 
guerre,  (D.  R.)  271 

Pressure-control,    Garton,    "1223 

—Railway,    motor-operated,    "454 

Safety-stop    switches    for    conveyor,    *507 

Starting,     for    alternating-current    motors: 

Allen-Bradley,    "1224 
Dustin   patent,   "506 

33, 000-volt,  double-throw,  three-pole,  weather- 
proof, Delta-Star,  "278 

— — Weatherproof,  Delta-Star,  "623 

Symbols,   Electrical,   for   mine   maps,    1204 


Table^    Electric   service.   ^512,    "1388 
Tannmg,    Electrolytic,    (D.)    1330  _ 
Tariff.      (See  Charging  for  electric  current) 
Telegraph  lines 

Artificial,   Brown  patent,    (D.)    1008 

-Military    lines    using    polarized    sounder    as 

receiving  instrument.      By   G.    R.   Guild, 

25 
Protection     from      high-tension     lines.        By 

Girousse,    (D.R.)    462 
Telegraphy: 
— —Photo-telegraphy,    Korn   method,    (D.)    789 


XII 


INDEX. 


Telegraphy :    tContinuedj 

Submarine,    Development,      liy    M.    Roscher, 

(D.   R.)  462 

Submarine  relays,  Brown  patent,   (D.)  890 

Submarine,    Theory.      By    H.    \V.    Malcolm, 

tD.)   210,  324,  621,  674,  789 

Transatlantic    cables.      By    K.    W.    Wagner, 

(D.R.)    789 

(See  also   Wireless  telegraphy) 

Telephone  booths,   Ventilating  system,   *1223 
Telephone   cable   boxes   with   constant   high   insu- 
lation.      By    Ebeling    and    Deibel,     (D.) 

841 
Telephone  courtesy  reminder,   *611 
Telephone  exchanges: 

Mainz,  Germany.     By  Blohmer,   (D.R.)   573, 

621 

Operators     required,     Determining.       By     F. 

Ambrosius,   (D.)   462 
Telephone  lines: 

^Bimetallic  wires,   (D.)   789 

Disturbances      from      single-phase      railways. 

By  F.  Marguerre.  (D.)   1278 

Interference   by  transmission   lines,    Lincoln. 

111.,  case.  387.  *391,  436 

Loaded  lines  in   Europe,    (D.)    890 

Parallel    high-tension    lines.    Court    decision, 

87 
Protection     from     high-tension     lines.        By 

Girousse,    (D.R.)  462 
Telephone  mouthpiece,  Electrcse,  'IllS 
Telephone  patents,    109,  207.   320.   366,   413,   45S. 

570,  617.  670,  786.  837,  886,   1004,  1052, 

1105.    1156,    1273 
Telephone  rates  and  service,   Chicago,   Bemis  re- 
port, 976,   1132 
Telephone    receivers.    Impedance    of,    as    affected 

by  the  motion  of  their  diaphragms.     By 

A.  E.  Kennelly  and  G.  W.  Pierce,  *56p; 

Comment,   538 
Telephone-testing   set,   Holtzer-Cabot,   *1060 
Telephone    transmitter    arm,     Western    Electric, 

•325 
Telephone  transmitter  as  speed  indicator,  *164 
Telephony: 
Automatic  svstems.      By  G.    H.   Green,    (D.) 

1160.   1222.   1278 

■ Compensator,  Brown  patent,   (D.)    1008 

Interference    due    to    single-phase    railroads. 

By  G.   Stein,   (D.)   520 

Low-speed    telephone,    (D.)     1330 

Microphone  improvement,   (D.)    951 

Phenomena    investigation.      By    A.    P.    Con- 
nor, 837 
Submarine    cables.    By    Devaux-Charbonner. 

(D.)    113 
Vibrations     of    telephone     diaphragms.       By 

Meyer  and  Whitehead,  26 

(See   also   Wireless   telephony) 

Temperatures,   Determination   of  very   high.      By 

G.    A.    Shook,    .(D.)    417 
Tennessee  hydroelectric  developments,  201 
Testing    material    under    repeated    stress.    Device 

for.      By    B.    P.   Haigh,    (D.)    *951 
Theaters,  Electricity  in.     By   R.  (jrau,  '215 

• Winnipeg,  Manitoba,  *409 

Theft   of  electricity,   St.   Louis,    1047 
Thermocouples,   Base-metal.     By  O.   L.   Kowalke, 

(D.)    789 
Thermo-electricity,  Electronic  theory  of.      By  O. 

W.  Richardson,   (D.)    1159 
Thermometers: 
Comparison  of  platinum  resistance  with  gas, 

(D.)    621 
Platinum,     Bridge     methods     for     resistance 

measurements.      By    F.    E.    Smith,    (D.) 

•889  ' 

Thomson    effect.    Measuring.      By    H.    R.    Nettle- 
ton,    (D.)     1530 
Thousand  Springs,   Idaho,  Development  of  water 

power,  *43 
Three-wire  system  controlled  with  induction  reg- 
ulators, •1153 
Thury   system   of  power   transmission   bv  contin- 
uous currents.      Bv   Alfred   Still,   *1093. 

•1144;  Comment,  1120 
Tides,    Utilizing    energy    of,    453;    bv    E.    F.    G. 

Pein,    (D.)    1006.    1055 
Timber   preservation.      By    W.    Mangtelow,    (D.) 

619;   Malenkovic,   (D.R.)    733 
Aczol,  a  new  preservative.      By  W.   Mankte- 

low.  (D.)  271 

Proeress    made    with    poles.      Bv    E.    F.    Pe- 

^iritsch,    (D.)    1107 
Tar   oil    impregnation   of   wooden   poles.     By 

R.   Nowotney,    (D.R.)   271 
Tyler.  Tex.,  Method  at.      By  W.  C.  Thayer, 

948 

Water-gas  tar,   941 

Time  recorder.  Industrial  Instrument  Co.,   *1115 

Toaster,  Electric.  Helion,  ^735 

Tower  wagons,  Electric,  •940,  *953 

Towers: 

Erection     of    transmission     lines     for     Utah 

Light    &    Railwav    Co..    Cost    data.      By 

L.  J.  Riter.  •246 
Flexible,    for     overhead    transmission    lines. 

By  A.   Still.  *97;   Comment.  83 

Keokuk-St.   Louis  transmission  line,   '496 

Steel.   Life  of,  836 

Wooden,  with  steel  bowspring  cross-arm  for 

100.000-volt  line,  '403 
Trade  outlook,  1123 

Train  resistance  and  tonnage  rating,   102 
Transformers: 

Bell-ringing,   Westinghouse.    *678 

Conversion    of   three-phase    into    single-phase 

currents    of    triple    frequency.       By    F. 

Spinelli.     (D.)     •1054;     A.     M.    Taylor. 

(D.)    •1106 


Transformers:    (Continued; 

Current  rushes  on  the  connection  of  trans- 
formers to  the  line.  By  T.  D.  Yensen, 
(D.)    •838 

Design  of.     By  M.  Vidmar,  (D.)   1219 

Dredge,  Transformers  in,  923 

High-frequency     discharges     in     high-tension 

transformers.  By  A.  J.  Makower,  (D.) 
•838 

Instrument,    Methods    for    compensation    of 

errors  and  of  testing.  By  C.  Toone, 
(D.R.)   621 

Operation  of  tub-lransformer  secondaries   in 

series,  '1103 

Pittsburgh  outdoor  high  tension,   1226 

Pole-type,  Foster.  '792 

Reactance,    Use   of,    in.      By   W.    S.    Moody, 

806,   809.    1004 

Replacing    old    cores     with     new     ones.     By 

T.  G.  Homan,  501 

Strains,    Abnormal.       By    C.    P.     Steinmetz, 

(D.)   1219 

Testing  instrument.     Bv  Agnew  and  Silsbee, 

•35 

Three-phase  distributing,    serving   Milwaukee 

factory,  '613 
Transient  phenomenon  in  opening  a  circuit.      Bv 
K.   Meyer,    (D.)    415 

Transmission.  Electric: 

.Aluminum    conductors    for    overhead    lines, 

European  experience.  By  C.  L.  John- 
son, *44;   Comment,  3 

Angle    construction    on    50, 000- volt    line    in 

Montana.  ^457 

-Clamp  insulators  without  tie-wires,  St.  Louis, 

•725 

Corona,    Law   of,   and   dielectric   strength   of 

air.  By  F.  W.  Peek.  Jr.,  13.  (D.) 
1219;  J.  B.   Whitehead,   14;   Comment.  3 

Corona  loss  on  experimental  line.     By  C.  F. 

Harding,    13 

Corona  losses.      By  K.   Zickler.    (D.)    733 

Direct-current  series  system  of  Metropolitan 

Electric  Supplv  Co.,  London.  By  J.  S. 
Highfield.   (D.)    62 

Discussion,  Ohio  Electric  Light  Associa- 
tion,   234 

Disturbances  of  potential  ^nd  current  pro- 
duced in  an  active  conducting  network 
by  the  application  of  a  leak  load. 
By  A.   E.   Kennelly_  '1373 

Empire    District    Electric    Co..    Missouri    and 

Kansas  lead  and  zinc  mines,  *445 

Flexible    supports    for    overhead    lines,    Sag 

stresses.      By  A.   Still.  97;   Comment.  83 

Ground- return     distribution     systems,     291 

High-voltage      transformers.         By      H.      H. 

Hodgman.    (D.)    1383 

Illinois.    Northern,    High-tension    distribution 

and  unification  in.  Bv  H.  B.  Gear, 
•1095.    1096;    (Tomment, '1076 

— — ^Inductance  of  aerial  split  conductors.  By 
Louis  Cohen,  994:   Comment,  974 

Investigation     of     high-tension     tiansmission 

hazards    by    Bureau    of    Standards.    J301 

Investigation  of  transmission  line  phenomena 

by  means  of  hyperbolic  functions.  By 
.A.  E.  Kennelly.  306;  Comment,  293 

Iron-pipe  alley  construction,   *1104 

Joint    pole-line    construction,    ^45 7 

Jordan  River  development,  British  Colum- 
bia. 821 

Keokuk-St.    Louis  long-distance   line,    *496 

Laying  out  angles,   (D.)    1276 

Magnetic    leakage.      By    J.    M.    Weed,    fD.) 

1383 

— — Network  problems.  By  R.  Appleyard,  (D.) 
620 

Newark,  Ohio.  Reconstruction  of  line-^.   *409 

Operation  of  mixed  underground  and  over- 
head high-tension   lines,   718 

— —Pacific  Power  &  Light  Co.,  ^554 

Pennsylvania  Water  &  Power  Co.,   *397 

Propagation    of    electric    energy   for    standing 

and  traveling  waves.  Exoerimental  test. 
Bv  J.  F,  H.  Douglas.  *'311;  Comment. 
293 

Rural  line  with  iron-cable  conductors.  945 

Sag     and      stress      determinations,      Thomas 

chart   of,    1024,,  1042,   Sup.   Nov.    16 

Sags  and  stresses  in  aluminum  spans.   Chart 

for  determining,  374 

Sag  formulas  for  overhead  wires  and  cables. 

By  H.  V.  Carpenter,   101:   Comment,  83 

Sags    in    long    spans.     Investigation     of.    at 

Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technologv. 
bv  Codding  and  Brackett,  606 ;  Com 
m'ent,  590 

San  Diego  Consolidated  Gas  &  Electric   Co  . 

1099 

Thurv    system,    bv   continuous   currents.     By 

Alfred  Still,  ♦1093.  •1144;  Comment, 
1120 

— LTtah    Light     &    Railway     Co..     Erection     of 

lines,    details    and   cost    data    of   double- 
circuit    steel    towers.      ] 
•246 

Voltage    drop    on    overhead 

Forrsblad.     (D.)     1385 

(See  also   Poles;  Towers) 

Transmission   plants: 

Appalachian     Power     Co.,     i 

Energv  for  coal  fields, 
1119 

Bergen.  Norway,  •1257;  Comment.   1241 

TMg  Creek  development,  California.  •480 

-British  Columbia  Electric  Railw.Tv  Co.,  Tor- 
dan  River  development.  '767.  •817; 
Comment.    7.''! 

Canadian   Light   &   Power    Co.,    Beauharnois 

Canal   at    St.   Timothee,   Quebec.   '241 


L.    T. 


Riter 

lines.      Bv    Nils 


Transmission    slants:     (Continued) 

East    Creek    Electric    Light    &    Power    Co., 

Inghams  Mills,  N.  Y..  "443 
France,    in    Northern    part.      By    J.    Reyval, 

(D.)    1384 
-Luzerne    County   Gas   &    Electric    Co.,    King- 
ston,  Pa.,   '921;    Comment,   907 
Maritime  Coal,   Railway  &  Power  Co.,   Chig- 

nee  to   mine    plant,    '655:    Comment.    637 
New    England   Power    Co.,    in    Massachusctti 

and   Vermont,    *1365;    Comment,    1349 
Ogden,    Utah,    Riverdale   plant   of   Weber   & 

Davis    Counties    Co.,    *1191;    Comment, 

1175 
Pacific    Power    &    Light    Co..    System,    •SSI; 

Comment,  537 
Pennsylvania    Water    &     Power    Co.,    Holt- 
wood,   Pa.,   '395:    Comment.   385 
Portland  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Co.,  Esta- 

cada.   Ore.     By  £.   A.   West,   *91;   Com- 

ment,  81 
Rainbow    Falls,    Mont.,    Great    Falls    Power 

Co..  '37;  (Jomment,  2 

Rhone  River  to  Paris,   (D.)  63 

Southern   Sierras  Power   Co..  *298 

West  Kootenay  Power  &  Light  Co.,  System 

of,    in    mining   region    around    Rossland, 

B.  C,   ^193;    Comment.    179 
Western    Canada    Power    Co.,     Stave    Falls, 

B.   C,    143,   '489 
Whatcom   County  Railway  &  Light  Co.,   Bel- 

lingham,   Wash.,   •HI;    Comment,   129 
Trucks,  Electric,  for  fire  departments.  1247,  1281 
Trucks,    Meter,    Springfield,    Mass.,    •1322 
Tungsten; 

Dates   in   the   history  of,   912 

New  uses  for.  556 

Tungsten  lamps.      (See  Incandescent  lamps) 

Turbines: 

Gas,    Summary    of    various    researches.      By 

D.   Clerk.    (D.R.)    788 

Hydraulic,   Rio   de  Janeiro,   Brazil,  625 

Steam.     (See  Steam  turbines) 


U 


Unit,  New,  the  myrawatt.     By  Stott  and  O'Neill, 

32;   Comment,  2 
Unit  of  capacity.     By  K.   Fisclier,    (D.R.)    621 


\'acuum  cleaner,  Eclipse  portable.  '1058 

V'alves,  Electrolytic  rectifying.  Connections  of. 
By  G.  E.  Bairsto,  (D.)  •368 

Vapor  lamp.  New  metallic,  with  white  light.  By 
M.  Wolfke,   (D.)   671 

\'ehicle  call  system,  Edwards.  •1113 

Veneer  cutter.   Motor-driven,   *1269 

Ventilation   of   Ritz-Carlton    Hotel,    1062 

Vibration  recorder  used  with  motor-generators. 
Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Co.  By  E.  E. 
Hall,   *200;    Comment.    ISl 

Voltage  regulation.  By  F.  VV.  Shackelford,  (D.) 
413 

Voltage  regulators.   Fuss  patent,    (D.)    367 

Voltages,  Dangerously  'rph,  Sources  and  pro- 
tective devices,  liv  F.  Klost,  (D.)  415: 
G.   Giles.   (D.)   4  15 

Voltameter,  Silver  H>  E.  B.  Rosa,  G.  W. 
Vinal  and  H.  S.  McDaniel,  1261,  •1262; 
Comment,    1243 

\'oltmeter  test  boxes  at  distribution  points,  Kan- 
sas City,  *941 

X'oltmeters.  New  design.  By  Goldschmidt,  (D.) 
•788 

\'ulcanizer.   Electric,  *735 


w 


on     New     River. 
•1141:  Comment, 


Washing  machine.  Electric,   Dodge  &  Zuill,  '675 

Water  heaters.  Electric.  By  W.  R.  Cooper,  (D.) 
•159 

Foster,  ^1279 

Water  power: 

Conference     on     water-power     regulation    at 

Washington,   1124 

Development,  Benefits  of,  and  its  relation- 
ship to  navigation  improvement.  By 
J.   E.   Hewes,   1200 

Distribution   of  conserved   resources  through 

existing  public-utility  enterprises,  931; 
Comment,  909 

Federal  water  power  policy,  Report  of  Secre- 
tary  Fisher,   1304;  Comment,   1294 

Italy,    Adamello    Electric    Supply    Co.,    (D.) 

322,  368 

National  commission  to  solve  problems  pro- 
posed, 859 

President  Taft's  message  to  Congress,  1245 

Some  peculiarities  of,  908 

Switzerland.   (D.R.)   270 

Tennessee    hydroelectric    developments,    201 

Water  purification  bv  ozone,  St.  Petersburg,  Rus- 
sia,  (D.)   '620 

Water  strainer,   Lagonda,   *1391 

Waterwheels: 

Repair  of  cracked.  •256 

Runaway  speed  of,  and  its  effect  on  con- 
nected rotary  machiner>'.  By  D.  W. 
Mead.  18 

Watt-hour    meters: 

Accuracv,     Effect    of    ratio    and    time-phase 

angle.      By  A.  Maxwell,  30 

-Huge  direct-current,   1062 


•Indicates  illustrated  articles. 


INDEX. 


Xlll 


Vatt-hour  meters:   (Continued) 

Improper   connections.      Uy    F.    Niethammer, 

No-load   loss.      By   H.   Bueggelin,    (D.)    1330 

Portable,  Sangamo,  *524 

Railway,  General   Electric,    "1387 

Temperature  errors  in  tests,  199       ,    _      , 

Testing    of    large.     By    Ingalls    and    Cowles, 

30 

Wattmeters: 

Compensating.     By  A.  L.  Ellis,  *34 

Connections  of  three-phase.  Correct  and  in- 
correct.    By  C.   K.   Riker,   (D.)    789 

Maximum-demand,   Boddie,   *328 

Thermo-electric,  for  weak  alternating  cur- 
rents.    By  W.   Gerlach,    CD.)   210 

Wlave  detectors.  Electromagnetic.  By  R.  H. 
Goddard,  (D.)   160 

Waves,  Bending  of  electric.  By  J.  W.  Nichol- 
.son,  (U.)   1108 

Welding,  Electric.     By  V.   D.  Green   (D.)    1221, 

Toledo  electric  spot  welder,  *953;   By  H.  J. 

Glaubitz,   1105 
West  Penn  Traction  Si  Water  Power  Co.,   5-13 
Western    Union    Telegraph    Co.,    annual    report, 

859 
Williams,  Arthur,  *595  ,,         j  .  „ 

Winches    and    pulley    hoists.    Motor-driven.       By 

H.   Thieme,   *1263 
Wind    velocity.    Electrical    measurement    of.      By 

J.    T     Morris,    857,    (D.)    889 
Winding   engines.    Electric.      By   A.    E.    du    Pas- 

quier,   (D.)    1219  . 
Economy    in    operation,    for   mines.      By    w. 

Philippi,   CD.)   1276 
Winding  plant,  Electric  at  coal  mine,  (D.)  839 
Windings:  ,  .  _ 
Standard    instrument    and    transformer.      By 

C.  C.   Garrard,    (D.)   210 
Three-phase   windings    for   single-phase   serv-. 

ice.     By  W.  J.  Foster,  (D.)   367 
Wireless  telegraphy: 

Antennas,  Measuring  self-mduction  and  ca- 
pacity.    By   A.   Esau,   (D.)   370 

.-Xrlington,  Va..  station  tested,  910 

.Atmosphere,    Effect    of.    on   transmitters   and 

receivers.     By  A.  Esau,   CD.)    520 
— — .Atmospheric  disturbances.     By  Hosier,    CD-) 

1109 
Bill    in    Congress    regulating    radio-communi- 
cation, 388 
Condensers.       By    Toiikata    and    Yokoyama, 

CD.)  952 
Design  of  station.     By  Shunkichi,  CD.)   1008: 

Kimura,   CD.)   1057,  1109 
Detector,   of  crystal   type,    CD.)    '211 


Wireless  Telegraphy:    CContinued) 

Earth   antennas.      By   W.    Burstyn,    (D.)    210 

Efficiency    of    "earths."      By    C.    A.    Culver, 

1319;   Comment,   1294 
Efficiency    of    generation    of    high-frequency 

oscillations    by    means    of    an    induction 

coil  and  ordinary  spark-gap.     By  Howe 

and  Peattie,   CD.)   460 
Emission     of     electromagnetic     waves     from 

antenna.     By  C.  Gutton,  CD.R.)  621 
Frog-muscle     recorder     for     electric     waves, 

CD.)    *951 
Generator,  Goldschmidt  high-frequency,   CD.) 

*324 
Generator,    High-frequency.      By    E.    F.    W . 

Alexanderson,  CD.)   160 
Inductive  tuner.     By  J.  O.  Mauborgne,   CD.) 

417 
Low-frequency    circuit    in    spark    telegraphy. 

By  L.    B.   Turner,    (D.)    520 

London  Conference,  84,  180,  182,  639,  648 

Marconi    contract    with    British    government. 

Proposed,   389 
Propagation    of    waves.      By    W.    H.    Eccles, 

CD.)   952 
Radiation   efficiency   of   transmitters.      By    L. 

B.  Turner,  (D.)   520 

Sayville,   N.    Y.,   station,    1297 

Ship    installations.       By    H.     Bredow,     CD.) 

1008,  1057  ^    ^ 

Bill    requiring   equipment    of,    passed   by 
Congress,    183 

Merchant   marine.      By   H.   Thurn,    CD.) 
1008,    1057 

Statistics    concerning.       By     H.     Thurn, 
CD.)    951 
Triangular    aerial.      Properties    of.       By    C. 

A.  Culver.  *452 
Tuning   transmitters.      By   P.    Boudier,    CD.) 

1278 
Wireless     telephone    microphone,     Egner — Holm- 
Strom's,     for     large     currents.        By     G. 

Holmstrom,   CD.)   211 
Wiremen,    Licensing  journeymen,    Omaha,    Neb.. 

1051 
Wires  and   wiring: 

Aluminum    conductors.      By    F.    Marguerre, 

(D.)  460;  Huber  Stockar,  CD.)  1159 

Diagram   for  determination  of  deflection 
and  stress,    (D.)    322 

European    experience.      By    C.    L.    John- 
son,   "44;   Comment,    3 
Attaching    plates    for    ground    wires.    Cope, 

*165 
Calculation    of    flexible    pole    lines.      By    A. 

Still,  '97;  Comment,  83 


Mi- 


By 


Wires  and  wiring:    (Continued) 

Calculation   of   networks.      By   E.    Mattansit, 

(D.)   63 
Carrying    capacities     of     Nichrome    resistor 

wire    at    high    temperatures.      By    C.    P. 

Madsen,    1098 
Cold-storage    room    wiring.      By   W.    J.    Can- 
ada,  59  ,  J  , 
Colored    wire    for   switchboards   and    panels, 

Kansas   City,   •1213 

Conduit,    Standard    sizes,    '1216 

Conduit    versus    openwork    in    places   subject 

to  moisture,  corrosive  fumes,  steam,  etc. 

By  F.  G.  Waldenfels,  *782,  '834,  '884, 

'1001,  *1049 
Covering     wires     with     asbestos     insulation, 

British  patent,  CD.)   63 

-Flicker  cured  by  two-phase  wiring,  *882 

Inspection   of   wiring   at   Boston,    1326 

Interior-wiring    construction.       By    W. 

chaelsen,  945 

Railroad  buildings,    1102 

Re-wiring,  at  Pueblo,   Colo,  947 

Shunt  coils.   Changing  size  of  wire  on. 

A.   M.   Bennett,  253 
Skin    effect    in    a    conductor    with     circular 

cross-section.      By   P.   Girault,    (D.)    323 
Standardization    of    non-insulated    conductor 

wires.      By    W.    von    Moellendorf,    CD.) 

369;   Comment,  340 

Tagging  meter  loops,    1272 

Telephone      wiring      methods.      By      F.      L. 

Rhodes,   25 

Theater  wiring,   Colorado   Springs,   *68 

Wiring  old  houses.     By  Terrell  Croft,  *105, 

*204,   *317,   *361;    McKirdy  and  Wood, 

546 

-Woodhouse  steel  casing  system,  *114 

Wisconsin    Commission    news,    11,    89,    139,    191, 

239,    300,   439,    487,    653.    765,   815.    868, 

918,    1086,    1136,    1188,    1255,    1362 
Workmen.      CSee  Employees) 
Workmen's    compensation    act    in    Massachusetts, 

339,  346 


X-ray    work.    Electrical    equipment    for,    Kelley- 
Koett  Co.,  *1162 


Zinc   ore  dressing  in   Colorado.     By  H.   C.   Par- 
melee,   (D.  R.)   573 


AUTHOR    INDEX 


AITKEN,    K.    L.      Street    lighting   in   Toronto, 
Ontario,    '493 
Amsler,    P.      Direct-current   generator   regulation. 

'198,   570 
Anderson,  E.   C.     Residence  rates,  366 
Atkins,  D.  F.,  and  H.  M.  Price.     Installation  of 
small     power     plants     in     federal     office 
buildings,  257,  498,   717 


BACHE-WIIG,  JENS.  Minimizing  sparking  in 
direct-current  machinery,   605 

Baker,  J.   B.     Junkers  oil  engine,  *115 

Beck,   B.   G.     Steel-mill  illumination,   730 

Bell,  Louis.  Exterior  lighting  of  the  Boston 
Electric   Show,   '694 

Tendencies   in   foreign   lighting  practice,   875 

Bennett,  A.  M.  Changing  the  size  of  wire  on 
shunt   coils,   253 

Birdsall,   W.   T.      Candle-per-watt   meter,    157 

Briggs,  H.  G.     Residence  rates,  320 

Brooks,  John.  Evils  of  patent  license  restric- 
tions, 207 

Brown,  Everard.  Depreciation  of  power-plant 
equipment,  268 

Buch,  Fred.  Design  of  piping  for  transformer 
oil,  air  and  cooling  water,  '1201 

Bullard,  J.  E.     Electric  deep-well  pumping,  '510 

Rate  systems  from  the  central-station  so- 
licitor's viewpoint,  1042 

Byerts,  W.  E.  Test  for  power  requirements  ot 
a  paper  mill,  567 


f^ANADA.    W.    T.      Electricity    in    metal    mining 

^^  in  Colorado,  '1194 

Wiring  in  cold-storage  rooms,  59 

Carpenter,  H.  V.  Simplified  sag  formulas  tor 
overhead    wires   and   cables,    101 

Cohen,  Louis.  Inductance  of  aerial  split  con- 
ductors, 994 

Connor,  A.  P.  Telephone  phenomena  investiga- 
tion, 837 

Cravath,  J.   R.      Street-lighting  rates,   722 

Croft,  Terrell.  Wiring  old  houses,  105,  '204, 
•317,  '361 

Xudmore,  H.  H.  Jupiter  of  the  Sons  of  Jove, 
617 

Culver,  C.  A.  Efficiency  of  "earths"  in  radio- 
telegraphy,   1319 

Properties  of   a  triangular   aerial,   *452 


DAMON,   W.   H.,   and  W.  J.   Enders.      Radiant 
efficiency  of  the  carbon  arc  lamp,  '502 
Douglas,  J.    F.    H.      Derivation   of   formula,    1326 

Propagation    of    electric    energy    by   standing 

and   traveling    waves,    *311 
Dow,  J.   S.      Physical  photometers,  873 
Dow,   J.    S.,   and   V.   H.    Mackinney.     Apparatus 
for     measuring    light    and    illumination, 


EBERWINE,     F.     A.       Gas-producer     plant     at 
Windham,  Ohio,  255 
Eisenmann,   C.   W.     The  kilovolt-arapere,   731 
Enders,  W.  J.     CSee  Damon,  W.  H.) 


FREEMAN,  C.  E.     Practical  installation  of  re- 
lays on  alternating-current  circuits,  '924 


GILLETTE,  H.  P.     Use  of  depreciation  data  in 
rate-making      and      appraisal      problems, 
927,   1273 
Glaubitz,  H.  J.     Electric  spot  welders,  1105 
Grau,    Robert.      Electrical    side    of    the    theater. 
♦215 


K 


H 


ADLEY,  G.  T.  Illumination  of  St.  Louis 
Public  Library,  '107 

Hall,  E.  E.  Vibration  produced  by  motor-gen- 
erators, *200 

llewes,  J.  E.  Benefits  of  water-power  develop- 
ment and  its  relationship  to  navigation 
improvement,   1200 

1  Ionian,  J.  G.  Replacing  old  transformer  cores 
with  new  ones,  501 


IVES,  H.  E.     Radiant  efficiencies,   670 

Study    of    the    light    from    the    mercury    arc, 

•304 

Ives,  H.  E.,  and  M.  Luckiesh.  Photographic 
method  for  recording  candle-power  dis- 
tribution  curves,   ^153 


lANSKY,    C.    M.      Cause   of   condensation,    1326 

Johnson,   C.   L.     Aluminum  conductors   for  over- 
head transmission  lines,  44 

•Indicates  illustrated  articles. 


AMPF,   W.   E.      Starting  devices   for  alternat- 

**■  ing-current  motors,   877 

Kavanagh  William.  Methods  of  burning  an- 
thracite coal  dust,    1206 

Kellogg,  E.  W.     Lightning  conductors,  60 

Kennedy,  S.  M.  Sale  of  electrical  appliances  for 
regular  lamp  circuits  and  their  effect  on 
load  and  income,  '1209 

Kennelly,  A.  E.  An  investigation  of  transmis- 
sion-line phenomena  by  means  of  hyper- 
bolic functions,  306 

^Disturbances  of  potential  and  current  pro- 
duced in  an  active  conducting  network 
by  the  application  of  a  leak  load,   '1373 

Kennelly,  A.  E.,  and  G.  W.  Pierce.  Impedance 
of  telephone  receivers  as  affected  by  the 
motion  of  their  diaphragms,  *560 

Kilmer  W.  S.  Illuminating  a  modern  office 
building,   *264 

Kirchgasser,  G.  J.  Duties  performed  by  the 
small    motor,    1378 

Koester,  Frank.     The  Edison  label,   1053 


I    ATTIN,  R.  B.     Molded  insulating  compounds, 

•--  *893 

Leilich,    F.   T.     Lighting  of  cars,   886 

l.orenz,    C.    F,       Stroboscopic    effects    obtainable 

with    incandescent    filaments    as    illumin- 

ants,  '1146 
Luckiesh,    M.      Investigation    of    diffusing    glass- 
ware, '1040 
CSee  also  Ives,  H.  E.) 


IVjcDANIEL,  H.  S.     CSee  Roza,  E.  B.) 

McDonald,  William.  Rates  for  electrical  energy, 
516 

Macintire,  H.  J.     Central-station  ice  making,  359 

McKenney,  Lester.  Automatic  voltage  regula- 
tion of  alternating-current  directors,  996 

Mackinney,  V.  H.      CSee  Dow,  J.  S.) 

Mateer,  R.   B.     Motor  drive  in  a  cider  mill,  829 

Reinforced  concrete  substation  at  Sacra- 
mento,  Cal.,    '1213 

Meadwell,  W.  E.  Silent-chain  transmission  in 
rubber   mill.    '327 

Millar,  P.   S.     Efficacy  in  illumination,  775 

CSee  also  Sharp,  C.  H.) 

Miller,  W.  H.  French  and  German  quartz-tube 
mercury-vapor   lamps,   '197 


XIV 


INDEX. 


Montgomery.  Robert.  Protection  of  electric 
meters,  •412 

Moody,  W.   S.      Reactance  in  transformers,   1004 

Moore,  C.  R.  Electrical  apparatus  for  measur- 
ing power,   *449 

Morrissey,  J.  P.  Conduit  systems  in  concrete 
buildings,   •411 

Moses,  P.  R.  Proper  basis  for  energy  charges, 
1381 


EWELL,  V.  V.  Electrical  equipment  of  a 
brewery,   •llll 

Niethammer,  F.  Improper  watt-hour-meter  con- 
nections,  157 

Ninis,  A.  A.  Crank  diagram  for  representation 
of  electrical  power,  *660 

Norris,  H.  H.  Northwest  plant  of  the  Common- 
wealth  Edison   Company,   *701 

North,  T.  E.  Records,  forms  and  files  for  solici- 
tors, 1377 


f^SBORNE,  T.    Electricity  versus  gas  for  street 

^^  lighting,    1265 

Owen,  E.     Oil  engines  for  irrigation  service,  109 


plERCE,  G.  W.      (See  Kennelly,  A.  E.) 

Pilger,  C.    L.,  Jr.     Modern  three-wire  direct-cur- 
rent  generators,   '150 


Potamian,    Brother.      -Anniversary    of    the    Koya! 

Society,   233 
Price,  H.  M.     (See  Atkins,  D.  F.) 


D  ITER,    L.    J.      Erection    of    transmission    lines 

'^  for  the  Utah  Light  &  Railway  Company, 

•246 

Robertson,  James.  The  masculine  electric  car, 
786 

Rosa,  E.  B.,  G.  W.  Vinal  and  H.  S.  McDaniel. 
The  silver  voltameter,  1261,  *1262;  Com- 
ment,  1243 


C  ARBINSKY,   M.     A  national  electrical  testing 

"-^  laboratory,   1273 

Sharp,  C.  H.,  and  P.  S.  Millar.  A  simplified 
illuminometer,  •266 

Shepard,  Lyman,  Power-plant  efficiency  as  de- 
termined by  the  technical  education  of 
employees,  413 

Somerville,  A.  A.  Polarization  emf  of  a  mix- 
ture of  clay,  feldspar  and  quartz,  403 

Spence,  T.  E.  Central-station  service  in  mining 
operations,  ^260 

Spencer,  W.  H.  Illumination  of  the  Lawyers* 
Club,   New  York,   •1280 

Stahl,  Nicholas.  Synchronous  motor  perform- 
ance, 147 

Still,  .Alfred.  Flexible  supports  for  overhead 
transmission  lines,  97 

•Indicates  illustrated  articles. 


Still,  Alfred:    (Continued) 

Reinforced    cement    and    concrete    poles    for 

overhead   electric  lines,   *658 
Thury     system     of     power     transmission     by 

continuous  currents,  •1093,   •1144 
Stratton,  H.  F.     Use  of  naked  aluminum  wire  in 

electromagnets,   ♦400 

yHAYER,   W.    C.     Wood   preservation,   948 

Thieme,    H.      Motor-driven  ■  winches    and    pulley 

hoists,  *1263 
Thomas,  P.   H.     Chart  for  sag  calculation,   1042. 
Tweedy,    E.    F.      Electricity    in    the    department 

store,  47 

■yESSEY,  J.  A.     Showcase  lighting,  *1223 
Vinal,  G.  W.     (See  Rosa,  E.  B.)    ' 

WALDENFELS,  F.  G.  Conduit  versus  open- 
work in  places  subject  to  moisture,  cor- 
rosive fumes,  steam,  etc.,  •782,  *834, 
•884,  •1001.  ^1049 

Welch,  A.  W.  Raising  the  standard  of  cable 
specifications,   356 

West,  E.  A.  Hydroelectric  plant  at  Estacada. 
Ore.,  '91 

Wilcox,  E.  A.  Application  of  hydroelectric  en- 
ergy to  irrigation  pumping  in  Southern 
Idaho,  '705 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electriciait. 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  JULY  6,  1912. 


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NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  JULY  6,  1912. 


CONTENTS. 

Editorials      1 

A.  I.  E.  E.  Convention  News 4 

Boston  Meeting  of  the   S.   P.   E.   E 5 

Ohio    Electric    Convention 5 

Meeting   of  National   Electrical   Credit   .Association 5 

Meeting    of    Society    of    Automobile    Engineers 6 

National  District  Heating  Association  Convention 6 

Town  Forbidden  to  Sell  Electrical  Energy  Below  Cost 10 

Public   Service    Commission    News 10 

Current    News    and    Notes 1 1 

American    Institute    of   Electrical    Engineers    Convention— Papers   and 

Discussions    13 

Developments    of    the    Great    Falls    Power    Company 37 

Variable-Head    Hydroelectric    Plant    at    Eldora,    la 42 

Developing  a  Unique  Idaho  Water-Power 43 

Aluminum  Conductors  for  Overhead  Transmission  Lines.     By  Charles 

L.     Johnson 44 

Electricity  in  the  Modern  Department  Store 47 

Back-Fired  Oil-Burning  Boilers  of  Topeka  Edison  Company [  $0 

Pumping  Coal  from  the  Susquehanna  River  by  Electricity  at  Plymouth 

Pa 51 

Greenville's   Modern   Steam-Turbine   Station 52 

Electric  Heating  in   Milling  Industry 52 

Tungsten  Fixture  to  Combat  Gas  Arcs 53 

Utilizing    Display    Window    Space .'.'.'.'.'.' 54 

City  of   10,000   Using  300   Electric   Stoves 54 

Electricity   in   the  World's  Largest   Incubator 55 

Mine  Generating  Plant  at   Mogollon,   N.    M =5 

Daylight    Lighting '.'.'.'.'.'.'. 56 

Electrical  Display  at  Portland's  Rose  Festival 56 

Continuous    "Talking"    Electric    Sign ]    50 

Wiring  in   Cold-Storage  Rooms.     By  W.  J.   Ca.n3.d^. .'...'.'.'.'.','.',.'.'."  '  59 
Letter  to  the  Editor's: 

Lightning  Conductors.      By  E.   W.   Kellogg gO 

Digest  of  Current  Electrical   Literature <;, 

Book    Review .'.'.'!!!!.'.'.'!.' 64 

New   Apparatus   and   Appliances 6S 

Industrial    and    Financial    News 70 

Directory    of    Electrical    Associations,    Societies     Etc 70 

Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents '. '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'."  so 


THE  BOSTON  CONVENTION,  A.  I.  E.  E. 

The  Boston  convention  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers  made  itself  noteworthy  in  several  ways. 
The  registration  reached  934,  which  was  exceeded  only  by 
the  Chicago  convention  of  last  year  (965).  There  were 
some  sixty-five  papers  presented  at  Boston  within  four  days. 
All  of  these  were  dealt  with  in  fourteen  working  hours,  rep- 
resenting an  average  of  nearly  five  papers  per  hour.  This 
was  only  accomplished,  however,  by  working  two  sessions, 
in  parallel  for  most  of  the  time,  and  by  conforming  rigidly 
to  a  schedule  prepared  in  advance.  The  committees  in 
charge  of  the  work  deserve  credit  for  the  discipline  main- 
tained throughout  the  schedule  and  for  the  efforts  required 
in  publishing  and  disseminating  nearly  all  these  many 
papers  about  a  week  in  advance. 

Another  good  feature  of  the  convention  was  that  two  of 
its  sessions  were  held  jointly  with  other  societies;  namely, 
one  with  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society  and  the 
other  with  the  Society  for  Promotion  of  Engineering 
Education.  This  plan  worked  out  advantageously  and  might 
well  be  further  extended  at  future  conventions.  Yet 
another  meritorious  feature  of  the  convention  was  the  large 
number  of  brief  yet  good  papers.  Of  course,  not  all  sub- 
jects can  be  handled  both  effectively  and  briefly.  Neverthe- 
less, the  value  of  a  paper,  other  things  being  equal,  lies  in 
its  brevity,  or  is  inversely  as  its  length;  some  say  it  is 
inversely  as  the  square.  The  social  features  of  the  conven- 
tion were  also  excellently  arranged  and  carried  out. 

By  those  upon  whom  may  fall  the  task  of  arranging 
future  conventions  a  note  of  protest  heard  from  several 
authors  of  papers  and  others  could  profitably  be  heeded. 
Although  the  formal  program  was  spread  over  four  days, 
one-half  of  the  papers  were  scheduled  for  the  final  day, 
necessitating  parallel  sessions  during  both  the  forenoon  and 
the  afternoon  and  crowding  the  discussion  of  each  paper 
into  a  very  brief  period.  In  fact,  several  valuable  papers 
were  not  discussed  at  all.  Several  persons  also  complained 
that  they  were  unable  to  prepare  for  the  discussion,  owing 
to  the  very  short  interval  between  the  receipt  of  the  papers 
and  the  opening  of  the  convention.  Of  course,  the  task  of 
planning  such  a  convention  program  is  a  very  great  one 
and  requires  many  personal  sacrifices  on  the  part  of  those 
who  have  charge  of  it,  and  this  fact  should  temper  the 
criticism  that  was  offered.  Moreover,  the  fault  is  fre- 
quently with  authors  of  papers  who  are  delinquent  in 
submitting  their  manuscripts  far  enough  in  advance.  How- 
ever, it  may  be  hoped  that  more  effective  co-operation  be- 
tween the  authors  and  the  papers  committee  will  go  far 
toward  smoothing  out  the  difficulty.  It  may  also  be  feasible 
to  enforce  a  rule  requiring  manuscripts  to  be  submitted  at 
least  sixty  days  ahead  of  meetings. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  i. 


THE  RAINBOW  FALLS  HYDROELECTRIC  SYSTEM. 

The  great  hydroelectric  development  at  the  Rainbow 
Falls  of  the  Missouri  described  elsewhere  in  our  columns 
is  one  of  the  important  American  plants  that  are  operated 
at  100,000  volts  or  more.  The  upper  Missouri  drops 
nearlj'  400  ft.  within  a  few  miles  of  Great  Falls,  Mon- 
tana, and  the  topography  is  such  that  the  power  sites  are 
easily  developed.  One  of  these  is  within  the  city  limits 
of  Great  Falls,  largely  utilized  for  great  smelting  works, 
and  only  in  part  for  power  transmission.  Four  miles  be- 
low the  city  lies  the  site  of  the  present  development.  On 
the  crest  of  the  Rainbow  Falls  a  rock-filled  crib  dam  more 
than  1000  ft.  long  is  seated  on  the  bedrock.  Two  huge 
steel  pipe  lines,  15  ft.  6  in.  in  diameter,  leave  the  forebay 
at  the  dam  and  run  for  half  a  mile  to  a  balancing  reservoir 
above  the  power  house,  which  serves  as  a  buffer  or  great 
relief  valve  between  the  flow  from  the  dam  and  the  vary- 
ing demand  of  the  wheels.  This  renders  the  task  of  regu- 
lation vastly  easier  than  would  otherwise  be  the  case  and 
simplified  the  construction  of  the  pipe  line.  These 
pipes  when  filled  hold  56,000,000  lb.  of  water,  and  the 
hydraulic  forces  would  be  stupendous  were  the  conditions 
such  as  to  permit  the  act  of  governing  suddenly  to  demand 
even  a  slight  change  in  velocity. 

The  transmission  structure  is  of  more  than  usual  inter- 
est. It  is  a  double-tower  line,  each  set  of  towers  carrying 
a  single  circuit  with  the  conductors  spaced  10  ft.  apart  on 
the  same  level.  The  towers  are  somewhat  lower  than 
early  tower  practice  would  show,  supporting  the  wires  only 
40  ft.  from  the  ground.  Each  conductor  is  a  six-stranded 
hemp-centered  copper  cable  borne  by  six  lo-in.  disk  insu- 
lators tested  wet  for  300,000  volts  from  conductor  to  arm. 
At  the  tower  tops  are  carried,  symmetrically  placed  be- 
tween conductors,  a  pair  of  J^-in.  galvanized-steel  cables 
serving  as  ground  wires.  The  actual  pressure  is  102,000 
volts,  so  that  the  factor  of  safety  with  respect  to  the  insu- 
lators is  very  nearly  three,  an  unusually  good  figure  in 
transmission  practice.  The  normal  span  between  tower 
and  tower  is  600  ft.,  although  there  are  various  long  spans 
in  the  line,  one  of  them  a  little  over  3000  ft.  at  the  cross- 
ing of  the  Missouri. 

Each  of  the  separate  transmission  circuits  is  sectionalized 
at  intervals  of  about  20  miles  with  disconnecting  tower 
switches.  The  telephone  circuit  is  on  a  separate  pole  line 
midway  between  the  two  tower  lines.  The  high-tension 
circuits  are  not  transposed  at  all,  but  the  telephone  cir- 
cuit is  spiraled  every  five  poles.  In  the  operation  of  the 
line  it  is  interesting  to  note  that,  thanks  to  a  large  motor 
load  at  Butte  and  three  1200-hp  synchronous  motors  at 
Anaconda  to  compensate  the  wattless  volt-amperes,  the 
power-factor  at  the  Rainbow  Falls  busbar  is  held  steadily 
at  almost  unity.  Very  little  corona  is  visible  on  the  lines, 
although  the  loss  due  to  this  cause  amounts  to  about  2  kw 
per  mile.  The  load-factor,  ow4ng  to  the  unusually  steady 
use  of  motors  on  the  system,  is  extraordinarily  high,  aver- 
aging about  86  per  cent  on  an  annual  basis.  Altogether  the 
Rainbow  plant  is  an  admirable  piece  of  straightforward 
transmission  engineering  and  a  notable  member  of  the  al- 
ready imposing  and  rapidly  increasing  list  of  plants  in  this 
country  operating  at  100,000  volts  and  over. 


ELECTROLYTIC  CORROSION  OF  IRON  BY  DIRECT  CURRENT  IN  STREET 
SOIL 
Among  the  papers  presented  at  the  Boston  convention  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  was  one  by 
Prof.  Albert  F.  Ganz  on  electrolytic  corrosion  of  iron  pipes 
under  definite  laboratory  conditions  purporting  to  resemble 
those  existing  in  practical  service  under  city  streets.  It 
has  been  known  that  with  relatively  high  current  densities 
and  under  purely  laboratory  conditions  the  electrolytic  cor- 
rosion of  iron  anodes  may  be  much  less  than  the  gram-per- 
ampere-hour  accorded  by  Faraday's  law.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  the  results  given  in  the  paper  for  long-continued 
applications  of  feeble  current  density  over  iron-pipe  anode 
surfaces  in  street  soil  gave  corrosions  greater,  and  fre- 
quently 30  per  cent  greater,  than  those  theoretically  deduced 
by  Faraday's  law.  The  excess  is,  of  course,  capable  of 
being  explained  by  secondary  oxidizing  action  in  the  pres- 
ence of  moist  soil.  An  interesting  deduction  given  in  the 
paper  is  that  cast-iron  pipes  have  certain  practical  advan- 
tages over  steel  or  wrought-iron  pipes  in  resisting  the  pro- 
longed action  of  electrolytic  corrosion.  There  is  always  the 
hope  that  experimental  research  may  bring  to  light  some 
preservative  that  shall  be  capable  of  inexpensive  application 
to  a  new  pipe  when  buried  in  the  soil  of  a  city  street  where- 
by the  effects  of  electrolytic  corrosion  might  be  eliminated. 
Such  a  preservative  might  be  a  specific  paint,  or  it  might 
be  some  cheap  solution  with  which  to  impregnate  the  sur- 
rounding soil.  At  all  events,  it  is  to  laboratory  tests,  under 
definite  conditions,  that  we  must  look  for  improvements. 


PROPOSED  NEW  UNIT  FOR  STEAM-POWER  HEASUREHENT. 

An  important  proposal  for  a  new  unit  of  steam-power 
measurement  was  proposed  by  Messrs  H.  G.  Stott  and 
Haylett  O'Neill  at  the  Boston  A.  I.  E.  E.  convention.  It  has 
hitherto  been  customary,  in  specifying,  describing  and 
measuring  the  power  absorbed  by  a  steam  engine  at  its 
throttle-valve,  to  refer  either  to  the  so-called  British  ther- 
mal units  or  to  pounds  of  steam  per  unit  of  time,  at  a 
defined  temperature  and  condition  of  dryness.  When  a 
steam  engine  is  connected  to  an  electric  generator  the  power 
output  of  the  generator  is  measured  and  stated  in  watts, 
and  usually  in  thousands  of  them,  or  kilowatts.  So  long  as 
the  steam  engine  and  the  generator  are  so  completely 
separable  that  the  losses  of  power  in  each  can  be  measured 
and  stated  separately,  the  dissension  between  the  respective 
units  does  not  much  matter.  When,  however,  as  in  most 
steam  turbo-generators,  the  engine  and  generator  are  so 
closely  associated  that  some  of  the  losses  cannot  be  sep- 
arated the  complexity  of  defining  the  steam-power  intake  in 
heat  units  and  the  electric  output  in  watts  becomes  both 
troublesome  and  incongruous. 

The  paper  points  out  that  a  "boiler-horse-power"  is  gen- 
erally accepted  to  be  the  rate  of  steam-power  delivery  cor- 
responding to  34.5  lb.  of  evaporation  per  hour  from  and  at 
212  deg.  Fahr.  under  normal  conditions  and  amounts  to 
9.8  kw.  If,  therefore,  the  steam  engineers  w'ould  be  willing 
to  stretch  the  magnitude  of  their  boiler-horse-povixr  by 
2  per  cent,  it  would  become  equivalent  to  10  kw.  As  such 
it  would  not  only  be  available  for  steam  engineering  in  all 


July  6,  191^ 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


the  applications  of  the  boiler-horse-power  used  hitherto,  but 
it  would  also  bring  the  output  and  input  of  steam  turbo- 
generators into  the  same  unit — the  watt.  The  plan  sug- 
gested has  the  merit  of  great  simplicity  and  practicability. 
The  steam  engineers  in  accepting  the  new  unit  would  be 
departing  by  only  2  per  cent  from  their  custom  in  the  past 
and  might  regard  it  as  virtually  the  same  boiler-horse- 
power unit  under  a  new  name.  The  advantage  to  them  as 
well  as  to  electrical  engineers  would  be  that  losses  and 
efficiencies  in  the  turbo-generators  would  all  be  expressible 
in  one  and  the  same  unit. 

If  the  suggestion  can  be  carried  out,  the  specific  out- 
put of  a  steam  turbo-generator  might  conveniently  be  ex- 
pressed in  kilowatts  output  per  "myrawatt"  of  input,  or  as 
the  raito  of  myrawatts  output  to  the  myrawatts  input.  In 
either  case  the  watt  would  be  the  unit  of  reference,  only  the 
decimal  place  of  the  numerical  values  being  determined  by 
the  prefix.  It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  the  steam  en- 
gineers may  be  willing  to  accept  this  very  convenient  plan, 
which  virtually  merely  changes  the  name  of  the  boiler- 
horse-power.  It  would  be  difficult  to  suppose  that  our 
confreres  in  steam  engineering  could  find  objection  to  a 
name  which  embodied  that  of  Watt. 


THE  LAW  OF  CORONA  AND  DIELECTRIC  STRENGTH  OF  AIR. 

Several  good  papers  bearing  upon  high-tension  corona 
were  presented  to  the  Boston  convention  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  it  is  interesting  to 
observe  that  their  conclusions  are  in  mutual  accordance  to 
a  satisfactory  degree.  In  previous  years  there  has  been 
some  discordance  among  observed  results,  and  efforts  were 
directed  to  finding  the  practical  conditions  governing 
coronal  losses  of  energy  for  the  guidance  of  transmission- 
line  designers.  This  year  the  data  for  practical  engineering 
use  have  been  so  well  agreed  upon  that  research  has  fol- 
lowed more  recondite  and  purely  scientific  considerations. 

A  paper  read  by  F.  W.  Peek,  Jr.,  was  virtually  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  paper  presented  by  him  last  year.  Besides 
collating  and  confirming  the  data  previously  reported,  some 
interesting  experimental  results  were  presented  by  a  strobo- 
scopic  method.  It  was  stated  that  the  coronal  discharge 
over  opposed  smooth  parallel  wires  changes  in  appearance 
during  the  emf  cycle,  being  of  a  bluish-white  color  at  and 
near  the  positive  wire  but  of  a  reddish  glow  at  and  near  the 
negative  wire.  While  the  bluish  glow  distributes  itself 
freely  over  the  positive  wire,  the  reddish  glow  tends  to  col- 
lect into  more  or  less  equidistant  successive  beads  along  the 
negative  wire.  This  action  indicates  very  clearly  the 
essential  differences  between  coronal  phenomena  at  the 
anode  and  at  the  cathode.  According  to  the  electronic 
theory,  they  are  due  to  the  inherent  differences  between  the 
positive  and  negative  electrons. 

It  is  now  generally  agreed,  from  the  results  of  various 
observers,  that  corona  tends  to  form  as  soon  as  the  critical 
dielectric  strength  of  air  is  reached,  which  at  normal 
atmospheric  pressure  and  temperature  is  3  kilovolts  per  mm. 
At  the  surface  of  a  thin  wire,  however,  corona  does  not 
form  until  a  certain  higher  electric  gradient  is  attained. 
Below  the  critical  gradient,  with  smooth  clean  wires  and  in 


fine  weather,  the  coronal  power  loss  is  negligible.  Above 
the  critical  gradient  it  increases  as  the  square  of  the  excess 
and  also  in  proportion  to  the  frequency.  In  windstorms  the 
coronal  loss  does  not  seem  to  be  increased  above  that  of 
fine  weather,  but  in  rainstorms,  and  particularly  in  snow- 
storms, the  loss  is  considerably  increased.  Since  snow- 
storms occur  at  relatively  infrequent  intervals,  while  fair 
weather  constitutes  the  more  frequent  and  normal  condition, 
this  extra  loss  during  snowstorms  is  much  easier  to  supply 
than  if  the  conditions  were  reversed  and  the  heavier  loss 
occurred  during  fair  weather. 


ALUMINUM  CONDUCTORS. 

An  article  by  Mr.  Charles  L.  Johnson  in  this  issue  gives 
an  instructive  view  of  present  British  practice  in  the  ex- 
tensive use  of  aluminum  conductors  for  transmission  lines. 
As  is  well  known  to  our  readers,  the  American  price  for 
aluminum  is  deliberately  set  by  the  powers  that  rule  it  at  a 
figure  which  just  fails  to  encourage  the  very  large  use  of 
the  metal  in  preference  to  copper.  Under  ordinary  condi- 
tions an  aluminum  conductor  at  American  prices  is  just  a 
few  per  cent  cheaper  than  the  equivalent  copper  conductor, 
so  little  cheaper  in  fact  that  the  extra  cost  of  supports  and 
stringing  the  aluminum  equals  the  saving.  In  Europe  and 
in  Canada  the  ordinary  quotations  of  aluminum  are  about 
the  same  pound  for  pound  as  copper  at  the  base  price,  and 
for  hard-drawn  wire  a  saving  in  the  use  of  aluminum  figures 
out  at  from  35  to  40  per  cent.  This  difference  in  condition 
is  established  by  a  virtual  monopoly  of  aluminum  in  this 
country,  with  the  usual  effect  on  the  duty,  which  has  been 
kept  just  high  enough  to  block  importations.  As  a  result 
of  this  the  transmission  line  outside  of  American  territory 
is  more  than  likely  to  be  constructed  of  aluminum,  while 
inside  our  tariff  wall  copper  has  to  be  the  chief  reliance. 

One  of  the  interesting  minor  advantages  of  aluminum 
for  the  very  high  voltages  as  found  .on  some  of  the  Cana- 
dian lines  is  that  owing  to  its  larger  cross-section  for 
the  same  conductivity  the  tendency  to  coronal  loss  is  some- 
what reduced.  At  the  present  time  there  are  about  thirty 
transmission  lines  in  Great  Britain  using  aluminum  con- 
ductors. It  is  instructive  to  note  that  on  some  of  these 
lines  the  engineers  have  taken  advantage  of  the  light  con- 
ductors to  increase  the  span  considerably  beyond  ordinary 
pole-line  practice  in  this  country.  Our  British  friends  may 
be  conservative,  but  their  conservatism  is  rampant  anarchy 
compared  with  the  attitude  of  most  American  engineers 
toward  the  long-span  pole  line.  If  we  are  lucky  enough  to 
obtain  cheap  aluminum  in  the  future,  possibly  the  British 
practice  described  by  Mr.  Johnson  may  serve  as  a  welcome 
source  of  courage.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  seems  to  be  a  fact 
that  the  aluminum  line  in  foreign  practice  is  being  installed 
in  many  cases  and  with  pretty  uniform  success.  The  old 
hesitancy  about  using  a  new  metal  came  chiefly  from  the 
earlier  product  strung  as  solid  wire  and  of  dubious  strength. 
A  first-class  stranded  aluminum  cable  as  manufactured  to- 
day is  entirely  free  from  the  risks  once  feared.  Given  real 
competition  in  the  manufacture  of  aluminum  or  a  free 
chance  to  import  the  product,  copper,  so  far  as  transmission 
lines  are  concerned,  would  find  a  dangerous  rival. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


A.  I.  E.  E.  CONVENTION  NEWS. 


The  business  program  of  the  convention  was  carried  out 
on  Thursday  and  Friday,  June  27  and  28,  with  only  minor 
changes  in  the  order  of  papers  read.  The  attendance  at  all 
sessions  was  excellent  and  the  interest  well  sustained.  On 
account  of  the  large  number  of  papers  presented  it  was 
necessary  to  curtail  the  discussions  somewhat,  but  some 
lime  was  saved  by  discussing  papers  dealing  with  similar 
subjects  in  groups.  Special  mtcrest  was  displayed  in  the 
electrical  measurements  sessions  held  on  Friday,  this  being 
the  first  time  that  meetings  have  been  sectionalized  in  the 
Institute  with  reference  to  this  branch  of  the  art.  The 
second  railway  session  on  Thursday  noon  brought  out  an 
extended  discussion  of  certain  aspects  of  energy  supply  for 
trunk-line  electrification.  The  educational  symposium  with 
the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education 
was  well  attended,  and  much  interest  was  manifested  in  the 
telephone  and  telegraph  and  the  generating  station  and  in- 
dustrial sessions. 

During  the  electric-lighting  session  Dr.  H.  E.  Ives,  Cleve- 
land, gave  an  interesting  lantern-slide  lecture  on  color, 
demonstrating  the  problem  of  artificial  daylight. 

In  the  course  of  the  electric  lighting  session  Dr.  Louis 
Bell,  Boston,  called  attention  to  the  forthcoming  "Illumina- 
tion Primer"  which  has  been  prepared  by  the  Illuminating 
Engineering  Society  for  the  purpose  of  putting  the  "A  B  C" 
of  illumination  before  the  general  public.  The  primer, 
which  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  printer,  is  a  twenty-page 
publication  which  in  no  sense  pretends  to  be  a  technical 
summary,  but  which  will  undoubtedly  fulfil  a  greatly  needed 
service  among  laymen.  Arrangements  are  to  be  made 
whereby  any  responsible  party  can  secure  permission  from 
the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society  to  reprint  the  primer 
in  full. 

RESOLUTIONS  PASSED. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Friday  morning  session  resolutions 
were  unanimously  passed  expressing  the  cordial  appreciation 
by  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Institute,  on  behalf  of  the 
membership,  of  the  many  courtesies  and  excellent  arrange- 
ments made  for  the  benefit  of  those  attending  the  convention 
at  Boston,  and  transmitting  the  thanks  of  the  organization 
to  Mr.  C.  L.  Edgar,  chairman  of  the  entertainment  com- 
mittee, and  to  Messrs.  L.  D.  Gibbs,  C.  B.  Davis,  F.  P.  Valen- 
tine and  W.  H.  Blood,  Jr.,  chairmen  of  the  sub-committees, 
and  their  associates.  The  appreciation  of  the  Institute  was 
likewise  tendered  to  the  presidents  of  Harvard  University 
and  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  to  the 
Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Boston  and  to  the 
Boston  Elevated  Railway  Company.  Through  President 
Dunn  the  ladies  in  attendance  also  expressed  their  apprecia- 
tion of  the  hospitalities  shown  them  during  their  visit. 

The  entertainment  program  came  to  a  climax  on  Thurs- 
day in  an  all-day  automobile  ride  of  nearly  100  miles  through 
some  of  the  most  diversified  and  historically  attractive 
scenery  in  New  England.  Forty-three  machines  left  the 
Hotel  Somerset  at  9:45  a.m.,  and  after  a  ride  through 
Cambridge  and  Arlington  proceeded  to  Lexington,  Concord 
and  thence  to  the  Vesper  Country  Club  house  on  Tyng's 
Island  in  the  Merrimac  River,  about  4  miles  beyond  Lowell. 
The  change  in  the  weather  from  the  sultry  to  the  cool, 
bracing  variety  rendered  the  ride  most  enjoyable.  Luncheon 
was  served  at  the  club  house  at  I  p.  m.,  and  after  a  pleasant 
afternoon  in  the  open  the  party  returned  to  the  headquarters 
hotel  about  5  o'clock.  A  trip  by  special  electric  cars  to  the 
Lynn  works  of  the  General  Electric  Company  was  taken 
by  a  large  number  of  men  on  Thursday  afternoon. 

ANNUAL  BANQUET. 

The  convention  reached  its  height  on  Thursday  evening, 
when  the  annual  banquet  was  held  in  the  grand  ballroom  of 
the  Hotel  Somerset.  Nearly  200  persons  gathered  at  the 
tables,  and  a  large  number  of  ladies  graced  the  occasion 


with  their  presence.  The  feature  of  the  evening  was  the 
award  of  the  Edison  gold  medal  to  Mr.  George  Westing- 
house  for  his  pioneer  work  in  the  development  of  alter- 
nating-current transmission  and  distribution.  The  occasion 
was  marked  by  great  enthusiasm  on  behalf  of  the  dis- 
tinguished inventor  and  received  special  mention  in  the 
editorial  and  news  columns  of  the  Boston  dailies  on  the 
following  morning. 

President  Dunn  acted  as  toastmaster  at  the  banquet.  In 
introducing  the  first  speaker,  Hon.  Robert  Luce,  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  Massachusetts,  President  Dunn  emphasized 
the  catholicity  of  engineering,  pointing  out  the  tendency  of 
electrical  activities  to  enter  every  department  of  civilized 
life. 

Lieutenant-Governor  Luce  referred  to  the  great  develop- 
ment of  the  electrical  industry  and  noted  with  pleasure  the 
rewards  enjoyed  by  its  adherents  in  the  way  of  material 
and  mental  prosperity. 

Dr.  M.  I.  Pupin,  New  York,  responding  to  the  toast  "Elec- 
trical Engineering,"  received  a  great  ovation,  which  was 
heightened  by  the  toastmaster's  appreciative  references  to 
his  epoch-making  inventions  in  the  field  of  telephone  trans- 
mission over  long  distances.  Dr.  Pupin  spoke  in  a  reminis- 
cent vein  of  the  early  opposition  to  the  alternating-current 
system,  referring  in  glowing  terms  to  the  encouragement 
given  him  twenty-three  years  ago  by  Dr.  Elihu  Thomson  on 
the  occasion  of  his  presenting  a  paper  upon  the  subject 
before  a  none  too  appreciative  audience.  He  outlined  the 
various  striking  phases  of  recent  high-tension  transmission 
progress,  citing  the  use  of  potentials  as  high  as  150,000  volts 
in  ordinary  well-advanced  practice. 

PRESENTATION  OF  EDISON   MEDAL. 

The  Edison  medal,  awarded  once  a  year  for  meritorious 
achievement  in  the  furtherance  of  the  electrical  industry 
and  profession,  was  then  presented  to  Mr.  Westinghouse 
amid  great  enthusiasm.  A  highly  appreciative  introductory 
address  was  delivered  by  Dr.  Elihu  Thomson  prior  to  the 
bestowal  of  the  medal,  the  speaker  paying  a  glowing  tribute 
to  the  mechanical  insight,  genius  as  an  inventor  and  ability 
as  an  organizer  that  mark  the  guest  of  honor,  and  sketching 
in  bold  strokes  the  debt  of  civilization  to  the  air  brake,  the 
gas  engine,  railway  signal  apparatus  and  alternating-current 
systems  of  transmission  and  distribution.  In  response  Mr. 
Westinghouse  said  that  he  received  the  medal  with  the 
greatest  satisfaction,  and  expressed  his  high  appreciation 
of  the  tribute  of  Dr.  Thomson,  who  was  one  of  the  first  to 
realize  the  possibilities  of  the  alternating  current.  Mr. 
Westinghouse  mentioned  briefly  the  opposition  which  the 
advocates  of  alternating  current  had  to  encounter  in  the 
early  days  of  the  industry  and  gave  high  praise  to  Stanley, 
Smith,  Shallenberger,  Scott  and  other  engineers  who  saw 
beyond  tlie  limitations  of  the  direct-current  system  and 
helped  to  build  the  foundations  of  the  present  great  develop- 
ment. In  closing,  he  called  attention  to  the  waste  of  un- 
utilized power  at  Niagara  and  made  the  prophecy  that  the 
time  will  come  when  the  power  of  the  great  cataract  will 
be  turned  into  serviceable  work  to  a  much  greater  extent 
than  at  present. 

President-elect  Mershon,  the  last  speaker  of  the  evening, 
responded  to  the  toast  "The  Institute,"  being  presented  as 
the  first  member  to  be  made  a  fellow  by  the  board  of 
directors,  this  having  been  done  by  a  motion  passed  on 
Thursday  afternoon.  He  advocated  the  larger  participation 
of  the  engineer  in  public  affairs,  showing  how  the  civic 
problems  of  the  time  demand  solution  by  men  with  engineer- 
ing training. 

CLOSING  SESSION. 

The  convention  was  brought  to  a  close  on  Friday  after- 
noon by  President  Dunn  and  Dr.  Elihu  Thomson  at  the  end 
of  the  electrical  measurements  session.  President  Dunn  ex- 
pressed his  deep  satisfaction  at  the  unusual  degree  of 
enthusiasm  and  intermingling  of  members  which  had  char- 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


acterized  the  gathering  throughout  the  Boston  meeting,  and 
touched  upon  the  general  satisfaction  felt  with  the  program, 
which  contained  the  largest  list  of  papers  ever  presented  at 
an  Institute  meeting.  The  total  registration  was  934,  and 
at  the  Boston  convention  a  larger  percentage  of  delegates 
and  guests  came  from  outside  the  city  than  in  the  Chicago 
convention  of  191 1,  where  all  attendance  records  were 
broken.  Before  leaving  the  city  for  their  homes,  all  dele- 
gates at  the  convention  were  invited  to  attend  a  sinoker  of 
the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education 
and  a  meeting  of  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Scientific 
Management,  which  were  held  on  Friday  evening  in  Boston. 
As  the  retiring  president  raised  the  gavel  to  close  the  pro- 
ceedings a  vote  of  thanks  was  put  by  Dr.  Thomson,  upon  the 
motion  of  Mr.  W  .B.  Jackson,  expressing  the  delegates'  ap- 
preciation of  the  able  manner  in  which  the  affairs  of  the 
convention  had  been  administered.  Every  voice  in  the 
room  sustained  the  motion,  and  after  a  few  words  charac- 
terizing the  Boston  meeting  as  one  of  the  best  the  Institute 
has  ever  held  Dr.  Thomson  adjourned  the  convention. 


BOSTON  MEETING  OF  THE  S.  P.  E.  E. 


The  twentieth  annual  meeting  of  the  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  Engineering  Education  was  held  in  Boston, 
Mass.,  June  25  to  29,  with  headquarters  at  the  Hotel  Somer- 
set. The  coincidence  of  the  dates  and  location  for  this 
meeting  with  those  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  was  one  cause  of  an  unusually  large  attendance, 
by  far  the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  society.  The  tech- 
nical program  was  the  result  of  a  plan  of  concentration  of 
effort  devised  by  President  William  G.  Raymond,  in  which 
attention  was  directed  to  means  for  improving  the  admin- 
istration of  college  courses.  On  the  social  side  the  society 
is  largely  indebted  to  the  local  committee  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  which  invited  the  edu- 
cators to  participate  in  the  excursions  planned  originally 
for  Institute  members. 

The  fundamental  structure  of  the  program  comprised 
three  symposiums — one  on  the  training  of  engineering 
teachers,  the  second  on  efficiency  in  engineering  instruction, 
and  the  third  on  engineering  laboratory  equipment.  These 
were  presided  over  by  Dean  G.  C.  Anthony,  Tufts  College ; 
Mr.  Frank  B.  Gilbreth,  New  York,  and  by  representatives 
of  four  branches  of  engineering  instruction  respectively. 
The  third-mentioned  symposium  was  divided  into  four 
sections  so  that  each  engineering  subject  represented  might 
have  more  detailed  consideration  than  would  have  been 
possible  in  a  joint  session.  The  sections  with  their  re- 
spective presiding  officers  were  as  follows:  Civil  engineer- 
ing. Prof.  F.  J.  McKibben,  Lehigh  University;  mechanical 
engineering.  Prof.  A.  M.  Greene.  Jr.,  Rensselaer  Poly- 
technic Institute;  mining  engineering,  Prof.  F.  W.  Sperr, 
Michigan  College  of  Mines;  electrical  engineering,  Prof. 
J.  O.  Phelon,  Worcester  Polytechnic  Institute. 

In  addition  to  the  symposiums,  one  paper,  on  the  teaching 
of  physics  to  engineering  students,  was  presented  by  Profs. 
W.  S.  Franklin  and  Barry  MacNutt,  Lehigh  University. 
This  paper  was  a  special  order  for  the  1912  meeting  of  the 
society,  as  it  had  been  in  preparation  for  more  than  a  year. 
The  authors  have  radical  ideas  regarding  the  teaching  of 
physics,  and  it  was  expected  that  the  paper  would  stimulate 
discussion.  The  principal  part  of  the  opening  session  of 
the  meeting  was,  therefore,  assigned  to  it  and  this  time  was 
filled  with  lively,  frank  and  occasionally  amusing  remarks. 

The  symposium  plan,  with  each  division  in  charge  of 
experts  in  their  several  fields,  was  a  success,  bringing  out 
papers  and  discussion  from  practising  engineers  and  teach- 
ers through  the  personal  influence  of  the  chairmen.  The 
result  was  an  almost  overwhelming  array  of  interesting 
contributions,  a  large  proportion  of  which  were  presented 


by  their  authors.  The  only  criticism  of  the  program  made 
by  those  in  attendance  was  that  they  could  not  absorb  all 
that  was  presented. 

A  joint  meeting  with  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  was  held  on  June  27.  An  account  of  this  session 
appears  in  the  report  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E.  convention  else- 
where in  this  issue.  Abstracts  of  papers  and  discussions 
at  other  sessions  will  be  given  in  a  later  issue. 

At  the  closing  business  session  of  the  society  the  follow- 
ing officers  were  elected  to  serve  one  year:  President, 
William  T.  Magruder,  professor  of  mechanical  engineering, 
Ohio  State  University;  vice-presidents,  Lionel  S.  Marks, 
professor  of  mechanical  engineering.  Harvard  University; 
F.  W.  Sperr,  professor  of  civil  and  mining  engineering, 
Michigan  College  of  Mines;  secretary,  Henry  H.  Norris, 
professor  of  electrical  engineering,  Cornell  University; 
treasurer,  William  O.  Wiley,  secretary  John  Wiley  &  Sons, 
publishers,  New  York  City.  Seven  new  members  of  the 
council  were  also  elected  as  follows :  F.  L.  Bishop,  dean  of 
the  school  of  engineering.  University  of  Pittsburgh ;  G.  R. 
Catburn,  professor  of  applied  mechanics,  University  of 
Nebraska;  O.  P.  Hood,  engineer.  United  States  Bureau  of 
Mines,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.;  F.  P.  McKibben,  professor  of  civil 
engineering,  Lehigh  University;  G.  D.  Shepardson,  pro- 
fessor of  electrical  engineering,  University  of  Minnesota; 
Walter  B.  Snow,  publicity  engineer,  Boston,  Mass.;  J.  C. 
Tracy,  assistant  professor  of  structural  engineering,  Yale 
University. 

OHIO  ELECTRIC    CONVENTION. 


For  the  eighteenth  ann-ual  convention  of  the  Ohio  Electric 
Light  Association,  to  be  held  at  the  Breakers  Hotel,  Cedar 
Point,  on  July  16-19,  the  following  program  has  been 
arranged: 

On  July  16  at  2  p.  m.  the  president,  Mr.  W.  C.  Anderson, 
Canton  Electric  Company,  will  deliver  his  address,  to  be 
followed  by  the  report  of  the  committee  on  electrical  trans- 
mission, by  Mr.  M.  H.  Wagner,  Dayton  Power  &  Light 
Company.  On  July  17  at  9:30  a.  m.  a  paper  on  rate  making 
will  be  read  by  Hon.  Halford  Erickson,  chairman  of  the 
Railroad  Commission  of  Wisconsin ;  one  on  the  public 
versus  the  utility,  by  Mr.  D.  L.  Gaskill,  president  of  the 
Greenville  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  and  the  com- 
mittee on  costs,  of  which  Mr.  J.  D.  Lyon,  Union  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  Cincinnati,  is  chairman,  will  present  its 
report.  On  July  18  at  9:30  a.m.  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee on  meters  will  be  presented  by  Mr.  John  Gilmartin, 
Toledo  Railway  &  Light  Company,  and  a  paper  on  elec- 
trolytic purification  of  sewerage  will  be  read  by  Prof.  F.  C. 
Caldwell,  of  the  Ohio  State  University,  Columbus.  The 
election  of  officers  will  take  place  at  this  session.  On  July 
19  at  9:30  a.  m.  a  paper  on  the  supply  of  electric  energy  to 
rural  districts  will  be  read  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Matthieu,  Dayton 
Power  &  Light  Company,  and  a  paper  on  joint-pole  line 
construction  by  Mr.  J.  L.  Spore,  Toledo  Railway  &  Light 
Company. 

The  usual  elaborate  souvenir  program  has  been  prepared 
for  distribution  to  members.  Especial  attention  has  been 
paid  to  the  entertainment  for  the  ladies,  in  which  music 
will  play  a  prominent  part. 


MEETING  OF  NATIONAL    ELECTRICAL   CREDIT 
ASSOCIATION. 


I 


The  thirteenth  annual  meeting  of  the  National  Electrical 
Credit  Association,  at  Hotel  Hollenden,  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
June  26,  was  one  of  the  most  successful  and  enjoyable 
meetings  ever  held  by  the  organization.  Representatives 
were  present    from  the  five   local  associations  of   Boston, 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


New  York,  Philadelphia,  Chicago  and  San  Francisco,  and 
the  attendance  generally  was  larger  than  at  any  previous 
meeting  in  the  last  ten  years.  The  reports  for  the  year  also 
showed  increased  activities  on  the  part  of  members,  with 
corresponding  greater  benefits  returned  to  each. 

The  annual  election  resulted  as  follows:  President,  Mr. 
George  J.  Murphy,  Pettingell-Andrews  Company,  Boston; 
vice-president.  :\Ir.  John  H.  Dale,  Dale  Company,  New 
York;  secretary-treasurer,  Mr.  Frederic  P.  Yose,  Chicago. 

This  is  the  thirteenth  consecutive  reappointment  of  Mr. 
Vose,  who  has  served  as  general  secretary  of  the  organiza- 
tion from  its  inception  in  1898. 

An  entertainment  connnittee,  of  which  Mr.  H.  E.  Hacken- 
berg.  National  Carbon  Company,  Cleveland,  was  chairman, 
provided  a  luncheon  at  the  Hollenden  for  the  visiting  dele- 
gates. In  the  late  afternoon  an  automobile  ride  through 
the  business  sections  and  parks  of  Cleveland  was  followed 
by  a  well-appointed  dinner  at  the  new  Cleveland  Athletic 
Club.  Mr.  C.  T.  McKinstry,  of  the  Erner  Electric  Com- 
pany, acted  as  toastmaster,  and  the  large  company  present 
listened  to  inspiring  talks  on  the  service  and  accomplish- 
ments of  the  elctrical  credit  associations  and  the  sub- 
stantial benefits  which  had  accrued  to  the  trade  as  a  result 
of  nearly  500  representative  manufacturers  and  iobbers  co- 
operating in  the  exchange  of  their  ledger  experiences  for 
the  credit  guidance  of  their  fellow-members. 


MEETING  OF    SOCIETY  OF   AUTOMOBILE 
ENGINEERS. 


\\'hile  the  summer  session  "of  the  Society  of  Automobile 
Engineers,  held  at  the  Pontchartrain  Hotel,  Detroit,  June 
27,  and  on  board  the  steamer  City  of  Detroit  II,  June  28 
and  29.  was  devoted  chiefly  to  matters  of  gasoline-automo- 
bile design,  several  of  the  papers  presented  contained  subject 
matter  having  an  application  to  electric-vehicle  construc- 
tion. The  report  of  the  standards  committee  rendered  bv 
Mr.  Henry  Souther,  chairman,  referred  to  the  increasing 
benefits  which  uniform  fittings  will  confer  upon  the  builder 
as  well  as  the  user  of  motor-driven  vehicles.  Mr.  Souther's 
report  was  divided  into  sections  relating  to  various  detail 
parts.  Mr.  Leavitt  J.  Lane  read  a  paper  on  leaf  springs, 
describing  factors  of  design  and  methods  of  mounting.  The 
springs  division  of  the  standards  committee  also  presented 
a  report  suggesting  dimensions  and  methods  of  construction 
for  standard  practice.  "A  Method  of  Determining  Brake 
Capacity"  was  the  subject  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  S.  L  Fekepe, 

EFFICIENCY   TEST   OF   GE.\R   FOR   ELECTRIC   VEHICLES   -\ND   LIGHT 

CARS 
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who  presented  a  graphical  analysis  of  the  problem  of  con- 
verting mechanical  energy  into  heat  at  the  brake  band. 
The  paper  included  a  discussion  of  the  maximum  and  mini- 
mum brake  conditions  required.  The  report  of  the  frame 
sections  division  of  the  standards  committee  discussed  ap- 


proved practices  in  steel-frame  construction.  The  fourth 
report  of  the  ball-bearings  and  roller-bearings  division  con- 
tained a  table  giving  brace,  bore  and  width  diameters  for 
suggested  standard  ball-bearing  construction.  Mr.  E.  E. 
Sweet  contributed  a  compilation  of  automobile  license-tag 
requirements  of  various  states.  A  paper  by  ^Ir.  Eugene 
P.  Batzell  on  "Motor  Sizes  and  Drive  Ratios  for  Com- 
mercial Vehicles"  also  has  an  engineering  application  to 
electric  vehicles,  although  the  discussion  related  entirely  to 
gasoline-car  construction.  ''Worm  and  Helical  Gears  as 
Applied  to  Rear  Axles"  was  the  subject  of  a  paper  by  Mr. 
Frank  Burgess.  Following  a  historical  account  and 
analytical  definitions  of  various  types  of  gears,  the  author 
outlined  the  qualifications  of  the  successful  worm  gear,  such 
as  cheapness,  strength,  durability,  small  friction,  simplicity, 
bearing  conditions,  noiselessness,  reversibilit}',  lightness 
and  power  transmission.  A  detailed  discussion  of  the 
straight  and  Hindly  types  of  gears,  illustrated  with  photo- 
graphs of  both  the  gears  themselves  and  plaster  casts,  was 
followed  by  an  account  of  methods  of  testing  gearing  for 
efficiency.  The  testing  machine  devised  by  Prof.  F.  C. 
Reily,  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  was 
described  and  the  results  given  in  the  accompanying  table 
were  appended  as  obtained  with  this  machine. 

The  initial  open  session  of  the  societv  was  held  at  the 
Pontchartrain  Hotel,  Detroit,  on  Thursday.  In  the  evening 
the  400  delegates  boarded  the  steamship  City  of  Detroit  II 
for  a  cruise  to  Mackinac  Island,  where  several  hours  were 
spent  ashore  on  Frida\-,  June  28.  The  professional  sessions, 
which  were  closed  except  to  members,  were  held  on  board 
the  vessel. 


NATIONAL   DISTRICT   HEATING  ASSOCIATION 
CONVENTION. 


The  fourth  annual  convention  of  the  National  District 
Heating  Association  opened  at  the  Cadillac  Hotel,  Detroit, 
Mich.,  June  2^,  with  the  president,  Mr.  .\.  D.  Spencer,  of 
the  Detroit  Edison  Company,  in  the  chair.  Senator  James 
H.  Lee  welcomed  the  convention  to  Detroit  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  Mr.  Alex.  Dow,  general  manager  of  the  Detroit 
Edison  Company,  who  made  a  witty  speech  detailing  the 
advantages  of  Detroit  and  making  pertinent  comment  in  a 
happy  vein  on  events  of  the  day.  The  response  to  these 
speeches  of  welcome  was  delivered  by  Mr.  George  W. 
Wright,  of  Baltimore,  Md.  President  Spencer  then  pre- 
sented his  official  address,  in  which  he  detailed  the  efficient 
work  of  the  officers  and  committees  of  the  association  dur- 
ing the  year  past,  commenting  on  the  growth  of  the  organi- 
zation's influence,  its  gain  of  25  per  cent  in  membership, 
and  the  future  before  it.  The  report  of  the  secretary- 
treasurer,  Mr.  D.  L.  Gaskill,  Greenville,  Ohio,  showed  re- 
ceipts of  $1,807.36  and  disbursements  of  $1,684.49,  leaving 
a  balance  of  $122.87  on  hand.  Mr.  A.  C.  Rogers,  Toledo, 
Ohio,  chairman  of  the  committee  on  membership,  urged 
both  operators  and  manufacturers  of  heating  systems  and 
supplies  to  join  with  the  association. 

REPORT    OF    METER    COMMITTEE. 

The  report  of  the  meter  committee  was  read  by  Chairman 
A.  P.  Biggs,  Detroit,  Mich.  This  paper  listed,  and  de- 
scribed briefly,  condensation,  steam-flow  and  boiler-feed 
meters  of  interest  to  district  heating  plants,  and  was  illus- 
trated by  numerous  cuts.  Limits  of  meter  accuracy'  and 
various  system  troubles  were  described  briefly  and  com- 
parative tests  were  given  to  show  the  eft'ect  of  condensation 
surges  on  instruments.  The  report  also  went  into  the  sub- 
ject of  inspections  on  customers'  premises,  recommending 
visits  at  intervals  of  from  fifteen  to  thirty  days  where  the 
bills  involved  are  large  or  specially  difficult  conditions  pre- 
vail. Routines  of  installing,  reading  and  removing  meters 
were  described  in  detail  and  a  simple  test  was  outlined  for 


JuLv  6,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


investigating  the  accuracy  of  meters  on  customers'  premises. 
Classifications  under  vvhicli  trouble  is  to  be  found  were 
indicated  by  compilations  made  from  the  inspection  reports 
of  actual  operating  companies.  The  report  closed  with  an 
account  of  test  equipment  and  apparatus  for  meter  repair. 
Specifications  for  a  meter  inspector's  equipment  were  also 
included,  and  reference  was  made  to  an  electric  printing 
attachment  which  has  been  developed  for  recording  cus- 
tomers' meter  operation  at  a  central  point. 

Mr.  Alex.  Dow,  Detroit,  Mich.,  declared  consistency  in 
meter  readings  to  be  the  real  requirement  rather  than  ulti- 
mate accuracy,  since  most  of  the  trouble  with  customers  is 
due  to  unexplained  differences  in  instrument  recording. 
The  speaker  outlined  the  directions  along  which  better 
accuracy  can  be  obtained,  as,  for  example,  by  increasing 
the  turning  moment  and  leverage  within  the  meter 
as  has  been  done  in  the  case  of  its  electric  prototype.  Mr. 
E.  Darrow,  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  declared  that  his  company 
has  almost  quit  urging  customers  to  use  meters  on  account 
of  the  inaccuracy  and  the  amount  of  attention  required  by 
present  commercial  apparatus.  Mr.  J.  F.  Lewis,  Detroit, 
Mich.,  explained  the  solution  reached  by  the  Murphy  com- 
pany in  having  boys  read  meters  at  intervals  of  from  four 
to  eight  days.  The  readings  are  noted  down  on  slips  of 
paper  which  are  scrutinized,  and  if  any  variation  is  found 
the  heating  inspector  is  immediately  dispatched  to  the  in- 
strument suspected  to  be  in  trouble.  This  practice  has 
resulted  in  eliminating  90  per  cent  of  the  meter  complaints. 
The  Murphy  company  will  test  meters  reported  "fast"  only 
in  the  presence  of  the  customer  or  his  representative.  Mr. 
George  W.  Wright,  Baltimore,  Md.,  declared  that  many  of 
the  troubles  traced  to  meters  are  in  fact  the  result  of  ex- 
traneous conditions,  such  as  flooded  sewers,  trap  defects, 
etc.  In  a  given  lot  of  191  troubles  reported  from  250  meters 
only  4  per  cent  were  actually  due  to  the  meters  themselves. 
Mr.  Wright  urged  the  frequent  reading  of  meters — at  six- 
day  intervals,  if  possible. 

Mr.  C.  F.  Oehlmann,  Denver,  Col.,  recounted  the  troubles 
of  his  men  in  getting  into  consumers'  premises  for  frequent 
reading  of  meters.  The  customers  are  also  disposed,  he 
added,  to  think  the  meters  are  not  sufficiently  reliable  to  be 
left  alone  for  a  full  month.  Mr.  Wright  replied  that  in 
Baltimore,  if  access  is  refused  to  the  inspector,  the  cus- 
tomer is  notified  that  if  his  bill  is  excessive  there  can  be 
no  redress  for  inaccurate  meter  registration.  Mr.  H.  A. 
Ruth,  London,  Canada,  pointed  out  that  where  there  are 
competing  heating  companies  the  claim  for  less  frequent 
annoyance  in  the  reading  of  meters  may  be  a  factor  in 
getting  and  holding  business. 

Mr.  C.  R.  Bishop,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  urged  the  necessity  for 
periodical  meter  tests  and  the  requirements  for  proper  in- 
stallations on  the  customers'  premises.  By  an  illustration 
of  two  similar  houses  he  showed  how  the  slight,  undis- 
covered factor  of  an  open  chimney  flue  had  resulted  for  a 
long  time  in  50  per  cent  difference  in  the  steam  required  for 
heating  the  houses.  Some  companies,  he  said,  test  meters 
on  the  customer's  demand,  charging  $1  or  $2  for  a  two- 
hour  test  and  40  cents  an  hour  for  longer  periods.  In  case 
the  meter  is  found  over  4  per  cent  fast  this  amount  is  re- 
turned. In  a  given  set  of  tests,  97  per  cent  were  found  to 
be  16  per  cent  slow.  Mr.  A.  C.  Rogers,  Toledo,  declared 
insufficient  radiation  area  to  be  a  dominating  cause  of  ex- 
cessive bills  and  supposed  meter  troubles.  Inadequate  radia- 
tors condense  steam  so  rapidly  as  to  flood  the  meter.  The 
speaker  urged  that  heating  companies  supervise  customers' 
installations  as  much  as  possible,  improving  construction 
and  in  this  way  bettering  the  conditions  under  which  their 
meters  operate.  In  closing  the  discussion  Mr.  Biggs  said 
that  the  more  frequently  inspections  are  made  the  more 
often  meters  are  torn  down  and  additional  meter  troubles 
are  consequently  discovered.  It  is  the  practice  of  the 
Detroit  company,  he  added,  to  correct  meter  troubles  as 
fast  as  they  occur,  not  waiting  until  they  cause  loss. 


SOURCES    OF    TROUBLE    IN    CUSTOMERS     INSTALLATIONS. 

Mr.  E.  Darrow,  manager  of  the  Merchants'  Heat  &  Light 
Company,  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  in  a  paper  on  "Common 
Sources  of  Trouble  in  Customers'  Installations,"  described 
his  company's  system,  comprising  12  miles  of  mains  and 
tunnels  and  more  than  1.000,000  sq.  ft.  of  radiation  area, 
the  largest  system  of  exhaust  steam  heating  in  the  country. 
This  service  is  supplied  from  two  plants,  one  of  10,000  and 
the  other  of  2000  boiler-hp  equipment.  Improper  installa- 
tion on  the  customer's  premises  has  been  found  so  common 
a  source  of  trouble  in  low-temperature  weather  that,  be- 
sides conducting  a  campaign  of  education  among  architects 
and  piping  contractors,  the  Merchants'  company  has  in- 
sisted that  installation  plans  be  submitted  to  its  engineering 
department  before  acceptance  of  the  heating  contract.  Air 
valves  should  be  made  very  sensitive.  Mr.  Darrow  also 
urged  installations  of  thermo-control  valves,  which,  he 
declared,  might  improve  the  success  and  economy  of  central- 
station  heating  by  from  15  to  30  per  cent.  The  Merchants' 
company  requires  at  least  one  such  valve  for  every  installa- 
tion. Cooling  or  economizing  coils  possessing  15  to  20  per 
cent  of  the  total  radiation  area  are  also  insisted  upon  in 
many  cases.  Proper  provision  for  drainage,  expansion  and 
insulation  are  the  important  requisites  of  pipe-line  construc- 
tion. Any  material  not  strictly  mineral  has  been  found  to 
suffer  rapidly  from  destruction  by  gases,  decay  and  elec- 
trolytic action.  After  passing  through  a  severe  winter 
without  difficulty,  Mr.  Darrow  recommended  to  others  his 
own  policy  of  frequent  inspection  of  customers'  plumbing 
and  stipulations  for  good  regulators,  cooling  coils,  traps, 
and  at  least  one  pound  of  steam  pressure  at  customers'  serv- 
ice valves  to  secure  circulation. 

QUALITY   OF   STEAM    SERVED    CUSTOMERS. 

In  a  paper  on  "Quality  of  Steam  as  Served  by  a  Central 
Station  to  Its  Customers,"  Mr.  A.  C.  Shepherd,  of  the 
Cleveland  Electric  Illuminating  Company,  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
described  steam-quality  tests  made  at  points  along  the  lines 
of  the  Cleveland  company  with  the  assistance  of  barrel  and 
jet  condensing  calorimeters,  the  object  being  to  determine 
variations  of  steam  quality  at  different  points  in  the  dis- 
tributing system.  Following  brief  descriptions  of  the  two 
types  of  calorimeters,  which  were  illustrated  with  sketches 
and  photographs,  Mr.  Shepherd  reported  the  results  ob- 
tained with  the  jet  continuous  condensing  calorimeter  to 
be  more  accurate  and  uniform  than  those  obtained  with  the 
barrel  calorimeter.  The  jet  calorimeter  error,  however, 
may  be  as  high  as  3  per  cent  when  testing  steam  of  from 
3  lb.  to  5  lb.  pressure.  The  average  results  obtained  in  the 
tests  showed  steam  of  from  98  to  100  per  cent  quality,  indi- 
cating that  the  steam  sampled  was  commercially  dry. 

STATION     RECORDS. 

The  report  of  the  committee  on  station  records  was  next 
read  by  Mr.  H.  R.  Wetherell,  of  the  Peoria  Gas  &  Electric 
Company,  Peoria,  111.,  and  comprised  exhibits  of  a  number 
of  blank  forms  for  daily  steam  reports,  heating  records, 
application  blanks,  meter-reading  slips,  layout  maps,  com- 
plaint forms,  superintendent's  reports,  etc.,  used  by  the 
Peoria  company.  The  text  matter  of  the  committee  report 
described  the  use  of  these  various  blank  forms.  Mr.  Weth- 
erell recommended  that  all  companies,  even  the  smaller 
ones,  keep  a  complete  system  of  records  for  their  own 
knowledge  and  for  comparison  with  similar  reports  of  other 
corporations.  The  Peoria  systein  of  records  was  started 
twelve  years  ago  and  has  been  added  to  frequently  since, 
now  affording  a  very  complete  and  successful  system.  The 
Peoria  company  makes  use  of  a  recording  pressure  gage  at 
the  extreme  end  of  the  line,  the  invention  of  one  of  its 
employees.  Through  an  electric  circuit  this  gage  records 
in  both  the  superintendent's  office  and  the  engine-room, 
enabling  the  engineer  to  maintain  the  proper  terminal  pres- 
sure regardless  of  the  gage  showing  at  his  plant. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


RATES  FOR  STEAM-HEATING  SERVICE. 

The  sessions  of  Wednesday  were  held  on  board  the 
steamer  Pleasure,  which  cruised  up  the  Detroit  River  and 
through  Lake  St.  Clair  and  the  St.  Clair  River,  returning 
in  time  for  a  chicken  dinner  at  the  Belle  Isle  Casino  in 
the  evening.  At  the  morning  session,  after  a  sharp  dis- 
cussion on  proposed  constitutional  changes  intended  to  draw 
closer  lines  of  classification  between  the  active  and  asso- 
ciate members,  the  report  of  the  committee  on  rates  was 
presented.  This  paper,  prepared  by  Messrs.  R.  D.  De  Wolf, 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  J.  L.  Hecht,  Chicago,  compiled  the 
replies  received  from  107  steam-heating  companies  and 
40  hot-water-heating  companies,  although,  as  the  committee 
itself  pointed  out,  an  adequate  summary  of  results  is  not 
possible  without  further  statement  of  conditions  under 
which  service  is  supplied.  A  wide  range  is  indicated  in 
both  rates  and  methods,  although  an  attempt  was  made  in 
the  report  to  summarize  contract  clauses  used.  Tabulated 
data  of  the  relative  cost  per  1000  lb.  of  steam  and  the  per- 
centage of  exhaust  steam  utilized,  together  with  the  cost  of 
coal  where  given,  are  also  included  in  the  report. 

"An  Analysis  of  Heating  Rates,"  a  paper  presented  by 
Mr.  A.  E.  Duram,  Central  Station  Engineering  Company, 
Chicago,  discussed  the  equitable  bases  of  charging  for  steam 
heating.  Any  schedule  based  on  area  of  radiation,  said 
the  speaker,  is  but  a  poor  system  of  guessing,  while  the 
purely  meter  rates  are  found  hardly  adequate  to  meet  the 
conditions  of  the  large  prospective  user  operating  his  own 
plant.  Submitting  the  rate  schedules  of  a  number  of  cities 
to  illustrate  the  divergence  in  charges,  Mr.  Duram  showed 
how  actual  station  costs  of  production  might  be  plotted  in 
the  process  of  devising  an  equitable  rate  based  on  a  readi- 
ness-to-serve charge  plus  a  metered  quantity  charge  for 
all  steam  consumed  beyond  this  minimum. 

Mr.  L.  D.  West,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  questioned  the  accuracy 
of  the  rates  quoted  from  Cleveland,  where,  he  said,  the 
maximum  by  ordinance  is  35  cents  per  1000  lb.  Mr  S  M. 
Bushnell,  Chicago,  111.,  observed  that  results  similar  to 
those  reported  had  also  been  reached  as  the  conclusions  of 
the  district-heating  committee  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  which  found  in  favor  of  a  rale  based 
on  both  consumption  and  radiation  area  elements  of  charge. 
Provision  of  an  elastic  system  of  rates,  he  declared,  will 
aid  in  meeting  the  requirements  of  different  classes  of 
customers.  Mr.  A.  D.  Spencer,  Detroit,  pointed  out  that 
some  rule  must  be  observed  in  providing  the  required  radia- 
tion area.  Mr.  H.  A.  Austin,  Lockport,  N.  Y.,  declared 
radiation  area  to  be  too  indefinite,  depending  even  on  the 
paint  used  on  the  radiators.  He  recommended  instead  the 
use  of  cubical  contents.  Mr.  A.  C.  Rogers,  Toledo,  Ohio, 
objected  that  cubical  contents  is  only  one  of  the  four  quan- 
tities involved.  The  factors  considered  by  the  Toledo  com- 
pany are  glass  area,  exposed  wall,  cubical  contents  and 
exposure. 

DECENTRALIZED    STEAM    HEATING. 

The  regular  program  of  the  afternoon  session  was 
opened  with  Mr.  S.  M.  Bushnell's  paper,  "Sectional  Steam 
Heating  in  Chicago,"  in  which  the  author  described  the 
practices  of  the  Illinois  Maintenance  Company,  which 
operates  existing  steam-boiler  plants  in  downtown  office 
buildings,  heating  in  this  way  also  adjoining  premises.  The 
latter  buildings  may  retain  their  old  boiler  equipment  for 
use  in  extremely  cold  weather,  but  under  ordinary  condi- 
tions are  supplied  from  the  local  common  plant.  A  general 
engineer  visits  and  inspects  the  individual  heating  plants 
daily,  exercising  the  same  supervision  over  labor  and  sup- 
plies as  if  in  a  central  power  house.  As  the  company  has 
little  or  no  investment  in  its  plants,  the  rates  charged  are 
lower  than  in  similar  large  cities.  Isolated-plant  owners 
in  Chicago  have  now  largely  overcome  their  former  preju- 
dice against  turning  over  their  plants  to  be  operated  by 
outsiders,    finding    that    the    experience    of    the    operating 


company  enables  the  same  service  to  be  supplied  at  a  con- 
siderable saving  of  former  wastes.  The  first  contracts 
made  for  heating  were  for  short  terms  only,  averaging  five 
years  or  so  in  length.  Recent  contracts,  however,  cover 
periods  from  ten  to  twenty  years,  as  these  longer  terms 
serve  to  stabilize  the  business,  enabling  smaller  customers 
to  be  picked  up  in  the  vicinity  and  thus  adding  to  the  profit- 
able character  of  the  business.  The  paper  was  illustrated 
with  a  sketch  map  of  the  Chicago  district  served  by  ihis 
"decentralized"  system,  together  with  halftones  showing 
some  of  the  buildings  supplied.  The  paper  was  discussed 
briefly  by  Messrs.  E.  Darrow,  Indianapolis ;  L.  H.  Murphy, 
Detroit,  and  Mr.  Bushnell. 

COMBINATION    HEATING,    POWER    AND    ICE    PLANT. 

Mr.  J.  F.  Lewis,  manager  of  the  Murphy  Power  Com- 
pany, Detroit,  followed  with  a  descriptive  account  of  this 
central  power,  heating  and  refrigerating  ■  plant,  an  illus- 
trated description  of  which  was  given  in  the  Electrical 
World,  Sept.  i,  1910.  The  station,  occupying  a  ground 
area  148  ft.  by  125  ft.,  contains  two  500-kw  and  two  1500-kw 
turbo-alternators,  delivering  4600-volt,  6o-cycle  energy. 
There  are  twelve  400-hp  boilers,  and  low-pressure  exhaust 
steam  is  supplied  for  heating  through  30,000  ft.  of  dis- 
tributing system,  the  majority  of  which  is  of  standard 
wood-log  construction.  High-pressure  steam  is  also  sup- 
plied for  cooking  purposes,  and  refrigerated  brine  is  circu- 
lated for  cooling  ice  boxes. 

During  the  discussion  which  followed,  Mr.  A.  P.  Biggs 
recounted  the  experience  of  the  Central  Heating  Company, 
Detroit,  with  seals.  Out  of  400  cases  of  trap  adjustments, 
only  twenty-five  cases  were  found  where  the  seal  leaked. 
The  company  always  makes  a  second  inspection  after  re- 
quiring that  repairs  be  made,  in  this  way  assuring  itself 
that  proper  corrective  measures  have  been  taken.  Mr. 
L.  H.  Murphy,  Detroit,  declared  cooking  with  exhaust 
steam  to  be  out  of  the  question  on  account  of  its  low 
temperature,  but  Mr.  Lewis  related  instances  where,  with 
special  equipment  having  more  ample  steam  passages  than 
is  customary,  such  steam  is  used  successfully  for  cooking 
at  pressures  of  only  from  6  lb.  to  8  lb.  per  sq.  in. 

EXHAUST  HEATING  FROM   TURBINES. 

Mr.  August  H.  Kruesi,  General  Electric  Company,  .Sche- 
nectady, N.  Y.,  presented  a  paper  on  "Heating  in  Connec- 
tion with  Steam  Turbines,"  in  which  were  described  recent 
developments  in  Curtis  turbine  design  permitting  the  ex- 
traction of  steam  for  heating  and  industrial  purposes. 
These  turbines  are  now  available  in  sizes  from  500  kw  to 
2000  kw  and  may  be  operated  non-condensing  against  back 
pressures  up  to  10  lb.  gage,  carrying  full  rated  output.  A 
special  valve  equipment  is  provided,  so  that  a  variable 
electrical  load  can  be  carried  on  the  turbo-generator  with- 
out trouble.  The  valve-port  nozzles  close  and  open  succes- 
sively to  full  position,  only  one  group  being  throttled  at  a 
time.  When  exhaust  steam  is  to  be  supplied  to  a  heating 
system,  the  turbine  is  fitted  with  a  non-return  valve  which 
prevents  the  back-flow  of  low-pressure  steam  from  the 
main  in  case  the  electrical  load  should  suddenly  be  lost. 
In  conclusion,  Mr.  Kruesi  declared  that  turbines  can  be 
operated  non-condensing  at  economies  equal  to  those  of 
reciprocating  units,  besides  the  saving  in  space  occupied 
and  in  the  other  requirements  of  engine  installations.  He 
expressed  doubt  that  any  beneficial  effect  results  from  the 
pulsating  exhaust  of  engine  units. 

Mr.  W.  Parsons,  Springfield,  Ohio,  cited  his  own  ex- 
perience that  flow  meters  are  of  only  very  approximate 
accuracy  at  low  rates  of  flow.  The  Springfield  company, 
he  said,  is  preparing  to  install  steam-flow  meters  on  all  its 
individual  boiler  units,  headers,  turbines,  etc.,  besides  equip- 
ping the  boiler-feed  lines  with  recorders.  Mr.  E.  L.  Wilder. 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  quoted  a  formula  for  the  quantity  of 
steam  required  by  a  turbine  furnishing  steam-heating  serv- 
ice.    This   expression  takes  the   form   of  the   sum  of  the 


July  6,  igi5 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


quantity  of  steam  required  to  keep  the  turbine  spinning 
idle,  plus  the  product  of  the  steam  rate  of  the  machine 
multiplied  by  the  kilowatt-hours  produced,  plus  the  per 
cent  of  steam  bled.  Mr.  H.  J.  Westover,  New  York,  pre- 
sented results  of  tests  of  a  2Soo-kw  turbine  which  develops 
a  kilowatt-hour  on  15.3  lb.  of  steam  when  running  con- 
densing and  takes  only  18  lb.  running  against  a  6-lb.  back 
pressure.  Mr.  E.  D.  Dreyfus,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  said  the 
alleged  superior  economy  of  exhaust  heating  with  engines 
over  that  with  turbines  has  been  explained  by  some  as  due 
to  the  sweeping  away  of  moisture  by  the  pulsations  of  the 
reciprocating  exhaust.  Mr.  C.  R.  Bishop,  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
dissented  from  the  author's  conclusions  relating  to  the  in- 
effectiveness of  superheat  for  customers'  service,  which 
heat  Mr.  Kruesi  had  declared  to  represent  energy  wasted. 
Others  who  commented  briefly  were  Messrs.  H.  A.  Ruth, 
London,  Ont.;  Mr.  T.  J.  English,  Muncie,  Ind.;  Mr.  A.  C. 
Rogers,  Toledo,  Ohio,  and  Mr.  L.  D.  West,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
In  closing  the  discussion  Mr.  Kruesi  explained  how  steam- 
flow  meters  may  be  installed  to  advantage  and  calibrated 
with  the  aid  of  mercury  U-tubes  and  water  columns. 

A    LARGE    HOT-WATER    SYSTEM. 

Mr.  G.  E.  Chapman,  of  the  Public  Service  Company  of 
Northern  Illinois,  described  his  company's  extensive  hot- 
water  system  at  Oak  Park,  111.  The  plant  comprises  four- 
teen boiler  units  aggregating  4800  boiler-hp,  four  of  the 
boilers  being  reserved  exclusively  for  heating  the  hot  water. 
This  is  circulated  by  four  turbine-driven  centrifugal  pumps, 
each  having  a  rated  output  of  about  2500  gal.  per  minute. 
The  make-up  supply,  compensating  for  water  lost  in  the 
system,  is  provided  by  a  balanced-column  duplex  pump. 
The  two-pipe  distribution  system  comprises  12  miles  of 
double  line  inclosed  in  oiled  wooden  bo.xing  with  double 
air-spaces.  Service  is  supplied  to  710  houses  aggregating 
550,000  sq.  ft.  of  radiation  surface.  In  addition  to  the  use 
of  the  special  hot-water  boilers,  the  exhaust  from  the  1500- 
kw  and  500-kw  turbines  and  two  250-kw  engine  sets  is 
discharged  into  four  heaters  which  can  be  run  singly,  in 
series  or  in  multiple  as  the  conditions  require.  Brief  com- 
ments and  questions  were  put  by  Messrs.  A.  W.  Whitten, 
Boston,  Mass. ;  H.  A.  Woodworth,  Evansville,  Ind. ;  D.  T. 
Donohue,  Lafayette,  Ind.;  W.  A.  WoUs,  Columbus,  Ohio; 
August  Kruesi,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. ;  H.  J.  Westover,  New 
York ;  T.  J.  English,  Muncie,  Ind. ;  C.  R.  Bishop,  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.;  A.  C.  March,  Evanston,  111.,  and  C.  A.  Gillhams, 
Chicago. 

SURVEY    FOR    COMBINATION     PLANTS. 

Mr.  E.  D.  Dreyfus'  paper,  "Economic  Survey  of  Com- 
bined Power  and  Heating  Plants,"  was  read  at  the  morning 
session  by  the  author,  who  is  engineer  for  the  West  Penn 
Electric  Company,  with  headquarters  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
Mr.  Dreyfus  prefaced  his  remarks  with  a  discussion  of 
surveys  of  temperature,  humidity  and  weather  conditions 
obtainable  from  United  States  Weather  Bureau  reports, 
which,  he  pointed  out,  should  be  investigated  when  con- 
sidering the  installation  of  a  plant.  The  author  then  out- 
lined the  design  and  layout  of  an  assumed  station  to  con- 
tain three  looo-kw  automatic  bleeder  turbo-units  and  two 
looo-kw  standard  units,  basing  his  computations  on  the 
necessary  service  expected  under  local  weather  conditions. 
The  bleeder-turbine  installation,  he  specially  pointed  out, 
is  practically  insensible  to  pressure  variations,  in  contrast 
with  the  serious  objections  which  may  make  their  appearance 
in  a  reciprocating  plant  improperly  proportioned.  A  de- 
tailed description  of  the  Westinghouse  bleeder-type  turbine 
followed,  with  a  discussion  of  the  operation  of  the  auto- 
matic valve  mechanism  extracting  steam  from  the  inter- 
mediate section.  If  desired,  the  entire  exhaust  can  be  ar- 
ranged for  discharging  into  the  heating  system.  Mr.  Drey- 
fus then  exhibited  a  number  of  curves  showing  steam  con- 
sumptions of  engine  and  turbine  types,  together  with  a 
collection   of   monthly   curve   sheets   of   the   electrical   and 


steam-heating  demand  on  a  typical  5000-kw  station.  Sum- 
ming up  these  results,  he  concluded  that  a  saving  of  10.6 
per  cent  would  be  effected  by  the  use  of  bleeder  turbines  as 
compared  with  piston  engines.  Suggestions  were  also  sub- 
mitted for  the  lay-out  of  the  machines  in  the  power  house, 
making  use  of  direct-connected  exciters  as  well  as  thermo- 
static control  of  the  exhaust  branch  from  the  bleeder  main 
to  the  feed-water  heaters.  The  author  predicted  an  in- 
creasing future  development  of  the  steam-heating  field  and 
recommended  that  designing  engineers  make  provisions,  in 
laying  out  present  electric  plants,  for  their  conversion  to 
bleeder-turbine  operation  later  if  needed.  Where  a  hot- 
water  system  is  desirable,  said  the  author,  a  closed  heater 
may  be  aranged  to  receive  the  exhaust  of  the  same  bleeder 
type  of  turbine. 

DEPRECIATION    IN    UNDERGROUND   SYSTEMS. 

The  closing  paper  of  the  program,  "Depreciation  in  Un- 
derground Distribution  Systems,"  by  Mr.  William  Jen- 
nings, of  the  Harrisburg  Steam  Heat  &  Power  Company, 
Harrisburg,  Pa.,  was  read  in  the  author's  absence  by  Secre- 
tary Gaskill.  The  Harrisburg  plant  was  installed  in  1887, 
wood  logs  being  used  to  inclose  the  charcoal-iron  pipe 
employed  for  the  steam  mains.  The  logs  were  anchored 
in  the  loam  and  sandy  soil  by  bar-iron  straps,  while  ex- 
pansion was  permitted  through  means  of  variators.  When 
this  construction  was  excavated  recently,  in  order  to  replace 
it  with  larger  pipe,  the  wooden  casing  was  found  charred 
to  a  depth  of  i  in.  or  so,  but  except  where  it  had  been 
attacked  by  leakage  from  sewers  or  water  pipes  the  logs 
were  sound.  The  iron  pipe  showed  no  leaks  and  when 
taken  up  was  bright  and  clean.  More  than  two  miles  of  this 
construction  is  still  in  service  after  twenty-five  years'  use. 
The  principal  source  of  leakage  trouble  has  been  from  the 
service  runs,  hardly  half  a  dozen  leaks  having  occurred 
in  the  mains  proper. 

Mr.  E.  G.  Jacobs,  Detroit,  declared  wood-log  construction 
to  be  a  failure  in  his  experience  and  recommended  concrete 
as  subject  to  less  thermal  loss  and  depreciation.  Mr.  E.  B. 
Tyler,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. .thought  concrete  might  be  liable  to 
cracks,  admitting  water.  Mr.  H.  A.  Woodworth,  Evansville, 
Ind.,  pointed  out  that  variator  construction  is  usually  limited 
10  100  lb.  pressure  and  suggested  that  special  soil  conditions 
may  account  for  unusual  destructive  action.  Mr.  G.  D. 
Higgins,  Detroit,  reported  that  the  Murphy  company  uses 
wood  logs  exclusively  and  finds  them  proof  against  decay 
except  where  a  water  main  breaks  or  leaks.  If  2  ft.  under 
the  asphalt  pavement,  he  added,  the  heat  loss  is  not  suf- 
ficient to  melt  the  first  fall  of  snow.  In  reply  to  a  query 
by  Mr.  J.  C.  Hobbs,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  Mr.  Jacobs  explained 
that  in  Detroit  slip-joints  are  installed  at  street-intersection 
intervals  of  from  200  ft.  to  300  ft.,  the  mains  being  anchored 
midway,  while  service  fittings  are  installed  at  approximately 
50-ft.  distances. 

UNDERGROUND   INSULATION. 

Following  the  discussion  of  Mr.  Jennings'  paper,  a  sym- 
posium was  held  on  the  subject  of  underground  installations 
and  insulation,  representatives  of  the  manufacturers  being 
invited  to  discuss  the  features  of  their  own  construction  and 
equipment.  Mr.  C.  M.  Staten,  of  the  H.  W.  Johns-Manville 
Company,  New  York,  described  the  sectional  conduit  made 
by  his  company,  which  he  declared  to  afford  the  maximum 
protection,  durability  and  efficiency  in  the  transmission  of 
heat.  The  conduit  is  mixed  from  carefully  selected  clays, 
and  vitrified  in  extreme  heat  to  render  it  moisture-proof,  the 
sections  being  formed  whole  and  afterward  cut  and  num- 
bered correspondingly.  Such  construction,  he  explained,  is 
cheaper  than  tunnel-work  and  more  efficient  than  wood 
casings. 

Mr.  H.  B.  Smith,  Jr.,  Michigan  Pipe  Company,  Bay  City, 
Mich,  described  the  principles  of  his  special  construction  in 
which  guides  hold  the  pipe  equidistant  from  the  inclosing 
wood  conduit.    Joints  in  the  latter  are  waterproof  and  the 


10 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


material  is  extremely  durable,  having  withstood  tests  of 
thirty  years.  The  tamarack  timber  used  is  hardy  and  close- 
grained.  Skilled  labor  is  not  required  to  lay  this  construc- 
tion. Mr.  H.  A.  Austni,  American  District  Steam  Com- 
pany, Lockport,  N.  Y.,  described  the  method  of  constructing 
heating-system  trenches  with  their  porous  underfiller,  the 
subtrenching  also  being  filled  with  gravel  or  crushed  stone. 
Variators  are  installed  at  loo-ft.  intervals,  with  special 
anchor  fittings  at  the  mid-points.  The  packingless  features 
of  these  fittings  avoid  manhole  defacement  and  reduce  heat 
loss.  Mr.  Austin  recommended  the  air-dried  and  kiln-dried 
white-pine  wood  used,  as  the  most  efficient  insulating 
material  available.  Mr.  J.  H.  Wilson,  of  the  Richards- 
Wilson  Company,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  spoke  of  the  Rick- 
well  underground  covering,  a  mixture  of  kieselguhr  and 
other  materials,  which  he  declared  to  have  an  insulating 
efficiency  of  90  per  cent.  Mr.  Wilson  urged  careful  drain- 
ing of  the  pipe  trenches.  Mr.  M.  O.  Payne,  W.  H.  Schott 
Company,  Chicago,  spoke  informally  of  the  construction 
methods  used  in  recent  work  by  his  company.  Here  pure 
asbestos  is  suspended  around  the  pipe,  leaving  an  air  space 
which  is  rendered  dead  against  circulation,  by  the  fittings. 
The  waterproof  joints  of  the  concrete  casing  are  broken 
with  those  of  the  inner  pipe  construction,  effecting  a  heat- 
delivery  efficiency  of  95  per  cent  of  that  generated,  declared 
the  speaker.  Mr.  C.  A.  Gillhams,  of  the  Central  Station 
Engineering  Company,  Chicago,  pointed  out  the  three  im- 
portant requisites  to  proper  underground  construction ;  good 
drainage,  perfect  insulation  and  mechanical  protection  of 
the  insulation.  Under  the  specifications  he  outlined,  the 
trench  is  both  bottom-filled  and  side-filled  with  rock  or 
gravel  and  is  drained  to  sumps-  if  necessary.  The  construc- 
tion described  by  the  speaker  has  the  feature  of  flexibility, 
lending  itself  to  modifications  to  meet  various  requirements. 

ELECTION    OF    OFFICERS. 

■  At  the  session  of  Wednesday  morning,  held  on  board  the 
steamer,  the  following  officers  were  unanimously  elected 
for  the  follow-ing  year:  President,  R.  D.  De  Wolf, 
Rochester,  N.  Y. ;  first-vice-president,  J.  F.  Lewis.  Detroit, 
Mich.;  second  vice-president,  J.  L,  Hecht,  Chicago,  111.; 
third  vice-president,  E.  Darrow,  Indianapolis,  Ind. ;  secre- 
tary-treasurer. D.  L.  Gaskill,  Greenville.  Ohio.  Executive 
committee:  W.  A.  Wolls,  Cleveland,  Ohio;  H.  R. 
Weatherell,  Peoria,  111.,  and  A.  D.  Spencer,  Detroit,  Mich. 
Invitations  for  the  association  to  hold  its  1913  convention 
in  their  cities  were  received  from  representatives  of 
Indianapolis,  Washington,  Baltimore,  Chicago,  Buffalo  and 
Cleveland.  The  executive  committee  will  decide  upon  the 
place  of  meeting  later.  A  committee  was  also  ordered 
appointed,  to  meet  with  similar  committees  from  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association  and  the  Society  of 
Heating  and  Ventilating  Engineers,  for  the  formulation  of 
material  on  educational  subjects  in  the  fields  of  steatn  and 
hot-water  heating. 

ENTERTAINMENT. 

A  delightful  entertainment  program,  arranged  by  Chair- 
man J.  F.  Lewis  and  his  committee,  occupied  the  time  of  the 
delegates  between  business  sessions.  Tuesday  evening  there 
was  a  theater  party  at  the  Temple  Theater.  On  Wednesday 
morning  the  convention  boarded  the  steamer  Pleasure,  char- 
tered for  the  day,  and  enjoyed  a  cruise  up  the  Detroit  River 
through  Lake  St.  Clair  and  into  the  St.  Clair  River,  past 
hundreds  of  attractive  waterside  homes  and  resorts.  An 
unexpected  feature  of  the  trip  was  the  sinking  of  the 
freighter  Bothnia  by  the  steel  ship  Ciirrie  in  full  view  of 
the  delegates  who  were  in  the  forward  part  of  the  conven- 
tion boat.  Luncheon  was  served  on  board  the  Pleasure,  the 
vessel  returning  in  the  evening  to  Belle  Isle,  where  a 
chicken  dinner  was  served  at  the  Casino.  On  Thursday 
afternoon  automobiles  took  the  delegates  for  a  trip  to  local 
automobile  factories,  returning  by  the  boulevards  for  a  visit 
to  the  Delray  plant  of  the  Detroit  Edison  Company. 


TOWN  FORBIDDEN  TO  SELL  ELECTRICAL  ENERGY 
BELOW  COST. 


The  Massachusetts  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission 
has  issued  a  decision  refusing  to  permit  the  municipal  light 
board  of  the  town  of  Groton  to  sell  electrical  energy  below 
cost,  as  petitioned  by  the  municipality  in  a  formal  communi- 
cation addressed  to  the  conmiission  following  a  recent  town 
meeting.  The  commission  gave  a  hearing  at  Groton  a  few 
weeks  ago,  at  which  it  developed  that  the  average  cost  to 
the  town  for  the  year  ended  March  i,  1912,  was  16.43 
cents  per  kw-hr.,  including  operating  expenses,  interest  on 
the  investment  at  3^^  per  cent  and  depreciation  at  5  per 
cent.  The  output  was  29,644  kw-hr.,  energy  being  purchased 
from  the  Ayer  Electric  Light  Company  by  the  town  on  a 
five-year  contract  at  a  maximum  price  of  6  cents  per  kw- 
hr.,  with  a  reduction  to  5  cents  for  energy  in  excess  of 
20.000  kw-hr.  per  year.  The  total  cost  of  supplying  its 
consumers  during  the  year  was  $4,872,  of  which  $2,997  ^^'^^ 
reqilired  for  operating  expenses  and  $1,056,  or  22  per  cent, 
was  needed  to  take  care  of  depreciation.  The  town  desired 
to  sell  energy  at  12  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  commercial  light- 
ing, with  a  probable  discount  of  10  per  cent,  making  the 
anticipated  net  price  10.8  cents.  The  town  supplies  si.xty- 
nine  private  commercial  customers,  the  town  hall  and  other 
public  buildings,  and  165  50-watt  and  19  40-watt  incan- 
descent street  lamps.  The  net  investment  to  June  30,  191 1, 
was  $20,767. 

In  dismissing  the  petition  the  board  said:  '"It  is  obvious 
from  these  figures  that  the  cost  to  the  town  of  the  electricity 
supplied  by  it,  as  defined  by  the  statute  (Revised  Laws, 
Chap.  34,  Sees.  22  and  23,  and  Acts  1905.  Chap.  410,  Sec. 
7),  has  been  more  than  12  cents  per  kw-hr.  It  developed 
at  the  hearing  that  some  misapprehension  as  to  the  cost  of 
the  electricity  sold  had  probably  led  the  town  to  vote  for  the 
i2-cent  rate.  L'nder  the  contract  for  the  purchase  of  energy 
the  average  cost  per  unit  will  decrease  with  the  increase  of 
electricity  used,  and,  while  the  volume  of  business  has  prob- 
ably not  yet  reached  its  limit,  no  sufficient  evidence  was  of- 
fered to  show  such  development  of  the  business  in  the  near 
future  as  would  reduce  the  cost  as  low  as  12  cents.  The 
maximum  net  price  now  charged  is  not  high  when  the  size 
of  the  town,  the  volume  of  the  business  and  the  benefits, 
direct  and  indirect,  are  considered.  Indeed,  unless  the  out- 
put shall  appreciably  increase,  even  this  price  may  prove  to 
be  less  than  cost.  The  statute,  having  defined  'cost'  with 
considerable  precision,  manifestly  intends  that  the  property 
shall  be  efficiently  managed  and  that  private  customers 
shall  bear  their  full  share  of  the  burden  which  the  town 
assumes  in  supplying  the  electricity  which  thev  use,  unless 
exceptional  conditions  shall  make  such  course  clearly  im- 
practicable or  inexpedient.  A  supply  to  private  consumers 
for  less  than  cost  compels  all  other  taxpayers,  many  of 
whom  may  be  unable  to  obtain  the  service  for  their  own 
use,  to  pay  for  the  special  advantages  enjoyed  by  a  few." 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    SECOND    DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  Second  District 
has  denied  the  application  of  the  Philmont  Lighting  & 
Pow-er  Company  for  approval  of  franchises  granted  it  by  the 
village  of  Philmont  in  the  town  of  Claverack,  Columbia 
County.  At  a  recent  hearing  held  by  the  commission  the 
president  and  all  of  the  trustees  of  the  village  of  Philmont 
objected  to  the  approval  of  this  franchise,  which  was 
granted  by  the  village  board  five  years  ago.  They  stated  it 
was  their  desire  that  the  entire  lighting  situation  in  Phil- 
mont be  reopened  and  that  two  other  companies  should  have 
an  opportunity  to  make  propositions  to  tlie  village  for  fur- 
nishing electric  light. 


July  6,  igu. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


MASSACHUSETTS  COMMISSION. 

The  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission  has  issued  an 
order  dismissing  the  petition  of"  consumers  of  the  Suburban 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  of  Revere,  for  a  reduction  in  the 
price  of  electricity.  The  hearing  disclosed  the  fact  that  the 
petition  was  not  brought  in  accordance  with  the  statute, 
seven  of  the  persons  whose  names  were  signed  to  the  com- 
plaint not  being  customers  of  the  company,  and  the  local 
Board  of  Selectmen  not  being  a  party  to  the  proceedings. 
In  dismissing  the  case  the  commission  pointed  out  that  the 
company  and  the  lighting  committee  of  the  town  were  at 
the  point  of  reaching  an  agreement  when  the  petition  was 
filed,  and  that  voluntary  rate  reductions  have  since  been 
made  by  the  company. 

The  commission  has  also  issued  a  decision  refusing  to 
permit  the  town  of  Groton  to  sell  electricity  at  less  than 
cost.  The  salient  points  in  this  decision  are  printed  else- 
where in  this  issue  and  are  of  considerable  significance. 

WISCONSIN   COMMISSION. 

At  the  suggestion  of  the  Paramount  Power  &  Realty 
Company,  of  Beaver  Dam,  the  Railroad  Commission  has 
investigated  the  condition  of  the  company's  dam  and  has 
ordered  certain  specified  improvements  to  be  made  in  the 
interest  of  public  safety.  Since  the  dam  was  built  several 
years  ago  the  city  has  spread  until  now  a  number  of  build- 
ings of  considerable  size  are  located  immediately  below  the 
dam  and  below  the  level  of  the  lake.  A  failure  of  the  dam, 
due  either  to  high  water  or  to  the  failure  of  dams  higher  up 
the  river,  would  be  attended  by  serious  consequences. 

The  commission  has  authorized  the  Wisconsin  Telephone 
Company  to  purchase  and  acquire  the  property  and  effects 
of  the  Fox  River  Valley  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company 
at  a  purchase  price  of  $335,000  and  has  authorized  the  com- 
pany to  issue  $200,000  of  its  notes  in  part  payment  thereof. 
The  property  involved  includes  eight  exchanges,  with  all 
lines  connected  to  them  either  directly  or  indirectly.  The 
commission  has  appraised  the  property  and  determined  its 
true  value  to  be  in  excess  of  the  purchase  price. 

The  Wisconsin  Electric  Railway  Company  has  applied  to 
the  commission  for  authority  to  establish  an  amended  sched- 
ule of  rates  on  its  interurban  lines  between  the  cities  of 
Omro  and  Oshkosh  and  between  the  cities  of  Neenah  and 
Oshkosh.  The  amended  schedule  is  to  be  based  upon  a 
uniform  rate  of  2  cents  per  mile  and  will  be  substituted  for 
the  system  of  charging  according  to  fare  zones  now  in 
effect,  which  is  attacked  in  a  proceeding  now  pending  before 
the  commission  as  being  excessive  and  discriminatory.  An 
application  by  the  Eastern  Wisconsin  Railway  &  Light 
Company  for  a  similar  amended  schedule  to  apply  on  its 
interurban  line  between  Oshkosh  and  Fond  du  Lac  has  also 
been  filed  with  the  commission. 


Current  News  and  Notes 


Gas  and  Oil  Engines. — To  meet  the  demand  for  in- 
formation concerning  internal-combustion  engines  and  gas 
producers,  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines,  Washington, 
D.  C,  has  issued  technical  paper  No.  9,  entitled  "The  Status 
of  the  Gas  Producer  and  of  the  Internal-Combustion  Engine 
in  the  Utilization  of  Fuels,"  by  Mr.  Robert  H.  Fernald. 
Many  valuable  data  are  contained  in  this  pamphlet,  copies 
of  which  may  be  obtained  upon  application. 

*  *  * 
Need  of  Better  Dam  Construction. — Based  upon  the  re- 
cent report  made  by  Mr.  Alexander  R.  McKim,  inspector 
of  docks  and  dams,  the  New  York  State  Conservation  Com- 
mission has  lately  issued  a  statement  pointing  out  the  neces- 
sity of  constructing  dams  that  will  stand  up  under  spring 
freshets.     Mr.  McKim  has  just  reported  on  several  dams 


which  were  carried  away  by  high  water  this  year.  A  code 
of  dam  construction  intended  for  owners,  engineers  and 
builders  has  been  adopted  by  the  commission. 

*  *     * 

Telephone  Pension  Plan. — On  July  i  the  New  England 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  put  into  effect  a  pen- 
sion system  for  the  benefit  of  its  employees.  A  mini- 
mum pension  of  $25  per  month  and  a  maximum  of  $100  per 
month  are  the  principal  features  of  the  plan.  After  twenty 
years  of  service  an  employee  of  the  company  may  be  pen- 
sioned for  disability  at  sixty,  and  he  may  retire  of  his  own 
volition  upon  a  pension  at  sixty-five.  Retirement  at  seventy 
is  compulsory  unless  the  board  of  directors  decides  to  make 
an  exception.  Employees  are  not  called  upon  to  make 
contributions  of  any  kind  toward  the  maintenance  of  the 
pension  fund. 

*  *     + 

New  Baltimore  Rate  Schedule. — The  Consolidated 
Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  Baltimore,  has 
issued  a  new  schedule  of  rates,  revised  to  June  I.  While 
there  are  few  changes  in  the  charges  the  schedule  contains 
references  to  a  number  of  new  customs  adopted  by  the 
company.  Among  these  is  a  provision  whereby  in  cases  of 
sickness  the  company  will  install  service  without  charge 
for  service  connection,  excepting  for  e.xtensions,  upon  re- 
ceipt of  a  certificate  from  the  attending  physician  or  other 
satisfactory  evidence  indicating  the  necessity  of  temporary 
electric  service.  A  special  rate  is  also  made  for  conven- 
tions, carnivals  or  other  celebrations,  and  whenever  any 
action  is  taken  by  the  Mayor  declaring  that  electric  service 
upon  such  occasions  will  be  of  general  benefit  to  the  city 
or  to  the  public  energy  will  be  supplied  by  the  company  at 
this  reduced  rate. 

*  *     * 

Analysis  of  Engine  Performance. — Bulletin  No.  58  of 
the  Engineering  Experiment  Station  of  the  University  of 
Illinois  is  devoted  to  a  paper  by  Mr.  J.  Paul  Clayton  entitled 
"A  New  Analysis  of  the  Cylinder  Performance  of  Recipro- 
cating Engines."  The  paper  contains  the  results  of  an  ex- 
tensive investigation  of  indicator  diagrams  from  engines 
using  steam,  gas,  air  and  ammonia.  It  has  been  found  that 
the  actual  steam  consumption  of  an  engine  may  be  computed 
by  a  new  method  from  the  indicator  diagram  alone  to  within 
4  per  cent  of  the  results  obtained  by  tests.  New  methods, 
have  also  been  devised  for  detecting  leakage  from  the  indi- 
cator card,  for  computing  the  amount  of  the  clearance 
volume  and  for  closely  locating  the  cyclic  events.  Copies  of 
the  bulletin  may  be  obtained  upon  application  to  Dr.  W.  F. 
M.  Goss,  director  of  the  Engineering  Experiment  Station, 
University  of  Illinois,  Urbana,  111. 

Bureau  of  Standards  Report  on  State  Gas  Laws. — 
The  National  Bureau  of  Standards  has  prepared  a  report 
summarizing  the  provisions  of  the  state  gas  laws,  which 
shows  that  only  sixteen  out  of  the  forty-eight  states  have 
laws  for  the  regulation  of  gas  service.  Candle-power  re- 
quirements are  provided  in  the  laws  of  California,  Mary- 
land, Massachusetts  and  New  York.  Sixteen  candle-power 
is  required  in  all  California  cities  of  more  than  100,000 
population.  Twenty  candle-power  is  required  in  Maryland 
for  water  gas,  and  about  17  cp  or  18  cp  for  coal  gas.  In 
Massachusetts  the  minimum  is  16  cp.  The  requirement  in 
New  York  is  16  cp  for  coal  gas,  18  cp  for  mixed  gas  and  20 
cp  for  water  gas.  An  exception  exists  for  the  city  of  New 
York,  where  the  requirement  is  22  cp.  Wisconsin,  New  Jer- 
sey and  Nevada  are  the  only  states  in  which  a  heating-value 
requirement  exists  under  the  statute.  In  Wisconsin  and  New 
Jersey  the  monthly  average  of  gross  heating  value  is  re- 
quired to  be  not  less  than  600  thermal  units  per  cubic  foot  of 
gas,  with  a  minimum  of  550  thermal  units.  The  correspond- 
ing requirements  in  Nevada  are  550  and  500  thermal  units 
respectively. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


Prevention  of  Electrical  Accidents  in  Mines. — The 
Bureau  of  Mines,  ^Vashington,  D.  C,  has  recently  issued 
technical  paper  No.  19,  entitled  "The  Factor  of  Safety  in 
Mine  Electrical  Installations,"  by  Mr.  H.  H.  Clark,  copies 
of  which  may  be  obtained  upon  application. 

*  *     * 

Assistant  Electrical  Engineer. — The  New  York  State 
Civil  Service  Commission  will  hold  an  examination  on 
July  27  for  the  position  of  assistant  electrical  engineer,  the 
pay  for  which  is  $600  per  year  and  maintenance.  The 
address  of  the  commission  is  Albany,  N.  Y. 

*  *     * 

Fire  Prevention  Conference. — The  first  international 
conference  and  exhibition  embracing  fire  prevention,  fire 
protection  and  fire  fighting  will  be  held  in  Madison  Square 
Garden,  New  York,  Oct.  2-12,  1912.  The  secretary  of  the 
committee  on  arrangements  is  Mr.  A.  D.  V.  Storey,  1269 
Broadway,  New  York. 

*  *     * 

Electric  Versus  Horse-Dravvn  Trucks. — It  is  claimed 
that  from  May  i,  1911,  to  May  i,  1912,  there  was  a  decrease 
of  6753  in  horse-drawn  vehicles  in  Chicago  due  to  the  in- 
crease in  motor  vehicles.  The  decrease  equaled  14.7  per 
cent  of  the  total  number  of  horse-drawn  vehicles  in  use 
before  May  i,  1911.  A  large  percentage  of  the  vehicles 
were  replaced  by  electric  trucks,  which  possess  many  advan- 
tageous features  for  this  service. 

*  *     * 

The  Water-Power  of  Iceland. — According  to  the  Ice- 
landic paper  Thodviljinn.  a  company  has  recently  been 
formed  for  utilizing  practically  all  the  available  water- 
power  in  Iceland,  aggregating  250,000  hp.  A  thorough  in- 
vestigation and  study  of  the  falls  have  been  made  by  two 
Norwegian  engineers,  Mr.  G.  Heildal  and  Mr.  T.  Krabbe. 
The  name  of  the  company  is  the  Iceland  Waterfalls  Com- 
pany, Ltd.  The  president  is  Mr.  Sam.  Johnson,  Christiania, 
Norway. 

*  *     * 

Proposed  Telephone  Merger  at  Pasadena,  CAL.^n 
view  of  the  proposal  to  merge  the  local  telephone  systems 
now  operated  at  Pasadena.  Cal.,  by  the  Home  Telephone 
Company  and  the  Pacific  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company, 
the  State  Railroad  Commission  has  been  making  an  in- 
spection of  the  plants.  It  is  stated  that  a  new  central  office 
will  be  required  in  the  event  of  consolidation.  This 
merger,  if  it  becomes  effective,  will  establish  a  precedent 
in  such  cases  in  California  and  the  negotiations  are  being 
followed  with  considerable  interest. 

*  *     * 

Smoke  Prevention  Lectures. — The  department  of  in- 
dustrial research  of  the  University  of  Pittsburgh  has 
arranged  a  series  of  lectures  on  the  smoke  problem  to  be 
delivered  by  members  of  its  staff.  There  will  be  eight  lec- 
tures dealing  with  the  following  subjects:  The  smoke 
nuisance ;  smoke  and  the  public  health ;  smoke  and  the  cost 
of  living:  smoke  and  plant  life;  methods  and  means  of 
smoke  abatement;  the  effect  of  smoke  on  buildings  and 
building  materials ;  the  psychology  of  smoke,  and  the  smoke 
nuisance  and  the  housekeeper.  The  arrangements  are  in 
charge  of  Dr.  R.  C.  Benner,  department  of  industrial  re- 
search. University  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

*  *     * 

Boston  Edison  Company  Outing. — The  annual  outing  of 
the  employees  of  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company 
of  Boston  was  held  at  the  Riverside  Recreation  Club 
Grounds,  at  Auburndale,  Mass.,  on  Saturday,  June  29. 
About  3.ioo  persons  were  present,  including  members  of 
employees'  families  and  guests.  The  day  was  devoted  to  a 
great  variety  of  land  and  aquatic  sports,  under  the  general 
oversight  of  Mr.  John  Campbell,  of  the  special  service 
department.    A  feature  was  a  baseball  game  which  was  won 


by  the  construction  department  ffom  the  electrical  engineer- 
ing department  by  the  score  of  21  to  20. 

*  *     * 

Colorado  Electric  Development, — At  a  meeting  of  the 
Colorado  Electric  Club  on  June  27  addresses  were  given  by 
Governor  John  F.  Shafroth  of  Colorado,  Mayor  H.  F. 
.\rnold  of  Denver  and  by  Publicity  Agent  Hotchkiss  for  the 
International  Dry  Farming  Congress.  The  Governor  spoke 
of  the  water-power  possibilities  of  Colorado  and  the  induce- 
ments of  cheap  energy  to  manufacturers.  He  emphasized 
•the  fact  that  because  of  the  federal  government's  charges 
for  water-power  developments  in  the  State  capital  has  been 
discouraged  from  embarking  upon  such  enterprises,  to  the 
detriment  of  Colorado.  Some  of  the  support  to  this  federal 
restriction  has  come  from  those  states  in  which  large  water- 
power  development  has  taken  place  unrestricted  in  the  past. 
The  application  of  such  restriction  to  Colorado  at  this  time 
appears  to  constitute  a  discrimination  favoring  older  com- 
monwealths. Mayor  Arnold  spoke  particularly  of  the  power 
of  Denver  to  accomplish  anything  it  starts  upon  by  co- 
operation of  its  organizations,  and  he  asked  the  particular 
support  of  the  Electrical  Club.     About  200  members  were 

present. 

*  *     * 

Electricity  in  a  Mail  Order  House. — Mr.  S.  E.  Church, 
chief  electrician  of  Sears,  Roebuck  &  Company's  mail-order 
merchandising  plant,  Chicago,  addressed  the  Electric  Club 
in  that  city  June  20  on  the  uses  of  electricity  for  lighting 
and  motor  service  in  the  company's  establishment.  The 
private  steam  generating  plant  has  a  total  rating  of  3050  kw 
and  supplies  220-volt  two-wire  direct-current  service  over 
a  number  of  1,000,000-circ.  mil  and  1,500,000-circ.  mil  feeder 
cables  to  25,000  carbon-filament  incandescent-lamp  units, 
5000  Nernst  lamps,  3000  tungsten  lam^ps  and  560  motors 
above  i  hp  in  rating,  in  addition  to  a  number  of  small 
motors  driving  sewing  machines,  adders,  etc.  In  the  light- 
ing of  the  offices  1700  inverted  or  indirect  fixtures  are  now 
in  service,  said  Mr,  Church,  and  are  giving  complete  satis- 
faction to  both  the  employees  and  the  company.  The 
speaker  suggested,  however,  the  development  of  a  better 
semi-indirect  fixture,  using  a  translucent  reflector  to  give 
partial  direct  lighting.  Where  conditions  of  ceiling  height 
and  wall  color  are  right,  indirect  illumination,  declared  Mr. 
Church,  can  be  operated  as  cheaply  as  direct  lighting.  The 
speaker  then  went  on  to  describe  the  complete  electrical 
equipment  of  the  Sears-Roebuck  printing  department.  An 
elaborate  system  of  records  of  all  electrical  apparatus, 
lamps,  etc.,  is  in  use  in  the  mail-order  establishment,  en- 
abling performances  to  be  compared  with  each  other  over 
a  term  of  years.  Illuminometer  tests  are  made  of  all  office 
premises,  and  where  possible  the  arrangement  of  units  is 
improved  from  a  lighting  standpoint  as  the  floors  are  re- 
wired from  time  to  time.  Messrs.  W.  M.  Connelly,  G.  W. 
Cravens,  Charles  Delaney  and  O.  B.  Duncan  spoke  briefly 
in  the  discussion  which  followed. 


SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Officers  New  England  Section,  I.  E.  S. — The  follow- 
ing officers  of  the  New  England  Section  of  the  Illuminating 
Engineering  Society  have  been  elected  for  the  1912-13 
year:  Chairman,  Mr.  R.  B.  Hussey;  secretary,  Mr.  H.  C. 
Jones;  managers,  Messrs.  H.  C.  Clifford,  C.  A.  B.  Halvor- 
son,  J.  M.  Riley,  R.  C.  Ware  and  W.  E.  Wickenden. 
*     *     * 

Toronto  N.  E.  L.  A. — At  a  meeting  of  the  Toronto  Com- 
pany Section  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association 
held  on  June  26  the  following  officers  were  elected:  Mr. 
Parker  H.  Kemble,  chairman ;  Mr.  R.  F.  Pack,  honorary 
president ;  Mr.  L.  V.  Webber,  first  vice-president ;  Mr. 
Thomas  Marshall,  second  vice-president;  Mr.  F.  H.  Byrne, 
secretary     The  section  has  a  membership  of  over  200. 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


13 


American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
Convention— Papers  and  Discussions 


HE  twenty-ninth  annual  convention  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
was  held  in  Boston  from  June  24  to  June  28, 
inclusive.  In  accordance  with  the  usual  cus- 
tom the  formal  sessions  were  preceded  by  a 
reception  and  dance  given  on  the  evening  of  Monday,  June 
24,  which  proved  to  be  a  most  pleasurable  occasion  for  all 
who  arrived  early  enough  to  attend.  On  the  morning  of 
June  25,  at  the  opening  session  held  at  10  o'clock,  President 
Gano  Dunn  delivered  his  annual  address,  and  then  Presi- 
dent-elect Ralph  D.  Mershon  was  introduced  and  responded 
with  a  few  brief  remarks.  The  general  features  of  the 
convention  were  reported  in  the  columns  of  our  last  issue, 
and  other  notes  concerning  the  meetings  of  committees  and 
miscellaneous  events  will  be  found  elsewhere  in  the  present 
issue.  Below  is  given  a  full  account  of  the  technical  ses- 
sions held  from  Tuesday  to  Friday,  inclusive,  with  abstracts 
of  the  papers  and  brief  summaries  of  the  discussions. 


Transmission 


CORONA  LOSSES. 

Prof.  C.  Francis  Harding,  Lafayette,  Ind.,  presented  the 
results  of  an  experimental  determination  of  corona  losses 
on  an  experimental  transmission  line  and  a  comparison  of 
these  results  with  the  calculated  losses.  The  experimental 
line  was  about  1380  ft.  in  length  and  made  up  of  three 
spans  supported  from  steel  poles.  Energy  was  supplied  to 
the  line  from  a  300,000-volt,  30-kw,  6o-cycle  transformer. 
The  circuit  of  this  transformer  was  opened  at  the  grounded 
neutral  and  a  Rowland  dynamometer,  calibrated  as  an  am- 


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KILOVOLTS 

Relation  Between  Voltage  and  Loss. 

meter,  and  one  of  the  elements  of  an  oscillograph,  were 
connected  in  series  therewith.  The  potential  was  measured 
in  two  ways,  first,  by  the  use  of  an  auxiliary  coil  in  the 
transformer,  and  again  by  means  of  a  needle-gap.  Prac- 
tically sinusoidal  wave  forms  were  employed  exclusively. 
The  line  conductors  were  new  No.  4  B.  &  S.  gage  solid 
copper-clad  steel  wires.    A  typical  curve  showing  the  losses 


measured  is  given  in  the  accompanying  figure.  The  author 
presented  a  series  of  eight  conclusions,  which  are  sum- 
marized in  what  follows:  The  use  of  the  oscillograph  and 
the  methods  employed  to  measure  the  potential  were  found 
to  be  satisfactory.  The  corona  loss  curve  follows  a  para- 
bolic law,  but  the  constants  of  the  equations  have  different 
values  above  and  below  the  visual  critical  voltage.  In 
general,  the  experimental  results  checked  Mr.  Peek's 
formula  for  pressure  above  the  visual  critical  voltage ;  the 
deviations  were  in  general  in  the  direction  of  greater 
losses  than  those  indicated  by  the  formula. 

THE   LAW    OF    CORONA   AND   DIELECTRIC    STRENGTH    OF    AIR. 

A  paper  on  the  law  of  corona,  presented  by  Mr.  F.  W. 
Peek,  Jr.,  of  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  is  a  continuation  of  his 
earlier  paper  on  the  same  subject  which  was  presented  at 
the  191 1  annual  convention.  The  first  paper  was  referred 
to  as  Part  I,  and  the  present  paper  as  Part  II.  Each  of 
these  papers  presents  the  results  of  experimental  researches 
into  the  phenomenon  of  corona,  supplemented  by  mathe- 
matical analysis  and  discussion.  Working  formulas  were 
presented  in  Part  I  for  determining  the  disruptive  critical 
voltage  and  the  visual  critical  voltage  on  transmission  lines 
and  the  energy  losses  per  unit  of  strength,  under  various 
conditions  of  temperature,  air  density  and  weather,  with 
conductors  of  different  sizes  and  spacings.  It  was  shown 
that  humidity  has  no  effect  on  either  the  critical  voltage  or 
the  corona  loss.  However,  it  was  observed  that  the  pres- 
ence of  smoke  lowers  the  critical  voltage  and  increases  the 
loss.  Heavy  winds  were  not  observed  to  produce  any  effect 
at  ordinary  commercial  frequencies.  Certain  other  weather 
conditions,  however,  should  always  be  taken  into  account. 
Fog,  sleet,  rain  and  snow  lower  the  critical  voltage  and  in- 
crease the  loss.  The  effect  of  snow  is  greater  than  that  of 
any  of  the  other  conditions  just  mentioned.  It  has  been 
observed  in  these  tests  that  high  voltages  do  not  entirely 
prevent  sleet  formation. 

While  the  formulas  presented  in  Part  I  make  it  possible 
to  predetermine  the  corona  characteristics  of  a  given  trans- 
mission line  under  conditions  ordinarily  met,  the  investiga- 
tions have  been  continued  with  a  view  of  rationalizing  the 
formulas  and  dissecting  the  phenomenon  of  corona  to  learn 
its  true  nature.  The  latter  investigations  have  been  pre- 
sented in  Part  II.  When  the  quotient  found  by  dividing 
the  distance  between  the  conductors  by  the  conductor  radius 
is  less  than  thirty,  it  has  been  found  that  spark-over  occurs 
before  corona  appears;  when  this  quotient  is  just  equal  to 
thirty,  either  spark-over  or  corona  appears,  and  this  con- 
dition is  very  unstable ;  but  when  the  quotient  is  greater 
than  thirty  corona  appears  first  and  spark-over  occurs  at 
some  higher  voltage.  The  normal  disruptive  gradient  of 
atmospheric  air  is  29.8  kilovolts  per  centimeter.  When  the 
conductor  surfaces  are  coated  with  water  the  spark-over 
voltage,  at  a  given  spacing,  is  almost  independent  of  the 
radius  and  approximately  follows  the  needle  gap  curve.  Oil 
has  a  somewhat  similar  effect. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  the  paper  is 
the  stroboscopic  study  of  corona,  which  invariably  revealed 
the  interesting  fact  that  corona  on  positive  and  negative 
conductors  of  equal  size  is  not  the  same.  The  positive  dis- 
charge appears  in  general  as  a  fine  bluish-white  spray,  while 
the  negative  discharge  appears  as  reddish  tufts.  The  dis- 
charge from  a  positive  point  gives  the  same  impression  as  a 
stream  of  water  being  forced  out  under  pressure,  while  the 


14 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


negative  discharge  gives  the  appearance  of  a  spray.     The  ' 
paper  contains  numerous  stroboscopic  views  of  the  forma- 
tion of  corona  on  conductors  of  various  shapes  under  differ- 
ent surface  conditions. 

The  author  concludes  that  corona  loss  seems  to  be  char- 
acterized by  a  form  of  conduction  from  positive  to  negative, 
always  starting  from  the  former.  Thus  it  commences  al- 
ternately from  each  conductor,  first  one  and  then  the  other, 
every  half  cycle.  When  a  500-ft.  span  consisting  of  two 
20-mil  parallel  steel  conductors  10  ft.  apart  was  erected  for 
experiment  it  was  noted  that  at  high  voltage  the  conductors 
vibrated,  reaching  an  amplitude  finally  of  several  feet,  at 
the  span  center.  One  conductor  generally  vibrated  as  the 
fundamental,  with  a  one-second  period,  and  the  other  as 
the  third  harmonic.  The  same  phenomenon  was  repeated 
in  the  laboratory  with  short  conductors,  and  a  stroboscopic 
study  showed,  from  the  corona  characteristics,  that  the 
wires  were  vibrating  synchronously  with  the  alternations 
in  the  supply  circuit. 

DIELECTRIC    STRENGH    OF    .\IR. 

Two  earlier  papers  presented  before  the  Institute  by  this 
author.  Prof.  J.  B.  Whitehead,  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  dis- 
cussed the  conditions  under  which  high-tension  corona 
initially  starts.  This  line  of  investigation  was  continued 
to  some  extent  in  the  present  paper,  and  further  work  was 
done  along  the  line  of  determining  the  physical  nature 
of  corona  phenomena.  The  author  has  carried  out  his 
investigations  from  the  standpoint  of  the  ionization  theory. 
The  results  obtained  show  that  there  is  a  distinct  motion 
of  air  away  from  the  corona,  and  that  this  air  carries  both 
positive  and  negative  charges.  Furthermore,  the  air  tends 
to  move  in  straight  lines,  but  there  is,  nevertheless,  a 
certain  tendency  toward  general  diffusion.  Any  mate- 
rial obstacle  will  entirely  stop  this  motion.  No  discrep- 
ancies between  these  phenomena  and  the  ionization  theory 
were  noted.  An  interesting  photographic  study  of  the 
diameter  of  corona  on  cylindrical  wires  was  carried  out, 
both  with  the  usual  type  of  glass  lens  and  with  a  quartz 
fluorite  lens.  Typical  photographic  studies  were  presented 
with  the  paper.  The  author  also  studied  the  corona  voltage 
of  subdivided  conductors  arranged  both  in  three-strand  and 
four-strand  configurations.  The  summary  of  conclusions 
states  that  during  the  early  stages  of  corona  the  carriers 
constituting  the  leakage  current  have  the  positive  sign, 
while  with  increasing  voltage  the  negative  carriers  pre- 
dominate. The  variations  of  the  corona  diameter  with  dif- 
ferent voltages  can  be  studied  by  photographic  methods. 
The  critical  voltage  may  be  increased  by  subdividing  a  cir- 
cular conductor  into  three  or  more  equal  strands  sym- 
metrically spaced;  for  three  strands  the  critical  voltage 
may  be  raised  16  per  cent,  and  for  four  strands  it  may  be 
raised  20  per  cent. 

Discussion. 

The  discussion  on  the  papers  by  Messrs.  Harding,  Peek 
and  Whitehead  was  opened  by  Mr.  John  B.  Taylor,  Schenec- 
tady, N.  Y.,  who  pointed  out  that  the  slow  vibration  of 
conductors  in  a  500-ft.  span,  under  high  voltage,  as  de- 
scribed in  Mr.  Peek's  paper,  has  not  been  satisfactorily 
explained.  He  stated  that  possibly  this  swaying  was  caused 
by  periodic  variations  in  the  supply  voltage,  but  there  was 
no  positive  evidence  to  prove  this  and  the  volt-meter  read- 
ings did  not  confirm  it.  He  also  emphasized  the  need  of 
further  investigation  to  bring  out  the  true  nature  of  corona. 

Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  commented  on 
the  advances  in  knowledge  concerning  corona  during  the 
year  past.  It  is  now  well  established,  he  said,  that  the 
corona  loss  follows  a  parabolic  law  above  a  certain  critical 
voltage  in  any  given  circuit.  In  one  of  the  earliest  Institute 
papers  on  corona  losses,  which  was  presented  by  Prof.  H. 
T.  Ryan,  it  was  stated  that  the  voltage  gradient  for  visible 
corona  on  small  wires  varied  inversely  as  the  wire  radius. 


He  pointed  out  that  the  results  obtained  by  Mr.  Peek  do 
not  exactly  corroborate  Prof.  Ryan's  conclusion.  The 
speaker  commented  on  the  interesting  use  of  the  strobo- 
scope in  the  study  of  corona  as  described  in  Mr.  Peek's 
paper.  In  referring  to  the  apparent  excess  of  electrification 
on  the  positive  conductor  or  the  streaming  of  positive  elec- 
tricity from  this  conductor  into  space.  Dr.  Kennelly  raised 
the  question  whether  this  might  not  be  a  flow  of  negative 
electricity  from  space  to  the  conductor.  He  spoke  in  the 
highest  praise  of  the  work  done  by  Mr.  Peek  and  said 
that  the  industry  owes  him  a  debt  for  his  clear  and  definite 
formulas  enabling  corona  losses  on  transmission  lines  to 
be  predetermined  with  a  fairly  high  degree  of  accuracy. 
The  speaker  then  referred  to  a  possible  error  in  Mr.  Hard- 
ing's results  arising  from  the  relatively  high  rack  losses 
encountered  in  his  arrangement  of  apparatus. 

Dr.  C.  P.  Steinmetz,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  said  that  the 
laws  of  corona  as  first  derived  were  empirical,  but  such 
laws  must  stand  the  test  of  furnishing  rational  results 
when  applied  in  practice.  He  also  said  that  the  prob- 
ability law  for  determining  the  losses  below  the  visual 
critical  voltage  is  necessarily  approximate.  He  stated  that 
an  approach  to  the  rational  explanation  of  corona  is  found 
in  the  papers  by  Messrs.  Peek  and  Whitehead.  It  is  now 
know-n  that  corona  does  not  form  on  positive  and  negative 
conductors  in  precisely  the  same  way.  The  speaker  stated 
that  corona  probably  does  not  start  on  the  positive  con- 
ductor at  the  same  voltage  as  on  the  negative,  and  prob- 
ably the  losses  on  the  two  conductors  are  also  unequal. 
This  would  tend  to  produce  a  unidirectional  electrification 
of  the  whole  line  with  respect  to  the  earth.  By  applying  a 
unidirectional  pressure  of  opposite  polarity  from  line  to 
ground  it  should  be  possible  to  raise  the  disruptive  voltage. 
It  seems  evident  that  the  possible  influence  of  the  free 
ionization  of  the  air  on  the  formation  of  corona  ought  to 
be  investigated.  The  commercial  importance  of  continuing 
the  investigations  of  corona  to  ultimate  conclusions,  the 
speaker  said,  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  Under  the  pres- 
ent circumstances  various  important  industrial  developments 
are  being  held  up  because  of  the  lack  of  knowledge  con- 
cerning the  real  nature  of  corona.  He  stated  further 
that  it  is  important  in  presenting  such  papers  as  these  to 
publish  the  full  experimental  data  as  well  as  the  con- 
clusions drawn  therefrom.  It  is  very  essential.  Dr.  Stein- 
metz said,  for  investigators  to  give  each  other  as  soon  as 
possible  the  benefit  of  their  complete  researches. 

President  Dunn  explained  that  the  meetings  and  papers 
committee  had  considered  in  connection  with  these  papers 
the  publication  in  full  of  the  data  submitted  with  them, 
but  concluded  that  the  cost  was  too  great  to  warrant  it. 
At  the  same  time  he  expressed  his  appreciation  of  the  value 
of  the  data  and  stated  that  any  suggestions  concerning  a 
disposal  of  it  for  the  best  interests  of  the  Institute  mem- 
bers would  receive  most  careful  consideration. 

Mr.  Harding,  in  closing  the  discussion  on  his  paper,  ex- 
plained that  the  apparent  rack  losses  were  due  in  consider- 
able part  to  the  losses  in  the  line  from  the  high-tension 
transformers  to  the  rack.  He  doubted  the  presence  of  any 
substantial  error  in  his  results  because  of  their  very  close 
agreement  with  the  quadratic  law.  He  also  pointed  out 
that  the  close  agreement  with  this  law  at  voltages  below 
the  visual  disruptive  gradient  might  have  been  due  to  the 
use  of  new  line  wires  which  were  bright  and  clean. 

Mr.  Peek  closed  the  discussion  on  his  own  paper  very 
briefly  by  expressing  his  gratification  over  the  corroborative 
results  obtained  by  Mr.  Harding,  but  criticised  at  the  same 
time  Mr.  Harding's  use  of  the  needle-gap  method  of  meas- 
uring high  voltages  and  expressed  his  preference  for  the 
auxiliary  transformer  coil  method.  Fie  stated  that  his  in- 
vestigations are  being  continued  and  additional  data  have 
already  been  recorded  but  are  not  yet  available  for  pub- 
lication. The  speaker  expressed  his  belief  that  many  of 
the  valuable  data  which  have  not  hitherto  been  published 


July  6,  1912 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


IS 


on  account  of  the  lack  of  space  can  readily  be  printed  at 
comparatively  little  expense  by  the  use  of  small  type. 

Prof.  Whitehead  highly  commended  Mr.  Peek's  investi- 
gation of  the  influence  of  temperature  and  air  density  on 
the  formation  of  corona.  He  said  that  further  investiga- 
tions into  the  effect  of  air  pressure  on  corona,  covering  a 
much  wider  range  of  pressures,  have  been  carried  on  in 
the  laboratories  at  Johns  Hopkins  University,  and  it  is  his 
hope  that  the  results  can  be  published  at  an  early  date. 
The  speaker  also  voiced  his  appreciation  of  Dr.  Steinmetz's 
remarks  concerning  the  ionization  theory,  in  distinction 
from  the  energy  zone  theory.  He  pointed  out  that  free 
ionization  of  the  air,  however,  has  nothing  to  do  with 
starting  the  formation  of  corona,  because  the  effect  is  so 
very  minute  in  comparison  with  the  line  pressures,  amount- 
ing probably  to  an  intensity  of  only  two  volts  in  contrast 
with  a  line  pressure  of  many  thousand  volts. 

MEASUREMEXTS  OF  VOLT.^GE  AND  CURRENT  OVER   A  LONG   ARTI- 
FICIAL POWER-TRANSMISSION  LINE  AT  25,  60  AND 
420  CYCLES  PER  SECOND. 

Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly  and  Mr.  F.  W.  Lieberknecht,  of  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  presented  in  this  paper  a  description  of  an 
artificial  three-phase  transmission  line  nearly  500  miles  in 
length  and  a  series  of  tests  made  over  this  line  for  the  pur- 
pose of  checking  transmission  theory.  The  energy  source 
employed  consisted  of  a  three-phase  alternating-current 
generator,  having  a  rating  of  12  kva  at  either  60  cycles  or 
25  cycles  per  second.  This  machine  gave  a  very  close  ap- 
proximation to  a  sine  wave  of  emf,  as  shown  by  the  oscillo- 
grams. Both  the  voltage  and  the  current  at  successive 
points  along  the  line  were  measured  by  a  Drysdale  alter- 
nating-current potentiometer.  Tests  were  made  with  the 
receiver  end  of  the  line  both  open  and  loaded.  The  results 
were  summarized  in  the  paper  in  tabular  form  and  also 
plotted  in  both  rectangular  and  polar  co-ordinates.  Within 
the  limits  of  precision  of  the  measurements,  the  results 
confirm  the  hyperbolic-function  theory  of  such  lines. 

Discussion. 

The  paper  was  briefly  discussed  by  Dr.  C.  P.  Steinmetz, 
Schenectady,  X.  Y. ;  Prof.  J.  P.  Tackson,  State  College,  Pa. ; 
Prof.  C.  F.  Scott,  New  Haven,' Conn. ;  Prof.  J.  B.  White- 
head, Baltimore.  Md.,  and  Mr.  J.  B.  Taylor,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.  All  joined  in  complimenting  the  authors  on  their 
thorough  experimental  investigation  to  verify  the  theory 
of  transmission.  One  of  the  speakers  said  such  investiga- 
tions prove  the  accepted  electrical  theory  to  be  a  fact 
and  not  a  hypothesis.  A  number  of  questions  were  asked 
of  the  authors  by  those  who  spoke,  and  Dr.  Kennelly  re- 
plied briefly.  He  explained  that  the  constants  of  the 
artificial  line  were  chosen  as  fairly  typical  of  a  practical 
case.  This  equipment  can  be  employed  very  satisfactorily 
for  laboratory  instruction,  by  dividing  the  students  into 
small  groups  and  having  each  group  repeat  the  tests  out- 
lined by  the  instructor.  It  is  very  essential  in  making 
accurate  measurements  on  the  artificial  line  to  maintain 
the  impressed  voltage  and  frequency  at  almost  absolute 
constancv. 


Electrical  Machinery 


THE  SQUIRREL-CAGE  INDUCTION  GENERATOR. 

Messrs.  H.  M.  Hobart  and  E.  Knowlton,  of  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.,  presented  a  paper  dealing  with  the  characteristics  of 
induction  generators  and  recounting  some  of  the  peculiar 
features  of  their  design.  The  general  purpose  of  the  paper 
was  to  show  the  correct  economic  field  for  generators  of 
this  type.  One  of  the  principal  features  is  the  necessity 
of  minimizing  the  length  of  the  air-gap  for  the  purpose  of 


reducing  the  exciting  component  of  the  stator  current  and 
keeping  down  the  total  cost  of  the  apparatus.  As  is  well 
known,  induction  generators  must  be  operated  in  parallel 
with  one  or  more  synchronous  generators  in  order  that  they 
may  be  supplied  with  the  necessary  magnetizing  or  exciting 
current.  When  an  induction  type  of  generator  is  operated 
in  parallel  with  a  synchronous  generator,  the  latter  machine 
has  to  supply  the  entire  wattless  component  of  the  load  on 
the  system,  as  well  as  the  magnetizing  current  for  the  in- 
duction generator.  The  authors  compared  at  some  length 
the  cost  and  characteristics  of  an  installation  consisting  of 
one  5000-kw  synchronous  generator  and  one  5000-kw  induc- 
tion generator  with  another  installation  consisting  of  a  sin- 
gle io,ooo-kw  synchronous  generator.  The  characteristics 
of  the  induction  type  become  the  more  favorable  the  higher 
the  speed  and  the  greater  the  rated  output.  One  of  the  most 
important  applications  of  the  induction  generator  is  for  fur- 
nishing additional  capacity  in  stations  which  are  now 
equipped  with  synchronous  generators.  The  fact  that  the 
induction  type  is  well  suited  to  high  speed  and  large  outputs 
thus  makes  it  peculiarly  suitable  for  installations  where  it  is 
desirable  to  increase  the  output  without  enlarging  the  sta- 
tion. 

MOTOR-STARTING    CURRENTS    AS    AFFECTING    LARGE    TRANSMIS- 
SION  SYSTEMS. 

Mr.  P.  M.  Lincoln,  of  East  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  presented  a 
paper  analyzing  the  effect  of  motor-starting  currents  on  the 
operation  of  large  transmission  systems.  There  has  been  a 
pronounced  tendency,  especially  in  alternating-current  sys- 
tems, to  limit  the  size  of  motor  units,  for  a  number  of  rea- 
sons, among  which  are  a  desire  to  avoid  concentrating  too 
much  load  in  a  single  piece  of  equipment,  a  fear  that  the 
starting  currents  and  load  fluctuations  of  relatively  large 
motors  will  cause  fluctuations  in  the  supply  voltage,  and  a 
further  fear  that  the  cumulative  effect  of  starting  many 
large  motors  at  nearly  the  same  hour  will  create  a  demand 
beyond  the  capacity  of  the  generating  system.  The  author 
described  an  investigation  made  in  a  certain  large  transmis- 
sion system  operating  in  the  South  which  experienced  con- 
siderable difficulty  in  carrying  its  load  during  the  time  each 
morning  at  which  cotton  mills  usually  start.  Nine  typical 
mills  were  selected  and  tests  were  made  upon  each  one  of 
ihem  by  means  of  curve-drawing  meters,  measuring  both 
the  current  and  the  power  supplied  to  the  installation. 
Omitting  two  cases,  the  largest  motor  in  any  installation 
did  not  exceed  15.5  per  cent  of  the  installed  motor  capacity 
and  the  kva  demand  during  the  starting  period  never  ex- 
ceeded the  running  demand.  In  one  instance  there  was  a 
motor  whose  rating  was  equal  to  one-half  the  capacity  of 
the  whole  installation,  and  in  this  case  the  kva  demand 
during  the  starting  period  was  25  per  cent  in  excess  of  the 
demand  during  the  running  period.  In  another  instance 
there  was  a  single  motor  whose  rating  was  equal  to  66.7 
per  cent  of  the  total  installation,  and  here  the  kva  demand 
during  the  starting  period  was  50  per  cent  in  excess  of 
the  running  demand.  In  the  two  latter  instances  the  motors 
were  of  the  squirrel-cage  type.  The  author  presented 
typical  curves  showing  the  kva  demands  during  the  starting 
periods  in  a  number  of  the  mills  tested.  He  concluded  that 
the  only  logical  restriction  in  the  size  of  motors  ought  to 
be  that  no  single  motor  unit  should  exceed  25  per  cent  of 
the  capacity  of  the  largest  mill  on  the  system. 

SINGLE-PHASE    INDUCTION    MOTORS. 

The  paper  presented  on  this  subject  by  Mr.  W.  J-  Branson 
had  for  its  object  the  development  of  a  complete  vector 
analysis  of  single-phase  induction  motor  performance,  as 
the  basis  for  an  accurate  circle  diagram  applicable  to  mo- 
tors of  even  the  smallest  commercial  size.  Practically  the 
whole  paper  was  given  over  to  mathematical  and  graphical 
treatment,  based  on  the  transformer  theory  of  the  induction 
motor  as  distinguished  from  the  rotating-field  theory.     He 


lb 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


stated  that  it  was  necessary  to  derive  mathematically  correct 
formulas  or  graphical  construction  for  several  quantities 
which  have  been  loosely  treated  heretofore,  including  the 
value  of  the  secondary  load  current  reduced  to  equivalent 
primary  current,  the  construction  of  the  current  circle  and 
the  evolutions  per  minute.  The  final  results  were  pre- 
sented in  the  form  of  a  working  diagram  and  a  data  table 
showing  the  formulas  necessary  to  employ  in  practical  calcu- 
lations. The  author  concluded  with  a  table  giving  a  com- 
parison of  calculated  and  tested  results  on  twelve  motors, 
ranging  in  size  from  i  hp  to  1/12  hp,  showing  very  close 
agreement. 

Discussion. 

The  papers  by  Messrs.  Hobart  and  Knowlton.  Branson, 
and  Lincoln  were  discussed  at  considerable  length  by 
Messrs.  L.  Hagood,  Boston,  Mass. ;  C.  A.  Adams,  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  and  E.  F.  W.  Alexanderson,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.  Mr.  Hagood  stated  that  the  use  of  synchronous 
condensers  is  frequently  justifiable  when  the  power-factor 
IS  low,  and  often  this  is  the  case  where  induction  gener- 
ators which  take  lagging  excitation  currents  are  em- 
ployed. The  use  of  synchronous  condensers  is  best  war- 
ranted as  a  rule  at  the  load-end  of  long  transmission  sys- 
tems when  the  power-factor  is  poor. 

The  tooth  losses  in  induction  motors  and  the  effect  of 
different  winding  pitches  were  discussed  at  considerable 
length  by  Prof.  Adams,  with  the  aid  of  numerous  black- 
board diagrams.  He  pointed  out  that  the  neglect  of  losses 
caused  by  tooth  harmonics  frequently  gives  rise  to  great 
errors  in  the  total  calculated  losses.  There  should  be  a 
substantial  difference  between  the  number  of  teeth  in  the 
stator  and  the  number  in  the  rotor.  No  approximate 
method  of  calculating  the  load  losses  even  on  a  semi-ra- 
tional basis  yet  exists,  but  it  is  not  improbable  that  such  a 
method  will  ultimately  be  obtained.  Another  cause  of  in- 
determinate losses  is  the  breakdown  of  insulation  between 
laminations  caused  by  the  pressure  exerted  in  assembling. 
An  excellent  distribution  of  magnetic  flux  in  the  air-gap, 
approaching  sinusoidal  form,  can  be  obtained  in  single- 
phase  motors  by  the  use  of  a  five-sixths  winding  pitch. 
Prof.  Adams  also  pointed  out  that  the  resistance  of  damp- 
ing windings  has  very  little  influence  on  the  damping  ef- 
fect, which  is  largely  governed  by  the  leakage  flux. 

Mr.  Alexanderson  stated  that  his  investigations  show 
that  the  tooth  loss  is  proportional  to  the  square  of  the  air- 
gap  density  and  also  to  the  square  of  the  peripheral  speed. 
He  expressed  a  doubt  whether  the  induction  generator, 
which  requires  lagging  excitation  current,  will  meet  with 
much  favor  for  use  in  generating  stations. 

Mr.  Hobart,  in  closing  the  discussion  on  his  paper,  stated 
that  he  did  not  intend  to  recommend  the  induction  gener- 
ator for  station  service  to  the  complete  exclusion  df  syn- 
chronous machines,  but  said  that  a  few  of  these  generators 
can  undoubtedly  be  employed  to  advantage  in  each  large 
installation.  He  then  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
extra  losses  in  induction  generators  are  due  in  part  to  the 
American  practice  of  employing  form-wound  coils,  where- 
as abroad  the  winding  slots  are  nearly  closed  and  some- 
what higher  efficiency  is  thereby  secured. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  when  called  upon  to  close  the  discussion 
on  his  paper,  said  there  had  been  no  discussion,  for  the 
evident  reason  that  those  present  had  not  been  afforded 
sufficient  time  for  reading  the  paper  in  advance  of  the 
meeting. 

DETERMINATION  OF  POWER  EFFICIENCY  OF  ROTATING  ELEC- 
TRICAL MACHINES. 

This  paper,  presented  by  Mr,  E.  M.  Olin,  of  East  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  advocates  the  testing  of  rotating  electric 
machinery  by  use  of  the  summation  of  losses  method 
wherever  possible,  as  a  substitute  for  the  input-output 
method.  It  is  well  known  that  certain  losses  occurring  in 
electric    machines    can     be     accurately     determined    when 


operating  under  no-load  conditions.  There  are  other  losses, 
however,  which  cannot  be  determined  in  the  same  way, 
since  their  magnitude  varies  with  the  load  in  a  somewhat 
complex  manner.  The  author  then  discussed  in  detail  the 
various  kinds  of  losses  which  occur  in  machinery  of  this 
description,  stating  that  the  only  losses  which  cannot  be 
accurately  determined  from  no-load  measurements  are  rota- 
tion losses  and  the  losses  due  to  eddy  currents  caused  by  the 
stray  fields  of  useful  currents.  The  author  proposes  to 
conduct  a  long  series  of  input-output  tests,  in  order  to 
arrive  at  the  actual  losses  of  a  large  number  of  machines  of 
varying  types  and  sizes,  and  thus  to  compare  the  measured 
losses  with  the  losses  calculated  by  the  summation  of  losses 
method.  This  would  furnish  a  basis  for  determining  the 
correction  factors,  which  could  thereafter  be  employed  in 
the  summation  of  losses  method,  and  would  make  it  un- 
necessary to  resort  to  the  input-output  method,  which  it  is 
oftentimes  so  difficult  and  expensive  to  apply.  The  author 
presented  several  elaborate  tables  showing  comparisons  of 
the  two  methods  and  the  discrepancies  between  them. 
Discussion. 
A  brief  discussion  was  participated  in  by  Messrs.  C.  M. 
Green,  Lynn,  Mass.,  and  B.  G.  Lamme,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  It 
was  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Green  that  the  peculiar  character- 
istics of  the  Brush  arc  generator  make  it  feasible  to  de- 
termine the  commercial  efficiency  only  by  the  input  and 
output  method.  There  are  great  changes  in  the  field  ex- 
citation and  armature  reaction  of  this  machine  between 
no  load  and  full  load.  Mr.  Lamme  pointed  out  that  it  is 
a  very  difficult  matter  to  calculate  generator  losses  from 
theoretical  considerations.  He  expressed  the  hope,  how- 
ever, that  the  development  of  correction  factors  will  make 
it  possible  to  calculate  the  load  losses  in  a  fairly  simple 
manner.  It  is  quite  essential  to  apply  short  cuts  to  the 
theoretical  computation  and  make  use  of  approximation. 
Mr.  Lamme  stated  that  he  has  little  confidence  in  the 
input-output  method  under  shop  conditions  unless  the  re- 
sults are  always  checked  by  a  second  or  third  test.  The 
author,  in  closing  the  discussion,  stated  that  the  input- 
output  method  is  of  greatest  utility-  under  laboratory  con- 
ditions where  the  fluctuations  of  supply  voltage  which 
occur  in  shop  practice  can  be  avoided. 

0PER.\TING     CHARACTERISTICS     OF     LARGE     TURBO-GENERATORS. 

Mr.  A.  B.  Field,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  presented  a  paper 
summarizing  the  operating  characteristics  of  large  turbo- 
generators and  emphasized  how  rapidly  the  speed  require- 
ments have  been  changing  in  the  past  few  years.  At  the 
present  time  six-pole  turbo-generators  rated  at  20,000  kw 
and  1000  r.p.m.  have  been  constructed  in  Europe,  while  in 
this  country  two-pole  generators  for  the  same  output  at 
1500  r.p.m.  are  under  construction.  After  discussing  at 
some  length  the  short-circuit  characteristics  of  large 
machines,  the  author  presented  a  number  of  conclusions, 
among  which  were  the  following:  The  momentary  short- 
circuit  current  ratio  is  not  directly  affected  by  the  fre- 
quency to  any  very  large  extent,  except  by  reason  of  the 
smaller  penetration  of  the  stator  leakage  flux  in  the  rotor 
body  at  higher  frequencies.  A  two-pole  generator  has  a 
larger  momentary  short-circuit  current  ratio  than  a  cor- 
responding four-pole  machine  having  the  same  general  fea- 
tures of  design.  Using  a  given  frame  for  a  definite  rating, 
the  momentary  short-circuit  current  ratio  is  nearly  pro- 
portional to  the  square  of  the  flux  per  pole.  However,  the 
manner  in  which  this  ratio  increases  with  the  rating  cannot 
be  stated  definitely,  since  it  is  complicated  by  several  fea- 
tures which  influence  the  magnetic  proportions  of  the  de- 
sign. The  general  tendency  has  been  to  sacrifice  regulation 
in  order  to  limit  the  ratio  of  the  momentary  short-circuit 
current  to  the  normal  current  at  the  maximum  continuous 
lating.  Improvements  in  rotor  design  have  also  been  made 
possiljle  by  employing  separate  blowers  for  producing  the 
necessarv  ventilation. 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    W  U  R  L  D . 


17 


,       TRANSIENT   REACTANCE   OF    ALTERNATORS. 

A  paper  devoted  to  an  investigation  of  the  transient  im- 
pedance of  alternators  and  its  influence  on  some  of  the 
machine  characteristics  was  presented  by  Messrs.  William  A. 
Durgin  and  R.  H.  Whitehead.  The  phenomena  investigated 
included  the  maximum  and  minimum  currents  flowing  from 
a  l2,ooo-kw  turbo-generator,  with  and  without  external 
reactance,  under  various  short-circuit  conditions;  the  max- 
imum and  minimum  currents  fed  into  different  classes  of 
faults  from  a  system  supplied  by  several  such  units  in  par- 
allel; the  maximum  cross-currents  obtainable  when  paral- 
leling one  of  these  units  with  such  a  system,  and  the  torque 
developed  by  the  maximum  currents  existing  under  short- 
circuit  or  fault  conditions.  The  authors  concluded  from  their 
investigations  that  short-circuit  currents  of  alternators  are 
limited  by  reactances  much  more  complex  and  much  higher 
than  the  self-inductive  reactances  of  the  armatures.  They 
stated  that  these  limiting  reactances  are  constant  for  sim- 
ilar units  and  can  be  obtained  for  any  size  and  type  of  gen- 
erator by  simple  low-voltage,  short-circuit  tests.  They  also 
concluded  that  the  current  per  unit  delivered  to  any  given 
short-circuit  is  less  as  the  number  of  units  in  parallel  in- 
creases; that  the  maximum  current  always  results  when  the 
short-circuit  occurs  at  the  zero  point  of  the  corresponding 
pressure  wave ;  that  the  maximum  instantaneous  torque 
merely  varies  inversely  as  the  reactance  in  circuit,  and 
hence  the  instability  of  the  system  and  generator  stresses 
at  times  of  short  circuit  are  only  lessened  by  reactance  coils 
in  proportion  to  the  resulting  increase  in  total  reactance. 
They  further  concluded  that  the  maximum  torque  is  entirely 
independent  of  the  points  on  the  pressure  waves  at  which  a 
three-phase  short-circuit  occurs,  and  stated  finally  that  the 
total  reactance  of  an  alternator  should  be  at  least  15  per 
cent  per  phase,  divided  about  equally  between  the  machine 
and  the  external  reactance  coils.  The  authors  declared 
that  even  this  reactance  will  not  insure  complete  protection 
from  torque  stresses  caused  by  poor  synchronizing  or  short- 
circuits. 

Discussion. 

The  papers  by  Messrs.  Field,  Durgin  and  Whitehead 
were  discussed  by  Messrs.  H.  M.  Hobart,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.;  B.  G.  Lamme,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.;  H.  J.  Strobel,  Bos- 
ton, Mass.;  P.  M.  Lincoln,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.;  E.  W.  Rice,  Jr., 
Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  and  C.  A.  Adams,  Cambridge,  Mass. 
Mr.  Field's  paper  was  characterized  as  an  excellent  pres- 
entation of  the  modern  trend  in  the  design  of  large  high- 
speed alternators.  Several  speakers  agreed  that  it  is  the 
best  practice  to  employ  independent  ventilating  apparatus 
in  connection  with  large  generators  since  this  will  permit 
the  design  of  both  generators  and  ventilating  apparatus 
for  maximum  efficiency.  It  will  then  be  possible  to  clean 
the  air  employed  for  cooling  and,  if  thought  desirable,  to 
obtain  an  air  supply  from  out  of  doors  during  those  sea- 
sons of  the  year  when  it  will  be  advantageous.  It  was  also 
pointed  out  that  the  temperature  rise  of  an  alternator  is 
kept  within  lower  hmits  by  the  use  of  humid  air  or  air 
containing  a  considerable  proportion  of  water  particles  in 
suspension.  The  resulting  vaporization  of  this  moisture 
absorbs  a  considerable  quantity  of  heat.  One  of  the  speak- 
ers stated  that  it  is  quite  general  practice  abroad  to  filter 
the  air  employed  for  cooling  large  generators  by  means  of 
thin  cotton  cloth. 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  discussion  was  devoted  to 
the  subject  of  internal  reactance  in  large  generators,  and 
one  of  the  speakers  pointed  out  that  high  internal  reactance 
tends  to  safeguard  a  generator  from  destruction  or  injury 
on  short-circuits.  Such  short-circuits  frequently  occur  at 
the  end  turns  of  the  generator  or  near  the  terminals.  The 
effect  of  short-circuits  on  the  field  windings  of  large 
turbo-generators  was  referred  to,  and  troubles  of  this 
character  in  the  Cos  Cob  station  of  the  New  York,  New 
Haven    &   Hartford    Railroad    Company   were    specifically 


mentioned.  Breakdown  of  the  field  windings  is  often 
caused  by  the  high  induced  voltage  which  accompanies 
short-circuits  on  the  generator.  This  difficulty  was  re- 
lieved by  shunting  the  field  winding,  but  a  still  more  effec- 
tive remedy  was  found  to  consist  of  placing  cage-dampers 
on  the  field  rotors.  The  last  expedient  was  applied  on  the 
generators  in  the  Cos  Cob  station  about  four  years  ago 
and  no  trouble  of  this  character  has  since  appeared. 

Other  speakers  referred  to  the  excessive  momentary 
values  of  shaft  torque  which  frequently  accompany  gen- 
erator short-circuits.  In  the  case  of  engine-driven  gener- 
ators having  very  large  armature  inertia,  the  torque  mo- 
mentarily transmitted  to  the  engine  shaft  during  short 
circuits  is  necessarily  limited,  but  in  the  case  of  turbo- 
generators this  is  not  true,  and  it  has  been  found  necessary 
to  design  the  shafts  and  shaft-couplings  with  due  recog- 
nition of  such  a  contingency. 

Another  speaker  pointed  out  that  the  internal  reactance 
of  alternators  has  never  been  rationally  defined.  It  was 
questioned  whether  the  internal  reactance  of  large  turbo- 
generators can  be  made  as  low  as  2  per  cent.  A  large 
portion  of  the  internal  reactance  resides  in  the  end  turns, 
particularly  in  the  case  of  two-pole  machines  having  a 
high  peripheral  velocity,  except  where  windings  of  low 
pitch  are  employed.  One  or  two  of  those  who  spoke 
added  their  complaints  in  reference  to  the  very  short  time 
available  for  study  of  these  papers  before  their  presenta- 
tion. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  A  SUCCESSFUL  DIRECT-CURRENT  2000-KW 
UNIPOLAR  GENERATOR. 

The  author  of  this  paper,  Mr.  B.  G.  Lamme,  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  described  the  development  and  construction  of  a 
2000-kw  unipolar  generator  which  has  been  in  successful 
operation  for  several  years.  The  general  features  of  this  ma- 
chine are  shown  in  the  accompanying  illustration.  The  princi- 
pal difficulties  developed  after  the  machine  had  been  con- 
structed as  originally  designed  and  set  up  for  shop  test.  These 
troubles  were  very  largely  those  of  a  practical  nature,  which 
could  not,  in  the  absence  of  any  experience  to  form  a  guide, 
be  foreseen.  The  major  portion  of  the  paper  was  devoted 
to  a  very  full  presentation  of  these  difficulties  and  the  meas- 
ures which  were  adopted  to  overcome  them.  When  the  ma- 
chine was  installed  the  severe  conditions  under  which  it  was 
required  to  operate — adjacent  to  a  stone  crusher — presented 
new  difficulties.  Among  the  interesting  expedients  adopted 
was  the  unique  one  of  setting  the  copper-leaf  brushes 
against  the  direction  of  rotation  in  order  to  avoid  the  accu- 
mulation of  dust  and  dirt  under  the  heels  of  the  brushes. 
The  ring  wear  has  been  reduced  to  an  average  of  less  than 
o.oooi  in.  per  day,  or  less  than  ^  in.  per  year,  which  is  ex- 
tremelv  low  in  view  of  the  high  periphery  speed  and  the 


c:! 


11  n n n n (T ggq  n>^^4>^A  n 


u~~vvlt 


-^/^^ 


Construction    of    Unipolar    Generator. 

large  number  of  brushes  employed.  This  machine  now 
operates  day  and  night,  seven  days  per  week,  and  almost 
continuously  throughout  the  year,  with  no  trouble. 

Discussion. 

The  discussion  was  opened  by  Mr.  J.  B.  Taylor,  Schenec- 
tady, N.  Y.,  who  referred  to  the  paper  on  unipolar  gen- 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  i. 


erators  read  before  the  Institute  by  Mr.  J.  E.  Noeggerath 
in  1905.  The  speaker  then  gave  an  abstract  of  a  written 
discussion  of  Mr.  Lamme's  paper  contributed  by  Mr. 
Noeggerath.  The  latter  complimented  the  author's  frank 
presentation  of  the  many  practical  difficulties  encountered 
and  commented  upon  some  of  them  from  his  own  ex- 
perience in  the  design  and  construction  of  such  machines. 
He  then  stated  that  his  experiments  have  convinced  him 
that  magnetic  fields  at  right  angles  or  perpendicular  to 
each  other  in  the  same  medium  have  no  effect  upon  each 
other.  This  he  declared  to  be  true  even  if  the  medium  is 
iron  and  is  saturated  in  one  of  the  given  directions ;  there 
will  still  be  no  efifect  on  the  field  or  the  magnetic  properties 
in  a  perpendicular  direction.  This  theory  was  illustrated 
by  diagrams  accompanying  his  comnmnication.  He  also 
stated  that  he  had  seen  Mr.  Lamme's  machine  in  operation, 
which  seemed  to  be  highly  satisfactory. 

Dr.  Elihu  Thomson,  of  Lynn,  Mass.,  congratulated  the 
author  of  the  paper  on  his  boldness  and  perseverance  in 
striking  out  into  a  new  and  difficult  field.  The  speaker 
then  referred  to  some  of  the  early  attempts,  both  in  this 
country  and  abroad,  to  build  such  generators  in  commer- 
cially satisfactory  form.  Unforeseen  difficulties  of  a  prac- 
tical nature  always  developed  and  none  of  these  attempts 
was  commercially  successful. 

EXCITATION    OF    ALTERNATING-CURRENT    GENERATORS. 

The  general  problems  encountered  in  providing  direct-cur- 
rent excitation  for  alternating-current  synchronous  gen- 
erators were  treated  in  a  paper  presented  by  Mr.  D.  B. 
Rushmore,  of  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  In  discussing  the  ex- 
citation requirements  of  such  generators,  the  author  con- 
sidered the  characteristics  of  exciters  and  then  enumerated 
three  general  methods  of  excitation,  known  as  self-e.xciting, 
compositely  exciting  and  separately  exciting.  The  last- 
named  method  is  employed  almost  exclusively.  Proceeding 
next  to  discuss  the  subject  of  voltage  regulators,  he  de- 
scribed a  number  of  well-known  types  of  automatic  regu- 
lators employed  in  this  country  and  several  used  abroad. 
The  closing  portion  of  the  paper  was  devoted  to  a  descrip- 
tion of  different  e.xciter  arrangements,  including  the  selec- 
tion of  the  proper  number  of  units,  method  of  drive  and 
different  systems  of  connection.  Several  diagrams  were 
presented  showing  the  system  of  connections  employed  in 
large  installations.  In  one  very  large  plant  now  being  in- 
stalled each  main  generator  will  be  provided  with  its  own 
motor-driven  exciter,  which  in  turn  receives  its  energy  from 
a  generator  driven  by  an  independent  prime  mover.  There 
are  two  of  the  latter  units,  one  of  which  is  an  emergency 
reserve,  and  they  will  furnish  energy  to  all  the  exciter  sets 
in  the  station.  It  will  also  be  possible  to  supply  the  motors 
of  the  exciter  sets  from  the  main  station  bus,  if  desired. 

Discussion. 

After  an  abstract  of  the  paper  had  been  presented  for 
the  absent  author  by  Mr.  E.  A.  Lof,  of  Schenectady,  N.  Y., 
the  discussion  was  opened  by  Mr.  B.  G.  Lamme.  Pittsburgh. 
The  speaker  raised  a  question  in  regard  to  the  author's 
table  of  slot  factors,  and  stated  that  in  his  own  practice 
he  prefers  to  compute  the  constant  for  each  particular 
case  from  the  flux  distribution  curve.  He  pointed  out  that 
the  reason  a  commutating-pole  machine  flat-compounded 
at  125  volts  gives  a  rising  voltage  characteristic  at  lower 
pressures  is  no  doubt  because  the  iron  is  fully  saturated 
when  the  machine  delivers  its  rated  pressure  of  125  volts. 
Mr.  Lamme  criticised  the  use  of  individual  direct-con- 
nected exciters  and  recommended  the  use  of  fewer  exciter 
units  with  independent  drives.  Mr.  J.  L.  Woodbridge,  of 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  questioned  the  advantages  of  compound 
exciters  as  proposed  by  the  author  and  stated  that  equal 
stability  can  be  secured  with  plain  shunt  machines.  In 
closing  the  discussion,  Mr.  Lof  stated  that  in  one  instance 
where   a   large   exciter   unit   is   driven   by   a   synchronous 


motor  which  receives  its  energy  from  the  main  bus,  inter- 
ruptions have  been  caused  by  the  motor  falling  out  of  step. 

THE    RUNAWAY    SPEED    OF    WATERWHEELS    AND    ITS    EFFECT    ON 
CONNECTED   ROTARY    MACHINERY. 

A  paper  on  the  runaway  speed  of  waterwheels  was  pre- 
sented by  Prof.  Daniel  W.  Mead,  of  Madison,  Wis.,  the 
object  of  which  was  to  show  what  might  happen  if  the  full 
load  on  a  waterwheel  was  suddenly  removed  and  the  speed 
governor  failed  to  act.  Accidents  have  been  known  to  oc- 
cur from  this  cause  when  the  electric  generators  connected 
with  the  waterwheels  were  not  designed  to  withstand  the 
runaway  speed.  At  present  it  is  current  practice  to  design 
the  generators  for  200  per  cent  runaway  speed.  The  au- 
thor submitted  characteristic  speed-torque  and  speed-power 
curves  of  waterwheels  and  discussed  the  hydraulics  of 
both  impulse  and  reaction  wheels  at  some  length.  He  con- 
cluded that  in  the  case  of  impulse  or  tangential  wheels 
which  are  used  under  high  heads  of  relatively  constant 
magnitude  the  runaway  speed  to  be  cared  for  will  be  about 
200  per  cent  of  normal.  It  may  be  stated  in  general  that 
when  a  reaction  turbine  is  working  at  the  most  efficient 
speed  and  the  head  is  constant  the  runaway  speed  may  be  M 
as  low  as  150  per  cent  or  as  high  as  180  per  cent,  according  " 
to  the  type  of  wheel.  When  the  head  is  low,  however, 
and  there  is  a  wide  variation  of  head  under  different  con- 
ditions of  stream  flow,  and  the  wheel  is  designed  to  work 
over  the  whole  range  of  heads  with  a  normal  speed  cor- 
responding to  the  central  range,  the  runaw^ay  speed  under 
the  maximum  head  may  be  200  per  cent  or  more  of  the 
normal  speed.  These  conclusions  are  rather  general  and 
the  author  always  recommends  a  detailed  analysis  of  each 
case. 

LOCALIZERS,   SUPPRESSORS   AND   EXPERIMENTS. 

An  experimental  study  of  the  application  of  localizers  of 
faulty  feeders  and  an  arcing  ground  suppressor  to  a  large 
high-tension  distribution  system  was  presented  by  Prof. 
E.  E.  F.  Creighton,  of  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  and  Mr.  J.  T. 
Whittlesey,  of  Newark,  N.  T.  The  localizer  is  a  special 
type  of  relay  which  is  connected  to  a  series  transformer  in 
each  feeder,  and  lights  a  signal  lamp  and  sounds  an  alarm 
w'hen  an  accidental  contact  or  arc  occurs  between  one  phase 
and  ground.  This  apparatus  is  part  of  the  general  scheme 
of  protection  for  cable  systems  and  is  used  especially  in 
connection  with  the  arcing  grounding  suppressor.  The 
latter  extinguishes  an  accidental  arc  from  one  phase  to 
ground  a  small  fraction  of  a  second  after  it  forms.  The 
authors  presented  results  of  their  experiments  in  consider- 
able detail,  accompanied  by  a  large  number  of  oscillograms, 
showing  the  instantaneous  effects.  They  conclude  that  gen- 
erators on  a  loaded  three-phase  system  practically  maintain 
constant  delta  potential,  and  that  the  generators  themselves 
generate  nearly  constant  and  stable  star  potential.  Any 
shifting  in  the  generator  neutral  on  a  loaded  system  is 
merely  transitory.  No  dangerous  potentials  were  observed 
during  the  operation  of  arcing  ground  suppressors.  The 
protective  effects  of  the  grounded  neutral  may  be  obtained 
by  connecting  aluminum  cells  between  the  generator  neutral 
and  the  ground;  at  the  same  time  this  will  avoid  all  the 
objectionable  effects  of  short-circuits  and  cross-currents 
that  attend  a  grounded  neutral.  The  insulation  resistance 
of  mixed  overhead  and  underground  systems  is  largely  de- 
termined by  the  insulator  leakage.  Weather  conditions 
changed  the  insulation  of  the  system  tested  from  5000  ohms 
to  more  than  500  megohms. 

RELAY    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEMS. 

A  paper  describing  relay  protective  systems  with  refer- 
ence both  to  Continental  and  American  practice  was  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  L.  L.  Elden,  of  Boston,  Mass.  There  have 
been  no  material  changes  in  the  construction  or  commercial 
applications  of  this  class  of  apparatus  under  American  con- 


Jl'lv  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     W  (J  R  L  D  . 


19 


ditions  for  a  number  of  years.  In  response  to  demands  for 
modification  of  the  characteristics  of  time-limit  overload 
relays  certain  changes  have  been  made  in  existing  types, 
and.  further,  a  nevif  type  of  relay  has  been  introduced,  all 
of  which  have  increased  the  facilities  for  obtaining  selec- 
tive action  between  the  different  relays.  Generators  are  not 
arranged  in  general  for  automatic  disconnection  from  the 
system  which  they  supply,  but  reverse  power  relays  are 
sometimes  used  to  operate  signals  to  indicate  the  reversal 
of  power  in  generator  circuits.  The  relay  protection  em- 
ployed for  transmission  lines  varies  with  the  type  of  system 
and  method  of  operating.  But  as  a  rule  the  instantaneous,  the 
inverse-time-limit  or  the  definite-time-limit  types  of  relays 
have  been  used,  depending  upon  the  judgment  of  the  engi- 
neer. Fairly  satisfactory  results  have  been  obtained  with 
this  protection  when  applied  to  radial-feeder  systems,  but 
indifferent  or  unsatisfactory  results  when  applied  to  ring- 
feeder  systems.  Marked  progress  has  been  made  in  the  de- 
velopment of  protective  equipment  abroad,  and  the  system 


MAIN  SWITCH 

A 


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SERIES  TRANS. 


_  f"^' 


.SERIES  TRANS. 


TRIP  COIL  i_ 


WAtN  SWITCH 


SERIES  TRANS. 


^.SERIES  TRANS. 


MAIN  SWITCH 


MAIN   TRANS. 


-VWAV- 


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ajVvVASERIES  TRANS.  /WWA^^'"^^  TRANS. 


BALANCING  TRANS. 


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tRIP  corL  I 


Typical   Arrangement   of   Merz-Price    Protective   System. 

invented  by  Messrs.  Merz  and  Price,  of  London,  Eng.,  has 
worked  out  very  satisfactorily.  A  number  of  arrangements 
of  the  Merz-Price  system  are  shown  in  the  accompanying 
illustration. 

The  Merz-Price  system  operates  on  the  principle  that  if  a 
conductor  in  service  is  in  proper  condition  the  current  enter- 
ing it  at  one  end  and  leaving  it  at  the  other  must  be  of  the 
same  value.  When  a  fault  develops  the  currents  become 
unequal,  and  this  causes  an  unbalance  in  the  pilot  circuit, 
which,  in  turn,  causes  the  switches  at  each  end  of  the  circuit 
to  be  instantaneously  tripped.  As  adopted  in  English  prac- 
tice, this  system  has  made  it  possible  to  employ  substations 
without  attendance  of  any  character.  The  author  also 
showed  modifications  of  the  Merz-Price  system  designed  to 
afford  current-balance  protection  to  generators  or  trans- 
formers and  also  emf-balance  protection.  A  great  many 
modifications  of  the  Merz-Price  system  can  be  worked  out 
to  fit  special  conditions.  The  author  also  described  briefly 
the  Hochstader  system  of  protection  employed  in  Germany. 
The  last  system,  however,  depends  upon  the  use  of  a  special 
form  of  construction  in  underground  cables. 

Discussion. 

In  opening  the  discussion  on  the  papers  by  Messrs. 
Cretghton  and  Whittlesey,  and  Elden,  Mr.  D.  W.  Roper, 
Chicago,  asked  why  the  time-limit,  overload  relay  was  em- 


ployed as  shown  in  the  author's  diagram  and  suggested 
that  it  might  be  there  to  protect  the  busbars.  He  also 
raised  the  question  whether  it  would  be  possible  to  set  this 
relay  so  as  to  discriminate  between  different  kinds  of  cir- 
cuit trouble.  Further  remarks  were  contributed  by  Mr. 
L.  C.  Nicholson,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  who  brought  out  the  im- 
portant factor  in  such  protective  systems  introduced  by 
the  time  element  in  oil-switch  operation.  The  shortest 
interval  in  which  an  oil  switch  can  now  be  made  to  operate 
equals  the  duration  of  16  cycles,  and  a  short-circuit  lasting 
for  this  period  will  oftentimes  throw  synchronous  ma- 
chines out  of  step. 

In  closing  the  discussion,  Prof.  Creighton  referred  very 
briefly  to  a  modification  of  the  arcing  ground  suppressor 
described  last  year,  which  provided  protection  against  in- 
sulator troubles  on  overhead  transmission  circuits.  Mr. 
Elden  stated  that  the  time-limit  overload  relay  shown  in 
connection  with  the  Merz-Price  system  is  intended  to  take 
care  of  short-circuits  between  the  phase  wires,  and  it  can 
also  be  used  with  a  high  setting  for  instantaneous  action 
to  disconnect  two  groups  of  ring  feeders.  The  Merz-Price 
apparatus  is  not  affected  by  overload  and  will  respond  only 
to   fault  currents. 


Utilization 


THE    APPLICATION    OF    ELECTRIC    DRU'E    TO    PAPER    CALENDERS. 

It  was  Stated  by  the  author  of  this  paper,  Mr.  E.  C. 
Morse,  of  Boston,  that  motor  drives  have  been  employed  in 
paper  mills  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  that  they  have 
been  successfully  applied  to  every  machine  used  in  the 
process  of  paper  making.  For  this  reason  it  has  been  pos- 
sible to  study  the  power  requirements  of  various  paper  ma- 
chines and  much  useful  information  has  been  obtained,  but 
very  little  of  it  published.  The  author's  object  was  to  set 
forth  some  of  the  facts  that  have  been  observed  and  state 
any  conclusions  which  appear  to  be  warranted.  His  sub- 
ject matter  was  confined  to  the  finishing  department  of  the 
paper  mill,  and  especially  to  the  motor  drives  for  three 
types  of  paper  calenders,  known  as  super  calenders,  sheet 
calenders  and  platers.  The  methods  of  drive  and  the  power 
requirements  were  discussed  in  each  case,  and  typical  load 
curves  were  presented.  A  number  of  illustrations  were  in- 
cluded showing  typical  motor  drives.  The  problem  of  speed 
control  is  highly  important,  and  it  is  very  essential  to  obtain 
uniform  and  smooth  acceleration  from  minimum  to  maxi- 
mum speed.  It  is  also  essential  to  be  able  to  operate  at 
various  speeds  so  as  to  accommodate  various  grades  of 
paper,  and  it  is  important  to  be  able  to  stop  the  calender 
quickly  from  various  points.  When  alternating-current 
motors  are  employed  the  wound  secondary  type  is  nearlv 
always  adopted,  and  the  speed  control  is  obtained  by  the 
variation  of  external  resistance  in  the  secondary  circuit. 
The  author  presented  comparative  cost  data  for  several 
installations  and  concluded  with  the  statement  that  it  is 
quite  evident  that  increased  quality  and  quantity  of  pro- 
duction is  obtained  by  the  use  of  electric  drives  in  the 
finishing  department  of  a  paper  mill.  This,  he  said,  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  each  machine  is  under  perfect  speed  control 
and  each  kind  of  paper  is  finished  at  the  most  advantageous 
speed. 

ELECTRIC  DRIVE  FOR  PAPER  MACHINES. 

The  chief  advantages  of  the  electric  drive  for  paper  ma- 
chines were  presented  in  a  brief  illustrated  paper  by  Mr.  J. 
S.  Henderson,  Jr.,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  The  operating  prin- 
ciple of  the  paper  machine  is  quite  simple  and  consists 
essentially  in  the  separation  of  the  paper  fiber  from  its  sus- 
pension in  water,  first  by  wire  gauze  and  then  by  pressing 
and  drying.     The  principal  parts  of  the  machine  are  the 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


wire,  which  is  driven  by  a  couch  roll,  the  press  rolls,  the 
driers,  calenders,  reel  and  the  winder  These  parts  consti- 
tute what  is  known  as  the  variable-speed  portion  of  the  ma- 
chine, while  sucli  other  portions  as  the  stuff  pumps,  vacuum 
pumps,  screens,  shake,  etc.,  are  driven  at  constant  speed. 
The  required  speed  range  may  be  as  great  as  lo  to  i,  de- 
pending upon  the  class  of  output.  It  is  essential  to  obtain 
good  speed  regulation  at  any  speed,  with  simple  and  posi- 
tive speed  control  over  the  entire  range,  and  perfectly 
uniform  angular  velocity  at  all  times.  Numerous  econ- 
omies result  from  the  use  of  electric  drives,  which  also 
possess  simplicity  and  require  but  a  small  amount  of  floor 
space  and  comparatively  little  attendance.  Such  drives  have 
the  further  advantage  that  the  speed  is  independent  of  the 
load.  After  discussing  the  standard  methods  of  speed  con- 
trol, the  author  summarized  his  presentation  in  the  state- 
ment that  a  successful  paper-machine  drive  should  furnish 
the  desired  speed  range  in  a  simple  and  positive  manner, 
with  good  regulation  at  each  speed  from  about  three-quarter 
load  to  full  load,  and  should  be  able  to  carry  all  loads  con- 
tinuously and  economically. 

Discussion. 

Mr.  W.  B.  Jackson,  of  Chicago,  contributed  briefly  to 
the  discussion  of  the  papers  by  Messrs.  Morse  and  Hen- 
derson, and  suggested  possible  advantages  in  developing 
an  electric  clutch  or  accelerator  for  obtaining  very  close 
speed  control  and  producing  smoother  acceleration,  such 
devices  to  be  incorporated  as  part  of  the  general  speed 
control  system.  Mr.  Henderson  agreed  that  such  a  device 
would  have  theoretical  advantages,  but  stated  that  he  did 
not  consider  it  commercially  necessary. 

ELECTRICITY   ON    THE   FARM. 

The  numerous  and  increasing  uses  for  electricity  on  the 
farm  were  presented  in  an  illustrated  paper  by  Mr.  Putnam 
A.  Bates,  of  New  York  City.  Attention  was  called  by  the 
author  to  the  reviving  interest  in  agriculture  and  the  de- 
sirability of  doing  everything  possible  to  improve  the  farm- 
er's conditions.  Several  references  were  made  to  the  farm 
uses  for  electricity  which  have  been  developed  in  the  Far 
West  and  along  the  Pacific  Coast,  particularly  in  irriga- 
tion pumping.  Many  applications  of  motor  drives  to  re- 
place manual  labor  in  farmwork  were  described  and  illus- 
trated. The  author  also  touched  upon  the  subject  of  iso- 
lated plants  for  supplying  a  single  farm,  or  possibly  a  group 
of  farms,  which  might  be  situated  outside  of  the  zone  of 
central-station  service.  The  convenience  of  local  telephone 
service  about  the  farm  was  briefly  dwelt  upon.  The  use  of 
electrical  energ\'  for  lighting,  heating  and  motor  service 
also  diminishes  the  fire  risk,  which  is  a  very  important  con- 
sideration in  rural  communities,  where  public  fire  protection 
is  almost  universally  impracticable. 

Discussion. 

A  brief  discussion  was  participated  in  by  Messrs.  J.  D. 
Merrifield,  Pasadena,  Cal. ;  L.  L.  Elden,  Boston,  Mass., 
and  J.  A.  Moyer,  Ann  Arbor,  Mich.  It  was  pointed  out 
that  the  central-station  company  operating  in  Boston  and 
vicinity  is  making  an  aggressive  campaign  to  secure  farm 
business  and  is  advertising  extensively  by  means  of  a  trav- 
eling exhibit  known  as  the  "Edison  Farm."  In  reply  to  a 
question  the  author  stated  that  isolated  plants  and  central- 
station  service  seldom  come  into  competition  for  farm 
business  inasmuch  as  the  latter  is  almost  invariably  em- 
ployed if  it  is  available  at  reasonable  prices.  When,  how- 
ever, it  is  necessary  to  install  an  isolated  plant,  the  author 
invariably  recommends  the  use  of  storage  batteries  for 
emergency  and  breakdown  service.  He  described  at  con- 
siderable length  the  seemingly  wonderful  field  of  develop- 
ment which  awaits  the  central  station  when  the  farmer 
is  once  aroused  to  the  great  advantages  resulting  from  the 
use  of  electricity. 


Illumination 


On  June  26  President  Dunn  called  to  order  the  joint  meet- 
ing of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  with 
the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society.  He  spoke  briefly  of 
the  intimate  and  cordial  relations  which  exist  between  the 
two  societies,  and  then  introduced  President  V.  R.  Lansingh, 
of  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society,  who  addressed  the 
meeting.  Mr.  Lansingh  commented  upon  this  gathering  of 
one  of  the  oldest  and  most  influential  engineering  organiza- 
tions with  the  youngest  of  all  the  engineering  societies. 
This  occasion,  he  said,  marked  the  first  joint  meeting  of 
the  I.  E.  S.  with  another  national  engineering  society  at 
its  annual  meeting.  The  art  of  illumination,  regarded  as  a 
branch  of  engineering,  received  its  greatest  impetus  on  the 
occasion  of  the  famous  series  of  lectures  delivered  on  the 
subject  two  years  ago  at  Johns  Hopkins  University.  Since 
that  time  this  branch  of  engineering  has  been  well  estab- 
lished and  is  now  universally  recognized. 

THE  PROBLEMS  OF  INTERIOR  ILLUMINATION. 

Mr.  Bassett  Jones,  Jr.,  of  New  York  City,  presented  a 
paper  in  which  were  discussed  the  problems  met  in  inte'rior 
illumination.  The  illuminating  engineer  must  consider,  first, 
the  kind  of  work  to  be  done  by  artificial  light ;  second,  the 
distribution  of  light  flux  that  will  make  it  possible  to  do  the 
work  at  the  highest  efficiency,  and,  third,  the  character  and 
arrangement  of  illuminants  that  will  produce  the  desired 
results  most  economically.  It  is  very  essential  for  the 
engineer  to  grasp  and  appreciate  the  lighting  effect  which  is 
desired,  and  especially  he  ought  to  understand  the  relation 
of  shadow  and  color  to  design,  in  order  to  preserve  the 
value  of  the  architectural  treatment  and  ornamentation. 
The  engineer  ought  to  know  enough  about  color  and  about 
pigments  to  discern  beforehand  exactly  what  effect  any 
particular  tone  or  intensity  in  the  light  will  have  upon  the 
color  scheme,  because  both  color  and  intensity  in  light  pro- 
duce marked  effects  on  color  pigments,  and  these  effects 
vary  with  the  character  and  saturation  of  the  pigments. 
The  possibility  of  altering  the  character  of  color  ornamenta- 
tion by  modifications  in  the  color  of  the  illumination 
presents  a  remarkable  field  for  the  display  of  good  taste 
and  ingenuity.  Shadows  constitute  a  most  important  means 
of  setting  off  relief  design,  and  the  engineer  should  be 
especially  careful  to  see  that  the  lighting  scheme  secures  the 
desired  effect.  The  reversal  of  shadows  by  improperly 
directed  light,  or  the  apparent  flattening  of  relief  orna- 
mentation by  excessive  diffusion  of  light,  is,  of  course, 
disastrous  to  architectural  beauty. 

Obviously  a  large  amount  of  co-operation  is  needed  be- 
tween- the  illuminating  engineer  and  the  architect  in  refer- 
ence to  interior  effects.  When  the  location  of  the  light 
source  has  been  fixed  the  amount  of  flux  to  be  generated 
can  be  calculated  by  three  methods,  which  the  author  char- 
acterized as  the  point  by  point  method,  the  flux  method 
and  the  absorption  method.  He  concluded  his  paper  with  a 
discussion  of  these  methods,  by  the  aid  of  specific  examples. 

INDUSTRIAL    ILLUMINATION    AND    THE    AVERAGE    PERFORMANCE 
OF  LIGHTING  SYSTEMS. 

A  paper  containing  a  brief  symposium  on  the  lighting 
of  industrial  establishments,  with  reference  both  to  the 
type  of  installation  and  the  results  obtained  under  working 
conditions,  was  presented  by  Mr.  C.  E.  Clewell,  Pittsburgh, 
Pa.  Factory  work  may  be  grouped,  generally  speaking,  into 
two  kinds.  The  first  includes  many  sorts  of  bench  work,  on 
the  horizontal  plane,  which  requires  in  the  main  only  down- 
ward illumination.  The  other  kind  includes  machine  tool 
operations,  foundry  molds,  rolling  mills  and  the  like,  where 
the  side  diffusion   of  illumination,  as  well   as  the  vertical. 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


plays  an  important  part  in  the  results.  The  size  and  shape 
of  lamps  to  be  employed  depend  in  a  large  measure  on  the 
ceiling,  roofs  and  trusses.  The  author  devoted  much  of  his 
paper  to  a  discussion  of  the  efficiency  of  utilization,  and 
presented  a  comprehensive  table  showing  the  results  of 
extensive  tests  which  have  been  conducted  during  the  past 
year  to  determine  the  results  obtained  in  practice.  It  was 
sought  to  establish  the  actual  efficiency  of  various  illumina- 
tion systems  in  comparison  with  the  theoretical  efficiency 
which  might  be  supposed  to  exist  from  calculations  based  on 
the  candle-power  distribution  curves.  Particular  attention 
was  paid  to  the  condition  of  the  lamps  and  reflectors  and 
their  state  of  cleanliness.  Five  typical  interior  locations  were 
selected,  all  of  which  were  equipped  with  tungsten  lamps 
and  glass  reflectors.  Tests  were  then  made  for  a  period  of 
seventeen  weeks.  The  results  were  presented  in  tabular 
form,  some  of  which  were  plotted  as  curves.  Great  attention 
was  given  to  the  loss  of  efficiency  resulting  from  accumu- 
lations of  dirt.  The  author's  conclusions  on  the  economic 
relation  of  wages  to  illumination  are  especially  interesting 
and  instructive.  The  wages  for  six  minutes  per  day  in  the 
average  shop  or  factory  pay  for  entirely  adequate  illumina- 
tion, and  when  one  considers  that  nearly  all  such  establish- 
ments have  some  lighting  facilities,  it  becomes  evident  that 


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to 

Average    Candle-Power    Ranges    of    Old    and    New    Lamps. 

good  illumination,  which  plays  so  large  a  part  in  the 
efficiency  of  workmanship,  is  most  emphatically  justified. 
The  author  also  stated  that  it  is  economical  to  clean  lamps 
and  reflectors  much  more  frequently  than  is  now  the  custom 
or  the  rule. 

Discussion. 

The  papers  by  Messrs.  Clewell  and  Jones  were  discussed 
together.  The  discussion  was  opened  by  Mr.  D.  McFarlan 
Moore,  Newark,  N.  J.  He  emphasized  how  essential  it  is 
to  consider  the  effect  of  shadows  in  designing  interior 
illumination  systems  and  pointed  out  that  each  problem 
should  be  considered  from  the  standpoints  of  both  day  and 
night  effects.  The  speaker  also  regretted  that  Mr.  Jones 
did  not  explain  more  in  detail  some  of  the  interesting  color 
effects  which  he  demonstrated. 

Mr.  P.  S.  Millar,  New  York  City,  complimented  Mr. 
Jones'  paper  as  typifying  in  an  excellent  manner  the  real 
nature  of  illuminating  engineering  and  touched  upon  the 
importance  of  securing  high  efficiency  in  illumination.  He 
expressed  the  hope  that  Mr.  Jones  would  relate  in  further 
detail  his  researches  which  preceded  the  interesting  results 
given  in  his  experimental  demonstrations. 

Dr.  C.  F.  Scott,  New  Haven,  Conn.,  discussed  the  char- 
acteristic attitude  toward  problems  in  factory  illumination 
a  number  of  years  ago,  and  from  some  of  his  own  ex- 
periences drew  the  lesson  that  illuminating  engineering  is  a 
subject  quite  as  complex  and  requiring  fully  as  much  study 


as  many  other  engineering  specialties.  He  then  described 
the  results  of  poor  illumination  in  a  drafting  room  and  re- 
lated how  tlie  correction  of  faulty  conditions  enabled  each 
draftsman  to  increase  his  output  by  an  amount  correspond- 
ing to  one-half  or  three-fourths  of  an  hour's  work  each  day. 

Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly  emphasized  the  economic  importance 
of  keeping  lamps  and  fixtures  clean,  as  shown  by  the  results 
presented  in  Mr.  Clewell's  paper. 

Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp,  of  New  York  City,  said  that  while  the 
conclusions  presented  in  Mr.  Clewell's  paper  are  not  new,  it 
is  nevertheless  valuable  to  have  additional  data.  In  shop 
lighting,  he  stated,  it  is  quite  essential  to  study  the  needs 
of  each  particular  machine  as  to  the  direction,  quantity  and 
intensity  of  light  required.  We  are  now  beginning  to 
appreciate,  the  speaker  stated,  that  illuminating  engineering 
is  a  complex  and  sometimes  difficult  subject.  He  com- 
plimented Mr.  Clewell's  method  of  expressing  the  loss  in 
illumination  due  to  dirty  lamps  and  glassware  in  terms  of 
the  extra  wages  of  the  workmen  whose  efficiency  is 
diminished  by  the  want  of  adequate  light.  Dr.  Sharp  also 
cautioned  against  accepting  the  judgment  of  a  workman  as 
to  the  amount  of  light  needed  to  enable  him  to  do  his  work 
at  the  best  advantage. 

Prof.  F.  C.  Caldwell,  Columbus,  Ohio,  pointed  out  the 
characteristic  differences  between  natural  illumination  by 
daylight  and  artificial  illumination  employed  at  night.  There 
is  also  to  be  taken  into  account  the  physiological  effect  of 
sudden  transition  from  daylight  to  artificial  light  for  short 
periods. 

Mr.  G.  H.  Stickney,  of  Harrison,  N.  J.,  emphasized  the 
marked  difference  in  character  between  the  two  papers,  one 
dealing  with  decorative  and  the  other  with  industrial  light- 
ing. He  also  mentioned  the  interesting  fact  that  the  cost  of 
adequate  lighting  is  sometimes  stated  as  equal  to  i  per  cent 
of  the  salaries  of  the  employees  who  work  under  it.  The 
distressing  physiological  effects  of  glare  caused  by  a  case 
of  improper  office  lighting  were  briefly  described  by  Mr.  W. 
J.  Hammer,  of  New  York  City.  He  also  pointed  out  that 
the  proper  remedy  is  frequently  a  simple  one,  but  neverthe- 
less many  examples  of  bad  lighting  continue  to  exist  for 
want  of  recognition  of  their  disadvantages  and  dangers. 

Mr.  E.  A.  Champlin,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  stated  that  while 
drafting  rooms  are  often  well  arranged  for  natural  illumi- 
nation by  daylight,  quite  frequently  the  artificial  lighting 
is  badly  planned  and  even  comes  from  the  opposite 
direction. 

In  closing  the  discussion  on  his  paper,  Mr.  Clewell  said 
that  industrial  lighting  involves  problems  as  complex  on  the 
whole  as  those  met  in  decorative  lighting.  He  stated  that 
careful  attention  was  given  during  the  tests  described  in  his 
paper  to  the  matter  of  noting  the  depreciation  of  walls  and 
ceilings,  but  no  such  effect  was  observed.  He  also  re- 
ferred to  a  specific  case  in  which  individual  lighting  units 
over  each  machine  in  an  industrial  plant  were  removed, 
although  the  change  was  protested  against  by  the  workmen. 
The  same  men,  however,  approved  of  the  change  after  they 
had  had  an  opportunity  to  work  under  better  illumination. 
This  shows  that  prejudice  is  often  a  factor  and  also  demon- 
strates that  the  judgment  of  the  workmen  cannot  be  taken 
at  its  face  value. 

While  closing  the  discussion  on  his  paper,  Mr.  Jones 
pointed  out  that  ordinary  daylight  is  directed  light.  When 
daylight  is  perfectly  diffused  by  a  thin  overcast  sky  the  high 
intensity  of  illumination  in  every  direction  fatigues  the  eye 
and  makes  it  difficult  to  look  directly  at  lighted  objects.  He 
said  that  many  architects  still  cling  to  old-fashioned  notions 
concerning  illumination,  and  related  some  of  the  tests  which 
he  had  made  in  order  to  demonstrate  to  architects  the  best 
colors  to  be  employed  in  decorating  rooms  under  different 
conditions.  For  example,  a  room  with  a  north  exposure 
should  be  painted  blue  in  order  to  reflect  the  blue  light 
which  is  characteristic  of  the  northern  sky,  while  a  room 
with  a  southern  exposure  should  be  decorated  with  a  buff 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


color  in  order  to  reflect  the  yellow  light  from  the  southern 
sky.  In  concluding,  he  stated  that  his  investigations  of 
color  effects  were  made  so  hurriedly  and  under  such  high 
pressure  to  reach  conclusions  by  the  most  direct  route  that 
he  hesitated  to  present  a  detailed  account  of  all  his  experi- 
ments leading  up  to  the  results  just  demonstrated  to  the 
audience. 

'  ILLUMINATION   .\ND  ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERING. 

Dr.  Louis  Bell,  Boston,  Mass.,  delivered  an  address  de- 
voted to  the  relations  of  illuminating  engineering  to  the 
other  arts  and  sciences,  and  particularly  to  electrical  engi- 
neering. It  may  be  said  from  the  standpoint  of  the  illumi- 
nating engineer  that  electrical  engineering  constitutes  his 
most  important  source  of  supply  or  raw  materials.  Illumi- 
nation is  by  no  means  a  new  art,  but  the  utilization  of  light 
has  made  tremendous  strides  in  the  quarter  century  which 
has  elapsed  since  the  introduction  of  electric  lighting  on  a 
commercial  scale.  Of  course  much  of  what  now  consti- 
tutes both  the  art  and  science  of  illumination  was  developed 
many  years  before  the  advent  of  electric  lighting,  and  in 
numerous  instances  modern  practice  is  founded  upon  prin- 
ciples which  were  first  stated  more  than  half  a  century  ago. 

Illuminating  engineering,  briefly,  is  the  science  and  art 
of  utilizing  light  sources  to  obtain  effitient  illumination. 
As  a  science  it  consists  of  a  body  of  physical  principles 
and  data  which  deals  with  the  radiation  of  luminous  energy 
from  source  to  destination.  Again,  as  an  art,  it  involves 
the  adaptation  of  particular  kinds  of  light  sources  so  as  to 
utilize  their  peculiarities  in  the  most  effective  manner.  In 
one  sense  we  may  say  that  where  electrical  engineering 
stops  illuminating  engineering  commences,  but  the  latter 
springs  also  from  important  sources  in  a  number  of  other 
arts  and  comes  very  intimately  in  contact  with  industrial 
chemistry.  Illuminating  engineering  transcends  to  a  far 
greater  extent  than  any  other  branch  of  engineering  the 
limits  of  pure  mathematics  or  physics,  and  extends  into 
the  realms  of  physiology  and  psychology.  The  fact  that 
illuminating  engineering  is  thus  interlocked  with  many 
sciences  is  no  doubt  the  chief  reason  why  it  seemed  in 
the  beginning  a  thing  so  intangible  and  indefinite.  While 
illuminating  engineering  must  stand  by  itself,  it  depends 
nevertheless  to  a  greater  extent  upon  electrical  engineer- 
ing than  any  other  branch. 

The  author  went  on  to  describe  the  differences  between 
natural  and  artificial  light  and  stated  that  one  of  the  great- 
est tasks  now  before  the  electrical  engineer  is  that  of  ob- 
taining luminous  radiation  at  high  efficiency  but  greatly 
diminished  intensity,  and  remarked  that  perhaps  the  chemi- 
cal engineer  may  outstrip  his  electrical  rival  in  struggling 
for  this  goal.  But  the  resources  of  electrical  engineering 
make  it  likely  that  electric  light  will  be  the  light  of  the 
future.  Although  gas  and  oil  are  still  with  us,  their  future 
sphere  of  usefulness  apparently  lies  in  the  production  of 
heat  and  motor  service. 

There  being  no  discussion  on  Dr.  Bell's  paper,  he  was 
next  called  upon  to  say  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  im- 
portant work  which  has  been  carried  on  by  a  committee  of 
the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society  in  preparing  the  "Illu- 
mination Primer." 

THE    ILLUMINATION    PRIMER. 

Dr.  Bell  stated  that  more  than  a  year  ago  the  committee 
undertook  the  diflkult  task  of  stating  the  fundamentals  of 
illumination  in  brief  and  simple  language  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  general  public  in  this  new  and  important  art. 
After  long  and  arduous  labors  by  the  committee  and  many 
revisions  of  the  original  draft  the  "Illumination  Primer" 
was  finally  condensed  to  twenty  pages,  and  the  original 
copy  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  printer.  Dr.  Bell  stated 
that  the  primer  is  not  intended  in  any  sense  to  be  a  sum- 
mary of  knowledge  for  the  benefit  of  engineers,  but  instead 
is   designed  to  guide  the   general   public  toward   a  better 


understanding  of  the  principles  of  correct  illumination. 
The  first  edition  of  the  primer  is  necessarily  limited  by  the 
financial  resources  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society, 
but  he  said  that  arrangements  will  be  made  whereby  any 
responsible  engineer,  firm  or  corporation  may  obtain  per- 
mission to  reprint  the  primer  in  full  for  such  general  dis- 
tribution as  may  be  desired. 

RELATIONS  OF  COLOR  TO  ILLUMINATION. 

Dr.  Herbert  E.  Ives,  Cleveland,  delivered  a  lecture  on 
the  relations  of  color  to  illumination  work,  which  was 
supplemented  by  lantern  slides  and  demonstrations.  The 
general  problem,  he  said,  is  divisible  into  two  parts,  the 
first  of  which  concerns  the  determination  of  the  facts  by. 
pure  scientists,  and  the  second  their  utilization  by  engi- 
neers. After  discussing  spectrum  analysis  and  throwing 
several  spectra  on  the  screen,  he  demonstrated  by  means 
of  an  ingenious  apparatus  that  any  color  can  be  duplicated 
by  a  mixture  in  proper  proportions  of  red,  green  and  blue. 
After  discussing  these  effects  the  speaker  turned  to  the 
subject  of  producing  artificial  daylight  and  pointed  out 
some  of  the  difficulties  in  this  problem.  He  showed  three 
examples  of  so-called  artificial  daylight  which  appeared 
very  closely  alike  to  the  ordinary  observer.  Their  dif- 
ference was  demonstrated  quite  clearly  by  testing  the  color 
of  ordinary  fabrics  when  exposed  to  each  kind  of  light  and 
also  to  the  light  on  an  ordinary  carbon-filament  lamp. 
Numerous  interesting  examples  of  this  character  were 
demonstrated.  The  speaker  explained  that  the  phenomenon 
is  due  to  certain  missing  characteristics  in  the  spectrum 
of  the  artificial  light  and  to  other  peculiarities  in  the  spec- 
trum of  the  dye  colors.  The  production  of  a  perfect  arti- 
ficial light,  the  speaker  stated,  is  of  considerable  com- 
mercial importance. 

Discussion. 

Among  those  who  contributed  to  the  discussion  following 
Dr.  Ives'  demonstrations  were  Dr.  C.  F.  Scott.  New  Haven, 
Conn. :  Mr.  W.  J.  Hammer,  New  York  City,  and  Dr.  C.  H. 
Sharp,  New  York  City.  Referring  to  those  demonstrations 
which  showed  the  interesting  effects  of  defective  artificial 
daylight  on  the  color  of  fabrics,  Mr.  W.  J.  Hammer  made 
the  rather  startling  statement  that  he  has  found  a  substance 
which  will  glow  a  blood-red  color  when  exposed  to  light  of 
any  character  whatever.  Dr.  Sharp  commented  on  the  very 
striking  effects  shown  in  colored  fabrics,  which  he  said  are 
caused  partly  by  the  peculiarities  of  the  spectra  of  the  dyes 
employed.  In  closing  the  discussion,  Dr.  Ives  stated  that 
the  problem  of  producing  stability  in  the  colors  of  fabrics 
is  open  to  two  lines  of  attack.  The  dyer  is  naturally  inter- 
ested in  avoiding  the  weird  effects  which  had  been  so  clearly 
illustrated  and  is  therefore  desirous  of  obtaining  dyes  which 
tend  as  much  as  possible  to  maintain  color  stability  under 
different  kinds  of  artificial  illumination.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  illuminating  engineer  is  anxious  to  produce  an 
artificial  pure  white  light  which  imitates  daylight  to  the 
closest  possible  degree. 


Electric  Railways 


The  first  railway  session  of  the  convention  was  called  to 
order  by  President  Dunn  at  Wednesday  noon.  The  meet- 
ing was  devoted  to  a  discussion  of  the  paper  by  Mr.  Samuel 
Insull  read  before  the  April  5  meeting  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  in  New  York,  dealing 
with  the  generation  and  primary  distribution  of  energy  for 
given  areas,  and  at  that  time  it  was  announced  that  the 
paper  would  be  taken  up  for  general  discussion  at  the  next 
annual  convention.  The  author  stated  that  he  was  not 
viewing   the   question    of   railway   electrification    from    the 


July  6,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


23 


railroad  operating  standpoint,  but  rather  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  central-station  man  who  sees  an  economic 
advantage  in  securing  this  class  of  load.  It  is  interesting 
and  significant  to  note  that  the  railroad  demand  is  only 
about  15  to  20  per  cent  of  the  total  demand  for  energy  in 
any  community,  and  the  author  further  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  amount  of  energy  required  to  operate  the 
terminal  and  suburban  systems  of  all  the  trunk  lines  center- 
ing in  New  York  City  would  be  less  than  the  total  energy 
required  to  operate  the  isolated  electric-light  plants  in  the 
same  territory.  The  keynote  of  the  paper  is  found  in  the 
statement  that  the  concentration  of  the  production  of  en- 
ergy, for  all  the  purposes  required  in  a  given  area  occupied 
by  a  large  center  of  population,  would  result  in  substantial 
savings  in  capital  and  operating  expenses.  Taking  New 
York  City  as  an  example,  he  pointed  out  that  the  savings 
obtained  in  this  manner  would  provide  sufficiently  for  the 
generating  capacity  and  primary  transmission  systems  nec- 
essary to  electrify  the  railroad  terminals  and  suburban 
service  of  all  the  trunk  lines  centering  there.  The  per- 
centage of  saving  is  not  so  impressive  as  the  actual  mag- 
nitude in  dollars.  The  manner  in  which  this  saving  can 
be  realized  consists,  in  a  word,  of  taking  advantage  of  the 
diversity  of  demand  in  different  classes  of  consumption  or 
load.  The  first  illustration  presented  was  that  of  New 
York  City,  where  the  combined  load  of  electrified  steam 
railroads,  lighting  and  motor  service  and  street  railways, 
regarded  as  separate  systems,  was  given  as  678,000  kw  for 
the  peak  of  last  winter,  while  operated  as  a  single  system 
the  demand  would  have  amounted  only  to  630,000  kw,  leav- 
ing a  saving  of  47,000  kw,  corresponding  to  a  diversity 
factor  of  jYi  per  cent. 

The  author  pointed  out  that  the  farther  the  electrifica- 
tion of  railroads  extends  from  the  terminals  the  less  in- 
fluence the  suburban  service  will  have  upon  the  demand 
and  the  greater  will  be  the  diversity  factor.  Suburban 
travel  produces  two  peaks  of  demand,  one  in  the  morning 
and  one  in  the  evening,  and  the  peaks  are  accentuated  by 
the  necessity  of  heating  the  cars  in  cold  weather  and  the 
extra  power  demands  for  traction  during  bad  weather  con- 
ditions, especially  when  low  temperatures  prevail.  The 
steam  railroad  load-factor  is  materially  better  where  sub- 
urban traflSc  is  relatively  unimportant. 

Mr.  Insull  presented  other  examples  of  the  savings  which 
would  result  from  unification  of  generating  systems  in  Bos- 
ton and  Chicago,  and  gave  many  data  in  relation  to  the 
power  demand  which  will  result  if  the  railway  terminals  in 
Chicago  are  electrified,  part  of  which  was  embodied  in  an 
appendix  prepared  by  Messrs.  Paul  Bird,  H.  B.  Gear  and 
E.  J.  Fowler,  of  Chicago. 

iMr.  Frank  J.  Sprague.  New  York,  chairman  of  the  rail- 
way committee  of  the  Institute,  opened  the  discussion.  He 
pointed  out  that  the  discussion  of  the  merits  of  the  three 
principal  systems  of  electrification  has  been  held  some- 
what in  abeyance  of  late  in  view  of  the  committee's  belief 
that  what  is  needed  are  actual  results  from  the  operation 
of  existing  electrified  roads.  The  speaker  felt  that  the  cost 
of  energy  is  a  subject  of  fundamental  importance  in  this 
connection.  Efforts  promising  some  success  are  being  made 
to  induce  manufacturers  and  other  interested  parties  to 
take  up  co-operatively  a  specific  railway  electrification  prob- 
lem on  a  large  scale  and  in  a  comprehensive  manner. 

Mr.  Sprague  pointed  out  the  possibilities  of  establishing 
a  financial  organization  prepared  to  take  the  capital  risks 
of  electrification  through  a  contract  providing  for  opera- 
tion by  electric  motive  power  over  a  fixed  term  and  pos- 
sibly providing  for  the  supply  of  rolling  stock.  Referring 
to  the  condition  at  New  York  the  speaker  said  that  in  the 
electric  zone  of  the  New  York  Central  lines  the  insur- 
ance of  an  ample  supply  of  energy  is  a  fundamental  neces- 
sity, the  cost  of  energv  being  a  secondary  consideration. 
The  net  cost  of  producing  energy  in  five  of  the  principal 
generating   plants    supplying    energy    for   train    service   at 


New  York  averaged  about  0.51  cent  per  kw-hour  delivered 
at  the  switchboard  in  191 1  and  excluding  fixed  charges. 
This  figure  averages  somewhat  higher  than  the  results  ob- 
tained in  very  large  stations  of  modern  design.  Mr. 
bprague  pointed  out  the  fact  that  the  energy  cost  at  the 
Cos  Cob  station  of  the  New  Haven  system  runs  from  45 
to  60  per  cent  higher  than  in  the  other  plants  serving  elec- 
trified trains  and  suggested  that  the  purchase  of  electricity 
would  have  been  desirable  in  this  case. 

Mr.  H.  G.  Stott,  New  York,  contended  that  Mr.  Insull's 
results  were  obtained  in  Chicago  by  combining  in  one  or 
two  plants  of  modern  design  the  outputs  of  several  broken- 
down  stations.  He  could  see  no  other  argument  supporting 
Mr.  Insull's  conclusions.  As  compared  with  an  old  plant  a 
modern  station  ought  to  show  at  least  20  per  cent  gain 
in  economy.  Mr.  Stott  said  that  his  investigations  of  the 
relation  between  load-factor  and  energy  cost  show  that  the 
cost  varies  inversely  as  the  fourth  root  of  the  load-factor. 
He  thought  on  this  basis  that  the  saving  resulting  from 
centralized  plant  operations  in  a  city  like  New  York  would 
be  only  about  one-eighth  of  that  figured  by  Mr.  Insull. 
Mr.  Stott  questioned  the  economy  of  very  large  turbo- 
units,  say  of  20,000  kw  rating,  as  compared  with  10,000- 
kw  units  and  touched  upon  the  advantages  of  shifting  the 
load  from  one  plant  to  another  in  an  interconnected  sys- 
tem. The  diversity  factor  is  practically  nil  in  railway 
work.  The  total  installation  equipment  must  be  the  same 
no  matter  how  many  plants  are  combined  in  one.  The 
speaker  disagreed  with  Mr.  Insull's  contention  that  30  per 
cent  reserve  equipment  is  required  in  individual  plants 
against  25  per  cent  in  combined  installations.  With 
modern  equipment  a  reserve  of  10  per  cent  is  sufficient, 
provided  this  is  utilized  in  connection  with  the  overload 
range  of  the  equipment.  The  total  cross-section  of  copper 
is  the  same,  regardless  of  how  many  plants  are  required, 
although  the  length  of  copper  obviously  varies  with  the 
conditions.  The  speaker  regretted  that  Mr.  Insull  failed 
to  show  the  results  of  his  plant  combinations  in  detail, 
and  suggested  that  there  should  be  a  division  of  profits 
between  the  manufacturer  of  energy  and  the  consumer. 

Mr.  William  McClellan,  New  York,  said  that  only  a 
certain  number  of  railroads  can  be  electrified  economically 
at  the  present  time.  The  investment  cost  is  the  great 
stumbling  block,  taken  in  connection  with  the  amortization 
of  the  existing  investment.  It  is  his  opinion  that  the 
cost  of  the  third-rail  system,  the  single-phase  system  and 
of  electric  locomotives  is  unlikely  to  be  decreased  to  any 
extent.  If  enlargement  of  plant  does  not  decrease  the  cost 
of  energy  there  is  no  reason  for  working  out  the  sub- 
station idea  still  further.  The  price  of  energy  should  in- 
clude a  means  for  amortizing  old  equipment  so  that  ob- 
jectionable standing  assets  and  corresponding  charges  may 
not  be  continued. 

Mr.  Percy  H.  Thomas,  New  York,  stated  that  there  is 
a  possibility  that  the  railroads  may  be  waiting  for  some- 
thing better  to  turn  up  in  the  electrical  field.  He  felt  cer- 
tain that  the  concentration  of  energy  production  and  dis- 
tribution is  bound  to  increase.  Mr.  W.  G.  Carlton,  New 
York,  pointed  out  the  possible  benefits  of  pooling  loads 
between  stations,  after  the  manner  of  pooling  rolling  stock. 
The  size  of  generating  stations  is  reaching  the  economic 
limit. 

Mr.  Calvert  Townley,  New  York,  stated  that  to  carry 
Mr.  Insull's  paper  to  its  logical  conclusion  might  lead  to 
the  absurdity  of  concentrating  the  energy  generation  of  the 
United  States  in  a  single  plant,  eliminating  for  the  moment 
the  questions  of  divided  ownership,  municipal  and  state 
boundaries.  The  whole  problem  of  energy  supply  is  dis- 
tinctly an  engineering  question  involving  transmission  and 
distribution  conditions  no  less  than  matters  pertaining  to 
generation.  The  saving  due  to  diversity  factor  is  reduced 
as  the  size  of  the  station  increases.  The  speaker  did  not 
oppose  consolidation  of  plants  but  said  that  he  could  not 


24 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


accept  the  author's  paper  as  general  cure-all  for  railway 
electrification  problems.  Mr.  Townley  said  that  the  New 
Haven  company  did  not  buy  energy  from  the  New  York 
Central  organization  because  the  lowest  price  quoted  by 
the  latter  was  2  cents  per  kw-hour.  It  was  necessary  to 
have  economical  energ)-  on  the  system  at  a  certain  time, 
and  hence  the  company  built  its  own  plant  at  Cos  Cob. 
The  poor  load-factor  of  the  New  Haven  system  was  antici- 
pated, but  it  will  probably  be  improved  when  the  progress- 
ing electrification  to  New  Haven  is  completed.  The  ability 
of  the  central  station  to  undertake  to  supply  future  energy 
demands  is  a  strong  argument  in  favor  of  the  purchase  of 
energy  by  railways.  The  increases  in  load  handled  by  the 
central  station  cut  out  the  amortization  of  no  small  in- 
vestment by  the  energv  user. 

Mr.  S.  D.  Sprong,  Brooklyn,  and  Air.  W.  S.  Lee,  Char- 
lotte, X.  C,  also  spoke  briefly,  Mr.  Lee  emphasized  the 
increasing  distances  of  modern  transmission  and  voiced  the 
advantages  of  interconnected  networks  with  stations  not 
too  near  together,  carrying  local  loads  and  interchanging 
energy  to  maintain  good  load-factors  in  the  individual  in- 
stallations. 

In  closing  Mr.  Sprague  pointed  out  that  Mr.  InsuU  in 
no  sense  recommends  the  concentration  of  energy  genera- 
tion under  a  single  exclusive  roof.  Concentration  should 
go  only  so  far  as  to  call  for  units  in  reasonable  size  and 
numbers,  operated  at  a  fair  load-factor.  He  reiterated  the 
opinion  that  the  existing  plants  supplying  energy  to  the 
railroads  in  the  New  York  district  could  be  run  for  less 
money  if  operated  under  a  common  management  with  the 
resulting  interchange  of  loads. 

SECOND   RAILWAY   SESSION. 

The  second  railway  session  was  called  to  order  Thurs- 
day noon  by  Chairman  Sprague.  The  continued  discussion 
of  Mr.  Insull's  paper  was  opened  by  Mr.  W.  S.  Murray, 
New  Haven,  who  said  by  way  of  introduction  that  the  next 
link  in  the  New  Haven  electrification  will  be  the  section 
from  Boston  to  Providence,  which  will  shorten  the  steam 
haul  between  New  York  and  Boston.  Mr.  Murray  cor- 
roborated Mr.  Townley's  remarks  regarding  the  necessity 
of  building  an  independent  plant  for  the  New  Haven  serv- 
ice, the  price  question  being  the  chief  issue.  He  objected  to 
the  assembly  of  the  power-plant  cost  and  data  discussed 
by  Mr.  Sprague  for  comparative  purposes  on  account  of 
the  wide  differences  in  local  conditions  which  control  the 
economics  of  production.  The  Cos  Cob  costs  are  higher 
because  of  the  poor  present  load-factor,  probablv  the  worst 
in  New  England  under  the  enforced  conditions  now  con- 
trolling the  situation.  At  Port  Morris  the  storage-battery 
system  connected  with  the  plant's  output  tends  to  raise  the 
load-factor.  The  amount  of  energy  per  ton-mile  of  train 
propulsion,  on  the  other  hand,  is  less  at  Cos  Cob  than  else- 
where. The  Cos  Cob  plant  has  been  operating  almost  en- 
tirely upon  a  construction  basis,  including  the  furnishing 
of  steam  to  contractors  and  operating  on  a  temporary  basis 
the  signal  equipment  of  the  electrified  division.  Inside  of 
another  year  the  costs  are  sure  to  decrease.  The  valleys 
of  the  load  will  be  filled  by  a  large  freight  load  operated 
at  night  and  energy  will  be  delivered  to  lighting  companies 
owned  by  the  New  Haven  company.  Within  another  year 
a  complete  steam  locomotive  stage  will  be  in  operation 
electrically. 

Mr.  W.  B.  Jackson,  Chicago,  said  that  the  Cos  Cob  plant 
is  of  particular  interest  in  view  of  the  conditions  under 
which  it  is  operated  and  predicted  that  the  future  cost  of 
energy  there  will  be  much  reduced  by  the  anticipated  im- 
provement in  diversity  factor.  The  large  plant  is  of  im- 
portance chiefly  in  connection  with  the  assumption  of 
service  which  improves  the  load-factor  and  conditions  of 
generation.  The  paper  was  a  splendid  plea  for  the  concen- 
tration of  all  electric  service  in  an  economic  district.  No 
one  can  take  exception  to  the  general  principle  that  parallel 


channels  supplying  the  same  sort  of  energy  must  be 
eliminated,  in  the  larger  economic  sense.  Even  in  the 
smaller  centers  concentration  of  production  means  less  cost 
per  kw  of  plant  construction,  per  kw-hour  of  output  and 
a  tremendous  improvement  in  the  large  problem  of  plant 
administration.  Satisfactory  correlated  operation  of  plants 
also  means  undoubted  gains.  He  paid  a  high  tribute  to 
the  author's  work  in  preparing  the  paper. 

Mr.  Lee  H.  Parker,  Boston,  emphasized  the  possibility 
of  supplying  energy  to  all  the  railroads  in  the  Boston 
district  from  a  single  generating  service.  The  load  is  com- 
paratively small  and  should  be  handled  without  difficulty. 

Mr.  C.  O.  Mailloux,  New  York,  pointed  out  that  while 
local  conditions  largely  control  plans  for  energy  production 
and  distribution,  the  tendency  is  toward  specialization  in 
the  different  departments  of  electrification.  In  new  work 
precedents  are  of  less  importance.  The  reduction  in  capital 
possible  through  the  purchase  of  energy  from  a  centralized 
source  presents  great  interest  and  is  a  factor  of  great  eco- 
nomic value.  Lower  costs  follow  the  reduction  of  invest- 
ment, rendering  the  capital  already  in  use  more  efficient. 
He  discussed  the  problem  in  a  broad  manner,  contending 
that  in  the  long  run  expediency  must  determine  the  course 
to  be  followed.  Centralization  by  no  means  involves  the 
installation  of  all  generating  equipment  in  one  station,  but 
the  interconnection  of  efficient  units  of  production. 

Mr.  P.  W.  Sothman,  Toronto,  Ont.,  said  that  it  is  possible 
to  put  too  much  equipment  under  a  single  roof.  Local 
conditions  control  the  solution  of  every  engineering  prob- 
lem. The  combination  of  railway  and  factory  loads  is 
highly  desirable  from  the  economic  standpoint.  He  touched 
upon  the  possibilities  of  a  rearranged  train  schedule,  which 
in  one  instance  had  reduced  the  peaks  from  1700  hp  to  1200 
hp.  In  Europe  storage  batteries  are  used  with  great  suc- 
cess in  cutting  down  peak  loads  upon  plants.  Flexibility 
is  secured  by  the  use  of  mixed  systems.  Railroad  electrifi- 
cation is  almost  entirely  a  commercial  problem.  Its  engi- 
neering success  is  thoroughly  established. 

Prof.  C.  L.  de  Muralt,  Ann  Arbor,  Mich.,  suggested  the 
possibility  of  the  supply  of  energy  to  the  United  States 
from  a  single  network.  He  pointed  out  the  saving  in  fixed 
charges  in  equipment  where  the  load-factor  is  high.  He 
also  spoke  of  the  coincidence  of  railroad  and  lighting  peaks, 
which  tends  to  make  the  diversity  factor  less  beneficial. 
The  possibilities  of  the  freight  and  through  traffic  load  are 
of  great  importance  economically. 

Mr.  N.  W.  Storer,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  concurred  with  the 
author  in  regard  to  the  broader  economic  aspects  of  con- 
centrated production  and  distribution.  He  questioned  the 
possibility  of  subdivided  operation  and  pointed  out  the 
benefits  of  a  government  regulated  system  of  distribution, 
assuming  a  larger  degree  of  state  supervision  of  railroads. 
Mr.  Storer  also  said  that  the  adoption  of  a  15-cycle  system 
by  the  railroads,  if  found  practicable,  would  be  justified  on 
that  ground  alone. 

Mr.  E.  N.  Lake,  Boston,  said  that  the  Boston  Elevated 
Railway  Company's  decision  to  build  its  own  plant  was  a 
wise  one  in  view  of  the  cost  of  energy  developed  by  the 
local  central-station  system. 

In  closing  the  discussion,  Mr.  Sprague  said  that  in  the 
matter  of  reliability,  efficiency  and  size  modern  apparatus 
has  become  well  standardized  and  developed.  Permanent 
construction  and  greater  restrictions  of  right-of-way  have 
been  carried  to  pretty  definite  conclusions.  The  absence 
of  complete  electrification  in  the  existing  terminal  and  sub- 
urban zones  at  New  York  is  a  present  drawback  of  serious 
magnitude.  The  elimination  of  the  steam  locomotive  from 
an  engine  stage  and  the  publication  of  actual  facts  and 
costs  from  any  and  all  systems  will  give  the  industry  the 
necessary  data  for  further  substantial  advance.  He  char- 
acterized Mr.  Insull's  paper  as  an  argument  along  the 
broadest  lines  on  behalf  of  concentration  of  energy  gen- 
eration and  distribution. 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


25 


Telephony  and  Telegraphy 


HISTORY  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SUBMARINE  SIGNALING. 

Mr.  H.  J.  W.  Fay,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  presented  an  in- 
teresting paper  summarizing  the  development  of  submarine 
signaling  apparatus  and  described  some  modern  develop- 
ments which  make  it  possible  to  carry  on  communication  at 
sea  up  to  a  maximum  distance  of  15  miles.  Inventors  have 
been  encouraged  to  develop  successful  submarine  signaling 
systems,  because  of  the  great  loss  of  life  and  property 
through  shipwreck  caused  by  aberrations  of  sound  occurring 
at  sea.  The  author  treated  the  general  history  of  the  art 
up  to  the  work  of  Prof.  Elisha  Gray,  and  described  its  status 
at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1901.  Further  progress  was 
made  by  the  late  Arthur  J.  Mundy,  of  Boston,  who  made  the 
important  discovery  that  the  best  location  for  the  receiving 
microphone  was  in  a  tank  of  water,  one  side  of  which  was 
formed  by  the  skin  of  the  ship  below  the  water  line.  This 
made  it  possible  to  hear  transmitted  signals  on  a  vessel 
moving  at  full  speed  in  any  weather,  without  confusion  from 
foreign  noises  or  the  rush  of  passing  water.  The  modern 
signaling  apparatus  consists  of  a  220-lb.  bell  having  a  period 
of  1215  vibrations  per  second  when  submerged.  After  try- 
ing various  kinds  of  mechanisms  for  striking  the  bell,  the 
present  pneumatic  striker  was  found  to  be  the  most 
satisfactory." 

It  has  been  found  essential  to  place  the  receiving  tanks 
on  the  inside  of  the  skin  of  the  vessel,  in  such  a  position  as 
to  give  them  the  greatest  forward  projection,  since  this  is 
the  most  favorable  position  for  hearing  signals  which  come 
from  some  point  dead  ahead.  It  is  also  important  to  locate 
the  tanks  as  far  as  possible  below  the  surface  of  the  water. 
Two  tanks  are  employed,  one  on  either  side  of  the  vessel. 
It  is  also  important  to  avoid  a  location  near  a  point  at  which 
the  bow  wave  breaks.  The  direction  from  which  signals 
are  coming  is  determined  by  listening  with  a  telephone 
receiver  first  to  the  microphone  in  one  receiving  box,  and 
then  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  vessel,  noting  which  is  the 
louder.  The  direction  of  the  vessel  is  then  changed  until 
the  intensity  of  sound  from  each  receiving  box  is  the  same, 
when  the  source  from  which  the  signals  are  issuing  will  be 
directly  ahead. 

In  the  application  of  this  system  submarine  bells  are 
located  on  the  lightships  or  at  danger  points  and  installed 
at  a  depth  of  not  less  than  24  ft.  under  water.  At  the 
present  time  a  total  of  fifty-two  bells  are  operating  in  United 
States  waters,  and  there  are  thirteen  on  the  Canadian  coast. 
A  total  of  about  900  vessels  are  now  equipped  with  receiv- 
ing apparatus. 

Discussion. 

Among  those  who  partook  in  a  brief  discussion  of  this 
paper  were  Messrs.  A.  P.  Allen,  Chicago,  III. ;  G.  W. 
Pierce,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  and  J.  B.  Taylor,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.  It  was  brought  out  that  code  signals  are  very  gen- 
erally used  and  each  lightship  is  assigned  its  own  code 
signal.  All  sorts  of  liquids  have  been  employed  in  the  re- 
ceiving tank,  including  kerosene  and  alcohol,  but  salt 
water  has  been  found  the  most  satisfactory  and  does  not 
freeze.  The  rather  high  pitch  of  1200  vibrations  per  sec- 
ond was  criticised,  but  the  author  showed  that  it  is  never- 
theless justified.  For  example,  the  tapping  of  a  rod  under 
water  can  be  heard  7  miles  away  on  a  stationary  ves- 
sel, but  when  in  motion  the  sound  of  the  passing  water 
obliterates  the  signals.  The  use  of  a  frequency  of  1200 
was  found  necessary  in  order  to  avoid  this  difficulty.  The 
author  stated  that  the  steamship  Baltic  can  pick  up  sig- 
nals at  a  maximum  distance  of  16  miles,  while  a  number 
of  other  vessels  can  work  over  distances  of  from  12  to  14 
miles.  At  distances  approaching  the  maximum  the  musical 
note  of  the  bell  fades  away  to  a  faint  tick  corresponding 


to  each  stroke.  The  receiver  consists  of  a  simple  inertia 
button  mounted  on  a  small  phosphor-bronze  diaphragm, 
which  is  under  a  moderate  tension.  The  sensitiveness  has 
to  be  diminished  sufficiently  to  avoid  picking  up  the  noise 
of  the  water  rushing  past  the  sides  of  the  moving  vessel. 
The  direction  from  which  signals  are  received  can  be  lo- 
cated with  an  accuracy  of  about  5  degrees,  and  the 
government  specifications  call  for  an  accuracy  within  one 
point  of  the  compass.  In  the  latest  types  of  submarine 
boats  the  signaling  bell  is  arranged  to  be  lowered  through 
a  submerged  tube  so  that  signals  may  be  sent  at  all  times, 
even  when  the  vessel  is  floating  at  the  surface. 

THE    WIRING    OF    LARGE    BUILDINGS    FOR    TELEPHONE    SERVICE. 

Mr.  Frederick  L.  Rhodes,  of  New  York  City,  presented  a 
paper  describing  telephone  wiring  methods  employed  in 
large  modern  office  buildings.  After  pointing  out  that  build- 
ing plans  should  always  include  provisions  for  telephone 
wiring,  the  author  stated  that,  from  the  standpoint  of  this 
class  of  service,  buildings  may  be  divided  into  two  classes, 
the  first  comprising  office  and  loft  buildings  and  the  second 
hotels  and  apartment  houses.  In  the  former  class  the  tele- 
phones do  not  remain  fixed  in  position,  but  are  changed 
from  time  to  time,  to  suit  the  requirements  of  the  tenants, 
while  in  the  second  class  the  number  of  telephones  and 
their  location  are  fairly  stable.  The  office  or  loft  buildings 
require  a  permanent  cable  system,  supplemented  by  a  multi- 
tude of  branches,  consisting  of  pairs  of  conductors  for  con- 
necting the  individual  telephones  or  private  branch  ex- 
change switchboards  with  the  permanent  system.  This  per- 
manent cable  system  extends  upward  from  the  basement 
and  branches  out  to  suitable  terminals  or  distributing  points 
on  each  floor.  The  office  building  requires  a  more  compre- 
hensive and  flexible  system  of  wiring,  as  a  rule,  than  the 
hotel  or  apartment  house.  In  the  latter  practically  all  of 
the  wiring  is  permanent.  The  author  described  at  consider- 
able length  the  modern  scheme  employed  in  office  buildings, 
and  supplemented  this  with  a  number  of  typical  examples, 
including  diagrams  of  interior  cable  distribution.  In  a 
similar  way  the  methods  employed  in  typical  hotels  were 
described. 

Discitssion. 

In  a  brief  discussion  participated  in  by  Mr.  G.  K.  Man- 
son,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  and  the  author,  it  was  brought  out 
that  the  attenuation  system,  while  the  most  economical 
one  for  the  very  high  buildings  in  New  York  City,  is  not 
well  suited  to  the  conditions  which  obtain  in  Boston,  where 
there  is  only  one  building  over  twelve  stories  in  height 
and  the  ordinance  height  limit  is  125  feet.  Under  the  lat- 
ter conditions  the  individual  riser  system  is  more  econom- 
ical and  satisfactory.  Each  riser  takes  care  of  only  one 
floor,  or  two  at  the  most.  Modern  wiring  methods  have 
assisted  materially  in  diminishing  the  fire  hazard. 

MILITARY    TELEGRAPH    LINES    USING    THE    POLARIZED    SOUNDER 
AS  A  RECEIVING  INSTRUMENT. 

This  paper,  presented  by  Mr.  George  R.  Guild,  described 
the  underlying  principles  employed  in  induction  telegraphy, 
with  numerous  diagrams  showing  the  circuit  theory  and 
illustrations  of  the  equipment  employed  by  the  United  States 
Army.  Under  conditions  of  actual  warfare  the  equipment 
must  be  reduced  to  the  minimum  of  weight  and  made  as 
rugged  as  possible.  A  300-mile  telegraph  line  operated  on 
the  closed-circuit  principle  would  need  about  150  cells  of 
gravity  battery,  or  if  the  line  were  operated  on  the  open- 
circuit  principle  there  would  be  needed  about  100  dry  cells 
per  station.  But  the  induction  system  will  operate  satis- 
factorily with  from  four  to  six  dry  cells  per  station.  The 
last  fact  and  other  features  of  simplicity  impart  special 
merit  to  this  system  for  field  use  in  the  army.  The  instru- 
ments needed  for  a  single  station  include  a  polarized  relay, 
4-ohm  sounder,  key,  induction  coil  and  four  dry  cells,  and 


26 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  i. 


when  these  are  installed  in  a  portable  box  the  complete 
weight  is  about  12  lb.  The  induction  coil  is  wound  with  a 
ratio  of  i  to  100,  and  its  primary  consumption  is  about  12 
watts  at  4  volts.  The  United  States  Signal  Corps  is  con- 
ducting e.xperiments  with  a  view  of  further  simplifying  the 
present  equipment. 

Discussion. 

In  the  absence  of  the  author  of  this  paper  the  chairman, 
Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly,  abstracted  it  briefly  and  commented 
upon  its  salient  features.     There  was  no  other  discussion. 

THE  VIBRATIONS  OF  TELEPHONE  DIAPHRAGMS. 

This  paper,  presented  by  Messrs.  Charles  F.  ^Meyer  and 
J.  B.  Whitehead,  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  described  a  series  of 
researches  into  the  vibrations  of  telephone  diaphragms 
which  were  undertaken  to  obtain  further  and  more  accurate 
information  concerning  the  way  in  which  the  diaphragms  in 
telephone  transmitters  and  receivers  vibrate  when  acted 
upon  by  simple  periodic  forces  having  different  frequencies. 
It  was  also  desired  to  obtain  quantitative  data  on  the  in- 
fluence of  the  free  periods  and  to  determine  to  what  degree 


luoo  laoo  2000 

FSEQ'jENCY  (CYCLES   PER  SEC.) 

Relation    Between   Frequency  and   Range  of  Oscillation   for  a   Con- 
stant   Current. 

of  approximation  the  form  of  the  diaphragm  vibration  fol- 
lows the  impressed  force.  The  investigation  of  the  vibra- 
tion of  receiver  diaphragms  was  accomplished  by  mounting  a 
small  mirror  on  each  diaphragm,  so  arranged  that  its  motion 
would  be  recorded  in  the  corresponding  vibrations  of  a 
beam  of  reflected  light,  which  were  recorded  photo- 
graphically. The  wave-form  of  the  current  sent  through 
the  receiver  was  recorded  by  a  Dudell  double  high-fre- 
quency oscillograph,  used  simultaneously  as  an  oscillograph 
and  an  annneter.  The  paper  includes  many  photographic 
reproductions  showing  the  wave-form  of  the  current  and 
the  simultaneous  vibration  of  the  diaphragm,  accompanied 
by  values  of  the  exciting  current,  the  frequency  and  the 
total  amplitude  of  the  angular  vibration  of  the  diaphragm. 
It  was  found  that  the  relation  between  the  current  passing 
through  the  receiver  and  the  range  of  oscillation  of  the 
diaphragm,  at  a  given  frequency,  was  very  closely  expressed 
by  a  straight  line.  A  resonance  curve  giving  the  relation 
between  frequency  and  range  of  oscillation,  for  a  constant 
value  of  current,  showed  a  generally  irregular  character 
and  one  very  prominent  peak  at  720  vibrations  per  second. 
A  repetition  of  the  tests  on  another  receiver  of  different 
manufacture  gave  results  in  general  similar,  but  the 
resonant  peak  occurred  at  about  820  vibrations  per  second. 
The  problem  presented  in  measuring  the  vibration  of 
transmitter  diaphragms  offered  other  difficulties.  The 
method  employed  was  to  mount  a  small  iron  disk  on  the 
transmitter  diaphragm  and  excite  it  with  a  magnet,  dupli- 
cating the  mechanism  of  the  telephone  receiver.  An  oscillo- 
graph was  employed  to  measure  simultaneously  the  value  of 
current  in  the  exciting  coil  and  the  current  flowing  through 
the  transmitter  microphone.  The  plotted  results  showed 
linear  relations  between  the  exciting  curent  and  the 
microphonic  current.     The  resonance  curve  showed  a  gen- 


erally irregular  contour,  embracing  two  peaks,  one  occur- 
ring at  700  and  the  other  at  940  vibrations  per  second,  with 
an  intermediate  minimum  at  800  vibrations.  In  the  sum- 
mary of  results  it  was  pointed  out  that  in  receivers  there  is 
considerable  distortion  at  some  frequencies  and  very  little 
at  others,  but  at  any  one  frequency  the  distortion  is  less  for 
small  currents.  It  was  suggested  that  by  properly  intro- 
ducing diametral  vibrations  the  transmission  of  speech 
might  be  improved.  The  variations  of  current  in  the  trans- 
mitter showed  a  rather  marked  distortion,  even  for  the 
lowest  exciting  force  employed.  The  first  resonant  maxi- 
mum was  attributed  to  the  fundamental  period  of  the 
diaphragm  vibrating  as  a  whole,  while  the  second  was 
attributed  to  the  diaphragm  vibrating  in  an  irregular  con- 
figuration on  account  of  the  damping  springs. 

Discussion. 

Great  interest  was  displayed  in  this  paper.  Among 
those  who  took  part  in  the  prolonged  discussion  were 
Messrs.  G.  D.  Shepardson,  Minneapolis,  Minn.;  G.  W. 
Pierce,  Cambridge,  Mass. ;  A.  E.  Flowers,  Columbus,  Mo. ; 
J.  B.  Taylor,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. ;  F.  Wenner,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.,  and  A.  E.  Kennelly,  Cambridge,  Mass.  The 
authors  were  complimented  by  Prof.  Shepardson  for  the 
excellent  quantitative  results  they  obtained.  This  speaker 
commented  on  the  peculiar  irregularities  in  the  diaphragm 
vibrations  at  332  cycles  and  1292  cycles.  These  irregu- 
larities consist  of  dimples  in  one  set  of  half-waves,  occur- 
ring approximately  where  the  peak  of  each  wave  should 
be.  This  he  stated  was  caused  by  the  fact  that  the  current 
is  several  hundred  times  as  great  as  that  which  would  flow 
through  the  receiver  under  normal  conditions  of  telephony, 
and  thus  the  negative  half-waves  overpower  the  per- 
manent magnet  and  create  an  extremely  brief  interval 
of  positive  pull,  while  the  current  wave  passes  through  its 
peak  value.  This  speaker  also  criticised  formulas  in  the 
paper  which  express  the  force  exerted  on  the  receiver 
diaphragm,  and  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  this  force  is 
affected  as  much  by  the  position  of  the  magnetizing  coils 
as  by  the  magnitude  of  the  current.  In  his  opinion  the 
force  is  affected  more  by  changes  in  the  distribution  of  the 
magnetic  flux  than  it  is  by  any  changes  in  the  absolute 
magnitude  of  the  flux.  Prof.  Shepardson  called  attention 
to  the  discrepancy  between  the  observed  fundamental  fre- 
quency of  the  diaphragm  and  the  calculated  fundamental 
found  from  Rayleigh's  formula,  and  noted  that  the  for- 
mula takes  no  account  of  changes  in  temperature.  He  has 
found  in  his  own  experiments  that  the  effect  of  a  spring 
bearing  on  the  diaphragm,  which  would  tend  to  damp  its 
vibrations,  is  not  so  great  as  one  would  expect.  He  has 
also  found  by  experiments  that  damping  reduces  the  pitch 
of  ma.ximum  sensitiveness,  and  has  observed  that  in  com- 
mercial receivers  the  maximum  sensitiveness  occurs  at 
multiple  frequencies  and  with  irregular  amplitudes. 

Prof.  Pierce  presented  a  most  able  discussion  of  the 
paper  and  described  at  some  length  the  researches  which 
have  been  carried  on  at  Harvard  University  by  Dr.  Ken- 
nelly and  himself  along  somewhat  similar  lines.  They 
have  found  that  clamping  the  receiver  diaphragm  in  a 
metallic  frame  makes  it  extremely  sensitive  to  tempera- 
ture changes,  but  this  effect  is  greatly  lessened  when  the 
clamp  is  loosened.  They  have  also  noted  the  character- 
istic dimple  in  the  oscillograms  showing  the  vibrations  of 
the  diaphragm.  Prof.  Pierce  then  described  in  a  most  inter- 
esting manner  some  of  the  general  results  of  their  meas- 
urements of  the  effective  reactance  and  resistance  of  re- 
ceivers over  the  telephonic  range  of  frequencies.  In  their 
experiments  they  have  employed  a  receiver  current  of 
about  I  milliampere  and  a  terminal  pressure  of  about  0.3 
volt.  The  lag  of  the  magnetization  in  the  steel  also  pro- 
duced noticeable  effects.  They  have  made  a  number  of  in- 
teresting investigations  into  the  production  of  standing 
sound  waves  in  a  closed  room,  issuing  from  an  electrically 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


27 


driven  tuning  fork  with  constant  amplitude.  It  was  found 
that  when  the  room  was  lined  with  felt  the  total  energy 
emitted  from  the  source  had  increased. 

Dr.  Whitehead,  in  closing  the  discussion,  pointed  out  that 
the  characteristic  dimples  in  the  oscillograph  records  oc- 
curred with  maximum  values  of  receiver  currents.  In  his 
experiinents  he  avoided  the  difficulties  arising  from  the 
formation  of  standing  waves  by  suspending  very  thin  cur- 
tains all  about  the  room  at  a  distance  of  about  one  foot 
from  the  walls.  In  response  to  a  criticism  directed  at  the 
cutting  out  of  the  center  of  the  receiver  cap,  he  replied 
that  in  his  opinion  the  effect  of  this  was  negligible.  He 
also  emphasized  the  fact  that  a  great  deal  of  investigation 
remains  to  be  done  along  these  lines. 


Electrochemistry  and  Electrophysics 


CORROSION    OF    IRON    IN    SOIL. 

A  paper  by  Prof.  Albert  F.  Ganz,  Hoboken,  N.  J.,  dealt 
with  electrolytic  corrosion  of  iron  by  direct  current  in  street 
soil.  The  experiments  described  by  the  author  were  par- 
ticularly designed  to  determine  the  relative  rates  of  electro- 
lytic corrosion  of  various  kinds  of  iron  in  two  typical  kinds 
of  street  soil,  when  subjected  to  such  low  current  densities 
as  are  ordinarily  found  in  practice  on  underground  struc- 
tures. Four  sets  of  tests  were  made,  each  extending 
throughout  forty-seven  days  to  determine  the  rate  of  cor- 
rosion of  commercial  steel,  commercial  wrought  iron,  ingot 
iron  and  cast  iron,  and  to  compare  the  actual  amount  of 
electrolysis  with  that  calculated  by  Faraday's  law.  It  was 
attempted  in  these  tests  to  approach  practical  conditions  as 
nearly  as  possible.  The  tests  were  connected  in  the  elec- 
trical laboratory  of  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology.  The 
results  of  these  tests  were  given  in  detail. 

The  duration  of  these  tests  was  not  sufficiently  long  to 
warrant  positive  conclusions  regarding  the  relative  corro- 
sion of  the  four  kinds  of  iron  tested,  when  subjected  only 
to  the  action  of  damp  soil.  The  following  conclusions  ap- 
pear, however,  to  be  warranted : 

The  corrosion  of  iron  by  electrolysis  in  the  two  kinds  of 
street  soil  tested  is  independent  of  the  value  of  the  applied 
voltage,  except  in  so  far  as  this  determines  the  amount  of 
current  produced,  and  less  than  I  volt  can  produce  corrosion 
by  electrolysis. 

For  the  two  kinds  of  street  soils  tested,  and  with  current 
densities  ranging  from  1.7  milliamperes  per  sq.  ft.  (18.3 
milliamperes  per  sq.  m)  to  54  milliamperes  per  sq.  ft.  (581 
milliamperes  per  sq.  m)  the  loss  of  weight  of  iron  by  elec- 
trolysis is  at  least  equal  to  that  calculated  by  Faraday's 
law  and  is  in  general  greater  than  the  theoretical  loss.  In 
all  cases  electrolysis  tends  to  cause  localized  corrosion  and 
decided  pitting.  Surface  scale  appears  to  accelerate  cor- 
rosion from  electrolysis  with  all  iron  except  cast  iron.  This 
was  especially  pronounced  in  the  case  of  the  steel  pipes 
tested.  When  the  surface  scale  was  removed  there  was 
practically  no  difference  in  the  amount  of  corrosion  pro- 
duced by  a  given  current  leaving  iron  for  damp  soil  between 
commercial  steel,  commercial  wrought  iron,  ingot  iron  and 
cast  iron. 

The  electrical  resistance  of  cast  iron  is  about  ten  times  as 
great  as  that  of  wrought  iron,  steel  or  ingot  iron,  and  the 
usual  lead  joints  in  cast-iron  pipes  also  have  a  resistance 
which  is  many  times  greater  than  the  screw-coupling  joints 
usual  with  wrought-iron  and  steel  pipes.  For  these  reasons 
a  given  voltage  drop  through  ground  will  cause  a  much 
smaller  current  to  flow  on  a  cast-iron  pipe  than  on  a 
wrought-iron  or  a  steel  pipe,  thus  practically  making  cast- 
iron  pipes  much  less  subject  to  electrolysis  than  wrought- 
irnn  or  steel  pipes.  When  a  cast-iron  pipe  is  corroded  by 
electrolysis  the  iron  is  oxidized  but  remains  in  place  as  a 


gra])hitic  mass  having  little  mechanical  strength  but  possess- 
ing the  ability  to  maintain  the  pipe  gas-tight  and  sometimes 
even  water-tight  for  considerable  periods,  while  with 
wrought-iron  or  steel  pipes  this  action  does  not  occur,  and 
hence  holes  are  more  quickly  produced.  Frequently  where 
cast-iron  pipes  appear  to  be  immune  from  electrolysis  be- 
cause no  evidences  of  leakage  have  developed  an  examina- 
tion of  the  pipes  would  reveal  that  a  great  deal  of  corrosion 
has  actually  taken  place  and  that  the  pipes  have  been  very 
greatly  weakened. 

Discussion. 

Prof.  W.  S.  Franklin,  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  pointed  out  that 
experiments  have  shown  that  corrosion  is  negligible  where 
a  caustic  soda  solution  is  used,  and  suggested  the  impregna- 
tion of  the  soil  near  the  point  where  the  current  leaves 
the  pipe.  Dr.  Carl  Hering,  Philadelphia,  suggested  that  the 
excessive  action  noted  by  the  author  might  be  due  to  the 
condition  of  the  electrode.  Over-voltage  at  the  copper 
electrode  in  tests  familiar  to  him  produced  some  of  the 
effects  noted  by  Prof.  Ganz.  There  is  also  a  mechanical 
effect  in  underground  electrolysis  in  the  form  of  diffusion 
of  the  liquid  through  the  soil. 

Dr.  E.  B.  Rosa,  Washington,  D.  C,  said  that  natural 
corrosion  may  be  responsible  for  a  part  of  the  action  noted. 
He  had  found  that  corrosion  is  greatly  accelerated  in  iron 
pipes  laid  in  cinders.  Dr.  I.  Langmuir,  Schenectady,  brought 
out  the  point  that  iron  in  a  ferric  condition  reacts  with 
iron  in  ferrous  condition,  tending  to  hasten  the  corrosive 
action.  Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp,  New  York,  voiced  the  opinion 
that  the  action  of  the  electric  current  accelerates  the  normal 
oxidation  of  the  iron.  In  closing  Prof.  Ganz  said  that  two 
wrought-iron  pipes  were  used  in  each  case  and  the  elec- 
trolytic loss  was  determined  by  taking  the  difference  be- 
tween the  losses  in  each  pipe.  One  pipe  was  in  circuit  and 
the  other  was  not.  He  agreed  that  natural  corrosion  is 
unquestionably  a  factor  in  the  experiments  but  that  it  is 
nullified  by  the  above  precaution. 

ELECTRIC  FURNACE. 

A  paper  by  Mr.  F.  A.  J.  FitzGerald,  Niagara  Falls,  dealt 
with  "Thirty  Years'  Progress  in  the  Electric  Furnace." 
The  author  gave  a  general  historical  review.  The  furnace 
of  Sir  William  Siemens,  in  which  he  melted  about  20  lb. 
of  steel,  was  considered  the  forerunner  of  the  modern  elec- 
tric steel-refining  furnace.  In  the  evolution  of  the  latter 
furnace  in  large  sizes  two  troublesome  problems  had  to  be 
solved,  namely,  those  of  the  electrodes  and  the  roofs.  Large 
carbon  electrodes  can  now  be  made  which  will  not  go  to 
pieces  in  the  furnace.  By  fastening  such  electrodes  end 
to  end  they  can  be  fed  continuously  into  the  furnace  and 
there  is  no  waste  from  "butts." 

As  to  the  roof  the  necessity  of  frequent  renewals  is  a 
heavy  item  of  expense.  A  brick  of  silicon  carbide  has 
recently  been  made  which  when  used  in  the  roof  of  an  elec- 
tric steel  furnace  will  have  a  much  longer  life  than  the 
silica  brick  now  used,  but  it  also  costs  considerably  more. 

The  author  briefly  reviewed  the  work  done  by  Ferranti 
and  Colby  in  the  invention  of  the  induction  furnace,  by  the 
Cowles  brothers  in  the  evolution  of  the  resistance  furnace, 
and  by  Acheson  in  the  work  on  carborundum,  etc.  The  fact 
that  it  is  possible  to  produce  at  will  silixicon  or  carborun- 
dum is  quoted  as  evidence  of  the  comparative  ease  with 
which  electric  furnaces  can  be  adjusted  to  delicate  tem- 
perature conditions  even  in  larger  sizes. 

Loss  of  heat  through  the  walls  of  electric  furnaces  now 
attracts  considerable  attention.  The  importance  of  the 
matter  is  shown  by  a  case  from  the  author's  practice  where 
the  heat  losses  amounted  to  50  per  cent  of  the  total  energy 
consumption,  but  merely  covering  25  per  cent  of  the  outer 
surface  of  the  furnace  with  a  moderately  good  heat  in- 
sulator reduced  this  loss  nearly  20  per  cent.     Brief  men- 


28 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


tion  was  made  of  the  Harper  electric  kiln,  which  is  of  the 
continuous  channel  type. 

In  reading  his  paper  the  author  emphasized  the  fact 
that  silicon  carbide  has  been  found  to  be  a  thoroughly  satis- 
factory material  for  furnace  roofs.  Prior  to  the  use  of  this 
substance  the  furnace  roof  had  to  be  changed  weekly, 
whereas  with  silicon  carbide  runs  of  several  months'  dura- 
tion have  already  been  successfully  made.  Silicon  carbide 
bricks,  however,  are  very  expensive,  costing  about  one 
dollar  apiece. 

Discussion. 

Dr.  Carl  Hering,  Philadelphia,  said  that  the  cost  of  en- 
ergy and  of  furnace  materials  is  a  matter  of  less  im- 
portance than  the  value  of  the  product  of  the  furnace. 
Heavy  costs  can  be  borne  if  the  material  is  of  superior 
quality  when  produced.  Anything  that  saves  labor  in  the 
operation  of  the  electric  furnace  is  intrinsically  of  great 
value.  He  suggested  the  possibility  of  preheating  by 
means  of  fuel  and  getting  the  higher  temperatures  by  elec- 
tric heat. 

Mr.  A.  H.  Cowles,  Sewaren,  N.  J.,  reviewed  the  history 
of  early  furnace  construction  in  the  electrical  field,  touch- 
ing upon  the  investigations  of  Siemens  and  of  the  Cowles 
brothers.  He  maintained  that,  as  Sir  William  Siemens  never 
reduced  materials  in  the  electric  furnace,  he  cannot  be 
considered  as  anticipating  the  splendid  work  of  Heroult. 
Mr.  W.  B.  Jackson,  Chicago,  questioned  the  possibility  of 
utilizing  the  electrical  furnace  as  an  off-peak  load.  In 
closing,  Mr.  Fitzgerald  pointed  out  that  in  some  processes 
the  electric  furnace  can  be  run  as  a  valley  load.  In  one 
instance  under  development  a  demand  occurs  for  6000  kw 
for  eight  hours  daily,  beginning  at  midnight. 

SIMPLIFIC.'\TION    OF    ELECTROTHERMAL    CALCULATIONS. 

A  paper  by  Dr.  Carl  Hering,  Philadelphia,  dealt  with 
the  simplification  of  electrothermal  calculations,  the  watt 
and  the  thermal  ohm.  In  some  recent  papers  the  author 
pointed  out  directions  in  which  many  of  the  numerous 
engineering  calculations  can  be  simplified  by  merely  se- 
lecting the  more  suitable  units.  The  physicist  enjoys  the 
use  of  the  ideally  simple  c.g.s.  system  of  units  for  calcu- 
lations. This  simplicity  can  be  enjoyed  by  the  practical 
engineer  also  if  he  will  make  his  units  decimal  multiples 
of  the  c.g.s.  units ;  it  is  this  reform  which  the  author 
urges. 

The  paper  under  notice  showed  the  application  of  this 
simplified  system  to  the  calculations  of  the  electrochemist 
and  the  electric-furnace  engineer,  to  which  this  system  is 
particularly  well  adapted,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  energy 
keeps  changing  its  form,  as  in  electric  furnaces,  for  in- 
stance, and  it  is  useless  labor  to  change  the  units  as  the 
form  of  energy  changes.  In  such  a  system  there  is  only 
one  unit  for  each  physical  quantity,  and  never  more  than 
one.  In  this  system  all  power,  in  whatever  form  it  may 
be,  is  represented  in  watts  or  kilowatts,  and  all  forms  of 
energy  in  watt-hours,  including  thermal  energy.  A  flow, 
transmission,  rate  of  production  or  consumption  of  heat 
is  then  expressed  in  watts.  When  new  units  are  created 
the  author  urged  that  they  be  based  on  this  simplified  sys- 
tem, and  as  the  need  of  a  unit  of  thermal  resistance  has 
become  important,  especially  in  electrothermal  calcula- 
tions, he  defined  a  new  unit  based  on  these  principles,  call- 
ing it  a  thermal  ohm ;  it  is  equal  to  the  centigrade  degrees 
per  watt. 

By  the  use  of  this  unit,  calculations  concerning  the  flow 
of  heat  through  bodies,  as  in  furnace  work,  for  instance, 
or  electric  heating  devices,  become  exceedingly  simple,  in 
fact,  quite  as  simple  as  those  for  electric  currents,  the  elec- 
tric units  having  been  based  on  the  same  system  as  that  de- 
scribed. 

The  paper  included  a  table  of  conversion  factors  for  re- 
ducing data  concerning  thermal  resistances  and  conduct- 
ances to  and  from  this  simplified  system. 


Discussion. 

The  paper  was  discussed  by  Messrs.  H.  B.  Gale,  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  and  A.  H.  Cowles,  Sewaren,  N.  J.  Mr.  Gale 
spoke  strongly  in  favor  of  the  use  of  a  practical  unit,  such 
as  the  thermal  ohm,  but  advocated  shortening  the  terminol- 
ogy to  "therm"  or  "therm-ohm."  Mr.  Cowles  took  the  posi- 
tion that  existing  methods  of  measurement  are  adequate 
without  multiplying  units  and  terminology.  In  closing,  Dr. 
Hering  urged  the  use  of  the  thermal  ohm  as  a  step  to- 
ward simplicity. 

METALLIC  TUNGSTEN. 

A  paper  by  Dr.  W.  D.  Coolidge,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  dealt 
with  metallic  tungsten  and  some  of  its  applications.  So 
long  as  tungsten  was  known  merely  as  a  brittle  metal  it 
found  only  one  technical  application,  namely  as  lamp  fila- 
ment made  by  some  sintering  process.  But  with  the  advent 
of  ductile  tungsten  the  metal  has  assumed  a  very  consider- 
able degree  of  technical  importance  in  other  lines.  Several 
of  the  new  applications  of  metallic  tungsten  are  described. 

Under  the  conditions  pertaining  in  many  electrical  make- 
and-break  devices,  as  in  magnetos,  spark  coils,  voltage  regu- 
lators, railway  signal  relays,  telegraph  and  telephone  relays, 
telegraph  sending  keys,  etc.,  wrought  tungsten  has  proved  to 
be  far  superior  to  platinum-iridium  for  the  contact  points. 
Tungsten  contacts  wear  longer  than  those  of  platinum  or 
platinum-iridium,  which  is  doubtless  due  largely  to  the  lower 
vapor  pressure.  Tungsten  contacts  show  less  tendency  to 
stick  than  do  contacts  of  platinum  or  platinum-iridium,  and 
this  is  to  be  attributed  in  part  to  the  higher  melting  point 
of  tungsten. 

Discussion. 

The  discussion  emphasized  the  increasing  value  of 
tungsten  for  service  outside  the  lamp  filament  field.  Mr. 
C.  M.  Green,  Lynn,  Mass.,  stated  that  the  use  of  tungsten 
wire  for  the  leading-in  terminals  of  rectifier  tubes  gives 
better  results  than  platinum.  The  specific  resistance  is 
about  one-half  that  of  platinum,  being  from  5  to  6  microhms 
per  cu.  cm.  Commercial  platinum  averages  from  12  to 
14  microhms  per  cu.  cm.  The  addition  of  5  per  cent  iridium 
increases  the  specific  resistance  of  platinum  to  from  30 
to  40  microhms.  Tungsten  is  coming  into  use  also  in  the 
construction  of  inner  terminals  for  rectifier  tubes. 

Answering  inquiries  by  Mr.  VV.  J.  Hammer  and  others. 
Dr.  Coolidge  said  that  it  is  possible  to  plate  tungsten  with 
copper  for  subsequent  soldering,  but  better  results  are  se- 
cured by  the  use  of  molten  copper.  The  major  part  of  the 
occluded  gas  in  drawn  tungsten  wire  is  given  off  in  a 
short  time  when  the  wire  is  heated  in  a  vacuum.  Tungsten 
makes  a  desirable  cathode  material.  It  can  now  be  ob- 
tained in  small  lots  for  experimental  purposes. 

VACUA. 

In  a  paper  by  Dr.  W.  R.  Whitney,  Schenectady,  N.  Y., 
an  account  was  given  of  some  phenomena  in  the  vacua  in 
incandescent  lamps.  The  author  referred  to  the  Malignani 
method  of  supplementing  the  vacuum  pumps.  This  process, 
in  its  most  perfect  form,  consists  in  distilling  into  the  bulb 
a  small  amount  of  some  such  substance  as  arsenic,  sulphur, 
iodine  or  phosphorus.  At  the  instant  when  one  of  these 
vapors  was  introduced  he  passed  a  high  current  through  the 
filament,  the  lamp  being  closed  from  the  pump.  This  im- 
proved the  vacuum  very  considerably,  and  the  improvement 
of  the  vacuum  could  be  seen  by  the  McLeod  gage.  If  the 
vacuum  is  improved  so  tliat  the  pressure  tends  to  become 
less  than  the  vapor  pressure  of  mercury  at  the  temperature 
of  the  gage,  then  the  gage  will  not  only  not  measure  it 
but  the  mercury  vapor  may  even  affect  the  life  of  the  lamp. 
It  is  a  fact  that  an  incandescent  lamp  gets  black  very  quickly 
when  attached  to  a  mercury  column  which  serves  as  a  gage 
to  indicate  evolution  of  gas. 

Lamps  were  also  made  to  which  were  attached  tubes 
which  carried  small  globules  of  mercurv.     \\'hen  these  side 


TuLY  6,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


29 


tubes  were  short  and  straight,  say  I  in.  or  2  in.,  and  the 
lamp  was  exhausted  as  well  as  possible  on  the  pump,  the 
blackening  of  the  bulb  started  at  once  when  the  entire  glass 
was  at  ordinary  temperature.  But  when  the  side  tube  with 
its  mercury  was  submerged  in  different  cooling  mixtures 
the  length  of  time  for  a  given  blackening  was  increased. 
By  lengthening  the  side  tube  containing  the  mercury  the 
rate  of  decomposition  of  filament  material  in  the  bulb  may 
also  be  decreased. 

An  interesting  fact  on  the  blackening  of  globes  in  the  ab- 
sence of  mercury  vapor  is  that  most  electric  lamps  will 
blacken  relatively  quickly  if  allowed  to  burn  in  a  heated 
oven.  In  general  the  hotter  the  oven  the  more  rapid  the 
blackening.  This  process  is  largely,  if  not  entirely,  due  to 
imperfect  exhaustion.  All  glass  contains  water,  which  can 
be  removed  but  slowly,  even  at  relatively  high  temperatures. 
The  presence  of  water  vapor,  even  in  the  absence  of  mer- 
cury vapor,  causes  rapid  blackening.  For  this  reason  it  is 
customary  to  exhaust  lamps  at  as  high  a  temperature  as 
possible. 

Discussion. 

Mr.  H.  C.  Snook,  Philadelphia,  touched  upon  the  tendency 
of  glass  to  bubble  in  tests  carried  on  in  a  vacuum  of  less 
than  I  mm  absolute  pressure.  Calcium,  sodium  and  lead 
glass,  whether  new  or  old,  undergo  this  action.  Mr.  A. 
H.  Cowles,  Sewaren,  N.  J.,  pointed  out  that  the  experi- 
mental method  used  by  the  author  has  also  been  employed 
in   Germany. 

CONVECTION    AND    CONDUCTION     OF     HEAT    IN     GASES. 

A  paper  by  Dr.  Irving  Langmuir,  Schenectady,  N.  Y., 
dealt  with  the  convection  and  conduction  of  heat  in 
gases.  The  author  had  formerly  given  a  theory  accord- 
ing to  which  the  "convection"  of  heat  from  hot  wires  in  a 
gas  consists  essentially  in  conduction  of  heat  through  a 
film  of  gas  of  definite  thickness,  in  which  the  heat  carried 
by  motion  of  the  gas  is  negligible  compared  to  that  carried 
by  conduction,  and  outside  of  which  the  temperature  is 
maintained  uniform  because  of  convection  currents.  The 
thickness  of  the  film  of  gas  is  related  in  a  simple  way  to 
the  diameter  of  the  wire,  so  that  from  the  experiments 
the  thickness  B  which  the  film  would  have  in  case  of  a 
plane  surface  can  be  readily  calculated. 

In  the  paper  under  notice  the  author  made  use  of  the 
results  of  Dr.  Kennelly  on  the  conduction  of  heat  from 
small  copper  wires  and  showed  that  Kennelly 's  data  afford 
strong  proof  of  the  reliability  and  usefulness  of  the  au- 
thor's theory  of  convection.  A  few  of  the  results  con- 
cerning the  significance  of  the  conducting  film  with  thick- 
ness B  are  as  follows:  The  quantity  B,  for  quiet  air  at 
room  temperature  and  at  one  atmosphere  pressure,  is  equal 
to  0.43  cm.  B  is  independent  of  the  temperature  of  the 
wire  from  room  temperature  up  to  the  melting  point  of 
platinum,  1750  deg.  C.  The  values  of  B  obtained  from 
experiments  on  wires  of  different  sizes  are  found  to  be 
the  same.  The  film  thickness  (for  plane  surface)  B  varies 
inversely  as  the  0.75th  power  of  the  pressure  of  the  gas. 
The  value  of  B  varies  inversely  as  the  0.75th  power  of  the 
wind  velocity. 

Discussion. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Hobart,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  pointed  out  the 
value  of  Dr.  Langmuir's  investigations  in  connection  with 
the  study  of  dynamo  heating.  He  criticised  the  Institute 
rule  for  temperature  rise  above  the  surrounding  air  in  the 
light  of  the  results  obtained  by  the  author.  According  to 
the  former,  the  higher  the  room  temperature  the  greater 
.  becomes  the  temperature  rise  in  the  machinery,  and  a  cor- 
rection factor  of  positive  sign  is  used  in  cases  where  the 
surrounding  temperature  exceeds  25  deg.  C.  The  tempera- 
ture rise,  according  to  the  author,  becomes  relatively  less 
as  the  room  temperature  increases.  In  closing.  Dr.  Lang- 
muir pointed  out  that  the  shape  factor  in  his  equation  is 
easily  determined  in  free  air  for  a  single  wire,  but  for 


complex  wire  layouts  the  subject  must  be  investigated  with 
great  experimental  detail.  The  heat  conductivity  of  air 
rises  rapidly  with  increase  of  temperature.  The  thickness 
of  the  conducting  film  in  the  case  of  convection  from  a 
plain  surface  decreases  as  the  temperature  rises  and  tends 
to  offset  the  effect  of  heat  convection.  The  heat  loss  by 
convection  increases  rapidly  as  the  temperature  of  the 
room  rises. 


Engineering  Education 


In  laying  out  the  plan  of  procedure  by  the  educational 
committee  of  the  Institute  for  its  joint  meeting  with  the 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education  no 
specific  effort  was  made  to  confine  the  study  of  educa- 
tional conditions  as  applied  to  the  electrical  industry.  The 
committee  holds  the  opinion  that  the  proper  establishment 
of  vocational  education  for  all  children  who  cannot  ad- 
vance beyond  the  rank  of  hand  workers  is  essential  to  the 
highest  success  of  the  country  as  a  whole  in  its  industrial 
and  commercial  functions.  It  is  contended  that  the  United 
States  has  fallen  somewhat  behind  Germany,  Austria  and 
France  in  this  regard.  Reference  was  made  to  the  con- 
tinuation schools  of  Germany,  which  provide  training  of 
great  practical  value  between  the  ages  of  14  and  16  as  a 
minimum.  It  is  estimated  that  only  from  10  to  20  per  cent 
of  the  children  of  16  years  whom  necessity  drives  to  work 
in  this  country  are  so  situated  that  they  can  learn  a  trade. 
The  continuation  school  in  which  the  pupil,  already  regu- 
larly employed,  gives  a  part  of  the  working  hours  each 
week  to  school  work  shows  distinct  and  positive  signs  of 
being  best  suited  to  the  conditions  facing  the  great  major- 
ity of  young  men.  Mental  judgment  and  physical  skill  are 
the  objects  sought  in  good  schools  of  this  type.  Continua- 
tion schools  need  not  be  more  expensive  than  common 
schools,  since  the  practical  applied  part  of  the  training  can 
be  to  a  large  extent  obtained  during  a  portion  of  the  time 
the  pupils  are  at  work.  Each  commonwealth  should  have 
a  commission  composed  of  representatives  of  the  indus- 
tries, with  power  to  direct  the  industrial  work  of  the  state, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  state  board  of  education. 
Material  financial  aid  should  be  given  by  the  state  to  in- 
stitutions that  comply  with  its  regulations. 

LAW    FOR    VOCATIONAL    TRAINING. 

Twenty-four  states  now  have  provisions  of  active  char- 
acter for  vocational  training  and  six  have  permissive  pro- 
visions. Massachusetts,  Wisconsin,  New  York  and  Maine 
seem  to  have  given  the  subject  the  most  careful  considera- 
tion, the  first-named  being  a  pioneer  in  this  field.  In  the 
majority  of  cases  heretofore  the  vocational  training  has 
been  almost  entirely  in  the  line  of  agriculture  or  home- 
making,  with  manual  training  as  an  additional  or  inci- 
dental feature  of  existing  high  or  secondary  school  work. 
In  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  the  feature  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts and  Wisconsin  laws  which  causes  them  to  e.xcel 
those  of  all  other  states  is  the  provision  that  in  order  for 
a  vocational  school  to  receive  state  aid  it  must  receive  the 
state's  approval  of  many  of  its  important  features,  such  as 
courses,  teachers,  buildings,  methods,  time  and  accounts. 
This  encourages  local  boards  to  consult  with  the  proper 
representatives  of  the  state  board  from  the  beginning  of 
school  organization  rather  than  to  await  the  exact  period 
when  money  is  requested  of  the  state.  An  outline  of  a 
scheme  for  industrial  education  based  largely  upon  the 
Massachusetts  and  Wisconsin  laws  was  presented  by  the 
committee.  The  committee  feels  that  attendance  upon  day 
or  part-time  schools  should  be  restricted  to  persons  between 
14  and  25  years  of  age  and  compulsory  between  14  and  16. 
Attendance  at  evening  classes  should  be  restricted  to  those 


30 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


over  17.  Provision  should  be  made  that  all  illiterate  minors 
over  16  should  be  required  to  attend  the  evening  schools. 
E.xtracts  from  the  Massachusetts  laws  relating  to  vocational 
schools  are  included  in  the  report  of  the  committee. 

INDUSTRIAL    .VND    VOCATIONAL    SCHOOLS. 

A  valuable  portion  of  the  report  of  the  educational  com- 
mittee dealt  with  a  few  typical  industrial  schools  and  de- 
scribes their  essential  methods  and  equipment.  Pratt  In- 
stitute, Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;  the  Stuyvesant  High  Schools, 
New  York;  Manual  Training  High  School,  Brooklyn; 
Bryant  High  School,  Long  Island  City,  the  Wentworth 
Institute  and  the  Albany  (N.  Y.)  vocational  school  were 
discussed  as  examples  of  institutions  which  are  meeting  the 
problem  of  industrial  education  on  a  broad  scale  with  effi- 
ciency and  ability.  At  Pratt  Institute,  which  was  founded 
in  1887,  day  and  evening  instruction  is  given  to  over  4000 
students.  There  are  five  schools  of  instruction,  including  a 
school  of  science  and  technology  of  high  class.  The 
courses  include  applied  electricity,  mechanics,  machine 
work,  chemistry,  drawing,  steam  engineering,  practical 
mathematics,  carpentry,  sheet-metal  work,  machine  design, 
and  many  other  related  subjects.  Similar  subjects  are 
taught  at  the  new  Wentworth  Institute,  at  Boston,  the  ob- 
ject of  which  is  to  develop  artisans  and  skilled  mechanics, 
and  to  train  men  who  wish  to  become  inspectors,  shop  fore- 
men, master  mechanics  and  superintendents  in  industry. 
Although  the  buildings  were  hardly  completed  in  Septem- 
ber, 191 1,  more  than  three  times  as  many  applicants  as 
could  be  accommodated  appeared.  Eighteen  men  consti- 
tute the  faculty. 

The  report  concluded  with  a  resume  of  the  work  done  in 
vocational  training  in  the  State  of  New  York  under  the 
direction  of  the  commissioner  of  education,  covering  the 
work  in  manual  training,  shop  and  laboratory  work  in  the 
high  schools  and  emphasizing  special  subjects  taught  in 
localities  where  the  prevailing  industries  call  for  a  more 
or  less  specialized  training.  Much  inforuiation  of  value 
concerning  curricula  was  introduced.  The  report  closed 
with  an  outline  of  the  training  given  in  the  apprentice 
school  systems  of  the  New  York  Central,  Pennsylvania  and 
other  railroad  systems. 


Electrical  Measurements 


ELECTRICAL     TRANSMISSION     OF     ELECTRICAL     MEASUREMENTS. 

Mr.  O.  J.  Bliss  read  a  paper  describing  a  combination  of 
standard  instruments  and  a  telephone  line  for  the  pro- 
duction of  electrical  measurements  at  a  receiving  station  35 
miles  distant  from  a  generating  plant  owned  by  another 
company  and  emphasized  the  value  of  such  arrangements 
in  the  operation  of  interconnected  plants  controlled  by  load 
dispatchers.  In  the  case  in  hand,  the  terms  of  the  contract 
for  energy  sale  rendered  it  necessary  for  the  receiving 
plant  to  guarantee  a  certain  load-factor  and  keep  the  peaks 
of  its  demand  as  low  as  possible.  Two  intermediate  sub- 
stations owned  by  the  receiving  company  were  in  service, 
and  energy  was  sold  on  the  basis  of  measurements  at  the 
generating  plant.  The  receiving  company  was  therefore 
greatly  dependent  upon  a  plan  of  measurement  which 
should'  at  all  times  show  the  input  to  the  receiving  system's 
line  at  the  seller's  generating  plant. 

The  apparatus  consisted  of  a  36-volt  storage  battery  dis- 
charging about  150  milliamperes  through  a  resistor  having 
with  a  sliding  contact  controlled  mechanically  by  the  mov- 
ing system  of  a  recording  wattmeter  in  the  generating  sta- 
tion. By  the  sliding  contact  a  variable  connection  was  made 
through  a  telephone  line  to  a  recording  direct-current  volt- 
meter and  an  indicating  direct-current  voltmeter  in  the  re- 
ceiving station.    The  current  through  the  resistor  was  large 


as  compared  with  that  through  the  instrument,  giving  a 
recording  meter  deflection  closely  proportioned  to  the  volt- 
age. The  resistance  was  divided  between  the  two  plants  in 
order  to  prevent  interference  with  the  telphone  service, 
condensers  also  being  used  to  protect  the  latter  from  the 
direct  current  of  the  transmitting  system.  Reactance  coils 
in  the  instrument  leads  prevented  interference  with  the 
meters  by  the  telephone  ringing  current. 

METERING     LARGE     DIRECT-CURRENT      INSTALLATIONS. 

A  paper  by  Mr.  F.  V.  Magalhaes  discussed  the  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages  of  the  four  principal  methods  of 
metering  direct  current  on  a  large  scale,  ranging  from  1000 
to  10,000  amp  at  from  loo  to  600  volts.  Method  i  con- 
sists of  installing  a  single  watt-hour  meter  between  the 
source  of  supply  and  the  distributing  switchboard;  Method 
2,  the  installation  in  parallel  of  several  meters  of  adequate 
total  rating;  Method  3,  dividing  the  service  supply,  meter- 
ing separately  any  natural  components  of  the  total  load, 
and  Method  4  comprises  the  development  and  use  of  the 
shunt  type  of  watt-hour  meter.  The  author  concluded 
that  Method  i  is  the  simplest  and  least  costly  at  the  out- 
set, but  of  questionable  accuracy  and  relatively  high  in 
maintenance  expense.  Method  2  facilitates  the  convenient 
measurement  of  large  loads,  moderate  initial  cost  and  sim- 
plicity in  testing,  although  differences  in  the  resistance  of 
connections  may  lead  to  vitiated  results  with  the  added 
drawback  of  poor  light-load  performance.  Method  3,  by 
which  individual  meters  are  installed  for  comprehensive 
parts  of  an  extended  service,  fits  the  meter  closely  to  its 
work  and  insures  more  accurate  measurements.  Although 
the  cost  at  the  outset  runs  higher  the  increased  accuracy  is 
a  very  valuable  feature.  In  Method  4,  assuming  the  avail- 
ability of  a  shunt  type  of  watt-hour  meter,  the  measure- 
ment of  large  outputs  even  under  fluctuating  loads  is 
effected  with  a  limited  number  of  instruments,  high  flexi- 
bility in  operation  and  excellent  accuracy  insured  by  ready 
calibration  of  the  service  meter  and  its  standard. 

MEASURING    OF    ENERGY    WITH     INSTRUMENT    TRANSFORMERS. 

Mr.  Alexander  Maxwell  presented  a  paper  in  which  it 
was  pointed  out  that  comparatively  little  has  been  written 
concerning  the  effect  of  ratio  and  time-phase  angle  upon 
the  accuracy  of  watt-hour  meters.  It  is  not  possible  to 
adjust  such  meters  to  compensate  automatically  for  changes 
in  ratio  and  time-phase  angle  for  different  loads  and  power- 
factors  within  the  range  of  the  meter.  Legal  and  com- 
mercial considerations  require  that  such  meters  be  main- 
tained within  certain  specified  limits  of  accuracy.  Devia- 
tions from  stated  ratio  and  ideal  time-phase  relations  are 
small  in  shunt  instrument  transformers  as  compared  with 
series  instrument  transformers.  In  general,  modern  series 
transformers  of  the  best  design,  under  favorable  conditions, 
show  quite  satisfactory  ratio  curves  for  secondary  currents 
down  to  10  per  cent  of  rated  current.  Similarly,  the  angle 
by  which  the  secondary  current  differs  from  the  ideal  180- 
degree  relation  with  the  primary  current  is  small  over  a 
wide  range,  but  may  still  introduce  serious  errors  at  low 
loads.  Series  transformers  of  highly  special  design  gen- 
erally have  ratio  and  'time-phase  angle  characteristics 
which  render  them  quite  unsuitable  for  use  in  connection 
with  watt-hour  meters.  Where  series  transformer  ratios 
have  the  same  value  from  full  secondary  load  to  a  small 
secondary  load  like  5  or  10  per  cent,  the  meter  accuracy  is 
not  affected,  since  the  ratio,  whatever  its  value,  is  ac- 
counted for  in  the  calibrating  constant  of  the  meter. 

TESTING    LARGE    WATT-HOUR    METERS. 

The  problem  of  testing  large  watt-hour  meters  was  dis- 
cussed in  a  paper  by  Messrs.  C.  H.  Ingalls  and  J.  W.  Cowles. 
Special  attention  was  given  to  the  testing  of  meters  hand- 
ling fluctuating  loads,  by  the  rotating  standard  method.  To 
adopt  the  rotating  standard  to  the  calibration  of  meters  of 


July  6,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


31 


1000  or  2000  amp  rating,  the  authors  devised  an  equip- 
ment somewhat  modified  from  the  dit¥erential  galvanometer 
designed  by  Prof.  F.  A.  Laws,  of  the  Massachusetts  Insti- 
tute of  Technology,  for  heavy  testing.  The  modification 
consisted  in  general  of  three  resistors  of  fixed  resistances 
forming  three  arms  of  a  Wheatstone  bridge,  the  rotating 
standard  and  two  resistors  of  adjustable  resistances  farm- 
ing the  fourth  arm.  From  measurements  made  with  the 
bridge  according  to  the  usual  method  of  securing  a  gal- 
vanometer zero  reading,  the  current  measured  by  the  meter 
under  test  and  that  measured  by  the  rotating  standard  are 
determined.  Ma:nganin  resistors  are  employed  on  account 
of  their  negligible  temperature  resistance  coefficient  and 
low  thermal  effects.  For  accurate  work  materials  having 
very  small  thermo-electric  effects  must  be  utilized,  and 
manganin  meets  this  condition  admirably.  The  apparatus 
can  be  carried  in  a  case  2,2  x  19  x  14  in.  in  dimensions.  In 
using  the  direct-current  rotating  standard,  care  must  be 
taken  to  guard  against  the  influence  of  external  fields,  and 
since  this  apparatus  is  designed  for  service  in  places  where 
large  currents  are  involved,  precaution  should  be  taken  to 
make  two  sets  of  readings  with  reversed  leads,  or  to 
change  bodily  the  position  of  the  standard  180  degrees,  and 
take  a  series  of  readings  in  both  azimuths.  The  paper 
closed  with  sample  test  data  from  street  railway  practice. 

Discussion. 

The  papers  by  Messrs.  Bliss,  Magalhaes,  Maxwell  and 
Ingalls  and  Cowles  were  discussed  together.  Mr.  W.  J. 
Mowbray,  Providence,  R.  I.,  congratulated  Messrs.  Ingalls 
and  Cowles  upon  their  work  and  commended  the  use  of  the 
rotating  standard  for  testing  large  meters.  Mr.  F.  P.  Cox, 
Lynn,  Mass.,  said  that  the  use  of  extra  meters  as  cited  by 
Mr.  Magalhaes  is  at  times  well  worth  the  cost  in  large 
direct-current  installations.  There  are  many  commercial 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  employing  total  dials,  as  suggested 
by  Mr.  Magalhaes.  Mr.  J.  R.  Craighead,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.,  cited  the  field  of  usefulness  of  series  trans- 
formers of  very  small  secondary  current  ratings  in 
making  measurements  at  a  distance,  using  small  sizes  of 
wires.  Special  insulation  of  the  secondary  is  necessary. 
He  criticised  the  practice  of  adjusting  meters  to  run  fast  on 
low  loads,  as  creeping  tends  to  result.  Mr.  F.  V.  Magal- 
haes, New  York,  said  that  one  of  the  excellent  points  about 
the  Ingalls  arrangement  is  its  use  of  apparatus  which  can 
easily  be  obtained.  Mr.  W.  H.  Pratt,  Lynn,  Mass.,  cited  the 
vast  difference  between  the  characteristics  of  the  series 
transformers  now  on  the  market.  Chairman  Robinson 
warned  the  audience  not  to  draw  too  general  deductions 
from  the  special  cases  discussed  by  the  authors.  Mr. 
Ingalls  said  in  closing  that  a  differential  millivoltmeter  is 
useful  in  measuring  the  resistances  of  the  shunts  in  the  In- 
galls-Cowles  apparatus. 

TUBULAR     ELECTRODYNAMOMETER. 

The  difficulty  of  mixing  the  strands  in  the  field  coils  of 
electrodynamometers  for  heavy  currents  to  provide  for  the 
same  effective  resistance  and  inductance  in  each  led  to  the 
design  of  the  tubular  instrument  described  in  a  paper  by 
Mr.  P.  G.  Agnew.  The  apparatus  has  a  "field  coil"  con- 
sisting of  two  co-axial  copper  tubes  giving  a  circular  mag- 
netic field  in  the  space  between.  The  concentric  tubes 
form  an  approximation  to  a  toroid,  or  endless  solenoid  of 
one  turn.  The  axial  symmetry  insures  that  the  value  of 
the  magnetic  field  at  any  point  is  independent  of  the  di- 
mensions of  the  conductor.  No  m.agnetic  field  exists  be- 
tween the  tubes  due  to  the  outside  tube,  and  that  due  to  the 
inside  tube  produces  no  skin  effect.  In  the  instrument, 
which  is  well  adapted  for  alternating-direct-current  trans- 
fer dynamometer  service,  the  moving  element  consists  of 
a  static  coil  attached  to  a  mirror  and  damping  system,  one 
coil  being  above  and  one  below  the  inner  tube.  The  instru- 
ment is  read  by  telescope  and  scale,  and  with  water  cool- 


ing of  the  inner  tube  has  a  current  range  of  5000  amp. 
Its  sensitivity  is  100  cm  deflection  at  86  cm  scale  dis- 
tance with  100  amp  in  the  tube  circuit  and  0.06  amp  in  the 
moving  coils.     It  is  believed  that  the  instrument  is  accu- 


OOSIH  Ju'POIT' 


JJu 


TubLilar    Dynamometer. 


rate  to  0.05  per  cent.  The  author  described  some  of  the 
special  problems  encountered  in  the  design  and  construc- 
tion of  the  instrument  and  concluded  with  a  data  table 
giving  the  important  constants  and  dimensions. 

MEASURING   LOW-VALUE   .ALTERNATING    CURRENT. 

In  a  paper  by  Mr.  M.  G.  Newman  were  discussed  the  sen- 
sibility and  accuracy  of  alternating-current  ammeters  of 
the  dynamometer  type.  He  presented  the  results  of  vari- 
ous excitation  tests  upon  a  telephone  transformer  at  60 
cycles,  using  a  separately  excited  dynamometer  as  an 
ammeter,  and  contrasting  data  obtained  with  the  perform- 
ance of  a  dynamometer  operated  on  a  self-exciting  basis. 
Connection  diagrams  and  oscillograms  were  presented,  and 
further  tests  outlined  upon  a  ring  of  high  silicon  steel. 
The  author  pointed  out  that  by  varying  the  excitation  of 
the  moving  coil  it  is  possible  to  make  current  measure- 
ments with  a  dynamometer  over  a  very  large  range  without 
changing  the  series  coils.  Large  errors  are  introduced 
when  such  an  instrument  is  used  to  measure  the  exciting 
current  of  sheet  steel  at  high  magnetic  densities,  say  above 
6000  gausses.  At  high  densities  the  distorting  component 
of  the  comple.K  exciting  current  wave  is  large  and  the 
sinusoidal  component  is  small  in  comparison.  This  large 
distortion  component  is  due  to  the  rapid  rate  of  change 
of  reluctivity  during  the  magnetic  cycle.  As  the  density  is 
lowered  the  exciting  current  wave  approaches  the  sinu- 
soidal form.  The  actual  wave  distortion  varies  with  dif- 
ferent samples  of  steel.  Below  a  density  of  6000  gausses 
the  errors  obtained  in  using  a  separately  excited  dynamom- 
eter do  not  exceed  2  per  cent.  Such  apparatus  has  the  ad- 
vantage over  many  high  sensibility  ammeters  in  that  the 
suspension  and  moving  parts  are  comparatively  rugged,  and 
there  is  little  disturbance  from  outside  sources. 

VIBRATION    GALVANOMETER. 

A  paper  by  Dr.  Frank  Wenner  dealt  with  character- 
istics and  applications  of  vibration  galvanometers.  The 
author  pointed  out  that  the  vibration  galvanometer  is  a 
type  of  synchronous  motor  rather  than  a  galvanometer. 
He  gave  the  theory  of  the  instrument  and  showed  the  re- 
lation which  exists  between  the  amplitude  of  the  vibration 
and  the  impressed  voltage  in  terms  of  the  intrinsic  con- 
stancies of  the  instrument  and  of  the  electric  circuit  in 
which  it  may  be  used.  The  author  thought  that  in  most 
laboratories  the  vibration  galvanometer  has  met  with  less 
favor  than  it  deserves.  He  mentioned  various  applica- 
tions which  it  has  found  in  the  Bureau  of  Standards  and 
the  British  National  Physical  Laboratory.  He  also  thought 
that  it  may  be  found  useful  in  engineering  work  when  its 
characteristics  become  more  widely  known  and  when  it  is 
understood  that  it  is  not  a  delicate  instrument. 


32 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


Discussion. 
In  answering  questions,  Dr.  Wenner  said  that  the  in- 
strument is  read  by  a  line  of  light  whose  width  is  an  indica- 
tion of  the  amplitude  of  vibration.  The  sensitiveness  is 
readily  controlled  and  the  instrument  can  be  designed  to 
respond  neither  to  harmonies  nor  to  substantial  changes  in 
frequency.  The  mechanical  quadrants  of  the  instrument 
largely  determine  the  shape  of  the  sensitivity  curve.  The 
instrument  can  be  used  as  a  deflection  apparatus  although 
it  has  usually  been  used  as  a  zero  instrument.  The  band  of 
light  is  sharp  on  the  edges.  A  deflection  of  a  few  centi- 
meters is  usual.  The  deflection  is  directly  proportional  to 
the  current  or  the  voltage. 

PERME.'VBILITY    MEASUREMENTS   WITH    ALTERNATING   CURRENT. 

Messrs.  L.  T.  Robinson  and  J.  D.  Ball,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.,  pointed  out  in  a  paper  of  which  they  were  joint 
authors  that  in  designing  electrical  apparatus  it  is  desirable 
to  know  the  core  loss  and  the  permeability  of  the  material 
with  considerable  accuracy.  It  is  desirable  also  to  find 
means  to  measure  permeability  with  accuracy  and  speed 
comparable  with  core  loss  measurements,  and  as  core  loss 
measurements  are  made  on  alternating  currents,  a  method 
using  the  same  current  supply  as  that  used  in  making  this 
test  is  sought.  The  paper  dealt  with  the  general  relations 
between  maximum  flux  density,  maximum  exciting  current 
and  magnetizing  current.  Experiments  were  carried  on 
with  ring  samples.  The  authors  presented  a  large  num- 
ber of  curves  and  oscillographs  illustrating  the  relations 
between  magnetizing,  exciting  and  eddy  currents  in  various 
samples  of  iron.  The  conclusions  were  that  the  measure- 
ment of  maximum  current  by  an  elementary  oscillograph 
observing  the  width  of  the.tseam  is  satisfactory  and  fur- 
nishes a  convenient  and  fairly  accurate  means  for  deter- 
mining the  value  in  any  work  where  the  maximum  rather 
than  the  average  or  effective  value  of  a  current  or  voltage 
is  required. 

HIGH-VOLTAGE    TESTING. 

In  a  paper  by  Messrs.  C.  H.  Sharp  and  F.  M.  Farmer 
were  pointed  out  the  difficulties  of  ascertaining  the  peak 
factors  of  alternating-current  waves  under  ordinary  con- 
ditions through  changes  in  the  wave  form  produced  by  the 
test  itself.  The  vagaries  of  the  spark-gap  were  empha- 
sized. To  meet  the  problem  of  obtaining  reliable  measure- 
ments, the  authors  devised  an  apparatus  in  which  a  series 
of  condensers  serving  as  a  voltage  divider  were  connected 
across  a  high-voltage  line.  In  parallel  to  the  condenser, 
which  was  grounded,  was  connected  a  rectifier  or  commu- 
tator driven  by  a  synchronous  motor,  the  rectifier  in  turn 
being  connected  to  an  electrostatic  voltmeter.  The  com- 
mutator was  adjusted  to  make  instantaneous  contact  be- 
tween the  condenser  and  the  voltmeter  at  the  peaks  of  the 
waves.  In  this  arrangement  the  voltmeter  becomes 
charged  to  a  potential  corresponding  to  the  maximum  of 
the  voltage  waves  and  indicates  this  value. 
Discussion. 

The  papers  by  Messrs.  C.  H.  Sharp  and  F.  M.  Farmer, 
and  L.  T.  Robinson  and  J.  D.  Ball,  were  discussed  to- 
gether. The  discussion  was  opened  by  Mr.  E.  D.  Doyle, 
New  York,  who  said  that  the  electrostatic  voltmeter  must 
have  a  high  insulation  resistance  in  order  to  measure  high 
potentials.  By  placing  a  condenser  across  the  voltmeter 
terminals  a  peak  factor  of  135  per  cent  was  found  with 
1,000,000  megohms.  With  a  o.i  mf.  condenser  across  the 
instrument  the  indication  was  the  same  as  with  50  megohms. 
Dr.  M.  G.  Lloyd,  Chicago,  commended  the  determination  of 
permeability  by  the  use  of  alternating  current  within  its 
limitations.  Special  attention  should  be  given  to  the  fact 
that  the  maximum  current  does  not  correspond  to  the  max- 
imum magnetizing  current.  It  is  not  generally  true  that 
eddy  currents  are  in  time-phase  with  the  emfs  producing 
them.  The  oscillograph  has  a  useful  field  in  the  approxi- 
mate measurement  of  maxima  without  drawing  the  curve 


in  detail.  Dr.  Sharp  brought  out  the  point  that  the  elec- 
trostatic voltmeter  takes  no  current  from  the  line,  whereas 
the  oscillograph  has  this  objection.  Chairman  Robinson 
touched  upon  the  fitness  of  the  term  peak-factor  in  the 
.Sharp-Farmer  paper.  The  Robinson-Ball  experiments  em- 
phasize the  fact  that  in  dealing  with  thin  sheets  of  iron 
with  low  eddy  loss  the  tendency  of  the  total  primary  current 
was  to  exceed  the  maximum  magnetizing  current.  Dr. 
Elihu  Thomson  suggested  the  use  of  the  term  "wave  peak- 
factor." 

THE     MYRAWATT. 

The  authors  of  this  paper,  Mr.  H.  G.  Stott  and  Mr. 
Haylett  O'Neill,  New  York,  presented  a  proposal  for  a  new 
unit  of  power  equal  to  10,000  watts,  or  10  kilowatts.  The 
derivation  of  the  term  is  almost  obvious,  coming  from  the 
Greek  "myria,"  meaning  10,000,  and  the  term  "watt."  The 
authors  pointed  out  that  there  are  now  in  general  use,  both 
in  America  and  abroad,  many  empirical  units,  such  as  the 
horse-power,  boiler-horse-power  and  cheval  a  vapeur, 
which  are  unsatisfactory  and  not  internationally  employed 
in  the  same  sense.  The  term  kilowatt  has  been  steadily 
growing  in  favor,  with  the  increase  in  steam-turbine  in- 
stallations, as  a  measure  of  output,  particularly  when  the 
turbine  is  direct-connected  to  an  electric  generator.  The 
following  table  of  equivalents  was  presented  by  the  authors 
showing  how  the  new  unit  compares  with  those  now  in 
use.  expressed  in  Ib.-Fahr.  heat  units  per  hour: 
I   horse  power  =    2,547 

I  cheval  a  vapeur        =    2,510 
I  pferde-kraft  =    2,510 

I  poncelet  =    3,350 

I  kilowatt  =    3,415 

I  boiler-horse-power    =  33,479 
I   myrawatt  =  34,150 

It  may  be  noted  that  the  myrawatt  is  only  2  per  cent  larger 
than  the  boiler-horse-power.  If  the  myrawatt  is  employed 
as  a  unit  of  boiler  or  producer  output,  and  correspondingly 
used  as  a  unit  of  input  for  all  kinds  of  dynamical  machinery, 
the  computation  of  over-all  efficiencies  of  direct-connected 
units  will  become  exceedingly  simple.  Over-all  efficiency 
will  then  be  found  by  multiplying  the  kilowatts  of  output  by 
the  factor  10  and  dividing  the  product  by  the  input  in 
myrawatts.  The  authors  conclude  with  a  number  of 
examples  showing  how  calculations  of  efficiency  will  be 
simplified. 

Discussion. 
Dr.  Carl  Hering,  Philadelphia,  urged  the  use  of  units 
designed  to  simplify  calculations.  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly, 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  said  that  here  is  a  good  opportunity  for 
unifying  steam  and  electrical  units.  The  boiler  horse-power 
is  within  2  per  cent  of  10  kw,  or  the  myra-watt.  Dr.  Ken- 
nelly urged  the  use  of  the  metric  term  myria-watt  in  place 
of  the  term  myra-watt. 

MEASURING   ALTERNATING-CURRENT    RESISTANCE. 

Dr.  Edwin  F.  Northrup  described  two  electrodynamom- 
eter  circuits  and  methods  for  the  comparison  of  alternat- 
ing-current and  direct-current  resistances,  giving  the 
mathematical  details  of  the  procedure  in  each  case.  In 
general,  the  apparatus  required  consists  of  a  frequency 
meter,  an  alternating-current  ammeter,  a  three-point 
double-throw  switch  for  quickly  changing  connections,  re- 
sistors and  an  electrodynamometer.  The  last  piece  of  ap- 
paratus must  be  designed  to  carry  the  full  current  without 
overheating.  The  hanging  or  potential  coils  are  two  in 
number,  arranged  to  be  entirely  astatic  with  respect  to  the 
earth's  field.  The  constant  of  the  instrument  is  then  the 
same  for  direct  current  and  alternating  current,  all  good 
electrodynamometers  being  constructed  in  this  way.  Either 
the  Rowland  deflection  type  or  Siemens  type,  constructed 
on  the  astatic  plan,  may  be  used.  The  alternating-current 
resistance  obtained  by  the  methods  reviewed  in  detail  by 
the  author  is  a  quantity  which,  expressed  in  ohms  and  mul- 
tiplied by  the  root  mean  square  of  the  alternating  current 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


33 


through  the  circuit,  expressed  in  amperes,  will  give  the 
root  mean  square  value  of  that  component  of  the  im- 
pressed emf  expressed  in  volts  which  is  in  time-phase 
with  the  current.  That  is,  it  is  the  quantity  which,  when 
multiplied  by  the  mean  square  value  of  the  current,  will 
give  the  power  in  watts  which  is  being  dissipated  in  the 
circuit.  In  drawing  the  triangle  of  emfs  of  an  inductive 
circuit  one  sometimes  represents  the  component  of  the 
emf  in  time-phase  with  the  current  by  the  product  of  the 
current  and  the  direct-current  resistance.  This  procedure 
may  lead  to  considerable  error  in  circuits  in  which  there 
are  other  than  PR  direct-current  losses.  In  such  circuits 
the  alternating-current  resistance  R  should  always  be  used. 
The  methods  described  are  useful  in  measuring  the  alter- 
nating-current resistance  of  steel-covered  cables. 

Discussion. 

The  papers  by  Messrs.  Agnew,  Newman  and  Northrup 
were  discussed  together.  Mr.  W.  H.  Pratt,  Lynn,  Mass.,  in 
discussing  Dr.  Agnew's  paper,  said  that  stranding  the  con- 
ductor is  important  to  take  care  of  eddy  currents  in  an  in- 
strument of  high  sensibility.  He  referred  to  a  water-cooled 
dynamometer  of  his  own  construction,  having  astatic  sus- 
pension, which  was  described  at  the  Jefferson  (N.  H.) 
meeting  in  1910.  He  considered  the  latter  as  developed  to 
be  more  flexible  than  the  Agnew  apparatus,  and  questioned 
the  accuracy  of  the  latter.  Mr.  J.  D.  Ball,  Schenectady. 
N.  Y.,  in  discussing  the  Newman  paper  touched  upon  the 
value  of  the  method  brought  out  by  the  author.  The 
method  of  separately  exciting  the  field  of  a  reflecting  dyna- 
mometer in  measuring  low-voltage  drops  is  useful  Dr. 
Frank  Wanner,  Washington,  D.  C,  spoke  of  changes  in  the 
connector  design  which  have  increased  the  accuracy  of  the 
Agnew  instrument,  notably  by  splitting  the  tube  and  amal- 
gamating the  surfaces.  Dr.  M.  G.  Lloyd,  Chicago,  pointed 
out  the  usefulness  of  the  thermal  ammeter,  notably  in  wire- 
less-telegraph circuit  measurements.  The  general  plan  is 
the  insertion  of  a  thermocouple  in  the  moving  coil  of  a 
D'Arsonval  galvanometer.  The  indications  are  somewhat 
slow.  He  spoke  in  terms  of  high  praise  of  the  Agnew  instru- 
ment for  the  measurement  of  heavy  currents.  Mr.  Taylor 
Reed,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  said  that  he  had  sometimes  found 
the  use  of  two  dynamometers  desirable.  The  subject  of 
measuring  alternating-current  resistance  is  of  increasing 
importance.  The  use  of  conductors  other  than  copper  and 
aluminum  is  a  coming  problem.  Mr.  A.  L.  Ellis,  Lynn, 
Mass.,  testified  as  to  the  accuracy  of  the  tubular  dynamome- 
ter. The  water-cooled  instrument  is  particularly  free  from 
trouble  in  terminal  attachments.  The  suspension  is  the 
chief  difficulty  with  such  instruments.  Dr.  E.  B.  Rosa, 
Washington,  cited  the  absence  of  any  appreciable  stray 
fields  in  the  operation  of  the  tubular  dynamometer.  Chair- 
man L.  T.  Robinson  pointed  out  that  each  instrument  has 
its  field  and  touched  upon  the  high  accuracy  of  the  sepa- 
rately excited  dynamometer. 

LAMP    TESTING. 

Mr.  Evan  J.  Edwards,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  presented  a  paper 
in  which  was  emphasized  the  importance  of  maintaining 
instruments  of  high  accuracy  in  laboratories  handling  a 
large  amount  of  lamp  testing.  Photometric  and  lamp- 
testing  laboratories  should  maintain  an  accuracy  of  o.i 
per  cent  in  their  electrical  measurements.  The  author 
briefly  discussed  the  personal  equation  in  making  observa- 
tions, and  urged  the  desirability  of  chronological  records 
of  instrument  calibration,  with  plotted  comparisons  ar- 
ranged on  time  basis.  The  use  of  standard  cells  was  men- 
tioned and  meter-setting  curves  were  given  for  averaged 
observations,  showing  the  precision  obtained  in  practice 
and  the  tendency  of  certain  observers  to  favor  specific 
digits  in  taking  readings.  The  author  contended  that  for 
every-day  use  on  photometric  equipment  the  precision  at- 
tainable   with    ordinary    portable    instruments    is    insuffi- 


ciently high,  and  large  laboratory  standards  and  deflection 
potentiometers  have  resulted.  An  average  deviation  of 
0.4  per  cent  from  the  arithmetical  mean  is  obtainable  with 
good  photometric  apparatus,  calling  for  a  voltage  accuracy 
of  0.1  per  cent  in  the  same  precision  measure.  In  con- 
clusion a  brief  description  was  given  of  a  voltmeter  with 
scale  adjustable  by  rack  and  pinion  attachments,  to  facili- 
tate calibration  to  direct  readings.  Mr.  Edwards  consid- 
ered graphic  recording  voltmeters  useful  in  keeping  track 
of  large  changes,  but  unreliable  for  measurements  of  re- 
fined accuracy. 

INCANDESCENT  LAMPS  AS  RESISTORS 

.A  paper  by  Mr.  T.  H.  Amrine  emphasized  the  flexibility 
and  economy  of  incandescent  lamp  resistors  for  varied 
service.  The  author  stated  that  the  general  availability 
and  low  cost  of  such  equipment  is  insufficiently  appreci- 
ated in  many  quarters,  and  presented  curves  and  data  in 
tabular  form  showing  the  range  and  methods  of  selection 
desirable.  The  list  price  of  a  lamp  which  will  carry  o.li 
amp  and  which  has  a  resistance  of  2150  ohms  is  only  18 
cents,  which  is  probably  less  than  the  cost  of  an  equal 
resistor  of  like  carrying  capacity  in  any  other  form. 
Curves  presented  showed  that  for  limited  ranges  almost 
any  desired  change  of  resistance  with  change  of  current 
can  be  selected,  ranging  from  a  pronounced  decrease  to  a 
very  large  increase,  as  well  as  a  practically  negligible 
change  of  resistance  with  current.  A  feature  of  the  paper 
was  an  equation  giving  the  change  in  resistance  with 
changes  in  candle-power,  volts,  watts,  specific  consumption 
and  current.  Other  data  included  the  maximum  resist- 
ance available  in  commercial  lamps  for  various  ampere 
ratings,  this  ranging  from  8  to  2520  ohms  in  the  table,  in- 
cluding lo-watt  to  500-watt  lamps.  The  percentage  of 
normal  current  which  lamps  will  carry  at  various  degrees 
of  incandescence  was  also  given.  The  paper  enables  one 
to  select  the  type  of  lamp  which  will  give  most  nearl\  the 
desired  current-resistance  change  at  the  proper  degree  of 
incandescence.  Lamps  may  be  used  in  checking  ammeters, 
in  holding  current  at  a  constant  value  through  the  use  of 
bridges,  with  photographic  recording  alternating-current 
voltmeters  and  in  the  control  of  temperatures,  as  well  as 
in  the  usual  resistance  problems. 

Discussion. 

The  papers  by  Messrs.  Edwards  and  i\mrine  were  dis- 
cussed by  Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp,  New  York ;  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly, 
Cambridge,  Mass. ;  Dr.  M.  G.  Lloyd,  Chicago ;  Mr.  Paul 
MacGahan,  Pittsburgh,  and  Mr.  T.  H.  Amrine,  East 
Orange,  N.  J.  Dr.  Sharp  doubted  if  a  laboratory  standard 
voltmeter  is  sufficiently  accurate  for  testing  the  life-voltage 
relations  of  incandescent  lamps.  Accurate  voltage  methods 
checked  against  each  other  are  of  great  commercial  impor- 
tance. The  Amrine  method  has  been  tried  lately  with  suc- 
cess by  the  speaker,  modified  somewhat  to  facilitate  meas- 
urements of  voltage  where  very  slight  changes  are  to  be 
taken  into  account.  Dr.  Kennelly  commended  the  use  of 
the  alternating-current  potentiometer,  which  easily  works 
to  0.05  per  cent  in  voltage  measurements.  Dr.  Lloyd  em- 
phasized the  importance  of  studying  the  relation  between 
the  width  of  the  space  and  the  size  of  the  pointer.  Mr. 
Amrine  presented  several  records  of  interest  obtained  by  a 
photographic  recording  voltmeter. 

INDUCTION    TYPE    INSTRUMENTS, 

Emphasizing  the  increasing  importance  of  compactness, 
aperiodicity.  ruggedness,  durability,  legibility  and  sim- 
plicity in  modern  switchboard  instruments,  Mr.  Paul 
MacGahan  presented  a  paper  pointing  out  the  advantages 
of  induction  type  indicating  equipment  and  contended  that 
in  the  future  instruments  built  on  the  induction  principle 
will  eventually  supersede  other  types.  Freedom  from  ex- 
ternal field  influences,  good  initial  and  continued  accuracy, 


34 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


high  ratio  of  torque  to  weight,  nigged  and  simple  move- 
ments and  ease  of  repairing  all  contribute  to  the  growing 
popularity  of  induction  type  instruments.  Induction  type 
ammeters  and  voltmeters  having  an  error  of  less  than  0.05 
per  cent  are  now  obtainable,  so  that  the  discrepancies  due 
to  this  cause  would  not  be  noticeable  in  a  modern  plant. 
The  close  frequency  maintained  by  turbine  units  has  made 
this  phase  of  instrumental  design  less  important  than  the 
problem  of  protecting  equipment  from  external  magnetic 
and  electrostatic  fields.  The  mechanical  sources  of  error 
are  probably  of  greater  importance  than  the  purely  elec- 
trical ones  in  switchboard  instruments.  Instruments  hav- 
ing the  highest  ratio  of  torque  to  weight  of  movement  will 
have  the  greatest  accuracy  and  longest  life  if  equivalent  in 
other  respects,  and  if  the  movement  is  not  sufficiently  heavy 
to  damage  the  jewels.  E.xperience  has  shown  that  15 
grams  maximum  is  the  safe  limit  for  horizontal  shafts  in 
"V"  sapphire  jewels,  and  that  a  ratio  of  torque  to  weight 
of  0.15  is  a  satisfactory  minimum,  when  torque  is  ex- 
pressed in  centigrams,  and  weight  in  grams.  Very  light 
movements  are  undesirable. 

The  paper  contained  an  interesting  study  of  the  space 
occupied  by  switchboard  instruments  of  various  types,  in- 
cluding comparisons  of  scale  lengths,  panel  areas  and 
pointer  deflections.  The  J}i-'m.  round  pattern  induction 
type  instrument  occupies  3.9  sq.  in.  of  panel  per  inch  length 
of  scale,  which  is  less  than  any  corresponding  area  re- 
quired by  the  usual  round  pattern  horizontal  or  vertical, 
edgewise  or  illuminated  dial  unit.  The  induction  principle 
applied  to  the  7-in.  ammeter,  voltmeter  and  wattmeter  has 
apparently  placed  this  construction  on  an  entirely  new 
basis,  the  scale  length  being  equal  or  greater  than  in  any 
previously  designed  9-in.  meter.  The  paper  closed  with  a 
reference  to  the  value  of  black  dial  instruments  and  in- 
cluded as  a  final  section  a  comprehensive  exposition  of  the 
theory  and  practice  of  induction  instruments. 

C0MPENS.\TING    WATTMETERS. 

The  importance  of  providing  a  suitable  indicating  watt- 
meter for  the  measurement  of  power  in  small  quantities 
and  on  circuits  supplying  appliances  of  low  power-factor 
was  emphasized  in  a  paper  by  Mr.  A.  L.  Ellis-  The  author 
pointed  out  that  an  instrument  for  this  work  should  permit 


Connections   of   Compensating    Wattmeter. 

the  ready  correction  of  errors  for  all  conditions  of  load, 
power-factor  and  scale  position  ;  that  it  should  have  indica- 
tions compensated  for  its  own  losses  and  for  losses  in  volt- 
meters or  other  instruments  connected  across  the  terminals 
of  the  device  whose  input  is  being  measured,  and  that  it 
should  have  high  torque,  large  current  range  in  terms  of 
the  full  scale  watt  value,  a  damped  moving  system  and 
adequate  shielding  from  stray  fields. 

A  large  part  of  the  paper  was  devoted  to  the  detailed 
description  of  a  specially  compensated  instrument  in  which 
the  series  coil  and  compensating  winding  substantially  off- 
set each  other.  The  instrument  had  a  current  range  of 
2.25  amp,  a  potential  limit  of  125  volts  and  a  full  scale 
of  70  watts.  On  the  basis  of  120  volts,  the  full  scale  de- 
flection would  be  obtained  at  26  per  cent  power-factor  as 


compared  with  62  per  cent  power-factor  i'or  the  common 
type  of  indicating  wattmeter.  Deflections  around  one-third 
scale  can  be  obtained  at  power-factors  below  10  per  cent 
within  the  rated  current.  The  paper  contained  a  large 
number  of  comparisons  of  instrumental  readings  and  vari- 
ations in  calibration  with  lagging  and  leading  currents  at 
different  frequencies.  The  compensated  wattmeter  is  of 
particular  value  in  measuring  losses  in  the  cores  of  small 
transformers,  compensators  for  metal  filament  lamps, 
small  fan  motors,  etc. 

UESON.ANT    CIRCUIT    FREQUENCY    INDICATOR. 

A  paper  by  Messrs.  W.  H.  Pratt  and  D.  R.  Price,  de- 
scribed a  method  for  accurately  measuring  the  frequency  of 
a  circuit,  with  a  large  scale  deflection  in  connection  with  a 
small  percentage  change  in  frequency,  under  ordinary  con- 
ditions of  wave  form,  voltage  regulation  and  temperature. 
The  principle  that  impedance  is  most  sensitive  in  a  circuit 
containing  inductance  and  capacity  connected  in  series  or 
parallel  was  utilized.  The  constituent  parts  of  the  circuit 
consisted  of  an  inductor  wound  upon  a  laminated  iron  core 
with  an  air-gap ;  a  condenser  made  by  the  vacuum  process ; 
resistors  with  metal  having  a  zero  temperature  resistance 
coefficient,  and  an  indicating  instrument  with  moving  coil 
and  field  circuit.  Three  circuits  were  used,  these  being 
adjusted  to  be  in  resonance  at  frequencies  between  36  and 


C  CC:. CONDENSERS 
L  l'l-_ -INDICATORS 
R  r'r-I. RESISTANCES 
A  a'.. .MOVING  COIL  OF  INSTR. 
F FIELD  COIL  OF  INSTR. 

Connections    of    Frequency    Indicator 

70  cycles.  The  indicator  was  connected  in  series  with  the 
circuit  branches  between  the  latter  and  one  side  of  the  line. 
The  results  have  been  highly  satisfactory,  notably  in  the 
direction  of  securing  large  deflections  for  small  changes  in 
periodicity.  Special  need  of  cutting  down  the  hysteresis 
losses  in  the  inductor  was  anticipated  in  the  construction  of 
the  apparatus. 

HOT-WIRE     INSTRUMENTS. 

Messrs,  A,  W,  Pierce  and  M.  E.  Tressler  presented  a 
paper  on  the  advantages  of  hot-wire  instruments  in  meas- 
uring small  alternating  currents  and  voltages;  as  general 
utility  instruments  for  indiscriminate  use  on  alternating  and 
direct  current  and  for  checking  iron-vane  anuneters;  and 
for  measuring  high-frequency   currents  where  coil   instru- 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


35 


ments  would  be  useless.  It  was  pointed  out  that  hot-wire 
apparatus  of  proper  design  has  no  temperature  coefficient, 
and  a  very  small  zero  error  due  to  changes  in  the  instru- 
ment temperature.  The  inductance  of  the  hot  wire  is 
practically  zero,  and  accurate  indications  are  given  on  both 
alternating-current  and  direct-current  circuits  at  all  fre- 
quencies up  to  500  cycles  per  second.  Hot-wire  voltmeters 
can  be  relied  upon  within  one-half  scale  division  as  low  as 
1.2  volts.  They  are  not  affected  by  external  fields,  and  are 
independent  of  wave  form.  The  internal  drops  and  losses 
of  these  instruments  compare  favorably  with  those  of  mov- 
ing iron  ammeters  of  corresponding  ranges.  Hot-wire  am- 
meters can  be  made  for  a  full  scale  range  of  0.25  amp, 
which  will  indicate  o.l  amp  with  an  accuracy  closer  than 
I  per  cent.  Currents  as  high  as  2000  amp  have  been  suc- 
cessfully measured  by  the  use  of  shunts. 

Discussion. 

The  papers  by  Messrs.  MacGahan,  Ellis,  Pierce  and  Tress- 
ler,  and  Pratt  and  Price  were  discussed  simultaneously. 
Mr.  F.  P.  Cox,  Lynn,  Mass.,  agreed  that  for  the  measure- 
ment of  low  voltage  and  circuits  of  high  frequency  the  hot- 
wire instrument  is  specially  valuable.  Its  high  energy  loss, 
however,  is  objectionable  in  measuring  large  currents.  Air 
transformers  instead  of  shunts  appear  to  be  desirable  for 
high-frequency  service,  as  indicated  by  experience  reported 
from  the  Fessenden  wireless  station  at  Brant  Rock,  Mass. 
The  long  scale'  is  of  less  importance  than  accuracy.  He 
said  that  a  light-moving  element  does  not  necessarily  mean 
a  weak  element  but  it  does  mean  that  the  average  meter 
man  cannot  be  trusted  to  handle  it.  Shielding  is  a  vital 
necessity.  The  black  scale  with  white  fingers  has  its 
place,  but  is  not  the  requisite  for  all  conditions. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Pratt,  Lynn,  Mass.,  urged  the  importance  of 
accuracy  in  instrumental  service.  A  light-weight  moving 
element  is  more  trustworthy  than  a  heavy-weight  one.  Prof. 
A.  F.  Ganz,  Hoboken,  N.  J.,  confirmed  this  statement  and 
emphasized  the  increased  wear  and  friction  due  to  heavy 
moving  parts. 

Mr.  J.  P.  Mowbray,  Providence,  R.  I.,  favored  the  black 
scale  for  cellars  and  other  places  where  the  light  is  poor. 
Mr.  A.  L.  Ellis,  Lynn,  Mass.,  said  that  there  is  no  occasion 
to  fear  the  effect  of  electrostatic  disturbances  if  the  meter 
is  properly  designed.  If  a  horizontal  shaft  is  used,  the  in- 
dication of  the  instrument  tends  to  be  inaccurate  on  account 
of  rolling  in  the  jewel  bearing.  Light-weight  moving  parts 
are  of  great  importance. 

Mr.  P.  M.  Lincoln,  Pittsburgh,  described  a  method  of 
measuring  frequency  by  putting  a  power-factor  meter  into 
a  resonant  circuit,  pointing  out  that  close  accuracy  of  indi- 
cation is  possible  with  proper  design. 

Mr.  F.  H.  Bowman,  Lynn,  Mass.,  said  that  interchange- 
ability  between  alternating-current  and  direct-current  work 
is  of  less  importance  in  hot-wire  instrument  work  than  for- 
merly. Careful  handling  of  such  instruments  is  of  great 
importance  if  good  results  are  to  be  obtained.  Wire  for 
hot-wire  instruments  can  be  made  with  a  zero  temperature 
coefficient,  but  the  apparent  resistance  tends  to  increase 
with  the  heating,  on  account  of  the  decrease  of  cross-section 
and  lengthening  of  the  wire. 

Mr.  Cox  condemned  the  practice  of  opening  the  scale  at 
the  top,  where  the  instrument  rarely  is  required. 

Mr.  MacGahan  said  in  closing  that  the  method  of  com- 
pensation for  temperature  changes  in  induction  instruments 
is  simple  and  effective.  Errors  in  watt-meters  are  inter- 
mediate in  importance  between  those  in  voltmeters  and 
ammeters.  The  tendency  is  to  keep  the  ratio  of  torque  to 
weight  high  in  watt-hour  meters,  even  at  the  expense  of  in- 
creasing the  weight  to  30  grams.  In  the  induction  ammeter 
the  weight  is  10  grams  in  the  moving  element,  the  torque 
being  2.8  centimeter-grams.  Mr.  Pratt  said  that  errors  due 
to  temperature  changes  can  be  made  practically  negligible 
in  the  frequency  indicator.     Mr.  Pierce  said  that  his  hot- 


wire voltmeter  has  a  slight  temperature  coefficient,  which, 
however,  is  taken  care  of  in  the  calibration. 

POTENTIAL    TRANSFORMER    TESTING. 

Mr.  J.  R.  Craighead  presented  a  paper  dealing  with  the 
effect  of  the  resistance  of  the  detector  circuit  in  determin- 
ing the  time-phase  angle  and  ratio  of  two  alternating  volt- 
ages by  the  balance  method  and  found  that  if  the  resist- 
ance of  the  detector  is  adjudged  to  equal  the  product  of  the 
two  balance  resistances  divided  by  their  sum,  the  ratio  of 
voltages  will  be  represented  by  the  two  balance  resist- 
ances. The  errors  in  ratio  due  directly  to  time-phase 
angle  and  to  the  detector  current  offset  one  another.  For 
accurate  determination  of  the  time-phase  angle,  the  two- 
dynamometer  method  is  recommended.  The  results  ob- 
tained by  the  author  were  calculated  for  sine  waves.  The 
theory  is  greatly  complicated  by  harmonics  which  flow 
in  the  detector  in  case  a  distorted  voltage  wave  or  slightly 
differing  waves  are  used.  Where  inductive  devices  are 
used  to  balance  the  voltage  in  the  detector  circuit  they  do 
not,  on  account  of  wave  form,  wholly  prevent  the  flow  of 
current,  and  consequently  only  diminish  the  errors.  The 
additional  errors  caused  by  harmonics  are  in  general  neg- 
ligible in  practical  work. 

TESTING     INSTRUMENT    TRANSFORMERS. 

Messrs.  P.  G.  Agnew  and  F.  B.  Silsbee  presented  a  paper 
describing  the  determination  of  the  ratio  and  time-phase 
angle  in  series  and  shunt  instrument  transformers  by  the 
use  of  a  single  galvanometer,  carrying  forward  methods 
previously  described  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of 
Standards,  Vol.  7,  191 1.  Equations  were  given  for  the 
methods  reviewed,  and  the  simplicity  of  the  adjustments 
required  was  emphasized.  The  determination  in  the  case 
of  the  series  transformer  was  obtained  by  adjusting  a  re- 


Connectlons   for   Testing    a    Series    Transformer. 

sistance  and  mutual  inductance  in  circuit  with  a  gal- 
vanometer and  appropriately  related  to  a  non-inductive  low- 
resistance  shunt  and  transformer  primary,  the  equation 
being  fulfilled  as  described  in  detail  by  the  authors  at  the 
moment  of  securing  a  balance.  Somewhat  analogous  con- 
nections were  employed  in  testing  the  shunt  instrument- 
transformer.  The  advantages  of  the  arrangement  cov- 
ered by  the  paper  included  the  possibility,  without  chang- 
ing the  set-up,  of  testing  a  transformer  in  which  the  time- 
phase  angle  changes  from  lagging  to  leading;  and,  second, 
by  it  the  fixed  inductance  used  can  be  placed  in  a  fixed 
position  removed  from  the  rest  of  the  circuit  where  its 
stray  field  would  not  cause  trouble  in  the  galvanometer 
circuit.  By  the  methods  described  in  the  paper  only  one 
observer  is  required,  and  neither  a  polyphase  source  of 
potential,  a  phase-shifting  device  nor  a  rotating  commu- 
tator is  needed. 

Discussion. 

The  papers  by  Messrs.  Craighead,  and  Agnew  and  Silsbee, 
were  discussed  simultaneously.  Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp,  New 
York,  said  that  the  last  method  described  by  Messrs.  Agnew 
and  Silsbee  had  been  presented  at  the  Frontenac  convention 
two  vears  ago,  and  that  a  satisfactory  detector  is  now  in 
service.  Mr.  [.  R.  Craighead  called  attention  to  the  difficul- 
ties of  handling  vibration  galvanometers  in  commercial  test- 


36 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


ing.  The  adjustment  of  a  dynamometer  is  the  same  for  all 
frequencies.  Condensers  are  unsatisfactory  where  perma- 
nent accuracy  is  required.  Dr.  E.  B.  Rosa,  Washington,  D. 
C,  pointed  out  the  dangers  of  attempting  to  solve  measure- 
ment problems  with  a  single  method.  Local  conditions 
largely  determine  the  best  apparatus  and  methods.  Chairman 
Robinson  concurred  in  this  opinion.  Dr.  Sharp  called  atten- 
tion to  the  advantages  of  a  synchronous  reversing  key  in  al- 
ternating-current measurements  of  high  sensibility  with  a  di- 
rect-current galvanometer.  The  arrangement  is  particular- 
ly useful  in  transformer  testing.  The  vibration  galvanome- 
ter is  not  a  discriminatory  instrument.  Measurements  of  in- 
ductance and  capacity  can  also  be  made  conveniently  by  the 
synchronous  reversing  key  and  a  direct-current  galvano- 
meter. 

Dr.  F.  Bedell,  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  said  that  with  the  synchro- 
nous commutator  certain  adjustments  can  be  made  to  ad- 
vantage in  determining  phase  angle.  Dr.  Rosa  pointed  out 
that  the  error  of  the  rotating  commutator  and  direct-cur- 
rent galvanometer  are  greater  than  with  the  vibration  type 
of  instrument.  The  latter  have  been  used  successfully  at 
Washington  for  ten  years  and  for  many  purposes.  Mr. 
W.  W.  Crawford,  Lynn,  Mass.,  favored  the  connections 
used  by  Messrs.  Agnew  and  Silsbee.  He  had  found  a 
vibrating  tongue  with  platinum  contacts  highly  successful, 
and  cited  tests  in  which  the  sensitiveness  of  the  portable 
apparatus  was  50  microvolts  per  scale  division.  Dr.  Frank 
Wenner,  Washington,  cited  difficulties  associated  with  the 
use  of  the  rotating  commutator. 

MEASURING  STRAY  CURRENTS  IN  UNDERGROUND  PIPES. 

The  author  of  this  paper.  Dr.  Carl  Hering,  of  Philadel- 
phia, Pa.,  describes  several  original  methods  for  measuring 
stray  electric  currents  flowing  through  underground  metal- 
lic structures  such  as  water  or  gas  pipes.  These  methods 
were  devised  in  connection  with  investigations  of  electrol- 
ysis caused  by  stray  currents  from  electric  railway  tracks. 
In  methods  previously  used  it  has  been  customary  to  assume 
or  calculate  the  pipe  resistance  from  the  supposed  dimen- 
sions and  the  assumed  resistivity.  It  is  obviously  desirable 
to  avoid  all  such  assumptions  if  possible.  The  author's 
first  method  may  be  described  as  follows:  The  terminals 
of  a  millivoltmeter  or  a  sensitive  galvanometer  are  con- 
nected to  the  pipe  at  two  points  situated  a  short  distance 
apart.  A  shunt  circuit  embracing  an  ammeter,  a  few  cells 
of  storage  battery  and  an  adjustable  resistance  is  then  con- 
nected to  the  pipe  at  points  lying  on  either  side  of  the  volt- 
meter terminals,  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  figure.  If 
the  battery  is  correctly  poled  the  adjustable  resistance  may 
be  varied  until  no  current  flows  through  the  shunted  section 
of  pipe,  and  this  condition  will  be  indicated  when  the  volt- 
meter or  galvanometer  gives  a  zero  reading.  Under  this 
condition  the  shunted  portion  of  pipe  is  everywhere  at  the 
same  potential.  The  ammeter  in  the  shunt  circuit  will  then 
measure  the  current  which  previously  flowed  through  the 
shunted  portion  of  pipe.  If  the  millivoltmeter  reading  is 
noted  whjle  the  shunt  circuit  is  open,  the  resistance  of  the 
pipe  between  the  millivoltmeter  terminals  can  obviously  be 
calculated  at  once. 

This  method  involves  only  the  assumptions  that  the  in- 
troduction of  the  measuring  apparatus  does  not  alter  the 
original  distribution  of  current  in  the  pipe  system  and  that 
the  current  in  the  pipe  section  tested  has  a  constant  value 
throughout  the  section. 

By  waiting  for  a  suitable  opportunity  when  the  current 
is  constant  for  a  short  interval,  measurements  of  sufficient 
accuracy  can  probably  be  made,  in  spite  of  fluctuations,  and 
since  this  part  of  the  test  is  primarily  for  calibration  of  the 
millivoltmeter,  more  time  can  be  taken  for  it  if  necessary. 

Practical  difficulties  are  likely  to  arise,  however,  from 
fluctuations  of  the  current.  The  two  sets  of  readings  em- 
ployed in  this  method  are  successive  instead  of  simultane- 
ous, and  when  the  current  is  changing  rapidly  from  moment 


to  moment  it  will  be  desirable  to  have  available  a  method 
relying  upon  simultaneous  readings.  The  author  describes 
several  modifications  of  the  above  method  which  meet  this 
requirement.  One  of  the  modifications  employs  a  second 
shunt,  overlapping  the  first,  and  a  second  millivoltmeter. 
.\nother  modification  employs  only  an  additional  millivolt- 
meter connected  outside  of,  but  adjacent  to,  the  shunted 


x: 


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hSmHI^-AA/WW  h 


Connections    for    Measuring    Stray    Currents. 

section.  The  author  points  out  that  no  current  will  enter  or 
leave  the  section  of  pipe  under  test  if  the  excavation  is  free 
from  water  and  there  is  no  moist  earth  in  contact  with  that 
part  of  the  pipe. 

The  method  described  for  identifying  the  sources  of  the 
stray  currents  is  briefly  to  determine  the  simultaneous  values 
of  current  in  the  pipe  line  and  in  the  adjacent  or  neighbor- 
ing electric  railway  track.  If  these  two  currents  are  found 
to  be  fluctuating  in  unison,  it  may  be  concluded  that  the 
track  return  circuit  under  test  is  the  source  of  the  current 
observed  in  the  pipe.  In  readings  taken  for  the  last  purpose 
the  measuring  apparatus  need  not  give  indications  in  volts 
or  in  amperes,  but  simply  in  proportional  values.  These 
tests  are  sometimes  applied  to  long  stretches  of  pipe  or  track 
by  utilizing  telegraph  wires  for  bringing  the  pipe  or  track 
connections  to  the  measuring  instruments. 

Discussion: 

Prof.  Albert  F.  Ganz,  Hoboken,  N.  J.,  pointed  out  that 
the  method  described  by  Dr.  Hering  has  been  used  for  some 
years  in  the  measurement  of  stray  currents  and  described  a 
modified  test  with  two  millivoltmeters  of  high  sensibility 
used  in  his  own  practice.  In  some  cases  it  has  been  possible 
to  connect  directly  to  the  rails  without  using  a  battery,  al- 
though the  battery  provides  a  steady  source  of  current  sup- 
ply. Where  the  variations  in  readings  are  small  high 
accuracy  in  taking  readings  is  essential.  Twenty-four-hour 
readings  are  helpful.  Pipe  resistance  measured  by  estimate 
from  the  dimensions  is  sufficiently  accurate  for  practical 
purposes  in  95  per  cent  of  the  cases.  Simultaneous  twenty- 
four-hour  readings  on  both  pipe  and  neighboring  rail  lines 
are  very  desirable  in  working  on  networks. 

Prof.  G.  F.  Sever,  New  York,  presented  a  long  written 
discussion  by  Dr.  E.  F.  Northrup,  Princeton,  N.  J.,  which 
was  read  by  title.  Prof.  Sever  then  touched  upon  some  of 
the  legal  difficulties  associated  with  testimony  in  electrolysis 
cases,  based  upon  measurements  in  connection  with  litiga- 
tion.   He  said  that  the  whole  subject  is  an  open  one. 

Dr.  E.  B.  Rosa,  Washington.  D.  C,  said  that  it  is  not 
always  necessary  to  determine  the  resistances  of  pipe  in  the 
field.  The  Bureau  of  Standards  will  shortly  issue  a  table 
of  pipe  resistances  based  upon  extended  tests. 

Mr.  Alexander  Maxwell,  New  York,  defended  the  use  of 
the  Haber  earth  ammeter  and  favored  the  method  of  using 
the  strong  current  in  pipe  testing.  The  assumption  of  pipe 
resistances  is  reasonably  accurate. 

Dr.  Frank  Wenner,  Washington,  D.  C,  also  pointed  out 
the  well-known  characteristics  of  the  method  described  by 
Dr.  Hering.  Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp.  New  York,  said  that  all 
methods  are  useful  at  times  in  electrolytic  surveys  and  that 
the  Institute  owes  the  author  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  "smok- 
ing out"  the  persons  who  have  been  silently  employing  the 
method  for  years  past.  In  closing,  Dr.  Hering  reiterated 
the  importance  of  accurate  measurements  where  the  changes 
in  readings  are  slight.  He  discredited  the  practice  of  assum- 
ing pipe  resistances. 


Harnessing  the  Rainbow  Falls  of  the  Missouri  River  by  29-ft.  Dam,  Creating 

HydrauHc  Head  of  105  Ft. 

Plant    Near    Great    Falls,    Mont.,    Generating    21,000    Kw.    and    Transmitting    Energy   152     Miles  at 

102,000  Volts  to  Mines  at  Butte  and  Anaconda. 


ISING  in  humble  fashion  near  Three 
Forks  in  western  Montana,  where 
three  small  streams  named  after  a  trio 
of  Revolutionary  fathers — Gallatin, 
Jefferson  and  Madison — flow  together, 
the  great  Missouri  River  journeys 
2000  miles  before  merging  its  silt- 
laden  waters  with  the  mighty  Miss- 
issippi a  few  miles  above  St.  Louis. 
By  the  time  the  river  has  reached 
Great  Falls  in  north  central  Montana, 
hardly  100  miles  from  the  point  of 
its  birth,  it  has  become  quite  an  appreciable  stream, 
showing  a  minimum  recorded  flow  of  from  2500  to  2300 
cu.  ft.  per  second.  In  the  short  distance  of  8  miles  in  the 
vicinity  of  Great  Falls'  town  site  the  river  undergoes  a  total 
fall  of  nearly  400  ft.,  making  available  possible  developments 
of  130,000  hp,  with  the  storage  basins  easily  created  by 
dams  taking  advantage  of  the  admirable  natural  topography 
of  the  channel.  This  total  fall  of  400  ft.  occurs  as  a  suc- 
cession of  cataracts,  accounted  for  by  the  superposition  of 
harder  and  softer  layers  in  the  undisturbed  sedimentary 
strata  which  form  the  local  country  rock.  Series  of  natural 
water-power  sites  are  thus  created,  making  development  by 
several  dams  comparatively  easy. 

Within  the  city  limits  of  Great  Falls  is  the  first  and  most 
abrupt  of  these  cataracts,  Black  Eagle  Falls,  where  10,000 
hp  is  developed  from  a  timber-crib  dam  which,  topping  the 
natural  crest,  creates  a  head  of  45  ft.  More  than  three- 
quarters  of  this  power  is  utilized  directly  through  mechan- 
ical transmission  by  the  Boston  &  Montana  Smelter,  whose 
great  works  line  the  river  bank  at  this  point.  On  the  south 
side  of  the  falls,  the  Great  Falls  Electric  Properties  Com- 
pany has  a  water-power  station,  the  output  of  which  is  used 
locally    for   central-station    and    street-railwav    service. 

Four  miles  below  Black  Eagle  Falls  is  the  Rainbow  Falls 
development  which  this  article  describes,  and  which  utilizes 
in  effect  the  three  adjacent  but  distinct  cataracts,  Coulter's 
Falls.  Rainbow  Falls  and  Crooked  Falls,  combined  to  create 
a  head  of  105  ft.  Up  to  the  present  time,  water-power 
development  here  has  gone  only  this  far,  but  in  the  rapids 
for  a  distance  of  4  miles  below  Rainbow  a  total  drop  of 
140  ft.  is  frittering  itself  away,  while  at  the  end  of  the 
rapids  the  stream  takes  a  vertical  plunge  of  -j"]  ft.,  appropri- 
ately known  as  the  Big  Falls  of  the  Missouri  River.  This 
latter  cataract,   it   is   understood,   will   be   the   ne.xt   site   of 


development,  and  offers  a  quota  of  75,000  hp  to  be  added 
to  the  present  system  of  the  Great  Falls  Power  Company. 

DEVELOPMENT  AT  RAINBOW. 

The  Rainbow  development  comprised  the  erection  of  a 
29-ft.  dam  on  the  crest  of  Rainbow  Falls,  thus  practically 
drowning  out  Coulter's  Falls,  above,  and  creating,  from 
headrace  to  tailwater  below  Crooked  Falls,  a  total  hydraulic 
head  of  105  ft.  The  main  dam,  seen  in  Fig.  2,  is  of  rock- 
filled  crib  construction  with  sloping  upstream  face  so  dis- 
posed that,  through  the  reinforcing  members,  the  weight  of 
the  head  of  water  is  transmitted  to  increase  the  stability  of 
the  structure.  The  downstream  or  spillway  slope  merges 
into  a  long  concrete-filled  apron,  protecting  the  bed  of  the 
stream  against  undercutting  and  erosion  when  passing 
severe  floods  and  permitting  quiet  discharge  without  sub- 
jecting the  masonry  structure  to  dangers  from  tremor. 
Throughout  its  length  of  1 146  ft.,  the  dam  is  firmly  seated 
on  bedrock,  and  from  the  rock  floor  to  its  crest  the  struc- 
ture measures  29  ft.  in  height. 

At  the  south  end  of  the  dam  is  a  concrete  sluiceway  with 
waste  gates  having  a  discharge  capacity  of  8000  cu.  ft.  per 
second.  These  gates  are  controlled  by  hand-operated 
mechanism.  The  forebay  leading  to  the  main  pipe  lines  is 
located  at  the  north  or  opposite  end  of  the  dam.  Protected 
by  the  usual  trash  racks  are  eight  8-ft.  openings  which 
admit  the  water  into  the  concrete  forebay  chamber. 

The  huge  pipe  lines  which  connect  the  forebay  with  the 
balancing  reservoir,  nearly  half  a  mile  distant,  are  the 
second  largest  riveted  steel  tubes  ever  built.  In  diameter 
they  measure  15  ft.  6  in.,  —  larger  than  the  bore  of  the 
average  railway  tunnel,  and  readily  capable  of  admitting 
the  passage  of  standard  passenger-coach  equipment.  Figs. 
3  and  4  show  the  interior  and  exterior  of  these  great  tubes. 
In  their  construction  it  is  estimated  2471  tons,  or  62  car 
loads,  of  steel  was  employed.  The  sheets,  aggregating 
roughly  5  acres  in  area,  are  held  together  by  half  a  million 
rivets.  When  the  pipes  leave  the  concrete  forebay,  and 
again  where  they  enter  the  balancing  reservoir,  their  diam- 
eter is  increased  in  bell-mouth  fashion,  to  make  gradual  the 
changes  in  velocity  as  the  water  enters  and  leaves  the  pipe 
from  the  less  restricted  spaces  of  the  terminal  chambers. 
Either  penstock  tube  can  be  emptied  and  drained,  for  paint- 
ing or  repairs,  by  the  aid  of  stop-log  guides  at  the  ends, 
between  which  wickets  can  be  dropped  into  place,  shutting 
off  the  flow  of  water. 


38 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


In  the  hydraulic  operation  of  the  plant  the  terminal 
balancing  reservoir  acts  as  a  resilient  buffer  between  the 
steady  flow  necessary  in  the  pipes  and  the  varying  demands 
for  water  taken  by  the  turbine  governors.  The  main  pipes 
when  filled  hold  56,000,000  lb.  of  water,  the  tremendous 
hammer  blow  effects  of  which  can  easily  be  computed  for 
even  slight  changes  in  velocity.  This  balancing  reservoir 
is  seen  above  the  power  house  in  Fig.  6.    At  its  downstream 


operated  60  per  cent  in  excess  of  normal  rating  without 
any  difficulty  on  the  part  of  the  wheels  in  carrying  the 
heavy  overload.  On  other  occasions  the  turbine  gates  have 
been  opened  wide  with  all  load  removed  from  the  gen- 
erators, but  even  under  these  runaway  conditions  at  the 


•  Havre 

Great  Falls  j^ 
Cascade.-^ 

Switching  ^S 
Station  j^^  <? 

^Rainbow  Falls         "'^<!>v-. 

^         Rit'cr 

/M 

Anaconda         ff-5'          \ 

V^  Butte  Substation 

EUctncal   iVorU 

Fig.    1 — Map    of    102.000-Volt    Transmission    Lines    of    Great    Falls 
Power   Company. 

end  a  spillway  is  provided  to  discharge  extraordinary 
surges,  such  as  might  be  due,  for  example,  to  the  rapid 
shutting  down  of  several  waterwheels  that  had  been  running 
with   wide-open   gates. 

POWER-HOUSE  EQUIPxMENT. 

The  power  house  contains  six  6ooo-hp  inward-flow  Fran- 
cis double-runner  waterwheels  designed  to  operate  under 
105  ft.  head.  The  turbines  were  built  by  the  S.  Morgan 
Smith  Company,  and  the  units  are  controlled  by  Lombard 
governors.  Each  runner  of  the  pair  comprising  the  6ooo-hp 
set  is  inclosed  in  its  own  spiral  case,  with  a  separate  header 
connecting  from  the  balancing  reservoir.  The  twelve  open- 
ings in  the  plant  side  of  this  concrete  chamber,  admitting 
an  equal  number  of  8-ft.  branch  penstocks,  are  controlled 
by  hand-operated  gates  and  are  protected  by  trash  racks 
and  screens.  Although  fed  by  separate  penstocks,  each 
pair  of  wheels  discharges  into  a  common  draft  tube.  As 
the  illustration.  Fig.  5,  shows,  the  gates,  which  are  of  the 


Fig.   3 — Steel   Pipes   Connecting    Forebay   and    Reservoir. 

high  speeds  attained  no  damage  resulted  to  any  part  of  the 
apparatus,  nor  were  discoverable  vibrations  set  up  due  to 
unbalancing  of  parts.  The  machines  have  also  been  shut 
down  quickly  in  an  attempt  to  produce  water  ram  in  the 
penstocks,  and  although  pressures  double  the  ordinary  oper- 
ating head  were  shown  by  the  gages,  no  injury  or  distress 
resulted  in  penstocks,  runner  cases,  or  foundations. 

As  the  accompanying  sectional  elevation  (Fig.  7)  shows, 
the  lowest  part  of  the  power-house  structure  is  the  turbine- 
room.  On  a  gallery  level  overlooking  this  floor  are  the 
switchboard,  low-tension  switches  and  step-up  transformers, 
all  located  over  the  penstock  tubes.  Above  the  switch  and 
transformer  compartments  is  the  high-tension  room  where 
are  installed  the  100,000-volt  buses,  oil  switches  and  light- 
ning arresters.  The  power  house  is  a  steel-frame  structure 
with  brick  walls  and  concrete  roof  and  floors. 

ELECTRICAL    APPARATUS. 

The    waterwheel-driven    alternators    are    3500-kw,    6600- 


Fig.    2 — Water-Power    Dam    and    Rainbow    Falls    of   the    Missouri. 

wicket  type,   have   their  bearings  located  outside,   insuring 
good  lubrication.     The  runners  are  of  bronze. 

In  a  series  of  tests  made  on  these  wheels  to  simulate 
operating  conditions  full-load  efficiencies  of  85  per  cent 
have  been  obtained,  certainly  indicating  extraordinary  per- 
formance for  turbines  working  under  such  heads.  '  Each 
wheel  is  directly  connected  to  a  3500-kw  alternator,  but  the 
latter  machines  have  been  overloaded  to  5500  kw  and  thus 


Fig. 


Interior   of   One   of   the    15-Ft.   Steel    Pipes. 


volt,  60-cycle,  three-phase  General  Electric  machines,  and 
operate  at  225  r.p.m.  A  shaft  extension  of  each  main  unit 
carries  an  exciter  generator  of  a  size  sufficient  to  excite 
any  two  machines.  If  desired  any  of  these  direct-current 
generators  can  be  connected  to  suppl-.  auxiliary  service 
about  the  station,  for  lighting,  battery  cha'^mg,  crane  oper- 
ation, etc. 

The  principal   part  of  the  output  of  the  Rainbow   Falls 


July  6,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


39 


plant  is  transmitted  to  Butte  and  Anaconda,  130  and  152 
miles  distant,  at  102,000  volts.  Two  of  the  six  generators, 
however,  deliver  their  output  at  bus  pressure,  600  volts, 
to  the  nearby  Great  Falls  system,  which  is  connected  with 
the  Rainbow  station  by  a  wooden  pole  line.  The  other 
four  generators  deliver  energy  to  the  6600-volt  primary 
windings  of  four  3600-kw  banks  of  single-phase  trans- 
formers mounted  in  fireproof  compartments  on  the  gallery 
level  at  the  rear  of  the  switch  house.  Five  per  cent  taps 
are  brought  out  on  the  102,000-volt  delta-connected  second- 
ary windings,  in  addition  to  3  per  cent  taps  on  the  low- 
tension  side,  permitting  the  adjustment  of  actual  operating 
pressure  to  suit  conditions. 

From  the  high-tension  terminals  of  the  transiormtrs  the 
102,000-volt  conductors  are  led  through  fir  or  bushings  to 
the  oil  switches  controlling  each  bank.     A  double   102,000- 


roof  bushings  to  the  aluminum-cell  lightning  arresters  on 
the  second-story  high-tension  gallery. 

I02,000-V0I,T  TRANSMISSION   LINES. 

Throughout  the  entire  distance  of  130  miles  from  Rain- 
bow Falls  to  Butte,  two  separate  102,000-volt  tower  lines 
are  carried,  the  circuits  running  parallel  over  the  same 
right-of-way.  Each  circuit  is  made  up  of  six-strand  hemp- 
center  copper  cables,  equivalent  to  No.  o  in  cross-section. 
The  suspension  insulators  comprise  six  Ohio  lo-in.  disks,  an 
entire  string  being  able  to  withstand  a  wet  test  of  300,000 
volts  from  conductor  to  arm. 

The  three  conductors  of  each  circuit  are  supported  in  the 
same  horizontal  plane,  from  the  single  cross-arms  of  Milli- 
ken  four-legged  steel  towers.  These  towers  measure  43  ft. 
from  ground  to  arm,  and  support  the  wires  at  a  distance 


Fig. 


-Waterwheel    Units   on    Main    Floor   of    Rainbow    Plant. 


volt  bus  is  provided,  as  shown  in  Fig.  7,  connection  to 
either  bus  being  established  through  knife-blade  hook 
switches  operated  with  the  corresponding  oil  switches  open. 
All  the  disconnecting  switches  belonging  to  one  bus  are 
indicated  by  red  targets,  and  those  of  the  other  bus  by 
white  targets.  The  bus  structure  itself  is  of  iJ/^-in.  iron 
pipe  put  together  with  the  usual  plumber's  fittings,  little 
effort  having  been  exerted  to  minimize  corona  by  inclosing 
sharp  points,  unions,  etc.,  in  sheet-metal  balls.  The  bus 
conductors  have  been  coated  with  aluminum-bronze  paint, 
and  are  suspended  by  the  standard  strings  of  suspension- 
type  disk  insulators  used  in  the  outdoor  line  construction. 
For  the  line  switches.  General  Electric  102,000-volt  oil 
switches  are  employed,  the  outgoing  conductors  passing 
upward  through  oil-filled,  porcelain  roof  bushings  to  the 
high-tension  structure  overhead.  The  lightning-arrester 
paths  are  conducted  almost  straight  from  the  line-wire 
dead-ends   to   horn-gaps   on   the   roof,   and   thence   through 


of  40  ft.  from  the  ground.  The  conductors  are  themselves 
held  at  center  distances  of  10  ft.  Saddled  on  the  cross- 
arms  at  the  points  where  the  latter  are  intersected  by  the 
tower  members,  and  thus  placed  symmetrically  betvvcai  the 
conductors,  a  pair  of  ■)^-in.  galvanized-steel  ground  wires 
are  carried  the  length  of  each  circuit  as  a  protection  against 
lightning. 

In  ordinary  construction  on  level  ground  the  towers  arc 
placed  at  6oo-ft.  intervals,  but  in  rough  country  where 
ravines,  rivers  and  mountains  have  to  be  crossed  the  span 
distance  necessarily  varies  widely,  reaching  in  many  in- 
stances from  1500  to  2000  ft.  The  span  where  the  line 
crosses  the  Missouri  River,  3034  ft.,  is  the  longest  on  the 
system.  The  casual  reader  will  gain  a  better  idea  of  the 
meaning  of  such  a  span  when  he  is  told  that,  viewed  from 
one  end,  the  wires  seem  utterly  to  vanish  into  space,  and 
even  on  a  clear  day  the  tower  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river  can  barely  be  made  out. 


40 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


At  a  point  about  midway  between  Rainbow  and  Butte,  the 
102,000-volt  lines  are  led  through  a  switching  station 
equipped  with  oil  switches  so  arranged  that  either  circuit 
can  be  cut  in  two  and  cross-connected  with  the  other  if 
necessary.  In  case  of  injury  or  repairs  on  one  section  of 
a  circuit,  the  other  half  can  thus  be  continued  in  operation. 
As  long  as  sections  of  both  lines  remain  in  operating  con- 


These  air-break  switches  are,  of  course,  designed  for  opera- 
tion only  with  the  line  dead. 

To  locate  a  ground  or  cross,  the  dispatcher  calls  by  tele- 
phone those  detailed  to  manipulate  the  section  switches, 
and  orders  all  switches  on  the  affected  line  open.  This 
enables  him  to  charge  the  first  section,  and  if  it  shows 
clear  he  then  orders  the  next  switch  to  be  closed  and  tries 


Fig.    6 — Rainbow    Plant   and    Equalizing    Reservoir. 

dition,  a  circuit  clear  through  from  Rainbow  to  Butte  can 
be  maintained  with  the  help  of  the  switch-station  cross- 
over. Lightning-arrester  equipment  similar  to  that  at  the 
generating  plant  is  also  provided  at  this  midway  switch 
house. 

OPERATING  .\ND  TEST  FEATURES. 

For  testing  and  locating  faults  in  case  of  trouble,  each 
circuit  is  also  sectionalized  at  intervals  of  about  20  miles,  by 
the  rather  elaborate  disconnect  switch  towers  shown  in 
Fig.  10.  The  switch  mechanism  is  of  the  center-pivoted 
type,  similar  to  the  throw-over  contacts  used  with  alumi- 


Fig.   7 — Cross-Section   Through   Rainbow   Falls  Generating   Station. 

num-cell  arresters.  A  wooden  handle  extending  to  within 
reach  of  the  ground  is  used  to  operate  the  three  pivoted 
bars  which  complete  the  connections.  This  handle  is 
grounded  near  the  top  so  that  the  operator  avoids  danger 
of  shock  in  wet  weather.  As  shown,  the  switches  are 
mounted  on  separate  structures,  while  the  dead-ended  spans 
are  cross-guyed  between   the  towers  adjoining  the   switch. 


Fig.    8 — High-Tension    Gallery    at    Generating    Station. 

charging  again.  In  this  way  the  section  containing  the 
ground  or  cross  is  shown  up,  as  soon  as  reached,  by  its 
excessive  current,  and  patrol  men  can  be  dispatched  from 
each  end  to  run  down  the  trouble.  The  switches  are  located, 
when  possible,  near  the  cottages  of  the  patrolmen.  The 
latters'  wives  are  also  instructed  in  the  operation  of  the 
sectionalizing  switches  so  that  in  emergency  the  women 
can  be  called  on  if  their  husbands  are  absent. 

Occupying  the  center  space  between  the  two  tower  lines 
is  a  private  telephone  line  of  No.  10  hard-drawn  copper 
carried  on  25-ft.  poles  at  175-ft.  intervals.  At  no  point  on 
the  102,000-volt  system  are  the  high-tension  wires  trans- 
posed. The  telephone  circuit  is  given  a  turn,  however, 
every  five  poles  or  875  ft.  and  at  5-mile  intervals  disconnect 
switches  are  cut  in  to  aid  in  testing  for  trouble. 

In  crossing  the  Continental  Divide,  the  Great  Falls  trans- 


Fig.  9 — standard   102,000-Voit   Line   Construction. 

mission  line  rises  to  an  altitude  of  8200  ft.  above  sea  level, 
practically  a  mile  higher  than  at  the  Rainbow  plant,  eleva- 
tion 3200  ft.  The  terminal  substation  at  Butte  is  at  eleva- 
tion 6loo  ft.  Investigations  of  corona  effects  have  shown 
that  while  the  No.  o  conductor  running  at  102,000  volts  is 
being  worked  at  nearly  its  limiting  pressure,  the  theo- 
retically expected  corona  point  for  these  conditions  of  pres- 


July  6,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


41 


sure,  altitude,  etc.,  is  substantially  lower  than  the  perform- 
ance actually  obtained  in  practice.  Owing  to  the  lagging 
characteristics  of  the  large  motor  load  on  the  Butte  end  of 
the  system,  the  leading  capacity  reactance  of  the  line  itself 
and  the  power-factor  adjustment  made  possible  with  the 
three  1200-hp  synchronous  compressor  motors  of  the 
Anaconda  mining  company,  the  power-factor  at  the  Rain- 


of  the  turn  itself,  but  are  positively  fixed  in  position  by  a 
second   insulator   secured   to   a    lower   auxiliary   cross-arm. 

SUBSTATION   AT   BUTTE. 

The  Butte  substation  is  located  on  "the  Hill"  adjoining 
the  famous  compressor  plant  of  the  Anaconda  company. 
Like   the   power   house,   it   is   a   steel-frame   structure   with 


'\ 

.  \ 

i 


Fig.    10 — 102,000-Volt  Sectionalizing   Switch   Tower. 

bow  bus  is  held  continuously  at  practically    100   per  cent. 

While  the  corona   from   the   102,000-volt  line   is  hardly 

visible  except  at  the  sharp  points  of  clamps  or  fittings,  tests 

made   on    the   system   have   shown   this   loss   to   amount   to 


Fig.    11 — Bus   structure   and    Interior   of    Butte   Substation 

about  2  kw  per  mile  at  102,000  volts.  The  charging  current 
taken  by  the  line  averages  40  amp  per  phase  wire  for  the 
entire  130-mile  distance. 

Among  the  departures  in  construction  developed  on  this 
102,000-volt  system  is  the  unique  method  of  angle  guying 
shown  in  Fig.  12.  Here  the  conductor  and  insulator  are 
not  allowed  to  swing  free  as  usual,  held  only  by  the  tension 


Fig.    12 — Special    Angle    Construction. 

brick  walls  and  concrete  floors  and  roof.  In  floor  plan  the 
substation  measures  150  by  50  ft.  The  present  equipment 
comprises  four  3600-kw  banks  of  single-phase  transformers, 
all   windings   delta-connected,   and   arranged   to   step   down 

from  102,000  volts  to  2500  volt.s, 
the  local  distributing  pressure. 
Separate  brick  compartments 
are  provided  for  each  trans- 
former. These  chambers  open 
only  through  the  outdoor  wall 
of  the  substation.  The  cooling 
water  is  discharged  through 
open  spouts  accessible  from  the 
operating  floor,  but  an  attendant 
must  be  sent  outside  hourly  to 
ascertain  the  transformer  tem- 
peratures. Each  unit  is  mounted 
on  a  truck  which  can  be  run 
over  its  transverse  rails  onto 
flat  cars  on  the  standard-gage 
track  paralleling  the  building 
wall. 

The    substation     interior     is 
opened  into  a  single  large  room 
from  floor  to   roof,  the  second 
story    being    in     the     form     of 
parallel    galleries    carrying   the 
line   switches  and  lightning  ar- 
resters,   while    between    is    the 
double-bus,     high-tension     con- 
struction   of    lyi-in.    iron    pipe, 
similar    to    that    in    the    power 
house.     The  tvifo  buses  are  sus- 
pended   in    parallel    planes,   and 
transfers  of  the  line  and  trans- 
former   switches    from    one    to 
the    other    bus    are    effected    through    sets    of    disconnect 
switches  marked   respectively   with   red  and  white  targets. 
The   switchboard   itself   is   in   two   sections,   one   of   which 
controls   the   high-tension   apparatus,   both    line   and   trans- 
former   switches,    while    the    other    contains   the    2500-volt 
hand-operated  switches. 

From  the  Butte  substation  a  line  corresponding  in   con- 


42 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


struction  to  the  102,000-volt  specifications,  but  at  the  present 
time  carrying  only  half  that  pressure,  extends  the  20  miles 
eastward  to  Anaconda,  Mont.  Later  it  is  the  intention  to 
convert  this  circuit  to  102,000-volt  operation.  The  energy 
delivered  to  Anaconda  is  all  taken  by  the  Washore  smelter, 
the  largest,  by  the  way,  in  the  world.  The  equipment  in 
the  brick  substation  here  includes  six  1200-kvv  transformers. 


Fig.    13— 102,000-Volt   Oil   Switches    in    Butte   Substation. 

besides   the   oil  switches,  lightning  arresters,   etc.,   similar 
to  those  in  the  stations  of  the  Great  Falls  company. 

Although  the  load  supplied  by  the  102,000-volt  Great 
Falls  Power  Company's  system  is  used  chiefly  for  mine 
purposes  in  Butte,  emergency  throw-over  service  is  afforded 
to  the  local  associated  system  of  the  Butte  Electric  &  Power 
Company,  while  in  turn  the  Butte  system,  which  has  water- 
power  plants  totaling  20,000  kw,  on  the  Yellowstone,  Madi- 
son, Jefferson  and  Big  Hole  Rivers,  enjoys  the  auxiliary 
source  of  supply  of  the  Great  Falls  system  in  case  of  its 
own  interruption.  Since  the  two  systems  develop  widely 
separated  watersheds,  an  insufficiency  of  water  for  one 
seldom  finds  the  other  similarly  embarrassed. 

Of  special  interest  is  the  extremely  high  load  factor  of 
the  Great  Falls  lines  and  system.  Measured  365  days  a 
year  on  the  24-hour  basis,  the  system  load  factor  has  aver- 
aged above  86  per  cent.  ■  A  power  factor  of  nearly  unity  is 
maintained  on  the  Rainbow 
switchboard,  since,  as  already 
pointed  out,  the  line  capacity 
about  neutralizes  the  lagging 
characteristics  of  the  induction 
motor  load,  while  the  synchro- 
nous machines  in  the  Anaconda 
company's  compressor  plant  ca:i 
be  adjusted  to  preserve  the  bal- 
ance closely. 

MINE    HOISTING    WITH    COM- 
PRESSED   AIR. 

This  compressor  plant  sup- 
plies air  at  90  lb.  pressure  for 
operating  the  hoists  of  a  num- 
ber of  mines  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. There  are  three  1200-hp  Westinghouse  2300-volt 
synchronous  motors  direct-connected  to  drive  at  75  r.p.m. 
three  Nordberg  cross-compound  air  compressors.  With 
fields  over-excited  at  120  amp  direct  current,  these  machines 
are  ordinarily  operated  at  unity  power  factor.  The  air  is 
stored  as  compressed  in  a  series  of  huge  steel  tanks,  10  ft. 
in   diameter  and  57  ft.   in  height.     Part  of  these  receivers 


are  located  at  the  bottom  of  a  hill,  while  200  ft.  above  them 
an  open  water  tank  is  connected  to  the  system  so  that  a 
constant  pressure  of  about  90  lb.  is  maintained  on  the 
receivers,  the  water  flowing  down  to  take  the  place  of  the 
air  as  the  latter  is  used  for  hoisting.  Excess  air  is  dis- 
charged by  an  automatic  relief  valve  into  the  "mine  sys- 
tem," from  which  drills  and  other  apparatus  are  operated. 
Each  compressor  handles  7500  cu.  ft.  of  free  air  per  minute. 
The  mine-hoist  air  engines  average  2000  hp  to  3500  hp  in 
nominal  rating.  The  present  compressor  plant,  itself  total- 
ing only  3600  hp,  is  operating  six  of  these  hoists,  and  with 
the  large  number  of  additional  engines  now  being  installed 
the  completed  si.x-compressor  station  will  be  able  to  operate 
about  twenty-five  hoist  engines,  representing  a  diversity 
factor  of  8  to  10  between  motors  and  skips.  An  over-all 
efficiency  of  40  per  cent  is  asserted  for  the  air-hoist  system, 
measuring  from  electrical  energy  to  rock  hoisted.  As  suc- 
cessive chambers  of  the  mines  are  exhausted  of  ore  they 
are  back-filled  for  support  and  for  disposal  of  the  waste 
rock.  The  lowering  of  this  material  into  the  mines  allows 
the  engines  to  act  as  compressors,  returning  air  to  the 
system,  and  so  contributes  to  the  efficiency  of  operation. 

Mr.  Max  Hebgen  is  general  manager  of  the  Great  Falls 
Power  Company,  Mr.  Frank  Scotten  is  superintendent  at 
Great  Falls,  and  Mr.  H.  H.  Cochrane  is  electrical  engineer. 


VARIABLE-HEAD  HYDROELECTRIC  PLANT  AT 
ELDORA,  lA. 


Counteracting  Variations  in  Hydraulic  Head  by  Utili- 
zation of  Surplus  Water  During  Flood  Period. 

Tl  IE  turbine  equipment  in  the  hydroelectric  plant  of  the 
Park  Dam  Company  at  Eldora,  la.,  operates  under 
a  normal  working  head  of  ro.5  ft.  The  stream 
flow  is  such  that  variations  ranging  from  2  ft.  to  6  ft.  are 
encountered.  Provision  has  therefore  been  made  for  main- 
taining constant  voltage  at  the  generators  notwithstanding 
a  variation  of  10  per  cent  in  their  speed.  The  exciters  are 
driven  by  quarter-turn  belts  and  different-sized  pulleys  are 
employed  to  drive  these  machines  at  increased  speed  when 
the  turbine  speed  decreases.  For  instan'ce,  when  the  work- 
ing head  is  reduced  a  smaller  pulley  is  put  on  the  exciters, 
*thus  increasing  the  voltage  on  the  main  generator  field  coils 
and  maintaining  constant  the  generator  emf.  It  is  said  that 
this  plan  does  not  affect  the  service  with  the  exception  of 
the  induction  motors  on  the  line;  a   10  per  cent  reduction 


Fig.    1 — Plant   and    Dam    at    Eldora,    la. 

in  speed  of  these  machines  as  long  as  the  voltage  is  main- 
tained has  no  undesirable  effect,  it  is  claimed. 

During  flood  periods  the  water  reaches  a  height  of  3.5  ft. 
over  the  crest  of  the  dam  and  piles  up  to  a  greater  height 
below  the  dam,  thereby  decreasing  the  effective  head  to  as 
low  as  4  ft.  in  extreme  cases.  The  company  has  installed 
a  special  by-pass  equipment  designed  to  increase  the  velocity 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


43 


of  discliarge  of  the  water  from  the  turbines,  or  rather  to 
lower  the  counter  head  at  the  turbine  outlet.  For  this 
purpose  use  is  made  of  water  flowing  under  the  full  head 
at  the  dam  directed  so  as  to  force  forward  the  back  water, 
which  otherwise  would  be  excessive.  On  either  side  of  the 
discharge  tubes  are  placed  two  pipes  24  ft.  in  length,  vary- 
ing in  diameter  from  36  in.  at  the  intake  to   18  in.  at  the 


shaped  bearing  underneath  the  waterwheel  which  comes 
into  play  in  case  of  failure  of  the  top  bearing,  and  two 
ball  bearings,  one  above  and  the  other  below  the  revolving 
field  structure. 

The  waterwheels  were  made  by  the  Trump  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  Springfield.  Ohio ;  the  generators  by  the 
Electrical  Machinery  Company,  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  and 
the  compensating  governors  by  the  Woodward  Governor 
Company,  Rockford,  111.  The  plant  was  designed  by  Mr. 
A.  H.  Latimer,  general  manager  of  the  Park  Dam  Com- 
pany, under  whose  supervision  the  construction  work  on 
the  dam  generating  station  and  hydroelectric  equipment 
was  done. 


DEVELOPING  A  UNIQUE  IDAHO  WATER-POWER. 


Harnessing  181-ft.  Head  of  the  "  Thousand  Springs  " 

Beneath  Lava  Outflow,  and  Construction 

of  3,000-hp  Plant. 


Fig.  2 — Umbrella-Type  Generator  and   Belt-Connected   Exciter. 

discharge.  During  flood  times  some  of  the  surplus  water 
is  passed  through  these  pipes  to  increase  the  velocity  of  the 
water    discharging    from    the    turbines.      The    scheme    has 


^^^_        /J \  Tail  WamrLeyel-^ 


Toil  Race 


Fig.   3 — Cross-Section   of   Station. 

proved  successful  to  the  e.xtent  of  adding  from  2  ft.  to  3  ft. 
to  the  effective  working  head. 

Under  normal  conditions  the  flow  of  the  stream  is  about 
200  cu.  ft.  per  second  ;  the  maximum  reaches  about  700  and 
the  minimum  about  70.  The  equipment  installed  at  present 
has  a  rating  of  300  hp.  The  generators  are  of  the  um- 
brella  type   provided  with   three  bearings,   one   spherically 


PRACTICALLY  the  whole  State  of  Idaho  and  parts  or 
Utah  and  Nevada  are  overlaid  with  a  great  lava  shee' 
which  covers  the  sedimentary  country  rock  in  place- 
to  a  depth  of  several  hundred  feet.  This  lava  rock,  now 
hardened  and  more  or  less  impervious  to  water,  lies  on  a 
sandstone  equally  impervious.  But  in  the  plane  of  contact 
between  these  two  formations  underground  streams  are 
collected  and  flow  for  miles  without  meeting  the  light  of 
day. 

In  southwestern  Idaho,  where  the  Snake  River  has  cut  its 
channel  more  than  300  ft.  deep  through  first  the  lOj-ft. 
surface  layer  of  igneous  lava  outflow,  and  then  through 
the  softer  sedimentary  rocks  for  200  ft.  more,  egress  is 
permitted  for  one  of  these  underground  rivers  in  a  curious 
way.  For  a  distance  of  nearly  half  a  mile  along  the  side 
of  the  canyon  the  water  pours  out  into  view  from  the  plane 
of  the  lava  contact,  forming  the  famous  Thousand  Springs, 

which  originally  appeared  as 
shown  in  Fig,  i.  The  source  of 
the  water  itself  is  unknown  and 
certainly  is  not  within  100  miles 
of  the  point  where  it  emerges 
from  its  underground  channel. 
The  stream  has  an  average  flow 
of  about  750  cu.  ft.  per  second 
and  is  very  uniform  in  char- 
acter, varying  little  during  the 
seasons  of  the  year.  From  the 
level  where  it  emerges,  100  ft. 
below  the  top  of  the  canyon,  a 
head  of  181  ft.  is  available  down 
to  the  Snake  River,  which  flows 
below,  and  here  a  3000-hp 
water-power  plant  is  now  being 
constructed,  with  provision  for 
future  extensions  to  12,000  hp 
to  utilize  the  full  flow  of  the 
Springs. 

Many  different  attempts  have 
been  made  in  earlier  years  to 
collect  and  utilize  the  flow  from 
the  Thousand  Springs,  but  with- 
out success,  owing  to  the  pecu- 
liar nature  of  the  problem,  tlie 
difficulty  of  foundationing  struc- 
tures on  the  side  of  the  clifif  and  the  long  contact  outlet  of 
the  water.  The  final  solution,  carried  out  in  connection  with 
the  present  development,  was  the  erection  of  a  concrete 
canal  wall  on  the  side  of  the  cliff  at  the  outflow  level.  This 
wall  is  400  ft.  long  and  in  places  16  ft.  high.  It  forms  a 
canal  20  ft.  wide,  whose  other  side  is  the  native  clifT  and  in 
which  the  water  from  the  numerous  spring  outlets  is  col- 


'^^m^- 


44 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


lected.  At  one  end  for  a  distance  of  150  ft.  the  canal  is 
widended  out  to  40  ft.,  forming  a  forebay  opening  to  the 
penstocks  which  are  to  convey  water  to  the  power  house 
beneath.  The  construction  of  this  wall  was  especially  diffi- 
cult, both  on  account  of  its  precarious  foundationing  on  the 
side  of  the  canyon  and  owing  to  the  provisions  which  had  to 
be  made  for  cofferdams  to  hold  back  the  water  from  the 


nearly  200  ft.  below.  Though  the  Thousand  Springs  develop- 
ment is  capable  of  providing  12,000  hp,  the  initial  machinery 
to  be  installed  will  comprise  only  two  1500-hp  units.  Spiral 
scroll-case  Pelton-Francis  waterwheels,  operating  under  the 
head  of  181  ft.,  will  drive  Westinghouse  2300-volt,  6o-cycle, 
three-phase  alternators.  No  gate  valves  will  be  provided 
for  the  penstock  tubes,  but  quick-closing  headgates  will  be 


Fig. 


1 — Thousand    Springs, 
Height, 


Idaho.    Before 
181    Ft. 


Development. 


concrete  forms  during  building.  There  was  no  way  of 
shutting  off  the  flow,  of  course,  and  the  water  had  to  be 
deflected  while  the  concrete  was  setting.  Other  difficulties 
were  experienced  in  sealing  off  the  ends  of  the  contact 
crevice  to  prevent  the  water  from  finding  its  way  out  at  the 


Fig.    2 — Forebay    Wall    Erected    at    Flow-Level    Contact    of    Lava 
Sheet  and   Sand   Stratum. 

sides.  Although  the  present  is  but  a  partial  installation,  the 
canal  wall  as  initially  built  is  provided  with  two  spillways, 
totaling  90  ft.  in  length,  which  is  ample  to  discharge  the 
entire  flow  from  the  underground  river. 

From  the  canal  wall,  which  is  itself  100  ft.  below  the 
surrounding  surface,  two  42-in.  steel  penstocks  will  convey 
water   down   to  the  power  house  at  the   foot   of   the   cliff, 


Fig.    3 — Plant    Under   Construction,    Canal    Wall    and    Penstock 
Openings. 

inserted  at  the  tops  of  the  pipes.  These  headgates  will  be 
hoisted  by  worm-geared  motors,  although  it  will  be  possible 
to  close  the  gates  almost  instantaneously  from  the  power- 
house floor,  by  means  of  a  tripping  rope  allowing  the  gates 
to  fall  shut. 

From  the  alternators  the  emf  of  the  2300-volt,  60-cycle 
energy  will  be  stepped  up  to  40,000  volts  for  transmission 
to  Idaho  points,  where  the  energy  will  be  chiefly  used  for 
irrigation  pumping.  The  hydroelectric  site  is  8  miles  south 
of  Windell,  Idaho,  on  the  Snake  River.  Fig.  3  shows  the 
steel  frame  of  the  power  house  complete.  Machinery  is 
now  being  installed,  and  the  plant  is  expected  to  be  ready 
for  operation  by  July  i  of  this  year.  The  present  develop- 
ment is  being  made  by  the  Thousand  Springs  Power  Com- 
pany, of  which  Mr.  Lafayette  Hanchett,  of  Salt  Lake  City, 
LTtah,  is  general  manager,  and  Mr.  O.  H.  Gray,  also  of 
Salt  Lake,  is  engineer. 


ALUMINUM 


CONDUCTORS       FOR 
TRANSMISSION  LINES. 


OVERHEAD 


European   Experience   with  Aluminum — Saving   of  36 

per  Cent  in  Cost  of  Conductor — Engineering  Data 

with  Particular  Reference  to  British  Practice. 


T 


By  Ch.\rles  L.  Johnson. 

HE  main  object  of  this  article  is  to  describe  British 
practice  in  the  use  of  aluminum  conductors  for 
overhead  transmission  lines  and  to  indicate  the 
extent  of  their  adoption  in  the  United  Kingdom,  but  some 
preceding  remarks  on  the  relative  position  of  aluminum  and 
copper  from  a  commercial  standpoint  will  not  be  out  of 
place.  An  estimate  of  the  saving  to  be  effected  in  first 
cost  by  the  use  of  aluminum  can  readily  be  made.  A  hard- 
drawn  aluminum  wire  has  61  per  cent  of  the  conductivity 
of  a  hard-drawn  copper  wire  of  the  same  size,  and,  there- 
fore, an  aluminum  wire  or  cable  must  have  1.64  times  the 
sectional  area,  and  consequently  1.28  times  the  diameter, 
of  the  equivalent  cop^jer  cable.  As  the  specific  gravity  of 
aluminum  wire  is  only  2.71,  as  against  8.95  for  copper 
wire,  the  aluminum  cable  will  weigh  one-half  the  equivalent 
copper   cable. 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


45 


For  the  last  eight  or  ten  months  the  average  market 
quotations  in  the  United  States  for  the  two  metals  have 
been,  aluminum  21  cents  per  pound,  and  copper  13  cents 
per  pound.  The  expenses  for  drawing  into  wire  are,  of 
course,  larger  per  pound  for  aluminum  than  for  copper, 
and  the  average  normal  cost  of  hard-drawn  wire  may  be 
taken  as  27  cents  per  pound  for  the  former  and  15  cents 
per  pound  for  the  latter.  On  the  basis  of  these  prices  it 
will  be  found  by  simple  arithmetic  that  any  bare  aluminum 
conductor  will  cost  10  per  cent  less  than  the  equivalent 
copper  conductor.  Although  several  aluminum  lines  have 
been  erected  in  the  United  States,  it  is  found  in  general 
that  the  comparatively  small  saving  is  largely  offset  by  the 
increased  height  and  cost  of  the  towers  for  the  aluminum 
line,  and  consequently  there  is  little  inducement  for  the 
American' engineer  to  adopt  the  new  metal.  Matters  are 
somewhat  different,  however,  in  Europe  and  Canada. 

The  American,  European  and  Canadian  quotations  for 
copper  are  practically  identical  and  may  be  taken  at  present 
at  12.5  cents  per  pound.  The  European  and  Canadian  quo- 
tation for  aluminum,  however,  is  only  13  cents  per  pound 
as  against  21  cents  in  the  United  States.  In  these  countries, 
therefore,  the  prices  for  hard-drawn  wire  are  approximate- 
ly 19  cents  and  15  cents  per  pound  for  aluminum  and  cop- 
per respectively,  with  the  result  that  the  substitution  of 
aluminum  for  copper  effects  a  saving  of  over  36  per  cent. 


consider  that  the  gain  in  business  from  electrical  quarters 
would  compensate  for  the  loss  of  profit  in  other  fields  con- 
sequent upon  such  a  reduction. 

In  Europe,  however,  as  has  been  shown,  the  use  of 
aluminum  effects  a  saving  of  36  per  cent  in  the  cost  of 
conductors  with  copper  at  a  comparatively  low  figure,  and 
advantage  is  being  taken  of  this  saving  by  a  large  number 
of  engineers  in  many  countries,  and  particularly  in  the 
United  Kingdom  and  in  France. 

Contrary  to  the  generally  expressed  opinion,  the  condi- 
tions of  British  overhead  transmission  lines  are  as  favor- 
able to  the  substitution  of  aluminum  for  copper  as  in  any 
other  country.  With  the  comparatively  low  transmission 
pressures  employed,  a  fairly  heavy  conductor,  cheap  insu- 
lators and  short  spans  with  cheap  creosoted  wooden  poles 
are  usual,  and  consequently  the  cost  of  the  conductors  is  a 
very  substantial  proportion  of  the  total  cost  of  the  line, 
sometimes  as  high  as  60  per  cent.  Thus,  considering  capital 
cost  only,  the  use  of  aluminum  for  the  conductors  may 
result  in  a  saving  of  some  20  per  cent  on  the  total  cost  of 
the  line,  including  erection  but  excluding  rights-of-way. 
The  chief  reasons  why  aluminum  is  not  already  employed 
in  the  United  Kingdom  to  a  greater  extent  than  it  is  are 
undoubtedly  the  general  conservatism  of  the  average  British 
engineer  and  the  fact  that  much  publicity  was  given  to 
some  very  unsatisfactory  results  obtained  by  one  important 


'  TABLE    I. DETAILS    OF    SOME    BRITISH    OVERHEAD    LINES    WITH    ALUMINUM    CONDUCTORS. 


War  Office,  Aldershot 

War  Office.  Aldershot 

War  Office.  Aldershot 

Newton.  Chambers  &  Co..  Birdwell,  Yorkshire 

Weardale  Coal  &  Steel  Co.,  Spennymore,  Durham 

Glantawe  Electric  Supply  Co.,  Ystradgynlais,  Glamorg 

Lyme  Regis  Electricity  Works,  Lyme  Regis,  Dorset 

Bolckow,  Vaughan  &  Co.,  FerryhiU,  Yorkshire 

Langton  Colliery.  Newcastle-on-Tyne 

Langton  Colliery.  Newcastle-on-Tyne 

LeadhiUs  Co.,  Ltd.,  Leadhills,  N.  B.,  Wales 

British  Aluminium  Co.,  Foyers.  N.  B.,  Wales 

Associated  Portland  Cement  Manufacturers,  Ltd.,  Hailing,  Kent 
Associated  Portland  Cement  Manufacturers,  Ltd.,  Hailing,  Kent 
Urban  Electric  Supply  Co  ,  Berwick-on-Tweed 

Craighead  &  Bothwell  Castle  Collieries,  Glasgow 

Cammell.  Laird  &  Co.,  Birkenhead,  Tranmere  Shipyard 

Cork  Electric  Tramways  &  Light  Co.,  Cork.  Ireland 


Year 
Erected. 


1910 
1911 
1911 
1910 
1910 

1910 

1907 
1908 
1909 
1911 

1909 

1899 
1905 
1906 
1909 

1910 

1908 
1910 


Length 

in 
Miles. 


2.6 
0.6 
5.0 
1.7 
3.0 

15.0 


3.2 
1.1 

l.I 

2.3 

0.8 
0.9 
I.O 
1.0 


0.4 
1.0 


Span 

Average 

Number 

Section 

m 

Height 

of  Con- 

per Con- 

Feet. 

of  Pole. 

ductor. 

ductor. 
0.025 

200 

34 

4 

200 

34 

4 

O.OS 

200 

34 

4 

0.1 

120 

30 

2 

1.4 

120 

34 

3 

0.16 

/    90 
t  ISO 

31 

2&4 

variou 

120 

vari 

ous — up 

120 

3 

0.15 

120 

3 

0.125 

120 

3 

0.115 

70 

3 

0.105 

105 

2 

0.113 

450 

2 

0.31 

450 

2 

0.095 

150 

2 

0.245 

f210 
t  150 

3 

0.038 

60 

4 

0.67 

120 

1 

0.17 

Number 
of  Wires 


Strand. 


7 
19 
19 
37 
19 

I  s  up  to 

to  0.1  sq. 

1 
1 
7 

1 

1 

37 
1 
37 


61 

7 


Diame- 
ter of 
Each 
Wire, 
Inches. 


0.072 

0.072 

0.08 

0.222 

0.104 


Pressure 


0.365 

0.385 
0.104 
0.348 
0.092 


3000,  a.c. 
3000,  a.c. 
3000,  a.c. 
600,  d.c. 
3000,  a.c. 


71.159     240, d. 

in.        llO.d.- 

0.44  I     

0.4  I   5500, a.c 

0.144  I   5500, a.c 


250,  d.c. 
250,  d,c. 
500,  d.c 


0.128    6600,  a.c. 


0.118 
0.176 


440,  d.c. 
550. d.c. 


It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  addition  of  an  American 
duty  of  7  cents  per  pound  on  imported  aluminum  to  the 
European  figure  of  13  cents  brings  the  price  up  to  20  cents, 
and  that,  allowing  i  cent  for  transportation  charges,  the 
total  price  of  imported  aluminum  is  brought  up  to  21  cents, 
which  is  the  market  quotation  for, the  home-produced  metal. 
From  these  figures  one  is  forced  to  the  conclusion,  assuming 
that  labor  and  establishment  costs  are  approximately  the 
same  as  in  Europe,  that  the  home  manufacturers  maintain 
the  price  of  the  metal  at  a  far  higher  figure  than  that  at 
which  it  could  be  produced  and  sold  with  profit.  It  is, 
indeed,  known  that  American  manufacturers  have  offered 
hard-drawn  aluminum  wire  in  Canada  at  21  cents  per 
pound,  the  corresponding  figure  in  America  being  27  cents. 
A  government  rebate  may  be  partly  responsible  for  this, 
however.  As  imported  aluminum  could  not  be  sold  at  a 
profit  for  less  than  21  cents  and  27  cents  per  pound  for  bar 
and  wire  respectively,  it  appears  that  the  American  price 
is  regulated  by  the  duty-paid  price  of  the  foreign  article. 
A  reduction  in  the  price  would  enable  home  manufacturers 
to  gain  large  orders  for  aluminum  for  electrical  purposes, 
without  fear  of  competition  from  the  imported  metal  in 
that  or  other  fields,  but  doubtless  the  manufacturers  do  not 


concern  with  aluminum  lines  erected  many  years  ago,  the 
troubles  with  which  were  traced  to  the  use  of  solid  wires 
of  doubtful  purity.  There  is,  at  any  rate,  a  deeply  rooted 
reserve  on  the  part  of  many  influential  British  engineers 
regarding  the  introduction  of  aluminum,  prompted  chiefly 
by  a  feeling  of  insecurity  and  an  uncertainty  as  to  the 
durability  of  aluminum  lines  as  compared  with  copper  lines. 
It  may  here  be  pointed  out  that  in  the  case  of  long- 
distance transmission  at  very  high  pressures  the  extra  cost 
of  the  insulator  makes  very  long  spans  more  economical, 
and  then  the  cost  of  the  insulators  and  towers  is  so  great  as 
to  make  the  cost  of  the  conductors  a  comparatively  small 
proportion  of  the  total  cost.  This,  combined  with  the  fact 
that  the  towers  must  be  some  10  per  cent  higher  with 
aluminum  cables  in  consequence  of  their  greater  sag.  and 
wider  on  account  of  the  greater  spacing  to  prevent  touching 
when  swinging  in  a  gale,  results  in  the  saving  effected 
by  the  use  of  aluminum  being  reduced  to  only  from  4  to  6 
per  cent,  as  shown  by  the  official  publications  of  the  Ontario 
Hydro-Electric  Commission.  A  careful  analysis  of  the 
figures  of  cost  contained  in  these  volumes  shows  that,  in 
the  case  of  the  main  line  to  Toronto,  consisting  of  two 
three-phase  circuits  each  comprising  three  No.  4-0  B.  &  S 


46 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


cables,  the  six  cables  cost  $1,450  per  mile  as  compared  with 
$2,050  per  mile  for  copper  cables  (copper  wire  at  16  cents 
per  pound  and  aluminum  at  23.5  cents  per  pound),  showing 
a  saving  of  nearly  30  per  cent  on  the  cables  alone.  This 
saving  was  reduced  to  5.6  per  cent  only  on  the  total  cost 
of  the  line,  partly  because  the  actual  towers  weighed  1.72 
tons  as  against  1.57  tons  for  towers  for  an  equivalent  cop- 
per line,  and  partly  because  the  cost  of  the  cables  was  only 
30  per  cent  of  the  total  cost  of  the  line,  including  erection 
but  excluding  rights-of-way. 

It  has  been  stated  that  one  of  the  chief  reasons  for  the 
use  of  aluminum  in  preference  to  copper  for  the  above 
lines  was  the  lower  corona  loss  with  aluminum  conductors. 
At  the  high  pressure  employed,  namely,  110,000  volts,  the 
section  of  conductor  for  copper  was  so  small  as  to  approach 
the  limit  at  which  the  corona  loss  becomes  very  consider- 
able, and  the  28  per  cent  greater  diameter  of  the  equivalent 
aluminum  cable  was,  therefore,  an  important  advantage. 
As  the  corona  loss  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  the 
difficulties  to  be  overcome  in  future  lines  at  very  high 
pressures,  this  advantage  of  aluminum  will  necessarily 
carry  great  weight. 

There  are  at  present  some  thirty  transmission  lines  vifith 
aluminum  conductors  in  operation  in  the  United  Kingdom. 
Particulars  of  some  of  these  are  given  in  Table  I.  It  will 
be  noticed  that  the  pressures  are  comparatively  low  and 
the  spans  short.  The  first  four  lines  in  Table  I  may  be 
taken  as  representative  of  British  practice.  The  first- 
mentioned  line  at  Aldershot  was  erected  for  the  British 
War  Office  according  to  the  specifications  of  Messrs.  Ken- 
nedy &  Jenkin,  the  consulting  engineers.  This  line  is  of 
particular  interest  in  so  far  as  it  is  the  first  instance  within 
the  writer's  knowledge  of  the  Board  of  Trade  (the  British 
government  authority  for  the  public  safety,  etc.)  permitting 
a  high-tension  overhead  line  on  a  public  road.  It  is  a  three- 
phase  line  constructed  in  three  lengths  of  different  size  and 
operated  at  3300  volts.  It  is  carried  for  a  total  distance 
of  7.5  miles  over  natural  moorland  which  is  very  rough 
and  uneven  in  parts.  Four  wires  have  been  erected,  one 
being  held  in  reserve  which  can  readily  be  switched  in  by 
suitable  change-over  switchgear  at  both  ends  of  the  line  in 
the  event  of  the  breakdown  of  any  one  conductor.  The 
average  height  of  the  poles  is  34  ft.  and  the  average  span 
198  ft.  The  conductors,  particulars  of  which  are  given  in 
Table  I,  are  spaced  4  ft.  and  5  ft.  apart.  The  wooden  poles 
were  creosoted  to  the  British  Post  Office  standard  specifica- 
tion and  are  of  the  A  type.  Each  member  is  approximately 
7  in.  diameter  at  the  top  and  9.5  in.  at  5  ft.  from  the  bottom. 
The  cross-arms  are  of  rolled  channel  iron.  Use  is  made  of 
a  longitudinal  steel  earth  wire  above  the  conductor  and 
horn-gaps  and  "kicking"  coils  for  protection  against  light- 
ning. There  is  also  an  elaborate  arrangement  of  cradle 
wires  to  catch  and  earth  the  high-tension  conductors  in  the 
event  of  a  break.  L^se  is  made  of  the  inverted  type  of 
terminal  sealing  boxes  for  connecting  the  line  conductors 
to  underground  paper-insulated  armored  cables. 

Table  II  shows  the  sags  and  tensions  in  the  conductors 

TABLE    II. SAGS    AND    TENSIONS    AT    VARIOUS    TEMPERATURES. 


Temperature 
in  Deg.  Fahr. 


Sag  on  200-ft. 
Span. 


Tension  in  Cable  in  Pounds. 


Cables. 


O.OS  Sq.  In. 
Cables. 


0.025  Sq.  In, 
Cables. 


40 

2  ft.  S  in 

2S0 

125 

65 

60 

2  ft.  9  in. 

220 

110 

55 

80 

3  ft.  1  in. 

195 

100 

50 

insulators  so  that  the  weld  was  in  a  loop  of  cable  not  under 
strain. 

One  particular  feature  of  line  No.  2  of  Table  I  is  the 
exceptional  size  of  the  conductor,  namely,  1.4  sq.  in. 
(1,781,672  circ.  mils)  section,  which  necessitated  a  very 
heavy  "H"  pole  construction.  The  wooden  poles  are  30  ft. 
and  32  ft.  in  height  and  are  spaced  120  ft.  apart.  The  line 
is  worked  at  600  volts  direct  current  and  has  a  load  of  about 
550  hp.  It  is  carried  through  large  works  and  then  over 
wooded  agricultural  land.  The  total  cost  of  this  was  about 
$6,000  per  mile  as  compared  with  $9,000  per  mile  for  an 
equivalent  copper  line.  An  interesting  feature  of  this  line 
is  the  use  of  mechanical  joints,  as  illustrated  herewith. 
The  two  outer  layers  and  the  core  of  the  stranded  aluminum 


specified  by  the  consulting  engineers  for  different  tempera- 
tures. All  the  joints  on  this  line  were  welded  and  made 
only  at  poles,  the  two  ends  being  brought  up  to  adjacent 


Mechanical    Cone-Type    Joint    for    1.4-sq.    in.    Cable. 

cable  are  severally  gripped  between  a  series  of  annular 
cones  also  of  aluminum  to  avoid  the  corrosion  due  to  con- 
tact with  other  metals.  Aluminum  bonds  are  provided  be- 
tween the  two  halves  of  the  joint,  but  these  are  probably 
an  unnecessary  precaution.  The  two  halves  of  the  joint 
are  held  together  by  four  enameled  steel  bolts  and  the 
whole  is  painted  with  a  preservative  compound.  These 
joints,  contrary  to  the  usual  British  practice,  were  placed 
under  strain  in  the  span,  and  they  have  been  found  to  be 
able  to  withstand  a  very  heavy  tension  without  slackening, 
and  are  proving  to  be  altogether  successful  for  such  heavy 
conductors. 

In  line  No.  3  the  poles  are  from  34  ft.  to  55  ft.  high  and 
are  spaced  120  ft.  apart.  They  are  7  in.  diameter  at  the  top 
and  10  in.  at  5  ft.  from  the  bottom.  A  sag  of  2  ft.  3  in. 
was  allowed  at  60  deg.  Fahr.  The  line  is  operated  at  3000 
volts  and  runs  along  colliery  sidings.  It  cost  about  $2,500 
per  mile.  Guard  wires  are  provided  where  the  line  crosses 
the  colliery  yard.  Mechanical  cone-type  joints,  as  shown 
in  the  accompanying  illustration,  are  used  in  this  line,  but 
in  this  case  are  not  under  strain. 

Line  No.  4  is  a  particularly  interesting  overhead  distribu- 
tion system  erected  for  the  Glentawe  Electric  Supply  Com- 
pany at  Ystradgynlais,  in  Wales.  This,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  above  lines,  was  erected  by  the  British  Insulated  & 
Helsby  Cables,  Ltd.,  and  has  the  distinction  of  being  the 
first  complete  overhead  distributing  network  in  aluminum 
to  be  put  up  in  the  United  Kingdom.  These  lines  have 
been  at  work  for  about  twelve  months  and  the  results  ob- 
tained have  been  uniformly  good.  There  are  some  15  miles 
of  route  on  this  network  with  conductors  ranging  from 
seven  0.159  stranded  cable  to  No.  14  solid  wire.  The  spans 
range  from  90  ft.  to  150  ft.  and  the  poles  from  30  ft.  to 
36  ft.  These  lines  run  along  country  roads  and  are  oper- 
ated at  240  volts  direct  current.  It  is  noteworthy  that  there 
are  here  in  use  nearly  3  miles  of  Nos.  14  and  12  hard- 
drawn  aluminum  solid  wire,  this  being  the  first  time  such 
small  conductors  have  been  used  with  success.  All  of  the 
joints  on  this  system  were  made  at  insulators  and  were 
married  and  bound,  this  method  being  quite  suitable  for 
small  conductors.  These  lines  have  held  up  through  several 
gales  and  have  withstood  a  good  deal  of  frost  and  snow 
without  any  measurable  increase  in  sag. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  in  each  of  the  four  lines  described 
wooden  poles  are  used.  These  poles  are  well  seasoned  and 
thoroughly  creosoted  before  use  and  such  poles  have  been 
found  to  have  a  life  of  from  twentv  to  forty  vears  accord- 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


47 


ing  to  the  nature  of  the  soil  in  which  they  are  placed.  Steel 
lattice  or  tubular  poles  with  longer  spans  are  employed  in 
some  instances,  but  in  general  the  wooden  poles  with  short 
spans  are  more  economical  for  the  comparatively  low- 
pressure  work  carried  out  in  the  United  Kingdom. 

Steel  poles  for  transmission  lines  are  not  likely  to  come 
into  common  use  in  the  United  Kingdom  for  various  rea- 
sons: First,  rights-of-way  are  ditTicult  to  obtain.  This 
causes  the  lines  to  zigzag  considerably  and  makes  short 
spans  inevitable  (very  few  exceed  240  ft.)  ;  with  short 
spans  the  wooden  poles  are  sufficiently  strong.  Secondly, 
creosoted  wooden  poles  withstand  the  atmospheric  condi- 
tions in  the  United  Kingdom  better  than  steel  and  are 
cheaper  to  maintain ;  in  the  United  Kingdom  steel  poles 
need  repainting  every  third  year  because  of  the  smoke  and 
damp. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  in  addition  to  the 
use  of  aluminum  for  overhead  lines  British  engineers  are 
already  adopting  this  metal  for  many  other  electrical  pur- 
poses. In  the  Manchester  and  other  large  electricity  works 
aluminum  busbars  are  largely  used,  and  bare  and  insulated 
underground  cables  of  aluminum  are  employed  in  several 
instances. 


ELECTRICITY  IN  THE   DEPARTMENT  STORE. 


Engineering  and  Cost  Data  for  Illumination  and  Motors 
Based  Upon  Central-Station  Service. 

By  E.  F.  Tweedy. 
/~T-vHE  diversity  of  uses  to  which  electricity  is  applied  in 
_£  the  modern  department  store  is  almost  comparable 
with  the  diversity  of  the  lines  of  merchandise  han- 
dled by  a  store  of  this  character.  Besides  its  use  for  light- 
ing purposes  and  for  the  operation  of  elevators,  electricity 
is  usually  employed  in  this  class  of  buildings  for  operating 
ventilating  fans,  for  pumping  water,  for  running  sewing- 
machines,  for  conveying  packages  and  for  operating  a 
large  number  of  small  motors  that  are  applied  to  a  great 
variety  of  uses.  It  is  frequently  employed  for  operating 
the  cash-carrier  system  and  occasionally  for  operating  the 
compressor  and  the  brine-circulating  pump  of  the  refrig- 
erating plant  which  now  usually  forms  part  of  the  mechan- 
ical equipment  of  the  modern  department  store.  A  list  of 
the  various  motors  in  a  certain  representative  department 
store  is  given  below,  and  it  clearly  shows  the  diversity  of 
the  uses  to  which  the  electric  motor  is  applied  in  a  store  of 
this  character. 

ELECTRIC-MOTOR    EQUIPMENT    OF   A    LARGE    DEPARTMENT    STORE. 


Forty-three  115-anip  elevatore 

Two  75-ainp  elevators. 

One  1-hp  mangle. 

One  i-hp  mangle. 

One  10-hp  drive. 

One  2-hp  drive. 

One  1-hp  laundry  machine. 

One  17i-hp  fan. 

Three  I6-hp  fans. 

Two  13-hp  fans. 

One  12-hp  fan. 

One  1 1-hp  fan. 

One  10-hp  fan. 

Two  8-hp  fans. 

One  2i-hp  fan. 

One  1-hp  exhaust  fan. 

Five  6-hp  dumbwaiters. 


One  i-hp  drill. 
Two  2-hp  dish-washers. 
Two  10-hp  compressors. 
One  7^-hp  compressor. 
Five  1-15-hp  hair-dryers. 
Two  2-hp  ice  cream  freezers. 
One  2-hp  ice-chopper. 
One  i-hp  carbonator. 
Five  3-hp  air- washers. 
Four  2-hp  air-washers. 
One  .3-hp  saw. 
Two  .S-hp  sump  pumps. 
One  20-hp  pump. 
Two  10-hp  pumps. 
One  2-hp  pump. 
One  50-hp  fire  pump. 
One  15-hp  ammonia  pump. 


Fifty-one  1-7-hp  sewing  machines.  One  1 -hp  emery  wheel. 

Eight  1-8-hp  sewing  machines.  One  5-hp  jiaper  baler. 

One  1-hp  carpet  sewing  machine.  One  3i-hp  package  conveyor. 

One  1-hp  buffer.  One  2J-hp  package  conveyor. 

One  ^-hp  buffer.  One  1  J -hp  package  conveyor. 

One  ^-hp  blower.  Two  J-hp  package  conveyors. 

One  J-hp  lathe.  Five  i-hp  package  conveyors. 

Total   number   of   motors 177 

Total    horse-power   of    motors 4728 

Entirely  aside  from  the  question  of  the  relative  cost  of 
securing  an  adequate  supply  of  electrical  energy  for  its 
manifold  needs,  a  store  of  this  character  should  use  central- 
station  service  rather  than  depend  upon  a  private  generating 
plant  located  upon  the  premises,  for  the  reason  that  any 
interruption  in  the  supply  of  electrical  energy  is  liable  to 


lead  to  very  serious  consequences  and  is  almost  certain  to 
result,  even  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  in  a 
large  financial  loss.  It  does  not  require  a  great  deal  of 
imagination  to  picture  the  situation  that  would  arise  were 
the  lights  in  a  department  store,  crowded  with  women  and 
children,  to  be  suddenly  extinguished  under  such  conditions 
of  outside  darkness  as  are  present  in  the  late  afternoons 
of  mid-winter.  Even  were  a  panic  avoided  by  the  quick 
restoration  of  the  lights — which  might  be  accomplished  were 
an  emergency  connection  with  the  central  station  available 
— experience  has  shown  that  the  financial  loss  resulting 
from  tlie  thefts  that  occur  during  even  a  ve'ry  short  period 
of  darkness  is  a  sufficiently  serious  matter  from  the  owner's 
point  of  view.  With  the  number  of  connections  usually 
provided  for  this  class  of  buildings  by  the  central  stations 
of  our  large  cities,  the  possibility  of  an  interruption  in  the 
central-station  service  is  now  too  remote  to  warrant  even 
the  slightest  consideration,  which  certainly  cannot  be  said 
of  the  supply  from  a  private  generating  plant,  no  matter 
how  well  designed  and  how  carefully  operated  such  a 
plant  may  be.  The  cost  of  electrical  energy  is  usually 
such  a  small  percentage  of  the  total  operating  costs  of  the 
average  department  store  that  the  owners  of  these  stores 
are  quite  naturally  loath  to  sacrifice  reliability  of  service 
to  an  estimated  saving  that,  at  most,  would  amount  to  an 
extremely  small  percentage  of  the  total  cost  of  operation. 
The  word  "estimated"  is  used  advisedly,  as  it  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  the  estimated  savings  of  a  great  many 
private  generating  plants  are  never  realized  under  condi- 
tions of  actual  operation. 

So  much  for  the  source  from  which  the  supply  of  elec- 
trical energy  is  to  be  obtained.  Attention  will  now  be 
given  to  the  uses  to  which  electricity  is  applied  in  modern 
department  stores  and  to  an  examination  of  certain  data 
relating  to  such  uses.  In  this  connection  the  subject  of 
lighting  will  be  the  first  considered. 

Prior  to  the  introduction  of  the  higher  efficiency  incan- 
descent lamps,  such  as  the  tungsten  and  the  tantalum,  the 
general  lighting  of  department  stores  was  accomplished 
almost  exclusively  by  means  of  arc  lamps.  This  type  of 
lamp  is  still  very  largely  used  for  this  class  of  lighting,  al- 
though there  have  recently  been  some  notable  instances 
where  the  tungsten  lamp  has  been  employed  with  extremely 
satisfactory  results.  The  main  floors  of  department  stores 
are  generally  divided  into  bays,  each  bay  usually  having  an 
area  of  400  sq.  ft.  to  600  sq.  ft.  The  custom  has  been  to 
install  an  arc  lamp  in  the  center  of  each  of  these  bays,  there- 
by making  the  watts  per  square  foot  range  from  about 
I  to  1.5.  The  resulting  average  illumination  upon  the  plane 
of  the  counters  probably  ranges  for  this  class  of  lighting 
from  slightly  under  2  ft.-candles  to  something  over  3  ft.- 
candles. 

A  large  department  store  recently  erected,  in  which  tung- 
sten lamps  are  used  almost  exclusively  for  lighting,  is 
probably  the  best  lighted,  both  as  regards  quantity  and 
quality  of  light,  of  all  existing  stores  of  this  character.  The 
main  floor  is  lighted  by  means  of  250-watt  tungsten  lamps 
placed  inside  of  14-in.  ground-glass  balls.  These  lights  are 
supported  at  a  distance  of  16  ft.  from  the  floor,  the  height 
of  the  ceiling  being  20  ft.,  and  the  ceiling  outlets  are 
located  approximately  12  ft.  apart.  The  watts  per  square 
foot  for  the  main-floor  bays  are  slightly  over  2,  and  the 
approximate  mean  horizontal  foot-candles  on  a  plane  33  in. 
from  the  floor  with  all  lamps  lighted,  as  shown  by  a  test 
made  upon  a  certain  section  of  the  main  floor,  were  9.3. 
The  usual  practice  is  to  use  only  about  one-half  of  the  total 
lamps  on  this  floor  at  any  one  time,  and  under  these  condi- 
tions the  approximate  mean  foot-candles  for  the  section 
tested  were  5.5.  Even  with  only  one-half  of  the  installation 
in  use,  the  average  illumination  on  the  main  floor  of  this 
department  store  is  probably  at  least  twice  the  average  for 
stores  of  this  type.  In  spite  of  this  100  per  cent  increase 
in  the  quantity  of  illumination,  the  watts  per  square   foot. 


4S 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  \o.  i. 


on  the  basis  of  one-half  of  the  lights  being  used,  are  no 
greater  than  for  the  ordinary  arc-lamp  installation. 

The  writer  has  before  him  figures  showing  the  watts  of 
connected  lighting  installation  per  square  foot  of  gross 
floor  area — which  includes  walls,  partitions,  etc.,  but  ex- 
cludes any  exterior  or  interior  courts — for  a  number  of 
large  department  stores.     The  figures  range  from  a  trifle 


S  S 

oEC 

Is 


100  300  300  400 

Connected  Lighting  Installation  in  Kilowatts 

Fig.    1 — Consumption    of    Electrical    Energy    for    Lighting    In    Four 
Department    Stores,    New    York    City. 

over  1.4  watts  per  square  foot,  in  the  case  of  a  store  where 
tungsten  and  tantalum  lamps  comprise  a  little  over  15  per 
cent  of  the  total  connected  lighting  installation,  to  a  little 
less  than  0.6  watt  per  square  foot  for  a  store  in  which  tung- 
sten and  tantalum  lamps  form  nearly  90  per  cent  of  the 
total  connected  lighting  installation.  The  values  falling 
between  these  limits,  however,  show  a  considerable  amount 
of  variation  from  a  strict  relation  between  this  wattage 
percentage  and  the  number  of  watts  per  square  foot  of 
gross  floor  area. 

When  it  comes  to  the  question  of  hours'  use  per  year  of 
the  total  connected  lighting  installation,  department  stores 


750000 

^ 

T' 

^ 

6U00OO 

y 

' 

y\ 

y 

450000 

0 

y 

— 

y 

^  <i 

1 

300000 

^ 

^ 

— 

y 

150000 

y 

y 

Ki 

low 

XX : 

;oura  1 

Coiinccted    \ 

367- 
osi 

-^ 

y 

?ea 

uately) 

A 

these  four  cases  fall  to  a  mean  line  which  gives  a  C(jnsta;it 
the  value  of  which  is  1867.  In  other  words,  the  kilowatt- 
hours  consumed  per  year  for  lighting  in  these  four  stores 
are  approximately  equal  to  the  total  connected  lighting 
installation  in  kilowatts  multiplied  by  1867  hours. 

The  monthly  variations  in  the  lighting  requirements  of  a 
typical  large  department  store  are  shown  by  the  heavy 
full-line  curve  in  Fig.  2.  The  lighting  consumption  during 
the  month  of  December  is  always  relatively  high  in  depart- 
ment stores,  as  a  result  of  such  stores  usually  being  open 
evenings  for  a  week  or  more  preceding  Christmas,  and  also 
on  account  of  the  additional  decorative  lighting  usually  em- 
ployed at  this  time.  For  this  particular  store  the  December 
lighting  consumption  is  approximately  14  per  cent  of  the 
total  yearly  lighting  consumption,  which  is  perhaps  slightly 
above  the  average  for  stores  of  this  character. 

The  subject  of  elevators  in  its  relation  to  the  modern 
department  store  will  next  be  considered.  Until  compara- 
tively recently  the  hydraulic  type  of  elevator  was  looked 
upon  by  the  majority  of  engineers  as  preferable  to  the 
electric  type  of  elevator  for  department-store  service,  and 
this  fact  is  largely  responsible  for  the  prevalence  of  the 
former  type  of  elevator  in  department  stores  at  the  present 
time.  However,  as  a  result  of  the  improvements  that  have 
been  made  in  the  electric  type  of  elevator  during  the  past 
few  years,  there  has  been  a  decided  change  of  opinion  as 
to  the  comparative  merits  of  these  two  types  of  elevators, 
and  the  electric  type  has  now  little  to  fear  in  this  class 
of  service  from  its  once  formidable  hydraulic  competitor. 

The  accompanying  table  gives  the  results  of  a  series  of 
observations  made  in  connection  with  a  study  of  the  opera- 
tion of  the  elevators  in  a  number  of  large  department 
stores.  These  observations  were  made  during  what  were 
considered  to  be  periods  of  normal  operation,  and  the  figures 
given  may  therefore  be  taken  as  representing  the  average 
conditions  of  operation  throughout  the  year.     The  number 


DEPARTMENT.  STORE  ELEVATOR  DATA. 


Average 
Number  of 

Seconds 
per  Round 
Trip  Spent 

in  Stops. 

Average 
Number  of 

Seconds 
per  Round 
Trip  Spent 
in  Running. 

Average 

Number  of 

Seconds 

for 

Complete 

Round  Trip. 

Running 

Time  as  Per 

Cent  of 

Total 

Round-Trip 

Time. 

Average 
Running 
Speed  in 
Feet  per 

Minute 
(Excluding 

Stops). 

Average 
Number  of 

Floors 
per  Stop. 

Total 
Number  of 
Passenger 
Elevators. 

Number  of 
Floors 
Served. 

Approximate 

Area  of 

Floors 

Served  by 

Passenger 

Elevators. 

Approximate 

Square  Feet 

of  Floor 

Area  per 

Elevator. 

A.. 

95 

51 

146 

35 

192 

1.11 

14 

Basement 
7  Floors 

375,000 

2  7,000 

B.. 

73 

53 

126 

42 

170 

1.05 

7 

Basement 
6  Floors 

158.000 

23,000 

C  .. 

100 

38 

138 

28 

196 

1.00 

8 

Basement 
6  Floors 

275.000 

34,000 

D.. 

109 

59 

168 

35 

224 

1.12 

11 

Basement 
7  Floors 

350,000 

32,000 

E... 

US 

57 

172 

33 

252 

1.2 

14 

Basement 

460,000 

33.000 

F... 

118 

74 

192 

38 

196 

1.1 

« 

Basement 
7  Floors 

240.000 

40.000 

G... 

107 

60 

167 

36 

220 

1.09 

6 

7  Floors 

160,000 

27,000 

H.. 

121 

66 

187 

35 

193 

1.03 

8 

10  Floors 

258,000 

32,000 

I... 

218 

lOS 

323 

32 

154 

1.00 

15 

Basement 
13  Floors 

557,000 

37,000 

J... 

194 

94 

288 

33 

196 

1.01 

35 

Sub-basement 
Basement 
10  Floors 

840,000 

24.000 

Av 

1 

35 

200 

1.07 

3 1 . 000 

— at  least  those  in  New  York  City  that  are  supplied  by 
central-station  service — show  a  remarkable  degree  of  uni- 
formity. In  Fig.  I  the  number  of  kilowatt-hours  consumed 
per  year  for  lighting  has  been  plotted  against  the  total  con- 
nected lighting  installation  for  four  large  department  stores, 
in  which  it  has  been  possible  to  separate  the  kilowatt-hours 
used  for  lighting  from  those  used  for  the  operation  of 
motors  and  for  other  purposes.     It  will  be  noted  how  close 


of  elevators  as  given  includes  only  those  used  by  the 
public,  and  the  total  floor  area  as  given  is  likewise  con- 
fined to  that  portion  to  which  the  public  has  access.  It  will 
be  observed  that  the  percentage  relation  which  the  time 
spent  in  running  bears  to  the  total  round-trip  time  is  a 
fairly  constant  quantity,  the  average  value  being  35  per 
cent.  It  will  also  be  noticed  that  the  running  speeds  of  the 
elevators  show  a  reasonably  close  approach  to  an  average 


JuLV  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D . 


49 


speed  of  200  ft.  per  minute.  With  these  average  values 
as  a  basis  and  with  an  estimated  daily  operating  period  of 
ten  hours,  it  would  appear  that  the  average  distance  traveled 
per  day  by  a  department-store  elevator  is  approximately 
8  miles,  a  figure  which  the  writer  has  substantiated  by 
actual  mileage  tests. 

A  glance  at  this  table  will  show  that  the  traffic  conditions 


noooo 

1 

att  Hours 

1 
=60000 

•" 

1 

§43000 

Q. 

a 

230000 

0 

Month 





P 

kseeng 

if  Ele^ 

ators' 

— 

— 

— '  — ' 

■ 

Jan.    Feb.  Mar.  Apr.  May  June  July  Aug.  Sept.  Oct.  Nov.  Dec. 
Fig.  2 — Yearly  Load  Curve  of  a   Large  Department  Store. 

in  department-Store  service  are  extremely  severe,  a  stop 
being  made  at  .approximately  each  tloor.  As  the  amount 
of  electrical  energy  consumed  per  car-mile  by  the  electric 
elevator  depends  almost  entirely  upon  the  number  of  starts 
and  stops  that  are  made,  the  kilowatt-hours  per  car-mile 
of  travel  are  practically  twice  as  great  in  the  case  of  the 
department-store  elevator  as  they  are  for  the  same  type 
of  elevator  in  the  average  office  building,  where  the  number 
of  stops  per  car-mile  is  usually  only  from  one-third  to  one- 
half  as  manv. 

The  dotted  curve  in  Fig.  2  shows  the  amount  of  elec- 
trical energy  consumed  during  each  month  of  a  recent 
year  by  eleven  electric  passenger  elevators  of  the  depart- 
ment store  whose  monthly  lighting  consumptions  are  shown 
by  the  heavy  full-line  curve.  The  light  full-line  curve  shows 
the  total  energy  consumption  by  the  month,  the  difference 
between  this  curve  and  the  curve  shown  by  the  broken  lines 
representing  the  electrical  energy  used  for  operating  four 
freight  elevators  and  a  number  of  miscellaneous  motors,  the 
latter  aggregating  a  little  over  100  hp.  In  this  particular 
store  the  exhauster  of  the  pneumatic-tube  system  is  nor- 
mally operated  by  means  of  a  steam  engine,  but  a  motor- 
driven  exhauster  is  provided  as  a  reserve  unit.  It  will  be 
observed  that  there  is  comparatively  little  variation  through- 
out the  year  in  the  kilowatt-hours  consumed  per  month  bv 
this  group  of  passenger  elevators.  The  consumption  of 
electrical  energy  per  elevator  per  year  for  this  group  is 
about  14.000  kw-hours.  A  test  made  upon  these  elevators 
during  the  month  of  July  of  the  present  year  showed  the 
total  travel  for  the  month  to  be  1764  miles.  The  average 
number  of  miles  traveled  per  business  day  during  this  period 
by  each  of  eight  of  these  elevators — the  combined  mileage 
of  which  was  95  per  cent  of  the  total — was  7.6,  while  the 
average  of  kilowatt-hours  per  car-mile  was  6.y.  On  the 
basis  of  300  business  days  per  year,  with  an  average  daily 
travel  of  7.6  miles  and  with  an  average  consumption  of  6.7 
kw-hours  per  car-mile,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  yearly  con- 
sumption of  electrical  energy  per  elevator  would  be  a  little 
over  15,000  kw-hours,  which  is  somewhat  in  excess  of  the 
actual  yearly  consumption  per  elevator,  as  previously  given, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  elevators  of  this  group  are  never 
all  in  operation  throughout  an  entire  day,  the  number  in 
service  being  varied  with  the  daily — and  to  a  certain  extent 
with  the  hourly — requirements. 

Mechanical  ventilation  must  be  provided  for  the  basement 
and  sub-basement  spaces  of  a  department  store  if  the  floors 
below  ground  are  to  be  devoted  to  sales  purposes  or  if  they 


are  to  be  occupied  by  any  considerable  number  of  the  store's 
employees.  In  some  department  stores  tlie  ground-floor 
space  is  ventilated  by  mechanical  means,  but,  as  a  general 
rule,  the  entire  space  above  ground,  with  the  exception  of 
the  toilets,  etc.,  is  ventilated  by  means  of  the  windows,  with 
the  assistance,  in  some  instances,  of  one  or  more  ventilating 
ducts  extending  to  the  roof  and  having  openings  at  each 
floor. 

Steam-driven  ventilating  fans  are  occasionally  employed 
in  stores  of  this  character,  but  the  motor-driven  ventilating 
fan  is  the  one  most  commonly  found  in  this  class  of  service. 
The  yearly  consumption  of  electrical  energy  by  the  niotor- 
driven  ventilating  fans  in  a  department  store  is  necessarily 
high  per  connected  motor  horse-power,  inasmuch  as  such 
fans  are  in  operation  during  some  ten  or  twelve  hours  of 
each  business  day.  During  the  winter  season  the  air  sup- 
plied by  these  ventilating  fans  is,  of  course,  tempered  by 
first  passing  it  through  steam-heated  coils.  Fans  are  either 
provided  with  a  capacity  sufficient  to  effect  a  definite  num- 
ber of  air  changes  per  hour  in  those  portions  of  a  depart- 
ment store  that  require  mechanical  ventilation — say,  a  com- 
plete change  every  ten  or  twelve  minutes — or  else  the 
capacity  is  based  upon  the  number  of  persons  that  it  is  esti- 
mated will  occupy  the  space  requiring  ventilation — a  com- 
mon allowance  being  some  30  cu.  ft.  of  air  per  minute  per 
person. 

Lack  of  space  forbids  even  a  brief  description  of  the 
many  other  uses  to  which  electricity  is  put  in  the  modern 
department  store.  Therefore  the  remainder  of  the  article 
will  be  confined  to  the  presentation  of  data  showing  the 
total  consumption  of  electrical  energy  in  a  number  of  de- 
partment stores  and  to  a  study  of  some  twenty-four-hour 
load  curves  of  a  certain  large  department  store  that  is  using 
central-station  service. 

In  Fig.  3  the  total  yearly  consumptions  in  kilowatt-hours 
are  plotted  against  the  total  gross  volutnes,  above  and  below 
ground,  of  sixteen  department  stores,  some  of  which  are 
located  in  New  York  City,  some  in  Chicago  and  the  rest  in 
Boston.  A  wide  variation  in  the  consumption  of  electrical 
energy  is  seen  to  exist  when  the  several  stores  are  thus 
compared  upon  a  volumetric  basis.  This  is  by  no  means  sur- 
prising when  it  is  considered  that  some  of  these  stores  have 
hydraulic  elevators,  while  others  have  electric  elevators ; 
that  some  have  arc  and  carbon  lamp  installations,  while 
others  have  lighting  installations  consisting  almost  entirely 


• 

r3 

1  3 

1 

• 

• 

• 

- 

A 

;3 
0    .7 

S^ 

0 

• 

u 

• 

•  • 

• 

% 

• 

• 

0 

• 

l.j 


Gross  Volume  Above  and  Below  Ground 
in  Millious  of  Cubic  Ft. 


Fig. 


3 — Total    Yearly    Consumption    Compared    with    Size    of 
Buildings. 


of  tungsten  lamps — the  watts  per  square  foot  of  gross  floor 
area  actually  ranging  for  this  group  of  stores  from  a  little 
under  0.6  to  something  over  2.5 — and  when  it  is  further  con- 
sidered that  some  of  these  stores  have  a  certain  amount  of 
slcam-driven  apparatus,  while  others  use  the  electric  drive 
Ihroughout.  This  chart  shows  the  futility  of  attempting  to 
estimate  the  consumption  of  electrical  energy  in  a  given 


so 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


department  store  by  comparing  its  cubical  contents  with 
those  of  another  store  of  which  the  electrical  consumption 
is  known  unless  careful  attention  is  given  to  the  many 
factors  that  tend  to  affect  such  a  comparison. 

There  is  one  point  in  connection  with  Fig.  3  to  which  the 
writer  would  direct  particular  attention.     The  department 


'\ 

1200 

r^ 

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Day 

of  M 

ad- 1 

axia 
ec. 

mm 
iotb 

j 

1000 

s 

/ 

, 

r^ 

*^ 

\ 

S 

i   800 

/ 

in 

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.,' 

A 

/  r 

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— 

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■H  600 

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ii 

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1 

100 

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\ 

\ 

, 

|/~c 

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ay 

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-------- 

=.--^ 

■=— 

J 

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\i 


A.M. 


P.M. 


Fig.    1 — 24-Hour    Load    Curves   of    a    Large    Department   Store. 

storie  designated  as  "A"  upon  the  chart  has  a  complete  elec- 
trical installation,  which  includes  elevators  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  motors  used  for  various  purposes,  and  secures  its 
supply  of  electrical  energy  from  a  central  station.  The  store 
designated  as  "B"  has  a  hydraulic-elevator  equipment  and 
has  its  own  private  electrical  generating  plant.  Although 
this  store  has  a  smaller  gross  volume  than  that  of  store 
"A,"  it  will  be  observed  that  the  annual  consumption  in 
kilowatt-hours  is  more  than  50  per  cent  greater  than  the 
consumption  in  store  "A."  The  consumptions  in  these  two 
stores  tend  to  substantiate  what  the  advocates  of  central- 
station  service  claim,  namely,  that  where  a  private  generat- 
ing plant  is  installed  there  is  little  or  no  incentive  to  the 
economical  use  of  electrical  energy,  as  a  result  of  which  a 
reasonably  low  unit  cost  of  generation  may  actually  mean  a 
high  total  cost  of  providing  the  amount  of  electrical  energy 
actually  required. 

Fig.  4  shows  three  twenty-four-hour  load  curves  of  a 
large  department  store.  The  full-line  curve  represents  the 
load  throughout  the  twenty-four  hours  of  the  day  of  maxi- 
mum load,  which  occurred  during  the  week  prior  to  Christ- 
mas, when  this  store  was  decorated  profusely  with  incan- 
descent lamps  for  the  holiday  season.  The  maximum  load 
was  reached  at  about  6  o'clock,  which  is  about  one  hour 
later  than  the  maximum  load  on  the  generating  plant  of  the 
central  station  supplying  this  department  store.  The  other 
two  load  curves  represent  respectively  a  rainy  day  in  Octo- 
ber and  a  clear  day  in  May. 

The  yearly  load-factor  of  a  department  store,  based  upon 
ihe  maximum  load  throughout  the  year  and  upon  a  year  of 
8760  hours,  is  apparently  about  30  per  cent  when  the  electric 
type  of  elevator  is  used  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  23  per 
cent  when  the  elevator  equipment  is  of  the  hydraulic  type. 
These  figures  are  for  department  stores  supplied  by  central- 
station  service,  and  they  are,  of  course,  subject  to  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  variation.  Where  a  private  generating 
plant  is  in  use  the  vearly  load-factor  will  be  higher  as  a 
result  of  the  greater  consumption  due  to  the  more  wasteful 
use  of  electrical  energy.  The  writer  has  in  'mind  one  de- 
partment store,  which  has  electric  elevators  and  which  op- 
erates its  own  generating  plant,  where  the  yearly  load-factor 
is  40  per  cent. 

In  addition  to  the  strong  argument  in  favor  of  a  depart- 
ment store  securing  its  supply  of  electrical  energy  from  the 
central  station  on  the  ground  of  reliabilitv  of  service,  as 


mentioned  earlier  in  this  article,  a  private  electrical  gen- 
erating plant  is  at  a  relative  disadvantage  in  this  type  of 
building  because  of  the  fact  that  the  amount  of  exhaust 
steam  that  can  be  utilized  for  heating  the  building  is  small 
when  compared  with  the  total  amount  available  from  the 
generation  of  the  large  quantity  of  electrical  energy  that  is 
usually  required.  In  other  words,  the  question  of  exhaust- 
steam  heating  carries  much  less  weight  in  a  building  of  this 
character  than  it  does  in  the  average  office  building,  where 
the  amount  of  exhaust  steam  available  from  the  electrical 
generating  plant  approaches  more  closely  to  the  heating  re- 
quirements of  the  building. 


BACK-FIRED  OIL-BURNING  BOILERS  OF  TOPEKA 
EDISON  COMPANY. 


Increased  efficiency  and  lengthened  life  of  boiler  tubes 
are  reported  by  the  Topeka  Edison  Company  as  the  result 
of  firing  its  boilers  with  fuel  oil  introduced  from  the  rear 
of  the  combustion  chambers.  The  Topeka  generating  sta- 
tion contains  four  260-hp,  four  300-hp  and  two  508-hp 
boilers,  all  equipped  with  rear-fired  burners  as  shown  in  the 
sketch.  A  2j<^-in.  false  floor,  consisting  of  a  single  layer 
of  firebrick,  separates  the  combustion  chamber  from  the 
air  inlet  ducts,  each  of  which  contains  a  150-hp  oil  burner. 
The  heat  from  this  partition  floor  aids  to  warm  the  air 
before  it  reaches  the  rear  and  enters  the  furnace  at  the 
burner.  Each  of  the  smaller  boilers  is  equipped  with  two 
air  ducts  and  burners,  and  each  of  the  500-hp  units  with 
three.  Oil  is  delivered  to  the  fuel  valves  at  30  lb.  per  square 
inch  pressure,  while  steam  is  taken  directly  from  the  boilers 
through  throttling  valves  reducing  to  75  lb.  pressure.  Each 
burner  as  shown  is  made  up  of  duplicate  lo-ft.  lengths  of 
-)^-in.  oil  pipe  and  54-in.  steam  pipe,  which  connect  the 
valves  at  the  front  of  the  boiler  with  the  burner  at  the  rear. 
Besides  the  steam  and  oil  supply  valves,  there  is  a  third  or 
blow-out  valve,  by  means  of  which  steam  can  be  turned  in 
to  blow  all  oil  out  of  the  fuel  pipe  when  shutting  down  the 
burner. 

The  Hammel  burner  tip  used  produces  a  flat  fishtail 
flame,  the  admission  of  the  proper  quantity  of  air  being 
controlled  bv  a  brick  checker-work  in  front  of  the  burner. 


Oil  and  Steam  Pipes.' 


Electrical  n'vrlU 


Arrangement   of    Back-Flred    Oil-Burning    Boilers. 

While  the  massive  parts  of  the  tip  are  machined  castings, 
the  lips  of  the  opening  itself  are  of  steel,  made  replaceable 
so  that  when  a  tip  becomes  burned  only  the  lip  pieces  have 
to  be  renewed.  This  can  be  done  at  a  trifling  cost.  Each 
burner  is  rated  at  150  hp,  but  this  value  can  be  exceeded 
by  50  to  75  per  cent  without  difficulty.  The  oil  used  has 
a  fuel  value  of  19.500  Ib.-Fahr.  heat  units  per  pound,  and 


July  6,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL     \V  U  ]<  L  D 


51 


I  lb.  burned  under  the  Topeka  boilers  will  produce  16  lb.  of 
steam,  or  440  watt-hours  of  electrical  energy.  Under 
regular  running  conditions  a  fuel  consumption  has  been 
recorded  of  0.309  gal.  or  2.29  lb.  oil  per  kw-hr.  generated. 
The  average  output  of  the  plant  is  23,000  kw-hr.  to  26,000 
kw-hr.  per  month,  with  a  peak  of  2650  kw. 

Reduction  in  boiler  repairs  has  been  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant results  of  the  rear-burner  arrangement,  according 
to  Mr.  J.  I.  Chase,  chief  engineer  of  the  station.  In  two 
years'  operation  barely  ten  boiler  tubes  have  been  lost 
owing  to  blistering,  although  the  boilers  are  being  washed 
down  only  every  thirty  days.  The  feed  water  used  is  pur- 
chased from  the  city  and  is  very  hard.  By  treatment  with 
soda  ash,  lime  and  aluminum  sulphate  in  three  6o,ooo-gal. 
tanks  outside  the  plant  the  content  of  objectionable  matter 
is  reduced  from  32  grains  to  4  grains.  Huge  underground 
oil  tanks  provide  the  fuel  storage  for  the  plant.  These 
tanks  are  roofed  flush  with  the  ground,  and  each  is  ven- 
tilated by  2-in.  pipe  10  ft.  in  height,  opening  to  the  atmos- 
phere out  of  reach  of  careless  or  intentional  meddling.  A 
steam  coil  heats  the  tank  to  render  its  contents  more  fluid. 
Connected  with  the  same  main  is  a  complete  set  of  fire- 
protection  steam  jets  arranged  to  smother  out  any  fire  that 
might  start  in  the  tank.  The  steam-jet  supply  is  controlled 
by  a  fusible  plug,  so  that  in  the  event  of  any  undue  rise  in 
temperature  in  the  oil  the  steam  will  be  automatically 
turned  into  the  tank.  The  heating  coil  and  jet  supply  are 
drained  by  a  trap,  assuring  that  the  pipe  will  always  be 
filled  with  steam. 


PUMPING  COAL  FROM  THE  SUSQUEHANNA  RIVER 
BY  ELECTRICITY  AT  PLYMOUTH,  PA.     . 


In  the  Susquehanna  River  from  Wilkes-Barre  to  below 
Steelton,  Pa.,  are  large  deposits  of  anthracite  coal.  The 
fuel,  made  up  of  a  mixture  of  pea  and  buckwheat,  is  washed 
down  the  river  with  every  spring  freshet  from  the  coal 
banks  and  culm  piles  which  flank  the  Susquehanna  from 
Nanticoke  and  Millersburg  and  from  Shamokin  Creek  be- 
low Sunbury.  While  much  of  the  fuel  travels  along  the 
bottom  of  the  river  as  far  as  Steelton,  the  greatest  deposits 
are  found  in  the  neighborhood  of  Plymouth  and  Northum- 


bridge  piers  in  the  river,  and  the  prevailing  size  of  coal  at 
that  point  is  No.  4  buckwheat.  The  coal  is  singularly  free 
from  slate  because  the  latter,  being  flat,  will  not  roll  along 
the  riverbed  to  any  extent.  After  its  long  journey  the 
fuel  is  also  remarkably  clean  and  of  excellent  heating  value, 
since  it  is  known  that   fuel  stored  under  water  does  not 


Fig.    2. — Pumping    Coal    from    River    at    Plymouth. 

suffer  deterioration  as  much  as  fuel  stored  by  ordinary 
methods  with  access  to  air. 

Dredges  and  pumps  are  employed  to  take  the  coal  from 
the  river  bottom.  At  Harrisburg  sand  pumps  are  used  to 
load  small  flat  scows,  while  at  Plymouth  a  float  equipped 
with  190  hp  in  motors  and  using  central-station  energy  is 
employed  as  indicated  in  Fig.  2.  A  centrifugal  pump  driven 
by  a  loo-hp,  6o-cycle  motor  sucks  the  coal  from  the  river 
and  forces  it  with  the  water  through  a  long  pipe  line  to  the 
shore,  where  the  coal  is  deposited,  the  water  finding  its 
way  back  to  the  river  again.  The  pump  is  capable  of  suck- 
ing 50  tons  an  hour.  In  addition  to  the  loo-hp  motor  there 
are  three  30-hp  motors  on  the  dredge  for  operating  the 
drags. 

It  will  be  understood  that  the  float  is  anchored  in  the 
river,  but  is  obliged  to  shift  its  position  from  time  to  time 
when  no  more  coal  is  found  at  the  anchorage.  In  order  to 
bring  the  coal  within  the  range  of  the  sucker,  the  three 
motor-driver    drags    are    employed.      One    of    these    drag 


Fig.    1  —  Motor-Driven    Pump    and    Transformers    on    Coal    Dredge. 

berland,  where  the  north  and  west  branches  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna River  come  together.  It  is  estimated  that  as 
much  as  100,000  tons  of  fuel  can  be  reclaimed  from  the 
river  at  that  point. 

The  coal  forms  with  the  sand  in  bars  in  all  eddies,  still- 
water  beds,  back  of  bridges,  piers,  etc.  At  Harrisburg, 
for  instance,  the  supply  is  found  chiefly  back  of  the  many 


Fig.   3 — IVIotor- Driven    Drag   on    Coal    Dredge. 

motors  is  shown  in  Fig.  3,  while  Fig.  I  shows  an  interior 
view  of  the  float,  the  exterior  of  which  is  given  in  Fig.  2. 
In  Fig.  I  the  loo-hp  motor  driving  the  centrifugal  pump  is 
seen  in  the  foreground,  while  the  transformers  may  be  seen 
in  the  rear.  The  energy  for  the  dredge  is  received  from  an 
overhead  line  from  shore  connected  to  the  mains  of  the 
Luzerne  County  Gas  &  Electric  Company. 


52 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


GREENVILLE'S    MODERN    STEAM-TURBINE 
STATION. 


Electrical  energy  for  local  consumers  in  Greenville,  Ohio, 
and  for  a  group  of  surrounding  suburban  towns  is  gen- 
erated in  the  model  looo-kw  steam-turbine  plant  of  the 
Greenville  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  completed  dur- 
ing the  past  year  to  replace  the  engine-driven  equipment 
formerly  served  by  the  same  boiler-room.  In  the  installa- 
tion of  this  plant  special  care  was  taken  to  provide  duplicate 
equipment  so  that  in  the  case  of  any  break-down  no  inter- 
ruption to  service  would  result.  As  an  example  of  this 
broad  policy,  two  500-kw  turbines  are  in  place,  although 
the  peak  load  of  the  system  does  not  yet  ta.x  the  capacity 
of  one  machine. 

Two  125-hp  Chandler  &  Taylor  boilers  and  one  150-hp 
Borger  boiler  furnish  steam  at  125  lb.  pressure  for  the 
turbines.  The  turbine  sets  are  500-kw  horizontal  four- 
stage  Curtis  units,  running  at  3600  r.p.m.  and  driving  500-kw 
General  Electric  2300-volt,  60-cycle,  three-phase  alternators. 
There  is  one  17.5-kw  steam-turbine-driven  exciter  and  one 
15-kw  exciter  driven  by  a  220-volt  alternating-current  mo- 
tor. For  the  local  220-volt  direct-current  motor-service  cir- 
cuit there  is  also  a  175-kw  motor-generator  set.  The  street 
lighting  of  Greenville  includes  the  operation  of  120  7^-amp 
series  inclosed  alternating-current  arc  lamps,  the  constant- 
current  transformer  equipment  for  which  comprises  three 
50-lanip  tub  regulators.  These  street  lamps  were  converted 
from  133-cycle  to  60-cycle  operation  with  the  inauguration 
of  the  new  station  in  June,  191 1. 

As  shown  in  the  accompanying  illustration,  the  switch- 
board comprises  an  exciter  panel,  two  generator  panels,  two 
line  feeder  panels  and  the  arc  panel.  A  Tirrill  regulator 
controls  the  voltage  of  the  alternators,  and  on  the  same 
swinging  standard  there  is  a  synchroscope  for  phasing  the 
machines.  A  totalizing  watt-hour-meter  measures  the  total 
generated  output  of  the  station,  and  other  integrating 
meters  are  arranged  to  record  the  consumption  of  the  trans- 
mission feeders,  street-lighting  circuits,  etc. 

The  two  500-kw  steam  turbines  exhaust  into  a  1500-sq.  ft. 
Wheeler  condenser,  circulating  water  for  which  is  taken 
through  24-in.  tile  lines  from  Greenville  Creek  near  the 
plant.  All  condenser  auxiliaries  are  engine-driven,  and  the 
Cochrane  feed-water  heater  installed  returns  the  supply  to 


Fig.    1 — Interior   of   Greenville    Steam-Turbine   Station. 

the  boilers  at  an  average  temperature  of  208  deg.  Fahr. 
Massive  concrete  foundations  support  the  turbine  units. 
Access  to  the  exhaust  valves  is  obtained  through  24-in.  tile 
tunnels  extending  through  these  turbine  bases,  the  passages 
being  just  large  enough  to  admit  a  man's  body. 

From  the  Greenville  station  6600-volt  transmission  lines 


extend  respectively  12  miles  to  Bradford,  7  miles  to  Gettys- 
burg and  9  miles  to  Ansonia.  The  system  is  now  being  ex- 
tended by  the  construction  of  a  further  transmission  net- 
work reaching  the  towns  of  New  Madison,  El  Dorado,  West 
Manchester,  Lewisburg  and  Brookville.  In  each  case  the 
transmitted   energy    is   distributed   by   a   company   of   local 


Fig.  2 — Switchboard. 

citizens,  which  purchases  its  supply  at  its  own  town  limits 
or  at  the  switchboard  of  the  generating  company. 

Even  the  most  casual  visitor  to  the  Greenville  station 
cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  high  order  of  maintenance 
and  excellent  upkeep  observed  there.  The  policy  of  the 
management  has  been  to  insist  on  superficial  neatness  as 
well  as  technical  operating  excellence,  the  officers  being 
firm  in  the  belief  that  adherence  to  the  one  helps  to  stimu- 
late interest  in  the  other.  A  feature  of  the  Greenville  plant, 
rare  but  perhaps  no  less  desirable  in  other  stations,  is  the 
presence  of  a  number  of  palms  and  other  tropical  plants  in 
the  engine-room.  The  warmth  and  even  temperature  of 
this  room  causes  these  plants  to  flourish  as  on  their  native 
soil,  and  their  presence  adds  that  touch  of  attractiveness  to 
the  turbine-room  interior  which  is  everywhere  reflected  in 
the  inunaculate  condition  of  the  equipment  and  the  rooms 
in  which  it  is  installed. 

Mr.  D.  L.  Gaskill,  president  of  the  Greenville  Electric 
Light  &  Heating  Company,  is  well  known  among  central- 
station  men  as  the  able  secretary  of  the  Ohio  Electric  Light 
Association  and  the  National  District  Heating  Association. 
Mr.  W.  S.  Meeker  is  secretary  of  the  company,  Mr.  W.  C. 
Bishop  is  treasurer,  and  Mr.  S.  M.  Rust  is  general  superin- 
tendent. 


ELECTRIC  HEATING  IN  MILLING  INDUSTRY. 


Electrically  heated  ovens  have  an  important  application  in 
the  milling  industry  for  testing  sample  grains  by  desiccating, 
glutenizing,  germinating  and  baking.  One  large  flouring 
mill  in  Canada,  the  Maple  Leaf  Milling  Company  of  Port 
Colborne,  Ont.,  utilizes  a  total  of  3000  kw  in  electrical  equip- 
ment, the  majority  of  which,  of  course,  is  in  motors.  The 
office  building  and  all  necessary  parts  of  the  mill  are  heated, 
however,  by  nearly  200  electric  air  heaters,  averaging  1500 
watts  each.  In  its  laboratories  the  company  employs  eleven 
Despatch  electric  ovens,  the  largest  of  which  takes  17  kw 
and  is  capable  of  producing  100  loaves  at  each  baking. 
These  ovens  are  used  to  dry  samples  of  the  wheat,  subtract- 
ing moisture  to  determine  the  quality  of  the  grain.  In 
others  the  gluten  is  extracted  and  expanded.  Employees  of 
the  mill  are  furnished  at  cost  with  electrically  cooked  bread 
baked  in  these  ovens. 


July  6,  iqi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


53 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


THE  ATTRACTION  OF  FLAMING-ARC  LIGHTING. 


Ever  since  the  merchants  on  Union  Avenue.  Pueblo,  Col., 
placed  lo-ft.  extensions  on  trolley  poles  and  suspended 
flaming-arc  lamps  from  goosenecks  their  success  in  attract- 
ing traffic  has  been  urging  merchants  of  Main  Street, 
the  principal  retail  district,  to  the  adoption  of  similar  illu- 
mination. Four-lamp  classic-design  cast-iron  columns 
have  now  been  erected  on  Main  Street  spaced  lOO  ft.  and 
extending  ten  blocks  from  Union  to  Tenth  Streets.  Tung- 
sten lamps  of  150-watt  rating  will  be  used  in  opalescent 
globes,  the  units  being  placed  1 1   ft.  above  the  curb. 


IRONS  AS  HDUSE- WIRING    PREMIUMS. 


The  Marion  (Ind.)  Lighting  &  Heating  Company  has 
used  to  advantage  the  offer  of  a  free  electric  iron  for  each 
new  house  wired  and  connected  within  a  certain  limited 
period.  At  intervals  of  two  or  three  months  the  company 
makes  the  announcement  that  for  each  residence  service 
contracted  for  during  a  specified  ten-day  period  an  electric 
iron  will  be  given  free  to  the  householder.  This  attractive 
offer  usually  hastens  the  laggards,  and  practically  without 
other  sales  expense  than  the  irons  and  advertising  the  com- 
pany is  able  to  close  up  a  group  of  new  consumers  during 
the  ten-day  campaign.  At  the  time  of  the  last  free-iron 
offer,  a  month  ago,  fifty  residences  were  closed  in  this  way. 
The  Marion  company  also  sells  a  standard  electric  iron 
practically  at  cost  and  now  has  about  2300  in  use  on  its 
lines. 


"  $25  A  MONTH  TO  LIGHT  OUR  OFFICE." 


There  is  probably  no  central-station  manager  who  has  not 
heard  the  cynical  remark  of  some  local  "kicker"  regarding 
the  company's  brightly  lighted  office — "Well,  you  can  afford 
to  burn  all  these  lights  because  we  customers  are  paying  for 
it !'  To  draw  the  force  of  such  unfair  comment,  as  well  as 
to  illustrate  to  persons  who  have  had  no  experience  with 
electricity  what  the  cost  of  electric  lighting  really  is,  Mr. 
J.  F.  Roche,  of  the  Billings  &  Eastern  Montana  Power 
Company,  has  placed  in  his  own  modern  and  well-lighted 
office  a  card  detailing  the  e.xact  cost  of  operating  this  light- 
ing at  the  local  commercial  rate,  6  cents  per  kw-hr.  plus  20 
cents  per  60-watt  connected  unit.  "All  lights  in  this  room," 
the  sign  reads,  "can  be  operated  three  hours  nightly,  and 
the  window  lamps  burned  until  midnight,  for  $25  a  month 
on  our  regular  schedule  of  rates."  The  illumination  of  the 
Billings  office  is  quite  elaborate  and  the  intensity  very  high, 
so  that  the  small  cost  of  this  brilliant  display  usually  strikes 
home  a  double  lesson  to  the  passer-by  after  nightfall. 


SHARING  THE  COMMUNITY'S  BURDEN. 


The  Oklahoma  Gas  &  Electric  Company  published  an  in- 
teresting "double-page  spread"  advertisement  in  the  spe- 
cial anniversary  edition  issued  by  the  Daily  Oklahoman. 
The  growth  of  Oklahoma  City  has  been  phenomenal,  and 
the  central-station  company  there,  which  is  controlled 
by  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  has  been  correspondingly 
enterprising,  progressive  and  helpful.  In  its  advertisement 
the  company  talks  about  "Our  Share  of  the  Burden."  Con- 
struction work  has  constituted  a  permanent  problem  with 
the  company,   for  there  has  been  building  and   rebuilding. 


enlarging  and  extending  ever  since  the  present  organiza- 
tion took  hold.  The  company  lays  claim,  as  undoubtedly 
it  is  entitled  to  do,  to  a  share  in  making  Oklahoma  City 
what  it  is  and  declares  that  the  best  interests  of  the  com- 
munity are  the  best  interests  of  the  company.  Whatever 
prosperity  the  company  has  enjoyed  has  been  earned,  and 
the  organization  does  its  level  best  to  render  a  dollar's 
worth  of  service  for  a  dollar  paid.  The  company  says  that 
it  is  striving  to  operate  its  public  utility  on  equitable  prin- 
ciples and  with  regard  for  the  rights  of  all,  complying  with 
the  spirit  as  well  as  with  the  letter  of  the  law.  The  ad- 
vertisement, which  is  a  striking  and  effective  one,  is  em- 
bellished with  portraits  of  the  company's  officers  and  with 
pictures  of  some  of  its  plants  and  installations. 


TUNGSTEN  FIXTURE  TO    COMBAT  GAS  ARCS. 


Mr.  J.  B.  Weidgenant,  sales  superintendent  of  the  Fort 
Wayne  (Ind.)  central-station  company,  is  inaugurating  a 
tungsten-fixture  campaign  to  replace  gas  arcs  used  to  light 
the  fronts  of  buildings.  At  Mr.  Weidgenant's  suggestion 
the  special  fixture  illustrated  has  been  prepared  by  the 
Tungstolier  Company  and  consists  of  an   l8-in.  clear-glass 


store-Front   Tungsten    Fixture. 

globe  inclosing  a  250-watt  or  400-watt  tungsten  lamp,  the 
whole  mounted  under  an  enameled  reflector  borne  by  a 
crane  arm.  These  arms  as  delivered  are  6  ft.  in  length 
and  are  cut  off  to  fit  the  local  conditions  where  they  are  to 
be  attached  to  the  buildings.  The  central  station  offers 
to  install  and  maintain  the  tungsten  fixture,  including  all 
lamp  renewals,  for  50  cents  a  month,  the  energy  consumed 
to  be  paid  for  under  the  customer's  regidar  metered  rate. 
Artificial  gas  sells  for  $0.90  per  looo  cu.  ft.  in  Fort  Wayne, 
and  it  is  expected  that  this  new  fixture  will  provide  means 
heretofore  lacking  for  bringing  about  vigorous  competition 
to  the  gas  arc.  In  locating  these  lamps  on  store  fronts 
judgment  will  be  particularly  exercised  in  placing  them  so 
that  the  window  lighting  will  not  be  affected  by  their  use. 


54 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


UTILIZING  DISPLAY  WINDOW  SPACE. 

Thousands  of  dollars  ^re  spent  for  plate  glass  and  for 
preferential  positions  on  streets  traversed  by  crowds  of 
people,  and  then,  strangely  enough,  little  or  no  advantage 
is  taken  of  the  opportunities  created  by  such  expensive  out- 
lays. The  central  station  which  presents  attention-attract- 
ing displays  in  its  windows  benefits  not  only  from  the  adver- 
tising gained  directly  but  also  from  the  stimulation  of  other 
merchants  to  increased  standards  of  window  lighting  on  a 
long-hour  basis. 

Realizing  this  point,  one  progressive  Western  company 
has  from  time  to  time  installed  a  number  of  "stunts"  in  its 
windows,  drawing  crowds  to  its  office.  By  a  familiar  black- 
art  trick,  with  the  aid  of  a  piece  of  plate  glass  and  comple- 
mental  rheostats  and  lamp  banks,  a  vase  full  of  flowers  was 
made  to  turn  into  a  ten-dollar  bill,  which  was  offered  as 
the  first  payment  on  an  electric  stove  to  any  one  who 
guessed  the  explanation  of  the  feat.  A  "magic"  mirror  was 
also  arranged  so  that  the  passer-by  who  stopped  to  inspect 
his  reflection  the  next  instant  found  himself  looking  through 
a  transparent  window  at  an  announcement  of  a  new  rate 
for  electric  cooking.  Holiday  times  gave  cues  for  Christ- 
mas scenes,  one  of  which  included  a  complete  electric  train- 
load  of  miniature  electric  stoves.  A  perpetually  emptying 
bottle  is  the  "stunt"  to  be  used  next.  With  these  simple 
and  inexpensive  displays  this  central  station  has  attracted 
crowds  to  its  windows,  even  suffering  the  destruction  of  one 
large  plate-glass  window,  but  the  interest  it  created  spread 
everywhere  through  the  little  city,  and  several  merchants 
increased  their  window-lighting  installations  solely  by  rea- 
son of  the  stimulus  of  the  electric  company's  displays. 


CITY  OF  10,000    USING  300   ELECTRIC  STOVES. 

A  remarkable  development  in  the  use  of  electricity  for 
cooking  has  taken  place  at  Billings,  Mont.,  where  among 
2000  central-station  customers  in  a  city  of  10,031  inhabitants 
nearly  300  electric  stoves  are  already  in  use  and  100  more 
will  likely  be  added  during  the  present  season.  These 
stoves  are  supplied  with  energy  at  3  cents  per  kw-hr.  over 
separate  house  circuits,  the  customer  paying  $1  a  month 
minimum  for  the  additional  meter  required.  No  restriction 
is  made  concerning  off-peak  use.  It  should  also  be  pointed 
out  here  that  this  3-cent  energy  sold  at  Billings  for  cooking 


Float   Advertising    Electric   Stoves. 

purposes  is  in  no  sense  "dump  power,"  for  the  load  factor 
of  the  associated  Butte  Electric  system,  of  which  Billings 
is  a  part,  was  last  year  85  per  cent  on  a  twenty-four-hour 
basis.  The  majority  of  the  stoves  now  in  use  at  Billings 
are   of   the   Hughes   type,   although   during  the   past   two 


months  the  company  has  also  undertaken  the  sale  of  Cope- 
man  automatic  stoves. 

Customers  purchase  their  stoves  from  the  central  station 
at  cost,  the  company  making  the  installation  free  of  charge. 
The  prices  which  Billings  purchasers  pay  are  as  follows: 
Two-burner  hot  plate,  $15;  three-burner  hot  plate,  $22; 
three-burner  stove,  $45 ;  four-burner  stove,  $55 ;  cabinet 
range,  $60 ;  single-compartment  automatic  stove,  $45 ;  two- 
compartment  automatic,  $60;  three-compartment,  $110. 
These  amounts  are  payable  $5  down  and  $5  a  montli  there- 
after, except  in  the  case  of  the  stove  costing  $110,  for  which 
the  payment  is  $10  monthly.  The  cost  to  the  company  of 
connecting  customers'  stoves,  running  circuits,  setting  me- 
ters and  transformers,  etc.,  has  averaged  $10  to  $11  per  in- 
stallation. In  addition  to  the  stoves,  the  customer  can  oper- 
ate electric  fans,  irons,  or  any  cooking  or  heating  devices 
from  his  3-cent  heating  circuit.  All  these  outlets  are 
equipped  with  push-prong  jacks,  into  which  only  the  cor- 
responding special  plugs  can  be  inserted.  No  abuse  of  the 
low-rate  circuit  to  operate  lamps  or  unauthorized  services 
has  been  reported.  Nearly  1500  electric  irons  are  also  in 
service  at  Billings. 

The  three-burner  and  four-burner  stoves  have  proved  the 
most  popular  in  point  of  number  sold.  The  average  income 
from  the  Billings  stoves  ranges  between  $1.50  and  $5  a 
month.  A  few  careless  users  have  consumed  even  $8  and 
$10  worth,  but  such  consumption  is  considered  exceptional 
and  unnecessary.  For  150  stoves  that  have  been  in  use  one 
year  $3.60  was  the  highest  monthly  average  bill.  It  is  the 
experience  of  the  Billings  company  that  users  of  the  smaller 
two-burner  hot-plates  soon  become  interested  in  larger 
sizes,  and  the  two-burner  stoves  taken  in  on  these  trades 
are  put  out  again  to  new  users  at  reduced  cost.  The  com- 
pany maintains  all  stoves  free  of  cost  to  the  customer  for 
one  or  two  years,  and  even  after  this  time  the  charge  made 
is  dependent  on  conditions  of  service,  repairs,  etc.  During 
the  winter  months,  when  coal  ranges  are  generally  used 
locally,  the  average  electric  stove  bills  still  exceed  $1.50  a 
month.  Coal  costs  $3  to  $6  a  ton  in  Billings.  No  gas  has 
heretofore  been  available,  although  a  company  recently 
started  now  offers  to  supply  gas  at  $1.80  per  1000  cu.  ft. 
At  the  price  for  cooking  in  Billings,  electricity  is  by  far 
the  cheaper  fuel. 

Hot  water  for  several  flats  and  office  buildings  in  Billings 
is  also  provided  electrically  on  the  3-cent  rate.  One  build- 
ing has  a  2oo-gal.  3-kw  heater  which  is  operated  continu- 
ously. Another  loo-gal.  boiler  in  a  seven-flat  apartment  is 
arranged  with  a  thermostatic  cut-out,  which  shuts  off  the 
service  as  soon  as  the  water  reaches  the  desired  tempera- 
ture. Laurel,  a  town  of  1000  near  Billings,  and  part  of  the 
same  system,  has  119  electric  customers  and  ten  electric 
stoves.    Other  near  communities  show  similar  ratios. 

Mr.  J.  F.  Roche,  local  manager  of  the  Billings  &  Eastern 
Montana  Power  Company  at  Billings,  is  an  enthusiast  on 
the  possibilities  and  success  of  electric  cooking,  as  the 
results  already  accomplished  indicate.  He  uses  newspaper 
advertising  extensively,  and  "open  house"  is  held  at  the 
company  offices  every  evening  while  cooking  demonstrations 
.ire  being  given  by  experienced  operators.  Billboard  post- 
ers, many  of  them  electrically  lighted,  are  also  used  witli 
effect.  One  such  illuminated  display  at  a  dark  turn  on  a 
much  traveled  automobile  thoroughfare  a  mile  out  of  town 
serves  as  a  guidepost  and  gives  its  message  to  the  class  of 
people  most  desirable  to  reach.  The  illustration  shows  a 
float  driven  through  the  city  streets,  bearing  an  elecfric 
stove  and  "King  Electricity."  Recently  when  the  Billings 
company  received  a  carload  consignment  of  100  electric 
stoves  the  opportunity  was  not  lost  to  placard  both  car  and 
delivery  wagons  with  large  painted  announcements.  Only 
one  solicitor  has  been  employed,  but  advantage  is  taken  of 
an  information  system  of  tips  on  prospective  customers,  to 
which  every  employee  is  privileged  to  contribute  in  com- 
petition for  $35  in  prizes  awarded  at  the  end  of  the  year. 


July  6,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


55 


ELECTRICITY  IN  THE  WORLD'S  LARGEST 
INCUBATOR. 


Muskogee,  Okla.,  has  a  30,000-egg  incubator,  the  heat 
control  and  air  circulation  for  which  are  effected  by  elec- 
trical means,  while  the  growth  of  the  chicks  is  artificially 
forced  by  tungsten  electric  light.  Use  of  motor-driven 
blowers  to  circulate  the  air  heated  by  natural-gas  burners 
has  made  possible  the  compact  construction  of  this  hatchery, 
the  egg  trays  of  which  are  superimposed  on  racks  twenty 
deep.  Five  thousand  eggs  can  thus  be  handled  and  hatched 
in  a  space  2  ft.  by  4  ft.  by  4  ft.,  requiring  only  about  one- 
tenth  of  the  volume  demanded  by  the  old-style  incubators. 
After  hatching  has  begun  trays  with  high  sides  are  sub- 
stituted for  the  incubating  trays,  each  high-side  tray  occu- 
pying the  space  of  two  of  the  ordinary  trays. 

Although  the  idea  of  converting  the  whole  building  into 
a  hatchery,  with  superimposed  open  trays  for  the  eggs,  is 
not  new,  according  to  Mr.  Norman  B.  Hickox,  contract 
agent  for  the  Muskogee  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  the  use  of 
a  motor-driven  blower  at  Muskogee  to  force  the  evenly 
heated  air  to  all  parts  of  the  tray  racks  has  for  the  first 
time  made  this  method  practicable  on  a  large  scale.  Humid- 
ity of  the  air  is  controlled  by  passing  it  over  open  pans  of 
water,  as  shown  in  Fig.  2.  A  home-made  thermostat  con- 
trols the  ,  natural-gas  supply  to  the  burners  through  a 
mercurial  valve,  keeping  the  temperature  in  the  incubator 
constant  at  100  deg. 

In  the  runways  electric  light  has  been  used  to  force  the 
growth  of  the  chicks  with  surprising  success,  says  Mr. 
Hickox,  the  scheme  being  to  substitute  sixteen-hour  arti- 
ficial days — with  eight-hour  light  and  eight-hour  dark 
periods — for  the  natural  twenty-four-hour  cycle.  As  ex- 
plained by  Mr.  Hickox,  the  cause  of  this  forcing  is  quite 
rational.  The  chick  naturally  eats  during  hours  of  light, 
and  his  craw  digests  the  food  after  dark.  In  eight  hours 
he  can  eat  all  the  food  needed,  and  in  another  eight  hours 


-L-k , 

1 

vt  _i 

'^■1  ^^^             ^^M 

Fig.    1 — Mr.    Hastings    Testing    Eggs. 

of  repose  his  little  craw  will  have  fully  digested  its  con- 
tents. "It  follows,"  to  quote  Mr.  Hickox,  "that  under  the 
ordinary  way  of  brooding  the  chick  is  idle  eight  hours  out 
of  the  twenty-four,  or,  to  express  it  electrically,  his  load- 
factor  is  only  66  per  cent.     Mr.  Hastings,  the  owner  and 


inventor  of  the  hatchery,  thus  runs  his  electrically  forced 
chicks  at  nearly  100  per  cent  load-factor.  The  baby  chicks 
in  this  way  live  three  electric  days  during  two  ordinary 
sunshine    days,    and    the    four-week-old    electrically    bred 


Fig.    2 — Motor-Driven    Blower    for    Heated-Air    Circulating, 

chicken  will  far  outweigh  his  normal  brother  bred  in  the 
66  per  cent  load-factor  fashion." 


MINE  GENERATING  PLANT  AT  MOGOLLON,  N.  M. 


An  interesting  generating  plant  has  recently  been  com- 
pleted at  Mogollon,  N.  M.,  for  the  Socorro  Mines  Company, 
fully  equipped  for  furnishing  both  electric  and  compressed- 
air  mine  service,  with  oil  engines  as  prime  movers.  The 
plant  housing  consists  of  very  simple  construction,  being  a 
one-story,  wood-frame,  iron-sheathed  building,  with  a  floor- 
plan  60  ft.  by  80  ft.  over  all  and  open  interior  finish.  The 
equipment  consists  of  one  250-hp  twin  oil  engine  belted  to 
a  150-kw,  500-volt  alternating-current  generator,  one  180- 
hp  twin  oil  engine  belted  to  a  loo-kw,  500-volt  alternating- 
current  generator,  and  one  250-hp  twin  engine  belted  to  a 
countershaft  which  in  turn  drives  two  SO-hp  and  one  130-hp 
air  compressor  and  one  70-kw,  no-volt  direct-current  gen- 
erator. An  auxiliary  drive  for  the  countershaft  is  pro- 
vided by  a  belted-type  150-hp,  500-volt  induction  motor,  thus 
making  it  possible  to  keep  the  second  250-hp  engine  unit 
in  reserve. 

The  engines  operate  on  crude  oil,  of  a  gravity  equal  to 
24  deg.  Baume,  fed  through  a  5-in.  supply  line  from  two 
5000-gal.  tanks  buried  underground  100  ft.  from  the  build- 
ing. An  auxiliary  gasoline  tank,  with  pump  feed,  connects 
to  the  main  supply  line  to  each  engine,  for  emergency  start- 
ing in  case  none  of  the  units  is  operating.  Under  normal 
starting  conditions  an  engine  unit  receives  the  first  turn- 
over by  using  the  belted  exciter  as  a  motor,  until  the  engine 
picks  up  under  its  own  power.  The  temporary  energy 
supply  for  the  exciter  is  taken  from  the  direct-current 
1 10- volt  mine  supply.  This  plant  forms  a  complete  and 
self-contained  unit  for  mine  operation,  including  direct- 
current  and  alternating-current  supply  and  providing  for 
lighting,  motor  and  compressed  air  service. 


S6 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

ELECTRICAL  DISPLAY  AT  PORTLAND'S  ROSE 
FESTIVAL. 


Portland,  Ore.,  has  the  distinction  of  holding  one  of  the 
prettiest  yearly  festivals  known  in  the  United  States,  the 


^^^^^S^^^^^^  ^'  Im. 

W^^Mi  —^  . ..srf*^.'^ 

^^^^^P^^^^BP 

J 

■■    '^  ■  3^1 

H 

Hjj^g 

^'-OS- 

8^1 

M 

Jk 

Fig.    1 — A    Basket    of    Portland    Roses. 

"Rose  Carnival."  This  year  the  week  beginning  June  9 
was  set  aside  for  Rex  Oregonus,  and  on  the  two  last  even- 
ings of  the  week  a  magnificent  electrical  pageant  outrival- 
ing anything  ever  before  attempted  was  given.  As  dele- 
gates to  the  Seattle  convention  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association  know,  this  electrical  parade  made  a  fitting 
climax  for  a  carnival  ever  to  be  remembered  for  the  soft, 
sensuous  perfume  of  the  rose  for  which  Portland  is  famed. 


be  used  again  during  the  Elks"  Carnival,  which  takes  place 
in  Portland  from  July  7  to  July  13. 

Preceding  the  glittering  and  gorgeous  pageant  was  a 
mammoth  basket  of  Portland  roses.  The  basket  was 
guarded  by  an  imperious  pilot-peacock  and  two  dragon 
fountains.  This  precious  freight  of  bloom  symbolized  the 
floral  wealth  of  the  "Rose  City"  and  the  prodigality  of 
those  whom  fortune  favors  with  nature's  gifts.   -The  king 


Fig.   3 — Float  of   Rex   Oregonus. 

was  seated  on  a  throne  borne  upon  the  back  of  a  giant 
golden  pheasant.  This  bird  of  Oregon  was  regal  in  the 
splendor  of  its  plumage,  which  vied  in  magnificence  with 
the  royal  robes.  The  float  was  a  riot  of  color  with  splashes 
of  gold  and  a  flood  of  bewildering  light  effect,  and  the  royal 
coat-of-arms  was  emblazoned  upon  a  shield  behind  which 
were  guards  and  courtiers,  pages  and  heralds. 

Following  the  float  of  Re.x  Oregonus  came  floats  svmbolic 


NUeJHH 

■_ji 

■ 

■   •   •"        * 

Pf^'f 

• 

■^    -M.'WitlW.Mi 

*  ^ 

*  * 

Ml 

• 

'^^--^ '  * 

:         S 

i-     s'--.JIi 

1^ 

"4 

Fig.  2 — Street   Illumination   During   Rose  Festival  at  Portland,  Ore. 


The  electrical  pageant  pictured  the  various  nations  of  the 
world  in  a  succession  of  tableaus.  The  floats  were  mounted 
on  flat  electric  cars  and  were  run  over  the  tracks  of  the 
Portland  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company,  which  donated 
the  electrical  energy  for  the  occasion.  Xeedless  to  state, 
electricitv  was  employed  lavishly  in  producing  the  proper 
effect,  and  so  pleasing  were  tlie  results  that  the  floats  will 


of  Germany,  Russia,  Greece,  Holland,  Japan,  Italy,  Spain, 
France,  Alaska,  Monte  Carlo,  India,  Turkey.  China,  Egj'pt 
and  Great  Britain,  in  the  order  named.  Chief  among  the 
military  glories  of  Germany  are  the  achievements  of  Fred- 
erick the  Great,  and  this  illustrious  warrior  was  shown 
mounted  on  a  dapple-grav  steed  of  heroic  size  as  though 
emerging  from  his  famous  castle  on  the  Rhine.     The  car 


t  «■  ■ 


tPr*.l*!L«ri|« 


Tg-,.- 


At  %^  i  lift  iP  li  |«  1  A]!i1 


^rl^. 


i  P  g  1 A  A  » f ! 


Fig.    4 — Floats    In   the    Portland    Rose    Festival. 


S8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


blossomed  with  the  royal  purple  flower,  the  insignia  of 
majesty,  with  the  eagle  head  and  wings  across  the  front. 

The  Muscovite  is  not  at  home  unless  he  is  surrounded  by 
snow  and  ice,  and  in  the  car  symbolic  of  Russia  the  Czar 
and  Czarina  were  shown  in  a  royal  sled.  The  highway  was 
covered  with  the  pink  camellia,  contrasting  well  on  a  field 
of  white,  and  a  typical  Russian  church  was  to  be  seen  at 
the  back  of  the  float. 

The  Isles  of  Greece  formed  the  theme  for  the  fourth  car, 
and  on  it  was  depicted  the  legend  that  the  denizens  of  the 
deep  lured  men  and  gods  to  their  watery  wastes  and  in  safe 
retreat  were  propitious  to  those  they  loved  and  marred  or 
maimed  the  ones  they  hated.  The  enchantress  was  shown 
beneath  a  foam-flecked  crest  surrounded  by  golden  friends 
of  the  finny  tribes.  Coral  reefs  formed  a  picturesque  frame 
for  the  aquatic  panorama  and  mammoth  molusks  afforded 
resting  places  for  recumbent  naiads. 

The  home  life  and  peaceful  routine  of  daily  duties  of 
Holland  were  brought  out  in  the  fifth  car.  The  morning 
glory,  the  welcome' stork  and  the  windmill,  so  typical  of 
Holland,  were  not  forgotten  in  the  attempt  to  idealize  its 
life.  By  an  artistic  arrangement  of  colored  lamps  the 
flowers  stood  out  in  prismatic  blend. 

Japan  with  its  cherry  blossoms  and  wealth  of  wistaria 
was  shown  in  color  and  a  rare  design  of  Oriental  splendor. 
In  front  was  the  vase  of  Buddha  with  its  rich  floral  offer- 
ings, while  at  the  rear  seated  upon  a  dais  before  the  golden 
sun  was  the  queen  of  Japan's  fairyland. 

The  Roman  galley  of  the  Cjesars  was  employed  to  typify 
Italy,  and  the  days  of  Columbus  w-ere  recalled  in  the  float 
of  Spain.  The  bow  of  the  Santa  Maria  and  the  throne  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  combined  in  a  single  design 
showing  the  return  of  Colufnbus,  with  the  golden  poppy 
blending  with  the  dazzling  lights  and  shades  of  the  royal 
surroundings. 

The  coronation  of  Josephine  by  Napoleon  formed  the 
theme  for  the  float  of  France.  Two  golden  forms  extended 
crowning  wreaths  to  the  queen  seated  beneath  a  canopy, 
and  the  fleur-de-lis  stood  forth  in  bold  relief  upon  the  car. 
The  illumination  of  this  tableau  was  brilliant  and  effective. 

Alaska,  the  "Land  of  the  Midnight  Sun,"  was  possibly 
the  most  dazzling  of  all  the  floats.  The  great  white  bear, 
the  penguin  and  the  Eskimo  and  his  faithful  dog  were  all  in 
evidence  surrounded  by  icy  floes;  while  the  light  effect  of  a 
fast-fading  sun  sinking  behind  glaciers  was  most  beautiful. 

The  flight  of  riches  epitomized  in  Monte  Carlo  was  shown 
in  realistic  fashion  on  the  eleventh  car,  and  immediately  fol- 
lowing it  was  a  car  describing  in  a  beautiful  way  the  now 
famous  pageant  known  to  the  world  as  the  Durbar.  Noth- 
ing was  lacking  to  carry  out  the  impression  of  barbaric 
splendor  attending  this  classic  pageant  of  India. 

The  Ottoman  Empire,  with  its  crescent  moon,  scimiter 
and  veiled  effect  of  Oriental  flavor,  was  symbolized  on  a  car 
which  for  color  scheme  and  general  appearance  was  second 
to  none  in  the  parade.  Equally  resplendent  was  the  car  of 
China,  with  its  dragon  and  lanterns  and  the  floral  wealth 
of  the  Celestial  Empire.  Egypt's  queen,  the  famous  Cleo- 
patra, was  shown  drifting  in  her  boat  on  a  fountain  of  love. 
In  front  a  swan  disported  himself  while  the  Sphinx  of 
porphyry  stood  guard.  The  vast  fountain  was  a  mass  of 
colored  lights  sunk  beneath  the  splashing  waters. 

The  final  float  typified  England,  Britannia  being  shown 
seated  on  a  lion.  The  provinces  were  symbolized  by 
women,  and  the  thistle  of  Scotland  and  the  shamrock  of 
Ireland  were  made  to  ornament  the  tableau,  the  illumination 
of  which  required  many  hundred  lamps. 

The  entire  effect  was  beautiful,  the  different  colors  of  the 
designs  being  brought  out  by  varicolored  lamps.  As  a 
pageant  this  climax  to  Portland's  "Rose  Carnival"  has  set 
a  pace  for  electrical  effects  which  it  will  be  hard  to  match. 
Some  nine  months  were  required  to  build  the  floats  and  not 
a  little  ingenuity  was  shown  in  hiding  the  motorman  and 
rendering  the  trolley  pole  inconspicuous. 


DAYLIGHT  LIGHTING. 


One  of  the  interesting  features  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association  convention  was  the  display  of  daylight 
lamps  arranged  by  the  municipal  lighting  department  of  the 
city  of  Seattle. 

The  daylight  color  is  obtained  with  tungsten  lamps 
dipped  in  a  solution  which  absorbs  the  excess  of  red  and 
vellow  light.  The  process  is  the  result  of  research  by  the 
engineering  department  of  the  National  Electric  Lamp 
Association,  by  which  the  lamps  at  Seattle  were  dipped. 
The  solution  v^-as  adjusted  by  comparing  the  light  from  a 
tungsten  lamp  at  its  rated  voltage  with  that  from  the  north- 
ern sky,  and  the  color  varied  until  the  two  sources  were 
identical  in  color  value.  The  result  is  a  solution  which 
forms  a  dark-blue  coat  that  appears  opaque  when  the  lamps 
are  cold  but  gives  a  true  daylight  when  they  are  turned  on. 
Since  the  color  from  the  tungsten  filament  is  orange-yellow, 
the  principal  part  of  the  light  is  absorbed  by  the  coating,  so 
that  about  four  times  the  wattage  is  necessary  for  the  same 
amount  of  light  with  dipped  lamps  as  compared  with  those 
having  clear  bulbs. 

The  lamps  were  displayed  in  Seattle  in  the  fine  arts  room 
of  the  public  library  and  on  the  ornamental  cluster  poles 
on  Fourth  Avenue  in  front  of  the  library.  In  the  library 
the  6o-watt  lamps   in  the  chandeliers  were  replaced  with 


Daylight    Lighting    at    Seattle. 

loo-watt  dipped  lamps.  The  result  was  a  pleasant  soft 
light  which  appeared  to  be  of  natural  daylight  color  and 
gave  pictures,  dyed  fabrics  and  flowers  their  true  appear- 
ance. The  cluster-lamp  poles  on  the  street  in  front  of  the 
library  are  of  the  standard  five-globe  type  used  throughout 
the  business  district,  each  containing  five  50-watt  lamps. 
Each  pole  was  equipped  with  one  400-watt  and  four  250- 
watt  lamps.  The  section  of  street  thus  lighted  attracted 
much  attention  on  account  of  both  the  increased  illumina- 
tion and  the  whiteness  of  the  light,  and  the  ordinary  tung- 
sten lamps  on  each  side  appeared  decidedly  yellow  by 
contrast.  Here  again  the  true  color  values  of  colored  ob- 
jects appeared.  Dark-blue  cloth  was  blue  instead  of  black, 
yellow  paper  showed  yellow  instead  of  white,  and  each 
shade  examined  appeared  the  same  as  by  daylight. 


CONTINUOUS  "TALKING"  ELECTRIC  SIGN. 


An  ingenious  new  "talking"  electric  sign  in  which  the 
letters  and  words  are  formed  at  the  right  and  sweep  across 
the  display,  simulating  the  passage  of  text  beneath  the  eye, 
has  just  been  installed  on  the  Columbia  Vaudeville  Theater, 
Gratiot  Avenue.  Detroit,  where  its  novel  appearance  has 
been  attracting  considerable  attention.  Unlike  the  old- 
fashioned   stationarv   letter-box   signs,   the   letters    form    at 


July  6,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


59 


the  right,  cross  the  vision  and  disappear  at  the  left,  enabling 
words  and  sentences  of  any  length  to  be  displayed.  Opera- 
tion of  the  sign  is  controlled  by  a  perforated  paper  ribbon, 
similar  to  the  ones  which  are  used  by  mechanical  piano- 
players. 

The  present  Detroit  equipment  comprises  a  bank  of  768 
iio-volt,  io-\vatt  tungsten  lamps,  8  lamps  wide  and  96 
lamps   long.      Each    lamp    is   individually    connected   to    a 


iXLtS  ^/VAMADIUM  SI 


Fig.     1 — Sentence     Exhibited     by     IVlotograpin     '*Tall<ing"     Sign 

contact  brush  bearing  on  the  commutator  surface  of  the 
controller,  over  which  the  perforated  paper  ribbon  is  run. 
As  a  given  perforation  travels  the  length  of  the  controller 
it  permits  contact  to  be  made  to  the  corresponding  series  of 
lamps.  In  the  same  way  an  appropriate  grouping  of  such 
holes  causes  the  formation  of  a  letter  which  travels  across 
the  bank. 

This  display  is  of  further  interest  in  containing  one  of 
the  first  installations  of  no-volt,  multiple  lo-watt,  7-cp 
lamps  ever  used.  These  lamps  are  especially  applicable  to 
tliis  sign  on  account  of  their  quick  rise  to  full  filament 
brightness,  as  well  as  the  small  current  (0.099  amp)  which 
the  individual  brush  contacts  are  required  to  carry.  En- 
durance tests  made  on  the  brushes  and  paper  ribbon  used, 
according  to  the  manufacturer,  show  that  the  elements  may 
be  depended  on  with  confidence  that  they  will  give  long 
service  in  operation. 

As  illustrated  by  the  displays  on  the  Columbia  Theater 
sign,  the  moving  patterns  are  not  limited  to  letters  and 
figures  but  may  be  made  to  include  any  simple  design  which 
can  be  formed  on  a  rectangular  lamp-bank.  For  preparing 
standard-text  perforated  ribbon  a  keyboard  perforating  ma- 
chine embodying  a  new  principle  is  employed.  With  its  aid 
the  ribbon  can  be  prepared  as  fast  as  it  is  run  off,  adapting 
the  sign  admirably  for  news  bulletins,  etc.  If  desired,  of 
course,  a  fixed  succession  of  sentences,  of  any  length,  can 
be  displayed.  About  five  seconds  is  required  for  a  given 
letter  to  cross  the  Columbia  display,  which  in  length  is 
twelve  times  its  height.  Advantage  will  be  gained,  however, 
by  increasing  this  length  to  fourteen  or  more  times  the  unit 
height,  thereby  permitting  more  letters  on  the  bank  at  a 
given  time. 

Tests  have  shown  the  average  demand  of  the  sign  to  be 
from  20  to  30  per  cent  of  its  total  connected  load,  and  this 
demand  is  very  steady  during  the  operation  of  the  display, 
varying  only  as  heavy  or  light  words  appear.  In  the  case 
of  the  Detroit  installation  the  moving  feature  of  the  letters 


WIRING  IN  COLD-STORAGE  ROOMS. 


Fig.  2 — Perforated   Paper   Ribbon  Controlling  the  Operation   of  the 

Sign. 

themselves  has  been  observed  to  exercise  a  remarkable 
attention-compelling  effect  on  passers-by,  and  on  several 
occasions  even  special  policemen  have  been  required  to 
keep  the  public  out  of  danger,  so  great  has  been  the  interest 
in  the  display. 

This  display  device  is  known  as  the  Bickley  Motograph 
and  is  manufactured  by  the  Electric  Sales  Company,  1028 
Chamber  of  Commerce  Building,  Detroit,  Mich. 


By  W.  J.  Can.\da. 

Conduit  construction  for  electric  wiring  has  come  to 
mean  the  last  word  in  safe  and  permanent  work  for  ordinary 
residence,  mercantile  and  manufacturing  buildings.  In  one 
class  of  occupancy,  however,  the  advance  of  conduit  use 
has  found  a  serious  check.  The  cold-storage  room,  the 
steam  rooms  of  packing  plants  and  killing  rooms  offer  a  set 
of  atmospheric  conditions  very  exacting  on  any  type  of  con- 
struction. The  advocates  of  conduit  point  to  the  mechanical 
protection  afforded,  which  becomes  of  greater  moment  as 
the  insulation  deteriorates  and  slight  disturbances  would 
cause  crosses  with  open  wiring.  The  advocates  of  open 
wiring  in  turn  point  to  the  necessity  under  such  moist  con- 
ditions of  the  most  liberal  spacing,  long  leakage  distances 
on  insulators,  and  the  advisability  that  slight  dependence  be 
placed  on  the  insulation  proper  of  wires,  since  this  insula- 
tion must  necessarily  deteriorate  rapidly  in  such  rooms. 

In  high  altitudes  and  areas  of  low  humidity  such  as  our 
Western  States  offer  the  interior  atmospheric  conditions 
seem  to  be  somewhat  modified,  there  being  less  condensation 
and  less  rapid  deterioration  of  insulation. 

In  low  altitudes  and  moist  climates  the  accelerated  effect 
on  insulation  makes  the  mechanical  advantage  of  conduit 
less  evident.  It  seems  probable  that  practice  should  be 
determined  by  competent  engineers  from  a  study  of  local 
conditions.  Some  such  rooms,  from  lack  of  corrosive  solu- 
tions, character  of  materials  stored  or  handled,  method  of 
refrigeration,  infrequency  of  cleaning,  etc.,  may  be  much 
less  liable  to  frequent  drying  and  recondensation  than 
others. 

If  conduit  is  employed,  the  effects  of  condensation  should 
be  minimized  by  the  following  general  precautions: 

1.  Place  all  circuit  fuses  and  switches  outside  of  the 
rooms  in  substantial  cabinets.  The  practice  of  using  in  the 
rooms  cabinets  kept  partially  dry  by  incandescent  lamps  is  a 
poor  palliative. 

2.  Use  "brewery"  cord  and  weatherproof  keyless  sockets. 
Attach  the  cords  to  the  circuit  wires  mechanically  in  con- 
ducts or  outlet  boxes,  solder  them  carefully,  and  warm  the 
rubber  tape  in  applying  it. 

3.  Incline  the  conduit  toward  the  outlet  and  junction 
boxes  and  leave  these  with  opening  to  drain  the  attached 
conduit  lengths,  not,  however,  allowing  them  to  drip  in  the 
attached  sockets. 

4.  Repaint  the  conduit  carefully  at  all  joints  and  fittings, 
avoid  short  bends  and  repaint  the  entire  conduit  runs  occa- 
sionally. 

5.  Have  the  conduit  thoroughly  bonded  and  grounded  and 
test  occasionally  for  leakage  to  and  from  the  conduit. 

6.  Use  alternating  current  if  possible  rather  than  direct 
current. 

Where  conditions  seem  to  indicate  the  desirability  of 
using  open  wiring,  the  following  precautions  will  enhance 
the  minimization  of  leakage  for  which  this  construction  is 
alone  employed  and  will  tend  to  the  reduction  of  chance 
grounds,  crosses  and  injuries  from  mechanical  disturbances: 

1.  Place  the  fuses  and  switches  in  substantial  cabinets 
outside  of  the  rooms. 

2.  Use  "brewery"  cord  and  weatherproof  keyless  sockets, 
supporting  them  directly  from  the  wires,  using  carefully 
made  joints,  well  cleaned,  soldered  and  with  the  rubber 
tape  applied  warm  completely  covering  the  joints, 

3.  Support  the  circuit  wires  on  petticoated  insulators, 
maintaining  unusual  separation  between  the  wires.  .'Attach 
the  cords  near  the  insulating  supports. 

4.  Where  it  is  necessary  to  use  bushings,  if  no  mechanical 
injury  is  anticipated  and  the  wire  leaves  the  bushing  parallel 
with  it,  use  long  porcelain  tubes  with  at  least  3  in.  projecting 
on  either  side  of  the  material  through  which  the  bushing 
passes.      If    mechanical    injury    may    occur,    use    properly 


66 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  i. 


drained- conduit  with  the  terminal  condulet  properly  sep- 
arating the  wires  and  serving  as  a  drip  fitting.  Where  ice 
or  frost  accumulates  conduit  should  be  used,  because  tubes 
are  frequently  broken  in  such  locations. 

5.  Where  much  dripping  from  the  ceiling  occurs  inverted 
wood  or  metal  trough  should  be  placed  over  the  wires. 

In  either  class  of  wiring  the  use  of  portable  cords  should 
be  restricted,  and  if  necessary  marine  cord  and  heavy 
guarded  hand  lamps  should  be  used. 

It  is  frequently  found  that  where  special  precaution  has 
been  observed  in  joint  making  and  drainage  conduit  installa- 
tions suffer  much  less  than  previous  experience  had  led  one 
to  look  for  from  condensation  and  early  development  of 
grounds,  and  for  this  reason  the  use  of  conduit  is  gaining 
favor  even  in  those  territories  where  the  natural  humidity 
is  relatively  high. 

The  use  of  direct-current  systems  has  usually  resulted 
from  the  tendency  to  retain  methods  adopted  in  former 
plants,  but  managers  of  breweries,  packing  plants,  cream- 
eries, etc.,  who  have  installed  alternating-current  systems 
or  arranged  for  purchase  of  alternating-current  energy 
from  public-service  supply  systems  have  found  grounds  and 
resultant  short-circuits  less  frequent,  fire  hazard  much  bet- 
ter limited  and  the  motor  repair  bill  reduced  by  90  per  cent. 
In  fact,  in  many  such  plants  the  repair  of  direct-current 
motors,  due  largely  to  the  vulnerability  of  brush  rigging  and 
comnmtator  to  moisture,  will  amount  to  more  than  half  the 
operating  expense  of  the  electrical  plant,  including  the  elec- 
trician's wage,  even  where  the  energy  is  purchased  from  a 
service  company  to  offset  the  initial  charges  on  a  private 
plant.  Conduit  wiring  for  alternating-current  distribution 
will  be  the  type  favored  for  the  carefully  planned  cold- 
storage  plant  of  the  future. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


LIGHTNING  CONDUCTORS. 


To  the  Editors  of  Elcclriail  World: 

Sirs: — In  taking  up  the  study  of  lightning  I  have  been 
struck  with  the  wide  differences  of  opinion  among  writers 
on  the  subject  as  to  the  necessary  or  desirable  size  of  light- 
ning rods  for  buildings.  The  report  of  the  lightning  re- 
search committee,  London,  1905,  reconunends  copper  ribbon 
weighing  not  less  than  6  oz.  per  foot,  or  iron  weighing  not 
less  than  2.25  lb.  per  foot,  but  states  that  the  practice  on 
the  Continent  has  been  to  use  much  lighter  material.  The 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  Bulletin  No. 
367.  specifies  No.  3  or  No.  4  double  galvanized-iron  wire. 

Such  divergence  in  practice  would  seem  to  indicate  that 
the  lighter  conductors  had  given  satisfaction  where  they 
were  used,  or  at  least  that  the  failures  were  not  traceable 
to  insufficient  size.  More  conservative  engineers  have  ad- 
hered to  larger  sizes  simply  because  little  was  positively 
known  and  they  wished  to  be  on  the  safe  side. 

The  security  afforded  by  a  liglitning  rod  depends  pri- 
marily on  its  permanence  and  its  arrangement,  and  to  a 
less  degree  on  its  conductivity.  The  path  offered  by  the 
conductor  is  so  vastly  superior  to  air  that  a  slight  difference 
in  the  impedance  of  the  rod  would  hardly  be  a  factor  in 
determining  what  path  the  discharge  would  take. 

In  order  to  test  whether  the  large,  expensive  conductors 
often  used  are  warranted  on  the  basis  of  reduced  im- 
pedance, I  made  a  rough  calculation,  the  result  of  which 
is  shown  in  the  accompanying  curve.  The  assumptions  with 
which  I  started  are  only  rough  approximations,  but  were 
such  as  to  exaggerate  the  difference  in  impedance  of  the 
different  sized  wires  rather  than  to  minimize  it.  Certain 
experiments  made  in  connection  with  high-frequency  ap- 
paratus used  in  wireless  telegraphy  have  shown  that  at  a 


frequency  of  50,000  cycles  per  second  the  current  is  con- 
fined to  a  layer  of  metal  o.ooi  in.  thick  on  the  surface  of  the 
wire.  The  resistance  was  calculated  on.  this  basis,  using 
10.8  ohms  per  circular  mil-foot.  The  reactance  vvaB  calcu- 
lated assuming  that  the  conductor  was  a  straight' vertical 
tube,  that  the  return  path  of  the  current  was  a  concentric 
cylindrical  surface,  of  40-ft.  radius,  and  that  the  frequency 
was  50,000  cycles  per  second.  For  higher  frequency,  or 
with  a  greater  distance  to  the  return  conductor,  the  in- 
ductive reactance  would  be  greater  and  the  ratio  of  total 
impedances  for  large  and  small  wires  would  be  even  less. 
Now,  the  return  path  in  the  case  of  a  lightning  discharge 
consists  in  the  dielectric  currents  in  the  air,  and  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  average  distance  from  the  conductor  is  much 
greater  than  40  ft.  The  frequency  of  oscillation  of  a  light- 
ning discharge  is  not  certainly  known,  but  50,000  cycles  is 
probably  a  low  limit.  It  has  been  estimated  as  high  as 
500,000  cycles  per  second.  While  the  higher  frequency 
would  increase  the  ohmic  resistance  by  accentuating  the 
skin  eft'ect,  it  would  increase  the  inductive  reactance  in 
much  greater  ratio.  It  is  thus  evident  that  there  is  less 
difference  in  the  impedances  of  large  and  small  wires  than 
this  curve  would  indicate,  but  taking  the  figures  as  I  have 
them  the  conclusion  is  of  interest. 

The  ohmic  resistance  (which  was  added  in  vector  quad- 
rature to  the  inductive  reactance  to  determine  the  total 
impedance)   is  a  negligible  factor. 

The  smaller  wires  have  a  slightly  higher  inductance. 


0.30 

0.28 

Diam.  B.  &  S, 

0.26 

Gage     _^3 

0.24 

-foajM-t*:^ 

1    1    1    1 

0.22 
0.20 

1 

1! 

\ 

0.18 

K 

0.16 

- 

0.14 

- 

^Jij2ii2£fde2ee__ 

0.10 

0.08 

\ 

0.06 

\ 

0.04 

-\ 

0.02 
0 

,,__Ohmic 

Resistance 

0.1 


U.6  1.0 

Diameter  in  Inches 


1.5 


Resistance   and   Impedance   of   Round   Copper  Conductors   at  50,000 

Cycles. 

Calling  the  impedance  of  No.  4-0  B.  &  S.  unity,  No.  2 
would  show  an  impedance  of  1.08,  No.  6  of  1.15,  No.  10 
of  1.22,  and  No.  14  of  1.30.  Where,  then,  is  the  advantage 
in  using  anything  over  No.  10  B.  &  S.  copper  wire  for 
lightning  rods?  The  object  of  using  larger  sizes  is  to 
avoid  danger  of  mechanical  injury  and  danger  of  melting 
when  struck  by  lightning.  In  regard  to  this  last  point  I 
should  be  glad  of  more  information.  A  melting  of  the 
wire  at  the  point  where  the  stroke  passed  from  the  air  to 
the  wire  would  hardly  indicate  that  the  wire  was  too  small, 
since  the  heat  in  this  case  is  developed  in  the  surrounding 
air  and  not  in  the  wire.  The  melting  of  the  points  of  a 
lightning  rod  is  inevitable  if  a  direct  stroke  occurs,  and  it 
does  no  serious  harm. 

Columbia,  Mo.  E.  W,  Kellogg. 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


61 


Digest    of   Current   Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Self-Excitation  of  Polyphase  Commutator  Machines. — R. 
MosER. — The  author  describes  the  following  phenomenon 
of  self-excitation  which  was  observed  with  a  polyphase 
commutator  machine.  As  shown  in  Fig.  I,  the  stator  of 
a   small   polyphase   machine   of   2-hp    rating   was   provided 


Fig.     1 — Arrangement    of    Apparatus. 


with  a  two-phase  winding  d.  The  rotor  had  two  windings, 
namely,  an  ordinary  direct-current  armature  winding  a 
with  commutator  and  a  second  drum  winding  a„  which 
was  connected  at  two  opposite  points  on  the  two  slip- 
rings  /.  During  the  test  in  question  this  second  winding 
was  not  to  be  used.  Brushes  y  at  the  commutator  of  the 
first  winding  were  connected  with  the  stator  winding  of 
a  small  two-phase  synchronous  generator  H  which  had 
been  made  from  a  two-phase  induction  motor  by  passing 
direct  current  into  two  slip-rings  g  of  its  three-phase  rotor 
while  the  third  rotor  phase  winding  was  short-circuited. 
The  synchronous  generator  H  and  the  commutator  machine 
were  directly  coupled  together  and  were  driven  by  a 
direct-current  motor.  Since  the  synchronous  generator 
and  the  commutator  niacliine  had  the  same  number  of 
poles,  the  winding  a  of  the  latter  was  supplied  with  an 
absolutely  synchronous  current  of  correct  frequency.  Now 
everything  went  well  as  long  as  the  stator  d  was  open. 
There  was  no  sparking  at  the  brushes  y,  and  by  measuring 
the  current  through  the  brushes  and  the  voltage  at  the 
stator  d  it  was  possible  to  plot  the  no-load  curve.  But 
when  for  the  purpose  of  a  short-circuit  test  the  stator 
winding  d  was  short-circuited  the  brushes  began  to  spark 
heavily  with  slight  excitation  of  the  synchronous  generator 
H.  Evidently  there  was  here  some  peculiar  kind  of  self- 
excitation,  similar  to  that  in  the  simple  repulsion  motor, 
since  the  stator  winding  d  and  the  rotor  winding  a  were  not 
connected  together.  It  was  also  evident  that  currents  of 
a  very  different  frequency  were  here  active.  The  remedy 
was  found  when  it  was  observed  that  by  bridging  the  slip- 
rings  /  of  the  second  rotor  winding  n,  the  sparking  could 
be  made  to  disappear  at  once.  The  remedy  applied  was  a 
cross-section  on  the  second  winding  a.  as  indicated  by  the 
dotted  line.  This  cross-connection  was  possible  because 
the  machine  was  intended  only  for  synchronous  oieration 
for  certain  purposes.  Of  course,  a  special  small  squirrel- 
cage  winding  would  be  just  as  effective  as  this  cross-con- 
nection.— Elek.  u.  Masch.    (Vienna),  June  2,   1912. 

Three-Phase  Commutator  Series  Motor. — L.  Dreyfus 
AND  F.  HiLLEBRAND. — Continuation  and  conclusion  of  their 
theoretical  article  on  the  circular  diagram  of  the  three- 
phase  commutator  series  motor.  The  authors  now  take 
into  consideration  the  magnetizing  current  of  the  series 
transformer  and  show  how  this  magnetizing  current  may 
influence  the  behavior  of  the  series  motor.  The  circular 
diagram  is  given  for  this  case  and  it  is  shown  how  to 
determine   graphically   the   rotor  current,   the   magnetizing 


currents  of  motor  and  transformer,  torque  and  power.  For 
illustration  a  numerical  example  is  added. — Elek.  «. 
Masch.   (Vienna),  June  2  and  9,   1912. 

Reactance. — J.  Rezei.man. — A  continuation  of  his  long 
mathematical  serial  on  synchronous  and  asynchronous  re- 
actance. This  article  deals  with  the  reactance  of  a  single- 
phase  high-frequency  alternator.  The  pole  pitch  being 
very  small,  the  reactance  of  the  stator  windings  and  the 
leakage  coefficient  of  the  poles  are  both  very  large,  and  in 
designing  such  a  machine  it  is  very  important  to  pre- 
determine their  magnitude  accurately. — London  Elec- 
trician, June   7,   1912. 

Hysteresis  Loss  in  Iron. — M.  Rosenbaum. — A  note  on 
an  experimental  investigation.  The  author's  experiments 
were  undertaken  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  how  the  iron 
losses  of  a  static  transformer  vary,  owing  to  the  super- 
position of  continuous-current  magnetization  on  the  alter- 
nating flux.  The  change  of  flux  over  a  cycle  was  main- 
tained constant.  It  was  found  that  the  hysteresis  loss 
increases  very  appreciably  under  those  conditions.  This 
phenomenon  manifests  itself  in  practice  in  inductor  alter- 
nators and  static  balancers. — London  Electrician,  June  7, 
1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Thrce-Phasc  Arc  Lamp. — W.  Wedding. — An  illustrated 
description  of  a  new  three-phase  arc  lamp  of  Schaeffer 
with  an  account  of  tests  of  this  lamp  made  in  the  author's 
laboratory.  The  feature  is  the  method  of  regulation  of 
the  electrodes.  I'.ach  of  them  can  move  in  two  different 
directions,  either  longitudinally  or  laterally,  so  that  the 
uniformity  and  symmetry  of  the  three  arcs  are  always 
maintained.  Tests  were  made  of  the  efficiency  as  a  func- 
tion of  the  voltage  of  the  arc.  The  results  are  given  in 
Fig.  2.  Curve  A  gives  the  lower  mean  hemispherical 
candle-power  in  hefners,  while  curve  a  gives  the  specific 
consumption  in  watts  per  lower  mean  hemispherical 
candle-power.  The  abscissas  are  volts.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  specific  consumption  is  a  minimum  for  voltages 
between  60  and  70.     The  results  of  another  set  of  tests 


20       30        10        so        60        70        to       so      too 

nit 

Fig.   2 — Variation    of    Efficiency    with    Voltage    of   the    Arc. 

are  given  in  curves  B  and  b,  the  difference  from  the  ar- 
rangement of  curves  A  and  a  being  simply  in  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  blowing  magnet.  .Another  set  of  tests  was 
made  in  which  the  current  was  maintained  constant  and 
the  voltage  was  determined  as  a  function  of  the  distance 
between  the  electrode  ends,  the  results  being  given  in 
Fig.    3.      The    abscissas    are    the    distances    in    millimeters 


62 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol  6o,  No.  i. 


(l  mm  equals  0.04  in.).  The  voltage  increases  propor- 
tionately to  the  distance.  The  specific  power  consumption 
was  also  measured,  and  the  results  are  given  in  the  curves 
a  and  b.  It  is  seen  that  in  order  to  get  high  efficiency  the 
new  lamp  must  be  operated  with  a  comparatively  long  arc ; 
that  is,  with  comparatively  large  distances  between  the 
electrode  ends.     At  a  voltage  of  62.3  with  a  current  of 


0.^ 

90 

o,s 

SO 

«7 

70 

t- 

c 
0 

fl/f 

60 

•y. 

0   .5!? 

0,3 

30 

0/ 

ZO 

0.1 

W 

Fig- 


00  mm 


-Variation   of   Efficiency  with   Distance   Between  the 
Electrodes. 


10  amp  and  a  power  consumption  of  iioo  watts  the  lamp 
had  a  lower  hemispherical  candle-power  of  11,052  hefner 
candles.  The  specific  consumption  is,  therefore,  o.i  watt 
per  mean  hemispherical  candle-power.  It  is  finally  shown 
that  the  electrode  consumption  is  relatively  less  than  in 
ether  arc  lamps  and  a  numerical  example  is  given  to  show 
a  considerable  saving  in  the  cost  of  attendance  and  main- 
tenance.— Elck.  Zcit.,  June  6,  1912. 

High-Candle-Poivcr  Lamps. — An  account  of  a  general 
discussion  before  the  Berlin  Electrical  Society  on  high- 
candle-power  lamps.  It  was  opened  by  Wedding,  who 
defined  high-candle-power  lamps  as  lamps  of  1000  cp  or 
more ;  that  is,  chiefly  arc  lamps.  With  a  specific  con- 
sumption of  0.2  watt  per  mean  lower  hemispherical  candle- 
power  for  flame-arc  lamps  and  with  a  specific  consump- 
tion of  0.6  liters  (0.021  cu.  ft.)  of  gas  for  incandescent 
gas  lamps,  the  expenses  for  gas  and  electric  energy  are 
the  same  for  the  same  light  production  if  gas  costs  10 
pfennige  per  cubic  meter  (71  cents  per  1000  cu.  ft.)  and 
electricity  costs  7.5  cents  per  kw-hr.  There  are  to  be 
added  to  this  the  expenses  for  arc-lamp  electrodes  and 
Welsbach  mantles,  as  well  as  for  attendance  and  main- 
tenance. To  reduce  this  cost  for  arc  lamps  it  is  im- 
portant to  lengthen  the  life  of  the  electrodes.  Progress 
has  been  made  in  this  direction,  as  indicated  by  the  recent 
paper  of  Hechler.  In  the  discussion  Hechler  emphasized 
that  he  did  not  describe  a  new  lamp  but  only  new  elec- 
trodes. These  electrodes  were  first  made  in  Germany, 
but  were  materially  improved  in  the  United  States  and 
the -improved  electrodes  are  now  being  introduced  in  Ger- 
many. Passavant  thought  that  the  new  electrodes  are  as 
much  superior  to  the  old  ones  as  the  metallic-filament 
lamp  is  superior  to  the  carbon-filament  lamp.  Without 
increase  of  cost  it  is  now  possible  to  increase  the  intensity 
of  street  lighting  threefold.  Levy  emphasizes  the  really 
great  advances  made  in  compressed  gas  lighting.  An 
account  is  also  given  of  a  recent  exhibition  of  the  new 
electrodes  of  Hechler's  paper  by  the  AUgemeine  Elek- 
tricitats  Gesellschaft.  The  essential  feature  is  that  they 
are    homogeneous,    the    whole    cross-section    being    filled 


with  a  mixture  of  carbon  and  impregnating  salts. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  June  6,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Direct-Current  Series  System. — J.  S.  Highfield. — An 
illustrated  article  in  which  the  author  describes  the  pioneer 
installation  by  the  Metropolitan  Electric  Supply  Company 
of  the  continuous-current  series  system  (Kurz)  in  England. 
The  earth  has  been  used  as  a  stand-by  conductor,  and  some 
interesting  tests  on  the  use  of  the  earth  as  a  return  con- 
ductor have  been  made.  Finally,  the  special  circumstances 
are  discussed  which  render  the  adoption  of  the  series  sys- 
tem preferable  to  the  customary  three-phase  transmission 
in  this  particular  instance.  The  author  does  not  think 
that  the  former  will  supplant  the  latter  in  every  case,  since 
each  has  its  own  sphere,  but  for  certain  work  the  series 
system  and  series-wound  constant  current  machines  possess 
great  advantages  as  to  cost  and  convenience  over  other 
systems.  For  very  long-distance  transmission,  especially 
where  underground  mains  are  necessary,  it  is  possible  where 
the  alternating-current  system  is  not  possible.  Where 
energy  has  to  be  taken  to  a  great  city  from  a  distance, 
whether  from  a  water-power  station  or  a  steam  station 
situated  at  the  coalfields,  the  underground  system  offers 
great  advantages,  as  compared  with  the  overhead  system, 
in  respect  of  security  of  supply  and  cost  of  maintenance. 
In  many  intances  the  underground  direct-current  system 
can  be  laid  at  no  greater  cost  than  the  three-phase  over- 
head system.  The  system  might  be  advantageously  used  for 
railway  supply,  especially  where  water-power  is  available, 
since  it  enables  a  very  long  line  to  be  fed  from  a  single 
power  station.  It  is  nearly  as  easy  and  inexpensive  to 
insulate  for  100,000  volts  as  for  20,000  volts;  all  that  is 
necessary  is  to  design  the  couplings  and  machine  insulation 
for  the  higher  pressure.  With  this  high  pressure  any 
practicable  distance  from  a  power  station  is  possible.  The 
series  machine  is  well  adapted  for  any  special  work  where 
variable  speed  is  required,  as  for  driving  winding  and 
hauling  gear  and  for  rolling  mills.  It  has  been  found  more 
economical  to  install  a  separate  series  system  consisting  of 
a  generator  and  motor,  the  former  driven  by  a  three-phase 
motor,  to  drive  a  single  winding  gear.  The  great  advan- 
tage for  these  purposes  is,  of  course,  the  combination  of 
constant  torque  with  any  degree  of  speed  variation  and 
the  absence  of  the  losses  incurred  in  any  form  of  rheostatic 
control. — London  Electrician,  June  14,  1912. 

British  Poiver  Company. — David  A.  Starr. — An  abstract 
of  a  paper  read  before  the  Scotch  section  of  the  (British) 
Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers.  The  author  outlines  the 
early  history,  the  equipment  and  the  system  of  distribution 
of  the  Clyde  Valley  Electrical  Power  Company,  since  its 
powers  were  obtained  in  1901.  Particular  attention  is  given 
to  recent  progress  by  the  company  and  to  the  modifications 
necessary  in  the  original  equipment.  Energy  is  obtained 
from  steam  by  means  of  turbines.  The  development  of  the 
company  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  in  January,  1908,  the 
connections  amounted  to  12.400  hp  and  in  January,  1912, 
to  46,500  hp,  of  which  43,500  hp  were  motors  and  3000  hp 
lamps.  From  January  to  May,  1912,  the  connections  have 
increased  by  some  6000  hp.  There  are  two  stations.  The 
diversity  factor  is  noteworthy.  The  highest  peak  reached 
by  the  combined  stations  during  191 1  was  12,500  kw,  this 
being  only  27  per  cent  of  the  kilowatts  connected  at  that 
time.  The  sum  of  the  highest  observed  loads  on  the  stations 
taken  separately  each  week  is  invariably  much  higher  than 
the  actual  demand  of  the  two  stations  when  running  in 
parallel.  The  difiference  has  at  times  exceeded  1000  kw. — 
London  Electrician,  June  7,  191 2. 

Rotary  Air  Pump  and  Condenser. — C.  E.  C.  Shawfiei.d. — 
An  illustrated  article  in  w'hich  the  author  points  out  that 
the  advent  of  the  steam  turbine,  displacing  the  reciprocating 
engine  in  steam-driven  generating  stations,  has  rendered  it 
desirable    to    seek    more    efficient    means    of    condensation. 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     VV  (J  K  L  D 


63 


TIius  attempts,  notably  by  Maurice  Leblanc  and  E,  S.  G. 
Rees,  have  been  made  to  replace  reciprocating  air  pumps  by 
rotary  pumps.  The  pumps  evolved  by  these  two  engineers 
are  described,  their  advantages  and  disadvantages  are  stated 
and  the  opinion  is  expressed  that  such  plant  is  well  worth 
the  consideration  of  central-station  engineers. — London 
Electrician,  June  14,  1912. 

Energy  Transmission  to  Paris. — A  report  of  the  "investi- 
gating committee  of  the  Genissiat  project,"  replying  in  de- 
tail to  some  criticisms  which  have  been  raised  against  the 
scheme  of  transmission  of  electrical  energy  from  the  Rhone 
River  to  Paris. — La  Lumiere  Elec,  June  8,  1912. 

Traction. 

Berlin. — A  note  stating  that  the  Prussian  Ministry  of 
Railroads  has  prepared  a  plan  for  the  substitution  of  elec- 
tricity for  steam  on  all  the  city  and  suburban  railways  of 
Berlin.  The  work  will  be  carried  out  by  1916.  The  de- 
cision has  been  reached  owing  to  the  congestion  and  slow- 
ness of  traffic  under  the  present  system.  The  railway 
department  must  either  adopt  electricity  as  a  means  of 
obtaining  a  more  frequent  train  service  or  must  double  the 
tracks.  The  second  solution  was  found  too  costly,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  railways  within  the  city  run  overhead. 
With  electric  traction  it  will  be  possible  to  run  forty  trains 
an  hour,  carrying  25,000  passengers  each  way,  as  against 
twenty-four  trains,  with  12,000  passengers,  under  the  present 
system.  It  is  proposed  to  retain  in  use  the  present  carriages 
and  to  make  up  trains  consisting  of  at  most  thirteen  car- 
riages. Each  train  will  have  electric  locomotives  in  front 
and  at  the  rear,  the  two  locomotives  being  so  connected 
that  they  will  run  at  the  same  speed  and  will  start  and  stop 
at  exactly  the  same  moment.  In  times  of  slack  traffic  half 
trains  with  only  one  locomotive  will  be  run.  The  electric 
railways  will  continue  to  be  exploited  by  the  state,  but  the 
supply  of  electricity  is  to  be  provided  by  private  conces- 
sionaires, who  will  build  their  own  power  stations.  One  of 
these  will  be  in  Berlin  and  the  other  in  the  brown-coal 
district  where  fuel  is  cheap,  the  energy  being  brought  to 
Berlin  by  underground  cables.  The  power  companies  will 
be  allowed  to  supply  electricity  for  industrial  and  private 
purposes.  The  total  cost  of  electrification  is  estimated  at 
$31,000,000.  The  railway  department  proposes  to  raise 
fares  all  round.  At  present  the  city  and  suburban  railways 
are  run  at  a  considerable  loss.  They  earn  no  interest  on 
the  vast  capital  invested,  and  the  receipts  usually  do  not 
cover  the  cost  of  running.- — London  Electrician,  May 
31,  1912. 

Hamburg. — W.  Mattersdorf. — The  first  part  of  a  long 
detailed  illustrated  description  of  the  elevated  railroad  in 
Hamburg.  The  power  plant  from  which  three-phase  cur- 
rents are  transmitted  at  6000  volts  to  the  substations  con- 
tains two  steam  turbines  of  2000  kw  each  and  one  steam 
turbine  of  4000  kw.  The  article  is  to  be  continued. — Elek. 
Zcit.,  June  6  and  13,  1912. 

Intermitlcncy  in  Traction  for  City  and  Suburban  Service. 
— W.  Y.  Lewis. — The  author  shows  that  the  intermittency 
inseparable  from  the  present  heavy  trains  and  long  stations 
on  the  underground  electric  railways  has  brought  existing 
tubes  almost  to  the  limit  of  their  haulage  capacity.  He 
suggests  that  only  a  "continuous"  system  can  satisfactorily 
solve  the  transport  problem  in  large  cities.  Some  remarks 
are  made  and  diagrams  given  in  connection  with  graded 
acceleration. — London  Electrician,  May  31,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Hiring  Motors. — H.  H.  Holmes. — An  article  on  the  im- 
portance of  hiring  motors  in  cultivating  a  domestic  load. 
It  is  pointed  out  that  it  is  most  important  that  an  electricity 
undertaking  should  hire  motors  if  the  path  of  the  consumer 
is  to  be  made  attractive  in  embarking  on  the  e.xtended  use 
of  electricity  for  domestic  purposes.  Such  facilities  make 
the  consumer  feel  that  he  is  not  pledged  to  a  heavy  expendi- 


ture for  apparatus  that  may  not  suit  him,  or  that  he  may 
require  for  only  a  comparatively  short  time  in  case  he 
moves  to  another  district.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  revenue 
is  obtained  from  the  sale  of  energy  for  such  apparatus, 
the  hiring  charges  need  not  be  unduly  high.  The  author 
concludes  with  some  rules  which  should  be  observed  in 
dealing  with  consumers  under  a  hiring  scheme. — London 
Electrician,  June  14,  1912. 

Regulations. — The  revised  regulations  for  the  construc- 
tion of  starters  and  regulating  resistors  for  low-voltage  in- 
stallations are  given  and  explained  by  F.  Natalis.  The  new 
regulations  for  the  construction  and  testing  of  alter- 
nating-current high-tension  apparatus  (switches,  protection 
devices,  etc.)  from  1000  volts  upward  for  interior  installa- 
tions have  also  been  revised  and  are  printed  in  their  new 
form.  These  regulations  are  to  be  voted  on  at  the  next 
convention  of  the  German  Association  of  Electrical 
Engineers. — Elek.  Zeit.,  May  30,  1912. 

Electrical  Industries  of  Austria. — E.  Honigmann. — A 
statistical  article  on  the  status  in  191 1  of  the  electrical  in- 
dustries in  Austria.  There  are  636  small  Austrian  central 
stations  (with  a  rating  up  to  500  kw),  aggregating  46,553 
kw.  There  are  ninety-two  stations  of  medium  size  (from 
500  kw  to  5000  kw),  aggregating  112,755  kw.  There  are 
twelve  large  stations  (above  5000  kw),  aggregating  177,644 
kw.  Statistical  data  of  the  import  and  export  trade  are 
given. — Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  June  9,  1912. 

Paris. — Two  new  generating  stations  are  at  present  in 
course  of  erection  in  Paris,  one  of  25,000  kw  at  Issy-les- 
Moulineaux  and  the  other  of  80,000  kw  at  Saint-Ouen. — 
La  Lumiere  Elec,  June  i,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Calculation  of  Networks. — E.  Mattansit. — For  the  cal- 
culation of  networks  there  are  available  the  method  of 
Herzog  and  Stark,  that  of  Coltri,  that  of  Teichmuller,  that 
of  Frick  and  that  of  Kennelly.  The  author  combines  all 
these  methods  in  such  a  way  that  in  the  calculation  of  a 
network  it  is  possible  to  pass  over  from  one  method  to 
another  method.  The  final  result  is  obtained  by  means  of 
the  superposition  principle.  The  method  is  illustrated  by  a 
practical  example. — La  Lumiere  Elec,  June  I,  1912. 

Covering  Wires  ivith  Asbestos  Insulation. — A  note  on  a 
recent  British  patent  (No.  18,949,  June  6.  1912)  of  the 
British  Thomson-Houston  Company,  Ltd.  (General  Electric 
Company  of  this  country).  For  insulating  wires  with 
asbestos  and  similar  material  previously  formed  into  a  web, 
which  is  thin  and  fragile  and  is  applied  to  the  wire  and 
afterward  compressed,  one  method  is  to  wind  the  web  into 
a  roll  with  a  sheet  of  paper  between  the  turns  to  prevent 
them  from  adhering  together.  In  this  invention,  however, 
instead  of  the  paper,  a  movable  support  is  used  which 
receives  the  web  and  conveys  it  to  the  wire.  A  roller  is 
mounted  with  its  periphery  engaging  the  wire  and  a  roll  of 
insulating  material  also  engaging  with  this  roller.  A  mov 
able  carrier  is  mounted  below  the  wire  to  apply  the  insulat- 
ing materials  by  causing  the  roller  to  rotate  and  to  apply  the 
adhesive  necessary. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  June  13,  1912. 

Electrophysics   and   Magnetism. 

Unipolar  Induction. — E.  H.  Kennard. — A  description  of 
some  unipolar  induction  experiments  from  which  the  author 
concludes  that  they  disprove  the  moving-force-line  theory. 
"In  the  future  whenever  the  electromotive  intensity  due  to 
electromagnetic  induction  is  assumed  to  be  proportional  to 
motion  relative  to  magnetic  force  lines,  these  force  lines 
must  be  supposed  to  be  always  stationary,  at  least  as  re- 
gards any  rotation  of  the  magnetic  system  about  an  axis  of 
magnetic  symmetry.  That  is,  a  rotating  magnet  does  not 
'carry  its  force  lines'  around  with  it.  It  is  thus  rendered 
probable  that  electromagnetic  induction  caused  by  motion 
depends  on  absolute  motion — that  is,  on  motion  relative  to 
the  ether,  not  on  motion  relative  to  material  bodies." — 
Phil.  Mag..  June,   1912. 


64 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  i. 


Theory  of  the  Absorption  and  Scattering  of  the  Alpha 
Rays. — C.  G.  Darwin. — A  paper  in  which  a  hypothesis  is 
put  forward  whereby  the  alpha  particles  in  passing  through 
matter  pull  electrons  out  of  the  atoms  they  traverse,  acting 
on  them  with  the  ordinary  law  of  the  inverse  square.  An 
equation  is  deduced  relating  their  velocity  to  the  distance 
they  have  traveled  from  their  source.  This  is  the  "velocity 
curve"  and  agrees  closely  with  the  experimental  curve.  The 
equation  involves  two  unknown  constants:  n,  the  number  of 
electrons  in  each  atom;  r,  the  radius  of  the  atom.  In  the 
case  of  air,  if  r  be  assumed  known,  n  can  be  deduced  from 
the  range.  Widely  dift'erent  values  of  r  give  very  similar 
values  of  n.  The  number  of  electrons  in  the  atom  appears 
to  be  intermediate  between  the  atomic  weight  and  its  half. 
The  atomic  radii  decrease  with  increasing  atomic  weight. — 
Phil.  Mag.,  June,  1912. 

Electrochemistry  and  Batteries, 

Storage  Battery. — .\  note  on  a  new  storage  battery  of 
H.  I.  Hannover  in  Copenhagen  for  which  a  low  weight  per 
kilowatt-hour  is  claimed.  "The  plates  are  of  a  lead  alloy, 
pierced  with  millions  of  holes  of  microscopical  dimensions, 
which  render  the  plate  extremely  porous  and  enormously  in- 
crease the  active  surface."  The  method  of  producing  this 
minutelv  perforated  plate  is  the  main  point  of  the  invention, 
but  the  process  employed  is  not  yet  made  public.  It  has 
been  found  that  the  storage  capacity  of  the  plates  is  "at 
least  4.3  times  that  of  the  plates  of  the  train  lighting  cells 
used  hitherto  bv  the  Danish  street  railways  for  the  same 
dimensions." — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  June  6,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Comparative  Magnetic  Tests  of  Steel. — E.  Gumlich.^ 
An  account  of  the  results  of  comparative  tests  of  five 
samples  of  sheet  steel  carried  out  by  the  Bureau  of 
Standards  in  Washington,  the  National  Physical  Laboratory 
in  London  and  the  Reichsanstalt  in  Berlin.  The  coefificient 
of  loss  (verlustziffer)  and  the  hysteresis  loss  were  deter- 
mined. The  Reichsanstalt  employs  the  Epstein  apparatus, 
the  Bureau  of  Standards  and  the  National  Physical  Lab- 
oratory the  Lloyd-Fisher  apparatus.  The  principal  differ- 
ences between  the  two  methods  are  in  the  dimensions  of 
the  strips  of  the  sheets  used  as  samples  and  in  the  joints 
at  the  corners.  All  three  bureaus  determine  the  loss  by  the 
dynamometric  principle,  the  Reichsanstalt  using  a  needle 
wattmeter  of  Siemens  &  Halske  and  the  other  two  institutes 
taking  mirror  readings.  The  separation  of  hysteresis  and 
eddy-current  loss  is  made  by  a  variation  of  the  frequency  in 
the  Bureau  of  Standards  and  the  Reichsanstalt,  while  the 
British  National  Physical  Laboratory  makes  use  of  the 
change  of  the  wave-form  of  the  magnetizing  current  and  of 
the  voltage  wave-form,  since  the  latter  has  an  effect  not 
only  on  the  hysteresis  loss  but  also  on  the  eddy-current  loss. 
The  results  of  the  comparative  tests  in  the  three  bureaus 
are  given  in  two  tables.  The  mean  differences  for  the  five 
samples  are  below  l  per  cent,  although  in  one  case  there  is 
a  difference  of  1. 1  per  cent.  Between  the  results  obtained 
by  the  three  bureaus  for  the  same  sample  there  are  greater 
differences,  amounting  in  a  few  cases  to  3  per  cent.  The 
conclusion  of  the  author  is  that  if  the  various  sources  of 
error  are  taken  into  consideration  the  agreement  between 
the  results  of  the  three  bureaus  is  "good  beyond  expecta- 
tion." It  is  especially  noteworthy  that  there  are  no  sys- 
tematic deviations  between  the  results  obtained  with  the 
different  arrangement  of  measurement. — Elck.  Zeit.,  May 
30,  1912. 

Meters.— A.  Durand. — His  long  Turin  Congress  paper  on 
commercial  electric  meters  with  a  detailed  description  of 
laboratory  tests  as  to  various  sources  of  error.  The  be- 
havior of  the  meters  in  commercial  practice  is  also  discussed. 
— La  Revue  Elec.,  May  24,  1912. 

Oscillograph. — J.  K.  A.  W.  Salomonson. — The  author 
discusses  the  design  of  transformer  and  oscillograph  (par- 
ticularly in  reference  to  damping)    when  they  are  used  in 


conjunction  with  a  microphone  for  the  production  of  vocal 
curves. — London  Electrician,  June  7,  1912. 

Moving-Coil  Alternating-Current  Instrument. — Gossen. — 
An  illustrated  translation  of  his  German  paper  noticed  some 
time  ago  in  the  Digest  on  a  new  moving-coil  measuring  in- 
strument for  direct  and  alternating  current  of  the  ^\'eston 
type. — London  Electrician,  June  7,  1912. 

Laboratory  of  Radioactivity. — J.  Danne. — An  illustrated 
description  of  the  equipment  of  the  laboratory  for  tests  of 
radioactive  substances  in  Gif,  Seine-et-Oise,  in  France. — 
Phys.  Zeit.,  June  15,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

German  Patent  Office. — Carl  Weihl.- — An  article  giving 
statistical  data  on  the  work  of  the  German  Patent  Oflice  in 
191 1.  The  expenses  of  the  patent  office  were  $1,280,000. 
The  income  was  $2,670,000.  A  revision  of  the  German 
patent  statutes  is  recommended. — Elek.  Zeit..  June  6,  1912. 

Factory. — An  illustrated  description  of  the  new  fan  works 
and  central  stores  of  the  (British)  General  Electric  Com- 
pany.—London  Elec.  Rci'iezv,  June  14,  1912. 


Book  Review 

Analytical  Mechanics.  Comprising  the  Kinetics  and 
Statics  of  Solids  and  Fluids.  By  Edwin  H.  Barton. 
London :  Longmans,  Green  &  Company.  535  pages, 
241  illus.  Price,  $3  net. 
Teachers  and  post-graduate  students  will  find  this  book  of 
much  interest,  aside  from  its  value  as  a  text-book,  owing  to 
the  method  of  exposition  employed  and  its  clear  and  logical 
enunciation  of  principles.  It  would,  however,  be  of  little 
service  in  the  average  American  undergraduate  course,  as 
its  object  is  to  teach  principles  and  not  merely  to  develop 
the  formulas  most  frequently  met  with  in  practical  work. 
The  student  who  masters  a  text  of  the  present  kind  is  fitted 
to  deduce  fornuilas  in  after  life  from  the  underlying  prin- 
ciples as  practical  problems  are  presented,  or  at  least  to 
apply  handbook  formulas  with  an  intelligent  knowledge  of 
their  bearing  and  limitations.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
student  who  is  taught  mechanics  in  the  usual  way  may  start 
life  well  equipped  with  formulas  and  knowledge  of  their 
application  to  specific  cases,  but  in  the  lack  of  logical  asso- 
ciation with  principles  this  kind  of  learning  quickly  passes 
away,  the  result  being  another  recruit  to  the  ranks  of  those 
who.  a  few  years  out  of  school,  have  "forgotten  their 
mathematics"  and  are  prone  to  condemn  writers  who  are 
obliged  to  employ  mathematics  in  setting  forth  new  develop- 
ments. 

.\  valuable  chapter  in  the  book  consists  of  a  discussion  of 
the  physical  basis  of  kinetics.  A  historical  account  is  given 
of  the  conceptions  of  Galileo,  Huyghens  and  Newton.  The 
principles  of  Newton  are  examined,  an  account  is  given  of 
the  criticism  of  their  verbal  statement  by  Mack,  Pearson 
and  Love,  and  a  restatement  is  offered  in  modern  termi- 
nology. The  heads  of  other  subjects  treated  in  this  general- 
chapter  are  as  follows:  Lodge  on  axioms;  universal  gravi- 
tation ;  friction-coulomb,  Morin  and  Beauchamp  Tower ; 
laws  of  Hooke  and  Boyle ;  relative  character  of  motion  antf 
mechanics ;  attitude  toward  physical  axioms ;  masses  at 
high  speeds;  quantities  usually  proportional  to  mass.  The 
chapter  ends  with  enunciations  by  the  author,  followed  by 
a  discussion,  of  the  chief  mechanical  bases. 

In  referring  to  metric  units,  it  is  stated  that  the  standard 
of  length,  the  meter,  is  a  platinum  rod  made  by  Borda  and 
preserved  in  the  Bureau  des  Archives  in  Paris,  and  that  the 
standard  of  mass,  made  also  by  Borda,  is  preserved  in  the 
Conservatoire  des  Arts  et  Metiers,  Paris.  These  are  his- 
torical standards,  the  actual  international  standard  meter 
and  kilogram  being  now  kept,  under  ideal  conditions  with 
relation  to  proper  preservation,  at  the  Bureau  InternationaJ 
des  Poids  et  Mesures,   Sevres,  France. 


July  6,  191J. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


05 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


DIRECT-CURRENT  MOTOR  STARTER. 


ADVERTISING  SIGNS. 


A  device  which  affords  an  efficient  and-  inexpensive 
method  for  starting  and  protecting  constant-speed,  direct- 
:urrent  motors  has  recently  been  placed  on  the  market  by 
the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company.  East 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

A  magnet  switch  serves  to  open  and  close  the  circuit  and 


Some  new  electric  signs  which  are  said  to  involve  a  new 
principle  in  sign  lighting  have  recently  been  put  on  the 
market  in  England.  The  black  background  or  frames  are 
made  of  sheet  metal,  the  lettering  or  design  being  per- 
forated in  these  plates.  In  the  perforations  are  inserted 
flanged  glass  balls  which  are  held  tightly  between  the  two 


Figs.    1    and   2 — Direct-Current    IVIotor   Starter. 


Electric     Sign. 


ts  blow-out  coils  prevent  injurious  arcing.  In  conjunction 
ivith  interlocking  mechanisms  and  the  overload  relay  this 
switch  also  affords  low-voltage  and  overload  protection.  A 
two-pole  line  switch  disconnects  the  motor  and  starter  from 
:he  line  completely.  .\  multipoint  starting  switch  cuts  out 
the  starting  resistor  in  several  steps.  The  switch  has  an 
interlocking  contact  at  each  end.  One  of  these  contacts 
must  be  closed  before  the  magnet  switch  can  operate.  The 
switch  is  made  for  115-volt  motors  of  from  10  hp  to  60  hp, 
for  230-volt  motors  of  from  12.5  hp  to  125  hp,  and  for  550- 
volt  motors  of  from  30  hp  to  250  hp. 


PREVENTING  THEFT  OF  INCANDESCENT  LAMPS. 


.\  method  which  is  said  to  afford  protection  against  theft 
:o  lamps  and  reflectors  can  be  used  in  connection  with  the 
50-called  "shurlock"  lamp-locking  attachment.  A  small 
hole  is  drilled  through  the  end  of  the   filjer  and  the  shell 


Lamp   Socl<et   with    Locking    Device. 

^lolding  the  lock.  A  small  wire  is  inserted  through  this 
dole  and  the  private  seal  of  the  owner  is  then  attached  to 
the  wire,  making  any  attempt  to  tamper  with  the  lock  im- 
mediately evident.  Pass  &  Seymour,  Inc.,  Solvay,  N.  Y., 
will  apply  this  method  to  "shurlock"  sockets  upon  request. 


plates.  The  illuminant  is  placed  in  a  compartment  behind 
the  glass  balls.  Owing  to  the  focusing  spheres  the  signs, 
it  is  claimed,  give  a  maximum  of  illumination  and  can  be 
read  from  any  angle.  It  is  readily  seen  that  this  principle 
can  be  adapted  to  almost  any  form  of  sign.  This  sign  has 
been  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Armorduct  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  Ltd..  Farringdon  Avenue.  London.  England. 


HIGH-POTENTIAL  FUSE. 


A  new  type  of  high-tension  fuse  has  recently  been  placed 
on  the  market  by  the  Delta-Star  Electric  Company,  Chi- 
cago, 111.     It  consists  of  a  short  fusible  element   innnersed 


22,000-Volt,    12-Amp    Fuse. 

in  a  non-combustible  arc-extinguishing  liquid.  The  fusible 
part  is  held  under  spring  tension  and  passes  through  a  float 
the  normal  position  of  which  is  near  the  top  of  the  sealed 
glass  tube.  Upon  melting  of  the  fuse,  the  spring  rapidly 
pulls  the  float  down  through  the  liquid  body,  thereby  ex- 


66 


L  E  C  T  R  I  C  A  L     W^  O  R  L  D  . 


Vol   6o,  No.  i. 


tinguishing  the  arc,  at  the  same  time  giving  a  positive  in- 
dication of  an  open  circuit.  While  the  tube  is  hermetically 
sealed,  the  upper  end  is  so  constructed  that  a  small  vent 
will  open  at  a  certain  pressure,  thus  forming  a  safeguard 
against  breaking  of  the  tube  in  case  of  extremely  violent 
short  circuits. 

These  fuses  are  built  for  potentials  up  to  and  including 
66,000  volts.  For  indoor  or  station  use  the  fuse  is  sup- 
ported on  corrugated  porcelain  pillars  mounted  on  a  marble 
base.  For  pipe-frame  mounting  the  insulators  are  of  the 
standard  petticoat  type,  provided  with  steel-base  pins  and 
"U"  bolts  for  clamping  the  iron  pipe.  For  protecting  out- 
door substations,  pole-type  transformers  and  sections  of 
lines  the  fuse  mounting  is  made  weatherproof  and  consists 
of  two  petticoat  insulators  suspended  from  cross-arms,  in 
a  manner  similar  to  that  employed  with  weatherproof  in- 
verted-type disconnecting  switches. 


reached  by  water  accumulating  in  the  basement  where  the 
panel  is  generally  installed. 

The  pressure  governor  connected  to  tKe  water  system 
closes  the  control  circuit  of  the  panel  as  soon  as  the  water 
pressure   falls  to  a  predetermined  value,  the  motor  being 


INSULATING  COMPOUND. 


An  insulating  material  which  is  said  to  have  proved  very 
satisfactory  is  the  so-called  Rex  electrical  insulating  com- 
pound. Although  it  dries  in  less  than  five  minutes,  it  is 
said  to  leave  no  streaks  or  lumps  in  applying.  The  results 
of  equal  applications  have  shown  from  20  per  cent  to  50 
per  cent  greater  insulating  qualities  on  the  part  of  this  com- 
pound. The  finish  is  said  to  be  similar  to  varnish  or  baked 
enamel.  The  basic  material  is  gum  and  it  has  no  disagree- 
able odor.  It  is  manufactured  by  the  Flintkote  Manufac- 
turing Company,  Boston,  Mass. 


AUTOMATIC  FIRE  PROTECTION. 


Many  industrial  plants  are  now  equipped  with  automatic 
water-sprinkling  systems,  and  protection  against  fire  is 
afforded  provided  the  water  pressure  is  maintained.  For 
this  purpose  it  is  essential  that  the  motor  and  control  ap- 
paratus be  absolutely  reliable  so  that  no  fault  will  develop 
and  make  it  necessary  to  shut  down  the  motor  and  stop 
the  pump. 

A  fire-pump  motor  and  control  panel  is  designed  for 
emergency  conditions  and  consequently  is  seldom  operated. 
In  the  control  panel  shown  herewith  all  bearings  are  pro- 


Fig.   2 — FIre-Piimp   Starter  for    Induction    Motor. 

started  with  all  the  resistance  in  circuit.  Current-limit  con- 
tactors automatically  accelerate  the  motor  by  cutting  out 
successive  steps  of  the  resistance.  If  desired,  the  motor 
may  be  started  by  hand  by  means  of  the  operating  lever  at 
the  right  of  the  contactor.  This  method  forces  the  con- 
tactors to  close  in  their  proper  sequence  by  means  of  a  cam 
shaft. 

The  panel  is  protected  against  failure  of  voltage  and  also 
from  overloading.  Two  lamps  are  mounted  on  the  panel, 
one  serving  to  indicate  w-hen  there  is  voltage  on  the  line, 
while  the  other  indicates  to  the  operator  that  the  motor  is 
running. 

Fig.  2  shows  a  panel  installed  by  the  Delaware  &  Hudson 


Fig.    1 — Fire-PL'mp    Panel    with    Combined     Hand    and    Automatic 

Starter. 

vided  with  non-corrosive  parts  so  that  they  cannot  rust  on 
account  of  long  disuse  and  prevent  the  motor  from 
operating  at  the  critical  time. 

The  completed  panel  is  inclosed  in  a  splash-proof  case 
and  is  mounted  on  four  pipe  supports  so  that  it  cannot  be 


Fig.    3 — Fire-Pump    Panel. 

Company  at  its  coal  pocket  near  Schenectady.  This  panel 
controls  a  loo-hp,  220-volt,  60-cycle  slip-ring  induction 
motor,  driving  a  centrifugal  pump.  In  this  instance  the 
panel  is  controlled  by  a  separate  pressure  governor  at  a 
remote  point. 


lULY  6,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


67 


These  panels  may  be  used  to  advantage  in  hotels,  office 
uildings,  stores,  etc.,  for  supplementing  the  city  service 
nd  insuring  a  sufficient  water  pressure  for  every-day  use. 

This  control  apparatus  is  manufactured  by  the  General 
ilectric  Company,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 


PORTABLE  MOTOR-OPERATED  SHEAR. 


A  portable  shear  for  cutting  metal  bars  or  straps 
lounted  on  a  small  f^at  car  of  standard  gage  has  recently 
een  placed  on  the  market  by  John  Evans'  Sons,  Philadel- 
hia,    Pa.    The    car    is    run    to    any    desired    point    on    the 


Portable    Motor-Operated    Shear. 

rack  in  front  of  the  bin  containing  the  material  to  be  cut. 
'he  shear  is  operated  by  a  7.5-hp,  three-phase  motor  and 
he  motor  is  connected  to  the  nearest  junction  box  by  a 
exible  cable.  The  motor  for  this  shear  was  furnished  by 
he  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
Last  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


SEWING-MACHINE  MOTORS. 


The  endeavor  of  the  manufacturers  of  sewing-machine 
notors  has  been  to  eliminate  features  which  in  the  past 
lave  cast  a  damper  upon  the  enthusiasm  of  the  housewife 
or  electricallv  driven   machines.     The   motor    frame   here 


Motor. Driven   Sewing   Machine. 

Uustrated  is  cylindrical,  grease  cups  being  placed  on  the 
inder  side  of  the  bearings.  Wicks  regulated  by  a  spring 
ictuate  the  flow  of  the  lubricator  and  insure  a  steady  feed, 
rhe  field  cores  are  composed  of  steel  laminations.  The 
ipeed-regulating  device  is  concealed  within  the  end  cover, 


the  movable  contact  being  connected  by  a  light  chain  to  the 
treadle.  The  maximum  machine  speed  is  about  looo  stitches 
per  minute.  A  clock  spring  opens  the  circuit  and  regulates 
the  movements  of  the  carbon  contacts  as  pressure  on  the 
treadle  is  varied  or  entirely  removed.  The  belt  from  the 
motor  pulley,  held  in  place  by  a  belt  guard,  runs  over  an 
idler.  A  leather  brake  released  by  the  treadle-controlling 
mechanism  when  the  circuit  is  broken  bears  upon  the  saucer 
rim  of  the  pulley,  causing  an  instantaneous  stop.  The  net 
weight  of  the  motor,  bracket,  idler  and  dress  guard  is  21 
lb.  and  the  motor  is  rated  at  1/25  hp.  This  apparatus  is 
manufactured  by  the  Diehl  Manufacturing  Company,  of 
Elizabethport,  N.  J.,  for  the  Singer  Sewing  Machine 
Company. 


REMOTELY  CONTROLLED  COMPACT  HYDRAULIC 
GOVERNOR 


The  chief  characteristics  of  the  hydraulic  governor  re- 
cently invented  and  developed  by  Mr.  Nathaniel  Lombard 
are  flexibility,  absence  of  relay  or  intermediate  valves, 
economy  in  floor  area  and  the  use  of  remote-control  equip- 
ment which  allows  the  governor  to  be  started  from  any 
distant  point  to  which  wires  have  been  connected.  The 
motor  of  the  controlling  equipment  is  a  small  direct-current 
machine  wound  usually  for  operation  on  the  standard  of 
loo-volt  station  circuits  but  capable  of  being  wound  for 
use  on  circuits  from  storage  batteries.  The  valve  which 
controls  the  supply  of  oil  to  the  rotary  piston  is  operated 
directly  from  the  revolving  top  and  is  large  enough  to 
supply  the  cylinder  directly  without  the  use  of  any  inter- 
mediate arrangement.  The  flexibility  of  the  governor  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  rotary  piston  shaft  is  so  arranged 
as  to  make  several  turns  or  any  part  of  one  turn  and  can 
be  coupled  directly  to  the  gate  shaft  without  the  use  of 
gears,  links,  chain  or  wire  rope. 

The  pump  used  to  maintain  pressure  was  also  designed 
by  Mr.  Lombard.  It  is  of  the  inclosed  triplex  plunger 
type.     There  are  no  valves  on  the  suction  side,  a  port  being 


Remote-Controlled   Hydraulic  Governor. 

cut  through  the  guides  near  the  upper  end,  which  is  open 
when  the  plunger  is  in  the  extreme  upward  position  and 
is  closed  when  the  plunger  travels  downward. 

The  flywheel   governor   serves  to  actuate  the  lever  at- 
tached to  the  valve  controlling  the  movement  of  a  rotary 


68 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol,  6o,  No.  i 


piston  consisting  of  mechanically  operated  vanes  attached  to 
the  main  governor  shaft. 

The  governor  is  equipped  with  a  relaying  or  anti-racing 
mechanism  operated  from  the  governor  shaft  by  worm-and- 
gear  mechanism,  its  movement  being  in  a  decreasing  pro- 
portional ratio  to  the  increase  of  load;  in  other  words,  the 
greater  the  load  change,  the  less  the  relaying  effect.  The 
large  hand-wheel  at  the  right  is  provided  for  operating  the 
wheel  gates  manually  when  desired.  There  is  also  pro- 
vided a  safety  device  to  prevent  any  dangerous  action  of 
the  governor  in  case  the  driving  belt  should  run  off  or 
break  by  holding  the  gates  in  a  normal  position,  neither 
closing  nor  opening  them  until  the  hand-wheel  is  used. 

The  governor  is  made  at  present  in  two  styles,  one 
being  horizontal  and  the  other  vertical,  of  which  the  latter 
requires  very  little  floor  area  and  in  some  cases  can  be 
mounted  on  the  end  or  the  side  of  the  wheel  case.  It  de- 
velops about  10,000  ft. -lb.  per  second  under  normal  pres- 
sure. It  is  stated  that  plans  have  been  completed  for  a 
governor  of  the  same  design  to  develop  60,000  ft. -lb.  in  one- 
fourth  turn  of  the  piston.  The  governor  is  manufactured 
by  the  Holyoke  Machine  Company,  Worcester,  Mass. 


LIGHT  ELECTRIC  TRUCK. 


An  electric  truck  which  in  some  details  departs  from 
other  types  has  just  been  delivered  from  the  works  of  the 
Kentucky  Wagon  Manufacturing  Company,  Louisville,  Ky. 
Particular  attention  has  been  given  to  the  accessibility  of 
all  parts  and  to  lubrication.     The  controller,  ampere-hour 


Light    Electric    Truck. 


meter,  wiring  terminals  and  lamps  are  made  easily  accessible 
by  the  removal  of  the  panel  at  the  rear  of  the  short  front 
hood.  The  battery  can  be  reached  through  doors  on  either 
side  of  the  battery  compartment,  and  through  a  removable 
section  of  the  floor  which  exposes  the  top  of  the  battery  for 
the  purposes  of  taking  hydrometer  readings,  filling  the  cells 
and  attending  to  connections.  The  same  removable  floor 
section  gives  free  access  to  the  countershaft  and  motor. 

Allov  steel  springs,  hardened  and  ground  grease  bolts  and 
annular  ball  bearings  or  roller  bearings  on  all  revolving 
journals  are  used. 


IMPROVED  THEATER  WIRING. 


Five  years  ago  in  no  theater  in  the  State  of  Colorado 
was  the  electric-light  wiring  installed  in  conduits.  .'\t 
present  there  are  seven  such  installations  in  Denver,  two  in 
Colorado  Springs  and  one  in  each,  of  eleven  other  cities  in 
the  State.  Other  improvements  in  theater  wirdng  are  in 
switchboard  construction,  cabinets,  junction,  boxes,  etc.,  all 
with  the  object  of  obviating  the  open  wiring  and,  preventing 
mechanical  injury. 


In  the  new  Burns  Theater  at  Colorado, Springs  there  i; 
a  switchboard  11  ft.  long  by  7  ft.  high,  of  the  Crouse-Hind; 
manufacture,  located  on  a  reinforced-concrete  gallery  10  ft 
above  the  stage  floor.  The  dimmers  are  mounted  below  th( 
switchboard,    interlocking    with    masters    and    sub-masters 


Terminal    Boxes   and    Fuse   Cabinet   for   Theater. 

Behind  the  board  and  dimmers  are  terminal  boxes  and  fusi 
cabinets.  The  backs  of  these  boxes  and  cabinets,  which  ar^ 
shown  in  the  illustration,  are  provided  with  doors  for  e.\ 
amination  of  connections.  These  were  built  by  the  Com 
mercial  Switchboard  Manufacturing  Company,  Denver,  Col 


MOTOR-DRIVEN  PUNCH  AND  SHEAR  PRESS. 


Economy  of  floor  space  in  machine  shops  is  often  a 
very  important  matter,  particularly  so  when  it  is  desired  t' 
install  additional  tools.  The  Cleveland  Punch  &  Shear 
Works.  Cleveland,  Ohio,  has  recently  placed  on  the  market 
a  very  compact  electrically  driven  punch  and  shear  pre-- 
which  occupies  a  very  small  floor  area.  This  machine  Iki- 
been  designed  for  hea\v  work,  being  able  to  shear  twel\L 


Motor- Driven   Punch    and   Shear   Press. 

inches  of  1.5-in.  flat  bars  and  to  punch  a  s-in.  hole  in  a 
1.5-in.  plate.  \'arious  attachments  for  angle  shearing,  bar 
shearing  and  punching  are  interchangeable.  It  is  operattil 
by  a  25-hp,  230-volt  direct-current  motor  of  the  comnnitat- 
ing-pole  type,  which  is  mounted  above  the  press.  The  elec- 
trical equipment  lias  been  furnished  by  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  East  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


VLv  6,   igi: 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


69 


ELECTRIC  SERVICE  IN  AGRICULTURE. 


Actual  denionstratinns  on  farms  in  ( iermany  have  proved 
hat  it  is  practicable  to  use  electrically  driven  motors  for 
awing    wood,    pumping    water,    milkins;    cows,    separating 


Fig.    1 — Outdoor    Substation. 

ream,  making  butter,  chopping,  threshing,  cleaning  of 
rain  and  plowing.  Among  other  uses  to  which  electrical 
nergy  may  be  put  are  laundering,  ice-making,  reaping, 
riving  machine  shops,  sewing  machines,  sheep  clippers, 
orn   shellers,   fans  and   labor-saving  devices  in   the  home, 


I 


LU 

■J  ': 

■M 

t 

cost  of  labor  in  this  country  is  frum  50  per  cent  to  100 
per  cent  higher  than  it  is  in  Europe,  an  energetic  campaign 
should  be  made  by  every  transmission  company  that  de- 
sires to  develop  this  promising  field  to  the  fullest  extent 
possible. 

The  foremost  idea  to  be  kept  in  mind  is  to  supply  energy 
at  the  lowest  possible  cost.  This  must  necessarily  be  the 
case,  as  the  farmers  as  a  rule  do  not  live  in  crowded  com- 
munities and  each  does  not  use  a  very  large  amount  of 
power.  In  the  Middle  West  the  question  of  supplying  the 
energy  by  the  central  stations  is  being  studied  very  care- 
fully and  experience  has  proved  that  it  can  be  supplied  from 
the  main  transmission  line  at  a  very  low  cost  per  kw-hour 
and  still  allow  the  central  station  a  fair  profit. 

The  practical  application  of  electricity  to  farms  is  not 
confined  exclusively  to  these  large  installations,  but  can  be 
carried  on  to  good  advantage  on  farms  of  very  small  size, 
if  the  situation  is  carefully  analyzed  and  the  first  cost  of 
supplying  energy  is  not  made  too  high. 

For  irrigation  purposes  electric  motors  are  of  great  serv- 
ice, as  the  pumps  operate  during  only  certain  periods  of  the 
year  and  at  certain  hours  of  the  day;  at  other  times  they 
can  be  shut  down  and  stored  in  a  safe  place,  the  branch 
line  disconnected  from  the  main  trunk  line,  and  the  core 
loss  of  the  transformers  saved.  If  necessary  the  electrically 
driven  pumps  may  be  portable. 

In  the  states  of  Idaho,  Mevada  and  California  the  trans- 
mission companies  are  tapping  on  their  44,000,  60,000  and 
80,000-volt  lines  and  supplying  energy  for  pumping  work, 
gold  dredging  and  many  uses.  They  are  using  the  outdoor 
type  of  transformers,  the  smaller  size  being  mounted  on  a 
platform  supported  by  three  or  four  poles.  The  high-tension 
side  is  protected  by  horn-type  switches,  fuses  and  lightning 
arresters.  It  is  said  that  these  outdoor  substations  can  be 
installed  at  a  very  low  cost  and  have  operated  very  satis- 


Figs.  2  and  3 — Horn-Gap  Switch,   Lightning  Arresters  and  Fuses  Controlling  Outdoor  Substations. 


ind  lighting  buildings.  It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  in  one 
jf  the  municipal  farms  located  just  outside  of  Berlin,  Ger- 
nany,  there  is  installed  and  used  for  farming  purposes 
ipproximately  500  hp  in  motors. 

One  of  the  discouraging  features  of  farming  in  this 
:ountry  is  the  question  of  labor,  the  scarcity  of  which  has 
:aused  manv  a  large  farm  to  show  a  deficit,  and  as  the 


factorily.  Complete  lines  of  transformers  equipped  for 
outdoor  service  are  now  available.  Horn-type  apparatus 
has  been  developed  and  improved  until  now  it  is  accepted 
as  safe  and  reliable.  In  Figs,  i  and  2  is  shown  substa- 
tion ap])aratus  installed  for  outdoor  service.  This  ap- 
paratus has  been  developed  by  the  Railway  &  Industrial 
Engineering  Company,  Pittsburgh.  Pa. 


70 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


ALTHOUGH  a  slight  decrease  has  taken  place  in  the 
volume  of  trade  in  the  past  two  weeks,  it  has  oc- 
casioned no  particular  concern  inasmuch  as  a  slow- 
ing down  is  customary  at  this  time  of  the  year — a  mid- 
season  period.  Even  if  this  condition  was  not  a  normal 
one,  a  natural  cause  for  conservatism  has  been  furnished  by 
the  uncertainty  attendant  upon  the  national  conventions. 
Confidence  that  business  will  expand  before  the  end  of  the 
year  still  prevails  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  and  the 
existence  at  present  of  several  of  the  factors  that  usually 
foreshadow  a  period  of  good  business  seems  to  be  ample 
justification  for  this  attitude.  The  necessity  for  replenish- 
ing low  stocks  of  merchandise  is  one  factor  of  far-reach- 
ing effect,  while  the  large  increase  in  orders  for  future  de- 
livery may  be  taken  as  a  sign  that  the  outlook  is  regarded 
as  fairly  promising.  Top-notch  activity  in  the  iron  and 
steel  trades  and  maintenance  of  demand  regardless  of 
higher  prices  are  other  indications  that  progress  is  being 
made.  Attention  is  concentrated  at  present  on  the  crops. 
and  here  also  the  outlook  is  good.  Pending  the  crop 
financing  the  money  market  remains  quiet.  Rates  in  New 
York  July  2  were:  Call,  2><,@2^  per  cent;  ninety  days, 
Z%@3%  per  cent. 


Central  States  Electric  Company  Directors. — Organiza- 
tion of  the  Central  States  Electric  Company,  which  was 
formed  as  a  holding  company  for  70  per  cent  of  the  com- 
mon stock  of  the  Cleveland  (Ohio)  Electric  Illuminating 
Company  secured  by  Harrison  Williams  under  his  offer  of 
$130  per  share,  as  noted  in  these  columns  May  18  and  25, 
1912,  is  rapidly  nearly  completion.  Among  the  directors  of 
the  new  company,  in  addition  to  Harrison  Williams,  who 
is  the  guiding  spirit,  are:  R.  E.  Breed,  president  American 
Gas  &  Electric  Company;  Edwin  M.  Bulkley,  of  Spencer 
Trask  &  Company;  Anson  W.  Burchard,  of  the  General 
Electric  Company;  De  Forest  Candee,  president  Federal 
Utilities,  Inc.;  George  A.  Galliver,  vice-president  Republic 
Railway  &  Light  Company,  all  of  New  York;  Parmelee  W. 
Herrick,  of  Herrick,  Parmelee  &  Crawford,  Cleveland; 
Robert.  Lindsay,  general  manager  Cleveland  Electric  Illu- 
minating Company;  Robert  C.  Morse,  of  Jackson  &  Curtis, 
Boston;  James  Richardson,  of  Richardson  &  Clark,  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.,  and  Samuel  Scovil,  vice-president  of  the  Cleve- 
land Electric  Illuminating  Company.  The  Central  States 
Electric  Company,  with  acquisition  of  70  per  cent  of  the 
stock  of  the  Cleveland  company,  will  have  outstanding 
$3,611,000  7  per  cent  preferred  stock,  of  an  authorized  issue 
of  $30,000,000,  and  $4,334,400  common  stock  of  an  authorized 
issue  of  $10,000,000.  In  addition  to  the  above,  the  company 
will  also  have  outstanding  $4,333,000  ten-year  5  per  cent 
notes,  of  an  authorized  issue  of  $6,000,000.  The  Guaranty 
Trust  Company  and  Spencer  Trask  &  Company  have  pur- 
chased these  notes  and  will  offer  them  publicly  within  a 
short  time,  at  a  price  to  yield  5.75  per  cent.  Additional 
notes  may  be  issued,  at  the  rate  of  about  $77.32  par  value 
in  notes  for  each  additional  $100  par  value  of  Cleveland 
Electric  Illuminating  stock  deposited  with  the  trustee.  They 
are  convertible  at  par  into  7  per  cent  preferred  stock  of 
the  company  at  105  at  any  time.  The  Cleveland  Electric 
Illuminating  Company  has  recently  closed  a  ten-year  con- 
tract with  the  Cleveland  Electric  Railways  Company  to 
supply  the  latter  with  additional  energy  required,  as  noted 
in  these  columns  June  8,  and  in  this  connection  a  14,000- 
kw  equipment  is  to  be  installed  shortly  by  the  lighting  com- 
pany. 

Hall  Signal  Reorganization  Plan  Modified. — After  con- 
sideration of  the  suggestions  made  by  several  stockholders 
that  in  the  reorganization  of  the  Hall  Signal  Company  the 
preferred  stock  of  the  new  company  to  be  formed  under  the 
plan  outlined  in  these  columns  April  6  should  be  sold  to 
stockholders  at  less  than  par,  the  readjustment  committee 
has  decided  to  modify  its  plan  and  will  offer  the  new  pre- 
ferred shares  at  the  rate  of  $80  for  each  $100  of  the  old 
stock.     Each   stockholder  is   entitled   to   subscribe   by  July 


15,  1912,  for  an  amount  of  the  new  stock  equal  to  62}^ 
per  cent  of  his  stock  in  the  old  concern.  Under  the  modi- 
fied plan,  each  stockholder  will  receive  $125  of  new  pre- 
ferred stock  and  $200  of  new  common  stock  for  each  $I0C 
subscription.  To  effect  this  change  the  amount  of  new 
preferred  stock  will  be  increased  by  $250,000  to  $2,2250,000, 
of  which  $1,250,000  will  be  sold  and  $1,000,000  will  be  re- 
tained in  the  treasury.  The  committee  states  that  it  has 
voluntarily  relinquished  its  claims  to  $500,000  of  common 
stock  which  was  to  have  been  paid  to  the  committee  and  its 
counsel  for  expenses  and  services  under  the  original  plan. 
This  amount  of  common  stock  will  be  divided  among  the 
stockholders  of  the  Hall  Signal  Company.  .\n  underwrit- 
ing syndicate  formed  to  carry  out  the  plan  has  agreed  to 
take  over  the  stock  of  the  new  company  not  subscribed  for 
by  the  present  stockholders,  on  terms  practically  the  same 
as  those  offered  to  the  latter.  Each  member  of  the  under- 
writing syndicate  will  receive,  however,  a  commission  of 
50  per  cent  in  common  stock  and  5  per  cent  in  cash, 

A  Westinghouse  Company  to  Deal  in  Securities. — 'In  ac- 
cordance with  the  plans  of  Guy  E.  Tripp,  chairman  of  the 
board  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, to  organize  a  subsidiary  corporation  along  the  same 
lines  as  the  Electiic  Bond  &  Share  Company,  operated  by 
the  General  Electric  Company,  of  which  mention  was  made 
in  the  Electrical  World  May  18,  1912,  a  syndicate  composed 
of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
the  Equitable  Trust  Company  and  William  Morris  Imbrie 
&  Company,  of  New  York,  has  taken  over  the  Electric 
Properties  Company,  as  a  medium  for  dealing  in  the  se- 
curities of  public  service  corporations.  The  Electric  Prop- 
erties Company  was  incorporated  in  New  York  in  May, 
1906,  to  finance  and  develop  electric  lighting  and  traction 
companies.  Its  authorized  capitalization  consists  of  $6,000,- 
000  common  stock  and  $6,000,000  6  per  cent  cumulative  pre- 
ferred stock.  The  Westinghouse  Machine  Company  has 
controlled  the  Electric  Properties  Company  through  own- 
ership of  $5,000,000  of  the  common  stock.  Through  own- 
ership of  the  entire  capital  stock  of  Westinghouse,  Church, 
Kerr  &  Company,  the  Electric  Properties  Company  has 
carried  on  a  general  engineering  and  construction  business. 
Enlargement  of  the  company's  field  of  operation  and  ac- 
quisition of  new  properties  are  among  the  plans  of  the  syn- 
dicate. 

Additions  to  Generating  Stations. — Recent  orders  placed 
with  the  General  Electric  Company  for  power-house  equip- 
ment include  one  from  the  Mount  Whitney  Power  &  Elec- 
tric Company,  of  Visalia,  Cal.,  for  a  937-kva  turbo-gener- 
ator, with  a  25-kw  exciter  set  and  switchboard.  The  East- 
ern Michigan  Power  Company,  of  Jackson,  Mich.,  has  re- 
cently placed  an  order  with  the  same  manufacturer  for  one 
250-kw,  7200/720  volt  and  one  43-k\v,  5000 '2500-500/250-volt 
regulator  and  ten  oil  switches  and  panels.  Three  750-kva, 
22,000/2400-volt  transformers  have  been  ordered  by  the 
Great  Western  Power  Company  for  a  substation  at  Sacra- 
mento, Cal.  One  200-hp  motor,  six  induction  motors  in 
ratings  ranging  from  2  hp  to  75  hp  and  a  switchboard  have 
been  ordered  by  the  Yuba  Contracting  Company,  San 
Francisco,  Cal.,  for  installation  on  a  river  dredge  at  Sump- 
ter,  Ore. 

May    Dissolve    Telephone    Manufacturing    Company. — A 

special  meeting  of  the  stockholders  of  the  Stromberg-Carl- 
son  Telephone  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Rochester,  N. 
Y.,  manufacturer  of  telephone  apparatus  and  of  aerial  and 
underground  cable,  has  been  called  for  July  29  to  vote  upon 
a  proposition  to  dissolve  the  corporation  forthwith.  This 
action  has  been  under  consideration  since  June  i,  when  a 
conference  was  held  between  the  stockholders  and  the 
board  of  directors  as  to  the  future  policy  of  the  company. 
As  a  result  of  this  meeting  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
go  over  the  affairs  of  the  company  with  the  directors  to 
determine  what  course  to  pursue.  This  committee  has  now 
reported  that  in  its  judgment  the  property  and  business  of 
the  company  should  be  put  in  liquidation. 


lui.v  6,   191^ 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


71 


Status  of  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company. — Since  its  in- 
:orporation  in  February,  1905,  until  Dec.  31,  191 1,  the  Elec- 
tric Bond  &  Share  Company  has  earned  a  total  gross  in- 
:ome  aggregating  $3,934,777.  Expenses  and  commissions  in 
that  time  amounted  to  $903,213  and  the  net  income  to 
53,031,564.  Total  preferred  dividends  were  $682,500  and 
common  dividends  were  $400,000,  leaving  a  surplus  income 
of  $1,949,064.  The  net  surplus  earned  as  of  Dec.  31,  191 1, 
was  $1,873,624,  which,  with  a  surplus  of  $440,599  at  com- 
mencement of  the  business,  made  an  aggregate  surplus  on 
Jan.  I,  1912,  of  $2,314,223.  The  company  was  organized  by 
the  General  Electric  Company  with  an  authorized  capital 
of  $2,000,000  S  per  cent  cumulative  preferred  stock  and  an 
equal  amount  of  common  stock.  The  latter  is  owned  by  the 
General  Electric  Company.  The  purpose  of  the  company 
is  to  take  a  financial  interest  in  electric  light  and  water- 
power,  gas  and  street-railway  enterprises,  to  buy,  sell  and 
hold  securities  of  such  properties  and  to  act  as  fiscal  agent 
for  companies  controlling  and  operating  such  properties. 
It  also  furnishes  the  necessary  capital  and  manages  con- 
solidations and  reorganizations  of  such  enterprises.  The 
company  has  no  authorized  or  outstanding  bonded  indebted- 
ness. At  a  special  meeting  of  the  stockholders  on  Jan.  22, 
1912,  as  noted  in  these  columns  Jan.  27,  the  authorized 
amount  of  capital  stock  was  increased  from  $2,000,000  to 
$5,000,000  of  each  class  and  the  preferred  was  made  cumu- 
lative at  6  per  cent  instead  of  5  per  cent.  Subsequent  to 
that  date  there  has  been  issued  $1,500,000  preferred  and 
$1,500,000  common  stock,  and  all  of  both  classes  of  stock 
was  purchased  by  the  General  Electric  Company  at  par  for 
cash.  Dividends  at  the  rate  of  8  per  cent  are  being  regu- 
larly paid  on  the  common  stock. 

June  Incorporations  Show  Increase. — Compilation  by  the 
Journal  of  Commerce,  New  York,  shows  that  papers  filed  m 
the  Eastern  States  in  June  for  companies  with  an  author- 
ized capital  of  $1,000,000  or  over  aggregated  $280,250,000. 
This  total  represents  an  increase  of  $134,966,000  over  May, 
and,  compared  with  June,  1911,  an  increase  of  $127,700,000. 
Charters  taken  out  during  the  month  by  other  companies 
with  an  individual  capital  of  $100,000  or  over,  but  less  than 
$1,000,000,  including  states  other  than  those  in  the  East, 
brought  the  total  for  June  up  to  $393,948,000,  which  com- 
pares with  $239,531,999  in  May  and  with  $232,900,000  in 
June,  191 1.  Since  Jan.  i  the  output  of  new  companies  with 
$1,000,000  capital  or  over  in  the  Eastern  States,  including 
the  filing  of  increases  in  capital,  amounted  to  $1,178,889,000 
against  $1,042,964,000  in  191 1  and  $1,544,692,400  in  the  cor- 
responding period  of  1910.  The  grand  total  of  all  com- 
panies incorporated  in  the  first  six  months  of  this  year 
with  a  capital  of  $100,000  or  over,  including  States  other 
than  those  in  the  East,  amounted  to  $1,760,186,499,  as  com- 
pared with  $1,622,194,750  in  the  first  half  of  191 1,  and  with 
$1,870,307,240  in  1910.  Among  the  large  public  utility  com- 
panies incorporated  in  the  East  in  June  were  the  $50,000,000 
Continental  Public  Service  Company  and  the  $40,000,000 
American  Public  Utilities  Company. 

United  Wireless  Assets  Transferred  to  Marconi  Com- 
pany.— On  June  29  the  assets  of  the  United  Wireless  Tele- 
graph Company  were  turned  over  to  the  Marconi  Wireless 
Telegraph  Company  of  America,  and  according  to  the  lat- 
ter the  affairs  of  the  merged  companies  are  now  proceeding 
as  harmoniously  as  might  be  desired.  The  transfer  was 
made  through  the  Wireless  Liquiding  Company,  which  was 
formed  to  assist  United  Wireless  stockholders  in  regaining 
some  of  the  loss  sustained  by  them  when  the  affairs  of 
the  concern  became  involved.  About  $700,000  in  par  value 
of  Marconi  stock  was  received  by  the  Wireless  Liquidating 
Company  in  payment  for  the  assets  of  the  United  Company. 
This  represents  140,000  shares  of  Marconi  stock  at  par  and 
will  be  distributed  among  the  holders  of  the  United  Wire- 
less stock  who  came  into  the  liquidating  company. 

Citizens'  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company  (Pa.)  Bonds. — 
First  mortgage  5  per  cent  gold  bonds  of  the  Citizens'  Light, 
Heat  &  Power  Company,  of  Johnstown,  Pa.,  are  being  of- 
fered by  Francis  Ralston  Welsh,  of  Philadelphia,  at  loi  and 
interest,  yielding  4.92  per  cent.  These  are  due  Nov.  i,  1934, 
but  are  callable  on  and  after  Nov.  i,  1914,  at  105  and  interest. 
The  company  controls  the  entire  artificial  and  natural  gas 
and  practically  the  entire  electric  lighting  and  motor-serv- 
ice business  of  Johnstown,  Pa.,  having  a  population  of  over 


70,000.  The  bonds  are  a  direct  first  lien  on  all  artificial  gas 
and  electric  service  property  now  owned  or  hereafter  ac- 
quired, and  are,  through  deposit  of  securities,  a  first  lien  on 
the  natural-gas  properties.  The  authorized  issue  is  $3,000,- 
000,  of  which  $1,500,000  is  outstanding.  The  remainder  can 
be  issued  for  only  75  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  permanent  ex- 
tensions and  improvements,  when  the  annual  net  earnings 
are  twice  the  interest  charges,  including  those  on  bonds  to 
be  issued.  The  franchises  of  the  company,  except  those  for 
natural  gas,  which  extend  until  1936,  are  regarded  as  unlim- 
ited in  duration.  Net  earnings  of  the  company  in  the  fiscal 
year  ended  March  31,  1912,  after  deducting  taxes,  were 
$144,305;  bond  interest  was  $75,000,  and  balance,  to  surplus, 
was  $69,305. 

Montgomery  (Ala.)  Light  &  Traction  Company  In- 
creases Stock. — A  certificate  increasing  the  authorized  cap- 
ital stock  of  the  Montgomery  (Ala.)  Light  &  Traction 
Company  from  $1,000,000  to  $2,000,000  has  been  filed.  This 
increase  was  voted  by  the  stockholders  on  March  28.  It 
is  understood  that  the  increase  is  for  the  purpose  of  reim- 
bursing Richard  Tillis,  who  was  principal  owner  of  an  elec- 
tric-light business  in  Montgomery,  which  was  merged  with 
the  Montgomery  Traction  Company  to  form  the  Mont- 
gomery Light  &  Traction  Company,  as  mentioned  in  these 
columns  Jan.  6,  1912,  for  personal  expenditures  in  the  com- 
pany's behalf.  A  new  5000-kw  steam-turbine  plant  was  part 
of  the  power-station  equipment  completed  by  Mr.  Tillis  and 
turned  over  to  the  new  company.  The  company  has  re- 
cently filed  a  new  mortgage  on  its  property  for  $5,000,000 
5  per  cent  first-mortgage  bonds,  of  which  $1,000,000  have 
been  issued.  The  bonds  have  not  been  sold,  but  the  $1,000,- 
000  issued  have  been  deposited  as  security  for  an  issue  of 
$650,000  two-year  6  per  cent  notes  which  were  recently 
sold  to  the  Guaranty  Trust  Company,  of  New  York,  and  to 
which  reference  was  made  in  the  Electrical  World  June  22, 
1912. 

Toledo  Railway  &  Light  Reorganization  Plans  Rejected. 
— At  a  meeting  June  27  members  of  the  stockholders'  pro- 
tective committee  of  the  Toledo  Railway  &  Light  Com- 
pany rejected  the  alternative  plans  for  reorganization  sub- 
mitted by  the  bondholders'  committee  to  which  reference 
was  made  in  these  columns  last  week.  The  stockholders' 
committee  objected  to  these  plans  on  the  ground  that  they 
were  entirely  too  drastic  as  regards  the  interests  of  the 
stockholders,  requiring  the  latter  to  raise  a  much  larger 
amount  of  new  capital  than  they  consider  necessary.  It  is 
understood  that  attempts  will  be  made  to  bring  the  two 
committees  together  again  in  the  near  future. 

Independent  Telephone  Company  Incorporated  in  Ken- 
tucky.— The  Christian-Todd  Telephone  Company,  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $1,000,000,  divided  into  $750,000  common  and 
$25,000  preferred,  has  filed  articles  of  incorporation  at  Hop- 
kinsville,  Ky.,  where  its  home  office  will  be  located.  The 
new  concern  has  rights  to  own  and  operate  telephone  and 
telegraph  lines  for  200  years  unless  sooner  dissolved.  J.  M. 
B.  Hoxey  and  R.  E.  Hastings,  of  Atlanta;  R.  E.  Cooper  and 
F.  G.  Hoge,  of  Hopkinsville;  B.  B.  Petrie,  of  Elkton,  Ky,, 
and  J.  B.  Hoge,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  are  the  incorporators. 

Dominion  Power  &  Transmission  Company  (Ont.)  Sold. — 
It  is  understood  that  the  Dominion  Power  &  Transmission 
Company,  of  Hamilton,  Ont.,  has  been  sold  to  the  MacKen- 
zie  and  Mann  interests.  It  is  stated  that  stockholders  are 
to  receive  $125  a  share  for  their  preferred  stock,  $110  a 
share  for  their  second  preferred  stock  and  $100  for  each 
share  of  common  stock.  The  company  has  issued:  First 
preferred  stock,  $3,673,100;  second  preferred,  $5,100,000; 
common,  $2,608,000;  and  5  per  cent  bonds,  $6,488,000. 

Puget  Sound  Traction,  Light  &  Power  Company  Re-in- 
corporated.— On  June  27  stockholders  of  the  Puget  Sound 
Traction,  Light  &  Power  Company  voted  to  authorize  re- 
incorporation under  the  laws  of  Massachusetts  in  accord- 
ance with  plans  which  were  noted  in  these  columns  June 
15.  The  stock  of  the  company  will  be  non-taxable  in  that 
State. 

New  American  Cities  Directors. — Hugh  McCloskey,  pres- 
ident of  the  New  Orleans  Railway  &  Light  Company,  and 
R.  L.  Montgomery,  of  Montgomery,  Clothier  &  Tyler,  of 
Philadelphia,  have  been  elected  directors  of  the  American 
Cities  Company,  succeeding  Fernand  Lapeyre,  deceased, 
and  to  fill  a  vacancy. 


72 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i. 


General  Gas  &  Electric  Company  Organized  to  Acquire 
Vermont  and  Ohio  Properties. — W.  S.  Barstow  &  Com- 
pany, Inc.,  of  50  I'ine  Street,  New  York,  consulting  engi- 
neers, who  are  engaged  in  the  managing  and  financing  of 
public  utilities  companies,  have  organized  tlie  General  Gas  & 
Electric  Company  under  the  laws  of  Maine  to  take  over  a 
number  of  gas,  electric  lighting  and  traction  properties  in 
Vermont  and  Ohio.  W.  S.  Barstow  is  president  of  the 
new  concern,  and  the  names  of  the  other  officers  and  the 
directors  will  be  announced  shortly.  The  General  Gas  & 
Electric  Company  has  an  authorized  capitalization  of  $10,- 
000,000  common,  $10,000,000  6-7  per  cent  cumulative  pre- 
ferred stock  and  $:;o,ooo,ooo  first-mortgage  5  per  cent  sink- 
ing-fund convertible  gold  bonds  due  1932.  Of  the  stock, 
$2,600,000  of  the  common  and  $1,300,000  of  the  preferred 
are  to  be  issued,  while  $1,400,000  of  the  bonds  will  be  out- 
standing. The  companies  which  will  be  taken  over  by  the 
General  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  all  of  which  will  be  con- 
trolled and  managed  by  W.  S.  Barstow  &  Company,  Inc., 
are  the  Western  \"ermont  Light  &  Power  Company  and  the 
Northwestern  Ohio  Railway  &  Power  Company.  The  first- 
named  company  will  own  and  operate  the  hydroelectric 
plant  at  Carver's  Falls,  Vt.,  now  known  as  the  Fair  Haven 
Electric  Company,  and  will  also  operate  under  lease  the 
Rutland  (Vt.)  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company.  The 
Northwestern  Ohio  Railway  &  Power  Company  will  pur- 
chase the  Toledo,  Port  Clinton  &  Lakeside  Railroad,  which 
was  recently  acquired  by  W.  S.  Barstow  &  Company.  The 
electric  railway  is  57  miles  in  length,  running  from  a  ter- 
minal station  in  the  city  of  Toledo  over  the  lines  of  the 
Toledo  Railway  &  Light  Company  through  the  towns  of 
Genoa,  Elmore,  Oak  Harbor,  Port  Clinton,  Lakeside  and 
Marblehead  to  Bay  Point,  Ohio.  From  the  eastern  ter- 
minus connection  is  made  by  ferry  with  Sandusky  and 
Cedar  Point.  In  addition  to  its  railway  interests,  the  com- 
pany also  does  an  electric-light  and  motor-service  business 
in  a  number  of  the  towns  named  above.  Its  central  station 
is  located  on  Lake  Erie  near  Port  Clinton  and  has  a  rated 
output  of  2000  hp.  This  will  be  doubled  this  summer  by 
the  installation  of  a  new  steam  turbine  unit  which  will 
enable  the  company  to  take  care  of  the  new  business  now 
in  sight.  The  various  holdings  of  the  Vermont  companies 
include  two  water-power  stations  with  a  total  rated  output 
of  about  5000  hp,  now  in  operation,  together  with  the  con- 
trol of  other  water  rights,  some  of  which  are  already  par- 
tially developed.  According  to  statements  of  W.  S.  Bar- 
stow &  Company,  whose  engineering  department  has  made 
a  careful  investigation  of  all  of  the  properties,  all  of  the 
water  rights  held  by  the  Vermont  companies  will  yield 
under  full  development  a  maximum  output  of  about  20,000 
hp,  which  will  be  available  throughout  the  year  on  accoimt 
of  the  favorable  geographical  location  of  the  several  units 
comprising  the  whole  and  the  provision  that  has  been  made 
for  abundant  storage  facilities.  The  additional  facilities 
will  be  developed  gradually  as  increases  in  the  company's 
business  require.  The  Rutland  company  owns  and  main- 
tains in  reserve  two  steam  stations  aggregating  1300  hp. 
It  also  owns  a  gas  plant  in  Rutland  and  3S  miles  of  electric 
railway  serving  Rutland,  Rutland  Center,  "West  Rutland, 
Castleton,  Hydeville,  Fair  Haven,  Poultney  and  intervening 
territory,  with  a  branch  to  an  amusement  park  owned  by 
the  company  on  Lake  Bomoseen.  The  various  public 
service  properties  in  Vermont  and  Ohio  now  serve  a  popu- 
lation of  about  275,000.  The  acquisition  of  additional  prop- 
erties is  now  under  consideration,  and  it  is  expected  that 
these  will  be  taken  over  by  the  fall.  According  to  estimates 
by  W.  S.  Barstow  &  Company,  the  net  earnings  of  the  con- 
stituent properties  during  the  coming  year  will  be  about 
$235,000. 

Eastern  Texas  Electric  Company  Declares  Initial  Divi- 
dend.— An  initial  semi-annual  dividend  of  $3  per  share  was 
recently  declared  by  the  Eastern  Texas  Electric  Company 
on  its  $850,000  6  per  cent  cumulative  preferred  stock.  This 
was  payable  July  i  to  holders  of  record  June  29.  The  com- 
pany was  incorporated  in  Maine  in  December,  191 1,  and 
owns  the  entire  capital  stock  of  the  Beaumont  (Tex.)  Elec- 
tric Light  &  Power  Company.  The  latter  was  incorporated 
in  Texas  on  Nov.  15,  1911,  with  $880,000  authorized  capital 
stock,  as  the  successor  to  the  Beaumont  Ice,  Light  &  Re- 
frigeration Company.     An  income  statement  of  the  Eastern 


Texas  Electric  Company  for  the  first  six  months  of  oper- 
ation shows  gross  returns  of  $87,843;  operating  expenses, 
$37,465;  taxes,  $2,069;  preferred  dividends,  $25,500;  and  sur- 
plus, $22,809. 

Bell  Telephone  Managers. — A  new  plan  for  conducting 
the  systems  of  the  Bell  Telephone  Company  in  the  central 
division,  which  comprises  Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan,  Illinois 
and  Wisconsin,  became  effective  July  I.  Under  this  plan 
each  state  is  to  be  in  charge  of  a  separate  general  manager. 
The  following  state  managers  have  been  appointed:  For 
Illinois,  B.  F.  Hill;  Indiana,  L.  N.  'Whitney;  Ohio,  E.  A. 
Reed;  Michigan,  A.  von  Schlegell;  Wisconsin,  H.  O.  Sey- 
mour. These  managers  will  be  under  the  direction  of  Vice- 
President  Burt. 

■Will  Promote  Public  Utility  Projects. — The  Jersey  In- 
dustrial Company  has  been  incorporated  in  New  Jersey 
with  an  authorized  capital  of  $1,000,000  to  promote  and  de- 
velop water,  electric  light,  heat  and  power  plants.  The  in- 
corporators are  Albert  H.  Clarke,  of  Brooklyn,  Frank  B. 
Shannon,  of  Wilkinsburg,  Pa.,  and  Harry  A.  Otjen,  of  Jer- 
sey City,  where  the  office  of  the  company  will  be  located. 

Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  (St.  Louis) 
Bonds  Listed. — The  New  York  Stock  Exchange  has  listed 
$879,000  additional  refunding  and  extension  mortgage 
twenty-five-year  5  per  cent  bonds  of  the  Union  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company,  of  St.  Louis,  with  authority  to 
add  $121,000  on  notice  of  sale,  making  a  total  of  $6,500,000 
listed. 

Southwestern  Telephone  &  Telegraph  in  Anti-Trust  Suit. 
— Suit  is  to  be  brought  against  the  Soutliwestern  Telephone 
&  Telegraph  Company,  which  operates  in  Arkansas  and  is 
the  Bell  Telephone  interest  in  the  Southwestern  States,  for 
alleged  violation  of  the  anti-trust  act. 

Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis. — Charles  F.  Uebelacker,  Charles 
N.  Black  and  William  von  Phul  have  been  admitted  to  part- 
nership in  the  engineering  firm  of  Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis, 
115   Broadway,   New  Y'ork. 


PRICES  IN  THE  NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET. 


Copper:                                                      f June  25 ^  , — ;— July   1 ^ 

Standard:  Bid.         Asked.  Bid.       .\sked. 

Spot    16.75         17.50  le.STA     17.37V5 

Tune    16.75          17.50 

July   16.8754      17.37'/4  17.00         17.50 

August    17.00         17.32!^  17.00         17.50 

September    17.00          U.32yi  17.30          17.35 

London  quotation:  £       s     d  £         s     d 

Standard  copper,  spot 77       2     6  77       7     6 

Standard  copper,  futures 78       0     0  78       5     0 

Prime    Lake 17.20  to  17.40  17.50 

Electrolytic     17.10  to  17.30  17.50 

Casting' 17.00  17.15 

Copper    wire,    base 18.75  18.75 

Lead    4.50  4.50 

Sheet   zinc,    f.o.b.,    smelter 8.65  8.65 

Spelter,    spot 7.10  7.15 

Nickel    39.00  to  40.00  39.00  to  40.00 

Aluminum : 

No.    1    pure    ingot 21  to  22  21  to  22 

Rods  and  wire,  base 31  31 

Sheets,  base 23  33 

OLD   METALS. 

Heavy  copper  and  wire 16.50  16.50 

Brass,   heavy 10.25  10.25 

Brass,    light 8.50  8.50 

Lead,   heavy 4.25  4.25 

Zinc,    scrap 5.75  5.75 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  JUNE. 
Total    tons,    including    June    25 18,961         June    29 26,547 

STOCK  MARKET  PRICES. 

Tune  26.  July  2. 

Allis-Chalmers    K*  !^* 

•Mlis-Chalmers.    pf Z'/i*  2<4' 

.\malgamated   Copper 86^  85^ 

Amer.  Tel.  &  Tel 146H  MSH 

Boston   Edison 290*  390* 

Commonwealth    Edison 139  138^ 

Electric  Storage  Battery 55  5554 

General   Electric 174K  180 

Mackay  Companies 87H  88J4 

Mackay  Companies,  pf 69^  69^* 

Philadelphia  Electric 22'A  22!4 

Western  Union 83  82H 

Westinghouse    74  J4  77 

■Westinghouse,     pf 117*  121* 

*Last  price  quoted. 


July  6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


73 


Personal 


Mr.  John  McWilliam,  a  graduate  of  Throop  Polytechnic 

Jnstitute,  has  been  appointed  city  engineer  of  South  Pasa- 
dena, Cal. 

Mr.  R.  A.  Field  has  resigned  as  superintendent  of  the 
Rome  (N.  Y.)  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  and 
will   move   to   Frankfort,    Ky.,   on   Aug.    i. 

Dr.  Henry  Smith  Carhart,  who  from  1872  to  1886  was 
professor  of  physics  at  Northwestern  University  and  later 
professor  and  emeritus  professor  at  the  University  of 
Michigan,  had  conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
science  by  the  Northwestern  University  at  its  recent  com- 
mencement. 

Mr.  Theodore  N.  Vail,  president  of  the  American  Tele- 
phone &  I'elegraph  Company,  has  presented  to  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology  the  Dering  Library,  val- 
ued at  $100,000.  This  library  was  collected  by  Mr.  George 
Edward  Dering,  of  Lockleys,  Herts.,  England,  and  is  said 
to  cover  all  electrical  publications  issued  during  the  past 
sixty  years. 

Mr.  Albert  B.  Morton  has  resigned  as  manager  and  su- 
perintendent of  the  Municipal  Electric  Light  &  Gas  Plant, 
Wakefield,  Mass.,  to  become  superintendent  of  the  Rome 
( N.  V.)  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  with  which 
he  was  formerly  associated  for  three  years.  During  the 
past  seventeen  years  Mr.  Morton  has  been  identified  with 
gas  and  electric  companies  in  Detroit,  Mich.;  Ontario, 
Can.;  Rome,  N.  Y.;  Bowling  Green,  Ohio,  and  Wakefield, 
Mass. 

Dr.  Charles  F.  Brush  has  received  the  degree  of  doctor 
of  science  from  the  University  of  Michigan,  from  which 
he  was  graduated  in  1869  and  which  later  conferred  upon 
him  the  degree  of  M.S.  Western  Reserve  University  has 
conferred  on  him  the  degrees  of  Ph.D.  and  LL.D.  The 
French  government  in  i88i  decorated  Dr.  Brush  for  his 
achievements  in  electrical  science,  and  the  American 
Academy  of  Art  and  Science  in  1887  awarded  to  him  the 
Rumford   medal,   its   highest   honor. 

Mr.  Charles  F.  Uebelacker,  recently  admitted  to  part- 
nership in  Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis,  was  graduated  from 
Princeton  University  in  1899  as  electrical  engineer.  For 
the  next  few  years  he  was  employed  by  various  manufac- 
turing and  electrical  concerns,  having  been  chief  engineer 
of  the  Short  Electric  Railway  Company  and  the  Brush 
Manufacturing  Company,  Cleveland;  electrical  engineer  of 
the  Consolidated  Traction  Company  of  New  Jersey,  and 
later  chief  engineer  and  manager  of  the  Peckham  Truck 
Company,  Kingston,  N.  Y.  In  1899  he  became  connected 
with  the  firm  of  Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis,  in  charge  of  the 
operation  of  the  Elmira  Water,  Light  &  Railroad  Com- 
pany as  vice-president  and  general  manager.  In  1901  he 
joined  the  organization  of  the  firm  in  New  York,  and  since 
1902  he  has  been  its  chief  engineer. 

Mr.  Charles  N.  Black,  of  the  firm  of  Ford,  Bacon  & 
Davis,  graduated  from  Princeton  University  as  electrical 
engineer  in  1890.  From  that  time  until  1899  he  was  in 
the  employ  of  electrical  manufacturing  companies  in  the 
design  and  construction  of  electric-railway  and  electric- 
lighting  machinery,  having  been  superintendent  of  the 
shops  of  the  Brush  Manufacturing  Company,  Cleveland, 
and  manager  of  the  New  Haven  factory  of  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company.  In  1899  he 
became  connected  with  the  engineering  organization  of 
Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis  and  until  1902  was  its  chief  engineer. 
After  the  firm  finished  its  work  of  reconstructing  the  Kan- 
sas City  cable  system  into  an  electric  railway  system,  of 
which  Mr.  Black  was  in  charge,  he  was  appointed  vice- 
president  and  general  manager  of  the  Kansas  City  Railway 
&  Light  Company,  continuing  until  1907,  when  he  assumed 
his  present  position  of  vice-president  and  general  manager 
of  the  United  Railroads  of  San   Francisco. 

Mr.  William  von  Phul,  who  became  partner  in  the  firm 
of  Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis  on  July  i,  was  graduated  from 
lulane  University  in  1891  as  mechanical  engineer.  During 
the  next  ten  years  he  was  general  superintendent  of  the 
Louisiana  Electric  Light  Company  and  of  the  Edison  Elec- 
tric Company,  New  Orleans,  and  also  of  the   New  Orleans 


&  Carrollton  Railroad,  Light  &  Power  Company.  He  then 
took  charge  of  the  operation  of  the  Cincinnati  Gas  & 
Electric  Company  as  general  superintendent,  and  since 
1905  he  has  been  connected  with  the  engineering  and  op- 
erating forces  of  Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis  at  New  Orleans, 
being  also  vice-president  of  the  American  Cities  Company. 
Mr.  D.  L.  Gaskill,  president  of  the  Greenville  (Ohio) 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  and  secretary-treasurer 
of  the  National  District  Heating  Association,  was  presented 
with  a  handsome  diamond-studded  gold  watch-charm  and 
chain  by  the  members  of  the  heating  association  at  its 
Detroit  convention  June  27,  in  recognition  of  his  untiring 
efforts  for  the  organization's  advancement.  The  presenta- 
tion was  made  by  Mr.  A.  C.  Rogers,  superintendent  of 
heating  for  the  Toledo  Railways  &  Light  Company,  and 
Mr.  Gaskill  responded  in  a  gracefeul  speech  of  acceptance. 
Mr.  Gaskill  has  served  as  secretary  of  the  heating  asso- 
ciation since  1909.  He  is  perhaps  even  better  known  as 
secretary  of  the  Ohio  Electric  Light  Association,  of  which 
society  he  has  been  secretary  for  twelve  years. 

Mr.   Robert  Francis  Pack,  who  was  elected  to  the  presi- 
dency of  the   Canadian   Electrical  Association  at  its  recent 

meeting,  has  been  made 
honorary  president  of  the 
Toronto  Company  Section 
of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  the  for- 
mation of  which  can  be  at- 
tributed largely  to  his  ef- 
forts. Mr.  Pack's  energetic 
efforts  have  been  instru- 
mental in  increasing  the 
membership  and  interest  in 
the  Toronto  branch  and 
in  influencing  the  Canadian 
association  to  affiliate  with 
the  N.  E.  L.  A.  Mr.  Pack 
is  secretary  and  general 
manager  of  the  Toronto 
Electric  Light  Company, 
liaving  previously  been  with 
the  Great  Northern  Tel- 
egraph Company.  He  is  an  associate  member  of  the  Amer- 
ican Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 


R.  F.  PACK 


Obituary 


Mr.  A.  E.  Stevens,  manager  of  the  Consumers'  Power 
Company,  Minot,  N.  D.,  died  on  June  22,  as  a  result  of 
injuries  received  in  an  automobile  accident.  He  is  survived 
by  a  widow,  who  was  also  injured  in  the  accident. 

Mr.  Cecil  Brunswick  Smith,  past-vice-president  of  the  Ca- 
nadian Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  died  in  Toronto  on  June 
30  at  the  age  of  forty-eight  years.  He  was  a  graduate  of 
McGill  University  and  had  specialized  in  hydroelectric 
work. 

Mr.  Richard  T.  Laffin,  vice-president  of  the  Puget  Sound 
Traction,  Light  &  Power  Company,  Seattle,  Wash.,  died  at 
Seattle  on  June  26,  following  an  operation  for  intestinal 
trouble.  Mr.  Laffin  was  very  well  known  in  electric  railway 
and  engineering  circles  in  the  East.  For  many  years  he 
was  connected  with  the  Boston  (Mass.)  Elevated  Railway 
and  later  was  general  manager  of  the  Worcester  (Mass.) 
Consolidated  Street  Railway.  He  resigned  from  the  latter 
company  to  become  vice-president  and  general  manager  of 
the  Manila  Electric  Railroad  &  Light  Company,  Manila, 
P.  I.,  and  spent  four  years  in  the  Philippines,  during  which 
time  he  was  in  charge  of  the  reconstruction  and  electrifica- 
tion of  the  street  railway  lines  in  Manila  carried  out  by  J. 
G.  White  &  Company,  Inc.,  New  York,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Laffin 
returned  to  the  United  States  in  1909  and  became  associated 
with  the  Stone  &  Webster  Management  Association,  Bos- 
ton, Mass.,  in  connection  with  the  Seattle  Electric  Company 
and  other  Puget  Sound  railway  and  lighting  properties. 
Early  in  1912  he  was  elected  vice-president  of  the  newly 
organized  Puget  Sound  Traction,  Light  &  Power  Company, 
Seattle,  Wash.,  which  was  incorporated  in  the  interests  of 
Stone  &  Webster  to  effect  a  merger  of  the  properties  which 
they  manage  in  the   Puget  Sound  district. 


74 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  l. 


Construction 


ATTALLA,  ALA. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Alabama  Pwr. 
&  Devel,  Co.  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and  motors 
and  also  water. 

GUNTERSVILLE,  ALA.— The  Council  has  engaged  the  J.  B.  McCrary 
Co.,  Atlanta,  to  prepare  plans  for  an  electric-light  plant. 

HUNTSVILLE,  ALA.— The  El.  Bond  &  Share  Co.  has  submitted  a  bid 
to  the  City  Commissioners  for  lighting  the  city.  The  company  is  nego- 
tiating for  the  purchase  of  the  system  of  the  Huntsviile,  Chattanooga  & 
Interurban  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  if  the  property  is  taken  over  pro- 
poses to  enlarge  the  plant.  It  is  proposed  to  utilize  electricity  generated 
at  Jackson  Shoals  on  the  Little  River.  Webb  Offut  is  representative 
of  the  company 

MOBILE,  ALA. — The  contract  for  installing  a  lighting  system  for  the 
Mobile  &  Ohio  R.  R.  Co.'s  Pier  3  has  been  awarded  to  the  Southern  El. 
Co.,   Mobile,  for   $2,475. 

COLFAX,  CAL. — Steps  have  been  taken  toward  the  orginization  of 
an  independent  power  and  lighting  company  for  the  purpose  of  supply- 
ing electricity  in  Colfax  and  Clipper  Gap  and  the  ranches  between  the 
two  places,  Applegate  and  Weimar,  the  summer  resorts  and  the  sani- 
tarium at  Colfax.  Interests  connected  with  the  Colfax  Suburban  Tel. 
Co.  are  interested  in  the  project.  Arrangements  have  been  made  by  the 
Colfax  Suburban  Co.  for  improvements  to  its  system,  including  the 
installation    of   new   instruments,   etc. 

FALL  RIVER  MILLS,  CAL.— Scott  Mc.\rthur  is  interested  in  an 
enterprise  to  furnish  water  for  the  irrigation  of  a  large  tract  of  land 
in  Shaster  County.  A  power  plant  is  also  planned  in  connection  with 
the  irrigation  project. 

GLEXDALE,  CAL. — Preliminary  work  has  been  started  by  the  city 
on  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  business 
district,  to  cost  approximately  $15,000. 

HANFORD,  CAL. — The  H.  G.  Lacey  Co.  is  extending  its  electric  serv- 
ice west  of  the  town.  A  transmission  line  is  being  erected  from  Ar- 
mona   to    several    ranches   in    that   district. 

PETALUMA.  CAL.— The  Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  has  purchased  a 
site   for   a   substation   in    Pctaluma. 

SAX  BERNARDINO,  CAL.— Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  Santa  Fe 
Co.  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  power  plant  here,  to  cost  about 
$200,000.  The  plant  will  furnish  electricity  for  the  block  signal  systems 
which  are  to  be  installed  on  all  branches  in  Southern  California,  as  well 
as  for  the  local  works. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.— The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  granted 
the  Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  permission  to  extend  its  transmission  lines 
and  furnish  electricity  in   Sonoma,  Napa  and  Solano   Counties. 

WATERVILLE,  CONN. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  Waterville 
Corpn.  for  the  construction  of  a  power  house,  50  ft.  x  110  ft.,  on 
Thomaston  Avenue.     D.  L.   Summey,  Waterbury,   Conn.,  is  engineer. 

BROOKSVILLE,  FLA.— The  Brooksville  EI.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  con- 
tracted with  the  Florida  Pwr.  Co.,  Ocala,  for  electricity  generated  at  the 
plant  of  the  latter  company  on  Withloccochee  River,  25  miles  below  Dun- 
nellon.  The  Florida  company  will  extend  its  transmission  line  from  Ista- 
chatta  to  phosphate  mines  at  Croom  and  from  there  to  Brooksville. 

SARASOTA  BAY,  FLA.— Mrs.  Calvin  S.  Smith,  3982  Lake  Avenue, 
Chicago,  111.,  it  is  reported,  is  contemplating  the  installation  of  an  electric- 
light  plant  for  dwelling  at  Sarasota  Bay. 

ALBANY,  GA. — The  contract  for  the  first  section  of  the  proposed 
ornamental  street-lighting  system  has  been  awarded  to  the  Albany  Elec- 
trical  Supply   Co. 

FORT  OGLETHORPE,  GA.— The  contract  for  installing  an  electric- 
lighting  system  at  this  post  has  been  awarded  to  the  W.  M.  Perry  El. 
Co..    Brooklyn,   N.   Y.,   at  $32,487. 

M.\CON,  GA.— The  Georgia  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Atlanta,  has  been  granted 
a  franchise  to  erect  transmission  lines  in  Macon  for  the  distribution  of 
electricity  for  lamps,   heat  and  motors. 

MIDVILLE,  GA.— The  J.  B.  McCrary  Co..  Atlanta,  Ga.,  has  been 
engaged  by  the  Council  to  prepare  plans  for  improvements  to  the  electric- 
light   system. 

SAVANNAH,  GA. — Louis  Brown,  Box  77,  Savannah,  would  like  to 
receive  proposals  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  with  suffi- 
cient output  to  supply  50  houses,  10  stores  and  street  lighting. 

SAVANNAH,  GA. — The  Great  Eastern  Lumber  Co.  is  planning  to  erect 
a  large  lumber  plant,  with  a  daily  capacity  of  150,000  ft.,  near  Savannah. 
The  plans  include  the  installation  of  an  electric  power  plant  to  supply 
electricity  for  lamps  and  motors.  The  mill  will  be  equipped  with  motor- 
driven  machinery.      George  K.   Wentworth,    Chicago,   111.,   is  president 

\nDALIA,  GA. — The  City  Council  has  engaged  the  J.  B.  McCrary  Co., 
Atlanta,  to  prepare  plans  for  improvements  to  water-works  and  electric- 
light  systems  and  construction  of  sewerage  system. 

NEZPERCE,  IDAHO.— The  Nezperce  Co-operative  Tel.  Co.  is  con- 
templating extensive  improvements  to  its  system,  including  the  erection  of 
a  line  from  Lewiston  to  Nezperce  and  to  Grangeville.  The  cost  of  the 
work  is  estimated  at  about  $10,000. 

BLOOMIXGTON,   ILL. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the   Bloom- 


ington  &  Normal  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  for  the  erection  ot  a  transmission  line  IS 
miles  along  to  connect  towns  in  the  northern  part  of  McLean  County.  The 
new  line  will  necessitate  the  construction  of  several  smaller  stations 
along  the  route  to  transform  the  current  for  local  distribution.  The 
plants  at  Chenoa,  Gridley  and  El   Paso  will  be  remodeled. 

CARTHAGE,  ILL. — Funds  have  been  contributed  for  the  installation 
of  ornamental  lamps  on  the  Public  Square. 

CHICAGO,  ILL. — The  Union  Lt.  &  Supply  Co.  has  increased  its 
capital   stock  from   $2,500  to  $20,000. 

KEWANEE,  ILL. — The  Kewanee  Home  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  improve 
ments  to  its  system,  including  the  installation  of  7000  ft.  of  cable  and 
additions  to  its  switchboard. 

LYNDON,  ILL.— The  Public  Service  Co.  of  Northern  Illinois  has  ap 
plied  to  the  Village  Board  for  a  franchise  to  furnish  electricity  here. 

MILFORD,  ILL. — The  local  telephone  company  is  planning  to  insta! 
a  new  switchboard.     R.   C.  Walkup  is  manager. 

PEORI.-\,  ILL. — The  light  committee  of  the  Uplands  Improvemen 
Association  has  reported  favorably  upon  a  plan  to  install  ornamenta 
lamps  on  Columbia  Terrace,  Institute  Place  and  Parkside  Drive.  W,  D, 
Hatfield,  A.  S.  Oakford  and  Dr.  Walter  W.  Wyatt  are  interested. 

PORT  BYRON,  ILL. — Steps  have  been  taken  for  the  installation  of 
an  electric-lighting  system  here  to  supply  electricity  for  street  and  com 
mercial  lighting.  It  is  proposed  to  secure  the  service  from  the  People'^ 
Pwr.  Co.,  Rock  Island. 

QUINCY,  ILL. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  an  electric  belt  rail 
way  reaching  over  the  entire  city  of  Quincy,  which  later  will  be  extended 
to  a  point  58  miles  north  of  this  city.  The  new  line  will  be  extend: 
northward  from  Quincy  immediately  after  the  belt  line  is  completed  ■  : 
will  be  known  as  the  Quincy  &  Western  Illinois  Ry.  Co.  Power  I^. 
operating  the  railway  will  be  furnished  by  the  Mississippi  River  Pwr.  Co., 
of  Keokuk,  la.     Henry  F.  Dayton,  Quincy,  is  president. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILL. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  city  com- 
missioners for  lighting  the  municipal  buildings  with  electricity  generated 
at  the  pumping  station  at  the  river. 

WYOMING,  ILL.— The  Wyoming  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  Board 
of  Supervisors  of  Stark  County  for  permission  to  erect  a  transmission 
line   from  Wyoming  to  Bradford. 

LAGRANGE,  IND.— It  is  stated  that  the  St.  Joseph  Valley  traction 
line,  operating  between  Lagrange  &  Bristol,  a  distance  of  32  miles,  will 
soon  be  equipped  for  electrical  operation.  Electricity  for  operating  the 
railway  will  be  furnished  from  a  power  plant  which  is  being  built  on  the 
Elkhart  River. 

PORTLAND,  IND.— D.  E,  Bims,  A.  E.  Townsend,  Cleveland,  and  C. 
L.  Smith,  Montpelier,  are  interested  in  the  construction  of  an  electric 
railway  to   extend   from   Portland  and  Marion,  via   Montpelier  and   Fiatl. 

BENNETT,  lA. — Proposals  will  be  received  by  J.  B.  Vaughan,  town 
clerk,  Bennett,  until  July  16  for  furnishing  and  installing  equipment  for 
an  electric-light  plant  as  follows:  One  25-hp  or  35-hp  engine,  using  either 
gasoline,  kerosene  or  distillate  for  fuel;  one  15-kw  or  25-kw,  110-volt  di- 
rect-current generator,  either  belted  or  direct-connected  to  engine;  one 
storage  battery  complete,  capacity  from  100  amp-hr.  to  140  amp-hr.; 
switchboard;  one  belted  pump  jack,  suitable  for  deep-well  pump  of 
30-in.  stroke,  and  16  40-watt  street  lamps.  All  poles,  fixtures  and  wire 
according  to  plat  on  file  at  the  office  of  the  town  clerk.  Building  and  foun- 
dation will  be  furnished  by  the  town.  Each  bidder  will  be  required  to 
furnish  plans  and  specifications  for  the  above  plant. 

CENTERVILLE,  lA.— An  election  will  be  held  July  18  to  vote  on  the 
proposition  of  granting  the  Southern  Iowa  Trac.  Co.  a  franchise  to  extend 
its  tracks  around  the  Public  Square  and  to  erect  a  power  plant  to  furnish 
electricity  for  its  suburban  system. 

CLARKSVILLE,  lA.— The  local  electric-light  plant  owned  by  Harvey 
Bouton  has  been  sold  to  Messrs.  Sparry  &  Flenkin,  of  Olin.  Robert 
Poisal  is  manager. 

CLINTON,  lA. — Bids  are  being  asked  for  the  installation  of  orna- 
mental lamps  on  Fifth  Avenue  between  Second  and  Third  Streets.  The 
plans   provide   for    18   standards,   carrying  five-lamp  clusters. 

COLUMBUS  JUNCTION,  lA. — Preparations  are  being  made  to  con- 
struct an  electric-light  plant  here,  to  cost  about  $30,000.  R.  D.  Parker, 
Columbus  Junction,   is  superintendent. 

DYSART,  I.\. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  system  in  Dysart 
is  under  consideration. 

ERASER,  lA. — Improvements  will  be  made  to  the  power  house  of  the 
Fort  Dodge,  Des  Moines  &  Southern  R.  R.  Co.  in  Eraser,  including 
erection  of  addition  to  building  and  installation  of  additional  machinery, 
at  a  cost  of  about  $20,000. 

INDIANOL.^,  lA, — The  Hawkeye  Tel.  Co.  contemplates  improvements 
to  its  local  system,  to  cost  about  $6,000. 

MARION,  lA. — Application  has  been  filed  by  the  Cedar  Rapids  & 
Iowa  City  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  for  a  franchise  to  erect  a  transmission  line 
along  what  is  known  as  the  Dubuque  Road  from  Marion  to  Stone  City, 
via  Springville,  Whittier  and  Viola.  The  company  will  supply  electrical 
service  to  residences  along  the  line  and  also  has  contracts  to  supply  elec- 
tricity to  the  large  stone  quarries  and  crushers  in  Stone  City.  Prepara- 
tions are  being  made  to  increase  the  output  of  the  Marion  power  p'ant 
-\  150-hp  engine  has  been  purchased.  In  Springville  the  energy  will  be 
sold  direct  to  the  company  owning  the  plant  there. 


ULY   6,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


75 


MONTICELLO.  lA.— The  Cedar  Rapids  &  Iowa  City  El.  Co.,  Cedar 
apids,  has  applied  to  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Jones  County  for 
srmission  to  erect  transmission  lines  along  the  highways  of  the  county, 
he  company  proposes  to  furnish  electricity  in  Springfield  and  to  the 
uarry  owned  by  J.  A.  Green  &  Sons  at  Stone  City.  Application  has 
(so  been  made  for  a  similar  franchise  in  Linn  County. 
:  SCHLESWIG,  lA. — The  citizens  have  voted  to  establish  an  electric- 
ght  plant  here. 

,  WOODLAND,    I  A.— The    Boone    El.    Co.,    Boone,    has    been    granted    a 
■anchise  to  install  and  operate  an  electric  system  here. 

ALMENA,  KAN. — The  City  Council  has  purchased  equipment  for 
tt  electric-light  plant.  An  appropriation  of  $6,000  has  been  made  to 
istall  the  system. 

HUTCHINSON,  KAN. — ^A  company  has  been  organized  to  build  an 
lectric  railway  from  Newton  north  through  Canton,  Goessel  and  Rox- 
ury.  It  is  proposed  to  use  motor  cars  for  passenger  and  steam  for 
reight.     T.  H.  McManus  and  Dr.  Axtell,   Newton,  are  interested. 

LAWRENCE',  KAN.— The  Lawrence  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  contemplates  extend- 
ig  its  transmrssion  lines  to  Eudora,  a  distance  of  about  8  miles,  to 
irnish  electricity  for  street-lighting  and  commercial   purposes. 

FRANKFORT,  KY.— The  Commercial  Club  is  considering  the  installa- 
on  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  business  district,  the 
xpense  to  be  borne  by  the  business  men  and  property  owners.  E.  H. 
rown  is  secretary  of  the  Commercial  Club. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY.— The  Louisville  Bridge  &  Iron  Co.  has  been 
warded  the  contract  for  the  iron  and  steel  work  on  the  new  power  sta- 
ion  of  the  Louisville  Ry.  Co.  at  Twentieth  Street  and  High  Avenue. 
"he  total  cost  of  the  plant  is  estimated  at  $600,000. 

LOUISVILLE,  KV. — The  Louisville  Ltg.  Co.  is  contemplating  extend- 
ig  its  transmission  lines  into  Middletown,  Anchorage  and  Jeffersontown 
f  supply  electrcity  for  lamps  and  motors.  The  cost  of  the  extension  is 
stimated  at  from  $25,000  to  $30,000.     P.  T.   Glidden  is  general  manager. 

MAYSVILLE,  KY.— The  Springdale  &  Tollesboro  Mutual  Co.  is  erect- 
ig  a  telephDne  line  from  Springdale  to  Tollesboro. 

TAYLORSVILLE,  KY.— The  town  of  Taylorsville  contemplates  selling 

franchise  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  here.  Henry 
:  Henry,  who  operate  the  Taylorsville  rolling  mills,  it  is  said,  expect  to 
urchase  the  franchise  and  install  an  electric  plant, 

NEW  ORLEANS,  LA. — 'The  contract  for  the  construction  of  Power 
louse  No.  2  of  the  purification  plant  of  the  drainage  system  has  been 
warded  by  the  Sewer  and  Water  Board  to  R.  McCarthy,  Jr.,  for  $61,308. 
Equipment  for  the  power  house  has  been  purchased. 

ANNAPOLIS,  MD. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau 
f  Yards  and  Docks,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Aug.  3 
or  installing  (Complete  an  underground  distribution  system  for  electric 
ight,  power  and  telephones  at  the  Naval  Academy,  Annapolis.  Plans  and 
pecifications  can  be  obtained  on  application  to  the  bureau  or  to  the 
uperintendent  of  the  Naval  Academy.  William  M.  Smith  is  acting  chief 
if  bureau. 

HAGERSTOWN,  MD.— The  Hagerstown  Lt.  &  Ht.  Co.  has  applied  to 
he  Public  Service  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  $1,500,000  in  bonds. 
t  is  proposed  to  issue  $350,000,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  construction 
■f  part   of  new   plant   and   extension    of  distributing  system. 

OAKLAND,  MD. — Surveys  are  being  made  by  H.  A.  Fisher,  engineer, 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  for  the  purpose  of  harnessing  the  Youghiogheny  River  and 
stablishing  a  large  power  plant  at  Swallow  Falls,  near  Oakland.  The  pro- 
losed  plant  will  cost  about  $2,000,000.  Electricity  generated  at  the  plant 
vill  be  transmitted  to  Pittsburgh  and  other  cities  and  towns  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, West  Virginia  and  Maryland. 

BOSTON,  MASS. — Bids  for  furnishing  and  installing  electrical  work 
n  an  office  building,  the  annex  to  the  city  hall,  which  were  to  have  been 
jpened  July  1,  have  been  withdrawn.  The  work  will  be  readvertised 
ater  on.     Manus  J.   Fish  is  superintendent  of  public  buildings. 

BOYLSTON,  MASS.— At  a  special  town  meeting  held  June  24  the 
litizens  voted  to  establish  an  electric-light  plant  at  a  cost  of  about  $8,000. 
.t  is  proposed  to  erect  a  distributing  system  and  to  purchase  electricity 
rom  a  private  company. 

FRANKLIN,  MASS.— The  Union  EI.  Lt.  Co.,  of  Franklin,  and  the 
^oxboro  El.  Co.  have  been  consolidated  under  the  name  of  the  Union 
^t.   &  Pwr.   Co. 

LOWELL,   MASS. — The  Lowell   El.   Lt.   Corpn.  has  obtained  a  permit 

0  build  an   addition   to   its   plant,    100   ft.    x   92    ft.,   two   stories   high,   to 
ost  about  $15,000. 

LOWELL,  MASS.— The  Shaw  Stocking  Co.  is  installing  a  1000-hp  steam 
urbo-generator  set  to  supply  electricity  to  operate  its  works.  The  equip- 
nent  includes  new  switchboard  and  motors. 

WOODBRIDGE,  M.ASS. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  construc- 
ion  of  an  electric  railway  between  Woodbridge,  Westville  and  Seymour, 
ohn  W.  Wetzel  and  S.   H.   Street  are  interested. 

ANN  ARBOR,  MICH.— The  Eastern  Michigan  Edison  Co.  has  awarded 
he  contract  for  construction  of  its  power  house  here  to  E.  R.  Decker  & 
-0.,  Ann  Arbor.     The  cost  of  the  power  plant  is  estimated  at  $100,000. 

ELKTON,  MICH. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $6,000  have  been  voted 
or   the   installation    of   a   municipal   lighting   plant. 

ALBERT  LEA,   MINN.     The  Minnesota  Gas  &  El.   Co.   has   purchased 

1  site  on   which  it  will   erect  a  new  electric-light  and  power  plant. 


AURORA,  MINN. — The  village  of  Aurora  is  contemplating  the  pur- 
chase of  a  motor-driven  pump,  centrifugal  or  impeller  type  preferred. 
The  pump  is  to  be  operated  by  three-phase,  220-volt,  60-cycIe  current 
against  a  300-ft.  head.  J.  H.  Simons  is  superintendent  of  water  and 
light   department. 

DULUTH,  MINN. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  lighting 
committee  of  the  West  End  Commercial  Club  for  installation  of  an 
ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Superior  Street  from  Garfield  Ave- 
nue to  Twenty-second   Street  West. 

FOXHOME,  MINN.— The  Otter  Tail  Pwr.  Co.,  Fergus  Falls,  has 
applied  for  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  here. 

LAKEFIELD,  MINN.— The  Northwestern  EI.  Equip.  Co.,  Minneapolis, 
has  been  awarded  a  contract  for  one  75-kw  Sprague  generator  for  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant. 

LITCHFIELD,  MINN.— The  Mannah  mill  property  and  water-power 
has  been  purchased  by  a  party  of  capitalists,  who  propose  to  develop  the 
water-power  and  supply  electricity  in  Eden  Valley  and  Watkins. 

MOORHEAD,  MINN. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  a  new  turbine  engine  in  the  municipal  electric-light  plant,  to  cost 
about  $20,000.     J.  F.   Bastian  is  chief  engineer. 

PIERZ,'  MINN.— The  Little  Falls  Wtr.  Pwr.  Co.  of  Minnesota,  Little 
Falls,  has  submitted  a  proposition  offering  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps 
and  motors  here.  It  is  proposed  that  the  village  erect  a  transmission 
line  from  Little  Falls  to  Pierz,  a  substation  and  distributing  system  here, 
the  cost  of  which  is  estimated  at  from  $4,000  to  $5,000. 

ST.  PETER,  MINN.— The  Nicollet  County  Tel.  Co.  will  soon  begin 
work  on  the  construction  of  a  new  telephone  system  in  St.  Peter  to 
cost  about  $25,000. 

BRANSON,  MO.— The  Ozark  Wtr.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  it  is  reported,  has 
taken  over  the  Standish  power  project  on  the  James  River,  20  miles 
northwest  of  Hollister,  and  will  build  a  third  dam  and  storage  reservoir 
at  a  point  in  the  35-mile  bend  of  James  River, 

ST.  JOSEPH,  MO. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  increasing  the 
output  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  for  extensions  to  the 
street-lighting  system  involving  an  expenditure  of  about  $100,000.  It  is 
proposed  to  erect  new  lamps  in  the  outlying  districts. 

HARLEM,  MONT. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  installation 
of  an  electric-light  plant  here.  A  company  will  be  organized  under 
the  name  of  the  Harlem  El.  Lt.  Co.  to  construct  and  operate  the  same. 
Peter    Mitchell    is    interested. 

HUNTLEY,  MONT. — Steps  have  been  taken  toward  the  organization 
of  a  company  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  power  plant  on  the  Yellow- 
stone River  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  here. 

BRUNING,  NEB. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  Alamo  Engine  & 
Supply  Co.,  Omaha,  for  an  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system, 
to   cost   approximately   $20,000. 

DESHLER,  NEB. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of 
an    electric-light    plant    here.      Local    parties   are    said    to    be    interested. 

GERING,  NEB.— The  Alamo  Engine  &  Supply  Co.,  of  Omaha,  will 
prepare  plans  for  a  new  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system  for 
Gering. 

HOLMESVILLE,  NEB.— The  Holmesville  Mill  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  con- 
templating extending  its  transmission  lines  to  Odell  and  Diller  to  supply 
electrical  service  in  those  places. 

MAGNET,  NEB. — Work  has  begun  on  the  construction  of  the  power 
house   for   the  proposed   electric-light  plant. 

MARQUETTE,  NEB. — The  city  of  Marquette  is  planning  to  con- 
struct an  electric-light  plant  and  water-works,  to  cost  about  $11,000. 
Bruce  &  Standevin,  Bee  Building,  Omaha,  Neb.,  are  consulting  engineers. 

NORFOLK,  NEB. — The  property  of  the  Independent  Tel.  Co.,  which 
operates  in  Norfolk  and  vicinity,  was  sold  at  sheriff's  sale  to  Theodore 
Parmalee.  Plattsmouth,  for  $26,010. 

NORTH  LOUP,  NEB. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  and 
water-works  is  under  consideration  and  plans  are  being  prepared  by  the 
Alamo  Engine  &  Supply  Co.,  Omaha.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  esti- 
mated at  about  $16,000. 

OMAHA,  NEB. — The  City  Commissioners  have  signed  a  contract  with 
the  Omaha  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  the  erection  of  122  flaming-arc  lamps 
in  the  business  district. 

SCOTIA,  NEB.— The  Alamo  Engine  &  Supply  Co.,  Omaha,  is  pre- 
paring plans  for  an  electric-Hght  plant  and  water-works  system  for 
Scotia,   to  cost  about   $15,000. 

WAHOO,  NEB. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
George  E.  Loder,  city  clerk,  Wahoo,  until  July  9  for  furnishing  and 
installing  machinery  and  apparatus  for  extension  and  improvement  of  the 
municipal  electric-light  system  as  follows:  Sectionl — engine;  section  2 — 
generator,  exciter  and  switchboard.  Bids  will  be  received  on  one  or  both 
of  the  above-named  sections.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at  $3,500; 
section   1,  $1,350;  section  2,  $2,150.     C.  L.  Mielenz  is  Mayor. 

FORT  HANCOCK,  N.  J. —  Contracts  for  the  installation  of  an  electric- 
light  system  at  Fort  Hancock  have  been  awarded  to  W.  M.  Sheehan  & 
Co.,  114  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  at  $22,739,  and  to  L.  B.  Jacobs, 
Newark,  N.  J.,  for  $19,000. 

GLOUCESTER  CITY,  N.  J.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at 
the    office    of    commissioner.    Immigration    Service,    Department    of    Com- 


76 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i 


merce  and  Labor,  port  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  until  July  10  for  furnishing 
and  installing  an  electric  push-button  lift  in  detention  building  at  Glou- 
cester City,  in  accordance  with  plans  and  specifications,  copies  of  which 
may  be  obtained  from  J.  J.   S.   Rodgers,  commissioner. 

HARRISON,  N.  J.— Plans  have  been  filled  by  the  Crucible  Steel  Co. 
with  the  office  of  the  building  inspector  for  a  new  power  plant  to  be 
erected  on  its  property  near  the  Passaic  River,  to  cost  about  $22,000. 

OCEAN  GROVE,  N.  J. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  the  boardwalk  and  on  streets 
leading  to  the  walk. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  until  Aug.  5  at 
the  LTnited  States  Engineer's  office,  540  Federal  Building,  Buffalo,  for  fur- 
nishing and  installing  electric  power  and  light  lines  and  fixtures,  telephone 
wiring  and  iron  fences  with  gates  at  Block  Rock  Shiplock.  Buffalo.  For 
further  information  address  Col  J.  C.  Warren. 

HEUVELTON,  N.  Y.— The  Town  Board  has  awarded  the  contract  for 
street  lighting  to  the  Hannawa  Falls  Watr.  Pwr.  Co.  for  one  year  at 
$11   per  lamp  per  year. 

JOHNSTOWN,  N.  Y.— The  Public  Service  Commission  has  authorized 
the  Fulton  County  Gas  &  El.  Co.  to  issue  $36,000  in  notes,  the  proceeds 
to  be  used  for  additions  and  improvements  to  its  plant. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — The  contract  for  building  the  underground  con- 
nection between  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  and  the  Centre  Street  loop  under 
the  municipal  building  has  been  awarded  to  the  North  Eastern  Constr. 
Co.  for  $408,883. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Park  Board,  Depart- 
ment of  Parks.  Arsenal  Building,  Fifth  Avenue  and  Sixty-fourth  Street. 
New  York,  until  July  11  for  furnishing  a  combined  12-in.  four-sided 
molding  and  planing  machine,  with  directly  connected  electric  motor  and 
starting  box  complete,  for  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 
Blank  forms  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office.  Charles  B.  Stover  is 
president  of  board. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — Rids  will  be  received  by  C.  B.  J.  Snyder,  superin- 
tendent of  school  buildings.  Department  of  Education,  corner  Park  Avenue 
and  Fifty-ninth  Street.  New  York,  until  July  15  for  installing  electric 
equipment  in  the  addition  to  and  alterations  in  Public  School  43,  on 
Brown  Place,  between  135th  and  136th  Streets,  borough  of  the  Bronx, 
also  for  installing  electric  equipment  in  the  new  Public  School,  No.  61,  on 
East  Twelfth  Street,  between  Avenues  B  and  C,  borough  of  Manhattan. 
Blank  forms,  plans  and  specifications  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office. 

RAY  BROOK,  N.  Y. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  Martin  E. 
McClary,  president  board  of  trustees.  New  York  State  Hospital  for  In- 
cipient Tuberculosis,  Ray  Brook,  until  July  15,  for  installing  one  50-kw 
direct-current  dynamo  and  engine  at  the  New  York  State  Hospital  for 
Incipient  Tuberculosis,  Ray  Brook,  N.  Y.  Drawing  and  specifications  may 
be  seen  and  forms  of  proposals  obtained  at  the  hospital  and  at  the  office 
of  Herman  W.  Hoffer,  state  architect,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

ROCHESTER.  N.  Y.— The  Board  of  Contract  and  Supply  has  awarded 
the  contract  for  stieet  lighting  to  the  Rochester  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  for  a  period 
of  five  years,  at  $350,941  per  year. 

ROCHESTER.  N.  Y.— The  Rochester  Ry.  ,  &  Lt.  Co.  will  supply  elec- 
tricity and  steam  heat  for  the  new  16-story  building  of  the  Eastman 
Kodak  Co.  and  the  old  building  on  State  Street.  About  1000  hp  will 
be  required  by  the  Kodak  company,  which  will  be  supplied  from  station 
No.  3.  The  railway  and  light  company  will  install  five  new  lead-covered, 
copper  cables,  each  about  2  in.  in  diameter,  from  the  station  to  the  fac- 
tory, and  will  also  install  a  2000-hp  new  rotary  converter. 

UTICA,  N.  Y. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  installing  a  new  light- 
ing system  on  Genesee  Street  and  possibly  other  streets  in  the  business 
district. 

WATKINS,  N.  Y.— The  Elmira  Wtr.,  Lt.  &  R.  R.  Co.  has  submitted 
another  proposition  to  the  Water  and  Sewer  Commission  offering  to  fur- 
nish electricity  for  the  municipal  electric-light  plant.  The  company  offers 
to  deliver  the  energy  at  the  municipal  power  house  at  2], 2  cents  per 
kw-hour. 

CHARLOTTE,  N.  C— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  super- 
vising architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Aug. 
2  for  construction,  including  plumbing,  heating  apparatus,  gas  piping, 
electric  conduits  and  wiring  and  interior  lighting  fixtures,  of  the  exten- 
sion, remodeling,  etc.,  of  the  United  States  post  office  and  court  house 
at  Charlotte.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  of- 
fice or  at  the  office  of  the  custodian,  Charlotte.  James  Knox  Taylor  is 
supervising    architect. 

HENDERSONVILLE.  X.  C— The  Laurel  Park  Street  Ry.  Co.  is  con- 
templating the  construction  of  a  power  plant,  to  cost  about  $20,000.  The 
company  is  planning  to  discard  its  steam  equipment  and  equip  the  road 
for  electrical  operation. 

•SPENCER,  N.  C— The  Southern  R.  R.  Co.  is  planning  to  install  an 
electroplating  plant  in  Spencer  for  its  own  use.  The  company  proposes 
to  make   reflectors   for    its   headlights. 

FARGO,  N.  D.— The  Union  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  contemplating 
extensions  to  its  plant  in  this  city  involving  an  expenditure  of  about 
$85,000,  which  will  include  the  erection  of  a  gas  holder  for  the  gas  plant, 
the  installation  of  a  new  electric  unit  at  the  electric  plant,  extension  of 
gas  mains  and  enlarging  the  carhouses.  The  company  also  proposes  to 
extend  the  street  railway  to  Dilworth,  which  will  cost  about  $70,000  more. 


The  company  is  controlled  by  H.   M.   Byllesby  &  Co.,  Chicago,  111.     M.  L 
Hibbard  is  local  manager. 

ASHTABULA,  OHIO. — Contracts  have  been  awarded  for  equipment  fo 
the  municipal  electric-light  plant  as  follows:  Hoover,  Owens,  Reutschle 
Co.,  Hamilton,  for  engine,  $12,500;  Allis-Chalmers  Co.,  Milwaukee,  Wis 
for  generator,  $7,430,  and  Bates  Machine  Co.,  Joliet,  HI.,  for  wate 
heater.  $785. 

CANTON,  OHIO. — The  Canton  El.  Co.  has  taken  out  a  permit  for  th 
construction  of  a  large  addition  to  its  boiler  house.  The  new  build 
ing  will  be  70  ft.  x  110  ft.  and  will  cost  about  $42,000.  E.  J.  Landoi 
contractor,    has   charge    of   the    work. 

CLE\"ELAND,  OHIO.— Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  installi 
tion  of  a  municipal  steam-heating  plant  at  the  Fairmount  pumping  st: 
tion. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO.— All  bids  received  for  the  cluster-lamp  stree- 
lighting  system   have  been  rejected.     The  work  will  be  readvertised. 

EAST  ROCHESTER,  OHIO.— The  Eastern  Ohio  Tel.  Co.  has  pet 
tioned  the  Public  Utilities  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  $17,50 
in    capital    stock. 

FREMONT.  OHIO.— The  City  Council  has  awarded  the  contract  fo 
lighting  the  city  to  the  Fremont  Yaryan  Co.  for  a  period  of  10  year* 
Under  the  terms  of  the  contract  the  arc  lamps  now  in  use  are  to  be  rt 
placed  with  magnetite  luminous-arc  lamps  and  the  number  increased  froi 
141  to  200.  Work  will  begin  on  the  installation  of  the  new  system  as  soo 
as  possible. 

GENEVA.  OHIO.- The  United  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to  enlarg 
its  plant.      New  equipment  will  be  installed. 

MARYSVILLE,  OHIO. — Preliminary  bids  for  estimates  for  improvi 
ments  to  the  plant  of  the  Marysville  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.,  to  cost  about  $20,00( 
will  be  received  until  July  12.  The  Reliance  Engineering  Co.,  Fourt 
National  Bank  Building.,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  has  charge  of  the  enginee; 
ing  work. 

MIDDLEPORT;  OHIO. — An  election  will  be  called  to  vote  on  ih 
proposition  to  issue  $80,000  in  bonds  to  establish  a  municipal  electric-ligh 
plant  and  water-works  system. 

REYNOLDSBURG.    OHIO.— The    State    Board   of  -Agriculture    has  er 
gaged   Dawson   &   Holbrook,   Columbus,  architects,   to   prepare  plans   for 
power  house  for  the  State  Serum  Farm,  near  Reynoldsburg. 

SANDUSKY,  OHIO.— The  Sandusky  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  awarded  cor 
tract  for  equipment  for  its  plant,  consisting  of  a  1500-kw  turbine,  500-h 
boiler,  feed-water  heater,  brick  stack,  etc.     E.   A.   Bechstein  is  manager. 

KINGFISHER,  OKLA.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  City  Commi; 
sioners  until  July  10  for  the  construction  of  an  electric-light  plant  an 
for  water- works  extensions.  Plans  and  specifications  are  on  file  at  th 
office  of  tlie  city  clerk.  Kingfisher,  and  the  office-  of  the  Benham  Eng 
neering  Co.,  812  American  National  Bank  Building,  Oklahoma  City,  coi 
suiting  and  supervising  engineer, 

PONCA,  OKLA. — The  contract  for  the  construction  of  the  municips 
electric-light  plant  has  been  awarded  to  the  Tonkawa  Constr.  Co 
Tonka wa.  The  cost  of  the  plant  is  estimated  at  $30,000.  Burns  « 
McDonnell.  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  are  engineers. 

SKIATOOK.  OKLA.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $3,000  have  been  vote- 
for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  system. 

HAMMOND.  ORE.— The  City  Council  has  granted  George  A.  Robir 
son  a  30-year  franchise  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  here. 

HOOD  RIVER,  ORE.— The  Home  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  to  erect  a  ne\ 
exchange  building  on  State  Street.     Charles  Hall  is  president. 

BUTLER,  PA. — Edward  H.  Wise,  of  Johnstown,  has  applied  to  th 
Council  for  a  franchise  to  erect  transmission  lines  in  Butler. 

CONYNGHAM,  PA. — The  contract  for  street  lighting  has  beei 
awarded  to  the  Edison  lU'g  Co.,  Ashland,  for  a  period  of  five  years  a 
$85  per  lamp  per  year.  Work  will  begin  at  once  on  the  erection  of  thi 
system. 

NAZARETH,  PA.- The  control  of  the  Nazareth  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co 
and  the  Nazareth  lU'g  Gas  Co.  has  been  acquired  by  the  Eastern  Penn 
sylvania   Pwr.    Co.,   Easton. 

PHILADELPHIA.  PA.— The  Pennsylvania  Equipment  Co.,  West  Enc 
Trust  Building,  Philadelphia,  is  in  the  market  for  a  400-kw  to  500-kw 
three-phase,   60-cycle,  2300-volt  generator. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA.— The  Cruse-Kemper  Co.,  Philadelphia,  gas 
holder  manufacturer,  contemplates  extensive  improvements  to  its  powe: 
house  and  shops.  Hackett  &  Mora,  Drexel  Building,  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
are  consulting  engineers. 

CLINTON,  S.  C— The  J.  B.  McCrary  Co.,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  consulting 
engineer,  has  been  engaged  by  the  City  Council  to  take  charge  of  the 
installation  of  the  proposed  power  plant.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  esti- 
mated at  $18,000.  Contracts  for  engines,  boilers  and  generators  have  been 
placed.     Other  machinery  will  be  purchased  later. 

GREER,  S.  C— The  City  Council  has  engaged  the  J.  B.  McCrary  Co., 
Atlanta,  Ga.,  to  prepare  plans  for  proposed  improvements  to  the  electric- 
light    system. 

SPARTANBURG,  S.  C— The  City  Council  has  granted  P.  J.  Wood,  of 
-Augusta,  a   50-year  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors. 

GARRETSON,  S.  D.— Bids  will  be  received  by  H.  C.  Peterson,  cit> 
auditor,    until    July    15,    for    furnishing   and    installing    electric-light    plant 


LY   6,    1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


n 


mplete,  including  poles  and  pole-line  material,  40-hp  combustion  engine, 
hp  generator,  storage-battery  switchboard,  station  wiring,  etc. 
MILLER,  S.  D. — A  special  election  will  be  called  to  submit  the  propo- 
ion  for  the  city  to  purchase  the  electric  plant  of  the  Miller  El.  Co., 
be  owned  and  operated  by  the  municipality,  to  a  vote. 
3H.M'TANOOGA,  TENN.— Merrill  B.  Parker,  Chattanooga,  is  plan- 
ig  to  install  a  power  plant,  the  equipment  to  consist  of  a  SO-kw  gen- 
itor,   four  motors  and  a  switchboard. 

CH.ATTANOOGA,  TENN.— The  Tennessee  Hydro-Electric  Co.,  which 
jposes  large  developments  on  the  Clinch  and  Powell  River,  is  now 
ating  dam  sites,  surveying  for  right  of  way  for  transmission  lines,  etc. 
e  largest  dam  and  lock  is  to  be  located  at  Kingston,  just  above  where 
;  Emory  River  flows  into  the  Clinch.  The  company  proposes  to  supply 
ictricity  in  Chattanooga,  Knoxville,  Nashville  and  other  smaller  towns 
East  Tennessee.  J.  S.  Kuhn,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  and  associates  are  said 
be  interested. 

COLUMBIA,    TENN.— The    owners    of    the    Ashton    Roller    Mills    are 
inning    to    install    a    hydroelectric    plant    in    connection    with    their    dam 
Duck    Riixr,'  which    is    being    raised.      Arrangements    are    being    made 
supply  electricity  in  Columbia. 

G'REENEVILLE,  TENN.— The  Tennessee  Eastern  El.  Co.  has  pur- 
jsed  the  property  of  the  Greeneville  El.  Co.  for  $9,000.  The  Tennessee 
I.  will  begin  work  immediately  on  the  construction  of  a  dam  on  the 
)lachucky  River.  6  miles  south  of  here,  and  will  develop  about  20,000 
for  transmission  to  Greeneville,  Newport,  Jonesboro,  Johnson  City 
d  Erwin. 

fOHNSON  CITY,  TENN.— The  Tennessee  Eastern  EI.  Co.,  organized 
Warner,  Tucker  &  Co.,  Boston,  Mass.,  has  purchased  the  property  of 
Watauga  El.  Co.  and  the  Johnson  City  Trac.  Co.,  both  of  Johnson 
:y,  and  the  plant  of  the  Greeneville  EI.  Co.,  Greeneville.  The  company 
i  also  applied  for  franchises  in  Morristown,  Erwin  and  Jonesboro.  .\x- 
igements  are  being  made  by  the  company  for  the  construction  of  a 
droelectric  power  plant  on  the  Nolachucky  River  near  Greeneville, 
ere  about  20,000  hp  will  be  developed.  The  construction  of  an  electric 
erurban  railway  from  Johnson  City  to  Elizabethton,  10  miles,  and  to 
lesboro,  8  miles,  and  of  a  loop  from  the  State  Normal  School  to  the 
diers'  Home,  is  under  consideration.  W.  V.  N.  Powelson,  of  New 
rk,  N.  Y.,  will  prepare  plans  and  have  charge  of  construction  work. 
Smith  is  manager  of  the  Johnson  City  properties. 

■CNOXVILLE,  TENN. — The  Knoxville  Welding  Co.  is  in  the  market 
■  an    electrically    operated    air    compressor    for    use    in    connection    with 

equipment  of  its  new  welding  shop. 
vIORRISTOWN,  TENN. — K  movement  is  on  foot  among  the  citizens 
develop  the  water-power  of  a  nearby  stream  to  generate  electricity  to 
:rate  an  electric  railway  system  and  manufacturing  plants.  Applica- 
n  will  be  made  to  Congress  for  use  of  power  rights.  J.  B.  Holloway 
1  W.   C.   Hale  are  interested. 

'RENDERG,\ST.  TENN. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  T.  Morrow,  Pren- 
gast,  to  organize  a  company  to  be  capitalized  at  $100,000,  for  the 
■pose  of  building  a  10,000-spindle  mill.  Electricity  will  be  used  as  mo- 
j   power. 

RUSKIN,  TENN. — The  Ruskin  Cave  College  is  in  the  market  for  a 
ond-hand  25-kw  generator.  R.  I.  Smith  is  president  of  the  institution. 
:)ALLAS,  TEX.— The  jEtna  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Chicago,  111.,  has  been 
mted  a  permit  to  do  business  in  Texas  with  headquarters  in  Dallas, 
e  capital  stock  of  the  company  is  placed  at  $500,000. 
DALLAS,  TEX.^The  Union  Terminal  Co.,  which  proposes  to  build  a 
minal  for  several  railways  entering  Dallas,  including  the  construction 
car  and  locomotive  repair  shops,  roundhouses,  freight  houses,  train 
-■ds,  passenger  station  and  electric  power  plant,  expects  to  begin  work 
:hin  90  days.  The  power  plant  will  supply  electricity  for  lamps,  heat 
1  motors  for  the  yards  and  buildings.  The  work  involves  a  total  ex- 
■iditure  of  about  $5,000,000.  F.  G.  Pettibone  is  president. 
HOUSTON,  TEX.— The  Houston-Southern  Trac.  Co.  has  awarded  a 
itract  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  between  Houston  and 
xarkana,  242  miles  long,  to  the  Indianapolis  Constr.  Co.  John  Love- 
t  and  associates,  of  Houston,  are  interested  in  the  company. 
SALT  LAKE  CITY.  UTAH.— The  Utah  Lt.  &  Ry.  Co.  is  preparing 
'  extensive  extensions  and  improvements  to  its  system,  which  will 
/olve  a  total  expenditure  of  about  $650,000  and  increase  its  total  output 
about  16,000  hp.  Contracts  have  been  awarded  for  the  construction 
two  large  reservoirs  in  Big  Cottonwood  Canyon  and  for  material  and 
uipment  for  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  to  Bingham  for  the 
rpose  of  supplying  electricity  to  the  Ohio  Copper  Co.  Contracts  have 
;o  been  placed   for  machinery  for  the  two  power  plants  in  the   canyon. 

RICHMOND,  VA.— The  committee  on  streets  has  recommended  to  the 
•uncil  the  ordinance  granting  the  Richmond  &  Henrico  Ry.  Co.  a 
inchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and  motors  in  Richmond. 

I  BL.\INE,  WASH. — The  Farmers'  Mutual  Tel.  Co.  contemplates  ex- 
I  isivc  improvements  in  its  system,  including  the  erection  of  a  new  ex- 
{  ange  building. 

I  CLE  ELUM,  WASH.— The  Kittitas  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  awarded  the 
1  St  contract  for  the  construction  of  a  hydroelectric  power  plant  and 
ir  an  electric  railway  from  Cle  Elum  to  Salmon  La  Sac,  a  distance  of 
'  miles.  The  cost  of  the  railway  and  power  plant  is  estimated  at 
Uut  $1,750,000. 


EVERETT,  WASH. — The  construction  of  a  garbage  incinerator  is 
under  consideration.  It  is  proposed  to  heat  the  salt  water  for  the  nata- 
torium  and  to  furnish  power  to  operate  the  machinery  on  the  municipal 
docks  from  the  incinerator  plant. 

HOCKINSON,  WASH.— The  residents  of  Hockinson  have  offered  the 
Washington-Oregon  Corpn.,  Vancouver,  a  bonus  of  $12,000  to  extend  its 
electric  railway  from  Sifton  to  this  place.  Hockinson  has  not  a  post 
office. 

NORTH  YAKIMA,  WASH.— Theodore  Weisenberger,  of  this  city,  is 
interested  in  a  project  to  reclaim  a  large  area  of  arid  lands  in  the 
lower  Ahtanum  valley  by  irrigation,  either  by  gravity  flow  or  by  pump- 
ing from  drilled  wells  by  electricity.  The  plans  include  the  develop- 
ment of  water  power  at  the  head  of  Ahtanum  Creek  sufficient  to  supply 
Wiley  City  and  the  entire  district  with  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors. 

SEATTLE,  WASH.— The  City  Council  has  passed  an  ordinance  appro- 
priating $500,000  to  continue  the  work  of  erecting  a  masonry  dam  at 
Camp  No.  2,  in  the  Cedar  River  watershed. 

YAKIMA  CITY,  WASH. — The  construction  of  an  electric  railway  be- 
tween Yakima  City  and  North  Yakima,  a  distance  of  5  miles,  is  under 
consideration. 

BARABOO,  WIS. — The  Baraboo  Gas  &  El.  Ltg.  Co.  has  submitted  a 
proposition  to  the  City  Council  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental 
street-lighting  system  in  the  business  district.  It  is  proposed  to  dis- 
card the  arc  lamps  now  in  use  and  erect  tungsten  lamps,  to  be  fed  by 
underground  wires. 

EAU  CLAIRE,  WIS. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  city  of  Eau 
Claire,  the  Chippewa  Valley  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  Dells  Paper  & 
Pulp  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  new  flume  at  the  Dells  dam  to  replace 
the  present  flume,  to  serve  the  three  parties  receiving  power  from  the  dam. 
The  city  is  planning  to  install  new  waterwheels  at  the  pumping  station. 

COWILEY,  WYO. — The  Wyoming  El.  Lt.  Improvement  Co.  contem- 
plates the  construction  of  electric-light  plants  in  Cowley,  Worland  and 
Lovell,  Wyo.  Work  will  begin  on  the  Cowley  plant  about  Aug.  1.  Frank 
W.    Ditto,   Gillette,    is  general  manager. 

PORT  ALBERNI,  B.  C,  C.^N.— H.  L.  Gaskill,  Lewis  Crook  and  H. 
M.  Hinricks  have  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  City  Council  offering 
to  install  an  electric-light  plant  if  granted  a  charter.  It  is  proposed  to 
develop  a  water-power  on  Beaver  Creek  at  the  base  of  the  Beaufort 
Mountains. 

MIMICO,  ONT.,  CAN. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Municipal 
Council  and  the  Hydro-Electric  Commission  for  extensive  additions  to 
the  village  lighting  system. 

S.ARNI.-X,  ONT.,  CAN. — The  plant  of  the  Sarnia  Gas  &  El.  Lt.  Co. 
was  destroyed  by  fire  recently,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $100,000. 

TORONTO,  ONT.,  CAN. — The  Ontario  Hydro-Electric  Commission  is 
contemplating  building  an  extension  of  its  transformer  station  on  Garri- 
son  Common. 

MONTREAL,  QUE.,  CAN. — Work  has  been  started  on  the  plant  of 
the  Cedar  Rapids  Mfg.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  at  St.  Joseph  de  Soulange  on  the 
St.  Lawrence  River.  The  power  house  will  be  700  ft.  long.  The  present 
plans  provide  for  a  generating  capacity  of  50,000  hp.  Julien  C.  Smith  has 
charge  of  construction  of  the  plant:  Henry  Holgate  is  consulting  en- 
gineer. 

B.\TTLEFORD,  SASK.,  CAN. — Sealed  tenders  will  be  received  by  J. 
P.  Marshall,  secretary  and  treasurer,  until  July  10  for  machinery  and 
materials  as  follows:  (a)  for  furnishing  and  installing  two  generators, 
exciters  and  switchboard;  (b)  for  pumps  and  motors;  (c)  for  construction 
of  power  house  and  reservoir;  (d)  construction  of  sewage-disposal  works; 
(e)  4725  ft.  8-in.  steel  water  pipe  and  specials;  (f)  trenching  and  laying 
water  pipe,  etc.;  (g)  two  pneumatic  storage  tanks.  Plans  and  specifica- 
tions may  be  seen  at  the  office  of  the  town  engineer  and  electrical  engi- 
neer, Battleford,  and  at  the  office  of  McArthur,  Murphy  &  Underwood, 
consulting  engineers.   Saskatoon,   Sask. 

KINDERSLEY,  SASK.,  CAN.— Tenders  will  be  received  by  D.  Mac- 
Tavish,  secretary  and  treasurer,  Kindersley,  until  July  22  for  furnishing 
the  following  machinery  and  materials:  For  15,000  lin.  ft.  of  4.in.  to 
10-in.  steel  pipe  and  special  castings,  or  alternatively;  400  tons  of  4-in. 
to  10-in.  cast-iron  pipe  and  special  castings;  76  gate  valves;  27  hydrants; 
pressure  filters;  100,000-gaI.  elevated  tank;  two  return  tubular  boilers 
and  stack;  duplex  pump,  capacity  500  gal.  per  minute;  130-hp  simple 
horizontal  engine;  steam  piping;  75-kva  alternator;  cedar  poles  and 
transmission-line  equipment  for  12,000  ft.  of  line;  6000  lb.  copper  wire, 
and  erection  of  pole  line.  Specifications  and  other  information  may  be 
obtained  at  the  office  of  the  John  Gait  Engineering  Co.,  517  Portage  Ave- 
nue, Winnipeg,  Man. 

MOOSE  JAW,  S.\SK.,  CAN. — Sealed  tenders  will  be  received  by  the 
city  commissioners.  Moose  Jaw,  until  Aug.  1  for  furnishing  one  500-kw 
steam-driven  generating  set.  Specifications  and  all  information  may  be 
obtained  on  application  to  J.  D.  Peters,  electrical  superintendent.  Moose 
Jaw. 

OUTLOOK,  S.\SK.,  CAN. — The  contract  for  the  installation  of  an 
electric-light  plant  has  been  awarded  to  the  British  Engineering  &  Sup- 
ply Co.,  Winnipeg.  The  equipment  will  consist  of  one  74-hp  Ruston- 
Proctor  suction  gas  engine  and  producer  gas  plant,  with  full  electrical 
equipment.  A  by-law  providing  for  an  expenditure  of  $15,000  for  a  mu- 
nicipal   plant    was    recently    passed. 


78 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol  6o,  Xo. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  ELECTRIC  BLUE  PRINT  COMPANY,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000  by  S.  B.  Tinsley,  H.  A. 
Churchill  anu  others.  The  company  proposes  to  manufacture  blueprint 
paper  to  be  developed  by  electric  light. 

THE  MARTIN  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY,  of  Fort  Wayne, 
Ind.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000  to  manufacture 
and  sell  electrical  heating  and  plumbing  material  and  supplies.  The  in- 
corporators are:     E.  Martin,  J.  E.  Martin  and  F.  H.  Kreigh. 

THE  McFELL  SIGNAL  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  III.,  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  Judson  McFell,  Charles  Greve 
and  Willis  Smith.  The  company  proposes  to  manufacture  and  install  all 
kinds  of  electrical  appliances. 


Trade  Publications 


New  Incorporations 

WILMINGTON,  DEL.— The  Tyler  City  Lt.  &  Ry.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated ivith  a  capital  stock  of  $325,000  under  the  laws  of  the  State 
of  Delaware.  The  incorporators  are:  G.  M.  Osgoodby,  C.  H.  Warford 
and  J.  P.  Hoban,  Dayton,  Ohio. 

WASHINGTO.N,  ILL.— The  Washington  Home  Tel.  Co.  has  been  char- 
tered with  a  capital  stock  of  $45,000  by  E.  S.  Sterritt,  C.  A.  Camp  and 
A.  B.  Cheadle. 

CLAY  CITY,  IND.— The  Clay  City  Mutual  Tel.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  C.  \V.  Hurst,  John  Middlemas 
and  S.   L.   Royer. 

KINGMAN,  IND.— The  Crawfordsville  &  Danville  Interurban  Ry.  Co. 
has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  to  build  an 
electric  railway  from  Crawfordsville,  Ind.,  to  Danville,  111.,  a  dis- 
tance of  46  miles.  The  incorporators  are:  J.  W.  Black,  Jesse  Clove, 
N.  R.  Myers,  E.  G.  McCormack,  W.  D.  Gott,  Charles  McCabe,  A.  M. 
Boyd   and    W.    A.    Johnson. 

MONTPELIER,  IND.— The  Montpelier  Trac.  Co.  has  applied  for  a 
charter  to  build  an  electric  railway  from  Marion  to  Montpelier.  The 
company  is  capitalized  at  $15,000  and  the  incorporators  are:  C.  L.  Smith, 
A.  H.  Bonham,  N.  W.  Lacey,.D.  E.  Binns  and  A.  E.  Townsend. 

NOBLESVILLE,  IND.— The  Noblesville  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated by  Cyrus  R.  Heath,  Royland  S.  Truitt  and  Fletcher  S. 
Hecath.  The  company  proposes  to  furnish  electricity  in  Noblesville  and 
adjacent   towns   for   lamps,  heat  and  motors. 

WEST  LEBANON,  IND.— The  Cadwallader  Tel.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  by  Ira  Cadwallader,  C.  L.  Mess- 
ner  and  J.  H.  Brenner. 

HOPKINSVILLE,  KY.— The  Christian-Todd  Tel.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000  by  J.  M.  B.  Hoxey,  .\tlanta. 
Ga.;  R.  E.  Cooper  and  F.  G.  Hoge,  Hopkinsville;  B.  B.  Petrie,  Elkton, 
Ky.,  and  J.  B.  Hoge,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  The  company  proposes  to  take 
over  a  number  of  telephone  properties  in  this  section  and  consolidate 
them.     Considerable  improvements  will  be  made. 

LEITCHFIELD,  KY.— The  Leitchfield  El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000.  The  incorporators  are: 
Walter   D.    Hodson,   W.   T.    McCaskey   and    S.    F.    Seager. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY.— The  Campbell  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  Herbert  L.  Harries,  T.  B.  Wilson,  Fred  A. 
Noble  and  Isaac  ^li'kewitch.  The  company  will  take  over  the  electric- 
light  plant  recently  purchased  by  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Co.,  Chicago,  from 
Pike  Campbell,  L/-".isville,  for  $50,000,  which  also  included  the  Fifth 
Avenue   Hotel. 

COOPER'S  MILLS.  MAINE.— The  Sheepscot  Valley  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000  for  the  purpose  of  sup- 
plying electricity  in  Kennebec,  Lincoln  and  Knox  Counties.  The  directors 
are:  Arthur  R.  Gould,  Presque  Isle,  president  and  treasurer;  Frank 
Keiser,,  Rockland;  Amos  and  F.  Gerald,  Fairfield,  and  Herbert  W.  Weeks, 
Jefferson.  The  company,  it  is  understood,  proposes  to  develop  important 
power  privileges  at   Cooper's  Mills. 

PORTLAND,  MAINE.— The  Federal  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Maine  with  a  capital  stock 
of  $2,000,000.  The  officers  are:  John  H.  Pierce,  president;  Ernest  M. 
White,  treasurer.  Frederick  J.  Laughlin,  Charles  E.  Gurney,  Carroll  B. 
Skillin  and  others  are  directors. 

BOSTON,  MASS.— The  South  Carolina  Lt..  Pwr.  &  Ry.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000,000.  Herbert  A.  Wadleigh, 
of  Winchester,  is  president  and  Wilbur  Tusch,  of  New  Y'ork,  secretary 
and  treasurer. 

LANSING,  MICH. — The  Independent  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000  by  George  W.  Eyster,  trustee;  Alfred  W. 
Watson  and  Fred  H.  Aldrich.  The  company  will  supply  electricity  for 
lamps,  heat  and  motors  in  Genesee,  Oakland,  Shiawassee  and  Livingston 
Counties.  It  is  understood  that  several  dams  will  be  erected  during  the 
year. 

BRUNSWICK,  MO.— The  Brunswick  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  John  Myers,  Jr..  L.  H. 
Herring,  George  W.  Cunningham,  J.  G.  Bartow,  H.  L.  Mann  and  John 
Myers. 


MOTORS. — The  Holtzer-Cabot  Electric  Company,  Brookline,  Mas 
in  its  Bulletin  No.  320B  devotes  its  attention  to  type  "QP"  two-pha 
and  three-phase  induction  motors,  of  which  brief  descriptions  arc  give 
Bulletin  No.  330B  has  type  "QS"  as  its  subject.  It  contains  a  descri 
tion,   several   illustrations,   diagrams  and   curves. 

CH.-MN   LINKS.- — A   folder  with  a  sample  detachable  link   chain  is  t 
ing  sent  out  by  the  F.   W.   Wakefield   Brass  Company,   Vermilion,   Ohi 
The  construction  of  the  chain  is  such  that  the  intersection  of  the  lip  wi 
the  slot  serves   merely  to   hold  the  link   in    position,    while  all   weight 
borne  on  the  flat  surface  of  the  overlapping  ends. 

EXHAUST  STEAM.— "The  Right  Amount  of  Heat  in  the   Right  Pla 
at  the   Right  Time"  is  the  descriptive  title  of  booklet  "G,"  which  com 
from    the    .American    District    Steam   Company,    North    Tonawanda,    N. 
It    describes    briefly    the    atmospheric    system    of   steam    heating    which 
being  adopted  in  many  parts  of  the  United  States. 

OUTBREAK  SWITCHES.— Bulletin  4910  of  the  General  Electric  Co 
pany  is  devoted  to  oil-break  switches  for  600-volt,  4500-volt  and  7S00-V' 
alternating-current  circuits,  said  to  be  liberally  designed,  conservativt 
rated  and  simple  in  construction  and  operation.  Details  of  construct! 
are  given  as  well  as  dimension  and  connection  diagrams. 

ELECTRICALLY   DRIVEN   TOOLS.— Catalog   No.    13,   issued   by  t 
Stow   Manufacturing    Company,    Binghamton,   N.   Y.,    is   very   complete 
to  descriptive  matter,  illustrations  and  price  lists  relating  to  flexible  shaf 
The  company  has  recently  got  out  a  line  of  small  electrically  driven  to-  , 
for  various  purposes  which  have  also  found  space  in  this  catalog.  j 

TELEPHONE    SYSTEMS.— The    Stromberg-Carlson    Telephone    Mai 
facturing  Company,    Rochester,   New  Y'ork,   has   brought    out   Booklet  ^ 
310,  relating  to  private  telephone  systems.     The  descriptive  matter,  print 
in    green    in   a   gray   background,    gives   clear,   concise   information    on 
subject  matter.     A  chapter  is  devoted  to  code  call  and  general  alarm. 

HANGERS. — Ball-bearing  hangers  form  the  text  for  a  32-page  pamph 
issued  by  the  Hess-Bright  Manufacturing  Company,  Twenty-first  Str 
and  Fairmount  Avenue,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  It  shows  the  saving  t 
may  be  effected  through  the  elimination  of  friction  by  the  use  of  b: 
bearing    hangers.     The    booklet    contains    various    tables    of    dimensions 

DAT.-\  BOOK. — The  "Central  Station  Manager's  Data  Book,"  conta 
ing  condensed  specifications  of  the  electric  commercial  vehicles  ma: 
factured  by  the  General  Vehicle  Company,  Long  Island  City,  has  j 
made  its  appearance.  Illustrations,  data  and  little  talks  on  the  elect 
truck  and  its  importance  to  the  central  station  compose  the  text  of 
book. 

CALORIMETERS.— The  Roland  Wild  Calorimeter  for  determining 
heat  value  of  solid  fuel  is  described  and  illustrated  in  Bulletin  G2 
sued  by  the  Precision  Instrument  Company,  49  West  Larned  StT' 
Detroit,  Mich.  This  company  is  also  distributing  reprints  of  an  art 
by  Mr.  Jacques  Abady  on  "Coal  and  Common  Sense,"  in  which  c 
testing   methods  are    fully   discussed. 

HAWTHORNE  ON  POST  CARDS.— A  series  of  views  of  the  H 
thorne  works  of  the  Western  Electric  Company  has  recently  been 
ranged  for  post  card  use.  The  series  consists  of  twelve  cards  show 
general  views  of  the  works,  the  imposing  water  tower,  the  teleph 
apparatus  shops,  the  general  merchandise  warehouse  and  the  interior 
the  lead-press  room  in  the  cable  plant,  a  view  showing  how  cable  cc 
are  built  up,  a  corner  of  the  switchboard  wiring  department,  the  c 
department,  an  electric  motor  truck  in  the  warehouse,  the  brass  ba 
the  lunch  room,  with  a  seating  capacity  of  3000,  and  one  of  the  ant 
field-day  events  of  the  athletic  association. 


Business  Notes 


THE  OTIS   ELEVATOR   COMPANY  has  moved  its  New  York  off 
to  the  Otis  Elevator   Building,  Eleventh  Avenue  and  Twenty-sixth   Str 

NATIONAL  ELECTRIC   LAMP   ASSOCIATION.— Mr.    C.   E.   Wb 
formerly    connected    with    the    engineering    department    of    the    Natic 
Electric    Lamp    Association,    Cleveland,    will    in    the    future    represent 
Nelite  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company  in  the  States  of  Ohio  ; 
New  York.     Mr.   H.   G.   Gainer  will  cover  the   Southern  territory. 

BURKE    ELECTRIC    COMPANY.— Mr.    James    R.    Downs,    who 
been  with   Burke  Electric  Company  at  Cleveland,   is  now  manager  of 
Pittsburgh    sales    office,    1301    Oliver    Building.      Mr.    George    F.    Ada 
formerly  associated  with  Mr.   Downs  at  Cleveland,   will   remain  in  cha 
of  the  company's  Cleveland  sales  office.  713  New  England  Building. 

FORD,  BACON  &  DAVIS.— Announcement  has  been  made  of 
admission  of  Messrs.  Charles  F.  Uebelacker,  Charles  N.  Black  and  VI 
iam  von  Phul  to  partnership  in  the  engineering  firm  of  Ford,  Bacoi 
Davis,  New  York.  The  firm  is  engaged  in  the  design,  construction  ; 
operation  of  public-utility  and  engineering  enterprises  generally,  includ 
urban  and  interurban  electric  railroads,  elevated  railroads  and  subwi 
electric-! ighting  systems,  hydroelectric  and  steam  power  plants,  artifi 
and  natural  gas  developments,  and  water  storage,  irrigation  and  reels 
tion  projects.  It  has  branch  offices  in  New  Orleans  and  San  Francis 
each   of  which  is  in  charge  of  a  resident  partner. 


ULY  6,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


79 


Directory  of  Electrical  Associ- 
ations, Societies,  Etc. 

Alabama  Light  &  Traction  Association.  Secretary-Treasurer,  Geo. 
Emery,  11  N.  Royal  St.,  Mobile.  Ala. 

American  Electric  Railway  Accountants'  Association.  Secretary, 
.  E.   Weeks,  Davenport.   la. 

American  Electric  Railway  Association.  Secretary,  H.  C.  Donecker, 
ngineering  Societies  Building,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York.  Con- 
mtion,  Chicago,  111.,   Oct.   7-11,   1912. 

American  Electric  Railway  Engineering  Association.  Secretary, 
orman  Litchfield,   Interborough  Rapid  Transit  Company,  New  York. 

American  Electrochemical  Society.  Secretary,  Prof.  J.  W.  Richards, 
ehigh  University,   South  Bethlehem,   Pa. 

American  Electro-Therapeutic  Association.  Secretary,  Dr.  J.  Wil- 
rd  Traveil,  27  East  11th  St.,  New  York.  Convention,  Richmond,  Va., 
ept.  3-5,   1912. 

American  Institute  of  Consulting  Engineers.  Secretary-Treasurer, 
ugene  W.  Stern,  103  Park  Ave.,  New  York  City.  The  Council  meets 
e  first  Friday  of  every  month. 

American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary,  F.  L. 
utchinson,  Engineering  Societies  Building,  29  West  39th  St.,  New 
ork.  Meeting,  second  Friday  of  each  month,  excepting  June,  July, 
ugust  and   September. 

American  Physical  Society.  Secretary,  Ernest  Merritt,  Cornell  Uni- 
■rsity,  Ithaca,  N.   Y. 

Arkansas  Association  of  Public  Utility  Operators.  Secretary,  W. 
Tharp,  Little  Rock»  Ark. 

Association  of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies.  Secretary,  H.  T. 
igar,   Seattle,  Wash. 

Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary, 
mes  Farrington,  Steubenville,  Ohio.  Annual  convention,  Milwaukee, 
is.,  Sept.    16-21,    1912. 

Association  of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary,  J.  Andreu- 
tti,  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway,   Chicago. 

Association  of  Railway  Telegraph  Superintendents.  Secretary,  P. 
.  Drew,  135  Adams  St.,  Chicago. 

Colorado  Electric  Club.  Secretary,  C.  F.  Oehlmann.  Meets  every 
lursday  at  Albany  Hotel,  Denver,  Colo. 

Colorado  Electric  Light,  Power  &  Railway  Association.  Secretary, 
D.   Morris,  323   Hagerman  Building,   Colorado   Springs,  Colo. 

Electric  Club,  Chicago.  Secretary,  W.  M.  Connelly,  1417  Monad- 
ck  Block,   Chicago.     Meets  every  Thursday  noon. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  New  York  State.  Secretary, 
10.  W.    Russell,   Jr.,   25   West  42d   St.,   New   York. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  State  of  Missouri.  Secre- 
ry,  Ernest  S.   Cowie,   1613   Grand   Ave.,  Kansas  City,   Mo. 

Electrical  Credit  Association  of  Chicago.  Secretary,  Frederic  P. 
Qse,  Marquette   Building,   Chicago. 

Electrical  Salesmen's  Association.  Secretary,  Francis  Raymond,  125 
ichigan  Ave.,  Chicago.     Annual  meeting,  Chicago,  January  each  year. 

Electrical  Trades  Association  of  Canada.  Secretary,  William  R. 
j  avely.  Royal  Insurance  Building,  Montreal,  Can. 

j  Electrical  Trades  Association  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  Secretary, 
Ibert  H.  Elliott,  Harding  Building,  34  Ellis  St.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
onthly  meeting,  San  Francisco,  second  Thursday  of  each  month. 

Electrical  Credit  Association  of  Philadelphia.  Secretary-Treas- 
■er.  John  W.  Crum,  1324  Land  Title  Bldg.,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  Execu- 
te Committee  meets  second  and  fourth   Thursday  of  each  month. 

Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America.  Assistant  Secretary, 
arvey  Robinson,  124  West  42d  St.,  New  York.  Meeting,  fourth  Tues- 
ly  of  each  month.     Annual  convention,  Boston,   Oct.  8-9,    1912. 

Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America,  New  England  Section. 
ecretary,  W.  E.  Holmes,  46  Blackstone  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Meetings 
onthly    upon    notice. 

Electric  Vehicle  Club  of  Boston.  Secretary-Treasurer,  Leavitt  L. 
dgar,  39  Boylston  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Meeting  every  Wednesday, 
3:30   p.  m. 

Empire  State  Gas  &  Electric  Association.  Secretary,  Charles  H. 
'.  Chapin,  Engineering  Societies  Building,  29  West  39th   St.,  New  York. 

j  Florida  Electric  Light  &  Power  Association.  Secretary,  H.  C. 
I  dams,  West  Palm   Beach,    Fla. 

Gas,  Electric  &  Strejet  Railway  Association  of  Oklahoma.  Secre- 
'  ry-Treasurer,  Prof.   H.   V.   Bozell,  Norman,   Okla. 


Illinois  State  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  H.  E.  Chubbuck, 
Peoria,   III. 

Illuminating  Engineering  Society.  Secretary,  P.  S.  Millar,  Engi- 
neering Societies  Building,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York.  Sections  in 
New  York,  New  England,  Philadelphia  and  Chicago.  Annual  convention, 
Niagara   Falls,    Ontario,    Can.,   Sept.    16-19,    1912. 

Independent  Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  Greater  New 
York.  Secretary,  A.  Newburger,  1153  Myrtle  Ave.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Meetings  second   and   fourth   Wednesday,  New   Grand   Hotel,    New   York. 

Indiana  Electric  Light  Association.  Secretary,  J.  V.  Zartman,  120 
So.   Meridian   St.,   Indianapolis,   Ind. 

Internal  Combustion  Engine  Association.  Secretary,  Chas.  Kratch, 
416  W.  Indiana  St.,  Chicago.     Meetings,  second  Friday  of  each  month. 

International    Association    of    Municipal    Electricians.       Secretary, 

C.  R.  George,  Houston,  Tex.     Convention,   Peoria,  III.,   Aug.  26-30,   1912. 
International     Electrotechnical     Commission      (international     body 

representing  various  national  electrical  engineering  societies  contributing 
to  its  support).  Secretary,  C.  le  Maistre,  28  Victoria  St.,  Westminster, 
London,  S.   W.,  England.     Next  meeting  at  Berlin  in   1913. 

International  Association  for  Testing  Materials.  Secretary,  H,  J. 
F.  Porter,  1  Madison  Ave.,  New  York.  Sixth  Congress,  New  York, 
Sept.  3-7,   1912. 

Institute  of  Radio  Engineers.  Secretary,  E.  J.  Simon,  81  New  St., 
New  York.  Next  meeting,  Columbia  University,  New  York,  Sept.  2, 
1912. 

Iowa    Electrical  Association.     Secretary,  A.  W.  Zahm,  Mason  City,  la. 

Iowa  Street  &  Interurban  Association.  Secretary,  H.  E.  Weeks, 
Davenport,   la. 

Kansas  Gas,  Water  &  Electric  Light  Association.     Secretary,  James 

D.  Nicholson,  Newton,  Kan.  Annual  meeting  at  Manhattan,  Kan.,  Oct. 
17-19,   1912. 

Louisiana  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  W.  H.  Bower  Spangen- 
berg,  627  Poydras  St.,  New  Orleans,  La.  Meets  third  Monday  of  eack 
pionth. 

Maine  Electric  Association.  Secretary,  Walter  S.  Wyman,  Water- 
ville,  Maine. 

Minnesota  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  E.  F.  Strong,  Chaska, 
Minn.      Sixth   annual    convention    March    15-22,    1913. 

Missouri  Electric,  Gas,  Street  Railway  &  Water  Works  Associa- 
tion. Secretary-Treasurer,  P.  W.  Markham,  Brookfield,  Mo.  Next 
convention  at  Mexico,  Mo.,  1913. 

National  Arm,  Pin  &  Bracket  Association.  Secretary,  J.  B.  Magers, 
Madison,  Ind. 

National  District  Heating  Association.  Secretary,  D.  L.  Gaskill, 
Greenville,   Ohio. 

National  Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  the  United 
St.^tes.  Secretary,  W.  H.  Morton,  41  Martin  Building,  Utica,  N.  Y. 
Next  annual  convention,  July   17-19,  1912,  Denver,  Col. 

National  Electric  Light  Association.  Executive  Secretary,  T.  C. 
Martin,    Engineering    Societies    Building,    33    West    39th    St.,    New    York. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Canadian  Section.  Secretary, 
T.    S.    Young,   220    King   St.    West,   Toronto,    Csn. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Commercial  Section.  Secre- 
tary, P.  S.  Dodd,  1823  E.  4Sth  St.,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Eastern  New  York  Section. 
Secretary,  W.  A.  Wadsworth,  Schenectady  Illuminating  Company,  Sche- 
nectady, N.  Y. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Georgia  Section.  Secretary- 
Treasurer,  T.   W.   Peters,  Columbus  Railway  Company,  Columbus,  Ga. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Michigan  Section.  Secretary, 
Herbert   Silvester,    18   Washington   Boulevard,    Detroit,    Mich. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Mississippi  Section.  Secre- 
tary, A.  H.  Jones,  McComb  City,  Miss. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Nebraska  Section.  Secre- 
tary-Treasurer, S.  J.   Bell,   David  City,   Neb. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  New  England  Section,  Sec- 
retary, Miss  O.  A.  Bursiel,  149  Tremont  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Semi-annual 
convention,  Boston,  Oct.   10-11-,  1912. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Northwest  Section.  Secre^ 
tary,  N.  W.  Brockett,  Pioneer  Building,  Seattle,  Wash.  Annual  conven 
tion,   Portland,    Ore.,    Sept.    11-13,    1912. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Power  Transmission  Section, 
Secretary,   D.  B.  Rushmore,  234  Union   St.,   Schenectady,  N.  Y. 

National  Electrical  Credit  Association.  Secretary,  Frederic  P. 
Vose,    1343   Marquette  Bldg.,   Chicago. 

National  Electrical  Inspectors'  Association.  Secretary,  W.  L. 
Smith,    Concord,    Mass. 

National  Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Association.  Secretary,  Frank- 
lin  Overbagh,   411   South  Clinton   St.,   Chicago,  HI. 

National  Fire  Protection  Association.  Secretary-Treasurer,  Franklin 
H.  Wentworth,  87  Milk  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Next  annual  meeting  New 
York,   May  13-15,   1913. 


8o 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol   6o,  Xo.  i. 


National  Independent  Telephone  Association.  Secretary,  Richard 
Valentine,   Janesville,    Wis. 

New  England  Electrical  Ti!.\des  Association.  Secretary,  Alton  F. 
Tupper,  84  State  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Directors  meet  first  Wednesday  of 
each  month. 

New  England  Street  Railway  Club.  Secretary,  John  J.  Lane,  12 
Pearl  St.,  Boston,  Mass.     Meets  last  Thursday  of  each  month. 

New  Orleans  Electrical  Contractors'  Assochtion.  Secretary,  L.  G. 
Marks,  312  Carondelet  St.,  New  Orleans,  La.  Meetings,  second  and 
fourth  Tuesday  of  each  month. 

New  York  Electrical  Credit  Association  (affiliated  with  the  National 
Electrical  Credit  -Association).  Secretary,  Franz  Neilson,  SO  Wall  St., 
New   York.      Board   of   Directors  meets  second   Thursday   of   each   month. 

New  York  Electrical  Society,  Secretary,  G.  H.  Guy,  Engineering 
Societies   Building,   33    West   39th   St.,   New   York. 

New  York  Electric  Railway  Association.  Secretary,  Chailes  C. 
DietE,   Albany,  N.   Y. 

Ohio  Electric  Light  .Association.  Secretary,  D.  L.  Gaskill,  Green- 
ville, Ohio.  Next  annual  meeting.  Breakers  Hotel,  Cedar  Point.  Ohio, 
July  16-19,  1912. 

Ohio  Society  of  Mechanical,  Electrical  &  Steam  Engineers.  Sec- 
retary, Prof.  F.  E.  Sanborn,  Ohio  State  University.  Columbus,  Ohio. 
Annual  meeting,  -Akron,  Ohio,  Nov.   21   and  22.    1912. 

Pennsylvania    Electric    .\ssociation     (State    Section    N.     E.    L.     A.). 


Secretary-Treasurer,  Waller  E.  Long,  1000  Chestnut  St..  Philadelphia,  Pa, 
Annual   convention,   Bedford   Springs,   Pa.,    Sept.   4-6,    1912. 

PiTTSBLRGH  ELECTRICAL  BOOSTER  Club.  Recording  Wattmeter.  O.  R 
Bombach,  919  Liberty  .Ave.,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  Meetings,  fourth  Monday 
of  each  month. 

Rejlven.^ted  Sons  op  Jove.  Jupiter,  R.  L.  Jaynes,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
Mercury    (Secretary),   E.   C.   Bennett,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Edccation.  Secretary 
H.   H.  N orris,   Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  N.   Y. 

Southwestern  Electrical  &  Gas  Association.  Secretary,  H.  S 
Cooper.  405    Slaughter  Building,   Dallas,  Texas. 

Vermont  Electrical  -Associ-ation.  Secretary-Treasurer,  A.  B.  Ma» 
den,    Manchester,   Vt. 

Western  -Association  of  Electrical  Inspectors.  Secretary,  W.  S 
Boyd,  76  West  Monroe  St.,  Chicago,  111.  Convention  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Jan.  27-30,  1913. 

Western  Society  of  Engineers.  Electrical  Section,  formerly  Chicagi 
Electrical  -Association.  Secretary,  J.  H.  Warder,  1737  Monadnock  Block 
Chicago.  Regular  meetings,  first  Friday  of  each  month,  except  January 
July  and  -August.     -Annual  meeting,  Tuesday  after  Jan.   1   each  year. 

Wisconsin  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  George  Allison,  St« 
phenson   Building,   Milwaukee,  Wis. 

Wisconsin  Electrical  Contractors'  .Association.  Secretary,  Alber 
Petermann,  Milwaukee,  Wis.  Summer  meeting,  Waupaca  and  Chain-of 
Lakes,    Wis.,    .\ugust.    1912. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED   STATES    PATENTS    ISSUED   JUNE    25,    1912. 
(Prepared   by   Robert   Starr   Allyn,    16   Exchange   Place,   New   York.] 

1,030,293.      OUTLET    HUSHING:    F.    W.    Erickson,    New    York,    N.    Y. 

App.  filed  Oct.    5,    1911.      Spring  conduit  grip. 
1,303,302.     GAS    OR    VAPOR    ELECTRIC    LAMP;    P.    C.    Hewitt,    New 

York,    N.    Y.      -App.    filed    -April    9,    1904.       Starting    device. 
1,030,307.     TRAIN-SIGNALING    MECHANISM;    H.    and    L.    R.    Jarvis, 

Buffalo,    N.    Y.,    and    Toronto,    Canada.      -App.    filed    Sept.    10,    1909. 

To  prevent  landslides. 
1030,308.     TELEPHONE  INST-ALLATION;  H.  O.  Kabitzsch,  Hamburg, 

Germany.     App.  filed  Sept.   11,   1911.     Keyboard-operated  device. 
1,030,327.     C.ARBOSILICON:   H.  N.  Potter,  New  Rochelle,  N.  Y.     -App. 

filed  March  22,  1904.     Process  of  making. 

1.030.349.  METALLURGY  OF  ZINC;  C.  V.  Thierry.  Paris.  France. 
-App.  filed  Oct.  6,  1911.  Volatilization  and  condensation  of  the  prod- 
ucts. 

1.030.350.  METALLURGY  OF  ZINC;  C.  V.  Thierry,  Paris,  France. 
-App.  filed  Oct.  6,  1911.  Furnace  and  process  of  volatilizing  and 
condensing. 

1,030,368.  SECONDARY     ELECTRIC     CLOCK;     Theodore    H.     Wurmb 

and    Robert    Baumann,    St.    Louis,    Mo.      App.    filed    Aug.    29,    1910. 

Improvement    upon    electromagnet    previously    patented     (Patent    No. 

682,377). 
1,030.412.     IMPULSE  TRANSMITTER;  J.  W.  Lattig,  Rochester,  N.   Y. 

App.  filed  May   16,   1907.     Automatic  alarm  or  telegraph. 
1,030,415,     RELAY    AND    CIRCUITS     THEREFOR;     R.     H.     Manson, 

Elyria,    Ohio.      App.    filed   April   25,    1907.      Self-restoring   drop    relay 

for  lamp  signal  toll  boards. 

1.030.435.  ELECTRICAL  STARTING  DEVICE;  J.  L.  Schureman,  Chi- 
cago, 111.     -Xpp.   filed  -Aug.  21,   1908.     Successive  switch  operation. 

1.030.436.  RAILWAY  SIGNALING  SYSTEM;  L.  H.  Thullen,  Edgewood 
Park,  Pa.  App.  filed  May  16,  1904.  -Alternating-current  propelling 
and  signaling  circuits. 

1,030,441.     CONT-ACT  MAKER;  J.  F.  Webb,  Jr.,  New  York,  N.  Y.    App. 

filed  Jan.   27,   1910.      Contact  wheel  support. 
1  030,490.     APPAR.ATUS     FOR     THE     RECOVERY     OF     PRECIOUS 

MET.ALS;    H.    N.    Potter,   Hollywood,   Cal.      App.   filed  June   7,    1911. 

Separable,    interchangeable,    superposed   amalgam    containers. 

1.030.504.  TELEPHONY:  E.  R.  Corwin,  Chicago,  111.  -App.  filed  Jan.  13, 
1910.      Intercommunicating  systems,  lock-nuts  and  signals. 

1.030.505.  TELEPHONE  SYSTE-M;  E.  R.  Corwin,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed  May  18,  1911.  Intercommunicating  with  test  switch  signaling 
and  lock-out. 

1030,509.  TELEGRAPHING  INSTRUMENT;  C.  C.  Ferguson,  New 
York,  N.   Y.     App.  filed  April  4,  1911.     Typewriter  attachment. 

1,030,543.  SYRINGE  WITH  ELECTRIC  ATTACHMENT;  L.  R.  Saun- 
ders, Los  Angeles,  Cal.     .App.  filed  Feb.  16,  1908.     Mechanical  details. 

1,030,548.  MOTOR-CONTROL  SYSTEM;  H.  A.  Steen,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 
-App.  filed  Sept.   6,   1910.      Series  switch  progression  control. 

1030  550.  TELEPHONE  INSTRUMENT;  W.  P.  Stunz,  Lansdowne, 
Md.     -App.  filed  Sept.  29,   1910.     Tone  amplifier. 

1,030.551.  TELEPHONIC  INSTRUMENT  INCLUDING  TRANSMIT- 
TERS; W.  P.  Stunz,  Lansdowne,  Md.  App.  filed  April  13,  1911. 
Granular  carbon  type. 

1.030.555.  THERMOSTATIC  TIME-ELEMENT  DEVICE;  N.  Wilkin- 
son,  Milwaukee,   Wis.     App.   filed  April   17,   1911.     Snap  action. 

1.030.556.  DYNAMO-ELECTTRIC  MACHINE;  R.  B.  Williamson,  Mil- 
waukee, Wis.     -App.  filed  Oct.  6,  1909.      Ventilation  of  ti'rbo-generators. 

1.030.557.  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE:  R.  B.  Williamson,  Mil- 
waukee, Wis.  -App.  filed  June  27,  1910.  To  prevent  circulating  cur- 
rents through  parallel  connected  windings. 

1,030,568.  CIRCUIT-BREAKER;  H.  W.  Cheney,  Milwaukee,  Wis.  App. 
filed  Feb.    1,   1911.     Tripping  mechanism. 


1,030,569.     CONTROLLER;     H.     W.     Cheney,     Milwaukee,     Wis.       Ap| 

filed,  March  4,    1911.     Protective  device  for  starting. 
1,030,571.     BRUSH    HOLDER;    C.    T.    Crocker,    Norwood,    Ohio.      Api 

filed    June    16,    1906.      For   inclosed    railway    motors. 

1,030.574.     INSULATOR-SUPPORTING     DEVICE;     C.     G.     Ette,     S 

Louis,    Mo.      App.    filed    May    25,     1911.      Multiple    device    for    pol 

cross-arms. 

1,030,581.     DYN.AMO-ELECTRIC   MACHINE:   A.    M.   Gray,   Milwaukei 

Wis.     App.   filed  Oct.   8,    1916.      Self-starting  synchronous  machine. 
1,030,593.     SWITCH;  A.  P.  Loguin,  West  Allis,  Wis.     App.  filed  Jan.  1: 

1911.     Hand-setting  automatic  breaker. 
1.030,595.     TURBO    CONSTRUCTION:    E.    Mattman,    Milwaukee,    Wi 

■  App.  filed  Dec.   21,   1908.     Coil-retaining  and  protecting  end  cover. 
1,030,597.     TROLLEY   WHEEL;    J.    S.    McCabe,    Bridgeville,    Pa.      Apt 

filed  June   12,   1911.      Support  and  lubrication. 
1,030,617.     ELECTRIC  CONTROLLER;   R.   Van   R.   Sill,  Newark,   N.  . 
-App.  filed  Sept.  5,   1907-     Pilot  motor  and  master  switch  synchronisn 
1,030,620.     METHOD  OF  TRE.ATING  CARBON   ARTICLES  OF  L0\ 
INITIAL  CONDUCTIVITY:   E.   C.   Sprague  and   A.   M.   Williamsoi 
Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.     -App.  filed  March  20,  1912.     Electric  furnace  ( 
unbaked  or  green  carbon  electrodes. 
1,030,622.     CIRCUIT    CONTROLLER;    T.    G.    Stiles,    Arlington,    N. 
App.  filed   May   25,    1910.      Multiple  plug  contact  type   of  drawbridg 
controller. 

1,030,641.     APPAR.ATUS   FOR   SOLDERING   METAL  PIECES;   A,   ) 
Braden,    Beverly.      Mass.      App.   filed   Dec.    9,    1909.      Electromagnet 
holding  and   heating. 
1,030,645.     MOTOR-CONTROL    SYSTEM;    H.    W.    Cheney,    Milwauke 
Wis.     App.  filed  Sept.  30,  1909.     Starting  apparatus  for  a  number 
motors. 
1,030,650.     ELECTRIC    B.ATTERY;    H.    De    Martis,    London,    Englan 
-App.  filed  Aug.   14,  1909.     Electrodes  ar*»  separated  by  a  woven  veg 
table  fabric. 
1,030,666.     PROCESS      OF      MANUFACTURING      INCANDESCEN' 
L-AMP    FIL-AMENTS:    H.    Kuzel,    Baden,    Vienna,    Austria-Hungar 
App.   filed  Dec.    15,    1905.     Metalloid  filaments  in  vacuo. 
1,030.670.     TROLLEY   WIRE   CLEANING    DEVICE:    N.    Malmgren,   1 
N.  Todd  and  S.  J.  Watson,  Canton,  111.     -App.  filed  May  6,  1911.    1 
cut  away  sleet  and  ice. 
1,030,672.     ELECTRIC  HEATING  SYSTEM  FOR  BOILERS:  J.  F.  M 
Elroy,  Albany,   N.  Y.     -App.  filed  Sept.   16,   1908.     Electric  locomoti' 
with   steam   generating  plant. 
1,030,684.     TELEPHONE    STAND;    H.    W.    Schussler,    Philadelphia,   P 

-App.  filed  May  4,  1911.     Stabilizing  device  and  receiver  holder. 
1,030,780.     MULTIPLEN  TELEGRAPH  SYSTEM;  J.  F.  D.  Hoge,  Ne 

York,  N.   Y.     -App.   filed  -April   11,   1910.     Call-box  signaling. 
1,030.788.     ELECTRIC    SWITCH;    H.    L.    Morey    and    F.     S,    Brogde 

Syracuse,  N.  Y.     App.  filed  March  29,  1911.     Push-button  pendant. 
1,030,791.     TROLLEY  CATCHER:  J.  R.  Ricketts,  Longbeach,  Cal.     Ap 

filed  July  27,   1909.      Spring  device  for  holding  the  trolley  rope. 
1,030,798.     BUSBAR-CONNECTING    DEVICE:    F.   B.    Adam,   St.   Loui 
Mo.     -App.  filed  July  3,   1911.     For  clamping  two  bars  at  right  angl 
to  each  other. 
1,030,811.     POL-ARIZED  REL-AY;  W.  S.  Henry,  Rochester,  N.  Y.     Ap 

filed   May  6,   1911.     -Automatic  insensitive  device. 
1,030,817.     BINDING  POST  FOR  CONNECTING  ELECTRIC  CABLE! 
G.  Honold,  Stuttgart,  Germany,     App.  filed  Feb.  14,  1912.     Explosio 
motor    ignition   device. 
1,030.850.     LIQUID   REHOSTAT;   H.    A.   Steen,  Milwaukee,  Wis.     -Ap 
filed    Sept.    6,    1910.      Cooling   and   circulating   means   with   adjustab 
plates. 
13,432   (reissue).     OUTLET  BOX  FOR  ELECTRIC  CONDUITS;  W.  . 
Bonnell,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.     -App.  filed  July  20,   1910.     Conduit  conne 
tion.     (Nineteen  claims.    Original   Patent   No.  921,584,  dated  May  1 
1909.) 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  JULY  13,  1912. 


No.  2. 


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NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY.  JULY  13,  1912. 


CONTENTS. 

Editorials    81 

International    Radio   Telegraph    Congress 84 

Patent  Commission  Asked  for  by  Inventors  Guild 84 

A.  I.  E.  E.  Affairs 84 

Massachusetts  Decision  in  the  United  Shoe  Machinery  Case 85 

Chicago    Traction     Affairs 86 

Threatened  Competition  in   Portland,   Ore 86 

New    York's    Electrical    Fourth 87 

Court  Decision  Affecting  Parallel   Telephone  and  High-Tension  Lines     87 

Public  Service  Commission  News 88 

Current  News   and   Notes 89 

Hydroelectric  Plant  at  Estacada,   Ore 91 

Flexible  Supports  for  Overhead  Transmision  Lines.  By  Alfred  Still  97 
Simplified  Sag  Formulas  for  Overhead  Wires  and  Cables.     By  H.  V. 

Carpenter     101 

Electricity    in   the    Household 103 

The  Electric  Vehicle  and  the  Poor  Man 103 

Every  Central-Station  Manager  His  Own  Sculptor 103 

Old  House  Wiring  in  Baltimore 103 

Experiment  in  House  Heating  by  Electricity 103 

The  Rewiring  of  a  Large  Woodworking  Establishment 104 

Wiring    Old    Houses. — I.      By    Terrell    Croft 105 

Spectacular  Illumination  at  Baltimore  Convention 107 

Illumination  of  St.   Louis  Public  Library.     By  G.   T.  Hadley 107 

Recent  Telephone  Patents 109 

Letter  to  the  Editor: 

Oil  Engines  for   Irrigation   Service.      By  E.   Owen 109 

Digest  of  Current  Electrical  Literature 110 

Book     Reviews 113 

New   Apparatus   and   Appliances 114 

Industrial   and   Financial   News 119 

Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 128 


ANOTHER  HYDROELECTRIC  PLANT  FOR  PORTLAND. 

Historically,  Portland,  Ore.,  was  one  of  the  first  cities 
to  be  lighted  from  a  high-voltage  alternating-current  sys- 
tem, the  generators  of  which  were  operated  by  water  power. 
The  3000-volt  single-phase  machines  which  sent  energy  into 
Portland  were  located  at  the  falls  of  the  Willamette,  where 
a  little  deflecting  dam,  perched  on  the  top  of  the  natural 
rampart,  turned  water  into  the  turbines.  Three  or  four 
years  later  these  machines  were  replaced  by  6ooo-volt, 
three-phase  generators  in  a  new  hydroelectric  plant  near 
the  same  spot.  These  were  the  first  three-phase  generators 
of  anywhere  near  such  voltage  put  into  use  in  America. 
Later  other  hydraulic  resources  were  developed,  and  at  the 
present  time  Portland  is  well  supplied  with  electrical  energy. 
The  latest  plant  near  Portland  is  the  one  at  Estacada.  about 
30  miles  from  the  city  and  a  little  below  the  Cazadero  de- 
velopment on  the  Clackamas  River. 

The  power  house  is  of  reinforced  concrete.  It  contains 
at  present  three  units  of  the  five  which  it  is  designed  to 
contain  ultimately.  Each  generator  is  connected  to  a  pair 
of  51-in.  turbines  with  bronze  runners,  one  left-handed,  the 
other  right-handed,  so  that  they  utilize  a  common  discharge 
pipe.  The  speed  of  the  turbines  and  generators  is  240  r.p.m. 
under  8i-ft.  head.  The  electrical  equipment  is  well  planned 
and  contains  some  interesting  features,  but  it  is  in  no 
wise  as  striking  in  its  characteristics  as  the  hydraulic 
features.  From  a  hydraulic  standpoint  the  dam  is  inter- 
esting as  being  one  of  the  few  examples  of  the  Ambursen 
reinforced  concrete  type  yet  erected  in  the  western  portion 
of  our  country,  although  for  some  years  this  construction 
has  been  familiar  in  the  east.  It  was  located  after  a  careful 
study  of  the  hydraulic  conditions  and  the  site  selected  was 
one  that  particularly  lent  itself  to  easy  construction.  A 
somewhat  unusual  feature  is  the  thoroughness  with  which 
the  foundations  were  protected.  A  cut-off  wall  was  run  the 
whole  length  of  the  dam  and  below  the  cut  made  for  this 
three  rows  of  holes  were  drilled  on  about  6-ft.  centers, 
approximately  50  ft.  below  the  cut-ofif  wall  itself.  Through 
pipes  inserted  in  these  holes  the  whole  subfoundation  was 
grouted  under  about  200  lb.  pressure  per  square  inch  for 
the  purpose  of  checking  seepage  and  possible  erosion  below 
the  foundation  line.  After  the  completion  of  this  work  test 
holes  showed  that  the  seepage  had  been  practically  stopped. 

The  results  obtained  from  the  water  wheels  are  rather  un- 
usual. They  were  guaranteed  for  82.5  per  cent  efficiency  at 
three-quarters  load.  The  generators  had  been  tested  before 
they  were  shipped  and  from  their  test  data  the  wheel 
efficiencies  wer  determined.  The  result  was  highly  grati- 
fying, since  at  three-quarters  gate  opening  the  wheels 
actually  showed  84.5  per  cent  efficiency,  a  result  which  very 
closelv  checked  a  direct  test  of  one  of  the  runners  made  at 


82 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol,  6o,  No.  2. 


the  Holyoke  flume  when  84.0  per  cent  was  obtained.  These 
turbine  data,  like  others  of  recent  date,  indicate  that  con- 
siderable progress  has  been  made^in  improving  the  efficiency 
of  water  wheels  throughout  a  considerable  range  of  load. 
Although  containing  few  innovations,  the  installation  as  a 
whole  is  a  most  workmanlike  addition  to  the  electrical  re- 
sources of  a  territory  already  enriched  by  a  group  of  im- 
portant plants. 

A  CHECK  ON  BELOW-COST  MUNICIPAL  CHARGES. 

The  Massachusetts  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission 
has  deprived  us  of  what  might  have  been  an  example  of  how 
a  municipality  can  supply  electrical  energy  "cheaper"'  than 
central  stations  supply  it.  We  refer  to  the  action  of  the 
commission  in  the  Groton  case,  reported  in  the  Electrical 
World.  July  6,  page  10.  Groton's  cost  of  production,  accord- 
ing to  a  calculation  for  the  year  ended  March  i,  is  16.43 
cents  per  kw-hr.  This  figure  includes  operating  expense, 
interest  on  the  investment  at  3%  per  cent  and  depreciation 
at  5  per  cent.  In  the  face  of  this  cost  figure,  the  town 
petitioned  for  a  permit  allowing  it  to  sell  energy  for  com- 
mercial lighting  at  12  cents  per  kw-hr.  In  addition  to 
pointing  out  the  fact  that  such  a  course  would  be  contrary 
to  law.  the  commission  in  refusing  the  petition  makes  the 
common-sense  observation  that  "a  supply  to  private  con- 
sumers for  less  than  cost  compels  all  other  taxpayers,  many 
of  whom  may  be  unable  to  obtain  the  service  for  their  own 
use.  to  pay  for  the  special  advantages  enjoyed  by  a  few." 

The  commission  has  done  only  its  plain  duty  under  the 
laws  of  the  state  and  the  unwritten  laws  of  good  public 
policy,  but  with  a  vote  of  the  town  in  favor  of  the  below- 
cost  proposition,  as  there  was  in  this  instance,  a  commission 
with  less  backbone  and  unsound  notions  of  its  real  obliga- 
tions to  the  public  might  easily  have  found  the  means  of 
letting  the  people  have  their  own  way,  right  or  wrong. 
With  a  clear  understanding  of  what  "cost"  means— such  as 
was  arrived  at  in  the  Groton  case — and  with  an  equally 
clear  conception  of  what  it  means  to  the  whole  community 
when  a  part  of  it  obtains  public  service  for  less  than  the 
whole  community  pays,  we  get  closer  to  the  actualities  and 
farther  away  from  the  chimeras  of  municipal  ownership 
and  operation. 


our  free  American  spirit  has  so  long  encouraged.  The  ex- 
periment of  substituting  electrical  illumination  for  fire- 
works was  well  conceived,  and  met  with  conspicuous  suc- 
cess this  year  in  a  notable  demonstration  in  New  York  City. 
Credit  is  reflected  upon  both  the  city  officials  and  the  man- 
agers of  the  New  York  Edison  Company  for  the  co-opera- 
tive spirit  in  which  the  idea  was  carried  out  in  the  public 
parks  and  on  a  few  of  the  municipal  buildings.  In  every 
sense  the  use  of  display  illumination  on  so  large  a  scale, 
and  on  such  an  occasion,  is  a  welcome  event.  It  widens 
the  field  of  usefulness  for  the  central  station  and  tends  to 
bring  the  public,  the  city  officials  and  central  station  man- 
agers into  closer  harmony  and  mutual  appreciation.  The 
last  result  is  almost  as  important,  in  its  way,  as  the  new 
role  which  awaits  the  central  station  in  the  conservation  of 
life  and  limb.  \\'e  feel  that  in  not  pointing  out  the  central- 
station  aspect  of  this  important  movement  we  should  miss 
our  opportunity  to  aid  a  cause  which  needs  universal 
support. 


THE  CENTRAL  STATION  AND  THE  SANE  FOURTH. 

A  trend  of  the  times  which  carries  with  it  an  opportunity 
for  progressive  central  station  managers  to  show  their 
public  spirit  is  seen  in  the  rapid  acceleration  of  the  Sane 
Fourth  movement.  This  year  the  Fourth  of  July  fatalities 
were  reduced  to  seventeen,  compared  with  fifty-seven  a 
year  ago  and  131  the  year  previous  to  that.  Thus  the 
tradition  that  patriotism  is  a  matter  of  gunpowder  and 
noise  is  happily  passing,  and  it  is  evidently  not  too  much  to 
hope  that  Independence  Day  will  some  time  become  a  blood- 
less affair.  But  the  need  of  a  healthy  substitute  for  the 
traditional   methods   of  celebration  has  long  been   obvious. 

For  generations  we  have  been  taught  that  the  "Glorious 
Fourth"  is  a  day  for  celebration,  and  the  problem  is  how 
to  preserve  the  spirit  of  the  occasion  and  its  historical  sig- 
nificance, with  none  of  the  w^arlike  demonstrations  which 


HONOFOLIES  AND  PATENTS. 

The  refreshingly  clear  decision  handed  down  last  week 
by  the  Massachusetts  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of  the 
United  Shoe  Machinery  Company  vs.  Chapelle,  and  re- 
ported elsewhere  m  this  issue,  draws  a  sharp  distinction 
between  the  monopoly  granted  by  a  patent  and  the  monopoly 
formed  by  purchasing  or  controlling  substantially  a  whole 
chain  of  patents  covering  a  particular  art.  The  former 
bestows  upon  the  inventor  the  right  to  exclude  all  others 
from  the  enjoyment  of  his  discovery  for  a  specified  term, 
but  to  use  the  language  of  the  decision — "The  monopoly 
protected  by  the  patent  goes  no  further  than  the  invention 
and  contractual  obligations  attached  to  it."  While  a 
patentee  may  annex  any  condition  to  the  sale  of  his  inven- 
tion, and  may  place  the  users  of  it  under  numerous  obliga- 
tions, the  monopoly  created  thereby  is  conferred  solely  by 
the  patent. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  combination  of  patents,  formed  by 
purchase  or  control,  for  the  purpose  of  extinguishing  com- 
petition and  establishing  a  monopoly,  is  subject  to  all  the 
restrictions  of  law  that  apply  to  similar  combinations  of 
anything  else — such  as  oil  or  tobacco.  The  same  tests  to 
determine  legality  apply  to  combinations  of  patents,  accord- 
ing to  this  decision,  as  apply  to  any  other  combination. 
Thus  conditions  and  combinations  are  not  the  same,  but  the 
difference  is  distinguishable  in  degree  rather  than  substance. 
On  this  point  the  decision  says,  with  admirable  clearness: 
"Conditions  annexed  by  the  patentee  to  the  enjoyment  of  an 
invention  are  legal  even  though  resulting  in  an  extended 
monopoly.  Combinations  among  patentees  resulting  in  an 
extended  monopoly  are  illegal."  The  principal  questions 
raised  in  this  case,  whether  the  plaintiff  is  in  fact  an  illegal 
combination  in  restraint  of  trade  and  has  monopolized  in- 
terstate commerce  and  trade,  and  whether  the  contract  in 
evidence  is  in  direct  aid  of  such  a  monopoly,  are  subject  to 
review  by  the  Federal  courts,  and  a  different  interpretation 
is  within  the  possibilities.  But  for  clearness  and  saneness, 
coupled  with  an  attitude  of  mind  quite  in  accord  with  the 
spirit  of  the  times,  the  Massachusetts  decision  stands  out 
as  a  beacon  light. 


fuLY  13,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


83 


HAGNETISM  AND  MAGNETIC  ALLOYS. 

The  subject  of  permanent  magnetism  is  of  great  interest 
from  many  points  of  view.  From  a  practical  standpoint,  a 
large  and  increasing  number  of  electrical  instruments  utilize 
and  depend  upon  the  magnetic  constancy  of  permanent  mag- 
nets. Every  consideration  affecting  the  constancy  under 
mechanical,  thermal  and  magnetic  disturbance  becomes 
noteworthy  to  the  manufacturer  and  employer  of  such  in- 
struments. Moreover,  every  consideration  affecting  the 
available  strength  of  permanent  magnets  under  chemical 
and  physical  change  of  material  is  equally  noteworthy, 
as  offering  opportunities  for  securing  simpler,  cheaper, 
lighter  or  nnore  reliable  magnets.  Some  of  the  factors  here 
mentioned  were  discussed  by  Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson  in  a  lec- 
ture before  a  recent  meeting  of  the  British  Institution  of 
Electrical  Engineers  at  Glasgow  on  the  magnetism  of  per- 
manent magnets,  as  noted  in  the  Digest  in  this  issue. 

The  most  important  magnetic  property  desired  in  a  per- 
manent magnet  is  coercive  force,  or  that  value  of  the  mag- 
netic intensity  which  must  be  applied  to  the  sample  con- 
sidered of  a  previously  magnetized  substance  in  order  to 
reduce  its  remnant  magnetism  to  zero.  In  soft  iron  or 
steel  the  coercive  force  may  be  only  one  or  two  gilberts  per 
centimeter,  while  in  glass  hard  steel  it  may  be  seventy  or 
more.  In  a  closed  ring  of  magnetized  steel  the  demag- 
netizing force  is  very  small,  so  that  even  very  soft  iron  of 
weak  coercive  force  may  retain  a  powerful  residual  mag- 
netic flux  density  if  preserved  in  the  form  of  a  closed  ring. 
When,  however,  the  ring  is  opened  at  one  or  more  air-gaps 
the  residual  magnetic  flux  passing  through  the  magnetic 
resistance  of  each  air-gap,  produces  a  back  mmf  in  sub- 
stantially the  same  manner  as  a  current  in  the  electric  cir- 
cuit passing  through  an  electric  resistance  produces  a  back 
emf.  The  back  mmf  divided  by  the  length  of  the  magnet 
gives  as  a  quotient  the  average  value  of  the  demagnetizing 
force  in  the  substance  of  the  steel.  If  this  exceeds  the 
:oercive  force  the  magnetization  collapses  until  the  re- 
duced flux  yields  a  demagnetizing  force  everywhere  lower 
than  the  coercive  force.  Hence  long  magnets  are  able  to 
sustain  a  more  powerful  magnetic  flux-density  than  are 
short  magnets  of  the  same  air-gap  dimensions. 

Much  depends  upon  the  thermal  treatment  of  a  magnet 
apparently  for  two  reasons,  the  first  being  that  at  certain 
temperatures  the  carbon  in  iron,  an  almost  inevitable  im- 
purity, enters  into  chemical  combinations  with  the  iron,  or 
with  other  alloyed  impurities  which  combinations  markedly 
affect  the  magnetic  properties  of  the  final  alloy;  and  the 
second  that  in  slow  cooling  both  chemical  and  physical  or 
crystalline  changes  occur  in  the  structure.  A  steel,  sud- 
denly quenched  at  a  high  temperature  tends  to  retain  the 
chemical  condition  of  that  temperature  more  closely  than 
if  allowed  to  cool  slowly. 

The  effects  of  thermal  treatment  on  the  properties  of 
magnetic  alloys  were  also  prominently  brought  forward  in 
a  discussion  on  that  subject  recently  held  before  the 
Faraday  Society  in  London  and  reported  in  this  week's 
Digest.  Some  of  the  Heusler  alloys,  of  aluminum-man- 
ganese bronze,  are  found  to  be  either  magnetic  or  non- 
magnetic according  to  their  previous  thermal  treatment 
history.     The  behavior  of  these  alloys  is  as  yet  only  im- 


perfectly understood.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  certain 
chemical  combinations  entered  into  by  the  constituent  sub- 
stances of  the  alloy  are  molecularly  magnetic,  so  that  each 
molecule  of  that  combination  is  a  little  permanent  magnet. 
Changes  of  temperature  affect  the  stability  of  these  com- 
binations and  thus  alter  the  magnetic  properties  of  the  mass. 
According  to  this  view  a  molecule  that  is  inherently  mag- 
netic may  consist  either  of  like  atoms — such  as  those  of 
iron,  nickel  and  cobalt — or  of  unlike  atoms  in  some  kind  of 
chemical  union,  such  as  manganese  and  aluminum.  Much 
further  investigation  is  needed  in  these  fascinating  fields  of 
study. 

SAG  STRESSES  IN  OVERHEAD  TRANSMISSION  LINES. 

The  rapidly  increasing  use  of  tower  construction  for  long 
transmission  lines  and  the  disappearance  of  American 
forests  are  calling  for  increased  engineering  attention  to 
the  mechanical  problems  involved  in  long  spans.  These 
problems  fall  into  two  classes,  the  first  dealing  with  the 
proper  support  of  the  normal  line  span,  and  the  second  with 
insurance  against  extensive  damage  in  case  of  an  accidental 
rupture  of  the  line  at  a  particular  span.  The  first  class  of 
problems  relates  to  the  proper  sag  and  tension  of  line-wires 
when  erected,  as  well  as  the  proper  construction  of  steel 
towers  capable  of  sustaining  the  spans.  The  second  class 
relates  to  the  proper  structure  of  the  towers  to  withstand  the 
unbalanced  tensions  due  to  a  breakdown  in  some  one  span. 

The  article  by  Mr.  H.  V.  Carpenter,  on  page  loi  of  this 
number,  is  a  contribution  to  the  first  class  of  the  above 
division.  It  attacks  the  problem  of  finding  the  proper  sag 
to  allow  on  a  warm  summer  day  when  erecting  a  trans- 
mission conductor  in  place  over  a  given  span  in  order  that 
it  may  withstand  a  moderate  transverse  gale,  when  covered 
with  a  layer  of  sleet.  In  the  frontal  attack  on  this  problem 
the  required  tension  is  represented  in  a  cubic  equation  with 
all  its  terms,  while  the  required  sag  involves  a  cubic  equa- 
tion with  its  second  term  missing.  The  article  takes  advan- 
tage of  the  well-known  tractability  of  such  mutilated  cubic 
equations,  by  giving  a  convenient  plan  of  approximating  the 
required  cube  root  with  the  aid  of  a  slide  rule.  Since  it  is 
often  more  convenient  to  erect  line  wires  by  dynamometer 
tension,  than  by  sag,  the  full  cubic  equation  comes  up  for 
solution,  and  the  article  provides  a  graphic  chart  for  the 
purpose  which  should  prove  very  convenient  for  use  after 
the  sag  has  been  determined. 

The  article  on  page  97  by  Mr.  Alfred  Still  deals  with 
the  second  class  of  the  above-mentioned  problems.  The 
author  discusses  the  conditions  that  present  themselves  in 
a  line  of  more  or  less  flexible  towers  when  one  or  more 
conductors  break  in  a  single  span,  thus  destroying  the  ten- 
sion equilibrium  along  the  line.  It  is  desirable  that  the 
poles  adjoining  the  break  should  be  sufficiently  flexible  to 
yield  elastically  away  from  the  broken  span  without  being 
thereby  damaged  or  destroyed.  As  the  author  points  out, 
the  immediate  effect  of  a  rupture  in  any  span  is  to  set  up 
longitudinal  oscillations  in  the  line,  during  which  the  stresses 
are  likely  to  reach  momentary  maxima  well  in  excess  of 
those  maintained  afterwards  in  the  steady  state.  The 
steady  state  problem  is,  however,  the  only  one  to  consider  in 
the  imediate  effects  of  a  rupture  in  any  span  is  .d  set  up 


.84 


ELECTRICAL  WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2 


INTERNATIONAL  RADIO  TELEGRAPH  CONGRESS. 


It  has  been  decided  to  hold  the  next  International  Radio 
Telegraph  Conference  at  Washington,  D.  C,  in  1919.  The 
leading  points  in  the  recommendations  adopted  at  the  1912 
International  Radio  Telegraph  Conference  in  London  are  as 
follows:  Regulations  to  prevent  interference  in  crowded 
areas  and  designed  to  make  wireless  telegraphy  of  the 
greatest  possible  use  in  saving  life  and  property  at  sea,  and 
making  it  also  more  valuable  commercially.  Every  hour 
all  ships  must  remain  silent  for  ten  minutes,  listening  for 
distress  calls.  A  distress  ship  is  to  -control  the  magnetic 
field  of  her  radius,  and  should  many  ships  answer  her  dis- 
tress call  she  shall  determine  which  is  to  remain  silent, 
thereby  avoiding  confusion. 

During  the  sessions,  lasting  one  month,  the  proposals  sub- 
mitted by  the  United  States  were  received  with  great  in- 
terest and  were  generally  accepted,  particularly  the  pro- 
visions tending  to  insure  safety  at  sea,  compulsory  inter- 
communication between  all  systems,  and  the  reporting  of 
meteorological  data. 

Weather  observations  are  to  have  the  right  of  way  over 
commercial  dispatches. 

The  following  wave  lengths  were  adopted  for  commercial 
business :  Short  and  medium  distances,  300  to  600  meters ; 
longer  distances,  1800  meters.  The  military  interests  of 
Great  Britain  and  France  prevented  the  adoption  of  the 
American  proposal  for  a  general  commercial  wave  length 
of  800  meters. 

The  congress  adopted  an  elaborate  code  governing  the  in- 
terchange of  business  between  rival  wireless  companies, 
which  are  no  longer  to  be  permitted  to  disregard  each  other. 

The  Russo-American  combination  against  Great  Britain's 
claim  to  six  votes  in  the  conference  on  account  of  her 
colonies  has  resulted  in  the  more  important  powers  receiving 
equality  of  votes.  Thus  at  future  congresses  the  United 
States,  Great  Britain,  Russia,  Germany  and  France  are  each 
to  have  six  votes,  Italy  is  to  have  three,  Spain  and  Portugal 
two  each  and  the  other  nations  one  each. 

Following  the  close  of  the  conference  on  July  5  the  dele- 
gates were  entertained  by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  William  Marconi 
at  Cedarhurst,  their  country  home,  near  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
The  o-uests  were  conveyed  by  special  train  between  London 
and  Southampton.  A  luncheon  at  Cedarhurst  and  a  cruise 
on  the  Solent  were  among  the  entertainment  features. 


PATENT  COMMISSION  ASKED  FOR  BY  INVENTORS 
GUILD. 


At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Inventors'  Guild  held  in 
New  York  the  following  resolutions  recommending  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  Patent  Commission  was  considered  and 
adopted : 

"Whereas,  The  Inventors'  Guild,  composed  exclusively  of 
independent  and  experienced  inventor-patentees,  in  Novem- 
ber. 191 1,  petitioned  President  Taft  to  recommend  to  Con- 
gress that  appropriate  action  be  taken  by  him  to  secure  the 
appointment  of  a  commission,  or  its  equivalent,  which  com- 
mission should  consider  the  patent  system  of  the  United 
States  with  the  object  of  accomplishing  needed  reforms  m 
the  Patent  Office  and  in  courts  which  hear  and  decide  patent 
causes;  and 

"Whereas,  President  Taft  upon  May  10.  1912,  sent  a 
special  message  to  Congress  requesting  authority  to  appoint 
a  commission  to  investigate  and  report  upon  such  reforms, 
if  any,  as  may  be  needed  in  connection  with  the  United 
States  Patent  System. 

"Resolved,  The  Inventors'  Guild  does  hereby  by  unani- 
mous vote  give  expression  to  its  unqualified  endorsement  of 
the  policy  of  President  Taft  looking  to  the  appointment  of 
a  comnission  to  thoroughly   investigate  this  intricate   and 


important  subject  before  the  passage  of  legislation.  And  th( 
Inventors'  Guild  respectfully  makes  the  suggestion  tha 
such  a  commission  should  be  one  upon  which  there  shouk 
be  representatives  of  all  important  interests  affected  by  thi 
Patent  System,  such  as  the  general  public,  the  inventors,  thi 
manufacturers,  the  courts  and  the  patent  lawyers;  and  tha 
the  general  public  should  have  the  greatest  number  of  rep 
resentatives  upon  the  commission,  inasmuch  as  modifica 
tions  in  the  patent  laws  and  court  procedure  should  be  mad' 
only  in  order  to  promote  the  general  welfare  of  the  Unites 
States,  regardless  of  the  interests  of  special  classes,  such  a 
inventors,  manufacturers,  court  officials,  patent  lawyers,  etc 
"Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  this  resolution  and  of  tli' 
resolution  which  the  Inventors'  Guild  addressed  to  th< 
President  upon  Nov.  24,  191 1,  be  sent  to  every  member  0 
Congress." 


A.  I.  E.  E.  AFFAIRS. 


A  meeting  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  America 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  was  held  at  Boston  on  Jun 
27  in  connection  with  the  annual  convention.  The  director 
present  at  the  meeting  were :  President  Gano  Dunn,  Ne\ 
York;  Vice-presidents  Morgan  Brooks,  Urbana,  111.;  W.C 
Carlton  and  Percy  H.  Thomas,  New  York;  Managers  A.  W 
Berresford,  Milwaukee,  Wis.;  W.  S.  Murray,  New  Havei 
Conn. ;  H.  H.  Norris,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. ;  S.  D.  Sprong,  H.  I 
Barnes,  Jr.,  and  Charles  E.  Scribner,  New  York;  N.  W 
Storer,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  and  W.  S.  Lee,  Charlotte,  N.  C 
and  Secretary  F.  L.  Hutchinson  New  York. 

Upon  recommendation  of  the  law  committee,  the  by-law 
relating  to  the  transfer  of  present  associates  and  member 
under  the  special  section  of  the  constitution  as  adopted  0 
May  21,  1912,  were  modified  to  eliminate  the  requiremen 
that  the  names  of  applicants  and  their  certifiers  be  publishe 
prior  to  their  transfer;  the  provision  of  publication,  how 
ever,  after  transfer,  was  retained. 

Immediately  following  the  adoption  of  this  modificatio 
of  the  by-laws,  Mr.  Ralph  D.  Mershon,  president-elect,  wa 
unanimously  transferred  to  the  grade  of  fellow,  thus  becoiti 
ing  the  first  fellow  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrics 
Engineers. 

The  members  of  the  board  of  examiners,  Messrs.  W.  C 
Carlton,  Maurice  Coster,  A.  F.  Ganz,  W.  I.  Slichter  an 
P.  H.  Thomas,  were  next  transferred  to  the  grade  of  fellov 
in  order  that  they  may  be  eligible  to  serve  on  this  importan 
committee  until  the  expiration  of  the  present  administrativ 
year  on  July  31,  1912.  Vice-president  Thomas  requested  th 
privilege  of  taking  the  chair,  and  President  Gano  Dunn  wa 
then  unanimously  transferred  to  the  grade  of  fellow.  I 
addition  to  the  foregoing,  the  following  members,  core 
posing,  with  the  names  mentioned  above,  all  whose  applica 
tions  for  transfer  were  in  complete  form,  were  also  trans 
ferred  to  the  grade  of  fellow :  Messrs.  Henry  Floy,  Georg 
Gibbs,  Gary  T.  Hutchinson,  William  McClellan,  H.  St.  Clai 
Putnam,  L.  T.  Robinson,  George  F.  Sever,  Frank  J.  Spragu 
and  Charles  P.  Steinmetz.  One  hundred  and  seven  ap 
plicants  were  elected  associates  of  the  Institute,  thirty-tw 
students  were  ordered  enrolled,  and  fifteen  men  were  trans 
ferred  from  the  grade  of  associate  to  that  of  member. 

The  following  resolution  was  adopted : 

"Whereas  the  memorial  of  the  conferees  on  a  Genera 
Engineering  Congress  prepared  at  the  conference  in  Sa: 
Francisco  on  Jan.  15,  1912.  has  been  before  the  board  0 
directors  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineer! 
together  with  the  report  of  Mr.  Calvert  Townley,  dated  Jun 
10,  communicating  the  result  of  an  informal  conference  01 
the  same  subject  between  representatives  of  the  nationa 
engineering  societies  in  New  York,  it  was 

"Resolved,  on  recommendation  of  the  committee  on  organ 
ization  of  the  International  Electrical  Congress,  San  Fran 
Cisco.  1915.  that  the  following  resolutions  be  adopted  an^ 


ULY    13,    191 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


8s 


ransmitted  to  Prof.  W.  F.  Durand,  president,  and  Mr.  Otto 
'^on  Geldern,  secretary,  of  the  San  Francisco  Conference 
f  Jan.  15  on  the  General  Engineering  Conference. 

"Whereas  the  ne.xt  International  Electrical  Congress 
laving  been  awarded  in  September,  191 1,  to  the  United 
itates  by  the  International  Electrotechnical  Commission 
nd  by  the  International  Electrical  Congress  of  Turin,  upon 
he  request  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers, with  the  understanding  that  it  should  be  held  in 
jan  Francisco  in  September,  1915,  the  American  Institute 
if  Electrical  Engineers  is  under  obligations  to  carry  out  the 
ilans  for  holding  such  a  congress  along  the  lines  originally 
aid  down  by  the  commission,  and  is  therefore  unable  to 
iierge  this  congress  with  the  General  Engineering  Congress 
iroposed  later  in  the  year  by  representatives  of  various 
lational  engineering  societies  in  San  Francisco.  The 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  reiterates  the 
losition  taken  by  its  board  of  directors  on  Jan.  12,  1912,  at 
vhich  time  it  appointed  delegates  to  the  General  Engineer- 
ng  Congress  Conference,  Messrs.  H.  A.  Lardner,  George  R. 
vlurphy  and  S.  J.  Lisberger,  and  instructed  them  to  inform 
he  conference  that,  while  unable  to  merge  the  electrical 
vith  the  general  congress,  it  would  be  glad,  so  far  as  might 
le  compatible  with  its  obligations  to  the  electrical  congress, 
ordially  to  co-operate  in  the  organization  and  conduct  of 
he  General  Engineering  Congress  and  to  participate  in  its 
irogram.    It  was  therefore 

"Resolved,  That  in  response  to  the  memorial  of  the  con- 
erence  on  the  General  Engineering  Congress,  the  American 
nstitute  of  Electrical  Engineers  stands  ready  to  concur  in 
nd  to  co-operate  with  whatever  form  the  movement  of  the 
'ther  societies  may  take,  in  so  far  as  this  co-operation  is 
•ossible  and  consistent  with  its  obligations  already  referred 
0  in  connection  with  the  International  Electrical  Congress 
f  San  Francisco,  191 5.  To  this  end,  although  it  is  not 
easible  in  view  of  the  large  financial  and  other  responsi- 
ilities  undertaken  by  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
ilngineers  in  connection  with  the  Electrical  Congress  and 
he  accompanying  meeting  of  the  International  Electro- 
echnical  Commission  to  participate  to  the  extent  suggested 
■y  the  conference  of  June  10  of  representatives  of  the 
lational  engineering  societies  in  New  York,  which  assigned 

0  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  a  partici- 
lation  equal  to  that  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  En- 
;ineers  and  amounting  to  a  guarantee  of  $9,000,  with  the 
irivilege  of  having  six  representatives  on  the  joint  board 
if  control  of  the  congress,  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
rical  Engineers,  nevertheless,  hereby  is  glad  to  undertake, 
ipon  notification  of  the  co-operation  of  the  other  societies 
n  question,  to  guarantee  an  amount  up  to  $3,500  of  the 
leficit  or  expense  that  the  General  Engineering  Congress 
nay  incur,  and  to  ask  in  view  of  this  reduced  participation 
he  privilege  of  having  only  two  instead  of  six  representa- 

j  ives  upon  the  governing  board  of  the  General  Engineering 

1  Congress." 

'  It  was  voted  that  the  official  badge  for  the  grade  of  fellow 
ihall  be  blue,  similar  to  the  present  badge  for  the  grade  of 
nember,  and  the  president  was  authorized  to  appoint  a  com- 
mittee of  three  to  recommend  a  suitable  design  for  a  badge 
'or  the  grade  of  fellow  and  such  modifications  as  might  be 
ksirable  for  the  member's  badge.  President  Dunn,  on  con- 
mltation  with  President-elect  Mershon,  appointed  as  mem- 
)ers  of  this  committee  Messrs.  Charles  W.  Stone,  chairman, 
W.  S.  Rugg  and  Charles  E.  Scribner. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  under  the  constitution  the  terms 
)f  all  members  of  Institute  committees  expired  at  this  board 
neeting,  the  President  was  authorized  to  reappoint  all 
aresent  committees  to  serve  until  the  close  of  the  present 
administrative  year  on  July  31,  1912. 

After  an  active  discussion  of  the  memorial  of  the  St. 
Louis  Section  to  the  board  of  directors  regarding  territorial 
representation  and  other  related  matters  involving  Institute 
organization  and  policy,  the  following  resolution  was  pre- 


sented by  the  meeting  of  section  delegates  held  at  Boston 
on  Wednesday  evening,  June  26,  at  which  twenty-five  of 
the  twenty-eight  sections  of  the  Institute  were  represented: 

"Resolved,  That  the  board  of  directors  be  requested  to 
appoint  a  special  committee  for  study  and  investigation  and 
to  draw  up  by-laws  assigning  to  the  sections  such  duties  and 
responsibilities  as  will  enable  them  to  be  more  useful  in  de- 
veloping the  Institute  policies  and  permit  them  to  take  a 
larger  part  in  the  conduct  of  its  affairs." 

In  response  to  this  the  board  of  directors  authorized  the 
president  to  appoint  a  special  committee  to  carry  out  the 
request  of  the  sections.  In  view  of  the  large  amount  of 
study  required  on  the  part  of  this  committee  and  the  near 
approach  of  the  end  of  the  present  Institute  administrative 
year,  President  Dunn  referred  the  selection  of  this  com- 
mittee to  President-elect  Mershon  for  appointment  on  or 
after  Aug.  I. 

Responses  having  been  received  from  several  of  the 
European  national  electrical  engineering  bodies  with  which 
the  president  was  authorized  to  communicate  with  a  view  to 
establishing  mutual  visiting  member  privileges,  the  presi- 
dent was  authorized  to  establish  such  privileges  with  these 
societies  whenever  such  connection  with  the  Institute  would 
be  of  mutual  advantage. 

A  communication  was  read  from  Dr.  Morton  G.  Lloyd 
recommending  the  participation  of  the  Institutes  in  a  move- 
ment to  correct  the  abuses  of  expert  testimony.  The  board 
resolved  that  on  account  of  the  related  nature  of  the  subject 
this  matter  be  referred  to  the  Institute's  patent  committee. 

The  thanks  of  the  board  were  given  to  General  Edward 
H.  Ripley  for  his  presentation  to  the  Institute  of  an  old  steel 
engraving  of  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse  showing  his  new  invention 
of  the  telegraph  to  the  assembled  inventors  of  the  day. 


MASSACHUSETTS  DECISION  IN  THE  UNITED  SHOE 
MACHINERY  CASE. 


The  Massachusetts  Supreme  Court  has  just  handed  down 
a  decision  in  the  case  of  the  United  Shoe  Machinery  Com- 
pany versus  Euclid  I.  Chapelle,  relating  to  a  contract  for 
employment,  and  the  assignment  of  inventions  and  patents 
therefor.  One  clause  of  the  contract  bound  the  defendant 
to  assign  to  the  plaintiff  any  and  all  inventions,  improve- 
ments and  patents  which  he  should  make  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  contract  and  for  ten  years  thereafter,  and 
for  an  equal  period  not  to  engage  in  any  similar  business. 
The  defendant's  employment  under  the  contract  ceased 
in  1909,  but  since  then  he  has  taken  out  a  patent  for  an 
improvement  in  shoe  machinery,  which  he  refused  to  assign 
and  the  plaintiff  brought  suit  to  compel  the  assignment. 
Special  interest  in  the  case  is  aroused  by  allegations  that 
the  plaintiff  is  an  unlawful  monopoly  by  reason,  in  part,  of 
controlling  95  per  cent  of  the  inventors  of  shoe  machinery 
through  similar  contracts. 

The  opinion  of  the  court  was  prepared  by  Chief  Justice 
Rugg  and  a  number  of  pertinent  quotations  from  it  are 
given  in  what  follows.  In  reference  to  the  grounds  upon 
which  the  defendant  took  an  appeal  from  the  rulings  of 
the  lower  court  the  opinion  says : 

"The  cause  comes  up  on  exceptions,  and  hence  only  lim- 
ited and  narrow  questions  are  presented.  The  broader 
issues  which  would  be  open  on  an  appeal  are  not  raised. 
Whether  the  contract  is  unconscionable  and  hence  unen- 
forceable, although  somewhat  argued,  falls  in  this  class 
and  is  left  undecided  by  this  judgment.  The  point  is  not 
made  that  the  plaintiff  or  its  conduct  constitutes  a  monopoly 
or  an  engrossing  at  common  law,  in  furtherance  of  which 
the  contract  in  suit  was  made,  and  hence  that  question  is 
left  on  one  side." 

After  disposing  of  a  question  of  alleged  intimidation  of 
the  defendant,  and  stating  that  the  shoe  machinery  leases. 


86 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


under  which  the  lessees  are  forbidden  to  use  any  machines 
not  supplied  by  the  plaintiff,  are  upheld  by  the  decision  in 
the  Dick  case,  224  U.  S.  i,  the  opinion  continues: 

"The  remaining  material  matters  averred  in  the  answer 
of  defendant  as  to  alleged  violation  of  the  Federal  anti- 
trust act  are  in  substance  that  in  1899  the  plaintiff'  was 
constituted  by  the  combination  of  seven  or  more  pre- 
existing corporations  competing  with  each  other  in  two- 
thirds  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  being  all  the  principal 
shoe  machinery  manufacturers  in  the  United  States,  and 
that  by  their  merger  into  the  single  organization  of  the 
plaintiff,  it  acquired  monopolistic  control  of  the  business  of 
manufacturing,  leasing  and  selling  throughout  the  United 
States  shoe  machinery  for  the  manufacture  of  footwear, 
and  that  it  obtained  the  greater  part  of  the  valuable  inven- 
tions of  such  machinery  made  prior  to  1899,  ^fd  that  since 
1899  it  has  bought  competing  corporations  to  the  number 
of  at  least  thirty  for  the  purpose  of  diminishing  competition, 
and  thus  has  gained  control  of  90  per  cent  of  the  shoe  ma- 
chinery business ;  that  it  has  achieved  and  maintained  its 
monopoly  of  manufacture  and  trade  and  commerce  in  this 
class  of  manufactures  between  the  several  States  of  the 
Union  by  contracting  with  95  per  cent  of  the  inventors  of 
shoe  machinery  for  the  entire  product  of  their  inventive 
skill,  through  contracts  similar  in  form  to  that  with  the 
defendant;  and  that  by  these  means  it  has  stifled  competi- 
tion, so  that  it  now  controls  from  90  to  95  per  cent  of  all  the 
shoe  machinery  in  the  United  States,  and  has  acquired  also 
a  monapoly  of  inventions  relating  to  shoe  machinery,  and 
that  the  contract  in  suit  was  made  in  furtherance  of  that 
monopoly,  all  in  violation  of  26  U.  S.  Stats,  at  Large, 
c.  467.  The  court  below  ruled  that  no  evidence  was  admissi- 
ble under  this  averment  of  the  answer,  and  excluded  all 
evidence  offered.  The  defendant's  exceptions  to  this  ruling 
present  the  principal  question  in  the  case.     .     . 

"It  is  fairly  inferable  from  the  averments  of  the  answer 
and  the  offer  of  proof  that  the  constituent  competing  com- 
panies out  of  which  the  plaintiff  was  formed  each  owned 
valuable  patents  for  machines  used  in  the  making  of  foot- 
wear. Therefore,  the  further  question  arises  whether  a 
combination  among  several  patentees  of  competing  devices 
is  within  the  inhibition  of  the  statute.  There  is  no  decision 
by  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  covering  this  point, 
although  there  is  an  intimation  in  Bement  v.  National  Har- 
row Company.  186  U.  S.  70,  94,  95,  to  the  effect  that  such 
a  combination  may  be  illegal  under  certain  circumstances. 
The  holder  of  a  patent  is  given  an  absolute  monopoly  of 
the  invention  covered  thereby,  not  affected  in  any  degree 
by  the  Sherman  anti-trust  act.  He  may  refuse  to  use  it, 
or  may  use  it  in  part  only,  or  grant  its  use  to  others  upon 
conditions  and  he  may  prevent  all  others  from  infringing 
in  any  way  upon  the  rights  thus  secured  to  him.  Conti- 
nental Paper  Bag  Company  v.  Eastern  Paper  Bag  Company. 
210  U.  S.  405.  But  he  is  given  no  immunity  from  general 
laws  governing  the  rest  of  the  community  and  not  directly 
affecting  his  patent  rights.  He  holds  the  thing  patented 
subject  to  general  police  regulations.  There  is  nothing  in- 
herent in  his  patent  or  in  the  nature  of  his  peculiar  privi- 
leges which  enables  him  to  be  free  from  general  laws 
enacted  for  the  common  good. 

"No  word  or  phrase  in  the  Sherman  anti-trust  act  reveals 
an  intent  to  exempt  the  owners  of  patents  from  its  sweep- 
ing provisions  against  monopolistic  combination.  We  are 
unable  to  perceive  any  underlying  reason  for  supposing  that 
by  implication  growing  out  of  economic  or  business  condi- 
tions such  an  exemption  was  intended.  Tliere  appears  to  be 
no  inherent  natural  distinction  between  owners  of  patents 
and  owners  of  oil  which  would  justify  the  application  of 
the  statute  to  one  and  not  to  the  other.  The  conclusion 
seems  to  follow  that  the  comprehensive  condemnation  of 
the  act  against  every  person  who  monopolizes  interstate 
commerce  by  combination  with  others  includes  holders  of 
patents  as  well  as  others." 


The  opinion  states  that  the  weight  of  authority  supports 
the  last  view,  although  there  are  decisions  to  the  contrary, 
and  then  cites  a  long  list  of  cases.  The  next  extract  closes 
the  opinion. 

"The  provision  of  the  contract  here  sought  to  be  enforced, 
that  for  ten  years  after  its  termination  every  invention 
shall  be  assigned  to  the  plaintiff',  savors  of  restraint  of  trade. 
It  projects  itself  so  far  beyond  the  period  of  actual  employ- 
ment and  payment  of  wages  that  it  appears  plainly  to  be  in 
aid  of  the  unlawful  combination.  It  would  choke  the  'n- 
ventive  capacity  of  the  defendant  for  a  period  so  long  after 
his  employment  ceased  that  his  usefulness  to  himself  or  lo 
any  competitor  would  be  extinguished  in  most  instances 
When  this  contract  is  multiplied  by  substantially  all  like 
inventors  in  the  country,  its  character  as  aiding  the  com- 
bination is  too  clear  to  require  further  discussion, 
single  contract  for  the  employment  in  labor  of  one  person 
is  far  away  from  interstate  commerce.  But  when  it  is 
alleged  that  it  is  one  among  others  with  90  per  cent  of  all 
those  skilled  in  a  particular  manufacture,  and  that  thai 
kind  of  manufacture  is  controlled  by  a  combination  formed 
of  many  previously  competing  persons  which  monopolize 
all  or  substantially  all  interstate  commerce  of  that  kind,  the 
single  contract  for  labor  loses  its  individual  aspect  in  tht 
larger  relation  it  bears  to  the  monopoly  in  interstate  com- 
merce. As  a  single  incident  it  may  be  harmless.  As  ai 
integral  part  of  an  unlawful  scheme  for  monopolizing  com- 
merce between  the  states  which  cannot  be  perpetuated  suc- 
cessfully without  contracts  of  like  tenor  with  all  practising 
a  like  craft,  it  partakes  of  the  illegality  of  the  scheme 
Exceptions  sustained." 


CHICAGO  TRACTION  AFFAIRS. 


According  to  last  reports  negotiations  between  the  cit; 
of  Chicago  and  the  local  traction  interests  looking  toward  ; 
merger  of  all  of  the  surface  and  elevated  lines  have  beei 
called  to  a  halt  by  the  companies.  The  City  Council  an< 
representatives  of  the  companies  have  been  endeavoring  ti 
name  a  new  commission  to  place  a  final  physical  valuatioi 
on  the  elevated  properties.  As  announced  recently,  thi 
commission  was  to  consist  of  three  men,  one  to  be  chosen  b; 
the  city,  one  by  the  companies  and  a  third  to  be  selected  b 
these  two.  The  present  difficulty,  it  is  said,  arose  from  th 
insistence  of  Mayor  Harrison  in  appointing  as  the  city' 
representative  Mr.  James  J.  Reynolds.  This  appointmen 
was  vigorously  opposed  by  the  legal  representative  for  th 
traction  companies,  Mr.  Gilbert  E.  Foster,  on  the  grouni 
that  Mr.  Reynolds  was  a  member  of  the  original  commissioi 
which  had  declared  the  elevated  properties  worth  $40,000,00' 
less  than  the  value  placed  upon  them  by  their  owners.  Th- 
present  situation  leaves  the  members  of  the  City  Counci 
exactly  w-here  they  were  a  year  ago,  when  the  city  wa 
considering  the  matter  of  building  its  own  subway  system 
At  that  time  the  Harbor  and  Subway  Commission  was  in 
structed  to  commence  at  once  the  preparation  of  plans  fo 
a  municipally  owned  underground  traction  system,  and  th' 
commission  was  asked  to  have  the  plans  ready  for  presenta 
tion   by   Sept.    I. 


THREATENED  COMPETITION  IN  PORTLAND,  ORE 


The  Fleischhacker  interests,  which  are  prominent  in  th' 
Great  \^'estern  Power  Company  of  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  an« 
which  are  now  engaged  in  warring  on  the  Pacific  Gas  i 
Electric  Company  in  California,  are  seeking  an  entranc 
into  the  territory  supplied  w-ith  energy  by  the  Portlam 
Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company  of  Portland,  Ore.  Th 
Fleischhackers  are  back  of  the  Northwestern  Electric  Com 


July  13,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


87 


pany,  which  is  at  present  constructing  a  dam  across  the 
White  Sahnon  River  above  Underwood,  Wash.,  and  has 
appHed  for  a  franchise  to  operate  in  Portland,  Ore. 

The  company  already  has  a  contract  to  supply  some 
thousands  of  kilowatts  to  a  large  paper  mill  near  Under- 
wood, and  is  seeking  a  market  for  the  surplus.  At 
present  there  is  no  public  service  commission  in  Ore- 
gon, although  one  will  be  established  this  year.  The 
Portland  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company  is  fighting  the 
proposed  franchise  by  an  energetic  publicity  campaign, 
seeking  to  put  off  the  question  of  competition  until  the 
appointment  of  the  public  service  commission,  when,  it 
asserts,  a  properly  constituted  body  can  pass  judgment  on 
the  merits- of  the  case.  However,  the  Northwestern  Electric 
Company  is  striving  to  bring  matters  to  a  head  before  the 
appointment  of  a  commission  and  is  pressing  the  City  Coun- 
cil of  Portland  for  action.  The  hydroelectric  station  at 
present  contemplated  will  have  an  output  of  approximately 
15,000  kw,  and  the  proposed  franchise  will  permit  the  com- 
pany to  maintain  and  operate  plants  in  Portland,  to  string 
wires  and  lay  conduit  and  in  general  to  wage  an  aggressive 
campaign  for  business  in  competition  with  the  Portland 
Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company. 


COURT  DECISION  AFFECTING    PARALLEL    TELE- 
PHONE AND  HIGH-TENSION  LINES. 


NEW  YORK'S  ELECTRICAL  FOURTH 


As  mentioned  in  our  issue  of  June  29  fifteen  of  the  parks 
of  New  York  City  were  illuminated  by  means  of  incandes- 
cent electric  lamps  during  the  evenings  of  July  3,  4  and  5. 
The  electrical  illumination  was  used  as  a  safe  and  sane 
substitute  for  the  dangerous  fireworks. 

Festoons  of  electric  lamps  hidden  in  Japanese  lanterns 
were  strung  from  tree  to  tree  throughout  the  parks.  In 
City  Hall  Park  and  on  City  Hall  use  was  made  of  6000 
8-cp  lamp's,  while  practically  the  same  number  of  lamps 
was  installed  in  each  of  the  other  parks.  A  fair  idea  of  the 
arrangements  employed  can  be  gained  from  the  illustration. 

The  "Electrical  Fourth"  proved  so  successful  in  New 
York  that  it  will  doubtless  be  continued  from  year  to  year. 
Credit  for  substituting  electrical  illumination  for  fireworks 


A  recent  decision  handed  down  in  the  District  Court  of 
Iowa,  for  Mills  County,  relating  to  the  safe  minimum  sepa- 
ration between  parallel  telephone  and  high-tension  trans- 
mission lines,  and  the  proper  form  of  construction  to  be 
employed  in  such  cases,  is  of  considerable  interest.  The 
plaintiffs,  comprismg  the  Mills  County  Telephone  Com- 
pany and  the  Iowa  Telephone  Company  were  decreed  to  be 
lawful  prior  occupants  of  the  highways  in  the  city  of  Glen- 
wood,  in  the  towns  of  Mineola  and  Silver  City  and  of  Mills 
County  intervening  between  these  places,  and  also  entitled 
to  use  their  telephone  lines  in  the  aforesaid  highways  free 
from  substantial  interference  by  and  danger  from  the  high- 
tension  lines  erected  by  the  defendants.  The  decision  re- 
cites that  the  defendants,  comprising  the  Central  Station 
Engineering  Company  and  Messrs.  Joseph  A.  and  Anton  J. 
Bortenlanger,  had  lately  constructed  certain  high-tension 
lines  in  these  highways  which  interfered  with  and  en- 
dangered the  telephone  lines  of  the  plaintiffs  and  the  patrons 
thereof. 

Verdict  was  rendered  in  favor  of  the  plaintiffs,  ordering 
the  defendants  to  make  certain  specified  changes  in  their 
lines  within  thirty  days.  After  reciting  a  number  of  detail 
changes  to  be  made  in  Glenwood  with  reference  to  reguying 
a  number  of  poles,  double-arming,  relocating  a  transformer 
and  setting  a  new  pole,  the  decision  states  that  the  high- 
tension  lines  were  built  above  and  parallel  to  the  lines  of 
the  plaintiffs  at  three  different  locations,  for  a  total  dis- 
tance of  lyi  miles.  It  was  ordered  that  the  defendants 
shall  remove  the  telephone  pole  lines  of  the  plaintiffs  to 
the  opposite  side  of  the  road,  at  the  defendants'  cost  and 
under  the  supervision  of  an  agent  for  the  plaintiffs,  without 
interfering  with  the  service. 

The  decision  then  sets  forth  that  the  high-tension  line 
crosses  the  telephone  lines  at  eleven  locations  and  orders 
that  the  defendants  shall  reconstruct  their  line  so  as  to 
provide  for  and  maintain: 

(i)  "A  vertical  clearance  over  plaintiffs'  lines  of  not  less 
than  eight  (8)  feet.  But  where  practical  in  the  judgment 
of    plaintiffs'    division    engineer,    plaintiffs    will    consent    to 


Mulberry   Bend   on   the   Evening   of   Fourth   of   July. 


must  be  given  not  only  to  Mayor  Gaynor  but  in  a  large 
measure  to  the  New  York  Edison  Company,  which  donated 
all  of  the  energy  consumed  as  well  as  the  wiring  used  on  the 
City  Hall,  Manhattan,  and  the  Borough  Hall,  Bronx.  The 
illumination  schemes  were  carried  out  in  detail  by  Mr. 
Clarence  L.  Law,  illuminating  engineer  of  the  New  York 
Edison  Company. 


defendants  doing  the  work  of  lowering  plaintiff's'  wires  to 
aid  in  obtaining  said  clearance.  But  in  no  case  shall  plain- 
tiffs' wires  be  placed  lower  than  18  ft.  above  crown  of 
adjacent  highway. 

(2)  ''All   high-tension   crossings   to   be   above   telephone 
lines  at  all  points. 

(3)  "Poles  supporting  the  crossing  span  and  the  adjoin- 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


ing  span   on  each  side  of  said  crossing  span  shall,  where 
practical,  be  in  a  straight  alignment. 

(4)  "Poles  supporting  crossing  spans  shall  be  side-guyed 
in  both  directions  at  right  angles  with  high-tension  line 
wherever  practicable  and  be  head-guyed  away  from  the 
crossing  span. 

(5)  "All  anchors  shall  be  iron  at  least  3^  in.  in  diameter; 
all  guy  wires  to  be  of  5/16-in.  stranded  steel  wire. 

(6)  "All  poles  supporting  crossing  spans  shall  be  double- 
armed — arms  to  be  provided  with  metal  plate  and  ground 
wire  sufficient  to  carry  the  short-circuit  capacity  of  the 
high-tension  curent  carried  on  said  lines. 

(7)  "The  wire  in  crossing  spans  shall  be  stranded  equal 
in  size  to  a  No.  4  B.  &  S.  gage  wire.  Or  5/16-in.  stranded 
wire  may  be  used  at  defendants'  option,  and  said  wires  shall 
be  dead-ended  on  insulators  on  the  cross-arms  supporting 
crossing  spans. 

(8)  "All  poles  supporting  crossing  spans  shall  be  sound 
and  of  sufficient  size  and  strength  to  sustain  J4  in.  of  sleet 
per  wire  with  wind  blowing  50  miles  per  hour.  The  parties 
to  this  proceeding  shall  inspect  all  crossing  poles  and  any 
rejected  as  insufficient  by  two  engineers  of  plaintiffs  shall 
be  replaced  by  defendants  within  sixty  days  by  sound  poles 
not  less  than  7  in.  in  diameter  at  top  and  36  in.  in  circum- 
ference at  a  point  6  ft.  from  butt  of  pole. 

(9)  "All  new  pins  in  crossing  spans  shall  be  of  selected 
locust. 

(10)  "All  of  the  changes  herein  specified  to  be  made  by 
defendants  at  their  own  expense  and  in  a  first-class  work- 
manlike manner,  defendants  furnishing  all  labor  and  mate- 
rial at  their  own  expense." 

The  plaintiffs  also  received  judgment  against  the  de- 
fendants for  the  costs  of  the  case. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW  YORK  COMMISSION,  FIRST  DISTRICT 

The  Public  Service  Commission,  First  District,  has  just 
served  notice  on  the  estate  of  William  Astor,  as  owner  of 
the  Putnam  Building,  and  the  United  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company  that  a  contract  entered  into  between  them  for 
supplying  electrical  energy  to  the  Putnam  building,  dated 
July.  1910,  is  illegal  and  void  because  of  undue  and  unrea- 
sonable preference  or  discrimination,  in  violation  of  section 
65  of  the  Public  Service  Commission  law.  The  matter  first 
arose  over  a  complaint  of  overcharge,  and  investigation 
developed  that  certain  clauses  in  the  published  standard  con- 
tract forms,  for  this  class  of  service,  had  been  omitted  or 
altered ;  that  the  consumer  claimed  that  a  general  reduction 
of  rates  which  became  effective  on  July  i,  191 1,  was  retro- 
active under  his  particular  contract,  and  that  the  United 
Company  leased  about  270  sq.  ft.  of  basement  space  in  the 
building  for  $1,500  per  annum  or  over  $5.50  per  sq.  ft.  The 
commission  held  that  the  published  form  of  contract  and 
the  published  rates,  as  filed  with  them,  are  the  only  legal 
forms  and  rates  and  must  apply  to  all  alike.  The  rental 
price  for  basement  space  was  also  declared  excessive  and 
held  to  be  a  factor  in  securing  the  customer's  business, 
amounting  practically  to  a  rebate. 

Justice  Page,  of  the  New  York  Supreme  Court,  in  a 
recent  decision,  signed  an  order  for  a  writ  of  peremptory 
mandamus  compelling  the  New  York  Railways  Company  to 
construct,  in  accordance  with  its  franchise,  a  700-ft.  addi- 
tion to  the  ii6th  Street  crosstown  line.  The  writ  was 
ordered  at  the  instance  of  the  commission,  after  the  com- 
pany had  refused  to  obey  a  formal  order  from  the  commis- 
sion to  make  the  extension,  which  was  needed  to  serve  the 
public.  This  was,  in  part,  a  test  case  and  establishes  an 
important  precedent. 

NEW  YORK  COMMISSION,    SECOND  DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  District,  has 
ordered  the  New  York  Telephone  Company  to  discontinue 


the  use  of  the  word  "telegram"  as  a  call  word  for  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  or  for  any  other  tele- 
graph company  within  this  State.  The  telephone  company 
is  directed  and  required  to  assign  call  numbers  to  the  Postal 
Telegraph  Cable  Company  and  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company,  as  is  usual  with  other  subscribers  to  its 
service,  and  that  in  addition  thereto  the  word  "Postal"  be 
assigned  as  a  call  word  for  the  Postal  company  and  the 
words  "Western  Union"  be  assigned  as  a  call  word  for  the 
Western  Union  company.  The  call  word  for  each  company 
is  ordered  to  be  printed  in  the  subscribers'  directories  of 
the  telephone  company  hereinafter  issued,  in  such  manner" 
and  with  such  explanation  as  to  show  clearly  that  a  person 
desiring  to  send  a  telegram  over  the  lines  of  the  Postal 
company  may  call  that  company  by  the  use  of  the  single 
word  "Postal,"  and  that  a  person  desiring  to  send  a  tele- 
gram over  the  lines  of  the  Western  Union  Company  may 
call  the  company  by  the  use  of  the  words  "Western  Union." 
The  commission  has  dismissed  a  complaint  in  reference 
to  alleged  dangerous  conditions  in  the  plants  of  the  Ticon- 
deroga  Home  Telephone  Company  and  the  Ticonderoga 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  because  the  conditions 
complained  of  have  been  remedied  since  an  inspection  was 
made  by  an  engineer  for  the  commission. 

CALIFORNIA    COMMISSION. 

The  Railroad  Commission  has  handed  down  a  decision  in 
the  case  of  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company  versus  the 
Great  Western  Power  Company,  granting  to  the  latter  cer- 
tificates of  public  convenience  and  necessity  and  authoriza- 
tion to  exercise  rights  or  privileges  under  franchises  or 
permits  granted  or  hereafter  to  be  acquired  in  the  counties 
of  Sonoma,  Solana  and  Napa  and  numerous  cities  under 
the  provisions  of  the  public  utilities  act.  The  California 
Telephone  &  Light  Company,  the  Cloverdale  Light  &  Power 
Company,  the  Napa  Valley  Electric  Company,  the  Vallejo 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  and  the  Vacaville  Water 
&  Light  Company  each  interposed  objections  to  the  granting 
of  the  certificates  of  public  convenience  and  necessity  in 
addition  to  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  setting  up 
that  they  possessed  modern,  complete,  efficient  and 
economical  plants  in  their  respective  territories  for  the 
generation  and  distribution  of  electricity,  which  are 
adequate  to  serve  the  future  needs  of  the  territories,  and 
that  the  rates  in  force  are  fair  and  reasonable  and  the 
respective  services  efficient,  steady  and  dependable. 

The  order  permits  the  Great  Western  Power  Company 
to  operate  in  all  sections  of  Solano  County  outside  of  the 
incorporated  cities  and  towns,  except  the  territory  served 
by  the  Vacaville  Water  &  Light  Company;  all  sections  of 
Napa  County  outside  of  incorporated  cities  and  towns  other 
than  the  territory  now  served  by  the  Napa  Valley  Electric 
Company ;  all  sections  of  Sonoma  County  outside  of  in- 
corporated cities  and  towns  other  than  the  territory  now 
served  by  the  Cloverdale  Light  &  Power  Company  and  the 
California  Telephone  &  Light  Company  except  the  southern 
end  of  the  Sonoma  Valley  in  and  about  Shellville ;  also  the 
cities  and  towns  of  Napa,  Santa  Rosa,  Sebastopol,  Petaluma, 
Dixon,  Suisun  and  Fairfield,  and  the  city  of  Vallejo  in  so 
far  as  affects  the  sale  of  energy  to  the  city  for  municipal 
purposes.  It  should  be  mentioned  in  this  connection  that 
the  commission  does  not  possess  power  to  regulate  utilities 
in  incorporated  cities  except  where  cities  have  expressly 
granted  it. 

KANSAS  COMMISSION. 

The  Kansas  Public  Utilities  Commission  has  denied  the 
application  of  the  Farm  &  Grange  Telephone  Company  for 
permission  to  engage  in  the  business  of  a  public  utility  in 
and  around  the  city  of  Westphalia.  After  hearing  the  testi- 
mony the  commission  decided  that  public  convenience  and 
necessity  would  not  be  promoted  by  allowing  a  second  tele- 
phone company  to  commence  its  operations  in  a  territory 
already  served.    At  the  same  time  the  commission  finds  that 


ULY   13,    1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


89 


le  service  now  rendered  by  the  Westphalia  Telephone 
"ompany  is  inadequate  to  meet  the  public  needs,  and  it  has 
lierefore  been  ordered  that  the  Westphalia  company  be 
iven  thirty  days  in  which  to  place  its  lines  in  good  condi- 
ion  to  furnish  adequate  service.  If  at  the  expiration  of 
liat  period  the  service  is  not  satisfactory  and  adequate,  the 
ommission  will  consider  a  motion  for  a  rehearing. 

OHIO   COMMISSION. 

The  Sycamore  Telephone  Company  has  been  refused 
uthority  by  the  Ohio  Public  Service  Commission  to  change 
ts  form  of  organization  from  a  partnership  to  a  corpora- 
ion  and  sell  the  original  plant  to  the  new  company  for 
60,000.  Representatives  of  the  commission  made  an  in- 
estigation  and  reported  that  the  value  of  the  physical 
iroperty  is  not  more  than  $35,000.  The  same  decision  was 
endered  in  this  case  on  Feb.  27,  the  company  having  made 

new  application  after  the  reappraisement  of  the  property. 

WISCONSIN    COMMISSION. 

The  commission  has  just  refused  a  rehearing  in  the  case 
)f  the  city  of  Waupaca  versus  the  Waupaca  Electric  Light 
i  Railway  Company,  in  reference  to  charges  for  street 
ighting,  and  the  city  has  paid  bills  in  arrears  amounting  to 
54,579.20  for  thirty  street  lamps  for  twenty-four  months, 
rhis  closes  a  case  which  has  attracted  wide  attention  among 
ill  who  are  interested  in  street  lighting. 

The  commission  has  recently  published  the  decision  of  the 
A'isconsin  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of  the  Calumet 
service  Company  versus  the  city  of  Chilton,  upholding  the 
efusal  of  the  commission  to  grant  the  city  a  certificate  of 
)ublic  convenience  and  necessity,  clothing  it  with  authority 
0  erect  a  municipal  plant  and  compete  with  the  company, 
rhe  latter  was  found  to  be  meeting  its  public  obligations 
:fficiently,  and,  having  obtained  an  indeterminate  permit, 
iccording  to  law,  was  entitled  to  protection  from 
:ompetition.; 


Current  News  and  Notes 


Philadelphia  N.  E.  L.  A.  Officers. — At  the  last  annual 
meeting  of  the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company  Section  of 
Ihe  National  Electric  Light  Association  the  following 
officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year:  Mr.  B.  Frank 
Day,  chairman;  Mr.  Frank  A.  Birch,  vice-chairman;  Mr. 
H.  R.  Kern,  treasurer,  and  Mr.  Jos.  B.  Seaman,  secretary. 

*  *     * 

Rubber-Covered  Wire  Specifications. — Mr.  Ray  Pal- 
mer, the  city  electrician  of  Chicago,  has  issued  a  notice  to 
the  effect  that  on  and  after  July  i,  1912,  all  rubber-covered 
wire  for  use  in  Chicago  must  comply  with  the  191 1  specifica- 
tions of  the  National  Electrical  Code.  This  ruling  applies 
to  rubber-covered  wire  in  all  sizes  and  includes  fixture  wire, 
flexible  cords,  etc. 

*  *     * 

Boulder  (Col.)  Wiring  Ordinance. — The  city  of 
Boulder,  Col.,  has  passed  an  ordinance  requiring  all  electric 
wiring  installations  on  and  after  Sept.  i,  1912,  to  be  made 
exclusively  with  rubber-covered  wire  under  the  rules  of  the 
1911  National  Electrical  Code.  The  passage  of  this  or- 
dirfance  followed  the  recent  action  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
Fire  Underwriters'  Association  adopting  the  same  rule. 

*  *     * 

University  of  Illinois  Bulletins. — Three  bulletins  re- 
cently issued  by  the  University  of  Illinois  present  addresses 
delivered  before  the  College  of  Engineering  on  several  in- 
teresting topics.  Bulletin  No.  25  contains  an  address  by 
Mr.  C.  A.  Seley,  on  "Conference  Committee  Methods  in 
Handling  Railway  Legislation  on  Mechanical  Matters"; 
Bulletin   No.  2y  contains  an  address   on   "Organization   in 


Engineering,"  by  Mr.  H.  M.  Byllesby,  and  Bulletin  No.  28 
contains  an  address  by  Mr.  C.  F.  Loweth  on  "Personal 
Efficiency."  Prof.  W.  F.  M.  Goss,  dean  and  director  of 
the  Engineering  College,  University  of  Illinois,  Urbana,  111., 
should  be  communicated  with  by  anyone  desiring  to  obtain 
copies  of  these  addresses. 

Report  of  Chicago  Board  of  Supervising  Engineers. — 
The  third  annual  report  of  the  Board  of  Supervising  Engi- 
neers, Chicago  Traction,  covering  the  fiscal  year  ended 
Jan.  31,  1910,  has  recently  appeared.  This  is  a  compre- 
hensive document  of  529  pages  and  sixteen  chapters.  In 
general  the  scope  of  the  report  is  similar  to  that  of  previous 
ones,  and  it  has  been  the  special  object  to  incorporate 
therein  accurate  data  conveying  information  not  only  as 
to  the  board's  activities,  expenditures,  etc.,  but  also  to  make 
a  permanent  record  of  the  more  important  work  carried 
out,  the  precedents  established,  the  standards  developed  and 
the  technical  investigations  which  it  was  necessary  to  make. 
The  statistical  material  has  been  supplemented  by  numerous 
inserts  of  maps,  charts  and  drawings  showing  the  various 
types  of  construction  employed.  Those  desiring  copies  of, 
this  report  should  address  the  Board  of  Supervising  Engi- 
neers, Chicago  Traction,  Chicago,  111. 
*     *     * 

Inspection  of  Appalachian  Plant. — General  Manager 
H.  W.  Fuller  of  the  Appalachian  Power  Company,  Blue- 
field,  W.  Va.,  was  host  to  more  than  100  mine  operators  and 
others  interested  in  the  large  application  of  power  on  a  trip 
recently  to  developments  Nos.  2  and  4  of  the  company,  on 
the  New  River.  A  special  train  was  engaged,  leaving 
Bluefield  early  in  the  morning  and  returning  in  the  evening. 
The  special  dinner  menu  card  was  in  the  form  of  a  folder, 
the  outside  cover  being  black,  setting  off  in  contrast  the 
white  outline  of  the  large  sign  of  the  Appalachian  Power 
Company  recently  erected  on  the  hill  overlooking  Bluefield. 
Sketched  through  the  card  inside  were  the  outlines  of  a 
high-tension  transmission  line.  Representatives  of  the  com- 
pany personally  conducted  the  party  over  the  developments, 
making  explanations  and  describing  the  work.  It  was  an- 
nounced that  development  No.  4  will  be  ready  to  furnish 
service  on  Aug.  i,  and  development  No.  2  on  Oct.  i.  The 
former  will  have  an  equipment  rating  of  9000  kw  and  the 
latter  one  of  20,000  kw.  A  thirty-six  page  booklet  detailing 
the  history  of  the  company  and  containing  photographs  and 
statistics  showing  the  progress  of  the  work  to  date  was 
given  each  guest  as  a  souvenir.  Besides  Mr.  Fuller,  other 
representatives  of  the  company  in  the  party  were  Messrs. 
H.  W.  Buck,  M.  A.  Viele,  L.  G.  Gresham,  B.  W.  Lynch, 
D.  M.  Bunn,  A.  Felio  and  H.  E.  Shed. 


State  Managers  for  Central  Division  Bell  Telephone 
Companies. — Commencing  July  i  the  Bell  telephone  com- 
panies in  the  several  states  comprising  the  central  division 
— Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin — have 
been  placed  under  separate  state  managers,  all  of  whom 
will  report  to  the  vice-president  and  general  manager,  Mr. 
Alonzo  Burt,  at  Chicago.  Mr.  B.  E.  Sunny,  who  is  vice- 
president  of  the  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company 
and  a  director  in  the  General  Electric  Company,  continues 
as  president  of  the  Chicago  company.  In  order  to  devote 
all  his  attention  to  the  new  plan  of  supervision,  Mr.  Burt  has 
resigned  his  duties  as  treasurer  to  Mr.  C.  E.  Mosley,  for- 
merly secretary.  Mr.  W.  I.  Mizner,  formerly  assistant 
secretary  of  the  Michigan  company,  has  succeeded  Mr. 
Mosley  as  secretary  of  the  Chicago  company.  Mr.  H.  F. 
Hill,  formerly  general  manager  for  the  five  states,  has  been 
appointed  general  manager  for  Illinois  under  the  new  ar- 
rangement. The  other  state  managers  and  their  headquar- 
ters are:  Indiana,  Mr.  L.  N.  Whitney,  Indianapolis;  Ohio, 
Mr.    E.   A.    Reed,    Columbus;    Michigan.   Mr.    E.   A.    Von 


90 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


Schlegell,  Detroit;  Wisconsin,  Mr.  H.  O.  Seymour,  Mil- 
waukee. Mr.  J.  G.  Wray  continues  as  chief  engineer  of 
the  company. 

*  *     * 

The  Cost  of  Illumination  in  Labor. — On  page  1421  of 
our  issue  dated  June  29,  it  was  stated  that  the  author  gave 
estimates  showing  that  in  a  certain  factory  operating  ten 
hours  per  day  for  three  hundred  days  per  year  the  cost  of 
good  iHumination  per  man  amounts  to  $1.72  per  day,  or  the 
equivalent  of  a  man's  time  for  2.9  months.  The  statement 
of  the  estimates  is  evidently  in  error.  The  actual  values 
given  by  the  author  were  $0.0172  per  day  or  the  equivalent 
of  a  man's  time  for  2.9  minutes. 

*  *     * 

International  Association  of  Municipal  Elec- 
tricians.— The  proceedings  of  the  sixteenth  annual  con- 
vention of  the  International  Association  of  Municipal  Elec- 
tricians, which  was  held  at  Atlantic  City,  N.  J.,  last  year, 
have  recently  been  distributed  in  bound-volume  form. 
Eight  papers  read  before  the  convention  are  presented  in 
full,  together  with  the  discussion  of  each  one.  The  presi- 
dent of  the  association  is  Mr.  John  W.  Kelly,  Jr..  of  Cam- 
den, N.  J.,  and  the  secretary  is  Mr.  Clarence  R.  George. 
Houston,  Texas. 

*  *     * 

Automatic  Telephone  Aids  Gamblers. — According  to 
recent  reports  from  Chicago  the  use  of  the  automatic  tele- 
phone by  handbook  operators  has  greatly  increased  this 
form  of  gambling.  The  police  say  that  the  absence  of 
manual  operators  makes  it  necessary  to  conduct  a  "blind" 
hunt  for  the  gambling  places.  They  also  report  that  the 
automatic  signals  or  ticks  which  indicate  the  called  numbers 
occur  in  such  rapid  succession  that  it  is  impossible  for  any- 
one listening  on  the  circuits  to  count  them.  It  is  also  re- 
ported that  a  number  of  gambling  places  recently  raided 
have  been  found  equipped  with  automatic  telephones. 

*  *     * 

Chicago  Telephone-Rate  Reports  Delayed. — At  a 
meeting  of  the  gas,  oil  and  electric-light  committee  of  the 
Chicago  City  Council  on  July  i  Prof.  E.  W.  Bemis.  the 
expert  employed  by  the  city  to  review  the  Hagenah  report 
on  the  Chicago  Telephone  Company's  valuation,  announced 
that  his  own  report  will  be  delayed  until  after  the  Council's 
vacation  period,  pending  the  filing  of  the  appraisals  which 
are  being  made  by  the  H.  M.  Byllesby  and  Arnold  com- 
panies. These  reports  are  now  scheduled  for  July  15,  and 
Prof.  Bemis  offered  to  have  his  review  ready  by  Aug.  i. 
since  he  will  depend  for  some  of  his  valuation  figures  on 
the  engineers'  reports.  On  account  of  the  Council  vacation 
period,  however,  the  rate  expert  was  given  until  Sept.  I  to 
complete  his  analysis.  The  Chicago  Telephone  Company 
has  offered  the  Council  assurances  of  the  completeness  of 
the  valuation  reports  under  way,  on  which,  it  is  said,  nearlv 
$200,000  will  have  been  expended  when  they  are  finished. 

*  *     ♦ 

Railway  Wages  and  the  Cost  of  Living. — The  Bureau 
of  Railway  Economics,  which  was  established  by  the  rail- 
ways of  the  United  States  for  the  scientific  study  of  trans- 
portation problems,  has  just  published  and  distributed  a 
bulletin  entitled  "A  Comparative  Study  of  Railway  Wages 
and  the  Cost  of  Living  in  the  United  States,  the  United 
Kingdom  and  the  Principal  Countries  of  Continental 
Europe."  The  bulletin  embraces  seventy-seven  pages,  and 
the  countries  from  which  statistics  were  gathered  include 
the  United  States,  United  Kingdom,  France.  Germany, 
Austria-Hungary,  Belgium  and  Italy.  The  summary  con- 
tains the  statement  that  it  is  well  within  the  truth  to  esti- 
mate, in  a  general  way,  that  while  the  cost  of  living  of  a 
railway  employee  in  the  United  States  is  less  than  50  per 
cent  higher  than  that  of  a  corresponding  employee  in  the 
United  Kingdom  or  on  the  Continent,  his  compensation 
averages  more  than  twice   as  much.     Anvone   desiring  a 


copy  of  the  bulletin  should  address  Mr.  Logan  C.  McPher- 
son,  director  of  the  Bureau  of  Railway  Economics,  Wash- 
ington. D.  C. 

*     *     * 

Progress  o.\  D.a.m  at  Keokuk. — The  romance  and  trials 
of  battles  with  ice  and  flood,  as  well  as  the  steadily  advanc- 
ing progress  of  the  construction  work  on  the  Mississippi 
River  dam  at  Keokuk,  la.,  are  interestingly  indicated  in  the 
June  Bulletin  just  issued  by  the  company  which  is  carrying 
out  the  development.  May  has  been  the  record  month  of 
progress  thus  far,  about  1000  cu.  yd.  of  concrete  being 
placed  each  day,  bringing  the  work  on  the  power-house 
superstructure  within  70  per  cent  of  completion,  while  the 
lock  stands  ^5  per  cent  finished.  Although  the  cofferdam 
was  entirely  submerged  from  March  19  to  May  I,  work  has 
been  resumed  and  the  entire  structure  will  be  completed 
well  within  the  original  time  limit,  and  within  the  estimated 
cost.  Severe  ice  and  flood  conditions  have  marked  the  re- 
cent winter  and  spring.  On  April  6  the  power-house  coffer- 
dam, although  designed  for  a  total  depth  up  to  25  ft.  6  in., 
was  within  3  in.  of  being  overtopped  by  the  flood,  and  only 
the  most  heroic  and  resourceful  work  on  the  part  of  the 
men  saved  the  thin  wall  from  being  cut  through.  The 
damage  was  confined  to  the  loss  of  a  small  building  used  as 
a  powder  house,  the  entire  amount  not  exceeding  $1,000. 
.■\lthough  the  cofferdam  was  originally  designed  for  a  12-ft 
stage,  it  was  fortunately  heightened  by  several  feet  and 
strengthened  before  the  height  of  the  flood,  17.8  ft.,  was 
reached.  Nearly  65,000  sand  bags  were  employed  in  stop- 
ping slides  and  protecting  the  banks  against  wash. 


SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 
Mai.ne  Electric  Convention. — The  annual  meeting  of 
the  Maine  Electric  Association  will  be  held  on  July  25  and 
26  at  Portland,   Maine.   Mr.  Walter  S.  Wyman,  Augusta, 
Maine,  is  secretary  of  the  association. 

*  *     * 

.\ssociATioN  OF  Edison  Illuminating  Companies. — The 
annual  meeting  of  the  Association  of  Edison  Illuminating 
Companies  will  be  held  from  Sept.  10  to  12,  at  Hot  Springs, 
\'a.     Mr.  Walter  Neumiller,  55  Duane  Street,  New  York, 

is  the  assistant  secretary. 

*  *     * 

Georgia  Section  N.  E.  L.  A. — The  Georgia  Section  of 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association  has  planned  its 
annual  convention  for  Aug.  15  to  17  at  Tybee.  Mr.  I.  S. 
Mitchell,  Georgia  Railway  &  Power  Company,  Atlanta,  Ga., 
is  the  secretary. 

*  ♦     * 

Kansas  Convention. — The  annual  meeting  of  the  Kansas 
Gas,  Water.  Electric  Light  and  Street  Railway  Association 
will  be  held  at  Manhattan,  Kan.,  Oct.  17,  18  and  19.  Prof. 
B.  F.  Eyer.  of  Manhattan,  is  president  of  the  association, 
and  Mr.  J.  D.  Nicholson,  Newton,  is  the  secretary. 

*  *     * 

CoLOR.\Do  Electric  Convention. — The  ne.xt  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  Colorado  Electric  Light,  Power  and  Railway 
-Association  will  be  held  about  the  middle  of  September  at 
Glenwood  Springs.  The  secretary  of  the  association  is 
^Ir.  Thomas  F.  Kennedy,  900  Fifteenth  Street.  Denver,  Col. 

*  *     * 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  Wisconsin. — 
The  annual  meeting  of  the  Electrical  Contractors'  Associa- 
tion of  Wisconsin  will  be  held  at  Chain-of-Lakes,  Wis.,  on 
Aug.  15,  16  and  17.  Members  of  the  organization  and  their 
families  will  assemble  at  Oshkosh  on  the  evening  of  Aug.  14, 
and  early  the  following  day  they  will  board  a  steamer  for 
Gills  Landing.  From  that  point  the  "Soo"  train  is  scheduled 
to  take  the  party  to  Waupaca,  arriving  at  Chain-of-Lakes 
about  5  p.  m.  Mr.  Albert  Petermann,  66  Cawker  Building, 
Milwaukee.  Wis.,  is  secretary  of  the  association. 


HYDROELECTRIC  PLANT  AT  ESTACADA,  ORE. 


New  Generating  Plant    of   the  Portland  Railway,   Light  &  Power  Company 
on  Clackamas   River,  30  Miles  from   Portland. 


Station   Operated   in  Tandem   With   the  Older  Plant  at  Cazadero,  3.5  Miles   Further  Up   the   River — 
Design  and   Cost  Data  of  935-Ft.   Dam   of  Hollow  Ambursen  Type  and  Generating 
Station,  Ultimately  to  Contain   Five  6000-hp  Units. 


URING  the  early  part  of  November, 
191 1,  the  Portland  (Ore.)  Railway, 
Light  &  Power  Company  put  into 
operation  the  first  unit  m  t»ie  second 
hydraulic  plant  on  ihe  Clackamas 
River.  This  plant  is  located  about  30 
miles  from  the  center  of  Portland  and 
j.25  miles  below  the  Cazadero  devel- 
opment. The  dam  itself  is  considered 
very  remarkable  in  that  the  structure 
is  of  the  hollow  Ambursen  type.  The 
total  length  is  935  ft.,  with  a  spill- 
way 407  ft.  long.  The  generating  plant  and  step-up  trans- 
formers are  under  the  same  roof. 

The  water  storage  supporting  this  large  development  is 
found  in  the  Clackamas  basin,  which  extends  from  the 
Willamette  River  east,  southeast  and  south,  up  the  western 
slope  and  into  the  foothills  of  the  Cascade  range,  finding 
its  source  in  a  plateau-iike  area  that  extends  from  Mount 
Jefferson  on  the  south  to  Mount  Baker  on  the  north.  The 
area  drained  by  the  stream  and  its  tributaries  is  about  934 
sq.  miles,  of  which  approximately  75.5  per  cent  is  above 
the  Estacada  development. 

The  south  and  west  slopes  of  the  Clackamas  basin  are  of 
a  rocky,  precipitous  character,  making  steep  slopes  with  a 
relatively  light  cover  of  soil  on  the  underlying  rock.  This 
condition  results  in  a  rapid  delivery  of  the  rainfall  to  the 
stream.  The  easterly  slope  from  the  source  to  the  Oak 
Grove  River  is  of  the  same  character.  From  there  to  the 
north  fork  of  the  Clackamas  River  a  number  of  small  lakes 
abound.  The  country  hereabouts  is  very  marshy  and  is 
mainly  in  the  National  Forest  Reserve,  the  heavy  timber  of 
which  naturally  retards  the  melting  of  the  heavy  winter 
snows.      The    records   of   flow   obtained    from    the   streams 


draining  this  area  into  the  Clackamas  tend  to  show  that  a 
large  percentage  of  the  total  Clackamas  flow  during  the 
low-water  months  comes  from  this  district. 

RAINF.\LL  RECORDS. 

Below  are  tabulated  the  average  yearly  records  obtained 
from  the  points  designated,  together  with  the  period  of 
time  covered: 


Years. 

Average  Rainfall, 
in  Inches. 

Portlanrl 

Government  Camp 

Ca^.idcro 

62 
17 
3 

42.45 
S1.S9 
54.41 

The  average  monthly  records  of  rainfall  in  inches  for 
dry,  wet  and  average  years  are  as  follows : 


Dry. 

Wet. 

.Averace. 

Years. 

Portland 

.Albany 

2.8 
2.8 
5.5 
7.5 
2.S 
2.8 
4.. 5 
2.0 

4.2 

4.2 

1(1.2 

5.1 

4.4 
4.1 
5.5 
5.1 

4.S 

3.71 

3.73 

7.1 

6.31 

3.76 

3.42 

5.02 

3.9 

4.12 

39 
35 
13 

Bull  Run 

8 

Mount  Angel 

Maramonte  Farm           

Cazadero 

McMinnville 

.Stafford 

20 
9 
2 

8 
S 

STORAGE. 

The  pond  formed  above  the  dam  is  located  in  a  rocky 
gorge  the  precipitous  sides  of  which  make  an  admirable 
reservoir  about  3J4  miles  long  with  a  storage  space  for  1600 
acre- ft.,  having  an  area  of  80  acres. 


Fig.    1  —  Estacada    Dam    and    Power    House. 


92 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol,  6o,  No.  2. 


On  account  of  its  swiftness  the  stream  never  freezes, 
making  it  comparatively  easy  to  obtain  accurate  stream- 
flow  data,  and  records  have  been  made  for  a  number  of 
years.  From  this  fact  it  will  be  noted  that  the  engineers 
were  well  fortified  with  a  great  amount  of  extremely  valuable 
mformation,  enabling  them  to  give  the  proposed  sites  the 
most  careful  consideration  before  making  the  final  selection. 


full  advantage  can  be  taken  of  the  storage  above  the 
Cazadero  plant  during  the  low-water  months. 

Third,  it  was  possible  to  use  short  penstocks,  thereby 
obtaining  a  high  hydraulic  efficiency  and  good  regulation 
of  the  turbines. 

An  exhaustive  study  was  made  of  the  three  prospective 


Fig.   2 — Map    Showing    Clackamas    River   and    Drainage    Basin. 

The  stream-flow  records  of  the  past  five  years  expressed 
in  cu.  ft.  per  second  are  as  follows : 


1906. 

1907. 

1908. 

1909. 

1910. 

Maximum  flow 

20,400 

774 

3 ,  109 

34,000 

500 

3,4  19 

36,500 

740 

2,741 

3  7 , 600* 
825 
3,290 

18,600 

819 

2,560 

Minimum  flow 

Average  flow 

PRELIMINARY  SURVEY. 

The  development  under  discussion  in  this  article  is  not  the 
first  made  on  this  stream.  One  other  plant,  the  Cazadero, 
has  been  operated  since  February,  1907.  In  addition  to 
these  two  developments  other  available  sites  are  under 
investigation  by  the  company's  engineers. 

There  were  three  reasons  for  selecting  this  particular 
site  at  the  time: 

First,  its  suitability  from  a  construction  standpoint,  quick 


Fig.   4 — Estacada    Plant   and    Dam. 

sites  at  River  Mill.  The  one  finally  chosen  offered  advan- 
tages from  a  construction  and  foundation  standpoint.  For 
about  six  months  prior  to  the  starting  of  actual  construction 
work  the  foundation  material  was  investigated,  "diamond" 
and  "shot"  core  drills  being  used  to  obtain  samples  of  the 
underlying  formation.  The  holes  made  were  used  for 
hydraulic  testing  of  this  formation  and  later  for  forcing 
grout  into  the  interstices  and  crevasses  of  the  bedrock. 

W.\TER   INT.\KE, 

The  water  of  the  pond,  formed  directly  back  of  the  dam, 
can  be  discharged  in  three  different  ways.  One  is  over  the 
spillway  section  of  the  dam.  another  is  through  the  sluice- 
ways under  the  dam,  and  the  third  is  through  one  or  all  of 
the  five  penstocks  that  furnish  water  to  the  wheels  in  the 
power  plant  below. 

The  penstocks  are  made  of  steel  plates  11  ft.  in  diameter 
and  varying  in  thickness  from  J^  in.  at  the  intake  to  "/^  in. 
at  tlie  discharge.     They  run  in  alternate  bays  of  the  dam 


t> 

-g^iar-     ^v<fe 

1 

n 

Bib 

*^^ 

^ 

■^ 

^S. 

«■      til                     _/- 

m- 

i' 

MsHHEBMiBy^' 

Fig.   3 — Ambursen-Type   Dam   with    Hollow   Construction. 

development  here  being  possible  as  it  is  adjacent  to  the  rail- 
road, thus  reducing  transportation  difficulties  to  a  minimum 
with  resulting  low  costs  in  the  handling  and  shipping  of 
materials. 

Second,  being  in  tandem  with  the  Cazadero  development 

•The    high     1909    maximum    was    attributed    to    a    flood    condition    that 
occurred   in   November  of  that  year 


Fig.     5 — Fish     Ladder    at     Estacada     Plant. 

Structure    and    are    supported    at    different    points    in    their 
length  by  reinforced  concrete  beams. 

The  penstock  openings  in  the  upstream  face  of  the  dam 
are  of  rectangular  cross-section  1 1.5  ft.  in  diameter,  with 
rounded  corners.  This  rectangular  section  is  not  over  6  ft. 
long.  The  main  part  of  the  penstock  is  circular  in  cross- 
section. 


JLI.Y    13,    1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


93 


The  supply  gates  are  arranged  for  either  hand  or  motor 
control.  By  means  of  tlie  motor  control  the  gates  can  be 
raised  and  lowered  from  the  switchboard  gallery.  Each 
gate  consists  of  six  horizontal  15-in.  8o-lb.  I-beams  secured 
to  two  is-in.  channels,  one  at  either  end,  by  means  of 
angles  making  a  square  gate  12.5  in.  on  the  side.  The  inner 
face  of  the  head  gate  is  covered  by  a  J/^-in.  steel  plate 
riveted  to  the  I-beam  structure.  A  great  deal  of  study  was 
put  in  on  the  operating  features  of  the  supply  gates,  all 
available  data  were  gone  over,  and  the  company's  engineers 
visited  many  plants  in  order  to  obtain  the  best  features 
of  all.  Of  course  the  company's  own  plants  offered  much 
opportunity  for  this  study. 

The  raising  and  lowering  of  the  gates  is  accomplished  by 
means  of  two  15-in.,  6o-lb.  I-beams,  approximately  50  ft. 
long,  secured  to  the  I-beam  structure  of  the  gate  bv  means 


THE  DAM  PROPER. 

The  total  length  of  the  dam  is  935  ft.,  of  which  407  ft. 
forms  a  spillway.  It  is  constructed  of  reinforced  concrete. 
In  construction  it  consists  of  a  series  of  buttresses  spaced 
on  from  14-ft.  to  i8-ft.  centers,  running  back  under  the 
whole  depth  of  the  dam  and  increasing  in  thickness  from 
the  top  downward.  In  the  dam  under  discussion  the  top 
thickness  is  15  in.,  increasing  to  48  in.  at  the  bottom  in  the 
case  of  the  highest  buttresses.  The  buttresses  are  laterally 
braced  by  reinforced  concrete  beams,  18  in.  by  12  in.  The 
bays  between  the  buttresses  are  provided  with  vents  to 
relieve  vacuum  stresses  at  times  of  heavy  floods. 

On  account  of  the  foundation  material  it  was  decided  to 
install  a  cut-off  wall  running  the  entire  length  of  the  face 
of  the  dam.  A  trench  was  excavated  8  ft.  wide  and  from 
S  ft.  to  10  ft.  below  the  foundations.     Three  rows  of  holes 


Fig. 


-Interior   View   of    Ectacada    Plant. 


of  fishplates.  These  two  stems  are  spaced  5.5  ft.  center  to 
center.  On  these  two  stems  are  attached  two  cast-steel 
racks,  meshing  with  the  mechanism  shown  in  Fig.  7.  The 
teeth  on  the  racks  and  pinions  are  staggered  and  shrouded. 

TRASH   RACKS. 

At  certain  times  of  the  year  the  river  rises  to  such  an 
extent  that  a  great  quantity  of  loose  wood,  leaves,  etc.,  is 
picked  up  and  carried  along  by  the  current.  For  this  reason 
it  was  necessary  to  install  trash  racks  before  each  of  the 
supply  gates.  The  racks  in  each  section  are  37  ft.  long  and 
4  ft.  8  in.  wide,  made  up  of  3.5-in.  by  5/16-in.  steel  bars 
spaced  1.25  in.  apart.  The  spacing  is  accomplished  by  means 
of  iron-pipe  spools  on  '^-in.  rods  spaced  20  ft.  apart  longi- 
tudinally. The  racks  are  supported  by  a  framework  of 
channel  iron  and  I-beams  anchored  in  the  concrete  of  the 
dam.  There  is  approximately  260.000  lb.  of  iron  riveted  and 
bolted  together  and  covered  with  two  coats  of  paint. 


were  drilled  in  the  bottom  of  the  trench  for  its  entire  length, 
averaging  in  depth  50  ft.  below  the  bottom  of  the  concrete 
cut-off.  The  holes  were  approximately  3  in.  in  diameter,  on 
6-ft.  centers.  Where  necessary  the  spacing  was  reduced 
by  the  introduction  of  intermediate  holes,  resulting  in  an 
ultimate  spacing  of  3  ft.  The  holes  on  the  primary  line 
were  located  opposite  each  other  and  the  intermediate  or 
proving  row  of  holes  was  staggered  with  relation  to  the 
primaries. 

After  drilling,  iron  pipes  threaded  at  one  end  for  a  cap 
were  driven  in  each  hole  and  cement  grout  of  the  con- 
sistency of  gruel  was  forced  into  the  holes  under  about  200 
lb.  per  inch  pressure.  The  purpose  of  this  grouting  was  to 
fill  up  the  voids  in  the  foundations  to  prevent  seepage  and 
consequent  erosion.  The  scheme  proved  successful  as 
shown  by  the  fact  that  after  the  dam  had  been  closed  and 
the  pond  filled  comparatively  little  seepage  developed  in 
the  lest  holes  put  down  for  the  purpose. 


'M 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


For  waterproofing  the  deck,  crest  and  apron  of  the  dam, 
hydrate  of  lime  was  used  in  the  proportion  of  30  lb.  per 
cubic  yard  of  concrete.  In  this  grouting  work  34,038  linear 
ft.  of  drilling  was  done  and  7778  bags  of  cement  were  used. 
The  average  cost  per  foot  of  drilling  and  grouting  was 
made  up  as  follows: 


Cement 

Labor,  drilling 

Labor,  grouting 

Repairs  to  equipment  shot,  oil,  fittings,  etc 

Plant  cost,  no  allow.ince  for  salvage* 

Use  of  general  constniction  plant  and  energy  cost. 


50.  12 
0..iS 
CIS 
0.17 
0..'0 
0.37 

51.  72 


The  total  excavation  was  105.383  cu.  yd.,  made  up  of 
73,549  from  dam  and  power  house,  19,440  from  tailrace, 
10,039  from  railroad  spur  and  2355  from  diverting  ditch. 

The  average  cost  per  cubic  yard  for  excavation,  including 
all  overhead  charges,  e.xplosives  and  proportion  of  plant 
charge,  was  $1.72. 

The  total  of  concrete  placed  was  57,231  cu,  yd.,  made  up 
of  16,248  cu.  yd.  of  1 12:4  and  40,983  cu.  yd.  of  i  :3:6. 

The  form  work  for  this  type  of  dam  made  a  total 
obviously  of  considerable  magnitude,  1,593,098  linear  ft.  of 
lumber  being  used.  The  form  cost  per  cubic  yard  of  con- 
crete for  the  dam  was  $3.91  and  for  power  house  $2.57. 

The  concrete  costs,  per  cubic  yard,  exclusive  of  forms 
and  reinforcing  steel,  were  $7.05  for  the  1:2:4  and  $5.95 
for  the  1:3:6  mixture,  including  the  costs  of  forms  and 
reinforcing  steel.  The  plant  and  overhead  charges  were 
$14.60  per  cubic  yard  for  1:3:6  in  the  dam  and  $16.96  in 
the  power  house  and  $15.70  pfr  cubic  yard  for  i  :2:4.  There 
was  used  10,495  cu.  yd.  of  concrete,  in  a  mixture  of  30  lb. 
of  hydrate  of  lime  to  the  cubic  yard  of  concrete,  for  water- 
proofing the  deck  of  the  dam.  This  increased  the  cost  per 
cubic  yard  $0.23.  Altogether  2,050,514  lb.  of  reinforcing 
steel  was  used.  The  cost  of  placing  this  steel  amounted  to 
15  cents  per  cubic  yard  of  concrete. 

POWER   HOUSE. 

The  power  house  is  constructed  of  reinforced  concrete. 
The  roof  is  of  reinforced  concrete  covered  with  paper  and 
tar  and  gravel  and  supported  by  a  steel  truss.  The  dimen- 
sions of  the  building  are  175  ft.  by  60  ft.     Some  idea  of  the 


Fig.    7 — Main-Gate    Hoist. 

arrangement  of  the  apparatus  and  of  the  plant  can  be  gained 
by  a  study  of  Fig.  6. 

The  generating  apparatus  is  located  on  the  main  floor, 
the  switchboard  on  a  gallery,  and  all  other  devices  are  placed 
in  compartments  suitably  arranged  in  bays  between  the 
hydraulic  equipment  buttresses  of  the  dam  proper. 

Although  provision  has  been  made  in  the  building  for 
five  units,  at  present  there  are  only  three,  of  6ooo-hp  rating. 


consisting  of  two  Victor-Francis  bronze  runners,  51  in.  in 
diameter  on  one  shaft — one  left-hand  and  the  other  right- 
hand.  The  runners  are  flanged  to  bolt  on  to  the  forged 
shaft,  and  the  flanges  are  so  designed  as  to  allow  the  dis- 
mantling of  both  runners  through  the  rear  end  of  the  turbine 
unit.    The  runners  are  perfectly  balanced. 

Each  wheel  casing  is  made  up  of  four  parts  and  is  of 


Fig.    8 — High-Tension    Oil    Switch. 

scroll  type,  having  a  diameter  at  the  inlet  of  6.5  ft.  At  the 
point  of  inlet  to  the  runners  the  casings  are  stiffened  by 
ribs  cast  in  one  piece  with  the  casing.  These  ribs  are  so 
placed  as  to  facilitate  the  entrance  of  the  water  and  increase 
its  velocity  in  its  passage  from  the  casing  to  the  runners. 

The  gates  on  each  prime  mover  are  cast  of  one  piece  of 
steel,  the  pivoting  stems  being  so  placed  that  the  hydraulic 
pressure  on  the  gates  will  tend  to  close  them.  The  wheels 
discharge  in  the  center  of  the  unit  into  a  common  draft 
tube  8  ft.  in  diameter.  The  wheels  are  provided  with  tw^o 
self-aligning,  self-oiling,  generator-type  bearings  heavily 
babbitted  and  grooved  for  oil.  Water-cooling  coils  have 
been  placed  in  the  oil  space.  All  bearings  can  be  easily  re- 
moved, permitting  of  substitution  of  all  or  part  of  the- 
bearing.  The  swivel  gates  on  each  runner  are  operated  by 
arms  and  links  attached  to  cast-iron  gate  rings.  The 
strength  of  these  links  and  arms  is  less  than  that  of  the  gate 
itself,  to  insure  an  external  rather  tlian  an  internal  breaking, 
to  the  turbine  casing  in  case  of  accident. 

Lombard  oil-pressure  governors  are  used  of  a  normal 
rating  of  30.000  ft.-lb.  The  oil  pump  is  belt-driven  from 
the  unit  on  which  it  is  installed.  The  governor  is  equipped 
with  a  125-volt  direct-current  motor  regulated  from  the 
switchboard.  These  governors  are  "dead-beat"  in  action 
and  are  so  adjusted  as  to  open  completely  or  close  the  gates 
in  two  seconds. 

In  addition  to  the  governor  each  unit  is  provided  with  an 
emergency  closing  device,  which  is  mounted  on  the  back 
bearing. 

The  guaranteed  efficiency  of  the  waterwheels  at  8i-ft^ 
head  was :  Full  load,  80  per  cent ;  three-fourths  load,  82.5 
per  cent:  one-half  load,  72  per  cent.  During  actual  tests 
the  efficiencies  secured  were  as  follows:  Full  load,  81  per 
cent:  three- fourths  load,  84.25  per  cent:  one-half  load,  7J 
per  cent.  The  load  was  calculated  from  the  generator  out- 
put. The  generators  had  been  thoroughly  tested  by  the 
Electrical  Testing  Laboratories  prior  to  shipment,  and  the 
data  thus  secured  were  used  in  determining  the  wheel  out- 
put, while  the  input  to  the  wheels  was  determined  fronts 
the  actual  vertical  head  of  water  and  Pilot  tube  measure- 
ments. Moreover,  one  of  the  runners  had  been  tested  in- 
the  Holyoke  flume.  The  computed  efficiency  for  240  r.p.m. 
and  8i-'ft.  head  from  the  Holyoke  tests  for  three-fourths 
gate  gave  84  per  cent,  while  the  actual  tests  gave  84.25  per 
cent.     At  the  outset  it  was  not  supposed  that  the  two  re- 


LY    13,    I9I2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


95 


Ficis.   9   and   10— Plan   VicAi  and   Cross-Section   Through   Bulkhead  Section    of    Dam    and    Power    House. 


96 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No 


suits  would  check  so  closely,  as  the  test  conditions  at 
Holyoke  were  not  the  same  as  the  conditions  imposed  under 
actual  operatiflri.  The  runaway  speed  of  the  wheels  is 
410  r.p.m.  and  they  are  designed  to  withstand  this  speed, 
although  the  regular  running  speed  is  only  240. 

The  draft  tubes  are  circular  in  section  at  the  point  of 
connection  to  the  bedplate  and  elliptical  in  section  at  the 
point  of  discharge  into  the  tailrace.  They  are  made  of 
5/16  in.  steel  plate,  rolled;  all  points  are  securely  riveted, 
beveled  and  calked  and  made  air-tight. 

ELECTRICAL  EQUIPMENT. 

The  generators  are  located  on  the  main  floor  of  the 
power  station  and  are  directly  connected  to  the  waterwheels 
described  above  The  present  installation  includes  three 
of  the  ultimate  installation  of  five  generators.  They  are 
of  the  revolving-field  type  rated  at  3667  kva,  ii,ooo-volt, 
three-phase,  6o-cycle,  with  thirty  poles,  and  operate  at  240 
r.p.m.  The  generators  are  mounted  over  deep  openings  in 
the  floor  which  connect  with  two  tunnels  or  passageways 
running  longitudinally  under  the  station  floor.     These  tun- 


full 


per    cent    efficiency    at    from    three-fourths    to 
opening. 

The  switcliboard  is  located  on  a  gallery  over  the  m 
floor  on  the  downstream  wall  at  one  end  of  the  plant.  1 
panels  are  of  natural  black  slate  and  are  of  the  two-sect 
type  with  beveled  edges.  They  are  mounted  vertically  w 
pipe  supports  having  adjustable  struts  at  the  top  for  brae; 
to  the  rear  wall.  The  panels  are  90  in.  high  and  2  in.  th 
and  vary  from  20  in.  to  32  in.  in  width.  Each  panel  24 
wide  or  less  has  a  bracket  lamp  and  shade,  and  panels  ra( 
than  24  in.  wide  have  two  lamps  and  shades.  These  Ian 
are  arranged  so  as  not  to  occupy  space  on  the  front  of  1 
panel. 

The  switchboard  instruments  are  of  the  horizontal  edj 
wise  type,  with  scales  ample  to  meet  maximum  operati 
conditions.  Watt-hour  meters  are  mounted  on  bracket  si 
ports  on  the  rear  of  the  panels.  Direct-current  voltmeti 
are  arranged  for  indicating  polarity.  Instruments  operati 
in  connection  with  series  transformers  are  designed  w: 
5-amp  windings.  Each  alternator  and  outgoing  line  pat 
is  equipped  with  a  six-point  synchronizing  receptacle,  a 


THE  PORTLAND   RAILWAY    LIGHT  &   POWER  CO.,   PORTLAND,    ORE, 


-<^<:i—^-j^T^d'-cy-< 


I     /  S.vn, 

*  6        Trans, 


I' 


37.000  V.  Bus 


Y^ Choke  Coil 


7?       //Disc.  Switches   Z/  /_/  r_J 

i.  i.  If  i.  o, 

r~l      CZD-oii  Swi 


r                           Trans.        ^    ^ 
■  7  Choite  Coil S 

"■  '     /ll.OCO  V.   liua  V»M 

-T-  1 


Vi 


Ind.  Motor^  vvl^V 
Transt. 


o,    o.     6,    Of.     c\     e»     or.  JLmei'seiic.v 

( f  I  f  f  iT^  rrr 

OQ  Power  Circuits  (C  «V    o^   o» 


i— I  I  I  I   Ualter: 


Station 
Lighting 


Switchboard  Liahting 


Fig.    11  —  Diagram    of    Connections    of    Estacada    Plant. 


Fig.    12 — High-Tension   Transformer 


nels  contain  hydraulic  piping  and  electrical  conduits  and 
cables  and  afford  an  excellent  natural  ventilation  for  the 
generators.  The  main  generator  leads  are  insulated  with 
varnished  cambric  covered  with  lead.  They  are  single- 
conductor  cables  incased  in  fiber  conduit  installed  in  the 
foundations. 

The  exciters  are  overhung  on  the  end  of  the  generator 
shaft  and  are  rated  as  follows:  Six-pole,  60  kw,  240  r.p.m., 
125  volts,  with  compound  winding  adjusted  for  Tirrill  regu- 
lator operation. 

In  addition  to  the  directly  connected  exciters  on  each  unit, 
there  is  also  a  motor-generator  exciter  set  consisting  of  a 
six-pole,  85-kw,  600-r.p.m.,  125-volt  compound- wound  gen- 
erator directly  connected  to  and  mounted  on  the  same  base 
with  an  induction  motor  with  the  following  rating :  twelve- 
pole,  125  hp,  600  r.p.m.,  230  volts,  three-phase,  60  cycles. 
This  complete  motor-generator  set  is  arranged  for  direct 
connection  to  a  waterwheel  not  yet  mentioned.  This  wheel 
consists  of  a  Victor-Francis  runner  mounted  on  a  horizontal 
shaft  in  a  volute  casing.  The  turbine  is  capable  of  de- 
veloping 150  b.h.p.  at  600  r.p.m.  under  8i-ft.  head  with  80 


the  control  circuits  for  closing  the  respective  oil  switche 
are  electrically  interlocked  through  this  receptacle,  requirini 
that  the  proper  synchronizing  plug  be  in  position  before  an; 
oil  switch  may  be  closed.  An  unusual  feature  is  the  usi 
of  a  double-pole,  double-throw  switch  on  the  alternate 
panels  for  rendering  the  alternator  switches  automatic  whil< 
being  synchronized  but  non-automatic  thereafter.  Tht 
universal  time-limit  overload  relays  serve  to  indicate  over 
loads  or  short  circuits  by  lighting  a  special  red  lamp,  thereb} 
calling  the  operator's  attention  to  the  conditions  when  tht 
operation  of  the  alternator  oil  switch  is  rendered  non-auto- 
matic by  the  above-mentioned  switch. 

The  high-tension  step-up  transformers,  the  alternator  field 
rheostats,  the  step-down  transformers  for  the  exciter  motor- 
generator  set,  all  oil  switches  and  both  11,000-volt  and 
57,000-volt  buses,  together  with  all  high-tension  disconnect- 
ing switches  and  outgoing  line  connections,  are  located  be- 
tween the  supporting  buttresses  of  the  bulkhead  section  of 
the  dam.  This  is  an  advantageous  arrangement  since  the 
main  power  station  is  built  adjacent  to  this  section  of 
the  dam. 


fuLY  13,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


97 


The  step-up  transformers  are  3667-kva  units  of  the  three- 
jhase,  oil-insulated  and  water-cooled  type  and  step  up  the 
sressure  of  11,000  volts  to  57,100  volts.  The  11,000-volt 
;oils  are  delta-connected  and  the  high-tension  windings  star- 
ronnected.  The  water-cooling  coils  are  of  brass,  and  each 
ransformer  has  three  separate  coils.  The  oil  outlets  at  the 
jottom  of  each  transformer  are  connected  to  a  header  in- 
stalled in  the  foundations.  The  header  connects  to  a  large 
steel  tank  placed  in  concrete  under  the  dam  so  that  the 
ransformers  can  be  quickly  drained  of  oil.  A  pump  and 
liter  press  are  arranged  to  filter  this  oil  and  redistribute 
t  to  the  transformers. 

The  transformers  and  generators  have  the  same  rating, 
md  the  ordinary  method  of  operation  is  to  connect  each 
generator  to  its  corresponding  transformer  and  then  to  the 
;7,ooo-volt  tus.  However,  an  11,000-volt  bus  has  been 
nstalled,  and  each  generator  may  be  connected  to  either  the 
ii,ooo-volt  bus  or  directly  to  the  step-up  transformer.  This 
!i,ooo-volt  bus  serves  to  furnish  energy  for  the  motor- 
jenerator  transformer  and  in  case  of  emergency  is  large 
enough  to  be  used  as  a  transfer  connection  between  one  gen- 
■rator  and  a  transformer  in  another  section.  Air  discon- 
lecting  switches  are  used  in  selecting  the  11,000-volt  bus  or 
he  step-up  transformer. 

Both  the  11,000-volt  and  the  57,000-volt  buses  are  mounted 
n  a  horizontal  plane,  on  post-type  insulators,  underneath 
I  concrete  protecting  shelf.  There  are  no  barriers  between 
he  three  phases  of  the  buses.  The  outgoing  lines  pass 
hrough  high-tension  steel-tank  oil  switches  with  discon- 
lecting  switches  on  both  sides  of  the  oil  switch.  The 
.witches  are  rendered  automatic  by  means  of  inverse-time- 
imit  series  relays  operating  the  low-voltage  control  circuit 
)f  the  oil  switch  by  means  of  a  small  contact  switch  on  the 
md  of  an  insulating  rod  made  of  treated  wood.  The  series 
elays.  which  are  in  the  high-tension  circuit,  are  of  the 
irdinary  bellows  type,  similar  to  those  used  in  secondary 
ircuits  of  series  transformers.  There  are  no  series  trans- 
ormers  in  the  high-tension  connections,  and  in  the  place 
if  these  ammeters  have  been  installed  in  each  of  the  three 
ihase  leads  of  the  outgoing  line.  These  ammeters  are  of 
he  series  type  and  are  mounted  directly  on  the  terminals  of 
he  high-tension  switches.  The  high-tension  lines  enter 
ligh-tension  compartments  over  the  roof  of  the  power  sta- 
ion  through  wall  entrance  bushings,  three  of  these  being 
ised  for  the  lines  and  three  for  the  lightning-arrester  con- 
lections.  The  lightning  arresters  are  of  the  aluminum 
•lectrolytic  type  and  the  horn-gaps  are  mounted  outside  of 
he  station.  The  tanks  are  mounted  near  the  top  of  the 
ligh-tension  compartments  on  the  concrete  shelf  protecting 
he  57,000-volt  bus. 

As  was  stated  before,  the  low-tension  windings  of  the 
ransformers  are  connected  in  delta  and  the  high-tension 
.vindings  in  star.  Therefore,  a  feature  of  the  installation 
.vas  the  necessity  of  installing  a  shunt  instrument  trans- 
tormer  on  the  outgoing  line  between  one  phase  and  ground 
n  order  to  obtain  a  potential  in  time  phase  with  the  pressure 
obtained  from  the  shunt  instrument  transformer  on  the 
ilternator  connections,  for  the  purpose  of  synchronizing, 
rhis  required  one  shunt  instrument  transformer  on  each  of 
:he  two  outgoing  lines  with  the  potential  ratio  of  33,000  to 
no  volts. 

Two  shunt  instrument  transformers  with  the  potential 
ratio  of  57,000  to  no  volts  were  installed  on  each  end  of 
:he  sectionalized  57,000-volt  bus  for  Tirrill  regulator  opera- 
tion. The  Tirrill  regulators  are  operated  to  give  constant 
potential  on  the  high-tension  busbars  and  do  not  compensate 
for  line  drop. 

The  headgates  are  motor-operated  and  controlled  from 
the  station  switchboard.  The  gates  are  arranged  with  limit 
switches  at  both  ends  of  travel  and  can  be  stopped  or  started 
at  any  point  of  their  travel,  either  at  the  switchboard  or  in 
the  headgate  house,  which  is  situated  over  the  bulkhead  sec- 
tion of  the  dam. 


FLEXIBLE    SUPPORTS    FOR    OVERHEAD    TRANS- 
MISSION LINES. 


Derivation  of  Some  Simplified  Methods  for  Calculating 

the  Stresses  in  the  Remaining  Conductors 

When  One  of  a  Group  Breaks. 


By  Alfred  Still. 

CALCULATIONS  of  stresses  in  transmission  lines  are 
usually  based  on  the  assumption  that  the  ends  of 
each  span  are  firmly  secured  to  rigid  supports.  This 
condition  is  rarely  fulfilled  in  practice;  there  is  some  "give" 
about  the  poles  or  towers,  especially  when  the  line  is  not 
absolutely  straight,  and  the  insulator  pins  will  bend  slightly 
and  relieve  the  stress  when  this  tends  to  reach  the  point  at 
which  the  elastic  elongation  of  the  wires  will  be  exceeded. 
Then,  again,  the  wires  will  usually  slip  in  the  ties  at  the  in- 
sulators, even  if  these  ties  are  not  specially  designed  to 
yield  or  break  before  damage  is  done  to  the  insulators  or 
supporting  structures.  The  use  of  the  suspension  type  of 
insulator,  which  is  now  becoming  customary  for  the  higher 
voltages,  adds  considerably  to  the  flexibility  of  the  line. 

In  regard  to  the  towers  themselves,  all  steel  structures  for 
dead-ending  lines  or  sections  of  lines  are  necessarily  rigid, 
and  the  usual  light  windmill  type  of  tower  with  wide  base 
is  also  without  any  appreciable  flexibility.  The  latticed 
steel  masts,  as  used  more  generally  in  Europe  than  in 
America,  are  slightly  more  flexible,  and  the  elastic  proper- 
ties of  the  ordinary  wooden  pole  are  well  known.  The  de- 
flection of  a  wooden  pole  may  be  considerable,  and  yet  the 
pole  will  resume  its  normal  shape  when  the  extra  stress  is 
removed. 

The  present-day  tendency  is  undoubtedly  toward  the  in- 
creased use  of  the  so-called  flexible  steel  structures;  that  is 
to  say,  of  steel  supports  designed  to  have  flexibility  in  the 
direction  of  the  line,  without  great  strength  to  resist  stresses 
in  this  direction,  but  with  the  requisite  strength  in  a  direc- 
tion normal  to  the  line  to  resist  the  side  stresses  due  to  wind 
pressures  on  the  wires  and  the  supports  themselves. 

Such  a  design  of  support  has  the  important  advantage 
of  being  cheaper  than  the  rigid  tower  construction,  in  addi- 
tion to  which  it  gives  flexibility  where  this  is  advantageous, 
with  the  necessary  strength  and  stiffness  where  required. 
The  economy  is  not  only  in  the  cost  of  the  tower  itself  but 
in  the  greater  ease  of  transport  over  rough  country,  the 
preparation  of  the  ground,  and  erection. 

The  advantages  of  flexibility  in  the  direction  of  the  line 
are  considerable.  Probably  the  most  severe  stresses  which 
a  transmission  line  should  be  capable  of  withstanding  are 
those  due  to  the  breakages  of  wires.  Such  breakages  may 
be  caused  by  abnormal  wind  pressures,  by  trees  falling 
across  the  line,  or  by  a  burn-out  due  to  any  cause.  Sud- 
denly applied  stresses  such  as  are  caused  by  the  breaking  of 
some  or  all  of  the  wires  in  one  span  are  best  met  by  being 
absorbed  gradually  into  a  flexible  system.  The  supports  on 
each  side  of  the  wrecked  span  will  bend  toward  the  adjoin- 
ing spans,  because  the  combined  pull  of  all  the  wires  in  the 
adjoining  spans  is  greater  than  the  pull  of  the  remaining 
wires,  if  any,  in  the  wrecked  span.  This  movement  of  the 
pole  top  results  in  a  reduction  of  tension  in  the  wires  of  the 
adjoining  span  owing  to  the  increased  sag  of  these  wires; 
there  will  be  an  appreciable  deflection  of  the  second  and 
third  poles  beyond  the  break,  but  the  amount  of  these  suc- 
cessive deflections  will  decrease  at  a  very  rapid  rate  and 
will  rarely  be  noticeable  beyond  the  fourth  or  fifth  pole. 

It  is  obvious  that  as  the  remaining  wires  in  the  faulty 
span  tighten  up  the  stress  increases;  but  the  combined  pull 
of  these  wires  on  the  pole  top  is  smaller  than  it  was  before 
the  accident,  since  it  is  assisted  by  the  pull  of  the  deflected 
poles,  and  these  joint  forces  are  balanced  by  the  combined 
pull  of  all  the  wires  in  the  adjoining  sound  span,  which  pull, 


98 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


as  previously  mentioned,  is  smaller  than  it  was  under  normal 
conditions. 

The  greater  the  flexibility  of  the  supports  in  the  direction 
of  the  line,  the  smaller  will  be  the  extra  load  which  any  one 
support  will  be  called  upon  to  withstand ;  on  the  other  hand, 
it  is  usual  to  provide  anchoring  towers  of  rigid  design  about 
every  mile  or  three-quarter  nule  on  straight  runs,  and  also 
at  angles,  in  addition  to  which  every  fifth  or  sixth  flexible 
tower  may  be  head-guyed  in  both  directions.  It  is  not  un- 
usual to  carry  a  galvanized  Siemens-Martin  steel  strand 
cable  above  the  high  tension  conductors  on  the  tops  of  the 
steel  structures.  This  has  the  double  advantage  of  securely, 
but  not  rigidly,  tying  together  the  supports,  and  of  provid- 
ing considerable  protection  against  the  effects  of  lightning. 
The  disadvantages  are  increased  cost  and  possible — but  not 
probable — danger  of  the  grounded  wire  falling  onto  the  con- 
ductors and  causing  interruption  of  supply. 

The  dead-end  towers  should  be  capable  of  withstanding 
the  combined  pull  of  all  the  wires  on  one  side  only,  when 
these  are  loaded  to  the.  expected  maximum  limit,  without 
the  foundations  yielding  or  the  structure  being  stressed  be- 
yond the  elastic  limit.  The  flexible  supports  must  with- 
stand with  a  reasonable  factor  of  safety  the  dead  weight  of 
conductors,  etc.,  and  the  expected  maximum  side  pressures; 
but  in  the  direction  of  the  line  their  strength  must  neces- 
sarily be  small,  otherwise  the  condition  of  fle.xibility  cannot 
be  satisfied. 

It  is  easy  to  design  braced  A-frame  or  H-frame  steel 
structures  of  sufficient  strength  to  withstand  the  dead  load 
and  lateral  pressure  and  yet  have  great  flexibility,  with  cor- 
respondingly reduced  strength,  in  the  direction  of  the  line. 
Great  care  must  be  used  in  designing  a  line  of  this  type  so 
that  strength  and  durability  shall  not  be  sacrificed  to  light- 
ness and  flexibility  without  very  carefully  considering  the 
problem  in  all  its  aspects.  As  an  approximate  indication 
of  present  practice,  it  may  be  stated  that  a  load  of  from  one- 
twentieth  to  one-tenth  of  the  total  load  for  which  the  rigid- 
strain  towers  are  designed  should  not  stress  the  intermedi- 
ate flexible  structures  beyond  the  elastic  limit.  It  is  well 
to  bear  in  mind  that  at  the  moment  of  rupture  of  one  or 
more  wires  on  a  "flexible"  transmission  line  the  resulting 
stresses  in  the  structures  and  remaining  wires  will  be  in  the 
nature  of  waves  or  surges  until  the  new  condition  of  equi- 
librium is  attained,  and  the  maximum  stresses  immediately 
following  a  rupture  will  generally  exceed  the   final  value. 

The  mathematics  required  for  the  exact  determination  of 
stresses  and  deflections  in  a  transmission  line  consisting  of 
a  series  of  flexible  poles  is  of  a  very  high  order,  even 
when  many  assumptions  are  made  which  practical  conditions 
may  not  justify;  but  the  limiting  steady  values  of  these 
stresses  and  deflections  can  be  calculated  in  the  manner 
about  to  be  described,  and  as  the  range  between  these  limits 
will  usually  not  be  very  great,  the  probable  maximum 
Stresses  under  given  conditions  can  be  estimated  with  a  rea- 
sonable degree  of  accuracy. 

CALCULATIONS   OF  FLEXIBLE-POLE   LINES. 

Consider  a  series  of  poles  as  in  Fig.  i,  the  end  one  being 
rigid  while  all  the  others  are  flexible  and  of  equal  height 
and  stiffness.  It  is  assumed  that  all  spans  were  originally 
of  equal  length  /,  and  that  there  were  b  wires  in  each  span, 
strung  to  a  tension  of  T  pounds  per  square  inch  and  having 
a  corresponding  sag  S.  In  span  No.  i,  terminating  at  the 
rigid  support  some  of  the  wires  have  been  severed,  leaving 
only  a  wires  in  this  span.  It  is  assumed  also  that  there  is 
no  slipping  of  the  wires  in  the  ties  and  no  yielding  of  pole 
foundations. 

The  elastic  deflection  of  a  pole  or  tower  considered  as  a 
beam  fixed  at  one  end  and  loaded  at  the  other  is 

~~3    MI 
where  P  is  the  load,  H  the  height,  M  the  elastic  modulus 
and  /  the  moment  of  inertia  of  the  cross-section. 


In  the  special  case  considered  the  value  of  P,  which  pro- 
duces the  deflection  S,  of  the  first  fle.xible  pole,  is 

P  =  A{bT,-aT,) 
where  A  is  the  cross-section  of  one  conductor  and  T,  and 
T"j  are  the  stresses  in  th«  conductors  of  spans  No.   i  and 
No.  2  respectively.     It  is  assumed  that  all   the  wires  are 
attached  to  the  pole  tops  at  a  point  H  in.  above  ground  level. 


Rigid 
Support 


Fig.    1 — Flexible    Pole    Line. 


IP 


By  putting  K  =    — —  ,  the  successive  deflections  may  be 

written : 

Z,  =  KA{bT,-aT,)  (i) 

l,  =  KAbiT.-T,)  (2) 

and  the  sum  of  the  deflections  of  a  series  of  flexible  poles 

of  the  same  height  and  stiffness  is 

^  =  KA{bT„-aT,)  (3) 

where  it  is  the  number  of  the  last  span.    It  is  usually  safe  to 

assume  that  T„  is  equal  to  the  initial  tension  T  in  from  the 

fourth  to  sixth  span  from  the  break. 

DEFLECTION  OF  POLE  TOP  IN  TERMS  OF  CONDUCTOR  ELONGATION. 

Fig.  2  shows  the  conductors  in  the  first  span  with  a  sag 
S  under  normal  conditions  with  b  wires  in  the  span,  and  a 
smaller  sag  S^  after  some  of  the  wires  have  been  cut,  leav- 
ing only  a  wires  in  the  span.  For  simplicity  in  calculating 
the  movement  of  the  point  of  attachment  of  the  wires  on 
the  flexible  pole,  instead  of  considering  the  span  to  increase 
in  length  from  /  to  (/-|-8),  the  span  /  may  be  supposed  to 
remain  unaltered  while  the  length  of  the  conductor  is  re- 
duced by  pulling  it  through  the  tie  of  the  insulator,  G,  on 
the  flexible  pole  until  the  sag  is  reduced  from  5"  to  S,.-  The 
length  of  wire  pulled  through  in  this  manner  may,  for  all 
practical  purposes,  be  considered  equal  to  the  actual  pole  top 
deflection,  0.  This  assumption  is  justifiable  since  the  deflec- 
tion S  is  always  small  relatively  to  the  span  /. 

The  length  of  the  (parabolic)  arc  with  sag  5"  is 

and  with  sag  5", 


Fig.    2— First 
The  difference  is 


Span    in     Flexible    Pole    Line. 


L-L  = 


8(S'  —  S,') 

3/ 


to  which  must  be  added  the  elongation  due  to  the  stretch  of 
the  wire  under  increased  tension;  this  is 

M 
or,  with  quite  sufficient  closeness. 


July  13,  191: 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


99 


M 

Hence  the  deflection  of  the  first  flexible  pole  expressed  in 
terms  of  the  sags  and  tension  of  the  conductors  in  the  first 
span  is : 


K  = 


(45X12)' 


=  0.0428 


S,  = 


3' 


M 


(4) 


Returning  again  to  the  arrangement  of  line  depicted  in 
Fig.  I,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  (i)  the  total  pull  of  all 
the  wires  in  span  No.  2  and  the  effect  of  this  pull  on  pole 
No.  I  if  all  the  wires  are  broken  in  span  No.  i,  and  (2)  the 
effect  on  the  first  flexible  pole  and  the  stresses  in  the  re- 
maining wires  in  No.  i  span  on  the  assumption  that  all  the 
wires  in  the  faulty  span  are  not  broken.' 

If  the  particulars  of  the  poles  are  J^nown  so  that  the 
factor  K  in  the  formulas  for  deflection  can  be  determined, 
it  is  desired  to  calculate  the  stresses  in  poles  and  wires 
corresponding  to  the  new  conditions  of  equilibrium;  or,  if 
the  poles  have  yet  to  be  designed,  the  factor  K  must  be 
determined  in  order  that  the  stiffness  of  the  poles  shall 
satisfy  certain  necessary  or  assumed  conditions  such  as  the 
maximum  deflection  of  pole  top  which  will  not  stress  the 
remaining  wires  in  span  No.  l  beyond  the  elastic  limit  of 
the  conductor  material.  (A  factor  of  safety  must  be  used 
to  allow  of  momentary  increased  stresses  due  to  probable 
mechanical  surges  previously  referred  to.) 

No  attempt  will  be  made  in  this  article  to  obtain  an  exact 
mathematical  solution  of  these  problems,  but  close  approxi- 
mations can  be  obtained  with  sufficient  accuracy  for  prac- 
tical purposes,  especially  when  it  is  considered  that  many 
possible  influencing  factors  such  as  the  yielding  of  founda- 
tions and  the  slipping  of  wires  in  the  ties  cannot  be  taken 
into  account  even  in  the  most  complete  mathematical  treat- 
ment of  the  subject. 

It  is  assumed  that  the  poles  are  equidistant  and  in  a 
straight  line,  and  that  the  first  support  is  rigid,  all  as  indi- 
cated in  Fig.  I.  Four  separate  limiting  conditions  will  be 
considered : 

(A)  All  wires  are  severed  in  the  first  span,  and  the 
second  pole  beyond  the  break  is  considered  to  be  rigid. 

(B)  All  wires  are  severed  in  the  first  span,  but  the  sec- 
ond pole  beyond  the  break  and  all  subsequent  poles  are 
considered  to  be  infinitely  flexible. 

(C)  There  are  a  wires  remaining  in  span  No.  i  and  b 
wires  in  all  other  spans.  The  second  pole  beyond  the  break 
is  considered  to  be  rigid. 

(D)  There  are  a  wires  in  the  first  span,  but  the  second 
and  all  subsequent  poles  beyond  the  break  are  considered  to 
be  infinitely  flexible. 

In  order  to  illustrate  the  calculations  by  means  of  numeri- 
cal examples,  the  transmission  line  will  be  supposed  to  have 
the  following  characteristics: 

Six  No.  2-0  aluminum  conductors. 

Cross-section  of  conductor,  A  =  0.1046  sq.  in. 

Length  of  span,  I  =  400  ft. 

Normal    sag  =  9.76    ft.,    which    corresponds    to 

Stress  T  =  2400  lb.  per  sq.  in. 

It  is  assumed  that  there  is  no  grounded  guard  wire  above 
the  conductors,  and  that  the  average  height  of  the  point  of 
attachment  of  the  wires  above  ground  level  is  45  ft.  =  H. 

The  modulus  of  elasticity  of  aluminum  cables  for  the 
purpose  of  these  calculations  is  assumed  to  be  7,500,000 
=  M.  The  flexible  towers  are  in  the  form  of  braced  A- 
frames,  each  vertical  limb  consisting  of  one  7-in.  steel 
channel  of  light  section  (gf^  lb.  per  foot).  The  moment 
of  inertia  of  the  section  of  such  a  channel  is  21. i,  and 
since  there  are  two  channels   the  value  of  /  is  21.1X2 


=  42.2  and  the  section  modulus 


42.2 


=  (say)  12  =  Z.     The 


3-5 

elastic  modulus  for  steel  is  iW  =  29  X  10'.     The  factor  for 
use  in  pole  deflection  formulas  as  previously  given  is 


3  X  29  X  10"  X  42.2 

The  maximum  deflection  of  this  particular  structure  before 

permanent  deformation  would  take  place  will  occur  when 

the  difference  of  pull  or  wires  is  such  as  to  stress  the  metal 

to  (say)  30,000  lb.  per  square  inch.    The  resisting  moment 

is  rXZ  =  30,000  X  12  and  the  resultant  pull  at  the  pole 

top  will  be 

30,000  X  12       ^^     ,, 

~ =  667  lb. 

45  X  12 

The  maximum  allowable  deflection  is,  therefore, 

3  =  /i:  X  667 

=  0.0428  X  667 

=  28.5 

Case  {A).  All  wires  broken  in  span  No.  i ;  second  pole 
beyond  break  considered  rigid. 

Since  all  the  wires  are  severed  in  span  No.  i  (a  =  o)  it 
is  not  possible  to  make  use  of  formula  (4),  but  a  similar 
formula  can  be  used  by  expressing 'the  deflection  in  terms  of 
the  constants  for  span  No.  2.    This  formula  is 

{S:-S^)  +  {T-T,)4r  (5) 


S,  = 


3^ 


M 


60 

^-^ 

r^ 

^A^ 

■l^- 

_  ^ 

VO.S 

J 

^-l 

r^ 

^ 

1  « 

o»^ 

o'§2^ 

^^ 

^^ 

|30 

^ 

\ 

^ 

10 

^^ 

^u 

'"*■'-'  iV, 

lieii 

i!£_£e 

-iMoQ 

7^- 

■iiLiy£i 

1200 


2400 


1400  liMO  ISOO  2000  2200 

Stress  in  wires  of  span  No.2  ^T -i  lbs.  per  sq.  inch 

Fig.   3 — Relation    Between    Pole    Deflection    and    Wire   Tensions   In 
Second    Span. 

By  calculating  8,  for  various  arbitrary  values  of  T^  smaller 
than  r,  curve  No.  i  of  Fig.  3  can  readily  be  drawn.  This 
gives  the  relation  between  the  stress  T,  in  the  wires  of  the 
second  span  and  the  pole-top  deflection  3,  on  the  assumption 
that  the  second  pole  beyond  the  break  is  rigid.  On  the  same 
diagram  draw  the  straight  line  marked  curve  No.  2  which 
gives  the  relation  between  pole  deflection  and  the  stress  T", 
as  given  by  formula  (l)  when  the  tension  T",  in  wires  of  the 
first  span  is  equal  to  zero.  The  point  of  crossing  of  curves 
No.  I  and  No.  2  evidently  indicates  the  deflection  corre- 
sponding to  the  condition  of  equilibrium.  This  deflection 
is  Sj  =  29.5  in.  and  stress  T,  =  iioo. 

It  will  be  noted  that  in  this  particular  example  the  de- 
flection is  about  the  same  as  the  maximum  allowable  deflec- 
tion (28.5)  previously  calculated;  but  even  if  allowance 
is  made  for  shocks  and  mechanical  surges,  it  is  probable 
that  the  pole  would  not  suffer  serious  injury,  because  some 
of  the  wires  would  be  liable  to  slip  in  the  ties  and  so  relieve 
the  tension.  If  wind  pressures  acting  on  snow  or  ice 
deposits  are  added  to  the  stresses  due  to  weight  of  con- 
ductor material  only,  the  strain  will  be  greater,  but  on  the 
other  hand,  much  sleet  deposit  is  liable  to  be  shaken  off 
the  wires  in  the  event  of  a  sudden  severing  of  all  the  wires 
in  the  first  span. 

The  above  results  are,  however,  based  on  the  assumption 
that  the  second  pole  beyond  the  break  is  rigid,  which  may 
not  be  in  accordance  with  practical  conditions. 

Case  (B).    Conditions  as  above;  but  the  second  and  sub- 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


sequent  poles  beyond  the  break  are  supposed  to  be  infinitely 
flexible  (A"  =  00). 

In  this  case  the  tension  7",  will  not  depend  upon  the  de- 
flection of  the  first  flexible  pole;  it  will  be  equal  to  the 
original  tension  T  =  2400  for  all  values  of  the  deflection  S,. 
The  deflection  obtained  when  T".  =  2400  is  of  course  readily 
calculated  by  means  of  formula  (i),  or  it  can  be  read  off 


\ 

,.^ 

/ 

iff^* 

^X 

'^ 

f^ 

/^°*^ 

)y 

•if 

r 

l^ 

c 

^^^ 

y 

^ 

^ 

1  Ai 

y 

^ 

.pSo. 

1  sivi' 

Lg  rcl: 

tiou 

nag 

il^ 

^ 

/^ 

^ 

--' 

i 

2000  4000 

Htress  in  wires 


GOOO  8000  10000  ISOCC 

span  X-t.l  =  T\   lbs.  per  sn.  inch 


Fig.  <f — Relation    Between   Pole   Deflections  and  Wire  Tensions  In 
First     Span. 

Fig.  3,  since  it  is  the  deflection  indicated  at  the  point  where 
curve  No.  2  meets  the  vertical  ordinate  for  T".  =  2400.  This 
value  8,  is  64.5  in.,  which  would  lead  to  permanent  deforma- 
tion of  the  flexible  structure.  The  actual  deflection  of  the 
first  pole  in  a  series  of  flexible  poles  of  equal  stiffness  would 
lie  somewhere  between  these  limiting  values  of  29.5  in.  and 
64.5  in.  if  the  law  of  elasticity  may  be  considered  to  apply 
in  the  case  of  the  higher  deflections.  As  a  general  rule  the 
breaking  of  all  wires  in  one  span  will  lead  to  the  wrecking 
or  permanent  deflection  or  uprooting  of  the  first  pole,  which 
cannot  be  at  the  same  time  flexible  enough  greatly  to  reduce 
the  combined  pull  of  all  wires  in  span  No.  2,  and  yet  strong 
enough  to  resist  the  ultimate  combined  pull  of  these  wires. 
There  would  be  an  exception  in  the  case  of  short  spans  with 
tall  flexible  poles ;  and  in  any  case  it  is  probable  that  only 
the  first  pole  would  be  damaged  or  moved  in  its  foundations. 

It  is  rare  that  all  the  w-ires  in  one  span  are  broken 
simultaneously  unless  the  design  of  the  line  is  such  that  the 
severing  of  one  or  more  wires  leads  necessarily  to  the 
rupture  of  the  remaining  wires  owing  to  the  excessive 
stresses  imposed  on  them.  The  calculation  of  stresses  and 
deflections  when  a  certain  number  of  wires  remain  in  the 
faulty  span  is  more  difficult  than  in  the  cases  already  con- 
sidered, but  the  solution  is  of  more  practical  value. 

Case  (C).  There  are  a  wires  in  faulty  span  and  h  wires 
in  sound  spans.  The  second  pole  beyond  break  is  considered 
rigid.  (For  the  purpose  of  working  out  numerical  examples 
it  will  be  assumed  that  only  one  wire  remains  in  faulty 
span  ;  thus  0  =  1  and  6  =  6.) 

Instead  of  only  two  equations,  there  are  now  three  equa- 
tions to  be  satisfied  simultaneously;  these  are: 

(a)  Formula  (i)  : 

8,  =KA  (bT,—aT,) 
—  0.0269  T,  — ■  0.00448  T, 

(b)  Formula  (4).  giving  deflection  in  terms  of  elonga- 
tion of  remaining  wires  in  span  No.  i : 


^^  =  Y5o-^^^-^-^'^ 


2400 


18,750 

(c)  Formula  (5),  giving  deflection  in  terms  of  the  short- 
ening of  the  wires  in  span  No.  2.  (This  relation  is  given  by 
curve  No.  i  already  plotted  in  Fig.  3.) 

It  should  be  mentioned  in  connection  with  formulas  (4) 
and   (5)   that  by  assuming  a  constant  length  of  span  the 


sag  5  is  always  inversely  proportional  to  the  stress  T.  The 
assumption  of  a  constant  length  of  span  for  the  purpose  of 
simplifying  the  relation  between  sag  and  tension  introduces 
no  appreciable  error  in  practical  calculations,  in  the  par- 
ticular example  from  which  the  curves  are  plotted  and  the 


numerical  results  obtained  the  relation  is  5"  ■■ 


23.420 

T     ' 


Proceed,  now,  to  plot  curve  No.  3  in  Fig.  4  from  formula 
(4)  by  assuming  various  arbitrary  values  of  T,  from  the 
lowest  possible  limit  of  1\  =  T  =  2400  up  to  the  elastic 
limit  of  about  13,000.  For  a  reason  to  be  made  clear  here- 
after this  curve  should  be  drawn  on  transparent  paper ;  the 
horizontal  scale  used  for  the  values  of  T,  may  be  arbitrarily 
chosen,  but  the  scale  of  ordinates  giving  the  deflections  3, 
must  be  exactly  the  same  as  used  for  Fig.  3.  On  the  same 
diagram  (Fig.  4)  draw  also  the  straight  line  marked  curve 
No.  4,  giving  the  relation  between  T^  and  the  quantity 
KAaT^.  This  latter  quantity  when  subtracted  from  the 
quantity  KAbT^  will  give  the  pole  deflection  to  fulfil  the 
condition  of  formula  (i).  The  reason  for  drawing  the 
curves  of  Fig.  4  on  transparent  paper  will  now  be  clear. 

The  transparent  paper  with  the  curves  of  Fig.  4  is  placed 
over  Fig.  3  with  the  horizontal  datum  lines  of  zero  deflec- 
tion coinciding,  as  shown  in  Fig.  5.  The  point  of  intersec- 
tion of  curves  No.  I  and  No.  3  will  give  the  corresponding 
values  of  the  stresses  T^  and  T,,'  but  with  a  pole  having 
definite  elastic  properties  there  is  only  one  value  of  the 
deflection  which  will  satisfy  the  three  conditions  previously 
referred  to.  The  deflection  as  a  function  of  the  pole  stiff- 
ness is  the  distance  EF  (Fig.  5),  being  the  difference  be- 
tween the  corresponding  ordinates  of  curves  No.  2  and 
No.  4.  By  moving  the  tracing  paper  with  the  curves  No.  3 
and  No.  4  over  the  other  curves  until  the  distances  HG 
and  FE  on  the  same  vertical  ordinate  are  equal,  the  deflec- 
tion corresponding  to  the  condition  of  equilibrium  is  readily 
obtained.  If  preferred,  the  curve  OPRE,  representing  the 
sum  of  the  quantities  of  curves  No.  3  and  No.  4,  may  be 
drawn  on  the  tracing  paper  instead  of  the  curve  4,  and 
when  the  point  of  intersection  (£)  of  this  new  curve  with 
curve  No.  2  on  the  lower  sheet  lies  on  the  same  vertical 
ordinate  as  the  junction  (G)  of  the  curves  No.  I  and  No.  3, 
the  distance  HG  will  be  the  required  deflection. 


.  Lower  sheet  with  eurves  Nos.l  :ind  2 


~  Transparent  paper  with  curves  Nos.3  and  4 
Fig.  5 — Showing  Diagram   Fig.  4  Superimposed  on  Diagram   Fig.  3. 

The  solution  of  the  numerical  example  worked  out  in  this 
manner    is 

8,  =  10.2  in. 

T,  =  7400  lb.  per  square  inch. 

T.  =   1500  lb.  per  square  inch. 


^There  is  a  definite  value  of  Ti  for  any  given  value  of  T-j  independent  of 
all  considerations  ot  pole  stiffness  and  size  of  wire  and  number  of  wires 
in  adjoining  spans  This  is  the  relation  which  will  satisfy  formulas  (4)  j 
and   (5)  simultaneously;  it  is  expressed  by  the  equation 


fi^''-- 


-5-1-5=')  =^(2r- 


■A— r,) 


July  13,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


lOI 


Case  (D).  Same  conditions,  with  the  exception  that  the 
second  pole  beyond  the  break,  instead  of  being  rigid,  is 
assumed  to  be  infinitely  flexible.  This  assumption  is  made 
also  in  the  case  of  all  subsequent  poles.  This  means  that 
T,  =  T  =  2400  whatever  may  be  the  amount  of  deflection 
of  the  first  flexible  pole,  and  the  problem  can  be  solved 
graphically  as  indicated  above,  the  only  difference  being 
that  curve  No.  i  giving  the  relation  between  8^  and  T".  when 
the  second  pole  beyond  the  break  is  rigid  must  be  replaced 
by  the  vertical  line  SIV  (Fig.  5),  being  the  ordinate  corre- 
sponding to  a  tension  T„  =  2400. 

The  numerical  solution  in  this  case  is : 

3,  =  13.2  in. 

[  r,  =  11,450 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  there  is  little  difference  between 
the  deflections  for  the  two  extreme  cases  (C)  and  (D)  ; 
the  average  value  for  3j  is  11.7  in.,  corresponding  to  a  stress 
T^  =  9400  in  the  remaining  wire  of  the  faulty  span.  This 
is  well  below  the  elastic  limit,  and  it  is  probable  that  this 
wire  would  not  break  even  if  the  five  other  wires  were 
severed.  The  figures  chosen  for  illustrating  the  calcula- 
tions relate  to  a  practical  transmission  line,  and  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  stresses  and  deflections  corresponding  to  the 
state  of  equilibrium  after  the  severing  of  some  or  all  of 
the  wires  in  one  span  can,  by  the  use  of  simple  diagrams, 
be  predetermined  within  reasonably  narrow  limits. 


SIMPLIFIED    SAG    FORMULAS    FOR     OVERHEAD 
WIRES  AND  CABLES. 


Logarithmic  Chart  for  Showing  the  Relation  Between 

the  Tension,  Sag  and  Span-Length  in  Copper  and 

Aluminum  Transmission  Lines. 


By  H.  V.  Carpenter. 

Several  recent  papers  have  given  solutions  for  the  prob- 
lem of  determining  the  proper  sag  or  tension  to  allow  in 
stringing  a  span  of  wire  or  cable.  The  greatly  increased 
importance  of  the  problem,  due  to  the  more  common  use  of 
long  spans,  may,  however,  be  sufficient  excuse  for  present- 
ing another  method.  It  is  thought  that  the  following  treat- 
ment will  be  found  considerably  more  direct  and  more 
easily  understood  than  any  of  the  others  and  hense  better 
suited  to  the  needs  of  the  man  who  solves  only  an  occa- 
sional problem  of  this  sort. 

The  conditions  under  which  the  problem  usually  appears 
for  solution  are  as  follows :  A  line  of  a  certain  size, 
material  and  length  of  span  is  to  be  erected  during  warm 
weather,  and  the  problem  is  to  determine  what  sag,  or  ten- 
sion, shall  be  allowed  in  order  that  the  tension  in  the  cable 
may  not  exceed  a  certain  assumed  maximum  when  exposed 
to  sleet,  wind  and  the  lower  temperatures  that  may  be 
expected.  The  fact  that  only  rough  assumptions  can  be 
made  as  to  the  lowest  temperature,  heaviest  sleet  and 
greatest  wind  pressure  which  will  ever  occur  makes  ex- 
treme accuracy  in  the  solution  unnecessary  and  fully  justi- 
fies the  following  approximations,  which  greatly  simplify 
the  equations.  First,  the  parabola  is  assumed  to  represent 
the  curve  taken  by  the  wire.  As  no  sags  in  practice  will 
exceed  5  per  cent,  the  errors  due  to  this  assumption  are 
negligible.  Second,  in  the  expressions  for  change  of  length 
of  the  wire  due  to  temperature  and  stress  variations,  the 
length  of  the  wire  is  assumed  to  be  equal  to  the  length  of 
span.  For  a  sag  of  5  per  cent  the  length  exceeds  the  span 
by  only  0.6  per  cent  and  the  error  in  results  due  to  this 
assumption  is  less  than  this  percentage.  Third,  the  elonga- 
tion due  to  rise  of  temperature  is  assumed  to  be  independent 
of  that  due  to  increase  in  stress,  and  vice  versa.  The  error 
due  to  this  assumption  is  entirely  negligible. 


Let  5"  =  area  of  cable  in  square  inches  (actual  cross- 
section  of  material)  ;  w  =  weight  of  bare  cable  in  pounds 
per  foot ;  k  =  ratio  of  equivalent  weight  of  cable,  sleet  and 
wind  to  weight  of  bare  cable  (based  on  assumed  sleet  and 
wind)  ;  M  =  modulus  of  elasticity  of  the  cable,  pounds  per 
square  inch,  taken  as  12,000,000  for  copper  cable  hard- 
drawn,  16,000,000  for  solid  copper  hard-drawn,  9,000,000 
for  solid  aluminum,  7,500.000  for  aluminum  cable;  x  =  dis- 
tance between  poles  in  feet ;  X  =  distance  between  poles  in 
loo-ft.  units;  a  =  coefficient  of  expansion  per  degree 
Fahrenheit,  taken  as  0.0000096  for  copper,  0.0000128  for 
aluminum ;  d  =  drop  in  temperature  to  be  expected  below 
that  of  erection,  in  degrees  Fahrenheit;  Tm  =  maximum 
allowable  tension  in  pounds  per  square  inch,  taken  as  30,000 
for  copper,  14,000  for  aluminum ;  Te  =  tension  to  be  used  in 
erecting  the  cable,  pounds  per  square  inch ;  ye  =  sag  at  the 
middle  of  the  span  in  feet,  to  be  used  in  erecting;  jim  =  sag 
at  the  middle  under  maximum  stress  conditions ;  Le,  Lm 
=  lengths  of  the  cable  in  the  span,  as  above;  yo,  Lo  =  sag 


Sag  in  Feet 
6    6  7  8  9  10  12  15     20        30     40  50  60    80  100 


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400       500     600   700  800  90010001200  14001600 
Span  in  Feet  Ekari^ai  ni,-i,j 


200       250     300 
Chart    Showing    Transmission     Line    Sags    and     Tensions. 


and  length  respectively  if  cable  were  to  become  weightless. 
Using  these  symbols  and  the  approximations  mentioned 
above,  one  may  write  : 

Contraction  in  the  wire  due  to  a  drop  in  temperature 
=  xad. 

Elongation  due  to  an  increase  of  tension  of  7"  lb.  per 
square  inch  =  xT/M. 

The  length  of  tlie  wire  as  erected  = 


Le  =  X  ■ 


yt' 


2,x 


(from  the  theory  of  the  parabola)   (l) 


J'e" 


or,  Lf  —  ;r  = =  the  excess  of  length  over  span. 

3     X 

If  the  stress  due  to  gravity  could  be   removed  entirely. 

the  result  would  be 

,  8  y,; 

Lo  —  X  = 

3    X 

which  is  also  equal  to    —  '-^ .i-  ——, 

Z     X  M 


(2) 


102 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


Imagining  a  change  from  this  ideal  weightless  condition 
to  that  of  maximum  load  and  minimum  temperature,  the 
excess  length  would  become 


r„: 


m  —  X  =  —   —  = —  +-1'  ^r^  — -vad  (3) 

The  tension  is  related  to  the  sag,  weight  and  span  by  the 
formula  TS  =  .t'"jt'/8  y, 
or  there  may  be  written,   TmS  =  .r'ytjcf/'8j)„ 


Substituting  the  value  of  Vm   from   (4)   and  of        — 
from  (2)   in  equation  (3), 


(4) 

"  yl 
3     ^ 


¥+^(^-'m~^')  (5) 


24  S'Tm'  3 

Substituting    for    Te    its    value    from    (4),    multiplying 

3 


ye- 


3    xw 
are  all  constant 


through  by  -5-  .rye  and  rearranging, 
o 

3,3      X  /  Tm  ,        k'x-zi.^    \ 

S       y  M  24  s-T„:  J 

It  will  be  noted  that  -r^,  a,—-,  and  7,,; 

and  known  for  any  given  material.     Substituting  the  proper 
values  for  each  of  these  and  also  replacing  the  span  in  feet, 
X,  by  the  span  in  100  ft.  units,  A'.- 
for  solid  hard  drawn  copper, 

J'e°  +  X'(7  —  0.036  d  —  o.02.tk^X'-)ye —  1.13X'  =  o 
for  stranded  hard  drawn  copper. 

yi  -\-^'{.9-Z7  —  0.0360?  —  0.026  fe'X"-) ye—  1.5  X'  =  o 
for  stranded  aluminum, 

yi  -\-X^{-j  —  o.o48d  —  0.0107  k-X'')ye  —  0.72  X*  =  0 

As  all  of  the  values  in  these  fornuilas  are  known  or  as- 
sumed except  ye,  one  can  solve  for  its  value,  which  will  be 
the  proper  sag  at  which  to  erect  the  span  under  the  assumed 
conditions. 

Similar  expressions  can  be  derived  for  other  materials,  or 
for  the  same  materials  with  different  values  used  for  r„,, 
M,  etc. 

A  slight  change  in  the  substitutions  will  give  a  similar  set 
of  formulas  for  the  tension,  Te,  to  be  used  during  erection. 
They  contain  both  Ti  and  Te,  however,  and  so  are  not  quite 
so  easily  solved. 

It  will  be  noted  that,  in  spite  of  the  steps  taken  to 
simplify,  the  resulting  expression  for  ye  is  in  the  form  of  a 
cubic  equation.  The  difificulty  commonly  found  in  the  solu- 
tion of  this  form  has  caused  most  investigators  to  turn  to 
some  graphical  method  for  representing  the  relation.  In 
doing  so,  however,  it  is  necessary  to  sacrifice  clearness  of 
derivation  and  accuracy  of  result.  In  view  of  this  it  may 
be  well  to  submit  the  following  method  for  handling  the 
type  of  cubic   equation   involved. 

The  equations  above  derived  contain  only  the  third  and 
the  first  power  of  the  unknown  and  will  always  be  of  the 
form, 

/-f  Py  — e  =  o 

or, 

f  —  Py—Q  =  0 
Only  one   positive  value  of  y  will  satisfy   either  of  these 
forms  and   this  value  may  be  easily  approximated  by  the 
method  of   inspection  and   trial.     Dividing  each  by  y  and 
transposing, 

Q/y  —  f  =  P;  or  y  —  Q/y  =  P. 

Taking  the  first  form  and  supposing  P  to  equal  300  and 
Q  to  equal  400,  for  example,  400/y  —  y'  =  300,  inspection 
shows  that  y  must  have  a  value  between  I  and  2,  and  a  few 
trials  will  show  that  1.33  is  close  enough.  Taking  the  second 
form  and  assuming  P  =  40  and  0  =  2000,  y  —  2000/y  =  40. 
Here  it  is  easily  seen  that  the  result  lies  between  10  and  20 
and  two  or  three  trials  establishes  the  value  of  13.6  as  the 
approximate  root. 

Tlie  same  process  can  be  carried  out  more  rapidlv  and 


accurately  on  the  ordinary  Mannheim  slide-rule,  a  single 
setting  giving  the  result.  Consider  the  example  just  given 
and  assume  the  value  of  y  to  be  known  by  inspection  to  be 
between  10  and  20.  Then  set  the  cross-hair  or  runner  over 
2  (calling  it  2000),  on  scale  D,  and  shift  the  slide  until  13, 
for  e.xample,  on  scale  C  is  under  the  runner.  This  shows 
13"  under  the  runner  on  scale  B  and  2000/13  on  scale  D 
opposite  I  on  scale  C.  Having  13°  and  2000/13  before  one, 
it  is  easy  to  tell  whether  13"  —  2000/13  is  equal  to  40  or  not, 
and  if  not  the  slide  may  be  shifted  until  the  desired  equality 
is  attained  giving  a  result  of  13.67.  In  the  same  way,  for 
the  first  problem  given,  400/y  —  y^  =  300,  the  rule  is  set  as 
before  except  that  it  must  be  adjusted  until  (the  number  on 
D  opposite  I  on  C)  minus  (the  number  on  B  under  the 
runner)  is  equal  to  300.  If  y  is  known  to  be  between  I  and 
2,  then  400/y  must  be  roughly  300  and  y"  must  be  between 
I  and  4;  a  little  shifting  of  the  runner  shows  the  result  to 
be  1.33.  Unless  y  is  known  approximately,  so  that  the 
decimal  points  in  the  values  of  Q/y  and  y°  are  known  the 
slide-rule  will  give  several  apparent  solutions  and  so  can- 
not be  relied  upon. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  entire  problem  let  us  consider  the 
tollowing  case:  A  line  is  to  be  constructed  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  80  deg.  Fahr.,  using  No.  4-0  stranded  copper,  and  a 
span  of  600  ft.  {X  =  6).  Experience  indicates  that  0.5  in. 
of  sleet,  a  maximum  wind  velocity  of  40  miles  per  hour  and 
a  minimum  temperature  of  -j-  10  deg.  Fahr.  may  be  ex- 
pected, and  the  problem  is  to  determine  the  sag  to  be  used 
in  erection,  k  may  be  found  by  calculation  to  be  equal  to 
2.1.  d,  the  drop  in  temperature,  =  70.  Substituting  X  =  6, 
k  =  2.1,  and  d  =  70,   in   the   formula   for   stranded  copper, 

y/  +  6=(9.37  —  0.036  X  70  —  0.026  X  2.f  X  6')ye 

—  1.5  X  6*  =  0 
or, 

y/ +  97-9  3'e  — 1944  =  0 
or. 

1944/ye  — ye'  =  97.9 
By  inspection  y^  is  seen  to  be  about  10  ft.,  and  by  the  slide- 
rule  method  we  get  r^  =  9.92  ft. 

In  order  to  aid  in  determining  the  tensions  corresponding 
to  a  given  sag,  span  and  size  of  wire,  the  accompanying 
chart  has  been  prepared.  This  is  based  on  the  formula  for 
total  tension  : 

T  =TS  =  xV/8y  =  xWS/8y  =  zc//8  X  ^S/y 
where  zt/  is  the  weight  of  the  wire  per  unit  cross-section. 
Since  it//8  is  a  constant  for  any  given  material,  the  variables 
are  "P,  S,  x,  and  y,  and  the  logarithmic  form,  log  T' -1- 
log  y  =  constant  +  2  log  x  -\-  log  S,  may  be  plotted  as  shown. 
Following  the  dotted  lines  of  the  chart,  a  span  of  800  ft., 
with  No.  3-0  copper  cable  stretched  to  a  sag  of  8  ft.,  will 
have  a  total  tension  of  5100  lb.  To  find  the  tension  in 
pounds  per  square  irich  simply  look  for  the  total  tension  on 
a  cable  of  I  sq.  in.  cross-section,  or  of  o.l  sq.  in.  cross- 
section,  for  the  same  conditions  of  sag  and  span.  No  values 
need  be  assigned  to  the  diagonal  lines  of  the  chart  as  they 
are  simply  loci  of  constant  values  of  sag  multiplied  by 
tension,  or  of  the  square  of  the  span  multiplied  by  the  cross- 
section  of  the  conductor. 


TRAIN  RESISTANCE  AND  TONNAGE  RATING 


Bulletin  No.  59  of  the  Engineering  Experiment  Station 
at  the  University  of  Illinois,  describes  an  investigation  made 
to  determine  the  effect  of  cold  weather  upon  train  resist- 
ance and  tonnage  rating  carried  out  by  Prof.  Ed- 
ward C.  Schmidt  and  Mr.  F.  W.  Marquis.  In  connection 
with  the  investigation  considerable  information  was  col- 
lected from  the  railroads  of  the  country  concerning  tonnage 
rating  practice.  This  has  been  summarized  and  presented  in 
tabular  form  for  reference.  Persons  desiring  copies  should 
address  the  Engineering  Experiment  Station,  Urbana,  111. 


JLY    13,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


103 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


ELECTRICITY  IN  THE  HOUSEHOLD. 


"Comfort  in  the  Home"  is  the  title  of  an  attractive  book- 
;t  issued  by  the  Pubhc  Service  Electric  Company  of  New 
ersey.  The  attractive  cover  gives  only  a  hint  of  its  inter- 
sting  contents.  Full-page  illustrations,  with  the  home  set- 
ng  showing  the  various  household  appliances  in  actual  use, 
nd  short  paragraphs  referring  to  them  make  up  the  booklet, 
t  will  be  of  interest  to  every  homemaker  who  can  use 
lectricity  and  might  serve  as  a  model  to  other  central- 
tation  companies  desiring  to  increase  their  day  load. 


HE   ELECTRIC   VEHICLE  AND    THE    POOR  MAN. 


Operation  of  an  electric  automobile  need  not  be  confined 
3  the  well-to-do  class  of  people,  as  too  large  a  part  of  the 
ublic  has  come  to  believe.  Many  electric  vehicles  are  being 
sed  at  a  cost  for  charging  of  from  $5  to  $6  a  month.  If 
vvo  members  of  a  .family  use  the  street  car  downtown  and 
ack  each  day,  the  cost  of  car  fare  would  be  $6,  or  as  much 
s  the  cost  of  keeping  the  automobile.  Meanwhile  the 
treet-car  passengers  miss  the  pleasure  of  morning  and 
vening  spins  over  more  attractive  streets  in  an  uncrowded 
ehicle,  besides  having  a  conveyance  handy  for  short  runs 
bout  town  during  the  business  day.  The  electric  can  be 
epended  upon,  too,  to  deliver  its  passengers  on  time  for 
n  important  appointment,  whether  street  cars  or  other 
ehicles  run  or  not. 


VERY    CENTRAL-STATION   MANAGER   HIS    OWN 
SCULPTOR. 


The  resourceful  plant  manager,  even  in  the  small  com- 
■unity,  need  not  look  far  for  an  attractive  window  display 
t  he  will  but  use  his  ingenuity  to  adapt  to  his  purpose 
leans  at  hand.  The  illustration  shows  a  display  carrying 
ut  the  "Liberty-enlightening-the-world"  idea  which  is  in- 


Central-Station    Show    Window    at    Livingston,    Mont. 

;talled  in  the  window  of  the  Madison  River  Power  Com- 
)any  at  Livingston,  Mont.  This  was  exhibited  at  the  time 
)f  a  recent  tungsten-lighting  campaign  and  attracted  much 
ittention. 

The  female  figure,  which  staqds  on  a  base  of  tungsten- 
amp  boxes,  is  made  up  of  several  and  very  diverse  parts. 
riead  and  shoulders  are  formed  by  an  old  parlor  ornament — 


a  plaster  bust  with  a  cracked  pedestal.  A  pasteboard  band 
pierced  with  eightpenny  nails,  and  the  whole  gilded,  serves 
as  a  passable  crown.  The  hand  which  holds  aloft  the 
lighted  tungsten  lamp  was  carved  by  Mr.  J.  E.  Findley, 
local  manager,  from  a  plaster  of  paris  blank  cast  around 
the  lamp  socket  and  fi.xture  tubing.  The  other  hand  is 
deftly  hidden  in  the  folds  of  the  dress  which  is  skilfully 
draped  over  the  box-wood  framing  that  forms  the  figure. 

Various  other  display  features  have  been  used  with  effect 
in  these  windows  from  time  to  time.  The  interior  of  the 
office  is  handsomely  fitted  up.  On  a  center  table  surrounded 
by  easy  chairs  are  kept  recent  issues  of  the  technical  and 
popular  electrical  press,  offering  a  friendly  invitation  to 
the  visitor  to  rest  and  inform  himself  on  matters  of  elec- 
trical progress,  with  which  the  Livingston  company  itself 
keeps  well  abreast. 


OLD  HOUSE  WIRING  IN  BALTIMORE. 


Some  weeks  ago  the  Maryland  Public  Service  Commission 
rendered  a  decision  in  a  controversy  between  the  Consoli- 
dated Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  Baltimore, 
and  the  local  wiring  contractors  over  the  right  of  the  Con- 
solidated company  to  engage  in  the  wiring  and  fixture  busi- 
ness, approving  the  company's  position.  One  of  the  features 
of  the  Consolidated  company's  plan  was  the  offer  of  a  propo- 
sition to  wire  old  houses  and  accept  payment  in  monthly 
instalments.  This  feature  made  it  difficult  for  the  contrac- 
tors to  compete  in  securing  this  class  of  business.  In  order, 
however,  to  promote  a  more  friendly  spirit,  the  Consolidated 
company  now  offers  to  every  member  of  the  Baltimore 
Electrical  Contractors'  Association  a  proposition  as  novel 
as  it  is  practical.  Any  contractor  who  is  a  member  of  the 
association  may  secure  a  contract  for  wiring  an  old  house 
under  the  same  plan  of  payment,  by  instalments,  as  the  com- 
pany has  been  offering.  The  company  agrees  to  pay  over 
to  the  contractor  the  full  amount  of  the  contract,  as  soon 
as  the  work  is  done,  and  will  then  collect  the  monthly  instal- 
ments from  the  consumer.  This  means  in  effect  that  all 
Baltimore  contractors  in  the  association  can  now  solicit  old 
house-wiring  business  on  the  instalment  plan,  and  thus  com- 
pete with  the  company  on  an  equal  basis.  It  is  anticipated 
that  this  policy  will  do  much  to  remove  the  unfriendly  feel- 
ing which  hitherto  existed  and  open  the  way  for  more 
effective  co-operation  between  the  central-station  company 
and  the  contractors. 


EXPERIMENT    IN    HOUSE    HEATING  BY 
ELECTRICITY. 


The  Hartford  (Conn.)  Electric  Light  Company  has  re- 
cently been  conducting  an  e.xperiment  in  heating  a  thirteen- 
room  frame  house  of  modern  construction  located  near  the 
outskirts  of  the  city  on  a  rather  unprotected  hillside.  The 
regular  heating  system  is  of  the  hot-water  type,  and  electric 
units  were  installed  directly  in  the  radiators  by  inserting  in 
the  bottom  circulating  pipe  an  electrical  heating  unit.  The 
radiators  in  the  hall,  parlor  and  dining-room  on  the  first 
floor  and  in  the  front  bath  and  nursery  on  the  second  floor 
were  equipped  in  this  manner,  giving  a  total  radiating  sur- 
face of  351  sq.  ft.  The  electric  units  were  arranged  for 
two  "heats,"  giving  a  total  of  7300  watts  on  the  high  heat 
and  1800  watts  on  the  low  heat,  or  21  watts  and  5.2  watts 


104 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


per  sq.  ft.  of  radiation,  respectively,  with  switches  provided 
so  that  the  heat  could  be  turned  off  and  on  readily  as 
needed.  As  normally  operated,  the  power  was  continuously 
applied  during  the  night  at  a  low  or  high  heat,  according 
to  the  weather,  and  either  shut  off  entirely  or  operated  at 
the  low  heat  during  the  day.  In  this  way  the  house  was 
warm  in  the  morning  and  the  excessive  waste  of  heat  which 
usually  accompanies  the  morning  openmg  up  of  a  coal  fur- 
nace was  avoided  entirely.  The  furnace  fire  was  allowed 
to  go  out  on  April  15  and  was  not  relighted. 

The  table  reproduced  shows  wind  and  weather  and  the 
number  of  kilowatt-hours  used  each  day  to  maintain  the 
room  temperature  within  the  house  between  66  and  70 
deg.  Fahr. 

HOUSE-HEATING  DATA. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

THE    REWIRING   OF   A    LARGE    WOODWORKING 
ESTABLISHMENT. 


OUTOOOR 

s 

1^ 

Tempkr.iturb. 

_ 

i^ 

s 

to 

j^ 

>^ 

bD 

^ 

B 

M 

Date. 

11 

Weather. 

1 

1 

_ 

V 

High. 

Low. 

Mean. 

•s's 

B 

& 
a 

•^s 

& 

S" 

April  13 

58 

40 

49 

12 

Cloudy 

70 

No  meter  r 

ead. 

14 

48 

41 

44 

13 

Cloudy,  rain 

No  meter  r 

ead. 

IS 

71 

42 

56 

17 

Cloudy,  rain 

No  meter  r 

ead. 

16 

76 

55 

66 

26 

Cloudy,  rain 

No  meter  r 

ead. 

17 

60 

48 

54 

14 

Cloudy,  rain 

No  meter  r 

ead. 

18 

48 

39 

44 

21 

Cloudy,  rain 

No  meter  r 

ead. 

19 

51 

37 

44 

25 

Cloudy,  rain 

No  meter  r 

ead. 

20 

61 

38 

50 

21 

Cloudy,  clear 

,^27 

327 

21 

67 

39 

53 

25 

Clear 

No  meter  r 

ead. 

;            22 

59 

46 

52 

-21 

Cloudy,  rain 

No  meter  r 

ead. 

23 

55 

39 

47 

36 

Cloudy,  rain 

■     & 

No  meter  r 

ead. 

24 

56 

40 

48 

21 

Cloudy,  rain 

S' 

No  meter  r 

ead. 

25 

62 

44 

53 

10 

Clear 

827 

500 

26 

64 

38 

51 

17 

Cloudy 

Xi 

870 

43 

27 

66 

44 

55 

24 

Cloudy,  rain 

a 

937 

67 

28 

56 

36 

46 

10 

Clear,  cloudy 

2 

No  meter  r 

ead. 

29 

46 

37 

42 

5 

Rain 

U 

1105 

168 

30 

54 

37 

46 

8 

Clear,  cloudy 

No  meter  r 

ead. 

May      1 

71 

38 

54 

12 

Clear. 

1,370 

265 

2 

71 

49 

60 

9 

Cloudy 

0 

1413 

40 

3 

71 

46 

58 

8 

Clear 

la 

1429 

16 

4 

69 

45 

57 

IS 

Clear 

•s 

1435 

6 

5 

57 

46 

52 

g 

Rainy 

c 

1462 

27 

6 

54 

47 

SO 

12 

Rainy 

'5 

1533 

71 

7 

64 

47 

56 

6 

Rainy 

a 

1591 

58 

8 

51 

47 

49 

9 

Rainy 

E 

1633 

42 

9 

68 

48 

58 

12 

Rainy 

S 

1701 

68 

10 

74 

47 

60 

26 

Rain,  cloudy 

3 

1745 

44 

11 

65 

53 

59 

22 

Clear 

2 

1759 

14 

12 

65 

53 

59 

14 

Rain 

I 

1784 

25 

13 

69 

59 

64 

IS 

Cloudy 

ii 

1827 

43 

14 

66 

42 

54 

10 

Clear,   rain 

E- 

1864 

37 

IS 

67 

49 

58 

8 

Cloudy 

1904 

40 

16 

56 

52 

54 

6 

Rain 

1945 

41 

17 

70 

52 

61 

8 

Clear 

1977 

32 

18 

75 

53 

64 

Clear 

2007 

30 

19 

77 

57 

67 

ii 

Clear 

2007 

0 

20 

66 

51 

64 

7 

Clear 

2007 

0 

21 

87 

46 

66 

22 

Clear 

2010 

3 

22 

66 

52 

59 

6 

Cloudy 

2010 

0 

23 

68 

50 

59 

12 

Cloudy,  clear 

2010 

0 

It  is  evident  from  the  table  that  with  an  outdoor  tem- 
perature averaging  50  deg.  Fahr.  and  above  this  form  of 
heating  may  be  substituted  for  a  coal-burning  equipment 
with  a  saving  in  money,  care  and  convenience  in  places 
where  central  stations  are  ready  to  make  a  low  rate  for  this 
kind  of  load.  An  outside  temperature  averaging  50  deg.  is 
found  in  spring  and  fall  in  very  many  districts  in  this 
country,  and  in  some  districts  is  even  the  lowest  tempera- 
ture experienced.  It  is  also  very  probable  that  in  summer 
in  many  districts  some  heat  of  this  kind  will  be  found  to  be 
invaluable,  since  it  is  ready  at  call  without  any  preparation. 
Moreover,  it  may  be  true  that  coal  heaters  can  be  run  in 
quite  severe  weather  at  their  normal  and  most  economical 
efficiency  supplemented  by  a  few  kilowatts  of  electric  heat 
in  the  radiator  wherever  additional  heat  is  found  necessary, 
inasmuch  as  this  form  of  heat  can  be  applied  without  inter- 
fering in  any  way  with  the  regular  operation  of  the  hot- 
water-heating  system. 


In  pursuance  of  a  general  plan  of  reduction  in  fire  hazard, 
the  American  Lumber  Company  undertook  a  complete  re- 
wiring of  its  yards  and  mills  at  Albuquerque,  N.  M.  The 
earlier  installation  consisted  mainly  of  poorly  supported 
open  wires,  indoors  and  out,  with  bad  cord  conditions,  oper 
fuses,  overloads  and  wires  much  damaged  by  mechanical 
interference  in  many  instances. 

In  the  rewiring  the  machine  shop,  pipe  shop,  stable  anc 
two  power  houses,  representing  a  value  of  approximateh 
$100,000,  were  placed  in  complete  iron  conduit  construction 
with  condulets,  fuses  in  steel  cabinets  and  all  cords  rein- 
forced. Box  factory,  sawmill  and  sash  and  door  factory 
with  their  auxiliary  buildings,  were  provided  with  condui 
feeds,  steel  cabinets  for  service  and  for  all  distributiot 
centers,  and  conduit  run  to  these  points.  All  "risers"  t( 
points  10  ft.  above  the  floor  were  placed  in  conduit,  will 
condulet  terminals,  and  where  close  to  belting  or  passin; 
to  platforms  conduit  protection  was  installed.  In  othe 
portions  of  these  buildings,  representing  a  value  of  ove 
$450,000  and  covering  over  four  acres,  open  knob  wirin; 
was  used,  with  pendants — necessitated  by  the  high  ceiling 
— soldered  directly  to  the  circuit  wires,  but  independentl; 
supported. 

In  the  wet-log  sawmill  and  on  all  platforms  reinforcei 
portable  cord  and  keyless  composition  sockets  were  installec 
Circuits  are  controlled  by  switches  in  convenient  cabinet; 
All  circuit  wires  are  of  No.  12  B.  &  S.  gage.  All  feeder 
are  of  25  per  cent  excess  area.  Each  building  is  provide 
with  main  fuse  and  switch,  this  being  a  much  better  emer 
gency  control  arrangement  than  dependence  on  the  power 
house  switchboard,  which  might  necessitate  telephoninj 
All  main  switches  are  located  immediately  within  or  withoi 
the  buildings  and  are  quickly  accessible  day  or  night.  Prac 
tically  all  lighting  is  done  by  incandescent  lamps,  a  few  arc 
being  used,  however,  in  the  sash  and  door  factory. 

The  lumber  yards,  covering  twelve  acres,  six  acres  ati 
two  acres  respectively  and  valued  at  $250,000,  are  pre 
vided  with  accessible  main  switches  and  cutouts  in  watei 
proof  steel  cabinets,  the  feed  wires  to  the  circuits  bein 
openwork  on  petticoated  glass  insulators  under  trams,  spl 
into  the  final  circuits  in  steel  cabinets  at  cross  trams.  Tli 
branch  circuits  to  the  lamps  are  secured  by  conduit  risci 
with  gooseneck  above  the  trams  and  condulet  beneath  ; 
the  juncture  with  the  open  wiring.  These  goosenecks  ar 
spaced  at  intervals  of  about  50  ft.  They  replaced  aboi 
twenty  arc  lamps  on  wooden  poles,  the  maintenance  and  fir 
hazard  of  which  formerly  constituted  a  considerable  es 
pense. 

The  plant  inclosure  covers  about  a  quarter  of  a  squar 
mile,  and  2300-volt  distribution  is  employed  with  step-dow 
transformers  to  iio/220-volt  three-wire  distributing  circuit 
for  each  building  or  yard. 

The  total  lighting  load  is  about  370  kw.  Owing  to  th 
low  cost  of  fuel  for  steam  service,  slabs  and  dust  being  en 
ployed,  all  woodworking  is  done  by  steam-driven  shaftin 
from  cut-off  engine  houses,  except  that  a  50-hp,  2300-vo 
induction  motor  is  employed  to  drive  each  of  the  ''hogs, 
or  wood  shredders,  and  fans  are  used  to  force  the  prodw 
to  the  steam  boiler  rooms,  where  conveyors  (engine-driven 
feed  the  furnaces  automatically.  Surplus  wood  is  blow 
several  hundred  feet  to  the  generating  station  of  th 
Albuquerque  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  which  is  locate 
within  the  inclosure. 

The  improvements  in  .wiring  have  cost  somewhat  mor 
than  $12,000,  but  the  saving  in  insurance  alone  has  bee 
$1,600  a  year.     Moreover,  there  has  been  a  great  reductio 


July  13,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


lOS 


in  the  maintenance  and  depreciation.  The  company  is  now 
contemplating  the  gradual  replacement  of  the  remaining 
open  wiring  of  the  sawmill  by  iron  conduit,  purely  as  a 
saving  in  maintenance,  the  wiring  being  very  difficult  to  re- 
pair because  the  mill  usually  operates  continuously  night 
and  day. 

The  above-mentioned  changes  were  made  upon  the 
recommendation  of  Mr.  W.  J.  Canada,  engineer  of  the 
Rocky  Mountain  Fire  Underwriters'  Association. 


WIRING  OLD  HOUSES— I. 


The  New-Business  Campaign  Inaugurated  by  the  Alle- 
gheny County  Light  Company. — Co-opera- 
tion with  Local  Electrical  Contractors. 


By  Terrell  Croft. 

On  Jan.  i,  1911,  the  Allegheny  County  Light  Company, 
which  serves  the  city  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  and  the  many 
boroughs  and  towns  that  surround  it,  started  an  aggressive 
campaign  for  the  wiring  of  old  houses.  It  was  considered 
that  this  was  the  only  way  to  secure  lighting  business  in 
the  many  unwired  buildings  in  the  territory.  As  a  result 
of  the  efforts  put  forth,  approximately  1000  old  houses  have 
been  wired  at  a  recent  date. 

The  company  has  maintained  a  wiring  department  since 
1907,  but  it  is  only  within  the  last  year  that  the  wiring  of 
old  houses  has  been  promoted  through  extensive  adver- 
tising. The  results  are  indicated  in  dollars  and  cents  by 
the  following  figures,  which  show  the  amounts  collected 
during  the  last  four  years  for  wiring:  1907,  $3,000;  1908, 
$4,500;  1909,  $15,000;  1910,  $30,000,  and  for  191 1  the 
amount  was  approximately  $65,000.  The  above  sums  in- 
clude all  charged  work,  and  all  repairs  and  additions,  as 
well  as  the  wiring  done  under  new  contracts,  but  do  not 
include  considerable  free  work,  or  advertising  work,  or  the 
work  in  connection  with  flaming-arc  lamp  and  electric-sign 
maintenance,  which  is  handled  by  the  lamp  renewal  and 
wiring  department. 

Shortly  after  the  campaign  was  inaugurated  the  com- 
pany advertised  extensively  in  the  local  daily  papers.  Half- 
page  advertisements  were  inserted  at  the  start,  but  so  many 
inquiries  resulted  that  it  was  impossible  to  handle  them 
properly.  A  typical  example  of  one  of  these  advertise- 
ments was  reproduced  in  the  May  4  issue  of  the  Electrical 
World,  on  page  976.  Later  small  advertisements,  one  of 
which  is  reproduced  herewith  in  Fig.  i,  were  used  sparingly, 
but  these  have  been  discontinued  for  the  present.  The  last 
advertisements  stated  that  houses  would  be  wired  at  cost 
until  Oct.  I,  1911.  The  time  limit  was  specified  to  induce 
prospective  customers  to  close  promptly.  During  the  period 
that  advertisements  were  being  run  as  many  as  80  requests 
for  estimates  were  received  during  a  single  day.  Parties 
who  were  furnished  with  estimates  prior  to  Oct.  I  were 
allowed  until  Nov.  i  to  accept  them  on  the  wiring-at-cost 
basis.  The  wiring  rates  were  increased  by  about  10  per 
cent  on  Oct.  I,  but  those  who  had  received  estimates  on 
the  cost  basis  prior  to  that  time  were,  in  accordance  with 
the  agreement,  allowed  until  Nov.  i  to  acept  them. 

It  was  realized  at  the  outset  that  it  would  be  poor  policy, 
both  from  an  ethical  and  a  business  standpoint,  to  adopt 
any  plan  that  would  antagonize  the  local  electrical  con- 
tractors. Hence  the  company  has  co-operated  with  the  con- 
tractors wherever  possible.  Although  many  buildings  are 
wired  by  the  company's  own  wiremen — it  has  now  thirty- 
five  men — many  jobs  have  been  sublet  to  contractors.  The 
contractors  are  paid  by  the  company  in  thirty  days,  but 
the  customer  is  permitted  to  pay  in  monthly  installments 
extending  over  a  period  of  a  year.  The  company  does  all 
soliciting  and  estimating  and  assumes  all  expense  in  con- 


nection therewith,  relieving  the  contractor  of  all  costs  ex- 
cept those  involved  in   actually  doing  the  work. 

In  general,  the  company  wires  only  houses  that  con- 
tractors cannot  wire  with  profit  at  the  rates  at  which  the 
company  is  doing  wiring.  Inasmuch  as  the  company's  men 
wire  old  buildings  exclusively  they  have  become  so  expert 
at  this  work  that  they  are  able  to  make  installations  that 
would  ordinarily  be  considered  impossible  of  execution. 

When  an  inquiry  is  received  requesting  an  estimate  on  the 
cost  of  wiring  an  old  building,  an  estimator  is  sent  to 
interview  the  prospective  customer.  The  estimators  are 
practical  old-building  wiremen.  They  go  over  the  work 
with  the  prospect,  making  suggestions  as  to  locations  of 
fixture  and  switch  outlets  and  do  all  that  they  can  to 
encourage  a  first-class  installation  and  one  that  is  within 
the  means  of  the  owner.  When  the  number  and  the  loca- 
tions of  the  outlets  are  determined  the  estimator,  from 
notes  taken  in  the  building  under  consideration,  fills  in  a 
blank  estimate  form,  which  is  so  prepared  that  it  makes  a 


lenses  liredl  At  Cost 

Tliere  is  no  reason  why  the  owner  of  the 
house  you  desire  to  rent  cannot  have  it  wired 
for  electricity  for  you.  We  will  wire  all  old 
houses  at  cost  until  June  1,  1911,  and  will  allow 
payment  to  be  made  with  a  small  amount  down 
and  12  equal  monthly  payments  thereafter.  The 
be.st  work  by  first  class  workmen  will  insure 
safe,  permanent  wiring,  at  the  lowest  possible 
cost.  No  damage  will  be  done  to  ceilings,  wall 
paper  or  woodwork. 

Every  woman  desires  to  use  an  electric 
vacuum  cleaner  at  house  cleaning  time  and  the 
way  women  are  buying  electric  washing  ma- 
clrines  indicates  that  they  will  no  longer  tolerate 
wash  day  drudgery.  Electric  light  is  coof  in 
summer  and  absolutely  safe  all  of  the  time. 

If  your  prospective  landlord  will  not  give 
you  an  opportunity  to  use  electric  light  by  hav- 
ing the  house  wired  look  for  one  who  will.  Have 
him  call  898  Hiland,  wiring  department,  and 
get  an  estimate  made  of  the  cost  of  wiring  your 
house.  So  many  landlords  are  doing  this  that 
if  you  delay  longer  you  will  be  disappointed. 

Alleglieny  County  llgU  Conpaiy 

435   Sixth  Avenue,   Pittsburgh. 
Highland   Building,   East   Liberty. 
West  Diamond  Street,  Allegheny. 
Masonic   Building,   Bellevue. 


Fig.    1 — Typical    Old- House-Wiring    Advertisement. 

full  record  of  the  job,  from  start  to  finish.  This  form 
provides  for  complete  information  concerning  the  general 
features  of  the  building,  including  its  location,  type  of 
construction,  character  of  wiring  to  be  employed,  number 
of  circuits,  location  of  tablet  board  and  meter,  kind  and 
length  of  service  connection,  service  entrance  and  the 
number  of  the  service  pole.  Columns  are  then  provided 
for  listing  the  individual  rooms,  height  of  ceiling,  size, 
character  of  walls,  floors  and  ceiling,  number  and  location 
of  outlets,  number  and  details  of  fixtures,  and  number  and 
kind  of  switches.  Space  is  also  provided  for  a  detailed 
description  of  the  work,  including  the  necessary  materials. 
When  the  job  is  complete,  the  wiring  foreman  enters  his 
account  of  materials  and  labor  in  another  space  set  aside 
for  the  purpose.  Provision  is  further  included  for  a  record 
of  the  permit  from  the  city  authorities  to  make  the  service 
connection,  and  lastly  a  detailed  statement  of  the  whole 
cost  of  the  job. 

The  next  step  which  the  estimator  takes  is  the  preparation 


ic6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


oi  a  detailed  estimate  for  presentation  to  the  owner,  siiow- 
ing  just  what  the  company  proposes  to  do  and  exactly  how 
much  the  installation  will  cost.  These  estimates  are  type- 
written in  duplicate,  one  of  which  is  mailed  to  the  customer 
and  one  kept  for  the  files.  A  sample  estimate,  in  the  form 
submitted  to  the  owner,  is  reproduced  herewith. 


Sept.  7,  191 1. 

Mr.  John  Jones, 

110  Hamilton  Street,  City. 
Dear  Sir: 

Below  we  are  submitting  an  estimate  of  the  cost  of  elec- 
trical wiring  to  be  installed  at  the  above  address: 

FIRST     FLOOR. 

Porch. — Wire  for  one  center  outlet  controlled  by  one  S.  P.  snap 
switch. 

Hall. — Wire  for  one  center  outlet  controlled  by  2-3  way  snap  switches. 

Parlor. — Wire  for  one  center  outlet  controlled  by  one  D.  P.  snap 
switch. 

Dming-Room. — Wire  for  one  center  outlet  controlled  by  one  D.  P.  snap 
switch. 

Kitchen. — Wire  for  one  center  outlet  controlled  by  one  D.  P.  snap 
switch. 

Pantry. — Wire  for  one  center  outlet  controlled  by  one  D.  P.  snap 
switch. 

Cellar. — Wire   for  one  cord  drop  controlled  by  one  S.   P.   snap  switch. 

SECOND    FLOOR. 


Hall. — Wire  for  one  center  outlet  controlled  by  2-3  way  snap  switches. 
Small  Front  Bedroom. — Wire  for  one  center  outlet  controlled  by  one 
D.    P.   snap  switch. 


Large  Front  Bedroom. — Wire  for  one  center  outlet  controlled  by  one 
D.    P.   snap  switch. 

Back  Bedroom. — Wire  for  one  center  outlet  controlled  by  one  D.  P. 
snap  switch. 

Bath  Room.- — Wire  for  one  center  outlet  controlled  by  one  D.  P.  snap 
switch. 

FOR  THE  SUM  OF  $68. 

If  this  estimate  is  satisfactory,  kindly  sign  the  attached 
form,  and  return  same  to  the  Allegheny  County  Light  Com- 
pany, 5929  Kirkwood  Street,  city.  The  amount  specified  on 
this  estimate  is  subject  to  your  acceptance  until  Xov.  i,  after 
which  time  all  estimates  furnished  at  cost  will  be  void. 
Very  truly  yours.. 

Wiring  Department. 

The  benefits  that  have  come  to  the  company  through  the 
old-building-wiring  campaign  may  be  shown  by  citing  a  few 
examples.  A  group  of  twenty  old  houses,  averaging  six 
rooms  each,  in  a  suburb  that  had  not  previously  been  served 
with  electricity,  was  recently  wired.  Gas  mains  did  not 
reach  the  group  and  the  residents  used  coal-oil  lamps.  The 
group  was  located  possibly  yi  mile  from  the  company's  pole 
lines.  One  resident  made  a  request  for  an  estimate  for 
wiring  his  house.  The  estimator  explained  when  he  called 
for  an  interview  that  it  would  not  be  very  profitable  to  run 
a  pole-line  %  mile  long  to  serve  one  consumer,  while  if  it 
were  possible  to  secure  several  the  lighting  company  would 
doubtless  build  a  pole  line  to  serve  the  group.  On  this  basis 
the  wiring  estimator  canvassed  the  district  and  was  able 
to  get  twenty  householders  to  have  their  houses  wired  if 
the  company  would  extend  its  lines  to  serve  them.  Con- 
tracts were  secured  for  wiring  all  of  the  twenty  houses  on 
this  basis.  The  wiring  contracts  having  been  secured,  the 
estimator  again  called  on  the  owners  with  a  contract  agent 
and  service  contracts  were  obtained. 

In  cases  where  the  foregoing  group-method  of  securing 
business  is  not  feasible  and  it  is  necessary  to  wire  a  certain 
number  of  houses  before  a  pole  line  can  profitably  be  ex- 
tended, the  prospective  consumer  is  not  permitted  to  accept 
a  house-wiring  contract  until  the  company  has  secured  his 
service  contract. 

It  has  been  found  that  the  old-building  wiremen  are  ex- 
cellent solicitors  for  the  installation  of  auxiliary  electrical 
apparatus.  The  men  work  in  a  house  for  several  days  and 
are  very  likely  to  become  acquainted  with  the  occupants. 
The  wiremen  often  have  opportunities  to  explain  the  con- 
venience and  economies  of  energy-consuming  devices  such 
as  vacuum  cleaners,  fans,  washing  machines  and  electric 
irons.  Considerable  business  of  this  kind  has  resulted  from 
their  efforts. 

The  company  does  not  endeavor  to  sell  fixtures,  but 
usuallv  refers  customers  to  the  local  dealers.    Nevertheless 


the  company  does  carry  in  stock  and  can  furnish  at  a 
moderate  advance  over  cost  a  line  of  tungstoliers  for  both 
combination  and  straight  electric  service.  These  fixtures 
harmonize  well  with  the  furnishings  in  middle-class  homes 
and  have  given  excellent  satisfaction  where  a  low-priced 
fixture  of  good  appearance  meets  the  taste  or  needs  of  the 
owner. 

The    installation   of   wiring   within   the    corporate    limits 


Service 

(Entmnce 


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i>>'/ff^.',';j>'f>f'r'.-j^f>fff>j'j''fffj 


CROSS. SECTION. 


5ZZE 


Porch 


^. 


Kitchen 


5m; 


—ryy^yyy'y'.^//////y////^/y/^ 


Oomi 


;    Dining  Room 


Two  Light 
Fixture 


5x; 


Up 


':■    Living  Room 
(2) 


W 


m 


■>////.^/y/yy/-y///'yy/7?///////J 


3zz 


s' 


v^f^/:jr///^f^:fy/>^/f^/^^A- 


FIRST    FLOOR. 


v/^/!^/////////,^////ij/j/////////fjf//ti>:rii//////>//i/i.- 


Roof  of 
Kitchen 


1 

Bed    Room 
I 


rZ  floor  boards 
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boards 

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Bed  I  Room 


Closet    I  /-^ fioor boards 


remorec^ 


Closet'', 

•2z2zzzzzzznz 


RooFoF 
Porch 


SECOND   FLOOR. 
Figs.   2.   3   and  4 — Wiring   of   an   Old    Frame   House. 

of  the  city  of  Pittsburgh  is  governed  by  local  or  "city"  rules  j 
which  differ  in  some  details  from  the  national  code  rules,  jf 
although  in  general  the  two  sets  of  regulations  are  similar.  ( 
In  Pittsburgh  no  wire  smaller  than  No.  12  B.  &  S.  gage  is 
permitted,  whereas  the  code  allows  the  use  of  No.  14  gage. 
Slow-burning   wire — that    is.   wire   having   an    inner    slow- 
burning  serving  and  an  outer  smooth  black  moisture-repel- 
ling coating — is  permitted  for  concealed  work  in  dry  places 
where  supported  on  porcelain,  but  rubber-insulated  wire  is 
required    by    the    code    for    such    locations.      Double-pole 
switches  are  required  in  Pittsburgh  for  controlling  all  cir 
cuits  to  gas-pipe  combination  outlets,  and  for  circuits  pass 
ing  over  or  through   metal   ceilings.     No.   8   gage   is   the 
smallest  size  of  wire  permitted  from  the  entrance  to  the 
main  fuse  block,  even  if  the  capacity  of  the  installation  is 
such  that  a  smaller  wire  would  safely  carry   the  current. 
The  main  switch  must  be  on  the  house  side  of  the  meter 
and  not  at  the  entrance,  as  required  by  the  National  Elec- 
trical Code. 

The  provision  permitting  the  use  of  slow-burning  wire 
decreases  the  cost  of  an  installation  of  knob  and  tube  work 
below  what  it  would  be  in  cities  where   rubber-insulated 


'July  13,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


107 


wire  is  required.  But  the  requirement  that  double-pole 
switches  must  be  used  for  controlling  combination  gas  and 
electric  outlets  increases  the  cost  of  a  job  in  a  building 
piped  for  gas  above  what  it  would  be  where  code  rules  are 
in  force. 

As  in  all  other  communities,  two  general  classes  of  build- 
ings are  encountered — frame  and  brick.  Frame  houses  are 
obviously  the  easier  to  wire  inasmuch  as  the  spaces  in  the 
outside  walls  can  be  used  for  wire  runways,  and  outlets 
can  readily  be  cut  in  the  outside  walls.  Where  outside  walls 
are  of  brick  it  is  usually  very  difficult  to  install  outlets  in 
them  without  doing  considerable  damage,  unless  the  walls 
are  furred.  But  residence  walls  in  Pittsburgh  are  seldom 
furred. 

Figs.  2,  3  and  4  show  the  section  and  plans  of  a  typical 
five-room,  old-frame  house  and,  in  general,  the  methods 
used  in  wiring  it.  Some  of  the  e.xpedients  employed  in 
installing  the  wiring  will  be  described  in  the  following 
paragraphs.  Referring  to  Fig.  2,  the  wires  enter  at  the 
rear  of  the  kitchen  and  pass  through  the  wall  to  the  main 
fuse  block.  The  point  of  entrance  is  determined  in  any 
case  by  the  location  of  the  nearest  available  tapping-in  point 
on  the  pole  line  and  by  the  location  of  the  meter.  It  is 
always  desirable  to  locate  the  meter  as  near  the  entrance 
as  feasible,  making  the  unmetered  run  within  the  house 
very  short.  From  the  fuse-block  the  wires  pass  within  the 
wall  to  the  meter  and  thence  again  within  the  wall  to  the 
main  switch.  Leaving  the  main  switch  the  conductors  rise 
within  the  wall,  forming  the  distributing  circuit  for  the 
house. 

In  the  case  of  a  small  house,  such  as  that  shown  in  Fig.  2, 
the  total  connected  load  is  less  than  660  watts,  and  so  no 
branch  cut-outs  are  necessary.  The  one  cut-out  at  the 
point  of  entrance  serves  for  the  whole  house.  Fig.  2  indi- 
cates how  the  wiring  to  the  switches  and  fixtures  is  con- 
cealed within  floors,  walls  and  partitions.  It  is  seldom  that 
it  is  necessary  to  expose  any  wire  in  wiring  an  old  frame 
house.  The  spaces  within  the  walls  of  a  frame  house  are 
rarely  "blocked" — that  is,  obstructed  with  bridges  or  tim- 
bers so  vertical  circuits  cannot  easily  be  run  within  them. 

Fig.  3  shows  the  locations  of  the  switches  and  fixtures 
for  the  first-floor  rooms  and  Fig.  4  indicates  the  routes  of 
the  wires  serving  the  first-floor  equipment.  Fig.  4  also 
shows  the  floor  boards  which  it  was  necessary  to  remove  to 
run  the  wiring  through  and  between  the  joists.  The  meth- 
ods used  in  removing  and  replacing  floor  boards  are  de- 
scribed later.  Where  floor  boards  must  be  removed  for 
quite  a  distance  in  one  continuous  line,  through  several 
rooms,  it  is  best  to  select  an  unobstructed  route  such  as  that 
through  the  doorways  in  Fig.  4.  If  a  route  is  selected  that 
passes  under  partitions  there  will  be  difficulty  in  getting  the 
boards  up  without  considerable  sawing. 

Another  installment  will  continue  the  description  of  the 
practical  features  of  wiring  installations  in  old  houses,  with 
numerous  illustrations  showing  in  great  detail  the  methods 
employed. 


SPECTACULAR     ILLUMINATION    AT    BALTIMORE 
CONVENTION. 


Effective  use  was  made  of  the  illumination  obtained  from 
the  electric  search-lamp  during  the  recent  National  Demo- 
cratic Convention  in  Baltimore.  One  of  the  most  attractive 
displays  was  made  on  the  tower  of  the  Fidelity  Building, 
where  a  24-in.  projector  lantern  was  arranged  for  sending 
its  beam  in  all  horizontal  and  partly  vertical  directions 
through  vari-colored  screens.  An  electric  motor  was  used 
for  revolving  the  lanterns  to  throw  the  beam  in  all  hori- 
zontal directions.  In  its  motion  through  the  horizontal 
plane  the  beam  encountered  four  "projectors,"  which  served 
to  deflect  the  beam  to  any  desired  angle  in  a  vertical  plane. 
Thus,  with  the  steady  movement  of  the  lantern  around  its 


axis  the  beam  would  frequently  be  deflected  from  a  hori- 
zontal direction  through  various  vertical  angles.  By  use  of 
horizontally  revolving  color  screens  the  color  of  the  beam 
was  changed  from  red  and  green  to  orange,  to  pink  and 
yellow  and  to  white  in  rapid  succession.  One  can  easily 
appreciate  the  great  variety  and  untiring  lighting  effects 
that  were  obtained  with  the  apparatus. 


Tower    with    Electric    Search- Lamps    at    Baltimore. 

The  equipment  arrangement  was  designed  by  Mr.  Frank 
L.  Perry,  of  the  executive  staff  of  the  Fidelity  Trust  Com- 
pany. Superintendent  Noah  R.  Pierson,  of  the  Fidelity 
Building,  and  Thomas  W.  Rogan,  were  in  direct  charge  of 
the  construction  and  operation  of  the  apparatus  to  produce 
the  novel  electrical  effects.  The  search-lamp  proper  was 
managed  during  the  illumination  by  Messrs.  Joseph 
Fischeffer  and  J.  C.  Denn,  of  the  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company. 


ILLUMINATION   OF  ST.  LOUIS  PUBLIC  LIBRARY. 


By  G.  T.  Hadley. 

The  new  central  building  of  the  St.  Louis  Public  Library 
is  a  substantial  structure  in  the  style  of  the  early  Italian 
renaissance,  with  three  stories,  ground  floor,  main  floor, 
second  floor  and  basement.  The  main  ■  entrance  is  ap- 
proached by  a  flight  of  steps  leading  up  to  three  large 
arches  at  the  head  of  the  outer  stairway,  and  there  is  also 
a  staff  entrance  on  the  ground  floor.  The  structure  is  of 
Maine  granite,  and  there  is  a  ridged  tile  roof  surmounting 
the  whole,  four  outer  pavilions,  and  a  flat  roof  with  parapet 
over  the  central  pavilion  in  wliich  is  located  the  deliverv 
hall.  Between  the  windows  of  the  upper  story  on  three 
sides  are  circular  medallions,  twelve  of  which  are  carved 
with  the  signs  of  the  zodiac  and  others  with  the  seals  of 
the  city  and  library,  the  heads  of  Minerva  and  Janus,  and 
representations  of  Pegasus,  an  hour  glass,  an  owl  and  an 
eagle. 

Beneath  each  large  window  of  the  main  floor  the  trade- 
marks of  the  old  printers  are  carved  upon  tablets  of  stone, 
beginning    with    Johann    Gutenberg,    Fust    and    Schoffer. 


io8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


These  old  trade-marks  represent  important  historical  trade 
truths  and  illustrate  the  progress  and  gradual  evolution  of 
the  art  of  printing,  as  each  trade-mark  stands  for  a  man 
who  advanced  printing.  All  the  carving  of  these  thirty 
tablets  as  well  as  the  inscription  of  the  great  literary  names 
was  done  with  chisels  operated  by  means  of  compressed 
air,  power  for  which  was  furnished  by  an  electric  motor. 
Above  the  arched  doorways  on  the  main  pediment  four 
fine  busts  of  Homer,  Dante,  Virgil  and  Shakespeare  are 
carved  within  wreaths  over  spandrels.  On  the  beveled 
jambs  of  the  three  arches  are  small  panels  on  which  are 
carved  in  relief  figures  of  the  nine  Muses  and  the  three 
Graces. 


Fig.    1 — St.    Louis    Library. 

A  prime  consideration  in  a  library  building  is  the  il- 
lumination. The  distinctive  features  of  library  illumina- 
tion are:  First,  sufficient  illumination  on  the  reading  tables 
and  the  bookshelves  to  meet  the  demands  of  a  large  class 
of  readers  of  various  ages  and  varying  conditions  of  eye- 
sight ;  second,  low  intrinsic  brightness  of  light  without 
glare ;  third,  sufficient  illumination  for  the  library  stafif  to 
oversee  the  entire  floor;  fourth,  sufficient  illumination  to 
provide  a  moderate  reading  light  in  all  parts  of  the  room; 
fifth,  economy  of  operation,  simplicity  of  construction  and 
convenience;  sixth,  esthetic  design  of  fixtures  and  at- 
tractive appearance  of  the  reading  rooms  at  night. 

Passing  through  the  bronzed  grill  gates  of  the  main  en- 
trance, one  comes  into  the  outer  lobby  with  vaulted  mosaic 
ceiling,  which  opens  directly  into  a  large  rectangular  hall 
with  marble  walls,  columns  and  floor.  Here  the  ceiling  is 
decorated  in  color.  On  the  left  of  entrance  hall  is  the  art 
collection    room    and    on    the    right    the   periodical    reading 


main  hall  broad  flights  of  stairs  lead  right  and  left  to  the 
floor  above. 

Through  a  carved  marble  doorway  one  passes  north  into 
delivery  hall,  a  magnificent  rom  which  occupies  the  en- 
tire area  of  the  center  pavilion  and  extends  upward  two 
stories.  The  walls  and  floor  of  this  hall  are  of  Tennessee 
marble,  hone-finished  and  are  a  subdued  dove-colnr.     Five 


Fig.  3 — Room   for  Art   Collection. 

large  windows  in  the  north  wall  and  three  at  each  end 
admit  daylight.  Eight  handsome  bronze  chandeliers  with 
twenty-four  bowl  frosted  lamps  afford  direct  illumination 
by  night  and  ten  marble  floor  standards  with  bowls  con- 
taining eight  25-watt  lamps  are  the  indirect  lighting  units. 
On  the  delivery  desk  illumination  is  provided  by  branch- 
ing bronze  standards  equipped  with  frosted  globes.  In  the 
reference  room  on  the  left  of  the  delivery  hall  general 
illumination  is  secured  through  sixteen  fixtures  suspended 
from  the  beam  ceiling,  each  fixture  having  six  lamps  with 
frosted  globes. 

In  the  art  collection  room  the  decorations  are  adapted 
from  the  church  of  La  Badia  in  Florence,  Italy.  Six  mag- 
nificent bronze  chandeliers  of  the  new  chain  and  rigid  circle 
type  are  suspended  from  the  ceiling.  Each  fixture  has 
twelve  lamps  with  frosted  bowls.  The  wiring  is  tied 
to   every   other  link   by  threads   so   as  to  be  in   a  straight 


Fig.    2— Delivery    Hall. 

room,  both  rooms  of  noble  proportions.  The  doorways  to 
each  are  protected  by  beautiful  bronze  grilles,  flanked  by 
high  carved  standards  of  Italian  marble  bearing  translucent 
basins  which  contain  eight  25-watt  lamps.  The  main  col- 
umns in  the  stair  hall  are  surmounted  by  i6-cp  linolite 
lamps  arranged  below  the  spring  of  the  vaulting  for  the 
special   illumination  of  the   decorated  ceiling.     From  this 


Fig. 


-Newspaper   Room. 


line;  thus  it  cannot  be  pinched  by  links  turning  on  each 
other  as  would  be  the  case  if  woven  through  the  links  of 
chain.  On  both  sides  of  the  ceiling  are  a  series  of  plaques 
fitted  into  the  ceiling  motif  and  equipped  with  frosted 
globes. 

In  the  periodical  reading  room  the  ceiling  is  a  copy  of 
the  Laurentian  Library  in  Florence,  Italy,  based  on  designs 


July  13,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


109 


by  Michael  Angelo.  There  are  ten  ceiling  fixtures  similar 
to  those  in  the  art  room.  The  tables  in  the  reading  room 
are  supplied  with  standard  fixtures,  each  containing  two 
tungsten  lamps  so  arranged  and  concealed  that  a  soft,  dif- 
fused light  is  provided,  uniformly  distributed  over  every 
square  inch  of  working  surface  in  the  space  allotted  to  the 
fixture. 

The  news  room  has  standard  fixtures  for  indirect-light- 


Flg. 


-Main    Hall. 


ing  and  direct-lighting  units  over  the  inclined  paper  racks. 
The  indirect  system  is  used  in  the  applied  science  room 
and  largely  in  the  other  rooms  of  the  building  with  local 
lamps  wherever  necessary.  The  stack  room  is  seven  stories 
high  and  is  equipped  with  eight  push-button  lifts,  or  elec- 
tric dumb  waiters  of  the  Burdett-Rowntree  system.  Drop 
lamps  are  used  in  front  of  each  stack,  but  an  entire  series 
of  lamps  may  be  instantly  lighted  by  pressing  a  button  on 
the  local  switchboard. 

The  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  St. 
Louis,  furnishes  the  new  library  building  with  light  and 
motor  service,  165,000  kw-hr.  per  year,  varying  from  12,300 
kw-hr.  in  July  to  15,000  kw-hr.  in  January.  The  connected 
load  is  90  kw  for  light  and  74  kw  for  motor  service. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


AUTOMATIC    SYSTEMS. 

With  many  of  the  automatic  systems  the  knocking  down 
or  disconnection  of  an  existing  connection  follows  simul- 
taneous grounding  of  both  sides  of  the  calling  line.  The 
contacts  are  usually  arranged  so  that  this  occurs  with  each 
depression  of  the  hook  lever.  Again,  automatic  systems 
must  have  a  busy  control  of  some  kind  so  that  if  a  line  be 
busy  no  other  line  may  be  inadvertently  connected  to  it. 
It  will  therefore  be  appreciated  at  once  that  modifications 
must  be  made  if  party  lines  are  to  be  used,  as  connections 
would  be  unreliable  owing  to  other  than  the  talking  station 
on  the  line  having  caused  the  hook  lever  to  knock  down  an 
existing  connection.  Moreover,  the  usual  busy  control 
would  prevent  any  station  calling  to  another  one  on  its 
own  line.  Mr.  G.  Deakin,  of  Berkeley,  Cal,  had  these 
features  in  mind  in  the  arrangement  of  his  automatic  sys- 
tem recently  patented.  In  his  system  the  disconnection  or 
knock-down  apparatus  is  so  arranged  that  it  responds  only 
when  the  line  is  left  clear  after  the  dual  grounding.  Thus 
if  there  is  a  telephone  in  use  the  line  is  not  clear  and  no 


other  station  can  effect  a  disconnection.  The  busy  difficulty 
is  met  by  arranging  as  many  different  classes  of  connectors 
as  there  are  stations  on  any  one  line.  Thus  any  connector 
can  select  a  station  of  a  class  different  from  its  own,  and 
reverting  calls — that  is,  calls  to  one's  own  line — become 
possible.  There  is  another  good  feature  in  this  arrange- 
ment :  As  each  connector  only  calls  stations  of  one  kind 
or  code,  it  always  requires  the  same  kind  of  ringing  current. 
The  ringing  current  supply  may  therefore  be  permanent  to 
each  connector. 

The  semi-automatic  exchange  is  the  subject  of  a  patent 
granted  to  Mr.  E.  E.  Clement,  of  Washington,  D.  C.  Ac- 
cording to  his  system,  the  subscriber  has  the  usual  common- 
battery  telephone  set.  This  signals  an  operator  at  an  in- 
termediate station,  who  learns  the  connection  wanted  and 
obtains   it  by   operating  distant   automatic   apparatus. 

COMMON-BATTERY   SYSTEM. 

In  the  common-battery  circuit  system  described  in  a 
patent  issued  to  Mr.  H.  P.  Claussen  the  multiple  jack  cir- 
cuits are  three-wire  and  the  cord  circuits  are  two-wire. 
The  line  relay  is  connected  between  two  springs  of  the  jack 
in  such  a  way  that  the  plug  short-circuits  it  and  thus  pre- 
vents its  operation  and  the  display  of  the  line  lamp.     This 


Clausen's    Common-Battery    System. 


circuit  is  shown  in  Fig.  i,  the  tip  of  the  plug  registering 

with  both  jack  springs.  This  patent  has  been  assigned  to 

the    Stromberg-Carlson  Telephone    Manufacturing    Com- 
pany. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


OIL  ENGINES  FOR  IRRIGATION  SERVICE. 


To  the  Editors  of  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — In  the  issue  of  the  Electrical  World  dated  June  8 
there  appeared  an  interesting  article  entitled:  "Electric 
Irrigation  Pumping  in  Southern  California."  After  con- 
demning steam  plant  for  irrigation  purposes  on  account  of 
the  "constant  attendance  required"  the  writer  stated  that 
"another  reason  why  electricity  is  driving  out  the  distillate 
engine  in  this  service  is  found  in  the  skilled  attention  which 
internal  combustion  equipment  demands  as  the  price  of  any- 
thing like  reliable  service."  This  statement  seems  remark- 
able in  view  of  the  proved  worth  of  the  internal  combustion 
engine  of  the  Diesel  type.  I  am,  of  course,  aware  that  with 
the  ordinary  type  of  roughly  made  gas  motor,  troubles  are 
not  entirely  unknown,  yet  with  regard  to  a  carefully  con- 
structed real  combustion  engine  in  which  first-cost  is  placed 
second  to  reliable  service,  the  case  is  quite  different.  Had 
the  comments  been  confined  to  the  "common  or  garden"  gas 
engine  they  would  have  been  more  convincing,  but  they  are 
not  properly  applicable  to  the  Diesel  oil  engine  which  is 
not  of  the  explosion  type. 

London,  Eng.  E.  Owen. 


no 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


Digest    of   Current   Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Single-Phase  Railivay  Motor. — In  an  account  of  this 
year's  convention  of  the  British  Institution  of  Electrical 
Engineers  mention  is  made  of  a  single-phase  railway  motor 
of  J.  S.  Nicholson  and  B.  P.  Haigh.  The  motor  is  fitted 
with  pole-changing  windings  and  can  be  worked  as  a  repul- 
sion motor  with  either  eight  or  four  poles,  according  to  the 
speed  required.  Up  to  half  speed  (500  r.p.m.)  the  eight- 
pole  connections  are  employed,  while  for  higher  speeds  the 
windings  are  changed  over  to  four  poles,  and  the  field  mag- 
netism is  obtained  by  passing  a  magnetizing  current  through 
the  armature.  It  was  pointed  out  that  as  a  repulsion  motor 
works  best  when  running  at  a  speed  close  to  synchronous 
value,  the  use  of  a  pole-changing  winding  allows  of  the  best 
results  being  obtained  over  a  wider  range  of  speed  than 
usual,  as  two  synchronous  speeds  are  available.  The  action 
of  the  pole-changing  motor  when  running  at  full  speed  is 
similar  to  that  of  other  "compensated  repulsion''  motors, 
thus  the  power-factor  approximates  unity,  and  the  motor 
may  be  used  with  shunt  connections,  in  which  case  regen- 
erative braking  may  be  employed.  It  was  suggested  that 
the  motor  is  suitable  not  only  for  multiple-unit  trains  on 
account  of  its  high  acceleration,  but  also  for  locomotives 
handling  high-speed  passenger  traffic  by  day  and  heavy 
freight  trains  by  night.  The  method  of  changing  the  num- 
ber of  poles  involves  the  use  of  switches,  but  as  each  trans- 
former tapping  gives  two  speed  ranges  instead  of  one,  the 
total  number  of  contactors  is  not  greater  than  usual. — 
London  Electrician,  June  21,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Flame-Arc  Lamp. — An   illustrated  description   of  a  new 


Fig.    1 — Sections   Showing   General   Arrangement  of   Lamp   and 
Regulating   IVleciianism. 

flame-arc  lamp  of  German  make.  It  is  illustrated  in 
Fig.  I,  the  diagram  on  the  left  being  a  section  through 
the  plane  of  electrodes  showing  the  general  arrangement 
of  the  lamp,  while  the  diagram  on  the  right  is  a  section 
showing  the   regulating  mechanism.     The   electrodes  pass 


to  the  economizer  through  the  plates  b  b,  which  are  screwed 
on  to  the  insulating  base  of  the  case,  and  a  practically 
frictionless  passage  is  obtained  without  the  necessity  for 
cleansing.  The  electrode  holders  hang  from  the  cross- 
arm  t,  on  which  they  travel  laterally  to  allow  for  the  slope 
of  the  girder  by  means  of  rollers.  No  blow-out  magnet 
is  employed,  and  there  are  no  working  parts  exposed  to 
the  heat  of  the  arc.  The  regulating  mechanism  in  the 
head  of  the  lamp  is  better  seen  in  the  right-hand  section. 
It  consists  essentially  of  a  chain  wheel  and  a  regulating 
solenoid  with  its  movable  core  fitted  with  a  dashpot.  The 
feeding  of  the  electrodes  is  effected  in  a  simple  manner 
by  a  lever  and  clutch  arrangement  acting  on  the  chain 
wheel.  An  important  feature  of  the  lamp  is  that  the 
electrodes  touch  one  another  when  the  lamp  is  not  in 
circuit  and  do  not  have  to  be  brought  together  by  a  special 
striking  mechanism.  The  mechanism  is  entirely  without 
clockwork.  A  dioptric  inner  globe  and  a  well-ventilated 
outer  globe  are  fitted. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  June  6, 
1912. 

Heterochromatic  Photometry. — H.  E.  Ives. — An  ab- 
stract of  an  American  Physical  Society  paper  on  the 
addition  of  luminosities  of  different  colors.  The  most 
satisfactory  test  consists  in  the  measurement  of  the  dis- 
persed light  of  a  source  color  by  color  against  the  un- 
dispersed  light.  The  sum  of  the  brightness  of  the  colors 
should  equal  the  brightness  of  the  undispersed  light.  A 
special  slit  on  the  spectrometer  made  it  possible  to  obtain 
successively  adjacent  portions  of  the  spectrum  to  be 
measured  against  the  "white"  comparison  standard  by  the 
flicker  method.  At  the  end  of  the  measurements  the  slit 
was  opened  until  the  whole  spectrum  fell  upon  the  eye 
slit,  when  both  sides  of  the  photometric  field  appeared  of 
the  same  color  and  a  photometric  match  could  be  obtained 
by  all  methods  of  photometry  with  necessarily  identical 
results.  The  experiment  was  carried  out  at  an  illumina- 
tion of  300  units,  photometric  field  2  deg.  in  diameter, 
with  bright  surroundings.  The  result  proved  the  physical 
and  arithmetical  summations  to  be  identical.  It  follows 
that  the  flicker  photometer  is  an  instrument  which  under 
proper  conditions  offers  a  practical  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem of  heterochromatic  photometry.  There  remains  only 
to  be  determined  the  luminosity  curve  of  the  normal  eye, 
by  measurements  on  numerous  individuals,  in  order  that 
standard  conditions  for  the  photometry  of  different  colored 
lights  may  be  specified  and  made  the  subject  of  legislation. 
— Phys.  Reinew,  May,  1912. 

Selenium  Cell  and  Photometry. — A.  H.  Pfund.— An  ac- 
count of  an  experimental  investigation  which  shows  that 
the  selenium  cell,  when  used  as  a  photometer,  will  yield 
accurate  results  when  the  following  conditions  are  ful- 
filled: (a)  Monochromatic  liglit  must  be  used;  (b)  an 
accurate  sensibility  curve  must  have  been  established; 
(c)  exposures  to  light  must  be  made  automatically  and 
must  be  of  short  duration.  Talbot's  law  holds  (within 
the  limits  of  accuracy  of  measurement)  throughout  the 
visible  spectrum.  The  range  of  frequencies  covered  was 
from  10  to  60  interruptions  per  second.  For  moderate 
intensities  of  illumination  and  for  a  range  of  intensities 
of  I  to  18,  the  relation  between  the  incident  energy  E 
and  the  galvanometer  deflection  P  is  represented  by  the 
expression  D  =  KE^.  As  a  consequence  of  determining 
the  various  values  assumed  by  b,  it  is  found  that  with  a 
wave-length  of  from  450  ]j.]x  to  650  \i.\x.  the  deflections  are  pro- 
portional, approximately,  to  the  square  root  of  the  energy, 
while  from  700  (xja  to  830  u.a  the  deflections  are  directly  pro- 
portional to  the  energy.     As  a  consequence  of  the  varia- 


i 


July  13,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


111 


tioiis  of  b  with  the  wave-length  the  form  of  the  sensibiHty 
curve  varies  with  the  absolute  intensity  of  illumination. 
Under  very  faint  illumination  the  selenium  cell  is  most 
sensitive  toward  yellowish-green  light,  while  under  intense 
illumination  the  cell  is  by  far  the  most  sensitive  toward 
red  light. — Phys.  Review,  May,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Economy  of  Water-Pozvcr  Electric  Stations. — R.  Rinkel. 
— A  long  paper  with  tables  and  diagrams  on  the  economy  of 
hydroelectric  stations.  The  commercial  success  of  a  gener- 
ating plant  depends  on  four  factors,  namely,  the  specific  first 
cost  in  dollars  per  kw,  the  load-factor  in  useful  kw-hr, 
per  kw,  the  receipts  per  kw-hr.,  and  the  expense  per  kw-hr. 
The  interrelation  between  the  four  factors  is  rather  com- 
jilicated.  .For  instance,  a  generating  plant  the  specific  first 
cost  of  which  is  high  may  be  more  successful  commercially 
than  a  plant  with  a  low  specific  first  cost,  if  the  load-factor 
of  the  former  is  much  higher  than  that  of  the  latter.  For 
this  reason  the  ratio  of  the  specific  first  cost  to  load  factor 
or  what  is  the  same,  the  ratio  of  first  cost  in  dollars  to  the 
number  of  useful  kw-hr.  (not  kw)  is  important  and  is  made 
the  abscissa  in  the  various  diagrams.  Some  conclusions  are 
drawn  from  the  results  of  existing  central  stations  and  a 
diagram  is  given  which  permits  a  rapid  determination  of 
the  conditions  under  which  steam  is  cheaper  than  water 
power.  Under  the  conditions  existing  in  Germany  the 
author  believes  that  for  the  electrification  of  trunk  railways 
steam  plants  will  be  at  least  as  economical  as  water-power 
plants,  where  there  is  an  opportunity  to  sell  energy  for 
lighting  and  for  motor  service  to  a  reasonable  extent. 
Only  in  case  the  load-curve  can  be  fully  equalized  by  using 
energy  for  electrochemical  purposes  at  times  of  low  load  is 
water  power  able  to  afford  a  better  financial  result. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  June  20,  1912. 

Power  Plant. — In  an  account  of  this  year's  convention  of 
the  (British)  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers  mention  is 
made  of  a  visit  to  the  plant  of  the  Clyde  Valley  Electrical 
Power  Company.  Its  main  feature  is  the  long  pipe  line  for 
obtaining  circulating  water  from  the  river,  the  return  flow 
of  water  being  utilized  to  drive  a  turbine  on  the  same  shaft 
as  the  electric  motor  driving  the  circulating  pump;  in  this 
way  40  per  cent  of  the  energy  is  recovered.  The  present 
plant  installed  consists  of  two  2500  kw  and  two  5000  kw 
steam  turbo-alternators,  and  it  has  been  decided  to  install  an 
additional  5000-kw  set. — London  Electrician,  June  21,  1912. 
Traction. 
Hamburg. — W.  Mattersdorff. — A  continuation  of  his  de- 
tailed illustrated  description  of  the  Hamburg  elevated  rail- 
road. In  the  present  installment  the  two  substations  are 
described.  Each  contains  three  cascade  converters,  each 
rated  at  1000  kw,  transforming  three-phase  currents  of  3  x 
6000  volts  to  direct  current  of  800  volts,  two  Pirani 
machines  and  a  1258-amp-hr.  storage  battery  of  86  cells  for 
making  the  load  curve  practically  uniform.  Details  are 
given  of  the  construction  of  the  third  rail  with  the  under 
running  contact  shoe.  The  paper  is  to  be  concluded. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  June  20,  1912. 

Railless  Traction. — W.  A.  T.  Muller. — An  illustrated  de- 
scription of  the  railless  omnibus  road  from  Berlin  to  Steg- 
litz,  energy  being  delivered  by  a  double  trolley.  The  omni- 
bus weighs  3000  kg  (6600  lb.)  and  has  20  seats.  It  is  in 
charge  of  a  motorman  without  a  conductor.  The  entrance 
is  at  the  front  next  to  the  seat  of  the  motorman. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  June  20,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 
Auto->Converter  for  Balancing  Three-Wire  Systems. — An 
illustrated  article  on  the  use  of  the  "C.  M.  B."  auto-con- 
verter as  a  balancer  on  three-wire  systems  (Fig.  2).  The 
armature  of  such  a  machine  may  be  considered  to  be  divided 
into  two  parts  along  a  plane  which  passes  through  the 
short-circuited  brushes,  and  is  parallel  to  the  axis  of  the 
armature    shaft.      The    part    between    the    plane    passing 


through  the  short-circuited  brushes  and  the  positive  main 
brush  may  be  considered  the  motor  part  of  the  armature, 
and  the  part  between  the  plane  passing  through  the  short- 
circuited  brushes  and  the  negative  main  brush  may  be  con- 
sidered the  generator  part  of  the  armature.  The  potential 
difference  induced  in  the  generator  part  of  the  armature, 
that  is,  between  the  negative  main  brush  and  the  short- 
circuited  brushes,  is  proportional  to  the  number  of  con- 
ductors lying  on  the  armature  between  the  negative  main 
brush  and  the  plane  passing  the  short-circuited  brushes  and 


Fig.   2 — Coupling-up    Diagram    of    Balancer. 

also  the  quantity  of  magnetic  flux  passing  through  the  sur- 
face of  the  armature  from  the  generator  poles  between  the 
negative  main  brush  and  the  plane  passing  through  the 
short-circuited  brushes.  Similarly,  the  potential  difference 
generated  in  the  motor  part  of  the  armature,  that  is,  between 
the  plane  passing  through  the  short-circuited  brushes  and 
the  positive  main  brush,  is  proportional  to  the  number  of 
conductors  on  the  armature  surface  between  that  plane  and 
the  positive  main  brush,  and  also  to  the  quantity  of  mag- 
netism of  magnetic  flux  passing  through  the  armature  sur- 
face from  the  motor  poles  between  that  plane  and  the  posi- 
tive main  brush.  In  order,  therefore,  to  vary  the  secondary 
potential  difference  between  the  negative  main  brush  and 
the  short-circuited  brushes,  without  altering  the  position  of 
the  short-circuited  brushes  on  the  commutator,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  alter  the  relative  values  of  the  magnetic  flux 
passing  the  surface  of  the  armature  on  either  side  of  the 
plane  passing  through  the  short-circuited  brushes.  This  is 
conveniently  done  by  dividing  each  of  the  poles  into  two 
distinct  parts,  and  providing  each  part  with  independent 
windings,  the  magnetomotive  force  of  which  can  be 
adjusted  independently,  either  automatically  or  otherwise, 
to  give  the  required  value  of  magnetic  flux  on  each  side  of 
the  aforesaid  plane.  It  is,  however,  useless  to  alter  the 
relative  values  of  magnetic  flux  on  either  side  of  the  afore- 
said plane  in  order  to  vary  the  secondary  potential  differ- 
ence unless  a  machine  of  this  type  is  provided  with  a  ring 
armature,  because  although  the  relative  quantities  of  mag- 
netism on  either  side  of  the  aforesaid  plane  would  be 
changed,  this  could  have  no  effect  on  the  value  of  this 
secondary  potential  difference.  If  in  a  machine  constructed 
in  accordance  with  these  principles  the  current  in  the  motor 
portion  of  the  armature  is  not  exactly  equal  and  opposite 
to  that  in  the  generator  portion,  a  circulating  current  will 
be  provided  between  the  short-circuited  brushes.  Owing  to 
the  losses  in  the  machine  the  motor  current  is  larger  than 
the  generator  current,  and  the  resultant  magnetomotive 
force  when  superimposed  on  the  field  system  opposes  the 
magnetomotive  force  of  the  motor  pole  and  helps  the  mag- 
netomotive force  of  the  generator  pole  on  one  side  of  the 
main  brushes,  while  the  opposite  effects  take  place  on  the 
motor  and  generator  pole  on  the  other  side  of  the  main 
brushes;  hence  that  short-circuited  brush  which  is  on  the 
side  where  the  magnetomotive  force  of  the  generator  pole 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


has  been  augmented  will  pick  up  a  higher  potential  than  the 
other  short-circuited  brush,  causing  a  circulating  current  to 
be  produced  between  the  short-circuited  brushes.  This 
circulating  current  would  be  objectionable  and  is  therefore 
controlled  in  the  following  way.  Assuming  the  lower  por- 
tion to  be  running  as  a  generator,  the  generator  poles  are 
provided  with  a  series  winding  connected  in  series  with  the 
short-circuited  brushes,  the  connection  to  the  middle  wire 
being  made  at  a  point  mid-way  between  the  series  winding. 
If  there  is  a  circulating  current  between  the  short-circuited 
brushes  the  magnetomotive  force  on  one  generator  pole  will 
be  decreased  by  one  series  coil,  while  the  magnetomotive 
force  on  the  other  generator  pole  is  increased  by  another 
similar  coil,  thus  constituting  a  differential  action  which 
will  tend,  if  these  coils  are  properly  connected  up,  to  prevent 
the  effects  of  the  resultant  armature  reaction,  and  thereby 
reduce  the  circulating  current  to  any  desired  value.  At  the 
same  time  the  middle-wire  current  flowing  out  of  the 
short-circuited  brushes  passes  through  these  coils  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  increase  the  strength  of  the  generator  field 
as  a  whole,  thus  keeping  the  voltage  constant.  Two  such 
auto-converters  have  been  installed  for  the  Calcutta  Supply 
Corporation.  They  deal  with  an  out-of-balance  load  of 
60  kw  on  either  side  of  the  middle  wire,  the  voltage  of  the 
outers  varying  from  460  to  580  volts.  The  machines  balance 
the  voltage  to  within  I  per  cent  of  the  mean  value  on  either 
side  of  the  middle  wire  at  all  voltages  between  460  and 
580. — London  Electrician,  June  21,  1912. 

Rates  of  Poplar  Electricity  Supply.- — -A  review  of  progress 
made  in  the  electricity  supply  of  the  Bureau  of  Poplar.  In 
1906-7  the  number  of  kw-hr.  sold  was  4,200,000,  of  which 
2,400,000  was  sold  for  industrial  purposes.  In  1911-12  the 
kw-hr.  sold  totaled  9.600,000,' of  which  7,400,000  was  for  in- 
dustrial purposes.  The  total  cost  of  production,  excluding 
capital  charges  was  reduced  from  1.82  cents  per  kw-hr.  in 
1907  to  1.42  cents  in  191 1.  Considerable  details  are  given  on 
the  rates  employed.  As  regards  motor  service,  the  charges  are 
based  on  $20  per  kilowatt  of  maximum  demand  and  i  cent 
per  kw-hr.,  the  latter  item  being  subject  to  2V2,  5  or  10  per 
cent  discount  in  the  case  of  large  consumptions.  The  maxi- 
mum total  charge  is  fixed  at  3  cents  per  kw-hr.,  with  a 
minimurn  revenue  of  $8.33  per  year.  Maximum-demand  in- 
dicators are  not  usually  installed,  but  the  maximum  load 
IS  assessed,  according  to  running  conditions,  at  from  50 
to  70  per  cent  of  the  connected  load.  In  the  case  of 
domestic  supply  a  very  progressive  policy  is  being  fol- 
lowed. The  system  of  charging  is  based  on  a  fixed  annual 
charge  of  $20  per  kilowatt  for  lamps  installed  in  what 
may  be  termed  living  rooms,  $5  per  kilowatt  for  bedroom 
and  "occasionar'  lighting,  and  $5  per  "set"  for  cooking 
apparatus,  together  with  I  cent  per  kw-hr.  for  all  energy 
consumed.  There  is  also  a  further  fixed  charge  to  cover 
capital  charges  on  the  service,  meter  and  wiring  (which  is 
usually  supplied  by  the  electricity  department)  ;  this  charge 
is  12.5  per  cent  on  the  actual  cost  of  the  service  meter 
and  wiring,  including  switches  and  ceiling  rosettes,  but  not 
lamps  and  fittings.  It  might  be  thought  that  the  above  rate 
would  confuse  the  consumer,  but  in  practice  this  is  not  the 
case.  What  happens  usually  is  that  the  electricity  depart- 
ment approaches  a  consumer  considering  the  question  of 
electric  light  by  ascertaining  what  his  existing  gas  bill  is. 
It  then  guarantees  that  with  electric  lamps  giving  equal 
candle-power  his  bill  should  not  exceed  a  certain  amount, 
which  is,  in  most  cases,  materially  less  than  the  existing 
gas  bill.  The  above  system  of  charging  lends  itself  very 
well  to  this  method,  for  the  greater  proportion  of  the 
charge  can  be  calculated  beforehand,  and  any  unusual  con- 
sumption is,  of  course,  reckoned  at  i  cent  per  kw-hr., 
thereby  effecting  to  only  a  small  degree  the  total  cost. — 
London  Electrician,  June  14,  1912. 

Cooking  Load. — F.  M.  Long. — .\  paper  read  before  the 
(British)  Municipal  Electrical  Association.  The  author 
first  discusses  the  character  of  the  load  provided  by  cooking 


apparatus  and  the  cost  of  this  load  to  the  central  station, 
both  as  regards  running  expenses  and  capital  charges.  The 
questions  of  hot-water  supply  and  the  charges  that  should 
be  made  for  energy  are  also  dealt  with. — London  Elec- 
trician, June  21.  1912. 

Electric  Cooking  Apparatus. — H.  H.  Holmes. — A  (Brit- 
ish) Municipal  Electrical  Association  paper  in  which  the 
author  discusses  what  should  be  the  size,  output  and  design 
of  electric  cooking  apparatus  for  domestic  and  commercial 
use.  Valuable  data  are  also  given  as  regards  consumption 
of  energy,  comparative  cost,  etc. — London  Electrician,  June 
21,  1912. 

Organisation  in  Electrical  Undertakings. — C.  M.  Shaw. 
— A  (British)  Municipal  Electrical  Association  paper.  The 
author  deals  with  the  need  for  a  proper  organization  of  the 
staff  in  an  electricity  undertaking,  the  scheme  including  a 
chief  engineer  as  responsible  head,  assisted  by  departmental 
managers  on  both  the  engineering  and  commercial  sides. 
The  methods  of  carrying  out  the  work  of  an  undertaking 
organized  in  this  way  are  also  described. — London  Elec- 
trician, June  21,  1912. 

Reliability  and  Continuity  of  Supply. — F.  Ayton. — A 
paper  read  before  the  (British)  Municipal  Electrical  Asso- 
ciation. The  author  suggests  a  few  precautions,  attention 
to  which  would  prevent  some  interruptions  to  supply  and 
add  to  the  reliability  of  both  the  steam  and  the  electrical 
plant. — London  Electrician,  June  21,  1912. 

Electrophysics  and   Magnetism. 

Ions  from  Hot  Salts. — O.  W.  Richardson. — An  abstract 
of  an  American  Physical  Society  paper.  The  first  part  of 
this  paper  deals  with  further  measurements  of  the  specific 
charge  c/m  of  the  ions  from  salts.  The  principal  object  of 
the  investigation  has  been  the  determination  of  the  nature 
of  the  negative  ions  which  are  emitted  at  low  temperatures. 
Experiments  have  been  made  on  CdL,  BaL,  SrL,  Cal,, 
Fe^Clj  and  MnCL  The  negative  thermionic  currents  from 
the  iodides  of  the  alkaline  earth  metals  are  surprisingly 
large,  and  apparently  larger  at  low  temperatures  than  those 
given  by  the  corresponding  oxides.  Heavy  negative  ions 
from  all  these  substances  have  been  detected,  but  as  a  rule 
they  are  mixed  with  an  excess  of  electrons.  In  the  case  of 
these  substances  the  electric  atomic  weight  of  the  heavy 
ions  is  in  good  agreement  with  the  view  that  the  ions  are 
atoms  of  iodine  carrying  a  single  electronic  charge  (or,  of 
course,  molecules  carrying  two  charges).  The  proportion 
of  heavy  ions  to  electrons  is  greatest  when  the  salts  are  first 
heated  and  falls  off  with  lapse  of  time.  The  proportion  of 
heavy  ions  to  electrons  also  diminishes  as  the  temperature 
is  raised,  independently  of  the  time  effect.  Generally  speak- 
ing, the  large  negative  emission  which  has  been  observed  is 
not  accompanied  by  any  appreciable  positive  emission.  The 
second  part  of  the  paper  is  devoted  to  a  brief  discussion  of 
the  time  changes  which  the  ionization  from  heated  salts 
exhibits.  Some  hypotheses  proposed  for  the  explanation  of 
these  facts  are  critically  discussed. — Pltys.  Reviezu.  May, 
1912. 

Ions  in  Metallic  Vapor  Flames. — E.  N.  da  C.  Andrade. — 
An  account  of  an  experimental  investigation  of  the  nature 
and  velocity  of  migration  of  the  carriers  of  electricity  in 
flames  containing  metallic  vapors.  The  chief  results  are  as 
follows:  The  positive  carrier  in  a  flame  containing  metal 
vapors  is  of  metallic  nature,  very  probably  the  metal  atom. 
The  positive  carrier  has  two  different  definite  velocities  of 
migration  in  the  electric  field,  according  as  it  is  present  in 
the  streak  of  metallic  vapor  or  in  the  free  flame;  in  both 
cases  it  alternates  the  positive  with  the  neutral  state.  In 
the  former  case  it  is  charged  for  about  1/400  of  the  time, 
in  the  latter  for  1/6  of  the  time.  For  strontium  the  greater 
velocity  of  migration  is  2.5  cm  per  second  for  unity  electric 
field  intensity  in  volts  per  cm.  There  seems  no  reason  to 
doubt  the  results  of  other  experimenters,  that  the  velocity  is 
the  same  for  dift'erent  metals,  which  agrees  with  the  author's 


VLY  13,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


113 


heory.  Hence  this  value  probably  gives  the  velocity  of 
nigration  of  an  atom  of  any  metal  in  the  free  flame.  The 
iresence  of  glowing  platinum  in  the  vapor  causes  the  libera- 
ion  of  electrons  from  it  in  large  quantities.  There  exist, 
lesides  the  free  electrons,  negative  carriers  of  the  second 
:ind,  which  are  metallic,  in  relatively  small  numbers.  This 
;ives  an  analogy  with  the  canal  rays.— Philos.  Mag., 
une,  1912. 

Resistivity  and  Temperature. — A.  A.  Somerville. — An 
irticle  giving  in  tables  the  results  of  measurements  of  the 
lectric  resistivity  of  oxide  powders  with  temperature,  the 
emperature  being  varied  from  zero  to  over  1000  deg.  C. 
Diagrams  are  given  for  the  oxides  CuO,  Cu,0,  MgO,  ZnO, 
"e.Oj,  and  MnO..  At  room  temperature  these  oxides  are 
)ractically  non-conductors,  but  they  become  good  con- 
luctors  at  high  temperatures,  and  the  general  form  of  the 
;urves  showing  the  change  of  resistance  with  temperature 
s  the  same. — Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing,  July,  igi2. 
Electrochemistry  and  Batteries. 

Pig  Steel. — J.  W.  Richards. — An  abstract  of  a  paper  on 
I  certain  phase  of  the  work  done  in  Sweden  and  Norway 
m  the  reduction  of  iron  ore  in  the  electric  furnace.  If  in 
he  electric  furnace  the  amount  of  carbon  used  for  reduction 
s  cut  down,  the  furnace  works  better,  consumes  less  energy 
md  less  carbon,  and  works  more  rapidly.  It  is  possible  to 
ibtain  a  product  containing  o.l  per  cent  silicon,  o.l  per  cent 
nanganese,  and  as  low  as  1.5  per  cent  of  carbon.  To  des- 
gnate  this  product  as  pig  iron  would  be  incorrect.  It  is 
:alled  pig  steel,  because  in  composition  it  is  simply  crude 
;teel.  Pig  steel  is  a  metal  with  2.2  per  cent  or  less  of 
:arbon,  a  very  small  amount  of  silicon  and  manganese,  low 
n  sulphur  and  phosphorus,  made  directly  from  iron  ore  in 
he  electric  pig  iron  furnace.  If  this  is  used  in  the  open- 
learth  furnace  the  output  of  the  latter  can  be  increased 
learly  50  per  cent.  This  fact  opens  new  prospects  for  the 
ise  of  the  electric  furnace  for  iron  ore  reduction. — Met. 
md  Chem.  Ending,  July. 

Electric  Reduction  of  Iron  Ores  at  Trollhdttan. — J.  A. 

Leffler  ANf)  E.    Nystrom. — A  paper  read  before  the  Jer- 

contoret    (Swedish   Association   of   Iron   Masters)    on   the 

atest  results  obtained  with  their  electric  furnace  for  the 

•eduction  of  iron  ore.    They  have  installed  an  entirely  new 

jas  circulating  system.     Analyses   are   given   of  the   fuel, 

ime  stone,  and  ores  used,  also  data  of  the  electrodes.     The 

following  are  average  figures  summarizing  the  contents  of 

:wo  large  tables  giving  the  detailed  running  for  the  whole 

period : 

ron  iii  ore,   per  cent 60 .  95 

Ton   in  burden,   per  cent 56 .  84 

Afeight  of  slag  per  ton  of  iron,  kg 323 

A^eight  of  fuel  per  ton  of  iron,  kg 404 

imf   on   furnace,   volts 7Z.6 

Current    in    furnace 1 1,423 

r'ower    in     furnace 1,482 

Energy,  kw-hours  per  ton   of  iron 2,225 

Output  of  iron  per  kw-year,  tons 3.94 

Per  cent  CO2  in  throat  gas,   per  cent 23.49 

Volume  circulating  gas,   cw  meters,   per   sec 0.24 

Pressure  of  gas  in  furnace,  mm.  mercury 225 

Temperature   at   bottom   of  shaft,  deg.   cent 441 

remperature  at  middle  of  shaft,  deg.  cent 279 

Temperature  at   top   of   shaft,    deg.   cent 17 

Electrode  consumption    in   kg  per  ton   of   iron: 

Gross     5.72 

Net     5.18 

A  diagram  is  given  showing  the  extent  of  the  reductive  zone 
and  the  different  temperature  zones  in  the  furnace  shaft. — 
Met.  and  Chem,  Ending,  July,  1912. 

Electrotyping. — An  illustrated  description  of  a  modern 
electrotyping  plant  in  New  York  City  describing  the  various 
steps  in  the  process  of  electrotyping. — Met.  and  Chem. 
Eng'ing.  July,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Radiation  and  Optical  Pyrometers. — G.  A.  Shook. — 
After  a  discussion  of  black-body  standards  the  author  deals 
in  detail  with  the  calibration  of  radiation  and  optical  pyro- 
meters, especially  the  Wanner  pyrometer,  the  Le  Chatelier 
pyrometer,  and  the  Holborn-Kurlbaum  pyrometer. — Met. 
and  Chem.  Eng'ing,  July,  1912. 


Telegraphy,  Telephony  and   Signals. 

Subtnarine  Telephone  Cables. — Devaux-Charbonner. — 
A  mathematical  article  giving  a  review  of  the  present  situ- 
ation of  submarine  telephone  cables,  the  possibilities  of  in- 
crease of  the  self-induction  either  by  the  Pupin  or  the 
Kraupp  system,  and  some  data  from  recent  cable  experi- 
ence.— La  Lumiere  Elec,  June  15,  1912. 
Miscellaneous. 

Pacinotti. — L.  Finzi. — An  account,  with  portrait,  of  the 
life  and  work  of  the  late  Antonio  Pacinotti  who  died  on 
March  25,  1912.  His  first  experiments  with  a  ring  machine 
were  made  in  January,  1859,  and  in  1862  he  published  the 
first  description  in  which  he  also  showed  the  reversibility 
of  dynamo  electric  machines  according  to  which  they  may 
be  used  as  generator  or  motor.  The  present  author  sug- 
gests that  in  justice  to  the  historical  facts  the  "Gramme 
ring"  should  be  called  in  future  the  Pacinotti  ring. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  June  20,  1912. 

Magnetic  Concentration. — M.  Ruthenburg. — An  illus- 
trated description  of  a  new  method  of  dressing  Cornish  tin 
ores  in  which  use  is  made  of  the  author's  magnetic  separa- 
tors.— Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing,  July,  1912. 

British  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers. — An  account 
of  the  Glasgow  meeting  of  the  (British)  Institution  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers.  The  retiring  president  is  S.  Z.  de  Fer- 
ranti  and  the  president-elect  is  W.  Duddell.  An  account  of 
the  different  visits  is  given.  London  Electrician,  June  14, 
1912.  This  is  continued  and  supplemented  by  an  account  of 
the  other  proceedings,  including  an  abstract  of  a  general 
lecture  by  S.  P.  Thompson  on  the  magnetism  of  permanent 
magnets,  in  London  Electrician,  June  21,  1912. 


Book  Reviews 

Claims:  Fixing  Their  Value.  By  George  F.  Deiser  and 
Frederick  W.  Johnson.  New  York:  McGraw-Hill 
Book  Company.  140  pages.  Price,  $2. 
A  carefully  written,  short  textbook  on  claims  over  acci- 
dents, intended  for  the  average  employer  and  member  of 
the  public.  A  perusal  of  the  book  shows  how  rapidly 
legislation  has  recently  been  growing  on  the  subject  of 
accident  claims  and  how  different  is  the  legislation  in  the 
various  states  of  the  Union.  About  twenty-five  years  ago 
very  little  direct  legislation  existed  and  the  matter  rested 
on  common  law.  Already,  however,  a  large  amount  of 
direct  legislation  exists  and  the  tendency  seems  to  be  in 
the  direction  of  allowing  claims  for  injuries  derived  in 
employment,  no  matter  what  negligence  may  have  existed 
on  the  part  of  the  complainant.  Whether  there  will  be  a 
continuance  in  or  a  reaction  from  this  policy  in  the  near 
future  is  difficult  to  foresee.  The  book  will  be  of  interest 
to  all  employers  and  to  most  employees. 


Die  Krankheiten  des  Stationaren  Elektrischen  Blei- 
Akkumulators  By  F.  E.  Kretzschmar.  Munich :  R. 
Oldenbourg.  162  pages,  83  illus.  Price,  $2. 
A  very  practical  little  textbook  on  the  diseases  of  lead 
storage  batteries.  It  is  with  storage  batteries  as  with  hu- 
man beings.  One  does  not  realize  among  how  many  dis- 
eases one  may  choose  to  suffer  until  a  complete  schedule  of 
pathology  is  drawn  up  and  itemized.  One  is  then  grateful 
for  moderate  health  and  feels  a  new  sense  of  pride.  The 
subjects  discussed  in  the  successive  chapters  are  as  follows: 
Introduction;  the  origin  of  real  disease  in  a  storage  battery; 
the  origin  of  seeming  disease  in  a  storage  battery;  determi- 
nation of  the  cause  of  disease;  the  removal  of  a  disease  in  a 
battery;  the  prevention  of  disease  in  a  battery.  The  book 
is  clearly  written  and  well  illustrated.  It  will  be  of  especial 
value  to  attendants  in  charge  of  large  storage  batteries  and 
also  to  storage-battery  engineers  as  well  as  central-station 
managers. 


114 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


INDUCTION- TYPE  SWITCHBOARD  METERS. 


In  modern  switchboard  practice  it  is  desirable  for  the 
indicating  meters  to  possess  compactness,  readability,  rug- 
gedness  and  simplicity.  It  is  claimed  that  all  of  these 
desirable  characteristics  are  found  in  the  induction  meters 
recently  introduced  by  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manu- 
facturing Company.  East  Pittsburgh,  Pa.     The  meters  are 


Fig.     1 — Induction     Ammeter 
with   Scale    Removed. 


Fig.    2 — Moving     Element     of 
Meter. 


only  7  in.  in  diameter,  yet  the  scale  is  14.5  in.  in  length. 
The  damping  is  such  that  the  pointer  does  not  pulsate  or 
overswing  the  mark  even  with  a  sudden  change  in  the  load 
equivalent  to  full  scale  of  the  meter.  All  parts  are  very 
simple,  no  moving  coils  or  flexible  connections  being  re- 
quired. 

The  stationary  part  consists  of  an  electromagnetic  struc- 
ture so  designed  as  to  produce  a  rotating  magnetic  field  in 
an  annular  air-gap,  and  the  moving  element  consists  of 
a  light  metal  drum  symmetrically  pivoted  in  this  air-gap. 
The  arrangement  of  electric  and  magnetic  circuits  is  such 
that  a  high  torque  is  produced  by  induction  in  the  pivoted 
drum,  proportional  to  the  square  of  the  current  in  the  meter 
independent  of  temperature,  wave-form,  or  frequency  within 
wide  limits.  This  torque  is  opposed  by  the  restraining 
force  of  a  comparatively  heavy  spiral  spring,  so  that  the 
deflection  is  proportional  to  the  square  of  the  current.  The 
scale  is  said  to  be  clearly  legible  from  10  per  cent  to  full- 
scale  indication. 

Damping  is  obtained  by  means  of  an  aluminum  disk 
mounted  on  the  shaft  and  moving  between  the  poles  of  two 
permanent  magnets.  As  the  torque  of  the  meter  depends 
entirely  on  the  rotating  field  produced  by  the  current  in  the 
windings,   it   is   practically   independent   of    any    stationary 


,y 

1  99 

*    98 

■»  Cy 

tMin  in  C 
t  Air  Tern 

25  Cycle  ammetlr 

5  Amp 

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No  3 

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y.nufes  f  \  Air  fernperatare  *  \ 

e'o               30                10                50               60                70 
•les  for  Curve  No  1,  Mhich  shows  the  effect  of  cncnqes  in  freauency 
ircuit  forCurve  No  2.  which  snows  the  effect  of  self  heating  at  ^/j  load 
0  in  °C  forCurve  No  5.which  shows  the  effect  of  variations  in  roomTemp 

Fig.  3 — Frequency,  Temperature   and   Self- Heating   Characteristics 
of    Induction   Ammeter. 

external  field ;  the  damping  magnets  can,  therefore,  be  made 
of  the  strength  required  without  affecting  the  accuracy. 

The  moving  part  is  inherently  strong,  since  it  consists 
of  a  shaft,  an  aluminum  cup,  a  damping  disk,  and  the 
pointer. 

The  entire  electromagnetic  element  of  the  meter  is 
mounted  on  a  die-cast  allov  frame,  which  also  contains  the 


rear  sapphire  jewel  and  provides  a  mounting  for  the  from 
bridge  to  wliich  are  fastened  the  spiral  hair  spring  which 
controls  the  movement,  the  zero-adjusting  clip  and  screw, 
and  the  front  sapphire  jewel.  The  damping  magnets  are 
mounted  on  a  metal  clip  which  is  fastened  by  four  screws 
to  the  die-cast  frame.  This  method  of  mounting  permits 
the  ready  removal  of  the  damping  magnets  with  the  cer- 
tainty of  having  them  exactly  at  the  proper  position  relativt 
to  the  rest  of  the  mechanism  when  replaced.  The  rigiditj 
of  the  mounting  prevents  any  displacement  of  the  magnets 
and  damage  to  the  movement,  or  contact  with  the  aluminuir 
damping  disk  due  to  rough  handling  in  shipment. 

The  weight  of  the  moving  element  of  the  meter  is  claimec 
to  be  as  light  as  is  consistent  with  rugged  construction 
The  torque  is  very  high,  the  result  being  a  ratio  of  torquf 
to  weight  that  is  exceptionally  high — from  four  to  sij 
times  that  found  in  alternating-current  meters  of  othei 
types.  The  accompanying  curves  indicate  that  the  meter  i; 
practically  free  from  temperature  and  self-heating  errors 
They  show  that  for  any  change  in  frequency  that  is  likely  t( 
occur  on  a  commercial  circuit  the  accuracv  is  not  affected 


STEEL-CASING  WIRING   SYSTEM. 


A  system  of  wiring  introduced  in  England  but  of  interes 
to  American  electrical  wiring  contractors  is  the  one  invente( 
by  Mr.  A.  E.  \\'oodhouse  and  patented  in  both  the  Unitec 
States  and  Canada.     It  is  said  to  combine  the  advantage 


Figs.   1   and  2 — Steel   Casing   and   Trough. 

of  the  old  discarded  cleat  system  and  the  modern  stee 
tubing  system.  Fig.  i  shows  the  casing  consisting  of  : 
trough  with  a  removable  cover.  The  troughs  are  pushed  o 
sprung  into  close-fitting  joint  pieces  (Fig.  2),  which  an 
nailed  or  screwed  to  the  wall.  At  the  corners  or  bends 
either  elbows  or  bendable  casing,   Fisr.   "?.   are  used.     Thi 


Fig.   3— Bendable   Casing. 

is  a  verv  interesting  and  ingenious  piece  of  work.  Briefi; 
it  consists  of  a  trough  and  cover,  each  of  which  is  madi 
of  two  layers  of  metal  clamped  together.  Each  layer  is  s( 
notched  and  tongued  as  to  be  readily  bent,  although  mad< 
from  the  same  steel  as  the  ordinary  casing.  The  notche: 
of  one  layer  are  covered  by  the  tongues  of  the  other.  Limit 
ing  lugs  prevent  the  notches  being  opened  wider  than  thi 


^ 


Figs.   4   and   5 — Elbow   and    Locking  Joint  Cap. 

covering  tongues.  When  bending  this  casing  the  coverei 
notches  close  up  on  the  side  in  compression  and  open  out  oi 
the  side  in  tension.  This  bendable  casing  is  neat  in  ap 
pearance  and  is,  of  course,  most  useful,  as  it  can  readih 
be  bent  by  hand  without  tools,  to  suit  curves,  obstruction: 
and  awkward  places,  so  frequently  encountered  in  wiring 
buildings. 


July  13,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


115 


Fig.  4  shows  an  ordinary  elbow  wliich  may  be  frequently 
used  in  place  of  bendable  casing.  After  the  troughing  has 
been  installed  the  insulated  wires  are  simply  laid  in  and 
the  covers  are  then  pushed  on.  Before  the  covers  are  put 
on,  however,  the  wires  can  be  secured  in  the  trough,  if 
desired,  by  means  of  the  temporary  use  of  the  locking  caps 
which  can  be  sprung  over  the  troughs  alone. 

The  joints  in  the  covers  are  hidden  by  simple  push-on 
caps,  or  if  the  covers  are  required  to  be  very  securely 
fastened  on,  locking  joint  caps  are  used  (Fig.  5).  The 
clips  hold  the  casing  to  the  walls,  etc.,  and  are  made  so 
that  a  space  of  about  %  in.  may,  if  desired,  be  left  between 
the  casing  and  the  wall. 

The  British  rights  of  the  invention  are  held  by  the  Wood- 
house  Steel  Casing  Co.,  Ltd.,  Craven  House,  Kingsway, 
London,  W.  C. 


ELECTRIC  FLAT-IRONS  IN  RECORD  QUANTITIES. 


As  an  example  of  the  growing  popularity  of  the  electric 
flat-iron  can  be  cited  the  delivery  of  10,000  flat-irons  to 
the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  at  Chicago,  by  the 
General  Electric  Company.  These  irons  are  not  to  be  held 
in  stock  awaiting  orders,  but  are  being  distributed  for 
free  trial  to  any  person  expressing  a  desire  to  operate  one 
for  a  limited  period.  An  iron  is  delivered  at  the  home  of 
each  prospective  customer,  who  is  given  permission  to  use 
it  without  cost  for  thirty  days,  at  the  expiration  of  which 
time  permanent  possession  can  be  obtained  by  paying  only 
the  actual  cost  of  the  iron. 


IMPROVEMENTS    IN    CARBON  DIOXIDE    METERS. 


In  order  to  avoid  the  defects  of  carbon  dioxide  meters, 
which  operate  with  a  liquid  caustic  solution,  the  Uehling 
Instrument  Company,  of  Passaic,  N.  J.,  has  been  experi- 
menting for  some  time  past  with  the  object  of  developing  a 
dry  absorbent.  Inasmuch  as  the  COj  meters  placed  on  the 
market  by  this  company  operate  on  the  principle,  not  of 
measuring  the  volume  of  samples  of  gas,  but  of  the  measure- 
ment of  a  drop  in  pressure  between  two  orifices  where  CO, 
is  removed,  a  method  of  drv  absorption  can  be  utilized.    The 


Fig.  1 — Boiler-Room  with   Meter   Installation  to  the   Left. 

general  appearance  of  the  latest  type  of  machine  is  shown  in 
Fig.  2.  The  dry  absorber  cartons  are  cylindrical  in  shape 
and  about  3  in.  in  diameter  and  iVi  ft.  long,  inclosed  in 
waxed  pressboard.  The  absorbent  is  a  flaky  substance 
termed  "natron,"  carefully  packed  in  layers  within  the 
carton.  This  is  placed  in  a  cylindrical  chamber,  which  is 
shown  at  the  right  in  Fig.  2,  the  operation  of  inserting  it 


consisting  simply  in  loosening  a  few  wing  nuts,  removing 
the  used  carton  and  inserting  a  new  one.  This  view  shows 
the  style  SC  waste  meter,  which  is  a  combination  of  the 
CO,  meter  and  a  flue-gas  pyrometer.  The  recent  CO, 
machines  of  this  make  placed  on 
the  market  have  been  equipped 
with  the  dry  absorbers,  and  the 
general  appearance  of  a  typical 
installation  is  shown  in  Fig.  i. 

Other  improvements  in  this  ap- 
paratus recently  made  have  to  do 
with  recording  devices.  The  COj 
equipment  itself  consists  of  the 
machine  in  which  CO^  is  absorbed 
and  the  percentage  of  CO^  meas- 
ured pneumatically  by  changes  in 
vacuum  between  two  orifices.  The 
degree  of  vacuum  is  registered  by 
recording  instruments  or  by  in- 
dicators, as  may  be  desired.  The 
type  M  recorder  employed  in  con- 
nection with  this  apparatus  is 
merely  a  low-pressure  or  vacuum 
recorder,  arranged  to  register 
vacuums  or  pressure,  or  both, 
from  o  in.  to  60  in.  of  water. 
When  the  recording  type  is  sup- 
plied the  charts  are  calibrated 
from  0  to  20  per  cent  of  COj, 
and  when  the  temperature  record 
is  also  desired  the  calibration  is 
ordinarily  extended  up  to  1000 
deg.  Equipment  is  now  supplied 
by  means  of  which  the  percentage 
of  COj  and  the  temperature  may 
be  recorded,  if  desired  on  the 
same  chart,  with  the  type  DM 
apparatus.  The  type  M  recorder 
employs  the  same  principle  as 
the  earlier  forms  of  instruments, 
utilizing  the  familiar  U  tube,  which  is  filled  with  a  special 
oil  and  avoids  the  use  of  levers,  pins,  springs  and  like 
devices. 


Fig.  2  —  Combination 
COm  iVIeter  and  Flue-Gas 
Pyrometer. 


THE  JUNKERS  OIL  ENGINE. 

By  Joseph  B.  Baker. 

The  Junkers  oil  engine  is  a  new  internal-combustion 
engine  of  the  type  igniting  the  cylinder  charge  by  the  heat 
of  compression,  as  in  the  Diesel  engine,*  and  burning  the 
cheapest  grades  of  liquid  fuel.  This  engine,  which  has 
been  developed  by  Prof.  H.  Junkers,  of  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
Germany,  after  years  of  private  experimentation,  is  dis- 
tinguished by  several  features  which,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  first  cost,  efficiency  and  maintenance,  are  claimed 
to  make  it  the  most  economical  prime  mover. 

A  general  view  is  given  in  Fig.  I.  The  engine  is  of 
remarkable  simplicity  of  design,  being  without  valve 
mechanism,  cylinder  heads  or  stuffing  boxes,  and  of  equally 
remarkable  simplicity  of  operation  inasmuch  as  it  burns 
the  very  cheapest  grades  of  fuel,  down  to  asphaltum  resi- 
dues, with  unexampled  ease  of  lubrication,  cooling  and 
attendance.  The  cylinder  is  a  simple  tube  casting,  a  pipe 
open  to  the  atmosphere  at  both  ends,  and  it  is  of  compara- 
tively small  diameter,  securing  superior  heat  efficiency  and 
scavenging  and  lower  cooling  losses.  The  use  of  two  pistons 
in  the  cylinder  gives  a  high  aggregate  piston  speed  with 
low  separate  piston  speeds.  There  is  a  marked  reduction 
of  weight  per  horse-power — down  to  one-half  the  weight 
of   the   best   internal-combustion   oil   engine   of   any   other 

•It  is  generally  conceded  that  Dr.  Diesel  is  the  father  of  the  oil  en- 
gine in  the  same  sense  that  all  forms  of  the  steam  engine  are  to  be 
credited  to  Watt. 


Il6 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No. 


J 


type — due  to  the  simplicity  of  design  and  to  the  balancing 
of  stresses  in  the  operation  of  the  engine,  which  permits 
the  use  of  an  extraordinarily  light  bedplate  or  engine 
frame.  The  engine  is  well  adapted  to  marine  and  loco- 
motive work,  as  compared  with  other  types,  by  its  ability 


indicator     card    showing    the    distribution     of     pressures 
throughout  one  revolution. 

The  two  pistons  move  alternately  outward — that  is,  away 
from  each  other — and  inward  or  toward  each  other.  The 
left-hand  piston  F  (Fig.  3)  is  connected  to  the  middle  one 


Fig.    1 — 1000-hp    Junkers    Oil    Engine. 

to  run  at  higher  speeds,  its  greater  range  of  control  of 
speed,  higher  efficiency  when  underloaded  and  greater  over- 
load range. 

The  Junkers   oil  engine   works  on   the   two-stroke-cycle 

iF €h 


Figs.   2   to   6 — Diagrams   Showing    Successive   Cylinder    Events 
Throughout    One    Revolution. 

principle.  Its  operation  may  be  traced  by  inspection  of  the 
annexed  diagrams  (Figs.  2  to  6)  of  a  single-cylinder  engine. 
These  diagrams  show  the  cylinder  events  in  five  successive 
positions  of  the  piston  throughout  one  revolution,  and  should 
be  examined  in  connection  with  Fig.  7,  which  is  a  typical 


Fig.   7 — Typical    indicator   Card. 

of  three  cranks,  and  the  right-hand  piston  H  (Fig.  4)  is 
connected  to  a  cross-head  and  a  pair  of  parallel  connecting 
rods  to  the  two  outer  of  these  cranks,  180  deg.  from  the 
middle  crank.     In  Fig.  2  the  pistons  are  at  the  inner  dead 


Fig.  8 — Side  Elevation  and   Plan  of  Two-Cylinder  Tandem   Engine. 

center,  and  the  combustion  space  between  them  is  filled  with 
highly  compressed,  highly  heated  air  as  the  result  of  the 
previous  compression  stroke.  The  fuel  is  sprayed  into 
this  hot  atmosphere  and  ignites  and  burns  under  constant 
pressure,  as  in  the  Diesel  engine,  during  the  first  part  of 
the  outstroke,  that  is,  from  ^  to  fi  on  the  indicator  card 
(F^ig-  ?)•  At  B  the  supply  of  fuel  is  cut  off  and  the  stroke 
continues,  with  expansion  of  the  gases  doing  useful  work, 
from  B  to  C,  bringing  the  pistons  into  the  position  of  Fig.  3. 
At  this  point  piston  V  is  just  about  to  open  a  ring  of  ex- 
haust ports  a.  The  line  C D  on  the  card  (Fig.  7)  shows 
the  variation  of  pressure  as  the  outward  motion  continues, 
the  spent  gases  escaping  at  about  atmospheric  pressure. 
When  the  position  of  Fig.  4  is  reached  the  exhaust  ports  are 
opening  wider,  and  piston  H  is  just  about  to  uncover  a  ring 
of  air  ports  b,  allowing  fresh  air  to  enter  and  scavenge  the 
cylinder  by  sweeping  through  it  and  out  at  the  exhaust 
ports.  This  condition  is  maintained  until  the  pistons,  hav- 
ing passed  the  outer  dead  center  (Fig.  5)  begin  their  re- 


Fig.    9 — Power    Impulses    During    One    Revolution    of   the    Junkers 

Engine. 

turn  stroke.  In  Fig.  6  the  in  movement  of  the  pistons  has 
closed  both  rings  of  ports,  and  the  compression  stroke  be- 
gins on  a  cylinder  full  of  fresh  air.  The  line  FA,  com- 
pleting the  cycle,  shows  the  rise  of  pressure  on  the  com- 
pression stroke. 


July  13,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


117 


It  will  be  noted  that  scavenging  is  thorough,  and  that  both 
the  exhaust  and  the  scavenging  are  accomplished  without 
valves  having  moving  parts.  The  compressed  air  for  the 
scavenging  and  for  the  fuel  spraying  is  supplied  by  auxilia- 
ries directly  connected  to  the  linkage.  In  the  operation  of 
the  engine  one  side  of  each  piston  is  always  exposed  to  the 
atmosphere  and  comes  to  rest  at  every  outward  stroke  in 
a  well-cooled  region  of  the  cylinder  which  has  not  been 
exposed  to  the  burning  gases. 

For  electric  generation  purposes  the  design  of  the  multi- 
cylinder  type,  whereby  every  stroke  of  the  engine  is  made 
a  working  stroke,  is  especially  interesting.  The  unit  multi- 
cylinder  Junkers  engine  is  a  two-cylinder  (four-piston) 
form,  which  may  be  built  as  a  vertical  or  horizontal  tandem 
engine  with  great  simplicity  of  design.  In  this  form  the  two 
inner  pistons  of  the  set  of  four  move  'together,  being  linked 
to  a  single  cross-head  connected  by  a  pair  of  rods  to  the 
two  outside  cranks  of  the  set  of  three  cranks  before  de- 
scribed, the  two  outer  pistons,  which  also  move  together, 


COLOR-CHANGING  REFLECTORS. 


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riEclrtcI   tVarld 


Fig.    10 — Power    Impulses    During   One    Revolution   of   Ordinary   Oil 
Engine. 

being  linked  by  cross-head  and  rods  to  the  center  crank  at 
180  deg.     This  construction  is  shown  in  Fig.  8. 

The  unit  four-piston  form,  giving  balanced  engine  stresses 
which  are  taken  by  the  linkages — not  by  the  engine  frame, 
which  can  therefore  be  made  very  light — is  of  especial 
interest  in  electrical  work.  In  driving  alternating-current 
generators  for  parallel  operation  it  is  important  to  secure 
as  nearly  as  possible  constant  torque  and  speed  throughout 
each  revolution  of  the  prime  mover.  Here  is  where  internal 
combustion  reciprocating  engines,  with  their  strong  power 
impulse  in  the  working  stroke  followed  by  a  compression 
stroke  involving  absorption  of  power,  have  appeared  to 
disadvantage  as  compared  with  reciprocating  steam  engines 
and  especially  as  compared  with  the  steam  turbine.  The 
improvement  effected  in  this  respect  is  indicated  in  Fig.  9, 
as  compared  with  Fig.  10,  the  former  being  a  graphic  rep- 
resentation of  the  number  of  power  impulses  during  one 
revolution  of  the  Junkers  engine  and  the  latter  showing  the 
number  of  power  impulses  during  one  revolution  of  the 
ordinary  oil  engine.  In  arrangements  of  several  units  of 
the  Junkers  type — that  is,  in  large-power  engines  of  several 
pairs  of  cylinders  for  central-station  generating  work — 
owing  to  the  natural  balancing  of  the  reciprocating  parts, 
explained  above,  the  positions  of  the  cranks  are  not  re- 
stricted to  any  particular  spacing  relatively  to  each  other  in 
order  to  obtain  inertia  balancing.  The  cranks  of  an  aggre- 
gate of  Junkers  units  can  be  set  at  angles  producing  the 
most  uniform  turning  moment  at  the  shaft — that  is,  at  the 
rotor  of  the  generator — without  reference  tn  balancing 
at  all. 

Jimkers  stationary  units  are  now  under  construction  by 
several  prominent  European  manufacturers.  A  2000-hp, 
l2S-kw  per  hour  locomotive,  weighing  less  than  a  steam 
locomotive,  and  the  propelling  equipment  for  twelve  ocean- 
going vessels,  are  also  being  built  in  Europe. 

Of  special  interest  to  electrical  engineers  is  the  promising 
career  which  may  be  expected  for  the  Junkers  engine  as 
a  generator  of  electric  energy  in  the  great  oil  fields  of  this 
country  for  transmission  to  distant  points,  a  development 
analogous  to  the  great  hydroelectric  generation  and  trans- 
mission systems. 


To  secure  an  effective  and  economical  system  of  reflec- 
tion, much  experimental  work  and  thought  have  been  given 
by  the  Reynolds  Electric  Flasher  Manufacturing  Company, 
of  Chicago  and  New  York.     This  company  has  designed  a 


Reflector   and    Flasher. 

reflector,  described  in  our  issue  of  Oct.  7,  191 1,  which  used 
in  combination  with  its  flasher  provides  an  attraction  in 
color-changing  effects  which  should  increase  the  advertis- 
ing value  of  a  sign  board.  The  flasher  is  furnished  with  a 
weatherproof  cabinet  attachable  to  the  back  of  any  sign. 
The  reflector  is  lined  with  white  porcelain,  and  diffuses  the 
light  evenly  over  the  board. 


A  MAGNETO  DOORBELL. 


A  batteryless  electric  doorbell  newly  brought  out  by  the 
Service  Electric  Company,  1x56  Monadnock  Block,  Chicago, 

makes  use  of  a  com- 
pactly designed  min- 
iature magneto  gen- 
erator which  is 
operated  through 
gearing  from  the 
twist  handle.  From 
this  generator  wires 
lead  to  the  polar- 
ized-type  bell  which 
may  be  located  any- 
where with  respect 
to  the  generator. 
The  magneto  is  ar- 
ranged with  an  ex- 
tension shaft  so  that 
it  can  be  installed  on 
a  door  casing  of  any 
thickness,  only  the 
handle  and  the 
escutcheon  plate  showing  from  the  front.  If  desired,  the 
generator  may  also  be  mortised  into  the  brick  or  woodwork. 
The  bell  operates  easily,  only  a  fraction  of  a  turn  being 
required  to  sound  the  signal.  In  respect  to  cost  the  outfit 
compares  favorably  with  a  bell-ringing  transformer  system. 
Since  it  does  not  require  alternating-current  service,  it  can 
be  installed  anywhere  and  requires  no  connections  to  out- 


Knob    and    Generator   of    Batteryless 
Electric    Bell. 


ii8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


side  sources,  battery  renewals,  etc.  For  signaling  systems 
in  factories  a  selective  calling  system  is  provided,  by  means 
of  which  any  individual  one  of  a  number  of  bells  can  be 
rung  at  will. 


BALL-BEARINGS  IN    RAILWAY  SERVICE. 


That  ball  bearings  are  suitable  for  the  severest  kind  of 
service  has  been  proved  conclusively  by  the  operation  for 
three  and  one-half  years  of  an  equipment  of  Hess-Bright 
ball-bearing  journals  on  an  interurban  electric  car  which 
has  covered  during  that  time  about  150,000  miles  on  the 
Atlantic  City  &  Shore  Railroad.  When  one  of  the  journal 
boxes  with  its  two  bearings  was  examined  and  measured 
recently  no  visible  evidence  of  wear  was  discovered  and 
the  change  in  size  was  truly  negligible.  During  service  the 
bearings  received  no  attention  except  that  required  in  re- 
packing with  grease  about  once  in  ten  or  twelve  months. 


ELECTRIC    IRRIGATION  EQUIPMENT. 


The  advantages  of  motor-driven  pumps,  supplied  with 
energy  from  an  isolated  generating  plant  employing  oil 
engines,  for  the  irrigation  of  rice  plantations,  are  exempli- 
fied in  the  installation  on  the  1700-acre  plantation  owned 
by  Mr.  Floyd  Williams.  Ellis,  La. 

The  prime-mover  is  a  200-hp.  four-cylinder,  four-cycle, 
quick-starting,  slow-speed  oil  engine  running  on  low-grade 
oils,  direct-connected  on  the  same  cast-iron  base  to  a  170- 
kva,  2300-volt,  three-phase,  6o-cycle  alternator,  with  ex- 
citer and  switchboard. 


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supplies  about  250  acres.     The  illustration  herewith  shows 
a  vertical-shaft  pumping  equipment. 

Provisions  were  made  so  that  additional  generating  units, 
as  well  as  motors  and  pumps,  can  be  added  in  the  future  if 
wanted,  without  materially  adding  to  the  cost  of  attendance. 
The  electrically  driven  pumps  replaced  steam-driven  equip- 
ments, which  required  at  least  one  attendant  at  each  pump. 
The  present  arrangement  permits  locating  the  wells  and 
pumps  at  the  most  convenient  point  for  the  rice  fields 
flooded,  regardless  of  such  conditions  as  good  roads  or 
easy  access  for  coal  transportation,  etc. 

The  electrically  driven  pump  fits  into  the  rice  irrigating 
problem  very  nicely,  as  a  well  that  is  pumped  65  to  75 
twenty-four-hour  days  per  season  has  considerable  sand 
and  sediment  drawn  from  it,  and  in  a  few  years  the  pump 
and  column  sink  and  get  out  of  line.  A  belted  vertical 
pump  is  hard  to  keep  in  line  under  these  conditions,  while 
the  electrically  driven  vertical  pump  with  a  motor  mounted 
on  the  same  frame  overcomes  this  difficulty. 

When  a  well  ceases  delivering  water,  a  new  one  can  be 
sunk  not  far  distant  and  the  pump  and  motor  easily  moved 
without  having  to  transport  an  engine,  boiler  and  smoke- 
stack. Furthermore,  the  operation  of  the  pumps  can  be 
manipulated  to  suit  the  water  supply,  that  is,  one  pump  can 
be  stopped  in  one  field  and  another  one  started  in  some 
other  field,  without  additional  prime-mover  equipment.  The 
equipment  illustrated  and  described  herewith  was  furnished 
and  installed  by  Fairbanks,  Morse  &  Company,  608  Maga- 
zine Street,  New  Orleans,  La. 


Vertical-Shaft    Motor-Driven    Pump. 

The  generating  set  provides  energy  for  operating  three 
75-hp,  vertical,  squirrel-cage,  2200-volt  motors  direct-con- 
nected to  vertical  centrifugal  pumps.  One  pump  is  located 
at  the  power  house,  the  second  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
away,  and  the  third  a  half-mile  further,  or  one  and  one- 
quarter  miles  from  the  power  house.  The  energy  is  trans- 
mitted over  a  private  pole-line  on  Mr.  Williams'  property 
at  2300  volts,  without  transformers,  excepting  a  small 
transformer  at  each  pump  house  which  provides  iio-volt 
circuits  for  lighting. 

Each  motor  is  direct-connected  to  centrifugal  pumps 
throwing  lo-in.  streams.  The  water  stands  in  the  wells 
from  40  to  60  ft.  below  the  surface,  each  pump  discharging 
from  3000  to  4000  gal.  of  water  per  minute.     Each  well 


PANAMA-PACIFIC    INTERNATIONAL    EXPOSITION. 


As  previously  announced,  the  Panama-Pacific  Interna- 
tional Exposition  will  be  held  at  San  Francisco  from  Feb. 
20  to  Dec.  4,  1915,  to  celebrate  the  completion  of  the 
Panama  Canal.  The  board  of  directors  of  the  Panama- 
Pacific  International  Exposition  Company  has  just  pub- 
lished a  pamphlet  containing  a  set  of  general  rules  and 
regulations  which  are  promulgated  for  the  information  and 
guidance  of  both  foreign  and  domestic  exhibitors,  as  finally 
amended  and  approved  by  President  Charles  C.  Moore  and 
attested  by  Secretary  Rudolph  J.  Taussig.  These  rules  are 
embodied  in  twenty-two  articles. 

A  site  having  a  frontage  of  15,000  ft.  upon  the  bay  at 
Golden  Gate  and  comprising  625  acres  has  been  granted  by 
the  United  States  Government.  There  will  be  twelve  ex- 
hibition departments  covering  fine  arts,  education,  social 
economy,  liberal  arts,  manufactures  and  varied  industries, 
machinery,  transportation,  agriculture,  live  stock,  horticul- 
ture, mines  and  metallurgy,  and  discoveries  and  maritime 
development  of  the  Pacific  area. 

The  qualified  exhibitors  will  be  those  corporations,  firms 
or  individuals  who  have  produced  the  particular  article, 
object  or  substance  exhibited.  It  is  announced  that  no 
charge  will  be  made  for  space  allotted  to  exhibits  in  the 
exhibition  palaces.  Applications  for  space  must  be  filed  not 
later  than  the  following  dates :  For  machinery  and  me- 
chanical appliances  intended  for  exhibition  in  operation, 
Aug.  15,  1914;  for  similar  appliances  not  intended  for  ex- 
hibition in  operation,  Oct.  I,  1914;  for  works  of  art,  natural 
products  and  manufactured  materials  not  expressly  in- 
dicated in  the  rules,  Oct.  i.  1914,  and  for  special  conces- 
sions to  individuals,  associations  or  corporations.  Oct.  I, 
1914.  All  applications  for  space  must  be  addressed  in 
writing  to  the  president  of  the  exposition,  and  should  be 
presented  on  forms  which  will  be  furnished  on  application. 
All  communications  relating  to  the  exposition  should  be 
addressed  to  the  president  of  the  Panama-Pacific  Interna- 
tional Exposition,  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  U.  S.  A.  Copies  of 
the  pamphlet  of  rules  and  regulations  may  be  obtained  in 
the  manner  just  indicated. 


July  13,  1912.  ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 

Industrial  and  Financial  News 


119 


STEADY  increase  in  the  amount  of  general  merchan- 
dise carried  by  the  railroads,  favorable  crop  develop- 
ments, expansion  of  over  4  per  cent  in  bank  clearings 
last  week  as  compared  with  the  total  in  the  correspond- 
ing week  last  year,  with  continuation  of  activity  and  tend- 
ency toward  still  higher  prices  in  the  metal  markets  are 
reported  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  Growth  of  public 
confidence  and  broadening  of  the  buying  movement  are 
both  causes  and  effects  of  this  highly  encouraging  record, 
and  now  that  the  political  issues  are  fairly  well  defined, 
nearly  all  pi  the  elements  needed  for  a  period  of  good 
business  seem  to  be  at  hand.  Inasmuch  as  this  rate  of 
expansion  is  exceptionally  high  for  this  time  of  the  year, 
the  prospects  for  the  balance  of  1912  are  regarded  as 
decidedly  bright.  Improvement  in  business  placed  with 
the  majority  of  electrical  manufacturing  companies,  large 
gains  in  the  earnings  of  electric  light,  power  and  traction 
companies  over  the  returns  in  the  corresponding  period 
last  year,  and  a  broad  demand  for  the  securities  of  public 
service  corporations  as  compared  with  summer  dullness 
in  the  stocks  and  bonds  of  many  other  industrial  con- 
cerns speak  well  for  the  future  of  the  electrical  industry 
during  the  rest  of  the  year.  Despite  the  large  amount 
of  funds  incident  to  July  disbursements,  interest  rates  have 
not  changed  appreciably.  Rates  July  10  were;  Call, 
3(&3y2  per  cent;  ninety  days,  3H@3^  per  cent. 


Cedar  Rapids  (Que.)  Manufacturing  &  Power  Personnel. 

— The  Cedar  Rapids  Manufacturing  &  Power  Company,  of 
Montreal,  which  is  planning  to  develop  several  hydroelec- 
tric sites  on  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  near  Cedar  Rapids,  as 
was  noted  in  the  Electrical  World  Jan.  27,  1912,  has  elected 
the  following  officers,  who  with  D.  Lome  McGibbon,  are, 
in  addition,  the  board  of  directors:  President,  J.  E.  Aldred, 
and  vice-president,  Howard  Murray,  who  are,  respectively, 
president  and  secretary  of  the  Shawinigan  Water  &  Power 
Company;  secretary  and  treasurer,  J.  S.  Norris,  general 
manager,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Montreal  Light, 
Heat  &  Power  Company;  chief  hydraulic  engineer,  J.  C. 
Smith,  general  superintendent  and  chief  engineer  of  the 
Shawingan  company;  chief  electrical  engineer,  R.  M.  Wil- 
son, general  superintendent  and  chief  electrical  engineer  of 
the  Montreal  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Compay;  consulting 
engineer,  H.  Holgate.  The  capitalization  of  the  company 
consists  of  $10,000,000  5  per  cent  first  mortgage,  forty-year 
sinking  fund  gold  bonds,  of  which  $5,000,000  is  issued,  and 
of  $10,000,000  capital  stock,  of  which  $8,000,000  is  issued. 

Southern  Pacific  to  Extend  Electrification. — Plans  for 
electrification  of  about  340  miles  of  its  road  in  the  Willa- 
mette Valley.  Oregon,  from  Portland  to  Eugene,  at  an  im- 
mediate cost  of  $8,000,000  have  been  completed  by  the 
Southern  Pacific  Company.  Besides  this  interurban  electric 
system,  the  company  will  also  have  an  additional  thirty-five 
miles  of  electric  road  in  the  cities  of  Salem,  Albany,  Eugene 
and  Corvallis.  According  to  E.  E.  Calvin,  vice-president 
and  general  manager  of  the  Southern  Pacific  Company,  the 
work  of  converting  lines  between  Portland  and  McMinnville 
for  electric  operation  is  already  under  way,  and  electrifica- 
tion of  the  West  Side  line  from  McMinnville  to  Corvallis. 
and  of  the  Corvallis  &  Alsea  Railroad  thence  to  Eugene 
is  to  be  undertaken  at  once.  Consummation  of  these  plans, 
and  of  other  plans  which  it  has  under  consideration  for 
further  development  and  extension  of  electric  service  will 
give  the  Southern  Pacific  Company  a  first  class  electric  sys- 
tem in  a  highly  productive  territory. 

New  York  Telephone  Company  Buys  Independents. — 
The  physical  property  and  business  of  the  Onondaga 
(N.  Y.)  Independent  Telephone  has  been  purchased  by 
the  New  York  Telephone  Company  for  $700,000.  This 
property  was  consolidated  with  the  New  York  Telephone 
Company  on  June  30.  The  latter  has  also  acquired  the 
physical  property  and  business  of  the  .A.lbany  Home  Tele- 
phone Company,  in  Green  County,  for  $50,500,  subject  to 
existing    mortgages;    the    property    of    the     Baldwinsville 


Telephone  Company,  for  $13,100;  the  Newburgh  Home 
Telephone  Company,  for  $11,800;  the  Home  Telephone 
Company  of  Frewburg,  Chautauqua  County,  for  $8,000, 
and  the  Deposit  Home  Telephone  Company,  of  Deposit, 
N.  Y.,  for  $6,000.  The  companies  purchased  have  ceased 
business  and  the  business  formerly  conducted  by  them 
is  now  being  carried  on  by  the  New  York  company. 

Northern  Ohio  Traction  &  Light  Preferred  Stock. — W.  E. 
Hutton  &  Company,  of  New  York  and  Cincinnati,  are  of- 
fering $1,100,000  6  per  cent  cumulative  preferred  stock  of 
the  Northern  Ohio  Traction  &  Light  Company,  of  Akron, 
Ohio,  at  loi  and  dividend.  The  total  authorized  issue  of 
this  stock  is  $3,000,000  and  the  amount  now  offered  is  the 
unsold  portion  of  the  present  preferred  issue  of  $2,640,000. 
It  is  redeemable  after  April  i,  1919,  at  no  and  dividend. 
The  properties  of  the  company  consist  of  electric  lighting 
plants  at  Akron  and  Barberton,  and  about  215  miles  of 
electric  road  connecting  Cleveland,  Akron,  Canton,  Massil- 
lon  and  a  number  of  other  important  cities  in  the  state. 
The  proceeds  of  the  present  stock  issue  will  be  used  in 
financing  the  20.000  hp  steam  and  hydroelectric  plant  which 
the  company  is  now  constructing  at  Cuyahoga  Falls.  Gross 
earnings  of  the  company  in  191 1  were  $2,694,024  as  com- 
pared with  $2,437,426  in  1910.  and  the  surplus  for  stock  was 
$670,466  as  compared  with  $567,394  in  the  preceding  year. 

Walpole  Rubber  Company  Increases  Its  Manufacturing 
Facilities. — Although  extensive  additions  were  made  last 
year  to  the  plant  of  the  Walpole  Rubber  Company,  of  Wal- 
pole, Mass.,  the  additional  space  has  not  been  sufficient  to 
keep  abreast  of  the  demand  for  the  company's  products, 
which  include  automobile  tires,  mechanical  and  other  rubber 
goods  and  insulating  tapes  and  compounds  used  in  the 
electrical  industry.  Owing  to  the  immediate  need  for  larger 
space,  the  company  has  secured  the  plant  originally  de- 
signed for  the  use  of  the  Van  Coate  Electrical  Company,  in 
Foxboro,  Mass.,  which  is  about  five  miles  from  Walpole. 
About  three  acres  of  floor  space  is  contained  in  this  plant, 
--is  soon  as  the  installation  of  machinery  is  completed  auto- 
mobile tires  will  be  made  in  the  Foxboro  plant,  and  the 
additional  space  released  in  the  plant  at  Walpole  will  be 
devoted  to  manufacture  of  the  company's  other  products  on 
a  larger  scale. 

Pacific    Telephone    &    Telegraph    Earnings    Improve. — 

Earnings  of  the  Pacific  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company 
in  the  month  of  May  show  considerable  improvement  as 
compared  with  those  in  May,  191 1.  Gross  returns  were 
$1,505,493  as  compared  with  $1,257,477,  an  increase  of 
$248,016,  and  net  earnings  were  $379,551,  which  compares 
with  $279,429  in  May.  191 1,  an  increase  of  $100,122.  In 
the  five  months  ended  May  31,  1912,  net  earnings  were 
$1,666,717,  as  compared  with  $1,369,658  for  the  correspond- 
ing period  of  191 1,  which  is  a  gain  of  $297,059,  and  is 
equivalent  to  an  increase  of  about  21  per  cent  in  net  earn- 
ings for  the  five   months   of  this  year. 

Inawashiro  (Japan)  Hydroelectric  Power  Company. — Con- 
tracts have  been  let  by  the  Inawashiro  Hydroelectric  Power 
Company,  which  is  building  a  144-mile  100,000-volt  system  to 
transmit  energy  from  the  Nippashi  River  to  Tokyo,  Japan, 
to  Dick,  Kerr  &  Company,  London.  England,  for  alternators 
and  exciters;  Voith  &  Company.  Heidenheim.  Germany,  for 
water  turbines,  and  to  Thyssen  &  Company,  Miihlheim,  Ger- 
many, for  welded  pipe.  The  consulting  engineers  for  the 
company  are  J.  Tachihan,  Tokyo;  Ralph  D.  Mershon,  New 
York;  B.  M.  Jenkin,  London,  and  Sir  Alex.  B.  W.  Kennedy, 
London.  An  outline  of  the  development  plans  appeared  on 
page  524  of  the  Electrical  World,  March  9,   1912. 

Allis-Chalmers  Receiver  Resigns. — D.  W.  Call,  formerly 
president  of  the  Allis-Chalmers  Company,  and  one  of  the 
receivers,  has  resigned  the  receivership  to  become  president 
of  the  Hale  &  Kilburn  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Phila- 
delphia and  New  York.  General  Otto  H.  Falk,  who  was  co- 
receiver  with  Mr.  Call,  is  now  sole  receiver  of  the  Allis- 
Chalmers  Company.  June  bookings  of  the  company  were 
the  largest  for  any  one  month  in  several  years. 


120 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  a 


New  Directors  for  Electric  Properties  Company. — Fol- 
lowing transfer  of  control  of  the  Electric  Properties  Com- 
pany to  a  syndicate  composed  of  the  Westinghouse  Elec- 
tric &  Manufacturing  Company,  the  Equitable  Trust  Com- 
pany and  William  Morris  Imbrie  &  Company,  as  was  noted 
in  these  columns  last  week,  a  reorganization  of  the  board 
of  directors  of  the  Electric  Properties  Company  has  been  ef- 
fected. Henry  R.  Hayes,  of  Stone  &  Webster;  Guy  E.  Tripp, 
chairman  of  the  board  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company;  Alvin  W.  Krech  and  A.  Ludlow 
Kramer,  president  and  vice-president,  respectively,  of  the 
Equitable  Trust  Company,  have  been  added  to  the  board. 
James  Imbrie  will  continue  to  represent  his  firm  on  the 
board,  of  which  he  has  been  a  member  for  some  time. 
Other  directors  of  the  Electric  Properties  Company  are: 
Paul  D.  Cravath,  John  Seager,  John  F.  Wallace,  F.  Q. 
Brown,  Charles  H.  Allen,  H.  H.  Westinghouse,  George 
Westinghouse,  T.  L.  Brown,  H.  M.  Breckenbridge,  J.  R. 
McGinley,  E.  G.  Tillotson,  Horace  E.  Smith  and  Homer 
Loring.  John  F.  Wallace,  president  of  the  Electric  Prop- 
erties Company  and  of  Westinghouse,  Church,  Kerr  &  Com- 
pany, will  be  chairman  of  the  board  of  directors,  in  which 
capacity  he  will  have  general  supervision  of  the  affairs  of 
the  corporation  and  the  active  direction  of  the  affairs  of 
Westinghouse,  Church,  Kerr  &  Company,  which  is  owned 
by  the  Electric  Properties  Company.  Albert  M.  Chambers, 
formerly  associated  with  W.  C.  Langley  &  Company,  has 
been  elected  first  vice-president  of  the  Electric  Properties 
Company. 

Southern  Sierras  Power  Company   Bonds. — A.  B.   Leach 

&  Company,  of  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia  and  Chi- 
cago; McCoy  &  Company  and  the  Continental  &  Commer- 
cial Trust  &  Savings  Bank,  of  Chicago,  Ussing,  Scoville  & 
Company,  of  Pittsburgh  and  Philadelphia,  and  a  number 
of  other  bankers  are  ofifering  at  par  and  interest  $2,000,000 
first  mortgage  sinking  fund,  6  per  cent  gold  bonds  of  the 
Southern  Sierras  Power  Company,  unconditionally  guar- 
anteed as  to  principal  and  interest  by  the  Nevada-Cali- 
fornia Power  of  which  it  is  a  subsidiary.  Reference  to  the 
properties,  capitalization  and  earnings  of  the  parent  com- 
pany was  made  in  these  columns  May  4,  1912.  A  sum- 
mary of  a  letter  by  D.  A.  Chappell,  of  Los  Angeles,  vice- 
president  and  general  manager  of  the  company,  states  that 
the  Southern  Sierras  Power  Company  owns  and  operates 
a  5000  hp  steam  turbine  generating  station  and  distrib- 
uting system  at  San  Bernardino,  Cal,  a  distributing  sys- 
tem at  Corona,  Cal.,  and  a  distributing  system  covering 
the  San  Bernardino,  Riverside,  Corona,  San  Jacinto 
and  Perris  Valley  districts.  It  has  recently  completed 
a  double  three-phase  high-tension  steel-tower  trans- 
mission line  extending  from  the  San  Bernardino  plant  to 
Bishop,  in  Inyo  County,  where  the  company  has  two 
hydroelectric  plants  on  Bishop  Creek,  each  rated  at  2,000 
hp.  One  of  these  is  now  in  operation  and  the  other  will 
be  completed  within  a  short  time.  Upon  completion  of 
the  No.  2  reservoir  of  the  Nevada-California  Power  Com- 
pany the  ratings  of  each  of  these  plants  will  be  increased 
to   6,000   hp. 

Annual  Meeting  of  Marconi's  Wireless  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, Ltd.— At  the  annual  meeting  of  Marconi's  Wireless 
Telegraph  Company,  Ltd.,  which  was  held  in  London  on 
July  9,  William  Marconi  reviewed  the  progress  made  in  the 
past  year  by  the  various  wireless  telegraph  companies  bear- 
ing his  name.  Extensive  reference  was  made  by  Mr.  Mar- 
coni to  the  rapid  advancement  made  by  the  .American 
Marconi  company  and  to  the  clearing  of  the  situation  in 
America  by  acquisition  of  the  United  Wireless  Telegraph 
Company.  Mr.  Marconi  attributed  the  slow  progress  made 
by  the  American  company  in  previous  years  to  the  facts 
that  the  telegraph  service  in  this  country  is  not  a  state 
monopoly  as  is  the  case  in  Great  Britain;  that  there  was  no 
legislation  regarding  wireless  telegraphs;  that  as  the  United 
States  was  not  an  adherent  of  the  Radio-telegraphy  Con- 
vention of  Berlin  of  1906  a  state  of  chaos  existed  as  regards 
wireless  matters;  that  the  complexity  of  the  patent  situation 
was  a  hindrance;  and  finally  the  existence  of  the  United 
Wireless  company  furnished  strong  competition.  Mr.  Mar- 
coni also  said  that  he  looks  to  the  American  Marconi  com- 
pany to  become  one  of  the  "big,  important  industrial  insti- 
tutions of  the  United  States." 


New  York  Commission  Authorizes  Bond  Issues. — The 
Public  Service  Commission  for  the  Second  New  York  Dis- 
trict has  authorized  the  Olean  (N.  Y.)  Electric  Light  & 
Power  Company  to  use  $76,929,  derived  from  the  sale  of 
bonds,  for  constructing  a  steam  power  station  in  Olean. 
Authority  has  been  granted  to  the  Katonah  Lighting  Com- 
pany, which  operates  at  Katonah  and  Bedford,  in  West- 
chester County,  to  execute  a  mortgage  upon  all  of  its  prop- 
erty, franchises  and  rights  to  secure  the  payment  of  $125,000 
6  per  cent,  thirty-year  bonds.  The  company  is  authorized 
to  issue  bonds  shortly  to  the  amount  of  $75,000  to  be  sold 
at  not  less  than  par.  The  proceeds  of  the  issue  are  to  be 
used  for  payment  of  construction  work  on  the  company's 
new  steam  plant  and  extensions  to  South  Salem,  Penndridge 
and  Bedford  and  to  discharge  the  lawful  capitalizable  obli- 
gations of  the  company. 

American  Gas  &  Electric  Buys  Fremont  (Ohio)  Coip- 
pany. — The  properties  of  the  Fremont  Yaryan  Company, 
which  does  an  electric  lighting,  steam  heating  and  motor 
service  business  in  Fremont,  Ohio,  have  been  purchased  by 
the  American  Gas  &  Electric  Company.  R.  E.  Breed,  presi- 
dent of  the  American  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  has  been 
elected  president  of  the  Fremont  company;  George  W. 
Tidd,  of  New  York,  has  been  elected  vice-president,  and 
F.  B.  Ball,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  American  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  will  perform  the  same  offices  in  the  Fre- 
mont company.  The  American  Gas  &  Electric  Company 
has  three  other  properties  in  Ohio.  These  are  the  Ohio 
Light  &  Power  Company,  of  TiflSn,  Ohio;  the  Licking  Light 
&  Power  Company  of  Newark  and  the  Canton  Electric 
Company  at  Canton,  Ohio. 

New  Hydroelectric  Plant  Near  Columbia  (S.  C). — Con- 
trol of  the  Parr  Shoals  Power  Company,  which  was  formed 
to  build  a  hydroelectric  plant  at  Parr  Shoals  on  the  Broad 
River,  about  twenty  miles  above  Columbia,  has  been  ac- 
quired by  the  Columbia  (S.  C.)  Railway,  Gas  &  Electric 
Company.  J.  G.  White  &  Company  are  to  build  the  new 
plant,  which  is  to  have  a  rating  of  25,000  hp.  Surveys  have 
been  made  and  construction  is  to  be  started  at  once.  Trans- 
mission lines  will  be  extended  from  the  plant  to  Columbia, 
where  the  energy  will  be  used  by  the  Columbia  Railway, 
Gas  &  Electric  Company. 

Changes  in  Dividend  Rates. — The  Electric  Company  of 
America  has  declared  a  dividend  of  30  cents  a  share,  which 
is  a  reduction  of  5  cents  from  the  last  previous  semi-annual 
disbursement.  The  Montreal  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Com- 
pany has  declared  a  quarterly  dividend  of  254  per  cent,  on 
its  stock,  payable  Aug.  15  to  holders  of  record  July  31. 
This  represents  an  increase  of  ;4  of  I  per  cent,  over  the  last 
disbursement,  and  places  the  stock  on  a  yearly  basis  of  9 
per  cent. 

Decision  in  American  Gas  &  Electric-Doherty  Suit  Sus- 
tained.— The  Appellate  Division  of  the  Supreme  Court  has 
affirmed  the  decision  of  the  lower  court  which  denied  an 
application  of  H.  L.  Doherty  &  Company  for  an  injunction 
to  restrain  the  American  Gas  &  Electric  Company  from 
disposing  of  $1,000,000  common  stock  upon  which  the 
petitioners  claimed  to  hold  an  option,  as  was  mentioned 
in  these  columns  April   13  and  June  8.   1912. 

Westinghouse  Electric's  Showring  for  First  Quarter. — Net 
earnings  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing 
Company  for  the  first  three  months  of  the  fiscal  year  were 
at  the  rate  of  nearly  15  per  cent  on  the  common  stock,  as 
compared  with  6  per  cent  last  year,  and  with  12.34  per  cent 
in  1910.  The  manufacturing  plants  of  the  company  are  be- 
ing operated  at  full  capacity,  and  some  scarcity  of  labor 
is  reported. 

Pennsylvania  Light  &  Power  Company  Increases  Capital 
Stock.— Stockholders  of  the  Pennsylvania  Light  &  Power 
Company,  of  .Allegheny,  Pa.,  will  vote  at  a  special  meeting 
to  be  held  on  Sept.  10  upon  a  proposition  to  increase  the 
capital  stock  of  the  company  from  $1,000,000  to  $2,000,000 
and  to  authorize  the  creation  of  a  bonded  indebtedness  of 
$5,000,000.  The  company  has  no  bonded  indebtedness  at 
present. 

Omaha  Independent  Telephone  Company  Sold.— On  July 
I  the  plant  of  the  fndependent  Telephone  Company,  of 
Omaha  was  sold  at  receivers'  sale  to  the  Nebraska  (Bell) 
Telephone   Company  for  $995,000. 


July  13,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


121 


Pittsburgh  Subway  Plans. — A  new  subway  plan,  which 
will  involve  the  ultimate  expenditure  of  $100,000,000,  has 
been  filed  with  the  council  of  the  city  of  Pittsburgh  for  con- 
sideration. The  United  Terminal  System  Painters  Run 
Railroad  Company,  which  is  furthering  the  project  through 
its  representative,  A.  E.  Anderson,  recently  asked  for  an 
amendment  to  the  present  subway  ordinance  so  as  to  permit 
the  use  of  the  subway  for  freight  traffic.  A  subway  ordi- 
nance recently  drawn  up  by  the  city  council  makes  no  pro- 
vision for  the  carrying  of  freight.  The  plans  and  policy  of 
the  company  are  summarized  in  the  proposition  which  the 
company  submitted  to  the  council.  The  proposition  calls 
for  an  expenditure  of  $100,000,000  over  a  period  of  ten  years, 
which  shall  be  represented  by  approximately  $40,000,000  of 
capital  stock  and  $60,000,000  in  bonds,  all  to  be  placed  as 
nearly  at'  par  as  possible,  thus  providing  for  present  con- 
struction and  future  extensions.  From  the  nature  of  the 
work  and  the  character  of  the  equipment  it  is  estimated  that 
80  per  cent  of  the  money  will  be  expended  in  the  Pitts- 
burgh district.  The  rapid  transit  portion  of  the  system  will 
receive  the  first  consideration  to  meet  local  traffic  condi- 
tions as  soon  as  possible  and  will  consist  of  a  two  and 
eventually  a  four  track  tunnel  from  the  eastern  city  line 
to  the  western.  Extensions  outside  the  city  will  be  surface 
lines  of  standard  railroad  character.  The  equipment  used 
will  be  modern  and  operated  by  electricity,  or  other  satis- 
factory motive  power,  but  not  steam,  although  steam  lines 
will  be  permitted  to  bring  their  trains  to  points  of  transfer 
within  the  city  limits.  The  company  concludes  its  proposi- 
tion with  a  request  that  such  needful  amendments  be  made 
to  the  present  ordinance,  or  that  a  further  bill  be  drawn  up, 
as  will  permit  the  company  to  engage  in  freight  traffic,  the 
company  expressing  its  belief  that  a  rapid  transit  system 
depending  solely  upon  passenger  traffic  can  not  be  made 
profitable  for  a  period  of  ten  or  more  years  after  operation 
is  begun. 

Vicksburg  (Miss.)  Light  &  Traction  Bonds. — Chas  S. 
Kidder  &  Company;  Yard,  Otis  &  Taylor;  H.  T.  Holtz  & 
Company;  the  Central  Trust  Company  of  Illinois;  the 
Peoples  Trust  &  Savings  Bank,  and  the  Ft.  Dearborn 
Trust  &  Savings  Bank,  all  of  Chicago,  are  offering  $600,000 
first  mortgage,  5  per  cent  gold  bonds  of  the  Vicksburg 
(Miss.)  Light  &  Traction  Company  at  95  and  interest, 
yielding  about  s^i  per  cent.  These  are  dated  July  i,  1912, 
and  are  due  July  i,  1932,  but  are  redeemable  at  105  on  any 
interest  date  on  105  and  interest.  They  are,  according  to 
the  bankers,  an  absolute  first  mortgage  on  all  property  now 
owned  or  hereafter  acquired  by  the  company,  which  oper- 
ates without  competition  the  street  railway  and  electric 
light  systems  in  Vicksburg  and  its  suburbs.  The  franchises 
continue  for  ten  and  twelve  years  after  maturity  of  the 
bonds.  The  capital  stock  of  the  company,  authorized  and 
outstanding,  is  $1,000,000.  The  authorized  issue  of  the  first 
mortgage  bonds  is  $1,500,000,  of  which  $900,000  is  reserved 
for  additions  and  extensions,  and  $600,000  is  outstanding. 
The  $900,000  bonds  in  escrow  can  be  issued  for  only  85  per 
cent  of  the  cost  of  additions,  provided  the  annual  net  earn- 
ings are  lJ4  times  the  interest  charges  for  the  preceding 
twelve  months  on  all  bonds  outstanding,  including  those 
applied  for.  These  bonds  are  followed  by  $200,000  of  ten 
year  6  per  cent  debenture  bonds,  all  of  which  are  outstand- 
ing. Net  earnings  of  the  company  in  191 1  were  $60,002  and 
the  surplus  after  payment  of  bond  interest  was  $30,002. 


JUNE  STATEMENT  OF  COPPER  PRODUCERS'     ASSOCIATION 
The   June   statement   of  the    Copper    Producers'   Associa- 
tion,  issued  July  8,  compares  with   the   May   statement  as 
follows: 

r .Tune,  Pounds. ^  ,. May,  Pounds. ^ 

Stocks    on     hand    in     the 

United    States    on    first 

of   month    49,615,643  65,066,029 

Production     122,315,240  126,737,836 

171,930,883  191,803,865 

Domestic  deliveries 66,146,229  72,702,277 

Export    deliveries    61,449,650  69,485,945 

Total   deliveries    127,595,879  142,188,222 

Stocks   on   hand   at    the 

end    of    the    month..  44,335,004  49,615,643 


PRICES  IN  THE  NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET, 

Copper:  , July   i ^  , July  9 , 

Standard:  Bid.         Asked.  Bid.       Asked. 

Spot     I6.37y2      17.37yi  16.50  17.00 

.l"ly     17.00         17.50  16.50         17.00 

August      17.00  17.50  16.50  17.20 

September     17.30  17.35  16.50  17.25 

October     15.50  17.00 

London  quotation:  £       s     d  £         s     d 

Standard    copper,    spot 77       7     6  74       2     6 

Standard  copper,   futures 78       5     0  75       0     0 

Prime    Lake    17.50  17.25 

tlectrolytic     17.50  17.00 

Casting      17.15  1575 

Lead    4.50  4.75 

Sheet  2inc,  f.o.b.,  smelter 8.65  8  75 

Spelter,  spot    7.15  7'.25 

Nickel     39.00  to  40.00  39.00  to  40.00 

.Aluminum : 

No.    1    pure  ingot 21  to  22  21  to  22 

Rods    and   wire,    base 31  31 

Sheets  base    33  33 

OLD  METALS. 

Heavy   copper    and    wire 16.50  16  50 

Brass,   heavy    10.25  10.25 

Brass,    light    8.50  8.50 

Lead,    heavy    4.2s  4.25 

Zinc,    scrap    S.75  5.75 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  JULY 

1  otal  tons,   including  July  9 6,248 

STOCK  MARKET  PRICES. 

,„.    ^,    ,  July  2.  July  10. 

.Mhs-Chalmers     j^*  1  j^ 

Allis-Chalmers.    pf 2J^*  4J4 

Amalgamated    Copper    85  J^  81 

Amer.    Tel.   &   Tel 145H  144Ji 

Boston    Edison    290*  293* 

Commonwealth   Edison    138^  139}4 

Electric    Storage    Battery 55J.^  55 

General    Electric    180  176^ 

Mackay    Companies    88J4  90 

Mackay  Companies,  pf 69^*  68H 

Philadelphia    Electric    22 }i  21  Ji 

Western    Union    82^  81 J^ 

Westinghouse     77  76 

Westinghouse,    pf 121*  119* 

*Last  price  quoted. 


Personal 


Mr.  Merwyn  J.  K.  Allen,  formerly  assistant  engineer  of 
roadways  for  Toronto,  Can.,  has  been  appointed  city  en- 
gineer for  Regina,  Sask.,  to  succeed  Mr.  W.  A.  Thornton, 
who  was  recently  appointed  commissioner  of  works  for 
Regina. 

Mr.  Albert  B.  Morton,  formerly  manager  and  superin- 
tendent of  the  Municipal  Electric  Light  Plant  at  Wake- 
field, Mass.,  has  been  appointed  superintendent  of  the  Rome 
Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  of  Rome,  N.  Y., 
to  succeed  Mr.  R.  A.   Field. 

Mr.  Kenneth  Windram  Endres,  formerly  associated  with 
the  Western  Electric  Company  at  New  York  as  railway 
sales  engineer,  has  resigned  from  that  company  to  become 
assistant  treasurer  of  the  Windram  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany of  40  Oliver  Street,  Boston. 

Mr.  Maurice  H.  Flexner  has  been  appointed  illuminating 
engineer  for  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  Chi- 
cago. Mr.  Flexner  is  a  1908  graduate  of  the  Purdue  Uni- 
versity School  of  Electrical  Engineering,  and  recently  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  E.  E.  from  his  alma  mater. 

Mr.  J.  Tachihara,  electrical  engineer  of  the  Mitsu  Bishi 
Company,  Tokyo,  Japan,  and  consulting  electrical  engineer 
for  the  Inawashiro  Hydroelectric  Power  Company,  that  is 
building  the  first  ioo,ooo-volt  system  in  Japan,  is  visiting 
this  country  in  the  interests  of  the  last-mentioned  company. 

Mr.  A.  M.  Klingman,  who,  for  some  time  past,  has  been 
connected  with  the  Adanis-Bagnall  Electric  Company  of 
Cleveland  with  the  title  of  efficiency  engineer,  has  returned 
to  the  engineering  department  of  the  National  Electric 
Lamp  Association  to  assume  the  position  of  assistant  com- 
mercial engineer. 

Mr.  J.  A.  Donaghy,  formerly  illuminating  engineer  and 
salesman  for  the  Montreal  (Can.)  Light,  Heat  &  Power 
Company,  has  been  placed  in  charge  of  the  sales  depart- 
ment of  the  Monterrey  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company, 
which  distributes  water,  gas  and  electricity  throughout  the 
city  of  Monterey,  N.  L.,  Mexico. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  Co,  \'o.  2. 


Prof.  William  L.  Hooper,  head  of  the  department  of 
electrical  engineering  at  Tufts  College,  has  been  appointed 
acting  president  of  the  institution.  Dr.  Hooper  is  well 
known  for  his  work  in  physics  and  electricity  in  collabora- 
tion with  the  late  Prof.  A.  E.  Dolbear  and  Mr.  F.  S. 
Pearson.  He  has  lately  been  chairman  of  the  Boston 
section  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E. 

Mr.  W.  W.  Freeman,  vice-president  and  general  manager 
of  tlie  Kings  County  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  and 
Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn,  has 
been  appointed  a  director  and  an  officer  of  the  .\labama 
Interstate  Power  Company,  which  will  operate  several  elec- 
trical properties  in  the  south.  Mr.  Freeman  will  retain 
his  financial  interest  and  official  relations  with  the  Brook- 
lyn properties  in  which  he  has  been  actively  identified  for 
twenty-three  years  and  of  which  he  has  been  general  man- 
ager for  seven  years. 

Dr.  Richard  C.  MacLaurin,  president  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology,  sailed  from  Boston  for 
Europe  on  July  3  on  a  combined  vacation  and  business  trip 
which  will  include  journeys  to  many  prominent  educational 
institutions  of  technical  interest.  Dr.  MacLaurin  will  pay 
special  attention  to  the  architectural  featuers  of  school 
buildings,  and  upon  his  return  in  the  fail  a  consultation 
of  architects  will  be  held  in  relation  to  the  preparation  of 
plans  for  the  new  buildings  of  the  institute  which  are 
to  be  erected  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  on  the  west  side  of 
the   Charles   River  Basin. 

Mr.  Russell  H.  Ballard,  assistant  general  manager  of  the 
Southern  California  Edison  Company,  Los  Angeles,  is  the 
author  of  an  article  entitled  "No  Honest  Corporation  Fears 
Honest  Regulation"  in  the  July  number  of  "Edison  Current 
Topics,"  published  by  the  company.  Mr.  Ballard  was  born 
in  Hamilton,  Ontario,  Can.,  in  1875.  The  family  moved  to 
Minneapolis,  Minn.,  in  1883,  where  he  obtained  a  common 
school  education.  He  started  his  business  career  with 
Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company  in  Chicago  in  1890 
as  office  boy;  continued  at  Chicago  with  that  company  and 
its  successor,  the  .General  Electric  Company,  until  1894. 
During  part  of  this  period  he  attended  night  school.  In 
1894  was  transferred  to  the  treasury  department  of  the 
General  Electric  Company  at  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  and  con- 
tinued with  that  company  at  Schenectady,  Newburg,  N.  Y.. 
Toledo,  Ohio,  and  Atlanta,  Ga.,  until  1897.  when  he  secured 
a  position  as  bookkeeper  with  Westside  Lighting  Company 
of  Los  Angeles,  the  original  of  the  present  Southern  Cali- 
fornia Edison  Company.  He  left  the  company  in  1900  to 
accept  a  position  as  cashier  and  office  manager  with  the 
Butte  Electric  &  Power  Company,  Butte,  Mont.  He  re- 
turned to  Los  .\ngeles  in  1904  to  accept  a  position  as  as- 
sistant secretary  with  the  Edison  Electric  Company,  the 
predecessor  of  the  Southern  California  Edison  Company. 
Through  various  stages  he  has  been  promoted  to  his  pres- 
ent position  as  secretary  and  assistant  general  manager. 
Mr.  Ballard  was  the  chief  speaker  before  the  Electrical 
League  of  Southern  California  on  June  25,  his  subject  be- 
ing. "The  Seattle   Convention   of  the   N.   E.   L.   .\." 


Obituary 


Mr.  Arthur  J.  Morgan,  secretary  of  the  National  X-Ray 
Reflector  Company,  and  of  the  Curtis  Leger  Fixture  Com- 
pany, Chicago,  111.,  died  of  pneumonia  at  his  home  in 
Evanston,  III.,  July  5,  1912.  Mr.  Morgan  has  been  known 
in  electrical  circles  through  his  work  in  connection  with 
indirect  lighting  and  show-window  lighting.  He  was  ac- 
tively engaged  in  both  the  commercial  and  technical  work 
connected  with  developing  indirect  lighting  during  the  past 
four  years.  .•Mthough  not  professing  to  be  a  technical  man 
Mr.  Morgan  was  one  who  had  a  keen  appreciation  of  the 
value  of  engineering  and  technical  knowledge  as  applied 
to  illumination  problems.  He  was  in  no  small  degree  re- 
sponsible for  the  rapid  growth  of  the  indirect  lighting  sys- 
tem advocated  by  his  companies.  .-X  large  engineering  de- 
partment was  built  up  within  a  few  years  under  his  man- 
agement for  the  proper  marketing  of  direct  and  indirect 
lighting  appliances.  He  constantly  made  use  of  the  engi- 
neering advice  of  others,  and  was  himself  a  designer  and 


A.    E.    STEVENS 


inventor  of  considerable  skill  and  originated  a  number  of 
appliances  and  methods  of  manufacture,  not  only  in  the 
lighting  field,  but  in  other  enterprises  with  which  he  was 
connected.  He  was  in  the  prime  of  business  life  and  his 
loss  will  be  much  felt  in  the  illumination  circles.  For 
some  time  he  served  as  manager  of  the  Chicago  Section 
of  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society. 

Mr.  Andrew  E.  Stevens,  manager  of  the  Consumers 
Power  Company,  Minot,  N.  D.,  who  met  death  in  an  auto- 
mobile  accident   as    noted   in   our    issue    dated   July   6,   was 

born  in  Rushford,  Minn., 
Feb.  7.  1869.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools  of 
Winona,  Minn.,  and  in  the 
University  of  Minnesota, 
Minneapolis.  At  an  early  age 
his  father  died  throwing  upon 
him  full  responsibility  as  the 
oldest  son  of  the  family.  Mr. 
Stevens  had  been  in  the  em- 
ploy of  H.  M.  Byllesby  & 
Company  since  January,  191 1. 
Before  entering  the  service 
of  the  Byllesby  company  he 
had  had  several  years'  e.x- 
perience  in  shop  and  street- 
railway  work  in  Minneapolis 
and  St.  Paul.  He  also  had 
been  manager  of  several  tele- 
phone exchanges  for  the  Wisconsin  Telephone  Company, 
and  had  served  on  the  sales  force  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Elec- 
tric Works.  Chicago  office  He  was  a  member  of  the  Beta 
Theta  Pi  Fraternity.  In  Minot  he  was  an  active  member  of 
the  Commercial,  Elk  and  Minot  Gun  clubs.  He  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Emma  Howard  and  is  survived  by  her  and  one 
son.  fourteen  j'ears  old.  The  deceased  was  a  brother  of 
Eugene  M.  Stevens  of  the  banking  firm  of  Stevens,  Chapman 
&  Company,  Minneapolis,  and  of  Mr.  Arthur  Stevens  of  the 
same  city.  The  funeral  was  held  Tuesday  afternoon,  June 
25,  from  the  home  of  Mr.  Stevens'  mother,  Minneapolis. 

Mr.  Cecil  B.  Smith,  head  of  the  engineering  firm  of 
Smith,  Kerry  &  Chace,  who  died  at  his  home  in  Toronto, 
Can.,  on  June  29,  as  noted  in  our  issue  for  July  6,  was 
born  in  Winona,  Ont.,  in  1865.  His  first  noteworthy  work 
was  as  constructing  engineer  of  the  Canadian  Niagara  Pow- 
er Company,  with  which  he  was  associated  from  1901  to  1905. 
In  the  latter  year  he  was  appointed  consulting  engineer  of 
the  Temiskaming  &  Northern  Ontario  Railway  Commission. 
The  Ontario  government,  recognizing  his  ability  as  an 
administrator  as  well  as  a  constructing  engineer,  appointed 
him  chairman  of  the  Railway  Commission  with  oversight 
of  the  Ontario  government  railways.  His  study  of  the 
problem  of  electrical  development  and  transmission  in 
Ontario  led  him  to  outline  a  scheme  which  afterward  de- 
\  eloped  into  the  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission,  which 
was  the  first  extensive  experiment  in  the  world  of  elec- 
trical development  under  government  auspices.  Mr. 
Smith's  services  were  now  in  demand,  and  he  was  con- 
sulted by  electrical  experts  in  foreign  countries  as  well  as 
in  Canada  and  the  United  States.  He  was  appointed  to 
lay  out  the  hydro-electric  plant  for  the  city  of  Winnipeg. 
He  then  formed  the  engineering  firm  of  Smith,  Kerry  & 
Chace,  carrying  out  many  hydro-electric  developments  all 
over  the  continent,  some  of  them  being  the  plants  of  the 
Seymour  Power  Company,  the  Trenton  Power  Company, 
the  Nipissing  Power  Company  and  the  British  Canadian 
Power  Company,  supplying  energy  to  the  mines  at  Cobait 
and  municipal  plants  at  Lethbridge,  Nelson,  Revelstoke  and 
other  places.  He  was  engaged  to  organize  the  Mount 
Hood  Railway  &  Power  Company  and  installed  that  com- 
pany's plant  at  Portland,  Ore.,  carrying  out  also  an  im- 
portant land  reclamation  work  in  Idaho,  under  the  name 
of  Crane  Falls  Power  &  Irrigation  Company,  of  which  he 
v.-as  elected  president.  He  was  also  president  of  the 
Nipissing  Power  Company  and  general  manager  and  vice- 
president  of  the  Mount  Hood  Railway  &  Power  Company. 
.■\mong  Mr.  Smith's  other  activities  he  was  the  author  of 
several  engineering  works  and  contributed  several  valuable 
papers  to  the  Canadian  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  of  which 
he  was  vice-president,  and  chairman  of  the  Toronto  Section. 


July  13,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


123 


Construction 


ATHENS,  ALA. — The  City  Council  has  purchased  two  250-hp  turbines 
direct  connected  to  generators,  which  are  to  be  installed  in  September. 
When   improvements   are   completed   a   24-hour   will   be   established. 

BIRMINGHAM,  ALA.— The  Kelley  St.  Ry.  Co.  has  petitioned  the 
city  commissioners  for  a  franchise  to  build  an  electric  railway  in  Birm- 
ingham.    George  C.  Kelley  and  N.  L.  Miller  are  interested  in  the  company. 

TUCKERMAN,  ARK. — The  city  is  contemplating  the  construction  of 
an  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system  and  would  like  to  receive 
bids  for  same.  E.  V.  Holt  is  chairman  of  committee  on  bonds  and 
construction. 

ALAMEDA,  CAL. — As  no  bids  were  received  for  the  erection  of 
electroliers  in  district  No.  7  the  Department  of  Electricity  will  do  the 
work. 

ALTA,  CAL. — The  Pacific  Gas  &  El.  Co.  contemplates  the  construc- 
tion of  a  hydroelectric  power  plant  on  the  Bear  River,  about  6  miles 
from  Alta. 

COLUSA,  CAL. — The  Oro  El.  Corpn.  is  planning  to  enter  the  electrical 
field  in  this  district.  A  substation  and  distribution  system  will  be  in- 
stalled. 

DIXON,  CAL. — The  Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to  extend 
its  transmission  lines  to   Dixon,    for   which  surveys  are   now  being  made. 

FOREST  CITY,  CAL.— The  South  Fork  Mine  Co.  is  contemplating 
the  installation  of  electrical  machinery.  Fred  W.  Kuhfield  will  have 
charge  of  the  work. 

LODI,  CAL. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Oro  El.  Corpn.  to 
enter  the  local  field.  A  large  amount  of  transforming  and  distributing 
apparatus  will  be  installed. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — The  river  substation  of  the  Southern  Cali- 
fornia Edison  Co.,  on  East  Ninth  Street,  was  recently  destroyed  by  fire 
causing   a    loss    of   about   $10,000. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — The  Inter-City  Commission  is  considering  the 
plans  for  the  installation  of  the  festoon  system  of  lighting  between  the 
cities  of   Pasadena,    South   Pasadena,    Alhambra   and    Los   Angeles. 

LOS  ANGELES.  CAL.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of  Public 
Works  until  July  29  for  furnishing  the  city  of  Los  Angeles  with  all  neces- 
sary riveted  steel  pipe  sections,  valves  and  special  fittings  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  San  Francisquito  No.  1  and  the  Bee  Canyon  syphons, 
according  to  plans  and  specifications. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of  Public 
Works  until  July  26  for  furnishing  the  city  of  Los  Angeles  with  auxiliary 
electrical  equipment,  consisting  of  switchboard  panels,  meters  and  ac- 
cessories, oil  switches,  local  service  transformers,  storage  batteries,  motor 
generator  sets,   disconnecting  switches,   etc. 

MANTECA,  CAL. — The  Sierra  &  San  Francisco  Pwr.  Co.  will  soon 
begin  work  on  the  construction  of  a  new  substation  in  Manteca.  The 
new  plant  will  have  an  output  of  about  5000  kw  and  will  cost  about 
$100,000. 

MARTINEZ,  CAL.— The  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Contra  Costa  County 
has  voted  to  pay  half  of  the  cost  of  the  installation  and  maintenance 
of   lighting   the    tunnel    connecting    Contra    Costa   and    Alameda    Counties. 

OROVILLE,  CAL. — The  Oro  El.  Corpn.  has  begun  work  on  the  con- 
struction of  a  large  power  plant  at  the  mouth  of  Yellow  Creek  on  the 
Feather  River.  The  site  is  near  Belden  on  the  Western  Pacific  Railroad, 
and  a  short  spur  will  be  built  to  the  power  plant.  The  company  is 
capitalized  at  $10,000,000  and  is  a  reorganization  of  the  Oro  Wtr.,  Lt.  & 
Pwr.   Co. 

PETALUMA,  CAL.— The  Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  has  purchased  a 
tract  of  land  in  East  Petaluma,  to  be  used  as  a  site  for  a  substation. 

SACRAMENTO.  CAL.— The  Oakland,  Antioch  &  Eastern  Ry.  Co.  has 
secured  a  franchise  to  operate  in  Sacramento.  Some  new  lines  will  be 
built,  but  a  large  part  of  the  operation  will  be  over  the  local  company's 
tracks. 

SAN  DIEGO.  CAL.— The  San  Diego  Consol.  Gas  &  Elec.  Co.  is  ex- 
tending its  high-tension  transmission  lines  to  La  Mesa,  a  distance  of 
about  10  miles,  to  furnish  electricity  for  lamps  and  irrigation  projects. 

SAN  JACINTO,  CAL.— The  City  Trustees  have  decided  to  install  an 
automatic  electric  pumping  station  at  the  municipal  pumping  station. 

SAN  JACINTO,  CAL.— The  Southern  Sierras  Pwr.  Co.  has  taken 
over  the  franchises  for  the  erection  of  transmission  lines  in  Riverside 
County    originally   obtained   by   B.    F.    Mechling. 

SANTA  BARBARA,  CAL.— The  Coalinga  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  applied 
to  the  Board  of  Supervisors  for  a  franchise  to  operate  in  Santa  Maria, 
Santa  Ynez  and  Lompoc  Valleys. 

STRATHMORE,  CAL. — Arrangements  have  been  made  by  the  ranch 
and  orange  grove  owners  for  the  formation  of  another  telephone  line  in 
the  Strathraore  district,  to  be  operated  under  the  name  of  the  Magnolia 
Tel.  Assoc.  N.  A.  Clifford  is  president  and  H.  M.  Stutzman  secretary  and 
treasurer. 

WOODLAND,  CAL.— Work  will  begin  on  the  installation  of  the 
proposed  system  of  the  Yolo  Wtr.  &  Pwr.  Co.  as  soon  as  50.000  acres 
are  pledged.  The  work  will  include  the  construction  of  new  dams, 
installation    of  power   plants,   cleaning   out   old  ditches   and    building   new 


ones.  Permanent  daiiis  and  power  plants  will  be  erected  at  Runisey  and 
Capay,   and   the  dams   at    .\dama    and   Moore   will    be   reconstructed. 

WOODLAND,  CAL. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Pacific  Gas 
&  El.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  plant  here.  The  power 
house  will  be  of  reinforced  concrete,  36  ft.  x  64.6  ft.  The  equipment 
will  consist  of  one  bank  of  750-kw,  60  to  U  kv,  transformers,  one  bank 
of  four  230-kw,  60  to  2i  kv,  transformers,  one  400-kw  motor-generator, 
switchboard  and  switches  for  two  1100-volt  feeders  and  three  2300-volt 
feeders.      The   cost    of    the    plant    is   estimated   at   $50,000. 

WILMINGTON.  DEL.— The  Wilmington  &  Philadelphia  Trac.  Co.  has 
decided  to   install   about  40  additional  street  lamps  throughout  the  city. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau  of  Sup- 
plies and  Accounts,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Aug.  6 
for  miscellaneous  supplies  to  be  delivered  at  the  various  navy  yards  and 
naval  stations  as  follows:  Puget  Sound,  Wash.,  schedule  4690 — two 
motor-driven  centrifugal  blowers.  Brooklyn,  N,  Y.,  schedule  4698 — 
2000  ft.  twin  conductor,  armored  cable;  50,000  ft.  incandescent  lamp  cord; 
1000  lb.  copper  trolley  wire.  Mare  Island,  Cal.,  schedule  4689 — two 
centrifugal  air  compressors.  Norfolk,  Va.,  schedule  4705 — induction 
motor.  Puget  Sound,  Wash.,  schedule  4690 — equipped  industrial  railway. 
Application  for  proposals  should  designate  the  schedule  desired  by 
number. 

JACKSONVILLE,  FLA. — The  Womanda  Land  Association,  Jackson- 
ville, has  been  organized  with  a  capital  stock  of  $300,000  to  develop 
18,000  acres  of  land.  The  work  will  include  townsite,  experimental  farm, 
electric-light    plant,    etc. 

AMERICUS,  GA. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  American  Pwr. 
Co.  a  franchise  to  establish  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant  here. 
Frank    Lanier   is   president    of   the   company. 

AMERICUS,  GA.— The  City  Council  has  accepted  the  bid  of  the 
Americus  Pwr.  Co.  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  city.  The  new 
contract  provides  for  130  street  lamps,  of  which  21  are  to  be  fiaming-arc 
lamps  and  the  remainder  tungsten  lamps,  to  cost  $5,000  per  year.  Bids 
will  be  received  by  the  company  until  July  16  for  material  and  equip- 
ment for  the  new  plant. 

AUGUSTA,  GA. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Augusta- Aiken 
Ry.  &  El.  Co.  to  begin  work  on  the  Stevens  Creek  power  development. 
The  proposed  plant  will  develop  about  30,000  hp  and  will  cost  about 
$200,000.     E.  C.  Deal  is  general  manager. 

BLACKSHEAR,  GA. — At  an  election  held  June  25  the  proposition  to 
issue  bonds  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant,  water- works 
and  sewerage  system  was  carried.  Work  will  begin  as  soon  as  bonds 
are    sold. 

DALTON,  GA.— The  City  Council  has  authorized  the  Board  of  Water 
and  Light  Commissioners  to  purchase  a  generator  and  complete  equip- 
ment   to    duplicate    the   equipment    in    the    municipal    electric    plant. 

DECATUR.  GA. — The  question  of  issuing  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
$1 5,000  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  in  con- 
nection   with    the    water- works   system    is    under   consideration. 

VALDOSTA,  GA. — The  Georgia  Railway  Commission  has  granted 
the  Valdosta  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  permission  to  issue  $600,000  in  bonds  for 
improvements  to  its  plant.  Of  this  amount  only  $365,000  will  be  avail- 
able  at   present. 

WEST  POINT,  GA.— The  West  Point  Mfg.  Co.  is  planning  to  install 
considerable  new  machinery  at  its  mill  in  Shawmut.  Ga.,  including  5408 
spindles,  36  cards,  etc.,  which  will  be  equipped  for  electric  motor  drive. 
Orders  have  been  placed  for  machinery.  The  company  Ivis  also  pur- 
chased a  2000-kw  Curtis  turbine  and  generator,  necessary  transformers, 
etc.,  for  its  steam  plant  at  Langdale,  Ala.,  to  be  used  as  an  auxiliary 
to   its  present   hydroelectric  plant. 

BURLEY,  IDAHO. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  installation 
of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant.  The  city  electrician  will  have  charge 
of  the  work. 

CAMBRIDGE.  IDAHO.— The  village  of  Cambridge  has  entered  into  a 
contract  with  J.  H.  Ricker,  Weiser,  to  supply  electricity  here.  A  com- 
pany will  be  organized  by  Mr.  Ricker  to  develop  the  water  power  on  the 
Weiser  River,  about  2  miles  above  Cambridge.  The  town  will  install  the 
distributing  ?ystem. 

SHOSHONE.  IDAHO.— The  property  of  the  Shoshone  Lt.  &  Wtr. 
Co.  has  been  purchased  by  Kuhn  interests.  It  is  understood  that  the 
new  owners  will  erect  a  transmission  line  either  from  the  Sugar  Loaf 
pumping  plant,  north  of  Jerome,  or  from  Gooding  to  Shoshone.  J.  H. 
Seaver   is   superintendent   of    the   local    plant. 

TWIN  FALLS.  IDAHO. — Steps  have  been  taken  for  the  installation 
of  a  cluster-lamp  lighting  system   on  nine  blocks  in  the  business  district. 

BELLMONT,  ILL. — The  citizens  have  voted  to  appropriate  $500  for 
lighting   the   streets   of   the   village   by    electricity. 

BLOOMINGTON,  ILL. — A  movement  has  been  started  for  the  in- 
stallation of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Franklin  Avenue, 
which  is  to  become  part  of  the  boulevard  system.  The  secretary  of  the 
Hioomington    Commercial    Club    is    interested. 

BONDVILLE,  ILL. — A  company  has  been  organized  under  the  name 
of  the  Bondville  Ltg.  Co.  to  distribute  electricity  here,  which  will  be 
secured  from  the  Illinois  Trac.  system.  Gorman  Young  is  president  and 
Charles   Barker   manager. 

CH.AMPAIGN,     ILL. — The     contract     for     installing    the     new     street- 


124 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


lighting  system  has  been  awarded  to  the  Champaign  Gas  &  EI.  Supply 
Co.,  Champaign,  for  $32,180.  J.  K.  Cravath,  Chicago,  is  consulting 
engineer. 

CHATHAM,  ILL.— The  Union  Tel.  Co.  will  act  as  distributors  for  the 
electrical  power  which  will  be  purchased  from  the  Illinois  Trac.  system. 
The  Village  Board  has  appropriated  $800  a  year  for  lighting  the  village 
streets. 

CHICAGO,  ILL. — Preparations  are  being  made  to  replace  the  gas 
lamps  in  the  Twenty-fifth  and  Twenty-sixth  Wards  with  electric  arc  and 
tungsten  lamps  with  circuits  to  tlie  lake.  About  3300  lamps  will  be 
erected  in  this  district.  Electricity  for  maintaining  the  lamps  will  be 
supplied  by  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago.  The  cost  of  the  work  is 
estimated  at  $214,000  and  will  include  the  installation  of  underground 
conduits.      Ray   E.   Palmer,  city  electrician,  has  charge  of  the  work. 

EAST  ST.  LOUIS,  ILL.— The  East  St.  Louis.  Columbia  &  Waterloo 
Ry.  Co.,  Mo.,  will  soon  award  contract  for  the  construction  of  a  new 
substation,    55    ft.    x    30    ft.,    in    East    St.    Louis. 

GALENA,  ILL. — The  citizens  of  Elizabeth  and  farmers  residing  be- 
tween Galena  and  Elizabeth  have  petitioned  the  Interstate  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  to  erect  a  transmission  line  to  that  city  to  supply  electrical  service. 
The  residents  of  Hanover  and  Stockton  are  also  interested  in  the  project. 

MOLINE,  ILL.— The  People's  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  for  a  30-year 
franchise  in  Port  Byron.  If  granted  a  franchise  in  that  town,  the 
company  will  make  an  effort  to  secure  franchises  in  the  towns  of 
Rapids  City  and  Hampton  to  furnish  electrical  service  to  those  towns. 
F.    W.    Reimers    is    superintendent. 

PARIS,  ILL. — A  tentative  offer  has  been  submitted  to  the  City  Coun- 
cil by  Marshall  E.  Sampsell,  who  recently  purchased  the  property  of  the 
Paris  Trac.  Co.  for  lighting  the  street  of  the  city  at  the  rate  of  $60 
per  lamp  per  year  on  a  moonlight  schedule.  He  also  proposes  to  furnish 
electricity  to  pump  the  water  for  the  waterworks  system.  The  new 
company  is  planning  to  increase  the  output  of  its  plant  to  supply  power 
to  operate  its  interurban   railway  and  supply  electricity  to  nearby   towns. 

ROCKFORD,  ILL. — Property  owners  on  one  block  on  South  Church 
Street  have  secured  permission  from  the  City  Council  to  erect  ornamental 
electric  lamps. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILL. — The  city  commissioners  have  agreed  to  install 
ornamental   lamp   clusters   in    Oak- Knolls   addition    instead    of   arc    lamps. 

WASHINGTON,  ILL. — The  property  of  the  Washington  City  &  Rural 
Tel.  Co.  has  been  purchased  by  E.  S.  Sterrett  and  Charles  Camp,  Henry. 
111.,  and  C.  N.  Cheadle,  Joliet,  111. 

COLUMBUS,  IND.— The  Interstate  El.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  City 
Council  for  a  franchise  to  erect  transmission  lines  to  supply  electricity 
here.  The  company  is  developing  a  water  power  near  Edenburg  to 
generate  electricity  which  will  be  transmitted  to  Columbus.  Application 
has  also  been  made  to  the  County  Commissioners  for  a  franchise  to  erect 
transmission  lines  along  the  highways  of  the  county. 

BELMOND,  lA. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Council  for  improve- 
ments  to   the   street-lighting   system. 

COLFAX,  lA. — The  Colfax  El.  Co.  has  been  granted  a  franchise  to 
operate  here. 

DES  MOINES,  lA. — The  erection  of  a  combined  heating  and  lighting 
plant  here,  to  cost  $400,000,  is  under  consideration.  Wl  H.  Schott, 
Chicago,  111.,  is  interested.  W.  B.  Storkey,  Des  Moines,  is  secretary 
of  the  company. 

DES  MOINES,  I  A.— The  Des  Moines- Perry  Interurban  Co.,  it  is 
reported,  contemplates  the  construction  of  a  railway  from  Woodward  to 
Ogden,  and  equipping  the  tracks  of  the  M.  &  St.  L.  tracks  for  electrical 
operation  from  Ogden  to  Des  Moines.  A  petition  has  been  circulated 
by  the  Greater  Des  Moines  committee  to  call  an  election  to  vote  on  a 
special   tax   to   build    an    interurban    railway   to    Red   Oak. 

GEORGE,  lA. — Work  has  begun  on  the  construction  of  the  new  power 
house  for  the  electric  plant  here. 

HUXLEY,  lA. — The  City  Council  has  called  a  special  election  to  be 
held  July  31  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  grant  a  franchise  to  the 
Boone  El.   Co.,   Boone. 

LE  CLAIRE,  lA. — The  Town  Council  is  negotiating  with  the  Tri-City 
Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.,  Davenport,  to  supply  electricity  for  lighting  the  streets, 
business  houses  and  residences  here.  The  company  proposes  to  extend 
the  transmission  line  from  its  plant  at  Sears  to  Le  Claire. 

LINEVILLE.  lA. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  City  Council 
for    the    installation    of    an    electric-light    plant. 

ARGONIA,  KAN. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  Rollins  &  Westover. 
Rialto  Building,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  engineers,  for  an  electric-light  plant 
and    water-works    system    in    Argonia,    to    cost   about    $25,000. 

NORTON,  KAN. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  installation  of 
a  municipal  electric-light  plant,  for  which  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
$20,000  have  been  voted.      R.   W.    Hemphill   is  city  clerk. 

COOLIDGE,  KY. — The  City  Council  is  planning  to  establish  an 
electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system,  the  latter  to  include  stand- 
pipe  and   pumping  station. 

LEXINGTON,  KY.— The  Kentucky  Trac.  &  Terminal  Co.  has  applied 
for  a  franchise  to  operate  in  Fayette  County,  outside  of  Lexington.  The 
company  will  also   furnish  electrical  service  to   residents  of  the  county. 

PINEVILLE,  KY. — The  Black  Mountain  Coal  Co.,  it  is  reported,  is  in 
the  market  for  a   125-kw  to  200-kw.  250-voU,  direct-current  generator;   if 


belted,   an   engine   for   operating  same;    one   or   two    ISO-hp   return  tubular 
boilers,    and    one    75-hp,    220-voh    direct-current    motor. 

RICHMOND,  KY. — Surveys  are  being  made  by  the  Dix  River  Pwr. 
Co.  for  the  purpose  of  locating  power  sites  with  a  view  of  beginning  con- 
struction work  in  the  near  future.  J.  G.  White  &  Co.,  of  New  York, 
N.  Y.,  are  reported  to  be  interested  in  the  project.  The  company,  it  » 
stated,  will  take  over  the  lighting  plants  in  a  number  of  central  Kentucky 
cities,    including    Richmond,    Paris,    Danville    and    Frankfort. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  LA. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  F.  S. 
Shields,  secretary  Sewerage  and  Water  Board,  508  City  Hall  Annex, 
New  Orleans,  until  Aug.  16  for  furnishing  and  installing  one  40-ton 
electrically  operated  traveling  crane  and  one  10-ton  hand-operated  crane. 
George    G.    Earl    is    general    superintendent. 

LEWISTON,  MAINE. — The  City  Council  has  authorized  the  com- 
mittee on  street  lights  to  secure  plans  and  specifications  for  the  installa- 
tion   of   a    250-kw    generator   in    the   municipal    electric-light    plant. 

AMESBURY,  MASS.— The  Amesbury  El.  Lt.  Co.  is  planning  to  install 
a   new   turbine   in   its   plant. 

EAST  LONGMEADOW,  MASS.— The  town  of  East  Longmeadow  has 
awarded  the  Central  Massachusetts  El.  Co.,  Palmer,  a  contract  for  light- 
ing the  streets  of  the  town  for  a  period  of  three  years.  The  contract 
calls   for   about   90  tungsten    street   lamps. 

LEE,  MASS. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  Lee  El.  Co.  to 
secure  electricity  to  operate  its  system  from  the  hydroelectric  plant 
of  the  Monument  Mills,  located  in  Glendale,  and  from  the  steam  plant 
at  Alger  Furnace,  owned  by  the  Monument  Mills.  The  transmission  line 
will  be  about  10  miles  in  length  and  will  cost  about  $60,000.  As  soon 
as  the  system  is  completed  a  24-hour  service  will  be  established.  The 
Rogers   El.    Co.,   Lenox,   has  the  contract  for   the   installation. 

LENOX,  MASS. — The  Lenox  El.  Co.  is  planning  to  secure  electrical 
power  from  the  hydroelectric  plant  of  the  Monument  Mills,  located  in 
Glendale  and  the  steam  plant  at  Alger  Furnace,  owned  by  the  same 
company,  to  operate  its  plant.  A  24-hour  service  will  be  established  as 
soon   as   the   system   is  completed. 

LEOMINSTER,  MASS.— The  Selectmen  have  granted  Whitney  &  Co. 
permission  to  erect  a  transmission  line  across  Whitney  and  Water  Streets 
for  the  purpose  of  transmitting  electricity  to  their  shops  for  lamps  and 
motors.  The  company  has  developed  the  water-power  of  the  old  fiber- 
board    mill    property   to    furnish    power    for   their   works. 

NORTH  ADAMS,  MASS.— The  New  England  Constr.  Co.  has  de- 
cided to  enlarge  plant  No.  5,  located  near  the  Hoosac  Tunnel,  and  con- 
vert it  into  a  hydroelectric  plant.  It  is  proposed  to  install  all  of  the 
electrical  equipment  and  use  the  station  as  frequency-changer.  Later  the 
company  will  build  a  dam  near  Monroe  Bridge,  from  which  a  3-mile 
conduit  and  canal  to  the  plant  will  be  built.  Three  water-wheels  units 
will  be  installed  and  about  12,000  hp  developed.  Work  will  soon  begin 
on  the  dam  and  canal.  The  total  cost  of  the  plant  is  estimated  at 
$1,000,000. 

NORTH  ATTLEBORO,  M.A.SS.— The  Electric  Light  Commissioners 
have  entered  into  a  contract  with  the  Union  El.  Co.,  Franklin,  Mass..  to 
supply  electricity  to  operate  the  local  system.  The  company  will  deliver 
the  power  to  the  Plainville  Line.  The  local  plant  will  be  held  for  use 
in    emergencies. 

NORTH  RROOKFIELD,  MASS.— The  Central  Massachusetts  El.  Co.. 
Palmer,  is  planning  to  erect  a  central  substation  in  a  triangle  bounded 
by  Brookfield,  North  Brookfield  and  West  Brookfield  for  the  purpose 
of  furnishing  electricity  in  those  places.  The  company,  it  is  said,  has 
taken  over  the  franchise  granted  Frank  E.  Winchell  in  North  Brook 
field.  Franchises  have  not  yet  been  secured  in  Brookfield  and  West 
Brookfield. 

W.'XRE,  MASS. — The  Ware  El.  Co.  is  extending  its  transmission  line 
to  Wheelwright  to  furnish  electricity  there.  Forty  street  lamps  will  be 
installed  in  the  new  extension,  25  of  which  will  be  erected  in  the  town 
of  Wheelwright  and   15  on  the  road  between  Hardwick  and  Gilbertville. 

\\T:ST  RRIDGEWATER,  mass.— Arrangements  have  been  made  with 
the  Edison  El.  Illg.  Co.  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  town.  Work 
will    begin    at    once    on    installation    of    the    system. 

DETROIT,  MICH.— The  Michigan  Central  R.  R.  Co.  is  planning 
to    build   a    power    house,    to   cost   approximately    $80,000. 

WYOMING.  MICH.— The  Grand  Rapids- Muskegeon  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  franchise  to  furnish  electricity  in  Wyoming  Township.  It  is 
proposed   to    extend    the    transmission    line    from    Grandville. 

COKATO,  MINN. — Plans  are  being  made  by  the  Central  Minnesota 
Lt.   &  Pwr.   Co.   for  the  erection  of  a   distributing  system  here. 

MADISON,  MINN. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  an  electric-Hght  plant,  for  which  bonds  have  been  voted. 

MONTGOMERY,  MINN.— The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant 
in    Montgomery  is  under   consideration. 

MOUNT  IRON.  MINN.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $50,000  have  been 
voted    for    the    installation    of   an    electric    plant. 

PIERZ.  MINN. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $5,000  have  been  voted,  the 
proceeds  to  be  used  to  erect  a  transmission  line  to  Little  Falls  to  con- 
nect with  the  system  of  the  Little   Falls  Wtr.   Pwr.   Co. 

RICHMOND,  MINN.— The  Public  Service  Co.,  St.  Cloud,  will  extend 
its  transmission  lines  to  Richmond,  where  it  has  been  granted  a  franchise. 

ROCKVILLE.    MINN.— The    Village    Council    has    granted    the    Public 


July  13,  19(2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Service  Co.,  St.  Cloud,  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  here.  A.  G. 
Whitney,    St.    Qoud,    is   president. 

VIRGINIA,  MINN. — The  property  owners  on  Mesaba  Avenue  have 
petitioned  for  ornamental  street  lamps  for  eight  blocks.  Lamps  have 
been    ordered    for   the   ornamental    lighting   system   on    Central   Avenue. 

STEWARTS\  ILLE,  MO.— A  franchise  has  been  granted  by  the 
town  of  Stewartsville  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  system,  work 
on  which  will  begin  at  once. 

McCOOK,  NEB. — The  construction  of  an  electric-light  plant  in 
McCook   is  under  consideration.      L.   C.    Stool   is  city   clerk. 

ELY,  NEV. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  construction  of  a 
hydroelectric  power  plant  on  dive  Creek  to  furnish  power  for  irriga- 
tion purposes  in  that  district. 

WELLS,  NEV. — A  movement  has  been  started  to  establish  an  electric- 
light   plant  in   Wells.      George  T.   Toombs,   Jr.,    is   interested. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  C.  B.  J.  Snyder, 
superintendent  of  school  buildings,  Department  of  Education,  corner  of 
Park  Avenue  and  Fifty-ninth  Street,  New  York,  until  July  22  as  follows: 
No.  1 — For  .repairs,  alterations  and  additions  to  electric  equipment  in 
public  schools  4,  15,  39  and  105,  borough  of  Brooklyn.  No.  2— For  re- 
pairs, alterations  and  additions  to  the  electric  equipment  in  public 
schools  55,  70,  75  and  84,  borough  of  Brooklyn.  Blank  forms,  plans 
and  specifications  may  be  obtained  or  seen  at  the  above  office  and  also 
at  the   branch   office,    131    Livingston   Street,   borough   of   Brooklyn. 

ELMIRA,  N.  Y. — The  Thatcher  Mfg.  Co.  has  closed  a  contract  with 
the  Elmira  Wtr.,  Lt.  &  R.  R.  Co.  to  furnish  electricity  for  lamps  and 
motors  for  its  new  plant  now  in  course  of  construction  just  north  of 
Eldridge  Park.  The  contract  is  for  a  period  of  tliree  years  and  calls 
for   350   hp. 

HUDSON,  N.  Y. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Albany  Southern 
R.R.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  an  extension  from  Albany  to  Pittsfield. 
It  is  proposed  ,to  build  the  extension  from  the  present  terminus  at  Scho- 
dack  Point  to  the  State  line,  where  it  will  meet  the  proposed  extension  to 
be  built  by  the  Pittsfield  EI.  St.  Ry.  Co. 

KENMORE,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  authorized  the 
Buffalo  General  El.  Co.  to  exercise  franchises  granted  by  the  village  of 
Kenmore   to   supply   electricity    for   lamps    and    motors. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— Bids  will  be  received  by  C.  B.  J.  Snyder,  super- 
intendent of  school  buildings,  Department  of  Education,  corner  of  Park 
Avenue  and  Fifty-ninth  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  until  July  22,  for  in- 
stalling electric  equipment  in  new  public  school  45  on  l89th  Street,  be- 
tween Lorillard  Place  and  Hoffman  Street,  borough  of  the  Bronx.  Blank 
forms,   plans  and  specifications   may   be   obtained  at   the   above   office. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Department  of 
Public  Charities,  foot  of  East  Twenty-sixth  Street,  New  York,  until  July 
22  for  furnishing  material  and  constructing  new  ward  wing  extension, 
including  plumbing,  steam  heating,  electric  work,  vacuum  cleaning,  ele- 
vators, refrigerating  plant,  etc.,  to  the  east  tuberculosis  infirmary,  of  the 
Metropolitan  Hospital  District,  Blackwells  Island.  Blanks,  forms  and 
further  information  may  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  J.  H.  Freed- 
lander,  architect,  244  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  where  plans  and  speci- 
fications  may  be  seen.      Michael  J.   Drummond   is   commissioner. 

PERRY,  N.  Y.^Work  has  commenced  on  the  construction  of  the  new 
plant  of  the  Perry  El.  Lt.  Co.  to  replace  the  one  recently  destroyed  by 
fire.  The  gas  engine  will  be  remodeled  and  used  to  run  a  new  80-arc 
lamp   machine,   which   will   be  installed  in  the   temporary   structure. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.— The  Rochester  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  is  preparing  to 
install  luminous  magnetite-arc  lamps  on  East  Avenue.  The  plans  call 
for  86  lamps,  orders  for  which  have  been  placed  with  the  General  El.  Co. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Com- 
missioners of  Public  Buildings  of  Monroe  County  until  July  15,  at  the 
office  of  the  purchasing  agent.  Court  House.  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  as  follows: 
(a)  For  brick  chimney  for  the  Monroe  County  power  house;  (b)  For 
breeching  at  the  power  house;  (c)  one  50Q-hp  feed  water  heater  for  the 
power  house.  Plans  and  specifications  for  the  above  may  be  procured 
from  Walter  Mercel,  chief  engineer,  at  the  power  house,  South  Avenue, 
Rochester.      Thomas    J.    Bridges    is    chairman    of    the    commission. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.— The  Rochester  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  is  extending  its 
service  to  various  suburban  districts  and  will  undertake  the  installation 
of  street-lighting  circuits  at  Lincoln  Park,  in  the  town  of  Gates.  Another 
circuit  south  of  the  New  York  Central  tracks  between  West  Avenue 
and  Chili  Avenue  is  being  erected.  Grand  View  Beach,  on  the  Manitou 
line,  has  asked  the  company  for  street-lighting  service,  and  an  estimate 
has  been  submitted  to  the  Grand  Beach  Association  for  the  installa- 
tion of  22  lamps  of  40  cp  along  the  main  drive.  The  association  has 
agreed  to  pay  $500  toward  the  cost  of  erecting  the  lighting  system.  The 
company  has  applied  to  the  Town  Board  of  Chili  for  a  franchise  to  furnish 
electricity   in   that   town. 

SCHUYLERVILLE.  N.  Y.— The  Barrows-Stewart  Co.,  Boston,  Mass., 
has  been  awarded  the  general  contract  for  the  construction  of  a 
hollow  reinforced  concrete  dam,  300  ft.  long  and  22  ft.  high,  with 
remforced  concrete  valve  chambers  and  gate  equipment  for  the  American 
Wood  Board  Co.,  for  storage  and  power  purposes  at  its  Trionda  Mill  on 
the  Eattenkill  River,  at  Schuylerville.  The  Ambursen  Hydraulic  Constr. 
Co.,  Boston,  Mass.,  is  designing  engineer;  H.  S.  Ferguson,  New  York, 
is   consulting   engineer    for   the    owners. 

SMITHFIELD,    N.    C. — Preparations    are    being    made    by    the    city    of 


Smithlield  for  the  construction  of  an  electric-light  plant,  water-works 
and  sewer  system,  bids  for  which  will  be  received  until  July  31.  Gilbert 
C.   White,   Charlotte,  N.  C,  is  engineer;  James   A.   Wellons  is  Mayor. 

DEVILS  LAKE,  N,  D.— Frank  E.  Carson,  of  Fargo,  has  applied  for  a 
franchise  to  install  and  operate  an  electric-light,  central  heating  and  tele- 
phone plants  and  water  works  system  here. 

HATTON,  N.  D. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  Edward  Nyhaus, 
city  auditor,  Hatton,  until  July  19  for  furnishing  and  installing  a  gen- 
erator and  switchboard   for  the  electric-light  plant  at  Hatton. 

NORTH  \\X)OD,  N.  D.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  city  of  North- 
wood  until  July  20  for  one  50-hp  oil  engine,  one  40-kw  generator  and 
switchboard.      H.   G.   Lykken,   Grand   Forks,   N.    D.,  is  engineer  in  charge. 

AKRON,  OHIO. — The  City  Council  is  considering  the  installation  of 
municipal  electric-Hght  plant  if  satisfactory  arrangements  cannot  be 
made  with  the  Northern  Ohio  Trac.  &  Lt.  Co.   for  street  lighting. 

BELLEVUE,  OHIO. — The  City  Council  has  passed  an  ordinance  to 
issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $35,000  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal 
electric-light  plant.  The  proposition  will  probably  be  submitted  to  a 
vote. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO.— The  City  Council  has  passed  the  ordinance 
authoriznig  an  issue  of  $35,000  in  bonds,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for 
the  erection  of  two  electrical  substations  and  the  installation  of  more 
than   400  arc  lamps  in  connection   with   the  municipal  electric-light   plant. 

DAYTON,  OHIO.— The  Algonquin  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
authorized  to  issue  $1,000  in  capital  stock,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  to  buy 
meters  and  feed  lines.  The  company  was  formed  to  sell  surplus  power 
from  the  plant  in  the  Algonquin  Hotel  and  will  furnish  electrical  service 
within  a  small  business  area. 

LAKEWOOD,  OHIO.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  the  director 
of  public  safety,  City  Hall,  Lakewood,  until  July  13  for  furnishing  and 
installing  a  signal  system  for  the  fire  department,  and  also  for  a  com- 
bined signal  system  for  the  fire  and  police  departments.  Each  of  said 
systems  is  to  consist  of  a  central  equipment,  together  with  connections 
and  communications  from  central  station  to  not  more  than  30  signal 
boxes.      John    Brown    is    director    of    public    safety. 

MOUNT  VERNON,  OHIO.— The  Public  Utilities  Commission  has 
granted  the  Mount  Vernon  El.  Co.  permission  to  sell  its  plant  to  Frank 
B.  Ball  for  $200,000,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  to  retire  its  outstanding 
bonds. 

ORRVILLE,  OHIO.— The  electric  plant  of  the  Orrville  Lt.,  Ht.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  was  recently  destroyed  by  fire,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $10,000. 
At   present   the   town    is   without   electrical   service. 

ZANESVILLE,  OHIO.— The  'Chamber  of  Commerce  has  appointed 
a  committee  to  negotiate  with  the  Ohio  El.  Co.  to  secure  lower  rates 
for  electricity  for  lighting.  If  satisfactory  arrangements  cannot  be 
made,  plans  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  plant  will  again  be  taken 
up. 

MARSHFIELD,  ORE.— M.  J.  Anderson,  of  Grant's  Pass,  and  othcri 
are  promoting  a  water-power  project  in  Coos  County,  which  will  involve 
an  expenditure  of  about  $1,000,000. 

PORTLAND,  ORE.— Announcement  has  been  made  by  the  Southern 
Pacific  Co.  that  it  is  ready  to  begin  work  on  equipping  340  miles  of  road 
in  the  Willamette  Valley  for  electrical  operation,  involving  an  expen- 
diture of  about  $8,000,000.  This  means  the  construction  of  numerous 
connecting  and  branch  lines  in  the  valley,  which  will  extend  from  Port- 
land as  far  south  as  Eugene.  The  company  has  acquired  the  Portland, 
Eugene  &  Eastern  Railway,  and  through  it,  the  Cornvallis  &  Alsea  Rail- 
road, which  is  under  construction  south  to  Eugene,  and  the  street  car 
system  in  Salem.  E.  E.  Calvin  is  vice-president  and  general  manager 
of  the   Southern  Pacific  lines  west  of  El  Paso. 

SALEM,  ORE.— The  Oregon  El.  Ry.  Co.  is  planning  to  build  a  line 
from    Salem    to    Roseburg. 

SALEM,  ORE. — Surveys  have  been  completed  by  the  Portland,  Eugene 
&  Eastern  Ry.  Co.  for  its  proposed  electric  railway  from  Salem  to  Silver- 
ton,  a  distance  of  about  15  miles,  work  on  which  will  soon  begin. 

BENTLEYVILLE,  PA.— The  Borough  Council  has  granted  the  Bent- 
leyville  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  Bentleyville  St.  Ry.  Co.,  both  subsidiaries  of 
the  West  Penn  El.  Co.,  a  franchise  to  operate  here.  The  franchise  of 
tlie  street-railway  company  provides  for  an  electric  railway  along  the 
main   street   of   the   town. 

WARREN.  PA.— The  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  State  Hospital  for  the 
Insane  will  ask  the  State  Legislature  for  an  appropriation  of  $125,000 
for  a  power  plant  for  the  institution,  plans  for  which  have  been 
prepared. 

BARNWELL,  S.  C. — The  Council  has  engaged  Edward  Hawes,  Jr., 
Orangeburg,  consulting  engineer,  to  prepare  plans  and  construct  munici- 
pal  electric-light  plant  and  water  works  system. 

COLUMBIA,  S.  C. — Surveys  are  being  made  for  the  construction  of 
a  hydro-electric  power  plant  at  Parr  Shoals,  on  Broad  River,  about  25 
miles  from  Columbia,  where  about  25,000  hp  will  be  developed.  This 
development  had  previously  been  planned  by  the  Parr  Shoals  Pwr.  Co., 
which  has  sold  its  interests  to  Edwin  W^  Robertson,  president  of  the 
Columbia  Ry.,  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  and  associates.  The  project  includes 
the  construction  of  a  concrete  dam  34  ft.  high  and  a  power  house. 
Transmission  lines  will  be  erected  from  the  power  house  to  Columbia. 
The    contract    for    construction    of    plant    has    been    awarded    to    J.    G. 


126 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No. 


White  &  Co..  Xew  York,  X.  Y.  Edwin  W.  Robertson  is  president  and 
treasurer  of  the  reorganized  company  and  Guy  K.  Dustin,  vice-president 
and    general    manager. 

EGAN,  S.  D. — Steps  have  been  taken  toward  the  organization  of  a 
company  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  and  operating  an  electric-Hght 
plant   here.      Local    business    men   are    interested    in    the    project. 

UEDFIELD,  S.  D. — Preparations  are  being  made  to  extend  the  new 
lighting    system    and    to    install    cluster    lamps    on    Humboldt    Street. 

KNOXVILLE,  TENN.— The  Knoxville  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  been  granted 
a  franchise  by  the  county  court  to  build  an  electric  railway  from  the 
terminus  of  the  Kingston  pike  to  Lyon's  View,  and  to  erect  a  transmis- 
sion line  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps,  motors  and  fuel. 

LENOIR,  TENN. — The  Conservation  Marble  Co.  is  planning  to  equip 
a  marble  factory.     The  machinery  will  be  operated  by  electricity. 

MEMPHIS,  TENN. — Steps  have  been  taken  toward  the  installation 
of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Madison  Avenue.  Kenneth  A. 
Stewart  and  John  Bullington  are  interested. 

BEAUMONT,  TEX. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  City  Council 
for  an  extension  of  the  franchise  of  the  Beaumont  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  a 
subsidiary  of  the  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corpn.,  of  Boston,  Mass. 
If  the  franchise  is  extended  the  latter  company  agrees  to  immediately 
proceed  to  carry  out  its  plans  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  inter- 
urban  railway  between  Beaumont  and  Port  Arthur,  a  distance  of  25  miles. 

GALVESTON,  TEX. — The  County  Commissioners  have  granted  the 
League  City  Tel.  Co.  a  franchise  to  erect  telephone  lines  through  several 
school   districts  in   the   county. 

HOUSTON,  TEX. — The  Houston  El.  Co.  is  contemplating  extensive 
improvements,  which  will  involve  an  expenditure  of  $250,000.  The  work 
will  include  the  laying  of  more  than  20,000  ft.  of  new  standard  SO-Ib. 
rails  on  concrete  foundations,  erection  of  bridges,  etc. 

KIXGSVILLE,  TEX. — Funds  have  been  raised  by  the  Commercial  Club 
for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  lighting  system  on  Kleberg  Avenue. 
The  plans  call  for  40  concrete  lamp  standards  to  cost  about  $1,000. 

OAKWOOD,  TEX. — An  electric-lighting  system  is  being  installed  here 
by  J.   C.   Howeth. 

PALESTINE,  TEX. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  city  com- 
mission and  the  Young  Men's  Business  League  for  the  installation  of  an 
ornamental    street-lighting    system    in    the    business    district. 

SAN  ANTONIO,  TEX.— The  San  Antonio  Trac.  Co.  will  purchase  a 
new    300-kw    generator    for    its    substation    on    Grove   Avenue. 

SAN  ANTONIO,  TEX.— The  District  Court  of  San  Antonio  has 
authorized  William  A.  Morris,  receiver  of  the  Terrell  Well  Co.,  to  issue 
$57,000  in  receiver's  certificates,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  to  complete  the 
construction  of  the  electric   railway   to   Terrell   Well. 

TEMPLE,  TEX. — The  City  Council  has  adopted  a  resolution  author- 
izing the  transfer  of  the  franchise  of  the  Temple  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  to 
the   Texas    Lt.   &  Pwr.    Co.,   which    recently   took   over   the   local   plant. 

TRINITY,  TEX.— The  local  electric-light  plant,  owned  by  A.  R.  Mac- 
Donald,   recently  destroyed  by  fire,   will   be   replaced  by   a   new   plant. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY',  UTAH.— The  contract  for  the  electrical  work 
for  the  new  high  school  building  has  been  sublet  by  P.  T.  Moran,  general 
contractor,    to    the    Salt    Lake    El.    Co.,    for    $32,000. 

BURLINGTON,  VT.— The  Burlington  Trac.  Co.  has  been  granted  per- 
mission by  the  Public  Service  Commission  to  issue  $500,000  in  bonds,  to 
be  secured  by  a  mortgage  on  the  property  of  the  Burlington  Trac.  Co. 
and  of  the  Vergennes  Pwr.  Co..  of  Vergennes.  The  proceeds  of  $200,000 
are  to  be  used  to  purchase  the  property  of  the  Vergennes  Pwr.  Co.  Of 
the  remainder  $150,000  is  to  be  used  to  retire  bonds  of  the  Burlington 
system  and  the  remainder  to  be  held  in  the  treasury  until  further  order 
of  the  commission. 

FREDERICKSBURG,  VA. — A  committee  composed  of  members  of  the 
City  Council  and  citizens  has  decided  to  recommend  the  Council  to  enter 
into  a  contract  with  the  Fredericksburg  Wtr.  Pwr.  Co.  to  supply  elec- 
tricity for  lighting  the  city  and  for  pumping  the  water  supply  for  a 
period  of  27  years. 

TACOMA,  WASH. — It  is  stated  that  final  surveys  have  been  com- 
pleted for  the  140-mile  line  of  the  Harriman  road,  between  Y'akima  and 
Tacoma,  and  construction  work  will  begin  this  year.  The  road  will  be 
operated  by  electricity  across  the  Cascade  Mountains  through  Natchez 
Pass.  The  road  has  been  incorporated  under  the  name  of  the  West 
Coast  R.   R.    Co. 

MORGANTOWN,  W.  VA.— The  Morgantown  &  Dunkard  Valley  R.R. 
Co.  is  asking  for  bids  for  the  construction  of  the  extension  from  Cass- 
ville  to  Blacksville,  a  distance  of  14%  miles. 

THERMOPOLIS,  WYO.— The  Big  Horn  Collieries  Co.,  it  is  reported, 
contemplates  extending  its  transmission  lines  to  this  city  to  furnish 
electricity  for  lamps  and  motors. 

BASSANO,  ALTA.,  CAN.— Bids  will  probably  be  called  for  the  latter 
part  of  July  for  the  electrical  generating  equipment  for  the  plant  of  the 
Bassano  El.  &  Trac.  Co.  Mowring  &  Logan,  Winnipeg,  Man.,  are 
engineers. 

VANCOUVER,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  International  Ry.  Co.  has  applied 
to  the  provincial  government  for  permission  to  erect  a  dam  on  the 
Fraser  River,  near  Yale,  to  generate  electricity  to  operate  electric  tram- 
ways   on   the   lower   mainland. 


BEDFORD.  X.  S.,  CAN. — Steps  have  been  taken  toward  the  installation 
of  an  electric-light  system  here.  An  option  has  been  secured  on  a  water 
power  site  in  this  vicinity  which  it  is  proposed  to  develop  to  provide 
power  to  operate  the  plant. 

COOKSVILLE,  ONT.,  CAN.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  Toronto 
Township  to  secure  electrical  service  from  the  Hydro-Electric  Com- 
mission. The  cost  of  installing  the  system  is  estimated  at  about  $20,000. 
GALT,  ONT.,  CAN. — The  by-law  appropriating  $45,000  for  the  comple- 
tion of  the  street-lighting  system,  to  be  operated  by  electricity  furnished  by 
the  Hydro-Electric  Commission,  was  carried.  The  ratepayers  also  voted  in 
favor  of  the  by-law  renewing  the  franchise  of  the  Gait,  Preston  4 
Hespeler    St.    Ry.    Co.,    Ltd.,    for   a   period    of    10    years. 

HAMILTON,  ONT.,  CAN.- The  Hydro-Electric  Commission  has  au- 
thorized E.  I.  Sifton,  engineer,  to  prepare  plans  for  increasing  the  output 
of  the   Trolley   Street   power  house  from   1000  hp  to   3000  hp. 

HAMILTON,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  property  of  the  Dominion  Pwr.  Co. 
of  Canada  has  been  purchased  by  Mackenzie  &  Mann  interests  for 
$12,000,000,  and  will  ultimately  be  absorbed  by  the  Electrical  Develop- 
ment Co.  of  X'iagara  Falls,  which  will  probably  mean  a  large  exten- 
sion of  the  interurban  electrical  service  in  Western  Ontario.  Chief  among 
these,  it  is  stated,  w^ill  be  electrical  lines  from  Toronto  to  Niagara  Falls 
and    from    Niagara    Falls   and  Hamilton   to    London. 

KINGSTON,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Civic  Utilities  Committee  has  prac- 
tically decided  to  follow  the  advice  of  R.  S.  Kelch,  electrical  engineer, 
Montreal,  to  enlarge  the  present  steam  plant  rather  than  to  secure  elec- 
tricity through  the  Hydro-Electric  Commission.  Steps  will  be  taken 
at    once   to    purchase    additional   machinery    for   the   steam   plant. 

OMEMEE,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Electric  Pwr.  Co.,  Confederation  Ufe 
Bldg.,  Toronto,  is  asking  for  tenders  for  the  construction  of  a  switching 
station    and    operator    house    at    Omemee. 

PORT  COLBORNE,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Ontario  Pwr.  Co..  Niagara 
Falls,  is  planning  to  erect  a  large  transformer  station  here.  Francis  V. 
Greene,    Fidelity    Bldg.,    Buffalo,   is  president. 

PORT  CREDIT,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  proposition  to  secure  electricity 
from  the   Hydro-Electric   Commission   is   under   consideration. 

RIDGETOWX,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Town  Council  has  purchased  the 
local  electric-light  plant.  Elxtensions  will  be  made  to  the  plant  and 
lighting  system.      D.    Cochrane   is   clerk. 

TORONTO,  ONT.,  CAN. — The  Hydro- Electric  Commission  is  negoti- 
ating with  the  Y'ork  Township  Council  to  supply  electricity  to  the 
Leaside  district  lying  between  Woodbine  Avenue  and  Dawes  Road,  and 
is  also  endeavoring  to  make  arrangements  to  furnish  electricity  in  the 
Todmorden    district. 

TORONTO,  ONT.,  CAN. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Hydro- 
Electric  Commission  to  connect  Collingwood,  Barrie  and  Coldwater  with  its 
system.  Tenders  for  equipment  for  erection  of  transmission  lines  to 
supply  the  three  towns  will  be  asked  for  at  once.  Electricity  will  be 
secured  from  'the  plant  of  the  Simcoe  Pwr.  Co.  at  the  Big  Chute  on 
the  Severn  River.  The  cost  of  the  transmission  lines  is  estimated  at 
about  $198,000.  It  is  expected  that  the  towns  of  Stayner  and  Elmvale 
will    soon    vote    to    contract   with    the    commission    for   electricity. 

WELLAND,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Town  Council  has  decided  to  make  a 
contract  with  the  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission  for  power  and  to 
submit  a  by-law  to  the  ratepayers  to  appropriate  $45,000  for  the  installa- 
tion   of   a    municipal    electric   light    and    power   system. 

DRUMMONDVILLE,  QUE.,  CAN.— The  South  Shore  Pwr.  &  Paper 
Co.,  recently  organized  by  Charles  W.  Tooke,  D.  Raymond  Cobb, 
William  P.  Rafferty  and  Delmar  E.  Hawkins,  of  Syracuse.  N.  Y,, 
has  acquired  several  water-power  sites  on  the  St.  Francis  River  and  is 
now  developing  about  10,000  hp  within  10  miles  of  Drummondville. 
Arrangements  have  been  made  with  the  town  to  take  over  the  municipal 
electric-light  plant.  The  company  also  proposes  to  build  a  large  paper 
mill  here.  The  company  has  also  acquired  charter  rights  to  furnish  with 
electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  practically  all  the  villages  and  towns 
within  50  miles  of  Drummondville.  W.  I.  Bishop.  Montreal,  is  one  of 
the  directors. 

SCOTTSTOWN,  QUE.,  CAN.— Plans  are  being  prepared  for  rebuild- 
ing   the   power   house    of   the   Emberton    Lumber   Co. 

HUMBOLDT.  SASK.,  CAN.— The  Council  has  decided  to  submit  a 
by-law  to  the  ratepayers  appropriating  $30,000  for  the  installation  of 
an  electric-light  plant, 

REGINA,  SASK.,  CAN.— The  electric  light  and  power  plants  in 
Regina   were  badly  damaged  by  a   tornado  on  June  30. 

SANTA  ROSALIA.  CHIHUAHUA,  MEX.— The  Mexican  Northern 
Pwr.  Co.  has  resumed  work  on  construction  of  dam  across  the  Conchos 
River  and  the  installation  of  a  hydroelectric  plant,  18  miles  from  Santa 
Rosalia.  The  cost  of  the  enterprise  is  estimated  at  $10,000,000.  Owing 
to  the  revolutionary  troubles  construction  work  had  to  be  temporarily 
abandoned. 

TAMPICO.  TAMAULIPAS,  MEN.— The  Tampico  El.  Lt.,  Pwr.  & 
Trac.  Co.  has  taken  over  the  electric  plant  and  system  of  the 
Compania  de  Fuerza  de  Tampico  and  the  electric  plant  owned  by  J.  F. 
Dorde  and  also  the  street  railway  system  operated  by  mules.  The  new 
company  will  extend  the  street  railway  system  to  Lacarca,  6  miles  distant, 
and  equip  it  for  electrical  operation.  A  new  electric  plant  will  also  be 
installed  by  the  company.  The  cost  of  the  entire  work  is  estimated  at 
about  $1,250,000. 


July  13,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


127 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  AUTU  ELECTRIC  LIGHTING  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  111., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  to  manufacture  and 
deal  in  gasoline  engines,  electric-light  and  power  generating  machines, 
etc.  The  incorporators  are:  IVJ.  W.  Uussell,  Victor  Longhead  and 
Glenn  M.  Hobbs. 

THE  CITY  LIGHT  &  WATER  COMPANY,  of  Dover,  Del.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $125,000  for  the  purpose  of 
manufacturing  and  dealing  in  pipes  and  conduits  for  the  transmission  of 
electricity,  water  or  gas. 

THE  CONNECTICUT  TURBINE  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY, 
of  New  London,  Conn.,  has  been  organized  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$75,000.  The  officers  are:  Thomas  Hamilton,  president;  C.  B.  Rearick, 
vice-president,  and   William   T.    Hopson,   secretary  and  treasurer. 

THE  ELECTRIC-DOT  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY,  of  Pitts- 
field,  Mass.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  by 
DeWitt  C.   Conkling.  Joseph  M.  McMahon  and  Alice  J.   Conkling. 

THE  ELECTRIC  SALES  COMPANY,  of  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  W.  C.  Caffray,  H.  E. 
Caffrey  and  A.  C.  Barrett. 

THE  MARTIN  TRACTOR  COMPANY,  of  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $350,000  for  the  purpose  of 
manufacturing  the  "Martin  Tractor."  The  incorporators  are:  Charles 
H.  Martin,  Hugh  R.  Richards,  F.  B.  Davenport,  Edward  D.  Moon  and 
George   D.   Thornton. 

THE  JOSEPH  REID  GAS  ENGINE  COMPANY  OF  CALIFORNIA, 
of  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$10,000  by   S.   R.   Shoup,  A.    B.    Ritchey  and  George  G.   Murray. 

THE  SOUTHWESTERN  ELECTRIC  &  MACHINE  COMPANY,  of 
El  Paso,  Tex.,  has  been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $8,000  by 
Robert  McGarraugh.   E.   E.    Slaughter,   M.    F.   Crossette  and  J.   H.   Knost. 

THE  WESTERN  CONDUIT  COMPANY,  of  Youngstown,  Ohio,  has 
been  incorporated  by  C.  D.  Hine,  C.  A.  Manchester,  L.  J.  Campbell, 
Richard  Garlick  and  W.  E.  Manning.  The  company  is  capitalized  at 
$250,000  and  proposes  to  manufacture  and  deal  in  conduits  and  fittings. 


Trade  Publications 


New  Incorporations 

MONMOUTH,  ILL.— The  Monmouth  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  been  granted 
a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  to  construct  and  operate  a  gas 
and  electric  lighting  plant.  The  incorporators  are:  John  Heron,  Oscar 
Mertz  and   E.    P.    Seibt. 

PETERSBURG,  IND.— The  Pike  County  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $15,000  by  W.  D.  Hudson,  W.  F. 
McKasey  and  S.  F.  Seager.  The  company  proposes  to  build  an  electric 
plant  to  supply  electricity  in    Petersburg  and  vicinity. 

CLINTON,  KY.— The  Qinton  Wrt.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $15,000  by  Thomas  Emerson,  J.  L.  V.  Grenier 
and  P.  H.   Porter. 

IRVINE,  KY. — The  Estill  General  Utilities  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  an  electric- 
light  plant.  The  incorporators  are:  Grant  E.  Lilly,  W.  H.  Lilly,  V.  M. 
Gaines  and  J.  F.  West. 

CANAAN,  N.  H. — The  Canaan  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  Lester  P.  French  and  Henry  H.  Fol- 
som. 

DOVER,  N.  J.— The  Consolidated  Cities,  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Trac.  Co.  has 
filed  articles  of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware. 
The  company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000,000  and  the  incorporators  are: 
J.  M.    Satterfield,  J.   S.   Collins,  Jr.,  and  W.   F.   Cook,   of  Dover. 

CAMDEN,  N.  Y.— The  Long  Beach  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  to  distribute  electricity  for 
lamps,   heat  and  motors. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— The  Columbia  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  by  G.  Leary  and  A.  W. 
Bailey,  of  New  York,  and  F.  H.  Schomburg,  Brooklyn.  The  company 
proposes  to  generate  and  distribute   gas  and  electricity. 

NEWBERN,  N.  C— The  Newbern-Ghent  Street  Ry.  Co.  has  been 
chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to  construct  an  electric  railway 
between  Newbern  and  Ghent.  The  incorporators  are:  B.  SeMerding, 
J.  W.   Brown,  Jr.,  C.   E.   Armstrong,   C.   J.   Carthey  and   others. 

BRILLIANT,  OHIO— The  JefTerson  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  electricity 
for  lamps  and  motors  in  Brilliant.  The  incorporators  are:  Alonzo  M. 
Snyder,  Irvine  K.  Schnaitter,  Roy  E.  Moffett,  W.  J.  Budd  and  M.  Mel- 
vin    Roberts. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO. — The  Columbus  Depot  Co.  l.as  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $250,000  for  the  purpose  of  building  the  union 
electric  interurban  terminal  depot.  The  incorporators  are:  W.  F.  Bur- 
dell,  H.  M.  Dougherty,  F.  R.  Huntington,  E.  R.  Sharp,  Jr.,  and  L.  D. 
Hagerty. 


MOTORS. — ^Self-starling  synchronous  motors  are  illustrated  and  de- 
scribed in  a  leaflet  issued  by  the  Westinghouse  Electric  St  Manufacturing 
Company,  East  Pittsburgh,  Pa.;  a  two-page  leaflet  is  devoted  to  a  cut 
and  description  of  an  electrically  operated  brake  designed  especially  for 
null  and  crane  service,  and  another  leaflet  gives  information  and  curves 
relating  to   motors   for   crane   and    hoist  service. 

RAILWAY  MOTORS.— The  General  Electric  Company's  Bulletin  No. 
4935  illustrates  and  describes  a  railway  motor  of  the  commutating-polc 
type,  which  embodies  new  features  of  construction  developed  with  a 
view  to  effecting  greater  economy  in  railway  motor  operation.  This 
motor  is  nearly  500  lb.  lighter  than  commutating-pole  motors  of  the 
same  hourly  rating  now  in  use.  Many  of  the  details  of  construction  are 
clearly  shown,  as  is  also  the  system  of  ventilation. 

AMPERE-HOUR  METERS.— The  Sangamo  Electric  Company,  of 
Springfield,  111.,  is  distributing  a  twenty-four-page  treatise  on  the 
use  of  ampere-hour  meters  in  connection  with  electric  vehicles  and 
storage  batteries.  The  bulletin  is  of  particular  interest  at  this  time 
when  central-station  managers  are  advocating  the  use  of  electric 
vehicles.  In  addition  to  a  description  of  several  new  meters,  the  bulletin 
also    contains   information   on    the   subject   of   battery   operation. 

PNEUMATIC  SYSTEMS  OF  WATER  SUPPLY.— Catalog  2023  on  the 
Paul  pneumatic  systems  of  water  supply  has  been  issued  by  the  Fort  Wayne 
Engineering  &  Manufacturing  Company,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.  It  contains 
specifications  and  dimensions  of  shallow-well  and  deep-well  pumps,  systems, 
accessories  and  gasoline  engines,  and  gives  also  illustrations  and  prices. 
Value  is  added  to  this  catalog  by  the  tables  giving  the  capacity,  weight, 
specifications  and  other  data  of  importance  to  the  prospective  purchaser. 

CALENDAR. — "Wagner,  Quality,"  is  the  slogan  prominently  displayed 
on  a  calendar  got  out  for  the  Wagner  Electric  Manufacturing  Company, 
St.  Louis,  Mo.  A  picture  of  a  child  reading  the  eight-page  leaflet  "See 
the  Comma,"  also  got  out  by  this  company,  is  shown  on  the  calendar. 
This  leaflet  emphasizes  the  importance  of  the  comma  between  "Wagner" 
and  "Quality."  Miniatures  of  Bulletins  Nos.  94  and  96  have  been  issued, 
the  former  on  single-phase  motors  and  the  latter  on  instruments  of  pre- 
cision. 


Business  Notes 


GENERAL  ELECTRIC  COMPANY.— The  New  York  oflice  of  the 
Flux  Miniature  Lamp  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company  has  been 
moved  from  Bible  House,  on  Eighth  Street,  to  324  Lafayette  Street.  Mr. 
H.  K.   .^nnin  is  general  manager  of  the  works. 

THE  ELECTRIC  STORAGE  BATTERY  COMPANY,  of  Philadelphia, 
has  opened  an  office  at  1329  Walnut  Street,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  for 
handling  "Exide,"  "High-Cap  Exide,"  "Thin  Exide"  and  "Iron-Clad 
ICxide"  batteries  for  electric  vehicles,  as  well  as  battery  renewals  and 
parts. 

GENERAL  ELECTRIC  COMPANY. — A  conference  of  oflicers  of  the 
Nelite  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company  will  be  held  at  the  Clifton 
Hotel,  Niagara  Falls,  Canada,  during  the  week  of  July  8.  Addresses  will 
be  delivered  by  Messrs.  J.  Robert  Grouse,  L.  H.  Brittin  and  V.  R. 
Lansingh. 

THE  HESS-BRIGHT  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  owing  to  its  increasing  business,  has  removed  to  Front  Street  and 
Erie  Avenue,  where  the  new  site  covers  about  thirteen  acres,  and  the 
buildings  thus  far  erected  embody  the  most  advanced  ideas  in  modern 
factory   arrangement   and   construction. 

J.  F.  BUCHANAN  &  COMPANY.— A  store  devoted  to  the  sale  of 
electrical  appliances  intended  for  the  home  has  been  opened  at  1719 
Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia,  by  J.  F.  Buchanan  &  Company.  The  store- 
room is  equipped  to  illustrate  a  modern  system  of  semi-indirect  lighting 
and  is  provided  with  circuits  for  demonstrating  the  electrical  heating 
and   lighting  devices  under   actual   service  conditions. 

LAMAR  LYNDON,  consulting  engineer,  has  opened  a  branch  office 
in  the  Chandler  Building,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Cecil 
P.  Poole,  formerly  editor  of  the  "American  Electrician"  and  "Power." 
His  New  York  office  at  60  Broadway  will  be  under  the  management  of 
Dr.  A.  S.  Chessin.  The  scope  of  the  work  conducted  from  these  offices 
embraces  the  design,  installation  and  investigation  of  the  operation  of 
steam,  gas  and  hydroelectric  generating  plants,  distributing  Lj'steras, 
railways,   etc. 

THE  AMERICAN  DISTRICT  STEAM  COMPANY,  North  Tona- 
wanda,  N.  Y.,  has  organized  a  general  engineering  department  under  the 
management  of  Mr.  Byron  T.  Giflord,  who  was  formerly  associated  with 
the  Central  Station  Engineering  Company,  of  Chicago.  Associated  with 
its  engineering  staff  will  be  Mr.  Arthur  E.  Duram,  who  was  also  for- 
merly connected  with  the  Central  Station  Engineering  Company.  The 
American  District  Steam  Company  has  removed  its  Chicago  office  from 
the  Monadnock  Block  to  the  First  National  Bank  Building.  Mr.  Charles 
A.  Gillham,  formerly  of  the  Central  Station  Engineering  Company,  is 
now  associated  with  the  contracting  department  of  the  .American  District 
Steam  Company,  as  is  also  Mr.  James  A.  Bendure,  formerly  connected 
with  the  Economy  Light,  Fuel  &  Power  Company,  Lockport,  N.  Y. 


128 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED  STATES  PATENTS  ISSUED  JULY  2,  1912. 

[Prepared    by    Robert   Starr   Allyn,    16   Exchange    Place,    New   York.] 

1,030,858.  MEANS  FOR  SUPPORTING  SPARK-COIL  CASES;  B. 
Ames,  Lowell,  Mass.  App.  filed  Sept.  5,  1911.  Screw  socket  in  a 
dashboard   of   an   automobile,    etc. 

1,030,860.  ELECTRIC  PUSH-SWITCH;  E.  Anderson,  Bridgeport,  Conn. 
App.   filed   Dec.   21,   1911.      Single  button  door  type. 

1,030.872.  TELEPHONE  RECEIVER;  C.  N.  Church,  Camden,  N.  J. 
App.  filed  Nov.  3,  1909.  Concentric  magnetic  rings  and  bands  for 
increasing  vibration   of   the  diaphragm. 

1,030,901.  ELECTRIC  HEATING  DEVICE  FOR  RUNNING  WATER; 
H.  Lofquist,  Stockholm,  Sweden.  App.  filed  Oct.  6,  1911.  Con- 
nected valve  and  switch. 

1,030,904.  ELECTRIC  FURNACE  FOR  SMELTING  AND  REDUC- 
TION OF  ORE-  H.  B.  Lorentzen,  Notodden,  Norway.  App.  filed 
Dec.  2,   1910.     Non-conducting  bridge   wall   type. 

1,030,915.  TELEPHONE  TRANSMITTER;  G.  R.  Morris,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
App.   filed  July  22,    1909.     To^e  modifying  details. 

1,030,925.  SYSTEM  OF  OPERATION  FOR  SYNCHRONIZING 
RECORDERS;    E.   O.   Schweitzer,   Chicago,    111.     App.    filed  Dec.    10, 

1910.  For  recording  phase  relation  between  alternating  emfs. 

1,030,929.  PROCESS  OF  MANUFACTURING  ALUMINUM  NITRID; 
O.  Serpek,  Pans,  France.  App.  filed  April  6,  1911.  The  aluminous 
material  is  fed  over  heated  resistance  elements  in  the  presence  of 
nitrogen. 

1,030,953.  ELECTRIC  IGNITION  APPARATUS  FOR  GAS  BURN- 
ERS;   H.    Wlasserzier,    Karlshorst,    Germany.      App.    filed    March    20, 

1911.  Operated   by  gas  pressure. 

1,030,961.  RAILWAY  TRAFFIC  CONTROLLING  SYSTEM  AND 
APPARATUS;  \V.  H.  Arkenburgh,  Westfield,  N.  J.  App.  filed  Nov. 
2,    1906.     Home  and  distant  railway  block  signals. 

1,030,972.  PROCESS  FOR  DIRECT  NICKELING  OF  ALUMINUM 
OR  ALLOYS  CONTAINING  ALUMINUM;  M.  Chirade  and  J. 
Canac,  Paris,  France.  App.  filed  Nov.  6,  1911.  Special  washing, 
scouring   and    plating  steps. 


1,030,858.— Means    for    Supporting    Spark    Coil    Cases. 

1,030,999.  REFRACTORY  ARTICLE  AND  METHOD  OF  MAKING 
IT;  S.  F.  Hall,  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Dec.  26,  1908.  A 
carbon  mold  is  dipped  in  the  fused  oxid,  withdrawn  and  the  adher- 
ing layer  separated. 

1,031,009.  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE;  B.  G.  Lamme,  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.  App.  filed  Sept.  6,  1910.  Multiple-wound  armature, 
commutator  type. 

1,031,026.  PROCESS  FOR  THE  CLOSING  OF  THE  SEAMS  OF 
TUBES  BY  MEANS  OF  ELECTRICAL  RESISTANCE  WELD- 
ING; E.  Presser,  Berlin,  Germany.  App.  filed  May  2,  1911.  Trans- 
former winding  and  connection. 

1,031,031.  ELECTRICAL  SWITCH;  O.  S.  Walker,  Worcester,  Mass. 
App.  filed  Nov.  30,  1909.  For  use  with  the  magnetized  cores  of  a 
chuck,  such  as  Patent  564,296. 

1,031,038.  ELECTROMOTIVE  DEVICE;  C.  F.  Burgess,  Madison, 
WSs.     App.  filed  Feb.   12,   1910.     Magnetic  core  of  the  "vibrator," 

1,031,071.  AD7USTAELE  BRUSH  SUPPORT;  E.  C.  Ketchum  and 
D.  H.  Andrews,  Boston  and  Newton  Center,  Mass.  App.  filed  June 
28,  1911.  Pivoted  brush-holder  and  adjustable  brush  with  mercurv 
amalgam  supply. 

1,031,076.  ELECTRIC  LAMP;  W.  J.  Lusted,  Los  Angeles.  Cal.  App. 
filed  April  10,  1911.  Reflector  in  the  bulb  with  incandescent  fila- 
ments. 

1,031,081.  ELECTROMAGNETIC  CLUTCH;  K.  Miran  and  L.  Seidel, 
Aachen,  Germany.  App.  filed  Feb.  13,  1911.  Two  relatively  rotat- 
able  members  carrying  the  parts  of  the  clutch. 

1,031,096.  SYSTEM  OF  CONTROL;  H.  A.  Steen,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 
App.  filed  July  24,  1911.  Automatic  circuit  control  to  prevent  arcing 
at  the  contacts  of  gages,  etc. 

1,031,101.  LIGHTING  SYSTEM;  E.  F.  Wackwitz.  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
App.  filed  Nov.   17,   1911.     For  automobile  lighting,  etc. 

1,031,114.  INCANDESCENT  ELECTRIC  LAMP;  H.  Gilmore,  Brook- 
line,  Mass.  App.  filed  June  7,  1909.  The  filament  is  transverse  to 
the  neck  of  the  bulb. 

:.031,191.  ELECTRIC  FOOT-SWITCH;  C.  A.  Lundgren,  Detroit,  Mich. 
App.   filed  Sept.   19,   1910.     For  motor-equipped  adding  machines,   etc. 


1.031.204.  RESISTANCE  NET;  F.  Schniewindt,  Neuenrade,  Germany. 
App.  filed  Oct.   10,   1910.      Stiffened  by  a  special  weaving. 

1.031.205.  CIRCUIT-BREAKER  SYSTEM;  W.  M.  Scott,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.  .App.  filed  Jan.  19,  1907.  Protective  system  for  a  three  or  more 
wire    system. 

1,031,210.  FLUID  PRESSURE  BRAKE;  W.  V.  Turner,  Wilkinsburg, 
Pa.     App.  filed  Nov.  22,  1904.     Supplemental  control  for  railway  cars. 

1.031.256.  ATTACHMENT  FOR  TROLLEY  WHEELS;  M.  Goerman, 
Manorville,  Pa.     App.  filed  Jan.  18,  1911.     Guards  to  prevent  jumping.' 

1.031.257.  PROCESS  AND  APPARATUS  FOR  E.XTRACTING  AND 
REFINING  METALS  AND  ALLOYS;  A.  E.  Greene,  Chicago,  III. 
App.  filed  Oct.  25,  1909.  Two-chamber  process  particularly  for  low- 
carbon    steels. 

1,031,262.  LOW-WATER  ALARM;  A.  G.  Heneke,  Jr.,  De  Smet,  S.  D. 
App.  filed  Sept.   14,   1911.     Float  operated. 

1,031.292.  ELECTRIC  SELF-PLAYING  VIOLIN;  H.  K.  Dandell,  Chi- 
cago. 111.  App.  filed  Nov.  7,  1911.  Fingering  device.  See  Patent 
807,871. 

1,031,297.  TRANSMITTER  MOUTHPIECE;  S.  S.  Sonneborn,  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.  .'^pp.  filed  June  27,  1911.     Shallow  face  plate. 

1.031,308.  AUTOMATIC  STARTER  AND  LIGHTER  FOR  AUTOMO- 
BILES; W.  G.  Wordingham,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed  Nov.  8,  1911. 
Gas   supply  control. 

1.031.312.  CIRCUIT  MAKE-AND-BREAK  DEVICE;  A.  A.  Ziegler,  Bos- 
ton,  Mass.     App.  filed  Feb.   18,    1910.      Strap-key  construction. 

1.031.313.  ELECTRIC  BELL;  A.  A.  Ziegler,  Boston,  Mass.  App.  filed 
March   28,    1910.      Insulation  of  the  parts   from  the  base. 

1,031,316.  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE;  V.  G.  Apple,  Dayton, 
Ohio.      -App.   filed  April   5,    1910.      Simple  construction;   self-cooling. 

1,031.324.  ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  C.  F.  Cookson,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  App. 
filed  April  18,  1910.     Combination  lock  for  automobile  switches,  etc. 

1.031.336.  FIRE  ALARM;  A.  Guenette,  Lachute  Mills,  Quebec,  Canada. 
App.   filed  May  29,   1911.     Fusible  link-train   control. 

1.031.337.  FEED-WIRE  CONNECTION  FOR  ELECTRIC  MOTORS; 
G.  J.  Hartmann.  White  Plains,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Nov.  11,  1911. 
Telescoping  coupling. 

1,031,352.  ELECTRIC  ARC  LAMP;  J.  C.  Lincoln,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
App.  filed  March  15,   1905.     Feed  escapement. 

1,031.363.  METER-TESTING  SERVICE  CUTOUT;  T.  E.  Murray,  New 
York,  N.  Y.     App.  filed  Dec.  8,  1909.     Removable  gang  plug. 

1,031,382.  GRID  RESISTANCE;  F.  L.  Sessions,  Columbus,  Ohio.  App. 
filed  Oct.  21,  1909.     Support  and  connection  for  a  plurality  of  grids. 

1,031.387.  ALTERN.ATING-CURRENT  SWITCH;  F.  W.  Smith  and  L. 
Larsen,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  May  25.  1907.  Movable-core 
type  with  equilibrating  device. 

1.031.399.  OPERATING  CORD  OR  CHAIN  FOR  SWITCHES;  A.  A. 
Tirrill,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  -April  13,  1910.  Cord  at- 
tachment. 

1.031.400.  OPERATING  CORD  OR  CHAIN  FOR  SWITCHES;  A.  A. 
Tirrill,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  April  13.  1910.  Ball-chain 
connection. 

1.031,408.  ELECTRICAL  RECORDING  APPARATUS  OR  INDICA- 
TOR; J.  L.  Zander,  Irvington,  N.  J.  App.  filed  May  27,  1911.  Tem- 
perature device. 

1,031.443.  ELECTRIC  IRON;  W.  Heaviside,  Davis,  Cal.  App.  filed 
Dec.    26.    1911.     Thermal   insulation. 

1.031.448.  RAIL-BOND;  S.  P.  Hull,  Dobbs  Ferry,  N.  Y.  App.  filed 
.Tuly  15,  1911.  Flexible  bond  with  stiffened  portion  to  prevent 
bowing. 

1.031.449.  RAIL  BOND;  S.  P.  Hull,  Dobbs  Ferry,  N.  Y.  App.  filed 
July   15,    1911.      Anchorage  to   prevent  bowing. 

1,031.453.  INSULATOR;  H.  Lange  and  F.  Druckenmiiller,  Cologne- 
Nippes,   Germany.     App.  filed   Sept.   27,    1910.      Reinforced  core. 

1,031.457.  ELECTRICAL  CONTROLLING  MECHANISM;  C.  G. 
Lohay,  Paris,  France.  App.  filed  .April  10,  1911.  For  controlling 
the    sighting   of    ordinance    from    a    distance. 

1,031,479.  OIL  SWITCH;  H.  L.  Smith,  Pittsfield,  Mass.  App.  filed 
Dec.    10,    1906.      For    high-voltage   alternating-current   circuits. 

1,031.529.  BLOCK  SIGNALING  SYSTEM  AND  SAFETY  APPA- 
R.ATUS;  M.  Conrad,  .Adrian,  Mich.  App.  filed  Nov.  30,  1908.  .Auto- 
matic system  operated  by  the  movement  of  the  train. 

1,031.535.  BURGLAR  ALARM;  G.  Di  Giovanni,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App. 
filed  .April  4,   1910.      Cord-like  curtain  for  windows,   etc. 

1,031,561.  DIRECT-CURRENT  ELECTRIC  MOTORS;  J.  Lecoche, 
Westminster,  London,  England.  App.  filed  Oct.  24.  1910.  Simple 
low-speed   gearing. 

1,031,564.  OUTLET  BOX;  N.  Marshall,  Newton,  Mass.  App.  filed 
June   1,    1909.     For  supporting  rosettes,   receptacles,   etc. 

1.031,573.     MOTOR     CONTROL;     W.     Naumann,     Pankow,     Germany. 

.App.  filed  April   14,   1910.     For  machine  tool  work  with  reciprocating 

elem^ents. 
1,031,604.     CURLING  IRON;  C.  W.  Wilmot,  San  Diego,  Cal.     App.  filed 

May   16,    1910.     Sockets  for  the  irons.     Improvement  on  930,586. 
1,031,611.     DOOR    SWITCH;     E.     Anderson,     Bridgeport,     Conn.       App. 

filed  Aug.    19,   1911.      Snap  action. 

1,031.650.  STARTING  SWITCH  FOR  ELECTRIC  MOTORS;  C.  D. 
Knight,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Dec.  1,  1905.  Automatic 
multiple-switch   starting   and    running   controlled   from    a    distance. 

1,031,667.  TELEPHONE  SWITCHBOARD  APPARATUS  AND  CIR- 
CUITS THEREFOR;  H.  J.  Roberts,  Evanston,  III.  App.  filed  Sept. 
5,    1905.      Selective  calling  with  master  key   for  party  lines,  etc. 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American   Electrician. 


=F 


Vol,  6o. 


NEW  YORK.   SATURDAY,  JULY  20,  1912. 


No.  3. 


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CONTENTS.  * 

Editorials    129 

Convention  of  the   National   Electrical   Contractors'   Association 132 

Congress  of  the  International  Association  for  Testing  Materials 132 

Probable  Electrification  of  Illinois  Central  Suburban   Service 132 

Opening  of  New  Northern   Station,   Commonwealth   Edison  Company, 

Chicago     132 

Boston  Convention  of  the   S.   P.   E.   E 133 

Results  of   Seven   Years'  Operation   of  the   Seattle   Municipal   Plant..  135 

California    Public   Utilities   Act 136 

California  Decision  in  the   Pacific  Gas  and   Electric  Case-...- ..  136 

Public    Service    Commission    News ..,,.--...  I3S 

Current  News  and  Notes    '. 140 

Electricity   Supply   in    Watcom,   Wash 141 

Increase  in  Boiler  Economy  Through  Novel   Baffling 146 

Synchronous   Motor   Performance.      By   Nicholas   Stahl 147 

Modern  Three-Wire  Direct-Current  Generators.     By  C.   L.  Pilger,  Jr.  150 

Reconstruction    of  Colorado   Central    Station 150 

Frontage  Charges  in  Ornamental   Street  Lighting 151 

A    Dull-Season    House-Wiring    Campaign 151 

Electricity   in   Gold   Refineries 151 

Electric     Farm     Exhibit 152 

Houston's  Downtown   Magnetite  Arc   Lighting 153 

A    Photographic     Method     for     Obtaining    Candle-Power    Distribution 

Curves.     By  Herbert  E.  Ives  and  M.   Luckiesh 153 

Letters  to  the  Editors: 

The  Candle-Per-Watt   Meter.      By   Wilfred  T.    Birdsall 157 

Improper    Watt-Hour    Meter    Connections.      By    Prof.    Dr.    F.    Niet- 

hammer     157 

Digest    of    Current    Electrical    Literature 158 

Book    Reviews    161 

New   Apparatus    and    Appliances 162 

Industrial   and   Financial   News 167 

Weekly   Record   of   Electrical   Patents 178 


AN  EXAMPLE  OF  WESTERN  ENTERPRISE. 

An  admirable  example  of  the  Pacific  Coast  method  of 
obtaining  results  is  found  in  the  system  supplying  energy 
to  Bellingham,  Washington  and  vicinity,  described  in  this 
issue.  Bellingham,  the  northernmost  city  of  any  size  on 
Puget  Sound,  has  a  population  of  only  some  25,000,  but  it 
is  as  well  supplied  with  electrical  energy  as  most  cities  of 
much  larger  resources.  The  electrical  supply  is  derived 
from  three  plants,  which  should  give  as  good  continuity  of 
service  as  any  city  could  ask  for.  One  of  these  is  a  modern 
steam  plant  using  oil  for  fuel  and  having  as  its  main  unit 
a  20oo-kw  turbine.  A  second  source  is  the  system  of  the 
Western  Canada  Power  Company,  from  which  energy  is 
received  at  the  international  boundary,  18  miles  from  Bel- 
lingham. The  third  is  a  hydroelectric  plant  at  Nooksack 
Falls,  42  miles  away.  It  is  to  the  last  named  that  we  direct 
especial  attention  as  a  capital  example  of  the  simple,  eco- 
nomical and  efficient  .small  transmission  systems  which  have 
done  so  much  for  the  development  of  the  Coast  States. 

This  development  is  located  in  one  of  the  national  forest 
reserves  on  the  north  side  of  Mount  Baker,  and  the  point 
chosen  for  the  plant  is  at  Nooksack  Falls,  where  there  is  a 
natural  drop  of  no  ft.  As  in  many  such  cases,  the  dam  is 
not  of  imposing  dimensions.  In  this  instance  it  consists, 
in  fact,  of  merely  a  single  good  log  4  ft.  in  diameter,  an- 
cliored  to  the  rocky  banks  by  concrete  piers,  sheathed  and 
cribbed  with  loose  rock.  This  is  placed  about  80  ft.  above 
the  crest  of  the  falls  and  deflects  the  water  into  an  intake 
cut  out  of  solid  rock  and  provided  with  concrete  walls  to 
hold  the  gates  in  place.  The  gates  are  protected  from 
debris  by  a  simple  and  substantial  grid  made  from  56-lb. 
T-rails.  The  forebay  is  a  rock  tunnel  260  ft.  long  connected 
with  the  power  house  by  two  penstocks,  one  of  them  of 
wood  staves  with  steel  elbows  at  the  curves,  the  other  of 
the  ordinary  steel-riveted  pipe.  These  drop  176  ft.,  on  a 
fairly  uniform  grade  into  the  power  plant,  which  has  three 
walls  of  concrete  and  the  fourth  of  corrugated  iron. 

The  plant  is  not  in  the  least  pretentious,  but  is  thoroughly 
businesslike.  Its  present  equipment  consists  of  one  1500-kw, 
60-cycle,  three-phase  generator,  driven  by  a  Pelton  wheel 
with  six  runners,  operating  at  200  r.o.m.  The  transformer 
house  of  concrete  is  on  the  hillside  150  ft.  above  the  power 
house  and  from  this  runs  the  pole  line  to  Bellingham  carry- 
ing a  60,000-volt  transmission  circuit.  This  is  constructed 
of  heavy  cedar  poles  about  45  ft.  in  length,  set  150  ft.  apart, 
on  which  are  strung  the  three  No.  i  equivalent  transmission 
cables  of  seven-strand  aluminum,  and  the  telephone  line 
below.  A  few  taps  are  taken  off  the  system  for  small 
places  along  the  line  and  the  remainder  of  the  energy  is 
delivered  at  the  substation  at  Bellingham.  A  successful 
plant   must  be   judged  by   its   results   and   if   these   can   be 


I30 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo. 


obtained  with  that  economy  of  construction  which  keeps 
down  the  fixed  charges  and  lowers  the  price  of  energy  so 
much  the  better.  To  tell  the  truth,  it  is  rather  refreshing 
to  describe  a  thoroughly  workable  plant  free  from  the 
somewhat  unnecessary  expense  of  construction  and  equip- 
ment that  characterizes  manv  recent  installations. 


CALIFORNIA  PUBLIC  UTILITIES  DECISION. 

Underlying  the  modern  theory  of  public  utility  regula- 
tion is  the  cardinal  principle  of  justice  that  in  return  for 
taking  away  the  right  to  earn  more  than  a'  reasonable  re- 
turn on  the  fair  value  of  the  property  used  and  useful  in 
serving  the  public,  the  full  measure  of  net  earnings  up  to 
such  reasonable  return,  assuming  efficient  management 
and  operation,  should  invariably  be  permitted.  Or  stating 
the  case  differently,  the  loss  of  the  right  to  enjoy  specula- 
tive or  excessive  profits  should  be  compensated  by  insur- 
ance against  the  shrinkage  of  profits  below-  a  reasonable 
amount.  Furthermore,  the  modern  theory  recognizes  that 
one  utility  company  can  more  economically  serve  a  given 
community,  if  the  latter  be  not  too  large,  than  two  or 
more  like  companies  with  their  respective  and  independent 
systems.  It  is  better,  therefore,  to  protect  a  utility  against 
competition  so  long  as  it  adequately  serves  its  public  at 
fair  rates  and  with  considerate  treatment.  This  is  con- 
sistent, moreover,  with  the  obligation  the  public  owes  to 
the  pioneer  utility  companies  which  developed  the  field 
and  shouldered  the  risks  in  the  early  days  when  success 
was  a  very  doubtful  matter.  The  method  by  which  exist- 
ing utilities  are  protected,  under  state  public  service  laws, 
from  needless  or  wasteful  competition,  is  found  in  the 
now  familiar  certificate  of  public  convenience  and  neces- 
sity. Unless  such  a  certificate  is  granted  by  the  commis- 
sion having  jurisdiction,  after  due  hearing  at  which  it 
shall  appear  that  public  convenience  and  necessity  require 
competition,  no  newcomer  may  compete  with  a  utility 
company  already  in  the  field.  It  is  now  customary  to 
require  such  a  certificate  in  the  case  of  every  new  utility 
company,  or  every  extension  by  an  existing  company  into 
new  territory,  even  though  the  new  district  has  not  pre- 
viously been  served. 

The  California  Railroad  Commission  has  recently  filed 
its  first  important  decision  in  a  case  involving  an  applica- 
tion for  a  certificate  of  public  convenience  and  necessity, 
as  chronicled  elsewhere  in  this  issue.  A  perusal  of  the  de- 
cision quickly  discloses  its  unusual  and  radical  character 
in  respect  to  the  grounds  and  conditions  upon  which  such 
a  certificate  may  be  issued.  The  Great  Western  Power 
Company  was  the  applicant  for  certificates  granting  it  the 
right  to  compete  with  the  Pacific  Gas  and  Electric  Com- 
pany and  five  other  companies,  in  major  portions  of  four 
counties.  The  commission  concluded  that  the  larger  por- 
tion of  the  territory  in  question  was  inadequately  served 
and  presented  opportunities  for  substantial  development 
in  the  sale  of  electrical  energy,  which  constituted  reason- 
able grounds,  in  the  commission's  judgment,  for  permit- 
ting the  applicant  company  to  enter  and  compete  with 
others  in  the  field.  The  doors  were  not  indiscriminately 
thrown  wide,  however,  for  a  number  of  companies  already 


in  the  ticld,  which  filed  demurrers,  were  held  to  be  ade- 
quately serving  their  communities  and  thus  entitled  to 
protection.  But  in  a  number  of  municipalities  the  service 
of  the  Pacific  Gas  and  Electric  Company  was  held  to  be 
neither  complete  nor  adequate  and  the  rates  charged,  ex- 
cept under  the  stress  of  impending  competition,  were 
found  to  be  higher  than  should  have  been  maintained. 

The  radical  character  of  this  decision,  viewed  from  the 
standpoint  of  precedents  created  by  older  commissions, 
lies  in  the  summary  enforcement  of  competition  without 
•  first  demanding  that  the  companies  already  in  the  field, 
regardless  of  past  misbehavior,  if  any,  fulfill  their  public 
obligations.  This  is  contrary  in  principle  to  important 
precedents  established  in  Wisconsin,  \ew  York  and  other 
states,  and  moreover  violates  the  spirit  of  fair  play.  The 
treatment  finally  accorded  an  offending  or  delinquent  util- 
ity company  might  conceivably  be  the  same  under  either 
course  of  procedure,  but  the  method  followed  in  this  case 
smacks  of  injustice.  The  hasty  enforcement  of  competi- 
tion, even  in  a  country  but  little  developed,  may  not  ulti- 
mately react  for  the  best  interests  of  all  concerned,  and 
the  ever-threatening  possibility  of  competition  is  likely  to 
make  capital  wary  of  investing  under  such  circumstances. 
If  the  service  now  furnished  a  community  is  inadequatt. 
or  inefficient,  a  remedy  lies  at  hand  in  the  provisions  of 
the  law,  whereby  the  offender  may  be  compelled  to  cor- ' 
rect  the  deficiencies,  or  suffer  the  consequences.  If  rales 
are  unreasonable  or  discriminatory,  the  commission  may 
commence  investigation  under  its  own  motion  and  order 
lawful  rates  which  yield  no  more  than  a  fair  return.  It 
would  seem  more  conservative  to  e.xhaust  these  methods, 
before  resorting  to  competition  with  its  possible  duplica- 
tion and  economic  waste,  than  to  adopt  a  disciplinarv  atti- 
tude in  the  first  instance  with  a  possible  train  of  conse- 
quences which  might  result  finally  in  substituting  new 
evils  for  the  old.  And  furthermore,  it  seems  fairly  ob- 
vious that  the  framers  of  the  law  intended  the  more  con- 
servative of  these  two  policies  to  be  the  guiding  rule. 


FISCAL  REPORT  OF  SEATTLE  HUNIQPAL  PLANT. 

The  municipal  ownership  and  operation  of  public  utilities 
presents  numerous  problems  of  both  a  civic  and  an  eco- 
nomic character,  whose  different  phases  are  not  readily 
isolated  for  individual  study.  One  of  the  first  obstacles 
often  encountered — one  might  almost  say  invariably — is  the 
lack  of  a  modern  system  of  accounting  which  reveals  the 
true  state  of  affairs  either  as  to  the  actual  cost  of  the  plant 
or  the  true  amount  of  the  net  earnings.  Another  difficult 
side  to  the  problem  is  the  question  of  management  and  its 
relative  efficiency,  which  touches  the  human  and  civic  ele- 
ments that  vary  in  such  a  marked  degree  in  different  in- 
stances. If  municipal  ownership  could  be  studied  from  the 
standpoint  purely  of  its  economic  advantages  or  disadvan- 
tages, much  would  be  gained,  but  local  politics  is  nearly 
alwavs  a  factor  which  has  an  important  bearing. 

In  the  case  of  the  Seattle,  \\"ash.,  municipal  plant,  the 
last  annual  report  of  which  is  abstracted  elsewhere  in  the 
present  issue,  an  unusual  opportunity  is  presented  for 
studying  the  results  of  municipal  operation  under  circum- 


ruLY 


ULY   20,    igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


131 


stances  of  the  more  favorable  sort.  The  accounts  appear 
:o  have  been  kept  in  very  fair  shape,  and  both  the  state- 
-nent  of  revenue  and  expense  and  the  balance  sheet  are 
presented  in  much  detail.  The  plant  itself  was  described 
in  our  June  i  issue,  so  that  both  the  physical  and  the 
financial  aspects  of  this  case  are  available  for  long-range 
study.  In  noting  the  relatively  low  commercial  rates,  it 
should  of  course  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  energy  is  ob- 
tained mainly  from  water  power.  For  the  calendar  year  of 
191 1  the  surplus  earnings  equalled  4.6  per  cent  on  the 
average  investment  in  plant  during  the  year.  The  allow- 
ance for  depreciation,  on  the  same  plant  investment,  was 
4.8  per  cent,  which  seems  adequate.  In  comparing  the  re- 
sults obtained  in  this  system  with  the  operations  of  public 
utility  companies,  it  may  be  noted  that  no  taxes  are  paid. 
The  average  revenue  per  kw-hr.,  for  the  year,  was  3.5  cents. 
Students  of  municipal  operation  will  find  in  this  case  an 
unusual  opportunity  for  careful  study  of  the  problem. 


'HOTOGRAFHIC  RECORD  OF  CANDLE-POWER  DISTRIBUTION. 

In  order  that  the  eye  may  serve  as  an  instantaneous 
Dbserving  instrument  it  is  necessary  that  it  should  be  sen- 
sibly devoid  of  registration  power.  The  human  eye  possesses 
lowers  of  integration  and  registration  to  a  very  slight 
!xtent,  as  witness  the  phenomena  of  the  stroboscope,  but  in 
ibout  one-tenth  of  a  second  the  record  of  any  visual 
.limulus  is  ordinarily  wiped  out,  and  the  memory  must  then 
)e  depended  upon  for  recalling  to  mind  the  obliterated 
licture.  This  optical  condition  is  just  what  is  needed  for 
continuous  presentation  to  the  senses  of  the  successive 
ihenomena  in  the  environment  of  an  individual,  but  it  has 
he  corresponding  disadvantage  that  no  visual  record  can 
)e  obtained  by  purely  ocular  means.  If  in  the  photometer  a 
)alance  be  observed  between  the  illuminations  produced  by 
I  test  lamp  on  one  side  and  a  standard  lamp  on  the  other, 
me  can  note  and  record  the  observed  equality,  but  when 
he  observer's  eye  is  turned  aside  there  is  left  no  available 
mtomatic  record  of  the  balance. 

The  sensitive  film  in  the  photographic  camera  possesses 
he  opposite  qualification  of  integrating  and  registering  the 
;hemical  effect  of  any  luminous  stimulus  that  may  be 
idmitted  to  incidence.  The  law  of  integration  is  not  a 
simple  one,  because  the  first  incident  ray  produces  the 
strongest  effect  and  subsequent  incidences  continually 
Iwindling  effects,  but  the  record  is  at  least  faithfully  kept 
within  these  limitations.  The  camera  is  thus  able,  theo- 
retically, to  carry  out  that  recording  of  luminous  stimuli 
which  the  eye  cannot  accomplish.  There  arise,  however, 
various  difficulties.  Thus,  the  camera  and  the  eye  do  not 
judge  of  luminous  intensities  alike.  The  camera  is  much 
more  partial  to  the  violet  end  of  the  spectrum  than  is  the 
eye,  so  that  two  side-by-side  illuminations  which  may 
appear  equal  to  the  eye,  and  which  come  from  different 
sources  of  light,  may  photograph  quite  unequally.  Conse- 
quently use  must  be  made  of  a  suitable  filter  screen,  found 
experimentally,  which  applied  to  the  lens  of  the  camera 
may  render  it  approximately  equivalent  to  the  eye. 

An  ingenious  application  of  the  camera  to  the  determina- 
tion of  the  candle-power  distribution  of  fluctuating  light- 


sources,  such  as  arc-lamps,  is  given  by  Messrs.  Herbert  E. 
Ives  and  M.  Luckiesch,  this  week,  on  page  153.  The  arc- 
lamp  under  test  is  allowed  to  develop  its  zonal  illumination 
upon  a  conical  test  surface,  and  the  rays  of  light  scattered 
from  the  latter  enter  a  somewhat  distant  camera  during  a 
long  exposure.  The  photographed  picture  is  a  circular 
band  of  varying  photographic  depth.  By  including  on  the 
same  picture  a  series  of  images  of  different  luminous  in- 
tensities in  graded  magnitudes  the  intensities  falling  on  the 
zonal  test  surface  can  be  approximately  determined  from 
leisurely  made  comparison. 

The  plan  suggested  promises  well  for  the  future  after 
many  existing  difficulties  in  technique  shall  have  been  over- 
come. Apparently  the  camera  would  have  to  be  stand- 
ardized, as  would  also  the  sensitive  films  and  the  ray-filter. 
The  dimensions  and  properties  of  the  zonal  test  surface 
would  likewise  probably  have  to  be  worked  out  in  detail,  so 
as  to  avoid  specular  reflection.  Then  the  duration  of  ex- 
posure and  the  technique  of  developing  will  come  in  for 
standardization.  In  order  that  the  method  may  be  gen- 
erally available  it  will  be  necessary  for  different  observers 
to  obtain  substantially  similar  results  from  it,  without  an 
inordinate  amount  of  special  training.  Nevertheless,  the 
prospect  is  here  opened  of  securing  automatic  records  of 
zonal  candle-power  distributions. 


SYNCHRONOUS  MOTOR  PERFORMANCE. 

We  print  in  this  issue  an  article  on  synchronous  motor 
performance  by  Mr.  Nicholas  Stahl,  in  which  an  attempt 
is  made  to  deal  in  a  popular  manner  with  an  important  sub- 
ject. The  theory  of  the  synchronous  motor  is  perhaps 
the  most  important  subject  in  that  part  of  electrical  engi- 
neering which  deals  with  power  stations  and  the  transmis- 
sion of  energy.  The  parallel  operation  of  electric  gene- 
rators is  based  on  a  clear  comprehension  of  the  operation 
of  synchronous  machinery,  of  which  the  performance  of 
the  synchronous  motor  is  merely  a  special  case. 

For  purposes  of  theory  and  clear  conception  of  funda- 
mental principles  the  treatment  inaugurated  by  Dr.  John 
Hopkinson  and  elaborated  by  Blakesley,  Kapp  and  Blondel 
is  so  lucid  and  beautiful  that  it  would  seem  futile  to  make 
an  attempt  to  improve  upon  it,  or  to  force  the  old  wine  into 
new  bottles.  Dealing  with  electromotive  forces,  and  only 
indirectly  referring  to  the  saturation  curve,  the  problem  has 
been  solved  so  successfully  that  we  should  disparage  any 
attempt  at  meddling  with  its  simplicity.  However,  the 
exigencies  of  practical  work  and  the  tendency  to  develop 
a  sort  of  "slide  rule"  theory  which,  though  somewhat  loose 
and  inaccurate,  is  yet  a  good  makeshift  for  the  erecting 
man  and  station  operator  who  likes  a  rough  and  ready 
method  without  the  necessity  of  comprehending  fundamental 
principles,  have  given  rise  to  many  attempts  at  dealing 
with  the  question  to  meet  the  requirements  of  these  people, 
and  the  article  prepared  by  Mr.  Stahl  is,  therefore,  worthy 
of  their  notice.  It  must  always  be  remembered,  however, 
that  the  return  to  fundamental  principles  is  the  only  safe 
way  in  engineering  practice,  and  that  the  labor  of  so  doing 
is  usually  amply  repaid  by  a  clearer  comprehension. 


I.?2 


ELECTRICAL     \V  O  R  L  D 


Vol   6o,  Xo.  3, 


CONVENTION    OF    THE    NATIONAL     ELECTRICAL 
CONTRACTORS'  ASSOCIATION. 

(By  Telegraph.  ) 


The  twelfth  annual  convention  of  the  Xational  Electrical 
Contractors'  Association  was  formally  opened  at  the  Hotel 
Albany,  Denver,  on  the  morning  of  July  17.  A  special  train 
from  Chicago  over  the  Union  Pacific  brought  ninety-seven 
members  and  their  families,  while  forty  Missouri  repre- 
sentatives came  on  a  special  car  over  the  Burlington  route. 
The  session  was  opened  with  an  address  by  Mr.  W.  P.  Car- 
starphen,  representing  the  local  contractors'  association.  He 
was  followed  by  Governor  Shafroth,  who  gave  a  strong 
talk  on  Colorado's  resources,  and  drew  attention  to  the 
present  check  to  water  power  and  other  developments  due 
to  federal  taxation  of  such  utilities  in  the  newer  states. 
Mayor  Henry  J.  Arnold,  of  Denver,  in  extending  Denver's 
welcome,  commented  on  the  rapid  electrical  growth  of 
Denver,  and  elaborated  on  some  of  the  city's  plans  for 
future  electrical  beautifications.  He  also  spoke  of  the 
conduit  ordinance  of  Denver  and  the  good  it  has  done  in 
preventing  irresponsible  workmanship.  Mr.  Maurice  Bis- 
coe,  president  of  the  local  chapter  of  the  American  Institute 
of  .Architects,  spoke  briefly  of  the  problems  arising  between 
contractors  and  architects,  and  Mr.  C.  N.  Stannard,  of  the 
Denver  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company,  in  the  absence  of 
Mr.  .\.  F.  Traver,  made  an  appeal  for  close  co-operation 
between  contractors  and  electric  light  companies,  which 
was  enthusiastically  received.  Mr.  Stannard  emphasized 
that  it  is  just  as  necessary  for  contractors  to  secure  profits 
from  installation  work  and  the  sale  of  devices,  as  for  central- 
station  companies  to  profit  from  the  sale  of  energy.  The 
meeting  adjourned  at  noon  and  abstracts  of  the  other  ses- 
sions will  be  given  in  a  subsequent  issue. 


CONGRESS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  ASSOCIATION 
FOR  TESTING  MATERIALS. 


The  International  Association  for  Testing  Materials  will 
hold  its  sixth  congress  in  New  York,  Sept.  3-7.  1912,  as 
already  noted  in  our  issue  of  May  11,  page  1013.  The  ten- 
tative program  for  the  congress,  which  will  be  held  in  the 
Engineering  Societies  Building,  29  West  Thirty-ninth 
Street,  New  York,  has  recently  been  announced.  Delegates 
to  the  congress  will  register  on  Monday,  Sept.  2,  during  the 
morning  and  afternoon.  In  the  evening  a  reception  will  be 
held  under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Society  for  Testing 
Materials,  with  the  co-operation  of  the  .\merican  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers,  the  .\merican  Institute  of  Mining 
Engineers  and  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers. The  formal  opening  will  take  place  on  Tuesday 
morning.  Sept.  3,  with  addresses  of  welcome  by  national. 
state  and  municipal  officials.  Meetings  of  the  various  sec- 
tions will  be  held  during  the  afternoon,  and  a  reception  wiU 
be  tendered  by  the  .\merican  Society  of  Civil  Engineers 
in  the  evening.  Section  meetings  will  take  place  on 
Wednesday,  Sept.  4,  to  Friday,  Sept.  6,  inclusive.  The 
final  general  meetings  and  closing  of  the  congress  will  take 
place  on  Saturday  morning,  Sept.  7.  On  Sunday,  Sept.  8. 
a  special  train  will  take  such  of  the  delegates  as  wish  to 
join  the  party,  on  a  trip  to  Washington,  D.  C. ;  Pittsburgh. 
.  Pa. ;  Buffalo,  N.  Y. ;  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.,  and  Bethlehem. 
Pa.,  returning  Sept.  14,  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  the 
various  government  bureaus  and  industrial  works  of 
interest. 

The  provisional  list  of  papers  to  be  presented  at  the  con- 
gress is  classified  under  three  grand  divisions:  First, 
metals :  second,  cement,  stones  and  concrete,  and  third,  mis- 
cellaneous. A  partial  list  of  the  papers,  including  only  those 
dealing  with  or  related  to  electrical  subjects,  is  given  below. 

"Electrical  Disintegration  of  Metals  and  Its  Possible  Use 


for  Testing  Purposes,"  by  Mr.  C.  Benedicks;  "Influence  0 
Electrolytes  on  Broken-down  Metals,"  by  Mr.  H.  Baucke 
"Behavior  of  Copper  in  Impact  Tests,"  by  Mr.  F.  Baucke 
"Magnetic  and  Electric  Properties  of  Materials  in  Connec 
tion  with  Their  Mechanical  Testing,"  by  Mr.  C.  W.  Bur 
rows;  "Thermoelectric  Determination  of  Elastic  Limit,"  b 
Messrs.  Capp  and  Lawson  ;  "Relation  of  Tensile  Propertie 
of  Steel  to  Magnetic  and  Other  Hardness  Tests,"  by  Mr, 
R.  P.  Devries;  "Relation  Between  the  Structure  of  Metal' 
and  Their  Electric  Properties,"  by  Mr.  W.  Broniewski 
"Dependence  of  the  Magnetic  Properties  of  Iron  and  Stee 
on  Temperature,"  by  Mr.  Creuzot,  of  Schneider  &  Cie 
"Magnetic  Properties  of  Iron  Sheets  for  Dynamos,"  b 
Messrs.  De  Nolly  and  Veyret ;  "Electric  Resistivity  0 
Special  Steels,"  by  Mr.  O.  Boudouard;  "Measurement  0 
the  Depth  of  Cracks  in  Materials  Which  Conduct  Elec 
tricity."  by  Mr.  O.  Gallander ;  "The  Effect  of  Electrolyti 
Action  on  Concrete,"  by  Mr.  C.  de  Wyrell;  "Rubber  Tests, 
by  Mr.  E.  Camerman;  "The  Present  State  of  Rubbe 
Analysis."  by  Mr.  J.  W.  Hinrichsen  ;  "Mechanical  Tests  0 
Rubber,"  by  Mr.  K.  Menimler,  and  "Rubber  Testing,"  b 
Mr.  P.  L.  Wormeley. 

Except  the  representatives  of  public  bodies  and  scientifi 
societies,  only  members  of  the  International  Association  fo 
Testing  Materials  may  participate  in  the  congress.  The  fe 
for  participation  will  be  $5,  and  a  fee  of  $3  will  be  charge 
for  each  lady  or  guest  accompanying  a  member.  The  e.-^ 
penses  for  the  trip  by  special  train  will  amount  to  aboi 
$50  for  each  person. 


PROBABLE  ELECTRIFICATION  OF  ILLINOIS 
CENTRAL  SUBURBAN  SERVICE. 


As  the  result  of  negotiations  between  the  city  authoritie 
and  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  in  relation  t 
exchanges  of  land  and  frontal  rights  on  the  shore  of  Lak 
Michigan  between  Twelfth  and  Fifty-first  Streets.  Chicag 
it  is  believed  that  the  company  has  practically  agreed  to  th 
electrification  of  its  suburban  railroad  service,  at  leae 
within  the  district  named,  within  a  period  of  five  year 
Provision  for  electrification  does  not  include  a  specific  dat' 
but  the  railroad  company,  if  the  contract  is  finally  exi 
cuted.  agrees  not  to  use  a  newly  acquired  right-of-way  froi 
Thirty-first  Street  to  Forty-ninth  Street  until  it  has  pi 
in  operation  four  tracks  by  some  other  power  than  stear 
Four  tracks  is  the  number  now  required  to  carry  th 
suburban  service.  The  negotiations,  known  as  the  "shoi 
contract."  relate  to  an  extensive  park  and  boulevard  systei 
for  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  and  provide  for  rearrang. 
ment  of  the  company's  tracks.  The  company's  right-of-wa 
runs  along  the  lake  shore  for  a  distance  of  several  mik 
in  the  heart  of  the  city.  At  ti.e  present  time  it  appeal 
that  both  sides  will  make  concessions  by  which  the  shoi 
line  will  be  obtained  by  the  city  for  park  purposes,  th 
companv  being  compensated  in  other  directions.  This  in 
provement  involves  the  electrification  of  the  suburban  ser-* 
ice  at  least. 


OPENING    OF     NE"W     NORTHWESTERN    STATION 
COMMONWEALTH    EDISON    COMPANY. 

On  Tuly  15,  1912,  the  first  20,000-kw  unit  in  the  nc 
Northwest  generating  station  of  the  Commonwealth  Ed 
son  Company,  Chicago,  was  placed  in  regular  service.  Th 
unit  consists  of  a  Curtis  vertical  steam  turbine  and  a  4501 
volt,  three-phase,  25-cycle  generator,  and  ultimately  thei 
will  be  six  such  units,  each  with  its  own  boilers,  tran: 
formers  and  switching  gear.  The  initial  equipment  wi 
consist  of  two  units,  the  second  of  which  will  be  ready  fc 
preliminary  test  the  latter  part  of  next  month.  Work  h: 
been   in   progress  on  this   station    for  over   two  years,  bi 


ULY   20,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


133 


:ertain  delays  have  been  unavoidable.  The  first  announce- 
iient  of  the  company's  plans  for  this  station  appeared  in 
he  Electrical  World  on  March  17,  1910,  and  at  that  time 
he  proposal  to  employ  20,000-kw  generating  units  was 
iiade  for  the  first  time.  An  illustrated  article  describing 
:his  station,  then  well  advanced  toward  completion,  ap- 
peared in  our  issue  of  June  i,  191 1.  Since  that  time  the 
:ompany  has  ordered  a  25,000-kw  turbo-generator  of  the 
Parsons  horizontal  type  for  its  Fisk  Street  station,  which  it 
IS  expected  will  be  ready  for  operation  early  next  year. 


BOSTON  CONVENTION  OF  THE  S.   P.  E.  E. 


An  account  of  the  opening  sessions  at  the  annual  conven- 
tion of  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Edu- 
cation, in  Boston,  on  June  25  to  29,  was  given  in  our  issue 
dated  July  6. 

During  the  convention  a  joint  meeting  was  held  with  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers'  when  a  com- 
mittee—consisting of  Dean  J.  P.  Jackson,  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania State  College,  as  chairman,  and  Dr.  C.  P.  Steinmetz, 
Union  University ;  Dr.  Samuel  Sheldon,  Brooklyn  Poly- 
technic Institute;  Prof.  W.  I.  Slichter,  Columbia  University, 
and  Prof.  H.  H.  Norris,  Cornell  University — presented  its 
report  on  engineering  education.  An  abstract  of  this  report 
was  given  on  page  29  of  the  issue  of  Electrical  World  for 
July  6. 

An  animated  discussion  followed  the  presentation  of  the 
report  of  the  educational  committee.  Mr.  H.  G.  Stott 
explained  the  evolution  of  the  school  which  is  being  con- 
ducted by  the  Interborough  Rapid  Transit  Company.  The 
company  required  resourceful  young  men  such  as  could 
not  be  picked  up  at  random.  College  graduates  could  not 
be  held  for  long  periods,  as  the  work  became  irksome  to 
them. .  Finally  the  company  began  systematic  instruction 
of  the  boys,  who  usually  had  only  a  grammar-school  edu- 
cation, and  the  results  have  been  gratifying.  Boys  who 
do  not  study  are  ineligible  for  promotion.  Mr.  W.  H.  L. 
Hale,  head,  instructor  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Ap- 
prentice School;  Mr.  A.  L.  Rohrer,  electrical  superin- 
tendent of  the  General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady 
Works;  Principal  A.  L.  Williston,  of  Wentworth  Insti- 
tute; Prof.  W.  S.  Franklin  and  others  followed  Mr.  Stott 
and  reinforced  the  arguments  of  the  committee.  Particu- 
lar interest  centered  in  the  Bridgeport  (Conn.)  Trade 
School,  which  all  agreed  to  be  a  school  well  adapted  to  in- 
dustrial conditions.  Professor  Franklin  and  others  espe- 
cially indorsed  the  nine-hour  day  used  in  that  institution. 
Professor  Norris  read  from  a  letter  written  by  Superin- 
tendent Frank  Glynn  of  the  school  giving  details  of  tlie 
work  and  particularly  stating  that  full  credit  is  given  in 
the  machinist's  trade  for  time  spent  in  the  school.  Pro- 
fessor Norris  advised  those  interested  to  send  for  a  copy 
of  the  monthly  magazine,  The  Artisan,  which  is  entirely  a 
school  product  and  gives  a  pleasant  impression  of  the 
school   spirit. 

The  hope  of  the  educational  committee  is  that  this  ses- 
sion will  mark  a  distinct  advance  in  the  interest  of  the 
Institute  members  in  vocational  training.  .As  Professor 
Slichter  stated,  to  know  what  is  being  done  in  the  in- 
dustries and  in  public  and  private  industrial  schools  is  to 
become   enthusiastic   over  the  possibilities   in   this   line. 

SYMPOSIUMS     ON     TECHNICAL     EDUCATION. 

The  program  of  the  meeting  comprised  four  divisions 
treating  of  specific  features  of  educational  work.  These 
were  (i)  teaching  physics  to  engineering  students,  (2) 
training  instructors  for  technical  school  work,  (3)  effi- 
ciency in  college  administration,  and  (4)  improving  the 
equipment  of  technical  school  laboratories.  The  number 
of  papers  forming  the  complete  program  is  so  large  that 
abstracts  of  only  a   few  typical   ones  can  be  given  here. 


In  papers  by  Professors  Franklin  and  MacNutt  on  the 
teaching  of  physics  to  engineering  students  the  current 
methods  of  teaching  physics  were  criticised,  examples  of 
style  from  current  text  being  held  up  to  ridicule.  To  show 
their  position  the  authors  contrasted  these  two  statements : 

"(a)   Energy  can  be  neither  created  nor  destroyed. 

"(b)  The  work  done  by  a  weight  depends  only  on  its 
initial  and  final  positioTis,  and  it  is  hopeless  to  seek  a 
roundabout  method  for  bringing  the  weight  back  to  its  in- 
itial position  by  the  expenditure  of  a  lesser  amount  of 
work." 

Contrasting  such  statements  as  these  leads  to  the  gen- 
eral conclusion  that  "every  statement  of  principle  or  fact 
in  physics  should  take  a  form  which  suggests  trial  and 
verification,  and  every  physical  definition  should  take  a 
form  which  represents  the  underlying  physical  operation." 
The  authors  believe  that  current  practice  in  text  prepara- 
tion violates  this  fundamental  principle.  They  present  a 
plea  for  "homeliness"  in  the  expression  of  physical  quan- 
tities and  laws.  For  example:  "A  well-known  textbook 
cm  physics  calls  boiling  ebullition,  uses  the  heading  'Com- 
pressibility of  Aeriform  Bodies,'  and  speaks  of  vaporiza- 
tion as  the  'solution  of  a  liquid  in  aeriform  bodies.'  "  The 
absence  of  "homeliness"  is  here  quite  conspicuous. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  papers  several  speakers  took 
issue  with  the  authors.  A  communication  from  Prof.  R.  F. 
Deimel,  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology,  was  read.  In  this 
he  emphasized  the  fact  that  one  purpose  of  education  is  to 
teach  the  student  to  deal  with  abstractions.  This  purpose 
he  considered  to  have  been  overlooked  by  the  authors, 
whom  he  criticised  on  a  number  of  minor  points,  while  ex- 
pressing appreciation  of  the  main  purpose  of  the  paper. 
The  general  impression  created  by  the  discussion  was  that, 
while  certain  details  aroused  opposition,  it  is  necessary 
ti  get  the  treatment  of  physics  into  comprehensible 
language. 

SYMPOSIUM    ON    TRAINING    OF    ENGINEERING    TEACHERS. 

On  Thursday  evening  Dean  G.  C.  Anthony,  of  Tufts 
College,  who  is  a  vice-president  of  the  society,  presided 
over  a  well-attended  session  at  which  papers  on  the  train- 
ing of  engineering  teachers  were  presented  by  Profs.  J.  T. 
Faig,  .University  of  Cincinnati;  S.  C.  Earle,  Tufts  Col- 
lege, and  H.  H.  Norris,  Cornell  University,  and  by  Dean 
W.  F.  M.  Goss.  University  of  Illinois.  In  opening  the 
session  the  chairman  explained  clearly  the  qualifications 
which  an  instructor  should  possess.  He  took  up  in  detail 
the  matter  of  supervising  the  work  of  instructors  and  gave 
the  result  of  an  investigation  which  had  been  made  by 
Dr.  Samuel  P.  Capen  as  to  the  attitude  of  a  number  of 
schools  toward  this  question.  It  appears  that  there  is 
no  systematic  method  of  keeping  track  of  instructors' 
work  in  general  use.  and  yet  it  is  obvious  that  some  means 
should  be  provided  for  doing  this. 

Dean  Goss  treated  the  matter  of  staff  supervision  in 
a  broad,  comprehensive  way.  He  called  attention  to  abuse 
of  the  so-called  "academic  freedom."  The  professor  is 
more  or  less  a  law  unto  himself;  that  is,  in  the  words  of 
Dean  Goss,  "The  professor  may  rise  in  the  morning  if  he 
feels  like  it,  may  meet  his  classes  if  he  feels  like  it,  and 
if  he  meets  them  he  may  give  them  such  instruction  as 
be  may  wish  to  impart."  Dean  Goss  pleads  for  an  orderly 
conduct  of  affairs  in  teaching  which  shall  be  commonly 
understood  and  respected  and  which  shall  have  the  de- 
sired educational  effect.  The  purpose  of  a  staff  organiza- 
tion is  to  provide  responsible  leadership.  It  should  be  defi- 
nite so  that  each  member  shall  know  who  is  his  immediate 
superior  and  who  are  his  subordinates.  And  yet  the  su- 
perior should  not  be  a  taskmaster  but  rather  a  mentor  to 
those  under  him. 

In  a  paper  on  the  effect  of  co-operative  courses  upon  in- 
structors Professor  Faig  explained  how  the  co-operative 
courses  at  the  University  of  Cincinnati,  in  which  courses 
the  students  spend  alternate  weeks  in   school  and   in  com- 


134 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  3. 


mercial  shops,  have  reacted  upon  the  instructor.  This  re- 
action has  occurred  for  three  reasons:  (i)  Because,  as 
the  practical  work  in  which  the  students  are  engaged  must 
co-ordinate  with  the  classroom  work,  the  instructors  are 
forced  to  connect  theory  and  practice  to  satisfy  their  stu- 
dents; (2)  the  suggestions  received  by  instructors  from 
engineers,  superintendents,  foremen  and  others  who  have 
to  do  with  the  students  give  the  instructors  an  insight  into 
the  results  of  their  work,  and  (3)  the  co-operative  students 
influence  the  instructors  by  transmitting  the  atmosphere  of 
the  shop  to  the  classroom  and  by  their  practical  knowledge 
of  the  subjects  in  which  the  instructors  are  endeavoring  to 
teach  them. the  theory. 

Professor  Earle  described  an  experiment  which  he  has 
been  trying  for  some  years  and  in  which  an  instructor 
serves  for  a  year  as  an  apprentice  instructor.  During  this 
time  the  apprentice  does  no  responsible  teaching,  but,  by 
assisting  in  the  marking  of  reports  and  papers,  by  study  of 
the  details  of  the  courses  which  he  is  to  teach  and  by  gen- 
eral study  of  the  subjects  bearing  upon  those  courses,  he 
gradually  becomes  fitted  to  take  up  this  work.  Professor 
Norris  gave  some  details  of  the  working  of  a  faculty 
seminary  in  which  various  plans  have  been  used  to  im- 
prove the  quality  of  instruction. 

In  the  discussion  of  these  papers  Dean  J.  P.  Jackson 
emphasized  the  fact  that  teaching  is  not  a  simple  matter 
and  that,  while  all  schools  have  not  gone  into  the  matter  of 
teacher  training  as  thoroughly  as  might  be  desired,  still 
as  a  whole  the  responsibility  of  the  work  is  recognized  and 
strenuous  efforts  are  being  made  to  increase  administrative 
eflSciency.  He  contended  that  non-teaching  engineers  can 
have  no  adequate  realization  of  the  problems  involved. 
Dean  H.  T.  Eddy,  of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  gave 
the  results  of  his  experience  with  advanced  classes  of 
graduate  students  and  professors  and  contended  for  the 
improvement  of  instruction  by  stimulating  instructors  to 
continue  advanced  studies  in  their  specialties.  Other 
speakers  took  up  further  details  along  the  same  line. 

SCIENTIFIC   MANAGEMENT. 

On  Friday  morning,  in  the  foundry  of  Wentworth  In- 
stitute, a  unique  program  of  papers  relating  to  the  bearing 
of  "efliciency  engineering"  on  coKege  work  was  presented 
under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Frank  B.  Gilbreth,  a  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  society.  A  number  of  leaders  in  this  new  field 
were  present  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  discussion,  but, 
as  the  number  of  papers  to  be  presented  was  large,  no  dis- 
cussion beyond  that  contained  in  formal  papers  was  pos- 
sible. By  strict  enforcement  of  the  time-limit  rule  every 
speaker  had  a  reasonable  opportunity  to  present  his  views. 

Papers  were  presented  by  various  efficiency  advocates, 
including  Messrs.  Harrison  Emerson,  H.  L.  Gantt,  San- 
ford  E.  Thompson,  R.  B.  Wolf,  Hollis  Godfrey,  H.  F.  J. 
Parker,  H.  K.  Hathaway,  William  Kent,  R.  f.  Kent,  G. 
H.  Shepard,  \\'ilfred  Lewis  and  the  chairman.  In  addi- 
tion to  these  the  symposium  contained  papers  by  the  fol- 
lowing educators:  Dean  W.  F.  M.  Goss,  Profs.  Hugo 
Diemer,  L.  J.  Johnson,  H.  Wade  Hibbard  and  Walter 
Rautenstrauch  and  Mr.  Meyer  Bloomfield.  These  eighteen 
papers  taken  together   form  a  remarkable  collection. 

The  papers  are  of  two  varieties,  general  and  specific. 
The  chairman's  opening  remarks  covered  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  scientific  management  as  applied  to  getting  work 
done.  They  were  visualized  bv  means  of  a  diagram  show- 
ing the  relations  of  the  individuals  in  a  completely  or- 
ganized establishment.  Other  general  papers  were  given 
by  Mr.  Emerson,  on  educational  demands  of  modern  prog- 
ress, and  by  Mr.  Meyer  Bloomfield,  on  education  and  effi- 
cient living.  The  other  speakers  took  up  specific  problems 
relating  to  the  application  of  the  principles  of  efficiency  to 
college  administration:  the  teaching  of  scientific  manage- 
ment in  Colleges,  and  the  connection  of  scientific  manage- 
ment with  good  citizenship. 


LABORATORY    EQUIPMENT. 

Two  sessions  of  the  Boston  meeting  were  conducted  in 
sections,  each  confining  attention  to  details  of  equipment  of 
one  type  of  laboratory.  By  this  plan  smali  groups  of 
specialists  got  together  to  discuss  their  own  problenjg. 
These  meetings  were  unique  in  that  they  were  probaU| 
the  first  comprehensive  gatherings  of  teachers  of  cin 
mining,  mechanical  and  electrical  engineering  respectively 
The  result  was  enthusiastic  indorsement  of  the  scheme  and 
a  demand  for  a  continuation  of  the  effort  thus  begun  to 
secure  co-operation.  A  total  of  more  than  fifty  papers 
were  presented  before  these  sections  separately.  The  pa- 
pers covered  both  details  of  equipment  and  methods  used 
in  conducting  laboratory  courses.  At  the  beginning  of 
each  session,  before  breaking  up  into  groups,  the  sections 
combined  to  Jisten  to  the  presentation  of  papers  of  a  general 
nature.  Prof.  F.  P.  McKibben  opened  the  Friday  after- 
noon session  with  a  paper  entitled  "The  Design,  Equipment 
and  Operation  of  Uiiiversity  Testing  Laboratories."  On 
Saturday  morning  Dr.  R.  R.  Heuter  delivered  an  illustrated 
lecture  on  "The  Engineering  Laboratories  of  the  Royal 
Technical  University  at  Charlottenburg,  Germany." 

The  meetings  of  these  laboratory  sections  resulted  in  the 
appointment  of  special  committees  in  each  division.  These 
committees  expect  to  lay  plans  for  immediate  co-operation 
in  their  respective  fields  and.  if  they  accomplish  what  they 
hope  to  do,  the  results  of  the  1912  meeting  of  the  society 
will  be  of  substantial  benefit  to  technical  education. 

SOCIAL    FEATURES. 

Although  the  society  meeting  began  a  day  later  than  that 
of  the  Institute,  the  members  planning  to  attend  it  were 
invited  to  come  a  day  early  and  enjoy  the  recreation  pro- 
vided for  Tuesday  by  the  local  committee  of  the  Institute, 
A  large  number  accepted  the  invitation  and  participated  in 
the  program  described  in  last  week's  issue  of  the  Electrica'. 
World.  In  addition  to  this  and  other  entertainment  pro- 
vided by  the  Institute,  the  local  committee  of  the  society 
had  arranged  an  entertainment  program  which  worked  in 
well  with  the  other.  On  Wednesday  Harvard  University 
provided  a  luncheon  at  Harvard  Union  after  the  morning 
session,  which  was  held  in  Pierce  Hall.  In  the  afternoon 
the  buildings  and  equipment  of  the  university  were  in- 
spected under  the  guidance  of  Prof.  H.  E.  Clift'ord,  the 
party  being  joined  by  many  members  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 

On  Wednesday  evening  the  annual  dinner  of  the  society 
was  held  at  the  University  Club  in  Boston.  Addresses  of 
welcome  by  the  presidents  of  the  leading  technical  schooh 
of  the  vicinity  or  their  representatives  and  the  presidential 
address  of  Dean  Raymond  were  the  features  of  the  gather- 
ing. These  were  followed  by  an  unplanned  and  informal 
discussion  by  prominent  members  regarding  the  purposes 
and  activities  of  the  society. 

Tuesday  afternoon  was  occupied  with  visits  to  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Works  at  Lynn  and  to  the  educational  institu- 
tions in  Boston.  On  Friday,  at  noon,  between  the  sympo- 
sium session  on  "efficiency,"  held  in  the  foundry  of  Went- 
worth Institute,  and  the  laboratory  equipment  session,  held 
at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  the  former 
institution  tendered  the  society  an  informal  buffet  luncheon. 
.\fter  the  latter  session  and  immediately  following  an  in- 
spection of  the  laboratories  of  the  Institute  a  reception  was 
given  by  the  "Tech"  in  the  Institute  library. 

On  Friday  evening  the  local  committee  of  the  society 
invited  the  members  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E.  and  of  the  Society 
for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education  to  join  in  a 
"Dutch"  lunch  and  informal  smoker  in  the  main  ballroom 
at  Hotel  Somerset.  This  followed  a  short  semi-technical, 
semi-business  session  at  which  resolutions  of  thanks  to  the 
efficient  local  committees  and  to  the  individuals  and  institu- 
tions behind  the  committees  were  passed  enthusiastically. 

BUSINESS     MATTERS. 

During  the  meeting  the  council  of  the  society  met  several 


|l  I.V    23,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


135 


times  for  important  work  and  the  society  held  two  executive 
sessions.  The  constitution  of  the  society  was  amended 
slightly  to  comply  with  post  office  regulations  regarding 
second-class  rates  for  the  Bulletin,  and  also  to  give  the 
council  greater  freedom  in  choosing  meeting  places  for 
the  annual  meetings.  An  action  which  will  undoubtedly 
result  in  definite  improvement  of  the  work  of  the  society 
was  the  appointment  of  special  committees  on  improvement 
of  instruction  in  several  branches  of  engineering;  namely, 
civil,  mining,  electrical  and  mechanical.  The  chairmen  of 
these  committees  are  Profs.  F.  J.  McKibben,  Lehigh  Uni- 
versity; F.  W.  Sperr,  Michigan  College  of  Mines;  Charles 
F.  Scott,  Yale  University,  and  A,  M.  Greene,  Jr.,  Rensse- 
laer Polytechnic  Institute.  A  fifth  committee  on  college 
administration,  with  Dean  F.  L.  Bishop.  University  of 
Pittsburgh,  as  chairman,  was  also  appointed.  These  ap- 
pointments are  in  line  with  suggestions  from  the  University 
of  Illinois  members  of  the  society  regarding  a  more  syste- 
matic layout  of  committee  work,  somewhat  along  the  lines 
of  the  plan  used  by  the  American  Railway  Engineering 
Association.  This  important  matter  was  referred  to  the 
retiring  president  and  the  program  committee,  which  imme- 
diately prepared  a  plan  and  will  submit  it  to  the  council  for 
approval.  The  plan  comprehends  a  central  committee  on 
committees,  to  which  shall  be  referred  suggestions  regard- 
ing suitable  committee  work  and  which  shall  also  have  the 
power  to  initiate  plans  for  such  work.  The  central  com- 
mittee is  to  report  to  the  council,  which  may  direct  the 
central  committee  to  appoint  the  ne;essarv  special  com- 
mittees. 


RESULTS  OF  SEVEN  YEARS'  OPERATION  OF  THE 
SEATTLE  MUNICIPAL  PLANT. 


In  the  annual  report  of  the  Lighting  Department  of  the 
city  of  Seattle,  Wash.,  for  the  fiscal  year  ended  Dec.  31,  191 1, 
which  contains  a  review  of  the  financial  operations  of  the 
Seattle  municipal  plant  since  it  was  first  placed  in  commer- 
cial operation  in  1905,  is  found  an  example  of  the  success 
which  sometimes  attends  municipal  operation  when  the  ven- 
ture has  the  support  of  citizens  and  local  authorities  imbued 
with  a  proper  sense  of  public  duty,  civic  pride  and  a  desire 
to  work  in  unison  for  the  common  good.  The  tendency  in 
Seattle  has  always  been  toward  municipal  ownership  of  pub- 
lic utilities,  especially  that  of  lighting.  As  far  back  as  1869 
the  charter  granting  the  City  Council  authority  to  light  the 
streets  provided  for  the  erection  of  such  works  as  might 


carried  by  a  three-fifths  vote  at  a  municipal  election.  Con- 
struction was  started  in  April,  1902,  and  on  Sept.  9,  1905, 
the  city  lighting  department  began  taking  applications  for 
lighting  and  motor  service.  Since  1905  the  city  system  has 
grown  rapidly,  and  there  is  now  in  operation  an  u,ooo-kw 
hydroelectric  development  on  the  Cedar  River  from  which 
energy  is  transmitted  39  miles  at  60,000  volts  to  Seattle,  as 
was  described  in  the  Electrical  World  of  June  I,  1912. 

The  immediate  effect  of  municipal  ownership  of  lighting 
service  in  Seattle  was  a  downward  revision  in  the  schedule 
of  rates  for  energy  supplied  by  the  central-station  company 
in  the  city.  In  and  previous  to  1902  a  rate  of  20  cents  per 
kw-hour  for  residence  lighting  was  asked  by  the  competing 
company,  and  when  the  municipal  agitation  became  active, 
a  reduction  to  12  cents  per  kw-hour  was  made.  The  city 
plant  began  in  1905  with  a  residence  rate  of  8J/2  cents  per 
kw-hr.  for  the  first  20  kw-hr.,  yy'2  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  the 
next  20  kw-hr.,  6J/2  cents  for  the  next  20,  and  41/2  cents  per 
kw-hr.  for  all  in  excess  of  60  kw-hr.  per  month.  This 
schedule  was  immediately  followed  by  a  reduction  in  the 
central-station  company's  rates  of  165^  per  cent  and  this 
cut  was  followed  early  in  191 1  by  a  further  reduction  of 
5  per  cent.  When  on  July  i,  191 1,  the  municipal  rates 
were  lowered  to  7  cents  for  the  first  60  kw-hr.  and  4  cents 
per  kw-hr.  for  all  energy  used  in  excess  of  60  kw-hr.  per 
month,  the  private  company  followed  this  with  a  schedule 
making  its  rates  the  same  as  those  charged  for  the  municipal 
plant  service.  Since  1902  there  has  been  a  reduction  of 
65  per  cent  in  the  residence  rates  of  the  local  company. 

On  July  I,  1912,  the  municipal  rates  on  residence  lighting 
where  the  service  has  been  in  use  for  twenty-four  months 
became  6  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  the  first  60  kw-hr.  and 
4  cents  for  all  energy  used  in  excess  of  60  kw-hr.  per  month, 
with  a  minimum  charge  of  75  cents  per  month  for  such 
customers.  The  average  business  rate  charged  for  the 
municipal  service  is  3  cents  per  kw-hr.,  and  the  average 
rate  for  motor  service  is  2  cents  per  kw-hr.  The  method 
of  computing  these  rates  from  logarithmic  curves  was 
noted  in  the  article  in  the  Electrical  World,  June  i,  1912, 
referred  to  above.  Reductions  have  also  been  made  in  the 
cost  of  street  lighting  service  since  the  establishment  of 
the   municipal   plant. 

Although  these  low  rates  have  not  been  a  source  of  large 
profit,  the  revenue  received  has  fully  waranted  the  erection 
and  oneration  of  the  plant.  The  financial  statements  of  the 
city  lighting  department,  which  have  been  compiled  in 
abundant  detail,  show  that  from  the  end  of  1905,  when  a 
deficit  of  $18,876  was  recorded  for  that  year's  operation. 


STATEMENT   OF   REVENUE   AND    EXPENSE. 


Total  revenue. . 
Total  expenses.. 

Balance 

Depreciation. . . 
tSurplus 


1907. 


S4.';,470 
64,346 


*18,876 


SI17,299 

88,819 

28,480 

,W.505 

*11 ,025 


$198,793 

129, 47S 

69,317 

45,231 

*tS,815 


1908. 


$317,840 

186,882 

130,958 

104.424 

20,718 


$468,386 

225,864 

242,522 

143,063 

99,459 


$598,514 
299,550 
298,964 
195,537 
10.'.  427 


1911. 


8727,383 
412,367 
315,015 
161,581 
153,434 


*Deficit  for  year. 

+The  surplus  revenue  is  consumer!  by  extensions,  construction  and  liquidation  of  liabilities. 

JAfter  applying  $21,086  toward  deficit  for  years  1905  and  1906. 


be  necessary  to  that  end,  while  various  amendments  to  the 
charter  in  later  years  made  further  provision  for  municipal 
ownership  and  helped  to  bring  the  matter  before  the  public 
from  time  to  time. 

The  movement  for  municipal  ownership  of  lighting  facili- 
ties began  to  assume  a  tangible  form  in  January,  1902,  when 
the  board  of  public  works  submitted  plans  to  the  City 
Council  for  a  municipal  plant,  and  a  little  later  in  the  same 
year  a  proposition  to  issue  $590,000  par  value  of  bonds  for 
the  purchase  or  construction  of  a  city  lighting  plant  was 


the  revenues  of  the  municipal  plant  have  improved  steadily, 
as  is  shown  in  the  accompanying  table. 

The  balance  sheet  as  of  Dec.  31,  191 1,  shows  total  assets 
and  liabilities  of  $3,614,713.  Funds  on  hand  are  given  as 
$301,374,  total  plant  investment  as  $3,636,187,  the  net  value 
of  which  after  deduction  of  $664,797  for  depreciation  is 
placed  at  $2,971,396.  Th  bonded  indebtedness  is  $2,240,000. 
The  surplus  revenues  since  commencement  of  operation, 
amounting  to  $377,038,  have  been  absorbed  by  extensions 
and  new  construction. 


136 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol   6o,  \'o.  3. 


CALIFORNIA  PUBLIC  UTILITIES  ACT. 


The  Governor  of  California  on  Dec.  25,  1911,  approved 
the  public  utilities  act  passed  by  the  State  Legislature,  and 
on  March  23,  1912,  the  act  became  law.  This  act  is  adminis- 
tered by  the  Railroad  Commission,  which  consists  of  five 
members  appointed  by  the  Governor  from  the  State  at  large 
for  six-year  terms.  Powers  are  conferred  upon  the  com- 
mission to  regulate  the  rates,  schedules  and  service  of  com- 
mon carriers  and  public  utilities  operating  within  the  State, 
subject  to  certain  exceptions  later  mentioned.  All  charges 
for  service  must  be  just  and  reasonable,  and  every  unjust 
or  unreasonable  charge  is  prohibited  and  declared  unlawful. 
Every  public  utility  is  required  to  furnish  adequate,  efficient 
and  reasonable  service,  with  equipment  and  facilities  con- 
sistent with  the  promotion  01  the  safety,  health,  comfort 
and  convenience  of  its  patrons,  employees  and  the  public. 
Every  public  utility  is  required  to  file  a  copy  of  its  rates 
and  schedules  with  the  commission  and  keep  a  copy  of  the 
same  open  to  public  inspection.  It  is  prescribed  that  no 
public  utility  has  commenced  construction  under  a  franchise 
which  the  commission  has  jurisdiction,  shall  exceed  the 
rates  which  were  in  efifect  on  Oct.  10,  1911,  unless  author- 
ized by  the  commission.  Every  public  utility  is  forbidden 
to  practise  discrimination  or  exercise  any  prejudice  whal 
soever  as  to  rates,  service  or  facilities,  in  respect  either  to 
locality  or  as  between  different  classes  of  patrons. 

The  commission  is  given  authority  to  encourage  econo- 
mies and  improvements  in  public  utilities  and  to  permit 
the  distribution  of  any  profits  therefrom  to  which  the 
utility  companies  may  fairly  be  entitled.  No  common 
carrier  and  no  telephone  or  telegraph  corporation  may 
charge  mote  for  a  shorter  than  for  a  longer  haul  or  tans- 
mission  over  the  same  line  or  route  in  the  same  direction 
within  the  State.  Foreign  corporations  not  complying  with 
the  State  laws  are  forbidden  to  transact  a  public  utility 
business  within  the  State,  interstate  commerce  excepted. 
The  commission  is  given  proper  power  to  compel  physical 
connection  between  two  or  more  telephone  or  two  or  more 
telegraph  systems  whose  lines  can  be  made  to  form  a  con- 
tinuous route  of  communication,  when  this  can  reasonably 
be  done  and  public  convenience  requires  it.  The  commis- 
sion is  also  given  authority  to  compel  any  public  utility  to 
i;onduct  its  business  with  proper  regard  for  the  health  and 
safetv  of  its  employees,  patrons  and  the  public.  Just  and 
reasonable  standards  for  public  utility  service  may  be  fixed 
by  the  conmiission  after  a  hearing  upon  its  own  motion  ui 
upon  a  complaint.  Periodical  tests  or  inspections  of  service 
may  be  provided  for.  Public  utility  accounts  must  be  kept 
in  the  form  and  manner  prescribed  by  the  commission,  and 
every  public  utility  must  provide  adequately  for  deprecia- 
tion out  of  its  revenue,  and  shall  carry  a  depreciation  re- 
serve fund.  The  commission  is  empowered  to  ascertain  the 
value  of  the  property  of  every  public  utility  and  make  re- 
valuations from  time  to  time  as  may  be  necessary. 

No  street  railroad,  gas,  electric,  telephone  or  water  cor- 
poration shall  henceforth  begin  construction  of  any  plant  01 
system  or  any  extension  thereof  without  having  first 
obtained  from  the  commission  a  certificate  that  present  or 
future  public  convenience  and  necessity  require  such  con- 
struction. This  also  applies  to  the  right  to  exercise  fran- 
chises or  permits  granted  by  local  authorities.  Exception 
to  these  provisions  is  made  in  the  case  of  a  utility  desiring 
to  build  local  extensions  within  any  city,  town  or  county 
which  heretofore  it  has  lawfully  occupied  and  served,  or 
foreign  extensions  into  continguous  territory  not  heretofore 
served  by  a  public  utility  of  like  character.  Franchises  or 
permits  heretofore  granted  but  not  actually  exercised,  or 
the  exercise  of  which  has  been  suspended  for  more  than 
one  year,  become  void  and  a  certificate  of  public  con- 
venience and  necessity  must  be  applied  for,  except  that 
when  the  commission  shall  find,  after  a  hearing,  .that  a 
public  utility  has  conunenced  construction  under  a  franchise 


granted  before  the  law  took  effect  and  is  carrying  the  work 
forward  with  all  reasonable  diligence,  this  rule  may  be 
suspended. 

If  a  public  utility  desires  preliminary  authority  to  exer- 
cise a  franchise  not  yet  formally  granted  it  may  apply  to 
the  commission  for  a  preliminary  order,  and  in  the  sub- 
sequent event  of  obtaining  the  franchise  a  formal  certificate 
will  be  issued  in  accordance  with  the  order.  No  common 
carrier  or  public  utility  shall  place  any  lien  upon  its  prop- 
erty or  shall  issue  any  stocks,  bonds,  notes  or  evidence  of 
indebtedness  except  with  the  consent  and  approval  of  the 
conmiission.  Such  stocks,  bonds,  etc.,  shall  be  issued  only 
for  the  acquisition  of  property,  construction  of  plant  and 
improvements  in  service.  No  public  utility  shall  hereafter 
purchase  or  acquire  any  part  of  the  capital  stock  in  any 
other  public  utility  without  first  obtaining  the  authorization 
of  the  commission.  All  public  utilities  are  subject  to  the 
commission's  power  to  require  a  full  accounting  of  the  pro- 
ceeds from  all  sales  of  stocks,  bonds  or  other  evidence  of 
indebtedness.  The  commission  is  authorized  to  adopt  its 
own  rules  of  practice  and  procedure  in  hearings  and  in- 
vestigations held  by  it  and  the  technical  rules  of  evidence 
are  specifically  waived.  Full  powers  are  conferred  upon 
the  commission  to  ascertain  all  pertinent  facts,  examine 
books  and  records,  inspect  property,  compel  attendance  of 
witnesses  and  administer  oaths  in  connection  with  any  com- 
plaint or.  investigation  before  it.  After  any  order  or 
decision  has  been  made  by  the  commission  the  affected 
parties  may  apply  for  a  rehearing,  and  if  the  same  is 
denied  application  may  be  made  within  thirty  days  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  for  a  writ  of  certiorari  for  the 
purpose  of  having  the  lawfulness  of  the  original  decision 
or  order  inquired  into  and  determined. 

One  of  the  novel  features  of  this  act  is  contained  in  the 
provision  that  any  city  and  county  or  incorporated  city  and 
town  may  vote  at  a  public  election  on  the  question  of 
whether  they  will  vest  their  powers  of  regulating  public 
utilities  doing  business  therein  with  the  commission  or 
retain  such  power  to  themselves,  and  until  these  elections 
shall  be  held  such  powers  of  regulation  shall  continue  un- 
impaired in  each  city  and  county  or  incorporated  city  and 
town.-  It  is  also  provided  that  where  such  city  and  county 
or  incorporated  city  and  town  have  voted  to  retain  their 
powers  of  regulation  they  may  change  this  decision  there- 
after by  public  vote,  and,  moreover,  when  such  powers  have 
been  relinquished  to  the  commission  they  may  be  recovered 
at  any  time  bv  like  vote. 


CALIFORNIA  DECISION  IN  THE  PACIFIC  GAS  AND    fl 
ELECTRIC    CASE.  y 


As  announced  in  our  columns  last  week,  the  California 
Railroad  Conunission  has  handed  down  a  decision  in  the 
case  of  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company  versus  the 
Great  Western  Power  Company,  in  relation  to  competition 
between  like  public  utilities  and  the  grounds  which  justify 
the  grant  of  a  certificate  of  public  convenience  and  neces- 
sity. Because  of  the  rather  sweeping  character  of  the 
opinion  and  the  radical  declarations  of  policy  on  the  part 
of  the  commission  the  decision  is  of  unusual  interest  and 
importance.  Briefly  the  complainant,  the  Pacific  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  on  April  26,  1912,  complained  that  the 
Great  Western  Power  Company  had  constructed  or  was  in 
the  act  of  constructing,  or  surveying  for,  certain  transmisj 
sion  and  electric  distribution  systems  in  the  counties  ofl 
Solano,  Napa,  Sonoma  and  Marin,  without  securing  th^ 
necessary  franchises  or  the  necessary  certificate  of  public 
convenience  and  necessity.  The  defendant  company  on 
May  6  filed  applications  for  certificates  of  public  con- 
venience and  necessity,  under  sections  50  (a),  50  (b)  and 
50  (c)   of  the  public  utilities  act,  covering  substantially  all 


JULV   20,    1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


137 


of  the  construction  completed,  under  way  or  contemplated, 
which  the  complainant  cited.  On  May  9  the  defendant 
filed  an  answer  to  the  specific  complaint,  and  on  May  28  the 
plaintiff  filed  a  protest  against  the  defendant's  applications 
for  certificates  of  public  convenience  and  necessity. 

The  several  complaints  and  applications  were  combined 
as  one  case  and  hearings  were  held  at  Santa  Rosa,  Napa, 
Vallejo  and  San  Francisco.  At  these  hearings  five  other 
electric  utility  companies  filed  protests  against  granting  the 
certificates  applied  for  by  the  defendant.  These  companies 
included  the  California  Telephone  &  Light  Company  and 
the  Cloverdale  Light  &  Power  Company,  operating  in 
various  parts  of  Sonoma  County;  the  Napa  Valley  Electric 
Company,  supplying  a  large  part  of  Napa  County ;  the 
Vallejo  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  serving  the  city 
of  Vallejo,  and  the  Vacaville  Water  &  Light  Company, 
serving  the  city  of  Vacaville. 

On  June  18  the  commission  handed  down  an  8000-word 
decision  and  order  which  has  unusual  interest  because  it 
establishes  an  important  precedent  in  California  and  differs 
radically  from  the  policies  established  by  some  of  the 
older  commissions  under  similar  laws.  The  gist  of  the 
finding  is  as  follows : 

"The  present  and  future  public  convenience  and  necessity 
require  and  will  require  (a)  the  granting  of  the  application 
of  Great  Western  Power  Company  under  the  provisions  of 
Section  50  (a)  of  the  public  utilities  act  as  to  all  sections 
of  Solano  County  outside  of  incorporated  cities  and  towns, 
except  the  territory  now  served  by  the  Vacaville  Water  & 
Light  Company;  all  sections  of  Napa  County  outside  of 
incorporated  cities  and  towns  other  than  the  territory  now 
served  by  the  Napa  Valley  Electric  Company :  all  sections 
of  Sonoma  County  outside  of  incorporated  cities  and  towns 
other  than  the  territory  now  served  by  the  Cloverdale  Light 
&  Power  Company,  and  the  California  Telephone  &  Light 
Company,  except  the  southern  end  of  the  Sonoma  Valley  in 
and  about  Shellville;  also  the  cities  or  towns  of  Napa, 
Santa  Rosa,  Sebastopol,  Petaluma,  Dixon,  Suisun  and  Fair- 
field, and  also  (b)  the  granting  of  the  application  of 
Great  Western  Power  Company  under  the  provisions  of 
Sections  >50  (b)  and  50  (c)  of  the  public  utilities  act. 
referring  to  the  approval  of  franchises,  as  hereinafter  in 
this  order  specified."  The  defendant's  application  was  also 
granted  to  the  extent  pf  permitting  the  sale  of  energy  to 
the  city  of  Vallejo  for  municipal  purposes  and  to  the 
Vallejo  company.  The  application  was  furthermore- granted 
as  to  other  incorporated  cities  and  towns  in  the  affected 
territory,  if  any,  not  now  supplied  with  electric  energy. 

.\fter  reciting  the  preliminary  facts  in  the  case  the  de- 
cision quotes  in  full  the  three  clauses  comprising  section 
50  of  the  public  utilities  act,  which  is  abstracted  elsewhere 
in  this  issue,  and  then  continues  with  the  following 
language : 

"While  the  general  intent  of  this  provision  of  the  act  is 
plain,  its  application  to  a  particular  contingency  is  sur- 
rounded by  much  difficulty.  It  certainly  is  true  that  where 
a  territory  is  served  by  a  utility  which  has  pioneered  in  the 
field,  and  is  rendering  efficient  and  cheap  service  and  is  ful- 
filling adequately  the  duty  which,  as  a  public  utility,  it 
owes  to  the  public,  and  the  territory  is  so  generally  served 
that  it  may  be  said  to  have  reached  the  point  of  saturation 
as  regards  the  particular  commodity  in  which  such  utility 
deals,  then  certainly  the  design  of  the  law  is  that  the 
utility  shall  be  protected  within  such  field;  but  when  any  one 
of  these  conditions  is  lacking  the  public  convenience  may 
often  be  served  by  allowing;  competition  to  come  in.  It 
lias  been  urged  in  this  proceeding  that  where  a  utility 
occupying  a  field  has  generally  served  such  field  so  that  the 
advent  of  a  second  utility  would  merely  serve  to  divide  the 
business,  then  if  the  existing  utility  has  the  ability,  if  it 
choose  to  do  so.  to  furnish  such  territory  efficiently  and  at 
as  reasonable  rates  as  can  be  legitimately  accorded  by  the 
utility  desiring  to  enter  the  field,  even  though  it  had  there- 


tofore charged  excessive  rates  or  given  inefficient  service, 
yet  sound  economy  would  require  the  authority  which  has 
the  power  to  regulate  the  rates  and  service  of  such  utility, 
to  require  the  existing  utility  to  furnish  such  territory 
adequately  and  cheaply  and  to  keep  the  second  utility  out. 
Theoretically  much  can  be  said  in  favor  of  this  contention, 
but  to  attempt  to  apply  it  would  in  practice  defeat  the  very 
intent  of  the  public  utilities  act  in  all  cases  where  utilities 
did  not  voluntarily  accord  to  their  patrons  those  things 
which  are  their  due  or,  at  least,  would  impose  ujjon  the 
public  authorities  the  burden  of  forcing  such  utilities  into 
a  realization  of  what  their  proper  relationship  to  the  public 
is.  In  times  past  in  this  State  efforts  on  the  part  of  public 
authorities  to  force  utilities  to  give  reasonable  rates  and 
adequate  service  have  been  met  with  long  continued  litiga- 
tion, and  if  the  public  authorities  have  at  hand  an  efficient 
and  summary  method  of  forcing  public  utilities  to  accord  to 
their  patrons  such  reasonable  rates  and  adequate  service, 
then,  in  our  opinion,  it  is  their  duty  to  use  it.  If  any 
territory  served  by  an  existing  utility  is  afflicted  by  such 
utility  with  excessive  rates  or  inefficient  service,  and  a 
second  utility  of  the  same  kind  desires  to  enter  such  ter- 
ritory and  this  commission  should  say  to  the  existing  utility 
'although  when  you  had  matters  your  own  way,  you  lost 
sight  of  your  duty  to  the  public,  yet  we  will  still  preserve 
for  you  this  territory  in  consideration  of  your  future 
good  behavior,'  in  how  many  instances  does  anyone  sup- 
pose a  new  utility  would  apply  to  enter  a  territory  served 
by  an  existing  utility  when  the  only  effect  of  all  its 
trouble  and  expense  would  be  the  cheapening  of  the  rate 
and  the  improvement  of  the  service  of  the  existing  utility  ? 
And  hence  if  we  should  in  the  very  first  important  contested 
application  for  a  certificate  of  public  convenience  and  neces- 
sity announce  the  rule  that  where  the  major  portion  of  a 
territory  is  served,  though  inefficiently  and  at  high  rates, 
the  result  of  such  application  will  be  merely  to  put  the 
existing  utility  upon  its  good  behavior,  then  we  would,  in 
effect,  be  saying  to  all  the  offending  utilities  of  this  State, 
if  there  be  any,  'you  may  proceed  with  your  present 
methods  until  competition  knocks  at  the  door  of  your  ter- 
ritory and  only  then  will  you  be  compelled  to  do  justice.' 
and  we  would  be  saying  to  every  new  public  utility  'you 
will  knock  in  vain  at  the  door  of  any  field  now  served  by  a 
utility.'  The  result  would  be  that  old  utilities  would  keep 
their  territory  unspurred  by  the  fear  of  competition,  know- 
ing always  that  only  when  it  was  imminent  need  they  pre- 
pare to  do  justice  to  their  patrons,  and  the  new  utilities, 
having  no  incentive  to  apply  for  permission  to  go  into  ter- 
ritory more  or  less  completely,  but  inefficiently  served, 
would  limit  themselves  to  new  fields,  within  which  they 
would  soon,  in  turn,  assume  the  same  attitude  as  would  be 
assumed  by  the  old  utilities  now  doing  business  within  the 
State.  Rather,  do  we  announce  the  rule  that  only  until  the 
time  of  threatened  competition  shall  the  existing  utility  be 
allowed  to  put  itself  in  such  a  position  with  reference  to 
its  patrons,  that  this  commission  may  find  that  such  patrons 
are  adequately  served  at  reasonable  rates.  By  announcing 
this  principle  we  hope  we  shall  hold  out  to  the  existing 
utilities  an  incentive  which  will  induce  them  voluntarily, 
without  burdening  this  commission  or  other  governmental 
authorities,  to  accord  to  the  communities  of  this  State  those 
rates  and  that  service  to  which  they  are  in  justice  entitled, 
and  to  the  new  utilities  we  shall  likewise  hold  out  the  in- 
centive that  on  the  discovery  by  them  of  territory  which  is 
not  accorded  reasonable  service  and  just  rates,  they  may 
have  the  privilege  of  entering  therein  if  they  are  willing  to 
accord  fair  treatment  to  such  territory.  We  understand  the 
certificate  of  public  convenience  and  necessity  to  be  in  this 
State  largely  a  precautionary  measure.  We  have  already 
dealt  somewhat  at  length  with  tlie  cases  wherein  we  believe 
competition  should  be  allowed,  even  though  such  com- 
petition will  mainly  serve  to  take  patrons  from  the  existing 
utility.     If,   however,  a   territory   is  completely   served  and 


138 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  \o.  3. 


the  utility  has,  to  the  best  of  its  ability,  given  fair  treatment 
to  its  patrons,  as  already  intimated,  this  commission  will  be 
slow  to  permit  a  competitor  to  come  into  its  territory.  One 
of  the  few  cases  where  under  such  circumstances  the  com- 
petitor will  be  permitted  to  enter  the  field  will  be  where 
the  competitor  can  adequately  furnish  the  commodity  at  a 
rate  so  much  less  than  the  rate  which  can  be  accorded  by 
the  existing  utility,  that  the  interests  of  the  public  demand 
the  commodity  at  the  lower  rate.  We  are  aware  that  this 
may  work  hardships  upon  small  companies  and  we  are  like- 
wise aware  that  the  State  owes  a  duty  to  the  small  utility 
which  has  gone  into  a  field  and  furnished  the  inhabitants 
thereof  with  a  service  which  would  otherwise  have  been 
denied  them.  When  the  advent  of  the  new  utility,  under 
such  circumstances,  will  serve,  through  legitimate  competi- 
tion, to  impair  the  investment  of  the  existing  utility,  the 
difference  in  rates  which  may  be  legitimately  accorded  by 
the  new  utility  must  be  so  considerable  that  the  public  in- 
terest clearly  demands  the  rendition  of  the  service  at  the 
lower  rate  before  this  commission  will  be  moved  to  permit 
the  competitor  to  enter  such  field,  provided  always,  as  we 
have  already  said,  that  the  existing  utility,  be  it  small  or 
great,  has  been  doing  its  best  to  treat  its  patrons  fairly. 

"Competition  does  not  necessarily  become  duplication 
unless  the  field  covered  by  a  natural  monopoly  is  completely 
served.  California  has  just  begun  her  development.  We 
have  no  doubt  that  as  a  rule  in  this  State  the  going  in  of  a 
second  utility  will  develop  a  considerable  amount  of  new 
business,  while  leaving  an  ample  field  for  the  existing 
utility.  Such  being  the  case,  the  instances  wherein  this 
commission  will  deny  a  certificate  of  public  convenience  and 
necessity  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  another  utility  is 
already  in  the  field  will  be  comparatively  rare.  If  we  had 
as  dense  a  population  as  exists  in  some  of  the  Eastern 
States  and  if  our  territory  were  supporting  practically  the 
limit  of  its  population  and  practically  all  the  territory  of 
this  State  were  covered  by  the  plants  of  existing  utilities, 
then  under  the  rule  we  have  already  announced  practicallv 
the  only  cases  wherein  a  second  utility  would  be  permitted 
to  compete  would  be  those  cases  wherein  the  present  utility 
was  remiss  in  its  duty  to  the  public." 

Referring  to  the  permission  given  to  the  defendant  to 
enter  certain  cities  named  in  the  order,  the  commission 
brought  up  two  objectionable  practices  which  ought  to  be 
discontinued.  In  the  first  place,  the  practice  of  charging 
to  the  consumer  the  cost  of  making  extensions  and  per- 
mitting him  to  pay  for  the  extensions  in  use  of  commodity, 
enables  a  company  to  acquire  its  property  and  thereby  in- 
crease its  capital  out  of  its  earnings,  whereas  the  money 
obtained  should  be  charged  to  income.  Thus  a  company 
may  extend  its  system  throughout  an  entire  county  and 
make  it  appear  that  its  revenue  during  the  time  of  extension 
is  nil,  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  if  correctly  accounted  for 
its  revenue  may  show  such  an  earning  upon  its  capital  in- 
vested that  it  would  lead  a  rate-fixing  body  to  determine 
that  the  rates,  which  apparently  yield  nothing,  are  too  high. 

The  other  vice  singled  out  by  the  commision  for  com- 
ment is  the  absolutely  unwarranted  assumption  of  owner- 
ship of  such  extensions  by  the  company,  for  the  construc- 
tion of  which  it  has  required  the  consumer  to  furnish  the 
funds  without  according  to  him  any  return  for  the  use  of 
the  same.  The  commission  stated  that  if  a  utility  desired  to 
cover  the  fat  territory  comprised  within  its  franchise  it 
should  be  required,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  to  cover 
the  lean  as  well.  If,  under  extraordinary  circumstances,  it 
appears  that  the  hope  of  business  is  so  remote  as  not  to 
warrant  an  extension,  and  the  consumer  desiring  the  exten- 
sion is  willing  to  put  up  the  money  to  provide  the  same,  the 
ordinary  canons  of  business  decency,  the  commission  holds, 
require  that  title  to  the  extension  should  remain  in  him 
and  not  be  added  to  the  company's  property  in  fraud  nf 
the  consumer  because  he  loses  the  interest,  and  in  fraud  of 
the  public  authority  because  the  value  of  this  extension  is 


used  to   swell  the   total   value  of  the  plant   for   rate-fixing 
purposes. 

The  commission  does  not  believe  in  rate  wars  which 
serve  to  reduce  the  earnings  of  a  utility  below  a  reasonable 
figure.  While  such  rate  wars  may  bring  a  temporary 
advantage  to  a  locality,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  commission 
that  they  often  react  ultimately  to  the  detriment  of  such 
locality.  The  commission  suggests  to  the  utilities  that  should 
they  enter  into  a  rate  contest  in  cities  over  which  it  has  no 
jurisdiction  it  will  feel  inclined  to  take  as  the  standard  of 
reasonableness  for  rates  in  territory  within  its  control  the 
standard  set  by  these  utilities  within  the  territory  over 
which  it  has  no  control. 


CHICAGO  COUNCIL    PASSES  ELECTROLYSIS 
ORDINANCE. 


On  July  16  the  City  Council  of  Chicago  unanimously 
passed  the  pending  ordinance  designed  to  minimize  the 
damage  to  underground  metallic  structures  from  electrolysis, 
accounts  of  which  have  appeared  previously  in  our  columns. 
According  to  last  reports  the  city's  expert  estimates  that  the 
ordinance  will  require  the  traction  companies  to  expend 
some  $3,000,000  in  installing  negative  booster  systems, 
while  experts  for  the  traction  companies  represent  that  they 
will  have  to  spend  over  $10,000,000.  A  strong  controversy 
over  this  ordinance  has  been  going  on  betv.'cen  the  city 
and  the  traction  interests,  with  Mayor  Harison  lending  his 
full  support  to  the  city's  side  of  the  case.  At  one  of  the 
recent  hearings  one  of  the  legal  representatives  of  the 
companies  stated  that  the  ordinance,  if  passed,  would  be 
contested  in  the  courts  on  the  ground  that  it  requires  a 
needlesslv  large  expenditure  of  money  without  direct  return. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW  YORK   COMMISSION,  FIRST  DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  First  District 
recentlv  made  public  the  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Gas  and 
Electricity  showing  the  number  of  gas  and  electric  meters 
tested  during  the  month  of  June,  1912.  Of  the  electric 
meters.  1 1.5  per  cent  were  found  to  be  more  than  4  per 
cent  fast.  2  per  cent  were  found  to  be  more  than  4  per  cent 
slow  and  86.5  per  cent  were  found  to  be  between  4  per  cent 
fast  and  4  per  cent  slow.  Electric  meters  tested  on  com- 
plaint numbered  52. 

Volumes  II  and  III  of  the  annual  rcDort  of  the  Public 
Service  Commission  for  the  First  District  of  the  State  of 
New  York  for  the  year  ended  Dec.  31,  1910.  have  recently 
been  distributed.  Vol.  II,  comprising  265  pages,  contains 
the  orders  issued  by  the  commission  during  1910.  The 
third  volume,  comprising  728  pages,  is  the  statistical  portion 
of  the  report. 

NEW    YORK    COMMISSION.    SECOND   DISTRICT 

The  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  District,  has  ap- 
proved of  the  exercise  of  franchises  granted  by  the  Nassau 
County  board  of  supervisors  and  town  superintendent  of 
highways  of  North  Hempstead  to  the  Public  Service  Cor- 
poration of  Long  Island  for  the  laying  of  gas  mains  for  the 
furnishing  of  gas  in  the  town  of  North  Hempstead.  At 
the  same  time  the  commission  has  denied  the  application 
of  the  Westbury-Hicksville  Gas  Company  for  consent  to 
allow  it  to  serve  gas  in  the  same  territory. 

In  its  decision  the  commission  stated:  "From  all  the 
proceedings  and  evidence  in  both  cases  the  public  highways 
in  the  town  of  North  Hempstead  are  divided  into  state 
highways,  county  highways,  county  roads  and  town  roads ; 
that  in  order  to  supply  the  said  town  and  the  inhabitants 


July  20,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


139 


thereof  with  gas  properly  it  is  essential  that  there  should 
be  but  one  gas  corporation  engaged  in  said  service,  which 
gas  corporation  sliould  be  in  a  position  to  occupy  all  of 
the  public  highways  in  said  town  upon  which  there  are 
residents  who  desire  to  use  gas.  The  Public  Service  Cor- 
poration of  Long  Island  has  obtained  franchises  from  the 
town  superintendent  of  highways  and  also  from  the  board 
of  supervisors  of  the  county,  while  the  Westbury-Hicksville 
Gas  Company  has  obtained  only  a  franchise  from  the  town 
superintendent  of  highways  to  occupy  the  town  highways, 
and  the  board  of  supervisors  of  the  county  has  refused  to 
grant  this  company  a  franchise  to  occupy  the  county  roads." 

MASSACHUSETTS   COMMISSION. 

The  Massachusetts  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission 
has  published  its  twenty-seventh  annual  report,  covering 
the  year  191 1,  and  including  the  usual  statistics  of  opera- 
tion, reprints  of  decisions  and  legislation  affecting  municipal 
plants  arid  gas  and  electric  companies  within  the  State. 
The  report  is  a  document  of  239  pages,  with  an  appendix  of 
426  pages.  Fifty  complaints  were  received  by  the 
board  during  the  year.  During  the  year  the  town  of 
Boylston  and  the  city  of  Springfield  took  adverse  action 
against  municipal  ownership  propaganda.  The  incomes 
of  the  electric  companies  of  the  State  totalled  $12,353,- 
IC9  for  191 1,  compared  with  $11,206,004  for  1910.  The 
total  expenses  were  $7,251,118,  as  against  $6,738,093  for 
the  previous  year.  There  was  a  gain  of  about  $640,000 
in  apparent  profits,  compared  with  an  apparent  deficit  of 
$1,894,628  .in  the  case  of  the  gas  companies  of  the  State. 
The  latter  had  a  surplus  of  $520,110  for  1910,  while  the 
surplus  of  the  electric  companies  increased  from  $1,855,383 
for  1910  to  $2,049,081  for  191 1.  The  returns  of  the  in- 
dividual companies  indicate  that  in  general  the  central- 
station  industry  in  Massachusetts  is  in  splendid  condi- 
tion, and  the  expansion  of  earnings  from  year  to  year  shows 
little  evidence  of  abatement. 

The  board  has  issued  a  decision  fixing  the  price  of  4-amp 
magnetite  arc  lamps  for  street  lighting  in  the  city  of 
Worcester  at  $80.30  per  lamp-year,  after  a  long  and  ex- 
haustive investigation.  The  former  price  was  $91.25  per 
year.  Owing  to  the  importance  of  the  case  an  abstract  of 
the  decision  will  appear  later. 

OHIO  COMMISSION. 

The  Ohio  Public  Service  Commission  has  refused  a  cer- 
tificate of  public  convenience  and  necessity  to  the  Cranberry 
Home  Telephone  Company,  which  made  application  recently 
for  permission  to  establish  an  exchange  at  New  Washing- 
ton. The  application  was  resisted  by  the  local  telephone 
company,  which  asserted  that  the  people  already  have  good 
service  and  that  a  second  system  would  inflict  a  hardship 
upon  them.  This  is  the  first  instance  in  which  an  applica- 
tion of  this  kind  has  come  before  the  commission. 

CALIFORNIA  COMMISSION. 

The  California  Railroad  Commission  has  granted  permis- 
sion to  the  Oro  Electric  Corporation  to  construct  an  addi- 
tional generating  plant  on  Yellow  Creek,  a  branch  of  the 
north  fork  of  the  Feather  River,  and  construct  a  steel  trans- 
mission line  from  that  point  into  Alameda  County  and  a 
branch  line  into  Calaveras  County.  The  company  will  ex- 
tend its  lines,  supply  energy  for  lighting' and  motor  service 
in  Plumas,  Butte,  Yuba,  Sutter,  Colusa,  Glenn,  Yolo, 
Solano,  Contra  Costa,  Sacramento,  Calaveras,  San  Joaquin 
and  .Alameda  counties.  The  permission  is  granted,  how- 
ever, only  on  condition  that  those  bonds  of  the  corporation 
now  held  by  the  Oro  Development  Company  and  the  Oro 
Water,  Light  &  Power  Company  will  not  be  sold  until  the 
consent  of  the  commission  is  obtained. 

WISCONSIN   COMMISSION. 

The  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission  has  issued  a  decision 
ordering  the  Rhinelander  Lighting  Company  to  abandon 
the  rate  schedules  now  in  effect  and  to  substitute  therefor 


a  schedule  devised  by  the  commission.  The  decision  was 
in  answer  to  a  complaint,  filed  by  citizens  of  Rhinelander, 
alleging  that  the  rates  for  electric  lighting  in  the  city  of 
Rhinelander  were  excessive  and  discrinunatory.  No  objec- 
tion was  raised  at  the  hearing  to  the  commission's  valua- 
tion of  the  physical  property,  but  the  attorneys  for  the 
defendant  contended  that  an  item  of  approximately  $73,000 
for  intangible  values  should  be  included  in  the  total  valua- 
tion to  be  used  for  rate-making  purposes.  This  amount  in- 
cluded an  allowance  for  franchise  value  which  was  based 
upon  the  estimated  cost  of  the  free  service  to  be  furnished 
the  city  in  accordance  with  the  terms  under  which  the 
original  franchise  was  granted.  Inasmuch  as  this  franchise 
was  surrendered  for  an  indeterminate  permit,  the  conditions 
engrafted  upon  it  were  invalidated  upon  surrender,  and  the 
information  concerning  the  cost  of  service  up  to  the  time 
of  the  exchange  was  too  meager  to  furnish  any  estimate 
for  a  reasonable  allowance.  The  defendant  alleged  further 
that  the  savings  which  have  been  effected  through  the 
substitution  of  purchased  hydroelectric  energy  for  steam- 
generated  energy  should  be  capitalized  and  made  a  part 
of  the  intangible  value.  The  commission,  however,  was  of 
the  opinion  that  "the  title  of  the  owner  of  a  utility  business 
to  the  entire  savings  produced  by  the  substitution  of  a 
cheaper  power  has  not  been  clearly  demonstrated,"  and  that 
to  grant  the  demand  of  the  defendant  in  this  connection 
would  "preclude  the  public  from  enjoying  any  share  in 
economic  methods  of  service  and  would  seem  to  place  upon 
the  users  of  utility  service  the  burdens  of  maximum  cost  of 
operation." 

From  an  analysis  of  operating  expenses  the  commission 
deduced  the  following  unit  costs,  which  were  based  upon 
the  physical  valuation  of  the  property :  For  one  hour's  use 
of  the  active  connected  load,  11.97  cents;  for  two  hours' 
use,  7.01  cents;  for  three  hours'  use,  5.36  cents,  etc.  Upon 
these  unit  costs  the  following  rate  schedule  was  devised: 
A  primary  charge  of  10  cents  net  per  kw-hr.  for  energy 
used  equivalent  to  the  first  thirty  hours'  use  per  month  of 
the  active  connected  load ;  a  secondary  charge  of  7  cents 
net  per  kw-hr.  for  the  next  sixty  hours'  use,  and  an  excess 
charge  of  4  cents  net. 

In  Class  A,  consisting  of  residences,  when  the  total  con- 
nected load  is  equal  to  or  less  than  500  watts,  60  per  cent 
of  such  connected  load  is  to  be  deemed  active ;  when  the 
installation  exceeds  500  watts,  33.33  per  cent  of  the  part 
over  and  above  500  watts  is  to  be  considered  active. 

In  Class  B,  consisting  of  stores,  offices,  business  and  pro- 
fessional places,  etc.,  when  the  total  connected  load  is  equal 
to  or  less  than  2.5  kw,  70  per  cent  is  to  be  considered  active; 
when  the  installation  exceeds  this  value,  55  per  cent  of  the 
excess  is  to  be  deemed  active. 

In  Class  C,  consisting  of  city  buildings  and  industrial 
establishments,  55  per  cent  of  the  total  connected  load  is 
to  be  considered  active. 

The  company  has  only  a  few  metered  consumers  at 
present,  but  the  commission's  order  provides  that  meters 
must  be  installed  for  all  consumers  within  ninety  days. 

According  to  the  present  contract  which  the  utility  com- 
pany has  with  the  water  power  company  no  energy  can  be 
sold  for  motor  service  other  than  for  fan  motors.  The 
commission  held  that  the  residents  of  Rhinelander  were 
entitled  to  motor  service  and  that  either  the  defendant  com- 
pany must  furnish  such  service  or  it  must  be  supplied  by  the 
water  power  company  itself.  The  schedule  as  ordered  for 
motor  service  is  as  follows:  A  service  charge  of  $1  per 
month  for  each  installation  of  i  hp  or  less,  a  charge  of 
75  cents  for  each  additional  horse-power  up  to  5  hp,  and  a 
charge  of  50  cents  per  horse-power  for  each  additional 
horse-power  over  5  hp.  In  addition  to  the  service  charge 
there  is  to  be  a  meter  charge  of  3  cents  net  per  kw-hr.  for 
the  first  ninety  hours'  use  per  month  of  the  total  installa- 
tion and  a  charge  of  2  cents  net  per  kw-hr  for  all  energy 
used  in  excess  of  that  amount. 


140 


RL  F.  CTR  ICA  L     WO  R  LD 


Vol,.  60,  No.  3. 


Current  News  and  Notes. 

7"he  Rating  of  Oh.-Mngine  Locomotives. — On  page  117 
of  our  issue  dated  July  13  attention  was  called  to  a  2joo-lii). 
125-kni  per  hour  Junkers  oil-engine  locomotive.  .A  tvpo- 
graphical  error  caused  the  machine  to  have  the  apparent 
rating  of  "i25-k\v  per  hour." 


LoNG-DlSTANCE     INDEPENDENT      TeLEI'HONE      CONNECTION 

WITH  Chicago. — It  is  now  possible  to  talk  over  Independent 
long-distance  telephone  lines  between  Chicago  and  Grand 
Rapids,  Mich.  Mayor  Harrison  of  Chicago  talked  to 
Mayor  Ellis  of  Grand  Rapids  in  this  way  on  Julv  11,  when 
the  service  was  established. 


Reduced  Rates  to  Public  Service  Employees. — The 
counsel  for  the  Public  Service  Commission  of  Maryland 
has  given  it  as  his  opinion  that  it  is  unlawful  for  the 
Hagerstown  (Md.)  Light  &  Heat  Company  to  furnish  gas 
to  its  employees  at  rates  below  those  charged  to  other 
customers.  He  says  that  in  Maryland  there  appears  to  be 
no  warrant  of  law  to  allow  reduced  rates  to  employees  ot 
gas  and  electric  companies.  The  ruling  providing  for  the 
same  rates  under  the  same  conditions  to  all  consumers 
ajjplies  to  the  company's  employees  as  well  as  to  other 
customers. 

*  *     * 

Engineering  Education  for  Self-Supporting  Boys. — 
Arrangements  have  been  made  by  the  Chattanooga  Institute 
of  Technology  w'ith  the  various  manufacturers  of  that  cit\ 
according  to  which  engineering  stude:its  are  ensbled  tu 
earn  all  expenses  while  attending  school.  The  time  re- 
quired for  completing  the  course  is  60  nir;nths.  The  student 
works  in  some  industrial  establisl  nient  for  one  week  and 
attends  the  Institute  the  next  week,  thus  devoting  one-half 
time  to  study  of  theory  and  the  other  to  practice  while  he 
is  obtaining  wages  enough  to  pay  all  of  his  expenses.  The 
president  of  the  Institute  is  Prof.  H.  E.  Bierly,  Chat- 
tanooga, Tenn. 

Compulsory  Wireless  Service. — Senator  William  Alden 
Smith's  bill  introduced  shortly  after  the  Titanic  disaster, 
requiring  all  vessels  carrying  fifty  or  more  passengers  to 
have  at  least  two  wireless  operators  so  that  one  may  be 
on  duty  at  all  times,  has  been  adopted  by  the  House  and  is 
expected  to  receive  the  President's  signature  without  delay. 
The  bill  is  to  go  into  effect  on  Oct.  i,  1912.  The  wireless 
apparatus  must  be  powerful  enough  to  receive  and  trans- 
mit messages  at  least  100  miles,  and  each  vessel  must  have 
an  auxiliary  source  of  energy  supply  independent  of  the 
ship's  main  electric  plant  to  maintain  communication.  On 
cargo-carrying  vessels  one  first-class  operator  will  be  re- 
quired, but  another  member  of  the  crew  will  be  required  to 
understand  the  transmission  of  distress  signals. 

*  *     * 

St.  Louis  Electric  Club  Outing.- — The  St.  Louis 
League  of  Electrical  Interests  entertained  its  members  and 
the  members  of  the  local  section  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.,  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and  the  Engi- 
neers' Club,  on  an  excursion  on  the  evening  of  July  9.  A 
dinner  at  6 130  was  followed  by  an  address  of  welcome  by 
Mr.  Sam  A.  Hobson,  president  of  the  St.  Louis  League; 
his  address  being  responded  to  by  a  representative  of  each 
of  the  organizations  present.  Following  a  vaudeville  enter- 
tainment, songs  by  Mr.  Charles  Brainerd  and  music  by  the 
Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  orchestra,  Mr. 
Frank  D.  Beardslee,  sales  manager  for  the  Union  company, 
was  presented  with  an  umbrella.  Mr.  Beardslee  being  win- 
ner of  a  speakers'  contest  recently  carried  on  by  the  league. 


.\lr.  Charles  Sutter  also  received  a  prize  as  winner  of  a 
sub-contest  carried  on  among  the  St.  Louis  electrical  con- 
tractors. 

Xew  CoM.vioNWi  alth  Edison  Office  Building. — It  is 
now  reported  that  all  details  in  relation  to  the  purchase  of 
tile  Commercial  National  Bank  Building  by  the  Common- 
wealth Edison  Company  of  Chicago  have  been  completed. 
The  building  secured  is  a  large  twenty-story  office  building 
at  tlie  corner  of  West  Adams  Street  and  South  Clark 
Street,  Chicago.  It  will  be  used  for  the  office  headquarters 
of  the  Commonwealth  company  some  time  after  Jan.  i, 
1914.  when  the  bank  will  be  ready  to  move  into  a  new 
building  which  it  is  erecting.  The  price  paid  is  said  to  be 
$4,660,000,  including  $2,86o,oco  in  cash,  of  which  $1,000,000 
has  been  paid,  and  the  assumption  of  a  mortgage  of  $l,8oo,- 
000.  The  Commercial  National  Bank  Building  is  a  modern 
building  and  so  large  that  no  doubt  a  portion  of  the  space 
ill  it  will  be  leased  to  tenants.  It  was  sold  to  the  Common- 
wealth Edison  Company  by  the  Continental  and  Commercial 
National  Bank. 

*         *         * 

Strawberry  Tunnel  Reclamation  Project  in  Utah. — 
In  celebration  of  the  completion  of  the  great  Strawberry 
Tunnel  reclamation  project  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment the  town  of  Spanish  Fork,  Utah,  put  on  gala  attire  on 
July  2,  3  and  4.  The  project  is  primarily  for  irrigation, 
bringing  the  waters  of  Strawberry  Creek  througa  the 
Wasatch  Mountains  by  a  tunnel  into  the  Utah  X'alley. 
While  the  primary  purpose  of  this  great  engineering  work 
is  irrigation  a  power  plant  has  been  created  and  it  was 
among  the  features  of  the  project  inspected  by  the  visitors. 
.\t  the  exercises  in  the  city  park  of  Span'sh  Fork  on  July 
2  there  were  a  number  of  speeches,  including  one  by  Mr. 
Heber  M.  Wells,  frrmerly  governor  of  LUah,  and  another 
1)\-  Chief  Engineer  Hill  on  ''Reclaniat'on  Work."  The  cost 
of  the  work  is  stated  to  be  $3,000,000  and  it  is  estimated 
that  the  irrigation  system  will  enable  60,000  acres  of  fertile 
soil  to  be  reclaimed  from  the  desert. 


SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

New  York  Railway  Association. — The  Street  Railway 
Association  of  New  York  has  changed  its  name  to  the  New 
York  Electric  Railway  Association.  Mr.  Charles  C.  Deitz; 
LTnited    Traction    Company,    Albany,    N.    Y.,   is   the    nevv'ly 

elected  secretary. 

*  *     * 

Rate  Research  Committee  Meeting. — A  meeting  of  the 
rate  research  committee  of  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association  will  be  held  on  Aug.  7  on  Associated  Island  in 
Lake  Ontario.  Plans  for  the  work  of  the  committee  during 
the  coming  year  will  be  taken  up  at  this  meeting.  \ 

*         *         + 

Faraday'  Society  Officers. — At  the  annual  general  meet-  i 
ing  of  the  Faraday  Society  held  in  London  on  July  2  the  | 
following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year:  Presi-  j 
dent.  Dr.  R.  T.  Glazebrook;  vice-presidents,  Messrs.  K.  J 
Birkeland,  Robert  Hadfield,  F.  W.  Harbord,  Bertram  Hop- 
kinson,  Alexander  Siemens  and  James  \\'alker;  treasurer, 
Dr.  Mollwo  Parkin,  Ph.D. 

*  *     * 

The  Institute  of  Operating  Engineers. — The  second, 
annual  meeting  of  the  Institute  of  Operating  Engineers  will 
be  held  on  Sept.  6  and  7  in  the  Engineering  Societies  Build- 
ing, 29  West  Thirty-ninth  Street,  N.  Y.  The  main  features 
will  be  the  award  of  diplomas  on  Sept.  6  and  the  report  of 
the  constitution  revision  committee  on  Sept.  7.  The  after- 
noon of  Sept.  6  will  be  devoted  to  the  reading  and  discus- 
sion of  technical  papers  . 


ELECTRICITY    IN   NORTHWEST    WASHINGTON. 

Generating  and  Distribution  System  of  the  Whatcom   County   Railway    and 

Light  Company  of  BelHngham,  Wash. 

Simple  Hydroelectric  Station  at  Nooksack  Falls  in  the  Forest  Reserve  near  International    Boundary. — 

Steam   Relay  Station   at   Bellingham    Burning  California   Fuel  Oil. — Details  of . 

Development  and  of  Oil-Burning   Equipment. 


THE  Whatcom  County  Railway  &  Light  Company,  of 
BelUnghani,  Wash.,  suppHes  electric  service  to 
Bellinghani,  Burlington,  Concrete,  Glacier,  Mount 
\'ernon,  Maple  Falls,  Lynden  and  Sedro-Woolley ;  also 
energy  for  railway  service  for  Bellinghani  city  lines  and 
the  33-mile  interurban  railway  from  Bellinghani  to  Mount 
Vernon  and  Sedro-Woolley,  Wash. 

Bellingham  has  a  population  of  25,000  and  is  located  about 
18  miles  south  of  the  international  boundary  line  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada  and  is  the  most  northern  Puget 
Sound  city  of  any  importance.  Lynden,  with  a  population 
of  1200,  is  14  miles  north  of  Bellingham.  Sumas  is  20  miles 
north,  northeast  of  Bellingham.  Nooksack  Falls  is  35  miles 
east,  northeast  of  Bellingham.  Burlington,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  1300,  is  24  miles  south  of  Bellingham.  Mount 
Vernon,  whose  population  is  2400,  is  4  miles  south  of 
Burlington.  Sedro-Woolley  has  a  population  of  2100  and 
is  five  miles  east  of  Burlington.  Concrete  has  a  popula- 
tion of  1200  an'd  is  28  miles  east  of  Burlington.  Glacier, 
with  a  population  of  100,  and  Maple  Falls,  with  a  population 
of  500,  are  8  miles  south  of  the  international  boundary  line 
and  are  respectively  8  and  15  miles  from  Nooksack  Falls. 
There  are  three  sources  of  power  for  this  system:  Nook- 


sack Falls  development,  York  Street  steam  station  and  the 
Western  Canada  Power  Company. 

NOOKSACK   FALLS  DEVELOP.MENT 

The  Nooksack  Falls  development  is  located  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  north  fork  of  the  Nooksack  River  in  Whatcom 
County,  Wash.,  and  is  approximately  8  miles  in  a  south- 
easterly direction  from  the  town  of  Glacier  on  the  Belling- 
ham Bay  &  British  Columbia  Railway.  This  development 
is  in  the  United  States  Washington  Forest  Reserve.  The 
Nooksack  River  rises  in  the  Cascades  on  the  north  side  of 
Mount  Baker  and  the  flow  in  dry  weather  is  principally 
from  glaciers.  The  average  flow  of  the  river  is  about  250 
second  feet,  and  the  area  of  the  water  shed  is  supposed  to 
be  from  100  to  no  square  miles. 

DAM   AND   HEAD   WORKS 

The  dam  is  located  about  80  ft.  above  Nooksack  Falls, 
which  has  a  drop  of  no  ft.  The  dam  consists  of  a  log  4  ft. 
in  diameter,  thrown  across  the  stream  to  divert  the  water 
into  the  intake.  The  ends  of  this  log  are  anchored  to  the 
steep  rock  banks  of  the  river  by  concrete  piers.  The  upper 
and  lower  sides  of  the  dam  are  sheathed  and  cribbed  with 
loose  rock  in  the  center.    The  intake  was  excavated  out  of 


Fig.    1 — Generating    Room   of  the   Nooksack   Falls  Station. 


M^ 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  3. 


solid  rock  atid  consists  of  two  concrete  walls  about  2  ft. 
thick,  18  ft.  long  and  16  ft.  deep,  holding  in  position  a 
wooden  frame  for  two  3>i  in.  thick  by  4  ft.  wide  gates, 
operated  through  a  set  of  gears  by  a  motor  supplied  with 
energy  and  controlled  from  the  power  house.  At  times  of 
high  water,  trees,  bushes  and  other  rubbish  come  down  the 
river,  and  in  order  to  keep  this  debris  from  entering  the 
system,  the  intake  is  supplied  with  a  grid  consisting  of  ten 
56-lb.  T-rails,  18  ft.  long  and  held  in  place  by  ;54-i"-  'ron 
stirrups,  bolted  through  10  in.  by  10  in.  timbers  across  the 
entrance. 

FOREBAY  AND  PENSTOCK. 

Water  from  the  intake  enters  the  forebay  through  a  rock 
tunnel,  8  ft.  by  10  ft.  by  260  ft.  long,  which  is  lined  with 
2-in.  plank.  The  forebay  is  12  ft.  by  60  ft.  by  22  ft.  deep,  is 
constructed  of  timber,  8-in.  by  8-in.  posts  and  8-in.  by  lo-in. 
sills  being  used.  The  sides  and  bottom  are  2.s-in.  by  1 2-in 
tongued  and  grooved  plank,  spiked  to  the  posts.  The  ex- 
cavation for  the  forebay  is  made  entirely  in  solid  rock. 
Attached  to  the  forebay  is  a  spillway,  42  ft.  long,  consisting 
of  6-in.  by  6-in.  fir  posts  and  2.5-in.  by  12-in.  plank  sides 
and  bottom,  by  means  of  which  the  sand  and  other  sediment 
is  dumped  directly  into  the  Nooksack  River  below  the  Falls. 

The  penstock  pipes  consist  of  one  24-in.  wood-stave  pipe 
(2-in.  by  6-in.  stave)  and  ^-in.  iron  bands  with  steel  riveted 
elbows  at  curves,  and  one  47-in.  diameter  steel  riveted  pipe 
0.203  in-  thick.  The  pipes  lie  along  a  uniform  grade  of 
appro.ximately  12  per  cent,  the  hillside  sloping  transversely 
about  40  deg.  from  the  horizontal.  The  total  head  from  the 
water  in  the  forebay  to  the  power  house  is  176  ft.  The 
capacity  of  the  47-in.  pipe  is  172  second  ft.  and  that  of  the 
44-in.  pipe  is   149  second   ft.,  and  the  velocity   is   16   ft.   a 


Stave  Lake 


INTERNATIONAL 


BOUNDARY 


'  bumus 

UNITED 
Limestone 


STATES 


'■•^*i 


23(10  V 

South 
Beilingliani 


SYMBOLS. 

OO^- Writer  Wheel  and  Generator. 

00  ^Synchronous  Motor-Generator  Set, 

)=Steam  Engine  and  Generator. 
Q  =  Turbo-Generator. 
:;5t=  Transformers. 
-  =Oil  Switches. 
=  =  Air  Switches, 
o  ^Meters. 
—  =  Future  Lines, 
.—  =  Switchboards. 
-650  V- DC  Note;-  Distances  given  are 
-        ■       ■  Approximate.  ^^.^^^J-;^ 

.lil^^S^-^ir^     T   Concrete 


FUetrieal  fVarld 


Fig.    2 — Diagrammatic     Map    of     Distribution     System. 

second.  The  total  length  of  each  pipe  line  is  1380  ft.,  in 
which  distance  there  are  four  tunnels  of  196-ft.,  28-ft.,  79-ft. 
and  80-ft.  lengths.  At  the  lower  end  of  the  47-in.  pipe  a 
30-in.  stand  pipe,  250  ft.  long  and  Ji  i"-  thick,  was  erected. 


which  terminated  at  a  point  above  the  level  o'f  the  intake,  so 
as  to  act  as  a  safety  valve  in  case  of  sudden  closure  of  the 
valves  to  the  water-wheel.  At  present,  however,  this  stand 
pipe  is  not  in  use,  having  been  found  to  be  unnecessary. 
The  pipe  lines  are  anchored  to  the  hillsides  at  bends  and 
intermediate  places  by  being  imbedded  in  concrete  blocks 
fastened  to  the  rock.  Because  of  several  rock  slides  and 
consequent  bursting  of  pipes,  protecting  walls  have  been 
built  into  the  hillsides  to  prevent  these  rock  slides.  From 
the  power  house  to  the   forebay  a  walk  made  of  2-in.  by 


I 


Fig.    3 — Penstock    Above     Nooksack    Station. 

T2-in.  plank,  with  railing  at  dangerous  places,   follows  the 
pipe  lines  up  the  canyon  side. 

BUILDINGS. 

The  power  plant  building  is  40  ft.  by  60  ft.  by  29  ft.  high, 
with  concrete  floor  and  three  concrete  walls,  the  fourth  wall 
being  of  corrugated  iron  on  wood  frame.  The  roof  is  sup- 
ported on  a  steel  frame  arni  is  built  of  wood  plank  covered 
with  tar  and  gravel.  A  tail  race  consisting  of  two  concrete 
walls  controls  the  spent  water  from  the  wheel. 

The  transformer  house  is  located  on  the  hillside,  150  ft. 
above  the  power  house.  It  is  24  ft.  by  22  ft.  by  17  ft.  high 
and  has  concrete  walls  and  floor,  and  plank  roof  covered 
with  tar  and  gravel. 

The  chief  operator's  house  is  a  two-story  frame  dwelling, 
with  woodshed  attached.  There  are  three  other  one-story, 
five-room  cottages  occupied  by  the  operators.  The  other 
buildings  around  the  plant  are  board  sheds  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  stable,  which  is  a  frame  building  and  painted. 
At  the  town  of  Glacier  there  is  a  patrolman's  frame  dwell- 
ing and  also  a  stable. 

EQUIPMENT. 

The  power  plant  is  equipped  with  a  six-runner,  horizontal, 
tangential,  3200-hp,  Pelton  water-wheel,  which  runs  at  200 
r.p.m.  A  type-Q  Lombard  governor  controls  the  speed  of 
this  wheel.  Direct  connected  to  the  shaft  of  this  water-wheel 
is  a  1500-kw,  Westinghouse,  revolving-field,  2200-volt,  three- 
phase,  6o-cycle  alternator.  A  45-kw,  Westinghouse,  125- 
volt,  850-r.p.m.  exciter  supplies  the  energy  for  the  gen- 
erator field,  plant  lamps,  motor-operating  head  gates  and 
motor  operating  the  water-wheel  valves  in  the  station.  In 
addition  to  this  is  a  motor-generator  set  of  14  kw  rating, 
which  supplies  energy  for  lighting  and  125-volt  energy 
when  the  Nooksack  station  is  not  in  operation  and  when 
energy  is  being  transmitted  from  the  York  Street  station  in 
Bellingham.  A  20-ton  hand-operated  traveling  crane  made 
by  the  Northern  Engineering  Works,  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  is 
used  whenever  machinery  is  taken  apart  or  repaired.  One 
double  Lombard  oil  pump  with  vertical  tank,  operated  by  a 
5-hp  motor,  supplies  the  oil  for  the  water-wheel  governor. 

In  the  concrete  transformer  house  are  three  500-kw  Gen- 


JLM.V    20,     191: 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


143 


eral  Electric  2300  to  60,000-voIt,  oil-insulated,  water-cooled 
itransformers,  with  three  Westinghouse  single-pole,  6o-cycle, 
46-amp  static  interrupters  connected  on  the  high-tension 
side  of  the  transformers. 

TRANSMISSION. 

rVoni  this  transformer  house  energy  is  transmitted  over  a 


Fig. 


-Intake   for   the    Nooksack   Station. 


three-phase,  60-ooo-volt,  single-pole  line  to  Bellingham,  a 
distance  of  42  miles.  The  poles  are  placed  150  ft.  apart  and 
are  of  red  cedar  with  an  average  length  of  45  ft.,  with  a 
minimum  top  diameter  of  gyi  in.  and  a  minimum  bottom 
diameter  of  15  in.  Poles  are  braced  at  all  curves,  river 
and  railway  crossings.  On  the  first  8  miles  from  the  power 
house,  through  the  Forest  Reserve,  the  poles  are  set  in  rock, 
the  remaining  poles  being  set  in  hard  pan  and  earth.  The 
poles  at  river  and  railway  crossings  are  60  ft.  long  and  at 
river  crossings  are  set  in  log  cribs,  12  ft.  x  12  ft.,  filled 
with  rock. 

The  cross-arms  are  of  fir,  with  two  bolts  at  each  pin  hole 
to  prevent  splitting  of  the  arm.  The  arms  are  painted  with 
red  lead  and  oil  and  double  arms  are  used  at  all  brace  poles 
and  transpositions.  The  insulators  are  of  Locke,  60,000- 
volt,  high-tension  porcelain,  cemented  to  galvanized  pins. 
They  are  of  the  four-petticoat  type,  with  a  diameter  of 
14  in.  and  a  height  of  12J/2  in.  The  transmission  cable 
throughout  is  a  seven-strand,  aluminum  wire,  with  a  con- 
ductivity nearly  equal  to  that  of  No.  I  copper.  Tie  wire  is 
No.  2  dolid  aluminum  and  about  3  ft.  long  at  each  tie.  This 
line  was  designed  to  transmit  6000  kw  at  55,000  volts. 
With  a  transmission  tension  of  38,000  volts  the  records 
taken  from  August,  1908,  to  August,  1911,  show  the  trans- 
mission and  transformer  losses  to  be  10.8  per  cent.  The 
line  is  transposed  every  3  miles  and  terminates  at  the  York 
Street  station  in  Bellingham,  Wash. 

TELEPHONE  LINES. 

The  main  telephone  line  is  strung  on  the  poles  of  the 
high-tension  line,  10  ft.  below  the  high-tension  cross-arms. 
Cross-arms  are  of  fir  (painted),  with  two  galvanized  iron 
braces  to  each  arm,  and  are  double  at  the  same  places  as 
high-tension  arms,  as  well  as  at  transpositions,  which  are 
made  at  every  tenth  pole.  The  pins  are  of  locust  and  the 
insulators  are  of  glass.  The  wire  is  No.  10  B.  &  S.  gauge, 
hard-drawn  copper.  There  are  eleven  2500-ohm  Strom- 
berg-Carlson  magneto  telephones  in  use,  each  protected 
against  breaks  in  the  high-tension  line  by  a  General  Electric 
high-tension  i  to  I  ratio  telephone  protective  transformer 
with  adjustable  spark-gap  discharge  to  ground. 

DISTRIBUTING  SYSTEM. 

Around  the  power  plant  at  Nooksack  and  along  the  pen- 
stock is  a   small    125-volt  distributing   system    for  lighting 


the  station  and  operators'  cottages,  and  also  for  operating 
the  gates  at  the  intake.  This  line  consists  principally  of 
No.  6  weatherproof  copper  wire  carried  on  glass  insulators 
supported  by  locust  pins  in  cross-arms  bolted  to  wrought- 
iron  pipe  posts  10  ft.  long  and  set  in  the  rock. 

At  Glacier  and  Maple  Falls  the  voltage  is  stepped  down 
for  lighting  purposes  by  a  lo-kw  transformer  at  Glacier 
and  by  a  25-kw  transformer  at  Maple  l^'alls. 

A  53/2-mile  transmission  spur  runs  to  Limestone,  at  which 
point  there  are  installed  three  loo-kw,  60,000  to  2300-volt, 
oil-insulated,  self-cooled  transformers,  controlled  by  a  pole 
top  disconnecting  switch  outside  a  wood  frame  transformer 
house. 

Twenty-three-hundred-volt  energy  is  taken  through  three 
No.  o  copper  wires,  300  ft.  to  two  50-kw,  2300-volt  to  440- 
volt  pole-type  transformers,  located  just  outside  the  plant 
of  the  International  Line  Company,  which  has  a  quarry  1000 
ft.  up  the  hillside  and  manufactures  a  high  grade  of 
hydrated  lime,  using  electric  drive  in  the  process  of 
manufacture. 

WESTERN    CANADA   POWER   COMPANY. 

The  Western  Canada  Power  Company,  as  the  name  im- 
plies, is  in  western  Canada,  35  miles  from  the  city  of  Van- 
couver and  18  miles  north  of  the  international  boundary 
line  between  Canada  and  the  United  States.  This  develop- 
ment will  have  an  ultimate  capacity  of  100,000  hp,  although 
at  present  it  furnishes  only  one  quarter  of  that  amount. 
Stave  Lake,  which  is  9  miles  long  with  an  average  width 
of  I  mile,  and  7  miles  of  river  furnish  the  water  at  a  hydro- 
static   head    of    105    ft.      Six    3000-kva,    4000    to    60,000- 


Fig.   5 — Power    House   and    Penstock   at    Nooksack    Faiis. 

volt.  Step-up  transformers  are  used  for  increasing  the 
voltage  for  transmission  purposes.  A  35-miIe  steel-tower 
double  line  runs  to  Vancouver,  and  an  18-mile,  wood- 
pole  double  line  runs  to  Sumas,  which  is  on  the  boundary 
line.  At  this  point  the  Whatcom  County  Railway  &  Light 
Company  has  contracted  for  the  purchase  of  power  in  blocks 
up  to  5000  kw. 


1^4 


E  L  E  C  X  R  I  C  A  L     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  3. 


YORK  STREET  STATION. 

The  York  Street  Station  of  the  Whatcom  County  Rail- 
way &  Light  Company  is  located  at  the  corner  of  York 
Street  and  Railroad  Avenue  in  Bellingham.  The  ground  on 
which  the  station  is  located  is  in  the  shape  of  an  irregular 
"L,"  being  bounded  on  the  north  by  Whatcom  Creek,  on 
the   south   by   York    Street,    on   the    east   by   the    Northern 


Fig.     6 — York     Street     Station. 

Pacific  Railway  right-of-way  and  on  the  west  by  Railroad 
Avenue  and  the  Bellingham  Bay  &  British  Columbia 
Railway. 

The  plant  acts  as  a  relay  and  substation,  and  is  made  up 
in  three  sections.  The  boiler  and  engine  rooms  run  north 
and  south  in  length  and  are  parallel  to  Railroad  Avenue, 
on  which  is  located  the  side  track  where  fuel  oil,  wood,  etc., 
are  received  at  the  plant.  Near  this  side  track  and  120  ft. 
north  of  the  boiler  room  is  the  concrete  fuel  oil  storage 
tank.  About  30  ft.  east  of  the  engine  room  is  the  rectangu- 
lar repair  shop,  bordering  on  York  Street  and  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railway  right-of-way.  About  100  ft.  from  the 
north  end  of  the  shop  and  100  ft.  from  the  northeast  corner 
of  the  engine-room  is  the  stable  and  carriage  shed.  Back 
of  all  these  buildings  which  front  on  York  Street  is  What- 
com Creek. 

BUILDINGS. 

The  boiler  room  is  about  88  ft.  by  45  ft.  by  26  ft.  high, 
and  is  made  of  corrugated  galvanized  iron  on  steel  frame 
with  concrete  floor.  The  roof  is  nearly  flat  and  is  con- 
structed of  reinforced  concrete  covered  with  tar  and  gravel 
and  supported  on  a  steel  frame.  Twenty  windows  make  the 
boiler  room  amply  light  by  day  and  thirty-three  60-watt 
tungsten  lamps  with  prismatic  glass  shades  supply  light  at 
night.  The  construction  of  the  building  allows  of  expan- 
sion by  moving  the  west  wall  so  that  four  batteries  of  two 
boilers  each  can  be  installed,  with  a  minimum  amount  of 
changes.  .'^ 

The  turbine  room  is  83  ft.  9  in.  by  87  ft.' 5  in.  by  J},  ft. 
4  in.  by  65  ft.  outside  dimensions  respectively  on  the  north, 
east,  south  and  west  sides.  The  building  has  a  basement 
14  ft.  deep  and  a  single  story  of  28  ft.  maximum  height 
above  ground  level,  making  a  total  height  from  the  base- 
ment floor  to  the  top  of  the  roof,  exclusive  of  skylight,  of 
42  ft.  That  part  of  the  basement  which  is  occupied  by 
machinery,  such  as  feed-water  and  circulating  pumps,  has  a 
concrete  floor.  The  main  floor  of  the  station  is  erf  steel  and 
reinforced  concrete  construction,  in  which  is  inserted  con- 
duits for  electric  wiring.  Such  wiring  as  cannot  go  in 
conduit  in  the  floor  is  supported  under  the  switchboard  by 
means  of  steel  racks.  Seven  large  windows  and  a  large 
door  with  windows  above  it  supply  light  to  the  station  by 
day  and  thirtv-five   loo-watt  tungsten  lamps  by  night. 


The  engine  room  is  100  ft.  6  in.  by  38  ft.  by  22  ft.  to  the 
highest  part  of  the  roof.  The  floor  is  of  concrete  and 
painted  to  give  a  better  surface  to  keep  clean  and  make 
less  dust.  A  17-ft.  by  i8-ft.  basement,  12  ft.  6  in.  below 
the  main  floor  is  furnished  with  a  concrete  floor.  This  base- 
ment is  lighted  by  four  l6-cp  carbon  lamps. 

The  fuel  oil  tank  is  30  ft.  by  20  ft.  by  10  ft.  deep  and 
holds  about  40,000  gal.  of  oil.  It  is  made  of  12  in  concrete 
on  sides  and  bottom  reinforced  with  i/2-in.  round  iron  bars 
\2  in.  on  centers,  and  has  a  5-in.  frame  concrete  top  rein- 
forced with  i/^-in.  round  iron  bars  6  in.  on  centers  length- 
ways and  12  in.  on  centers  crossways.  There  are  two 
openings  in  the  top,  which  permit  of  filling  the  tank  and 
inspection.  A  coil  of  pipe,  through  which  exhaust  steam 
from  the  pump  passes,  lays  along  the  sides  of  this  tank  and 
ke^ps  the  oil  warm  and  consequently  thin.  This  oil  is 
about  as  tiiick  as  thin  molasses.  The  -tank  is  below  the 
level  of  the  earth  on  three  sides,  being  open  to  the  creek 
on  the  other  side. 

The  repair  shop  is  about  48  ft.  by  20  ft.  by  14  ft.  to  the 
<ea,ves  and  is  of  wood  frame  construction  with  shingle  roof. 
Attached  to  this  is  a  lo-ft.  by  20-ft.  shed  used  as  a  store- 
room for  line  material  and  supplies.  The  shop  is  used  for 
all  repairs  excepting  those  made  on  car  bodies  and  trucksi 
Power  is  furnished  to  the  machinery  by  two  220-volt 
"tiiotors. 


"  York  Street  station  operates  as  a  substation  most  of 
the  time,  but  occasionally  has  to  act  as  a  generating  station 
when  the  power  fails  from  other  sources.  At  these  times 
standard  California  fuel  oil  obtained  from  "Baker," 
"Colinga"  and  "Sunset"  oil  fields  is  used.  This  oil  has  a 
higher  flash  point  than  crude  oil,  because  it  has  had  all 
the  volatile  ingredients  removed.  The  oil  is  pumped  from 
the  fuel  tank  outside  by  two  Wagner  duplex  pumps  and  is 
forced  at  120  lb.  pressure  through  a  heater  inside  the 
boiler  room  consisting  of  return  coils  of  steam  and  oil 
pipes  incased  in  a  12-in.  cast-iron  pipe  covered  with  steam 
covering.  The  pumps  are  conveniently  located  about  15  ft. 
in  front  of  the  boilers.  From  this  heater  the  oil  goes  to 
the  boilers  where  it  is  burned,  after  being  sprayed  through 
home-made    nozzles.      The    nozzles    consist    of    ^-in.    pipe 


Fig.   7 — Boiler   Room,   York   Street   Station. 

with  controlling  valves  from  13/2-in.  supply  mains  leading 
into  a  I -in.  pipe  used  as  a  mixing  chamber  and  containing  a 
i-in.  wood  auger  bit  to  aid  in  the  complete  breaking  up  of 
the  oil.  On  the  end  of  this  i-in.  pipe  is  a  l^-in.  by  i-in. 
reducing  elbow,  plugged  on  the  jyi-in.  end  and  turned  up 
with  a  horizontal  slot  lyi  in.  by  3/32  in.  in  the  elbow,  made 
with  two  hack-saw  blades  in  a  frame  together.     On  the  two 


ll'I.Y    20,    igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  I)  . 


145 


,  middle  of  the  four  burners  this  slot  is  sawed  in  the  middle 
of  the  front  of  the  elbow,  but  on  each  of  the  end  burners 
the  slot  is  sawed  to  one  side  so  that  the  flame  will  not  im- 
pinge against  the  side  walls.  A  nozzle  is  thrust  through 
each  of  the  four  lower  doors  of  the  boiler  so  that  they 
extend  just  inside  the  front  wall.  The  grate  is  covered 
with  a  layer  of  firebrick  with  the  exception  of  a  space  i8  in. 
by  15  in.,  through  which  the  hot-air  supply  is  fed  directly 
under  each  burner.  The  air  is  led  from  the  front  of  the 
boiler  through  tile  to  the  back  of  the  grate  where  it  is 
heated  in  returning  to  the  open  hole  at  the  front  of  the 
grate.  The  firebrick  covering  of  the  grate  is  made  in  the 
form  of  a  spiral  curve,  beginning  6  in.  below  the  nozzle  of 
the  burner  and  curving  up  as  it  goes  towards  the  back  of 
the  boiler  and  tubes,  so  that  when  the  flame  leaves  the  fire- 
brick cover  it  is  directed  up  through  the  tubes,  rather  than 
directly  against  the  bottom  of  these.  The  flame  from  the 
burners  spreads  out  like  a  fan  and  fills  nearly  the  whole 
combustion  chamber. 

BOILERS  AND  AUXILIARIES. 

The  steam  generating  units  consist  of  a  battery  of  two 
500-hp  Stirling  water-tube  boilers  and  one  single  500-hp 
Stirling  water-tube  boiler,  supported  on  reinforced  concrete 
foundations.  If  more  boiler  capacity  is  needed  it  is  planned 
to  add  another  500  hp  unit  to  the  single  one  making  a  bat- 
tery of  two,  and  if  further  enlargement  is  necessary  four 
more  boilers  can  be  placed  facing  these,  as  has  been  men- 
tioned. A  stack  69  ft.  9  in.  high  above  the  tops  of  the 
boilers  and  7  ft.  in  diameter  of  3/16  in.  average  plate  thick- 
ness furnishes  the  necessary  draft  for  the  battery  of  two 
boilers,  while  the  single  boiler  is  equipped  with  a  shorter 
stack  5  ft.  in  diameter. 

The  boilers  are  supplied  with  two  No.  4  Spencer  damper 
regulators.  Attached  to  these  regulators  are  rods  operating 
valves  which  control  the  amount  of  steam  and  oil  supplied 
to  the  fuel  lines  on  the  fronts  of  the  boilers,  so  that  the 
fires  are  automatically  regulated  for  a  constant  pressure  of 
150  lb.  of  steam. 

Feed  water  is  supplied  from  the  creek  in  the  rear  of  the 
station  through  a  Wainwright  even-flow  water  heater  by 
two  Warren   duplex  pumps   set   in   cast-iron   drip   pans  on 


Fig.   8 — Interior   View   of   Turbine    Room,   Yorl<   Street   Station. 

heavy    foundations.      Feed-water    heater    and    pumps    are 
located  in  the  basement  of  the  turbine  room. 


Steam  piping  is  of  the  latest  pattern  and  capable  of  stand- 
ing 250  lb.  pressure,  although  the  pressure  carried  is  only 
about  150  lb.  All  supply  pipes  are  completely  covered  with 
asbestos  and  canvas. 


TURBINE  AND  EXCITER. 

On  the  ground  floor  of  the  turbine  room  in  the  northeast 
part  is  located  the  turbo-alternator.  This  machine  is  a  unit 
consisting  of  a  four-stage,  Curtis,  horizontal  type,  150-lb., 
2ooo-kw,  i8oo-r.p.m.  turbine,  run  condensing,  and  a  direct- 
connected  General  Electric  2000-kw,  2300-volt,  6o-cycle 
alternator. 


Fig.   9 — Rear  of   Switchboard,   Yori<   Street   Station. 

The  turbine  exciter  is  a  separate  Curtis  turbine-driven, 
non-condensing  unit  running  at  3600  r.p.m.  The  generator 
is  rated  at  35  kw  and  125  volts. 

ENGINE. 

The  only  steam  engine  in  the  plant  is  a  Hamilton-Corliss 
1000  hp  cross-compound  unit,  running  at  150  r.p.m.,  made 
by  the  Hooven,  Owens,  Rentschler  Company,  of  Hamilton, 
Ohio.  This  engine  runs  either  condensing  or  non-con- 
densing, and  connected  to  it  by  a  four-ply  leather  belt  75  ft. 
long  and  6  ft.  wide  is  a  pulley  which  can  be  connected  by 
means  of  a  clutch  to  a  500-kw  motor-generator  set. 

CONDENSERS  AND  PUMPS. 

The  turbine  condenser  is  a  S7-in.,  Helander  patent,  cast- 
iron,  barometric  condenser,  mounted  in  the  rear  of  the 
turbine  room  outside  the  station.  The  hotwell  is  a  cylin- 
drical tank  8  ft.  by  8  ft.  by  3  in.  in  diameter  with  a  4-ft.  by 
i-ft.  outlet  discharging  into  a  flume.  In  conjunction  with 
this  condenser  is  a  dry  vacuum  pump  located  in  the  north- 
east corner  of  the  turbine  room,  a  circulating  pump  and  a 
i2-in.  volute  pump  located  in  the  basement.  All  three  of 
these  pumps  were  furnished  by  the  Alberger  Condenser 
Company.  The  engine  condenser  equipment  is  somewhat 
similar  to  that  on  the  turbine. 

The  flume  which  carries  off  the  hot  water  discharged 
from  the  condensers  is  made  of  2-in.  plank,  200  ft.  long, 
2  ft.  6  in.  deep  and  4  ft.  high.  Cooling  water  for  the  con- 
densers and  machines  and  feed  water  for  the  boilers  is 
taken  from  the  creek  when  it  is  not  too  dirty.  In  times  of 
high  water  the  creek  is  unusually  dirty,  and  then  water 
from  the  city  mains  is  used  from  an  8-in.  supply  pipe.  All 
water  from  the  creek  is  taken  from  an  intake  made  of  6-in. 
by  i2-in.  plank,  10  ft.  by  13  ft.  by  15  in.  deep.  Down  the 
front  is  an  opening  8  ft.  io>4  in.  wide  covered  with  a  grid 
of  %-'m.  by  3-in.  bars  with  %-in.  spaces.  This  grid  keeps 
large  foreign  matter  from  the  system,  which  is  further  pro- 
tected by  two  iron  plates  3  ft.  back  of  this  grid.  These 
plates  are  5  ft.  9  in.  by  5  ft.  and  have  8200  5^-in.  holes 
drilled  in  them  on  j4-in-  centers.  The  plates  slide  in 
grooves  which  allow  of  their  being  raised  and  cleaned. 

MOTOR    GENERATORS. 

Two    motor-generator   sets   are    located   near    the    trans- 


146 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  3.         P 


former  cells  in  the  south  end  of  the  engine  room.  These 
are  500-kw  General  Electric  machines,  the  generators  being 
wound  for  600-volt  direct-current  and  the  synchronous 
motors  for  2300  volts,  60  cycles.  These  machines  supply 
direct  current  to  the  23  miles  of  city  railway  lines  and 
part  of  that  used  by  the  33-mile  interurban  line  running 
between  Bellingham  and  Mount  Vernon  and  Sedro-Woolley. 
One  motor  generator  can  be  connected  by  a  clutch  to  the 
looo-hp  Corliss  engine  and  botli  units  run  as  generators,  but 
this  is  very  seldom  done. 

TRANSFORMERS. 

In  the  three  cells  at  the  south  end  of  the  engine  room 
are  three  500-kw,  60-000  to  2300-volt,  General  Electric, 
oil-insulated,  water-cooled,  60-cycle  transformers.  On  two 
of  the  secondary  windings  of  these  transformers  are  con- 
nected booster  transformers  of  50  kw  capacity  for  the 
adjustment  of  the  voltage  received  at  the  York  Street 
station. 

SWITCHBOARD  AND  RACKS. 

The  switchboard  and  racks  are  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  turbine  room  and  extend  nearly  across  the  south  end. 
Directly  back  of  the  panels  is  an  open  space  through  the 
floor  about  8  in.  wide,  through  which  the  heavy  cables  pass 
to  angle  iron  racks  in  the  basement  where  they  are  sup- 
ported on  heavy  glass  insulators  and  lead  to  the  various 
units.  About  4  ft.  6  in.  in  the  rear  (south)  of  the  panels 
is  an  angle  iron  rack  running  the  length  of  the  switchboard 
and  4  ft.  by  8  ft.  6  in.  high.  This  rack  supports  the  hand- 
operated  oil  switches,  instrument  transformers  and  single 
bus  line,  room  for  another  busbar  line  being  provided.  All 
2300-volt  apparatus  is  located  on  the  angle-iron  racks.  The 
bus  line  is  divided  in  the  middle  so  that  one  end  is  a  gen- 
erating bus  and  the  other  is  the  distributing  bus.  Two 
series  transformers  join  these  two  sections  and  through 
these  the  total  energy  distributed  from  the  station  is 
measured. 

All  circuit  breakers  and  main  panel  switches  on  the  board 
are  connected  with  a  bell  alarm  system,  which  closes  the 
circuit  and  rings  electric  gongs  whenever  a  switch  goes  out. 

DISTRIBUTION   SYSTEM. 

Primary  distribution  is  done  at  2200  volts,  and  the  poles 
have  an  average  height  of  40  ft.  with  a  top  diameter  of 
8  in.  Primary  and  arc  insulators  are  of  porcelain  while  the 
secondary  insulators  are  of  glass.  This  aids  the  linemen  in 
their  work,  as  each  wire  is  immediately  identified  by  the 
insulator  and  position  on  the  arm. 

The  north  side  of  the  city  is  supplied  from  York  Street 
and  is  divided  into  four  districts:  Three  single-phase  light 
districts  for  residences  and  one  three-phase  light  district 
for  the  business  section.  No.  o  feeders  are  run  from  the 
panels  in  the  station  to  the  electrical  centers  of  the  lighting 
districts.  A  future  installation  will  include  feeder  voltage 
regulators  so  that  a  constant  voltage  can  be  kept  at  the 
centers  of  these  lighting  districts.  Three-phase  mains  are 
carried  about  the  city  so  that  there  are  only  a  few  motors  on 
the  lighting  mains,  and  these  motors  are  of  small  size. 
No.  4  and  6  wire  is  used  for  primary  distribution  from  the 
feeder  ends. 

Multiple  arc  lighting  is  done  at  104  volts,  20  to  i  ratio 
transformers  of  1.5  to  25  kw  rating  being  used.  All  trans- 
formers are  provided  with  suitably  fused  cut-outs  and 
grounded  on  one  side  of  the  secondary.  In  the  residential  sec- 
tions, secondary  circuits  are  made,  having  one  transformer 
usually,  with  No.  4  or  No.  6  secondary  wire  running  not 
more  than  1000  ft.  from  the  transformer  in  any  direction. 
If  the  section  is  very  thickly  settled  and  the  load  is  heavy, 
sometimes  two  transformers  are  connected  in  multiple  on 
the  same  circuit.  In  residential  districts  transformers  are 
given  connected  loads  up  to  three  times  their  rated  capacity 
and  are  fused  for  66  per  cent  overload.  In  outlying  sections 
of  two  districts  transformers  have  been  installed  to  boost 
the  voltage  for  belter  service.     In  business  districts  trans- 


formers are  given  a  connected  load  of  one  and  a  half  times 
their  rated  capacity  and  fused  for  45  per  cent  overload. 
Transformers  feeding  motor  circuits  are  given  a  connected 
load  25  per  cent  greater  than  their  rated  capacity  and  fused 
lor  100  per  cent  overload. 

SOUTH    BELLINGHAM   SUIiSTATION. 

On  Elk  Street,  in  the  northeast  part  of  the  Gas  Works 
property  is  located  the  south  side  substation.  It  is  16  ft.  by 
16  ft.  by  12  ft.  high  inside  dimensions  with  an  addition  16 
ft.  by  7  ft.  by  5  ft.  on  top,  where  the  high  voltage  wires 
enter  through  36-in.  sewer  pipes.  The  walls  are  of  brick, 
the  floor  is  concrete  and  the  roof  is  wood  covered  with  tar 
paper  and  tar  and  gravel.  Power  is  brought  at  23,000  volts 
from  York  Street  station  through  three  loo-kw  Stanley,  oil- 
insulated,  water-cooled,  2300  to  23,000-volt  transformers  by 
three  No.  4  copper  wires  5  ft.  apart  on  60  ft.  poles. 

The  substation  equipment  consists  of  three  loo-kw  Stan- 
ley, oil-insulated,  water-cooled,  23,000  to  2300-volt  trans- 
formers and  a  wood  frame  switchboard,  supporting  four 
oil  switches  mounted  on  the  back  of  the  board,  three  am- 
meters, one  voltmeter,  three  series  transformers,  two  shunt 
transformers,  a  watt-hour  meter  showing  the  energy  dis- 
tributed by  the  station  and  a  loo-amp  Wright  maximum- 
demand  meter  showing  the  maximum  load.  No  attendant 
is  kept  at  this  station,  but  every  other  day  the  meters  are 
read  and  the  transformers  are  inspected. 

The  primary  and  secondary  distribution  are  similar  to 
that  of  the  north  side  from  York  Street  station,  excepting 
that  the  single-phase  light  districts  do  not  each  have  a 
separate  switch.  Arc  lighting  is  done  by  a  multiple  system 
having  one  primary  wire  controlled  by  a  switch  in  the 
station  and  run  in  conjunction  with  one  light  wire.  Separate 
transformers  of  small  capacity  have  been  installed  where 
necessary  and  have  from  one  to  four  arc  lamps  connected 
to  them.  The  controlling  switch  is  operated  by  one  of  the 
gas  makers  when  the  arcs  are  connected  or  disconnected. 
The  transformers,  etc.,  are  similar  to  those  on  the  north 
side,  excepting  that  the  secondary  voltage  is  115  volts  on 
account  of  the  longer  circuits  necessary  in  the  sparsely 
settled  districts. 

The  Whatcom  County  Railway  &  Light  Company  is 
operated  by  the  Stone  &  Webster  Management  Association. 
Mr.  L.  R.  Coffin  is  the  local  manager  at  Bellingham. 


INCREASE    IN    BOILER    ECONOMY    THROUGH 
NOVEL  BAFFLING. 


As  already  briefly  noted  in  these  colunms,  experiments 
with  a  novel  and  improved  arrangement  of  baffling  in  some 
of  the  511-hp  Stii-ling  boilers  at  the  Delray  station  of  the 


Fig, 


1 — No.  5  Boiler  with  Orig- 
inal   Baffling. 


Elteirieal  World 

Fig.   2 — No.    6    Boiler   with    Im- 
proved   Baffling. 


Detroit  Edison  Company  secure  an  additional  pass  for  the 
hot  gases,  raising  the  efficiency  of  these  units  to  values 
practically  equivalent  to  those  secured  with  the  huge  nominal 
2365-hp  boilers  in  the  same  station,  described  in  the  Elec- 
trical H'orld  of  Dec.  16  and  23,  191 1.  The  tests  reported 
have  been  carried  out  on  boiler  No.  6  in  power  house  No.  I, 
which  contains  twenty-four  of  the  smaller  units.     The  im- 


July  20,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL     \V  0  R  L  I)  . 


M7 


proved  construction,  wliicli  was  devised  bv  the  local  engi- 
neering staff,  will  be  extended  to  these  511-lip  boilers,  and 
probably  also  to  the  2365-hp  double-fired  units,  in  the  effort 
to  increase  the  latter's  economy  even  above  their  present 
record  performance  of  80  per  cent  efficiency  near  nominal 
rating,  the  theoretical  limit  of  efficiency  being  89  per  cent. 

I     Comparison  of  the  methods  of  arranging  the  baffles  is 
H.3 


■a  •  u-o 


c  re 

15  9.6 


lot 

[8.    i 

OU  h^B. 

IC 

... 

lObrs 

'' 

Urhrar 

— ^ 

■No.  6  Do 

let, 

New 

U:i  filing 

-ulz""- 

o3 

IB'- 

lira. 
ncl.Uaok) 

\ 

lAra 

Ubrs. 

y'o. 

5  Uoiler, 
Baffles 

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nal 

t    I 

Sbrs. 

IdcI.X 

aoa) 

100  120  140 

Percent  of  Hating 


160  180  200 

Electrical  World 


Fig.    3- 


■Curves    Showing    Equivalent    Evaporation    for   Various 
Ratings. 


afforded  by  the  accompanying  sketches,  Figs.  I  and  2.  With 
the  improved  construction,  a  downward  direction  is  sub- 
stituted for  the  up-flow  in  the  original  first  pass,  at  the  same 
time  affording  a  larger  combustion  chamber  over  the  grates. 
The  new  middle  pass  then  becomes  vertical  instead  of  the 
down  sweep  formerly  used,  while  for  the  final  nest  of  tubes 
a  complete  double  pass  is  provided  instead  of  the  usual  up- 
flow.  The  result  has  been  a  further  extraction  of  heat 
units  from  the  flue  gases  as  shown  by  the  curves  in  Fig.  3. 
The  upper  curve  represents  the  performance  of  the  No.  6 
unit,  while  below'  for  comparison  there  is  plotted  the  per- 
formance of  boiler  No.  5,  with  the  original  arrangement  of 
baffling. 


SYNCHRONOUS  MOTOR  PERFORMANCE. 


Methods    for   Determining    the    Performance    Without 

Resort  to  Complicated  Diagrams  or  Equations 

While  Avoiding  Major  Errors. 


By   Nichol.\s    St.\hl. 

THE  increasing  use  of  synchronous  motors  is  largely 
due  to  improved  methods  for  securing  to  the  ma- 
chine its  normal  function;  that  is,  carrying  its  ap- 
pointed load  at  its  synchronous  speed.     This  increased  use 
demands    improved    starting    devices    and    greater   starting 
torque  and  pull-in  torque. 

The  older  machines  at  starting  drew  heavy  currents  from 
the  lines  at  low  power-factors,  giving  rise  to  large  voltage 
disturbances  due  both  to  the  current  itself  and  to  the 
low  power-factor;  in  addition,  the  latter,  with  its  demag- 
netizing effect  upon  the  fields  of  the  generating  apparatus, 
involved  the  hazard  (and  in  many  cases  the  actuality)  of 
such  a  drop  in  voltage  at  the  power  station  as  to  prevent 
the  incoming  machine  from  locking  into  synchronism  or 
as  to  cause  motors  already  heavily  loaded  to  stall. 

This  difficulty  has  been  obviated  in  two  ways,  first,  by 
the  use  of  auto-transformers  or  compensators,  with  suit- 
able switch  gear,  which  permitted  a  reduction  of  the  kva 
taken  from  the  line  to  nearly  normal  throughout  the  starting 
stages,  and,  second,  by  improvement  in  the  form  of  damp- 
ers on  the  field  poles,  by  the  adoption  of  a  form  similar 
to  the  "squirrel-cage"  type  of  induction  motor,  by  which 
not  only  are  higher  starting  and  pull-in  torques  secured  but 
the  function  of  "hunting"  prevention  decidedly  improved. 
For  specially  heavy  starting  torques  a  motor  has  been 
designed  having  the  field  winding  distributed  like  a  phase- 
wound  induction  motor  secondary  and  starting  with  this 
winding  closed  through  a  resistor  of  high  resistance;  after 
synchronism  is  nearlv  reached,  the  unidirectional  current  is 


supplied   to  the   field  coils,   and   the  motor   locks   into   step. 

Further,  there  has  opened  up  comparatively  recently  a 
decided  field  for  the  introduction  of  the  over-excited  syn- 
chronous motor  for  power-factor-correction  purposes,  with 
the  machine  either  floating  idly  on  the  line,  in  the  popular 
role  of  a  "synchronous  condenser,"  or  carrying  various 
percentages  of  its  rated  capacity  in  kva  in  kilowatt  capacity, 
either  directly  as  a  mechanical  load  or  as  the  driving  end  of 
a  motor-generator  set. 

Be  it  noted  once  more,  in  passing,  that  the  application 
of  the  term  "condenser"  to  such  a  machine  is  justified 
solely  by  its  property  of  drawing  leading  current  from  the 
line;  in  other  respects,  as  has  been  remarked  editorially 
as  well  as  otherwise  in  these  columns,  it  differs  markedly 
in  every  particular   from  its  stationary  prototype. 

Various  graphical  methods  have  been  published  for  the 
rapid  calculation  of  the  corrective  effect  of  such  over- 
excited machines  by  the  supply  to  the  system  of  wattless 
kva  opposite  in  phase  (and  hence,  graphically,  opposite  in 
direction  )  to  the  wattless  kva  of  the  system  arising  from 
a  lagging  power-factor.  In  many  cases  it  has  seemed  as 
though  too  little  stress  had  been  laid  upon  the  beneficial 
effect  of  these  motors  (or  other  apparatus,  like  rotary  con- 
verters)   when   operating  merely   at   100  per  cent   power- 


2800 
2600 
2400 

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Normal  Voltage 

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2000 

1300 

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0  5  10         15  20         25  30         35  10         45        50 

Field  Amperes 

Fig.   1 — Excitation,   Short-Circuit  and    Heating   of  Synchronous 
IVlotor. 

factor,  on  the  principle  of  the  "method  of  mixtures";  that 
is,  adding  so  much  of  good  to  so  much  of  bad  to  obtain  a 
better  average.* 

Most  of  these  methods  have,  for  the  sake  of  simplicity, 
assumed  that  the  kva  input  of  the  motor  remained  con- 
stant and  that  the  full-load  losses  of  the  machine  did  not 
prevent  zero-power-factor  operation.  Or  it  has  been  as- 
sumed that  wdiere  a  change  was  to  be  made  in  the  kilowatt 
load  of  the  machine  the  field  excitation  would  be  altered 
so  as  to  keep  constant  either  the  kva  input  or  the  power- 
factor  of  the  machine;  also  to  discuss  the  effect  on  power- 
factor  and  kva  of  a  change  in  the  applied  voltage  has 
seemed  to  introduce  too  much  complexity.  Even  in  those 
places  where  a  full  graphical  discussion  has  been  given,  it 
has  been  customary  to  base  the  construction  on  data  in- 
volving a  knowledge  of  the  inherent  reactance  of  the  ma- 
chine, as  well  as  its  resistance,  and  to  assume  that  these 
quantities  remained  constant  throughout  the  range  of  oper- 
ation. 

The  calculation   of   these  quantities,   however,   is  seldom 


*In     the     Electric    Journal    for     October,     1911,     the     writer     presented 
curves  allowing  a   ready   calculation   of  this  effect. 


148 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  3. 


simple ;  resistance  depends  upon  heating  directly,  it  is  true, 
but  this  latter  upon  the  ventilation,  which  latter  at  best 
requires  considerable  knowledge  of  the  properties  of  ma- 
chines. The  reactance  effect  depends  not  only  on  the 
kind  of  iron  in  the  magnetic  circuit,  its  permeability,  satu- 
ration and  temperature,  but  upon  the  decreased  leakage 
with  increased  saturation.  Below  is  given  a  method  of 
calculating  graphically  the  performance  of  such  machines, 
sufficiently  accurate  to  take  all  necessary  practical  accouni 
of  these  effects  and  requiring  only  such  experimental  data 
as  may  readily  be  obtained  by  the  average  operator. 

These  data  are  four;  (a)  The  no-load  saturation  curve; 
(b)  the  synchronous  impedance  line,  found  by  plotting 
field  amperes  (or,  in  terms  of  the  no-load  saturation,  ter- 
minal volts)  required  to  circulate  various  currents  through 
the  short-circuited  armature;  (c)  the  curve  for  percentage 
increase  in  field  resistance  with  increase  in  field  current — a 
single  experimental  point  suffices,  since  the  field  circuit 
heating  curve  is  a  parabola  passing  through  the  origin 
and  the  experimental  point;  (d)  the  full-load,  zero-per- 
cent power-factor  saturation  curve,  found  by  placing  two 
machines  on  the  circuit  and  overexciting  one  machine  and 
underexciting  the  other  until  the  desired  current  circulates 
between  them.  Then  the  terminal  voltage  may  be  plotted 
against  the  exciting  field  amperes.  These  results  are  plot- 
ted as  shown  in  Fig.  i.  It  is,  however,  often  possible  to 
secure  such  curves  directly  from  the  manufacturer. 

Various  methods  have  been  proposed  by  which  the  full- 
load,  zero-per-cent-power-factor  curve  might  be  constructed 
from  the  no-load  saturation;  while  considerable  accurac) 
can  be  secured  with  certain  machines,  with  others  of  high 
speeds  and  reactance  the  discrepancies  are  so  great  as  to 
render  more  dependable  and  more  easy  the  results  of  direct 
test  since  certain  points  of  the  full-load,  zero-power-factor 
curve  are  always  taken  in  any  case. 

Alention  should  be  made  of  the  method  urged  by  Mr.  B.  A 
Behrend  in  the  A.  I.  E.  E'.  Transactions  for  June,  1903, 
in  protest  against  the  existing  methods  for  the  pre-calcu- 
lation  of  full-load,  zero-power-factor  regulation  curves  of 
alternators  and  in  defense  of  the  general  proposition  that 
an  exact  pre-calculation  involved  at  best  so  many  empirical 
constants  regarding  leakage  constants  of  embedded  and 
end-turn  conductors  and  of  the  field  windings  as  to  allow 
only  the  skilled  designer  to  make  more  than  a  fair  approx- 
imation. The  methods  then  in  vogue  were,  first,  that  pro- 
pounded in  1 891  by  Behn-Eschenburg  giving  results  called 
by  Behrend  the  "pessimistic"  curve,  and  based  on  the  deri- 
vation of  the  full-load,  zero-power-factor  curve  by  sub- 
tracting along  the  voltage  axis  from  the  no-load  saturation, 
at  every  point,  the  quotient  of  normal  volts  by  the  short- 
circuit  amperes  flowing  at  normal  excitation.  The  term 
"pessimistic"  was  used  since  the  curve  resulting  from  test 
invariably  lay  above  the  pre-calculated  one,  but  much 
closer  to  it  than  to  the  "optimistic"  curve  or  the  A.  I.  E.  E. 
standard,  which  consisted  in  displacing  horizontally  to 
the  right  the  no-load  saturation  by  an  amount  equal 
to  the  field  amperes  required  to  circulate  full-load  amperes, 
with  the  armature  short-circuited.  A  machine  so  pre- 
calculated  had  values  on  test  below  those  presumed,  and 
hence  had  worse  regulation  than  was  anticipated.  It 
was  Behrend's  further  contention  that  it  was  simple  and 
much  more  accurate  to  run  a  full-load,  zero-power-factor 
saturation  curve  on  test  since  a  no-load  saturation  would 
be  run  anyway  for  the  purposes  of  test,  and  the  experi- 
enced designer  would  have  been  able  to  proportion  his 
machine  so  as  to  secure  results  safely  within  his  guar- 
antees. 

The  present  standardization  rules  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E.  pre- 
scribe a  procedure  for  determining  regulation  along  the 
lines  of  Behrend's  contention.  At  all  events,  it  is  now 
general  practice  to  run  a  full-load,  zero-power-factor  sat- 
uration test,  and  even  in  the  case  of  an  operator  of  a 
synchronous  motor  remote  from  its  generator  it  would  not 


be  difficult  in  most  cases  to  arrange,  by  telephone  or  other- 
wise, at  times  when  the  machines  were  free,  for  such  re- 
spective underexcitation  and  overexcitation  as  would  be 
necessary  to  the  location  of  one  or  more  (preferably  as 
many  as  possible)  points,  since  two,  accurately  determined, 
would  suffice  and  one  is  always  known  from  the  fact  that 
the  curve  crosses  the  field  ampere  axis  at  the  point  indi- 
cating the  field  amperes  necessary  to  circulate  full-load  on 
short-circuit. 

On  such  actual  tests  of  machines  is  based  the  following 
method  of  investigating  the  behavior  of  a  synchronous 
motor  under  various  conditions  of  excitation,  power-factor 
(lagging  or  leading)  and  total  kilowatt  input. 

From  Fig.  i  is  to  be  obtained  the  short-circuit  current  for 
normal  voltage  excitation  as  a  percentage  of  the  full-load 
current.  The  corresponding  kilowatt's  value  is  to  be  laid 
off  on  the  kilowatt  axis.  An  arc  is  to  be  swung  toward 
the  base  line  until  it  meets  a  horizontal  line  from  a  point 
corresponding  to  the  resistance  losses  at  the  short-circuit 
current  just  determined.  This  intersection,  C.  (Fig.  2), 
is  the  center  of  the  circular  current  locus  of  the  armature 
current,  the  magnitude  of  which  is  represented  by  the  dis- 
tance from  P  to  any  point  on  the  circle.  Moreover,  CP 
corresponds  to  normal  excitation,  or  100  per  cent  counter 
emf ;  other  percentages  of  counter  emfs  may  be  represented 
proportionally  along  the  line  CP,  after  which  circles  drawn 
with  C  as  the  center  and  a  given  percentage  of  counter 
emf  as  the  radius  determine  the  corresponding  current  loci. 

A  suitable  power-factor  circle  being  drawn  such  that 
intercepts  on  the  vertical  axis  represent  power-factors,  the 
behavior  may  be  investigated  as  follows :  Assume  an  ex- 
citation corresponding  to  50  per  cent  counter  emf  and  a 
total  load  (including  all  losses)  equal  to  75  kw.  A  hori- 
zontal line  is  drawn  to  meet  the  50  per  cent  counter  emf 
circle  at  Q' ;  Q'P  will  be  the  current  which  may  be  read 
directly  in  amperes  by  projection  on  the  appropriate  vertical 
axis ;  the  power-factor  is  found  as  42  per  cent  by  continu- 
ing PQ'  to  the  power-factor  circle  at  F.  Moreover,  with  a 
circle  from  Q'  to  the  line  CP  at  L',  the  horizontal  from  L' 
read  at  A  gives  the  armature  copper  loss  at  PA,  or,  say, 
7  kw. 

The  field  excitation  in  amperes  may  be  determined  at 
once  from  Fig.  I  by  running  a  horizontal  to  the  no-load 
saturation  from  the  50  per  cent  normal  voltage  point  and 
then  down  to  the  base  line. 

The  foregoing  has  been  based  on  the  assumption  that  the 
short-circuit  curve  remains  a  straight  line,  which  will  be 
true  within  the  limits  of  safe  armature  heating.  Moreover, 
it  has  been  supposed  that  the  applied  voltage  is  constant 
and  the  excitation  was  varied.  Should  the  line  voltage 
vary,  the  excitation  being  unchanged,  it  is  necessary  merely 
to  consider  the  excitation  as  varied  in  the  reverse  direc- 
tion; for  example,  if  the  line  voltage  were  varied  from 
2000  to  2200,  with  a  motor  counter  emf  of  1600,  the  first 

condition   represented ,  or  80  per  cent   counter  emf, 

2000 

and  the  second  ,  or  72.7  per  cent;  hence,  a  new  circular 

2200 

current  locus  is  drawn  for  y2.y  per  cent  excitation  and  the 

armature  current,  power-factor  and  armature  copper  losses 

are  redetermined  assuming  a  certain  kilowatt  load  on  the 

machine. 

To  separate  the  external  load  from  the  total,  the  iron 
losses,  friction  and  windage  and  field  circuit  copper  loss 
must  be  subtracted  as  well  as  the  armature  copper.  Fric- 
tion and  windage  are  constant  in  a  synchronous  machine 
and  may  be  found  (if  necessary)  once  for  all.  Iron  loss 
and  field-circuit  copper  loss  must  also  be  separately  deter- 
mined, but  for  the  purposes  of  such  accuracy  as  is  usually 
required  in  practice  they  may  well  be  lumped  at  from  3  to  5 
per  cent  of  the  normal  rating  in  kilowatts,  depending  on  the 
size  of  the  machine. 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  that  the  current  in 


July  20.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


149 


the  armature  of  a  synchronous  motor  of  constant  excita- 
tion and  constant  applied  voltage  is  determined  by  the 
length  of  a  line  from  a  fixed  point  to  a  variable  point  on 
the  arc  of  a  certain  circle,  which  is  one  of  the  long-known 
circular  current  loci  of  the  synchronous  motor. 

That  such  loci  exist  is  clear  from  the  consideration  that 
the  current  equals  the  driving  emf  divided  by  the  impedance, 
assuming  that  the  latter  constant,  the  driving  emf,  is,  vec- 
lorially,  the  length  of  a  line,  one  end  of  which  is  fixed  at 
the  end  of  the  generator  voltage  and  the  other  end  of  which 
terminates  at  the  end  of  the  motor  counter  emf,  which 
sweeps  out  a  circle  as  the  load  varies  (or  the  phase  angle 
between  the  machines  changes),  so  that,  in  turn,  the  current 
line  vector  must  end  on  the  arc  of  a  circle. 

That  the  construction  given  represents  these  facts  is 
shown  from  the  consideration  that  on  throwing  full  line 
voltage  on  the  unexcited  machine  we  should  have  a  total 
current  (in  Fig.  2)  equal  to  CP,  the  vertical  component  of 
which  represents  the  true  power  absorbed.  The  circular 
current  locus  has  in  this  case  shrunk  to  the  point  C. 

It  is  obvious  that  a  synchronous  motor  cannot  operate  at 
zero  power-factor  on  account  of  the  losses  of  the  machine; 


Electyical  World 

Fig.    2 — Synchronous- Motor    Performance    Diagram. 

hence  the  CP  line  represents  the  "synchronous  condenser" 
operating  power-factor,  so  far  as  armature  copper  losses 
are  concerned. 

If  the  load  of  a  given  excitation  changes,  the  current  line 
moves  so  that  its  vertical  component  represents  the  power 
absorbed.  This  entails  a  change  in  power-factor  and  shows 
at  a  glance  why  the  power-factor  of  an  over-excited  motor 
increases  first  to  100  per  cent  and  then  becomes  lagging 
with  further  increase  of  load. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  circular  current  loci  are 
reckoned  on  the  basis  of  motor  counter  emfs  expressed  in 
percentages  of  the  generator  or  line  voltage,  assumed  con- 
stant ;  also  that  it  has  been  assumed  that  the  impedance  of 
the  circuit  remains  constant.  This  latter  assumption  is, 
of  course,  not  in  accord  with  the  facts,  and  in  order  to 
take  account  of  this  it  may  be  recalled  that  the  initial  part 
of  the  no-load  saturation  curve  is,  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance, practically  a  straight  line.  Let  this  be  continued 
indefinitely.  Read  vertically  upward  to  meet  it,  from  the 
normal  voltage  point,  on  the  actual  saturation  curve,  and 
thence  horizontally  to  the  voltage  axis  to  find  a  new  value, 
which  is  taken  as  the  fictitious  100  per  cent  voltage.  Then, 
when  it  is  desired  to  find  the  actual  field  amperes  corre- 
sponding to  a  given  percentage  excitation  in  Fig.  2,  pro- 
ceed horizontally  from  the  voltage  axis  of  Fig.  I  (starting 
from  the  given  percentage  reckoned  in  terms  of  the  fic- 
titious 100  per  cent  value),  out  to  the  no-load  saturation 


curve  and  thence  downward  to  the  required  field  amperes. 
This  method  has  been  compared  with  the  actual  test  values 
on  many  machines  for  various  armature  currents  at  dif- 
ferent power-factors,  and  the  results  appear  never  to  be 
in  error  by  more  than  5  per  cent.  These  may  reasonably  be 
construed  as  graphical  errors,  though  the  calculated  field 
amperes  appear  to  have  lesser  values  within  the  range 
stated  than  the  field  amperes  developed  on  test. 

While  it  is  not  contended  that  this  method  gives  rigor- 
ously exact  results,  it  is  believed  that  it  will  show  at  least 
as  great  accuracy  as  other  graphical  methods,  will  have 
the  added  advantages  of  simple  and  easy  construction  from 
two  or  three  ordinary  tests,  and  will  harmonize  with  the 
A.  I.  E.  E.  Standardization  Rules,  paragraph  207  (1910), 
for  regulation  computation. 

A  few  applications  of  the  method  will  be  cited  to  show 
its  operation.  Given  a  150-kva,  2400-volt,  three-phase 
motor,  for  which  typical  saturation  curves  are  given  in 
Fig.  I,  the  current  is  then  36.1  amp  per  phase  at  full  load. 

The  short-circuit  curve  of  Fig.  i  shows  that  with  full 
voltage  thrown  on  the  machine,  unexcited,  there  would  be 
produced  a  current  of  70  amp,  and  the  corresponding  "short- 
circuit  losses"  curve  (if  taken)  gives  10.25  kw,  which  may 
be  taken,  without  material  error,  as  the  FR  losses ;  other- 
wise they  may  be  worked  out  from  the  average  resistance 
between  terminals,  of  1.018  ohm,  making  an  allowance  for 
the  increase  of  resistance  with  temperature  of  the  standard 
0.4  per  cent  per  deg.  C,  appreciating  that  with  a  normal 
35  deg.  rise  machine  so  large  a  current  would  give  a  rise 
of,  say,  70  deg.  C.  As  will  be  seen,  the  exact  figure  will  not 
be  important,  as  the  discrepancy  will  not  be  appreciable  on 
the  scale  to  which  the  rest  of  the  figure  is  drawn.  Strictly 
speaking,  the  energy  loss  will  involve  the  eddy  current  heat- 
ing, which  may  be  accounted  for  by  correcting  the  resist- 
ance taken  by  direct  current  to  the  amount  obtained  with 
alternating  current  of  the  frequency  of  the  circuit.  For 
most  commercial  6o-cycle  machines  a  value  of  1.15  will  be 
sufficiently  accurate  for  the  ratio  of  the  latter  to  the  former 
resistance  for  calculations  like  the  present. 

Fig.  2  being  constructed  as  previously  indicated,  it  will 
be  seen  how  small  is  (generally)  the  distance  of  the  point  C 
above  the  base  line,  so  that,  unless  heavy  loads  or  questions 
of  pull-out  torque  and  hunting  are  under  consideration,  the 
error  introduced  by  assuming  the  machine  resistanceless 
will  be  small.  The  100  per  cent  counter-emf  excitation  is 
represented  by  PC,  with  other  distances  along  that  line  pro- 
portionally, from  which  point  are  drawn  the  various  circu- 
lar current  loci  indicated. 

With  Fig.  2  drawn  as  indicated  above,  the  following 
problems  are  considered  as  of  practical  interest  to  an 
operator : 

1.  With  the  machine  excited  for  full-load  kilovolt-ampere 
at  zero  power-factor,  what  will  be  the  armature  kilovolt- 
ampere  and  power-factor  when  carrying  a  load  (including 
its  own  losses)  of  60  kw?  From  the  full-load  point  (150) 
on  the  kilowatt  axis  swing  an  arc  to  the  base  line  at  T,  and 
with  CT  as  radius  describe  the  circular  current  locus  which 
corresponds  (as  worked  out)  to  152.5  per  cent  couiiter-emf 
excitation.  From  the  60  point  on  the  kilowatt  axis  draw 
a  horizontal  line  to  meet  this  circular  current  locus,  and 
draw  through  the  intersection  Q,  from  the  origin,  a  radius 
to  the  power-factor  circle,  projecting  the  end  of  this  radius 
on  the  power-factor  axis  at  38.  The  current  (or  kva)  QP 
is  swung  around  to  the  vertical  axis  and  read  as  159  kva, 
which  at  38  per  cent  power-factor  means  60.4  kw,  or  an 
error  of  0.6  per  cent. 

2.  Find  the  excitation  required  for  125  per  cent  of  nor- 
mal kva  at  90  per  cent  "leading"  power-factor.  From  A' 
(=150X1-25)  on  the  kilowatt  axis  strike  an  arc  to  L 
on  the  90  per  cent  "leading"  power-factor  radius ;  CL  is  the 
corresponding  percentage  counter-emf  and  equals  138.5, 
which  corresponds  (from  Fig.  i)  to  21.7  amp,  reckoned  as 
indicated  above. 


ISO 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xn. 


3.  For  a  given  field  excitation  of,  say,  19.2  amp,  equiva- 
lent to  125  per  cent  counter-emf.  and  an  operating  power- 
factor  (=60  per  cent  "leading"),  find  the  armature  kva 
and  kw.  From  .V.  the  intersection  of  the  appro;)riate  cir- 
cular current  locus  with  the  6o  per  cent  "leading"  power- 
factor  radius,  draw  a  horizontal  to  the  load  axis  at  53  kw. 
Then  53  -^  0.60  =  88.3  kva,  which  checks  as  closely  as  can 
be  read  with  the  value  found  by  swinging  an  arc  from  the 
intersection  just  mentioned  to  the  load  axis  (using  P  as  a 
center). 

4.  With  an  excitationof,  say,  19.2  amp,  corresponding  to 
125  per  cent  counter-emf,  and  a  load  of  200  kva,  find  the 
operating  power-factor  and  kw.  Through  the  intersection 
of  the  125  per  cent  counter-emf  circulrir  current  locus  with 
iin  arc  from  the  200  point  {P  as  center),  draw  a  radius  from 
/"  to  the  power-factor  circle,  and  read  the  power-factor  as 
<J9  per  cent  "leading,"  which  gives  198  kw. 

5.  With  kva  and  kw  given,  the  power-factor  is  known  at 
•once  numerically,  but  there  are  two  solutions  for  the  ex- 
•citation.  one  with  "lagging"  and  one  with  "leading"  power- 
factor,  and  equal,  respectively,  to  the  distances  from  C  to 
the  intersections  of  the  horizontal  through  the  given  kw, 
with  the  radii  at  the  indicated  power- factor ;  for  example, 
-with  200  kva  and  182  kw,  which  means  91  per  cent  power- 
factor,  the  excitations  are  approximately  11  amp  and  24.3 
amp  respectively. 

These  examples  will  suffice  for  illustration  of  the  sim- 
plicity and  rapidity  of  the  process;  in  fact,  much  of  the 
computation  can  be  picked  out  at  once  by   the   eye. 

The  example  in  case  5  brings  out  the  point  of  two  ex- 
citations existing  for  a  given  load  as  ordinarily  shown 
in  the  familiar  "V"  curves,  and  with  such  directness  as 
to  make  the  plotting  of  these  curves  unnecessary. 

The  "O"  curves  of  mechanical  outputs  for  a  given  ex- 
citation may  be  calculated,  though  not  directly  deducible, 
but  they  have  little  practical  value,  for  two  reasons:  first, 
the  limiting  condition  of  operation  is  armature  current, 
assuming  the  field  able  to  carry  all  the  current  that  the 
exciter  can  force  through  it,  and  this  armature  current  can 
be  found  at  once;  and  second,  the  "O"  curves  are  not  com- 
plete in  themselves,  making  no  separation  of  friction, 
windage  and  core  losses. 

All  the  foregoing  has  been  based  on  the  constancy  of  the 
applied  voltage.  Should  this  change,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
treat  Fig.  2  as  though  the  motor  in  Fig.  I  had  been  wound 
for  the  voltage  actually  applied,  with  due  consideration 
of  the  proper  change  in  normal  kva  rating  on  the  basis  of 
proper  change  in  iron-loss  and  so  many  armature  amperes 
producing  the  heating  of  the  full-load  guarantee,  and  then 
revising  the  figure  accordingly. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  simplicity  and  accuracy  of  the  above 
method  will  appeal  to  the  man  who  must  make  many  calcu- 
lations as  well  as  to  the  practical  operator  desiring  a  little 
more  insight  into  the  operations  of  his  machine. 


MODERN  THREE-WIRE    DIRECT-CURRENT 
GENERATORS. 


By  C.  L.  Pilger,  Jr. 
In  a  recent  article  published  in  the  Electrical  World, 
entitled  "Three-Wire  Direct-Current  Generators,"  by  Mr. 
W.  G.  Merowitz,  the  author  described  the  earlier  forms 
of  three-wire  generators  or  systems,  that  is,  two  generators 
connected  in  series  with  neutral  lead  brought  out,  the  sin- 
gle generator  with  balancer  set  in  shunt,  and  finally  the 
single  generator  with  attached  or  separate  balance  coils, 
which  is  generally  known  as  the  Dobrowolsky  system. 
There  is,  however,  another  form  of  three-wire  generator 
now  on  the  market  which  deserves  attention  on  account  of 
its  excellent  characteristics  as  regards  efficiency,  stability 
of  voltage  and  simplicity.     This  machine  is  similar  to  the 


ordinary  two-wire  generator,  except  that  it  has  an  auxiliary 
winding  so  distributed  over  the  face  of  the  armature  that 
the  average  field  in  which  it  moves  is  always  uniform.  Any 
tendency  toward  flickering  is  therefore  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum. Furthermore,  the  auxiliary  winding  forms  a  circuit 
in  parallel  with  part  of  the  main  winding  and  generates 
useful  energy  all  the  time,  even  when  the  load  is  balanced. 


Double- Winding    Tlnree-Wire    Generator. 

Hence  the  overload  capacity  of  such  a  machine  is  con- 
siderably increased.  When  balance  coils  are  used  there  is 
considerable  loss  while  the  machine  is  in  operation,  whether 
the  load  is  balanced  or  not. 

A\'hen  it  is  considered  that  the  machine  with  the  auxiliary 
winding  has  only  one  collector  ring  and  no  additional  ap- 
paratus of  any  kind,  its  simplicity  and  efficiency  as  com- 
pared with  other  systems  will  readily  be  understood.  The 
relative  arrangement  of  the  armature  and  auxiliary  winding 
is  shown  in  the  accompanying  diagram,  where  i  is  the  main 
winding,  2  the  auxiliary  winding.  3  the  ship-ring  and  4  the 
commutator.  For  the  sake  of  simplicity  only  three  wind- 
ings are  shown,  but  in  practice  there  are  usually  more. 

The  voltage  of  the  neutral  wire  is  always  the  sum  of  the 
voltages  generated  in  the  coils  that  are  in  series  between  the 
collector  ring  and  one  of  the  brushes,  and  this  voltage  is 
just  one-half  the  voltage  generated  by  the  main  winding. 


I 


RECONSTRUCTION    OF    COLORADO    STATION. 


The  Trinidad  Electric  Transmission.  Railway  &  Gas 
Company  recently  completed  the  rehabilitation  of  its  Trini- 
dad steam-power  plant,  destroyed  by  fire  two  years  ago. 
The  station  was  placed  temporarily  in  operation  imme- 
diately after  the  fire,  but  an  entirely  new  building  has 
now  been  constructed  and  the  equipment  augmented  and 
rearranged.  The  building  is  of  pilastered  brick  construc- 
tion, with  metal  roof  on  steel  trusses,  and  with  brick 
division  walls  separating  the  plant  into  a  boiler-room  sec- 
tion of  9500  sq.  ft.  area,  an  engine-room  of  2500  sq.  ft., 
a  transformer  and  switchroom  of  4000  sq.  ft.,  and  a  boiler 
auxiliary  room  of  4500  sq.  ft.  AH  these  sections  communi- 
cate through  ordinary  doors.  The  transformer  section  has 
a  concrete  barrier  wall  to  prevent  escaping  oil  from  enter- 
ing other  parts  of  the  building.    All  floors  are  of  concrete. 

The  equipment  consists  of  2500-kva,  looo-kva  and  500- 
kva  Westinghouse  turbo-generators  with  La  Blanc  con- 
densers and  the  usual  auxiliaries.  The  boiler-room  contains 
four  600-hp  Parker  water-tube  boilers,  four  250-hp  Frank- 
lin and  four  300-hp  Altman-Taylor  water-tube  boilers. 
The  Parker  boilers  are  equipped  with  Green  stokers.  Coal 
elevator,  hopper  feeds  and  ash  conveyor  are  all  operated 
by  induction  motor.  The  exhaust  fan  is  driven  b)'  motor 
or  by  a  small  Sturtevant  engine.  The  station  supplies 
energy  for  street  and  building  lighting  in  Trinidad,  for 
the  interurban  railway,  to  surrounding  coal-mining  dis- 
tricts, and  to  electric  hoists,  crushers,  screens,  fans,  pumps, 
etc.,  in  the  surrounding  coal  mines. 


July  20,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


iSi 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


PUBLIC- UTILITY  MEN  AS  CITIZENS. 


A  DULL-SEASON  HOUSE-WIRING  CAMPAIGN. 


According  to  Mr.  W.  H.  Hodge,  who  is  manager  of  the 
publicity  department  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  new 
and  higher  standards  are  in  process  of  formation  in  all 
lines  of  commercial  endeavor.  Merely  being  honest  is  in- 
sufficient; merely  being  lawful  does  not  place  an  individual 
or  corporation  beyond  proper  criticism.  Mr.  Hodge  pre- 
pared a  paper  on  the  subject  for  the  recent  convention  of 
the  North  Dakota  Electrical  Association.  The  observations 
given  here  are  the  substance  of  some  of  the  conclusions  set 
forth  in  that  well  considered  essay. 

The  author  remarked  that  eventually  the  only  utilities 
remaining  indifferent  to  the  needs  and  welfare  of  the 
public  will  be  municipally  owned  and  operated  plants.  Even 
these  in  time  will  be  forced  to  consider  the  rights  and 
convenience  of  their  customers.  A  few  city-owned  plants 
already  have  taken  the  modern  view  of  their  obligations 
and  are  striving  to  place  their  methods  on  a  par  with 
ordinary  commercial  undertakings. 

Central-station  men  should  be  fully  alive  to  the  trend  of 
the  times.  They  have  done  much  for  the  development  of 
tlieir  country;  now  they  should  be  no  less  active  in 
advancing  its  sociological  welfare.  Utilities  are  often  under 
the  stress  of  political  attack,  selfish  agitation,  ignorance  and 
prejudice; 'nevertheless  there  is  neither  necessity  nor  excuse 
for  departure  from  good  morals  in  the  conduct  of  such 
enterprises.  In  the  long  run  anything  short  of  this  does 
not  pay.  The  author  quoted  Mr.  H.  M.  Byllesby  as  saying, 
"The  smartest  thing  that  any  man  can  do  is  to  be  absolutely 
and  continuously  honest." 

Mr.  Hodge  said  that  every  employee  of  a  utility  company 
should  display  an  active  interest  in  community  affairs ;  he 
should  be  a  "booster"  for  his  town.  Moreover,  he  should 
believe  in  the  economic  soundness  of  his  occupation.  He 
should  be  a  student  and  should  inform  himself  of  the  funda- 
mental reasons  that  justify  the  existence  of  the  industry 
by  which  he  makes  his  living.  Further,  he  should  strive 
at  all  times  to  cheapen  the  cost  of  service  and  to  extend  the 
service  to  the  greatest  number  of  people. 

Central-station  companies  emphasize  their  good  citizen- 
ship in  many  ways.  They  watch  over  the  health  and  pros- 
perity of  their  employees;  some  of  them  oiTer  free  fan 
service  to  invalids  unable  to  pay;  some  maintain  industrial 
promotion  departments  to  bring  industries  to  the  town ; 
others  make  beauty  spots  and  erect  handsome  buildings 
provided  with  conveniences  for  the  comfort  of  the  public  ; 
still  others  have  helped  out  city  treasuries  by  pre-payment 
of  compensation  or  have  assisted  in  placing  municipal  bond 
issues.  Quite  generally  utility  companies  are  leaders  in  all 
public  subscription  lists  for  sound  purposes,  while  the 
amount  contributed  to  charities  is  larger  than  is  realized  by 
the  general  public.  All  this  is  not  philanthropy ;  it  is  good 
citizenship.  Besides,  a  company  can  sell  more  service  to  a 
friendly  public  than  to  an  unfriendly  public. 

The  author  expressed  his  belief  in  newspaper  advertising 
for  utility  companies.  "Say  what  you  have  to  say  freely 
and  frankly  over  the  company's  name.  Be  outspoken  and 
courageous.  Secret  methods  are  thought  to  relate  to  wrong- 
doing which  cannot  bear  scrutiny."  At  the  close  of  his 
paper  Mr.  Hodge  gave  another  example  of  central-station 
good  citizenship  by  showing  how  rates  for  electrical  energy 
have  been  widely  and  substantially  decreased  in  recent 
years,  while  the  price  of  nearly  all  other  commodities  has 
been  increased.  Public  utilities,  he  said,  in  effect,  have 
"made  good";  but  they  must  still  have  faith  in  the  public, 
still  be  active  and  zealous  in  making  the  hard  climb  that 
continuallv  stretches  ahead  as  the  pathway  of  mankind. 


During  a  recent  "dull"  period  when  electrical  construction 
was  slack  and  local  contractors  were  deploring  the  lack  of 
work,  the  Great  Falls  (Mont.)  Electrical  Properties  inaugu- 
rated a  house-wiring  campaign  directed  particularly  at  a 
class  of  small,  unpretentious  residences  which  it  had  hitherto 
not  succeeded  in  connecting  to  its  lines.  A  schedule  based 
on  $1.65  per  outlet  was  offered  such  prospective  customers, 
this  rate  representing  a  cut  below  the  actual  cost  of  having 
local  contractors  do  the  work.  To  the  first  twenty-five  new 
customers  making  payment  in  full  the  company  also  offered 
to  present  6-lb.  electric  flatirons. 

As  the  result  of  seventy-five  days'  advertising  and  cam- 
paigning with  the  help  of  newspapers,  solicitors,  contractors, 
etc.,  besides  letters  sent  to  every  unwired  house,  a  total  of 
150  new  residence  customers  were  secured.  The  average 
cost  of  the  construction  done  in  these  houses  ranged  from 
$10  to  $15,  and  to  the  amount  the  customer  paid  the  central 
station  added  enough  to  secure  the  contractors  an  average 
profit  of  20  per  cent.  Customers  unable  to  pay  cash  were 
granted  thirty  to  sixty  days'  credit,  the  company  advancing 
cash  to  the  contractor  as  the  work  was  done.  Practically 
every  new  consumer  secured  in  this  campaign  was  in  fact 
presented  with  a  flatiron  costing  $3,  the  limitation  of  the 
first  twenty-five,  as  originally  stated,  being  purposely 
waived.  The  presence  of  these  irons  on  the  lines,  it  was 
realized,  not  only  insures  good  revenues  from  off-peak  de- 
mands, but  helps  prevent  customers  from  wanting  their  serv- 
ice disconnected  during  the  summer  months,  when  the  long 
twilight  which  Great  Falls  enjoys  makes  the  demand  for 
artificial  lighting  small.  The- 150  additional  residences  se- 
cured in  this  campaign  cost  the  company  about  $5  each, 
according  to  Mr.  E.  I.  Holland,  local  manager.  This  figure 
includes,  of  course,  the  $3  irons  presented  to  the  majority 
of  the  new  users.  The  campaign  occupied  the  attention  of 
the  central-station  forces  at  a  time  when  its  regular  duties 
were  not  pressing,  a  good  block  of  desirable  business  was 
secured,  and  both  local  contractors  were  enabled  to  keep  a 
couple  of  wiremen  busy  during  a  period  otherwise  expensive 
to  weather,  so  the  campaign  is,  as  a  whole,  regarded  as 
highlv   successful. 


ELECTRICITY  IN   GOLD  REFINERIES. 


The  United  States  Reduction  Corporation,  a  subsidiary 
company  of  the  United  States  Gold  Corporation,  has  re- 
cently completed  a  gold-refining  plant  at  Sugar  Loaf, 
Boulder  County,  Col.,  in  which  plant  electrical  energy  will 
be  used  for  all  available  purposes.  The  method  practiced 
at  other  plants  owned  by  this  company  of  electrolytic  pre- 
cipitation of  gold  from  leeching  tank  solution  has  been 
adopted  also  for  this  plant.  After  having  been  passed 
through  electric  driers  the  gold  precipitate  is  smelted  and 
purified  in  a  15-kw  electric  arc  furnace,  the  latter  being 
controlled  by  an  automatic  circuit-breaker.  Induction 
motors  are  used  for  restoring  the  cyanic  acid  solutions  to 
the  storage  tanks  and  for  maintaining  pressure  on  the 
water  mains  for  fire  protection.  The  500-ton  crusher  rolls, 
elevators,  main  drier,  screens  and  trommel  are  operated  by 
a  loo-hp  induction  motor.  A  20-hp  motor-generator  set 
furnishes  direct  current  at  10  volts  for  electrolytic  pur- 
poses. The  Central  Colorado  Power  Company  furnishes 
the  energy  at  11,000  volts,  the  emf  being  reduced  to  440 
volts  for  motors  and  no  volts  for  lighting  purposes. 


152 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo. 


A  similar  plant,  also  on  the  Central  Colorado  Power 
Company's  system,  is  that  of  the  Gold  Bullion  Milling  Com- 
pany near  Rowena,  Col.  In  this  mill  a  50-hp  induction 
motor  operates  on  a  common  shaft  a  75-ton  crusher,  fine 
and  coarse  rolls  and  two  trommels.  A  15-hp  motor  drives 
through  a  single  shaft  nine  Monnell  shaking  tables  and  a 
lo-hp  motor  drives  six  Monnell  slimers.  A  15-hp  motor  is 
directly  connected  to  a  turbine  pump  in  the  creek  bed, 
which  delivers  350  gal.  per  minute  of  water  under  loo-ft. 
head  to  tables  and  slime  tanks.  A  substation  erected  50  ft. 
from  the  mill  contains  three  30-kw  transformers  for  re- 
ducing the  emf  from  11.000  to  no  volts. 


ELECTRIC  FARM  EXHIBIT. 


The    Edison   Electric   Illuminating   Company    of   Boston, 
Mass..   recently   completed   an  electric    farm   exhibit  which 


the  old  Middlesex  Fair  Grounds  in  South  Framingham  and 
IS  divided  into  sections  illustrating  the  uses  of  electricity  in 
the  barn  and  workshop,  living  room,  kitchen  and  dairy. 
The  tent  is  of  oval  shape,  24  ft.  high  in  the  center,  with 
lo-ft.  side  and  i8-ft.  intermediate  poles.  No  admission  is 
charged  and  large  signs  welcoming  passers-by  to  look  into 
farming  by  the  electrical  method  are  installed  on  the  front 
of  the  grounds  facing  the  local  street  railway  line.  Energy 
for  the  operation  of  the  exhibits  is  supplied  from  the  com- 
pany's overhead  system,  which  at  this  point  is  about  25 
miles  from  the  main  generating  plant  in  South  Boston. 

The  displays  are  arranged  along  the  sides  of  the  tent, 
leaving  a  central  aisle  free  for  the  movements  of  visitors. 
The  tent  is  illuminated  by  thirteen  500-watt  tungsten  lamps 
equipped  with  prismatic  shades  and  hung  from  ropes.  All 
lighting  and  motor  circuits  are  metered  and  fused  on  a 
distributing  board  mounted  on  a  frame  just  inside  the  main 
entrance.  The  exhibits  are  installed  upon  low  platforms 
and  are  continuous,  all  equipment  being  wired  to  the  dis- 


1 

r^an  ■        ^Y' 

""  t^       i 

lpp*ii/EliP*'Wi'iVHyi 

^^^^^^R^~' ' 

r^******^2 

.^^^n 

Views  at  the   Electric   Farm   Exhibit,   South   Framingham,   Mass. 


is  attracting  wide  attention  throughout  eastern  Massachu- 
setts. The  display  was  prepared  by  the  company  to  acquaint 
the  public  more  fully  with  the  numerous  applications  of  elec- 
tricity which  are  now  practical  in  agricultural  work. 
The  company's  suburban  lines  traverse  a  large  semi-rural 
area  in  which  market:  gardening  and  small-scale  farming  are 
prominent  occupations,  and  for  some  time  it  has  been  ap- 
parent that  a  demonstration  of  electrically  operated  farm- 
ing appliances  in  the  concrete  would  do  much  to  stimulate 
this  class  of  business. 

The  exhibit  is  housed  in  a  103-ft.  x  50-ft.  tent  located  on 


tributing  board  by  underground  connections.  The  barn  and 
workshop  section  includes  a  variety  of  motor-driven  appa- 
ratus, covering  breast  drills,  buffing  and  grinding  outfits, 
branding  iron,  forge  blower,  glue  pot,  soldering  irons,  pump 
jack,  meat  chopper,  grindstones,  circular  saw,  vegetable  cut- 
ter, corn  sheller  and  bone  grinder,  besides  an  electrically 
heated  incubator,  wood  saws  and  choppers,  horse  groomer 
and  clipper,  feed  cutter  and  portable  truck.  Two  horse 
and  two  cow  stalls  are  provided,  and  an  electrically  driven 
milking  outfit  is  in  regular  service.  A  large  motor-driven 
hay  hoist  demonstrates  the  facility  with  which  the  livestock 


JULV   20,    1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


153 


may  be  supplied  or  fodder  transported  on  the  premises. 
The  living-room  section,  17  ft.  by  12  ft.,  contains  various 
domestic  appliances,  including  electrically  heated  flatirons, 
percolators,  toasters,  chafing-dish  and  furnace-blower  equip- 
ment, sewing  machine  and  vacuum-cleaning  outfits.  The 
kitchen  contains  an  electric  cabinet,  fireless  cooker,  range 
operated  by  resistance  grids,  motor-driven  potato  peeler, 
clothes  washer,  ice-cream  freezer,  pump  and  waffle-iron  grid. 
A  refrigerator,  cream  separator,  cream  tester,  butter  churn 
and  bottle  washer  are  arranged  for  demonstration  in  the 
dairy  section.  A  30-kw  transformer  supplies  the  whole 
installation,  the  distribution  being  at  no  and  220  volts. 
Emphasis  is  laid  by  the  company  upon  the  point  that  the 
devices  shown  are  worth  while  for  the  small  farm  no  less- 
than  for  larger  acreages.  The  display  is  open  daily  from 
10  a.  m.  to  10  p.  m.  and  is  designed  to  facilitate  ready  dis- 
mantling, transportation  by  electric  trucks  and  erection  from 
time  to  time  in  other  parts  of  the  company's  6oo-sq.  mile 
territory.     ■ 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

HOUSTON'S  DOWNTOWN  MAGNETITE  ARC 
LIGHTING. 


The  Houston  (Tex.)  Lighting  &  Power  Company  has 
just  completed  the  installation  of  eighty  handsome  iron 
poles  carrying  4-amp  magnetite  arc  lamps  which  furnish 
illumination  'for  the  business  district  of  the  city.  These 
poles   are   of   an  -attractive   design,   originated   locally   and 


Original   Design   of   New   Magnetite-Arc   Poles   at   Houston,   Texas. 

built  by  the  St.  Louis  Car  Wheel  Company  to  conform  in 
base  pattern  with  the  new  trolley  poles  on  the  business 
streets,  in  some  cases  combination  poles  being  used  for 
both  railway  and  lighting  purposes.  The  standard  arc-lamp 
poles  are  respectively  6  in.,  5  in.  and  4  in.  in  diameter,  taper- 
ing in  three  sections  as  the  illustration  shows.  The  com- 
bination trolley  and  arc-lamp  poles  are  8  in.,  7  in.  and  6  in. 


in  section  and  weigh  800  lb.  each.  Three-inch  pipe  forms 
the  gooseneck,  the  lamp  itself  being  suspended  with  the 
arc  19  ft.  above  the  roadway.  There  are  four  lamps  to 
each  330-ft.  block  in  the  downtown  section,  the  posts  being 
staggered  so  that  each  corner  is  lighted  by  two  lamps 
while  the  greatest  mid-block  distance  between  lamps  is 
about  no  ft.  Lead-covered,  paper-insulated  No.  6  single- 
conductor  cable  is  used  to  lead  the  current  to  the  lamps. 
Although  this  cable  is  ^  in.  in  outside  diameter,  the  pipe 
spaces  afford  ample  clearance  for  bringing  in  the  pair. 
The  lamps  are  stationary  in  position,  being  trimmed  with 
the  aid  of  a  ladder  wagon.  Alba  globes  are  used  to  diffuse 
the  direct  rays  of  the  4-amp  magnetite  arcs,  but  these  are 
to  be  replaced  in  some  cases  with  clear  glass  to  increase  the 
light  from  the  lamps. 


A    PHOTOGRAPHIC     METHOD     FOR     RECORDING 
CANDLE-POWER  DISTRIBUTION  CURVES. 


By  Herbert  E.  Ives  and  M.  Luckiesh. 

The  photometry  of  arc  lamps  is  peculiarly  difficult  because 
of  the  fluctuating  character  of  their  light.  The  use  of  an 
integrating  sphere  probably  presents  the  most  practical 
solution  of  the  measurement  of  mean  spherical  candle- 
power  of  such  sources,  for  thereby  the  only  fluctuations  to 
consider  are  those  of  total  light.  An  average  value  may 
be  obtained  from  a  series  of  measurements  not  of  pro- 
hibitive length.  But  when  the  object  is  to  determine  the 
distribution  of  candle-power  about  the  source  the  measure- 
ments are  complicated  not  only  by  the  fluctuations  of  total 
light  but  by  fluctuating  distribution.  In  order  to  obtain 
such  measurements  it  is  necessary  to  make  literally  thou- 
sands of  settings  of  the  fluctuating  source  in  terms  of  the 
steady  working  standard.  The  time  necessary  for  these 
settings  and  the  time  lost  in  waiting  for  the  arc  to  become 
reasonably  steady  mount  up  to  a  costly  total,  and  at  their 
best  such  measurements  cannot  lay  claim  to  any  great 
accuracy.  The  usual  practice  of  employing  a  working 
standard  of  very  different  color  from  the  light  under  meas- 
urement is  also  a  source  of  inaccuracy,  usually  considered 
as  trivial,  however,  as  compared  with  the  huge  uncertain- 
ties caused  by  the  unsteadiness  of  the  light. 

In  this  paper  is  described  a  photographic  method  for 
obtaining  candle-power  distribution  curves,  peculiarly 
applicable  to  arc  lamps  and  other  fluctuating  sources.  The 
reasons  for  trying  the  photographic  plate  are,  first,  its  prop- 
erty of  recording  simultaneously  phenomena  extended  in 
space;  second,  its  property  of  integrating  the  action  of  light 
over  an  extended  period.  The  proper  utilization  of  these 
two  properties  should  make  it  possible  to  overcome  the 
difiiculties  introduced  by  the  various  fluctuations  of  the 
arc  lamp. 

In  order  to  use  photography  a  knowledge  of  the  behavior 
of  the  sensitive  plate  is  essential.  A  study  of  the  applica- 
tion of  the  photographic  plate  to  photometric  problems  has 
been  published  elsewhere  by  one  of  the  present  writers,'  and 
reference  should  be  made  to  it  by  those  interested  in  applying 
the  results  of  this  paper.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  a 
close  correspondence  exists  between  the  intensities  of  in- 
cident light  and  the  resultant  densities  of  the  plate  over  a 
range  of  intensities  of  from  30-to-i  for  a  fast  plate  to  as 
much  as  loo-to-i  for  a  slow  plate,  in  the  region  of  "normal 
exposure."  If  upon  a  normally  exposed  and  developed  plate 
one  has  in  addition  to  the  pictures  of  the  test  surfaces 
pictures  of  a  set  of  comparison  patches  of  known  relative 
brightness,  it  is  possible  by  measurement  of  densities  to 
find  the  relative  brightness  values  of  the  different  points 
on  the  test  surface.  Obviously,  since  the  plate  must  be 
measured  point  by  point  on  a  photometer  there  will  be  no 

'"The  Application  of  Photography  to  Photometric   Problems,"   by   Her- 
bert E.  Ives.    Trans.   III.   Eng.   Soc,  March,   1912. 


154 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol   6o,  Xo.  3 


great  advantage  in  using  photography  for  obtaining  the  dis- 
tribution curve  of  a  steady  source,  because  the  number  of 
photometric  operations  is  as  great  as  by  the  ordinary  method 
and  in  addition  there  are  the  photographic  ones.  For  fluc- 
tuating sources,  however,  the  case  is  different.  A  single 
set  of  photometric  measurements  and  a  single  set  of  photo- 


Fig. 


1 — Photometric     Relations    Within    s    Cylinder. 


graphic  operations  take  the  place  of  the  hundreds  or  more 
of  photometric  settings  usually  made. 

The  essential  parts  of  an  apparatus  for  photographic 
determination  of  distribution  curves  are  two — first,  a  sur- 
face surrounding  the  source  in  such  a  manner  as  to  receive 
illumination  from  it,  bearing  a  known  relation  to  the  in- 
tensity in  the  various  directions;  second,  a  set  of  illuminated 
patches  of  known  brightness,  of  a  range  to  include  all  those 


desired  range  of  brightness  may  be  obtained.  These  nms 
be  measured  with  an  illuminometer,  and  by  preference  th' 
measurement  siiould  be  made  from  the  pomt  where  th^ 
camera  lens  is  to  stand.  This  can  usually  be  accomplishe( 
by  placing  over  the  illuminometer  tube  a  lens  of  such  foca 
length  as  to  form  an  image  of  the  object  in  the  plane  of  th' 
photometer  screen.  In  the  procedure  as  here  described  i 
is  necessary  to  know  only  the  relative  brightness  of  &< 
different  patches.  The  absolute  brightness  may  be  variei 
by  the  size  or  operating  voltage  of  the  incandescent  lam] 
to  suit  the  brightness  of  the  surface  illuminated  by  thi 
test  lamp. 

For  a  surface  to  be  illuminated  by  the  lamp  under  tes 
several  possibilities  were  considered — a  small  surface  on  : 
radial  arm,  which  might  be  rapidly  rotated ;  a  set  of  sraal 
surfaces  shielded  from  each  other's  light  bv  radial  screens 


ay 


40/' 


K  70 

EiKtrieul  World 


Wave-length 
Fig.   3 — Spectral    Distribution   of    Light. 


or  a  cvlindrical  surface  with  its  center  at  the  light  source 
A  slight  modification  of  the  latter  idea  was  decided  upon 
It  is  clear  that  the  brightness  of  a  ring  or  section  of  ; 
uniformly  diffusely  reflecting  cylinder  will  indicate  the  dis 
tribution  of  candle-power  of  a  source  of  light  at  its  centei 
in  the  common  plane  of  the  source  and  ring,  provided  tht 
illumination  of  any  point  in  the  ring  is  due  solely  to  the 
light    source    at    its   center.      That    this    condition    may   \n 


180  175       165 


D 

Ulack  Vel 

vet''    B 

1 

Ll, 

's\/r 

d'\ 

1       V 

-Plan 

A 

Eleetrieal  IVarU 


35' 
.ELeetrieal  li'orU 


Fig.   2 — Arrangement   of   Apparatus.        Figs.  4  and  5 — Distribution  Curve  of   Reflector  and   Photographic    Determination   of   Same. 


on  the  illuminated  test  surface.  The  latter  part  of  the 
apparatus  may  be  very  simply  constructed  by  placing  an 
incandescent  lamp  behind  a  sheet  of  opal  glass  (this  glass 
forming  one  side  of  the  box  inclosing  the  lamp).  Either 
by  having  the  lamp  placed  very  close  to  one  end  of  the 
glass  or  by  a  series  of   absorption   glasses,  or   both,   any 


very  closely  approached  is  shown  by  the  following  analysis: 
Let  C,  Fig.  I,  be  a  tube  of  circular  cross-section,  of  radius 
R  and  length  a.  Let  the  tube  be  of  diffusely  reflecting 
material,  obeying  Lambert's  law.  In  its  axis  let  there  be 
a  point  source  of  light  of  intensity,  la  in  any  direction  a 
(measured  from  some  arbitrary  zero  angle).     Assume  that 


■  July  20,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


15s 


the  radius  R  is  so  large   in  proportion   to   the  length   of 

cylinder  to  be  used  that  tiie  illumination  is  uniform  along 

anv  element  of  the  tube,  and  equal  to  j^.    Let  the  reflecting 

A" 

power  of  the  surface  be  such  that  the  brightness  per  unit 
area  under  unit  illumination  is  p.  The  intrinsic  brightness 
of  the  surface  at  any  point  due  to  the  central  light  source 
/^ 
/r 

to  the  light  source  alone  is  a  measure  of  the  candle-power  in 
various  directions.  But  in  addition  to  the  direct  light  of 
the  source  each  element  of  the  tube  receives  reflected  light 
from  the  other  illuminated  elements.  The  distribution  as 
obtained  from  the  intrinsic  brightness  is  in  error  by  the 
amount  of  the  reflected  light.  The  amount  of  this  error 
can  be  calculated  as  follows : 

Let  P  be  the  point  whose  brightness  is  to  be  measured. 


will  tlien  be    ~  .  The  brightness  of  the  cylindrical  tube  due 


Its  brightness  due  te  the  source  is     -y—-.    Take  any  element 

on  the  cylindrical  surface,  as  S.  Let  the  linear  element  of 
the  cylinder  of  which  it  is  a  part  be  at  the  angle  a  from  the 
element  containing  P,  and  let  its  distance  from  the  vertical 
plane  through  /  and  the  cylinder  be  y. 

The  illumination  at  P  due  to  the  element  Rdvda.  at  5  is 


R 


la  p   cos  3  dyda. 


R'  D' 

and  the  brightness  at  P  due  to  the  element  at  5 
,  /«  p"  cos"  3  dydoi 


R- 


R'- 


u- 


iR  sin"- 


Now  cos  5  = 


\  4i?=sin=-  +y 


and  D-  =  4R-  sin' \-  y' 

Substituting 


bp  =  R 


la  9' 
1^ 


4  R'  sin' . 


{4R'  shr \-y-)~- 


■  dvda 


and  for  the  total  brightness  at  P 

21: 


Bu 


R' 


la  16R'  sin*  —  dixdy 


(4  R'-  sin' 


+ fr- 


ill order  that  this  shall  differ  as  little  as  possible  from  ~ 

K 

the  second  term  must  be  small.     This  may  be  attained  by 

making  R  large    (in   proportion  to  a)    and  by  choosing  a 

material  for  which  p  is  small. 

In  order  to  learn  the  values  of  a,  R  and  p  which  are  neces- 
sary to  render  the  scheme  practicable  we  may  proceed  as 
follows : 

Let  the  intensity  of  the  source  be  a  minimum  at  the  angle 
0,  and  let  Im  be  its  maximum  intensity,  then  the  second 
term  will  be  less  than 

r*"-     f^"  i6R'sm'   —dady 

T-R  ^ 

'     J-^    Jo         (4R^sin'^  +  y-r 

Performing  the  integration,  we  obtain  for  the  brightness 
at  P 


h  =  ^[h 


+  1, 


■K  a  g 

'    2i? 


The  required  condition  is  that 


X  a  p  I  „ 
~'2ir 


be  less  than  the  per- 


missible error   in   measuring  /„.     As  a   practical  case  take 
a         I 
yj —  a"d  consider  a  perfectly  reflecting  matte  surface. 

For  the  latter  p  =  -   ;  then  the  error  becomes  0.0;  /„,. 

If  a  common  "black"  paper  is  used  a  drops  to  about  1/25 
X  i/t  and  the  error  becomes  0.002  ]„.  Expressed  as  per- 
centage of  /„  this  amounts  to  5  per  cent  in  the  case  wdiere 

-J—  =  25.     Usually,  however,  on  a  distribution  curve  it  is 

fair   to  base  the  discussion   of  accuracy  on  the  maximum 
intensity.    At  any  rate,  it  is  evident  that  the  errors  may  be 

made  quite  small  by  proper  choice  of  —  and  of  p. 

The  test  surface  here  used  was  a  modification  of  the 
cylindrical  surface  just  considered  and  consisted  of  a  180 
deg.  section  of  a  45  deg.  cone.  Its  radius  in  the  plane  of 
the  light  source  was  4  ft.,  its  height  5  in.  It  was  formed 
by  mounting  heavy  cardboard  on  a  specially  constructed 
wooden  frame.  Measurement  of  the  brightness  of  a  shadow 
cast  by  a  narrow  rod  at  the  brightest  portion  of  the 
illuminated  surfaces  showed  it  to  be  on  white  blotting 
paper  less  than  2  per  cent  of  the  brightness  alongside.  A 
dark  matte  gray  surface  was  used  in  the  work,  made  by 
painting  the  cardboard  with  a  mixture  of  zinc  oxide  and 
lampblack  in  alcohol,  and  the  brightness  of  a  shadow  on  it 
fell  below  i  per  cent  of  the  unshaded  portion,  appearing  in 
fact  as  black  as  the  background  of  unilluminated  black 
velvet. 

The  complete  apparatus  is  shown  diagrammatically  in 
Fig.  2.  5"  is  the  test  surface,  L  the  light  source  (which 
should  be  arranged  to  rotate),  B  the  background,  consisting 
of  a  black  cavity  lined  with  black  velvet.  D,  D'  are  screens 
which  prevent  the  light  from  the  source  striking  the  velvet 
background.  A  is  the  box  of  comparison  patches, 
illuminated  by  an  incandescent  lamp  L'.  C  is  a  small 
auxiliary  surface,  illuminated  by  a  standard  lamp  T,  to  be 
used  where  absolute  candle-power  values  are  desired. 

The  photographic  camera  was  placed  about  15  ft.  from  L. 
With  the  lens  used,  the  image  practically  filled  the  half  of 
a  lo-in.  by  12-in.  plate.  In  order  to  obtain  an  identity  of 
the  visual  and  photographic  values  a  "visual  luminosity" 
filter  was  used.  This  color  screen,  consisting  of  a  mixture 
of  certain  dyes  in  gelatine,"  when  used  with  Cramer's  spec- 
trum plates  gives  a  curve  of  action  through  the  spectrum 
closely  that  of  the  eye,  as  shown  in  Fig.  3.  This  screen 
was  used  because  it  was  at  hand.  Probably  certain  visual 
luminosity  filters  on  the  market,  if  used  with  their  appro- 
priate plates,  would  have  served  sufficiently  well. 

The  proper  development  of  these  plates,  using  metol- 
liydrochinone,  was  determined  by  plotting  photographic 
densities  against  the  logarithm  of  intensities.  A  develop- 
ment of  three  minutes  at  room  temperatures  was  found  to 
be  sufficient  to  give  a  development  factor  of  unity;  that  is. 
a  given  percentage  variation  in  illumination  is  represented 
by  the  same  percentage  variation  in  transmission  of  the 
negative.  By  similar  plots  the  proper  exposure  for  different 
brightnesses  of  the  collection  of  comparison  patches  was 
determined,  in  order  that  these  should  be  evenly  distributed 
about  the  region  of  "normal"  exposure. 

The  typical  procedure  is  as  follows:  The  lamp  wdiose 
candle-power  distribution  is  desired  is  put  in  place;  the  lamp 
behind  the  comparison  patches  is  adjusted  in  voltage  until 
the  brightest  patch  is  somewhat  brighter  than  the  brightest 
part  of  the  illuminated  test  surface.  When  this  condition  is 
attained  it  also  means  that  the  darkest  patch  is  practically 
darker  than  the  darkest  part  of  the  test  surface,  for  in  the 

-"Ilistributjon  of  Luminosity  in  Nature,"  by  Ives  and  Luckiesh.     Trans 
I.  E.  S.,  Vol.  VI,  page  67. 


isf 


ELECTRICAL     W (  )  K L D 


Vol.  6o,  No.  3. 


former,  as  constructed,  a  range  of  300  to  i  obtains.  With  the 
previously  obtained  correct  exposure  for  the  comparison 
patches  the  complete  set-up  is  photographed  and  the  plate 
developed  and  tested  for  density  on  a  Martens  polarization 
photometer.  Corresponding  densities  on  the  test-surface 
picture  and  on  the  comparison  patches  correspond  to  the 
same  relative  brightness;  hence  a  set  of  points  is  obtained 
giving  the  distribution  of  intensity  around  the  source  of 
light. 

Some  experiments  were  made  to  test  the  performance  of 
various  parts  of  the  apparatus  and  various  stages  of  the 
process.  An  exceedingly  long  exposure  was  made  to  de- 
termine whether  the  background  might  be  considered  truly 
"black."  Although  the  plate  was  excessively  overexposed 
on  the  illuminated  parts  no  action  was  obtained  from  the 
background.  An  illuminated  piece  of  black  cardboard  at 
the  same  time  gave  a  strongly  developed  image.     Next  a 


180° 


60 


165° 


150 


-Eull  Line^Cucve^eterminedx/^ 
,(Photometrically.i-.^y\/\/\ 
/Circles-indicate  Results^obtained 


120° 


105° 


90 


60° 


45° 


Eleecncal    li'arlj 

Fig.  6 — Distribution   Curve   of    Bare    incandescent    Lamp. 

test  was  made  to  determine  how  accurately  the  process  of 
photography  and  measurement  reproduce  what  is  before 
the  camera.  The  test  surface,  illuminated  by  an  incan- 
descent lamp  in  a  reflector,  was  measured  for  brightness 
from  the  position  of  the  camera  lens,  by  means  of  an 
illuminometer  behind  a  telescope  which  formed  a  focused 
image  of  the  test  surface  on  the  photometer  screen.  The 
points  thus  obtained  are  shown  in  Fig.  4,  together  with 
the  results  of  two  photographic  determinations.  The  agree- 
ment is  quite  satisfactory.  Fig.  5  is  a  reproduction  of  a 
print  from  one  of  the  photographic  negatives. 

There  remains  after  this  test  the  question  of  how 
accurately  the  illumination  on  the  test  surface  corresponds 
to  the  candle-power  distribution  as  determined  by  other 
means.  This  depends  on  the  perfection  of  the  test  surface — • 
Its  trueness  of  angle,  its  diffusing  power,  etc.  In  the  test 
surface  constructed  the  cardboard  was  carefully  set  at  45 
deg.  all  along  its  length  by  wedges.  The  coating  of  lamp- 
black and  zinc  oxide  showed  less  specular  reflection  than 
anything  else  tested  by  us.  There  was.  however,  some 
tendency  of  the  cardboard  to  warp,  and  the  zinc  oxide-lamp- 
black paint  was  not  absolutely  uniform,  as  some  streakiness 
showed. 

In  Fig.  6  is  shown  the  candle-power  distribution  curve 
of  a  bare  lamp,  measured  photometrically,  at  a  distance  of 
4  ft.,  by  an  independent  laboratory.  The  circles  represent 
the  points  determined  photographically.    There  is  excellent 


agreement  except  for  the  lowest  illuminations.  The  devia- 
tion of  these  points  may  be  due  to  errors  in  the  photometric 
work,  to  inaccuracies  in  the  determination  of  the  bright- 
ness of  the  low-intensity  comparison  patches,  or  again  to 
the  fact  that  the  photographic  plates  used  were  not  of  plate 
glass  and  therefore  likely  to  be  concave  and  of  irregular 
thickness  of  coating.  On  the  whole,  however  the  agreement 
is  good,  and  by  the  use  of  plate-glass  sensitive  plates  and  by 
calibration  of  the  reflecting  power  of  the  test  surface  point 
by  point  the  outstanding  differences  would  probably  entirely 
disappear. 

These  experiments  were  made  with  non-fluctuating 
sources,  for  which  a  photographic  method  offers  no  special 
advantages,  but  the  results  apply  equally  well  to  fluctuating 
sources,  once  the  apparatus  and  photographic  procedure  are 
in  shape  to  photometer  a  non-fluctuating  source  correctly. 


Fig.   7 — Scheme   for  Testing   Arc    Lamps. 

If  the  law  connecting  time  of  exposure  with  intensity  of 
incident  light  were  that  these  two  factors,  time  and  in- 
tensity, are  equivalent,  then  the  photographic  method  would 
be  applicable  not  only  to  obtaining  distribution  curves  but 
to  obtaining  actual  candle-power  value.  The  law  which 
actually  holds  is  that  for  equal  densities  on  a  plate 

It"  =  iTP 

where  /  and  i  are  the  larger  and  small  intensities,  T  and  t 
the  larger  and  smaller  exposure  times  and  />  is  a  constant 
of  value  usually  between  0.8  and  1.0.  In  other  words,  a 
more  intense  illumination  is  more  effective  than  a  corre- 
spondingly increased  time  of  exposure  with  a  low  intensity. 
Applying  this  law  to  the  case  of  two  illuminations,  one  con- 
stant, the  other  twice  as  intense  but  acting  only  half  the 
time,  it  appears  that  the  latter  will  produce  a  photographic 
action  greater  than  the  former.  For  a  value  of  p  of  0.85 
this  excess  will  correspond  to  about  7  per  cent.  It  is  there- 
fore to  be  expected  that  the  photograph  of  the  fluctuating 
light  from  an  arc  lamp  will  indicate  a  candle-power  some- 
what above  its  true  mean  value. 

This  point  was  tested  for  the  Cramer  spectrum  plate  for 
which  p  =  0.85.  A  fluctuating  illumination  was  produced' 
by  a  slowly  rotating  sector  over  an  opal  glass  opening.  The 
illumination  passed  through  three  stages — high,  medium  and 
low — of  23,  19  and  10  units.  Its  mean  value  was  calculated 
and  an  exposure  made  to  that  illumination  between  two- 
exposures  on  the  fluctuating  one.    The  fluctuating  illumina- 


July  20,  igia. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


IS7 


tion  gave  a  slightly  greater  density  corresponding  to  about 
4  per  cent  greater  steady  illumination.  As  this  error  is 
always  in  the  same  direction  and  probably  will  average 
very  nearly  a  constant — namely,  5  per  cent — it  might  be 
quite  satisfactory  to  use  the  photographic  method  and  make 
a  correction  of  this  amount.  The  result  would,  in  the  case 
of  an  arc  lamp,  probably  be  as  close  as  can  be  obtained  by 
any  present  method. 

Fig.  7  shows  the  camplete  scheme  for  test  of  an  arc  lamp. 
The  auxiliary  side  patch  is  illuminated  by  a  standard 
lamp;  the  arc  is  supposed  to  be  rotated  in  order  to  secure 
the  mean  value  of  all  directions.  Values  of  both  the 
auxiliary  and  the  test  surfaces  are  obtained  in  terms  of 
the  comparison  patches  and  in  terms  of  each  other.  With 
a  6-amp  arc,  at  a  distance  of  4  ft.  from  the  test  surface, 
an  exposure  of  fifteen  minutes  is  sufficient  with  the  camera, 
plates,  etc.,  used.  A  test  surface  at  a  greater  distance  will 
require  increased  exposure,  but  by  using  a  larger  aperture 
lens,  quicker  light  filter,  etc.,  the  exposure  may  be  held  to 
about  this  length  if  desired. 

The  result  of  this  investigation  is  to  show  the  entire 
feasibility  of  the  photographic  method  of  obtaining  candle- 
power  distribution  curves  in  the  case  of  fluctuating  sources, 
which  are  now  measured  visually.  While  the  method  is 
subject  to  a  limitation  when  used  to  obtain  the  total  candle- 
power  of  a  fluctuating  source,  the  error  is  small  and  may  be 
allowed  for  with  a  final  result  probably  as  accurate  as  is 
given  by  present  methods. 

Certain  refinements  and  variations  in  the  entirely  experi- 
mental procedure  here  described  may  be  expected  to  pro- 
vide increased  accuracy.  These  are  the  use  of  photographic 
plates  made  of  plate  glass  and  the  calibration  of  the 
illuminated  test  surface  for  reflecting  power  point  by  point. 
It  is  possible  also  that  a  cylindrical  instead  of  a  conical  test 
surface  might  be  more  accurately  made  and  be  less  liable 
to  give  an  admixture  of  specular  reflection.  These  are, 
however,  points  to  be  settled  by  further  trial  on  a  larger  and 
more  technical  scale. 


Letters  to  the  Editors 


THE  CANDLE-PER-WATT  METER. 


To  the  Editors  of  Electrical  World: 

Sirs  : — In  connection  with  the  proposal  of  Dr.  Herbert  E. 
Ives  in  your  issue  of  June  8  for  a  new  form  of  bolometric 
candles-per-watt  meter  for  rating  incandescent  lamps,  the 
following  brief  account  of  the  development  of  such  an  in- 
strument may  be  of  interest  to  your  readers.  The  work  in 
question  was  carried  on  by  the  writer  in  the  laboratory  of 
the  Westinghouse  Lamp  Company  early  in  the  month  of 
April,  1911. 

As  a  preliminary  determination  of  the  possible  accuracy 
of  the  instrument,  a  screen  was  made  by  winding  63.4  ohms 
of  bare  No.  40  B.  &  S.  gage  copper  wire  on  a  light  frame 
of  glass  rod.  It  was  found  that  the  resistance  of  this  screen 
increased  0.395  per  cent  when  placed  within  4  in.  of  a  25- 
watt  tungsten  lamp  operating  at  1.25  watts  per  candle.  A 
change  of  i  per  cent  in  the  specific  consumption  of  the 
lamp,  produced  by  changing  the  applied  voltage,  caused  a 
corresponding  change  in  the  resistance  of  the  screen  of  the 
order  of  0.00016  per  cent.  The  "time-lag"  between  the  lamp 
and  the  screen  was  of  the  order  of  fifteen  seconds. 

Further  experiment  showed  that  the  effect  on  the  screen 
was  attributable  entirely  to  the  radiant  energy  absorbed  by  it 
and  was  independent  of  local  air  currents  set  up  by  the  hot 
lamp.  A  brief  investigation  of  the  available  screens  for 
dividing  the  radiation  into  two  parts,  the  ratio  of  which 
would  be  the  basis  for  determining  the  specific  consumption 
of  the  lamp,  soon  showed  that  this  part  of  the  scheme,  as 


Dr.  Ives  has  outlined  it,  was  impracticable  for  the  desired 
purposes. 

The  difficulty  was  avoided  by  dividing  the  screen  into  two 
portions  by  making  connection  with  its  middle  point  and  by 
covering  one-half  with  a  thin  layer  of  bluish  sulphide,  which 
was  accomplished  by  exposing  it  to  sulphuretted  hydrogen. 
There  was  thus  obtained  a  screen  which  could  be  substituted 
for  the  two  arms  of  a  Whcatstone  bridge,  one  arm  being 
of  a  bright  red  copper  color  and  the  other  much  darker,  the 
resistance  of  each  arm  being  slightly  more  than  30  ohms. 
The  other  two  arms  were  formed  by  putting  a  sliding  con- 
tact on  a  manganin  wire. 

With  this  screen  placed  about  4  in.  from  a  tungsten  lamp 
and  adequately  protected  from  air  currents,  it  was  found 
possible  to  rate  a  tungsten  lamp  consistently  many  times  in 
succession  within  a  maximum  range  of  6.5  volts.  The  sensi- 
bility of  the  galvanometer  used  was  0.00000 1  amp  per  di- 
vision, and  the  source  of  current  was  a  single  dry  cell  with 
several  thousand  ohms  in  series. 

A  later  form  of  the  instrument  contained  four  screens  of 
copper  wire  0.0023  in.  in  diameter  wound  on  a  frame  of 
glass  rod  about  6  in.  square.  These  screens  were 
placed  one  behind  the  other,  alternate  screens  being  black- 
ened, and  each  screen  formed  one  arm  of  the  bridge,  the 
necessary  adjustment  being  obtained  by  a  small  variable  re- 
sistance in  one  arm.  The  "time-lag"  of  this  arrangement 
was  less  than  five  seconds,  a  large  portion  of  which  was  due 
to  the  small  changes  of  temperature  of  the  structure  of 
the  lamp. 

This  result  well  illustrates  Dr.  Ives'  remark  that  lamps 
of  the  same  radiant  efficiency  (as  measured  at  the  surface  of 
the  filament)  are  not  necessarily  of  the  same  total  efficiency. 
It  should  be  pointed  out,  however,  that  it  is  the  over-all 
efficiency  which  concerns  the  average  user  of  incandescent 
lamps,  and  of  this  the  instrument  gives  a  true  measure  in 
so  far  as  the  input  leaves  the  lamp  as  radiation  and  is  not 
carried  away  by  local  convection. 

It  should  be  pointed  out  that,  while  this  instrument  deals 
with  the  entire  radiant  spectrum  of  the  lamp,  the  same  re- 
sults may  be  obtained  much  more  simply  with  reference 
solely  to  the  visible  spectrum.  Thus  the  light  from  a  tung- 
sten or  carbon  lamp  at  80  per  cent  of  its  rated  voltage  differs 
greatly  in  color  from  the  normal  light  of  the  lamp,  and  the 
voltage  which  will  give  a  definite  color  can  be  determined 
by  a  photometric  comparison  of  the  brightness  of  two 
screens  of  different  colors  illuminated  by  the  lamp  in  ques- 
tion. In  this  case  the  visible  spectrum  is  divided  into  two 
parts  by  the  reflecting  surfaces  of  the  screens,  and  a 
definite  ratio  of  the  brightness  of  the  screens  corresponds 
to  a  definite  spectrum  and  a  definite  efficiency  for  any 
given  type  of  lamp. 

Bloomfield,  N.  J.  Wilfred    T.  Birdsall. 


IMPROPER    WATT-HOUR-METER    CONNECTIONS. 


To  the  Editors  of  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — Referring  to  the  article  by  Mr.  C.  A.  Howell  on 
"Improper  Watt-hour-Meter  Connections"  in  the  issue  of 
June  15,  allow  me  to  state  that  an  article  of  mine  on  this 
same  subject  was  published  in  Elektrotechnik  und  Maschin- 
enban,  Vienna,  March  18,  1906,  and  abstracted  in  your 
"Digest  of  Current  Electrical  Literature"  in  the  issue  of 
April  14,  1906.  In  my  original  article  the  complete  theory 
was  outlined  and  there  was  given  a  small  table  of  connec- 
tions, similar  to  that  in  Mr.  Howell's  article.  In  an 
abridged  form  the  same  article  was  published  in  The  Elec- 
trical Engineer,  London,  March  23,  1906,  and  a  translation 
in  full  in  L'Eclairage  Electriqne,  April  21,  1906. 

Prof.  Dr.  F.  Niethammer. 

Technische  Hochschule,  Brunn,  Germany. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  3. 


Digest    of   Current   Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Parallel  Operation  of  Alleruators. — L.  Fleischmanx. — 
A  paper  read  before  the  Berlin  Electrical  Society  in  which 
attention  is  called  to  the  effect  of  torsion  oscillations  of 
axles  on  the  parallel  operation  of  alternators.  For  an 
arrangement  of  two  flywheels  it  is  shown  that  there  are  two 
possibilities  of  resonance,  and  the  correctness  of  the  con- 
clusions is  proven  by  experiments  with  a  model. — Elck. 
Zcit.,  June  13.  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Photoelectric  Cell  in  Photometry. — Edward  L.  Nichols 
AND  Ernest  Merritt. — An  abstract  of  an  American 
Physical  Society  paper.  It  has  been  shown  by  Richtmyer 
that  photoelectric  cells  containing  sodium  or  potassium, 
made  by  the  method  first  described  by  Elster  and  Geitel, 
give  a  current  on  illumination  which  is  strictly  proportional 
to  the  intensity  of  the  exciting  light  through  a  very  wide 
range,  provided  onlv  that  the  quality  of  the  light  remains 
unchanged.  The  authors  have  recently  used  such  a  cell  in 
determining  the  density  distribution  in  the  negatives  ob- 
tained when  photographing  certain  luminescence  spectra, 
the  purpose  being  to  locate  the  crests  of  several  faint  and 
rather  diffuse  bands,  and  they  find  the  method  both  con- 
venient and  reliable.  The  photoelectric  cell — a  potas- 
sium cell  obtained  from  Miiller-Uri,  Braunschweig — was 
mounted  in  a  light-tight  box.  one  side  of  which  contained 
an  adjustable  slit,  so  placed  that  light  entering  the  slit  fell 
upon  the  sensitive  surface  of  the  cell.  The  negative  was 
mounted  immediately  in  front  of  the  slit,  and  was  carried 
by  a  micrometer  screw.  A  mercury  lamp  was  used  as  a 
source  of  light.  To  obtain  sufficient  detail  the  slit  was  made 
somewhat  less  than  o.l  mm  wide.  Under  these  circum- 
stances the  photoelectric  current  was  too  small  to  be 
measured  by  a  galvanometer,  and  it  was  necessary  to  use 
an  electrometer.  In  order  that  the  current  might  be  in- 
dicated by  the  deflection  of  the  galvanometer  rather  than 
bv  the  rate  of  change  of  the  deflection  the  cell  was  con- 
nected as  shown  in  Fig.  l.  The  potassium  terminal  of  the 
cell  K  was  connected  to  one  pair  of  quadrants  of  the 
Dolezalek  electrometer  and  also,  through  a  resistor  R.  to 
earth,  the  other  terminal  of  the  cell  being  connected  to  the 
positive  side  of  a  iio-volt  circuit.  The  resistor  R  consisted 
of  a  capillary  tube  containing  absolute  alcohol,  and  could 
be  adjusted  by  varving  the  depth  of  immersion  of  the  wire 


+  no-e 


Fig.    1 — Connections   of    Photoelectric   Ceil. 

leading  to  the  earth.  Since  a  small  current  passed  through 
the  cell  even  without  illumination,  it  was  found  convenient 
to  connect  the  other  pair  of  quadrants  to  P.  and  by  adjust- 
ment of  the  resistance  of  S  and  T  to  bring  the  two  pairs  of 
quadrants  to  the  same  potential  when  the  cell  was  in  the 
dark.  The  deflection  of  the  electrometer  upon  illuminating 
the  cell  was  then  a  measure  of  the  intensity  of  the  light 


entering  the  slit.  Readings  could  be  taken  with  great 
rapidity.  In  one  instance,  for  example,  over  400  readings 
were  taken  covering  the  range  from  4338  to  5790  Angstrom 
units  in  less  than  an  hour.  Since  the  quadrants  of  the 
electrometer  are  permanently  connected  to  earth  through 
the  resistors  R  and  T  the  instrument  is  almost  entirely  free 
from  electrostatic  disturbances.  The  fact  that  the  quantity 
sought  is  measured  by  a  deflection,  rather  than  by  the  rate 
of  change  of  a  deflection,  leads  to  a  considerable  increase  in 
the  convenience  with  which  observations  may  be  made; 
while  the  sensibility  of  the  method  may  be  made  many 
times  greater. — Phys.  Rciiew,  June,   1912. 

Electric  and  Kerosene  Lighting. — J.  Singer. — An  ac- 
count of  tests  made  in  the  laboratory  of  the  Frankfurt  elec- 
tric station  on  the  comparative  cost  of  electric  and  kerosene 
lighting.  In  the  extended  tests  an  average  kerosene  con- 
sumption of  3.2  grams  (0.1  ounce)  per  hefner  candle-hour 
was  obtained,  costing  from  0.44  to  0.7.S  cent  according  to 
the  quality  of  kerosene  used.  Metallic-filament  lamps  con- 
sume I.I  watt  per  hefner  candle,  hence,  with  an  average 
price  of  11  cents  per  kw-hr.  the  cost  of  energy  for  a  25-cp 
lamp  is  0.3  cent  per  hour.  Electric  light  is,  therefore, 
much  cheaper  than  kerosene  light. — Elek.  Zcit.,  June  6, 
1912. 

Traction. 

Single-Phase  Traction. — H.  Behn  -  Eschexburg. — An 
English  translation  of  his  recent  German  article  on  the 
work  of  the  Oerlikon  Company  in  single-phase  traction. 
After  referring  to  the  excellent  results  obtained  from  the 
first  2000-hp  locomotive,  built  in  accordance  with  Oerlikon 
practice  for  the  Loetschberg  line,  the  main  features  of  the 
new  2500-hp  locomotives  for  the  Berne-Loetschberg-Sim- 
plon  Railway  are  described.  A  substantial  improvement 
consists  in  the  use  of  simple  drum-type  controllers  for 
regulation  of  speed  and  pressure. — London  Electrician, 
June  28,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

German  Central-Station  Statistics. — Emil  Schiff. — An 
article  giving  some  notes  on  the  statistics  issued  by  the 
German  Association  of  Central  Stations,  with  special  refer- 
ence to  amortization.  The  number  of  pure  direct-current 
stations  decreases  continually  because  local  stations  develop 
into  transmission  systems.  The  number  of  stations  which 
buy  electricity  in  bulk  is  increasing. — Elek.  Zcit..  June  6, 
1912. 

Automatic  Pressure  Regulators. — S.  J.  W  atsox. — A 
paper  read  before  the  British  Municipal  Electrical  Associa- 
tion. Automatic  pressure  regulators  should  be  at  all  times 
and  under  all  conditions  completely  automatic  in  their  ac- 
tion, but  few  are.  It  is,  ho\tever,  usually  possible  to  pro- 
vide an  independent  device  to  insure  that  the  regulator  will 
be  cut  out  of  use  if  a  certain  range  of  regulation  is  ex- 
ceeded. The  majority  of  the  instruments  used  for  the 
purpose  of  controlling  the  pressure  of  supply  consist  either 
of  a  movable  iron  core  inserted  in  a  shunt  coil,  or  of  a 
movable  shunt  coil  which  can  rotate  between  the  poles  of 
a  permanent  magnet,  the  shunt  coils  in  both  cases  being 
excited  from  the  busbars.  If  the  busbar  pressure  falls,  the 
movement  of  the  core  or  the  shunt  coil  is  in  one  direction, 
and  if  the  busbar  pressure  rises  the  movement  is  in  the 
other  direction.  With  ordinary  changes  of  pressure  the 
movement  produced  and  the  power  exerted  is  quite  small; 
it  is  therefore  necessary  to  magnify  the  movement  or  to 
use  relays  in  order  to  obtain  a  sufficient  range  of  regulation, 
and  the  mechanical  power  required  to  operate  an  auxiliary 
regulating  device.     By  means  of  the  auxiliary  device,  which 


LY   20,    I9I2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


IS9 


ay  consist  of  a  small  motor  or  solenoids,  regulation  is 
itaincd  by  (i)  moving  the  switch  which  varies  the  rc- 
jtance  in  circuit  with  the  field  winding  of  the  generator  ; 
>)  varying  the  field  of  a  small,  separate  exciter  supplying 
:ld  current  to  the  generator;  or  (3)  diverting  more  or  less 
the  field  current  of  the  generator.  When  a  number  of 
■nerators  are  run  in  parallel,  use  may  be  made  of  a  regu- 
tor  controlling  them  all,  in  which  case  any  variation  in 
ad  is  distributed  equally  over  all  the  plant,  or  with  one 
inerator  only,  which  will  then  deal  with  the  fluctuations 
id  allow  the  other  plant  to  run  at  constant  load.  Regu- 
■.ors  are  usually  provided  with  hand  adjustment,  to  enable 
e  busbar  pressure  to  be  varied  when  necessary  to  suit  the 
ad  conditions. — London  Elcctrican,  June  21,  1912.  In  the 
Ltended  discussion  which  followed  H.  M.  Taylor  described 
detail  the  progress  of  regulation  in  Middlesbrough  and 
.  H.  Watson  gave  some  details  of  the  Tirrill  regulator. — 
andon  Electrician,  June  28,  1912. 

Electric  W.atcr  Heater. — W.  R.  Cooper. — An  illustrated 
tide  on  the. problem  of  electrically  heating  domestic  water 
ipply.  The  author  discussed  a  form  of  heater  in  which 
irt  of  the  water  is  heated  directly  by  electric  energy  and 
e  remainder  is  heated  indirectly  from  the  first  part.  The 
rangement  is  shown  in  Fig.  2,  in  which  A  is  an  inner 
linder  containing  the  portion  of  water  that  is  heated 
rectly  by  an  immersion  heater  B.  The  remainder  of  the 
ater  is  contained  in  an  outer  packet  C  and  receives  heat 
oni  the  inner  cylinder.  In  order  that  the  inner  body  of 
ater  should  become  sufficiently  heated  it  is  necessary  to 
sulate  thermally  the  inner  cylinder  from  the  packet  so  as 
keep  down  the  flow  of  heat  to  a  suitable  extent,  and  for 
is  purpose  an  air,  space  D  is  provided  between  the  two 
ssels.  The  cold  water  is  supplied  at  the  bottom  of  the 
ter  vessel ;  the  warm  water  in  this  collects  at  the  top 
d  is  taken  through  the  pipes  F  to  supply  water  to  the 
ttoni  of  the  inner  vessel  as  water  is  drawn  from  the  top 
this  vessel,  where  the  hot  test  water  collects.  The  advan- 
ce of  'this  arrangement  is  that  the  electric  heating  is 
plied  to,  say.  one-third  of  the  water  instead  of  to  the 
lole,  and  consequentlv  after  water  is  drawn  the  tempcra- 
re  is  raised  much  more  quickly  than  it  would  be  other- 
se.  A  storage  system  of  this  kind  acts  somewhat  like  a 
ffer  battery ;  it  smooths  out  the  demands  made  upon  the 
urce  of  energy,  and  it  must  be  suitably  proportioned  to 


yp    Plus 


'j.  2 — Cross-Section    of    Domestic   Water    Heater   for   Continuous 
Load. 

e  quantity  of  water  needed.  Sometimes  it  may  happen 
at  an  abnormal  quantity  of  water  is  required;  for  example, 
I  special  occasions,  or  when  visitors  are  staying  in  the 
'Use.  Demands  of  this  kind  can  be  met,  if  necessary,  by 
ting  an  auxiliary  heating  coil  which  would  be  switched 
1  by  the  consumer  when  desired,  or  controlled  thermo- 
atically.    A  water  heater  of  this  kind,  being  continuously 


in  circuit,  would  preferably  be  connected  direct  to  the  mains, 
the  energy  not  being  metered,  but  charged  at  so  much  per 
month.  Any  auxiliary  heating  coil  would,  of  course,  be 
supplied  with  energy  through  the  meter  at  the  ordinary 
rate. — London  Electrician.  June  21,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Pin   Insulators. — W.    Fellenberg. — The    first    part   of    a 
very  long  and  profusely  illustrated  paper  read  before  the 


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Fig.  3- 


-Relations  Between  Thickness  of  Porcelain  and   Breal<-Down 
Voltage  of   Pin    Insulators. 


Berlin  Electrical  Society  on  the  fundamental  principles  of 
insulator  design  and  construction.  The  perforation  voltage 
is  not  the  only  criterion  of  correct  design,  since  the  voltage 
at  which  the  silent  discharge  and  the  brush  discharge  start 
must  also  be  taken  into  consideration.  General  rules  are 
given  which  ought  to  be  followed  in  insulator  design. 
Breakdown  tests  were  made  with  Schomburg  high-tension 
porcelain.  Six  hundred  plates  were  tested,  the  tests  being 
made  between  two  plane  circular  electrodes  rounded  along 
the  rims.  In  some  of  the  tests  one  side  of  the  porcelain 
plate  was  covered  with  tinfoil,  but  there  was  no  difference 
between  the  results  of  the  tests  with  and  without  tinfoil. 
Nor  was  there  any  difference  between  glazed  and  unglazed 
porcelain  plates,  nor  between  tests  in  air  and  oil.  Curve  a 
in  Fig.  3  gives  the  breakdown  voltage  in  kilovolts  as  a 
function  of  the  thickness  of  the  porcelain  in  millimeters 
(i  mm  =  39.37  mils).  The  breakdown  voltage  does  not  in- 
crease proportionally  to  the  thickness.  A  thickness  of 
porcelain  above  18  mm  (0.7  in.)  should  be  used  only  when 
greater  mechanical  or  dielectric  strength  is  required.  In 
tests  of  porcelain  care  must  be  taken  not  to  weaken  the 
porcelain  by  the  applied  voltage.  Curves  h  and  c  in  Fig.  3 
give  the  voltages  which  may  be  safely  applied.'  Curve  c 
refers  to  tests  in  which  the  hollow  spaces  in  the  insulators 
are  filled  with  water.  The  dielectric  strength  of  the  porce- 
lain in  kilovolts  per  centimeter  decreases.  Whether  the 
decrease  of  the  dielectric  constant  of  the  porcelain  with  the 
thickness  of  the  plate  is  apparent  or  real  has  not  yet  been 
definitely  established.  The  author  deals  in  considerable 
detail  with  various  features  of  the  design,  with  the  pre- 
liminary discharge  wdiich  may  occur  in  insulation,  with  the 
influence  of  the  dimensions  on  the  silent,  brush  and  spark 
discharges,  with  the  influence  of  the  general  design  of  the 
insulators  on  the  discharges,  and  gives  results  of  tests  with 
different  types  of  insulators  in  detail.  The  paper  is  to  be 
continued. — Fdek.  Zeit.,  June  6,  13  and  20,  1912. 

Electrophysics   and    Magnetism. 

Variation    of   Resistance    of   Selenium   idtli    Voltage. — 
E.  E.  FouRNiER  d'Albe. — A  note  on  a  recent  Royal  Society 


i6o 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No. 


paper  read  in  London.  In  all  dry  selenium  bridges  an 
increase  of  voltage  always  produces  an  increase  in  the 
electrical  conductivity,  and  the  main  result  of  the  present 
investigation  is  to  show  that  the  potential  effect  is  propor- 
tional to  the  logarithm  of  the  voltage  in  all  selenium  bridges 
having  graphite  electrodes  and  for  all  emfs  above  i  volt. 
The  logarithmic  law  was  found  to  hold  in  the  seventy 
bridges  tested  and  was  verified  for  a  voltage  as  high  as  220. 
The  author  discusses  the  arguments  against  the  various 
theories  of  the  potential  effect,  and  concludes  that  it  is  not 
very  w-ide  of  the  mark  to  compare  the  conductivity  of 
selenium  with  that  of  a  gas,  due  to  ionization  by  collision 
modified  by  a  subsequent  recombination  of  the  ions. — 
London  Electrician,  June  28,  1912. 

Magnetic  Properties  of  Alloys. — An  account  of  a  sym- 
posium of  papers  presented  before  the  Faraday  Society  on 
the  magnetic  properties  of  alloys.  E.  Gumlich  discussed  the 
magnetic  properties  of  iron-carbon  and  iron-silicon  alloys, 
E.  Wedekind  magnetism  and  stoichiometry,  J.  G.  Gray  and 
A.  D.  Ross  discussed  magnetism  at  low  temperatures,  A.  D. 
Ross  as  well  as  E.  Take  and  F.  Heusler  discussed  Heusler 
alloys,  S.  Hilpert  and  E.  Colver-Glauert  the  magnetism  of 
nickel  and  manganese  steels,  S.  Hilpert  and  T.  Dieckmann 
the  magnetism  of  manganese  compounds,  and  P.  Weiss  the 
magnetism  of  iron-nickel,  iron-cobalt  and  nickel-cobalt 
alloys. — Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing,  July,  1912. 

Perniunent  Magnets. — S.  P.  Thompson. — A  lecture  held 
before  the  (British)  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers. 
After  some  remarks  on  the  influence  of  micro-structure  and 
temperature  on  the  magnetic  properties  of  steel  the  author 
laid  emphasis  on  the  advantage  of  using  long  bars  for 
magnets,  owing  to  the  demagnetizing  effect  of  the  poles  in 
the  case  of  short  magnets.  He  then  discussed  cooling 
curves  and  recalescent  points  and  emphasized  the  effect  of 
heat  treatment  on  magnetic  properties.  Thus  he  stated  that 
a  better  effect  could  be  obtained  by  heating  tungsten  steel  to 
a  high  temperature  and  letting  it  cool  to  a  point  just  above 
the  lowest  recalescence  point  before  quenching. — London 
Electrician,  June  21,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Crystal  Rectifiers  and  Wave  Detectors. — Robert  H. 
GoDDARD. — An  account  of  an  experimental  investigation 
with  reference  to  the  fact  that  the  resistance  to  the  flow  of 
current  across  the  contact  of  dissimilar  solids  depends 
upon  the  direction  of  the  current  and  the  use  of  such  con- 
tacts as  rectifiers  and  electromagnetic  wave  detectors.  A 
large  number  of  experiments  with  currents  up  to  9  amp 
suggested  the  necessity  of  using  contacts  of  as  nearly 
chemically  clean  surfaces  as  possible.  By  means  of  a  glass 
apparatus  which  could  be  evacuated  to  a  Crooks  vacuum,  it 
was  possible  to  break  or  file  the  ends  of  the  substances  and 
metals  in  vacuo,  and  measure  the  conductances.  Proceed- 
ing in  this  way  it  was  found  that  tellurium  and  pure  silicon 
lost  most  or  all  of  their  power  to  produce  rectification  when 
cleaned,  as  above,  in  vacuo,  hydrogen,  nitrogen,  and  carbon 
dioxide,  but  behaved  in  oxygen  as  in  air.  Fused  silicon  and 
galena  gave  rectification  in  vacuo  and  all  gases ;  the  former 
always,  the  latter  often.  Galena  and  natural  graphite  were 
found  uncertain  even  under  ordinary  conditions.  Copper 
filings  produced  and  examined  in  vacuo  and  hydrogen  did 
not  show  the  anomalies  of  conduction  manifested  in  air  and 
oxygen.  Aluminum  and  magnesium  gave  uncertain  results. 
Galena  powdered  in  vacuo  by  filing  showed  the  same  anom- 
alies as  in  air.  The  experiment  with  copper  filings  sup- 
ports the  theory  of  Eccles,  that  the  deviation  from  Ohm's 
law  of  the  coherer  is  due  to  turning  of  the  particles,  due  to 
electrostatic  forces,  so  that  the  long  axes  point  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  current.  Although  Ohm's  law  was  practically 
obeyed,  there  were  sudden  increases  in  conductance  on  rais- 
ing the  voltage.  There  was  little  evidence  of  turning  in 
general,  however,  unless  a  film  of  oxide  was  present — al- 
though   Hertz   waves   greatly    increased   the    conductance. 


From  his  experiments  the  author  concludes  that  rectifica 
tibn  is  of  two  kinds,  "surface"  and  "body"  rectification,  an 
that  the  former  takes  place  with  pure  elements  in  an  activ 
gas,  and  the  latter  with  impure  elements  and  chemical  con- 
pounds,  irrespective  of  the  nature  of  the  gas  presen 
Many  experiments  with  contacts  in  air  carrying  large  cui 
rents,  and  contacts  in  vacuo,  showed  phenomena  which  suj 
gested  that  a  film  of  some  sort  is  necessary  in  order  to  ha\ 
rectification.  These  experiments,  together  with  an  osci 
logram  of  a  number  of  silicon-steel  rectifiers  in  parallel  ir 
dicate  that  the  action  of  the  solid  rectifier  is  like  that  of  tb 
aluminum  valve,  or  electrolytic  rectifier;  that  is,  a  film 
formed  which  hinders  the  motion  of  certain  ions,  with  th 
difference,  that,  in  solid  rectifiers  the  film  is  broken  dow 
by  heat,  or  sparking,  so  that  some  current  usually  flows  i 
the  direction  of  higher  resistance. — Phys.  Review,  Jun 
1912. 

Calibration  of  Wave-Meters. — G.  W.  O.  Howe. — An  al 
stract  of  a  British  Physical  Society  paper.  Wave-metei 
consisting  of  a  variable  air-condenser  and  a  set  of  coi 
can  be  calibrated  approximately  by  calculation  from  t\ 
known  capacity  of  the  condenser  and  the  inductance  of  tl 
coils.  The  most  probable  source  of  error  is  that  due  to  tl 
capacity  from  turn  to  turn  of  the  coil.  This  can  be  allow« 
for  with  sufficient  accuracy  for  all  practical  purposes  \ 
finding  the  natural  frequency  of  the  coil  alone  and  calc 
lating  its  effective  or  self-capacity  on  the  assumption  tl) 
the  whole  steady-current  inductance  of  the  coil  is  effecti' 
even  when  it  is  oscillating  freely.  This  capacity  is  th« 
added  to  the  capacity  of  the  air-condenser.  Another  meth( 
of  finding  the  required  correction  by  comparison  of  tl 
results  obtained  on  the  overlapping  portion  of  the  rang' 
of  two  coils  is  also  described.  The  correction  can  be  ma< 
small  by  suitably  designing  the  coils. — London  Electricia 
June  28,   1912. 

Ma.rimiim  Sensibility  of  a  Duddell  Vibration  Galvanot 
eter. — H.  F.  Haworth. — An  abstract  of  a  London  Physic 
Society  paper.  The  maximum  sensibility  of  a  moving-cc 
vibration  galvanometer  as  a  voltage  detector  is  obtaini 
when  the  flux  through  it  is  so  adjusted  that  the  back  er 
of  the  coil  is  equal  to  its  IR  drop ;  then  the  back  emf 
equal  to  half  the  applied  voltage,  and  the  current  is  in  tim 
phase  with  the  applied  voltage.  Increases  of  current  sen: 
bilityiof  about  30  per  cent  at  200  cycles  and  40  per  cent 
1000  cycles  were  obtained  on  running  the  instrument  in- 
vacuum,  thus  showing  that  a  large  part  of  the  mechanic 
work  produced  was  used  in  overcoming  the  molecular  fri 
tion  of  the  system. — London  Engineering,  June  28.  1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

High-Frequency  Generator  for  Wireless  Telegraphy  a: 
Telephony. — E.  F.  W.  Alexanderson. — Heretofore  t 
spark  method  has  been  used  almost  exclusively  in  wireU 
telegraphy.  A  far  more  rational  basis  was,  however,  pi 
vided  by  the  invention  of  a  500-cycle  alternating-curre 
generator.  A  special  form  of  such  a  generator  is  describ 
which  was  developed  by  the  author  from  a  standard  tw 
pole  direct-current  generator.  The  author  emphasizes  t^ 
further  developments  of  high-frequency  engineering  rai 
lead  to  the  giving  up  of  the  principle  of  damped  oscillatio 
and  to  the  introduction  of  a  consequent  system  of  undamp 
oscillations  on  the  basis  of  the  direct  production  of  hig 
frequency  currents  by  special  generators.  The  auth 
shows  how  such  a  new  generator  may  be  designed  with  t 
aid  of  unipolar  induction  and  gives  details  of  construct! 
of  a  generator  with  interpoles  which,  in  spite  of  very  hi 
speed,  is  quite  reliable  in  the  production  of  frequencies 
to  200,000  cycles.  The  success  of  this  design  is  based  1 
only  on  a  very  simple  mechanical  construction,  but  on 
new  winding  system  which  permits  one  to  decrease  t 
high  number  of  poles  in  the  armature  to  two-thirds  of  1 
number  required  with  the  usual  winding  system. — El 
Zeit.,  June  27,  1912. 


fULY   20,"  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


i6r 


Miscellaneous. 

Convention  of  German  Association  of  Electrical  h-nt^i- 
neers. — Zeiime. — An  account  of  the  twentieth  annua!  con- 
vention of  the  German  Association  of  Electrical  Engineers 
held  in  Leipzig  from  June  5  to  8.  After  a  number  of 
speeches  of  welcome  the  president,  Dr.  Budde,  gave  in  his 
iddress  a  review  of  new  advances  made  in  electrical  engi- 
neering during  the  past  year.  Dr.  Gisbert  Kapp  then  trans- 
nitted  the  greetings  of  the  British  Institution  of  Electrical 
Engineers  and,  as  representative  of  the  English  Section 
jf  tlie  International  Electrotechnical  Commission,  he  pre- 
sented to  Dr.  Budde,  the  president  of  the  conmiission,  a 
portrait  of  Faraday.  Dr.  Reichel  delivered  a  lecture  on  the 
raining  of  electrical  engineers.  The  general  secretary, 
Mr.  G.  Dettmar,  reported  that  the  association  had  twenty- 
two  local  sections  and  5000  members  and  that  its  property 
imounts  to  $19,000.  At  the  conclusion  of  this  first  session 
:he  exposition  of  applications  of  electricity  in  house,  work- 
shop and  agriculture  was  opened.  In  the  second  session  of 
die  first  day  the  following  papers  were  read.  Dr.  Teich- 
niiller  spoke  on  the  use  of  peat  as  fuel  for  electric-power 
jlants,  with  reference  to  the  Aurich  station,  where  the  fuel 
s  peat  and  the  electrical  energy  is  employed  for  drainage 
ind  for  power  purposes  in  making  the  peat  district  available 

0  agriculture.  The  peat  consumption  is  2.5  kg  (5.5  lb.) 
)er  kw-hr. ;  the  cost  is  0.31  cent  per  kw-hr.  Mr.  A.  Ritters- 
laussen  presented  a  paper  on  heat  storage,  Mr.  F.  Girard  a 
laper  on  a  new  alternating-current  quartz  lamp.  Prof.  R. 
-lundhausen  a  paper  on  the  standardization  of  fuses.  At 
he  beginning  of  the  session  of  the  second  day  Mr.  Geheim- 
at  Christiani,  of  Berlin,  was  elected  president  of  the  asso- 
:iation  and  Dr.  Budde  was  made  an  honorary  member  of 
he  council.  The  iiext  convention  will  be  held  in  Breslau. 
)r.  G.  Klingberg  read  a  paper  giving  the  fundamental 
irinciples  which  must  be  considered  in  the  design  of  large 
team-driven,  three-phase  stations.  Mr.  F.  Bartel  spoke  on 
he  use  of  low-grade  fuels  (lignite  and  peat)  for  the  supply 
f  Germany  with  electrical  energy.  Mr.  E.  F.  G.  Pein 
iscussed  the  proposed  power  plant  at  Husum  which  is  to 
tilize  the  power  of  the  tides.  Dr.  A.  Schwaiger  discussed 
fie  use  of  storage  batteries  or  heavy  flywheels  for  equal- 
ling the  load  curve  in  large  power  plants.  Several  visits 
.'ere  paid  to- the  municipal  electric  station,  to  the  Kulkwitz 
ower  plant,  the  factory  of  Ad.  Bleichert  &  Company  and 
le  publishing  Iiouse  of  J.  J.  Weber. — Elck.  Zcit.,  June  27, 
912. 

British  Municipal  Electric  Association. — A  report  of  the 
7th  annual  convention  held  at  Harrogate,  Leeds,  and  Mid- 
lesbrough.  An  account  is  first  given  of  the  dififerent  plants 
isited,  including  the  generating  stations  at  Harrogate  and 
.eeds,  the  Leeds  tramway  system,  the  power  house  of  the 
argo  Fleet  Iron  Co.,  the  Middlesbrough  transporter  bridge, 
le  Middlesbrough  Corporation  substation,  the  Newport 
'aste  heat  station,  the  works  of  Sir  B.  Samuelson  &  Co., 
nd  the  works  of  Dorman,  Long  &  Co. — London  Electrician. 
iune  14,  1912. 

British  Municipal  Electrical  Association. — A  continua- 
on  of  the  convention  report.  In  his  presidential  address 
"r.  Wilkinson  said  that  on  account  of  the  advent  of  the 
ingsten  lamp  gas  is  no  longer  a  serious  competitor  in  new 
istricts    for    internal    lighting.     For    side-street    lighting. 

here  the  local  authority  controls  both  the  gas  and  elec- 
■icity  undertakings,  the  economy  of  changing  from  gas  to 
lectricity.  excepting  in  new  streets,  has  yet  to  be  demon- 
;rated.  Where,  however,  the  local  authority  owns  the 
lectricity  works  and  a  company  owns  the  gas  works,  there 

1  re  probably  few  cases  where  the  change  cannot  be  effected 
•ith  a  saving  to  the  taxpayers  and  an  improvement  in  the 
ghting.  The  author  further  discussed  service  cables, 
ressure  regulation,  publicity  and  advertising,  and  various 
ossibilities  of  increasing  the  economy  of  steam-driven  gen- 
rating  stations.  The  other  papers  are  abstracted  elsewhere 
1  the  Digest. — London  Electrician.  June  21,  igi2. 


British  Mujiicipal  Electrical  Association. — An  account  of 
the  annual  business  meeting.  Mr.  C.  E.  C.  Shawfield,  of 
Wolverhampton,  is  the  new  president. — London  Jilectrician, 
June  28,  1912. 

Limitation  of  Rate  Relief  from  Trading  Profits. — S.  L. 
Pearce. — A  (British)  Municipal  Electrical  Association 
paper.  The  author  emphasizes  the  need  which  exists  for 
a  definite  pronouncement  from  the  British  Parliament  as  to 
the  extent  to  which  municipalities  should  be  permitted  to 
lower  the  rates  by  reason  of  the  profits  of  their  trading 
departments,  electrical  and  gas  departments,  etc. — London 
Electrician,  June  21,  1912. 

Electrical  Accidents. — G.  Scott  Ram. — The  annual  report 
of  the  chief  inspector  of  British  factories  and  workshops. 
There  were  382  accidents  at  electric  generating  stations  and 
substations  in  191 1,  of  which  308  were  non-electrical  and 
74  electrical.  There  were  290  electrical  accidents  in  fac- 
tories other  than  electric  stations.  Details  of  some  of  these 
accidents  are  given.  A  diagram  is  given  which  shows  that 
while  the  use  of  electrical  energy  for  motive  power  in 
factories  is  steadily  increasing  during  the  last  ten  years  in 
Great  Britain,  the  increase  of  electrical  accidents  has  been 
checked  since  1907  so  that  since  that  year  the  number  of 
electrical  accidents  has  remained  about  stationary. — London 
Electrician,  June   28,    1912. 


Book  Reviews 

Electric  Ignition.  By  Forrest  R.  Jones.  New  York: 
John  Wiley  &  Sons.    420  pages,  294  illus.    Price,  $4. 

A  reference  book  on  the  principles,  construction,  opera- 
tion and  maintenance  of  electric  ignitors  as  used  in  auto- 
mobiles and  gas  engines  generally,  written  mainly  for 
persons  fairly  acquainted  with  mechanism  but  not  ac- 
quainted with  electrical  apparatus.  About  two-thirds  of 
the  book  are  devoted  to  explaining  the  electrical  features 
of  igniters  and  the  remaining  third  to  the  mechanical 
features. 

The  illustrations  of  machine  parts  and  the  diagrams  of 
connections  are  clear  and  well  executed.  The  technical 
treatment  is  intended  for  the  ordinary  mechanic  or  the 
driver  of  an  automobile  and  not  for  the  electrical  engineer 
or  the  physicist,  so  that  the  definitions  of  electrical  terms 
are  naturally  more  practical  than  rigid.  A  large  number 
of  working  systems  of  electric  ignition  are  described  in 
detail.  The  book  will  be  useful  to  constructors  of  ignition 
apparatus,  to  chauffeurs  and  to  all  who  desire  to  acquaint 
themselves  with  the  elements  of  electric  ignition. 


The  Law  of  the  Air.  By  Harold  D.  Hazeltine.  London: 
University  of  London  Press.     152  pages.     Price,  $ 

This  book  is  a  publication  of  three  lectures  given  at 
King's  College,  London,  in  December,  1910,  by  the  author 
for  the  University  of  London  and  at  the  request  of  its 
Faculty  of  Laws.  The  book  is  readable  to  the  layman.  It 
does  not  limit  its  interest  to  the  legal  profession. 

The  author  takes  the  position  that  although  the  risks  and 
dangers  of  airships  in  the  overhead  region  are  much 
greater  than  those  of  hertzian  waves,  and  therefore  call 
tor  separate  legislation,  yet  he  considers  that  fundamentally 
the  law  applies  to  both  in  the  same  manner,  broadly  speak- 
ing. A  state  has  the  right  to  grant  or  deny  the  use  of  its 
air  space  either  for  the  passage  of  airships  or  for  the 
passage  of  hertzian  waves;  or  both.  Granting  the  rights 
of  nations  or  communities  to  offer  or  deny  the  freedom  of 
their  air  space  to  aviators  or  wireless  telegraphers,  it  would 
be  much  more  difficult  to  establish  the  right  in  the  case  of 
the  aviators  than  in  the  case  of  the  telegraphers,  especially 
if  the  sending  and  receiving  stations  were  both  ex-terri- 
torial. The  book  will  be  of  value  to  all  interested  in  inter- 
national action  on  the  use  of  the  atmosphere. 


l62 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,'  No.  3. 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


5000-KW  TURBO- ALTERNATOR. 


The  County  of  London  Electric  Supply  Company  has  re- 
cently installed  a  new  50cc-kw  turbo-alternator,  which 
possesses  certain  interesting  features.  The  turbine  is  of  the 
six-stage  Curtis  type  and  has  a  normal  rating  of  5000  kw, 
with  an  overload  range  of  50  per  cent  when  operating  con- 
densing, and  is  able  to  carry  three-quarters  load  when 
exhausting  to  the  atmosphere  in  case  of  emergency.  The 
high-pressure  steam  is  admitted  to  the  center  of  the  turbine, 
passing  through  two  stages  in  succession  toward  the  gov- 
ernor end  and,  returning  through  passages  to  the  center  of 
the  casing  again,  passes  through  the  remaining  four  stages 
in  the  other  direction  to  the  exhaust. 

The  shaft  packing  employed  is  of  the  carbon  ring  type 
and  is  arranged  to  make  possible  its  examination  or  renewal 
without  the  tedious  operations  of  dismantling  any  part  of 
the  turbine  casing. 

The  two  bearings  are  of  the  spherically  seated  self- 
aligning  type  and  contain  passages  for  cooling-water  cir- 
culation. The  centers  of  the  bearings  are  only  8  ft.  6  in. 
apart,  which  is  a  desirable  feature  in  turbines  constructed 
on  the  Curtis  principle.  The  shortness  of  the  shaft  renders 
it  possible,  without  employing  extreme  dimensions,  to  have 
the  running  speed  considerably  below  the  critical  speed  so 
that  no  danger  from  whipping  is  to  be  feared  when  starting 
up  or  shutting  down. 

Steam  is  admitted  to  the  turbine  through  several  con- 
trolling valves,  each  of  which  regulates  the  supply  to  a 
separate  group  of  high-pressure  nozzles.  These  valves  are 
opened  in  succession  as  the  load  comes  on  by  means  of  a 
rotary  cam  shaft  actuated  by  a  hydraulic  motor  controlled 
by  the  governor.  As  the  governor  has  to  move  only  a 
small  pilot  valve,  use  is  made  of  a  very  sensitive  governor, 
and  this  type  of  gear  is  stated  to  give  excellent  results,  a 
speed  variation  of  only  2  per  cent  between  full  load  and 
no  load  being  obtained.  At  the  same  time  the  gear  is  said 
to  be  remarkably  steady  and  no  hunting  occurs. 

The  generator  has  a  normal  rating  of  6250  kva  and  de- 
livers this  energy  in  the  form  of  two-phase,  50-cycle  cur- 
rent at  2200  volts.  The  rotor  has  four  poles.  The  machine 
is  capable  of  carrying  a  load  of  7800  kva.  or  25  per  cent 
above  the  normal  rating,  for  two  hours. 

In  the  rotor  the  e.xciting  windings  are  carried  in  closed 


Fig.    1 — 5000-kw   Turbo-Alternator. 

slots  so  as  to  avoid  the  use  of  wedges  or  other  loose  parts. 
At  the  ends  of  the  rotor  these  windings  are  supported  by 
massive  rings  on  the  outside,  whereas  on  the  inside  they 
are  freely  exposed  to  the  air  in  order  to  insure  proper 
cooling.  The  distribution  of  the  winding  in  a  large  number 
of  slots  insures  not  only  that  the  stresses  are  low  but  also 


that  the  exciting  coils  are  provided  with  ample  cooling 
space.  In  order  to  facilitate  transport  and  to  allow  easy 
dismantling  to  be  effected,  the  stator  has  been  made  in  two 
parts.  The  two  generator  bearings  are  independent  of  the 
turbine  bearings  and,  being  driven  through  a  flexible 
coupling,  the  generator  is  capable  of  running  satisfactorily 
even  when  slightly  out  of  alignment.     The  exciter  is  driven 


Fig.   2 — Rotor   of   Generator. 

through  a  flexible  disk  coupling  contained  within  the  alter- 
nator main-bearing  housing  and  is  also  independent  of 
exact  alignment. 

Ventilation  is  effected  without  the  use  of  any  external 
fans,  the  rotor  itself  acting  as  a  blower.  The  air  for  cool- 
ing purposes  is  led  through  ducts  in  the  base  plate  and 
after  circulating  through  the  machine  is  expelled  through 
an  opening  in  the  top  of  the  stator  frame.  Before  entering, 
the  air  passes  through  a  filter,  to  prevent  dust  or  other 
impurities  from  accumulating  in  the  machine.  These  filters 
consist  of  a  number  of  box  units,  each  box  containing  a 
continuous  length  of  filter  cloth  stretched  on  suitable 
frames.  The  arrangement  of  the  boxes  is  such  that  any 
one  can  be  readily  withdrawn  and  a  clean  box  substituted, 
if  necessary  while  the  machine  is  running,  and  the  size  of 
the  boxes  is  such  that  they  can  be  easily  handled.  After  a 
box  has  been  withdrawn  the  cloth  can  be  changed  at  the 
operator's  leisure. 

The  stator  frame  is  provided  with  planished  steel  panels 
which   can    be    readilv   taken   oft'   and   allow   access   to   the 


I 


Fig.    3 — Stator    of    Generator. 

inside  of  the  machine  for  inspection  and  cleaning  purposes. 
The  dimensions  of  this  turbo-alternator  are  10  ft.  6  in. 
wide  by  29  ft.  long  by  10  ft.  3  in.  high.  At  a  rating  of 
5000  kw,  this  gives  16.42  kw  per  square  foot  of  floor  area. 
The  manufacturer  is  the  British  Thomson-Houston  Com- 
pany, Ltd.,  Rugby,  England. 


July  20,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL     VV  O  R  L  I) . 


163 


MOTOR-DRIVEN     REFRIGERATING 
ICE-BOX. 


PLANT     FOR 


The  motor-driven  refrigerating  outfit  illustrated  herewith 
is  arranged  to  be  mounted  on  top  of  tiie  standard  household 
refrigerator  or  ice-box,  the  ice  chamber  of  which  becomes 
the  container  for  the  brine-immersed  expansion  line  of  the 
miniature  anmionia  system.     The  equipment  installed  in  the 


Motor-Driven    Household    Refrigerating   Outfit. 

demonstration  room  of  the  manufacturer,  the  Auto-Electric 
Refrigerating  Company,  243  Railway  Exchange,  Chicago, 
comprises  a  0.25-hp  motor  driving  the  ammonia  compressor 
which  is  capable  of  producing  200  lb.  of  equivalent  re- 
frigeration per  day.  The  ammonia  charge  of  the  com- 
pressor line' is  cooled  by  passing  it  through  the  coils  of  the 
condenser  tank,  which  is  supplied  with  fresh  hydrant  water 
through  a  0.5-in.  pipe  connection.  The  anmionia,  at  150-lb. 
pressure  per  square  inch,  is  then  delivered  down  to  the  ex- 
pansion coils  which  are  contained  in  a  rectangular  tank  in 
the  ice  chamber  of  the  refrigerator.  This  tank,  about  the 
size  of  a  cake  of  ice,  thus  provides  all  required  cooling 
action  for  the  contents  of  the  refrigerator. 

The  temperature  in  the  various  chambers  is  also  held 
constant,  within  a  couple  of  degrees  of  45  deg.  Fahr.,  by  a 
thermostat  which  controls  the  operation  of  the  compressor 
motor.  As  soon  as  the  required  low  temperature  is  attained 
in  the  lowest  level  of  the  refrigerator,  the  motor  is  auto- 
matically shut  ofif,  and  when  the  temperature  again  rises  the 
thermostat  closes  cqntacts  to  the  automatic  starting  box.  In 
ordinary  use  the  motor  is  required  to  run  about  two-thirds 
of  the  time,  it  is  declared,  thus  leaving  a  margin  of  cooling 
action  to  be  drawn  upon  where  heavy  sfervice  is  demanded, 
the  refrigerator  con-tents  are  frequently  changed,  etc.  Since 
the  brine  in  the  expansion  tank  has  considerable  storage 
:apacity,  the  control  equipment  is  required  to  operate  only 
It  long  intervals  to  maintain  equilibrium.  A  diaphragm 
valve  on  the  ammonia  line  puts  the  water  circulating  sys- 
tem also  under  the  control  of  the  thermostat,  shutting  off 
the  water  supply  when  the  compressor  is  not  in  operation. 

Besides  providing  refrigeration,  the  outfit  described  also 
Tianufactures  ice  in  sufficient  quantity  and  in  a  form  suit- 
able for  table  use.  Suspended  in  the  brine  of  the  expansion 
:ank  are  a  pair  of  flat  freezing  cans  measuring  approxi- 
Tiately  10  by  12  by  ?4  in.  in  inside  dimensions.  These  can 
36  frozen  solid  in  an  hour,  it  is  asserted,  the  ice  being  later 
freed  by  holding  the  can  under  the  hot-water  faucet.    Ten 


to  50  lb.  daily  can  be  made  in  tiiis  way.  In  the  form  of  these 
flat  cakes  the  ice  is,  of  course,  easily  broken  into  sizes  for 
the  table. 

The  metal  parts  comprising  the  compres.sor  outfit  weigh 
156  lb.  The  ammonia  charges  are  added  from  small  steel 
cans  arranged  with  screw  connection  to  the  compressor  line. 
Each  charge  is  enough  to  operate  the  plant  six  months,  and 
may  be  renewed  at  a  cost  of  $1.00.  The  radiation  from  the 
metal  sides  of  the  expansion  tank  being  substituted  for  the 
cold  moisture  of  ice,  the  contents  of  the  chambers  are  kept 
thoroughly  dry,  thereby  securing  the  well-known  advantages 
of  mechanical  refrigeration.  No  special  wiring  is  required 
for  attaching  the  motor,  and  the  apparatus  is  made  in  sizes 
to  fit  any  ice-box. 


MOTOR-DRIVEN  CENTRIFUGAL  SUMP  PUMP. 

For  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  demand  for  an  auto- 
matically controlled  pumping  outfit,  for  draining  basements, 
handling  domestic  sewage,  pumping  out  bilges,  etc.,  where 
the  liquid  collects  in  a  sump,  the  Goulds  Manufacturing 
Company,  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y.,  have  developed  a  new 
centrifugal  sump  pump. 

The  equipment  shown  in  Eig.  I  consists  of  a  vertical 
electric  motor  direct-connected  to  a  single-stage  side-suction 
pump.  The  pump  is  connected  to  a  cast-iron  pit  cover  by 
a  rigid  pipe  column.  This  cover  also  acts  as  a  support  for 
the  motor  pedestals.  The  shaft  is  inclosed  by  the  column 
which  connects  the  pump  to  the  cover  and  is,  therefore, 
protected  from  the  liquid  in  the  pit.  A  cover-plate  on  the 
flange  which  connects  the  pump  and  the  supporting  column 
permits  inspection  of  the  stuffing  box. 

The  motor  is  controlled  by  a  starting  device,  actuated  by 
a  float   in   the   sump.     When   the   liquid   rises   to   a   certain 


Figs.   1    and   2 — Centrifugal   Sump    Pump   for    Direct    Drive   and 
Belt    Drive,    Respectively. 

level  and  the  float  is  lifted  enough  to  close  the  switch  the 
motor  is  started.  It  continues  to  operate  until  the  sump 
is  nearly  empty,  when  the  float  drops  back  to  the  position 
where  it  opens  the  switch.  For  service  where  electric 
energy  is  not  available  a  similar  pump  has  been  developed, 
equipped  with  a  pulley  for  belt  drive  by  a  gasoline  engine 
or  other  power.     This  pump  is  shown  in  Fig.  2. 


i64 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  3. 


TEST  OF  5000-KW  TURBO-GENERATOR. 


The  results  of  a  test  on  a  5ooo-k\v  Curtis  turbo-generator 
installed  at  the  City  Road  Station  of  the  County  of  London 
Electric  Supply  Company,  Ltd.,  are  shown   in  the  accom- 


00   XOOO        14 


1000 


■•000 


3000 


3000  4000 

Kw.Out'iut 
Steam    ConsLimption    of    5000-kw    Turbo-Generator, 


CCOO 

Eloctr\cil  World 


panying  illustration.  At  a  load  of  4500  kw  the  steam  con- 
sumption was  13.7  lb.  per  kw-hr.,  and  at  5600  kw  it  was 
13.6  lb.  The  manufacturers  claim  that  these  results  are 
particularly  good  for  a  turbo-generator  of  this  capacity, 
since  the  degree  of  superheat  is  not  as  high  as  that  employed 
when  the  highest  efficiencies  are  desired.  The  results  of 
this  test  were  obtained  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  C.  P. 
Sparks,  chief  engineer  of  the  County  of  London  Electric 
Supply  Company,  Ltd.  The  equipment  was  built  by  the 
British  Thnmson-Hnnston  Company,  Ltd.,  Rugby.  England. 


TELEPHONE  TRANSMITTER  AS  SPEED  INDICATOR. 


An  original  use  is  made  of  the  telephone  transmitter  in 
connection  with  four  direct-current  motors  driving  water 
pumps  for  heating  and  water  system  in  the  general  office 
building  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Electric  Works.  The  motors 
are  controlled  from  a  general  switchboard  remotely  located, 
and  it  was  desirable  that  the  engineer  in  charge  at  the 
switchboard  should  have  some  way  of  knowing  whether  or 
not  the  motors  were  working  properly  without  going  all 
over  the  building  to  the  location  of  each  one  to  find  out. 
To  accomplish  this  each  of  the  motors  was  provided  with 
a  telephone  transmitter,  the  mouthpiece  being  placed  quite 


make  by  the  passing  of  the  commutator  bars,  the  pitch  of 
the  sound  becoming  higher  as  the  speed  of  the  motor  is 
increased. 

Every  motor  used  in  connection  with  the  water,  heating 
and  ventilating  systems  in  this  modern  office  building  is 
equipped  with  a  telephone  transmitter.  By  this  method  the 
speed  of  the  large  exhaust  fan  motor  located  on  the  roof  of 
the  five-story  building  is  quite  as  easily  noted  and  con- 
trolled as  is  that  of  those  which  operate  the  pumps  in  the 
basement.  In  fact,  the  experienced  engineer  can  control  the 
speed  of  any  of  the  motors  quite  as  accurately  and  as 
easily  as  if  the  dial  of  a  mechanical  speed  indicator  were 
registering  the  speed  directly  before  his  eyes. 


ROTARY  CONVERTER   FOR    TESTING    PURPOSES. 


The  rotary  converter  placed  on  the  market  by  Roth 
Brothers  &  Company,  .\dams  and  Loomis  Streets,  Chicago, 
for  testing  small  motors,  consists  of  a  standard  motor 
frame  with  extended  bearing  bracket  at  each  end  to  admit 
of  both  a  commutator  and  collector  rings  on  the  same  arma- 
ture.   This  machine  has  eight  poles  and  is  wound  for  opera- 


Rotary   Converter   and   Starter   and    Regulator   for   Testing    Motors. 


tion  on  two  voltages.  Thus  if  it  operated  on  a  115-volt 
direct-current  circuit,  it  will  run  at  a  speed  of  900  r.p.m. 
and  will  give  60  cycles  alternating  current  at  the  collector 
rings.  By  operating  the  machines  on  230  volts  it  will  run  at 
1800  r.p.m.  and  give  120  cycles  at  the  collector  rings.  Other 
frequencies   can   be   obtained   at   other   speeds.     A   Cutler- 


Telephone  Transmitter   Used  as  Speed    Indicator. 


close  to  the  commutator  of  the  machine,  each  transmitter 
having  its  individual  telephone  circuit  terminating  in  plug 
receptacles  at  the  switchboard.  When  the  engineer  wishes 
to  place  a  motor  in  service  or  adjust  the  speed  he  plugs  a 
telephone  receiver  into  the  terminating  receptacles  in  the 
board  and  is  able  to  tell  if  it  is  operating  properly  by  the 
pitch  of  the  humming  sound  which  the  brushes  of  the  motor 


Hammer  starter  and  speed  regulator  is  used  to  obtain  the 
speed  variation. 

To  obtain  the  proper  voltage  for  testing  purpose,  use  is 
made  of  a  transformer  which  can  be  arranged  with  a  num- 
ber of  taps  and  can  also  be  operated  in  series  or  parallel  so 
as  to  obtain  one  or  more  operating  voltages.  The  one 
shown  in  the  illustration  is  arranged  to  give  no  volt  alter- 


July  2c,  1912 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


^65 


nating  current  at  such  frequencies  as  can  be  obtained  from 
the  converter.  Several  taps  are  also  shown,  which  provide 
a  small  variation  from  the  normal  voltage. 


ELECTRIC  VEHICLE  FOR  CENTRAL    STATION. 


In  the  electric  roadster  adapted  to  street  patrol  work, 
used  by  the  Salem  Electric  Lighting  Company,  Salem, 
Mass.,  the  large  box  back  of  the  seat  does  not  contain  a 
battery,  but  is  used  for  storing  arc-lamp  globes,  incandes- 
cent lamps,  electrodes,  etc.  Its  dimensions  on  the  inside 
are  32  in.  long,  23^4  in.  wide  and  16%  in.  high.  In  addi- 
tion each  running  board  is  boxed  to  give  inside  dimensions 
of  35  X  12  X  554  in.,  so  that  the  storage  space  is  ample,  and 
yet  is  inconspicuous  and  does  not  add  wind  resistance. 

It  will  be  noted  that  there  is  carried  on  the  car  a  two- 
section  ladder,  which  is  9  ft.  when  closed  and  18  ft.  when 
extended,  and  a  special  movable  searchlamp  on  the  dash 
board  which  can  be  pointed  at  the  top  of  a  pole  or  at  any 
other  desired  object. 

The  roadster  was  manufactured  by  S.  R.  Bailey  &  Com- 
pany, Amesbury,  Mass.  It  is  said  to  be  capable  of  maintain- 
ing high  speed  for  many  miles.     It  is  equipped  with  sixty 


Electric    Roadster    for    Central-Station    Service. 

lulison  cells  and  at  the  average  speed  of  20  miles  an  hour 
up  and  down  hill  on  fair  roads  can  cover  from  60  to  80 
miles  on  one  charge  of  battery.  It  is  stated  that  with  a 
larger  equipment  of  battery,  namely,  fifty-two  cells,  cars  of 
this  model  in  the  service  of  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating 
Company  of  Boston  have  been  driven  over  roads  with 
ordinarv  grades  a  distance  of  100  miles  in  less  than  five 
hours. 


ATTACHING  PLATES  FOR  GROUND  WIRES. 


To  provide  a  convenient  means  for  attaching  bonds  or 
grounding  wires  to  cable  sheaths  or  piping  the  attaching 
plates  and  bond  wire  shown  in  the  accompanying  illustra- 
tion have  been  placed  upon  the  market  by  T.  J.  Cope, 
Philadelphia.  These  are  made  in  the  two  styles  shown,  the 
one  with  the  rigid  bond  wire  connection  being  manufac- 
tured in  two  standard  sizes.  They  are  furnished  with  bond 
wire  of  any  desired  size  and  length. 

The  plates  are  made  of  copper,  perforated  as  shown,  and 
are  completely  covered  with  a  film  of  solder  for  protection 
against  corrosion,  as  well  as  for  convenience  in  application. 
In  applying  the  plates  the  surface  of  the  cable  sheath  which 
is  to  be  protected  is  scraped  clean  at  the  point  of  attach- 
ment, the  plate  bent  to  fit  the  contour  of  the  cable  sheath 
and  the  turned  plate  sweated  on  by  using  a  moderately  hot 
soldering  iron.  The  plates  are  made  sufficiently  thin  to  be 
easily  bent  as  required  by  the  pressure  of  the  fingers,  and 
the  perforations  enable  an  even  and  continuous  solder  joint 
to  be  made  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  plate  in  contact 


with  the  cable  shealli.  The  standard  form  of  bonding  wire 
furnished  with  the  plates  is  a  J4-in.  stranded  copper  cable 
composed  of  forty-two  wires,  each  of  which  is  separately 
covered  with  solder  mortar  to  prevent  any  local  electrolytic 
action  which  might  be  set  up  between  exposed  copper  and 
the  other  metals  under  the  influence  of  moisture. 

The  lower  one  of  the  two  types  of  plate  shown   in   the 


Ground    Wires    Attached    to    Cables. 

illustration  is  provided  with  a  pair  of  slips  attached  at  one 
end  to  the  plate.  These  are  bent  over  the  bond  wire  and 
their  ends  inserted  in  slots  in  the  plate.  This  type  is  there- 
fore adjustable  to  any  size  of  wire  and  can  be  applied  very 
conveniently  to  the  cable  sheath  before  the  bond  wires  are 
connected  to  it. 


AUTO-TRANSFORMER  TYPE  OF  MOTOR  STARTER. 


An  oil-immersed  auto-transformer  starter  for  two-phase 
or  three-phase  motors  of  the  squirrel-cage  type  has  recently 
been  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Electric  Construction 
Company,  Ltd.,  Wolverhampton,  England.  It  consists  of 
a  revolving-type  switch  with  auto-transformers,  inclosed 
in  a  substantial  iron  tank  filled  with  oil.  Both  the  switch 
and  the  transformers  are  completely  immersed.  An  ex- 
ternal handle  is  provided  for  operating  the  switch,  and  an 
indicator  shows  the  three  positions,  namely,  "off,"  "starting" 
and  "running."  Insulating  bushings,  as  shown  in  the 
figure,  are  provided  in  the  side  of  the  casing  above  the  oil 
level  to  receive  the  connecting  cables.  All  contacts  are 
made  of  wrought  copper  and  are  renewable;  they  are 
mounted  upon  mild   steel   bars  with  mica   insulation      The 


Auto-Transformer  Type   of    Motor   Starter. 


scheme  of  connections  is  such  that  the  auto-transformers 
are  disconnected  when  the  switch  is  in  the  "off"  position, 
and  their  circuit  is  open  in  the  "running"  position.  The 
transformer  coils  are  provided  with  taps  for  furnishing 
various  voltages,  in  order  to  provide  some  range  of  choice 
to  suit  varying  conditions  of  installation.  When  desired,  a 
flame-proof  type  of  case  can  be  provided  for  mine  use. 


1 66 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  3. 


DISTANT-DIAL  AMPERE-HOUR  METERS. 


A  distant-dial  amp-hr.  meter  has  been  developed  to 
meet  the  demand  for  a  meter  in  which  the  recording  dial 
may  be  placed  at  any  desired  point,  principally  for  use 
on  electric  vehicles.  The  meter,  corresponding  in  construc- 
tion and  operation  to  a  standard  amp-hr.  meter,  except  for 
its  recording  train,  may  be  placed  beneath  the  seat  if  the 
space  allows,  or  it  may  be  attached  by  a  suitable  support 


Fig.    1 — Flush-Type,    Distant-Dial    Ampere-Hour    Meter. 

directly  to  the  chassis  of  the  vehicle.  The  dial  mechanism, 
requiring  a  space  of  about  2H  >"•  '"  diameter,  is  so  de- 
signed that  it  may  be  placed  at  any  desired  point  within 
the  body  of  the  vehicle,  and  in  any  position,  vertical,  hori- 
zontal  or   angular. 

The  contact  train  in  this  meter  takes  the  place  of  the 
usual  recording  mechanism,  and  instead  of  driving  a  hand 
to  show  directly  on  a  dial  the  condition  of  the  battery,  it 
closes  a  contact  which  operates  one  of  two  electromagnets 
in  the  distant  dial  mechanism.  The  contact  mechanism  is 
so  designed  that  it  closes  the  circuit  to  one  contact  on 
charge  and  to  the  other  on'  discharge  of  the  battery.  The 
arrangement  is  such  that  in  case  of  a  failure  of  the  dial 
mechanism  to  operate  on  account  of  a  break  in  the  con- 
necting wires  between  the  meter  and  the  dial,  the  rotation 
of  the  meter  proper  will  not  be  stopped,  as  the  wheel  driving 
the  contact  train  will  escape  past  the  lever  or  bar,  by  which 
the  contact  is  operated  in  each  direction. 

In  the  dial  mechanism  are  two  iron-clad  electromagnets 
facing  each  other,  and  operating  upon  a  rocking  arm  or 
lever   so   that   the   motion   imparted   to   this   will   move   the 


ment  of  the  lever  over  a  small  arc,  when  the  indicating  hand 
conies  back  to  zero,  closes  a  switch  and  thus  the  circuit  to 
the  shunt  trip  coil  of  a  circuit-breaker. 

This  type  of  meter  has  been  developed  by  the  Sangamo 
Electric  Company,  Springfield,  111. 


COMPACT  LARGE-RATING  OIL  SWITCH. 


On  account  of  the  increase  in  the  size  and  interconnec- 
tions of  generating  equipment  the  switches  which  heretofore 
have  been  satisfactory  for  operating  in  substations  are  now 
too  small,  and  a  demand  has  arisen  for  a  compact  switch 
which  can  open  under  a  much  greater  flow  of  energy  than 
similar  switches  in  the  past.  To  meet  this  demand  the 
Condit  Electrical  Manufacturing  Company,  Boston,  have 
developed  a  type  of  switch  suitable  for  use  for  ampere 
loads  up  to  600  and  for  voltages  up  to  and  including  15,000, 
capable  of  opening  extremely  heavy  short-circuits. 

The  switch  is  built  for  manual  electrical  or  pneumatic 
operation,  and  by  means  of  the  necessary  relays  and  trans- 
formers can  be  made  to  operate  on  any  desired  abnormal 
condition  of  the  circuit  which  it  controls.  It  is  made  for 
mounting  either  on  switchboards,  on  framework,  or  in  cells. 

The  particular  switch  illustrated  in  this  article  is  a 
500-amp,  15,000-volt,  three-pole,  single-throw,  electrically 
operated  switch,  for  pipe-frame  mounting.  Switches  of 
this  size  can  be  mounted  on  l6-in.  centers  with  ample  clear- 
ance space  and  project  only  25  in.  from  the  back  of  the 
mounting  plate.  It  is  said  that  these  switches  will  withstand 
a  test  of  45,000  volts. 

Referring  to  the  end  pole  of  the  switch,  it  will  be  noted 
that  the  brush  mechanism  which  carries  the  current  is 
divided  into  two  parts,  each  being  provided  with  its  own 
auxiliary  contact.  There  are,  therefore,  four  points  at 
which  the  arc  is  broken,  and  the  arc  is  divided  up  into  four 
parts.  The  break  of  this  switch  takes  place  at  the  bottom  of 
the  oil  can,  under  the  greatest  available  oil  pressure.  Due 
to  the  use  of  a  duplex  brush,  the  mechanical  strains  are 
balanced    and    a    space    is    provided    between    the    brushes 


} 


Fig.    2 — Mechanism    and    Contact    Train    of    Distant-Dial    Ampere-Hour     Meter. 


Large-Rating    Oil    Switch. 


dial  hand  forward  on  the  discharge  of  the  battery,  and 
backward  on  charge,  similarly  to  the  movement  of  the  dial 
hand  on  a  standard  type  amp-hr.  meter. 

In  the  distant-dial  mechanism  a  new  type  of  zero  contact 
is  provided,  consisting  of  a  small  lever  standing  at  the  zero 
point  and  connected  to  a  small  switch  within  the  dial 
mechanism,  and  suitably   insulated  therefrom.     The  move- 


through  which  the  oil  can  be  forced  against  the  arc.  In 
order  to  aid  the  oil-blast  feature,  and  at  the  same  time  ) 
prevent  the  oil  from  being  blown  out  of  the  switch,  even  \ 
on  extremely  heavy  short-circuits,  use  is  made  of  a  wooden 
deflection  plate  clamped  on  a  shoulder  on  the  porcelain  in- 
sulation. Any  tendency  of  the  gases  generated  by  the  arc 
to  throw  the  oil  out  of  the  can  is  prevented  by  this  plate. 


July  20,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


167 


CONVENIENTLY  ARRANGED  ELECTRIC  TRUCK. 


Among  the  improvements  introduced  in  the  electric  trucks 
now  being  built  by  the  Lansden  Company,  Newark,  N.  J., 
may  be  mentioned  the  substitution  of  a  metal  for  the  wooden 
frame  and  relocation  of  the  battery  to  render  theni'  most 
conveniently  accessible.     The  battery   is  now   contained   in 


Three-Ton    Electric  Truck. 

a  tray  mounted  on  roller  bearings  so  that  it  may  be  slid 
jut  on  either  side  of  the  car  by  a  mere  push  of  the  hand, 
rhe  batteries. are  of  the  latest  improved  Edison  type.  The 
:ar  herewith  illustrated  is  built  for  a  load  of  3  tons,  but  is 
diiiilar  to  cars  rated  at  from  i   ton  to  5  tons. 


DIRECT-CURRENT  SWITCHBOARD  METERS. 


In  the  line  of  direct-current  meters  recently  brought  out 
)y  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
last  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  the  magnetic  circuit,  consisting  of  two 
lermanent  magnets  with  pole  pieces,  has  only  one  air-gap. 
The  moving  coil  is  pivoted  at  one  side  and  the  opposite 
ide  moves  in  this  air-gap.  This  construction,  in  addition 
0  providing  one  air-gap  with  large  clearance,  instead  of 
wo  air-gaps  with  small  clearances  as  is  generally  the  case, 
ilso  makes  possible  a  better  balancing  of  the  pointer  and 
esults  in  a  number  of  minor  advantages. 

Fig.  I  shows  the  general  arrangements  of  the  parts.  The 
wo  permanent  magnets  are  provided  with  soft  iron  pole 
lieces,  each  pole  piece  being  common  to  both  magnets. 
Che  moving  coil  is  wound  on  a  rectangular  aluminum  shell 
nd   incloses   the   end   of   the   pole   piece.      This   coil    is   so 


Figs.   1   and  2 — Exterior   and   Cross-Section  of   IVIeter. 

onnected  that  current  in  it  tends  to  move  the  coil  away 
rem  the  end  of  the  pole  pieces  with  a  force  proportional 
3  the  product  of  the  constant  field  of  the  permanent  mag- 
ets  and  the  current  in  the  coil. 

The  complete  magnetic  circuit,  including  the  pole  pieces, 
;  magnetized  and  aged  as  a  unit,  a  process  possible  only 

ith  the  single  air-gap  construction  because  the  pole  piece 


does  not  have  to  be  removed  to  put  the  moving  element  in 
place.  Tiie  permanent  magnets  are  so  arranged  that  they 
completely  inclose  the  movement,  thereby  shielding  the 
movement  from  external  fields.  The  moving  element  con- 
sists of  a  suitable  coil  wound  on  a  rectangular  aluminum 
frame,  a  pointer,  and  a  supporting  framework  with  steel 
pivots.     The  arrangement   is   such   that  the   weight   of   the 


Fig.   3 — Moving    Element   of   IVIeter. 

coil  counterbalances  the  pointer  as  shown  in  Fig.  2,  thus 
reducing  the  amount  of  additional  counterweight  required 
and  making  the  weight  carried  by  the  pivots  a  minimum. 

The  meters  are  built  as  voltmeters  and  ammeters,  in  six 
types:  5-in.,  7-in.  and  9-in.  round  types,  also  illuminated 
dial,  vertical  edgewise,  and  portable  types.  The  7-in.  round 
type  can  be  inclosed  in  a  rectangle  less  than  55  sq.  in.  in 
area,  so  that  it  occupies  practically  as  little  switchboard 
space  as  the  smallest  "edgewise"  meters  on  the  market. 


STARTING  AND  REGULATING  CONTROLLER. 


A  controller  for  medium  and  large  size  direct-current 
motors  has  been  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Cutler-Hammer 
Manufacturing  Company,  Milwaukee.  It  consists  of  a  mul- 
tiple switch  starter  and  a  shunt  field  type  speed  regulator. 
The  starting  portion  is  similar  to  the  multiple  switch  starter 
designed  for  use  with  large  motors  or  with  motors  of 
medium  size  when  the  starting  conditions  are  severe.  Each 
of  the   individual   levers,   when  closed,   cuts   out   a   step   of 


Motor   starting    and    Regulating    Controller. 

armature  resistance,  thereby  accelerating  the  motor  to  nor- 
mal speed.  The  50-hp,  230-volt-type,  field-regulating  rheo- 
stat mounted  above,  as  shown  in  the  illustration,  consists 
of  a  series  of  field  resistance  steps  controlled  by  a  single 
lever  and  serves  for  securing  further  increase  in  speed. 
Controllers  of  this  type  are  built  in  ratings  of  from  10  hp 
to  200  hp  for  115-volt,  230-volt  and  500-volt  circuits. 


i68 


ELECTRICAL     W^  O  R  L  D  , 


Vol.  6o,  Xo. 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


CONSIDERED  as  an  index  of  general  business  condi- 
tions, the  high  degree  of  activity  now  prevailing  in  the 
steel  trade  is  an  almost  unmistakable  sign  that  expan- 
sion along  all  industrial  lines  is  impending.  Although  prices 
have  been  advanced  and  the  trend  is  still  upward,  demand 
shows  no  signs  of  abatement.  Nearly  all  of  the  new  steel 
contracts  call  for  early  delivery,  but  many  of  the  steel  com- 
panies are  unable  to  turn  out  material  under  ninety  days, 
while  others  are  booked  ahead  for  the  balance  of  the  year. 
An  important  feature  of  the  present  market  is  the  large 
number  of  orders  for  railroad  equipment  of  all  kinds,  and 
these,  coming  in  such  quantities  at  this  time,  may  be  con- 
strued as  meaning  that  the  roads  are  anticipating  the  trans- 
portation of  unusually  large  crops.  According  to  reports 
from  the  agricultural  districts,  yields  fully  equal  to  and  in 
many  cases  in  excess  of  normal  are  assured.  With  these 
excellent  crop  prospects,  with  much  of  the  political  uncer- 
tainty removed  by  the  selection  of  presidential  candidates, 
and  with  new  high  records  of  foreign  trade  behind  it.  the 
business  situation  is  undeniably  sound  and  of  exceeding 
promise.  With  approach  of  crop  financing,  the  money  mar- 
kets are  inclining  toward  higher  levels.  Rates  July  17 
were:  Call,  25/2(0)2^  per  cent;  ninety  days.  3H'@3M  P^r  cent. 


Organization  of  New  Doherty  Company  Completed. — Di- 
rectors of  the  Consolidated  Cities  Light,  Power  &  Traction 
Company,  which  was  incorporated  in  Delaware  last  month 
by  H.  L.  Doherty  &  Company  to  acquire  the  capital  stock 
and  securities  of  public  utility  companies,  as  was  mentioned 
in  these  columns  June  22  and  29,  have  been  chosen  as  fol- 
lows: Henry  L.  Doherty,  Frank  W.  Frueruf?  and  Charles 
T.  Brown,  of  H.  L.  Doherty  &  Company;  H.  H.  Scott,  of 
the  Doherty  Operating  Companj-;  Warren  W.  Foster,  all  of 
New  York;  Leslie  M.  Shaw,  of  Philadelphia;  W.  F.  Hoff- 
man, of  Columbus;  James  Satterfield,  of  Wilmington,  Del.; 
James  Twitchell,  of  London,  president  of  the  Alabama 
Light,  Traction  &  Power  Company,  and  Laurence  Mac- 
Farl&ne,  of  Montreal.  The  companies  which  the  new  cor- 
poration now  owns  or  controls,  a  list  of  which  was  given  in 
the  Electrical  World  June  2Q,  are  subject  to  an  aggregate 
bonded  debt  of  approximately  $8,689,800  of  bonds,  which  will 
be  retired  from  time  to  time  as  occasion  offers.  These  com- 
panies will  own  and  operate  plants  in  twenty-one  cities  and 
in  twenty-three  small  towns  adjoining  these  cities,  suppl}-- 
ing  a  total  population  in  excess  of  400,000.  For  a  consid- 
eration to  be  provided  for  out  of  the  stock  issue,  and  free 
of  further  charge  to  the  cotnpany,  the  Doherty  Operating 
Company  has  undertaken  the  entire  operation  of  the  Consol- 
idated Cities  company  until  the  aggregate  profits  of  the 
constituent  companies  available  for  dividends  would,  if  dis- 
tributed, together  with  any  other  net  profits  of  the  com- 
pany, be  sufficient,  after  paying  the  interest  on  the  com- 
pany's bonds,  to  pay  7  per  cent  on  the  common  stock.  .After 
that  time  such  a  charge  as  may  be  considered  reasonable 
will  be  made.  In  partial  payment  for  these  services,  the 
Consolidated  Cities  company  has  given  the  Doherty  Oper- 
ating Company  an  option  on  $2,000,000  of  common  stock  at 
$100  per  share  for  five  years.  Net  earnings  of  the  new  com- 
pany for  the  calendar  year  1913  are  estimated  at  $400,000,  of 
which,  after  deduction  of  5  per  cent  on  the  $4,000,000  bonds 
outstanding,  there  would  be  left  $200,000,  or  4  per  cent  on 
the  common  stock  outstanding.  Net  earnings  for  1914  are 
placed  at  $500,000,  and  for  1915  at  $600,000.  Negotiations 
looking  toward  the  acquisition  of  other  properties,  which 
will  add  to  the  net  earnings,  are  now  in  progress.  Proceeds 
of  the  bond  and  stock  issues  will  provide  for  the  purchase  of 
the  various  properties  enumerated  in  the  June  29  number, 
and  will  also  leave  ample  working  capital.  It  is  proposed  to 
begin  paying  dividends  at  a  minimum  rate  of  2  per  cent  per 
annum  on  the  common  stock  during  the  first  year,  3  per  cent 
during  the  second  year  and  4  per  cent  during  the  third  year. 

National  Light  &  Power  Company  (St.  Louis)  to  Manage 
Missouri  Traction. — On  July  2  the  St.  Francois  County 
Railroad,   of  Farmington,   Mo.,  was  purchased  by   the   Mis- 


sissippi River  &  Bonne  Terre  Railway  Compan 
of  Bonne  Terre,  Mo.,  which  has  placed  the  ma 
agenient  of  the  property  in  the  hands  of  the  N 
tional  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  St.  Louis.  The  la 
ter,  which  owns  and  operates  gas,  electric,  railway  ai 
water  properties,  will,  in  its  capacity  as  supervising  eng 
neer,  improve  and  extend  the  St.  Francois  County  road  ai 
will  electrify  the  Crawley  spur  of  the  Mississippi  River 
Bonne  Terre  Railroad.  This  will  give  the  St.  Franco 
County  Railroad  an  entrance  to  the  traffic  center  of  tl 
town  of  Flat  River.  Judson  H.  Boughton,  president  of  tl ,, 
National  Light  &  Power  Company,  will  be  vice-preside: 
and  managing  director  of  the  St.  Francois  road.  The  pro 
erty  will  be  managed  locally  by  A.  D.  Brinkerhoff,  a  trier 
ber  of  the  stafT  of  the  National  Light  &  Power  Company. 

Transfer  of  Utah  Properties. — It  is  reported  that  form 
United  States  Senator  W.  A.  Clark  has  acquired  control 
the  Clark  Electric  Power  Company,  of  Tooele,  Utah, 
consideration  being  $90,000.  This  will  enable  the  compai 
to  call  in  $74,000  worth  of  outstanding  bonds  and  make  sor 
needed  improvements.  W.  A.  Clark  owns  an  isolated  pla 
by  which  he  operates  his  mining  properties  in  Tooele,  ai 
the  two  plants  will  be  operated  conjointly.  The  Clark  EU 
trie  Power  Company  supplies  electrical  energy  to  Oph 
Stockton  and  Grantsville,  as  well  as  to  Tooele,  custome 
connections  numbering  about  700.  It  is  a  hydroelecti 
plant,  water  being  obtained  from  Settlement  Cany 
through  a  l6-in.  pipe  to  a  500-hp  Pelton  wheel.  There 
also  a  steam  auxiliary.  E.  W.  Clark  is  the  manager  of  t 
property  and  C.  E.  Green  is  the  electrical  engineer.  1 
Clark  says  that  possibly  the  system  may  be  enlarged  by  t 
installation  of  a  hydroelectric  plant  on  South  Willow  Cre< 
eight  miles  below  Grantsville. 

Control  of  Columbia  Gas  &  Electric  Company  (Ohi 
Changes  Hands. — .\  syndicate  managed  by  A.  B.  Leach 
Company  has  purchased  control  of  the  Columbia  Gas 
Electric  Company,  which  controls  the  Union  Gas  &  Electi 
Company  of  Cincinnati,  and  leases  the  Cincinnati,  Newpc 
&  Covington  Light  &  Traction  Company,  which  operat 
all  the  gas,  electric  and  street  railway  companies  of  Covin 
ton,  Newport  and  other  cities  and  towns  in  Campbell  ai 
Kenton  counties,  Kentucky.  The  Columbia  company  al 
has  large  natural  gas  and  oil  holdings  in  West  Virginia  a: 
Kentucky.  It  has  $50,000,000  stock  and  $13,603,000  5  p 
cent  first  mortgage  bonds  outstanding.  .Archibald  S.  Whi 
of  Cincinnati,  is  its  president.  It  is  expected  that  the  boa 
of  directors  will  be  reorganized  at  an  early  date,  and  th 
representatives  of  A.  B.  Leach  &  Company  and  of  J.  &  A 
Seligman  &  Company,  who  are  members  of  the  purchasii 
syndicate,  together  with  other  prominent  financial  interes 
will  be  represented  on  the  board. 

Court  Upholds  Long  Acre  Company,  of  N.  Y. — In  a 
vided  opinion   handed  down   last  week  the  Appellate  Di' 
sion  of  the  New  York  Supreme  Court  dismissed  a  writ 
certiorari  obtained  by  the  New  York   Edison  Company 
review  an  order  made   by  the   Public   Service   Commissi' 
for  the  First  New  York  District  on  July  28,  191 1,  author 
ing  the   Long  Acre   Electric    Light   &   Power   Company 
issue  $2,000,000  in  stock  and  $4,000,000  in  bonds  for  the  pi 
pose  of  financing  a  generating  plant  and  distributing  systt 
with  which  it  plans  to  supply  electric  energy  in  New  Yo 
City.     The  New  York  Edison  Company  will  carry  the  ca 
to  the  Court  of  Appeals. 

Birmingham    (Ala.)    Railway    &    Light   Improvements. 

Extensive  additions  to  its  generating  plant  and  distributi' 
system  are  to  be  made  by  the  Birmingham  (Ala.)  Railw 
&  Light  Company.  Doul)le-tracking  of  part  of  its  railw 
lines  will  also  be  done.  A  io,ooo-kw.  turbine  unit  has  be 
purchased  from  the  General  Electric  Company,  and  oth 
new  equipment  to  be  installed  includes  a  cooling  tower  a 
a  large  amount  of  conduit.  The  latter  has  been  purchas< 
Allis-Chalmers  Business. — During  the  latter  part  of  Ju 
orders  for  engines  aggregating  70,000  hp  in  rated  outp 
were  received  by  the  .Mlis-Chalmers  Company. 


July  20,  1012 


ELECTRICAL     \V  O  R  L  13 


16& 


Coast  Counties  Gas  &  Electric  Company  (Cal.)  Offer- 
ing.— In  connection  with  recent  offering  by  San  I'Vancisco 
interests  of  an  underwriting  of  $250,000  6  per  cent  cunnila- 
tive  preferred  stock  of  the  Coast  Counties  Gas  &  Electric 
Company,  of  San  Francisco,  a  letter  by  the  president  of  the 
company,  John  Martin,  of  San  Francisco,  gives  some  data 
of  interest  pertaining  to  its  affairs.  This  states  that  the 
company  was  organized  in  California  on  March  20,  1912, 
and  has  purchased  the  properties  of  the  Coast  Counties 
Light  &  Power  Company,  the  Big  Creek  Light  &  Power 
Company  and  the  San  Benito  Light  &  Power  Company, 
subject  to  their  respective  bonded  debts.  It  has  purchased 
all  of  the  outstanding  capital  stock  of  the  Union  Traction 
Company,  of  Santa  Cruz.  These  purchases,  the  payment 
of  the  floating  debt  and  extension  of  the  company's  lines, 
have  been  financed  through  sale  of  the  preferred  and  com- 
mon stock,  the  bonded  debt  being  limited  to  the  underly- 
ing issues.  The  territory  served  by  the  company  embraces 
Santa  Cruz,  Santa  Clara,  Monterey  and  San  Benito  counties, 
California,  and  extends  from  the  towns  of  Morgan  Hill 
and  Ben  -Lomond  on  the  north  to  Hollister  on  the  south, 
and  westward  to  the  coast,  including  Santa  Cruz,  Watson- 
ville  and  Gilroy.  Net  income  of  the  constituent  companies 
last  year  was  $143,134  and  the  surplus  was  $73,574.  At  the 
close  of  the  year  the  company  had  2725  gas  consumers  and 
4627  consumers  of  electric  energy  on  its  books.  Its  proper- 
ties include  a  io8o-hp  hydroelectric  plant,  a  1266-hp  steam 
plant  in  Santa  Cruz,  and  a  looo-hp  steam  plant  at  Watson- 
ville.  It  also  has  a  long-term  contract  with  the  Pacific  Gas 
&  Electric  Company  for  such  additional  energy  as  may  be 
required.  There  are  75  miles  of  transmission  lines  and  531 
miles  of  distribution  lines.  The  company  also  has  gas 
plants  in  Santa  Cruz,  Watsonville  and  Hollister.  The  di- 
rectors of 'the  company  are  John  Martin,  president;  R.  M. 
Hotaling,  vice-president;  John  C.  Coleman,  Louis  Sloss, 
Joseph  D.  Grant,  L.  P.  Lowe,  and  S.  W.  Coleman,  the  gen- 
eral manager,  of  the  company. 

New  Hydroelectric  Plant  on  Savannah  River. — J.  G.  White 
&  Company  have  been  retained  by  the  Georgia  Carolina 
Power  Company  as  engineers  and  contractors  on  the  hydro- 
electric development  at  Stevens  Creek,  on  the  Savannah 
River  about  nine  miles  northwest  of  Augusta,  Georgia.  The 
river  at  this  point  forms  the  boundary  line  between  Georgia 
and  South  Carolina  and  is  about  2700  feet  wide.  The 
Charleston  &  Western  Carolina  Railway  passes  within  3.7 
miles  of  the  dam  site  and  a  spur  connection  will  be  made  at 
a  point  about  six  miles  from  Augusta.  The  power  house  will 
be  at  the  Georgia  end  of  the  dam,  and  for  the  ultimate  in- 
stallment its  length  will  be  about  360  feet.  The  length  of 
the  dam  will  be  2300  feet,  the  spillway  section  of  which  will 
be  about  2000  feet  long.  A  lock  about  30  feet  by  150  feet 
in  the  clear  will  be  constructed  for  pole  boat  navigation.  In 
the  overflow  section  of  the  dam  adjacent  to  the  power  line 
will  be  five  waste  gates  about  8  ft.  square.  The  average 
height  of  the  dam  will  be  34  ft.  Flash  boards  3  to  4  ft.  high 
are  to  be  provided.  The  ultimate  installation  will  be  18,000 
kw  in  ten  main  units,  with  two  200  kw  water  wheel  driven 
exciter  units  and  one  200  kw  motor  driven  exciter.  The 
average  head  will  be  27.3  ft.  with  extremes  of  16  ft.  and  32  ft. 
The  present  installment  will  include  five  main  and  two  exci- 
ter units.  Transmission  lines  will  be  constructed  to  Augusta, 
Ga.,  10  miles,  and  from  Augusta  to  Graniteville,  S.  C,  17 
miles,  making  a  total  of  27  miles,  to  be  operated  at  33,000 
volts.  The  generation  voltage  will  be  2300.  This  work  will 
be  completed  early  in  1914  and  the  cost  will  be  about 
$2,500,000. 

Financial  Matters  Before  Vermont  Public  Service  Com- 
mission.— .\uthority  to  increase  its  capital  stock  by  $41,250. 
to  be  sold  only  at  par,  has  been  granted  to  the  Passumpsic 
Telephone  Company  by  the  Vermont  Public  Service  Com- 
mission. The  proceeds  will  be  used  to  purchase  the  plant 
and  property  of  the  Citizens'  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Ex- 
change of  St.  Johnsbury.  The  New  England  Telephone  & 
Telegraph  Company  is  in  control.  The  board  has  granted 
the  Burlington  Traction  Company  the  right  to  issue  bonds 
to  the  total  of  $500,000.  bearing  interest  at  the  yearly  rate 
if  6  per  cent,  to  be  secured  by  a  mortgage  on  the  property 
'■{  the  Burlington  company  and  of  the  Vergennes  Power 
Company,  of  Vergennes,  Vt.  The  proceeds  of  bonds  sold 
to  the  amount  of  $200,000  are  to  be  applied  in  the  form  of 


cash  to  purchase  the  real  estate,  water-power  rights  and 
plant  of  the  Vergennes  Power  Company.  Of  the  remainder, 
$150,000  derived  from  the  sale  of  bonds  is  to  be  used  to  re- 
tire bonds  due  in  1914  on  the  Burlington  system.  The  rest 
of  the  issue  is  to  be  held  in  the  treasury  until  the  further 
order  of  the  board. 

Annual   Report   of  J.   G.  White   &    Company,   Ltd. — The 

annual  report  of  J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Limited,  of  Lon- 
don, recently  presented  at  the  company's  thirteenth  annual 
meeting  by  Lord  Arthur  Butler,  who  presided,  shows  an- 
other year  of  good  business.  The  English  company,  which 
is  the  direct  outcome  of  the  successful  operations  of  J.  G. 
White  &  Company,  Incorporated,  of  New  York,  in  foreign 
territory,  has  again  this  year  declared  a  total  dividend  of  12 
per  cent,  on  its  preferred  stock  and  62  per  cent,  on  its  com- 
mon stock,  after  which  the  net  earnings  for  the  year  have 
been  sufficient  to  make  sbstantial  additions  to  the  special 
reserve  and  surplus  accounts. 

Milwaukee  Railway  &  Light  to  Issue  Bonds. — The  Mil- 
waukee Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company  has  been  au- 
thorized to  issue  $3,000,000  of  general  and  refunding  mort- 
gage bonds,  to  bear  interest  at  the  rate  of  5  per  cent,  and 
to  be  secured  by  a  refunding  mortgage  issued  to  the 
Bankers  Trust  Company  of  New  York.  The  bonds  are  not 
to  be  sold  for  less  than  75  per  cent,  of  par  value  and  the 
proceeds  from  the  sale  are  to  be  used  in  paying  an  out- 
standing indebtedness  incurred  by  reason  of  additions  and 
extensions  made  to  the  property  and  for  making  further  ex- 
tensions. 

Western  Electric's  Business  in  First  Half  of  1912. — In- 
cluding returns  for  June,  which  were  about  10  per  cent 
larger  than  those  in  the  same  month  a  year  ago,  the  total 
goods  billed  out  by  the  Western  Electric  Company  in  the 
first  half  of  its  current  fiscal  year  were  about  2  per  cent 
larger  than  the  total  in  the  corresponding  period  of  1911. 
From  the  results  obtained  in  the  first  six  months,  the  com- 
pany expects  that  its  estimate  made  earlier  in  the  year  that 
its  1912  business  would  be  approximately  the  same  as  the 
$66,000,000  total  in   191 1  will  be  realized. 

Financial  Condition  of  New  England  Power  Company  of 
Maine. — A  report  showing  its  financial  condition  on  April 
I.  1912,  has  been  filed  by  the  New  England  Power  Company 
of  Maine,  with  the  Massachusetts  Secretary  of  State.  This 
is  the  first  statement  filed  by  the  company.  It  shows  total 
assets  of  $5,300,000  made  up  of  real  estate  and  stocks.  The 
liabilities  given  are  capital  stock  $5,000,000  and  accounts 
payable  $300,000. 

A  Foreign  Aluminum  Combination. — According  to  press 
despatches,  announcement  was  made  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Neuhausen  Aluminum  Company,  the  large  German  alumi- 
num producers,  that  an  aluminum  syndicate  has  been  formed 
abroad  which  will  come  into  operation  next  January.  It  is 
stated  there  are  several  small  foreign  producers  who 
have  not  joined  fhe  syndicate  but  are  expected  to  do 
so  before  long. 

Oberlin  (Ohio)  Gas  &  Electric  Company  Sold. — The  Light 
&  Development  Company,  of  St.  Louis,  a  holding  company 
which  operates  gas  and  electric  properties  in  various  parts 
of  the  country,  has  acquired  control  of  the  Oberlin  (Ohio) 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  through  purchase  of  the  company's 
$85,000  second  mortgage  bonds  and  all  of  its  common  stock. 

New  Directors  for  Butte  (Mont.)  Electric  &  Power  Com- 
pany.— At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Butte  (Mont.)  Electric 
&  Power  Company,  Eliot  Wadsworth  and  Frederick  Strauss, 
of  New  York,  were  elected,  succeeding  Copley  Amory,  of 
New  York,  and  F.  L.  Ames,  of  Boston,  retiring  directors. 
All  officers  of  the  Company  were  re-elected. 

Michigan  Telephone  Companies  to  Merge. — Permission  to 
purchase  the  Home  Telephone  Company,  of  Detroit,  and  its 
four  subsidiaries  in  Southeastern  Michigan  has  been  asked 
by  the  Michigan  State  Telephone  Company.  It  is  under- 
stood that  a  purchase  price  of  $3,500,000  has  been  agreed 
uixm   by  the   two  companies. 

Hall  Signal  Reorganization  Plan  Accepted  by  Stockhold- 
ers.—  Between  90  and  95  per  cent,  of  the  stockholders  of  the 
Hall  Signal  Company  have  accepted  the  modified  plan  of 
the' readjustment  committee,  details  of  which  were  given  in 
these  columns  July  6,  1912. 


170 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  3. 


REPORTS  OF   EARNINGS. 


FEDERAL  LIGHT  &  TRACTION  COMPANY,   NEW   YORK. 

The  consolidated  statements  of  earnings  of  the  subsi- 
diaries of  the  Federal  Light  &  Traction  Company,  after 
elimination  of  inter-company  earnings,  for  the  month  oT 
May,  1912  and  1911,  and  for  the  twelve  months  ended  May 
31,  1912  and  1911,  compare  as  follows: 

May:  1912. 

Gross     $112,183 

Operating  expenses    68,654 


1911. 

$96,014 

57,562 


Net   from   operation $43,529 

Twelve    months    ended    May    31:  1912. 

Gross     $1,335,63 1 

Operating    expenses    768.392 


$38,452 
1911. 
fl, 213,026 
682,348 


Net    from    operation $557,239  $530,678 

The  figures  for  the  Trinidad  (Col.)  Electric  Transmission, 
Railway  &  Gas  Company  and  the  Deming  (N.  M.)  Ice  & 
Electric  Company  are  not  included  in  the  above  statements. 


A.MERICAN    TELEPHONE    &    TELEGRAPH    COMPANY. 

The  earnings  report  of  the  American  Telephone  &  Tele- 
graph Company  for  the  six  months  ended  June  30,  1912, 
compares  with  that  for  the  corresponding  period  in  igii 
as  follows: 

1912.  1911. 

Earnings: 

Dividends     $11,222,693.69     $10,135,518.35 

Interest    and    otlier    revenue    from    associ- 
ated  companies 6,071,395.06         5,123,444.10 

Telephone   traffic    (net) 2,826,431.97         2,592,277.99 

Real    estate 37,037.23  46,326.35 

Other     sources 170,147.17  306,057.49 


Total $20,327,705.12     $18,203,624.28 


l-;.\pensf:s    2,265,502.34 


1,782,461.06 


Net    earnings $18,062,202.78     $16,421,163.22 


Deduct     interest 2,761,119.19 


Balance     $15,301,083.59 

Dividends     paid 12,635,719.08 


2,865,884.70 

$13,555,278.52 
10,769,555.67 


Balance $2,665,364.51       $2,785,722.85 


BELL  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM   IN   UNITED  STATES. 

The  earnings  reported  by  the  Bell  Telephone  System  in 
the  United  States  for  the  five  months  ended  May  31,  1912, 
including  statements  of  the  American  Telephone  &  Tele- 
graph Company  and  associated  holding  and  operating  com- 
panies in  the  United  States,  not  including  connected  inde- 
pendent or  sub-licensee  companies,  compare  with  those 
for  the  same  period  of  1911  as  is  shown  in  the  following 
statement.  All  duplications,  including  interest,  dividends 
and  other  payments  to  the  American  Telephone  &  Tele- 
graph Company  by  associated  holding  and  operating  com- 
panies are  excluded. 

1912. 

Gross     earnings $79,788,638 

Expenses: 

Operation      26,031,740 

Current    maintenance    12,678,768 

I)epreciation    13,635,102 

Taxes     4,165,582 

Total     expenses $56,511,192 

Net    earnings $23,277,446 

Deduct    interest 5,473,980 


1911. 
$72,710,093 

24,687,766 

11,940,888 

11,168,376 

3,669,872 

$51,466,902 

$21,243,191 
5.727,507 

$15,515,684 

10,479.243 

Sur.Dlus    earnings $5,848,363  $5,036,441 

The  unexpended  portion  of  the  provision  made  for  de- 
preciation for  the  first  five  months  of  1912  was  $6,226,747, 
which   is   not  counted  as   profits  but   remains   as  a  reserve. 


Balance  net  profits -. $17,803,466 

Deduct    dividends    (paid    for   three   months 

and  estimated  for  two  months) 11,955.103 


KINGS    COUNTY     (n.    Y.)    ELECTRIC    LIGHT    &    POWER    COMPANY    AND 
EDISON  ELECTRIC  ILLUMINATING  COMPANY  OF  BROOKLYN 

The  combined   income   statements  of  the   Kings   County 

(N.  Y.)   Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  and  the  Edison 

Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn  for  the  months 

of  June,  1912  and  1911,  and  for  the  six  months  ended  June 

30,   1912  and   1911,  compare  as  follows: 

June.  1912. 

Gross   operating  revenue $398,860 

Operating  expenses  excepting  taxes 

and    depreciation    charges $179,983 

Taxes     34,500 

Depreciation     charges 53,136 

Total    operating    expenses $267,619 


1911. 
$368,395 


$166,073 
32,500 
42,713 


Net    operating 
Non-operating 

Total    net 
Bond   discount 


revenue $131,241 

revenue 3,140 


income $134,381 

written    olf 1,589 


Fixed     charges — bond     interest. 


$132,692 
70,547 


P.  &  L  surplus $62,145 

Six  months  ended  June  30.  1912. 

Gross  operating  revenue....    $2,598,855 

Operating  expenses  excepting 
taxes  and  depreciation  .  .  .  .$1,067,158 

Taxes    206.000 

Depreciation   charges 358,027 

Total  operating  expenses $1,631,184 

Net    operating    revenue $967,671 

Non-operating  revenue 25,672 

Total    net    income $993,343 

Bond  discount  written  off 10,135 


$241,286 

$127,109 
6,817 

$133,926 
1,689 

$132,237 
70,172 

$62,065 
1911. 
$2,307,329 


$973,205 
195,000 
272,400 


$983,208 
423,280 


Fixed  charges- — bond  interest 

P.  &  L.  surplus $559,928 


$1,440,605 

$866,724 
30,508 

$897,232 
10,135 

$887,097 
385,406 

$501,691 


PACIFIC    POWER    &    LIGHT    COMPANY,    PORTLAND,    ORE. 

The    income    statements    of   the    Pacific    Power    &    Light 

Company,  of  Portland,  Ore.,   for  the  month  of  June,   1912, 

and  the  twelve  months  ending  June  30,  1912,  compare  with 

those   for   the   corresponding  periods   of   the   previous   year 

as   follows: 

June: 

Gross    earnings 

Operating  expenses  and  taxes 

Net    earnings    

Total  interest    


1912. 

1911. 

105,059 

$95,260 

49.457 

53,240 

$55,602 

23.671 

Net    income $31,931 

Twelve  months  ended  June  30:  1912. 

Gross   earnings $1,208,153 

Operating  expenses  and  taxes 634,048 


$42,020 
29.441 

$12,579 
1911. 
$1,155,526 
602,103 


Net    earnings $574,105 

Total   interest 333,123 


$553,423 
254,773 


Net  income    

Preferred   dividend 

Second  preferred  dividend. 


Balance 


$240,982 
118,125 
30,000 

$92,857 


$298,650 
65,625 


$233,025 


Copper: 
Standard: 
Spot     . . 
July     .. 
August 


PRICES  IN  THE  NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET. 

, July  9 > 

1.  Asked. 

0  17.00 

0  17.00 

17.20 
17.25 
17.00 
s     d 
2     6 
0     0 


September     16.50 

October     16.50 

London  quotation:  £ 

Standard   copper,    spot 74 

Standard    copper,    futures 75 


Prime    Lake    

Electrolytic     

Casting     

Lead     

Sheet  zinc,  f.o.b.  smelter. 
Spelter,   spot 


17.25 
17.00 
16.75 
4.75 
8.75 
7.25 


Nickel     39.00  to  40.00 

Aluminum: 

No.    1    pure    ingot 21  to  22 

Rods   and    wire,    base 31 

Sheets,  base   32 


OLD  METALS. 


Heavy    copper    and    wire. 

Brass,   heavy    

Brass,    light     

Lead,    heavy    

Zinc,   scrap    


16.50 

10.25 
8.50 
4.25 
5.75 


17.12'A 
17.12"^ 
16.90 

4.75 

8.75 

7.25 
40.00  to  41.00 

21  to  22 
31 
33 


15.00 

10.00 

7.75 

4.50 

5.75 


COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  JULY 
Total   tons,  including  July  9,   6,248 


.July   16,    14,810 


STOCK  MARKET  PRICES. 

July  10. 

Allis-Chalmers     IH 

Allis-Chalmers,     pf W 

Amalgamated    Copper    81 

Amer.   Tel.   &  Tel 144K 

Boston    Edison    293* 

Commonwealth    Edison    139}^ 

Electric    Storage    Battery 55 

General    Electric     176J4 

Mackay   Companies    90 

Mackay    Companies,    pf 68^ 

Philadelphia    Electric     21H 

Western    Union    W: 

Westinghouse     '6^ 

Westinghouse,    pf 119 


July  17. 
I'A' 

82^ 
145H 
295* 
137H 

54H 

irsy, 

92-A 
69  ^ 
2VA 
87% 
77 
119* 


*Last  price  quoted. 


;ly  20,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


171 


Personal 


Mr.  Frank  W.  Frueauff,  of  H.  L.  Doherty  &  Company, 
liled  from  New  York  on  July  13  for  a  two  months'  recru- 
tion  trip  in   Europe. 

Mr.  W.  J.  Marshall  has  been  appointed  commercial  man- 
ner and  Mr.  C.  H.  Felker  assistant  commercial  manager  of 
le  Toledo  Railways  and  Light  Company. 
Mr.  Walter  L.  Fairchild,  consulting  engineer,  has  become 
ssociated  with  Halbert  P.  Hall,  Inc.,  New  York,  and  will 
evote   his   entire   attention   to   the   steel   pole   industry. 
Mr.  C.  F.  Thudium  has  resigned  his  position  as  superin- 
;ndent  of   the   Municipal   Electric   Light   Plant,   Marceline, 
Ic,  to  accept  a  similar  position  with  the  Municipal  Elec- 
-ic  Light  &  Water  Works,  Macon,  Mo. 
Mr.   C.   Edward   Fee,   of   the    Peerless    Lamp    Works    of 
teneral  Electric  Company,  sailed  for  Europe  on  July  9  to 
isit   his   father,   United   States   Consul   W'illiam  T.   Fee,   at 
remen,  Germany.     Mr.   Fee  will  return  to  Warren,   Ohio, 
bout  Aug.   10. 

Mr.  T.  D.'  Buckwell,  formerly  commercial  manager  for 
le  Toledo  Railways  and  Light  Company  at  Toledo,  Ohio, 
as  resigned  from  that  company  to  become  manager  of  the 
ommercial  department  of  the  Peoria  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
any  at  Peoria,  111. 

Mr.  H.  E.  Brandii,  superintendent  of  lighting  of  the  Ot- 
jmwa  (Iowa)  Railway  &  Light  Company,  has  been  ap- 
ointed  manager  of  the  Consumers'  Power  Company, 
linot,  N.  D.,  to  succeed  Mr.  Andrew  E.  Stevens,  whose 
eath  in  an  automobile  accident  was  noted  in  our  issue 
ated  July  6. 

Mr.  R.  M.  ,  Harding,  superintendent  of  lighting  of  the 
'ensacola  (Fla.)  Electric  Company,  has  been  appointed 
eneral  superintendent  of  the  Columbus  CGa.)  Electric 
'ompany,  which  controls  and  operates  the  Columbus  Rail- 
oad,  the  Columbus  Power  Company  and  the  Gas  Light 
"ompany  of  Columbus. 
Mr.  Stuart  M.  Spiller,  formerly  of  the  sales  department 
f  the  Western  Electric  Company,  New  York,  is  now 
cting  as  representative  of  the  company  in  China,  succeed- 
ig  Mr.  H.  D.  B.  Moore.  In  making  the  trip  to  Shanghai 
It.  Spiller  visited  London,  Antwerp,  Paris  and  Berlin  in 
he  interest  of  the  company. 

Mr.  Arthur  C.  F.  Keleher,  assistant  sales  manager  of  the 
•Jelite  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  has  re- 
igned his  position  and  on  Sept.  i  will  join  the  sales  force 
n  the  motor  truck  department  of  the  Foss-Hughes  Com- 
pany of  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Keleher  is  a  statesman-at-large 
'f  the  Rejuvenated  Sons  of  Jove. 
Mr.  H.  B.  Bryans,  who  for  the  past  three  years  has  been 
ngineer  for  the  Fulton  County  Gas  &  Electric  Company, 
jloversville,  N.  Y.,  has  assumed  the  position  of  chief  as- 
istant  to  the  inspector  of  tests  at  the  home  office  of  the 
Jnited  Gas  Improvement  Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  M.'. 
Aryans  has  been  succeeded  by   Mr.   Louis   C.   Smith. 

Mr.  John  F.  Wessel,  New  York,  has  been  appointed  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  Mahoning  &  Shenango  Railway  & 
Jght  Company,  Youngstown,  Ohio.  Mr.  Wessel,  who  is 
.n  electrical  engineering  graduate  of  the  Massachusetts  In- 
titute  of  Technology,  has  been  identified  with  electric  light- 
ng  and  railway  undertakings  for  many  years,  having  served 
or  a  time  as  electrical  engineer  for  the  Lynchburg  (Va.) 
fraction  &  Light  Company. 

Mr.  Chas.  F.  Gray,  formerly  superintendent  of  construc- 
ion  for  the  Canadian  Westinghouse  Company,  and  chief 
■rection  engineer  in  charge  of  the  installation  of  the  com- 
)any's  apparatus  for  the  city  of  Winnipeg's  municipal  hy- 
Iroelectric  system,  has  opened  a  consulting  electrical  en- 
rineering  office  in  the  Empress  Block,  Winnipeg.  Mr.  Gray 
lad  had  fifteen  years'  experience  in  America,  covering  a 
arge  and  varied  assortment  of  engineering  and  construc- 
ion  work  in  many  of  Canada's  hydroelectric  developments, 
is  well  as  in  several  of  the  large  central  stations  in  New 
Sfork.  In  addition  to  this  work  he  had  experience  on 
he  electrification  of  the  underground  tubes  in  London, 
England. 

Dr.  Herbert  E.  Ives,  long  identified  with  illuminating  re- 
learch  work,  has  severed     his  connection  with  the  physical 


laboratory  of  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Association  to 
become  physicist  in  the  research  laboratory  of  the  United 
Gas  Improvement  Company,  Philadelphia.  Dr.  Ivcs  was 
born  in  Philadelphia  on  July  31,  1882,  the  son  of  Frederick 
E.  Ives,  inventor  of  the  half-tone  engraving  process  and 
three-color  photography,  recent  recipient  of  the  Rumford 
medal.  He  was  educated  in  the  Philadelphia  public  schools, 
the  University  College  School,  London,  the  Rugby  Lower 
School,  Rugby,  England,  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
(B.  S.  1905),  and  Johns  Hopkins  University  (Fellow  in 
Physics  1906-8,  Ph.  D.  1908).  He  was  associated  with  the 
Ives  Kromskop  Company,  Philadelphia  from  1898  to  1902, 
assistant  and  assistant  physicist  at  the  Bureau  of  Standards, 
Washington,  during  1908  and  1909,  physicist  in  the  physical 
laboratory  of  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Associa- 
tion, Cleveland,  from  1909  to  1912,  and  now  is  physicist  for 
the  United  Gas  Improvement  Company,  Philadelphia,  as 
noted  above.  The  scientific  labors  of  Dr.  Ives  have  been 
devoted  chiefly  to  investigations  of  the  production,  measure- 
ment and  utilization  of  light.  Among  his  scientific  con- 
tributions have  been  articles  and  papers  dealing  with  im- 
provements in  dififraction  process  of  color  photography; 
experimental  study  of  Lippmann  color  photography;  photo- 
graphic phenomena  bearing  upon  the  dispersion  of  light 
in  space;  color  measurements  of  illuminants  and  problems 
relating  to  color  measurements.  He  originated  the  method 
of  estimating  "daylight  efficiency"  of  illuminants,  which 
led  to  the  practical  production  of  artificial  daylight  in 
the  so-called  "Tungstolier  true-tint"  apparatus.  He  de- 
vised a  test  object  for  visual  acuity  measurements  and  an 
eye  testing  device  composed  of  crossed  gratings  whereby 
a  uniform  change  in  size  of  detail  is  produced.  He  con- 
ducted a  series  of  studies  in  photometry  of  lights  of  dif- 
ferent color,  recently  concluded,  which  established  the 
superior  advantages  of  the  flicker  photometer  for  this  kind 
of  measurement.  He  made  a  study  of  the  firefly,  establish- 
ing by  photographic  and  phosphor-photographic  methods 
the  limited  spectral  extent  of  its  light  and  its  high  luminous 
efficiency.  His  studies  have  included  the  phenomena  of 
phosphorescence  and  luminous  efficiency.  As  a  result  of 
his  studies  and  his  work  in  heterochromatic  photometry,  he 
proposed  as  a  rational  standard  of  light  flux  one  watt  of 
radiation  of  maximum  possible  luminous  efficiency.  He 
devised  various  pieces  of  photometric  apparatus,  including 
special  neutral-tint  screens,  a  variable  neutral-tint  absorp- 
tion screen,  a  form  of  spectrophotometer,  and  lately  a 
watts-per-candle  meter  for  incandescent  lamps,  whereby 
lamps  may  be  rated  directly  for  a  certain  efficiency.  Dr. 
Ives  is  a  member  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,  the  American  Physical  Society  and 
the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society  (vice-president  191 1- 
12),  and  a  corresponding  member  London  Illuminating  En- 
gineering Society. 


Obituary 


Prof.  Jules  Henri  Poincare,  better  known  as  Henri  Poin- 
caire,  mathematician  and  physicist,  died  in  Paris  suddenly 
on  July  17  of  an  embolism.  He  was  born  on  April  29,  1855. 
In  1879  he  was  mining  engineer  at  Versoul,  in  1881  he  was 
appointed  master  of  conferences,  faculty  of  science  at  Paris, 
and  he  became  professor  of  natural  philosophy  1886  and 
was  professor  of  mathematics  and  astronomy  at  the  Sor- 
bonne  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

Mr.  Stewart  S.  Neff,  long  identified  with  electric  railway 
undertakings,  died  on  July  13,  at  Atlantic  City.  Mr.  Nefif, 
who  was  born  in  Cincinnati,  Oct.  24,  1859,  graduated  from 
Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute  in  1878  and  engaged  in 
steam  railway  work  for  17  years.  In  1895  he  took  charge 
of  the  "Loop"  at  Chicago.  In  1900  he  entered  the  service 
of  the  Boston  Elevated  Railway  as  consulting  engineer. 
Upon  leaving  Boston  he  was  appointed  consulting  engineer 
of  the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Company,  which  post  he 
resigned  to  become  general  manager  of  the  Mexico  City 
Tramway.  More  recently  he  had  been  general  superinten- 
dent of  the  Atlantic  City  &  Shore  Railroad,  Atlantic  City, 
N.  J.,  and  president  of  the  Interstate  Engineering  &  Supply 
Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


1/2 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Na 


Construction 


BIRMINGHAM,  ALA. — Extensions  and  improvements  will  be  made  to 
the  system  of  the  Birmingham  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  and  will  include  the 
installation  of  a  10,000-kw  steam  turbine,  conduit  construction,  placing 
all  wires  in  underground  conduits  in  the  business  district,  extension  of 
the  lighting  system  into  North  Birmingham  and  extensions  to  railway 
system.  Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis,  New  Orleans.  La.,  have  charge  of  the 
plant. 

DOTHAN,  ALA. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  city  of  Dothan  until 
Aug.  5  for  water  works  and  electrical  machinery,  construction  of  power 
house  and  reinforced  concrete  reservoir  and  chimney  8  ft.  x  150  ft.; 
chimney  builder  to  furnish  plans.  The  equipment ,  will  consist  of  two 
300-hp  steam  boilers,  one  350-kw  generator  set,  including  engne  to  run 
condensing  with  all  auxiliaries  and  cooling  tower,  switchboard  with  all 
instruments  and  elcctiical-driven  air  compressor.  Plans  and  specifica- 
tions may  be  obtained  on  application  to  the  city  clerk.  W.  F.  Thornton, 
Birmingham,  is  consulting  engineer. 

KELVIN,  ARIZ. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  Kelvin  Sultana 
Mining  Co.  for  the  installation  of  an  electric  power  plant  to  supply 
electricity  for  operating  the  machinery  in  its  mines.  Neil  McMillan  is 
superintendent. 

MIAMI,  ARIZ. — The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  has  authorized  the 
Reclamation  Service  to  execute  a  contract  with  the  Inspiration  Consol. 
Copper  Co.  whereby  the  governinent  agrees  to  furnish  the  copper  com- 
pany at  its  pumping  stations  and  works  near  Wheatfields  and  Miami 
surplus  power  generated  at  Roosevelt  dam  and  other  points  on  the 
Salt  River  irrigation  project.  Under  the  terms  of  the  contract  the  gov- 
ernment is  to  deliver  electrical  energy  at  40,000  volts,  three  phase,  25 
cycle,  not  to  exceed  a  maximum  load  at  any  time  of  11,000  kw  in  case 
the  Miami  Copper  Co.  is  admitted  to  participation  in  use  of  said  energy, 
and  not  to  exceed  a  maximum  of  8000  kw  in  case  the  Miama  Copper  Co. 
is  not  admitted,   for  which  the  company  is  to  pay   7.5   mills  per  kw-hour. 

PHOENIX,  ARIZ.— The  Mountain  States  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  has  pur- 
chased the  plant  and  holdings  of  the  Arizona  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  Exten- 
sive improvements  and  additions  will  be  made  to  tlie  system. 

ASHDOWN,  ARK. — Nagel  &  Peterson,  Muskogee,  Okla.,  are  prepar- 
ing plans  for  the  construction  of  an  electric-light  plant  for  the  city, 
bids  for  which  will  soon  be  asked  for. 

GRAVETTE,  ARK. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  Nagel  &  Peterson, 
Muskogee.  Okla.,  engineers,  for  the  construction  of  a  municipal  elec- 
tric-light plant,   for   which   $21,000  in  bonds  have  been  voted. 

BLOOMINGTON,  CAL. — Steps  have  been  taken  for  establish  ng  a 
lighting  district  in  Bloomington.  A  proposition  for  lighting  the  streets 
has  been  submitted   by  the    Southern   California   Edison    Co. 

GREENVILLE.  CAL. — The  Droege  Mining  Co.  has  entered  into  a 
contract  with  the  Indian  Valley  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  whereby  the  latter 
will  supply  electricity  to  operate  the  machinery  in  the  Droege  mines.  A 
temporary  steam  plant  of  200  hp  will  be  installed  as  an  auxiliary  to  the 
hydroelectric  power  plant,  which  is  to  be  built  on  the  Feather  River  at 
Seneca. 

HEMET,  CAL. — The  Menlo  Avenue  Wtr.  Sup.  Co.  is  planning  to 
install  a   large   electric  motor   in  its   pumping  plant. 

LAKEPORT,  CAL.— The  Mount  Konocti  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Lakeport, 
is  planning  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  to  Big  Valley  and  Kelsey- 
ville.  It  is  also  planning  to  extend  the  lines  to  Highland  Springs  at 
the  same  time.  It  is  proposed  to  install  a  temporary  steam  plant  in 
Kelseyville  to  furnisb  the  service  until  the  plant  on  Kelsey  Creek  is 
completed.      J.    L.    Davis   is    manager. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  Board  of  Public  Works  is  receiving 
bids  on  34  miles  of  250,000  CM.  stranded  copper  cable.  The  equivalent 
in    aluminum   may   be   substituted. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — .\  movement  is  on  foot  to  form  a  lighting 
district  consisting  of  over  47.000  acres,  with  a  view  of  lighting  the 
Sherman  Boulevard   its  entire  length,   16  miles,  with  ornamental  lamps. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  Postal  Teleg.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
Board  of  Public  Works  for  a  21-year  franchise  that  will  permit  the 
company  to  install  a  conduit  and  pole  line  system  within  the  city  limits. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — The  Southern  Pacific  Co.  has  begun  work  on 
equipping  its  stub  steam  lines  in  this  vicinity  for  electrical  operation. 
The  old  Santa  Ana-Newport  line  is  now  being  converted  to  electric  trac- 
tion and   other  branches  will  soon  follow. 

LOS  ANGELES,  C.\L. — A  report  has  been  filed  by  E.  F.  ScattergooJ, 
chief  engineer  of  the  aqueduct  power  bureau,  with  Mayor  Alexander 
stating  that  the  discovery  of  additional  watershed  streams  on  Owens 
River  will  add  40,000  hp  to  the  120.000  hp  to  be  developed  from  the 
aqueduct  itself  and  may  eliminate  the  necessity  of  the  erection  of  a 
steam-driven    auxiliary    plant. 

OROVILLE,  C.\h. — The  Oro  EI  Corpp.  is  erecting  transmission  lines 
from  Oroville  to  Honcut,  Central  House  and  Gridley  sections,  a  total 
distance  of  about  25  miles,  where  electricity  for  pumping  water  will  be 
distributed  by  the  company.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at 
about  $50,000.  The  State  Railway  Commission  has  granted  tbt- 
Oro  El.  Corpn.  permission  to  build  an  additional  power  plant  on  Yellow 
Creek  in  Plumas  County  and  to  erect  a  transmission  line  across  Sacra- 
mento Valley  and   the  upper  San  Joaquin   Valley   in   .Mameda  and  Contra 


Costra,  Plumas,    liutte,   Yuba,   Sutter,  Colusa,   Glenn,   Yolo,   Solano,  Sacr 
mento   and  Calmas   Counties, 

PAS.\DENA,    CAL. — The   city   of    Pasadena   has   established   a   purcha 
ing  department   in   connection   with   its  municipal   government.     The 
agement  of  this  department  would  like  to  have  on  file  for  reference  coi 
piete   general    catalogues    of    manufacturers    and    jobbers    of    all    kinds 
materials,   tools,    machinery,    office   equipment,    miscellaneous   supplies,  et 
For    further    information    address    the    Purchasing    Department,    City 
Pasadena,  Room  No,  2,  City  Hall  .'Vnnex,  Pasadena. 

RIVERSIDE,  CAL.— The  Pacific  El.  Ry  Co.  has  authorized  surv«: 
made  for  an  electric  railway  between  Riverside  and  Colton,  a  distam 
of   about    10    miles. 

SAN  BERNARDINO,  CAL.— The  Interstate  Tel.  Co.,  a  subsidiary  < 
the  Southern  Sierras  Pwr.  Co.,  has  completed  its  telephone  line  betwe* 
San  Bernardino  and  Bishop,  and  will  now  erect  a  telephone  exchange  i 
\'ictorville,  about  35  miles  from  San  Bernardino. 

S.\N  FRANCISCO,  CAL. — The  Board  of  Supervisers  has  adopted 
resolution  directing  the  Board  of  Works  to  submit  plans  and  estimat* 
of  the  cost  for  extensions  of  the  Geary  Street  railway  from  Kearny  Strc 
to  Market  Street  opposite  Sansome  Street  and  from  Thirty-third  A\ 
nue  to  the  beach.  Plans  are  also  being  considered  for  the  extension  < 
the  municipal   railway   down   Market    Street   to  the   ferry, 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.— The  Pacific  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  been  grante 
permission  by  the  State  Railroad  Commission  to  construct  two  hydrt 
electric  power  plants  on  Bear  River,  in  Placer  County,  and  to  erect 
transmission  line  from  the  plant  through  Placer,  Nevada,  Yuba,  Suttei 
Yolo  and  Solano  Counties  to  a  point  near  Crockett,  on  San  Francisc 
Bay.  The  initial  installation  will  include  four  10,000-kw  generator; 
which   later  will  be  increased  to   100,000  kw. 

SAN  LUIS  OBISPO,  CAL.— The  County  Supervisors  have  awarde 
a  franchise  to  Walter  Gould  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric  rai' 
way  over  certain  roads  in  the  county  for  a  period  of  50  years.  Th 
franchise  also  carries  the  privilege  to  erect  and  maintain  transraissio 
lines   for   the   distribution   of  electricity. 

SANTA  BARBARA,  CAL. — The  San  Luis  Obispo  County  Supervisor 
have  sold  the  Coalinga  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co.,  Coalinga,  a  franchise  to  erec 
transmission   lines  along  the   public   highways   for    $250. 

SANTA  ROSA,  CAL. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  Grea 
Western   Pwr.   Co.   for   the  construction   of  a  substation   in  Santa  Rosa. 

WOODLAND,  CAL.— The  railway  of  the  Sacramento  &  Woodlan. 
Ry.  Co.  has  been  completed  to  Woodland.  Further  extensions  to  thi 
road   will   be  made. 

DENVER,  COL. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  Mayor  Arnold  am 
Auditor  James  F.  Markey  for  utilizing  the  electric-light  plant  in  th< 
Auditorium  to  furnish  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  for  the  cour 
house  and  city  hall.  The  city  electrician  has  been  instructed  to  make  : 
report  on  the  feasibility  of  erecting  wires  from  the  plant  to  the  build 
ings  and  whether  the  plant  is  capable  of  furnishing  the  service, 

NORWICH,  CONN. — Work  has  commenced  on  the  construction  of  J 
new  substation  near  Mastuxetbrook,  on  the  Pleasant  \'iew  extension,  foi 
the   Norwich  &   Westerly   Ry.   Co. 

TAKOMA  PARK,  D,  C— The  Town  Council  of  Takoma  Park,  Md., 
has  authorized  the  Mayor  to  enter  into  a  contract  with  the  Potomac  El 
Pwr.  Co.,  Washington,  D.  C,  for  lighting  the  town.  Under  the  terms  ol 
the  contract  the  company  is  to  install  the  system  as  soon  as  possible  and 
to  erect  100  incandescent  electric  lamps  of  40  cp,  for  which  the  town 
agrees  to  pay  $1,500  per  year  for  the  first  100  lamps  and  $15  each  for 
each  additional  lamp. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— The  Washington  Ry.  &  El.  Co.  is  planning  tc 
build  a  new  railway  to  Cleveland   Park  and  Tennallytown. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. — An  American  consul  writes  that  a  leading 
business  man  in  a  foreign  country,  who  expects  to  attend  a  congress  to 
be  held  shortly  in  the  United  States,  is  in  the  market  for  an  electric 
power  plant  with  sufficient  output  to  illuminate  a  town  with  a  popula* 
tion  of  7000;  also  sLx  automobiles  capable  of  carrying  from  12  to  20 
passengers  each;  also  bottle  cleaning  and  filling  devices.  For  further 
information  address  No.  9148,  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Department  of 
Commerce  and  Labor,  Washington,   D.   C. 

CLAXTON,  GA. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  the  Mayor  and 
Board  of  Aldermen  until  July  25  for  furnishing  material  for  the  pro- 
posed electric-light  plant  and  water- works  sj'stem  as  follows:  For  ap- 
proximately 130  tons  of  8-in.  and  6-in.  cast-iron  p-pe  and  4  tons  of 
special  castings.  16  fire  hydrants,  15  valves  and  11  valve  boxes,  tank 
and  tower,  erected,  two  horizontal  tubular  boilers,  feed-water  heater  and 
pump,  two  750,000-gal.  pumps,  two  air-compressors  and  receiver,  one 
60-kw.  alternating-current  generator  with  three-panel  switchboard,  one 
high-speed  automatic  engine,  steam,  air  and  hydraulic  connections  in 
plant,  tungsten  street-lamp  regulator,  lamps  and  line  material,  including 
transformers.  Bids  will  be  received  on  the  whole  or  any  part  of  tfce 
above.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  seen  at  the  office  of  the  ci^ 
clerk  and  the  H.  S.  Jaudon  Engineering  Co..  engineers,  at  Savannah  and 
Atlanta,  Ga.  Specifications  may  be  obtained  by  addressing  the  engineers 
at   Box   582,   Savannah. 

CORDELLE,  GA.— Application  will  be  made  to  the  State  Legislature 
for  an  amendment  to  the  present  city  charter  authorizing  the  city  to 
issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $50,000  for  the  establishment  of  a  mu- 
nicipal electric-liglit  plant.  It  is  proposed  to  install  an  electric  plant  in 
connection    with    the   water-works   system. 


I 


JLV  20,    1912. 


E  r.  R  C  T  R  I  C  A  L     W  O  R  L  D 


173 


MAKIKTTE,   GA. — The   City   Council  has  entered  into  a  contract   with 

e  Georgia  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  which  is  now  erecting  a  transmission  line 
trough  Cobb  County,  for  electricity  to  operate  the  municipal  electric 
'Stem.  The  municipal  electric  plant  will  be  held  in  readiness  for  use 
emergencies.  L.  B.  Robeson  is  a  member  of  the  Water  and  Light 
card. 

ROCHELLE,  GA. — The  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant 
under   consideration. 

LEWIISTON,    IDAHO.— The   Inland   Tel.    &   Teleg.    Co.    is   planning    to 

cct  telephone  lines  between  Spokane,  Wash.,  and  Lewiston,  a  distance 
■  about  90  miles. 

NAMPA.  IDAHO. — Work  will  be  started  at  once  on  the  extension  of 
le  Idaho  Traction  Company's  railway  between  Caldwell  and  Roswell,  a 
.stance  of  14  miles. 

NEZPERCE,  IDAHO. — Extensive  improvements  are  contemplated  by 
ic  Nezperce  Co-operative  Tel.  Co.,  which  will  involve  an  ■expenditure 
f  about  $10,000  and  include  the  erection  of  a  telephone  line  from  Lew- 
ton  to  Nezperce  and  G'rangeville,  a  distance  of  about  90  miles. 

OROFINO,  IDAHO. — Negotiations  have  been  closed  whereby  the 
'opcrty  and  holdings  of  the  Orofino  El.  Co.  will  be  taken  over  by  the 
ewis  County  El.  Co.  and  will  be  operated  in  connection  with  the  latter 
impany's  plant. 

ALTON,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Alton,  Jacksonville 
Peoria  Ry.  Co.  a  franchise  to  erect  a  transmission  line  on  Market 
treet. 

BLANDISVILLE.  ILL.— The  Board  of  Trustees  would  like  to  receive 
repositions  from  reliable  parties  for  a  franchise  to  install  and  operate 
n  electric-light  plant  in    Blandisville. 

CULLOM,  ILL. — It  is  reported  that  F.  A.  Ortman,  owner  of  the 
ical  electric-light  plant,  has  announced  that  he  will  discontinue  the 
lectric-light  service  in  this  village  after  Aug.    1. 

DANVILLE,  ILL. — John  A.  Shafer,  of  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  is  reported 
>  have  agreed  to  finance  and  construct  an  interurban  railway  between 
Irawfordsville,    Ind.,   and    Danville,   via   Kingman. 

EDWARDSVILLE,  ILL.— Judge  W.  E.  Hadley,  in  the  Madison 
"ounty  Circuit  Court,  has  authorized  the  receiver  of  the  Alton,  Jack- 
onvjlle  &  Peoria  Ry.  ,Co.  to  issue  receiver's  certificates  not  to  exceed 
150,000  for  the  completion  of  the  railway  between  Godfrey  and  Jersey- 
ille.  Power  for  operating  the  proposed  road  will  be  secured  from  the 
vlton  Gas  &  El.   Co.      Frank   L.    Butler,   Alton,    is   receiver. 

GIRARD,  ILL. — A  movement  is  reported  to  be  under  way  to  dis- 
ose  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  to  have  the  streets  lighted 
y  a  private  company.      The   proposition   will   be  submitted   to   a   vote. 

MATHERSVILLE,  ILL.— The  plant  of  the  Continental  Brick  Co., 
ocated  near  Mathersville,  is  being  equipped  for  electric  motor  drive. 
Electricity  for  operating  the  plant  will  be  supplied  by  the  Rock  Island 
Southern   Ry.   Co.,   Rock  Island. 

MILLEDGEVILLE,  ILL.— Application  has  been  made  to  the  Council 
py  L.  E.  Butler,  of  the  Sterling  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  Sterling,  for  a  25-year 
ranchise  to  install   and  operate  an  electric-light   plant  here. 

OAKLAND,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  entered  into  a  contract  with 
Marshall  E.  Sampsell.  of  Paris,  111.,  to  furnish  electricity  for  lighting 
he  streets  of  the  village  and  to  operate  the  pumping  station  of  the 
Abater   works    system. 

RAPIDS  CITY,  ILL.— The  Village  Board  has  appropriated  $1,000 
for  the  installation  of  street  lamps.  Power  for  maintaining  the  street- 
lighting  system  will  be  furnished  by  the  People's  Pwr.   Co.,   Rock  Island. 

RUSHVILLE,  ILL.— The  local  electric-light  plant,  owned  by  the 
Rushville  El.  Co.,  is  reported  to  have  been  sold  to  the  Middle  West 
Utilities   Co.,    of   Chicago. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.— A  decision  has  been  handed  down  by  Judge 
James  A.  Creighton  in  the  Sangamon  County  Circuit  Court  stating  that 
Fourth  Street  cannot  be  legally  held  as  part  of  the  park  and  boulevard 
system  because  it  is  a  business  thoroughfare.  This  street  already  is 
equipped  with  ornamental  lamps.  The  city  officials  are  considering 
furnishing  electricity  from  the  municipal  water  works  station  for  main- 
taining the  lamps  if  an  arrangement  can  be  made  with  the  property 
owners.  Temporary  arrangements  have  been  made  with  the  Springfield 
Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  lighting  the  thoroughfare.  If  the  equipment 
cannot  be  purchased  from  the  electric  company  the  city  may  purchase 
new  arc  lamps. 

WEST  LEBANON,  ILL.— The  Cadwallader  Tel.  Co.  has  absorbed  11 
independent  telephone  exchanges,  which  are  located  in  Williamsport.  West 
Lebanon.  Marshfield,  .A,mbia,  Judyville,  State  Line,  Pence,  RossviUe  anrj 
Tab. 

BLUFFTON,  IND. — An  ordinance  favoring  the  sale  of  the  municipal 
electric-light  plant  has  been   passed  by  the  City  Council. 

HIGHLAND,  IND.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Highland  Wtr.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  for  the  erection  and  equipment  of  a  power  plant.  Andrew  L. 
Renier  and  Joseph  J.   Munster  are  among  the  directors. 

DAVIS  CITY,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
grant  a  franchise  to  the  Herald  Pub.  Co.,  of  Lamoni,  to  install  and 
operate  an  electric  system  was  carried.  Work  will  begin  at  once  on  in- 
stallation of  the  plant. 

DOW    CITY,    lA. — Plans    are    being    prepared    by    Bruce    &    Standevin, 


Bee    Bldg.,   Omaha,    Xcb..    for  the   installation   of   an   electric-light   system, 
tu  cost  about  $5,000. 

FORT  MADISON,  lA.— Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installa- 
tion   of    an    ornamental    street-lighting    system    here. 

LEHIGH,  lA. — The  question  of  issuing  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
$20,000  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  and 
water   works  system  is  under  consideration.      R.   A.   DuBois  is  city  clerk. 

LINEVILLE,  lA. — An  election  will  be  called  about  Aug.  1  to  vote 
on  the  proposition  to  issue  $15,000  in  bonds  for  the  installation  of  an 
electric-light  plant. 

MT.  VERNON,  lA. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  Wapsie 
Pwr.  Co.  for  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  from  Springville  through 
Paralta,  thence  to  Lisbon,  where  it  will  connect  with  the  Mount  Vernon 
line.      From   Lisbon   a   line   will   extend   east  to   St  an  wood. 

PERRY,  lA.— The  plant  of  the  Perry  El.  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Htg.  Co.  has 
been  taken  over  by  a  syndicate,  represented  by  George  A,  Huflfman,  of 
Des  Moines.  The  purchase  price  was  $90,000.  Many  improvements 
will  be  made  by  the  new  owners. 

POMEROY,  lA. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  here  is 
under   consideration. 

ROLFE,  lA.— The  Northern  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Humboldt,  has 
submitted  three  propositions  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  m 
Rolfe  as  follows:  (1)  If  granted  a  franchise  and  a  street-lighting  con- 
tract for  ten  years  the  company  agrees  to  install  and  maintain  a  plant 
here.  (2)  The  Humboldt  company  offers  to  erect  a  transmission  line  to 
Rolfe  and  sell  energy  to  a  local  company  that  would  build  a  substation 
and  erect  the  local  distributing  system.  (3)  That  a  local  company  be 
organized  to  build  the  transmission  line  and  the  local  distributing  sys- 
tem,  purchasing  electrical   energy  from  the   Humboldt  company. 

STRATFORD,  lA.— The  Boone  Pwr.  &  El.  Co.,  Boone,  is  contemplat- 
ing extending  its  transmission  lines  to  this  city. 

TOLEDO,  lA.— The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  Tama  &  Toledo  El. 
Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  have  been  purchased  by  Cedar  Rapids  capitalists,  which 
also  control  the  Marshalltown  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Ry.  Co.,  of  Marshalltown. 
It  is  understood  that  the  local  plant  will  be  dismantled  and  power  fur- 
nished  from  the  Marshalltown   plant  for  the  local   system. 

WALCOTT,  lA. — The  Town  Council  has  called  a  special  election  to  be 
held  Aug.  19  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  -erect  a  transmission  line 
from  Blue  Grass  to  Wakott  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors. 
Energy  is  to  be  furnished  from  the  Davenport  and  Muscatine  to  be  de- 
livered over  the  high-tension  line  to  be  erected  from  the  line  of  the 
Davenport-Muscatine  Interurban  Ry.  Co.  The  proposed  line  will  be 
about  61/2  miles  long  and  will  cost  about  $25,000.  The  town  of  Walcott 
has  contracted  for  thirty  100-watt  tungsten  lamps  for  street  lighting. 
Electrical  service  will  be  supplied  to  the  farmers  along  the  line  between 
Blue  Grass  and  Walcott.  H.  C.  Blackwell.  of  Davenport,  superintendent 
of  the  People's  Lt.   Co.,  has  charge  of  preliminary  arrangements. 

W'OODBINE,  lA. — A  special  election  has  been  called  for  Aug.  6  to 
vote  on  the  proposition  to  grant  a  franchise  to  the  Iowa-Nebraska  Pub- 
lic Service  Co.,  Omaha,  Neb.,  to  install  and  operate  an  electric  plant 
here. 

COFFEYVILLE.  KAN.— The  Union  Trac.  Co.  has  awarded  the  con- 
tract for  the  construction  of  its  proposed  railway  from  Coffeyville  to 
Parsons,  a  distance  of  11  miles,  to  F.  Edwards,  of  Parsons. 

GARNETT,  KAN. — The  plant  of  the  Garnett  El.  Co.  was  recently 
destroyed  by  fire,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $50,000. 

MANHATTAN,  KAN.— The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  Manhattan 
Ice,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  purchased  by  John  F.  Vail,  Pueblo,  Col., 
for    $100,000. 

SENECA,  KAN. — The  City  Council  has  closed  contracts  with  the  City 
Councils  of  Oneida  and  Axtell  for  furnishing  electricity  to  those  cities 
from  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  in  this  city.  The  city  of  Oneida 
voted  $6,000  in  bonds  for  installing  a  distributing  system  and  Axtell 
$10,000. 

TOPEKA,  KAN.— The  property  owners  on  East  Fourth  Street,  who 
petitioned  the  city  commissioners  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental 
street-lighting  system,  the  cost  not  to  exceed  $2  per  abutting  ft.,  have 
agreed  to  a  higher  cost  limit. 

CORYDON,  KY. — An  election  will  be  called  in  September  to  vote 
on  the  proposition  to  issue  $10,000  in  bonds,  the  proceeds  to  be  used 
to   construct    a   municipal   electric-light   plant. 

LEXINGTON,  KY.— The  Lexington  Utilities  Co.  has  purchased  the 
franchise  for  erecting  transmission  lines  for  the  distribution  of  elec- 
tricity over  a  number  of  the  turnpikes  of  the  country. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY.— The  Kentucky  El.  Co.  has  secured  the  contract 
for  furnishing  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  for  the  federal  build- 
ing  in    Louisville. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY. — The  Louisville  Ltg.  Co.  has  been  awarded  the 
contract  for  furnishing  electricity  for  two  new  office  buildings  here, 
the  Inter-Southern  Life,  an  18-story  building,  at  Fifth  and  Jefferson 
Streets,  and  the  Starks  Building,  at  Fourth  and  Walnut  Streets.  15 
stories   high. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY. — Investigations  are  being  made  by  a  syndicate 
of  real  estate  men  of  Louisville,  represented  by  James  H.  Button,  to 
determine  whether  power  for  commercial  purposes  could  be  developed 
at   Louisville   by  means   of  the   falls   of   the   Ohio    River.     The   Ambursen 


1/4 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  3.] 


Hydraulic     Const r.    Co.,    Boston,    Mass.,    has    been    engaged    to    compile 
data  on   the  subject. 

SHREVEPORT,  LA.— The  Shreveport  Trac.  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
franchise  to  construct  and  operate  two  street  railway  lines,  one  to 
extend  to  and  through  the  suburb  of  Allendale  and  the  other  to  the 
City    Park. 

WOODLAWN.  MAINE.— The  St.  Croix  Paper  Co.  has  commenced 
work  on  the  construction  of  a  large  hydroelectric  power  plant  at  the 
Grand  Falls  of  the  St.  Croix  River  to  furnish  power  for  its  paper  mills 
here.  The  dam  will  be  of  concrete,  between  800  and  900  ft.  long.  The 
power  house  will  be  erected  about  1000  ft.  below  the  dam.  A  23,000-voU 
transmission  line  will  deliver  the  power  to  the  mill. 

CEXTERVILLE,  MD. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  Town 
Council  for  the  construction  of  an  electric-light,  heat  and  power  plant  to 
furnish  electrical  service  in  Centerville  and  parts  of  Queen  Anne's 
County.  It  is  proposed  to  issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $20,000  to 
pay  for  same. 

FREDERICK,  MD.— The  Frederick  &  Hagerstown  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  franchise  by  the  County  Commissioners  to  erect  a  transmis- 
sion line  from  its  plant  at  Security  to  the  plant  of  the  Frederick  R.  R.  Co. 
at  Thurmont.  The  power  company  has  also  secured  the  right-of-way  over 
the  Washington  County  roads. 

KENSINGTON,  MD.— The  Town  Council  has  awarded  a  contract  to 
the  Potomac  Pwr.  Co.,  Washington,  D.  C,  for  lighting  the  streets  by 
electricity.      The  contract  calls  for  60   lamps  of  40   cp. 

BOSTON,  MASS.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Boston 
State  Hospital,  Morton  Street,  Boston,  Mass.,  until  July  25  for  an  en- 
gine, electrical  apparatus,  steam  piping,  and  electric  wiring  for  the  Bos- 
ton State  Hospital.  Separate  bids  are  to  be  submitted  for  each  item. 
Plans  and  specifications  may  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  Hollis,  French 
and   Allen   Hubbard.   88  Pearl   Street,    Boston,   engineers. 

SPRINGFIELD,  MASS.— Plans  have  been  submitted  by  the  street- 
lighting  committee  of  the  City  Council  to  a  committee  of  the  Park  Board 
for  ornamental  lamps  for  Park  Square.  The  plans  provide  for  the 
erection   of  30   ornamental   standards  carrying  five-lamp   clusters. 

STONEHAM,  MASS.— The  Board  of  Trade  will  soon  take  up  the 
question  of  having  all  telephone,  electric- light  and  other  wires  placed 
under   ground. 

WATERTOWN,  MASS.— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  Watertown 
Arsenal,  Watertown,  Mass.,  until  Aug.  12  for  construction  and  equip- 
ment of  power  plant.  Proposal  forms,  plans  and  specification  will  be  fur- 
nished  on   application   to   the   commanding   officer    of   Watertown   Arsenal. 

DETROIT,  MICH.— The  Michigan  State  Tel.  Co.  has  petitioned  the 
state  for  permission  to  purchase  -the  property  of  the  Home  Tel.  Co.,  of 
Detroit,  and  its  four  subsidiaries  in  Southeastern  Michigan.  The  pur- 
chase price  is  said  to  be  $3,500,000. 

MARQUETTE.  MICH.— The  Cleveland  Cliffs  Iron  Co.  is  preparing  to 
build  a  large  storage  dam  at  Forty-Acre  Falls  to  supplement  its  large 
Marquette    range    water-power    development. 

CHOKIO,  MINN.— The  Chokio-Southwestern  Tel.  Co.  contemplates  the 
construction   of   about    15   miles   of  telephone   lines. 

G.A,RY,  MINN. — The  Gary  Telephone  Co.  is  planning  to  erect  new 
lines   and    rebuild   old  lines. 

MADISON,  MINN. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $50,000  have  been 
voted  for  improvements  to  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  in- 
stalling water  works  system. 

MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN.— Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  South  Side 
Commercial  Club  for  the  installation  of  ornamental  street  lamps  on 
Washington  Avenue  from  Thirteenth  Avenue  S  and  on  Cedar  Street  to 
Fifth   Street,   the  cost   of   which  is  estimated   at   $5,000. 

MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN.— The  Consumers  Pwr.  Co.,  controlled  by 
H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Co.,  Chicago,  111.,  who  recently  purchased  the  control 
of  the  Minneapolis  General  EI.  Co.,  has  filed  a  trust  deed  at  Stillwater 
for  $5,000,000  to  secure  a  second  mortgage  on  its  properties  in  Minne- 
sota and  the  Dakota?  in  favor  of  the  Standard  Trust  Co.  of  New  York. 
This  move  is  preliminary  to  the  combining  of  the  Consumers  Pwr.  Co. 
and  the  Minneapolis  General  El.  Co.  under  one  management  ai.d  in  one 
operating  system. 

OLIVI.A,  MINN. — All  bids  received  June  10  for  an  oil  engine  for  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant  were  rejected  and  new  bids  are  being  asked 
for  a   100-hp  gas  engine  and  a  75-hp  gas   producer. 

W.\TERVILLE,  MINN.—The  Consumer's  Pwr.  Co.,  Cannon  Falls,  is 
planning  to  erect  a  distributing  system  here.  The  substation  will  be  30 
ft.  X  60  ft.,  two  stories  high,  of  concrete  construction. 

JACKSON,  MISS.— Scaled  bids  will  be  received  by  the  Trustees  of 
the  Mississippi  Insane  Hospital  until  Aug.  6  for  furnishing  and  erect- 
ing an  ice  plant  of  from  15  to  20  tons  daily  capacity,  and  for  furnish- 
ing a  steam  engine  and  a  75-kw  direct-current  generator,  direct  con- 
nected, and  a  double-acting  deep-well  pump  with  a  capacity  of  250  gal. 
per  minute  against  a  head  of  300  ft.,  together  with  a  direct-current 
motor  to  drive  same.  Specifications  may  be  secured  on  application  to 
Hamilton  Johnson,  mechanical  engineer,  418  High  Street,  Jackson, 
Miss. 

NATCHEZ,  MISS. — At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  City  Council  it  was 
recommended  that  the  committee  on  lights  and  water  confer  with  the 
Municipal   Water   Works   Commission   for  the   purpose   of   considering  the 


question    of    installing    an    electric    generating    plant    in    connection    witk| 
the  water-works  system. 

PONTOTOC,  MISS.— The  local  electric  light  plant,  owned  by  J.  W.l 
I'.ell,  has  been  purchased  by  L.  E.  Price,  of  Utica.  Miss.  A  new  fraa-j 
chise  has  been  granted  to  Mr.  Price,  who  will  make  improvements  to  tibe| 
system.  An  ice  plant  will  also  be  installed  in  connection  with  the| 
electric  plant. 

VICKSBURG,   MISS.— The  property   of  the   Vicksburg  Ry.   &  Ltg.  Co,  I 
has  been   purchased  by  I,   C.    Elston  and   W.    B.    Walker,   of  Chicago.     It  I 
is    understood    that    the    new    owners    will    make    extensive    improvemeatt. 
For  further  information  address  I.   C.   Elston,  Jr.,   New   York  Life  Bldg., 
Chicago. 

FARMINGTON,  MO.— The  property  of  the  St.  Francois  County 
R.  R.  Co.  has  been  purchased  by  the  Mississippi  River  &  Bonne  Ten* 
R.  R.  Co.,  operating  a  steam  railroad.  The  St.  Francois  company 
operates  an  electric  railway  from  Flat  River  to  De  Lassus,  a  distance  of 
10  milts.  The  new  owners  contemplate  several  improvements  to  the 
system. 

FREDERICKTOWN,  MO.— A  special  election  has  been  called  to  vote 
on  the  proposition  to  issue  S35,000  in  bonds  for  the  construction  of  an 
electric-light  plant. 

PALMYRA,  MO. — The  proposition  to  issue  $6,000  in  bonds  for  ex- 
tensions to  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote. 

ST.  CHARLES,  MO. — The  question  of  granting  a  franchise  to  the 
Mississippi  River  Pwr.  Distribution  Co.,  a  subsidiary  of  the  Mississippi 
River  Pwr.  Co.,  is  under  consideration  by  the  City  Council  and  the 
Citizens'  Improvement  Association.  The  proposition  will  probably  be 
submitted   to  a  vote. 

ST.  JOSEPH,  MO.— Surveys  have  been  completed  by  the  St.  Joseph 
Ry.,  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  the  proposed  extension  of  its  Twenty-second 
Street  line. 

ST.  LOUIS.  MO. — Right  of  way  has  been  secured  through  St.  Louis 
County  from  Florissant  to  St.  Louis  for  the  new  transmission  line  of  the 
Mississippi  River  Pwr.  &  Distributing  Co. 

BUTTE,  MONT. — Plans  have  been  submitted  to  the  City  Council  for 
the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  business 
district.  The  cost  of  the  installation  of  the  system  is  estimated  at 
$37,175  and  the  maintenance  at  $17,721  per  year.  The  plans  call  for 
luminous  arc  lamps. 

HELENA,  MONT. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installaiion 
of   electroliers    in    the    business   district. 

AINSWORTH,  NEB.— The  plant  of  the  Ainsworth  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co. 
has  been  put  out  of  commission  owing  to  the  breaking  away  of  its  dam 
on  Plum  Creek. 

CURTIS,  NEB. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  City  of  Curtis  until 
July  30  for  the  construction  of  an  electric-light  plant,  to  cost  about 
$8,000.  P.  B.  Cole,  Cambridge,  Neb.,  is  engineer  in  charge;  F.  E. 
Dillraan   is  clerk. 

DESHLER,  NEB.— The  Deshler  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to  install 
an  electric  plant  here,  work  on  which  will  begin  soon.  The  proposed 
plant  will  supply  electricity  for  manufacturing  plants  in  Deshler  and  for 
lamps  and  motors  to   farmers  and   neighboring  towns. 

OMAHA,  NEB. — The  Nebraska  Bell  Tel.  Co.  has  purchased  the  auto- 
matic plant  of  the  Independent  Telephone  Co.  in  Omaha  for  $905,000, 
at  a  receiver's  sale. 

OMAHA,  NEB.— The  Omaha  &  Council  Bluffs  St.  Ry.  Co.  contem- 
plates extensions  to  the  Fortieth  and  Cummings-West  Farnum  Street 
line  and  the  North  Twenty-fourth  Street  line  from  Fort  Street  to  Miller 
Park. 

AVINNEMUCCA,  NEV. — The  County  Commissioners  have  called  a 
special  election  to  be  held  on  Aug.  15  for  the  purpose  of  voting  on  the 
proposition  to  issue  $180,000  in  bonds  for  the  purchase  of  the  property 
of  the  Winnemucca  Wtr.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  to  be  owned  and  operated  by 
the  municipality.  Of  the  proceeds  $172,000  will  be  used  to  purchase 
the   plant   and  $8,000   for  improvements  to  the  system. 

NEWARK,  N.  J. — Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  Board  of 
Education,  Newark,  until  July  23  for  furnishing  power  transmission  ma- 
chinery for  the  Central  C.  and  M.  T.  High  School,  in  accordance  with 
specifications  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  Department  of  Supplies.  R.  D. 
Argue  is  secretary. 

PATERSON,  N.  J.— Rights  of  way  from  the  New  York  and  North 
Jersey  Rapid  Tran.  Co.  in  Paterson,  it  is  reported,  have  been  purchased 
by  Thomas  P.  McKenna,  111  Broadway,  New  York.  Work  will  soon  be 
started  on  the  proposed  electric  railway  from  New  York  to  Paterson, 
the  cost  of  which  is  estimated  at  about  $18,000,000. 

R.\HWAY,  N.  J. — The  report  submitted  to  the  Board  of  Water  Com- 
missioners by  Commissioner  Ransome  recommends  the  installation  ot  a 
municipal  electric-lighting  plant  in  connection  with  the  water-works  system 
in  the  near  future. 

ALBANY,  N.  Y. — The  New  York  Tel.  Co.  has  filed  a  notice  with  the 
Public  Service  Commission  that  it  has  purchased  the  property  and  hold- 
ings of  the  Onondaga  Independent  Tel.  Co.  for  $700,000;  the  Albany 
Home  Tel.  Co.  in  Greene  County,  at  $50,500;  the  Baldwinville  Tel.  Co., 
for  $13,100;  the  Newburgh  Home  Tel.  Co.,  for  $11,800;  the  Home  Tel. 
Co.,  of  Frewsburg,  Chautauqua  County,  for  $8,000.  and  the  Deposit 
Home  Tel.    Co.,    for   $6,100. 


July  20,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


175 


ALDEN,  N.  Y.— The  Depew  &  Lancaster  Lt..  Pwr.  &  Conduit  Co., 
Lancaster,  has  petitioned  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  approval  of 
exercise   of  franchise  granted  by  the   town   of  Alden. 

CHARLOTTE,  N.  Y.— The  Rochester  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  submitted  a 
proposition  to  the  village  authorities  asking  for  a  franchise  to  supply 
electricity  and  gas  here,  offering  to  supply  electrical  service  at  a  much 
less  cost  than  now  furnished  by  the  municipal  electric  plant.  If  granted 
a  franchise  the  company  agrees  to  purchase  the  municipal  plant  at 
$12,500.  A  special  election  will  be  held  July  27  to  submit  the  proposi- 
tion to  a  vote. 

CICERO,  N.  Y. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  Frederick  J. 
Auburn  to  install  an  electric-light  plant  to  supply  electricity  for  light- 
ing residences  and  business  places  in  this  village.  The  village  is  not 
I  incorporated  and  street-lighting  is  not  involved  in  the  project. 
)  FULLERVILLE,  N.  Y.— Anson  A.  Potter  and  J.  Finch,  of  Gouverner, 
have  purchased  what  is  known  as  the  Clark  water  power  in  Fullerville, 
where  they  will  erect  a  hydroelectric  plant  to  develop  about  2000  hp. 
A  company  will  be  organized  under  the  name  of  the  Fullerville  Pwr. 
Co.  to  operate  the  plant.  The  company  will  supply  electricity  to  the 
Ontario  Talc   Co.   and   other  manufacturing  plants   in  this  vicinity. 

JOHNSTOWN,  N.  Y.— The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted 
I  the  Little  Falls  &  Johnstown  R.  R.  Co.  a  certificate  of  public  convenience 
and  necessity^  for  its  proposed  electric  railway  from  Johnstown  to  I- it  tie 
I  Falls,  via  St.  Johnsville,  with  a  branch  from  the  village  of  St.  Johns- 
ville  through' Nelliston  and  Fort  Plain  to  Canajoharie.  The  main  line 
will  be  about  28  miles  long  and  the  branch  8  miles.  The  cost,  including 
equipment,   is   estimated   at   $1,773,970. 

KATONAH,  N.  Y. — The  Katonah  Ltg.  Co.  has  been  granted  permis- 
sion by  the  Public  Service  Commission  to  execute  a  mortgage  to  secure 
payment  on  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $125,000.  The  company  has  been 
authorized  to  issue  $75,000  in  bonds  immediately,  the  proceeds  to  be 
used  for  the  payment  of  construction  on  its  new  steam  plant  and  ex- 
tensions to  South  Salem,  Poundridge  and  Bedford,  and  to  discharge  its 
lawful  capital   obligations. 

LOCK  BERLIN,  N.  Y. — Propositions  have  been  submitted  to  the 
municipal  authorities  for  installing  an  electric-lighting  system  in  Lock 
Berlin  by  the  Rochester,  Syracuse  &  Eastern  R.  R.  Co.,  Syracuse,  and 
the  Central  New  York  Gas  &  El.   Co.,  Seneca  Falls. 

NEWFANE,  N.  Y'.— The  N-ewfane  El.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  Public 
Service  Commission  for  permission  to  exercise  franchises  granted  by 
the  town   of  Newfane. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — Plans  have  been  approved  by  the  Public  Service 
Commission  for  the  section  of  the  subw^ay  running  from  Church  Street 
via  Vesey  to  Broadway  and  Park  Place.  Bids  for  construction  of  this 
section  will  be  opened  July  31. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— Bids  will  be  received  by  Patrick  A.  Whitney, 
commissioner  of  Department  of  Correction,  148  East  Twentieth  Street, 
New  York,  until  July  23  for  furnishing  material  and  labor  for  the  in- 
stallation of  a  new  feeder,  conduit,  panel  board  and  branch  circuit  sys- 
tem at  the  city  prison  buildings  on  Center  Street,  Manhattan.  Blank 
forms  and   further  information   may   be   obtained   at   the   above   office. 

NEW  YORK.  N.  Y. — A  meeting  of  the  stockholders  of  the  Manhat- 
tan Bridge  Three-Cent  Fare  Co.  has  been  called  for  July  24  for  the  pur- 
pose of  voting  on  the  proposition  to  increase  the  capital  stock  of  the 
company  from  $50,000  to  $1,000,000.  Mayor  Gaynor  has  signed  the 
franchise  giving  the  company  the  right  to  operate  cars  across  the  Man- 
hattan Bridge.  Work  on  construction  of  the  railway  will  be  started  in 
the  near  future. 

NORTH  SYRACUSE,  N.  Y.— A  company  has  been  organized  in 
North  Syracuse  to  furnish  electricity  to  private  consumers.  Power  for 
the  system  will  be  furnished  by  the  Syracuse  &  South  Bay  R.    R.   Co. 

OLEAN,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  authorized  the 
Clean  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  to  use  $76,929  derived  from  the  sale  of  bonds, 
heretofore  authorized,   for  the  construction   of  a  steam  power  plant. 

RAY  BROOK,  N.  Y. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  Martin  E. 
McClary,  president  of  Board  of  Trustees,  Ray  Brook,  N.  Y.,  until  July 
23  for  one  50-kw.  direct-current  dynamo  and  engine,  direct-connected,  for 
the  New  York  State  Hospital  for  Incipient  Tuberculosis,  at  Ray  Brook. 
Drawings  and  specifications  may  be  consulted  and  blank  forms  of  pro- 
posals obtained  at  the  hospital  and  at  the  office  of  Herman  W.  Hoefer, 
state  architect,   Albany,   N.    Y. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. — Property  owners  on  Clinton  Avenue  are  con- 
sidering the  question  of  a  new  street-lighting  system   on   that   street. 

WATERTOWN,  N.  Y.— The  Watertown  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to 
construct  a  flume  on  the  north  side  of  Black  River  from  300  ft.  to  400 
ft.  long  and  about  20  ft.  wide.  The  new  flume  will  develop  about  150 
hp,  which   will   provide  power  for   Charles  W.   Sloat  &   Son. 

SMITHFIELD,  N.  C. — Proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Mayor  and 
Board  of  Aldermen  until  July  31  for  construction  of  combined  water- 
works system  and  electric-light  plant:  also  sewerage  system.  The  work 
will  consist  of  fireproof  building,  return  tubular  boilers,  generator  and 
engine  and  lighting  system,  steam  and  electric  pumps,  mechanical  filter, 
coagulating  and  clear  water  basins,  pole  lines  and  about  3  J/^  miles  of 
6  and  8-in.  cast-iron  water  pipe,  laying  with  hydrants  and  valves.  Plans 
and  specifications  are  on  file  at  the  office  of  James  A.  Wellons,  Mayor, 
and  at  the  office  of  Gilbert  C.  White,  Charlotte,  N.  C,  engineer.  A  full 
set  of  blueprints  will  be  furnished  by  the  engineer  upon   payment  of  $5. 


DKVri.S  L.\KK.  N.  D. — The  City  Council  has  granted  a  franchise  to 
F.  E.  Carson,  Fargo,  to  install  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant,  water, 
gas  and  telephone  system  in  Devils  Laj<e.  A  company  will  be  orgiinized 
under  the  name  of  the  Western  Devel.  Co.  to  operate  the  system.  The 
cost  of  the  electric  plant  is  estimated  at  $60,000. 

FARGO,  N.  D.— The  electric-light  plant  and  laundry  building  at  Ashel- 
man's  resort  was  recently  destroyed  by  fire,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $j.000. 
A  new  engine   has  been  ordered  for  the  plant. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO.— Proposals  for  furnishing  material  and  con- 
struction of  building  for  substation  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant 
and  water  works  system  on  Chittenden  Avenue.  Columbus,  will  be  re- 
ceived by  Samuel  A.  Kinnear,  director  of  public  service,  until  July 
29,  plans  and  specifications  for  which  are  on  file  at  the  office  of  the 
director  of  public  service,  in  custody  of  the  superintendent  of  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant,  city  hall,  where  copies  may  be  obtained. 

COSHOCTON,  OHIO.-— The  Coshocton  Lt.  &  Htg.  Co.  is  extending 
its  transmission  lines  to  the  Morgan  Mines  to  furnish  electricity  at  the 
mines. 

NEWARK,  OHIO.— The  Public  Service  Commission  has  authorized  the 
Columbus,  Newark  &-  Zanesville  El.  Ry.  Co.  to  isssue  $250,000  in  bonds, 
the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  extension  of  its  line  in  Newark  to  Granville 
Street  and  to  build  a  new  station. 

OBERLIN,  OHIO.— The  property  of  the  Oberlin  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has 
been   purchased  by  the  Lt.   &  Devel.   Co.,   of   St.   Louis,   Mo.,   for  $85,000. 

PORTSMOUTH,  OHIO.— The  Portsmouth  Street  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  is 
contemplating  extending  its  Sciotoville  traction  line  to  Hanging  Rock 
this   summer. 

SIDNEY.  OHIO.— The  Farmer's  Tel.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  Public 
Utilities  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  $11,840  in  capital  stock  and 
$10,000   in   bonds. 

WILLOUGHBY,  OHIO.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Cleve- 
land. Painesville  &  Eastern  R.  R.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  an  electric 
railway  from  Ashtabula  to  Conneaut,  a  distance  of   14  miles. 

WILMINGTON,  OHIO.— All  bids  submitted  for  lighting  the  streets, 
public  grounds,  etc.,  bids  for  which  were  opened  July  9,  have  been 
rejected.      Frank  Babb  is  clerk. 

YOUNGSTOWN,  OHIO.— The  Mahoning  &  Shenango  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co. 
is  contemplating  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  from  Mahoning 
Avenue  through  Steel  Street  to  the  Ohio  Works.  Application  will  soon 
be  made  to  the  Council  for  a  franchise  to  build  the  road. 

MUSKOGEE.  OKLA.— Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  W.  H.  Rose- 
crans  Engineering  Co.,  Chicago  Exchange  Bldg.,  Chicago,  111.,  for  con- 
struction of  new  railway  shop  buildings  for  the  Missouri,  Oklahoma  & 
Gulf  R.  R.  Co.,  to  be  located  at  Muskogee.  The  equipment  will  be  elec- 
trically driven.      The  cost   of  the  plant  is  estimated   at   about   $400,000. 

WARRENTON,  ORE.— Application  has  been  made  by  George  A. 
Robinson    for   a  franchise   to   construct   a   car   line   in   this   city. 

HAUTO,  PA.— The  Lehigh  Navigation  El.  Co.  has  contracted  with  the 
General  El.  Co.  for  three  10,000-kw,  11,000-volt  turbo-generator  units 
tor  its  proposed  plant  at  Hauto.  This  will  be  initial  installation  of  the 
power  house,  which  will  provide  for  100,000  hp.  Culm  from  the  anthra- 
cite  region    will    be    used   as    fuel. 

KANE,  PA. — (Arrangements  are  being  made  for  the  construction  of  an 
electric  railway  to  connect  Kane  and  Mount  Jewett,  a  distance  of  about 
12  miles,  work  on  which  will  begin  in  the  near  future.  A  local  system 
will  be  built  in  Kane,  which  will  be  extended  to  James  City,  a  distance  of 
3  miles.     J.  C.    Bell  and  W.   M.   Rohn,  Jamestown,   N.  Y.,   are  interested. 

MORRISTOWN,  PA. — At  a  joint  meeting  of  the  Electrical  Com- 
mission, the  finance  committee  and  the  watch  and  lamp  committee  of 
the  Town  Council  it  was  decided  to  recommend  the  purchase  of  the 
Wyoming  mills  property  and  the  appurtenant  water  rights  on  the  Schuyl- 
kill River  at  the  foot  of  Swede  and  De  Kalb  Streets,  for  a  municipal 
electric-light  plant.  The  mill  property  consists  of  a  four-story  stone 
building  with  turbine  water  wheels  and  an  auxiliary  steam  plant,  which 
is  the  property  of  the  borough  as  part  of  its  municipal  plant. 

NORTH  EAST,  PA.— The  North  East  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning 
to  erect  17  miles  or  more  of  6600-volt  transmission  line  and  will  prob- 
ably award  contract  for  the  work,  the  company  furnishing  the  material. 
R.    O.    Bronson    is   superintendent. 

PHIL.\DELPHIA,  PA.— The  Philadelphia  Rafid  Tran.  Co.  has  com- 
menced work  on  construction  of  a  large  power  house  at  the  corner  of 
Fifteenth  and  Tucker   Streets,   to  cost  about  $30,000. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA.— A  permit  has  been  granted  for  the  erection 
of  an  office  building,  to  cost  $75,000,  for  the  Philadelphia  Suburban  Gas 
&   EI.   Co.,  at  the  corner  of  West  Washington   Square  and  Locust   Street. 

PINE  GROVE,  PA. — The  Borough  Council  has  passed  the  ordinance 
granting  a  franchise  to  the  F.  X.  Troxell  El.  Lt.  Co.  to  install  and  oper- 
ate an  electric-light  plant  here. 

PITTSBURGH,  PA. — A  special  meeting  of  the  stockholders  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  called  for  Sept.  10,  to  vote  on 
the  proposition  to  increase  the  capital  stock  of  the  company  from 
$1,000,000  to  $2,000,000  and  to  authorize  a  bond  issue  of  $5,000,000. 
Until  recently  the  operations  of  the  company  were  restricted  to  the 
North  Side.  It  was  recently  granted  a  franchise  to  operate  in  other 
parts   of   the    city. 

TRUMBAUERSVILLE.     PA.— The     Borough     Council    has    authorized 


176 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  3. 


the  president  and  chief  burgess  to  enter  into  a  contract  with  the  Trum- 
bauersville  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  to  light  the  streets  of  the  borough  with 
electricity. 

CORREGIDOR  ISLAND,  P.  I.— The  contract  for  electrical  equip- 
ment for  central  power  plant  for  Corregidor  Island,  P.  I.,  bids  for 
which  were  opened  by  Captain  A.  E.  Waldron,  New  London,  June  15, 
has  been  awarded  to  the  Ridgeway  Dynamo  &  Engine  Co.,  Ridgeway,  Pa., 
for  $41,160.  The  equipment  includes  three  469-kva  turbine  generators  with 
condensers  complete,  one  156-kva  turbine  generator  complete,  two  300-kw 
synchronous  converters  with  transformers  and  one  automatic  voltage 
regulator. 

CHERAW,  S.  C. — Papers  have  been  filed  by  the  Yadkin  Pwr.  Co., 
Raleigh,  N.  C,  with  the  Secretary  of  State  giving  it  the  right  to  do 
business  in  the  state  of  South  Carolina.  Charles  E.  Johnson,  Raleigh, 
N.   C,  is  president. 

MITCHELL,  S.  D. — The  City  Council  has  appointed  a  committee  to 
make  investigations  in  regard  to  standards  for  the  proposed  cluster- 
lamp  lighting  proposition  and  to  ask  bids  for  same  to  be  submitted  at  the 
next   meeting  of  the   Council. 

GREENVILLE,  TENN. — li.  Reaves,  Greenville,  is  reported  to  be  in 
the  market  for  one  10-kw,  three-phase,  60-cycle.  240-volt,  alaternating- 
current  generator  with  exciter;  10-kw,  IlO-voIt,  direct-current  generator, 
instruments,  switchboards  and  switches  and  two  20-hp  vertical  auto- 
matic  engines. 

McMINNMLLE,  TENN.— The  Ottawa  Wtr.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  in- 
creased its  capital  stock  from  $50,000  to  $75,000.  It  is  understood  that 
improvements  will  be  made  to  the   plant 

PARKSVILLE,  TENN.— The  Eastern  Tennessee  Pwr.  Co.,  which  is 
building  a  second  plant  on  the  Ocoee  River,  near  Parksville,  has  awarded 
a  contract  to  the  Converse  Bridge  Co.,  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  for  the  in- 
stallation of  500  tons  of  structural  steel  to  be  used  in  the  flumes  which 
are  now  being  built. 

ST.  ELMO,  TENN.— The  Business  League  of  St.  Elmo  is  consider- 
ing the  question  of  installing  an  electric-light  system  here.  The  plant 
will  probably  be   operated  by   the   Chattanooga   Ry.   &   Lt.   Co. 

VAUGHTSVILLE,  TENN.— W.  W.  Worley,  Vaughtsville,  would  like 
to  receive  prices  on  water  wheel,  50  hp  under  head;  45-kw  generator,  10 
miles  No.   6  bare  copper  wire,   lightning  arresters,   transformers,   etc. 

BATESVILLE,  TEX.— The  Batesville  Tel.  Co.  is  erecting  an  exten- 
sion to  its  long-distance  telephone  system  between  Batesville  and  Pear- 
sail   and   is   planning   to    make    other   improvements   to    its   plant. 

BROWNWOOD,  TEX.— The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  Biownwood 
Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  been  purchased  by  the  Texas  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for 
$100,000.  The  new  owners,  it  is  said,  will  build  an  electric  street  rail- 
way system   here. 

HILLSBORO.  TEX.— The  Texas  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  it  is  reported,  will 
make  extensions  and  improvements  to  its  local  plant  at  a  cost  of  about 
$30,000. 

TOOELE,  UTAH.— The  control  of  the  property  of  the  Clark  EL  Pwr. 
Co.  has  been  purchased  by  W.  A.  Clark,  for  $90,000.  The  plant  will  be 
synchronized  with  the  plant  owned  by  Mr.  Clark  at  Ophir.  Mr.  Clark 
is  also  contemplating  the  installation  of  a  hydroelectric  plant  on  South 
Willow  Creek,  about  8  miles  from  Grantsville.  E.  W.  Clark,  Ophir,  is 
president  and  manager  of  the  company. 

BURLINGTON,  VT.— The  American  Gas  Co..  which  controls  the  Bur- 
lington Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  is  reported  to  have  purchased  the  power  at  Bolton 
and  at  Middlesex.  It  is  understood  that  the  company  proposes  to  con- 
nect this  power  with  its  system  at  Essex  Junction,  and  will  consolidate 
the   three,   and   furnish   power    in    Barre    and   intermediate   towns. 

PASSUMPSIC.  VT. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted  tlie 
Passumpsic  Tel.  Co.  authority  to  increase  its  capital  stock  by  $41,250,  the 
proceeds  to  be  used  to  purchase  the  plant  and  prop?rty  of  the  Citizens' 
Tel.   &  Teleg.   Co.,   of  St.   Johnsbury. 

BEDFORD  CITY,  VA.— L.  S.  Randolph,  of  Virginia  Polytechnic 
Institute,  Blacksburg,  Va.,  has  been  engaged  by  the  City  to  examine  and 
make  recommendations  on  the  condition  of  the  hydroelectric  power 
plant  owned  by   Bedford   City. 

BUENA  VISTA,  VA.— The  Clifton  Forge  Public  Service  Corpn.,  Clif- 
ton Forge,  has  purchased  the  property  of  the  Rockbridge  Pwr.  Corpn.,  con- 
sisting of  two  hydroelectric  plants,  one  located  at  Buena  Vista  and  the 
other  at  Lexington,  The  Clifton  Forge  Co.  owns  and  operates  a  steam 
plant  in  Clifton  Forge  furnishing  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  to 
the  city  and  the  railway  shops,  and  is  erecting  a  transmission  line  to 
Covington.  The  erection  of  a  transmission  line  connecting  the  four 
cities    is    contemplated. 

COLVILLE,  WASH. — The  Farmers'  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  to  erect  a 
telephone  line  from  Colville  to  the  Little  Pend  Oreille  Lake,  a  distance 
of  about  25  miles. 

SEATTLE.  WASH.— The  Board  of  Public  Works  has  awarded  the 
contract  for  the  construction  of  division  A  of  the  municipal  street  rail- 
way from  Thirteenth  Avenue  west  and  Nickerson  Street  to  Third  Ave- 
nue and  Stuart  Street  to  the  John  Constr.  Co.  H.  R.  Dimock  is  city 
engineer. 

ARDEN,  W.  VA.— The  Midland  Coal  &  Coke  Co.,  Phillippi,  is  re- 
ported to  have  purchased  the  property  of  the  Tygarts  River  Coal  Co. 
and    of   several    smaller    companies    on    branch    of    the    Baltimore    &    Ohio 


R.    R.,    and   contemplates  the   construction   of   a   central    power    station   to 
supply  all  its  mines  with  power. 

GRAFTON,  W.  VA.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  W.  C. 
Ilanway,  city  clerk,  until  July  29  for  construction  and  furnishing  ma- 
chinery for  the  proposed  municipal  electric-light  and  water-works  system>f 
plans  and  specifications  for  which  may  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  the 
city  cleik  or  at  the  office  of  Riggs  &  Sherman,  The  Nasby,  Toledo,  Ohio, 
engineers. 

LA  CROSSE,   WIS. — The   Wisconsin   Railroad   Commission   has  author- 
ized the  La  Crosse  Tel.  Co.  to  issue  $20,000  in  capital  stock,  the  proceeds' 
to  be   used   for   the   installation   of  a   new   switchboard,   underground   con- 
struction  and  the   installation   of   new   telephones, 

MANITOWOC,     WIS. — A    movement    has    been     inaugurated     for    the 
purchase    by    the    city    of    the    plant    of    the    Manitowoc    El,    Lt,    Co.      A 
resolution  has  been  introduced  into  the  City  Council  to  submit  the  ques- 
tion to  a  special  vote  at  the  general  election  to  be   held   Nov.    5.      Mayor  ■ 
Stolze  is  interested. 

MILWAUKEE,  WIS.— The  Milwaukee  El.  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  received 
authority  from  the  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission  to  isssue  $3,000,000  in 
bonds,  to  be  sold  for  not  less  than  75  per  cent  of  par  value  and  the 
proceeds  to  be  used  to  pay  outstanding  indebtedness  incurred  by  addi- 
tions and  extensions  to  its  property  and  for  making  further  extensions. 

NEW  HOLSTEIN,  WIS.— The  installation  of  a  municipal  electric- 
light  plant  is  under  consideration,  for  which  bonds  were  recently  voted. 
VANCOUVER,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  British  Columbia  El.  Ry.  Co.  has 
been  instructed  by  the  City  Council  of  West  Vancouver  to  start  work 
immediately  on  the  construction  of  its  electric  railway  in  that  city  or 
the  franchise  granted  some  time  ago  would  be  annulled.  ' 

VANCOUVER,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  International  Ry.  &  Devel.  Co.. 
organized  to  build  several  electric  railways  through  lower  British  Co- 
lumbia, is  planning  to  construct  a  large  dam  across  the  Eraser  River  to 
develop  about  100.000  electrical  hp.  The  construction  of  an  electric  rail- 
way from  New  Westminster  to  Ladner,  a  distance  of  12  miles,  and  an- 
other line  from  Ladner  to  Vancouver,  20  miles  long,  is  under  consid- 
eration. 

COLLINGWOOD,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  ratepayers  have  voted  in  favor 
of  securing  power  from  the  Hydro-Electric  Commission.  The  Council 
is  authorized  to  contract  for  700  hp  at  $34  per  hp  and  also  to  ap- 
propriate $22,000  for  extensions  and  improvements  to  the  present  elec- 
tric   plant. 

COLLINGWOOD,  ONT.,  CAN.— Tenders  have  been  asked  for  the 
construction  of  the  transmission  line  for  the  Hydro-Electric  Power  Com- 
mission to  Collingwood,  where  the  ratepayers  have  entered  inio  a  contract 
with  the  commission.  The  proposed  line  will  be  65  miles  long  and  will 
cost  about  $198,000.  The  line  will  also  serve  Midland  and  Penetang. 
Coldwater  and  Barrie  will  be  connected  with  the  line  in  the  near  future, 
and  probably  Stayner  and  Elmvale. 

HAMILTON,  ONT.,  CAN.— Tenders  will  be  received  by  George  H. 
Lees,  Mayor,  until  July  24  for  furnishing  the  city  of  Hamilton  with  four 
synchronous  motor  units  for  direct  connection  to  turbine  pumps,  with 
switching  apparatus  and  accessories,  complete,  for  the  high-level  and 
mountain  pumping  systems;  also  four  turbine  pumps,  each  having  a  ca- 
pacity of  1,000,000  imperial  gallons  per  24  hours,  for  direct  connection 
to  synchronous  motors.  Specifications  can  be  seen  at  the  office  of  the 
city  engineer,  where  form  of  tender  can  be  obtained.  S.  H.  Kent  is 
city  clerk. 

HULL,  QUE.,  CAN.— The  E.  B.  Eddy  Co.  is  planning  a  large  hydro- 
electric power  development  to  supply  electricity  to  operate  the  machinery 
in  its  factory.  Tlie  plant  will  have  an  output  of  from  12,500  to  15,000 
hp.     William  Kennedy,  Jr.,  of  Montreal,  is  consulting  engineer. 

GRENFELL,  SASK.,  CAN.— Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  telephone  building  for  the  Rural  Tel.  Co.,  to  cost  about 
$15,000.  The  company  will  extend  its  lines  throughout  the  county.  Eli 
G.  Vesey,  Grenfell,  is  president. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  ART  CRAFT  FIXTURE  COMPANY,  of  Newark.  N.  J.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  C.  M.  Hickman, 
F.  J.  Holmberg,  De  Witt  Van  Note  and  F.  C.  Jaeger,  of  Newark,  N.  J. 
The  company   proposes  to   manufacture  lighting  fixtures. 

THE  AUSTRICH  ARC  I^AMP  COMPANY,  of  New  York,  N.  Y..  has 
been  incorporated  by  John  C.  Tomlinson,  Jr.,  Bruno  Rothschild  and 
Max  Austrich,  all  of  New  York,  N.  Y.  The  company  is  capitalized  at 
$20,000   and    proposes   to    manufacture    arc    lamps,    etc. 

THE  FULLER  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Lynn,  Mass.,  has  been 
chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  to  do  a  general  electrical  busi- 
ness and  dealing  in  all  kinds  of  electric  appliances  and  apparatus.  El- 
bert   N.    Fuller,    57    Dearborn    Avenue,    Lynn,    is    president    and    treasurer. 

THE  LITTLE  WONDER  LIGHT  COMPANY,  of  Terre  Haute,  Ind.. 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  for  the  purpose 
of  manufacturing  and  selling  all  kinds  of  lamps,  apparatus,  equipment 
and  supplies  and  to  take  over  the  manufacturing  plant  of  Charles  Van 
Slyke,  of  Terre  Haute.  The  incorporators  are :  Charles  P.  Walker 
and  Herbert    R.    Shrie. 


J  1   l,V    20,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


177 


THE  SANTA  CKUZ  ELECTRICAL  SUPPLY  COMPANY,  of  Santa 
Cruz,  Cal.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $6,000  by  C.  H. 
Fredson,  C.   E.  Glaine  and  M,    L.    Fredson. 

THE  STATIONARY  &  MARINE  MOTOR  &  SUPPLY  COMPANY, 
of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$50,000  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  machiiiery,  etc.  The  incor- 
porators are :  T.  Lillis,  Grassy  Point;  T.  B.  Taylor,  Port  \\'ashington 
and   F.   W.    Knipscher,    Boonton,    N.   J. 

THE  WESTERN  UTILITIES  CORPORATION,  of  Augusta,  Maine, 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  for  the  purpose  of 
constructing  and  operating  electric,  gas,  water  and  other  works.  R.  S. 
Buzzell,    president,    and    L.    J.    Culyinan,    of    Augusta,    Maine. 


New  Incorporations 

JACKSON\'ILLE,  FLA.— The  Okeechobee  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000  for  the  purpose  of  building  electric 
plants.  The  incorporators  are:  J.  R.  Parrott,  W.  F.  Coachman,  W.  J. 
Kelly,  D.  R.  McNeill  and  others. 

HIGHLAND,  IND.— The  Highland  Wtr.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  filed 
articles  of  incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000  for  the  pur- 
pose of  builiTing  and  operating  a  plant  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps 
and  motors  and  water  in  Highland  and  community.  The  directors  are 
Andrew  L.    Renter,  Joseph  J.   Munster  and   Frank   Berwanger. 

BOWLING  GREEN,  KY.— The  Barren  River  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
organized  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  for  the  purpose  of  construct- 
ing a  hydroelectric  plant  at  Brown's  Lock,  near  Bowling  Green.  Elec- 
tricity generated  at  the  plant  will  be  used  to  operate  machinery  in 
stone  quarries  in  that  district.  John  Oman,  George  Oman  and  W.  B. 
Gaines  are  incorporators,  and  are  also  interested  in  the  stone  quarries. 
GLENCOE,  MINN.— The  Central  Minnesota  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  charter  to  generate  and  distribute  electricity  and  gas  for  lighting 
and  power  pvirposes.  The  incorporators  are:  B.  F.  Allen,  Jay  Greaves, 
C.  M.  Tifft,  of  Glencoe,  and  H.  B.  Rutledge,  of  San  Francisco.  The 
company  proposes  to  establish  central  plants  to  furnish  gas  and  electrical 
service. 

CLEVEL.A.ND,  OHIO.— The  Caxton  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  by 
Harry  W.  Black,  C.  F.  Wolcott,  Edmond  Griere,  A.  B.  Lapham  and  W. 
Weidenthal.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000  and  proposes  to 
operate  electric-light  power  and  steam  plants. 

TOLEDO,  OHIO.— The  Toledo  &  Eastern  Trac.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $40,000  by  R.  S.  Holbrook,  William  S. 
Holbrook,  H.  H.  Whitney,  Joseph  Steiner  and  Arthur  J.  Barton.  The 
company  proposes  to  build  an  interurban  railway  to  connect  Curtice  and 
Bono. 

WEST  SALEM,  OHIO.— The  West  Salem  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps, 
heat  and  motxirs.  The  incorporators  are:  John  W.  Jackson,  Frank  F. 
Jackson,  Emma  Jackson,  John  I.  Good  and  John  M.  Good. 

HUGO,  OKLA. — The  Eomford  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $3,000  by  Wright  Bomford,  G.  Earl  Shaffer  and  John  D. 
Bomford. 

PERRY,  OKLA. — The  Arbuckle  Canyon  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
by  George  A.  Masters,  R.  E.  Wade  and  Charles  R.  Bostick,  all  of  Perry. 
The  company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000. 

GRANDVIEW,  ORE.— The  Metolius  Irrigation  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  by  a  group  of  local  business  men. 

PORTLAND,  ORE.— The  Seaside  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorpo- 
rated with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000.  The  directors  are:  A.  Welch, 
William  Pollman  and  A.  Prichard.  The  principal  office  will  be  located 
in  Portland. 

BALDWIN,  PA.— The  Ba'dwin  El.  Co.  has  been  granted  a  charter  to 
operate  an  electric  system  in  Baldwin  Township.  The  company  is  capi- 
talized at  $5,000  and  the  incorporators  are:  C.  B.  Mehard  and  Joseph  A. 
Jenkins,  Pittsburgh,  and  E.  N.  Barber,  Grafton.  The  office  of  the  com- 
pany is  located  in  Mount  Oliver. 

BUTLER.  PA. — A  charter  has  been  granted  to  the  Summit  Lt.  Co.  to 
operate  in  Summit  Township  and  to  the  Mars  Lt.  Co.  to  operate  in  Mars 
Township.  Each  company  is  capitalized  at  $5,000  and  the  incorporators 
are:  C.  R.  Bartley  and  W.  H.  Shrawder,  Pittsburgh,  and  F.  M.  Weston, 
Swissvale,  Pa. 

CONSHOHOCKEN,  PA.— The  Conshohocken  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000.  The  directors  are:  S. 
Leonard  Kent,  Jr.,  Philadelphia,  treasurer;  Samuel  L.  Kent,  Lansdowne; 
Walter  L.  Rogers,  Riverton,  N.  J.;  John  D  Murphy,  Philadelphia,  and 
Adolph    Ahrens,    3rd.,    Philadelphia. 

ELIZ.^BETH,  P.^. — The  Elizabeth  Township  El.  Co.  has  been  granted 
a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  The  incorporators  are:  W.  H. 
La-imer.  Wilkinsburg;  F.  J.  Taylor,  Munhall.  and  W.  K.  Hammer,  Pitts- 
burgh.    The  office  of  the  company  is  located  at  Pittsburgh. 

HARRISBURG,  PA.— Charters  have  been  granted  to  the  Mars  Lt. 
Co.  and  the  Summit  Lt.  Co.  by  the  State  Department.  Each  company 
is  capitalized  at  $5,000  and  the  directors  are:  F.  M  Weston,  Swissvale, 
treasurer;    Charles   R.    Bartley,    Butler,   and  W.    H.    Shrawder,   Pittsburgh. 


Trade  Publications 

STOUAGE  ;tATTKl<Il£S.— The  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company,  of 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  has  issued  Bulletin  136  illustrating  and  describing  in 
detail    storage  battery   railway  cars. 

PUiMPS. — Horizontal  duplex  piston  pumps  operated  by  directly  con- 
nected vertical  gasoline  engines  are  described  and  illustrated  in  Folder 
D    171   of  the   Deane  Steam   Pump  Co.,    115    Broadway,   New   York. 

TURBINES. — A  four-p.-ige  folder  illustrates  and  describes  the  turbines 
manufactured  by  the  Trump  Manufacturing  Company,  Springfield,  Ohio. 
It  contains  also  a  table  giving  power  and  speed  of  the  standard  type. 

BUSHINGS. — The  .\merican  Bushing  Company,  69  West  Washington 
street,  Chicago,  III.,  is  mailing  two  samples  of  their  bushings  attached 
to  a  card  on  which  is  given  some  brief  information  with  respect  to  these 
bushings. 

HEATING  DEVICES.— In  poster  size  and  make-up  the  Pacific  Electric 
Heating  Company,  Ontario,  Cal.,  is  exploiting  its  various  "Hotpoint" 
electrical  devices,  flatirons,  toasters,  percolators  and  other  similar  con- 
trivances. 

ELECTRIC  FANS.— A  timely  bulletin.  No,  25,  is  being  mailed  by  the 
Diehl  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Elizabethport,  N.  J.  It  contains  cuts 
and  descriptions  of  various  types  of  fans,  and  general  specifications  for 
direct-current   ceiling   fans. 

BINDING  POSTS.— The  Fahnestock  Electric  Company,  129  Patchen 
avenue,  Brooklyn,  has  issued  a  catalogue  on  its  spring  binding  posts. 
It  shows  most  of  the  standard  sizes  and  shapes  and  illustrates  some 
special    work   that   has   been   done. 

TURBINES.— Bulletin  619,  of  the  Piatt  Iron  Works  Company,  Day- 
ton, Ohio,  is  devoted  exclusively  to  the  description  of  its  cylinder  gate 
turbine.  It  gives  a  description  and  illustrations  of  this  wheel,  various 
tables    of   dimensions   and    power   tables- 

ELECTRICITY  IN  THE  SHOE  --WD  LEATHER  INDUSTRY  forms 
the  subject  of  Bulletin  4931  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  Schenec- 
tady, N.  Y.  It  contains  illustrations  and  descriptions  of  various  in- 
.•^tallations    in    the    shoe   and   leather    industry. 

ELECTRIC  MOTORS.— Booklet  No.  89  of  the  Robbins  &  Myers  Co., 
of  Springfield,  Ohio.  The  policy  of  the  company,  its  equipment  for 
manufacturing,  the  quality  of  its  products,  and  complete  descriptions  and 
numerous  illustrations  are  included  in  this  booklet. 

VALVES. — Catalogue  S  of  the  Nelson  Valve  Company,  Philadelphia, 
shows  a  complete  line  of  steel  valves  and  fittings,  arranged  for  easy 
reference  by  the  architect.  The  line  indicates  an  assortment  for  filling 
almost    every   requirement   of   the   modern   high-pressure   plant. 

BALL  BEARINGS.— The  Hess-Bright  Manufacturing  Company,  of 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  has  issued  a  booklet  on  ball  bearings  in  wood-working 
machinery.  Seme  good  illustrations  and  diagrams  show  the  application 
of   ball   bearings  to   various   classes   of   wood-working  machinery. 


Business  Notes 


PASS  &  SEYMOUR,  INC.,  Solvay,  N.  Y.,  have  opened  an  office  in 
the  Riallo  Building.  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  in  charge  of  Mr.  W.  Brewster 
Hall. 

NELITE  WORKS  OF  THE  GENERAL  ELECTRIC  COMPANY.— A 
type  of  reflector,  claimed  to  be  much  more  efficient  than  the  present  poly- 
phase line  will  soon  be  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Nelite  Works  of  the 
General  Electric  Company.  "Xtraficiency"  is  the  name  selected  for  the 
newcomer. 

CATALOGUES  WANTED.  The  City  of  Pasadena,  Cal.,  has  recently 
created  a  Municipal  Purchasing  Department.  The  municipal  ownership 
of  certain  public  utilities  has  made  it  desirable  to  establish  such  a 
department.  Complete  general  catalogues  of  materials,  tools,  machinery, 
office   equipment   and   miscellaneous  supplies   are   desired. 

CARB(.)  STEEL  POST  COMPANY.— Mr.  W.  L.  Fairchild  has  asso- 
ciated himself  with  Halbert  P.  Hill.,  Inc.,  of  30  Church  St..  New  York, 
and  will  devote  his  entire  attention  to  the  sales  and  engineering  depart- 
ment of  the  Carbo  Steel  Post  Company,  Chicago.  Mr.  Fairchild  will 
make  his  headquarters  at  the  New  York  office,  but  will  be  in  charge  of 
the   above   mentioned   department   of  the  company. 

THE  HART  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY,  whose  English  branch 
with  headquarters  in  London  has  been  for  nine  years  under  the  manage- 
ment of  Mr.  William  Crichton,  has  built  up  a  large  business  in  '"Diamond 
H"  switches.  Their  rapidly  increasing  business  has  made  it  necessary  to 
consider  the  removal  of  their  present  offices  in  Victoria  Street  to  new 
quarters  which  will  provide  space  for  carrying  larger  stocks  and  permit 
workshop   facilities   for  assembling  work. 

THE  KIESELGUHR  COMPANY  OF  AMERICA.— Mr.  T.  M.  Caven, 
designer  of  electric  heating  appliances,  has  resigned  as  manager  of  the 
Bon  Ami  Electric  Company,  Milwaukee,  to  become  manager  of  the  elec- 
(rical  department  of  the  Kieselguhr  Company  of  America,  with  an  office  at 
1633  Monadnock  Building.  Chicago.  Kieselguhr  is  a  natural  mineral 
product,  consisting  mainly  of  silica,  and  is  used  for  a  variety  of  pur- 
poses, including  heat  and  electrical  insulation.  Mr.  Caven  is  interested 
in  pointing  out  the  possibilities  of  kieselguhr  in  electric-furnace  and  elec- 
tric-oven   work. 


178 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol   6o,  Xo.  3. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED  STATKS   PATENTS  ISSUED  JULY  9,   1912. 

[Prepared  by  Robert   Starr  Allyn,   16  Exchange  Place,  New  York.] 

1,031,698.  SIGNALING  SYSTEM:  C.  D.  Ehrct,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
App.  filed  .May  2-*.  1907.  Electro-mapietic  impulses  are  sejit,  stored, 
and  periodically  discharged. 

1.031.707.  AUTOMATIC  FIRE-ALARM;  M.  Gibson,  Davisville,  On- 
tario, Canada.     .\pp.  filed  Oct.  30,  1911.     Therntometric  device. 

1.031.708.  ELECTRIC  CURRENT  REGUL.\TOR:  J.  S.  Goodwin,  Slam- 
ford  Hill,  London,  England.  .\pp.  filed  Jan.  6,  1912.  Synchronous 
interrupter  with  a  plurality  of  movable  contacts. 

1,031,710.  PROCESS  OF  CONNECTING  FILAMENTS  AND  FEED 
WIRES  FOR  ELECTRIC  INCANDESCENT  LAMPS;  F.  Hanaman, 
Budapest.  Austria-Hungary.  App.  filed  Aug.  28,  1909.  Decomposi- 
tion  of  the  solder  is  prevented  by  a   stream   of  gas. 

1,031,716.  MAKING  ELECTRICALLY  CONDUCTING  JOINTS  IN 
METALLIC-FILAMENT  INCANDESCENT  ELECTRIC  LAMPS; 
A,  C.  Hyde,  London,  England.  .\pp.  filed  Mar.  4,  1910.  A  solder 
is   formed    of   iron    powder,    collodion   solution   and   iron   oxide. 

1,031,743.  ALTERNATING-CURRENT  BRAKE-MAGNET  APPARA- 
TUS; A.  Sundh.  Yonkers,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Oct.  9,  1905.  Combina- 
tion dashpot  and  magnet. 

1,031,752.  TELEGRAPH  TRANSMITTER;  R.  S.  Welty,  Sudbrook 
Park,  Md.  App.  filed  July  19,  1911.  Adjusted  from  high  to  low 
speed  and  vice  versa  by  moving  a  weight. 

1,031,768.  SWITCH  MECHANISM;  E.  G.  K.  Anderson,  Chicago,  HI. 
App.   filed  -Aug.    10,   1909.      Push  button  electric  light  snap  switch. 

1,031,770.  LAMP-MANUFACTURING  MACHINE;  G.  W.  Beadle,  East 
Orange,  N.  J.  .\pp.  filed  July  19,  1909.  For  cutting  and  inserting 
spacing  felt  and  labels  into  bulb  stems. 


1,031,770 — Lamp    Manufacturing    Machine. 

1,031,787.  RHEOSTAT;  F.  D.  Hallock,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  App.  filed  Dec. 
21,  1910.  Resilient  support  for  a  non-conducting  tube  and  surround- 
ing coil. 

1,031,789.  CIRCUIT  INTERRUPTER;  F.  W.  Harris,  Wilkinsburg,  Pa. 
.\pp.  filed  Mar.  9,  1908.  A  plurality  of  independent  enclosing  casings 
for  the  different  switch  elements. 

1.301.795.  LIGHTNING  ARRESTER;  R.  P.  Jackson,  Swissvale,  Pa. 
App.   filed  Oct.   8,    1910.      .\rcing  member  and  magnetic  blow-out. 

1.031.796.  LIGHTNING  ARRESTER;  R.  P.  Jackson  and  H.  M.  Scheibe, 
Swissvale  and  Wilkinsburg,  Pa.  App.  filed  Oct.  8,  1910.  Horn-gap 
type   with   adjustable  air   gap. 

1,031,802.  HYSTERESIS  STARTING  DEVICE  FOR  INDUCTION 
MOTORS;  B.  McCollum,  Washington,  D.  C.  .App.  filed  Dec.  12, 
1911.      Squirrel-cage   rotor   with    surrounding   magnetic    rings. 

1,031,812.  SEAM-WELDING  APPARATUS;  R.  F.  Nailler,  Elyria,  Ohio. 
App.  filed  Sept.  25,  1911.  Electric  heating  and  hammering  for  tube 
welding. 

1.031.847.  THERMOST.'\T;  J.  S.  Harley,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  .App. 
filed  May  22,   1911.     Releasable  mercury  section  in  a  closed  circuit. 

1.031.848.  ELECTRIC  SIGNALING  SYSTEM;  J.  S.  Harley.  Minne- 
apolis, Minn.  .\pp.  filed  May  22.  1911-  Normally  closed  thermostat 
circuit   and   a   normally    open    signal    circuit. 

1.031.849.  ELECTRIC  SWITCHING  MECHANISM;  J.  S.  HaHey,  Min- 
neapolis, Minn.  .App.  filed  May  22,  1911.  For  use  in  a  system  em- 
bodying the  two  previous  patents. 

1,031,863.  SIGN  FLASHER;  S.  A.  Palmer,  San  Diego.  Cal.  App.  filed 
July  7,  1911.  Annular  arrangement  of  circuit  contacts  with  a  rotatable 
closer. 


1,031.874.     DE\'ICE  FOR  AUTOMATICALLY  CLOSING  COCKS  AND 

THE  LIKE;  K.  V.  Rotzov,  .Malmo,  Sweden.     .App.  filed  June  30,  1910. 

Condensation   of  steam   produced  shuts  off  the  heat  supply. 
1.03I.,S90.     ST.\RTER  FOR  \APOR  APPARATUS;  P.  H.  Thomas,  E^ 

Orange,  N.  J.     .App.  filed  May  25,   1904.     The  normal  surface  tensim 

of  tlie  mercury  is  reduced.  w 

1,031,893.     CENTRIFUGAL    SWITCH;    J.    A.    \OLK,   JR.,    South    Nor. 

walk.   Conn.      .App.   filed   Oct.    11,    1911.      Contacts   and  mercury   in  a 

rotatable    casing. 
1,031,900.     MANUFACTURE  OF  HOLLOW  BODIES  FROM  QU.\RTZ; 

F.  W.  Burckhardt,  Riebrich,  Germany.     .App.  filed  Dec.  23,  1911.     The 

silica  is  fused  around  a  resistance  core  at  about  2000  deg.  C. 
1,031.931.      STARTER  FOR   VAPOR   ELECTRIC   .\PPARATUS;    P.  C, 

Hewitt,   New  York,   N.   V.     .App.  filed  May  27,    1904.     The  conia-ner 

is  tilted   for  starting. 

1,031,947.  TELEPH(JNE  RECEIVER;  C.  T.  Mason,  Sumter,  S.  C.  App. 
filed    Sept.    12,    1910.      Insulating    parts    with    metal    casing. 

1.031.975.  .MINE  INSULATOR;  F.  A.  Warren,  Canon  City,  Col.  App. 
filed  July    24,    1911.      Tubular   wire   holder    in    two    parts. 

1.031.976.  ATT.ACHMENT  OF  INCANDESCENT  ELECTRIC  LAMPS; 
O.  Weber,  Reinickendorf,  Germany.  App.  filed  Sept.  14,  1911.  Con- 
ical sleeve  with  spring  fingers. 

1,032.027.      CONNECTION    FOR   RUNNING    ARC   LAMPS;   W.    Schaf- 

fer,   Berlin,   (^lermany.  _  .App.   filed  Jan.    13,    1910.      .An  eleclrolytic-ceil 

battery    in     parallel    with    a    regulating    resistance    and    incandescent 

lamps  are   connected   in   series   with   the  arc   lamps. 
1,032.030.     CIRCUIT  CLOSER;  G.   H.   Sloane,   Boston,   Mass.     App.  filed 

.May  26,    1908.      (.Operated  by  a  passing  trolley. 
1.032.033.     .AUTOMATIC  SAFETY  DEVICE;   G.   E.   Thurber,   Michigan 

City,    Ind.      App.    filed    March    3,    1911.       Supplementary    track    and 

train    circu't    uith    means    for    automatically    cutting    off    the    driving 

power    and   applying    the    brakes. 
1,032,102.      D.\NGER    SIGNAL  FOR   ELECTRIC    CARS;    J.    Anderson. 

Jr.,   Omaha,    Neb.      .\pp.   filed  April   21,    1909.      .A   gong  and   lamp 

a   casing. 
1.032,108.      SELF-WINDING   CLOCK:    S.    S.    Besore.   Urbana,    III.      App. 

filed  June   22,    1910.      Means  for  making  and  breaking  the   circuit. 

1,032,133.  CONNECTING  PLUG;  C.  L.  Hagen,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
.App.  filed  March  9,  1910.  Disappearing  plug  and  cable  for  theater 
work. 

1,032,153.  INSUL.VTOR;  M.  Nemes,  Fort  Dcdge,  Iowa.  .App.  filed 
Dec.   14,   1911.     Porcelain  with  movable  clamping  hook  for  line  wires. 

1,032,158.  ELECTRODE  FOR  SECONDARY  CALX^ANIC  CELLS: 
H.  P.  R.  L.  Porscke  and  J.  .A.  E.  .Achenbach,  Hamburg,  Germany. 
.\pp.  filed  May  1,  1911.  Impregnated  wire  mesh  corrugated  and  com- 
pressed. 

1,032,188.  FUSE  BLOCK;  R.  C.  Cole.  Hartford,  Conn.  .App.  filed  March 
2i,  1912.  For  protecting  a  meter  on  both  sides  and  permitting  test- 
ing. 

1,032,203.  ELECTRIC  GAS  LIGHTER;  H.  D.  Grinnell,  Pittsfield, 
Mass.      .App.    filed   July   20,    1911.      Particularly   for  acetylene. 

1,032.058.  JUNCTION  BOX;  H.  R.  Gilson,  Beaver.  Pa.  .App.  filed  Oct. 
2,    1911.       Bendable    lugs    for    metal    molding. 

1,032,217.  .\PPARATUS  FOR  THE  PRODUCTION  OF  STEEL;  H. 
Johnson,  Slieffield.  England.  App.  filed  Nov.  15,  1910.  Double- 
ended   portable  converter. 

1,032,231.  TROLLEY  HEAD;  R.  J.  Meyers.  Florence,  Arizona.  App. 
filed   Jan.    22,    1912.      Laterally    projecting    replacing   spirals. 

1.032,246.  METHOD  OF  TREATING  CARBON;  W.  A.  Smith.  Niagara 
Falls,  X.  Y.  .\pp.  filed  .April  20,  1911.  The  material  is  fed  down- 
ward past  the  terminals  of  the  polyphase  circuit. 

1,032  247.  ELECTRODE;  W.  A.  Smith.  Niagara  Falls,  N.  \'.  App. 
filed  May  29.  1911.  Exterior  and  interior  graphite  members  with  in- 
termediate  filling   of   non-graphic   carbon. 

1,032,248._  COMPOSITE  ELECTRODE;  W.  A.  Smith,  Niagara  Falls, 
N.  Y.  .App.  filed  June  5,  1911.  Graphite  and  interlocking  non-gra- 
phitic    carbon. 

1.032.249.  GUTTER  BOX;  E.  W.  Snow.  Rochester,  N.  Y.  App.  filed 
Oct.    31.    1910.      For   electric   conduit   distribution   braids. 

1.032.250.  COMPOSITE  ELECTRODE;  E.  C.  Speiden,  Niagara  Falls, 
N.  V.  .App.  filed  May  17,  1910.  -A  plurality  of  overlapping  pris- 
matic  members. 

1.032.262.  ELECTRIC  ARC  LAMP;  T.  E.  Adams,  Cleveland,  Ohi< 
filed  Oct.  15,  1908.  Regulation  of  metallic  electrode  shunt 
ential   type. 

1.032.263.  ELECTRIC  ARC  LAMP;  T.  E.  .Adams,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  .\pp. 
filed  .April  16.  1909.  Starting  device  for  metallic  electrodes,  regula- 
tion  and   collection   of  deposits. 

1,032.267.  MEANS  FOR  TRANSFORMING  ELECTRIC  ENERGY 
INTO  HE.AT;  C.  O.  Bastian,  London,  England.  .App.  filed  Sept 
4,  1909.  .A  quartz  tube  with  a  spirally  wound  internal  resistance 
element. 

1,032,295.     MEANS   FOR  PROTECTING   PIPES   FROM  THE  INJURI- 
OUS  ACTION   OF   ELECTRIC   CURRENTS;    G.    Politz,    Kattowitj, 
Germany.       -App.    filed    .April     11.     1911.      .\    gasket    is    formed    of 
flexible   core  with  a  wire  coil   for  electrically  connecting  the   pipe  ends. 

1,032,301.  ELECTRIC  METER;  G.  A.  Scheeffer,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 
.App.  filed  Jan.  14,  1910.  Depends  upon  the  reduction  in  reluctance 
of   the   armature. 

1,032,324.  APPARATUS  FOR  TREATING  RHEUM  ATIS.M;  R.  A. 
Breakfield.  Madrid,  Iowa.  .App.  filed  March  20,  1912.  Zinc  and 
copper    construction. 

1.032,345.  RAILWAY  BLOCK  SYSTEM:  W.  G.  Roome,  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.  .App.  filed  Marcii  3,  1902.  Provides  a  safety  block  beh-nd  a 
car  in   a   home   and   distant   system. 

1.032.360.  TELEPHONE.RECFIVER  HOLDER;  F.  H.  Goss.  Corapolis, 
Pa.     .App.  filed  Feb.  27,   1912.     Adjustable  supports  for  two  receivers, 

1.032.362.  ELECTRIC  LOCK  LAMP  SOCKET;  A.  J.  Kempien,  St. 
Paul,  Minn.  App.  filed  Oct  3,  1908.  Key  mechanism  improvement 
on    738,917. 


App, 

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NEW  YORK,   SATURDAY,  JULY  27,   1912. 


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CONTENTS. 

Editorials      179 

Joint   Resoliition  for  Patent   Office   Investigation 182 

Memunal    to    Lord    Kelvin 182 

New    Patent    Bill 182 

Proceedings   of   the  London   Wireless   Conference 182 

Wireless    Bill    Becomes    Law 183 

Convention    Program,    Georgia    Section,    N.    E.    L.    A 183 

New    Hydroelectric    Station    for    Pacific    Gas    &    Electric    Company..    183 

Big    Meadows    Dam    of   the    Great    Western    Power    Company 184 

Boston-Providence     Electrification 184 

Convention    of   Electrical    Contractors 184 

Ohio  Electric   Light  Association   Convention 187 

Telephone    Situation    in    Chicago 188 

Consolidation  of  Electric  Service  Companies  in  Central  Massachusetts  188 

Hearings    on    Baltimore    Central-Station    Rates 189 

Investigation    of    Brooklyn    Central-Station    Rates 189 

Proposed  Revision  of  Central-Station  Rates  in  Chicago 189 

Decision    of   Massachusetts   Commission    in    Worcester    Street-Lighting 

Case     190 

Public  Service  Commission  News 191 

Current  News  and   Notes 192 

Electricity  in  Canadian  Gold  Fields 193 

French  and  German  Quartz-Tube   Mercury-Vapor  Lamps 197 

Regulation   of  Direct-Current   Generators 198 

V^ibrations    Produced    by    Motor-Generators 200 

Tennessee    Hydroelectric    Developments 201 

"White   Way"    Celebration   at   Fitchburg.    Mass 202 

Special-Rate   Customers   and  Their   Elimination 202 

Electricity  on  a   Michigan  Farm 202 

Comparing   Gas   and   Electric    Lighting   Costs 203 

Wiring  Old  Houses — II.      By   Terrell    Croft 204 

Elaborate  Lighting  of  the  Hotel  Utah,   Salt  Lake  City 207 

Recent    Telephone    Patents 207 

Letter  to   the  Editors: 

Evils  of  Patent  License  Restrictions 207 

Digest   of  Current   Electrical  Literature 208 

Book     Reviews 211 

New    Apparatus   and    .Appliances 212 

Industrial   and    Financial   News 217 

Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 226 


MINING  TRANSMISSION  PLANT. 

In  another  column  we  publish  an  instructive  report  on 
the  present  state  of  the  interesting  group  of  power  plants 
in  the  Kootenay  region  of  British  Columbia.  In  this 
territory  lies  a  great  mining  district  which  in  the  last  ten 
years  has  developed  with  extraordinary  rapidity.  Gold, 
copper  and  lead  are  here  found,  and  there  has  grown  up 
with  the  development  of  mines  a  large  demand  for  energy 
for  mining  and  smelting  the  ores.  The  group  of  plants 
here  considered  is  therefore  chiefly  concerned  with  trans- 
mission of  energy  for  motor  service,  the  lighting  demands 
being  relatively  small.  Two  of  the  three  plants  belonging 
to  the  system  of  the  West  Kootenay  Power  &  Light  Com- 
pany are  on  the  Kootenay  River  itself,  a  considerable 
stream  with  a  drainage  area  of  nearly  10,000  square  miles, 
fed  largely  from  the  melting  snow  on  the  mountains. 

The  original  station  on  the  Kootenay,  put  into  operation 
fourteen  years  ago,  is  a  comparatively  small  one  at  the 
rather  low  head  of  34  ft.  It  is  rated  at  only  4000  hp  and 
presents  no  unusual  constructional  features.  The  second 
station,  recently  put  into  service  and  not  yet  having  its 
full  equipment,  is  decidedly  out  of  the  ordinary.  The 
head  is  about  60  ft.,  so  that  the  turbines  give  a  satisfactorily 
high  rotative  speed  even  to  the  big  units  installed.  The 
power  house  is  of  monolithic  concrete  and  the  gates  from 
the  forebay  are  submerged  at  the  power-house  wall.  The 
intakes  for  the  wheels  are  molded  directly  in  the  concrete, 
and  the  draft  tubes  are  also  of  monolithic  concrete  without 
steel  linings.  There  is,  therefore,  no  pipe  line  in  the 
ordinary  sense  at  all,  and  hence  the  conditions  for  regula- 
tion are  admirable.  The  power  house  is  designed  for  four 
4500-kw  umbrella-type  generators,  and  two  of  these  units 
have  been  installed.  On  the  vertical  shaft  of  each  are 
three  inward-flow  runners,  the  two  upper  ones  discharging 
in  opposite  directions  into  a  common  draft  tube  united  to 
the  draft  tube  of  the  other  runner  at  the  lower  end  in  a 
common  discharge.  A  disk  thrust  bearing  is  employed  to 
take  the  unbalanced  weight,  and  oil  under  a  pressure  of 
250  lb.  per  square  inch  is  applied  for  its  lubrication.  The 
exciters  are  also  of  the  umbrella  type.  The  use  of  this 
design  of  machine  results  in  a  remarkably  free  and  clear 
appearance  of  the  power-house  interior,  an  appearance  em- 
phasized by  the  placing  of  the  switchboard  on  the  main 
power-house  floor,  which  is  certainly  the  logical  place  for 
it  in  the  absence  of  very  strong  reasons  to  the  contrary. 

A  third  hydraulic  plant  on  the  Kettle  River  in  the 
boundary  district  has  now  been  in  operation  about  ten 
years.  This,  like  the  first  plant,  is  comparatively  small, 
being  rated  at  a  little  over  2000  kw,  but  it  operates  at  a 
considerably  higher  head  than  the  other  plants,  namely, 
156  ft.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  operating  engineer  the 
interesting  feature  of  the  system  is  the  nature  of  the  load. 


i8o 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  4. 


There  is  at  present  a  total  connected  motor  load  of  about 
5000  hp,  almost  entirely  for  the  various  mining  companies 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  territory  served  by  the 
original  plant,  which  started  off  with  only  1000  hp'.  The 
boundary  country  and  the  surrounding  territory  now  pro- 
vide a  still  larger  load,  and  each  new  mining  camp  through 
the  territory  served  has  added  a  load  of  motors  and  lamps 
for  the  illumination  of  various  towns  and  settlements 
that  have  grown  up  in  the  territory,  until  at  the  present 
time  the  connected  load  is  some  15,000  kw.  The  industrial 
importance  of  the  service  can  best  be  judged  by  the  fact 
that  through  the  territory  ser\ed  by  the  system  the  average 
cost  of  electric  service  is  not  over  one-fourth  that  of 
steam-engine  service,  and  with  the  exception  of  a  single 
plant  steam  engines  for  mining  and  smelting  work  are  un- 
known in  the  great  boundary  territory  of  the  mining  dis- 
trict. 


THE  LONDON  WIRELESS  CONFERENCE.  * 

The  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  London  inter- 
national conference  on  wireless  telegraphy  given  elsewhere 
in  this  issue  summarizes  the  last  report  made  public  up  to 
the  time  of  going  to  press.  This  meager  account  of  the 
convention  adopted  by  the  delegates  representing  about 
thirty  nations,  including  the  world  powers,  was  given  out 
in  London  not  long  after  adjournment.  Although  three 
weeks  have  elapsed  since  the  proceedings  concluded,  and 
there  has  been  ample  time. for  the  American  delegation  to 
submit  a  full  report  to  our  government,  the  State  Depart- 
ment disclaims  any  knowledge  of  the  matter.  In  the  event 
that  the  report  should  contain  any  details  of  a  confidential 
nature  it  is  natural  that  immediate  publicity  should  not  be 
forthcoming,  but  in  this  instance  there  seems  to  be  noth- 
ing to  lead  to  the  expectation  of  any  such  result.  The 
London  convention  and  the  new  regulations  were  signed 
on  July  5,  and  it  is  quite  improbable  that  copies  have  not 
already  been  received  on  this  side. 

Aside  from  the  wide  interest  in  a  matter  of  international 
importance,  heightened  by  its  vital  relation  to  safety  in 
ocean  travel,  there  is  another  aspect  of  the  situation  which 
impels  conmient.  At  the  moment  Congress  has  under  con- 
sideration a  bill  to  regulate  radio-communication,  which 
has  been  favorably  reported.  On  July  15  numerous  amend- 
ments to  the  bill  were  introduced  by  unanimous  consent. 
Inasmuch  as  this  bill  deals  with  many  matters  which  came 
up  for  discussion  at  the  London  conference,  the  question  at 
once  arises  whether  any  of  its  provisions  are  in  conflict 
with  the  convention.  While  confidential  assurance  has 
been  received  that  such  conflict  does  not  exist  as  the  pro- 
posed measure  now  stands,  fair  opportunity  ought  to  be 
presented  to  all  interested  persons  to  examine  so  important 
a  matter  for  themselves.  Any  other  course  is  open  to 
criticism.  It  is  therefore  most  desirable  that  the  State 
Department  obtain  and  release  at  the  earliest  feasible  mo- 
ment a  copy  of  the  convention  and  the  regulations  which 
this  government  will  be  asked  to  ratify,  and  equally  de- 
sirable that  Congress  shall  await  this  event.  Prompt  action 
on  the  situation  is  really  demanded  in  the  public  interest, 
particularly  with  the  bad  example  of  five  years  of  delay  in 
ratifying  the  Berlin  convention  of  1906  so  freshly  in  mind. 


INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  PATENT  OFRCE. 

On  the  principle  that  half  a  loaf  is  better  than  none,  the 
joint  resolution  presented  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
calling  upon  the  President  to  direct  an  investigation  into 
the  administration  of  the  Patent  Office,  as  noted  in  our 
columns  this  week,  may  be  mildly  commended.  But  it 
falls  considerably  short  of  the  mark.  This  journal  has 
advocated  the  appointment  of  a  patent  commission  to  in- 
vestigate not  only  the  Patent  Office  but  the  whole  patent 
system  and  report  to  Congress  adequate  measures  of  relief 
from  the  serious  abuses  now  existent.  An  investigation  of 
the  Patent  Office  alone  cannot  reach  the  serious  defects  in 
the  present  law,  but  comprises  only  one  of  several  lines 
along  which  the  broader  investigation  ought  to  proceed. 
This  proposition  has  received  extensive  support,  including 
President  Taft's  special  message  to  Congress  asking  author- 
ization to  appoint  such  a  commission.  ^ 

In  view  of  the  abandonment  of  the  plan  to  pass  the  com- 
prehensive Oldfield  bill  recodifying  the  patent  laws,  and 
the  substitution  of  a  shorter  measure  aimed  exclusively 
at  restraints  of  trade  nowshielded  under  patent  monopolies, 
it  is  the  proper  time  again  to  emphasize  the  great  desira- 
bility of  a  comprehensive  investigation  by  a  commission 
whose  members  will  universally  be  recognized  as  devoted 
to  the  public  interest.  The  piecemeal  investigation  of  any 
large  problem  is  a  poor  method  of  attack  because  it  fails 
to  reveal  the  mutual  relations  between  different  phases  of 
the  whole  question  and  is  unlikely  to  indicate  remedies 
which  will  meet  every  angle  of  the  problem  in  a  harmo- 
nious and  effective  manner.  For  these  reasons  the  com- 
mission plan  ought  to  be  kept  vigorously  before  Congress, 
particularly  at  the  moment. 


t 


THE  QUARTZ-MERCURY-ARC  LAMF  IN  PRACTICE. 

A  brief  paper  by  Mr.  Warren  H.  Miller  in  this  issue 
describing  the  quartz-tube  mercury-arc  lamps  adopted  in 
recent  French  and  German  practice  gives  a  strong  im- 
pression that  this  type  of  illuminant  is  likely  to  assume  a 
somewhat  important  position.  It  has  the  merit  of  com- 
bining great  power  and  steadiness  with  a  minimum  of 
attention.  As  Mr.  Miller  intimates,  its  field  thus  far  has 
been  chiefly  in  the  larger  work  of  industrial  lighting,  but 
the  present  article  contains  a  very  emphatic  suggestion  that 
it  is  a  lamp  which  must  soon  be  reckoned  with  in  street 
lighting.  Although  it  has  been  in  use  for  the  past  five 
years,  only  recently  have  the  quartz  tubes,  which  are  by  no 
means  easy  to  make,  been  produced  in  sufficient  quantity 
and  by  a  sufficient  number  of  manufacturers  to  make  the 
lamp  a  really  commercial  article  for  general  use.  The 
color  of  the  light  is  an  interesting  study  for  the 
physiologist.  It  is  very  much  whiter  than  that  of  the 
mercury  arc  worked  less  intensively  in  glass  tubes,  and 
appears  to  be  fairly  white,  at  least  under  conditions  that 
give  strong  illumination.  With  the  intensive  working 
found  in  the  quartz-tube  lamp  the  relative  brilliancy  of 
various  parts  of  the  mercury-arc  spectrum  is  greatly 
changed  from  that  found  in  the  ordinary  glass  tube,  and  the 
red  lines  that  are  inconspicuous  in  the  latter  acquire  a 
considerable  degree  of  brilliancy,  so  that  the  lamp  appears 


ULY   2T,    I9I2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


181 


1  brilliant  red  when  viewed  through  red  glass  that  cuts  off 
he  rest  of  the  familiar  mercury-arc  spectrum.  While  the 
ight  of  the  lamp  is  not  true  white,  yet  it  is  by  no  means 
;hastly  or  bizarre;  in  fact,  it  is  considerably  nearer  white 
han  the  light  of  most  other  commercial  illuminants  which 
lave  discontinuous  spectra. 

As  the  tube  operates  at  a  high  temperature,  provision 
las  to  be  made  for  the  cooling  of  the  mercury  reservoirs 
0  insure  proper  condensation  of  the  mercury.  This  re- 
lUlt  is  obtained  in  the  French  lamp  by  making  the  reser- 
'oirs  large,  and  in  the  German  lamp  by  adding  to  them 
netallic  radiators.  To  obtain  high  efficiency  from  the  lamp 
t  is  necessary  to  provide  it  with  an  inclosing  globe  to 
irevent  the  cooling  of  the  tube  by  air  currents.  The  globe 
ncidentally  absorbs  all  of  the  extreme  ultra-violet  radia- 
ions  from  -the  lamp.  In  fact,  when  operated  with  its 
;lobe  it  gives  off  less  ultra-violet  radiation  per  candle- 
lower  than  does  any  other  illuminant  yet  investigated. 

The  life  of  the  tubes  is  guaranteed  by  the  makers  for 
000  hours,  but  experience  of  the  last  few  years  has  shown 
hat  it  actually  much  exceeds  this  figure.  The  loss  of 
ight  during  the  life  of  the  tube  is  rather  small,  and  the 
est  of  replacement  on  the  Continent,  stated  by  Mr.  Miller 
t  from  $6  to  $8,  seems  reasonable  for  an  average  life  that 
s  believed  to.be  fully  up  to  2000  hours.  The  specific  con- 
uniption  of  the  quartz-tube  mercury-arc  lamp  is  placed 
ly  Mr.  Miller  for  the  present  French  and  German  lamps 
t  0.25  watt  per  candle.  This  undoubtedly  refers  to  the 
ight  given  normally  to  the  tube.  It  is  sufficiently  evident 
hat  a  lamp  working  at  this  consumption,  requiring  no 
rimming  and  only  about  two  tube  renewals  per  year  of 
000  hours,  would  be  a  very  important  addition  to  the 
esources  of  street  lighting  if  commercially  pushed  in  this 
irection.  For  general  large  work  in  which  steady  and 
iQwerful  units  are  required  it  has  already  come  into  con- 
iderable  use  both  here  and  abroad.  As  in  practically  every 
re  lamp,  the  larger  units  are  the  more  efficient,  and  the 
3w  specific  consumption  figure  quoted  belongs,  we  believe, 
0  the  220-volt  lamps  for  from  3  to  3.5  amp.  The  only 
hing  which  seems  to  be  needful  to  bring  this  very  interest- 
ng  illuminant  into  much  larger  use  is  improvement  in  the 
echnique  of  quartz  blowing,  which  may  in  due  season  be 
onfidently   expected. 


TBRATIONS  PRODUCED  BY  MOTOR-GENERATORS. 

Theoretically  speaking,  pure  rotation  may  be  free  from 
■ibration.  If  a  homogeneous  mass  in  the  form  of  a  solid 
)f  revolution  is  set  in  rotation  about  its  principal  axis  of 
symmetry  which  also  passes  through  the  center  of  mass,  the 
otation  should  be  smooth  and  unaccompanied  by  vibra- 
ions.  The  rotor  of  a  dynamo-electric  machine  is  made  in 
he  form  of  a  solid  of  revolution.  It  is  made  symmetrically, 
io  as  to  keep  the  center  of  mass  on  the  axis  of  symmetry, 
ind  its  shaft  is  turned  true,  so  as  to  be  coaxial  with  the  axis 
3f  symmetry.  It  should,  therefore,  be  capable  of  rotation 
Afithout  vibrations.  As  a  matter  of  experience,  we  know 
hat  many  such  machines  rotate  so  smoothly  that  no  vibra- 
:ion  can  be  detected  in  them.  Strictly  speaking,  however, 
10  machine  can  be  built  so  truly  conforming  to  the  required 


conditions  that  it  can  be  said  that  no  vibration  whatever 
accompanies  its  motion.  All  we  can  say  is  that  the 
amplitude  of  such  vibration  as  exists  may  be  negligibly 
small  and  for  practical  purposes  non-existent. 

On  the  other  hand,  some  machines,  especially  when 
first  constructed  at  the  factory,  vibrate  badly.  This  is 
attributable  to  either  magnetic  or  mechanical  dissymmetry, 
or  to  both.  Such  machines,  if  mechanically  defective,  are 
theoretically  capable  of  being  cured  by  applying  or  remov- 
ing masses  on  the  rotor  in  such  a  manner  as  to  bring  the 
axis  of  rotation  through  the  mass  center.  Unless,  however, 
the  correction  is  made  for  each  and  every  transverse  sec- 
tion, the  balancing  may  not  be  effective.  In  other  words, 
it  may  not  be  possible  to  destroy  the  vibration  of  a  long 
rotor  supported  in  journals  by  attaching  correcting  masses 
on  a  single  transverse  section.  It  may  be  necessary  to 
apply  mass  corrections  at  several  transverse  sections. 

If  a  machine  goes  into  service  with  a  marked  vibration 
no  sound  will  be  produced  by  the  disturbance  unless  the  fre- 
quency is  more  than  32  cycles  per  second.  The  machine 
will,  however,  impress  a  vibratory  force  upon  its  founda- 
tions which  may  communicate  vibrations  to  the  building  or 
even  to  neighboring  buildings.  As  a  rule,  the  amplitude  of 
the  vibrations  set  up  in  the  structure  of  a  building  by  an 
impressed  vibratory  force  in  a  machine  will  not  be  notice- 
able unless  it  happens  that  some  member  or  group  of  mem- 
bers in  the  structure  has  a  natural  period  of  vibration 
consonant  with  that  of  the  machine's  vibrations.  In  that 
case  the  effects  of  resonance  may  build  up  a  large  or  even 
dangerous  amplitude  of  vibration  in  the  resonant  system. 
Although  the  case  is  rare  with  smooth-running  dynamo- 
electric  machinery,  it  is  not  uncommon  on  steel  steamboati 
such  as  torpedo  boats  where  the  engines  with  their  recipro- 
cating parts  necessarily  impress  a  distinct  vibratory  force 
on  the  ship's  structure.  In  some  cases  damage  has  been 
wrought  to  some  member  of  the  ship  by  powerful  resonant 
vibrations.  The  cure  in  such  instances  is,  of  course,  to 
alter  the  vibratory  period  of  the  endangered  parts. 

Some  interesting  records  of  vibrations  produced  in  a 
substation  by  motor-generators  are  contributed  by  Mr. 
E.  E.  Hall  in  this  issue  on  page  200.  The  method  employed 
was  virtually  to  apply  a  delicate  seismograph,  or  earth- 
quake recorder,  to  the  building  at  different  locations  in 
order  to  register  the  vibratory  motion  communicated  by  the 
machines.  Incidentally,  some  valuable  hints  are  given  as 
to  means  for  so  laying  foundations  as  to  absorb  vibrations 
and  prevent  their  communication  to  the  surrounding  struc- 
tures. It  would  not  be  surprising  if  specifications  for  large 
machines  should  some  day  call  for  measuring  the  amplitude 
of  oscillations  they  produce  when  running  on  a  foundation 
of  defined  character  so  as  to  have  the  amplitude  reduced 
below  a  certain  practical  limit.  A  seismometer  test  might 
not  be  difficult  to  apply  on  a  special  foundation  at  the 
factory  and  would  leave  a  record  for  reference  as  to  the 
performance  of  the  machine  before  being  shipped.  There 
is  no  evidence  forthcoming,  apparently,  to  show  that  slight 
vibrations  depreciate  a  machine  in  regular  service,  but  it 
takes  no  persuasion  to  make  it  credible  that  a  machine 
running  with  bad  vibrations  is  liable  to  be  injured  or 
depreciated  thereby. 


l82 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  4, 


JOINT    RESOLUTION   FOR    PATENT   OFFICE 
INVESTIGATION. 


NEW  PATENT  BILL. 


Representative  Bulkley,  of  Ohio,  on  July  15  introduced 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  a  joint  resolution  request- 
ing the  President  to  order  an  investigation  of  the  Patent 
Office  and  make  a  report  with  recommendations  to  Con- 
gress. The  full  text  of  Representative  Bulkley's  resolution 
follows : 

"Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled, 
That  the  President  of  the  United  States  be,  and  he  is 
hereby,  requested  to  cause  the  accountants  and  experts 
from  official  and  private  life  now  or  hereafter  employed  in 
the  inquiry  into  methods  of  transacting  the  public  business 
of  the  government  in  the  several  executive  departments 
and  other  executive  government  establishments,  known  as 
the  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency,  to  investi- 
gate fully  and  carefully  the  administration  of  the  Patent 
Office  with  a  view  of  determining  whether  or  not  the 
present  methods,  personnel,  equipment  and  building  of 
said  office  are  adequate  for  the  performance  of  its  func- 
tions, taking  into  consideration  the  present  character  and 
volume  of  business,  and  also  such  increase  in  complexity  or 
volume  as  may  reasonably  be  expected  in  the  future,  and 
to  ascertain  and  recommend  specifically  to  Congress  not 
later  than  Dec.  10,  1912,  what  changes  in  law,  what  in- 
creases in  appropriations  and  what  additional  building- 
accommodations  may  be  necessary  to  enable  the  Patent 
Office  to  discharge  its  functions  in  a  thoroughly  efficient 
and  economical  manner,  and  to  what  extent  any  expendi- 
tures which  may  be  recommended  can  be  met  by  in- 
creases of  Patent  Office  fees. 

"All  expense  incurred  in  carrying  out  the  purposes  of 
this  resolution  shall  be  paid  out  of  any  funds  in  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States  not  otherwise  appropriated, 
and  the  sum  necessary  for  said  purposes  is  hereby  appro- 
priated ;  provided,  that  the  total  expense  authorized  by 
this  resolution  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  of  $io,ooc." 


MEMORIAL  TO  LORD  KELVIN. 


A  general  committee  representing  the  engineering 
societies  of  the  British  Empire  and  the  United  States  of 
America  has  been  formed  to  carry  into  effect  a  proposal 
for  the  erection  in  Westminster  Abbey  of  a  memorial  win- 
dow to  the  late  Lord  Kelvin.  The  general  committee  as 
constituted  up  to  June  24  embraces  representation  from 
eight  engineering  societies  in  England,  one  in  Ireland,  one 
in  Scotland,  five  in  America,  one  in  Canada,  one  in  Vic- 
toria, one  in  South  Africa  and  one  in  South  Australia.  The 
chairman  of  the  executive  committee  is  Sir  William  H. 
White,  K.  C.  B.  A  circular  call  for  subscriptions  just  dis- 
tributed, signed  by  the  president  and  the  secretary  of  the 
North-East  Coast  Institution  of  Engineers  and  Ship- 
builders, asks  "co-operation  and  support  in  this  tribute  of 
respect  to  the  foremost  man  of  science  of  his  day  and  a 
distinguished  engineer  long  associated  with  the  engineering 
profession  in  the  application  of  scientific  knowledge  to 
enterprises  of  world-wide  importance." 

The  members  of  the  general  committee  representing  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  are  Messrs. 
Gano  Dunn,  Walter  S.  Rugg,  Charles  W.  Stone  and  Fred- 
erick L.  Hutchinson.  In  view  of  the  widespread  support 
which  the  proposal  is  expected  to  receive,  it  is  estimated 
that  the  cost  of  the  memorial  will  be  adequately  provided 
for  by  individual  subscriptions  not  exceeding  $10.  It  is  not 
the  desire,  however,  to  restrict  the  gifts  of  those  who  wish 
to  make  larger  donations.  Members  of  American  engineer- 
ing societies  may  anticipate  the  receipt  at  an  early  date  of 
notices  regarding  subscriptions  to  the  memorial  and  the 
officials  to  whom  they  should  be  sent. 


The  program  in  reference  to  patent  legislation  in  Con- 
gress has  recently  undergone  a  substantial  change, 
Attempts  to  pass  the  Oldfield  bill  (H.  R.  23,417)  during 
the  present  session  have  been  abandoned,  and  according  to 
latest  reports  a  new  measure  will  shortly  be  introduced  by 
Mr.  Oldfield  dealing,  in  the  main,  with  the  provisions  con- 
tained in  Sections  17  and  32  of  the  old  bill.  The  new 
measure  has  not  yet  been  introduced  in  the  House,  but 
its  principal   features  have  been  made  public. 

The  substitute  measure  is  aimed  primarily  at  the  type 
of  patent  monopoly  legalized  by  the  Supreme  Court  de- 
cision in  the  Dick  case.  It  provides  for  compulsory  license, 
not  in  the  case  of  the  original  inventor,  but  only  in  in- 
stances where  persons  or  corporations  purchase  patents 
in  order  to  suppress  them  or  prevent  competition.  Further- 
more, no  action  for  infringement  can  lie  in  the  case  of 
breach  of  any  contract,  sale,  agreement  or  license.  No 
right  of  action  under  a  contract,  at  common  law,  is  aft'ected, 
but  the  new  bill  makes  it  impossible  to  bring  a  suit  fot 
infringement  in  any  case  of  the  type  exemplified  in  Dick 
versus  Henry. 

The  new  bill  is  also  intended  to  amend  the  Sherman 
anti-trust  law  so  that  it  will  clearly  be  applicable  to  trusts 
or  combinations  in  restraint  of  trade  where  the  monopolj 
is  effected  by  means  of  combinations  of  patents.  There 
are  other  interesting  and  important  features  in  the  bill 
but  until  its  full  text  is  made  public  they  cannot  b« 
announced. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  LONDON  WIRELESS 
CONFERENCE. 


.^s  noted  in  our  issue  of  July  13,  the  International  Wire- 
less Telegraph  Conference,  which  convened  in  London  or 
June  4,  was  formally  adjourned  on  July  5.  The  conference 
and  its  three  committees  held  in  all  twenty-eight  meetings 
during  which  the  international  radiotelegraphic  conventior 
and  the  regulations  governing  the  e.xchange  of  message; 
between  ships  and  shore  were  thoroughly  revised  am 
amended.  The  new  convention  and  the  revised  regulation; 
were  signed  by  the  delegates  of  all  the  countries  repre- 
sented— about  thirty  in  number.  The  conference  gave 
special  consideration  to  the  use  of  wireless  communicatior 
for  the  relief  of  disasters  at  sea,  and,  after  full  discussion 
unanimously  adopted  a  resolution  for  compulsory  wireles; 
equipment  on  shipboard,  the  text  of  which  is  as  follows 

"The  International  Radiotelegraphic  Conference,  having 
examined  the  measures  to  be  taken  with  the  view  of  pre 
venting  disasters  at  sea  and  of  rendering  assistance  in  sue! 
cases,  expresses  the  opinion  that,  in  the  general  interest; 
of  navigation,  there  should  be  imposed  on  certain  classe; 
of  ships  the  obligation  to  carry  a  radiotelegraphii 
installation. 

"As  the  conference  has  no  power  to  impose  this  obliga- 
tion it  expresses  the  wish  that  the  measures  necessary  tc 
this  end  should  be  instituted  by  the  governments. 

"The  conference  finds  it  important,  moreover,  to  insure 
as  far  as  possible,  uniformity  in  the  arrangements  to  be 
adopted  in  the  various  countries  to  impose  this  obligation 
and  suggests  to  the  governments  the  desirability  of  ar 
agreement  between  themselves  with  a  view  to  the  adoptior 
of  a  uniform  base  for  legislation. 

"Lastly,  the  conference  recommends  to  the  government: 
the  desirability  of  establishing  in  each  maritime  countrj 
a  number  of  coast  stations  with  a  permanent  service 
adequate  for  the  needs  of  navigation." 

The  new  regulations  contain  a  number  of  provisions 
designed  to  increase  the  effectiveness  of  wireless  com- 
munication at  sea  in  cases  of  emergency  or  danger.  Ship; 
in  the  future  will  be  required  to  provide  an  auxiliary  01 


July  27,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


183 


independent  source  of  energy  capable  of  working  the  wire- 
less apparatus  for  at  least  six  hours.  The  emergency  in- 
stallation must  be  located  in  a  secure  position  on  ship- 
board and  must  be  so  completely  independent  that  any 
accident  to  the  ship's  engines  will  not  interrupt  the  energy 
supply  for  wireless  communication.  On  ships  of  the  first 
class  a  permanent  watch  will  be  required  and  at  least  two 
fully  qualified  operators  must  be  carried.  On  ships  of  the 
second  class,  where  a  permanent  watch  is  not  considered 
feasible,  the  operator  will  be  required  to  listen  during  the 
first  ten  minutes  of  every  hour.  In  the  smallest  ships,  such 
as  fishing  boats,  no  regular  periods  of  watch  have  been 
prescribed.  Each  government  in  issuing  licenses  to  carry 
wireless  equipment  will  determine  in  which  class  any  vessel 
belongs. 

Rules  have  also  been  made  requiring  both  ship  and  shore 
stations  to  suspend  work  and  listen  at  the  end  of  each 
quarter  of  an  hour  in  cases  where  it  is  likely  that  distress 
calls  otherwise  might  not  be  heard.  In  order  to  prevent 
future  confusion  a  ship  in  distress  will  have  control  over 
the  working  of  all  stations  in  its  vicinity  and  operators  on 
every  ship  will  be  placed  specifically  under  the  authority 
of  the  captain.  The  transmission  of  weather  reports  to 
vessels  at  sea  will  be  given  priority  and  coast  stations  will 
be  supplied  with  weather  forecasts  for  communication  to 
ships  when  called  for. 

At  the  Berlin  conference  regulations  were  adopted  re- 
quiring ships  to  communicate  with  the  nearest  shore  station, 
as  a  means  of  preventing  confusion  in  working.  Numerous 
proposals  were  advanced  for  modifying  these  regulations 
so  as  to  allow  communication  between  a  ship  and  some 
remote  shore  station.  After  discussion  a  new  regulation 
was  adopted  which  permits  such  communication  when  a 
special  wave-length  of  specified  dimensions  is  employed; 
but  this  provision  applies  only  to  communications  between 
a  ship  and  a  shore  station  of  the  same  nationality.  Since 
the  transmission  of  radiotelegrams  between  ship  and  shore 
by  means  of  one  or  more  intermediate  ships  is  becoming 
more  frequent,  the  convention  adopted  regulations  in  refer- 
ence to  charges,  accounting,  etc.,  for  facilitating  this 
service. 

Many  other  changes,  largely  of  a  technical  character, 
were  made  in  the  regulations  for  the  purpose  of  securing 
expeditious  working.  All  the  countries  concerned  have  now 
agreed  that  all  ships  should  be  under  the  obligation  of 
communicating  upon  call  with  one  another  regardless  of 
the  wireless  system  employed.  The  convention  decided 
that  it  is  premature  to  attempt  to  prescribe  regulations 
affecting  long-distance  service  between  land  stations,  and 
it  was  expressly  agreed  that  each  country  ought  to  remain 
free  to  organize  such  land  service  as  it  deems  necessary, 
subject  only  to  the  restriction  that  interference  between 
different  stations  must  be  avoided  as  far  as  possible  and 
that  differences  in  the  system  of  wireless  telegraphy  em- 
ployed must  not  be  a  basis  for  refusing  intercommunica- 
tion. The  American  delegates  conveyed  to  the  convention 
an  informal  invitation  to  hold  the  next  conference  in 
Washington,  D.  C.  This  invitation  was  unanimously 
accepted,  and  the  date  of  the  next  conference  was  fixed 
as  1917. 


WIRELESS  BILL   BECOMES  LAW. 


As  noted  in  our  issue  of  July  20,  page  140,  Congress 
recently  passed  a  bill  requiring  any  United  States  or 
foreign  vessel  navigating  the  ocean  or  the  Great  Lakes 
and  carrying  fifty  or  more  persons  to  be  equipped  with 
wireless  apparatus  capable  of  operating  for  a  distance  of 
at  least  100  miles  by  day  or  night,  on  and  after  Oct.  I,  1912. 
An  auxiliary  or  emergency  energy  supply  is  required 
capable  of  operating  the  sending  set  for  at  least  four  hours. 
The  wireless  equipment  must  be  in  charge  of  two  or  more 


skilled  operators,  one  of  whom  shall  be  on  duty  at  all 
times.  The  bill  does  not  apply,  however,  to  vessels  plying 
between  ports  less  than  200  miles  apart. 

On  July  23  President  Taft  affixed  his  signature  to  this 
bill  and  it  thus  becomes  a  law.  So  far  as  the  act  relates  to 
*he  Great  Lakes  it  takes  effect  on  and  after  April  i,  1913, 
and  in  respect  to  ocean  cargo  steamers  it  becomes  etfective 
on  and  after  July  i,  1913.  Provision  is  made  that  on  cargo 
steamers  the  second  operator  may  be  replaced  by  a  mem- 
ber of  the  crew  who  is  competent  to  understand  and  receive 
distress  calls  and  assist  in  maintaining  a  constant  wireless 
watch  so  far  as  needed  for  the  safety  of  life. 


CONVENTION  PROGRAM,    GEORGIA   SECTION, 
N.  E.  L.  A. 


Although  details  of  the  final  arrangements  and  program 
of  the  convention  of  the  Georgia  Section  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  to  be  held  at  Tybee  Aug.  15,  16 
and  17  have  not  been  settled,  the  following  tentative  pro- 
gram has  been  decided  on:  "The  Present  Status  of  the 
Electric  Vehicle  in  the  Southeastern  States,"  by  Mr.  A.  N. 
Bentley,  manager  of  the  Atlanta  office  of  the  Electric 
Storage  Battery  Company ;  "A  Mechanical  Collector,  Its 
Offenses  and  Defenses,"  by  Mr.  T.  W.  Peters,  commercial 
agent  of  the  Columbus  Railroad  Company;  "Synchronous 
Condensers  and  the  Correction  of  Power-Factor,"  by  Mr. 
H.  E.  Bussey,  resident  engineer  of  the  General  Electric 
Company;  "Buying  Coal  on  a  Heat-Unit  Basis,"  by  Mr. 
M.  L.  Sperry,  manager  of  the  Savannah  Electric  Company ; 
"Electric  Rates,"  by  Mr.  G.  S.  Merrill,  assistant  chief 
engineer  of  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Association ; 
"Diversity  Factor,"  by  Mr.  W.  L.  Southwell,  commercial 
engineer  of  the  Central  Georgia  Power  Company;  "Arc 
Lamps  and  the  More  Recent  Developments  Thereof,"  by 
Mr.  L.  A.  S.  Wood,  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manu- 
facturing Company.  In  addition  there  will  be  a  report  of 
the  public  policy  committee,  touching  on  the  relative  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages  of  long  and  short  franchises, 
presented  by  Mr.  P.  S.  Arkwright,  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee. Mr.  T.  W.  Peters,  Columbus,  Ga.,  is  the  secretary 
of  the  section. 


NEW    HYDROELECTRIC    STATION    FOR    PACIFIC 
GAS  &  ELECTRIC    COMPANY. 


Having  received  the  sanction  of  the  Railroad  Commission 
of  California,  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  San 
Francisco,  Cal.,  has  begun  work  on  a  new  development  at 
Spaulding  and  on  Bear  River  which  will  call  for  an  ex- 
penditure of  some  $5,000,000.  The  work  includes  the 
erection  of  a  concrete  and  masonry  dam  300  ft.  high,  9 
miles  of  aqueduct,  two  pipe  lines  over  6000  ft.  long,  a 
generating  station  and  hydroelectric  equipment  aggregating 
53,000  hp  in  output,  and  a  steel  tower  line  almost  200  miles 
in  length  over  which  the  energy  will  be  transmitted. 

Work  was  started  simultaneously  in  all  departments  as 
soon  as  the  necessary  permission  was  granted,  and  there 
are  now  about  800  men  engaged  on  the  work,  which  is  split 
into  five  camps  established  along  the  line  of  activities  from 
the  dam  site  to  the  proposed  power  house.  Additional 
men  and  teams  will  be  employed  as  fast  as  conditions  will 
warrant.  Fully  1000  men  and  500  head  of  stock  will  be 
employed  to  carry  on  the  development,  which  will  require 
at  least  two  years  of  active  work  to  complete. 

The  dam  will  be  of  a  type  somewhat  similar  to  but  higher 
than  the  famous  Roosevelt  dam.  It  will  be  located  below 
the  present  Spaulding  dam  near  Emigrant  Gap  in  Placer 
County    and    will    impound    94,000    acre-ft.,    flooding    the 


I84 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  4. 


present  dam  and  submerging  it  to  a  depth  of  170  ft.  The 
site  is  in  a  narrow  canyon  of  solid  granite,  thus  affording 
an  excellent  foundation  and  perfect  outlet  by  means  of  a 
tunnel  through  the  solid  rock.  The  tunnel,  4800  ft.  long, 
will  conduct  the  water  beyond  the  rougher  country  to  the 
aqueduct,  which  will  consist  only  of  a  canal  and  one  siphon, 
no  flumes  being  necessary. 

The  forebay  will  have  sufficient  storage  capacity  to  run 
the  plant  for  twelve  hours  and  will  act  as  a  regulating 
reservoir  to  insure  plenty  of  water  in  case  of  sudden  de- 
mands. Two  steel  pipe  lines  over  6000  ft.  long  leading 
from  the  forebay  to  the  power  house  will  secure  a  static 
head  of  1350  ft. 

The  power  house  will  be  of  steel  frame  and  reinforced 
concrete,  and  the  equipment  will  be  second  to  none  installed 
in  California  at  this  time.  The  plant  will  be  known  as 
Drum  power  house,  in  compliment  to  Mr.  F.  G.  Drum,  the 
president  of  the  company,  and  will  contain  four  io,ooo-kw 
units.    It  will  be  located  on  Bear  River  not  far  from  Towle. 

The  rights-of-way  have  already  been  secured  for  the 
transmission  tower  line,  which  will  be  nearly  200  miles  in 
length,  crossing  the  Sacramento  \'alley  to  Cordelia,  where 
a  substation  will  be  located  from  which  branch  tower  lines 
will  run  to  San  Rafael  to  serve  the  Marin  peninsula  and 
to  the  Bay  Cities  district. 

After  leaving  the  lowest  plant  the  water  will  be  diverted 
into  the  irrigating  system  of  the  company  and  will  serve 
the  lower  part  of  Placer  County  with  a  greatly  augmented 
supply,  sufficient  to  care  for  the  increasing  demand  for 
water  in  that  flourishing  district  for  manv  vears  to  come. 


BIG  MEADOWS  DAM   OF   THE    GREAT   WESTERN 
POWER  COMPANY. 


The  Great  Western  Power  Company,  of  San  Francisco, 
Cal.,  in  addition  to  enlarging  its  generating  station  on 
the  Feather  River  by  the  installation  of  two  io,ooo-kw 
units,  has  a  force  of  men  engaged  on  a  dam  at  Big 
Meadows,  Plumas  County,  25  miles  from  Keddie  on  the 
Western  Pacific  Railroad,  work  on  which  is  expected  to  be 
completed  by  the  end  of  the  year. 

The  dam  itself  is  of  the  multiple-arch  type,  700  ft.  long 
at  the  crest,  constructed  of  concrete  heavily  reinforced 
with  iron.  It  will  consist  of  a  series  of  concrete  buttresses, 
spaced  30  ft.  apart,  from  center  to  center,  in  a  direction 
parallel  to  the  flow  of  the  stream  and  with  a  series  of 
arches  on  the  upstream  side,  each  arch  covering  the  space 


Upstream    View    of    Big    Meadows    Dam. 

between  two  buttresses.  These  arches  are  inclined  so  that 
the  weight  of  the  water  behind  the  dam  exerts  pressure 
downward,  thus  increasing  the  stability  of  the  structure. 
The  dam  will  have  a  maximum  height  of  no  ft.  above  the 
ordinary  water  level  of  the  stream  flowing  through  the 
meadows  and  will  impound  a  lake  40  square  miles  in  area 
and  storing  1,255,000  acre  ft.  (54,540,000,000  cu.  ft). 
When  completed  the  flow  of   the   Feather  River   will  be 


regulated  from  a  minimum  of  1000  to  2500  cu.  ft.  per 
second.  This  plan  will  enable  the  company  to  develop  at 
the  Big  Bend  station  80,000  kw,  which  is  the  limit  to  the 
power  available  on  the  site  owing  to  the  size  of  the  tunnel 
through  which  the  water  is  conveyed.  Under  ordinary 
conditions  it  will  require  almost  three  years  to  fill  the 
reservoir  created  by  the  dam. 


BOSTON-PROVIDENCE  ELECTRIFICATION. 


The  announcement  was  made  in  Boston  on  July  23  that 
the  management  of  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford 
Railroad  has  decided  to  equip  its  main  line  electrically 
between  Providence  and  Boston,  employing  the  single-phase 
overhead  system  of  distribution  now  in  use  and  under  con- 
struction between  W'oodlawn  and  New  Haven.  The  line 
will  be  four-tracked,  and  a  large  power  plant  will  be  built 
at  Providence  and  another  at  Readville,  Mass.,  for  the 
operation  of  the  system.  With  the  completion  of  the 
Boston-Providence  section  and  the  extension  of  service 
from  Stamford  east  to  New  Haven  nearly  half  the  run 
from  New  York  to  Boston  will  be  made  under  electric 
power.  Pending  the  construction  of  a  tunnel  under  Boston 
connecting  the  New  Haven  and  Boston  &  Maine  system 
several  tracks  at  the  South  Station  in  Boston  will  be 
equipped  for  electrical  operation.  The  estimated  cost  of 
the  work  is  about  $7,000,000,  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
construction  will  be  started  during  the  coming  fall  and  com- 
pleted before  the  end  of  1913. 


CONVENTION  OF  ELECTRICAL  CONTRACTORS. 

The  twelfth  annual  convention  of  the  National  Electrical 
Contractors'  Association  opened  formally  with  a  meeting 
on  July  17  in  the  Albany  Hotel,  Denver.  The  total  regis- 
tration was  251,  of  which  about  half  represented  wives  and 
guests  of  delegates  or  visiting  electrical  supply  dealers. 
Special  cars  on  the  Burlington  brought  about  forty  from 
Missouri  points.  Ninety-seven  reached  Denver  on  a  special 
train  from  Chicago  containing  a  special  car  from  New  York. 
This  trip  was  arranged  by  Mr.  V.  C.  Gilpin,  master  of 
transportation  of  the  National  Electrical  Contractors'  Asso- 
ciation. Both  the  Missouri  and  the  New  York-Chicago 
groups  arrived  in  Denver  on  July  16. 

A  directors'  meeting  was  held  a'  10  a.  m.  on  July  16,  the 
results  of  which  were  not  divulged.  Registration  pro- 
ceeded throughout  that  day.  A  trip  for  members  and  guests 
to  the  Foot  Hills  was  arranged  informally  and  enjoyed  by 
more  than  half  of  those  registered. 


i 


GENER-\L     SESSION. 


The  open  meeting  at  10  a.m.  July  17  was  said  by  Presi- 
dent M.  L.  Barnes,  of  the  association,  to  be  unique  in  the 
history  of  the  body,  in  that  it  was  addressed  by  a  state 
governor.  An  automobile  party  of  Missourians  in  cars 
loane*.  by  Contractors  W.  P.  Carstarphen  and  B.  F.  Camp- 
bell, and  by  Messrs.  L.  Wooley,  of  the  General  Electric 
Company;  L.  M.  Cargo,  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company,  and  H.  Lawrence  and  J.  David- 
son, supply  dealers,  made  a  descent  upon  Governor  John  F. 
Shafroth  and  Mayor  Henry  I.  Arnold  at  their  offices  and 
carried  them  back  to  the  convention  hall.  Both  the 
Governor  and  the  Mayor  were  born  in  Missouri. 

Governor  Shafroth  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Carstarphen, 
who  told  some  humorous  stories  of  the  "boosting"  done  by 
the  Governor  for  his  State.  The  Governor's  address  was 
on  "The  Resources  of  Colorado."  He  touched  on  the 
diversity  of  scenery — plains,  wooded  hills,  snow-covered 
plateaus  and  deep  canyons — as  an  asset  hardly  yet  realized. 
The  healthful  and  health-restoring  climate  w'as  also  men- 


July  27,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


18s 


tioneU.  The  irrigation  of  farm  lands,  in  whicii  Colorado 
has  always  taken  the  lead,  has  developed  a  crop  output 
impossible  under  other  conditions  of  climate,  soil  or  labor. 
The  cattle  industry,  begun  by  the  accident  of  early  settlers 
abandoning  cattle  to  avoid  high  feed  prices,  has  become  a 
seventy-million-dollar  one.  The  cattle  turned  loose  win- 
tered well  and  were  fit  for  marketing  in  the  spring,  and 
the  inmiense  free  range  fostered  the  extension  of  herds. 
Colorado  possesses  immense  coal  deposits,  according  to 
conservative  federal  figures,  amounting  to  370,000,000,000 
tons,  enough  to  supply  the  world's  present  demand  for  300 
years.  The  water-power  resources  in  the  mountain  streams 
were  strongly  emphasized,  the  point  being  made  that  before 
leaving  the  mountains  the  streams  of  the  State  experience 
a  fall  of  approximately  5000  ft.,  making  small  volumes 
available  for  large  power  developments. 

CONSERVATION    VERSUS   DEVELOPMENT. 

The  Governor  referred  to  the  20,000-hp  plant  of  the 
Central  '  Colorado  Power  Company  at  Shoshone,  where 
only  a  moderate  drop  in  the  Grand  River  was  utilized  along 
a  5-niile  railroad  grade.  The  recent  cessation  in  hydro- 
electric development,  as  well  as  the  stagnation  in  land 
development  and  coal-mine  development,  was  attributed  to 
the  federal  policy  of  conservation  for  the  central  gov- 
ernment rather  than  by  the  State.  This  the  Governor  re- 
gards as  discriminating  in  favor  of  older  states  where 
water-powers,  coal  mines,  gas  and  oil  wells  were  developed, 
unrestricted  by  governmental  interference  or  taxation,  thus 
making  great  manufacturing  states  out  of  Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio.  In  Colorado  the  heavy  expenses 
of  state  goverhment,  roads,  schools,  etc.,  must  be  borne, 
together  with  an  added  tax  for  the  development  of  its 
natural  resources.  Fifteen  million  acres,  or  a  territory 
as  large  as  New  York  State,  belongs  to  the  federal  govern- 
ment and  pays  nothing  toward  state  expenses.  Since  by 
the  state  enabling  act  water  and  all  natural  rights  and 
properties  belong  to  the  people  of  the  State,  the  govern- 
ment makes  a  tax  on  transmission  systems  of  about  $1  per 
year  per  horse-power  transmitted.  The  avowed  object  is 
to  prevent  fraud  and  monopoly,  but  the  State  can  and  will 
as  eft'ectnvely  regulate  common  carriers  and  can  initiate 
laws  if  necessary.  The  government  tax  of  10  cents  per 
ton  for  coal  means  ultimately  $37,000,000,000  tax  on  the 
people  of  the  State,  and  the  transmission  tax  will  ulti- 
mately mean  $1,000,000  a  year.  Governor  Shafroth 
claimed  that  there  would  be  an  investment  of  $100,000,000 
in  hydroelectric  plants  within  three  years  if  the  federal 
restrictions  were  withdrawn. 

In  his  welcome-to-Denver  speech  Mayor  Arnold  noted 
particularly  the  spirit  of  its  citizens,  its  ideals  in  govern- 
ment, beauty  development,  illumination  and  construction 
lor  safety.  He  said  that  electrical  contractors  in  Denver 
have  little  cause  for  complaint,  as  the  city  has  always 
passed  the  ordinances  they  desired.  Mr.  Arnold  men- 
tioned the  serious  flood  from  which  Denver  is  suffering, 
and  emphasized  the  public  spirit  of  Denver  in  the  face  of 
much  pecuniary  loss  by  instancing  the  rapid  accumulation 
of  a  large  relief  fund.  He  concluded  with  a  humorous 
parallel  between  Denver  and  a  wayside  inn  on  the  road  to 
Paradise. 

In  replying  to  the  Governor  and  the  Mayor,  President 
Barnes  thanked  them  for  the  association  and  promised  that 
many  contractors  would  surely  come  to  Colorado  if  the 
1,000,000  hp  predicted  by  the  Governor  were  developed  or 
the  doubling  of  Denver's  illumination  promised  by  Mayor 
Arnold  should  receive  proper  publicity.  A  rising  vote  of 
appreciation  was  given  to  the  speakers.  Mr.  McCleary, 
of  Detroit,  as  the  original  "booster"  for  the  Denver  con- 
vention, added  an  appreciation  of  the  presence  and 
addresses  of  the  two  officials. 

Mr.  Maurice  Bisco,  president  of  the  Denver  Chapter  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Architects,  discussed  informally 


the  status  of  the  architect  in  relation  to  the  electrical  con- 
tractors and  the  problems  arising  out  of  this  relation.  He 
characterized  the  functions  of  the  architect  as  legislative 
in  drawing  up  specifications  and  contracts,  as  executive  in 
supervising  the  carrying  out  of  specified  provisions,  and  as 
judicial  in  interpreting  the  meaning  of  any  point  in  speci- 
fications or  plan   under  question. 

Mr.  Bisco  admitted  the  anomaly  of  such  functions  being 
combined  in  one  person,  but  justified  it  by  the  results 
obtained  and  the  infrequent  serious  differences.  He  com- 
pared the  method  of  giving  general  contracts,  inclusive  of 
the  wiring,  with  that  of  a  separate  contract  for  wiring, 
mentioning  the  shorter  time  for  the  architect  taken  by 
the  former  method,  with  its  offsetting  disadvantage  of  in- 
viting the  "peddling"  of  the  electrical  contract  to  inferior 
bidders  and  thereby  inviting  inferior  results.  Mr.  Bisco 
discouraged  the  too  general  practice  of  cutting  the  price 
on  the  original  contract  below  the  point  of  reasonable 
profit  and  making  it  up  by  padding  the  "extras."  However, 
he  advanced  no  suggestion  for  cure  of  this  difficulty,  except 
an  inquiry  whether  unit  price  scale  per  foot  of  additional 
v/ork  might  not  feasibly  be  adopted.  He  indorsed  the  con- 
tractors' system  for  wiring  symbols  and  admitted  the 
dependence  of  architects  on  contractors,  jointly  with 
municipal  and  underwriters'  inspectors,  for  supplying  many 
deficiencies  in  the  ordinary  building  wiring  specifications 
and  plans.  He  concluded  with  a  criticism  of  indiscriminate 
adoption  of  indirect  lighting  because  of  its  lack  of  a  parallel 
in  nature  and  the  frequent  loss  of  highly  effective  and 
harmless  shadows,  and  recommended  the  study  of  each 
building  individually. 

THE   CENTRAL    STATION    AND    THE    CONTRACTOR. 

Mr.  A.  L.  Traver,  superintendent  of  the  Denver  Gas  & 
Electric  Light  Company,  who  was  scheduled  to  talk  on 
the  relations  of  central  stations  and  contractors,  was  in- 
capacitated by  overwork  in  remedying  flood  depredations, 
and  in  his  absence  an  address  was  delivered  on  the  same 
subject  by  Mr.  C.  N.  Stannard,  secretary  of  the  company. 
Mr.  Stannard  stated  that  he  had  given  much  thought  to 
the  relationship  question  and  regarded  the  contractor  as 
the  store,  selling  force  and  installation  department,  the 
light  company  as  the  manufacturer,  distributer  and  pro- 
motor  of  a  community  of  interests,  the  common  object  of 
which  is  service  to  the  public.  The  aim  of  both  being 
co-operation,  Mr.  Stannard  emphasized  the  utility  of  map- 
ping out  a  definite  plan  of  action  and  ordinarily  adhering 
closely  to  it.  By  this  method  misunderstandings  will  be 
minimized  and  results  in  profits  to  contractor  and  lighting 
company  and  satisfaction  in  service  on  the  part  of  the 
public  will  be  augmented.  As  the  part  of  the  central  station 
Mr.  Stannard  suggested,  first,  a  trained  sales  force  co-op- 
erating with  the  contractor  in  stimulating  demand  for 
energy-utilizing  devices;  second,  no  direct  sales  by  the 
service  company,  with  a  few  unimportant  exceptions; 
third,  frequent  conferences  as  to  new  possibilities  which 
are  always  arising  for  extension  of  the  use  of  energy.  The 
advantage  of  the  service  company  sales  force  to  the  con- 
tractor was  well  instanced  by  an  almost  total  cessation  of 
the  wiring  business  in  Denver  during  an  enforced  suspen- 
sion for  some  weeks  of  the  work  by  the  lighting  company's 
sales  force  some  years  ago. 

Mr.  Stannard  also  spoke  of  the  advantage  of  the  service 
company's  inspection  department  to  the  contractor  in 
locating  hazards,  generally  leaving  their  removal  to  the 
contractor.  As  a  notable  instance  of  the  value  of  local 
concentration  of  interest  and  active  co-operation,  Mr. 
Stannard  spoke  of  the  Colorado  Electric  Club,  which  em- 
braces all  branches  of  the  electrical  industry  in  the  State 
and  has  reached  a  membership  of  760  in  less  than  three 
years.  Its  results  in  service  to  the  public  and  mutual  profit 
have  been  unusual,  and  Mr.  Stannard  suggested  the  exten- 
sion of  the  idea  to  other  cities. 


i86 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  4. 


BUSINESS    SESSIONS. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  open  session  the  credentials 
committee  met,  and  three  closed  sessions  were  held,  at 
2  p.  m.  July  17,  10  a.  m.  and  2  p.  m.  July  18,  following  the 
usual  practice  of  this  association  in  not  opening  its  business 
sessions  to  the  general  electrical  public. 

At  the  closed  business  sessions  on  July  17  and  18  the 
growth  of  the  association  in  numbers  and  importance  was 
emphasized  by  the  fact  that  for  the  first  time  a  committee 
representing  the  Electrical  Jobbers'  Association  was  present 
at  the  request  of  the  latter  body,  as  well  as  representatives 
of  the  Manufacturers'  Association,  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association  and  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Asso- 
ciation. Addresses  were  given  by  members  of  each  of 
these  organizations,  all  looking  toward  an  etTectual  co- 
operation of  all  branches  of  the  electrical  industry  for 
better  service  and  better  trade  conditions  for  each  factor  in 
the  situation.  This  getting  together  has  followed  persistent 
efforts  toward  this  end  for  some  years  by  the  contractors, 
and  the  auspicious  beginning  is  largely  the  result  of 
thoughtful  work  by  the  retiring  president,  Mr.  M.  L. 
Barnes,  and  by  Messrs.  J.  R.  Strong,  E.  McCleary  and 
G.  M.  Sanborn,  of  the  association.  The  contractors  have 
recently  unified  the  local  bodies  from  coast  to  coast  in  the 
national  organization,  and  by  the  efforts  of  National 
Organizer  Duffield  have  increased  in  membership  in  two 
years  from  500  to  1200,  all  active  workers. 

Mr.  G.  M.  Sanborn,  of  Indianapolis,  as  head  of  the  com- 
mittee on  pipe  and  wire  combinations,  presented  the  final 
findings  of  his  committee  in  the  form  of  cuts  and  data  on 
pipe  sizes  necessary  for  various  wire  combinations.  This, 
it  is  expected,  will  be  given  with  the  universal  data  and 
sales  book  and  the  symbol  sheet,  as  a  contribution  of  this 
association  to  the  general  benefit  of  the  industry. 

Mr.  G.  B.  Griffin,  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manu- 
facturing Company,  in  discussing  the  relationship  between 
electrical  contractors  and  manufacturers,  claimed  that  the 
electrical  industry  is  the  only  one  that  does  not  possess 
recognized  channels  for  the  distribution  of  the  manufac- 
tured materials.  This  fact  he  attributed  partly  to  the  new- 
ness of  the  business,  partly  to  its  lack  of  organization  and 
partly  to  the  lack  of  co-operation  between  the  electrical 
contractors  and  central  stations.  Competition  between  first- 
class  electrical  business  men  and  irresponsible  men  who 
enter  the  business  with  little  capital  or  training  has  tended 
to  lower  the  standard  which  the  legitimate  contractor  en- 
deavors to  maintain.  Competition  between  experienced  and 
inexperienced  manufacturers  has  had  a  similar  result. 

Mr.  Griffin  called  attention  to  the  general  national  adver- 
tising campaigns  being  conducted  by  the  large  electrical 
manufacturing  companies  and  urged  the  contractors  to  be- 
come merchants  and  thereby  take  full  advantage  of  the 
opportunities  opened  up  by  the  manufacturers.  The  manu- 
facturers will  welcome  the  co-operation  of  the  contractors 
and  profit  from  their  direct  contact  with  the  public. 

Mr.  W.  S.  Bissell,  for  the  jobbers,  and  Mr.  P.  S.  Dodd, 
secretary  of  the  commercial  section  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  followed  with  similar  appeals  for  co- 
operation as  the  basis  of  successful  marketing  of  apparatus, 
labor  and  energy,  to  insure  satisfactory  service  to  the  com- 
munity. Mr.  H.  Cudmore,  for  the  National  Electric  Lamp 
Association,  briefly  and  effectually  summarized  and  crystal- 
lized the  previous  expressions,  with  a  suggestion  for  the 
formation  of  permanent  committees  from  the  organizations 
to  meet  in  consideration  of  the  elimination  of  waste  and 
giving  increased  value  in  service  to  the  consuming  public. 
Later  a  committee  will  be  chosen  by  the  Contractors' 
Association  to  represent  it  in  this  joint  conference. 

A  request  by  Mr.  Hugh  T.  Wreaks,  of  the  wire  inspection 
department  of  the  Underwriters'  Laboratories,  for  co- 
operation by  the  contractors  along  definite  lines  was  dis- 
cussed and  referred  to  the  executive  committee  for  final 
action.     Mr.  Wreaks  suggested  that  the  association  recom- 


mend a  follow-up  test  of  completed  building  installa- 
tions at  stated  intervals  by  inspection  departments,  the 
departments  to  keep  on  file  a  record  of  the  make  of  wire,  its 
distinctive  mark  and,  if  possible,  its  trade  name.  Such  tests 
were  stated  to  be  the  best  means  of  ascertaining  the  safe 
life  of  present  material  under  varying  conditions  of  service, 
with  a  readily  available  record  for  determining  the  future 
necessities  in  the  construction  of  such  material. 

ELECTION    OF    OFFICERS. 

The  report  of  the  nominating  committee  was  followed 
by  the  selection  of  Mr.  Ernest  Freeman,  Chicago,  as  presi- 
dent, and  Mr.  W.  H.  Morton,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  as  secretary. 
The  executive  committee  consists  of  the  president  and 
Messrs.  James  R.  Strong.  New  York;  G.  M.  Sanborn, 
Indianapolis,  Ind. ;  E.  McCleary,  Detroit,  Mich.;  J.  C. 
McMaster,  Columbus,  Ohio;  P.  N.  Thorpe,  Paterson,  N.  J., 
and  J.  T.  Marron.  Rock  Island,  111.  The  publication  com- 
mittee consists  of  Mr.  M.  L.  Barnes,  Troy,  N.  Y..  and 
Mr.  C.  R.  Kreider,  Chicago.  The  1913  convention  will  be 
held  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

The  Denver  meeting  is  regarded  by  the  contractors,  and 
no  less  by  the  other  branches  of  the  industry,  as  introducing 
a  new  era  of  good  will  and  effective  co-ordinated  service 


among  previously  conflicting  industries  which  cannot  fail 
to  react  to  the  benefit  of  the  sometimes  poorly  organized 
electrical   contracting   business. 

Mr.  Ernest  Freeman,  of  Chicago,  the  new  president  of 
the  National  Electrical  Contractors'  Association,  is  one  of 
the  most  active  and  influential  members  of  the  society.  He 
was  promoted  from  the  position  of  first  vice-president,  and 
he  has  been  and  is  a  member  of  the  executive  committee. 
He  is  president  of  the  Freeman-Sweet  Company,  the  elec- 
trical contracting  concern  of  Chicago.  He  is  an  enlightened 
and  progressive  business  man  and  has  given  freely  of  his 
time  to  help  uplift  the  standard  of  electrical  construction 
work.  For  several  terms  he  was  president  of  the  Chicago 
Electrical  Contractors'  Association.  Mr.  Freeman  was  born 
in  Chatham,  Mass.,  in  1870.  As  a  young  man  he  moved  to 
Chicago  and  entered  the  electrical  field,  the  outgrowth  of 
his  efforts  being  the  present  Freeman-Sweet  Company.  Mr. 
Freeman  ha=  also  been  engaged  in  central-station  enter- 
prises at  Libertyville,  111.,  and  Morris,  111.,  the  properties 
in  these  two  towns  being  later  sold  to  the  Public  Service 
Company  of  Northern  Illinois.  He  was  also  at  one  time 
president  and  manager  of  the  Consolidated  Water  &  Light 
Company,  of  Marseilles,  III,  now  one  of  the  McKinley 
properties.  He  is  thus  a  man  of  broad  experience,  and  in 
every   way   is  well   fitted   to   be   head   of   the   association. 


July  2-;,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


187 


ENTERTAINMENT 

On  the  evening  of  July  17  the  Sons  of  Jove  held  a  very 
interesting  rejuvenation,  with  twenty-five  "victims,"  each 
of  whom  passed  about  the  corridors  so  labeled.  Subse- 
quently the  contractors,  guests  and  ladies  enjoyed  a  recep- 
tion in  the  new  ballroom  of  the  Albany,  over  200  couples 
being  present.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  M.  L.  Barnes,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ernest  Freeman,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  D.  Marshall  and  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  C.  B.  Thorn  received.  As  usual  with  the  recep- 
tions of  this  association,  the  social  spirit  kept  enjoyment 
at  its  height  throughout  the  evening. 

The  Colorado  Electric  Club  tendered  a  luncheon  to  the 
association  and  ladies  on  July  18,  when  the  attendance 
reached  442,  the  record  for  the  club.  Music  and  singing 
were  indulged  in.  The  speech  of  welcome  was  made  by 
Mr.  Willis  Elliott,  district  attorney  of  Denver.  In  his  re- 
sponse Mr.  M.  L.  Barnes,  president  of  the  association, 
emphasized  the  social  features  of  the  organization  and  their 
beneficial' result  on  business  co-operation.  He  deprecated 
the  tendency  to  make  annual  conventions  of  different 
organizations  a  heavy  business  strain.  The  opportunity  for 
pleasurable  sight-seeing  and  renewal  of  acquaintance  Mr. 
Barnes  considers  quite  important  in  making  a  united  asso- 
ciation. 

In  speaking  of  the  work  accomplished  by  the  association, 
the  retiring  president  noted  the  membership  increase  in 
two  years  of  130  per  cent  and  the  effective  influence  of  the 
body  as  a  unit  in  construction  standards  and  sales  methods. 
For  the  first  time  in  the  eleven  years  of  its  existence 
effective  CQ-operation  with  the  other  large  associations  of 
the  electrical  industry  now  seemed  assured  by  the  presence 
under  invitation  at  the  Denver  convention  of  delegations 
from  the  manufacturers',  jobbers'  and  service  companies' 
associations.  Following  Mr.  Barnes,  Mr.  J.  C.  McQuiston, 
manager  of  the  publicity  department  of  the  Westinghouse 
companies,  discussed  briefly  co-operation  in  selling  and  the 
necessity  for  reform  in  advertising  methods  as  well  as  in 
selling  and  installation.  As  against  the  time  needed  for 
reading  written  advertisements  he  advocated  the  quick 
appeal  of  the  moving  picture  as  better  suited  to  arrest  and 
hold  attention.  Following  his  talk  the  "Electrical  Educa- 
tion of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thrifty"  in  the  use  and  saving  of 
electrical  devices  in  the  home  was  shown  in  motion  pictures. 

On  the  evening  of  July  18  the  annual  dinner  for  mem- 
bers, ladies  and  guests  was  given  at  8  o'clock,  followed 
by  a  vaudeville  entertainment  provided  by  the  local  associa- 
tion. Just  before  the  vaudeville  performance  began  a  roll 
call  of  the  original  fifty-one  members  was  held,  showing 
nine  present — Messrs.  J.  C.  Hatzel,  New  York;  E.  McCleary, 
Detroit;  E.  S.  Keefer,  New  York;  W.  H.  Morton,  Utica; 
Hilton,  Syracuse;  M.  L.  Barnes,  Albany;  J.  R.  Strong,  New 
York;  J.  C.  Sterns,  Buffalo,  and  F.  E.  Sutter,  St.  Louis. 
Mr.  Barnes,  as  the  retiring  president,  was  presented  by  the 
incoming  president,  Mr.  Ernest  Freeman,  with  a  handsome 
silver  tea  set.  which  he  acknowledged  with  appreciation  of 
all  the  support  received  during  his  pleasant  two  years  as 
president. 

The  convention  concluded  with  a  special  train  excursion 
on  the  Moffatt  Road  to  Corona,  11,600  ft.  above  sea  level, 
a  rise  of  6500  ft.  in  50  miles.  Snowballing  was  indulged 
in  by  many  of  the  230  members  and  guests  who  took  advan- 
tage of  this  pleasure  trip.  A  box  lunch  was  served  on  the 
train  by  Bauer  &  Company,  caterers,  of  Denver. 


OHIO  ELECTRIC  LIGHT  ASSOCIATION  CONVENTION. 


With  a  registration  of  480,  the  eighteenth  annual  con- 
vention of  the  Ohio  Electric  Light  Association,  held  at 
Cedar  Point,  Ohio,  July  16  to  18,  marked  the  largest  as 
well  as  one  of  the  most  important  sessions  ever  held  by 
the  central-station  interests  of  the  Buckeye  State.  Prin- 
cipal interest  in  the  convention  centered  about  the  presenta- 


tion of  advanced  and  equitable  principles  of  commission 
regulation  of  utilities,  in  a  paper  by  the  Hon.  Halford 
Erickson,  chairman  of  the  Railroad  Commission  of  Wis- 
consin. His  discussion  was  listened  to  with  interest  and 
approval  by  the  central-station  operators  present  and  by 
the  chairman  of  the  newly  formed  Ohio  commission,  the 
Han.  O.  P.  Gothlin,  who  also  spoke.  In  addition  to  the 
excellent  technical  program,  the  delegates  found  time  to 
enjoy  the  many  entertainment  features  provided,  including 
several  banquets,  musicales,  dances,  etc. 

president's  address. 

At  the  opening  session  on  Tuesday  afternoon  the  presi- 
dent, Mr.  W.  C.  Anderson,  Canton,  in  his  annual  address 
called  attention  to  the  increasing  applications  of  electricity 
in  industrial  as  well  as  every-day  life  and  outlined  the 
importance  of  the  topics  before  the  convention  for  discus- 
sion. He  mentioned  the  recent  advances  in  the  manu- 
facture of  devices,  heating  appliances,  lamps,  etc.  Among 
new  central-station  loads  the  speaker  mentioned  electric 
sterilization  of  water  supply  for  both  municipal  and  house- 
hold purposes.  In  closing,  the  president  deplored  the  recur- 
ring necessity  for  demonstrating  the  fallacies  of  municipal 
operation  of  utility  plants,  as  required  by  recent  political 
developments  in  Ohio.  The  arguments  for  municipal  light- 
ing plants,  he  pointed  out,  apply  equally  to  the  city  owner- 
ship of  the  distribution  of  food,  fuel  and  clothing,  while 
practical  experience,  he  said,  has  shown  that  the  wastes 
of  municipal  management  are  far  greater  than  the  narrow 
margin  of  private  profit. 

In  presenting  his  eleventh  annual  report  as  secretary- 
treasurer,  Mr.  D.  L.  Gaskill,  Greenville,  recommended  the 
continuance  of  the  standing  committees  of  the  association 
and  the  encouragement  of  their  work  by  frequent  con- 
ferences at  the  expense  of  the  association.  An  effort  was 
made  to  compile  the  lighting  rates  in  use  by  Ohio  com- 
panies, but  the  complexity  of  the  schedules,  said  Mr.  Gas- 
kill,  would  make  a  compact  compilation  impossible,  so  that 
it  was  decided  to  extend  the  work  of  the  committee  to  pre- 
paring an  abstract  of  the  representative  rates.  The  sec- 
retary-treasurer's report  testified  to  the  excellent  financial 
condition  of  the  association. 

election  of  officers. 

The  report  of  the  nominating  committee — Messrs.  F.  M. 
Tait,  Dayton;  M.  E.  Turner,  Cleveland,  and  W.  F.  Hub- 
bell,  Wauseon — was  accepted  and  the  following  officers 
were  elected  unanimously ; 

President,  J.  C.  Martin,  Wilmington ;  vice-president, 
J.  D.  Lyon,  Cincinnati ;  secretary-treasurer,  D.  L.  Gaskill, 
Greenville.  Executive  committee — W.  C.  Anderson,  Can- 
ton; O.  H.  Hutchings,  Dayton;  W.  Parsons,  Springfield; 
W.  R.  Griffen,  East  Liverpool ;  W.  E.  Richards,  Toledo. 
Advisory  committee — Samuel  Scovil,  Cleveland;  F.  M. 
Tait,  Dayton ;  D.  L.  Gaskill,  Greenville.  Financial  com- 
mittee— J.  T.  Kermode,  Cleveland;  F.  O.  Plymale, 
Gallipolis;  W.  G.  Rose,  Alliance.  Publicity  committee — 
W.  M.  Adams,  Elyria;  E.  W.  Lathrop,  Van  Wert;  J.  J. 
Kramer,  Fostoria;  A.  B.  Young,  Kent.  Transmission  com- 
mittee—M.  H.  Wagner,  Dayton;  S.  M.  Rust,  Greenville; 
P.  Barnard,  New  Philadelphia.  Membership  committee— 
W.  J.  Hanley,  Cleveland ;  E.  Van  Winkle,  Cincinnati ; 
P.  J.  Williams,  Columbus;  T.  J.  Ratterman,  Cincinnati; 
N.  C.  Cotabish,  Cleveland;  George  Vail,  Cleveland;  W.  F. 
Benedict,  Warren,  Ohio.  Rate  research  committee — O.  H. 
Hutchings,  Dayton;  M.  E.  Turner,  Cleveland;  J.  D.  Lyon, 
Cincinnati.  Committee  on  meters — A.  H.  Bryant,  Cleve- 
land; C.  B.  Steel,  Springfield;  John  Himes,  Dayton;  F.  C. 
Jeannot,  Marysville.  Insurance  committee — D.  L.  Gaskill, 
Greenville;  J.  C.  Martin,  Wilmington;  C.  V.  Hard, 
Wooster.  Committee  on  motor  applications — E.  A.  Bech- 
stein,  Sandusky;  C.  I.  Crippen,  Youngstown  ;  W.  F.  Hub- 
bell,  Wauseon ;  H.  L.  Montgomery,  Newark. 


iS8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  4. 


THE  PRESIDENT. 

Mr.  J.  C.  Martin,  the  newly  elected  president  of  the 
association,  is  vice-president  of  the  Wilmington  (Ohio) 
Light  &  Water  Company.  An  attorney  by  profession,  Mr. 
Martin  first  entered  the  electrical  field  in  1891  as  legal 
adviser  for  the  municipal  lighting  plant  erected  in  Wil- 
mington in  that  year.  During  the  next  ten  years  he  51so 
acted  as  purchasing  agent  and  general  superintendent  of 


the  city  plant  until  his  resignation  in  1902,  when,  with 
several  associates,  he  organized  the  present  Wilmington 
Light  &  \\'ater  Company,  of  which  he  became  vice-presi- 
dent and  manager.  After  eight  years  of  active  direction 
of  the  business  Mr.  Martin  relinquished  his  duties  as 
manager,  retaining,  however,  his  present  connection  as 
vice-president.  Mr.  Martin  is  a  member  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association. 

ENTERTAINMENT. 

In  addition  to  the  bathing  enjoyed  on  the  excellent  beach 
at  Cedar  Point,  many  entertainment  features  were  arranged 
for  the  convention  delegates  outside  the  hours  of  session. 
On  Tuesday  evening  there  was  a  banquet,  followed  by  a 
musicale  and  dancing.  On  Wednesday  afternoon  the  cen- 
tral-station men  donned  bathing  suits  for  the  annual  water- 
ball  game  with  the  supply  men.  In  the  evening  another 
association  banquet  was  closed  with  an  entertainment  by  a 
magician.  At  the  baseball  game  Thursday  afternoon  the 
central-station  men  won,  4  to  i.  In  the  evening  there  was 
a  moving-picture  show,  provided  by  the  General  Vehicle 
Company  and  the  General  Electric  Company,  and  fol- 
lowed by  a  musicale  and  dancing.  An  elaborate  entertain- 
ment program  also  occupied  the  time  of  the  ladies. 

Abstracts  of  papers  and  discussions  will  appear  in  a 
subsequent  issue. 


TELEPHONE  SITUATION  IN  CHICAGO. 


Under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Edward  W.  Bemis,  public 
utility  expert,  a  careful  examination  of  the  books  and 
records  of  the  Illinois  Tunnel  Company  of  Chicago  was 
made  recently  by  the  Everett  Audit  Company  to  determine, 
if  possible,  whether  the  company  had  20,000  bona  fide  sub- 
scribers, in  compliance  with  franchise  requirements,  on 
June  I,  1911.  The  audit  company  presented  an  elaborate 
report,  but  was  unable  to  make  a  categorical  answer  to 
the  question.  It  said,  however,  that  the  company's  records 
showed  that  on  Oct.  10,  191 1,  there  were  more  than  20,000 
subscribers.    On  June  i,  1912,  the  number  had  increased  to 


23.214.  But  the  ledgers  showed  that  between  June  i,  1911, 
and  May  i,  1912,  only  15,359  subscribers  paid  for  the 
service  in  cash  or  partly  in  cash.  The  audit  company  re- 
ported that  the  entire  cost  of  the  equipment  and  installa- 
tion of  the  automatic  telephone  exchange  in  Chicago  to 
June   I,   1912,  was  $4,387,888. 

The  Illinois  Tunnel  Company  was  anxious  to  have  its 
status  with  the  city  fixed,  as  it  declared  that  the  uncer- 
tainty affected  its  business  prospects.  It  explained  that  the 
action  of  the  city  authorities  in  withholding  permits  to 
open  streets  was  responsible  for  the  delay,  if  any,  in  secur- 
ing the  required  number  of  telephones  according  to  fran- 
chise requirements.  This  was  admitted  to  be  true  by  the 
city's  Department  of  Public  Works.  The  various  papers 
and  reports  in  the  case  were  referred  to  the  corporation 
counsel  to  advise  the  aldermen  whether  the  city  had  a  case 
against  the  company  for  forfeiture  of  its  rights. 

One  fact  brought  out  was  that  the  company  has  neg- 
lected to  pay  its  annual  compensation  of  3  per  cent  into 
the  city  treasury  for  the  three  years  ended  Jan.  15,  1912. 
This  amount,  to  be  computed  on  gross  earnings  of  the  com- 
pany, is  variously  estimated  at  from  $6,000  to  $10,000,  and 
the  corporation  counsel  was  directed  to  take  steps  to  secure 
payment. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  City  Council  committee  on  gas,  oil 
and  electric  light,  on  July  19,  an  opinion  from  the  corpora- 
tion counsel's  office,  written  by  Mr.  Bryan  Y.  Craig,  was 
read.  The  city's  legal  alvisers  gave  it  as  their  opinion 
that  on  the  showing  made  no  court  of  equity  would  uphold 
a  forfeiture  of  the  franchise,  as  the  company  has  apparently 
done  its  best,  having  been  retarded  by  the  city  itself,  and 
the  city  has  suft'ered  no  substantial  injury.  The  committee 
voted  that  the  papers  in  the  case  be  placed  on  file  and  that 
the  report  of  the  Department  of  Public  Works  and  the 
final  opinion  of  the  corporation  counsel  be  published.  This 
means  probably  that  no  further  action  will  be  taken  to 
forfeit  the  Illinois  Tunnel  Company's  franchise  on  the 
ground  that  it  did  not  comply  with  the  law  in  having  the 
requisite  number  of  subscribers  at  the  time  set  in  the 
ordinance. 


CONSOLIDATION    OF    ELECTRIC    SERVICE    COM- 
PANIES IN  CENTRAL  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Eighteen  towns  having  a  population  aggregating  70,000 
inhabitants  will  shortly  be  supplied  with  lighting  and  motor 
service  under  the  management  of  the  Central  Massachu- 
setts Light  &  Power  Company,  controlling  the  Central 
Massachusetts  Electric  Company,  of  Palmer;  the  Ware 
Electric  Company,  and  the  Union  Light  &  Power  Company, 
of  Franklin.  The  properties  have  been  taken  in  hand  by 
the  firm  of  C.  D.  Parker  &  Company,  of  Boston,  and  are 
now  being  managed  along  the  line  of  an  up-to-date  engi- 
neering and  commercial  policy.  Mr.  E.  P.  Rowell,  general 
manager  of  the  Plymouth  (Mass.)  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany, has  been  made  president  of  the  new  organization. 
The  territory  includes  the  towns  of  Palmer,  Monson,  Wil- 
braham.  East  Longmeadow,  Belchertown,  Ware,  Warren, 
Hardwick,  West  Brookfield.  North  Brookfield  and  Brook- 
field,  in  the  district  lying  between  the  cities  of  Worcester 
and  Springfield,  and  the  towns  of  Franklin,  Wrentham, 
Foxboro,  Plainville  and  a  portion  of  North  Attleboro  in  the 
district  lying  between  Norfolk  and  the  Rhode  Island  line. 
The  affairs  of  the  organization  will  be  managed  on  the 
basis  of  a  division  of  the  territory  into  the  two  groups 
above  outlined,  although  the  same  executive  direction  and 
engineering  supervision  will  be  given  each. 

The  western  group  of  properties  will  be  supplied  with 
electrical  energy  from  Palmer,  where  a  combined  steam 
and  hydroelectric  plant  on  the  Quabaug  River  is  now  being 
remodeled  for  the  coming  fall  load.  Arrangements  will  also 
be  in  effect  bv  which  electricitv  can  be  interchanged  in  the 


July  27,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


189 


Ware  district  with  the  Connecticut  River  Transmission 
Company,  whose  high-tension  lines  serve  a  large  part  of 
Worcester  County.  The  opportunity  for  the  development 
of  electric  motor-service  business  is  evidenced  by  the  pres- 
ent operation  in  this  territory  of  about  18,000  hp  in  small 
and  scattered  mill  plants  using  steam,  water-power  and 
electricity  under  conditions  of  questionable  economy.  At 
present  less  than  100  hp  in  electric  motors  is  in  service, 
with  the  exception  of  the  street-railway  load  carried  by  the 
Palmer  station  in  connection  with  the  handling  of  a  large 
volume  of  local  and  through  traffic  between  Springfield  and 
Worcester.  Both  eastern  and  western  districts  are  occupied 
by  many  manufacturing  industries,  although  a  large  part 
of  the  territory  is  rural  in  character.  Although  the  busi- 
ness of  the  constituent  companies  has  been  established  for 
over  twenty  years,  the  major  part  of  their  transmission  and 
distribution  systems  has  been  built  within  the  past  three 
years,  and  until  last  spring  a  comprehensive  managerial 
policy  wag  lacking. 

About  45  miles  of  22,000-volt,  three-phase,  60-cycle  lines 
will  be  in  service  in  the  fall.  In  the  western  district  a 
trunk  line  extends  from  North  Brookfield  through  Warren 
to  Palmer,  a  distance  of  about  16  miles,  and  a  similar  line 
extends  from  Palmer  to  East  Longmeadow,  about  13  miles. 
A  branch  line  from  Warren  extends  northwest  to  Ware  and 
Belchertown.  In  general  the  line  construction  is  of  the 
wooden-pole  type,  with  copper  conductors  ranging  in  size 
from  No.  o  to  No.  2,  carried  on  porcelain  insulators.  Sub- 
stations rated  in  initial  capacity  from  30  kw  to  400  kw 
will  be  located  at  East  Longmeadow,  North  Wilbraham, 
North  Brookfield,  Warren,  Ware  and  other  points,  and  in 
the  near  future  a  steam  plant  at  Ware  will  be  shut  down. 

The  Palmer  generating  station  contains  about  1500  kw  in 
550-volt  direct-current  generators,  two  of  which  are  directly 
driven  by  cross-compound  condensing  engines  supplied  with 
steam  from  three  water-tube  boilers.  These  boilers  also 
furnish  steam  to  a  500-hp  Slater  engine  used  in  the  opera- 
tion of  a  line  shaft  to  which  are  belted  three  generators 
having  a  combined  rating  of  850  kw,  which  were  formerly 
driven  in  part  by  waterwheels  through  rope  connections. 
A  150-kw  motor-generator  set  for  alternating-current  sup- 
ply is  alsO;in  service.  The  station  improvements  include  the 
removal  of  the  old  waterwheels  and  the  installation  of  three 
300-kva,  2300-volt  General  Electric  generators  to  be  directly 
driven  by  Holyoke  waterwheels  operating  under  a  i6-ft. 
head,  the  establishment  of  series  tungsten  street-lighting 
service  from  four  constant-current  transformers,  and  the 
gradual  elimination  of  belt-driven  generators  from  the 
normal  service  of  the  plant.  The  Quabaug  River  drains  a 
watershed  of  about  180  sq.  miles,  and  at  the  Palmer  station 
a  reservoir  of  180  acres  18  ft.  deep  furnishes  storage  for 
the  plant,  which  is  large  enough  to  permit  the  installation 
of  a  steam  turbine  unit  if  required  in  the  future.  About 
900  kw  in  step-up  transformers  will  be  installed  at  Palmer 
in  connection  with  the  transmission  circuits.  In  the  Frank- 
lin district  energy  purchased  from  the  Woonsocket  central- 
station  interests  of  Rhode  Island  is  distributed  by  the  local 
system.  This  service  includes  the  supply  of  electricity  to 
the  municipal  system  of  the  town  of  North  Attleboro,  which 
maintains  a  generating  plant  that  is  started  only  at  times  of 
peak  load.  In  this  district  the  transmissions  are  at  13,000 
volts.  A  new-business  department  has  been  organized  for 
service  in  both  eastern  and  western  districts,  under  the 
direction  of  Mr.  G.  F.  Parsons,  formerly  head  of  the 
motor-service  sales  department  of  the  Worcester  Electric 
Light  Company.  A  special  campaign  has  been  started  to 
secure  municipal  pumping  business,  and  a  house-wiring 
proposition  equipping  six  outlets  at  a  total  cost  of  $32.50 
is  a  recent  undertaking  which  was  a  factor  in  increasing 
the  residence  lighting  business  25  per  cent  in  the  last  four 
months.  The  local  manager  for  the  western  district  is 
Mr.  H.  M.  Parsons,  Mr.  H.  E.  Wilbur  being  manager  of 
the  eastern  properties. 


HEARINGS    ON 


BALTIMORE 
RATES. 


CENTRAL-STATION 


An  investigation  of  the  rates  charged  for  electrical  energy 
by  the  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company, 
of  Baltimore,  has  been  going  on  for  some  time  before  the 
Maryland  Public  Service  Commission.  The  investigation 
was  instigated  by  the  complaint  of  the  Mayor  of  Baltimore, 
alleging  that  the  existing  rate  of  90  cents  per  1000  cu.  ft. 
for  gas  and  a  maximum  rate  of  10  cents  per  kw-hr.  for 
electrical  energy,  with  a  secondary  rate  of  5  cents,  were 
excessive  and  unreasonable.  An  appraisal  of  the  company's 
property  was  made  by  the  firm  of  Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis, 
which  exhibits  a  total  valuation,  including  physical  prop- 
erty, overhead  charges  and  going  value,  of  about  $55,000,- 
000.  Testimony  has  been  given  by  Mr.  Uebelacker,  of  Ford, 
Bacon  &  Davis,  in  support  of  the  valuation  made  by  his 
firm.  Mr.  E.  W.  Bemis  has  been  retained  by  the  city  as  a 
public  utility  expert  to  assist  Mr.  Albert  C.  Ritchie,  counsel 
for  the  commission.  The  hearings  have  been  marked  at 
times  by  spirited  clashes  and  occasional  bitterness.  Mr. 
Vernon  Cook,  counsel  for  the  company,  introduced  evidence 
to  support  the  company's  claim  for  an  allowance  of  $22,000,- 
000  in  its  valuation,  representing  early  losses  in  the  gas 
and  electric  business.  An  allowance  of  $10,000,000  was 
claimed  for  the  items  of  engineering,  superintendence, 
legal  fees,  taxes,  interest  and  contingencies  during  the 
construction  period,  under  the  reproduction  theory  of  valua- 
tion. After  a  sharp  debate  between  counsel  Mr.  Ritchie 
introduced  in  evidence  tables  purporting  to  show  that  out 
of  the  total  of  $44,000,000  of  capital  stock  more  than 
$16,000,000  represents  pure  water  or  fictitious  value.  Mr. 
Ritchie's  statement  analyzed  the  history  of  the  present 
company,  taking  up  in  detail  the  consolidations  which  pre- 
ceded it.  The  hearings  have  not  yet  come  to  a  close,  and 
it  is  anticipated  that  the  investigation  will  continue  for  a 
considerable  period. 


INVESTIGATION  OF   BROOKLYN   CENTRAL- 
STATION  RATES. 


More  than  a  hundred  consumers  of  electrical  energy  in 
the  borough  of  Brooklyn,  city  of  New  York,  have  filed 
complaints  with  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  the 
First  District  alleging  that  the  rates  charged  by  the  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  and  the  Flatbush  Gas  Com- 
pany are  excessive  and  unreasonable.  The  complaint 
against  the  Edison  company  charges  that  both  the  general 
rate  of  12  cents  and  the  proposed  rate  of  11  cents  are  un- 
reasonable and  excessive  and  out  of  proportion  to  the 
proper  cost  of  manufacturing  and  deliveiiing  electrical 
energy  in  the  borough.  It  is  also  alleged  that  the  company 
has  discriminated  unfairly  between  different  classes  of 
consumers.  The  complainants  in  each  case  have  designated 
Commander  Albert  Moritz  as  their  representative  before  the 
commission  in  the  proceedings  which  will  take  place.  The 
commission  has  announced  that  the  hearings  will  commence 
July  30  at  3  p.  m. 


PROPOSED  REVISION  OF  CENTRAL-STATION  RATES 
IN  CHICAGO. 


The  Chicago  Council  committee  on  gas,  oil  and  electric 
light  has  under  consideration  the  revision  of  the  rates  for 
electrical  energy  to  be  charged  by  the  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company  during  the  next  five-year  period.  At  a 
meeting  held  on  July  18  Mr.  Maclay  Hoyne,  first  assistant 
corporation  counsel,  presented  an  informal  opinion,  in 
response  to  a  request  from  the  committee,  on  the  legal 
aspects  of  the  question.  Mr.  Hoyne  said  that  the  power  of 
the   city   government   to   regulate   central-station    rates   in 


190 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  4. 


Chicago  rests  on  statute.  The  legislative  act  gives  the  city 
authorities  power  to  fix  the  ma.ximum  rates,  subject  only 
to  the  condition  that  the  company  shall  be  allowed  a 
reasonable  return  on  its  investment.  The  question  has 
been  raised  whether  the  City  Council  can  require  the  com- 
pany to  make  rates  for  certain  classes  of  business  at  an 
actual  loss,  provided  the  return  to  the  company  on  its 
whole  investment  is  reasonable.  Mr.  Hoyne,  in  his  in- 
formal opinion,  thinks  it  not  unreasonable  to  ask  the  com- 
pany to  make  rates  on  certain  classes  of  business  at  a 
loss,  provided  the  whole  return  to  the  company  is  satis- 
factory. However,  he  doubts  whether  the  City  Council 
itself  has  the  right  to  classify  the  company's  business  and 
fix  rates  for  each  class.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the 
company  classifies  its  business  in  its  own  rate  schedules, 
and  that  being  so  it  would  seem  within  the  powers  of  the 
Council  to  fix  maximum  rates  for  each  class  of  business. 
Mr.  William  T.  Arthur,  counsel,  and  Mr.  W.  J.  Norton, 
rate  expert,  attended  the  meeting  of  the  committee  for  the 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company.  The  discussion  was 
rather  informal,  but  Mr.  Arthur  took  occasion  to  remark 
that  at  the  present  time  a  very  large  number  of  the  com- 
pany's customers — perhaps  as  high  as  50  per  cent  of  the 
total — are  supplied  at  an  actual  loss.  In  order  to  study 
the  situation  and  to  confer  with  the  corporation  counsel''; 
office  and  the  representatives  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison 
Company  the  committee  appointed  a  sub-committee  con- 
sisting of  Aldermen  Cermak,  Janovsky  and  Sitts.  This 
sub-committee  will  have  the  matter  in  charge  during  the 
summer  vacation  and  may  call  a  special  meeting  of  the 
whole  committee  if  that  is  found  desirable. 


DECISION    OF    MASSACHUSETTS    COMMISSION 
WORCESTER  STREET  LIGHTING  CASE. 


IN 


The  Massachusetts  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission 
has  issued  a  decision  fixing  the  price  of  4-amp  magnetite- 
arc  lamps  for  street  lighting  in  the  city  of  Worcester  at 
22  cents  per  lamp  per  night,  or  $80.30  per  lamp  per  year. 
This  concludes  a  long  investigation  with  many  hearings 
and  exhaustive  expert  testimony,  initiated  by  a  petition 
from  former  Mayor  Logan  for  a  reduction  in  street-lighting 
rates  charged  by  the  Worcester  Electric  Light  Company. 
The  decision  is  effective  from  Sept.  10,  191 1,  and  reduces 
the  rate  per  lamp  from  25  cents  per  night,  or  $91.25  per 
year,  to  the  above  price.  It  sets  forth  in  much  detail  the 
theories  of  the  two  parties  to  the  controversy,  the  financial 
condition  of  the  company  and  the  views  of  the  board  re- 
specting the  principles  involved.  This  is  one  of  the  most 
important  street-lighting  cases  which  have  come  before  a 
state  commission  in  recent  years,  and  a  resume  of  the  de- 
cision is  given  below. 

At  the  time  the  complaint  was  filed  the  street  lamps  sup- 
plied by  the  company  were  practically  all  of  the  4-amp 
magnetite  type,   870   lamps  being  in   service  on  June   30, 

1910,  and  919  a  year  later.  The  lamps  are  in  service  all 
night,  every  night,  or  about  4000  hours  per  year.  Since 
1906  there  has  been  no  contract  with  the  city,  the  price 
being  25  cents  per  night  as  above  stated.  Within  the  last 
three  years  the  company  has  adopted  a  more  liberal  policy 
toward  the  public  and  has  built  a  new  generating  station 
at  a  cost  of  about  $800,000,  the  old  plant  now  being  used 
as  a  substation.  While  operating  costs  have  been  relatively 
high  in  this  transition  period,  increased  efficiency  is  antici- 
pated from  the  improvements  effected.  On  June  30,  191 1, 
the  sum  of  the  current  assets  and  the  book  value  of  the 
property  was  $2,218,834,  against  which  there  were  outstand- 
ing debts  of  $422,818  and  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000.  For 
several  years  the  company  has  paid  a  regular  dividend  of 
10  per  cent.  The  growth  of  business  is  shown  by  the  in- 
crease of  total  sales  from  $347,542  in  1909  to  $453,732  in 

191 1.  The  sales   of  energy   for  street  lighting  increased 


from  1,301,100  kw-hr.  to  1,354,800  kw-hr. ;  commercial 
lighting  sales  rose  from  2,662,231  kw-hr.  to  3,181,793  kw-hr., 
and  sales  for  motor  service  from  916,642  kw-hr.  to  3,139,556 
kw-hr. 

The  theories  upon  which  the  company  and  the  city  based 
their  arguments  are  fully  outlined  in  the  decision  and  have 
been  referred  to  in  these  columns  in  connection  with  the 
accounts  of  the  hearings  in  191 1.  The  expert  for  the  city, 
Mr.  W.  D.  Marks,  of  New  York,  concluded  that  the  fair 
price  for  service  was  $64.83  per  lamp  per  year,  while  the 
company  maintained  that  $91.94  was  the  annual  cost  per 
lamp  taking  all  charges  into  account.  Both  sides  endeavored 
to  determine  the  price  upon  the  basis  of  operating  costs  and 
fixed  charges  on  the  property  needed  for  street-lighting 
service.  There  were  marked  differences  of  opinion  regard- 
ing these  allowances.  Discussing  this  matter,  the  board 
pointed  out  that  the  company's  more  intimate  knowledge 
of  its  affairs  enabled  it  to  make  a  more  detailed  analysis 
of  its  business  and  a  more  convincing  array  of  the  items  of 
investment  and  expense  theoretically  attributable  to  the 
arc  lighting  system.  The  board  said :  "Any  attempt,  how- 
ever, at  a  separation,  either  as  to  investment  or  operation, 
must  in  the  nature  of  things  be  theoretical  and  based  on 
many  assumptions,  arbitrary  though  plausible.  The  munici- 
pal arc  system  is  operated  as  an  integral  part  of  the  com- 
pany's entire  plant.  The  fundamental  reason  for  the  failure 
to  accept  either  method  as  in  itself  conclusive  is  that  the 
municipal  arc  system  is  neither  a  separate  nor  a  readily 
separable  part  of  the  company's  business." 

The  commission  conceded  that  the  lamp-posts,  lamps  and 
fixtures  and  the  wires  and  underground  cables  by  which 
they  are  supplied,  as  well  as  the  rectifier  plant,  are  all  de- 
voted exclusively  to  this  service.  The  wages  of  trimmers 
and  patrolmen  and  the  expenses  for  repairs  and  renewals 
may  be  definitely  ascertained,  but  beyond  these  items  con- 
sideration must  be  given  to  the  cost  of  conducting  the  com- 
pany's commercial  business  as  well  as  the  street  lighting. 
While  over  $48,000  was  added  to  the  investment  in  the 
street-lighting  system  in  the  erection  of  the  new  plant,  this 
was  not  because  of  any  substantial  increase  in  the  arc-lamp 
load,  present  or  future,  but  rather  because  of  the  company's 
rapidly  expanding  commercial  business.  Even  on  the  in- 
vestment ratios  used  by  the  company,  the  value  of  the  sta- 
tion and  generating  equipment  charged  to  the  street-lighting 
system  is  less  than  the  cost  of  an  independent  municipal 
plant.  On  this  point  the  board  said:  "But  this  is  an  ad- 
vantage which  belongs  to  the  concentration  in  one  station 
of  the  generation  of  electricity  for  all  its  varied  uses,  and 
the  city  no  less  than  the  commercial  customers  is  entitled  to 
benefit  therefrom." 

The  board  considered  the  company's  theory  of  apportion- 
ing the  underground  conduit  charges  to  the  arc  lighting 
system  highly  artificial,  and  pointed  out  that  the  expected 
growth  of  the  duct  system  lies  mainly  on  the  side  of  com- 
mercial business.  While  ducts  already  in  use  are  in  many 
cases  not  fully  occupied,  the  arc  lighting  circuits  undoubt- 
edly have  been  extended  into  every  conduit  as  soon  as  con- 
structed. The  company's  investment  in  the  street-lighting 
system  is  not  separate  and  distinct,  and  it  cannot  readily 
or  satisfactorily  be  determined.  The  board  also  pointed  out 
that  no  commercial  customer  has  a  better  load-factor  than 
the  street-lighting  system  or  makes  a  longer  daily  use  of  the 
service.  A  commercial  lighting  customer  with  a  much 
smaller  consumption  than  the  street-lighting  system  might 
be  entitled  to  a  rate  of  2.5  cents  under  the  company's 
schedule,  which  would  cover  not  only  the  proportionate 
operating  expenses  but  also  the  depreciation  and  the  return 
upon  the  company's  investment.  For  the  last  two  items 
the  city  must  contribute  3  cents  per  kw-hr.,  in  addition  to 
the  2.7  cents  which  the  company  computes  is  the  unit  cost 
of  energy  at  the  lamp  terminals,  including  maintenance  and 
renewals  on  that  part  of  the  distributing  system  chargeable 
to  the  arc  lighting  system. 


July  2y,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D 


191 


The  essential  feature  of  the  city  expert's  theory  of  rate 
malviiig  was  an  assumption  with  respect  to  the  average 
daily  use  of  the  total  connected  load  and  the  relation  of  this 
to  the  average  daily  use  of  the  street  lamps.  The  board 
pointed  out  that  the  total  connected  load  was  never  in  use 
for  any  given  time  on  any  day  throughout  the  year  for 
which  Mr.  Marks'  calculations  were  made,  and  that  the 
deduction  of  unit  costs  based  upon  a  supposed  use  of  the 
connected  load  for  as  many  hours  per  day  as  the  street 
lamps  are  in  service  is  far  from  convincing.  The  cost 
computed  by  either  theory  might  be  materially  affected  by 
changes  in  the  company's  commercial  business.  Without 
very  serious  alteration  in  the  items  of  investment  and 
operation  charged  by  the  company  to  street  lighting,  justifi- 
cation may  be  found,  even  on  the  company's  theory,  of  the 
price  fixed  by  the  commission. 

The  result  of  its  investigation  has  convinced  the  board 
that  the  price  charged  for  street  lighting  cannot  and  should 
not  be  fixed  without  taking  into  account  the  conditions  sur- 
roundmg  the  entire  business  of  the  company.  To  this  con- 
sideration little  regard  was  paid  by  either  side.  On  this 
point  the  board  said:  "Every  step  in  the  application  of  both 
theories  showed  how  intimately  and  inseparably  the  munic- 
ipal arcs  are  associated  with  every  other  part  of  the  com- 
pany's business.  It  is  difficult  to  see  why  the  relative 
volume  of  income  should  be  entirely  ignored,  if  ratios  based 
upon  the  whole  extent  and  volume  of  the  company's  invest- 
ment and  operations  are  to  be  so  unsparingly  used.  .  .  . 
No  one  is  disposed  to  deny  to  this  company  a  fair  return 
upon  the  property  which  it  is  actively  and  necessarily  em- 
ploying for  the  public  convenience.  But  if  the  income 
from  its  entire  business  is  more  than  sufficient  to  provide 
for  all  reasonable  operating  expenses,  including  a  proper 
allowance  for  depreciation  and  a  fair  and  even  liberal  re- 
turn, there  is  every  reason  why  a  reduction  in  price  can  and 
should  be  made.  If  a  reduction  is  to  be  made  for  this  rea- 
son those  customers  who  belong  to  the  first  class  (who  are 
wholly  dependent  on  the  company  for  supply)  should  profit 
by  it,  for  there  can  be  little  ground  for  lowering  prices 
already  fixed,  not  primarily  by  cost,  but  on  the  basis  of 
what  customers  will  and  can  afford  to  pay." 

The  board  recognizes  that  this  company,  like  others  in 
the  State,  has  repeatedly  been  compelled  to  abandon  com- 
paratively new  apparatus  for  more  modern  or  efficient  types, 
and  has  made  an  unusually  heavy  investment  in  underground 
plant.  But.  on  the  other  hand,  it  has  enjoyed  a  high  degree 
of  prosperity.  Of  the  amounts  expended  on  its  plant  since 
1888,  nearly  half  has  been  provided  out  of  earnings,  through 
depreciation  charges  and  the  accumulation  of  actual  sur- 
plus, and  in  addition  to  all  this  there  have  been  ample  main- 
tenance charges.  In  closing,  the  board  pointed  out  that 
if  the  company  still  desires  to  reduce  its  maximum  rate  to 
private  consumers  the  rate  fixed  for  street  lamps  will  not 
interfere,  but  the  board  believes  that  it  would  be  unjust  by 
a  reduction  in  the  price  for  street  lighting  to  shift  the  city's 
burden  to  private  consumers,  and  in  the  rate  named  has  been 
governed  by  this  consideration. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


MASSACHUSETTS    COMMISSION. 

The  Fall  River  Gas  Works  Company,  a  property  under 
the  management  of  Stone  &  Webster,  has  appealed  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts  to  set  aside  a  recent  order 
of  the  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission  dismissing  a 
petition  by  the  company  for  authority  to  issue  1050  shares 
of  additional  capital  stock.  The  board's  action  was  based 
upon  the  finding  that  the  general  prosperity  of  the  com- 
pany and  the  declaration  of  extra  dividends  in  recent  years 
rendered  the  issuance  of  further  securities  at  the  present 
time  an  unnecessary  burden  upon  the  public.     The  appeal 


will  be  argued  before  the  court  in  the  fall  and  involves 
various  questions  of  importance  in  connection  with  the 
regulation  of  public  utility  finances.  The  physical  value  of 
the  property  in  question  is  considerably  in  excess  of  the 
outstanding  securities. 

NEW    YOKK    COMMISSION,    SECOND    DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission  of  New  York  for  the 
Second  District  has  made  an  order  requiring  the  Coopers- 
town  Gas  Company  forthwith  to  make  such  improvements 
m  its  plant  as  will  enable  it  to  supply  gas  to  its  customers 
at  all  times  and  in  such  quantities  as  they  may  desire.  At 
a  hearing  on  June  11  the  company's  representatives  admitted 
that  the  report  made  by  an  inspector  for  the  commission 
was  correct  and  that  the  service  of  the  company  was  inade- 
quate and  insufficient. 

Ohio'  commission. 

The  application  of  the  Hamilton  Home  Telephone  Com- 
pany for  an  order  compelling  the  Cincinnati  &  Suburban 
Bell  Telephone  Company  to  handle  its  long-distance  busi- 
ness between  Hamilton  and  Cincinnati  was  heard  by  the 
commission  last  week.  After  all  the  evidence  was  in,  the 
commission  referred  the  principal  question,  which  is  the 
construction  of  Section  66  of  the  public  utilities  act,  to 
Attorney-General  Hogan  for  an  opinion.  The  Hamilton 
company  has  no  line  running  into  Cincinnati,  but  alleges 
that  the  law  gives  the  commission  power  to  compel  the 
Bell  company  to  accept  toll  traffic  having  Cincinnati  as  its 
destination.  The  wording  of  the  statute  is  obscure,  but 
attorneys  for  the  Hamilton  company  argued  that  it  must 
be  construed  broadly  in  such  cases  and  not  merely  accord- 
ing to  the  wording.  While  the  Attorney-General  has  not 
yet  issued  an  opinion  on  the  question,  it  is  said  that  he 
has  intimated  to  the  attorneys  for  both  sides  that  the  com- 
mission has  no  jurisdiction   in  this  case. 

The  Cleveland  Telephone  Company  has  filed  an  inventory 
of  its  property  with  the  commission  as  a  part  of  the  in- 
formation required  in  connection  with  a  request  for  author- 
ity to  increase  its  capital  stock  from  $3,100,000  to  $4,000,000. 
A  value  of  $6,035,297  is  placed  on  the  physical  property, 
but  it  is  claimed  that  it  would  require  $8,070,262  to  repro- 
duce it.  'Various  items  mentioned  are  valued  as  follows: 
Pole  lines,  $462,857;  aerial  cables,  $240,891;  aerial  wires, 
$866,824;  conduits,  $848,647:  underground  cables,  $648,534; 
central-office  equipment,  $740,964;  subscribers'  station  equip- 
ment, $259,054;  subscribers'  station  equipment,  installation, 
$219,292;  private  branch  exchanges,  $211,020;  real  estate 
and  buildings,  $612,968;  land,  $162,176;  supplies,  $194,368; 
pavements,  $431,640. 

WISCONSIN    COMMISSION. 

The  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission  has  handed  down  a 
decision  ordering  the  Sheboygan  Gas  Light  Company  to 
reduce  its  rates.  Under  the  old  rates  of  $1.35  net  per  1000 
cu.  ft.  for  a  consumption  of  10,000  cu.  ft.  per  month  or  less 
and  an  excess  rate  of  $1.25  net  per  1000  cu.  ft.,  an  analysis 
showed  that  about  98  per  cent  of  the  gas  sold  was  paid  for 
at  the  higher  rate.  After  a  careful  investigation  of  the 
matters  involved,  the  commission  concluded  that  a  reduction 
in  rates  was  justifiable,  although  the  company's  expenses 
are  considerably  higher  than  normal  when  measured  by  the 
amount  of  business  done.  This  was  attributed  to  the  poor 
development  of  the  business,  for  which  the  old  rate  schedule 
was  held  to  be  largely  responsible.  The  company's  claim 
of  a  going  value  was  not  allowed,  inasmuch  as  the  investiga- 
tion showed  that  the  owners  have  not  invested  in  the  busi- 
ness more  than  is  represented  by  the  present  value  of  the 
physical  property.  The  rates  ordered  by  the  commission  are 
as  follows:  For  the  first  1000  cu.  ft.  used  per  month,  $1.20 
net;  for  the  next  4000  cu.  ft.,  $1  net;  for  all  gas  used  in 
excess  of  5000  cu.  ft.,  85  cents  net.  The  company  hereto- 
fore has  made  no  minimum  charge,  but  the  commission 
authorized  a  minimum  bill  varying  from  25  cents  per  month 
for  a  three-light  meter  to  $4  for  a  200-light  meter. 


192 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  4. 


Current  News  and  Notes 

XoRTH  Dakota  Convention  Postponed. — Owing  to  the 
fact  that  many  of  the  members  were  unable  to  attend  at 
the  announced  date,  the  annual  meeting  of  the  North 
Dakota  State  Electrical  Association,  scheduled  for  July  16 
to  18  at  Grand  Forks,  N.  D.,  has  been  postponed.  The 
new  date  of  the  convention  has  not  been  announced. 


Concentration  in  Central  Illinois. — The  Central 
Illinois  Public  Service  Company,  of  Mattoon,  111.,  is  extend- 
ing the  field  of  its  operations  in  the  central  portion  of  the 
State  of  Illinois  and  is  reported  to  be  reaching  out  into 
surrounding  territory.  It  is  said  that  options  have  been 
obtained  on  several  small  plants  in  Christian  County  and 
adjoining  counties. 

*     *     * 

Proposed  Detroit  Telephone  Merger. — Numerous  in- 
dependent telephone  companies  in  Michigan  have  sent  let- 
ters of  protest  to  the  State  Railroad  Commission  objecting 
to  the  proposed  consolidation  of  the  local  Bell  and  inde- 
pendent telephone  companies  in  Detroit.  The  outside  in- 
dependent telephone  companies  argue  that  in  case  the 
consolidation  takes  place  they  will  be  unable  to  secure 
connection  with  Detroit  and  thus  will  be  practically  confined 
to   their   immediate   localities. 


Seattle;  "The  growing  body  of  opinion  in  the  British  in- 
dustry in  support  of  the  so-called  "forward  policy'  of  the 
Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers  will  perhaps  in  the  near 
future  justify  a  proposal  to  send  over  a  representative  party 
of  delegates  to  American  conventions.  The  mere  reading 
of  newspaper  reports  cannot  convey  the  psychological  ef- 
fect of  these  great  conferences,  and  three  weeks  devoted  to 
one  of  the  Eastern  cities  for  this  purpose  would  be  of 
greater  benefit  than  a  decade  of  municipal  electric  associa- 
tion congresses." 

*     *     * 

Convention  of  the  California  State  Electrical  Con- 
tractors.— During  the  present  week  the  third  annual  con- 
vention of  the  California  State  Association  of  Electrical 
Contractors  is  being  held  in  San  Jose,  Cal.,  the  headquarters 
being  at  the  Hotel  St.  James.  Business  meetings  were 
scheduled  for  the  mornings  of  July  24  and  25  and  an  open 
meeting  on  the  morning  of  July  26.  The  entertainment 
program  provided  for  sight-seeing  trips  to  Congress  Springs 
and  Los  Gatos  on  July  24,  a  sight-seeing  trip  to  Palo  Alto 
on  July  25,  with  a  rejuvenation  of  the  Sons  of  Jove  and  a 
theater  party  at  night,  and  a  sight-seeing  trip  to  Alum 
Rock  canyon  on  July  26,  followed  by  the  annual  dinner  of 
the  association.  A  picnic  and  lunch  were  scheduled  for 
July  27,  with  dances,  games,  etc.,  at  Luna  Park.  A  base- 
ball game  between  the  northern  and  the  southern  con- 
tractors was  planned  for  the  morning  and  one  between  the 
supply  men  and  the  contractors  for  the  afternoon. 


Electrical  Progress  in  Los  Angeles. — A  synopsis  of 
the  annual  report  of  City  Electrician  Manahan,  of  Los 
Angeles,  for  the  year  ended  June  30,  1912,  shows  that 
during  that  year  the  city  electrician's  department  issued 
18,281  permits  for  electrical  construction  work.  This  rep- 
resents an  increase  of  18  per  cent  over  the  preceding  year. 
The  permits  for  the  years  1911-1912  provided  for  the  in- 
stallation of  nearly  300,000  i6-cp  lamp  equivalents  and 
about  6800  hp  in  motors. 

*     *     * 

Milwaukee  Rejuvenation  of  Sons  of  Jove. — The  first 
rejuvenation  of  the  Sons  of  Jove  in  the  State  of  Wis- 
consin is  announced  for  the  evening  of  Saturday,  July  27, 
and  will  be  held  in  the  banquet  hall  of  the  Republican 
House,  Milwaukee.  The  advance  prospects  point  to  a 
large  class  of  candidates,  and  responses  to  invitations  in- 
dicate that  a  number  of  prominent  out-of-tow'n  Jovians  from 
Chicago  and  elsewhere  will  attend.  The  arrangements  will 
be  in  charge  of  Mr.  George  A.  Saylor,  of  the  H.  W.  Johns- 
Manville  Company's  Milwaukee  office,  statesman  for  Wis- 
consin, and  Mr.  R.  M.  Van  Vleet,  of  the  Cutler-Hammer 
Manufacturing  Company,  former  Mercury. 


No  Electrical  Show  in  Chicago  Next  Year. — The 
Electrical  Trades  Exposition  Company  of  Chicago,  which 
has  given  six  annual  electrical  shows  in  the  Coliseum,  has 
decided  not  to  give  a  show  in  1913.  Beginning  in  1906 
and  up  to  and  including  191 1  the  association  gave  a  show 
every  year.  It  was  decided  to  omit  the  show  this  year,  and 
similar  action  has  now  been  taken  with  reference  to  next 
year.  It  is  probable  that  a  show  will  be  given  in  1914. 
The  exposition  company  maintains  its  organization,  with 
Mr.  H.  E.  Niesz  as  manager.  If  the  annual  convention  of 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association  should  be  held  in 
Chicago  next  year  it  is  not  unlikely  that  an  exhibition  of 
electrical  appliances  will  be  given  at  that  time. 


English  Comments  on  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  Seattle  Con- 
vention.— ^Under  date  of  July  17  the  Engineering  Supple- 
ment of  the  London  Times  made  the  following  comments, 
among  others,  upon  the  recent  N.  E.  L.  A.  convention  at 


Proposed  Anti-Trust  Legislation. — As  a  result  of  the 
investigation  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation  by 
the  Stanley  steel  committee  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives three  bills  have  just  been  reported  amending  the  Sher- 
man anti-trust  law.  The  most  important  of  these  bills 
embodies  a  number  of  the  provisions  contained  in  the 
La  Follette-Lenroot  bill  introduced  in  December,  191 1,  and 
was  prepared  in  accordance  with  the  suggestions,  among 
others,  of  Mr.  Louis  D.  Brandeis,  of  Boston.  This  bill 
amends  the  act  of  1890  by  the  addition  of  ten  sections. 
When  it  has  been  shown  that  any  combination  in  restraint 
of  trade  actually  exists,  the  burden  of  proof  to  establish 
the  reasonableness  of  such  restraint  is  placed  by  the  pro- 
posed act  upon  the  defendant.  A  long  list  of  acts  con- 
stituting unreasonable  restraint  of  trade  is  given  in  the 
text  of  the  bill.  It  provides,  furthermore,  that  no  corpora- 
tion or  association  shall  control  more  than  30  per  cent 
ad  valorem  of  the  business  transacted  in  any  particular 
commodity  within  the  United  States.  Current  reports  do 
not  indicate  that  these  bills  will  pass. 
*     *     * 

Destructive  Floods  in  Denver,  Col. — On  July  14  one 
of  the  most  destructive  storms  ever  experienced  in  Colorado 
swept  down  on  Denver,  causing  heavy  damage  to  the  va- 
rious public  utility  companies.  The  2-ft.  main  supplying 
gas  to  South  Denver  was  destroyed  by  a  flood  in  Cherry 
Creek,  and  much  of  the  stock  in  the  basement  of  the  Den- 
ver Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company's  warehouse  was  ruined. 
The  central  stations  themselves  escaped  damage,  although 
a  6-in.  rise  would  have  sufficed  to  flood  the  main  station  of 
the  Denver  City  Tramways.  By  the  prompt  use  of  pumps 
submergence  was  avoided,  although  several  stretches  of 
track  were  washed  away  and  four  bridges  were  rendered 
unsafe.  The  new  fireproof  car  barn  was  flooded,  damaging 
the  motors  and  electrical  equipment  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent. This  necessitated  the  operation  of  old-type  cars  on 
several  lines  until  the  equipment  could  be  put  into  shape 
for  service  again,  and  owing  to  the  fact  that  all  but  three 
of  the  ten  bridges  across  Cherry  Creek  were  rendered  use- 
less many  of  the  cars  had  to  be  re-routed  until  the  bridges 
were  repaired.  As  a  result  of  the  city's  experience  Cherry 
Creek  will  be  provided  with  a  new  bed  outside  of  the  city 
limits. 


ELECTRICITY  IN  CANADIAN  GOLD  FIELDS. 

Jystem  of  the  West  Kootenay  Power  &  Light  Company,  Ltd.,  in  the  Mining 
Region  Around  Rossland,  British  Columbia. 

Energy  at  a  Potential  of  60,000  Volts  Transmitted  from  Bonnington  Falls  to  Nelson,  Trail  and  Rossland 

— Electricity  Employed  Almost  Exclusively  as  Motive  Power  in  Gold  and  Copper 

Mines,  Which  Furnish  the  Chief  Load  on  the  System. 


OCATED  in  the  southern  portion  of 
the  province  of  British  Columbia  just 
north  of  the  Idaho  and  Washington 
boundary  line  is  a  great  gold,  copper 
and  lead  mining  district  centering 
about  the  cities  of  Nelson  and  Ross- 
land. The  majority  of  the  mines 
have  been  developed  within  the  past 
ten  or  fifteen  years,  and  the  demands 
for  electricity  in  that  section  for 
mining  and  smelter  work  far  e.xceed 
!  the  demands  arising   from  the  need 

3f  energy  for  use  in  lighting  the  cities. 

At  Bonnington  Falls  on  the  Kootenay  River  are  two 
fiydroelectric  generating  stations  owned  by  the  West  Koo- 
tenay Power'  &  Light  Company,  Ltd.,  of  Rossland.  The 
:ompany  also  operates  an  additional  plant  on  the  Kettle 
River  in  the  boundary  district  about  12  miles  below  the 
town  of  Grand  Forks  at  a  place  known  as  Cascade  City, 
but  at  the  present  time  this  plant  is  held  in  reserve  for 
smergency  use,  as  is  also  the  plant  located  on  the  lower 
Bonnington  Falls.  The  station  of  the  company  located  on 
the  upper  Bonnington  Falls,  about  one  mile  distant  from 
the  older  station,  was  completed  in  1907  and  is  the  chief 
generating  station  of  the  system. 

WATERSHED. 

The  Koot<nay  River  has  a  total  length  of  approximately 
350  miles  and  drains  an  area  of  9800  square  miles.  The 
minimum  flow  at  Bonnington  Falls,  10  miles  below  the  city 
of  Nelson,  is  5850  cu.  ft.  per  second ;  the  maximum  flow  is 
about  60,000  cu.  ft.  per  second.  The  low-water  period 
occurs  during  the  months  of  January  and  February,  and 
high  water  is  encountered  in  June  and  July.     The  flow  de- 


pends almost  entirely  on  the  melting  snows  from  the  moun- 
tains on  all  sides. 

STATION   NO.   I. 

Station  No.  i,  situated  on  the  lower  Bonnington  Falls, 
has  a  rating  of  4000  hp.  The  plant  was  begun  in  1897  and 
was  completed  and  transmitting  energy  to  Rossland  and 
Trail  the  following  year.  The  normal  working  head  is  34 
ft.,  and  the  installation  comprises  three  units,  two  of  which 
have  a  rating  of  1000  hp  each,  the  third  being  rated  at 
2000  hp.  The  generators  are  directly  connected  to  the 
water  wheels,  which  are  of  the  Victor  type,  having  hori- 
zontal setting  cylinder  gates  and  one  right-hand  and  one 
left-hand  runner  on  each  unit,  the  smaller  units  having 
39-in.  runners  and  the  large  unit  45-in.  runners.  The  gen- 
erators are  rated  at  three-phase,  iioo  volts,  60  cycles,  and 
run  at  a  speed  of  180  r.p.m.  The  generator  voltage  is 
stepped  up  through  air-blast  transformers  to  a  tension  of 
2200  volts,  there  being  four  looo-hp  banks,  three  trans- 
formers in  each  bank.  The  entire  electrical  equipment  of 
the  station  was  furnished  by  the  Canadian  General  Electric 
Company. 

STATION  NO.  2. 

Station  No.  2,  on  the  upper  Bonnington  Falls,  about  one 
mile  from  station  No.  i,  is  built  in  the  channel  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Kootenay  River,  where  about  70,000  cu. 
yd.  of  granite  had  to  be  blasted  for  the  forebay,  power- 
house site  and  tailrace.  The  natural  head  of  water  is 
about  63  ft.  at  low-water  stage,  but  during  high  water  this 
head  is  reduced  to  56  ft.  owing  to  a  difference  of  7  ft. 
between  the  rise  of  water  above  and  below  the  falls  caused 
by  the  contracted  area  of  the  channel  a  short  distance 
below  the  falls.  In  order  to  overcome  this  loss  of  head 
(luring  high  water  the  company  has  decided  to  remove  the 


Fig.    1 — Main    Floor  of   Power   House   on    Upper    Bonnington    Falls. 


194 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  \'o.  4 


obstructions  in  the  channel  and  thus  increase  the  sectional 
area  to  such  an  extent  that  the  water  level  at  high  water 
below  the  falls  will  be  lowered  about  5  ft.  The  company 
will  also  build  a  dam  across  the  river  above  the  falls  in 
order  to  raise  the  head  at  high  water,  and  by  this  means 
equalize  the  head  between   the   extremes  of  high  and  low 


Fig.   2 — Exterior  of   Power   House    No.   2. 

water  and  at  the  same  time  increase  the  working  head 
to  70  ft. 

The  power  house  is  of  monolithic  concrete.  The  water 
enters  the  flume  through  submerged  openings  between  the 
piers  and  can  be  shut  off  by  gates  and  stop  logs  operated 
by  an  electrically  driven  overhead  traveling  crane.  Screens 
are  placed  behind  the  gates,  making  them  accessible  for 
repairs.  The  water  flows  down  the  tube  formed  in  the 
concrete  to  the  wheels,  of  which  there  are  three  on  each 
shaft,  two  discharging  into  the  upper  draft  tube  and  one 
into  the  lower  tube.  The  draft  tubes  are  molded  in  the 
concrete  and  joined  together  at  the  lower  end,  forming 
one  common  discharge.  No  steel  lining  is  employed  in  the 
construction    of   the   tubes. 

In  the  chamber  beneath  the  main  floor  are  located  the 
pressure  pumps,  governors  and  low-tension  cables,  the  only 
machinery  on  the  main  floor  being  the  generators  and  the 
switchboards.  A  30-ton  electrically  operated  overhead 
traveling  crane  spans  the  generator  room,  and  tracks  are 
provided  so  that  standard  railroad  cars  can  be  brought  into 
the  power  house  under  the  crane.  The  tailrace  openings 
are  provided  with  gates  and  stop  logs  for  each  unit,  and  by 
closing  these  and  pumping  out  the  water  the  wheels  and 
draft  tubes  are  accessible  for  examination  at  any  stage  of 
the  water.  A  motor-driven  centrifugal  pump  is  installed  for 
this  purpose  with  the  suction  pipe  connected  to  each  draft 
tube  chamber.  At  right  angles  to  the  power  house  and 
parallel  with  the  railroad  siding  is  the  transformer  and 
switch  house. 

GENERATING  EQUIPMENT. 

Each  of  the  main  units  has  a  rating  of  8000  hp  when 
operating  under  a  head  of  70  ft.  and  at  a  speed  of  180 
r.p.m.,  the  unit  requiring  1260  cu.  ft.  of  water  per  second  at 
full  load.  There  are  three  inward  flow  Francis-type  runners 
mounted  on  a  vertical  shaft,  the  upper  and  intermediate 
runners  discharging  in  opposite  directions  into  one  common 
draft  tube  and  the  upper  runners  discharging  downward. 
The  lower  runner  also  discharges  downward,  but  into  a  sep- 
arate draft  tube.  The  chamber  of  the  top  runner  is  con- 
nected by  a  pipe  to  the  draft  tube  so  that  the  thrust  is  prac- 
tically balanced.  The  thrust  bearing,  therefore,  has  only 
the  dead  weight  to  provide  for  and  is  made  up  of  two  disks, 
the  lower  one  being  supported  by  a  ball  seat  and  the  upper 
one  being  held  in  place  by  an  adjustable  nut  on  the  shaft. 
Oil  under  a  pressure  of  250  lb.  per  square  inch  is  forced 
between  the  disks.  Each  unit  is  governed  by  a  "Glocker- 
White"  mechanical  governor,  which  is  under  the  control  of 


the  switchboard  operator  stationed  on  the  main  floor  0 
the  building. 

Provision  has  been  made  for  four  generators,  two  0 
which  are  at  present  installed.  Each  unit  is  of  the  umbrell; 
type,  directly  connected  to  the  vertical  water-wheel  shaf 
and  rated  at  4500  kw,  2200  volts,  60  cycles  and  180  r.p.m 
The  exciters  are  also  of  the  umbrella  type,  and  either  of  th 
two  is  capable  of  furnishing  excitation  for  the  entin 
station. 

The  transformer  house  is  arranged  for  four  banks  o 
60,000-volt  transformers,  two  of  which  are  installed.  Thi 
transformers  are  water-cooled  and  oil-insulated.  Threi 
transformers  connected  in  delta  constitute  a  bank,  and  eacl 
transformer  has  a  rating  of  1875  kw.  There  is  also  in 
stalled  a  bank  of  three  transformers,  each  of  which  i; 
rated  at  1250  kw  for  stepping  up  the  tension  from  2200  tt 
22,000  volts.  The  latter  bank  may  be  paralleled  with  thi 
No.  I  station,  and  is  used  for  supplying  energy  to  Rossland 
Trail  and  Nelson.  All  of  the  apparatus  in  No.  2  statiot 
was  furnished  by  the  Canadian  Westinghouse  Company  am 
the  water-wheels  by  the  L  P.  Morris  Company,  of  Phila 
delphia.  Pa. 

\Vlien  complete  the  equipment  in  No.  2  plant  will  com 
prise  four  4500-kw  generators,  four  banks  of  6o,ooo-vol 
transformers,  one  bank  of  22,000-volt  transformers  anc 
two  130-kw  e.xciters,  connected  to  two  500-hp  turbin( 
wheels. 

SUBSTATIONS. 

Substations  are  operated  by  the  company  at  Trail,  Ross- 
land,  Grand  Forks,  Phoenix  and  Greenwood,  the  desigr 
and  layout  being  similar  to  that  of  the  transformer  housf 
at  the  generating  station. 

The  substation  at  Trail  is  owned  by  the  Consolidated 
Mining  &  Smelting  Company  of  Canada,  Ltd.,  and  is  sup- 
plied with  energy  from  generating  stations  No.  i  and  No.  2 
The  equipment  installed  comprises  one  bank  of  three  trans- 
formers, each  of  which  is  rated  at  1250  kw.  They  are  oi 
the  Canadian  Westinghouse  manufacture,  and  step  down  the 
potential    from    16,500   to   600    volts.      There    are    also    six 


Fig.    3 — Pump    Chamber. 

150-kw  Wagner  transformers  in  the  substation,  possessing 
the  same  ratio  of  transformation.  The  switchboard  ap- 
paratus, including  lightning  arresters,  was  manufactured 
by  the  Canadian  General  Electric  Company. 

The  Rossland  substation  is  connected  to  plants  No.  i  and 
No.  2.    There  are  three  banks  of  transformers  installed,  one 


July  27,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


19s 


bank  of  three  1250-kw  units  which  steps  down  the  potential 
from  60,000  to  22,000  voI*s,  and  two  banks  of  six  750-kw 
transformers  which  step  down  the  potential  from  16,600  to 
2200  volts.  The  larger  transformers  are  of  the  oil-in- 
sulated,  water-cooled  type  manufactured  by  the  Canadian 
Westinghouse  Company,  and  the  smaller  transformers  are 


gorge  where  there  is  a  series  of  rapids  and  falls,  the  natural 
fall  of  which  is  120  ft.  This  head  has  been  increased  to 
156  ft.  by  building  a  dam  at  the  head  of  the  gorge  and 
raising  the  water  by  this  means  about  36  ft.  From  the  dam 
the  water  is  conveyed  through  an  open  rock  cut  700  ft. 
long   and    a    tunnel    400    ft.    long    to    the    headgates,    from 


Fig.  4 — Head-Works  of  Power  House  at   Bonnington   Falls. 

of  the  air-blast  type.  These,  together  with  the  switchboard 
apparatus,  were  supplied  by  the  Canadian  General  Electric 
Company.  Eventually  the  station  will  contain  four  banks  of 
air-blast  transformers. 

The  substation  at  Grand  Forks  is  supplied  with  energy 
from  station  No.  2,  and  the  transforming  equipment  pro- 
vided consists  of  four  1250-kw  oil-insulated,  water-cooled 
Canadian  Westinghouse  units,  which  reduce  the  potential 
from  60,000  to  440  volts.  The  switchboard  apparatus,  in- 
cluding motor-operated,  oil-break  switches,  storage-battery 
set,  lightning  arresters,  etc.,  is  of  Canadian  General  Electric 
manufacture.  The  substation  will  eventually  contain  two 
banks  (six  transformers  of  1250  kw  each). 

The  Phoenix  substation,  which  is  supplied  with  energy 
from  plant  No.  2,  contains  the  following  equipment:  One 
bank  (three  transformers  of  1250  kw  each)  for  stepping 
down  the  pressure  from  60,000  to  2200  volts.  These  units 
are  of  the  oil-insulated,  water-cooled  type,  manufactured  by 
the  Canadian  Westinghouse  Company.  The  switchboard 
apparatus  is  of  Canadian  General  Electric  manufacture,  and 
is  similar  to  that  installed  in  the  Grand  Forks  substation. 

The  Greenwood  substation,   which  is  also  connected  to 


Fig.  6 — Cable  Ducts  and  Transformer  Piping. 

which   a  7-ft.  penstock   leads   to  the  water  wheels  in  the 
power  house  at  the  foot  of  the  gorge. 

GENERATING  EQUIPMENT. 

The  installation  of  the  power  house  consists  of  three 
1300-hp  water  wheels  controlled  by  Escher-Wyss  governors 
and  two  60-hp  exciter  wheels,  the  main  units  running  at 
400  r.p.m.  and  the  exciter  units  at  iioo  r.p.m.  The  main 
generators,  which  are  rated  at  750  kw,  three-phase,  2300 
volts  and  60  cycles,  are  direct-connected  to  the  water-wheel 
shafts.    The  exciters  are  rated  at  45  kw  each. 

The  transformer  equipment  comprises  nine  312-kw  self- 
cooling,  oil-insulated  units,  which  step  up  the  pressure  from 
2200  to  22,000  volts,  at  which  tension  it  is  transmitted  over 
a  duplicate  line  to  Grand  Forks,  12  miles;  Phoenix,  21 
miles;  Greenwood,  25  miles,  and  Boundary  Falls,  28  miles. 
Substations  located  at  these  respective  points  distribute 
the  energy  at  a  potential  of  2000  volts.  The  electrical 
equipment  of  this  station  was  built  by  the  Westinghouse 
company. 

SUBSTATIONS. 

The   Grand   Forks   substation   connected   with   this   gen- 


Flg.     5 — 20,000-Volt     Interconnecting    Trensformers. 

plant  No.  2,  contains  the  same  equipment  as  the  Phoenix 
substation. 

GENERATING    STATION     NO.    3. 

Generating  station  No.  3  is  located  on  the  Kettle  River, 
in  the  boundary  district,  and  began  operations  in  1902. 
About  half  a  mile  from  the  power  house  the  river  enters  a 


Fig.   7 — 60,000-Volt   Transformer   Bani<. 

eration  station  contains  three  242-kw,  20,000  to  500-volt 
air-blast  transformers,  which,  together  with  the  necessary 
switching  apparatus,  were  supplied  by  the  Canadian  General 
Electric  Company,  and  three  312-kw  oil-insulated,  self- 
cooling  transformers  of  the  same  ratio  of  transformation, 
which,  together  with  the  necessary  switchboard  apparatus, 


196 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60.  Xo.  4. 


was  supplied  by  the  Canadian  Westinghouse  Conipanv.  In 
the  substation  at  Phoeni.x  there  are  installed  three  3l2-k\v 
transformers,  having  a  ratio  of  transformation  from  20,000 
to  2000  volts.  The  units  are  oil-insulated  and  self-cooling, 
and    with    the    switchboard    apparatus    were    built    bv    the 


w^m 

hL 

Fig.   8 — Oil-Switch    and    Lightning- Arrester    Compartment. 

Canadian  Westinghouse  Company.  The  transforming  ap- 
paratus in  the  Boundary  Falls  substation  is  identical  with 
that  in  the  Phoenix  substation. 

LOAD  CONDITIONS. 

When  work  on  the  original  plant  (station  No.  i)  was 
started  the  country  as  far  as  gold  and  copper  mining  was 
concerned  was  practically  undeveloped,  and  it  was  ques- 
tionable if  a  sufficient  load  could  be  obtained  to  make  the 
enterprise  a  success.  The  total  power  used  around  the 
mines  at  Rossland  did  not  exceed  600  hp,  and  that  required 
by  the  Trail  smelter  was  approximately  400  hp,  making  a 
total  available  load  of  1000  hp  at  the  end  of  a  32-mile  line. 
At  present  the  Consolidated  Mining  &  Smelting  Com- 
pany of  Canada,  which  operates  the  Trail  smelter,  has  1800 
hp  in  motors  installed,  in  addition  to  lioo  hp  required  to 
operate  an  electrolytic  lead  refinery.  At  Rossland  the  War 
Eagle  Center  Star  mines  furnish  a  motor  load  of  1700  hp, 
the  Rossland  Great  Western  Mining  Company  800  hp  and 
the  LeRoi  Mining  Company  a  load  of  600  hp.  The  city 
lighting  load  at  Rossland  approximates  440  hp  and  there  are 
in  addition  compressors  and  hoists  having  an  aggregate 
rating  of  appro.ximately  3000  hp.  The  combined  rating  of 
the  motors  installed  by  the  White  Bear  Mining  Company  is 
800  hp,  by  the  Giant  California  Mining  Company  150  hp, 
by  the  LeRoi  No.  2  Limited  259  hp,  by  the  Jumbo  Gold 
Mining  Company  100  hp,  while  other  small  motor  loads 
installed  in  Rossland  aggregate  250  hp,  making  the  total 
connected  motor  load  installed  at  the  present  time  5000  hp 
in  round  numbers. 

In  the  year  1897  the  power  used  in  what  is  known  as 
the  boundary  country  was  practically  nil.  To-day,  starting 
at  Grand  Forks,  the  Grandby  Consolidated  Mining,  Smelt- 
ing &  Power  Company  has  installed  for  the  operation  ofj 
its  smelter  motors  aggregating  1750  hp.  This  power  is 
used  for  smelting  all  the  ores  produced  by  the  company's 
mines  in  Phoenix.  In  addition  to  this  there  is  required  for 
lighting  and  operating  small  motors  in  the  city  of  Grand 
Forks  an  additional  400  hp. 

Phoenix  Camp,  which  in  1897  was  nothing  but  a  heavily 
timbered  mountain,  now-  furnishes  a  load  of  4350  hp,  divided 
between  the  Grandby  Consolidated  Mining,  Smelting  & 
Power  Company,  Ltd. ;  the  Dominion  Copper  Company, 
Ltd..  and  the  Consolidated  Mining  &  Smelting  Company 
of  Canada, 

In  Greenwood,  where  the  British  Columbia  Copper  Com- 
pany's smelter  is  located,  there  is  3800  hp  in  motors  in- 
stalled in  the  mines  and  smelters  situated  in  Deadwood 
Camp  and  Summit  Camp. 

The  Dominion  Copper  Company,  whose  smelter  is  situ- 
ated at  Boundary  Falls,  furnishes  a  load  of  850  hp.     The 


ores  from  the  company's  properties  at  Phoenix  and  Dead- 
wood  camps  are  treated  at  this  smelter. 

CONSOLIDATION   AND  EXPANSION   OF  PROPERTIES. 

In  order  to  take  care  of  this  business,  which  soon  out- 
grew the  capacity  of  plant  No.  I,  the  West  Kootenay  Power 
&  Light  Company  began  the  construction  of  its  second 
station.  In  the  same  year  (1907)  the  West  Kootenay 
Power  &  Light  Company,  Ltd.,  took  over  all  the  holdings  of 
the  Cascade  Water  Power  &  Light  Company,  Ltd.  The 
latter  company  operated  the  plant  at  Cascade  City,  having 
a  rating  of  3000  hp.  On  account  of  the  increased  business 
the  company  was  unable  to  take  care  of  the  customers  in 
the  boundary  country,  and  this  was  the  principal  reason 
for  the  West  Kootenay  Power  &  Light  Company  installing 
its  second  plant. 

The  West  Kootenay  Power  &  Light  Company  at  the 
present  time  is  supplying  all  customers  from  its  No.  2  sta- 
tion and  is  holding  its  No.  I  station  at  Lower  Bonnington 
and  the  Cascade  station  at  Cascade  City  for  emergency  use. 
Energy  for  the  Consolidated  Mining  &  Smelting  Company 
of  Canada  smelter  at  Trail  and  part  of  the  load  in  Rossland 
is  transmitted  at  20,000  volts,  60  cycles,  three-phase,  and 
>tepped  down  at  Trail  to  550  volts,  v^'hich  is  the  voltage 
adopted  there  for  all  motors,  and  to  2000  volts  at  Rossland, 
which  is  the  standard  voltage  for  motor  circuits  in  that  citv. 

The  boundary  country  is  connected  to  power  house  No. 
2  by  two  three-phase,  6o-cycle,  60,000-volt  lines,  distributing 
stations  situated  at  Grand  Forks  stepping  down  the  potential 
to  440  volts,  at  Phoenix  to  2000  volts  and  at  Greenwood  to 
2000  volts.  The  Cascade  station,  which  is  a  22,000-volt 
plant,  is  also  arranged  so  that  an  auxiliary  service  can  be 
put  up  at  Grand  Forks,  Phoenix,  Greenwood  and  Boundary 
Falls, 

The  average  cost  of  electrical  energy  for  the  mining  and 
smelting  of  ores  in  the  boundary  country  does  not  e.xceed 
10  cents  a  ton,  while  the  cost  of  energy  for  mining  and 
smelting  ores  in  Rossland  Camp  does  not  exceed  28  cents  a 
ton. 

The  West  Kootenay  Power  &  Light  Company  has  act- 
ually installed  and  ready  for  operation  generators  having 
a  total  output  of  23,000  hp.  while  the  motor  and  lighting  load 
connected  to  the  company's  circuits  at  the  present  time  is 
approximately  20,000  hp.  The  average  cost  of  electricity 
throughout  the  areas  covered  by  its  lines  does  not  exceed 
one-quarter  the  cost  of  steam  power,  so  that,  with  the 
exception  of  one  installation,  steam  power  for  mining  and 
smelting  work  throughout  the  whole  boundary  country 
is  a  thing  of  the  past.  ; 


Fig.   9 — Bench    and    Panelboard. 
TRANSMISSION    LINES. 

The   following  table  summarizes  the  distances  to  which 
electricity  is  transmitted  on  the  company's  lines: 

Miles. 

Konnington  to  Consolidated  Company's  smelter  at  Trail 32 

Bonnington  to  Rossland     32 

Honnington  to  Grand  Forks 64 

Honnington  to  Phoenix     76 

Bonnington  to  Greenwood   81 

Bonnington  to  Boundary  Falls 84 


J  I  LV  27,    iyi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


«97 


Two  separate  pole  lines  cover  the  distance  from  Bon- 
nington  Falls  to  Greenwood  substation,  81  miles  apart.  On 
each  pole  line  are  three  hard-drawn  copper  cables  having  a 
cross-section  of  90,972  circ.  mils.  This  cable  is  composed 
of  six  wires  made  up  on  a  jute  center,  and  the  distance  be- 


FRENCH  AND  GERMAN  QUARTZ-TUBE  MERCURY- 
VAPOR  LAMPS. 


Fig.     10 — 2000.Volt    Switch    Compartment. 


The 


tween   the  centers   of  the   cables  themselves  is  6   ft. 
potential  is  60,000  volts. 

Duplicate  20,oco-volt  lines  transmit  energy  from  Bon- 
nington  Falls  to  Rossland,  Trail  and  Nelson.  The  distance 
from  Bonnington  Falls  to  either  Rossland  or  Trail  is  32 
miles;  from  Bonnington  Falls  to  Nelson,  11  miles,  and  from 
Bonnington  Falls  to  Silver  King  mine,  15  miles.  The  lines 
to  Rossland  are  of  No.  2  hard-drawn,  bare  copper,  the  dis- 
tance between  centers  being  2  ft.  The  branch  lines  going  to 
Trail,  which  are  3}^  miles  long,  are  made  up  of  No.  6 
hard-drawn,  bare  copper  spaced  on  2-ft.  centers.  The  lines 
running  to  Nelson  are  also  spaced  on  2-ft.  centers  and 
consist  of  No.  8  hard-drawn,  bare  copper.  From  Nelson 
to  the  Silver  King  mine  substation,  which  is  located  at  an 
elevation  of  6000  ft.,  No.  2  hard-drawn,  bare  copper  wire 
is  used  for  transmission  on  account  of  the  heavy  snowfalls- 

Two  separate  pole  lines  cover  the  distance  from  Cascade 
to  Boundary  Falls.  B.  C,  and  are  each  28  miles  long.  On 
each  pole  there  are  three  No.  3  hard-drawn,  bare  copper 
wires,  spaced  on  2-ft.  centers  and  carrying  energy  at 
a  potential  of  20,000  volts.  The  shortest  distance  is  from 
Cascade  to  Grand  Forks,  which  is  12  miles. 

All  of  the  illustrations  shown  in  connection  with  this 
article  are  of  the  main  power  house  (No.  2")   on  the  upper 


Fig.     11 — Busbar    Compartment,     Power    House     No.    2. 

Bonnington  Falls.  The  president  of  the  West  Kootenay 
Power  &  Light  Company,  Ltd.,  is  Mr.  W.  M.  Doull,  of 
Montreal.  The  vice-president  is  Mr.  Frank  Paul,  and  the 
secretary-treasurer  Mr.  A.  Bowser,  both  of  Montreal.  The 
manager  and  chief  engineer  of  the  company  is  Mr.  L.  A. 
Campbell,  of  Rossland,  and  Mr.  L  D.  McDonald  is  the 
superintendent. 


Design   and    Operation   of   High-Temperature   Lamps, 
Together  with  Data  as  to  Cost  and  Service  Life. 


I 


Bv  Warren  H.  Miller. 

N  Germany  the  quartz  lamp  is  used  principally  in  elec- 
tric central  stations,  chemical  works,  railroad  shops 
and  yards,  iron  works,  docks  and  wharves,  blast 
furnace  and  foundry  plants,  shipbuilding  plants,  etc.  It  is 
not  recommended  by  the  Germans  for  pleasure  resorts, 
theaters,  shops  or  stores  because  its  slightly  greenish  color, 
while  by  no  means  as  noticeable  as  in  the  ordinary  mer- 
cury-vapor lamp,  is  still  of  such  quality  as  to  affect 
materially  true  color  values.  The  color  of  the  French 
quartz  lamp  has  been  described  as  golden-white,  slightly 
tinged  with  green.  This  is  the  effect  on  the  eye,  but  red 
is  entirely  wanting,  so  that  the  mixture  still  lacks  the  third 
primary  color  essential  for  all  true  color  valuations. 

Figs.  I  and  2  show  the  French  quartz-mercury  lamp. 
There  is  a  short  5-in.  quartz  tube,  with  a  glass  reservoir  at 


Figs.   1   and   2 — French    Quartz- Mercury    Lamp. 

une  end  and  glass  trunnions  at  the  other.  It  is  simple  and 
logical,  not  trammeled  with  anything  not  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  operation,  and  its  distribution  is  almost  uniform. 
The  German  lamp  is  shown  in  Figs.  3  and  4.  At  each  end  of 
the  tube  there  are  a  number  of  copper  vanes,  whose  function 
IS  to  carry  off  the  heat  so  that  the  small  quartz  reservoirs  at 
the  end  will  readily  act  as  condensers.  In  the  French  lamp 
the  same  result  is  obtained  by  means  of  the  large  surface 
and  the  tubes  blown  on  to  each  end  of  the  glower.  Both 
lamps  are  tilted  by  a  shunt  magnet.  In  the  French  lamps 
the  resistance  is  exposed  to  the  air  and  in  the  German  lamp 
it  is  inclosed  in  vacuum-tight  renewable  lamp  bulbs.  In 
both  an  adjustable  resistance  must  be  introduced  to  take 
care  of  ordinary  voltage  variation,  and  in  both  the  outer 
glass  globe  is  depended  upon  to  intercept  the  ultra-violet 
rays.  The  manufacturers  of  the  quartz  lamps  guarantee 
1000  hours'  burning  without  renewal  or  attention  of  any 
kind,  and  the  actual  life  of  the  lamps  varies  from  2000  to 
3000  hours.  A  new  quartz  burner  is  exchanged  for  the  old 
burner  at  a  cost  of  $6  in  France  and  $7  to  $8  in  Germany, 
which,  with  occasional  new  resistances,  covers  the  entire 
upkeep.     The  French  lamp  costs  $41  for  the  looo-cp,  no- 


198 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  4. 


volt  size  and  $47  for  the  2000-cp,  220-volt  size,  both  lamps 
taking  3  amp  of  direct  current.  It  can  be  provided  with  a 
mercury  converter  mounted  in  the  shell  if  used  for  alter- 
nating current.  The  German  lamp  is  made  in  three  sizes : 
no  volts,  4  amp,  960  cp;  220  volts,  2.5  amp,  1200  cp,  and 
220  volts,  3.5  amp,  2400  cp.  The  respective  prices  are 
$47.50,  $45  and  $52.     Both  French  and  German  lamps  are 


^Eleetricai  Wurld 

Figs.    3   and   4 — German    Quartz- Mercury    Lamp. 

guaranteed  to  consume  only  0.25  watt  per  candle.  The 
small  lamps  are  about  85  mm  long  by  35  mm  diameter  of 
the  tube ;  the  large  2000-cp  and  3000-cp  lamps  are  95  mm 
long  by  40  mm  diameter. 

The  electrical  engineer  will  readily  recognize  that  the 
quartz  lamp  has  most  of  the  virtues  of  the  incandescent 
cluster  and  all  the  desirable  points  of  the  arc  lamp  without 
any  of  their  defects.  It  is  so  powerful  that  one  can  easily 
read  a  typewritten  letter  300  ft.  away  from  the  lamp,  and 
the  light  is  so  diffused  that  it  will  not  give  any  sharp 
shadows.  For  interior  illumination  the  lamps  should  be 
placed  20  ft.  from  the  floor  and  spaced  about  80  ft.  apart. 
Tungsten  clusters  of  250  cp  for  the  same  service  would  be 
wanted  at  least  at  every  30  ft.  Consequently  the  power 
consumption  of  the  quartz  lamp  will  be  330  watts  against 
620  watts  for  tungsten  clusters. 

Referring  to  Fig.  4,  which  shows  a  German  lamp  made 
in  Hanau  by  a  subsidiary  company  of  the  Allgemeine  Elek- 
tricitats  Gesellschaft,  a  is  the  quartz  burner,  a  short  tube 
of  blown  quartz  with  trunnions  at  each  end  which  are  sur- 
rounded by  copper  collars  y,  to  which  are  brazed  the 
vanes  x.  These  collars  are  joined  by  a  cross-bar  of  lami- 
nated   copper    shapes,   the    whole    combination    serving    to 


Fig. 


-Burner    of    German    Quartz-Mercury    Lamp. 


carry  off  heat  and  make  the  trunnions  act  as  condensers 
of  the  mercury  vapor.  An  arm  u,  attached  to  the  copper 
work,  extends  up  to  the  tilting  magnets  q.  The  resistance, 
inclosed  in  vacuum  lamp  tubes,  of  which  there  are  several 
in  parallel,  is  shown  at  h.  The  coarse  wire  magnet  /,  in 
series  with  the  adjustable  resistance  m,  serves  automatically 
to  prevent  the  lamp  from  going  out  when  the  supply  voltage 


for  any  reason  suddenly  drops.  A  small  tip-bar  armature  0 
is  attracted  by  the  magnet  /  and  opens  the  circuit  of  the 
shunt  magnets  q  as  soon  as  the  current  goes  through  the 
quartz  tube.  There  is  no  current  through  the  quartz  tube 
when  the  circuit  is  first  opened,  but  there  is  a  path  through 
o  and  the  shunt  magnet  q.  This  magnet  being  energized 
tips  the  quartz  tube  and  establishes  a  circuit  through  the 
mercury  and  through  the  magnet  /.  When  the  magnet  / 
is  energized  the  shunt  magnet  q  is  cut  out  and  the  quartz 
tube  allowed  to  recede  to  its  original  position.  If  a  break 
in  the  arc  should  occur,  /  releases  0  and  the  shunt  again 
tips  the  tube  and  starts  the  arc  mechanically  again.  Shortly 
after  starting,  the  arc  operates  at  about  30  volts,  and  there- 
fore gives  but  little  light.  As  soon  as  it  becomes  hot  it 
takes  about  85  volts  and  at  that  time  reaches  full  brilliancy, 
which  in  the  French  lamps  will  be  reached  in  about  three 
seconds. 

To  avoid  troubles  in  starting,  the  lamp  is  provided  with 
an  adjustable  resistance,  which  regulates  the  starting  cur- 
rent in  proportion  to  the  initial  voltage  by  adjusting  a 
sliding  contact  k.  The  current  in  the  glower  is  dependent 
upon  the  cooling  effect  as  well  as  the  voltage.  The  German 
lamp  is  so  sensitive  in  this  regard  that  orders  must  specify 
whether  it  is  for  indoor  or  outdoor  service.  The  glower 
must  also  be  inserted  properly  in  regard  to  polarity.  Plus 
and  minus  poles  are  plainly  marked,  and  error  in  inserting 
will  quickly  destroy  the  glower. 


DIRECT-CURRENT  GENERATOR  REGULATION. 


Increasing  the  Range  of  Shunt-Voltage  Regulation 
of  Generators. 


By  P.  Amsler.  ^ 

The  direct-current  generators  in  use  at  present  admit  of 
a  regulation  of  pressure  by  means  of  the  shunt  circuit 
rheostat  in  the  proportion  of  practically  1:2.  In  order  to 
obtain  a  larger  range  of  regulation  use  is  generally  made 
of  separate  excitation  for  the  machine.  Even  in  this  case 
it  is  necessary  for  the  exciter  to  have  a  finely  adjustable 
rheostat  in  its  armature  circuit.  This  method  is  expen- 
sive, as  a  special  exciting  machine  is  usually  required  and, 
being  complic  ited.  offers  much  opportunity  for  a  break- 
down. 

Below  there  is  given  a  description  of  a  simple  device  by 
which  it  is  possible  to  obtain  a  very  fine  regulation  of 
pressure,  at  the  same  time  avoiding  the  disadvantages  men- 
tioned above. 

The  excitation  characteristic  of  the  usual  type  of  direct- 
current  machine  is  straight  in  its  lower  position,  as  shown 
by  curve  I  of  Fig.  i.  Below  the  point  A  there  will  be  an 
entire  drop  of  pressure  to  zero,  or  rather  to  the  pressure 
due  to  permanent  magnetism,  if  the  shunt  circuit  resist- 
ance be  increased.  There  is  no  means  of  adjusting  the 
pressure  between  these  two  values,  as  the  ratio  of  the  ter- 
minal pressure  to  the  exciting  current,  AC  -^  AB,  and  hence 
the  resistance  in  the  exciting  circuit,  is  constant  along  the 
line  OA  of  the  characteristic ;  a  stationary  condition  of 
pressure  between  0  and  A  is  therefore  impossible. 

The  problem  of  obtaining  a  lower  range  of  voltage 
stability  involves  shortening  the  straight  part  of  the  char- 
acteristic as  much  as  possible.  The  required  shape  of 
curve,  as  shown  at  II,  Fig.  i,  can  be  obtained  by  shaping 
a  certain  part  of  the  magnetic  path  in  such  a  manner  that 
it  becomes  saturated  with  small  excitation.  In  order  to 
avoid  too  large  a  distortion  of  the  exciting  field  under  load, 
on  account  of  the  transverse  magnetization,  and  thereby  in- 
fluencing the  commutation,  the  portion  of  the  magnetic  path 
mentioned  can  best  be  placed  close  to  the  air-gap. 

One  of  the  most  effective  practical  arrangements  is  shown 


1 


July  27,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


199 


in  Figs.  2  and  3.  The  core  of  the  magnet  is  built  up  of 
stampings  and  is  separated  from  the  armature  by  a  rel- 
atively large  air-gap.  A  number  of  stampings  protrude  out 
of  the  core  into  the  air-gap,  close  up  to  the  armature.  The 
protruding  stampings  become  saturated  magnetically  by  a 
small  excitation  and  cause  a  deflection  of  the  character- 
istic. The  number  and  the  amount  of  projection  of  these 
stampings  depend  on  the  range  of  the  proposed  regulation. 
A  direct-current  machine  fitted  with  such  "regulating 
poles"  was  built  for  the  purpose  of  charging  a  battery  at 
from  230  volts  to  320  volts  at  1320  r.p.m.  and  a  minimum 
current  of  82  amp.    The  new  poles  are  built  up  of  stamp- 


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Exciting  Current  in  Amps. 

Fig.   1 — Test  Curves. 


4  4.5         5 

BUetncat  World 


The  introduction  of  regulating  poles  in  the  exciters  makes 
superfluous  the  main  circuit  rheostat,  as  well  as  the  special 
source  of  excitation  for  the  exciting  machine,  with  its  many 
disadvantages,  and  renders  possible  a  fine  regulation  of  the 
voltage  of  the  alternator  in  every  case. 

In  the  case  of  motors  in  Ward  Leonard  motor-generator 
sets  that  need  not  work  at  a  very  low  pressure,  one  might 


ings,  as  in  Fig.  2.  Twenty-four  stampings  per  pole,  having 
a  thickness  of  0.5  mm  and  a  distance  from  each  other  of 
5.0  mm,  protrude  4.0  mm  above  the  core.  The  character- 
istic was  taken  for  different  air-gaps,  with  d,  =  5.0  and  d, 
=  1.0  mm.  There  were  obtained  curve  II  (Fig.  i)  on 
open  circuit  and  curve  III  under  load  with  a  constant  re- 
sistance of  4.1  ohms  at  about  1500  r.p.m.  With  d^  =  6.0,  d, 
=  2.0  mm,'  there  were  obtained  curve  IV  on  open  circuit 
and  curve  V  under  load  with  the  same  resistance  and  speed 
as  before.  The  open-circuit  characteristic  of  the  machine 
with  the  original  normal  poles,  without  protruding  stamp- 
ings, for  about  1300  r.p.m,  is  shown  by  curve  I.  All  of 
these  curves  were  taken  when  the  machine  was  self-excit- 
ing, the  change  of  pressure  being  effected  by  means  of  an 
ordinary  field  circuit  rheostat. 

The  maximum  pressure  reached  on  open  circuit  was  400 
volts  and  under  load  about  340  volts.  In  both  cases  the  emf 
could  be  regulated  down  to  50  volts  terminal  pressure,  with 
perfectly  stable  condition  at  each  voltage  step.  That  is  to 
say,  there  was  obtained  a  very  fine  regulation  of  pressure 


lyiiliiiiiiiii  nil  iii[i  III II 
Fig.  2 — Regulating  Poles. 

by  means   of   a   field   circuit   regulator   with   comparatively 
large  steps. 

Turbo-ahernator  plants  often  demand  a  very  fine  adjust- 
ment of  the  generator  pressure.  The  regulation  may  be  ac- 
complished by  means  of  a  rheostat  in  the  field  circuit,  or,  if 
this  method  of  adjusting  the  pressure  is  not  fine  enough,  a 
special  source  of  excitation  for  the  exciter  may  be  installed. 


Fig.    3 — Generator    with    Regulating    Poles. 

use  a  main  circuit  rheostat  for  starting  up,  and  part  regula- 
tion, say  up  to  one-fifth  of  normal  emf,  and  from  there  ad- 
just the  pressure  up  to  the  normal  by  means  of  the  field  cir- 
cuit rheostat.  By  this  means  the  need  for  a  special  source 
of  excitation  for  the  generator  may  be  avoided,  provided 
the  latter  is  equipped  with  regulating  poles.  Tests  have 
shown  that  the  resistance  of  the  main  circuit  must  not 
be  reduced  below  a  certain  minimum  value,  if  the  machine 
is  still  to  excite  itself.  The  minimum  value  was  approxi- 
mately 0.2  ohm  for  the  generator  tested.  In  the  case  of 
exciters  of  alternating-current  machines  the  resistance  of 
the  exciting  circuit  lies  far  above  the  critical  minimum. 


TEMPERATURE  ERRORS  IN  WATT-HOUR  METER 
TESTS. 


While  errors  of  from  2  to  3  per  cent  in  the  registration 
of  watt-hour  meters  are  not  beyond  the  limits  of  com- 
mercial accuracy,  discrepancies  due  to  temperature  may 
exceed  these  permissible  limits.  In  direct-current  meters, 
especially  those  for  use  on  220  volts  and  500  volts,  the 
temperature  effect  may  be  responsible  for  considerable 
variations  from  the  calibrated  values. 

Meters  brought  in  from  installations  for  shop  test  are 
usually  tested  at  once,  before  they  have  had  an  opportunity 
to  reach  constant  temperature  conditions.  But  later,  when 
they  are  checked  in  service  tests,  where  the  potential  coils 
have  been  continuously  energized,  discrepancies  appear. 
For  this  reason,  as  pointed  out  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Whitlow  before 
the  Missouri  convention  recently,  some  companies  have 
installed  load  racks  in  their  test  shops  on  which  a  number 
of  the  meters  awaiting  test  are  kept  connected  and  partly 
loaded.  Since  it  is  possible  to  connect  all  the  meters  of 
similar  ratings  in  the  same  load  circuit,  the  energy  loss  of 
such  a  rack  need  not  be  large.  In  this  way,  each  meter  is 
made  ready  for  test  under  shop  conditions  which  more 
closely  approach  service  conditions. 


=^  ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 

VIBRATION  PRODUCED  BY  MOTOR-GENERATORS 


Vol.  6o.  No.  4. 


Utilization  of  a  Special  Recorder  for  Determining  the 
Causes  of  Vibratory  Disturbances. 

By  Elmer  E.  Hall. 

For  the  purpose  of  investigating  the  vibrations  produced 
by  motor-generators  in  substations  D  and  I  of  the  Pacific 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  San  Francisco,  the  writer  made 
use  of  a  specially  constructed  portable  vibration  recorder 
patterned  somewhat  after  the  conical  pendulum  seismo- 
graph as  illustrated  in  Fig.  i.  The  instrument  is  mounted 
on  a  single  base,  the  writing  levers  being  so  arranged  as  to 
give  the  record  of  the  two  horizontal  components  and  the 
vertical  component  on  a  single  rotating  drum.  The  record 
IS  made  on  glazed  paper  lightly  coated  with  kerosene  smoke, 
and  when  made  is  rendered  permanent  by  dipping  in  an 
alcoholic  solution  of  white  shellac.  The  illustrations  here- 
with reproduced  are  from  photographs  taken  of  portions  of 
the  records.  The  rotating  drum  was  not  always  driven  at 
the  same  speed,  which  fact  should  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion in  comparing  the  illustrations. 

Substation  D  is  a  reinforced  concrete  building  with  two 


Fig.    1 — Portable    Vibration    Recorder. 

balconies.  The  station  oontains  two  looo-kw  General 
Electric  direct-connected  motor-generators.  The  armature 
of  each  machine  weighs  about  16  tons  and  makes  514  r.p.m. 
Each  machine  rests  on  a  concrete  foundation,  the  founda- 
tions being  separate  from  each  other  and  from  the  walls  of 
the  building.  The  records  from  which  Figs.  2  to  4  were 
taken  were  made  with  the  recorder  standing  on  the  first 
balcony  about  50  ft.  from  the  machines.  Fig.  2  represents 
the  vertical  vibrations  when  motor-generator  No.  r  was 
running.  The  frequency  is  8.6  cycles  per  second,  there  be- 
ing one  vibration  for  each  rotation  of  the  armature.  The 
double  amplitude  of  the  vibration  was  0.004  rnm-  With 
motor-generator  No.  2  running  alone  the  amplitude  of  the 
vibration  was  about  20  per  cent  less.  Records  made  on  the 
ground  floor  show  similar  differences  between  the  two 
machines.  , 

Fig.  3  shows  the  transverse  vibration  of  the  building  as 
a  whole.  The  frequency  is  1.9  cycles  per  second  and  the 
double  amplitude  0.012  mm.  Superimposed  upon  these 
larger  vibrations,  which  are  produced  from  causes  outside 
the  building,  are  the  minute  horizontal  vibrations  having  a 
frequency  of  8.6  cycles  per  second  and  a  double  amplitude 
of  0.004  tnm.  due  to  the  motor-generator.     \^ihrations  com- 


ing from  street  traffic  are  of  varying  frequency  and  ampli- 
tude. One  of  the  largest  on  the  record  from  which  these 
two  illustrations  are  taken  has  a  frequency  of  about  3 
cycles  per  second  and  a  double  amplitude  of  0.014  mm.,  or 
more  than  three  times  that  due  to  the  motor-generator.' 

The  recorder  is  extremely  sensitive  to  changes  in  level. 
Fig.  4  shows  the  change  in  level  produced  on  the  concrete 
floor  of  the  balcony  by  the  weight  of  one  man.  The  writ- 
ing lever  takes  a  new  position  as  the  man  walks  away. 
This  particular  change  amounts  to  1/3  in.  in  a  mile  or 
about  I  minute  of  arc. 

Figs.   5  to  8  were  taken  with  the  recorder  on  the  third 


Figs.  2  to  12 — Records  of  Vibratory  Disturbances. 

floor  in  the  rear  end  of  a  three-story  brick  building  adjoin- 
ing substation  D  but  not  connected  structurally  with  it. 
The  building  had  wood  floors.  Fig.  5  shows  the  regular 
vertical  vibrations  with  a  frequency  of  8.6  cycles  per  sec- 
ond and  double  amplitude  of  0.0042  mm.,  motor-generator 
No.  I  running  alone.  With  motor-generator  No.  2  run- 
ning alone  the  vibrations  are  only  about  one-fourth  as 
large.  That  the  amplitude  might  thus  be  larger  than  at 
positions  much  closer  to  the  generator  in  the  power  house 
itself  is  not  surprising.  In  earthquakes  the  amplitude  of  the 
disturbance  becomes  greater  when  the  wave  passes  from 
rock  into  soil  of  lighter  formation.  Assuming  a  certain 
amount    of    energy    transmitted    through    the    ground    and 


July  27,  1912 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


»i 


foundation  to  the  walls  of  the  building,  if  the  coefficient  of 
elasticity  be  relatively  high,  as  in  steel  and  concrete,  the 
amplitude  necessary  to  take  up  this  energy  will  be  less  than 
.  in  materials  of  lower  elasticity,  such  as  brick,  mortar  and 
I  wood.  Again,  in  this  particular  case,  the  paths  by  which 
the  vibrations  might  be  communicated  are  many,  due  to  the 
partitions  in  the  building.  Why  the  vibrations  due  to  the 
motor-generator  No.  i  are  greater  and  those  due  to  No.  2 
are  less  than  on  the  balcony  in  the  power  station  is  not 
clear.  It  comes  about,  doubtless,  through  the  relative  posi- 
tions of  the  two  machines,  or  the  soil  connections,  or  some 
such  unknown  condition.  That  one  motor-generator  pro- 
duces greater  vibrations  than  another  may  be  due  to  either 
one  of  two  causes.  There  may  be  greater  eccentricity  in 
the  armature,  or  the  foundation  of  one  machine  may  trans- 
mit vibrations  better  than  the  foundation  of  the  other.  In 
this  particular  case  the  operators  say  that  motor-generator 
No.  I  does  not  run  so  smoothly  as  does  No.  2. 

Figs.  S  and  6  may  be  compared  to  show  the  relative 
effects  of  motor-generator  and  street  traffic.  Fig.  6  gives 
the  vertical  vibrations  produced  by  a  load  of  crushed  rock 
passing  over  a  narrow  street,  paved  with  cobblestones,  to 
which  the  rear  of  the  building  extended.  The  double 
amplitude  of  the  vertical  vibration  produced  by  the  load  of 
rock  was  0.03  mm.  or  seven  times  that  due  to  the  motor- 
generator.  Fig.  7  enables  a  similar  comparison  to  be  made 
in  one  of  the  horizontal  components.  The  upper  line  rep- 
resents a  vibration  coming  in  from  the  street  having  a 
frequency  of  about  6  cycles  per  second  and  a  double  ampli- 
tude of  0.04  mm.,  while  the  lower  line  represents  vibrations 
which  may  be  ascribed,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  motor- 
generator,  the  .double  amplitude  of  the  regular  persistent 
vibrations  having  a  frequency  of  8.6  cycles  per  second  being 
0.005  ™™- 

Fig.  8  shows  the  transverse  vibrations  of  the  building 
with  the  small  vibrations  due  to  the  motor-generator  super- 
imposed. 

Figs.  9  to  12  were  taken  in  substation  I.  In  Figs.  9  and 
10  the  recorder  was  placed  on  the  cement  floor  at  the  motor 
end  of  the  axis  of  an  Allis-Chalmers  looo-kw  motor-gen- 
eiator,  the  armature  making  450  r.p.m.  Fig.  9  shows  the 
regular  vertical  vibrations  having  a  frequency  of  7.5  cycles 
per  second  or  450  per  minute  and  a  double  amplitude  nf 
0.024  mm.  The  upper  line  in  Fig.  10  shows  a  compres- 
sional  wave  due  to  a  street  car  on  the  adjacent  street,  while 
the  lower  line  shows  the  regular  horizontal  vibrations  per- 
pendicular to  the  axis  of  the  motor-generator  when  there  is 
no  disturbance  entering  from  the  street.  The  vibration 
producet^y  the  street  car  has  a  double  amplitude  of  0.035 
mm.  Il^vill  be  noticed  that  two  frequencies  are  present  in 
the  vibration  produced  by  the  motor-generator,  one  of  90 
and  one  of  450  cycles  per  minute.  The  cause  of  the  lower 
frequency  was  not  located.  There  were  no  vibrations 
I  arallel  to  the  axis  due  to  the  motor-generator,  although 
vibrations  from  the  street  frequency  entered. 

The  records  from  which  were  taken  Figs.  11  and  12 
were  made  with  the  recorder  placed  15  ft.  from  the  machine 
on  a  line  perpendicular  to  the  axis  of  the  armature  at  its 
mid  point.  Fig.  11  shows  the  vertical  vibrations  having  a 
double  amplitude  of  0.0036  mm.,  while  Fig.  12  shows  the 
horizontal  vibration  perpendicular  to  the  axis.  Vibrations 
parallel  to  the  axis  were  discernible,  of  double  amplitude 
of  the  order  of  o.ooi  mm.  These  are  possibly  reflected 
waves.  At  the  portions  other  than  on  the  line  of  the  axis, 
vibrations  in  all  three  component  directions  were  obtained 
both  on  the  balcony  and  on  the  ground  floor.  The  motor- 
generator  is  a  center  from  which  stream-lines  of  vibration 
pass  out.  These  vibrations  are  transmitted  along  the  floor, 
up  the  posts  supporting  the  balconies,  through  the  walls  of 
the  buildings,  and  through  the  ground  to  adjacent  buildings. 
The  magnitude  of  the  vibration,  however,  even  within  a 
few  feet  of  the  motor-generator,  is  less  than  that  due  to  a 
street  car  or  to  a  heavy  truck  passing  along  the  street. 


When  the  vibration  frequency  becomes  aljout  ^2  cycles 
per  second  it  becomes  audible.  The  double  amplitude  of  a 
vibration  in  air  which  is  just  audible  has  been  found  to 
be'  0.00000028  mm.,  and  ten  times  this  value  gives  a  com- 
fortably loud  sound,  while  200  times  this  value  gives  an  un- 
comfortably loud  sound.  Tliere  is  little  flcjubt  that  where  / 
the  windows  in  a  station  are  properly  placed  and  noise  is 
communicated  to  adjacent  buildings,  the  communication  is 
largely  through  the  floor,  ground,  foundations  and  walls 
rather  than  through  the  air.  Whatever  will  tend  to  pre- 
vent the  transmission  of  vibration  will  also  prevent  the 
transmission  of  sound.  Felt  is  very  often  placed  under 
small  motors,  but  is  not  suitable  for  heavy  machines.  The 
author  has  found  leather  and  asbestos  poor  conductors  of 
vibration  even  under  pressure.  Owing  to  internal  reflec- 
tions alternate  layers  of  sheet  asbestos  and  leather  are  bet- 
ter than  the  same  thickness  of  either.  For  large  machines, 
where  vibrations  are  a  consideration,  the  foundation  of  the 
machine  should  always  be  separate  from  the  walls  of  the 
building;  and  it  is  the  author's  opinion  that  vibrations  and 
noise  would  be  reduced  by  placing  a  layer,  i  ft.  or  2  ft. 
thick,  of  sharp  broken  rock  (not  gravel)  under  the  con- 
crete foundation  on  which  the  machine  rests.  Broken  rock 
should  also  be  filled  in  around  the  foundation  to  the  floor 
level.  The  concrete  floor  should  not  extend  quite  to  the 
foundation,  but  a  2-in,  gap  should  be  filled  with  asphaltum. 


TENNESSEE  HYDROELECTRIC  DEVELOPMENTS. 


The    work   of    constructing   the   27,000-hp   hydroelectric 

plant  of  the  Eastern  Tennessee  Power  Company  on  the 
Ocoee  River  at  Parksville,  Tenn.,  is  described  by  J.  G. 
White  &  Company,  Inc.,  who  were  the  engineers  and  con- 
tractors for  this  plant,  in  an  artistic  booklet,  which  con- 
tains a  number  of  illustrations  showing  various  steps  in 
the  erection  of  the  plant,  transmission  lines  and  dam.  The 
last,  built  of  concrete,  is  840  ft.  long  at  the  crest  and  is 
from  115  to  125  ft.  thick  at  the  base,  with  a  spillway  362 
ft.  in  length.  The  water  enters  the  penstocks  at  a  point 
about  30  ft,  below  the  crest.  The  main  building  of  the 
power  house,  165  ft.  long  and  35  ft.  wide,  situated  im- 
mediately below  the  dam,  of  which  its  superstructure  is  an 
integral  part,  contains  four  main  generating  units,  each 
rated  at  5400  hp  when  operating  under  98  ft,  head  at  360 
r,p,m.  These  are  now  in  operation  and  a  fifth  unit  is 
being  installed.  The  energy  is  generated  at  2300  volts,  the 
emf  being  raised  to  66,000  volts  by  transformers  housed 
in  a  wing  at  the  north  of  the  main  building.  In  addition  to 
the  27,000  hp  which  will  be  available  from  this  plant,  pro- 
\'ision  for  a  secondary  development  of  11,000  hp  at  Parks- 
ville has  been  made  by  building  two  openings  in  the 
dam,  to  which  penstocks  leading  to  a  power  station  about 
400  ft.  below  the  dam  will  be  attached.  The  energy  avail- 
able from  this  source  will  be  used  as  a  reserve  to  the  main 
plant.  Besides  these  plants,  a  second  development  of  20,000 
hp  is  now  under  construction  on  the  Ocoee  River,  the  avail- 
able water-power  resources  of  which  aggregate  75,000  hp. 
Energy  is  transmitted  at  66,000  volts  over  two  three-phase 
circuits  to  Cleveland.  Tenn.,  a  distance  of  13  miles  from 
the  plant,  and  from  the  switching  station  in  Cleveland, 
where  the  lines  separate,  the  energy  is  carried  over  single- 
circuit  wood-pole  lines  26  miles  west  of  Chattanooga,  Tenn., 
85  miles  northeast  to  Knoxville,  Tenn,,  and  75  miles  south 
to  Rome,  Ga,  Work  on  the  Parksville  power  house  was 
commenced  Feb,  i.  1911,  and  was  finished  Feb,  i,  1912, 
The  construction  of  the  transmission  lines  was  begun  April 
I,  1911,  and  on  Feb.  i,  1912,  about  180  miles  had  been  com- 
pleted. Details  of  the  financial  plans  of  the  company  and 
further  plans  for  developing  other  water-power  sites  in 
Tennessee  were  given  in  the  Electrical  World  .\pril  13,  1912, 

'Royal  Society   Proceedings,   1907,  page  360. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  4. 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


ELECTRIC  DRIVE  IN  VARNISH  WORKS. 


The  new  plant  of  the  McMurtrie  Varnish  Works,  Denver, 
Col.,  which  was  finished  recently,  is  equipped  for  electric 
lighting  and  motor  service  throughout,  particular  care 
having  been  exercised  in  making  the  installation  on  account 
of  the  presence  of  much  inflammable  material.  All  wiring 
for  lighting  and  220-volt  motors  is  installed  in  conduit  with 
so-called  "brewery"  cord.  All  lamps  are  provided  with 
vapor-proof  globes.  A  lo-hp  Wagner  slip-ring-type,  three- 
phase  induction  motor  for  elevator  service  is  placed  in  a 
separate  fireproof  elevator  head.  Four  oil  pumps  of  the 
Gould  rotary  type  are  driven  by  directly  geared  i-hp  motors. 
Turpentine  and  gum  mixers  and  rotary  filters  are  driven 
by  a  countershaft  operated  by  a  3-hp  motor.  The  only 
open  contacts  in  the  building  are  at  knife  switches  for  small 
motors,  and  it  is  the  intention  to  move  these  to  some  point 
outside  the  building. 


"WHITE  WAY' 


CELEBRATION    AT    FITCHBURG, 

MASS. 


In  connection  with  the  recent  inauguration  of  a  system 
of  "white  way"  lighting  at  Fitchburg,  Mass..  a  parade  3 
miles  in  length  and  a  banquet  under  the  auspices  of  the 
local  merchants'  association  were  held  to  celebrate  the  im- 
proved conditions  of  illumination.  On  the  evening  when 
the  new  lighting  system  was  placed  in  service  179  auto- 
mobiles, an  electrically  ilknmnated  trolley  car  bearing  the 
slogan  "Force  Fitchburg  Forward"  and  floats  containing 
about  800  persons  passed  through  the  principal  streets,  and 
it  is  estimated  that  nearly  50,000  persons  from  Fitchburg 
and  neighboring  municipalities  turned  out  to  see  the  event. 
The  new  system  consists  of  100  four-light  tungsten  clusters 
installed  on  the  main  street  of  the  city  upon  the  trolley 
poles  of  the  local  street  railway  company,  energy  for  the 
service  being  supplied  by  the  Fitchburg  Gas  &  Electric 
Light  Company.  The  wiring  provides  for  the  operation 
of  the  entire  installation  until  midnight  and  of  one  unit  of 
6o-cp  rating  in  each  cluster  from  midnight  to  dawn. 


SPECIAL-RATE    CUSTOMERS  AND    THEIR 
ELIMINATION. 


The  question  of  rate  discrimination  came  up  at  the  recent 
meeting  of  the  Southwestern  Electrical  and  Gas  Associa- 
tion, in  connection  with  cases  where  some  customers  are 
furnished  service  at  a  certain  special  rate,  on  either  a  flat 
or  a  meter  basis,  while  the  company  in  the  meantime  re- 
fuses to  accept  new  consumers  under  the  same  rate. 

Anything  is  discrimination,  declared  Mr.  H.  S.  Cooper, 
of  Galveston,  Texas,  that  does  not  allow  any  user  the  same 
rates,  etc.,  as  any  other  user  under  similar  conditions.  That, 
he  insisted,  is  an  axiom,  and  needs  no  argument.  Special 
rates  are  against  the  principles  of  good  business  policy  even 
in  a  private  business,  and  in  any  public-service  business 
they  are — legally,  morally  and  commercially — against  public 
policy.  This  has  been  so  often  settled  in  the  courts,  as  in 
instances  of  rebates  in  common-carrier  cases,  that  it  is 
indisputable. 

Unless  the  flat  rates  or  lower  meter  rates  are  matters 
of  previous  contract  still  in  force,  there  is  only  one  thing 
to  do — equalize  the  rates  or  make  them  applicable  to  all 
customers    using    energy    under    similar    conditions.     The 


criterion  for  lower  rates  to  one  class  than  another  is  the 
manner  in  which  customers  make  use  of  the  service  as 
regards  demand  factor,  load  factor,  total  consumption,  etc., 
permitting  lower  charges  without  diminishing  the  rate  of 
profit. 

As  too  many  central-station  managers  know  to  their 
own  discomfiture  and  annoyance,  it  is  easier  to  acquire 
special  rates  than  to  get  rid  of  them.  With  changes  in 
local  conditions,  rates, that  were  made  long  before  are  now 
often  too  low,  although  they  are  allowed  to  exist  for  various 
reasons.  Mr.  F.  V.  Gallaugher  advised  that  such  special- 
rate  customers  as  it  is  desired  to  eliminate  be  served 
with  notice  that  after  a  certain  date  their  special  rates  will 
not  apply,  the  regular  schedule  taking  effect  as  in  the 
case  of  others.  Following  out  the  same  thought,  Mr. 
Cooper  urged  t"hat  unless  the  various  reasons  for  the  special 
rates  are  good  and  equitable  business  reasons,  the  only  way 
to  get  rid  of  such  rates  is  to  abolish  them  as  quickly  as 
possible,  and  this  before  they  place  the  company  in  some 
unpleasant  predicament  with  its  other  customers  or  the 
municipality.  Give  a  reasonable  notice  to  the  parties  who 
are  enjoying  the  special  rates — say  thirty  or  sixty  days — 
that  after  such  time  they  must  pay  the  company's  regular 
rates,  the  same  as  all  other  customers.  Even  if  lost  as 
customers  in  consequence,  they  are  likely  to  resume  the 
service  later ;  but  in  any  case  it  is  better  to  be  able  to  say 
to  all  customers,  and  especially  to  prospective  customers, 
that  the  same  rates  and  the  same  rules  apply  to  all — that 
there  are  no  favorites  and  the  company's  books  are  always 
open  to  inspection  to  prove  it. 


REDUCTION 


OF   CENTRAL-STATION 
CHARGES. 


INSURANCE 


The  Seaton  Mountain  Electric  Company,  Idaho  Springs, 
Col.,  a  subsidiary  company  of  the  Boston-Colorado  Light  & 
Power  Company,  recently  made  some  improvements  in  its 
500-kw  plant  at  Idaho  Springs  which  reduce  the  fire  hazard 
and  at  the  same  time  effect  a  considerable  saving  in  insur- 
ance charges.  Throughout  the  plant  have  been  distributed 
sand  pails,  2.5-gal.  chemical  fire  extinguishers  and  i-quart 
pump-type  extinguishers.  Two-inch  labeled  linen  fire  hose 
has  been  attached  to  standpipes  and  placed  on  revolving 
racks.  Self-closing  waste  cans  and  metal  lockers  have  been 
installed.  Wood  joists  in  the  metal  roof  of  the  boiler-room 
have  been  cut  away  to  a  distance  of  18  in.  from  three  metal 
stacks  and  ventilating  thimbles  have  been  installed.  All 
transformers  have  been  transferred  from  the  main  building 
to  a  separate  brick  building.  These  improvements  have 
resulted  in  a  reduction  in  fire  insurance  charges  of  $1.25 
per  $100  of  insurance  carried. 


ELECTRICITY  ON  A  MICHIGAN  FARM. 


Dr.  Robert  Cassels,  who  operates  the  Cloverdale  Holstein 
Dairy  Farm  near  Rochester,  Mich.,  for  two  years  has  been 
a  lighting  and  motor  service  customer  of  the  Eastern  Mich- 
igan Edison  Company,  whose  4600-volt  line  traverses  the 
neighborhood.  Besides  electric  lamps  in  his  house  and 
barns.  Dr.  Cassels  makes  use  of  a  S-hp,  220-volt,  three- 
phase  motor,  mounted  on  skids  so  that  it  can  be  moved 
from  place  to  place  about  the  farm,  where  it  is  employed 
to  grind  feed,  cut  ensilage,  husk  corn,  saw  wood,  pump 
water,  etc. 


July  2^,  191 2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


203 


Under  his  rate  of  4  cents  per  kw-hr.,  with  $1  per  hp  as  a 
monthly  minimum,  Dr.  Cassels  saw  that  he  was  entitled  to 
125  kw-hr.  in  return  for  his  minimum  bill,  and  keeping 
track  of  his  meter  registration,  energy  used,  and  output, 
determined  to  get  the  full  worth  of  his  money.  By  arrang- 
ing his  demand  to  consume  the  entire  125  kw-hr.,  the  farmer 
has  been  able  to  do  practically  all  his  farm  work  at  an 
average  cost  of  $5.48  per  month,  his  maximum  bill  in  two 
years  being  only  $8.28.  By  doing  custom,  feed  grinding  for 
■the  neighbor.;;,  the  motor  has  also  earned  a  large  part  of 
the  cost  of  its  operation.  The  gasoline  engine  formerly 
used  cost  $150  installed,  while  the  outlay  for  the  motor  was 
only  half  this  amount. 

As  related  by  Mr.  G.  D.  Slaymaker  before  the  Michigan 
Electric  Association,  June  22,  the  farm  equipment  driven 
by  the  S-hp  motor  is  as  follows : 

International  feed  grinder,  with  8-in.  burr  running  at 
600  r.p.m.  Can  grind  i  ton  of  shelled  corn,  barley,  wheat  or 
other  heavy  grain  per  hour,  or  1200  lb.  oats  per  hour,  at  a 
cost  of  2.5'  cents  per  hundredweight.  Dr.  Cassels  declares 
that  this  same  motor  should  run  a  lo-in.  burr  with  equal 
facility  since  its  maximum  demand  developed  with  the  8-in. 
burr  is  only  2.75  hp. 

No.  I  Whirlwind  ensilage  cutter  with  blower,  having 
cutting  and  elevating  capacity  of  6  tons  per  hour,  at  cost 
of  15  cents  per  hour  for  energy  to  operate.  With  this 
machine  the  85-ton  silo  has  been  filled  in  two  days,  at  a 
cost  of  $2.68  for  energy.  Hire  of  a  steam  engine  for  the 
same  work  would  have  been  at  least  $20.  By  assisting  his 
neighbors  the  cutter  equipments  earn  a  large  part  of  the 
electricity  bills. 

Two-roll  Appleton  busker,  capable  of  husking  400  bushels 
of  corn  in  ten  hours  at  $1.60  outlay.  This  husker  is  rated 
by  the  manufacturers  to  be  driven  by  a  6-hp  gasoline  en- 
gine, but  the  electric  motor  shows  no  difficulty  in  operating 
it  at  1000  r.p.m. 

•  Circular  buzz-saw,  which  can  cut  40  cords  of  wood  in 
10  hours  at  a  cost  of  5  cents  per  cord. 

Pump,  having  a  capacity  of  72  gal.  per  hour,  and  costing 
2  cents  per  hour  to  operate.  This  pump  furnishes  water 
for  the  farm  house,  barns  and  stock. 


COMPARING  GAS  AND  ELECTRIC  LIGHTING  COSTS. 


For  comparing  the  cost  of  electric  and  gas  illumination 
for  a  given  installation,  Mr.  Norman  Macbeth,  illuminating 
engineer  for  the  Westinghouse  company,  exhibited  the 
accompanying  scale  diagram  before  the  recent  convention 
of   the   Minnesota   Electrical   Association   at    Minneapolis. 

The  central-station  solicitor  seeking  to  replace  a  given 
gas  installation  will  himself  know  about  what  "watts  per 
square  foot"  are  required  to  meet  the  local  standard  of 
illumination.  Then,  measuring  up  the  premises  where  the 
gas  installation  is  to  be  replaced,  and  learning  the  gas  con- 
sumption, rate  per  1000  cu.  ft.,  etc.,  he  can  estimate  the 
watts  per  square  foot  which  a  similar  expenditure  will  pur- 
chase, at  the  rate  per  kilowatt-hour  to  be  charged  for 
electricity.  If  this  wattage  is  above  the  quantity  dictated 
by  good  practice,  by  dropping  a  ruler  down  on  column  F 
to  the  correct  "watts  per  square  foot"  in  the  table,  there 
can  be  read,  in  the  center  column,  the  difference  between  the 
present  cost  and  that  which  would  result  from  the  proposed 
wattage.  Reading  off  a  similar  distance  on  the  lower  scale 
H  will  give  the  percentage  cost  of  the  proposed  as  com- 
pared to  the  present  installation.  If  the  difference  reading 
is  above  the  figure  for  gas  competition,  the  scale  should  be 
read  from  zero  to  the  right.  Two  examples  will  make 
clear  the  use  of  this  diagram : 

Example  i.  A  certain  space  containing  800  sq  ft.,  which 
can  be  taken  care  of  with  an  energy  expenditure  of  0.5 
watt  per  square   foot  of   area,   is  now   lighted  by  gas  arc 


lamps  using  $1.20  gas.  Electricity -is  available  at  8  cents 
per  kw-hr.  Dividing  the  gas  consumption,  40  cu.  ft.,  by  the 
area  gives  a  consumption  of  0.05  cu.  ft.  of  gas  per  square 
foot.  Placing  a  straight  edge  on  5  in  column  G,  and  on 
$1.20  in  column  B,  read  0.006  cents  in  column  E  or  $0.60 
in  column  C,  which  will  be  the  gas  cost  for  one  hour  for 
1000  sq.  ft.  or  for  i  sq.  ft.  per  1000  hours.  In  a  like  man- 
ner, placing  the  straight  edge  on  the  8-cent  point,  column  A, 
and  the  0.5  point,  column  F,  read  0.004  in  column  E,  or  40 
cents  in  column  C.  Referring  to  the  equally  spaced 
divisions  just  to  the  left  of  the  vertical  line  between  columns 
C  and  E  and  counting  up  from  0.40  to  0.60,  the  "difference" 
is  nine  divisions.  Referring  to  the  bottom  of  scale  H  on 
the  lower  part  of  the  diagram,  nine  divisions  to  the  left  of 
zero  may  be  read  on  the  top  scale  as  66,  therefore  the 
energy  costs  for  electricity  would  be  66  per  cent  of  the  gas 


Cost 


Consumption 


EKotrioitj 

Lias 

Cents 

Dollars  per 

r^T  K.-,T.H. 

1000  eu.  ft. 

A 

B 

50": 

^5.00 

40 -| 

L4OO 

30i 

^3.00 

E 

-  2.50 

20- 

1-2.00 

■  L80 

L60 

15  - 

- 

■    L40 

• 

-   1.20 

10^ 

^LOO 

9-= 

^    90 

8-; 

H    80 

■\-. 

r  ™ 

6^ 

-    60 

5~ 

i-    50 

4-j 

r  * 

3- 

-    30 

2— 

-    20 

1- 

_   10 

Dollars  j.tt 

1000  lirs-iKT 

sq.  ft.or  per  hr. 

I*r  1000  sq.ft. 


br.p«r  sq.ft. 
of  Floor  ,Vrea 


■i5,00  r^  .23 
20.00  HI"-* 


15.00;  1^.15 
IQ.OoIiE.lO 

s.oo--i^.o 

(i.00-i^.06 
5.00— E— .05 

3.00--=  h 

2.00— §-.02 
1.50- 


1.00- 
.80- 

.CO   i- 
.50- 
.40 
.30  - 


.10- 


204      30     40    60  6D  7080M1OO 


-.01 

-.008 
-.006 

^.001 


-.001 


.08 -1  E-'flOOS 
.06--=^ 

.04-.||-.00Oi 
.03-ii-.O0O3 


01    il   .0001 


160   200      300     400  500^ 

iii'i|ii'ii|nii|wil|i'iw|iiii|  if 


Eloclricitj 

Gas 

Walts  pot 

fiaaJredtliS  of 

sq.tl.of 

cii.ft  pet  sq.ft. 

Floor  Area 

of  Floor  Area 

F 

G 

5  -= 

- 

-00 

1  -| 

h 

-40 

3  -I 

1- 

-30 

1M  -_ 

L 

25 

2  -^ 

- 

-20 

IM  - 

- 

li 

1  -. 

■ 

-U 

yio-5 

;- 

-9 

•Ao^ 

\- 

-8 

Vio^ 

-- 

-7 

Vio-i 

'-- 

-6 

6Ao-j 

i- 

5 

Vio-| 

L 

4 

Vio-I 

r 

3 

Vio-; 

- 

2 

Vio- 

1 

|iiiifiirili/i'i|iiii|ilil|^ti 

35  30  25  20  15  10  5  0   5  10  15  20  25  30  35 

Cost    Comparison    Diagram. 

costs.  Likewise,  if  the  monthly  gas  bill  had  been  $15,  by 
counting  nine  divisions  down  in  the  center  column  from 
the  $15  point  on  C,  one  reads  $10,  the  electric  bill  for  a 
similar  hour's  use  for  the  illumination  of  the  same  area; 
that  is,  $15  X  0.66  =  $9.99. 

Example  2.  If  the  gas  man  is  using  a  consumption  of 
0.06  of  a  cubic  foot  per  square  foot  of  $1  gas  against  2^ 
cents  per  kw-hr.  for  electricity,  what  will  be  the  watts  per 
square  foot  for  equal  cost?  Setting  the  line  on  6,  column 
G,  and  $1,  column  B,  read  0.60  on  column  C,  then,  swing- 
ing to  the  0.60  point,  column  C,  lower  the  left  end  to  2J/J, 
column  A,  and  read,  on  column  F,  2.4  watts  per  square 
foot,  which  is  the  permitted  watts  per  square  foot  for  equal 
cost.  Unless  the  method  of  installation  was  very  poor  this 
wattage  would  result  in  exceedingly  brilliant  illumination, 
as  high  as  is  used  in  many  show  windows  for  the  display 
of   merchandise. 


204 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  4. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 


WIRING  OLD  HOUSES— II. 


Descriptions  of  Tools  and  Methods  Employed  by  Wire- 
men   of   the  Allegheny  County  Light  Company 
— Running  Wires  Past  Hidden  Obstructions. 


By  Terrell  Croft. 

The  example  of  house  wiring  presented  in  the  first  in- 
stalment of  this  article  was  typical  of  a  small  old  house  of 
frame  construction.  The  wiring  of  a  large  house  is  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  a  small  one  in  the  respect  that  the 
number  of  branch  circuits  in  the  large  installation  justifies 
the  use  of  a  panel  box.  As  specified  by  the  code,  the  in- 
candescent lamp  load  protected  by  one  cut-out  must  not 
exceed  660  watts.  The  panel  box,  which  is  described  in 
detail  in  a  following  paragraph,  is  installed  in  a  central 
location,  in  the  wall  of  a  hall  or  closet,  as  shown  in  the 
example  of  wiring  a  large  brick  house  illustrated  in  Fig.  5. 
The  service  wires  enter  the  space  between  the  floor  and 
ceiling  over  the  first  story  and  pass  through  the  main  cut- 
out, through  the  meter  and  thence  to  the  main  switch,  which 
is  located  on  the  tablet  in  the  panel  box.  From  the  panel 
box  the  branch  circuits  radiate  in  all  directions  and  are 
carried  within  floors  and  partitions  in  much  the  same  way 
as  in  a  frame  house.  The  outside  walls  cannot,  unless  they 
are  furred,  be  utilized  without  much  expensive  cutting  of 
plaster  and  brick  and  damage  to  the  finish. 

In  both  the  examples  already  shown  there  are  no  gas 
outlets,  hence  single-pole  switches  were  used.  Had  there 
been  gas  outlets,  double-pole  switches  would,  to  comply  with 


//////,,,M/M/www/////,i''y//-y'/.',v,v.,yM/M/,M      ";"'mmww/m/w////,///z 


i       Attic 


Fig.   5 — Wiring   of   a    Large    Brick   House. 

Pittsburgh  regulations,  have  been  used.  The  installation 
of  double-pole  switches  would  increase  the  cost,  but  would 
not  in  general  affect  the  general  routes  of  the  circuits. 

Although  not  shown  in  the  previous  illustrations,  three- 
way  switch  circuits  are  very  frequently  installed  for  hall 
lighting  so  that  the  hall  lamps  can  be  controlled  from  either 
the  first  or  second  floor,  as  shown  in  Fig.  6.     Sometimes 


installations  are  made  wherein  the  hall  lamps  are  controlled 
from  three  or  more  points.  Such  control  requires  two  three- 
way  switches  and  as  many  additional  commutating  switches 
as  there  are  additional  control  points.  The  running  of  the 
wires  for  this  form  of  control  in  an  old  house  involves  no 
features  different  from  those  ordinarily  employed  in  such 
installations. 


Wiring  Installed 

Fig.    6 — Wiring    of    Hall    Lamps. 

At  the  point  where  the  entrance  wires  pass  through  the 
walls  of  a  frame  house  porcelain  tubes  are  used,  one  for 
each  wire,  and  tubes  are  usually  installed  at  entrances  to 
brick  houses.  An  iron  conduit  entrance  tube  is  frequently 
used  in  important  brick-house  installations.  It  is  then  neces- 
sary to  drill  but  one  hole  through  the  wall  for  conduit, 
whereas  for  tubes  two  holes  are  necessary.  Outlet  fittings 
are  required  for  the  conduit,  which  increases  the  cost,  but 
because  it  is  necessary  to  drill  only  one  hole  the  conduit 
is  often  cheaper  than  tubes  and  affords  a  neater  job. 

In  removing  a  length  of  flooring  to  install  wires  between 
joists  the  first  step  is  to  determine  how  much  to  take  up. 
It  is  seldom  advisable  to  remove  a  piece  so  short  as  the 
distance  between  adjacent  floor  joists,  after  the  manner 
indicated  as  "incorrect"  in  Fig.  7,  for  reasons  which  will 
be  very  plain.  The  saw-cuts  at  the  ends  of  such  a  short 
length  are  so  close  together  as  to  be  conspicuous,  and  the 
piece,  after  replacement,  must  depend  for  support  on  two 
cleats  nailed  to  the  joists,  which  may  or  may  not  provide 
a  firm  foundation.  There  is  always  a  tendency  to  creak  or 
rock.  It  is  better,  even  for  a  small  pocket,  to  make  the 
saw-cuts  so  that  a  piece  of  flooring  long  enough  to  span  at 
least  three  and  preferably  four  joists,  as  indicated  under 
"correct"  in  Fig.  7,  can  be  removed.  The  intermediate 
joists  will  effectively  support  the  middle  of  the  piece  that 
has  been  removed  and  prevent  creaking  and  rocking. 


a 


ists- — __r  I 


i   -Floor  Boards 


n 


"T^Nails    Niiilsd'^  I        Correct 


-M- 


">4      I 


■^^ 


,'     I 


H — h 
I     I 


tJ 


I     Incorrect 


-t— 1- 


L-J 


IJ- 


tJ 


Fig.    7 — Showing    How    to    IVIake    Floor    Cuts. 


In  making  the  saw-cuts  across  floor  boards  so  that  they 
can  be  removed,  the  first  operation  is  performed  with  a 
chisel.  The  chisel  is  driven  through  the  floor  board  close 
to  its  edge  and  close  to  a  joist,  which  is  located  by  sound, 
by  pounding  along  the  board  with  a  hammer.  Figs.  8  and  9 
illustrate  the  method.  Some  wiremen  bore  a  hole,  as  the 
first  operation,  but  this   is  not  good  practice.     A  s/i6-in- 


1 


July  27,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


20s 


carpenter's  wood  chisel  can  be  used  to  make  the  starting 
hole,  but  a  better  tool  is  shown  in  Fig.  10.  This  is  a  small 
chisel  from  a  pocket  tool-holder  outfit  and  was  designed 
for  use  in  a  handle  with  chuck  jaws,  but  it  is  an  admirable 
tool  for  starting  saw-cuts  because  the  blade  is  so  thin.  In 
use  the  chisel  is  held  in  the  proper  location  and  tapped 
with  a  hammer  until  it  pierces  the  floor.     It  is  then  with- 

sj : 


Floor ^ 
Boards 


ti^ 


Cut  uiaiie  with 
Keyhole  San 


r^^ 


soon  fills  with  fine  dirt,  making  it  uniform  in  appearance 
with  other  cracks  in  the  floor.  If  the  tongue  is  sawed  off 
the  fine  dirt  drops  through  and  an  open  crack  is  always 
visible. 

The  methods  of  removing  flooring  described  above  apply 
particularly  to  soft-wood  floors.  A  finely  finished  tongue- 
and-groove  hard-wood  floor  is  very  difficult  to  take  up 
without  disfigurement,  and  a  skilful  carpenter  should 
ordinarily  be  employed  to  do  the  work.  Where  a  floor 
composed  of  hard-wood  strips  about  J4  '"•  thick  nailed  to 


■  ^'i«  Chisel 


Joist   •   I 1  J-|yo,.   |j„„^j 

Plan  View.  Section 

through  Cut. 

EUcincal   H'urlU 

Fig.   8 — Saw-Cut    Across    Floor    Board. 


Lath 


^ 
^ 


-23^- 


-334^ 


r^    1 


:x 


'•-%*iiV'-'-'-'-'-'^''-'-' •■'''■^'-•^'^'^'-•^'-'-•-^'-'■'-'-'-•''-'■'-'-•■•'■''■•-•-'-'-'\'- '■'-'■'-''■'■' '-'-V 


Fig. 


Plaster  Etectneal   HWid 

9 — Method  of  Starting  Cut  with  Chisel. 


Fig. 


Bteecrieal  W.trld  , 

10— Chisel   for   Cutting 
Starting    Hole. 


drawn  and  the  cut  is  continued  across  the  board,  as  shown 
in  Fig.  8,  with  a  keyhole  saw.  With  soft-wood  floors  a 
small  screwdriver  can  be  driven  through  to  make  a  starting 
hole  in  lieu  of  a  chisel.  In  first-class  work  where  a  thin- 
bladed  chisel  has  been  used  it  is  practically  impossible  to 
find  the  starting  hole  after  the  installation  is  completed. 
After  saw-cuts  have  been  made  across  both  ends  of  a 
floor  board  a  chisel  (about  l>4-in.  blade)  is  driven  through 
near  one  end,  as  shown  at  A  in  Fig.  11,  and  a  prying  move- 
ment will  start  the  board.     Then  a  chisel,  having  a  width  of 


a  soft-wood  base,  or  a  parquet  floor  over  a  soft-wood  base, 
is  encountered,  wiremen  have  sometimes  removed  the  hard- 
wood pieces  and  replaced  them  without  damage.  If  a 
wide  chisel  is  inserted  at  the  end  of  a  hard-wood  floor  strip 
it  is  often  possible  to  raise  the  entire  strip,  as  the  brads 
used  in  securing  the  strips  are  small  and  have  little  holding 
power  in  soft  wood. 

Before  replacing  boards  removed  from  a  soft-wood  floor 
cleats  are  nailed  to  the  joists  at  the  ends  of  the  pocket,  as 
shown  in  Figs.  12  and  13,  to  support  the  floor-board  ends. 
Each  cleat  is  possibly  4  in.  longer  than  the  width  of  the 
pocket  and  is  pushed  up  snugly  against  the  edges  of  the 


Floor 


Short  IJit 
\ 


Brace 


Hole-T^ 


I't 


Fig, 


A 

11 — IVIethod 


Removing 


5   E„„r, 

Floor    Board. 


EltetrtcM  Worl.l 


Fig.   14 — Boring    Holes    in   Joists. 


4  in.  SO  as  not  to  crush  the  adjoining  board,  is  driven  in 
as  shown  in  Fig.  11  at  intervals  along  the  board  and  the 
edge  of  the  board  pried  loose  from  the  floor  at  each  in- 
sertion. Often  by  driving  in  the  chisel  as  at  A  and  then 
giving  the  adjacent  board  C  a  few  smart  blows  with  a  ham- 
mer the  lower  projection  forming  the  groove  will  crack  off 
for  the  entire  length  of  the  board  so  that  it  can  readily  be 
taken  up.  It  is  always  good  practice  to  break  off  the  lower 
projection  of  the  groove,  as  at  D.  Fig.  11.  When  the 
board  finally  comes  up  it  appears  as  shown  at  B,  Fig.  11. 


boards  at  the  sides  of  the  pocket  before  being  nailed  to  the 
joist.  Two  finishing  nails,  one  near  each  edge,  should  be 
driven  through  each  floor  board  at  each  joist.  The  use  of 
two  nails  in  each  joist  prevents  rocking  and  creaking  if  the 
board  happens  to  be  twisted  or  warped. 

In  boring  holes  in  joists  after  floor  boards  have  been 
removed  it  is  a  good  plan  to  use  a  bit  with  a  long  shank  or 
bit  extension.  Where  this  is  done  the  tubes  that  are  inserted 
in  the  holes  to  insulate  the  wires  will  lie  more  nearly 
parallel   to  the   surface  of  the   floor;   the  conductors  will 


Floo. 


Board  that  was 
talten  up. 


Y 


r 


R n., 

l-f^^CleatW^s^upport       .    I     7^,00^  Uoar,l 

'Hll^^V—n- fi-^L-lioard 

I    I  If-  baw  Cut  I        r  "'^'  ""^ 

-i--J!{- i-L    lJ    tal<en  up. 


Plaster  CfilJng'  Eteetricat  WorU 

Fig.   12 — Sectional    Elevation. 
Showing   Floor  Cleat, 


P== 


Fig.  13 — Plan  View  of  Cleat  In   Position.      Fig. 


Method   of   Running   Wires    Past    Bracing. 


Some  wiremen  cut  off  the  tongues  of  boards  that  are  to  be 
removed  with  a  saw  so  that  the  boards  can  be  lifted  directly 
out  with  practically  no  prying.  In  general,  however, 
it  is  beheved  that  it  is  better  to  split  off  the  lower  portion  of 
each  groove,  because  this  method  requires  less  time  and 
leaves  a  better  appearance.  The  tongue  projecting  under 
each   half  groove  constitutes   a   stop,  and   the  crack  above 


draw  through  them  more  easily,  and  abrasion  of  the  insula- 
tion on  the  wires  will  be  minimized.  Fig.  14  illustrates  this. 
Where  a  short  bit  is  used  as  at  A  the  hole  lies  at  a  con- 
siderable angle  with  the  floor,  while  at  B,  where  a  long  bit 
is  used,  the  hole  is  more  nearly  parallel  with  the  floor. 

Wires  that  are  to  run  between  and  parallel  to  joists  are 
"fished"  from  one  pocket  to  another  with  a  "snake."     The 


206 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  4. 


snake  is  a  springy  steel  ribbon,  about  1/16  in.  thick  and 
%  in.  wide,  which  can  readily  be  pushed  from  pocket  to 
pocket  along  on  top  of  the  lath.  The  end  of  the  snake  is 
bent  into  the  form  of  a  hook,  to  which  the  conductors  to 
be  "pulled  in"  are  attached.  Then  by  pulling  on  the  "snake" 
the  conductors  are  drawn  in. 


Carpeater's 
-ChalU  Line- 


a 


Hole  for  Core 


About 
2 


Piece  of 

--Battcrv  Zinc 


Bern  Solder 
.Wire 


A  Elev.itions 

End  View 

BUelrittt  Wpr'.d 

Fig.   16 — Showing   the   Construction   of  a   "Mouse." 

At  points  where  bracing  between  joists  is  encountered 
care  should  be  taken  to  locate  the  wires  as  indicated  in 
Fig.  15.  If  one  is  not  careful  the  wires  will  get  under  or 
above  the  braces  instead  of  between  and  when  drawn  taut 
will  bear  against  them.     Wires  must  be  supported  at  least 


c 


Pipe  Wrench 


, Length  of 
-'a 'Conduit 


Bored    f '^ 


t- 


B:  idge 


r 


Co  up  I 


Bridge 
Coup! 


^ 


I      ^  IKCondi.it  I  ] 

\      I   Joist    M        witli      I 


O   O 


A 


So 


•5  J! 
c  « 

o  a 

o 


B 


1I 


I 


Chuck    I 
attached.  %  ^  , 


*■ 


r.'irrncu;  lIurM 


Fig.    17 — Illustrating    Use    of    Long. 
Distance  Boring  TooL 


Figs.  18  and  19— Chuckc  End 
of  Boring  Tool  and  Home- 
IVIade   Bit   Extension. 


every  8  ft.  when  carried  along  on  knobs  on  the  sides  of 
joists.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  remove  a  floor  board  at 
least  every  8  ft.  when  wires  are  run  parallel  to  joists,  in 
order  to  open  pockets  in  which  the  knobs  can  be  secured  to 
the  sides  of  the  joists. 

Probably    the    most    difficult    work    encountered    by    the 


wireman  of  old  houses  is  the  running  of  wires  to  switch 
and  fixture  outlets  in  partitions.  As  indicated  in  Figs.  2,  j 
5  and  6,  a  considerable  percentage  of  the  total  wiring  lies  , 
within  partitions,  and  great  ingenuity  must  often  be  dis- 
played in  running  the  conductors  to  specified  outlets  with- 
out damaging  the  walls.  Where  there  is  no  bracing  or 
other  obstruction  within  a  partition  and  the  header  can  be 
reached  from  an  attic  or  by  removing  floor  boards,  the 
operation  is  simple.  A  hole  is  bored  in  the  header,  a 
"mouse"  (Fig.  i6)  is  dropped  through  and  the  wires  are 
pulled  up,  by  attaching  them  to  the  mouse  string,  from  the 
outlet  hole  in  the  partition  to  the  hole  in  the  header.  All 
wires  within  partitions  and  in  other  places  where  they  can- 
not be  supported  on  porcelain  must  be  sheathed  with 
circular  loom,  which  is  slipped  over  the  wires  before  they 
are  pulled  in. 

Where  there  are  braces  or  other  obstructions  within  a 
partition  and  the  top  of  the  partition — the  header — is  avail- 
able from  an  attic  or  from  a  pocket  formed  by  removing 
floor  boards,  the  method  and  tools  illustrated  in  Fig.  17, 
18  and  19  can  be  used.  For  this  work  the  "long-distance 
boring  tool"  (Fig.  19)  is  used.  This  tool  consists  of  a 
length  of  conduit,  threaded  on  one  end,  into  which  a  bit 
extension  (Fig.  18)  has  been  secured  by  flattening  the 
conduit  against  the  flat  portion  of  the  extension  as  shown 
in  Fig.  19.  Bit  extensions  can  be  purchased  at  hardware 
stores,  but  the  one  shown  was  made  by  straightening  out  the 
bent  portion  of  the  stem  of  an  old  bit-brace  and  flattening 
the  end.  Several  lengths  of  conduit  (Fig.  19),  threaded 
on  both  ends  and  fitted  with  couplings,  should  be  provided. 
The  lengths  of  the  extension  pieces  are  determined  by  the 
conditions  under  which  they  are  to  be  used.  Where  they 
will  be  used  in  a  space  having  little  head  room  they  must 
be  short.  Where  there  is  ample  head  room  they  can  be 
long.  Probably  4  ft.  is  a  fair  length  for  both  the  chuck- 
piece    and    the    extension    pieces. 

Fig.  17  shows  how  the  long-distance  boring  tool  is  used. 
The  bit,  usually  ij/^  in.  or  2  in.  in  diameter,  is  clamped  in 
the  jaws  of  the  chuck-piece  and  is  started  into  the  header  A 
(Fig.  17)  by  twisting  the  chuck-piece  by  hand.  As  soon 
as  the  bit  commences  to  "bite"  the  conduit  should  be  ripped 
with  a  pipe-wrench.  The  tool  is  then  turned  with  the 
wrench  until  the  bit  cuts  through  the  header,  and  next 
dropped  vertically  downward  through  the  hole  until  the 
bit  engages  a  bridge  or  other  obstruction  within  the  parti- 
tion. If  necessary  to  make  the  tool  longer  to  reach  the  ob- 
struction, an  extension  piece  of  conduit  is  screwed  to  the 
end  of  the  chuck-piece.  The  bit  is  then  turned  with  the 
pipe  wrench  through  this  obstruction  and  when  it  is 
through  is  dropped  to  the  next  one,  an  extension  piece  of 
conduit  being  added  if  necessary.  This  process  is  repeated 
until  an  unobstructed  vertical  runway  is  provided  for  the 
required  distance. 

Wiremen  in  one  instance  bored  runways  with  this  long- 
distance boring  tool  through  the  obstructions  in  the  parti- 
tions of  three  stories;  the  upper  hole  was  through  a  header 
exposed  in  the  attic  of  a  three-story  house  and  the  last 
hole  was  through  the  ceiling  of  the  basement. 

In  turning  the  long-distance  boring  tool  a  wireman  and 
his  helper  stand  facing  each  other,  with  the  vertical  conduit- 
piece  having  the  wrench  on  it  between  them.  One  man 
gives  the  tool  a  half-turn  by  pulling  the  wrench  around 
and  then  the  other  pulls  it  through  the  rest  of  the 
revolution.  This  is  kept  up  until  the  bit  emerges  from  the 
cut.  Both  hands  should  be  used  in  turning,  one  on  the 
wrench  handle  and  the  other  on  the  conduit  to  steady  it. 
It  is  advisable  to  bore  always  a  ij^-in.  or  2-in.  hole  with 
the  long-distance  tool,  because  bits  of  these  diameters  feed 
more  effectively  than  smaller  ones,  and  furthermore  a 
relatively  large  hole  is  usually  required  to  receive  the 
several  loom-covered  conductors — possibly  three,  four  or 
even  more — that  are  often  installed  as  a  single  group  within 
a  partition. 


July  2t,  1912 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


207 


ELABORATE    LIGHTING    OF    THE    HOTEL    UTAH, 
SALT  LAKE  CITY. 


Most  transcontinental  travelers  will  agree  that  this 
country  has  no  city  hostelry  which  surpasses  in  elegance 
and  arrangement  the  beautiful  ten-story  Hotel  Utah,  oppo- 
site the  Mormon  Temple  at  Salt  Lake  City.  The  archi- 
tectural feature  of  this  glistening,  white-tiled  structure  is  a 
handsome  tower  and  dome,  221  ft.  above  the  street,  repre- 
senting a  great  beehive,  the  symbol  of  industry  adopted  by 
the  Mormon  Church,  which  is  the  principal  owner  of  the 
hotel.  The  beehive  is  surrounded  by  four  eagles,  perched 
on  shields  of  the  United  States,  while  the  corners  of  the 
tower  are  marked  by  huge  candelabra  fixtures.  The  dome 
display  alone,  exclusive  of  the  candelabra,  contains  6286  5- 
watt  sign  lamps,  while  400  25-watt  units  are  used  in  the 
letters  "Hotel  Utah."  Hundred-watt  and  250-watt  lamps 
are  inclosed  in  the  36-in.  glass  balls  on  the  candelabra.  The 
entire  display,  which  was  built  by  the  Capital  Electric  Com- 
pany of  Salt  Lake,  represents  a  total  connected  direct- 
current  three-wire  load  of  31  kw,  and  is  fed  from  the  Mor- 
mon power  plant,  which  supplies  the  hotel  and  other  Tem- 


tinued  until  cut  off  by  the  response  of  the  called  party.  This 
patent  is  assigned  to  the  Kellogg  Switchboard  &  Supply 
Company,  the  system  being  worked  out  for  the  Dunbar  two- 
wire  system. 


7000  Tungsten    Lamps  on   Dome   of   Hotel    Utah,   Salt   Lake   City. 

pie  Square  buildings.  The  5-watt  lamps  are  arranged  in 
series  multiple,  eleven  groups  connected  in  series.  The  bee- 
hive design  measures  22  ft.  in  diameter  and  is  16  ft.  high, 
while  from  the  street  to  its  tip  is  a  distance  of  221  ft.  The 
eagles  measure  1 1  ft.  from  wing  to  wing,  and  the  shields 
are  10  ft.  by  6  ft.  The  Hotel  Utah  dome  is  the  commanding 
structure  of  the  city,  and  when  illuminated  at  night  can  be 
seen  for  many  miles  up  and  down  the  flat  and  fertile  Salt 
Lake  vallev. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


PARTY-LINE   SYSTEMS. 

Where  there  are  a  number  of  telephone  stations  connected 
to  the  same  line  it  is  not  always  possible  to  know  which 
one  is  calling,  especially  if  there  is  any  attempt  to  conceal 
the  facts.  To  overcome  this  difficulty  Mr.  H.  V.  Haley,  of 
Rushsylvania,  Ohio,  has  invented  a  detector.  This  consists 
of  a  code  wheel  at  each  station,  which  is  rotated  each  time 
the  hook  switch  is  raised.  The  code  wheel  impresses  the 
code  of  the  station  upon  the  line  as  a  series  of  long  and 
short  impulses  which  will  identify  the  calling  station. 

With  large  central-office  systems  it  is  desirable  under 
some  conditions  to  make  the  ringing  largely  automatic. 
Mr.  H.  G.  Webster,  of  Chicago,  has  arranged  a  circuit  sys- 
tem with  this  end  in  view.  A  ringing  control  key  is  ar- 
ranged to  determine  the  type  of  ringing  current  and  to 
initiate  the  ringing.     The  ringing  is  then  automatically  con- 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


EVILS  OF  PATENT  LICENSE  RESTRICTIONS. 


To  the  Editors  of  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — I  desire  to  call  to  your  attention  the  most  serious 
case  of  vicious  practice  sanctioned  by  the  recent  decision 
of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  in  the  now  famous 
Dick  case  which  has  yet  come  to  the  public  notice.  In 
recent  issues  of  the  daily  papers  mention  has  been  made 
of  the  suit  now  being  tried  between  the  federal  govern- 
ment and  the  so-called  "Watchcase  Trust."  The  govern- 
ment has  been  contending  that  certain  patents  owned  by 
the  defendant  Keystone  Watch  Case  Company  were  used 
simply  as  an  efficient  club  to  compel  jobbers  to  handle  no 
other  than  the  Keystone  product.  According  to  newspaper 
reports  the  watches  manufactured  and  sold  by  this  com- 
pany were  distributed  in  packages,  each  of  which  bore  the 
following  legend :  "This  watch  must  not  be  sold  to  anyone 
designated  by  the  manufacturers  as  objectionable.  This 
license  shall  not  be  removed  from  the  box  containing  the 
watch  nor  the  watch  sold  without  the  box  and  license  con- 
tained therein." 

According  to  the  same  newspaper  reports  the  patents 
possess  no  intrinsic  value  in  the  sense  of  controlling  or 
creating  a  monopoly  in  the  manufacture  of  watches  or 
any  parts  thereof  which  have  any  unusual  or  extraordinary 
merit  or  usefulness.  It  even  appeared  that  other  watches 
manufactured  by  competitors  possessed  similar  features — 
even  cheap  alarm  clocks.  The  question  immediately  arises: 
What  was  or  is  the  particular  value  of  the  patents  under 
which  these  watches  were  manufactured? 

It  seems  perfectly  obvious  that  the  chief  value  of  the 
patents  lay,  not  in  the  devices  or  principles  covered  and 
monopolized  thereby,  but  in  the  fact  that  under  the  con- 
struction of  law  hitherto  established  the  manufacturer 
might  restrict  the  sale  or  use  of  these  watches  in  almost  any 
manner  desired.  It  seems  as  though  the  restrictions  imposed 
on  the  mimeograph  machines  involved  in  the  Dick  case 
represented  the  extreme  to  which  the  manufacturers  might 
go,  but  apparently  it  remained  for  some  ingenious  minds 
to  devise  restrictions  of  a  still  more  iniquitous  and  harmful 
character.  It  requires  no  vivid  imagination  to  picture  the 
results  in  a  commercial  sense  of  such  a  restriction  as  the 
one  imposed  by  these  manufacturers,  who,  it  is  said, 
dominated  the  field  and  forbade  the  sale  of  their  product 
to  anyone  designated  by  them  as  "objectionable."  It  seems 
almost  inconceivable  that  such  a  restriction  will  be  upheld 
as  lawful  by  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  even  by  the 
judges  who  concurred  in  the  Dick  decision.  At  the  same 
lime  it  is  no  great  step  from  the  principle  involved  in  the 
Dick  decision  to  the  justification  of  the  restriction  to  which 
I  am  now  calling  your  attention.  And  it  is  therefore  to  be 
feared  that  the  judicial  mind  which  sanctioned  the  finding 
in  the  Dick  case  will  possibly  regard  this  last  form  of 
restriction  as  proper  and  lawful  also. 

My  purpose  in  drawing  your  attention  to  this  matter  is, 
first,  to  emphasize  the  evil  consequences  of  a  commercial 
nature  which  have  grown  out  of  the  original  intent  to  pro- 
tect and  reward  the  inventor,  which  intent  has  been  prosti- 
tuted for  the  selfish  ends  of  the  manufacturer  and  the 
distributer,  and,  secondly,  to  ask  that  you  give  publicity 
to  my  letter  and  possibly  thereby  create  sentiment  in  favor 
of  the  legislation  needed  to  correct  the  serious  abuses  which 
exist  under  our  present  patent  laws. 

Philadelphia,  Pa.  John  Brooks. 


208 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  4. 


Digest    of   Current   Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Cascade  Connection  of  Induction  Motors  and  Three- 
I'hase  Commutator  Motors. — E.  Siegel. — The  first  part  of 
a  mathematical  paper  illustrated  by  diagrams.  If  an  induc- 
tion motor  and  a  three-phase  commutator  motor  are  con- 
nected in  cascade  and  if  the  commutator  motor  has  a 
shunt  characteristic,  the  combination  has  approximately 
constant  speed  at  all  loads.  To  vary  the  speed,  special 
regulating  apparatus  must  be  employed  which  necessarily 
complicates  the  arrangement.  To  attain  the  same  result, 
it  is  simpler  to  use  in  the  cascade  connection  a  commutator 
motor  with  series  characteristics.  Two  different  arrange- 
ments are  possible.  In  that  of  Kraemer  the  induction 
motor  and  the  commutator  motor  are  connected  directly 
together  or  through  a  gearing.  In  that  of  Scherbius  the 
induction  motor  and  the  commutator  motor,  operating  in 
cascade,  are  not  connected  together  mechanically,  but  by 
means  of  an  au.xiliary  machine,  which  is  mechanically 
coupled  with  the  comnmtator  motor,  energy  being  returned 
mto  the  network.  Both  systems  have  been  investigated  in 
detail  by  A.  Rajz.  The  present  author  gives  a  more  ele- 
mentary simplified  theory  in  which  the  less  important  effects 
are  neglected.  In  the  present  instalment  the  system  of 
Kraemer  is  discussed.  The  article  is  to  be  continued. — 
Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  July  7,  1912. 

Regulation  of  Direct-Current  Motors. — W.  Lehmann. — 
The  author  points  out  that  the  regulation  of  direct-current 
motors  by  series  resistances  has  the  disadvantage  that  for 
a  constant  series  resistance  the  speed  varies  considerably 
with  the  torque.  This  disadvantage  can  be  overcome  by 
speed  regulation  by  means"  of  a  resistance  in  parallel  with 
the  armature.  The  operation  of  this  method  is  discussed 
with  the  aid  of  diagrams  relating  to  a  shunt  motor  and  to 
a  series  motor.  This  method  consumes  considerably  more 
current,  but  permits  quite  a  large  reduction  of  the  speed 
for  positive. as  well  as  negative  torques  and  also  renders 
the  speed  relatively  independent  of  the  load. — Elek.  Zeit., 
July  4,  1912. 

Single-Plmse  Commutator  Motors. — R.  E.  Hellmund 
AND  E.  W.  P.  Smith. — In  a  former  article  the  authors  dis- 
cussed the  results  obtained  with  single-phase  commutator 
motors  with  shunt-connected  commutating  poles.  In  the 
present  article  a  nuinber  of  other  commutating-pole  ar- 
rangements are  described  and  their  results  explained  with 
the  aid  of  diagrams. — Elec.  Journal  July,  1912. 

Polyphase  Converter. — P.  Stein. — An  English  transla- 
tion of  his  recent  German  paper  on  a  simple  converter  for 
transforming  polyphase  currents  into  direct  current  for 
charging  small  batteries.  The  converter  in  question  con- 
sists essentially  of  a  transformer  and  a  commutator,  the 
latter  being  driven  by  a  synchronous  motor,  the  brushes  on 
the  commutator  being  fixed. — London  Electrician.  July  5. 
1912. 

Transformer  Oils.~.\.  Reisset.— An  article  on  the  prin- 
cipal requirements  of  transformer  oils,  with  special  refer- 
ence to  two  recent  papers  by  Lymons  and  Hooper. — La 
Lumiere  Elec.  July  6.  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Alternating-Current  Quarts  Lamp. — F.  Girard. — An 
illustrated  description  of  a  new  alternating-current  mer- 
cury-vapor lamp  with  a  fused-quartz  globe.  The  burner 
is  designed  on  the  principle  of  a  mercury-vapor  rectifier 
and  contains  two  anodes  and  one  cathode.  Special  fea- 
tures are  the  form  of  the  burner  and  the  method  of  igniting 
the  lamp  by  tilting.  The  burner  is  inclosed  in  a  globe  so 
that  the  lamp  gives  the  appearance  of  an  arc  lamp.     The 


transformer  which  is  necessary  is  inclosed  in  the  top  of  the 
lamp.  While  the  length  of  direct-current  quartz  lamps 
must  vary  according  to  the  voltage,  this  is  not  the  case  with 
alternating-current  lamps,  where  for  a  given  watt  consump- 
tion the  same  burner  can  be  used  for  any  voltage.  The 
chief  disadvantage  of  the  alternating-current  lamp  is  that 
its  price  is  about  40  per  cent  higher  than  that  of  the  direct- 
current  lamp.  Finally  it  is  shown  that  forty-six  direct- 
current  quartz  lamps  in  connection  with  a  rotary  converter 
are  far  more  economical  than  seventy-three  alternating- 
current  arc  lamps  with  pure  non-impregnated  electrodes ; 
the  saving  per  year  is  $2,150,  while  the  illumination  is  50 
per  cent  higher.- — Elek.  Zeit.,  July  4,   1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Electric  Installation  in  Cotton  Mill. — H.  Beckmann. — 
An  illustrated  description  of  the  electric  supply  station  of 
the  Kolbernioor  cotton  mill  in  Austria.  There  are  two 
power  plants,  one  generating  direct  current  and  the  other 
alternating  current,  both  being  operated  by  water-power. 
The  direct-current  plant  has  turbines  with  an  aggregate 
rating  of  1200  hp,  but  two  storage  batteries  are  provided, 
so  that  in  the  whole  1600  hp  are  available  during  the  day 
of  ten  hours.  The  batteries  are  charged  during  the  night. 
The  use  of  the  batteries  is  quite  economical,  as  the  total 
price  of  the  kw-hr.  produced  by  the  batteries  is  about  i  cent. 
The  alternating-current  plant  has  a  rating  of  1200  hp  and 
by  means  of  a  converter  the  direct-current  and  alternating- 
current  systems  can  be  connected  together.  A  steam  tur- 
bine of  800  hp  is  provided  as  reserve  in  case  of  very  low 
water  or  ice. — Elek.  Zeit.,  July  4,  1912. 

Traction. 

British  Railivays  Association. — A  full  account  of  the  re- 
cent general  meeting  of  the  (British)  Tramways  and  Light 
Railways  Association  held  at  Swansea.  An  account  of  the 
proceedings  and  of  the  different  discussions  is  given.  Ab- 
stracts of  the  papers  presented  will  be  found  elsewhere  in 
the  Digest. — London  Electrician,  July   5,   1912. 

Track  Maintenance. — W.  Thom. — A  paper  read  before 
the  (British)  Tramways  and  Light  Railways  Association. 
Figures  are  given  showing  the  wear  of  rails  and  the  life 
of  these  calculated  from  the  car-tons  per  track-mile  per 
annum  and  from  gaging.  The  author  advocates  the  syste- 
matic and  thorough  treatment  of  corrugation  and  the  elimi- 
nation of  defective  joints  by  cutting  them  out  and  closing 
up  the  rails.— London  Electrician,  July  5,  1912. 

Tramways,  Omnibuses  and  Railless  Traction. — A.  H. 
Pott. — A  paper  read  before  the  (British)  Tramways  and 
Light  Railways  Association.  The  author  discusses  the 
present  position  of  tramways,  motor  buses  and  railless 
trolley  vehicles.  Tramways  are  considered  the  best  means 
of  conveying  cheaply  numbers  of  people  along  the  streets, 
but  fresh  legislation  is  necessary  in  Great  Britain  to  place 
tramways  in  an  equally  favorable  position  with  their  com- 
petitors. Omnibuses  need  well-paved  roads,  and  can  be  of 
great  utility  to  supplement  a  tramway  service.  Details  of 
costs  are  given,  which  show  that  railless  traction  is  usually 
the  best  method  of  extending  a  tramway. — London  Elec- 
trician, Inly  5,  1912. 

Pay-as-You-Enter  Cars.—U.  M.  Howard.— A  paper  read 
before  the  (British)  Tramways  and  Light  Railways  Asso- 
ciation. Particulars  are  given  of  the  progress  of  the  pay- 
as-you-enter  car  in  North  America.  Claims  are  made  for 
reduction  in  the  number  of  accidents,  increase  in  receipts, 
improved  service  and  greater  convenience.  These  advan< 
tages  are  discussed,  and  finally  the  application  of  the  car 
under    British    conditions    is     considered,    reference    being 


I 


LLV    -7 


191. 


ELECTRICAL     \V  O  R  L  D  . 


209 


nade  to  the  question  of  tickets. — London  Electrician,  July 

Car  Meters. — W.  Clough. — A  paper  read  before  the 
[British)  Tramways  and  Light  Railways  Association,  dis- 
;ussing  the'  means  for  obtaining  the  best  results  from  the 
nstallation  of  car  meters.  The  author  describes  a  bonus 
,cheme  for  rewarding  motormen  on  the  savings  obtained 
)y  using  car  meters.  A  similar  scheme  based  on  receipts, 
vhich  is  in  force  for  conductors,  is  also  dealt  with. — 
^ondon  Electrician,  July  5,  1912. 

Hamburg. — W.  Mattersdorff. — A  continuation  of  his 
ong  illustrated  serial  on  the  Hamburg  elevated  railway, 
rhe  present  instalment  gives  details  of  the  car  equipment. — 
S/r/fe.  Zcit..  July  4,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

British  Municipal  Electrical  Association. — A  full  account 
if  the  annual  report  of  the  council  on  the  work  of  the 
issociation  during  the  past  year.  The  membership  of  the 
issociation  now  stands  at  388,  made  up  as  follows :  Com- 
uittees  (members),  163;  chief  electrical  engineers  (mem- 
jers),  183;  honorary  members,  5;  chief  assistants  (asso- 
:iate  members),  6,  and  assistants  (associates),  31. — London 
llectrician,  July  5,  1912, 

Interconnection  of  Central  Stations. — H.  Buggeln. — An 
irticle  on  the  interrelation  which  has  been  established 
letween  various  central  stations  in  the  State  of  Wiirttem- 
lerg  in  Germany  for  the  sake  of  exchanging  energy  in  case 
)f  overload  or  of  emergency  due  to  accident.  This  inter- 
elation  has  been  accomplished  by  an  interconnection  of 
he  different  networks,  whereby,  however,  the  independence 
)f  the  different  stations  has  in  no  way  been  impaired. — 
ilek.  Zeit.,  July  4,  1912. 

Electrolytic  Lightning  Arresters. — An  illustrated  article 
;iving  a  review  of  the  action  of  the  electrolytic  lightning 
rrester  on  the  basis  of  oscillographic  analyses,  its  prop- 
rties,  construction  and  applications. — La  Lumierc  Elcc, 
uly  6,  1912. 

Electrophysics  and   Magnetism. 

Magnetic  Tests  of  Iron. — F.  Stroude. — An  abstract  of  a 
British)  Physical  Society  paper  on  "an  accurate  examina- 
ion  of  the  Steinmetz  index  for  transformer  iron,  stalloy 
nd  cast  iron."  These  experiments  were  undertaken  to 
rovide  a  sound  experimental  basis,  suitable  for  mathe- 
latical  analysis,  with  a  view  to  discovering,  if  possible, 
ome  relation  connecting  hysteresis  loss  and  flux  density 
v'hich  will  accord  with  results  obtained  practically  to  a 
reater  extent  than  does  the  empirical  law  of  Steinmetz. 
'he  method  of  uniformly  varying  flux  was  used  for  the 
eterminations.  The  magnetic  treatment  given  to  the  speci- 
len  by  this  method  approximates  to  that  received  by  iron 
mployed  in  alternating-current  work,  while  the  method 
dmits  of  a  very  high  degree  of  accuracy.  Experiments 
.'ere  made  with  transformer  iron,  stalloy  (3  per  cent 
ilicon  iron)  and  cast  iron,  two  rings  of  each  material 
•eing  tested.  The  rings  were  carefully  demagnetized 
efore  testing,  and  even  reduced  to  cyclical  state  for  each 
urrent  value  before  making  observations.  A  set  of  com- 
larative  tests  on  one  of  the  transformer  iron  rings  was 
nade  by  the  ballistic  method,  and  these  tests  show  that,  in 
.eneral.  for  a  given  value  of  B  the  hysteresis  loss  and  the 
alue  of  H  for  the  ballistic  tests  are  higher  than  the  corre- 
ponding  value  for  the  slow  cyclic  tests.  The  results  were 
xpressed  in  the  form  of  the  Steinmetz  equation  zvh  =  t]  Bi. 
/or  transformer  iron  e  has  the  value  1.7  between  the  limits 
I?  =  1000  and  B  =  17,000.  Stalloy  gives  a  value  of  =  1.66 
etween  B  =  4000  and  B  =  12,000,  having  somewhat  higher 
alues  for  lower  values  of  B.  In  the  case  of  cast  iron  e  is 
qual  to  1.82  between  the  limits  B  =  2000  and  B  =  6000, 
ising  for  lower  flux  densities.  It  will  be  seen  that  the 
laterial  with  the  highest  maximum  permeability  has  the 
iwest  constant  "index"  and  vice  versa.  In  the  discussion 
.•hich    followed     A.    Campbell    suggested    that    the    author 


should  try  the  efifect  of  annealing  the  transformer  iron, 
which  would  then  sometimes  give  an  index  of  nearly  2. 
The  losses  at  low  values  of  B  are  very  important,  and  the 
results  so  far  have  been  very  discordant.  It  is  of  im- 
portance to  know  the  energy  loss  in  telephone  cables  that 
are  loaded  by  winding  iron  strip  around  them.  Here  the 
value  of  B  is  very  small,  probably  50  or  100.  J.  T.  Morris 
drew  attention  to  the  accuracy  of  the  present  work.  He 
pointed  out  that  in  order  to  find  explanations  for  the  losses 
experiments  should  be  made  at  high  temperatures,  about 
700  deg.  C,  or  where  the  B  and  H  curves  are  of  simple 
character.  The  hysteresis  loss  is  then  zero  for  values  of 
B  less  than  a  certain  amount  and  constant  for  all  values 
greater  than  another  fixed  value,  and  a  linear  function  of 
B  between  these  two  ranges. — London  Electrician,  July 
5.  1912. 

Surface  Leakage  Experiments  with  Alternating  Current. 
— G.  L.  Addenbrooke. — An  abstract  of  a  British  Physical 
Society  paper.  Experiments  on  dielectrics  at  different 
temperatures  and  over  a  wide  range  of  periodicity  showed 
that  the  losses  found  were  in  some  cases  partly  due  to 
surface  leakage.  When  this  latter  was  eliminated  and  the 
data  obtained  with  the  surface  leakage  and  without  were 
compared,  it  did  not  seem  as  if  the  portion  of  the  losses 
due  to  surface  leakage  could  be  accounted  for  by  assuming 
that  it  was  constant  at  all  periodicities,  as  is  the  case  with 
the  losses  in  metallic  conduction.  Measurements  were 
therefore  made  to  ascertain  the  behavior  of  the  surface 
leakage  alone.  For  this  purpose  strips  of  tinfoil  were 
pasted  on  a  sheet  of  glass  i  in.  apart,  and  the  relative  losses 
with  an  alternating  current  of  42  cycles  and  a  continuous 
current  were  measured,  the  pressure  being  the  same  in  both 
cases.  The  power-factor  was  high  in  all  cases.  The  follow- 
ing are  the  results: 


Resistance, 
Megohms. 

RELATIVE  LOSSES. 

State  of  Film  on  Glass. 

Continuous. 

Alternating. 

Ordinary  day 

Drier  day 

300 

570 

770 

50,000 

I 
1 
1 

4 
5 

Another  glass  surface 

1 

1 5  approx . 

With  ebonite  similar  experiments  showed  a  much  higher 
ratio  for  the  losses,  namely,  i  :40.  For  porcelain  insulators 
the  ratio  was  as  high  as  i  :6o  on  a  dry  day,  but  part  of  this 
leakage  may  be  through  the  material.  The  relative  leakages 
between  the  primary  and  secondary  of  a  small  induction  coil 
and  a  transformer  were  respectively!  :4.5  and  i  :8.  In  these 
cases  also  the  leakage  was  doubtless  partly  through  the 
insulation.  Further  experiments  described  show  that  the 
moisture  present  must  be  in  a  very  attenuated  state  for  the 
differences  in  the  losses  found  to  become  sensible.  Ordi- 
nary water,  even  in  very  thin  films,  does  not  show  the 
effect.  The  striking  similarity  between  the  above  results 
and  results  obtained  by  measurements  made  of  these  losses 
through  dielectrics  is  pointed  out.  The  suggestion  seems 
warranted  that  in  both  cases  the  effects  may  be  due  to  the 
same  fundamental  causes,  namely,  the  presence  of  a  very 
diluted  electrolyte. — London  Electrician,  June  28,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Electrical  Measurement  of  Small  Intervals  of  Time. — 
V.  C.  Brown. — The  author  shows  that  a  measurement  of 
the  time  between  two  mechanical  operations  may  be  carried 
out  quite  accurately  by  the  use  of  resistors,  battery,  ballistic 
galvanometer,  condenser  and  contact  keys.  The  principle 
is  based  on  the  relation  between  the  electromagnetic  and 
(he  electrostatic  systems  of  units,  and  if  the  ohm  be  defined 
in  terms  of  the  dimensions  of  a  mercury  column  the  method 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  4, 


is  an  absolute  one.  Aside  from  the  advantage  of  having  an 
absolute  measure  of  time  in  terms  of  length,  or  of  length, 
mass  and  resistance,  the  advantages  of  the  method  are 
simplicity  and  ease  of  manipulation.  The  interval  of  time 
to  be  measured  mav  be  diminished  to  the  limits  of  depend- 
able electrical  contact,  no  doubt  less  than  o.ooi  second. 
The  interval  may  vary  from  0.4  second  to  several  seconds, 


Fig.   1 — Connections   in    IVIeasurIng   Small    Intervals   of   Time. 

depending  on  the  period  of  the  galvanometer.  The  funda- 
mental principle  of  the  method  is  that  the  interval  of  time 
between  the  making  of  electrical  contact  at  t^  and  the  time 
of  breaking  of  contact  at  t^  varies  directly  as  the  throw 
of  a  ballistic  galvanometer  which  has  been  connected,  as 
shown  in  Fig.  I,  in  a  W'heatstone's  bridge  circuit  during 
the  interval.  The  theoretical  results  of  the  author  are 
confirmed  by  experimental  evidence. — Physical  Review, 
June. 

Tests  of  Lightning  Conductors. — -Tests  of  lightning  con- 
ductors are  often  made  with  induction  coils  and  telephones 
because  of  the  electrolytic  nature  of  the  earth  connection. 
An  apparatus  of  German  make  designed  by  Ruppel  is  in- 
tended to  facilitate  the  tests  by  unskilled  persons.  Its  main 
feature  is  an  oscillating  switch  A,  Fig.  2,  which  by 
mechanical  oscillations  converts  direct  current  into  alter- 
nating current.  This  does  away  entirely  with  the  induction 
coil.  The  oscillating  switch  consists  of  a  tuned  steel  spring, 
which  alternately  applies  the  positive  and  negative  ter- 
minals of  a  battery  to  the  branches  of  the  bridge.  The 
frequency  of  the  alternating  current  thus  produced  is  about 
17  cycles  per  second,  which  suffices  even  for  work  on 
electrolytes,  as  borne  out  by  tests  at  the  Reichsanstalt.  This 
also  allows  the  telephone  to  be  replaced  by  a  sensitive 
galvanometer,  suitably  damped  and  fitted  with  a  light  sys- 
tem which  is  set  vibrating  by  the  alternating  current. 
Instead  of  a  galvanometer  deflection  the  amplitude  of  vibra- 
tion thus  gives  the  reading.  The  use  of  a  galvanometer 
insures  far  greater  simplicity  and  rapidity  than  a  telephone. 
A  is  the  steel  spring  oscillating  between  the  two  contacts 
C  and  C„  which  are  connected  to  the  two  terminals  of  a 
battery.  Two  diagonal  points  of  the  Wheatstone  bridge 
are  connected  on  one  hand  to  the  spring  A.  and,  on  the 


Fig.    2 — Oscillating    Switch. 

Other,  to  the  middle  of  the  battery,  the  galvanometer  G 
being  applied  to  the  two  other  diagonal  points.  The  num- 
ber of  periods  as  well  as  the  shape  of  the  curve  of  the 
alternating  current  generated  by  the  switch  can  be  adjusted 
by  varying  the  position  of  the  weight  K.  The  oscillating 
spring  A  is  set  working  mechanically  by  causing  a  rod  to 
strike  it  as  an  ebonite  button  is  pressed  down.     The  bat- 


tery circuit  is  closed  at  the  same  time.  The  battery  is  used 
only  during  the  actual  measuring  process,  that  is  to  say, 
only  so  long  as  the  contact  button  is  in  its  lowermost 
position.  The  apparatus  can  be  used  for  direct-current 
measurements  by  pressing  down  the  button  only  until  the 
spring  is  just  touched.  The  same  ebonite  button  serves  for 
displacing  the  sliding  contact. — London  Elec.  Review,  July 
5.  1912. 

Wattmeter  for  Weak  Alternating  Currents. — W.  Ger- 
LACH. — An  illustrated  description  of  a  new  thermo-electric 
wattmeter  for  weak  alternating  current.  The  current  to  b( 
measured  is  passed  through  two  thin  metal  strips,  for  in 
stance,  of  platinum  foil,  placed  parallel  to  each  other  ant 
electrically  connected  either  in  series  or  parallel.  Betweer 
these  two  strips  are  placed  the  hot  joints  of  a  number  01 
iron-constantan  thermo-elements  which  are  connected  to  ig 
galvanometer.  The  joints  of  the  thermo-elements  are  in- 
sulated by  air  from  the  metal  strips,  but  the  distance  v. 
made  as  short  as  possible.  The  metal  strips  are  blackenec 
on  the  inside  (toward  the  thermo-elements)  and  bright  or 
the  outside.  Details  of  the  design  and  results  of  tests  ar< 
given. — Phys.  Zcit.,  July  i,  1912. 

Standard  Instrument  and  Transformer  Windings. — C.  C 
Garrard. — The  British  Standard  Specification  states  tha 
the  current  in  the  secondary  circuit  of  a  series  transforme: 
used  with  high-tension  ammeters  should  be  5  amp  at  maxi 
mum  scale  reading.  It  is  pointed  out  that  this  stipulatioi 
is  undesirable  because  it  is  common  practice  to  connect  : 
number  of  instruments  in  series  on  the  same  transformer 
and  it  is  often  necessary  that  ammeters  should  indicat 
currents  considerably  above  the  normal.  Some  of  the  othe 
recommendations  of  the  Engineering  Standards  committe- 
are  also  considered. — London  Electrician.  June  28,  1912. 

Marine  Galvanometer. — An  illustrated  description  of 
marine  galvanometer  of  English  make,  the  suspended  coi 
of  which  can  be  balanced  in  a  simple  and  definite  manne 
so  that  it  is  not  affected  by  the  rolling  or  pitching  of  th 
vessel.  The  suspending  strips  or  wires,  instead  of  beinj 
attached  to  a  fixed  point  on  the  coil  frame,  are  attached  t 
a  lug  or  nut  free  to  traverse  a  small  platform  by  a  screw 
the  top  one  being  at  right  angles  to  the  bottom  one ;  b 
varying  the  positions  of  these  lugs  a  perfect  and  lastin; 
balance  is  obtained  with  ease. — London  Electrician,  June  2i 
1912. 

Cable  Tests. — K.  W.  Wagner. — .\n  illustrated  mathe 
matical  paper  on  the  measurement  of  the  partial  dielectri 
leakances  and  capacities  of  multi-conductor  cables  wit 
alternating  current. — Elek.  Zeit.,  June  20,  1912. 

Testing  Brake. — D.  Robertson. — .'\n  illustrated  descrif 
tion  of  a  brake  designed  by  the  author  and  in  use  at  th 
Merchant  Venturers'  College.  Prof.  James  Thomson  ha 
introduced  some  improvements  of  the  ordinary  rope  an 
Prony  brakes  for  testing  the  output  of  motors.  The  autho 
has  made  some  further  modifications  and  improvements  0 
the  arrangement  of  Thomson. — London  Electrician.  Jul 
5.  1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Earth  Antennas. — W.  Burstyn. — "Earth  antennas"  ar 
long  horizontal  wires  stretched  above  and  insulated  froi 
the  ground,  the  two  ends  being  either  free  or  insulate 
through  adjustable  condensers.  The  transmitting  or  rt 
ceiving  apparatus  is  placed  in  the  center  of  the  win 
Waves  are  transmitted  merely  in  the  longitudinal  directio 
of  the  wire.  The  author  discusses  the  method  by  which  th 
radiation  is  produced  and  shows  that  the  "electric  image 
is  provided  not  by  the  surface  of  the  earth  but  by  the  lev( 
of  the  water  below  the  earth.  Good  results  depend,  thert 
fore,  on  local  conditions.  The  waves  are  propagated  nc 
through  the  earth,  but  through  the  air. — Elek.  Zeit 
June  13. 

Submarine  Telegraph  Cable. — H.  W.  Malcolm. — A  cor 
tinuation  of  his  long  mathematical  serial  on  the  theory  c 
the  submarine  telegraph  cable.     In  the  present  instalmer 


July  27,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


211 


the  author  shows  how  to  determine  the  curves  of  arrival 
for  the  voltage  at  the  receiving  end  of  the  cable.  These 
arrival  curves  are  determined  for  different  conditions,  the 
receiving  end  being  insulated  or  connected  to  earth  through 
a  resistor'  or  connected  to  earth  through  a  condenser; 
also  with  condensers  at  both  ends  of  the  cable.  It  has 
been  found  by  experiment  that  a  great  improvement  in  the 
received  signals  results  if  the  recorder  be  shunted  by  an 
inductance  coil,  and  this  plan  is  now  generally  adopted. 
The  theory  of  this  case  is  given. — -London  Electrician, 
June  28,  1912. 

Wireless  Detectors. — An  illustrated  description  of  a  new 
detector  of  the  crystal  type  made  by  an  English  company. 
It  consists  of  a  brass  disk  with  a  large  hole  in  the  center, 
carrying  six  crystal  cups  C,  in  which  the  crystals  are  fixed 
by  means  of  a  special  fusible  alloy  (Fig.  4).  The  disk  is 
held  up  against  a  flanged  nut  on  a  spindle  by  the  springs  D. 


Fig. 


-Helsby    Wireless    Detector. 


Book  Reviews 

Lehrbuch  der  Photometrie.  By  Friedrich  Uppenborn 
and  Berthold  Monasch.  Munich  and  Berlin :  R. 
Oldenbourg.    411  pages,  254  illus.    Price,  15  marks. 

An  excellent  modern  text-book  on  photometry  partly  pre- 
pared by  Uppenborn,  but  completed  and  edited  by  Monasch 
five  years  after  Uppenborn's  death.  The  book  may  be  said 
to  combine  the  abilities  of  both  these  well-known  pho- 
tometrists.  By  comparing  this  text-book  with  others  on  the 
same  subject  written  in  Germany  a  few  years  ago  it  is  easy 
to  see  how  rapidly  the  theory  and  practice  of  photometry 
have  advanced  during  recent  times. 

The  type  and  illustrations  are  excellent  and  the  descrip- 
tions simple.  The  eighteen  chapters  of  the  book  relate  to 
the  following  subjects:  Physiological,  Lambert's  law,  pho- 
tometric magnitudes,  standards,  luminous  intensities,  globes 
and  reflectors,  illumination,  stationary  photometers,  portable 
photometers,  mirror  photometers,  curves  of  illumination, 
integration,  heterochrome  photometry,  selenium  pho- 
tometers, gas-lamp  photometry,  incandescent-lamp  pho- 
tometry, arc-lamp  photometry,  search-lamp  photometry. 
The  book  will  be  of  great  value  to  all  students  of 
photometry. 


and  can  be  rotated  sideways  so  as  to  bring  any  part  of  any 
crystal  into  contact  with  the  point  B ;  the  pressure  of  con- 
tact can  be  adjusted  with  the  greatest  precision  by  means 
of  the  screw  A  and  the  arrangement  of  opposing  springs 
shown  in  the  figure.  Crystals  of  galena  of  a  particular 
formation  are  found  to  give  the  best  results,  provided  that 
the  pressure  of  contact  is  extremely  light.- — London  Elec. 
Revieii'.  July  5,  1912. 

Egner-Holinstrdm's  Microphone  for  Large  Currents. — 
G.  HoLMSTROM. — A  well-illustrated  article  on  the  theory 
and  construction  of  a  microphone  for  large  currents  in- 
vented by  the  author  and  Mr.  C.  Egner.  With  a  slight 
difference  in  design  the  instrument  is  suitable  both  for  wire- 
less telephony  and  for  the  transmission  of  speech  over  very 
long  wire  lines.  The  greatest  distance  that  can  be  covered 
in  ordinary  telephony  with  a  3-nim  copper  line  is  about  600 
miles.  By  using  the  authors'  microphone  the  distance  is 
doubled.  Abstract  of  a  former  article  appeared  in  the 
Digest  March  30,  1912. — Teknisk  Tidskrift,  Elektroteknik 
(Sweden),  July  3,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

Congress  of  British  Universities. — An  account  of  the 
Congress  of  the  Universities  of  the  British  Empire  recently 
held  at  the  University  of  London,  South  Kensington, 
London.  Three  short  papers  on  the  "Question  of  Division 
of  Work  and  Specialization  Among  Universities"  were  read 
by  Sir  Alfred  Hopkinson,  Dr.  T.  Herbert  Warren  and  Sir 
Charles  Waldstein.  A  paper  on  "The  Relation  of  Universi- 
ties to  Technical  and  Professional  Education"  was  read  by 
Prof.  A.  Smithells,  while  Mr.  Stanley  Leathes  presented  a 
paper,  "The  Relation  of  Universities  to  Education  for  the 
Public  Service."  An  account  of  the  discussions  is  also 
given. — London  Electrician.  July  5,  1912. 

Lightning  Conductors. — Ruppel. — The  author  recom- 
mends that  the  German  standardization  rules  should  be 
more  carefully  considered  than  heretofore.  The  object  in 
the  construction  of  lightning  arresters  is  to  make  them  as 
simple  and  inexpensive  as  possible. — Elek.  Zeit.,  June 
13.  1912. 


L'fiLECTRiciTE  DoMESTiQUE.     By  Gcorges  Mis.     Paris:    H. 
Dunod  et  E.   Pinat.     184  pages,   154  illus.     Price,  2.5 
francs. 
A  clearly  and  popularly  written  little  French  guide  to  the 
elements  of  house  wiring  for  bells,  gas  igniters  and  battery- 
fed  incandescent  lamps.     It  is  not  easy  to  write  on  house 
wiring  for  the  uninitiated  members  of  the  general  public, 
but  the  task  has  been  well  carried  out.     If  the  writer  has 
erred  we  think  it  has  been  on  the  side  of  making  the  subject 
too  easy  rather  than  of  making  it  too  hard  and  technical. 
The    book    is    suitable    for    the   average    householder   who 
wishes  to  know  something  of  French  low-tension  battery 
wiring. 


Electrical  Blue  Book.  Chicago:  Electrical  Review  Pub- 
lishing Company.  206  pages,  illustrated.  Price,  $2. 
The  1912  issue  of  the  Electrical  Blue  Book  contains  a 
comprehensive  exhibit  of  officially  approved  electrical  sup- 
plies, to  which  is  added  an  illustrated  list  of  other  represen- 
tative lines  of  electrical  material.  It  contains  also  the 
National  Electrical  Code,  the  rules  and  requirements  of  the 
National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters  for  electrical  wiring 
and  apparatus  as  recommended  by  the  National  Fire  Pro- 
tection Association.  The  code  rules  are  explained  in  detail 
and  the  many  illustrations  bring  out  the  correct  interpreta- 
tion of  the  installation  rules.  The  list  of  approved  fittings 
which  is  one  of  the  useful  features  of  the  book  is  brought 
up  to  May  i,  1912. 


Prufungen  in  Elektrischen  Zentralen.     By  Dr.  Phil. 

E.     W.     Lehmann-Richter.       Braunschweig:      Friedr. 

Vieweg  &   Sohn.     579   pages,    199   illus.      Price,   21.5 

marks. 
In  relation  to  the  testing  of  machinery  in  central  stations 
converting  the  energy  of  fuel  into  electric  energy  there  are 
found  ordinarily  two  classes  of  text-books,  namely,  those 
that  deal  with  the  thermal  side  of  the  plant  and  those  that 
deal  with  the  electric  side.  That  is,  the  boilers  and  engines 
are  dealt  with  in  different  text-books  from  those  concerning 
the  generators  and  electric  apparatus.  In  this  book  an  ex- 
cellent attempt  is  made  to  deal  with  both  sides  of  the  plant, 
so  as  to  bring  the  plant  as  a  whole  into  one  series  of  tests. 
The  book  will  be  of  much  interest  to  power-plant  engineers 
and  to  students  of  turbo-generator  performance,  especially 
in  regard  to  the  behavior  of  German  central-station 
machinery. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o.  No.  4. 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


EXHIBITS  AT  OHIO  CONVENTION. 


At  the  convention  of  the  Ohio  Electric  Light  Association 
held  at  Cedar  Point  July  16  to  19  the  following  manufac- 
turers and  dealers  in  electrical  apparatus  and  supplies 
presented  exhibits  in  the  Coliseum: 

Allis-Chalniers  Company,  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  motors  and 
transformers;  A.  &  W.  Electric  Sign  Company,  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  electric  signs;  Brokaw-Eden  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Chicago,  111.,  washing  machines;  Canton  Rubber 
Company,  Canton,  Ohio,  rubber  safety  appliances;  Chicago 
Fuse  Manufacturing  Company,  Chicago,  111.,  supplies  and 
fittings;  Church-Field  Motor  Company,  Sibley,  Mich.,  elec- 
tric roadster ;  Cleveland-Copeman  Electric  Stove  Company, 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  electric  stoves;  Crocker-Wheeler  Com- 
pany, Ampere,  N.  J.,  motors  and  transformers ;  John  Dietz 
Manufacturing  Company,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  washing 
machines;  Eclipse  Electrical  Manufacturing  Company, 
Chicago,  111.,  flat-rate  controllers  and  sign  flashers;  Enter- 
prise Electric  Company,  Warren,  Ohio,  motors  and  trans- 
formers; General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady,  N.  Y., 
heating  appliances,  meters,  ozonizers,  fittings;  Fort  Wayne 
Electric  Works,  Fort  W^ayne,  Ind.,  motors,  fans,  trans- 
formers; Nelite  Works,  Newark,  Ohio,  glassware;  Sterling 
Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  Warren,  Ohio,  lamps; 
Packard  Electric  Company,  Warren,  Ohio,  instruments, 
transformers,  street-lighting  equipment ;  Ohio  Blower  Com- 
pany, Cleveland,  Ohio,  ventilating  apparatus ;  Premium 
Vacuum  Cleaner  Company,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  vacuum 
cleaners;  A.  L.  Sykes  Company,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  electric 
fireless  cookers ;  Triumph  Electric  Company,  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  transformers  and  motors ;  Wagner  Electric  Manu- 
facturing Company,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  motors,  transformers, 
rectifiers;  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  instruments,  fans  and  heating 
appliances. 


lowed,  all  complicated  and  weak  construction  being  avoided. 
Drills  are  built  in  J^-in.  and  ^-in.  sizes  for  direct  current 
and  alternating  current. 

The  grinders  are  made  for  tool-post,  bench  and  parallel 
work.  A  special  feature  in  connection  with  tool-post  or 
center  grinder  is  a  base  which  converts  it  into  a  bench 
grinder  by  removing  the  slide  and  placing  the  motor  in  a 
groove  in  the  top  of  the  base,  as  shown  in  the  drawing. 
This  arrangement  doubles  the  range  of  work  and  thus  in- 
creases the  value  of  the  tool  in  all  shops,  because  while 
tool-post  grinders  are  indispensable  they  are  used  only  at 
intervals,  and  by  this  combination  the  machine  can  be 
kept  in  constant  service.  All  motors  in  both  the  drills  and 
the  grinders  are  ventilated  by  means  of  fans  of  special 
design. 


DISCONNECTING  SWITCHES. 


In  the  past  the  ordinary  knife-blade  type  of  disconnecting 
switch  admirably  fulfilled  the  functions  required  of  such 
apparatus,  but  modern  large  central  stations  require  dis- 
connecting switches  that  cannot  be  blown  open  by  the 
enormous  magnetic  strains  set  up  in  the  lines  on  short 
circuits.  A  switch  of  this  type  has  been  developed  by  the 
Condit  Electrical  Manufacturing  Company,  Boston.  The 
switch  consists  of  a  double-blade  unit  with  a  clip  block  of 
a  solid  piece  of  metal,  the  movable  blade  making  contact 
on  the  outside  of  the  clips.  This  construction  makes  an 
extremely  strong,  rigid  structure  and  allows  the  use  of  a 
pivot  on  the  rear  end  that  will  withstand  the  severe 
mechanical  strains  put  upon  disconnecting  switches  not 
only  by  the  electromagnetic  effects  of  short  circuits  but 
by  the  long  insulated  poles  used  in  handling  them.  The 
radiating  surface  and  carrying  capacity  of  the  switch  is 
also  very  much  increased  by  this  double-blade  construction. 


BALL-BEARING     PORTABLE     ELECTRIC     DRILLS 
AND  GRINDERS. 


The  Standard  Electric  Tool  Company,  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
has  developed  for  the  market  a  line  of  high-power  electric 


Electric    Drill    and    Grinder. 

tools  using  dust-proof  ball  bearings  throughout.  All  gears 
are  cut  from  chrome  nickel  steel,  case-hardened,  and  are 
mounted  on  ball  bearings  packed  in  grease.  The  motors  are 
provided  with  series  winding  so  proportioned  as  to  give 
them  an  excess  of  power  over  their  rating,  thereby  pre- 
venting overloads  and  burnouts.  In  the  mechanical  con- 
struction the  idea  of  simplicity  and  strength  has  been  fol- 


Disconnecting    Switch. 

The  switches  are  provided  with  a  lock  which  does  not 
require  an  extra  motion  of  the  handle  to  release,  locks 
itself  when  the  switch  is  closed,  is  neat,  simple  and  effective 
and  cannot  be  blown  open  by  means  of  the  electromagnetic 
effects  of  the  circuit.  To  accomplish  this  the  eye  by  means 
of  which  the  switch  is  operated  is  turned  at  an  angle  to 
the  blades,  and  is  pivoted  so  that  it  will  turn  in  a  plane  at 


July  27,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Z13 


right  angles  to  the  plane  of  movement  of  the  blades.  This 
eye  is  provided  with  a  hardened  steel  catch  on  its  end, 
vvhich  when  the  switch  is  closed  engages  with  a  steel  plate 
securely  fastened  to  the  casting  which  forms  the  clip  block. 
When  it  is  desired  to  open  the  switch  by  hand  the  hook 
on  the  end  of  the  disconnecting  switch  pole  is  inserted  into 
the  eye,  and  as  the  eye  is  at  an  angle  to  the  blade  the  first 
pulling  motion  of  the  pole  turns  the  eye  until  it  is  parallel 
with  the  blade.  This  turning  of  the  eye  releases  the  catch 
and  a  further  pulling  on  the  pole  opens  the  disconnecting 
switch.  On  closing  the  disconnecting  switch  the  parts  of 
the  catch  are  so  beveled  that  the  eye  will  turn  and  a  spring 
will  force  the  locks  into  engagement. 


lamp,  is  readily  renewable  at  slight  expense  and  is  said  to 
be  exceptionally  elastic.  The  lamp  is  manufactured  by 
the  Hughes  Universal  Arc  Lamp  Company,  628  Race 
Street,    Philadelphia,    Pa. 


MIXED-PRESSURE   STEAM   TURBINE. 


NON-MAGNET-TYPE  ARC  LAMP. 


The  illustration  herewith  shows  a  non-magnet  type  of 
arc  lamp  in  which  the  arc  is  controlled  by  the  use  of  ex- 
pansion wire.  When  the  lamp  is  first  switched  into  circuit 
the  wire  expands  sufficiently  to  permit  the  arc  to  be  formed, 
and  with  the  decrease  of  amperage  due  to  the  burning 
avi'ay  of  the  electrodes  the  wire  contracts  and  in  so  doing 
trips  the  electrode  clutch,  thus  permitting  the  feeding  mech- 


The  Illinois  Steel  Company  has  put  in  operation  recently 
a  low-pressure  installation  at  its  South  Works,  South  Chi- 
cago, which  utilizes  the  exhaust  steam  of  several  reversing 
engines.  The  exhaust  steam  is  directed  into  five  steam 
regenerators  furnished  by  the  Rateau  Steam  Regenerator 
Company  of  New  York,  and  so  designed  that  the  inter- 
mittent flow  is  transformed  into  a  steady  flow,  taking  care 
of  full  load  on  the  steam  turbines  not  only  during  the  mill 
cycle  but  when  the  mill  cycle  is  interrupted  for  periods 
not  exceeding  two  minutes. 

The  turbines  are  mixed-flow  machines  of  the  Rateau- 
Smoot  type.  They  were  designed  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Smoot,  of 
the  Rateau  Battu  Smoot  Company,  and  manufactured  by 
the  Southwark  Foundry  &  Machine  Company,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

The  cross-section  of  the  turbine  shows  it  possesses  an 
independent  high-pressure  section.  Steam  passes  through 
the  high-pressure  wheels  and  after  being  expanded  enters 
the  low-pressure  section.  Around  the  high-pressure  sec- 
tion of  the  turbine  the  low-pressure  steam  is  admitted 
direct  to  the  low-pressure  wheels.  By  means  of  this 
arrangement  high  economy  is  attained  when  working  on 
either   high   or   low-pressure   steam.      The    governor   is   so 


Non- Magnet-Type   Arc    Lamp. 

anism  to  operate.  The  manufacturer  claims  that  the  lamp 
operates  equally  well  on  either  direct-current  or  alternating- 
current  circuits,  and  inasmuch  as  its  construction  does  not 
entail  the  use  of  dash-pots  or  magnets,  troubles  arising 
from  vibration  and  any  annoyance  and  expense  due  to  the 
presence  of  these  are  eliminated.  The  interior  portions  of 
the  lamp  are  made  of  non-corrosive  metal,  and  the  con- 
struction of  the  mechanism  is  such  that  any  fluctuation  of 
voltage  up  to  25  per  cent  does  not  in  any  way  affect  the 
operation  of  the  lamp.  There  is,  of  course,  a  difference 
in  the  amount  of  illumination,  but  this  is  not  an  objection- 
able feature  in  places  where  voltage  fluctuations  are  un- 
avoidable because  of  excessive  intermittent  loads  on  the 
circuit.  It  is  pointed  out  that  pumping  action  and  chatter- 
ing due  to  voltage  fluctuations  are  entirely  lacking  in  this 
lamp.  The  power  consumption  of  the  lamp  and  the  life  of 
the  electrodes  are  about  the  same  as  those  of  any  other 
inclosed  arc  lamp,  although  the  manufacturer  claims  a 
higher  candle-power  for  the  same  power  consumption 
owing  to  the  absence  of  light  fluctuations  caused  by  vibra- 
tions.   The  expansion  wire,  which  forms  the  feature  of  the 


Mixed- Pressure    Steam    Turbine. 


designed  that  no  live  steam  is  admitted  to  the  turbine 
before  the  low-pressure  steam  has  become  deficient.  This 
occurs  when  the  steam  regenerators  have  been  delivering 
steam  during  a  shutdown  of  the  mill  engines  for  a  period 
of  more  than  two  minutes,  and  during  this  period  the  tur- 
bine has  been  carrying  full  load.  The  turbine  has  a  rating 
of  3000  kw  when  using  low-pressure  steam  exclusively,  and 
when  using  high-pressure  steam  can  carry  a  continuous 
load  of  4000  kw. 

Among  the  features  of  the  machine  are  the  bearings, 
which  have  ring-oiled  lubrication,  with  water-cooled  bush- 
ings. This  form  of  lubrication  gives  reliability,  since  it 
is  in  no  wise  dependent  on  the  continuity  of  operation  of 
oil  pumps  or  other  auxiliary  devices.  Moreover,  it  is 
claimed  that  the  temperature  is  less  than  that  encountered 
in  machines  of  the  same  size  in  which  lubrication  is  effected 
by  means  of  oil  under  pressure  and  controlled  by  means  of 
a  separate  water  cooler. 

The  stuffing  boxes  are  also  of  somewhat  novel  form  for 
machines  of  this  size  and  are  built  up  of  a  number  of  con- 
secutive rings  of  carbon  blocks  separated  from  each  other 


214 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  4. 


by  diaphragms  and  provided  with  springs  which  hold  the 
carbons  in  contact  with  the  shaft.  As  the  carbons  wear 
away  the  spring  holds  them  in  contact  with  the  shaft,  so  that 
no  adjustment  is  necessary  during  the  life  of  the  box. 

The  governor  is  direct  acting.  The  fly  balls  and  spring 
against  which  they  actuate  are  mounted  within  a  steel  shell 
fixed  directly  on  the  high-pressure  end  of  the  turbine  shaft. 
The  motion  of  the  fly  balls  is  transmitted  by  means  of  links 
directly  to  the  high  and  low-pressure  throttle  valves.  The 
governor  is  very  powerful,  enabling  it  to  have  a  very  active 
control  over  the  displacement  of  throttling  valves,  and  is 
said  to  have  shown  a  high  degree  of  regulation  at  the 
Illinois  steel  plant.  The  governing  mechanism  is  so 
arranged  that  the  action  of  the  fly  balls  is  to  hold  open  the 
valves.  In  consequence  of  this  feature  the  breakage  or 
disconnection  of  any  of  the  links  between  the  fly  balls  and 
valves  results  in  the  valve  falling  closed  by  virtue  of  its 
own  weight,  which  in  the  case  of  the  high-pressure  valve  is 
assisted  by  a  closing  spring.  The  governor  is  also  equipped 
with  a  releasing  trigger  which  can  be  operated  either  by 
hand  or  by  the  overspeed  device,  and  acts  to  disconnect 
the  valves  from  the  fly  balls  and  the  governor,  permitting 
the  valves  to  fall  closed  whenever  it  is  desired  to  shut 
down  the  turbine.  A  single  lever,  which  can  be  operated 
by  hand,  restores  both  high  and  low-pressure  valves  into 
proper  connection  with  the  governor  and  replaces  the  trip- 
ping device  in  a  simple  manner. 

The  mixed-flow  feature  of  the  governor  comprises  a 
piston  actuated  by  the  low-pressure  steam,  which  rises  and 
falls  with  the  pressure  in  the  low-pressure  steam  main. 
When  the  low-pressure  steam  has  a  higher  pressure  (in 
this  case  some  20  lb.)  the  piston  above  referred  to  takes  its 
proper  position  and  causes  the  fly-ball  governor  to  actuate 
the  low-pressure  valve  for  its  full  travel  while  holding  the 
high-pressure  valve  in  a  closed  position  at  all  times.  As 
the  quantity  of  low-pressure  steam  decreases  the  piston 
which  it  actuates  descends,  giving  a  greatly  increased  open- 
ing to  the  high-pressure  valve  and  decreasing  the  opening 
to  the  low-pressure  valve  until  it  reaches  its  lower  limit, 
under  which  conditions  the  low-pressure  valve  is  always  in 
a  closed  position  and  the  high-pressure  valve  is  actuated  by 
the  fly  balls  for  its  maximum  displacement.  An  inter- 
mittent position  of  the  control  piston  gives  a  simultaneous 
opening  to  both  high  and  low-pressure  valves,  thus  causing 
the  turbine  to  run  on  both  sources  of  steam  supply. 

It  will  be  seen  that  by  virtue  of  this  arrangement  the 
turbine  tends  to  run  exclusively  on  low-pressure  steam, 
provided  its  pressure  is  above  that  of  the  atmosphere,  but 
when  the  pressure  falls  to  that  of  atmosphere  the  turbine 
takes  less  exhaust  steam  and  more  high-pressure  steam,  the 
governor   thus    regulating   the   low-pressure    steam    supplv. 

A  feature  which,  it  is  claimed,  has  been  most  specifically 
illustrated  at  the  Illinois  steel  plant  in  connection  with  the 
governor  is  that  the  load  carried  by  the  turbine  does  not 
change  appreciably  when  the  turbine  goes  from  high  to 
low-pressure  steam.  This  is  attributed  to  the  fact  that  a 
change  in  source  of  steam  for  driving  the  turbine  is  accom- 
plished without  any  change  in  speed  whatever,  and  there- 
fore without  any  shifting  in  position  of  fly-ball  governor. 
When  the  turbine  is  carrying  half  load  its  fly-ball  governor 
assumes  an  intermediate  position,  which  position  is  exactlv 
the  same  whether  the  turbine  is  driven  from  high-pressure 
steam,  low-pressure  steam  or  a  mixture  of  both. 

The  governor  of  the  turbine  at  the  Illinois  steel  plant,  the 
manufacturer  states,  accomplishes  this  change  by  means  of 
the  low-pressure  steam,  and  not  at  all  by  means  of  the 
speed  of  the  fly-ball  governor.  Nevertheless,  the  fly-ball  gov- 
ernor is  at  all  times  in  direct  control  of  both  high  and  low- 
pressure  valves  and  has  absolute  speed  control  of  the  tur- 
bine regardless  of  what  source  of  steam  it  is  operating 
upon  and  regardless  also  of  the  performance  of  the  selective 
device  which  elects  that  the  turbine  shall  run  on  high  or 
low-pressure  steam. 


MOTOR-DRIVEN    PUMPS    FOR    IRRIGATING  GAR- 
DEN AND  TRUCK  FARMS. 


As  a  source  of  central-station  revenue  electric  irrigation 
is  usually  thought  of  in  connection  with  transmission  com- 
panies in  the  Far  West,  where  there  is  a  large  natural  de- 
mand for  energy  on  reclamation  projects.    As  a  matter  of 


Fig.    1 — Irrigation    System    on    Truck    Farm. 

fact,  though,  many  progressive  central  stations  located  in 
the  East  have  built  up  large  irrigation  loads  by  advocating 
irrigation  among  gardeners  and  truck  farmers  located  near 
the  cities.  Some  of  the  best  examples  of  what  can  be 
accomplished  in  this  direction  can  be  shown  by  the  Roches- 
ter Railway  &  Lighting  Company,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

This  company,  wdiich  has  become  famous  for  its  progres- 
siveness,  has  succeeded  in  interesting  large  numbers  of 
gardeners  in  irrigation  with  electrically  driven  pumps. 
W'ithin  reach  of  the  circuits  of  this  company  are  to  be 
found  many  excellent  examples  of  the  profits  derived  from 
irrigation,  both  by  the  gardener  and  the  central-station 
company.     Through  its  help  the  productiveness  of  the  land 


Fig.    2 — Motop-Driven    Triplex    Pump. 

lias  been  so  increased  that  it  has  been  stated  that  land  valua- 
tions of  $1,000  and  more  per  acre  are  now  not  uncommon 
in  these  irrigated  sections. 

The  soil  near  Rochester  is  of  such  a  loose  nature  that 
ditch  irrigation  cannot  be  used  successfully,  the  water  sink- 
ing too  rapidly  to  reach  points  at  any  distance  from  the  dis- 
charge pipe.  As  a  substitute  for  the  ditches  lines  of  piping 
are  installed  on  standards,  nozzles  being  located  at  points 


JULV   27.    I912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


215 


all  along  the  pipes.  These  pipes  are  made  so  that  they  can 
be  turned  in  their  supports,  and  after  the  strip  on  one  side 
has  been  sufficiently  moistened  the  pipes  are  turned  to  the 
other  side.  The  pipes  are  located  far  enough  apart  so  that 
streams  from  two  parallel  pipes  will  just  meet,  thereby  in- 
suring an  even  distribution  of  artificial  rainfall  over  the 
entire  ground  area. 
Fig.   I   shows  the  system  as  used  on  the  truck  farm  of 


Fig.  3— Pumping  Out  Well  While   Concrete  Walls  Are   Being   Laid. 

Mr.  J.  M.  Cooper,  Irondequoit,  N.  Y.,  a  suburb  of  Roches- 
ter. Water  for  this  system  is  supplied  by  a  5>^  x  8-in. 
Goulds  triplex  plunger  pump  driven  by  a  7.5-hp  alternating- 
current  motor  as  shown  by  Fig.  2. 

The  greater  number  of  these  irrigated  truck  farms  in  the 
Rochester  district  obtain  their  water  from  dug  wells.  These 
wells  have  large  output  and  are  made  from  10  to  15  ft. 
square.  The  wells  are  walled  with  concrete,  a  section  a 
few  feet  in  depth  being  laid  at  a  time  as  the  digging 
progresses.  While  the  work  of  digging  and  building  the 
walls  is  in  progress  it  is,  of  course,  necessary  to  provide 
some  means  of  keeping  them   free   from  water.     It  is  in- 


Fig.    A — Pumping    from    a    125-ft.    Well. 

teresting  to  note  how  this  is  accomplished.  The  Rochester 
Railway  &  Lighting  Company  furnishes  a  motor  with  tem- 
porary connection  to  a  transmission  line.  This  motor  is 
mounted  on  a  platform  with  a  Goulds  centrifugal  pump 
which  it  drives.  As  the  well  increases  in  depth  the  motor 
and  pump  are  lowered  with  the  wall.  Fig.  3  shows  one 
of  the  wells  in  course  of  construction. 
In  addition  to  the  irrigation  installations  the  Rochester 


Railway  &  Lighting  Company  has  installed  a  large  number 
of  electrically  driven  water  pumps  for  house  and  dairy- 
barn  service  in  the  territory  surrounding  Rochester.  Many 
of  these  installations  obtain  water  from  deep  wells.  Fig.  4 
shows  one  consisting  of  an  electrically  driven  Goulds  deep- 
well  working  head  operating  over  a  well  125  ft.  deep.  The 
water  is  pumped  into  a  pneumatic  tank,  from  which  it  is 
forced  to  the  various  discharge  points  by  air  pressure. 


THE  ELECTRICAL  SIDE  OF  THE  THEATER. 

By  Robert  Grau. 
The  modern  advancement  in  the  perfection  of  the  visual 
element  of  theatrical  production,  especially  in  performances 
of  an  operatic  or  spectacular  nature,  has  contributed  in  no 
small  degree  to  the  public's  enthusiastic  liking  for  the  stage. 
Audiences  are  captivated  by  the  marvelously  realistic  re- 
production of  natural  phenomena  in  form  and  motion.  The 
theatergoing  public  feels  the  greatest  pleasurable  emotions 
when  It  sees  action  delineated  in  a  realistic  atmosphere. 
Its  attention  follows  easily,  animatedly  the  unfolding  of  the 
play  when  the  imagination  is  not  distracted  by  grotesquely 
inadequate  scenic  accompaniment. 

In  the  striving  for  realism  through  the  refinement  of 
representation,  that  there  might  result  a  harmony  of  the 
whole,  electricity  and  electrical  devices  have  played  a  most 
important  part.  Electricity  with  its  wide  adaptability  lends 
itself  to  forms  of  portrayal  totally  new  in  their  variety 
and  beauty.  Through  this  medium  have  been  evolved  many 
of  the  elaborate  and  complicated  displays  which  character- 
ize modern  productions,  with  their  wide  diversity  of  effects 
obtained,  rapid  changes  of  settings  and  furnishings  and 
\'ivid  depiction  brought  out  by  swiftly  changing  color 
schemes.  With  a  simplicity  that  hides  the  intricacy  of  me- 
chanical detail,  natural  phenomena  are  simulated  in  the 
reproduction  of  scenery,  sound  and  light  by  means  of  elec- 
trical apparatus,  with  a  remarkable  accuracy  of  form,  color 
and  motion,  illusion  of  relief  and  verisimilitude. 

The  great  progress  made  through  electrical  achievements 
in  staging  vividly  to-day  the  big  productions,  as  they  are 
called,  has  been  attained  only  after  the  solution  of  many 
difficult  problems  by  thorough  study  of  the  requirements  and 


Fig.   1 — Flood-Lamp   Hood. 


repeated  experiment  on  the  part  of  the  scientific  and  engi- 
neering forces  of  the  manufacturing  companies  that  have 
developed  many  of  the  finest  electric  appliances  for  the 
theater  now  in  common  use. 

The  "make  or  break"  of  a  scene  often  depends  on  the 
distribution  of  the  stage  lighting.  As  if  pushing  at  once 
to  the  van,  electric  illumination,  the  first  innovation,  claimed 
attention.     Electric  foot-lamps,  then  border-lamps  and  strip- 


2l6 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  4. 


Fig.  2  —  Lens 
Lamp  with  Offset 
Supporting   Frame 


lamps  appeared  in  the  prosceiiiuni.  These  lamps  arc  also 
adaptable  for  suspension  in  the  flies.  Usually  they  have 
independent  control  at  the  switchboard,  so  that  any  angle 
of  the  stage  may  be  instantly  lighted  or  obscured.  Often 
the  scenic  value  of  many  of  the  best  plays  is  so  enhanced 
by  the  skilful  manipulation  of  such  lamps  that  the  striking 
effects  secured  play  no  small  part  in  meriting  the  enthu- 
siastic approval  of  the  public  and  the  critics. 

There  is  something  in  human  nature 
that  responds  to  the  geniality  of  light,  and 
in  many  instances  people  may  be  attracted 
to  a  particular  theater  by  sheer  force  of 
brilliant  illumination.  Thus  the  attention- 
compelling  value  of  the  exterior  of  the 
playhouse  has  been  greatly  augmented  by 
bright  electric  lighting  and  signs  announc- 
ing the  "star"  actors.  The  same  truth 
holds  in  the  interior,  where  incandescent 
lamps  have  been  employed  extensively: 
and  since  the  introduction  of  the  recent 
metal-filament  lamps  greatly  improved 
light  has  been  obtained  with  much  less 
cost.  The  new  vertical-electrode  flame- 
arc  lamp  produces  a  flood  of  dazzling 
golden  light  and  finds  a  place  in  the  ex- 
terior lighting  scheme.  In  many  instances 
it  has  been  applied  successfully  to  the 
lighting  of  foyers  and  auditoriums,  al- 
though, in  general,  this  service  can  better 
be  rendered  by  the  intensified  arc  lamp, 
which,  besides  dispersing  light  which  ap- 
proaches nearest  to  daylight  of  all  illu- 
minants  extant,  readily  lends  itself  to 
artistic  designs  and  the  use  of  opalescent 
glass  for  esthetic  diffusion  of  light. 

By  use  of  the  so-called  "spot  light"  an 
otherwise  obscure  picture  looms  up  in 
distinct  or  elaborate  outline  of  color  and  borrowed  de- 
tail; the  brush  of  the  artist  is  completely  transformed 
by  the  work  of  the  electrician,  and  the  art  of  the 
player  receives  an  adequate  atmosphere  for  fitting  ar- 
tistic expression.  Earlier  lamps  of  this  kind  often  caused 
serious  distortion  of  form ;  but  experts  in  optics  have  now 
rectified  lenses  by  improving  their  curves,  have  spaced  them 
accurately,  and  have  balanced  their  divergencies  in  refract- 
ive and  dispersive  quality.  The  iris  shutter,  designed  to  fit 
standard  lens  lamps,  frequently  heightens  the  effect  by 
enlarging  or  reducing  the  spot  to  the  exact  size  desired 
on  the  screen  or  scenery.  The  light  may  be  projected  at 
any  angle  from  the  upper  galleries,  the  flies,  or  with  vertical 
rays  from  under  the  stage,  as  in  the  case  of  the  serpentine 
dance.  x'Vpparatus  suitable  for  portraiture,  interiors  or  land- 
scapes may  be  chosen,  and  play  pictures  with  a  veritable 
semblance  of  natural  beauty  and  grandeur  be  made  to  move 
with  charming  sequence  and  effect  before  the  view  of  the 
audience. 

The  interchangeable  color  effects,  so  essential  to  the 
successful  staging  of  modern  plays,  are  largely  the  result  of 
the  flood  lamp,  handled  from  the  fly  gallery  or  other 
obscured  part  of  the  stage.  The  whole  stage  may  be  envel- 
oped with  a  flood  of  light  by  this  lamp — the  warm,  glowing, 
reddish-yellow  light  of  sunset  or  the  cold,  weird,  bluish  light 
of  moonlight. 

No  part  of  the  electrical  equipment  within  the  theater  is 
more  necessary  than  the  dimmers.  This  apparatus  controls 
the  entire  illuminating  and  decorative  scheme  of  the  play- 
house, both  on  the  stage  and  in  the  auditorium.  They  are 
built  up  on  the  unit  system  and  consist  of  a  series  of  plates 
which  embody  resistance  elements.  The  illusion  of  the 
advance  of  dawn,  creeping  slowly  over  the  foothills  and 
giving  birth  to  the  morning,  or  the  retreat  of  the  day,  as 
the  light  mellows  and  gradually  steals  away  in  twilight 
and  dusk  at  evening,  are  simulated  with  wonderful  like- 


ness and  entrancing  effect  by  these  devices,  frequently  in 
conjunction  with  the  flood-lamp. 

For  making  connections  at  various  points  of  the  stage 
there  are  numerous  accessories,  many  of  them  portable 
and  all  adapted  to  assist  in  making  rapid  changes.  Among 
them  may  be  mentioned  the  portable  plug  box,  or  "spider," 
having  a  number  of  receptacles  for  the  insertion  of  several 
plugs  attached  to  wiring,  which  may  lead  to  various  parts 
of  the  stage  in  different  settings;  floor  pockets  and  wall 
pockets  for  making  connections  to  operate  spot-lamps,  flood- 
lamps  or  motion-picture  machines,  interchangeable  plugs, 
pin  plug  connectors,  etc. 

The  mechanical  appliances  that  have  been  introduced  on 
the  stage  are  almost  legion.  Many  of  these  have  been 
arranged  for  operation  by  power  from  electric  motors. 
Curtain  hoists  are  now  driven  in  this  manner.  One  has 
but  to  witness  a  production  in  the  New  York  Hippodrome 
to  realize  the  vast  amount  of  intricate  mechanism  that 
enters  into  the  business  of  spectacular  entertainment,  where 
electricity  and  electric  power  solely  have  made  possible 
very  many  of  the  astonishing  scenic  effects  which  have 
been  obtained. 

In  passing  mention  should  be  made  of  a  few  of  the  little 
electric  servants  of  the  theater.  There  are  the  electric  cos- 
metic heater  in  the  dressing  room ;  the  electric  glue  pot  for 
use  on  the  stage  in  repairing  scenery  and  elsewhere;  the 
portable  electric  luminous  radiator,  which  may  be  placed 
in  dressing  rooms  or  box  offices  during  periods  when  the 
regular  heating  equipment  is  not  in  operation. 

One  of  the  most  recently  developed  and  important  ad- 
juncts for  the  theater  is  the  ozonator.  It  represents  the  con- 
crete result  of  investigations  and  experiments  extending 
over  a  period  of  years,  and  its  purpose  is  to  deodorize  and 
sterilize  the  atmosphere  in  an  auditorium,  extirpating  smoke 
and  foul  air.  The  essential  factors  comprise  a  transformer 
to  supply  voltage  of  a  value  sufficiently  high  to  produce 
ozone  when  it  is  applied  to  the  generating  units.  Above  the 
transformer  rests  the  ozonizer  proper.  This  consists  of  a 
number  of  glass  tubes,  the  outsides  of  which  have  a  metallic 
coating  and  tlirough  the  insides  of  which,  separated  there- 
from by  means  of  a  small  air-gap,  are  placed  aluminum 
tubes. 

One  high-voltage  lead  from  the  transformer  is  connected 
to  the  outer  coatings  of  the  glass  tubes  and  the  other  to  the 


Fig.     3 — Double-Bank     Interlocking     Theater     Dimmer. 


inner  aluminum  tubes.  When  the  voltage  is  applied  a  violet 
electrical  discharge  takes  place  between  the  inner  side  of  the 
glass  and  the  aluminum  tube  and  changes  the  oxygen  into 
ozone.  The  small  but  powerful  centrifugal  blower  mounted 
on  the  top  of  the  case  furnishes  air  to  the  ozone  chamber; 
that  is,  through  the  generating  units  and  the  screen  and  so 
into  the  auditorium,  thus  insuring  a  complete  circulation 
of  ozonized  air  throughout  the  house. 


Jl-LV    27,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


217 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


H/\KVEST  prospects  have  been  improved  this  week  by 
seasonable  weather  in  nearly  all  of  the  great  agri- 
cultural districts,  and  the  outlook  for  bounteous 
yields  continues  to  be  highly  promising.  The  fall  buying 
movement  is  gathering  headway,  and  although  conservatism 
is  still  in  evidence  here  and  there,  it  is  expected  that  the 
improvement  which  has  been  made  in  business  sentiment  in 
the  past  few  months  will  be  reflected  shortly  in  expansion 
along  all  industrial  lines.  More  of  the  railroads  are  enter- 
ing the  market  for  steel,  and  these  orders,  added  to  the 
liberal  contracts  recently  placed  by  the  roads,  assure  con- 
tinuation of  the  present  activity  in  the  iron  and  steel  trades 
for  some  time  to  come.  Earnings  of  public-utility  com- 
panies continue  to  show  marked  improvement,  and  demand 
for  publicrservice  corporation  securities  is  unabated.  Along 
other  lines  the  security  markets  are  dull,  and  trading  is 
chiefly  of  professional  character.  Although  the  likelihood 
of  their  adoption  is  remote,  the  proposed  amendments  to 
the  Sherman  anti-trust  law  drawn  up  by  the  Stanley  com- 
mittee, for  preventing  restraint  of  trade,  have  attracted  a 
great  deal  of  interest  in  the  financial  districts  this  week. 
Money  rates  in  the  West  are  hardening  slightly  as  a  con- 
sequence of  approach  of  harvesting,  and  higher  rates  are 
looked  for  in  the  East  within  a  short  time.  Rates  in  New 
York  July  24  were:  Call,  2^  per  cent;  ninety  days,  syi 
per  cent. 


Will    Build    Hydroelectric    Plants    in    North    Carolina. — 

The  Carolina-Tennessee  Power  Company,  the  executive 
offices  of  which  are  at  115  Broadway,  New  York,  is  complet- 
ing preliminary  arrangements  looking  toward  the  installation 
of  two  large  hydroelectric  plants  in  North  Carolina. 
These  plants,  which  are  to  have  a  combined  rating  of 
50,000  hp  and  will  be  about  15  miles  apart,  will  be  located 
on  the  Hiwasee  River,  in  Cherokee  County,  N.  C,  about 
55  miles  east  of  Chattanooga,  100  miles  north  of  Atlanta 
and  about  60  miles  south  of  Knoxville.  The  company  now 
owns  about  65  per  cent  of  the  property  which  it  requires 
for  its  needs  in  this  section,  and  has  nearly  all  of  the  re- 
mainder under  contract.  The  sites  have  been  investigated 
and  favorably  reported  upon  by  the  Ambursen  Hydraulic 
Construction  Company  of  Boston,  and  by  Professor  William 
H.  Burr,  of  Columbia  University,  New  York.  At 
each  of  the  developments  which  the  company  has  under 
consideration  a  dam  1200  ft.  long  by  150  ft.  high  will  be 
erected.  Two  reservoirs,  each  15  miles  long,  the  upper 
covering  3.77  sq.  miles  and  the  lower  2.76  sq.  miles,  will  be 
constructed.  The  upper  will  have  a  storage  capacity  of 
2,557,000,000  cu.  ft.,  and  the  lower  will  hold  1,866,000,000 
cu.  ft.  According  to  government  reports,  the  headwaters 
of  the  Hiwasee  River  are  located  in  the  region  where  the 
greatest  average  rainfall  in  the  United  States  occurs.  The 
drainage  area,  which  is  densely  forested,  contains  1080  sq. 
miles  and  produces  an  exceedingly  uniform  flow.  Accord- 
ing to  Stanley  R.  Ketcham,  of  New  York,  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  the  company,  the  lower  development  will 
probably  be  constructed  first,  and  the  upper  will  be  un- 
dertaken as  soon  as  additional  load  necessitates.  Mr. 
Ketcham  states  that  the  company  is  now  at  work  upon  the 
completion  of  engineering  details.  From  the  close  prox- 
imity of  the  proposed  plants  to  Ducktown,  N.  C,  it  is 
probable  that  part  of  the  energy  developed  at  these  plants 
will  be  taken  by  the  large  copper  smelters  which  are  lo- 
cated there.  When  the  company  was  organized  in  1909 
its  plans  provided  for  development  of  only  30,000  hp  and 
for  dams  100  ft.  high.  A  mortgage  was  filed  with  the 
Standard  Trust  Company,  of  New  York,  for  an  issue  of 
$5,000,000  5  per  cent  fifty-year  gold  bonds,  of  which  $300,- 
000  temporary  bonds  have  been  issued.  In  view  of  the 
So,ooo  hp  planned  and  the  150-ft.  dams  proposed,  it  is  prob- 
able that  this  mortgage  will  be  canceled  and  that  a  new 
one  securin.g  a  larger  amount  of  bonds  will  be  executed. 
The  company  has  an  authorized  capital  stock  of  $5,000,000, 
of  which  $300,000  is  issued.  Its  officers  are:  President, 
William    F.    Cox,    New    York;    vice-president,    George    E. 


Smith,  Atlanta;  secretary  and  treasurer,  Stanley  R. 
Ketcham,  New  York.  These,  with  Edmund  B.  Norvell,  of 
Murphy,  N.  C,  and  F.  H.  Branstater,  of  Bloomfield,  N.  J., 
are  directors. 

General  Gas  &  Electric  Company  Directors. — The  Gen- 
era! Gas  &  Electric  Company,  which  was  recently  organ- 
ized by  W.  S.  Barstow  &  Company,  50  Pine  Street,  New 
York,  to  take  over  a  number  of  gas,  electric-lighting  and 
traction  companies  in  Vermont  and  Ohio,  as  was  men- 
tioned in  these  columns  July  6,  will  have  the  following  on 
its  board  of  directors:  W.  S.  Barstow,  Lucien  H.  Tyng, 
George  C.  White,  Jr.,  and  Joseph  B.  Taylor,  of  W.  S.  Bar- 
stow &  Company;  A.  Ludlow  Kramer  and  Henry  E. 
Cooper,  of  the  Equitable  Trust  Company,  New  York;  Her- 
bert Nash,  Jr.,  and  Francis  E.  Smith,  of  Moors  &  Cabot; 
James  C.  Bishop  and  J.  F.  B.  Mitchell,  Jr.,  of  Redmond 
&  Company,  and  G.  T.  Rogers,  of  the  Binghamton  RaiU 
way  Company.  The  Ohio  Public  Service  Commission  has 
authorized  the  sale  of  the  Toledo,  Port  Clinton  &  Lakeside 
Railway  Company,  which  was  recently  purchased  by  W.  S. 
Barstow  &  Company  from  the  bondholders,  to  the  North- 
western Ohio  Railway  &  Light  Company.  The  latter,  as 
was  stated  in  the  Electrical  IVorld  July  6,  will  be  taken 
over  by  the  General  Gas  &  Electric  Company.  It  has  been 
authorized  to  issue  $1,300,000  5  per  cent  first-mortgage 
bonds,  $500,000  6  per  cent  preferred  stock  and  $800,000 
common  stock. 

Award  Contract  for  Cheat  River  (W.  Va.)  Project. — The 
West  Penn  Traction  &  Water  Company,  owned  by  J.  S.  & 
W.  S.  Kuhn,  Inc.,  of  Pittsburgh,  has  awarded  to  the  T.  A. 
Gillespie  Company,  of  Pittsburgh,  a  contract  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  dam  and  power  house  on  the  Cheat  River  in  West 
Virginia,  near  the  Pennsylvania  state  line.  Work  on  the 
dam,  which  is  to  be  657  ft.  long  and  from  80  ft.  to  100  ft. 
high,  is  to  be  started  immediately  and  is  to  be  finished  by 
Dec.  I,  1913.  A  bond  for  $200,000,  guaranteeing  completion 
at  that  time,  will  be  filed  by  the  contractor.  The  terms  of 
the  contract  provide  for  a  bonus  of  $100  per  day  to  the  con- 
tractor for  each  day  that  the  work  is  completed  before  the 
time,  and  a  penalty  of  $250  per  day  for  each  day  that  the 
v;ork  takes  in  excess  of  the  time  agreed  upon  for  comple- 
tion. The  amount  involved  in  the  contract  is  about  $1,000,- 
000,  which  does  not  include  machinery  and  equipment.  The 
first  development  on  the  Cheat  River  will  have  a  rating  of 
48,000  hp,  which  will  be  increased  later  to  100,000  hp. 

Deposit  Stock  of  Kansas  City  Railway  &  Light  Company. 

— Stockholders  of  the  Kansas  City  Railway  &  Light  Com- 
pany have  been  invited  to  deposit  their  stock  with  a  com- 
mittee composed  of  Oscar  Fenley,  of  Louisville;  H.  T. 
Abernathy,  of  Kansas  City,  and  George  M.  Reynolds,  of 
the  Continental  &  Commercial  Trust  &  Savings  Bank, 
of  Chicago,  by  Aug.  10.  This  step  is  proposed  with  a  view 
to  protecting  the  stockholders  in  consequence  of  fore- 
closure proceedings  brought  by  the  Old  Colony  Trust  Com- 
pany of  Boston,  to  compel  payment  of  principal  and  in- 
terest on  $7,243,000  5  per  cent  bonds  of  the  Metropolitan 
Street  Railway  Company,  of  Kansas  City,  which  is  owned 
by  the  Kansas  City  Railway  &  Light  Company.  Including 
the  payments  on  the  5  per  cent  notes  mentioned  above, 
there  are  obligations  of  nearly  $23,000,000  to  be  met  May 
15,  1913,  by  the  Kansas  City  Railway  &  Light  Company. 

Long  Acre  Case  Again  Before  the  Courts. — Judge  In- 
graham  has  signed  an  order  under  which  the  Long  Acre 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  New  York,  is  directed 
to  show  cause  on  Oct.  11  before  the  Appellate  Division  of 
the  New  York  Supreme  Court  why  it  should  not  be  enjoined 
and  restrained  from  taking  any  action  under  an  order  of 
the  New  York  Public  Service  Commission,  dated  July  28, 
1911,  which  permitted  this  lighting  company  to  issue  bonds 
to  the  amount  of  $4,000,000  and  stock  to  the  amount  of 
$2,000,000.  As  was  mentioned  in  these  columns  last  week, 
the  Appellate  Division  recently  dismissed  a  writ  of  cer- 
tiorari obtained  by  the  New  York  Edison  Company  to  re- 
view this  order  of  the  commission. 


2l8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  4. 


Approve  Plan  for  Financing  Augusta  (Ga.)  Hydroelectric 
Plant. — At  a  meeting  held  in  Augusta  this  week  stockhold- 
ers of  the  Augusta-Aiken  Railway  &  Electric  Corporation 
completed  arrangements  for  financing  the  i8,ooo-kw  hy- 
droelectric plant  which  J.  G.  White  &  Company  are  to 
build  at  Stevens  Creek,  on  the  Savannah  River,  about  9 
miles  northwest  of  Atlanta,  Ga.;  for  the  Georgia-Carolina 
Power  Company,  a  description  of  which  appeared  in  these 
columns  in  the  preceding  issue.  Upon  completion,  this 
plant  will  be  operated  by  the  Augusta-Aiken  Railway  & 
Electric  Corporation.  Under  the  plan  agreed  upon  by  the 
stockholders,  the  Georgia-Carolina  Power  Company  is  to 
issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $2,500,000  at  once,  the  pro- 
ceeds of  which  will  be  used  to  meet  the  cost  of  construc- 
tion. J.  &  W.  Seligman  &  Company,  Redmond  &  Com- 
pany and  the  Electrical  Finance  Company,  of  New  York, 
will  underwrite  these  bonds  and  $750,000  of  preferred 
stock.  The  bonds  are  to  bear  interest  at  the  rate  of  5 
per  cent,  which  will  be  guaranteed  by  the  Augusta-Aiken 
Company.  A  provision  in  the  company's  franchise,  which 
gives  it  the  right  to  sell  electrical  energy  in  Augusta  until 
i9S9i  requires  that  energy  must  be  sold  in  Augusta  by 
Oct.  18,  1914.  It  is  expected  that  the  new  plant  will  be 
in  operation  by  July  i,  1914. 

Western    Telephone    &    Telegraph    Dissolution    Plans. — 

Following  its  acquisition  of  99l.>  per  cent,  of  the  outstand- 
ing stock  of  the  Western  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company 
last  year,  the  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company 
is  now  taking  the  last  formal  steps  toward  dissolution  of 
the  former  company.  At  a  recent  stockholders'  meeting 
it  was  unanimously  voted  to  dissolve  the  company  and  this 
consent  has  been  filed  with  the  Secretary  of  State  of  New 
Jersey.  Through  this  liquidation  the  American  Telephone 
&  Telegraph  Company  will  own  directly  the  four  operating 
companies  for  which  the  Western  was  a  holding  company. 
These  are  the  Wisconsin  Telephone  Company,  the  Cleve- 
land Telephone  Company,  the  Southwestern  Telephone 
Company  and  the  Northwestern  Telephone  Company.  They 
will  be  operated  as  parts  of  three  of  the  eight  operating 
zones  into  which  the  American  Telephone  has  divided  the 
country. 

General  Electric  Stock  Dividend. — An  extra  dividend  of 
30  per  cent  in  new  stock  in  addition  to  the  regular  quarterly 
disbursement  of  2  per  cent  was  declared  Thursday  by  direc- 
tors of  the  General  Electric  Company.  The  dividend  will 
amount  to  more  than  $23,000,000.  The  official  notice  to 
stockholders  said:  "A  special  meeting  of  the  stockholders 
of  the  General  Electric  Company  has  been  called  for  Au- 
gust 29  for  the  purpose  of  voting  on  the  proposition  to  in- 
crease the  capital  stock  from  $80,000,000  to  $105,000,000. 
After  such  increase,  there  will  be  paid  to  stockholders  of 
record  of  December  31,  1912,  out  of  the  surplus,  a  dividend 
of  $30  a  share,  payable  in  the  stock  of  the  company  at  par." 
The  directors  have  authorized  an  issue  of  debentures  bear- 
ing interest  at  5  per  cent,  limited  to  $60,000,000. 

General   Electric   Company,   Ltd.,   Issues   More   Stock. — 

An  issue  of  15,000  6  per  cent  cumulative  preference  shares 
of  iio  each  has  been  announced  by  the  General  Electric 
Company,  Ltd.,  of  England.  This  is  the  unissued  balance 
of  the  preference  stock  of  the  company,  which  was  author- 
ized in  1900.  and  brings  the  tota-I  amount  outstanding  up  to 
£400.000.  The  authorized  capitalization  of  the  company  is 
£800,000,  divided  equally  into  preference  and  ordinary 
shares.  There  is  also  a  total  outstanding  issue  of  £200,000 
first-mortgage  debenture  stock.  The  proceeds  of  the  pres- 
ent issue  of  preference  stock  will  be  used  to  provide  the 
company  with  additional  working  capital  for  carrying  on 
and  extending  foreign  trade  and  for  enlargement  of  manu- 
facturing facilities. 

Electric  Bond  &   Share   May  Acquire  Utah  Properties. — 

According  to  advices  from  Salt  Lake  City,  the  Electric 
Bond  &  Share  Company  is  planning  to  consolidate  several 
of  the  large  electric  light  and  traction  companies  in  Utah. 
Options  have  been  secured,  it  is  said,  on  the  plants  of  the 
Knight  Power  Company  in  Utah  and  Wasatch  Counties, 
and  it  is  further  stated  that  contracts  will  be  entered  into 
with  the  Davis  &  Weber  Counties  Canal  Company  for  the 
plants  operated  by  it.  Negotiations  for  acquisition  of  the 
properties   owned   by   the   Ogden   Rapid   Transit   Company, 


the  Merchants'  Light  &  Power  Company  and  the  Salt  Lake 
&  Ogden  Railway  Company  are  also  said  to  be  in  progress. 

Elmira  (N.  Y.)  Water,  Light  &  Railroad  Company  to 
Make  Improvements. — The  Public  Service  Commission  for 
the  Second  New  York  District  has  authorized  the  Elmira 
(N.  Y.)  Water,  Light  &  Railroad  Company  to  issue  its 
first-year  consolidated  mortgage  5  per  cent  fifty-year  gold 
bonds  to  the  amount  par  value  of  $201,000.  The  bonds  are 
to  be  sold  at  not  less  than  87  and  the  proceeds  used  in  the 
purchase  of  cars,  the  erection  of  a  new  car  barn  and  paint 
shop,  additional  tracks  and  paving  in  Elmira,  sundry  im- 
provements at  Roricks,  Glen  Park  and  Montour  Falls,  and 
for  sundry  improvements  and  extensions  in  the  water, 
natural-gas  and  electrical  departments. 

Termination  of  Telephone  Receivership. — By  an  order  of 
Judge  C.  C.  Kohlsaat  of  the  federal  court  in  Chicago,  the 
receivership  of  the  Interstate  Independent  Telephone  & 
Telegraph  Company  of  Aurora,  111.,  was  terminated  on 
July  17.  The  judge  ordered  that  the  property  revert  to  the 
company.  A  certified  check  for  $175,000  to  pay  for  the 
indebtedness  incurred  by  the  receivers  was  handed  to  tne 
court  previous  to  the  issuance  of  the  order.  The  company 
operates  an  extensive  system  of  independent  telephone 
lines  in  Northern  Illinois,  its  main  office  being  in  Aurora. 
The  number  of  subscribers  is   said  to  be  about  18,000. 

United  Light  &  Railways  Company  Bonds. — First  and 
refunding  mortgage  5  per  cent  gold  bonds  of  the  United 
Light  &  Railways  Company,  of  Chicago,  which  owns  or 
controls  electric-service,  street-railway,  gas  and  central- 
station  heating  plants  in  Davenport,  la.;  Grand  Rapids, 
M'ich.;  Fort  Dodge,  la.,  and  other  cities  in  Illinois,  Ten- 
nessee, Iowa,  Indiana  and  Michigan,  are  being  offered  for 
sale  by  Russell,  Brewster  &  Company,  of  Chicago.  The 
company's  outstanding  capital  stock  consists  of  $5,000,000 
6  per  cent  preferred,  $3,000,000  3  per  cent  second  preferred 
and  $5,237,500  in  common  stock. 

New  Owners  Inspect  Cincinnati  Gas  &  Electric  Property. 

— P.  G.  Gossler,  of  A.  B.  Leach  &  Company,  and  William  S. 
Cox,  of  J.  &  W.  Seligman  &  Company,  have  been  in  Cin- 
cinnati this  week,  making  an  examination  of  the  property  of 
the  Cincinnati  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  which  was  taken  over 
last  week,  as  noted  in  these  columns,  by  a  syndicate  of 
which  these  concerns  are  at  the  head.  Aside  from  stating 
that  a  few  changes  would  probably  be  made  in  the  direc- 
torate of  the  company,  very  little  information  was  given 
by  the  representatives  of  the  new  owners  as  to  their  plans 
regarding  the  property. 

Hall  Signal  Reorganization  Arrangements  Nearly  Com- 
pleted.— Practically  all  arrangements  have  been  completed 
for  the  formation  of  the  new  company  which  is  to  take 
over  the  assets  and  properties  of  the  Hall  Signal  Com- 
pany. As  was  noted  last  week,  about  95  per  cent  of  the 
securities  of  the  Hall  company  have  been  deposited  with 
the  reorganization  committee.  Orders  now  on  the  books 
of  the  company  are  understood  to  be  sufficient  to  keep 
the  plants  in  operation  at  fall  capacity  for  about  six  months. 
The  name  of  the  new  company  has  not  been  chosen. 

New  Officers  for  Westerly  (R.  I.)  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany.— Following  the  purchase  of  the  Westerly  (R.  I.) 
Light  &  Power  Company  by  Bodell  &  Company,  of  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.,  as  was  noted  in  these  columns  June  15,  new 
officers  for  the  central-station  company  have  been  ap- 
pointed as  follows:  Vice-president,  Philip  V.  Simmonds; 
secretary  and  treasurer,  Frederick  B.  Wilcox;  assistant 
treasurer,  Robert  G.  Thackeray.  William  Clark,  of  Westerly, 
continues  as  president  of  the  company.  I 

Western  States  Gas  &  Electric  Company  (Cal.)  to  Issue 
Bonds. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  California  Rail- 
road Commission  by  the  Western  States  Gas  &  Electric 
Company,  of  Richmond,  Cal.,  for  authority  to  issue  $600,- 
000  5  per  cent  bonds.  The  proceeds  are  to  be  used  for 
acquiring  property  and  water  rights  in  Eldorado  County. 

To  Merge  Large  Canadian  Central-Station  Companies. — 

Negotiations  looking  toward  a  consolidation  of  the 
Montreal  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company  and  the  Shawini- 
gan  Water  &  Power  Company  are  now  in  progress.  Com- 
mon interests  hold  large  amounts  of  the  stock  of  each  of 
these  companies. 


JULV   2J,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


219 


Public  Service  Company  of  Northern  Illinois  Bonds. — 
Chicago  financial  houses  are  offering  $3,300,000  first  and  re- 
funding mortgage  5  per  cent  gold  bonds  of  the  Public 
Service  Company  of  Northern  Illinois.  These  are  dated 
Oct.  I,  ipii,  and  are  due  Oct.  i,  1956.  Of  this  bond  issue 
the  amount  of  $1,608,000  is  put  out  to  refund  a  like  amount 
of  underlying  bonds,  the  remainder  being  available  for  ex- 
tensions and  improvements.  The  company  operates  in 
thirteen  counties  in  northeastern  Illinois,  its  territory  prac- 
tically surrounding  Chicago.  The  capitalization  includes 
$9,062,500  of  outstanding  common  stock,  $7,563,125  of  out- 
standing 6  per  cent  preferred  stock  and  $7,800,000  of  5  per 
cent  bonds.  The  gross  earnings  of  the  company  for  the 
first  five  months  of  its  existence,  ended  March  31,  1912, 
were  $1,477,525;  the  net  earnings  were  $637,004  and  the 
bond  interest  $234,461.  The  company  is  a  consolidation  of 
the  North  Shore  Electric  Company,  Economy  Light  & 
Power  Company,  Illinois  Valley  Gas  &  Electric  Company 
and   other   companies. 

New  Haven  to  Electrify  Four-Track  Line. — Electrifica- 
tion of  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad's 
lines  from'  Boston  to  Providence  has  been  decided  upon  by 
the  raih-oad  company.  The  cost  of  the  work,  which  will  be 
between  $6,500,000  and  $7,500,000,  will  be  met  by  an  issue 
of  4}/^  per  cent  seventy-five  year  bonds.  These  will  be 
issued  by  the  Boston  &  Providence  Railroad  Company  and 
will  be  guaranteed  by  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hart- 
ford Company.  Work  is  to  be  started  this  fall  and  is  to  be 
completed  within  a  year.  A  power  station  will  be  erected 
hi  Providence  to  furnish  the  energy  required. 

Appraisal  of  Cleveland  (Ohio)  Eleqtric  Illuminating 
Company. — The  Ohio  State  Tax  Commission  has  made  a 
tentative  valuation  of  $14,500,000  on  the  property  of  the 
Cleveland  Electric  Illuminating  Company.  In  191 1  the 
valuation  was  $i'l, 375.000,  and  the  increase  has  come,  it  is 
said,  from  the  fact  that  the  company  has  made  application 
to  the  Ohio  Public  Service  Commission  for  an  issue  of  new 
securities  to  secure  funds  for  important  extensions  and 
improvements.  The  company  will  ask  a  reduction  of  about 
$500,000,  as  it  considers  this  addition  to  the  valuation  too 
high. 

Officers  of  Public  Utilities  Company  of  Evansville,  Ind. 
• — The  Public  Utilities  Company  of  Evansville,  Ind.,  which 
was  formed  recently  to  acquire  the  Evansville  &  Southern 
Indiana  Traction  Company  and  the  Evansville  Public  Ser- 
vice Company,  has  elected  the  following  officers:  President, 
Henry  W.  Marshall,  Lafayette,  Ind.;  first  vice-president, 
B.  C.  Cobb,  New  York;  second  vice-president,  William  H. 
Barthold,  New  York;  secretary  and  general  manager,  A.  C. 
Blinn,  Evansville,  and  treasurer,  Frank  I.  Haas,  Evansville. 

Ohio  Commission  Rejects  Elyria  Telephone's  Stock  Divi- 
dend Application. — An  application  of  the  Elyria  (Ohio) 
Telephone  Company  to  issue  a  $27,000  stock  dividend  has 
been  rejected  by  the  Ohio  Public  Service  Commission, 
which  found  that  the  company  has  a  floating  debt  of  $29,000 
for  which  no  provision  for  payment  has  been  made. 

Absorption  of  Coshocton  (Ohio)  Company. — The  United 
Service  Company  of  Scranton,  Pa.,  has  taken  over  the 
properties  of  the  Coshocton  Light  &  Heating  Company,  of 
Coshocton,  Ohio,  which  is  a  city  of  about  10,000  inhabi- 
tants. The  company  has  a  water-power  plant  at  Roscoe  as 
well  as  a  steam  station  in  Coshocton. 

Lowell  (Mass.)  Company  to  Issue  Stock. — The  Massa- 
chusetts Board  of  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Commissioners  has 
approved  the  issue  by  the  Lowell  Electric  Light  Corpora- 
tion of  1534  shares  of  additional  stock  at  $150  per  share  to 
meet  the  cost  of  plant  extensions  and  improvements  to  the 
property. 

New  Contract  for  Cleveland  Electric  Illuminating  Com- 
pany.— The  Cleveland  &  Eastern  Traction  Company,  which 
operates  40  miles  of  line  between  Cleveland  and  Chardon, 
has  entered  into  a  contract  with  the  Cleveland  Electric 
Illuminating  Company  for  a  supply  of  electrical  energy. 

General  Electric  Stock  at  New  High  Level. — Active  trad- 
ing in  General  Electric  stock  on  Monday  and  Tuesday  of 
this  week  resulted  in  sales  of  the  securities  of  the  company 
at  186  on  Wednesday,  the  highest  price  at  which  they  have 
sold  since  1906,  when  the  top  figure  was  184. 

June    Earnings    of    Sao    Paulo    (Brazil)    Company. — Net 


earnings  of  the  Sao  Paulo  Tramway,  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, Ltd.,  of  Sao  Paulo,  Brazil,  in  the  month  of  June  were 
$221,942,  an  increase  of  $48,641  over  June,  1910. 


REPORTS  OF  EARNINGS. 


PEORIA    (ILL.)    LIGHT   COMPANY. 

The  income  accounts  of  the  Peoria  (111.)  Light  Com- 
pany for  the  fiscal  years  ended  Dec.  31,  1911,  and  Dec.  31, 
1910,  compare  as  follows: 

1911.  1910. 

Gross  earnings   $1,030,475  $874,538 

Net   earnings    328,200  445,356 

Net    income    365,846  300,050 

Surplus    290,168  250,050 

AMERICAN   LIGHT    &   TRACTION    COMPAXV. 

Earnings  of  the  American  Light  &  Traction  Company 
for  June,  1912,  and  for  the  six  months  and  the  twelve 
months  ended  June  30,  1912,  compare  with  those  in  the 
corresponding  periods  of  the  preceding  year  as  follows: 

Ju"e.  1912.  1911. 

Gross    $315,150  $313,661 

I^e;.  •••••■■, 306,151  304,771 

Six   Months: 

Gross     1,979.21/  2,010,311 

Net 1,917,805  1,954,364 

Twelve    Months; 

Gross     4,1 12,959  4,042,831 

^ " 3,993,683  3.924,874 


AMERICAN    GAS    &    ELECTRIC    COMPANY 

The  income  statements  of  the  subsidiaries  of  the  Ameri- 
can Gas  &  Electric  Company  named  below  for  the  months 
of  June,  I9II  and  1912,  and  for  the  twelve  months  ended 
June  30,  1912,  and  191 1,  compare  as  follows: 

ATUNTIC    CITY    (N.    J.)    ELECTRIC    COMPANY. 

Surplus 
,„  ,  Gross.  Net.       After  Charges. 

J""«^.    1912    $33,102                    $19,370  $10,843 

-'""f.  ,1511,---; 33,717                     16,933  9,207 

Twelve   Months: 

June,    1912    435,668                    253,943  152,683 

June,    1911    392,890                    205,913  124,945 

MUNClE     (IND.)     ELECTRIC    COMPANY. 

June,    1912    $28,501                      $9,238  $2,787 

J""e.    1911    ■••■ 20,005                       6,206  587 

twelve  Months: 

June,    1912    350,076                    150,353  76,292 

June,    1911    293,879                    110,497  53,193 

ROCKFORD     (ILL.)      ELECTRIC     COMPANY. 

June,    1912    $28,374                    $13,270  $5,455 

June,    1911    26,356                      11,601  4  11' 

Twelve  Months:  ' 

June,    1912    401,968                    193,349  99  931 

June,    1911    373,412                    149,368  67!445 

SCR.\NTON     (PA.)     ELECTRIC    COMPANY. 

June,    1912    $55,891                    $28,151  $15  899 

J""^'    ,1911    •■•• 52,352                      25,501  14,405 

twelve  Months: 

June,    1912    765,228                    433,573  290,402 

J"n<^.    1911    703,720                    396,520  269,649 

WHEELING    (W.    VA.)     ELECTRIC    COMPANY. 

J"ne,    1912    $18,272                      $8,670  $4,631 

J""<=-  ,1511    ■■•■ 16,461                        7,239  2,260 

Twelve  Months: 

J™=.    15','2    242.696                    121,544  76,079 

June,    1911    183,427                      98.456  81,155 


DAYTON     (OHIo)     POWER    AND    LIGHT    COMPANY 

The  reports  of  the  Dayton  (Ohio)  Power  &  Light  Com- 
pany for  June,   1912  and   191 1,  and  for  the  twelve  months 
ended  June  30,  1912  and   1911,  compare  as  follows: 
^,  June.                                                                                1912.  1911. 

Gross    earnings     $46,971  $44,475 

Operating  expenses  and  taxes....                            24,445  26,568 

Net    earnings    $22,526  $17,907 

Interest    receivable    2,280  6 

Total    income    $24,806  $17  913 

Interest    on    bonds $16,800  $15,201 

Uncollectible  accounts    243 

Total   deductions    17,043  15.201 

Net    income    $7,763  $2,712 

Twelve  months  ended  June   30.                              1912  1911 

Gross    earnings     $654,846  $597  374 

Operating    expenses    and    taxes...                          343,394  348.272 

Net    earnings    $311,452  $249,102 

Interest    receivable    42,352  gi 

Total    income    $353,804  $249  183 

Interest    nn    bonds $202,100  $177  756 

Uncollectible    accounts     3,331  ',.. 

Total   deductions    205,431  177  756 

Net    income     $148,373  $71,427 


220 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  4. 


PRICES  IN  THE  NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET. 

Copper:  f — j-july   16 — — ^  , July  27t » 

Standard;  Bid.         Asked.  Bid.       Asked. 

Spot      16.75  17.25  17.25  17.50 

July     16.75  17.25  17.25  17.50 

August     16.87Vj      17.3754  17.30  17.55 

September     16.87J4      17.37K  17-30  17.60 

October     16.87"^      17.37^4  17.30  17.60 

London  quotation:  £       s    d  £        s     d 

Standard    copper,    spot 75       3     9  79       GO 

Standard    copper,    tutures 75     16     3  78     17     6 

Prime    Lake    17.1254  17.50 

Electrolytic     17.1254  17.50 

Casting    16.90  17.40 

Lead     4,75  4.75 

Sheet  zinc,    f.o.b.   smelter 8.75  8.75 

Spelter,     spot      7.25  7.25 

Nickel     40.00  to  41.00  40.00  to  41.00 

Aluminum: 

No.    1   pure  ingot 21  to  22  2154  to  2254 

Rods    and    wire,    base 31  32 

Sheets,    base    33  3354 

OLD   METALS. 

Heavy  copper  and  wire 15.00  15.50 

Brass,    heavy     10.00  10.00 

Brass,   light    7.75  8.00 

Lead,    heavy    4.50  4.40 

Zinc,    scrap    5.75  5.75 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  JULY. 

Total   tons,   including July    16,    14,810       July  23,   20,680 

STOCK  MARKET  PRICES. 

July  17.  July  24. 

Allis-Chalmers     15i*  l>i* 

Allis-Chalmers,    pf 454*  454 

Amalgamated    Copper    8254  82^ 

Amer.   Tel.   &   Tel 145^  145H 

Boston    Edison    295*  297 

Commonwealth    Edison    137^  140 

Electric    Storage    Battery 54^  54J^ 

General   Electric    17854  186 

Mackay    Companies    9254  9254* 

Mackay    Companies,    pf 69^  69^ 

Philadelphia    Electric    2154  2\^ 

Western    Union    87  J|  82^4 

Westinghouse     77  80M 

West'ngbouse,     pf 119*  121* 

*Last  price  quoted. 

Personal 


Mr.  de  Gaspe  Beaubien  has  been  appointed  representa- 
tive of  the  city  of  Montreal,  Quebec,  in  the  Electric  Service 
Commission  to  succeed  Mr.  Beaudry  Leman. 

Mr.  James  Blaine  Walker,  assistant  secretary  of  the  Pub- 
lic Service  Commission  for  the  First  New  York  District,  has 
returned  from  a  six  weeks'  recreation  trip  abroad. 

Mr.  P.  B.  Sawyer  has  resigned  as  general  manager  of  the 
Union  Electric  Company,  Dubuque,  la.,  to  become  super- 
visor of  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company's  operating 
departments.  He  was  formerly  manager  of  the  Des  Moines 
da.)   Electric   Company. 

Mr.  Henry  W.  Fisher,  chief  engineer  of  the  Standard 
Underground  Cable  Company,  Perth  Amboy,  N.  J.,  has 
been  elected  president  of  the  Esperanto  Association  of 
North   America. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Newlin  has  been  appointed  district  agent  of  the 
San  Joaquin  Light  &  Power  Company  for  Fresno,  Cal.,  and 
vicinity.  Mr.  Newlin  will  look  after  new  business  in  Clovis, 
Sanger,  Kerman,  Friant,  Clawa,  Malaga  and  Fresno. 

Mr.  W.  J.  Marshall  has  been  appointed  manager  of  the 
commercial  department  of  the  Toledo  Railways  &  Light 
Company,  succeeding  Mr.  T.  D.  Buckwell,  who  has  re- 
signed to  become  contract  manager  at  Peoria,  111. 

Mr.  Leonard  A.  Levy,  head  of  the  chemistry  and  re- 
search department  of  Messrs.  Alexander  Wright  &  Com- 
pany, Ltd.,  Westminster,  England,  has  had  conferred  upon 
him  by  the  University  of  London  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
science. 

Mr.  Alfred  Montgomery,  formerlj^  superintendent  of  the 
Clinton  (Mass.)  Gas  Light  Company,  has  been  appointed 
manager  of  the  Leominster  (Mass.)  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company  and  the  Leominster  Gas  Company  to  succeed  Mr. 
George  B.  Spring. 

Mr.  George  B.  Spring  has  resigned  as  manager  of  the 
Leominster  (Mass.)  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  and 
the  Leominster  Gas  Company  to  become  general  manager 
of  the  New  Hampshire  Water  &  Electric  Power  Company 
with  headquarters  in  Boston,  Mass. 


Mr.  Royal  Parkinson,  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College 
and  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  and  re- 
cently in  the  employ  of  Stone  &  Webster,  has  joined  the 
industrial  motor-service  department  of  the  Rochester  Rail- 
way &  Light  Company,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  E.  C.  Burch  has  been  appointed  district  superinten- 
dent for  the  Tri-State  Railway  &  Electric  Company,  with 
territory  including  East  Liverpool,  Chester,  Weilsville  and 
Midland,  Ohio.  Mr.  Burch  was  formerly  with  the  Alle- 
gheny County  Light  Company  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Mr.  H.  E.  Niesz,  manager  of  the  Cosmopolitan  Electric 
Company  of  Chicago,  delivered  an  illustrated  lecture  on 
"The  Recent  N.  E.  L.  A.  Convention  in  Seattle,"  before  the 
Cosmopolitan  Electric  Company  Section  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  in  Chicago,  on  July  22. 

Dr.  Charles  A.  Hodgetts,  representing  the  Commission  on 
Conservation  of  the  Canadian  government,  is  making  an  in- 
spection of  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal  in  order  to  prepare 
a  report  relative  to  the  proposed  increase  to  the  !0,ooo  cu.  ft. 
per  second  flow  to  be  taken  by  the  Sanitary  District  from 
Lake  Michigan. 

Mr.  John  Leadley,  who  has  been  manager  of  the  Manistee 
Light  &  Traction  Company,  Manistee,  Mich.,  has  resigned 
his  position  and  will  continue  with  Stone  &  Webster,  who 
disposed  of  their  holdings  in  Manistee  to  the  Footes  of 
Jackson,  Mich.  Mr.  T.  .A..  Kenney  has  been  placed  in 
charge  of  the  local  office. 

Mr.  N.  L.  Clay  has  been  appointed  local  manager  of  the 
Carolina  Power  &  Light  Company  as  successor  to  Mr.  R. 
L.  Miller  in  the  Durham  (N.  C.)  district,  the  latter  having 
been  appointed  local  manager  at  Raleigh,  N.  C.  Mr.  Clay 
was  formerly  in  the  employ  of  the  Virginia  Railway  & 
Power  Company  at  Norfolk,  Va. 

Mr.  F.  Lewis  Marshall  is  now  managing  the  plants  of 
the  Newport  News  &  Old  Point  Railway  &  Electric  Com- 
pany and  the  Hampton-Phoebus  &  Fort  Monroe  Gas  Cor- 
poration. The  latter  plant  was  purchased  by  the  Newport 
News  Company  some  time  ago  and  Mr.  Marshall  was  its 
manager  at  the  time.     He  now  has  charge  of  both  plants. 

Mr.  Alexander  Leslie  Black,  who  was  recently  appointed 
engineer  in  charge  of  Southern  properties  of  Messrs.  Ford, 
Bacon  &  Davis,  was  born  in  New  Orleans  in  1871.  He  was 
graduated  from  the  School  of  Mines  at  Columbia  in  1890, 
was  engaged  in  mining  work  in  the  West  and  in  Mexico 
lor  three  years,  and  was  employed  for  a  few  months  as 
assistant  engineer  on  the  Topographical  Survey  of  New 
Orleans.  In  1894-5  he  had  charge  of  the  reconstruction 
for  electric  operation  of  the  St.  Charles  Street  Railway 
Company  in  New  Orleans,  remaining  with  that  company 
supervising  operation  and  constructing  extensions  for  it 
and  for  other  local  companies  until  1901,  when  the  New 
Orleans  properties  were  consolidated.  Since  1901  he  has 
been  the  engineer  for  the  New  Orleans  Railway  &  Light 
Company  and  its  predecessors,  controlling  the  New  Orleans 
street  railroads  and  lighting  companies. 

Mr.  Peter  W.  Sothman,  chief  engineer  of  the  Hydro- 
Electric  Power  Commission  of  Ontario,  has  tendered  his 
resignation,  effective  Aug.  I,  1912,  and  will  engage  in  pri- 
vate practice  in  Toronto.  Together  with  Messrs.  J.  A. 
Brundige  and  F.  P.  Mansbendel  he  has  formed  the  firm  of 
P.  W.  Sothman  &  Company,  consulting  engineers  and 
specialists  in  hydroelectric  developtnent.  high-tension  trans- 
mission and  other  work  connected  with  the  generation  and 
distribution  of  electrical  energy.  It  is  now  more  than  five 
years  since  Mr.  Sothman  was  engaged  by  the  Ontario 
government,  on  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  Adam  Beck, 
to  design  and  supervise  the  construction  of  what  has  since 
proved  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  pieces  of  high-tension 
engineering  work  on  this  continent.  In  the  pursuit  of  this 
work  undertaken  as  a  government  enterprise  Mr.  Sothman 
was  necessarily  beset  by  the  chicanery  of  politicians  and 
in  the  face  of  great  pressure  from  all  sides  brought  the  great 
Ontario  system  into  being,  below  the  estimated  cost  and 
without  the  stigma  of  political  favoritism.  For  this  as  well 
as  for  the  thoroughness  and  excellence  of  his  work  he 
gained  the  esteem  of  even  those  unalterably  opposed  to  the 
enterprise.  The  system  itself  was  described  in  detail  in 
these  columns  during  the  month  of  January  this  year,  and 
a  sketch  of  Mr.  Sothman  was  published  on  Jan.  27,  1912. 


July  27,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Construction 


BIRMINGHAM,  ALA.— The  Alabama  Fuel  &  Iron  Co.  has  appro- 
priated about  $80,000  for  the  construction  of  a  central  electric  plant  to 
distribute  power  to  the  four  plants  of  the  company  located  at  Acmar, 
Margaret,  Acton  and  a  new  opening.  The  company  is  planning  to  in- 
crease the  power  of  the  washer  plant  and  will  transmit  750  kw  to  the 
works.  The  transmission  line  connecting  the  plants  will  be  about  8  miles 
long. 

HUNTS VILLE,  ALA. — 'The  city  commissioners  have  entered  into  a 
contract  with  the  Huntsville  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  street  lighting  for 
a  period  of  five  years.  The  Alabama  Pwr.  Devel.  Co.  has  taken  an 
opt'un  on  the  property  of  the  Huntsville  company  and  will  probably 
assume  charge  in  a  short  time.  Application  has  been  made  for  a  new 
franchise  covering  a  period  of  30  years.  The  new  company  is  planning 
to  transmit   power   from   the   hydroelectric   plant   on   Little   River. 

LOUISVILLE,  ALA, — Improvements  to  the  electric-light  system  are 
contemplated  by  the  Town   Council. 

NEW  DECATUR,  ALA.— The  Alabama  Pwr.  &  Devel.  Co.,  which 
owns  and  controls  the  Decatur  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Fuel  Co.,  contemplates  ex- 
tensive improvements  to  its  system  here.  Webb  Offutt,  Gadsden,  is 
vice-president  'of  the   Alabama  Pwr.   &    Devel.    Co. 

ONEONTA;  ALA. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  here  is 
under  consideration. 

TtfSCALOOSA,  AL.\. — .\  petition  has  been  presented  to  the  city 
commissioners  asking  the  commission  to  submit  to  the  voters  the  propo- 
sition of  extending  the  franchise  of  the  Tuscaloosa  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.  a 
period  of  12  years,  giving  the  company  a  tenure  on  the  city  for  about 
20  years,  in  return  for  which  the  company  agrees  to  build  and  operate  a 
street  railway   in   Tuscaloosa. 

MESA.  ARIZ.— The  Salt  River  Valley  EI.  Ry.  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric  railway  over  certain  streets 
in  Mesa. 

GREENWOOD,  ARXv.— The  Gunther  Coal  Co.  is  reported  to  be  in 
the  market  for  a  second-hand  75-kw,  500-volt,  direct-current  generator 
direct  connected  preferred,  complete  with  switchboard  and  a  high-duty 
mine  pump,  6-in.  suction,  5-in.  discharge,  with  500-volt  motor  geared 
to  pump.     W;  A.  Ream,  Greenwood,  is  general  superintendent. 

BERKELEY,  CAL. — The  proposition  to  issue  $42,000  in  bonds  for 
the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  is  under  consideration. 

CHICO,  CAL. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  granted  the 
Marysville  &  Colusa  branch  of  the  Northern  El.  Ry.  Co.  permission  to 
issue  $600,000  in  bonds. 

EUREKA,  CAL.— The  Western  States  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  controlled  by 
H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Co.,  Chicago,  111.,  has  applied  to  the  State  Railroad 
Commission  for  permission  to  issue  $600,000  in  bonds,  the  proceeds  to 
be  used  to  acquire  property  and  water  rights  in  Eldorado  County. 

GRIMES.  CAL. — The  Board  of  Supervisors  has  called  an  election  to 
be  held  July  27  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to   form  a  lighting  district. 

HERMOSA  BEACH,  CAL.— The  Hermosa  Beach  Wtr.-  Pwr.  Co.  is 
planning  to  make  improvements  and  extensions  to  its  plant  and  system. 

HUNTINGTON  BEACH,  CAL.— Plans  have  been  approved  by  the 
City  Trustees  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system, 
which  will   be   installed   immediately. 

LONG  BEACH,  CAL. — The  contract  for  the  installation  of  machinery 
for  steam-power  plant  for  the  Southern  California  Edison  Co.  at  Long 
Beach  has,  been  awarded  to  Charles  C.  Moore  &  Co.,  99  First  Street,  San 
Francisco.  The  'equipment  includes  Curtis  turbines,  Wheeler  pump, 
Sterling  boilers,  vacuum  pumps,  oil  and  water  tanks,  Crosby  or  equal 
gages,   Crane   Company's  or  equal  valves  and   Carey  magnesia   covering. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  Pacific  El.  Ry.  Co.  is  arranging  for  a 
private  right-of-way   out  of  the  city   for  its  north  and  northeastern  lines. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — Hereafter  it  is  proposed  to  lay  conduits  in  all 
streets  before  paving,  the  expense  of  construction  to  be  levied  against 
property  owners. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — The  Southern  California  Edison  Co.  has 
awarded  the  contract  for  the  construction  of  a  reinforced  substation  at 
2417  Porter  Street,  Los  Angeles,  to  the  F.  O.  Engstrom  Co.,  Los  Angeles. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
United  States  Reclamation  Service,  60S  Federal  Building,  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.,  until  Aug.  2  for  furnishing  four  direct-connected  pumping  units. 
For  further  information  address  O.  H.  Ensign,  consulting  engineer. 

NEWPORT.  C.'XL. — Plans  are  being  considered  to  issue  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  $64,000  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal   electric-light  plant. 

OROVILLE,  CAL. — ^The  local  telephone  company  is  preparing  plans 
to  place  its  wires  underground  in  the  business  district. 

PATTON,  CAL.— Bids  are  being  received  by  W.  F.  McClure,  Sacra- 
mento, state  engineer,  for  material  and  equipment  for  new  power  plant 
at  the  Southern  California  State  Hospital  at  Patton. 

RIVERSIDE,  CAL. — The  city  is  investigating  the  proposition  of 
Prof.  C.  G.  Baldwin  to  install  a  municipal  hydroelectric  plant  on  Mill 
Creek.  It  is  estimated  that  2000  hp  could  be  developed  at  a  cost  of  about 
$300,000. 

SAN  FRANCISCO.  CAL.— The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  granted 


the  San  Joaquin  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Fresno,  and  the  Tulare  County  Pwr.  Co., 
Lindsay,  certificates  of  necessity  of  public  convenience  asked  for  in  con- 
nection with  requests  to  serve  Tulare,   Kern  and  King  Counties. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Pacific 
Gas  &  El.  Co.  for  extensions  to  its  system  which  will  involve  an  ex- 
penditure of  $5,000,000  and  increase  the  output  of  its  hydroelectric  plant 
to  290,000  hp.  The  plans  include  the  construction  of  three  additional 
plants  on  the  Bear  River,  in  Placer  County,  and  a  large  dam  will  be  built 
at  Lake  Spaulding  on  the  South  Yuba  River.  To  convey  the  water  to 
the  power  houses  an  aqueduct  9  miles  in  length  will  be  built,  the  water 
having  a  drop  to  the  station  of  1350  ft.  Rights-of-way  have  been  secured 
and  approval  of  the  State  Railroad  Commission  has  been  granted  for 
the  work. 

SEBASTOPOL,  CAL.— The  Board  of  Trustees  has  granted  the 
Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to  erect  and  maintain  electric 
transmission   lines   here   for   a   period   of   50   years. 

SOLEDAD,  CAL.— The  Coast  Valleys  El.  Pwr.  Co.,  San  Francisco, 
has  purchased  a  site  on  the  Field  tract  north  of  the  town  on  which  it  will 
erect  a  substation.  The  company  proposes  to  erect  a  substation  about 
every   10  miles  along  the  line. 

STOCKTON,  CAL. — The  City  Council  has  passed  an  ordinance  re- 
quiring all  companies  operating  electric  wires  in  the  business  district  to 
place  them  all  underground  before  June  1»   1913. 

AURORA,  COL.— The  Town  Council  has  granted  a  franchise  to  A.  E. 
Bent  and  C.  M.  Einfeldt  to  mstall  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant 
here. 

HARTFORD.  CONN.— Plans  have  been  completed  by  the  electric 
lighting  committee  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting 
system  in  the  business  district,  to  cost  approximately  $22,000.  The  Busi- 
ness Men's  Association  is  offering  a  prize  of  $175  for  the  most  attractive 
design   for   lamp   standards,   competition   for   which    will   close   Oct.    1. 

NEW  HAVEN,  CONN. — A  permit  has  been  granted  to  the  Forsythe 
Dyeing   Co.    for  the   erection   of  a   power  house,  to  cost  about   $3,000. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. — Among  the  recomra-endations  to  the  commis- 
sioners of  the  District  of  Columbia  for  improvements  in  Anacostia  will 
be  included  the  placing  of  trolley  wires  underground  and  the  erection 
of  arc   lamps   along   the    principal   streets   of  that   place. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. — An  American  consul  has  submitted  a  report 
on  the  concession  for  an  underground  electric  railway  for  the  city  in 
which  he  is  located.  The  cost  of  the  enterprise  is  estimated  at  about 
$5,600,000.  A  description  of  the  project,  also  three  copies  of  prints,  have 
been  forwarded  by  the  consul,  all  of  which  should  be  of  interest  to 
American  manufacturers  and  engineers.  For  further  information  address 
No.  9211,  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor, 
Washington,  D.   C. 

ST.  AUGUSTINE,  FLA.— The  St.  Johns  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  contemplates 
extensions  to  its  system,  involving  an  expenditure  of  about  $50,000. 

ABBEVILLE,  GA. — Preparations  are  being  made  to  rebuild  the  local 
electric-light  plant,  which  was  recently  burned.  For  further  information 
address  G.  W.  Mixon. 

ATLANTA,  GA.— The  Atlanta  &  Macon  Ry.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  new  stock  and  bonds 
to  the  amount  of  $7,200,000.  The  company  proposes  to  build  an  electric 
railway  between  Atlanta  and  Macon  and  it  is  understood  that  franchises 
have  been  granted  by  all  the  municipalities  along  the  proposed  route 
except  Atlanta. 

ATLANTA,  GA. — Arrangements  have  been  made  between  the  finance 
committee  of  the  Council  and  the  New  York  Destructor  Co.,  New  York, 
N.  y.,  whereby  work  will  soon  begin  on  the  construction  of  proposed 
garbage  crematory.  Under  the  terms  of  the  agreement  the  company  will 
retain  the  title  to  the  plant,  but  the  city  will  control  and  operate  it 
under  the  supervision  of  the  company.  The  company  is  to  build  the 
garbage  plant  at  a  cost  of  $276,000.  Later,  if  the  city  wishes  to  make 
some  financial  arrangement,  an  electric  generating  plant  can  be  built  in 
connection  with  the  garbage  plant.  Steam  from  the  latter  will  be  used 
to  operate  the  electric  plant.  The  cost  of  the  electric  plant  is  esti- 
mated at  $102,000. 

AUGUSTA,  GA.— J.  G.  White  &  Co.,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  engineers 
and  contractors,  have  been  retained  by  the  Georgia-Carolina  Pwr.  Co. 
in  connection  with  the  hydroelectric  development  at  Stevens  Creek,  on 
the  Savannah  Kiver  about  0  miles  from  Augusta.  The  river  at  this 
point  forms  the  boundary  line  between  Georgia  and  South  Carolina.  The 
power  house  will  be  located  at  the  Georgia  end  of  the  dam.  The  dam 
will  be  2300  ft.  long  and  the  average  height  34  ft.;  flashboard  3  ft. 
or  4  ft.  high  will  be  provided.  A  lock  30  ft.  x  150  ft.  in  the  clear  will 
be  built  for  pole-boat  navigation.  The  ultimaite  installation  will  be 
18,000  kw  in  ten  main  units,  with  200-kw  waterwheel-driven  exciter 
units  and  one  200-kw  mo1:or-driven  exciter.  The  preserit  instalment  will 
include  five  main  and  two  exciter  units.  High-tension  transmission  lines 
will  be  erected  to  Augusta,  Ga.,  a  distance  of  10  miles,  and  from  Augusta 
tc  Graniteville,  S.  C,  17  miles,  making  a  total  of  27  miles.  This  work 
will    be  completed   early  in    1914  and  will   cost  about   $2,500,000. 

BL.\CKSHEAR,  GA.— The  Council  has  engaged  B.  D.  Brantley,  Black- 
shear,  as  engineer  to  supervise  the  installation  of  light  plant,  water  and 
sewer  systems,  for  which  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $55,000  were  recently 
voted.     Plans  were  prepared  by  the  J.   B.   McCrary  Co.,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

SHOSHONE,    IDAHO.— The    property    of    the    Shoshone    Lt.    &    Wtr. 


ELECTRICAL     W'ORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  4. 


Co.  has  been  taken  over  by  the  Great  Shoshone  &  Twin  Falls  Wtr.  Pwr. 
Co.,  Twin  Falls.  The  new  owners  contemplate  the  installation  of  meters 
and  discarding  the  present  flat   rates. 

.\BINGDON,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  passed  an  ordinance  author- 
izing the  installation  of  a  new  electric  lighting  system  for  lighting  the 
streets,  public  grounds,  city  buildings  and  offices,  to  cost  $7,000.  A 
special  election  will  be  held  Aug.  2  to  vote  on  the  proposition. 

CHICAGO,  ILL. — The  Business  Men's  Association  of  Clark  Street 
has  been  organized  for  the  purpose  of  installing  ornamental  street  lamps 
along  the  street  and  for  other  improvements.  Thomas  Murray,  George 
E.  Marshall,  Lyman   B.   Glover  and   others  are  interested. 

FULTON,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Northern  Illinois 
Public  Utilities  Co.  a  50-year  franchise  to  operate  an  electric-light 
plant    in    this  city. 

HARRISBURG,  ILL.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Southern 
Illinois  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to  consitruct  and  operate  an  electric 
railway  within  the  city  limits. 

HENNING,  ILL. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  installation  of  an 
electric-light  system  here.  Contract  will  soon  be  awarded  for  the  erection 
of  a  transmission  line  from  Potomac  to  Henning  to  supply  electricity  for 
same. 

ROCKFORD,  ILL. — The  installation  of  ornamental  lamps  on  the  new 
railroad   viaduot   is  under   consideration. 

S.ANDWICH,  ILL. — ^The  Aurora,  Mendota  &  Western  R.  R.  Co.  has 
petitioned  the  City  Council  for  a  franchise  to  operate  an  interurban 
railway    within    the   city   limits. 

S.WBROOK,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  granted  Coon  Brothers 
a  25-year  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  a  toll  and  rural  telephone 
system   in  this  village. 

SPRING  VALLEY,  ILL.— The  Spring  Valley  Gas  &  El.  Lt.  Co.  has 
submitted  a  proposition  to  the  City  Council  offering  to  install  an  orna- 
mental street-lighting  system  on  St.  Paul  Street,  at  a  cost  of  $6,000, 
without  charge  to  the  city.  The  company  also  proposes  to  furnish  elec- 
tricity to  operate  the  water-works  pumping  station  for  a  period  of  10 
years,  the  cost  not  to  exceed   $500  per  month. 

TUSCOL.'^,  ILL.^The  Central  Illinois  Public  Ser.  Co.,  of  Chicago, 
has  purchased  the  property  of  the  Tuscola  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co.  for  $100,000. 
The  Central  Illinois  company  is  reported  to  have  taken  an  option  on  the 
plant  of  the  Areola  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.,  Areola,  for  $35,000.  If  the  deal  is 
consummated  the  two  cities  will  be  supplied  from  one  plant. 

BUTLER,  IND. — The  committee  of  the  Commercial  Club  has  decided 
to  recommend  the  erection  of  20  ornamental  lamp  standards  in  the  busi- 
ness district.     Later  the  system  may  be  extended  to  other  streets. 

GREENCASTLE,  IND. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  S.  C.  Sayres, 
city  clerk,  Greencastle.  until  Aug.  27  for  lighting  the  city  for  a  period 
of  10  years,  beginning  July  1,  1913.  The  contract  carries  with  it  a 
20-year  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  the  city. 
Specifications  and  form  of  contract  may  be  secured  from  McMeans  & 
Tripp,   Indianapolis,    consulting   engineers. 

LAPORTE,  IND. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  local  business  men  for 
the  installation  of  a  new  street-lighting  system  in  the  business  district. 

LINTON.  IND. — Extensive  improvements  are  being  made  to  the  munici- 
pal electric-light  plant. 

LOG.^NSPORT.  IND. — Plans  have  been  completed  by  T.  H.  Stewart, 
superintendent  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant,  for  lighting  River- 
side Park.  Lamps  of  350  cp  will  be  erected,  maintained  by  underground 
wires. 

MADISON,  IND. — The  committee  appointed  to  investigate  the  propo- 
sition of  installing  an  ornamental  lighting  system  has  reconmiended  the 
installation  of  a  cluster-lamp  system,  for  which  bids  will  soon  be  asked. 
Robison   L.    Ireland  is  chairman  of  committee. 

MONTPELIER,  IND. — The  plant  of  the  Montpelier  Lt.  Si  Wtr.  Co. 
will  soon  be  sold  at  a  sheriff's  sale  to  satisfy  judgments  amounting  to 
$67,194  against  the  property. 

W.ARSAW,  IND. — A  committee  has  been  appointed  by  the  business 
men  of  Warsaw  for  the  purpose  of  taking  definite  action  in  the  matter 
of  securing  ornamental   street  lamps  for  the  city. 

.-^DAIR,  lA. — The  Anita  El.  Lt.  Sr  Pwr.  Co.,  Anita,  has  been  granted 
a  15-year  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  here. 
Work  will  begin  at  once  on  the  erection  of  a  high-tension  line  from 
.\nita  to  Adair.  A  day  service  will  be  established  as  soon  as  conditions 
warrant  it. 

CRESTON,  l.\. — The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  Creston  Gas  &  El.  Co. 
have  been  purchased  by  Frank  W.  Blair  and  R.  L.  Aldrich,  Union  Trust 
Building,  Detroit,  Mich.  Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $100,000  have  been 
authorized,  of  which  the  proceeds  of  $60,000  will  be  used  for  improve- 
ments. 

EARL\nLLE,  lA. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  here  is 
under   consideration. 

F.MRFIELD.  lA. — The  Fairfield  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  been  grar  ■  ;d  a 
franchise  to  erect  transmission   lines  along  the   Burlington  Road. 

HOSPERS,  lA. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  organizing  a  com- 
pany for  the  purpose  of  establishing  an  electric  light  and  power  plant  at 
Hospers.  It  is  proposed  to  extend  the  transmission  lines  for  several 
miles  in  all  directions  to  supply  electrical  service  to  the  farmers. 

LEHIGH,   lA. — Bonds  to   the   amount    of   $20,000   have   been  voted   for 


the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  systemi 

LEWIS,  I.\. — Negotiations  are  under  way  between  the  town  and  the 
local  electric  light  company  to  operate  the  town  pumping  plant  by  elec- 
tricity. 

MOVILLE,  I.\. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $7,800  have  been  voted  foi 
the  installation   of  an  eleotric-light  plant. 

OSAGE,  lA. — The  electric  plant  of  the  Osage  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  |! 
out  of  commission  owing  to  the  breaking  away  of  its  dam  on  the  Cedai 
River,  Ferris  Brothers,  owners  of  the  plant,  are  building  an  auxiliar] 
steam  plant  here,  which  will  not  be  completed  for  some  time.  In  thf 
meantime  the  city  will  be   without  electrical   service. 

OTTUMWA,  I,^. — Arrangements  have  been  made  by  the  Ottumwa  Ry, 
&  Lt.  Co.  for  rebuilding  its  boiler  plant,  at  a  cost  of  about  $40,000,  con. 
tracts  for  which  will  be  awarded  about  Aug.  15.  Automatic  stokers,  new 
furnaces  and  chain  grates  will  be  installed. 

POMEROV,  lA. — The  City  Council  has  engaged  W.  H.  Grover,  Ames, 
la.,  electrical  engineer,  to  prepare  plans  and  estimates  for  the  installation 
of  an   electric-light   plant  here. 

STONE  CITY,  lA.— The  Cedar  Rapids  &  Iowa  City  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co. 
Cedar  Rapids,  has  been  granted  a  franchise  to  extend  its  transmissior 
line  to  this  city. 

LYNDON,  KAN. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant,  to  cos 
about  $8,000,  is  under  consideration. 

SUMMERFIELD,  KAN. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plan 
here  is   under  consideration.      H.    D.   Hockraan   is   interested. 

TOPEKA,  KAN. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  South  Side  Boosters' 
Club  for  extension  of  the  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Kansas 
Avenue  to  Seventeenth  Street  and  then  west  to  the  fair  grounds. 

JEFFERSONTOWN,  KY.— The  Louisville  Ltg.  Co.  has  purchased  i 
20-year  franchise  to  distribute  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and  motor: 
here.  The  company  will  extend  its  transmission  lines  from  Louisvill* 
to  Jeffersontown,  a  distance  of  12  miles. 

LEXINGTON,  KY. — The  Lexington  Utilities  Co.  has  petitioned  tta 
light  and  water  committee  of  the  City  Council  to  sell  at  auction  a  20-yea] 
franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  Lexington.  The  franchise  of  the  com 
pany  expires  in  four  years,  but  owing  to  contemplated  improvements  tc 
its  plant,   an  extension   of  its   franchise   is  desired. 

BRADDOCK  HEIGHTS,  MD.— The  Frederick  R.  R.  Co.  is  plan 
ning  to  erect  a  building,  to  be  utilized  as  a  substation,  waiting-room  anc 
store  in  Braddock  Heights.     O.  B.  Conlentz,  Frederick,  is  chief  engineer 

BRUNSWICK,  MD. — The  proposition  to  issue  $20,000  in  bonds  foi 
the  construction  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  will  be  submitted  tt 
a  vote  on  Aug.  5. 

F,-\LL  RIVER,  MASS.— The  Board  of  Aldermen  has  refused  to  gram 
the  Southern  Massachusetts  Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to  lay  conduits  througt 
si.x  miles  of  streets. 

FRAMINGHAM,  MASS.^The  Edison  El.  Illg,  Co.  has  purchased  a 
site  in  this  city  on  which  it  proposes  to  erect  a  substation. 

GARDNER.  MASS.— The  Gardner  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  secured  the  contract 
for  furnishing  electricity  to  the  state  for  use  at  the  East  Gardner  colon} 
of  the  mildly  insane. 

LOWELL,  MASS.— The  Board  of  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commis 
sioners  has  granted  the  Lowell  El.  Lt.  Corpn.  permission  to  issue  ISi' 
shares  of  additional  capital  stock  at  $150  per  share,  the  proceeds  to  Ik 
used  to  pay  a  floating  indebtedness  and  for  further  extensions  to  it! 
property. 

PRINCETON,  MASS. — -\t  a  special  election  held  July  13  the  propo- 
sition to  issue  $15,000  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-lighl 
plant  was  carried.  The  present  plans  calls  for  the  erection  of  trans- 
former station,   overhead  distributing  system   and   100  street  lamps. 

BOYNE  FALLS,  MICH. — The  local  electric-light  plant  was  recentlj 
destroyed  by  fire. 

DETROIT,  MICH. — The  Board  of  Public  Works  has  authorized  the 
installation  of  200  additional  arc  lamps  in  the  Seventeenth  Ward.  The 
public  lighting  commission  has  authorized  the  test  of  a  new  type  of 
lamp  for  the  Grand  Boulevard.  The  contract  for  building  a  new  sub- 
station in  Palmer  Avenue  has  been  awarded  to  the  A.  J.  Smith  Constr. 
Co.,   at  $13,590. 

GRAND  R.\PIDS.  MICH. — .\  special  election  will  be  held  July  24  to 
vote  on  the  franchise  recently  granted  the  Grand  Rapids-Muskegon  Pw^. 
Co.  by  the  Township  Board. 

IRON  MOUNT.\IN,  MICH. — The  Iron  Mountain  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co. 
has  decided  to  erect  a  substation  in  the  rear  of  its  offices  and  secure 
electricity  from  the  Peninsula  Pwr.  Co.,  which  is  building  a  power  plant 
on  the  Menominee  River.  The  local  steam  plant  will  be  closed  down  as 
soon  as  the  Peninsula  company  is  able  to  furnish  power.  The  company 
expects  to  supply  electrical  energy  in  Iron  River,  Crystal  Falls  and  Iron 
Mountain. 

TECUMSEH,  MICH. — Funds  have  been  secured  by  the  Commerce 
Club  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the 
business  district.  The  plans  provide  for  the  erection  of  32  lamp 
standards  carrying  five-lamp  clusters,  at  a  cost  of  about  $3,000. 

COLER.MN,  MINN. — All  bids  received  June  15  for  construction  of 
lighting  system  were  rejected  and  the  work  postponed.  W.  W.  Hunter 
is  village  clerk. 


igi: 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


223 


HIBBING,  MINN. — The  Commercial  Club  is  considering  the  question 
f  installing  an  ornamental  lighting  system  in  the  business  district. 

LUVEKNE,  MINN.— The  proposition  to  issue  $10,000  in  bonds,  the 
iroceeds  to  be  used  for  remodeling  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  and 
Stablisliing  a   day   service,   is   under  consideration. 

MINNEOTA,  MINN.— Th«  Citizens'  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Canby,  has 
lubmitted  a  proposition  to  the  city  officials  offering  to  erect  a  trans- 
nission   line   to   this  city   to   furnish  electricity   for   lamps. 

MOORHEAD,  MINN.— Franchises  have  been  granted  to  H.  M. 
Syllesby   &   Co.    for   extension   of   their  car  line   to    Dilworth. 

PRESTON,  MINN. — Surveys  are  being  made  by  the  Root  River  Pwr. 
It  Lt.  Co.  for   its  hydroelectric  power  development. 

RED  WING,  MINN.— The  Red  Wing  Gas  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Go.  is  planning 
;o  rebuild  its  arc  and  incandescent  lighting  system,  at  a  cost  of  about 
E15,000. 

SAUK  CENTER,  MINN.— The  Public  Service  Co.,  St.  Cloud,  is  con- 
emplating  extending   its  transmission   lines   to  this   city. 

ST.  CLOUD,  MINN. — The  Public  Service  Co.  is  contemplating  extend- 
ng  its  tiansmission  line  as  far  west  as  Sauk  Center  in  the  near  future, 
franchises  have  already  been  secured  by  the  company  in  Rockville,  Cold 
spring  and  Richmond.  In  towns  where  electric  companies  are  operating 
ilectrical  energy  will  be  sold  to  the  local  companies.  Work  has  begun 
in  raising  the  local  dam  3  ft.,  which  will  increase  the  capacity  of  the 
)lant  20  p,er  cent.  In  addition,  the  main  canal  will  be  dredged  and  the 
og  chute  narrowed  and  an  additional  unit  installed  in  the  power  plant, 
lontracts  for  which,  it  is  understood,  have  been  placed. 

KANSAS  CITY,  MO.— The  Commerce  Trust  Co.,  Commerce  Bldg., 
renth  and  Walnut  Streets,  is  planning  to  install  an  electric  plant  in  the 
ub-basement  of  the  building  and  will  supply  heat,  light  and  power  to 
consumers  within  the  block.  The  cost  of  the  plant  is  estimated  at  $75,000. 
RUSSELLVILLE,  MO. — The  construction  of  an  electric-light  plant 
"or  this  town  is  under  consideration  by  the  City  Council  and  the  Com- 
nercial   Club. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO.— The  Suburban  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  filed  its 
cceptance  of  the  terms  of  a  franchise  allowing  it  to  lay  conduits  in  St. 
,ouis  County.  The  company  proposes  to  build  and  operate  a  conduit 
ne  carrying  high-tension  transmission  wires  from  the  terminus  of  the 
lissouri  River  Transmission  Co.  at  Florissant  to  Webster  Groves,  where 
distributing  station  will  be  erected  to  receive  power  from  the  Keokuk 
am.  The  conduit  line  will  be  about  15  miles  long  and  will  carry  all 
lectrical  power  used  in  St.  Louis  County,  except  that  used  by  the 
United  Rys.  Co.,  after  the  completion  of  the  dam. 
GREAT  FALLS,  MONT.— The  Great  Falls  Terminal  Ry.  Co.  is  plan- 
ing to  construct  several  short  electric  railways  in  Great  Falls  and  sur- 
Dunding -country. 

HELENA,  MONT. — ^Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office 
f  the  United  States  Reclamation  Service,  National  Bank  of  Montana 
uilding,  Helena,  Mont.,  until  Aug.  S  for  furnishing  steel  headgates 
nd  accessories  for  canals  and  laterals  in  the  northern  division.  A.  P. 
Javis  is  acting>  director. 
BEATRICE,  NEB. — The  Beatrice  El.  Co.  contemplates  extending  its 
-ansmission  line  as  far  west  as  Fairbury,  connecting  up  the  towns  of 
idell    and   Diller. 

LINCOLN.  NEB. — The  cost  of  operating  the  city  lighting  department 
or  the  fiscal  year  ending  Aug.  31,  1913,  is  estimated  at  $52,500.  This 
mount  includes  the  cost  of  the  installation  of  cluster  lamps  on  seven 
locks.  $14,500,  and  the  purchase  of  a  condenser  at  $7,500. 
OMAHA,  NEB. — The  Nebraska  Transportation  Co.  is  planning  to  take 
Per  the  wAter-power  rights  of  E.  L.  Kirk,  Omaha,  Neb.,  and  associates 
n  the  Niobrara  River.  It  is  estimated  that  about  20,000  hp  can  be 
eveloped- 

DOVER,  N.  H. — The  Twin  State  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  commenced  work  on 
le  extensions  of  its  transmission  lines  from  Middlebrook  farm  to  Dover 
'oint  House,  a  distance  of  about  5  miles. 

FARMINGTON,    N.    H. — Extensive    improvements    are    being    made    to 
le  power   plant    of   the   Cloutman   Gas   &   El.    Co.,   on   Central    Street,   in- 
!  luding  the  installation  of  a  new  generator. 

BAYONNE,  N.  J.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  light  the  city  hall 
y  electricity.  At  present  the  building  is  lighted  by  gas. 
JERSEY  CITY,  N.  J.— Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  Central  Rail- 
'  oad  of  New  Jersey  for  the  erection  of  a  two-story,  90-ft.  by  200-ft. 
ower  house,  to  be  erected  in  the  railroad  yards  at  Jersey  City,  to  cost 
bout  $100,000.  J.  O.  Osgood,  143  Liberty  Street,  New  York,  is  chief 
ngineer.  Westinghouse,  Church,  Kerr  &  Co.,  10  Bridge  Street,  New 
'ork,  are  engineers  and   contractors. 

PASSAIC,  N.  J. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  Westinghouse,  Church. 
Cerr  &  Co.,  10  Bridge  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y..  for  the  erection  of  a 
,'Ower   plant   for   the   Andrew   McLean    Co. 

.    LAS  CRUCES,   N.   M. — The  franchise  and  holdings  of  the  Las  Cruces 
j 'y.  Co.  will  be  sold  at  public  auction. 

i    BAYSHORE,   N.   Y.— Bids  are  to  be  called   for  lighting  the  new  light- 
ig  district,   which    will   include   Bridgewater. 

ELM  IRA.  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted  the 
'.ImJra  Wtr.,  Lt.  &  R.  R.  Co.  authority  to  issue  $201,000  in  bonds.  Ex- 
ensions  are  contemplated  to  its  water,  electrical  and  natural-gas  plants 
nd  improvements   will   be   made  to   its  plant   at   Montour   Falls. 


NIAGARA  FALLS,  N.  Y.— The  American  Cyanamid  Co.  has  engaged 
Westuighouse.  Church,  Kerr  &  Co.,  10  Bridge  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y., 
as  engineers  in  connection  with  the  installation  of  electrical  c(|uipmenl 
in  the  new  addition   to  its  plant. 

OSWEGO,  N.  Y. — Contracts  will  soon  be  awarded  by  the  People's  Gas 
&  El.  Co.  fgr  the  installation  of  the  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in 
the   business    district. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.— The  erection  of  a  power  plant  between  Orchard 
and   Whitney   Streets  is  contemplated  by   H.   P.   Neun. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.— All  bids  submitted  July  15  for  the  new  Monroe 
County  power  house  were  rejected  and  new  bids  will  be  asked  for.  The 
cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at  about  $25,000. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.— The  Rochester  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  devised  a  new 
scheme  for  lighting  Maplewood  Avenue  in  Maplewood  Park,  using  its  new 
concrete  poles,  each  carrying  an  upright  arc  lamp.  Plans  are  being  con- 
sidered for  the  installation  of  the  same  style  lamps  along  the  parks, 
drives  and  walks. 

SYRACUSE,  N.  Y.— The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted  the 
Syracuse,  Lake  Shore  &  Northern  R.  R.  Co.  permission  to  increase  its 
capital  stock  from  $1,000,000  to  $1,500,000,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for 
the  purpose  of  discharging  indebtedness  of  same  amount  for  construction 
of    its    road. 

VALATIE,  N.  Y.— The  Columbia  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
Board  of  Trustees  for  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  Valatie. 

HICKORY,  N.  C. — The  Thornton  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  increased  its 
capital  stock  to  $25,000  and  its  bonded  indebtedness  to  $100,000.  It  is 
understood  that  the  company  proposes  to  make  extensions  to  its  system. 
CLEVELAND,  OHIO.^The  directors  of  the  Cleveland  Ry.  Co.  have 
authorized  an  increase  of  $3,014,920  in  capital  stock,  the  proceeds  to  be 
used  for  proposed  improvements,  of  which  about  $500,000  will  be  needed 
about  Oct.    1. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO. — The  City  Council  has  passed  an  ordinance 
providing  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  central  heating  plant.  An 
appYopriation  of  $50,000  for  the  purchase  of  two  300-hp  boilers  for  the 
Fairmount  pumping  station  and  the  installation  of  heating  pipes  was 
passed  under  suspension   rules. 

DELPHOS,  OHIO. — Plans  are  being  made  by  the  local  electric  light- 
ing plants  of  Delphos  and  Van  Wert  to  extend  their  lines  over  a  large 
territory.  They  expect  to  furnish  service  in  Middle  Point,  Oh.o  City, 
Fort  Jennings  and  Ottoville,  and  to  farmers  ithroughout  that  section  of 
the  counry. 

ELYRIA,  OHIO'.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Cleveland  & 
Southwestern  &  Columbus  Trac.  Co.  to  double  the  output  of  its  power 
house  in  Elyria  within  six  months.  Orders  have  been  placed  for  a  new 
5500-kw  turbine  engine;  additional  boilers  will  be  installed.  The  cost  of 
the    work   is    estimated   at    about    $100,000. 

LIMA,  OHIO. — The  contract  for  electric  wiring  the  Lima  State  Hos- 
pital  was  awarded   to  the   Electric   Supply   Co.,    Columbus,   Ohio. 

MASSILLON,  OHIO. — Extensive  improvements  will  be  made  to  the 
plant  of  the  Massillon  El.  &  Gas  Co.  involving  an  expenditure  of  about 
$50,000,  and  will  include  the  installation  of  a  new  generating  set,  new 
boilers  and  switchboard  and  placing  its  wires  underground  in  the  busi- 
ness district.     The  equipment  has  already  been  purchased. 

NAPOLEON,  OHIO.— The  Auglaize  Power  Company  secured  a  favor- 
able verdict  in  the  case  brought  to  enjoin  it  from  building  its  lines 
through  this  city  after  a  franchise  had  been  refused.  The  court  decided 
that  it  might  build  over  a  private  right-of-way,  with  the  provision  that 
the  wires  be  kept  50  ft.  above  the  ground  and  that  it  submit  to  reason- 
able  regulation.  It  is,  however,  enjoined  from  selling  its  service  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  Village  Council. 

NILES,  OHIO. — The  Board  of  Control  has  awarded  the  contract  for 
material  for  extension  to  the  municipal  street-lighting  to  the  Gen- 
eral  El.   Co. 

SALEM,  OHIO. — The  contract  for  the  installation  for  the  new  street- 
lighting  system  has  been  awarded  to  the  Concrete  Pole  Co..  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.  Concrete  lamp  posts  will  be  used.  The  cost  of  the  work 
is  estimated  at  $19,000.  The  Bailey  Engr.  Co.,  of  Alliance,  will  super- 
vise the  work. 

WELLSVILLE,  OHIO.— At  a  special  election  held  July  16  the  propo- 
sition to  issue  $60,000  in  bonds  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  elec- 
tric-light plant  was  defeated.  The  question  will  be  submitted  to  the 
voters   again   at   the    September   election. 

WILMINGTON,  OHIO.— -Bids  will  be  received  until  July  30  for 
lighting  the  streets  of  the  village,  plans  and  specifications  for  which 
are  on  file  at  the  office  of  the  village  clerk.  All  bids  received  July  9 
were  rejected.  J.  W.  Lawhead  is  chairman  of  water  and  light  committee. 
HINTON,  OKLA. — Preliminary  plans  are  being  prepared  by  Kennedy 
&  Fleming,  Oklahoma  City,  Okla.,  for  a  municipal  electric-light  plant 
here.  An  election  will  soon  be  called  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  issue 
bonds   to    provide    funds    for    construction    of   same. 

HOOPER,  OKLA. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  oi 
an  electric-light  plant  here.  A  bond  issue  of  $20,000  to  provide  funds 
for  construction  of  the  system  is  also  under  consideration. 

OKLAHOM.\  CITY,  OKL.A. — The  city  commissioners  have  adopted 
a    new    ordinance    reducing    the    number    of    arc   lamps    from    501    to    374 


224 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  4 


and  increasing  the  number  of  incandescent  street  lamps.  The  new  ordi- 
nance provides   for    1053   lamps,    of  which   679    will   be   tungsten   lamps. 

ASTORIA,  ORE.—The  City  Council  of  New  Astoria  has  granted  a 
franchise  to  George  A-  Robinson  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric 
railway   along   First   Street   through   the  town. 

KLAMATH  FALLS,  ORE.— B.  E.  Kerns  has  purchased 'the  Thomas 
McCormick  power  plant  below  Keno,  and  w'll  start  work  at  once  on 
building  new  ditches  and  dams  for  power  development.  Machinery  has 
been  ordered  for  the  plant.  The  transmission  lines  will  be  extended  to 
this  section  and  this  city  will  be  supplied  with  electricity  for  lamps  and 
motors. 

SALEM,  ORE.—The  Southern  Pacific  R.  R.  Co.  has  purchased  a  strip 
of  land  along  its  present  steam  road  tracks  into  Portland,  which  will  be 
used  for  an  electric  road. 

BAL.\,  PA. — The  contract  for  the  construction  of  additional  wings 
and  a  new  power  house  for  the  Presbyterian  Home  for  Aged  Couples 
and  Single  Men  at  Bala  has  been  awarded  to  J.  E.  &  A.  L.  Pennock. 
The  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at  about  $200,000.  Plans  were  pre- 
pared  by   Harris   &   Richards. 

FOLSOM,  PA.— The  Philadelphia  El.  Co.  has  awarded  the  contract 
for  the  construction  of  the  addition  to  its  power  plant  at  Folsom  to 
Charles   Gilpin,   of  Philadelphia,   for  about   $20,000. 

FRANKSTOWN,  PA. — Application  will  soon  be  made  to  the  State 
Department  for  a  charter  for  the  Frankstown  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for 
the  purpose  of  supplying  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and  motors  in 
Frankstown.     James  Collins  Jones,  Jacon  Mann  and  others  are  interested. 

GILBERTON,  PA.— The  Borough  Council  has  granted  the  Schuylkill 
Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Girardville,  a  franchise  to  construct  and  maintain 
an   electric  system   in   Gilbeiton. 

HAMBURG,  PA. — The  merger  of  five  electric  companies  operating 
in  Perry,  Windsor  and  Tilden  Townships  under  the  control  of  the 
Hamburg  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  Hamburg,  has  been  approved.  The  plant  at 
Hamburg  will  be  enlarged. 

LEBANON,  PA. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
H-  N.  Herr,  engineer  of  the  Lebanon  &  Campbelltown  St.  Ry.  Co., 
Hershey  Trust  Co.  Building,  Hershey,  Pa.,  until  July  29,  for  overhead 
construction,  including  trolley  wire  and  feeder  wires  and  accessories,  of 
approximately  10  miles  of  railway,  extending  from  Campbelltown  to  Cum- 
berland Street,  Lebanon,  Pa.  AH  material  to  be  furnished  by  the  rail- 
way company.  Plans  and  specifications  can  be  examined  at  the  office 
of  the  engineer. 

McKEESPORT,  PA. — The  Allegheny  County  Lt.  Co.  has  submitted  a 
proposition  to  the  Borough  Council  of  Portvue  to  furnish  electricity  to 
light  the  streets  of  the  borough.  The  company  offers  to  supply  fifty  100- 
watt  tungsten  lamps  at  $25  each  per  year,  or  fifty  250-watt  lamps  at  $-40 
per  lamp   per   year,    under   a   five-year  contract. 

MERCERSBURG,  PA.— The  Town  Council  is  considering  the  ques- 
tion  of  installing  a   new   street-lighting  system. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA.— The  installation  of  a  1000-hp  electrical  plant 
in  the  new  Hotel  Adelphia  is  contemplated.  The  plant  will  supply  power 
for  operating  an  elaborate  cooling  and  ventilating  system  and  other 
mechanical   apparatus,   as  well   as  for  lamps  and  motors. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA. — It  is  reported  that  plans  are  being  consid- 
ered for  equipping  27  miles  on  the  central  division  of  the  Philadelphia. 
Baltimore  &  Washington  branch  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  for  elec- 
trical operation,  extending  from  the  Broad  Street  Station  to  West  Chester. 

PITTSBURGH,  PA.— Work  has  begun  on  the  installation  of  the 
ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Federal  Street  from  the  Sixth 
Street  Bridge  to  North  Avenue.  Ornamental  lamp  standards  carrying 
five-lamp  clusters  will  be  erected.  Electricity  for  maintaining  the  sys- 
tem will  be  supplied  by  the  municipal  electric  plant.  The  cost  of  the 
system  is  estimated   at   $70,000. 

PORTVUE,  PA.— Plans  have  been  prepared  by  the  Realty  Company, 
of  this  city,  of  which  G.  F.  Myers  is  president,  for  the  installat'on  of  an 
electric-light  plant.  The  company  proposes  to  furnish  electricity  for 
street-lighting  and  commercial  purposes  and  also  for  the  Portvue  street- 
car line  and  the  water-works  pumping  station. 

WESTERLY,  R.  I.— The  Westerly  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  contemplating 
extending  its  transmission  lines  from  Pleasant  View  to  Weekapaug  to 
supply  electricity  to  the  cottages  along  the  shore.  The  company  also  plans 
to  extend  its  lines  to  Bradford. 

KADOKA,  S.  D.— The  Kadoka  Wtr.  Supply  &  Ice  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  franchise  to  install   an  electric-light  plant  here. 

AMARILLO,  TEX.— The  City  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.,  of  Dover,  Del.,  has  been 
granted  a  permit  to  do  business  in  Texas,  with  headquarters  in  this  city. 
The   company   is  capitalized   at   $125,000. 

BEAUMONT,  TEX. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  application 
of  the  Beaumont  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  an  extension  of  its  franchise 
upon  the  stipulation  agreed  to  by  the  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering 
Corpn.,  which  owns  the  company,  that  the  extension  shall  be  null  aJid 
void  unless  the  company  has  in  operation  an  electric  railway  between 
Beaumont  and  Port  Arthur  by  Dec.  14,  1914.  The  franchise  is  extended 
25    years. 

COMSTOCK,  TEX. — Surveys  are  being  made  for  a  British  syndicate 
headed  by  Dr.  F.  S.  Pearson,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  for  a  proposed  dam 
across   the   Devil's   River   and   for   a   large   irrigation  system.      The   plans 


also   include  the   installation   of  a  large  hydroelectric  plant  and   the  erec 
tion  of  electric  transmission  lines  to  a  number  of  towns  in  this  region. 

DALLAS,  TEX. — The  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corpn.,  Boston, 
Mass.,  it  is  reported,  is  preparing  plans  for  an  interurban  electric  rail- 
way union  station  and  terminal  facilities  in  Dallas,  to  cost  about 
$1,500,000. 

DALLAS,  TEX. — Plans  and  estimates  for  the  proposed  municipa 
lighting  plant  have  been  completed  by  Leon  Taylor,  city  electrician,  and 
will  probably  be  submitted  to  Commissioner  Lee  soon.  The  proposi- 
tion to  install  a  lighting  plant  will  be  submitted  to  the  voters  next  April. 

TRINITY,  TEX.— The  City  Council  has  granted  H.  H.  Thompsor 
a  franchise  to  install  an  electric-light  plant  to  replace  the  one  re 
cently  burned. 

RUTLAND,  VT.— The  Rutland  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  submitted 
a  proposition  to  Mayor  Charles  L.  Howe  offering  to  install,  free  ol 
charge,  a  circuit  of  magnetite  arc  lamps  to  replace  25  or  30  of  the  present 
arc  lamps  in  the  business  district.  The  cost  of  the  installation  is  esti 
mated   at  about   $3,000.      G.   Tracy   Rogers   is   president   of   the   company 

COVINGTON,  VA. — The  Covington  electric  lighting  plant  was  sold 
at  auction  recently  to  the  Covington  Machine  Co.  for  $39,200.  Thf 
purchasers  will  erect  a  new  station  in  the  near  future  and  install  new 
machinery.  M.  M.  Collins  will  be  retained  as  manager  of  the  plant  unti^ 
the  new  one  is  completed.  W.  A.  Rinehart,  E.  M.  Nettleton  and  other: 
are  interested  in  the  Covington  Machine   Co. 

NEWPORT  NEWS,  VA.— The  Citizens'  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  wil 
erect  luminous  arc  lamps  on  three  blocks  on  Wiashington  Avenue  ii 
order  to  demonstrate  the  advantages  of  luminous  arc  lamps  for  street 
lighting  purposes.  It  is  proposed  to  erect  two  lamps  to  each  block,  sus 
pended    from    ornamental    brackets    clamped    to    the    trolley    poles. 

RICHMOND,  VA.— The  Tidewater  Tel.  Co.  has  acquired  the  entin 
system  of  the  Upper  Rappahannock  Tel.  Co.,  which  operates  in  Fredericks 
burg,  Rappahannock,  Spotsylvania,  Caroline  and  Essex  Counties.  Thi' 
Tidewater  company  will  make  improvements  and  extensions  to  the  systenn 

DAVENPORT,  WASH. — The  farmers  of  Lincoln  County  are  plannint 
to  establish  and  operate  a  county  telephone  system.  A.  McCurtain 
Davenport,    is   interested. 

KENNEWICK,  WASH.— Contracts  have  been  awarded  by  the  Pacifi 
Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.  for  extension  of  its  lighting  system  to  the  Kennewic 
Highlands.  Electricity  will  be  supplied  to  fruit  farmers  in  that  distric 
for  lamps  and  motors, 

SEATTLE,  WASH. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Seattle,  Remtoi 
&  Southern  Ry.  Co.  a  temporary  permit  to  extend  its  electric  railway  t< 
the   Bailey  peninsula  over  Genesee  Street. 

SOUTH  BEND.  WASH.— The  Wallapa  Harbor  Tel.  Co.  is  planning 
to  erect  a  telephone  line  from  South  Bend  to  Bay  Cen<ter,  a  distance  o: 
10   miles. 

TONO,  WASH. — The  Washington  Union  Coal  Co.  has  appropriate! 
580,000  for  improvements  at  Tono,  which  will  include  a  new  power  plant 
water  system,  hospital  and  60  new  homes  for  miners  and  other  develop 
ments. 

WARWOOD,  W.  VA.— The  \VTieeling  EI.  Co.  has  applied  to  th.; 
Council  for  a  franchise  to  erect  transmission  lines  for  the  distribution 
of  electricity  here  for  a  period  of  25   years. 

WELLSBURG,  WT.  VA.^Application  will  be  made  to  the  City  Counci 
on  Aug.  20  by  Edward  H.  Wise  for  an  electric-light  franchise  in  this  city 

\\TIEELING,  W.  VA.— The  West  Virginia  Trac.  &  Elecl.  Co.  ha: 
purchased  the  property  of  the  City  &  Elm  Grove  R.  R.  Co.,  which  oper 
ates  a  30-mile  system  in  the  city  and  suburban  towns  and  supplies  watc 
for  several  small  towns.  The  deal,  it  is  said,  involves  about  $2,000,000 
Harry  R.   Warfield  is  president  of  the  West  Virginia  Trac.   &  Elecl.  Co 

CADOTT,  WIS. — The  Council  has  passed  an  ordinance  providing  fo: 
the  construction  of  an  electric  plant   for  which  bonds   will  be  issued. 

GRAND  RAPIDS,  WIS.— The  EI.  &  Wtr.  Co.  has  applied  for  a  fran 
chise   to   install   and   operate   a   gas   plant   here. 

GRAND  RAPIDS,  WIS.— The  Chippewa  River  Pwr.  &  Fibre  Co.,  re 
cently  incorporated,  proposes  to  develop  water-power  to  generate  clec- 
tr  city  and   to  build   and   operate  a    paper  and  pulp  factory. 

MILWAUKEE,  WIS. — Owing  to  the  litigation  over  the  proposSE 
municipal  electric-light  plant  the  City  Council  is  contemplating  entering 
into  a  three-year  or  five-year  contract  with  the  Milwaukee  EI.  Ry.  &  Lt 
Co.   for   lighting   the  streets   of  the  city. 

CHEYENNE,  WYO. — Extensive  improvements  will  be  made  by  ^ 
Cheyenne  Lt.,  Fuel  &  Pwr.  Co.,  including  the  installation  of  a  irtiw 
engine,  generator  and  additional  switchboard  apparatus  and  transformei 
and  addition  to  power  station  at  a  cost  of  about  $25,000. 

VANCOUVER,  B.  C,  CAN.— Plans  have  been  prepared  by  the  Britisl 
Columbia  El.  Co.  for  building  an  extension  to  its  substation  at  Main  ant 
Locust   Streets,   to  replace  the  temporary  structure  erected   last  year, 

VANCOUVER,  B.  C,  CAN. — To  meet  the  demands  for  additiona 
service  the  Western  Canada  Pwr.  Co.  will  install  two  additional  unit 
of  12,500  hp  each  at  its  plant  at  Stave  Falls,  B.  C.  The  present  out 
put  of  the  plant  is  25,000  hp. 

WINNIPEG,  MAN.,  CAN. — The  contract  for  1000-kw  transformers  ii 
the  terminal  station  has  been  awarded  to  the  Canadian  Westinghoust 
Co.,  Hamilton,   Ont.     J.  J.   Glassco  is  electrical  superintendent. 


1 


JULV    27,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


225 


KINGSTON,  ONT.,  CAN.— Additions  and  extensions  to  the  municipal 
;Iectric-light  plant  as  recommended  by  the  Civic  Utilities  Committee  have 
)een  approved  by  the  City  Council  and  tenders  will  be  called  immediately 
'or  the  installation  of  a  500-kw  alternating-current  generator  and  the 
;reclion  of  a  new  building  on  the  corner  of  Queen  and  King  Streets  to 
-eplace  the  present  structure.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at 
SSO.OOO.  The  transmission  lines  will  be  extended  to  Portsmouth  if  satis- 
factory arrangements  can  be  made.     C.   C.   Folger  is  manager. 

PORCUPINE,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Crown  Reserve  Mining  Co.  is 
planning  to  install  a  new  power  plant,  work  on  which  will  begin  at  once. 

QUEBEC,  QUE.,  CAN.— The  power  plant  of  the  Quebec  &  Jacques 
C^artier  EI.  Co.,  located  at  St.  Gabriel  de  Brandon,  was  recently  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $50,000.  The  Quebec  &  Jacques 
company  is  controlled  by  the  Quebec  Ry.,  Lt..  Ht.  &  Power  Co.  and 
furnishes  electrical  service  to  a  part  of  the  city  of  Quebec. 

CANORA,  SASK.,  CAN.— Sealed  tenders  will  be  received  by  H.  M. 
Sutherland,  secretary  and  treasurer,  Canora,  until  Aug.  5  for  furnishing 
ind  erecting  the  following  machinery:  Section  A — One  crude  oil  engine 
ind  auxiliary;  Section  B — One  electric  generator  and  equipment.  Plans 
md  specifications  can  be  secured  from  the  secretary  and  treasurer  and 
Tom  Bowring  &  Logan,  322  Donald  Street,  Winnipeg,  Man.,  engineers. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  BEST  ELECTRIC  SIGN  COMPANY,  of  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  has 
iled  articles  of  incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  of  $60,000  to  manufac- 
ure  electric  and  other  signs.  The  incorporators  are:  F.  J.  Cullum, 
\,.  Watson  and  E.  J.   Lyhmann,  of  Jersey  City,  N.  J. 

THE  BURBANK  TPIAWING  MACHINE  COMPANY,  of  Portland, 
Vie.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to  manufacture 
ind  sell  the  Burbank  thawing  machine.  W.  J.  Hardy  is  president  and 
I.  P.  Sweetser  treasurer,  both  of  Portland,  Me. 

THE  CONSOLIDATED  FACTORIES  COMPANY,  of  Mount  Carmel, 
11.,  has  been  intorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $12,000  by  Marshall 
Carl  Winifred,  Frank  Gillard  and  Frank  W.  Marsh.  The  company  pro- 
oses  to  manufacture  and   deal   in  electrical  goods  and  fixtures. 

THE  CONSUMERS'  MUTUAL  LIGHT  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  111., 
as  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $35,000  by  E.  P.  Richter, 
*.  D.  Wright  and  J.  H.  Martin.  The  company  proposes  to  manufacture 
lectrical  and  gas  fixtures  and  appliances. 

THE  W.  C.  EDSON  COMPANY,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  has  been  incor- 
orated  by  George  W.  Henderson,  Somerville,  and  Walter  C.  Edson,  East 
■  raintree.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $20,000  and  proposes  to  manu- 
icture  lighting  fixtures. 

THE  ELECTRIC  PHOTO  COMPANY,  of  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  has  been 
icorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $750,000  by  H.  J.  Clement,  585  East 
eventh  Street,  Brooklyn;  Edward  Dorb,  320  West  Eighteenth  Street, 
ew  York,  N.  Y.,  and  J.  R.  Turner,  15  .Exchange  Place,  Jersey  City, 
\  J.     The  company  proposes  to  manufacture   photo  or  picture  machines. 

THE  ELECTRICAL  REPAIR  &  MOTOR  COMPANY,  of  Newark, 
I.  J.,  has  been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  for  the  purpose 
f  manufacturing  electric  motors  and  doing  a  general  electrical  con- 
ruction  business.  The  incorporators  are:  John  G.  Bender,  Herman 
.  Heidrich  and  K.   M.  Heidrich. 

THE  HERALD  ELECTRICAL  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY,  of 
ewark,  N.  J.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by 
v'illiara  E.  Gunn,  Essex  Building,  Newark;  R.  S.  Wolcott,  262  Brook 
.venue,  Passaic,  and  James  J.  McFarland,  52  William  Street,  New  York, 
\.  Y.  The  company  proposes  to  do  an  electrical  and  mechanical  engi- 
eering  business. 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  AUTO  LAMP  MANUFACTURING  COM- 
ANY,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  has  been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of 
300,000  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  lamps  and  to  deal  in  hard- 
are  supplies..  The  incorporators  are:  N.  Agar,  H.  Agar,  T.  Cunningham, 
.  Goldstein  and  A.   Kubies. 

THE  JAMESTOWN  ART  BRASS  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY, 
f  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of 
10,000.  The  company  is  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  gas  and  electric- 
ghting  fixtures  of  brass  and  does  electroplating  and  a  general  repair 
jsiness.  The  officers  are:  Forest  Cornell,  president;  Arthur  O.  Green- 
ood,  vice-president  and  treasurer,  and  Alfred  L.  Furlow,  secretary. 

THE  LEWIS  GREASE-CUP  COMPANY,  of  Camden,  N.  J.,  has  been 
icorporated  by  J.  A.  Lewis,  W.  L.  Ford  and  M.  G.  Ryan,  all  of  Cam* 
en,  N.  J.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $100,000  and  proposes  to 
lanufacture  compressed  air,  grease  cups,  electrical  devices,  etc. 

THE  VANORD  COMPANY,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  has  been  incor- 
Jrated    with    a   capital    stock    of    $10,000    to    manufacture    and    rent    elec- 

ical    apparatus    and    appliances.      The    incorporators    are:      Joshua    Van 

een,  749  Jennings  Street,  the  Bronx;  Mortimer  Norden,  450  Riverside 
'rive;  Joseph  Norden,   330  West   102d   Street,   New   York. 

THE  WATSON  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Paterson,  N.  J.,  has  been 
lartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  to  manufacture  electric  motors, 
vnamos,  machinery,  etc.  The  incorporators  are:  C.  F.  Watson,  A.  B. 
/atson  and  J.   L.  Griggs,   of  Paterson. 


New  Incorporations 

CHICAGO,  ILL.— The  Middle  West  Utilities  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500  to  furnish  electricity  for  lamps, 
heat  and  motors.  The  incorporators  are:  Arthur  L.  Schwartz,  Harry 
Goodjuan   and   Edward  J.   Hennessy. 

VIOLA,  ILL. — The  Viola  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  granted  a  charter 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  for  the  purpose  of  generating  and  dis- 
tributing electricity  for  lamps  and  motors.  The  incorporators  are:  John 
J.   Ryan,  Paul  Wagner  and   H.   C.   Lightner. 

FORT  DODGE,  lA.— The  Fort  Dodge  Wtr.  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  for  the  purpose  of  building  a 
hydroelectric  plant  on  the  Des  Moines  River,  near  Fort  Dodge.  The 
officers  of  the  company  are:  G.  L.  Tremain,  Humboldt,  president;  E.  J. 
Breen,  Fort  Dodge,  vice-president,  and  J.  R.  Mulroney,  Fort  Dodge, 
treasurer. 

AUGUSTA,  MAINE.— The  Western  Utilities  Corporation  has  been 
organized  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  for  the  purpose  of  owning 
and  operating  street  railways,  interurban  railways,  water-works,  gas- 
works, electric-light  plants,  telegraph,  telephone,  heat  and  light  plants. 
R.   S.   Buzzell,  of  Augusta,  is  president  and  L.  J.   Coleman,  treasurer. 

PORTLAND,  MAINE.— The  General  Gas  &  EI.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000,000  to  conduct  a  general  power, 
lighting  and  railway  business.  Albert  F.  Jones,  of  Portland,  is  president; 
Albert  A.  Richards,  Portland,  treasurer,  and  James  E.  Manter,  South 
Portland,  clerk. 

JERSEY  CITY,  N.  J. — The  Jersey  Industrial  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000  by  Albert  P.  Clarke,  Brooklyn.  N.  Y.; 
Frank  P.  Shannon,  Wilkinsburg,  Pa.,  and  A.  Detjen,  Jersey  City.  The 
company  proposes  to  promote  and  develop  water-power  plants  to  generate 
electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and  motors,  and  will  also  manufacture  gas  and 
engage  in   general  industrial   enterprises. 

HARRISBURG,  PA.— Charters  have  been  granted  by  the  State  De- 
partment to  the  following  companies:  The  Brecknock  Township,  East 
Earl  Township  and  the  Terre  Hill  Borough  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Cos.  The 
capital  stock  of  each  company  is  $5,000,  and  the  incorporators  are:  Dr. 
H.  S.  Dissler,  Denver;  G.  J.  Root,  Reamstown.  and  D.  S.  Martin,  Belle- 
vue. 

HARRISBURG,  PA.— Charters  have  been  granted  by  the  State  De- 
partment as  follows:  To  the  Shoemakersville  El.  Co.,  to  do  business  in 
Perry  Township;  to  the  West  Hamburg  El.  Co.,  to  operate  in  Tilden 
Township,  and  to  the  Windsor  Castle  El.  Co.,  for  Windsor  Township. 
Each  company  is  capitalized  at  $5,000,  and  the  incorporators  are:  David 
S.  Wolf,  Allan  A.  Beaver  and  Grant  E.  Alleman,  all  of  Shoemakersville. 
The  principal  office  of  the  company  is  located  in  Hamburg. 


Trade  Publications 


INSULATING  JOINTS.— The  Wirt  Electric  Specialty  Company,  of 
Germantown,  Pa.,  makes  the  report  of  the  high-voltage  test  of  the  Electri- 
cal Testing  Laboratories  on  its  insulating  joints  a  part  of  a  four-page  fold- 
er on  this  subject,  which  contains  also  descriptive  matter  and  illustrations. 

STEAM  TURBINES.— Catalog  No.  25  of  the  Kerr  Turbine  Com- 
pany, Wellsville,  New  York,  with  its  comprehensive  treatment  of  the 
subject  of  turbines,  its  excellent  illustrations,  diagrams  and  curves  and 
clear,  well- written  descriptions,  reaches  almost  to  the  dignity  of  a  text- 
book. 

POWER  PUMPS. — Pumps  of  the  horizontal  duplex  type  designed  for 
moderately  high  rotative  speeds  are  described  in  a  catalog  of  the  Deane 
Steam  Pump  Company,  Holyoke,  Mass.  The  catalog  contains  many 
full-page  illustrations  and  gives  diagrams  of  the  pumps  and  list  of  parts 
in  detail. 

CRUCIBLES. — Mr.  John  A.  Walker  is  the  author  of  a  monograph  on 
the  care  and  use  of  crucibles,  published  by  the  Joseph  Dixon  Crucible 
Company,  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  "to  inform  the  user  of  crucibles  as  to 
their  nature  and  characteristics  and  give  him  suggestions  as  to  their  care 
and   handling." 

ELECTRIC  SAW  TABLE.— An  electric  saw  table  for  wood  yards, 
manufactured  by  Fred  W.  Walter,  33  Atlantic  Street,  Norfolk,  Va.,  is 
illustrated  and  described  in  a  four-page  folder.  A  cut  of  this  invention 
showing  the  saw  table  mounted  on  wheels  is  given,  as  are  also  descriptive 
matter  and  prices. 

SEWING-MACHINE  MOTORS.— Bulletin  No.  58  of  the  Diehl  Manu- 
facturing Company,  Elizabethport,  N.  J.,  is  devoted  to  a  description  and 
illustrations  of  sewing-machine  motors  for  manufacturing  purposes, 
embodying  three  distinct  types  with  their  varieties  through  the  different 
voltages  and  frequencies. 

SHADES  AND  GLOBES.— The  Macbeth-Evans  Glass  Company,  of 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  has  prepared  a  beautiful  catalog  of  shades  and  globes, 
showing  the  different  kinds  used  with  gas  and  electricity  and  containing 
a  talk  on  ^'Illumination  Versus  Decoration."  The  full-page  illustrations 
in  color  are   exceptionally  fine. 


226 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  4. 


Business  Notes 


MR.  GEORGE  BAYARD  JOXES.  counselor  in  patent  causes,  has  re- 
cently opened  an  office  at  1550  Monadnock  Block,  Chicago,  111.,  where  hp 
will  continue  his  practice.  Mr.  Jones  until  lately  was  associated  with  Mr. 
F.  B.  H.  Tower,  Jr.,  counselor  at  law  in  patent  causes,  with  offices  at  1621 
Fort  Dearborn  Building.  Mr.  Jones  has  specialized  in  electrical  and  me- 
chanical cases. 

APPLETOX  ELECTRIC  COMPANY.— By  a  fire  in  the  premises  at 
609-613  Fulton  Street,  Chicago,  the  Appleton  Electric  Company,  which 
manufactures  interior-conduit  fittings,  sustained  some  damage  on  July  20. 
The  company  occupied  the  first  floor  of  the  damaged  building,  but  for- 
tunately its  office  is  in  an  adjoining  building,  at  212-214  North  Jefferson 
Street,  where  it  also  carries  on  manufacturing  operations.  It  was  thus 
enabled  to  carry  on  its  business  without  serious  interruption  despite  the 
fire. 


GARWOOD  ELECTRIC  COMPANY.— Contracts  have  been  awarded 
to  the  Garwood  Electric  Company  for  slow-speed  motors  which  will  be- 
used  in  connection  with  the  heating  and  ventilating  ssytems  in  the  new: 
New  York  post  office,  the  fifty-five-story  Wool  worth  Building  in  course 
of  erection  in  New  York,  the  Guaranty  Trust  Building,  the  Seamen's 
Church  Institute  and  the  Hospital  for  the  Ruptured  and  Crippled,  New 
York;  the  Riiz-Carlton  Hotel,  Philadelphia,  and  the  Scottish  Rites  Tem- 
ple,   Washington,    D.    C. 

CRIPPLE  CREEK  AUTO  &  ELECTRIC  SUPPLY  COMPANY— 
The  Electric  Shop  has  been  purchased  from  J.  C.  Corsen,  of  the 
Arkansas  Valley  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company,  by  the  Cripple  Creek 
Auto  &  Electric  Supply  Company,  which  expects  to  continue  the  business 
at  the  same  location  in  connection  with  its  other  automobile  and  elec- 
trical business.  The  Cripple  Creek  company  is  also  doing  a  genera] 
business  throughout  the  Cripple  Creek  district  in  wiring  and  supplies 
and  is  now  in  a  position  to  accept  a  few  more  agencies  for  supplies 
and  apparaitus. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED    STATES    PATENTS    ISSUED   JULY    16,    1912. 
[Prepared  by  Robert  Starr  AUyn,   16  Exchange  Place,  New  York.] 
1,032,374.     STAGE  POCKET;    Harry    Bissing,   New   York,    N.    Y.     App. 
filed   Feb.    17,    1911.     An   inclined  angular  socket  and   an   outlet  box. 
1,032,404.     ELECTRICAL  ACCUMULATOR;  F.    W.    Hardy  and   E.   H. 
Hungerbuhler.  Saltburn,  England.     App.  filed  Feb.  20,  1911.     Anchor- 
age of  thin   plates. 

1,032,468.     TROLLEY-WIRE    HANGER;    K.    L.    Curtis,    Boston,    Mass. 

App.   filed   May   16,    1911.      Clamping  mechanism. 
1,032,471.     CENTRIPETAL     ELECTRIC     SWITCH; 

Colorado   Springs,    Col.      App.   filed   Jan.    14,    1910. 

Patent  No.  925,312. 
1,032,476.     SEAL    FOR     SECTIONAL    LEADING-IN    WIRES; 

Fagan,   Cleveland,   Ohio.     .-\pp.   filed   Oct.    11,    1907. 
1,032,504.     CEILING   OUTLET    BOX;    E.    M.    Reddy. 

App.   filed  Feb.  9,   1912.     For  supporting  a  chandelier 
1,032,514.     COMPOSITE    ELECTRODE;    W.    A.    Smith,    Niagara    Falls, 

N.   Y.     App.  filed  May  29,   1911.      Carbon  body  and  jointed  graphite 

members. 

1,032,529.  BATTERY;  C.  F.  Burgess  and  C.  Hambuechen,  Madison, 
Wis.  -App.  filed  July  13,  1910.  A  terminal  is  soldered  in  the  zinc 
container  seam. 

1,032,545.  INSUL-ATOR;  R.  F.  Hilty,  Carey,  Ohio.  App.  filed  April 
5,   1912.     Two-part  porcelain  line-wire  support. 


T.      J.      Downer, 
Improvement  on 


J.  T. 
Lamp-built  seal. 
Ossining,    N.    Y. 


,  i^j-<i 


1,032,529.— Battery. 

1,032,562.     VACUU.M-TUBE    L.\MP;    D.    McF.    Moore,    Newark,    N.    J. 

App.   filed   June    15,    1904.      Carbon   is  introduced  into   the   container, 

which  is   then   evacuated. 
1,032,596.     ANTISEPTIC  TELEPHONE  MOUTHPIECE;  C.  V.  Fuller, 

New  York,  N.    Y.     App.   filed   Feb.   28,    1912.     A  guard  fastened  to 

the  usual  mouthpiece. 
1.032.618.     LAMP-LOCKING    DEVICE;    J.     C.     Manley,     Chicago,     111. 

App.  filed  April  12,  1910.     Indented  prong  for  incandescent  bulb  lock. 
1,032,623.     ELECTROLYTIC    PROCESS;    C.   J.    Reed,    Philadelphia,    Pa. 

App.  filed  Dec.   26,    1911.     Gas  is  evolved  at  one  electrode  and  some 

other  product  at  the  other,  for  instance  to  produce  oxygen  and  sponge 

lead. 

1,032,638.  TELEPHONE  ATTACHMENT;  M.  M.  Wentworth,  East 
Denmark,  Me.  -"^pp.  filed  April  5,  1912.  To  notify  one  party  on 
the  line  in  case  another  party  listens. 

1,032.647.  STERILIZER;  W.  J.  Bell,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  App.  filed  Jan. 
2,   1912.     Liquid-evaporating  device  and  automatic  switch. 

1,032,658.  METHOD  OF  AND  APPARATUS  FOR  ELECTRICAL- 
WAVE  TRANSMISSION;  E.  E.  Clement,  Washington,  D.  C.  App. 
filed  April  19,  1903.  To  produce  uniformly  distributed  inductance  by 
loading   the   entire    line    uniformly, 

1,032,688.  HAND  GENERATOR  FOR  HARMONIC  SIGNALING  SYS- 
TEMS; R.  H.  Mason,  Elyria,  Ohio.  App.  filed  Feb.  1,  1907.  For 
"farmers'  '*  lines. 


1,032,708.     STARTER  FOR  ELECTRIC  MOTORS;  V.  and  V.  E.  Royle, 

Paterson,   N.  J.     App.   filed  Nov.  25,    1910.     Has  an  operating  switch 

for  opening  and  closing  the  line  and  a  latch. 
1.032,715.     INSULATOR;    O.    B.    Walker,    Taylorville,    111.      App.    filed 

Dec.   28y   1911.     Telegraph-pole  cross-arm   support. 
1,032,723.     APPARATUS    FOR    PREVENTING    METAL    INCRUSTA- 
TION;    H.     Young,     San     Diego,     Cal.       App.     filed     Oct.     2,     1911. 

Electrolytic   action   to   ofl'set  galvanic  action. 
1.032,767.     ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  J.  G.  Peterson,  Hartford,  Conn.     App. 

filed  Oct.    19,    1911.      Two-button  push  mechanism. 
1,032,773.     SIGNALING  SYSTEM  FOR  RAILROADS;   G.   Ranson,  Jr., 

Jacksonville,    Fla.      App.    filed    March    11,    1910.      Switch    signal    for 

single-track  road. 
1,032,778.    ELECTRIC  METER;  G.  A,  Scheeffer,  Indianapolis,  Ind.     App. 

filed  Jan.    14,    1910.      Magnet  shunt   with   retarding  magnets. 
1,032,782.     PROCESS    AND   APPARATUS    FOR   THE    PRODUCTION 

OF    COMPOUNDS    OF    NITROGEN;    O.    Schonherr    and    J.    Hess- 

berger,  Fiska,  Norway.     -App.  filed  Feb.  3,   1909.     Electric-arc  process. 

(Improvement  on    Patent  No.    930,238.) 
1,032,786.     ELECTRICAL    MEASURING    INSTRUMENT;    H.    I.    Shire 

and  H.    D.    Bean,   Jamaica,   N.    Y.,   and   Penacook,   N.    H.      App,  filed 

Nov.  20,   1908.     For  reading  both  voltage  and  current. 
1,032,793.     RAIL    BOND;    H.    T.    Windsor,    Walworth,    Wis.      App.    filel 

April  16,  1909.     Sealed  in  recesses  on  the  side  of  the  rail  head. 
1,032,796.     TROLLEY    SHIFTING    DEVICE;    J.    Wuermli.    Cincinnati, 

Ohio.     -App.  filed  March    18,   1912.     A  plate  connected  to  the  trolley 

wires, 
1,032,802.     COMMUTATOR;    V.    G.    Apple,    Dayton,    Ohio.      App.    filed 

March   10.   1911.      Ventilated  segments. 
1,032,826.     MOTOR-CONTROLLING  DEVICE;  W.   L.   Hamilton,  Mass. 

App.    filed   Aug.    15,    1911,      Switch    annulus   and   brush,   with   locking 

and    releasing    devices. 
1,032,830.     TWO-FLUID   G.ALVANIC   CELL;   W.   J.   Hesseln.  Arnheim, 

Netherlands.      App.   filed   Nov.   23,    1910.      Tubular  liquid  seal   within 

a    carbon    diaphragm    space. 

1,032,840.  VIBR.ATORY  DILATOR;  J.  T.  Keough,  Los  Angeles,  CaL 
App.    filed   Jan.    23,    1911.      Electromagnetic   surgical    device. 

1,032,878.  INSULATING  BUSHING;  J.  E.  Camatte,  Laurel,  Miss. 
App.  filed  March   11,  1910.     For  meter  connection. 

1,032,880.  ELECTROMECHANICAL  DEVICE  FOR  CONTROLLING 
ELECTRIC  SIGN.ALS;  A.  H.  Caven,  Young^vood,  Pa.  App.  filed 
Feb.   8,    1911.      For   lighting  and    extinguishing  lamps. 

1,032  900.  HIGH-VOLTAGE  CURRENT  RECTIFICATION;  J.  L.  R, 
Hayden,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  June  10,  1907.  Mercury- 
vapor  converter   with  a  discharge  shunt. 

1,032,905.  TROLLEY-WIRE  HANGER;  C.  J.  Hixson,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.  App.  filed  Feb.  20,  1911.  Round-top  hanger  with  hinged 
arched    span    arms. 

1.032.913.  ELECTRIC  R.AILWAY  SIGNAL;  R.  P.  Kistler,  Ponca, 
Okla.  App.  filed  July  25,  1911.  Block  signaling;  third-rail  and 
polarized   relay    system. 

1.032.914.  VAPOR  ELECTRIC  APPARATUS:  O.  O.  Kruh,  Schenec- 
tady,   N.    Y.      App.    filed  April    13,    1906.      Starting   blower. 

1.032.927.  VACUUM-TUBE  LIGHTING;  D.  McF.  Moore,  Newark, 
N.  J.  App.  filed  May  8,  1906.  Series  of  tubes  with  their  ends 
inclosed. 

1.032.928.  VACUUM-TUBE  ELECTRIC-LIGHTING  APPARATUS;  D. 
McF.  Moore,  Newark.  N.  J.  App.  filed  April  16,  1908.  Multiple 
pairs  of  tubes  with  divided  source  of  current  with   different  phase. 

1,032,946.  ELECTRIC-ARC  LAMP;  O.  A.  Ross,  Chicago,  III.  App, 
filed    Nov.    25,    1904.      Inclosed    type,    with    a   two-part  chamber. 

1,032,961.  INCANDESCENT  LAMP;  E.  H.  Tate,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  App. 
filed  May  4,    1911.      Hanger  and  anchorage  details. 

1,032,968.  WIRELESS  MEANS  FOR  CONTROLLING  AEROPLANES; 
C.  L.  Vanderberg,  Hutchinson,  Kan.  App.  filed  Sept.  9,  1911.  to 
avoid   carrying  a   passenger. 

1,033,019.  INSULATOR;  F.  B.  Jewett,  Wyoming,  N.  J.  App.  filed  May 
2,    1910.      Bridle-wire    connector. 

1,033,030.  TIMING  MECHANISM;  C.  R.  Moore,  Lafayette,  Ind.  App. 
filed   April    19,    1911.      Pendulum   clock. 

1,033.065.  CABLE  TERMINAL  BOX  FOR  TELEPHONE  SYSTEMS; 
T.  B.  Farmer.  Baltimore,  Md.  App.  filed  Nov.  22,  1909.  Water- 
proof   and    ai'--tight   junction. 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


^^^ 


Vol.  6o 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  AUGUST  3,  1912. 


No.  5. 


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CONTENTS. 

Editorials     

Sections    of   International    Electrical    Congress 

I.  E.  S.  Convention  Program 

V.  E.  L.  A.  Affairs 

^ew  York  Edison  Company  Secures  30,000-Kw  Railway  Load 

Financial    Review   of  the   General    Electric   Company 

Maine  Electric  Association  Convention 

Annual    Report   of   the    Commissioner   of    Patents 

\nniversary  of  the  Royal  Society 

3hio   Electric   Association   Papers 

Activity  in  Coal-Mining  and  Electric-Service  Properties  in  Central  Il- 
linois     

Hearings    bn    Brooklyn     Central-Station    Rates 

Public    Service    Commission    News 

-urrent   News  and    Notes 

Canadian    Hydroelectric    Developments 

Erection  of  Transmission  Lines  for  the  Utah  Light  &  Railway  Com- 
pany.    By  L.   J.    Riter 

Electric   Farming  Near  Dayton.   Oiiio 

electric   Propulsion  of  the  U.   S.   Collier  Jupiter 

'hanging  the  Size  of  Wire  on  Shunt  Coils.     By  Alan  M.  Bennett... 

Two  Years  of  Producer  Experience  at  Amarillo.  Tex 

jas-Producer  Plant  at  Windham,  Ohio.     By  F.  A.  Eberwine 

*lant  Repairs  on  a  Burst  Waterwheel 

Power   for  Cooling  Transformer   Water 

nstallation  of  Small  Power  Plants  in  Federal  Office  Buildings. — I. 
By  D.  F.  Atkins  and  H.  M.  Price • 

-ost  of  a  Small   Central-Station  System 

Central-Station  Service  in  Mining  Operations.     By  T.  E.   Spence 

5ome  Gas-Engine    Failures   and    Successes 

)attery-Operatcd   Street   Cars  as   an   OiT-Peak   Load 

i^lectrical  Equipment  of  Large  Office  Building  at  Muskogee,  Okla.... 

Iluminating  a  Modern  Office  Build'ng.     By  William  S.  Kilmer 

\  S'mplified  Illuminometer.  Bv  Clayton  H.  Sharp  and  Preston  S. 
Millar 

jEtter  to  THE)  Editors: 
The  Depreciation  of  Power  Plant  Equipment.     By  Everard  Brown.. 

digest  of   Current   Electrical   Literature 

Jook  Reviews 

'Jew  Apparatus  and  Appliances 

ndustrial   and    Financial   News 

directory   of   Electrical    Associations,    Societies,   Etc 

iVeekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


227 
230 
230 
230 
231 
232 
233 
233 
233 
234 

237 
23S 
238 
230 
241 

246 
250 
251 
253 
254 
255 
256 
256 

257 
260 
260 
261 
261 
262 
264 

266 

268 
269 
272 
273 
279 
289 
290 


RAILWAY  LOADS  FOR  CENTRAL  STATIONS. 

Tlie  acquisition  by  the  New  York  Edison  Company  of  a 
railway  load  aggregating  30,000  kw  is  a  matter  for  con- 
gratulation by  the  entire  central-station  industry.  That 
the  railway  company  was  actuated  by  purely  economic 
considerations  there  can  be  no  doubt,  for  its  Kingsbridge 
station  is  a  model  of  its  kind,  recognized  as  one  of  the  best 
in  the  country,  and  excelled  by  few  in  the  efficient  genera- 
tion of  electricity  from  coal.  Therefore  it  has  been  demon- 
strated that,  even  granting  excellent  equipment  and  high 
load-factor,  the  argument  for  dual  generating  systems  is 
fallacious;  the  central  station  is  the  rightful  and  logical 
custodian  of  all  that  pertains  to  the  generation  and  dis- 
tribution of  electrical  energy.  The  economic  principle  in- 
volved is  by  no  means  new.  It  has  been  reiterated  from 
time  to  time  both  in  this  country  and  abroad,  and  has  been 
driven  home  with  force  and  logic  by  the  astute  central- 
station  leader  of  Chicago.  However,  the  present  instance 
is  the  first  wherein  all  doubt  of  the  soundness  of  the  propo- 
sition has  been  set  aside.  Heretofore  railways  were  willing 
to  listen  to  central-station  argument  when  generating 
equipment  was  sadly  in  need  of  repair  or  when  conditions 
were  such  that  new  capital  had  to  be  invested  and  was 
difificult  to  obtain.  The  economic  principle,  to  be  sure,  is 
the  same  whether  the  existing  railway  generating  equip- 
ment is  poor  or  excellent,  but  in  the  one  instance  a  psycho- 
logical moment  is  relied  on  to  drive  home  the  argument  and 
doubt  remains  as  to  whether  the  necessity  of  the  moment 
or  the  principle  involved  is  the  deciding  factor,  and  thus 
the  righteousness  of  the  cause  may  be  said  to  lack  con- 
firmation. No  such  condition  was  present  to  befog  the 
issue  in  the  case  now  under  discussion. 

Central-station  and  railway  conditions  in  New  York  City 
are  peculiar  and  especially  so  in  the  borough  of  Manhat- 
tan. The  railway  load  can  be  accurately  predicted  from 
hour  to  hour,  but  the  central-station  load  is  subject  to  great 
fluctuations.  It  is  not  a  rare  occurrence  for  the  lighting 
load  to  vary  by  50,000  kw  in  five  minutes  owing  to  a  storm 
cloud  passing  over  the  city  and  to  drop  as  rapidly  in  the 
next  five  minutes  after  the  cloud  has  passed.  Steam  equip- 
ment and  an  adequate  operating  force  are  kept  in  readiness 
at  all  times  to  meet  such  emergencies,  which  may  not  pre- 
sent themselves  once  a  month.  While  the  greater  day 
motor  load  will  change  entirely  the  complexion  of  this 
problem,  it  is  merely  incidental  to  the  greater  economies 
possible  because  of  the  better  load-factor  and  diversity- 
factor  after  the  systems  are  combined.  With  three  sta- 
tions two  can  be  kept  under  constant  load,  with  the  third 
as  a  reserve  for  emergencies  and  possible  peak-load  condi- 
tions. The  possibilities  of  consolidation  are  great  and  the 
engineering  staff  of  the  central-station  company  can  be 
relied  on  to  make  the  best  use  of  them. 


228 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


GERMAN  CENTRAL-STATION  STATISTICS. 

A  recent  analysis  of  the  central-station  situation  in  Ger- 
many by  the  secretary  of  the  chief  German  electrotechnical 
organization  throws  a  striking  light  on  the  activity  that  has 
been  displayed  in  central-station  operations.  The  increase 
in  the  number  of  stations  within  the  last  decade  has  been  a 
very  striking  one,  and  the  growth  has  been  upon  the  whole, 
and  particularly  within  the  last  decade,  a  pretty  steady  one. 
For  a  brief  period,  during  the  somewhat  critical  years  of 
1901  and  190^,  new  building  relaxed  a  little,  but  since  then 
■central-station  work  has  progressed  at  a  steadily  in- 
creasing rate.  The  yearly  increase  in  the  number  of  works 
is  now  more  than  four  times  what  it  was  fifteen  years  ago, 
and,  what  is  of  still  greater  public  importance,  the  number 
of  localities  served  has  risen  with  astonishing  rapidity.  In 
the  five-year  period  ended  a  year  ago  the  number  of  places 
served  has  risen  from  a  little  over  2000  to  nearly  11,000, 
and  within  the  last  two  years  the  number  has  more  than 
doubled.  The  same  tendency  has  been  at  work  in  Germany 
as  here  toward  the  stretching  out  of  lines  into  outlying 
territory  and  the  gathering  of  new  business  from  points 
previously  unprovided  with  electrical  supply.  This  tendency 
applies  alike  to  strictly  public  works  and  those  distributing 
for  industrial  work  on  a  more  modest  scale.  Of  late  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  strong  tendency  toward  the  develop- 
ment of  smaller  electricity  works  with  explosion  motors. 
During  the  last  two  years  there  were  more  such  plants  put 
into  operation,  mostly  on  a  small  scale,  than  there  were  new 
steam  plants,  and  the  smaller  water-power  plants  seem  to 
have  likewise  increased  with  exceptional  rapidity,  just  as  is 
the  case  in  other  parts  of  the  Continent.  Transformer  sta- 
tions have  likewise  been  multiplied,  having  nearly  doubled 
their  number  in  two  years,  as  might  be  reasonably  expected 
from  the  increase  in  the  number  of  places  served  to  which 
we  have  just  referred. 

From  the  figures  compiled  it  is  learned  that  the  cheapest 
installations  are  those  using  steam  as  a  motive  power ;  next 
come  the  water-power  plants,  running  less  than  10  per  cent 
higher  than  the  steam  plants,  and  then,  barely  2  per  cent 
higher  in  cost  than  the  water-power  installations,  come  those 
with  explosion  motors.  All  the  costs  per  kilowatt  have 
fallen  greatly  in  the  last  ten  years,  those  of  the  small  plants 
of  less  than  100  kw  by  some  40  per  cent,  those  of  the  large 
plants  of  from  2000  kw  to  5000  kw  by  some  30  per  cent. 
The  decrease  in  average  cost  has  been  most  conspicuous  in 
the  water-power  installations  and  those  with  explosion 
engines.  In  recent  years  the  costs  for  the  smallest  installa- 
tions have  run  to  nearly  $300  per  kw,  while  in  the  plants 
from  2000  kw  up  this  figure  has  dropped  to  about  $185.  .\n 
interesting  bit  of  information  in  this  connection  is  furnished 
by  comparison  with  the  cost  of  Swiss  stations.  Here  the 
water-power  plants  run  singularly  low  in  cost,  less  than  60 
per  cent  of  the  value  assigned  to  the  German  hydraulic 
plants,  a  fact  perhaps  due  to  the  average  high  heads  avail- 
able in  Swiss  territory.  In  other  classes  of  installations  the 
German  works  have  rather  the  better  of  the  argument. 
Altogether,  the  most  casual  view  of  the  statistics  shows  the 
great  activity  which  has  prevailed  in  Germany  in  the  build- 
ing of  electricity  works  and  the  rapid  extension  of  a  general 
electricity  supply  to  a  very  large  number  of  service  points. 


The  wide  extension  of  united  networks  which  is  so  promi- 
nent a  feature  in  northern  Italy  and  parts  of  our  own 
country  seems  not  yet  to  have  been  fairly  initiated  in  Ger- 
many, but  will  doubtless  come  in  good  time.  I 


3 

THREE-PHASE  FLAME-ARC  LAMPS. 

One  of  the  very  interesting  recent  foreign  develop- 
ments in  arc  lighting  is  the  three-phase  flame-arc  lamp. 
There  is  at  present  an  increasing  demand  for  alternating- 
current  arc  lamps,  as  yet  rather  incompletely  filled.  The 
alternating-current  arc  lamp  has  proved  troublesome  to 
develop  for  one  reason  or  another,  and  although  some 
twenty  years  have  elapsed  since  such  lamps  came  into  com- 
mercial use,  only  within  a  very  short  time  have  they  reached 
what  one  may  fairly  call  a  satisfactory  stage  of  develop- 
ment. In  the  days  of  the  old  open  arc  lamp,  a  few  good 
alternating-current  lamps  were  developed,  both  here  and 
abroad,  but  they  never  came  into  extensive  use,  at  least  on 
this  side  of  the  water.  The  fundamental  difficulty  was  that 
of  obtaining  electrodes  sufficiently  soft  and  homogeneous  to 
give  really  good  service,  a  difficulty  felt  less  on  the  Con- 
tinent than  here.  From  a  practical  standpoint  nothing  came 
of  the  alternating-current  arc  lamp  until  the  development, 
in  the  closing  years  of  the  last  century,  of  the  inclosed 
lamp.  This,  as  everyone  recognizes,  had  admirable  opera- 
tive qualities,  but  it  was  an  exceedingly  inefficient  source 
of  light,  the  specific  consumption  being  from  2  to  3  watts 
per  candle.  The  carbon  electrodes  necessary  for  inclosed 
burning  are  fairly  hard,  so  that  the  arc  shows  multiple 
images  of  moving  objects  even  at  a  frequency  of  60  cycles 
per  second.  At  lower  frequency  the  unsteadiness  is  so 
great  as  seriously  to  interfere  with  the  usefulness  of  the 
lamp.  With  the  coming  of  the  flame-arc  lamp  this  difficulty 
was  ameliorated,  the  large  volume  of  vapor  given  off  tend- 
ing to  steady  the  light  and  muffle  the  variations,  and  at  the 
present  time  the  long-burning  flame  lamp  adapted  for  alter- 
nating-current circuits  is  a  fairly  successful  illuminant. 
However,  greater  steadiness  of  light  is  desirable,  and  it  is 
natural  enough  that  attention  has  been  turned  again  to  the 
use  of  composite  three-phase  lamps  in  which  the  sequence 
of  the  phases  tends  to  diminish  the  variations  in  the  light. 
The  idea  of  taking  advantage  of  this  feature  of  three-phase 
distribution  is  a  comparatively  old  one.  some  patents  on  the 
subject  dating  back  to  1896.  Indeed,  at  about  this  period 
adjacent  lamps  on  three  phases  with  the  illuminations 
thoroughly  over-lapped  in  time  had  been  used  in  this 
country  in  mill  lighting  in  an  attempt  to  deal  with  a  lower 
frequency  than  would  readily  admit  of  the  ordinary  use  of 
alternating-current  lamps.  The  expedient  proved  fairly 
successful,  but  was  not  adopted  to  any  considerable  extent. 


The  three-phase  arc  lamp  apparently  represents  a  very 
successful  attempt  to  meet  the  requirements  of  first- 
class  arc  lighting,  even  when  only  moderate  periodicities 
are  available.  The  lamp  is  essentially  a  threefold  one 
with  three  converging  flame  electrodes.  The  type  of 
mechanism  adopted  is  substantially  that  of  the  old-ribbon- 
feed  lamp  of  American  practice  with  escapement  regula- 
tion, and  with  three  independent  adjustment  magnets,  one 
in  each  of  the  three  phase  leads.     Such  a  mechanism  well 


I 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


229 


executed  ought  to  give,  and  from  report  does  give,  a  very 
satisfactory  lamp.  The  electrodes  in  this  case  are  of  the 
typical  open-flame  variety,  a  fact  which  contributes  greatly 
to  the  steadiness  of  the  light  from  the  combined  lamp.  To 
judge  from  published  reports,  the  most  remarkable  feature 
of  the  new  lamp  is  the  extraordinary  range  of  its  adjust- 
ability in  both  voltage  and  frequency.  Tests  from  as  low 
as  30  to  over  100  volts  have  been  made  with  rather  remark- 
able results,  the  point  of  highest  efliciency  being  reached  at 
from  60  to  70  volts  at  the  arc.  The  frequencies  covered  in 
the  tests  ranged  from  18  to  56  cycles  per  second,  and  even 
at  the  lowest  point  little  trouble  was  encountered  from  flick- 
ering, while  at  any  ordinary  frequency  the  familiar  mul- 
tiple images  are  reported  to  be  entirely  absent.  A  high 
light-giving  efficiency  may,  of  course,  be  expected  from 
such  a  lamp,  as  it  is  a  first-class  flame  unit.  The  candle- 
power  distribution  in  space  has  the  roundish  characteristic 
familiar  in  lamps  with  converging  electrodes,  and  conse- 
quently the  lamp  must  be  mounted  rather  high  to  insure  the 
best  illuminating  efifect.  With  a  clear  glass  globe  the 
specific  consumption  is  consistently  below  0.2  watt  per 
mean  lower  hemispherical  candle,  and  in  some  of  the  ex- 
periments fell  even  down  to  o.i  watt  per  candle.  This  last 
figure,  of  course,  represents  somewhat  extraordinary  condi- 
tions, when  the  light  source  was  operated  at  an  intensity 
exceeding  io,oco  candles  for  the  triple  arc.  It  is  evident 
enough  that  the  -lamp  here  considered  must  be  regarded  as 
a  flame  unit  of  a  very  high  order  of  performance  as  regards 
efficiency  under  all  ordinary  conditions.  However,  it  is  of 
interest  not  so  much  in  the  efficiency  which  is  to  be  expected 
of  powerful  flame-arc  lamps,  but  in  the  possibility  of  obtain- 
ing a  successful  and  steady  performance  on  relatively  low 
frequency  circuits.  There  are  many  cases,  particularly  on 
railway  circuits  and  those  connected  with  some  of  the 
large  central  stations,  where  25  cycles  has  been,  wisely  or 
unwisely,  adopted  as  the  standard  frequency.  A  lamp  of 
the  type  here  described  can  unquestionably  be  used  in  con- 
nection with  such  circuits  with  sufficient  satisfaction  to  ren- 
der it  available  for  many  cases  where  powerful  arc  lamps 
are  required.  Possibly  the  chief  use  for  such  a  lamp  would 
be  in  construction  work  or  for  special  purposes  where  only 
low-frequency  current  is  available.  At  all  events,  the  lamp 
represents  a  singularly  interesting  development  among 
powerful  and  efficient  arc  lamps,  and  as  such  is  well  worth 
bearing  in  mind. 


LOW-FRICED  FUELS  FOR  ENERGY  TRANSMISSION. 

History  has  abundantly  demonstrated  that  it  is  possible 
for  men  to  live  agricultural  lives  of  sociological  stability 
without  other  available  power  than  that  of  their  own 
muscles  or  of  the  muscles  of  horses  and  oxen,  provided  the 
land  is  sufficiently  fertile  and  the  population  sufficiently 
scattered.  For  centuries  men  have  lived  farming  lives  with 
success,  trusting  to  wars,  famines,  diseases  and  migrations 
to  keep  the  density  of  rural  population  down  to  the  limit 
at  which  it  could  in  the  existing  state  of  agricultural 
science  be  comfortably  supported.  In  ancient  times  cities 
were  few.  The  largest,  such  as  Rome,  Athens  and  Babylon, 
were  small  by  comparison  with  the  cities  of  our  day,  and 


even  these  largely  depended  for  subsistence  on  military 
despotism  and  enforced  tribute.  The  city  of  modern  times 
became  possible  only  with  the  discovery  of  coal  and  the 
invention  of  the  steam  engine,  from  which  power  could  be 
copiously  produced  in  connnunities  to  maintain  industrial 
organizations,  whereby  men,  densely  collected  into  fac- 
tories, could  produce  connnodities  they  could  exchange  for 
necessities  of  life  and  farm  products.  The  horse-power- 
hour  of  many  engines  is  all  that  keeps  men  from  either 
farming  or  village  life,  and  if  the  supply  of  energy  were 
withheld  from  cities  these  would  melt  away  like  icebergs 
in   the   Gulf   Stream. 

In  the  course  of  modern  civilization  the  leading  nations 
have  committed  themselves  in  large  part  to  urban  condi- 
tions, dense  populations  and  industrial  pursuits.  To  main- 
tain such  pursuits  large  supplies  of  energy  are  needed. 
The  nation  with  the  largest  supply  of  available  coal  has 
the  greatest  economic  advantage  in  the  industrial  race, 
especially  if  bodies  of  iron  and  other  metals  lie  at  hand  for 
industrial  use.  In  fact,  until  recently  nations  not  possessing 
coal  supplies  have  been  thereby  prevented  from  taking  up 
industrial  pursuits  except  along  those  special  lines  in  which 
a  minimum  of  mechanical  energy  is  demanded.  The 
development  of  high-tension  electric  transmission  has 
already  changed  the  fate  of  nations  in  so  far  as  waterfalls 
might  become  substitutes  for  coal  mines.  Thus,  in  Europe, 
the  nations  in  and  around  the  Alps  are  tending  to  become 
industrial  nations,  competing,  therefore,  for  markets,  while, 
in  the  future,  the  Norwegian  mountains  of  Europe  and  the 
Canadian  mountains  of  North  America  seem  destined  to 
produce  marked  industrial  effects,  owing  to  the  waterfalls 
that  only  mountainous  regions  can  produce.  Moreover, 
every  kilowatt  generated  from  water-power  in  a  country 
where  coal  is  mined  may  be  regarded  as  saving  at  least 
12  tons  of  coal  per  annum  for  other  uses.  In  a  paper 
recently  read  before  the  Leipzig  convention  of  the 
Verband  Deutscher  Elektrotechniker  and  referred  to  in 
the  Digest,  Mr.  D.  F.  Bartel  discusses  the  possibility 
of  supplying  a  large  part  of  the  industrial  service  of 
Germany  from  a  network  of  high-tension  conductors,  fed 
with  energy  from  central  stations  consuming  lignite  and 
peat.  The  paper  shows  that,  whereas  the  coal  beds  of 
Germany  are  comparatively  few,  there  are  large  beds  of  the 
inferior  fuels  lignite  and  peat  scattered  over  the  north 
German  districts  most  remote  from  the  coal.  By  collecting 
and  burning  these  fuels  under  central-station  boilers  the 
paper  suggests  that  the  existing  industrial  needs  of  north 
Germany  might  be  met,  the  railways  being  likewise 
electrified.  While  the  complete  scheme  of  the  paper  is 
not  likely  to  be  carried  into  effect  for  many  years,  it  may 
well  be  expected  that  not  only  in  Germany  but  also  in  Great 
Britain  and  other  industrial  countries  high-tension  net- 
works will  steadily  extend  themselves  for  the  delivery  of 
energy  to  industries,  the  energy  being  obtained  either  from 
waterfalls,  coal  mines  or  peat  mines,  whichever  may  have 
the  local  advantage  as  a  Source.  The  transportation  of 
fuel  for  domestic  furnaces  may  be  necessary  for  an  in- 
definite period,  but  the  transportation  of  fuel  for  industrial 
purposes  is  likely  to  be  checked  by  the  growth  of  high- 
tension  mains. 


230 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o.  Xo. 


SECTIONS  OF  INTERNATIONAL  ELECTRICAL 
CONGRESS. 


N.  E.  L.  A.  AFFAIRS. 


The  committee  on  organization  of  the  International  Elec- 
trical Congress,  which  wiil  be  held  in  San  Francisco  during 
September,  1915,  has  arranged  tentatively  the  following 
list  of  sections : 

(l)  Lighting  and  illumination,  including  electric  light- 
ing of  all  kinds,  electric  radiation,  etc.;  (2)  generation, 
transmission  and  distribution,  including  hydroelectric 
plants,  steam  stations,  transformers,  substations,  etc.;  (3) 
electric  traction  and  transportation,  including  propulsion 
and  electric  vehicles;  (4)  electric  power,  including  the  ap- 
plication of  electric  motors  to  industrial  purposes;  (5) 
economics,  including  load-factors,  power-factors  and  all 
problems  affecting  the  economy  of  electric  distribution,  also 
regulation  by  public  service  commissions,  etc.;  (6) 
machinery,  transformers  and  appliances;  (7)  telegraphy 
and  telephony,  including  all  communication  and  signaling 
by  wires;  (8)  wireless  telegraphy  and  telephony,  including 
all  communication  by  electromagnetic  waves  without  wires; 
(9)  electrochemistry  and  electrometallurgy,  including  elec- 
tric furnaces;  (10)  electric  measurements  and  instruments; 
(11)  protective  devices  and  transient  and  high-voltage 
phenomena;  (12)  miscellaneous. 


I.  E.  S.  CONVENTION  PROGRAM. 


At  the  sixth  annual  convention  of  the  Illuminating 
Engineering  Society,  to  be  held  at  Niagara  Falls,  Ontario, 
Sept.  16  to  19,  1912,  a  report  will  be  presented  dealing  with 
recent  progress  and  developments  in  the  lighting  industry 
both  in  this  country  and  abroad.  The  committee  on 
nomenclature  and  standards  will  present  a  report  dealing 
with  certain  definitions  and  terminology  of  illuminating 
engineering.  "Steel  Mill  Lighting"  will  be  the  title  of  a 
report  to  be  presented  by  Mr.  C.  J.  Mundo,  who  is  chair- 
man of  the  committee  on  illumination  of  the  Association 
of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers.  Mr.  F.  W.  Good- 
enough,  chairman  of  the  council  of  the  (British)  Illumi- 
nating Engineering  Society,  will  read  a  paper  entitled 
"High-Pressure  Gas  Lighting."  The  program  as  thus  far 
arranged  includes  the   following  papers: 

"The  Status  of  High-Pressure  Gas  Lighting."  by  Mr. 
George  S.  Barrows ;  "Recent  Developments  in  Gas  Light- 
ing." by  Mr.  R.  F.  Pierce;  "Indirect  and  Semi-Indirect 
Illumination,"  by  Mr.  T.  W.  Rolph;  "Recent  Develop- 
ments in  Series  Street  Lighting,"  by  Dr.  C.  P.  Steinmetz ; 
"Research  Methods,"  by  Dr.  E.  P.  Hyde;  "The  Problem 
of  Heterochromatic  Photometry  and  a  Rational  Standard 
of  Light,"  by  Dr.  H.  E.  Ives;  "Reflection  from  Colored 
Surfaces."  by  Mr.  Claude  W.  Jordan;  "Diffuse  Reflection," 
by  Dr.  P.  G.  Nutting;  "A  Study  of  Natural  and  Artificial 
Light  Distribution  in  Interiors,"  by  Mr.  M.  Luckiesh  ;  "The 
Physiology  of  Vision,"  by  Dr.  T.  A.  Woodruff;  "The 
Efficiency  of  the  Eye  Under  Different  Systems  of  Illumina- 
tion," by  Dr.  C.  E.  Ferree  (this  paper  will  be  a  report  of  a 
research  carried  on  for  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion) ;  "A  Proposed  Method  of  Determining  the  Diffusion 
of  Translucent  Media."  by  Mr.  E.  L.  Elliott;  "Illumination 
Charts,"  by  Mr.  F.  A.  Beuford;  "The  Determination  of 
Illumination  Efficiency,"  by  Mr.  E.  L.  Elliott ;  "An  Abso- 
lute Reflectometer,"  by  Dr.  P.  G.  Nutting;  "Colored  Values 
of  Illuminated  Surfaces,"  by  Mr.  Bassett  Jones,  Jr.  (this 
subject  will  be  presented  in  the  form  of  a  series  of  experi- 
mental demonstrations). 

Arrangements  will  be  made  for  one  session  to  be  devoted 
to  the  discussion  of  miscellaneous  phases  of  illuminating 
engineering,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  forward  certain 
features  not  covered  by  the  formal  convention  papers. 


A  very  fully  attended  meeting  of  the  executive  commit- 
tee of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  was  held 
in  New  York  on  July  25,  there  being  present  Messrs.  F.  M. 
Tait,  president ;  C.  L.  Edgar,  W.  C.  L.  Eglin,  W.  W.  Free- 
man, E.  W.  Lloyd,  J.  F.  Gilchrist,  J.  B.  McCall,  R.  S.  Orr, 
H.  H.  Scott,  Arthur  Williams,  J.  S.  Whitaker,  T.  C.  Mar- 
tin, secretary,  and  S.  A.  Sewall,  assistant  to  the  secretary. 
Mr.  R.  F.  Pack,  the  newly  elected  president  of  the  Cana- 
dian Electrical  Association,  was  at  the  offices  of  the  asso- 
ciation on  July  24,  having  come  on  to  attend  the  meeting, 
but  was  recalled  to  Toronto  the  same  evening  by  urgent 
business.  Mr.  Henry  L.  Doherty  joined  the  committee  by 
request  during  the  morning. 

The  secretary  presented  the  membership  report,  showing 
a  net  total  of  12,185  ^^  of  July  24.  A  total  of  1041  were 
admitted  at  the  meeting. 

President  Tait  directed  attention  to  the  growing  strength 
of  the  affiliation  movement,  which  now  is  active  in  Ohio, 
Alabama,  Florida,  North  and  South  Carolina,  West  Vir- 
ginia, Colorado  and  California. 

A  proposal  was  discussed  from  Chairman  Schuchardt  of 
the  Commonwealth  Edison  Section  of  Chicago  suggesting 
the  formation  of  an  Associate  Class  B  membership  for  em- 
ployees receiving  less  than  $75  per  month,  who  would  pay 
dues  of  only  $2  per  year  instead  of  $5,  but  would  receive 
only  the  monthly  Bulletin  and  would  not  be  eligible  as  sec- 
tion competitors  for  medals  or  as  convention  delegates. 
In  other  words,  they  would  participate  in  the  local  work  of 
the  section.  A  somewhat  similar  plan  has  already  been  au- 
thorized for  Milwaukee.  The  subject  was  referred  to  the 
committee  on  constitution  and  by-laws. 

Past-president  Eglin  made  a  report  as  to  the  status  of 
the  work  of  the  resuscitation  commission,  which  has  re- 
ceived an  enormous  amount  of  publicity  throughout  the 
world,  with  a  corresponding  inquiry  for  the  chart  and 
booklet  of  rules  for  the  treatment  of  shock  and  burns. 
Since  the  Seattle  meeting  the  commission  has  slightly  mod- 
ified the  phraseology  of  these  documents  and  has  made 
new  engravings  of  a  more  exact  nature  to  be  included. 
These  final  documents  will  be  issued  in  August,  and  th'e 
commission,  financed  by  the  association  and  aided  in  its 
experiments  by  member  companies  by  the  loan  of  appa- 
ratus, etc.,  will  now  take  up  one  or  two  very  important 
matters  bearing  on  this  investigation,  the  physiology  of 
which  is  still  obscure. 

President  Tait  called  attention  to  the  recommendation  in 
Past-president  Gilchrist's  Seattle  address  that  there  be  an 
educational  committee  to  keep  in  close  touch  with  the  edu- 
cational institutions  of  the  country,  to  help  in  forming 
clearer  ideas  of  the  principles  for  which  the  association 
stands  and  in  training  young  men  for  the  industry.  The 
suggestion  was  heartily  approved,  and  the  formation  of 
such  a  committee  authorized. 

President  Whitaker  of  the  New  England  Section  called 
attention  to  the  meeting  in  Boston  in  October,  and  ex- 
pressed the  desire  for  the  attendance  in  general  of  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association  membership  at  that 
time  in  view  of  the  fact  that  comparatively  few  national 
members  had  been  able  to  attend  the  annual  convention  at 
Seattle.  The  section  expressed  its  willingness  to  expand 
its  program  and  make  the  meeting  cover  three  days.  The 
proposition  received  the  indorsement  of  the  committee. 

The  aft'airs  of  the  Commercial  Section  were  given  con- 
siderable attention,  Chairman  Lloyd  outlining  its  condition, 
plans  and  work.  In  view  of  the  issuance  of  the  "Commer- 
cial Digest"  by  the  section,  and  its  overlapping  with  the 
"Solicitors'  Handbook,"  it  was  decided  to  merge  the  two 
publications  in  the  hands  of  the  section.  The  "Digest"  is 
issued  in  loose-leaf  form,  and  is  easily  kept  up  to  date.  It 
goes  to  all  members  of  the  section,  which  also  is  now  plan- 
ning three  or  four  new  publications  to  be  issued  tiiis  year. 


AucrsT  3,  i5ir2. 


ELECTRICAL     \V  (J  R  L  D  . 


NEW  YORK  EDISON   COMPANY  SECURES  30,000- 
KW  RAILWAY  LOAD. 


231 


The  Third  Avenue  Railway  Company  has  entered  into  a 
contract  with  tlie  New  York  Edison  Company  to  supply 
It  with  all  of  the  electrical  energy  necessary  for  the  opera- 
tion of  Its  various  lines  in  the  city  of  New  York      As  part 


Fig.    1-Exterior  of  the   Kingsbridge  Station   of  the   Third   Avenue 
Railway    Company. 

of  the  agreement  the  Kingsbridge  station  of  the  railway 
company  will  be  leased  to  and  operated  by  the  Edison  com- 
pany. The.  actual  plans  are  still  in  a  formative  stage  since 
the  contract  does  not  become  operative  until  about  October 
Ihe  purpose  of  the  contract  is,  of  course,  to  secure  higher 
operating  and  investment  economies,  which  means  that  the 
two  systems  will  be  so  merged  and  jointly  operated  that 
that  which  IS  best  in  the  one  will  be  utilized  to  contribute 


advantages  as  may  accrue  to  a  general  system  in  operating 
the  large  generating  stations  of  the  two  corporations  at  the 
most  economical  loads.  It  is  significant  that  the  station 
and  generating  equipment  of  the  Third  Avenue  Railway 
Company  are  still  in  good  operating  condition,  having  been 
nKinitained  in  and  operated  at  a  liigh  state  of  economy  and 
ernciency. 

The  Kingsbridge  station  is  located  at  218th  Street  and 
the  Harlem  River.  It  was  designed  by  Westinghouse, 
Church,  Kerr  &  Company,  and  the  first  unit  was  placed  in 
operation  about  1903.  The  river  affords  an  abundant  supply 
of  condensing  water  and  facilities  for  the  delivery  of  coal 
m  barges.  In  mechanical  design  the  station  embraces  the 
multiple-unit  idea  noticeable  in  large  power  stations,  but 
the  engine  and  boiler  equipment  is  divided  into  four  distinct 
plants,  each  of  which  may  be  independently  operated  and 
yet  so  interconnected  with  the  others  that  they  can  form  a 
single  unit. 

The  equipment  consists  of  eight  vertical  cross-compound 
Westinghouse  engines,  directly  connected  to  3500-kw,  6600- 
volt,  three-phase,  25-cycle  Westinghouse  generators, 
bteam  is  supplied  by  thirty  Babcock  &  Wilcox  water-tube 
boilers  set  m  batteries  of  1000  hp.  The  coal  bunkers  are 
on  top  ot  the  boiler  room,  fuel  being  delivered  to  them  bv 
conveyors  and  fed  by  gravity  to  automatic  stokers  with 
which  the  boiler  furnaces  are  equipped.  Ashes  are  handled 
by  gravity  from  the  ash  pits  to  conveyors  in  the  basement 
whence  they  are  taken  to  bunkers  on  the  dock  which  dis- 
charge into  barges.  A  feature  of  the  layout  is  a  large 
central  condensing  plant  of  the  barometric  type  located  in 
the    boiler    room    which    serves    the    entire    station 

Ihe  space  required  per  kilowatt  in  the  Kingsbridge  sta- 

Tul  "  l  '"^-J'-  ^°'  ^°'^"  ^"^  '="§'"«  rooms  together. 
Although  test  figures  arc  not  available,  it  is  generally 
understood  that  the  station  is  capable  of  delivering  a  kilo- 


Fig.    2— Interior   of   the    Kingsbridge    Station. 


to  the  improvement  of  the  other.  Both  the  Waterside  and 
the  Kingsbridge  station  are  equipped  with  6600-volt  three- 
phase,  25-cycle  generators. 

In  addition  to  the  higher  load-factor  possible  on  the  gen- 
eral system,  it  is  expected  that  there  will  be  a  large  invest- 
ment saving  on  future  extensions,  operating  economies 
tnrough  the  joint  occupancy  of  substations  and  such  other 


watt-hour  at  the  switchboard  for  approximately  yi  cent 
The  contract  may  be  taken  as  a  further  evidence  of  the 
far-sighted  policy  which  has  marked  the  administration  of 
Mr.  F.  W.  Whitridge,  first  as  receiver  and  now  as  president 
of  the  Third  Avenue  Railway  Company.  On  behalf  of  the 
New  York  Edison  Company  the  contract  was  signed  by 
Mr.  Nicholas  F.  Brady,  first  vice-president. 


232 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o.  Xo. 


FINANCIAL  REVIEW  OF  THE  GENERAL  ELECTRIC  Jan.  31,  1893.  the  company's  patents,  contracts  and  rights 
COMPANY.  were  carried  at  $8,159,264,  and  a  high  value  was  placed 
upon   the  stocks  of  underlying  and  local   operating  com- 

The    announcement    made    last    week    by    the    General  panics  which  were  held  in  the  treasury.   A  financial  resume 

Electric  Company  that  a  30  per  cent  stock  dividend  would  of  the  company's  history  is  presented  in  Table   II,   which 

be  declared  in  addition  to  the  regular  quarterly  dividend  of  reveals  the  general  trend  of  its  affairs  since  it  was  formed. 

2  per  cent  caused  considerable  comment.    Furthermore,  the  The  over-capitalization  made  it  necessary  to  scale  down 

directors  have  authorized  an  issue  of  5  per  cent  debenture  the  assets  in  the  second  year  of  operation,  with   a  conse- 

bonds,   limited  to  $60,000,000.     The  dividend  disbursement  quent  deficit,  as  shovi'n,  for  1894.    After  the  first  two  years, 

will  amount  to  more  than  $23,000,000.     Shortly  after  the  no  dividends  were  paid  until   1898,  when  the  situation  had 

announcement  was  made  the  company  offered  the  following  become  so  acute  that  it  was  necessary  to  reduce  the  capital 

statement :  stock  4  per  cent.    As  a  result  it  was  possible  to  convert  a 

"It  would  seem  unnecessary  to  make  any   further  state-  long-standing  deficit  into   a   surplus,   and  during   the   year 

ment,  but  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  sale  of  rights  to  new  which  ended  Jan.  31,  1899,  the  cumulative  7  per  cent  divi- 

stock  is  being  discussed  on  the  Street,  it  should  be  stated  dend   on   the  preferred   stock   from   July    I,    1893,   was   de- 

that  no  new  stocT<  is  being  offered  for  subscription,  the  $30  clared  and  paid.     In  the  following  year  the  company's  in- 

per  share  not  being  an  offering  of  'right'  in  any  sense,  but  creasing  prosperity  made  it  possible  to  pay  a  43/2  per  cent 

a   direct   distribution   of   stock    from   the   surplus   earnings  dividend  on  the  common  stock,  and  by  1902  the  surplus  had 

of  the  company,  in  partial  recognition  of  dividends  which  accumulated  to  an  extent  which  permitted  a  stock  dividend 

in  prior  years  have  been  omitted  or  reduced.     An  issue  of  of  66  2-3  per  cent,  thus  restoring  the  stock  which  had  been 

debentures   was   authorized    for    the   purpose    of    securing  reduced  in   1898.     Furthermore,  the  stockholders  received 

capital  for  the  varied  corporate  securities  of  the  company  valuable  rights  to  subscribe  at  par  for  new  stock  issued  in 

from  time  to  time  in  future  years."  1904,  1905  and  1906. 

The   company's  present   financial   position   is  made  clear  The  30  per  cent  stock  dividend  just  announced  will  in- 

from  the  April  balance  sheet  reproduced  in  Table  I.  crease  the  capital  account  about  $23,000,000  and  reduce  the 

surplus  to  some  $6,000,000  in  round   figures.     This   action 

TABLE    I. BALANCE   SHEET,   APRIL,    IQI2.  1               lU                                 •                        ■-•          i        J-    ^    -u     ^         »ll    1 

'_ '     ^ places  the  company  in  a  position  to  distribute  still   larger 

Assets:  profits  without  raising  the  dividend  rate,  at  least  for  the 

S?rch'andiL'".'^.  .'"^'^'""'■ : : : : : ; : : : : ; : : ; ; : : : : : : : : ; ; : ; : ; : ; ; :  ^llfolfds  present,  although  one  report  states  that  the  next  favorable 

Cash  and  debt's  receivable 3S,'693.'266  development  will  be  the  placing  of  the  stock  on  a  10  per 

Patent     rights 1 4,809  '^  .                                         i              »                                                           r 

Miscellaneoas     28,955.175  Cent  baslS. 

$115  556,532  "^^^  company's  strong  position  financially  is  due  in  large 

Liabilities:  part,  aside  from   its  phenomenal  growth,  to  the  conserva- 

Capital     stock $77,581,200  f.        '      ,.            .     ,           .    *^      „                    °            .'            ...        , 

Accounts    payable 5.4i:.84i  tive  policv  of  charging  off  assets  of  an  intangible  character 

Su?piui  i"'^^^'."'.'^""''.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.".'.'.'.'.'.': : :::::::::::::::::::::    solo^iw?  a"^  providing  amply  for  depreciation  of  the  factory  plants. 

The  operations  of  the  General  Electric  Company  now,  as 

$115, 556,532  i^r                                              ..                         j:^-j..j 

heretofore,   cover   more    than    manufacturing   and    extend 

This  reveals  a  working  capital  of  about  $61,000,000  and  into  the  operating  field  to  a  material  extent.     This  fact, 

a  book  value  of  $139  per  share.     The  company's  business  coupled  with  the  very  large  share  of  the  electrical  manu- 

is   said    at    the    present    time   to    equal    a    rate    of    about  facturing  business  of  the  country  which  the  company  con- 

$90,000,000  to  $95,000,000  per  year.     The   strong  position  trols,   renders   its   operations   of   substantial   importance   to 

which  the  company  now  occupies  is  in  marked  contrast  with  the  general  public.     The  company  now  holds  the  securities 

its    early    history.      The    General    Electric    Company    was  of  other  companies,  largely  in  the  operating  field,  to  the 

incorporated  on  April   15,   1892,  being  a  consolidation   of  '  extent  of  nearly  $29,000,000.     The  report  of  the  Ex-Com- 

TABLE   II. CONDENSED  FINANCIAL  STATEMENT,    1893   TO    I9II. 


Year. 

1 

Common          1         Preferred 
Stock                        Stock. 

Debenture 
Bonds. 

Annual  Sales,                    Net 
Including          1         Earnings. 
Royalties.          '       AU  Sources. 

Dividends                Cumulative 
Paid.                        Surplus. 

1893              

$30,425,900 
30,459,700 

$4,236,900 
4,251,900 
4.252.000 

$10,000,000 

10,000,000 

8,750,000 

8  750  nnn 

(Not  given)               $3,355,593 
(Not  given)                    3.599.923 
$12,961,214                   1.811,748 
13.315.667                   1,826.457 
12,820,396                 1,983,487 

$1,971,056                 $1,024,955 

1895 

30,460,000 

*14,794.717 
*13,917,071 
♦12,957,413 

1896    

30,450,000        !        4,252,000 

1897 

30,460,000        1        4,252,000        ,          8,o66i6o6 
30,460,000                4,252,000                  6,000,000 

1898 

*11 ,725.561 

18,276,000       ,        2,251,000                 5,700,000                 15,472!o22                 31570,000 
18,275,000       1        2,251,200       j          5,300,000                 23,248,170                 4,710,983 
21,400,300        !        2.251.200        1           1    IXJ  nnn                  00  nai    /;j9                   1:    fl-?A   7-><: 

1,509,552 
1,001,004 
1,728,249 
1.955,657 

2,677,263 

4,482,701 
3,684,384 
3,861,062 
4,344,342 

5,183,614 
5,214,023 
5,214,352 
5,214,368 
5,806,344 

156   571 

1900      i 

2   353   031 

1901                

6   628   534 

24,910,900 

41,880.733 
43.866.700 
48, 247, 943' 
54,286,750 
f,^   114  inn 

372,000       1          32i479]428                 7!659!656 

2,148,400                 37,500,555       '          9,303,518 
2,131,400                  41,699,517                   7,865.376 
2.. 127, 400                  39.950.427                   6,437.619 
2,102,000                  44,419,513                   7,145,771 
2,102,000               060,071,883                 8.098.140 

14.974.750                 72.484.988                 6.586.653 
14.963.000                044.540,576        i          4,766,332 
14,962,000                051,556,631        1          5.015,657 
14,952.000               o71,478,5S8               10,855,692 
2   806  000                '^'n   Tax    q^a        1        in   tif^l   anA 

4  482   702 

1904 

1906 

12  027   29*^ 

1907 

IS    110   796 

1908                                                 6t    167.400 

16   513   836 

1909              

65,178,800 

16   102  062 

61909                                    .     ■ 

65,179,600 
65,179,600 
77,335,200 

17   381    380 

23   022    706 

1911                       

29  019   893 

1        

♦Deficit.      aSales  billed.        ^Covers  11  months. 

the  Edison  General  Electric  Company,  the  Thomson- 
Houston  Electric  Company  and  the  Thomson-Houston  In- 
ternational Electric  Company.  Business  was  commenced 
on  June  I,  1892.  At  the  start  the  company  was  over- 
capitalized and  mismanaged,  and  through  the  attempt  to 
finance  electrical  enterprises  of  many  sorts  embarrassment 
was  soon  felt.     At  the  end  of  the  first  fiscal  period,  on 


missioner  of  Corporations,  Mr.  Herbert  Knox  Smith,  on 
water-power  development  in  the  United  States,  abstracted 
in  our  issue  of  May  11,  has  special  interest  in  this  connec- 
tion and  shows  that  the  General  Electric  influence  in  thiS: 
field  is  larger  than  that  of  any  other  single  group  of  in- 
terests and  comprises  nearly  one-half  of  the  developed 
power. 


Au(;i;sT  3,  191: 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


233 


MAINE  ELECTRIC  ASSOCIATION  CONVENTION. 


At  the  fourth  annual  convention  of  the  Maine  Electric 
Association,  held  in  Portland  on  July  25  and  26,  the  con- 
stitution was  amended  so  as  to  broaden  the  field  of  the 
association.  In  the  past  the  membership  has  been  confined 
to  the  managers  and  operatives  of  electric  lighting  plants, 
but  in  the  future  the  employees  in  the  electrical  depart- 
ments of  the  telephone  and  street-railway  companies  will 
be  able  to  join  the  association  and  partake  of  its  benefits. 
The  election  of  officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  the  fol- 
lowing for  the  ensuing  year:  President,  Mr.  H.  B.  Ivers, 
Portland;  vice-presidents,  Messrs.  John  H.  Maxwell,  Liver- 
more  Falls,  and  Harry  E.  Plummer,  Lisbon  Falls ;  secretary 
and  treasurer,  Mr.  Walter  S.  Wyman,  Augusta;  executive 
committee,  Messrs.  Fred  D.  Gordon,  Waterville;  M.  H. 
Blackwell,  Fairfield;  John  H.  Maxwell,  Livermore  Falls; 
C.  E.  Smith,  Newport;  J.  A.  Fleet,  Portland;  Harry  E. 
Plummer,  Lisbon  Falls;  Walter  S.  Wyman,  Augusta,  and 
Fred  O.  Eaton,  Rumford  Falls. 


ANNUAL    REPORT    OF    THE    COMMISSIONER    OF 
PATENTS. 


The  annual  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Patents, 
covering  the  year  ended  Dec.  31,  191 1,  shows  that  67,370 
applications  were  received  for  mechanical  patents,  1534 
applications  for  design  patents  and  217  applications  for 
re-issues.  During  the  year  33,927  patents  were  issued, 
including  designs,  and  157  patents  were  re-issued.  The 
total  receipts  were  $2,019,388  and  expenditures  $1,953,690, 
leaving  a  surplus  of  $65,698.  The  last  amount,  added  to 
the  previous  surplus,  leaves  a  total  on  Dec.  31,  191 1,  of 
$7,063,926.  The  commissioner  states  that  in  the  appropria- 
tion bill  he  has  asked  for  five  additional  examiners  to  aid 
in  the  work  of  classification,  which  is  now  under  way.  No 
idequate  classification  of  patents  has  been  completed  since 
;he  Patent  Office  was  established,  but  the  work  is  now  about 
lalf  finished.  The  number  of  American  patents  already 
ssued  amounts  to  over  1,000,000,  and  in  addition  there  are 
)etween  2,000,000  and  3,000,000  foreign  patents  and  about 
;o,ooo  volumes  of  scientific  and  technical  works  in  the 
ibrary  of  the  bureau,  all  of  which  must  be  examined  and 
ibstracted. 

The  commissioner  called  attention  to  pending  legislation 
•elating  to  patents,  and  referred  to  bill  H.  R.  7609,  which 
jrovides  for  the  elimination  of  one  of  the  appeals  within 
he  office.  It  is  intended  to  accomplish  this  by  forming  a 
single  appellate  tribunal  composed  of  the  commissioner, 
irst  assistant  commissioner,  assistant  commissioner  and 
'xaminers-in-chief,  any  three  of  whom  shall  constitute  a 
|uorum.  All  appeals  will  go  directly  to  this  body;  the  final 
ippeal  would  lie  to  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  the  District 
)f  Columbia.  Bill  H.  R.  771 1  provides  safeguards  against 
)Ossible  mutilation  or  fraudulent  amendment  of  patent 
j  ipplications  during  the  pendency  in  the  office.  This  would 
le  accomplished  by  requiring  each  applicant  to  file  two 
)hotographic  copies  of  each  drawing  embraced  in  a  patent 
pacification.  The  commissioner  also  recommended  the 
lassage  of  bill  H.  R.  8388,  reducing  from  one  year  to  six 
nonths  the  period  within  which  an  applicant  is  allowed  to 
.mend  rejected  claims. 

Attention  was  called  to  the  heavy  appeal  docket  in  the 
'atent  Office,  which  is  proving  burdensome  to  dispose  of. 
)uring  the  year  1911  1523  interferences  were  declared. 
3ill  H.  R.  7609  was  prepared  with  the  object  of  obtaining 
leeded  relief.  Approval  is  expressed  of  the  efforts  of  the 
Vmerican  Bar  Association  to  obtain  legislation  for  the 
stablishment  of  a  Court  of  Patent  Appeals,  and  it  is 
lointed  out  that  the  construction  of  a  patent  by  the  Circuit 
'ourt  of  Appeals  of  one  jurisdiction  is  effective  only  over 
hat  jurisdiction  and  has  no  legal  effect  in  any  other  of 


the  several  circuits,  except  through  the  exercise  of  comity. 
The  report  concludes  with  a  reference  to  the  need  of 
reorganizing  the  scientific  library  of  the  bureau  and  pre- 
paring a  digest  of  the  .subject  matter  therein,  and  also 
draws  attention  to  the  urgent  need  of  relieving  the  ex- 
tremely overcrowded  and  hazardous  condition  of  the  Patent 
Office.  The  present  accommodations  are  obsolete  and  in- 
adequate both  as  to  space  and  equipment,  and  the  extremely 
valuable  contents  are  likely  to  be  destroyed  by  fire  at 
almost  any  time.  It  seems  imperative  that  some  action  on 
this  situation  should  be  taken  at  an  early  date. 


ANNIVERSARY  OF  THE  ROYAL  SOCIETY. 


By  Brother  Potamian. 

On  Tuesday,  July  16,  Fellows  of  the  Royal  Society  and 
delegates  from  academies,  societies  and  universities  from  all 
parts  of  the  three  kingdoms,  from  the  Continent  and  from 
far-off  colonies  met  in  London  to  celebrate  the  two  hundred 
and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  inauguration  of  the  society. 
The  functions  commemorative  of  this  historic  event  were 
partly  of  a  religious  and  partly  of  a  social  character.  On 
the  Jubilee  Day,  Tuesday,  July  16,  a  special  service  was 
held  in  Westminster  Abbey,  which  was  followed  by  a  for- 
mal reception  of  the  delegates  at  Burlington  House  in  the 
afternoon  and  by  a  banquet  in  the  Guildhall  in  the  evening. 
Garden  parties  were  held  on  Wednesday  at  Lyon  House  by 
the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Northumberland  and  at  Windsor 
Castle  on  Thursday  afternoon  by  the  King  (as  patron  of 
the  society)  and  the  Queen. 

Among  the  early  Fellows  of  the  Royal  Society  were 
Wren,  Boyle,  Hooke,  of  "Hooke's  law"  fame ;  Stephen  Gray, 
the  pioneer  electrician;  Papin,  the  inventor  of  the  "digester" 
and  piston  steam-engine  ;  Newton,  who  was  president  of  the 
society  for  a  period  of  twenty-four  years;  Halley,  who 
published  Newton's  "Principia"  at  his  own  expense,  and 
Michell  (Rev.  John),  the  inventor  of  the  torsion  balance 
which  yielded  fruitful  results  in  the  hands  of  Cavendish 
and  Coulomb. 

The  Royal  Society  was  founded  for  the  purpose  of  im- 
proving "knowledge  of  all  natural  things  and  all  useful 
arts,  manufactures,  mechanic  practices  and  inventions  by 
experiment,"  but  it  was  not  to  "meddle  with  divinity, 
metaphysics,  morals,  politics,  grammar,  rhetoric  or  logic." 

For  the  oldest  and  best-known  award  of  the  Royal  Society 
funds  were  left  by  Sir  Godfrey  Copley,  and  the  first 
beneficiary  was  Stephen  Gray,  to  whom  the  interest  on  the 
bequest  of  fioo  was  given  in  1731  and  again  in  r732  for 
his  method  of  sending  signals  along  wires  by  electrifying 
them  at  one  end  so  that  they  attracted  light  bodies  at  the 
other,  a  method  of  transmission  which  involved  the  twofold 
discovery  of  conduction  and  insulation. 

In  1736  the  award  took  the  form  of  a  gold  medal — the 
Copley  medal — and  many  of  the  most  distinguished  men  in 
all  departments  of  science  throughout  the  world  have  been 
the  honored  recipients  of  this  "ancient  olive  crown  of  the 
Royal  Society,"  as  Davy  termed  it.  Our  countryman 
Franklin,  whose  letter  on  the  identity  of  lightning  and 
electricity  was  dismissed  by  the  learned  Fellows  with  de- 
risive laughter  in  1750,  was,  nevertheless,  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  society  a  little  later  and  was  the  recipient  of  the 
Copley  medal  in  1753. 

Other  medals  at  the  disposal  of  the  Royal  Society  are  the 
Rumford  medal  (biennial)  for  which  Benjamin  Thompson, 
of  Rumford,  Mass.,  better  known  as  Count  Rumford,  left 
a  sum  of  f  1,000  in  1796;  two  "Royal"  medals  founded  by 
George  IV  and  renewed  annually  by  his  successors ;  the 
Davy  medal,  which  owed  its  institution  indirectly  to  the 
safety  lamp,  and  the  Hughes  medal,  for  which  a  bequest  of 
£4,000  was  left  by  Prof.  David  E.  Hughes,  the  Anglo- 
American  electrician  who  at  one  time  was  professor  of 
music  and  physics  at  Bardstown  College.  Kentucky. 


234 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  >;. 


OHIO  ELECTRIC  ASSOCIATION  PAPERS. 


The  Ohio  Electric  Light  Association  held  its  eighth 
annual  convention  at  Cedar  Point,  Ohio,  on  July  i6,  17 
and  18,  as  previously  noted.  Below  are  given  abstracts  of 
the  papers  read  at  the  convention  and  the  discussions  fol- 
lowing their  presentation. 

ELECTRICAL  TRANSMISSION. 

The  report  of  the  committee  on  electrical  transmission, 
prepared  by  Messrs.  M.  H.  Wagner,  Dayton ;  W.  S. 
Townsend,  and  J.  T.  Kermode,  Cleveland,  was  read 
by  Mr.  Wagner.  An  interesting  addendum  to  the  report 
was  a  compilation  of  data  from  a  number  of  transmission 
lines  operating  at  from  6600  to  33,000  volts  in  Ohio, 
Indiana  and  Kentucky.  The  practical  working  radius  of 
2300-volt  transmission  is  very  limited,  being  about  one 
mile  for  25  cycles  and  3700  ft.  for  60  cycles,  when  the  wire 
is  loaded  to  its  carrying  capacity  and  the  pressure  drop  is 
10  per  cent.  The  transmission-line  design  centers  on  the 
operating  voltage.  A  good  rule  is  1000  volts  per  mile  of 
line.     For  example,  a  6-mile  line  would  require  6000  volts. 

The  usual  spacings  may  be  summarized  as  follows : 


Volts. 

6,600 
13,200 
22,000 
33.000 


Minimum  Spacing, 
Inches. 

M 

aximum  Spacing, 
Inches. 

12 

48 

18 

36 

30 

36 

36 

72 

The  greater  the  number  of  provisions  against  lightning  the 
better  the  possibility  for  uninterrupted  service.  The  alumi- 
num-cell arrester  has  proved  very  efficient.  It  not  only 
affords  a  path  to  ground  for  lightning  but  aids  in  removing 
all  internal  line  disturbances.  However,  this  arrester  has 
a  serious  disadvantage  in  the  necessity  for  charging  it  each 
day,  thus  making  its  efficacy  dependent  on  the  operator. 
The  multi-gap  arrester  also  relieves  surges  and  is  found  very 
effective  up  to  13,200  volts.  Ground  wire  is  best  placed  at 
the  top  of  the  line  structure  so  that  it  has  a  shade  angle  of 
45  deg.  to  the  outside  conductors.  It  may  be  a  %-in. 
stranded  galvanized  plow  steel  or  bimetallic  wire.  Such  a 
ground  wire  is  good  for  mechanical  reasons,  for  it  ties  the 
tops  of  the  structures  together,  thereby  adding  strength  to 
the  construction.  The  ideal  construction  comprises  ground 
wires  at  the  highest  points  of  the  poles  and  aluminum-cell 
arresters  at  both  ends  of  the  line  and  in  the  center. 

Discussion. 

In  the  discussion  which  followed  Mr.  D.  L.  Gaskill, 
Greenville,  detailed  the  experiences  of  his  company  in 
building  a  26-mile,  33,000-volt,  single-phase  line.  Adopting 
what  seemed  to  be  good  business  principles,  a  number  of 
supply  companies  were  called  upon  to  submit  bids  for  poles, 
wire,  insulators,  etc.  The  house  which  made  the  lowest 
offer  received  the  pole  order,  kept  it  six  weeks,  peddled  it 
around  the  country  and  finally  notified  the  customer  it 
would  be  unable  to  carry  out  its  contract.  The  order  had 
then  to  be  given  to  a  firm  of  known  responsibility,  at  an 
advance  of  $300,  besides  the  loss  of  six  weeks'  time  for 
construction  work.  A  similar  experience  was  encountered 
in  buying  the  insulators.  After  accepting  the  order  the 
firm  making  the  low  bid  finally  admitted  it  could  not 
supply  the  goods,  and  the  purchase  had  to  be  made  else- 
where at  higher  cost.  Mr.  Gaskill  pointed  to  this  as  a 
lesson  that  companies  planning  to  build  should  submit  their 
specifications  to  reliable  houses  in  the  first  place.  The 
Greenville  transmission  line  follows  the  county  roads  where 
possible,  since  experience  has  shown  that  the  average 
farmer,   when   approached   by   a   corporation    for   right-of- 


way  permission,  becomes  unreasonable  in  his  demands  for 
compensation.  The  single-phase  line  cost  $800  per  mile, 
and  Mr.  Gaskill  expressed  doubt  whether,  with  the  advances 
in  single-phase  motor  construction,  polyphase  service  would 
ever  be  necessary  in  the  district  served.  If  required,  his 
company  would  prefer  to  assist  the  customer  in  the  pur- 
chase of  his  motor,  rather  than  incur  the  additional  in- 
vestment in  the  line. 

Mr.  John  Gilmartin,  Toledo,  pointed  out  the  desirability 
of  placing  the  distribution  voltage  at  a  high  enough  value 
to  serve  all  future  customers.  He  also  mentioned  the 
larger  use  made  of  aluminum  in  England  and  Canada.  In 
the  United  States,  he  said,  aluminum  prices  depend  upon 
the  copper  tariff.  Lightning  arresters,  while  of  value  for 
protecting  stations  and  apparatus,  are  useless,  said  Mr.  Gil- 
martin,  in  preventing  direct  strokes  on  the  line. 

Mr.  Weare  Parsons,  Springfield,  suggested  6600  volts  as 
the  practical  limit  for  nnilti-gap  arresters.  The  protection 
of  lines  against  surges  alone,  he  added,  would  justify  the 
use  of  arresters.  Mr.  M.  H.  Wagner,  Dayton,  mentioned 
the  difference  found  in  aluminum-cell  cones  made  from  the 
same  batch  of  metal.  Prof.  F.  C.  Caldwell,  Columbus, 
compared  the  electrical  conditions  of  a  transmission  system 
to  the  vibrations  of  a  plucked  string,  showing  harmonics 
and  nodes.  Impedance  coils  are  useful  largely  because, 
under  surge  conditions,  they  represent  the  equivalent  of  a 
long  section  of  line,  and  thus  aid  in  deflecting  discharges 
into  the  arresters.  Extensions  to  a  system  may,  however, 
destroy  such  an  adjusted  positioning  of  arresters.  In 
closing.  Professor  Caldwell  quoted  the  advice,  "Spend  all 
the  money  you  can  spare  on  lightning  arresters,  and  then 
trust  to  Providence." 

Mr.  S.  M.  Rust.  Greenville,  described  the  arrangement 
of  transformers  on  the  line  mentioned  by  Mr.  Gaskill.  Mr. 
J.  D.  Lyon,  Cincinnati,  reported  a  lightning  stroke  at  the 
local  power  house  which  perforated  the  oil-filled  tank  of 
an  induction  regulator,  at  the  same  time  setting  fire  to  the 
stream  of  oil  from  the  leak.  This  poured  down  on  the 
main  outgoing  cables,  burning  them  and  crippling  the  sys- 
tem. Mr.  C.  I.  Crippen,  Youngstown,  recounted  how  a  set 
of  multi-gap  arresters  was  replaced  with  aluminum  cells, 
a  ground  wire  later  being  added  on  the  line.  Best  results 
were  obtained,  however,  by  returning  to  multi-gap  opera- 
tion, with  the  ground  wire  in  position.  Mr.  A.  B.  Young, 
Kent,  told  of  making  ground  connections  to  lo-ft.  sections 
of  pipe  having  their  lower  ends  flattened  into  a  pick-point 
and  the  upper  ends  sealed  and  closed  with  the  connecting 
wire.  The  pipes  were  filled  with  water  to  insure  contact 
with  the  wire,  and  after  twelve  years'  use  only  3  in.  of 
the  water  was  found  to  have  evaporated.  Mr.  J.  B.  Garden, 
Bridgeport,  remarked  the  surprising  difference  in  lightning 
conditions  in  his  city  and  in  Wheeling,  just  across  the 
river,  despite  identity  in  construction  and  methods.  Mr. 
A.  A.  Pointer,  Antwerp,  testified  to  the  satisfactory  opera- 
tion of  his  own  line  without  either  arresters  or  ground 
wires.  Mr.  S.  H.  Bruce,  Garrettsville,  recommended  the 
familiar  telegraph  expedient  of  running  a  ground  wire  up 
each  pole,  ending  in  a  loop  at  the  top.  Mr.  J.  N.  Sharp, 
Toledo,  described  a  ground-wire  support  made  by  bending 
a  6-ft.  section  of  j4-'n.  pipe  so  as  to  clear  the  phase  wires. 

In  a  continuance  of  the  same  discussion  on  Friday  Mr. 
W.  S.  Culver,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  explained  that  no 
arrester  can  protect  against  a  direct  lightning  stroke.  The 
efficacy  of  its  protection  is  also  at  all  times  dependent  on 
a  ground  connection  of  good  quality.  Mr.  Culver  men- 
tioned the  introduction  of  a  new  arrester  designed  for  sale 
at  a  low  price,  but  arranged  to  give  a  reasonable  quality 
of  protection.  He  also  described  the  arcing-ground  sup- 
pressor for  station  use.  In  answer  to  queries  from  Messrs. 
W.  J.  Conrad,  Weare  Parsons,  W.  C.  Anderson  and  John 
Gilmartin,  Mr.  Culver  stated  his  opinion  that  there  is  no  '| 
objection  to  installing  arresters  on  poles  with  transformers 
if  proper  construction  is  used.     While  multi-gap  arresters 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


235 


can  be  used  up  to  10,000  volts,  aluminum  cells,  he  declared, 
will  give  better  service,  except  where  inaccessible  for  the 
charging  necessary  for  reforming  the  film.  The  use  of 
arresters  on  secondary  lines,  he  observed,  depends  upon  the 
latter's  length  and  exposure,  usually  being  considered  un- 
necessary for  ordinary  runs,  especially  where  a  grounded- 
neutral  system  is  employed.  Others  who  took  part  in  the 
discussion  were  Messrs.  W.  C.  Andrews,  Canton ;  F.  M. 
Tait,  Dayton;  J.  B.  Johnson,  Massillon,  and  O.  H.  Cald- 
well, Chicago. 

FIXING  OF   ELECTRIC  RATES. 

In  his  paper  on  "Rate  Making,"  presented  on  Wednesday 
morning,  the  Hon.  Halford  Erickson,  chairman  of  the 
Railroad  Commission  of  Wisconsin,  Madison,  first  traced 
the  history  of  monopolistic  undertakings  down  to  their 
regulation  by  governmental  authority  intrusted  to  connnis- 
sions.  A  public-utility  company,  he  declared,  is  entitled  to 
a  reasonable  rate  of  return  after  paying  operating  expenses, 
depreciation  and  interest  on  the  property  required  to  serve 
the  public.  Cost  of  reproduction  is  now  receiving  principal 
consideration  in  fixing  plant  value,  the  cost  of  building  the 
plant  new,  diminished  by  its  depreciation,  being  taken  as 
its  present  value.  This  figure  may  properly  include 
"going"  value,  or  the  cost  of  getting  the  business.  It  is, 
however,  free  from  such  elements  as  mistakes  in  manage- 
ment and  other  fallacious  values  which  may  have  had  a 
part  in  the  actual  cost.  Original  cost  covers  material, 
labor,  superintendence,  organization,  and  even  the  dis- 
counts necessary  on  securities  and  the  cost  of  promoting. 
Reproduction  cost  is  based  on  inventory  and  appraisal. 
Allowance  for  land  appreciation  is  a  moot  question.  When 
a  difference  exists  between  original  and  reproduction  costs 
the  value  to  be  chosen  must  be  governed  by  local  condi- 
tions. Although  depreciation  has  been  viewed  as  both  a 
capital  charge  and  as  akin  to  repairs,  the  present  view, 
said  the  speaker,  tends  to  the  deposit  of  a  fixed  amount 
yearly  in  a  depreciation  fund,  which  is  set  aside  to  meet  the 
cost  of  renewals.  The  rate  allowable  depends  on  many 
things,  including  the  use  made  of  the  depreciation-fund 
money  while  accumidating.  For  electric  plants  the  rate 
of  depreciation  permitted  has  been  from  4  to  5  per  cent. 
What  shall  constitute  a  reasonable  rate  of  return  is  also 
fixed  by  the  current  value  of  capital  and  business  ability. 
If  less  than  this,  the  public  suffers,  and  if  more,  the  result- 
ing influx  of  capital  and  men  soon  adjusts  the  inequality. 
Eight  per  cent  on  the  cost  value  has  been  considered  fair. 
A  system  of  uniform  accounting  and  records  would  be 
valuable  to  the  utility  for  its  own  purposes  alone  of  com- 
paring costs,  etc.  Earnings,  to  be  reasonable,  should  cover 
depreciation,  profit  and  operating  expenses.  To  these, 
declared  Colonel  Erickson,  the  company  is  entitled  by  law 
and  in  fact.  Each  department  and  customer  should  be 
required  to  bear  his  own  share  of  the  cost  of  service,  classi- 
fied under  the  various  heads  of  demand,  quantity,  load- 
factor,  etc.  In  the  absence  of  demand  meters  the  "active 
load"  may  be  taken  as  an  equitable  basis  in  figuring  the 
demand  charge.  Under  some  conditions  it  may  be  proper 
to  take  on  additional  motor  load  at  low  rates  if  these  pay 
sufficient  margin  to  apply  on  the  fixed  plant  charges. 

Discussion. 

In  answer  to  a  question  by  Mr.  M.  E.  Turner,  Cleveland, 
Colonel  Erickson  insisted  that  there  would  be  little  dif- 
ference, beyond  the  cost  of  billing,  collection,  etc.,  in 
serving  1000  i-kw  customers  and  one  looo-kw  customer, 
each  using  service  at  the  same  load-factor.  Where  a  line 
has  to  be  built  for  some  distance  to  reach  a  customer,  the 
latter  may  be  charged  at  a  higher  rate,  the  Wisconsin  com- 
mission sanctioning  this  as  a  case  of  "just  discrimination" 
as  compared  with  a  customer  next  door  to  the  plant  who 
properly  secures  the  lower  regular  rate.  If,  however,  these 
two  customers  are  engaged  in  the  same  line  of  manufacture 
the    law    may     prevent    such    discrimination.      Where    two 


utilities  operate  in  the  same  community,  one  plant  being 
nearer  a  given  customer  than  the  other,  the  commission 
has  required  each  company  to  charge  the  same  rates  to 
the  customer.  "Competition,"  said  the  speaker,  "is  out  of 
question  in  the  utility  field,  and  ultimately  means  de- 
struction." 

In  reply  to  a  question  by  Mr.  F".  M.  Tait,  Dayton,  Colonel 
Erickson  said  that  the  Wisconsin  commission  has  several 
times  found  it  necessary  to  raise  existing  electric  rates, 
both  in  sections  and  the  schedule  as  a  whole,  in  order  to 
insure  proper  earnings  for  the  company.  Numerous  other 
cases  have  occurred  in  small  telephone  companies,  started 
and  run  without  view  to  depreciation.  Such  raising  of 
rates  is  unpopular,  and  the  commission  has  been  criticised, 
but,  said  the  chairman,  it  must  nevertheless  do  its  duty  in 
deciding  cases  on  facts. 

Hon.  O.  P.  Gothlin,  chairman  of  the  Ohio  Utility  Com- 
mission, Columbus,  pointed  out  the  essential  differences 
between  the  Wisconsin  and  Ohio  commission  laws  as  passed 
by  the  legislatures.  In  Wisconsin  the  commission  has 
jurisdiction  over  municipal  plants,  while  the  Ohio  commis- 
,sion  has  not.  This  condition  results  from  the  "home  rule" 
cry,  popular  just  now.  Under  the  Ohio  law  the  only  vice 
in  rates  can  be  that  of  discrimination,  since  the  rates 
themselves  are  prescribed  by  the  local  municipalities. 
While  stockholders  are  entitled  to  fair  returns,  they  are 
not,  insisted  Mr.  Gothlin,  entitled  to  returns  for  which  no 
compensation  or  inadequate  consideration  has  been  given, 
or  where  unnecessary  margins  have  been  received  in 
placing  the  securities. 

Mr.  J.  D.  Lyon,  Cincinnati,  directed  attention  to  the  im- 
portance of  quantity  discounts,  which,  he  said,  seem  in 
general  to  be  governed  by  a  law  approximating  that  of 
compound  interest.  In  Cincinnati  the  customer  charge  is 
made  high,  while  the  rate  of  the  quantity  discounts  is 
accordingly  large.  Mr.  W.  C.  Anderson,  Canton,  pointed 
out  that  one  large  customer  may  be  served  with  a  less  ex- 
pensive distribution  system  and  with  larger  transformers, 
costing  less  per  kilowatt,  than  would  be  necessary  for 
equivalent  service  to  a  number  of  small  users.  Prof.  F.  C. 
Caldwell,  Columbus,  spoke  of  the  difference  in  depreciation 
chargeable  to  actual  wearing  out  in  service  and  that  caused 
by  simple  obsolescence.  Mr.  E.  E.  Witherby,  Chicago,  said 
that  in  New  York  State  the  commission  has  no  control 
over  local  block  systems,  this  resulting  in  price  cutting  and 
practically  necessitating  secret  rebates.  Mr.  John  Gil- 
martin.  Toledo,  again  directed  attention  to  the  greater 
cost  of  serving  small  customers.  Messrs.  Erickson  and 
Gothlin  received  the  unanimous  thanks  of  the  convention. 

THE   UTILITY  AND  THE   PUBLIC. 

Mr.  D.  L.  Gaskill,  Greenville,  Ohio,  followed  with  his 
paper,  "The  Public  Utility  and  Its  Relation  to  the  Public." 
The  public,  said  the  speaker,  has  a  right  to  demand  good 
service  commensurate  with  the  size  of  the  municipality 
served;  reasonable  rates  which  will  encourage  industry  and 
be  within  the  means  of  all  classes  of  citizens;  honest  treat- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  utility  so  as  to  insure  every  con- 
sumer that  he  is  getting  what  he  pays  for — no  more,  no  less 
— and  equal  rights  that  will  guarantee  to  the  patron  that  he 
shall  have  the  same  rate  and  treatment  as  all  others  having 
like  service. 

The  utility  on  its  side  has  rights  which  the  public  like- 
wise should  be  bound  to  grant  and  observe:  Protection 
from  competition,  both  municipal  and  private;  rates  that 
will  insure  full  cost  of  operation  after  taking  into  con- 
sideration all  the  elements  that  enter  into  the  cost  of  the 
business  and  that  will  in  addition  return  a  reasonable  profit 
on  its  value  as  a  going  concern,  taking  into  consideration 
the  vicissitudes  of  the  business,  and  franchises  that  will 
insure  to  capital  invested  continuous  safety  and  be  free 
from  political  bartering  or  the  attacks  of  the  demagogue. 

Franchises  have  been  stock  in  trade  of  the  political 
agitator  and  demagogue   for  more  than   a  decade.     They 


236 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


have  been  represented  as  of  great  value,  but  they  generally 
turn  out  less  valuable  than  they  look.  "Franchises  are 
like  babies.  We  have  to  have  them  to  keep  the  world 
going.  But  they  are  generally  not  worth  much  when  they 
come,  and  you  have  to  spend  lots  of  money  ou  them  to 
develop  them,  and  when  you  get  them  to  be  profitable  they 
are  gone."  We  must  have  a  franchise  to  operate,  but  there 
cannot  be  much  inducement  for  the  investment  of  suf- 
ficient capital  to  give  good  service  or  reasonable  rates  with 
short-term  franchises  subject  to  the  onslaught  of  the 
agitator,  demagogue  and  boodler  when  they  must  be  re- 
newed. Mr.  Gaskill  expressed  his  own  opinion  that  the 
franchise  should  have  no  term  at  all,  but  should  be  granted 
by  the  state  through  the  public  service  board,  and  be 
irrevocable  and  protected  from  competition,  both  municipal 
and  private,  so  long  as  the  utility  gives  good  service  and 
reasonable  rates  and  carries  out  the  orders  of  the  public 
service  board.  If  such  board  has  control  of  the  rates  and 
the  service  of  the  utility,  the  public  need  have  no  fear  of 
the  results  of  such  power. 

In  the  discussion  Mr.  J.  C.  Martin,  Wilmington,  pointed 
out  that  the  desire  for  a  utility  commission  came  from  the 
corporations  as  well  as  the  public,  and  the  passage  of  the 
act  has  resulted  in  an  influx  of  capital  into  the  State.  Mr. 
J.  V.  Oxtoby,  attorney  for  the  Detroit  Edison  Company, 
expressed  hope  that  other  legislatures  might  take  cog- 
nizance of  the  broad  principles  applied  by  the  Wisconsin 
commission.  A  franchise,  contrary  to  the  general  opinion, 
he  said,  has  no  value.  For  if  it  does  not  fix  rates  it  is 
merely  a  permit  sustaining  the  maintenance  of  company 
equipment  in  the  city  streets.  Matters  of  rates  and  fran- 
chises are  not  properly  matters  of  "home  rule,"  since  state 
bodies  benefit  and  advance  from  each  successive  case,  while 
the  local  community  is  limited  to  only  a  single  experience. 

COMMITTEE  ON    COSTS. 

At  the  session  of  Thursday  morning  Mr.  J.  D.  Lyon, 
Cincinnati,  chairman,  read  the  report  of  the  committee  on 
costs.  It  enumerated  the  various  items  which  make  up  in- 
vestment expense,  operating  costs,  cost  of  going  value, 
depreciation,  diversity-factor,  etc.,  listing  under  each  head- 
ing the  various  subjects  properly  attributable  to  the  corre- 
sponding charge.  Under  the  heading  of  diversity-factor 
was  included  a  discussion  of  the  application  of  this  factor 
to  rate  schedules.  From  data  obtainable,  although  ad- 
mittedly meager,  the  committee's  report  pointed  out  the 
interesting  conclusion  that  the  curve  of  diversity-factor  as 
affected  by  load-factor  or  the  equivalent  hours'  use  of 
maximum  demand  is  exponential  and  probably  of  the  hyper- 
bolic form. 

Mr.  D.  L.  Gaskill,  Greenville,  suggested  extension  of 
the  committee's  work  to  rates  and  accounting,  also  giving 
its  assistance  to  the  utility  commission  in  reaching  a  basis 
of  standard  accounts  for  central  stations.  Mr.  W.  C. 
Anderson,  Canton,  observed  that  the  forty-dollar  demand 
charge  per  kw-year,  regarded  as  permissible  by  the 
Wisconsin  commission,  does  not  exceed  the  standby  con- 
nection charge  made  in  many  Ohio  plants.  Mr.  J.  C. 
Martin,  Wilmington,  declared  each  company  should  know 
its  own  costs.  Replying  to  Mr.  F.  C.  Jeannot's  inquiry, 
Mr.  Lyon  explained  the  method  of  computing  the  fixed 
charge  of  daily  delivered  capacity.  This  amounts  to  11 
cents  per  kw-day  in  the  case  of  a  charge  of  $40  per  year, 
but  in  actual  use  is  generally  found  to  be  higher,  being 
from  15  to  22  cents  per  day. 

N.   E.  L.   A.   AFFILIATION. 

Mr.  F.  M.  Tait,  Dayton,  president  of  the  National  Elec- 
tric Light  Association,  spoke  briefly  on  the  subject  of 
affiliating  the  Ohio  association  with  the  national  body  and 
asked  for  a  committee  to  investigate  the  advantages  of 
such  membership,  a  constitutional  change  being  necessary. 
President  Anderson  later  appointed  Messrs.  Mathias 
Turner,  Cleveland;  W.   P.  Hubbell,  Wauseon,  and  D.  L. 


Gaskill,    Greenville,   members   of   the   connnittee   on    N.    E. 
L.  A.  affiliation. 

REPORT   OF   METER   COMMITTEE. 

The  report  of  the  meter  committee,  comprising  Messrs. 
John  Gilmartin,  Toledo;  H.  L.  Cook,  Columbus,  and  J.  T. 
Kermodc,  Cleveland,  was  presented  by  Chairman  Gilmartin. 
In  large  part  the  report  was  devoted  to  a  discussion  of  the 
meter  problems  before  the  small  companies.  M.;ter 
accuracy  as  an  important  factor  in  the  company's  revenue 
was  mentioned  under  this  head,  and  methods  wei  v"  de- 
scribed for  use  by  central  stations  having  less  than 
1500  meters.  Periods  between  tests  for  different  classes 
of  meters  were  defined.  The  report  also  recommended 
meetings  of  meter  men  from  the  companies  of  the  State, 
devoting  in  each  case  an  entire  day's  session  to  the 
conference. 

In  the  discussion  Mr.  W.  Parsons,  Springfield,  said  that 
"the  meter  is  the  cash  register"  of  the  plant  and  deserves 
the  best  care  and  attention.  He  also  urged  a  reduction  in 
the  shunt  losses  per  meter,  which  now  vary  from  2.2  watts 
to  16  watts.  Mr.  H.  L.  Cook,  Columbus,  recommended  the 
N.  E.  L.  A.  meterman's  handbook  as  a  valuable  work  for 
its  purpose.  Prof.  F.  C.  Caldwell,  Columbus,  referred  to 
plans  now  maturing  to  make  the  electrical  laboratory  of 
the  Ohio  State  University  a  state  branch  of  the  National 
Bureau  of  Standards  for  the  testing  of  instruments.  He 
also  offered  the  services  of  graduate  and  undergraduate 
students  at  nominal  rates  for  meter-testing  work.  A  sug- 
gestion made  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Martin,  advocating  the  state 
testing  and  sealing  of  all  meters,  was  objected  to  by  Messrs. 
R.  S.  Graves,  Cincinnati;  A.  S.  Yard,  Newark;  F.  C.  Jean- 
not,  Marysville;  W.  Parsons,  Springfield;  H.  L.  Cook, 
Columbus;  John  Gilmartin,  Toledo;  J.  T.  Kermode,  Cleve- 
land, and  W.  C.  Anderson,  who  pointed  out  its  practical  dis- 
advantages in  loss  of  time,  increased  stock  of  meters,  im- 
possibility of  repairs,  etc.  Mr.  E.  C.  Burch,  East  Liver- 
pool, said  that  70  per  cent  of  his  meter  complaints  when 
traced  down  were  found  to  be  unjust,  so  that  it  has  been 
found  less  expensive  to  send  a  solicitor  to  the  customer 
to  discuss  the  matter  with  him  and  convince  him  of  his 
error  than  to  take  the  time  of  a  meterman.  Mr.  Kermode 
observed  that  closer  scrutiny  would  likely  reveal  that  95 
per  cent  of  these  cbmplaints  were  unjust.  Of  those  justi- 
fied, perhaps  2  per  cent  will  be  due  to  grounds.  He  dis- 
couraged the  practice  of  sending  a  solicitor  to  discuss 
troubles  with  customers. 

ELECTROLYTIC  PURIFICATION  OF  SEWAGE. 

Prof.  F.  C.  Caldwell,  of  Ohio  State  University,  Colum- 
bus, next  presented  a  report  on  the  electrolytic  purification 
of  sewage,  on  which  principle  plants  are  now  operating  at 
Santa  Monica,  Cal.,  and  Oklahoma  City,  Okla.  After  out- 
lining the  method  of  destroying  the  various  putrefying, 
oxidizing  and  disease-producing  bacteria  by  the  passage  of 
electric  current,  the  speaker  described  the  Oklahoma 
City  plant,  an  illustrated  description  of  which  was  given 
in  the  Electrical  World  of  May  4,  1911.  While  the  evidence 
seems  quite  conclusive  that  where  the  sewage  has  received 
suitable  disintegrating  and  digesting  or  putrefying  action 
previous  to  the  electrolytic  treatment  the  effluent  im- 
mediately after  each  treatment  is  practically  odorless  and 
free  from  bacteria,  the  author  added  that  the  question  which 
does  not  seem  to  be  satisfactorily  answered  is  "Has  organic 
matter  been  so  far  oxidized  that  it  can  be  relied  upon  not 
to  putrefy  again  and  thus  develop  a  nuisance  in  the  stream 
through  which  it  flows?" 

Professor  Caldwell  also  pointed  out  that  the  means  of  dis- 
posing of  the  effluent  in  the  two  cases  cited  is  not  usually 
at  hand  in  most  sections  of  the  country.  The  cost  of 
operating  the  Oklahoma  plant,  which  cost  $16,000,  is  said  to 
be  $3,500  a  year,  or  $12.81  per  1,000,000  gal.  The  author 
deplored  the  fact  that  no  conclusive  report  by  a  competent 
and  experienced  sanitary  engineer  is  available  on  the  plants 


AUGUST   3,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


237 


now  running,  although  the  identical  system  was  first  ex- 
perimented with  by  Webster  in  England  in  1889.  Trenton, 
N.  J.,  he  mentioned,  is  now  installing  an  ozone  plant  for 
sewage  purification.  In  conclusion,  said  Professor  Cald- 
well, it  appears  that  the  verdict  for  the  electrolytic  puri- 
fication of  sewage  must  at  the  present  time  be  "Not  proven, 
but  very  interesting."  The  paper  was  discussed  briefly 
by  Messrs.  J.  D.  Lyon,  Cincinnati,  and  G.  McQuilkin, 
Canton. 

ELECTRICITY    IN   RURAL   DISTRICTS. 

In  his  paper  on  the  use  of  electricity  on  the  farm,  Mr. 
J.  C.  Matthieu,  Dayton,  explained  that  many  Ohio  truck 
farms  depend  on  proper  and  seasonable  rainfall  for  their 
success.  Such  crops  require  the  even  distribution  of  from 
I  in.  to  5  in.  of  water  per  month,  while  more  is  desirable. 
In  six  months,  however,  hardly  3  in.  falls  in  Ohio,  this 
precipitation  often  occurring  in  excessive  rains  followed 
by  droughts. 

Experience  has  shown  crop  increases  of  25  to  100  per 
cent  with  plentiful  wetting  of  the  ground  at  plant  setting 
and  regularly  applied  irrigation  of  2  in.  to  3  in.  of  water 
per  week  in  from  one  to  three  applications,  depending  on 
the  weather  and  the  extent  of  natural  rainfall.  Artificial 
irrigation  thus  enables  the  gardener  to  force  a  rapid  yield, 
as  vegetables  may  be  set  or  transplanted  without  waiting 
a  fortnight  or  more  for  natural  moistening  of  the  ground. 

The  sprinkling  method  is  chiefly  used  by  the  truck 
gardener.  Water  is  supplied  to  the  soil  by  nozzles  attached 
to  a  movable  section  of  pipe.  The  pipes  are  placed  60  ft. 
apart  and  are  from  3  ft.  to  10  ft.  above  the  ground,  per- 
mitting an  unhampered  cultivation  of  the  soil.  The  main 
pipe,  2  in.  to  4  in.  in  diameter,  is  usually  laid  across  the 
field  below  the  frost  level. 

In  some  instances  motors  are  used  to  increase  the  cir- 
culation of  the  water  in  the  heating  pipes  in  green- 
houses, the  result  being  a  saving  in  the  coal  bill.  The 
centrifugal  pump  is  the  most  popular.  That  the  pump  can 
be  left  running  without  an  attendant  appeals  to  the  farmer. 
One  lo-hp  motor  can  be  used  on  the  farm  as  the  general- 
utility  motor,  driving  feed  grinders,  hay  presses,  silage 
grinders,  threshers,  corn  shellers  and  refrigerating 
machinery.  There  are  also  many  duties  which  could  be 
performed  about  the  farm  after  dark  if  the  farmer  had 
the  proper  light.  The  probable  consumption  of  the  motor 
on  the  farm  would  be  200  kvv-hr.  per  month. 

Discussion. 

Mr.  S.  M.  Rust  reported  the  farmers  along  the  Green- 
ville lines  to  be  good  paying  customers.  Mr.  W.  C.  Ander- 
son, Canton,  pointed  out  that  the  increasing  number  of 
splendid  homes  in  the  country  should  make  rural  lines 
more  profitable.  Mr.  J.  C.  Martin,  Wilmington,  expressed 
his  opinion  that  central-station  service  can  hardly  compete 
with  farm  isolated  plants,  which,  he  said,  can  be  operated 
at  a  cost  only  a  few  cents  a  day  more  than  that  necessary 
for  the  pumping.  Mr.  W.  R.  Griffen,  East  Liverpool,  testi- 
fied, however,  to  converting  many  farmers  from  isolated- 
plant  to  central-station  service  from  his  13,000-voIt  dis- 
tribution line.  Mr.  C.  I.  Crippen,  Youngstown,  also  re- 
ported shutting  down  isolated  farm  plants.  The  income 
from  this  farm  service,  he  said,  averages  $20  per  year. 
Meters  are  read  quarterly,  but  a  plan  is  now  to  be  tried  to 
have  the  customers  read  their  own  meters  and  report  their 
consumption. 

Mr.  Reinhart  spoke  of  the  extensive  rural  development 
around  Marion,  Ind.,  where  it  is  planned  to  supply  energy 
to  threshing  machines  over  temporary  lines  borne  on 
A-frame  poles.  Mr.  M.  H.  Wagner,  Dayton,  cited  a  case 
where  a  farmer  saved  50  per  cent  by  replacing  his  plant 
with  purchased  energy.  Mr.  Rust  told  of  a  farmer  who 
had  bought  a  gas  engine  and  storage  battery  for  $500  and 
is  now  clamoring  for  service  connection.  Mr.  S.  H.  Bruce 
declared  isolated  plants  to  be  benefits,  since  they  are  the 


cause  of  getting  houses  and  barns  wired,  accustoming  the 
farmer  to  the  conveniences  of  electricity.  Soon  he  learns 
also  of  the  unreliability  of  his  little  plant  and  then  is 
ready  for  central-station  service.  Mr.  Chappelle  insisted 
that  with  gas-engine  plants  and  storage  batteries  farmers 
can  obtain  electricity  at  3  cents  per  kw-hr.,  a  rate,  he  said, 
lower  than  the  central  station  can  supply  it. 

JOINT  POLE-LINE   CONSTRUCTION. 

The  closing  feature  of  the  program  was  the  report  by 
the  committee  on  joint  pole-line  construction,  presented  by 
Mr.  J.  L.  Spore,  Toledo.  Such  construction  relieves  the  city 
street  from  the  cluttering  due  to  several  sets  of  poles,  in- 
sures more  rigid  poles  as  well  as  more  frequent  inspection 
by  different  sets  of  men,  and  decreases  the  initial  cost  and 
maintenance  expense.  The  pole  agreement  entered  into 
by  the  nine  companies  operating  in  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  was 
abstracted  in  the  report,  which  was  illustrated  with  photo- 
graphs and  sketches  showing  the  conditions  described.  In 
the  discussion  Mr.  W.  Parsons,  Springfield,  told  of  the 
satisfactory  agreement  reached  between  his  company  and 
the  Bell  telephone  company  at  Springfield.  When  the 
telephone  company  has  a  line  the  electric  company  can 
secure  joint  use  of  the  poles,  if  they  are  high  enough  for 
its  purpose,  by  paying  one-half  the  cost.  If  not  high 
enough,  the  electric  company  erects  taller  poles,  which 
become  the  telephone  company's  property,  while  the  old 
poles  are  taken  by  the  electric  company.  The  electric  light 
company  then  maintains  the  new  poles,  furnishing  free 
contacts  for  telephone  use.  After  brief  discussion  by 
Messrs.  O.  B.  Welsh,  W.  J.  Conrad,  W.  C.  Anderson,  C.  I. 
Crippen  and  H.  M.  Wagner,  it  was  voted  to  have  the 
Springfield  agreement  abstracted  for  printing  in  the  con- 
vention transactions. 


ACTIVITY  IN  COAL-MINING   AND  ELECTRIC-SER- 
VICE PROPERTIES  IN  CENTRAL  ILLINOIS. 


Sensational  reports  about  the  merger  of  coal-mining  and 
electric-service  properties  in  Central  Illinois,  with  elec- 
trical energy  transmission  to  Chicago,  have  appeared  in 
many  of  the  daily  newspapers.  Inquiry  reveals  the  fact 
that  there  is  considerable  activity  in  the  area  mentioned,  in 
the  consolidation  both  of  coal  mines  and  small  central- 
station  properties,  and  there  may  be  some  connection  be- 
tween these  two  developments  going  on  at  the  same  time. 
However,  the  reports  about  the  long-distance  transmission 
of  energy  from  the  coal  mines  to  Chicago,  a  distance  of 
from  150  to  200  miles,  according  to  the  location  of  the 
mines,  are  not  based  on  facts,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained 
at  the  present  time.  Furthermore,  the  two-hundred-million- 
dollar  corporation  spoken  of  in  some  of  the  news  dispatches 
has  not  materialized  as  yet,  while  it  is  believed  also  that 
the  report  of  the  merger  of  nearly  all  the  public-service 
plants  in  the  State  is  very  greatly  exaggerated. 

However,  developments  in  central  Illinois,  so  far  as  pub- 
licly known,  are  of  an  interesting  nature.  Mr.  F.  S.  Pea- 
body,  of  Chicago,  a  prominent  coal-mine  operator,  owns 
several  coke  mines  and  tracts  of  coal  lands  in  Christian 
County  and  nearby  counties  in  central  Illinois.  One  of  his 
tracts  of  coal  land  is  at  Kincaid,  where  he  has  780  acres. 
On  this  tract  Mr.  Peabody  plans  to  develop  a  coal  mine 
and  build  an  electric  generating  station  to  be  operated  by 
the  coal  from  the  mine.  The  initial  rating  of  this  gen- 
erating station  will  be  about  2000  kw.  Electrical  energy 
from  this  station  will  be  used  to  operate  the  hoisting  and 
other  machinery  in  Mr.  Peabody's  mines  and  also  perhaps 
in  a  number  of  other  mines  on  which  he  has  options  and 
which  he  may  purchase.  This  will  give  the  plant  a  consid- 
erable day  load,  but  in  order  to  operate  the  plant  more 
economically  and  give  it  a  desirable  load-curve  Mr.   Pea- 


238 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


body  has  purchased  several  small  central-station  plants, 
notably  in  Edinburg,  Pawnee,  Auburn  and  Nokomis,  which 
are  small  towns  in  Christian,  Sangamon  and  Montgomery 
Counties.  This  is  the  nucleus  of  what  may  possibly  develop 
into  a  much  larger  project  as  time  goes  on. 

At  the  same  time  the  Central  Illinois  Pablic  Service 
Company  of  Mattoon,  111.,  is  extending  its  field  of  opera- 
tions and  reaching  out  into  the  surrounding  territory,  which 
is  not  very  far  from  the  scene  of  Mr.  Peabody's  operations. 
Possibly  there  is  some  connection  between  these  two  activi- 
ties, as  the  Central  Illinois  company  is  reported  to  have 
bought  some  small  central-station  properties  recently.  Mr. 
Samuel  Insull,  president  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison 
Company  of  Chicago  and  of  several  other  public-utility 
companies,  has  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  cen- 
tral Illinois  situation.  He  denies,  however,  that  he  will 
enter  the  coal  business  or  is  about  to  form  a  mammoth  com- 
bination to  embrace  all  the  principal  coal  mines  and  central- 
station  properties  of  the  State  of  Illinois. 

It  is  of  interest  to  add  that  on  July  29  the  authorized 
capital  of  the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Company  was 
increased  from  $330,000  to  $6,000,000. 


PROVINCE   OF    ONTARIO   WINS   SUIT   AGAINST 
CANADIAN  NIAGARA  POWER  COMPANY. 


of  measurement  being  a  compound  or  integration  of 
capacity  and  time.  The  number  of  horse-power  hours  or 
average  horse-power  is  ascertained  by  readings  indicated  by 
a  meter,  which  are  averaged  by  an  integrating  meter,  which 
compounds  or  integrates  capacity  and  gives  the  result  in 
horse-power  hours." 


The  Privy  Council  of  England  has  decided  that  the  con- 
struction placed  upon  the  contract  between  the  Province 
of  Ontario  and  the  Canadian  Niagara  Power  Company  by 
the  Attorney-General  of  Ontario  is  the  correct  one,  thus 
reversing  two  judgments  given  in  Ontario  courts  in  favor 
of  the  power  company.  The  result  will  be  the  payment  into 
the  provincial  treasury  of  many  thousands  of  dollars,  being 
the  amount  of  money  due  for  the  right  to  utilize  the  water 
of  the  Niagara  River  over  and  above  the  amount  hereto- 
fore annually  paid  by  the  company.  The  unpaid  amount 
reaches  these  large  proportions  because  the  contract  has 
been  in  force  for  ten  years  and  payment  has  been  made  ac- 
cording to  the  company's  interpretation  of  it.  The  contract 
which  gave  the  company  rights  for  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  electrical  energy  provided  for  a  given  method  of 
computing  the  rental  charge  fixed  by  the  government.  This, 
the  company  maintained,  was  based  on  a  meter  charge. 
The  Province  contended  that  the  rental  ought  to  be  based 
upon  the  peak  or  maximum  load.  The  difference  between 
the  rentals  computed  on  that  basis,  on  one  hand,  and  on  the 
basis  of  average  load,  on  the  other,  is  considerable  and 
corresponds  to  a  sum  of  money  which  the  Privy  Council 
holds  is  due  the  Province.  The  case  was  first  taken  to 
High  Court  by  the  Attorney-General  in  1908,  when  Mr. 
Justice  Riddell  decided  in  favor  of  the  defendants.  On 
appeal  by  the  Province  to  the  Court  of  Appeal,  this  decision 
was  upheld,  two  judges,  however,  dissenting.  The  argu- 
ment before  the  Privy  Council  was  heard  three  weeks  ago, 
and  judgment  was  reserved  until  July  22.  The  phraseology 
on  the  point  in  dispute  is  as  follows : 

"Peak  Contract. — Payment  is  made  for  the  greatest 
actual  capacity  in  horse-power  recorded  at  any  one  time. 
This  record  governs  any  period  for  which  payment  is 
being  made  and  may  also  govern  the  remainder  of  the  con- 
tractual period.  The  computation  may  be  made  progres- . 
sively  from  the  date  of  the  record  or  such  record  may  also 
have  a  retroactive  effect. 

"The  peak  or  maximum  horse-power  is  nothing  more 
or  less  than  the  real  capacity,  demonstrated  to  have  been 
required,  and  is  that  which  contains  the  greatest  number 
of  units  of  horse-power,  so  that  payment  for  each  horse- 
power is,  of  course,  payment  for  the  maximum  horse- 
power. 

"Meter  contract  payment  is  made  for  the  number  of 
horse-power  hours  or  average  horse-power,  the   standard 


HEARINGS   ON   BROOKLYN   CENTRAL-STATION 
RATES. 


At  the  last  hearing  on  Brooklyn  central-station  rates,  in 
relation  to  the  complaint  of  certain  consumers  announced 
in  our  last  issue,  it  was  argued  for  the  complainants  that 
small  individual  consumers  are  not  receiving  the  same  pro- 
portionate benefits  as  large  or  wholesale  consumers.  The 
Bush  Terminal,  which  it  was  declared  enjoys  a  rate  of 
less  than  2  cents  per  kw-hr.  and  resells  energy  to  its  tenants 
at  a  3-cent  rate,  was  cited  as  an  illustration.  Many  small 
customers  pay  a  rate  of  11  cents. 

Vice-president  W.  W.  Freeman  of  the  Edison  Electric 
Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn  stated  at  some  length 
the  company's  attitude  in  the  matter.  The  more  signficant 
portion  of  his  statement  follows: 

"The  company  asserts  that  its  rates  now,  as  in  the  past, 
are  just  and  reasonable,  and  that  the  earnings  of  the  com- 
pany are  substantially  less  than  the  minimum  return  upon 
actual  property  values  that  has  been  allowed  by  the  com- 
mission in  the  recent  rate  cases.  The  property  of  the  com- 
pany is  fully  equal  in  present  value  to  the  amount  of  its 
outstanding  securities.  Its  service,  in  point  of  reliability 
and  quality,  is  not  surpassed  in  any  city  throughout  the 
world. 

"The  rates  for  service  have  been  reduced  voluntarily  and 
frequently  as  applied  to  all  classes  of  service  and  as  rapidly 
as  conditions  of  growth  and  proper  development  would 
warrant.  The  last  reduction  was  put  into  effect  on  July  I, 
1912,  and  involves  a  loss  in  revenue  estimated  at  $250,000 
annually.  This  reduction  affects  the  great  mass  of  the 
company's  customers  and  automatically  lowers  the  price 
of  service  as  the  average  use  of  the  consumer  increases. 

"In  addition  to  rate  reductions,  the  company  has  volun- 
tarily extended  to  the  public  the  full  and  enormous  advan- 
tages of  the  improvements  in  incandescent  lamps  whereby 
the  amount  of  light  obtained  for  the  same  money  has  been 
more  than  doubled. 

"In  1905,  after  the  Legislature  had  fixed  the  maximum 
rates  for  electricity,  the  cost  of  burning  a  standard  i6-cp 
lamp  for  1000  hours  at  retail  rate  in  Brooklyn  was  $6. 
Now,  with  the  use  of  the  Mazda  lamp  and  present  retail 
rate,  the  same  amount  of  light  can  be  secured  for  $2.53, 
including  the  cost  of  the  lamp.  The  company  has  been 
operated  with  a  constant  desire  to  serve  the  public  well." 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS 


NEW   YORK    COMMISSION,    FIRST   DISTRICT. 

Wednesday,  July  31,  was  the  first  anniversary  of  the 
beginning  of  work  on  the  Lexington  Avenue  subway.  In 
the  year  which  has  elapsed  great  progress  has  been  made 
on  this  line,  which  will  be  the  backbone  of  the  new  subway 
system.  From  the  report  of  Alfred  Craven,  chief  engineer 
of  the  Public  Service  Commission,  on  the  progress  of  work 
for  the  month  ending  July  15,  it  appears  that  contracts 
have  been  let  by  the  commission  for  twelve  of  the  sixteen 
sections  of  this  line,  aggregating  41,407  ft.  in  length,  or 
about  8  miles,  at  contract  prices  totaling  $35,521,291.19. 

.    NEW  YORK  COMMISSION,  SECOND  DISTRICT. 

The  commission  has  denied  the  application  of  the  Lewis- 
ton  &  Lake   Ontario   Shore   Power  Company   to  exercise 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


239 


franchises  in  the  town  and  village  of  Wilson,  Niagara 
County,  for  the  reason  that  the  Conant-Bryant  Power 
Company  is  at  present  doing  business  in  the  village  of 
Wilson  and  also  has  a  franchise  from  the  town  of  Wilson. 
The  Lewiston  &  Lake  Ontario  company,  however,  is  given 
permission  to  renew  its  application  if  the  Conant-Bryant 
Power  Company  shall  not  present  to  the  commission,  at  a 
hearing  to  be  held  at  Buffalo  on  Aug.  2,  proof  that  it  has 
entered  into  a  contract  with  the  Niagara,  Lockport  & 
Ontario  Power  Company  for  the  purchase  of  Niagara 
energy  so  that  it  will  be  able  to  supply  any  demand  in  the 
town  and  village  of  Wilson,  and  proof,  furthermore,  that 
the  power  company  has  actually  begun  the  construction  of. 
its  transmission  line  to  Wilson,  and  that  the  Conant-Bryant 
company  has  begun  work  upon  its  transmission  line  in  the 
town  of  Wilson. 

MASSACHUSETTS   COMMISSION. 

The   Gas  and  Electric  Light   Commission  has  approved 
the  consolidation  of  the  Chicopee  Gas  Light  Company  with 
the  Springfield  Gas  Light  Company,  and  has  authorized  the 
issue  by  the  latter  of   mo  shares  of  additional  stock  of 
the  par  value  of  $100  each  and  the  exchange  of  the  same 
for  the  entire  capital  stock  of  the  Chicopee  company  upon 
the  basis  of  one  share  of  Springfield  stock  for  two  shares 
of   Chicopee  stock.     An   interesting  phase   of  the  case   is 
the     question     of     prices     to     be     charged     in     Chicopee 
as    a    result     of    the    consolidation.      The    plants    in     the 
adjoining  cities  of   Springfield  and  Holyoke  have   enjoyed 
a     volume     of     business     several     times     that     of     the 
Chicopee    company    and    have    been    able,    on    account    of 
the   great   difference    in    their    circumstances,    to    sell    gas 
profitably  at  a  much  lower  price  than  a  company  like  that 
in  Chicopee  can  be  reasonably  expected  to  do.     The  mains 
of  the  two  companies  have  lately  been  operated  as  integral 
parts  of  one  system  under  the  same  financial  control.    The 
municipal    authorities    of    Chicopee    objected    to    the    con- 
solidation   unless    the     Springfield    company    would    im- 
mediately establish  the  price  of  gas  at  85  cents  in  Chicopee, 
as  elsewhere  in  its  territory,  although  the  former  Chicopee 
price  was  $1.25  and  it  was  the  intention  to  make  a  reduc- 
tion  to   $1.15    net    immediately   after   consolidation.      The 
board  says:    "The   question   of   price   is   involved   in   this 
proceeding,  not  perhaps  primarily  but  incidentally  to  the 
question   of   the   expediency   of   a  union   of   the   two   com- 
panies.    From  an  examination  of  its  annual   return  it  is 
difficult  to  see  how  the  Chicopee  company,  if  it  remains 
independent,  can  be  required  to  sell  at  less  than  the  price 
now  charged.     The   proposed   consolidation   will    give   an 
obvious  advantage  to  consumers  in  Chicopee  even  if  the 
reduction    from    present    rates    be    no    greater    than    was 
ofifered   at   the   hearing.     If,    however,    the   company   can 
make  a  price  still  lower  without  prejudice  to  the  interests 
of  its  other  customers  it  may  properly  be  asked  to  do  so. 
In  other  words,  the  Chicopee  consumers  are  entitled  im- 
mediately upon  consolidation  to  the  lowest  reasonable  price 
which  the  company  can  make.     In  fixing  such  rate  many 
different  conditions  must  be  considered.     While  the  board 
has  been  unable  to  consider  all  the  pertinent  facts  with  the 
same  thoroughness  as  might  be  done  if  a  reduction  in  price 
were  the  only  issue  involved,  it  is  of  the  opinion  that  the 
company  may  be  reasonably  asked  to  reduce  its  net  price 
immediately  upon  consolidation  to  consumers  in  Chicopee 
to  $1  per  1000  ft.    While  this  price  may  be  reasonable  for 
a  limited  period,   it  would  be  entirely   unreasonable  as  a 
permanent  differential.     The   benefits   accruing   from   such 
a  consolidation  are  seldom   realized  immediately,  but  are 
progressive    in    their   character.      If,    beginning    with    the 
price  named,    further   reductions   are   made   as   conditions 
permit,  the  interests  of  all  consumers  will  be  promoted  and 
in  due  time  a  uniform  price  will  undoubtedly  be  established 
throughout  the  entire  territory  covered  by  the  united  com- 
pany." 


OHIO   COMMISSION. 

Although  the  Ohio  Public  Service  Commission  had  re- 
fused the  application  of  the  Columbus,  Kenton  &  Toledo 
Traction  Company  to  issue  bonds  because  the  price  at 
which  it  was  desired  to  sell  these  securities  was  considered 
too  low,  the  commission  on  July  27  granted  permission  to 
the  traction  company  to  issue  $1,385,000  par  value  of 
bonds  to  be  sold  at  80  or  above  and  $50,000  of  stock  to  be 
sold  at  par.  The  commission  became  convinced  that  under 
present  market  conditions  the  bonds  could  not  be  sold  for 
as  high  a  figure  as  95  or  100.  The  company  was  excep- 
tionally anxious  to  commence  construction. 

WISCONSIN   COMMISSION. 

During  the  past  week  decisions  on  two  minor  cases  were 
issued  by  the  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission.  The  vil- 
lage of  Whitehall  was  authorized  to  increase  its  rates  for 
street  lighting  from  25  cents  per  lamp  per  month  to  40 
cents  and  to  increase  the  rate  for  commercial  lighting, 
which  now  ranges  from  3  cents  to  8  cents,  to  6  cents  per 
kw-hr.  The  petition  of  the  Bruce  Water  &  Light  Com- 
pany for  authority  to  increase  the  motor-service  rates  was 
not  granted,  but  the  immediate  results  desired  by  the 
petitioner  were  effected  by  means  of  a  re-classification  of 
the  motor  users.  The  commission  also  called  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  present  practice  of  discriminating 
in  the  amount  of  the  minimum  bill  between  those  con- 
sumers who  own  their  own  meters  and  those  who  do  not 
is  contrary  to  law  and  ordered  that  steps  be  taken  to  remove 
the  illegal  features  of  the  schedule. 


Current  News  and  Notes. 

Alexander  Wireless  Bill. — The  Alexander  wireless- 
telegraph  bill,  which  has  been  under  consideration  by  the 
House  of  Representatives,  was  recently  stricken  from  the 
calendar,  and  there  is  little  probability  that  it  will  pass 
during  the  present  session  of  Congress.  Representative 
Mann  objected  to  a  consideration  of  the  subject  at  this  time 
on  the  ground  that  it  requires  more  study  and  further  con- 
sideration before  taking  final  action.  The  government  is 
said  to  be  especially  anxious  to  secure  a  broad  law  which 
will  secure  relief  from  interference  with  wireless  com- 
munication by  the  numerous  amateurs. 
'  *     *     * 

Thirty  Years  of  Edison  Service  in  New  York. — The 
month  of  September  will  complete  the  thirtieth  consecutive 
year  in  which  Edison  service  has  been  available  in  New 
York  City.  This  means  that,  with  the  exception  of  four 
days  of  partial  interruption  resulting  from  a  fire  in  the  old 
Pearl  Street  station  many  years  ago,  direct-current  service 
has  been  continuously  at  the  disposal  of  the  New  York 
public  throughout  that  entire  period.  The  anniversary  will 
be  celebrated  through  the  medium  of  the  Electrical  Exposi- 
tion and  Automobile  Show,  which  will  be  held  in  the  New 
Grand  Central  Palace,  New  York,  Oct.  9-19,  1912. 
*     *     * 

Industrial  Service  Building  in  Baltimore. — As  an  aid 
in  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  community  it 
serves,  the  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, Baltimore,  has  caused  to  be  erected  a  building  for 
providing  every  requirement  of  small  manufacturers  with- 
out capital  expenditure.  The  company  guaranteed  one-half 
of  the  cost  of  the  building,  the  result  being  the  formation 
of  a  $300,000  company  and  the  erection  of  a  seven-story 
and  basement  steel  and  concrete  building.  This  building 
was  formally  opened  on  July  24,  the  principal  speaker  on 
the  occasion  being  Mr.  J.  E.  Aldred,  president  of  the  Con- 
solidated Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company. 


240 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


Riverside  (Cal.)  Municipal  Plant. — According  to  a 
report  made  to  the  city  clerk,  the  revenues  of  the  municipal 
electric  plant  of  Riverside,  Cal.,  increased  83  per  cent  in 
the  year  ended  June  30,  1912,  compared  with  the  preceding 
year.  -The  principal  gain  was  in  the  sale  of  electricity  for 
industrial  purposes,  although  there  was  a  12  per  cent  in- 
crease in  the  revenue  from  lighting  customers,  now  amount- 
ing to  about  4000. 

*  *     * 

Wireless-Telegraph  Operators  to  Form  Union. — At  a 
meeting  held  recently  in  Hoboken,  N.  J.,  by  representatives 
of  wireless-telegraph  operators  of  America,  England, 
Germany,  Belgium  and  other  countries  measures  were 
adopted  for  the  formation  of  a  world-wide  union  of  wire- 
less operators.  Those  in  charge  of  the  movement  report 
that  temporary  headquarters  have  been  established  at  50 

Broadway,  New  York  City. 

+     *     * 

Violet  Ray  Sterilization  of  Drinking  Water. — A 
plant  for  the  sterilization  of  150  gal.  per  hour  of  Lake 
Michigan  water  by  violet  rays  has  been  in  operation  in 
Chicago  since  March  14,  1912.  The  water  is  bottled  for 
drinking  purposes.  In  brief  the  process  consists  of  coagu- 
lation, sedimentation,  double  filtration  and  sterilization  by 
means  of  violet  rays  emitted  from  a  Cooper  Hewitt  quartz- 
tube  mercury-vapor  lamp.  The  lamp  in  use  is  rated  at  4.5 
amp,  no  volts.  As  a  sanitary  precaution  the  cooler  or 
porcelain  jar  in  the  office  of  the  consumer  receives  a 
periodic  cleansing  and  sterilization  by  a  portable  violet-ray 
lamp  which  is  placed  over  the  jar  for  five  minutes,  the 
energy    being    taken    from    any    convenient    electric    lamp 

circuit. 

*  *     * 

Interstate  Industrial  Commission  Recommended. 
— In  a  report  signed  by  three  members  of  the  steel  investi- 
gating committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  a  recom- 
mendation was  presented  •  favoring  the  creation  of  an 
Interstate  Industrial  Commission  empowered  to  regulate 
industrial  corporations  doing  an  interstate  business  and 
authorized  to  fix  reasonable  prices  for  the  output  of  these 
concerns.  It  is  proposed  that  all  corporations  exceeding 
$50,000,000  in  capitalization  or  valuation  must  be  incor- 
porated under  a  federal  act  before  engaging  in  interstate 
commerce.  It  is  also  proposed  that  all  such  corporations 
must  be  capitalized  at  their  actual  value.  Interlocking 
directorates  and  holding  companies  would  be  forbidden 
except  when   permitted   by   the   Interstate   Commission   of 

Industry. 

*  *     * 

Opposition  to  Grants  of  Water-Power  Rights. — 
According  to  recent  reports.  Representative  Henry  T. 
Rainey,  of  Carrollton,  111.,  has  killed  six  bills  introduced  in 
the  House  of  Representatives  at  Washington  and  intended 
to  grant  water-power  rights  on  navigable  streams  to  cor- 
porations and  individuals.  The  main  ground  of  opposition 
to  these  bills  appears  to  be  that  they  did  not  provide  com- 
pensation for  the  government.  One  of  the  bills  was  intro- 
duced by  Representative  I.  S.  Pepper,  of  Muscatine,  Iowa, 
and  was  designed  to  authorize  the  Great  Northern  Develop- 
ment Company  to  build  a  power  dam  across  the  Mississippi 
River  between  Davenport,  Iowa,  and  Rock  Island,  111.  All 
of  the  bills  are  said  to  have  had  the  approval  of  army 
engineers  and  to  have  been  reported  favorably  by  the  com- 
mittee on  interstate  and  foreign  commerce.  They  were 
objected  to,  however,  by  Mr.  Stimson,  the  Secretary  of 
War,  partly  because  they  did  not  comply  with  the  recent 
recommendations  of  the  National  Waterways  Commission. 

*  *     * 

Decision  Against  St.  Louis  Central-Station  Merger. 
— The  United  States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  for  the 
Eighth  District  has  filed  a  decision  in  the  case  of  Morgan 
Jones  and  others  against  the  Missouri  Edison  Electric  Com- 
pany, which  has  been  in  the  courts  nine  years.     The  plain- 


tiffs, who  were  stockholders  in  the  Missouri  Edison  Com- 
pany, sought  to  have  set  aside  and  declared  illegal  the 
consolidation  of  that  company  with  the  Union  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company,  of  St.  Louis,  which  was  effected 
in  September,  1903,  alleging  that  the  minority  stockholders 
were  not  allowed  a  proper  amount  of  stock  in  the  new 
company.  The  court  held  that  the  distribution  of  stock  in 
the  new  company  to  the  stockholders  of  the  Missouri  Edison 
Company  was  grossly  unjust,  and  the  case  was  remanded 
to  the  lower  court  with  instructions  to  ascertain  the  valua- 
tion of  the  new  company  and  assign  to  the  appellants  the 
proportion  of  stock  to  which  they  are  entitled,  unless  the 
defendants  in  the  meantime  are  willing  to  pay  over  the 
value  of  this  stock,  with  interest,  and  the  costs  of  the  suit. 
+     *     * 

Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States  of 
America. — A  pamphlet  describing  the  plan  of  organization 
and  general  purposes  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the 
United  States  of  America  has  recently  been  distributed 
from  the  headquarters  in  Washington,  D.  C.  This  body 
was  formally  organized  at  the  National  Commercial  Con- 
ference called  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  and 
held  in  Washington,  D.  C,  on  April  22  and  23.  The  pur- 
pose of  this  body  is  to  encourage  and  promote  the  organiza- 
tion of  associations  of  business  men  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  and  to  encourage  co-operation  among  such 
organizations  and  increase  their  efficiency.  It  is  also  the 
intention  to  study  the  work  performed  by  all  government 
bureaus  which  are  related  in  any  way  to  the  commerce  of 
the  country,  and  to  analyze  carefully  all  statistics  relating 
to  the  production  and  distribution  of  all  manufactured 
products,  at  home  and  abroad.  Attention  will  also  be  given 
to  legislation  affecting  business  and  trade.  Every  com- 
mercial or  manufacturers'  association  not  organized  for 
private  purposes  is  eligible  for  membership.  Standing 
committees  will  be  appointed  by  the  board  of  directors  on 
membership  qualifications,  domestic  commerce,  foreign 
commerce  and  traffic,  transportation  and  communication. 
The  headquarters  of  the  organization  are  in  the  Riggs 
Building,  Washington,  D.  C. 

SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Radio-Engineers'  Meeting. — The  next  meeting  of  the 
Institute  of  Radio-Engineers  will  be  held  at  Columbia  Uni- 
versity on  Monday,  Sept.  2,  1912.  Mr.  E.  J.  Simon,  81  New 
Street,  New  York,  is  its  secretary. 

*  *     * 

Annual  Meeting  of  Sons  of  Jove. — The  next  annual 
meeting  of  the  Order  of  Rejuvenated  Sons  of  Jove  will  be 
held  at  Pittsburgh,  the  home  of  the  reigning  Jupiter,  Mr. 
Robert  L.  Jaynes,  beginning  on  Oct.  15  and  continuing  four 
days.    The  Fort  Pitt  Hotel  will  be  official  headquarters. 

*  *     * 

Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers. — A  change  has 
been  made  in  the  date  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers.  It  had  been 
announced  to  take  place  Sept.  16  to  21,  but  will  be  held 
from  Sept.  23  to  28  in  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  with  headquarters 
at  the  Hotel  Pfister.  Mr.  James  Farrington,  Steubenville, 
Ohio,  is  the  secretary  of  the  association. 

*  *     * 
International  Association  for  Testing  Materials. — 

Further  information  concerning  the  approaching  sixth  con- 
gress of  the  International  Association  for  Testing 
Materials,  announcements  of  which  have  already  been 
made,  is  given  in  Bulletin  No.  3,  dated  July,  1912,  which 
supersedes  all  previous  bulletins.  Appendix  I  of  the  bul- 
letin gives  a  list  of  the  official  delegates,  and  Appendix  II 
contains  abstracts  of  the  American  papers.  The  secretary 
is  Mr.  H.  J.  F.  Porter,  29  West  Thirty-ninth  Street, 
New  York.  » 


I 


CANADIAN    HYDROELECTRIC    DEVELOPMENTS 


Low-Head  Generating  Station  of    the   Canadian  Light   &    Power   Company 
on  the  Beauharnois  Canal  at   St.    Timothee,    Quebec. 


Energy  'Transmitted  27   Miles  at  44,000  Volts  Over  Steel  Tower  Line  to   Montreal   Terminal  Station 
and  Auxiliary  Steam-Turbine  Plant  on  the  Lachine  Canal  at  Montreal. 


SKIRTING  the  south  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence  River  for 
a  distance  of  about  11  miles,  connecting  Lakes  St. 
Louis  and  St.  Francis  and  forming  a  navigable  high- 
way around  the  Coteau  and  Cedar  Rapids,  is  the  Beau- 
harnois Canal.  Since  the  opening  of  the  Soulanges  Canal 
on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence  River  in  1900,  the 
Beauharnois  Canal  has  been  practically  abandoned  for 
navigation. purposes.  The  Canadian  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany has  leased  the  power  rights  from  the  Dominion  gov- 
ernment and  has  erected  a  station  at  St.  Timothee,  a  vil- 
lage facing  the  Coteau  Rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
about  27  miles  west  of  Montreal. 

FOREBAY. 

The  canal  at  this  point  is  about  2000  ft.  from  the  river, 
and  in  order  to  avoid  long  penstocks  the  company  threw 
up  two  2ooo-ft.  earth  embankments,  700  ft.  apart  and  40  ft. 
high,  thus  forming  a  forebay  from  the  canal  to  the  banks 
of  the  river.  On  the  river  side  of  the  forebay  a  head-wall 
was  erected  in  conjunction  with  the  power  house  and  spill- 
way, the  latter  being  arranged  to  pass  drift-wood  and  ice 
into  the  St.  Lawrence  River.  The  head-wall,  which  is 
built  of  concrete,  is  430  ft.  long,  50  ft.  high  and  82  ft.  wide 
at  the  base.  A  32-ft.  spillway  is  provided  at  one  end,  and 
the  dam  itself  is  composed  of  a  series  of  twenty-two  bays, 
each  main  penstock  being  connected  directly  with  two  bays. 
Stop-log  grooves  are  provided  on  the  upstream  side  of  the 
racks  in  addition  to  timber  flap  gates  across  each  half  open- 
ing to  the  penstock.  These  gates  differ  somewhat  from  the 
ordinary  in  that  they  are  hinged  at  the  bottom  and  are 
provided  with  concrete  counter-weights  at  the  top  to  keep 
them  open  under  normal  conditions.  Provision  is  made  for 
removing  ice  formations  from  the  penstock  bays  and  pass- 
ing the  ice  along  the  head-wall  to  the  spillway.  The  flow 
of  water  is  sufficient  to  prevent  the  formation  of  anchor 
ice  in  the  tailrace,  and  no  difficulty  is  experienced  from  ice 
in  the  river  piling  up  and  reducing  the  head,  since  Cedar 
Rapids  is  just  below  the  tailrace  and  the  flow  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  River  at  that  point  is  very  strong. 

HEADWORKS. 

In  order  to  provide  sufficient  water  for  the  development 
it  was  necessary  to  enlarge  the  canal  and  to  erect  suitable 
headworks  at  its  intake  from  Lake  St.  Francis,  which  is 
about  6  miles  from  the  power-house  site.  A  boat  gate  was 
installed  to  take  the  place  of  the  former  guard  lock,  and  in 
addition  four  huge  steel  Tainter  gates  were  erected  to  con- 
trol the  flow  from  the  lake  at  Valleyfield.  The  work  of 
enlarging  the  canal  and  constructing  the  intake  and  con- 
trolling works  was  begun   in  the   spring  of   1910,  and  the 


forebay,  intake,  etc.,  were  completed  for  the  full  develop- 
ment of  75,000  hp,  although  22,950  hp  is  all  that  will  be 
utilized  at  present.  The  generating  station  was  placed  in 
operation  last  fall. 

POWER   HOUSE. 

The  power  house,  which  adjoins  the  head-wall,  is  only 
partially  completed,  provision  being  made  for  four  units. 
There  are  false  walls  at  either  end  so  that  the  station  may 
be  extended  both  ways  when  desired.  Water  passes  from 
the  head-wall  through  steel  penstocks  14  ft.  in  diameter, 
each  connecting  the  penstock  bays  in  a  horizontal  line  with 
the  wheel  chambers,  the  distance  from  the  intakes  to  the 
center  of  the  surge  tank  being  64  ft.  and  the  penstocks 
flaring  out  to  the  diameter  of  the  tank  as  shown.  Here 
again  the  construction  is  somewhat  out  of  the  ordinary  in 
that  surge  tanks  within  the  station  contain  the  main  units. 
These  tanks,  which  are  27  ft.  in  diameter  and  59  ft.  high, 
are  made  of  riveted  steel  plates  and  are  open  at  the  top. 
From  the  center  of  the  wheel  shaft  to  the  top  of  the  tank 
is  49  ft.  In  each  tank  are  placed  two  72-in.  turbines  on  a 
single  shaft.  The  machines  were  built  by  the  S.  Morgan 
Smith  Company,  of  York,  Pa.,  and  each  pair  develops  7500 
hp  when  operating  under  a  50-ft.  head  at  a  speed  of  150 
r.p.ni.  The  entire  weight  of  the  turbines  and  of  the  water 
load  is  carried  on  two  bearings  located  outside  the  tank, 
where  they  are  readily  accessible  for  inspection  and  repair. 
The  turbine  gates  are  regulated  by  Lombard  governors, 
capable  of  effecting  complete  closure  within  three  seconds 
if  necessary.  The  draft  tubes  leading  from  the  wheels  to 
the  tailrace  are  of  concrete. 

GENERATING  EQUIPMENT. 

The  present  generating  equipment  consists  of  three  5000- 
kva  Allis-Chalmers-Bullock  three-phase  generators,  wound 
for  2300  volts,  60  cycles,  and  operating  at  a  speed  of  150 
r.p.m.  There  is  nothing  special  about  the  design  of  the 
machines  except  the  construction  of  the  rotor.  The  latter 
consists  of  a  cast-steel  spider,  to  which  is  dovetailed  a  rim 
composed  of  thin  sheet-steel  laminations.  The  laminations 
are  arranged  in  such  a  way  that  there  is  a  joint  only  at 
every  sixth  sheet.  The  rim  was  built  up  and  bolted  together 
by  loose-fitting  bolts,  which  were  later  removed  one  at  a 
time  to  permit  the  reaming  of  the  holes  for  tightly  fitting 
bolts.  Laminated  pole  pieces  are  dovetailed  to  the  rim,  the 
latter  being  designed  to  take  all  of  the  stress  due  to  cen- 
trifugal force,  while  the  cast-steel  spider  simply  serves  to 
center  the  rim.  The  rotor  is  designed  to  withstand  an  over- 
speed  test  100  per  cent  above  the  normal.  It  might  be  men- 
tioned in  this  connection  that  all  of  the  electrical  apparatus 


a42 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  5. 


in  the  St.  Timothec  station  was  built  by  the  Allis-Chahiiers- 
Bullock  Company,  Limited,  in  Montreal,  and  designed  by 
Mr.  B.  T.  McConuick. 

The  exciter  plant  consists  of  two  waterwheel-driven 
machines,  rated  at  200  kw  each,  in  addition  to  a  6o-kw 
booster  set,  which  is  designed  to  operate  in  series  with  the 
exciters  and  with  a  loo-cell  storage  battery  in  such  a  wav 


negative  exciter  bus  in  the  basement  of  the  generating 
room,  and  two  positive  buses  are  provided  with  a  difference 
of  potential  of  30  volts  maintained  between  them. 

TRANSFORMERS. 

Three    transformers,    rated    at    5000    kva,    three-phase, 
60-cycle.   step  up  the  potential   from  2300  to  48,000  volts. 


Fig.   1 — Station  of  Canadian   Light  &   Power  Company  from    River. 

that  all  excitation  normally  flows  through  the  booster, 
which  acts  as  a  regulator.  Thus,  if  a  circuit-breaker  on  an 
exciter  opens  for  any  reason  the  battery  will  furnish  excita- 
tion energy,  since  it  is  still  connected  with  the  circuit,  being 


Fig.  2 — Map  Showing    Location   of   Power   House. 

in  parallel  with  the  exciter  unit.  If  the  booster  stops  for 
any  reason  an  automatic  circuit-breaker  opens  and  the  bat- 
tery supplies  the  excitation  energy  directly.  The  booster 
consists  of  a  6o-kw,  6o-volt  direct-current  generator,  driven 


Fig.  4 — View  of  Station  at  St.  Timotnee  from   Forebay. 

The  transformers  are  oil-insulated  and  water-cooled  and 
are  connected  in  delta  on  both  the  high  and  the  low-tension 
sides.  Taps  permit  tensions  of  42,000,  44,000  and  46,000 
volts  to  be  obtained.  The  construction  of  transformers  is 
such  that  they  may  be  lifted  out  of  the  cases  by  means  of 
an  eye-bolt  in  the  cover,  and  each  is  provided  with  an 
emergency  oil  drain  leading  to  the  tailrace.  The  trans- 
formers are  protected  against  short-circuits  within  them- 
selves by  means  of  series  instrument  transformers  in  the 
high-tension  and  low-tension  windings  connected  in  opposi- 
tion and  operating  in  conjunction  with  an  overload  relay, 
which  trips  if  the  current  in  the  transformer  is  unbalanced, 
and  thus  switches  the  transformer  out  of  circuit. 

CONTROL. 

The  control  board  is  located  in  a  glass-inclosed  switch- 
board gallery  overlooking  the  generating  room.  The  equip- 
ment comprises  direct-current  exciter  and  battery  panels, 
relay  panels  and  a  bench-board  control  desk,  with  a  mimic 
diagram  of  the  main  circuit  from  the  generators  to  the 
outgoing  lines.  Above  the  benchboard,  facing  the  operator, 
is  an   instrument   rack  bearing  the   regulation   meters   and 


far 


Plan    and    Cross-Section    of   Generating    Station, 


by  a  loo-hp,  220-volt,  8so-r.p.m.  motor.  The  generator  is 
designed  to  operate  on  all  voltages  from  zero  to  maximum 
with  current  flowing  in  the  armature  in  either  direction, 
and  is  provided  with  a  special  reversing  shunt  field  rheostat. 
A  shaft  oscillator  and  an  automatic  overspeed  device  which 
trips  the  circuit-breaker  in  the  motor  circuit  in  case  of 
excessive  speeds  are  also   installed.     There  is  a  common 


a  pyrometer  connected  to  a  resistance  coil  in  a  slot  of  the 
generator  by  means  of  which  the  temperature  of  the 
machine  may  be  ascertained.  The  overload  capacity  of  a 
generator  being  limited  by  the  temperature  of  the  windings, 
it  is  possible  with  this  connection  available  to  watch  the 
pyrometer  instead  of  the  wattmeter  to  determine  if  the 
machine  is  overloaded  or  not. 


August  3,  ipii 


ELECTRICAL     \V  O  R  L  D 


243 


A  transfer  bus  inclosed  in  a  brick  c()ni[)artnicnt  is  carried 
in  the  penstock  room  the  fu.l  lengtii  of  the  station.  Under- 
neath this  transfer  bus  is  a  set  of  auxiUary  buses  for  eacli 
unit,  and  a  tie  bus  in  the  center  of  the  system  connects 
the  auxiliary  with  the  common  bus.  The  disconnecting 
switches  are  all  provided  with  locking  attachments.  A 
manually  operated  signal  snap  switch  indicates,  by  means 
of  a  bull's-eye  lamp,  when  these  switches  are  open  or  closed. 
The  relay  board  in  the  switchboard  gallery  is  fitted  with 
testing  jacks,  so  that  by  simple  plugging  in  any  tests  may 
be  made  without  interruption  on  meters,  relays,  instru- 
ment transformers,  etc.,  while  the  plant  is  in  operation. 
The  field  rheostat  and  the  field  switches  are  electrically 
operated  from  the  benchboard.  The  switch  equipment  is 
of  Westinghouse  manufacture. 


operator  may  indicate  to  the  switchboard  operator  by  means 
of  the  lamp  in  the  indicator  on  the  benchboard  that  the 
particular  order  has  been  carried  out. 

TRANSMISSION   LINE. 

A  steel  tower  transmission  line  runs  from  the  power 
house  to  the  terminal  station  in  Montreal  over  a  private 
right-of-way  to  the  Bcauharnois  Canal,  the  north  bank  of 
which  is  followed  as  far  as  Melocheville,  where  the  line 
turns  and  parallels  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  as  far 
as  the  Canadian  Pacific  bridge  across  the  St.  Lawrence 
River.  The  river  is  crossed  in  two  long  spans  and  the  line 
continues  to  the  Lachine  Canal  at  Rockfield,  thence  follow- 
ing the  north  bank  of  the  canal  to  Cote  St.  Paul,  where  the 
terminal  station  is  located. 


Fig.  5 — Generating  Station  of  Canadian   Light  &   Power  Company    at  St.   Timoth6e. 


In  operating  the  station  use  is  made  of  signal  pedestals 
near  each  machine,  a  smaller  panel  for  each  unit  being 
provided  also  at  the  benchboard  in  the  gallery  above.  On 
one  side  of  the  pedestal  are  tablets  bearing  the  following 
legends:  "O.  K.,"  "Full  speed,"  "Start,"  "Stand  by,"' 
"Shift  load"  and  "Shut  down,"  opposite  each  of  which  is 
a  bull's-eye  lamp.  Extending  from  the  switchboard  gallery 
is  a  common  signal  set,  flashing  numbers  one  to  ten  and  at 
the  same  time  sounding  an  electric  automobile  horn.  This 
set  is  controlled  from  the  middle  panel  of  the  benchboard 
and  indicates  to  the  operator  on  the  floor  which  unit  he  is 
to  stand  by.  The  bull's-eye  lamps  opposite  the  tablets  are 
lighted  from  the  switchboard  gallery,  indicating  to  the 
operator  what  action  to  take,  and  push-button  switches  are 
provided    opposite    each    bull's    eye    so    that    the    machine 


The  distance  between  the  power  station  and  the  terminal 
station  in  Montreal  is  approximately  26  miles,  and  with 
the  exception  of  crossings  52-ft.  towers  spaced  500  ft. 
apart  are  used  to  support  the  conductors.  The  towers  carry 
a  duplicate  three-phase  circuit  of  No.  2-0  stranded  copper, 
a  telephone  circuit  and  an  overhead  ground  wire.  Locke 
pin-type  porcelain  insulators  are  used  on  the  main  circuits, 
which  are  designed  to  transmit  20,000  kw  at  a  tension  of 
48,000  volts.  In  crossing  the  St.  Lawrence  special  con- 
struction had  to  be  employed  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
river  is  a  navigable  stream.  Where  the  line  crosses,  the 
river  is  3400  ft.  wide  and  about  30  ft.  deep.  Two  steel 
towers,  130  ft.  high,  were  erected  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
and  a  steel  tower  150  ft.  high  was  built  on  two  concrete 
piers   extending    15   ft.   above   water  and   erected   near  the 


244 


^^-  I 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o.  Xo.  5. 


center  of  the  river  about  700  ft.  below  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railroad  bridge. 

Copper-clad  steel  cables  -/s  >n.  in  diameter  were  employed 
for  the  main  circuits,  and  13/16-in.  copper-clad  cables  were 
used  for  the  telephone  circuit.  The  length  of  spans  is 
approximately  1750  ft.  and  1735  ft.  on  either  side  of  the 
river  tower.    The  cables  are  made  up  of  thirty-seven  cop- 


inserted  in  the  telephone  circuit  to  prevent  the  direct  cur- 
rent from  the  telegraph  equipment  passing  through  the  tele- 
phone apparatus.  The  condensers  are  provided  with  double- 
pole,  double-throw  knife  switches  so  that  if  they  are 
damaged  they  can  readily  be  cut  out  and  the  line  kept 
closed.  Both  condensers  must  be  either  cut  in  or  cut  out 
in  order  to  keep  the  telephone  line  balanced  and  prevent 


Fig.    6 — Switchboard    Room. 

per-clad  wires  and  have  a  breaking  strength  of  20,000  lb. 
per  square  inch  and  a  conductivity  about  30  per  cent  that 
of  copper  cable  of  the  same  crossisection.  The  telephone 
circuit  has  higher  tensile  strength  but  the  same  ratio  of 
conductivity  as  compared  with  copper. 

Special   pains   were   taken   to  obtain   a   telephone   system 


Fig.    8 — Exciter    Units    and     Booster. 

noise.  With  the  condensers  cut  out  it  is  possible  to  tele- 
graph using  only  one  wire  of  the  line,  as  explained  later. 
A  low-voltage  protector  is  connected  to  the  instrument  side 
of  the  insulating  transformer  to  discharge  any  static  caused 
by  disturbance  on  the  line  side.  The  knife  sw-itch  connect- 
ing the  telephone  to  the  line  must  be  left  open  when  the  set 
is  not  in  use,  so  that  the  exciting  current  taken  by  the  in- 
sulating transformer  will  not  weaken  the  bell  signals  on 
the  line.  It  is  necessary  that  the  extension  bell  and  con- 
densers be  mounted  on  the  same  type  of  insulators  as  are 
used  for  the  line  to  prevent  their  becoming  grounded. 

The  telegraph   equipment  consists  of  a   retardation   coil, 
line    relay,    key.    line    battery,    sounder,    local    battery,    etc. 


Fig.    7 — High-Tension     Transformers     in     Main    Station. 

which  would  be  reliable  under  the  severe  climatic  conditions 
encountered  and  also  under  the  conditions  of  operation. 
In  the  terminal  telephone  station  the  line  enters  through 
two  5-amp,  6600-volt  fuses  and  cut-outs.  The  telephone 
equipment  consists  of  a  special  telephone  set  having  all 
metal  parts  arranged  to  be  grounded,  insulating  trans- 
former, extension  bell,  drainage  coils,  etc.     Condensers  are 


Fig. 


-To\Aer    at    Canal    Crossing. 


The  telegraph  instruments  are  connected  between  the  neutral 
of  the  retardation  coil  and  the  ground,  so  that  the  telegraph 
current  will  in  normal  operation  divide  and  flow  in  equal 
amounts  over  each  of  the  tw-o  line  wires.  Under  these  con- 
ditions there  will  be  no  interference  with  the  telephone 
circuit.  If  one  of  the  line  wires  is  broken  or  grounded  it 
can  be  cut  out  bv  means  of   switches  provided   and   com- 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


245 


nunicatioii  carried  on  over  the  remaining  wire.  If  con- 
iensers  were  not  provided  in  the  telephone  circuit,  a  ground 
jn  one  line  wire  would  ground  the  other  also  through  the 
)ells.  insulating  transformers  and  drainage  coils.  A  switch 
s  provided  in  the  neutral  connection  of  the  retardation 
;oil  so  that  if  the  relay  is  damaged  it  can  be  cut  out  without 
ififecting  the  telegraph  circuit  between  the  other  stations. 


Fig.   10 — View   of  Transmission    Line. 

All  the  wires  for  a  station  are  installed  on  porcelain  in- 
-ilators  and  insulated  for  6600  volts,  except  those  portions 
nnnected  directly  'with  the  ground.  No  twisted  pair  is 
sed  for  wiring  and  none  of  the  wire  is  installed  in  conduit, 
he  knife  switches  are  mounted  on  insulating  supports,  and 
le  telegraph  equipment   is  arranged   so  that  the  operator 

insulated  when  using  it.  This  precaution  is  taken  because 
i  the  high  voltages  which  may  be  present. 

TERMINAL  STATION. 

The  terminal  station  in  Montreal  is  a  fireprgof  structure, 
)  ft.  wide  by  250  ft.  long,  housing  the  step-down  trans- 
■rmer  equipment  and  an  auxiliary  steam  plant.  The  lines 
Iter  the  station  through  oil  switches  and  the  high-tension 
ises  are  continued  the  length  of  the  terminal  station 
oper.  Horn-gaps  outside  the  station,  operating  in  con- 
nction  with  electrolvtic   arrester  on  a   gallery   inside  the 


Terminal    Station    at    Montreal. 

'  11,  protect  the  station  equipment  against  surges  and  light- 
'  ig  troubles.  Oil-insulated,  water-cooled  three-phase 
t.nsformers  of  General  Electric  make,  rated  at  400  kva, 
i  p  down  the  potential  to  13,000  volts  for  local  distribu- 
t  n,  and  at  present  four  units  are  installed  with  space  to 
Sire  for  two  more. 
The  switchboard  equipment  and  switches  follow  standard 


General  Electric  practice.  A  feature  of  the  switching 
arrangement  is  that  a  signal  device  is  used  on  all  high-ten- 
sion switches  to  indicate  the  condition  of  the  circuits  by  a 
bright  or  a  dim  light.  This  system  is  also  applied  to  all  bus- 
bar disconnecting  and  feeder  switches,  so  that  in  addition  to 
the  ordinary  red  and  green  lights  the  operator  has  an  inde- 
pendent lamp  indication  of  disconnecting  switches  open  or 


HP^P^'^  '  "H 

'    m 

«k    as. 

^■mgif;/         1 

Fig.     12 — Step-Down    Transformers    and    Circuit-Breakers. 

closed.  This  device  consists  of  an  auxiliary  switch  con- 
nected by  a  stick  from  the  disconnecting  switch  to  the  main 
switch.  By  this  means  disconnecting  switches  are  not 
opened  under  load. 

STEAM   EQUIPMENT. 

In  the  auxiliary  steam  station  which  occupies  the  other 
end  of  the  terminal  station  there  is  at  present  installed  a 
single  2300-volt,  isoo-kw,  three-phase.  6o-cycle  Allis- 
Chalmers  turbine  set,  the  energy  from  which  is  stepped  up 
in  a  single  three-phase  transformer  to  13,200  volts.  Excita- 
tion for  this  set  is  supplied  by  a  7S-kw  Curtis  turbine 
exciter  set  or  a  7S-kw  motor-generator  set  or  two  6o-cell 
Gould  batteries.  Steam  is  generated  in  three  333-hp  Bab- 
cock  &  Wilcox  marine-type  water-tube  boilers  fitted  with 
chain-grate  stokers  for  burning  slack,  or  the  furnace  can 
be  fed  with   fuel  oil.     The  boilers  are  guaranteed  to  raise 


.     III! 

niiBaill 


-nil 
^<<        llli 


I 

■  III 
■III 
nil 
III 


III! 


II 
nil 
iill 
"ill 
ill 
■ill 
llli 

■  III 


Fig.    13 — Steam   Turbo-Generator   Set    in    Montreal    Substation. 

steam  in  twenty  minutes.  The  coal  is  dumped  from  cars 
into  a  coal  pocket  below  the  track  and  conveyed  thence  by 
a  Jeffrey  conveyor  to  an  overhead  bunker  holding  200  tons. 
From  the  bunker  the  coal  passes  through  chutes  to  the 
hoppers  of  the  stokers.  The  turbine  is  fitted  with  a  counter- 
current  jet  condenser  using  canal  or  city  water.  Space  is 
provided  for  another  boiler  and  another  1500-kw  turbine. 


246 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  N'o.  5. 


ERECTION    OF    TRANSMISSION    LINES    FOR 
UTAH  LIGHT  &  RAILWAY  COMPANY. 


Details   and   Erection    Cost   Data    of    Double-Circuit 

Steel  Towers — Handling  of  Material  and 

Organization  of  Erecting  Crews. 


By  L.  J.  RiTER. 

THE  Utah  Light  &  Railway  Company  has  completed 
42  miles  of  double-circuit   steel-tower  transmission 
lines,  which  bring  energy  into  Salt  Lake  City  from 
its  plants  north  of  the  city.     The  trunk  line,  38  miles  in 
length,  begins  at  the  mouth  of  Ogden  Canyon,  where  it  re- 
ceives   energy    from    the   Ogden    Canyon    and    Bear    River 


Ver.tlcal 


THE  fences  or  other  property.  For  the  greater  distance  the  lines 
are  built  parallel  to  and  near  public  highways  from  which 
they  are  patrolled.  However,  along  18  miles  of  the  system 
just  north  of  Salt  Lake  City,  the  line  follows  the  Oregon 
Short  Line  Railroad  50  ft.  outside  of  its  right-of-way.  Here 
the  patrolling  is  done  from  the  trains. 

THE   TOWERS. 

The  double-circuit  towers  carry  in  vertical  planes  on  each 
side  a  three-phase  circuit  and  an  overhead  ground  wire, 
and  a  telephone  circuit  is  run  through  the  tower  12  ft.  below 
the  bottom  conductor.  (See  Fig.  i.)  These  structures  are 
from  65  ft.  to  85  ft.  in  height,  the  lowest  conductor  arms 
being  from  47  ft.  to  67  ft.  from  the  ground. 

There  are  three  standard  types  of  towers,  the  line  tower 
for  suspension  insulators  on  tangent  line,  the  anchor  tower 


Clamps  for  Ground  Wires^ 


Fig.  1 — Elevation  of  65-ft.  Anchor  Tower  on  the  Salt  Lake-Ogden 

Line. 

plants,  and  10  miles  south,  on  the  west  bluffs  of  the  Uintah 
Valley,  it  connects  with  a  steel  tower  line,  bringing  energy 
from  the  Devil's  Gate  plant  in  Weber  Canyon.  It  then 
bears  south  and  west  to  Layton,  on  the  Oregon  Short  Line, 
and  parallels  that  road  through  Kaysville,  Farmington,  Cen- 
terville  and  Wood's  Cross  into  Salt  Lake  City,  the  com- 
pany's main  substation  being  on  the  Jordan  River.  Here 
are  met  incoming  lines  from  the  Cottonwood  Canyon  plants 
on  the  south,  the  Telluride  transmission  lines  and  those  of 
the  company's  new  steam-turbine  plant. 

RIGHTS-OF-WAY. 

There  is  an  average  of  ten  towers  to  the  mile,  with  spans 
ranging  from  200  ft.  to  1000  ft.  in  length.  In  purchasing 
the  rights-of-way,  deeds  were  obtained  to  a  rod  square  of 
ground  for  each  tower  site,  and  to  an  aerial  right-of-way 
for  the  spans,  together  with  the  permanent  right  to  enter 
the  land  along  the  route  for  purposes  of  maintenance,  the 
company  to  pay  for  all  damages  caused  thereby  to  crops, 


Fig.  2 — Elevation  of  Junction  Switch  Rack  for  Utah  Light  &  Rail 


way  Company. 


\ 


for  Strain  insulators  on  corners  and  dead  ends,  and  the 
transposition  tower  on  which  the  conductors  change  posi- 
tion. Specifications  called  for  open-hearth  steel,  giving 
an  ultimate  tensile  strength  from  60,000  lb.  to  68,000  lb.  pei 
square  inch.  Five-eighth-inch  bolts  were  used,  and  the  hole; 
were  punched  21-32  in.  in  diameter.  All  tower  parts  wen 
galvanized  by  the  hot  process  after  shop  work  was  com 
pleted,  and  the  bolts  and  nuts  were  electro-galvanized  aftei 
threading.    No  rivets  were  used. 

One  of  the  features  of  designing  is  the  similarity  of  al 
towers  and  the  interchangeability  of  their  parts.  For  in- 
stance, all  65-ft.  line,  anchor  and  transposition  towers  havf 
the  same  dimensions  for  the  main  members  and  bracing 
only  the  weights  of  these  being  increased  for  anchoi 
towers.  For  towers  of  greater  height  than  65  ft.  the  stand- 
ard towers  are  used  as  superstructures,  placed  upon  exten- 
sions properlv  proportioned  for  them,  and  made  to  mee 
the  particular  requirements  of  any  location.  A  20-ft.  exten- 
sion is  used  as  standard  for  80-ft.  towers,  and  in  no  ^va.^ 


August  3.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


247 


is  the  proper  similarity  of  appearance  between  this  structure 
and  the  more  common  65-ft.  structures  affected.  It  will  be 
appreciated  that  this  arrangement  greatly  facilitates  the 
work  for  future  additions  to  the  transmission  system.  The 
construction  work  is  simplified,  as  a  single  template  fits  all 
standard  tower  bases,  and  the  work  of  distributing  material 
is  not  made  complicated  by  a  great  variety  of  parts.  The 
arms  have  a  spread  of  14  ft.,  and  give  a  6-ft.  minimum 
clearance  between  conductors,  and  a  2.5-ft.  minimum  clear- 
ance from  tower  to  conductors,  for  a  swing  of  the  insula- 
tors up  to  30  deg.  from  vertical.  Tests  were  made  on  one 
of  each  kind  of  tower,  and  they  were  found  to  meet  the 
requirements  necessary  to  withstand  the  following  stresses : 
2500  lb.  at  either  ground-wire  clamp  and  perpendicular  to 
the  vertical  a.xis  of  the  tower;  2500  lb.  at  any  conductor 
support;  7500-lb.  torsion  applied  at  ends  of  three  cross-arms 


Holes 


3 — Standard    Footing    and    Anchor    Post    for   Tower    Base. 


3n  same  side;  10,000  lb.  for  line  towers,  and  18,000  lb.  for 
inchor  towers  on  the  main  structure  at  the  line  of  the  cen- 
:er  cross-arm,  and  1000  lb.  vertical  downward  load  at  both 
;nds  of  any  cross-arm. 

The  towers  run  in  weight  from  4000  lb.  to  6000  lb.,  and 
.vere  shipped  knocked  down  to  the  several  railroad  sidings 
lear  the  route  of  the  transmission  lines. 

SWITCH   RACKS. 

Line  switches  and  junction  racks  are  of  steel  and  similar 
n  design  to  the  towers.  Fig.  2  shows  the  type  of  rack  used 
It  the  junction  of  the  Devil's  Gate  and  Salt  Lake-Ogden 
ines.  Use  is  made  of  double-break  66,000-volt,  rotary-type 
iwitches  mounted  so  as  to  break  circuit  on  all  three  legs 
iimultaneously.  They  are  operated  half  way  up  the  rack  by 
t  hand  lever  from  an  insulated  platform,  from  which  tele- 
ihoning  is  also  done.  The  rack  holds  the  strain  of  the  in- 
terning lines,  which  are  anchored  to  the  switch-deck  with 
itrain    insulators.     The  usual    slack    loop    extends    to    the 


switches,  the  blades  of  which  revolve  horizontally,  making 
or  breaking  contact  at  both  ends  of  the  blades.  From  the 
switches  the  wires  are  carried  through  the  rack  as  buses  on 
which  jumpers  are  spliced  so  as  to  give  the  proper  phase 
relations  between  the  different  circuits. 

TOWER    FOOTINGS. 

All  tower  and  rack  footings  are  set  in  concrete.  Fig.  3 
shows  the  standard  base  used  commonly  in  ground  of  ordi- 
nary bearing  strength.  In  canyons  or  near  river  banks  a 
stout  riprap  was  used  as  additional  protection.  In  sloughs 
containing  water  with  corroding  elements  the  cement  cop- 
ings were  continued  up  the  tower  legs  a  foot  or  two,  and 
in  lakes  or  ponds  reinforced-concrete  piers  were  sunk 
through  water  and  mud  as  deep  as  was  necessary  to  reach 
solid  bottom. 


-M 


.Water- proof  Sack, 
14  oz.  Army  Duck, 
Soaked  with  Lin- 
seed Oil, 


Leather  Boot. 


M 


^2  Pipe 


Solid  Bottom 

S^E^^^'^cv  Currents  from 
"  Hot  Springs 


Fig.  4 — Method  of  Placing   Piers  in  the  Hot  Springs  of  Becks  Lake. 
INSULATORS. 

The  insulators  are  of  the  suspension  type,  and  as  the  lines 
are  at  present  operating  at  28,000  volts,  two  disks  are  used 
for  suspension  insulators  and  three  disks  for  strain  insu- 
lators. In  the  near  future  an  extra  unit  will  be  added 
throughout  and  the  system  will  be  changed  to  operate  at 
40,000  volts.  A  tensile  test  of  4000  lbs.  was  made  on  each 
unit,  together  with  a  close  inspection  of  hardware,  grout- 
ing and  porcelain.  The  disks  accepted  on  the  mechanical 
inspection  were  tested  electrically  at  arcing  voltage,  which 
was  around  75,000  volts,  the  metal  cap  and  pin  forming  the 
electrodes.  The  length  of  time  that  the  test  voltage  was 
applied  varied  from  0.25  minute  to  i  minute.  Special  tests 
revealed  that  a  string  of  six  units  would  show  no  sign  of 
failure  at  6000  lb.  tension.  Rain  tests  were  made  on  three 
units.  Connections  were  made  as  nearly  as  possible  as  in 
actual  practice,  and  the  units  were  subjected  to  a  precipi- 
tation of  0.5  in.  of  water  per  five  minutes  at  an  angle  of 
45  deg.     Under  these  conditions  arcing  occurred  at  about 


248 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


145,000  volts,  while  the  dry  arcing  enif  for  the  three  units 
was  225,000  volts.  Fig.  5  shows  the  insulators  and  their 
hardware. 

WIRES    AND   CABLES. 

The  ground  wires  are  5/16-in.  Siemens-Martin  steel- 
strand  cable,  galvanized,  and  the  conductors  are  No.  o  B. 
&  S.  gage  hard-drawn,  seven-strand  copper  cable.  The 
telephone  circuit  is  of  No.  4  B.  W.  G.  extra  steel  pulling 


38  miles  of  trunk  line  started  in  the  spring  of  191 1  was 
completed  and  put  in  operation  that  fall.  The  cost,  of 
course,  was  also  a  consideration.  After  the  company  had 
received  from  several  reliable  contractors  bids  all  of  which 
were  higher^than  the  estimates,  it  concluded  to  do  the  work 
on  its  force  account.  The  result  was  a  material  saving 
over  the  lowest  bid,  a  result  which   is  not  always  experi- 


Clevis  Pin 
Tower  Attachment. 


/ 


Strain  Clamp 
for  Vo  "Wire. 


Suspension  Clamp 


'*>.  ^.^t  i 


Fig.    5 — Suspension    Insulator    and     Parts. 

wire,  galvanized.  A  cable  splice  made  18  in.  long  without 
soldering  was  used  on  the  ground  wires  and  conductors, 
while  a  plain  wrapped  and  soldered  joint  was  used  on  the 
telephone  wire.  The  position  of  the  conductors  was  trans- 
posed one-third  of  a  revolution  every  3  miles,  and  the  tele- 
phone circuit  was  transposed  at  every  tower.  Sag  curves, 
computed  to  give  an  average  maximum  unit  stress  of  28,000 
lb.  per  square  inch  with  maximum  conditions  assumed  as 
a  70-m.p.h.  wind  (actual)  and  0.25-in.  radial  coating  of  ice. 
were  plotted  between  sag,  span  and  temperature.  A  sag 
of  from  2  ft.  to  40  ft.  was  indicated  for  spans  from  200  ft. 
to  1000  ft.  in  length.  The  minimum  clearance  allowed  was 
28  ft.  for  conductors  and  16  ft.  for  telephone  wires  from 
the  ground.  All  towers  are  thoroughly  grounded  by  means 
of  a  galvanized-iron  rod  driven  9  ft.  into  the  earth  with  a 


Fig.   7 — Placing   Concrete    Piers. 

enced  by  railway  companies  when  they  do  work  on  force 
account. 

The  south  half  of  the  route  taken  is  through  the  most 
densely  populated  part  of  the  State,  running  near  farm- 
houses and  over  rich  truck  gardens,  making  it  difficult  to 
deal  with  the  people  whose  properties  were  crossed.  The 
construction  problems  were  increased  here  on  account  of 
having  to  leave  occasional  gaps,  two  or  three  spans  in 
length,  and  return  to  them  later,  as  well  as  on  account  of 
the  large  number  of  railroad,  highway  and  electric  line 
crossings. 

All  spans  near  buildings  were  made  short  and  dead- 
ended  on  anchor  towers  placed  on  both  sides  of  the  build- 
ings, the  same  plan  being  carried  out  for  railroad,  electric 
line  and  highway  crossings.  As  explained  before,  this 
route  was  taken  in  order  to  parallel  the  railroad.  The 
building  problems  on  the  upper  end  of  the  line  were  of  a 
somewhat   different  nature,  giving  rise  to  long  spans  and 


f 


n 


'"-^wr:^. 


'» if  I 


Fig.    6 — Special    Footing    for    Sloughs,    Reinforced    Concrete    Piers. 

soldered  copper  connection  between  the  rod  and  one  tower 
leg. 

THE    CONSTRUCTION     WORK. 

The  time  for  completion  of  the  lines  was  in  this  case  an 
important  factor,  as  the  continuity  of  street  railway  and 
lighting  service  in  Salt  Lake  was  seriously  imperiled  by  the 
effect  of  electrical  storms  on  the  old  wood-pole  line.     The 


Fig.  8 — Method   of   Erecting   Tower. 

Steep    ascent    in   the    mountains.      A    looo-ft.    span    with   a 
change  in  elevation  of  200  ft.  is  shown  in  Fig.  10. 

Two  construction  camps  were  kept  in  operation,  it  being 
the  aim  to  have  the  camps  as  near  to  the  route  as  possible, 
and  about  4  miles  apart.  The  head  camp  housed  the 
survey  party,  the  material  gang,  including  teams  and  outfits 
necessarv  for  distribution,  the  excavation  gang,  the  concrete 


AuGLbT  3,  igi: 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


249 


men  and  the  assembling  crew,  as  well  as  a  timekeeper  and 
a  commissary  clerk.  The  rear  camp  contained  the  erection 
crew,  the  Hne  gang  and  an  inspector.  Each  camp  com- 
prised a  large  dining  tent  and  kitchen,  a  commissary  tent, 
a  tool  tent,  an  office  tent  witli  telephone  service,  a  stable  and 
a  number  of  bunk  tents. 

When  moving  the  head  camp  was  left  for  the  men  from 
the  rear  to  fill,  and  the  rear  tents  were  jumped  ahead  8 
miles,  the  gangs  coming  into  their  new  home  at  night  and 
the  work  thus  suffering  little,  if  any,  delay  on  account 
of  moving.  A  transit  party  went  ahead  and  laid  out  the 
line  along  the  accepted  route.  The  tower  sites,  previously 
located  for  the  right-of-way  agents,  were  now  staked  with 
a  center  hub  at  each  location  and  four  quarter  stakes  from 
which  to  Hne  in  the  footings. 

DISTRIBUTION    OF    MATERIAL. 

The  distribution  of  sand,  gravel,  cement,  steel,  insulators, 
hardware  and  w'ire  was  made  complete  for  a  location  be- 
fore work  was  started  there.  This  distribution  was  han- 
dled with  a  work  train  for  the  lower  end  of  the  line,  the 
material  being  thrown  off  in  the  railroad  right-of-way  op- 
posite each  tower  site.  Teams  and  wagons  were  employed 
on  the  upper  end,  as  many  as  two  or  three  teams  being 
necessary  in  some  locations  to  drag  the  steel  to  its  place. 
Ordinarily  one  complete  tower  was  the  load  for  a  wagon 
with  one  team,  and  the  trip  was  made  from  the  nearest 
railroad  siding.  The  cost  of  distribution  averaged  $1.31 
per  ton. 

EXCAVATION. 

The  excavation  gang  followed,  digging  out  four  footing 
holes  for  each  tower.  These  holes,  from  3  ft.  to  4  ft.  in 
diameter,  were  dug  larger  at  the  bottom  than  at  the  top 
and  were  6  ft.  deep  for  line  towers  and  8  ft.  deep  for  anchor 
towers. 

CONCRETE    WORK. 

The  concrete  was  placed  by  a  gang  of  twelve  men  with 
a  team  to  haul  water  and  transfer  tools.  The  iron  anchors 
were  bolted  to  a  template,  which  was  lined  up  with  the 
quarter  stakes  and  leveled  with  a  rod  and  level  after  10  in. 
of  concrete  was  placed  under  the  cross-pieces  of  the  anchor. 
The  holes  were  then  filled  with  concrete  for  another  foot 
or  two,  when  cylindrical  steel  forms,  18  in.  in  diameter, 
were  used  to  carry  the  concrete  on  up  to  the  top  of  the 
footing,  earth  being  tamped  for  back-fill  between  the  forms 
and   outside   of   holes.      When   this    was    accomplished    the 


Fig.    9 — Stringing    Wire    on    Steel    Tower    Line. 

forms  were  pulled  out,  and  after  the  template  was  removed 
smooth  cement  copings  finished  the  top  of  the  bases.  A 
ground  rod  was  driven  at  one  of  the  four  corners.  The 
average  cost  for  labor  on  excavation  was  $2.25  per  hole 
and  for  setting  concrete  $9.35  per  tower,  three  to  five  sets 
being  made  in  a  day  by  one  gang. 

A  mile  of  line  was  built  through  what  is  known  as  the 


Becks  Hot  Springs  Lake  and  Sloughs.  Here  the  special 
rein  forced-concrete  piers,  as  shown  in  Fig.  6,  were  used 
for  footings.  Steel  caissons  3.5  ft.  in  diameter  were  sunk 
to  a  solid  footing.  The  caissons  were  used  in  4-ft.  sections 
and  made  to  telescope.  The  top  sections  were  put  in  first 
and  dredged  out,  then  the  second  ones  were  dropped  inside, 
and  so  on  to  as  great  a  depth  as  was  necessary.     A  truck 


Fig.   10— A   1000-ft.   Span. 

fitted  with  a  gasoline  engine  and  centrifugal  pump  was  used 
for  the  dredging.     (See  Fig.  7.) 

In  some  locations  the  hot  springs  manifested  themselves 
as  flowing  wells,  which  developed  when  the  caissons  were 
dredged  out,  so  that  by  the  time  the  forms  were  down  to 
bed-rock  a  flow  of  500  gal.  per  minute  was  obtained.  To 
check  this  flow  so  that  the  concrete  would  not  be  washed 
up  while  setting,  2-in.  pipes  were  driven  down  just  outside 
the  forms  and  bags  were  used  inside  to  receive  the  concrete 
(see  Fig.  4).  This  bag  was  made  of  canvas,  waterproofed 
with  linseed  oil  and  armored  on  the  bottom  with  a  leather 
boot  or  cup  of  the  same  diameter  as  the  lowest  caisson. 
The  bags  were  longer  and  larger  in  diameter  than  the 
forms,  so  that  no  tearing  was  done,  and  the  bottom  ends 
were  sunk  in  place  by  filling  their  boots  with  ballast.  This 
plan  also  gave  opportunity  to  mix  the  concrete  with  fresh 
water,  it  being  desirable  to  keep  the  hot  water  out  of  the 
mixture  on  account  of  the  excess  of  sulphur  and  other  im- 
purities contained  therein.  As  a  bag  became  filled,  it  would 
be  expanded  tight  against  the  forms,  so  that  in  a  short  time 
the  water  was  forced  back  and  up  through  the  standpipe  as 
indicated  in  Fig.  4. 

ASSEMBLING    AND   ERECTING. 

The  towers  were  assembled  on  the  ground  and  all  insula- 
tors bolted  in  place  by  the  assembling  crew.  This  crew, 
consisting  of  eight  men,  carried  sets  of  step-ladders,  run- 
ning boards  and  solid  wrenches.  The  erection  outfit,  con- 
taining eight  men  and  two  teams,  followed.  They  used 
two  45-ft.  gin  poles,  both  of  which  were  equipped  with  a 
set  of  block  and  tackle  and  three  guy  lines,  oak  and  iron 
stakes  being  driven  for  the  guys.  A  team  was  used  on  the 
fall  line  of  both  gins. 

The  writer  made  a  series  of  trials  on  the  erection  work 
of  another  line,  several  methods  being  employed.  The  "A" 
frame  and  tipple  board  possessed  advantage  for  simplicity 
of  equipment,  while  a  single  gin  pole  replacing  the  "A" 
frame  threw  less  strain  on  the  lines  and  structure  during 
the  first  pull. 

The  disadvantage  here  encountered  was  that  the  location 
would  not  always  permit  the  proper  placing  of  the  tower 
in  order  to  tip  it  up.  Use  was  then  made  of  a  single  gin 
which  would  lift  the  tower  bodily  and  set  it  on  end.  This 
plan  was  also  successful  but  required  more  or  less  swinging 
of  the  structure  in  mid-air.  It  was  concluded,  however,  to 
adopt  this  method  by  using  two  gins  of  lighter  weight  placed 
on  either  side  of  the  base,  which  plan  proved  very  satis- 


250 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


\'oL.  60.  No.  s. 


factory,  as  the  assembling  crew  could  build  the  strircture  in 
the  most  convenient  position  for  them  and  the  tower  could 
always  be  snaked  and  swung  easily  into  place.  The  equip- 
ment was  complete  for  any  location  and  no  further  prep- 
arations or  special  tools  were  required  for  especially  incon- 
venient erecting.  At  first  one  team  took  both  lines,  but  two 
teams  were  used  later  to  facilitate  the  work.  Six  towers 
per  day  were  erected  by  this  crew  at  a  cost  of  from  $4  to 
$9.50  per  tower,  depending  upon  the  location.  The  assem- 
bling cost  was  $10  per  tower,  including  attachment  of  in- 
sulators. Thus  the  total  average  cost  throughout  the  en- 
tire installation  was  $18.50  per  tower,  or  $8  per  ton,  for 
assembling  and  erecting. 

WIRE   STRINGING. 

The  line  gang  contained  five  linemen,  six  groundmen  and 
two  teamsters  and  teams.  A  reel  carriage,  made  up  of 
three  carts  linked  together,  each  carrying  a  reel  of  I  mile 
of  wire,  was  dragged  along  the  route,  and  the  wires  were 
hung  in  snatch-blocks  on  the  arms  of  the  towers.  In  this 
way  a  complete   circuit  was  payed  out   on  each   trip    (see 

Fig-  9)- 

The  wire  was  pulled  up  every  half  mile  and  trans- 
ferred from  the  blocks  to  the  insulators.  The  ground  wires 
were  sighted  in  first  from  the  towers,  the  conductors  being 
sighted  from  the  ground  so  as  to  conform  in  sag  with 
the  ground  wires.  Lastly  the  telephone  circuit  was  taken 
through  and  transpositions  cut  in  it  at  every  tower.  The 
ground  rod  connections  were  then  bolted  and  soldered  in 
place. 

The  wire  was  strung  complete  for  a  cost  of  $175 
per  mile.  All  of  the  gangs  were  kept  supplied  with  the 
best  tools,  as  the  most  efficient  aid  to  economy.  A  final 
inspection  was  made  over  the  whole  route  by  a  small  gang 
of  linemen,  who  cleared  the  circuits  of  grounds,  phased 
them  out  at  junction  points  and  cut  in  the  lines  for  opera- 
tion, taking  pains  to  remedy  any  other  trifling  defects  in 
construction  which  they  encountered. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  know  that  no  guys  whatever 
are  in  use  for  the  purpose  of  holding  structures  on  corners, 
dead   ends   or  elsewhere,   and   that  the   Devil's   Gate   line. 


ELECTRIC  FARMING  NEAR  DAYTON,  OHIO. 


Central-Station  Service   Employed  for  Motor-Operated 
Machines  on  a  Typical  Country  Estate. 


SIX  miles  from  Dayton,  Ohio,  Mr.  William  Stroop  has  a 
large  estate  where  good  use  has  been  made  of  elec- 
tricity supplied  over  a  three-phase,  6600-volt  transmis- 
sion   line    from    the    Dayton    company.      A    15-hp    motor 


Fig.    1 — Bailing    Straw    by    Electric    Motor. 

mounted,  with  its  starter,  on  a  portable  truck  can  be  moved 
about  the  place  to  drive  a  corn  busker,  shredder,  wood  saw 
and  thresher.  Another  3-hp  motor  drives  a  deep-well 
pump,  delivering  the  water  supply  for  the  estate  to  a  reser- 
voir on  the  hilltop.  A  J/^-hp  motor  pumps  cistern  water, 
and  the  laundry  is  equipped  with  a  motor-driven  mangle. 
This  year  it  is  planned  to  install  electric  irrigation  on  a 
large  scale  to  intensify  the  output  of  the  soil,  and  later  ex- 
periments will  be  carried  out  with  electrification  to  stimu- 
late plant  growth. 


C                   - 

it- .WHI^IP^""-            -  ■   ■'--'-.•'■',;^-«w''|*  T       } 

\       '                                   '■^*"***^:  ■  iAJi                    ■■*-»■■*■  ^■•^*- 

^Zj^^  '   "^^^ 

Fig.   2 — Three-phase    Transmission    Line   to    Stroop    Farm. 


which  has  been  in  operation  for  one  year,  has  not  suffered 
any  interruption  to  service. 

The  lines  were  built  under  the  supervision  of  Messrs 
O.  A.  Honnold,  electrical  engineer,  and  W.  M.  Scott,  super- 
intendent of  lines  for  the  Utah  Light  &  Railway  Company, 
the  writer,  as  construction  engineer,  being  in  direct  charge 
of  the  erection  work. 


Tests  were  recently  made  at  the  Stroop  farm  to  determine 
the  power  required  and  energy  input  for  various  farm  op- 
erations. For  example,  it  was  shown  that  1750  bushels  of 
barley  could  be  threshed  at  an  expenditure  of  220  kw-hr., 
the  maximum  demand  being  20.5  kw.  In  this  Montgomery 
County  section  steam-thresher  hire  costs  $20  a  day. 

In  a  series  of  ten-minute  tests  to  learn  the  power  required 


AucusT  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


251 


by  a  corn  grinder  running  idle,  it  was  found  that  the  motor 
alone  consumed  0.106  kw-hr.,  and  the  motor  and  grinder 
0.341  kw-hr.,  leaving  0.235  kw-hr.  chargeable  to  the  idle 
grinder,  or  an  average  demand  of  1.41  kw.  Three  tests 
were  then  made  of  the  energy  consumed  in  the  operation  of 
grinding  corn,  with  the  results  tabulated. 


Fig. 


-Motor- Driven  Threshing   Machine. 


In  the  third  test  the  corn  was  husked  directly  from  the 
shocks   and  was  still  damp,  so  that  excessive  power  was 

•      ENERGY  USED  IN  GRINDING  CORN 


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Test  No    1                       

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40.4 
41.1 
40.7 
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9.67 
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0.408 
0.414 
0.411 

2.45 
2.41 
2.43 
1.65 

20.7 
21.0 

25.8 

10.9 
1.10 

14.4 

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Test  No.  2 

22.60j  33 

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Test  No.  i     

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20. R 

required,  as  shown.    For  this  reason  the  last  line  of  results 
are  not  averaged  with  the  others  as  representative. 
The  same  motor  was  also  tested  driving  the  shredder  and 


Fig.   4 — 15-hp    Motor   on   Skids. 

husking  machine,  which  running  idle  consumed  1.423  kw-hr. 
in  ten  minutes,  or  1.319  kw-hr.  for  the  machine  alone,  in- 
dicating an  average  input  of  about  8  kw.  Fifteen  hundred 
pounds  of  fodder  was  shredded  in  twenty-three  minutes, 
consuming  4.03  kw-hr.  This  shows  an  energy  consumption 
at  the  rate  of  5.37  kw-hr.  per  ton,  or  0.186  tons  shredded 
per   hw-hr.     The   maximum   kw   taken   was    14.5   and   the 


minimum  8.2,  indicating  an  average  of  10.5  kw.  Nearly  40 
tons  of  fodder  are  shredded  yearly  at  the  Stroop  farm,  the 
average  cost  of  shredding  which  would  be  $3  a  ton  were 
the  present  electric  appliances  not  used.  The  Dayton  com- 
pany built  the  pole  line  and  furnished  the  transformers  and 
meter  for  the  Stroop  installation,  all  other  equipment  being 
the  property  of  the  customer. 


ELECTRIC  PROPULSION   OF  THE    U.  S.  COLLIER 
JUPITER. 


Induction  Motors  Fed  with  Energy  from  Steam-Driven 
Turbo-Alternator  Drive  Propellers. 


THE  first  instance  of  electric  ship  propulsion  on  a  large 
scale,  as  exemplified  by  the  equipment  for  the  new 
government  collier  Jupiter,  was  noted  in  our  June  i 
issue,  where  brief  notes  were  presented  regarding  the 
general  features  of  this  installation,  including  certain  com- 
parisons with  the  steam-driven  sister  ships  Cyclops  and 
Neptune.  Further  details  of  the  equipment  are  now  avail- 
able and  are  presented  in  what  follows. 

The  generating  unit  for  the  Jupiter  consists  of  a  six- 
stage  Curtis  turbine  connected  to  a  bipolar  alternator,  the 
speed  of  this  unit  at  14  knots  being  about  2000  r.p.m.  and 


BF^^^ 

^JH 

^^^--  .^^ 

Fig.    1 — Turbo-Generator    on    U.    S.    Collier   Jupiter. 

the  voltage  about  2200.  This  generating  unit  delivers  its 
output  to  two  motors,  one  mounted  directly  upon  each  pro- 
peller shaft.  These  motors  have  thirty-si.x  poles,  and  there- 
fore the  ratio  of  synchronous  speed  reduction  is  18  to  i, 
the  propellers  at  14  knots  being  designed  to  operate  at  no 
r.p.m.  In  addition  to  this  apparatus  there  is  a  switchboard 
equipment  which  embraces  oil  switches  for  connecting  the 
motors  for  either  direction  of  rotation,  and  instruments 
which  show  and  record  the  electric  power  delivered  to  the 
motors.  There  are  also  two  water-cooled  resistance  devices, 
which  are  placed  in  circuit  with  the  revolving  elements  of 
the  motors  during  the  process  of  reversing.  Connections 
for  the  insertion  of  these  resistances  are  made  by  sliders  on 
the  motor  shafts,  operated  by  levers  attached  to  the  motor 
frames.  The  generating  unit  and  motors  are  self-lubricating 
and  self-ventilating.  Sheet-metal  ducts  will  be  connected  to 
their  air  outlets  in  such  a  manner  that  the  heated  air  will  be 
led  to  the  suction  of  the  fire-room  blowers,  so  that  it  will 
not  be  released  in  the  engine  room. 

Since  in  such  an  equipment  it  is  only  necessary  to  gen- 
erate enough  energy  for  the  actual  driving  of  the  ship,  it  is 
possible  so  to  design  the  equipment  that  the  maximum  power 
which  can  be  delivered  by  the  generator  is  not  greatly  in 
excess  of  the  normal  requirements,  and  this  fact  practically 
overcomes   the   possibility   of   destructive   trouble   through 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No. 


wrong  connections.  It  has,  however,  been  thought  desirable 
to  arrange  interlocks  in  such  a  manner  that  wrong  connec- 
tions cannot  be  made,  the  conditions  being  such  that  these 
interlocks  involve  no  complication  or  uncertainty.  Pro- 
vision is  thus  made  by  which  the  go-ahead  switch  and  the 
reversing  switch  cannot  be  closed  at  the  same  time  and  by 
which  neither  switch  can  be  closed  unless  the  resistance  is 


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trolled  from  a  point  near  the  switchboard  and  operating 
levers.  Thus  the  operating  engineer,  without  changing  his 
position,  can  run  the  vessel  at  any  desired  speed  ahead  or 
astern,  can  stop  and  start,  and  from  his  instruments  can 
see  the  speed  and  amount  of  power  delivered  to  each  pro- 
peller. When  the  apparatus  is  installed  in  the  ship  arrange- 
•ments  will  also  be  made  by  which  in  the  same  position  he 
can  open  and  close  the  main  throttle  valve  by  hand  or  trip 
it  so  that  it  closes  instantly.  The  generating  unit  is  also 
equipped  with  a  simple  automatic  device  entirely  separate 


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Fig.  2 — Induction   Motor  for   U.  S.   Collier  Jupiter  on  Test   Bed. 

in  circuit  with  the  motor  secondary.  For  the  levers  which 
throw  the  resistances  in  and  out  of  circuit  magnetic  locks 
are  provided  which  in  turn  are  energized  from  the  field 
circuit  of  the  generator.  These  locks  prevent  the  movement 
of  the  levers  until  the  generator  has  lost  its  field  magnetism, 
and  thus  prevent  any  possibility  of  burning  of  contacts 
through  movements  at  the  wrong  time  or  in  tne  improper 
manner. 

The  speed  of  the  motors  in  this  vessel  will  be  changed  by 
variations  in  the  speed  of^the  generating  unit,  the  ratio  of 


9 
Fig.   . 


10 


13 


11 


15 


11        12 

Knots  SUetric^  WorUl 

est   Curves  of   Generating   Unit. 


A  -  Turbine  Generator. 

B  -  Motors. 

C  -  Water-Rheostats. 

D-  Switchboard. 

£■-0.0.  Turbine  Generator. 

F  -  Condenser. 

G  -  Door  for  Admitting  Air. 


Section  through  Frame  No.  1 
Fig.   3 — General   Arrangement  of   Equipment   on   U.   S.   Collier  Jupiter. 


speed  reduction  remaining  fixed.  The  changes  of  speed, 
however,  are  not  made  by  throttling,  as  is  usual  with  ship 
turbines.  The  turbine  is  equipped  with  a  governor  of  novel 
construction,  which  is  so  arranged  that  it  is  capable  of 
automatically  holding  the  speed  at  any  point  from  about  5 
knots  up  to  the  maximum.  The  setting  of  this  governor  is 
accomplished  by  the  movement  of  a  fulcrum  which  is  con- 


from  the  governor  which  trips  the  main  throttle  in  case  the 
speed  of  turbine  exceeds  a  certain  predetermined  limit. 

The  propulsion  methods  used  on  this  ship  constitute  the 
simplest  known  form  of  electric  power  transmission. 
.\pparatus  of  similar  character  is  used  for  a  great  variety 
of  purposes  on  shore  under  conditions  far  more  complicated 
and  difficult,  and  yet  with  an  immunity  from  trouble  which 
is  practically  complete.  No  insulation  difficulties,  with  the 
voltages  here  used,  are  anticipated.  The  equipment  itself 
is  particularly  rugged  and  represents  no  departures  from 

long-established  practice.  The 
switching  apparatus  is  of  an  en- 
tirely reliable  standard  type,  can 
be  easily  replaced  or  repaired, 
and  if  it  were  all  removed  the 
ship  could  easily  be  operated 
with  temporary  connections. 

The  turbine  is  so  designed 
that  all  of  its  parts  are  accessi- 
ble and  replaceable,  and  extra 
parts  will  be  carried  on  the  ves- 
sel, so  that  it  seems  impossible 
that  the  machine  will  be  subject 
to  any  serious  interruption  of 
service.  While  it  is  normally 
controlled  by  the  governor  as 
described,  it  is  in  no  way  de- 
pendent upon  the  governor, 
since  by  a  simple  disconnection 
it  can  be  operated  by  the  throt- 
tle from  a  point  near  the  switch- 
board and  motor  levers.  The 
turbine  has  six  separate  stages, 
and  in  the  event  of  loss  of 
blades  in  one  or  more  of  these 
stages  it  could  quickly  be  ar- 
ranged to  operate  on  the  re- 
maining stages  without  any  re- 
newals. Any  one  stage  of  the 
turbine  would  propel  the  ship  above  half  speed. 

The  whole  apparatus  was  recently  set  up  in  the  manu- 
facturer's shops  for  a  test,  the  turbine  being  connected  to 
a  condenser  and  one  motor  being  installed  in  the  same 
position  which  it  will  occupy  on  board  ship  with  relation 
to  the  switchboard  and  controlling  mechanism.  The  other 
motor   was  arranged  as   a   generator  and   coupled   to  the 


looking  Forward- 


August  3,  ipij. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


253 


first  motor  so  that  it  afforded  a  load.  Using  this  generating 
motor  as  a  load,  the  conditions  of  service  were  approxi- 
mated, although  they  were  actually  more  difficult  than  the 
driving  of  a  propeller,  since  the  load  falls  off  only  slightly 
with  diminutions  of  speed  unless  the  exciting  current  is 
reduced.  With  the  apparatus  so  installed,  the  processes 
of  starting,  stopping,  changing  speed  and  reversal  can  be 
accomplished  very  much  as  they  would  be  on  board  ship 
and  the  time  and  difficulty  involved  can  be  correctly  judged. 
The  motor  can  be  operated  at  its  full  load  or  any  desired 
proportion  of  this  load  and  at  any  desired  speed,  the  control 
being  accomplished  by  mechanical  connection  to  the  govern- 
ing mechanism  of  the  turbine,  substantially  the  same  as  on 
shipboard. 

This  arrangement  afforded  means  of  experimenting  with 
the  operation,  but  did  not  afford  means  of  testing  the  water 
rates,  since  only  one  motor  could  be  loaded.  The  water 
rates  of  the  generating  unit  have  been  tested  under  all  loads 
and  conditions  by  delivering  its  power  to  a  water  rheostat 
in  the  usual  manner,  and  the  record  of  these  tests  is  shown 
by  the  accompanying  curve  sheet,  in  Fig.  4.  In  these  tests 
the  effects  of  speed,  voltage,  vacuum  and  superheat  were 
all  thoroughly  investigated  and  a  series  of  tests  was  run 
under  almost  exactly  the  conditions  of  load,  speed  and 
voltage  which  will  be  characteristic  of  the  ship's  operation. 
The  tests  were  made  under  almost  the  precise  conditions  of 
steam  pressure  and  vacuum  specified  for  the  ship. 

In  the  interval  since  the  turbine  for  this  vessel  was 
designed  new  developments  have  been  made  which  indicate 
that  certain  changes  of  design  would  accomplish  a  material 
improvement  in  the  water  rates  shown  by  the  tests  above 
mentioned.  Inasmuch  as  it  is  desired  to  make  this  installa- 
tion representative  of  the  best  practice,  it  is  proposed  to 
rebuild  the  turbine  if  the  government  will  allow  the  neces- 
sary time.  The  new  data  indicate  that  by  such  rebuilding 
the  water  rate  at  14  knots  will  be  reduced  from  12  lb.  per 
shaft  hp-hr.  to  about  11.25  'b-  per  shaft  hp-hr.  The  entire 
equipment  is  being  furnished  by  the  General  Electric 
Company. 

CHANGING  THE  SIZE  OF  WIRE  ON  SHUNT  COILS. 


By  Alan  M.  Bennett. 

Shunt  coils  enter  into  the  design  of  electric  apparatus 
of  a  wide  variety  of  types.  These  coils  are  generally  de- 
signed to  produce  a  certain  magnetizing  force  or  number 
of  ampere-turns  at  a  maximum  allowable  temperature  rise, 
and  may  be  assumed  to  be  a  standard  for  the  particular 
piece  of  apparatus  for  which  they  are  designed.  In  many 
cases,  however,  where  such  coils  are  employed  it  frequently 
becomes  necessary  in  adapting  this  apparatus  to  special 
conditions  to  change  the  size  of  wire  with  which  they  are 
wound. 

Among  the  results  to  be  obtained  from  such  changes  may 
be  mentioned  slower  speeds  in  motors,  by  the  use  of  larger 
wire  on  the  field  coils,  it  being  possible  in  many  cases  to 
obtain  speeds  in  this  manner  which  otherwise  would  neces- 
sitate special  armature  design.  By  a  similar  change  one 
can  often  obtain  a  field  strength  that  will  permit  of  speed 
variation  by  field  weakening.  The  use  of  a  wire  of  smaller 
size  will  result  in  decreased  current  and  heating  in  the 
coil,  a  condition  often  necessary  in  meeting  efficiency  and 
temperature  specifications.  The  result  of  increasing  the 
size  of  wire  in  the  field  coils  of  generators  is  a  higher  volt- 
age at  the  machine  terminals.  In  the  case  of  solenoids  the 
use  of  a  larger  wire  will  increase  the  magnetizing  force  and 
the  pull  on  the  plunger. 

Examples  may  be  multiplied,  and  of  course  in  any  of 
these  cases  the  results  are  possible  only  within  certain  lim- 
its. Conditions  will  arise,  such  as  the  degree  of  saturation 
of  the  magnetic  circuit,  which  will  limit  the  result  if  carried 
too  far. 


that  is,  with  a  given  winding  space 


In  all  cases,  however,  where  such  changes  are  made  ques- 
tions will  arise  as  to  the  effect  produced  on  the  ampere- 
turns  of  the  winding,  the  watts  generated  and  the  conse- 
quent temperature  rise,  and  the  alterations  to  be  made  in 
the  coil  to  keep  the  heating  within  allowable  limits.  That 
the  effect  produced  in  all  these  cases  follows  some  definite 
rule  must  be  evident,  because  of  the  fixed  relation  between 
the  various  sizes  of  wires. 

Wire  of  B.  &  S.  gage  only  will  be  considered  below,  in- 
asmuch as  this  gage  is  employed  almost  universally  in  this 
country.  The  cross-sectional  areas  of  consecutive  sizes  of 
this  wire  have  the  ratio  of  i  to  1.25.  As  the  thickness  of 
insulation  on  single-covered  wire  of  the  sizes  most  com- 
monly used  on  shunt  windings,  namely,  up  to  number  27, 
is  a  small  percentage  of  the  wire  diameter,  the  sectional 
areas  of  covered  wires  will  have  approximately  this  same 
ratio  of  i  to  1.25,  and  it  is  on  this  ratio  that  the  following 
rules  are  based. 

Let  a  equal  length  of  winding  space;  b  equal  depth  of 
winding  space;  d  and  D  equal  the  covered  diameter  of  any 
two  sizes  of  wire.  Then,  considering  the  turns  to  be  wound 
in  regular  order,  the  number  of  turns  of  each  size  that  can 

aXb 

be   wound   in   this   space   will   be,   respectively,    — -r^ —     and 

aXh  . 

— =-5 — .     The   ratio   of   the   turns   in   the   two  cases   will   be 

aXb       ftXb  _    D'- 

the  number  of  turns  of  any  two  sizes  of  wire  that  can  be 
wound  in  this  space  will  be  inversely  proportional  to  the 
squares  of  the  diameters.  Now,  the  squares  of  the  diameters 
of  two  wires  have  the  same  ratio  as  their  cross-sectional 
areas,  which  we  have  seen  is  i  to  1.25.  Therefore,  the  num- 
ber of  turns  of  any  two  consecutive  sizes  of  wire  than  can 
be  wound  in  a  given  space  will  be  in  the  ratio  of  I  to  1.25. 

The  total  resistance  of  the  coil  depends  on  the  number 
of  turns,  the  resistance  per  unit  of  length  of  the  wire  and 
the  length  of  mean  turn  in  the  same  unit  in  which  the  re- 
sistance is  expressed.  With  a  given  winding  space  the 
length  of  mean  turn  will  be  constant  and  the  resistance  will 
depend  on  the  former  two  only.  Now  we  have  seen  that  in 
a  given  winding  space  25  per  cent  more  turns  of  any  given 
wire  can  be  wound  than  of  the  preceding  size,  and  it  is  a 
property  of  wires  of  B.  &  S.  gage  that  each  size  has  a  re- 
sistance per  unit  of  length  25  per  cent  greater  than  the 
preceding   size. 

Therefore  the  resistance  of  two  coils  of  like  dimensions, 
wound  with  consecutive  sizes  of  wire,  will  be  in  the  ratio 
of  I  to  {1.25)'  or  I  to  1.56. 

The  next  effect  to  be  considered  is  the  relation  of  the 
ampere-turns  resulting  when  the  two  coils  are  subjected  to 
the  same  voltage.  As  their  resistance  is  in  the  ratio  of 
I  to  1.56,  the  current  which  will  flow  through  them  due 
to  this  resistance  will  vary  inversely  as  this  resistance,  or 
as  1.56  to  I.  That  is,  the  coil  of  larger  wire  will  pass  56 
per  cent  more  current  than  one  wound  with  the  smaller  wire. 
But  the  former  coil  contains  only  80  per  cent  of  the  num- 
ber of  turns  that  the  latter  does.  The  ampere-turns  then  in 
the  case  of  the  former  will  be  1.56  X  O-^o  =  1.25  times  that 
of  the  latter. 

Therefore,  when  two  coils  of  like  dimensions,  wound 
with  consecutive  sizes  of  wire,  are  subjected  to  the  same 
voltage  the  resulting  ampere-turns  will  be  in  the  ratio  of 
I  to  1.25. 

The  watts  generated  in  a  coil  vary  as  the  product  of  the 
amperes  passing  through  the  coil  and  the  voltage  at  its 
terminals.  As  this  latter  is  constant  for  the  coils  in  ques- 
tion, their  respective  watts  will  vary  directly  as  the  amperes 
flowing  through  them.  This  we  have  found  previously  to 
be  in  the  ratio  of  i  to  1.56. 

Therefore,    when    two    coils    of    like    dimensions,    wound 


254 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  N'n,  5. 


with  consecutive  sizes  of  wire,  are  subjected  to  the  same 
voltage  the  resulting  watts  loss  will  be  in  the  ratio  of  i 
to  1.56. 

Inasmuch  as  the  radiating  surface  of  the  coils  in  the 
two  cases  is  the  same,  the  watts  per  square  inch  radiated 
from  this  surface  will  also  be  in  the  ratio  of  i  to  1.56.  At 
a  given  number  of  degrees  rise  per  watt  per  square  inch 
under  like  conditions  the  two  coils  will  then  rise  in  tem- 
perature in  this  same  ratio.  This  variation  in  heating  in 
many  cases  will  not  be  permissible,  and  a  question  arises 
as  to  the  percentage  of  increase  or  decrease  in  turns  that 
must  be  made  to  keep  the  watts  per  square  inch  at  or  near 
their  original  value  when  a  change  is  made  in  the  size  of 
wire.  Consider  the  case  where  the  change  is  made  to  the 
next  larger  size.  Here  the  watts  will  increase  by  56  per 
cent,  and  turns  will  have  to  be  added  to  the  coil  in  sufficient 
number  for  the  decreased  current  and  increased  radiating 
surface  to  balance  this  amount. 

If  the  coil  can  be  lengthened,  leaving  its  diameter  the 
same,  it  is  evident  that  by  adding  25  per  cent  to  its  length 
the  desired  result  is  obtained,  for  this  means  25  per  cent 
more  turns  and  resistance,  thereby  reducing  the  current  to 
80  per  cent  of  its  former  value.  The  radiating  surface  is 
likewise  increased  25  per  cent,  and  the  net  result  is  that 
the  watts  per  square  inch  are  the  same  as  on  the  coil  with 
the  smaller  wire.  It  will  be  noted  that  in  this  case  the 
ampere-turns  remain  the  same  as  before  the  coil  was 
lengthened,  inasmuch  as  the  number  of  turns  has  been  in- 
creased to  125  per  cent  and  the  current  reduced  to  So  per 
cent  of  its  former  value. 

If,  however,  the  coil  cannot  be  increased  in  length  but 
the  addition  of  turns  has  to  be  made  to  the  outside,  then 
the  percentage  of  increase  in  turns  will  have  to  be  deter- 
mined for  each  particular  case ;  it  is  not  possible  to  lay  down 
any  simple  rule  for  the  number  of  turns  to  be  added,  as  a 
certain  percentage  of  increase 'in  turns  will  not  in  all  cases 
increase  the  resistance  by  any  fixed  percentage,  the  in- 
crease in  resistance  depending  on  the  increase  in  length  of 
mean  turn,  and  this  depending  on  the  ratio  of  depth  of 
winding  to  inside  diameter  of  coil.  Unlike  the  preceding 
case,  it  will  be  found  that  where  turns  are  added  to  the  out- 
side of  the  coil  the  ampere-turns  are  lessened.  This  is  at- 
tributable to  the  fact  that  the  length  of  mean  turn  is  in- 
creased, which  effects  an  increase  in  resistance  in  addi- 
tion to  that  caused  by  the  increase  in  turns.  The  current 
therefore  decreases  at  a  greater  rate  than  the  turns  increase, 
with  the  result  that  the  ampere-turns  are  lessened.  This 
decrease  in  ampere-turns  will  be  greater  in  those  cases 
where  the  depth  of  winding  approaches  more  nearly  in  di- 
mension to  the  inside  diameter  of  the  coil.  For  example,  a 
coil  with  an  inside  diameter  of  2  in.  and  a  depth  of  winding 
of  I  in.  will  have  its  ampere-turns  decreased  8  per  cent  by 
the  addition  to  the  outside  of  the  coil  of  25  per  cent  more 
turns. 

When  the  change  is  made  to  a  wire  of  the  next  smaller 
size  the  opposite  of  the  foregoing  is  true.  Here  the  watts 
will  decrease  to  approximately  65  per  cent  of  their  former 
value,  and  turns  can  be  taken  off  the  coil  in  sufficient  num- 
ber to  bring  the  watts  per  square  inch  radiated  back  to 
what  they  were  before  the  change  was  made. 

If  the  coil  can  be  shortened,  it  will  be  found  that  a  re- 
duction in  length  of  20  per  cent  will  give  the  desired  re- 
sult. If  turns  have  to  be  taken  off  the  outside,  then  for 
reasons  previously  stated  the  turns  for  each  case  will  have 
to  be  determined  separately. 

The  foregoing  has  dealt  with  a  change  to  a  wire  of  the 
next  larger  or  smaller  size,  but  results  from  a  change  to 
two  or  more  sizes  can  be  readily  deduced  from  what  has 
been  given.  For  example,  the  number  of  turns  of  any  given 
wire  and  of  one  two  sizes  smaller  that  can  be  wound  in 
the  same  space  will  have  the  ratio  of  i  to  (1.25)';  the  cor- 
responding watts  will  be  in  the  ratio  of  (1.56)'  to  I,  and 
so  on. 


TWO    YEARS    OF    PRODUCER    EXPERIENCE    AT 
AMARILLO,  TEX. 


After  two  years  of  bituminous  producer-plant  operation 
with  varying  results,  the  Amarillo  Water,  Power  &  Light 
Company,  of  Amarillo,  Tex.,  is  now  obtaining  quite  depend- 
able and  satisfactory  service  from  its  producer  equipment, 
developing  a  kilowatt-hour  on  2.25  lb.  of  the  New  Mexico 
coal  used,  which  has  a  fuel  value  of  11,300  heat  units  per 
lb.  Besides  its  auxiliary  steam-driven  apparatus,  the 
Amarillo  central  station  includes  two  220-kw  Westinghouse 
bituminous  producers  and  two  180  kw  ^^■estinghouse  hori- 
zontal gas-engine  sets  generating  2300-volt,  25-cycle,  three- 
phase  energy. 

When  first  installed  the  producers  gave  trouble  from 
excess  tar  which  entered  the  engine  cylinders,  fouling 
them  and  resulting  in  sticky  valves  and  other  troubles. 
This  tendency  to  make  tar  was  caused  by  "hot  spots"  in 
the  fuel  bed,  so  that  every  possible  precaution  is  now  taken 
to  insure  uniform  temperature  throughout  the  combustion 
zone.  Every  hour  or  two  the  man  on  watch  inspects  the 
fire  through  portholes  just  above  the  vaporizer  gallery. 
Unequal  temperatures  are  quickly  spotted  by  the  color  of 
the  fire,  and  any  inequality  is  quickly  corrected  by-  draw- 
ing out  ashes.  The  producers  are  charged  hourly,  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  scoop-shovelfuls  being  added  at  each  charge. 
Ashes  are  removed  once  in  each  eight-hour  shift,  one 
wheel-barrowful  being  taken  from  each  quadrant  of  the 
submerged  ash  pit.  Twelve  wheel-barrow  loads  per  day 
are  drawn  in  this  way  from  the  four  pits,  corresponding 
closely  with  the  theoretical  ash  contents  of  the  coal  fired. 

When  a  high  spot  is  detected  in  any  part  of  the  fuel  bed 
by  the  hourly  inspections  above  noted,  several  wheel-barrow 
loads  of  ashes  are  at  once  drawn  from  a  point  directly  be- 
neath, regardless  of  the  regular  time  for  removing  ashes. 
With  the  aid  of  a  bar  other  partially  coked  fuel  is  then 
raked  in  from  the  top  of  the  bed  and  the  surface  is  made 
uniform.  A  cold  spot  is  similarly  corrected  by  drawing 
out  ashes  and  allowing  fresh  fuel  to  drop  into  its  place. 
While  the  presence  of  cold  spots  is  without  damage  to 
the  producer  operation,  except  to  decrease  its  output,  the 
high  spots  may  cause  serious  trouble  by  liberating  tar  which 
fouls  the  engine  valves  and  parts.  A  skilled  attendant  can 
readily  compare  the  temperature  at  different  points  by 
feeling  the  radiation  from  the  shell  of  the  producer. 

Trouble  has  also  been  experienced  from  the  cracking  of 
vaporizer  castings.  To  prevent  this  difficulty  apparently 
requires  a  degree  of  attention  to  the  water  supply  for  the 
producers  about  as  close  as  for  a  steam  boiler.  Once  each 
day  a  quantity  of  boiler  compound  is  added  to  the  water  in 
the  vaporizers,  and  once  each  shift,  or  three  times  daily, 
the  vaporizer  is  blown  off  to  insure  the  absence  of  scale 
and  free  circulation  of  water  in  all  parts.  To  the  presence 
of  scale  and  lowering  of  water  level  are  attributed  the 
difficulties  first  experienced  from  the  cracking  of  castings. 
The  Amarillo  producers  are  kept  in  continuous  service 
thirty  days  at  a  time,  and  in  certain  instances  have  run  two 
to  three  months  without  their  fires  being  drawn.  These 
producers  are  of  the  type  commonly  rated  by  their  manu- 
facturer at  220  kw,  but  on  account  of  the  high  altitude  of 
Amarillo,  3600  ft.  above  sea  level,  their  capacity  is  cor- 
respondingly reduced  to  180  kw,  for  which  the  engines  are 
installed.  The  coal  used  at  this  plant  evidently  contains 
sulphur  in  pyrites  or  other  form.  An  acid  is  apparently 
formed  and  delivered  to  the  engines  along  with  the  gas, 
causing  the  rapid  eating  away  of  the  engine  piston  shafts, 
exhaust  valves,  etc.,  for  which  no  remedy  has  thus  far  been 
found.  The  producer  units  have  been  operated  in  parallel 
without  difficulty  on  several  occasions,  and  the  engine  units 
are  easily  synchronized.  During  a  sixty-day  test  recently 
completed  on  one  of  the  Amarillo  outfits,  2.25  lb.  of  coal 
was  consumed  for  each  kilowatt-hour  generated. 


AUGLsT   3,    ig\2 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


255 


GAS-PRODUCER  PLANT  AT  WINDHAM,  OHIO. 


By  F.  A.  Eberwine. 
The  appearance  of  gas  producers  and  reliable  gas  engines 
on  the  market  has  made  possible  the  use  of  electricity  in 
towns  which  are  removed  from  water-power  or  from  large 
distributing  systems.  The  gas-producer  plant  at  Windham, 
Ohio,  furnishes  an  excellent  example  of  how  electricity 
can  be  supplied  to  a  small  town  at  a  comparatively  low  cost. 
This  town  has  a  total  of  only  eighty-five  dwellings  and 
business  places  and  a  population  of  only  265,  yet  at  the 
present  time  it  boasts  of  forty  street  lamps,  and  although 
the  plant  has  been  in  operation  but  one  year,  forty-eight  of 
the  eighty-five  buildings  are  wired  and  the  occupants  use 
electric  light.  The  owners  of  the  plant  are  at  the  present 
time  building  a  line  north  for  1  mile  and  will  connect  to 
five  farmhouses  on  the  way.  During  the  present  year  they 
will  extend  the  lines  both  west  and  south  i  mile  and  con- 
nect to  about  a  dozen  more  dairy  farms. 

The -power  plant  is  equipped  with  a  50-hp  Fairbanks- 
Morse  ■  suction-type  gas  producer  and  gas  engine,  which 
drives  a  36-kw,  60-cycle,  three-phase  generator,  giving  2300 
volts,  and  a  no- volt  direct-current  exciter  which  is  belt- 
connected  to  the  engine  flywheel.  Two  circuits  are  taken 
from  the  switchboard,  one  for  street-lighting  and  the  other 
for  house-lighting  purposes.  The  transformers  are  of  the 
standard  20  to  i  type,  and  the  secondary  emf  is  therefore 
IIS  volts.  The  primary  voltage  of  the  street-lighting  cir- 
cuit is  2300,  while  the  secondary  voltage  is  adjusted  accord- 
ing to  the  number  of  street  lamps  in  use.  The  street-light- 
ing transformer  is  mounted  upon  a  rack  in  front  of  the 
power  hiDuse  about  15  ft.  from  the  ground.  By  changing 
one  of  the  secondary  leads  of  the  transformers,  different 
voltages  can  be  obtained,  giving  a  range  of  from  550  volts  to 
750  volts  in  50-voIt  steps.  This  transformer  as  well  as  the 
20  to  I  transformers  was  built  by  the  Enterprise  Electric 
Company,  of  Warren,  Ohio. 

The  current  of  the  street  series  circuit  is  kept  at  approxi- 
mately 4  amp  by  means  of  an  adjustable  resistance  at  the 
switchboard.  Forty  series-burning  50-watt  and  one  250- 
watt  clean  tungsten  lamps  are  used  for  street  lighting. 
They  are  equipped  with  i8-in.  fluted  Wheeler  reflectors  and 
film  cutrout  sockets.  Each  unit  is  suspended  on  a  straight 
bracket  made  of  o.7S-in.  iron  pipe  with  an  iron  brace,  and 
extends  about  5  ft.  from  the  pole.  All  lamps  are  14  ft. 
above  the  street  level,  and  a  good  distribution  of  light  is 
obtained. 

The  lighting  contract  between  the  owners  and  the  village 
fixes  the  cost  of  each  50-watt  lamp  at  $15  per  year,  and 
specifies  every-night  service  from  darkness  to  midnight. 
Energy  for  commercial  purposes  is  furnished  at  10  cents 
per  kw-hr.,  with  10  per  cent  discount  above  50  kw-hr.  per 
month  and  a  minimum  charge  of  $1  per  month.  Meters 
are  installed  for  all  consumers  and  owned  by  the  company. 
Owing  to  the  cheapness  of  energy  and  the  reliability  of 
service  it  is  expected  that  before  the  close  of  this  year 
three-quarters  of  the  dwellings  will  be  using  electric  lights. 
During  the  present  summer  the  plant  has  been  run  every 
Tuesday  during  the  daytime  for  electric  irons.  The  Under- 
writers' rules  are  followed  in  all  house  wiring,  and  almost 
all  of  the  consumers  use  tungsten  lamps,  thereby  obtaining 
excellent  lighting  results. 

In  connection  with  the  power  plant  the  owners  have  in- 
stalled in  the  adjoining  room  a  ball-bearing  Sprout-Wal- 
dron  attrition  feed-grinding  mill,  with  crusher  and  neces- 
sary elevator,  etc.  The  feed  mill  is  operated  during  the 
light-load  hours  of  the  night  run  and  every  Saturday  dur- 
ing the  day.  The  rate  for  feed  grinding  is  10  cents  per 
100  lb.,  and  during  about  seven  months  in  the  year  it  nets 
a  very  good  income. 

The  coal  used  in  the  producer  is  the  grade  known  as 
buckwheat  anthracite,  costing  $4  per  gross  ton  delivered 
at    the    power   house.      The    coal    consumption    during    the 


summer  months  was  less  than  i  ton  of  coal  a  week.  Dur- 
ing last  December  the  coal  consumed  was  about  6.5  tons. 
The  peak  electric  load  is  only  about  one-third  the  rating 
of  the  equipment,  so  that  the  highest  efficiency  cannot  be 
secured.  The  cost  of  oil  consumed  is  about  $1  a  week. 
The  gross  earnings  of  the  plant  for  December  reached 
almost  $200,  and  they  will  soon  go  above  this,  as  more  con- 
sumers are  being  obtained  every  week. 

The  gas  producer  plant  at  Windham  is  an  excellent  ex- 
ample of  what  can  be  done  in  a  small  town  where  it  is 
desired  to  use  electricity  for  street  lighting  and  commer- 
cial purposes.  The  owner  does  all  of  the  work  connected 
with  the  operating  of  the  plant,  except  on  the  all-day  Satur- 
day run,  when  he  hires  a  man  to  help  take  care  of  the  feed 
grinding,  from  3  to  5  tons  of  feed  often  being  handled 
during  this  run. 

The  work  of  caring  for  the  producer  during  operation  is 
remarkably  simple  as  compared  with  that  required  for  a 
steam  boiler.  The  fire  in  the  producer  is  poked  down  and 
raked  before  starting  in  the  evening,  and  fresh  coal  is 
added.  Air  is  then  forced  against  the  fire  with  a  small 
blower  by  a  2-hp  gasoline  engine.  This  engine  also  runs 
an  air  compressor  for  starting  the  gas  engine.  The  time 
consumed  for  the  work  is  from  20  to  30  minutes.  The  gas 
is  tested  by  lighting  it  when  the  blower  is  running,  and  as 
soon  as  the  gas  will  burn  without  going  out  it  is  ready  to 
be  used  in  the  engine.  The  valve  to  the  atmosphere  is 
closed  and  the  one  to  the  engine  is  opened,  the  engine  being 
started  by  a  few  impulses  of  compressed  air  in  one  of  the 
cylinders.  After  the  crankshaft  has  made  two  or  three 
revolutions  the  air  is  shut  off,  the  starting  gear  lever  is  put 
in  its  running  position,  and  both  cylinders  then  take  the 
charge  of  air  and  gas,  the  engine  accelerating  to  full  speed 
in  a  few  minutes. 

The  above  represents  abso.lutely  all  the  work  done  in 
connection  with  the  producer  until  starting  time  the  next 
evening.  For  a  run  of  only  sixteen  hours  or  eighteen 
hours  no  attention  is  required,  and  continual  firing  and 
watching  of  the  water  glass  are  not  necessary,  as  with  a 
steam  boiler.  There  are  no  tubes  to  leak  and  to  be  cleaned. 
The  owner  would  not  consider  returning  to  the  old  steam- 
plant  methods  such  as  are  followed  in  nearly  all  small 
town  plants.  Moreover,  the  coal  consumption  by  the  pro- 
ducer is  only  about  one-third  the  amount  required  for  steam 
boilers.  The  gas  producer  and  gas  engine  form  an  excel- 
lent equipment  for  the  purposes  filled  by  the  electric-light 
plant  of  a  small  town. 


DESTRUCTION  OF  BACTERIA  BY  ELECTROLYSIS. 


.■\n  illustration  of  the  efficacy  of  the  electric  current  in 
the  destruction  of  bacteria  is  found  in  some  tests  made  on 
the  electrolysis  sterilization  of  milk  by  Dr.  C.  B.  Morrey 
and  Prof.  F.  C.  Caldwell,  of  the  Ohio  State  University, 
Columbus.  As  reported  by  Professor  Caldwell  before  the 
Ohio  Electric  Light  Association  in  connection  with  his 
paper  on  the  electrolytic  purification  of  sewage,  milk  was 
made  to  flow  through  a  succession  of  metal  vessels,  forming 
electrodes  of  opposite  polarity,  so  that  the  current  traversed 
the  small  streams  of  lacteal  fluid  in  a  number  of  places,  the 
experiment  being  thus  a  thorough  one. 

In  a  sample  of  market  milk  containing  19,480,000  bacteria 
per  cubic  centimeter,  an  application  of  2.5  amp  at  2000  volts 
alternating  current  for  15  seconds  reduced  this  number 
99.97  per  cent.  Another  similar  test  showed  a  reduction  of 
98.7  per  cent,  and  a  third,  in  which  the  milk  was  inoculated 
with  diphtheria  bacteria  in  very  large  numbers,  showed 
their  practically  complete  destruction.  Chemical  examina- 
tion of  the  milk  showed  no  changes  which  would  account 
for  the  sterilization,  nor  could  this  be  accounted  for  by  the 
heating  which  took  place. 


256 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  $. 


PLANT   REPAIRS  ON  A  BURST  WATERWHEEL. 


The  waterwheel  .nIiowii  in  the  ilkustration  is  one  of  the 
two  runners  of  a  io,ooo-hp  hydraulic  turbine  installed  in 
the  Shoshone  plant  of  the  Central  Colorado  Power  Com- 
pany. These  wheels,  4.5  ft.  in  diameter,  operate  at  400 
r.p.m.  under  a  head  of   170  ft.     After  eighteen  months  of 


Fig.    1 — Cracked    Waterwheel    Runner    Before    Repair    with    Oxy- 
acetyiene     Flame. 

service  the  runner  shown  cracked  in  several  places  owing 
to  the  wearing  action  of  foreign  matter  in  the  water,  which 
further  reduced  the  section  of  the  thin  metal. 

Another  curious  action  was  'observed  in  the  pitting  of  the 
case  casting  of  these  same  turbines,  numerous  tiny  holes 
appearing  in  a  plane  near  the  entrance  of  the  water.     This 


Fig.    2 — Runner    Repaired    by    Welding    Cracks    and    Shrinking    on 
Steel     Ring. 

pittiitg  was  explained  by  the  presence  of  oxygen  entrained 
in  the  water,  which,  it  was  believed,  thus  attacked  the 
metal  under  the  pressure  of  the  penstock.  A  steel  ring  6  in. 
wide  and  0.5  in.  thick  was  later  set  into  the  casing  at  the 
point  where  the  pitting  had  occurred,  the  pitted  parts  of 
the  casting  being  channeled  out  to  receive  the  plate  flush 
with  its  inner  surface.     The  steel   has  since  remained  un- 


attacked  by  the  pitting,  but  as  the  latter  again  made  its 
appearance  in  lesser  degree  in  the  casting  alongside  the 
inserted  plate,  the  exact  cause  of  the  destructive  action  is 
still  in  doubt. 

Cracking  of  the  runner  occurred  in  two  places  where 
full  breaks  were  observed,  besides  numerous  little  cracks 
running  across  the  ring  in  other  places.  An  oxyacetylene 
flame  was  used  in  making  the  repairs,  eighteen  welds  being 
required  before  the  job  was  finished.  At  the  outset  it  was 
found  that  efforts  to  repair  one  crack  usually  resulted  in 
causing  one  or  more  new  cracks,  due  to  the  expansion  of 
the  parts.  This  difficulty  was  finally  solved  by  preheating 
the  runner  on  one  side  while  the  weld  was  made  on  the 
opposite  side.  Then  the  wheel  was  turned  through  180  deg. 
and  the  opposite  weld  completed.  The  crack  openings  were 
filled  solid  with  a  mixture  identical  with  the  metal  in  the 
runner,  and  the  entire  ring  was  built  up  and  turned  to  a 
minimum  thickness  of  J4  in.  Outside  of  this  a  3-in.  by 
/2-in.  steel  ring  was  then  shrunk  on  and  turned  down  to  be 
concentric  with  the  axis  line  of  the  bearings.  All  the 
work  was  carried  out  with  such  ready  means  as  were  at 
hand  in  the  plant  in  the  canyon  of  the  Grand  River,  12 
miles   east   of   Glenwood    Springs,    Col.,   the    nearest    town. 


TOWER  FOR  COOLING  TRANSFORMER  WATER. 


The  Connecticut  River  Transmission  Company,  of 
Worcester,  Mass.,  recently  installed  a  cooling  tower  at  its 
Worcester  substation  in  order  to  economize  in  the  use  of 
transformer  circulating  water.  At  the  substation,  which  is 
located  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city  in  the  Greendale  district, 
all  water  used  except  a  nominal  amount  derived  from  rain- 
fall is  purchased  from  the  city  mains.  The  installation 
contains  seven  1500-kw  oil  and  water-cooled  transformers 
which  reduce  the  potential  from  66,000  volts  to  13,800  volts 
in  connection  with  the  local  distribution  of  the  company 
for  motor  service  in  large  industrial  plants.  On  account 
of  the  expense  of  city  water  and  the  desirability  of  running 
the  transformer  temperatures  as  low  as  possible,  the  cool- 
ing tower  shown  in  the  accompanying  photograph  was 
built,  with  the  result  that  the  consumption  of  water  has 
been  materially  decreased,  while  the  average  running  tem- 
perature of  the  transfonners  for  the  loads  handled  has 
been  cut  down  about  20  deg. 

The  cooling  tower  consists  of  a  set  of  racks  carrying 
inclined  vanes  of  wood  which  are  supported  above  a  con- 


Coollng   Tower   at   Worcester  Substation   of   Connecticut    River 
Transmission  Company. 

Crete  reservoir  in  the  substation  yard,  the  structure  being 
about  17  ft.  long,  9.5  ft.  high  and  3  ft.  wide.  The  reservoir 
is  21  ft.  square  and  6  ft.  deep,  and  the  tower  is  supported 
on  two  6-in.  by  6-in.  wooden  sills  crossing  the  reservoir 
from  end  to  end.  The  heated  water  from  the  transformer 
coils  is  carried  to  the  tower  through  a  4-in.  pipe  which 
branches  at  the  top  of  the  tower  on  the  side  away  from  the 


August  3.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


257 


sun  into  two  3-in.  horizontal  pipes,  each  of  these  in  turn 
being  tapped  at  intervals  of  6  in.  by  i-in.  delivery  pipes 
run  at  right  angles  to  the  main  feeders.  Fifteen  delivery 
pipes  are  installed,  each  having  numerous  ^-in.  holes  from 
which  the  water  is  discharged  upon  the  inclined  vanes, 
wiiich  are  installed  in  eight  tiers.  The  reservoir  is  supplied 
with  make-up  water  through  a  2-in.  city  service  with  con- 
trolling valve.  The  cooled  water  from  the  basin  is  carried 
to  the  substation  by  two  3-in.  underground  pipes  connect- 
ing with  a  pair  of  1.5-in.  Baldwin  directly  connected  hori- 
zontal centrifugal  pumps  driven  in  each  case  by  a  2-hp,  no- 
volt,  three-phase  squirrel-cage  induction  motor  running  at 
1800  r.p.ni.  The  pumps  are  diagonally  cross-connected 
from  the  suction  side  of  one  to  the  discharge  side  of  the 
other,  so  that  either  may  be  run  singly  on  the  load  or  one 
may  be  operated  in  series  with  the  other.  The  transform- 
ers are  supplied  in  sets  of  three  each,  and  the  maximum 
lift  is  about  15  ft.  The  cost  of  the  cooling  tower  and  basin 
is  understood  not  to  have  exceeded  $400. 


[NSTALLATION    OF    SMALL    POWER    PLANTS    IN 
FEDERAL  OFFICE  BUILDINGS— I. 


By  D.  F.  Atkins  and  H.  M.  Price. 

IN  determining  whether  the  mechanical  equipment  of  a 
federal  building  under  the  control  of  the  Treasury 
Department  should  include  a  power  plant  for  genera- 
ion  of  electrical  energy  for  lamps  and  motors,  the  follow- 
ng  points  are  given  consideration:  (i)  First  cost;  (2) 
.vhether  suitable  space  is  available;  (3)  difference  in  cost 
)f  salaries  for  power-plant  operation  as  compared  with 
.alaries  in  connection  with  operation  of  a  low-pressure 
leating  system;  (4)  increase  in  total  cost  of  fuel  required 
or  the  power  plant  above  that  required  for  a  low-pressure 
leating  system;  (5)  increase  in  cost  of  water  used  on  ac- 
ount  of  exhaust  steam  wasted  to  the  atmosphere;  (6)  in- 
erest  charge  on  first  cost;  (7)  depreciation  charge,  or 
mortization  (interest  and  depreciation  are  assumed  as  8 
ler  cent  of  the  first  cost  of  the  plant). 
In  arriving  at  the  cost  of  the  plant  the  following  figures 
re  used : 

ingle-valve,    direct-connected    simple    engines    and    generators,    per 

kw,   in   place $35.00 

ingle-valve,    direct-connected    compound    engines    and    generators, 

per  kw,   in  place 45.00 

our-valve,    direct-connected    simple    engines    and    generators,    per 

kw,  in  place 45.00 

our-valve,     direct-connected     compound     engines    and     generators, 

per  kw,  in  place 55.00 

/ater-tube  boilers  and   setting,   v/ith  breecliing  and  stack,   per  kw, 

in     place 30.00 

witchboard  and   mount'ngs,   per   panel,    in   place 300.00 

Piping,  pumiis,  feed-water  heater,  etc.,  in  place,  at  20  per  cent  of  tiie 
'St  of  tlie  boilers,  engines  and  generators. 

The  estimated  cost  of  labor  for  operation  is  generally 
le  most  important  factor  in  determining  whether  a  plant 
ball  be  installed.  For  operation  of  the  average  small 
lant  in  a  federal  building  the  following  operating  force 
•ill  usually  be  found  sufficient : 

One  chief  engineer,  at  $1,600   per  annum. 
Three  assistant  engineers,   at  $1,200  per  annum. 
Three   firemen,   at   $2.25    per   diem. 
Three  coal  passers,  at  $2  per  diem. 
j  One  extra  fireman  or  laborer,  at  $2.25  per  diem. 

In  the  same  building  with  no  e'ectric  generating  plant 
le  following  force  will  usually  be  found  sufficient : 

One  chief  engineer,  at  $1,400  per  annum. 

Three   assistant   engineers,   at   $1,000   per   annum. 

Three  firemen,  at  $2.25  per  diem,  for  seven  months  in  the  year. 

One   extra    fireman    or    laborer,    at    $2    per    diem,    for    seven    months    in 

e  year. 

In  approximating  the  amount  of  coal  required  to  heat 
le  building,  the  amount  of  radiation,  both  direct  and  in- 


direct, is  ascertained,  the  latter  being  reduced  to  the  equiv- 
alent of  direct  radiation  by  multiplying  it  by  3  if  a  fan  is 
used  with  the  system  or  by  1.5  if  the  circulation  of  air  is 
by  natural  means.  It  is  assumed  that  each  square  foot  of 
direct  radiation  or  its  equivalent  will  condense  500  lb.  of 
steam  in  a  season  of  200  days,  and  that  when  the  boilers 
are  operated  for  heating  only  there  will  be  evaporated  7 
lb.  of  water  per  pound  of  coal.  For  buildings  in  the  lati- 
tude of  New  York  City  a  fair  average  will  be  I  sq.  ft. 
of  radiation  per  100  cu.  ft.  of  the  contents. 

To  approximate  the  additional  amount  of  coal  required 
to  operate  a  generating  plant,  the  size  of  the  generating 
units  is  ascertained  as  hereinafter  described,  assuming 
that  the  large  unit  will  operate  under  a  fluctuating  load 
varying  from  one-half  to  one  and  three-quarters  load  six- 
teen hours  a  day  for  165  days,  and  that  the  small  unit  will 
operate  under  the  conditions  noted  above  eight  hours  a 
day.  The  steam  consumption  per  indicated  horse-power 
of  the  engines  under  the  varying  loads  is  taken  from  tiie 
tables  hereinafter  given,  and  the  total  steam  consumption  ' 
in  pounds  for  the  two  units  is  reduced  to  pounds  of  coal  on 
the  assumption  that  8  lb.  of  water  will  be  evaporated  per 
pound  of  good  bituminous  coal. 

GENERAL    ARRANGEMENT    OF    APPARATUS. 

In  connection  with  electric  generating  plants  in  federal 
buildings,  all-steel  water-tube  boilers  are  installed,  if  pos- 
sible, and  are  designed  for  a  safe  working  pressure  of  150 
lb.  per  square  inch,  the  usual  operating  pressure  being  125 
lb.  per  square  inch. 

The  size  of  the  boiler  plant  is  generally  governed  by  the 
heating  and  ventilating  requirements,  as  these  are  heavier 
in  practically  all  parts  of  the  country  than  are  the  require- 
ments of  power  for  operating  the  engines.  A  close  ap- 
proximation of  the  boiler  requirements  for  direct  heating 
is  made  by  allowing  i  boiler  hp  for  each  7000  cu.  ft.  of 
contents  of  the  building. 

If  the  heating  and  ventilating  requirements  and  space 
conditions  are  not  the  governing  factors  in  determining  the 
number  and  size  of  the  boilers,  the  day  load  and  evening 
load  on  the  generating  plant  are  determined  by  the  method 
hereinafter  described.  The  day  load  plus  the  evening  load 
divided  by  2  will  give  the  size  of  the  boiler  units  from 
which  the  best  results  will  be  obtained,  one  boiler  being 
sufficient  to  carry  the  full  load,  with  .some  margin,  on  the 
daylight  run,  and  the  evening  load  by  slightly  forcing  the 
fires.  This  can  easily  be  done  by  cleaning  the  fires  toward 
the  end  of  the  daylight  run  and  working  up  a  strong,  deep 
fire  for  the  commencement  of  the  evening  load.  Three 
boilers  of  the  size  above  noted  would  generally  be  installed. 

The  minimum  size  of  water-tube  boiler  installed  is  10.3 
hp.  The  clear  heights  which  must  be  allowed  from  the 
bottom  of  the  pit  to  the  under  side  of  the  ceiling  beams  to 
insure  a  proper  installation  for  the  water-tube  boilers  used 
by  the  Treasury  Department  are  as  follows : 

For  boilers  of  100  hp  to  150  hp 14  ft.     6  in. 

For  boilers  of  150  hp  to  175  hp 15   ft.     0  in. 

For  boilers  of  175  hp  to  200  hp 15  ft.     6  in. 

These  boilers  are  based  on  lo  sq.  ft.  of  water-heating 
surface  per  horse-power  and  are  always  equipped  with 
some  kind  of  smoke-prevention  apparatus. 

It  has  not  been  the  practice  of  the  Treasury  Department 
to  install  superheaters,  but  it  is  the  intention  to  use  them 
in  future  plants,  as  experience  elsewhere  goes  to  show  that 
a  super-temperature  of  lo.o  deg.  may  readily  be  obtained, 
with  but  little  additional  fuel  expense,  by  devices  in  the 
boiler  settings  arranged  to  receive  the  last  pass  of  the 
gases  on  their  way  to  the  breeching.  This  degree  of  super- 
heat admits  of  a  reduction  of  25  per  cent  in  the  size  of  the 
steam  pipes  and  insures  against  accidents  in  engine 
cylinders  due  to  entrained  water  in  the  steam.  Moderate 
super-temperature  does  not  seem  to  interfere  with  the 
proper  lubrication  of  the  cylinders. 


258 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


The  boilers  are  arranged,  when  possible,  to  give  a  short, 
direct  connection  to  the  stack  and  are  so  located  as  to  be 
close  to  the  engine  room  and  convenient  to  the  coal  and 
ash  rooms.  A  firing  pit  (especially  a  deep  one)  is  always 
a  detriment  and  is  avoided  if  possible. 

The  location  of  the  engine  room  cither  directly  in  front 
or  directly  at  the  rear  of  the  boiler  room  gives  the  shortest 
pipe  connections  and  hence  the  least  friction  and  condensa- 
tion in  the  steam  mains.  This  arrangement  of  engine  and 
boiler  rooms  also  allows  for  increase  in  the  boiler,  engine 
and  switchboard  equipments  by  lateral  extension,  giving  at 
all  times  a  neat  and  compact  arrangement  of  apparatus 
and  one  which  is  economical  both  in  first  cost  and  in 
operation.  Arranging  the  engines  with  cylinders  on  center 
lines  parallel  with  center  lines  of  boilers  and  close  to 
partition  between  boiler  and  engine  room  (5  ft.  to  10  ft. 
clearance  between  wall  and  cylinder  head)  further  shortens 
steam  and  exhaust  connections. 

SIZE   AND   NUMBER   OF   GENERATING   UNITS. 

The  full  connected  lamp  and  motor  load  is  ascertained, 
special  attention  being  given  to  the  accurate  determination 
of  the  rated  horse-power  of  all  elevator  motors,  as  this 
item  is  of  importance  in  determining  the  size  of  the  units. 
The  starting  current  of  elevators  is  never  less  than  35  per 
cent  in  excess  of  the  maximum  running  current  with  direct- 
current  motors,  and  rises  to  200  per  cent  with  alternating- 
current  motors. 

Federal  buildings  in  which  generating  plants  are  in- 
stalled have  twenty-four-hour  service,  and  no  breakdown 
connection  is  made  with  the  local  lighting  companies;  there- 
fore the  plants  are  made  larger  than  in  commercial  practice 
and  never  less  than  three  units  are  installed,  generally  two 
large  units,  each  sufficient  to  carry  the  peak  load,  and  one 
small  unit  to  carry  the  after-midnight  load.  Usually,  with 
a  view  to  insuring  as  far  as  practicable  continuous  opera- 
tion, a  four-unit  plant  is  selected,  comprising  two  large 
units,  each  able  to  carry  tlie  peak  load,  and  two  small  units, 
each  capable  of  carrying  the  after-midnight  load. 

No  unit  smaller  than  50  kw,  and  generally  none  larger 
than  150  kw,  is  installed.  The  reason  for  the  lower  limit  is 
apparent,  while  space  conditions,  etc.,  generally  forbid  the 
installation  of  units  exceeding  150  kw. 

The  foregoing  are  the  rough  guiding  rules.  To  determine 
accurately  the  proper  number  and  size  of  units  within  the 
limits  stated,  further  analysis  is  made,  as  follows: 

r.\    percentage   of  the    total    number    of   lamps    con- 
nected. 
\   constant    motor   load    consisting   of   certain    mo- 
tors  likely   to  be    run   continuously. 

f  Electric  elevators,  motors  for  mail  lift,  ventilat- 
ing fans,  house  pump,  air  compressors,  circulat- 
ing pumps  (if  used),  vacuum  cleaning  machine, 
automatic  temperature-control  apparatus,  air- 
washer   motors. 

In  determining  the  size  of  the  units  the  motor-service 
demand  should  be  analyzed  under  "day-load"  and  "night- 
load"  conditions.  With  the  post  office  operating  all  night 
the  heaviest  demand  for  energy  will  be  between  the  hours 
of  4  p.  m.  and  10  p.  m.,  while  from  11  p.  m.  to  6  a.  m.  the 
demand  will  be  the  smallest.  The  day  load  may  be  deter- 
mined approximately  as  follows : 


Constant  load,  con- 
sisting of 


Intermittent   load. 
consisting  of 


Day  load 


Lighting 


Motor 


^30  per  cent  of  basement    lamps. 

20  per  cent  of  post-olfice    workroom    lamps. 
I  10  per  cent  of  first-floor    corridor    lamps. 
L  5  per  cent  of  office   lamps   on   all   floors. 

{Ventilating    fan    motors. 
Circulating   pump   motor    for    air 
washer. 

''Electric   elevators. 
House   pump. 
Intermittent....  "i  Mail    hoist    motor. 
Air    compressor. 
^Vacuum  cleaning  motor,  etc. 


The  constant  motor  load  can  be  accurately  determined, 
as  it  should  not  be  difficult  to  decide  definitely  what  ven- 
tilating fans,  pump  motors,  etc.,  will  be  operated  more  or 
less  continuously. 

After  the  day-load  conditions  have  been  thoroughly  in- 
vestigated the  load  conditions  of  the  evening  and  after- 
midnight  runs  should  be  detenuined  as  follows: 

'70  per  cent  of  all  post-office   workroom  lamps. 
30  per  cent  of  all  basement  lamps. 
Evening  load   'i  60  per  cent  of  first-floor  corridor  lamps. 

Small    motor   load    for   fan,   pump    or    similar   service,   de- 
termined   from    the    plans. 

i40  per  cent  of  all  post-office    workroom    lamps. 
30  per  cent  of  all  basement    lamps. 
30  per  cent  of  all  first-floor    corridor    lamps. 
Small  motor  load  to  be  determined  from  the  plans. 

If  the  day  load  plus  the  after-midnight  load  is  equal  to 
or  greater  than  the  maximum  or  evening  load,  one  unit 
should  be  selected  with  full-load  rating  equal  to  the  day 
load  and  one  unit  with  full-load  rating  equal  to  the  after- 
midnight  load.  These  two  units  can  then  be  operated  in 
parallel  to  carry  the  maximum  or  evening  load.  The  rating 
of  the  spare  unit  is  made  equal  to  the  day  load. 

If,  however,  the  maximum  load  is  greater  than  the  sum 
of  the  day  and  after-midnight  loads,  the  size  of  the  smaller 
unit  must  be  equal  to  the  difference  between  the  day  load 
and  the  maximum  or  evening  load. 

As  hereinafter  stated,  the  large  units  must  never  be  less 
in  rating  than  four  times  the  rated  kw  demand  of  all 
elevator  motors  which  may  be  in  use  at  one  time.  When  the 
day  load  is  larger  than  150  kw.  two  or  more  units,  prefer- 
ably of  equal  rating,  are  chosen. 

To  illustrate  the  method  of  proportioning  units,  assume 
that  the  constant  lamp  and  motor  day  load  is  no  kw,  and 
that  two  electric  elevators  are  intermittently  in  use,  each 
having  a  motor  rated  at  10  kw,  and  each  motor  requiring 
15  kw  to  start.  The  maximum  instantaneous  load  possible 
under  the  conditions  is  no  plus  15  plus  15,  or  a  total  of  140 
kw.  A  125-kw  unit  would  be  selected  for  this  case,  as  such 
a  machine  has  an  overload  rating  of  156  kw  for  two  hours. 
The  generator  could  easily  take  care  of  a  vacuum-cleaner 
or  other  small  motor  in  addition  to  the  load  stated. 

For  another  example,  assume  that  the  constant  lamp  and 
motor  day  load  is  50  kw,  and  that  there  are  two  electric 
elevators  in  service,  each  having  a  motor  rated  at  10  kw 
and  requiring  at  starting  15  kw  for  each  motor,  or  a  total 
of  30  kw  intermittent  load.  A  75-kw  generator  would  be 
selected  for  this  service. 

In  selecting  the  size  of  a  generating  unit  which  must 
carry  the  constant  motor  and  lamp  day  load  and  also  an 
elevator  load,  the  size  of  the  generator  should  never  be 
less  than  four  times  the  rated  kw  of  all  the  electric  elevators 
which  may  be  in  use  at  the  same  time.  The  relation  of  the 
generator  rating  to  the  intermittent  elevator  load  must  not 
be  overlooked  or  the  voltage  regulation  will  be  poor  and 
the  lights  will  blink  when  the  elevators  start. 

In  commercial  practice  the  generator  rating  is,  under 
adverse  conditions,  sometimes  made  only  2.5  times  the 
rated  kw  of  the  elevator  motors,  but  the  results  are  bad. 

The  foregoing  methods  of  determining  the  generating 
unit  rating  are  for  buildings  where  the  larger  unit  will  not 
exceed  150  kw.  When  conditions  arise  which  require  the 
design  of  a  plant  involving  much  larger  units,  and  where 
perhaps  from  four  to  ten  elevators  are  in  daily  use,  it  is 
advantageous  to  provide  and  operate  two  units  in  parallel 
for  the  day  load  in  lieu  of  one;  or  one  large  one  and  three 
of  one-half  its  rating  sometimes  will  prove  a  better  arrange- 
ment, this  depending  on  the  relative  proportion  of  the 
constant  and  intermittent  loads,  etc. 

No  hard  and  fast  lines  can  be  laid  down  to  govern  the 
size  of  generating  units,  but  the  procedure  is  substantially 
as  stated. 

Types  of  engines  and  generators  best  adapted  for  certain 
conditions  will  receive  attention  in  an  article  in  a  later  issue. 


Xi'iisT  3,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


259 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


RURAL  SERVICE  NEAR  DAYTON,  OHIO. 

The  Dayton  Power  &  Light  Company  is  at  the  present 
ime  supplying  service  to  four  rural  districts,  from  which  a 
ery  satisfactory  revenue  is  derived.  In  these  towns  a 
otal  of  fifty-four  75-\vatt  series  tungsten  street  lamps  are 
perated  on  an  all-night  schedule,  water  is  pumped  for  the 
illages,  and  in  one  case  in  addition  to  the  pumping  35  hp 
1  motors  is  furnished  for  a  grain  elevator  and  feed  mill. 
'he  communities  served  are  well  pleased  and  are  good 
boosters."  Hardly  a  month  passes  without  some  com- 
lunity  soliciting  service,  now  that  it  is  generally  known 
lat  the  company  is  making  extensions  to  the  rural  districts. 
They  do  all-  the  preliminary  boosting  and  all  the  company 
as  to  do  is  to  fix  the  rate  and  build  the  lines,"  said  Mr. 
,  C.  Matthieu,  commercial  manager  for  the  Dayton  com- 
any,  before  the  Ohio  convention,  July  19. 

"When  a  community  comes  to  the  company  for  service," 
e  continued,  "we  place  the  burden  upon  its  shoulders."  In 
;her  words,  the  company  puts  it  up  to  the  local  improve- 
ent  association  to  give  a  prospectus  of  the  amount  of 
jsiness  to  be  expected  in  residence  lighting,  the  number 
E  street  lamps  the  village  will  contract  for  on  a  ten-year 
isis,  etc.  The  company  tries  to  be  as  fair  as  possible  to 
self  and  to  the  community,  and  does  not  ask  the  com- 
unity  to  come  more  than  half  way.  It  is  the  aim  to 
•sist  new  customers  and  see  that  they  are  properly  cared 
ir  and  that  the  service  is  right. 

A  representative  reads  the  meters  each  month,  devoting 
e  remainder  of  the  day  to  promoting  new  business  and 
mdling  complaints.  The  bills  are  payable  at  a  local  bank. 
The  street-lighting  circuits  are  cut  in  and  out  by  means  of 
ne  switches,  which  have  been  found  to  be  very  satis- 
ctory.  Lamp  renewals  are  cared  for  by  a  local  man  with 
ipm  the  company  has  made  arrangements  to  replace  all 
rned-out  lamps  and  to  report  any  trouble  occurring  to 
e  circuit.  /Handling  the  business  in  this  manner  cuts 
iwn  expense  and  has  been  found  to  work  out  to  the  very 
st  advantage  to  the  consumers  as  well  as  the  company. 


the  average  revenue  per  meter  to  be  $20  and  that  the 
average  accuracy  of  the  meters  is  95  per  cent,  it  can  be 
readily  seen  that  $20  represents  95  per  cent  of  the  energy 
consumed,  and  that  the  company  is  losing  $1.05  per  meter 
per  year.  From  actual  cost  data  obtained  by  the  committee, 
the  average  cost  of  testing  and  maintaining  meters  should 
not  exceed  50  cents  per  meter  per  year,  aside  from  the  first, 
cost  of  the  necessary  equipment.  The  increase  in  revenue 
would  then  not  only  compensate  for  the  expense  of  testing 
but  insure  against  greater  losses  which  might  result  if  the 
meters  were  allowed  to  continue  in  service  without  proper 
attention. 

Time  between  tests  should  depend  upon  the  type  and  size 
of  meters  in  service  and  the  local  conditions.  A  good 
induction  meter  in  the  average  residence  need  only  be 
tested  every  two  years,  while  the  same  meter  for  a  com- 
mercial customer  using  a  relatively  large  amount  of  energy 
may  require  testing  at  least  once  in  every  twelve  to  eighteen 
months.  Commutator-type  meters  should  be  tested  in 
periods  ranging  from  three  to  twelve  months,  depending 
on  general  service  conditions. 


SUPPLYING  ENERGY  TO  FARM  CUSTOMERS  OVER 
ONE  WIRE  WITH  GROUND  RETURN. 


Arrangements  are  being  made  by  Mr.  John  Cavanaugh, 
superintendent  of  the  Benton  Harbor-St.  Joseph  Railway  & 
Light  Company,  Benton  Harbor,  Mich.,  to  furnish  central- 
station  service  to  a  number  of  farm  customers  over  a  single 
2300-volt  primary  conductor,  with  ground  return.  The 
effort  is,  of  course,  to  reduce  the  cost  of  construction,  and 
while  the  2300-volt  circuit  will  be  grounded  the  25,000-volt 
system  from  which  energy  is  taken,  as  well  as  the  low- 
voltage  secondaries  on  the  farmers'  premises,  will  be  kept 
clear. 

A  pair  of  25,000-2300-volt  single-phase  transformers  will 
be  arranged  in  open  delta  on  the  supply  circuit,  the  junction 
of  their  terminals  being  carefully  earthed.     From  the  other 


LOSSES  FROM  SLOW  METERS. 


In  directing  the  attention  of  the  small  company  to  the 
cessity  for  regular  and  frequent  meter  tests  and  inspec- 
m,  Mr.  John  Gilmartin,  chairman  of  the  meter  committee 
the  Ohio  Electric  Light  Association,  cited  the  case  of  one 
itral  station  having  about  500  meters  in  service  one-half 
which  are  comparatively  new,  the  remainder  being  of 
older  type.  The  new  meters  were  found  to  be  in  fairly 
od  condition,  while  of  the  older  meters  15  per  cent  were 
iw  on  normal  load.  Eight  per  cent  would  not  run  at  one- 
ith  load  and  10  per  cent  would  not  run  at  one-twentieth 
id.  Reports  obtained  from  several  other  companies  of 
proximately  the  same  size  have  shown  similar  results. 
;  the  normal  load  of  a  very  large  percentage  of  meters 
es  not  exceed  15  per  cent  or  20  per  cent  of  their  rating — 
d  this  is  especially  true  since  the  introduction  of  tungsten 
nps — it  is  of  vital  importance  that  meters  be  tested  at 
?ular  intervals.  Besides  the  loss  sustained  by  the  com- 
ny  dissatisfaction  is  encountered  when  the  customer  is 
ain  billed  on  his  correct  registration  after  the  meter  has 
:n  calibrated. 

To  determine  the  value  of  meter  tests,  the  results  of  each 
t  should  be  tabulated  so  that  the  average  accuracy  of  all 
■ters  on  the  system  can  be  readily  ascertained.    Assuming 


Thr(.e-PhaHe 


Three- Phase 


Single- 
Phase 


Wh\Hl 


Motor       4. '''''='"'''S(I^(?/yi      '  Casing 
service  j?"^  XTtJ 


V  WcM  Casing 
2300  VoH 


T  Well  Casing 


Eleetrual  World 


Grounded   Distribution   Lines  for  Farm  Service. 

ungrounded  terminals  of  each  of  the  transformers  parallel 
single-wire  distribution  lines  will  be  led  off  through  the 
farm  district  to  be  served.  From  either  of  these  lines 
single-phase  service  will  be  available  by  connecting  in  a 
transformer  between  wire  and  ground,  the  earth  connection 
being  formed  by  attaching  the  ground  wire  to  the  farmer's 
driven-well  casing.  If  polyphase  service  is  required  for 
running  a  large  motor,  a  tap  can  be  brought  across  from 
the  other  single-wire  line,  completing  the  three-phase 
service.  Bare  copper  conductor  is  to  be  used,  carried  on 
25-ft.  poles.  The  farmers'  iio-volt  secondaries  will  be 
ungrounded. 


26o 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


COST    OF    A   SMALL    CENTRAL-STATION  SYSTEM. 


In  the  following  tabulation  is  given  the  estimated  cost  of 
an  electrical  distribution  system  for  the  village  of  Hyannis, 
Mass.,  whose  authorities  have  recently  granted  permission 
to  the  Barnstable  Electric  Company  to  install  an  electric- 
lighting  system.  The  data  are  of  value  in  view  of  the  great 
number  of  small  towns  which  are  yearly  considering  this 
class  of  service.    In  the  town  under  consideration  the  asso- 

COST  OF  INSTALLATION. 


Generator,  exciter,  tub  transformer  and  switchboard  equipment.  .$1,369.00 
10   miles   No.    6   B.    &   S.    weatherproof   wire,   series   incandescent 

street     lighting 1.207.00 

10  miles  No.  6  B.  &  S.  weatherproof  wire  for  commercial  primary 

and  secondary  distribution 1,207.00 

1  mile  No.  4  B.  &  S.   wire,  weatherproof,   for  secondary  distribu- 
tion            147.05 

Installation  cost  of  wire,   110,000  ft.,  at   K  cent  per  ft 550.00 

150  35-ft.  poles,  at  $5.50 825.00 

50  40-ft.  poles,  at  $7.50 375.00 

50  45-ft.  poles,  at  $9.50 475.00 

Installation  of  250  poles,  at  $5  each 1,250.00 

Rental  attachment  on  200  poles  of  local  telephone  company  at  $1 

per  year 200.00 

250  six-pin  arms,  including  pins  and  through-bolts,  at  75  cts....  187.50 
50  four-pin  arms,  including  pins  and  through-bolts,  at  55  cents.  .  27.50 
100  two-pin  arras,  including  pins  and  through-bolts,  at  35  cents..         35.00 

2,000  glass  insulators,  at  $25  per   1000 50.00 

2,000  pole-steps,  at  3   cents  each 60.00 

300  pairs  cross-arm  braces  with  carriage  bolts  and  lag  screws,  at 

25    cents    per   pair 75.00 

100    house-brackets,   at    10   cents   each 10.00 

60     series    incandescent     street-lighting    fixtures,     complete     witli 

lamp  installed  on   pole,  at  $7.50  each 450.00 

75   kw   in   lighting   transformers   for   commercial   customers,   aver- 
aging 2.5  kw.  each,  total  thirty  transformers,  at  $35 1,050.00 

50    meters,    at    $10 500.00 

Incidentals  covering  installation  of  generating  equipment  and  other 

apparatus      1,000.00 

Engineering    fees 1,000.00 

Total     $12,050.05 

ciation  owning  the  lighting  franchise  has  planned  to  install 
a  37.5-kva,  three-phase,  2300-volt  generator  in  the  existing 
municipal  pumping  station,  belting  it  to  an  engine  already  in 
service  and  utilizing  steam  available  from  the  boiler  plant 
of  the  pumping  system.  The  costs  given  are  thus  purely 
for  the  electrical  equipment. 

Besides  the  generator,  the  equipment  includes  a  1.5-kw 
exciter,  a  combination  generator,  exciter  and  feeder  panel 
and  a  constant-current  transformer,  with  operating  panel, 
lightning  arresters  and  incidentals,  the  remainder  of  the 
equipment  being  for  overhead  distribution. 


CENTRAL-STATION     SERVICE    IN  MINING 
OPERATIONS. 


By  T.  E.  Spence. 

One  is  inclined  to  inquire  of  what  interest  the  use  of 
electricity  in  coal  mining  can  be  to  the  central  station,  "for 
surely,"  a  casual  observer  is  wont  to  say,  ''you  cannot  ex-^ 
pect  to  buy  coal,  haul  it  to  the  central  station,  burn  it,  pro- 
duce energy  and  transmit  it  back  to  the  mines  cheaper  than 
the  mine  operator  can  produce  it."  It  certainly  looks  that 
way  to  the  layman  to  whom  coal  bin  and  ash  pile  appear  as 
the  main  features  in  the  generation  of  electrical  energy. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact,  however,  that  the  cost  of  fuel 
even  with  transportation  added  is  a  relatively  less  im- 
portant item  in  the  total  cost  of  energy  than  the  interest 
and  depreciation  charges  on  the  investment,  unless  the  load- 
factor  on  the  system  is  particularly  high.  A  close  study 
of  the  load-factor  and  its  relations  to  energy  cost  will  un- 
doubtedly reveal  the  interest  of  the  central  station  in  the 
use  of  electricity  in  coal  mines  within  reach  of  its  circuits. 

The  foremost  problems  of  the  mine  operator  in  which 
the   central   station    figures   largely    are,    first,    the   cost    of 


production;  second,  reliability  of  service;  third,  investment 
The  primary  operations  involved  in  the  production  of  coa 
are  the  mining  of  coal,  its  transportation  to  the  foot  of 
the  shaft  and  its  elevation.  The  secondary  operations  are 
pumping,  ventilation,  the  operation  of  breaker  machinery 
for  crushing,  sizing  and  refining  anthracite  coal  and 
small  amount  of  lighting.  Regarding  the  cost  of  operation, 
the  rapid  introduction  of  electric  power  in  mines  would 
seem  convincing  evidence  as  to  the  economy  of  electrifica- 
tion in  certain  of  the  above  operations ;  but  the  operator 
doubtless  has  yet  to  see  the  wisdom  of  electrifying  the 
remaining  operations. 

The  cutting  of  coal  is  one  of  the  first  processes  in  its 
production,  and  careful  study  of  the  methods  in  the  anthra- 
cite region  shows  a  strong  tendency  to  the  use  of  com- 
pressed air.  The  writer  is  of  the  opinion  that  central- 
station  service  can  usually  be  obtained  at  a  rate  to  show 
economy  in  driving  the  compressor  with  electric  motors 
Electric  cutting  machines,  however,  are  rapidly  coming  intc 
general  use.  As  regards  haulage,  after  a  mine  has  beer 
developed  away  from  the  shaft,  it  is  seldom  difficult  t( 
demonstrate  the  saving  possible  by  the  employment  01  elec 
trie  haulage.  It  becomes  necessary  in  such  cases  to  maki 
use  of  some  means  of  mechanical  haulage  either  with  loco 
motives  or  motor-driven  cables  in  place  of  haulage  b; 
mules. 

The  use  of  electricity  for  draining  and  pumping  is  mos 
advantageous,  and  in  nearly  all  cases  electric  pumping  i 


Coal    Washery    at    West    Nanticoke    Connected    to    Central-Statio 

Lines. 

economical  and  much  more  flexible  and  reliable  than  eithe 
steam  or  compressed  air.  The  hoisting  of  coal  is  perhap 
the  most  serious  problem  in  the  application  of  electricity  t 
coal  mines.  The  difficulty  seems  to  be  largely  due  to  th 
greater  investment  necessary  for  an  electric  hoist  and  plar 
as  against  that  of  a  boiler  plant  and  steam  hoist.  If,  how 
ever,  central-station  energy  is  available,  the  changed  cor 
ditions  would  be  much  in  favor  of  the  electric  hoist.  Th 
extreme  hoisting  peaks  and  wide  variation  of  demand  ar 
of  some  importance  to  the  central  station  and  should  hav 
consideration,  as  their  influence  on  the  transmission  systei 
and  perhaps  on  the  station  may  become  a  source  of  dange 
to  the  service.  Various  types  of  electric  hoisting  system 
are  now  being  produced  to  overcome  these  conditions,  pes 
sibly  the  most  promising  being  the  flywheel  equalize 
system. 

The  application  of  electricity  to  the  other  operations  i 
coal  mining  is  comparatively  simple,  and  the  applicatior 
are  usually  of  such  a  nature  as  to  make  the  load  attractiv 
to  the  central  station.  After  a  careful  investigation  of  th 
field  served  by  the  Luzerne  County  Gas  &  Electric  Coir 
pany  the  writer  finds  that  the  load-factor  varies  from  I 
to  67  per  cent.  The  higher  load-factors  are  obtained  i 
mines  where  the  pumping  requirements  usually  cover 
period  of  twenty-four  hours  daily.  The  rate  used  by  th 
above-mentioned  company  is  made  according  to  the  deman. 
based  on  twenty-four  hours'  daily  operation. 


AucusT  3,  igra. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


261 


One  extremely  advantageous  consideration  in  the  acquisi- 
tion of  such  loads  is  the  fact  that  with  central-station 
energy  available  the  investment  for  the  mine  operator  is 
greatly  reduced;  otherwise  an  isolated  station  costing  many 
thousand  dollars  will  be  required.  It  is  possible  to  suppose 
cases  where  electrical  operation  would  be  desirable  and 
advantageous,  but  the  operator  dependent  on  his  own  plant 
may  not  be  able  to  take  advantage  of  the  saving  that  could 
be  effected  because  of  lack  of  working  capital.  The  coal 
operator  has  also  to  meet  conditions  that  require  additional 
power  at  short  notice,  and  in  order  to  provide  for  this  de- 
mand high  investment  is  necessary  in  a  private  plant.  By 
obtaining  energy  from  the  central  station,  however,  a  com- 
paratively unlimited  supply  is  always  at  hand.  As  a  gen- 
eral proposition  the  exploitation  of  this  field  by  the  central 
station  is  profitable,  and  it  is  now  fully  demonstrated  that 
a  central  station  equipped  for  all  kinds  of  power  demands 
and  located  within  reach  of  the  mines  can  offer  attractive 
solutions  to  the  many  problems  which  confront  mine 
operators. 


SOME  GAS-ENGINE   FAILURES    AND    SUCCESSES. 


Recent  events  at  Aberdeen,  S.  D.,  in  connection  with  the 
:entral  station  there  which  is  operated  with  gas  engines  and 
producers  bring  forward  again  the  question  of  the  reliability 
jf  producer-gas-engine  plants  for  central-station  service. 
The  central  station  at  Aberdeen,  S.  D.,  operated  by  the 
\berdeen  Light  &  Power  Company,  began  operations  in 
(907.  It  has. been  notable  since  that  time  as  being  one  of 
he  largest  central  stations  in  the  country  depending 
mtirely  on  producer  gas  engines.  This  plant  was  described 
n  the  Electrical  World  of  Dec.  30,  1909.  Since  that  time 
wo  large  gas  engines  have  been  added  to  the  equipment. 

0  that  the  total  present  capacity  is  in  the  neighborhood  of 
too  kw  to  900  kw.  For  the  first  few  years  the  plant 
iperated  with  fair  satisfaction  to  its  owners  and  the  public. 

nd  the  troubles  at  first  seemed  to  be  of  a  minor  nature 
v'hich  in  time  would  be  eliminated.    The  plant  grew  rapidly. 

owever,  and  the  size  of  the  operating  units  was  increased, 
he  troubles  seeming  to  increase  in  proportion. 

The  diflSciilties  in  operation  at  last  were  found  to  be  so 
Teat  that  in  the  spring  of  1912  the  company  very  reluct- 
ntly  gave  up  the  idea  of  making  a  success  of  the  gas- 
ngine  plant  and  decided  to  build  a  steam  plant  at  another 
ocation.  As  the  original  franchise  granted  the  company 
T  1907  established  a  rather  low  maximum  rate,  10  cents 
er  kw-hr.,  because  of  the  low  fuel  cost  which  was  antici- 
ated  in  operating  the  gas-producer  station,  the  company 
ecently  asked  the  voters  of  the  city  at  a  special  election 
3  grant  a  revision  of  the  original  franchise  ordinance  so  as 
D  permit  a  maximum  rate  of  12  cents  per  kw-hr.,  with  dis 
ounts  according  to  quantity.  Mr.  J.  R,  Cravath.  of 
Chicago,  was  retained  by  the  city  as  an  expert  to  pass  upon 
le  reasonableness  of  the  company's  request.  After  investi- 
ation  he  recommended  that  the  change  be  authorized  in 
rder  that  a  reliable  steam  plant  may  be  put  in  operation 
s  soon  as  possible  to  improve  the  service,  and  further 
ecommended  that  after  the  building  of  this  plant  the  city 
lake  use  of  its  right  as  given  it  by  ordinance  to  readjust 
ates  every  five  years.  He  favored  a  discount  based  on 
)ad  factor  rather  than  on  quantity.    The  proposed  increase 

1  rates,  contingent  upon  the  erection  of  a  modern  steam 
lant,  was  passed  at  the  special  election  by  a  large  majority. 

The  operating  troubles  with  the  Aberdeen  plant  seem  to 
ave  increased  with  its  size.  Voltage  fluctuations  due  to 
:mporarily  poor  quality  of  gas  coming  from  the  producers 
re  very  common.  Occasionally  there  is  a  complete  shut- 
own  from  this  cause.  The  company  apparently  has  left 
0  stone  unturned  to  save  its  large  investment  in  gas- 
ngine  plant  and  has  employed  the  best  men  it  could  find, 
ut  at  last  has  given  up  the  case  as  hopeless. 


One  thing  which  has  tended  to  increase  the  operating 
difficulties  at  Aberdeen  has  been  the  existence  of  consider- 
able power  load  which  is  somewhat  fluctuating  and  a  smal! 
local  street  railway  load.  The  gas  producers  do  not  seem 
to  be  capable  of  yielding  additional  gas  quickly  enough  to 
take  care  of  rapid  fluctuations  in  load,  with  the  result  that 
there  is  a  drop  in  speed  of  all  the  engines  whenever  there 
is  a  sudden  increase  of  load,  even  though  this  may  be  a 
small  percentage  of  the  total.  Any  attempt  to  put  all  the 
fluctuating  load  on  one  engine  increases  the  difficulty  to  a 
point  where  the  voltage  may  fall  too  low  to  give  good 
service,  or  the  engine  may  be  stalled  altogether.  The 
voltage  fluctuation  were  so  serious  that  even  motor  users 
were  anxious  for  an  improvement  in  service. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  many  smaller  central 
stations  giving  entirely  satisfactory  service  with  producer 
gas  engines  and  operating  at  fuel  costs  far  below  those 
which  could  be  realized  with  steam.  They  seem  to  have 
had  few  of  the  troubles  experienced  at  Aberdeen.  Most 
of  these  plants  are  considerably  smaller  than  the  Aberdeen 
plant  and  operate  at  fairly  constant  loads.  That  is,  the 
loads  change  gradually  from  hour  to  hour  and  there  are 
few  sudden  fluctuations.  Among  such  plants,  the  opera- 
tions of  which  are  reported  as  notably  satisfactory,  are  the 
central  stations  at  Hoopeston,  III.;  Wagner,  Armour, 
Platte,  Lake  Andes  and  Scotland,  S.  D.,  all  of  which  employ 
Munzel  engines  and  producers  of  the  same  general  types  as 
those  at  .Aberdeen,  but  with  engines  of  smaller  size. 


BATTERY-OPERATED  STREET  CARS  AS  AN 
OFF-PEAK  LOAD. 


In  several  small  communities  in  the  West  where  the  de- 
mands of  a  local  street-car  service  do  not  justify  installation 
of  a  trolley  system  the  battery  car  is  opening  up  a  new  off- 
peak  load  for  the  central  station.  The  investment  in  such 
a  system  is  15  to  25  per  cent  less  than  the  cost  of  trolley 
equipment  up  to  five  or  six  cars,  and  the  expense  of  operat- 
ing is  similarly  less.  Track  and  plant  construction  with 
battery  cars  is  simpler  and  more  convertible,  changes  in 
route  being  effected  at  the  mere  expense  of  relocating  the 
rails.  Fairly  frequent  service  can,  through  means  of  such 
cars,  be  furnished  to  the  public  long  in  advance  of  the  time 
when  a  trolley  system  would  be  justified,  enabling  franchises 
of  great  future  value  to  be  secured  and  held  in  this  way. 

One  of  the  first  small  battery-car  systems  to  be  put  in 


storage- Battery   Car  at   Billings,    Montana. 

service  is  that  of  the  Billings  (Mont.)  Traction  Company, 
which  now  operates  two  7-ton,  forty-passenger  Beach  cars 
over  a  total  of  t,.7  miles  of  track,  2.5  miles  of  which  is  in 
regular  use.  Twenty-minute  service  is  maintained  on  the 
two  lines  radiating  in  opposite  directions  from  the  business 
center.  One  man  acts  as  both  motorman  and  conductor, 
passengers  entering  through  the  front  end  past  a  fare  box 


262 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. ' 


in  which  the  nickels  are  deposited,  while  the  carman  makes 
change  only.  Each  car  is  equipped  with  100  Edison  nickel 
iron  cells  and  two  5-hp  ball-bearing,  chain-driven  motors, 
capable  of  attaining  a  car  speed  of  15  miles  per  hour.  The 
cars  are  of  light-weight  construction,  totaling  about  7  tons 
each,  2800  lb.  of  which  is  due  to  the  batteries.  A  separate 
battery  of  ten  cells  is  provided  for  the  tungsten  car  lamps. 
Each  car  seats  forty  persons,  but  seventy  have  been  earned 
at  one  time.  The  average  number  hauled  by  the  two  cars 
per  day  is  now  500  at  the  end  of  the  second  month  of  regu- 
lar service.  On  several  red-letter  days,  however,  this  num- 
ber has  been  boosted  to  1500  passengers  carried.  Each  car 
averages  130  miles  per  day. 

The  cars  are  charged  at  a  substation  near  the  end  of  one 
of  their  runs,  where  a  75-hp,  three-phase  motor  driving  a 
50-kw  direct-current  generator  has  been  installed.     Energy 
is  purchased  from  the  Billings  &  Eastern  Montana  Power 
Company,   the   local   central   station.     The   principal   daily 
charge  is  given  to  the  cars  between  12  midnight  and  6  a.  m., 
when  75  amp  is  delivered  to  each  car  for  several  hours  or 
long  enough  to  bring  the  battery  up  to  full  charge  as  shown 
by  the  ampere-hour  meter,  depending  on  the  previous  day's 
use.     At  the  end  of  each  run  past  the  substation,  at  inter- 
vals of  forty  minutes,  a  freshening  charge  of  150  amp  for 
four  to  six  minutes  is  also  added  to  the  batteries,  since  the 
nightly  charge  alone  was  not  found  sufficient  to  run  through 
the  entire  day.     The  50-kw  motor-generator  set  is  now  run 
idle  continuouslv  during  the  day,  as  the  operation  of  starting 
it   at  twenty-minute   intervals   for   the    freshening   charges 
was  found  to  "blink"  the  lights  badly  on  the  local  lightmg 
system.     Since  its  idle  running  losses  are  small,  the  cost 
of  this  continuous  operation  is  not  excessive  and  was  m- 
sisted  on  by  the  central  station.     Tests  have  shown  that  the 
cars  require  0.75  kw-hr.,  as  measured  on  the  alternating- 
current   switchboard,    for    each   mile   of   practical    service 
travel,  including  all  stops.     During  the  first  month  of  ser- 
vice the  traction  compan>-  consumed  5400  kw-hr.  and  during 
the  second  7500  kw-hr.,  all  of  which  was  practically  off-peak 
demand  on  the  central  station.     The  car-lighting  batteries 
are  charged  every  third  night.     An  interesting  feature  of 
the   Billings   cars'  has   been   the   performance   of   the   cells 
under  abuse.     The  batteries  can  be  discharged  to  zero  with- 
out damage.     One  car,  for  example,  was  discharged  until 
it  barely  crept  to  the  substation  and  was  then  left  stalled 
with  its  controllers  on  for  two  hours.     After  being  charged 
it  resumed  operation  as  cheerfully  and  in  as  good  condition 
as  ever.     Cars  after  running  clear  ofif  the  track  onto  the 
curb  are  restored  as  easily  over  the  street  paving  as  on  their 
native  rails.     Cells  can  be  overcharged  with  impunity  and 
have  operated  satisfactorily,  even  at  temperatures  40  deg. 
below  zero,  with  the  minimum  of  attention.     The  company 
is  now  building  several  miles  of  additional  track  and  has 
ordered  three  more  cars  similar  to  those  now  in  use.    Mr. 
H.  W.  Rowley  is  president  of  the  Billings  Traction  Com- 
pany and  Mr.  John  Johnstone  is  superintendent. 


water  boiler  heated  by  natural  gas  and  supplied  with  a 
Connersville  vacuum  pump,  which  is  belted  to  a  2-hp  Rich- 
mond motor.  An  additional  small  boiler  is  used  to  heat 
water  during  the  warm  weather  for  lavatory  purposes. 
The  water  supply  is  by  gravity  pressure,  there  being  a  2500- 
gallon  tank  on  the  roof.  This  tank  is  filled  by  a  40-gal- 
per-minute   pump   placed   in  the  basement,   which   pump  is 


ELECTRICAL  EQUIPMENT  OF  LARGE  OFFICE 
BUILDING  AT  MUSKOGEE,  OKLA. 


Fig.  1— Illumination  of  Show  Windows. 

operated  bv  a  Fairbanks-Morse  2-hp,  1200-r.p.m.  motor  anc 
controlled  bv  an  automatic  float  switch.  A  circulatmg  ice- 
water  system  is  installed,  the  city  water  being  first  passeo 
through  a  IMonitor  Hvgenia  filter,  then  cooled  in  a  largfj 
coil  placed  in  an  ice  chest,  and  circulated  through  the  system 
by  a  Gould  centrifugal  pump  belted  to  a  i-hp  Fairbanks 
Morse  motor. 

As  the  basement  level  is  below  the  city  sewer  level,  _ 
small  sump  is  provided  for  the  drainage.  The  sump  1 
discharged  by  a  straight-piston  pump,  driven  by  a  0.5-hi 
Fairbanks-Morse  motor.  A  Lawson  cash  carrier  connect 
the  basement  offices  with  the  main  office  of  the  store  01 
the  -round  floor  and  is  operated  by  a  0.5-hp  Holtzer  Cabo 


The  recently  completed  New  Phoenix  Building  in  Mus- 
kogee, Okla.,  is  an  eight-story  and  basement  concrete 
building,  constructed  under  the  Kahn  patents.  The  first 
floor  and  basement  are  occupied  by  the  New  Phoenix  Cloth- 
ing Company,  and  the  upper  floors  by  doctors  and  dentists, 
and  also  by  several  real  estate  firms. 

The  electrical  equipment  of  the  building  is  complete  in 
detail.  Every  possible  chance  for  the  utilization  of  elec- 
tricity has  been  taken  advantage  of.  Two  2000-lb.  Otis 
passenger  elevators  serve  the  basement  and  eight  floors. 
Each  elevator  is  operated  by  a  20-hp  motor.  The  heating 
is  provided    for   by   a    io,ooo-ft.   American   sectional   hot- 


Pig     2 — Five-Lamp    Standards    on    Curb    Line. 

motor.  A  truck-type  Atwood  vacuum  cleaner  which 
used  throughout  the  building  is  operated  by  a  3-hp  motor. 
With  the  exception  of  the  elevator  motors,  which  are  c 
the  roof,  and  the  vacuum  cleaner  set,  which  is  portable,  tf 
entire  motor  equipment  is  grouped  in  the  basement  in  or 
large  room,  which  also  contains  the  switchboards  for  ligh 
ing  and  motor  service. 


I 


August  3.  iy:j. 


L£[.  ECTRICAL     WORLD 


263 


Above  the  first  floor  the  lighting  equipment  is  similar 
on  all  floors.  On  each  floor  the  hall  is  lighted  by  six  40- 
watt  lamps  in  Holophane  reflectors,  and  the  fifteen  ofi^ce 
rooms  are  lighted  by  two  40-watt  lamps  in  Holophane 
reflectors.  In  addition,  each  room  is  supplied  with  two 
flush  wall  receptacles,  not  controlled  by  the  lamp  switch. 
Feed  wires  for  each  floor  rise  through  a  wire  shaft,  which 
IS  directly  above  the  switchboard  in  the  basement,  alternate 
floors  being  tapped  on  the  same  side  of  the  220-1  lo-volt, 
three-wire  system.  Energy  for  lighting  and  motor  service 
is  supplied  to  the  tenants  free  of  charge. 

On  the  curb  line  are  three  lamp  standards,  each  con- 
:aining  five  loo-watt  lamps,  while  two  large  brackets  flank 
he  entrance,  each  containing  one  loo-watt  lamp.  Behind 
he  large  pillar  which  stands  between  the  two  front  win- 
lows  is  a  unique  ceiling  fixture  containing  six  60-watt 
amps.  The  front  windows  contain  thirty  60-watt  lamps  in 
K;-ray  scoop  reflectors,  and  the  side  windows  con- 
ain  twenty.eight  60-watt  lamps  in  the  same  kind  of  re- 
lector.  The  effect  produced  in  window  lighting  is  in- 
licated  in  the  accompanying  illustrations.  The  light- 
ng   of   the    store    on    the    main    floor    is    accomplished    by 


Fig.   3— Display   Sign    by    Day   and    Niglit. 

>cty-five  lOO-watt  lamps  in  Holophane  reflectors  placed  12 
■  above  the  working  plane,  which  are  so  distributed  in 
igle-lamp  fixtures  as  to  give  approximately  7  ft.-candles 
the  working  plane.  On  the  concrete  posts  throughout 
e  store  are  mounted  twenty-eight  i6-in.  oscillating  fans 
■d  twenty-eight  60-watt  lamps  in  Holophane  reflectors, 
e  fans  being  placed  on  two  sides  of  the  columns  and  the 
mps  on  the  other  two  sides.  Two  large  fixtures  sur- 
3unt  the  newel  posts  of  a  big  stairway  in  the  center  of 
|e  store,  each  containing  five  40-watt  lamps.  Lighting 
ider  the  mezzanine  floor  at  the  rear  is  provided  by  six 
o-watt  lamps  in  close  ceiling  fixtures  with  Holophane 
nectors. 

In  the  basement,  which  is  somewhat  larger  than  the  main 

■or,    being    extended    under    the    sidewalks,    the    lighting 

uipment  consists  of  eighty  loo-watt  lamps  in  Holophane 

Hectors  placed   10   ft.   above  the  working  plane,  and  so 

5tributed  in  single-lamp  fixtures  as  to  give  7  ft.-candles 

'    the  working  plane.     Sixteen  posts  in  the  basement  are 

quipped  with  thirty-two  i6-in.  oscillating  fans  and  thirty- 

<  o  60-watt  lamps  in  Holophane  reflectors  arranged  in  the 

:  -ne  manner  as  on  the  main  floor.     A  switch  panel  on  the 

iiin  floor  and  one  in  the  basement  control  the  operation 

the  store  lighting. 

Recently  there  was  put  into  operation  on  the  roof  of  this 
I'ldnig  a  sign  which,   it   is  claimed,  is  the  largest   in   the 


Southwest.  This  sign  represents  a  skyrocket  which  shoots 
up  from  behind  the  building,  curves  over  the  words  "New 
Phoenix"  and  bursts  at  the  cornice,  showering  stars  down 
the  side  of  the  building  and  ending  at  the  top  of  a  large 
vertical  sign  reading  "Clothing."  There  are  three  shots 
of  the  rocket,  the  first  bursting  into  red  stars  and  showers, 
the  second  into  white  and  the  last  into  green.  The  flashing 
device  is  so  arranged  that  there  is  one  instant  when  all 
lamps  are  lighted,  and  six  seconds  when  the  entire  sign 
is  dark.  The  sign  structure  is  50  ft.  wide,  and  the  words 
"New  Phoenix"  are  in  5-ft.  letters  and  "Clothing"  in  30-in. 
letters.  The  showers  are  35  ft.  long  and  the  vertical  sign 
28  ft.  long.  The  entire  display  is  double-face,  containing 
2618  4-cp,  ii-volt  tungsten  lamps,  in  addition  to  which  there 
are  approximately  1500  color  caps  for  the  red  and  green 
effects.  The  sign  was  designed  by  Mr.  Norman  B.  Hickox, 
manager  of  the  new-business  department  of  the  Muskogee 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  and  was  built  by  the  Greenwood 
Advertising  Company.  The  flasher  was  made  by  the  Rey- 
nolds-Dull Flasher  Company,  Chicago,  111. 

Electrical  energy  for  220-volt,  three-phase,  6o-cycle  mo- 
tors and  220-1  lo-volt,  6o-cycle  lighting  is  supplied  from  the 
mains  of  the  Muskogee  Gas  &  Electric  Company. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

ECONOMICAL  STREET-LIGHTING  WIRING 
ARRANGEMENT. 

The  Worcester  (Mass.)  Electric  Light  Company  installed 
a  number  of  trial  circuits  of  4-amp,  7S-watt  tungsten  series 
mcandescent  lamps  a  few  months  ago  in  connection  with  the 
illumination  of  outlying  districts  of  the  city.  In  order  to 
economize  in  the  feeder  investment  for  this  work,  Mr.  Fred 
H.  Smith,  superintendent  of  the  company,  devised  a  plan  by 
which  energy  for  the  operation  of  each  circuit  is  derived 
from  the  regular  2300-volt,  single-phase  commercial  service 
of  the  plant.  Each  circuit  of  incandescent  lamps  contains 
from  fifty  to  seventy-five  lamps  looped  through  a  suburban 
zone  from  a  constant-current  transformer  located  in  a  pole 
box  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  lamp  district. 
The  constant-current  transformer  is  connected  across  the 
2300-volt  line,  one  side  being  fused  and  the  other  side  con- 
nected through  a  solenoid  switch,  the  actuating  coil  of 
which  is  in  series  with  one  of  the  company's  regular  street 
arc  circuits  passing  the  transformer  case. 

The  incandescent  service  is  thrown  on  automatically  at 
the  time  the  regular  arc  service  is  switched  into  operation. 
The  plugging  in  of  the  arc  lamps  permits  current  to  pass 
through  the  solenoid  switch  coil  in  the  pole  box,  thereby 


T     23D0-V..A.-O. 
f     ■    Circuit 


U.-C.  Arc 

_(^i£CUl^ 


Inc.  LaJip  Circuit 


Solenoiil  Svwtc)i, 


Oon:itnnt-0iirrcut 
i  ranstormer 


Ele^Crual  WorU 


Diagram    Showing    Street- Ligiiting    Wiring    Arrangement    at 
Worcester,    IVIass. 

closing  the  contacts  of  the  local  constant-current  trans- 
former primary  and  starting  the  operation  of  the  series  in- 
candescent lamps.  In  order  to  keep  the  incandescent  cir- 
cuit constantly  in  service  regardless  of  the  current  fluctua- 
tions and  regulation  of  the  arc  lamp  circuit,  a  pole  piece  is 
installed  in  the  core  of  the  solenoid  switch,  so  that  the 
plunger  is  held  firmly  against  it  as  soon  as  a  starting  cur- 


264 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol..  60,  Xo,  5. 


rent  is  passed  through  the  arc  circuit  and  coil.  In  the  morn- 
ing when  the  arc  circuit  is  cut  off  the  incandescent  service 
remains  on  until  an  operator  at  the  distributing  substation 
utilizes  alternating  current  to  demagnetize  the  solenoid 
core  and  permit  the  plunger  to  drop  and  break  the  incan- 
descent circuit.  The  solenoid  switch  is  of  the  oil  type. 
Fourteen  incandescent  circuits  of  this  type  are  now  in 
operation  at  Worcester,  the  load  on  each  varying  from 
4  kw.  to  10  kw.  The  effect  upon  the  2300-volt  lines  has 
been  negligible,  and  by  the  use  of  the  automatic  switch, 
which  is  built  for  high-potential  operation,  no  patrolman 
is  required  to  handle  the  incandescent  switching.  The 
system  has  operated  with  the  highest  reliability  and  has 
saved  the  company  a  considerable  investment  in  under- 
ground conduits,  ducts  and  feeders,  besides  eliminating  an 
expensive  switchboard  installation  at  the  main  distributing 
center. 

HEIGHT  OF  ARC  LAMPS  IN  CHICAGO. 


ILLUMINATING    A   MODERN    OFFICE    BUILDING. 

By    William    S.    Kilmer. 
Aside  from  the  proper  quality  and  quantity  of  illumina- 
tion necessary  for  a  well-appointed  office  area,  the  illumi- 
nating engineer  has  very  little  opportunity  to  extend  fur- 
ther the  application  of  his  art  on  account  of  the  more  or 


At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Chicago  City  Council's  com- 
mittee on  gas,  oil  and  electric  light  the  question  of  arc-lamp 
heights  was  discussed  in  view  of  the  information  furnished 
by  a  report  submitted  by  the  Chicago 
Illuminating  Society.  The  society 
recommended  that  the  25-ft.  height 
required  by  ordinance  be  changed  to 
30  ft.,  setting  forth  that  the  light 
from  the  looo-cp  flaming-arc  lamps 
would  be  better  diffused  and  further 
above  the  line  of  vision  of  pedestrians 
approaching  the  lamps. 

Mr.    Ray    Palmer,    city    electrician, 
presented    a    report    replying    to    the 
points   made   by   the   illuminating   so- 
ciety and  in  conclusion  recommended 
that  the  proposed    height    be    main- 
tained at  25   ft.  in  the  outlying  resi- 
dence districts  when  the  underground 
distribution  system  was  employed  and 
at   22    ft.   when   the   distribution   sys- 
tem was  overhead.     He  informed  the 
committee    that    the    proposed   height 
of  the  new  lamps  was  above  the  origi- 
nal heights  of  from  18  ft.  to  20  ft., 
owing  to  the  increased  intensity  of  the 
light,    and    that    the    distribution    of 
light    would    be    the    best    obtainable 
when  the  lamps  were  spaced  at   150- 
ft.    intervals.      The    city    electrician's 
recommendations    were    accepted    by 
the  committee  as  final.     Mr.   Palmer 
also  informed  the  committee  that  re- 
cently the   electrical  department  had 
found    that    the    density    of    trees    in 
some  residence  districts  was  such  as 
to    shade    a    large   percentage   of   the 
space  between   lamps  if  the  flaming- 
arc     lamps     were     employed     at     the 
height    and    spacing    proposed,    and 
that  the  overhead  distribution  system 
construction  was  a  problem.     In  view 
of  this   fact  he  had  decided   to   wire 
the  old  gas  lamp-posts  and  install  an  underground  8o-cp 
tungsten  lighting  system,  putting  160  lamps  on  a  circuit. 

At  the  close  of  the  discussion  on  lamp  heights,  Mr.  Palmer 
submitted  the  approved  design  of  ornamental  iron  lamp- 
post and  bracket  for  the  committee's  further  suggestions. 
The  design  in  its  final  form  is  shown  in  the  illustration.  It 
will  extend  28  ft.  above  the  ground  and  the  lamp  will  be 
swung  on  an  ornamental  bracket  30  in.  from  the  axis  of  the 
post. 


Electrical   World 


Ornamental    Iron    Post 
Adopted  by  Chicago. 


Fig.   1 — General   View  of   Seventh   Floor. 

less  ordinary  commercial  line  of  lighting  fixtures.  This 
article  treats  of  an  installation  in  the  building  at  the  corner 
of  Madison  Avenue  and  Forty-first  Street,  New  York  City, 
which  has  caused  no  little  comment  for  reasons  herein 
described. 

Among  various  predetermined  results  it  w^as  decided  that 
no  localized  illumination  would  be  required  during  working 
hours  for  anv  single  limited  portion  of  the  various  floors 
but  the  general  illumination  had  to  be  sufficiently  high  tc 
accommodate  all  working  surfaces.  The  character  of  thf 
work  on  ten  of  the  twelve  floors  containing  the  installatior 
in  question  is  identical,  namely,  clerical  and  office  routine 
A  typical  photograph  of  one  of  these  floors  is  shown  ir 
Fig.'  I.  The  photograph  is  a  time  exposure  of  this  equip 
ment  by  night. 


Fig.   2— Lighting   of    Main    Floor   and    Display    Room. 


The  arrangement  and  harmony  of  the  system  can  readJJ, 
be  seen  from  the  photograph.  The  ceiling  measures  12  fi 
in  height  and  is  divided  into  squares  or  bays  formed  6 
the  arrangement  of  the  beam  construction.  On  a  center  m 
of  each  bay  running  directlv  across  the  building  is  mstaJU 
a  6-ft.  section  of  inclosed  Frink  "trough"  reflector.  Th: 
is  shown  in  detail  by  Fig.  6.     The  light  source  used  in  thi 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


26s 


fixture  and  in  all  units  described  in  this  article  is  the 
25-watt  tungsten  "Linolite"  lamp.  Six  lamps  joined  end 
to  end  continuously  in  each  fixture  comprise  the  unit  in  each 
bay.  The  reflecting  surface  is  composed  of  a  series  of 
strips  of  rippled  glass  with  a  mirror  backing,  over  which 
is  placed  a  coating  of  baked  enamel,  rendering  the  deprecia- 
tion of  the  reflecting  surface  equal  to  the  useful  life  of  the 


of  this  illumination  at  either  end  is  due  to  the  high  co- 
efficient of  deflection  from  the  side  walls.  Applying  these 
results  to  this  area  for  a  concrete  summary,  an  efificiency 
in  effective  lumens  per  watt  of  2.7  is  obtained. 

When  essential,  variations  in  this  distribution  and  in- 
tensity can  be  obtained  from  the  method  of  control.  At 
each  of  the  posts  in  the  center  of  the  area  is  a  three-gang 


Fig.   3 — Elevation    and    Distribution   Curve  of   Illumination  on   Seventh   Floor. 


;ntire  installation.  Owing  to  the  flexibility  of  the  method 
)f  arranging  these  mirrors,  it  is  possible  to  obtain  the 
•xact  distribution  of  light  required  for  the  particular  re- 
luirements  of  the  installation.  This  is  a  feature  which  is 
eldom  possible  without  a  prohibitive  expense  with  molded 
eflectors.  To  reduce  the  intrinsic  brilliancy  of  the  light 
ource  and  to  a  certain  extent  tone  the  color,  prismatic 
Ibuminal  alabaster  glass  was  used  at  the  bottom  and  formed 
le  door  necessary  for  easy  access  to  the  fixture  for  lamp 
enewals.  The  exterior  housing  of  this  fixture  is  finished 
1  baked  white  enamel  with  nickeled  door  trimmings.  The 
xture  is  installed  and  adjusted  by  means  of  lock  nuts  on 
le  nipple  extending  from  the  outlet  box  through  to  the 
iterior  of  the  wiring  trough. 
The  results  of  an   illumination  test   show   practically   an 


arrangement  of  switches,  lighting  opposite  sides  or  center. 
As  two  of  the  sides  of  the  building  are  open  to  daylight 
on  dark  days,  it  is  necessary  only  to  light  the  rear  portion 
of  those  nearest  the  inclosed  side.  In  case  only  one  or 
two  persons  are  required  to  work  at  night  floor  plugs  are 
provided  for  portables,  if  ceiling  units  are  not  used. 

The  remaining  two  floors  of  this  building  required  an 
entirely  different  treatment.  The  main  floor  in  Fig.  2  is 
used  for  a  display-room  and  retail  department  of  the 
organization.  Although  the  entire  building  is  of  Gothic 
architecture,  this  floor  and  the  floor  occupied  by  the  execu- 
tive offices.  Figs.  4  and  5,  show  how,  on  a  more  elaborate 
scale,  the  dignified  and  beautiful  effects  of  this  period  may 
be  applied  to  a  commercial  building. 

A  decorative  ceiling  is  shown  on  the  ground  floor,  which, 


Fig.  4 — Corridor  of  Floor  with   Executive  Offices. 

:act  check  on  the  predetermined  standard.  The  section 
rough  the  area  where  the  test  was  made  is  shown  in 
g-  3,  the  plane  being  on  a  level  with  and  on  the  desks. 
le  values  obtained  are  shown  in  the  foot-candle  curve, 
lich  is  in  direct  relation  to  this  section.  It  will  be  noted 
, at  the  average  illumination  is  3.5  ft. -candles,  with  a 
|aximum  of  4.5  and  a  minimum  of  3.3.     The  building  up 


Fig.  5 — Lighting  of  Executive  Offices. 

of  course,  required  partial  illumination.  This  was  obtained 
from  a  "semi-indirect"  octagon  unit  supported  on  each  of 
the  three  columns.  The  general  principle  of  interior  con- 
struction is  the  same  as  shown  in  Fig.  6,  aside  from  the 
change  of  angles  and  double  arrangement  of  reflecting 
surfaces  necessary  for  both  the  downward  and  upward 
reflection  of   light.     The   illumination   from   these   units   is 


266 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


also  assisted  from  the  Gothic  lanterns  installed  on  the  side 
walls  of  this  area.  The  surfaces  here  do  not  require  an 
intensity  greater  than  2  ft.-candles,  which  is  obtained  and 
is  very  harmonious  with  the  general  scheme.  In  the  execu- 
tive quarters  an  average  illumination  of  2  ft.-candles  in  also 
maintained.     The  directors'  room  and  the  private  office  of 


instrument  case.  Sometimes  these  have  been  built  into  the 
photometer,  thereby  increasing  its  bulk  and  weight  unde- 
sirably. In  a  recent  type  of  instrument  a  W'heatstone 
bridge  has  been  built  into  a  small  photometer,  adding  greatly 
to  the  simplicity  and  portability  of  the  complete  outfit, 
leaving  only  the  battery  to  be  carried  separately. 


Pig    6— Detail  of  Trough  Reflector  Used  on  Ceiling. 

the  president  are  shown  in  Fig.  5.     The  corridor  of  this 
floor  is  shown  in  Fig.  4. 


A  SIMPLIFIED  ILLUMINOMETER. 


By  Clayton  H.  Sharp  and  Preston  S.  Millar. 
There   exists   a   demand   for   a   photometer   adapted   for 
casual  use  in  the  measurement  of  illumination  intensities. 
In    order    to    meet    the    demand,    convenience,    simplicity 
and  portabilitv  are  required  in  combination  with  a  reason- 
able degree  of  precision  and  reliability.     As  a  secondary 
requirement  such  an  instrument  to  an  unusual  extent  should 
be  proof  against  the  more  probable  errors  to  which  amateur 
photometry  is  liable.    For  there  are  few  if  any  branches  of 
scientific    measurement    which    are    more    liable    to    error 
through  neglect  of  fundamental  principles  than  is  photom- 
etry.     As    photometers    are    rendered    simple    and    become 
available  for  use  by  those  who  do  not  make  a  serious  study 
of  the  subject,  it  is  essential  that  the  design  be  such  that  as 
far  as  feasible  correct  operation  shall  be  necessitated,  little 
being  left  to  the  observer's  care  beyond  manipulation  in 
accordance  with  a  prescribed  routine.     In  this  way  instru- 
mental difficulties  may  be  minimized,  even  though  it  is  im- 
possible to  simplify  the  general  problem  in  so  far  as  it  is 
external  to  the  instrument.    Wherefore  it  remains  true  that 
important  photometric  work  requires  expert  attention  and 
should  be  left  to  those  who  by  experience  and  training  are 
competent  to  deal  with  it;  still  a  simple  illuminometer  may 
be  very  useful  in  less  important  work,  and  by  the  exercise 
of  care  may  be  employed  by  the  relatively  inexperienced 
operator  in  a  way  which  may  add  important   information 
regarding  lighting  conditions. 

PHOTOMETRIC   EQUIPMENT   IX   GENERAL. 

For  the  measurement  of  illumination  intensity  elsewhere 
than  in  the  laboratory  there  is  required,  besides  the 
photometer,  which  includes  the  comparison  lamp  (a)  a 
source  of  electrical  current  which  is  reasonably  constant, 
and  (b)  some  means  of  regulating  the  supply  of  current  to 
the  comparison  lamp.  In  this  class  of  work  the  source  of 
current  supply  has  usually  been  either  small  storage  bat- 
teries or  dry  cells.  Voltmeters,  ammeters,  Wheatstone 
bridges  and  potentiometers  have  been  employed  in  measur- 
ing the  current  supplied  to  the  comparison  lamp.  Usually 
the  battery  and  the  measuring  instrument  have  been  sep- 
arate from   the  photometer,   often  being  combined   in   one 


Pig.   1 — Model   of  Simplified    llkiminometer. 

In  the  illuminometer  which  is  here  described  the  effort 
has  been  made  to  simplify  the  construction  and  operation 
of  the  instrument,  to  reduce  its  dimensions  and  to  make  it 
largely  self-contained.  To  this  end  all  parts  are  incor- 
porated in  the  instrument  case,  except  only  the  battery, 
which  may  consist  of  two  dry  cells  carried  in  the  pockets 
of  the  observer  or  supported  over  his  shoulder  by  a  strap. 

DESCRIPTION   OF  ILLUMINOMETER. 

A  general  view  of  one  model  of  the  instrument  is  given 
in  Fig.  I,  with  a  plan  shown  in  Fig.  2.  The  dimensions  are 
5.75  in.  by  3  in.  by  2.25  in.  The  principal  features  as 
indicated  on  the  plan  are  as  follows :  a  is  a  seasoned  minia- 
ture tungsten  lamp  equipped  with  a  reflector  and  inclosed 
in  a  compartment  the  interior  of  which  is  painted  white. 
This  illuminates  translucent  glass  g,  through  a  diffusing 
medium  g,;  b  is  a  translucent  glass  constituting  one 
photometric  surface  illuminated  by  light  from  lamp  a 
through  window  g^;  c  is  a.  variable  diaphragm  (Fig.  3) 
for  regulating  the  brightness  of  the  photometric  surface  b. 


EUctrieni  World 


Pig.  2— Plan   of  Simplified    Illuminometer. 

As  the  diaphragm  is  revolved  the  size  of  the  aperture  is 
varied,  thus  exposing  more  or  less  of  the  uniformly  illu- 
minated surface  g,.  This  method  of  regulating  the  hghi 
from  a  comparison  lamp  is  an  old  one,  although  the  design 
of  the  circular  variable  diaphragm  is  new,  having  tht 
advantage  that  it  provides  a  circular  scale,  in  extent  alraos' 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


267 


Fig.  3— Variable 
Diagram. 


360  deg.,  the  characteristics  of  which  may  readily  be  varied 
to  suit  the  requirements.  In  this  case  the  design  has  been 
made  such  as  to  produce  a  substantially  uniform  percentage 
variation  throughout  the  scale.  The  diaphragm  is  actuated 
by  a  rod  on  the  other  end  of  which  is  a  knob  /,  to  which 
is  attached  a  pointer  playing  over  a  circular  scale  calibrated 
directly  in  units  of  light  intensity. 

e,  is  a  rotating  elbow  tube  containing  a  translucent  test 
plate  upon  which  is  received  the  light 
flux  to  be  measured.  This  is  viewed 
through  a  45-deg.  elbow  mirror.  The 
tube,  in  one  end  of  which  the  test  plate 
is  affixed,  may  be  inverted,  the  test  plate 
being  exposed  at  the  outer  end  for  illu- 
mination work  and  being  screened  at 
the  inner  end  for  candle-power  work. 
«2  represents  a  detached  test  plate 
which,  may  be  used  as  an  alternate  equip- 
ment Jn  a  very  important  class  of  field 
w6rk,  where  it  may  be  found  more  suit- 
able than  the  attached  test  plate. 

/  is  the  photometric  device.  This  consists  of  a  very  thin 
glass  mirror  in  which  a  small  central  aperture  is  provided 
by  removing  the  mirroring.  Placed  at  45  deg.  to  the  line 
of  view,  it  brings  portions  of  photometric  surfaces  e,  and  b 
into  juxtaposition,  forming  a  field  similar  in  appearance 
to  the  well-known  simple  comparison  Lummer-Brodhun 
photometer.  This  photometric  device  is  a  slight  modifica- 
tion of  similar  devices,  being  superior  in  that  the  use  of 
extremely  thin  glass  obviates  liability  to  a  confusing  optical 
ghost  which. is  usually  encountered  in  such  devices. 

h  is  a  frame  holding  two  absorbing  screens  which  are 
optically  light  and  dense  respectively  and  which  may  be 
rotated  about  photometric  device  /  and  introduced  in  either 
axis  to  reduce  the  test  light  or  the  comparison  light  as 
desired.  These  amplify  the  range  of  the  photometer  to 
practically  any  desired  degree. 

y  is  a  variable  rheostat  provided  for  the  regulation  of 
the  comparison  lamp  a.     To  the  sliding  contact   piece   is 

attached  a  pointer  which  plays  over  an  equal-part   scale. 
i   is^  a   seasoned   miniature   carbon   lamp   completely    in- 
closed within  a   diffusing  reflector,   the   front  of  which   is 
covered  by  a  light-blue  diffusing  glass.     The  lamp  is  wired 

in  parallel  with  the  tungsten  comparison  lamp  a,  both  being 

controlled  by  rheostat  /. 

This   lamp   with    its   inclosing    reflector    is    ordinarily    in 

the  position  indicated  by  the  continuous  lines  in  the  plan. 

When  desired  it  may  be  moved  to  the  left,  obstructing  the 

light  from  test  plate  e  and  substituting  as  a  photometric 

surface  its  diffusing  glass. 

k,  the  ocular  tube,  as  well  as  the  rotating  tube  containing 

the  test  plate  e,  may  be  stored  within  the  box  when   not 

in  use. 

METHOD   OF   ASSURING    CONSTANCY  OF   COMPARISON    LAMP. 

The  unique  feature  of  this  illuminometer  is  the  means 
taken  to  determine  the  adjustment  of  comparison  lamp  a 
to  its  standard  condition.  Fig.  4  shows  characteristic  curves 
of  variation  in  candle-power  with  variation  in  volts  applied 
to  untreated  carbon,  treated  carbon  and  tungsten-filament 
lamps.  As  is  well  known,  the  tungsten-filament  lamp, 
because  of  its  positive  temperature-resistance  coefficient, 
varies  less  in  candle-power  with  a  given  change  in  voltage 
than  does  the  carbon-filament  lamp.  Therefore  if  a  tungsten 
and  a  carbon  lamp  are  in  photometric  balance  at  a  given 
voltage,  they  will  no  longer  be  in  balance  if  the  voltage  is 
changed.  Advantage  is  taken  of  this  characteristic  to 
employ  a  carbon-filament  check  lamp  in  the  photometer  as 
a  means  of  indicating  the  correctness  of  the  voltage  applied 
to  the  tungsten  comparison  lamp  a.  The  carbon  lamp  is 
operated  at  a  relatively  low  temperature,  its  reddish  light 
being  corrected  by  a  light-blue  glass  in  order  to  make  it 
readily  comparable  to  that  of  the  tungsten  lamp.     Under 


these  conditions  it  is  very  sensitive  to  voltage  variations 
and  its  period  of  constancy  or  useful  life  as  a  standard  is 
relatively  long.  If  the  photometer  be  so  adjusted  in  cali- 
bration that  photometric  balance  between  the  tungsten  and 
the  carbon  lamp  is  obtained,  the  correctness  of  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  comparison  lamp  may  be  determined  at  any 
time  by  testing  for  photometric  balance.  If  found  incor- 
rect, manipulation  of  rheostat  ;  will  readily  secure  the 
standard  condition  for  the  comparison  lamp.  The  first 
question  concerns  the  sensibility  of  this  method  of  control 
of  a  comparison  lamp.  Fig.  4  indicates  that  when  the 
candle-power  of  a  tungsten-filament  lamp  operated  at 
normal  efficiency  changes  i  per  cent,  because  of  a  change 
of  impressed  voltage,  the  candle-power  of  a  treated  carbon- 
filament  lamp  operated  at  normal  efficiency  will  change  i  5 
per  cent,  and  that  of  an  untreated  carbon-filament  lamp  will 
change  2  per  cent.  Practically  one  might  infer  from  this 
that  with  an  insensitive  photometric  device  the  tungsten 
lamp  candle-power  can  be  regulated  to  i  per  cent,  employ- 
ing an  untreated  carbon-filament  lamp,  while  with  a  fairly 
good  photometric  device  similar  regulation  could  be 
attained  with  a  treated  carbon-filament  lamp.  By  operating 
the  carbon  lamp  at  a  low  efficiency  a  greater  difference  in 
candle-power  characteristic  is  obtained  than  that  indicated 
in  Fig.  4.  The  method  becomes  therefore  more  sensitive 
as  the  carbon  lamp  is  operated  below  normal  efficiency. 
In  work  with  the  instrument  no  difficulty  has  been  encoun- 
tered by  various  observers  in  regulating  the  candle-power 
of  the  tungsten  comparison  lamp  to  within  3  per  cent,  as 
the  result  of  a  single  observation.  A  scale  is  provided  in 
connection  with  the  adjusting  rheostat  /.  so  that  when  it  is 
desired  to  make  closer  adjustment  a  number  of  settings 
may  be  made  and  noted  upon  the  scale  with  a  view  to 
establishing  the  lamp  at  the  mean  of  the  settings.  With 
such  operation  it  is  entirely  feasible  to  obtain  all  precision 
desirable  in  this  class  of  work  in  establishing  and  main- 
taining the  correct  candle-power  conditions  for  the  com- 
parison lamp. 

Attention  is  drawn  to  the  fact  that  in  establishing  the 
correct  candle-power  of  the  tungsten  lamp  a  photometric 
surface  illuminated  by  the  carbon  check  lamp  is  substituted 
for  the  test  plate  in  the  photometer  field.  In  so  far  as 
errors  are  involved  in  personal  peculiarity  of  an  observer 


104 

SIM  /i 

103 

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100 
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101  102 

£lwtrb><it  World 


Fig.  4 — Curves  Showing  Variation  in  Candle-Power  with  Variation 
of  Voltage. 

this  substitution  method  tends  toward  compensation, 
although  it  does  not  obviate  difficulties  due  solely  to  color 
differences.  With  any  photometer  calibrated  against  a 
standard  lamp  by  observer  A,  erroneous  results  may  be 
obtained  when  used  by  observer  B,  because  either  of  physio- 
logical differences  or  differences  in  mental  processes  as  a 


268 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  5. 


result  of  which  observer  B  may  consider  the  photometric 
field  to  be  balanced  when  one  photometric  surface  is 
brighter  or  less  bright  than  was  considered  correct  by 
observer  A.  In  this  illuminometer  such  differences  (except 
where  due  to  color)  are  eliminated.  In  calibration  by 
observer  A  the  photometer  is  so  adjusted  that  under  certain 
conditions  the  photometric  surface  illuminated  by  carbon 
check  lamp  i  is  considered  by  observer  A  to  be  as  bright  as 
surface  b.  The  photometer  is  to  be  used  by  observer  B, 
who,  let  us  say,  requires  the  central  portion  of  the 
photometric  field,  which  is  usually  the  test-plate  surface, 
to  be  brighter  than  is  normal  by,  say,  3  per  cent  in  order 
to  secure  a  satisfactory  balance.  The  first  operation  in 
using  the  instrument  is  to  introduce  the  carbon  check  lamp 
in  the  photometric  axis  and  regulate  the  tungsten  com- 
parison lamp  a.  Requiring  the  central  field  to  be  3  per 
cent  brighter  than  normal,  this  observer  will  adjust  the 
tungsten  comparison  lamp  correspondingly  low.  After  re- 
moving the  carbon  check  lamp  the  observer  will  proceed, 
always  adjusting  so  that  the  central  portion  of  the  field 
shall  be  3  per  cent  brighter  than  normal.  As,  however,  he 
is  operating  the  tungsten  comparison  lamp  too  low  by  this 
amount,  his  personal  equation  will  not  result  in  error  in 
the  ultimate  measurement,  as  it  would  in  the  use  of  other 
photometric  apparatus. 

In  calibrating  the  photometer  against  a  standard  lamp 
the  procedure  is  as  follows:  Test  plate  e  is  illuminated  to 
a  known  intensity  and  the  variable  diaphragm  c  is  adjusted 
until  the  pointer  attached  to  knob  /  indicates  a  correspond- 
ing value  upon  the  scale  of  illumination  intensities.  The 
current  supplied  to  lamps  a  and  i  is  then  adjusted  until 
photometric  balance  is  secured.  Carbon  check  lamp  i  is 
then  introduced  in  place  of  test  plate  e  and  settings  are 
made  to  determine  the  setting  of  diaphragm  c  necessary 
to  secure  photometric  balance  between  the  surfaces  illu- 
minated respectively  by  lamps  a  and  i. 

When  the  photometer  is  employed  in  a  test  the  diaphragm 
is  set  at  the  above  va'ue  and  comparison  is  made  between 
lamps  I  and  a  to  check  the  adjustment  of  the  latter. 


SPECTACULAR     ILLUMINATION    AT     PORTLAND, 
ORE.,  DURING  ELKS'  CARNIVAL. 

For  years  the  carnivals  held  by  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the 
Order  of  Elks  have  always  been  attended  by  more  or  less 
spectacular  electric  illumination  on  the  streets  through 
which  the  parades  passed.     This  year  the  carnival  was  held 


^.            .^ :>'.        '^ 

••«..•;»••              ^^ 

J"    ***^'' •*******•  •^****'*****      ^3 

^iOS^ 

Illuminated    Arch    at    Elks'    Carnival. 

on  the  Pacific  Slope  during  the  week  July  8-13,  Portland. 
Ore.,  being  the  city  honored.  The  main  streets  in  the  busi- 
ness section  of  the  city  were  festooned  with  incandescent 
lamps  and  spanned  at  intervals  with  huge  wooden  arches 
painted  white  and  decorated  with  appropriate  plaster 
models.  Between  arches  large  wooden  pillars  were  ar- 
ranged along  both  sides  of  the  street  and  at  night  the  arches 


and  columns  were  outlined  in  lighted  electric  lamps.  Dur- 
ing the  week  also  the  floats  used  for  the  Rose  Carnival  and 
described  in  these  columns  a  month  ago  were  pressed  into 
service,  much  to  the  pleasure  of  those  who  traveled  many 
thousand  miles  from  all  parts  of  the  country  to  be  present 
at  the  gathering. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


DEPRECIATION    OF    POWER-PLANT   EQUIPMENT. 

To  the  Editors  of  Electrical  World: 

Sirs:  Opinions  differ  considerably  as  to  the  proper  charge 
to  make  for  the  item  of  depreciation  in  power-plant  equip- 
ment. Some  contend  that  as  long  as  any  part  of  the  ma- 
chinery performs  its  functions  satisfactorily  and  has  been 
kept  in  a  good  state  of  repair  it  has  the  same  monetary 
value  to  the  owner  as  when  purchased.  Others  assume  its 
useful  life  to  be  anywhere  from  ten  to  twenty-five  years 
and  charge  off  from  10  down  to  4  per  cent  annually,  de- 
pending upon  opinion  as  to  the  probable  life  of  the  ma- 
chine in  question.  Then,  again,  there  are  some  who  be- 
lieve its  usefulness  is  lessened  from  year  to  year  in  an  in- 
creasing proportion  and  consequently  increase  the  per- 
centage charged  off  accordingly. 

While  there  are,  no  doubt,  both  pros  and  cons  to  all  of 
these  methods,  a  careful  analysis  of  the  subject  will  show 
that  the  term  depreciation  consists  of  two  commonly  ac- 
cepted component  factors.  The  first  of  these  might  be 
called  decrepitude.  It  covers  the  gradual  wearing  out  of 
the  machine  resulting  from  the  effects  of  usage  and  old 
age.  Such  wearing  out  cannot  be  overcome  by  current 
repairs  and  will  eventually  result  in  ending  the  useful  life 
of  the  apparatus  and  necessitate  its  replacement  in  its  en- 
tirety. Very  often  its  life  can  be  extended  by  good  care 
and  attention,  and  on  the  other  hand  it  may  be  shortened 
considerably  by  abuse  and  neglect.  The  proper  charge, 
therefore,  to  make  for  decrepitude  depends  largely  upon 
how  the  machine  or  equipment  is  handled,  and  how  often 
it  can  be  thoroughly  inspected  and  overhauled. 

The  second  factor  is  obsolescence  and  takes  into  ac- 
count the  reduction  in  the  value  of  any  apparatus  because 
of  advances  in  the  art  whereby  otherwise  serviceable  ma- 
chinery becomes  comparatively  uneconomical  for  further 
use.  Of  the  two  factors  this  is  the  most  disturbing  one  in 
that  it  often  has  the  effect  of  reducing  the  estimated  eco- 
nomical life  of  many  parts  of  the  equipment  below  that 
which  otherwise  would  be  brought  about  by  age  and  gen- 
eral wear  and  tear. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  decrepitude  is  a  variable 
factor  depending  upon  operating  conditions,  while  obsoles- 
cence entails  the  necessity  of  accumulating  sufficient  funds 
to  replace  the  unit  when  it  must  go  out  of  service.  The 
former  is  taken  care  of  as  far  as  possible  by  current  ex- 
penditures from  month  to  month,  but  the  latter  must  be  met 
all  at  once  and  may  be  designated  as  deferred  maintenance. 
The  total  amount  of  depreciation  to  be  charged  against  any 
part  of  an  installation  must  equal  the  first  cost  of  such  part 
plus  the  cost  of  its  installation  and  removal.  From  this 
total  any  salvage  obtainable  for  the  part  when  discarded 
should,  of  course,  be  deducted.  A  certain  proportion  of  the 
balance  should  be  charged  off  annually;  whether  it  is  in 
equal  or  gradually  increasing  amounts,  as  the  machine  gets 
older,  may  be  optional.  To  be  profitable,  therefore,  each 
part  of  the  equipment  must  earn  sufficient  money  to  guar- 
antee a  certain  interest  on  the  investment  and  in  addition 
be  able  to  provide  a  sinking  fund  at  the  end  of  its  life 
equivalent  to  its  total  initial  cost.  The  latter  provision 
would  not  hold,  naturally,  in  case  the  machine  or  equip- 
ment became  obsolete  while  yet  quite  new  because  of  the 
development   of   improvements   in   its   design   or   operation. 

Pittsburgh,  Pa.  Everard  Brown. 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


269 


Digest    of   Current   Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Phase  Advnncer  for  Non-Synchronous  Machines. — 
Arthur  Schereius. — An  illustrated  description  of  the 
phase  advancer  of  Brown-Boveri  &  Company.  The  rotor 
current  of  the  main  motor  is  conducted  to  the  commutator 
by  the  brushes  (Fig.  l).  The  winding,  which  is  of  the  usual 
drum  type,  lies  in  holes  in  the  laminated  core.     The  absence 


y 

Fig.    1  —  Elevation   Showing   Connections. 

of  any  fixed  part  is  striking  and  is,  in  fact,  one  of  the  main 
characteristics  of  the  machine.  As  the  field  magnetism  is 
produced  by  the  armature  current  itself  there  is  no  need  of 
windings  on  the  stater.  This  fact  led  to  the  idea  of  com- 
bining the  stator  with  the  rotor.  Both  theory  and  tests 
supported  this  idea  and  proved  that  a  mere  ring  to  complete 
the  magnetic  circle  was  sufficient.  The  stator  was,  there- 
fore, abandoned  and  the  compensator  built  with  no  air  space 
at  all.  Its  magnetic  resistance  being  consequently  smaller 
than  that  of  a  normal  machine,  the  generated  emf  of  rota- 
tion can  be  larger  at  small  loads.  This  means  that  the 
center  of  the  circle  diagram  lies  high  so  that  at  normal 
loads  the  current  is  already  leading  considerably.  Although 
a  leading  current  is  very  often  required  (to  improve  the 
power-factor  of  a  whole  plant),  a  power- factor  of  unity  is 
more  usually  asked  for.  It  is.  therefore,  clear  that  some 
method  had  to  be  devised  to  keep  the  emf  within  such 
limits  that  the  desired  power-factor  could  be  obtained.  The 
method  applied  is  simply  to  so  design  the  compensator  that 
it  becomes  saturated  at  the  moment  when  the  power-factor 
reaches  unity.  As  the  load  increases  the  rise  of  pressure 
will   only   be   small,   because   the   bend   in    the   magnetizing 


Leading. 


i 


Lagging. 


0-8 
1.0 


0-6 


2-'^ — "    ° 


40 


80 


120 


280      320        360      400  H.P. 


160      200       240 

Fig.  2 — Curves  Showing  Power-Factor  with  and  without  a  Phase- 
Advancer. 

curve  has  been  passed.  These  machines  are  in  commercial 
operation.  Fig.  2  gives  test  curves  of  the  power-factor  of  a 
400-hp  induction  motor  running  with  and  without  a  phase- 
advancer. — London  Electrician,  July  12,  1912. 

Electric  Braking  of  Thrcc-Phasc  Scries  Commutator 
Motors. — Klaudius  Schenfer. — It  is  well  known  that  a 
three-phase   series   commutator  motor  connected  to   a   net- 


work when  operating  as  a  generator  produces  a  current  of  a 
frequency  which  is  in  general  not  equal  to  the  frequency  of 
the  network.  The  author  shows  mathematically  how  this 
frequency  depends  on  the  speed  of  the  machine,  its  ohmic 
resistance,  the  leakage  induction  coefficient,  the  magnetic 
reluctance  and  the  displacement  angle  of  the  brushes. 
Finally  some  oscillographic  curves  are  given  which  were 
obtained  in  an  actual  test.  They  show  that  the  current  is 
the  sum  of  two  currents  of  different  frequency,  one  being 
the  frequency  of  the  network  and  the  other  a  different 
frequencv.  There  is  agreement  between  theory  and  the 
results  of  the  test. — Elek.  11.  Masch.  (Vienna),  June 
30,  1912. 

Transformer  Oils. — A.  Reisset.— A  review  of  various  re- 
cent articles  on  transformer  oils  dealing  especially  with  the 
properties  required  in  them,  methods  of  testing  and  the 
nature  of  the  deposits  which  sometimes  occur  in  them. — 
La  Ltimiere  Elcc.  July  6,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Photometry  of  Lights  of  Different  Colors. — H.  E.  Ives.— 
A  long  account  of  an  extended  investigation  on  special 
luminosity  curves  obtained  by  the  equality-of-brightness 
photometer  and  the  flicker  photometer  under  similar  condi- 
tions. The  chief  new  results  are  as  follows:  The  flicker 
method  is  more  sensitive  than  the  equality-of-brightness 
method,  where  different  colored  lights  are  compared.  The 
results  by  the  flicker  method  are  more  reproducible  than 
those  by  the  equality-of-brightness  method.  Decrease  of 
illumination  shifts  the  maximum  of  luminosity  toward  the 
blue  with  the  equality-of-brightness  (Purkinje  effect), 
toward  the  red  with  the  flicker  method.  Decrease  of  the 
size  of  the  photometric  fields  at  low  illuminations  shifts  the 
maximum  of  luminosity  toward  the  red  with  the  equality- 
cf-brightness  method  (yellow  spot  effect),  toward  the  blue 
with  the  flicker  method.  The  relative  positions  of  the  two 
kinds  of  spectral  luminosity  curves  are  in  general  different. 
The  curves  are  most  different  in  position  at  low  illumina- 
tions with  large  fields,  nearest  together  at  high  illuminations 
and  with  small  fields.  They  may  under  certain  conditions 
coincide,  and  the  mean  curves  of  several  observers  show 
close  agreement  in  position  of  maxima  and  shape  of  the  two 
curves  at  high  illuminations,  although  the  areas  are  not  the 
same.  The  curves  obtained  by  different  observers  show  dif- 
ferent positions  for  each  curve  and  different  relative  posi- 
tions of  the  two  for  high  illuminations.  At  low  illumina- 
tions all  observers  agree  in  showing  the  Purkinje  and  re- 
versed Purkinje  effects.  As  to  the  practical  bearing  of  these 
results  on  photometry,  the  author  thinks  that  the  sensibility 
and  reproducibility  of  the  flicker  method  are  sufficiently 
greater  than  those  of  the  other  method  to  recommend  its 
use  in  all  cases  where  color  differences  exist  and  where  the 
question  of  absolute  intensity  values  is  not  of  the  first 
importance.  In  the  determination  of  distribution  curves  of 
a  source,  for  example,  a  flicker  photometer  would  be  very 
convenient.  A  second  conclusion  is  to  be  drawn  from  the 
comparative  data  by  several  observers  of  normal  vision. 
From  their  differences  of  reading  it  is  apparent  that  dif- 
ferences of  color  vision  will  always  be  a  serious  obstacle  to 
uniform  results  in  heterochromatic  photometry.  The  only 
practicable  escape  from  this  difficulty  is  to  eliminate  the 
need  of  making  such  comparisons  in  ordinary  photometric 
practice;  in  other  words,  the  aim  should  be  to  make  all 
practical  photometry  the  photometry  of  lights  of  the  same 
color.  Under  these  conditions  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference 
what  photometer  is  used  or  whether  the  observer  has  normal 
color  vision.     The  problem  of  heterochromatic  photometry 


270 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  s. 


hence  becomes  one  for  the  standardizing  laboratory,  where 
secondary  colored  standards  or  colored  glasses  will  be  pre- 
pared for  as  many  practical  cases  as  possible. — Phil.  Mag., 
July,  1912. 

Temperature  of  Filaments. — M.  von  Pirani  and  A.  R. 
Meyer. — The  authors  make  some  corrections,  as  follows, 
in  tables  which  they  have  formerly  given  for  the  tempera- 
tures of  incandescent  filaments  at  different  rates  of  burning : 


Tungsten  lamp. 
TantaUini  lamp. 
Carbon 


Watts 
per  cp. 


Black-Body 

Temperature, 

Deg.  C. 


True 

Temperature. 

Deg.  C. 


10.0 
1.0 
0.25 

10.0 
I.O 
0.4 

10.0 
1.0 
0.6 


1394 
1947 
2500 

1396 
1953 
2285 

1560 
2166 
2357 


1482 
2105 
2750 

1472 
2089 
2468 

1616 
2265 
2472 


The  first  column  of  figures  gives  the  watts  per  hefner,  the 
second  column  the  "black-body"  temperature  in  deg.  C,  and 
the  third  column  the  true  temperature  in  deg.  C.  Only  a 
few  of  the  figures  of  the  authors  are  given  in  this  table. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  July  11,  1912. 

Lambert's  Cosine  Law  of  the  Emission  from  Tioigsten 
and  Carbon. — A.  G.  Worthing. — An  abstract  of  an  Ameri- 
can Physical  Society  paper.  In  the  investigation  of  the  con- 
duction losses  in  incandescent  lamps  an  unexpected  variation 
from  Lambert's  cosine  law  was  noticed.  A  special  investiga- 
tion making  use  of  the  same  method,  though  considerably  re- 
fined for  this  purpose,  has  been  undertaken.  For  a  uniformly 
heated  cylindrical  tungsten  filament  viewed  normally  to  its 
axis  the  variation  from  the  cosine  law  is  such  as  to  make 
the  average  brightness  for  X  =  0.63  |a  about  3  per  cent 
greater  than  that  of  the  central  portion ;  for  X  =  0.46  (a  the 
variation  is  considerably  less;  for  an  untreated  carbon  fila- 
ment the  variation  is  such  as  to  make  the  average  brightness 
about  5  per  cent  less  than  that  of  the  central  portion.  A 
change  of  temperature  for  the  tungsten  shows  a  definite 
change  in  the  variation  from  the  cosine  law.  The  light 
emitted  from  the  edge  of  the  carbon  filament  was  found  to 
be  about  20  per  cent  polarized,  that  from  the  edge  of  the 
tungsten  filament  about  60  per  cent  polarized,  in  each  case 
in  planes  parallel  to  the  axis  of  the  filaments.  These  results 
for  tungsten  are  similar  to  results  obtained  by  Uljanin  for 
Ft,  Ag  and  Cu. — Phys.  Review,  July. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Low-Gradc  Fuel  for  the  Production  of  Electrical  Energy. 
— F.  Bartel. — A  paper  read  before  the  German  Association 
of  Electrical  Engineers.  While  in  southern  Germany  water- 
powers  are  available  which  would  be  sufficient  to  generate 
all  the  electrical  energy  required  for  all  purposes,  this  is 
not  the  case  in  northern  Germany.  To  use  electric  power 
for  all  possible  purposes  an  aggregate  rated  equipment  of 
1,000,000  kw  of  all  central  stations  would  be  necessary  for 
northern  Germany.  This  would  have  to  be  developed  from 
fuel,  and  the  author  discusses  the  possibility  of  using  low- 
grade  fuels  such  as  bituminous  coal  (or  rather  the  gas 
obtained  from  coke  ovens  operated  with  bituminous  coal), 
lignite  and  peat.  The  first  cost  of  installation  of  a  station 
of  4500  kw  rating  is  given  as  $62.50  per  kw  for  lignite  and 
peat  with  steam-turbine  operation  and  as  $112.50  per  kw 
for  lignite  and  peat  with  gas-engine  operation.  The  cost 
per  kilowatt-hour  generated  for  a  yearly  total  of  2000  hours 
of  operation  is  0.86  cent  and  0.89  cent  respectively  in  the 
central  station.  If  the  rated  equipment  of  the  station  is 
increased  to  15,000  kw  the  first  cost  per  kilowatt  decreases 
to  $30  for  bituminous  coal, "$32.50  for  lignite  and  $37.50  for 
peat.  If  the  machines  are  to  be  used  for  2000  hours  in  a 
year  and  if  the  cost  of  lignite  and  peat  is  $1  per  ton,  the 


cost  of  generating  i  kw-hr.  in  a  4500-kw  station  and  in  a 
50,000-kw  station  is  as  given  in  the  accompanying  table. 
It  will  be  seen  that  for  the  so,ooo-kw  station  the  total  cost 


Number  of  kilowatt-hours  produced 

Price  per  kilowatt-hour  in  station,  cents 

Price  per  kilowatt-hour  at  main   transformer 
station,  cents 

Cost  of  long-distance  transmission  per  kilo- 
watt-hour, cents 


RATING  OF  STATION. 


50,000  kw. 


100,000,000 
0.568 

0.758 

0.400 


4,500  kw. 


9,000.000 
0.888 


1.183 


of  the  kilowatt-hour  after  transmission  is  1. 16  cents,  being 
therefore  less  than  the  cost  of  the  kilowatt-hour  in  the  4500- 
kw  plant  without  transmission.  The  figures  of  transmission 
are  based  on  the  assumption  of  a  transmission  line  of  900 
km  length,  with  fifteen  stations  distributed  throughout  the 
district,  the  transmission  emf  being  from  100,000  to  150,000 
volts. — Elek.  Zeit.,  July  11,  1912. 

Hydroelectric  Power  in  Switzerland.— It  is  stated  that  the 
hydraulic  power  now  available,  including  that  already  em- 
ployed, in  Switzerland  is  about  722,600  hp.  Of  this  about 
125,000  hp  will  probably  be  used  on  the  federal  railways,  the 
electrification  of  which,  it  is  considered,  is  only  a  matter  of 
time. — London  Electrician,  July  12,  1912. 

Turbo-Alternators. — The  first  part  of  a  profusely  illus- 
trated article  on  Curtis  turbo-alternators.  A  description  is 
given  of  the  theory  upon  which  the  working  of  the  Curtis 
turbine  is  based,  and  the  application  of  this  theory  to  the 
building  of  large  turbo-generator  sets  is  dealt  with.  The 
design  of  alternators  suitable  for  direct  coupling  to  these 
turbines  is  also  described. — London  Electrician,  July 
12,  1912. 

Traction. 

Determination  of  Tramway  Nctivorks. — A.  J.  Lawson. — 
The  author  urges  the  value  of  using  scale  models  of  tram- 
way systems  in  order  to  study  the  drop  with  various 
arrangements  of  feeders.  An  example  is  given  of  the  re- 
sults obtained.  The  method  consists  in  building  up  on  a 
suitable  scale  a  small  model  system  of  wires  representing 
the  feeder  cables  and  trolley  wires  and  the  rails  and  return 
cables  of  the  tramway  system  under  investigation.  Choosing 
convenient  sizes  and  quality  of  wires,  it  is  possible  to  get  in 
the  model  the  same  resistance  as  in  the  actual  lines.  German 
silver  may  be  used  to  represent  the  cables  and  the  trolley 
wires.  The  track,  however,  on  account  of  its  low  resistance, 
should  be  built  up  of  copper  wire.  The  drop  of  potential 
(which  must  be  measured  by  a  millivoltmeter)  is  obtained 
by  means  of  resistances,  representing  the  cars,  connected 
between  the  German-silver  wires  and  the  copper  wires. — 
London  Electrician,  July  12,  1912. 

Traction  Problems. — J.  Fekl. — A  long  mathematical 
paper  in  which  the  author  discusses  the  conditions  of  best 
starting  acceleration,  best  speed  on  grades,  the  weight  of 
locomotive  required  to  make  the  power  a  minimum,  and  the 
efifect  of  the  distance  between  stations  on  the  weight  of  the 
locomotive.  In  connection  with  the  discussion  of  these 
problems  the  author  also  deals  with  the  use  of  motor  cars 
and  locomotives. — Elek.  u.  Majch.  (Vienna),  June  23,  1912. 

Gasoline-Electric  Automobiles. — J.  Simey. — A  review  of 
the  development  of  gasoline-electric  automobiles  with 
special  reference  to  the  systems  of  Deutz  and  of  the 
Allgemeine  Elektricitats  Gesellschaft.  The  results  obtained 
with  these  automobiles  are  considered  to  be  satisfactory. — 
La  Lumiere  Elec,  June  29,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Generating  Stations  in  Italy. — B.  Lecler. — An  article 
giving  statistical  data  on  generating  stations  in  Italy.  At 
the  end  of  1908  there  were  in  operation  in  Italy  6750  gen- 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


271 


erating  stations,  with  an  aggregate  rating  of  510,000  kw. 
This  represents  an  increase  during  ten  years  of  200  per 
cent  in  the  numbers  and  500  per  cent  in  the  rating.  The 
increase  of  hydroelectric  stations  is  particularly  remarkable, 
the  total  rating  having  increased  since  1898  from  47,000  kw 
to  360,000  kw.  Other  comparisons  are  made  between  the 
conditions  in  the  years  1908  and  1898.— La  Revue  Elec, 
July  12,  1912. 

British  Central-Station  Statistics. — The  annual  statistical 
table  giving  details  of  the  464  central  stations  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  their  equipment  and  development. — Supplement  to 
London  Elec.  Rev.,  June  28,  1912. 

Electric  Heating  of  Buildings. — A  note  on  the  electric 
heating  of  buildings  in  Sweden  and  Norway.  In  Norway 
it  has  been  proposed  to  heat  the  churches  by  electricity,  so 
as  to  utilize  the  equipment  of  the  generating  stations  on 
Sundays,  when  most  works  are  closed.  The  central  station 
in  Gothenburg  has  carried  out  some  experiments  with  re- 
gard to  electric  heating,  it  is  stated,  with  most  satisfactory 
results'.  The  energy  used  was  surplus  energy,  costing  the 
town  only  0.134  cent  per  kw-hr.  The  tests  were  carried  out 
in  twenty-two  offices  and  private  residences  and  lasted  from 
December,  191 1,  till  April  i,  1912.  As  the  energy  in  ques- 
tion was  available  only  during  the  night,  the  heat,  of  course, 
had  to  be  stored  in  heat  accumulators,  to  be  given  out  during 
the  course  of  the  day.  Almost  all  the  temporary  users  of 
the  electric  heating  have  declared  themselves  very  well 
pleased  with  it.  It  is  efficient,  easy  to  handle  and  control, 
clean  and  hygienic.  The  price  seems  to  vary  considerably. 
For  seven  of  the  twenty-two  installations  the  value  of  the 
energy  has  been  put  at  0.35  cent  per  kw-hr.,  for  five  of  them 
at  between  0.54  cent  and  0.8  cent,  and  for  ten  installations 
at  below  0.54"  cent.  As  a  result  of  these  tests,  which  were 
carried  on  during  the  last  exceptionally  cold  winter,  it  is 
claimed  that  electric  heating,  properly  installed  in  suitable 
premises,  is  economically  possible  at  a  price  of  0.8  cent  per 
kw-hr.  Moreover,  the  reduced  amount  of  labor,  the  greater 
cleanliness  and  increased  hygienic  advantages  and  the  re- 
duced risk  of  fire  should  be  considered.  The  system,  it  is 
expected,  will  be  widely  adopted  in  Gothenburg.  The 
authorities  have  decided  that  the  surplus  energy,  as  far  as 
it  is  available  and  during  a  minimum  limit  of  eight  hours 
in  the  twenty-four,  can  be  supplied  at  $7  per  maximum  kilo- 
watt used  at  any  time  during  the  year,  with  an  additional 
charge  for  the  kilowatt-hours  used. — London  Electrician, 
July  12,  1912. 

Electric  Cooker. — An  illustrated  description  of  an  electric 
cooking  apparatus  of  British  design  in  which  the  material 
being  cooked  is  heated  entirely  by  radiation  from  the  heat- 
ing, resistors,  which  are  wound  around  the  periphery  of  a 
cylindrical  frame. — London  Electrician.  July  12,  1912. 

Tariff. — L.  Rosenbaum. — The  author  makes  use  of  the 
results  of  the  statistics  of  the  Association  of  (European) 
Central  Stations  for  the  year  1910-11  to  investigate  certain 
factors  which  have  a  decisive  effect  on  the  financial  results 
of  central  stations.  He  then  develops  a  theory  of  devising 
a  fair  tarifif  and  illustrates  it  by  a  numerical  example.^ — • 
Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  July  7,  1912. 

Oil  Szvitclies. — F.  Marguerre. — The  first  part  of  a  long 
illustrated  article  describing  systematic  experiments  made 
at  the  Rjukanfos  power  plant  with  different  types  of  oil 
switches  up  to  10,500  volts. — Elek.  Zeit.,  July  11,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Preserznng  Wood. — W.  Manktelow. — An  article  on 
aczol,  a  new  preservative  material  for  timber.  This  is  a 
patent  compound  of  metallic  ammoniates  with  an  antiseptic 
acid  having  no  deleterious  action  on  wood  or  metals.  The 
chemical  properties  and  preservative  action  of  the  new 
material  are  described. — London  Elec.  Review,  June 
28,  1912. 

Impregnating  Wooden  Poles. — R.  Nowotney. — The 
author  gives   results   from   actual   practice  on   the   partial 


impregnation  of  wooden  poles  with  tar  oil.  The  results  so 
far  obtained  are  quite  favorable. — Elek.  u.  Masch. 
(Vienna),  June  23,  1912. 

Electrophysics  and   Magnetism. 

Magnetic  and  Elastic  Properties  of  Steel. — C.  W.  Wag- 
goner.— The  author  shows  that  in  a  series  of  unhardened 
steels  the  relation  between  the  hysteresis  loss,  intensity  of 
magnetization,  maximum  susceptibility  and  the  carbon  con- 
tent might  have  been  predicted  from  the  Ewing  theory  of 
magnetism  and  a  knowledge  of  the  physical  characteristics 
of  the  microscopic  constituents  of  such  steels.  The  mag- 
netic hysteresis  loss  and  the  maximum  strength  of  un- 
hardened steels  vary  in  the  same  way  with  the  percentage 
of  carbon.  The  intensity  of  magnetization  at  saturation 
fields  and  the  maximum  susceptibility  show  the  same  varia- 
tion with  carbon  content  as  does  the  ductility  of  these  steels. 
The  maximum  percentage  elongation  due  to  magnetostric- 
tion in  a  series  of  annealed  steels  seems  to  be  a  function  of 
the  ductility  of  the  steel  and  may  be  explained  on  a  basis 
of  the  elastic  properties  of  the  microscopic  constituents  com- 
posing these  steels. — Phys.  Review,  July,   1912. 

Electrochemistry  and  Batteries. 

Atomic  Weights. — H.  Pecheux. — An  account  of  some 
determinations  of  atomic  weights  of  metals  by  an  electro- 
lytic method  involving  direct  comparison  with  pure  silver. 
The  results  obtained  are  in  good  agreement  with  those 
recently  obtained  by  Meaglei. — Comptes  Rendus,  May  28; 
Ln  Lumiere  Elec,  June  29,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Localication  of  Faults  in  Submarine  Cables. — C.  E.  Hay. 
— An  illustrated  description  of  a  simple  method  for  local- 
izing in  a  submarine  cable  the  position  of  a  so-called  partial 
disconnection  unaccompanied  by  an  earth  fault. — London 
Elec.  Review,  June  28,  1912. 

Meters. — An  official  statement  of  the  Reichsanstalt  admit- 
ting for  calibration  certain  induction  meters  for  single- 
phase,  two-phase  and  three-phase  currents  and  measuring 
transformers  of  the  Allgemeine  Elektricitiits  Gesellschaft. 
The  different  instruments  are  described  and  illustrated. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  July  11,  1912. 

Meters. — An  article  giving  detailed  results  of  tests  re- 
cently made  in  a  French  testing  laboratory  on  different 
commercial  meters. — La  Lumiere  Elec.  June  29,  1912 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Semi-Bridge  Duplex  System  for  Submarine  Cables. — 
J.  Kajiura. — The  double-block  bridge  duplex  method  of 
Muirhead  has  been  most  commonly  used  as  the  best  in 
duplexing  long  submarine  cables.  In  that  method  such  a 
number  of  artificial  cable  boxes  as  represent  the  whole  or 
nearly  the  whole  length  of  the  cable  must  be  provided  to 
obtain  a  perfect  balance.  In  order  to  reduce  the  number  of 
boxes  required  the  author  has  devised  a  method  for  obtain- 
ing a  balance  by  using  an  artificial  cable  of  only  half  the 
length  of  the  cable.  This  is  called  a  semi-bridge  duplex 
and  is  shown  in  Fig.  3,  in  which  A  xs,  a  key  or  automatic 
transmitter;  B.  a  battery;  C,  a  balancing  rheostat;  D  and 
E,  block  condensers;  F,  slide  condenser;  H,  a  receiving 
condenser;  /,  a  receiving  instrument;  /.  K,  L  and  M,  re- 
sistances; A'',  an  artificial  cable,  of  which  O  and  P  are  the 
beginning  and  the  end  respectively;  Q,  a  leak  resistor;  R, 
resistor,  either  inductive  or  non-inductive;  S,  adjustable 
self-inductor;  T,  U,  V,  W,  X,  Y,  Z  and  A',  retardation 
resistors;  B'  and  C,  adjustable  condensers;  D',  shunt  of 
artificial  cables;  £'  line  cable;  F' ,  G'  and  H',  block  con- 
denser, receiving  condenser  and  receiving  instrument  re- 
spectively at  the  distant  end  of  this  cable  circuit.  When  a 
sending  battery  is  applied  to  one  of  the  block  condensers 
which  are  interposed  at  both  ends  of  the  line  cable  the 
cable  throughout  the  whole  length  will  ultimately  attain  a 


272 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


certain  potential  which  is  determined  by  the  voltage  used, 
the  capacities  of  the  cable  itself  and  the  block  condensers; 
this  potential  is  called  the  "ultimate  potential."  This  is  by 
no  means  established  at  once;  on  the  contrary,  not  only  is 
there  always  a  lapse  of  time,  but  this  lapse  of  time  differs  at 
different  points  of  the  cable.  At  the  two  ends  of  a  cable 
circuit  a  certain  time  passes,  therefore,  before  the  "ultimate 


1 1 — VMM > 


Fig.  3 — Arrangement  of  Seml-Brldge  System. 

potential"  is  attained,  while  there  is  always  a  certain  inter- 
mediate position  where  the  required  duration  of  time  is 
much  shorter,  and  the  relation  of  time  and  the  rise  or  fall 
of  potential  can  easily  be  imitated  by  a  suitable  simple 
means  without  resorting  to  artificial  cables.  This  inter- 
mediate position,  which  is  called  "the  intermediate  position," 
is  generally  at  or  near  the  center  of  the  cable  circuit.  It 
will  thus  be  seen  that,  if  only  such  artificial  cables  as  cor- 
respond to  that  portion  of  the  line  cable  lying  between  one 
end  and  "the  intermediate  position"  be  used  and  a  suitable 
means,  which  can  imitate  the  relation  of  time  and  the  rise 
or  fall  of  potential  at  "the  intermediate  position"  of  the 
cable,  be  provided  at  the  end  of  the  artificial  cable,  an 
exact  duplex  balance  can  be  obtained,  there  being  no  need 
for  using  so  much  artificial  cable  as  to  correspond  to  the 
whole  or  nearly  the  whole  length  of  the  line  cable,  such  as 
is  used  in  ordinary  duplex  systems.  In  the  diagram  the 
artificial  cables  N  from  0  to  P  correspond  to  that  portion 
of  the  line  cable  lying  between  its  left  end  and  "the  inter- 
mediate position,"  and  the  resistances  of  the  parts  of  the 
circuit  KLSM,  branching  from  the  center  of  the  balancing 
rheostat  C,  are  so  adjusted  that  the  potential  of  /'  is  equal 
to  the  "ultimate  potential"  of  the  line  cable ;  and  in  order  to 
make  the  relation  of  time  and  the  rise  or  fall  of  potential 
.  of  /',  so  connected  to  the  artificial  cable,  equal  to  that  of 
"the  intermediate  position"  of  the  line  cable  an  adjustable 
self-inductance  5'  and  capacities  B'  and  C,  with  or  without 
retardation  resistances,  are  introduced  into  the  circuit,  and 
in  some  cases  a  simple  resistance  or  a  resistance  having 
more  or  less  self-inductance  is  inserted  between  P  and  /. 
The  system  is  in  practical  use,  and  the  arrangement  at  the 
Nagasaki  station  is  shown  in  a  diagram. — London  Elec- 
trician, July  5,  1912. 

Automatic  Raikvay  Signals. — An  illustrated  description  of 
the  "railophone"  wireless  inductive  system  of  automatic 
signaling.  Briefly,  the  arrangements  consist  of  one  or  more 
electrical  circuits  laid  along  the  track  it  is  desired  to  pro- 
tect. These  are  connected  with  various  telephonic  and 
signaling  apparatus  in  the  signal  box,  and  may  be  considered 
for  the  sake  of  clearness  to  make  up  the  primary  circuit  of 
a  transformer.  The  secondary  circuit  of  the  transformer  is 
on  the  train.  It  consists  essentially  of  two  coils  of  wire 
wound  round  the  frame  of  one  of  the  carriages,  these 
circuits  being  connected  to  various  telephone  and  signaling 
apparatus  in  the  guard's  van.     Experiment  has  shown  that  a 


current  passing  in  such  a  primary  circuit  will  induce  a 
current  in  the  moving  secondary  sufficiently  strong  to 
allow  a  telephonic  conversation  to  take  place,  while  it  can 
also,  through  a  sensitive  relay,  cause  a  warning  signal  to 
sound  and  the  brakes  of  the  train  to  be  applied.  In  the 
same  way  it  is,  of  course,  possible  for  the  guard  of  the 
train  to  get  into  communication  with  the  signal  box,  and 
thus  to  transmit  similar  warning 
signals  or  take  part  in  a  telephone 
conversation.  A  good  deal  of  the 
work  done  under  this  system  is 
automatic,  being  affected  by  the  con- 
dition of  the  various  apparatus  on 
the  train  and  in  the  signal  box  when 
the  former  enters  that  part  of  the 
track  protected  by  the  circuits. — 
London  Electrician.  July  12,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

Synthetic  Rubber. — C.  J.  Beaver. — 
The  author  deals  with  the  recent  ad- 
vances made  by  Prof.  W.  H.  Perkin 
and  others  in  the  production  of  syn- 
thetic    rubber.      Passing     from     the 
chemical  problems  involved,  the  com- 
mercial    possibilities     are     reviewed 
and  the  conclusion  is  reached  that  the 
electrical  industry  is  not  likely  to  ob- 
nnich  relief  by  the  new  product  and  that  lower  prices 
arise  in  due  time  owing  to   new  rubber   plantations, 
rendering   synthetic    rubber   less   necessary    commer- 
y. — London  Electrician,  July  12,  1912. 


tani 
will 
thus 
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Book  Reviews 


Testing,   Fault  Localization   and   General   Hints   for 

WiREMEN.     By  J.  Wright.     New  York:    D.  Van  Nos- 

trand  Company.    85  pages,  19  illus.    Price,  50  cents  net. 

Practical  suggestions  and  hints  on  testing,  of  the  kind 

popularly  supposed  to  be  obtainable  only  through  actual  and 

vivid   experience,   make   up   the   principal   contents   of   this 

little   volume.      The   author   makes   no   pretense   of   having 

written  a  treatise  and  has  confined  himself  rather  to  con- 

irete    suggestions   than   to    theoretical   discussions   of    the 

how  and  the  why.     The  book  would  be  improved  by  the 

addition  of  a  table  of  contents  and  rearrangement  of  the 

matter  under  a  few  chapter  heads. 


The  American  Year  Book.     Edited  by  Francis  G.  Wick- 
ware.      New    York :     D.    Appleton    &   Company.      848 
pages.     Price,  $3.50. 
.\   record  of  events  and  progress  during  the  year   1911. 
The  book  is  a  compendium  of  annual  statistics  and  of  re- 
ports   as    to    events    and    progress    along    various    lines    of 
activity  and  interest.     It  is  divided  into  nine  main  sections 
as    follows :     Comparative    statistics,    history    and    politics, 
government,   economic   and   social   questions,   public   works 
and  national  defence,   industries  and   occupations,  science 
and  engineering,  the  humanities,  chronology  and  necrology. 
The  work,  which  has  been  manifestly  very  extensive,  was 
carried   out  under  a  board   of  thirty-nine   supervisors   and 
with  the  aid  of  reports  from  119  contributors. 

The  book  is  strongest  and  most  detailed  on  the  sides  of 
historv,  government  and  sociology.  It  is  entertainingly 
written  in  a  style  that  is  easy  rather  than  polished.  The 
object  is  evidently  to  present  the  facts  without  preju- 
dice. The  volume  will  appeal  as  a  work  of  reference 
to  a  very  large  and  widely  extending  class  of  readers.  It 
would  be  hard  to  find  an  intelligent  inhabitant  of  the  United 
States  who  could  find  no  interest  among  its  chronicles. 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


273 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


MULTIPLE-SWITCH  STARTER  FOR    LARGE   SLIP- 
RING  MOTORS. 


A  multiple-switch  type  starter  for  large  slip-ring  induc- 
tion motors  has  recently  been  standardized  in  ratings  of 
from  60  hp  to  600  hp  by  the  Cutler-Hammer  Manufacturing 
Company,  Milwaukee,  Wis.  This  type  of  starter  handles 
rotor  currents,  and  the  cutting  out  of  successive  steps  of 


^lklLIL». 


klJj^JJJIJJJiiAi 


V     V 


\     V 


Multiple-Switch    Alternating-Current    Motor    Starter. 

resistance  is  accomplished  by  means  of  separate  levers. 
The  levers  are  so  interlocked  that  it  is  impossible  to  close 
the  switches  e.xcept  in  the  proper  order.  Each  switch  as  it 
is  closed  holds  the  one  next  to  it  so  that  it  is  necessary  to 
close  them  in  succession.  The  closing  of  the  individual 
switches  also  introduces  a  time  element,  thereby  preventing 
a  careless  and  too  rapid  acceleration  of  the  motor. 
Auxiliary  carbon  and  copper  contacts  and  a  quick,  snappy 
opening  action  practically  eliminate  arcing  on  the  main 
contacts. 


ELECTRICALLY  OPERATED  BASCULE    BRIDGE. 


The  electrical  installation  on  the  bascule  bridge  over  the 
Calurnet  River  near  South  Chicago,  111.,  for  the  Chicago  & 
Western  Indiana  Railroad  Company  presents  several  novel 
and  interesting  features.  This  bridge  is  of  the  Strauss 
design,  heel  trunnion  type,  single-leaf,  double-track,  186  ft. 
long  from  trunnion  to  the  end  of  span,  and  weighs  1,100.000 
lb.  exclusive  of  the  counter-weight,  which  consists  of  slag 
concrete  and  weighs  approximately  1500  tons.  It  is  one  of 
the  longest  single-leaf  spans  in  the  world,  being  exceeded 
only  by  a  bridge  of  similar  design  now  being  installed  by 
the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  over  the  Calumet  River, 
which  will  have  a  movable  span  of  230  ft. 

As  there  is  no  available  power  within  several  miles,  it 
became  necessary  for  the  railroad  company  to  install  its 
own  plant  at  the  bridge  site,  of  sufficient  capacity  for  the 
economical  handling  of  the  bridge  at  all  times  and  with 
adequate  provision  for  the  handling  of  another  bridge  should 
four  tracks  be  installed.  In  order  to  reduce  the  size  of  the 
plant  and  have  power  available  at  all  times,  a  storage- 
battery  installation  was  decided  upon,  with  a  maximum  out- 
put of  640  amp-hr.  The  battery  tanks  were  made  larger 
than  necessary  to  accommodate  the  present  installation  of 
plates,  in  order  to  provide  for  increased  demands  in  the 
future. 

The  power  house  itself  is  located  beside  the  right-of-way, 
300  ft.  distant  from  the  bridge,  and  is  of  fireproof  con- 
struction. The  engine-room  floor  is  on  the  same  level  with 
the  tracks,  which  are  elevated  at  this  point,  thus  allowing 
ample  basement   room.     The   building   is   divided   into   two 


distinct  parts,  with  separate  entrances,  the  battery  plant 
being  installed  in  one  section  and  the  charging  apparatus 
in  the  other. 

The  battery  installation  consists  of  two  parts,  the  smaller 
one  comprising  sixty  type  E-7  cells,  in  glass  jars,  giving  a 
total  discharge  of  120  amp-hr.,  which  is  employed  for 
signaling,  lighting  the  building  and  for  operating  all 
auxiliary  circuits.  The  larger  battery  consists  of  120  type 
F-ii  cells,  in  lead-lined  tanks,  with  an  ultimate  capacity 
of  seventeen  plates  per  cell.  Each  tank  is  provided  with 
oil  insulators  to  reduce  grounding  or  leakage  to  a  minimum. 
The  large  battery  has  a  tap  between  cells  Nos.  60  and  61, 
which  is  carried  to  the  switchboard,  and  either  half  of  the 
battery  may  be  used  for  120-volt  service  while  the  smaller 
battery  is  being  charged.  The  switching  arrangements  pro- 
vide for  supplying  no-volt  service  on  the  signal  circuit  at 
all  times. 

A  failure  of  the  energy  supply  will  set  all  signals  at 
"danger,"  and  to  guard  against  this  the  introduction  of  the 
smaller  battery  was  decided  upon.  The  batteries  were  fur- 
nished by  the  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company,  the  Man- 
chester type  of  plate  being  used  throughout.  The  present 
installation  is  capable  of  raising  and  lowering  the  bridge 
twenty  times  on  a  single  charge.  The  normal  charging  rate 
of  the  larger  battery  is  55  amp,  and  under  present  conditions 
the  installation  is  charged  twice  a  week  for  periods  of  six 
to  eight  hours. 

The  charging  apparatus  consists  of  two  30-hp  direct- 
connected,  gasoline-engine  generating  sets  for  the  larger 
battery  and  a  5-hp  set  for  the  smaller  battery.  Cooing 
water  for  the  engines  is  obtained  from  a  cistern  sunk  below 
the  level  of  the  river.  The  water  filters  through  gravel  to 
the  cistern  and  is  then  raised  by  a  motor-driven  house  pump 
to  a  roof  tank  over  the  power  house.  Each  of  the  30-hp 
engines  is  equipped  with  its  own  circulating  pump.  A  gaso- 
line storage  tank  of  1000  gal.  capacity  is  installed  a  short 
distance  away,  providing  an  ample  supply  of  fuel.  A  supply 
of  compressed  air,  for  starting  the  engines  and  operating 
certain  auxiliaries,  is  furnished  by  a  motor-driven  com- 
pressor having  a  capacity  of   15  cu.  ft.  per  minute,  with 


Fig.    1  —  Engine    Room    of    Power    House. 

Storage  tanks  in  the  basement  having  100  cu.  ft.  capacity. 
The  compressed  air  is  piped  from  this  point  to  each  engine 
and  to  the  bridge.  The  entire  building,  including  battery 
room  and  basement,  is  heated  by  a  hot-water  heater  which 
maintains  a  temperature  of  60  deg.  Fahr.,  even  in  the 
coldest  weather. 

The   energy   is   conveyed   from   the   power-house   switch- 


274 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


board  to  the  operator's  house  in  underground  lead-covered 
cable.  The  lift  span  is  operated  by  two  main  motors  of 
65  hp  each  and  an  auxiliary  motor  of  25  hp.  The  two 
main  motors  are  under  series-parallel  control,  which  has 
proved  to  be  both  economical  and  reliable  in  connection 
with  storage-battery  supply,  as  the  heavy  starting  torque 
required  to  raise  the  bridge  off  its  seat  is  obtained  with  the 


^irill 


'Ml*. 


SI5?9I 


Fig.   2 — The   Bascule   Bridge   Over  the  Calumet   River,    Near  South 
Chicago,    III. 

motors  in  series.  The  interval  of  lifting  varies  from  one  to 
one  and  a  third  minutes  with  the  large  motors  and  is  twenty 
minutes  with  the  smaller.  The  starting  current  under 
normal  conditions  is  about  385  amp  at  220  volts,  diminishing 
as  the  speed  increases.  The  current  again  rises  to  400  amp 
when  the  motors  are  connected  in  parallel,  falling  to  a 
steady  value  of  300  amp  until  the  span  meets  the  automatic 
stop  and  the  brakes  are  applied.  When  one  of  the  large 
motors  alone  is  employed  to  raise  the  span,  under  conditions 


with  considerable  interest.  On  actual  test  it  was  found  that 
the  brakes  would  hold  the  bridge  securely  in  any  position 
under  the  most  severe  conditions  that  could  possibly  be  en- 
countered. 

All  motor  controls  in  this  installation  are  electrically  in- 
terlocked, thereby  preventing  the  operator  from  performing 
any  operation  out  of  its  proper  sequence.  The  motors  for 
raising  the  span  can  receive  no  energy  until  the  lock  motor 
has  first  withdrawn  the  lock  and  come  to  rest,  and,  vice 
versa,  the  lock  motor  is  inoperative  until  the  lifting  motors 
have  come  to  rest  and  the  bridge  is  seated.  The  last  opera- 
tion is  further  safeguarded  by  means  of  a  contact  switch 
on  the  end  of  the  bridge,  which  closes  the  circuit  of  the 
lock  motor  only  when  the  bridge  is  within  an  inch  of  seat- 
ing. The  current  to  the  lifting  motors  is  automatically  cut 
off  when  the  span  has  risen  to  a  predetermined  point  in  its 
travel,  making  it  impossible  for  the  operator  to  raise  the 
span  higher.  Upon  reversal  of  the  controller  handle,  how- 
ever, the  lifting  motors  are  energized  in  reverse  rotation 
and  the  bridge  is  lowered.  No  automatic  stops  were  in- 
stalled to  protect  the  span  on  its  return  travel,  and  the 
closing  of  the  bridge  is  trusted  entirely  to  the  care  and 
judgment  of  the  operator. 

The  electrical  control  of  the  bridge  is  interlocked  with 
the  railroad  company's  signal  system  in  such  a  way  that  it 
is  impossible  to  energize  any  of  the  motors  until  the  proper 
danger  signals  have  been  set  and  the  master  lever  of  the 
signal  interlocking  stand  has  been  withdrawn.  The  last 
movement  closes  the  main  supply  circuit  to  the  motor 
starters,  and  the  first  operation  of  the  bridge  control  locks 
the  master  lever,  which  prevents  resetting  the  signals  to 
"clear"'  while  the  span  is  unlocked. 

The  entire  installation  was  made  under  the  supervision 
of  Mr.  M.  K.  Trumbull,  principal  assistant  engineer 
Chicago  &  Western  Indiana  Railroad  Company,  assisted  by 
Mr.  N.  H.  Jacobson.  The  signal  interlocking  equipment 
was  installed  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  F.  E.  Jacobs, 
signal  engineer  for  the  railroad  company.  The  complete 
electrical  equipment,  including  the  design  of  the  power 
plant,  was  furnished  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Norwood,  contracting 
electrical  and  mechanical  engineer,  Chicago,  111. 


INDUSTRIAL  DOME  REFLECTORS. 


Fig.  3 — Operator's   House  Switchboard. 

which    are    otherwise    unchanged,    the    starting    current    is 
about  500  amp. 

Each  of  the  65-hp  motors  and  the  4-hp  lock  motor  are 
equipped  with  solenoid  brakes,  with  an  additional  brake, 
operated  by  compressed  air,  on  the  first  shaft  of  the  speed- 
reduction  gearing.  As  this  was  one  of  the  first  bridge 
installations  employing  air  brakes,  the  results  were  awaited 


The  latest  type  of  metal  reflector  developed  by  the  Nelite 
Works  of  the  General  E'ectric  Company  is  a  very  shallow 
form  of  porcelain  enameled-steel  reflector,  designed  for 
service  where  the  so-called  flat  types  have  heretofore  been 
employed.  The  reflector  has  been  designed  with  the  object 
of  minimizing  glare  effect  and  obtaining  a  desirable  dis- 
tribution of  the  light.  The  reflector  is  particularly  adapted 
to  service  in  rooms  with  low  ceilings  or  where  the  total 
area  to  be  lighted  is  large  in  comparison  with  the  distance 
between  units.  It  is  said  that  heavier  steel  is  now  being 
used  in  the  construction  of  all  the  smaller  sizes  of  Holo- 
phane-D  Olier  metal  reflectors,  a  method  of  galvanizing  has 


Dome   Reflector. 

been  perfected  whereby  the  bodies  of  aluminized  reflectors 
are  rendered  impervious  to  moisture  and  fumes,  and  an 
oxyacetylene  process  of  welding  the  holders  to  the  reflector 
bodies  is  now  employed,  which  makes  the  finished  units  as 
solid  as  a  single  piece  of  metal.  The  developments  here 
noted  have  been  carried  on  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Henry  Dolier,  Jr. 


AuGi'sT  3,  lyia. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


275 


DIFFERENTIAL-PRESS URE-RECORDING  GAGE. 


For  recording  the  difference  between  two  fluid  pressures 
tlie  Industrial  Instrument  Company,  Foxboro,  Mass.,' has 
developed  a  gage  whicli  fliffers  from  the  ordinary  pressure 


distance  from  the  boiler  and  in  case  of  boiler  explosion  will 
place  responsibility  where  it  belongs. 


Fig.    I^Differentia!    Recording    Gage. 

gage  in  that  one  pressure,  instead  of  being  atmospheric, 
is  the  minor  one  of  the  two  fluid  pressures.  The  moving 
element  consists  of  a  special  pressure  tube  movement.  For 
ranges  below  10  lb.  per  square  inch  the  diaphragm  tube 
shown  in  Fig.  2  is  employed,  and  for  differential  pressure 
exceeding  10  lb.  per  square  inch  the  helical  tube  movement 
shown  in  Fig.  3  is  used.  In  both  it  will  be  noticed  that 
the  pen  arm  is  directly  attached  to  a  shaft  giving  a  sub- 
stantia! support  and  rigidity  to  the  movement. 

The  instrument  can  be  used  to  record  the  flow  of  fluids 
by  means  of  Venturi  or  Pitot  tubes.  Another  interesting 
and  useful  application  is  for  recording  the  height  of  water 
in  a  boiler.  Applied  to  the  water  column,  the  recorder  gives 
a  record  not  only  of  the  height  of  water  but  of  the  time 
the  water  column  or  gage  glass  is  blown,  the  time  and 
amount  the  boiler  is  blown  off  and  any  other  disturbance 
affecting  the  height  of  water  in  the  gage  glass,  all  of  which 
information    is   now    generally    required   as   a    part    of    the 


LOW-VOLTAGE  GLASS  INSULATOR. 


In  the  accompanying  illustration  are  shown  the  cross- 
sectional  dimensions  of  the  glass  insulator  that  has  been 
developed  as  a  result  of  many  years  of  experience  by  both 
the  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  and  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company.  It  provides  the 
required    surface    to    minimize    leakage    and    the    requir.ed 


Glass   Insulator. 


Strength  to  withstand  mechanical  strains.  It  has  been  de- 
veloped by  the  Brookfield  Glass  Company,  New  York, 
which  is  said  to  have  sold  the  first  screw-thread  glass  in- 
sulator to  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  in„i865. 


SHEARS  FOR  CIRCLE  CUTTING. 


Many  makers  of  generators  and  motors  require  arma- 
ture-core disks  of  various  sizes,  but  not  in  sufficient 
quantity  to  justify  the  purchase  of  cutting  dies  for  plain 
rings  and  presses  large  enough  to  operate  the  larger  sizes. 
In  the  accompanying  illustration  is  shown  a  circle  shear 
built  by  the  E.  W.  Bliss  Company,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  for 
cutting  both  the  inside  and  outside  of  the  plain  rings,  the 
angular  position  of  the  lower  cutter  giving  as  clear  a  cut 
on  the  inside  as  on  the  outside.    In  connection  with  an  auto- 


Fig.  2 — Diaphragm  Tube. 


Fig.  3 — Helical  Tube. 


engineer's  records.  The  continuous  record  will  induce 
uniform  condition  of  water  level  and  be  an  efficient  check 
against  unsafe  high  or  low  water,  thus  insuring  greater 
economy  and  safety.  Disputes  frequently  arise  when  there 
is  any  trouble  with  water  in  cylinders.  This  recorder  will 
show  whether  trouble  is  due  to  high  water  or  must  be 
looked   for   e'sewhere.     The   recorder   may  be  placed   at   a 


Shears   for   Circle   CLitting. 

matic  notching  press,  it  enables  a  manufacturer  to  make 
various  sizes  of  armature  disks  with  comparatively  Httle 
outlay.  It  is  also  useful  for  any  other  work  in  which  it  iS 
required  to  make  circular  rings  or  disks  of  sheet  metal. 
The  chief  difference  between  the  machines  and  the  regu- 
lar circle  shear  is  in  the  form  and  arrangement  of  the  shear 
blades.     Instead  of  the  cutter  shafts  being  parallel,  as  usual, 


276 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  Xo.  5, 


they  are  inclined  to  each  other  in  a  manner  wiiich  allows 
the  lower  and  upper  cutters  to  clear  the  cut  surface  of  the 
ring  without  producing  a  burr.  The  clamp  plates  are 
attached  to  a  deep  arm,  which  is  adjusted  on  the  supporting 
arm  according  to  the  size  cut  to  be  taken. 

The  cutting  of  the  outside  of  the  ring  is  a  true  shearing 
operation,  the  blades  being  set  to  lap  over  one  another  in 
the  usual  way,  and  the  cut  is  made  in  one  revolution  of  the 
work.  For  this  operation  the  center  of  the  clamping  plates 
must  be  offset  from  the  line  of  the  blade  shafts,  to  the  left 
of  the  shear  blade  center,  to  a  point  in  line  with  that  where 
the  shearing  begins.  With  the  inside  circle,  however,  the 
cutters  are  opened  by  the  hand-wheel  shown  on  the  top 
of  the  niachine  to  allow  the  sheet  to  be  inserted,  and  the 
top  cutter  is  then  forced  against  but  not  through  the  sheet. 
The  shear  is  started  and  the  upper  cutter  is  then  forced 
down  until  the  ring  drops  ofif.  For  this  operation  the  center 
of  the  clamping  plate  must  be  in  line  with  the  shear-blade 
center. 

The  lower  shear-blade  shaft  is  carried  in  a  swiveled 
sleeve  and  is  capable  of  adjustment  by  the  set  screw  shown. 
The' purpose  of  the  adjustment  is  to  permit  the  setting  of 
cutters  after  grinding.  The  grinding  is  done  upon  the 
faces  of  the  cutters,  which,  of  course,  opens  a  clearance 
space  between  them,  and  the  swiveling  of  the  lower  shaft 
enables  this  clearance  to  be  closed  up. 


PARALLEL-FLOW  STEAM  TURBINE. 


A  type  of  steam  turbine  with  vanes  and  blades  producing 
parallel  flow  in  the  direction  of  the  turbine  shaft  is  being 
marketed  by  the  Kerr  Turbine  Company,  of  Wellsville, 
N.  Y.,  in  place  of  the  Kerr  type  with  nozzle  and  double- 
cupped  buckets  heretofore  manufactured  by  that  firm. 

The  newer  type,  to  be  known  as  the  "Economy"  steam 
turbine,  is  built  for  condensing  and  non-condensing  service 
in  sizes  of  from  2  hp  to  750  hp  and  in  sizes  up  to  450  hp 
for  exhaust  steam.  A  decrease  of  steam  consumption  is 
claimed  by  the  manufacturer  for  the  "Economy"  over  the 
former  type.  This  is  illustrated  by  the  accompanying  curves 
indicating  performances  under  identical  conditions  of  an 
old-type  machine  rated  at  250  bhp  and  an  "Economy"  type 


of  all  the  working  parts.  Each  set  of  nozzles  discharges 
onto  a  separate  bucket  wheel.  One  set  of  nozzles  and  one 
wheel  constitute  a  stage.  The  cylinder  of  the  turbine  is 
divided  into  separate  stages  by  separate  circular  diaphragm 


Fig.  2 — Economy  Turbine   witti   Casing   Removed. 

castings.  Each  diaphragm  casting  contains  one  set  of 
nozzles,  provides  for  one  bucket  wheel  and  is  arched  at 
the  center  to  withstand  steam  pressure  to  best  advantage. 
These  diaphragm  castings  are  accurately  centered  with 
each  other  and  with  the  two  end  castings  by  turned  and 
bored  tongue  and  grooved  joints,  the  weight  of  the  turbine 
being  carried  by  feet  on  the  end  castings.  The  bearing 
cases  also  are  centered  by  accurately  machined  faces  on 
the  end  castings  and  fall  into  alignment  the  same  as  the 
diaphragms. 

Leakage  of  steam  at  the  shaft  at  steam  and  exhaust  end 
and  between  stages  is  prevented  by  floating  bronze  bushings 
in  contact  with  ground  metal  seats  and  held  to  place  on 
the  shaft  by  the  difference  in  steam  pressures  in  the  stages. 
In  addition  to  these  bushings  there  are  packing  glands  for 
soft  ring  packing,  between  which  and  the  metal  glands  is 
a  chamber  which  receives  the  leakage  from  the  metal 
glands. 


Fig. 


Fig.   1 — Section   Through   Eight-Stage   Economy  Turbine. 


-Section   of   Bucket 
Wheel. 


turbine  having  the  same  number  and  diameter  of  wheels. 
With  both  turbines  taking  steam  at  100  lb.,  the  water  rate 
under  26  in.  vacuum  was  24  lb.  for  the  old  as  compared  to 
18.7  lb.  for  the  new  construction. 

The  departure  from  former  design  has  been  accompanied 
not  only  by  a  decrease  in  size,  but  by  an  increase  in  strength 


The  nozzles  are  located  adjacent  to  the  bucket  wheels 
with  axial  clearance  between  them  and  the  buckets.  The 
rotor  is  made  up  of  machined  flange-steel  bucket  wheels, 
mounted  upon  the  shaft.  Each  bucket  wheel  is  bolted  to 
a  three-piece  split-steel  or  iron  hub  which  is  fitted  to  the 
shaft  and  kept   from  endwise  or   rotary  movement  by  pin 


August  3,  1915 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


277 


keys.  A  split  niitered  ring  is  forced  by  a  lock  nut  into  the 
bore  of  the  disk  and  against  a  turned  taper.  The  buckets 
are  of  drop  forged  steel  dovetailed  and  riveted  into  the 
drilled  and  s'otted  openings  of  the  wheels. 


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disconnected  from  the  section  the  lead  would  remain  a 
solid  mass  attached  to  the  cable  itself.  Each  sectional  unit 
has  a  maximum  current-carrying  capacity  of  1200  amp. 
In  underground  work  where  large  junction  boxes  carrying 
upward  of  1000  amp  are  used  on  alternating-current  cir- 
cuits it  is  necessary  for  them  to  be  made  of  some  metal 
other  than  iron,  brass  or  aluminum,  in  order  to  avoid  heat- 
ing effects,  and,  inasmuch  as  the  cut-outs  shown  are  made  of 
porcelain,  induction  effects  are  not  encountered.  *  In  the  con- 
struction of  manhole  distribution  boxes  the  size  of  the  unit 


35  c 


25^ 

20  ra 


g 


Horse  Power 

Fig.     3 — Performance     Curves     of     Old-Type     and     Economy-Type 
Turbines. 

Steam  is  admitted  to  the  turbine  through  a  steam  chest 
provided  with  ports  to  the  first  stage  nozzles  and  with  a 
double  poppet  valve  operated  by  the  governor.  The  govern- 
ing mechanism  is  of  two  constructions,  the  construction  for 
average  service  consisting  of  semi-annular  weights  mounted 
directly  upon  the  turbine  shaft  and  acting  through  lever 
connections  to  throttle  the  steam  valve.  On  the  larger 
sizes  of  units,  especially  those  for  driving  generators  where 
close  regulation  is  desired,  the  governor  consists  of  spherical 
weights  driven  through  a  spiral  gear  on  the  turbine  shaft 
and  acting  upon  the  valve  steam  through  a  relay  pilot  valve. 
An  emergency  governor  is  also  employed  to  close  a  valve 
in  the  steam  line  when  for  any  reason  the  turbine  over- 
speeds. 

The  main  bearings  are  ring-oiling,  self-aligning  and  split 
in  halves  for  removal  from  the  bearing  case  by  removing 
the  bearing-case  cap.  On  high-speed  machines  oil  is  forced 
into  the  bearings  at  about  3-lb.  pressure  by  a  rotary  pump 
on  the  end  of  the  governor  spindle  from  the  reservoir  that 
supplies  the  governor.  A  suitable  thrust  bearing  and  lo- 
cating collar  are  provided  in  connection  with  the  exhaust 
end  bearing,  which  insure  correct  position  of  the  bucket 
wheels  with  reference  to  the  nozzles  and  maintain  the 
alignment. 


PORCELAIN     SUBWAY    CUT-OUT    AND    BRANCH 
PLUG. 


The  Metropolitan  Engineering  Company,  of  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  is  making  a  porcelain  subway  cut-out  and  branch 
plug  which  possesses  features  of  merit  for  low-tension  two- 
wire  and  three-wire  underground  systems,  especially  where 
it  is  necessary  to  take  off  several  branch  circuits,  in  that  it 
does  not  entail  splicing  cables,  wiping  joints,  etc.  The  de- 
vice consists  of  a  sectional  subway  unit  with  which  any 
number  of  other  units  can  be  connected  so  as  to  make  as 
large  a  junction  box  as  is  desirable.  It  is  also  applicable 
for  making  ordinary  cable  joints  in  subway  plugs,  acting 
not  only  as  a  joint  but  as  an  insulator  where  it  is  desired 
to  avoid  electrolytic  action  on  subway  cables.  The  insulator 
can  be  placed  on  the  cable  without  cutting  the  cable  itself, 
and  in  a  very  short  space  of  time.  Lead  floss  is  calked  in  the 
annular  space  around  the  cable,  making  the  joint  virtually 
a  part  of  the  lead  sheath,  so  that  if  the  cable  were  entirely 


Subway   Cut-Outs  and   Branch   Plugs. 

is  also  a  very  great  factor.     The  Murray  unit  requires  only 
40  per  cent  of  the  space  called  for  by  standard  construction. 


ELECTRICITY  AT  FENWAY  PARK  BALL  GROUNDS, 
BOSTON. 


The  new  grounds  and  reinforced-concrete  grand  stand  of 
the  Boston  American  League  Baseball  Club  at  Fenway 
Park,  Boston,  are  equipped  with  extensive  facilities  for 
scoring  the  plays  of  the  national  game  by  electricity  and 
for  transmitting  the  story  of  the  diamond  by  telegraph  to 
other  parts  of  the  city  and  country.  Behind  the  left  field- 
er's territory  and  opposite  the  grand  stand  and  pavilion  a 
large  score-board  is  operated  electrically  from  a  signaling 
desk  in  the  press  box.  located  in  the  center  of  the  main 
stand  and  at  the  highest  point  in  the  structure.     Every  ball, 


Signaling  Apparatus  for  Ball   Ground. 

strike,  out  and  batter  number  are  registered  on  the  score- 
board by  the  simple  act  of  pressing  a  push-button  in  the 
desk  set,  which  contains  twenty-three  keys,  twenty-three 
signaling  buttons,  an  operator's  telephone  set  and  a  gen- 
erator circuit.  The  indicators  in  the  field  score-board  are 
actuated    by    electromagnets,    fourteen    dry    cells    normally 


278 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No,  5. 


being  used  in  the  transmitting  circuits.  A  telepiione  is 
also  provided  at  the  score-board  itself  for  use  in  setting  \ip 
the  scores  of  innings. 

The  press  box  also  contains  a  plug  switchboard  and  cir- 
cuits for  sixteen  telegraph  instruments,  including  wires  for 
the  Associated  Press,  local  press  and  foreign  service.  The 
features  of  the  game  are  recounted  by  telegraph  even  for 
down-town  papers,  the  contention  being  that  greater  speed 
and  accuracy  are  obtained  than  with  the  telephone.  Direct 
wires  are  in  service  between  Boston  and  the  home  city  of 
the  visiting  team  at  all  games.  Rubber-covered  wires  run  in 
twisted  pairs  are  used  in  the  press-box  service.  Although 
the  telephone  is  not  used  to  any  extent  in-newspaper  re- 
porting of  the  game,  it  is  an  important  factor  in  the 
handling  of  extra  baseball  cars  by  the  local  street  railway, 
and  the  premises  arc  liberally  supplied  with  pay  stations. 
The  signaling  equipment  above  referred  to  was  supplied  by 
the  Stromberg-Carlson  Telephone  Manufacturing  Company 
and  the  World's  Scoreboard  &  .\dvertising  Company,  Chi- 
cago. 

33,000-VOLT  DOUBLE-THROW,  THREE-POLE 
WEATHERPROOF  SWITCH. 


COMMUTATING-POLE  ROTARY  CONVERTER. 


In  deciding  upon  t!ie  system  of  switching  and  controlling 
high-tension  transmission  systems  the  choice  of  disconnect- 
ing switches  is  governed  by  several  conditions.  If  it  is  de- 
sired simply  to  provide  means  for  disconnecting  or  isolating 
lines,  the  regular  type  of  a  simple  pole-mounting,  weather- 
proof disconnecting  switch  should  be  used,  but  when  it  is 
necessary  to  provide  means  for  quickly  and  safeiy  throw- 
ing a  station  over  from  one  source  of  supply  to  another  a 
different  type  must  be  employed. 

For  use  on  33,000-volt,  three-phase  circuits  a  type  of 
switch  has  been  developed  by  the  Delta-Star  Electric  Com- 
pany, Chicago,  111.  The  switch  proper  is  supported  on 
horizontal  iron  framework,  in  turn  fastened  to  a  specially 
designed   tower   between    two   of   the    transmission   poles. 

The  switch  is  of  the  plunger  type,  having  a  set  of  three 


Comuiulating  poles  as  applied  to  rotary  converters  fulfil 
the  same  functions  and  result  in  the  same  advantages  as  in 
their  more  familiar  application  to  direct-current  generators 
and  motors:  they  insure  spark'ess  comnnitation  with  a  fixed 
brush  position  from  no-load  to  heavy  overloads.     A  rotary 


Special    Tower   for   33.000- Volt    Switch. 

movable  double-ended  contacts  so  located  as  to  engage 
three  fixed  bell-shaped  contacts  at  either  end  of  the  frame- 
work to  which  the  incoming  lines  are  connected.  The 
movable  contacts  are  attached  to  line  wires  running  to  the 
station  to  be  connected,  and  by  means  of  a  rack  or  pinion 
lliey  can  be  thrown  to  either  incoming  line,  all  three  phases 
being   operated    simultaneously. 


Fig.    1  —  IVIain    Pole   with   W/indlngs. 

converter  is  inherently  a  better  conunutatiiig  machine  than 
a  direct-current  generator,  and  less  comnuitating  field  is 
required. 

In  the  \\'estinghouse  rotary  converter  the  connnutating- 
pole  winding  is  of  bar  copper  bent  into  the  proper  form. 
The  inside  turns  are  not  insulated  but  are  covered  with  a 
heat-proof  black  paint.  The  outside  turns  are  insulated 
with  tape  which  is  impregnated  with  an  insulating  com- 
pound. The  coil  is  supported  by  insulated  bolts,  and  to 
prevent  accidental  grounding  an  insulating  shell  is  placed 
between  the  commutating  pole  and  its  winding.  The  damper 
winding,  which  is  separate  for  each  pole,  serves  also  as  a 
starting  winding,  thus  insuring  stable  operation  in  the 
same  manner  as  does  the  squirrel-cage  winding  on  a  non- 
commutating-pole  machine.  Owing  to  inlierent  qualities  in 
the  commutating-pole  rotary  converter,  it  is  necessary  to 
raise  the  brushes  from  the  commutator  during  the  starting 
period  when  the  machine  is  started  as  a  self-accelerating 
alternating-current  motor.  The  brushes  are  raised  by  a 
single  throw-over  lever. 

Fig.  2  shows  an  illustration  of  a   1 500-kw.  600-volt  com- 


Fig.  2 — Converter  with  Remote- Control  Switch  for  Short-Circulting 
the   Commutating   Winding   at  Starting. 

mutating-pole  motor-started  converter  in  an  industrial 
plant.  A  special  feature  of  this  application  is  the  elec- 
trically operated  remotely  controlled  switches  mounted  on 
the  sides  of  the  converter  frame,  which  are  operated  by  a 
small  control  switch  located  on  the  switchboard.  These 
switches  are  used  for  short-circuiting  the  commutating 
winding;  at  starting. 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


279 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


EXPANSION  is  now  taking  place  in  many  lines,  and  in 
the  present  conditions  reported  in  the  majority  of 
important  branches  of  industry  there  are  abundant 
signs  that  this  period  of  commercial  awakening  will  soon 
become  general.  Much  of  the  optimism  now  found  in  busi- 
ness circles  is  a  result  of  the  excellent  conditions  in  the 
agricultural  districts.  It  is  from  these  parts  of  the  country 
that  the  most  favorable  advices  of  the  week  have  been  re- 
ceived. Railroad  and  banking  officials  who  have  been  on 
the  ground  say  that  the  outlook  for  "bumper"  crops  is  de- 
cidedly bright,  and  that  these  prospects  are  already  causing 
trade  revival  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  country.  In 
addition  to  these  prospects  for  record  yields,  conditions  in 
the  metal  markets  are  also  full  of  promise.  Prices  continue 
to  incline  toward  new  high  levels  and  demand  is  unchecked. 
Signs  of  progress  are  found  in  the  report  of  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation  for  the  quarter  ended  June  30. 
which  showed  total  net  earnings  of  $25,102,285,  as  compared 
with  $17,826,973  in  the  preceding  quarter.  The  money 
markets  are  showing  more  firmness  than  in  recent  weeks, 
and  the  general  conditions  indicate  that  preparations  are 
being  made  for  the  crop  financing  due  a  little  later  on. 
Rates  in  New  York  July  31  were:  Call,  21/2(^2^  per  cent; 
ninety  days,  3H®4  per  cent. 


Telluride  Power  Company  Changes  Hands. — J.  K.  Nutt, 
of  Cleveland,  on  behalf  of  himself  and  New  York  and  Bos- 
ton associates,  has  purchased  a  controlling  interest  in  the 
Telluride  Power  Company  from  the  Cleveland  interests 
which  have  been  in  control  of  the  company  for  many  years. 
A  circular  letter  emanating  from  Cleveland,  signed  by 
officers  and  directors  of  the  Telluride  company,  says:  "We 
have  sold  to  Mr.  J.  i<.  Nutt  our  entire  holdings  of  stock 
and  bonds,  receiving  for  the  stock  25  cents  per  share  and 
for  the  bonds  par  and  interest.  Our  stock  has  been  paid 
for  and  our  bonds  are  to  be  paid  for  on  or  before  Oct.  I, 
1912,  with  accrued  interest  to  date  of  payment.  Mr.  Nutt 
has  also  agreed  to  buy  at  the  same  price  any  of  the  re- 
maining stock  and  bonds  that  may  be  forwarded  to  the 
Citizens'  Savings  &  Trust  Company.  Cleveland,  on  or  be- 
fore Sept.  I,  paying  for  the  stock  by  Sept.  I  and  for  the 
bonds  on  or  before  Oct.  I,  1912."  The  signers  of  this  letter 
were:  O.  M.  Stafford,  Ralph  T.  King,  George  N.  Chandler, 
A.  T.  Perry,  D.  Leuty,  Andrew  Squire  and  Parmely  Her- 
rick.  Mr.  Squire  is  president  of  the  Telluride  company. 
On  Dec.  31,  191 1,  the  company  had  outstanding  $4,498,125 
capital  stock  and  $4,312,000  bonds.  The  Telluride  system  is 
of  more  than  usual  interest  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  was 
the  world's  pioneer  high-tension  transmission  system.  Full 
details  of  the  company,  including  its  early  history,  its  de- 
velopment and  present  engineering  features,  appeared  in 
several  articles  in  the  Electrical  World  last  year,  beginning 
with  the  issue  for  Nov.  18,  191 1. 

General  Vehicle  Secures  American  Manufacturing  Rights 
for  Mercedes  Commercial  Cars. — Realizing  that  separate 
provinces  exist  in  the  commercial  vehicle  field  for  gasoline 
and  electric  trucks,  the  General  Vehicle  Company,  which 
in  the  past  has  devoted  its  attention  exclusively  to  the 
manufacturing  and  exploiting  of  electric  vehicles,  has  ar- 
ranged to  expand  its  operations  to  include  the  manufacture 
of  gasoline-propelled  trucks  by  securing  the  American 
rights  of  the  Mercedes  gasoline  truck  manufactured  by  the 
Daimler  Mntoren  Gesellschaft  of  Germany.  President 
Wagoner  of  the  General  Vehicle  Company  stated  in  this 
connection:  "Wc  have  succeeded  in  securing  the  right  to 
import  German-manufactured  Mercedes  commercial  ve- 
hicles and  the  exclusive  manufacturing  rights  for  the  same 
in  the  United  States.  The  American-built  Mercedes  truck 
will  be  a  replica  of  that  of  German  manufacture,  and  will 
be  manufactured  from  the  original  drawings  of  the  Daimler 
Motoren  Gesellschaft,  which  will  also  furnish  material, 
tools,  jigs  and  fixtures.  Pending  the  completion  of  manu- 
facturing arrangements  we  will  import  Mercedes  trucks  to 
supply  the  immediate  demand.     The  electric  truck  and  the 


gasoline  truck  have  each  its  particular  field.  The  General 
Vehicle  Company  is  now  prepared  to  cover  the  entire  field 
of  commercial-vehicle  service.  It  will  continue  its  past 
practice  of  recommending  and  selling  the  proper  vehicles 
for  each  class  of  service." 

Texas  Power  &  Light  Company  Acquires  More  Proper- 
ties.— Interests  identified  with  the  Texas  Power  &  Light 
Company,  which  was  recently  formed  by  the  Electric  Bond 
&  Share  Company  and  has  taken  over  a  number  of  gas  and 
electric  properties  in  Texas,  as  was  noted  in  these  columns 
May  18  and  June  8,  have  acquired  the  gas  properties  of  the 
Brownwood  Gas  &  Electric  Comparvy,  of  Brownwood,  Tex. 
It  is  expected  that  these  properties  will  be  taken  over  by 
the  Texas  Power  &  Light  Company  and  operated  by  that 
company  in  connection  with  its  other  properties.  At  the 
present  time  the  Texas  company  is  operating  electric  light 
and  gas  properties  in  Waco  and  Cleburne  and  electric- 
lighting  properties  in  Hillsboro,  Waxahachie,  Temple, 
Sherman  and  Bonham,  Tex.  The  company  will  build  a 
large  central  station  in  Waco,  as  was  previously  stated  in 
these  columns.  J.  F.  Stickland,  former  president  of  the 
.\merican  Railway  &  Lighting  Company,  has  been  elected 
president  of  the  new  Texas  company. 

Idaho  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Stock  Offer  Expires. — 
The  offer  to  exchange  the  common  or  preferred  stock  of 
the  Idaho-Oregon  Light  &  Power  Company  for  an  equal 
amount  of  the  common  or  preferred  stock  of  the  Idaho 
Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company,  share  for  share,  at  the 
office  of  Kissel,  Kinnicut  &  Company,  14  Wall  Street,  New 
York,  expired  on  Aug.  i.  Details  of  the  formation  of  the 
Idaho  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company,  which  is  a  merger 
of  several  electric  railway,  light  and  power  companies 
operating  in  and  near  Boise,  Iclaho,  were  given  in  these 
columns  June  22,  191 2. 

Successor  for  Sedalia  Light  &  Traction  Company. — The 
City  Light  &  Traction  Company,  of  Sedalia,  Mo.,  has  been 
incorporated  under  the  laws  of  Missouri  in  the  interest  of 
H.  L.  Doherty  &  Company,  with  an  authorized  capital  of 
$2,500,000,  as  successor  to  the  Sedalia  (Mo.)  Light  &  Traction 
Company.  The  property  of  the  latter  was  sold  under  fore- 
closure on  June  7,  1912,  and  is  now  being  managed  by  the 
Doherty  company,  as  was  stated  in  the  Electrical  World 
June    IS,    1912. 

Authorize  Kentucky  Telephone  Merger. — The  Kentucky 
State  Railroad  Commission  has  given  its  sanction  to  a 
consolidation  of  the  Cumberland  Telephone  &  Telegraph 
Company,  the  Hopkinsville  Home  Telephone  Company,  the 
Pembroke  Home  Telephone  Compa-ny  and  the  Todd 
County  Home  Telephone  Company.  These  companies 
operate  and  maintain  systems  in  Todd  and  Christian 
Counties  and  will  be  known  as  the  Christian-Todd  Tele- 
phone Company. 

Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Has  Big  Year. — The  report  of  the 
Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Company  for  the  fiscal  year  ended 
June  30,  1912,  issued  this  week,  shows  gross  earnings  of 
$23,226,551,  which  represents  a  gain  of  $1,240,007  over  the 
1910  total.  The  surplus  for  the  year  available  for  dividends 
was  $3,731,259,  which  compares  with  $3,059,944  in  the  pre- 
ceding  year. 

Active  Trading  in  Westinghouse  Common. — Recent 
briskness  in  the  common  stock  of  the  Westinghouse  Elec- 
tric &  Manufacturing  Company  is  attributed  in  financial 
circles  to  reports  that  the  management  would  place  the 
stock  on  a  5  per  cent  dividend  basis  in  September. 

Annual  Meeting  of  Canadian  Light  &  Power  Company. — 
The  annual  meeting  of  the  Canadian  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany of  Montreal  will  be  held  in  Montreal  on  Aug.  6.  An 
increase  of  the  capital  stock  from  $6,000,000  to  $7,000,000 
will  be  ratified  at  the  meeting. 

Ancillary  Receivers  for  National  Electric  Signalling  Com- 
pany.— S.  M.  Kinter,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  H.  M.  Barrett,  of 
Greenfield.  N.  J.,  have  been  appointed  ancillary  receivers 
of  the  National  Electric  Signalling  Company,  as  a  result  of 
a  bill  filed  by  D.  S.  Wal.ott.  a  stockholder. 


28o 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


Affairs  of  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Company. — A  re- 
cently issued  bond  circular  gives  some  ailditional  informa- 
tion about  the  newly  organized  Illinois  Northern  Utilities 
Company.  This  is  one  of  the  "Insull  companies,"  Samuel 
Insull  being  its  president.  It  was  organized  in  April  of  this 
year  under  the  laws  of  Illinois.  It  has  acquired  all  the 
properties  formerly  belonging  to  fifteen  operating  com- 
panies in  the  northwestern  portion  of  Illinois,  some  of  the 
more  important  being  the  Belvidere  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany, Sterling  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company,  Lee  County 
Lighting  Company,  DeKalb  County  Gas  Company,  Oregon 
Power  Company,  Morrison  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Men- 
dota  Light  &  Heat  Company  and  Piano  Heat,  Light  & 
Power  Company.  The  company  serves  forty-six  communi- 
ties with  electrical  energy,  Ihese  towns  having  a  combined 
population  of  nearly  60,000.  Among  them  are  Sterling, 
Dixon,  Belvidere,  Oregon,  Mendota,  Morrison  and  Fulton. 
The  company  also  controls  the  street-railway  systems  of 
Sterling  and  Dixon  and  an  interurban  line  connecting  these 
two  cities.  The  territory  served  by  the  company  adjoins 
on  the  west  the  territory  served  by  the  Public  Service 
Company  of  Northern  Illinois.  These  two  companies  are 
operated  under  practicaHy  the  same  management.  The 
officers  of  the  company,  in  addition  to  Mr.  Insull,  are  John 
F.  Gilchrist,  assistant  to  the  president;  Frank  J.  Baker  and 
Charles  A.  Munroe,  vice-presidents,  and  John  H.  Gulick, 
secretary  and  treasurer.  These,  with  Frederick  Sargent, 
William  A.  Fox,  Louis  A.  Ferguson  and  Edward  P.  Russell, 
constitute  the  board  of  directors.  The  capitalization  on 
May  II,  1912,  was  as  follows:  Outstanding  common  stock, 
$4,635,000;  outstanding  6  per  cent  preferred  stock,  $1,- 
808.000;  outstanding  5  per  cent  bonds,  $1,632,000;  underlying 
bonds  on  portion  of  property,  $818,000.  The  earnings  of  the 
properties  for  the  year  ended  Dec.  31,  191 1,  were  $532,037 
gross  and  $215,426  net.  On  the  date  mentioned  the  com- 
pany had  on  hand  $750,000  in  cash  to  be  used  for  extensions 
and  improvements. 

Great  Shoshone  &  Twin  Falls  (Idaho)  Water  Power 
Returns. — The  earnings  statement  of  the  Great  Shoshone 
&  Twin  Falls  Water  Power  Company  for  the  first  half  of 
1912,  just  announced,  shows  that  the  gross  earnings  for  the 
first  half  of  1912  were  $80,426,  with  operating  expenses 
$34,798  a"d  net  earnings  $45,628.  The  company  officers  es- 
itmate  that,  upon  this  showing  and  the  fact  that  many 
large  contracts  for  service  will  become  operative  during 
the  latter  half  of  this  year,  the  gross  earnings  for  1912  will 
be  at  least  $180,000,  with  operating  expenses  and  taxes 
about  $65,000,  which  would  give  net  earnings  of  $115,000, 
equal  to  one  and  two-thirds  times  the  interest  require- 
ments of  the  funded  debt  at  this  time.  The  Great  Shoshone 
&  Twin  Falls  Water  Pow-er  Company  controls  a  number 
of  hydroelectric  power  sites  on  the  Snake  River  in  South- 
ern Idaho,  which  when  developed  will  have  an  ultimate 
capacity  of  92,000  hp.  The  company  now  has  two  of  its 
generating  plants  in  operation  and  is  pushing  development 
work  at  the  remaining  sites.  The  territory  served  lies  in 
the  rapidly  growing  irrigated  agricultural  section  of  south- 
ern Idaho.  The  high-tension  transmission  lines  are  about 
250  miles  in  length  and  reach  eighteen  towns.  The  com- 
pany is  owned  and  controlled  by  the  American  Water 
\\'orks  &  Guarantee  Company,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  J.  S. 
&  W.  S.  Kuhn,  Inc.,  of  Pittsburgh,  are  offering  a  limited 
amount  of  the  company's  6  per  cent  notes,  due  Nov.  I,  1920, 
and  Nov.  i,  1925.  The  West  Penn  Traction  &  Water 
Power  Company,  also  controlled  by  the  American  Water 
Works  &  Guarantee  Company,  took  over  the  property  of 
the  Wheeling  (W.  Va.)  Traction  Company  on  Aug.  i. 
Surveys  are  now  being  made  for  the  construction  of  a 
high-tension  transmission  line,  connecting  the  system  of 
the  Wheeling  company  with  that  of  the  West  Penn  com- 
pany through  Washington.  Pa. 

Automatic  Telephone  Manufacturing  Interests. — Finan- 
cial interests  represented  by  Ogden  .\rmour.  of  Chicago, 
the  Harriman  estate  and  James  Stillman,  of  New  York, 
have  secured  an  option  on  31  per  cent  of  the  $4,609,200  out- 
standing capital  stock  of  the  Automatic  Electric  Compary. 
of  Chicago.  This  company  is  the  principal  manufacturer  of 
automatic  telephone  apparatus  as  used  by  the  independent 
companies.  It  is  said  that  it  will  adopt  an  aggressive  atti- 
tude  in    opposition    lo    the    Bell    companies.       It    is    further 


stated  that  the  option  runs  for  five  years  from  July,  1912, 
and  that  at  any  time  within  that  period  the  stock  may  be 
purchased  at  $150  a  share.  During  the  life  of  the  option 
the  management  of  the  Automatic  Electric  Company  shall 
be  undisturbed,  with  the  proviso  that  stockholders  may  not 
vote  any  increase  in  the  capital  stock.  The  company's 
stock  was  quoted  at  $68  per  share  on  July  22.  All  stock- 
holders are  entitled  to  put  their  stock  in  at  $150.  Earnings 
of  the  company  for  the  last  fiscal  year  are  reported  as  fol- 
lows: Gross,  $911,446;  operating  expenses,  interest  and 
taxes,  $373,186;  net,  $538,260;  depreciation,  $200,000,  and 
surplus  for  year,  $338,250.  These  earnings  are  equal  to  7.33 
per  cent  on  the  outstanding  capital  stock.  The  company's 
total  surplus  is  said  to  be  $924,496.  Prior  to  taking  over 
the  Strowger  automatic  telephone  patents,  when  it  did  a 
purely  manufacturing  business,  the  company  paid  8  per  cent. 
In  February,  1908,  however,  dividends  were  discontinued 
and  not  resumed  until  March,  1912,  when  they  were  begun 
at  the  rate  of  4  per  cent.  The  Chicago  Ctilities  Company 
has  succeeded  the  Chicago  Subway  Company  as  the  under- 
lying owner  of  the  tunnels,  narrow-gage  electric  freight 
railways  and  automatic  telephone  system  of  the  Illinois 
Tunnel  Company  of  Chica.ijo. 

United  Light  &  Railways  Company  Enlarging. — .\s  re- 
cently announced,  the  United  Light  &  Railways  Company 
has  enlarged  the  scope  of  its  operations.  It  operates  public- 
utility  companies  in  the  States  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa, 
Michigan  and  Tennessee,  its  electric-service  properties 
being  in  Fort  Dodge,  la.;  Muscatine,  la.;  Laporte,  Ind.; 
Davenport,  la.;  Rock  Island,  111.,  and  Moline,  111.  The 
outstanding  capitalization  includes  $8,000,000  in  first  and 
second  preferred  stock,  $5,287,500  in  common  stock,  $4,375.- 
000  in  bonds,  and  a  one-year  note  for  $750,000,  due  June 
10,  1913.  The  recently  enlarged  board  of  directors  is  com- 
prised ol  Glenn  M.  Averill,  Cedar  Rapids,  la.;  William 
Butterworth,  Moline,  111.;  George  B.  Caldwell,  Chicago: 
E.  Golden  Filer,  Manistee,  Mich.;  Claude  Hamilton,  Grand 
Rapids,  Mich.;  Frank  T.  Hulswit,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.; 
Samuel  Insull,  Chicago;  J.  F.  Porter,  Davenport,  la.;  Ben- 
jamin C.  Robinson,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.;  Edward  P.  Rus- 
sell, Chicago;  Richard  Schaddelee,  Grand  Rapids.  Mich.; 
Francis  E.  Smith,  Boston;  H.  L.  Stuart,  Chicago;  Richard 
H.  Swartwout,  New  York;  J.  G.  White,  New  York.  The 
headquarters  of  the  company  are  now  in  Grand  Rapids, 
bat  will  probably  be  removed  to  Chicago  before  long. 

City  of  Louisville  (Ky.)  to  Sell  Its  Lighting  Company 
Shares. — Through  an  agreement  reached  between  Mayor 
W.  O.  Head,  of  Louisville,  and  J.  B.  Brown,  who  with  W. 
H.  Harries  represents  the  H.  M.  Byllesby  Company,  Chi- 
cago, the  city  of  Louisville  will  sell  to  the  Byllesby  inter- 
ests the  9250  shares  of  stock  which  it  owns  in  the  Louis- 
vills  Gas  Company.  The  latter  controls  the  Louisville 
Lighting  Company,  which  is  one  of  the  companies  to  be 
included  in  the  merger  of  public  utility  concerns  in  and 
near  Louisville  toward  which  negotiations  have  been  in 
progress  for  some  time,  as  previously  noted  in  these  col- 
umns. The  Mayor  has  called  upon  the  Louisville  General 
Council  to  legalize  the  sale  of  this  stock,  which  is  to  be 
made  at  $150  per  share,  and  to  give  authority  to  the  gas 
company  to  annul  a  provision  of  its  charter  which  pro- 
hibits any  individual  from  acquiring  more  than  1000  shares 
of  the  company's  stock.  A  movement  to  determine  a 
basis  upon  which  the  Louisville  Lighting  Company  may 
make  an  offer  to  the  Louisville  Railway  Company,  the 
local  traction  company,  for  supplying  it  with  electric  en- 
ergy is  now  under  way. 

To  Redeem  Stockton  (Cal.)  Gas  &  Electric  Bonds.— 
Notice  has  been  given  that  all  of  the  outstanding  bonds  of 
the  Stockton  Gas  &  Electric  Corporation,  which  were  as- 
sumed by  the  Western  States  Gas  &  Electric  Company 
when  the  latter  was  formed  as  a  consolidation  of  the  Stock- 
ton company  and  a  number  of  other  public  utility  companies 
in  California,  have  been  called  for  redemption  on  Jan.  I, 
1914.  at  the  office  of  the  Mercantile  Trust  Company  of  San 
Francisco  at  their  face  value  and  a  premium  of  6  per  cent, 
together  with  all  interest  accrued  and  unpaid  on  the  date 
mentioned,  upon  which  interest  will  cease.  Any  of  these 
bonds  will  be  paid  before  Jan.  I,  1914.  if  presented  at  the 
office  of  the  trust  company,  at  their  face  value,  together 
with  the  6  per  cent  premium  and  interest  to  date  nf  payment. 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


2S1 


Stromberg-Carlson  Telephone  Company's  Plans. — Stock- 
holders of  the  Stromberg-Carlson  Telephone  Manufacturing 
Company  held  a  special  meeting  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  on 
July  29,  to  vote  upon  a  proposition  to  dissolve  the  com- 
pany in  acordance  with  plans  to  which  reference  was  made 
in  these  columns  July  6.  This  statement  was  given  out: 
"At  a  meeting  of  stockholders  of  the  Stromberg-Carlson 
Telephone  Manufacturing  Company,  at  which  over  23,000 
shares  were  represented,  all  voted  in  favor  of  liquidating 
the  corporation.  The  directors  will  meet  in  a  day  or  two 
and  in  all  probability  will  declare  a  cash  dividend  of  $38.58 
per  share,  of  which  $28.58  per  share  is  to  pay  dividends  in 
full  on  the  preferred  stock  and  $10  per  share  is  toward  the 
liquidation  of  the  par  value  of  the  preferred  stocks.  The 
reason  for  this  step  is  not  that  the  company  is  in  any  finan- 
cial difficulties.  It  owes  no  indebtedness  of  any  sort  and 
has  a  large  amount  of  cash  on  hand.  The  sole  reason  is  that 
it  has  .too  large  a  plant  and  too  much  capital  invested  for  the 
volum.e  of  business  to  be  obtained.  Announcement  was 
made  in  the  meeting  that  a  plan  was  being  formulated 
looking  to  the  organization  of  a  new  and  smaller  company 
to  take  over  portions  of  the  plant,  machinery,  merc.iandise, 
etc.,  and  continue  the  business  of  the  present  company. 
Details  of  this  plan  will  be  announced  as  soon  as  they  can 
be  perfected."  The  company  was  incorporated  in  1902  with 
a  capital  of  $3,000,000.  Its  net  profits  in  191 1  were  $10,207, 
as  was  noted  in  these  columns  March  2,  igi2. 

American  Railway  &  Lighting  (Tex.)  Bonds  Called. — All 
of  the  issue  of  $500,000  5  per  cent,  collateral  trust  sinking 
fund  bonds  of  the  American  Railway  &  Lighting  Company 
have  been  called  for  payment  at  103  and  interest  at  the 
office  of  the  Equitable  Trust  Company,  on  Sept.  I,  1912. 
These  bonds  were  issued  March  i,  1907,  and  the  sinking 
fund  of  $5,000  a  year  became  operative  on  March  i,  1912. 
This  company  formerly  controlled  the  gas  and  electric 
plants  in  and  around  Waco,  Tex.,  that  have  been  taken  over 
by  the  Texas  Light  &  Power  Company,  which  was  recently 
organized  by  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company  as  noted 
on  page  279  of  this  issue. 

Georgia-Carolina  Power  Subscriptions. — Warrants  for 
subscriptions  to  the  new  bonds  and  preferred  stock  of  the 
Georgia-Carolina  Power  Company,  which  was  recently 
organi,zed  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  hydroelectric  plant 
in  connection  with  the  Augusta-Aiken  Railway  &  Electric 
Corporation,  as  was  noted  in  these  columns  last  week, 
bave  been  issued.  Each  holder  of  fifteen  shares  of  Augusta- 
.^iken  common  and  preferred  stocks  is  entitled  to  subscribe 
to  one  $1,000  5  per  cent  bond  and  $300  par  value  7  per  cent 
preferred  stock  of  the  Georgia-Carolina  company  at  88. 
The  right  to  subscribe  expires  on  Aug.  15. 

Pennsylvania  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  Pittsburgh, 
Sold. — The  Allegheny  County  Light  Company,  a  sub- 
sidiary of  the  Philadelphia  Company,  has  secured  10.000  of 
the  17,000  shares  of  the  Pennsylvania  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany's outstanding  stock.  The  Pennsylvania  company 
formerly  operated  entirely  in  the  North  Side  of  Pittsburgh, 
but  recently  received  a  franchise  which  authorized  it  to 
operate  in  other  parts  of  the  city.  The  Allegheny  company 
recently  acquired  the  Phipps  Power  Company,  which  oper- 
ated in  the  downtown  part  of  Pittsburgh,  as  was  stated  in 
these  columns  June  i,  1912. 


REPORTS  OF  EARNINGS 


VIRGINIA    RAILWAY    &    POWER    COMPANY. 

The  reports  of  the  Virginia  Railway  &  Power 
for  June,  and  for  the  twelve  months  ended  Jun 
and  191 1,  compare  as  follows: 

June:  1912. 

Gross    $386,621 

Net    178,780 

Other    income    6,349 

Total   income    $185,129 

Surplus  after  charRes 64,532 

Twelve  months,  June  30:  1912. 

Gross    $4,558,194 

Net    2,135,290 

Other  income    69,158 

Total    income    $2,204,449 

.Surplus    after    charges 781,247 


Company 
e  30,    1912 


1911. 
$375,205 
156,451 
16,108 

$172,559 
55,750 

1911. 
$4,336,206 
1,994,530 
49,296 

$2,040,826 
643,882 


NEW   ORLEANS   RAILWAY   Sc  LIGHT  COMPANY. 

The  income  statements  of  the  New  Orleans  Railway  & 
Light  Company  for  the  six  months  ended  June  30,  1912  and 
191 1,  compare  as  follows: 

Six  months:  1912.  1911. 

Gross  earnings    $3,342,493  $3,195,053 

Net   after   taxes 1,354,137  1,232,915 

Surplus    after    charges 531,456  426,450 


ONTARIO  POWER  COMPANY,   NIAGARA  FALLS. 

The  reports  of  the  Ontario  Power  Company,  of  Niagara 
Falls,  and  the  Ontario  Transmission  Company,  Ltd.,  for  the 
six  months  ended  June  30,  1912  and  1911,  are  as  follows: 

Six  months:  1912.  1911. 

Gross   earnings    $538,772  $408,974 

Net   earnmgs    451,104  336,311 

Other    income    11,205  8,060 

Total    income    $462,309  $344,371 

Interest    charges     323,793  292,638 

Surplus    138,516  51,732 


STANDARD  GAS   &   ELECTRIC   COMPANY,   CHICAGO. 

The  Standard  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  which  is  the  hold- 
ing company  for  securities  of  a  number  of  properties  man- 
aged by  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  reports  earnings  for 
the  twelve  months  ended  June  30,  1912,  as  follows; 

Gross  earnings    $1,919,052 

Expenses     37,698 

Net  earnings   $1,881,353 

Interest   charges    469,557 

Available  for  dividends $1,411,795 

Preferred   stock  dividends : 684,894 

Surplus    7. 9 •.''.'-■.'. .' $726,900 

The  balance  sheet  as  of  June  30,  1912,  shows:  Assets — 
Securities  owned,  $30,940,236;  cash,  interest  and  dividends 
receivable,  $710,791;  organization  expenses,  $46,094; 
premium  on  bonds  and  coupon  notes  redeemed,  $168,500; 
other  sundry  assets,  $8,845;  total  assets,  $31,874,467.  Liabili- 
ties— Bonds,  $10,300,000;  preferred  stock,  $10,977,950;  com- 
mon stock,  $9,343,150;  interest  and  dividends  accrued,  $124,- 
686;  notes  and  accounts  payable,  $119,905;  surplus,  $1,008,- 
776;  total  liabilities,  $31,874,467. 


PRICES  IN  THE  NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET 

Gopper:  , — July    23 — >          , — July    30 — > 

Standard:  Bid.       Asked.            Bid.       Asked. 

Spot     17.25          17.50            17.00          17.50 

July     17.25          17.50            17.00          17.50 

.August    17.30         17.55           17.00         17.50 

September    17.30         17.60           17.00         17.50 

October     17.30          17.60            17.00          17.50 

London    quotation:  £       s      d                 £       s      d 

Standard    copper,    spot 79       0     0                  77     10     0 

Standard  copper,    futures 78     17     6                  77     10     0 

Prime    Lake    17.50                      17.50  to  17.60 

Electrolytic     17.50                      17.50  to  17.60 

Casting     17.40                      17.25  to  17.30 

Lead     4.75                                 4.75 

Sheet   zinc,   f.o.b.    smelter 8.75                                 8.75 

Spelter,    spot 7.25                               7.25 

Nickel    40.00  to  41.00                40.00  to  41.00 

Aluminum: 

No.    1    pure    ingot 21J^to22J^                   21J^to22}4 

Rods  and  wire,  base 32                                   32 

Sheets,    base    33^^                             33K 

OLD  METALS. 

Heavy    copper    and    wire 15.50  15.50 

Brass,    heavy 10.00  10.00 

Brass,     light 8.00  7.75 

Lead,    heavy 4.40  4.40 

Zinc,     scrap 5.75  5.65 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  JULY 

Total  tons,  including July  23,  20,680  July  30,  24,652 

STOCK  MARKET  PRICES 

July  24.  July  31. 

Allis-Chalmers     1<A'  l".^* 

Allis-Chalmers,    pf , v, ,<.,.,..  4J^  4J^* 

Amalgamated  Copper   '.J...  82)^  83'A 

Amer.  Tel.  &  Tel 1455^  145?^ 

Boston     Edison 297  297 

Commonwealth   Edison    I'.-ji. .  140..i(bi  139 

Electric    Storage    Battery 54^  55 

General    Electric    186  182 

Mackay    Companies    ^..'.  i';.  92J4*  92\i* 

Mackay   Companies,  pf 69J^  69*^* 

Philadelphia   Electric    ,  .  ., 21^  22% 

Western    Union    .; 82?^  8I.V4 

Westinghouse 80^  80 

Westinghouse,    pf 121  121* 

*Last  price  quoted. 


.'82 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


Personal 


Mr.  James  T.  Whittlesey,  chief  engineer  of  the  Public 
Service  Electric  Companj',  Newark,  N.  J.,  has  resigned  to 
take  up  hi.";  residence  in  California. 

Mr.  H.  J.  Gille  has  severed  his  connection  with  the  Minne- 
apolis General  Electric  Company  to  become  associated  with 
the  St.  Paul  Gaslight  Company,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

Mr.  R.  L.  Brunet,  industrial  engineer  of  the  Public  Service 
Electric  Company,  Newark,  N.  J.,  has  been  appointed  elec- 
trical and  gas  engineer  of  the  Department  of  Public  Works, 
Providence,    R.    I. 

Mr.  Andrew  J.  Kelly  has  been  appointed  superintendent 
of  the  Newark  (X.  J.)  power  plant  of  the  Public  Service 
Electric  Company,  succeeding  Mr.  F.  W.  Casler,  now  gen- 
eral   superintendent   of   plants. 

Mr.  T.  P.  Pinckard,  who  recently  resigned  as  contract 
agent  for  the  Peoria  (111.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  has  re- 
moved to  Detroit  to  engage  in  central-station  work  for  a 
syndicate  having  headquarters  in  that  city. 

Mr.  Norman  G.  Kenan,  president  of  the  Union  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  has  completely  recov- 
ered from  his  recent  operation  for  appendicitis  and  is  now 
busily  engaged  in  his  work  at  the  Union  office. 

Mr.  T.  C.  Roberts,  general  superintendent  and  chief  en- 
gineer of  the  .\rkansas  Valley  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, has  resigned  to  accept  the  position  of  chief  engineer 
of  the  United  X'erde  Copper  Company,  Jerome,  Ariz. 

Mr.  B.  E.  Parker,  formerly  superintendent  of  transporta- 
tion of  the  Rockford  &  Interurban  Railway  Company,  of 
Rockford,  111.,  has  been  appointed  general  superintendent 
of  the  Evansville  Public  Service  Company,  Evansville,  Ind. 

Mr.  L.  E.  Holderman,  manager  of  the  Coshocton  Light 
&  Heating  Company,  of  Coshocton,  Ohio,  has  resigned  as  a 
result  of  the  merger  by  which  the  property  of  the  company 
has  been  taken  over  by  the  United  Service  Company,  of 
Scranton,  Pa. 

Mr.  W.  P.  Moran,  who  for  the  past  five  years  has  been 
connected  with  the  Mohawk  (N.  Y.)  Gas  Company,  has  re- 
cently been  appointed  manager  of  the  Empire  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric Company,  Auburn,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Moran  has  been  suc- 
ceeded by  Mr.  J.  A.  Daniels. 

Mr.  Robert  H.  Parker,  manager  of  the  Salt  Lake  City 
office  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  has  been  appointed 
manager  of  the  New  Haven  (Conn.)  office,  succeeding  Mr. 
L.  H.  Lewis,  who  comes  to  New  York  to  be  assistant  man- 
ager of  the  supply  department. 

Mr.  J.  D.  Beebe  has  resigned  his  position  as  manager 
of  the  office  of  the  Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company  at 
Prosser,  Wash.,  to  become  construction  engineer  for  the 
Arizona  Copper  Company  at  Clifton.  Ariz.  His  successor 
at  Prosser  will  be  Mr.  W.  E.  Gay,  of  North  Yakima,  Wash. 

Mr.  Lemuel  S.  Boggs  has  resigned  his  position  as  super- 
intendent of  electrical  construction  of  the  New  York,  New 
Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad  to  become  general  manager  of 
the  Macon  (Ga.)  Railway  &  Light  Company.  Mr.  Boggs 
was  formerly  associated  with  the  W^estinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company. 

Mr.  S.  Morgan  Bushnell,  manager  of  the  Illinois  Main- 
tenance Company,  of  Chicago,  was  married  on  Jul}-  24  to 
Miss  Edyth  Alice  Decker,  of  Edgewater.  A  bachelor  dinner 
was  given  on  July  19  in  honor  of  Mr.  Bushnell  at  the  Chi- 
cago Athletic  Club  by  fifteen  of  the  "old  guard"  of  the  for- 
mer Chicago  Edison  Company.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bushnell  are 
spending  their  honeymoon  in  Europe. 

Mr.  J.  McLean  Kingsbury  has  resigned  his  position  as 
engineer-in-charge  of  the  switchboard  department  of  the 
Allis-Chalmers  Company,  to  give  his  personal  attention  to 
the  manufacture  and  sale  of  the  "Auto- Vac,"  an  accessory 
which  has  recently  been  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Auto 
Vacuum  Cleaner  Company  of  Milwaukee,  in  which  com- 
pany he  has  a  large  interest. 

Mr.  Frederic  P.  Vose,  of  Chicago,  was  elected  president 
of  the  Commercial  Law  League  of  America,  in  Denver,  on 
July  25.  Mr.  Vose,  who  is  a  lawyer,  is  affiliated  so  closely 
with  electrical  interests  that  the  electrical  men  of  Chicago 


regard  him  as  one  of  their  own.  He  is  secretary  and  treas- 
urer of  the  National  Electric  Credit  Association,  in  which 
he  has  been  active  since  the  organization  of  the  association 
in  1898.  He  is  also  secretary-treasurer  of  the  Electrical 
Credit  Association  of  Chicago,  statesman-at-large  of  the 
Sons  of  Jove  and  former  president  of  the  Electric  Club 
of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Alfred  Still  has  been  appointed  chief  electrical  en- 
gineer to  the  mining  department  of  the  Algoma  Steel  Cor- 
poration, with  head(|uarters  at  Magpie  Mine,  Ontario.  This 
corporation  is  under  the  control  of  the  Lake  Superior 
Power  Company  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Ontario.  Apart  from 
complete  electric  power  equipments  at  both  the  Helen  and 
Magpie  mines,  a  hydroelectric  station  now  nearing  comple- 
tion will  supply  energy  to  the  mines  over  an  18-mile  three- 
phase  transmission  line.  Mr.  Still  is  an  English  engineer 
well  known  as  the  author  of  standard  books  on  electrical 
subjects  and  as  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  technical  jour- 
nals. He  is  a  member  of  the  British  Institution  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  and  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers. 

Mr.  E.  S.  Keefer,  manager  for  many  j'ears  of  the  con- 
struction department  of  the  Western  Electric  Company 
and  long  identified  in  this  capacity  with  all  phases  of  the 
supply  and  contracting  business,  was  unanimously  elected 
the  first  honorary  member  of  the  National  Electrical  Con- 
tractors' Association  at  its  Denver  convention.  Mr.  Keefer 
was  largely  responsible  for  the  formation  of  this  important 
association,  and  his  untiring  efforts  contributed  largely  to 
its  success.  Mr.  Keefer  is  now  associated  with  the  Western 
Electric  Company  as  a  special  representative,  in  which 
capacity  he  will  co-operate  with  the  managers  and  sales 
managers  of  the  company's  various  branches  throughout  the 
country  in  promoting  the  patronage  of  the  contracting  trade. 

Mr.  Samuel  A.  Freshney  has  been  appointed  general  man- 
ager of  the  Union  Electric  Company,  of  Dubuque,  la.,  suc- 
ceeding Mr.  Paul  B.  Sawyer,  who  resigned  Aug.  I  to  join 
the  staff  of  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company,  New  York. 
Mr.  Freshney  has  been  engaged  in  public-utility  work  for 
a  number  of  years,  beginning  his  electrical  experience  in 
the  factory  of  the  old  Brush  Electric  Company  at  Cleve- 
land, Ohio.  After  sales  experience  in  the  Brush  organiza- 
tion, he  was  appointed  general  manager  of  the  Muskegon 
(Mich.)  Traction  &  Light  Company,  and  later  served  as 
Cincinnati  sales  manager  for  the  Fort  Wayne  Electric 
Works.  Returning  to  the  Muskegon  company  in  1905,  Mr. 
Freshney  later  removed  to  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  where  for 
seven  years  he  acted  as  general  superintendent  for  the  Board 
of  Public  Works. 

Mr.  Thomas  E.  Spence,  who  for  the  past  four  years  has 
been    in    the    employ    of    the    American    Gas    Company    of 

Philadelphia  as  an  expert 
on  industrial  power  prob- 
lems relating  to  the  use  of 
central-station  energy,  was 
born  of  Scotch  and  English 
parents  in  1882  at  Jamaica, 
i1  British    West    Indies.       He 

came  to  the  United  States 
at  an  early  age  and  was 
educated  at  the  University 
of  Colorado.  Soon  after  he 
became  interested  as  an  en- 
gineer in  the  sale  of  elec- 
trical energy  on  purely  eco- 
nomic and  engineering  prin- 
ciples. Through  his  inves- 
tigations and  efforts  the 
Luzerne  County  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  of  Ply- 
mouth, Pa.,  has  acquired  a 
very  large  motor  load  from  the  many  anthracite-coal  mines 
located  within  its  territory,  demonstrating  that  a  central 
station  can  buy  coal  from  a  mining  company,  use  it  for 
generating  electricity  and  sell  the  electricity  to  the  min- 
ing company  at  a  price  less  than  that  for  which  the  mining 
company  could  make  it.  Mr.  Spence  has  contributed  to 
the  literature  of  the  industry  from  time  to  time  articles  on 
subjects  in  which  he   has   specialized. 


T.    t.    .-.I'k.NI^K. 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


283 


Construction 


TUSKEGEE,  ALA. — All  bids  received  June  24  for  the  construction  of 
a  central  power  plant  at  the  Tuskegee  Norman  and  Industrial  Institute, 
Tuskegee,  have  been  rejected  and  new  bids  will  soon  be  called  for.  W. 
G.   Franz,  Union  Trust  Building,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  is  consulting  engineer. 

FORT  LISCUM.  ALASKA.— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
the  depot  quartermaster,  Washington,  D.  C.,  until  Aug.  15  for  furnish- 
ing electric  fixtures,  shades,  wattmeters,  street  lamps,  etc.,  for  Fort 
Liscum,   Alaska.     H.    L.    Pettus   is   depot   quartermaster. 

PRESCOTT,  ARIZ.— The  City  Council  has  entered  into  a  contract  with 
the  Arizona  Pwr.  Co.  to  supply  electricity  to  operate  the  pumps  at  the 
several  pumping  stations. 

ELDORADO,  ARK.— The  Eldorado  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  is  rebuilding  its 
plant,  which  was  recently  destroyed  by  fire.  When  completed  a  day  serv- 
ice will  be  established  and  power  furnished  for  manufacturing  purposes. 

MANSFIELD.  ARK.— The  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Huntington,  is  con- 
templating extending  its  transmission   lines  to  Mansfield. 

COACHELLA  VALLEY,  CAL.— A  company  is  being  formed  for  the 
purpose  of  installing  an  electric  power  system  in  Coachella  Valley.  The 
plans  include  the  erection  of  25  miles  of  trunk  transmission  lines  and 
about  40   miles   of  branch  lines. 

EL  SEGUNDO,  CAL.— The  Southern  California  Edison  Co.  is  extend- 
ing its  transmission  lines  into  subdivisions  back  of  this  place,  where 
many    motor-driven    pumps    are    being    installed. 

FRESNO,  CAL. — The  San  Joaquin  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  preparing  plans 
for  the  erection  of  a  high-tension  transmission  line  over  the  coast  range 
to  the  small  city  plants  which  have  been  purchased  by  the  company, 
work  on   which   will  soon   begin. 

GLENDALE,  CAL. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Pacific  El. 
Ry.  Co.  for  making  preliminary  surveys  for  an  electric  railway  in 
East  Glendale  and  through  Verdugo  Pass  into   La  Canada  Valley. 

GLENDALE,  CAL. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  city  of 
Glendale  for  the  erection  of  a  33,000-volt  transmission  line  from  the 
municipal  plant  in  Pasadena  to  supply  electricity  here  until  power  from 
the    Los    Angeles    aqueduct    power    plant    is    available. 

LAKEPORT,  CAL.— The  Mount  Konocti  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied 
to  the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to  ex-lend  its  trans- 
mission lines  from  Lakeport  to  Kerseyville,  Blue  Lakes  and  Upper 
Lake,  a  distance  of  25   miles. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — Bids  are  being  received  by  the  Aqueduct 
Power  Bureau  for  strain  and  suspension-type  insulators  for  the  110,000- 
volt  steel-tower  line.     H.  B.  Ferris  is  secretary  of  the  bureau. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  Board  of  Public  Works  has  granted  the 
Southern  California  Edison  Co.  an  extension  of  time  until  Aug.  31  in 
which  to  install  cables  for  ornamental  lamps  on  Harvard  Boulevard  and 
Third    Avenue. 

MONROVIA,  C.A.L.- — Plans  are  being  considered  for  improvements 
to   the   water  and   light   system  in   Monrovia. 

NAPA,  CAL. — The  State  Board  of  Control  has  awarded  the  contract 
for  supplying  electricity  to  the  Napa  State  Hospital,  at  Napa,  to  the 
Great   Western   Pwr.    Co. 

PASADENA,  CAL. — The  city  is  preparing  to  rehabilitate  its  present 
telephone  system  in  the  public  schools. 

PETALUMA,  CAL. — At  a  special  election  held  recently  the  voters 
ratified  the  franchise  granted  the  Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  by  the  Council. 

ROSEVILLE,  CAL.— The  Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to  erect  a  high-tension 
transmission  line  to  the  city  of  Roseville.  If  granted  a  franchise,  work 
will    begin    immediately    on    erection    of    the    line. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.— The  Pacific  Gas  &  El.  Co..  San  Francisco, 
has  applied  for  permission  to  erect  another  transmission  line  down  the 
Mission   Road  in  order  to  increase  its  service  at  Daly  City. 

TULARE,  CAL. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  granted  the 
San  Joaquin  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  permission  to  extend  its  transmission  lines 
in    Tulare,    Kern    and    Kings    Counties. 

VALLEJO,  CAL. — Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau  of  Yards 
and  Docks,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Aug.  31  for 
furnishing  three  electrically  driven  dock  capstans  at  the  navy  yard. 
Mare  Island,  Cal.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  obtained  on  applica- 
tion to  the  bureau  or  to  the  commandant  of  the  navy  yard  named. 
William   M.    Smith   is   acting   chief   of    bureau. 

WATSONVILLE,  CAL.— The  Coast  Counties  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  will 
begin  work  at  once  on  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  to  the  beach 
to  supply  electricity  for  lamps.  A  branch  line  will  be  extended  to  the 
ranch  of  R.  W.  Eaton  in  the  San  Andreas  district  to  supply  power  to 
be  used   in   pumping  out  the  water   in   the  slough  there. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. — An  American  firm  in  Mexico  is  planning  to 
erect  a  new  factory  for  the  manufacture  of  clothing,  mattresses,  etc.,  to 
be  equipped  with  the  latest  electrical  improvements.  The  company  is 
in  the  market  for  machinery  for  the  plant,  also  for  other  apparatus. 
Electric  fans,  motors  and  accessories  will  be  needed.  For  further  in- 
formation address  No.  9248,  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Department  of 
Commerce  and  Labor,  Washington,   D.  C. 


AUGUSTA,  GA.— The  stockholders  of  the  Augusta-Aiken  Ry.  &  Lt. 
Corpn.  have  ratified  the  agreement  with  the  Georgia-Carolina  Pwr.  Co., 
the  Georgia-Carolina  Investment  Co.  and  the  Electrical  Finance  Co., 
providing  for  the  construction  of  a  hydroelectric  plant  on  Stevens  Creek. 
The  Georgia-Carolina  Pwr.  Co.  will  issue  $2,500,000  in  bonds  to  construct 
the   plant. 

EATONTON,  GA. — A  committee  has  been  appointed  by  the  City 
Council  to  make  investigations  and  secure  estimates  for  the  installation 
of  an  electric-light  plant  in  connection  with  the  municipal  water- works 
system.  W.  S.  Smith,  R.  K.  Matthews  and  J.  M.  Rainey  are  members 
of  the  committee. 

JACKSON,  GA. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  City  Council 
for  extensions  to  electric-light  system  and  water  mains,  for  which  $6,000 
in  bonds  has  been  voted, 

ORFINO,  IDAHO. — ^Extensive  improvements  will  be  made  to  the 
Orfino  electric  light  and  power  plant,  which  was  recently  taken  over 
by    the    Welch    interests,    of    Portland,    Ore. 

CARLINVILLE,  ILL. — Improvements  will  be  made  to  the  local  electric 
plant,  which  was  recently  purchased  by  the  McKinley  system.  The 
company  has  been  awarded  a  con:ract  to  supply  power  to  the  Macoupin 
County  Almshouse,   near  this  city. 

CENTRALIA,  ILL.-^he  Centralia  El.  Lt.  Co.  is  erecting  a  trans- 
mission line  to  Sandoval,  6  miles  distant,  where  the  company  has 
secured  a  contract  to  light  the  streets  of  the  village  and  a  franchise 
to    furnish    electricity   for   commercial    and    residence   ligliting. 

CHARLESTON,  ILL.— The  City  Council  has  authorized  a  contract 
^\  ith  the  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  for  pumping  water  at  the  water- 
works  station   by   electricity. 

KINCAID,  ILL. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  F.  S.  Peabody,  Chi- 
cago, a  prominent  coal-mine  operator,  who  owns  several  coal  mines  and 
tracts  of  coal  land  in  Christain  County  and  nearby  counties  in  central 
Illinois,  for  the  development  of  coal  mines  and  the  construction  of  an 
electric  power  plant  to  be  operated  by  coal  from  the  mine.  The  initial 
installation  will  provide  for  about  2000  kw  and  will  be  used  to  operate 
hoisting  and  other  machinery  in  the  mines.  Mr.  Peabody  has  purchased 
several  of  the  central-station  plants  in  Edinburg,  Pawnee  and  Nokomis, 
which  will  be  operated  in  connection  with  the  plant  in   Kincaid. 

LA  SALLE,  ILL. — An  ordinance  has  been  introduced  into  the  City 
Council  asking  that  all  electric  wires  in  the  city  be  placed  underground. 

MARSHALL,  ILL. — Plans  are  being  considered  to  consolidate  the 
municipal  electric-light  and  the  water-works  plants.  New  equipment, 
it  is  understood,  will  be  required.  The  Erhman  Overall  Co.,  of 
Terre  Haute,  Ind.,  it  is  reported,  will  establish  a  branch  factory  here, 
to  be  equipped  with  electric-motor-driven  machinery  if  sufficient  power 
can   be    secured. 

MATHERSVILLE,  ILL.— The  Mathersville  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  franchise  to  install  a  light  and  power  plant  here.  The  com- 
pany is  capitalized  at  $10,000. 

MOLINE,  ILL. — 'The  voters  have  approved  the  propositions  to  grant 
25-year  franchises  to  the  Central  Union  Tel.  Co.  and  the  Tri-City  Auto- 
matic Home  Tel.  Co.  If  the  latter  company  secures  franchises  in  Rock 
Island,  III.,  and  Davenport,  la.,  a  plant  costnig  about  $2,000,000  will 
be    erected. 

MONMOUTH,  ILL.— The  Rock  Island  Southern  Ry.  Co.  is  planning 
to  erect  a  transmission  line  from  its  power  plant  at  Edwards  River  fo 
Burlington,  la.,  to  supply  electricity  to  the  People's  Gas  &  El-  Co.  Two 
surveys  will  be  made,  one  of  which,  it  is  reported,  may  be  used  later 
for   an   interurban    railway    from    Monmouth   to    Burlington. 

PINCKNEYVILLE,  ILL.— The  Pinckneyville  Lt.,  Ice  &  Pwr.  Co.  is 
planning  to  install  a  20-ton  ice  plant  in  connection  with  its  light  plant 
and  would  like  to  receive  prices  on  ice-making  machinery.  E.  K.  Kane 
is    secretary    and    treasurer. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.— The*  Springfield  Northwestern  Interurban  Ry. 
Co.  has  petitioned  the  City  Council  for  a  franchise  to  build  its  railway 
on    Eighth    Street    from    Carpenter    Street   to    the    nor'th   city   limits. 

FORT  WAYNE,  IND.— The  electric  plant  of  the  Fort  Wayne  &  North- 
ern Indiana  Trac.  Co.,  on  Superior  Street,  was  badly  damaged  by  fire, 
causing   a   loss   of   about    $70,000. 

SHELBYVILLE,  IND.— The  Indiana  Ser.  Co.,  which  recently  took 
over  a  number  of  water  and  light  plants  in  this  State,  is  planning  to 
extend  its  transmisson  lines  to  all  the  smaller  towns  in  the  county  as 
well  as  to  other  thickly  populated  sections.  Negotiations  are  under 
way  with  the  towns  of  Morristown,  Waldron,  Fairland  and  Flat  Rock. 
E.   M.   Carr,  of  New  Castle,  is  superintendent. 

WINONA,  IND. — Arrangements  have  been  made  with  the  Winona  EI. 
Lt.  Co.  to  furnish  electricity  for  lighting  the  Kosciusko  Infirmary.  The 
company  will  erect  a  transmission  line  to  tne  poor  farm  to  supply  the 
service. 

CARLISLE,  lA. — A  special  election  will  be  called  to  vote  on  the 
proposition    of    installing    an    electric-light    system    in    Carlisle. 

CEDAR  FALLS,  lA. — The  installation  of  a  complete  new  lighting 
system  here  is  under  consideration.  The  franchise  of  the  Citizens'  Gas  & 
El.  Co.,  which  now  supplies  electrical  service  in  Cedar  Falls,  expired  in 
June. 

ELDORA,  lA.— Initial  steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Park  Dam  Co., 
Eldora,  to  obtain  control  of  the  lighting  system  of  several  Hardin  County 


284 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


towns  by  the  purchase  of  the  property  of  the  Un'on  El.  Pwr.  Co..  of 
Union.  The  Park  Dam  Co.  proposes  to  supply  electricity  for  the  towns 
of  Union  and  GifFord  from  the  local  plant.  Work  will  begin  at  once  on 
the  installation  of  the  system.  The  local  company  already  operates  a 
plant  in  Steamboat  Rock. 

FORT  DODGE,  lA. — The  contract  for  the  construction  of  a  30-ft.  dam 
and  hydroelectric  power  plant  for  the  Northern  Iowa  Pwr.  Co.  in  Fort 
Dodge  has  been  awarded  to  James  Stewart  &  Co.  The  cost  of  the  p'ant 
complete   is  estimated  at  about  $500,000. 

FORT  MADISON,  lA. — The  Mississippi  River  Pwr.  Co.,  Keokuk,  has 
applied  to  the   City    Council   for  a   franchise  to  supply  electricity   here. 

GLENWOOD,  lA.— The  Glenwood  El.  Lt,  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  contem- 
plating extending  its  transmission  line  to  Henderson,  and  has  sub- 
mitted a  proposition  to  furnish  electricity  in  Hastings.  The  company 
has  offered  to  pay  the  cost  of  an  election  to  vote  on   the  proposition. 

GRUNDY  CENTER,  lA. — A  movement  has  been  started  to  install  a 
new  street-lighting  system  here.  It  is  proposed  to  replace  the  present 
arc  lamps  with  incandescent  lamps  of  32  cp. 

HASTINGS,  lA. — A  special  election  will  be  called  by  the  City  Council 
to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  grant  a  franchise  to  the  Central  Station 
Engineering  Co.,  of  Glenwood,  to  install  a  distributing  sys^.em  and  to 
supply    electricity    in   Hastings. 

MARSHALLTOWN,  lA. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  Councils 
of  Montour  and  LeGrand  by  W.  G.  Dows  and  J.  A.  Reed,  of  Cedar 
Rapids,  who  have  taken  over  the  local  public  utilities,  for  a  franchise  to 
supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors.  An  election  will  be  held  in 
both  towns  on  Aug.  13  to  vote  on  the  proposition. 

SLATER,  lA.— The  Boone  El.  Co.,  Boone,  has  been  granted  a  25- 
year  franchise  to  install  and  operate  an  electric-light  system  here. 

SWEA  CITY,  lA. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  system  here  is 
under  consideration. 

CLEARWATER,  KAN. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition 
to  issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $32,000  for  the  installation  of  an  elec- 
tric-light   plant    and    water-works    system    was   carried. 

HUTCHINSON,  KAN. — F.  D.  Larabee,  president  of  the  Larabee 
Flour  Mills  Co.,  of  Larabee,  has  contracted  with  the  United  Wtr.,  Gas 
&  EI.  Co.  for  electrical  energy  to^the  amount  of  570  hp  'o  operate  the 
mills.  The  steam  plant  now  in  use  will  be  discarded.  A  special  high- 
tension  line  will  be  erected  from  the  power  plant  to  the  Larabee  mills. 
Additional  equipment  is  being  installed  in  the  power  plant  to  enable  the 
power  company  to  provide  a  24-hour  service  for  the  mills. 

SALINA,  KAN. — The  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  sys- 
tem  in   the   business   district   is   under   consideration. 

COVINGTON,  KY.— The  City  Council  is  considering  the  question 
of  requiring  all  overhead  wires  in  the  business  district  placed  under- 
ground. 

GLASGOW,  KY. — The  local  electric-light  and  ice  plant,  owned  by 
Bowen  Brothers,  Glasgow,  has  been  purchased  by  Dickinson  Brothers. 
P.   W.   Holman  and  W.   F.   Richaidson,  all  of  Glasgow. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY.— The  Louisville  Ltg.  Co.  is  reported  to  be 
negotiating  with  the  Louisville  Ry.  Co.  with  a  view  of  supplying  elec- 
tricity to  operate  the  railway  system  of  the  latter  company.  The  Louis- 
ville Ry.  Co.  is  building  a  large  power  plant,  which  the  lighting  com- 
pany proposes  to  purchase.  George  H.  Harries  is  president  of  the 
lighting  company  and   T.  J.   Minary  president   of  the   railway  company. 

TAYLORSVILLE,  KY. — Henry  Brothers  have  purchased  an  electric- 
light  franchise  in  Taylorsville  and  will  purchase  equipment  for  an  electric 
plant.      An    oil    engine    will    probably    be    used. 

WILLIAMSTOWN.  KY. — The  instaDation  of  an  electric-light  plant  here 
is  under  consideration.     J.  A.  Shoop,  Danville,  is  interested. 

WINCHESTER,  KY. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  George  Tomlinson 
for  the  construction  of  a  large  woodworking  plant  to  manufacture 
tol  acco  hogsheads.  The  plans  include  the  installation  of  an  electric 
plant   to    furnish   elec:ricity    for   lamps    and    motors    for   the    factory. 

JENNINGS,  LA. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Lake  Arthur. 
Jennings  &  Northern  R.  R.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  power 
plant  to  furnish  electricity  to  operate  the  proposed  railway  and  for 
industries  along  the  line.  The  plant  will  be  located  in  Jennings  and 
cost  about  $250,000.  W.  B.  Conover  is  president  and  B.  B.  Bliss  sec- 
retary. S.  Wexler,  vice-president  of  the  Whitney-Central  Bank,  of  New 
Orleans,   is  interested. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  LA. — Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
Sewerage  and  Water  Board,  Room  508,  City  Hall  Annex,  New  Orleans, 
La.,  until  Sept.  19,  for  furnishing  and  erecting  complete,  ready  for  oper- 
ating, the  piping  and  auxiliaries  for  power  house  No.  2.  Specifications  and 
blank  form  of  proposal  can  be  obtained  on  application  to  the  above  office. 
A  deposit  of  $10  will  be  required  for  each  set  of  p'ans.  which  will  be  re- 
funded upon  return  of  same.  F.  S.  Shields  is  secretary  and  George  G. 
Earl   general   superintendent. 

CALAIS,  MAINE.— The  St.  Croix  Paper  Co.  has  awarded  the  con- 
tract for  building  a  dam  40  ft.  high  and  1200  ft.  long  at  Grand  Falls, 
Maine,   to   the   American   Hydraulic   Construction   Co.,    Boston,    Mass. 

BOSTON,  MASS. — It  is  reported  that  the  New  York,  New  Haven  & 
Hartford  R.  R.  Co.  has  decided  to  equip  the  Boston  &  Providence  Rail- 
road for  electrical  operation  and  also  to  four-track  the  same  between   Bos- 


ton and  Providence,  a  distance  of  42  miles.  Work  may  be  started  this 
fall.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at  between  $6,500,000  and 
$7,000,000. 

CLINTON,  MASS.— The  Metropolitan  Water  Board  has  decided  to 
operate  the  sewage-pumping  station  by  electricity,  the  power  plant  at 
the  Wachusett  dam  to  furnish  the  power.  The  present  steam  plant 
will   be   held   for   use   in  emergencies. 

FITCHBURG.  MASS. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Connecti- 
cut River  Pwr.  Transmission  Co.  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  from 
Gardner  to  FitzwilHam  Depot,  N.  H.,  a  distance  of  about  12  miles.  A 
substation  will  be  erected  at  Fitzwilliam  to  distribute  electricity  for  lamps 
and  motors.  Later  it  is  expected  that  the  line  will  be  extended  to  Rich- 
mond and  Winchester. 

MITTINEAGUE,  MASS.— The  Strathmore  Paper  Co.  is  planning  ex- 
tensive improvements  to  its  mills  in  Mittineague,  involving  an  expenditure 
of  from  $25,000  to  $50,000.  The  old  steam-power  plant  will  be  replaced 
by  a  1500-hp  steam  turbine  with  generators  and  motors  to  drive  all  the 
machinery  in  the  factories.     Most  of  the  machinery  has  been  purchased. 

NEW  BEDFORD,  MASS. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  Select- 
men of  Padanaram  by  the  New  Bedford  Gas  &  Edison  Lt.  Co.,  the 
.Southern  Massachusetts  Tele.  Co.  and  the  Union  Street  Ry.  Co.  for 
pole  locations  in  the  town.  Arrangements  have  been  made  by  the  gas 
company  to  use  the  poles  of  the  telephone  company  and  the  street-railway 
company  where  it  is  possible.  The  lighting  company  is  planning  to 
extend  its  transmission  lines  to  Padanaram  to  supply  electricity  for 
residential    lighting. 

TURNERS  FALLS,  MASS.— The  Amherst  Pwr.  Co.,  a  subsidiary  of 
the  Turners  Falls  Co.,  is  securing  right-of-way  through  Granby  and  Fair- 
view  for  its  transmission  line  which  is  to  carry  electricity  into  the  city 
of  Chicopee.  The  line  will  be  erected  on  steel  towers.  The  Turners 
Falls  Co.  recently  secured  a  contract  for  furnishing  power  in  Holyoke, 
which  will  be  transmitted  over  the  same  line. 

WORCESTER.  MASS. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  Worcester 
Ej.  Lt.  Co.  for  the  erecton  of  a  substation  in  South  Worcester,  probably 
near  Tainter  Street,  to  cost  about  $25,000.  The  company  has  contracts 
to  furnish  electricity  to  the  Worcester  Machine  Co.,  the  Hammond  Reed 
Co.,  Rice,  Barton  &  Fales  Co.   and  other  concerns  in  that  vicinity. 

GRAND  RAPIDS,  MICH.— At  an  election  held  July  24  in  East 
Grand  Rapids  the  proposition  to  grant  the  Grand  Rapids-Muskegon  Pwr. 
Co.   a   franchise   was  carried. 

IONIA,  MICH. — Options  are  being  taken  on  the  lowlands  east  of 
Cleveland  street,  having  in  view  a  proposition  to  build  a  power  dam,  to 
cost  about  $125,000.  It  is  estimated  that  600  hp  could  be  developed. 
J.  W.  Faussett,  of  Howell,  and  Norman  Birkhart,  of  Detroit,  are  inter- 
ested in  the  project. 

ANt)KA,  MINN. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  extension  of  a 
transmission  line  from  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  in  Anoka  to  Elk 
River  to  furnish   electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  that  village. 

CAN  BY,  MINN. — The  City  Council  has  awarded  the  contract  for 
stree  lighting  to  the  Citizens'  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  The  contract  includes 
ornamental  lamps  on  two  blocks,  using  South  Park  Foundry  &  Machine 
Co.'s   lamp   standards.      Emil   W.    Erick  is   general   manager. 

EDEN  VALLEY,  MINN.— The  Lethert  El.  Co.,  St.  Paul,  has  been 
granted  a  franchise  to  establish  an  electric-light  plant  here.  A  power 
plant  of  sufficient  output  to  supply  electricity  to  surrounding  villages  wiil 
be   erected. 

LE  SUEUR,  MINN.— W.  T.  McCaskey  and  James  P.  Porteus,  of 
Lansing,  Mich.,  have  purchased  a  site  in  Le  Sueur  on  which  they  ex- 
pect to  erect  an  electric-light  plant. 

LUVERNE,  MINN. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $10,000  have  been 
voted,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  remodeling  the  municipal  electric- 
li^'ht    plant   and   establishing  a   day   service. 

MARSHALL,  MINN. — Steps  have  been  taken  to  interest  business  men 
in  establishing  a  cluster-lamp  lighting  system.  F.  S.  Cook,  W.  C.  Haney 
ami   L.   E.   Ijams  are  interested. 

WATERTOWN,  MINN. — A  franchise  has  been  granted  to  H.  B. 
Rutledge,  secretary  and  manager  of  the  Glencoe  El.  Lt.  Co.,  Glencoe,  to 
install  and   operate  an  electric-light  system  in   Watertown. 

AVA,  MO. — George  W.  Wright,  Springfield,  Mo.,  has  submitted  a 
proposition  to  the  city  of  Ava  offering  to  install  an  electric-light  p'an:. 
provided  a  20-year  franchise  is  granted. 

BOONVILLE,  MO. — Funds  have  been  raised  by  the  Boonville  Com- 
mercial Club  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system 
on    five    or    six    blocks. 

HOPKINS,  MO. — A  proposition  has  been  submitted  to  the  business 
men  of  the  town  by  Richard  Kuchs,  president  of  the  Maryville  El.  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.,  relative  to  the  organization  of  a  company  in  this  town  for 
the  purpose  of  installing  an  electric-light  system.  It  is  proposed  to 
secure  electricity  from  the  plant  of  the  Maryville  company  and  to  supply 
electrical  service  in  Pickering  and  Hopkins  and  to  farmers  along  the 
route   of  the   transmission   line. 

SEDALIA,  MO. — A  new  light  and  traction  company  has  been  or- 
ganized at  Sedalia  by  C.  E.  Murray,  R.  A.  McGregor  and  J.  E.  Harsh, 
all  of  Joplin,  Mo.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $1,500,000  and  pro- 
poses to  develop  natural  gas  and  generate  gas  and  electricity  for  distri- 
bution  in   the   city   of  Sedalia. 


August  3.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


285 


HELENA,  MONT. — The  City  Council  has  adopted  the  resolution  creat- 
ing the  district  for  an  ornamental  lighting  system  and  has  also  adopted 
the  plans  and  specifications  for  the  lamps, 

LIBBY,  MONT.— The  Kootenai  Pwr.  Constr.  Co.  is  planning  to  build 
a  large  power  dam  at  Kootenai  Falls,  west  of  Libby,  and  a  hydroelectric 
plant  at  a  cost   of  $6,000,000. 

RED  LODGE,  MONT. — Property  owners  in  the  business  district  have 
petitioned  the  Council  for  the  installation  of  cluster  lamps  on  five  blocks. 

ELVVOOD,  NEB.— The  contract  for  construction  of  a  new  electric-light 
plant  for  the  village  of  Elwood  has  been  awarded  to  the  Alamo  Engine 
&  Sup.  Co.,  Omaha,  Neb.,  for  $6,033. 

HASTINGS,  NEB. — A  movement  has  been  inaugurated  for  extend- 
ing the  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  First  Street  from  Denver 
Avenue    to    Lincoln    Avenue. 

DOVER,  N.  H. — The  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  sys- 
tem in  the  business  district  is  under  consideration. 

CAMDEN,  N.  J. — The  City  Council  has  engaged  Runyon  &  Carey, 
Newark,  consulting  engineers,  to  prepare  plans  for  the  proposed  munic- 
ipal electric-light  plant.  If  plans  are  accepted,  the  same  engineers  are 
to  supervise  the  erection  of  ihe  plant  and  superintend  its  operation  for 
one  year. 

ALDEN.  N.  Y.— The  Depew  &  Lancaster  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Conduit  Co.  has 
received  authority  from  the  Public  Service  Commission  to  exercise  fran- 
chise for  furnishing  electricity  within  the  town  of  Alden,  outside  of 
the    village    of    Alden. 

AUBURN,  N.  Y. — The  State  Prison  Department  is  installing  two 
waterwheels  at  the  outlet  of  Owasco  Lake,  at  a  cost  of  $5,000,  for  the 
purpose  of  generating  electricity  for  lighting  Auburn  State  Prison. 
Plans  are  also  being  considered  by  the  State  Prison  Department  to 
generate  power  from  an  unused  dam  across  Chazy  Lake  and  transmit 
it  to  Clinton   Prison,  at   Dannemora,   a  distance  of  8   miles. 

BINGHAMTON.  N.  Y. — Plans  have  been  announced  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  hydroelectric  power  plant,  which  is  to  impound  the 
waters  of  two  rivers  at  Whitney  Point,  at  a  cost  of  $3,000,000.  The 
power  will  be  used  to  generate  electricity  for  an  electric  railway  be- 
tween Utica  and  Binghamton  and  for  commercial  purposes  to  cities  and 
towns  along  the   line.      Thomas   F.   McBride,   of   Clinton,   is   promoter. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  denied  the 
application  of  the  International  Trac.  Ry.  Co.  for  a  certificate  of  public 
convenience  and  necessity.  The  construction  of  the  proposed  railroad 
was  a  part  of  the  general  scheme  for  the  reorganization  of  the  entire 
street-railroad  system  of  the  city  of  Buffalo.  The  plan  has  been 
abandoned  and  another  one  substituted. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  Dr.  Andrew 
S.  Draper,  commissioner  of  education,  at  State  Normal  College,  Albany, 
until  Aug.  20  for  construction,  heating,  plumbing  and  gas  piping  and 
electric  work  for  the  State  Normal  School  Building,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Only  separate  bids  will  be  received  and  no  combined  bids  will  be 
considered.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  consulted  and  blank  forms 
of  proposals  obtained  at  the  State  Normal  School,  Buffalo,  and  at  the 
office    of    Herman    W.    Hoefer,    state    architect,    Capitol,    Albany. 

CANAJOHARIE,  N.  Y.— The  Montgomery  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
completed  its  transmission  line  to  Sharon  Springs,  a  distance  of  9  miles. 
A  branch  line  will  be  erected  from  this  line  to  the  hamlets  of  Buel  and 
Sprout  Brook,  in  the  town  of  Canajoharie.  The  Sharon  Springs  line  will 
probably  be  extended  to  Cherry  Valley  and  to  Cobleskill. 

COOPERSTOWN,  N.  Y.— The  Clinton  Mills  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning 
to  build  a  power  house,  50  ft.  x  30  ft.,  plans  for  whch  have  been  pre- 
pared by  C.   Kiehm,   engineer,   Utica,   N.  Y. 

GENEVA,  N.  Y. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Central  New 
York  Gas  &  EI.  Co.  for  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  from 
Geneva  to  Seneca  Castle  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  electricity  at 
that  place.  Electrical  service  will  also  be  furnished  to  residents  along 
the  proposed  line.  The  company  is  also  planning  to  build  an  addition 
to  its  Geneva  power  plant,  which  will  provide  room  for  a  new  boiler 
recently  ins:a!led  and  a  1750-kw  generator.  It  is  expected  that  new 
equipment  to  supplement  the  750-hp  turbine  generator  will  be  installed 
and   ready   for  use  by   Sept.   1. 

LOCKPORT,  N.  Y.— John  Moon,  president  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, has  requested  the  Board  of  Aldermen  to  insist  that  the  Lockport 
Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  install  a  new  lighting  system  on  Main  Street,  from 
Elm  to  Transit  Street,  in  compliance  with  tlie  recommendation  of  the 
committee  on  lamps  and  gas,  adopted  a  year  ago. 

MECHANICSVILLE.  N.  Y.— A  special  election  has  been  called  to 
be  held  on  Aug.  5  to  vote  on  the  proposition  of  granting  an  electric-liglit 
franchise  to  Mrs.  Florence  E.  Gilliland,  who  if  granted  a  franchise 
proposes  to  secure  electricity  from  the  Wapsie  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co  .  of 
Mount   Vernon,  to  operate  the  system. 

NEWFANE,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  given  its 
approval  to  the  application  of  the  Newfane  El.  Co.  to  exercise  a  franchise 
for   furnishing  electricity  in   the  town  of  Newfane. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — The  contract  for  installing  electric  equipment   in 

Public    School    45,   borough    of   the   Bronx,    has   been    awarded   to    Eugene 

Frank,    22    East   Twenty-first    Street,    New    York,    for    $10,880.      C.    B.    J. 

Snyder  is  superintendent  of  school  buildings. 

NEW    YORK.    N.    Y.— The    Manhattan    Bridge    Three-Cent    Line    has 


applied  to  Public  Service  Commission  for  permission  to  increase  its 
capital  stock  from  $50,000  to  $1,000,000  and  for  the  issuance  of  $200,- 
000  immediately,  to  be  applied  to  the  assembling  of  the  road,  plant  and 
equipment. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — 'The  Public  Service  Commission  has  executed 
two  contracts  for  the  construction  of  additional  sections,  2-A  and  14,  of 
the  Lexington  Avenue  subway.  Section  2-A  embraces  the  Canal  Street 
station  on  the  Broadway  par:  of  the  Lexington  Avenue  route  and  was 
awarded  to  the  O'Rourke  Engineering  Constr,  Co.,  345  Fifth  Avenue, 
New  York,  for  $912,351;  section  14  consists  almost  entirely  of  tunnels 
under  the  Harlem  River  to  cany  the  new  subway  from  Manhattan 
into  the  Bronx  and  was  awarded  to  Arlhur  McMullen  and  Olaf  Hoff, 
149    Broadway,    New    York,    for    $3,889,775. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  State 
Hospital  Commission,  Capitol,  Albany,  until  Aug.  14,  for  furnishing  and 
installing  conduit,  steam  and  return  mains  between  main  building  and 
east  building  at  Manhattan  State  Hospital,  Ward's  Island.  Drawings 
and  specifications  may  be  consulted  and  blank  forms  of  proposal  obtained 
at  the  Manhattan  State  Hospital,  Ward's  Island;  at  the  office  of  the 
State  Hospital  Commission,  I  Madison  Avenue,  New  York,  and  at  the  of- 
fice of  Herman  W.  Hoefer,  state  architect,  Capitol,  Albany.  Plans  and 
specificiitions  may  be  obtained  upon  application  to  the  state  architect. 
T.   E.   McGarr  is   secretary  of  the   commission   . 

SOUTHAMPTON,  N.  V.— The  Suffolk  Lt..  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied 
to  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  authority  to  issue  $47,500  in  bonds, 
the  proceeds  of  $22,000  to  be  used  for  the  purchase  of  the  distributing 
system    of   the   Riverhead    EI.    Lt.    Co.    at   Westhampton    Beach. 

UTICA.  N.  Y. — The  City  Council  has  contracted  with  the  General  EI. 
Co.,  Schenectady,  and  the  Ornamental  Lighting  Pole  Co.,  New  York, 
for  the  installation  of  60  luminous  arc  lamps  on  Genesee  street.  The 
lamps  are  for  the  first  section  of  the  "luminous  way,*'  which  in  all  will 
require  about  300  lamps. 

WHITE  PLAINS,  N.  Y.— The  Board  of  Village  Trustees  has  adopt- 
ed a  resolution  authorizing  the  committee  on  gas  and  electricity  to 
make  investigations  and  report  to  the  board  as  to  the  feasibility  of  es- 
tablishing a  municipal  clectric-Hght  plant.  The  village  now  pays  $18,000 
annually  for  street  lighting.  Bids  will  also  be  received  until  Aug.  26 
for  lighting  the  village.     The  present  contract  expires  April  1,   1913. 

WILSON,  N.  Y. — The  Conant-Br>-ant  Pwr.  Co.  is  negotiating  with  the 
Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.  to  secure  power  in  order  to  meet 
the   increasing  demand   for   electrical   service  here. 

WILSON,  N.  Y. — 'The  Public  Service  Commission  has  denied  the 
application  of  the  Lewiston  &  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.  to  exercise  franchises 
in  the  town  and  village  of  Wilson.  The  company  is,  however,  given 
permission  to  renew  its  application  if  the  Conant-Bryan  Pwr.  Co.,  now 
operating  here,  shall  not  present  to  the  commission,  at  a  hearing  to  be 
held  at  Buffalo  on  Aug.  3,  proof  that  it  has  entered  into  a  contract 
with  the  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.  for  power  so  that  it 
will  be  able  to  meet  the  demands  for  electrical  service  in  the  town  and 
village   of   Wilson. 

YONKERS,  N.  Y. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  organizing  a  new 
company  under  the  name  of  the  Triangle  Ltg.  Co.  for  the  purpose  of 
installing  an  electric-light  plant  to  supply  electricity  for  the  merchants 
on  Main  Street  and  North  Broadway.  A.  E.  Hamilton,  M.  Dee, 
Thomas   Dee    and    William    Barlow   are   interested. 

COOLEEMEE,  N.  C— Tucker  &  Laxton,  Realty  Building,  Charlotte, 
N.  C,  are  reported  to  have  secured  the  contract  for  the  installation  of 
an  electric-light  plant  for  the  Erwin  Cotton  Mills;  also  to  furnish  100 
street  lamps  for  the  town  and  for  lamps  and  motors  for  the  lodge  of 
W.  R.  Craig,  of  Craig  &  Jenks,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

SCOTLAND  NECK,  N.  C— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  town 
commissioners  for  the  installation  of  a  larger  generator  in  the  municipal 
electric-light  plant.     L.   R.  Mills,  Jr.,  is  superintendent. 

BARBERTON,  OHIO. — An  ordinance  calling  for  plans  and  speci- 
fications for  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  is  now  in  the  hands  of  a 
committee  and,  it  is  expected,  will  be  submitted  at  the  next  meeting  of 
the  Council.  The  Barberton  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  for  a  new 
franchise   for  a  period  of   17  years. 

BEACH  CITY,  OHIO. — Application  has  been  made  by  Mrs.  Orpha 
Gilmore,  Beach  City,  to  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  permission 
to  purchase  the  plant   of  the  Beach  City  Pwr.   Co. 

BRADFORD,  OHIO. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Pan  Handle 
Co.  for  the  installation  of  an  electric  power  plant  in  Bradford,  to  cost 
about  $40,000,  to  provide  electricity  for  more  of  the  work  and  to  light 
the   parks. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO.— The  Cleveland  El.  Illg.  Co.  has  closed  a  con- 
tract with  the  Cleveland  &  Eastern  Trac.  Co.,  whereby  it  will  furnish 
the  traction  company  with  energy  to  operate  its  system,  39  miles  in 
length,  above  the  amount  which  will  be  generated  at  the  railway  com- 
pany's power  house  at  Gates'  Mills.  The  contract  is  for  a  period  of 
10   years. 

CLEVELAND.  OHIO.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
W.  H.  Kirby,  secretary  of  the  director  of  public  service,  104  City  Hall, 
Cleveland,  until  Aug.  9  for  furnishing  poles  for  the  municipal  electric- 
light  plant.  Bids  will  also  be  received  at  the  same  time  and  place  for 
electric  meters  and  for  copper  wire  for  the  municipal  electric  plant. 
W.   J.    Springborn  is  director  of  public  service. 


286 


ELECTRICAL     \VORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  5. 


MASSILLON,  OHIO.— The  Massillon  El.  &  Gas  Co.  has  asked  the 
City  Council  to  extend  its  present  street-lighting  contract  from  April, 
1916,  to  April,  1922,  in  return  for  which  the  company  offers  to  install 
new  magnetite-arc  lamps  to  replace  the  lamps  in  use,  at  a  cost  of  about 
$11,000,  and  also  offers  to  maintain  the  lamps  on  an  all-night  and  every- 
night  schedule  instead  of  the  moonlight  schedule,  as  heretofore,  at  the 
cost   of   the   present   service. 

RIPLEV,  OHIO.— The  City  Council  has  offered  the  Ripley  Gas  Lt. 
&  Coke  Co.  $17,000  for  its  electric  plant.  The  company  values  the 
property  at  $25,000  and  has  a  contract  with  the  city  amounting  to  $5,000 
per    year. 

TOLEDO,  OHIO. — The  public  improvement  committee  has  approved 
an  ordinance  granting  the  Toledo  Sugar  Co.  permission  to  erect  and 
maintain  transmission  Imes  along  Main  Street  from  the  corporation  line 
on  the  south  to  the  easterly  line  of  the  Oregon  Road  to  the  intersection 
of  Miami  Street.  This  line  will  supply  electricity  to  the  company's  pump- 
ing station   in  the  vicinity   of  the   C,   H.   &  D.   docks. 

TOLEDO,  OHIO. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  authorized  the 
sale  of  the  property  of  the  Toledo,  Port  Clinton  &  Lakeside  Ry.  Co., 
which  operates  an  electric  railway  between  Toledo  and  Lakeside,  50 
miles  long,  and  which  furnishes  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  to 
numerous  towns  along  the  route,  to  the  Northwestern  Ohio  Ry.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  The  commission  also  granted  the  Northwestern  company  permission 
to  issue  $1,100,000  in  bonds,  tht  proceeds  to  be  used  to  purchase  the 
property.  .\  request  for  $200,000  additional  for  improvements  will  be 
further  considered. 

WELLSVILLE,  OHIO. — The  City  Council  has  passed  an  ordinance 
calling  for  a  second  vote  and  election  on  the  question  of  issuing  $60,000 
in   bonds   for   the   installation    of   a   municipal   electric-light   plant. 

OKLAHOMA  CITY,  OKLA.— The  Oklahoma  City  Land  &  Devel.  Co. 
has  made  arrangements  with  the  Oklahoma  Ry.  Co.  to  purchase  elec- 
tricity  to   operate   its    railway   to   Northeast   Park. 

ARLINGTON,  ORE. — The  City  Council  is  considering  the  Question 
of  installing  an  electric-light  plant  and  a  new  engine  for  the  water-works 
systems,  the  improvements  to  cost  about  $9,000. 

BAKER,  ORE. — The  Idaho-Oregon  Pwr.  Co.,  with  headquarters  at 
Boise,  Idaho,  is  contemplating  extending  its  transmission  lines  into  this 
territory. 

EUGENE,  ORE. — The  City  Council  has  entered  into  a  contract  with 
the  Eugene  Water  Board  for  street  lighting  for  a  period  of  two  years, 
under  which  the  city  is  to  pay  $552.60  per  month.  The  board  also  agrees 
to  maintain  additional  lamps  at  $1.27  per  month,  the  Council  to  provide 
for   installation. 

NEWBERG.  ORE.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Vamhill  El.  Co. 
a  25-year  franchise  for  lighting  the  city. 

SALEM,  ORE. — The  Southern  Pacific  Co.  has  purchased  the  Salem, 
Falls  City  &  Western  R.  R.  and  will  equip  it  for  electrical  operation 
within  the  next  year,  to  be  operated  as  part  of  its  electric  traction  sys- 
tem. D.  W.  Campbell,  general  superintendent  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
Co.,   has   been   elected   president. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ORE. — The  installation  of  a  cluster-lamp  street-lighting 
system    is   under   consideration. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ORE.— The  McKenzie  Valley  Irrig.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  granted  permission  by  the  State  Engineer  and  the  Forest  Service  to 
construct  a  hydroelectric  power  plant  at  the  outlet  of  Clear  Lake  on 
the   McKenzie   River.      J.   A.   Yamgreen   is   president. 

PANAMA. — Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  general  pur- 
chasing officer,  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Aug.  6,  for  furnishing  substation  equipment,  including  transformers, 
switchboard,  oil  switches  and  necessary  adjuncts,  etc.  Blanks  and  general 
information  relating  to  this  circular  (No.  722)  may  be  obtained  at  the 
above  office  or  at  the  offices  of  the  assistant  purchasing  agents,  24  State 
Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  and  614  Whitney-Central  Building,  New 
Orleans,   La-      Major   F.   C.   Boggs  is  general   purchasing  agent. 

CYNWYD,  PA. — Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  commissioners. 
Ardmore,  addressed  to  chairman  of  health  and  drainage  committee,  care 
of  Robley  A.  Warner,  superintendent,  P.  O.  Box  70S,  until  Aug.  14,  for 
construction  of  a  sewage-pumping  station,  to  be  equipped  with  electrically 
driven  centrifugal  pumps,  plans  and  specifications  for  which  may  be  seen 
at  the  above  office. 

PITTSBURGH,  PA.— The  West  Penn  Trac.  &  Wtr.  Pwr.  Co.  has 
awarded  a  contract  to  the  T.  A.  Gillespie  Co.,  Pittsburgh,  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  large  dam  and  power  house  on  the  Cheat  River  in 
West  Virginia,  near  the  Pennsylvania  state  line,  to  cost  about  $1,000,000. 
Work   will   begin   immediately   on   the   dam. 

ROUSEVILLE,  PA. — Arrangements  are  being  made  to  equip  the  Ger- 
mania  refinery  at  Rouseville  for  electrical  operation.  The  equipment,  it 
IS  understood,  will  include  25  motors  and  dynamo. 

WAYNE,  PA. — The  Merion  Gas  &  El.  Co.  is  planning  to  build  an 
addition   to   its  engine   house  in  Wayne. 

WELLSBORO,  PA.— The  Borough  Council  has  accepted  the  new 
contract  submitted  by  the  Wellsboro  El.  Co.  for  street  lighting.  Under 
the  new  contract  the  company  will  install  a  new  system,  using  tungsten 
lamps.      R.   K.    Yojing   is   president   of   the   company. 

ANDERSON,    S.    C. — Negotiations   are    under   way    whereby   the    Gregg 


Shoals  power  plant  on  the  Savannah  River  will  be  leased  by  the 
Georgia  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Atlanta,  to  the  Anderson  Wtr.,  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.,  of  Anderson.  The  plant,  which  is  located  about  27  miles  from 
Anderson  and  has  an  output  of  about  3000  hp,  will  run  parallel  with 
the  Portman  Shoals  plant  on  the  Seneca  River,  owned  by  the  Anderson 
company,  and  will  furnish  electricity  to  operate  the  cars  of  the  Green- 
ville, Spartanburg  &  Anderson  Railway  Co.,  manufacturing  plants  in 
Abbeville  and  Greenwood  Counties  and  for  lighting  the  cities  of  Green- 
wood and  Abbeville.     H.  A.  Orr  is  president. 

COLUMBIA,  S.  C. — The  Georgia-Carolina  Pwr.  Co.,  North  Augusta, 
has  filed  a  certificate  with  the  Secretary  of  State  announcing  an  in- 
crease  in  capital  stock  from   $100,000  to  $1,250,000. 

CANTON.  S.  D. — The  contract  for  the  construction  of  a  280-ft.  dam 
across  the  Sioux  River,  below  Canton,  to  cost  about  $100,000,  has  been 
awarded  to  A.  H.  Latimer. 

MILLER,  S.  D. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to  pur- 
chase the  plant  of  the  Miller  El.  Co.  to  be  owned  and  operated  by  the 
municipality   was   carried. 

JONESBORO,  TENN.— The  Eastern  Tennessee  EI.  Co.,  which  is 
building  a  hydroelectric  power  plant  on  Clinch  River,  near  Greeneville, 
has  taken  over  the  electric-light  plant  owned  by  T.  F.  Hargis,  at  Jones- 
boro,  which  will  be  converted  into  a  substation  as  soon  as  the  hydro- 
electric  plant   is   completed. 

ANGELITA,  TEX.— O.  L.  Hubbard,  of  Chicago,  who  recently  pur- 
chased a  tract  of  2000  acres  near  here,  is  preparing  to  establish  a  town 
site  upon  the  property.  An  electric-light  plant,  water-works  system  and 
other  improvements   will   be   established. 

GAINESVILLE,  TEX.— The  Gainesville  El.  Co.  has  sold  its  plant  to 
the  Texas  Utilities  Corpn.,  of  Dallas.  The  new  company  contemplates 
extensive  improvements  to  the  system. 

PARIS,  TEX.— Interests  identified  with  the  Texas  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co., 
Dallas,  Tex.,  have  acquired  the  electric  light  and  power  properties  of 
the  Paris  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  the  electric  and  gas  properties  of  the  Brown- 
wood  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  Brownwood,  and  the  electric  system  of  the  Gaines- 
ville El.   Co.,   Gainesville. 

PROVO,  UTAH.— The  Telluride  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  city 
commissioners  for  a  franchise  to  erect  a  transmission  line  from  its 
power  plant  at  Olmstead  south  through  Provo  to  the  southern  limits  of 
Provo  City.  It  is  understood  that  the  line  is  to  extend  as  far  as  Spring- 
ville  and  will  furnish  electricity  to  a  number  of  industrial  firms  and  to 
its  county  infirmary  south  of  this  city. 

FREDERICKSBURG,  VA.— The  City  Council  has  entered  into  a  con- 
tract with  the  Fredericksburg  Pwr.  Co.  for  furnishing  electricity  for  the 
city  and  pumping  water  to  the  city  reservoir  for  a  period  of  27  years 
and  S  months,  with  the  privilege  of  the  city  or  the  company  terminating 
the  contract  afer  15  years.  At  present  the  city  is  operaing  a  municipal 
el  eerie    plant    and    pumping   station. 

ROANOKE,  VA. — The  Roanoke  Trac.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  entered  into  a 
contract  with  the  Appalachian  Pwr.  Co.  for  electricity  from  its  plant  on 
the  New  River.  Energy  will  be  delivered  by  the  Appalachian  com- 
pany to  the  substation  of  the  Roanoke  company  in  Roanoke. 

BELLINGHAM,  WASH. — A  high-power  switching  station  will  be 
erected  near  the  site  of  the  present  power  plant  at  Stave  Lake  to 
handle  the  current  that  will  be  transmitted  to  the  city  of  Bellingham 
from  the  Stave  Lake  power  plant  to  be  utilized  by  the  Whatcom 
County   Ry.   &   Lt,   Co. 

BREMERTON,  WASH.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the 
Bureau  of  Yards  and  Docks,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C, 
until  Aug.  31  for  furnishing  and  installing  an  electric  elevator  in  the 
naval  hospital  at  the  navy  yard,  Puget  Sound,  Wash.  Plans  and  speci- 
fications may  be  obtained  on  application  to  the  bureau  or  to  the  com- 
mandant of  the  navy  yard  named.  William  M.  Smith  is  acting  chief 
of   bureau. 

CONCRETE.  WASH.- The  Skagit  River  Tel.  Co.  is  contemplating 
extending  its  telephone  lines  from  Rockport  to  Marblemount,  a  dis- 
tance   of    10    miles. 

SEATTLE.  WASH.— The  finance  committee  of  the  City  Council  has 
recommended  an  appropriation  of  $25,000  for  repairs  on  the  timber  dam 
at  Cedar  Lake  and  the  two  power  pipe  lines  leading  from  the  lake  to  the 
power  house  at  Cedar  Lake. 

VANCOUVER,  WASH.— Surveys  are  being  made  by  the  Washington- 
Oregon  Corpn.  for  its  proposed  electric  railway  from  Sifton  to 
Hockinson. 

WHEELING,  W.  VA.— The  West  Penn  Trac.  Co.,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  has 
purchased  the  property  and  holdings  of  the  Wheeling  Trac.  &  Wtr.  Pwr.  _ 
Co..  which  owns  the  street-railway  system  in  Wheeling  and  interurban  ■ 
lines,  serving  about  40  cities  and  towns  in  the  Ohio  Valley.  Surveys  are 
being  made  for  the  erection  of  a  high-tension  transmission  line  connecting 
with  the  W"est  Penn  Trac.  &  Wtr.  Pwr.  Company's  system  through 
Washington. 

MADISON.  WIS. — Proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Capitol  Com- 
mission of  Wisconsin,  Madison,  Wis.,  until  Aug.  13  for  furnishing  ma- 
terial and  labor  for  the  electric  work  of  the  interior  finish  of  the  great 
dome  and  central  portion  of  the  Wfsconsin  State  Capitol,  under  con- 
struction at  Madison,  in  accordance  with  plans  and  specifications  pre- 
pared  by  George  B.   Post  &   Sons,   architects,   which   may  be   examined  at 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


287 


the  office  of  the  architects,  347  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  N.  Y. ;  office 
of  the  Capitol  Commission,  new  east  wing  of  the  Capitol,  Madison; 
Builders  &  Traders'  Exchange,  Milwaukee.  Plans  may  also  be  obtained 
by  depositing  $100  with  Lew  F.  Porter,  secretary  Capitol  Commission, 
which  will  be  refunded  upon  return  of  same.  Proposal  blanks  may  be 
obtained  upon  application  to  the  secretary  of  the  Capitol  Commission. 

MILWAUKEE,  WIS.— The  County  Board  is  considering  the  ques- 
tion of  erecting  a  power  plant  at  the  county  insane  hospital.  A  plant 
of  sufficient  output  to  provide  for  the  Agriculture  School  may  be  in- 
stalled. 

PORTAGE,  WIS.— The  Portage  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  granted 
permission  by  the  Wisconsin  Commission  to  issue  $75,000  in  bonds  and 
$35,000  in  capital  stock,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  to  acquire  the  property 
and   rights    of   the    Por:age   EI.    Co. 

WAUPUN,  WIS.— Proposals  will  be  received  by  the  State  Board  of 
Control,  Washington  Building,  Madison,  Wis.,  until  Aug.  6  for  furnish- 
ing material  and  constructing  power  plant  complete  for  the  Hospital  for 
Criminal  and  Violent  Insane,  at  Waupun,  Wis.,  according  to  plans  and 
specifications  prepared  by  Foeller  &  Schober,  architects,  Green  Bay,  Wis., 
which  are  bn  file  at  the  office  of  the  State  Board  of  Control,  Madisofl; 
office  of  the  warden  of  the  Wisconsin  State  Prison,  Waupun,  and  at  the 
office  of  the  architects,  Green  Bay.  Plans  and  specifications  can  be 
obtained  on  application  to  the  State  Board  of  Control,  for  which  a  de- 
posit  of  $5   will  be   required.      Ralph   E.    Smith   is  president   of  board. 

VANCOUVER.  B.  C,  CAN.— The  construction  of  an  electric  railway 
between  Stave  Falls  and  Port  Moody  is  under  consideration.  E.  H. 
Heaps  is  interested   in   the  project. 

CORNWALL,  ONT..  CAN. — New  and  improved  plans  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  dam  on  the  St.  Lawrence  River  at  Long  Sault,  near  Corn- 
wall, Ont.,  are  practically  completed.  Before  further  steps  are  taken  the 
.  new  plans  will  be  submitted  to  the  engineering  departments  of  both 
Canada  and  the  United  States. 

HARRISTON,  ONT.,  CAN.— J.  W.  Hansay,  of  Palmerston,  is  negotiat- 
ing with  the  Town  Council  for  the  local  electric-light  plant,  which  is  at 
present  closed  down. 

TORONTO,  ONT.,  CAN. — The  judicial  committee  of  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil has  reversed  the  judgment  of  the  Court  of  Appeal  of  Ontario,  de- 
livered on  Feb.  1,  in  the  case  of  the  Toronto  &  Niagara  Pwr.  Co.  The 
Privy  Council  finds  that  the  company  is  entitled  to  erect  transmission 
lines  along  the  streets  of  North  Toronto  for  the  distribution  of  elec- 
tricity without  the  consent  of  the  city  corporation.  The  proposition  in  re- 
gard to  which  the  company  and  the  city  of  Toronto  came  in  conflict  was 
that  of  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  from  Niagara  to  this  city 
carrying  85,000  volts.  The  company  recently  decided  to  devote  $3,000,000 
to  extensions  of  its  system  at  Niagara  whereby  in  addition  to  the  three 
units  being  erected  in  the  power  station  at  Niagara  Falls  four  others  are 
to  be  installed,  bringing  up  the  total  generating  capacity  of  tlie  plant 
to  125.000  fip. 

MOOSE  JAW,  SASK.,  CAN.— Sealed  tenders  will  be  received  by  the 
city  commissioners  until  Aug.  9  for  furnishing  and  installing  a  12-panel 
switchboard,  plans  and  specifications  for  which  may  be  obtained  on  appli- 
cation  to   J.    D.    Peters,    electrical   superintendent. 

REGINA,  SASK.,  CAN. — Tenders  will  be  received  by  the  city  com- 
missioners until  Sept.  14  for  the  following  etjulpm&nt:  One  1500-kw 
steam  turbine  unit,  one  switchboard  panel,  surface  condenser  for  turbine, 
one  25-kw  motor-driven  exciter.  Specifications  may  be  obtained  on 
application  to  the  office  of  the  city  electrician.     A.  W-  Pool  is  city  clerk. 

TAMPICO,  TAMAULIPAS.  MEX.— S.  Pearson  &  Son,  Ltd.,  who 
recently  acquired  the  two  local  electric  plants  and  the  street-railway 
system,  operated  by  mules,  have  submitted  to  the  City  Council  plans 
for  improvements  to  the  electric  plants  and  street  railway  which  will 
involve  an  expenditure  of  about  $3,500,000.  The  work  will  include  the 
erection  of  a  large  power  plant,  conver.ing  the  railway  to  electric 
traction  and  extending  the  lines  to  various  parts  of  the  city.  Plans 
have  also  been  adopted  for  constructing  an  electric  interurban  railway 
from  Tampico  to  La  Barra,  6  miles  distant.  Surveys  are  also  being 
made  by  S.  Pearson  &  Son,  Ltd.,  for  a  proposed  railway  to  extend  from 
Tampico  to  Tuxpam,  a  distance  of  120  miles,  which  will  probably  be 
operated    by    electricity. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  BANK  ELECTRICAL  SUPPLY  COMPANY,  of  New  York, 
N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  Benjamin 
Berkowitz,  Meyer  Bank  and  Pauline  Bank,  all  of  New  York. 

BARLOW'S  ELECTRIC  GARAGE  COMPANY,  of  Newark,  N.  J., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000  to  do  a  general 
automobile  business.  The  incorporators  are;  W.  W.  Scofield,  D.  A. 
Barlow,  233  High  Street,  Newark,  and  William  T.  Benjamin,  10  Cypress 
Street,   Newark. 

THE  W.  W.  DEAN  ELECTRIC.\L  LABORATORY  CO.,  of  Chicago, 
111.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  by  W.  W. 
Dean,  Andrew  J.  Ryan  and  Daniel  Jerks.  The  company  proposes  to  do 
a  general  laboratory,  manufacturing  and  mercantile  business. 

THE  FARMERS'  AUTOM.XTIC  TELEPHONE  COMPANY,  of  Aber- 


deen, S.  D.,  has  filed  articles  of  incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$10,000  tor  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  and  selling  a  telephone  de- 
vice recently  patented  by  F.  E.  Granger,  of  Aberdeen.  The  incorporat-Ts 
are:     E.    Oderkirk,   J.   L.   Zeitlow  and   S.   H.   Collins. 

THE  GARRISON  GASOLINE  ENGINE  SPECIALTIES  CO.MPANY, 
of  Camden,  N.  J.,  has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$125,000  to  manufacture  gasoline  engines.  The  incorporators  are:  F.  A. 
Kuntz,   F.  S.   Saurman  and  F.   S.  Muzzey. 

THE  HALL'S  SANITARY  TELEPHONE  MOUTHPIECE  COM- 
PANY, of  San  Diego,  Cal.,  has  been  chartered  with  a  capital  of  $35,000. 
The  incorporators  are:  J.  Hall,  S.  H.  Hall,  Claude  Woolman,  A.  C. 
Shreve  and  C.   W.    Barber. 

THE  IDEAL  FIRE  DETECTOR  COMPANY,  of  West  Orange,  N.  J., 
has  been  granted  a  charter  wth  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to  manufac- 
ture and  install  fire  detector  apparatus,  electrical  and  mechanical  de- 
vices, etc.  The  incorporators  are:  Charles  H.  Kayser,  West  Orange; 
J.   E.    Florence  and  William   H.   Hampton,   New   York,   N.   Y. 

THE  I-M-S  MOTOR  COMPANY,  of  Esopus,  N.  Y.,  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  H.  Cohen,  140  West  111th 
Street;  Emil  Adler,  41  Convent  Avenue;  J.  J.  Baker,  546  Riverside  Drive, 
all  of  New  York.  The  company  proposes  to  manufacture  motors,  en- 
gines and  machinery. 

THE  INDEPENDENT  POLE  &  CROSS  ARM  COMPANY,  of 
Chicago,  111.,  has  been  incorporated  by  M.  F.  S.  Schmidt,  George  D. 
Kimball  and  Joseph  L.  Green.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000 
and  proposes  to  manufacture  and  deal  in  poles,  cross-arms  and  other 
materials   used   in   the   construction   of   telephone    and   telegraph   lines. 

THE  JENNY  ELECTRIC  STARTER  COMPANY,  of  Indianapolis, 
Ind.,  has  been  incorporated  by  Charles  D.  Jenny,  Russell  Wilson  and 
W.  L.  Taylor.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $100,000  and  proposes 
to  manufacture  and  sell  electrical  and  mechanical  devices  for  starting 
electric   motors,    gasoline,    gas   and   other    e-xplosive   engines. 

THE  LOUISVILLE  GAS  &  ELECTRIC  FIXTURE  COMPANY,  of 
Louisville,  Ky.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000  by 
Edward    T.    Martin,    Harry    D.    Catlett    and    I.    P.    Barnard. 

THE  MONARCH  DIRECT-CURRENT  ELECTRIC  TRANSFORMER 
COMPANY,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  V.,  has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $100,000  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  electrical 
apparatus.  The  incorporators  are:  R.  J.  Ward,  Richmond  Hill;  A.  A. 
Lambert,  and  F.  C.  Lambert,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

THE  NORSTROM  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  111.,  has  been 
incorporated  by  Niles  E.  Norstrom,  J.  Arthur  H.  Johnson  and  Marie 
Hahu.      The  company  is   capitalized   at  $50,000. 

THE  THERMALARM  COMPANY,  of  Charlotte,  N.  C,  has  been 
granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $125,000  for  the  purpose  of 
doing  general  electrical  work  and  manufacturing  and  exploiting  electrical 
appliances.  .The  incorporators  are:  H.  A.  Russ,  J.  P.  Lindsay  and 
others. 

THE  TWINVOLUTE  PUMP  &  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY, 
of  Irvington,  N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $125,- 
000  for  the  purpose  of  doing  a  general  electrical  and  mechanical  engi- 
neering business,  manufacturing  pumps,  etc.  The  incorporators  are 
F.  C.  Prindle,  Washington,  D.  C. ;  L.  M.  Fish.  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  J.  B. 
Ketcham,   New  York,    N.    Y. 


New  Incorporations 

RIVERSIDE,  CAL.— The  Riverside  &  Western  Ry.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  by  Qarence  E.  Conlin, 
Frank   T.    Lyman    and   Alfred   E.    Dennis. 

DOVER,  DEL.— The  Continental  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  has  filed  articles  of 
incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware.  The  company 
is  capitalized  at  $50,000  and  is  authorized  to  do  a  general  utility  busi- 
ness, construct,  maintain  and  operate  railways,  wharfs,  docks,  ferries, 
electric-light  and  gas  plants,  acquire  and  hold  real  estate  and  secure 
franchises   of   all   kinds. 

DANVILLE,  ILL. — The  Crawfordsville  &  Danville  Trac.  Co.  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  for  the  purpose  of 
building  an  electric  railway,  passing  through  the  towns  of  Elams,  Wal- 
lace, Kingman,  Cayuga,  Perrysville  and  Silverworth.  The  route  will 
be  either  47  or  54  miles  in  length.  The  incorporators  are:  John  A. 
Shafer,    J.    F.    Edwards    and    C.    B.    Marshall,    of    Indianapolis. 

FREEPORT,  ILL. — The  Freeport  Ht.  &  Fuel  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $300,000  to  construct  and  operate  a  heat,  light 
and  power  plant.  The  incorporators  are:  E.  D.  Brothers,  T.  J.  Sullivan' 
and  J.    G.    Dee. 

BURKESVILLE,  KY.— The  Burkesville  Lt.  &  Milling  Co.  has  been 
organized  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,800  by  C.  C.  Baker,  C.  R.  Payne  and 
J.   H.    Baker. 

GLADWIN,  MICH. — The  Gladwin  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  filed  articles  of 
incorporation  with  the  Secretary  of  State.  The  company  is  capitalized 
at    $50,000. 

TRAVERSE  CITY,  MICH. — .■\rticles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed 
with  the  Secretary  of  State  by  the  Duck  Lake  Pwr.  Co.  with  a  capital 
stock   of   $16,000. 


288 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  5. 


COLLIERS,  N.  Y.— The  Colliers  Lt.,  Hi.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  for  the  purpose  of  supplying 
gas  and  electricity  here.  The  incorporators  are:  Louis  B.  Grant,  Bart 
T.  Cavanagh,  Peter  C.  Schutrura  and  Arthur  McCausland.  Colliers 
lias  not  a  post  office. 

BUTLER,  PA. — Notice  of  application  for  charters  for  five  new  com- 
panies in  Butler  County  has  been  filed  with  the  S;ate  Department  as 
follows:  The  Summit  Township  El.  Co.,  the  Winfield  Township  El.  Co., 
the  Buffalo  Township  El.  Co.,  the  Jefferson  Township  EI.  Co.  and  the 
Butler  Township  El.  Co.  The  companies  will  operate  in  small  towns 
between  Butler  and  Freeport,  along  the  route  of  the  large  trunk  line 
which  the  West  Penn.  Elec.  Co.,  of  Pittsburgh,  is  erecting  from  its 
power   plant  near   Connellsville. 

PHILADELPHIA.  PA.— The  Folsom  &  Moore  St.  Ry.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $4,000.  The  directors  are: 
Charles  O.  Kruger,  820  Dauphin  Street,  Philadelphia,  president;  G.  W. 
Mantz,  Alexander  Rennick,  Thomas  K.  Bell,  and  Frank  W.  Janney,  all 
of  Philadelphia. 

PITTSBURGH,  PA.— Charters  have  been  granted  by  the  State  De- 
partment to  the  Jefferson  Pwr.  Co.,  the  Valencia  El.  Co.  and  the 
Spring  Hill  Township  El,  Co.  to  operate  in  Butler  County,  with  offices 
in  Pittsburgh.  The  Nicholson  Township  El.  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  The  office  of  the  company  is 
located   in   Pittsburgh. 

STROUDSBURG,  PA —The  Delaware  Water  Gap  El.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  The  directors  are: 
Arthur  D.  Lord,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  treasurer;  Samuel  E.  ShuU  and  H.  S. 
\'an  Etten,   Stroudsburg. 

SWATARA,  PA. — The  Union  El.  Co.  has  been  granted  a  charter  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  electricity  in  Derry 
Township.  The  incorporators  are:  Walter  J.  Bradley,  Philadelphia,  and 
C.  B.  Cassady,  Hershey. 

COLUMBIA,  S.  C. — The  South  Carolina  Development  Co.  has  filed 
articles  of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Maine.  The 
company  is  capitalized  at  $2,000,000  and  proposes  to  develop  and  operate 
extensive  gas  and  electrical  properties  in  South  Carolina.  The  head- 
quarters of  the  company  will  be  located  in  Columbia.  The  incorporators 
are:  Herbert  A.  Wadleigh,  Winchester:  Wilbur  Tusch,  Cranford.  N.  J., 
and  Lincoln  G.  Ashcroft,  Boston,  Mass. 

MOUNTAIN  CITY,  TENN.— The  Roan  Creek  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  organized  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  R.  E.  Donnelly,  R.  H. 
Butler    and   J.   H.    Murphy. 

ALICE,  TEX. — The  Alice  Ice  &  Lt.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a 
capita]  stock  of  $12,000  by  George  T.  Rea,  C.  H.  McShan  and  E.  J. 
Stevens. 

CALDWELL.  TEX.— The  Caldwell  El.  Pwr.  &  Ice  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  M.  L.  Womack,  C.  C. 
Nelms  and   George  M.   Johnson. 

COOPER.  TEX.— The  Delta  El.  &  Mfg.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $15,000  by  R.  T.  Thomas,  M.  Chester  Smith  and 
Charles   Hardy. 

THERESA.  WIS— The  Theresa  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $7,000  by  Nathan  Haessley,  P.  F.  Laugen- 
feld  and  Henry  Felling. 


Trade  Publications 


ELECTRIC  HOISTS.— A  recent  addition  to  the  publications  of  the 
General  Electric  Company  is  one  on  electric  hoists,  which  is  Bulletin 
No.   4939,   superseding   a   previous  bulletin   on    the   same   subject. 

EXHAUST  STEAM. — A  paper  read  before  the  Convention  of  the  Wis- 
consin Engineering  Association  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Bendure,  entitled  "Central 
Station  Heating,  or  Conserving  the  Heat  Unit,'*  has  been  added  to  the 
bulletins  issued  by  the  American  District  Steam  Company,  North  Tona- 
wanda.  N.   Y.      It   is  designated  as  No.    125. 

WATER  SUPPLY  SYSTEM.— Catalog  No.  2022  of  the  Fort  Wayne 
Engineering  &  Manufacturing  Company  is  devoted  to  the  non-storage 
system  of  water  supply.  A  complete  list  of  parts  furnished  with  each 
system  is  given  and  also  a  diagram  of  the  general  plan  of  installation 
for  open  well  and  drilled  well  are  given. 

WIRE  HANDBOOK.— The  Standard  Underground  Cable  Company. 
Pittsburgh,  .Pa.,  has  brought  out  another  edition  of  its  handbook  of 
price  lists,  telegraph  code  and  useful  information  relating  to  bare  and 
insulated  wires  and  cables,  which  contains  a  great  deal  of  general  in- 
formation  of  much   value  to   the  engineer. 

GENERATORS.— The  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, East  Pittsburgh.  Pa.,  through  its  railway  and  lighting  department, 
has  issued  Circular  No.  1088,  on  three- wire  direct-current  generators. 
It  is  fully  illustrated  with  cuts  of  recent  installations,  and  gives  a  partial 
list   of  some   recent   three-wire   installations. 

GENERATOR.— The  Hydrox  electrolytic  hydrogen-oxygen  gas  genera- 
tor is  given  brief  description  and  illustration  in  a  four-page  leaflet  issued 
by  the  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company,  of  Philadelphia.  A  switch- 
board for  charging  ignition  and  lighting  storage  batteries  is  fully  de- 
scribed in  a   four-page  leaflet   issued  by  the  same  company. 


FLASHERS  FOR  ELECTRIC  SIGNS.— The  Reynolds  Electric  Flasher 
Manufacturing  Company,  617  West  Jackson  Boulevard,  Chicago,  gives  in 
Bulletin  No.  21  a  large  variety  of  sign  and  display  sujggestions,  which 
include  all  the  latest  improvements.  Some  very  striking  and  realistic 
advertising  effects  have  been  produced  by  the  use  of  flashers,  as  shown 
in    this   bulletin. 

WIRE. — The  Standard  Underground  Cable  Company,  of  Pittsburgh, 
Pa.,  has  issued  a  S6-page  booklet  on  Colonial  copper-clad  wire.  It  is 
printed  in  copper  and  black  inks,  and  contains  considerable  information 
of  general  interest.  The  various  uses  for  wire  in  telephone  and  tele- 
graph systems,  signal  systems,  transmission  systems  and  others  are 
discussed   in  this  little  book. 

PUMPING  ENGINES.— Catalog  No.  12  of  the  Standard  Pump  & 
Engine  Company,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  tells  its  story  on  Standard  pumping 
engines  and  Standard  water-supply  systems  in  a  succinct  manner,  and 
shows  diagrams  adapted  to  shallow  wells,  cisterns,  lakes  or  rivers  and 
others  adapted  to  pump  from  deep  wells,  operating  with  gas  or  gaso- 
line engines,   electric  motor   or   hand  power. 

STERILIZERS.— "Water  Sterilization  by  Heat"  is  the  title  of  a 
pamphlet  issued  by  the  Forbes  Company,  1234  Callowhill  Street,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.  Considerable  information  on  the  necessity  of  sterilizing 
water  is  given.  A  full-page  cut  showing  principle  of  operation  and  many 
full-page  cuts  of  office  buildings,  hospitals  and  other  public  institutions 
in   which   the   Forbes  apparatus  has  been   installed   are   given. 

NEW  PIPELESS  FIXTURES.— The  Albert  Sechrist  Manufacturing 
Company,  171-7  Logan  Street,  Denver,  Col.,  has  recently  issued  Catalog 
No.  24,  size  9^  in.  by  12^  in.,  describing  its  new  combination  elec- 
troliers which  by  the  use  of  interchangeable  parts  enable  many  changes 
and  alterations  in  design  and  in  number  of  lamps  to  be  easily  and 
quickly  made.  A  page  of  information  addressed  to  the  trade  is  fol- 
lowed by  numerous  line  drawings,  giving  number  and  price  of  each 
electrolier  illustrated.  A  stretcher  containing  fourteen  pictorial  views 
of  the  various  departments  of  the  Sechrist  factory  is  being  mailed  with 
this   catalog. 


Business  Notes 


p.  W.  SOTHMAN  &  COMPANY  have  opened  offices  in  the  Kent 
liuilding,  Toronto,  Canada,  as  consulting  engineers  and  specialists  in 
hydroelectric  development,  high-tension  transmission  and  other  work  con- 
nected with  the  generation  and  dis'lribution  of  electrical  energy.  Asso- 
ciated with  Mr.  Sothman  in  the  company  are  Messrs.  J.  A.  Grundige  and 
F.    P.   Mansbendel. 

MORGAN  ENGINEERING  COMPANY.— The  Minnesota  Steel  Com- 
pany, of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation,  has  placed  a  $500,000  order 
with  the  Morgan  Engineering  Company,  of  Alliance.  Ohio,  for  electric 
cranes.  The  order  is  said  to  be  the  largest  single  crane  order  ever 
placed.  The  machines  are  from  10  tons  to  150  tons  in  rating  and  will 
be  installed  in  the  plants  at  Duluth. 

ALUMINUM  COMPANY  OF  AMERICA.— Mr.  James  W.  Rickey, 
chief  engineer  of  the  Long  Sault  Development  Company  and  the  St. 
Lawrence  Power  Company.  Ltd.,  and  hydraulic  engineer  for  the  Alumi- 
num Company  of  America,  has  transferred  his  office  from  Massena, 
N.  Y.,  to  the  executive  offices  of  the  Aluminum  Company  of  America, 
2402   Oliver   Building,    Pittsburgh,   Pa. 

TERRY  STEAM  TURBINE  COMPANY.— The  Detroit  agency  of 
the  Terry  Steam  Turbine  Company  has  been  discontinued.  The  territory 
has  been  divided  along  the  eighty-fifth  degree  of  longitude.  The  section 
east  of  this  line  is  covered  by  the  Cleveland  office,  of  which  Mr.  L.  G. 
Findlay  is  manager,  while  the  western  section  is  covered  by  the  Chi- 
cago office,   of  which   Mr.   A.   P.   Peck  is  manager. 

FOSTORIA  L.^MP  COMPANY. — The  annual  summer  conference  of 
the  salesmen  of  the  Fostoria  Incandescent  Lamp  Company  was  held 
from  July  14  to  20  at  Ballast  Island,  Ohio,  under  the  general  directon 
of  Mr.  H.  H.  Geary.  Forty-two  men  were  in  attendance,  and  the  meet- 
ings were  very  successful  from  every  standpoint.  .Among  the  speakers 
were  Mr.  Paul  Bauder  and  Mr.  N.  H.  Boynton,  who  explained  the  ex- 
tensive publicity  campaign  which  is  to  be  conducted  during  the  coming 
fall    and   winter    for   the   stimulation    of  sales   of    high-efficiency   lamps. 

TERRY  STE.\M  TURBINE  COMP.\NY.— Recent  orders  for  turbine- 
driven  equipment  placed  with  the  Terry  Steam  Turbine  Company,  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  include  the  following;  From  the  Northern  Texas  Traction 
Company,  placed  through  the  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corporation, 
for  a  100-kw  turbine-driven  generator  set;  from  the  United  Electric 
Light  Company,  Springfield,  Mass.,  a  repeat  order  for  a  boiler-feed  pump 
unit;  from  the  Savannah  (Ga.)  Electric  Company,  for  two  20-hp  pump 
un-ts;  from  the  Consumers'  Power  Company,  St.  Paul.  Minn.,  for  a  25- 
hp  turbo  pump;  from  the  San  Diego  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Cuba,  for 
one  14-hp  and  one  105-hp  pump  unit;  from  the  Los  Angeles  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric Corporation,  for  two  l6-hp  pump  units;  from  the  Meridian  (Miss.) 
Railway  &  Light  Company,  for  a  46-hp  boiler-feed  pump  unit,  and  from 
the  Hillsboro  (III.)  Electric  L'ght  &  Power  Company,  for  a  10-hp  tur- 
bine. 


August  3,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


289 


Directory  of  Electrical  Associ- 
ations, Societies,  Etc. 

Alabama  Light  &  Traction  Association.  Secretary-Treasurer,  Geo. 
S.  Emery,  11  N.  Royal  St.,  Mobile,  Ala.  Annual  convention,  Birming- 
ham, November,   1912. 

American  Electric  Railway  Accountants'  Association.  Secretary,  H. 
E.  Weeks,  Davenport,  la.     Annual  meeting,  Chicago,  October,  1913. 

American  Electric  Railway  .Association.  Secretary,  H.  C.  Donecker. 
29  West  39th  St.,  New  York.     Convention,  Chicago,  Oct.  7-11,  1912. 

American  Electric  Railway  Engineering  Association.  Secretary, 
Norman  Litchfield,  Interborough  Rapid  Transit  Company,  New  York. 

American  Electrochemical  Society.  Secretary,  Prof.  J.  W.  Richards. 
Lehigh  Universty,  South  Bethlehem,  Pa.  Next  general  meeting.  New 
York,    Sept.   9-11,    1912. 

American  Electro-Therapeutic  Association.  Secretary,  Dr.  J.  Wil- 
lard  Travell,  27  East  11th  St.,  New  York.  Convention,  Richmond,  Va., 
Sept.   3-5,   1912. 

American  Institute  of  Consulting  Engineers.  Secretary-Treasurer, 
Eugene  W.  Stern,  103  Park  Ave.,  New  York  City.  The  Council  meets 
the   first   Friday   of   every   month. 

American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary,  F.  L. 
Hutchinson,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York.  Meeting,  second  Friday  of 
each  month,   October-May. 

American  Physical  Society.  Secretary,  Ernest  Merritt,  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, Ithaca,  N.  Y.  Annual  meeting,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  jointly  with 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  December, 
1912. 

Arkansas  Association  Public  Utility  Operators.  Secretary,  W.  J. 
Tharp,   Little   Rock,   Ark. 

Association  of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies.  Secretary,  H.  T. 
Edgar,  Seattle,  Wash.  Annual  meeting.  Hot  Springs,  Va.,  Sept.  10-12, 
1912. 

Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary, 
James  Farrington,  Steubenville,  Ohio.  Annual  convention,  Hotel  Pfister, 
Milwaukee,  Wis.,   Sept.   23-28,   1912. 

Association  of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary-Treasurer, 
Jos.  A.  Andreucetti,  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway,  Chicago.  Annual 
convention,   Auditorium  Hotel,  Chicago,   Oct.   21-26,   1912. 

Association  of  Railway  Telegraph  Superintendents.  Secretary,  P. 
W.  Drew,  112  West  Adams  St.,  Chicago.  Annual  meeting,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
May  20,  1913. 

Colorado  Electric  Club.  Secretary,  C.  F.  Oehlmann.  Meets  every 
Thursday  at  Albany  Hotel,   Denver,  Colo. 

Colorado  Electric  Light,  Power  &  Railway  Association.  Secretary, 
Thomas  F.  Kennedy,  900  15th  St.,  Denver,  Colo.  Annual  meeting,  Glen- 
wood  Springs,  Sept.   12-14,   1912. 

Electric  Club,  Chicago.  Secretary,  W.  M.  Connelly,  1417  Monad- 
nock   Block,   Chicago.      Meets  every   Thursday   noon. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  New  York  State.  Secretary, 
Geo.  W.  Russell,  Jr.,  25  West  42d  St.,  New  York.  Annual  meeting,  Syra- 
cuse, N.  Y.,  January,  J913. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  State  of  Missouri.  Secre- 
tary,  Ernest   S.   Cowie,   1613   Grand   Ave.,    Kansas   City,   Mo. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  Wisconsin.  Secretary,  Albert 
Petermann,  Milwaukee,  Wis.  Summer  meeting,  Waupaca  and  Chain-of- 
Lakes,  Wis.,  .■\ugust   12,  1912. 

Electrical  Credit  Association  of  Chicago.  Secretary,  Frederick  P. 
Vose,    Marquette    Building,    Chicago. 

Electrical  Credit  -Association  of  Philadelphia.  Secretary-Treas- 
urer, John  W.  Crum,  1324  Land  Title  Building,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  Execu- 
tive Committee  meets  second  and  fourth  Thursday  of  each  month. 

Electrical  Salesmen's  -Association.  Secretary,  Francis  Raymond,  125 
Michigan  Ave.,  Chicago.     Annual  meeting,   Chicago,  January  each  year. 

Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Association.  Secretary,  Franklin  Over- 
bagh,  411   South  Clinton  St.,  Chicago,  111. 

Electrical  Trades  Association  of  Canada.  Secretary,  William  R. 
Stavely,  Royal  Insurance  Building,  Montreal,  Can. 

Electrical  Trades  Association  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  Secretary. 
Albert  H.  Elliot,  Harding  Building,  34  Ellis  St.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
Meeting,   San  Francisco,  second  Thursday  of  each  month. 

Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America.  -Assistant  Secretary, 
Harvey  Robinson,  124  West  42d  St.,  New  York.  Meeting,  fourth  Tues- 
day of  each  month.     Annual  convention,  Boston,  Oct.  8-9,  1912. 

Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America,  New  England  Section. 
Secretary,  W.  E.  Holmes,  46  Blackstone  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Meetings 
monthly   upon    notice. 

Electric  Vehicle  Club  of  Boston.  Secretary-Treasurer,  Leavitt  L. 
Edgar,  39  Boylston  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Meeting  every  Wednesday, 
12 -.30  p.  m. 

Empire  State  Gas  &  Electric  Association.  Secretary,  Charles  H. 
B.   Chapin,  Engineering   Societies  Building,  29  West  39th   St.,  New  York. 

Florida  Electric  Light  &  Power  Association.  Secretary,  H.  C. 
Adams,  West  Palm  Beach,  Fla. 

Gas,  Electric  &  Street  Railway  Association  of  Oklahoma.  Secre- 
tary-Treasurer, Prof.   H.   V.    Bozell,   Norman,   Okla. 


Illinois  State  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  H.  E.  Chubhuck, 
Peoria,  111. 

Illuminating  Engineering  Society.  Secretary,  P.  S.  Millar,  Engi- 
neering Societies  Building,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York.  Sections  in 
New  York,  New  England,  Philadelphia  and  Chicago.  Annual  convention, 
Niagara  Falls,  Ontario,  Can.,   Sept.    16-19,    1912. 

Independent  Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  Greater  New 
York.  Secretary,  A.  Newburger,  1153  Myrtle  Ave.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Meetings  second   and   fourth  Wednesdays,   New  Grand   Hotel,   New   York. 

Indiana  Electric  Light  Association.  Secretary,  J.  V.  Zartman,  120 
So.  Meridian  St.,  Indianapolis,  Ind.  Annual  meeting.  Indianapolis,  Oct. 
16-17,    1912. 

International  Association  for  Testing  Materials.  Secretary,  H.  J. 
F.  Porter,  29  West  39th  Street,  New  York.  Sixth  congress.  New  York, 
Sept.   3-7,   1912. 

International  Association  of  Municipal  Electricians.  Secretary, 
C.   R.  George,   Houston,  Tex.     Convention,   Peoria.   111.,  Aug.  26-30,   1912. 

International  Combustion  Engineers'  Association.  President. 
Charles  Kratsch,  416  W.  Indiana  St.,  Chicago.  Meeting,  second  Friday 
of  each  month  at  Lewis  Institute. 

International  Electrochemical  Commission  (international  body 
representing  various  national  electrical  engineering  societies  contributing 
to  its  support.)  General  Secretary,  C.  le  Maistre,  28  Victoria  St.,  West- 
minster, London,  S.  W.,  England.     Next  meeting  at  Berlin  in  1913. 

Institute  of  Radio  Engineers.  Secretary,  E.  J.  Simon,  81  New  St.. 
New  York.     Meeting,  first  Monday  of  each  month. 

Iowa  Electrical  Association.  Affiliated  with  N.  E.  L.  A.  Annual 
convention,  Waterloo,  April  23-24,  1913.  Secretary,  A.  W.  Zahm,  Mason 
City,  la. 

Iowa  Street  &  Interurban  Railway  Association.  Secretary,  H.  E. 
Weeks,   Davenport,   la.      Annual  meeting,  -April,   1913,  Waterloo,  Iowa. 

Kansas  Gas,  Water,  Electric  Light  &  Street  Railway  Association. 
Secretary,  James  D.  Nicholson,  Newton,  Kan.  Annual  meeting,  Manhat- 
tan, Kan.,  Oct.  17-19,  1912. 

Louisiana  Electrical  Contractors'  Association.  Secretary,  W.  H. 
Bower  Spangenberg,  625  Poydras  St.,  New  Orleans,  La.  Meets  second 
Thursday  of  each  month. 

Maine  Electric  Association.  Secretary,  Walter  S.  Wyman,  Water- 
ville,  Maine. 

Minnesota  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  E.  F.  Strong,  Chaska, 
Minn.      Sixth   annual   convention,   March    15-22,    1913. 

Missouri  Electric,  Gas.  Street  Railway  &  Water  Works  Associa- 
tion. Secretary-Treasurer,  P.  W.  Markham,  Brookficld,  Mo.  Next 
convention  at  Mexico,   Mo.,   1913. 

National  .\rm.  Pin  &  Bracket  Association.  Secretary,  J.  B.  Magers, 
Madison,  Ind. 

National  District  He.vting  Association.  Secretary,  D.  L.  Gaskill, 
Greenville,  Ohio. 

National  Electricai  Contractors'  Association  of  the  United 
States.      Secretary,    W.    H.    Morton,    41    Martin    Building,    Utica.    N.    Y. 

National  Electric  Light  Association.  Executive  Secretary,  T.  C. 
Martin,    Engineering   Societies   Building,   33   West    39th   St.,   New   York. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Canadian  Section.  Secretary, 
T.    S.   Young,   220   King  St.   West,  Toronto,   Can. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Commercial  Section.  Secre- 
tary, P.  S.  Dodd,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Eastern  New  York  Section. 
Secretary,   R.    H.   Carlton,   General   Electric  Company,   Schenectady,   N.   Y. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Georgia  Section.  Secretary- 
Treasurer,  I.  S.  Mitchell,  Georgia  Railway  &  Power  Company,  Atlanta, 
Ga.      .-\nnual    convention,    Tybee,    Aug.    15-17. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Michigan  Section.  Secretary, 
Herbert  Silvester,   18  Washington   Boulevard,  Detroit,  Mich. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Mississippi  Section.  Secre- 
tary, A.   H.  Jones,  McComb  City,  Miss. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Nebraska  Section.  Secre- 
tary-Treasurer, S.  J.  Bell,  David  City,  Neb. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  New  England  Section.  Sec- 
retary, Miss  O.  A.  Bursiel,  149  Tremont  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Semi  annual 
convention,   Boston,  Oct.   10-11,  1912. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Northwest  Section.  Secre- 
tary, N.  W.  Brockett,  Pioneer  Building,  Seattle,  Wash.  Annual  conven- 
tion,   Portland,   Ore.,   Sept.    11-13,    1912. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Hydroelectric  and  Power 
Transmission  Section.  Secretary,  Farley  Osgood,  Public  Service  Electric 
Company,   Newark,  N.  J. 

National  Electric  Credit  Association.  Secretary,  Frederic  P. 
Vose,   1343  Marquette  Building,  Chicago. 

National  Electrical  Inspectors'  Association.  Secretary.  W.  L. 
Smith,  Concord,  Mass. 

National  Fire  Protection  Association.  Secretary-Treasurer,  Franklin 
H.  Wentworth,  87  Milk  St.,  Boston.  Mass.  Next  annual  meeting  New 
York,   May  13-15,   1913. 

National  Independent  Telephone  .Association.  Secretary-Treasurer, 
Richard   Valentine,  Janesville,   Wis. 

New    England    Electrical    Credit    Association.      Secretary,    .Alton    F. 


290 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No. 


Tupper,  60  State  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Directors  meet  first  Wednesday  of 
each  month. 

New  England  Street  Railway  Club.  Secretary,  John  J.  Lane,  12 
Pearl  St..  Boston,  Mass.     Meets  last  Thursday  of  each  month. 

New  Orleans  Electrical  Contractors'  Association.  Secretary,  S.  J. 
Stewart,  312  Carondelet  St.,  New  Orleans,  La.  Meetings,  second  and 
fourth  Tuesday  of  each  month. 

New  York  Electrical  Credit  Association  (affiliated  with  the  National 
Electrical  Credit  Association).  Secretary,  Franz  Neilson,  80  Wall  St., 
New   York.      Board   of   Directors  meets  second   Thursday   of   each  month. 

New  York  Electrical  Society.  Secretary,  G.  H.  Guy,  Engineering 
Societies   Building,   3Z   West   39th   St.,  New  York. 

New  York  Electric  Railway  Association.  Secretary,  Charles  C. 
Dietz,  United  Traction  Company,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Ohio  Electric  Light  Association.  Secretary,  D.  L.  Gaskill,  Green- 
ville, Ohio. 

Ohio  Society  of  Mechanical,  Electrical  &  Steam  Engineers.  Sec- 
retary, Prof.  F.  E.  Sanborn.  Ohio  State  University,  Columbus,  Ohio. 
Annual  meeting,  Akron,  Ohio,  Nov.  21  and  22,  1912. 

Pennsylvania    Electric    Association     (State    Section    N.    E.    L.    A.). 


Secretary-Treasurer,  Walter  E.  Long,  1000  Chestnut  St.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Annual  convention,  Bedford  Springs,  Pa.,  Sept.  4-6,  1912. 

Pittsburgh  Electrical  Booster  Club.  Recording  Watt,  George  H. 
Criss,  1806  Union  Bank  Building,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  Meeting,  first  Mon- 
day each  month. 

Rejuvenated  Sons  of  Jove.  Jupiter,  R.  L.  Jaynes,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.; 
Mercury   (Secretary),  E.  C.   Bennett,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education.  Secretary, 
Prof.   H.   H.   Norris,  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,   N.   Y. 

Southwestern  Electrical  &  Gas  Association.  Secretary,  H.  S. 
Cooper,  405  Slaughter  Building,  Dallas,  Texas. 

Vermont  Electrical  Association.  Secretary-Treasurer,  A.  B.  Mars- 
den,  Manchester,  Vt- 

Western  Association  of  Electrical  Inspectors.  Secretary,  W.  S. 
Boyd,  76  West  Monroe  St.,  Chicago,  111.  Convention,  St.  Louis,  Mo.» 
Jan.  28-30,  1913. 

Western  Society  of  Engineers.  Electrical  Section.  Secretary,  J.  H. 
Warder,  1737  Monadnock  Block,  Chicago.  Regular  meeting,  fourth  Mon- 
day of  each  month,  except  January,  July  and  August.  Annual  meeting, 
Tuesday  after  Jan.   1  each  year. 

Wisconsin  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  George  Allison,  Ste- 
phenson Building,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED    STATES    PATENTS    ISSUED   JULY    23,    1912. 
[Prepared   by   Robert   Starr   Allyn,    16   Exchange    Place,    New   York.] 

1.033.085.  DIFFERENTIAL  MICHROPHONE  TRANSMITTER;  J.  J. 
Comer  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed  Oct.  24,  1910.  Carbon  type,  particu- 
laily    for   musical    transmission. 

1.033.086.  DIFFERENTIAL  MICROPHONE  TRANSMITTER;  J.  J, 
Comer,  Chi^cago,  111.  App.  filed  Oct.  24,  1910.  Stationary  interme- 
diate electrode. 

1,033087.     DIFFERENTIAL    MICROPHONE    TRANSMITTER;    J.    J. 

Comer,   Chicago,    111.     App.    filed   Oct.   24,    1910.     Has  a  plurality   of 

sets   of   interposed   electrodes. 
1,033.095.     ROTARY    VARIABLE    CONDENSER;    H.    Gernsback,    New 

York,  N.   Y.     App.  filed  March  1,   1912.     Flexible  sheets  of  dielectric 

and   conducting   material    wound   on   drums. 
1,033.098.     TELEPHONE   RECEIVER;    T.   Halldow,   Elyria,   Ohio.    App. 

filed    Oct.    8,    1908.      Metallic   shell   with   insulating  lining. 
1,033,104.     SUSPENSION     OF    TROLLEY    WIRES;    M.    Jellinek    and 

J.   F.    De  Tovaros,   Budapest,  Austria-Hungary.      App.    filed  April   26, 

1910.      Catenary   suspension  with   sliding  clamp   on   a  grooved   trolley 

w  ire. 
1,033,114.     TELEPHONE    RELAY    OR    REPEATER;    C.     D.     Morris, 

Washington,  D.  C.     App.  filed  Oct.   10,  1910.     A  casing  with  a  lining 

for    magnetic    protection. 
1,033,117.     STARTING    DEVICE    FOR    ELECTRIC    MOTORS;    M.    F. 

Owens    and    A.    T.    Marshall,    Hartford,    Conn.      .^pp.   filed   April    12, 

1910.      A  heavy  fuse   for  starting  and  light   fuses  for   running. 

1.033.122.  ELECTRICALLY  HEATED  COMB;  E.  Schwartz,  Chicago, 
111.  App.  filed  Jan.  2,  1912.  A  handle  with  a  detachable  comb  and 
interchangeable   curling    iron. 

1.033.123.  FUSE  DEVICE;  E.  O.  Schweitzer  and  A.  Herz,  Chicago,  III. 
App.  filed  April  3,  1907.  Has  a  spring  for  crushing  the  fuse  when 
it  softens. 

1,033,126.  METHOD  OF  PRODUCING  ENDOTHERMIC  COM- 
POUNDS FROM  THEIR  COMPONENTS;  W.  Siebert,  Rheinfelden, 
Baden,  Germany.  App.  filed  Feb.  27,  1911.  A  gaseous  component  is 
distributed  in  the  form  of  a  whirl  to  spread  the  arc  in  an  electric 
furnace. 

1,033,135.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  A.  H.  Weiss,  Chicago,  III.  App. 
filed   Nov.   30,   1908.     Simplified  switchboard  wiring. 

1,033,152.  PUSH-BUTTON  SWITCH;  C.  A.  Clark,  Hartford,  Conn. 
App.   filed   Nov.    23,    1909.      Two-button  wall   tvpe. 

1,033,166.  TROLLEY  BASE;  C.  E.  Gierding,  Newark,  N.  J.  App. 
filed    Sept.    6,    1911.      Yielding   abutment   to   minimize   shock. 

1.033.188.  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE;  C.  C.  Mitchell,  Madison- 
ville,  Ohio.  App.  filed  Nov.  7,  1911.  Bracket  for  centering  the 
rotary    element. 

t.033.205.  ELECTRODE;  E.  C.  Speiden,  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.  App. 
filed   May   5,    1911.      Overlapping  plates;   extensible. 

1,033,208.  REAR  SIGNAL  FOR  AUTOMOBILES;  A.  B.  Stites,  Plain- 
field,  N.  J.  App.  filed  Feb.  26.  1912.  The  controller  is  carried  by 
the    steering    shaft. 

1,033,221.  ELECTRIC  MOTOR;  E.  S.  Wetmore,  College  Springs,  la. 
App.    filed   Jan.    26.    1911.      Electromagnet    with    oscillating   armature. 

1,033,228.  DRY-BATTERY  CELL;  J.  W.  Brown,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
App.  filed  Sept.   14,  1906.     Zinc  cup  and  carbon  rod  with  metal  core. 

1,033,243.       CONTROLLING         APPARATUS  FOR  RAILWAY 

SWITCHES  AND  SIGNALS;  H.  W.  Griffin,  New  Y'ork,  N.  Y. 
App.  filed  Dec.  30,  1909.  Controlling  circuit  for  electro-pneumatic 
system. 

1,033.257.  APPLICATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  ELECTROMO- 
TIVE POWER  FOR  USE  IN  STARTING  MACHINERY;  G.  W. 
Mascord,  Barnes,  London,  England.  App.  filed  Jan.  12,  1907. 
Motor   drive    for    printing    presses,    etc. 

1,033,275.  CONNECTION  FOR  RUNNING  INCANDESCENT  LAMPS 
AND  ARC  LAMPS  IN  COMMON;  W.  Schaffer,  Berlin,  Germany. 
App.  filed  Jan,  13,  1910.  .'\lternating-current  system  with  auto- 
transformer    and    resistance    regulator. 

1,033.286.  ELECTRIC  DUMB-WAITER  CONTROL;  M.  Spann  and  I. 
ConcoflE,  Portland,  Ore.  App.  filed  Feb.  27,  1911.  Controlled  from 
the   basement. 

1,033,333.  TROLLEY  WHEEL;  W.  E.  Marshall,  Danville,  III.  App. 
filed   Aug.    26,    1911.      Bridging   guard   arms. 

1,033,335.  TROLLEY  HEAD;  J.  C.  Mattison,  Vancouver,  B.  C,  Can- 
ada. App.  filed  Sept.  22,  1911.  Gives  lateral  freedom  of  motion  to 
the   wheel. 


1.033.340.  ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  S.  Morris,  Hartford,  Conn.  App. 
filed  May  25,  1909.  Driving  connection  between  the  handle  and 
the    spindle    of    a    rotary    snap    switch. 

1.033.341.  ELECTRIC  DANGER  .-VLARM  FOR  RAILROADS:  P.  W. 
Mosher,  Stockton,  Cal.  App.  filed  July  26,  1911.  Third-rail  alarm 
circuit. 

1.033.344.  TROLLEY  WHEEL;  H.  Prack,  Ottawa,  III.  App.  filed  July 
3,    1911.      Lubricating    construction. 

1.033.345.  TROLLEY  WHEEL;  H.  Prack,  Ottawa,  III.  App.  filed  Aug. 
7,    1911.      Improvement    on    Patent    No,    1,033,344. 

1,033,347.     ELECTRIC    LAMP;    W.    A.    Richardson,    Chicago,    111.      App. 

filed  July  3,  1911.     Automatic  cut-out  for  a  filament  lamp. 
1.033,357.     ELECTRICAL  SYSTEM  OF   DISTRIBUTION-   W.   A.  Tur- 

bayne,    Lancaster,    N.    Y.      -App.    filed    Feb.    23,    1910.      Regulation   of 

compensatory    storage-battery    systems. 
1,033,379.     DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE;  J.  Burke,   Erie,  Pa.  App. 

filed    Sept.     23,     1907.       Stamped    laminated    segments    arranged    for 

ventilation. 
1,033,384.     HIGH-VOLTAGE    PROTECTIVE    DEVICE;    N.    J.    Conrad 

and    E.    O.    Schweitzer,    Chicago,    III.      .-Xpp.    filed    Sept.    8,    1910.      A 

fuse  protected  by  cork  in  a  bath  of  carbon  detrachloride. 
1,033.409.     APPARATUS   FOR   MEASURING   THE    R.\TIO   OF   TWO 

ELECTRIC  CURRENTS;   L.  Joly,  Paris,   France,      .^pp.   filed  Marcn 

14.    1911.      .\   magnet    with   a   core   and    oppositely   disposed   coplaner 

coils- 
1,033,435.     ART  OF  ELECTROTYPING;  M.  A.  McKee,  Westerly,  R.  1. 

App.   filed   Nov.    19,    1910.      Depositing  an   additional   copper    backing. 

1.033.473.  ELECTRICAL  MAKE-AND-BREAK  CIRCUIT  DEVICE.  W. 
S.  Ryan,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Dec.  14,  1910.  Motor-driven 
commutator    with    projecting   interrupter. 

1.033.474.  CONNECTIONS  FOR  REGULATING  THE  SPEED  OF 
ALTERNATING-CURRENT  COMMUTATOR-MOTORS;  M. 
Schenkel,  Charlottenburg,  Germany.  App.  filed  Sept.  6,  1911.  Has 
a  plurality   of  sets   of  shifting   brushes. 

1.033.508.  APPARATUS  FOR  CONTROLLING  THE  CHARGE  OF 
STORAGE  BATTERIES;  J.  L.  Woodbridge,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  App. 
filed   Oct.    11,    1909.      Automatic   interruption    on    charging. 

1.033.509.  SYSTEM  OF  ELECTRICAL  DISTRIBUTION;  J.  L.  Wood- 
bridge,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  App.  filed  Dec.  6,  1909.  For  relieving 
storage    batteries    in    combined    distribution    system. 

1,033,519.     ELECTRIC    MOTOR-DRIVE    MECHANISM;    C.    P.    Banz- 

hof,    Lancaster,    Pa.      App.    filed   July    3,    1911.      Control    for    sewing 

machine    drive,    etc. 
1,033,529.     THERMOSTATICALLY       CONTROLLED       APPARATUS; 

M.   J.   Brierty,   Chicago,   III.      App.   filed   Dec.   22,    1911.     For   heating 

and    ventilating    svsfems. 

1.033.542.  ELECTRICALLY  OPERATED  VALVE;  G.  W.  Collin, 
Bridgeport,  Conn.  App.  filed  July  17,  1909.  Steam  admission  valves 
for    car    heating,    etc. 

1.033.543.  ELECTRIC  SOLENOID;  G.  W.  Collin,  Bridgeport,  Conn. 
App.   filed  June    1,    1910.     For  controlling  valves,   etc. 

1,033,560.     LIGHTING   SYSTEM   FOR  VEHICLES;    L.   R.  Duval,   New 

York,    N.    Y.     App.    filed    June    1,    1910.     Motor-driven    dynamo    for 

side,    search    and    tail    lights. 
1,033,587.     DEVICE      FOR     PASSING      CABLES     THROUGH     PIPE 

LINES;    B.    B.    Hodgman,    East   Orange,   N.   J.      App.   filed    April   15. 

1910.      A   shaft   with  a   two-compartment   cup. 
1,033,619.     TELEPHONE  ATTACHMENT:  J.   E.  Ross,  Springfield,  Mo. 

App.   filed    Aug.    29,    1911.      Ear-tube   attachments    for   a    receiver. 
1,033,629.     METHOD    OF    AND    APPARATUS     FOR     AMPLIFYING 

VARYING   ELECTRIC   CURRENTS;   L.   W.    Southgate,   Worcester, 

Mass.     App.  filed  Oct.  26,  1908.     Polyphase  inductor  alternator  with 

varying   field. 

1.033.725.  AUTOMATIC  TELEPHONE  EXCHANGE;  E.  Neuhold, 
Friednau,  Berlin,  Germany.  App.  filed  April  2,  1910.  Disconnecting 
and    restoring    devices. 

1.033.726.  ELECTRIC  H-\IR  COMB;  T.  T.  Niblett  and  W.  H.  Cadraan, 
Stockwell,  and  London,  England.  App.  filed  May  13,  1912.  Mag- 
neto operated  by  oscillation. 

1,033,754.  INCLOSED  ELECTRIC  FUSE;  L.  B.  Buchanan.  Woburn, 
Mass.     App.   filed  Jan.    11,    1910.      Cartridge  type  with   indicator. 

1,033,762.  ELECTRODE  FOR  ILLUMINATING  PURPOSES;  I.  Lad- 
ofF.  Cleveland,  Ohio.  App.  filed  May  3,  1906.  Compressed  and 
partially    fused    ilmenite    ore. 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,   SATURDAY,   AUGUST   lo,   1912. 


No.  6. 


PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  BY 

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Copyright,   1912,  by  McGraw  Publishing   Company. 
Entered  at  the  New  York  Post  Office  as  Second  Class  Mail  Matter. 


The  circulation  of  Electrical   World  for  1911   was  965,500.     Of  this  issue 
17,500  copies  are  printed. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY.  AUGUST  10,  1912. 


CONTENTS. 

Editorials    291 

Co-operation   Between  British  and  American  Illuminating;  Engineering 

Societies    294 

Comparison  of  Chicago  Electrolysis  Ordinance  and  British   Board  of 

Trade     Regulations 294 

Electrical    Progress  in   the  Argentine  Republic 295 

Multiple-Voltage     Electric-Traction     Systems 295 

Meeting  of   Central-Station    Managers 296 

Hearings   on    Baltimore    Central-Station    Rates 296 

Bureau    of   Fire   Prevention   in   Chicago 296 

Rate    Revision    in    Chicago 297 

Graduate  Work  in   Engineering  at   the   University  of  Illinois 297 

Hydroelectric   Enlargements  at   Turners   Falls,   Mass 297 

Electrical  Construction  in  Boston 297 

The    Southern    Sierras   Power    Company 295 

Public   Service  Commission   News 299 

Current    News    and    Notes 300 

Auxiliary    Steam    Station    at    Rome 3O3 

A  Study  of  the  Light  from  the  Mercury  Arc.     By  Herbert  E.  lives..   304 
An  Investigation   of  Transmission-Line  Phenomena  by   Means  of  Hy- 
perbolic  Functions.      By   A.   E.    Kennelly 3O6 

The    Propagation    of    Electric    Energy    by     Standing    and    Traveling 

Waves.      By    John    F.    H.    Douglas.- 311 

Central-Station     Service    on    Ships *   3.. 

Special    Rates    for    Hydroelectric    Service ''    -i  1  . 

Oft-Peak     Schedule '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'."    3 14 

Progressive  Policies  in  the  Management  of  Small  Central  Stations..      314 

Emergency   Electrical    Pumping *  '  *    ,  .  _ 

Installing    Central-Station    Service    in    a    Dyeing    Plant  311; 

Wiring  Old  Houses.— III.      By  Terrell   Croft '.'.'.'.'.'.".  3)7 

Tungsten    Lamps   for   General    Street    Lighting ,,„ 

Combination    White-Way,    Police-Call    and    Fire-.Marm    Posts    at    Fort 

Worth     

Recent    Telephone    Patents ^Zj! 

Letter  to  the  Editors:  ^^" 

Residence    Rates 

Digest  of   Current   Electrical   Literature ^^^ 

Book     Review ^21 

New   Apparatus   and    Appliances ' ,* ^^^ 

Industrial    and    Financial    News ^^^ 

Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents ,„ ' ^•"' 

•' 338 


THE  AMERICAN  INVADER  IN  ROME. 

A  brief  account  of  the  new  San  Paolo  steam-turbine  plant 
in  Rome  gives  one  an  extraordinarily  vivid  idea  of  the  way 
in  which  American  enterprise  has  pushed  ahead  even  in  the 
oldest  and  most  conservative  parts  of  the  Continent.  The 
American  engineer  casually  visiting  this  power  plant  on 
the  banks  of  the  Tiber  would  feel  himself  singularly  at 
home.  The  turbines,  the  electric  apparatus,  the  boilers,  the 
transformers  and  even  the  general  layout  of  the  plant 
would  bring  back  the  sights  and  sounds  of  his  native 
American  city.  In  fact,  the  San  Paolo  plant  is  built  on 
e.xactly  the  lines  of  current  practice  in  America,  repre- 
senting the  latest  ideas  in  steam  generating  and  utilizing 
equipments.  Of  the  three  turbo-generators  two  are  of  the 
ordinary  vertical  Curtis  type  and  the  third  one  is  of  the 
latest  horizontal  pattern  of  the  same  general  type.  The 
boiler  house  in  its  arrangement  and  equipment  might  be 
in  Bufifalo,  New  Orleans  or  Seattle  just  as  well  as  in  Rome, 
e.xcept  for  slight  differences  of  machine  design  and  the 
name  plates. 

The  Italian  electrical  engineers  have  been  wonderfully 
clever  in  their  utilization  of  the  hydraulic  resources  of 
Italy,  and  Rome  has  long  been  supplied  with  energy  from 
hydroelectric  plants;  but  in  Italy  as  here  the  needs  for 
electric  service  have  outrun  the  capacity  of  conveniently 
available  streams.  Hence  the  erection  of  the  present  plant. 
The  adoption  of  a  steam  auxiliary  modeled  closely  after 
recent  American  practice  is,  after  all,  perhaps  less  the 
result  of  the  invasion  of  American  ideas  than  it  is  a  repay- 
ment of  the  debt  which  America  owes  to  the  Continent. 
We  have  profited  greatly  by  the  research  work  and  the 
engineering  prowess  of  our  transatlantic  colleagues.  It  is 
only  fitting  that  we  should  pay  them  back  in  their  own  good 
coin  by  thus  providing  an  example  which  represents  a 
standard  of  not  onlv  American  but  international  value. 


GROUND-RETURN  DISTRIBUTION  SYSTEMS. 

A  quarter  of  a  century's  progress  in  the  electrical  arts, 
which  has  been  so  potent  a  factor  in  the  development  of 
our  great  cities,  has  by  no  ineans  been  without  its  in- 
fluence on  country  life.  Long  ago  the  telephone  destroyed 
the  farmer's  isolation  and  by  its  subtle  annihilation  of 
distances  drove  back  the  narrow  horizon  of  his  existence 
and  brought  the  pulse  of  civilization  to  his  door.  The 
transformation  continued  with  new  vigor  as  the  interurban 
electric  railway  added  cheap  and  efficient  transportation  to 
the  luxury  of  quick  communication.  It  then  remained  for 
the  central  station  to  weave  its  network  across  the  fields 
from  town  to  country  and  supply  the  farmer's  last  need, 
an  abundance  of  cheap  energy  for  lighting,  heating  and 
labor-saving   motor    service.      This    last    development    the 


292 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6. 


central  stations  of  the  country  have  been  engaged  in  but 
a  short  time,  comparatively,  and  numerous  engineering 
problems  of  a  semi-economic  nature  await  solution. 

The  distribution  problem  presents  several  difficulties, 
notably  in  the  direction  of  reducing  the  investment  charges 
and  eliminating  the  likelihood  of  interruptions  to  service. 
A  policy  of  co-operation  between  the  supply  company  and 
its  rural  customers,  leading  to  concessions  in  right-of-way 
privileges  and  assistance  in  the  matter  of  supplying  poles 
and  furnishing  free  labor  to  reduce  construction  costs,  has 
been  found  extremely  helpful.  But  the  cost  of  line  conduc- 
tors is  frequently  a  serious  matter,  especially  in  the  case 
of  pioneer  development,  when  the  expected  returns  on 
the  investment  barely,  if  at  all,  justify  the  venture.  Hence 
the  expedient  of  adopting  a  ground  return  for  the  primary 
distribution  and  cutting  in  half  the  conductor  investment 
carries  a  strong  argument.  Two  recent  instances  of  this 
practice  have  been  mentioned  in  these  columns,  one  on 
page  259  of  the  issue  of  Aug.  3  and  another  on  page  1187 
of  the  issue  of  June  i.  No  danger  of  electrolysis  arises 
because  alternating-current  supply  is  invariably  employed, 
usually  at  60  cycles.  But  the  possibility  of  creating  in- 
ductive disturbances  of  serious  magnitude  in  parallel  tele- 
phone and  telegraph  lines  in  the  neighborhood  is  a  live 
issue. 

As  is  well  known,  the  secondary  induced  emf  in  a  parallel 
circuit,  due  to  electromagnetic  induction,  increases  rapidly 
as  the  phase  wires  of  the  primary  or  inducing  circuit  have 
their  separation  increased,  and  becomes  a  maximum  when 
one  of  the  conductors  is  removed  entirely  and  an  earth 
return  substituted  in  its  place.  Of  course,  the  induced  emf 
due  to  such  induction,  with  a  given  spacing,  varies  with 
the  primary  current,  or  load,  but  the  electrostatic  induction 
is  present  continuously,  with  constant  magnitude,  so  long 
as  the  primary  is  energized.  Examples  of  severely  induc- 
tive circuits  may  be  cited  in  constant-current  series  lines 
employed  for  street  lighting  and  laid  out  on  the  open-loop 
plan,  and  again  in  the  trolley  circuits  of  single-phase  alter- 
nating-current traction  systems,  particularly  the  latter  type. 
The  defects  in  constant-current  series  circuits  of  the  open- 
loop  type  were  recognized  by  the  overhead  line  construc- 
tion committee  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.,  and  the  closed-loop  type 
is  now  recommended  by  that  body  as  the  best  practice. 
When  the  interests  of  a  central-station  company  and  a 
telephone  or  telegraph  company  thus  become  involved,  the 
third  or  public  interest  requires  that  neither  of  the  former 
interests  should  place  an  undue  burden  on  the  other,  for 
the  public  is  equally  concerned  in  efficient  central-station 
service  and  efficient  communication — a  broad  principle 
which  in  substance  already  has  been  laid  down  in  elec- 
trolysis cases,  as  affecting  electric  railway  and  water  or 
gas  companies.  The  burden  imposed  on  a  telephone  com- 
pany operating  its  lines  parallel  to  a  ground-return  dis- 
tribution system  will  at  once  be  reduced  to  a  bearable  de- 
gree by  installing  the  missing  phase  wire  and  placing  it  in 
service.  The  expedient  of  a  ground  return  for  the  sake  of 
economy,  or  any  other  reason  except  a  serious  emergency, 
ought  therefore  to  be  adopted  with  the  utmost  caution,  if 
at  all,  and  the  quest  for  economy  should  turn  toward  a 
cheaper  type  of  conductor  or  higher  line  pressures. 


WHITE  LIGHT  FROM  THE  MERCURY  ARC. 

In  another  column  Dr.  Herbert  E.  Ives  gives  the  results 
of  a  practical  investigation  of  the  results  obtainable  from 
Dr.  Peter  Cooper  Hewitt's  beautifully  ingenious  fluorescent 
light  transformer.  It  is  well  known  that  by  the  use  of  a 
certain  amount  of  light  from  incandescent  lamps  in  connec- 
tion with  the  mercury  arc  a  light  at  least  approximately 
white  is  obtamable.  The  improved  color  is  reached  through 
the  addition  of  the  superabundance  of  red  rays  conspicuous 
in  the  spectra  of  incandescent  lamps  of  the  usual  kinds.  In 
terms  of  the  readings  obtained  with  the  colorimeter  used  by 
Dr.  Ives  the  incandescent  lamp  gives  generally  speaking  a 
little  less  than  twice  as  much  red  in  the  spectrum  as  is 
needed  to  provide  true  white.  On  the  other  hand,  it  gives 
only  a  little  over  one-fifth  the  amount  of  blue  required  for 
the  normal  white  of  the  colorimeter.  Now,  the  mercury  arc 
provides  an  excess  of  blue  and  almost  no  red,  so  that  the 
mixture  of  its  light  with  that  of  incandescent  lamps  gives  a 
fairly  well-balanced  composition.  Dr.  Ives,  who  did  much 
work  on  such  mixtures,  has  recently  been  studying  the 
results  obtained  from  the  light  transfer.  The  mixture 
process  is  a  beautifully  additive  one,  but  the  light  trans- 
former, in  virtue  of  producing  its  red  component  at  the 
expense  chiefly  of  the  green  mercury  line,  subtracts  part 
of  the  original  light  in  order  to  add  the  component  of  long 
wave-length. 

The  fluorescent  reflector  when  of  sufficient  area  adds 
enough  energy  in  the  red  to  the  final  light  to  bring  the 
resultant  red  component  fully  up  to  normal  for  a  white 
light.  Incidentally  it  lowers  the  proportion  of  green  very 
materially  and  that  of  blue  somewhat,  bringing  the  former 
below  normal  and  the  latter  not  quite  down  to  normal.  The 
total  result  with  the  fluorescent  reflector  is  to  produce  a 
light  which  in  its  colorimetric  composition  lies  reasonably 
near  to  white.  There  is,  however,  the  curious  distinction 
that,  owing  to  the  deficiency  in  green  rays  when  the  red  is 
brought  to  the  normal  by  fluorescence,  the  resultant  tint  is 
a  slightly  pinkish  white,  which,  as  Dr.  Ives  remarks,  "is  in 
the  direction  in  which  cloudy  and  smoky  city  daylight  most 
consistently  varies  from  the  average  daylight  of  these 
measurements."  In  other  words,  the  addition  of  fluores- 
cent light,  accompanied  as  it  is  by  the  diminution  of  the 
green,  does  not  result  in  a  theoretically  pure  white,  but  at 
its  best  in  white  faintly  tinged  with  pink.  Such  a  light,  as 
Dr.  Ives  shows,  is  not  perfect  for  color  matching,  although 
the  general  effect  is  excellent. 

It  would  be  an  interesting  corollary  to  Dr.  Ives'  re- 
search to  follow  up  the  investigation  using  as  the  starting 
point  not  the  ordinary  glass-tube  mercury-arc  lamp  but  the 
quartz-tube  mercury-arc  lamp.  The  light  from  the  latter  is 
nmch  more  nearly  white  than  is  that  from  the  former, 
possessing  not  enough  red,  but  a  very  material  amount, 
together  with  a  large  amount  of  green  and  blue.  Hence 
when  used  with  the  light  transformer  the  proportion  of 
green  rays  should  be  far  more  nearly  normal  than  in  the 
case  of  the  ordinary  mercury  tube,  since  less  has  to  be 
subtracted  from  the  green  rays  to  add  the  necessary  amount 
of  red.  A\'hen  using  a  suitable  area  of  transformer  the  re- 
sult ought  to  be  a  light  which  in  colorimetric  composition 
approximates    very    closely    average    daylight,    much    more 


August  ro,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


293 


closely  than  do  any  of  the  illuminants  mentioned  by  Dr.  Ives. 
It  does  not  follow,  of  course,  that  the  light  from  the  quartz- 
tube  mercury-arc  lamp  with  fluorescent  reflector  would  be 
entirely  satisfactory  for  color  matching,  but  the  source 
would  be  peculiarly  interesting  to  investigate  as  a  step 
toward  obtaining  white  light  from  a  source  giving  light 
having  discontinuous  spectra. 


INCREASING  THE  RANGE  OF  SHUNT- VOLTAGE  REGULATION  IN  DIRECT- 
CURRENT  GENERATORS. 

A  matter  of  considerable  practical  importance  in  the 
operation,  of  direct-current  shunt  generators  is  that  relating 
to  the  range  of  voltage  regulation  that  can  be  obtained  by 
variation  of  the  shunt-field  current.  As  is  well  known, 
a  shunt  generator  driven  at  rated  speed  will  give  its 
maximum  no-load  voltage  when  its  shunt-field  rheostat 
is  completely  short-circuited.  Commencing  with  this  maxi- 
mum voltage,  the  voltage  can  be  reduced  by  successive  steps 
as  resistance  is  cut  into  the  field  rheostat.  When,  however, 
the  voltage  has  been  reduced  to  such  a  point  that  the  satura- 
tion curve  becomes  a  straight  line,  further  steps  of  increase 
in  shunt-field  resistance,  if  there  is  room  left  for  them  in 
the  rheostat,  may  be  useless,  since  the  voltage  becomes 
unstable  and  may  collapse  to  zero. 

Shunt-field  generator  operation  can  be  represented 
graphically  by  plotting  the  saturation  curve,  or  external 
characteristic  curve,  of  the  machine  with  terminal  volts  as 
ordinates  and  shunt-field  currents  as  abscissas.  On  this 
diagram  is  drawn  through  the  origin  an  ascending  straight 
line  such  that  it  represents  at  any  ordinate  the  voltage 
required  to  send  the  abscissa  field  current  through  the  total 
resistance  of  the  shunt-field  circuit,  including  that  of  the 
rheostat.  Where  this  straight  line  intersects  the  character- 
istic curve  is  the  stable  point  of  automatic  voltage  operation 
at  the  speed  considered.  If,  now,  more  resistance  is  in- 
serted in  the  field  rheostat,  the  straight  line  is  made  steeper 
and  must  intersect  the  characteristic  at  a  point  of  lower 
voltage.  The  first  consideration  for  effective  automatic 
regulation  at  the  lower  range  of  voltage  is  that  the  satura- 
tion curve  shall  bend  over  and  not  be  straight  in  the  region 
considered. 

Mr.  P.  Amsler  recently  proposed  that  the  curvature  of  the 
lower  range  of  the  saturation  curve  be  brought  about  by  so 
constructing  the  iron  for  a  very  short  distance  in  the  polar 
faces  that  this  portion  of  the  magnetic  circuit  soon  reaches 
saturation  and  yet  the  total  extra  reluctance  at  high  fluxes 
is  not  e.xcessive.  That  is  to  say,  stability  of  autom.-tic  regu- 
h.tion  in  the  lower  range  of  voltages  is  effected  at  the 
expense  of  some  extra  reluctance  and  excitation  in  the 
upper  range.  In  cases  where  this  extra  excitation  is  not 
detrimental  the  added  range  of  regulation  is  pure  gain. 
The  relative  advantage  of  economy  of  excitation  at  the 
high  voltages  and  stability  of  automatic  regulation  at  the 
lew  voltages  is  for  the  designer  to  determine,  but  the  method 
outlined  in  the  article  has  its  distinct  merits.  We  believe, 
however,  that  a  siniiter  pole-face  construction  of  projecting 
laminas  has  been  used  in  the  past  for  the  purpose  of 
improving  commutation. 


ENERGY  TRANSMISSION-LINE  PHENOMENA. 

Of  the  many  methods  for  studying  the  performance  of 
long-distance  energy  transmission  lines  the  best  thus  far 
developed  from  a  theoretical  point  of  view  is  the  so-called 
hyperbolic  treatment,  while  from  an  experimental  viewpoint 
the  most  satisfactory  method  is  one  involving  the  use  of  an 
artificial  line  having  constants  equivalent  to  those  of  the 
actual  line  represented.  Our  present  issue  contains  two 
remarkably  convincing  articles  dealing  with  both  phases  of 
this  general  subject,  one  by  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly,  who  has 
done  excellent  pioneer  work  in  advocating  the  application 
of  hyperbolic  functions  to  electrical  engineering  problems, 
and  the  other  by  Mr.  John  F.  H.  Douglas,  who  describes  an 
interesting  series  of  tests  on  long  artificial  transmission 
lines  which  confirm  the  theories  and  deductions  of  Dr. 
Kennelly.  Both  of  these  articles  may  well  be  considered  as 
valuable  elaborations  and  verifications  of  the  combined 
theoretical  and  experimental  investigation  described  by 
Messrs.  A.  E.  Kennelly  and  H.  Tabossi  in  our  issue  dated 
Feb.  17,  1912. 

We  are  so  accustomed  to  the  use  of  Ohm's  law,  as  applied 
most  conveniently  to  direct-current  circuits,  and  we  are  so 
prone  to  carry  Ohm's  law  reasoning  to  the  behavior  of 
alternating-current  circuits  of  every  description  that  marked 
discrepancies  between  the  behavior  of  alternating-current 
and  direct-current  circuits  surprise  us.  The  behavior 
of  alternating-current  lines  containing  distributed  induct- 
ance and  capacity  is  always  capable  of  bringing  surprises  to 
the  observer  whose  horizon  has  been  bounded  by  the  great 
law  of  Ohm.  It  is  in  connection  with  the  study  of  such 
phenomena  that  the  hyperbolic  treatment  becomes  most 
markedly  advantageous.  A  striking  demonstration  of  this 
fact  is  given  in  the  article  by  Dr.  Kennelly  in  this  issue. 
In  the  article  in  our  issue  for  Feb.  17,  1912,  the  experi- 
mental investigation  of  transmission-line  phenomena  was 
carried  to  about  one-quarter  wave-length ;  that  is,  to  a 
distance  equal  to  one-quarter  the  length  of  the  wave  that 
develops  on  it  in  operation.  An  increasing  voltage  was 
found  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  line,  attributable, 
in  simple  terms,  to  the  passing  of  the  leading  charging  cur- 
rent through  the  inductance  of  the  line.  The  investigation 
by  Mr.  Douglas  recorded  in  this  issue  shows  that  when  the 
line  is  so  "loaded"  as  to  increase  its  length  to  a  half-wave 
all  of  the  terminal  troubles  disappear  and  the  regulation  of 
pressure,  instead  of  being  distressingly  bad,  is  better  than 
if  the  line  were  operated  by  direct  current.  Moreover,  the 
regulation  of  voltage  is  much  better  for  inductive  than 
non-inductive  load. 

Aside  from  the  question  as  to  practical  means  for 
imitating  half-wave  behavior  on  actual  lines,  the  conception 
of  making  a  line  supply  its  own  charging  current  by  half- 
wave  action,  without  making  the  generator  deliver  it,  is 
very  fascinating.  It  begins  to  be  evident  that,  what- 
ever particular  means  may  be  best  to  adopt  in  practice, 
the  electrical  engineer  will  be  able  to  transmit  energy  to 
distances  much  greater  than  at  present  whenever  the 
economic  demand  shall  make  it  necessary  to  do  so.  Experi- 
mental researches  like  those  described  in  the  article  are  of 
great  value  in  clearing  up  the  hazy  conceptions  which  still 
e.xist  concerning  these  rather  complex  phenomena. 


294 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6. 


CO-OPERATION  BETWEEN  BRITISH  AND   AMERI- 
CAN ILLUMINATING  ENGINEERING 
SOCIETIES. 


At  a  special  meeting  of  the  New  York  Section  of 
the  Ilkiminating  Engineering  Society  held  on  Aug.  i 
■an  address  entitled  "A  Resume  of  Progress  in  Illuminating 
Engineering  in  Europe"  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Leon  Gaster, 
honorary  secretary  of  the  (British)  Illuminating  Engineer- 
ing Society.  Mr.  Gaster  outlined  the  work  accomplished  by 
the  society  during  the  past  few  years.  It  has  paid  particular 
attention  to  the  subjects  of  glare,  the  measurement  and 
definition  of  illumination,  the  illumination  of  schools,  street 
lighting  and  illuminating  engineering  education.  The  work 
of  the  society  has  been  recognized  in  the  official  publica- 
tions of  the  government,  and  the  importance  of  illumination 
in  the  prevention  of  accidents  is  being  appreciated  through- 
out all  British  industries.  Mr.  Gaster  claimed  that  the 
membership  of  the  (British)  Illuminating  Engineering 
Society  is  international,  and  that  the  society  should  be 
recognized  as  international.  By  reason  of  the  location  of 
its  headquarters  in  London,  the  British  society  finds  itself 
in  an  excellent  position  to  act  as  the  connecting  link  be- 
tween the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society  in  the  United 
States  and  European  technical  societies  with  which  it  may 
have  dealings.  As  the  official  representative  of  the  (Brit- 
ish) Illuminating  Engineering  Society,  Mr.  Gaster  asked 
for  the  co-operation  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering  So- 
ciety in  the  United  States. 

The  subject  brought  forward  by  Mr.  Gaster  was  dis- 
cussed by  Mr.  .\lbert  I.  ^farshall.  Dr.  Clayton  H.  Sharp, 
Mr.  L.  B.  Marks,  Mr.  Norman  Macbeth,  Dr.  Herbert  E. 
Ives  and  Mr.  D.  MacFarlan  Moore.  Dr.  Sharp  explained 
that  when  the  (British)  Illuminating  Engineering  Society 
was  organized  the  existing  Illuminating  Engineering  Society 
sent  a  cablegram  expressing  its  desire  to  co-operate  with  the 
new  society  and  it  has  continued  to  maintain  the  same 
attitude.  The  Illuminating  Engineering  Society  in  this 
country  encounters  difficulty  in  obtaining  government  co- 
operation in  view  of  the  fact  that  each  state  has  its  own 
laws  and  set  of  officers,  while  the  whole  of  England  is  con- 
trolled by  one  set  of  laws  and  officers.  It  w-as  pointed  out 
in  the  discussion  that  while  much  progress  in  the  theory 
of  illumination  has  been  made  in  England,  yet  the  actual 
examples  of  modern  lighting  installations  are  few  in  num- 
ber. In  America,  on  the  other  hand,  the  improvement  in 
illumination  practice  has  been  quite  general,  especially  in 
street  lighting. 


COMPARISON  OF  CHICAGO  ELECTROLYSIS  ORDI- 
NANCE AND  BRITISH  BOARD  OF  TRADE 
REGULATIONS. 


The  electrolysis  ordinance  recently  passed  by  the  City 
Council  of  Chicago,  as  already  noted  in  these  columns,  is 
of  special  interest  because  it  contains  rather  severe  re- 
quirements, as  judged  from  precedents  already  created  in 
American  cities,  and  compares  rather  favorably  with  the 
British  Board  of  Trade  regulations.  Section  I  of  the 
Chicago   ordinance   is   as    follows: 

"All  uninsulated  electrical  return  circuits  must  be  of 
such  current-carrying  capacity  and  so  arranged  that  the 
difference  of  potential  between  any  two  points  on  the  return 
will  not  exceed  the  limit  of  12  volts,  and  between  any  two 
points  on  the  return  1000  ft.  apart  within  i  mile  radius  of 
the  City  Hall  will  not  exceed  the  limit  of  i  volt,  and  be- 
tween any  two  points  on  the  return  700  ft.  apart  outside  of 
^tjijs  l-mile-radius  limit  will  not  exceed  the  limit  of  i  volt. 
In  addition  thereto  a  proper  return-conductor  system  must 
be  so  installed  and  maintained  as  to  protect  all  metallic 
work  from  electrolysis  damage. 


"The  return-current  amperage  on  pipes  and  cable  sheaths 
must  not  be  greater  than  0.5  amp  per  pound-foot  for  calked 
cast-iron  pipe,  8  amp  per  pound-foot  for  screwed  wrought- 
iron  pipe,  and  16  anip  per  pound-foot  for  standard  lead  or 
lead-alloy  sheaths  of  cables." 

In  order  to  permit  ready  comparison,  the  corresponding 
features  of  the  Board  of  Trade  regulations  are  given 
below : 

"Section  5.  When  any  part  of  a  return  is  uninsulated  it 
shall  be  connected  with  the  negative  terminal  of  the  gen- 
erator, and  in  such  case  the  negative  terminal  of  the  gen- 
erator shall  also  be  directly  connected,  through  the  current- 
indicator  hereinafter  mentioned,  to  two  separate  earth  con- 
nections, which  shall  be  placed  not  less  than  20  yd.  apart. 

"Section  6.  (i)  That  the  current  passing  from  the  earth 
connections  through  the  indicator  to  the  generator  shall 
not  at  any  time  exceed  2  amp  per  mile  of  single  tramway 
line,  or  5  per  cent  of  the  total  current  output  of  the  station. 

"(2)  That  if  at  any  time  and  at  any  place  a  test  be 
made  by  connecting  a  galvanometer  or  other  current  indi- 
cator to  the  uninsulated  return  and  to  any  pipe  in  the  vicin- 
ity, it  shall  always  be  possible  to  reverse  the  direction  of 
any  current  indicated  by  interposing  a  battery  of  three  Le- 
clanche  cells  connected  in  series,  if  the  direction  of  the 
current  is  from  the  return  to  the  pipe,  or  by  interposing 
one  Leclanche  cell,  if  the  direction  of  the  current  is  from 
the  pipe  to  the  return. 

"In  order  to  provide  a  continuous  indication  that  the 
condition  (i)  is  complied  with,  the  company  shall  place  in 
a  conspicuous  position  a  suitable,  properly  connected  and 
correctly  marked  current  indicator,  and  shall  keep  it  con- 
nected during  the  whole  time  that  the  line  is  charged. 

"Section  7.  When  the  return  is  partly  or  entirely  unin- 
sulated, a  continuous  record  shall  be  kept  by  the  company  of 
the  difference  of  potential  during  the  working  of  the 
tramway  between  the  points  of  the  uninsulated  return  fur- 
thest from  and  nearest  to  the  generating  station.  If  at 
any  time  such  difference  of  potential  exceeds  the  limit  of  7 
volts,  the  company  shall  take  immediate  steps  to  reduce  it 
below  that  limit." 

The  maintenance  features  provided  for  in  the  Chicago 
ordinance,  and  the  penalties  for  violation,  are  contained 
in  Sections  2  to  5,  next  presented  : 

"Section  2.  All  persons,  firms  or  corporations  operating 
raihvays  must  equip  their  uninsulated  return-current  sys- 
tems in  the  following  manner : 

"First — With  insulated  pilot-wire  circuits  and  voltmeters 
so  that  accurate  chart  records  will  be  obtained  daily  show- 
ing the  difference  of  potential  between  the  negative  busbars 
in  each  station  and  at  least  four  extreme  limits  on  the  re- 
turn circuit  in  its  corresponding  feeding  district. 

"Second — With  recording  ammeters,  insulated  cables  and 
automatic  reverse-load  and  overload  circuit-breakers  which 
will  record  and  limit  the  maximum  amperes  drained  from 
all  the  metallic  work  (except  the  regular  return  feeders)  to 
less  than  10  per  cent  of  the  total  output  of  the  station.  The 
said  chart  records  must  be  so  kept  as  to  be  always  acces- 
sible to  city  officials. 

"Section  3.  Any  person,  firm  or  corporation  failing  to 
comply  with  the  provisions  of  this  ordinance  after  nine 
months  from  the  date  of  its  passage  shall  be  fined  not  less 
than  $50  nor  more  than  $200  for  each  offense,  and  each 
day's  operation  of  such  equipment  contrary  to  said  pro- 
visions shall  constitute  and  be  regarded  as  a  separate  and 
distinct  offense. 

"Section  4.  The  last  eight  lines  of  paragraph  12  of  Sec- 
tion 862  of  the  Chicago  Code  of  1911,  said  eight  lines  ap- 
pearing on  page  303  of  the  official  edition  of  said  Code,  are 
hereby  repealed. 

"Section  5.  This  ordinance  shaltiike'' effect  arid  be  in 
force  from  and  after  its  passage  and  due  publication." 

As  noted  on  page  138  of  our  issue  of  July  20,  this  ordi- 
nance was  passed  by  the  Chicago  Council  on  July  16. 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


295 


ELECTRICAL  PROGRESS  IN  THE  ARGENTINE 
REPUBLIC. 


The  Argentine  Republic  imports  from  the  United  States 
and  Europe  all  the  material  required  for  the  very 
varied  and  important  electrical  undertakings  established 
or  proposed,  as  there  is  no  native  industry  for  the  manu- 
facture of  electrical  materials.  Remarkable  progress  has 
been  made  during  recent  years  in  both  electric  lighting  and 
traction. 

The  use  of  electricity  on  a  large  scale  in  the  Argentine 
Republic  was  initiated  by  Great  Britain,  but  America  and 
Germany  are  now  formidable  competitors.  Thus  in  Buenos 
Aires  the  large  tramway  system  was  installed  by  means  of 
English  capital,  but  the  supply  of  electrical  energy  is  pro- 
vided by  the  German  Transatlantic  Electric  Company, 
which  also  provides  energy  for  lighting.  The  importance 
of  the  electrical  tramway  system  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  over  23,000,000  car-miles  per  annum  are  run,  and 
large  additions  to  the  generating  station  were  made  within 
the  last  two  years. 

Recently  a  hydroelectric  plant  and  a  transmission  line 
were  installed  at  Cordoba,  a  prosperous  and  rapidly  growing 
center.  Energy  is  obtained  from  a  fall  in  the  River 
Primevo.  The  transmission  line  is  operated  at  10,000  volts. 
The  present  load  connections  include  over  85,000  8-cp  lamps. 
in  addition  to  street  lamps.  Energy  is  also  supplied  to  local 
industries.  The  district  has  25  miles  of  electrical  tram- 
ways. 

Rosario,  with  its  boulevards  and  luxurious  suburbs, 
possesses  more  than  40  miles  of  underground  distribution 
cables.  The  more  central  thoroughfares  of  the  city  are 
provided  with  overhead  cables  for  lighting  and  motor 
service,  which  are  being  gradually  extended  into  outlying 
areas.  The  generating  station  has  a  rating  of  about  5000 
kw,  the  steam  equipment  being  of  British  make  and  the 
electrical  of  German.  The  demand  for  energy  for  both 
lighting  and  motor  service  was  so  great  that  two  years  ago 
another  generating  station  with  a  rating  of  10,000  hp  was 
decided  on.  The  Central  Argentine  Railway  supplies  energy 
for  its  workshops  from  its  own  station. 

The  Buenos  Aires  &  Pacific  Railway  Company,  one  of 
the  most  enterprising  in  South  America,  owns  an  important 
electrical  generating  station  to  supply  energy  to  its  shunting 
yards  and  workshops  and  to  the  docks.  At  first  the  equip- 
ment was  limited  to  3000  kw.  This  has  not  sufficed,  and  it 
has  recently  been  added  to  by  the  erection  of  a  new  power 
house  providing  5000  kw,  by  means  of  five  looo-kw,  three- 
phase,  6000-volt  generators,  which  are  coupled  to  high-speed 
vertical  engines.  The  addition  includes  no  less  than  five 
substations,  in  four  of  which  provision  is  made  for  step- 
down  transformers.  Rotary  converters  for  the  tramways 
are  provided  for  in  the  fifth.  In  the  town  of  Bahia  Blanca, 
where  these  stations  are  located,  a  large  railway  system  has 
been  planned,  providing  six  routes  with  an  aggregate  length 
of  24  miles.  The  first  portion,  consisting  of  10  miles  of 
single  track,  was  completed  sotiie  time  ago.  The  South 
American  Light  &  Power  Company,  in  the  same  town,  has 
fron;  time  to  time  found  it  necessary  to  extend  its  cables. 
About  75,000  8-cp  lamps  and  300  arc  lamps  for  the  thor- 
oughfares are  connected  with  its  mains.  The  power  house, 
which  is  located  in  a  central  position  between  the  city  and 
the  port,  has  been  designed  for  a  15,000-kw  equipment. 

Electrical  installations  in  the  republic  date  back  twenty- 
seven  years,  beginning  with  the  equipments  of  the  River 
Plate  Electricity  Company  at  La  Plata.  During  recent 
years  extensions  were  found  necessary,  as  the  temporary 
installation  of  a  6oo-kw  battery  to  take  peak  loads  became 
quite  insufficient.  The  additional  plant  consists  of  two 
2000-kw  turbo-generafors.  In  the  adjoining  town  of 
Tucumari  the  generating  station  was  modernized,  a  few 
Vjears  ago.  In  both  towns  the  supply  system  is  three-wire 
direct-current.      Energy    can   be'  obtained    from    the    River 


Lutes,  which  is  capable  of  producing  50,000  hp.  There  are 
numerous  large  sugar  factories  within  a  radius  of  30  miles 
in  which  the  available  energy  can  be  utilized. 


MULTIPLE-VOLTAGE  ELECTRIC-TRACTION 

SYSTEMS. 


An  application  filed  in  the  Patent  Office  on  April  i,  1905, 
by  Mr.  H.  Ward  Leonard,  Bronxville,  N.  Y.,  and  issued 
June  18,  1912,  No.  1,029,698,  relating  to  electric  traction,  is 
of  unusual  interest.  The  preamble  of  the  specification  states 
that  the  object  of  the  invention  is  to  provide  means  and 
methods  for  operating  moving  electrical  vehicles  over  long 
distances  by  use  of  the  high  tension  needed  to  secure 
economy  and  at  the  same  time  provide  for  operation 
through  cities,  towns,  tunnels  or  other  desired  sections  at 
a  relatively  low  and  safe  tension.  A  number  of  different 
locomotive  arrangements  are  covered,  employing  alter- 
nating-current high-tension  energy  supply  and  both  alter- 
nating-current and  direct-current  low-tension  supply,  and 
with  propulsion  motors  for  either  direct  or  alternating  cur- 
rent, controlled  in  several  ways.  When  direct-current  pro- 
pulsion motors  are  employed,  with  alternating-current 
supply,  motor-generator  sets  are  used  on  board  the 
locomotive. 

In  the  figure  there  is  represented  at  i  a  high-pressure 
single-phase   generator   supplying   the   working   conductors 


Diagram  of  Locomotive  Circuits. 

2,  3.  The  locomotive  4  carries  the  moving  contacts  5,  6. 
The  energy  supply  passes  to  two  single-phase  motors  7,  8, 
each  directly  connected  to  a  generator  9,  10,  preferably  of 
the  direct-current  type.  These  low-pressure  generators 
supply  the  propulsion  motors  11,  11.  The  pressure  in  the 
motor  circuit  is  regulated  by  varying  the  strength  of  the 
generator  fields  12.  13,  which  are  supplied  from  the  separate 
generator  14,  through  the  reversing  rheostats  15,  l6. 

It  may  next  be  supposed  that  17  is  a  source  of  low-tension 
direct-current  energy  supplying  the  working  conductors  18, 
19.  When  the  train  enters  the  low-voltage  section  the 
switch  21  will  be  thrown  to  the  right,  placing  the  field  13 
under  control  of  the  rheostat  16.  The  latter  may  then  be 
adjusted  to  relieve  generator  10  of  its  load,  which  can 
then  by  means  of  switch  22  be  connected  to  the  low-tension 
supply  through  the  contacts  20  and  6.  Next  the  load  may 
be  transferred  to  the  generator  10  and  the  high-tension 
supply  be  interrupted.  The  machine  10  will  then  act  as  a 
motor  to  drive  8  as  a  generator,  supplying  the  motor  7, 
which  drives  the  generator  9.  Although  the  capacity  will 
be  cut  in  half  on  low-tension  operation,  the  speed  require- 
ments through  towns  and  cities  will  also  be  much  diminished. 
Other  arrangements  and  methods  of  control  are  also  shown. 
The  general  principle  of  operation  with  several  sections  at 
different  pressures,  and  also  direct  current  in  some  sections 
and  alternating  current  irl  others,  has  already  been  employed 
in  a  number  of  well-known  instances. 


296 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  60,  No.  6. 


This  patent  contains  no  less  than  107  separate  claims. 
A  few  of  these  will  indicate  the  general  scope  of  the 
invention.     Claims  4  and  5  are  as  follows : 

"4.  The  combination  of  an  alternating-current  supply 
circuit,  a  direct-current  supply  circuit,  a  vehicle,  electric 
motors  for  propelling  said  vehicle,  means  on  the  vehicle 
for  controlling  the  voltage  of  the  energy  supplied  to  at 
least  one  element  of  the  propelling  motors,  and  means  on 
the  vehicle  whereby  either  the  alternating-current  supply 
or  direct-current  supply  may  be  used  for  propelling  the 
vehicle. 

"5.  The  combination  of  a  high-tension  alternating-cur- 
rent supply  circuit,  an  electrically  propelled  vehicle,  a  mov- 
ing contact  for  leading  energy  from  the  high-tension  circuit 
upon  the  vehicle,  means  on  the  vehicle  for  transforming 
such  high-tension  energy  into  lower-tension  energy  at  a  con- 
trollable electromotive  force,  propelling  electric  motors 
having  at  least  one  element  supplied  with  such  low-tension 
energy  at  a  variable  electromotive  force  for  varying  the 
speed  of  the  vehicle,  a  source  of  direct-current  energy,  and 
means  whereby  the  vehicle  may  be  moved  by  electric  energy 
from  said  source  of  direct-current  energy,  said  means  com- 
prising an  additional  moving  contact.'' 

Claim  40  is  singularly  broad  and  is  given  next : 

"40.  The  combination  of  two  stationary  sources  of  electric 
energy  having  different  characteristics,  an  electric  vehicle, 
and  means  whereby  said  vehicle  may  be  electrically  accel- 
erated and  electrically  retarded  while  operated  from  either 
of  said  sources." 

Claim  102  is  also  interesting  because  of  its  breadth: 

"102.  The  combination  of  a  source  of  high-tension 
energy,  means  comprising  an  electromotive  force  producing 
winding  for  deriving  low-tension  energy  from  said  source, 
an  electric  motor,  at  least  a  part  of  said  winding  and  at 
least  one  element  of  said  motor  being  connected  in  series, 
means  for  varying  the  electromotive  force  in  series  with 
the  said  element  for  varying  the  speed  of  the  motor,  and  a 
source  of  low  tension  adapted  to  supply  energy  to  said 
element  under  certain  operating  conditions." 


ods,"  "Contract  Order  Routine,"  "Sales  of  Appliances," 
■Rates  for  Exclusive  Summer  Service,"  "Auxiliary  and 
Breakdown  Rates."  On  Wednesday  afternoon  immediately 
following  the  conference  there  was  a  game  of  baseball. 


MEETING  OF  CENTRAL-STATION  SALES 
MANAGERS. 


The  third  annual  convention  of  the  sales  managers  of  a 
few  of  the  larger  Edison  companies  was  held  at  Associa- 
tion Island,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  5,  6  and  7.  The  chairman  of  the 
convention  was  Mr.  R.  S.  Hale,  of  the  Edison  Electric 
Illuminating  Company  of  Boston,  and  among  those  in  at- 
tendance were  Messrs.  E.  W.  Lloyd,  Commonwealth  Edi- 
son Company ;  M.  Ramsdell,  Puget  Sound  Traction,  Light 
&  Power  Company;  J.  D.  Israel  and  H.  K.  Mohr,  Phila- 
delphia Electric  Company ;  A.  A.  Pope,  C.  A.  Littlefield 
and  Miss  Keinz,  New  York  Edison  Company;  Messrs.  T.  I. 
Jones  and  M.  S.  Seelman,  Edison  Electric  Illuminating 
Company  of  Brooklyn ;  L.  R.  Wallis  and  E.  C.  Kimball, 
Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Boston ;  P.  H. 
Kemble,  Toronto  Electric  Light  Company ;  Miss  S.  M. 
Sheridan,  Messrs.  J.  V.  Oxtoby  and  E.  J.  Posselius,  Edison 
Illuminating  Company  of  Detroit;  M.  E.  Turner,  Cleveland 
Electric  Illuminating  Company;  D.  Burnett  and  C.  E. 
Robertson,  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, of  Baltimore;  F.  D.  Beardslee,  Union  Electric  Light 
&  Power  Company,  of  St.  Louis;  J.  F.  Becker,  A.  F.  Berry 
and  F.  W.  Smith,  United  Electric  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, of  New  York  City. 

As  is  very  generally  understood,  none  of  the  papers  or 
of  the  discussions  on  them  is  given  out  for  publication, 
since  the  meeting  is  more  of  a  conference  than  a  conven- 
tion. However,  the  topics  discussed  were  as  follows : 
"Lamp  Practice,"  "Shutting  Down  Isolated  Plants,"  "Ad- 
vertising  and   Follow-Up   Methods,"   "Co-operative   Meth- 


HEARINGS    ON 


BALTIMORE 
RATES. 


CENTRAL-STATION 


At  further  hearings  before  the  Maryland  Public  Utilities 
Commission  on  the  rates  charged  by  the  Consolidated  Gas, 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  Baltimore,  Md.,  Mr. 
Albert  C.  Ritchie,  counsel  on  behalf  of  the  people,  continued 
the  presentation  of  his  case.  Mr.  Thomas  J.  Lindsay,  a 
real  estate  expert  employed  in  behalf  of  the  public,  testified 
that  the  company  had  overvalued  its  land  and  buildings  by 
about  $1,500,000,  and  he  also  showed  that  the  company's 
valuation  exceeded  the  assessed  value  for  taxation  by 
nearly  $2,000,000.  The  company's  total  claim  for  intangible 
values  is  approximately  $32,000,000,  including  an  allowance 
of  $22,000,000  for  early  losses.  Members  of  the  commission 
and  counsel  for  both  sides  recently  inspected  several  of  the 
company's  plants,  including  the  Westport  station,  which  is 
employed  as  an  emergency  reserve  in  case  of  failure  of  the 
energy  supply  from  McCall's  Ferry ;  the  Gould  Street 
station,  near  Port  Covington,  and  the  plant  at  Pratt  and 
Penn  Streets. 


BUREAU  OF  FIRE  PREVENTION  IN  CHICAGO. 


By  ordinance  of  the  City  Council,  passed  July  22,  there 
has  been  created  in  Chicago  a  Bureau  of  Fire  Prevention 
and  Public  Safety.  The  duties  of  this  bureau  are  indicated 
by  its  title,  and  the  ordinance  goes  into  elaborate  detail  in 
laying  down  rules  to  prevent  fires  and  to  insure  public 
safety.  It  is  provided  that  one  of  the  assistant  fire  tnarshals 
shall  be  chief  of  the  bureau,  while  the  office  of  fire-preven- 
tion engineer  is  created,  with  a  salary  of  $3,000.  This 
engineer  is  to  have  general  control  of  the  new  bureau  under 
the  direction  of  the  chief.  Inspectors  and  other  assistants 
are  provided.  Some  of  the  provisions  of  the  ordinance  of 
especial  interest  to  electrical  men  are  as  follows: 

Electric  lamps  in  the  halls  and  lobbies  of  theaters, 
assembly  rooms,  dance  halls,  etc.,  shall  be  controlled  by  a 
separate  switch  located  in  an  accessible  place,  subject  to 
the  approval  of  the  chief  of  fire  prevention.  No  fixtures 
shall  be  placed  in  the  walls,  woodwork  or  ceilings  of 
theaters  or  public  halls  unless  protected  by  fireproof  I 
materials.  Border  lamps  must  be  constructed  subject  to  ' 
the  approval  of  the  city  electrician  and  suspended  by  a 
wire  rope.  Gas  lamps,  other  than  to  indicate  exits,  shall 
not  be  permitted  on  the  stage.  The  use  of  gas  calcium 
lamps  in  any  building  used  for  the  purpose  of  worship,  in- 
struction, theatricals  or  entertainment  is  prohibited. 

A  "garage,"  for  ordinance  purposes,  is  defined  as  a  build-   A 
ing  or  portion  of  a  building  "wherein  are  kept  five  or  more   f 
automobiles  or  motor  cars  charged  with  or  containing  a 
volatile  inflammable  liquid  for  fuel  or  power."     In  such  a   ^ 
garage  generators  and  motors  not  actually  a  part  of  an 
automobile  shall  be  located  not  less  than  4  ft.  above  the 
floor.     All  incandescent  lamps  shall  be  protected  by  lamp 
guards,  and  no  arc  lamps  shall  be  permitted.     Portable  in- 
candescent lamps  shall  have  keyless  sockets.     All  electric 
switches  and  fuse  blocks  shall  be  placed  at  least  4  ft.  above 
the  floor. 

In  dry-cleaning  establishments  in  which  gasoline, 
naphtha,  etc.,  are  used  the  artificial  lighting  must  be  by 
incandescent  electric  lamps  with  keyless  sockets.  No  open 
flame  of  any  kind  is  allowed.  ; 

Careful  and  exact  rules  are  made  for  the  construction 
and  installation  of  boilers,  furnaces,  chimneys,  flues  and 
the  like. 


\UGUST   10,    I9I2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


297 


The  manufacture,  transportation,  storage,  sale  or  use  of 
liquefied  acetylene  is  prohibited  within  the  city. 

Coal-gas  producers  must  be  of  an  approved  type.  Suc- 
tion-type producers  must  be  placed  in  fireproof  rooms,  and 
pressure-type  producers  must  be  installed  in  separate 
buildings. 

Egg  candling  shall  be  done  only  by  electric  light. 

In  thawing  out  frosted  pipes  open  flames  must  not  be 
used.  Each  electric  flatiron  and  electric  glue-pot  shall  have 
a  cut-out  and  an  indicating  switch.  An  incandescent  lamp 
of  low  candle-power  shall  be  connected  in  multiple  with  the 
heaters.  Stands  must  be  provided  to  maintain  a  3-in. 
clearance  between  the  bottom  of  electric  irons  and  com- 
bustible material. 

This  important  ordinance  embraces  a  total  of  eighteen 
articles  and  291  sections,  many  of  the  latter  being  divided 
into  sub-sections. 


RATE    REVISION  IN  CHICAGO. 


The  sub-committee  of  the  City  Council  committee  on 
gas,  oil  and  electric  light  which  is  considering  the  question 
of  revising  the  rates  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Com- 
pany has  had  several  informal  conferences  with  representa- 
tives of  the  company.  The  five-year  contract  between  the 
city  and  the  company  fixing  maximum  rates  has  expired, 
and  the  question  now  comes  up  of  adjusting  the  rates  for 
the  next  five  years.  The  company  contends  that  because 
it  has  voluntarily  reduced  rates  below  those  permitted  by 
the  ordinance  its  existing  rates  should  be  allowed  to  stand 
for  the  next  five  years,  being  in  fact  a  reduction  as  com- 
pared with  the  legal  rates  for  the  five-year  term  just 
expired.  So  far  as  the  ordinance  goes,  the  company  could 
now  be  charging  a  maximum  rate  of  12  cents  per  kw-hr. 
and  a  secondary  rate  of  6  cents,  whereas  the  actual  tariff  is 
10  cents  maximum  and  6  cents  secondary,  while  the  com- 
pany has  announced  a  reduction  of  the  secondary  rate  to 
5  cents,  effective  Oct.  i,  1912.  These  reductions,  made  by 
several  successive  steps,  have  been  purely  voluntary  on  the 
part  of  the  company. 

In  its  preliminary  study  the  sub-committee  of  aldermen 
has  been  puzzled  somewhat  by  the  technical  terms  and  the 
two-rate  system  of  charging,  the  turning  point  in  Chicago 
being  after  thirty  hours'  use  of  the  maximum  demand.  It 
has  called  the  city  electrician  to  its  assistance,  and  he,  with 
the  co-operation  of  the  company,  will  prepare  a  pamphlet 
explaining  the  usage  in  non-technical  language.  Further, 
the  sub-committee  has  agreed  to  recommend  that  the  city 
electrician  (Mr.  Ray  Palmer)  be  authorized  to  make  a  pre- 
liminary investigation,  with  the  aid  of  an  experienced 
accountant  from  the  city  comptroller's  office,  to  verify  the 
figures  and  statements  made  by  the  company.  The  com- 
pany has  promised  all  possible  aid  in  making  this  pre- 
liminary investigation.  After  the  city  electrician's  report 
has  been  made  it  will  be  determined  whether  a  more 
elaborate  investigation,  perhaps  with  the  aid  of  outside 
experts,  will  be  necessary. 


GRADUATE  WORK  IN  ENGINEERING  AT  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS. 


The  increasing  demand  for  engineering  training  beyond 
that  obtainable  in  the  usual  four-year  course  is  constantly 
receiving  more  recognition  by  the  technical  schools  and 
universities  over  the  country.  Graduate  courses  in  engi- 
neering, leading  to  degrees  of  master  of  science  or  doctor 
of  philosophy,  are  now  offered  at  the  University  of  Illinois, 
and  a  number  of  men  are  taking  the  work  which  leads  10 
these  degrees.  The  graduate  work  in  electrical  engineer- 
ing embraces  courses  in  advanced  alternating-current  the- 
ory,   electrochemistry,    central-station    economics,    thermo- 


dynamics, engineering  design  and  mathematics.  The  work 
in  alternating-current  theory  covers  commutator  motors, 
transient  phenomena  in  electric  circuits  and  precision  meas- 
urements, which  is  taught  both  in  the  classroom  and  the 
laboratory.  Perfect  familiarity  with  the  oscillograph  is 
considered  very  important  in  connection  with  the  experi- 
mental study  of  transient  phenomena.  Instruction  in  elec- 
trochemistry is  given  by  means  of  lectures  and  demonstra- 
tions. Central-station  economics  is  taught  in  a  shoit  course 
which  takes  up  the  calculation  of  practical  problems,  tie 
choice  of  prime  movers,  proper  steam  pressures,  superheat, 
feed-water  temperature,  etc.  The  course  in  thermodynamics 
covers  the  whole  fundamental  theory  of  perfect  gases,  satu- 
rated and  superheated  steam,  gaseous  mixtures  and  the  flow 
of  gases,  passing  finally  to  steam  turbines,  internal-combus- 
tion engines  and  refrigeration  machines.  Engineering  de- 
sign covers  the  dynamics  of  machinery,  theory  of  governors, 
shaft  stresses,  flywheels,  etc.  The  work  in  mathematics 
commences  with  a  short  review  of  calculus  and  then  em- 
braces a  study  of  the  important  differential  equations  en- 
countered in  engineering.  Every  candidate  for  a  degree  is 
required  to  give  considerable  time  to  original  research,  to 
be  incorporated  in  a  thesis.  Nineteen  students  are  now  en- 
rolled in  the  graduate  electrical  department,  which  is  in 
direct  charge  of  Dr.  E.  J.  Berg. 


HYDROELECTRIC   ENLARGEMENTS  AT  TURNERS 
FALLS,  MASS. 

The  Turners  Falls  (Mass.)  Power  Company,  operated  by 
the  Cabot  interests  of  Boston,  is  planning  the  construction 
of  a  hydroelectric  plant  on  the  Connecticut  River  which 
will  have  an  ultimate  capacity  of  40,000  hp.  The  new  in- 
stallation will  be  located  about  2  miles  southeast  of  the 
present  hydroelectric  station  of  the  company  in  Turners 
Falls,  the  capacity  of  the  latter  having  been  nearly  reached 
through  the  development  of  the  company's  wholesale  busi- 
ness. It  is  intended  to  increase  the  size  of  the  original  10 
ft.  by  50-ft.  canal  of  the  old  plant  to  18  ft.  by  130  ft.,  and 
to  extend  it  to  the  new  power-house  site,  where  the  water 
will  be  used  under  a  6o-ft.  head.  The  new  canal  will  carry 
about  7000  cu.  ft.  per  second,  which  is  the  rate  of  flow  of 
the  Connecticut  River  for  eight  months,  on  an  average  year, 
from  a  drainage  area  of  7000  sq.  miles  above  the  Turners 
Falls  dam.  Work  on  the  canal  is  already  under  way  and 
the  plans  for  the  power  house  are  completed.  A  new 
1500-kw  unit  has  lately  been  installed  in  the  old  Turners 
Falls  plant,  and  the  Easthampton  Gas  Company,  controlled 
by  the  same  interests,  is  completing  the  installation  of  a 
3000-kw  steam  turbine  unit  with  condensing  and  boiler 
equipment  at  the  Mount  Tom  station,  in  order  to  handle  the 
rapidly  increasing  load  offered  by  the  West  Boylston  cot- 
ton mills  and  the  Mount  Tom  Sulphite  Paper  Company. 
The  Mount  Tom  station,  which  was  described,  together 
with  the  22,000-volt  steel-tower  transmission  line  of  the 
Amherst  Power  Company,  in  the  Electrical  World  of  Sept. 
9,  191 1,  will  be  operated  as  a  steam  auxiliary  plant  in  con- 
nection with  the  Turners  Falls  installations  upon  their 
completion.  The  line  was  designed  for  operation  at  an 
ultimate  pressure  of  66,000  volts.  It  is  stated  that  when 
the  project  is  completed  it  will  be  the  second  largest  hydro- 
electric development  in  New  England. 


ELECTRICAL  CONSTRUCTION  IN  BOSTON. 


Substantial  progress  in  electrical  applications  in  Boston 
during  the  past  year  is  indicated  by  the  recently  published 
report  of  Wire  Commissioner  Cole  for  the  fiscal  year  ended 
Jan.  31  last.  There  was  a  larger  amount  of  underground 
electrical  construction  during  the  year  than  ever  before,  the 
amount  installed  being  more  than  two  and  one-half  times 


298 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6. 


that  of  any  year  in  the  past  decade.  Exclusive  of  the  in- 
crease in  electrical  output  in  Boston  due  to  the  annexation 
of  Hyde  Park,  there  were  the  following  increases  in  the 
systems  of  public-service  corporations:  Boilers,  9605  hp ; 
engines,  including  steam  turbines,  64,735  hp;  incandescent 
lamps,  85,475;  arc  lamps,  841;  motors,  2152,  with  a  total 
rating  of  21,711  hp.  All  high-potential  circuits  are  now  to 
be  placed  underground  within  the  city  limits,  and  by  the 
terms  of  Chapter  364,  Acts  of  191 1,  the  commissioner  is 
authorized  to  prescribe  the  placing  of  wires  underground 
in  5  miles  of  street  a  year,  2  miles  a  year  having  been  the 
former  requirement.  During  the  year  the  department  re- 
moved 171,235  ft.  of  wire  and  the  owners  of  electrical 
installations  removed  1,956,428  ft.  of  wire  from  overhead 
service.  There  were  27,756  overhead  inspections,  531  u 
defects  reported  and  3694  defects  corrected. 

The  statistics  of  the  department  show  that  the  under- 
ground services  in  Boston  include  1,942,999  ft.  of  conduit, 
12,363,352  ft.  of  single  duct,  15,328,304  ft.  of  cable,  8675 
manholes,  19,117  service  connections  and  617,618  ft.  of 
Edison  three-wire  tube,  with  646  Edison  distribution  boxes. 
In  191 1  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of 
Boston  installed  720,175  ft.  of  cable,  the  Boston  Elevated 
Railway  Company  223,961  ft.  and  the  New  England  Tele- 
phone &  Telegraph  Company  163,840  ft.  The  overhead 
electrical  distribution  systems  of  Boston  now  include 
36,936,763  ft.  of  wire  and  16,631  poles.  The  total  rating 
of  engines  and  turbines  in  public-utility  isolated  and  block 
plants  at  the  end  of  the  year  was  294,128  hp,  the  Boston 
Edison  company  and  the  Boston  Elevated  company  having 
about  119,000  hp  each.  In  isolated  plants  were  engines 
having  a  combined  rating  o-f  50,736  hp.  Isolated  plants 
gained  only  64  hp  in  the  year,  compared  with  a  gain  of 
67,939  hp  in  public-utility  plants.  There  are  only  324 
isolated  plants  in  Boston  now,  compared  with  344  a  year 
ago.  Including  the  street-railway  service,  there  are  now 
22,858  electric  motors  in  use  in  Boston,  with  ratings  aggre- 
gating 365,217  hp.  During  the  year  the  department  received 
15,765  notices,  of  new  work,  as  against  13,986  notices  a 
year  ago,  and  made  32,480  inspections,  compared  with 
29,949  in  1910.  Insurance  losses  during  the  year  from  fires 
found  by  the  department  to  be  due  to  electrical  causes 
were  small,  as,  excluding  one  fire  causing  a  loss  of  about 
$10,400  which  was  attributed  to  electrical  causes,  though 
this  could  not  be  proved,  insurance  losses  amounted  to  less 
than  $800.  The  report  contains  the  usual  analysis  of  elec- 
trical accidents,  showing  only  two  electrical   fatalities. 


THE  SOUTHERN  SIERRAS  POWER  COMPANY. 


The  Southern  Sierras  Power  Company,  a  subsidiary  com- 
pany of  the  Nevada-California  Power  Company,  of  Denver, 
Col.,  has  about  completed  a  double,  three-phase,  high-ten- 
sion, steel-tower  transmission  line  northward  from  its 
San  Bernardino  (Cal.)  plant,  through  the  Owens  River 
Valley  for  a  distance  of  236  miles  to  Bishop  (Inyo  County), 
where  the  company  has  two  hydroelectric  developments  with 
an  aggregate  rating  of  4000  hp. 

The  Southern  Sierras  Power  Company  owns  and  operates 
a  5000-hp  steam  turbo-generating  and  distributing  system 
at  San  Bernardino,  the  distributing  system  at  Corona  (Cal.) 
and  also  an  8o-niile  distributing  system  covering  the  San 
Bernardino,  Riverside,  Corona,  San  Jacinto  and  Perris 
Valley  districts,  embracing  in  this  territory  a  thickly  settled 
community  of  at  least  50,000.  The  hydroelectric  stations 
are  on  Bishop  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Owens  River.  One 
of  the  stations  in  operation  has  a  rating  of  2000  hp,  while 
another,  of  the  same  rating,  is  under  construction  and  will 
be  shortly  completed.  As  soon  as  reservoir  No.  2  of  the 
Nevada-California  Power  Company  is  completed  the  equip- 
ment in  these  plants  will  be  aiigmented  so  that  an  aggregate 
output  of  6000  hp  will  be  available. 


In  addition,  the  Nevada-California  Power  Company  owns 
and  operates  the  complete  hydroelectric  system  of  two 
plants  on  Bishop  Creek,  with  a  third  under  construction. 
It  also  possesses  two  power  sites  which  it  proposes  to 
develop  in  the  near  future.  There  are  thus  five  stations  in 
operation  with  an  aggregate  rating  of  34,000  hp. 

The  new  line  is  designed  for  140,000  volts.     The  towers 


Fig.    1 — Outside    Transformer    and    Switching    Station. 

are  70  ft.  high,  and  at  first  energy  will  be  transmitted  at  a 
tension  of  60,000  volts,  it  being  expected  that  eventually 
the  line  will  be  operated  at  100,000  volts  as  a  standard, 
although  the  transformers  and  the  transmission  system  are 
capable  of  operating  at  140,000  volts.  The  company  has 
also  installed  a  number  of  outdoor  transforming  and  switch- 
ing stations,  the  outdoor  station  at  San  Bernardino  being 
shown  in  Fig.   I.     This  station  has  a  rating  of  16,000  kw. 


Fig.  2 — 100,000-Voit   Tower   Line   from    Bishop   to   San    Bernardino. 

A  Steel-core  stranded  aluminum  cable  will  be  used  on  the 
transmission  system.  The  engineers  of  the  company  are 
Messrs.  Manifold  and  Poole,  Los  Angeles.  The  officers  of 
the  Southern  Sierras  Power  Company  are  as  follows: 
Mr.  G.  S.  Wood,  president;  Mr.  Delos  A.  Chappell,  vice- 
president  and  general  manager;  Mr.  Lawrence  C.  Phipps, 
Jr.,  treasurer,  and  Mr.  William  E.  Porter,  secretary. 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


299 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    FIRST    DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission,  First  District,  has 
granted  the  Hudson  &  Manhattan  Railroad  Company  (the 
McAdoo  tubes)  an  extension  of  time  to  April  28,  1914,  in 
which  to  begin  construction  of  the  proposed  tunnel  exten- 
sion from  Thirty-third  Street  and  Sixth  Avenue  to  the 
Grand   Central   Station. 

The  commission  has  issued  an  order  granting  the  Kings 
County  Lighting  Company  permission  to  issue  $625,000  in 
bonds,  maturing  July  I,  1954,  and  redeemable  Jan.  i,  1940, 
at  105  and  accrued  interest.  These  bonds  will  bear  interest 
at  5  per  cent,  payable  semi-annually.  The  permission  is 
given  on  the  condition  that  the  bonds  shall  be  sold  so  as  to 
net  the  company  not  less  than  96  per  cent  of  the  par  value, 
besides  accrued   interest. 

Hearings  were  resumed  on  Aug.  6  before  Commissioner 
Maltbie  on  the  complaint  of  certain  customers  of  the  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn  that  discrimi- 
natory rates  are  given  by  the  latter  to  large  users  of  energy. 
Testimony  at  this  hearing  centered  upon  the  legality  of 
furnishing  conjunctional  service  whereby  one  tenant  on  a 
block  makes  a  blanket  contract  with  the  central-station 
company  for  his  electrical  needs  and  those  of  his  neighbors, 
thus  obtaining  a  form  of  contract  at  a  wholesale  rate  which 
enables  him  to  resell  the  energy  to  his  neighbors  at  a  price 
lower  than  that  which  each  could  obtain  individually  from 
the  company. 

According  to  testimony  given  by  Mr.  Percival  R.  Moses, 
a  consulting  engineer  who  appeared  for  the  complainants, 
a  plant  in  a  business  building  was  enlarged  in  keeping  with 
his  designs,  and  an  agreement  was  made  between  the  owners 
of  the  plant  and  nearly  all  the  business  houses  on  the  block 
to  supply  them  with  energy  at  rates  about  15  per  cent 
under  those  being  paid  to  the  Edison  company  at  that  time. 
Maintenance  and  supervision  of  the  plant  were  cared  for 
by  an  engineering  supervision  company  in  which  Mr.  Moses 
is  interested.  After  several  months'  trial,  the  cost  of  sup- 
plying tliis  service  was  found  to  be  greater  than  the  cost  of 
an  equivalent  amount  of  energy  from  the  Edison  company. 
A  contract  was  then  made  with  the  latter  by  the  owners  of 
the  plant,  which  was  shut  down.  Details  of  the  matter 
were  printed  in  the  Electrical  World,  June  15,  1912,  page 

1313- 

The  complainants  hope  to  show  from  this  testimony  that 
to  permit  such  grouping  of  interests  to  obtain  low  rates 
opens  the  way  for  discrimination  against  customers  of  the 
central-station  company  who  are  unable  to  form  such  neigh- 
borhood associations. 

Mr.  Theodore  L  Jones,  general  sales  agent  of  the  Brook- 
lyn Edison  company,  was  examined  upon  various  forms  of 
contract  used  by  his  company.  He  brought  out  the  point 
that  persons  who  buy  energy  from  customers  of  the  Edison 
company  are  not  themselves  customers  of  the  company. 
The  latter,  he  contended,  is  therefore  not  concerned  in  the 
rates  for  electric  service  paid  by  such  persons.  The  hear- 
ing was  adjourned  until  the  middle  of  September. 

NEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    SECOND    DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  District,  has 
just  completed  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  street-rail- 
way conditions  in  the  city  of  Buffalo  which  has  been  carried 
on  continuously  since  February.  All  the  lines  in  that  city 
are  operated  by  the  International  Railway  Company.  The 
work  was  done  under  the  direction  of  the  commission's 
street-railway  inspector,  Mr.  Charles  R.  Barnes. 

Sweeping  changes  in  the  routing  of  cars  designed  for 
the  convenience  of  the  public  passing  from  the  east  to  the 
west  side  of  Main  Street  and  vice  versa,  better  service  to 
residential  districts  and  better  service  to  the  railroad  sta- 
tions are  recommended  in  the  report.  The  recommendation 
for  the  rerouting  of  cars  will  break  up  the  division,  so  far 


as  traffic  is  concerned,  of  the  east  and  west  sides.  The 
report  says  that  this  division  in  most  elements  affects  the 
prosperity  of  the  city  and  is  as  complete  as  if  made  by  a 
Chinese  wall,  that  no  one  element  contributes  more  to  the 
division  of  the  city  than  the  routes  on  which  cars  have  been 
run,  and  that  if  the  efforts  of  the  company  had  been  espe- 
cially directed  to  maintaining  the  division  of  the  city  it  is 
doubtful  if  it  would  have  accomplished  greater  results  in 
this  direction.  The  transfer  system  is  sharply  criticised, 
and  it  is  stated  that  people  of  the  city  of  Buffalo  are  walk- 
ing and  carrying  the  company's  transfers  approximately 
2760  miles  each  working  day,  there  being  20,000  people 
employed  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  city  from  that  in  which 
they  live. 

The  report  recommends  the  reconstruction  of  29  miles 
of  track,  the  repair  of  80  miles,  the  reconstruction  of  a 
large  amount  of  special  work,  the  immediate  reconstruction 
of  a  large  amount  of  equipment,  the  placing  of  route  and 
destination  signs  on  the  cars,  the  better  cleaning  and  over- 
hauling of  cars  and  the  withdrawal  of  flat-wheel  cars ;  that 
as  soon  as  300  new  cars  which  have  been  ordered  are  re- 
ceived no  single-truck  cars  be  operated  on  the  principal 
lines ;  that  an  electrical  survey  of  the  tracks  be  made ;  that 
cars  no  longer  be  stored  upon  the  principal  streets;  that 
stop  signs  be  installed,  and  immediate  steps  taken  to  reduce 
the  number  of  car  collisions  in  the  city;  that  greater  atten- 
tion be  given  to  instruction  of  motormen  and  conductors; 
that  the  companies  designate  an  official  whose  principal 
duties  shall  be  the  investigation  of  complaints,  suggestions 
and  matters  of  mutual  interest  to  the  people  and  the  com- 
pany; that  the  company  increase  the  efficiency  of  its  lost 
and  found  department,  and  that  the  company  make  a  closer 
analysis  of  travel  and  service  and  periodical  counts  of 
passengers,  which  should  be  recorded  on  graphic  charts  for 
all  lines  and  all  hours. 

In  addition  to  the  recommendations  directed  to  the  com- 
pany's attention,  suggestions  are  made  to  the  municipal 
authorities  as  to  the  necessity  for  ordinances  and  regula- 
tions which  will  assist  the  company  in  furnishing  proper 
service.  A  copy  of  the  report  has  been  served  upon  the 
International  Railway  Company  without  any  order  or  direc- 
tion of  any  kind,  it  being  the  purpose  of  the  commission  to 
give  the  company  a  reasonable  time  in  which  to  give  careful 
study  to  the  conclusions  and  recommendations  which  have 
been  made. 

OHIO   COMMISSION. 

On  the  complaint  of  the  United  Telephone  Company  the 
courts  have  issued  a  temporary  restraining  order  prevent- 
ing the  Logan  County  Farmers'  Telephone  Company  from 
building  a  toll  line  between  West  Liberty  and  Degraff,  on 
the  ground  that  no  certificate  of  public  necessity  has  been  ^ 
secured  from  the  Public  Service  Commission.  The  United 
Telephone  Company  operates  exchanges  at  both  points  and 
a  toll  line  between  them. 

MICHIGAN   COMMISSION. 

The  hearing  on  the  application  for  authority  to  con- 
solidate the  Home  Telephone  Company  of  Detroit  with  the 
Michigan  State  Telephone  Company  took  place  before  the 
Michigan  Railroad  Commission  on  July  31.  But  little  ob- 
jection was  made  to  the  application,  although  much  was 
anticipated.  The  Detroit  Board  of  Commerce  protested 
against  any  plan  that  will  disturb  the  private  exchanges 
placed  in  business  houses  by  the  Home  Telephone  Company 
or  by  themselves. 

The  order  prepared  at  the  request  of  the  Railroad  Com- 
mission was  agreed  upon  by  a  committee  composed  of  the 
following:  Attorney  Lyons,  representing  the  Independent 
Telephone  &  Traffic  Association;  Attorney  Beckwith,  rep- 
resenting the  'Valley  Telephone  Company  of  Bay  City; 
Attorney  Stewart,  representing  the  Citizens'  Telephone 
Company  of  Grand  Rapids;  Judge  Murfin,  representing  the 
Bell  interests,  and  Corporation  Counsel  Lawson  of  Detroit. 


300 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6. 


The  order  provides  that  the  independent  companies  now  in 
operation  and  to  be  formed  in  the  future  shall  have  long- 
distance service  and  connections  as  in  the  past.  The  com- 
pany may  not  increase  rates  without  the  consent  of  the 
Railroad  Commission  and  all  contracts  with  the  independent 
companies  must  be  carried  out. 

In  the  portion  of  the  State  bounded  by  Imley  City  and 
Lapeer  on  the  north,  by  Flint  and  Lansing  on  the  west 
and  by  an  arc  of  a  circle  from  Lansing  to  the  state  line  on 
the  south,  the  Michigan  State  Telephone  Company  will 
have  complete  control  in  the  future.  No  other  company 
may  establish  an  exchange  and  expect  long-distance  service 
until  the  Michigan  State  company  decides  that  it  will  not 
establish  an  exchange  at  the  point  under  consideration. 
After  that  the  rule  applies  that  an  independent  shall  have 
long-distance  service  as  in  other  portions  of  the  State. 

WISCONSIN   COMMISSION. 

The  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission  has  dismissed  the 
complaint  of  the  city  of  Janesville  against  the  Rockford 
Interurban  Railway  Company.  The  complaint  alleged  that 
by  reason  of  the  fact  that  the  defendant  had  recently  sus- 
pended service  on  certain  streets  the  passengers  had  been 
inconvenienced  and  had  been  denied  the  benefit  of  a  reduc- 
tion in  fare  recently  ordered  by  the  commission;  also  that 
the  service  was  deficient  on  account  of  inadequate  station 
capacity.  The  commission  held  that  the  company  was 
rendering  service  in  substantial  compliance  with  the  terms 
of  its  franchise;  also  that,  through  an  arrangement  between 
the  interurban  and  the  city  companies,  the  service  along  the 
old  route  of  the  interurban  was  reasonably  adequate.  No 
opinion  was  expressed  upon  -the  general  adequacy  of  the 
service,  which  is  held  subject  to  further  investigation  at 
a  subsequent  proceeding. 

The  Ashland  Home  Telephone  Company  has  been  author- 
ized to  increase  its  revenues  by  raising  the  rate  on  single- 
party  service  from  $i  per  month  to  $i.6o  per  month.  Per- 
mission was  granted  to  introduce  two-party  and  four-party 
service  with  rates  of  $1.35  and  $1.10  respectively.  The 
schedule  of  rates  as  petitioned  for  was  not  granted  because 
it  would  mean  a  12.5  per  cent  rate  of  return  upon  the  re- 
production cost  of  the  plant.  The  revenue  which  will  be 
derived  under  the  commission's  schedule  is  supposed  to  be 
suflicient  to  provide  for  a  6.5  per  cent  depreciation  fund  and 
a  7  per  cent  return  on  the  reproduction  cost. 


Current  News  and  Notes 

Denver  Electrical  Wiring  Ordinance. — The  present 
electrical  ordinance  of  Denver,  Col.,  is  being  recodified  by 
the  city  electrician,  Mr.  John  Malm.  New  rules  covering 
motor  inclosures,  size  and  fusing  of  motor  leads,  permission 
for  use  of  armored  cable  for  fished  work  and  other  things 
will  be  included.  A  board  of  engineer  examiners  will  be 
appointed  to  examine  and  pass  on  candidates  for  licenses 
to  do  wiring.  Some  changes  will  be  made  in  present  license 
and  inspection  fees. 

*  *     * 

Canadian  Hydroelectric  Developments.— In  the  de- 
scription of  the  system  of  the  Canadian  Light  &  Power 
Company  which  was  published  in  the  Aug.  3  number  an 
error  was  made  in  stating  the  size  and  breaking  weight  of 
the  copper-clad  cables  crossing  the  St.  Lawrence  River. 
The  main  circuits  are  13/16-in.  copper-clad  cable  and  the 
telephone  circuit  -^-in.  cable.  The  actual  breaking  weight 
of  the  cables  is  30,000  lb.  and  20,000  lb.  respectively  and  not 
per  square  inch  as  stated. 

*  *     * 

Western  Union  Employees  Vote  on  Insurance  Plan. 
— President  Theodore  N.  Vail  of  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company  will  call  upon  the  company's  employees  to 
vote  on  the  question  whether  the  company  shall  adopt  a 


life-insurance  system  or  a  plan  of  payment  in  case  of 
temporary  disability.  Blank  voting  forms  were  sent  to  the 
employees  of  the  company  on  Aug.  6.  Officers  of  the  Com- 
mercial Telegraphers'  Union  of  America  report  that  it  has 
been  decided  to  instruct  all  telegraphers  not  to  vote  on 
the  plan,  inasmuch  as  the  benefit  is  said  to  amount  to  but 
50  cents  a  month. 

*  *     * 

Outing  of  Central-Station  Employees. — All  of  the 
women  employees  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company 
of  Chicago  were  guests  of  the  company  at  the  annual 
"ladies'  day"  outing  held  at  Delwood  Park,  near  Joliet,  111., 
on  Aug.  3.  In  addition,  each  lady  was  allowed  the  leap-year 
privilege  of  inviting  one  man,  provided  the  person  thus 
signally  honored  was  an  employee  of  the  company.  The 
party  took  electric  cars  at  i  p.  m.  for  the  amusement  park, 
and  the  afternoon  and  evening  were  passed  pleasantly  in 
various  amusements.  The  company  entertained  the  merry- 
makers at  dinner.  The  closing  feature  was  a  dance.  Mr. 
George  B.  Foster  was  master  of  ceremonies. 

*  *     * 

A  List  of  Living  "Immortals."' — Mr.  W.  T.  Earned, 
secretary  of  the  Modern  Historic  Records  Association,  has 
written  to  the  New  York  Suit  in  relation  to  the  preparation 
of  a  list  of  "all  the  living  men  and  women  of  recognized 
genius  in  every  department  of  human  activity."  To  him,  he 
says,  has  been  assigned  the  task  of  compiling  such  a  list, 
and  he  gives  over  a  hundred  names,  with,  as  might  be 
expected,  "considerable  diffidence."  In  Mr.  Larned's  ten- 
tative list  occur  the  names  of  the  following:  Professor 
Arrhenius,  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  Sir  William  Crookes, 
Mme.  Curie,  Thomas  A.  Edison,  Finsen,  Marconi,  Professor 
Michelson,  Sir  William  Ramsay,  Lord  Rayleigh,  Professor 
Roentgen,  Professor  Rutherford,  Charles  P.  Steinmetz,  Sir 
J.  J.  Thomson,  Nikola  Tesla,  Elihu  Thomson  and  George 
Westinghouse. 

*  *     + 

Pulmotors  for  Byllesby  Properties. — Mr.  Arthur  S. 
Huey,  vice-president  in  charge  of  operation  for  H.  M. 
Byllesby  &  Company,  has  ordered  ten  additional  pulmotors 
for  installation  in  the  company's  gas  properties.  When 
these  oxygen  resuscitation  machines  are  installed  there  will 
be  a  total  of  twenty-one  in  use,  all  the  gas  properties  being 
so  equipped.  The  first  eleven  pulmotors  ordered  by  Mr. 
Huey  were  installed  at  Pueblo,  Col. ;  St.  Paul,  Minn. ;  Fort 
Smith,  Ark.;  Mobile,  Ala.;  Muskogee,  Okla. ;  Oklahoma 
City,  Okla. ;  Eugene,  Ore. ;  San  Diego,  Cal. ;  Stockton,  Cal. ; 
Tacoma,  Wash.,  and  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  are  reported  to 
have  been  responsible  for  the  saving  of  at  least  three  lives, 
two  at  Louisville  and  one  at  Pueblo.  The  first  case  was 
one  of  electric  shock,  the  second  was  gas  poisoning  and  the 
third  was  the  case  of  an  infant  swallowing  morphine  tablets. 
In  all  three  cases  the  attending  physicians  had  pronounced 
the  patients  beyond  aid  before  the  pulmotor  was  applied. 

*  *     * 

British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 
— The  1912  meeting  of  the  British  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  will  be  held  in  Dundee  from  Sept. 
4  to  II.  The  president  for  the  year  is  Dr.  E.  A.  Schafer,  i 
F.  R.  S.,  who  has  been  professor  of  physiology  at  the  Edin- 
burgh University  since  1S99.  He  was  general  secretary  of 
the  association  from  1895  to  1900.  Among  the  events  will 
be  an  evening  discussion  by  Prof.  W.  H.  Bragg  on  "Radia- 
tions Old  and  New."  The  following  are  the  presidents  of 
the  sections  relating  to  engineering  and  allied  subjects: 
Mathematical  and  physical  science.  Prof.  H.  L.  Callender ; 
chemistry.  Prof.  A.  Senier ;  economic  science  and  statistics. 
Sir  Henry  H.  Cunninghame;  engineering.  Prof.  A.  Barr; 
educational  science.  Prof.  J.  Adams,  and  agriculture.  Prof. 
T.  H.  Middleton.  Agriculture  forms  the  subject  of  a  full 
section  for  the  first  time,  a  fact  not  without  interest  in 
view  of  the  greater  attention  now  being  paid  to  the  applica- 
tion of  electricity  to  this  branch  of  industry. 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


301 


Rate  Research  Bulletin  to  Be  Printed. — The  execu- 
tive committee  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association 
has  authorized  the  rate  research  committee  of  the  associa- 
tion to  print  an  edition  of  perhaps  1000  copies  of  the  weekly 
Rate  Research  Bulletin.  A  limited  number  of  copies  of  this 
bulletin  have  been  issued  in  the  past  by  a  duplicating 
process,  but  the  result  has  not  been  entirely  satisfactory  in 
a  mechanical  sense,  while  the  demand  has  exceeded  the 
supply.  Beginning  next  month,  therefore,  printed  bulletins 
will  be  issued.  It  is  probable  that  a  subscription  price  will 
be  charged  to  others  than  the  members  of  the  committee 
and  the  company  advisers  of  the  committee. 

*  *     * 

Stanley  Anti-Trust  Bill. — Representative  Stanley, 
chairman  of  the  steel  investigating  committee  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  has  presented  a  new  anti-trust  bill, 
which  .provides  that  the  capital  stock  of  corporations  shall 
be  fully  paid  in  cash,  property  or  services  at  actual  value, 
and  that  no  corporation  shall  have  power  to  acquire  or 
hold  stock  of  another  concern.  Interlocking  directorates 
are  prohibited  and  a  limit  is  placed  on  the  amount  of  stock 
that  any  officer  or  director  of  one  corporation  may  hold  in 
a  competing  company.  If  two  or  more  corporations  shall 
have  been  combined  in  ownership  through  the  holding  of 
their  stock  by  another  corporation  on  or  after  August  12, 
the  combination  shall  be  dissolved. 

*  *     * 

Electrical  Code  of  Chicago.— The  "Rules  and  Regula- 
tions of  the  Department  of  Electricity  of  the  City  of 
Chicago"  have  recently  been  entirely  revised,  and  the 
edition  of  1912  has  just  made  its  appearance.  These  rules 
provide  for  the  installation  of  wires  and  electrical  apparatus 
for  electric  light,  heat  and  motor  service  and  for  the  con- 
struction and  installation  of  electric  signs  and  displays.  In 
their  present  form  they  are  very  similar  to  the  latest 
edition  of  the  National  Electrical  Code,  with  such  modifica- 
tions and  additions  as  are  made  necessary  by  the  local 
situation.  The  Chicago  Code  makes  a  book  of  207  pages 
and  bears  the  names  of  Mr.  Ray  Palmer,  city  electrician, 
and  Mr.  Victor  H.  Tousley,  chief  electrical  inspector. 

*  *     * 

Wireless  Storm  Warnings  at  Sea. — It  is  announced 
that  Chief  Willis  L.  Moore  of  the  United  States  Weather 
Bureau  expects  much  from  the  plan  formulated  at  the 
International  Wireless  Conference  at  London  which  will 
give  to  weather  reports  the  right-of-way  at  sea  over  all 
other  wireless  messages  excepting  calls  for  help  in  emer- 
gencies. According  to  the  agreement,  each  government  will 
secure  its  own  observers,  take  its  own  observations  and  pay 
service  tolls.  By  the  international  exchange  of  observa- 
tions after  the  wireless  convention  shall  be  ratified  by  the 
several  governments  represented  at  the  conference,  it  is 
predicted  that  the  construction  of  a  daily  weather  map  for 
both  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans  will  become   feasible. 

Central-Station  Telephone  Service.- — In  large  central- 
station  companies  the  telephone  service  is  an  almost 
essential  feature  of  the  business  and  one  that  assumes  large 
proportions.  The  principal  telephone  switchboard  of  the 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company  of  Chicago,  for  instance, 
had  a  traffic  record  of  about  13.000  connections  in  twenty- 
four  hours  during  the  month  of  May,  1912.  This  is  an 
increase  of  about  116  per  cent  in  the  volume  of  telephone 
business  in  a  period  of  four  years.  The  equipment  consists 
of  a  ten-position  switchboard  with  an  auxiliary  two-position 
board  designed  to  help  out  during  the  hours  of  the  peak. 
Seventeen  telephone  operators  are  employed  at  this  private 
exchange,  and  they  are  divided  into  shifts  to  insure  con- 
tinuous service  day  and  night. 

*     *     * 

Cracking  of  Concrete  Structures. — The  National 
Bureau  of  Standards  in  its  general  investigation  of  struc- 


tural materials  is  engaged,  among  other  things,  in  the  de- 
termination of  the  physical  properties  of  concrete.  At  the 
suggestion  of  engineers  and  others,  the  Bureau  is  investi- 
gating the  cause  of  cracking  in  concrete  structures,  where 
the  necessity  for  expansion  and  contraction  joints  is  ques- 
tioned. For  this  purpose,  reference  marks  were  placed  not 
long  ago  on  some  of  the  typical  old  and  new  concrete 
work  in  Wayne  County,  Mich.,  also  at  Greenwich,  Conn. 
Measurements  will  be  taken  from  time  to  time  during  the 
summer  and  winter  to  determine  the  expansion  or  contrac- 
tion in  the  concrete  caused  by  temperature  variations  and 
the  changes  of  volume  which  take  place  during  hardening. 
Similar  reference  marks  are  being  placed  on  the  lock  walls 
of  the  Panama  Canal  and  various  other  structures  from 
which  valuable  information  will  be  obtained. 

*  *     * 

Progress  of  American  Commerce  and  Industries. — Ten 
years  ago  Mr.  O.  P.  Austin,  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Sta- 
tistics, Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  delivered  be- 
fore the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science  an  address  on  "The  Progress  of  American  Com- 
merce and  Industries"  which  created  wide  interest  at  the 
time.'  The  statistics  then  presented  have  been  brought  down 
to  date  and  the  subject  matter  of  the  address  has  been 
revised  and  was  printed  in  the  Congressional  Record  of 
July  17,  1912.  The  revised  address  covers  the  material 
progress  of  the  nation  from  1870  to  1912.  The  foreign 
commerce  of  the  United  States  has  grown  from  less  than 
$1,000,060,000  in  1870  to  practically  $4,000,000,000  in  1912. 
In  the  meantime  the  internal  commerce  of  the  country  has 
grown  from  $7,000,000,000  to  $33,000,000,000.  Copies  of 
the  pamphlet  containing  the  address  can  be  obtained  from 
the  Government  Printing  Office,  Washington,  D.  C. 

*  *     * 

Strength  Tests  of  Cross-Arms. — A  bulletin  on  this  sub- 
ject was  recently  issued  by  the  United  States  Department 
of  Agriculture,  being  Circular  No.  204  of  the  Forest  Service. 
A  summary  of  the  results  concludes  with  the  statement  that, 
taking  all  things  into  consideration,  cross-arms  of  the 
species  and  dimensions  tested  are  strong  enough  for 
ordinary  use,  but  when  longer  arms  are  employed  the 
strength  is  relatively  of  much  more  importance.  In  the 
case  of  standard  6-ft.  cross-arms,  however,  the  question  of 
strength  need  not  enter  into  calculations  of  line  construc- 
tion, except  in  the  comparatively  infrequent  cases  of  abrupt 
changes  in  grade.  The  resistance  of  timber  to  decay  and 
the  methods  of  preventing  decay  are  considerations  of 
greater  importance.  Government  publications  are  deposited 
with  the  Superintendent  of  Documents,  Washington,  D.  C, 
and  are  available  for  distribution  upon  payment  of  a 
nominal  charge,  the  amount  of  which  can  be  learned  upon 

application. 

*  *     * 

Electrical  Operation  of  Sewage-Pumping  Station. — 
Work  is  now  in  progress  on  the  installation  of  an  electrical 
pumping  outfit  in  the  sewage-pumping  station  of  the  city 
of  Chicago  at  Fullerton  Avenue  and  the  North  Branch  of 
the  Chicago  River.  A  marked  economy  will  result  by  the 
substitution  of  a  75-hp  alternating  motor  driving  a  screw 
pump  for  an  old  steam  pumping  engine.  Electrical  energy 
will  be  furnished  by  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago  over 
a  three-phase,  60-cycle  circuit  from  the  H.  N.  May  sub- 
station of  the  city  street-lighting  system,  also  operated 
under  contract  by  the  Sanitary  District,  utilizing  the  hydro- 
electric energy  from  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal.  The 
city  agrees  to  pay  at  the  rate  of  $2.20  per  hp  per  month 
for  maximum  requirements  for  twenty-four-hour  service. 
The  maximum  demand  is  determined  by  the  average  of 
the  three  highest  five-minute  readings  taken  from  curve- 
drawing  instrument  records.  In  addition  there  is  a  flat 
charge  of  $7.50  a  month  to  cover  fixed  charges  for  the 
Sanitarv  District's  investment  and  maintenance. 


302 


ELECTRICAL     W'ORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  6. 


Wireless  Communication  with  Germany. — The  new- 
wireless  station  at  Xauen,  near  Berlin,  Germany,  which  is 
to  replace  the  tower  blown  down  in  a  terrific  storm  last 
March,  is  now  approaching  comp'etion.  The  new  tower  is 
nearly  900  ft.  in  height,  and  it  is  anticipated  that  its  radius 
of  action  will  include  New  York  City. 

*  *     * 

Pacific  Wireless  Service. — The  Federal  Telegraph 
Company  has  inaugurated  regular  wireless  commercial 
service  between  San  Francisco  and  Honolulu,  a  distance  of 
2350  miles.  The  company  operates  along  the  Pacific  Coast 
and  as  far  east  as  Chicago  and  Kansas  City.  The  Honolulu 
station  is  located  12  miles  outside  of  the  city;  the  San 
Francisco  station,  situated  at  San  Bruno  Point,  is  10  miles 
from  the  city  and  is  equipped  with  two  440-ft.  towers  placed 
600  ft.  apart. 

*  *     * 

Recommendations  of  London  Wireless  Telegraph 
Conference. — Recommendations  were  adopted  at  the  Lon-  • 
don  International  Conference  on  Wireless  Telegraphy  that 
the  following  problems  be  studied  during  the  period  before 
the  next  conference  in  1917:  First,  the  development  of  a 
standard  wave  meter;  second,  the  selection  of  a  standard 
decrement ;  third,  the  development  of  a  standard  receiving 
apparatus  for  comparing  the  intensities  of  waves  received 
from  different   sources. 

*  *     * 

Iron  and  Steel  Tariff. — On  Aug.  5  the  iron  and  steel 
tariff  bill  received  the  signatures  of  Speaker  Clark  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  and  Acting-president  Bacon 
of  the  Senate.  It  then  went  to  President  Taft  for  his 
consideration.  This  is  the  first  of  the  tariff'  revision  bills 
passed  by  the  so-called  Democratic-Progressive  alliance  in 
the  Senate  to  reach  the  President.  It  is  generally  forecast 
that  Mr.  Taft  will  veto  this  bill  because  no  investigation  of 
the  industry  has  been  made  by  the  Tariff  Board  to  serve  as 
a  basis  for  scientific  revision. 


will  be  installed  in  the  Niagara  Falls  station  in  addition  to 
the  three  8500-kw  units  being  erected,  bringing  up  the 
total  capacity  to  125,000  hp.  The  proposition  in  regard  to 
which  the  company  and  the  corporation  of  the  city  of 
Toronto  came  into  conflict  was  that  of  the  erection  of  a 
transmission  line  from  Niagara  to  the  city,  to  operate  at  a 
pressure  of  85,000  volts. 

*     *     * 

Wireless  Telegraphy  Without  Antennas. — \'ery  in- 
teresting experiments  in  wireless  transmission  have  re- 
cently been  carried  on  in  Berlin  without  antennas,  employ- 
ing a  new  arrangement  devised  by  Prof.  Zehnder.  An 
ordinary  insulated  conductor,  supported  on  telegraph  poles, 
is  connected  at  each  end  to  the  ground,  with  or  without 
intermediary  condensers,  which  becomes  the  substitute  for 
the  antenna.  The  total  length  of  wire  should  not  exceed 
one-half  of  the  wave-length  at  the  frequency  employed. 
This  conductor  is  excited  in  the  usual  manner  near  its 
center  by  a  Braun  vibratory  circuit  which  is  tuned  to 
resonance.  Employing  this  scheme,  telegrams  were  trans- 
mitted several  hundred  miles  without  the  use  of  antennas 
and  with  small-sized  sending  apparatus.  It  has  been  dis- 
covered that  this  arrangement  possesses  a  selective  action 
in  reference  to  the  direction  of  transmission.  The  most 
favorable  direction  is  that  of  the  wire  itself.  Radiograms 
have  been  satisfactorily  transmitted  with  this  equipment 
from  Berlin  to  Norddeich,  and  with  the  ordinary  type  of 
receiver  messages  have  been  received  in  Berlin  from  Glace 
Bay,  Nova  Scotia,  across  the  Atlantic. 


SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Vermont  Electrical  Association. — The  eleventh  an- 
nual meeting  of  the  Vermont  Electrical  Association  will 
be  held  at  Rutland,  Vt.,  Sept.  12  and  13.  The  secretary- 
treasurer  is  Mr.  A.  B.  Marsden,  Manchester,  Vt. 


Foreign  Markets  for  Motor  \'ehicles. — The  United 
.  States  Bureau  of  Manufactures  has  issued  a  monograph 
entitled  "Foreign  Markets  for  Motor  Vehicles."  The  pub- 
lication is  a  compilation  of  reports  from  American  consuls 
stationed  in  every  part  of  the  globe  and  is  arranged  with 
the  particular  end  in  view  of  aiding  American  manufac- 
turers to  extend  their  foreign  sales.  It  describes  the 
peculiarities  of  the  various  markets,  special  local  conditions 
and  prejudices  to  be  considered,  foreign  competition  to  be 
met  and  the  best  methods  of  selling  cars. 

*  *     * 

The  Engineer  in  City  Planning. — The  July  issue  of 
the  Proceedings  of  the  Engineers'  Club  of  Philadelphia  con- 
tains an.  interesting  paper  entitled  "The  Engineer  in  His 
Relation  to  the  City  Plan."  the  author  of  which  is  Mr. 
Nelson  P.  Lewis.  The  paper  discusses  the  general  purpose 
of  city  planning  and  its  economic  advantages  and  also  re- 
counts briefly  the  progress  which  has  been  made  in  this  and 
other  countries.  The  club  Proceedings  is  published  quar- 
terly from  1317  Spruce  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  The  sec- 
retary is  Mr.  W.  P.  Taylor,  to  whom  any  persons  desiring 
copies  of  these  Proceedings  should  address  themselves. 

*  *     * 

Decision  in  Favor  of  Toronto  &  Niagara  Powder 
Company. — The  judicial  committee  of  the  Privy  Council 
of  London,  England,  on  July  24  reversed  the  judgment  of 
the  Court  of  Appeal  of  Ontario,  Canada,  delivered  on  Feb. 
I  of  this  year,  in  the  case  of  the  Toronto  &  Niagara  Power 
Company.  The  Privy  Council  finds  that  the  company  is 
entitled  to  erect  poles  and  string  wires  along  the  streets 
of  , North  Toronto  for  the  distribution  of  electric  power 
U^tliout  the  consent  of  the  city  of  Toronto.  TJie  company 
recently  decided  to  expend  $3,000,000  iu_extensions  of  its_ 
system    at    Niagara,    wdierebv    four    new    generating    units 


Schenectady  Section,  A.  I.  E.  E. — The  following  have 
been  elected  officers  of  the  Schenectady  Section  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers :  Dr.  C.  P. 
Steinmetz,  honorary  chairman;  J.  B.  Taylor,  chairman; 
Messrs.  J.  L.  Burnham,  H.  W.  Peck  and  C.  M.  Davis,  vice- 
chairmen;  Messrs.  C.  H.  Reid,  W.  Stewart  Clark,  J.  J. 
Linebaugh  and  C.  Lichtenberg,  managers;  Mr.  J.  A.  Dew- 
hurst,  secretary,  and  Mr.  W.  S.  Bralley,  treasurer. 

*  *     * 

International  Association  for  Testing  Materials. — 
Further  information  concerning  the  sixth  congress  of  the 
International  Association  for  Testing  Materials,  to  be  held 
in  New  York  City  Sept.  2-7,  is  set  forth  in  committee 
circular  No.  4,  under  date  of  August,  1912.  This  circular 
contains  announcements  by  the  executive  committee  re- 
garding membership  fees,  registration,  admission  to  ses- 
sions, session  rules  and  procedure.  The  headquarters  are 
at  29  West  Thirty-ninth  Street,  New  York  City. 

*  *     * 

Formation  of  California  Association  of  Electrical 
Inspectors. — At  the  recent  convention  of  the  California 
Electrical  Contractors'  Association  a  new  organization  was 
formed  which  will  be  known  as  the  California  Association 
of  Electrical  Inspectors.  This  organization  will  be  a  branch 
of  the  national  association.  The  following  officers  were 
elected :  President,  W.  A.  Spencer,  San  Jose ;  secretary, 
Edward  W.  Jewell,  San  Diego ;  treasurer,  P.  A.  Anderson, 
Oakland,  Cal.  Messrs.  E.  N.  Beecher.  chief  electrical  in- 
spector of  San  Diego,  and  C.  W.  Mitchell,  of  the  Board  of 
Fire  Underwriters  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  were  named  as  a 
committee  to  work  for  the  enlargement  of  the  membership 
before  the  next  annual  convention.  The  object  of  the  new 
orgamzatioti-is  ta  promote-co-operation  between  inspects**-' 
and  contractors  and  to  advocate  uniform  inspection. 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


303 


AUXILIARY  ELECTRIC  SERVICE  AT  ROME. 


Steam-Turbine  Station  Operated  in  Conjunction  with 

Two  Hydroelectric  Stations  During  Peak 

Loads  and  Emergencies. 


Plant  Equipped  for  Efficient  Operation  and  Low  Labor  Cost. 

— Auxiliary  Apparatus  Electrically  Driven — Provisions 

for  Eapid  Start  from  Stand-Still. 


THE  San  Paolo  steam-turbine  station  was  designed  to 
supply  energy  for  electric  lighting  and  motor  service 
in  the  city  of  Rome,  Italy.  It  is  located  in  the 
suburbs  of  the  city  on  the  bank  of  the  Tiber.  Hydraulic 
power  in  the  neighboring  region  is  also  used  in  the  Tivoli 
and  Sitbiaco  plants,  but  as  the  demand  for  energy  has  in- 
creased within  recent  years  it  was  found  necessary  to  erect 
a  new  station  for  this  purpose.  The  steam  plant  is  very 
useful  during  the  hours  of  heavy  load,  and  it  affords  the 
additional  amount  of  energy  needed. 

For  the  initial  plant  there  were  installed  two  5000-hp 
Curtis  steam  turbine  sets,  together  with  boilers  equipped 
with  automatic  stokers.  Quite  recently  the  station  has 
been  doubled  in  equipment  by  adding  a  io,ooo-hp  Curtis 
turbine  set.  The  first  steam  turbines  were  of  the  vertical- 
shaft  type  with  the  turbine  placed  below  and  the  alternator 
at  the  top,  while  the  new  group  is  horizontal,  the  turbine 
being  on  the  same  horizontal  shaft  with  the  alternator. 

In  the  boiler  house  used  for  the  two  5000-hp  sets  there 
are  erected  two  ranges  of  boilers  lying  on  either  side  of 
the  middle  space,  laid  out  in  three  groups  of  two  boilers 
each.  The  six  boilers  on  a  side  use  a  common  smoke  flue 
and  stack.  Each  of  the  boilers  has  3200  sq.  ft.  of  heating 
area  and  is  designed  to  give  from  10,000  lb.  to  12,000  lb.  of 
steam  at  200  lb.  per  square  inch  on  the  average,  but  they 
can  be  run  at  20  per  cent  above  this  when  desired.     For 


each  boiler  there  is  used  a  superheater  having  a  heating 
surface  of  670  sq.  ft.  so  as  to  raise  the  temperature  of  the 
steam  to  300  deg.  C.  An  economizer  is  built  with  each 
boiler  so  as  to  make  up  a  complete  unit. 

The  automatic  stoking  system  and  the  coal-handling 
devices  are  well  designed  so  as  to  necessitate  as  little  hand 
labor  as  possible  in  the  station.     A  coal  yard  is  laid  out  in 


Fig.  2 — New  Horizontal  10,000-hp  Turbine. 

the  rear  of  the  boiler  room,  and  the  coal  is  picked  up  by  a 
bucket  carried  on  an  electric  crane  and  dropped  into  a  hop- 
per which  feeds  an  endless  bucket  conveyor.  This  conveyor 
runs  on  an  upper  level  and  it  enters  the  boiler  room  and 
drops  the  coal  into  a  set  of  bunkers  placed  in  the  upper 


Fig,    1  —  Interior,   Showing   Vertical    Turbo- Alternators. 


304 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  0. 


story  for  feeding  the  coal  chutes  of  the  stokers.  The  coal 
bunkers  are  built  of  reinforced  concrete  and  hold  a  total  of 
about  300  tons  of  coal.  The  same  conveyor  handles  the 
cinders  as  well,  and  for  this  purpose  it  runs  down  one  side 
and  comes  under  the  boilers.  The  cinders  fall  from  the 
grate  upon  a  sloping  chute  under  each  furnace,  and  they  are 
shoveled   by   hand   into   the   conveyor   buckets   which   pass 


motor-driven   air   fans.     The   motors   receive   energy   from 
the  storage  battery  in  this  case. 

Each  of  the  5000-hp  Curtis  steam  turbine  sets  runs  with 
steam  superheated  to  275  deg.  C.  and  180  lb.  pressure,  work- 
ing at  880  r.p.m.  Built  with  the  turbines  are  three-phase 
alternators  which  deliver  energy  at  9000  volts.  The  con- 
densers, which  are  in  the  basement,  are  of  the  tubular  type, 


Fig.  3 — Switchboard. 

along  at  this  point ;  then  the  conveyor  drops  the  cinders 
into  an  outside  hopper  for  loading  onto  wagons. 

Each  boiler  has  a  grate  area  of  75  sq.  ft.  Under  the 
floor  is  a  line  shafting  which  drives  each  of  the  automatic 
stokers  by  belt,  as  will  be  noticed.  The  shafting  is  usually 
driven  by  a  three-phase,  15-hp  motor,  but  should  the  supply 
of  energy  fail  it  can  be  coupled  to  a  direct-current  motor 
which  receives  energy  from  a  storage  battery,  so  that  the 
stoking  is  always  assured.  For  the  water  feed  of  the 
boilers  use  is  made  of  the  condensation  water  of  the  tur- 
bines, to  which  is  added  a  water  supply  from  the  river, 
using  a  set  of  filtering  tanks  for  this  latter.  An  automatic 
float  feed  in  the  condenser-water  tanks  in  the  basement 
keeps  these  filled  up  by  adding  water  from  the  river-water 
tanks  in  the  yard. 

Two  separate  methods  of  securing  the  boiler-feed  water 
are  used  in  this  case.  Two  turbine  pumps  delivering  1400 
cu.  ft.  per  hour  are  each  driven  by  a  35-hp  electric  motor 
running  at  2400  r.p.m..  and  this  gives  the  regular  supply. 


Fig.  5 — Condensers  in  Basement. 

and  each  is  provided  with  a  circulation  water  pump  directly 
coupled  to  a  75-hp  motor  and  with  an  air  and  condensed- 
steam  pump  of  36-in.  diameter  and  6-in.  stroke,  which  is 
belted  to  a  35-hp  motor.  Each  condenser  takes  care  of 
50,000  lb.  of  steam  per  hour.  The  steam-turbine  groups,  as 
well  as  the  motors  and  other  electrical  apparatus,  were  de- 
signed and  built  at  the  Paris  shops  of  the  Thomson-Houston 
Electric  Company. 


STUDY  OF  THE  LIGHT  FROM  THE  MERCURY  ARC. 


Color    of    Light     from     the   Mercury    Arc    with    the 
Cooper  Hewitt  Fluorescent  Reflector. 


Fig. 


ransformers. 


As  a  Standby,  each  boiler  is  provided  with  a  steam  injector 
so  as  to  be  self-feeding,  and  the  water  is  taken  from  a  com- 
mon piping,  which  if  need  be  can  be  fed  directly  from  the 
river-water  tanks.  Rapid  firing  is  provided  for  the  boilers, 
because  the  units  may  need  to  be  thrown  on  quickly  in  case 
of  accident  to  the  hydraulic  plants.  A  forced  draft  is 
therefore   provided    in   the   two   smoke   flues   by   means   of 


By  Herbert  E.  Ives. 
In  a  previous  paper  *  the  writer  gave  the  results  of  color 
measurements  of  the  Cooper  Hewitt  mercury-arc  lamp 
with  special  reference  to  its  relation  to  other  illuminants 
which  may  be  combined  with  it  to  produce  approximately 
white  light.  These  measurements  were  made  with  an  Ives 
colorimeter  and  give  the  colors  in  terms  of  the  mixing 
proportions  of  a  certain  red,  green  and  blue  light,  the 
standard  of  comparison,  or  white,  being  an  average  day- 
light determined  by  a  series  of  daylight  measurements 
made  at  the  Bureau  of  Standards  in  Washington.  Those 
values  are  given  in  the  accompanying  table  and  are  plotted 
in  the  color  triangles,  Fig.  i.  In  such  a  triangle  combina- 
tions of  two  colors  lie  on  the  line  joining  them.  "Average 
daylight,"  therefore,  may  be  copied  very  closely  by  a  mix- 
ture of  mercurj'-arc  light  and  tungsten-lamp  light  in  proper 
proportions.  Such  a  mixture  constitutes  an  example  of 
the  additive  production  of  white.  But  while  the  integral 
color  is  white,  owing  to  the  subjective  equivalence  of 
various  different  physical  stimuli,  the  composition  of  this 
white  is  not  that  of  daylight.  In  place  of  the  uniform 
continuous  spectrum  of  the  latter  is  a  compound  spectrum 
consisting  of  the  bright  emission  lines  of  the  mercury  arc  . 
and  the  continuous  spectrum  of  the  tungsten  lamp  (Fig.  2). 
Such  a  light,  while  white,  is  only  indifferently  good  for 
color  matching.  Certain  colors  are  present  too  strongly, 
others  not  enough.  Green  and  yellow  are  apt  in  particular, 
because  of  the  intense  green  line  at  0.546  jj..  to  show  dis- 
tortions.    One  of  the  most  interesting  points  brought  out. 


*Bultctin    Bureau   of   Standards,   \'\, 


page   265. 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


305 


however,  is  that,  while  it  is  spectral  red  that  is  deficient  in 
the  mercury  arc,  mere  addition  of  red  light  will  not  render 
it  white.  The  integral  color  of  the  arc  is  bluish  white, 
calling  for  a  yellowish-white  addition.  The  most  general 
requirement  is  for  a  yellow-white  which  shall  contain  red. 
From  the  standpoint  of  spectral  composition  this  is  equiva- 
lent to  a   red-plus-green  yellow,  the  red  and  green  fitting 


Green 


Red 


Blue 

EUctncul  WvrU 


this  urban  daylight  that  the  Cooper  Hewitt  lamp  and  re- 
flector most  nearly  approximate. 

A  point  of  interest  in  connection  with  color  theory  and 
measurement  is  brought  out  by  the  color  triangle  plot.  It 
appears  that  the  integral  light  8  does  not  exactly  lie  on  the 
line  joining  its  two  components.  At  first  this  would  appear 
to  be  an  error,  but  a  little  consideration  shows  this  to  be 
correct.  For  the  reflector  acts  not  only  as  a  fluorescent 
light  giver  but  as  an  absorber,  and  as  its  maximum  of 
absorption  lies  in  the  green  of  the  spectrum  (dotted  curve 
in  Fig.  3)  it  reduces  considerably  the  green  element  of 
the    regularly    reflected    (non-fluorescent)    light.      Conse- 

COLORIMETER     MEASUREMENTS     OF     ILLUMINANTS. 


Fig.  1 — Color  Triangle  Showing  Color  Values  of  Various 
llluminants. 

into  the  missing  portions  of  the  mercury  spectrum  and 
being  of  such  relative  intensity  as  to  make  together  a 
yellowish  white. 

A  very  striking  contribution  to  the  problem  of  supplying 
the  missing  radiations  of  the  mercury  arc  is  the  fluorescent 
reflector  of  Dr.  Peter  Cooper  Hewitt.  This  consists  of  a 
layer  of  a  fluorescent  dye  (rhodamine)  in  a  suitable  solvent, 
flowed  on  a  white  card,  which  is  substituted  for  the  usual 
white  enameled  reflector  furnished  with  the  Cooper  Hewitt 
mercury  arc.  The  fluorescent  light  from  the  reflector,  ex- 
cited by  the  green  and  blue  mercury  radiation,  is  red  and 
therefore  supplies  a  missing  element. 

Recently,  through  the  kindness  of  Dr.  Hewitt,  the  writer 
has  had  a  sample  of  the  fluorescent  reflector  for  examina- 
tion. This  offered  an  opportunity  to  make  color  measure- 
ments with  the  same  instrument  and  in  the  same  units  as 
those  referred  to  in  the  previous  paper.  The  results  of 
the  measurements  are  given  under  number  8  in  the  accom- 
panying table,  and  the  position  of  the  light  with  reflector 
IS  plotted  in  the  color  triangle  at  8,  that  of  the  reflector 
alone  being  approximately  at  F. 

In  entire  agreement  with  the  previous  findings,  it 
appears  that  this  combination  of  bluish-white  and  red 
light  does  not  make  the  average  daylight  here  used  as 
standard.  Instead  a  less  green — that  is,  a  pinker  light — is 
produced.  In  this  connection  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to 
remark  that  this  is  exactly  the  direction  in  which  cloudy 
and  smoky  city  daylight  most  consistently  varies  from  the 


1.  Welsbach,  J  of  1  per  cent  cerium 

2.  Welsbach,  J  of  1  per  cent  cerium 

3.  Welsbach,    li   per  cent  cerium 

4.  Tungsten   incandescent  lamp,    IJ   watts  per 

candle 

5.  Tantalum    incandescent    lamp,  2  watts    per 

candle  (similar  in  color  to  Gem  2.5   watts 
per  candle) 

6.  Carbon    incandescent    lamp,    3.1    watts    per 

candle 

7.  Cooper  Hewitt  mercury  arc 

8.  Cooper  Hewitt  mercury  arc  with  fluorescent 

reflector ■ 


Red. 


48.7 
54.0 
57.5 

61.4 


65.7 
24.1 


34.8 


Green. 


38.3 
37.4 
35.5 

31.7 


30.4 


29.8 
31.4 


Blue. 


13.0 
8.6 
7.0 

6.9 


4.5 
44.5 


40.7 


quently  the  two  components  are  not  the  fluorescent  light 
and  the  ordinary  mercury-arc  light,  but  the  fluorescent 
light  and  the  modified,  less  green  mercury  light  lying  ap- 
proximately at  M  in  the  color  triangle. 

Some  spectrophotometer  measurements  are  of  interest. 
In  Fig.  3  are  spectrophotometric  values,  expressed  in  terms 
of  energy  intensity  for  the  fluorescent  light.  The  posi- 
tions of  the  chief  mercury-arc  spectral  lines  are  also  shown. 
It  is  obvious  that  this  light  will  be  far  from,  perfect  as  a 
color-matching  light,  owing  to  the  absence  of  blue-green 
and  the  presence  of  the  strong  emission  lines.  This  shows 
on  such  colors  as  greens  and  browns.  Nevertheless,  the 
improvement  in  the  light  brought  about  by  the  addition  of 
red  is  enormous. 

An  interesting  possibility  is  suggested  by  consideration 
of  these  and  the  colorimeter  measurements.  In  order  to 
produce  an  approximately  continuous  spectrum  and  at  the 
same  time  an  "average  daylight,"  there  is  required  some 
green  light,  appro.ximately  the  spectral  distribution  (or 
maximum)  shown  in  the  dashed  curve.  This  might  be 
supplied  by  the  fluorescence  of  another  substance  than 
rhodamine.  It  is  not  improbable  that  such  a  substance 
would  have  its  region  of  excitation  in  the  blue  or  violet, 
or  even  in  the  ultra-violet.  In  the  latter  case  the  reflector 
would  increase,  instead  of  decreasing  the  efficiency  of  the 
combination.  By  projecting  a  spectrum  of  the  mercury 
arc  upon  the  rhodamine  reflector  it  is  found  that  the  chief 
exciter  of  fluorescence   is  the  green   line ;   in  other  words, 


-f. 

^ 

i 

,., 

^ 

_^ 

it 

\ 
_v 

#■ 

\ 

/ 

' 

^ 

/■,, 

-y 

f 

\/ 

/ 

^ 

f^' 

i/ 

^\ 

A 

s 

^' 

/ 

\ 

/'       ^ 

^^ 

/ 

K 

\ 

N 

0.40  0.44         0.48         0.52  0.56  0.60         0.64  0.68         0.72/' 

Eteetncut  Wuritt 

Fig.  2 — Spectral  Distribution,  Mercury- Arc-Tungsten  Combination. 

average  daylight  of  these  measurements.  As  has  been 
shown  by  the  work  of  Nichols,  the  color  of  the  sky  is  in- 
fluenced to  a  noticeable  degree  by  the  reflected  light  of 
grass  and  foliage.  The  measurements  made  at  the  Bureau 
of  Standards,  with  its  silvan  surroundings,  might  therefore 
be  expected  to  record  a  greener  average  than  would  be 
obtained  in  a  citv  such  as  Cleveland  or  Pittsburgh.     It  is 


0.40         0.44         0.48         0.52         0.56  0.60         0.64         0.68        0.72 1' 

Fig.  3 — iVIercury  Arc  with  Filament  Reflector. 

the  fluorescent  light  is  largely  at  the  expense  of  the  green 
light.  If  not  only  the  red  but  also  the  green  light  suggested 
as  advisable  could  be  supplied  at  the  cost  of  the  strong 
ultra-violet  which  is  now  thrown  away  by  absorption  in 
the  glass,  a  gain  not  only  in  color  quality  but  in  efficiency 
would  result.  Speculation  is,  however,  easier  than  attain- 
ment. 


3o6 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D 


Vol.  6o,  No.  5. 


AN      INVESTIGATION     OF     TRANSMISSION  -  LINE 

PHENOMENA  BY  MEANS  OF  HYPERBOLIC 

FUNCTIONS. 


The    Distribution     of     Voltage    and   Current    Over    n 
Artificial  Lines  in  the  Steady  State. 


By  a.  E.  Kennelly. 

ARTIFICIAL  lines  composed  of  uniform  sections  are 
divided  into  two  classes,  namely,  T-lines  and  n-lines. 
A  T-line,  as  shown  in  Figs.   I   and  2,  consists  of  a 
simple  series  connection  of  similar  and  symmetrical  T-sec- 
tions ;  that  is,  sections  all  alike  in  having  two  aqua!  line 
resistances,  and'  a  leak  conductance  connected  to  ground,  or 


Fig.    1 — Single    T-Section    and    Pair    of    T-Sections    Connected 
Tiirough   an   Ammeter  A. 

zero  potential,  between  them.  A  n-line,  as  shown  in  Figs. 
3  and  4,  consists  of  a  simple  series  connection  of  similar 
and  symmetrical  n-sections;  that  is,  sections  all  alike, 
having  two  equal  leak  conductances,  and  a  line  resistance 
connected  between  them. 

It  has  been  shown  in  previous  publications'  that  any  T- 
artificial  line  of  uniform  sections  is  externally  replaceable 
by  one  and  only  one  uniform  smooth  line;  that  is,  a  line  of 
smoothly  distributed  electrical  linear  constants.  It  is  pro- 
posed here  to  show  how  the  equivalent  smooth  line  of  a 
n-artificial  line  compares  with  that  of  a  T-artificial  line  of 
similar  series  and  shunt  elements. 

Figs.  5,  6  and  7  show  a  five-section  T-line  and  its  equiva- 
lent smooth  line  of  uniformly  distributed  leakance,  in  three 
different  conditions  at  the  distant  end;  namely,  free  in 
Fig.  5,  directly  grounded  in  Fig.  6,  and  to  ground  through 
a  terminal  load  of  750  ohms  in  Fig.  7.  In  each  case  an 
emf  of  100  volts  is  impressed  on  the  left-hand  end  of  the 
line. 

Figs.  8,  9  and  10  similarly  show  a  five-section  n-line 
and  its  equivalent  smooth  line,  under  corresponding  terminal 
conditions. 

In  every  case  the  artificial  line  is  made  up  of  sec- 
tions each  having  r,  =  500  ohms  of  line  resistance,  and 
g^  =  0.00025  mho  leakage  conductance  or  leakance ;  that  is, 
0.25  milliniho  leakance  per  section. 


Fig.    2 — Artificial    Line    of    Four    T-Sections. 

Considering  first  the  behavior  of  the  T-lines  of  Figs.  5, 
6  and  7,  the  first  step  is  to  find  the  apparent  hyperbolic 
angle  u  which  is  subtended  by  a  half-section  of  the  line. 
That  is: 


'".^riificial  Lines  for  Continuous  Currents  in  the  Steady  State,"  by 
.■\.  E.  Kennelly,  Prac.  Am.  Ac.  of  Arts  6-  Sc,  Vol.  XUV,  No.  4,  pp. 
97  130,  .\ug.  26,  1908:  also  "The  .Application  of  Hyperbolic  Functions 
to  Electrical  Engineering  Problems,"  by  A.  E.  Kennelly,  University  of 
London    Press,    1912.      Appendix    F. 


u  = ^'  apparent'  hyps     (i) 


or  in  this  case 


\/  0.00025  X  500       V  0-I2S 
u  = .=5S-^#=4, =  0.176777  apparent  hyps 

But   this   has   to  be   corrected    for   the   lumpiness   of    the 

artificial  line  by  applying  the  ratio  to  the  left-hand 

side  of  (i),  or 


sinh  u  = 


y  Sr^i 


numeric  Z     (2) 


in  this  case 

{  =  0.176777 

whence  by  inspection  of  hyperbolic  tables 
u  =  0.175868 


hyps 


2 


Fig.  3 — Single   H-Section   and    Pair  of   ll-Sections  Connected 
Through   an   Ammeter. 

A  single  section  of  the  line  will  subtend  an  angle  of  2  m 
hyps,  and  the  five-section  lines  of  Figs.  5,  6  and  7  an  angle 
of  6  =  10  u,  or  1.75868  hyps.  Consequently,  the  equivalent 
smooth  line  corresponding  to  one  section  of  artificial  line 
must  likewise  subtend  an  angle  of  2u,  or  0.351736  hyp,  and 
that  corresponding  to  five  sections  must  subtend  6=10  u, 
or  1.75868  hyps,  as  indicated  in  Figs.  5  and  6. 

The  next  step   is  to  find  the   apparent  surge   resistance 
So'  of  the  T-lines  in  Figs.  5,  6  and  7.    This  is 


or  in  this  case 


apparent  ohms     (3) 


=  V  500/0.00025  =  1414.2  apparent  ohms 

Lumpiness  in  the  T-line  is  corrected  for  by  applying  the 
factor  cosh  11,  and  the  corrected  surge-resistance  Bo  of  the 
equivalent  smooth  line  is: 

So  =  So'  cosh  u  =  cosh  u  \|^-  ohms     (4) 

^  &i 
In    this    case,    cosh    0.175868=1.0155,    and    .lo  =  I4I4-2  X 
1. 0155  =  1436.1   ohms.     The  smooth  line  equivalent  to  five 
sections  of  T-line  would  therefore  contain  in  its  conductor 
a  total  resistance  of 

i?  =  6  To  =  10  M  .  To  ohms     (5) 

where  6  is  the  total  hyperbolic  angle  of  the  line.  In  this 
case,    /?=  1.75868  X  1436. 1  =  2525.7    ohms,    as    compared 


Fig.   4 — Artificial   Line   of   Four   Il-Sectlons. 

with    2500    ohms    in    the    T-line.      The    total    smooth    line 
leakance  would  also  be 

G  =  6/5o  =10  u/So  mhos     (6) 

or  in  this  case  1.75868/1436.1  =  0.0012246  mho,  as  compared 
with  a  total  of  0.00125  mho  in  the  T-line. 

In  Fig.  5  the  line  angle  3  is  assigned  to  the  junction  points 


n'he  term  **hyp'*  is  used  as  a  contracted  form  for  "hyperbolic  radium." 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


307 


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Figs.  5,  6  and  7 — Diagrammatic  Representation  of  T-Line  Constants. 


3o8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  6. 


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Figs.   8,   9   and    10— Diagrammatic    Representation    of    n-Line  Constants. 


f 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


309 


of  the  T-sections  on  the  artificial  Hne,  and  also  to  the 
corresponding  points  along  the  equivalent  smooth  line.  As 
in  Figs.  5  to  10,  the  distribution  of  resistance,  con- 
ductance, voltage  and  current  has  been  derived  by  direct 
Ohm's-law  computation  ;  while  the  corresponding  distribu- 
tion along  the  equivalent  smooth  line  has  been  derived  by 
hyperbolic  functions  in  the  regular  way.  If  a  smooth  line 
is  grounded  directly  at  its  distant  end,  the  angle  9'  of  that 
end  is  zero,   and   those   at   junctions    i.  2,   3,  4   and   5   are 


Fig.  11 — Comparative  Relations  of  Potential,  Current,  Con- 
cJLictance  and  Resistance  Along  a  T  Artificial  Line  and  Along  Its 
Equivalent   Smooth    Line. 

respectively  2  u.  4  ».  6  «,  8«  and  10  m.  If  the  distant  end  is 
put  to  ground  through  a  resistance  <r  ohms,  the  angle  of 
that  end  is 


tanh''| -^  j 


hyps     (7) 


In  this  case,  with  o-  =  750,  and  z„  =  1436. i, 

6  =  tanh''  0.522233,  or  6  =  0.57941. 
The   angle   0   assigned   at   successive   junctions   is   then   211 
-\~  Z.  4  u  -\-  a,  6  u  -\-  0,  etc.,  as  indicated  in  Fig.  7.     We  then 
have    along    the    smooth    line,     for    any    point    P    whose 
angle  is  3, 


/p  =  /. 


Rv 


R. 


sinh  (6  +  6') 

cosh  3 
cosh  (e+¥j 

tanh  S 


volts  (8) 

amperes  (9) 

ohms  (10) 

mhos  (11) 


■tanh  (6-f  6') 

r  —  r        "^"^'^  ° 
^~    ■^  coth  ( 6  +  e'l 

where  (6 -|- 6')  is  the  angle  of  the  whole  line  including  the 
terminal  addition,  or  6 -f  6' =  10  m  +  6' =  2.3381  hyps  in 
the  case  of  Fig.  7.  L'a,  /a,  Ra,  Gx  are  respectively  the 
potential,  current,  resistance  and  conductance  of  the  smootli 
line,  as  measured  at  the  home  end,  or  left-hand  end  in  the 
figures. 

If  the  line  is  freed  at  the  distant  end,  as  in  Fig.  5,  then 

/  /  CO  \  % 

(T  =  00,    and    6   =  tanh"  I  —  \  — i —  hvps     (12) 

where  ;  =  V  —  i  ;  so  that  each  of  the  angles  S  indicated  in 
Fig.  6  becomes  increased  by  ;' —  in  Fig.  5.  This  has  the 
effect  of  interchanging  the  functions  as  follow 
sinh  18-)-/ 


/  coth  3 
/  sinh  5 


9 

osh  /  3  +  /^  j 

(5  +  / -^  1=  coth  5 


tanh 
coth 


=  tanh  3 


numeric  Z  (13) 
(H) 
(15) 
(16) 


With  this  understanding  formulas  (8)  to  (11 J  apply  to  all 
smooth  lines,  whether  the  distant  end  be  grounded,  freed, 
or  in  any  intermediate  state. 

Comparing  the  smooth  and  T-line  distributions  in  Fig.  6, 
it  will  be  seen  that  at  each  junction  between  successive 
T-sections  the  potential,  current,  resistance  and  conductance 
are  all  identical  with  the  corresponding  values  on  the 
smooth  line.  Thus  at  junction  3,  the  line-angle  3  being 
1.0552  hyps,  the  potential  is  44.819  volts,  the  current  passing 
over  the  junction  is  0.039815  amp,  the  resistance  at  and 
beyond  the  junction  is  1 125.7  ohms,  and  the  conductance  is 
the  reciprocal  of  this,  or  0.88836  millimho,  all  measured  to 
ground  return  circuit.  At  the  point  on  the  equivalent 
smooth  line,  where  the  line  angle  is  1.0552  hyps,  the  same 
values  present  themselves.  It  will  be  understood  that  on 
the  smooth  line  the  potential  is  directly  proportional  to  the 
sine,  the  current  to  the  cosine,  the  resistance  to  the  tangent, 
and  the  conductance  to  the  cotangent  of  the  hyperbolic  line 
angle  B. 

Between  junctions  on  the  T-line,  the  potential  and  the 
resistance  fall  off  according  to  a  straight-line  law,  or 
Ohm's  law.  The  current  remains  constant  down  to  the 
midsection  and  then  falls  off  abruptly  b)'  the  amount  of 
current  escaping  at  the  leak.  Along  the  smooth  line,  be- 
tween corresponding  points,  the  change  in  values  remains 
smooth  and  continuous,  according  to  the  hyperbolic  func- 
tion laws  represented  in  formulas  (8)   to  (11). 

Similarly  considering  Fig.  7,  the  same  conditions  are 
found.  The  junction  line-angles  have  all  been  increased 
by  0.57941  hyp,  the  ang'e  subtended  by  the  terminal  load  of 
750  ohms.  At  section-junctions  the  electrical  values  on  the 
T-line  are  identical  with  those  at  the  corresponding  points 
on  the  smooth  line.  It  may  be  considered  that  the  T-Iine 
possesses  line-angles  at  the  junctions,  and  there  only,  so 
that  there  are  only  six  point-,  along  the  terminally  loaded 
T-line,  which  possess  line-angles.  The  smooth  line  has  a 
line-angle  correspond-ng  to  each  and  every  point  along  its 
length;  or  may  be  said  to  possess  an  indefinitely  great 
number  of  line-angle  points.  Under  these  limitations,  the 
electrical  distributions  are  identical  on  the  T-line  and  on 
the  smooth  line  at  all  the  T-line  points  to  which  a  line-angle 
can  be  assigned. 

Again  taking  the  case  of  Fig.  5,  with  the  line  freed,  the 


v'a  II  te        ,  .^     ■ 

^    Vf-     ^.T     11   .tf  .si    ^  - 


=  8 
D 


^       1 

--t^- 

S    :J    S    S        >.4    ■^.>: 

S    5,1    S    K 

Fig.  12 — Comparative  Relations  of  Potential,  Current,  Con- 
ductance and  Resistance  Along  a  11  Artificial  Line  and  Along  Its 
Equivalent  Smooth   Line. 

angle  subtended  by  the  terminal  load  of  infinite  resistance 

is  ;'— hyps,  and  the  agreement  witli  formulas   (8)   to   (li) 

at   section-junctions   repeats   itself. 

The  conditions  for  any  T-line,  as  exemplified  in  Figs.  5, 
6  and  7,  are  summarized  in  Fig.  11,  which  shows  that  at  any 
junction,  such  as  junction  n.  the  electrical  values  are  iden- 
tical with  those  at  the  corresponding  point  on  the  equivalent 
smooth   line.      At    anv    midsection,    such   as   midsection   A'', 


310 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6. 


the  potential  is  found  by  applying  the  factor  sech  u  to  the 
potential  at  the  corresponding  smooth-line  point;  so  that 

J/'n  =  Uiq  sech  u  =  C/N/cosh  it  volts     (17) 

The  arithmetical  mean  of  the  two  currents  at  the  mid- 
section, one  on  each  side  of  the  leak,  is  also  found  by 
applying  the  factor  cosh  u  to  the  current  at  the  correspond- 


V  4  IV  3  III  2  II  1 

Di:5tance  Pojiciou  along  LiuL'  t'niiu  Di^tMiit  Eud 

Fig.    13 — Fall    of    Potential. 

ing  smooth-line  point.  It  is  evident  that  since  the  con- 
ductance at  any  point  is  the  ratio  of  current  to  voltage 
thereat,  the  mean  conductance  at  a  midsection  will  be 
cosh'  u  times  the  corresponding  smooth-line  point  conduct- 
ance. 

Turning  now  to  the  behavior  of  n-lines  as  represented  in 
Figs.  8  to  10,  the  first  step  is  to  find  the  angle  u  subtended 
by  a  half  section.  The  apparent  half-section  angle  is 
found  by  formula  (i),  which  means  that  the  semi-section 
angle  u  of  a  n-line  is  the  same  as  that  of  a  T-line  having 
the  same  values  of  r,  and  g^  in  any  section.  In  a  single 
T-section,  taken  separately  as  in  Fig.  i,  the  line  element  is 
in  two  equal  portions  r^/2,  and  the  leak  g^  is  single ;  whereas 
in  a  single  n-section,  taken  separately  as  in  Fig.  3,  the  leak 
is  in  two  equal  portions  gj2,  and  the  line  element  r^  is 
single.  When  a  number  of  T-elements  or  n-elements  are 
associated  to  form  a  line,  as  in  Figs.  2  and  4.  the  half- 
elements  merge  into  full  values  r,  and  g^.  except  at  the  ends 
of  the  line.  Formula  (2)  thus  applies  to  both  T-lines  and 
n-lines,  which  means  that  the  angle  subtended  by  an  arti- 
ficial line  of  a  given  number  of  uniform  sections  is  the 
same,  whether  a  T-line  or  n-line  is  used. 

The  apparent  surge-resistance  Zo"  of  the  n-line  is  like- 
wise determined,  as  in  the  case  of  a  T-line,  by  formula  (3). 
but  the  lumpiness  correcting  factor  is  the  reciprocal  of  that 
used  with  a  T-line;  so  that  the  corrected  surge-resistance 
Zo  of  a  n-line  is 


Zo  =  Zo"  sech  M  =  sech  u  ^  I — - 


^i: 


ohms     (18) 


sistance  in  the  smooth  line  of  Figs.  8  to  10  is  therefore 
i!449  ohms,  and  the  total  leakance  1.263  millimhos,  by  (5) 
and  (6). 

Referring  to  Fig.  9,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  line  angles 
and  their  potentials  of  the  n-line  correspond  identically  to 
those  of  the  T-line;  but  the  currents,  resistances  and  con- 
ductances differ  slightly  from  those  of  the  T-line.  This 
difference  is  due  to  the  difference  in  surge  resistance. 

Comparing  the  n-line  with  the  T-line  diagrams,  it  is 
evident  that  the  potentials  at  section-junctions  correspond 
identically  with  those  on  the  smooth  line.  Owing,  how- 
ever, to  the  merging  of  the  adjacent  leaks  of  successive  ns, 
the  current  at  a  section-junction  is  not  the  same  as  on  the 
smooth  line.  The  arithmetical  mean  current  is,  however, 
the  same,  and  if  the  two  components  gj2  of  each  leak  were 
separated,  and  the  ammeter  introduced  between  them  as  at 
A  in  Fig.  3,  the  current  so  indicated  would  be  the  same  as 
on  the  equivalent  smooth  line  . 

The  results  of  the  analysis  of  a  n-line  are  indicated  in 
Fig.  12.  At  any  midsection,  say  N,  the  voltage  is  cosh  u 
times  that  at  the  corresponding  smooth-line  point ;  the  cur- 
rent is,  on  the  contrary,  less  in  the  same  ratio.     That  is, 

[/"n  =  (7n  cosh  u 

/"n  =  In   sech  « 

R"if  =  /?N  cosh"  u 

G"n  =  Gn  sech"  u 

In  practice,  when  making  measurements  at  a  n-line  junc- 
tion, the  current  in  the  line  is  measured  on  one  or  the 
other  side  of  the  junction.  It  is,  therefore,  the  same  as 
the  current  at  the  midsection  on  that  side,  and  its  value 
can  be  predetermined  by  reference  to  (20)  ;  that  is,  to  the 
current  at  the  corresponding  midsection  of  the  equivalent 
smooth  line. 

The  results  of  the  whole  analysis  may  also  be  summed  up 
in  the  proposition  that  both  on  n-lines  and  on  T-lines  the 
power,  P  =  UI  watts,  is  the  same  as  at  the  corresponding 


O.O'i 


0.06 


0.05 


0.04 


0.03 


volts 

(19) 

amperes 

(20) 

ohms 

(21) 

mhos 

(22) 

watts 

(23) 

Smooth  Lfine 

\ 

T-Line  Grounded 

T-Liae  Grounded  through  750"^ 

\^ 

\ 

^ 

X 

^ 

U 

'"\ 

^-5 

■-<C 

5n/., 



'^v^ 

""" 

----- 

''\ 

X 

'^N., 

''■^N^ 

In  the  case  represented  by  Figs.  8,  9  and  10,  the  surge  re- 
sistance of  the  n-line.  and  also  of  its  equivalent  smooth 
line,    is  Zo  —  1414.2/1.0155  =  1392.6   ohms.     The   total    re- 


0.01 


5        V        4        IV       3        in       2        II        1        10 

Di  tr.nce  Positiua  from  Distant  EnJ 
Fig.    14 — Current    Strengths    Along    T-Llne. 

point  of  the  equivalent  smooth  line,  not  only  at  section- 
junctions,  but  also  at  midsections,  provided  the  line  cur- 
rent /  at  any  leak  be  defined  as  the  arithmetical  mean  of 
the  line  currents  on  each  side  of  it. 

Fig.  13  shows  the  fall  of  potential  along  the  T-lines, 
n-lines  and  smooth  lines  for  the  cases  here  considered. 
With  the  line   free,  the  smooth-line  curve  is  a  pure  cate- 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


3" 


nary.  The  n-line  voltages  form  a  weighted  string  polygon, 
internal  to  the  catenary,  coinciding  at  junction  points.  The 
T-line  voltages  form  a  weighted  string  polygon  external  to 
the  catenary,  also  coinciding  at  the  junction  points.  The 
electrical  propositions  here  considered  in  relation  to  arti- 
ficial lines  have  important  bearings  by  analogy  in  mechanics, 


0.07 


0.03 


0.05 


5  0.04 


ao.e 

a 


0.02 


0.01 


Smooth  Line 

n  Lino  Freed 

n  Lille  Grounded 

rjLine  Grounded  througli 

750  w 


^- 


-s; 


9i^UD 


■J"". 


rfed 


.-U«<j>^ 


Fig. 


4  IV         3         III         2  U  1 

Distance  Position  from  Di-stant  End 

15 — Current    Strengths    Along    n-Llne. 


with  respect  to  the  catenary  and  the  contacting  weighted 
string  polygons  of  the  same. 

Figs.  14  and  15  give  the  corresponding  curves  of  current 
fall  along  the  lines.  In  the  T-line,  the  currents  coincide 
with  the  smooth-line  values  at  junctions.  In  the  n-line, 
only  the  xnean  currents  coincide  in  this  manner. 

All  of  the  cases  thus  far  considered  have  been  continuous- 
current  cases,  involving  only  resistance  and  leakance.  But 
all  of  the  formulas  arrived  at  apply  equally  well  to  any 
single-frequency  alternating-current  case  when  interpreted 
vectorially.  The  line-angles,  potentials,  currents,  resist- 
ances and  conductances  will  then  all  be  vector  quantities. 
The  algebraical  treatment  is,  however,  exactly  the  same  as 
that  already  discussed. 

In  all  of  the  cases  considered,  the  emf  has  been  assumed 
to  be  impressed  at  the  left-hand  end  only.  If,  however, 
emf  be  applied  to  both  ends  of  the  artificial  line  simulta- 
neously, the  terminal  effects  will  be  the  same  as  when  these 
emfs  are  similarly  applied  to  the  two  ends  of  the  equivalent 
smooth  line. 


DOUBLING  THE  LIFTING  CAPACITY  OF    MAGNET 
BY  VERTICAL  STACKING  OF  PIG  IRON. 


Heretofore  the  practice  of  handling  furnace  pig  iron  with 
electromagnets  has  been  limited  by  the  quantity  that  could 
be  lifted  under  the  ordinary  plan  of  picking  the  iron  from 
the  ground  or  floor.  With  the  pigs  lying  flat,  only  a  rela- 
tively small  number  adhere  to  the  magnet.  At  the  Zenith 
furnace  in  Minnesota  experiments  have  recently  been  made 
with  stacking  the  pigs  vertically,  standing  each  pig  erect 
on  end.  This  arrangement  allows  a  greater  number  of 
pieces  to  make  direct  contact  with  the  magnet  pole-pieces, 
and  the  lifting  capacity  of  the  magnet  is  correspondingly 
increased.  In  fact,  w'th  a  given  magnet  which  was  able  to 
pick  up  only  1000  lb.  of  pigs  lying  flat,  2000  lb.  can  be  lifted 
if  the  pigs  are  stacked  vertically  on  the  floor.  This  doubling 
of  the  lifting  capacity  of  the  magnet  is  attained  with  but 
little  added  expense  for  labor  in  stacking  the  pigs. 


THE    PROPAGATION   OF    ELECTRIC    ENERGY   BY 
STANDING  AND   TRAVELING  WAVES. 


Experimental  Test  of  an  Artificial  Transmission  Line. 


By  John  F.  H.  Douglas. 

AS  the  lengths  of  transmission  lines   increase   several 
effects  become  more  and  more  noticeable;  first  the 
charging  current  becomes  larger,  then  the  regulation 
becomes  worse,  and  finally  the  receiver  voltage  at  no  load 
becomes   considerably   larger   than   the   generator   voltage. 

1^2'^3^4^B-^6-^    T  ^    8^9-''  10  ^11 


Load 
C  c  O 


Fig.   1 — Diagram  of  Connections. 


Sloetrtcal  World 


The  tests  described  in  this  article  will  show  that  in  each  of 
the  respects  mentioned  it  is  possible  to  overcome  these 
effects  almost  entirely.  The  writer  believes  that  the  article 
contains  the  first  published  account  of  the  possibility  of  hav- 
ing a  better  regulation  on  alternating  than  on  direct  current. 
Tests  were  made  on  three  artificial  lines,  all  of  which  were 
constructed  of  laboratory  choke  coils  and  paper  condens- 
ers. The  arrangement  shown  in  Fig.  i  was  used  in  all 
cases. 

The  first  line  had  an  aggregate  capacity  of  321  micro- 
farads, an  inductance  of  0.173  henry,  and  effective  alter- 
nating-current resistance  of  4  ohms.  This  corresponds  to 
one  phase  of  an  actual  combination  of  sixteen  three-phase 
lines  in  parallel,  each  1345  miles  in  length  and  consisting  of 
i,2oo,ooo-circ.  mil  conductors  spaced  23  ft.  apart.  Or  else 
it  represents  sixteen  lines  each  428  miles  long  consisting 
of  400,000-circ.  mil  conductors  spaced  13.5  ft.  with  1917 
miles  of  artificial  loading  concentrated  in  a  substation. 

The  second  line  differed  from  the  first  only  in  that  the 
connections  of  the  choke  cells  were  changed  so  as  to  double 
the  number  of  turns  in  series.  Thus  the  new  inductance 
was  four  times  the  old.  This  line  corresponds  therefore  to 
eight  actual  lines  in  parallel  such  as  were  described  in  the 
previous  paragraph,  the  length  being  in  this  case  2690  miles. 
The  third  line  had  a  greater  inductance,  corresponding  to  a 
line  3200  miles  long. 

The  reason  for  taking  the  performance  on  an  aggregate 


23456789  lu         11 

Distance  nuecricat  iK»r(x 

Fig.  2 — Open-Circuit  Test. 

/=1345,  N=:,  X  =  2690,  /  =  68. 

of  lines  was  to  secure  a  practicable  current  reading  at  no- 
volts,  which  was  the  largest  amount  available. 

Most  of  the  data  secured  are  shown  in  the  plats;  how- 
ever, some  are  given  in  a  table.  The  following  abbrevia- 
tions are  used:  /  =  the  length  of  the  line  in  miles,  /  is  the 
frequency,  N  is  the  number  of  segments,  X  is  the  wave 
length.     The  numerical  subscripts  indicate  the  station  along 


312 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6. 


the  line  at  vvhicli  the  readuig  was  taken;  thus  £,  means  the 
generator  voltage  and  I^  means  the  current  in  the  section  on 
the  generator  side  of  station  3.  £;  and  /;  refer  to  the  load 
voltage  and  current. 

The  test  results  as  plotted  in  Figs.  2  to  6  show  clearly  by 
the  presence  of  nodes  and  loops  that  in  such  transmission 
lines   there    exist    the   phenomena    of    standing   waves.     In 


80 


a  60 

o 
> 


123456789  10  11 

Distance  *'"'™'"  "•'"'' 

Fig.   3 — Short-Clrcuit  Test. 
;=1345.   .V:=l.  X  =  2690,  f  —  68.  I ,  =  3.S8. 

other  words,  the  distribution  of  voltage  is  very  much  like 
that  of  the  motion  of  a  vibrating  elastic  cord.  Moreover, 
by  referring  to  Fig.  2  it  is  seen  that  where  there  is  a  node 
of  potential  the  current  is  a  maximum,  and.  vice  versa. 
Hence,  although  not  read  and  recorded  in  the  other  no- 
load  runs,  the  current  follows  the  potential  wave  with  a 
phase  difference  of  90  deg.  Thus  in  Fig.  3  the  current 
is  very  small  at  the  center  of  the  line  because  the  voltage  is 
a  maximum  there.  The  interval  betwen  two  consecutive 
nodes  is  called  a  segment.  The  length  of  a  wave  is  the 
length  of  two  segments.  Thus,  Figs.  l  and  2  refer  to  a 
half-wave  line.  The  frequency  of  a  wave  varies  inversely 
as  the  wave  length,  the  velocity  of  propagation  being  the 
same,  and  a  short  calculation  would  show  that  this  is  ony 
a  few  per  cent  less  than  that  of  light.' 

Referring  again  to  Figs.  2  and  3,  it  will  be  observed  that 
the  voltage  at  the  center  of  the  half-wave  line  seems  to  de- 
pend only  on  the  load  current,  and  the  current  at  the  center 
of  the  line  seems  to  depend  only  upon  the  load  voltage. 
This  indicates  that  at  the  quarter-wave  points  the  charac- 
teristic of  the  line  has  been  changed  from  constant  poten- 
tial to  constant  current.     This  fact  is  alreadv  well  known." 


is  also  very  small,  simply  enough  to  supply  the  line  losses. 
Perhaps  the  most  interesting  results  are  those  plotted  in 
Figs.  7  and  8,  showing  that  the  regulation  of  a  half-wave 
line  is  better  on  inductive  load  than  non-inductive  load. 
Such  a  line  regulates  better  on  alternating  than  on  direct 
current,  as  is  shown  in  the  accompanying  table  by  the  fact 
that  the  regulation  is  only  one-half  of  the  IR  drop. 


100 

f 

\ 

/ 

\ 

/ 

so 

60 
40 
20' 

/ 

\ 

/ 

\ 

/ 

l\ 

/ 

\ 

) 

t 

/ 

\ 

1 

/ 

/ 

\ 

I 

/ 

\ 

1 

6  1 

Distance 


9  10         11 


Fig.   5 — Open-Circuit  Test. 
/=2690,     .W==2>/S,    \=r2150.    /  =  S4.5    (estimated). 

Figure  8  perhaps  needs  some  further  explanation.  The 
sides  of  the  polygon  of  voltages  shown  there  are  the  volt- 
ages A  E,  which  are  measured  as  the  drops  in  the  successive 

TABLE     I. REGULATION     TESTS    ON     A     HALF-W.WE    ARTIFICIAL 

TRANSMISSION   LINE. 


Fre- 

Power- 
Factor. 

Regula- 
tion. 

IR. 

quency. 

£1. 

/; 

C?^t. 

£7 

per 
Cent. 

Cent. 

68 

110 

0 

109.0 

68 

110 

4.72 

100 

98.9 

10.2 

19.0 

68 

100 

0 

99.0 

6S 

100 

4.70 

10 

96.2 

2.9 

19.6 

choke  coils.  At  first  sight  one  does  not  recognize  this  set- 
ting as  indicating  a  traveling  wave.  However,  such  is  the 
case.  First  it  will  be  observed  that  there  are  no  nodes. 
Then  the  voltage  at  each  point,  although  nearly  the  same  as 


100 

, 

M 

'-A 

-Y 

80 

V 

-^ 

/ 

V 

7 

/ 

SO 

^ 

^ 

A 

/ 

40 

) 

4— 

\ 

V 

^ 

20 

I 

\    / 

V 

I  = 


4  6  0  7  8 

Distance 

Fig.   A — Open-Circuit   Test. 

2690,    N  =  2,    X  =  2690,    /  =  68.i 


9  10         11 

SUolrleal  tVorld 


100 

V 

'^ 

< 

\ 

/ 

\ 

/ 

1 

loo 

> 

40 
20 

\ 

^ 

\ 

^   ) 

/ 

\ 

/ 

\ 

\     i 

s 

/ 

y 

/ 

v 

4  5  6  7! 

Distance 

Fig.   6 — Open-Circuit  Test. 

:3200,     ^  =  3,     X  =  2130,     /  = 


9  10  11 

Lleetrical  IVurU 


85. 


With  reference  to  a  line  one-half  wave  in  length,  it  will 
be  noted  that  the  charging  current  is  very  small,  being 
merely  enough  to  supply  the  losses.     The  impedance  drop 


'Similar   curves  are  sliown  in    Dr.    W.    S.    Franklin's   "Electric   Waves." 
A   very   clear   description    of  the  theory   is  there  given    also. 

=Di-.    C.    p.    Sleimnetz,    "Transient    Phenomena,"    Sect.    Ill,    Chap.    II, 
Art.    20,    paiie    308. 


that  at  the  preceding  point  in  magnitude,  reaches  that  maxi- 
mum at  a  little  later  time.  Thus  the  wave  of  voltage  trav- 
els along  the  line  and  eventually  reaches  the  load  end. 

From  the  physical  point  of  view  it  may  be  said  that  the 
energy  delivered  to  the  load  end  of  a  half-wave  line  is 
transferred  by  virtue  of  a  traveling  wave.  H  all  of  the 
energy  contained  in  a  wave  is  not  absorbed  in  the  load,  it 


August  io.  191a 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


313 


must  be  reflected  back  toward  the  generator,  thus  resulting 
in  a  net  transfer  of  zero  energy,  and  a  standing  wave.  In 
order  for  this  standing  wave  to  be  consistent  with  good 
regulation  the  generator  must  be  located  near  a  loop  of 
potential,  or,  in  other  words,  at  some  half-wave  multiple 
from  the  receiver  of  energy.  This  phenomenon  of  reflec- 
tion  will  be   seen  therefore  to  be  a  necessary   accompani- 


140 
120 
100; 

^ 

<■ ^i^ 

/ 

^ 

N 

S, 

k 

4 

/ 

A 

1- 

^ 

^ 

>  60 

\ 

^ 

/ 

\ 

/ 

40 
20 

\ 

/ 

\ 

1 
^         / 

/ 

V 

1234  56789  10  11 

Distance  Bi»,tru^:  nww 

Fig.  7 — Inductive  Load   Run. 
/  =  13-45,   /==  68,   71  =  4.70. 

nient  .to  an  efficient  transmission  of  energy  at  partial  loads. 
In  this  respect  the  problem  is  entirely  different  from  that  in 
telephone  circuits. 

To  sum  up,  therefore,  one  may  say  that  under  normal 
load  conditions  the  energy  of  the  load  is  transmitted  by 
means  of  a  traveling  wave,  and  the  "ready-to-serve"  con- 
dition at  no  load  consists  in  a  standing  wave. 

It  is  almost  needless  to  state  that  in  all  respects  the  re- 
sults as  stated  above  are  borne  out  by  the  mathematical 
theory  developed  by  Dr.  Kennelly.  In  fact,  the  tests  were 
made  to  disprove  or  verify  the  conclusions  already  ob- 
tained by  that  means.' 

The  following  explanation,  however,  must  suffice  here. 
When  the  half-wave  line  is  stated  to  be  essentially  a  con- 
stant-current line  at  its  middle  point,  one  may  remember 
the  "T-connected"  resonating  circuit  described  by  Dr.  Stein- 
metz  in  his  "Alternating-Current  Phenomena,"  here  shown 
at  the  left  of  Fig.  9.  This  device  actually  converts,  by  res- 
onance,  constant   impressed   potential   to   a   constant   deliv- 

6 
}^'- --,7 


Fig.  8 — Non- IndL.'ctive   Load   Run. 
;  =  1345,  /=68,  /,  =4.72.    ■ 

ered  current.     Two  such  devices  in  series  as  shown  would 
again  give  power  at  constant  potential.     The  general  simi- 


'Since  the  above  was  written.  Dr.  h.  E.  Kennelly  and  Mr.  F.  W. 
Lieberknecht  liave  described  tests  made  on  a  646-mile  transmission  line 
in  an  .\.  I.  E.  E.  paper  ("June,  1912).  The  absence  of  nodes  and  loops 
in  their  tests  is  attributable  to  two  causes.  The  line  they  tested  was  a 
high-resistance,  low-efficiency  one  in  which  nodes  and  loops  are_  not  we'l 
defined.  Moreover,  the  equivalent  length  is  reduced  by  the  resistance  to 
about  one-sixth   of  a  wave,   which   is  too  short  to  show   nodes   and   loops. 


larity  between  this  arrangement  and  the  actual  transmission 
line  must  be  apparent.  The  fact  that  the  voltage  at  one 
end  of  the  line  is  exactly  opposed  to  that  at  the  other  en- 
ables the  line  to  supply  its  own  charging  current.  That  is, 
the  charging  current  consists  merely  in  an  exchange  of 
current  between  one  end  of  the  line  and  the  other. 

The  fact  that  the  regulation  of  a  half-wave  line  is  only 
about  one-half  of  that  of  the  same  line  on  direct  current 
is  also  readily  explained.  When  it  is  remembered  that  one- 
half  of  the  line  has  a  constant  current  in  it,  it  will  be 
appreciated  that  half  of  the  IR  drop  is  constant.  Only  half 
the  line  has  a  current  which  varies  with  the  load,  causing  a 
drop  which  affects  the  regulation. 

The  characteristics  of  small  charging  current  and  small 
regulation  are  so  good  in  a  line  one-half  wave  in  length 
that  we  are  naturally  interested  in  some  of  the  commercial 
aspects  of  such  a  line.     One  feature  that  is  disadvantageous 

TABLE      II THE     LENGTH      OF     A      HALF-WAVE     TRANSMISSION 

LINE    FOR    VARIOUS    FREQUENCIES. 


Frequency,  cycles  per  second 25  60     |     125 

Length,  miles i    3620         IS20     I     730 


212 

428 


500 
182 


in  this  kind  of  a  line  is  that  an  open  circuit  at  the  center  of 
the  line  would  result  in  a  very  high  voltage  by  resonance, 
at  the  broken  end.  If  not  relieved  by  corona,  this  action 
will  destroy  the  insulation.  One  good  point  about  such  a 
line  is  that  it  would  tend  to  relieve  itself  on  any  short- 
circuit.  Under  such  conditions  the  voltage  builds  up  to  a 
very  high  value  in  the  central  portion  '^f  the  line.  If  the 
building  up  is  prevented  by  allowing  corona  to  form  the 
short  circuit  will  be  relieved  to  a  large  extent. 

The  last  point  about  such  lines  that  can  be  taken  up  here 
is  the  fact  that  artificial  loading  of  a  presumably  e-xpensive 


9 — Two   T-Resonating   Circuits. 
2  Tr/X  =  Ji  ir/C. 

kind  would  be  necessary.  For  a  velocity  of  propagation  of 
182,500  miles  a  second  the  lengths  of  unloaded  half -wave 
transmission  lines  are  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  table. 
It  will  be  seen  that  all  of  the  combinations  are  improbable. 
Thus  artificial  loading  would  have  to  be  used  to  make  up 
the  required  length.  For  an  equal  utilization  of  the  insula- 
tion of  a  line  the  normal  voltage  and  current  would  be 
related  by  the  following  equation : 


/         \  C 


It  will  be  seen  from  this  equation  that  loading  inserted  in 
the  form  of  inductance  would  probably  result  in  a  voltage 
too  high  to  be  practicable.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  that 
some  form  of  condenser  loading  would  have  to  be  em- 
ployed. This  would  most  probably  have  to  be  located  in 
some  substation  and  used  in  conjunction  with  inductive 
loading  as  well.  Owing  to  the  fluctuating  voltages  in  the 
system  here  described,  the  ordinary  form  of  synchronous 
condenser  could  not  be  utilized. 

Whether  any  of  the  remaining  forms  of  condenser  are 
suitable  is  a  question  that  can  hardly  be  answered  at  pres- 
ent. The  object  of  this  paper  is  merely  to  describe  the  phe- 
nomena, which  it  is  believed  are  not  well  known,  without 
intending  to  express  an  opinion  whether  it  would  be  possible 
to  build  such  a  line  or  not. 

The  writer  wishes  to  acknowledge  the  great  assistance 
rendered  by  Messrs.  F.  K.  .\tkinson  and  H.  R.  Rosebro, 
.students  in  the  senior  class  in  electrical  engineering  at  Cor- 
nell  Universitv,  in  assembling  and  testing  the  line. 


314 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  6. 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


CENTRAL-STATION  SERVICE  ON  SHIPS. 


The  New  York  Edison  Company  has  recently  entered 
into  a  contract  with  the  United  Fruit  Company  to  supply 
energy  to  the  steamers  of  this  line  while  at  their  docks 
in  New  York.  The  energy  will  be  used  for  lighting  and 
for  operating  cargo  winches.  The  introduction  of  the 
central  service  will  reduce  the  amount  of  steam  equipment 
kept  in  operation  heretofore  when  the  ships  were  in  port. 


SPECIAL  RATES  FOR  HYDROELECTRIC  SERVICE. 


The  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company  has 
very  lately  placed  in  effect  a  new  schedule  of  rates  for 
electrical  energy  supplied  exclusively  from  hydroelectric 
sources,  under  terms  somewhat  unusual  and  interesting. 
Energy  will  be  delivered  at  a  rate  of  not  less  than  200  kw, 
without  any  guarantee  of  continuity  of  service,  and  subject 
to  the  vicissitudes  of  hydroelectric  generation,  long-distance 
transmission  and  transformation.  Only  customers  whose 
load  consists  of  motors  and  miscellaneous  lighting  will  be 
permitted  to  contract  for  this  form  of  service.  Electrical 
energy  will  be  delivered  at  a  pressure  of  approximately 
13,200  volts,  three-phase  alternating  current,  at  a  frequency 
of  25  cycles ;  or  in  place  of  the  delivery  voltage  stated 
above  the  pressure  may  be  any  other  transmission  voltage. 
The  customer  will  be  required  to  furnish  the  transformers, 
switching  apparatus  and  lightning  protection,  of  a  type  or 
types  to  be  approved  by  the  company.  The  latter  states 
that  this  service  should  be  taken  only  by  customers  having 
their  own  steam  plants  to  serve  as  emergency  reserve,  and. 
furthermore,  the  service  is  offered  only  where  delivery  can 
now  readily  be  made  and  the  company  does  not  obligate 
itself  to  extend  its  underground  transmission  system  to 
make  delivery. 

The  form  of  rate  schedule  consists  of  a  demand  charge 
plus  an  energy  charge,  with  a  minimum  bill  and  discount 
for  prompt  payment.  The  demand  charge  will  be  $20  per 
kw  per  year  for  the  first  200  kw  and  $15  per  kw  per  year 
for  all  demand  in  excess  of  200  kw,  payable  in  equal  month- 
ly instalments.  The  energy  charge  will  be  7  mills  per 
kw-hr.  for  all  energy  consumed  during  each  month ;  the 
minimum  annual  demand  charge  will  be  $4,000.  On  bills 
paid  within  ten  days  a  discount  of  5  per  cent  will  be  allowed 
on  the  first  $25  of  all  bills,  and  i  per  cent  on  amounts  in 
excess  thereof.  The  company  limits  the  amount  of  hydro- 
electric power  to  be  sold  to  10,000  kw.  A  customer's  de- 
mand will  be  determined  as  the  maximum  rate  at  which 
energy  is  used  for  any  period  of  fifteen  consecutive  minutes, 
and  may  be  ascertained  at  the  option  of  the  company  by 
counting  the  revolutions  of  the  watt-hour-meter  disk,  or  by 
printing  the  watt-hour-meter  readings  at  quarter-hour  in- 
tervals, or  by  the  curve  drawn  by  a  recording  wattmeter. 
The  maximum  demand  charge  during  any  month  will  be 
not  less  than  that  computed  from  the  basis  of  75  per  cent  of 
the  maximum  charge  during  any  previous  month  of  the  con- 
tract period.  Consumers  will  not  be  permitted  to  sell  or 
otherwise  dispose  of  any  of  the  energy  to  any  individual  or 
corporation  without  the  consent  of  the  company.  The 
measuring  instruments  or  apparatus  for  determining  the 
customer's  demand  and  consumption  will  be  supplied  by 
the  company  and  will  be  connected  on  the  primary  side  of 
the   customer's   transformers   or   other   equipment. 

If  the  company's  measuring  instruments  should  fail  at 
any  time  to  register  the  energy  used,  the  amount  for  the 
month  during  which  a  stoppage  may  occur  shall  be  com- 


puted at  the  same  average  rate  as  for  the  two  months  next 
preceding,  or,  if  energy  has  not  been  supplied  during  the 
two  preceding  months  at  a  normal  rate,  then  the  next  suc- 
ceeding period  of  two  months  shall  be  used  as  a  basis. 
Proper  allowance  shall  also  be  made  in  case  energy  has  not 
been  used  regularly  during  the  months  in  which  the  stop- 
page occurred.  Provision  is  included  in  the  standard  form 
of  contract  whereby  the  company  may  suspend  the  delivery 
of  energy  on  Sundays  and  legal  holidays  for  the  purpose 
of  making  repairs,  changes  or  improvements  upon  any  part 
of  its  generating  or  distributing  system,  provided,  however, 
that  reasonable  notice  shall  be  given  to  the  consumer.  In 
the  case  of  shut-downs  of  the  last-mentioned  character  no 
reduction  of  the  demand  charge  will  be  permitted. 


OFF-PEAK  SCHEDULE. 


Under  the  title  "Rates  for  Battery  Charging,  Refrigera- 
tion and  Other  Similar  Service,"  the  Commonwealth  Edison 
Company  of  Chicago  has  issued  schedules  showing  in  the 
form  of  a  comprehensive  table  the  net  costs  per  kilowatt- 
hour  for  various  maxima,  and  various  daily  hours'  use  of 
maxima,  for  electricity  during  the  off-peak  period.  These 
rates  apply  where  the  customer  guarantees  that  his  maxi- 
mum demand  shall  not  be  less  than  50  kw  and  further 
agrees  not  to  require  electrical  energy  from  the  company 
between  the  hours  of  4  p.  m.  and  8  p.  m.  during  the  period 
beginning  Oct.  I  and  ending  April  i.  This  period  is 
referred  to  as  the  "peak  period."  Under  these  conditions 
the  primary  charge  for  the  use  of  low-tension  alternating 
current  is  $16.80  per  kw  per  year  for  the  first  50  kw  and 
$9  per  kw  per  year  for  demand  in  excess  of  50  kw.  The 
secondary  charges  on  this  schedule  are  as  follows :  First 
2000  kw-hr.  per  month,  5  cents  per  kw-hr. ;  next  3000 
kw-hr.,  3  cents;  next  25,000  kw-hr.,  1. 1  cents;  next  70,000 
kw-hr.,  0.9  cent;  over  100,000  kw-hr.  per  month,  0.7  cent 
per  kw-hr.  A  discount  of  10  per  cent  is  allowed  from  the 
secondary  portion  of  the  bill  if  paid  within  ten  days. 


PROGRESSIVE    POLICIES   IN   THE    MANAGEMENT 
OF  SMALL  CENTRAL  STATIONS. 


Alva,  Okla.,  is  a  community  of  only  5000  population,  but 
it  enjoys  to  an  unusual  degree  the  advantages  of  progres- 
sive management  which  are  contributing  to  the  success  of 
public-service  properties  administrated  on  a  broad-gage 
basis  in  larger  cities.  Mr.  N.  R.  Gascho,  manager  of  the 
Alva  Light  &  Power  Company  and  past-president  of  the 
Gas,  Electric  &  Street  Railway  Association  of  Oklahoma, 
believes  in  a  policy  of  the  utmost  frankness  and  honesty  in 
dealing  with  customers.  He  takes  pains  to  convince  each 
consumer  that  the  central  station  is  endeavoring  to  render 
economical  and  efficient  service  and  asks  co-operation  in 
securing  a  "square  deal"  all  around.  The  patron  who  is  in 
doubt  about  the  accuracy  of  his  meter  is  invited  to  be  pres- 
ent in  person  at  a  test,  when  the  meter  is  compared  with  a 
rotating  standard  instrument,  care  being  taken  to  explain 
the  method  of  the  test.  He  is  also  instructed  how  to  check 
his  own  meter  with  his  watch,  by  turning  on  a  25-watt  or 
40-watt  tungsten  lamp  or  a  i6-cp  carbon  lamp. 

The  Alva  policv  concerning  its  employees  is  to  secure 
men  of  a  high  grade  who  are  a  credit  to  the  company  in 
the  community,  paying  these  men  a  self-respecting  wage  so 
that  they  shall  be  satisfied  and  ready  to  devote  their  full 
attention  to  the  company's  interests.     Mr.  Gascho  believes 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


315 


that  the  poorest  economy  is  that  effected  at  the  cost  of  his 
employees'  incomes,  and  he  takes  the  view  that  tiie  best  in- 
vestment toward  the  reduction  of  operating  expenses  is  the 
award  of  a  properly  earned  "raise"  to  a  deserving  employee. 
The  practical  working  of  this  policy  was  shown  by  the  re- 
sult of  a  recent  effort  made  to  decrease  the  fuel-oil  con- 
sumption of  the  plant.  A  bonus  was  offered  to  the  engi- 
neer for  any  increase  in  efficiency  he  might  make,  this 
award  to  take  the  form  of  a  fixed  addition  to  his  regular 
salary  as  long  as  the  specific  consumption  was  not  exceeded. 
Under  this  stimulation  and  by  careful  attention  to  firing 
conditions  the  oil  bill  was  reduced  $105  the  first  month,  and 
the  engineer  received  a  bonus  increase  of  $15.  The  net 
gain,  of  course,  accrued  to  the  company's  profits,  but  the 
employee  was  well  satisfied  with  his  increase  and  with  his 
own  success  in  making  the  saving. 


EMERGENCY  ELECTRICAL  PUMPING. 


Not  often  are  central  stations  confronted  with  large 
quantities  of  water  such  as  result  from  four  cloudbursts  in 
a  period  of  thirty  minutes.  Nevertheless,  on  July  14  nature 
deluged  the  country  surrounding  Denver,  Col.,  with  water 
which  drained  into  Cherry  Creek,  the  channel  of  which 
lies  in  one  of  the  exclusive  residence  sections  of  the  city. 
Soon  the  cement-lined  channel,  which  is  some  200  ft.  in 
width,  was  filled  with  a  raging,  roaring  torrent,  carrying 
tree  trunks,  wreckage  from  residences  and  much  sand 
toward  the  Platte  River.  From  6  p.  m.  until  11  o'clock 
at  night  the  rush  of  waters  continued,  removing  the  soil 
over  several  acres  of  land  at  the  Denver  Country  Club,  de- 
stroying beautiful  boulevards  and  flooding  many  cellars 
in  the  wholesale  business  district.     By  reason  of  the  high 


Emergency  Pumping  Equtpment  Mounted  on  Electric  Truck. 

waters  the  storm  sewers  were  of  little  avail  and  aid  was 
sought  from  all  machinery  houses  that  owned  pumps  of  any 
type.  Electric  motors,  gasoline  engines  and  muscle  were 
used  to  operate  the  pumps,  as  high  as  $50  per  day  being 
charged  without  the  operator. 

The  Denver  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company  had  among 
its  vehicles  a  2000-lb.  General  Vehicle  truck,  upon  which 
was  quickly  mounted  a  5-hp,  220-volt,  single-phase,  unity- 
power-factor  Wagner  motor,  belted  to  a  Boggs  &  Clark 
pump,  the  motor  operating  at  1700  r.p.m.  and  the  pump  at 
560  r.p.m.  The  truck  was  driven  to  various  locations  and 
by  means  of  a  5-in.  suction  pipe  many  cellars  were  emptied 
of  water. 

In  certain  sections  of  the  city  water  by  reason  of  over- 
flow of  storm  sewers  had  accumulated  in  low-lying  spots. 
The  city  of  Denver,  realizing  the  necessity  of  removing  this 
surplus  water,  contracted  with  the  Denver  Gas  &  Electric 
Light  Company  for  the  use  of  its  truck.    The  accompanying 


view  shows  the  motor  and  pump  mounted  on  the  truck  and 
rapidly  clearing  the  low-lying  portions  of  all  surplus  water. 
The  pumping  of  36,000  gal.  per  hour  by  the  equipment 
soon  cleared  the  land  of  water  that  would  have  proved 
offensive  and  disease-breeding  if  allowed  to  remain  for 
any  length  of  time. 

The  charge  for  the  use  of  the  pump  was  only  $2  per  hour 
with  a  minimum  which  covered  the  time  necessary  for 
making  connections  such  as  suction  hose  and  stringing 
duplex  cable  from  the  single-phase  feeders.  The  time 
needed  varied  from  twenty  minutes  to  seven  hours.  The 
idea  of  popularizing  electric  service  for  pumping  purposes, 
as  well  as  tendering  relief  to  flood  sufferers,  prompted  the 
preparing  of  the  portable  outfit  by  the  consulting  electrical 
engineer  of  the  company,  Mr.  R.  B.  Mateer. 


INSTALLING 


CENTRAL-STATION 
DYEING  PLANT. 


SERVICE    IN   A 


In  the  following  paragraphs  are  given  the  various  costs 
and  data  by  which  the  owners  of  a  large  dyeing  plant  were 
induced  to  install  central-station  service  and  get  rid  of  an 
isolated  steam  equipment  of  long  standing.  The  investiga- 
tion made  prior  to  the  change  showed  that  with  the  electric 
drive,  and  taking  all  expenses  into  account,  the  yearly  cost 
of  operation  would  be  about  $1,900  less  than  with  steam. 
The  installation  of  eUctric  motors  has  resulted  in  a  greatly 
improved  service  to  the  plant  owner. 

The  establishment  was  housed  in  a  four-story  brick 
building  with  a  basement  and  several  wings,  the  organiza- 
tion being  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  dye  woods,  dye- 
wood  liquors,  extracts  and  articles  used  in  dyeing  fabrics. 
Mechanical  drive  was  used  throughout,  power  being  sup- 
plied by  four  engines,  four  steam  pumps  also  being  located 
in  the  building.  The  plant  was  operated  ten  hours  per  day 
and  six  days  per  week,  with  occasional  operation  for 
twenty-four  hours  per  day.  The  object  of  the  investiga- 
tion was  to  determine  whether  a  saving  could  be  made  in 
the  cost  of  operation  by  replacing  the  former  steam-driven 
equipment  by  motors  supplied  with  energy  by  the  local  elec- 
tric lighting  company.  Power  was  distributed  by  shafting 
and  belts  in  the  former  installation. 

STEAM  PLANT. 

Steam  was  generated  for  the  factory  in  one  vertical  and 
two  horizontal  boilers,  the  pressure  being  85  lb.  per  square 
inch.  The  vertical  boiler  was  rated  at  250  hp.  It  had  been 
in  use  about  six  years  and  was  hand-fired.  The  other  two 
boilers  were  rated  at  150  hp  each  and  had  been  in  service 
for  about  two  years  at  the  time  the  investigation  was  made. 
One  of  these  boilers  was  fired  with  refuse  wood  from  the 
extractors  used  in  the  plant  and  fed  by  an  automatic  stoker. 
The  other  boiler  was  hand-fired.  At  times  the  boiler  plant 
was  worked  very  hard  and  the  steam  pressure  fell  as  low 
as  55  lb.  It  was  evident  that  unless  some  load  was  taken 
from  the  boilers  an  additional  unit  would  have  to  be  in- 
stalled in  the  near  future.  It  was  necessary  to  use  all  three 
boilers  in  order  to  maintain  the  proper  steam  pressure  for 
the  factory,  and  in  the  event  of  a  boiler  accident  it  would 
have  been  necessary  to  shut  down  a  part  of  the  plant,  with 
resulting  serious  expense,  until  repairs  could  have  been 
effected. 

ENGINES   DISPLACED. 

On  the  first  floor  of  the  plant  was  installed  a  i6-in.  by 
42-in.  Wheelock  engine  running  at  85  r.p.m.  This  engine 
ran  the  main  shafting  from  which  was  belted  most  of  the 
heavy  machinery,  and  it  was  operated  ten  hours  per  day. 
At  the  time  of  the  investigation  the  engine  was  about  forty 
years  old  and  was  not  in  good  condition,  the  valve  stems 
leaking  steam  very  badly.  It  appeared  that  the  stems  could 
not  be  packed,  and  the  escape  of  steam  could  not  be  pre- 


3i6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6. 


vented  except  by  considerable  repair  work.  The  engine  at 
times  carried  a  considerable  overload  and  indicator  cards 
taken  showed  that  it  took  steam  at  throttle  pressure  for 
practically  the  entire  stroke,  giving  no  opportunity  to  se- 
cure economy  of  operation  through  expansion.  The  ex- 
haust steam  from  the  engine  was  passed  through  a  water 
heater  and  then  allowed  to  escape  to  the  air. 

A  iS-hp  engine  was  located  in  the  rear  of  the  first  floor 
of  the  plant  and  was  used  to  operate  agitators  in  licorice 
tanks  and  an  exhaust  fan.  This  engine  was  found  to  be 
very  old  and  in  great  need  of  repairs.  The  steam  con- 
sumption was  clearly  excessive.  The  agitators  and  fan 
were  belted  to  a  countershaft  driven  by  the  small  engine, 
and  as  the  licorice  thickened  it  was  found  that  the  engine 
speed  fell  off  to  a  maximum  of  40  per  cent.  The  exhaust 
from  this  engine  was  piped  through  the  water  heater  and 
thence  to  the  atmosphere. 

One  5-hp  engine  running  at  500  r.p.m.  was  located  on  the 
second  floor  of  the  building  and  was  used  to  drive  an 
8-kw,  125-volt  lighting  generator  run  on  dark  days  and 
during  evening  work.  This  engine  was  in  very  poor  repair 
and  was  patched  with  wood.  Its  efficiency  was  low.  The 
exhaust  steam  was  treated  as  in  the  two  preceding  cases. 
The  stoker  and  wood  conveyor  for  the  mechanically  fired 
boiler  were  driven  by  a  5-hp  engine.  A  small  engine  lathe 
and  grindstone  were  also  run  by  this  prime  mover.  The 
engine  was  in  fair  condition,  but  a  good  deal  of  power  was 
lost  in  the  shafting  and  belting  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
utilized.  It  was  apparent  that  a  more  efficient  drive  could 
be  arranged  with  small  outlay.  Live  steam  was  used  in  the 
extractors  and  licorice  tanks  of  the  plant.  Vacuum,  water 
and  liquor  pumps  were  also  operated  by  steam.  The  only 
use  for  exhaust  steam  was  in  heating  feed  water  for  boiler 
service,  except  that  the  exhaust  from  vacuum  and  water 
pumps  was  used  under  evaporating  pans.  Coal  was  de- 
livered to  the  boiler  room  daily  on  account  of  inadequate 
storage  facilities,  and  water  was  purchased  for  all  ap- 
plications. The  labor  requirements  of  the  plant  called  for 
one  engineer,  two  firemen  on  a  day  shift  and  one  fireman 
for  night  work. 

ESTIMATED    COSTS. 

In  estimating  the  cost  of  operation  by  steam  the  follow- 
ing items  were  taken  into  account : 

Interest,  Taxes  and  Insurance. — In  this  case  the  sums 
charged  to  those  items  were  very  small,  as  the  salvage 
value  of  the  engines  and  pumps  was  very  low  on  account 
of  their  age.  The  boiler  plant  was  in  better  condition  and 
therefore  carried  higher  charges.  No  charge  was  made 
against  the  steam  engines  and  pumps  for  interest,  taxes  and 
depreciation,  on  account  of  their  poor  condition. 

TABLE  I. — COST  OF  OPERATION  BY  STEAM. 


Item. 


Interest,  taxes  and  insurance,  boilera. 

Depreciation 

Repairs  and  renewals 

Coal 

Water. 

Ashes,  removal 

Labor. 

Total  for  one  year 


Cost. 


$100 

1,200 

3,564 

258 

70 

2,652 

$7,844 


Repairs  and  Renewals. — .^n  allowance  of  $1,200  per  year 
was  made  for  these  items,  although  it  appeared  that  this 
amount  would  for  a  time  at  least  be  inadequate  to  the 
needs  of  the  situation.  Both  boiler  and  engine  equipment 
were  in  need  of  substantial  improvements. 

Coal. — In  estimating  the  coal  consumption  for  a  year, 
300  days   of  operation  were  assumed.     From  observations 


of  tile  service  performed  by  each  machine,  engine  and 
pump  it  was  estimated  that  891  tons  would  be  required 
yearly  on  the  basis  of  operation  ubove  stated,  costing  at  $4 
per  ton  $3,564.  The  evaporation  figure  was  8  lb.  of  water 
per  pound  of  coal. 

Labor. — The  salaries  of  the  operating  force  totaled 
$2,652  per  year.  Water,  ashes  and  the  other  items  of  cost 
are  summarized  in  Table  I. 

ELECTRIC    DRIVE. 

The  figures  given  were,  the  plant  owner  agreed,  as 
favorable  to  his  existing  installation  as  was  possible.  The 
omission  of  any  depreciation  charge  and  the  nominal  in- 
terest, tax  and  insurance  charge  assumed  were  both  dis- 
advantageous to  electricity.  The  problem  for  the  central- 
station  organization  was  to  show  operating  economy  over 
a  plant  which  was  of  little  value  from  the  investment  point 
of  view,  on  account  of  the  extent  to  which  depreciation 
had  decreased  the  worth  of  the  plant.  The  electric-motor 
installation  required  is  shown  in  Table  II. 

TABLE    II. ELECTRIC    DRIVE    IN     DYE-MANUFACTURING    PLANT. 


All  these  motors  were  of  the  three-phase,  6o-cycle  in- 
duction type,  wound  for  500  volts.  The  cost  of  the  motor 
installation  was  $2,029.  The  sizes  of  the  motors  were  fig- 
ured rather  closely,  but  the  service  was  highly  intermittent 
m  character.  The  average  cost  of  wiring  was  taken  at 
about  $3  per  hp.  On  account  of  the  high  speed  of  most  of 
the  machines  it  was  found  that  in  most  cases  the  motors 
could  be  belted  directly  to  them,  thus  making  the  cost  of 
millwright  work  nominal.  An  allowance  of  $100  was  ade- 
quate for  this  item.  The  item  of  heating  was  omitted  from 
the  cost  of  operation  in  both  steam  and  electric  service. 
The  item  of  labor  in  figuring  the  cost  of  operation  by  elec- 
tricity was  taken  as  the  wages  of  two  firemen  at  $624 
each  per  year,  or  a  total  of  $1,248  per  year.  It  was  pointed 
out  that  the  night  man  could  attend  to  such  little  cleaning 

TABLE    III. COST   OF   OPERATION    BY   ELECTRICITY. 


Item. 


Cost. 


. . . ;     $200 

25 

...;     1,24S 

.  .  .  '      4,459 

$5,932 

...j      1.912 

Interest,  taxes,  insurance,  depreciation 

Repairs  and  renewals '. 

Labor 

Energy 

Total  for  one  year 

Saving  by  installation  of  electric  drive,  per  year. 


as  the  motors  require.  The  energy  consumption  of  the  fac- 
tory was  determined  to  be  14,864  kw-hr.  per  month,  giving 
a  net  bill  of  $4,459  per  year.  Table  III  summarizes  the 
yearly  cost  of  operation  by  electric  power. 

Emphasis  was  laid  in  the  report  of  the  investigation  upon 
the  point  that  the  cost  per  hp-hour  delivered  increased  as 
the  load  decreased  with  the  steam  plant. 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


317 


Wiring  and  Illumination 


WIRING  OLD  HOUSES— III. 


Methods   Employed    by  the   Allegheny    County   Light 
Company — Partition  Wiring — Wall  Outlets. 


By  Terrell  Croft. 

The  two  previous  instalments  of  this  article,  which  ap- 
peared in  the  issues  of  July  13  and  July  27,  described  the 
new-business  campaign  inaugurated  by  the  Allegheny 
County  Light  Company,  the  method  of  securing  the  co- 
operation of  local  wiring  contractors,  and  the  construction 
methods  employed  in  making  wiring  installations  of  this 
class.  The  present  instalment  continues  the  description  of 
methods  eniDloyed  in  installing  concealed  wiring,  with  par- 
ticular reference  to  the  mechanical  difficulties  to  be  over- 
come in  old  houses  of  both  frame  and  brick  construction. 
Much  attention  is  given  to  the  best  methods  of  preparing 
wire  routes  in  partitions  and  opening  passageways  around 
or  through  hidden  obstructions. 

Where  wires  must  be  run  in  a  partition  to  a  switch  or 
fixture  outlet  and  it  is  impossible  to  get  at  the  top  of  the 


Wood  Screws 
Cleats  /  / 


Nails 


— rr^ — 

1-^      Section  on  .• 


A-A 


£U'!C^ic^l  Worii 


Sectional  Elevation 


Fig.  20 — Method  of   Running  Wires  from   Floor  Pocket  to   Partition 

Above. 

partition,  they  must  be  carried  up  from  the  space  under 
the  floor  below.  Fig.  20  illustrates  a  method  of  making 
an  opening  from  the  space  under  a  floor  into  the  space  in  a 
partition.  After  a  small  hole  has  been  cut  in  the  partition 
at  the  point  where  the  fixture  outlet  is  to  be  located  and  a 
"mouse"  dropped  down  through  the  hole  to  the  floor  to 
insure  that  there  are  no  obstructions  within  the  partition,  a 
pocket  is  made  by  removing  a  floor  board.  The  pocket  is 
located  adjacent  to  the  point  where  the  wires  within  the 
partition  are  to  pass  through  the  floor.  A  floor  board  piece 
is  cut  out,  as  shown  in  Fig.  20.  The  "quarter-round"  at 
the  baseboard  is  removed  for  a  few  feet  and  one  saw  cut 
is  made  through  the  floor  board  that  is  to  be  removed  (as 
described  earlier)  close  to  the  baseboard,  where  it  will  be 
covered  by  the  "quarter-round."  The  other  saw  cut  through 
the  floor  board  is  made  close  to  a  joist  several  feet  from  the 
partition. 

After  the  floor  board  has  been  removed  a  hole  is  chiseled 
under  the  partition,  as  indicated  in  Fig.  20,  through  which 
the  loom-covered  wires  are  drawn.  In  replacing  the  re- 
moved floor  board  two  cleats  are  needed  to  support  it. 
The  cleat  at  the  end  of  the  board  farthest  from  the  parti- 


tion is  nailed  to  a  joist  as  before  described.  The  cleat  at 
the  end  near  the  partition  is  held  up  with  flat-head  wood 
screws  driven  in  from  above.  Although  the  removed  floor 
board  shown  in  Fig.  20  extends  only  to  the  first  joist  away 
from  the  partition,  it  is  better  practice,  as  noted  before,  so 
to  cut  a  floor  board  that  it  will  bridge  several  joists. 
A  2-in.  by  4-in.  sill  is  sometimes  placed  under  the  lower 


Stud 


Etuatrkal  'tVorld 

Fig.    21 — Method    of    Cutting    Through    2-in.    by    4-in.    Sill. 

ends  of  studs  that  form  a  partition,  as  shown  in  Fig.  21. 
Where  this  construction  is  encountered  and  it  is  not  possi- 
ble to  bore  through  the  sill  from  above  with  the  long-dis- 
tance boring  tool,  the  baseboard  must  be  removed  as  shown. 
After  the  baseboard  is  off  an  orifice  is  cut  through  the  lath 
and  plaster  and  a  slanting  hole  is  bored  through  the  sill 
and  the  floor.  Sometimes  it  is  not  necessary  to  bore  the 
hole  as  the  wires  can  be  run  in  a  space  formed  by  remov- 
ing some  lath  and  plaster,  as  suggested  in  Fig.  22.  Where 
large  conductors  are  involved  it  is  usually  necessary  to  bore 
through  the  sill. 

Fig.  23  illustrates  a  method  of  running  vertical  conduc- 
tors within  a  partition  that  is  braced  with  bridges.  In  the 
case  shown  it  was  not  feasible  to  bore  down  from  above 
with  the  long-distance  boring  tool,  so  the  conductors  were 


Base  Board 
Floor  Board  that  was  removed 

that  was  removed 

\Hole  for 
Wires 


•^^^^^^:r^^^r:^:^^^77^77zr^??^ 


J 


""'""'"""W//M/.,, 


Cleat 


Cleat 


Fig.  22 — Method   of  Wiring   Around   a   Sill. 

carried  up  from  be!ow.  The  scheme  can  be  utilized  only 
at  the  side  of  a  doorway.  The  door-jamb  in  such  a  case 
can  either  be  pried  loose  and  bent  up,  as  shown  at  B' 
(Fig.  23)  or  a  saw  cut  can  be  made  in  the  jamb  as  at  C 
and  the  section  B  of  the  jamb  can  be  removed.  In  either 
case  the  stud  at  the  side  of  the  door  is  exposed  and  wire 
ways  can  be  cut  in  its  outer  face  around  bridges  or  other  ob- 


"> 


3i8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  6. 


structions,  as  shown.  At  the  floor  a  hole  can  be  cut 
through  the  stud,  as  shown  at  D,  and  through  this  hole 
another  can  be  bored  through  the  floor.  The  conductors 
are  then  carried  through  this  floor  hole  into  the  space  be- 


down  to  the  baseboard.  From  this  point  a  slanting  hole  is 
drilled  to  a  pocket  opening  between  the  joists.  To  cut  this 
pocket  it  was  necessary  to  remove  some  floor  boards.  (See 
Fig.    24.)      Flexible    steel-armored    conduit    is    then    con- 

Lnc-oiijpleted 


Center  Line  of  Hole 


Sections 

Fig.   26 — Metliod   of    Holding   Conduit 
in   Brick  Wall. 


EUctneui  IVuriJ 


Fig.  27 — Pockets   in    Brick   Wall 
for    Receptacle. 


Fig.   23 — Carrying  Wires  Around   a 


EUatrieal  World 

Bridge. 


tween  the  joists.  The  Pittsburgh  wiring  rules,  like  the  code 
rules,  require  that  all  conductors  within  partitions  and  not 
supported  on  porcelain  be  carried  in  circular  loom.  Allow- 
ance must  be  made  for  this  in  boring  holes  and  cutting  wire 
ways. 

A  method  of  running  conductors  to  an  outlet  in  a  brick 
wall  with  minimum  damage  to  finish  and  cutting  of  bricks 


>-v^  ^yj.    Hole  for  E.Kpansion  Anchor 


B 


Sectional  Elevation 
Fig.    2'\ — Method    of    Cutting     Brick    Wall 
for    Conduit. 


Fig.  25 — Drills  for  Bor- 
ing   Brick   Work. 


is  shown  in  Fig.  24.  The  baseboard  is  not  removed.  A 
cavity  is  cut  for  the  metal  outlet  box  (all  conductors  in 
brick  walls  must  be  protected  with  iron  armor)  and  a 
groove  is  cut   in   the   wall   surface   from  the   outlet  cavity 


nected  to  an  outlet  box,  the  box  is  fastened  in  the  cavity 
provided  for  it  by  a  screw  turning  into  a  lead  expansion 
anchor,  and  the  conduit  is  run  through  the  hole  back  of 
the  baseboard  and  placed  in  the  groove.  Fig.  25  shows 
two  forms  of  drills  for  piercing  bricks.  The  star  drill 
is  a  commercial  article  and  can  be  purchased  at  any 
general  hardware  store.  It  is  forged  from  steel  drill 
rod.  The  other  drill  can  be  made  from  a  length  of  con- 
duit by  the  wireman  himself,  by  filing  teeth  with  a  three- 
cornered  file  in  one  end;  but  a  drill  of  this  kind  does 
not  wear  well.  However,  a  good  drill  of  the  form  shown 
at  B  (Fig.  25)  can  be  made  from  extra-heavy  steel  pipe, 
which  can  be  obtained  at  any  plumbers'  supply  house. 
For  general  work  in  reasonably  soft  walls  the  pipe  drill 
is  preferable  to  the  star  drill.  The  cutting  edges  of  the 
star  drill  frequently  break  oflf,  rendering  it  useless,  and 
sometimes  obstruct  the  hole.  In  deep  holes  the  pipe  drill 
"clears"  itself  much  more  effectively  than  the  otlier. 

Fig.  26  shows  a  good  method  of  holding  conduit  in  a 
brick  wall.  Pipe  straps  are  sometimes  used  for  the  pur- 
pose, but  the  method  illustrated  is  preferable  in  the  re- 
spect that  the  materials  required  are  always  at  hand.  As 
shown  in  the  section  at  A  (Fig.  26),  after  the  conduit  is 
in  place  in  the  groove  cut  in  the  brick  two  nails  are 
driven  part  vi-ay  in,  on  opposite  sides  of  the  conduit.  The 
ends  of  a  piece  of  wire,  say,  of  No.  12  galvanized  iron, 
are  twisted  around  the  nail  under  the  heads,  the  wire 
bridging  the  conduit.  The  nails  are  then  driven  home 
and  the  wire  will  grip  the  conduit  tightly  as  shown  at  B 
(Fig.  26)  and  hold  it  firmly  in  place.  Such  supports 
should  be  located  about  every  2  ft.  along  a  length  of 
flexible  conduit.  After  the  conduit  and  outlet  boxes  are 
in  position  in  a  w^all  the  spaces  around  them  should  be 
filled  up,  flush  with  the  wall  surface,  with  piaster  of 
paris. 

Where  channeling  a  brick  wall  for  a  fixture  outlet  at 
the  regulation  height  of  4  ft.  6  in.  from  the  floor  would 
be  objectionable,  the  method  suggested  in  Fig.  27  can 
often  be  satisfactorily  substituted.  This  method  consists 
of  installing  a  receptacle  for  an  extension  plug  in  the 
baseboard.  By  means  of  an  extension  cord  a  portable  or 
table  lamp  can  be  substituted  for  a  wall  fixture.  It  will 
be  noted  from  Fig.  27  that  it  is  not  necessary  even  to 
remove  the  baseboard.  A  slanting  hole  is  drilled  from 
the  pocket  for  the  baseboard  receptacle  to  another  pocket 
cut  beneath  the  floor.  A  short  piece  of  conduit  is  then 
installed  from  the  receptacle  outlet  to  the  pocket  under 
the  floor.  Such  a  baseboard  receptacle  also  forms  a  con- 
venient means  of  attachment  for  portable  vacuum  cleaners 
and  heating  devices. 

The  next  and  last  instalment  will  describe  the  construc- 
tion and  installation  of  panel  boxes  and  the  use  of  blow 
torches. 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


319 


TUNGSTEN  LAMPS  FOR  GENERAL  STREET 
LIGHTING. 


The  comparative  light  distribution  and  operating  costs 
of  tungsten  and  arc  lighting  for  principal  and  secondary 
city  streets  were  discussed  by  Mr.  H.  H.  Magdsick,  of  the 
National  Electric  Lamp  Association,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  be- 
fore a  recent  meeting  of  the  Minnesota  Electrical  Associa- 
tion. 

TOTAL  Jl.  S.  CANDLE  POWER 

■■■M    210  Mazda  t 

^^^H   '^10  Arc -(Opal  Globe  I 

■^^^^276  Arc-(  Clear  Globel 

MAXI.XirM  INTENSITY  ON  STREETS 


JIazda 

An- -(Opal  Globe) 

Arc -( Clear  Globe  I 


MINI.MLM  INTENSITY  F.  C.  (Normal) 

0.02 


0.007J 
H  0.0121 


^lazda 

Arc -(Opal  Globe) 

Arc -(Clear  Globe) 

.MlNl.Ml'.M  INTENSITY  F.  C.  (Horizontal) 

^H^^^^^^O.0S3.Mazda 

I  V-WU  Arc  -  (Opal  Globe  ) 

^■—  0.0023  Arc-(Clear  Globe) 

llATIO  OF  .MIX.  TO  M.4X.  INTENSITY  OX  STREET 


I  0.0012 


■  0.0296    Maz.la 


o.ooa 


Arc- 
Arc- 


(Opal  Globe) 
(Clear  Globe) 


A  Comparison  of  the  Illumination  Produced  by  4-amp  Magnetite 
Arcs  and  60-cp  Tungsten  Lamps  for  the  Same  Annual  Ex- 
penditure. 

Ornamental  standards  with  from  one  to  six  tungsten 
lamps  have  met  with  the  greatest  favor  in  the  lighting  of 
business  streets,  said  the  speaker.  This  system  satisfies  the 
demand  for  an  installation  of  the  proper  intensity,  artistic 
by  day  and  at  night,  free  from  flicker  and  glare,  and  with 
a  reasonable  uniform  distribution.  It  is  also  sufficiently 
flexible  so  that  it  may  be  adapted  to  meet  the  conditions 

COMPARATIVE  COSTS MAGNETITE  AND  TUNGSTEN   LAMPS. 


4-Amp 

Magnetite 

Arc. 


Watts  at  lamp  terminals 

Efficiency  of  distribution  lines,  per  cent .  . 

Efficiency  of  transformeis,  per  cent 

Efficiency  of  transformer- rectifier  sets,  per  cent. 

Watts  at  substation, ._ ,  . . . 

Power-factor  of  circuit,  per  cent 


First  cost  of  lamps 

First  cost  of  fixtures  and  substation  equipment.. 

First  cost,  total 


Annual  maintenance  cost,  4000  hours'  seivice: 

Interest  and  insurance,  6  per  cent 

Depreciation  on  permanent  parts,  12  H  per  cent. 

Lamp  renewals,  three  at  7  7  cents 

Labor  for  inspection  or  cleaning 

Repairs  to  lamps  and  equipment 


310 
92 

8S 
396 

67.5 

$25.00 
30.00 

$55.00 


$3.30 
6.87 


Electrodes,  positive,  one  at  60  cents 

Electrodes,  negative,  twenty-three  at  5  cents.. 

Globes,  one  at  $  1 

Rectifier  tubes 

Trimming,  twenty-three  at  7  J-a  cents 


Total. 


0.75 
2.00 

0.60 
1.15 
1.00 
3.00 
1.72 

$20.39 


Energy,  4000  hours: 

1  cent  per  k-*v-hr.  at  87  \^  per  cent  power-factor 

1.1  cent  per  Icw-hr.  at  6  7  3^  per  cent  power-factor. .  .  . '     $17.42 

Total  operating  cost.  4000  hours  per  year: 
Energy  at  1  cent  (at  87  J^  per  cent  power-factor),  1.1 

cent  at  67  V2  per  cent  power-factor 

Energy  at  2  cents .  . 

Energy  at  .i  cents 

Energy  at  4  cents 

Energy  at  5  cents 


$37.81 
55.23 
77.65 
90.07 

107.49 


60-cp 

Tungsten 

Lamps. 


71 
92 
96 

80 
87.5 

$0.77 
6.50 

$7.27 


$0.44 
0.81 
2.31 
0.60 
0.25 


$4.41 
$3.20 


$7.61 
10.81 
14.01 
17.21 
20.41 


of  intensity  and  design  required  in  different  communities. 
Considered  from  all  standpoints,  more  satisfactory  results 
are  obtained  with  incandescent  lighting  and  at  a  lower 
operating  cost  than  with  ornamental  arc  installations.  Mul- 
tiple wiring  can  be  used,  and  this,  in  addition  to  being 
cheaper  than  a  series  circuit,  eliminates  all  danger  from 
high  voltages.     When   standards  with  a  number  of  lamps 


are  used  a  three-wire  system  which  allows  all  but  one  of 
the  units  to  be  switched  off  can  be  installed  at  a  small 
added  cost.  One  lamp  per  post  will  thus  be  left  lighted 
and  the  street  will  receive  a  more  uniform  and  satisfactory 
illumination  than  under  the  arc-lamp  system. 

On  secondary  streets,  where  less  money  for  illumination 
is  available  and  traffic  is  not  so  dense,  small  incandescent 
units  can  be  used  to  advantage  along  the  curb.  Comparing 
an  arc  illumination  using  one  4-amp  magnetite  lamp  on 
each  corner  with  four  6o-cp  tungsten  lamps  to  a  block, 
spaced  at  112-ft.  centers,  the  light-distribution  and  cost 
figures  reproduced  herewith  are  obtained. 


IDENTIFICATION  CARDS  FOR  LINE  CREWS. 


The  street-railway  companies  in  Chicago  have  sustained 
serious  losses  from  the  theft  of  copper  cable,  especially  in 
the  negative-return  system,  where  sections  can  be  removed 
without  the  immediate  knowledge  of  the  operating  depart- 
ment. Accordingly  instructions  have  been  issued  to  the 
police  department  to  have  a  patrolman  approach  any  crew 
working  on  the  lines  and  demand  the  foreman's  identifica- 
tion card.  These  cards  are  issued  to  the  construction  and 
repair  departments  under  signature,  and  careful  record  is 
kept  of  the  location  of  each.  For  comparison,  similar  cards 
have  been  prepared  for  the  police,  and  the  officers  have 
orders  to  arrest  the  members  of  any  gang  found  doing 
line  work  without  identification. 


COMBINATION  WHITE-WAY,    POLICE-CALL    AND 
FIRE-ALARM  POSTS  AT  FORT  WORTH. 


In  erecting  its  new  ornamental  tungsten-lighting  system 
of  200  curb  posts,  each  carrying  five  100- watt  lamps,  Fort 
Worth,  Tex.,  has  utilized  the  corner  posts  for  fire-alarm 
and  police-call  purposes,  being  doubtless  the  first  American 
city  to  put  into  use  this  logical  combination  of  curbside 
structures.  The  loo-watt  multiple  tungsten  lamps  are  ar- 
ranged on  "midnight"  and  "all-night"  circuits,  each  con- 
trolled by  switches  at  fire  headquarters.  The  pressed-steel 
columns  of  the  posts  have  special  gains  to  carry  the  fire  and 
police-call    bo.xes.      Each    of   the    forty-five    posts   carrying 


u^. 


Combination  White-Way,  Police  Call  and  Flre-Alarm  Posts  at  Fort 

Worth. 

fire-alarm  boxes  has  its  topmost  lamp  inclosed  in  a  frosted 
globe  surrounded  by  a  broad  red  band  bearing  the  words 
"Fire  Alarm."  These  lamps  burn  continuously.  The  thirty- 
five  police-call  posts  are  similarly  equipped  with  green-band 
globes  on  the  uppermost  lamps.  Although  normally  burn- 
ing continuously,  these  signal  lamps  are  controlled  by 
battery-operated  magnet  contactors  in  the  base  of  the  poles, 


320 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  6. 


operated  over  a  circuit  from  police  headquarters.  With 
their  aid  the  number  of  any  patrohnan  wanted  can  be 
flashed  from  headquarters,  a  bell  on  each  post  meanwhile 
giving  a  corresponding  audible  signal.  The  base  of  each 
signal-box  post  contains  a  complete  junction  board  for 
transferring  cable  connections.  The  Fort  Worth  signaling 
systems  are  being  installed  by  the  Gamewell  company  and 
are  probably  the  first  to  make  such  combined  lighting,  fire 
and  police-call  use  of  the  curb  posts. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


NEW    CIRCUITS 

Mt.  H.  G.  Webster,  of  Chicago,  has  obtained  a  patent 
for  a  switchboard  circuit  system  of  what  he  terms  the 
"one-wire"  type,  because  but  one  side  of  the  circuit  is 
carried  through  the  multiple-jack  system.  With  such  a 
system  one  side  of  each  line  is  permanently  connected  to 
one  pole  of  the  battery.  The  present  patent  relates  par- 
ticularly to  the  control  of  the  supervisory  signals  in  tiie 
cord  circuit.  This  signal  is  controlled  by  a  two-stage 
relay.  If  the  relay  acts  completely,  the  lamp  is  out.  If 
it  is  de-energized,  the  lamp  is  out.  In  the  mid  position 
the  lamp  circuit  is  maintained.  It  is  this  mid  position 
which  corresponds  to  the  plug  in  the  jack  of  a  line  and 
the  path  to  battery  from  the  jack  of  high  resistance.  With 
the  response  of  a  station  the  line  relay  operates  to  close  a 
low-resistance  path  which  permits  the  supervisory  relav 
to  complete  its  action.  This,  patent  is  assigned  to  the  Kel- 
logg Switchboard  &  Supply  Company. 

The  patent  granted  to  Mr.  F.  C.  Unger.  of  St.  Louis,  is 
for  a  magneto  system,  in  which,  however,  the  signal  gen- 
erators are  at  the  central  office.  The  line  and  clearing- 
out  drops  are  connected  between  the  generator  bus  and 
a  neutral  point  at  the  middle  of  two  impedance  coils 
bridged  across  the  line.  As  the  hook  switch  at  any  station 
rises,  it  momentarily  grounds  both  sides  of  the  line  simul- 
taneously. The  generator  current  thus  finds  a  path  to 
ground  and  throws  the  drop.  A  separate  generator  is  used 
for  ringing  the  bells. 

DISINFECTING    DEVICE. 

A  disinfecting  device  for  transmitters  forms  the  subject 
of  a  patent  granted  to  Mr.  A.  E.  Le  Ford,  of  Boston.  This 
has  the  appearance  of  a  truncated  cone  with  the  small  end 
turned  in.  The  face  of  the  cone  is  of  a  size  just  to  receive 
the  circular  transmitter  face.  At  the  same  time  the  turned- 
in  point  will  just  fit  and  extend  within  the  transmitter 
mouthpiece.  This  forms  a  compartment  around  the  trans- 
mitter mouthpiece.  To  this  compartment  a  disinfectant 
container  is  attached.  The  fumes  accumulated  within  the 
disinfecting  device  are  admitted  to  the  mouthpiece  through 
a  row  of  perforations  through  the  wall  of  the  inturned  end. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


RESIDENCE  RATES. 


To  the  Editors  of  Electrical  World: 

Sirs  : — It  appears  that  the  rate  question,  especially  as 
regards  residence  load,  is  as  far  from  solution  as  ever,  and 
that  residence  load  is  looked  upon  in  some  quarters  as  a 
losing  venture.  In  fact,  some  central-station  men  have 
gone  so  far  as  to  say  that  a  load  of  this  kind  is  undesirable 
because  it  costs  the  central  station  more  to  supply  the  en- 
ergy for  it  than  it  receives.  Surely  such  statements  are  not 
to  be  taken  seriously,  or  else  they  indicate  that  the  entire 
central-station  industry  is  tottering  on  the  brink  of  destruc- 
tion, which  is,  of  course,  untrue.  Evidently  knowledge  of 
the  industry  is  lacking,  for  the  fallacy  of  such  statements 


is  at  once  apparent  when  they  are  set  over  against  the 
actual   facts. 

There  are  in  this  country  approximately  6000  central 
stations.  Of  these  approximately  5000  arc  rated  at  500  kw 
or  under,  and  4000  have  ratings  of  200  kw  or  less,  so  that 
the  average  central  station  of  the  United  States  is  a  rather 
small  affair.  Investigation  would  also  show  that  the  entire 
load  of  these  stations  is  made  up  of  residence,  business  and 
public  lightmg.  Even  in  what  are  termed  first-class  cities 
the  income  from  lighting  represents  about  70  per  cent  of 
the  total,  so  that,  taking  the  country  as  a  whole,  central 
stations  to-day  are  supplying  energy  for  lighting  circuits 
chiefly,  and  by  far  the  great  majority  of  their  customers 
fall  into  what  may  be  termed  the  residence  class. 

The  average  energy  consumed  by  residences  in  cities  is 
15  kw-hr.  monthly,  or  from  180  kw-hr.  to  20G  kw-hr.  yearly. 
Now,  there  is  no  system  of  rates  so  far  devised  of  which 
the  writer  knows  that  when  applied  to  a  load  of  the  pro- 
portions mentioned  will  give  the  consumer  the  benefit  of 
any  reduction  in  cost.  During  certain  seasons  of  the  year 
residence  customers,  as  a  rule,  pay  the  minimum  rate  in 
force,  and  generally  speaking  such  customers  at  all  times 
pay  the  highest  rate  for  whatever  energj'  is  consumed. 
It  is  therefore  amusing,  to  say  the  least,  to  listen  to  long- 
drawn-out  papers  and  discussions  of  rates  dealing  with 
residence  loads  in  which  the  authors  expatiate  on  the 
graded  discounts  available,  when  in  90  per  cent  of  the 
cases  residence  customers  do  not  use  enough  energy  to 
bring  them  within  viewpoint  of  any  system  of  discounts  in 
vogue. 

A  perusal  of  the  technical  press  and  association  proceed- 
ings discloses  a  tendency  for  central  stations  to  get  farther 
and  farther  into  the  rate-question  mire.  Very  little  effort 
seems  to  be  directed  toward  a  simplification  of  rate 
schemes,  so  that  despite  the  years  of  thought  spent  on  this 
matter  there  still  are  almost  as  many  rate  schemes  as  there 
are  central  stations.  The  legality  of  some  of  the  new 
schemes  proposed,  especially  those  fixing  the  demand  on  an 
arbitrary  assessment  system  of  so  much  per  lamp  or  outlet 
or  basing  the  system  of  charge  on  floor  area,  is  question- 
able. As  an  abstract  legal  proposition,  it  is  difficult  to  see 
why  a  centra!  station  should  concern  itself  with  the  size 
of  a  man's  residence  or  with  the  number  of  lamps  he  has 
connected  except  to  guide  it  in  the  choice  of  mains  and 
meters.  What  a  central  station  sells  is  electrical  energy 
and  this  is  measured  by  kilowatt-hour  meters.  Experience 
has  shown  that  the  consumption  in  residences  is  fairly  con- 
stant, varying  very  little  from  year  to  year,  so  that  a 
straight  meter  rate  is  logical.  Where,  however,  a  manager 
has  scruples  against  such  a  system  of  charging,  it  is 
possible  to  ascertain  the  maximum  demand  by  means  of  a 
meter  suitable  for  that  purpose  without  infringing  upon 
the  rights  of  the  owner  and  without  using  arbitrarily  a 
certain  percentage  of  the  lamps  connected  in  certain  rooms. 
There  are,  to  be  sure,  some  managers  who  would  object  to 
the  statement  that  they  merely  sell  electrical  energy  and 
who  would  insist  that  they  sell  service.  The  word  '"service," 
however,  is  akin  to  the  word  "ether"  as  used  by  some 
physicists,  in  that  it  is  very  hard  to  define  and,  most  im- 
portant of  all,  impossible  of  measurement,  so  that  it  would 
appear  that  "service"  is  a  new  "will-o'-the-wisp." 

Of  all  the  systems  of  charging  for  residence  service  now 
in  vogue  the  straight  rate  and  the  maximum  demand  are 
the  most  simple,  and  in  view  of  the  statement  made  above 
the  maximum-demand  system  really  "simmers  down"  to  the 
straight-rate  system.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  that  the 
time  is  ripe  for  the  adoption  of  some  such  simple  system 
of  charging  for  residence  load  before  public-service  com- 
missions insist  upon  it.  The  avidity  with  which  the  munici- 
pal ownership  doctrines  are  being  absorbed  in  certain  sec- 
tions of  the  country  also  indicates  that  action  nnist  be  taken 
quicklv. 

Buffalo.  N.  Y.  H.  G.  Briggs. 


August  lo,  igiz 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


321 


Digest    of   Current   Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OP  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Singlc-Plinsc  Railivay  Motors. — An  illustrated  description 
of  the  Bergmann  single-phase  railway  motor.  The  object  of 
the  designers  was  to  provide  a  series  motor  with  brush  reg- 
ulation, and  they  have  succeeded  in  developing  a  design  in 
which  a  suitable  commutating  field  is  obtained  throughout 
the  entire  range  of  brush  displacement.  The  new  arrange- 
ment consists  in  the  main  of  a  special  arrangement  of  the 
compensating  winding.  Whereas  hitherto  the  single  coils 
per  pol-e  were  always  connected  in  series,  in  the  Bergmann 
design  they  are  connected  in  parallel  and  the  number  of 
turns  of  the  individual  coils  is  calculated  according  to 
known  laws.  By  accurate  calculation  of  the  number  of 
turns,  taking'  into  account  the  ohmic  resistance,  leakage  co- 
efficients, etc.,  it  has  been  possible  by  this  method  of  wind- 
ing to  develop  in  the  commutation  zone  a  suitable  reversal 
field  for  all  positions  of  the  brushes  when  brush  regulation 
is  used.     The  design  also  enables  more  power  to  be  devel- 


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Bruih  Displacement  from  the  Neutral  (mcamicd  inilegrees). 

Fig.   1 — Characteristics  of  a  2000-hp   iVlotor. 

oped  by  the  motor,  just  as  direct-current  machines  with  in- 
terpoles  can  be  loaded  more  heavily  than  can  machines 
without  interpoles.  An  accurate  test  shows  that  the  distri- 
bution of  the  total  current  varies  in  the  individual  coils 
when  the  brushes  are  displaced,  and  by  suitable  allocation  of 
the  windings  it  is  possible  to  insure  that  the  current  will  so 
vary  over  the  different  coils  that  a  correct  reversal  field 
will  always  exist  in  the  brush  line  of  commutation,  so  that 
sparkless  commutation  is  attained  at  all  loads  and  speeds. 
A  further  innovation  by  which  the  brush  regulation  in 
Bergmann  series  motors  has  been  greatly  improved  consists 
in  using  several  voltage  steps.  On  starting  up,  the  motor  is 
switched  on  to  the  lowest  voltage  step  and  the  brushes  are 
gradually  rocked  forward,  then  brought  back,  switched  on 
to  the  next  voltage  step  and  again  rocked  forward.  By  this 
method  the  current  consumption  at  starting  is  very  consid- 
erably reduced  and  is  practical'y  no  higher  than  in  the  or- 


dinary series  motor.  Moreover,  the  power-factor  is  rela- 
tively high  and  the  use  of  induction  regulators  with  their 
large  leakage  is  dispensed  with.  Although  each  voltage 
step  requires  one  more  main  switch,  the  latter  is  not  ex- 
posed to  heavy  wear.  The  characteristic  curves  of  a  2000- 
hp  motor  are  given  in  Fig.  i.  Some  details  are  given  of 
the  behavior  of  a  1500-hp  locomotive  driven  by  such  a  mo- 
tor.— London  Electrician,  July  19,  1912. 

Losses  in  Induction  Motors  Due  to  Eccentricity  of  the 
Rotor. — C.  F.  Smith  and  E.  M.  Johnson. — An  account  of 
an  investigation  which  was  undertaken  with  the  object  of 
ascertaining  the  magnitude  of  the  additional  losses  in  a  mo- 
tor brought  about  by  a  progressive  increase  of  the  eccentric- 
ity of  the  rotor,  and  of  thus  obtaining  information  as  to 
the  amount  of  eccentricity  which  may  be  allowed  in  practice 
without  serious  disadvantage.  The  authors  summarize  their 
conclusions  as  follows:  A  displacement  of  the  rotor  of  an 
induction  motor  from  its  central  position  results  in  a  change 
of  the  flux  density  along  the  axis  of  displacement,  which  is 
approximately  proportional  to  the  change  in  the  magnetic 
permeance  of  the  air-gap  when  the  rotor  is  open-circuited. 
A  closed  rotor  winding  having  a  single  circuit  per  phase 
hardly  alters  this  distribution  of  flux  at  all.  A  multiple- 
circuit  winding  on  the  rotor  becomes  the  seat  of  balancing 
currents  which  are  sufficient  to  maintain  an  almost  uniform 
mean  flux  round  the  air-gap  irrespective  of  the  rotor  dis- 
placement. The  balancing  currents  are  strictly  limited  in 
value  and  are  not  great  enough  to  produce  any  serious  in- 
crease in  the  rotor  copper  losses  with  moderate  displace- 
ments of  the  rotor.  The  asymmetry  of  the  field  due  to  rotor 
eccentricity,  when  not  compensated  by  rotor  currents,  gives 
rise  to  an  additional  iron  loss,  which  increases  uniformly 
with  small  eccentricities ;  with  larger  eccentricities  the  losses 
increase  rapidly.  Increased  eccentricity  is  also  attended  by 
less  favorable  starting  of  the  motor  and  by  a  diminished 
magnetizing  current.  The  unbalanced  magnetic  pull  on  the 
eccentric  rotor  increases  at  first  slowly,  but  afterward  at  a 
higher  rate,  with  increase  of  eccentricity.  With  a  multiple- 
current  rotor  winding  no  appreciable  iron  losses  or  un- 
balanced magnetic  pull  is  produced  even  by  extreme  values 
of  the  eccentricity.  The  total  effect  of  rotor  eccentricity  on 
the  losses  of  the  motor  was  found  to  be  very  small  for  all 
displacements  when  the  multiple-circuit  type  of  winding  was 
used;  with  the  single-circuit-per-phase  v\'inding  the  increase 
in  losses  was  more  marked,  but  did  not  become  important 
for  eccentricities  less  than  20  per  cent  of  the  length  of  the 
original  air-gap. — London  Electrician,  July  19,  1912. 

Polyphase  Commutator  Motors. — R.  Rudenberg. — The 
first  part  of  a  long  mathematical  paper  illustrated  by 
numerous  diagrams.  After  giving  the  vector  diagram  of 
polyphase  motors,  the  author  discusses  the  characteristic 
features  of  the  series  polyphase  commutator  motor.  The 
article  is  to  be  continued. — Bull.  Ass.  dcs  Ingen.  Elec.  de 
I'Inst.  Elec.  Moutefiorc,  April,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Incandescent-Lamp  l^acuum. — A  note  on  a  recent  British 
patent  (No.  19109,  July  4,  1912)  of  the  British  Thomson- 
Houston  Company,  Ltd.,  and  H.  H.  Needham.  To  improve 
the  vacuum  by  the  insertion  of  a  suitable  quantity  of  phos- 
phorus in  the  lamp  bulb,  a  phosphorous  compound  (phos- 
phide) is  coated  on  the  leading-in  or  supporting  wires 
before  assembly.  This  is  accomplished  by  heating  them  to 
a  temperature  of  from  400  deg.  to  500  deg.  C.  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  hydrogen  and  phosphorus.  The  supports  must  be 
formed  of  a  metal  which  will  form  a  phosphide  such  as 
copper,  nickel  or  molybdenum. — London  Elec.  Engineering, 
July  II,  igi2. 


322 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  6. 


Electric  and  Kerosene  Lighting. — Berthold  Monasch. — 
The  author  criticises  a  recent  comparison  by  J.  Singer  of 
the  cost  of  electric  and  kerosene  lighting  which  was  based 
on  a  comparison  of  the  horizontal  candle-powers.  This  is 
incorrect,  and  the  present  author  gives  a  comparison  of  the 
specific  consumption  on  the  basis  of  the  real  illumination  in 
lux  per  square  meter  of  illuminated  area.  It  is  shown  that 
lighting  with  tungsten  lamps  is  cheaper  than  with  kerosene 
lamps,  when  the  kw-hr.  costs  less  than  23.125  cents,  if  one 
liter  of  kerosene  costs  5  cents  or  i  gal.  19  cents. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  July  18,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Italian  Water-Power  Plant. — The  first  part  of  a  long 
illustrated  description  of  the  water-power  plant  of  the 
Adamello  Electric  Supply  Company.  The  water-powers  of 
various  Alpine  streams  are  utilized,  and  since  the  water 
supply  is  lowest  in  winter,  when  the  greatest  amount  of 
power  is  required,  water  storage  is  employed  on  a  large 
scale.  Several  existing  lakes  have  been  built  into  huge 
reservoirs.  The  plant  is  now  at  work  and  generates  the 
necessary  energy  for  other  companies,  which  in  turn  supply 
it  in  smaller  quantities  to  consumers.  Its  operations  are 
carried  on  in  seven  different  provinces :  Brescia,  Bergamo, 
Milano,  Como,  Piacenza,  Parma  and  Cremona.  The  sta- 
tions of  this  company  obtain  water  from  the  Poglia  basin, 
which  extends  over  a  total  area  of  91  sq.  km  (37  sq.  miles). 
There  are  two  plants,  the  Isola  and  the  Cedegolo  stations, 
the  latter  containing  5000-hp  turbines  driving  5000-kva, 
three-phase  alternators.  Energy  is  generated  at  a  pressure 
of  from  9000  volts  to  12,000  volts  with  a  frequency  of  42, 
a  permanent  overload  of  10  per  cent  being  permissible.  The 
maximum  excitation  power  required  is  22  kw.  The  high 
voltage  of  the  generators  is  necessary  on  account  of  the 
fact  that  the  Cedegolo  station  is  required  to  run  in  parallel 
with  the  Isola  station,  situated  a  distance  of  about  5  km 
(3  miles)  away,  in  which  energy  is  generated  at  12,000 
volts.  The  exciting  energy  for  the  alternators  is  obtained 
from  two  shunt-wound  generators  with  interpoles,  one  of 
which  is  driven  by  a  turbine  and  the  other  by  a  500-hp 
synchronous  motor  working  at  a  pressure  of  220  volts. 
These  two  exciters  supply  a  current  of  2700  amp  at  125 
volts.  There  are  fifteen  single-phase  transformers,  con- 
nected in  delta  on  both  the  primary  and  secondary  sides. 
Each  of  the  transformers  has  a  rating  of  2700  kva  at  a  pres- 
sure of  60,000  volts,  which  may  be  increased  to  72,000  volts 
in  case  one  of  the  lines  has  to  be  cut  out  of  circuit  and 
the  entire  energy  transmitted  by  the  other  line  alone. — 
London  Electrician,  July  19,  1912. 

Turho-Alternators. — The  conclusion  of  a  long  illustrated 
article  on  Curtis  turbo-alternators.     In  the  present  instal- 
ment the  design  of  alternators  suitable  for  direct  coupling 
is  described. — London  Electrician,  July  19,  1912. 
Traction. 

Electric  Point  Setting. — J.  Simey. — An  illustrated  de- 
scription of  various  automatic  methods  of  point  setting  and 
switch  control  on  railroads  and  tramways. — La  Lumiere 
Elcc,  July  13,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Erection  of  Large  Steam  Electric  Stations. — G.  Klingen- 
BERG. — The  first  part  of  a  paper  read  before  the  German 
Association  of  Electrical  Engineers.  The  author  first  gives 
some  typical  load  curves  and  then  discusses  the  design  of 
the  machine  house  in  a  large  steam  electrical  station.  The 
advent  of  the  steam  turbine  has  revolutionized  the  design 
of  large  power  stations,  as  a  result  of  the  much  lower  first 
cost  of  large  steam-turbine  units.  The  steam  pressure  has 
been  standardized  as  from  12  to  14  atmospheres  and  the 
steam  temperatures  as  from  300  deg.  to  325  deg.  C.  Neither 
can  be  raised  much,  but  it  is  possible  and  would  be  advan- 
tageous to  increase  as  much  as  possible  the  limit  of  the 
capacity  for  all  the  standard  speeds  (3000,  1500,  1000  r.p.m., 
etc.).     The  difficulties  are  less  in  the  design  of  the  turbine 


than  in  that  of  the  generator,  for  which  the  ventilation  must 
be  improved.  The  higher  the  first  cost  of  the  steam  turbine 
tlie  lower  the  steam  consumption.  The  type  is,  therefore,  to 
be  selected  according  to  the  mean  yearly  load  and  the  cost 
of  fuel.  If  the  fuel  is  cheap  and  the  load- factor  low,  a 
cheap  design  is  profitable,  while  a  more  expensive  design 
with  a  low  steam  consumption  is  to  be  preferred  when  the 
fuel  is  expensive  and  the  load-factor  high.  As  to  overload 
capacity,  attention  is  called  to  an  important  difference  in 
definition  between  English  and  German  practice.  In 
English  specifications  it  is  usually  required  that  a  turbine 
must  be  able  to  carry  a  certain  percentage  overload  con- 
tinually. According  to  German  practice,  the  maximum  load 
which  a  permanent  turbine  can  carry  permanently  would  be 
called  the  normal  load  and  an  overload  of  25  per  cent  above 
this  is  required  for  two  hours  only.  It  is  a  disadvantage 
that  this  overload  range  of  the  machine  is  guaranteed  only 
when  cold.  In  order  to  reduce  the  first  cost,  machines  of 
as  large  load  range  as  possible  are  selected.  It  is  true  that 
the  cost  per  kilowatt  does  not  decrease  considerably  for 
sets  above  500  kw,  but  the  space  required  and  the  cost  of 
the  machine  house  and  of  the  auxiliaries  are  considerably 
reduced.  Large  units  have  a  smaller  steam  consumption  at 
high  load  and  the  cost  of  attendance  is  less,  but  with  a 
larger  number  of  smaller  units  it  is  possible  to  handle  load 
fluctuations  more  advantageously.  The  final  decision  as  to 
the  size  of  unit,  therefore,  depends  on  the  load-factor  and 
on  the  form  of  the  load  curve,  and  the  decision  should  be 
reached  on  the  basis  of  a  calculation  making  use  of  the 
characteristic  curve  of  steam  consumption.  This  is  ex- 
plained by  a  diagram.  The  author  then  deals  with  the  gen- 
eration of  the  exciting  current  and  with  auxiliaries.  As  to 
electric  or  steam  operation  of  auxiliaries,  European  practice 
is  in  favor  of  steam  operation  for  the  sake  of  greater 
reliability.  The  paper  is  to  be  concluded. — Elek.  Zeit., 
July  18,  1912. 

Oil  Switches. — F.  Marguerre. — The  conclusion  of  his 
illustrated  paper  on  a  series  of  experiments  made  with  a 
number  of  different  high-tension  oil  switches.  The  results 
obtained  with  the  different  switches  are  described  and 
plotted  in  the  form  of  curves  and  oscillograms.  One 
peculiar  result  obtained  is  that  with  all  types  tested  the 
breaking  of  a  circuit  of  from  40,000  kva  to  50,000  kva  at 
voltages  of  from  12,000  to  13,000  after  opening  the  circuit 
in  case  of  a  real  load  is  much  easier  than  the  breaking  of  a 
circuit  with  10,000  kva  to  20,000  kva  at  from  3000  volts  to 
4000  volts  when  a  short-circuit  is  opened.  This  conclusion 
is  based  on  not  only  the  oscillograms  but  also  the  behavior 
of  the  switches. — Elek.  Zeit.,  July  18,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Cable  Fracture.- — E.  Suenson. — An  illustrated  article  on 
a  peculiar  fracture  in  a  submarine  cable  of  the  Great 
Northern  Telegraph  Company.  The  special  features  of 
this  fracture  are  described.  The  fracture  appears  to  have 
been  caused  by  the  material  having  been  fatigued  by  many 
thousand  bends  or  twistings.  Since  repeated  twistings  gen- 
erally produce  a  fracture  with  a  screw  surface  and  as  the 
fracture  in  this  case  had  a  plane  surface,  the  breaks  must 
have  been  caused  by  either  stress  or  bending  tensions.  Such 
tensions  might  be  due  to  the  flood  carrying  the  cable  toward 
the  coast  and  the  ebb  drawing  it  out  again,  but  the  number 
of  these  movements  would  be  far  too  few  in  the  short  time 
the  cable  had  been  lying  in  this  track  to  be  of  any  con- 
sequence. If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  cable  had  been  sus- 
pended between  two  submarine  rocks,  it  is  just  possible  that 
the  outflowing  mud  could  have  acted  on  the  cable  in  the 
same  way  as  the  violin  bow  acts  on  the  string,  by  carrying 
it  along  until  the  strain  grew  so  heavy  that  the  cable  sprang 
back,  when  it  would  again  have  been  seized  by  the  outflow- 
ing mud,  and  so  on.  Neither  explanation  is  believed  to  be 
very  satisfactory. — London  Elcc.  Rcznciv,  July  19,  1912. 

Aluminum    Conductors. — A   diagram    for    the    rapid    and 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


323 


exact  determination  of  the  deflection  and  stress  in  overhead 
conductors  of  aluminum.  The  diagram  gives  the  relations 
between  stress  in  pounds  by  square  inch,  the  span  in  feet, 
the  deflection  in  feet  and  the  temperature. — London  EIcc. 
Review,  July  19,  1912. 

Electrophysics  and   Magnetism. 

Electric  Behaznor  of  Metallic  Vapors  in  Filaments. — E.  N. 
DA  C.  Andr.ade. — An  account  of  an  experimental  investiga- 
tion, the  main  results  of  which  are  as  follows:  Negatively 
charged  luminous  metallic  carriers  can  exist  in  a  flame,  in 
addition  to  the  known  positive  carriers.  If  a  streak  of 
metallic  vapor  stand  between,  but  not  touching,  two  elec- 
trodes in  the  flame,  Ohm's  law  holds  for  the  conductivity  of 
the  vapor  within  the  observed  range.  If  a  cooled  negative 
electrode  be  employed,  with  a  given  voltage,  a  definite  maxi- 
mum current  is  obtained  in  displacing  a  luminous  metallic 
vapor  streak  between  the  electrodes  toward  the  negative 
electrode  in  the  flame.  An  estimate  of  the  number  of  free 
electrons  produced  per  second  in  the  streak  may  be  obtained 
from  this.  The  conductivity  and  energy  of  light  emission 
of  a  streak  of  metallic  vapor  are  proportional  within  the 
observed  range.  The  energy  of  light  emission  for  a  given 
rate  of  vaporization  of  metal  is  roughly  independent  of  the 
pressure.  The  velocity  of  migration  of  the  positive  carriers 
of  the  luminous  streak  is  inversely  proportional  to  the  pres- 
sure, and  hence  the  fraction  of  the  time  during  which  a 
carrier  iS' positively  charged  is  independent  of  the  pressure. 
This  leads  to  the  theoretical  conclusion  that  the  impact  of 
metal  atom  against  metal  atom  is  the  main  cause  of  the 
liberation  of  an  electron  from  a  metal  atom. — Phil.  Mag., 
July,  1912. 

Skin  Effect. — P.  GiR.-\ULT. — To  illustrate  the  phenomenon 
of  the  skin  effect  in  a  conductor  with  circular  cross-section 
the  author  gives  a  vector  diagram  in  which  the  vector  repre- 
sents the  current  density  at  different  distances  from  the 
center  of  the  conductor.  In  passing  from  the  center  along 
a  radius  to  the  outside  the  end  point  of  the  vector,  repre- 
senting the  current  density,  describes  a  spiral,  amplitude  and 
phase  increasing  continually  from  the  inside  to  the  outside. 
This  spiral  surrounds  the  zero  point  the  more  often  the 
greater  the  electric  conductivity  and  the  permeability  of  the 
conductor  and  the  frequency  and  the  diameter  of  the  con- 
ductor.— Elek.  Zcit.,  July  11,  1912. 

Emission  Velocities  of  Photo-Electrons. — A.  L.  Hughes. 
— An  abstract  of  a  recent  (British)  Royal  Society  paper. 
This  investigation  was  undertaken  to  determine  the  relations 
between  the  ma.ximum  velocity  wfith  which  electrons  are 
emitted  from  metallic  surfaces  illuminated  by  ultra-violet 
light  and  (a)  the  wave-length  of  the  light  and  (b)  the 
nature  of  the  metal.  The  form  which  this  relation  takes  is 
given,  more  or  less  definitely,  by  different  theories  of  the 
photo-electric  effect,  and  therefore  criteria  between  dift'erent 
theories  would  be  given  by  accurate  experimental  evidence 
on  these  two  relations.  Two  laws  connecting  the  maximum 
emission  velocity  and  the  wave-length  have  been  suggested. 
The  first,  due  to  Ladenburg,  is  that  the  maximum  velocity 
is  proportional  to  the  frequency.  The  second,  based  origi- 
nally on  the  quantum  theory,  is  that  the  energy  of  the  fastest 
electrons  is  proportional  to  the  frequency.  The  experi- 
mental evidence  at  present  available  is  inadequate  to  dis- 
criminate between  the  two  theories.  From  the  experiments 
which  have  been  published  on  the  velocities  of  photo-elec- 
trons it  is  clear  that  the  velocities  vary  enormously  with 
the  state  of  the  surface.  The  effect  is  due  to  the  presence 
of  a  variable  gaseous  film  on  the  surface  which  reduces 
both  the  velocity  and  the  number  of  electrons  passing 
through.  In  this  research  metallic  surfaces  were  prepared 
in  such  a  way  that  it  is  extremely  unlikely  that  any  surface 
film  could  be  formed.  The  maximum  velocities  of  the  photo- 
electrons  from  a  continnouslv  forming  surface  of  mercury 
were  measured.  Surfaces  of  Ca,  Mg,  Cd,  Zn,  Pb,  Bi.  Sb, 
As,  Sc  and  ZnCl,  were  prepared  by  distillation  in  a  liquid- 


air  vacuum  and  were  exposed  to  the  light  without  having 
been  in  contact  with  air  or  other  gas.  From  experiments 
with  the  surfaces  of  distilled  metals  it  was  concluded  that 
the  maximum  energy,  and  not  the  maximum  velocity,  of  the 
photo-electrons  was  proportional  to  the  frequency. — London 
Electrician,  July  12,  19 1 2. 

Electrochemistry  and  Batteries. 

Electric  Smelting  of  Zinc  Ores. — W.  R.  Ingalls. — A 
paper  presented  before  the  Canadian  Mining  Institute  on 
tlie  present  status  of  electric  zinc  smelting.  The  author 
deals  with  the  use  of  carbon  or  iron  as  reducing  agent, 
different  types  of  furnaces,  differences  of  electric  zinc 
smelting  from  ordinary  practices,  the  effects  of  carbon 
dioxide,  the  speed  of  reduction,  the  matter  of  temperature, 
results  of  smelting  at  Trollhattan,  the  possibility  of  simul- 
taneous recovery  of  lead,  condensation  and  formation  of 
blue  powder,  cost  of  smelting,  and  limitations  of  the  process. 
— Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing,  August,  1912. 

Condensation  in  Electric  Zinc  Smelting. — An  editorial  on 
the  difficulty  experienced  with  many  electric  zinc  furnaces 
in  that  the  zinc  vapor  contlenses  into  blue  powder  instead  of 
liquid  zinc.  This  may  be  due  either  to  faulty  physical  or 
faulty  chemical  conditions  or  to  both.  In  the  same  way  in 
which  water  vapor  may  condense  into  snow  instead  of  rain, 
zinc  vapor  may  condense  into  blue  powder  instead  of  liquid 
zinc  under  special  conditions  of  pressure  and  temperature. 
Faulty  chemical  conditions  are  such  that  from  the  vapor  not 
merely  zinc  but  something  else  is  condensed.  When  a 
certain  limit  of  carbon  dio.xide  in  the  gas  of  the  zinc  retort 
is  exceeded  the  carbon  dioxide  o.xidizes  the  zinc,  coats  the 
condensing  globules  of  zinc,  prevents  coalescence  and  forms 
a  powder.  Many  impurities  in  the  ore  under  treatment  will 
act  in  the  same  way.  For  instance,  if  the  ore  contains  silica 
and  an  arc  furnace  is  employed,  silica  or  silicon  vapors  will 
be  formed,  and  in  condensation  each  condensing  globule  of 
zinc  will  be  coated  with  a  fine  layer  of  silica  and  the  coated 
globules  will  not  run  together  and  form  liquid  zinc,  just  in 
the  same  way  as  it  is  impossible  to  run  globules  of  mercury 
coated  with  flour  together  into  a  liquid  mass  of  mercury. — 
Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing.  August,  1912. 

Electric-Furnctce  Pig-iron. — D.  A.  Lyon  .\nd  F.  C.  Lan- 
GENBERG. — An  article  illustrated  by  microphotographs  on  a 
microscopic  study  of  pig-iron  reduced  from  iron  ore  in  the 
plant  of  the  Noble  Electric  Steel  Company  in  Shasta 
County,  Cal. — Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing,  August,  1912. 

Sinmltaneous  Electrolytic  Deposition  of  Copper  and  Zinc 
from  Various  Solutions  Not  Containing  Cyanide. — M.  de 
Kay  Thompson. — An  account  of  an  experimental  investiga- 
tion in  which  eleven  complex  copper  salts  were  made  by  the 
following  agents  and  were  electrolyzed  after  mixing  with 
zinc  sulphate  solution:  Glycerine,  cane  sugar,  tartaric  acid, 
glycocoll.  sodium  potassium  tartrate  and  sodium  hydrate, 
thiosulphate,  phosphorous  acid,  ammonia,  thioglycollate, 
oxalate  and  sodium  pyrophosphate.  The  only  solution  which 
gave  a  smooth,  bright  deposit  when  electrolyzed  for  an 
hour  or  more  was  the  alkaline  sodium  potassium  tartrate 
solution.  This  deposit,  however,  had  a  bronze  color.  The 
solutions  from  which  appreciable  amounts  of  zinc  were 
deposited  with  copper  were  the  alkaline  potassium  sodium 
tartrate,  the  oxalate  and  the  pyrophosphate.  It  was  not 
found  in  any.  case  that  diminishing  the  total  amount  of 
copper  in  the  solution  improved  the  deposits.  It  seems  that 
the  complexity  of  the  copper  salt  must  be  relied  on  to  reduce 
the  concentration  of  the  ions  sufficiently,  while  there  must 
be  enough  copper  present  in  the  unionized  state  to  furnish 
ions  as  rapidly  as  they  are  used  up. — Met.  and  Chem. 
Ending,  August,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

The  Shape  of  Scales  Required  for  Reflecting  Instruments 
with  Concave  Mirrors. — E.  H.  Rayner. — A  paper  read 
before  the  Optical  Convention  in  London,  with  reference  to 
the    arrangements    adopted     in    the     (British)     National 


324 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6 


Physical  Laboratory  for  the  precision  apparatus  for  alter- 
nating-current measurements.  A  concave  mirror  is  em- 
ployed, and  a  real  image  of  an  artificial  source  of  light  is 
projected  on  to  a  translucent  or  opaque  white  scale  on  which 
suitable  marks  are  drawn.  A  Nernst  lamp  and  a  condensing 
lens  with  a  fine  vertical  wire  in  front  of  it  form  a  suitable 
source  of  light,  producing  on  the  scale  a  circular  bright  spot 
with  a  fine  line  across  the  vertical  diameter.  The  paper 
deals  with  the  shape  of  the  scale  required  in  order  to  have 
the  vertical  wire  always  sharply  in  focus  while  the  concave 
mirror  rotates  about  a  vertical  axis.  If  the  angular  deflec- 
tion be  only  a  few  degrees,  a  straight  scale  is  commonly 
used,  but  it  becomes  unsatisfactory  if  the  deflection  is 
considerable.  Neither  does  a  circular  scale  with  the 
mirror  at  the  center  sufficiently  approximate  to  the  proper 
curve  for  instruments  reading  by  a  reflected  ray  of  light 
whose  working  deflecion  may  reach  120  deg.  The  scale  has 
to  approach  continually  the  mirror  as  the  angle  of  incidence 
increases,  and  for  deflections  of  90  deg.  from  the  incident 
ray  the  distance  may  be  reduced  to  one-half.  The  theory 
of  the  arrangement  is  briefly  explained  and  the  results  are 
given  in  the  form  of  a  diagram  and  a  table. — London  Elcc. 
Review,  July  19,  1912. 

Bureau  of  Standards. — G.  K.  Burgess. — An  account  of 
the  scope  of  the  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Standards  in  the 
fields  of  metallography  and  metallurgy. — Met.  and  Chem. 
Eng'ing,  August,  igi2. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and   Signals. 

Submarine  Telegraph  Cable. — H.  W.  Malcolm. — A  con- 
tinuation of  his  long  mathematical  serial,  illustrated  by 
numerous  diagrams,  on  the  theory  of  submarine  telegraph 
cables.  In  the  present  instalment  the  phenomena  at  the 
sending  end  are  discussed,  both  sending  current  and  voltage 
being  dealt  with.  The  author  first  takes  up  an  infinitely  long 
cable  and  then  a  finite  cable  without  end  apparatus.  The 
serial  is  to  be  continued. — London  Electrician,  July  19,  1912. 

High-Frequency  Alternator  for  Wireless  Telegraphy  and 
Telephony. — An  illustrated  article  on  the  Goldschmidt  high- 
frequency  alternator,  which  is  based  upon  the  induction  of 
currents  of  higher  and  higher  frequency  by  "reflection." 
The   experimental   station   at    Slough   is   equipped    with   an 


Antenna 


b::=: 


!"        Earth 


Fig.  2 — Arrangement  of  Circuits. 


antenna  of  enormous  spread  in  order  to  be  able  to  deal  with 
the  long  waves  (5000  m)  employed,  but  otherwise  it  presents 
no  special  feature.  The  apparatus  inside  the  building  com- 
prises a  Goldschmidt  alternator  capable  of  giving  an  output 
of  9  kw  at  60,000  cycles  per  second,  although  12  kw  has 
been  obtained  from  it  at  a  lower  frequency.  The  alternator 
is  driven  by  a  direct-current  motor  through  a  step-up  gear. 
The  peripheral  speed  of  the  rotor  is  about  150  m  per  second, 
at  which  velocity  the  frequency  generated  in  the  rotor  is 
15,000  cycles  per  second.  By  reflection  these  currents  in- 
duce others  with  a  frequency  of  30,000  cycles  in  the  stator, 
which  again  induce  currents  of  45,000  cycles  in  a  circuit 
(containing  suitable  capacity)  shunting  the  rotor.  The  cur- 
rents again  set  up  others  with  a  frequency  of  60,000  cycles 
in  a  circuit  connected  to  the  stator.  The  arrangement  of 
these  circuits  can  be  seen  in  Fig.  2,  in  which  circuit  C,D, 
has  currents  of  frequency  15,000  in  it,  C^O,  those  of  30,000 


frequency,  Cj  is  resonant  to  45,000  cycles,  and,  finally,  pure 
60,000-cycle  currents  can  be  taken  off  from  the  points  where 
the  antenna  and  earth  are  shown  connected.  Excitation  is 
effected  by  means  of  continuous  current,  in  the  present  case 
from  storage  cells.  For  gradually  varying  the  wave-length 
induction  coils  and  condensers  are  provided.- — London  Elec- 
trician, July  19,  1912.  ■ 
Miscellaneous.                                             ■ 

Characteristic  of  an  Artificial  Insulating  Material. — E. 
Knoblauch. — An  illustrated  translation  in  abstract  of  his 
recent  German  paper  on  a  graphical  method  for  giving  the 
principal  properties  of  a  series  of  artificial  insulating 
materials  in  a  diagram. — London  Electrician,  July  19,  1912. 

"The  Point  Fives." — An  article  on  the  first  meeting  of  a 
new  electrical  club  in  London,  the  qualification  for  member- 
ship being  that  the  engineer — whether  of  a  company  or  a 
municipal  station — shall  be  selling  energy  at  the  rate  of 
i/^d.  (l  cent)  per  kw-hr.  for  domestic  cooking,  or  for  cook- 
ing and  heating. — London  Electrician,  July  19  1912. 


Book  Review 

Ornamental  Street  Lighting.     Compiled  by  committee 
on  electric  advertising  and  ornamental   street  lighting 
of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association,  William  H. 
Hodge,   Chicago,   chairman.     Arranged  by    Waldemar 
Kaempffert.      New    York:     National    Electric    Light 
Association,  Commercial  Section,  29  West  Thirty-ninth 
Street.     48  pages,  21  illus.     Price,  30  cents;  in  quan- 
tities, 20  cents. 
The  aim  to  provide  for  the  non-technical  citizen  or  civic 
body  a  compilation  of  arguments  and  facts  concerning  orna- 
mental street  lighting  has  been  splendidly  attained  in  this 
handsomely  executed  booklet,  which  is  offered  to  the  in- 
dustry   at    a    nominal    price.      Between    its    gold-embossed 
covers  of  heavy  brown  paper  are  contained  detailed  informa- 
tion of  numerous  existing  installations,  discussions  of  the 
advantages  of  ornamental  lighting,  descriptions  of  methods 
of  construction,  types  of  poles,  etc.,  together  with  lists  of 
the  cities  where  each  type  of  lighting  may  be  inspected  and 
the  names  of  manufacturers  of  street-lighting  fixtures  and 
supplies.     Perhaps  the  best  idea  of  the  text-matter  of  the 
booklet  is  afforded  by  its  topics  as  indexed  with  sub-titles — 
"The   Business  Side  of  Side  Street  Lighting— the  Money 
Value  of  a  Great  White  Way" ;  "Municipal  Lighting,  Right 
and  Wrong— Light  Is  Made  to  See  By,  Not  to  Look  At" ; 
"How  Business  Sections  Should  Be  Lighted";  "How  Resi- 
dential Sections  Should  Be  Lighted";  "How  Electric  Signs 
and    Window    Lighting   Affect   the    Street— Sign    Lighting 
Advertises  a  Thing  Far  and  Wide;  Window  Lighting  At- 
tracts the  Passer-by ;  Street  Lighting  Arouses  the  Talk  of  a 
Whole    Country";' "What    It    Costs    to    Light    a    Street- 
Dollars  and  Cents."     The  last-mentioned  chapter  is   per- 
haps the   only  one   in  the  book  which   seems   inadequate, 
since  but  a  single  average  example  is  stated,  conditions  and 
data  are  missing,  and  the  figures  named   for  installation 
cost  appear  to  be  higher  than  those  for  \yhich  many  in- 
stallations have  been  made  in  this  country.     All  types  of 
incandescent   and    arc    installations    are    shown,    while    an 
addendum  presents  details  of  each  type  of  post,  including 
combination  fixtures.     In  the  closing  pages  the  cities  which 
have  ornamental   lighting  systems   are   listed — "three   hun- 
dred cities   that  have   found   every  dollar  invested   in   an 
ornamental  lighting  system  for  business  sections,  residential 
districts    and    parks    is    returned   many-fold,    not    only    in 
higher  real   estate  values  and  greater  prosperity,  but   re- 
turned in  prestige,  in  heightened  civic  pride  and  in  better 
citizenship."     Other  lists  give  the  names  and  addresses  of 
manufacturers  of  ornamental  standards,  transformers,  regu- 
lators   and    compensating    apparatus,    glassware,    steel    re- 
flectors and  incandescent  lamps. 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


32s 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


GRIP  NIPPLE  FOR  CONDUIT  WORK. 


In  order  to  provide  a  cheaper  system  than  the  usual  form 
of  screw  junction,  several  means  of  rendering  ordinary 
unscrewed  conduit  electrically  continuous  have  been  devised 
abroad.  Of  these  various  methods  one  of  the  first  was  the 
Simplex  grip  nipple  of  the  Simplex  Conduits,  Ltd.,  London, 
England.  This  nipple  was  cut  out  of  a  solid  hexagonal 
steel  bar,  and  its  successful  application  to  all  classes  of 
installations  has  led  the  company  to  develop  this  form  of 
nipple  with  a  view  of  reducing  the  cost  without  affecting 
the  eflSciency  of  the  device  or  the  ease  with  which  it  might 
be  applied.  A  modification  of  the  hexagon  nipple  is  now 
being  introduced  in  which  the  hexagon  head  is  replaced  by 
a   milled   head.      The    adoption    of   the   milled-type    nipple 


S555i  Simplex  .  V^i^^-^ 


Couplings. 

results  in  a  material  cost  saving.  It  might  be  mentioned 
in  this  connection  that  in  the  Simplex  system  it  is  necessary 
in  erecting  to  remove  the  enamel  from  the  end  of  the  con- 
duit for  a  distance  approximately  equal  to  its  diameter. 
This  cleaned  end  must  be  entered  into  the  contact  nipple, 
which  is  screwed  hand  tight  into  the  fitting.  The  contact 
nipple  is  then  tightened  and,  acting  as  a  screwed  wedge, 
firmly  fixes  it  in  position  and  establishes  continuity. 


SUBMERSIBLE  MOTORS. 


The  usefulness  of  a  submersible  motor  was  recently  illus- 
trated by  the  Submersible  &  J-L  Motors,  Ltd.,  Southall, 
Middlesex,  England.  A  sunken  loo-ton  barge,  resting  on 
the  river  bed  with  its  sides  just  above  the  water,  was 
raised  in  thirty  minutes  by  means  of  a  lo-hp,  220-volt 
motor  directly  connected  to  a  centrifugal  pump,  rated  at 
600  gal.  per  min.  at  a  speed  of  950  r.p.m     The  motor  and 


a  compressor  in  any  part  of  a  mine,  and  air  pipes  may  be 
run  to  distant  parts.  A  switch  operated  from  the  pithead 
will  cause  the  pump  to  deliver  the  air  although  both  motor 
and  compressor  may  be  many  feet  under  water.  The 
danger  of  explosion  is  removed  as  the  motor  is  thoroughly 
inclosed. 

A  further  function  of  the  motor  lies  in  combating  the 
influx  of  water  into  ships  in  the  event  of  accidents,  par- 
ticularly if  a  motor  pump  is  placed  in  each  of  the  main 
compartments  of  the  vessel. 


ATTACHMENT  FOR  PULL  SOCKETS. 


An  attachment  for  pull  sockets  developed  for  the  market 
by  Harvey  Hubbell,  Inc.,  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  is  arranged  to 
be  joined  to  the  lamp  socket  and  not  to  the  shade  holder. 
A  pull  on  the  cord  produces  an  even,  firm  pull  on  the  chain, 
which  is  drawn  directly  forward  without  dragging  on  the 
edge  of  the  chain  guide.  The  end  of  the  chain  rides  in  a 
groove    in    the    rocker,    which    maintains    even    tension    at 


Attachment  for   Pull   Sockets. 


every  degree  of  operation.  It  is  claimed  that  the  respon- 
siveness of  the  "device  to  a  slight  pull  on  the  operating 
cord  makes  it  the  most  satisfactory  attachment  thus  far 
developed. 


FOLDING  TELEPHONE  TRANSMITTER  ARM. 


Submersible    Motor. 

pump  were  sunk  into  the  barge  by  means  of  a  crane.  It 
had  no  suction  pipe,  and  an  ordinary  pipe  which  happened 
to  be  at  hand  was  used  for  the  delivery  pipe. 

The  value  of  a  motor  not  affected  by  the  humidity  of  its 
surroundings  is  inestimable  in  many  kinds  of  work,  for 
instance,  mining  and  on  board  ship.     It  may  be  coupled  to 


A  telephone  transmitter  arm  recently  developed  by  the 
Western  Electric  Company  is  of  the  folding  or  "ferry-gate" 


Folding  Telephone  Transmitter  Arm. 

type.  It  is  built  in  three  different  styles,  to  be  placed  on 
top  of  a  flat-top  desk,  on  the  wall  or  the  side  of  a  flat-top 
desk,  or  on  the  side  of  a  roll-top  desk.  The  arrangement  is 
such  that  the  arm  may  be  used  with  any  desk  telephone  by 
means  of  a  clamping  device  at  the  end  farthest  from  the 
pedestal.  '' 


326 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  6. 


INTERCHANGEABLE  LIGHTING  FIXTURE. 


A  recent  development  in  lighting  fixtures  which  attracted 
considerable  attention  at  the  recent  Denver  convention  of 
the  National  Electrical  Contractors'  Association  is  shovi^n 
in  the  accompanying  illustrations.     The  fixture,  which  has 


down  between  the  two  sets  of  electrodes.  The  chains  are 
driven  simultaneously  by- a  simple  ratchet,  actuated  by  the 
falling  weight  of  a  small  shunt  solenoid  core,  the  circuit 
of  which  is  completed  by  the  action  of  the  differential  regu- 
lating coils  when  the  voltage  across  the  arc  slightly  in- 
creases.    The  feed  produced  by  this  arrangement  is  said  to 


A 


7 


^   '-r 


-cf 


Ik..  lib 

Fig.  1  —  Details  of  Interchangeable  Fixture.       Fig.  2— Fixture  with  Direct  Lighting  Units.       Fig.   3 — Fixture  with  Indirect  Lighting  Units. 


been  designed  for  indoor  use,  combines  the  advantages  of 
ready  take-down  and  assemblage  without  danger  of  injury 
to  the  wires.  It  consists  of  a  body,  a  stem  and  canopy,  with 
arms  attached  to  the  body  and  fittings  by  bayonet  joints 
and  screws.  When  folded  ready  for  shipment  the  fixture 
is  placed  in  a  box  only  7  in.  square.  The  fixture  is  assem- 
bled in  place  by  using  merely  a  screwdriver  and  a  pair  of 
pliers. 

The  center  rod,  spacing  sleeves  and  bottom  knob  lock  the 
parts  into  position.  The  arms  are  brought  snugly  against 
the  shoulders  and  the  screws  can  then  be  quickly  set  into 
place.  A  similar  arrangement  is  used  for  attaching  the 
arms  and  fittings.  Where  the  pins  pass  through  the  wire- 
ways  the  screw  thread  is  omitted,  thereby  minimizing  the 
difficulty  in  inserting  the  wires  and  eliminating  the  chance 
of  bringing  about  injury  to  the  insulation  by  screwing  in 
the  arms. 

All  of  the  connecting  parts  are  interchangeable,  it  being 
claimed  that  any  fixture  may  be  altered  in  design  within 
five  minutes.  Having  on  hand  a  few  bodies,  several  styles 
of  arms  and  end  fittings,  any  combination  may  readily  be 
made  into  a  completed  fixture  in  accordance  with  the  par- 
ticular wishes  of  the  customer. 

The  above-described  fixture  has  been  placed  on  the  mar- 
ket by  the  Albert  Sechrist  Manufacturing  Company,  Den- 
ver, Col. 


LONG-BURNING  FLAME-ARC  LAMP. 


In  general  construction  the  lamp  illustrated  herewith 
embodies  a  main  and  shunt  solenoid  which  operates  the  two 
magazines  containing  the  electrodes.  This  is  effected  by 
means  of  a  special  toggle,  which  permits  great  delicacy  of 
movement  when  the  magazines  are  near  each  other,  so  that, 
however  heavy  or  stifif  the  magazines  may  be,  the  feed 
remains  reliable. 

The  non-extinction  is  secured  by  arranging  that  before 
one  pair  of  electrodes  has  ceased  to  burn  another  pair 
comes  into  contact.  The  arc  is  therefore  at  once  formed 
between  the  new  pair  and  at  the  same  time  disappears  from 
between  the  ends  of  the  old  pair.  This  process  is  effected 
tiy  diviciing  both  the  pQSJtive.  ,and  negative  magazines  into 
two  separate  compartments  having  an  endless  chain  passing 


be  almost  imperceptible,  and  the  light,  therefore,  is  steady 
and  constant.  A  cut-out  with  self-aligning  contacts  is  also 
provided  in  the  lamp,  which  puts  in  a  substitutional  resist- 
ance of  ample  proportions,  it  being  impossible  for  the  arc 
and  resistance  to  remain  in  parallel,  as  the  contact  must  be 
broken  before  the  carbons  even  begin  to  separate. 

The  mechanism  is  effectively  protected  from  deposits  and 
interference,  and  the  magazine  chamber  is  so  constructed 
that  practically  no  cleaning  is  necessary.  The  globe  carrier 
is  well  ventilated  and  baffled  and  the  case  is  substantially 


H' 


I 


Long-Burning     Flamtng-Arc     Lamp. 

made  and  perfectly  weatherproof.  The  lamp  is  fitted  with 
dift'using  glpb^8,.which  distribute  the  light  uniformly  over 
a  large  area.  , . 

This  lamp  is  manu^(;tured  by  Johnson  &  Phillips,  Ltd., 
Victoria  Works,  Chariton,  S.  O.  Kent,  England. 


August  io,  1912.  ELECTRICAL     WORLD 

INDIRECT  LIGHTING  BY  ARC  LAMPS. 


327 


An  arc  lamp  equipped  for  indirect  lighting  has  recently 
been  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Armorduct  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  Ltd.,  London,  England. 

It  comprises  a  long-burning  white-arc  lamp  taking  from 
5  amp  to  6  amp  and  giving  about  700  mean  hemispherical 


Arc  Lamp  Arranged  for  Indirect  Lighting. 

cp  and  a  27.5-in.  enameled  iron  reflector  attached  to  the 
lower  part  of  the  case.  An  inner  glass  globe  is  provided 
to  keep  the  reflecting  surface  free  from  dust  and  the  case 
is  finished  in  white  enamel.  With  a  single  pair  of  13-mm 
carbon  electrodes  the  lamp  will  run  for  upward  of  200 
hours  at  one  trimming,  and  the  makers  claim  that  electrode 
renewals  rarely  exceed  25  cents  per  annum.  The  series 
coil  is  wound  with  bare  aluminum  wire,  insulated  by  an 
oxidizing  process,  while  the  shunt  coil  is  energized  by  a 
current  of  2  amp.  As  there  is  no  wandering  of  the  arc, 
which  is  kept  perfectly  steady  by  the  inclosed  gases,  an 
unusually  effective  distribution  of  light  is  obtained  in  con- 
sequence of  the  better  reflecting  surface  of  the  top  electrode, 
and  because  the  light  is  not  obscured  by  the  bottom  elec- 
trode as  it  would  be  if  the  arc  traveled  round  the  edge  of 
the  electrodes.  The  lamp  is  made  for  direct-current  and 
alternating-current  circuits  and  for  single  burning  on  volt- 
ages between  100  and  250,  or  for  series  burning  on  direct- 
current  circuits  at  from  200  volts  to  550  volts. 


The  drive  on  these  machines  is  subjected  to  very  severe 
service  owing  to  the  uneven  load  due  to  the  rubber  being 
run  through  the  rolls  in  bunches  or  lumps,  yet  it  has  given 
more  satisfactory  service  than  gearing.  The  chains  show 
no  bad  effects  nor  have  any  repairs  been  necessary. 


Fig.    1 — Silent-Chain    Drive   for    Rubber   Mixer. 

Fig.  2  shows,  in  the  foreground,  one  of  a  battery  of  four 
roll  rubber  calenders,  each  driven  by  a  Morse  silent  chain 
from  a  75-hp  four-speed  induction  motor.  The  chain  is  1.2 
in.  pitch  by  9  in.  wide  and  has  sprockets  of  21  and  105  teeth, 
with  speeds  of  6go  r.p.m.  to  138  r.p.m,  being  set  at  54-in. 
centers.    Three-roll  calenders  are  similarly  driven. 

These  calenders  are  for  making  friction  cloth  and  rolling 
out  sheet  rubber.  While  the  load  is  more  even  than  on  the 
mills  or  mixers,  the  frequent  stoppings,  changes  from  one 
speed  to  another,  etc.,  would  work  hardships  upon  a  chain 
or  other  drive.  There  have  been  no  repairs  of  any  kind  to 
these  calender  chains  since  their  installation. 

There  are  two  sources  of  energy  supply  available  at  this 
plant,  and  by  using  a  drum-type  controller  the  different 
windings  of  the  calender  motors  are  thrown  alternately  on 
the  two  circuits  and  speeds  of  255,  345,  510,  and  690  r.p.m. 
are  thereby  obtained.  Any  of  these  speeds  may  be  used  for 
continuous  operation.  The  fact  that  there  have  been  no  re- 
pairs to  the  chain  drives  since  their  installation  shows  their 


SILENT-CHAIN   TRANSMISSION  IN  RUBBER  MILL. 


By  W.  E.  Meadwell. 

The  process  of  rubber  manufacture  consists  in  general  of 
washing  the  gum,  mixing,  compounding,  calendering,  form- 
ing or  molding  to  shape,  and  curing.  Practically  all  of  the 
work  is  done  by  rolls  of  various  sizes  and  arrangement. 
The  service,  especially  when  washing  or  mixing  new  gum, 
is  very  severe,  the  load  often  varying  from  25  per  cent  to 
150  per  cent  of  normal  in  a  few  seconds.  Gearing  has 
mostly  been  used  for  this  service  heretofore,  while  the 
smooth-running,  high-efiiciency,  silent-chain  transmission 
is  said  now  to  have  the  preference. 

The  Mechanical  Rubber  Company's  Works  at  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  are  equipped  throughout  with  this  kind  of  transmis- 
sion, and  two  illustrations  from  this  installation  are  shown 
as  representative  of  many  others  that  are  being  installed. 
Fig.  I  shows  a  mixer,  which  with  others  on  the  same  shaft 
is  driven  by  a  200-hp  constant-speed  induction  motor.  The 
double  chain  of  this  particular  mill  is  of  the  Morse  silent 
"rocker-joint"  type,  10  in.  wide',  l.S-in.  pitch;  Wrth-  a  speed 
of  1250  ft.  per  minute  at  the  highest  motor  speed.  The 
sprockets  have  23  and  117  teeth,  with  speeds  of  from  435 
to  85  r.p.m.  and  are  set  at  84-in.  centers. 


Fig.   2 — Silent-Chain    Drive   for    Rubber   Calenders. 

superiority  over  the  old  form  of  drive.  The  Morse  Chain 
Company,  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  installed  the  silent-chain  trans- 
mission in  this  rubber  mill,  and  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
&  Manufacturing  Compariy,'  East'Plttsburgli;  •Pa.,"fUfnished 
the  electrical  equipment.  ■  -■  n/' 


328 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6. 


WATERPROOF  WALL  PLUG. 


A 
requ 
the 


waterproof  wall  plug  designed  to  suit  the  insurance 
irements  of  England  has  been  put  on  the  market  by 
General    Electric    Company,    Ltd.,    London,    England. 


S  713,7 

Waterproof  Wall  Plug. 


Fig.  1 — Power- Factor  Meter. 


The  plug  is  made  in  sizes  ranging  from  5  amp  to  100  amp 
and  is  constructed  to  withstand  the  rough  usage  which 
such  apparatus  meets  in  docks,  railway  sidings  and  work- 
shops. Lnpregnated  hard  wood  is  used  for  insulation,  and 
the  knife-blade  contacts  are  self-aligning.  A  terminal  is 
provided  in  the  plug  for  a  ground  wire,  while  an  aperture 
permits  inspection  on  the  point  where  the  ground  wire 
enters  its  terminal,  as  required  by  English  rules.  An  auto- 
matic grip  catch  prevents  the  plug  from  accidentally  drop- 
ping out,  and  when  the  plug  is  withdrawn  a  spring  cover 
keeps  the  dust  out  of  the  socket. 


magnets  at  the  bottom  of  the  mechanism.  These  magnets 
and  disk  have  no  eiTect  whatever  on  the  electrical  opera- 
tion of  the  meter,  but  serve  to  prevent  oscillations  of  the 
pointer.  It  will  be  noted  that  no  connection  is  required 
between  the  fixed  and  the  moving  elements,  nor  is  any 
control  spring  necessary,  as  the  controlling  force  is  electro- 
magnetic. The  moving  element  is,  therefore,  very  light 
and  the  friction  and  bearing-jewel  wear  a  minimum. 

All  the  Westinghouse  switchboard  types  and  the  poly- 
phase portable  types  are  arranged  to  read  for  lagging  or 
leading  power-factor  on  the  upper  half  of  the  scale  and  for 


Fig.  2 — Movement  of   Power-Factor   Meter. 

reversed  power  on  the  lower  half.  The  switchboard  types 
are  adjusted  for  one  standard  frequency;  the  polyphase 
portable  types  are  adjusted  to  any  frequency  between  25 
and  60  cycles;  the  single-phase  portable  types  indicate  for 
60  cycles  on  one-half  the  scale  and  for  25  cycles  on  the 
other  half.  The  portable  meters  are  convenient  for  investi- 
gating the  power-factor  of  motor  loads  where  it  is  desired 
to  improve  the  operation  of  an  alternating-current  distribu-  j 
tion  and  generating  system.  I 


POWER-FACTOR  METERS. 


MAXIMUM-DEMAND  WATTMETER. 


The  direct-reading  power-factor  meters  manufactured  by 
the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company 
operate  on  the  rotating-field  principle.  The  rotating  field 
is  produced  by  the  current  of  the  metered  circuit  passing 
through  angularly  placed  coils,  and  in  the  field  is  situated 
a  pivoted  iron  vane  or  armature  magnetized  by  a  coil  whose 
current  is  in  phase  with  the  voltage  of  one  phase  of  the 
circuit.  As  the  iron  vane  is  attracted  or  repelled  by  the 
rotating  field  of  the  current  coils,  it  will  take  up  a  position 
where  the  zero  of  the  rotating  field  occurs  at  the  same 
instant  as  the  zero  of  its  own  field.  Thus  the  pointer  in- 
dicates the  phase  angle  between  the  voltage  and  current  of 
the  circuit,  and  by  marking  on  the  scale  the  cosine  of  the 
angle  shown  by  the  graduation  the  power-factor  is  read 
directly.  In  the  three-phase  meter  the  rotating  field  is 
produced  by  three  current  coils  spaced  60  deg.  apart;  in 
the  two-phase  meter  it  is  produced  by  two  current  coils 
spaced  90  deg. ;  in  the  single-phase  meter  the  position  of 
voltage  and  current  coils  is  interchanged  and  the  rotating 
field  is  produced  by  means  of  a  split-phase  winding. 

In  Fig.  2  the  winding  shown  within  the  iron  ring  is  the 
stationary  winding  of  the  current  coils.  Inside  this  and  not 
shown  are  the  stationary  voltage  winding  and  the  pivoted 
armature.  The  laminated  iron  ring  surrounding  the  wind- 
ing is  provided  as  a  return  circuit  for  the  flux  of  the 
pivoted  armature,  so  that  the  reluctance  of  the  armature 
.magnetic  circuit  is  low  and  uniform  in  all  positions. 

The  aluminum  damping  disk  shown  at  the  front  of  the 
meter  moves  in  the  concentrated  field  of  the  two  permanent 


The  instrument  here  illustrated  was  designed  to  meet  the 
growing  demand  for  a  cheap  and  accurate  device  capable 
of  indicating  the  maximum  demand  for  power.  The  in- 
struments now  on  the  market  are  objectionable  because  they 
involve  a  special  mechanism  in  addition  to  the  regular  watt- 
hour  meter,  the  price  of  which  prohibits  their  general  use. 
In  order  to  secure  the  necessary  time  element  use  is  made 
of  some  special  time-keeping  device  such  as  a  clock  or 
constant  running  motor,  contact-making  commutators, 
punch  or  printing  mechanism,  tapes,  etc.,  all  of  which  re- 
quire so  much  attention  as  to  limit  their  use  to  special 
cases. 

The  instrument  here  shown  differs  from  previous  devices 
in  that  all  mechanism  directly  attachable  to  gear  the  train 
of  the  regular  watt-hour  meter  has  been  abandoned.  Ad- 
vantage is  taken  of  the  fact  that  the  air-gap  of  all  com- 
mercial types  of  watt-hour  meter  will  permit  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  second  or  auxiliary  disk  into  the  magnetic  field 
of  the  main-meter  element,  giving  ample  clearance  between 
disks  and  magnet  poles.  The  torque  developed  in  the  second 
disk  is  at  all  times  equal  to  that  of  the  original  disk  and 
thus  forms  the  basic  element  of  an  indicating  wattmeter. 
The  rate  of  deflection  of  the  second  or  auxiliary  disk  is 
controlled  by  a  slightly  modified  form  of  escapement  such 
as  is  used  in  a  watch,  the  difference  being  that  the  torque 
of  the  auxiliary  disk  plays  the  part  of  the  mainspring  while 
the  revolving  meter  disk  performs  the  function  of  the 
balance  wheel.  -.    1,. 

The  complete  instrument  is  thus  a  combination  watt-hour 
meter  and  indicating  wattmeter  with  a  time  element  capable 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


329 


of  being  varied  to  suit  any  desired  condition,  the  whole 
being  inclosed  in  a  case  only  slightly  larger  than  that  of 
the  original  watt-hour  meter,  thus  avoiding  the  expense 
and  space  necessary  to  the  installation  of  the  auxiliary 
apparatus  used  with  the  present  types  of  instrument.  The 
maximum  load  is  indicated  on  a  scale  similar  to  that  of  an 
edgewise  wattmeter.  The  indicator  is  set  back  to  zero  at 
the  end  of  any  desired  period  by  raising  a  latch  on  the  out- 
side of  the  case,  the  latch  being  sealed  after  each  operation. 
The  price  of  the  complete  instrument  will  be  from  25  per 
cent  to  50  per  cent  above  that  of  the  original  watt-hour 
meter. 

The  operation  is  as  follows:  The  instant  power  is  drawn 
through  the  meter  a  shunt  coil  drives  a  flux  from  the  lower 
pole  across  the  air-gap  to  the  upper  poles,  thus  inducing 
eddy  currents  in  both  disks,  which  are  acted  upon  by  the 
flux  from  a  series  coil,  producing  an  equal  torque  in  both 
disks.  The  watt-hour-meter  disk,  being  free,  begins  to 
revolve  immediately,  thus  causing  an  escapement  claw  to 
oscillate  and  also  driving  the  regular  registering  device. 
This  auxiliary  disk  also  tends  to  rotate  but  engages  the  teeth 
of  a  ratchet  wheel,  thus  driving  an  escapement  wheel,  the 
teeth  of  which  are  allowed  to  pass  slowly,  one  at  a  time, 
by  the  above-mentioned  escapement  claw.  A  lever  con- 
nected to  the  auxiliary  shaft  drives  the  indicator  or  pointer 
over  its  scale.     This  movement  continues  at  a  rate  deter- 


ratchet  wheel  and  gear  box  located  in  the  space  between 
the  upper  and  lower  meter  elements.  Fig.  i  shows  the 
indicator,  small  hairspring,  fine-toothed  ratchet  wheel  and 
trip  lever.  The  pin  is  shown  on  the  main  meter  shaft, 
which  actuates  the  forked  escapement  lever  projecting  from 
the  gear  box  through  a  hole  cut  in  the  casting  of  the 
original  meter.     The  scale  is  calibrated  in  hecta-watts. 

This  meter  has  been  developed  by  Mr.  C.  A.  Boddie,  116 
Grove  Avenue,  Winthrop  Highlands,  Mass. 


SEMI-INDIRECT  LIGHTING  UNIT. 


In  the  illumination  of  hospital  wards  and  private  rooms  a 
type  of  lighting  unit  should  be  used  the  glare  from  which 
can  cause  no  possible  annoyance  to  the  patient  who  must  lie 
on  his  back  and  look  directly  at  the  light  source.  Some 
form  of  semi-indirect  lighting  unit  might  be  expected  to  give 
the  best  results,  but  where  a  board  of  directors,  for  exam- 
ple, hands  down  the  final  decision  in  regard  to  the  lighting 
system  the  question  of  first  cost  and  outlay  for  maintenance 
is  apt  to  determine  largely  whether  or  not  the  patient  will 


V 


Figs.   1    and   2 — Side   View   and    Rear  View  of  IVlaximum-Demand   iVIeter. 


Semi-indirect   Ligl^tlng   Unit. 


mined  by  the  speed  of  the  main  meter  disk  until  the  com- 
bined tension  of  two  hairsprings  mounted  at  top  and  bottom 
of  the  shaft  equals  the  torque  developed  in  the  auxiliary 
disk  when  the  instrument  is  in  equilibrium.  The  inte- 
grating device,  of  course,  continues  to  operate  in  the  usual 
manner.  The  position  of  maximum  deflection  is  indicated 
by  a  pall  acting  on  the  ratchet  wheel.  When  the  load 
diminishes  or  is  interrupted  the  auxiliary  disk  rotates  back 
to  a  position  of  equilibrium  under  the  action  of  the  lower 
hairspring.  The  time  of  deflection  from  zero  to  any  point 
of  equilibrium  is  constant  since  the  deflection  and  speed 
of  the  main-meter  disk  vary  in  direct  proportion.  This 
time  can  be  varied  to  suit  any  condition  by  changing  the 
gear  ratio.  5,-' :'.  -  - 

The  device  as  applied  to  a  standard  polyphase  watt-hour 
meter  is  shown  in  Figs,  i  and  2.  Fig.  2  gives  the  rear  view 
showing   the    auxiliary   disks,   upper    and    lower   bearings. 


have  added  to  his  suffering  the  effects  of  a  poorly  selected 
lighting  unit. 

To  meet  such  requirements,  the  semi-indirect  unit  here 
shown,  combining  high  efficiency,  moderate  first  cost  and 
ease  of  maintenance,  has  recently  been  placed  on  the  mar- 
ket. The  lamp  is  a  loo-watt  clear-bulb  tungsten  unit,  and 
the  holder  consists  of  a  sleeve  which  fits  over  the  regular 
socket  and  is  connected  by  two  brass  strips  to  a  circular 
spinning.  This  fits  in  the  collar  of  the  reflector  and  is  se- 
cured by  a  cap  and  small  nut  on  the  outside,  making  it  easy 
to  remove  the  reflector  for  cleaning  without  removing  the 
lamp.  The  reflector  is  a  Haskins  Lucida,  Mission  Bell  type, 
and  the  unit,  by  photometric  test,  is  reported  to  show  an 
efficiency  of  about  87  per  cent,  30  per  cent  of  the  total 
lumens  of  the  lamp  being  transmitted  below  the  horizontal. 
This  unit  has  been  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Haskins 
Glass  Company,  Chicago,  111. 


130 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6. 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


BROADER  demand  from  all  parts  of  the  country  for  all 
of  the  leading  commodities,  an  increase  of  nearly  8 
per  cent  in  the  country's  bank  clearings  in  July  over 
those  in  July,  191 1,  better  collections,  higher  money  rates 
and  certainty  of  excellent  crops  are  the  significant  signs  of 
progress  in  the  trade  situation  this  week.  Large  orders 
and  inquiries  for  railroad  equipment,  shortage  of  labor  re- 
ported here  and  there,  the  fact  that  uncertain  delivery  is 
becoming  the  principal  obstacle  to  the  placing  of  new  steel 
contracts,  and  mild  revival  of  activity  in  the  stock  markets, 
are  other  signs  that  expansion  is  taking  place.  Salesmen 
on  the  road  are  doing  well  as  a  result  of  the  good  crop 
prospects.  Earnings  of  public-utility  companies  continue 
to  show  marked  gains,  the  manufacturers  of  electrical 
equipment  are  enjoying  good  business,  lighting  and  traction 
companies  are  extending  their  systems,  new  companies  are 
being  formed  at  an  encouraging  rate,  and  the  entire  elec- 
trical industry  continues  to  reflect  a  high  degree  of  pros- 
perity and  progressiveness.  Taken  as  a  whole,  the  trade 
situation  has  shown  marked  improvement  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  month,  and  the  industrial  outlook  is 
exceedingly  bright.  Money  rates  are  advancing  in  response 
to  trade  activity,  an  indication  in  itself  that  expansion  is 
taking  place.  Quotations  in  New  York  Aug.  7  were:  Call, 
254@3;  ninety  days,  324^4. 


Copper  Production  in  1911.: — A  special  statement  relating 
to  metal  production  in  this  country  in  191 1,  issued  this  week 
by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  shows  that  while 
the  copper  output  from  many  of  the  leading  copper-produc- 
ing states  last  year  was  below  normal,  this  falling  oflf  was 
offset  by  larger  outputs  from  other  states.  According  to 
this  statement,  while  copper  in  Colorado  is  of  subordinate 
importance  to  gold,  silver,  lead  and  zinc,  the  total  recovered 
copper  from  Colorado  ores  in  191 1  had  a  gross  value  of 
$1,003,061.  This  represents  a  decrease  of  $58,600  in  value 
as  compared  with  the  1910  output.  Copper  production  in 
Colorado  was  reported  from  twenty-one  counties  in  1911, 
and  of  these  Lake,  San  Miguel,  Gilpin,  Clear  Creek,  Ouray 
and  San  Juan  Counties,  in  the  order  named,  were  the  prin- 
cipal producers,  the  first  named  furnishing  4,017,504  lb.  out 
of  a  total  of  8,024,488.  or  practically  50  per  cent.  The 
copper  output  of  New  Mexico  was  4,057,040  lb.,  of  which 
97  per  cent,  or  3.918,928  lb.,  came  from  Grant  County.  The 
output  from  the  latter  was  485,466  lb.  less  than  in  1910,  and 
the  total  output  of  copper  in  the  State  showed  a  decrease 
of  $78,897  in  value.  Copper  production  increased  in 
Nevada  from  64.359.398  lb.,  valued  at  $8,173,643.  in  1910,  to 
67.377.518  lb.,  valued  at  $8,422,190,  in  191 1.  The  increase 
was  practically  due  to  the  mines  at  Ely,  in  White  Pine 
County,  which  yielded  67,033,547  lb.,  or  99.49  per  cent  of 
the  entire  state  production.  The  production  of  copper  in 
Montana  decreased  from  284,808,553  lb.  in  1910  to  272,847.705 
lb.  in  1911,  a  decline  of  11,960.848  lb.  The  Summit  Valley 
or  Butte  district  contributed  all  but  589,253  lb.  of  the  total. 
Arizona  remained  the  leading  copper-producing  state,  in- 
creasing its  production  from  297.491,151  lb.,  valued  at  $37,- 
781,376,  in  1910,  to  306,141,538  lb.,  valued  at  $38,267,692, 
in  191 1,  a  gain  of  8,650,387  lb.  The  figures  given  for  Utah 
show  that  copper  production  in  that  State  increased  from 
127,597,072  lb.  in  1910  to  146.960.827  lb.  in  191 1.  an  increase 
of  19.363.755  lb.  The  production  of  copper  in  Idaho  de- 
creased from  7.037.292  lb.,  valued  at  $893,736.  in  1910,  to 
5.152,937  lb.,  valued  at  $644,117,  in   ion. 

May  Put  Westinghouse  Electric  Common  on  6  Per  Cent 
Basis. — Numerous  reports  to  the  effect  that  the  present 
financial  condition  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manu- 
facturing Company  will  result  in  establishing  the  common 
stock  on  a  6  per  cent  per  annum  basis  when  the  directors 
meet  in  September  have  been  in  circulation  in  the  financial 
districts  of  late.  In  view  of  the  facts  that  the  company's 
earnings  are  now  running  at  the  rate  of  15  per  cent  per 
annum  on  the  common  stock  and  that  the  foreign  Westing- 
house companies  are  now  in  a  sound  condition,  there  seems 


to  be  reasonable  justification  for  these  rumors.  Aside  from 
a  I  per  cent  dividend  paid  last  March  no  disbursements 
have  been  made  to  common  stockholders  since  1907.  Divi- 
dends have  been  paid  by  the  company  in  the  past  as  follows: 
On  the  preferred,  1892  to  May,  1903,  at  the  rate  of  7  per 
cent  per  annum;  in  July,  1903,  2%  per  cent;  from  Septem- 
ber, 1903,  to  October,  1907,  inclusive,  at  the  rate  of  10  per 
cent  annually.  On  October  15,  1909,  dividends  were  re- 
sumed on  the  preferred  stock  at  the  rate  of  7  per  cent  per 
annum,  and  the  back  dividends  to  that  time,  amounting  to 
12^  per  cent,  were  paid  off,  together  with  the  regular 
quarterly  dividends,  as  follows:  On  Oct.  15,  1909,  Oct.  15, 
1910,  and  Jan.  16,  1911,  3I/2  per  cent;  on  April  15,  1911,  iJ4 
per  cent.  The  first  dividend  on  "assenting"  stock  was  paid 
Feb.  20,  1900,  the  rate  being  5  per  cent  per  annum;  from 
then  until  May  15,  1903,  the  rate  was  7  per  cent.  Between 
July,  1903,  and  October,  1907,  inclusive,  dividends  of  10 
per  cent  per  annum  were  paid.  None,  excepting  the  i  per 
cent  declared  March  27,  1912,  as  above,  has  been  paid  since 
1907.  The  company  now  has  20,000  men  at  work  at  its 
East  Pittsburgh  plant,  which  is  3000  more  than  at  any 
other  time. 

Western  Electric  Gives  Up  Its  Wiring  and  Construction 
Business. — On  July  27  the  Western  Electric  Company  dis- 
continued its  electric-light  wiring  and  construction  depart- 
ment, which  had  been  successfully  engaged  in  the  installa- 
tion of  all  kinds  of  electrical  equipment  for  lighting  and 
motor-service  purposes  for  over  twenty  years.  The  com- 
pany has  taken  this  step  evidently  in  the  belief  that  it 
will  improve  its  relations  with  and  more  adequately  serve 
the  supply  and  contracting  trade  by  devoting  itself  exclu- 
sively to  the  supply  end  of  the  business.  Among  the  prom- 
inent buildings  in  which  the  entire  electrical  installation 
was  made  by  this  department  are  the  United  Engineering 
Societies  Building  and  the  Engineers'  Club,  the  Waldorf- 
.A.storia,  St.  Regis,  Astor,  Belmont  and  Ritz-Carlton  Hotels, 
New  York;  the  Carnegie  Library  and  the  Oliver  Building. 
Pittsburgh;  the  St.  Louis  Public  Library,  and  the  Hotel 
.Stadtler,  in  Cleveland.  Upon  termination  of  this  depart- 
ment Mr.  E.  S.  Keefer,  who  was  instrumental  in  its  forma- 
tion and  who  has  been  manager  of  it  throughout  its  suc- 
cessful career,  was  appointed  a  special  representative  of  the 
Western  Electric  Company,  in  which  capacity  he  will  co- 
operate with  the  managers  and  sales  managers  of  the  com- 
pany's branch  houses  in  attracting  further  patronage  from 
the   contracting  and  supply  trade. 

Changes  Coming  in  Board  of  Columbia  Gas  &  Electric 
Company  of  Ohio. — According  to  representatives  of  .\.  B. 
Leach  &  Company,  a  reorganization  will  take  place  within 
the  next  few  weeks  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Columbia 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  of  Cincinnati,  which,  as  noted  in 
these  columns  July  20,  was  recently  purchased  by  a  syndi- 
cate headed  by  A.  B.  Leach  &  Company  and  J.  &  W.  Selig- 
nian  &  Compan)^  of  New  York.  Norman  G.  Kenan,  Charles 
H.  Davis,  N.  S.  Keith  and  F.  R.  Williams,  of  the  present 
board,  have  been  asked  to  tender  resignations.  It  is  under- 
stood that  Archibald  S.  White,  president  of  the  company, 
and  Rollin  W.  White  will  also  retire  from  the  board.  Mr. 
Kenan's  retirement  from  the  board  of  the  Columbia  Gas  & 
Electric  Company  will  be  followed  by  his  resignation  as 
president  of  the  Union  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  of  Cin- 
cinnati,  which    is   a    subsidiary   of   the    Columbia    company. 

Pennsylvania  Companies  Merged. — The  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Gas  &  Electrical  Company,  of  Bristol.  Pa.,  was  incor- 
porated at  Harrisburg.  Pa.,  this  week  with  a  capital  of 
$225,000  and  a  bonded  indebtedness  of  $500,000,  with  Charles 
Campbell,  of  Bristol,  as  president.  The  new  company  is  a 
consolidation  of  several  small  companies  heretofore  owned 
and  operated  by  the  Public  Service  Corporation  of  New 
Jersey.  These  are:  The  Bristol  Gas  Light  Company; 
Yardley  Electric  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company,  and 
People's  Gas  Light  &  Fuel  Company,  of  Boeks  County. 
With  sale  of  these  companies  the  Public  Service  Corpora- 
tion ceases  to  operate  gas  or  electric  properties  outside  of 
New  Jersey. 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


331 


Electrical  Contractors  Get  Small  Profits  from  New  Build- 
ing Work. — Speaking  of  conditions  in  the  electrical  con- 
tracting business  in  New  York,  the  head  of  one  of  the 
largest  concerns  engaged  in  that  line  of  work  said  this  week 
that  one  of  the  main  reasons,  in  his  opinion,  why  the  elec- 
trical contracting  business  is  not  as  remunerative  as  it 
might  be,  and  does  not  average  as  much  profit  per  job  as 
it  has  in  the  past,  lies  in  the  widespread  growth  of  specu- 
lative methods  in  the  building  business.  The  practice  of 
putting  up  cheaply  constructed  buildings  merely  to  sell  them 
quickly  at  a  good  profit  has  become  so  common,  he  said, 
that,  excepting  the  few  cases  where  a  banking,  insurance  or 
similar  institution  puts  up  a  building  for  its  own  use,  the 
material  used  in  the  majority  of  office  buildings  is  not  all 
that  it  might  be,  nor  is  the  electrical  equipment  specified, 
either  in  quality  or  amount,  much  more  than  barely  adequate 
to  satisfy  the  Underwriters  and  serve  the  tenants.  Pro- 
moters of  these  ventures,  he  added,  scale  down  the  cost  of 
every  piece  of  equipment  put  in  these  buildings,  to  the 
detriment  of  the  electrical  contractor.  Another  outcome 
of  this  speculative  and  close-fisted  policy,  in  his  belief,  is 
the  wider  use  of  central-station  service  in  the  city.  The 
temporary  owners,  he  explained,  are  not  interested  in  the 
relative  merits  of  isolated-plant  and  central-station  service; 
they  are  merely  interested  in  any  method  whereby  they  can 
avoid  tying  up  capital.  The  introduction  of  central-station 
service  in  many  of  the  new  office  buildings,  he  believes,  is 
due  to  these  conditions. 

Federal  Sign  System  Convention. — About  fifty  men,  prin- 
cipally managers  of  district  offices,  attended  the  third 
annual  convention  of  the  Federal  Sign  System  (Electric), 
which  was  held  on  July  31  and  Aug.  i,  2  and  3  at  the 
Moraine  Hotel,  Highland  Park,  111.  John  F.  Gilchrist, 
treasurer  of  the  company,  presided,  and  a  number  of  busi- 
ness sessions  were  held,  at  which  papers  of  interest  to  the 
organization  were  read  and  discussed.  An  interesting  fea- 
ture of  the  convention  was  the  first  distribution  of  the 
capital  stock  of  the  company  to  managers  under  the  stock- 
participating  plan  of  the  company,  adopted  two  years  ago. 
A  banquet  was  held  at  the  Moraine  on  the  night  of  Aug.  2. 
John  F.  Gilchrist  was  toastmaster,  and  the  first  address 
was  made  by  John  H.  Goehst,  president  of  the  company, 
who  made  the  interesting  announcement  that  for  the  year 
ended  July  31,  1912,  the  company  had  done  a  business  50 
per  cent  larger  than  in  the  preceding  year.  Other  speeches 
were  made  by  Samuel  I.  Levy,  of  Philadelphia,  general 
auditor  of  the  company,  on  "The  Eastern  District";  James 
M.  Gilchrist,  of  Chicago,  secretary,  on  "The  Factory"; 
Herbert  I.  Markham,  of  Chicago,  general  manager,  on  "The 
Past  and  the  Future,"  and  O.  B.  Marsh,  of  Cincinnati,  on 
"The  Salesman." 

Another  Doherty  Company  to  Be  Formed. — In  order  to 

provide  capital  for  a  new  holding  corporation  for  gas 
and  electric  properties  that  is  being  organized  by  H.  L. 
Doherty  &  Company,  an  issue  of  $2,000,000  6  per  cent  notes 
has  been  sold  by  the  Gas  Securities  Company  of  New  York,  . 
of  which  H.  L.  Doherty  is  president,  to  a  syndicate  of  bank- 
ers. Details  of  the  new  company  will  be  made  public  in  the 
fall.  Examinations  of  several  gas  and  electric  properties 
in  the  Middle  West  are  being  made  with  a  view  to  pur- 
chase, but  their  names  are  naturally  withheld  at  this  time. 
The  notes  are  convertible  into  subscriptions  for  the  securi- 
ties of  the  new  company  and  the  note  holder  will  be  guar- 
anteed an  allotment  of  preferred  stock  of  the  new  company 
equal  to  the  amount  stated  in  the  conversion  clause  of  the 
notes.  Or,  if  desired,  cash  will  be  paid  for  the  notes  on 
maturity,  in  case  the  holder  does  not  wish  to  convert  them 
into  securities  of  the  new  company.  The  latter  will  be 
ofifered  on  a  basis  of  par  for  the  preferred  stock,  with  a 
bonus  of  40  per  cent  of  common  stock. 

Oxford  (N.  Y.)  Company  to  Issue  Bonds. — The  Public 
Service  Commission  for  the  Second  District  of  New  York 
has  authorized  the  Oxford  Electric  Light  Company  to  make 
a  mortgage  upon  all  its  property  to  secure  an  issue  of  5  per 
cent  gold  coupon  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $50,000.  The 
company  is  authorized  to  issue  at  present  bonds  to  the 
ajn;iount  of  ,$32,300,  to  be  sold  at  not  less  than  85,  of  which 
$I4,00P  is  to  be  used  for  the  refunding  of  current  liabilities 
and  the  reimbursement  of  the  treasury  for  expenditures 
out   of   income;   $7,750   for   construction    and    equipment   of 


transmission  lines  from  Norwich  to  Oxford  for  the  purpose 
of  giving  day  and  night  service  instead  of  service  from  sun- 
set to  sunrise  as  at  present,  and  $5.Soo  for  construction  of  a 
transmission  line  from  Oxford  to  Guilford,  a  distance  of  6 
miles. 

West  Virginia  Traction  &  Electric  Corporation  Organ- 
ized.— Interests  associated  with  the  Electric  Properties 
Company  have  organized  the  .  West  Virginia  Traction  & 
Electric  Corporation,  which  has  taken  over  the  Union  Utili- 
ties Company,  of  Morgantown,  W.  Va.,  and  the  City  &  Elm 
Grove  Railway  Company,  of  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  together 
with  the  Suburban  Light  &  Power  Company,  a  subsidiary 
of  the  last-named  company.  The  newly  organized  corpora- 
tion has  a  capitalization  of  $2,000,000  7  per  cent  preferred 
stock,  of  which  $560,000  is  outstanding,  and  an  authorized 
issue  of  $2,000,000  common  stock,  of  which  $1,250,000  is 
outstanding.  It  also  has  an  authorized  issue  of  $25,000,000 
5  per  cent  first,  refunding  and  extension  thirty-year  bonds, 
of  which  $1,565,000  have  been  issued. 

Northern  Minnesota  Power  Company  Financing. — An 
offering  of  $go.ooo  of  its  6  per  cent  twenty-five-year  bonds 
is  being  made  by  the  Northern  Minnesota  Power  Company, 
of  Aurora,  Minn.  J.  H.  Simons,  president  of  the  company, 
says  that  the  villages  of  Aurora,  McKinley  and  Gilbert  have 
contracted  with  the  Northern  Minnesota  Power  Company 
for  a  supply  of  energy  for  all  village  consumption  purposes 
for  a  period  of  ten  years,  with  an  option  of  ten  additional 
years,  at  3^  cents  per  kw-hr.  The  company  has  also  been 
granted  a  franchise  to  run  transmission  lines  through  Au- 
rora for  twenty-five  years.  Electric  pumps  for  local  water- 
supply  purposes  are  to  be  installed  at  Aurora  and  McKinley. 

West  Penn  Traction  &  Water  Power  Company  Has 
Record  Year. — The  report  of  the  West  Penn  Traction  & 
Water  Power  Company  for  the  year  ended  June  30,  1912, 
shows  an  increase  in  gross  earnings  of  28.7  per  cent  over 
the  returns  in  the  preceding  year.  This  gain  is  one  of  the 
largest  in  the  history  of  the  company.  Gross  earnings 
were  $2,666,294,  as  compared  with  $2,260,286  in  191 1  and 
with  $1,060,238  in  1905,  when  the  first  annual  statement 
was  made.  Net  earnings  last  year  were  $1,290,666,  as  com- 
pared with  $1,148,005  in  the  year  ended  June  30,  191 1,  and 
with  $480,480  in  that  ended  June  30,  1905. 

July  Incorporation  Figures. — Papers  filed  in  the  Eastern 
States  in  July  for  companies  with  an  authorized  capital  of 
$1,000,000  and  over  represented  $253,518,000,  according  to 
compilation  by  the  Journal  of  Commerce,  New  York.  This 
figure  represents  a  decrease  of  $26,732,000  from  June,  and 
an  increase  of  $57,668,000  as  compared  with  July,  1910. 
Charters  taken  out  by  other  companies  with  an  individual 
capital  of  $100,000  and  more,  but  under  $1,000,000,  including 
states  other  than  those  in  the  East,  brought  the  grand  total 
up  to  $332,094,000,  against  $393,948,000  in  June  and  $261,- 
820,700  in  July  a  year  ago. 

Additions  to  Merchants'  Heat  &  Light  Company's  Plant, 
Indianapolis. — The  Merchants'  Heat  &  Light  Company  of 
Indianapolis,  Ind.,  according  to  E.  Darrow,  general  man- 
ager, recently  purchased  from  the  Allis-Chalmers  Company, 
Milwaukee,  a  5000-kva  turbo-generator,  and  from  the 
Westinghouse  Machine  Company,  Pittsburgh,  a  looo-gal. 
turbine-driven  boiler-feed  pump,  a  Leblanc  condenser  and 
a  150-kw  turbo-exciter  set.  This  is  the  final  requisition  for 
the  equipment  originally  mentioned  in  the  Electrical  World 
of  March  30  last,  page  710. 

German  Wireless  Company  to  Operate  in  the  Pacific. — 
Advices  from  Berlin  state  that  the  German  South  Sea  Com- 
pany has  been  formed  there  with  a  capital  of  $3,250,000  to 
furnish  wireless  connection  between  the  various  German 
possessions  in  the  Pacific.  High-power  stations  are  to  be 
built  shortly  in  New  Guinea,  Samoa  and  the  Caroline 
Islands,  where  the  German-Dutch  Telegraph  Society  has  a 
cable  station. 

President  Vetoes  Bill  to  Dam  White  River  in  Arkansas. 
— A  bill  authorizing  the  Dixie  Power  Company  to  build  a 
dam  across  the  White  River,  near  Cotter,  Ark.,  was  vetoed 
Aug.  6  by  President  Taft,  on  the  grounds  that  the  dam 
might  affect  development  of  the  river  and  also  that  the  bill 
contained  provisions  which  are  contrary  to  the  water-power 
policy  now  being  formulated  by  the  National  Waterways 
Commission. 


332 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6. 


National    Electric    Signaling    Company's   Affairs. — If    the 

receivers  appointed  for  the  National  Electric  Signaling 
Company  do  not  continue  to  operate  this  company,  the 
Marconi  Wireless  Telegraph  Company  of  America  will  be 
left  as  the  sole  occupant  of  the  field  in  this  country  as  far 
as  commercial  wireless  activity  is  concerned.  The  National 
company,  incorporated  in  New  Jersey  in  1902  with  a  capital 
stock  of  $100,000.  controlled  the  patents  and  wireless-tele- 
graph system  invented  by  Reginald  A.  Fessenden.  Its 
headquarters  are  at  Pittsburgh,  while  an  office  is  maintained 
at  Camden,  N.  J.,  and  a  manufacturing  plant  at  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.  J.  C.  Baird  is  president  of  the  company  and  T.  H. 
Given  is  vice-president;  Hay  Walker,  Jr.,  of  Pittsburgh,  is 
interested  financially  in  the  concern.  The  latter's  chief 
assets  are  the  patents  and  patent  rights  of  Mr.  Fessenden. 
It  also  has  stations  at  Brant  Rock  and  Boston,  Mass.;  at 
Watch  Hill,  R.  I.,  and  upon  several  Atlantic  coast-line 
steamers.  Dififerences  between  Mr.  Fessenden  and  the 
companv^  over  patent  matters  and  extensive  litigation  over 
patent  rights  are  said  to  be  the  principal  causes  leading  to 
the  receivership.  The  value  of  quick  assets  is  placed  at 
$3,180.  The  liabilities  are  a  judgment  of  $406,175  in  favor 
of  Mr.  Fessenden,  granted  on  May  13,  1912,  and  about 
$50,000  alleged  advances  made  for  the  purpose  of  carrying 
on  experimental  work.  These  funds  were  advanced,  it  is 
understood,  by  Messrs.  Walker  and  Given,  and  D.  S.  Wal- 
cott,  a  stockholder,  on  whose  petition  the  receivers  were 
appointed.  It  is  also  claimed  that  the  company  owes 
about  $25,000  in  salaries. 

Central  Colorado  Power  Company's  Earnings. — The  re- 
port of  the  Central  Colorado  Power  Company,  of  Denver, 
Col.,  for  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  191 1,  shows  gross 
revenues  of  $554,977,  operating  expenses  of  $209,308,  and  net 
earnings  of  $345,668,  as  compared  with  $424,979,  $234,994  and 
$189,984  respectively  in  191 1.  While  net  earnings  have  in- 
creased by  $155,000,  they  are  $255,000- under  requirements 
for  5  per  cent  interest  on  the  $12,500,000  bonded  indebted- 
ness of  the  company.  President  Walbridge  states  that  new 
measures  are  necessary.  Reduction  of  stock  from  $22,000,- 
000  to  $5,000,000  is  said  to  be  under  contemplation.  The 
company's  principal  field  for  sale  of  energy  is  in  the  Boulder 
and  Leadville  mining  districts,  to  the  Northern  Colorado 
Power  Company  and  the  Denver  Gas  &  Electric  Light 
Company. 

Takes  New  Jersey  Commission  Ruling  to  Courts. — The 
Interstate  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  of  Trenton, 
N.  J.,  brought  suit  last  week  in  the  New  Jersey  Supreme 
Court  against  the  State  Board  of  Public  Utilities  Commis- 
sioners to  compel  the  latter  to  give  it  permission  to  issue 
$1,525,000  thirty-year  first  and  refunding  mortgage  5  per 
cent  gold  bonds,  permission  having  been  refused,  by  the  board 
on  July  9.  Justice  Minturn,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  has  issued 
to  the  board  an  order,  returnable  Nov.  6,  requiring  it  to 
show  why  a  peremptory  writ  of  mandamus  should  not  be 
issued  compelling  it  to  grant  the  desired  permission  to 
the  telephone  company.  The  latter  claims  that  it  may  be 
driven  into  insolvency  if  it  cannot  issue  the  bonds. 

Wisconsin  Commission  Notes. — In  order  to  enable  the 
Portage  (Wis.)  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  to  ac- 
quire the  property  and  effects  of  the  Portage  Electric  Com- 
pany, the  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission  has  authorized 
the  issuance  of  $75,000  6  per  cent  bonds  and  $35,000  of  com- 
mon stock.  The  commission  has  also  authorized  the  La 
Crosse  Telephone  Company  to  issue  $20,000  preferred  stock 
at  par,  the  proceeds  from  which  are  to  be  used  in  paying 
for  a  new  switchboard,  underground  construction  and  the 
installation  of  new  telephones. 

Republic  Railway  &  Light  Makes  Good  Showing. — Con- 
solidated earnings  of  the  subsidiaries  of  the  Republic  Rail- 
way &  Light  Company.  60  Broadway,  New  York,  for  the 
year  ended  June  30,  1912,  were  $2,494,657,  of  which  $994,142 
was  left  as  net  earnings.  After  payment  of  interest  charges. 
$463,857  was  added  to  the  surplus.  These  figures  represent 
an  increase  of  8.37  per  cent  in  gross,  7.45  in  net  and  13.57 
in  surplus. 

Massachusetts  Lighting  Companies  Gained  Customers 
Last  Year. — During  the  year  ended  June  30,  1912,  a  net 
gain  of  nearly  8.5  per  cent  in  the  number  of  its  customers 
supplied' with  gas  or  electricity  was  made  by  the  Massa- 
chusetts Lighting  Companies.     At  the  end  of  the  year  there 


were  26,413  customers,  as  compared  with  24,388  at  the  close 
of  the  preceding  year. 

Garwood  Electric  Company's  Property  to  Be  Sold. — On 
Aug.  21  the  property  of  the  Garwood  Electric  Company, 
manufacturer  of  "C  &  C"  dynamos,  motors  and  appliances, 
will  be  sold  at  a  receiver's  sale  at  Garwood,  N.  J.  Purchase 
of  the  property,  which  includes  a  manufacturing  plant,  ma- 
terials, etc.,  will  carry  with  it  the  right  to  use  the  name 
"C  &  C."  There  are  some  $90,000  of  uncompleted  contracts 
now  on  hand. 

Tungstolier  Company  of  Conneaut,  Ohio,  Purchased  by 
General  Electric  Company. — The  plant  of  the  Tungstolier 
Company,  manufacturer  of  a  folding  fixture,  has  been  pur- 
chased by  the  General  Electric  Company.  It  has  been  lo- 
cated in  Conneaut,  Ohio,  for  seven  years  and  employs  300 
men.  The  old  management  will  be  continued  with  former 
President  Kulas  as  general  manager. 

New  Ohio  Hydroelectric  Company  Formed. — The  San- 
dusky River  Power  Company,  with  capital  of  $9,000,000,  all 
subscribed,  has  been  organized  at  Fremont,  Ohio,  with  F.  R. 
McMullin,  of  Chicago,  as  president.  A  force  of  300  men 
is  now  engaged  in  the  construction  of  a  dam  and  power 
station  on  the  Sandusky  River,  about  2  miles  south  of 
Fremont. 

Summer  Meeting  of  Bryan-Marsh  Salesmen. — The  sales- 
men of  the  Chicago  district  of  the  Bryan-Marsh  Electric 
Works  of  General  Electric  Company,  to  the  number  of 
about  twenty,  assembled  at  Piney  Ridge,  on  Hamlin  Lake, 
near  Ludington,  Mich.,  last  week  for  a  week's  convention 
and  outing  beginning  on  Aug.  4. 

Large  Louisiana  Irrigation  and  Power  Project. — Arrange- 
ments are  being  made  for  the  formation  of  a  fifteen-million- 
dollar  corporation  which  will  undertake  extensive  reclama- 
tion and  power  development  work  in  southwestern  Louisi- 
ana.    New  York  capital,  it  is  understood,  is  interested. 

Chicago  Telephone  Company  Enlarges  Holdings. — The 
Northwestern  Telephone  Company  of  Indiana  has  been 
purchased  by  the  Chicago  Telephone  Company.  Negotia- 
tions are  in  progress  for  purchase  of  the  Crown  Point  Tele- 
plione  Company. 


I 


77 
77 


PRICES  IN  THE  NEW  YORK  METAL   M 

Copper:  , July  30 

Standard:  Bid.       Asked 

Spot     17.00 

luly     17.00 

August     17.00 

September    17.00 

October     17.00 

London   quotation:  £ 

Standard    copper,    spot 

Standard    copper,    futures 

Prime    Lake    

Electrolytic     

Casting     

Copper  wire,  base    

Lead     

Sheet   zinc,   f.o.b.   smelter 

Spelter,   spot    

Nickel      

Aluminum; 

No.  1  pure  ingot 

Rods  and  wire,  base 

Sheets,   base    


17.50 
17.50 
17.50 
17.50 
17.50 
s      d 
10     0 
10     0 
17.50  to  17.60 
17.50  to  17.60 
17.25  to  17.30 

4.75 

8.75 

7.25 

40.00  to  41.00 

21'^  to  22"^ 
32 
335^ 


ARKET 

.^ug.   6 

Bid.       Asked. 
17.00  17.50 


17.00 
17.20 
17.20 


17.50 
17.50 
17.50 


Heavy    copper    and    wire. 

Brass,   heavy    

Brass,  light    

Lead,    heavy    

Zinc,    scrap    


OLD  METALS. 

15.50 

10.00 

7.75 

4.40 

5.65 


£       s     d 
78     10     0 
78     15     0 
17.55  to  17.65 
17.55  to  17.65 
17.30  to  17.35 
19.00 

4.50 

8.75 

7.05 
40.00  to  41.00 

2\y2  to  22}^ 
32 
33V5 


15.75 
10.00 
8.00 
4.15 
5.75 


COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  AUGUST 
Total    tons,    including •'^ug.   6.  3,606 


STOCK  MARKET  PRICES 

July  31. 

AllisChalmers     IJi" 

Allis-Chalmers,    p£ ^Vj* 

Amalgamated    Copper    ^^% 

Amer.  Tel  &  Tel 145J^ 

Boston    Edison    297 

Commonwealth    Edison     139 

Electric    Storage    Battery 55 

rieneral    Electric     182 

Mackay   Companies    9214* 

Mackay    Companies,   pf 693^* 

Philadelphia    Electric .221^ 

Western    Union    ,.-•,••,■-  -.v    ^^^ 

Westingliouse 80 

\^'esti^ghouse,     pf » ti-l.' 121 

*Last   price  quoted. 


.■^ug.  7. 
15^* 
4K* 
83 
146 

297!^' 
139!4 
56 
182 
9054 
69* 
23  H 
81.J^ 
'      84  3  J 
t    125* 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


333 


Personal 


Mr.  J.  Sergeant  Cram,  of  the  Public  Service  Commission 
for  the  First  New  York  District,  sailed  from  New  York  on 
the  Lusitania  on  Aug.  7,  for  a  recreation  trip  in  Europe. 

Mr.  Harry  Hartwell  has  resigned  his  position  as  engineer 
for  Sanderson  &  Porter,  at  Victoria,  B.  C,  to  become  asso- 
ciated with  the  F.  S.  Pearson  Engineering  Company.  New 
York. 

Mr.  J.  Tachihara,  electrical  engineer  of  the  Mitsu  Bishi 
Company,  Tokyo,  Japan,  who  has  been  visiting  this  country 
for  the  past  two  months,  sailed  for  his  home  from  San  Fran- 
cisco on  Aug.  3. 

Mr.  G.  C.  Ward,  formerly  president  of  the  Huntington 
Land  Company,  has  been  elected  first  vice-president  of  the 
Pacific  -Light  &  Power  Corporation,  Los  Angeles,  to  repre- 
sent Mr.  H.  E.  Huntington  in  the  operation  of  the  property. 

Mr.  Frank  Lynch,  who  has  been  chief  engineer  of  the 
Harrison  Street  station  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Com- 
pany of  Chicago,  has  been  appointed  chief  engineer  of  the 
new  Northwest  station,  recently  placed  in  service  by  that 
company. 

Mr.  H.  S.  G.  Hurlbut  has  resigned  his  position  as  elec- 
trical engineer  with  the  Esmeralda  Power  Company  and 
the  Tonopah  Mining  Company,  Tonopah,  Nev.,  to  accept 
the  position  of  superintendent  of  the  Pacific  Power  Com- 
pany at  Jordan,  Cal. 

Mr.  E.  A.  Burrill,  vice-president  and  general  manager  of 
the  Peoria  Railway  Terminal  Company,  Peoria,  111.,  has 
resigned  his  position  to  become  vice-president  and  general 
manager  of  the  Northwestern  Ohio  Railway  &  Power  Com- 
pany, with  headquarters  at  Toledo. 

Mr.  T.  L.  Sturgeon  has  been  appointed  manager  of  motor 
installations  of  the  Mahoning  &  Shenango  Railway  &  Light 
Company,  Youngstown,  Ohio.  The  company  is  completing 
a  new  generating  station  and  expects  to  supply  energy  to 
a  large  industrial  market;  hence  the  need  of  a  solicitor  for 
motor  load. 

Mr.  Paul  Shoup,  vice-president  of  the  Pacific  Electric 
Railway,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  has  been  elected  president  of 
the  company  to  succeed  Mr.  W.  F.  Herrin.  Mr.  Shoup  was 
formerly  assistant  general  manager  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
in  charge  of  its  electric  railway  lines  in  California.  Mr. 
Herrin  still  remains  vice-president  and  general  counsel  of 
the  Southern  Pacific  company. 

General  George  H.  Harries,  president  of  the  Louisville 
Lighting  Company  and  vice-president  of  the  Consumers' 
Power  Company,  St.  Paul,  has  been  appointed  general  man- 
ager of  the  Minneapolis  General  Electric  Company  and  all 
the  united  properties  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company  in 
Minnesota.  General  Harries  is  president  of  the  Association 
of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies. 

Mr.  George  Fisher  has  been  appointed  general  superin- 
tendent of  the  Citizens'  Light  Company  of  La  Salle,  111., 
succeeding  Mr.  F.  E.  Brumagin.  Mr.  Fisher  was  formerly 
connected  with  the  Danville  (111.)  Street  Railway  &  Light 
Company  in  several  capacities,  serving  at  the  time  of  his 
removal  to  La  Salle  as  superintendent  of  the  electric-light- 
ing and   steam-heating  departments. 

Prof.  William  Palmaer,  Ph.D.,  of  the  Royal  Institute  of 
Technology  at  Stockholm,  Sweden,  is  at  present  in  this 
country  as  the  official  Swedish  delegate  to  the  eighth  inter- 
national congress  of  applied  chemistry.  While  in  this  coun- 
try he  will  study  educational  methods  in  classes  of  electro- 
chemistry at  our  colleges  and  will  also  visit  a  number  of 
electrolytical  works.  Prof.  Palmser  is  well  known  in  Eu- 
rope as  the  originator  of  an  electrolytic  process  for  produc- 
ing from  low-grade  phosphates  bicalcic  phosphate  for  use 
as  fertilizer.  He  has  published  a  number  of  scientific  pa- 
pers, among  which  are  "The  Effect  of  .\cids  on  Metals" 
and  "The  Absolute   Electrolytical  Potentials." 

Mr.  Norman  B.  Hickox,  manager  of  the  new-business 
department  of  the  Muskogee  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Mus- 
kogee, Okla.,  has  been  made  manager  of  the  Greenwood 
Advertising  Company  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.  Mr.  Hickox  has 
been  at  Muskogee  during  the  past  three  years,  during  which 
time  that  city  has  gained  an  enviable  reputation  as  one  of 


the  brightest  and  most  thoroughly  electrified  cities  of  its 
size  in  the  country.  Before  coming  to  Muskogee  Mr. 
Hickox  was  associated  with  a  syndicate  headed  by  Mr.  S.  S. 
Bush,  of  Louisville,  Ky.  He  will  assume  his  new  duties  on 
Aug.  IS. 

Dr.  C.  E.  Hiatt  has  resigned  from  the  Westinghouse 
Lamp  Company  and  entered  the  engineering  department 
of  the  Commercial  Research  Company.  He  sailed  with  the 
president  of  the  latter  company,  Mr.  Byron  E.  Eldred,  on 
the  Lusitania  on  Aug.  7  to  introduce  the  "Eldred"  leading-in 
wires  to  the  lamp  manufacturers  of'  Europe.  Mr.  Hiatt  was 
Frazer  Fellow  in  Physics  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
for  two  years  and  received  the  degree  of  Ph.D.  in  ipog. 
The  following  year  he  resigned  the  Harrison  research  fel- 
lowship to  enter  the  physical  engineering  department  of 
the  Westinghouse  Lamp  Company.  While  with  this  com- 
pany he  conducted  experiments  in  co-operation  with  the 
engineers  of  the  Commercial  Research  Company  which  led 
to  the  adoption  of  the  "Eldred"  wire  as  a  substitute  for  the 
solid  platinum  leading-in  wires  previously  used.  He  is  the 
inventor  of  a  hysteretic  frequency  meter  and  two  types  of 
alternating-current-direct-current  comparators. 

Mr.  Harry  B.  Ivers,  who  has  recently  been  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  Maine  Electrical  Association,  is  general  man- 
ager of  the  Cumberland  County  Power  &  Light  Company, 
which  controls  and  operates  the  Portland  Railroad,  the 
Portland  Electric  Company,  the  Portland  Light  &  Power 
Company  and  the  Consolidated  Electric  Light  Company. 
In  addition,  he  is  general  manager  of  the  Lewiston,  Augusta 
&  Waterville  Street  Railway,  Lewiston,  Maine.  Mr.  Ivers 
has  long  been  connected  with  railway  and  lighting  interests 
m  New  England,  his  experience  dating  from  1893,  when 
he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Hyde  Park  (Mass.)  Electric 
Light  Company,  under  the  management  of  Mr.  Thomas  F. 
Robinson.  When  the  Robinson  holdings  were  acquired  by  the 
Massachusetts  Electric  Companies  Mr.  Ivers  assisted 
in  consolidating  the  accounts  and  in  operating  the  railways 
which  were  organized  as  a  division  of  the  Old  Colony 
Street  Railway.  Mr.  Ivers  after  that  acted  as  superin- 
tendent of  the  West  Roxbury  division  and  was  later  trans- 
ferred to  Brockton.  Subsequently  he  established  his  head- 
quarters at  Taunton.  After  being  connected  with  these 
properties  for  nine  years  he  was  elected  treasurer  and  man- 
a.ger  of  the  Westerly  (R.  I.)  Railway  &  Lighting  Company, 
where  he  remained  for  four  years.  He  then  accepted  the 
position  of  assistant  to  Mr.  John  R.  Graham,  president  and 
general  manager  of  the  Bangor  Railway  &  Electric  Com- 
pany, and  a  few  months  later  was  made  treasurer  of  that 
company  and  of  the  Bar  Harbor  &  Union  River  Power 
Company,  which  constructed  the  hydroelectric  station  upon 
the  Union  River  at  Ellsworth,  Maine.  About  a  year  later 
the  position  of  general  manager  of  the  Lewiston,  Augusta 
&  Waterville  Street  Railway  was  tendered  to  Mr.  Ivers. 


Obituary 


Mr.  Ziba  Nickerson,  one  of  the  old-time  telegraphers  of 
New  England,  who  was  for  fifty-five  years  manager  of  the 
Western  Union  office  at  Chatham,  Mass.,  died  at  his  home 
on  Aug.  I  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine.  He  began  as  an  oper- 
ator in  185s,  when  the  Brewster  and  Baldwin  telegraph 
line  was  built  on  Cape  Cod,  and  figured  in  the  early  at- 
tempts to  communicate  with  Nantucket  by  cable.  He 
retired  from  service  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight. 

Mr.  William  C.  Fink,  assistant  treasurer  and  assistant 
secretary  of  the  Bell  Telephone  Company  of  Pennsylvania, 
died  suddenly  on  Aug.  4  at  his  home  in  Atlantic  City,  N.  J. 
He  was  forty-nine  years  of  age  and  had  been  in  telephone 
work  for  the  last  twelve  years.  Mr.  Fink  was  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Masonic  order.  Commencing  as  local  man- 
ager at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  he  was  advanced  in  1902  to  the  post 
of  treasurer  of  the  Pennsylvania  Telephone  Company  at 
Harrisburg,  Pa.  Six  years  later,  when  that  company  was 
merged  with  other  companies  to  form  the  Bell  Telephone 
Company  of  Pennsylvania,  he  came  to  Philadelphia  as  as- 
sistant treasurer  of  the  new  company  and  a,ft.erward  was 
made  assistant  secretary,  both  of.  which  positions  he  held  at 
the  time  of  his  death. 


334 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6. 


Construction 


FLAT  ROCK,  ALA. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  installation  of 
an  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system  here.  Power  for  operating 
the  system  will  be  secured  from  the  planing  mill.  Post  office  address, 
Fabius. 

GADSDEN,  ALA. — It  is  reported  that  the  Alabama  Pwr.  Co.  is  soon 
to  commence  the  construction  of  a  large  power  plant  at  Lock  12  on  the 
Coosa  River,  the  ultimate  capacity  of  which  will  be  42,000  hp. 

LITTLE  ROCK,  ARK.— It  is  understood  that  the  Little  Rock  Ry.  & 
El.  Co.  expects  to  extend  its  lines,  the  City  Council  having  passed  an  or- 
dinance  granting  the   necessary   right-of-way. 

ANTIOCH,  CAL.— The  proposition  to  issue  $31,000  in  bonds  will  be 
submitted  to  the  voters  at  a  special  election  to  be  held  Sept.  21,  of  which 
the  proceeds  of  $10,000  will  be  used  for  the  installation  of  an  automatic 
electric  pump  in   the  local  electric  plant. 

DIXON,  CAL. — Application  has  been  made  by  the  Great  Western 
Pwr.  Co.  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  for  a  franchise  to  ereci  transmission 
lines  in  Dixon.  Bids  for  the  sale  of  the  franchise  will  be  received  until 
Sept.   10.     J.   F.  Agee  is  clerk. 

FAIRFIELD,  CAL.— The  Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
Board  of  Trustees  for  a  franchise  to  erect  transmission  lines  in  Fairfield. 
Sealed  bids  for  the  sale  of  franchise  will  be  received  until  Aug.  27.  F. 
L.    Morrill   is  clerk. 

FRESNO,  CAL.— It  is  reported  that  the  Pacific  Tel.  &  Telcg.  Co.  will 
expend  about  $80,000  in  the  construction  of  new  telephone  lines,  instal- 
lation of  new  switchboards  and  other  improvements. 

GRASS  VALLEY,  CAL.— The  California-Montana  Mining  Co.  is  mak- 
ing arrangements  for  the  installation  of  electric  power  in  order  to 
facilitate  the  development  of  its  properties. 

LOS  ALTOS,  CAL. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
form  a  lighting  district  was  carried.  The  district  will  provide  for  from 
50  to  100  street  lamps  and  bids  will  soon  be  called  for  installation  of 
the   system   and    furnishing   service. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — According  to  reports,  construction  work  is 
soon  to  be  commenced  on  an  electric  railroad  between  Los  Angeles  and 
San  Diego.  It  is  understood  that  a  syndicate  headed  by  Franklin  Helm, 
of  Los  Angeles,  is  back  of  the  project. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL,— F.  L.  Roehrig,  252  South  Broadway,  is  re- 
ported to  have  been  retained  by  the  Aqueduct  Advisory  Board  as  con- 
sulting architect  to  supervise  the  preparation  of  the  plans  for  the  San 
Francisco  Canyon  power  house  No.  1,  the  cost  of  which  is  given  as 
$100,000. 

PATTON,  CAL. — Robert  Dalziel,  Jr.,  of  San  Francisco,  is  reported  to 
have  submitted  the  lowest  bid,  $23,127,  for  the  construction  of  a  power 
plant  at   Patton   for  the   Southern   California  State   Hospital. 

FERRIS,  CAL. — Among  the  improvements  planned  by  the  Southern 
Sierras  Pwr.  Co.,  of  San  Bernardino,  is  the  erection  of  a  transmission 
line  from  Perris  to  Elsincye. 

POMONA,  CAL. — The  Pomona  Mfg.  Co.,  manufacturer  of  pumps, 
expects  to  install  an  electric  power  plant  in  the  new  factory  which  it  is 
constructing  in  Pomona. 

RANDSBURG,  CAL.— The  Southern  Sierras  Pwr.  Co.,  which  has 
about  finished  the  section  of  a  110,000-volt  line  between  San  Bernardinb 
and  Randsburg,  contemplates  the  erection  of  a  substation  at  the  latter 
place  which  will  furnish  electrical  energy-  to  the  mines  and  mills  in  that 
section. 

REDLANDS,  CAL.— Work  will  begin  within  90  days  by  the  Southern 
California  Edison  Co.  on  the  construction  of  its  high-tension  transmission 
line  from  the  Mill  Creek  power  house  through  Vucapia  Valley.  About 
10  or  12  miles  of  steel  towers  and  pole  lines  will  be  erected. 

REDLANDS,  CAL.— The  Arthur  S.  Bent  Const.  Co.,  Central  Build- 
ing, is  reported  to  have  secured  the  contract  at  $250,000  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  power  plant  and  pipe  lines  in  Mill  Creek  Canyon  for  C.  G. 
Baldwin.  The  power  plant  will  be  of  reinforced  concrete  construction 
and  will  have  a  capacity  of  2000  hp.  A  steel-tower  system  will  transmit 
electrical  energy  to  different  sections  of  the  valley. 

RIVERSIDE,  CAL. — The  City  Council  is  reported  to  have  approved  the 
installation   of  300  concrete  ornamental   street-lighting  posts. 

RIVERSIDE,  CAL.— The  Rogers  Development  Co.  has  closed  a  con- 
tract with  the  Southern  Sierras  Power  Co.  whereby  the  latter  will  supply 
the  development  company  with  electricity  to  operate  the  several  pumping 
plants  in  connection  with  the  irrigation  of  5500  acres  known  as  the 
Jurupa    Ranch. 

SAN  LUIS  OBISPO,  CAL.— The  franchise  for  furnishing  electricity 
for  lamps  and  motors  in  San  Luis  Obispo  has  been  awarded  to  the 
Coalinga  Wtr.  &  EL   Co. 

STOCKTON,  C.A,L. — The  Board  of  Supervisors  has  authorized  an  as- 
sessment of  $72,000  in  Reclamation  District  No.  348  to  provide  funds  for 
building  of  levees  and  the  installation  of  electric  pumps. 

TULARE,  CAL. — It  is  reported  that  a  special  election  is  to  be  called 
in  this  city  for  the  purpose  of  voting  on  an  appropriation  for  a  complete 
electric   telegraph-alarm   system. 

LAMAR,  COL. — The  Lamar  El.  &  Htg.  Co.  has  decided  to  change  its 
lighting  system  from   direct   current   to  alternating  current. 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
Commissioners  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Aug.  15  for  furnishing  and  delivering  during  the  fiscal  year  ending  June 
30,  1913,  street  sign  frames,  underground  signal  and  cable  and  cast-iron 
lamp-posts  for  use  in  the  electrical  department.  Specifications  may  be 
obtained   from  the  purchasing  officer.   District  of   Columbia. 

TAMPA,  FLA. — The  Tampa  El.  Co.  has  purchased  a  tract  of  land 
directly  opposite  its  present  power  station,  and  it  is  understood  that 
important  improvements  will  shortly  be  made  in  its  system. 

WINTER  GARDEN,  FLA.— The  Winter  Garden  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  is 
planning  to  build  a  combined  electric  and  ice  plant,  to  cost  about  $20,000. 

DALTON,  GA.- — Negotiations  are  under  way  between  the  City  Council 
and  the  Georgia  Ry.  &  E-  Co.,  Atlanta,  whereby  the  company  will  be 
granted  a  charter  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  into  Dalton. 

SWAINSBORO,  GA. — Arrangements  have  been  made  for  the  installa- 
tion of  a  municipal  elec:ric-light  plant,  for  which  bonds  to  the  amount 
of  $7,500  were   recently  voted. 

VALDOSTA,  GA. — Arrangements  have  been  completed  by  the  Val- 
dosta  Ltg.  Co.  for  taking  over  the  property  of  the  Consolidated  Ice  & 
Pwr.  Co.  It  is  the  intention  of  the  new  owners  to  make  many  improve- 
ments in  the  plant. 

W'ATKINSVILLE,  GA. — The  Legislature  has  passed  a  bill  authorizing 
the  town  of  W'atkinsville  to  issue  bonds  for  the  purpose  of  installing  a 
lighting  system. 

PRIEST  LAKE.  IDAHO.— It  is  reported  that  a  hydroelectric  power 
plant  is  to  be  installed  by  the  Idaho  Continental  Mines. 

CANTON,  ILL.^The  Canton  Gas  &  El.  Co.  is  extending  its  trans- 
mission lines  to  St.  David  and  Norris  to  supply  electrical  service  in 
those  towns.  It  is  also  proposed  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and 
motors  to  several  of  the  mines  near  here.  The  company  is  also  negotiat- 
ing for  a  contract  to  supply  electricity  in  Cuba. 

CHARLESTON,  ILL.— It  is  the  intention  of  the  Central  Illinois 
Tract.   Co.  to  extend  its  lines  from  Charleston  to   Paris. 

PEORIA,  ILL.— The  Peoria  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  purchased  a  site  in 
East  Peoria  on  which  it  purposes  to  erect  a  power  plant. 

PEORIA,  ILL. — An  ordinance  has  been  passed  by  the  City  Council 
compelling  electric-Hght  companies  to  place  their  wires  underground  for 
a  distance  of  2  miles  on  Washington   Street. 

PKORIA,  ILL.^ — -A  petition  has  been  presented  to  the  City  Council  by 
the  Schipper  &  Block  Co.  and  other  business  firms  requesting  that  an 
ornamental  lighting  system  be  installed  the  entire  length  of  Fulton  Street, 
the  property  owners  to  install  the  standards  and  globes  and  the  city  to 
supply  the   electrical   energy. 

QUINCY,  ILL. — Property  owners  on  Hampshire  Street,  between  Sixth 
and  Seventh  Streets,  have  signed  a  petition  for  the  installation  of  an 
ornamental  lighting  system. 

ROCKFORD,  ILL. — It  is  reported  that  an  ornamental  lighting  system 
is  soon  to  be  installed  on  the  business  portion  of  East  State  Street  from 
the  bridge  to  Kishwaukee   Street. 

TUSCOLA,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Co.,  which 
recently  took  over  the  property  of  the  Tuscola  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co.,  is  plan- 
ning to  make  extensive  improvements  in  the  plant.  New  engines  and 
boilers  are  to  be  installed  and  transmission  lines  erected  to  neighboring 
cities. 

CROWN  POINT.  IND.— The  Calumet  El.  Co.,  recently  incorpo- 
rated, is  soon  to  let  a  contract  for  tlie  erection  and  equipment  of  an 
electric  light  and  power  plant.  A.  L.  Courtright  is  president  and  T.  A. 
Piatt  secretary. 

LEBANON.  IND.— The  Middlewest  Utility  Co.,  Chicago,  is  reported 
to  have  purchased  the  property  and  holdings  of  the  Citizens'  El.  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  in  Lebanon.  The  consideration  is  said  to  be  in  the  neighborhood 
of   $250,000. 

NEW  ALBANY.  IND. — The  Board  of  Public  Works  has  under  con- 
sideration an  ordinance  granting  the  Federal  Sign  System  El.  Co., 
Louisville,  Ky.,  a  franchise  to  establish  a  "White  Way"  in  the  business 
section  of  the  city.  The  company  asks  for  permission  to  erect  standards 
and  to  install  underground  conduits  for  wires  and  to  purchase  or  gen- 
erate  electricity   for  illumination  purposes. 

BENNETT.  lA. — The  contract  for  construction  of  a  power  house  for 
the  municipal  electric-light  plant  has  been  awarded  to  Dr.  F.  A.  Blakeslee, 
Bemidji,  Minn.  The  cost  of  the  plant  is  estimated  at  about  $4,000.  J. 
B.   Vaughn  is  town  clerk. 

BROOKLYN,  lA.— W.  C.  Walters  and  son,  Toledo,  representing  Col. 
W.  G.  Dows,  Isaac  B.  Smith,  John  A.  Reed  and  R.  S.  Cook,  Cedar 
Rapids,  are  making  investigations  here  with  a  view  of  extending  their 
system  to  Brooklyn,  provided  arrangements  can  be  made  with  the  Council 
for  street  lighting  and  for  pumping  the  city  water. 

BURT,  I  A. — Plans  are  under  consideration  for  extending  the  trans- 
mission lines  of  the  municipal  electric-light  system  to   Burt. 

CARLISLE,  lA, — A  special  election  will  be  held  to  vote  on  the  propo- 
sition  of   installing  an   electric-lighting   system. 

CRESTON,   IA.— ^Investigations  are  being  made  by  the  Creston  Mutual 
El.   Ll,   Ht.  &  Pwr.   Co.  in   Audubon  with  a  View  of  extending  its  trattS^'' 
mission  lines  to  this  place  to  furnish  electrical  service  here.       '/^/Mi' 

DYERSVILLE,    IA. — The    City    Council    has   authorized    the  committee 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


335 


on  fire,  light  and  water  to  secure  estimates  on  the  cost  of  the  installa- 
tion of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  using  electroliers  carrying 
five  lamps  each. 

EARL\'ILLE,  lA.— The  Earlville  El.  Lt.  Co.  expects  to  install  a 
new  street-lighting  system  and  electrical  equipment  for  pumping  water. 
The  contract  for  the  work  is  said  to  have  been  awarded  to  H.  J.  Jaeger, 
of  Dyersville,  la. 

ELDORA,  lA. — The  City  Council  has  decided  to  change  the  present 
arc-lamp  street-lighting  system  to  cluster  lamps,  using  42  electroliers 
and   100  incandescent   lamps. 

GOLDFIELD.  lA.— The  Citizens'  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Eagle  Grove, 
has  applied  to  the  Town  Council  for  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for 
lamps  and  motors.  Electricity  to  operate  the  system  will  be  supplied 
from  the   Eagle  Grove  plant. 

GRINNELL,  lA. — The  Interior  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  to  rebuild  its 
system  a*  a  cost  of  about  $25,000. 

HUXI.EV,  I.\. — A  franchise  has  been  granted  in  this  city  to  the 
Boone  El.   Lt.   Co. 

OGDEN",  lA.— The  Central  Iowa  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Eraser,  has  sub- 
mitted a  'proposition  to  the  City  Council  offering  to  extend  its  -trans- 
mission line  from  Eraser  to  Ogden  to  supply  electricity  to  operate  the 
municipal   electric  plant  and   water-works  pumping  station. 

RHODES,  lA. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  system  here  is 
under  consideration. 

SHEFFIELD,  lA. — Reports  are  current  that  citizens  of  Sheffield  are 
organizing  a  new  electric  light  and  power  company. 

TOPEKA,  KAN. — It  is  reported  that  the  city  commissioners  have 
awarded  to  the  L-  E.  Overton  Electr.  Eng.  Co.  the  contract  to  install 
the  East)  Fourth  Avenue  extension  of  the  Great  White  Way,  the  price 
named  being  $5,973. 

TOPEKA,  KAN. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Board  of  Water 
and  Light  Commissioners  for  rebuilding  the  municipal  electric-light  plant 
to  furnish  electricity  for  commercial  purposes.  The  cost  of  the  work  is 
estimated  at  about  $400,000.  The  city  plant  is  now  furnishing  electricity 
for  street  lighting  only. 

ASHLAND,  KY. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Ashland  Wtr. 
Pwr.   Co.  for  extensions  and  improvements  to  its  power  plant. 

EMINENCE,  KY. — It  is  understood  that  the  representatives  of  H.  M. 
Byllesby  &  Co.  are  negotiating  for  the  purchase  of  the  Eminence  El. 
Lt.  Co.'s  plant.  Should  the  deal  be  consummated  it  is  the  intention  of 
the  new  owners  to  furnish  energy  to  New  Castle  and  Pleasureville  as 
well  as  to  Eminence. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY. — The  Louisville  Ltg.  Co.  expects  to  extend  its 
transmission  lines  to  Jefferson,  Ky.,  a  20-year  contract  to  supply  electrical 
energy  in  that  city  having  been  secured. 

RICHMOND,  KY.— It  is  reported  that  deals  have  been  closed  by  the 
Dix  River  Pwr.  Co.  for  the  purchase  of  the  electric-power  plants  at 
Richmond,  Danville,  Frankfort,  Versailles  and  Lawrenceburg  and  tha; 
negotiations  are  under  way  for  the  purchase  of  plants  in  several  other 
places  in  this  section. 

BATON  ROUGE,  LA.— Newspaper  reports  state  that  a  $15,000,000 
corporation  for  reclamation  and  drainage  purposes  and  for  the  develop- 
ment of  electrical  power  has  been  practically  formed,  plans  having  been 
Gubmitted  to  the  State  Tax  Commissioner  at  Baton  Rouge  by  Wel- 
bourne   Bradford,   representing  New  York  interests. 

BALTIMORE,  MD.— The  Board  of  Estimates  will  call  an  election  in 
November  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  appropriate  $2,000,000  for  exten- 
sion of  the  electrical  subway  system. 

B.^LTIMORE,  MD. — The  contract  for  supplying  the  city  with  electric 
light  bulbs  and  electric  lamps  for  the  use  of  the  various  departments  is 
reported  awarded   to  the  Baltimore  El.   Lt.   Co.  for  $7,537. 

B.VLTIMGRE,  MD. — The  lighting  department  is  planning  to  erect 
ornamental  posts  on  North  Charles  Street,  from  North  Avenue  to  the 
Boulevard,  with  lamps  similar  to  those  now  on  the  boulevard. 

SECURITY,  MD.— The  Hagerstown  &  Frederick  Pwr.  Co.  has  awarded 
the  contract  for  construction  of  a  new  power  house,  to  cost  about  $40,000, 
to   Captain   Hunter    B.   Crimm,    of   Winchester. 

HAVERHILL,  MASS. — The  City  Council  is  reported  to  be  consider- 
ing replacing  the  naphtha  lamps  now  in  use  in  the  outlying  districts  with 
electric  incandescent  lamps.  In  order  to  replace  the  naphtha  lamps 
an  entire  new  system  beginning  at  the  power  house  and  extending 
through  the  center  of  the  city  will  have  to  be  installed. 

HOLYOKE,  MASS. — The  contract  for  installing  a  new  conduit  system 
for  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  was  awarded  to  P.  J.  Kennedy, 
Holyoke,  whose  bid  was  $39,186  for  fiber  conduit  and  $39,646  for  vitri- 
fied conduit. 

LAWRENCE,  MASS. — Extensive  improvements  are  contemplated  by 
the  Wamesit  Pwr.   Co.   to  its   plant  here,  to  cost  about  $25,000. 

ORANGE,  MASS. — The  Massachusetts  Northern  Rys.  Co.  expects  to 
begin  work  this  fall  on  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  from 
Orange  to  Millers  Falls,  for  which  all  franchises  have  been  secured. 

PALMER,  MASS.— The  Central  Massachusetts  El,,  Co., -of  Palmer,  is 
plaFjning  additional  improvements   in   its   plant   at   Blanchardville. 

SPRINGFIELD,  MASS.— The  installation  of  a  1500-hp  steam  turbine 
with  generators  and  engine  is  contemplated  by  the  Strathmore  Paper  Co. 


STONEHAM,  MASS. — All  wires  of  the  telephone  and  electric-light 
systems  are  to  be  placed  underground  through  the  center  of  the  town. 
The  Bay  State  Street  Ry.  Co.  has  signified  its  willingness  to  replace  the 
present  wooden  poles  with  iron  poles  as  soon  as  the  wires  are  placed 
underground. 

CONSTANTINE,  MICH.— Sealed  bids  for  electrical  street  and  com- 
mercial lighting  in  the  village  of  Constantine  for  ten  years  from  March  1, 
1913,  will  be  received  by  S.  D.  Hoffman,  chairman  of  the  lighting  com- 
mittee, Constantine,  Mich.,  up  to  Aug.  27,   1912. 

ALBERT  LEA,  MINN. — The  City  Council  is  considering  an  ordi- 
nance requiring  all   electric   wires  to  be   placed   underground. 

HILLS,  MINN. — A  movement  has  been  started  to  secure  the  installa- 
tion of  an  electric-light  system  here. 

MADISON,  MINN. — Bids  will  be  received  until  Aug.  22  by  James 
H.  Hayden,  city  recorder,  for  furnishing  material  and  constructing  a 
water-works  system  and  electric-light  plant.  E.  D.  Jackson,  St.  Paul,  is 
engineer. 

MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN. — It  is  reported  that  the  Minneapolis  Gen- 
eral El.  Co.  will  expend  several  million  dollars  developing  160,000  hp  of 
electricity.     George  H.  Harries  will  be  general  manager. 

ST.  PAUL,  MINN.— Griggs,  Cooper  &  Co.,  St.  Paul,  have  been 
granted  a  permit  to  erect  a  two-story  brick  power  house,  100  ft.  x  100 
ft.,  to  cost  about  $20,000. 

WOLVERTON,  MINN. — A  special  meeting  is  to  be  called  by  tlie 
City  Council  to  vote  upon  a  $3,500  bond  issue,  the  proceeds  of  which 
are  to  be  used  for  the  installation  of  an  up-to-date  street-lighting  system. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO. — Bids  will  be  received  until  Aug.  13  by  the  Board 
of  Public  Improvement,  St.  Louis,  William  T.  Bindley,  secretary,  for 
furnishing  and  installing  at  high-service  station  No.  3,  Baden,  a  250-kw 
direct-connected  engine  and  generator  unit;  also  a  lOO-kw  motor-genera- 
tor  set. 

STEWARTSVILLE,  MO.— The  City  Council  has  granted  a  franchise 
to  J.  B.  Reesaman,  Mayville,  Mo.,  to  install  and  operate  an  electric-light 
plant. 

RED  LODGE,  MONT. — A  petition  has  been  filed  with  the  City  Council 
requesting  that  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  be  installed  through- 
out  the  business  district. 

CAMDEN,  N.  J. — The  Keystone  Leather  Co.,  Camden,  is  planning  to 
erect  a  new  power  plant,  plans  for  which  have  been  prepared  by  Charles 
J.    Brooke. 

CAMDEN.  N.  J. — The  City  Council  is  considering  an  ordinance  re- 
quiring all  telephone  and  telegraph  wires  to  be  placed  in  conduits  as 
soon  as  they  are  installed.  The  city  is  to  have  the  use  of  the  conduits 
if   it   wishes   it. 

ELBERON,  N.  J. — The  Deal  Beach  Ltg.  Co.,  Deal  Beach,  contemplates 
extending   its   electric-light   system   to    Elberon. 

NEWARK,  N.  J.— The  Board  of  Education,  R.  D.  Argue  secretary, 
will  receive  bids  up  to  Aug.  22  for  the  electric  work,  lighting  fixtures 
and  vacuum-cleaning   system    required   in   the    Newton    School    addition. 

NEWARK,  N.  J.— The  Board  of  Works  has  renewed  its  contract  for 
street  lighting  with  the  Public  Service  El.  Co.  for  a  period  of  one  year. 
The  system  comprises  2761  7VS-amp  inclosed  arcs  at  an  average  rate 
of  $66.90  per  lamp.  Heretofore  the  rate  has  been  $70.  The  city  plans 
for  the  installation  of  magnetic  arcs  at  the  termination  of  the  contract, 
if  the  same  meet  requirements. 

ADAMS,  N.  Y. — Permission  has  been  granted  by  the  Public  Service 
Commission,  Second  District,  to  the  Adams  El.  Lt.  Co.,  Ltd.,  to  sell  its 
electric-light  plant  to  the  Adams  El.  Lt.  Co.,  the  latter  being  authorized 
to  exercise  the  franchises  granted  in  the  towns  of  Adams  and  Watertown 
for  the  distribution  of  energy  in  these  places.  The  latter  company  has 
also  been  authorized  to  issue  $20,000  of  bonds,  $12,400  of  which  are  to 
be  used  for  the  construction  of  transmission  lines  from  Watertown  to 
Adams  and  $7,600  for  improvements  and  additions  to  the  plant  in  Adams. 

EINGHAMTON,  N.  Y,— It  is  understood  that  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion in  this  city  is  to  install  three  new  alternating-current  motors  in  the 
High  and  Barlow  Street  schools  and  one  in  the  school  in  St.  John 
Avenue.     This  equipment  is  to  replace  direct-current  motors  now  in  use. 

CH.\RLOTTE,  N.  Y. — At  a  special  election  recently  held  in  Charlotte 
it  was  decided  to  contract  with  the  Rochester  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  for  the  pur- 
cliase  of  electric  light  and  power. 

COOPERSTOWN,  N.  Y.— The  Clinton  Mills  Pwr.  Co.  has  contracted 
with  the  General  El.  Co.  for  the  installation  of  an  entire  new  electric- 
lighting  system,  to  cost  from  $25,000  to  $30,000.  Electricity  for  oper- 
ating the  local  system  will  be  obtained  from  the  plants  of  the  Hartwick 
Pwr.  Co.  The  contract  calls  for  a  60-cycle  system  with  arc  or  incan- 
defcent  lamps  for  street  lighting. 

FREEPORT,  N.  Y. — 'The  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  District, 
has  granted  a  franchise  to  the  Freeport  R.R.  Co.  to  construct  an  electric 
railroad   in   Freeport,    Nassau   County. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — Bids  will  be  received  until  Aug.  19  at  the  office 
of  William  J.  Gaynor,  Mayor  of  New  York  City,  for  lighting  fixtures  for 
the  new  Twenty-second  Regiment  Armory,  borough  of  Manhattan;  se- 
curity $9,000.  Walker  &  Morris  are  the  architects.  Bids  will  be  re- 
ceived at  the  same  place  for  a  flaming-arc  system  .f^pr,.  t,^e.  Second  Batj-,^ 
talion.    Naval    Militia    Armory,    borough    of    Brooklyn;    security    $1,500. 

PALENVILLE,  N.   Y. — The  Village  Improvement   Society  has  voted  to 


336 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6. 


contract  with  the  Catskill  Illg.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Catskill,  for  lighting  the 
streets  of  the  village  for  a  period  of  five  years.  The  contract  calls  for 
20  incandescent  lamps  of  30  cp. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. — A  movement  has  been  started  by  residents  of 
the  West  Henrietta  Road  from  1 J/^  miles  to  2  miles  outside  the  city 
limits  for  the  installation  of  Mazda  lamps  along  that  thoroughfare. 

LAURINBURG,  N.  C. — Proposals  are  being  received  by  John  F. 
McNair,    Laurinburg,    N.    C,    for    electric    dynamos    for    fertilizing    plant. 

MANDAN,  N.  D.— The  Mandan  El,  Co.  is  planning  to  install  a  300- 
kw  generator   in  its  plant. 

NEW  ROCKFORD,  N.  D. — An  electric-lighting  system  is  being  in- 
stalled in  New  Rockford  by  the  W.  T.  McCaskey  Co.,  a  23-year  fran- 
chise having  been  secured  by  it. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO. — Permission  has  been  granted  by  the  State 
Public  Utilities  Commission  to  the  Columbus,  Kenton  &  Toledo  Trac. 
Co.  to  issue  sufficient  stock  and  bonds  to  enable  it  to  complete  its  pro- 
posed line  from  Toledo  to  Columbus.  The  line  will  pass  through  Find- 
lay,  Kenton,  Richwood  and  Delaware. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO.— Advices  have  been  received  from  Samuel  H. 
Kinnear,  director  of  public  service,  that  the  contract  for  constructing  a 
substation  for  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  on  East 
Chittenden  Avenue,  bids  for  which  were  opened  July  29,  has  been 
awarded  to  Adam  Pitts,  2327  High  Street,  for  $7,476. 

CRIDERSVILLE,  OHIO.— The  Sheets  El.  Co.,  Botkins,  has  applied 
to  the  Village  Council  for  a  franchise  to  install  and  operate  an  electric 
system  here. 

EAST  LIVERPOOL,  OHIO.— It  is  reported  that  the  Tri-State  Ry.  & 
El.  Co.  expects  to  expend  about  $2,000,000  in  the  improvement  of  its 
plant.  A  new  power  house  is  to  be  erected  at  the  Island  Run  coal 
mines.   East  End,  the  initial  cost  of  which  is  placed  at  $1,500,000. 

KENTON,  OHIO. — The  Hardin-Wyandot  Ltg.  Co.  has  completed  its 
transmission  lines  from  Kenton  to  Forest  and  is  supplying  electricity 
from  the  local  plant  in  Forest.  The  power  station  in  Forest  has  been 
closed  down  and  the  transmission  line  will  soon  be  extended  to  Upper 
Sandusky  and  adjacent  territory.  Bids  are  being  called  by  the  company 
for  the  construction  of  a  new  power  station  in  Kenton.  Work  will 
begin  immediately  on  the  erection  of  the  building  and  installation  of  new 
equipment.     Frank  A.   Potter,  New  York,   N.  Y.,  is  president.  • 

MOUNT  VERNON.  OHIO.— The  property  of  the  Mount  Vernon  El. 
Co.  has  been  acquired  by  the  American  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
The  new  owners  will  begin  work  immediately  on  improvements  to  the 
power  plant.  Transmission  lines  will  be  extended  so  as  to  provide 
current  for  commercial  or  domestic  use,  and  new  lines  erected  to  the 
outskirts  of  the  city. 

OSNABURG,  OHIO. — The  project  to  issue  $7,000  of  bonds  for  the 
purpose  of  installing  a  municipal  lighting  plant  was  vetoed  at  a  recent 
election  held  in  this  city. 

RICHWX)OD,  OHIO.— The  Richwood  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  peti- 
tioned the  Public  Service  Commission  for  authority  to  issue  $6,825  in 
bonds,   the  proceeds   to  be   used   for   extensions   and  improvements. 

McLOUD.  OKLA. — Steps  have  been  taken  toward  the  installation  of 
a  water-works   system  and  elec'.ric-light  plant  in  McLoud. 

FREEWATER,  ORE.— The  Walla  Walla  Ry.  Co.  contemplates  the 
construction   of  a   new  electric  line  from   Freewater  to  Hudson   Bay. 

WINCHESTER,  ORE.— The  electric-power  plant  on  the  North 
Umpqua  River  at  Winchester,  owned  by  J.  L.  &  S.  A.  Kendall,  Rose- 
burg,  has  been  purchased  by  the  Welch  interests,  of  Portland.  Extensive 
improvements  and  additions  are  contemplated  by  the  new  owners  to  both 
the  water  and  light  systems.  The  service  is  to  be  extended  over  con- 
siderable more  territory.  The  erection  of  a  transmission  line  to  Su:herlin 
is  under  way. 

PANAMA, — Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  general 
purchasing  oflicer.  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Aug.  27  for  furnishing  steel  oil  tanks,  steel  channels,  ingo:  copper,  elec- 
tric wire,  indicator  cocks,  low  service  pumps,  glass  globes,  etc.  Blanks 
and  general  information  pertaining  to  this  circular  (No.  723)  may  be 
crt)tained  at  the  above  office  or  at  the  offices  of  the  assistant  purchasing 
agents,  24  State  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.;  614  Whitney-Central  Build- 
ing, New  Orleans,  La.,  and  1086  North  Point  Street,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
Major  F.   C.   Boggs  is  general   purchasing  agent. 

ANNVILLE,  PA.— The  Edison  El.  Illg.  Co.  has  closed  a  contract  with 
the  AnnviUe  &  Palmyra  El.  Lt.  Co.,  Tobias  Bomberger,  president  and 
manager,  to  furnish  electricity  for  operating  the  systems  in  Annville 
and  Palmyra  for  a  period  of  10  years,  beginning  Oct.  1.  The  local 
station  will  be  converted  into  a  substation.  It  is  expected  that  improve- 
ments will  be  made  to  the  street-lighting  systems  in  both  towns. 

BRADFORD,  PA. — Press  reports  state  that  plans  are  being  drawn 
by  the  Penn.  R.  R.  Co.  for  the  erection  of  a  new  $40,000  electric  power 
house  at  Bradford.  The  purpose  is  to  install  a  plant  which  will  light 
the  yards  of  the  company  and  furnish  electrical  energy  for  the  opera- 
tion of  its  machinery. 

BUTLER,  PA. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  West  Penn  Trac. 
Co.  for  the  erection  of  a  high-tension  transmission  line  from  Freeport 
to  Tarentum.  As  soon  as  the  line  is  completed  to  the  latter  place  work 
will  begin  on  the  construction  of  a  high-tension  line  from  Freeport  to 
Butler.     John  H.  Humphrey,   Butler,  is  superintendent  of  the  local  plant. 


NEW  FREEDOM,  PA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition 
to  issue  bonds  increasing  the  indebtedness  of  the  borough  from  $13,600 
.to  $22,600,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  enlarging  the  municipal  electric- 
light  plant,  was  carried. 

PH1L.\DELPHIA,  PA.— It  is  understood  that  Philadelphia  and  Allen- 
town  capitalists  are  planning  the  construction  of  two  28-mile  electric 
lines  between  Ithaca  and  Portland,  N.Y.  Elias  Chandler,  of  Atlantic 
City,  and  Howard  Chandler,  of  Philadelphia,  are  interested  in  the 
project. 

TITUSVILLE,    P.A.- The    Petroleum    Tel.    Co.    has    awarded    contract 
for  the  installation  of  4500  ft.  of  conduit  in  the  business  section  to  John         | 
Johnston.     This  is  the  beginning  of  the  work  of  placing  all  wires  under- 
ground.    The    Bell    Tel.    Co.    has    applied    for    permission    to    lay    about 
10,000   ft.    of  conduits. 

WAYNE.  PA.— The  capital  stock  of  the  Merion  &  Radnor  Gas  &  El. 
Co.  has  been  increased  from  $1,000,000  to  $5,500,000. 

YORK,  PA. — Steps  have  been  taken  to  organize  a  new  electric-power 
company  by  local  business  men  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  electricity 
to  a  number  of  townships  in  York  County,  including  Manchester,  East 
Manchester,  West  Manchester  and  Dover.  Power  for  operating  the 
proposed  system  will  be  obtained  from  the  York  Haven  Wtr.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  Harrison  B.  Waltraan,  Charles  A.  Greenawalt  and  James  J.  Gerry 
are    interested. 

NEWPORT,  R.  I. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau  of 
Yards  and  Docks,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Aug.  24 
for  construction  of  a  power-plant  building  at  the  United  States  naval 
torpedo  station,  Newport,  R.  I.,  to  cost  about  $30,000.  William  M. 
Smith  is  acting  chief  of  bureau. 

VERMILION,  S.  D. — It  is  reported  that  Theo.  Anker,  county  aud- 
itor at  Vermilion,  will  receive  bids  until  Aug.  27  for  electric-Ught  fixtures 
for  the  court  house.  Lloyd  D.  Williams.  Wead  Building,  Omaha,  Neb., 
is  the  architect. 

ATHENS,  TENN. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Tennessee 
Pwr.  Co.  for  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  from  Athens  to  Etowah. 
The  company  is  also  contemplating  building  a  line  from  Parksville  via 
Cleveland  to  Nashville.  WVirk  will  soon  begin  on  the  erection  of  both 
lines. 

PRENDERGAST.  TENN. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  building,  200  ft.  x  166  ft.,  to  cost  about  $20,000,  for  the 
Prendergast  Cotton  Mills.  The  equipment  will  include  10,000  spindles 
to  be  electrically  operated.  The  cost  of  the  machinery  is  estimated  at 
$80,000.     W.   J.   McLenden   is  president. 

CUMBY,  TEX.— The  city  commissioners  have  granted  a  franchise  for 
the  installation   of  an   electric-light  plant  here. 

DALLAS,  TEX. — It  is  reported  that  arrangements  are  being  made 
for  the  installation  of  an  electric-lighting  system  in  the  business  district 
of  Dallas,  extending  from  Houston  Street  to  Central  Avenue.  The  cost 
of  the   proposed   system   is  said   to   be  approximately   $56,000. 

MOUNT  PLEASANT,  UTAH.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $38,000  have 
been  voted  for  the  erection  of  a  municipal  electric  plant.  It  is  proposed 
to  erect  a  plant  at  the  mouth  of  Pleasant  Creek.  The  City  Council  is 
negotiating  with  the  Mount  Pleasant  Mill  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  its  electric 
plant  and  distributing  system. 

BURLINGTON,  VT.— It  is  reported  that  the  People's  Gas  &  El.  Co. 
has  been  granted  a  five-year  contract  to  furnish  arc  lights  for  street 
lighting  in    Burlington. 

BUENA  VISTA,  VA. — Newspaper  reports  state  that  the  plant  of  the 
Buena  Vista  Light  &  Power  Company  has  been  completely  destroyed  by 
fire. 

E.^ST  RADFORD,  VA.— Bids  will  be  received  until  Aug.  19  at  East 
Radford  for  a  vacuum  sweeping  system  for  the  administration  building. 
State  Normal  and  Industrial  School,  now  under  construction.  For 
further  information  address  Charles  M.  Robinson,  Inc.,  Richmond,  Va., 
architect.     W.   T.    Baldwin   is  chairman   building  committee. 

GALAX,  VA. — The  Appalachian  Pwr.  Co.  has  awarded  a  contract  to 
the  Tower-Binford  Electrical  Co.  for  electrical  equipment  for  its  system 
in   Galax. 

STAUNTON,  VA.— The  Board  of  Supervisors  has  granted  the  Staun- 
ton Ltg.  Co.  a  right-of-way  to  erect  a  transmission  line  from  Staunton  to 
Waynesboro,  a  distance  of  12  miles.  The  company  has  contracted  with 
the  Riverside  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  additional  energy  and  will  also  erect  a 
substation   in    Fisherville   to   supply  electricity   there. 

WINCHESTER,  VA.— The  Winchester  &  Washington  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co. 
is  planning  to  erect  a  new  substation,  work  on  which  will  soon  be  started. 

CENTRALIA,  WASH. — The  Washington-Oregon  Corporation  is  plan- 
ning to  begin  work  immediately  on  the  erection  of  a  40-mile  transmission 
line  from  Kelso  to  Centralia  and  Chehalis.  Electricity  will  be  furnished 
to   small   towns  along  the   route. 

DAVENPORT,  WASH.— The  Washington  Consol.  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co. 
expects  to  construct  a  telephone  line  south  from  Davenport  to  Har- 
rington,  Sprague  and  Odessa,  a  distance  of  about  75  miles. 

EDMONDS,  WtASH.— The  Edmonds  EI.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  franchise  to  erect  a  transmission  line  along  the  Hall's  Lake 
Road   from   Edmonds  to  the  King  County  line. 

O.^KX'ILLE,  WASH. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  Town  Council 


August  io,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


337 


by  A.  Wellaud  for  a  franchise  to  install  and  operate  an  electric-light 
plant  in  Oakville.     Contracts  have  already  been  placed  for  machinery. 

SEATTLE,  WASH. — Bids  are  soon  to  be  asked,  it  is  reported,  for  a 
light  and  power  plant  at  the  proposed  Green  River  hotel  and  sani- 
tarium. Messrs.  Kingsley  and  Eastman  are  said  to  be  interested  in 
the    project. 

GR.^FTON,  W.  VA. — All  bids  received  July  29  for  construction  and 
furnishing  machinery  for  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  water- 
works system,  have  been  rejected  and  new  bids  will  be  received  until 
Aug.   28.     W.   C.   Hanaway  is  city  clerk. 

LESTER,  W.  VA.— Gage  Y.  Kelly,  of  the  Lester  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  is 
in  the  market  for  electrical  equipment,  including  3  miles  No.  6  bare 
copper  wire,  hard-drawn,  other  wire,  insulators,  cross-arms,  transformers, 
brackets,  bolts,  braces,  etc. 

MOUNDSVILLE,  W.  VA. — It  is  reported  that  plans  are  being  con- 
sidered for  furnishing  electricity  from  the  plant  of  the  Wheeling  Elec- 
trical Co.  in  Wheeling  to  operate  the  local  system.  If  plans  are  carried 
out,  the  plant  of  the  Moundsville  Electrical  Co.  will  be  converted  into 
a  substation  to  distribute  the  current.  J.  H.  Garden,  superintendent  of 
the  Wheeling  company,  has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  City  Council 
offering  to' install  a  cluster-lamp  system,  provided  a  contract  is  awarded 
the   company. 

DENMARK,  WIS.— The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  in  Den- 
mark  is   under   consideration. 

MARINETTE,  WIS. — Contracts  have  been  signed  by  business  men 
for  special   illumination   on   Main   Street. 

VANCOUVER,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  Canadian  Northern  Railway  expects 
to  electrify  its  line  from  Port  Mann  to  Vancouver. 

FREDERICTON,  N.  B.,  CAN.— Plans  are  under  way  for  developing 
10,000  hp  at  Meductic  Falls  on  the  St.  John  River,  about  40  miles  above 
Fredericton.  A  company  has  been  organized  under  the  name  of  the 
St.  John  Hydroelectric  Co.  to  operate  the  plant.  Electricity  generated 
at  the  plant .  will  be  distributed  along  the  St.  John  Valley,  particularly 
in  Fredericton  and   St.  John. 

ST.  JOHN,  N.  B.,  CAN.— The  Canadian  Pacific  Ry.  Co.  has  awarded 
contract  for  design  and  construction  of  a  1,000,000-ton  grain  elevator  at 
West  St.  John  to  the  John  S.  Metcalf  Co.,  Ltd.,  Montreal,  Que.,  and 
Chicago,  III.  The  elevator  will  be  electrically  driven  and  an  electric 
generating  plant  is  included  in  the  contract.  The  cost  of  the  work  is 
estimated  at  $500,000. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  AUTOMATIC  MACHINE  &  TOOL  COMPANY,  of  Chicago, 
111.,  has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to  manu- 
facture no'welties,  tools  and  light  machinery.  The  incorporators  are:  J. 
Gabel,  E.   Mikkelsen  and  E.  Mueller. 

THE  AUTOMATIC  REGISTER  COMPANY,  of  East  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000.  The  company 
proposes  to  manufacture  a  device  for  automatically  registering  in  the 
auditor's  office  of  an  electric-railway  company  the  amount  of  fares  placed 
in  the  receiving  cash  boxes  on  the  cars,  for  which  it  has  the  sole  right. 
THE  CORNWELL  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  has 
been  incorporated  by  Benjamin  S.  Cornwell,  William  H.  Chresinger  and 
W.  Viley.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $3,000  and  proposes  to  do 
electrical  construction   work  and   deal    in   electrical   supplies,   etc. 

THE  ELECTRO-MECHANICAL  WORKS  COMPANY,  of  New  York. 
N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  by  M.  Davidson,  Brooklyn;  S.  Tarbee  and 
P.  Lauter,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $25,000 
and  proposes  to  manufacture  electrical  apparatus. 

THE  ELLIOTT  MOTOR  ENGINE  COMPANY,  of  Boston,  Mass., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $300,000  by  Gilbert  R. 
Elliott,  Dorchester;  Frank  P.  Harris,  Wialtham,  and  W.  C.  Cogswell, 
Barristers'  Hall,  Boston,  Mass.  The  company  proposes  to  manufacture 
engines. 

THE  FRANKS  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY,  of  Rock  Island, 
111.,  has  been  incorporated  by  W.  L.  Franks,  E.  Peters,  E.  Franks  and 
G.  C.  Wanger.  of  Rock  Island,  III.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $30,000 
and   proposes   to   manufacture   electrical   fixtures  and  novelties. 

THE  JUST  TUNGSTEN  LAMP  COMPANY,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  has 
been  incorporated  by  R.  B.  Richardson,  A.  H.  Otis,  M.  J.  O'Donnell,  A. 
G.  Newcomb  and  M.  L.  Tennie.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000 
and  proposes  to  deal  in  electrical  supplies. 

THE  PLUG  CONNECTION  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  New  York. 
N.  Y.,  has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to 
manufacture  apparatus  used  in  electric  fixtures.  The  incorporators  are : 
S,  G.  Nisschbon,  R.  C.  Einstein  and  J.  F.  Grayer,   New  York,  N.  Y. 

THE  SAFETY  BURGLAR  ALARM  LOCK  COMPANY,  of  Chicago, 
III.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  J.  J.  Lipski, 
C.  W.  Shaeffer  and  S.  E.  Greenberg.  The  company  proposes  to  manu- 
facture burglar  alarms. 

THE  SWEDISH-AMERICAN  TELEPHONE  MANUFACTURING 
COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  111.,  has  been  incorporated  wftfa'  a  capital  stock 
of  $60,000  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  electrical  and  mechanical 
apparatus.  The  incorporators  are:  D.  L.  Morrill,  W.  H.  Johnson  and 
G.   Holz. 


New  Incorporations 

PHOENIX,  ARIZ.— The  Inter-California  Pwr.  &  El.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000  by  Clifford  McClellan,  R. 
B.  McClellan  and  N.  C.  Keym,  all  of  410  Mills  Building,  San  Francisco, 
Cal.  The  company  proposes  to  generate  and  distribute  electricity  for  all 
purposes  and  to  supply  water  for  domestic  and  other  purposes,  etc. 

BRINKLEY,  ARK.— The  Brinkley  Wlr.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  J.  E.  Thompson,  W.  W.  Sharp, 
Elmo  Chaney,  J.  W.   Neff  and  J.   S.   Mitchell. 

WILMINGTON,  DEL.— The  Canada  Gas.  Lt.  &  Traction  Co.  has  filed 
articles  of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000.  The  incorporators  are:  Garrett  S.  B. 
Mettler  and  John  A.   Sheldon,  both  of  Wilmington. 

MATHERVILLE,  ILL.— The  Matherville  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  «'  capital  stock  of  $10,000  to  supply  electricity  for 
lamps,  heat  and  motors.  The  incorporators  are:  Paul  Wagner,  J.  W. 
Walsh,  John  J.   Ryan,  H.  C   Lightner  and  W.   W.   McCullough. 

AUGUSTA,  MAINE.— The  Southwestern  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $18,500,000  for  the  purpose  of  gen- 
erating and  distributing  electricity.  E.  M.  Hussey,  Augusta,  is  president 
and  treasurer. 

BOSTON,  MASS.— The  General  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  granted  a  charter 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000.  The  incorporators  are:  John  E.  Hill, 
Joseph   Lovejoy  and  Frank  A.  Peacock. 

LESUEUR  CENTER,  MINN.— The  Lesueur  County  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  by  Walter  D. 
Hodson,  W.  T.  McCaskey,  S.   F.   Saeger,  all  of  Lansing,  Mich. 

SEDALIA,  MO.— The  City  Lt.  &  Trac.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $1,500,000  by  C.  E.  Murray,  J.  E.  Harsh  and  R.  A. 
McGregor.  The  company  proposes  to  supply  natural  gas,  artificial  gas 
and  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and  motors  in   Sedalia. 

POTEAU,  OKLA.— The  LeFlore  County  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $250,000.  The  incorporators 
are:    Grey  Moore,  J.  T.   Little  and  T.    R.  Lunsford,  all  of  Poteau. 


Trade  Publications 


ELECTRICAL  INSTRUMENTS.— The  Weston  Electrical  Instrument 
Company,  Newark,  N.  J.,  has  made  its  miniature  precision  direct-cur- 
rent instruments  tlie  subject  of  Bulletin  No.  8.  A  page  is  devoted  to 
each  type  of  instrument  illustrated  full-size  and  followed  by  the  dimen- 
sions.     Samples   of  scales  and   price   lists  are  also   included, 

PYROMETERS.— The  Brown  Instrument  Company,  of  Philadelphia, 
has  issued  a  56-page  catalog  which  is  said  to  be  the  most  complete 
catalogue  on  pyrometers  ever  issued.  The  list  of  some  users  of  these 
instruments  shows  the  diversity  of  industries  in  which  Brown  pyrometers 
are  used.  The  catalog  is  well  illustrated  and  printed  and  has  a  very 
dignified  cover. 

WHITE  RIVER  DEVELOPMENT.— The  Stone  &  Webster  Engineer- 
ing Corporation,  of  Boston,  Mass..  has  been  distributing  copies  of  an 
attractive  souvenir  book  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  convention  held  at  Seattle, 
Wash.,  in  June.  This  book  describes  the  hydroelectric  development  on 
the  White  River,  in  the  Puget  Sound  district  in  the  State  of  Wash- 
ington. This  handsome  souvenir  is  attractively  illustrated  and  was  prized 
by  all  who  received  copies  at  the  convention. 

TURBO- ALTERNATORS. — The  British  Thomson-Houston  Company, 
Ltd.,  Rugby,  England,  has  issued  "Descriptive  List  No.  354,"  covering 
Curtis  turbo-alternators.  It  treats  in  an  excellent  manner  the  theory, 
construction  and  operation  of  turbines  for  high,  low  and  mixed  pressure, 
turbo-alternators,  reducing  turbines  and  small  turbines.  It  is  of  interest 
to  note  that  the  sales  of  Curtis  tubo-alternators  to  municipalities,  the 
government,  central  stations  and  street-railway  companies  in  the  United 
Kingdom  aggregate   over   228,609   kw. 


Business  Notes 


HATMAN  &  GODFREY  have  opened  an  office  in  the  Midland  Build- 
ing, Kansas  City,  Mo.,  for  consulting  work,  specializing  in  mechanical, 
electiical  and  illuminating  engineering.  The  members  of  the  firm  are 
Messrs.  J.  G.   Hatman,  F.  O.  Godfrey  and  E.  M.   Ruede. 

BURKE  ELECTRIC  COMPANY. — The  employees  of  the  Burke  Elec- 
tric Company,  Erie,  Pa.,  held  their  eighth  annual  outing  on  July  27  at 
Conneaut  Lake,  Pa.  The  outing  was  arranged  by  the  employees,  the 
time  needed  being  given  by  the  company.     The  attendance  was  nearly  500. 

THE  PYRENE  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY.— Messrs.  Darwin 
R.  James,  Jr.,  and  E.  A.  Clapp  have  been  appointed  president  and  sec- 
retary of  the  Pyrene  Manufacturing  Company,  New  York,  succeeding 
Messrs.  Peter  L.  Wilbur  and  Otto  Kelsey,  resigned.  Mr.  Henry  J.  Coch- 
rane, vice-president  of  the  Astor  Trust  Company,  has  been  elected  a  direc- 
tor of  the   Pyrene   Manufacturing  Company. 


338 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  6. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED   STATES   PATENTS   ISSUED  JULY   30.    1912. 
[Prepared  by  Robert  Starr  Allyn.   16  E.\change  Place,   New  York.] 

1,033,786.  MAGNETO-BATTERY  SWITCH;  H.  G.  Cox,  Detroit,  Mich. 
App.  filed  March  16,  1911.  Push-button  switch  for  automobile  igni- 
tion system. 

1,033,796.  ELECTRICAL  SWITCH;  M.  D.  Greengard.  New  York. 
N.  Y.     App.  filed  Sept.    16,  1910.     Poll  type  for  cluster  lamps. 

1,033.799.  ELECTRIC  HE.ATER;  J.  E.  Harvey,  Milton.  Mass.  App. 
filed  March  9,  1912.  Water  heater  *rith  embedded  resistance  and 
switch. 

1,033,813.  ARC-LAMP  CONSTRUCTION;  A.  A.  Lt.'*,  Horseshoe,  N.  Y. 
App    filed  March   16,  1908.     Ball-bearing  electrode  guide. 

1.033.816.  HEATING  APPARATUS;  G.  Machiet.  Jr.,  Elizabeth,  N.  J. 
App.  filed  Nov.  23,  1908.  Automatic  regulator  with  indicating  device 
for  a  gas  and  air  furnace;    110  claims. 

1.033.817.  TELEPHONE  WALL  SET;  R.  H.  Manson,  Elyria,  Ohio. 
App.  filed  Feb.  14,  1910.  Interchangeable  case  for  wall  set,  hotel  set 
or  desk  set. 

1,033,859.  BANK  OF  KEYS;  C.  A.  Hals,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed,  Aug. 
2,  1909.  Push-button  switch  for  intercommunicating  telephone  sys- 
tem. 

1,038,867.  ELECTRIC  HEATER;  A.  P.  Blenkner  and  B.  Z.  Smith. 
Mountain  Home,  Idaho.  App.  filed  Sept.  21,  1911.  For  a  face 
steamer. 

1,033,877.  TELEPHONE  EXCHANGE  SYSTEM;  E.  R,  Corwin,  Chi- 
cago, III.  App.  filed  Oct.  12.  1908.  Multiple  switchboard  plug  and 
jack. 

1,033,883.    ELECTROMAGNET    FOR    SURGICAL    PURPOSES;    G.    T. 


1,033,883 — Electromagnet    for   Surgical    Purposes. 


Fette,  Cincinnati,  Ohio.     App.  filed  Oct.  7,  1909. 
from  the  eye,  etc. 


For  contracting  metal 


1,033.893.  MERCURY  MOTOR  METER;  J.  H.  Hodde,  Springfield,  III. 
App.  filed  Nov.  9,  1910.  Anti-friction  support  for  the  rotating  ele- 
ment. 

1,033,900.  MOTOR-CONTROLLING  DEVICE;  J.  T.  Janette,  Chicago. 
III.  App.  filed  Nov.  7,  1910.  Automatic  starting  and  stopping  air- 
pump   motors. 

1,033,935.  ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  G.  B.  Reisbach,  Milwaukee,  Wis.  App. 
filed  Dec.  26,  1908.  Interconnection  of  two  switches  for  controlling 
inductive  circuits. 

1,033,938.  TELEPHONE-RECEIVER  SHELL;  F.  C.  Richey,  Elyria, 
Ohio.  App.  filed  Sept.  27,  1909.  Metal  shell  with  special  joint  for 
the  cap. 

1,033.982.  MINI.\TURE  S.AFE;  H.  Beshore,  Marion,  Ind.  App.  filed 
^\ug.  30,  1911.  Sectional  safe,  particularly  for  use  on  the  window- 
sill    of   a   railway    car. 

1,033,989.  RAILWAY  SIGNAL;  T.  F.  Coyd,  North  Yakima,  Wash.  App. 
filed  Nov.  8,   1910.     Electromagnetically  controlled  semaphore. 

1.034.000.  CIRCUIT  CONTROLLER;  W.  H.  Durfee,  Providence,  R.  I. 
App.  filed  April  22,  1911.  Multiple  break  with  a  plurality  of  movable- 
contact   members   on    a   carrier    rod. 

1.034.001.  BELL-RINGING  APPARATUS;  W.  H.  Durfee,  Providence, 
R.  I.  App.  filed  April  22,  1911.  Keyboard  operation  of  a  musical 
instrument. 

1.034.002.  STORAGE  BATTERY;  T.  A.  Edison,  Llewellyn  Park,  Orange, 


N.    J.      App.    filed    Jan.    27,    1911.      Nickel    hydroxide    is    mixed    with 
freshly  precipitated  bismuth  hydroxide  and  the  mixture  dried. 

1,034,003.  BATTERY-CELL  CONTAINER;  T.  A.  Edison,  Llewellyn 
Park,  Orange,  N.  J.  App.  filed  Jan.  27,  1911.  Frame  for  supporting  a 
plurality   of  Edison   storage-battery   elements. 

1,034,016.  UNDERGROUND-TROLLEY  SYSTEM;  A.  Kautzky,  Los  An- 
geles,  Cal.     App.  filed  May   15,   1911.      Conduit  with  drainage. 

1,034,018.  MANUF.-\CTURE  OF  TUNGSTEN  FIL.\MENTS  FOR  IN- 
CANDESCENT ELECTRIC  LAMPS;  A.  Lederer,  Vienna,  Austria- 
Hungary.  App.  filed  June  8,  1909.  Powdered  metallic  tungsten  is 
mixed   with    the   tungsten   dioxide   and   binder. 

1,034,069.  ELECTRIC  MOTOR;  E.  W.  Brown,  Dayton,  Ohio.  App. 
filed  Dec.  1,  1911.  Laminated  squirrel-cage  armature  with  special 
winding    to    avoid    "humming." 

1,034.108.  DEVICE  FOR  CHARGING  STORAGE  BATTERIES;  E.  A. 
Halbleib.  Rociiester,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  May  9,  1910.  "Gassing"  is 
employed   for    regulating  the   charging. 

1,034,119.  ELECTRIC-CIRCUIT-CONTROLLING  SYSTEM;  H.  B. 
Kahn,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Feb.  19,  1909.  Motor-driven 
spring-moved    snap    switch    with    distant    control. 

1.034.129.  SADIRON;  C.  P.  Madsen,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah.  App.  filed 
Jan.  22,  1908.  A.  self-contained  heater  unit  is  interposed  between  a 
thin   ironing  plate  and   the   heavy   upper   handle  portion. 

1.034.130.  ELECTRIC  HE.A.TER;  C.  P.  Madsen.  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed  Sept.  23,  1908.  A  separate  heating  element  suitable  for  various 
uses,   such  as  sadirons,  ovens,  toasters,  etc. 

1,034,148.  ATTACHMENT  FOR  TELEPHONES;  W.  A.  Schmelz,  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.  App.  filed  Nov.  16,  1911.  A  flexible  tube  and  earpiece 
attachment    for   a    receiver. 

1,034.151.  COMBIN.ATION  LOCK  FOR  ELECTRIC  LAMP  FIX- 
TURES AND  THE  LIKE;  G.  I.  Silbert,  Chicago,  III.  App.  filed 
Sept.    12,    1911.      To   prevent   the   unscrewing  of   a   lamp   or    plug. 

1.034.156.  STORAGE  BATTERY;  E.  Sokal,  Chicago,  III.  App.  filed 
July  2,  1909.  Forced  circulation  of  the  electrolyte  with  filtering 
medium.    (See    Patent    No.    852,464.) 

1.034.157.  STORAGE  BATTERY;  E.  Sokal,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed 
July  2,    1909.     Hollow  electrodes.      (See  Patent  No.    1,034,156.) 

1.034.159.  CONDUCTOR  COUPLING;  W.  Sparks,  Jackson,  Mich. 
App.  filed  April  4,   1912.      Small  plug  coupling  for  electric  "horn." 

1.034.160.  ELECTRIC  PRIMER;  H.  W.  Starkweather,  New  Haven, 
(ionn.  App.  filed  April  22.  1912.  A  one-piece  shell  with  a  powder 
chamber   and    a   container    chamber. 

1,034.167.  SYSTEM  FOR  ELECTRICALLY  CONTROLLING  AND 
OPERATING  RAILWAY-TRAFFIC-CONTROLLING  APPARA- 
TUS; H.  B.  Taylor,  Albany,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Aug.  12,  1910.  For 
switches,  derails,  cross-overs  and  signals. 

1.034.197.  MEANS  FOR  THE  PROTECTION  OF  ELECTRICAL  IN- 
STALLATIONS FROM  EXCESS  VOLTAGES;  G.  Campos,  Milan, 
Italy.  App.  filed  Aug.  12,  1910.  Ohmic  resistances  in  parallel  with 
conducting    means    in    series. 

1.034.198.  MEANS  FOR  THE  PROTECTION  OF  ELECTRICAL  IN- 
STALLATIONS FROM  EXCESS  VOLTAGES;  G.  Campos,  Milan, 
Italy.  App.  filed  Aug,  19,  1910.  Capacity  and  resistance  appliances 
in  shunt  with  the  line  wires. 

1,034,200  TELEPHONE  RECEIVER;  L.  W.  Carroll,  Riverside,  111. 
App.  filed  Oct.  24,  1910.  An  actuating  magnet  on  each  side  of  the 
diaphragm. 

1,034.219.  ELECTROPLATING  APPARATUS:  J.  W.  Dow,  Marsfield, 
Ohio.  -App.  filed  .April  16,  1912.  A  tank  with  an  endless  conveyor 
with  pockets   for   handling  small   articles. 

1,034,223.  ELECTRICAL  .AL.ARM;  T.  Erickson,  Ogden,  Utah.  App. 
filed  June   8,    1911.      Operated   by    a   depressible   floor   section. 

1,034,241.  TROLLEY;  M.  Jakubowski,  Windber,  Pa.  App.  filed  Oct. 
25,    1911.      Spring-connected   guards   to    prevent    displacement. 

1,034,261  AUDIBLE  SIGNAL  OR  ANNUNCIATOR  FOR  INCUBA- 
TORS; H.  R.  Lightcap,  Greensburg,  Pa.  App.  filed  Oct.  11,  1911. 
Thermally    operated. 

1,034.265.  ELECTRIC  HEATING  DEVICE;  C.  P.  Madsen,  Chicago. 
111.  .App.  filed  Jan.  22,  1908.  A  pre-forraed  coil  of  wire-insulating 
material   and   binding   cement. 

1,034,276.  COVERING  FOR  WIRE;  C.  Moon.  McDonald,  W.  Va.  .App. 
filed  Jan.    13,    1912.      For  protecting  a   trolley  wire  in  mines,   etc. 

1,034,290.  METHOD  OF  ELECTRIC  WELDING;  H.  F.  Parish,  New 
York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  .Aug.  11,  1911.  A  light,  fusible  metal  wire 
forms    a    negative    electrode. 

1,034,292.  OVERHE.AD  TROLLEY;  R.  A.  Peglar,  Toronto,  Canada. 
App.  filed  .Aug.  16,  1911.  Spring-supported  trolley  pole  with  re- 
placing device. 

1,034,294.  .ARC  LAMP;  C.  Gonzalez-Perez,  Madrid,  Spain.  App.  filed 
June  15,  1911.  Each  electrode  is  formed  by  two  converging  spring- 
pressed  carbons. 

1,034,380.  THERMOMETER  HOLDER;  W.  S.  Atchison,  Washington, 
D.  C.  App.  filed  May  4,  1912.  A  protecting  device  forming  an  e'ec- 
tric   contact. 

1.034.393.  ELECTRIC  HE.ATER;  R.  M.  Millar,  Chicago,  III.  App.  filed 
Jan.    9,    1911.      Upright   toaster. 

1.034.394.  INSULATING  SUPPORT  FOR  STORAGE-BATTERY 
TANKS;  G.  H.  Morris,  Glencoe,  111.  App.  filed  Nov.  7,  1910.  Has 
a  fluid-containing  chamber  with  a  dust  cap. 

1.034,397.  ELECTROMAGNETIC  DEVICE:  B.  Soldatencow,  Paris, 
France.      -App.    filed   Feb.   5,    1912.      Solenoid   with   variable  action. 


Electrical  World 

}  i 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


j'i- 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  AUGUST  17,  1912. 


No.  7. 


PUBLISHED  \N'EEKLY   BY 

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NEW  YORK.  SATURDAY,  AUGUST  17,  1912. 


CONTENTS. 

Editorials    339 

-A.  I.  E.  E.  Affairs 342 

Subscription  to  Lord  Kelvin  Memorial 342 

Program  of  Edison  Convention 342 

Report  of  the  House  of  Representatives  Committee  on  Patents 343 

Oldfield    Substitute    Patent    Bill 344 

Heavy  Export  Gains .,  344 

-Answer  of  New  York  Edison  Company  to  Rate  Discrimination  Charge  345 

Massachusetts  Workmen's  Compensation  Act 346 

Public  Service   Commission  News 347 

Current   News   and    Notes 347 

Enlargement  of  Texas  Central  Station 349 

High-Potential  Cable  Testing  at  Boston 354 

Raising  the  Standard  of  Cable  Specifications.     By  Alden  W.  Welch.-  356 

Singular  Action  of  Lightning 357 

Frontage  Charges  in  Ornamental  Street  Lighting 358 

Tiansforming  a  Double-Current  Generator  Into  a  Rotary  Converter-  .  .  358 

Security  of  Electric  Signs - 358 

Central-Station    Ice-Making.      By    H.   J.    Maclntire 359 

-Artificial  Granite  Posts  Cast  in  Position 361 

Disconnect  Coupling  for  Oil-Switch  Leads 361 

Wiring  Old  Houses.— IV.     By  Terrell  Croft 361 

Apparatus  for  Measuring  Light  and  IlUimination,     By  J.  S.   Dow  and 

V.    H.    MacKinney 363 

Recent    Telephone    Patents 366 

Letter  to  the  Editors: 

Residence  Rates.     By  E.   C.   Anderson '....: 366 

Digest   of   Current   Electrical   Literature 367 

Book     Reviews 370 

New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 371 

Industrial  and  Financial  News 376 

Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 384 


EMPLOYERS'  LIABIUTY. 

Few  latter-day  movements  for  improving  the  welfare  of 
society  have  gathered  impetus  faster  than  the  proposal  to 
place  the  burden  of  industrial  accidents  where  it  rightly 
belongs,  not  on  the  employee,  but  on  the  industry  which  he 
serves.  During  the  past  few  years  the  country  has  been 
aroused  to  the  fact  that  the  present  employers'  liability 
system  is  inequitable  and  wasteful.  It  is  estimated  that  the 
total  mortality  from  accidents  in  the  United  States,  among 
adult  wage  earners,  is  between  30,000  and  35,000  annually, 
and  the  non-fatal  accidents,  about  half  of  which  occur  in 
industrial  works,  approximate  2,000,000  yearly.  This  waste 
of  human  life  and  disregard  of  the  misery  and  hardship 
which  follow  the  luaiming  or  disabling  of  industrial 
■workers,  and  which  the  old  liability  law  so  inadequately 
relieves,  is  a  serious  indictment  against  our  modern 
civilization. 

The  new  workmen's  compensation  act  in  Massachusetts, 
abstracted  elsewhere,  is  a  model  of  its  kind  and  worthy  of 
emulation  in  other  states.  The  need  for  such  a  progressive 
measure  is  now  recognized  alike  by  workmen  and  their 
employers.  It  marks  the  end  of  that  iniquitous  practice, 
heretofore  connnon  and  unfortunately  still  persisted  in,  of 
withholding  all  relief  except  first  aid  until  the  injured 
worker  signs  a  release  waiving  all  legal  claims  upon  his 
employer  for  damages  or  compensation.  It  also  marks  the 
definite  arrival  of  a  widespread  use  of  safety  appliances, 
for  a  few  dollars'  worth  of  protection  will  cost  far  less 
than  the  compensation  of  injured  workmen.  As  part  of 
the  general  conservation  movement  the  Massachusetts  act 
stands  for  definite  achievement. 


OIL  FUEL  IN  ELECTRICAL  SERVICE. 

As  hydroelectric  energy  transmission  systems  rise  year 
by  year  to  greater  prominence  the  problem  of  a  suitable 
stand-by  source  of  energy  becomes  of  increasing  impor- 
tance. A  stand-by  station  must  above  all  else  be  equipped 
for  immediate  activity.  .\  recent  proposal  worthy  of  serious 
consideration,  based  on  experience  in  the  Pacific '  Coast 
region,  is  one  involving  the  combination  of  oil-fired  boilers 
with  a  heat-storage  supply  of  superheated  water.  The 
proposition,  which  owes  its  origin  to  Mr.  A.  M.  Hunt,  is  to 
keep  the  storage  tanks  thoroughly  heat-insulated  with  enough 
energy  produced  in  electric  heaters  to  replace  the  heat  losses 
from  radiation  and  convection.  Valves  connecting  these 
storage  tanks  witii  the  boiler  supply  operate  automatically 
whenever  the  pressure  in  the  boilers  rises  above  that  in  the 
storage  tanks,  which  normally  are  charged  by  the  use  of 
steam  from  the  main  boilers.  With  an  oil  supply  controlled 
from  a  central  point  and  automatic  igniters  oil  fire  can  be 
started  under  all  the  boilers  at  once.     The  storage  tanks 


340 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  7. 


at  a  pinch  are  capable  of  operating  the  whole  plant  for 
thirty  minutes,  while  the  boilers  are  heating,  and  the  steam 
is  utilized  in  turbo-generators.  A  careful  estimate  of  the 
costs  as  compared  with  a  gas-engine  installation  shows 
that  the  cost  of  the  emergency  station  as  proposed  would 
be  less  than  half  that  of  a  gas-engine  station  and  the 
stand-by  charges  also  less  than  half.  As  to  promptness  of 
operation,  this  emergency  plant  seems  to  leave  little  to  be 
desired,  inasmuch  as  it  should  be  ready  for  action  within 
two  minutes  after  a  call  for  service. 

In  connection  with  the  consideration  of  the  advantageous 
features  of  oil  as  fuel  for  stand-by  service,  sight  must 
not  be  lost  of  the  highly  important  developments  in  prime 
movers  of  the  oil-engine  type.  The  oil  engine  did  not  meet 
with  much  success  in  this  country  until  within  the  last  two 
or  three  years,  when  the  number  of  units  increased  con- 
siderably. Most  of  the  plants  thus  far  installed  have  been 
small,  and  certain  mechanical  difficulties  have  been  en- 
countered. However,  the  recent  report  of  the  prime  movers 
committee  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  shows 
that  the  thermal  efficiency  is  high,  the  specific  consumption 
being  perhaps  not  above  0.5  lb.  of  oil  per  brake-hp-hour  in 
actual  service. 

THE  PATENT  SITUATION. 

The  report  of  the  House  of 'Representatives  committee  on 
patents,  abstracted  elsewhere  in  this  issue,  is  of  vital  in- 
terest to  the  entire  industry  and  demands  careful  study. 
Notwithstanding  the  large  amount  of  testimony  presented 
at  the  hearings  and  directed  against  the  proposal  to  take 
away  the  patentee's  right  to  fix  the  resale  price  and  impose 
restrictions  on  the  use  of  the  patented  article  in  connection 
with  unpatented  articles,  the  committee  adheres  to  its  com- 
mendable course  in  attempting  to  eliminate  the  evils  which 
have  grown  up  under  these  privileges.  It  appears  to  be 
sound  policy  to  take  the  position  that  these  restrictions 
ought  to  be  subject  only  to  such  tests  of  legality  as  apply 
in  the  case  of  unpatented  articles.  This  would  render  the 
violation  of  a  contract  for  sale  or  use  of  a  patented  article 
no  ground  for  an  action  for  infringement,  but  merely  a 
cause  for  suit  under  the  general  laws.  The  perversion  of 
patents  to  purely  commercial  ends,  without  stimulating  real 
invention  or  benefiting  either  inventors  or  the  public,  was 
perfectly  apparent  from  nnich  of  the  testimony  presented. 
Articles  on  which  the  fundamental  patents,  if  any,  have  long 
since  expired  are  now  covered  by  patents  on  mere  trivialities 
which  neither  embody  substantial  merit  nor  carry  control 
of  the  field,  all  for  the  purpose  of  restricting  the  sale  or 
use.  The  endless  and  harmful  possibilities  of  the  restrictive 
privilege  are  made  obvious  in  the  report  by  several  absurd 
but  perfectly  possible  illustrations. 

The  proposal  for  compulsory  license  as  now  drawn  ap- 
pears to  be  inspired  by  a  desire  to  protect  the  inventor  as 
well  as  to  prevent  the  suppression  of  competitive  patents. 
Clearly  the  inventor  will  be  secure  so  long  as  he  retains  his 
patent,  and  equally  a  company  which  buys  the  patent  and 
works  it  will  be  secure.  Whether  or  not  the  proposal  is 
faultily  constructed,  the  clear  Intent,  which  ought  to  con- 
trol in  cases  of  doubt,  is  to  prevent  the  suppression  of 
patents  against  the  public  interest.    Even  in  the  cases  where 


a  license  can  be  obtained  from  an  unwilling  patent  owner, 
both  sides  must  be  heard  in  court  before  the  issue  is  de-. 
cided,  and  reasonable  compensation  fixed.  The  proposal  to 
limit  the  term  of  a  patent  to  nineteen  years  from  the  date 
of  filing  application,  with  a  maximum  actual  term  of  seven- 
teen years,  is  aimed  at  the  prevalent  procrastination  in 
pushing  applications  to  issue. 

In  another  colunm  there  is  given  also  an  abstract  of  the 
new  bill  accompanying  the  report,  which  is  an  amended 
substitute  for  the  first  Oldfield  bill.  Its  provisions  are  ex- 
plained at  length  in  the  report.  Those  sections  which  aim 
to  bring  combinations  of  competing  patents  under  the  Sher- 
man act  will  require  careful  study.  The  report  also  con- 
tains references  to  other  legislation  which  is  needed  both 
in  relation  to  the  law  and  its  administration  and  the  needed 
reforms  in  Patent  Office  procedure.  A  perusal  of  the  re- 
port shows  that  the  testimony  of  prominent  inventors  and 
the  memorials  presented  by  the  Inventors'  Guild  carried 
much  weight  with  the  committee,  facts  which  have  hope- 
ful significance  in  view  of  the  mass  of  prejudiced  and 
selfish   arguments   advanced   at   the   hearings. 


STANDARDIZATION  OF  NON-INSULATED  CONDUCTOR  WIRES. 

The  introduction  of  very  high  voltages  in  electric  power 
transmission,  with  its  tendency  toward  tower  supports  for 
the  line  wires,  makes  the  design  and  construction  of  such 
lines  a  matter  requiring  very  careful  consideration  both 
from  the  mechanical  and  the  electrical  standpoint.  This,  in 
turn,  calls  for  the  standardization  of  line  conductor  sizes 
and  properties,  both  nationally  and  internationally.  The 
first  step  toward  the  international  standardization  of  copper 
conductors  is  the  adoption  of  an  international  basis  of 
electrical  resistivity  and  of  the  temperature  coefficient  of 
resistivity.  To  this  end,  we  are  informed  that  the  inter- 
national sub-committee  on  "rating"  of  the  International  I 
Electrochemical  Commission,  which  met  at  Paris  last  May 
and  to  which  Mr.  C.  O.  Mailloux  was  the  United  States 
delegate,  has  recommended  to  the  commission  that  the  value 
of  resistivity  proposed  by  the  Bureau  of  Standards  shall 
be  made  international ;  namely,  that  a  copper  wire  having 
a  length  of  i  m  and  a  weight  of  i  gram  at  20  deg.  C.  shall 
be  0.15328  international  ohm,  the  absolute  temperature  of 
zero  resistivity  being  inferred  as  — 234.5  deg.  C.  This 
would  be  the  standard  resistivity  of  annealed  copper  wire.  I 
It  would  correspond  to  a  conductance  of  exactly  58  mhos, 
in  a  wire  i  m  long  and  i  sq.  mm  in  section,  at  20  deg.  C, 
and  would  also  correspond  to  a  volume  resistivity  of  1.5789 
microhm-cm  at  o  deg.  C,  the  density  of  the  copper  being 
taken  as  8.89  grams  per  cubic  centimeter  at  20  deg.  C. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  there  is  much  difference 
between  the  standards  of  resistivity,  or  between  the  copper 
wire  tables,  of  different  countries.  Indeed,  there  is  but 
little  difference  between  them.  Nevertheless,  unless  actually 
the  same  numerical  standards  are  used  throughout,  con- 
fusion and  misunderstanding  are  sure  to  occur  between 
electrical  engineers  of  different  countries,  since,  in  the 
exchange  of  ideas  at  long  range,  small  numerical  differ- 
ences are  likely  to  subtend  relatively  large  psychological 
dimensions.     In  an  article  recently  published  in  the  Elektro- 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


341 


technische  Zeitschrift,  and  referred  to  in  this  week's  Digest, 
Mr.  W.  von  Moellendorff  calls  attention  to  the  differences 
between  the  demands  of  different  customers  in  specifications 
for  hard-drawn  conductors.  He  shows  that  such  wide  dif- 
ferences apparently  are  not  justified  by  practical  needs  and 
constitute  an  unnecessary  hardship  in  manufacture,  so  that 
marked  advantage  would  accrue  to  the  industry  if  the 
dimensions  and  properties  of  overhead-line  conductors  were 
standardized. 

The  suggestions  in  the  article  are  very  practical  and 
might  well  commend  themselves  to  the  industry.  They 
relate  to  the  sizes  of  wires  in  standard  use,  the  limits  of 
permissible  variation  in  their  diameters,  the  sizes  and  com- 
position of  stranded  conductors,  the  mechanical  loads  that 
each  size  should  bear  and  the  electrical  conductivities. 
The  article  also  recapitulates  three  well-known  facts  that 
observation  has  established  in  regard  to  copper  wires — 
first,  that  the  conductivity  is  always  highest  in  elec- 
trolytically  pure  copper,  rapidly  falling  off  with  impurity ; 
second,  that  the  admixture  of  impurities,  or  of  alloys,  with 
copper  may  increase  the  tensile  strength  materially  but  at  a 
relatively  greater  loss  in  conductivity;  third,  that  in- 
gredients which  increase  the  toughness  generally  reduce  the 
tensile  strength,  and  conversely.  Nevertheless,  there  is 
always  hope  that  some  new  alloy,  or  method  of  treatment, 
may  bring  about  an  exception  to  these  rules. 


STANDARD  TESTS  OF  DRY  CELLS. 

Excepting  incandescent  lamps  there  is,  perhaps,  no  elec- 
trical device  so  extensively  used  by  the  public  at  large  as 
the  dry  cell.  Dry  cells  are  used  for  bell  ringing,  for  igni- 
tion irt  gas  engines,  for  magneto-telephone  sets  and  for  a 
host  of  minor  purposes.  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  the  large 
amount  of  general  experience  with  dry  cells,  they  are  one 
of  the  hardest  of  electrical  devices  for  which  to  provide  a 
standard  test.  One  reason  for  this  peculiar  state  of  affairs 
is  that  a  dry  cell  is  neither  capable  of  supplying  nor  in- 
tended to  supply  steadily  its  maximum  initial  power  output. 
A  cell  which  has  an  internal  emf  of  1.5  volts  and  an  internal 
resistance  of  0.05  ohm — values  very  generally  met  with  in 
practice — is  able  to  give  initially,  and  externally,  11.25  watts 
to  a  suitably  selected  load.  If  it  could  maintain  this  power 
until  it  was  completely  exhausted,  it  would  only  be  a  matter 
of  a  few  hours'  test  to  empty  a  dry  cell  of  its  energy  and  to 
measure  the  output.  But  no  ordinary  dry  cell  can  be  ex- 
pected to  maintain  so  high  an  output,  which  would  cor- 
respond to  lifting  its  own  weight  nearly  4  ft.  per  second 
against  sea-level  gravitation.  Ordinary  dry  cells  are  de- 
signed only  to  be  used  for  intermittent  service.  Then  the 
question  at  once  poses  itself.  How  intermittent  is  the  service 
test  to  be?  To  this  question  no  single  answer  can  be  ex- 
pected, because  the  degrees  of  severity  and  of  intermittency 
in  different  kinds  of  dry-cell  service  differ  so  widely.  The 
best  that  can  be  done  is  to  agree  conventionally  upon  a 
particular  schedule  of  severity  and  intermittency  of  load, 
as  representative  of,  say,  ignition  or  telephone  or  bell- 
ringing  requirements,  and  to  test  a  number  of  cells  under 
such  schedules,  so  as  to  obtain  an  average.  The  testing 
process  is  naturally  long  and  tedious.  It  is  not  at  all 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  individual  user  of  dry  cells. 


Manufacturers  and  large-consumption  purchasers  can  and 
do  apply  such  tests ;  but  the  man  who  has  to  buy  a  few  cells 
at  retail  must  depend  upon  quickly  made  measurements,  if 
he  has  time  and  apparatus  to  make  measurements  at  all. 

The  subject  of  such  tests  was  considered  in  a  paper 
which  was  read  at  the  last  convention  of  the  American 
Electrochemical  Society  as  a  report  from  a  committee  on 
dry-cell  tests.  It  is  shown  that  there  are  actually  only  two 
tests  that  can  be  applied  promptly  to  a  dry  cell  in  order  to 
obtain  information  as  to  its  condition.  One  is  to  measure 
the  internal  emf  at  no-load,  and  the  other  is  to  measure  the 
momentary  short-circuit  current,  or  the  current  instanta- 
neously supplied  by  the  cell  through  a  low-resistance  am- 
meter, with  short  leads.  These  measurements  can  be  made 
in  a  few  seconds  with  a  combination  direct-current  volt- 
annneter.  Although  not  highly  significant  in  themselves, 
yet.  in  conjunction  with  the  known  conditions  concerning 
good  new  cells,  these  observations  are  capable  of  indicating 
whether  the  cell  tested  is  in  proper  condition.  The  short- 
circuit  test  with  the  ammeter  is,  of  the  two,  the  more  im- 
portant single  test  that  can  be  made.  Modern  dry  cells 
commonly  give  from  15  amp  to  30  amp,  according  to  type, 
when  tested  in  this  way.  In  a  paper  read  at  the  same  con- 
vention by  Mr.  C.  Hambuechen  it  was  pointed  out  that 
makers  of  dry  cells  had  in  recent  years  steadily  raised  the 
initial  short-circuit  current  of  their  various  types,  probably 
under  the  stimulus  of  these  short-circuit  tests.  In  fact, 
there  is  a  danger  of  sacrificing  cell  durability  or  "shelf- 
wear"  to  the  demands  for  large  short-circuit  current.  Ac- 
cording to  observations  reported,  the  short-circuit  current 
of  an  ordinary  cell  falls,  by  age  on  the  shelf,  to  50  per  cent 
in  twelve  months  or  less,  although  the  internal  voltage  does 
not  ordinarly  fall  very  much  in  that  time. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  just  what  are  the  condi- 
tions in  a  dry  cell  which  cause  its  internal  resistance  to 
double  in  the  course  of  a  year  of  inaction.  It  is  to  be 
supposed  that  the  moisture  slowly  escapes,  and  that  any  dry 
cell  finally  earns  its  name  both  inside  and  out.  If  that  is 
actually  the  case,  there  ought  to  be  some  way  of  keeping 
the  moisture  sealed  in.  Very  few  researches  in  this  direc- 
tion have  thus  far  been  published.  The  London  Electrician 
recently  published  a  research  made  at  the  National  Physical 
Laboratory  upon  the  behavior  of  different  makes  of  dry 
cell  under  different  kinds  of  test.  No  less  than  seven 
different  testing  schedules  were  applied  to  eacli  type  of 
cell  investigated.  The  conclusion  reached  from  the  British 
tests  conforms  to  that  of  the  committee  on  dry-cell  tests 
already  mentioned.  It  is  to  the  effect  that  none  of  the 
schedules  "can  be  relied  upon  to  give  even  an  approxi- 
mation of  the  relative  capacity  of  dry  cells  or  of  the  output 
which  may  be  obtained  under  working  conditions."  This 
means  that  the  only  positive  method  of  testing  a  battery  of 
dry  cells  under  an  assigned  duty  is  to  install  the  battery 
and  see  how  long  it  lasts,  which  is  another  way  of  repeating 
the  old  proverb  that  "the  test  of  the  pudding  is  in  the  eat- 
ing." Nevertheless,  the  National  Physical  Laboratory's 
tests  brought  out  the  fact  that  one  particular  make  of  cell 
had  an  output  of  100  watt-hours  under  every  condition  of 
test  tried,  which  was  much  in  excess  of  that  given  by  any 
other  type  of  cell. 


342 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o.   Xo.  7. 


A.  L  E.  E.  AFFAIRS. 


At  the  regular  monthly  meeting  of  the  board  of  directors 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  held  on 
Aug.  9  the  business  transacted  related  largely  to  the  in- 
dorsement of  President  Ralph  D.  Mershon's  selection  of 
chairmen  and  members  of  the  various  Institute  committees.  . 
The  names  of  these  committees  and  the  chairmen  appointed 
are  as  follows:  Executive,  Mr.  Ralph  D.  Mershon;  finance, 
Mr.  Charles  \V.  Stone ;  library.  Dr.  Samuel  Sheldon ;  meet- 
ings and  papers,  Mr.  Walter  S.  Rugg;  editing,  Mr.  Lewis  T. 
Robinson ;  board  of  examiners,  Mr.  H.  S.  Putnam ;  sections, 
Mr.  Paul  M.  Lincoln ;  standards.  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly ;  code, 
Mr.  Farley  Osgood;  law.  Mr.  Charles  A.  Terry;  railway, 
Mr.  Frank  J.  Sprague;  educational.  Prof.  H.  H.  Norris; 
high-tension  transmission.  Mr.  Percy  H.  Thomas ;  electric 
lighting,  Mr.  W.  C.  L.  Eglin ;  telegrapliy  and  telephony. 
Mr.  S.  G.  McMeen ;  electrochemical.  Prof.  .\.  F.  Ganz ; 
power  station,  Mr.  H.  G.  Stott;  electrophysics.  Dr.  John  B. 
Whitehead ;  public  policy,  Mr.  Calvert  Townley ;  historical 
museum,  Mr.  T.  C.  Martin ;  United  States  national  com- 
mittee of  the  International  Electrotechnical  Commission, 
Mr.  C.  O.  Mailloux;  code  of  principles  of  professional  con- 
duct, Mr.  B.  A.  Behrend :  indexing  Transactions,  Mr. 
G.  I.  Rhodes;  relations  of  consulting  engineers,  Mr.  Lewis 

B.  Stillwell;  patent,  Mr.  B.  J.  Arnold;  sections  participa- 
tion, Mr.  E.  A.  Baldwin;  committee  on  revision  of  con- 
stitution, Mr.  C.  W.  Stone ;  membership,  Mr.  H.  Clyde 
Snook ;  badges,  Mr.  Charles  W.  Stone ;  outgoing  president's 
testimonial,   Mr.   Walter   S.   Rugg;    Toubert  memorial,   Mr. 

C.  O.  Mailloux. 

The  following  representatives  of  the  Institute  were  also 
appointed  by  President  Mershon:  On  joint  committee  of 
engineering  education,  Prof.  Charles  F.  Scott  and  Dr. 
Samuel  Sheldon;  advisory  board  of  'American  Year-Book," 
Mr.  Edward  Caldwell ;  committee  of  the  American  Electric 
Railway  Association  on  joint  use  of  poles,  Messrs.  Farley 
Osgood,  Percy  H.  Thomas  and  F.  B.  H.  Paine;  delegate  to 
Sixth  Congress  of  the  International  Association  for  Testing 
Materials,  Mr.  C.  E.  Skinner,  Pittsburgh.  Pa.;  joint  con- 
ference committee  of  National  Engineering  Societies. 
Messrs.  Calvert  Townley  and  W.  W'.  Freeman ;  electrical 
committee  of  the  National  Fire  Protection  Association,  Mr. 
Farley  Osgood;  on  council  of  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science.  Profs.  G.  W.  Pierce  and  W.  S. 
Franklin. 

The  board  elected  from  its  own  membership  the  following 
three  members  to  serve  upon  the  Edison  medal  committee 
for  two  years :  IMessrs.  Farley  Osgood.  Walter  S.  Rugg 
and  Charles  E.  Scribner.  The  board  also  confirmed  the 
appointment  by  President  Mershon  of  Mr.  H.  Ward 
Leonard,  Mr.  Robert  T.  Lozier  and  Dr.  .-\.  E.  Kennelly  as 
members  of  the  Edison  medal  committee  for  terms  of  five 
years,  and  Mr.  Richard  N.  Dyer  for  the  term  of  one  year, 
vice  Prof.  Charles  E.  Lucke,  resigned. 

The  following  local  honorary  secretaries,  whose  terms 
expired  on  July  31,  1912,  were  reappointed  by  vote  of  the 
board  for  the  two  years  ending  July  31.  1914:  Mr.  James 
S.  Fitzmaurice,  Perth,  Australia:  Mr.  Horace  Field  Par- 
shall.  London,  England ;  Prof.  L.  A.  Herdt.  Montreal. 
Quebec :  Mr.  William  G.  T.  Goodman,  Adelaide,  South 
Australia;  Prof.  Robert  J.  Scott,  Christ  Church,  New 
Zealand;  Mr.  Henry  Graftio,  St.  Petersburg,  Russia. 

Secretary  Hutchinson  announced  that  arrangements  have 
been  made  by  the  .\merican  Society  for  Testing  Materials 
for  a  reception  to  be  given  on  Monday  evening,  Sept.  2,  in 
the  Engineering  Societies  Building,  to  the  delegates  and 
ladies  attending  the  Sixth  Congress  of  the  International 
Astociation  for  Testing  Materials,  in  which  the  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  the  American  Institute 
of  Mining  Engineers  and  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  have  E?en  invited  to  co-operate.  The 
board  authorized  the  Institute's  participation  in  this  recep- 


tion. The  Institute  will  be  represented  upon  the  general 
reception  committee  by  President  Ralph  D.  Mershon  and 
Messrs.  C.  O.  Mailloux,  John  W.  Lieb,  Jr.,  Dr.  Clayton  H. 
Sharp  and  Dr.  Samuel  W.  Stratton. 


A.  I.  E.  E.  KELVIN  MEMORIAL  FUND. 


As  noted  in  our  issue  of  July  2^,  page  182,  a  general 
movement  has  been  inaugurated  to  erect  a  memorial  win- 
dow in  Westminster  Abbey  to  the  late  Lord  Kelvin,  dis- 
tinguished engineer  and  man  of  science.  Under  date  of 
.\ug.  9  a  circular  call  for  subscriptions  was  issued  to  the 
membership  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E.  by  Secretary  F.  L.  Hutchin- 
son, in  behalf  of  the  Institute  representatives  on  the  general 
committee.  The  total  amount  received  will  be  transmitted 
to  the  treasurer  of  the  general  committee  in  London.  Con- 
tributions for  any  amount  will  be  acceptable,  but  it  has 
been  estimated  that  a  requisite  fund  will  be  obtained  if 
individual  subscriptions  do  not  exceed  $10.  The  Institute 
representatives  on  the  general  committee  bespeak  a  wide 
response  to  this  opportunity  of  paying  honor  and  respect  to 
the  memory  of  the  great  English  scientist,  who  for  many 
vears  was  an  honorarv  member  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E. 


PROGRAM  OF  EDISON  CONVENTION. 


As  announced  in  the  July  13  issue,  the  Association  of 
Edison  Illuminating  Companies  will  hold  its  twenty-eighth 
annual  convention  at  Hot  Springs,  Va.,  Sept.  10,  11  and  12. 
Among  the  reports  to  be  presented  are  the  following: 
Meters,  by  Mr.  S.  G.  Rhodes,  New  York;  electric  heating, 
by  Mr.  M.  E.  Turner,  Cleveland;  National  Electrical  Code, 
by  Mr.  A.  A.  Pope,  New  York;  incandescent  lamps,  by  Mr. 
J.  W.  Lieb,  Jr.,  New  York;  storage  batteries,  by  Mr. 
William  S.  Yeager,  Brooklyn ;  electric  vehicles,  by  Mr. 
E.  W.  Lloyd,  Chicago;  high  potential  disturbances,  by  Mr. 
S.  D.  Sprong,  Brooklyn,  and  steam  turbines,  by  Mr.  W.  F. 
Wells,  Brooklyn. 

In  addition  to  the  address  by  the  president.  General 
George  H.  Harries,  the  following  papers  are  scheduled  for 
presentation :  "Development  of  Meter-Testing  Methods." 
by  Mr.  Frank  F.  Magalhaes,  New  York;  ''Uses  of  Elec- 
tricity for  Purposes  of  Irrigation,"  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Williams, 
Denver ;  "The  Relations  Between  the  Public  and  Public 
Utility  Corporations,"  by  Mr.  H.  M.  Byllesby,  Chicago ; 
"Rates."  bv  IMr.  Arthur  Williams.  New  York;  "Future  and 
Present  of  the  Incandescent  Lamp."  by  Mr.  John  W. 
Howell.  Harrison;  "\\'elfare  Department  of  the  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  nf  Boston,"  by  Mr.  Herbert 
W.  Moses,  Boston;  "Improvement  in  the  Design  of  Large 
Reactors,"  by  Mr.  P.  Torchio.  New  York ;  "Burning  Oil 
Fuel  as  a  Substitute  for  High-Tension  Transmission,"  by 
Mr.  F.  H.  Varney,  San  Francisco;  "System  Operator's 
Pilot  Board  and  Substation  Signaling  System,"  by  Mr. 
W.  H.  Lawrence,  New  York;  "Continuity  of  Service,"  by 
Mr.  S.  D.  Sprong,  Brooklyn;  "High-Tension  Power  Trans- 
mission in  the  West,"  by  Mr.  James  H.  Wise,  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  an  address  by  Dr.  Charles  P.  Steinmetz, 
Schenectady. 

Supplementing  the  above,  a  representative  of  the  West- 
inghouse  company  will  present  a  paper,  the  subject  of  which 
it  at  present  unannounced.  Another  representative  will 
read  a  paper  on  "The  New  Rotary  Converter  for  the  New 
York  Edison  Company."  The  General  Electric  Company 
will  submit  a  paper,  and  a  representative  of  the  Rochester 
Railway  &  Light  Company  will  present  a  paper  entitled : 
"Practical  Results  of  Operating  Electric  Vehicle  Garages 
by  Central  Stations."  As  usual  the  meetings  will  be  held 
behind  closed  doors  and  only  duly  accredited  representatives 
will  be  permitted  to  attend. 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


343 


REPORT   OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 
COMMITTEE    ON    PATENTS. 


The  outcome  of  the  long  hearings  before  the  patent  com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Representatives  during  the  present 
year  is  an  important  and  interesting  report  (No.  1 161) 
presented  to  the  House  on  Aug.  8,  which  recommends  an 
amended  substitute  for  the  original  Oldfield  bill  (H.  R. 
23,417),  with  the  stipulation  that  other  legislation  will  be 
presented  later.  This  report  is  of  vital  concern  to  all  who 
have  any  interest  in  the  patent  situation  and  deserves  very 
careful  study.  Its  length,  twenty-four  pages,  prevents  full 
reproduction  here,  but  the  most  important  features  will  be 
brought  out.  There  is  widespread  dissatisfaction  with  our 
present  patent  laws,  which  have  remained  practically  un- 
changed since  1870.  Meanwhile  fundamental  changes  have 
taken  place  in  our  industrial  conditions,  chief  among  which 
is  the  rapid  growth  of  trusts  and  combinations  whose  busi- 
ness rests  largely  on  patents. 

The  testimony  heard  at  the  twenty-seven  public  hearings 
was  confined  as  far  as  possible  to  Sections  17  and  32  of  the 
original  bill,  the  consideration  of  other  questions  being 
reserved  until  later.  Two  primary  causes  of  dissatisfaction 
were  found:  First,  the  abuses  of  the  rights  granted  by 
patents,  and,  second,  the  defects  in  the  present  administra- 
tion of  the  law  in  the  Patent  Office  and  the  courts.  No 
complete  remedy  is  possible  without  removing  these  two 
great  causes. 

As  a  remedy  it  was  proposed  to  take  away  the  right  to 
fix  the  resale  price  and  the  right  (confirmed  in  the  Dick 
case)  to  prohibit  patented  machines  from  being  used  other- 
wise than  in  connection  with  unpatented  materials  fur- 
nished by  the  vendor  or  licensor.  When  concerns  which 
are,  or  naturally  ought  to  be,  owners  of  competing  patents 
combine  to  dominate  some  branch  of  industry,  any  patent 
thus  perverted  from  its  original  use  becomes  part  of  a  trade 
monopoly.  In  general,  monopolies  are  attended  by  the 
twin  evils  of  extortionate  price  and  an  arrest  of  progress 
in  that  branch  of  industry,  which  are  matters  of  common 
knowledge.  The  latter  tendency  is  perhaps  the  more  in- 
sidious of  the  two. 

The  new  bill  is  intended  primarily  to  bring  all  kinds  of 
business  involving  patents  under  the  Sherman  anti-trust 
law.  The  proverbial  procrastination  on  the  part  of  ap- 
plicants in  pushing  their  claims  through  the  Patent  Office, 
thus  effectively  lengthening  the  term  of  monopoly  or  throw- 
ing out  a  dragnet  to  involve  others  in  interference,  is 
covered  by  the  proposal  to  annul  every  patent  nineteen 
years  from  the  date  of  application,  or  sooner,  the  maximum 
term  of  any  patent  not  exceeding  seventeen  years.  This 
allows  two  years  in  which  to  present  the  merits  of  the 
claims.  Notorious  examples  of  abuse  imder  the  present 
system,  drawing  out  the  proceedings  for  years,  are  at 
hand  in  the  cases  of  the  well-known  telephone  and  auto- 
mobile patents. 

The  next  recommendation  is  one  for  preventing  the  sup- 
pression of  patents,  which  undoubtedly  has  been  practised 
extensively  in  order  to  prevent  competition.  Instances 
are  cited  which  have  come  to  light  in  litigation  before  the 
federal  courts.  The  famous  paper-bag  case*  is  also  men- 
tioned. Capital  seeking  to  control  any  industry  through 
patents  proceeds  to  buy  all  those  of  any  importance,  uses 
a  few  and  suppresses  the  remainder,  thereby  building  up 
a  far  broader  monopoly  than  any  created  by  the  patent 
statutes.  The  monopoly  created  by  a  patent  is  in  one 
specific  thing,  but  the  monopoly  acquired  by  the  purchase  of 
competing  patents  is  on  the  whole  industry.  The  com- 
pulsory license  clause  in  Section  i  of  the  new  bill  is  de- 
signed to  cure  this  evil.  The  section  has  none  of  the 
drastic  features  of  similar  statutes  in  foreign  countries, 
and  neither  does  it  provide  for  the  forfeiture  of  the  patent 
right.     Non-use  or  suppression  in  order  to  justify  granting 

•i.sn    l"eJ.    741. 


of  a  license  must  be  for  the  purpose  or  with  the  result  of 
suppressing  competition  between  the  thing  protected  by  the 
patent  suppressed  and  some  other  article  made  and  sold  by 
the  owner  of  the  patent.  The  original  inventor  does  not 
come  within  the  scope  of  this  clause  unless  he  enters  iijto 
a  contract  for  the  suppression  of  his  invention.  This  sec- 
tion will  not  harm  the  inventor  but  will  improve  his  condi- 
tion by  creating  a  market  for  his  patent  rights. 

The  train  of  evils  which  grows  out  of  the  right  to  impose 
restrictions  on  the  use  or  resale  of  patented  articles  is 
treated  at  length  in  the  report.  The  right  to  fi.x  the  resale 
price  and  impose  restrictions  on  the  use  of  patented  articles 
was  first  sanctioned  by  the  courts  in  the  well-known  button- 
fastener  case.  The  reactionary  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  the  recent  Dick  case  served  but  to  emphasize  the 
evils  of  these  practices.  Obviously  many  burdensome  and 
malicious  restrictions  may  lawfully  be  imposed  on  the  use 
or  sale  of  patented  articles  under  this  decision.  On  this 
point  the  report  says  specifically :  "The  question  is  not 
what  has  been  made  but  what  use  will  be  made  of  this 
newly  declared  privilege.  It  easily  can  be  converted  into 
a  plausible  justification  of  commercial  practices  that  have 
been  outlawed  in  every  state  in  the  Union."  It  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that  Section  2  of  the  new  bill  does  not  impair 
the  obligation  of  any  contract  whatever.  It  touches  only 
one  of  the  two  possible  remedies  that  a  patent  owner  has 
for  the  breach  of  a  contractual  duty  by  the  other  party. 

Section  3  of  the  new  bill  is  intended  merely  to  bring  non- 
residents of  the  United  States  under  the  provisions  of  the 
law,  so  that  a  patent  may  not  be  suppressed  through  assign- 
ment to  a  resident  of  another  country.  Section  4  is  in- 
tended specifically  to  prevent  the  use  of  patents  to 
monopolize  trade  or  commerce  among  the  several  states  or 
with  foreign  nations.  It  has  been  undertaken  in  Section  5 
of  the  new  bill  to  enumerate  the  business  practices  in  con- 
nection with  patented  articles  which  are  harmless  when 
performed  by  those  engaged  in  competitive  business  but 
dangerous  when  resorted  to  by  those  engaged  in  restraining 
trade.  The  several  clauses  in  Section  5  are  aimed  at 
specific  practices  which  it  is  desirable  to  abolish,  such  as 
fi.xing  prices,  imposing  restrictions  upon  use,  purchasing 
patents  for  the  purpose  of  suppressing  them,  practising  dis- 
crimination in  the  sale  of  patented  articles,  and  certain 
methods  of  unfair  competition  practised  by  the  Standard 
Oil  and  Tobacco  trusts. 

The  purpose  of  Section  6  is  to  provide  temporary  protec- 
tion for  those  who,  through  the  processes  of  monopoliza- 
tion, have  become  absolutely  dependent  upon  an  illegal 
trust  for  their  business  e.xistence.  The  alleged  position 
occupied  by  the  United  Shoe  Machinery  Company  is  cited 
as  an  illustration.  The  remaining  sections  are  designed  to 
bring  trade-restraining  monopolies  wliich  have  been  aided 
by  combinations  of  patents  clearly  under  the  provisions  of 
the  Sherman  anti-trust  law  to  provide  legal  machinery 
whereby   violations    may    be    prosecuted    without    difficulty. 

The  report  states  that  the  new  bill  submitted  will  go  far 
toward  protecting  the  rights  both  of  the  inventor  and  the 
public,  by  opening  competitive  markets  for  inventions  and 
restoring  industrial  freedom.  Other  remedies,  however, 
are  needed.  In  respect  to  the  administration  of  the  courts 
two  vital  changes  are  badly  needed.  h'irst,  it  is  very 
essential  to  corre.ct  the  existing  practice  of  taking  testimony 
in  patent  cases.  The  methods  of  trial  pursued  in  patent 
causes  in  Germany  and  in  England  are  referred  to  as 
models  for  adoption  in  this  country.  Litigation  which  now 
consumes  years  would,  through  the  methods  of  trial  now 
used  abroad,  be  disposed  of  within  as  many  months  and  pos- 
sibly in  a  few  weeks.  The  taking  of  testimony  before  an 
examiner  should  be  discontinued,  and  all  cases  should  be 
tried  in  the  presence  of  an  able  judge  with  power  to  exclude 
evidence  or  to  enforce  its  production,  thus  abolishing  that 
abuse  of  legal  process  which  has  become  the  scandal  of 
patent  practice. 


344 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  7. 


Adequate  legal  machinery  will  not  be  available  until  there 
is  created  a  single  Court  of  Patent  Appeals  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  present  Court  of  Appeals  in  the  different 
circuits.  Under  the  present  system  diametrically  opposing 
decisions  have  been  rendered  in  the  different  circuits.  Vital 
changes  are  also  necessary  in  the  Patent  Office ;  in  par- 
ticular there  is  a  great  waste  of  time  and  e.xpense  through 
interference  proceedings,  which  prove  a  special  hardship 
on  the  poor  inventor.  The  present  law  rather  places  a 
premium  on  the  withholding  of  an  invention,  whereas  it 
should  be  clearly  to  the  inventor's  advantage  to  make 
prompt  disclosure.  Changes  should  also  be  made  in  the 
organization  and  equipment  of  the  Patent  Office  in  order 
to  increase  its  efficiency.  The  officers  and  employees  of  the 
Patent  Office  should  be  aff'orded  greater  opportunities  for 
promotion,  distinction  and  adequate  compensation.  The 
committee  states  that  it  is  not  yet  ready  to  submit  a  bill 
embodying  recommendations  on  the  questions  not  covered 
by  the  substitute  bill,  but  will  submit  these  at  a  later  date. 


OLDFIELD  SUBSTITUTE  PATENT  BILL. 


On  Aug.  8  Chairman  Oldfield,  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives committee  on  patents,  introduced  a  report  (No. 
1 161)  on  the  revision  of  the  patent  laws  recommending  a 
substitute  measure  for  the  bill  (H.  R.  23.417,  introduced 
April  16)  which  the  committee  has  long  had  under  con- 
sideration. Many  public  hearings  were  given  on  the  first 
bill  and  tremendous  opposition  arose  from  manufacturers 
and  corporations  who  are  making  use  of  patents  to  fix  the 
resale  price  or  otherwise  restrict  the  use  of  patented  articles 
in  such  a  way  as  to  build  up  monopolies  and  restrain  trade. 
The  more  prominent  features  of  the  new  bill  were  outlined 
in  our  issue  of  July  27,  but  are  now  presented  more  fully. 

Section  4884  of  the  Revised  Statutes  is  amended  in  a 
number  of  particulars,  which  apply  exclusively  to  patents 
granted  after  the  passage  of  the  act.  Every  patent  will 
expire  nineteen  years  from  the  date  of  filing  application, 
exclusive  of  the  time  consumed  in  the  Patent  Office  or  the 
courts  in  considering  the  application  or  where  the  applica- 
tion has  been  involved  in  interference.  In  no  case  will  the 
patent  be  in  force  more  than  seventeen  years.  The  District 
Court  within  whose  jurisdiction  the  owner  of  a  patent  may 
reside  will  have  authority  to  compel  the  grant  of  a  license 
if  the  applicant  therefor  shall  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  court  that  the  patented  invention  is  being  withheld  or 
suppressed  by  the  owner  and  if  the  applicant  shall  further 
prove  that  the  patent  in  question  was  filed  more  than  three 
years  prior  to  the  proceedings  for  obtaining  the  license. 
The  court,  in  its  discretion,  may  order  the  owner  of  the 
patent  to  grant  a  license  to  the  applicant  in  such  form  and 
under  such  terms  as  to  duration  of  license,  amount  of 
royalty  and  security  for  payment  as  seem  just,  provided 
that  the  original  inventor,  who  has  not  obligated  himself 
or  empowered  another  person  to  suppress  or  withhold  his 
invention,  is  exempt  from  this  clause.  Appeal  from  the 
order  of  the  District  Court  may  be  taken  to  the  Circuit 
Court  of  Appeals  in  the  customary  manner. 

The  proposed  amendments  to  Section  4899  of  ^le  Revised 
Statutes  comprise  the  second  section  of  the  bill.  Every 
purchaser  of  a  patented  article  shall  have  the  right  to  use 
and  vend  to  others  for  use  the  article  purchased,  without 
liability  therefor.  No  one  who  purchases  or  leases  a 
patented  article  shall  be  liable  to  an  action  for  infringement 
of  the  patent  because  of  any  breach  of  contract.  Further- 
more, no  person  who  obtains  a  license  from  the  owner  of 
the  patent  to  make,  use  or  sell  the  thing  patented  shall  be 
liable  to  an  action  for  infringement  because  of  a  breach  of 
such  license. 

Under  Section  3  it  is  provided  that  every  applicant  for 
a  patent  and  every  owner  of  a  patent  who  is  not  resident 


within  the  United  States  shall,  within  three  months  after 
the  filing  of  his  application  or  after  the  passage  of  this  act, 
designate  some  person  residing  in  this  country  upon  whom 
process  or  notice  of  proceeding  brought  under  this  act  may 
be  served.  Notice  of  such  designation  must  be  filed  in 
writing  in  the  Patent  Office. 

Section  4  is  aimed  directly  at  monopolies  or  trusts  which 
are  alleged  to  have  successfully  restrained  trade  under  the 
shelter  of  the  patent  laws  without  violating  the  Sherman 
anti-trust  law.  This  section  provides  that  no  patent  shall 
be  used  to  restrain  trade  unreasonably  or  to  monopolize 
any  part  of  the  trade  or  commerce  among  the  several  states 
or  with  foreign  nations,  except  in  the  articles  which  embody 
the  invention  or  discovery  patented  and  only  to  the  e.xtent 
that  they  embody  the  invention  or  discovery.  Any  patent 
used  in  any  manner  contrary  to  these  provisions  may  be 
condemned  by  such  proceeding  as  the  law  provides  for  the 
forfeiture,  seizure  and  condemnation  of  property  imported 
into  the  United  States  contrary  to  law. 

Under  the  provisions  of  Section  5  it  is  stipulated  that 
whenever  in  any  civil  suit  or  proceeding  brought  under  the 
provisions  of  the  act  approved  July  2,  1890,  entitled  "An 
act  to  protect  trade  and  commerce  against  unlawful  re- 
straints and  monopolies,"  it  sha'.l  appear  that  a  combination 
in  restraint  of  trade  was  entered  into  or  exists  and  that 
any  patent  has  been  used  in  connection  with  such  restraint, 
the  restraint  shall  be  considered  unreasonable  on  its  face. 
Section  5  names  twelve  specific  acts  which  are  declared  to 
be  unlawful  and  to  constitute  restraint  of  trade.  This  list 
of  unlawful  acts  includes  fixing  the  resale  price,  imposing 
restrictions  on  the  sale  or  use,  e.xercising  discrimination  to 
restrain  competition,  destroying  competition  by  selling  at 
a  price  at  or  below  the  cost  of  production  and  distribution, 
or  attempting  to  prevent  or  restrain  competition  by  the  use 
of  any  unfair  or  oppressive  means  and  methods,  all  in  con- 
nection with  patented  articles. 

The  remaining  eight  sections  of  the  bill  are  almost  wholly 
legal  in  character,  relating  to  procedure  against  violations 
of  the  act  and  bringing  offenders  within  the  scope  of  the 
Sherman  law  as  regards  monopolies  in  restraint  of  trade. 


HEAVY  EXPORT  GAINS. 


The  figures  now  available  for  June,  1912,  show  a  very 
healthy  condition  of  our  electrical  export  trade  for  the 
month  and  for  the  fiscal  year,  with  fair  indications  that 
1912-13  will  even  "better  what  is  done."  The  exports  in 
June  of  heavy  electrical  machinery  were  a  little  less  than 
last  year's,  June  being  $678,287  as  compared  with  $825,091 ; 
but  in  electrical  apparatus  and  instruments  June  this  year 
reached  $1,104,815  as  compared  with  $884,839  a  year  ago. 

It  is,  however,  when  we  turn  to  the  figures  of  the  year 
that  we  get  a  long  view  and  a  clearer  comprehension  of  the 
situation.  A  single  order  in  one  month,  or  a  large  order 
held  over  for  a  month  or  two,  may  easily  distort  the  imme- 
diate statistics;  but  these  anomalies  and  irregularities  tend 
to  get  straightened  out  in  the  course  of  a  whole  year.  And 
this  is  what  happens,  although  in  comparing  year  by  year 
one  has  to  be  guarded.  It  is  obvious  that  one  large  con- 
tract for  hydroelectric  apparatus  in  Mexico,  or  a  lighting 
plant  in  Japan,  or  a  trolley  system  in  India,  might  swell 
unduly  the  figures  of  any  particular  year,  and  thus  distort 
the  facts.  But  when  there  is  a  steady  gain  extending  over 
three  or  four  years  only  one  inference,  and  that  hopeful, 
can  be  deduced. 

The  exports  of  electrical  apparatus  for  the  last  three 
fiscal  years,  then,  run  thus:  1910,  $8,694,132;  191 1.  $10,- 
702,827;  1912,  $11,724,499.  There  can  surely  be  no  mis- 
taking such  an  indication  as  that.  When  we  turn  to  heavy 
electrical  machinery  we  find  the  growth  of  export  trade 
almost  equally  good.     The  figures  run  thus:     1910,  $6,048,- 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


345 


263;  191 1,  $8,024,628;  1912,  $8,444,863.  It  will  be  observed 
that  the  gains  of  191 1  over  1910  were  greater  than  those 
of  1912  over  191 1,  but  it  would  be  difficult,  we  fancy,  to 
maintain  an  increase  of  25  per  cent  annually.  We  do  get 
such  gains  in  electrical  development,  but  not  over  a  long 
period  nor  over  the  whole  industry.  Combining  the  figures 
of  each  year,  the  gain  made  comes  out  even  more  hand- 
somely as  follows:  1910,  $14,742,395;  191 1,  $18,727,455; 
1912,  $20,169,362.  There  is  much  comfort  and  encourage- 
ment in  an  export  trade  that  has  crossed  the  $20,000,000 
line  and  is  still  climbing.  There  is  also  cheer  in  the  fact 
that  the  largest  gains  are  made  not  in  the  limited  class  of 
heavy  goods  but  in  the  wide  field  of  diversified,  small 
apparatus.  Evidently  our  minor  goods  are  in  demand,  and 
our  manufacturers  are  cultivating  with  fair  assiduity  a 
receptive  market. 

Only  one  other  point  of  view  need  here  be  considered 
for  the  moment,  namely,  the  nature  of  that  market.  Our 
best  customers  do  not  change  much  from  year  to  year, 
but  their  demands  vary.  Obviously  one  would  not  expect 
Mexico,  torn  by  internecine  warfare,  to  buy  very  much 
just  now;  yet  if  she  settled  down  under  a  stable  govern- 
ment again  her  purchases  would  be  heavy  instead  of  falling 
off,  as  they  have  done  lately.  Canada  is  an  exceedingly 
good  customer  and  continues  to  share  her  prosperity  with 
us.  In  1912  she  took  about  $5,500,000  worth,  or  over  25 
per  cent  of  the  total.  England  and  Europe  buy  some 
goods,  but  not  so  heavily  as  to  make  a  very  perceptible 
difference  one  way  or  the  other.  Our  best  markets  are  the 
British  colonies  and  South  America,  but  South  Africa  and 
the  Far  East  are  friendly  and  buy  largely. 


FIRE  AT  JAMESTOWN   (N.  Y.)  STREET  RAILWAY 
COMPANY'S  PLANT. 


A  fire  which  started  from  an  unknown  cause  in  the 
boiler  house  of  the  Jamestown  (N.  Y.)  Street  Railway 
Company's  plant  at  3:15  a.  m.  on  Aug.  10  resulted  in  about 
$25,000  damage,  principally  in  the  boiler  house,  before  it 
was  put  out.  A  portion  of  the  compan)''s  auxiliary  gen- 
erating plant  is  contained  in  the  boiler  house.  No  damage 
was  sustained  by  the  boilers  and  steam  line  or  by  the  main 
generating  plant,  which  was  protected  by  a  fireproof  wall. 
The  steel  and  wood  roof  of  the  boiler  house  was  entirely 
burned  off.  Owing  to  the  damage  to  coal  and  ash  con- 
veyors, mechanical  stokers  and  blowers,  the  service  was 
crippled  somewhat,  but  by  7:30  a.  m.  the  same  day  a  num- 
ber of  cars  were  in  operation,  and  by  noon  service  was  fully 
restored. 


COST  OF  DELAY  IN  GIVING  SERVICE. 


A  recent  report  by  the  judiciary  committee  of  the  trustees 
of  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago  gives,  in  outline,  an 
account  of  an  episode  of  some  interest  growing  out  of  an 
interruption  of  electric  service  by  the  Sanitary  District, 
which  supplies  energy  from  the  hydroelectric  plant  on  the 
Chicago  Drainage  Canal.  It  appears  that  on  July  27,  1910, 
the  District  entered  into  contract  with  the  county  commis- 
sioners to  furnish  electrical  energy  for  a  period  of  three 
years  beginning  Jan.  i,  191 1,  at  a  rate  of  1.25  cents  per 
kw-hr.  For  a  reason  not  stated  in  the  report  the  hydro- 
electric service  was  interrupted  for  a  period  of  126  days,  at 
least  so  far  as  this  particular  customer  was  concerned,  and 
the  District  did  not  furnish  electricity  under  the  contract 
until  May  8,  191 1. 

By  the  terms  of  the  contract  the  county  commissioners 
had  the  right  to  purchase  electricity  elsewhere  during  inter- 
ruptions, and  accordingly  they  entered  into  contract  with 
the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  which  rendered  bills 


for  the  service,  amounting,  after  negotiations  as  to  price, 
to  $16,891,60,  the  adjusted  rate  being  4  cents  per  kw-hr. 
The  commissioners  held  that  the  Sanitary  District  was 
responsible  for  this  sum,  but  later  offered  to  deduct  the 
$5,278.62  which  they  would  have  paid  the  District  if  the 
latter  had  furnished  the  electricity.  After  this  deduction 
the  net  loss  was  $11,612.98,  and  it  was  finally  agreed  that 
this  should  be  borne  in  the  proportion  of  66-i26ths  by  the 
county  commissioners  and  6o-i26ths  by  the  District.  This 
made  the  District's  penalty  $5,530.10.  On  recommendation 
of  the  committee  that  this  was  a  reasonable  settlement,  the 
trustees  of  the  Sanitary  District  passed  an  order  directing 
the  payment  of  $5,530.10  to  the  county  commissioners,  this 
payment  to  be  made,  however,  at  the  same  time  that  the 
commissioners  paid  their  bills  to  the  District  up  to  June 
I,  1912. 

ANSWER  OF  NEW  YORK  EDISON   COMPANY   TO 
RATE  DISCRIMINATION  CHARGE. 


Nearly  a  year  ago  complaint  was  filed  with  the  New 
York  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  First  District,  by 
several  local  organizations  representing  stationary  engi- 
neers, that  the  New  York  Edison  Company  is  unduly  favor- 
ing large  customers  with  low  rates.  The  primary  motive 
of  the  complainants  appeared  to  be  the  desire  to  show  that 
the  Edison  company  is  giving  wholesale  rates  which  bring 
in  a  return  less  than  the  cost  of  production,  thereby  com- 
peting unfairly  with  isolated  plants  and  discriminating 
against  small  consumers. 

Hearings  have  been  held  on  numerous  occasions  to  give 
the  complainants  opportunity  to  establish  their  case,  and 
now  the  Edison  company  has  filed  with  the  commission  a, 
lengthy  reply,  which  in  several  respects  is  a  noteworthy 
discourse  on  the  rate  question  as  a  whole.  The  full  text 
of  the  reply  is  worth  the  careful  study  of  all  rate  students. 

The  charge  that  discrimination  between  any  two  consum- 
ers is  unreasonable,  per  se,  is  admirably  disposed  of  by  cita- 
tions from  several  well-known  rate  cases.  Of  special  in- 
terest is  the  discussion  of  the  general  principles  underlying 
rate-making.  The  cost  of  supplying  electrical  energy  is 
stated  to  consist  largely  of  three  elements,  namely,  fixed 
charges,  customer  or  standby  charges,  and  operating  ex- 
penses or  running  costs,  in  accordance  with  the  view  gen- 
erally accepted  by  rate  experts.  But  the  calculation  of  the 
cost  of  supplying  a  given  customer  is  declared  to  be  a 
hopeless  task,  although  the  cost  of  supplying  a  particular 
class  may  be  approximated  without  great  difficulty.  Four- 
teen general  principles  are  laid  down  as  essential  in  pre- 
paring any  rate  schedule,  which  go  to  show  that  while  the 
cost  of  service  is  an  important  consideration,  it  is  not  wholly 
controlling,  and  commercial  expediency  must  always  be 
consulted.  Rule  8  brings  this  out  forcibly:  "It  is  not 
sufficient  that  a  system  of  rates  be  theoretically  sound.  It 
must  get  and  hold  the  business  and  be  simple  enough  to  be 
understandable  by  the  consumer." 

The  former  rates  and  the  present  rates,  in  effect  since 
July  I,  191 1,  are  presented  in  great  detail,  with  explanations 
and  arguments  in  justification.  There  are  several  schedules, 
known  as  the  general  rate,  power  rate,  wholesale  rate,  auto- 
mobile, storage  battery  and  refrigeration  rate,  tunnel  con- 
struction rate,  breakdown  service,  high-tension  service  and 
New  York  City  rate  for  aqueduct  or  tunnel  construction. 
The  maximum  rate  is  10  cents  per  kw-hr.  and  the  minimum 
3  cents. 

In  addition  to  the  standard  forms  of  contracts  described, 
the  company  has  on  file  with  the  commission  a  series  of 
standard  contract  riders,  which  usually  cover  conveniences 
and  facilities  in  the  contract  relations  with  customers,  such 
as  the  rental  of  substation  space  in  the  consumer's  build- 
ing, for  example.  The  city  lighting  contracts  are  not  in- 
cluded, inasmuch  as  they  are  already  on  file. 


346 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  N'o.  7. 


In  conclusion,  the  company  states  that  it  has  consistently 
pursued  a  liberal  and  progressive  policy  in  its  relations  with 
its  customers  and  the  public  in  the  matter  of  both  rates  and 
service.  It  also  claims  that  it  has  faithfully  adhered  to  the 
broad  principles  laid  down  in  its  answer,  on  which  the  rate 
schedules  are  based,  and  claims  that  proper  classifications 
and  reasonable  rates  have  been  established  without  undue 
discrimination  and  without  favoring  any  particular  class 
of  consumers.  The  company  claims  that  it  has  treated  its 
patrons  fairly,  justly  and  liberally  and  has  voluntarily  re- 
duced its  rates  from  time  to  time  as  fast  as  economies  in 
the  service  and  improvements  in  the  art  permit. 


MASSACHUSETTS 


WORKMEN'S 
ACT. 


COMPENSATION 


Among  the  statutes  of  the  several  states  that  have  thus 
far  responded  to  the  wide  demand  for  improved  employers' 
liability  laws,  there  is  none  which  affects  employers  of  labor 
and  their  employees,  and  the  dependents  of  the  latter,  in  so 
comprehensive  a  degree  as  does  the  workmen's  compensa- 
tion act  which  became  effective  in  Massachusetts  on  July  i. 
Legal  rates  of  compensation  for  personal  injury  received  by 
all  employees  in  the  State  in  the  course  of  their  employ- 
ment, with  the  exception  of  farm  laborers  and  domestic 
servants,  are  created  by  this  act,  which  further  provides  a 
scale  for  payments  to  be  made  to  the  dependents  of  the 
employees  covered  by  it  when  death  results  from  personal 
injury  so  sustained.  The  new  act  has  been  formulated 
upon  the  basic  principles  that  the  expense  of  injuries  in- 
cidental to  industrial  pursuits  is  a  logical  part  of  the  cost 
of  production,  and  that  an  employee  should  be  compensated 
not  upon  the  ground  that  an  accident  is  the  fault  of  the 
employer  but  because  of  the  injury. 

Administration  of  the  workmen's  compensation  act,  inter- 
pretation of  its  various  sections  and  settlement  by  arbitra- 
tion of  all  controversies  arising  between  employer  and  em- 
ployee under  the  act  are  vested  in  an  industrial  accident 
board  created  under  the  law.  This  board  has  five  members 
appointed  by  the  Governor  for  a  term  of  five  years,  except 
in  the  case  of  the  first  board,  which  has  one  member  ap- 
pointed for  one  year,  one  for  two  years,  one  for  three, 
one  for  four  and  one  for  five,  their  places  being  filled  in 
rotation  by  the  appointment  each  year  of  a  new  member 
who  serves  for  the  five-year  term.  In  addition  to  its 
functions  outlined  above,  the  accident  board  is  empowered 
to  make  various  rules  for  carrying  out  the  new  act,  and  from 
the  powers  so  granted,  it  is  believed  that  the  installation  of 
safety  devices  will  be  made  upon  a  very  broad  plane. 
Another  of  its  provisions  requires  an  employer  to  notify 
his  employees,  upon  a  form  specified  by  the  board,  that  he 
has  accepted  the  provisions  of  the  new  act  by  insuring 
his  liability  under  it  either  in  any  of  the  stock  liability 
companies  authorized  to  do  business  in  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts or  in  the  Massachusetts  Employees'  Insurance 
.\ssociation,  which  is  a  mutual  insurance  body  also  created 
under  the  act,  of  which  any  employer  may  become  a  sub- 
scriber. Unless  an  employer  becomes  a  subscriber  to  this 
new  insurance  association  or  holds  a  policy  in  one  of  the 
liability  companies,  by  which  he  is  also  regarded  as  a 
"subscriber"  within  the  meaning  of  the  act,  he  loses  the 
three  great  defenses  at  common  law — that  the  employee 
was  negligent,  that  the  injury  was  caused  through  neg- 
ligence of  a  fellow-workman,  and  that  he  had  assumed  the 
risk  of  injury — which  have  been  the  employer's  haven  of 
refuge  in  the  past  and  as  well  the  cause  of  much  misery 
and  hardship  to  dependents  of  wage-earners  injured  or 
killed  in  pursuit  of  their  vocations. 

An  employee  comes  automatically  within  the  provisions 
of  the  new  act  unless  he  gives  written  notice  to  his  em- 
ployer within  certain  defined  periods  on  a  form  furnished 
by  the  Indu.strial  .Occident  Board  that  he  prefers  to  stand 


upon  his  common-law  rights  to  recover  damages  in  case  of 
personal  injury.  In  this  event,  however,  the  three  common- 
law  defenses  mentioned  above  are  retained  by  the  employer 
who  is  a  subscriber,  and  the  possibility  of  the  plaintiff's 
recovering  damages  are  remote  in  time  and  certainty. 

Payments  under  the  new  law  will  be  made  by  the  associa- 
tion to  all  injured  employees  or  their  dependents,  excepting 
in  cases  where  the  injury  is  caused  by  the  serious  and  wilful 
misconduct  of  the  employee.  If  the  man  is  injured  through 
the  serious  misconduct  of  the  employer,  the  amounts  of 
compensation  are  to  be  doubled,  and  the  extra  compensation 
is  to  be  paid  to  the  association  by  the  subscriber,  who  has 
the  right  to  appear  before  the  board  and  defend  the  claim 
for  the  e.xtra  compensation  only.  Three  classes  of  benefit 
for  disability  are  provided  by  the  act.  When  an  injury  does 
not  incapacitate  for  more  than  two  weeks,  medical  and 
hospital  services  are  furnished  by  the  association  when 
needed.  When  disability,  although  partial,  lasts  more  than 
two  weeks,  the  injured  employee  receives  a  weekly  compen- 
sation, beginning  on  the  fifteenth  day  after  the  injury,  equal 
to  one-half  the  difiference  between  his  average  weekly 
wages  before  the  injury  and  the  average  weekly  wages  he 
is  able  to  earn  thereafter,  but  not  more  than  $10  per  week 
is  to  be  paid,  nor  is  the  total  period  covered  by  such  pay- 
ments to  be  more  than  300  weeks.  When  disability  is  total, 
the  association  pays  the  injured  employee  a  weekly  com- 
pensation equal  to  one-half  his  average  weekly  wages  be- 
fore the  injury,  but  not  more  than  $10  or  less  than  $4  per 
week,  while  the  total  period  for  such  compensation  is 
limited  to  500  weeks  and  the  amount  to  $3000. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  special  payments  are  pro- 
vided by  the  law  for  the  loss  by  severance  of  both  hands 
at  or  above  the  wrist,  or  both  feet  at  or  above  the  ankle,  or 
the  loss  of  one  hand  and  one  foot,  or  the  reduction  to  one- 
tenth  of  normal  vision  in  both  eyes,  with  eyeglasses.  In 
these  cases  an  extra  compensation  of  one-half  of  the 
average  weekly  wages  of  the  injured  person,  but  not  more 
than  $10  or  less  than  $4  a  week,  is  to  be  paid  for  a  period 
of  100  weeks.  For  the  severance  of  either  hand  at  or  above 
the  wrist,  or  either  foot  at  or  above  the  ankle,  or  the  reduc- 
tion to  one-tenth  the  normal  vision  in  either  eye,  with 
glasses,  one-half  of  the  weekly  wages  of  the  injured  person 
is  to  be  paid,  the  amount  to  be  not  more  than  $10  or  less 
than  $4  per  week,  for  a  period  of  fifty  weeks.  Several 
other  additional  payments  in  smaller  amounts,  for  shorter 
periods  and  for  certain  minor  accidents,  resulting  in  the 
loss  of  toes  and  fingers,  are  also  provided. 

When  an  employee's  death  results  from  injury  received  in 
pursuit  of  his  employment,  the  association  pays  to  his  sur- 
vivors wholly  dependent  upon  his  earnings  for  support  at 
the  time  of  the  injury  a  weekly  payment  equal  to  one-half 
his  average  weekly  wages,  but  not  more  than  $10  nor  less 
than  $4  a  week,  for  a  period  of  300  weeks  from  the  date 
of  injury.  If  the  employee  leaves  dependents  who  are  only 
partly  dependent  upon  his  earnings  for  support  at  the  time 
of  his  injury,  the  association  pays  to  these  a  weekly  com- 
pensation equal  to  the  same  proportion  of  the  weekly  pay- 
ments to  persons  wholly  dependent,  as  above,  as  the  amount 
contributed  by  the  employee  to  such  partial  dependents 
bears  to  the  average  weekly  earnings  of  the  deceased  at  the 
time  of  the  injury.  These  payments  are  not  to  continue 
for  more  than  300  weeks  from  the  date  of  injury. 

If  a  subscriber  to  the  insurance  association  who  has 
complied  with  all  of  its  rules,  regulations  and  demands  is 
required  to  pay  damages  to  any  employee  on  account  of 
personal  injuries,  the  association  will  pay  the  amount  of 
the  judgment  and  the  costs  thereof.  The  new  insurance 
association  is  based  upon  the  mutual  plan.  Each  sub- 
scriber has  one  vote  at  any  meeting,  and  if  any  subscriber 
has  500  employees  to  whom  the  association  is  bound  to  pay 
compensation,  he  is  entitled  to  two  votes,  with  one  addi- 
tional vote  for  each  additional  500  employees.  No  sub- 
scriber is  to  have  more  than  twenty  votes. 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


347 


For  the  purpose  of  financing  the  new  association  at  the 
outset,  the  law  authorizes  the  treasurer  of  the  conimon- 
weahh  to  advance  a  maximum  sum  of  $100,000  to  the  asso- 
ciation on  its  four-year  4  per  cent  notes.  The  Industrial 
Accident  Board  intrusted  with  the  administration  of  the 
new  act  hopes  to  obtain  such  improved  relation  between 
employer  and  employee  that  industrial  accidents  will  be 
reduced,  through  this  co-operation,  to  a  minimum.  The 
members  of  the  first  board  are  Messrs.  Dudley  M.  Holman, 
David  T.  Dickinson,  Edward  F.  McSweeney,  Joseph  A. 
Parks  and  James  B.  Carroll,  chairman.  The  offices  of  the 
board  are  in  the  Pemberton  Building,  Pemberton  Square, 
Boston,  Mass. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW  YORK   COMMISSION,   FIRST  DISTRICT. 

The  New  York  Edison  Company  has  filed  an  extensive 
answer  with  the  Public  Service  Commission,  First  District, 
replying  to  the  discrimination  charge  which  has  been  pend- 
ing for  nearly  a  year.  The  substance  of  this  answer  is 
given  elsewhere  in  this  issue. 

NEW  YORK  COMMISSION,  SECOND  DISTRICT. 

The  commission  has  authorized  the  Catskill  Illuminating 
&  Power  Company,  the  Schoharie  Light  &  Power  Company 
and  the  Upper  Hudson  Electric  Light  &  Railroad  Company 
to  consolidate  and  form  a  new  corporation  to  be  called  the 
Upper  Hudson  Electric  &  Railroad  Company.  Before  the 
consolidation  is  finally  accomplished  the  Schoharie  Light  & 
Power  Company  is  authorized  to  purchase  the  property  of 
the> Cairo  Electric  &  Power  Company.  The  matter  of  the 
consolidation  of  these  properties  has  been  before  the  com- 
mission for  some  time,  during  which  a  comprehensive  in- 
vestigation of  the  financial  affairs  and  physical  properties 
of  tlie  companies  was  made  by  the  accounting  and  engineer- 
ing experts  of  the  commission.  Before  allowing  the  con- 
solidation the  connnission  required  the  wiping  out  of 
$180,000  of  the  capital  stock.  The  total  capital  stock  of 
the  consolidated  companies  was  $250,000,  and  that  of  the 
Cairo  company  $80,000.  The  authorized  capital  stock  of 
the  new  corporation  is  $150,000.  The  company  is  authorized 
to  issue  $500,000  of  5  per  cent  thirty-year  gold  bonds  to  be 
sold  at  not  less  than  90,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  can- 
celing the  entire  obligations  of  the  consolidating  companies 
and  to  pay  for  legal  and  other  expenses  and  improvements 
to  plants.  The  total  fixed  capital  of  the  new  corporation  is 
$246,000  less  than  that  of  the  consolidated  companies. 
Among  the  improvements  planned  are  the  building  of  a 
new  substation  at  Tannersville,  a  new  street-lighting  system 
for  Catskill  and  improvements  to  the  steam  plant,  including 
two  new  boilers.  Provision  also  has  been  made  for  a  de- 
preciation fund  of  $70,000.  The  consolidation  of  these 
companies  will  admit  of  tying  the  plants  togetlier  by  trans- 
mission lines  and  make  the  water-power  available  for  all, 
with  steam  reserve.  It  is  understood  that  the  new  company 
will  be  able  to  revise  its  rates,  and  some  localities  will  be 
benefited  by  reductions.  The  companies  consolidated  serve 
the  following  localities:  The  villages  of  Catskill,  Tanners- 
ville, Hunter,  Athens  and  Coxsackie,  the  towns  of  Cairo, 
Hunter,  Catskill,  Coeymans  and  New  Baltimore  and  the 
hamlets  of  Coeyman  and  Ravena. 

The  commission  and  its  engineers  have  been  in  consulta- 
tion with  the  representatives  of  Stone  &  Webster,  who 
have  charge  of  the  Adirondack  Power  Corporation,  to  the 
end  that  the  property  may  be  put  in  first-class  condition 
and  further  interruptions  to  service  obviated.  Financial 
and  legal  difficulties  which  have  taken  some  time  to  adjust 
have  delayed  the  working  out  of  the  plans  as  rapidly  as 
expected.  The  company  has  already  spent  $75,000  and  has 
plans  for  spending  upward  of  $500,000  more.  Numerous 
weak  features  of  tiic  plant  have  been  corrected  by  the  re- 


placement of  equipment,  and  the  tailrace  at  Spier  Falls  is 
being  dredged  to  increase  the  head  about  5  ft.  The  gas 
plant  at  Oneida,  which  has  been  unsatisfactory,  is  to  be 
remedied  by  the  installation  of  a  new  holder  with  a  capacity 
of  100,000  cu.  ft.,  two  new  benches  of  sixes  and  a  large 
amount  of  reinforcing  and  new  street  main.  At  present  the 
company  expects  to  have  the  system  well  in  hand  by  the 
close  of  the  summer,  so  that  interruptions  to  service  will 
be  exceptional. 

MARYLAND   COMMISSION. 

Mr.  W.  Cabell  Bruce,  counsel  to  the  Maryland  Public 
Service  Commission,  has  decided  that  a  holding  company 
may  transfer  its  stock.  Mr.  Bruce  so  ruled  in  the  applica- 
tion of  the  Hagerstown  Light  &  Heat  Company  for  permis- 
sion to  transfer  its  entire  capital  stock  to  the  Northern 
Central  Gas  Company. 

Mr.  E.  W.  Bemis,  the  expert  who  is  on  the  stand  for  the 
people  in  the  hearing  on  the  rates  of  the  Consolidated  Gas, 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  of  Baltimore,  testified  last 
week  that,  after  allowing  a  7  per  cent  return  upon  $6,942,000, 
his  appraised  value  of  the  Consolidated's  property,  elec- 
trical energy  could  be  sold  to  the  retail  consumer  in  Balti- 
more at  5.57  cents  per  kw-hr.  instead  of  the  present  average 
price  of  7.17  cents.  The  average  price  to  all  consumers 
is  3.64  cents  per  kw-hr.  The  actual  cost  to  manufacture 
and  distribute  is  2.02  cents  per  kw-hr.  Mr.  Bemis  allowed 
0.246  cent  per  kw-hr.  to  cover  depreciation,  bringing  the 
cost  of  energy  to  the  company  up  to  2.27  cents.  Allowing 
7  per  cent  return  upon  the  property  value  would  add  0.89 
cent,  making  a  possible  average  price  of  3.16  cents  per 
kw-hr. 

MICHIGAN  COMMISSION. 

On  Aug.  9  the  commission  authorized  the  consolidation 
of  the  Home  Telephone  Company  of  Detroit  and  its  sub- 
sidiaries with  the  Michigan  State  Telephone  Company. 
This  was  done  by  approving  the  opinion  written  by  Com- 
missioner Hemans,  although  at  one  time  it  was  said  that 
Chairman  Glasgow  woukl  not  sign  the  order  unless  several 
changes  were  made  in  it.  The  commission  decided  that  it 
would  be  unnecessary  to  await  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  on  the  Giles  law,  as  had  been  suggested,  since  it  is 
not  within  its  province  to  pass  upon  the  constitutionality 
of  measures  and  also  because  a  clause  in  the  order  covers 
the  matter. 


Current  News  and  Notes 

LoNG-DlSTANCE    WiRELESS    TRANSMISSION    OvER    LaND. 

Interest  in  the  recently  established  wireless  connnunication 
between  Lima,  Peru,  and  Para,  Brazil,  centers  not  so  much 
on  the  long  distance  of  3400  km  (2100  miles)  but  on  the 
iieight  of  the  mountains  between  the  two  stations,  namely, 
6000  m  (nearly  20,000  ft.).  This  performance  establishes 
a  new  record  in  wireless  telegraphy,  in  addition  to  bringing 
into  immediate  communication  two  places  which  have  for- 
merly been  isolated  from  each  other.  The  equipment  em- 
ployed is  that  of  the  Telefunken  Wireless  System. 
*     *     * 

Gas  Ignition  by  Lamp  Breakages. — The  Bureau  of 
Mines  has  frequently  been  asked  whether  firedamp  will  be 
ignited  by  the  fracture  of  an  incandescent  lamp  bulb  while 
the  lamp  is  in  operation.  This  question  is  of  growing  im- 
portance because  of  the  increased  use  of  low-voltage  port- 
able electric  lamps  employing  tungsten  filaments.  Technical 
paper  No.  23  just  issued  by  the  Bureau  of  Mines  gives  the 
results  of  131  tests  made  for  the  purpose  of  throwing  some 
light  on  the  problem.  Mixtures  containing  as  little  as  5  per 
cent  of  gas  and  others  containing  as  high  as  12.4  per  cent 
of  gas  were  ignited  by  i>2-cp,  31/2-volt,  3/10-anip  miniature 
lamps,  which  were  smashed  while  operating  at  rated  voltage. 
Out  of  the  total  of  131  tests,  78  caused  ignition. 


348 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  .\o. 


Iron  .-vnd  Steel  Tariff. — As  expected,  President  Taft 
vetoed  the  iron  and  steel  tariff  bill  and  returned  it  to  Con- 
gress with  his  message  on  Aug.  15.  Within  three  hours 
after  receiving  the  veto  the  House  passed  the  bill  by  more 
than  the  necessary  two-thirds  vote,  and  it  was  sent  imme- 
diately to  the  Senate. 

*  *     * 

Indiaxa  Public  Utilities  Bill. — The  Indiana  State 
Board  of  Agriculture  recently  adopted  a  resolution  in- 
dorsing the  movement  for  the  passage  of  a  public-utilities 
law  and  the  creation  of  a  commission.  It  is  reported  that 
a  number  of  public-utility  bills  have  been  prepared  for  in- 
troduction at  the  coming  session  of  the  Legislature. 

*  *     * 

New  York  Double-Deck  Car. — Bored  and  blase  New 
Yorkers  were  treated  lately  to  that  rare  joy,  a  new  sensation, 
when  Broadway's  first  double-deck  car  made  its  maiden 
trip.  \^isitors  from  the  prairie  states  must  have  been  re- 
minded of  the  "interurban"  at  home  when  they  heard  the 
screech  of  the  whistle.  This  new  stepless,  center-door  car 
has  a  seating  capacity  of  eighty-eight,  and  eighty-three 
more  can  find  standing  room. 

*  *     * 

Salaries  of  Technical  Gradl^ates. — The  following 
statistics  have  been  compiled  from  recent  returns  from  the 
graduates  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
classes  of  1907  and  1908.  Although  the  returns  for  each 
class  are  not  complete,  the  average  annual  salary  of  106 
members  of  the  class  of  1907  was  $2,028,  the  lowest  being 
$600  and  the  highest  $6,000.  The  replies  received  from  139 
members  of  the  class  of  1908  showed  an  average  annual 
salary  of  $1,796  per  annum,  the  lowest  being  $520  and  the 
highest  $5,200. 

*  *     * 

Proposed  Public  Service  Commission  in  Illinois. — The 
Illinois  Legislative  Public  Utilities  Commission,  which  is  the 
name  of  the  legislative  committee  considering  the  proposal 
to  establish  a  public-service  commission  in  Illinois.  Senator 
John  Dailey,  of  Peoria,  being  chairman,  will  probably 
resume  its  hearings  after  the  November  election.  At  that 
time  it  is  expected  that  several  meetings  will  be  held  in 
Chicago,  and  it  is  believed  that  the  commission  will  make 
its  report,  with  the  draft  of  such  legislation  as  niav  be 
recommended,  at  the  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  next 
January. 

*  *     * 

Service  Statistics  of  New  York  Edison  Company. — 
In  the  month  of  July  the  New  York  Edison  Company  in- 
stalled 2147  additional  meters,  and  during  the  'ast  twelve 
months  the  gain  in  meter  installations  was  24.378.  The  net 
gain  in  industrial  motor  load  during  the  same  period  was 
45,851  hp,  the  gain  during  July  aggregating  3222  hp.  There 
are  at  present  connected  to  the  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany's circuits  159,094  meters,  and  the  load  in  50- watt 
equivalents  corrected  for  tungsten  lamps  is  10,704.859. 
This  service  is  supplied  from  the  Waterside  stations  and 
does  not  include  any  railway  load. 

New  Use  for  Public  Service  Commissions. — A  New 
York  central-station  company  desiring  to  put  twentv-five 
flat-rate  customers  on  a  meter  basis  and  yet  not  incur  their 
enmity  apparently  viewed  the  task  with  fear  and  trembling 
until  the  following  solution  presented  itself.  It  requested 
the  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  District,  to  "write 
a  letter  to  us  just  as  strong  as  you  possibly  can  make  it, 
showing  in  it  the  'big  stick'  as  much  as  you  please,  advising, 
crowding  and  perhaps  ordering  us  to  put  our  customers  all 
upon  meters  and  buy  our  current  through  a  meter."  Unfor- 
tunately, while  the  commission  thought  the  change  entirelv 
proper  it  felt  that  this  method  of  inviting  unsolicited  and 
gratuitous  commendations  of  its  work  in  the  interests  of 
the  public  could  hardly  be  justified.  Besides,  it  could  not  be 
oblivious  of  its  dignity. 


Specifications  for  Incandescent  Lamps. — Circular  No. 
13,  recently  issued  by  the  Bureau  of  Standards,  contains 
standard  specifications  for  incandescent  electric  lamps.  No 
general  conference  of  the  lamp  manufacturers  and  govern- 
ment engineers  has  been  held  since  i9io,but  the  specifications 
and  schedules  were  thoroughly  revised  in  April  and  are  now 
published  in  the  fifth  edition  of  this  circular.  The  specifica- 
tions cover  lamps  of  the  carbon,  metallized,  tantalum  and 
tungsten-filament  types.  The  bulletin  contains  the  caution 
that  on.y  those  thoroughly  instructed  in  the  art  of  lamp 
manufacture  and  the  science  of  photometry  should  under- 
take to  determine  the  acceptability  of  lamps  under  these 
specifications.  Criticism  and  suggestions  concerning  the 
specifications  and  lamp  ratings  are  invited  from  both  manu- 
facturers and  users  of  lamps. 

*     *     * 

Pennsylvania  Employers'  Liability  Act. — Under  the 
Pennsylvania  workmen's  compensation  act,  the  second 
draft  of  which  has  just  been  issued  by  the  Industrial  Acci- 
dents Commission  for  public  criticism,  the  employer  is  held 
responsible  for  all  accidents  unless  the  workman  is  wilfully 
negligent.  This  is  defined  in  the  law  as  "reckless  indiffer- 
ence to  danger."  In  case  an  employee  is  permitted  to  hire 
another  employee,  the  latter  is  entitled  to  all  the  benefits 
provided  by  the  act  as  fu'dy  as  he  would  be  had  he  been 
hired  directly  by  the  employer.  The  rates  of  compensation 
specified  are:  For  temporary  and  permanent  total  dis- 
ability, 50  per  cent  of  wages,  but  not  more  than  $10  a 
week;  for  partial  disability,  the  same  until  recovery;  for 
loss  of  hand,  50  per  cent  during  175  weeks;  for  loss  of 
arm  or  leg,  50  per  cent  during  215  weeks;  for  loss  of  foot, 
50  per  cent  for  150  weeks,  and  for  loss  of  eye,  50  per  cent 
during  125  weeks.  Special  rates  are  provided  for  loss  of 
both  hands,  arms,  feet,  legs  or  eyes.  Membership  in  any 
organization  from  which  he  might  receive  benefits  does  not 
bar  an  employee   from  compensation  under  the  act. 


SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 
International  Association  of  Municipal  Elec- 
tricians.— Transportation  arrangements  are  being  com- 
pleted for  the  convention  of  the  International  Association 
of  Municipal  Electricians  at  Peoria,  111.,  Aug.  26-30,  1912. 
It  is  proposed  that  Eastern  members  take  the  Black  Dia- 
mond Express  on  the  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad  on  Sunday, 
Aug.  25,  from  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  arriving  in 
Buffalo  at  10:27  P-  "''•  Eastern  time,  and  leave  there  for 
Chicago  by  special  sleeping  car  on  the  Lake  Shore  at 
10:35  p.  m.  Eastern  time,  the  rest  of  the  trip  to  be  made 
by  special  parlor  car  on  the  Rock  Island,  reaching  Peoria 
at  6:25  p.  m.  It  is  planned  to  make  the  outgoing  trip  a 
part  of  the  entertainment  features  of  the  convention.  A 
rejuvenation  of  the  Sons  of  Jove  will  be  held  during  the 
convention. 

*     *     * 

Convention  of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers. — The 
fifth  annual  convention  of  the  Association  of  Railway  Elec- 
trical Engineers  will  be  held  in  the  Auditorium  Hotel, 
Chicago,  during  the  week  of  Monday,  Oct.  21.  During  the 
convention  there  will  be  an  exhibit  of  appliances  on  the 
ninth  floor  of  the  hotel,  near  the  meeting-room  of  the 
association.  The  allied  Railway  Electric  Supply  Manufac- 
turers' Association  is  making  arrangements  for  the  con- 
vention, the  chairman  of  committees  being  as  follows: 
Exhibits,  Mr.  W.  F.  Bauer;  membership,  Mr.  J.  Scribner; 
badges.  Mr.  G.  H.  Atkin ;  auditing,  Mr.  J.  M.  Lorenz ;  pub- 
licity, Mr.  Edward  Wray;  speakers  and  entertainment,  Mr. 
George  H.  Porter ;  reception  and  dance.  Mr.  W.  M.  Lalor ; 
theaters,  Mr.  Otis  B.  Duncan ;  banquet,  Mr.  J.  J.  Schayer. 
The  president  of  the  manufacturers'  association  is  Mr. 
Porter,  of  the  Western  Electric  Company,  and  Mr.  Scribner, 
of  the  Chicago  office  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  is 
secretary. 


ENLARGEMENT   OF  TEXAS  CENTRAL  STATION 

Steam-Turbine  Units  Employed  in  the  Development  of  the  Existing  Plant  of 

the  El  Paso  Electric  Railway  Company. 

Reconstruction  and  Co-ordination  of  Properties   Effected  Without   Interruption   to  Lighting  and  Railway 
Service — Direct-Current  Load   Supplied  Through    Rotary  Transforming  Apparatus 

— Details  of  Steam   Equipment. 


ANEW  and  enlarged  generating  station  for  electric 
railway,  lighting  and  industrial  service  has  recently 
been  completed  by  the  Stone  &  Webster  Engineer- 
ing Corporation,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  for  the  El  Paso  Electric 
Railway  Company,  one  of  the  principal  properties  of  Stone 
&  Webster  in  the  Texas  district.  The  installation  illustrates 
in  a  marked  degree  the  advantages  of  steam-turbine  units 
in  connection  with  the  development  of  existing  plants  where 
the  available  area  is  limited  and  furnishes  as  well  an 
interesting  example  of  an  old  and  a  new  station  which  have 
been  successfully  co-ordinated  in  operation  and  in  which 
continuous  service  has  been  maintained  during  the  period 
of  reconstruction. 

GENERAL   EQUIPMENT. 

The  plant  is  located  about  half  a  mile  from  the  business 
center  of  El  Paso,  at  the  intersection  of  Santa  Fe  and 
Third  Streets.  The  older  portion  occupies  the  southern 
end  of  the  property,  the  newly  completed  section  having 
been  extended  northward  from  the  original  plant.  In 
general  arrangement  the  station  as  completed  consists  of 
two  boiler  rooms  laid  out  with  parallel  axes  and  two  corre- 
sponding engine  rooms,  one  containing  direct-connected 
engines  and  vertical-type  turbines  of  2000-kw  rating,  with 
1 100  kw  in  rotary  converter  and  motor-generator  sets,  and 
the  other  4000  kw  in  horizontal-type  turbines,  various 
switchboard  and  auxiliary  steam  and  electrical  equipment 
being  included  in  each  part  of  the  station.     On  the  property 


outside  the  building  are  located  two  cooling  towers,  a  water- 
softening  plant,  an  oil  house  and  coal-handling  equipment. 
The  plant  generates  direct-current  energy  for  railway  pur- 
poses at  a  pressure  of  550  volts  and  current  at  2300  volts, 
two-phase  and  60  cycles,  for  lighting  and  motor  service,  the 
rotary-converter  and  motor-generator  installations  being 
utilized  as  a  connecting  link  between  the  two  classes  of 
business  and  arranged  so  that  the  maximum  efficiency  can 
be  obtained  from  the  operation  of  each  main  generating 
unit.  With  the  exception  of  one  200-kw,  575-volt  generator 
in  the  old  engine  room,  all  primary  generators  in  both  por- 
tions of  the*plant  supply  current  at  2300  volts  alternating 
to  the  station  buses.  The  railway  service  is  normally  sup- 
plied through  the  motor-generator  sets  and  the  rotary. 

COAL  HANDLING. 

Coal  is  brought  into  the  property  by  cars  run  upon  a  spur 
track  of  the  Santa  Fe,  and  is  weighed  by  a  36-ft.,  70-ton 
Howe  railway  track  scale  equipped  with  a  registering  beam 
whicli  prints  both  gross  and  tare  weights.  The  unloading 
of  the  coal  from  the  cars  and  its  subsequent  rehandling  are 
effected  by  a  Browning  steam-driven  eight-wheel  locomo- 
tive crane  provided  with  double  hoisting  drums,  a  i-S-cu. 
yd.  clamshell  bucket  and  a  boom  of  sufficient  length  to 
permit  operation  at  40-ft.  radius.  Coal  may  also  be  un- 
loaded into  storage  compartments  having  a  combined 
capacity  of  2200  tons  with  provision  for  expansion  as  the 
station    is    extended.      When    taken    from    storage    or    dis- 


Flg.   1 — New   and   Old    Engine    Rooms. 


350 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  .\o.  7. 


charged  directly  from  the  unloading  bucket  of  the  crane 
the  fuel  falls  into  a  crusher  and  thence  through  another 
hopper  and  chute  into  the  boot  of  an  inclined  continuous 
bucket  elevator,  whence  it  is  carried  up  above  the  boiler 
room  and  delivered  into  the  trough  of  a  scraper  conveyor 
located  in  the  monitor  of  the  building.  A  number  of  rack 
and  pinion  valves  provided  with  hand-wheels  and  arranged 


Santa  Fe    Street 


Fig.  2 — Map  of  Properties. 

to  operate  parallel  to  the  trough  enable  the  coal  to  be 
deposited  in  different  sections  of  an  overhead  bunker  in- 
stallation. The  coal-conveying  equipment  is  capable  of 
handling  50  tons  per  hour,  and  the  coal  crusher  and  each 
section  of  the  conveyor  are  separately  driven  by  induction 
motors. 

Coal  is  taken  from  the  bunkers  as  required  ':hrough  in- 
dividual measuring  devices  provided  for  each  boiler  of  the 
new  portion  of  the  station.  In  ordinary  operation  the  fuel 
passes  from  the  bunker  through  an  auxiliary  sliding  gate 
valve  to  a  rotative  measuring  chamber,  which,  on  becoming 
full,  is  revolved  by  a  chain  wheel  through  a  gear  and 
pinion,  the  movement  cutting  off  the  coal  supply  at  the 
same  time  that  the  charge  is  deposited  in  the  hopper  below. 


hand-cars  operating  on  tracks  in  the  boiler-room  basement 
IS  used  in  this  station.  Ashes  taken  from  the  ash  hoppers 
are  carried  to  a  pit  located  at  the  side  of  the  coal-crusher 
pit,  whence  they  are  removed  by  the  locomotive  crane. 

BUILDING. 

The  new  building  is  a  steel-frame  structure  of  brick  and 
concrete  supported  on  concrete  foundations.  The  floors 
and  roof  are  of  concrete,  and  the  permanent  side  walls  are 
of  brick  with  concrete  door  and  window  sills  and  trimmings. 
Temporary  sides  are  of  corrugated  galvanized  steel  mounted 
on  steel  frames  easily  detachable  for  building  extensions. 
The  old  portion  of  the  station  is  a  brick  and  steel  structure 
with  a  low  roof  and  is  about  220  ft.  square.  The  new  sec- 
tion is  about  220  ft.  X  175  ft.  in  dimensions,  having  a  floor 
area  of  about  8  sq.  ft.  per  kw,  present  installation,  com- 
pared with  24.2  sq.  ft.  per  kw  in  the  older  portion.  When 
extended,  the  new  portion  need  only  be  increased  in  size  a 
little  to  accommodate  a  large  increase  in  generating  equip- 
ment, while  the  old  portion  of  the  plant,  which  is  now  held 
mainly  as  a  reserve,  cannot  be  provided  with  any  additional 
generating  apparatus  because  of  prohibitive  cost,  the  units 
being  small  in  number  and  considerably  scattered. 

OLD   PLANT 

The  older  portion  of  the  plant  contains  two  520-hp  Bab- 
cock  &  Wilco.x  boilers,  two  520-hp  Aultman  &  Taylor  boilers 
with  Foster  superheaters  and  three  Stirling  boilers  rated 
at  350  hp  each,  with  Stirling  superheaters;  three  500-kw, 
2300-volt  General  Electric  turbo-alternators  with  step- 
bearing  pumps  and  accumulators ;  a  300-kw,  2300-volt  alter- 
nator directly  driven  by  a  Ridgway  engine ;  a  200-kw, 
575-volt  direct-current  generator  directly  driven  by  a 
Ridgway  engine;  two  motor-generator  sets  rated  at  500 
and  300  kw,  each  driven  by  a  synchronous  motor ;  a  300-kw 
rotary-converter  for  railway  service,  and  various  pumping 
and  condensing  apparatus,  including  a  Deane  low-level 
centrifugal  condenser,  three  Knowles  boiler-feed  pumps,  a 
Worthington   12-in.  motor-driven  vertical  cooling  tower,  a 


Floor  Plan 


Casement  Plan 
Fig.   3 — Plans   and    Section   of    New    Station. 


ilUttrieai  \Yt/rU 


The  coal  thence  falls  into  a  stoker  hopper.  The  coal- 
measuring  device  is  provided  with  a  socket  joint  permitting 
a  maximum  swing  of  30  deg.  to  each  side  of  the  vertical, 
thus  allowing  coal  to  be  spread  over  the  whole  length  of  the 
stoker  hopper.  Provision  is  also  made  for  swinging  the 
chute  out  in  front  of  the  boilers  and  adding  an  extension 
piece  so  that  the  fuel  may  be  deposited  on  the  floor.  This 
enables  the  individual  coal-measuring  devices  to  be  cali- 
brated.*    The   standard    method    of    ash    removal    by    small 


hot-well  pump,  a  boiler-washing  pump,  an  8o-in.  fan  driven 
by  a  2o-hp  induction  motor  for  ventilating  the  turbo- 
generators, two  loo-light  and  four  50-light  constant-current 
transformers  and  a  nine-panel  switchboard.  The  fuel  was 
delivered  to  the  boiler  room  of  the  old  plant  by  an  overhead 
traveling  hoist  which  dumped  the  coal  upon  the  floor  in 
front  of  the  furnaces,  hand  firing  b§ing  practised.  The  old 
plant  is  provided  with  a  steel  stack,  the  dimensions  of 
which  arc  72  in.  by  125  ft. 


August  17,  191 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


351 


NEW    EQUIPMENT. 

In  the  new  section  of  the  plant  are  located  four  639-hp 
Babcock  &  Wilcox  boilers  and  superheaters,  each  boiler 
being  equipped  with  a  128-sq.  ft.  Greene  chain-grate 
stoker ;  two  2000-kw,  2300-volt,  two-phase  Allis-Chalmers 
turbo-alternators ;  two  6ooo-sq.  ft.  Alberger  surface  con- 
densers and  auxiliary  apparatus ;  a  5000-hp  Webster  feed- 


Fig.   4 — Exterior   of    New    and    Old    Plants. 

water  heater;  a  No.  8  Worthington  liquid  weigher  of 
250,000-lb.  per  hour  rating;  two  14-in.  by  8.5-in.  by  15-in. 
duplex  boiler-feed  pumps ;  two  Sullivan  steam-driven  air 
compressors;  a  20-ton,  three-motor  Case  electric  crane 
operated  by  550-volt  direct-current  motors,  and  a  25-panel 
General  Electric  switchboard.  A  4000-kw  cooling  tower  is 
located  in  the  yard  outside  the  station,  and  the  products  of 
combustion  are  discharged  by  a  steel  stack  lo  ft.  9  in.  in 
diameter  and  153  ft.  high.  In  the  ultimate  extension  of  the 
station  it  is  planned  to  arrange  the  boilers  in  two  rows 
separated  by  a  firing  aisle,  with  centrally  located  overhead 
coal  bunkers.  In  the  engine  room  the  turbines  are  placed 
parallel  to  each  other  and  at  right  angles  to  the  boiler  room. 


Fig. 


-Boiler    Room. 


The  space  in  the  yard  on  the  west  side  of  the  boiler  room 
is  intended  for  cooling-tower  installations. 

BOILERS. 

The  four  boilers  in  the  new  section  are  set  with  front 
headers  10  ft.  above  the  floor  line  and  are  designed  for 
operation  at  200  lb.  per  square  inch  steam  pressure.  Two 
of  the  units  are  equipped  with  Babcock  &  Wilcox  super- 
heaters and  two  with  Foster  superheaters,  all  being  designed 
to  raise  the  steam  temperature  125  deg.  Fahr.  at  rated  load. 


The  boilers  are  equipped  with  thermometers  in  the  steam 
pipes  and  differential  draft  gages  are  provided  in  each  fur- 
nace. An  ordinary  draft  gage  is  also  fitted  into  the  stack. 
The  furnaces  are  equipped  with  chain-grate  stokers  de- 
signed to  burn  either  Gallup  slack  or  coal  from  the  Trinidad 
region.  The  stokers  are  driven  by  engines,  each  of  the 
latter  being  designed  to  drive  four  stokers,  a  quill  and  clutch 
being  provided  to  eliminate  friction  in  the  shafting  from 
the  idle  engine.  The  stokers  are  designed  to  drive  the 
boilers  up  to  200  per  cent  of  their  rating. 

WATER   SUPPLY. 

The  water  supply  is  drawn  normally  either  from  a  well 
5.5  ft.  in  diameter  and  46  ft.  deep  or  from  an  8-in.  well 
325  ft.  deep  located  on  the  premises.  Connection  is  also 
made  with  the  city  water  system.  A  Booth  water  softener 
of  4000  gal.  per  hour  rating  is  provided,  through  which 
water  from  any  one  of  the  three  sources  can  be  passed.    As 


Fig.    6 — Cooling    Tower. 

a  rule  water  from  the  deep  well  is  used  for  make-up  boiler 
feed  and  for  general  station  purposes,  water  for  the  46-in. 
well  for  the  condensing  supply,  and  the  city  connection  is 
held  in  reserve  for  fire  and  other  purposes. 

The  water-softening  plant  is  located  in  the  yard  behind 
the  old  boiler  room.  Hydrated  lime  and  soda  ash  are  used 
in  the  softening  process.  These  are  fed  into  the  softener  in 
solution,  the  relative  amounts  of  lime  and  soda  ash  and 
the  proper  amount  of  the  combined  solution  per  unit 
quantity  of  raw  water  being  determined  by  chemical 
analysis.  The  actual  rate  at  which  the  chemical  solution  is 
fed  to  the  softener  is  automatically  kept  proportional  to 
the  rate  at  which  the  water  passes  through  the  latter.  This 
is  accomplished  by  float  valves  acting  in  conjunction  with 
standardized  orifices,  controlling  the  inflows. 

The  raw  water  is  taken  from  the  deep  well  and  is  fed 
into  the  float  box,  the  proper  rate  of  feed  being  obtained  by 
throttling  to  the  desired  point.  The  float  box  discharges  the 
water  through  a  Sutro  weir,  which  is  of  such  shape  that 
the  amount  of  water  discharged  through  it  is  at  all  times 
proportional  to  the  head  acting  on  it.  The  float,  rising  and 
falling  with  the  head  on  the  weir,  controls  the  amount  of 


352 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No. 


opening  of  the  standard  orifice  through  which  the  chemical 
solution  is  fed.  The  opening  of  the  standard  orifice  is  thus 
made  proportional  to  the  head  on  the  weir  and  the  ratio  of 
solution  to  raw  water  is  kept  constant.  After  passing 
through  the  mixing  tank  the  treated  water  runs  into  a 
settling  tank,  where  the  sludge  is  allowed  to  settle  out. 
From  the  settler  the  water  passes  through  an  excelsior  filter 
into  a  soft-water  storage  tank,  whence  it  is  pumped  into 
the  boiler-feed  system. 

Two  Worthington  horizontal,  duplex,  outside-center- 
packed  boiler-feed  pumps  are  installed  in  a  pump  section  of 
the  engine-room  basement,  and  the  piping  is  so  arranged 
that  the  feed  water  may  be  drawn  from  the  overhead  heater, 
directly  from  the  water-softening  plant  or  from  the  city 
mains.  In  an  emergency  water  may  be  drawn  from  the 
condenser  cold  well  through  a  fire-pump  suction-line  con- 
nection. The  discharge  from  the  feed  pumps  is  supplied  to 
both  the  front  and  the  rear  drumheads  of  the  boilers.  The 
feed  pumps  are  provided  with  iron  removable  fittings 
throughout  on  account  of  the  characteristics  of  the  water. 
Each  pump  is  capable  of  supplying  four  boilers,  giving  a 
spare  unit  with  the  present  number  of  boilers.  On  the 
extension  of  the  boiler  room  to  the  full  complement  of 
eight  boilers  an  additional  feed  pump  will  be  installed  in 
the  space  between  the  two  present  pumps.  With  this  sub- 
division of  three  feed  pumps  for  each  set  of  eight  boilers  a 
spare  pump  will  always  be  available.  Williams  pump  gov- 
ernors are  installed  on  the  feed  pumps. 

The  feed-water  heater  is  located  on  a  platform  under  the 
steel  stack.  Exhaust  steam  from  all  auxiliaries  is  piped 
to  the  heater,  which  is  provided  with  a  by-pass  to  the 
atmospheric  exhaust  through  a  relief  valve.  Make-up 
water  for  the  heater  is  supplied  from  a  system  connected 
with  an  elevated  tank  of  40,000-gal.  rating  located  in  the 
yard  behind  the  old  boiler  room,  the  main  source  of  supply 
being  the  hot-well  return  from  the  main  condensing  units. 
The  elevated  tank  has  a  diameter  of  17  ft.  and  is  built  of 
}4-in.  steel  plate,  the  distance  from  the  ground  to  the  bottom 
of  the  tank  being  60  ft.  Two  outlets  are  provided,  one 
connecting  with  an  8-in.  pipe  for  fire  protection  and  one 
with  a  lo-in.  pipe  for  boiler  feeding.  The  latter  extends 
into  the  tank  to  a  height  sufficient  to  leave  always  10,000 
gal.  for  fire  service.  The  low-service  pumping  equipment 
includes  a  2-in.  single-stage  horizontal  centrifugal  pump 
driven  by  a  7.5-hp  induction  motor  and  a  steam-driven 
horizontal  duplex  piston-pattern  tank  pump,  each  pump 
having  a  rating  of  100  gal.  per  minute  against  a  head  of 
100  ft.  The  motor-driven  pump  is  provided  with  an  auto- 
matic controller  operated  by  a   float  in  the  elevated  tank. 


Steam  is  taken  from  the  boilers  through  6-in.  leads  pro- 
vided with  New  Bedford  automatic  non-return  stop  and 
check  valves  to  a  12-in.  main  steam  header  located  just 
above  the  main  floor  back  of  the  boilers.  Expansion  is 
provided  for  by  a  vertical  i8o-deg.  bend  in  the  steam  header 
where  it  passes  through  the  stack  bay.  All  valves  in  the 
header  are  arranged  so  that  they  can  be  operated  from 
either  the  boiler-room  or  the  basement  floor.  A  valve 
placed  in  the  main  header  close  to  the  vertical  bend  permits 
the  isolation  of  boilers  on  either  side  of  the  stack  bay.  Easy 
90-deg.  bends  of  8-in.  pipe  take  steam  from  the  main  header 
to  the  turbine  throttles,  and  two- 6-in.  connections  supply 
steam  to  an  auxiliary  steam  header  located  in  the  engine- 
room  basement.  The  boilers  in  the  two  sections  of  the  plant 
are  interconnected  through  a  reducing  valve  for  emergency 
service,  the  older  units  being  capable  of  operation  at  a 
maximum  of  150-lb.  pressure.  The  exhaust  steam  from 
each  turbine  is  carried  to  the  condenser  through  a  36-in. 
hydraulically  operated  gate  valve,  with  an  independent  out- 
board exhaust  extending  through  an  exhaust  relief  valve 
to  the  roof.  The  auxiliary  low-pressure  steam  is  taken 
from  all  the  auxiliary  apparatus  to  the  feed-water  heater. 


which  is  located  between  the  two  batteries  of  boilers  in  the 
new  section  of  the  station. 

ECONOMICAL   EXHAUST-STEAM    CONTROL. 

The  circulating  pumps  are  driven  by  a  direct-connected 
turbine  and  by  a  direct-connected  variable-speed  induction 
motor  operating  in  combination  with  the  former,  this 
method  of  driving  being  adopted  in  order  to  gain  the  fullest 
control  over  the  exhaust-steam  supply.  Both  the  cir- 
culating pump  and  the  hot-well  pump  are  of  the  centrifugal 
type  and  they  are  mounted  on  one  shaft.  The  circulating 
pump  is  supplied  with  an  exhauster  for  priming.  In  select- 
ing this  equipment  it  was  understood  that  if  at  normal  speed 
all  the  load  of  the  circulating  pump  should  be  taken  by  the 
turbine  the  amount  of  exhaust  steam  delivered  to  the 
auxiliary  exhaust  main  would  probably  be  in  excess  of  the 
amount  needed  to  raise  the  temperature  of  the  boiler  feed 
to  the  boiling  point.  Operation  under  these  conditions  is 
undesirable.  To  prevent  this  the  turbine  has  been  provided 
with  a  governor  capable  of  speed  control  over  a  fairly  wide 
range  of  speed,  and  a  variable  speed  induction  motor  was 
connected  to  the  shaft,  so  that  with  a  suitable  speed  adjust- 
ment any  desired  proportion  of  the  total  power  required 
can  be  furnished  by  the  motor.  By  having  a  speed-regu- 
lating device  on  each  source  of  power,  the  absolute  speed  of 
the  unit  and  thus  the  amount  of  circulating  water  handled 


Fig.  7 — Switchboard  Gallery. 

may  be  controlled,  or  the  relative  speed  of  the  two  sources 
of  power  may  be  controlled.  This  gives  complete  control 
over  the  supply  of  exhaust  steam  and  facilitates  economical 
operation. 

Changes  in  the  station  load  make  readjustments  of  the 
speed  conditions  of  the  two  units  necessary  for  economy, 
?nd  occasional  watching  is  necessary  to  keep  the  feed  tem- 
perature close  to  the  atmospheric  boiling  point  without  any 
waste  of  exhaust  steam.  The  speed  variation  of  the  induc- 
tion motor  is  provided  by  an  external  resistance  in  the  rotor 
circuit. 

AIR   SERVICE. 

The  two  air  compressors  for  operating  the  air  lift  of  the 
deep  well  and  for  general  station  service  are  located  in  the 
engine-room  basement,  and  their  intakes  are  connected  to  a 
lo-in.  pipe  leading  from  a  main  air  chamber  in  the  base- 
ment, where  further  connection  is  made  with  an  air-washing 
system.  The  latter,  provided  by  the  Carrier  Air  Condi- 
tioning Company,  New  York,  has  a  present  rating  of  25,000 
cu.  ft.  per  minute,  an  increase  to  50,000  cu.  ft.  being  planned  1 
in  case  an  additional  turbine  of  5000-kw  rating  is  later  1 
installed.  The  washer  is  located  in  a  special  compartment 
in  the  old  engine  room.  Air  is  taken  in  from  the  roof 
through  a  chicken-wire  screen,  and  after  passing  through 
the  washer  is  led  into  a  chamber  whence  it  is  drawn  into 
the   turbo-generators.     A  sheet-metal  cover   fitting  the   air 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


353 


discharge  opening  of  either  turbine  prevents  air  from  being 
drawn  in  from  the  engine  room  through  an  idle  machine. 


PUMP  SERVICE. 


An  Underwriters'  fire  pump  of  1000  gal.  per  minute 
rating  is  located  in  the  engine-room  basement.  The  fire 
mains  may  also  be  supplied  from  the  city  service.     When 


SU&m  Eluitcr 
in  Old  tJtaticQ 


Bn^e  Dri 
GeneiutoT 


oOO    50U  5tW 


O  Recording  Wattm.eter 
[^   NouautouKitic  Oil  Switch 
]^    Automatic  Oil  Switch 


Selector  Switch 
Plug  Switch 
Kaite-blade  Switch 


:{:  Circuit  Breaker 
^Fused  Cutout 

EloetrKat  World 


Fig.   8 — Wiring    Diagram. 

the  pump  is  used  water  can  be  drawn  either  from  the  feed- 
pump suction  or  from  the  cold  wells.  Venturi  meters  are 
provided  in  each  discharge  line  from  tne  condensation  and 
circulating  pumps.  To  insure  accuracy  in  the  readings  of 
the  manometers  vent  pipes  are  provided  leading  from  the 
horizontal  runs  of  the  condensation-pump  discharge  lines 
to  a  point  higher  than  the  discharge  level  of  the  pumps  at 
the  open  heater. 

Each  cooling  tower  supplies  water  to  a  cold  well  placed 
below  the  basement  floor  between  each  pair  of  condensers, 
the  wells  all  being  cross-connected  by  a  36-in.  square  tunnel. 
The  discharge  pipes  of  the  circulating  pumps  are  also  cross- 
connected  by  a  common  header  placed  outside  the  building. 
To  help  out  the  old  station,  piping  has  been  installed 
between  the  old  and  new  cooling  towers.  Water  for  station 
service  is  taken  from  the  discharge  of  the  low-service  pump, 
to  which  is  also  connected  the  40,000-gal.  tank  outside  the 
building  through  an  8-in.  pipe  to  the  feed-water  heater,  the 
flow  being  controlled  by  an  automatic  valve.  From  the 
feed-water  heater  the  water  passes  through  the  water 
weigher  below  to  the  feed  pumps,  with  a  by-pass  connection 
around  the  water  weigher.  There  is  also  a  supply  from 
the  water-softening  plant  through  a  lo-in.  pipe  to  the  feed 
pumps.  From  the  latter  water  is  carried  directly  to  the 
boilers  through  a  6-in.  cast-iron  feed  main  with  a  3-in.  con- 
nection to  each  boiler.  There  is  also  an  auxiliary  feed  to 
the  rear  of  each  boiler.  Water  for  the  fire  pump  is  taken 
from  the  intake  tunnel  with  an  auxiliary  connection  from 
the  water-softening  plant. 

All  the  main  and  high-pressure  auxiliary  steam  piping  is 
drained  by  the  Holly  gravity  drip  system.  The  hydraulic- 
ally  operated  gate  valves  between  the  turbines  and  the  con- 
densers are  supplied  with  water  from  the  boiler-feed  lines. 
Copper  expansion  joints  are  provided  to  relieve  the  turbine 
casings  of  stresses  due  to  temperature  changes,  the  joints 
connecting  directly  to  each  turbine  exhaust  nozzle  and  to 
the  exhaust  bend  leading  to  each  condenser. 

SWITCHBOARD. 

The  electrical  output  of  the  station  is  controlled  in  part 


from  the  switchboard  in  the  old  engine  room  and  in  part 
from  that  in  the  newer  section.  The  main  switchboard, 
consisting  of  twenty-four  marble  panels,  is  located  in  the 
new  station  on  the  east  side  of  the  engine  room.  All  2300- 
volt  panels  are  of  the  remotely  controlled  type,  operating 
oil  switches  located  below  on  the  main  floor  of  the  switch- 
board bay.  All  oil  switches,  except  those  for  station  equip- 
ment, are  of  the  solenoid  type.  The  board  controls  seven 
single-phase  feeders,  one  two-phase  feeder,  two  2000-kw 
turbo-generators,  two  steam-driven  exciters,  one  motor- 
driven  exciter,  one  station  auxiliary  circuit,  one  arc  primary 
circuit,  two  motor-generator  sets  and  five  550-volt  railway 
feeders. 

Between  the  new  and  the  old  stations  are  installed  a  two- 
phase  main  bus  tie  controlled  by  selector  switches,  a  three- 
cable  exciter  bus  tie,  two  positive  direct-current  railway 
cables  and  a  positive  railway  bus  tie  to  permit  operation  of 
the  rotary  or  engine-driven  railway  generator  on  the  new 
station  buses. 

The  switchboard  in  the  old  station  controls  the  vertical 
turbine  units,  the  engine-driven  generators,  a  steam-driven 
exciter  and  the  rotary  converter.  Oil-switch  cells  in  the 
station  are  of  concrete  construction,  with  no  embedded 
reinforcement  except  the  hardware  in  the  switch  mounting 
and  assembly. 

Energy  for  station  auxiliaries  is  distributed  from  a  panel 
at  220  volts  alternating  current.  The  direct-current  crane 
motor  is  supplied  from  the  railway  bus.  Energy  for  station 
lighting  is  taken  from  one  phase  of  a  2300-volt  station 
service  bus,  there  being  nine  circuits  for  this  purpose. 
Excitation  is  furnished  normally  by  two  50-kw,  125-volt 
turbine-driven  exciters  or  a  35-kw  motor-driven  exciter,  all 
being  installed  in  the  new  station.  A  tie  has  also  been  made 
between  the  e.xciter  buses  in  the  new  and  the  old  stations  so 
that  energy  generated  by  a  30-kw  engine-driven  unit  may  be 
used  if  needed. 

The  station  is  unusually  well  equipped  with  instruments 
on  both  the  steam  and  electrical  sides.  Among  the  ap- 
paratus of  this  kind   installed  are  pressure  gages  on   the 


Fig.    9^Switchboard. 

circulating-pump  discharge  pipes,  a  recording  pressure  gage 
on  the  main  steam  header  within  sight  of  the  firemen,  and 
thermometers  on  the  heater  discharge,  on  the  boiler  steam- 
delivery  pipes,  turbine  steam  pipes,  turbine  exhaust  piping, 
hot-well  pump  discharge  pipes,  circulating-water  discharge 
pipes,  discharge  from  condensers,  boiler  uptakes  and  in 
generator  armature  windings. 


354 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  7. 


HIGH-POTENTIAL    CABLE    TESTING    AT    BOSTON. 


Portable   Testing   Apparatus   and   Methods    Employed 

by  the  Boston  Edison  Company  to  Prevent 

Cable  Breakdowns. 


AT   a   recent   meeting   of   the   Boston   Edison   Company 
section   of  the   National   Electric   Light  Association 
a  paper  upon  high-potential  cable  testing  was  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  C.   L.  Kasson,  of  the  company's  laboratory 
staff,  describing   in  considerable   detail   the   equipment   and 
methods  employed  by  the  Boston  organization  in  conduct- 


carries  a  loo-kva  motor-generator  set,  a  starting  com- 
pensator, a  switchboard,  a  carrying  cradle  for  all  portable 
instruments,  exploring  coils,  jumper  cables  and  many  small 
devices  for  facilitating  the  testing.  The  motor-generator 
set  consists  of  a  three-phase,  60-cycle,  2300-4000-volt  induc- 
tion motor  driving  a  three-phase,  60-cycle,  2300-volt  syn- 
chronous generator,  with  a  2-kw,  125-volt  exciter.  The 
weight  of  this  truck  loaded  is  about  12  tons.  All  connec- 
tions are  permanent  except  those  which  have  to  be  made 
at  each  test. 

In  operating  the  apparatus  a  jumper  cable  is  connected  be- 
tween the  supply  terminals  for  the  lOO-kva  motor  and  the 
source  of  three-phase,  60-cycle,  2300-volt  or  4000-volt  power. 


Fig.    1^ — Motor-Generator    Set    and    Control    Apparatus. 


Fig.   3 — Portable  Testing    Equipment. 


Fig.   2 — Transformer,    Blower  and   Reactor   Equipment. 

ing  high-voltage  cable  tests  for  the  purpose  of  insuring 
reliable  operation.  Through  the  courtesy  of  the  author  the 
following  material  has  been  prepared,  giving  test  data  and  a 
comprehensive  description  of  the  apparatus  used. 

The  equipment  is  carried  on  two  electric  trucks  of  5  and 
6  tons  carrying  capacity.  Each  has  a  speed  of  about  7.5 
miles  per  hour  and  is  capable  of  making  30  miles  on  one 
battery  charge.  One  truck  carries  an  800-kva,  30,000-volt 
or  15,000-volt  to  2300-volt,  60-cycle  air-cooled  transformer; 
an  850-kva,  2300-volt,  60-cycle  air-cooled  reactor;  two 
blower  sets,  a  switchboard  and  spark-gap,  potential  measur- 
ing transformer,  an  interrupter,  a  power  bridge,  a  complete 
galvanometer  equipment,  a  reactor  terminal  board,  jumper 
cables   and   an   electrostatic   voltmeter.      The   second   truck 


Fig. 


-Interrupter   and   Switchboard   on    Electric   Truck. 


The  necessary  cross-connections  between  trucks  are  made  by 
junipers,  and  a  ground  wire  is  connected  from  the  trucks  to 
a  reliable  ground.  The  cable  under  test  is  connected  with 
the  high-tension  transformer  equipment  by  jumpers  suf-. 
ficiently  insulated  to  permit  their  lying  on  the  floor  or 
ground.  All  of  the  necessary  measuring  instruments  are 
connected  in  at  the  switchboards.  The  motor-generator  is 
then  started  with  low  voltage  on  the  g<;;ierator  end.  A 
reactor  is  connected  in  circuit  so  that  it  will  balance  the 
capacity  effect  of  the  cable,  and  the  transformer,  reactor 
and  cable  are  made  alive  by  closing  the  generator  main 
switch.  The  generator  pressure  is  then  raised  until  the 
high-tension  voltmeters  show  that  the  cable  is  receiving  the 
desired  potential. 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


3SS 


If  the  cable  stands  the  test  the  potential  is  gradually 
reduced  at  the  end  of  the  specified  time  and  the  switches 
are  opened.  If  the  cable  fails,  the  fault  is  sufficiently  car- 
bonized to  allow  a  60-volt  direct-current  supply  to  force 
about  5  amp  through  it.     This  current  is  taken  from  the 


such  a  machine  would  be  prohibitive  for  portable  testing. 
Since  the  transformer  is  of  800-kva  rating  and  the  gen- 
erator is  of  loo-kva  rating,  the  shunted  reactive  load  must 
always  be  within  about  100  kva  of  the  kva  input  to  the 
transformer   cables.      The    reactor   is    provided    with    nine 


TABLE    I DATA    OBTAINED    DURING    USE   OF   THE    PORTABLE  HIGH-POTENTIAL   TESTING    SET. 


Condition. 


30,000-VoLT  Side  op  Transformer. 


Volts.         Amp.  Kva 


1-9  reactor  only 

Transformer  only 30,000 

l-9reactor-f  transformer 30,000 

14,875  ft.  transmission  cable  (I  conductor).    '  30,000 

14,875  ft.  transmission  cable  (2  conductors') 30 ,000 


9.4 
15.4 


Kw. 


P.  F. 


282 
462 


20 

40 


Gbhbrator. 


Volts.    !    Amp.         Kva 


2210  I  31.0 

2120  25.0 

2130  I  51.0 

2080  I  18.3 

2040  i  30.5 


69.4 
53.0 
108.0 
38.2 
62.2 


Kw. 


1.5 

3.3 

4.4 

30.5 

54.0 


P.  F. 


2.2 
6.1 

4.1 
78.5 
87.0 


59.5 
59.5 
59.5 
59.0 
59. 0 


Reactor. 

Motor. 

Exciter. 

Volts. 

Amp. 

Kva. 

Kw. 

P.P. 

Volts. 

Amp. 

Kva. 

Kw. 

P.P. 

Volts. 

Amp. 

Kw. 

2210 

2130 
2080 
2040 

31.0 

26.5 
105.0 
180.0 

69.4 

56.5 
218.0 
.368.0 

1.5 

2.2 

2160 
2200 
2200 
2160 
2160 

8.8 

8.5 

10.0 

13.6 

20.8 

32. S 
32.4 
38.1 
51.0 
77.5 

14.0 
67.0 

43.2 
86.5 

129 
127 
126 
123 
119 

18.1 
15.0 
22.1 
12.3 
13.7 

2.34 

1.91 

2.78 

14,875  ft.  transmission  cable  (1  conductor)  . 
14,875  ft.  transmission  cable  (2  conductors) . 

1.51 
1.50 

truck  batteries  in  conjunction  with  a  lamp  rheostat.  The 
fault  is  located  by  using  a  power  bridge,  an  interrupter  with 
an  exploring  coil,  or  a  combination  of  both  methods.  On 
new  cables  complete  insulation  resistance  and  electrostatic 
capacity  galvanometer  tests  are  made  following  a  successful 
high-potential  test. 


taps  to  effect  this.  The  generator  provides  the  necessary 
wattless  current  to  create  a  balance  between  the  leading 
current  in  the  transformer  supplying  the  cable  and  the 
lagging  current  in  the  reactor,  together  with  the  necessary 
power  component.  The  actual  energy  taken  from  the  gen- 
erator is  used  in  supplying  the  core  and  copper  losses  of 


TABLE    II DATA    FROM    TESTS    ON     UNDERGROUND    CABLES. 

(Three-Conductor  i^,ooo-Volt  7/32-!;!.  Paper  Cable.) 


Line. 

Conductor. 

Length,  Ft. 

Test. 

Volts. 

Amp. 



Kva. 

Amp.  per  Mile. 

Kva.  per  Mile. 

A 
B 
C 
D 

E 
P 

3-4/0 
3-4/0 
3-4/0 
3-4/0 
3-4/0 
3-4/0 

3,200 
9,340 
14,700 
16,900 
20,640 
24,360 

1-2.3,6 
1-2,3,6 
1-2,3,6 
1-2,3,6 
1-2,3,6 
1-2,3,6 

30,000 
30,000 
30,000 
30,000 
30,000 
30,000 

2.25 
6.00 
9.50 
12.00 
13.40 
17.00 

67.5 
180.0 
285.0 
360.0 
402.0 
510.0 

3.71 
3.39 
3.41 
3.74 
3.42 
3.68 

111.3 
100.7 
102.3 
112.2 
102.6 
110.4 

G 
H 

3-2,'0 
3-4/0 

2,330 
20,640 

1,2-3,6 
1,2-3,6 

30,000 
30,000 

2.3 
21.0 

69.0 
6.?0.0 

5.21 
5.36 

156.3 
160.8 

I 
J 
K 

3-4/0 

3-4/0 

i               3-4/0 

17,380 
25,850 
29,670 

1-2.3,6 
1-2.3,6 
1-2,3,6 

28,000 
28,000 
28,000 

9,4 
13.9 
16.5 

264.0 
389.0 
462.0 

2.85 
2.84 
2.85 

80.0 
79.5 
80.0 

L 

3-4/0 

14,770 

1.2-3,6 

28,000 

12.3 

344.0 

4.40 

123.0 

Line. 

Temperature. 
Deg.  Pahr.* 

Measured 
Insulator  Resistance. 

Insulator  Resistance 
per  Mile. 

Measured 
Electric  Capacity. 

Electric  Capacity 
per  Mile. 

Calculated  Charging 
Current  per  Mile. 

A 

38 

149 

90 

0.199 

0.328 

3.70 

B 

36 

231 

408 

0.527 

0.298 

3.37 

C 

40 

52 

145 

0.894 

0.321 

3.62 

D 

51 

19 

61 

1.15 

0.359 

4.05 

E 

37 

46 

179 

1.20 

0.307 

3.46 

F 

36 

96 

440 

1.38 

0.300 

3.38 

*Air  at  mouth  of  duct. 

The  securing  of  a  partial  balance  between  the  capacity 
of  the  cable  and  the  inductance  of  the  reactor  used  is  the 
underlying  principle  of  the  whole  equipment.  A  motor- 
generator  set  capable  of  handling  the  entire  charging  cur- 
rent would  involve  an  800-kva  generator.     The  weight  of 


the  transformer,  reactor  and  cable  plus  the  cable  dielectric 
heat  losses.  The  relative  value  of  some  of  these  factors  is 
shown  in  Table  I. 

In  the  case  of  the  cable   requiring  462  kva,   the   power 
taken  is  40  kw.     This  makes  the  power-factor  of  the  high- 


3S6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  7. 


tension  circuit  S.J  per  cent.  The  generator  furnishes  62.2 
kva  and  54  kw,  making  its  power-factor  S7  per  cent.  The 
difference  between  the  generator  kw  output  and  the  high- 
tension  kw  consumed  represents  the  transformer  and  re- 
actor core  and  copper  losses.  The  transformer  losses  are 
about  8  kw  and  the  reactor  losses  6  kw.  If  it  is  assumed 
that  the  PR  losses  due  to  the  current  in  the  copper  con- 
ductors and  the  lead  sheath  are  negligible,  then  the  40  kw 
input  to  the  cable  must  represent  the  power-producmg  heat 
in  the  dielectric,  amounting  to  about  3  watts  per  foot  of 
cable.  Under  usual  conditions,  when  the  generator  is  sup- 
plying some  appreciable  power  component  as  well  as  watt- 
less current,  the  wave-form  of  the  potential  impressed  on 
the  cable  is  approximately  sinusoidal. 

The  equipment  has  now  been  used  in  over  100  tests  on 
underground  cable,  ranging  from  10,000-volt  No.  6  rubber- 
covered  single  conductor  to  15,000-volt  No.  4-0  paper-m- 
sulated,  three-conductor  cable,  the  lengths  varying  from 
SCO  ft.  to  32,000  ft.  The  pressures  applied  in  the  tests  have 
varied  from  15,000  volts  to  30,000  volts  and  the  period  of 
application  from  five  minutes  to  thirty  minutes. 

Table  II  gives  data  compiled  from  the  results  of  some  of 
the  high-potential  and  galvanometer  tests.     From  the  table 
it  appears  that  the  actual  charging  current  is  practically 
equal   to   the   calculated   current,   which    is   based    on   the 
measured  electrostatic  capacity  of  the  cable.     As  the  gal- 
vanometer tests  immediately  followed  the  others,  the  tem- 
perature question  did  not  have  to  be  considered.    The  effect 
of  the  power  component  was  assumed  to  be  negligible  with 
regard   to    heating.     The    figures   show   that   the   average 
charging  current  per  mile  at  30,000  volts  and  60  cycles  is 
about  3.6  amp  for   15,000-volt,  7/32-in.  paper  cable  when 
the  test  is  from  one  conductor  to  the  other  two  and  sheath, 
at  temperatures  between  30  deg.  and  50  deg.  Fahr.     The 
input  corresponds  to  about  107  kva  per  mile.     The  table 
indicates  that  the  charging  current  and  kva  necessary  when 
the  test  combination  is  two  conductors  to  the  other  one 
and  sheath  is  about  50  per  cent  greater  than  that  necessary 
when  the   combination   is   one  conductor  to   the  other  two 
and  sheath. 

RAISING    THE    STANDARD    OF    CABLE    SPECIFI- 
CATIONS. 


In  a  certain  authentic  instance  where  estimates  were  re- 
quested from  three  cable  manufacturers  the  successful  bid- 
der wrote  that  his  estimate  covered  'the  type  of  cable  stand- 
ard with  that  lighting  company,  but  that  he  could  supply  an 
inferior  cable  which  would  still  meet  the  tests  required  in 

RELATIVE   COSTS   OF   BARE   AND   TRIPLE-BRAIDED    WEATHERPROOF 
STRANDED    CONDUCTOR. 




Cost  in 

Dollars  per 

i 
Mile.               j 

Insulation   in 

Size, 

Percentage  of 
ToUl  Insulat- 

Circ.    Mil. 

Bare. 

Insulated. 

Difference. 

ed  Cable. 

1   000,000 

2,124 

2,522 

398 

16.0 
18.0 

1,592 

1,937 

345 

500  000 

1,060 

1,300 

240 

19.5 

21.5 

3.^0,000 

742 

923 

181 

250,000 

530 

676 

146 

No.OOOO 
000 

441 
352 

549 
449 

102 
97 

18.5 
21.5 

00 

280 

359 

79 

0 

223 

291 

68 

23.0 

1 

177 

226 

49 

21.5 

2 

139 

185 

46 

25.0 

87' 

117 

30 

25.5 

6 

55 

79 

24 

30.0 

A     Practical     Recommendation    for    Good    Electrical 

Conductors  and  a  Method  for  Tabulating  the 

Important   Requirements. 


the  specification.  The  specification  in  this  case  contained 
no  clause  that  called  for  Para  rubber  or  even  new  rubber; 
in  fact,  no  mention  was  made  of  any  of  the  constituents 
of  the  filler.  Hence  anything  that  could  withstand  the  high 
voltage,  the  insulation  resistance  and  the  stretch  tests  would 
be  legitimate.  In  writing  thus  this  manufacturer  sounded 
his  note  of  warning  and  the  company  could  either  recognize 
it  or  "take  a  chance,"  as  it  pleased.  Upon  inquiry  as  to  the 
dift'erence  in  quality  between  the  two  types  of  insulation  his 
reply  was  very  vague,  but  through  it  all  was  a  strong 
recommendation  that  the  standard  should  not  be  lowered. 
He  stated  that  the  difference  was  in  the  factor  of  safety. 

The  duration  of  life  of  a  cable  is  expressed  by  the  factor 
of  safety,  a  term  that  has  not  been  clearly  defined.  A 
numerical  value  for  this  factor  cannot  be  specified.  It  is, 
therefore,  necessary  to  specify  such  material  as  will  assure 
of  its  being  high  enough.  The  life  of  an  electrical  con- 
ductor depends  upon  certain  extraneous  influences  which 
prevail.  A  storm  or  lightning  discharge  might  devastate 
overhead  construction  at  any  time.  In  the  case  of  under- 
o  round  cables  electrolysis  may  in  time,  perhaps  very  quickly, 
destroy  the  lead  sheath  of  a  paper-insulated  cable.  Opera- 
tions in  the  street  often  result  in  mechanical  injury  to  an 


By  Alden  W.  Welch. 

THE  large  central-station  corporations  are  awakening 
to  the  necessity  for  an  adequate  understanding  of 
electrical  conductors  At  present  the  engineers  in 
these  companies  responsible  for  the  preparation  of  wire  and 
cable  specifications  have  such  a  mu.tiplicity  of  duties  that 
they  find  little  time  to  devote  to  this  subject.  The  result  is 
that  in  the  majority  of  cases  many  serious  defects  appear  in 
the  specifications.  The  field  of  cable  engineering  is  broad 
and  the  details  necessary  for  the  thorough  equipment  of  a 
cable  engineer  are  innumerable. 

It  is  the  general  but  erroneous  impression  among  central- 
station  companies  that  the  cable  concerns  are  only  a  little 
removed  from  sharp-practice  men.  It  has  been  the  writer  s 
experience  that  thev  are  ever  ready  to  offer  suggestions  and 
assist  generallv  in  the  uplift  of  the  art.  They  have  on 
occasion  even  stated  that  certain  specifications  were  too 
lenient.  Reputable  cable  manufacturers  are  desirous  of 
meeting  high-grade  requirements  which  make  it  possible 
for  them  to  compete  with  the  less  conscientious  concerns. 
These  cable  companies  do  not  care  to  jeopardize  their 
reputations  by  using  the  inferior  materials  allowed  by  lax 
specifications. 


2800 

-^ 

2400 

0 

- 

^ 

-^ 

q  2000 

u 

y 

y 
-^ 

. — 

^  ICOO 

'^ 

y 

ein  D 

y 

> 

/ 

Pric 

^ 

<^ 

/ 

400 

^ 

0 

1 

00       2 

00       3 

00       4 

DO       5 

DO      6 

,  inr\n 

DO       7 

00       8 

Is 

00       9 

00      IC 

EUctru 

100 

Fig.   1-Bearing   of   Insulation   Upon   Cost  of  Cable   (Triple-Braided 
Weatherproof    Stranded    Conductors). 

underground  cable.  Moreover,  the  development  in  the  art 
sometimes  makes  a  particular  type  of  cable  obsolete  and 
inadequate  for  the  purpose,  so  that  it  must  be  replaced  by 
another  cable.  It  is  therefore  difficult  to  give  a  reasonable 
estimate  of  cable  life  without  knowing  the  conditions. 
However,  under  average  conditions  an  underground  cable 
protected  from  electrolysis  should  last  twenty  years.      1  he 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


3sr 


i 


writer  is  personally  aware  of  some  that  have  been  in  opera- 
tion for  fifteen  years.  Such  cables  have  entirely  adequate 
factors  of  safety. 

The  strongest  opponents  to  good  cable  specifications  are 
'the  super-economic  policies  of  the  large  central-station 
companies  and  ignorance  of  cable  requirements  on  the  part 
of  those  who  draw  up  the  specifications.     Of  course,  there 


cable  specifications  were  kept  separate  from  the  others  they 
would  be  numbered  consecutively  and  the  first  two  columns 
of  the  table  merged  into  one. 

The  description  of  the  cable  should  be  brief  and  to  the- 
point.  A  250,000-circ.  mil,  three-conductor,  varnished-cam- 
bric, lead-covered,  high-tension  cable  should  be  designated' 
as  250,000,  3-C,  V-C,  L-C,  H-T ;  a  1,000,000-circ.  mil,  single- 

CABLE  SPECIFICATIONS. 


(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

(7) 

(8) 

(9) 

(10) 

(11) 

(12) 

Spi-t. 

No. 

Description  of  Cable 

D.C. 

Sormul 
Working 
Pressure 

"est 
aOMin. 

Thioknc33 
of  Covering 

Covering 

Insul-D 
UoaiBL 

Guarantee 

around 
Ini^lieB 

dumber  of 

Strands 
I>Gr  Con  due 

Insulation 
Test 

Page 

Eucb 
Cond. 

Over 
AU 

Borvico 

Cart  J  iiig 
Cuimeitv 

Uses 

A,up3 

Tiuii- 

-       — ...^ 

^ , 



J — ■'^        ^ 

[^         -J — - 

— ' ' ~-~ 

i:icet,-Ual  ITorW 

Fig.    2 — ^Form    for    Cable    Specification    Tabulation. 


is  much  to  be  said  on  the  side  of  economy  in  this  direction. 
Fiftv  per  cent  of  the  equipment  of  such  a  company  is  often 
underground  in  the  form  of  conductors.  Hence  even  a 
small  saving  per  foot  in  cables  will  assume  large  propor- 
tions in  the  aggregate.  But  there  is  a  depreciation  factor 
to  be  contended  with.  A  small  additional  expenditure  per 
foot  might  increase  the  life  of  the  conductor  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  aggregate  saving  in  depreciation  would  far 
outbalance  the  additional  first  cost.  This  is  a  matter  to  be 
carefully  considered,  and  it  is  believed  that  an  investiga- 
tion of  it  would  result  in  a  demand  for  a  higher  standard 
of  conductor.  The  second  opponent  should  not  be  allowed 
to  exist. 

The  complex  quantity  in  cable  engineering  is  the  insula- 
tion. As  far  as  the  copper  itself  is  concerned,  few  recom- 
mendations could  be  offered.  Most  specifications  require  a 
conductivity  of  not  less  than  98  per  cent,  "Matthiessen's 
standard."  In  addition  to  this  it  might  be  well  to  state  a 
certain  percentage  of  elongation  for  a  test  piece  of  given 
dimensions.  However,  this  is  not  absolutely  necessary  if 
the  conductivity  is  standard.  In  the  writer's  opinion,  it  is 
not  desirable  for  the  company  to  specify  a  strand  pitch. 
This  is  a  feature  of  construction  that  should  be  left  to  the 
manufacturer. 

The  accompanying  table  and  Fig.  I  give  an  idea  of  the 
relation  between  cost  of  bare  conductor  and  the  insulation. 
It  is  an  argument  in  favor  of  good  material  for  the  latter. 
A  small  percentage  increase  in  the  cost  of  the  insulation 
will  mean  an  exceedingly  small  increase  in  the  total  cost 
of  the  cable. 

A  recommendation  that  the  writer  desires  to  make  to 
all  electric-service  companies,  large  and  small  alike,  is  that 
they  prepare  a  tabulation  of  the  significant  data  contained 
in  their  cable  specifications.  In  most  cases,  always  where 
large  quantites  are  involved,  cable  should  be  ordered  by  a 
regular  written  specification.  But  there  are  times  when 
cable  can  be  ordered  directly  from  such  a  tabulation.  Speci- 
fications can  be  written  quickly  from  this  table.  It  is 
invaluable  in  the  revision  of  specifications,  as  the  important 
features  are  spread  out  before  one  and  errors  and  defects 
can  readily  be  detected  therefrom.  A  form  for  such  a 
tabulation  is  shown  in  Fig.  2. 

In  addition  to  this  use  should  be  made  of  a  loose-leaf 
book  containing  all  of  the  written  specifications.  The  book 
should  be  fully  indexed.  The  column  in  Fig.  2  called  "Page 
Number"  should  refer  to  this  index,  and  the  figures  oc- 
curring in  this  column  relate  to  the  rotation  in  which  the 
specifications  follow  in  the  book.  Under  "Specification 
Number"  should  appear  the  actual  numbers  of  the  cable 
specifications.  In  an  engineering  department  many  speci- 
fications are  written  on  all  subjects  from  cables  to  buildings 
and  each  receives  a  serial  number  in  the  order  of  date. 
Hence  the  cable  specifications  would  have  all  sorts  of  num- 
bers, according  to  the  time  when  they  were  prepared.  With 
such  a  system  this  second  column  is  necessary.    In  case  the 


conductor,  paper-insulated,  lead-covered,  low-tension  cable 
should  be  designated  as  1,000,000,  i-C,  P-I,  L-C,  L-T,  and 
other  cables  in  a  similar  manner. 

The  next  column  states  whether  the  cable  is  to  be  used 
for  alternating  current  or  direct  current.  Then  follows  the 
normal  working  pressure  which  determines  the  thickness  of 
the  insulation,  and  ne.xt  the  high-voltage  test.  The  fourth 
of  the  numbered  columns  specifies  the  thickness  of  the  in- 
sulation, and  the  fifth  the  type.  The  insulation  resistance 
appears  next,  and  after  this  the  guarantees.  Under  "Serv- 
ice" should  be  inserted  the  time  for  which  the  cable  is 
guaranteed  by  the  manufacturer.  The  ninth  column  speci- 
fies the  wrapping  radius.  The  tenth  gives  the  number  of 
individual  strands. 

The  scope  of  the  test  for  insulation  resistance  should  be 
shown  in  column  eleven.  In  the  case  of  three-conductor 
cable,  it  would  state  "between  each  conductor  and  other 
two,"  and  if  lead-covered,  "between  conductors  and  sheath." 
If  single-conductor,  rubber-insulated,  braided  service  cable,, 
it  would  read,  "Insulation  test  to  be  made  between  core  and 
a  layer  of  tinfoil  around  braid."  The  last  column  indicates 
the  uses  to  which  the  conductors  will  be  put,  such  as  for 
two-phase  primary  overhead,  standard  three-phase  trans- 
mission outside  station,  direct-current  service  leads  and 
mains  and  direct-current  feeders. 

The  cable  tabulation  should  appeal  as  a  good  scheme  to> 
engineers  who  are  considering  the  cable  situation.  The 
writer  would  advise  those  who  have  not  yet  awakened  to 
the  importance  of  the  subject  to  examine  carefully  their 
specifications  with  a  view  to  eliminating  all  defects  and 
errors  of  commission  and  omission  appearing  therein. 


SINGULAR  ACTION  OF  LIGHTNING. 


A  curious  prank  played  by  lightning  caused  serious 
embarrassment  to  the  Union  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  of 
Cincinnati,  at  its  generating  station  not  long  ago,  setting  fire 
to  the  main  outgoing  underground  feeders  where  the  latter 
leave  the  basement  of  the  building.  The  bolt  struck  the 
upper  steel  work  of  the  plant  structure  and  followed  down' 
a  corner  column  until  it  reached  the  floor  level  on  which 
the  feeder  regulators  are  installed.  Here  it  jumped  across 
to  the  metal  tank  of  one  of  the  regulators,  puncturing  the 
sheet  steel  and  releasing  a  stream  of  oil,  which  it  also 
ignited.  This  burning  oil  poured  down  upon  the  feeder 
lines  near  the  point  where  they  leave  the  building,  and 
when  the  fire  was  discovered  the  cable  insulation  was  burn- 
ing fiercely.  In  all,  about  a  barrel  of  oil  thus  escaped  from 
the  regulator  tank  and  was  added  to  the  fuel  of  the  burnings 
feeder  coverings,  making  the  fire  diflScult  to  combat.  It 
was  necessary  to  de-energize  the  feeders  for  a  time,  until 
the  flames  could  be  extinguished  and  hasty  repairs  made 
around  the  burned  section. 


3S8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  7. 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


LARGE  GARAGE  FOR  FRESNO. 


The  San  Joaquin  Light  &  Power  Company  is  planning 
to  build  a  garage  and  shop  in  Fresno,  Cal.,  to  care  for  the 
many  automobiles  which  it  owns.  The  garage  and  shops 
will  cost  in  the  neighborhood  of  $11,000.  The  shop  will 
occupy  an  area  150  ft.  by  100  ft.  and  the  garage  will  oc- 
cupy an  area  about  62 >4  ft.  by  150  ft.  The  company  owns 
seventy-six  automobiles,  including  trucks.  All  of  these  are 
not  quartered  in  Fresno,  as  the  company  has  a  fine  garage 
and  shop  in  Bakersfield.  The  machines  used  in  the  northern 
district,  however,  are  quartered  in  Fresno. 


FRONTAGE    CHARGES    IN  ORNAMENTAL   STREET 
LIGHTING. 


The  problem  of  the  corner-property  owner  or  tenant  has 
vexed  many  central-station  men  promoting  local  "white 
ways"  or  ornamental  lighting  installations.  Strenuous  are 
the  objections  raised 
by  the  corner  mer- 
chant who  finds  he 
must  pay  on  a  curb- 
foot  basis  for  both  his 
main  fronting  and  his 
usually  longer  side- 
street  fronting,  while 
the  man  next  door  is 
charged  only  a  quar- 
ter as  much  for  his 
share  in  the  middle  of 
the  block.  The  diffi- 
culties thus  created 
had  proved  almost  fa- 
tal to  the  plans  for 
'tungsten  curb  fixtures 
■  at  Great  Falls,  Mont.. 
where  the  corner- 
property  objectors 
quite  refused  to  go 
into  the  agreement. 
An  adjustment  was 
finally  secured,  how- 
ever, by  installing  32- 
cp  lamp  in  the  alleys 
behind  the  stores,  and 
charging  these  lamps 
to  the  mid-block  oc- 
cupants, on  the  same 
curb  foot  basis  as  in 
front.  The  conduits 
for  the  curb  fixtures 
are  fed  through  over- 
head lines  in  the 
alleys  adjoining  the 
main  street,  so  that  it 

was  a  simple  matter  to  install  32-cp  graphitized  lamps  and 
reflectors  on  these  wooden  poles.  The  presence  of  these 
alley  lamps  will  also  have  a  positive  police  value,  aiding  in 
the  capture  of  criminals  and  preventing  depredations  on 
merchants'  stores  from  the  rear.  Under  the  new  arrange- 
ment, therefore,  the  cost  of  erecting  and  operating  the  lamps 
is  borne  on  a  footage  basis  in  which  both  front-street  and 
alley  frontings  are  counted  equally.  The  result  has  been 
to   reduce    the   discrepancy   between   the   corner    and   mid- 


Ornamental    Curb-Lighting    Post   for 
Great   Fails,    Mont. 


block  occupants  to  a  point  where  the  former  were  all  satis- 
fied to  come  in. 

Eighty  posts,  each  carrying  four  60-watt  till-midnight 
lamps  and  one  lOO-watt  all-night  lamp,  are  being  installed, 
the  illuminated  area  extending  from  Park  Drive  to  Sixth 
Street,  one-half  block  on  each  side  of  Central.  The  posts 
are  of  an  elaborate  type  manufactured  locally  by  the  Great 
Falls  Iron  Works,  and  cost  $135  each,  completely  installed. 
The  Great  Falls  Electric  Properties  operates  the  entire 
system,  including  the  alley  lamps,  at  the  rate  of  $6  per  curb 
post  per  month.  There  are  two  of  the  alley  lamps  to  each 
block,  located  at  points  one-third  the  distance  between 
streets.  Under  a  recently  enacted  Montana  statute,  the  cost 
of  building  and  operating  this  ornamental  lighting  system 
will  be  borne  one-half  by  the  city  government,  one-third 
by  the  abutting  owners  and  tenants,  and  one  sixth  by  the 
street  railway  company,  the  latter  being  required  by  law  to 
contribute  this  amount  to  the  lighting  of  streets  traversed 
by  its  cars. 


TRANSFORMING   A    DOUBLE-CURRENT    GENERA- 
TOR INTO  A  ROTARY  CONVERTER. 


An  interesting  transformation  is  in  progress  at  the  Har- 
rison Street  station  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company 
of  Chicago.  This  station  was  built  about  twenty  years  ago, 
and  at  that  time  was  considered  to  represent  the  latest 
developments  in  the  art.  One  of  the  units  was  a  2500-kw 
double-current  generator  driven  at  75  r.p.m.  by  a  vertical 
Allis  engine.  This  station  has  been  superseded  almost 
entirely  as  a  generating  plant  by  the  more  modern  steam- 
turbine  stations,  where  electrical  energy  is  produced  more 
cheaply.  It  is  now  used  principally  as  a  substation,  the 
greater  part  of  the  steam  generating  equipment  being  held 
in  reserve  for  winter  peak  loads.  It  has  been  decided,  how- 
ever, to  transform  the  double-current  generator  into  a 
rotary  converter. 

Originally  this  generator  supplied  either  direct  current  or 
alternating  current.  In  the  course  of  the  changes  under 
way  the  connecting  rods  of  the  engine  have  been  removed, 
although  the  flywheel  still  remains  part  of  the  unit.  The 
double-current  winding  of  the  generator  is  practically  iden- 
tical with  that  of  the  ordinary  rotary  converter.  Inasmuch 
as  the  unit  was  originally  equipped  with  an  alternating- 
current  regulator  and  step-up  transformers  to  make  it 
operative  on  the  9000-volt  system  of  the  company,  about 
the  only  change  necessary  on  the  generator  side  consists  in 
jiroviding  a  rather  elaborate  starting  equipment.  As  a 
synchronous  converter  the  machine  will  have  a  direct-cur- 
rent pressure  ranging  from  about  250  to  300  volts. 

The  new  unit,  as  intended  to  be  operated,  is  a  ponderous 
(ine  and  will  probably  be  used  for  the  most  part  during  the 
heavy  demands  of  the  winter  season.  This  change  is  an 
interesting  example  of  the  resourceful  expedients  which  can 
sometimes  be  employed  by  the  larger  centra!  station  com- 
jianies  in  utilizing  obsolete  equipment. 


SECURITY  OF  ELECTRIC  SIGNS. 


A  recent  windstorm  in  Cincinnati  that  assumed  the  pro- 
portions of  a  cyclone  blew  down  many  electric  signs,  and 
in  a  number  of  cases  the  electrical  wires  were  left  exposed. 
Mr.  William  Carroll,  former  city  electrician  of  Chicago, 
who  happened  to  be  in  Cincinnati  at  the  time  of  the  storm. 


1 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


359 


has  suggested  to  the  Department  of  Electricity  of  the  city 
of  Chicago  that  it  might  be  advisable  to  look  into  the  man- 
ner of  fastening  large  electric  roof  signs. 

The  requirements  of  the  Electrical  Code  of  Chicago  in 
relation  to  the  supporting  and  guying  of  electric  signs  are 
very  rigid,  and  investigation  reveals  the  fact  that,  so  far  as 
known,  no  electric  roof  sign  or  electric  sign  projecting  from 
a  building  has  e.er  been  blown  down.  In  the  case  of  pro- 
jecting signs  the  cnaracter  of  supporting  chains  and  cables 
is  carefully  specified  '•^'  signs  weighing  less  than  75  lb., 
between  75  lb.  and  150  lb.,  between  150  lb.  and  250  lb.,  and 
between  250  lb.  and  350  lb.  Signs  weighing  more  than  350 
lb.,  or  signs  supported  by  cables  or  chains  which  form  an 
angle  of  less  than  30  deg.  with  the  horizon,  must  not  be 
erected  until  the  detail  plan  of  supporting  has  been  submit- 
ted to  the  city  electrician  and  received  his  approval. 

In  the  case  of  roof  signs  the  Department  of  Electricity 
issues  permits  covering  only  the  electrical  work,  one  re- 
quirement being  that  the  wires  be  led  in  conduits  up  to  the 
sign.  The  plans  for  the  structures  of  roof  signs  must  be 
approved  by  the  Department  of  Buildings.  All  electric 
roof-sign  structures  must  be  of  steel-skeleton  construction 
designed  by  a  licensed  structural  engineer,  and  plans  show- 
ing construction  and  method  of  attachment  to  buildings 
must  be  submitted  to  and  approved  by  the  architectural  en- 
gineer of  the  Department  of  Buildings  of  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago. The  structural  work  is  inspected  during  erection  and 
annually  thereafter.  There  is  no  record  of  any  of  the  elec- 
tric roof  signs  of  Chicago  having  failed  during  any  wind- 
storm. The  Department  of  Buildings  does  not  issue  per- 
mits for  roof  signs  on  buildings  over  eight  stories  high  or 
for  wooden  signs  or  billboards  on  roofs.  Such  billboards 
as  are  in  position  on  roofs  were  erected  before  the  present 
ordinance  was  adopted.  They  have  been  allowed  to  re- 
main, but  they  must  be  strengthened,  where  necessary,  to 
withstand  a  wind  pressure  of  25  lb.  to  the  square  foot. 


CENTRAL-STATION   ICE  MAKING. 


By  H.  J.  Macintire. 

The  criterion  as  to  the  most  economical  refrigerating  in- 
stallations depends  on  the  cost  of  fuel  and  electric  energy, 
and,  to  a  certain  extent,  on  the  available  space.  Undoubted- 
ly in  the  coal  regions  where  fuel  costs  are  at  a  minimum  and 
where  the  engine-room  space  is  of  small  importance,  the 
steam-driven  can-ice  plant  has  its  advantages,  but  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  can-ice  plant  is  but  one  of  a  large 
number  of  uses  to  which  refrigerating  is  now  being  put. 
The  reason  why  this  particular  kind  of  work  has  been  con- 
sidered especially  is  that  the  ice  plant  is  well  adapted  to 
central-station  conditions,  although  examples  are  frequent 
now  of  a  large  number  of  other  industries  being  carried 
on  by  the  central  station,  for  instance  in  Buffalo,  Detroit 
and  in  some  of  the  Southern  and  Western  localities.  In 
none  but  the  can-ice  plant  is  distilled  water  desired  to  any 
extent,  and  often  therefore  the  chief  argument  for  the 
steam-driven  compressor  becomes  of  no  great  importance. 
It  is  then  desirable  to  discover  other  means  for  obtaining 
refrigeration. 

The  absorption  machine  has  lately  been  brought  forward, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  has  been  greatly  improved, 
both  by  experiments  and  study  of  its  action.  It  is,  how- 
ever, still  in  the  experimental  stage,  and  the  near  future 
will  show  even  greater  improvements  than  the  past  has 
done.  The  particular  advantage  of  the  machine  is  its  abil- 
ity to  utilize  the  latent  heat  of  the  steam  and  to  work  as 
economically  with  exhaust  steam  as  with  the  higher  pres- 
sures. When  one  considers  that  the  ordinary  steam  engine 
utilizes  only  about  5  to  15  per  cent  of  the  heat  in  the  steam 
the  advantages  of  an  apparatus  to  make  use  of  a  greater 
percentage  are  apparent,  as  in  the  case  of  steam,  heating. 


when  exhaust  steam  only  is  used.  Unfortunately,  however, 
the  absorption  machine  has  for  various  reasons  acquired  a 
bad  name  which  will  take  some  time  to  overcome.  Al- 
though the  machine  can  run  perfectly  well  on  exhaust 
steam,  it  must  be  designed  for  the  particular  condition 
under  which  operation  is  desired.  The  generator  operating 
with  steam  at  3.5  lb.  should  have  14.5  sq.  ft.  of  heating  sur- 
face per  ton  of  refrigeration,  whereas  16.5  sq.  ft.  per  ton  is 
required  with  steam  at  I  lb.  Again  the  steam  going  to  the 
coils  should  be  dry,  and  especial  attention  should  be  paid 
to  the  problem  of  securing  dry  and  saturated  steam  by 
having  a  large  and  efficient  steam  separator  just  before 
the  entrance  to  the  steam  coils.  With  the  proper  amount 
of  steam  surface  in  the  generator  and  with  dry  steam  there 
is  no  reason  at  all  why  the  absorption  machine  cannot  be 
depended  on  to  do  the  required  amount  of  work. 

The  advantage  of  the  absorption  machine  lies  directly  in 
the  use  of  exhaust  steam,  either  from  the  large  prime  mov- 
ers or  from  the  pumps  or  auxiliary  apparatus  driven  by 
steam.  The  ease  with  which  a  low  refrigerating  tempera- 
ture may  be  secured — one  of  —  10  deg.  or  — 20  deg.  being 
easy  to  achieve  without  appreciable  increase  in  operating 
cost — is  another  advantage  in  this  type  of  machine.  The 
disadvantages  are  several.  The  initial  cost  of  the  absorp- 
tion machine  is  excessive,  being  usually  twice  as  great  as 
that  of  a  compressor  machine  of  an  equal  capacity.  The 
space  occupied  by  the  former  is  at  least  twice  and  some- 
times three  times  as  great  as  that  needed  by  the  latter.  The 
cycle  is  complicated  and  requires  especial'  attention  on  the 
part  of  the  operating  engineer.  When  in  good  condition 
it  is,  however,  easily  run,  there  being  only  one  small  pump 
that  moves.  The  steam  rate  is  about  that  of  the  steam 
engine  and  similar  prime  movers;  that  is.  about  30  lb.  steam 
per  ton  of  ice. 

The  ice  plant,  which,  especially  in  the  Southern  States, 
has  been  the  real  dividend  earner,  may  be  of  the  plate  or 
can  system,  and  the  can  system  need  not  have  condensed 
steam  from  the  boiler  only  but  may  have  three  other  ar- 
rangements. The  plate-ice  system  is  a  device  by  which  a 
salt  solution,  usually  CaCl,,  is  circulated  in  a  flat  coil  of 
pipe  immersed  in  the  water  to  be  frozen.  The  salt  solu- 
tion, or  brine,  is  quite  cold,  usually  o  deg.  Fahr.,  and  the 
water  begins  to  freeze  and  to  adhere  to  the  metal  plate. 
The  process  is  continued  for  two  or  more  days,  the  time 
depending  on  the  desired  thickness  of  the  ice,  and  the  water 
is  agitated  slightly  to  promote  clearness  by  preventing  air 
from  adhering  to  the  ice  at  the  sides.  Clear  raw-water  ice 
may  be  made  in  the  can  system  in  two  ways,  both  requiring 
slight  agitation  of  the  water  to  clear  the  ice  from  air 
bubbles,  which,  if  permitted,  would  give  the  ice  an  opaque 
look.  One  of  these  ways  is  to  continue  the  freezing  until 
only  a  small  pocket  remains  unfrozen  and  then,  removing 
this  water,  to  refill  the  pocket  with  distilled  water.  The 
second  way  is  to  use  cans  of  four  times  the  usual  size,  and 
then,  when  the  freezing  process  is  complete,  to  saw  the  ice 
into  four  parts,  thereby  making  the  white  core  appear  as  a 
slight  imperfection  of  one  edge,  which  may  be  trimmed 
off  if  desired,  .\nother  method  especiallv  successful  in 
Buffalo  is  to  secure  distilled  water  by  means  of  a  multiple 
still.  This  is  an  apparatus  receiving  steam  at  ordinary 
boiler  pressure  where  by  an  arrangement  of  cells  and  coun- 
ter-flow surfaces  10  lb.  or  12  lb.  of  distilled  water  may  be 
obtained  from  I  lb.  of  steam.  This  distilled  water,  which 
has  not  been  used  in  engines,  does  not  have  to  be  purified 
and  can  be  put  iinmediately  into  the  cans  to  be  frozen.  The 
above  methods  for  the  solution  of  the  problems  of  ice 
manufacture  answer  completely  the  chief  arguments  for  the 
use  of  the  steam  engine. 

The  desirability  of  the  electric  motor  for  the  central  sta- 
tion as  well  as  for  the  isolated  plant  lies,  of  course,  in  the 
increased  yearly  load-factor.  However,  the  manufacturer, 
except  in  highly  favored  localities,  will  be  concerned  with 
the  question  of  cost  of  energy  for  the  electric-driven  com- 


36o 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  7. 


pressor.  This,  of  course,  depends  on  the  local  rate  or  the 
cost  of  energy  at  the  busbar.  There  is  another  variable 
depending  on  the  coolness  of  the  water  available,  the  suc- 
tion pressure  and  the  kind  of  compressor  used,  these  all 
affecting  the  energy  consumption  per  ton  of  ice.  It  is  a 
well-known  fact  that  a  compressor  with  a  large  balanced 
suction  valve,  preferably  in  the  piston,  has  less  wire-draw- 


16 


\ 

\ 

N 

\ 

\ 

% 

k 

\ 

i 

\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

1.2 


1.6  !.S  2.0 

^Tci^-i-  I'ovi'cr 


2.2  2.4 


Fig.    1  —  Power    Required    to    Operate    Compressors. 

ing  loss,  and  such  a  piston  having  as  well  a  small  clearance 
and  using  the  dry  compression  has  a  large  volumetric  effi- 
ciency. These  facts  have  been  brought  out  time  and  time 
again  both  by  competitive  and  by  shop  tests,  and  the  results 
are  such  as  to  defy  question.  The  problem  of  the  suction 
pressure  is  easily  cleared.  The  capacity  of  a  compressor 
depends  on  the  number  of  pounds  of  ammonia  condensed 
and  passed  through  the  expansion  valves  into  the  cooling 
coils,  this  amount  varying  from  30  lb.  to  40  lb.  of  ammonia 
per  ton  of  refrigeration  per  hour.  The  volume  of  this 
ammonia  depends,  however,  on  the  pressure  of  the  vapor 
during  the  suction  stroke  in  the  cylinder  itself.  If  the 
cylinder  is  very  warm  and  superheating  takes  place  to  a 
marked  degree,  or  if  there  is  much  reduction  of  pressure 
during  the  passage  through  the  valve,  or  if  there  is  much 
re-expansion  loss  due  to  the  clearance,  then  the  displacement 
of  the  piston  per  ton  of  refrigeration  becomes  a  maximum, 
and  likewise  the  energy  required  to  drive  the  compressor 
becomes  a  maximum.  Therefore  the  cost  of  refrigeration 
increas'es  with  the  suction  vapor's  volume  and  also  with  the 
pressure  of  the  suction.  The  cooling  water  available  also 
affects  the  economy  of  operation,  as  the  warmer  the  water 
the  higher  the  condensing  pressure  and  therefore  the  greater 
the  amount  of  compressor  work. 

The  usual  conditions  in  the  summer  allow  condenser 
pressures  of  about  165  lb.  gage,  which  means  that  the  water 
entering  the  condenser  must  be  at  a  temperature  of  about 
80  deg.  Fahr.  From  tests  already  referred  to  it  is  evident 
that  there  will  be  required  1.34  hp  of  the  compressor  per 
ton  of  refrigeration  for  the  single-acting  vertical  machine 
and  1.53  hp  of  the  compressor  for  the  double-acting  hori- 
zontal machine,  using  a  suction  pressure  of  about  15.5  lb., 
whereas  with  20  lb.  pressure  of  suction  the  power  will  be 
respectively  1.20  hp  and  1.36  hp  and  with  10  lb.  pressure 
1.56  hp  and  1.80  hp  respectively.  The  size  of  motor  re- 
quired may  be  obtained  by  adding  15  per  cent.  Fig.  I 
shows  the  power  necessary  for  the  motor,  assuming  the 
efficiency  of  the  latter  to  be  90  per  cent  and  the  friction 
loss  on  the  compressor  to  be  15  per  cent,  the  power  applied 
being  worked  out  for  both  the  single-acting  and  the  hori- 
zontal double-acting  machines  for  several  suction  pressures. 
If  is  therefore  seen  that  a  ton  of  refrigeration  requires  from 
I.I  kw  to  1.5  kw  per  hour  for  twenty-four  hours  for  the 
vertical  compressor  and  a  little  more  for  the  horizontal  or 
small  suction-valve  compressors.  At  1.5  kw  this  will 
amount  to  only  36  kw-hr.  and  it  will  drop  to  about  27 
kw-hr.  in  the  case  of  the  higher  suction  pressure.  The 
cost  of  ice  is  a  little  more  than  that  of  refrigeration  and 


depends  on  the  temperature  of  the  water  to  be  frozen,  the 
final  temperature  of  the  ice  and  the  loss  due  to  thawing  and 
sawing  when  taken  from  the  freezing  room.  Fig.  2  has 
been  drawn  assuming  a  10  per  cent  loss  for  the  latter  and 
a  uniform  temperature  of  the  ice  of  10  deg.  Fahr.  The 
abscissa  represents  the  coefficient  which  must  be  used  as 
a  divider  to  convert  tons  of  refrigeration  to  tons  of  ice. 
From  these  two  diagrams  a  close  idea  may  be  had  of  the 
cost  in  kilowatts  of  motor-driven  compressors.  The  actual 
cost  of  a  ton  of  ice  in  dollars  varies  with  the  cost  of  a 
kilowatt-hour.  In  the  central  station  this  becomes  a  mini- 
mum and  also,  as  has  been  explained,  is  a  real  advantage 
in  the  operation  of  the  plant  by  providing  it  with  an  off-peak 
load. 

The  required  amount  of  refrigeration  varies  with  the 
time  of  year,  and  the  load  is  a  maximum  for  a  short  period 
only.  The  capacity  of  a  compressor,  however,  is  dependent 
on  the  revolutions  per  minute,  and  this  may  be  adjusted 
from  day  to  day  so  as  to  carry  the  load  successfully.  The 
best  arrangement  is  to  have  a  number  of  compressors  of 
various  sizes  which  can  be  used  as  the  load  demands,  and 
have  each  unit  run  at  highest  capacity,  especially  as  the 
efficiency  of  NH3  compressors  is  a  constant  for  sizes  above 
20  tons.  Sometimes  it  is  desirable  to  have  a  large 
brine-storage  tank,  which  may  be  chilled  by  running  the 
compressor  at  full  rating  and  thereby  storing  up  as  much 
refrigeration  as  is  needed  through  the  circulation  of  the 
brine  alone.  This,  however,  requires  a  rather  large  space 
for  the  storage  of  the  brine,  which  must  be  very  well  in- 
sulated, thereby  increasing  the  first  cost.  The  more  usual 
way,  although  perhaps  the  less  efficient,  is  to  have  a  varia- 
ble-speed motor. 

As  an  example  of  the  cheap  production  of  ice  by  the  use 
of  electrically  driven  compressors,  the  results  of  a  plant  in 
Buffalo  may  be  given.  The  ice  plant,  which  is  of  100  tons 
capacity,  has  a  200-hp,  25-cycle  induction  motor  wound  for 
thirteen  speeds.  City  water  was  used,  but  was  first  filtered 
to  promote  purity,  and  small  motors  amounting  to  about 
50  hp  drove  the  auxiliaries,  such  as  saws,  hoists,  etc.  The  cost 
of  energy  is  very  low,  and  the  amount  of  power  required 
during  the  summer  varied  with  local  conditions  such  as 
condensing  pressure  and  the  temperature  of  the  water  to  be 
frozen  when  placed  in  the  tanks,  and  so  with  tlie  different 
months  the  power  per  ton  varied  from  57  hp  to  116  hp  with 
an  average  of  86.8  hp   for  eleven   months.     The   cost   of 


90 
80 
70 
60 
50 
40 

/ 

7 

/ 

^ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

' 

1.2 


1.3  1.4  1.5  1.6  1.7 

Equivalent  Tons  Refrigeration 


Fig.  2 — Coefficient  of   Refrigeration  for  Various  Temperatures. 

energy  was  35.6  cents  per  ton,  and  the  cost  of  labor  up  to 
the  point  of  the  loading  platform  was  36  cents,  a  total  of 
71.6  cents  per  ton.  The  cost  per  ton  using  the  can  system 
and  the  multiple  still  has  been  found  to  be  even  less,  but  it 
must  be  remembered  that  such  low  rates  are  only  possible 
at  the  site  or  in  the  neighborhood  of  large  hydroelectric 
developments. 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


361 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

ARTIFICIAL  GRANITE    POSTS    CAST  IN  POSITION. 


Ornamental  tungsten  curb  lighting  has  been  used  with 
excellent  effect  in  opening  up  the  new  "Wildwood"  resi- 
dential section  of  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  the  attractive  illumina- 
tion rendering  the  addition  so  popular  that  purchasers  were 
quickly  found  for  the  high-class  dwellings  which  a  pro- 
moting real-estate  company  built  there.  While  this  is  not 
the  first  time  that  special  electric  lighting  has  been  used  to 
popularize  a  new  district  quickly,  the  results  in  the  Fort 
Wayne  case  show  how  a  small  investment  in  lighting  fix- 
tures may  greatly  increase  the  convertibility  of  real-estate 
holdings. 

Fourteen  posts,  each  carrying  a  single  40-watt  lamp  in 
a  milk-glass  ball  globe,  were  installed  in  a  curb  length  of 
1212  ft.,  the  construction  cost  complete,  including  the  laying 
of  conduit,  being  $0.65  per  curb-foot.  The  posts  are  of 
concrete  made  up  with  crushed  red  granite  and  mica  and, 
except  for  their  size,  are  generally  similar  to  the  Lincoln 
Park  posts,  Chicago.  Those  at  Fort  Wayne  were,  how- 
ever, built  erect  in  position,  the  forms  being  in  two  sections, 
allowing  the  lower  half  to  be  poured  first,  after  which  the 
upper  section  was  completed.  The  posts  are  10  ft.  high  and 
measure  7  in.  in  section  at  the  top  and  20  in.  at  the  base. 

Use  of  base  outlet  boxes  for  attaching  the  post  circuit 
to  the  conduit  was  avoided  by  bringing  the  conduit  directly 
up  to  the  lamp  through  the  cored  space  in  the  post,  return- 
ing it  down  again  in  the  same  way  to  the  run  to  the  next 
post.  In  this  way  the  conduit  is  looped  directly  to  the 
lamp  socket  at  each  post,  without  the  necessity  for  base 
entries  or  outlet  boxes. 


DISCONNECT  COUPLING  FOR  OIL-SWITCH  LEADS. 


In  the- installation  of  oil  switches,  lack  of  space  or  other 
conditions  sometimes  make  it  impossible  to  locate  discon- 
nect switches  between  the  oil  switch  and  bus,  where  the 
use  of  such  switches  would  be  advisable  to  render  the  oil 
switch  "dead"  for  adjustment  or  repairs.  This  condition 
existed  in  the  2300-volt  construction  of  the  great  motor- 
driven  compressor  station  of  the  Anaconda  Mining  Com- 
pany at  Butte,  Mont.,  where  the  300-amp  oil  switches  were 
installed  with  terminals  connected  directly  through  vertical 
leads  to  the  buses.  To  take  the  place  of  disconnect  knife 
switches  and  make  possible  repairs  on  the  apparatus,  Mr. 
W.  S.  Guthrie,  chief  electrician,  designed  the  insulated  joint 
feature  shown  herewith,  the  special  fittings  being  made  on 


het  bcreu. 
Wood  Plug. 


Hard-rubber 
LnioaButt  /Tubing. 

/  /  ^Set  Screw. 


_  1  Uus  To  Oil- 

SwUc-h 

Disconnect    Coupling    for    Oil-Switch     Leads. 

order  by  the  manufacturer  of  the  solderless  fittings  used. 
In  place  of  the  usual  solid  hexagon  nut  employed  on 
ordinary  Dossert  couplings,  the  fitting  is  broken  into  two 
parts  held  together  by  a  union  nut  coupling,  which  makes 
a  firm  butt  contact  between  the  i-in.  flat  bearing  surfaces. 
This  nut  can  be  unscrewed  with  an  insulated-handle  wrench, 
opening  the  line  and  disconnecting  the  device.     The  con- 


nector parts  are  protected  against  short-circuit  or  acci- 
dental contact  by  the  hard-rubber  covering  shown. 
After  investigating  the  cost  of  special  hard-rubber  castings 
for  the  purpose  and  finding  the  expense  of  these  such  as  to 
make  them  out  of  the  question,  Mr.  Guthrie  was  able  to 
utilize  stock  rubber  tubing  1.75  in.  in  diameter,  cut  into 
6-in.  lengths.  These  tube  sections  are  held  in  position  by 
the  filled-wood  cap  pieces,  which  are  in  turn  fixed  in  place 
by  small  set-screws.  To  gain  access  to  the  connector  it  is 
necessary  merely  to  remove  the  upper  screw,  allowing  the 
tube  section  to  drop  down  out  of  the  way  so  that  the 
hexagon  nut  can  be  gripped  with  the  insulated  wrench. 


WIRING  OLD  HOUSES— IV. 


Concluding    Instalment  Describing    the   Methods  Em- 
ployed by  the  Allegheny  County  Light  Company — 
Construction  and  Installation  of  Panel  Boxes. 


By  Terrell  Croft. 

The  preceding  instalment  of  this  article,  which  appeared 
in  the  Aug.  10  issue,  dealt  with  methods  of  running  wires 
in  partitions  and  means  of  passing  obstructions  in  reaching 
wall  outlets. 

A  convenient  method  of  locating  the  center  of  a  ceiling, 
preparatory  to  installing  a  ceiling  fixture,  is  shown  in 
Fig.  28.  The  wireman  measures  the  length  and  width  of 
the  room,  on  the  floor,  as  indicated  by  A,  A',  B  and  B', 
and  locates  the  room  center  C  on  the  floor.  Then  with  a 
plumb  bob  the  point  C  is  transferred  to  the  ceiling,  as 
shown  at  C  in  the  sectional  elevation  (Fig.  28). 

Before  cutting  a  large  hole  for  an  outlet  or  outlet  box 
the  wireman  should  always  assure  himself  that  the  wires 
can  be  brought  to  the  outlet.  He  should  first  prepare  the 
wire  route  to  the  outlet  location  and  then  cut  the  outlet 
hole.  Sometimes  it  is  necessary  to  bore  a  small  ''explor- 
ing hole"  through  which  a  mouse  can  be  inserted,  at  the 
point  where  the  outlet  is  desired,  before  the  outlet  hole 
is  cut.  The  mouse  can  be  dropped  down  within  the  parti- 
tion to  ascertain  if  the  contemplated  route  is  clear  of 
obstructions. 

In  cutting  a  hole  for  an  outlet  box,  switch  or  fixture, 
in  a  finished  partition,  the  wireman  should  locate  the 
laths  in  the  vicinity  by  probing  with  a  very  fine  finishing 
nail.  By  thus  locating  the  laths  he  can  so  cut  the  hole 
that  the  screws  supporting  the  outlet  box  will  each  en- 
gage a  lath  and  the  hole  through  the  surface  will  be  no 
larger  than  necessary.  The  face  plates  of  switches  are 
only  j4  in.  to  ^  in.  larger  than  the  hole  that  must  be 
cut  for  the  outlet  box,  so  very  careful  work  is  necessary 
to  insure  that,  after  the  job  is  completed,  the  hole  will 
not  show  beyond  the  face  plate.  It  is  frequently  neces- 
sary to  cut  holes  for  loom  through  plaster  of  paris  fix- 
ture canopies.  A  Syracuse  twist  drill  is  the  best  tool 
for  this  purpose.  It  may  be  used  in  a  bit  brace  and  will 
quickly  cut  a  smooth,  round  hole.  Such  a  hole  should 
always  be  bored  upward  into  the  ceiling;  if  it  is  bored 
from  the  ceiling  space  downward  into  the  room  plaster 
will  probably  chip  ofT  around  the  hole. 

When  installing  a  flush  switch  considerable  time  will 
be  saved  if  wires  of  the  proper  length  are  connected 
to  the  switch  and  sheathed  with  loom  before  they  are 
drawn  in.  (See  Fig.  29.)  The  wires  will  then  draw  the 
switch  and  its  outlet  box  into  place.  The  outlet  box  is 
fastened  in  position  with  wood  screws  and  the  free  ends 
of  the  conductors  are  soldered  to  their  proper  connec- 
tions. This  method  is  preferable  to  the  reverse  procedure 
of  pulling  the  wires  in  from  the  opposite  direction  and 
connecting  the  switch  last.  The  method  advocated  is 
usually   preferable    because    the   wireman,    when   connect- 


362 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  7. 


ing  the  wires  to  the  switch,  is  not  hampered  by  having  to 
work  in  the  confined  space  of  an  outlet  box.  Another  ad- 
vantage of  the  ''pulling  in  complete''  method  lies  in  the 
diminished  risk  of  damaging  the  plaster  around  the  sides 
of  the  outlet  hole.  Where  wires  are  pulled  in  and  left 
protruding  from  the  outlet  until  the  switch  can  be  con- 
nected thev  are  necessarilv  handled  to  some  extent,  and 


In  installing  a  panel  box  the  wireman  determines  where 
it  shall  be  located  and  ascertains  the  dimensions  of  the 
space  available.  He  then  builds  or  has  built  a  box  like 
that  shown  in  Fig.  31.  The  ^-in.  asbestos  lining  is  held  in 
place  with  glue  or  flow  paste.  Sometimes  a  wiring  gutter 
is  not  used,  but  it  is  desirable  because  the  inside  of  the 
box  can  be  wired  more  neatly.     The  box  is  held  in  place  in 


Wires  and  Loom 
being  Pulled  In 


Plan  View 


Sectional  Elevation 

Fig.   28 — Locating   Center 
of    Ceiling. 


Fig.  29 — IVIethod  of  Pulling 
in  Switch   Box. 


Pla.ster 


Wires 


Front  Elevation  Transverse 

(Trim  Removed)  Sectional  Elevation 

(Trim  in  Place) 

EUetricdl   W^rld 

Fig.  30 — Panel   Box  in   Position. 


this  tends  to  break  away  the  plaster.  Therefore,  when 
installing  a  flush  switch  in  a  partition  make  sure  first  that 
a  wire  route  is  available  and  then  proceed  as  follows:  First, 
cut  the  outlet  hole  the  exact  size  of  the  box ;  second,  make 
up  conductors  of  the  proper  length,  connect  them  to  the 
switch  and  cover  them  with  circular  loom ;  third,  drop  a 
mouse  into  the  hole  from  above,  attach  it  to  the  wires, 
and  pull  in  the  entire  unit  consisting  of  switch,  steel 
switchbox,  conductors   and   loom. 

In  old  residences  requiring  four  or  more  branch  circuits 
(a  maximum  load  of  660  watts  being  permitted  on  each 
branch)  it  is  usually  desirable  to  install  a  panel  box  in  a 
central  location.  Figs.  30,  31  and  32  show  the  construction 
and  installation  of  such  a  panel  box.  The  slate  tablet  that 
carries  the  main  switch  and  fuse  holders  is  the  only  part 
of  the  panel-box  equipment  that  is  purchased.  The  box 
(Fig.  31)  is  sometimes  made  by  the  wiremen  and  sometimes 
by  a  carpenter.     The  trim   (Fig.  32)   is  supplied  by  a  car- 


the  partition  (Fig.  30)  with  wood  screws  and  is  so  placed 
that  its  outer  edge  is  nearly  flush  with  the  surface  of  the 
plastered  wall. 

The  trim,  Fig.  32,  is  made  of  such  dimensions  that  the 
barrier  forms  a  stop  for  the  door  if  the  box  has  a  gutter. 
If  no  gutter  is  provided  the  sides  and  ends  of  the  box  form 
the  door  stop.  The  sides  of  the  trim  should  extend  about 
6  in.  beyond  the  sides  of  the  box  to  cover  broken  plaster 
and  insure  a  neat  appearance.  The  latch  and  hinges  should 
be  made  of  brass  and  the  door  should  be  paneled  to  pre- 
vent warping.  The  trim  is  held  to  the  box  with  round- 
head wood  screws. 

An  alcohol  torch  is  best  for  soldering  connections  in  the 
wiring  of  old  houses,  for  the  reason  that  the  wireman  cau 
solder  each  joint  as  he  makes  it  and  thus  make  sure  that 
none  are  left  unsoldered.  A  gasoline  blow-torch  is  not  good 
for  the  work  because  it  requires  too  long  to  place  it  in  com- 
mission and  the  flame  is  so  intense  that  there  is  constant 


^idib  I>*lermined  by 
spicc  between  t>tuda 


ueigbt : 

Dtterrolocd  bj 
tbe  Number 
of  Bnocb 

CinruitsI 


Gutter  sbouM 
be  4'Wlde  if 
^  possible 


%  Asbestos 


Front  Elevation 


n^ 


Deplb  DtUrmioed 
bj  :})uoe  Ar&iUble 
/  usuKlIji  about  4* 


Holes  r«r  Bnacb 
Ciicuit  wires 


iK[igjTnr 


Section 

"ilots  for  WiieS 
Made  of  Ji'Fine 


Side 
View 


EUetrical  tVorU 


Bottom  View 

Fig.  31 — Details  of  Pane!   Box. 


\   Front  Elevation. 
Made  of  "-j'Slock  au<l  Stained 
to  Match  other  Woodwork. 


Barriers 

form  Stop 
for  Door 


../. 


Section. 

i:Uttrieat  M'urld 


Fig.   32 — Details   of   Panel-Box   Trim. 


Hole  for  Blast 
Wick— 


Unscrews  here 
for  Fi 


Cap 

S 

for 

Wick 

" — ' 

Set-screw  for 

Adjusting  Height 

o€  Tube 


HKlrWul   ll\,rU 


Fig.   33 — A   Satisfactory   Type   of 
Alcohol   Torch. 


penter  and  made  of  the  same  material  as,  or  finished  to 
match,  the  adjacent  woodwork.  It  is  not  feasible  to  pur- 
chase the  bo.x  and  trim  ready-made  from  an  electrical  sup- 
ply dealer  because  each  installation  is  usually  special,  as 
regards  dimensions,  in  some  respect.  The  boxes  must  be 
made  to  fit  the  spaces  in  which  they  will  be  placed.  In  new 
work  the  reverse  is  true ;  a  space  is  made  to  fit  the  box. 


danger  of  fire  from  ignited  dust  or  chips  falling  into  par- 
titions. Satisfactory  work  can  be  done  with  a  soldering 
copper  heated  by  a  blow-torch  or  a  gas  stove,  but  it  is  not 
feasible  always  to  keep  it  in  readiness  for  immediate  use. 
Fig.  33  shows  an  alcohol  torch  of  satisfactory  design  which 
costs  about  a  dollar.  Wood  alcohol,  purchasable  at  any  drug- 
store, is  the  fuel.     It  is  possible,  using  wire  solder,  to  make 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


363 


N 

Bare  Copper 
Wire,  about 
No.  1213.  i  S. 


a  soldered  splice  in  conductors  as  large  as  No.  4  B.  &  S. 
gage  with  a  torch  like  that  shown  in  Fig.  33.  As  a  gen- 
eral thing  an  alcohol  torch  is  not  satisfactory  for  conduc- 
tors larger  than  No.  6,  and  then  a  gasoline  blow-torch  must 
be  used.  With  an  alcohol  torch  it  is  not  necessary  to  use 
the  air  blast  for  small  wires,  but  with  larger  sizes  the  hot 
flame  needed  can  be  obtained  by  blowing  through  the  rub- 
ber tube.  The  blow-pipe  tube 
can  be  adjusted  vertically  to 
compensate  for  the  burning 
away  of  the  wick  and  to  change 
the  size  of  the  blast  flame. 

Fig.  34  shows  a  home-made 
exploring  lamp  which  is  use- 
ful in  wiring  old  houses.  The 
device  shown  at  /4  is  a  tubular 
incandescent  lamp  soldered  to 
the  end  of  a  length  of  flexible 
cord,  while  the  one  at  B  is 
merely  a  candle  attached  to  a 
length  of  copper  wire.  Ob- 
viously the  form  shown  at  A 
is  useful  only  in  houses  where 
a  source  of  electrical  energy  is 
available.  The  exploring  lamps 
are  useful  in  "fishing"  and  in 
boring  holes  through  remote  obstructions.  Such  a  lamp 
can  be  lowered  into  a  partition  through  a  bored  hole,  for 
example,  to  illuminate  the  space  in  which  the  wireman  is 
fishing. 

This  concludes  the  description  of  the  business  policies 
and  construction  methods  employed  by  the  Allegheny 
County  Light  Company  in  connection  with  wiring  old 
houses.  The  author  desires  to  acknowledge  the  courtesy  of 
Mr.  R.  S.  Orr,  general  superintendent  of  the  company;  Mr. 
H.  H.  Wood,  superintendent  of  the  wiring  department,  and 
Mr.  J.  J.  Davis,  wiring  foreman,  for  permission  to  describe 
the  company's  methods.  Mr.  Orr  early  appreciated  the 
possibilities  of  a  wiring  department  as  a  means  of  increas- 
ing the  business.  Such  a  department  was  formed  by  ex- 
panding the  lamp-renewal  department,  so  that  it  now  has 
charge  of  the  installation  interior  wiring,  electric  signs  and 
flaming-arc  lamps.  There  is  one  permanent  estimator  and 
others  are  secured  from  the  wiring  force  as  needed.  The 
department  now  employs  about  fifty  persons. 


tain  concession  as  regards  extreme  accuracy  may  well  be 
made,  and  for  the  majority  of  practical  purposes  an  accuracy 
of  from  5  to  10  per  cent  would  be  ample,  while  in  some  cir- 
cumstances an  even  greater  range  might  be  permissible. 

As  an  ilUustration  of  the  work  which  can  be  done  with 
such  instruments  reference  may  be  made  to  the  large  num- 
ber of  data  obtained  in  schools,  libraries,  workshops,  etc., 


-Extfnsi*)! 
Plus 


'Flexible 
Lamp  Cord 


Conductors 
Soldered  to 
ijase 

Tubular 

Incaadesceut 

Lamp 


Candle 


B 

£Uetrieal  WorUi 


Fig.   34 — Exploring    Lamp. 


APPARATUS    FOR  MEASURING  LIGHT  AND 
ILLUMINATION. 


By  J.  S.  Dow  AND  V.  H.  Mackinney. 
In  a  recent  paper  before  the  Optical  Convention  in 
London  the  authors  dealt  with  some  recent  advances  in  the 
measurement  of  light  and  illumination.  It  was  pointed  out 
that  the  chief  element  of  progress  during  recent  years  has 
been  not  so  much  the  growing  accuracy  and  precision  of 
measurements  in  the  laboratory,  although  great  advances  in 
this  direction  have  doubtless  been  made.  The  most  striking 
change  has  been  the  popularization  of  light  measurements 
and  the  design  of  more  convenient  and  simpler  forms  of  in- 
struments. At  one  time  photometry  was  carried  out  only 
in  the  laboratory.  Subsequently  measurements  of  street- 
lamps  were  carried  out  by  means  of  traveling  carriages.  At 
a  still  later  stage  truly  portable  apparatus,  capable  of  being 
carried  in  the  hand  from  place  to  place,  came  upon  the 
scene. 

A  street-lamp  photometer  should  be  compact  and  portable, 
capable  of  being  carried  in  the  streets  with  the  same  ease 
as  a  small  hand  camera,  should  be  rapidly  and  easily  manipu- 
lated, sufficiently  accurate  for  practical  purposes  and  readily 
set  right  if  th,e  reading  for  any  reason  should  vary  in  the 
course  of  time.    In  order  to  secure  these  advantages  a  cer- 


Fig.    1  —  New    IVIodei    of    Lumeter. 

with  the  Holophane  lumeter  instrument,  as  described  at 
meetings  of  the  (British)  Illuminating  Engineering  Society. 
The  instrument  can  be  used  to  measure  not  only  illumina- 
tion, but  also  surface  brightness.  The  general  appearance 
of  the  instrument  (which  is  only  5^  in.  by  4>4  in.  by  lj4 
in.)  is  shown  in  Fig.  i  and  the  details  are  shown  in  Fig.  2. 

The  small  lamp  B  is  inclosed  in  a  cylindrical  chamber, 
whitened  inside  and  uniformly  illuminating  the  rectangular 
aperture  G,  which  is  covered  by  a  ground  opal-glass  plate. 
This  plate  in  turn  acts  as  a  source  of  light  and  illuminates 
the  photometric  screen  C.  The  lid  A  is  attached  to  a 
cylinder  fitting  concentrically  round  the  chamber  and  having 
cut  in  it  an  aperture  of  spherical  shape.  As  the  pointer  H 
is  revolved  this  adjustable  shutter  covers  the  source  G  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent  and  varies  the  illumination  of  the 
photometric  screen  C  accordingly.  By  moving  the  pointer 
across  the  scale  the  illumination  is  reduced  uniformly  from 
2  ft.-candles  (with  the  aperture  fully  open)  to  0.2  ft.-candle 
and  then  to  zero. 

In  using  the  instrument  the  observer  points  it  at  the  sur- 
face the  brightness  of  which  he  wishes  to  study  and  places 
his  eye  at  E,  at  the  same  time  pressing  the  contact  at  the 
base  of  the  instrument  and  lighting  the  lamp.  He  then  sees 
through  the  central  aperture  D  in  the  illuminated  surface  C 
the  surface  to  be  tested  and  adjusts  the  pointer  until  photo- 
metric balance  is  secured.  The  reading  can  then  be  ob- 
served on  the  scale  in  foot-candles.  The  construction  of  C 
deserves  a  word  or  two  of  explanation.  It  is  made  by 
covering  a  glass  surface  with  a  very  fine  white  emulsion, 
scraping  away  the  center  and  then  protecting  by  a  cover 


Pig^  2 — Working   Parts  of  Lumeter. 


glass.  In  this  way  there  is  constructed  a  screen  which 
cannot  be  soiled  or  scratched  by  contact  with  the  fingers, 
and,  the  emulsion  being  very  thin,  an  exceedingly  fine  line 
of  photometric  division  is  obtained. 

In  order  to  increase  the  range  of  the  instrument  recourse 
is  had  to  two  dark  glasses  (shown  at  M),  reducing  the  light 
to  O.I  and  o.oi   respectively.     These  can  be  placed  in  the 


364 


ELECTRICAL     \\-ORLD. 


Vol.  60,  Xo.  7. 


path  of  tlie  rays  of  the  object  studied  by  pulling  out  the 
knobs  iV.  By  this  means  the  reading  can  be  multiplied  by 
10,  ioo  or  1000,  so  that  values  up  to  2000  ft. -candles  can  be 
measured.  The  choice  of  a  suitable  glass  which  is  suf- 
ficiently opaque,  uniform  and  neutral  for  the  purpose 
naturally  demands  some  care.  The  most  recent  variety 
adopted  has  proved  to  have  very  good  qualities  in  this 
respect. 

The  small  lamp  used  in  the  instrument  receives  energy 
from  a  4-valt  storage  battery  packed  in  the  case  of  the 
instrument,  and  the  whole  can  be  carried  about  as  easily  as 
a  small  hand  camera.  The  instrument  can  be  set  to  read 
correctly,  by  reference  to  a  given  illumination,  by  simply 
adjusting  the  position  of  the  lamp  slightly.  When  measure- 
ments of  illumination,  as  distinct  from  surface  brightness, 
are  to  be  made  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  observe  the  bright- 
ness of  a  standard  mat  celluloid  screen  supplied  with  the 
instrument,  and  this  is  also  used  in  calibration.  The  advan- 
tages of  being  able  to  measure  either  surface  brightness  or 
illumination,  and  of  having  for  the  latter  purpose  a  detach- 
able standard  white  surface,  have  been  appreciated  by  Dr. 
C.  H.  Sharp  and  Mr.  P.  S.  Millar  in  the  United  States,  and 
this  principle  is  embodied  in  their  well-known  instrument. 

The  experience  of  the  authors  in  Great  Britain  shows 
that  measurements  of  illumination  are  of  great  value  to 
the  lighting  engineer  in  enabling  him  to  demonstrate  to 
consumers  the  change  in  illumination  resulting  from  an 
improved  form  of  lighting  appliance  and  in  comparing  the 
results  with  various  types  of  shades  and  reflectors. 
Reference  has  been  made  aloove  to  the  measurements  carried 
out  in  schools,  libraries,  etc.,  and  quite  recently  a  very  large 
number  of  measurements  with  the  Holophane  lumeter  have 
been  carried  out  by  the  Home  Office  in  various  factories. 

In  the  literature  of  illuminating  engineering  it  is  now 
becoming  customary  to  present  measurements  of  the 
illumination,  but  in  many  cases,  notably  in  discussing  in- 
direct lighting  installations,  it  is  really  desirable  also  to 
include  data  about  the  brightness  of  surroundings.  This  is 
very  desirable  in  comparing  different  systems  and  ascertain- 
ing to  what  the  impression  of  "monotony"  sometimes  com- 
plained of  is  due.  Moreover,  surface  brightness  mey  be 
measured  in  many  cases  in  which  only  relative  results  are 
required;  for  example,  in  studying  the  distribution  of  light 
over  an  illuminated  sign,  etc.  One  other  form  of  measure- 
ment which  may  be  of  value  soon  is  the  estimate  of  the 
brightness  of  illuminated  shades  and  globes  with  a  view  to 
ascertaining  whether  this  is  within  the  prescribed  value 
to  avoid  glare.  With  the  lumeter  here  described  a  bright- 
ness of  2000  ft. -candles  can  be  measured  direct,  and  with  a 
little  adjustment  a  value  of  even  5000  or  10,000  might 
doubtless  be  measured.  The  latter  figure  is  equivalent  to 
about  20  cp  per  square  inch  and  is  therefore  well  above  the 
minimum  brightness  advocated  by  many  authorities  by 
analogy  with  the  brightness  of  the  sky  (about  2.5  cp  per 
square'inch).  The  high  range  is  also  desirable  when  dealing 
with  davlight  values.  On  the  other  hand,  the  brightness  of 
the  niglit  sky  (often  about  0.005  ft.-candle)  is  also  measur- 
able. For  certain  feebly  lighted  surfaces  such  as  are 
encountered  in  some  lines  of  work  the  low  range  of  the  in- 
strument is  very  advantageous,  and  it  has  been  suggested 
that  measurements  of  the  sky  brightness  at  night,  of  the 
brilliancy  of  stars  and  comets,  etc.,  would  be  of  service  to 
astronomers.  In  a  very  interesting  series  of  measurements 
made  during  the  solar  eclipse  of  April  17  of  this  year  it 
was  shown  that  the  illumination  at  totality  was  only  about 
8  per  cent  of  that  before  the  eclipse  began,  almost  exactly 
proportional  to  the  percentage  area  of  the  sun's  disk 
obscured. 

The  facility  to  measure  illumination  and  surface  bright- 
ness also  enables  one  to  determine  reflecting  power  and 
absorption  very  easily.  For  example,  the  reflecting  power 
of  the  screen  used  in  cinematograph  displays  is  a  matter  of 
some  consequence,  and  by  employing  a  silvered  or  powdered 


aluminum  screen  a  marked  concentration  in  brightness  in 
certain  directions  can  be  secured.  Such  screens  can,  how- 
ever, be  conveniently  used  only  in  long  narrow  rooms  in 
which  none  of  the  audience  view  the  screen  very  obliquely. 
The  data  on  wall-papers  in  the  accompanying  table  may 
also  be  of  interest. 

REFLECTING    POWER    OF    WALL-PAPERS,    FROM    ACTUAL    RESULTS 
OBTAINED   IN   ROOMS   LIGHTED   BY  TUNGSTEN    LAMPS. 


Nature  of 
Room. 

Paper. 

Surface 
Brightness 

(Foot- 
candles). 

Illumina- 
tion 
(Foot- 
candles). 

Reflec- 
tion, 
Per 

Cent. 

Drawing-room 

Hall 

Library 

Dining-room 

Light  blue. 

Dark  red. 

Deep  green. 

Very  deep 
blue. 

0.30 
0.15 
0.15 
0.015 

0.72 
0.60 
1.00 
0.35 

40.0 

25.0 

15.0 

4.5 

It  may  be  mentioned  in  passing  that  as  a  result  of  experi- 
ments in  many  different  schools,  libraries  and  private  houses 
a  surface  brightness  of  0.3  ft.-candle  seems  to  be  about  what 
is  usually  needed  to  give  a  room  a  cheerful  appearance.  In 
some  cases,  however  (for  example,  in  a  library),  a  more 
subdued  effect  is  preferred,  and  walls  with  a  surface  bright- 
ness of  only  0.1  ft.-candle  may  be  found. 

The  reflecting  power  of  wall-papers  has  frequently  a  not 
inconsiderable  effect  on  the  conditions  of  illumination  in 
rooms  lighted  by  artificial  means,  and  a  series  of  experi- 
ments was  recently  carried  out  in  a  small  room  equipped 
with  various  wall-papers  in  order  to  ascertain  in  what 
respects  calculations  based  on  the  use  of  prismatic  reflectors 
and  tungsten  lamps  would  have  to  be  modified  by  this  factor. 
It  was  found  that  approximate  rules  could  very  readily  be 
derived. 

It  may  be  observed  that  the  reflecting  power  of  colored 
materials  depends  to  some  extent  on  the  quality  of  light  by 
which  they  are  illuminated,  and  this  fact  was  recently  made 

use  of  by  Mr.  T.  E.  Ritchie' 
as  a  means  of  testing  the 
resemblance  of  various  arti- 
ficial illuminants  to  daylight. 
A  series  of  ribbons  of  deli- 
cate shades  of  color  were 
stretched  upon  a  board  and 
the  reflecting  power  of  the 
series  was  determined  by 
average  daylight.  The  meas- 
urements were  repeated  by 
the  light  of  the  various  illu- 
minants, and  Mr.  Ritchie 
found  that  the  closest  repeti- 
tion of  daylight  values  was 
secured  in  the  case  of  in- 
direct arc  lighting. 

Qne  other  very  interesting 
application  of  measurements 
of  surface  brightness  is  in 
connection  with  photog- 
raphy. Of  recent  years  com- 
panies interested  in  illumi- 
nating engineering  have  come 
to  appreciate  the  value  of 
good  photographs  of  arti- 
ficially lighted  interiors,  but  it  is  dii=ficult  to  secure  the 
exact  exposure  necessary  to  bring  out  the  illuminated 
portions  of  the  room  correctly  and  also  to  show  the 
actual  fixtures.  It  has  been  found  that  photometric  meas- 
urements of  the  actual  surface  brightness  of  various 
objects  in  the  room  have  been  exceedingly  useful   in  this 

^lllnmi>iat\ng  Engineering,  London.  February,  1912. 


Fig. 


3 — New   Form   of   Polar 
Curve    Apparatus. 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


365 


connection,  and  such  measurements  can  also  be  applied  in 
many  other  cases  (for  example,  in  very  feebly  lighted  in- 
teriors, churches,  etc.)  in  which  the  use  of  an  "actinometer" 
is  inadmissible.  On  general  grounds,  too,  it  may  be 
suggested  that  a  comparison  of  the  brightness  of  the  objects 
photographed  with  the  results  subsequently  obtained  would 
be  found  extremely  valuable  to  instructors  in  the  art  of 
photography. 

Another  new  piece  of  apparatus  which  the  authors  have 
designed  is  that  shown  in  Fig.  3  and  is  somewhat  similar  to 
that  worked  out  independently  by  Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp  in  the 
United  States."  The  apparatus  is  mounted  on  a  substantial 
base  B  and  the  lamp  L  to  be  tested  is  attached  to  an 
adjustable  rod  D,  which  can  be  moved  up  and  down  or  to 
and  fro. 

It  is  sometimes  desirable  to  suspend  the  lamp  from  the 
ceiling.  •  In  any  case  the  lamp  is  brought  central  with  the 
point  £■  (corresponding  with  the  center  of  the  polar-curve 
paper  shown  at  K).  The  rod  F  rotates  about  £  and  car- 
ries the  standard  ce'luloid  surface  G,  the  distance  of  which 
from  the  lamp  tested  can  be  adjusted.  As  F  rotates,  there- 
fore, the  face  of  G  is  always  presented  vertically  toward  the 
lamp  L,  and  its  brightness  will  be  proportional  to  the  can- 
dle-power of  the  lamp  in  that  direction.  There  is  also  a 
pointer  /  rigidly  connected  with  F,  which  rotates  with  it 
and  indicates  on  the  sheet  of  polar-curve  paper  the  angle 
with  the  vertical  which  F  takes  up.  It  may  be  added  that 
this  paper  is  arranged  to  be  a  convenient  height  (about  5 
ft.)  from'  the  ground. 

The  operation  of  testing  the  lamp  is  as  follows:  A  lamp 
of  known  candle-power  is  first  placed  in  position.  The 
standard  surface  G  is  observed  through  the  lumeter,  and 
its  distance  on  the  rod  is  adjusted  until  the  reading  of  the 
instrument  is  some  convenient  sub-multiple  of  the  known 
candle-power  in  that  direction.  (For  example,  if  the  can- 
dle-power were  known  to  be  16,  the  reading  on  the  instru- 
ment might  conveniently  be  1.6  ft. -candles.)  G  is  then 
clamped  in  position  and  the  lamp  to  be  tested  is  constituted 
for  the  standard  lamp. 

The  ^rm  F  is  then  rotated,  the  brightness  of  G  being 
noted  in  each  case  and  the  corresponding  candle-power 
marked  on  the  polar  curve  paper  opposite  the  pointer.  The 
curve  is  thus  traced  out  at  once,  while  the  experiment  is 
in  progress,  and  there  is  no  need  for  subsequent  calcula- 
tions. 

When  very  great  accuracy  is  not  necessary  it  is  also 
possible  to  use  this  apparatus  even  in  rooms  which  have  not 
black  walls  and  in  which  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  stray 
light.  Under  these  conditions  use  is  made  of  H,  which  is 
an  adjustable  black  screen  and  which  can  be  inserted  in  any 
convenient  position  between  the  lamp  and  G.  If,  there- 
fore, there  is  any  question  of  the  readings  being  affected 
by  stray  light,  a  reading  is  taken  first  without  H  in  posi- 
tion. The  brightness  of  G  is  then  proportional  to  the 
illumination  due  to  the  lamp  tested  plus  the  stray  light  (if 
any).  The  screen  H  is  then  inserted,  blocking  out  the 
direct  light  from  the  lamp  tested.  The  brightness  of  G  is 
now  due  to  stray  light  only.  Hence,  by  subtracting  the 
latter  reading  from  the  former,  the  true  value  is  obtained  ; 
that  is,  reading  without  dark  screen,  reading  with  dark 
screen,  true  candle-power. 

The  advantages  of  this  method  may  be  summarized  as 
follows ; 

(i)  The  rigidity  and  convenience  with  which  the  results 
are  obtained. 

(2)  The  polar  candle-power  curve  is  worked  out  auto- 
matically while  the  experiment  is  in  progress;  no  calcula- 
tion is  necessary. 

(3)  The  apparatus  is  simple  and  portable  and  can  read- 
ily be  moved  from  room  to  room. 

(4)  Only   one   observer   is   needed   for   the   photometric 


=See  Johns  Hopkins  "Lectures  on   lUunrnaling  Engineering,"    1910. 


manipulations,  and  he  can  make  all  the  observations  in  one 
position;  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  continually  crossing  the 
room  to  adjust  mirrors,  etc. 

(5)  By  the  use  of  the  special  screens  provided,  the 
apparatus  can  be  used,  in  an  emergency,  in  an  ordinary 
room  without  darkened  walls,  and  allowance  can  be  made 
for  stray  light  according  to  the  method  that  has  been  de- 
scribed above. 

It  is  expected  that  the  apparatus  will  be  most  useful  for 
lamps  of  moderate  candle-power  (although  the  fact  that 
the  lumeter  will  read  up  to  2000  ft.-candles  obviously  en- 
ables very  powerful  sources  to  be  tested). 

In  the  case  of  the  focusing  forms  of  reflectors  one  pre- 
caution is  necessary,  namely,  to  arrange  the  distance  be- 
tween the  illuminated  photometrical  surface  and  the  source 
of  light  to  be  the  same  in  both  cases.  Most  of  those  who 
have  done  much  work  in  testing  reflectors  of  this  kind  are 
aware  that  the  results  depend  to  some  extent  on  the  dis- 
tance at  which  the  tests  are  made.  In  the  case  of  a  simple 
light  source  such  as  naked  incandescent  lamps,  even  though 
it  may  not  be  strictly  speaking  a  point  source,  practically 
identical  results  are  obtained  whatever  the  distance  of  test- 
ing, because  the  inverse-square  law  applies  with  reasonable 
accuracy,  but  in  the  case  of  concentrating  reflectors  it  is 
desirable  to  adopt  some  standard  distance  of  testing,  say 
10  ft.  or  12  ft.  In  order  to  provide  for  this  the  authors 
combine  with  the  apparatus  shown  in  Fig.  3  an  inclined 
mirror  by  the  aid  of  which  the  beam  of  light  is  directed 
on  the  standard  card  some  distance  away,  the  brightness  of 
the  test  card  being  determined  with  the  lumeter  in  the 
usual  way. 

Yet  another  new  piece  of  apparatus  described  in  the 
paper  before  the  Optical  Convention  for  the  first  time  con- 
sisted in  "a  portable  standard  of  light."  It  utilizes  a  small 
tungsten  lamp  receiving  energy  from  a  storage  battery 
packed  away  in  a  small  portable  case.  A  somewhat  novel 
method  of  keeping  the  voltage  across  the  lamp  constant  is 
used.  A  small  carbon  filament  is  introduced  in  parallel 
with  the  tungsten  standard  so  that  both  receive  the  same 
voltage.  Now,  if  the  voltage  varies  it  will  affect  both 
lamps  unequally.  Between  the  two  lamps  is  inserted  a 
convenient  photometric  screen  so  that  this  is  put  out  of  bal- 
ance directly  any  change  in  the  voUage  occurs,  and  this 
variation  therefore  becomes  visible  to  the  observer.  The 
voltage  can  be  brought  back  to  its  correct  value  by  merely 
adjusting  the  resistance  in  series  with  the  lamps  until  the 
photometric  screen  is  in  balance  once  more.  It  is  not 
suggested  that  this  will  serve  in  the  same  way  as  the  very 
exact  laboratory  standards.  But  it  will  answer  as  a  con- 
venient means  of  checking  the  correctness  of  illumination 
photometers  and  for  commercial  work  and  it  possesses  the 
advantage  of  being  readily  carried  about  from  place  to 
place  as  required. 

In  conclusion,  the  authors  point  out  that  there  is  need 
for  more  up-to-date  methods  of  instruction  on  illumination 
in  colleges  and  technical  institutions.  At  the  present  there 
is  a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  and  burdensome  calculation 
and  routine  work  and  the  apparatus  is  often  of  a  somewhat 
antiquated  character.  All  this  tends  to  prejudice  the  stu- 
dent against  photometric  experiments.  He  spends  so  much 
time  on  his  tools  that  he  rarely  reaches  the  stage  of  using 
them  to  any  extent.  What  is  needed  is  to  avoid  needless 
duplication  of  work  and  save  time  so  that  experiments  on 
practical  applications  of  illumination  can  be  included.  Tests 
of  modern  forms  of  globes,  shades  and  reflectors  should  be 
made,  as  should  also  experiments  in  typical  interiors  with 
the  lamps  actually  in  position.  The  student  should  also  be 
familiarized  with  measurements  of  illumination.  There 
are  many  special  branches  of  research  work,  such  as  the 
formation  of  shadows  and  the  avoidance  of  excessive  con- 
trast and  glare,  which  might  well  be  made  the  subject  of 
careful  investigation  by  advanced  students  in  the  science  of 
illumination. 


366 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  7. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


One  of  the  simplest  of  telephone  appliances  is  the  re- 
ceiver, and  this  has  been  so  long  standardized  that  little 
change  in  its  construction  can  be  looked  for.  However, 
with  the  common-batterv  s\-steni  the  receiver  must  almost 
always  be  used  in  conjunction  with  a  condenser,  and  there 
is  always  an  available  current  supply  for  magnetizing  pur- 


Telephone    Receiver. 


poses.  It  is  not  strange  therefore  that  the  electromagnet 
should  be  suggested  to  supplant  the  permanent  magnet,  and 
further  that  the  space  within  the  receiver  shell  thus  made 
available  should  be  used  to  hold  the  condenser.  This  is 
the  foundation  of  the  receiver,  shown  in  section  in  Fig.  i, 
which  has  been  patented  by  Mr.  S.  G.  McMeen.  The  cut 
is  almost  self-explanatory.  However,  attention  should  be 
called  to  the  magnetic  shunt  washer  upon  the  core  and  at 
the  base  of  the  flat  operating  winding.  This  is  of  such 
diameter  as  to  control  the  field  at  the  diaphragm. 

Mr.  J.  F.  Barbour,  of  Elyria,  Ohio,  has  also  patented  a 
receiver.  His  invention  relates  to  the  metallic-shell  receiver 
and  describes  particularly  a  sheet-metal  cap  piece  which 
may  be  secured  to  the  shell  by  studs  engaging  bayonet  slots 
instead  of  by  the  usual  threaded  engagement.  The  patent  ''s 
assigned  to  the  Dean  Electric  Company. 

EXCHANGE  CIRCUITS. 

A  common-battery  switchboard  circuit  system  has  been 
patented  by  Mr.  D.  L.  Temple,  of  Lewistown,  Pa.,  the  patent 
being  assigned  to  the  Stromberg-Carlson  Company.  The 
most  notable  feature  is  the  use  of  a  repeating-coil  relay  for 
associating  the  line  and  jack  circuits.  Each  set  of  line  jacks 
terminates  upon  two  windings  of  the  relay  and  each  sub- 
scriber line  is  connected  to  the  other  two  windings.  The 
windings  are  grouped  in  pairs  at  their  other  ends  and  con- 
nected to  battery.  This  inductive  relation  is  the  only  con- 
nection between  line  and  pack  circuits. 

Mr.  E.  E.  Clement  has  also  invented  a  circuit  system 
applicable  to  either  two-wire  or  three-wire  jack  circuits. 
He  uses  the  cut-off  relay  as  the  battery-feed  retardation 
coil  for  one  side  of  the  line  and  a  single  supervising  relay 
as  the  feed  coil  for  the  second  side.     The  supervisory  lamp 


^< 


>/ 


^ 


Fig.    2 — Telephone    Exchange    System. 

finds  its  circuit  through  the  back  contacts  of  the  supervisory 
relay  and  thence  through  one  side  of  the  ta.king  circuit. 
This  is  best  understood  from  Fig.  2.  It  will  be  noted  that 
in  the  two-wire  circuit  at  the  right  the  line  relay  current 
for  signaling  must  be  insufficient  to  operate  the  cut-ofif  relay 
through  which  it  passes. 

A  reverting  busy  test  arrangement  forms  the  chief  feature 
of  the  automatic  exchange  system  for  which  a  patent  has 


been  granted  to  Mr.  J.  L.  Wright,  of  Washington,  D.  C.  In 
this  case  the  object  is  to  cause  the  busy  relay  to  fail  in  case 
the  test  is  to  the  calling  line.  This  is  accomplished  by 
arranging  that  the  calling  line  shall  have  its  test  contact 
connected  to  the  same  pole  of  the  battery  during  the  test 
period  as  is  the  test  relay.  The  relay  fails  therefore.  The 
normal  line  has  the  opposite  condition  at  the  test  period. 
This  patent  is  assigned  to  the  North  Electric  Company. 

Mr.  O.  M.  Leich  has  patented  a  trunk  circuit  for  use 
between  a  magneto  and  a  common-battery  exchange.  The 
trunk  ends  in  a  jack  at  the  common-battery  end  and  a  plug 
at  the  magneto  end.  For  calls  originating  at  the  latter  the 
trunk  calling  signal,  a  lamp,  glows  upon  connection  of  the 
trunk  plug  to  the  calling  line.  Regular  connecting  cords  are 
used  to  respond  at  the  distant  end  and  full  supervision  is 
given.  For  calls  the  other  wa}'  a  ring  on  the  trunk  throws 
a  drop  and  response  is  made  through  a  trunk  listening  key. 
This  patent  is  assigned  to  the  Cracraft-Leich  Electric 
Company. 

The  trunk  system  invented  by  iNIr.  F.  M.  Davis,  of 
Chicago,  and  assigned  to  the  Kellogg  Switchboard  &  Supply 
Company,  is  a  two-way  trunk  with  exactly  similar  and  com- 
plete signals  in  both  directions. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


RESIDENCE  RATES. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — The  letter  on  residence  rates  by  Mr.  H.  G.  Briggs 
in  your  issue  of  Aug.  10  takes  rather  a  comfortable  view  of 
the  problem  and  calmly  proposes  to  charge  the  residence 
consumer  a  flat  meter  rate,  regardless  of  demand  or  con- 
sumption. But  why  disregard  the  connected  load?  There 
surely  is  nothing  illegal  about  a  rate  which  takes  the  last 
factor  into  consideration,  because  it  has  been  customary  for 
many  years  to  make  rates  for  water  service  based  on  the 
number  of  faucets  or  outlets.  Fundamentally  there  are 
three  service  elements,  in  the  demands  of  any  customer,  in 
which  the  central  station  is  vitally  interested,  namely,  the 
maximum  demand,  the  time  of  day  when  this  demand  is 
made,  and  the  total  consumption  of  energy. 

One  of  the  most  serious  problems  is  how  to  reduce  the 
meter  investment  in  residence  installations — hence  the 
practice  developed  in  Wisconsin  of  using  the  average  ratio 
of  demand  to  connected  load  from  a  long  series  of  tests  as 
a  substitute  for  the  maximum-demand  meter.  A  still  later 
proposal  is  the  use  of  an  ampere-hour  meter  in  place  of 
the  watt-hour  meter,  to  reduce  the  meter  costs. 

But  why  the  residence  consumer  ought  not  to  have  the 
benefit  of  quantity  discounts  is  by  no  means  clear.  To  be 
sure,  the  monthly  average  consumption  is  low,  but  the 
application  of  averages  to  a  large  class  is  likely  to  work 
injustice.  The  consumption  in  many  residences  of  the 
better  class  is  more  than  15  kw-hr.,  and  probably  it  will 
increase  with  more  widespread  use  of  domestic  heating, 
cooking  and  motor-driven  appliances.  Simplicity  in  rate 
schedules  is  highly  desirable,  but  it  isn't  everything — justice 
should  come  first. 

What  is  most  needed  is  a  method  of  rate  making  which 
will  not  assess  the  small  consumer — residence  or  other- 
wise— more  than  his  fair  share  of  the  costs,  nor  deny  him  a 
just  proportion  of  the  benefits  which  large  consumers 
receive.  Compare  the  residence  rates  in  our  large  cities 
like  Chicag(  and  New  York,  about  10  cents  per  kw-hr., 
with  the  Ir  w  rates  prevailing  in  some  Western  cities,  such 
as  6  cents  ler  kw-hr.,  for  example,  in  Seattle,  Wash.,  and 
7  cents  in  Toledo  and  Columbus.  Ohio,  and  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.  Is  not  the  small  consumer  in  the  larger  cities  under 
a  disadvantage? 

Chicago,  III.  E.  C.  Anderson. 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


367 


L 


Digest  of  Current  Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Starting  Large  Direct-Current  Motors  Without  Series 
Resistance. — Carl  Trettin. — Direct-current  motors  are 
generally  started  with  the  aid  of  a  series  resistance  in  order 
to  prevent  damage  by  excessive  starting  currents.  The 
accepted  necessity  of  using  a  series  resistance  is  considered 
by  the  author  to  be  a  fallacy.  He  emphasizes  the  fact  that 
the  self-induction  does  not  permit  the  starting  current  at 
once  to  assume  its  full  value,  but  forces  it  to  increase 
gradually,  while  the  large  torque  which  is  proportional  to 
the  armature  current  in  pure  shunt  motors  causes  a  large 
acceleration  and  a  rapid  increase  of  the  counter  emf.  The 
author  gives  the  mathematical  formulas  for  the  phenomena 
during  the  starting  period  and  shows  the  relation  between 
self-induction,  resistance  and  momentum  of  inertia  of  the 
motor  armature.  After  presenting  the  theory  he  illustrates 
it  with  numerical  examples  having  special  reference  to  the 
electric  propulsion  of  ships.  According  to  Huelss,  the  pro- 
pelling motors  of  the  ship  are  connected  without  starting 
resistances  directly  to  the  source  of  energy.  The  author 
shows  that  it  is  possible  to  start  large  direct-current  motors 
(that  is,  with  several  hundred  horse-power  capacity)  with- 
out serifes  resistances,  and  the  tests  made  and  oscillograms 
given  show  good  agreement  with  the  results  of  his  theory. 
The  article  is  to  be  concluded. — Elek.  Zeit.,  July  25,  1912. 
Cascade  Connection  of  Induction  Motors  and  Polyphase 
Commutator  Motors. — Ernst  Siegel. — The  conclusion  of 
his  article  on  the  different  systems  of  cascade  connection  of 
a  large  induction  motor  with  an  auxiliary  three-phase  com- 
mutator motor  with  series  characteristics,  for  the  purpose  of 
speed  control.  After  concluding  the  consideration  of  the 
method  in  which  the  induction  motor  and  the  commutator 
are  mechanically  connected,  he  takes  up  the  systern  in  which 
the  two  motors  are  not  mechanically  connected  but  the  com- 
mutator motor  is  driven  by  another  auxiliary  machine  which 
is  electrically  connected  with  the  network.  The  theory  of 
each  method  is  given  and  the  results  are  illustrated  in 
diagrams.  Some  notes  are  added  on  the  design  of  the  com- 
mutator motor,  relating  to  the  use  of  a  compensated  motor 
or  an  ordinary  series  motor  with  brush  displacement. — ■ 
Elek.  u.  Mascli.  (Vienna),  July  14.  1912. 

Reluctance  of  Armature  Teeth. — David  Robertson. — A 
description  of  his  graphical  method  of  calculating  the 
reluctance  of  the  teeth  of  a  slotted  armature,  for  those  cases 
in  which  the  flux  density  is  so  high  that  the  flux  in  the  slots 
cannot  be  neglected.  The  method  is  based  on  the  assump- 
tion that  the  same  excitation  is  available  for  magnetizing 
the  teeth  and  the  slots,  which  is  the  same  thing  as  supposing 
that  the  lines  of  flux  are  straight  and  radial.  The  article  is 
illustrated  by  diagrams. — London  Electrician,  July  26,  1912. 
Voltage  Regulators. — A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent 
(No.  7220,  July  18,  1912)  issued  to  M.  Fuss.  To  keep  the 
terminal  pressure  of  an  electrical  generator  constant,  the 
system  of  periodically  short-circuiting  a  resistance  in  the 
exciter  circuit  by  means  of  a  contact  lever  operated  by  the 
generator  and  exciter  pressures  is  used.  The  contact  lever 
is  so  arranged  that  it  can  respond  independently  to  changes 
in  the  pressure  of  both  the  generator  and  exciter  at  the  same 
time.  The  lever,  besides  striking  the  fixed  contact,  is  also 
subject  to  alteration  in  position  according  to  the  variations 
of  the  two  pressures. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing  ^]u\y  25,  1912. 
Three-Phase  Windings  for  Single-Phase  Seni'ice. — W.  J. 
Foster. — An  illustrated  article  describing  jhe  different 
methods  of  connecting  three-phase  armature  windings  for 
single-phase  service,  and  also  the  Hobart  method  for  taking 
single-phase  current  from  a  polyphase  armature  by  means 
of  a  transformer. — Gen.  Elec.  Reviezv,  July,  1912. 


Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Tungsten  Wire  Filaments. — A  note  on  a  recent  British 
patent  (No.  27,360,  July  4,  1912)  of  O.  Krause.  To  draw 
wires  finer  than  o.ooi  in.  diameter,  a  compact  body  of 
tungsten  is  treated  mechanically  while  hot  to  destroy  its 
crystalline  structure.  It  is  then  drawn  or  rolled  to  a  gage 
as  small  as  possible  and  afterward  receives  a  chemical  or 
electrochemical  treatment  which  removes  a  further  ap- 
preciable portion  of  the  metal.  An  alkaline  solution  of 
potassium  ferricyanide  is  especially  recommended,  the  wires 
being  passed  through  the  bath  at  a  slow  constant  speed. 
The  wire  forming  the  anode  may  be  passed  repeatedly  over 
rollers  in  an  electrolytic  bath  of  caustic  alkali  or  ammonia 
(varying  in  strength  from  I  to  30  per  cent)  at  a  speed  of 
about  3  ft.  per  minute.  The  container  forms  the  cathode. — • 
London  Elec.  Engineering,  July  11,  1912. 

Illumination  Problems. — C.  E.  Clewell. — An  article  illus- 
trated by  diagrams  describing  the  method  of  working  out  an 
illumination  problem  step  by  step,  selecting  the  type  of  lamp, 
size  of  lamp,  spacing  distance  and  mounting  height,  and  cal- 
culating the  mtensily  and  uniformity  of  the  illumination 
obtained.  The  method  is  illustrated  by  application  to  a 
practical  problem,  namely,  the  lighting  of  a  factory. — Elec. 
Journal,  July  1912. 

Flame-Arc  Lamps. — W.  Hechler. — An  English  transla- 
tion of  his  German  paper  recently  abstracted  in  the  Digest 
on  the  status  of  modern  flame-arc  lamps  and  on  future 
possibilities  of  flame-arc  lamp  electrodes. — London  Elec- 
trician, July  26,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Hydroelectric  Stations  in  Baden. — Emil  Frey. — A  report 
presented  to  the  Association  of  Manufacturers  in  south- 
western Germany  on  the  proposed  hydroelectric  develop- 
ments in  the  Grandduchy  of  Baden.  All  water-power  plants 
require  a  very  large  investment  and  there  are  some  which 
are  not  particularly  prosperous.  It  is  considered  unusual 
that  the  water-power  plant  at  Rheinfelden,  which  now  has 
been  in  service  seventeen  years,  showed  better  financial 
returns  during  recent  years.  Nevertheless,  the  author  thinks 
that  the  gradual  development  of  the  larger  water-powers  of 
Baden  would  be  advantageous  for  the  future,  that  is,  for 
the  coming  generation.  As  to  municipal  versus  private 
ownership,  the  author  thinks  it  is  questionable  whether 
municipal  plants  sell  energy  at  a  lower  rate  than  privately 
owned  plants.  In  Switzerland  privately  owned  stations 
have  been  taken  over  by  the  government  and  the  tariff  has 
been  raised  simultaneously.  The  chief  ends  desired  are  the 
development  of  all  suitable  water-powers  and  the  protection 
of  the  people's  interests.  The  author  concludes  with  a 
review  of  tariffs  of  water-power  stations. — Elek.  Zeit., 
July  25,  1912. 

Mixed-Pressure  Turbines.— An  article  by  R.  C.  Muir  dis- 
cusses methods  of  operating  mixed-pressure  turbines  with 
engines  driving  mechanical  loads.  The  article  describes 
two  methods  of  balancing  the  load  between  the  turbine  and 
the  engine  which  may  be  employed  in  cases  where  high 
economy  is  of  importance,  i.  e.,  where  it  is  necessary  to 
insure  that  no  exhaust  steam  is  wasted  and  live  steam 
is  used  in  the  turbine  only  on  overloads.  An  article  by  E.  J. 
Best  describes  the  mixed-pressure  turbine  installation  of  the 
Tennessee  Coal,  Iron  &  Railroad  Company,  which  is  the 
largest  installation  of  mixed-pressure  turbo-generators  for 
the  utilization  of  exhaust  steam  from  rolling-mill  engines. 
An  article  by  E.  G.  Morgan  describes  a  mixed-pressure  tur- 
bine installation  for  traction  service  where  a  large  increase 
in  station  capacity  has  been  obtained  without  any  increase 


368 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  7. 


in  boiler  equipment.  Most  of  the  load  was  supplied  by 
traction  service  and  a  steadily  growing  peak  demanded  addi- 
tional generators.  Several  alternatives  were  considered, 
such  as  a  modern  high-pressure  turbine  and  a  5000-kw  low- 
pressure  machine  with  additional  boilers.  Finally  a  2500-kw 
turbine  without  boiler  additions  was  decided  upon,  and  the 
load  diagrams  show  that  this  scheme  was  successful.  An 
article  by  B.  E.  Semple  describes  a  7000-kw  mi.xed-pressure 
Curtis  turbine,  the  largest  of  its  type  built  to  date,  installed 
at  the  plant  of  a  large  steel-manufacturing  corporation.  It 
will  operate  on  140  lb.  high  pressure  or  16  lb.  low  pressure 
(vacuum  28I/2  in.)  or  both,  and  under  the  latter  conditions 
may  receive  its  supply  either  from  three  reciprocating 
engines  driving  electric  generators  in  the  existing  power 
house  or  from  four  of  the  blast-furnace  engines.  Reference 
is  made  to  some  of  the  general  principles  of  the  control  and 
operation  of  turbines  of  this  type,  and  the  article  concludes 
with  a  statement  as  to  the  operating  economies  which  have 
been  effected  in  this  particular  instance.  Considering  only 
the  reduction  in  steam  consumption  per  kilowatt-hour,  there 
is  a  net  saving  probably  in  the  neighborhood  of  $85,000 
annually. — Gen.  Elcc.  Review,  July,  1912. 

Italian  Water-Poiver  Plant. — The  conclusion  of  the  illus- 
trated article  on  the  hydroelectric  plant  of  the  Adamello 
Electric  Supply  Company.  The  author  deals  with  the  con- 
struction of  the  switchboard  transmission  line  and  the  Sesto, 
San  Giovanni  and  Pandino  transformer  substations. — 
London  Electrician.  July  26,  1912. 

Traction. 

Hamburg  Elevated  Raihcay. — \V.  Mattersdorff. — The 
conclusion  of  his  illustrated  article  on  the  Hamburg  elevated 
railway.  After  concluding  his  detailed  description  of  the 
car  equipment  the  author  deals  with  the  block-signal,  tele- 
phone and  time  systems.  The  sale  of  tickets  is  effected  by 
slot  machines  in  which  the  tickets  are  automatically  printed. 
This  means  a  great  simplification  of  the  bookkeeping  sys- 
tem. Further  it  tneans  very  rapid  service,  since  the  time 
required  is  simply  that  needed  to  drop  a  coin  in  the  machine 
and  take  away  the  ticket. — Elck.  Zcit.,  July  25,  1912. 

Leeds. — An  abstract  of  last  year's  financial  account  of  the 
municipal  tramway  system  of  Leeds,  England.  The  total 
receipts  for  the  twelve  months  have  increased  by  $125,000 
over  the  previous  year,  while  the  operating  expenses  have 
increased  only  $11,000.  The  percentage  ratio  of  expenses 
to  receipts  for  1911-1912  was  49.96,  compared  with  52.72 
per  cent  a  year  ago,  and  is  the  lowest  figure  yet  recorded  by 
the  system.  Experiments  have  been  made  with  rail-less 
traction  and  so  far  have  given  complete  satisfaction  from 
an  operating  standpoint. — London  Electrician,  July  26,  1912. 

Electropneumatic  Brake. — W.  V.  Turner  and  P.  H. 
Donovan. — The  first  part  of  a  Franklin  Institute  paper  on 
the  electropneumatic  brake  system  for  steam-road  service. — • 
Journal  Franklin  Institute,  August,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Connections  of  Electrolytic  Rectifying  Valves. — G.  E. 
Bairsto. — A  single  cell  with  an  aluminum  electrode  and  a 
lead  or  nickel  electrode  permits  the  current  to  pass  only  in 
one  direction,  namely,  when  the  aluminum  is  the  cathode. 
A  single  cell  of  this  kind  is,  therefore,  suitable  as  a  rectifier 
of  alternating  current,  but  only  one-half  of  the  alternating- 
current  wave  is  utilized.  But  various  connections  may  be 
employed,  by  means  of  which  both  half  waves  may  be 
utilized.  Fig.  i  shows  the  Graetz  or  Nodon  system,  in 
which  four  rectifying  cells  A,  B,  C,  D  are  used.  The 
aluminum  electrodes  are  represented  by  thick  straight  lines 
and  the  lead  or  nickel  electrodes  by  thin  lines.  The  circuit 
in  which  the  direct  current  is  obtained  is  marked  "load." 
This  arrangement  is  simplified  in  Fig.  2,  in  which  the  two 
cells  C  and  D  of  Fig.  l  are  replaced  by  a  single  cell  C  with 
two  aluminum  electrodes.  A  further  simplification  due  to 
Siemens  is  shown  in  Fig.  3.  The  negative  half  wave  of  emf 
is  able  to  send  current  through  A  and  the  load  in  the  direc- 


tion of  the  arrow,  but  no  current  will  flow  through  B.  The 
aluminum  film  on  B,  however,  receives  an  electrostatic 
charge.  During  the  positive  half  wave  A  is  unable  to  trans- 
mit current,  but  B  now  discharges  through  the  load,  the 
current  taking,  as  before,  the  direction  of  the  arrow.  The 
result  is  the  establishment  of  a  direct  current  through  the 
load.     This   arrangement   can,   however,   be   simplified   still 


Load 

c     o — ]—^Af\/^ 


Fig.  1 — Graetz-Nodon 
Grouping. 


Fig.    2 — Simplified    Graetz- 
Nodon    Grouping. 


further,  only  one  cell  being  used,  as  shown  in  Fig.  4.  A  is 
a  small  aluminum  electrode  corresponding  to  A  in  Fig.  3, 
and  B  a  much  larger  one  corresponding  to  discharging  anode 
B.  This  arrangement  performs  exactly  the  same  operations 
as  that  of  Fig.  3  and  may  easily  be  extended  to  the  rectifica- 
tion of  polyphase  currents.  To  rectify  two-phase  currents 
two  small  anodes  are  required,  one  for  each  phase  (i  and  2, 
Fig.  5),  and  a  large  discharging  anode  for  the  middle  wire  3. 

licad 

NA/VVW\ 


-Siemens    Grouping. 


Fig.   4 — Single-Phase    Rectifier. 


Fig.    5 — Two- Phase    Rectifier    or    Unsymmetrical 
Rectifier. 


Three-Phase 


ply  network  without  a  booster,  it  may  be  divided  into  three 
parts,  Nos.  i,  2  and  3,  and  may  then  be  charged  in  three 
periods :  First,  i  and  2  in  series  with  each  other  and  a 
resistance;  second,  i  and  3  in  series  with  each  c'.her  and  a 
resistance,  and  third,  2  and  3  in  series  with  each  other  and 
a  resistance.  For  discharge  the  three  parts  I,  2  and  3  are 
then  connected  in  series.    Or  the  charging  may  be  carried 


For  three-phase  currents  two  small  anodes  are  used  on  two 
of  the  phases  and  a  large  anode  for  the  third  phase,  or  three 
small  anodes  can  be  used,  one  for  each  phase  and  a  large  one 
for  the  neutral.  The  latter  method,  of  course,  is  not  an 
ideal  one  to  employ.  Some  results  are  given,  in  diagrams, 
of  tests  on  the  single-phase  rectifier  arrangement  of  Fig.  4. 
• — London  Electrician,  July  26,  1912. 

Clwrging    Storage    Batteries    Without    a    Booster. — R. 
Edler. — To  charge  a  storage  battery  directly  from  the  sup-      | 

Load 

KAA/WVS 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


369 


out  only  in  two  periods:  First,  groups  I  and  2  are  connected 
in  parallel  with  each  other  and  in  series  with  group  3  and  a 
resistance,  and  charged  until  group  3  is  fully  charged;  while 
in  the  succeeding  step  groups  i  and  2  are  connected  in  series 
,,  with  each  other  and  a  resistance  and  are  fully  charged. 
:  The  author  has  previously  described  an  arrangement  for  the 
latter  system  requiring  only  two  switches,  which  is  so  simple 
that  no  mistakes  can  be  made.  He  now  describes  the  same 
system  in  detail,  making  use  of  the  method  of  notation  for 
connections  due  to  R.  Lischke. — Elck.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna), 
July  14  and  21,  1912. 

Protective  Apparatus. — E.  E.  F.  Creighton. — A  second 
article  on  recent  developments  in  protective  apparatus.  The 
author  discusses  the  application  of  the  direct-current  alumi- 
num arrester  to  the  protection  of  traction  motors,  first,  when 
connected  directly  to  the  trolley,  and  second,  when  used 
with  a  series  gap  of  the  aluminum  type.  Changes  in  the 
magnetic,  blow-out  type  of  arrester,  necessitated  by  the  in- 
crease in  potential  from  600  volts  to  1200  volts,  are 
enumerated  and  a  few  remarks  included  on  the  selection  of 
arresters  for  various  conditions  of  service.  The  results  of 
some  investigations  on  internal  resonance  of  transformer 
coils  are  also  given,  which  show  that  this  phenomenon  is 
responsible  for  many  breakdowns  that  operating  engineers 
have  been  prone  to  attribute  to  defects  in  material  or 
design.  The  article  is  concluded  with  a  description  of  a 
registering  device  which  may  be  made  to  record  in  type 
practically  every  switching  or  other  operation  performed 
in  the  power  station,  or  which  may  be  applied  to  the  study 
of  lightning  and  other  transient  phenomena  along  transmis- 
sion lines. — Gen.  Elec.  Review,  July,  1912. 

Insulator  Design. — W.  Fellenberg. — The  conclusion  of 
his  very  long  illustrated  article  on  the  principles  of  insulator 
design.  The  results  of  tests  of  numerous  types  are  sum- 
marized in  the  form  of  a  diagram  which  gives  the  principal 
construction  data  and  the  values  of  the  electrical  properties 
as  functions  of  the  voltage,  from  1000  volts  to  200,000  volts. 
The  factors  which  must  be  taken  into  consideration  in  the 
design  are  reviewed. — Elek.  Zeit.,  July  4,  1912. 

Erection  of  Large  Steam-Electric  Stations. — C.  Klingen- 
BERG. — A  continuation  of  his  long  illustrated  paper  on  the 
general  principles  to  be  followed  in  the  design  of  large 
electric  stations  operated  by  steam.  After  discussing  the 
arrangement  of  the  generating  units  in  the  turbine  room,  the 
author  takes  up  the  equipment  of  the  boiler  house  and  the 
storage  and  handling  of  coal. — Elek.  Zeit.,  July  25,  1912. 

Synchronous  Condensers. — C.  T.  Mosman. — An  article 
enumerating  the  various  respects  in  which  low  power-factor 
reacts  harmfully  on  the  economy  of  the  system.  It  is  ex- 
plained theoretically  how  synchronous  motors  may  be  used 
to  control  the  power-factor  by  adding  wattless  current 
(leading  or  lagging)  to  the  circuit.  A  table  of  sines,  cosines 
and  tangents  is  shown,  and  the  author  explains  how  to  use 
it  for  resolving  a  current  into  its  components  and  deter- 
mining what  condenser  capacity  is  required  to  produce  any 
desired  correction.  The  same  ground  is  covered  diagram- 
matically,  and  the  two  methods  are  applied  to  actual 
examples.  The  article  concludes  with  a  discussion  of  the 
questions  affecting  the  feasibility  and  expediency  of  employ- 
ing this  method  of  power-factor  correction. — Gen.  Elec. 
Review.  July,  19 12. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Standardisation  of  Non-Insulated  Conductor  Wires. — W. 
VON  Moellendorf. — The  author  emphasizes  the  disadvan- 
tages of  the  lack  of  standardization  of  conductor  wires 
which  now  characterizes  European  specifications.  He  pro- 
poses to  consider  as  standard  materials  for  non-insulated 
conductors  hard-drawn  wires  of  copper  bronze  and  "hard 
aluminum.",^  Normal  conductors  of  copper  and  bronze  are 
wires  of  I,  1.5,  2,  2.5,  2,8,  3,  3.2  and  3.5  mm  diameter  (l  mm 
=  0.039  in.)  and  cables  of  15,  20,  25,  30,  35,  50,  70,  95,  120, 
150,    185,    240    and    310    sq.    mm   cross-section    (l    sq.    mm 


=  0.00155  sq.  in.).  Standard  aluminum  and  aluminum  alloy 
wires  have  the  same  dimensions,  but  aluminum  wires  of  less 
than  2.5  mm  (0.0975  '"•)  diameter  are  not  permitted. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  June  27,  1912. 

Electrophysics  and   Magnetism. 

Hysteresis  Loss  as  Affected  by  Previous  Magnetic  His- 
tory.— E.  Wilson,  B.  C.  Clayton  and  A.  E.  Power. — A 
British  Physical  Society  paper  on  the  hysteresis  loss  in  iron 
at  atmospheric  and  liquid-air  temperatures  under  three  dif- 
ferent conditions — (i)  after  the  iron  has  been  carefully 
demagnetized,  (2)  after  it  has  been  subjected  to  a  large 
force  (previous  history)  of  about  26  c.  g.  s.  units,  and  (3) 
while  it  is  under  the  influence  of  an  external  constant  mag- 
netizing force  after  demagnetization.  One  object  is  to 
discover  (a)  how  the  dissipation  of  energy  varies  in  the 
above  cases  when  the  maximum  magnetic  induction  B  is  the 
same  in  each,  and  (b)  how  it  varies  in  cases  (2)  and  (3) 
when  not  only  the  maximum  magnetic  induction  is  the  same 
but  the  value  of  the  reversal  force  H  is  the  same.  This 
matter  should  concern  any  molecular  theory  of  magnetism. 
It  is  shown  both  at  atmospheric  and  liquid-air  temperatures 
that  the  loss  for  a  given  value  of  the  magnetic  induction  B 
is  greater  in  case  (2)  than  in  either  (i)  or  (3)  and  that 
the  loss  in  case  (3)  is  greater  than  in  case  (i).  Moreover, 
the  loss  at  liquid-air  temperature  is  for  corresponding  cases 
greater  than  at  atmospheric  temperature.  For  given  values 
of  the  magnetic  induction  where  the  reversal  force  H  and 
the  temperature  are  the  same  for  each,  the  loss  in  case  (2) 
is  greater  than  in  case  (3),  and  the  percentage  difference 
between  the  losses  rises  to  a  maximum  of  about  20  when  H 
has  a  value  of  about  0.5  c.  g.  s.  units  in  stalloy.  This  per- 
centage difference  has  about  the  same  maximum,  with  about 
the  same  value  of  reversal  force  H,  at  both  atmospheric 
and  liquid-air  temperatures.  As  regards  the  importance  of 
the  subject  to  engineers,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  watts 
dissipated  by  magnetic  hysteresis  may  be  increased  by  as 
much  as  45  per  cent,  and  the  magnetizing  force  85  per  cent, 
in  comparison  with  values  obtainable  when  the  effects  of 
previous  magnetic  treatment  have  been  wiped  out.  It  would 
seem,  therefore,  that  after  severe  short-circuits  it  may  pay 
to  demagnetize  the  cores  of  transformers,  static  balancers, 
etc.  In  the  discussion  C.  Lees  asked  if  the  effects  due  to 
the  previous  history  would  not  disappear  after  the  alter- 
nating-current service  had  been  resumed  for  a  time. 
E.  Wilson  replied  that,  although  the  alternating  current  had 
been  applied  to  the  specimen  for  an  hour  or  more  during  the 
tests,  it  would  not  wipe  out  the  effect  of  a  previous  field  that 
was  more  intense  than  its  own.  In  order  to  demagnetize 
the  specimen  by  alternating  current  the  current  must  be 
large  enough  to  produce  a  magnetization  more  intense  than 
any  previously  experienced,  and  then  gradually  must  be 
reduced  to  zero. — London  Electrician.  July  19,  1912. 

Hysteresis  Loss.—F.  Stroude.— His  complete  British 
Physical  Society  paper,  an  abstract  of  which  has  already 
appeared  in  the  Digest,  in  which  a  series  of  careful  deter- 
minations of  the  hysteresis  loss  in  transformer  iron,  cast 
iron  and  stalloy  are  described.  The  method  employed  was 
that  of  the  "uniformly  varying  flux."  A  set  of  hysteresis 
measurements  by  a  ballistic  method  is  also  included,  the 
results  obtained  being  compared  with  those  from  "slow 
cyclic"  tests.  The  values  for  the  losses  are  reduced  to  the 
form  of  the  Steinmetz  law  Wn  =  ti  B",  and  it  is  shown  that 
for  each  material  the  index  c  is  sensibly  constant  over  a 
fairly  wide  range  of  B.  but  the  value  differs  considerably 
for  different  materials  (cast  iron  e  =  1.8,  transformer  iron 
g  —  iy^    stalloy    e  =  i.66). — London   Electrician,    July    19, 

1912. 

Roentgen  Radiation  from  Substance  of  Low  Atomic 
Weight.— C.  A.  Sadler  and  P.  Mesham.— An  account  of 
experiments  in  which  it  is  shown  that  a  homogeneous  beam 
of  Roentgen  rays  when  scattered  by  a  substance  of  low 
atomic  weight  is  transformed  into  a  softer  type  of  radiation. 


370 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o.  Xo.  7. 


The  harder  the  exciting  beam  the  greater  is  the  intensity  of 
the  scattered  radiation.  The  harder  the  exciting  beam  the 
more  profound  is  the  change  in  its  quality. — Phil.  Mag., 
July,  1912. 

Interferometry  of  Air-Carrying  Electrical  Current. — Carl 
Barnes. — An  account  of  e.xperinients  made  to  investigate 
whether  a  rarefied  column  of  air  through  which  a  current 
of  electricity  is  flowing  shows  any  perceptible  change  of  its 
index  of  refraction.  So  far  the  results  are  negative. — 
American  Journal  of  Science,  August,  1912. 

AVii'  Rays. — G.  Ribaud. — A  paper  on  the  appearance  of 
new  rays  in  a  Geissler  bromine  tube  when  placed  in  a  mag- 
netic field. — La  Lumicre  Elec,  July  6,  1912. 

Rotations  in  the  Metallic  Arc. — W.  G.  Cady. — An  abstract 
of  a  Physical  Society  paper  on  rotations  observed  at  the 
anode  of  an  iron  arc  in  air. — Physical  Reviczv,  July,  1912. 

Electrochemistry  and  Batteries. 

Electric  Laboratory  Furnace. — D.  F.  Calhane  and  E.  E. 
Bard. — .\  detailed  illustrated  description  of  a  simple  electric 
furnace  rated  at  i  kw  or  less  which  is  useful  for  many 
purposes  in  the  laboratory.  The  design  and  construction  are 
described  in  detail. — Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing,  August,  1912. 

Laboratory  Furnace. — An  illustrated  description  of  an 
"electric  transformer  crucible  furnace"  of  German  make. 
Each  furnace  unit  is  a  combination  of  a  transformer  with 
a  carbon  crucible.  The  crucible  itself  forms  the  resistor. 
The  secondary  terminals  of  the  transformer  are  connected 
by  flexible  copper  conductors  with  two  water-cooled  con- 
tacts gripping  the  crucible,  so  that  the  secondary  current 
from  the  transformer  passes  through  the  crucible  and  heats 
it. — Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing,  August,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Measuring  Self-induction  and  Caf'acity  of  Antennas. — A. 
Esau. — For  determining  the  capacity  and  self-induction  of 
antennas  three  methods  are  in  use.  The  first  is  based  on 
the  shortening  of  the  wave-length  by  insertion  of  a  capacity, 
the  second  depends  on  the  lengthening  of  the  wave-length 
by  insertion  of  a  reactance  coil,  and  the  third  relies  on  the 
change  of  the  damping  coefficient  due  to  the  insertion  of  a 
resistance.  The  author  compares  the  three  methods  in 
detail.  With  respect  to  accuracy  and  speed  the  third 
method  is  inferior  to  the  other  two.  An  accuracy  of  i  or 
2  per  cent  could  easily  be  obtained  in  the  first  two  methods. 
But  it  is  important  to  insert  the  capacity,  or  the  self-induc- 
tion coil,  as  exactly  as  possible  at  the  node,  and  to  e.xercise 
care  that  the  wave-length  is  not  shortened  or  lengthened  by 
more  than  20  or  25  per  cent. — Phys.  Zeit..  July  15,  1912. 

Sensitiz-e  Selenium  Cell. — W.  S.  Gripenberg. — The  author 
shows  that  the  increase  of  conductivity  of  a  plate  of  crystal- 
line selenium  due  to  illumination  can  be  made  to  reach  as 
much  as  1000  times  the  conductivity  in  darkness  if  the  thick- 
ness of  the  plate  is  of  the  order  of  magnitude  of  100  (j.jx. 
He  describes  how  to  produce  such  thin  selenium  layers. — 
Phys.  Zeit.,  July  15,  1912. 

Meters. — An  official  announcement  of  the  Reichsanstalt 
admitting  for  calibration  a  single-phase  induction  meter  of 
the  Siemens  Schuckert  Company,  a  direct-current  magnet 
motor  meter,  and  a  meter  with  double-counting  mechanism 
of  the  same  company. — Elek.  Zeit..  July  25,  igi2. 

Oscillograph. — H.  Busch. — A  mathematical  paper  in 
which  the  author  shows  how  the  Blondell-Ortich  theory  of 
the  oscillograph  can  be  derived  in  a  new  and  very  simple 
way. — Phys.  Zeit..  July  i.  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

Electric  Riveter. — A  note  on  an  electrical  riveter  of  Karl 
Flohr,  shown  in  section  in  Fig.  6.  The  armature  a  of  the 
motor,  which  is  pivoted  at  b,  can  be  coupled  to  the  shaft  c. 
which  is  threaded  to  fit  the  swiveled  nut  i;  the  armature 
runs  continuously  in  one  direction,  and  the  coupling  is 
effected  by  a  magnetic  clutch  in  the  flywheel,  which  is  con- 
trolled either  by  the  lever  e  or  automatically  by  the  contacts 


g,  h,  which  actuate  the  circuit  breaker  /  and  are  adjusted  so 
that  the  armature  is  unclutched  before  the  die  touches  the 
rivet.  The  closing  of  the  rivet  is  effected,  therefore,  by  the 
momentum  of  the  flywheel  on  the  screw-shaft  c ;  at  the  same 
time  a  spring  on  the  end  of  the  shaft  c  is  compressed  and 
serves  to  return  the  nut  i  to  position  after  the  operation. 
The  die-head  is  pivoted  to  the  lever  which  carries  the  nut 


Fig.    6- 


-Electric    Riveter. 


and  to  a  rod  k.  which  maintains  the  die  always  in  align- 
ment. The  machine  weighs  about  1200  kg,  and  is  suspended 
from  a  crane  by  a  swivel  at  its  center  of  gravity,  so  that  it 
can  easily  be  manipulated  by  one  man,  with  the  handle  e. — 
London  Elec.  Reviczv,  July  26.  1912. 


Book  Reviews 

The  Modern   Locomotive.     By  C.   Edgar  Allen,   .\.  M.  I. 
Mech.  E.,    A.  M.  L  E.  E.      Cambridge,    England.      New 
York:      G.    P.    Putnam's    Sons.      171    pages.    36    illus. 
Price,  40  cents  net. 
This  is  a  small  volume  on  English  locomotive   practice, 
outlining  the  more  general  principles  in  design  and  opera- 
tion, written  rather  for  those  who  seek  to  be  informed  on 
broad  fundamentals  than   for  specialists.     Much  attention 
has  been  given  to  boilers,  combustion,  superheating,  train 
resistance,    running   gear    and    stability.      The   book    might 
serve  very  well  in  a  course  of  light  engineering  literature 
or  as  an  introduction  to  a  comprehensive  treatment  of  loco- 
motive engineering.  ,  k 

Elektrotechnische  Messkunde.  By  P.  B.  Arthur  Linker. 
Berlin:  Julius  Springer.  527  pages,  380  illus. 
The  second  and  enlarged  edition  of  a  good  textbook  on 
electrical  measuring  instruments,  methods  of  measurement 
and  quantities  that  frequently  require  to  be  measured  in 
electrotechnics.  The  work  has  been  carefully  prepared,  is 
well  illustrated  and  is  supplemented  with  a  full  list  of  the 
symbols  employed  through  the  text.  It  is  somewhat  unfor- 
tunate that  the  direction  of  phase  advance  in  the  alter- 
nating-current diagrams  is  heterodo.x,  being  opposite  to  that 
adopted  internationally  by  the  International  Electrotechnical 
Commission  last  year  at  Turin.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this 
discrepancy  will  be  corrected  in  the  next  edition.  The 
volume  is  divided  into  five  main  sections,  dealing  respec- 
tively with  the  following  subjects:  Electrical  measure- 
ments, magnetic  measurements,  direct-current  measure- 
ments, alternating-current  measurements,  and  photometric 
measurements.  The  book  will  be  of  considerable  interest 
to  students  of  electrotechnics. 


Ai'cusT  17.  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


371 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


DIMINUTIVE    SEPARABLE   PLUG. 


Harvey  Hubbell,  Inc..  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  has  placed  on 
the  market  a  small,  separable  plug  applicable  for  use  with 
table  lamps,  electric  fans  and  other  portable  devices  used 
in  homes,  offices  and  stores.  The  plug  measures  1%  in. 
from  the  base  end  to  the  cap  top,  and  when  inserted  in  a 


Diminutive    Separable    Plug. 

lamp  socket  the  cap  projects  a  trifle  over  y^  in.  The  con- 
tacts are  embedded  in  a  one-piece  porcelain  base  and  the 
cap  is  made  of  black  composition.  The  contact  blades  in 
the  cap  have  rounded  ends  and  notched  edges  which  slide 
into  stiff  springs  in  the  base.  The  cap  and  base  come 
together  with  a  pronounced  click,  indicating  that  effective 
contact  has  been  made.  The  cap  itself  is  designed  to  be 
interchangeable  with  a  line  of  Hubbell  plugs  and  receptacles, 
all  of  which  will  be  smaller  than  the  standard  Hubbell  plugs, 
although  possessing  the  same  current-carrying  capacity. 
The  "push-in"  cap  does  away  with  the  necessity  of  twisting 
the  flexible  cord  which  oftentimes  prevents  quick  and 
secure  connection.  The  non-breakable  construction  of  the 
plug  renders  it  also  available  for  use  with  electrical  ap- 
paratus subjected  to  rough  treatinent  in  manufacturing 
plants. 


EXTINGUISHER  FOR  ELECTRICAL  FIRES. 


An  extinguisher  suitable  for  all  kinds  of  fires,  and  espe- 
cially applicable  for  electrical  fires  in  that  unlike  other 
general  fire  extinguishers  it  is  a  non-conductor  of  electricity 
and  can  be  applied  with  impunity  on  the  commutator  of 
motors  or  generators  while  in  operation,  is  manufactured 
by  the  Pyrene  Manufacturing  Company,  New  York.  Pyrene 
is  put  up  in  squirt  guns  holding  i  quart  and  is  extensively 
employed   in   power   houses   and   electric   railway   cars    for 


Electric  Arc   Before  and  at  the   Instant  Extinguisher  Was  Applied. 

extinguishing  fires  caused  by  electricity  or  other  agency. 
It  is  a  heavy,  colorless  liquid  which  volatilizes  rapidly  and 
gives  off  an  inert  heavy  gas  that  will  not  support  combus- 
tion. The  charges  in  the  squirt  guns  can  be  renewed  from 
time  to  time.  The  illustrations  shown  herewith  indicate  the 
action  of  the  liquid,  being  reproduced  from  photographs  of 
an  arc  jumping  across  a  lightning  arrester,  approximately 


6  amp  at  2000  volts  passing  at  the  time.  The  arc  is  said 
to  have  been  ruptured  by  a  single  squirt  of  the  "pyrene" 
and  was  re-established  again  for  demonstration  purposes 
by  means  of  a  wire  attached  to  a  stick.  The  photograph 
was  taken  just  as  the  liquid  was  applied  on  the  first  stroke, 
the  camera  recording  the  phenomenon  in  a  very  small  frac- 
tion of  a  second,  inasmuch  as  the  arc  so  far  as  the  eye 
could  discern  was  said  to  be  extinguished  instantly.  The 
test  was  made  in  the  station  of  the  Consolidated  Electric 
Light   Company,   of   Portland,   Maine. 


URBAN  ELECTRIC  TRUCKS. 


In  the  design  of  the  electric  trucks  known  as  "Urban" 
effort  has  been  made  to  obtain  maximum  accessibility  of 
parts,  maximum  convenience  of  operation  and  minimum 
depreciation  in  service.     The  speed  of  the  car  is  controlled 


Electric    Delivery    Wagon 

by  means  of  a  lever  mounted  just  beneath  the  steering 
wheel.  This  lever  operates  in  the  lower  slot  of  a  gate  for 
four  forward  speeds  and  in  the  upper  slot  for  two  reverse 
speeds.  Before  the  lever  can  be  moved  through  the  gate  in 
either  direction  a  thumb  latch  must  be  operated.  The 
handle  cannot  by  any  chance  be  thrown  from  forward  to 
reverse  position  or  reverse  to  forward  by  accident.  The 
controller  handle  serves  to  revolve  a  tube  concentric  with 
the  steering  column.  The  controller  is  operated  through  a 
drag-link  mechanism.  The  service  brakes,  contracting 
upon  the  countershaft,  are  operated  by  a  pedal,  and 
emergency  brakes,  expanding  in  drums  on  rear  wheels,  are 
operated  by  a  ratchet-retained  hand  lever.  All  control 
elements  are  so  located  as  to  be  manipulated  naturally  and 
with  little  effort  on  the  part  of  the  driver.  The  controller, 
lighting  and  emergency  switches,  amp-hour  meter,  wiring 
terminals,  etc.,  are  mounted  in  the  short  front  shroud 
which  forms  part  of  the  chassis.  Ready  access  to  all  these 
parts,  except  the  switches,  may  be  had  by  the  removal  of  an 
aluminum  panel,  which  closes  the  rear  of  this  shroud.  The 
switches  are  mounted  on  the  wood  frame  which  surrounds 
the  removable  panel  and  may  be  conveniently  reached  from 
the  driver's  seat.  The  emergency  switch  is  fitted  with  a 
key,  removable  in  the  off  position. 

Use  is  made  of  a  storage  cell  of  either  the  lead  or  nickel- 
iron  type.  The  battery  is  suspended  under  the  main  frame 
just  forward  of  the  counter-shaft.  Access  to  the  cells  may 
he  had  from  either  side  of  the  car  or  from  the  top  ;  the  trays 


372 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  7. 


are  so  proportioned  as  to  permit  easy  withdrawal  from 
either  side  of  the  car. 

The  trucks  are  built  in  four  sizes  of  the  same  general 
design,  a  looo-lb.  delivery  wagon,  a  2000-lb.  truck,  a  2-ton 
truck  and  a  3.5-ton  truck.  The  rating  of  the  driving  motor 
varies  from  28  amp  at  60  volts  for  the  lightest  wagon  to 
40  amp  at  85  volts.  The  motor  drives  a  counter-shaft  by 
means  of  an  inverted  tooth  or  silent  chain  which  is  inclosed 
in  an  oil-tight  aluminum  housing  and  operated  continually 
in  an  oil  bath.  The  large  sprocket  of  this  combination  is 
mounted  on  the  flange  of  the  differential  gear  from  which 
the  torque  is  transmitted  through  steel  shafts  to  sprockets 
which  drive  the  rear  wheels  by  means  of  chains.  The 
counter-shafts  are  mounted  on  extremely  large  annular  ball 
bearings  provided  with  means  for  copious  lubrication. 

The  Urban  trucks  have  been  developed  for  the  market  by 
the  Kentucky  Wagon  Manufacturing  Company.  Louis- 
ville, Ky. 


SMALL  SINGLE-PHASE  MOTORS. 


In  small  single-phase  motors  the  Advance  Electric  Com- 
pany, of  20  North  Commercial  Street,  St.  Louis,  builds 
both  the  double-wound  rotor  and  the  automatic  short-cir- 
cuiting types.  It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  two.  The 
double-wound  rotor  provides  a  higher  power-factor  than 
does  the  short-circuiting  type, 
while  the  latter  has  higher 
initial  starting  torque.  For 
most  classes  of  constant-speed 
service  there  is  no  choice,  so' 
far  as  the  user  is  concerned, 
but  for  the  electric-service 
company  the  double-wound 
rotor  offers  an  advantage  in 
using  less  lagging  wattless 
volt-amperes.  Both  types,  as 
made  by  the  company  named. 
have  interchangeable  iio-220-volt  leads  in  sizes  of  J4  hp  and 
larger.  The  sizes  made  range  from  14,  hp  to  5  hp,  although 
frames  are  also  wound  for  two  or  three  phases  in  either 
the  squirrel-cage  or  wound-rotor  types  and  ranging  from 
■4  hp  to  yyi  hp  in  size. 

The  short-circuiting  device  was  patented  eight  years  ago, 
but  has  been  improved  as  the  result  of  experience  and  is 
now  believed  to  be  a  simple  and  effective  mechanism.  The 
Arnold  type  of  repulsion  motors  provided  with  it  are  auto- 
matically short-circuited  at  running  speed.  The  cut  shows 
a  3-hp  Advance  single-phase  motor  of  the  latest  type. 


3-hp   Single-Phase   Motor. 


OUTDOOR   TRANSFORMER   PORTABLE   SUB- 
STATION. 


A  portable  substation  of  unusual  design  has  been  placed 
in  service  on  the  lines  of  the  Scranton  &  Binghaniton  Trac- 
tion Company.  The  novel  features  are  the  use  of  outdoor- 
type  transformers,  the  application  of  Burke  horn-type 
switches  and  the  general  arrangement  of  the  lightning 
protective  apparatus. 

The  440-kw,  three-phase  oil-insulated,  self-cooling,  out- 
door-type transformer  is  wound  for  16,500  volts  primary 
and  rotary  voltage  secondary.  The  high-tension  conductors 
from  the  line  are  connected  to  the  Burke  horn-type 
switches,  from  which  they  pass  through  the  horn-type  fuse 
and  the  choke  coil  and  into  the  primary  side  of  the  trans- 
former. A  16,500-volt,  loo-amp  Burke  high-voltage,  air- 
break  switch  constitutes  the  high-tension  control.  The 
three  movable  horns  of  this  switch,  one  in  each  phase,  are 
connected  by  bell  cranks  and  may  be  actuated  by  a  standard 


oil  switch  which  is  arranged  for  automatic  operation  and  is 
mounted  on  the  switchboard.  The  horn  switches,  however, 
sever  the  high-tension  circuit  automatically  in  case  of  over- 
load. 

A  standard  Westinghouse  low-equivalent  arrester  is  sup- 
ported between  the  transformer  and  the  superstructure  on 
a   steel   framework   bolted   to   the  transformer.     An   ebony 


Fig.   1 — Portable  Substation. 

asbestos  wood  casing  completely  incloses  the  arrester,  which 
is  tapped  to  the  high-tension  circuit  just  ahead  of  the  sus- 
pension choke  coil.  From  the  arrester  a  lead  in  which  is 
inserted  a  series  resistor  extends  to  ground.  Where  the 
varnished-cambric  insulated  conductor  to  the^arrester  passes 
through  the  arrester  casing  G.  &  W.  potheads  are  used  to 
provide  additional  insulation. 

A  400,000-circ.  mil  cable,  specially  insulated  with  7/64-in. 
varnished  cambric  and  with  weatherproof  braid,  extends 
from  the  secondary  windings  of  the  transformer  to  the 
converter — a    400-kw,    600-volt,    25-cycle,    six-phase,    750- 


Fig.  2 — Section  and  Plan  of  Portable  Substation. 

r.p.m.   machine,   equipped   with   an   oscillator   and   an   over- 
speed  limit   device. 

A  leveling  arrangement  is  provided  by  means  of  which  the 
machine  can  be  accurately  aligned  when  the  car  is  on  a 
grade  as  great  as  4  per  cent.  There  are  four  blocks  of 
steel,  each  having  one  tapped  hole  through  it.  One  of 
these  blocks  is  fastened  to  the  car  floor  under  each  corner 
of  the  converter.     Two  bolts  pass  through  the  converter 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


373 


bedplate  at  each  corner.  One,  a  holding-down  bolt,  passes 
with  clearance  through  the  converter  bedplate  and  turns 
into  the  tapped  hole  in  the  block.  The  other,  a  headless 
stud  bolt,  turns  through  another  clearance  hole  in  the  bed- 
plate;  its  lower  end  abuts  against  the  plate,  and  it  has  on  it, 
just  below  the  bedplate,  a  nut.  By  adjusting  this  nut  the 
corner  of  the  machine  can  be  raised  or  lowered  as  required. 

Two  2-in.  black  slate  panels,  mounted  on  an  angle-iron 
structure  bolted  to  the  floor  and  braced  to  the  side  wall  of 
the  car,  with  a  wing  for  the  instruments,  constitute  the 
switchboard.  A  Westinghouse  lightning  arrester,  supported 
on  the  inside  of  the  roof  of  the  car,  furnishes  lightning 
protection  on  the  direct-current  terminal.  For  lighting  the 
car  there  are  two  five-light  clusters  which  are  attached  to 
the  car  ceiling.  One  of  these  is  connected  to  the  alter- 
nating-current circuit  and  the  other  to  the  direct-current 
circuit. 

All  of  the  apparatus  in  the  substation  is  of  Westinghouse 
manufacture  with  the  exception  of  the  horn  switches  and 
fuses,  which  were  manufactured  by  the  Railway  &  Indus- 
trial Engineering  Company,  the  concern  that  designed  and 
equipped  the  car. 


QUARTZ-TUBE  MERCURY- VAPOR  ARC  LAMP. 


The  quartz-tube  mercury-vapor  arc  lamp  now  being  de- 
veloped is  very  simple  in  design.  The  arc  tube  is  about 
5  in.  long,  the  arc  proper  being  about  4  in.  long.  When 
the  circuit  is  closed  the  shunt  solenoid,  shown  in  a  vertical 
position  at  the  top  of  the  lamp,  is  energized,  tilting  the 
tube  and  causing  the  mercury  cathode  to  make  contact  with 
the  anode,  receding  from  it  as  the  tube  resumes  its  normal 
position  and  forming  a  very  short  arc.  The  pressure  in  the 
tube  rises  very  rapidly,  however,  and  pushes  the  mercury 
back  into  the  vertical  part  of  the  tube  (at  the  left),  per- 
mitting the  arc  to  fill  nearly  the  whole  of  the  horizontal 
part  of  the  tube.  The  dimensions  are  so  adjusted  that  when 
this  state  is  reached  the  mercury  fills  its  chamber  so  com- 
pletely that  no  further  movement  of  the  mercury  is  possible, 


Fig.    1 — Quartz-Tube    Lamp. 

thus  allowing  the  arc  to  develop  perpendicular  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  mercury  in  the  vertical  part  of  the  tube.  With- 
out this  feature  of  design  the  cathodic  part  of  the  arc 
would  strike  the  upper  surface  of  the  tube,  causing  it  to 
overheat. 

It  is  claimed  that  the  difficulty  of  making  a  vacuum-tight 
seal  for  the  leading-in  wires  has  been  solved  so  that  the 
problem  of  the  introduction  of  current  is  not  much  more 


complicated  than  in  the  case  of  an  ordinary  lead-glass 
vessel.  Instead  of  a  ground  joint,  tungsten  wires  are  now 
fused  directly  into  the  quartz  tube  by  means  of  a  special 
seal. 

In  former  designs  of  quartz  lamps  two  mercury  electrodes 
were  used.  This  arrangement  led  to  serious  trouble  owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  mercury  volatilizes  at  the  anode  more 


Fig.   2 — Mechanism   of   Quartz-Tube    Lamp. 

rapidly  than  at  the  cathode,  thus  making  it  necessary  for  the 
mercury  to  drop  back  through  the  arc  to  equalize  the  mer- 
cury levels  at  the  two  electrodes.  The  problem  of  equal- 
izing the  mercury  levels,  which  led  to  the  use  of  heat- 
dissipating  devices,  such  as  rows  of  fins,  etc.,  in  the  design 
of  the  earlier  quartz  lamps,  has  been  avoided  in  the  newer 
lamp  by  the  use  of  a  solid  anode  so  that  there  is  only  one 
mercury  electrode.  The  use  of  a  solid  anode  is  said  to 
result  in  an  increase  of  from  30  to  50  per  cent  in  the 
efficiency  of  the  lamp,  the  amount  varying  but  being  espe- 
cially marked  in  the  case  of  the  no-volt  lamp.  The  use 
of  a  tungsten  anode  eliminates  the  blacking  of  the  tube 
while   in  use. 

The  quartz-tube  mercury-arc  lamp  has  important  advan- 
tages over  the  mercury-vapor  lamps  in  which  the  arc  is 
inclosed  in  a  glass  tube.  The  quartz-tube  lamp  has  about 
double  the  efficiency  of  those  that  have  the  arc  in  a  glass 
tube,  owing  to  the  possibility  of  running  the  arc  at  a  higher 
temperature. 

A  second  important  advantage  results  directly  from  the 
possibility  of  energy  concentration,  as  it  is  possible  to  use 
short  tubes  which  will  operate  on  iio-volt  and  220-volt 
direct-current  circuits  and  be  of  such  length  that  they  can 
be  placed  inside  a  glass  lamp  globe.  The  shortness  of  the 
arc,  and  hence  the  small  movement  necessary  to  bring  the 
two  electrodes  into  contact  by  slight  tilting,  makes  possible 
for  this  lamp  the  very  simple  mechanism  shown  in  the  illus- 
trations. 

This  lamp  takes  85  volts  across  its  terminals  on  a  no-volt 
circuit  and  consumes  4  amp.  Its'  candle-power  is  700  with 
a  consumption  of  about  440  watts.  Other  units  with  cur- 
rents down  to  1.5  amp  can  be  built. 

The  specific  consumption  of  the  no-volt  lamp  across  the 
terminals  of  the  tube  is  0.4  watt  per  spherical  candle-power, 
while,  when  taking  into  .consideration  the  loss  in  the  re- 
sistor, reflector  and  globe,  the  consumption  is  about  0.6  watt 
per  spherical  candle-power.  This  is  superior  to  the  per- 
formance of  the  French  and  German  lamps  for  no-volt 
circuits  and  about  the  same  as  that  of  their  220-vcit  lamps; 
the  field  for  the  no-volt  lamp  is  much  larger  than  that  for 
the  220-voIt  lamp. 


374 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o.  Xo.  -. 


In  addition  to  the  lamp  with  a  shunt  solenoid  mechanism, 
a  lamp  with  series  solenoid  mechanism  is  also  being  de- 
veloped. Dr.  E.  VVeintraub,  who  is  developing  this  lamp 
in  the  General  Electric  Company's  research  laboratory  at 
West  Lynn,  Mass.,  has  also  developed  a  vertical  lamp  of 
this  type.  This  is  said  to  be  an  entirely  new  departure  in 
the  design  of  quartz-tube  mercury-vapor  arc  lamps. 


HANDY  TOGGLE  BOLT. 


A  toggle  bolt  designed  especially  for  the  purpose  of 
fastening  electrical  conduit  to  plaster  walls,  ceilings,  tiling 
or  any  other  form  of  hollow  partition  has  been  developed 


liiir 

Fig,    1 — Toggle    Bolt    Being    Inserted. 

by  the  Chicago  Nut  Company,  Chicago.  It  is  marketed 
under  the  trade  name  "Ajax  toggle  bolt"  and  is  charac- 
terized by  several  features  designed  to  make  conduit  in- 
stallation speedy  and  economical. 
As  shown  by  Fig.  i,  the  toggle  bolt 
may  be  inserted  through  a  small 
round  hole  in  a  partition  in  the 
usual  manner.  The  pivoted  nut  in 
the  head-piece  receives  the  threaded 
shank  and  allows  the  bolt  to  be 
tightened  quickly  with  a  screw- 
driver. In  this  way  the  surplus 
shank  is  left  within  the  wall  instead 
of  protruding,  and  the  time  required 
to  cut  it  off  is  thus  saved. 

The  conduit  hanger  which  is  at- 
tached to  the  bolt  is  readily  adjusted 
and  tightened  by  means  of  the  small  bolt  shown  in  the 
illustration.  This  company  also  manufactures  a  wide 
variety  of  toggle  bolts  for  other  purposes. 


Fig.  2 — Clamp   Held   by 
Toggle    Bolt. 


ELECTRIC  FLASHING  SIGNS  ON  DELIVERY 
WAGONS. 


A  late  development  in  the  use  of  automobile  delivery 
wagons  brings  into  use  not  only  electric  signs  but  signs 
showing  various  colors  and  combinations  by  the  use  of  a 
flasher  especially  designed'  for  this  service  by  the  Reynolds 
Electric  Flasher  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Chicago. 
The  spectacle  of  a  moving  vehicle  made  conspicuous  after 
dusk  by  an  electric  sign  flashing  different  colors  in  succes- 
sion, say,  red,  white  and  green,  has  a  unique  advertising 
value.  Or  the  flasher  may  be  made  to  give  changeable 
effects  in  almost  any  variety,  as  spelling  out  the  sign  letter 
by  letter,  intermittently  appearing  trademarks,  "chasing" 
borders,  flaming  torches,  etc.  The  flasher  is  compact  and 
strongly  built  and  occupies  a  space  of  8  in.  by  8  in.  by  6  in. 
under  the  driver's  seat. 

The  vehicle  shown   in  the   illustration   is   a   gasoline  de- 


livery wagon.  Electricity  is  supplied  by  a  generator  driven 
by  the  engine  and  operates  the  lamps  in  the  sign,  the  motor 
of  the  flasher  as  well  as  the  other  lamps  used  about  the 
vehicle,  an  electric  starting  device  and  the  engine  ignition. 
The  surplus  energy  is  used  to  charge  a  storage  battery, 
which  supplies  electricity  when  the  engine  is  not  running. 


Delivery    Wagon    with    Electric   Sign    and    Flasher. 

It   is  said  that   a   number   of   flashers   to  be   used  on   auto- 
mobiles have  been  built  by  the  Reynolds  company. 


CHART  FOR  DETERMINING  SAGS  AND  STRESSES 
IN  ALUMINUM  SPANS. 


The  British  Aluminum  Company,  Limited,  109  Queen 
Victoria  Street,  London,  has  developed  a  universal  chart 
for  determining  the  stresses  and  deflections  in  aluminum 
spans  which  is  both  simple  and  useful.  The  manufacturer 
states  that  the  curves  given  in  the  chart  are  based  upon 
the  laws  of  the  elastic  catenary,  assuming  further  that 
aluminum  has  a  modulus  of  elasticity  equal  to  9,000,000  lb. 
per  square  inch,  a  coefficient  of  linear  expansion  of 
0.0000130  per  I  deg.  Fahr.  and  a  weight  of  1.175  lb.  for 
a  bar  i  ft.  long  and  i  sq.  in.  cross-section.  The  use  of 
the  chart,  shown  in  the  accompanying  fig^ire,  may  be  ex- 
plained by  means  of  the  following  concrete  examples: 

Assuming  constant  temperature,  the  intercept  of  the  ordi- 
nate  corresponding    to    a    given    length    of    span    with    the 

VALUES    OF    (7.    FOR    .\LUMINUM    CONDUCTORS. 


Wind 

Pressure 

in  Pounds 

per 

Square 

Foot      i 


Cross-Sectiox  of  Conductor  in  Square  Inchrs. 


10  1.98 

20  3.. 'is 

30  S.21 


0.2 

0.4 

0.6 

0.8 

1.0 

1.2 

1  .4 

i..';i 

1.32 

1.22 

1.17 

I  ,14 

1.12 

1.10 

2.61 

1.99 

1.72 

1.57 

1.48 

1.41 

1.36 

3.48 

2.77 

2.33 

2.08 

1.92 

1.79 

1.71 

1.09 
1.32 
1.64 


curve  of  desired  stress  (pounds  per  square  inch)  lies  also 
on  the  curve  of  corresponding  sag  or  deflection.  For  ex- 
ample, taking  a  span  of  700  ft.  and  a  unit  stress  of  10,000 
lb.  per  square  inch  the  intercept  lies  on  the  curve  which 
corresponds  to  a  sag  of  7.2  ft.  Temperature  effects  are 
easily  cared  for,  bv  increasing  the  vertical  ordinate,  in  case 
of  a  rise  of  temperature,  one  division  for  each  10  deg. 
Fahr.  If  a  rise  of  70  deg.  Fahr.  is  assumed  in  the  last 
example,  the  sag  becomes  1 1.8  ft.  and  the  tension  6100  lb. 
per  square  inch. 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


375 


\\'ind  pressures  are  taken  into  account  by  means  of  a 
factor  q,  which  is  the  ratio  of  the  total  load  per  linear  foot 
to  the  weight  of  conductor  per  foot.  If  p  is  the  effective 
wind  load  per  linear  foot  and  w  is  the  weight  per  foot, 


J 


\/iv'  +  f' 


is  first  to  find  the  value  of  q  from  the  table,  which  is  2.33, 
and  then  multiply  this  factor  by  the  span  length,  which 
gives  700X2.33  =  1631.  Next  take  this  product,  1631,  as 
the  new  span  length  and  proceed  as  before.  The  new  sag 
is  found  to  be  39  ft.,  but  this  value  must  be  divided  by  the 
factor  2.33,  which  gives  16.7  ft.  as  the  correct  deflection 
under  the  assumed  conditions  of  wind  loading,  with  a  unit 


The  manufacturer  employs  a  reduction   factor  of  0.6  in       stress  of  10.000  lb.  per  square  inch 


Deflection  in  Feet 
40  45 


100 


300         400 


BOO 


600  700 


1400        1500 
Chart   for    Determining    Sags    and    Stresses   in    Aluminum    Spans. 


800         900        1000        1100        1200        1300 
Equivalent  Span  in  Feet 


1600 


1700   1800   1900   2000 

£UeirUtil   nortd 


computing  the  wind  pressure  on  a  cylindrical  surface  from 
a  known  or  assumed  pressure  on  a  normal  flat  surface  of 
the  same  projected  area.  Employing  the  formula  just 
given  and  the  reduction  factor  of  o.6,  the  values  of  q  have 
been  computed,  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  table. 

Taking  again  the  example  first  given  and  assuming  a 
normal  wind  pressure  of  30  lb.  per  square  foot  on  a  con- 
ductor having  a  cross-section  of  0.6  sq.  in.,  the  procedure 


The  deBection  which  the  span  in  the  last  example  wdl 
assume  in  still  air  can  be  found  by  following  the  horizontal 
line  through  the  point  just  determined  until  it  intercepts  the 
ordinate  corresponding  to  the  true  span  of  700  ft.,  which 
gives  a  sag  of  13.6  ft  and  a  .stress  of  5300  lb.  per  square 
inch  Charts  similar  to  this  one  for  aluminum  can  be  con- 
structed from  the  theorv  of  the  elastic  catenary  for  any 
other  conductor  material,  such  as  copper,  steel  or  bronze. 


376 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  7. 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


EARNINGS  of  public  utilities,  excepting  those  of  a  few 
companies  scattered  here  and  there,  are  showing  ap- 
preciable gains,  and  the  requirements  of  new  business, 
both  prospective  and  contracted  for,  are  necessitating  en- 
largement and  construction  of  a  number  of  generating  sta- 
tions. Plans  are  being  made  by  the  Minneapolis  General 
Electric  Company  for  developing  about  35, 000  hp  on  the 
St.  Croix  River.  Both  the  Western  Electric  and  AUis- 
Chalmers  companies  report  gains  in  their  business.  A  large 
liydroelectric  development  is  to  be  made  by  the  Southern 
Aluminum  Company  in  North  Carolina.  Several  of  the 
larger  companies  are  about  to  finance  extensions  to  their 
systems.  Owing  to  the  comparative  quietness  in  the  build- 
ing trade,  electrical  contractors  are  finding  a  large  part  of 
their  business  coming  from  extensions  to  existing  installa- 
tions. The  price  of  copper  has  advanced  slightly,  but  de- 
mand is  only  fair.  General  business  continues  to  expand 
uniformly,  with  improvement  in  the  crops  the  controlling 
feature  of  the  situation.  Money  rates  show  little  change. 
Rates  in  New  York  Aug.  14  were:  Call,  2^  per  cent; 
ninety  days,  4  per  cent. 


Byllesby  Company  Assumes  Control  of  Minneapolis  Gen- 
eral Electric  Property. — Active  management  of  the  Minne- 
apolis General  Electric  Company,  which  was  purchased 
from  Stone  &  Webster  in  May,  as  noted  in  these  columns 
May  II  and  June  i,  was  assumed  on  Aug.  I  by  H.  M.  Byl- 
lesby &  Company.  General  George  H.  Harries,  president 
of  the  Louisville  Gas  Company,  vice-president  of  the  Con- 
sumers' Power  Company  and  vice-president  of  the  Minne- 
apolis General  Electric  Company,  has  been  assigned  gen- 
eral supervision  over  the  property.  Samuel  Kahn  took 
charge  as  acting  manager  to  serve  temporarily  until  a 
permanent  manager  is  appointed.  Arthur  S.  Huey,  vice- 
president  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  who  per- 
sonally superintended  the  transfer  of  the  property,  an- 
nounced that  the  company  would  proceed  to  develop  35,- 
000  hp  on  the  St.  Croix  River  above  its  present  20,000-hp 
development  at  Taylor's  Falls,  which  is  to  be  increased  by 
5000  hp.  He  also  stated  that  the  company  contemplates 
further  hydroelectric  development  on  the  Mississippi  River 
amounting  to  approximately  80,000  hp,  completion  of  which 
will  give  a  total  of  nearly  160,000  hp,  including  several 
smaller  developments,  available  for  use  in  Minneapolis, 
St.  Paul  and  the  neighboring  territory.  The  properties  at 
Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  will  be  connected  by  transmis- 
sion lines,  and  the  plants  of  the  Consumers'  Power  Com- 
pany at  Cannon  Falls  and  Mankato  will  also  be  joined  by  a 
transmission  line  running  south  from  St.  Paul.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1912,  the  Minneapolis  General  Electric  Company  had 
16,245  customers  and  a  connected  load  of  62,245  hp. 

To  Improve  Adirondack  Electric  Power  Corporation's 
System. — Numerous  conferences  have  been  held  recently 
between  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  Second 
New  York  District  and  its  engineers  and  Stone  &  Webster, 
who  are  managers  of  the  Adirondack  Electric  Power  Cor- 
poration, in  order  to  determine  a  basis  upon  which  the 
properties  of  the  corporation  may  be  placed  in  first-class 
condition  and  interruption  to  service  obviated.  Financial 
and  legal  difficulties  which  have  taken  some  time  to  adjust 
have  delayed  the  completion  of  plans  as  rapidly  as  ex- 
pected. The  corporation  has  already  spent  $75,000  and 
plans  to  spend  nearly  $500,000  more.  As  noted  in  these 
columns  April  27,  1912,  the  corporation  was  organized 
under  the  laws  of  New  York  on  Dec.  27,  1911,  and  has 
taken  over  the  properties  of  the  Hudson  River  Water 
Power   Companies   and   its   seven   affiliated   companies. 

Will  Build  Electric  Vehicles. — The  Storage  Battery  Power 
Company,  502  Humboldt  Savings  Bank  Building,  San  Fran- 
cisco, Cal.,  has  been  organized  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,- 
000  to  build  Electra  storage-battery  automobiles  for  the 
territory  west  of  the  States  of  Minnesota,  Iowa,  Missouri, 
Arkansas  and  Louisiana,  under  license  issued  by  the  Elec- 
tric  Storage   Battery   Power   Company,   of   Chicago.     Alex- 


ander Ots,  of  San  Francisco,  becomes  general  manager  of 
the  California  company,  for  which  J.  E.  Haschke,  Chicago, 
inventor  of  the  car,  will  act  as  chief  engineer.  It  is  the 
intention  of  the  Western  corporation  to  erect  its  own  fac- 
tory where  two  types  of  700-lb.  runabouts,  a  light  limousine 
and  a  commercial  car  for  delivery  purposes,  will  be   built. 

Plan  New  Corporation  to  Operate  Hamilton  (Ohio)  Gas 
&  Electric  Company. — Plans  are  being  made  to  organize 
a  new  corporation  to  take  over  the  properties  of  the  Ham- 
ilton Gas  &  Electric  Company  and  the  Hamilton  Otto 
Coke  Company,  of  Hamilton,  Ohio,  which  have  been  in 
the  hands  of  receivers  for  some  time  and  were  recently 
purchased  by  a  committee  acting  for  the  bondholders.  W. 
E.  Hutton,  of  W.  E.  Hutton  &  Company,  bankers,  of  New 
York,  is  chairman  of  the  committee  now  in  charge  of  the 
properties.  A  meeting  of  the  bondholders  will  be  called 
shortly  by  the  committee,  with  a  view  to  making  plans 
for  the   organization   of  a  new   company. 

Southern  Aluminum  Company  Awards  Power-Plant  Con- 
tracts.— The  Southern  Aluminum  Company,  which,  as  noted 
in  the  Electrical  World,  June  22,  1912,  was  recently  organ- 
ized with  the  support  of  the  Banque  Franco-Americaine, 
of  Paris,  and  the  Bank  Leu  &  Company,  of  Zurich,  to  man- 
ufacture aluminum  near  Whitney,  N.  C,  has  awarded  con- 
tracts for  the  construction  of  a  large  power  station  on  the 
Yadkin  River,  near  Whitney,  prior  to  the  establishment  of 
its  aluminum  works  at  that  place.  Contracts  aggregating 
$600,000  have  been  let  for  the  completion  of  a  4-mile  canal 
and  a  dam.  It  is  understood  that  tlie  development  of  nearly 
50,000  hp  will  be  made  ultimately  by  the  company. 

American    Gas    &    Electric    Increases    Ohio    Holdings. — 

The  properties  of  the  Lancaster  (Ohio)  Electric  Light 
Company  and  those  of  the  Mount  Vernon  (Ohio)  Electric 
Company  have  been  purchased  by  the  American  Gas  & 
Electric  Company.  The  latter  already  controls  public- 
utility  properties  at  Canton,  Newark,  Tiffin  and  Fremont, 
Ohio.  Each  of  the  newly  acquired  companies  serves  a 
population  of  about  15,000.  The  Mount  Vernon  station 
has  been  built  but  a  short  time.  In  addition  to  supplying 
energy  for  lighting  and  motor  service  the  Mount  Vernon 
company  leases  the  local  car  line  and  also  an  interurban 
line  operating  near  Mount  Vernon. 

New  York  State  Telephone  Merger  Opposed. — The  Pub- 
lic Service  Commission  for  the  Second  New  York  District 
has  denied  an  application  to  consolidate  the  independent 
telephone  companies  in  northern  New  York  State  with 
the  Bell  company.  The  commission  states  that,  while  the 
general  purposes  of  the  consolidation  meet  with  its  approval, 
the  evidence  showed  that  an  increase  in  rates  was  con- 
templated after  consolidation  and  that  the  application  is 
denied  for  that  reason. 

Plan  Hydroelectric  Development  in  Utah. — Plans  of  the 
Provo  &  Eastern  Utah  Railroad,  which  was  recently  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  of  $10,000,000  for  extensive  rail- 
road developments  in  Utah,  include  the  building  of  a  dam 
on  the  Green  River  at  Split  Mountain,  northeast  of  Jensen, 
for  supplying  water  for  the  irrigation  of  several  hundred 
thousand  acres  of  land,  and  the  erection  of  a  large  hydro- 
electric station  to  furnish  energy  in  eastern  Utah. 

Chicago  Sanitary  District  Equipment. — The  contract  for 
furnishing  and  installing  the  electrical  equipment  of  the 
Thirty-ninth  Street  substation  of  the  Sanitary  District  of 
Chicago  was  awarded  to  the  W.  A.  Jackson  Company  of 
that  city  for  $12,500.  This  substation  is  a  part  of  the  new 
street-lighting  equipment  provided  by  the  Sanitary  District 
for  the  city  of  Chicago. 

British  Columbia  Electric  Railway  Company,  Ltd.,  to 
Build. — A  contract  for  construction  of  a  dam  115  ft.  high 
by  765  ft.  long  on  the  Jordan  River,  about  40  miles  from 
\'ictoria,  B.  C,  has  been  awarded  by  the  British  Columbia 
Electric  Railway  Company,  Ltd.,  of  Vancouver,  B.  C.  to 
the  Ambursen  Hydraulic  Construction  Compainy,  of 
Boston. 


August  17,  1912, 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


377 


Electric  Bond  &  Share  Negotiating  for  Utah  Properties. 

— While  no  definite  statement  will  be  made  by  the  Electric 
Bond  &  Share  Company  concerning  reports  that  it  is 
behind  the  negotiations  now  in  progress  for  purchasing 
control  of  several  public-utility  properties  in  Utah,  the 
presence  of  one  of  its  officers,  F.  L.  Dame,  in  that  State 
strengthens  the  belief  that  the  company  is  actively  inter- 
ested in  the  transactions.  These  are  being  made,  it  is 
understood,  with  a  view  to  consolidating  the  Knight  Power 
Company,  the  Davis  &  Weber  Counties  Canal  Company, 
which  operates  several  generating  stations,  the  Salt  Lake 
&  Ogden  Railway  Company  and  the  Merchants'  Light  & 
Power  Company,  of  Ogden,  as  was  mentioned  in  these 
columns  July  27.  All  of  the  stock  of  the  last-named  com- 
pany has  been  deposited  under  an  agreement  of  sale  to  the 
Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company,  according  to  an  an- 
nouncement by  Simon  Bamberger,  the  principal  owner  of 
the  company.  Stockholders  of  the  Knight  Power  Com- 
pany recently  authorized  sale  of  all  of  the  company's  hold- 
ings at  $1.40  a  share.  The  company  has  $1,200,000  in  cap- 
ital stock  outstanding.  It  is  stated  that  $50,000  was  paid 
by  Mr.  Dame  in  July,  and  that  the  balance,  $1,630,000,  is 
to  be  paid  on  Oct.  15.  As  noted  in  these  columns  Aug.  3, 
the  Telluride  Power  Company  was  sold  recently,  and  while 
no  statement  will  be  made,  it  is  understood  that  it  was 
purchased  in  the  interest  of  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share 
Company.  Stockholders  of  the  Davis  &  Weber  Counties 
Canal  Company  held  a  meeting  recently  to  vote  upon  sell- 
ing their  power  properties  but  not  their  irrigation  proper- 
ties to  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company. 

John  D.  Ryan  on  the  World's  Copper  Market. — New 
York  newspapers  quoted  Jolin  D.  Ryan  this  week  as  mak- 
ing the  following  comments  upon  copper-market  condi- 
tions throughout  the  world,  upon  his  return  from  Europe 
on  Aug.  10.  "Copper  consumption,"  said  Mr.  Ryan,  accord- 
ing to  these  accounts,  "is  outstripping  production.  The 
copper  business  is  at  its  height  abroad.  I  went  through 
France,  Germany,  Austria,  Italy  and  England  and  I  found 
the  uses  of  copper  metal  on  the  increase  everywhere,  with 
the  demand  growing  proportionately.  While  the  indus- 
trial condition  in  France,  England  and  other  countries  is 
excellent,  Germany  is  making  the  most  tremendous  strides 
and  outstripping  the  world  in  manufactures  of  all  kinds. 
These  German  products  are  being  sent  broadcast  over  the 
world.  As  I  said,  I  would  like  to  see  a  greater  increase  in 
copper  stocks.  I  hope  that  the  refinery  showing  from  now 
on  will  be  above  130,000.000  lb.  a  month.  I  found  the  crops 
in  Europe  to  be  in  splendid  shape  with  a  most  gratify- 
ing outlook  in  every  direction."  He  added  that  the  in- 
crease last  month  in  copper  stocks  (shown  in  the  July 
statement  of  the  Copper  Producers'  Association,  on  page 
379)  was  entirely  inadequate,  and  that  he  would  like  to  see 
a  much  larger  accumulation  of  surplus  copper. 

Middle  West  Utilities  Company  Seeking  Kentucky  Prop- 
erties.— Negotiations  looking  toward  purchase  by  the  Mid- 
dle West  Utilities  Company,  of  Chicago,  of  controlling  in- 
terest in  the  Shelbyville  (Ky.)  Water  &  Light  Company 
are  now  in  progress.  Efiforts  are  being  made  by  the  Chi- 
cago interests,  through  Bernard  Flexner,  an  attor- 
ney of  Louisville,  to  purchase  stock  of  the  Ken- 
tucky company  now  held  by  a  syndicate  in  Shelbyville 
composed  of  the  principal  stockholders.  The  Shelbyville 
company  was  organized  in  1894,  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$26,000  and  a  bonded  indebtedness  of  $50,000.  It  has  a 
plant  valued  approximately  at  $80,000.  The  Chicago  in- 
terests acquired  control  of  the  public  utilities  at  Somerset 
and  Versailles,  Ky.,  within  the  past  three  months.  The 
city  of  Midway,  Ky.,  has  been  approached  by  the  Middle 
West  Utilities  Company  with  a  view  toward  purchase  of 
the  municipal  electric-lighting  plant  operated  in  that  place. 
An  offer  to  light  Midway  at  a  cost  of  $1,000  per  annum  and 
to  handle  commercial  business  at  rates  authorized  by  the 
municipality,  besides  a  reasonable  purchase  price,  has  been 
made,  but  the  General  Council  has  decided  simply  to  take 
the  matter  under  advisement  and  there  is  no  prospect  for 
immediate  action. 

Western  Electric's  July  Business  Showed  Gain. — Business 
of  the  Western  Electric  Company  for  July  was  3  per  cent 
greater  than  that  in  July,  1911.  For  the  seven  months 
ended  July  31,  business  was  at  the  rate  of  more  than  $67,- 


000,000  for  the  year,  which  was  the  estimate  made  for 
1912  at  the  beginning  of  the  year.  In  the  lighting  and  gen- 
eral supply  products,  last  month's  business  was  the  largest 
for  July  in  the  history  of  the  company.  Prices  were  some- 
what higher,  and  the  volume  of  orders  was  larger.  Orders 
on  hand  at  the  first  of  August  were  approximately  $1,500,000 
greater  than  orders  on  hand  the  first  of  the  year.  While 
demand  has  been  good  from  all  over  the  country,  the  re- 
sponse has  been  slower  from  the  West  and  Pacific  Coast 
than  in  other  portions.  Foreign  business  of  the  country  is 
good,  and  shows  even  a  better  increase  than  in  the  domes- 
tic field.  Plans  have  been  made  for  some  new  buildings  to 
be  erected  at  Hawthorne,  111.,  which  will  cost  approxi- 
mately $750,000.  These  will  take  care  of  increases  in  the 
company's   business   in   the   future. 

Swiss  Aluminum  Industry. — Consul-General  Robert  E. 
Mansfield,  reporting  from  Zurich  on  Swiss  commerce  and 
industries,  says  that  while  the  manufacture  of  aluminum 
is  one  of  the  comparatively  new  industries  in  Switzerland, 
it  has  made  rapid  progress  in  recent  years.  Aluminum 
kitchen  utensils  have  practically  replaced  tin  and  enameled 
ware,  and  aluminum  electrical  apparatus  and  appliances,  ad- 
vertising novelties  and  souvenirs  are  manufactured  exten- 
sively. There  are  nine  aluminum  factories  in  the  Swiss  con- 
federation, the  largest  being  the  Schweizerische  Aluminum 
Industrie  A.  G.,  of  Neuhausen,  the  total  output  of  which 
in  iQio  was  8000  tons.  There  are  other  important  factories 
at  Olten,  Basel  and  Binningen.  Aluminum  exported  from 
Switzerland  in  191 1  was  valued  at  $1,303,143,  a  gain  of  $52,- 
389  over  the  total  in  the  preceding  year.  Of  this,  $72,389 
went  to  the  United  States. 

Orders  Sale  of  Chicago  &  Milwaukee  Electric  Railroad. — 
On  Aug.  8  Judge  Geiger  entered  an  order  in  the  federal 
court  in  Milwaukee  directing  the  sale  of  the  Chicago  &  Mil- 
waukee Electric  Railroad  Company  and  the  foreclosure  of 
a  $10,000,000  mortgage.  The  company,  whose  general  office 
is  at  Highwood,  111.,  has  been  in  financial  difficulties  for 
some  time  and  is  in  the  hands  of  a  receiver.  It  is  said  that 
after  the  sale  the  company  will  be  reorganized.  An  inter- 
urban  electric  railway  near  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan 
and  connecting  nearly  all  the  cities  between  Chicago  and 
Milwaukee  is  operated.  Electrical  energy  is  purchased  from 
the  Public  Service  Company  of  Northern  Illinois. 

Cumberland  County  Power  &  Light  Company  (Maine) 
Sells  Bonds. — A  $1,700,000  block  of  its  first  and  refunding 
5  per  cent  thirty-year  bonds,  dated  Aug.  i,  1912,  has  been 
sold  by  the  Cumberland  County  Power  &  Light  Company, 
of  Portland,  Maine.  The  proceeds  will  be  applied  for  pay- 
ment for  its  8ooo-kw  station  on  the  Saco  River,  about  25 
miles  from  Portland,  and  for  other  extensions  that  have 
been  made  to  the  property.  Details  of  the  company's 
financial  affairs  and  its  properties  appeared  in  these  col- 
umns April  6,  1912.  A.  B.  Leach  &  Company,  of  New 
York,  were  the  purchasers  of  the  bonds. 

New  York  State  Companies  Merged. — The  Public  Service 
Commission  for  the  Second  New  York  District  has  author- 
ized the  Catskill  Illuminating  &  Power  Company,  of  Cats- 
kill,  the  Schoharie  Light  &  Power  Company  and  the  Up- 
per Hudson  Electric  Light  &  Railroad  Company,  of  New- 
burgh,  to  consolidate.  The  new  corporation  is  to  be 
known  as  the  Upper  Hudson  Electric  &  Railroad  Com- 
pany and  will  have  an  authorized  capital  of  $150,000.  The 
Schoharie  company  is  authorized  to  purchase  the  property 
of  the  Cairo  Electric  &  Power  Company  before  the  con- 
solidation is  accomplished. 

Automatic  Telephone  Company  (Tex.)  Plans  Stock  In- 
crease.— The  Dallas  (Tex.)  Automatic  Telephone  Company 
has  filed  with  the  city  commission  a  petition  for  approval 
of  a  charter  amendment  allowing  it  to  increase  its  capital 
stock  by  $200,000.  The  funds  will  be  used  in  paying  for 
construction  completed  and  planned,  which  exceeded  esti- 
mates by  nearly  50  per  cent.  The  company  will  also  issue 
$250,000  in   bonds. 

Shawinigan  (Que.)  Water  &  Power  Company  to  In- 
crease Capital  Stock. — Shareholders  of  the  Shawinigan 
Water  &  Power  Company  will  be  asked  at  a  meeting 
called  for  Sept.  3  to  authorize  an  issue  of  $5,000,000  addi- 
tional capital.  The  authorized  capital  stock  of  the  com- 
pany is  $20,000,000,   of  which  $10,000,000  remains   unissued. 


378 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol..  60,  Xo.  7. 


Otis  Elevator  Business  Shows  Increase. — During  the 
first  six  months  of  the  present  year  business  of  the  Otis 
Elevator  Company  increased  about  7  per  cent  over  that  in 
the  corresponding  period  in  1911.  According  to  W.  D. 
Baldwin,  the  president,  a  steady  increase  in  demand  con- 
tinues all  over  the  world.  The  largest  increase  at  present  is 
shown  in  Canada.  European  business  and  South  Ameri- 
can business  are  also  on  a  growing  scale.  The  company 
has  recently  completed  additions  to  its  plant  in  Germany 
in  order  to  meet  the  increasing  demand  upon  it.  Earnings 
of  the  company  have  shown  an  increase  every  year  for 
the  past  five  years,  with  the  e-xception  of  191 1,  when  a 
decrease  of  about  6  per  cent  in  net  earnings  compared  with 
those  in  1910  took  place.  Dividends  at  the  rate  of  4  per 
cent  on  the  common  stock  and  6  per  cent  on  the  preferred 
are   now   being  paid  by   the   company. 

AUis-Chalmers  Earned  Surplus  of  Over  $20,000  in  June. — 
For  the  first  time  in  many  months  the  AUis-Chalmers  Com- 
pany earned  a  surplus  in  June  over  expenses  and  depre- 
ciation. After  depreciation  of  about  $34,000  there  was  left 
a  surplus  for  the  month  of  between  $20,000  and  $25,000. 
Some  falling  of?  took  place  in  the  early  part  of  July,  but 
toward  the  end  of  the  month  business  picked  up  again, 
and  thus  far  in  the  month  of  August  further  improvement 
has  been  made.  The  showing  is  regarded  in  financial  cir- 
cles as  exceptionally  creditable,  in  view-  of  the  fact  that  the 
company  is  still  in  the  hands  of  a  receiver.  Owing  to 
suits  brought  by  stockholders  and  others  to  stay  the  fore- 
closure proceedings,  it  will  be  some  time  before  the  re- 
ceivership is  terminated. 

American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  President  on  "Big 
Business." — Theodore  N.  Vail,  president  of  the  American 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  in  an  interview  in  the 
New  York  World  of  Aug.  11. .says  that  no  government  can 
run  business  and  that  no  business  can  run  government; 
that  business  should  have  a  pretty  free  hand  but  should  be 
made  and  held  responsible.  He  states  that  there  are  laws 
enough,  but  that  there  should  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  mean- 
ing of  a  law.  Uncertainty,  he  thinks,  is  what  kills  busi- 
ness. Mr.  Vail  is  in  favor  of  allowing  corporations  to 
capitalize  their  good-will,  holding  that  this  is  earning  ca- 
pacitj-  capitalized.  He  says  that  all  public  utilities  can 
hope  for  is  to  be  allowed  to  earn  a  fair  return  on  their 
capital. 

New  Western  Union  Building  in  New  York. — Plans 
have  been  filed  in  New  York  for  a  new  twenty-eight-story 
building  for  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  to 
be  built  upon  the  site  of  its  present  structure  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  Broadway  and  Dey  Street  and  extending 
through  to  Fulton  Street.  Twenty-one  elevators  will  be 
installed   in  the  new  building. 


REPORTS  OF  EARNINGS. 


B.\NGOR   (ME.)    R.'MLW.W  &  ELECTRIC  COMP.XXV. 

Surplus 

Gross.  Net-          Over  Charges. 

lune     1912    $61,590  $33,257                  $16,699 

Tune,    1911    49,580  24,243                     11,771 

'12   months,    Tune,    1912 655.622  360.451                    17S,9S5 

12   months,   June.    1911 574,980  304,680                   158,163 

BATON   ROUGE    (L.\.)    ELECTRIC   COMP.\XV. 

Tune,    1912    $12,420  $4,002                     $2,268 

Tune,    1911     9.870  3,034                       1,306 

'12  months.    Tune,    1912 134.811  53,260                     32,501 

12   months,  )une,    1911 114,267  40,574                     19,896 

BLACKSTONE  VALLEY    (R.   I.)    GAS  &  ELECTRIC   COMPANY. 

lune,  1912     $94,053  $28,67/                   $19,804 

Tune,    1911    85.282  22,393                     13,900 

'12   months.    Tune,    1912 1,162,689  345,787                   240,248 

12   months,   June,    1911 1,088,882  293,285                   191,650 

CAPE  BRETON  CN.  S.)  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  LTD. 

Tune,    1912    $29,448  $12,636                   $6,954 

Tune,    1911    27.427  11.888                       6,244 

12   months,    Tune,    1912 346,438  154,993                     87,063 

12   months,  June,    1911 330,596  154,389                     86,549 

CHATTANOOGA   (TENN.)   RAILWAY  &  LIGHT  COMPANY. 

lune,    1912    $89,470  $34,578                   $12,432 

Tunc,    1911    77,910  32,616                     12,186 

6  months.   Tune,    1912 498,558  203.044                     73,684 

6   months,   June,    1911 443,955  188.932                     71.336 


COLUMBUS    (GA.)    ELECTRIC  COMPANY. 

June,    1912    $45,531  $22,585  $9,639 

Tune,    1911    39,534  19,424  10,147 

'12   months,   June,    1912 516,440  252.773  105,9<i7 

12    months,   June,    1911 465,594  244,337  119,121 

COMMONWEALTH   POWER   RAILWAY  &  LIGHT  COMPANY 
(MICH.). 

lune,     1912     $483,418  $188,130  $60,473 

June,    1911    432,614  178,013  69,881 

6   months.    Tune,    1912 2,976,329  1.240,703  524,943 

6   months,   June,    1911 2,629,084  1,124,896  505,336 

DALLAS    (TEX.)   ELECTRIC   CORPORATION. 

June,    1912    $142,342  $54,735  $30,069 

Tune,    1911    122,110  29,918  8,861 

12   months,   June,   1912 1,709,020  603,602  343,750 

12   months,   June,    1911 1,551,790  306,891  256,905 

EDISON    ELECTRIC    ILLUMIN.\TING    COMPANY    OF    BROCKTON 
(MASS.). 

Tune,    1912    $29,014  $10,780  $8,840 

Tune,    1911    26,134  7,449  5,674 

12   months,   June,    1912 371,937  133,834  110,829 

12   months,   June,    1911 333,505  114,071  92,951 

EL  PASO    (TEX.)    ELECTRIC  COMPANY. 

Tune,    1912    $60,175  $27,316  $20,851 

Tune     1911    32,470  19,186  12,510 

12   months.    Tune,    1912 730.169  321,780  239,655 

12   months,   June,    1911 665,454  261,141  180,994 

GALVESTON-HOUSTON    (TEX.)    ELECTRIC    COMPANY. 

Tune,    1912    $171,085  $76,592  $42,732 

"Tune,    1911    134,934  51,337  32,323 

"12   months.    Tune,    1912 1,733,952  674,329  356,229 

12   months,  June,    1911 1,416,149  527,732  283,756 

HOUGHTON   COUNTY   (MICH.)    ELECTRIC  LIGHT  COMPANY. 

Tune,    1912    $19,441  $7,087  $3,037 

Tune,    1911    20,066  9,615  5,528 

"l2   months,    lune,    1912 298,296  145,634  93,136 

12   months,   June,    1911 281,504  142,754  91,264 

KANSAS    GAS   &   ELECTRIC  COMPANY. 

July,     1912     $56,929  $18,934  $6,193 

Tuly,    1911     54,914  13,498  5,323 

12    months,    Tuly,    1912 1.012.488  355,259  211,728 

12    months,    July,    1911 970,589  323,092  214,400 

NORTHERN   TEXAS    ELECTRIC   COMPANY. 

lune,    1912    $144,974  $68,671  $47,826 

June     1911     136,061  63,299  42,542 

12   months,   June,    1912 1.643.215  749,186  497,420 

12  months,   June,    1911 1.540,192  689,710  463,379 

PENSACOLA    (1-LA.)    ELECTRIC    COMPANY. 

Tune,    1912    $23,946  $9,939  $3,562 

Tune,    1911     24,742  9,635  4,659 

"12   months.    Tune,    1912 286,030  105,827  36,191 

12   months,   June,    1911 284,163  109,143  52,179 

PORTLAND    (ORE.)    RAILVV.\Y,   LIGHT  &  POWER  COMPANY. 

Tune,  1912  $382,964  $305,282  $156,242 

Tune,  1911  554,767  292,595  163,440 

6  months.  Tune,  1912 3,252.617  1,605,280  734,104 

6  months,  June.  1911 3,114,812  1,610,676  867,852 

ST.    lOSEPlI    (MO.)    RAILW.^Y,    LIGHT,    HE.\T   &    POWER 
COMPANY. 

Tune,    1912    $93,923  $37,522  $17,812 

June.    1911    95,021  37,913  19,462 

6   months.    Tune.    1912 567,156  239,863  121,856 

6   months,   June.    1911 530,322  208,321  92.847 

S.WANNAH    (GA.)    ELECTRIC   COMPANY. 

Tune,  1912  $65,016  $16,038  $4 

Tune,  1911  59,928  13.317  $11 

12  months.  Tune,  1912 729,425  189.063  1,033 

12  months,  June.  1911 662.047  183,933  1,184 

SOUTHERN    C.\LIFORNI.\   EDISON   COMPANY. 

Year,    Mav,     1912 $4,011,068  $2,009,527  $676,077 

Year,    May.    1911 3,473,455  1.706,942  438,699 

TAMPA    (FLA.)   ELECTRIC  COMPANY. 

Tune,    1912    $61,874  $29,983  $25,619 

"Tune,    1911     56.813  24,121  18,725 

12   months.    Tune,    1912 726,639  338.196  282,590 

12   months.    Tune,    1911 615,365  269.402  211,718 

THE   LOWELL    (MASS.)    ELECTRIC    LIGHT    COUPOR.\TION. 

lune,    1912    $31,762  $11,594  $9,992 

Tune,    1911     29,217  10,301  8,797 

"l2   months,    June.    1912 398.854  141,140  122,648 

12   months,   June,    1911 442.061  153,749  134,994 

UNION  RAILWAY.  GAS  &  ELECTRIC  COMP.^NY  (ILL.). 

Tune,    1912    $272,714  $110,362  $41,260 

"Tune.    1911     237,408  96,080  34,838 

6   months.    Tune,    1912 1,751.319  698,573  289,647 

6   months.  June.    1911 1.518.456  620.490  257,341 


August  17,  1912. 

tJULY  STATEMENT  OF   COPPER 
ASSOCIATION. 

The  July  and  June  statements  of  tlie 
Association  compare  as  follows: 

, July,  Pounds ^ 

Stocks    on    hand    in    the 

United    States    on    first 

of  month    44,335,004 

Production     137,161,129 

181,496,138 

Domestic     deliveries 71,094,381 

Export     deliveries 60,121,331 

131,215,712 

50,280,421 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 
PRODUCERS' 


37y 


Copper   Producers' 
t June,  Pounds -, 


49,615,643 
122,315,240 


66,146,229 
61,449,650 


171,930,883 


127,595,879 
44,335,004 


PRICES  IN  NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET. 


Copper: 
Standard: 

Spot     17.00 

August    1 7.00 


September 

October     

November     

London  quotation: 
Standard    copper,    spot.... 
Standard    copper,    futures. 

Prim^  Lake    

Electrolytic     

Casting    

Copper  wire,   base 

Lead    

Sheet  zinc,   f.o.b.    smelter.  .  . 

Spelter,  spot   

Nickel     

Aluminum : 

No.    1   pure  ingot...- 

Rods  and  wire,  base 

Sheets,    base    


.\ug.   6 . 

Bid.  Asked. 
17.50 
17.50 
17.50 
17.50 


17.20 
17.20 


78 


s     d 
10     0 

78     15     0 

17.55  to  17.65 

17.55  to  17.65 

17.30  to  17.35 

19.00 

4.50 

8.75 

7.05 

40.00  to  41.00 

2\Vi  to  22/. 
32 
33^^ 


Bid. 

17.25 
17.25 
17.25 
17.25 
17.20 
£ 


-Aug.   13- 


Asked. 
17.50 
17.50 
17.50 
17.50 
17.50 
d 
6 
6 


Heavy  copper  and  wire. 

liiass,   heavy    

Brass,  light    

Lead,    heavy    

Zinc,    scrap    


OLD  METALS. 

15.75 

10.00 

8.00 

4.15 

5.75 


COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  AUGUST. 

Total    tons,    including Aug.  6,  3,606 


12 
78  12 
17.60  to  17.70 
17.60  to  17.70 
17.35  to  17.45 
19.00 

4.50 

8.75 

7.00 
40.00  to  41.00 

21 H  to  22/ 
32 
33/ 


15.75 

10.00 

8.00 

4.15 

5.75 


Aug.    13,   7. 788 


STOCK  MARKET  PRICES. 

Aug.  7. 

Allis-Chalmers     Wi' 

AIlis. Chalmers,    pf 4J4* 

.Amalgamated    Copper    83 

Amer.   Tel.    &  Tel 146 

Boston    Edison    297/* 

Commonwealth  Edison    139/ 

Electric   Storage    Battery 56 

General    Electric     182 

Mackay   Companies    90:K 

Mackav    Companies,   pf 69* 

Philadelphia    Electric    23M 

Western    Union     81/ 

Westinghouse    84J4 

Westinghouse,     pf 125* 

'Last   price   quoted. 


Aug.  14. 
1/* 
5J»' 

8518 
146'r 
291* 
138/ 

57/ 
183/ 

89 

69/* 

23/ 

83/ 

88 
126 


Personal 


Mr.  E.  V.  Howe,  formerly  superintendent  of  the  Arling- 
ton (Mass.)  Gas  Light  Company,  has  recently  become  asso- 
ciated with  the  engineering  staff  of  the  Light,  Heat  & 
Power  Corporation  of  Boston. 

Mr.  Robert  McA.  Lloyd,  long  associated  with  the  elec- 
tric-vehicle industry,  has  resigned  as  vice-president  of  the 
General  \ehicle  Company  and  is  now  with  the  Interna- 
tional Motor  Company  as  assistant  to  the  president. 

Sir  William  Ramsay  has  expressed  his  intention  to  visit 
America  during  September  in  connection  with  the  Inter- 
national Congress  of  Applied  Chemistry,  which  will  convene 
at  Washington  and  New  York  from  Sept.  4  to  13. 

Mr.  Richard  A.  Brooks,  formerly  secretary  of  the  Bristol 
(Tenn.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  has  been  appointed  man- 
ager of  the  Massillon  (Ohio)  Electric  &  Gas  Company  to 
succeed  Mr.  R.  E.  Burger,  who  will  supervise  the  erection 
of  a  system  for  transmitting  energy  to  Lorain  and  Elyria, 
Ohio. 


Mr.  F.  W.  Rose,  formerly  associated  with  the  .Arnold 
Company,  Chicago,  and  later  with  Charles  L.  Pillsbury, 
Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul,  has  opened  an  office  in  Minne- 
apolis for  the  practice  of  consulting  engineering  in  mechan- 
ical and  electrical  lines,  with  particular  reference  to  power- 
]>Iant  design. 

Mr.  L.  L.  Nunn,  who  organized  the  pioneer  Telluride 
Power  Company  and  served  as  its  general  manager  since 
its  inception  and  as  its  president  since  1910,  will  hereafter 
devote  his  time  to  the  Beaver  River  Power  Company,  which 
supplies  energy  from  a  plant  in  Malad  Valley  to  mines  at 
Newhouse  and  Frisco,  Utah. 

Mr.  Charles  W.  Ford  has  resigned  as  general  superin- 
tendent of  the  Grand  Junction  (Col.)  electric  lighting  and 
railway  properties  to  accept  a  similar  position  in  Louisiana. 
Mr.  Ford  was  the  founder  and  is  a  past-president  of  the 
Fifty  Thousand  Club  and  a  director  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  Grand  Junction. 

Mr.  M.  S.  Hart,  formerly  general  manager  of  the  Con- 
sumers' Electric  Light  &  Power  Coinpany,  New  Orleans, 
La.,  has  been  appointed  assistant  to  Mr.  John  F.  Gilchrist, 
of  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Company,  Chicago,  to  assume 
charge  of  the  commercial  development  of  the  property.  Mr. 
Hart's  successor  is  Mr.  L.  P.  Hathorn. 

Mr.  S.  M.  L.  McSpadden,  purchasing  agent  for  the  Grand 
Junction  (Col.)  Electric  &  Gas  Manufacturing  Company, 
has  been  appointed  general  superintendent  of  this  com- 
pany and  general  superintendent  and  traffic  manager  of 
the  Grand  Junction  &  Grand  Valley  Railway  Company  to 
succeed  Mr.  Charles  W.  Ford,  resigned. 

Dr.  Peter  Cooper  Hewitt,  inventor  of  mercury-vapor  ap- 
paratus with  which  his  name  has  long  been  associated,  is 
receiving  the  heartfelt  sympathy  of  his  friends  over  the 
death  on  Aug.  14  of  his  mother,  Mrs.  Sarah  Amelia  Hewitt, 
widow  of  the  Hon.  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  Mayor  of  New  York 
in  1887  and  18S8,  and  daughter  of  Mr.  Peter  Cooper,  the 
philanthropist. 

Mr.  George  L.  Oill,  who  has  been  manager  of  the  heat, 
light  and  motor-service  department  of  the  city  of  St. 
Thomas,  Ontario,  has  resigned  from  that  position  after  a 
three  months'  leave  of  absence  on  account  of  failing  health. 
Mr.  Oill  had  charge  of  the  municipally  owned  gas  plant  and 
electric-light  plant,  which  now  receives  energy  froin  the 
system  of  the  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission  of  On- 
tario, and  made  a  success  of  both  departments. 

Mr.  George  M.  Miller  has  been  appointed  superintendent 
of  the  distributing  department  of  the  Kentucky  Electric 
Company,  Louisville,  Ky.  In  this  position  Mr.  Miller  suc- 
ceeds Mr.  William  Holloway,  wliose  assistant  he  has  been 
for  the  past  four  years.  Mr.  Holloway  has  been  compelled 
to  resign  because  of  ill  health  and  will  go  to  Chicago.  Mr. 
Miller  assumed  his  position  with  the  Kentucky  Electric 
Company  upon  his  graduation   from  Purdue  University. 


Obituary 


Mr.  James  Dynan  Newton,  dean  of  the  College  of  Engi- 
neering of  Loyola  University,  Chicago,  died  on  Aug.  8,  aged 
flirty.  He  was  born  in  Oswego,  N.  Y.,  and  was  educated 
at  Holy  Cross  College  and  Cornell  University.  For  a  num- 
ber of  years  he  was  an  engineering  officer  in  the  United 
States  revenue  cutter  service.  In  1896  he  became  assistant 
professor  of  civil  engineering  in  the  University  of  Kansas, 
liis  connection  with  Loyola  University  dating  about  a  year 
I'ack.     He  leaves  a  wife  and  two  daughters. 

Mr.  Joseph  Le  Conte  Davis,  who  died  in  Pittsburgh,  Pa., 
on  Aug.  5,  was  graduated  from  the  University  of  South 
Carolina  in  1897  with  the  degree  of  electrical  engineer. 
From  1897  until  1900  he  was  professor  of  physics  at  the 
Bingham  Academy  High  School  in  North  Carolina.  From 
1900  to  1904  he  was  engaged  in  engineering  work  for  the 
General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  From  1904 
until  his  death  he  was  employed  as  designing  engineer  in 
the  electric  railway  department  of  the  Westinghouse  Elec- 
tric &  Manufacturing  Company,  East  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  hav- 
ing been  engaged  on  the  design  of  the  direct-current  motor 
used  on  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  locomotives  at  New 
York  and  many  other  important  installations. 


I 


38o 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  7. 


Construction 


.•\TTALLA,  .^LA. — Press  reports  state  that  the  Alabama  Pwr.  Devel- 
opment Co.,  of  Talladega,  will  extend  its  transmission  lines  into  Attalla 
at  an  early  date.  A  transmission  line  to  Anniston  is  being  completed, 
and  the  erection  of  an  auxiliary  plant  at  Gadsden,  as  previouly  reported,  is 
contemplated. 

COLLINSVILLE,  ALA. — A  fire  at  this  city  completely  destroyed  the 
power  plant  recently  installed  by  Irby  Hall,  his  loss  being  estimated  at 
several  thousand  dollars.  It  is  Mr.  Hall's  intention  to  rebuild  the  power 
house  and   install   a  duplicate  equipment  at   once. 

HALEYVILLE,  ALA. — It  is  reported  that  the  town  commissioners 
have  contracted  with  the  J.  B.  McCrary  Co.,  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  to  begin 
work  at  once  on  the  water-works  and  electric-light  system. 

NEWPORT,  ARK. — ^The  City  Council  has  granted  a  twenty-year  fran- 
chise in  Newport  to  J.  H.  Hamil,  of  De  Soto,  Mo.,  in  return  for  which 
he  has  agreed  to  light  the  city  with  80  tungsten  lamps  of  60  co  rating  free 
of  cost. 

TUCKERMAN,  ARK.— It  is  reported  that  the  city  has  engaged  Richard 
C.  Huston,  630  Exchange  Building,  Memphis,  Tenn.,  to  prepare  plans  for 
water-works  and  an   electric-light   plant. 

COLTON,  CAL. — A  franchise  to  construct  an  electric  railway  through 
Colton  has  been  granted  to  the  Pacific  EI.  Ry.  Co.,  of  Los  Angeles.  The 
line  will  pass  through  Colton  and  thence  northward  to  Urbita  Springs, 
connecting  with  the  company's  line  at  that  place. 

DOWNIEVILLE,  C-VL. — The  Downieville  El.  Co.  is  doubling  the 
present  capacity  of  its  plant  in  order  to  be  able  to  furnish  continuous 
service. 

GRAND  JUNCTION,  CAL. — A  resolution  has  been  passed  by  the  City 
Council  recommending  that  the  services  of  an  engineer  be  secured  to  in- 
vestigate the  desirability  of  installing  a  municipal  electric  light  and  power 
plant. 

GRIMES,  C^L. — It  having  been  decided  to  install  a  lighting  district 
in  Grimes,  plans  are  being  matured  for  awarding  the  contract  at  an 
early  date. 

HALFMOON  BAY,  CAL. — It"  is  reported  that  the  Halfmoon  Bay  Lt. 
&  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  to  Miramar,  Prince- 
ton, Granada,  Rivera,  Marine  View,  Moss  Beach,  Montara  and  Farallone 
City.  To  cover  the  proposed  extensions  the  company  has  applied  to  the 
State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to  increase  its  capital  stock 
from  $25,000  to  $100,000,  it  being  estimated  that  about  $65,000  will  be 
required  for  the  work. 

MORG'.AN  HILL,  CAL. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  Railroad 
Commission  by  the  Sierra  &  San  Francisco  Pwr.  Co.,  of  San  Francisco, 
for  permission  to  operate  in  the  cities  of  Morgan  Hill  and  Gilroy  and  in 
San  Benito  County. 

NORDHOFF,  C.\L. — It  is  reported  that  a  power  plant  is  soon  to  be 
installed  in  Nordhoff  which  will  supply  electrical  energy  to  that  city 
and  neighboring  towns,  a  company  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000,  to 
be  known  as  the  Ojai  Pwr.  Co.,  having  been  practically  arranged  for. 
J.  J.  Burke  and  E.  L.  Wiest  are  interested  in  the  project. 

OROVILLE,  C.^L. — An  electrically  operated  tramway  is  to  be  con- 
structed by  the  Oro  El.  Corp.  between  the  site  selected  for  its  $10,000,000 
power  plant  in  Humbug  Valley  and  the  place  where  the  dam  is  to  be  built. 

REDWOOD  CITY,  CAL. — Permission  has  been  granted  by  the  Board 
of  Trade  to  the  Fresno-Coalinga  Railroad  to  construct  an  electric  railway 
through  Redwood  City.  It  is  reported  that  the  company  plans  to  extend 
its  lines  from  Fresno  to  San  Francisco,  rights-of-way  having  been  secured 
in  Monterey  and  San  Clara  Counties. 

RICHMOND,  CAL. — It  is  reported  that  construction  work  is  soon  to 
be  commenced  on  an  electric  railway  at  Richmond,  Cal.,  which  is  to  con- 
nect with  the  Southern  Pacific  Co.'s  electric  suburban  service.  H.  C. 
Cutting,  of  Richmond,  is  interested  in  the  proposition,  and  the  necessary 
capital  to  carry  on  the  work  is  said  to  have  been  secured. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. — It  is  reported  that  a  contract  has  been  en- 
tered into  between  the  Union  Iron  Works  Co.  and  the  Pacific  Gas  & 
El.  Co.  which  will  result  in  the  abandonment  of  the  shipbuilding  concern's 
present  power  plant  and  the  substitution  of  electrical  energy  purchased 
from  the  Pacific  company.  Energy  is  to  be  delivered  at  11.000  volts, 
and  plans  have  been  approved  by  the  Union  Iron  Works  for  the  erection 
of  a  new  transformer  station  which  will  cost  fully  equipped  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  $100,000. 

STOCKTON,  CAL. — It  is  reported  that  the  Western  States  Gas  St 
EI.  Co.,  of  Richmond,  Cal.,  which  took  over  the  plants  of  the  Stockton 
Gas  &  El.  Co.  and  the  American  River  El.  Co.  at  Stockton  is  planning 
to  expend  $50,000  in  the  improvement  of  its  service.  The  plants  of  the 
above-mentioned  companies  are  to  be  retained  for  the  present,  but  ulti- 
mately the  Western  States  Co.  expects  to  have  but  one  large  generating 
plant. 

TULARE,  CAL. — Press  reports  state  that  the  Tulare  Lake  Canal  Co. 
may  decide  to  employ  electrical  energy  for  operating  the  additional  pump- 
ing station  which  it  expects  to  install  on  Tulare  Lake. 

VALLEJO,  CAL. — Condemnation  proceedings  have  been  instituted  at 
Napa  by  the  Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.,  of  San  Francisco,  to  secure  the 
right-of-way  for  its  transmission  line  through  Wild  Horse  Valley.  The 
land  is  owned  by  the  city  of  Vallejo. 


YOLO,  CAL.— Press  reports  state  that  the  Yolo  Wtr.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
under  consideration  the  construction  of  a  hydroelectric  plant  on  Coche 
Creek   in   Lake   County. 

NEW  H.WEN,  CONN. — It  is  understood  that  plans  are  being  drawn 
by  Howes  &  Morse,  340  Madison  Avenue,  New  York,  for  a  new  elec- 
trical laboratory  for  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School.  The  structure  will 
cost  about  $75,000,   and  estimates   will  probably  be  called   for  this   fall. 

HASTINGS,  FLA.— It  is  reported  that  the  Hastings  Cold  Storage 
Co.,  F.  E.  Bugbee,  president,  expects  to  install  a  $10,000  electric-light 
plant  in  this  city. 

AMERICUS,  GA. — The  Americus  Pwr.  Co.,  being  unable  to  come  to  a 
satisfactory  arrangement  with  the  present  lighting  company,  will  at  once 
commence  construction  of  a  power  plant  in  this  city. 

AUGUSTA,  GA. — It  is  the  intention  of  the  Augusta-Aiken  Ry.  &  EI. 
Co.  to  materially  improve  its  old  power  plants.  New  switchboards  are  to 
be  installed  and  the  equipment  made  up  to  date. 

EATONTON,  GA. — The  City  Council  has  selected  Solomon  &  Norcross 
to  prepare  plans  for  an  electric-light  plant,  the  necessary  bonds  for  which 
are  to  be  voted  on.  It  is  probable  that-  the  water  plant  will  be  modified 
so  as  to  be  operated  by  electricity. 

MILLTOWN,  GA. — At  a  recent  election  in  this  city  it  was  voted  to 
issue  bonds  to  the  amount   of  $5,000  for  an  electric  lighting  system. 

VALDOSTA,  GA. — The  Valdosta  Ltg.  Co.,  successor  to  the  Consol. 
Ice  &  Pwr.  Co.,  expects  to  rebuild  its  transmission  system  and  install 
much  new  equipment.     W.    D.   Eager  is  general  manager. 

BLISS,  IDAHO. — Among  the  extensions  planned  by  the  Beaver  River 
Pwr.  Co.,  of  Bliss,  is  the  construction  of  a  transmission  line  from  Boise 
to  Caldwell. 

BEECHER,  ILL. — A  proposition  to  issue  $2,500  of  bonds  for  the  pur- 
pose of  installing  a  municipal  lighting  plant  is  being  considered  by  the 
citizens  of  Beecher. 

KINGSTON,  ILL. — A  franchise  to  operate  an  electric-lighting  system 
nt  Kingston  has  been  granted  to  the  Illinois  Northern  Utility  Co.  by  the 
\'illage    Board. 

RANKIN,  ILL. — An  application  for  permission  to  install  an  electric- 
lighting  system  in  Rankin  has  been  filed  with  the  Village  Board  by  H.  L^ 
Clark  and  Edwin  Johnson,  of  Paxton,  it  being  their  intention  to  construct 
a  transmission  line  from  the  latter  city  to  Rankin. 

ROCK  ISLAND,  ILL.— Bids  will  be  received  until  Aug.  19  by  Oscar 
Wenderoth,  supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington, 
D.  C,  for  installing  complete  an  electric  passenger  elevator  and  an  elec- 
tric freight  elevator  in  the  United   States  Post  Oflfice  at  Rock  Island,   111. 

AURORA,  IND. — Press  reports  state  that  the  plant  of  the  Aurora  Gas 
Lt.  &  Coal  Co.  has  been  acquired  by  the  Indiana  Public  Service  Co.,  of 
.\urora.  It  is  the  intention  of  the  new  owners  to  repair  and  operate  the 
plant. 

CUTLER,  IND. — The  Wildcat  El.  Co.  is  reported  to  have  been  or- 
ganized  to  construct  a  power  house  at  the  Adams  Mill  dam.  Bids  will  be 
asked  for  the  construction  and  equipment  of  the  plant  as  soon  as  fran- 
chises are  secured. 

ELKH.'\RT,  IND. — It  is  the  intention  of  the  Indiana  &  Michigan  El. 
Co.,  which  is  constructing  a  dam  and  power  house  at  this  city,  to  erect 
transmission  lines  throughout  the   St.   Joseph   Valley. 

KENDALLVILLE,  IND. — It  is  reported  that  the  McCray  Refrigerator 
Co.  is  constructing  a  power  plant  which  will  cost  approximately  $50,000, 
the  electrical  energy  from  which  is  to  be  used  in  the  operation  of  its 
machinery. 

NEW  ALBANY,  IND. — The  United  Gas  &  El.  Co.  is  extending  its 
transmission   lines  from   New  Albany  to  Jeffersonville. 

NOBLESVILLE,  IND.— The  Noblesville  Ht.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
under  way  and  in  contemplation  improvements  in  its  system  which  will 
represent  an  expenditure  of  about  $14,000. 

PRINCETON,  IND.— The  Evansville  Public  Service  Co.,  which  re- 
cently absorbed  the  Evansville  &  Southern  Indiana  Trac.  Co.,  is  planning 
to  install  a  substation  at  Princeton.  It  also  has  under  consideration  the 
matter  of  constructing  an  electric  line  from  Patoka  to  Sullivan. 

RUSHVILLE,  IND. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  County  Commis- 
sioners until  Aug.  28  (readvertisement)  for  constructing  a  power  and 
heating  plant  in  the  court  house  and  jail.     Jesse  Stoner,  county  auditor. 

BOONE,  lA. — It  is  reported  that  the  Boone  El.  Co.  contemplates  the 
construction  of  a  transmission  line  from  Boone  to  Madrid,  the  necessary 
right-of-way  having  been  applied   for. 

BURT,  lA. — In  the  issue  of  Aug  10  it  should  have  been  stated  that 
the  Municipal  El.  Lt.  Plant  of  Algona  is  considering  the  erection  of  a 
transmission  line  to  Burt,  in  order  to  furnish  a  lighting  service  in  that 
city.  It  is  estimated  that  an  expenditure  of  about  $12,000  would  be  re- 
quired by  the  citizens  of  Burt  should  such  a  service  be  decided  upon. 

CENTRAL  CITY,  lA. — The  Wapsipinicon  Pwr.  Co.,  of  this  city,  has 
been  granted  permission  to  construct  transmission  lines  along  the  publioj 
highways  to  Mechanicsville,  Stanwood,  Clarence  and  Tipton,  and  it  is' 
probable  that  construction  work  will  be  commenced  at  once. 

CRESTON,  lA. — Owing  to  a  confusion  of  names  an  item  was  published 
in  our  columns  to  the  effect  that  the  Creston  Mutual  El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  had  been  sold  to  a  syndicate.  The  company  which  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  syndicate  in  question  was  the  Creston  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  as 
announced  in  our  issue  of  July  27. 


August  17,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


381 


HARTLEY,  lA. — To  take  care  of  the  increased  demand  for  service, 
the  owners  of  the  Municipal  El.  Lt.  plant  are  making  arrangements  to 
double   the   capacity   of   the   present   system. 

HASTINGS,  lA.— The  Glenwood  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to  in- 
stall an  tlectric-lighting  system  in  this  city,  a  franchise  for  the  purpose 
having  been  applied  for. 

NEWTON,  KAN. — It  is  reported  that  the  contract  for  the  Kansas  Gas 
&  El.  Co.'s  new  power  house  has  been  awarded  to  John  Fleming,  of 
Wichita,  the  price  being  $25,000. 

NORTON,  KAN.— R.  W.  Hemphill,  city  clerk,  writes  that  bonds  to 
the  amount  of  $20,000  have  been  sold,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  an 
electric-light  plant.     N.  L.  Johnson  is  Mayor. 

HODGENVILLE,  KY.— It  is  reported  that  an  electric-light  plant  is 
to  be  installed  in  this  city  by  Emmett   Smith,  of  Chicago,  111. 

WHITESBURG,  KY.— The  Whitesburg  Tele.  Co.  contemplates  the 
extension  of  its  local  and  long-distance  telephone  lines  from  Whitesburg 
to  McRoberts.  Connections  are  also  to  be  established  with  Jenkins  and 
its  suburbs. 

DONALDSONVILLE,  LA. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  Mayor 
Maurin  and  a  number  of  representative  business  men  looking  toward  the 
installation  of  a  municipal  lighting  plant.  A  committee  has  been  ap- 
pointed to  consult  the  city  attorney  as  to  the  authority  of  the 
Council  to  vest  in  a  commission  of  five  the  power  to  borrow  $40,000  to 
install  such  a  system. 

JAY,  MAINE. — The  H.  P.  Cummings  Const.  Co.,  of  Ware,  Mass.,  has 
secured  a  contract  from  the  International  Paper  Co.,  at  Cadysville,  N-  Y., 
for  the  construction  of  a  hydroelectric  plant  at  Jay,  to  develop  about 
3000  hp. 

WATERVILLE,  MAINE. — Work  has  been  commenced  by  the  Central 
Maine  Pwr.  Co.,  of  this  city,  on  a  high-tension  transmission  line  between 
Belfast  and   Farmingdale. 

CENTERVILLE,  MD. — On  account  of  alleged  dissatisfaction  with  the 
present  service,  the  Town  Commissioners  have  filed  an  application  for 
the  issuance  of  a  certificate  from  the  Public  Service  Commission  of 
Maryland  authorizing  them  to   erect  a  lighting  plant   at   Centerville. 

CUMBERLAND,  MD. — It  is  reported  that  work  on  a  new  power  house 
for  the  Ann  and  Hope  Mill  of  the  Lonsdale  Co.  has  been  commenced. 
Machinery  is  to  be  installed  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  light  to  the 
mill.     The  contractors  are  Williams  &  Williams,   of  Providence. 

AMESBURY,  MASS.— Permission  has  been  granted  by  the  State 
Board  of  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commissioners  to  the  Amesbury  El.  Lt. 
Co.  to  issue  the  necessary  amount  of  stock  to  finance  its  proposed  ex- 
tensions. 

BOSTON,  MASS.— Th-  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commissioners  have 
approved  the  proposed  consolidation  of  the  Hyde  Park  El.  Lt.  Co.  with 
the  Edison  El.  111.  Co.  of  Boston.  Permission  to  issue  26,007  shares  of 
new  stock  at' $215  per  share  has  also  been  granted,  a  portion  of  which 
is  to  be  used   for  proposed  additions  to  the  company's  plant. 

ENFIELD,  MASS. — A  proposition  to  install  an  electric-lighting  system 
in  Enfield  has  been  made  to  the  City  Council  by  the  Central  Massa- 
chusetts El.  Co.,  of  Palmer,  Mass. 

GLOUCESTER,  MASS.— A  600-ft.  cable  is  being  laid  across  the  Nar- 
rows by  the  Gloucester  EI.   Co. 

GREENFIELD.  MASS. — The  Massachusetts  Northern  Rys.  Co.  expects 
soon  to  commence  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  from  Orange 
to  Millers  Falls,  the  necessary  franchises  having  been  secured.  J.  A. 
Taggart  is  general   superintendent. 

HADLEY,  MASS. — A  franchise  to  furnish  electrical  energy  for  lamps 
and  motors  throughout  the  city  of  Hadley  has  been  granted  to  the 
Amherst  Gas  Co.,  a  subsidiary  company  of  the  Turners  Falls  Co. 

HAMPDEN,  MASS.— The  Centra!  Massachusetts  El.  Co.,  of  Palmer, 
Mass.,  has  under  consideration  the  establishment  of  an  electric-lighting 
system   in   Hampden. 

LENOX,  MASS.- — It  is  reported  that  the  Lenox  El.  Co.  contemplates 
tlie  erection  of  a  new  switch  house  in  this  city. 

NORTH  EASTON,  MASS.— The  Edison  El.  lUg.  Co.,  of  Brockton, 
has  been  granted  a  contract  to  light  the  city  of  North  Easton,  and  the 
work  of  substituting  electricity  for  gasoline  will  be  commenced  at  once. 
SPRINGFIELD,  MASS.— It  is  reported  that  the  proposed  plan  for 
lighting  Court  Square,  in  this  city,  has  been  approved  by  the  Park  Board. 
The  plan  comprises  the  placing  of  31  poles,  each  bearing  a  group  of  five 
tungsten  lamps,  in   Elm  and  West  Court  Streets  around  the  square. 

GRAND  RAPIDS,  MICH.— Press  reports  state  that  the  Roseberry- 
Henry  El.  Co.  has  been  awarded  the  contract  for  engines,  generators, 
switchboards  and  wiring  for  the  factory  of  the  C.  P.  Limbert  Co.,  Hol- 
land, Mich. 

CHISHOLM,  MINN. — It  is  reported  that  the  citizens  of  Chisholm  are 
considering  the  advisability  of  taking  over  the  Range  Pwr.  Co.'s  electric 
light  and  power  system  and  that  a  special  election  is  to  be  called  to  voie 
on    the   question. 

MARSHALL,  MINN. — It  is  reported  that  an  ornamental  street-lighting 
system  is  soon  to  be  installed  in  Marshall,  $1,200  having  already  been 
subscribed  by  th^  business  men  of  the  city  for  this  purpose. 

ROCHESTER,  MINN.— It  is  reported  that  the  City  Council  has  voted 
lo   extend    the   ornamental    street-lighting   system    in    Rochester, 


ST.  CLOUD,  MINN. — The  matter  of  installing  a  "white  way"  is  under 
consideration  by  the  citi'zens  of  St.  Cloud. 

CARTHAGE,  MO.— Press  reports  state  that  the  Empire  Fixture 
Works  of  this  city  is  planning  to  install  considerable  electrical  equip- 
ment in  its  new  plant. 

LEWISTON,  MONT.— The  Butte  El.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  which  is  building  a 
high-tension  transmission  line  from  Great  Falls  to  Lewiston,  expects  soon 
to  commence  work  on  the  rebuilding  of  its  local  distribution  system. 

MISSOULA,  MONT.— It  is  stated  that  the  Mountain  States  Tele.  Co. 
contemplates  the  expenditure  of  about  $100,000  in  the  extension  of  its 
toll   lines. 

NEMAHA  CITY,  NEB. — It  is  understood  that  negotiations  are  under 
way  between  the  Stella  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Stella,  and  the  citizens 
of  Nemaha  City  looking  toward  the  installation  of  an  electric-lighting 
system  in  the  latter  place. 

RISING  CITY,  NEB.— Bids  will  be  received  by  R.  P.  Showalter,  vil- 
lage clerk,  for  a  50-hp  electric  oil  engine,  a  22j^-kw,  125  to  250-volt, 
three-wire  generator,  a  20-anip  storage  battery,  pole-line  material  and 
construction,  a  deep- well  pump  head  complete,  and  for  remodeling  and 
enlarging  the  pumping  plant.  Alamo  Engine  &  Supply  Co.,  of  Omaha, 
is    the    engineer. 

MASON,  NEV.— The  substation  of  the  Truckee  River  Gen.  El.  Co.,  of 
Reno,  Nev.,  at  the  Bluestone  Mine  in  Mason  was  entirely  destroyed  by 
fire.     It  is  the  intention  of  the  company  to  rebuild  the  plant  at  once. 

MINDEN,  NEV. — Work  has  been  commenced  in  this  city  on  a  power 
plant  intended  for  the  Douglass  Milling  &  Pwr.  Co.  A  transmission  line 
is   also   to  be  erected  between   Sarman   and   Gardnerville. 

EAST  TILTON,  N.  H.— The  Laconia  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  of  Laconia,  is 
making  many  improvements  in  its  system  at  East  Tilton. 

FITZWILLIAM,  N.  II.— The  New  Hampshire  Wtr.  &  El.  Pwr.  Co. 
has  a  transformer  station  under  construction  at  Fitzwilliam,  from  which 
point  it  plans  to  construct  transmission  lines  to  Winchendon  and  Richmond 
at  an  early  date. 

JAFFREY,  N.  H. — It  is  reported  that  a  deal  has  been  consummated 
whereby  the  property  of  the  Jaffrey  &  Troy  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  been  acquired 
by  the  New  Hampshire  Wtr.  &  El.  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Portland,  Me.  An  up-to- 
date  lighting  system  is  to  be  installed  by  the  new  owners. 

MILFORD,  N.  H. — It  is  reported  that  the  Milford  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
commenced  extensive  improvements  on  its  plant  which  will  represent  an 
expenditure  of  approximately  $10,000.  Three  turbine  water  wheels  are 
to  be  installed  in  the  main  canal. 

LIVINGSTON,  N.  J. — It  is  reported  that  the  installation  of  an  inde- 
pendent electric-lighting  system  for  the  almshouse  in  Livingston  is  being 
considered. 

NEW.ARK,  N.  J. — A  contract  with  the  Public  Service  El.  Co.  for 
lighting  the  Plank  Road  between  Blanchard  Street,  Newark,  and  Marcy 
Avenue,  Jersey  City,  has  been  authorized  by  the  Board  of  Freeholders. 
The  aggregate  amount  of  the  contract  on  the  basis  of  one  year  is  $6,265. 
It  is  proposed  to  install  fifty  2000-cp  arc  lamps,  one  for  each  200  linear 
feet  of  road.  The  bridge  approaches  and  draws  will  require  132  32-cp 
incandescent  lamps. 

PHILLIPSBURG,  N.  J.— The  advisability  of  installing  a  municipal 
lighting  plant  is  being  considered  by  the  citizens  of  Phillipsburg. 

SOUTH  ORANGE,  N.  J.— Bids  will  be  received  until  Aug.  19  by  the 
Village  Board  of  Trustees  for  a  generating  set  consisting  of  one  8-kw 
compound- wound,  250-volt,  575-r.p.m.  direct-current  generator,  mounted 
on  common  bedplate  and  coupled  to  a  vertical  single-cylinder  13-hp,  575- 
r.p.ni.,  125-lb.  steam-pressure  engine,  one  slate  switchboard  with  the  fol- 
lowing mountings:  one  50-amp  circuit-breaker,  two  ground  detector 
lamps,  two  5-cp,  220-volt  lamps,  one  rheostat,  one  60-amp,  two-point 
single-throw  switch,  three  30-amp,  two-point  single-throw  switches,  six 
inclosed  fuses,  one   50-amp  ammeter  and  one  300-volt  meter. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y. — Press  reports  state  that  Lupfer  &  Remick,  Ellicott 
Square  Building,  Buffalo,  have  been  awarded  a  contract  for  the  construc- 
tion and  equipment  of  hydroelectric  plants  at  Oswego,  Fulton  and 
Phoenix,  for  the  operation  of  the  Oswego  branch  of  the  State  Barge 
Canal. 

CASTLETON,  S.  I.,  N.  Y. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Department 
of  Public  Charities,  New  York  City.  Michael  J.  Drummond  commis- 
sioner, until  Aug.  19  for  furnishing  materials  for  erecting  and  complet- 
ing an  independent  generating  plant  for  the  Sea  View  Hospital,  Manor 
Road,  borough  of  Richmond,  city  of  New  York;  security  $25,000.  -Also, 
same  time  and  place,  for  furnishing  materials,  erecting  and  completing 
an  additional  boiler  and  accessories  for  the  above  hospital;  security  $7,500. 
Raymond  F.  Almirall,  architect,   185  Madison  Avenue,  New  York. 

CATSKILL,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  at  Albany  has 
authorized  the  Catskill  Illg.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  the  Middleburgh  &  Schoharie 
El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  Upper  Hudson  El.  Co.  to  consolidate  and 
form  a  new  corporation  to  be  known  as  the  Upper  Hudson  El.  &  R.  R. 
Co.  Before  the  consolidation  is  accomplished  the  Schoharie  company  is 
authorized  to  purchase  the  property  of  the  Cairo  EI.  &  Pwr.  Co.  The  new 
capital  allowed  provides  for  $34,000  cash  for  new  improvements,  which 
include  the  building  of  a  new  substation  at  Tannersville,  a  new  street- 
lighting  system  for  Catskill  and  improvements  to  the  steam  plant,  including 
two  new  boilers. 

DRESDEN,  N.  Y. — It  is  reported  that  the  Yates  Electric  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.,  of  Penn  Yan,  is  planning  to  install  a  lighting  system  in  Dresden. 


382 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  \o.  7. 


GAKBUTT,    X.   Y. — It  is  reported   that   the   Lycoming   Calcining   Co.   of 
this   city   has   ahandoned   its    power    plant,   and    that    it    will    enter   into    a 
contract  with   the  Livingston-Niagara   Pwr.  Co.,   of  Avon,   N.   Y.,   for  the 
necessary  electrical  energy  to  operate  its  mines  and  mills. 

GREENE,  N.  Y. — The  contract  for  the  electric  and  telephone  wiring  in 
the  proposed  new  hot^el  to  be  erected  by  the  Chenango  Hotel  Co.,  Fred  S. 
Martin,  secretary,  bids  for  which  were  opened  July  15,  has  been  awarded 
to  L.  G.  Martin,  of  Greene.  Contracts  are  yet  to  be  let  for  electric  fix- 
tures,  telephones,   vacuum  cleaners,   etc. 

HORSEHEADS,  N.  Y. — The  village  of  Horseheads  has  closed  a  contract 
with  the  Elmira  Wtr.,  Lt.  &  R.  R.  Co.  to  furnish  electrical  energy  for  the 
operation  of  its  pumping  plant.  Electric  motors  are  to  replace  the  gasoline 
engines  formerly  used. 

LOCKPORT,  N.  Y. — After  considerable  controversy,  the  Lockport  Lt., 
Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  instructed  by  the  Common  Council  to  install  a 
modern  street-lighting  system  on  Main   Street. 

NEWBURGH,  N.  Y. — An  appropriation  of  $600  for  an  ornamental 
street-lighting  system  on  Second  Street  in  this  city  has  been  approved 
by  the  Council. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— Bids  will  be  received  until  Sept.  10  by  the 
Public  Service  Commission  for  the  First  District,  New  York  City,  for 
constructing  Section    1    of  the   Lexington   Avenue  subway. 

OXFORD,  N.  Y. — The  Oxford  El.  Lt.  Co.  contemplates  the  construc- 
tion of  transmission  lines  between  Norwich  and  Oxford  and  between 
Oxford  and  Guilford.  It  is  estimated  that  about  $14,000  will  be  required 
for  the  proposed  extensions. 

POTSDAM,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission.  Second  District, 
has  authorized  the  Northern  Pwr.  Co.  to  exercise  franchises  granted  by 
the  towns  of  Oswegatchie  and  Lisbon  for  the  furnishing  to  them  of  elec- 
trical energy.  In  the  town  of  Lisbon  a  contract  has  been  made  with  the 
Town  Board  for  street  lights  in  the  lighting  district. 

SYRACUSE,  N.  Y.— Bids  will  be  received  until  Aug.  24  by  W.  W. 
Cheney,  president  board  of  managers  Syracuse  Institute  for  Feeble-Minded 
Children,  for  installing  an  electric-light  plant  in  that  institution.  H.  \V. 
Hoefer,  state  architect,  Capitol,  Albany. 

WOLCOTT,  N.  Y. — Permission  has  been  granted  to  the  Northern 
Wayne  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  this  city,  by  the  Public  Service  Commis- 
sion, Second  District,  to  exercise  franchises  for  the  furnishing  of  electri- 
cal energy  in  Fairhaven,  Sterling  and  Sodus.  The  company  is  also 
planning  to  construct  transmission  lines  from  Wallington  to  Sodus  Center, 
from  Alton  to  Sodus  Point  and  from  Red  Creek  to  Fairhaven. 

HICKORY,  N.  C. — In  the  issue  of  July  27  it  was  incorrectly  stated 
that  the  Thornton  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  increased  its  capital  stock  to 
$25,000,  the  correct  amount  being  $125,000. 

SCOTLAND  NECK,  N.  C— We  are  advised  by  the  Municipal  El.  Lt. 
&  Pwr.  Plant,  L.  R.  Hills,  Jr.,  superintendent,  that  it  is  replacing  the 
34  arc  street  lamps  with  50  series  tungsten  lamps,  30  of  which  will  be 
250-watt  and  20  125-watt.  Il  is  also  changing  its  system  from  direct 
to  alternating  current,  2300  volts  primary,  110  volts  secondary,  60  cycles, 
and  installing  a  90-kw  generator. 

VALLEY  CITY,  N.  D.^Bids  will  be  received  until  Aug.  20  by  the 
City  Council  at  the  offices  of  M.  J.  Boyd,  city  auditor,  for  the  new  ma- 
chinery for  the  municipal  lighting  plant,  according  to  plans  and  specifi- 
cations now  on  file  at  the  office  of  the  city  auditor,  copies  of  which  will 
be  sent  upon  request.  Each  bid  must  be  accompanied  by  a  certified  check 
for  at  least  5  per  cent  of  the  amount  of  the  bid,  payable  to  W.  T.  Cres- 
well,  city  treasurer. 

BELLEVUE,  OHIO. — A  $25,000  bond  issue  is  being  considered  by  the 
Village  Council,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  a  municipal  lighting  plant. 

MARYSVILLE,  OHIO.— The  Marysville  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  writes  that  it 
is  planning  to  substitute  for  its  engines  and  generators  a  steam-turbine 
equipment.  The  steam  engines  in  the  ice  plant  and  water-works  will  be 
replaced  by  motors.  The  Edison  three-wire  system  in  the  central  district 
will  be  supplied  with  energy  from  a  motor-generator  set,  and  the  outlying 
districts  will  be  fed  from  a  2300-volt,  60-cycle,  three-phase  distribution 
system. 

MASSILLON,  OHIO. — It  has  been  recommended  that  the  offer  of  the 
Massillon  El.  &  Gas  Co.  for  the  installation  of  an  improved  lighting  sys- 
tem be  accepted,  and  details  of  the  proposed  changes  are  to  be  taken  up 
at  once. 

PAULDING,  OHIO. — Citizens  of  Paulding  recently  voted  in  favor  of  a 
$30,000  bond  issue,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  in  improving  the  electric-light 
plant  and  water-works.     J.  C.  Armstrong  is  Mayor. 

RAYLAND,  OHIO.— The  power  house  of  the  Portland  Coal  Co.  at 
this  city  has  been  destroyed  by  fire.  The  owners  are  planning  to  rebuild 
the  plant  at  once. 

WILMINGTON,  OHIO.— Frank  Babb.  village  clerk,  writes  thai  the 
contract  for  lighting  the  streets  (bids  opened  Aug.  9)  has  been  awarded 
to  the  Wilmington  Wtr.  &  Lt.   Co.,  of  Wilmington. 

HERMISTON,  ORE.— It  is  reported  that  J.  A.  Ralph,  of  Spokane,  who 
recently  disposed  of  his  electric  light  and  power  company  in  Dayton. 
Wash.,  has  purchased  the  interest  of  Leo  Shupe  in  the  Hermiston  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  The  system  is  to  be  thoroughly  overhauled  and  additional 
transmission  lines  erected. 

SALEM,  ORE. — Press  reports  from  this  city  state  that  the  application 
filed  by  D.  P.  Donovan,  of  Payette,  Idaho,  for  permission  to  develop 
15,000  hp  from  the   Clackamas  River,   near  its  mouth,  has  been  approved 


by  Slate  Engineer  Lewis.  By  constructing  a  canal  and  flume  Sl/z  miles 
long,  obtaining  a  head  of  109  ft.,  Mr.  Donovan  expects  to  develop  15,000 
hp,  which  is  to  be  used  for  power  and  municipal  purposes.  The  esti- 
mated cost  of  the  project  is  $1,250,000. 

ALTOONA,  PA. — It  is  the  intention  of  the  Penn  Central  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  to  erect  a  number  of  new  transmission  lines  in  Cambria  County,  the 
necessary  permission   for  such  extensions   having   been  secured. 

BENTLEVVILLE,  PA.— The  West  Penn  El.  Co.,  of  Pittsburgh,  has 
been  granted  a  franchise  in  Bentleyville.  and  work  on  the  construction 
of  a  transmission   line  to  that  city  is  to  be  commenced  at  once. 

BRADFORD,  PA. — A  committee  has  been  appointed  by  the  City  Council 
to  investigate  the  cost  of  installing  a  municipal  lighting  plant. 

EASTOX,  PA. — On  account  of  dissatisfaction  over  existing  rates, 
plans  are  being  considered  by  the  citizens  of  Easton  for  the  installation 
of  a  municipal  lighting  plant. 

EASTON,  PA. — An  ordinance  has  been  passed  by  the  City  Council  re- 
quiring all  electric  light,  power,  telephone  and  telegraph  wires  to  be 
placed  in  conduits  within  the  fire  limits  of  the  city. 

PERRYOPOLIS,  PA.— The  West  Penn  El.  Co.,  of  Pittsburgh,  has 
taken  over  from  the  Washington  Coal  &  Coke  Co.  the  electric  light  and 
power  business  in  Perryopolis.  As  the  West  Penn  company's  charter 
covers  the  entire  township  of  Perry,  it  is  proposed  to  extend  the  service  to 
neighboring  towns. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA.— John  R.  Wiggins  &  Co.  have  obtained  a  per- 
mit for  a  one-story  and  basement  electric  power  plant  for  the  Philadelphia 
El.  Co.,  the  contract  price  being  $60,000. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA.— The  Board  of  Education  is  reported  to  have 
awarded  the  contracts  for  the  electric  equipment  of  the  West  Phila- 
delphia high  school  as  follows:  Horn  &  Brennan,  gas  and  electric  light 
fixtures,  $25,414,  and  Diehl  Mfg.  Co.,  electric  motors  and  connections, 
$7,500. 

READING,  PA. — It  is  reported  that  the  Metropolitan  El.  Co.  has  en- 
tered into  a  contract  to  supply  the  Hotel  Penn  with  electrical  energy  for 
lamps  and  motors  for  a  period  of  ten  years.  The  equipment  consists  of 
about  1000  16-cp  lamps  and  20  hp  in  motors.  An  electric  passenger  ele- 
vator is  also  to  be  installed.  The  old  power  plant  of  the  hotel  is  to  be 
abandoned. 

PAWTUCKET,  R.  I.— It  is  the  intention  of  the  Hope  Webbing  Co. 
to  include  a  1000-hp  power  plant  in  the  factory  which  it  is  erecting  in 
Pawtucket. 

PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.— It  is  reported  that  the  Common  Council,  by  a 
vote  of  35  to  3,  adopted  the  proposed  lighting  franchise  agreement  and 
contract  with  the  Narragansett  El.  Ltg.  Co.  giving  the  company  the  ex- 
clusive rights  in  the  city  of  Providence.  The  franchise  involves  a  ten-year 
contract  for  street  lighting  and  a  five-year  franchise  for  lighting,  heating 
and  power  supply. 

SPARTANBURG,  S.  C— The  Appalachian  Pwr.  Co.,  Spartanburg,  is 
reported  to  have  purchased  lands  and  water-power  rights  near  Henderson, 
N.  C,  to  include  the  Narrows  and  Potts  Shoals  on  the  French  Broad 
River,  where  50,000  hp  will  be  developed  for  transmission  to  other  points. 
Ladshaw  &  Ladshaw,  of  Spartanburg,  are  the  engineers  in  charge,  and 
H.  L.  White,  Horace  Bomar  and  John  A.  Law.  also  of  Spartanburg,  are 
among  those  financially  interested. 

SPRINGFIELD,  S.  D. — Application  for  a  franchise  to  install  and 
operate  an  electric-lighting  system  in  this  city  has  been  made  by  John 
.Absher,  of  Wagner. 

CHATTANOOGA,  TENN.— It  is  reported  that  many  improvements  and 
extensions  are  planned  for  the  plant  of  the  Chattanooga  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co. 

CHATTANOOGA,  TENN. — It  is  reported  that  the  Richmond  Hosiery 
Mills,  of  East  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  is  arranging  to  substitute  electrical 
energy  for  steam  in  the  operation  of  its  mills. 

NASHVILLE,  TENN.— The  Nashville  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  contemplates  the 
extension  of  its  electric  line  to  Shelby  Park  and  the  Hyde  Ferry  Bridge,    j 

BRYAN,  TEX.— The  Bryan  &  College  Interurban  Ry.  Co.  contemplates 
the  construction  of  an  electric  line  into  the  suburbs  of  Bryan. 

COLLEGE  STATION,  TEX.— The  contract  for  wiring  the  new  main 
building  of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  at  College  Station 
has  been  awarded  to  the  Borden  El.  Co.,  of  Bryan,  Tex.,  for  $1,550. 

FLORE  SVILLE,  TEX. — A  proposition  to  furnish  electrical  energy  for 
operating  the  city  water-works  plant  has  been  submitted  to  the  City  Council 
by  C.  F.  Spencer  and  associates,  who  recently  secured  a  franchise  to  in- 
stall an  electric-light  plant  at  Floresville. 

MURRAY,  UTAH. — The  citizens  are  reported  to  have  voted  to  issue 
$60,000  bonds  for  the  construction  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  at 
the  mouth  of  the   Big  Cottonwood   River. 

BARRE,  VT. — In  order  that  their  plants  may  be  operated  during  the 
summer  months  when  the  water  is  low,  plans  are  being  considered  by 
the  granite  manufacturers  of  this  city  looking  toward  the  erection  of  a 
new  power  plant. 

PITTSFORD,  VT. — A  new  concern  to  be  known  as  the  Pitlsford  El. 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  organized  under  the  laws  of  Massachusetts,  and 
John  P.  Hanley,  of  Lawrence,  Mass.,  is  endeavoring  to  interest  Rutland 
capitalists  in  the  enterprise.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $30,000,  and 
plans  to  install  a  lighting  system  in  Pittsford.  Negotiations  are  under 
way  with  the  Vermont  Marble  Co.  for  the  old  casket  factory  water- 
power  at  Pittsford   Mills. 


August  17,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


383 


NATIONAL  SOLDIERS'  HOME,  \'A.— Llids  will  be  received  until 
Sept.  5  at  the  office  of  F.  E.  Skinner,  treasurer  Southern  branch  N.H.D. 
V.  S.,  for  furnishing  and  erecting  two  250-hp  steam  boilers,  power  house 
building  No.   15. 

KALAMA.  WASH.— It  is  reported  that  the  Toutle  Rural  Tele.  Co. 
has  been  granted  a  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  a  telephone  line 
along  certain  roads  in  Cowlitz  County. 

KELSO,  WASH. — It  is  the  intention  of  the  Washington-Oregon  Corpn., 
of  V'ancouver,  to  extend  its  transmission  line  from  Kelso  to  Chehalis  and 
Centralia,  a  distance  of  40  miles. 

POTLATCH,  WASH.— The  Mason  County  Pwr.  Co.  is  reported  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  of  $20,000  to  build  a  power  plant  at  Potlatch 
to  supply  electrical  energy  to  the  various  parts  of  the  county.  Frank 
McKean  is  said  to   be  interested. 

SEATTLE,  WASH. — A  power  plant  is  included  in  the  buildings 
for  the  tuberculosis  hospital  at  Richmond  Springs,  to  be  erected  by  the 
King  County  Anti-Tuberculosis  League.  The  City  Council  has  appropriated 
$100,000.  R.  H.  Ober,  superintendent  of  public  buildings,  will  have  charge 
of  construction. 

WINLOCK,  WASH. — The  electric-light  plants  of  the  J.  A.  Veness  Lum- 
ber Co.  and  the  O'Connell  Lumber  Co.  have  been  purchased  by  the 
Washington-Oregon  Corpn.,  of  \  ancouver.  The  O'Connell  plant  is  to  be 
rebuilt. 

CHIPPEWA  FALLS.  WIS.— It  is  reported  that  the  Chippewa  Valley 
Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Eau  Claire,  has  acquired  the  water-powers  and 
property  of  the  Chippewa  Lumber  &  Boom  Co.  in  Chippewa  Falls,  the  con- 
sideration being  $300,000.  It  is  understood  that  a  new  dam  is  to  be  con- 
structed by  the  present  owners. 

BROCKVILLE,  ONT.,  CAN. — It  is  reported  that  at  a  special  meeting 
in  this  city  the  Town  Council  authorized  the  Mayor  to  sign  a  contract 
with  the  Ontario  Hydro-Electric  Commission  for  the  transmission  of  elec- 
trical energ>*  to  BrockviUe. 

WELLAND.  ONT.,  CAN.— The  by-law  providing  for  the  purchase  of 
hydroelectric  energy  from  the  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission  of  On- 
tario was  carried,  in  Welland,  Ont.,  by  a  vote  of  328  to  183.  An  ex- 
penditure  of   $45,000   has   been   authorized. 

MONTREAL.  QUE..  CAN.— The  stockholders  of  the  Canadian  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.,  of  Montreal,  have  approved  a  resolution  to  increase  the  cap- 
ital stock  from  $6,000,000  to  $7,000,000,  a  portion  of  the  increase  to  be 
used  for  construction  work.  The  company  operates  a  20,000-hp  hydroelec- 
tric plant  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  it  is  stated  that  plans  for  an  ulti- 
mate development  of    100.000   hp  have  been  matured. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  DILLON  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Canton,  Ohio,  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000.  The  incorporators  are 
Charles  A.  Dillon,  Charles  A.  Kuehn,  W.  F.  Dillon,  H.  B.  Dillon  and 
James  F.  T.  Walker.  The  company  will  do  a  general  electrical  supply 
and  machine  business. 

THE  PELLISSIER  ENGINEERING  COMPANY,  of  Springtield, 
Mass.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000,  to  carry  on 
the  business  of  civil  and  mechanical  engineers  and  to  deal  in  electrical 
machinery.  L.  D.  Pellissier,  of  Holyoke,  Mass.,  is  president  and  George 
E.   Pellissier,   of   Springfield,   Mass.,    treasurer. 

THE  THOMPSON  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Raleigh,  S.  C,  has 
been  incorporated  by  D.  J.  Thompson,  F.  E.  Thompson  and  others.  The 
company  has  an  authorized  capital  stock  of  $3,500  and  intends  to  do  an 
electrical  contracting  business. 

THE  WHITE  ADDING  MACHINE  COMPANY,  of  East  Orange. 
N.  J.,  has  been  incorporated  to  manufacture  adding  machines  and  to 
conduct  a  mechanical  and  electrical  engineering  business.  It  is  capi- 
talized at  $1,000,000,  and  the  incorporators  are  C.  O.  Geyer,  F.  E.  Ruggles 
and  S.   L.   Gedney.  Jr.,  all  of  East  Orange. 

THE  WILSON-MALTMAN  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Baltimore, 
Md.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  to  manufacture 
electrical  appliances,  etc.  The  officers  are:  William  L.  Wilson,  presi- 
dent; Ralph  C.  Sharretts,  506  Continental  Building,  vice-president  and 
manager,   and   J.    Scott  Maltman.  treasurer,   all   of   Baltimore. 


New  Incorporations 

BURBANK,  CAL.— The  Burbank  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated to  conduct  an  electric  light  and  power  business  at  Burbank, 
Cal.  It  has  an  authorized  capital  stock  of  $20,000,  and  the  directors  are 
George  H.  Deacon,  William  Coryell,  L.  B.  Coryell  and  H.  M.  Deacon,  of 
Burbank,  and  F.   A.   Faust,   of  Glendale. 

NASHVILLE,  ILL.— The  Washington  County  Long  Distance  Tele. 
Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500  to  conduct  a 
telephone  business.  The  incorporators  are  William  H.  May,  William 
Merker  and  Henry  Weilmuenster. 

PEORIA,    ILL. — .Articles   of  incorporation    have   been   filed   by   the   Clii- 


cage,  Peoria  &  Quincy  Trac.  Co.,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000.  The 
company  has  proposed  to  construct  an  interurban  railway  from  Quincy 
through  Adams,  Brown,  Schuyler,  Cass,  McDonough,  Fulton  and  Peoria 
Counties  to  a   point  in   or  near  Peoria. 

CANNELTON,  IND.— The  Cannelton  Public  Service  Company  has 
filed  articles  of  incorporation  with  the  Secretary  of  State.  The  capital 
stock  is  placed  at  $10,000,  and  the  object  of  the  corporation  is  to  con- 
struct a  power  plant  which  will  furnish  light,  heat  and  power  to  the  city 
of  Cannelton  and  adjacent  communities.  Among  those  interested  are 
Lee  Rodman,  A.  F.  Hafele,  M.  F.  Casper,  J.  T.  Hay  and  G.  W.  Huf- 
nagel. 

CROWN  POINT,  IND.— Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  by 
the  Calumet  El.  Co.  It  is  capitalized  at  $10,000  and  plans  to  generate, 
distribute  and  sell  electrical  energj'.  R.  L.  Courtright  is  chairman  of  the 
board  of  directors. 


Trade  Publications 


CONCRETE  BUILDINGS.— Bulletin  No.  11  illustrates  some  of  the 
latest  work  of  the  Turner  Construction  Company,  1 1  Broadway,  New 
York,   and   shows   the   development   of   the   concrete-building   art. 

EXHAUST  STEAM. — A  reprint  from  Power  of  an  article  by  R.  O. 
Warren,  entitled  "Confessions  of  an  Engineer,"  has  been  issued  as 
Bulletin  No.  126  of  the  American  District  Steam  Company,  North  Tona- 
wanda.   N.   Y. 

STREET  LIGHTING.— Bulletin  No.  4951  of  the  General  Electric 
Company  has  for  its  subject  series  street  lighting  with  tungsten  lamps. 
Bulletin  No.  4952  is  devoted  to  the  company's  series  incandescent  street- 
lighting  system. 

COPPER-CLAD  STEEL  WIRE.— A  report  on  copper-clad  steel  wire 
for  municipal  fire-alarm  and  police-signaling  systems  made  by  Mr.  Frank 
F.  Fowle,  as  consulting  electrical  engineer,  has  been  issued  in  pamphlet 
form  by  the  Duplex  Metals  Company,  Chester,  Pa. 

INSUL.^TIOX. — Bakelite  insulation  is  the  subject  of  a  booklet  issued 
by  the  Boonton  Rubber  Company,  Boonton,  N.  J.  This  form  of  insula- 
tion re/quires  no  machining,  the  molded  pieces  of  bakelite  taking  the 
place  of  machine-finished  parts  of  hard  rubber  and  fiber  on  electrical 
apparatus. 

METALLIZED-CARBON-FILAMENT  LAMPS.— The  engineering  de- 
partment of  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Association.  Cleveland.  Ohio, 
has  recently  issued  Bulletin  3B,  which  covers  the  description  and  per- 
formance of  metalli zed-filament  lamps,  with  data  on  the  cost  of  produc- 
ing light  with   them. 

WATT-HOUR  METERS.— The  Siemens  Brothers  Dynamo  Works, 
of  London.  England,  have  recently  distributed  a  new  publication  de- 
scribing the  Siemens  type  G5  watt-hour  meter.  The  pamphlet  is  fully 
illustrated  and  shows  in  detail  how  various  parts  of  the  equipment  may 
be   renewed   without   replacing  an   entire   meter. 

LNSULATORS.— Bulletin  No.  28  B  of  the  Fairmount  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  deals  with  its  15,000-volt 
switchboard  insulators  which  have  been  specially  designed  for  high-voltage 
switchboard  construction  but  are  equally  available  for  low-voltage  work. 
Pot-heads  and   conduit  fittings  are  illustrated  on  the   back  cover. 


Business  Notes 


FEDERAL  SKiN  SYSTEM.— Mr.  F.  U.  Welling  has  been  appointed 
Western  district  manager  of  the  Federal  Sign  System  (Electric)  in  charge 
of  the  Pacific  Coast  interests  of  that  company,  with  headquarters  at  San 
Francisco. 

WESTERN  ELECTRIC  COMPANY.— The  annual  conference  of  the 
"Sunbeam"  lamp  salesmen  of  the  Western  Electric  Company  was  held 
during  the  week  of  July  29  at  the  Maplewood  Beach  Hotel,  near  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  simultaneously  with  the  conference  of  the  "Brilliant"  lamp 
salesmen.  The  men  were  addressed  by  members  of  the  engineering 
department  of  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Association  and  by  members 
of  their  own  sales  organizations  on  topics  of  commercial  and  technical 
interest.  On  Wednesday  afternoon,  July  31,  there  was  a  hair-raising 
ball  game  between  the  "Brilliant"  and  the  "Sunbeam"  salesmen,  in  which 
the  latter  came  off  victorious  by  a  score  of  8  to   I. 

COLUMBUS  MACHINE  &  TOOL  COMPANY.— Contracts  for  the 
construction  of  a  modern  manufacturing  plant  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  have 
been  placed  by  the  Columbus  Machine  &  Tool  Company,  which  was  in- 
corporated in  June  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500, pOO.  Since  its  incorpora- 
tion, the  new  concern  has  purchased  the  business  of  the  Columbus  Ma- 
chine Company,  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  that  of  the  \'ulcan  Furnace  Com- 
pany, of  Warren,  Ohio.  Gas,  gasoHne  and  oil  engines  up  to  600  hp,  me- 
chanical stokers,  shaking  grates,  pipe  machines,  bolt  machines  and  piston 
machines,  etc.,  will  be  manufactured  by  the  company.  Orders  for  ma- 
chine-tool and  power  equipment  have  not  been  placed  yet.  Pending  com- 
pletion of  the  new  plant,  manufacturing  is  being  conducted  in  the  plant 
of  the  Columbus  Machine  Company.  D.  H.  Palmer  is  president  and 
general  manager   of  the  company. 


384 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  7. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED    STATES    PATENTS   ISSUED   AUG.    6,    1912. 

IPrepared   by    Robert    Starr    Allyn,    16    acchange   Place,    New    York.] 

1,034,408.  ELECTRIC  MOTOR;  E.  M.  Barnes,  Hastings,  Mich.  App. 
filed  June  17,   1911.     For  carpet  sweepers,  etc. 

1,034,875.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  H.  P.  Clausen,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed  Feb.  21.  1902.  Local  battery  substation  and  central  energy  ex- 
change. 

1,034,510.  CIRCUIT-CLOSING  DEVICE;  A.  D.  Rizer,  Elgin,  III.  App. 
filed  Aug.  4,   1910.     Automatic  signal   for  trolley  lines. 

1,034  518.  HANGER  FOR  ELECTRICAL  APPARATUS;  A.  Scheible, 
Chicago,   111.     App.   filed  March   12,   1909.     Insulating  device. 

1,034,584.  LIGHTNING  ARRESTER;  F.  S.  Chapman,  Kenton,  Ohio. 
App.   filed   Nov.    16,    1906.      Silent   discharge   in  vacuum. 

1,034,594.  ARC  LAMP;  K.  von  Dreger,  Berlin,  Germany.  App.  filed 
Jan.   14,   1909.     Plurality  of  pairs  of  horizontal  electrodes. 

1,034,596.  ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  P.  Druseidt,  Remscheid,  Germany. 
App.   filed   Dec.   30,    1911.      Push-button-operated  rotary  snap  type. 

1,034,609.  METHOD  OF  FAULT  LOCATION  ON  ELECTRICAL 
CONDUCTORS;  H.  M.  Friendly,  Portland,  Ore.  App.  filed  May 
13,  1907.  Measurements  are  taken  and  the  trouble  is  located  by 
physical  means  without  extended  calculations. 

1,034,620.  ELECTRIC  STENCIL-CUTTING  MACHINE;  E.  A.  Ivatts, 
I'.iiis.  I-"rance.  App.  filed  March  16,  1910.  For  cutting  stencil  bands 
for  coloring  kinematographic  films. 

1,034,666.  OVERFLOW  ALARM;  A.  G.  Weier,  Chicago,  III.  App. 
filed  Sept.  5,   1911.     For  water  tanks. 


1,034,969. — Apparatus   for    Separating   Magnetic   Metal    from   Sand. 

1,034,668.  APPARATUS  FOR  SEPARATING  AND  COLLECTING 
PARTICLES  OF  ONE  SUBSTANCE  SUSPENDED  IN  ANOTHER 
SUBSTANCE;  A.  G.  Wright,  Berkeley,  Cal.  App.  filed  Oct.  24, 
1911.     For  separating  water  from   petroleum,  etc. 

1,034,686.  HEADLIGHT;  F.  Buchanan,  Dayton,  Ohio.  App.  filed  Feb. 
26,   1907.      Feeding  and  supporting  details;   for  trolley  cars,   etc. 

1,034,689.  THERMOSTAT;  T.  Chapman,  Denver,  Col.  App.  filed  April 
14,  1911.  The  thermostatic  bar  actuates  only  the  circuit-closing  de- 
vice. 

1,034,691.  ELECTRIC  IGNITER;  J.  G.  Cook,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  App. 
filed  Feb.   5,   1912.     Automatically  reeling  cable  and  resistance. 

1,034,537.  ELECTRICAL  SYSTEM  OF  DISTRIBUTION;  W.  A.  Tur- 
bayne,  Lancaster,  Pa.  -\pp.  filed  Oct.  29,  1909.  Car-lighting  axle- 
driven   generator. 

1,034,561.  ELECTRICAL  DISTRIBUTION  SYSTEM;  V.  G.  Apple, 
Dayton,  Ohio.  -^pp.  filed  April  23,  1906.  A  generator,  storage  and 
metering    system    with    a    unidirectional    rotary    switch. 

1,034,572.'  ELECTRIC  CONDUIT  FITTING;  C.  H.  Bissell  and  F. 
Smith,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.     App.  filed  Oct.  6,   1910.     Switch  support. 

1,034,583.  INDUCTION  COIL;  J.  F.  Cavanagh,  Providence,  R.  I.  App. 
filed  April  19,  1909.     Tight  casing. 

1,034,711.  CONTAINER  FOR  METAL  BOILER  CLEANERS;  F.  A. 
Ives,  New  Haven,  Conn.  App.  filed  July  24,  1909.  Wire  helix  with 
hooks. 

1,034,719.  ELECTRIC  ELEVATOR-CONTROLLING  APPARATUS; 
W.  D.  Lutz,  .-\llendale,  N.  J.  App.  filed  Jan.  6,  1906.  Automatic 
means  for  cutting  resistance  in  and  out  of  an  electromagnetic  circuit. 

1,034,722.  INCANDESCENT  LAMP;  M.  M.  Merritt,  Middleton,  Mass. 
App.  filed  Feb.  24,  1906.  Stem-fracturing  means  to  prevent  re- 
newal. 

1,034.747.  ELECTRIC  FURNACE:  C.  A.  Weeks,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  App. 
filed  Oct.  23,  1909.  Inclined  tubular  rotary-reducing  flue  for  smelting 
copper,  iron,  etc. 

1,034,760.  MAST  FOR  RADIOTELEGRAPHY.  F.  G.  F.  BrSckerbohm, 
N\*illielmfruh,  Germany.     App.  filed  Feb.   14,  1912.     Articulated. 


1.034.784.  METHOD  OF  PRODUCING  REFINED  METALS  AND 
ALLOYS;  A.  E.  Greene,  Pueblo,  Co!.  App.  filed  April  10,  1908. 
Electric-furnace  iron   smelting. 

1.034.785.  METHOD  OF  PRODUCING  REFINED  METALS  AND 
ALLOYS;  A.  E.  Greene,  Pueblo,  Col.  App.  filed  July  22,  1908.  Re- 
moving sulphur  and  phosphorus. 

1.034.786.  PROCESS  OF  REFINING  ALLOY  STEEL;  A.  E.  Greene, 
Pueblo,   Col.      App.    filed  Jan.   6,    1909.      Low-carbon  manganese   steel. 

1,034  787.  PROCESS  OF  REFINING  METALS  AND  ALLOYS:  A.  E. 
Greene,  Pueblo,  Col.  App.  filed  April  7,  1909.  Elimination  of 
sulphur  and  phosphorus  from  manganese  steel,  etc. 

1,034.788.  PROCESS  OF  EXTRACTING  AND  REFINING  METALS 
AND  ORES;  A.  E.  Greene.  Pueblo,  Col.  App.  filed  Dec.  6,  1909. 
Ore  is  treated  with  gaseous  reagents  under  controlled  heat. 

1,034,791.  VENDING  APPARATUS;  C.  Hanel,  Sudende,  Germatiy.  App. 
filed   April    18,    1911.      Motor-driven   ticket   printing   and   vending. 

1.034.797.  NEGATIVE-POLE  PLATE;  G.  M.  Howard,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
App.  filed  Feb.   17,  1908.     Pockets  for  the  active  material. 

1.034.798.  HEAT-INDICATING  DEVICE;  W.  B.  Hughes,  Newark, 
N.  J.     App.  filed  March  9,   1910.      Diaphragm  thermostat. 

1,034,810.  DISK  STOVE;  C.  P.  Madsen,  Chicago,  III.  App.  filed  Feb. 
6,    1911.     Thin   plate  with  spiral   resistance. 

1,034.859.  HAIR  COMB;  G.  Anderson,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed 
Sept.    11,   1911.      Heating  elements  in  the  teeth. 

1.034.883.  LIGHTNING  ARRESTER;  E.  E.  F.  Creighton,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.  App.  filed  Aug.  3,  1908.  Aluminum  electrode  type  for  street- 
railway  systems,   etc. 

1.034.887.  PROCESS  FOR  REGENERATING  STORAGE-BATTERY 
PL.^TES:  M.  Deinlein,  Munich.  Germany.  App.  filed  Oct.  25,  1911 
The  negative  plates  are  short-circuited  with  a  zinc  member. 

1.034.888.  SECTION  INSULATOR  FOR  OVERHEAD  STRUCTURES 
F.  S.  Denneen  and  G.  A.  Mead.  Mansfield.  Ohio.  App.  filed  Feb. 
26.    1909.      For   catenary  messenger   and   trolley   wires. 

1.034.890.  COOLING  ME.\NS  FOR  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MA 
CHINES:  W.  A.  Dick.  Pittsburgh.  Pa.  App.  filed  Aug.  8,  1908. 
Duplex  machines  with  fan  blower. 

1.034.909.  ELECTRIC  CONDUIT  FITTING;  B.  M.  GraybiU,  Chicago, 
111.     App.   filed  May  4,   1909.     Draw-in  box. 

1.034.910.  PLUG  CONNECTOR;  W.  R.  Greenway,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
App.  filed  May  5,  1911.     Separable  shell. 

1,034.917.  MEANS  FOR  CONSTRUCTING  INCANDESCENT  LAMPS; 
A.  S.  Knight.  Newark,  N.  J.  App.  filed  May  13,  1909.  Adjustable 
support   and  guide. 

1.034.923.  VACUUM-TUBE  LAMP;  D.  McF.  Moore,  Newark,  N.  J. 
App.  filed  Nov.  26,  1904.  Vacuum  lamp  with  a  non-volatile  compound 
of  CH  and  O. 

1.034.924.  REGULATOR  FOR  DYNAMO  MACHINES  AND  ELEC- 
TRIC CIRCUITS;  R.  M.  Newbold,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed  July  2, 
1906.      Axle-generator  railway  lighting. 

1,034,929.  ELECTRICAL  APPARATUS;  A.  B.  Reynders  and  J.  E. 
Matecr,  Wilkinsburg,  Pa.  -App.  filed  May  13,  1909.  Insulation  of 
the  coils  and  leads  of   transformers. 

1,034,934.  TRANSFORMER;  O.  Schaumberg,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  App.  filed 
July   6,    1908.      Clamping  and  anchoring  a   laminated   core. 

1,034,945.  ELECTRICAL  MEASURING  INSTRUMENT;  J.  L.  Zander, 
Irvington,  N.  J.     App.   filed   Sept.   28,   1910.     Galvanometer. 

1,034,949.  PRODUCING  METAL  FILAMENTS;  W.  C.  Arsem,  Schen- 
ectady, N.  Y.  App.  filed  May  9,  1909.  Copper  is  driven  off  from  an 
alloy   with  molybdenum. 

1.034,952.  WATER  HEATER;  H.  P.  Ball,  Pittsfield,  Mass.  App.  filed 
May   17,  1911.     Thermal  insulation  and  circulation. 

1,034.964.  MAGNETO  BELL  RINGER:  E.  Bowman,  Elmwood,  Ontario, 
Canada.     App.   filed  April  18,   1912.     Spring-supported  armature. 

1,034,969.  APPARATUS  FOR  SEPARATING  MAGNETIC  METAL 
FROM  SAND:  T.  W.  Brown,  Jr.,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  App.  filed  May 
6,   1910.     Molding  art. 

1.035.009.  SYSTEM  FOR  ELECTRICALLY  TRANSMITTING  SIG- 
N.^LS;  E.  Hermsdorf,  Brunswick,  Germany.  App.  filed  Oct.  10, 
1911.      Connections   are   made   over   a   spark-gap. 

1,035,020.  GROUND  ROD:  C.  Lanz,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  App.  filed  March 
11,  1911.     Wire  clamped  by  integral  collar  on  rod. 

1,035.042.  ELECTRIC  HEATER;  F.  C.  Perkins  and  M.  M.  Buck, 
Franklinville,  N.  Y.  .^pp.  filed  Dec.  1,  1910.  Coin-operated  curling 
irons. 

1.035.045.  SYSTEM  OF  SUSPENSION:  P.  Pforr,  Berlin,  Germany. 
App.  filed  March   13,   1907.      Double  catenary 

1,035.060.  ELECTROLYTIC  CELL:  A.  Tommasini.  New  York,  N.  Y. 
App.   filed  March  21,   1912.     For  decomposing  water. 

1.035.069.  TRANSFORMER;  C.  Aalborn.  Wilkinsburg,  Pa.,  and  O. 
Schaumberg,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  App.  filed  July  6,  1908.  Core-section 
supports. 

1,035,119.  FLAMING-ARC  ELECTRODE;  E.  J.  Guay,  Lynn,  Mass. 
App.  filed  Aug.  10,  1910.  Titanium  carbide,  calcium  fluoride,  cryolite 
and   carbon. 

1,034,405.  PRINTING  TELEGRAPH;  B.  Soldatencow,  Paris,  France. 
App.  filed  Feb.  5,  1912.  Electromagnetic  device  with  two  distinct 
actions. 


1 


Electrical  World 

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NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  AUGUST  24,  1912. 

CONTENTS. 

Editorials 385 

Rale  Research  Conference i^6 

Passage  of  Bill  Regulating  Wireless  Communication 388 

Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Meeting 388 

Extensions  in  and  Near  Minneapolis 388 

New  Patent  Bills 388 

Proposed  Marconi  Wireless  Contract  with  the  British  Government....  3S9 

Patent   Office   Investigation 389 

Georgia  Section,  N.  E.  L.  A 389 

Decision  in  the  Lincoln  High-Tension  Case 391 

Public   Service  Commission  News 392 

Current  News  and  Notes i9i 

Pennsylvania  Water  &  Power  Company 395 

The   Use    of   Naked   Aluminum    Wjre    in    Electromagnets.      By    II.    F. 

Stratton     400 

Wooden    Tower    with    Steel    Bowspring    Cross-. \rm    for    100,000-Volt 

Transmission     Line 403 

The   Polarization    Emf   of   a   Mixture    of   Clay,    Feldspar    and    Quartz. 

By  A.   A.    Somerville 4G3 

Newsboys'    Toast-Eating    Contest 406 

Adjustment  of  Customers*  Complaints 406 

Individual   Meters   in   Garages 406 

Contract  Routine  System  of  Detroit  Edison   Company 407 

Detroit  Plan   of   Final   Inspection 408 

Flatiron  Campaign  in   Chicago 408 

Combination   Warning  and    Interruption    Report   Card 409 

Electrical  Equipment  for  Theater 409 

Reconstruction   of  Overhead   Lines  at  Newark,  Ohio 409 

Curbside  Double-Throw  Feeder  Switches  at  Fort  Worth,  Tex 410 

Conduit  Systems  in  Concrete  Buildings.     By  J.  P.   Morrissey 411 

Protection  of  Electric  Meters.     By  Robert  Montgomery 412 

Recent     Telephone     Patents 413 

Letter  to  the  Editors: 

Power-Plant   Efficiency   as   Determined    by   the   Technical    Education 

of   Employees.      By    Lyman    Shepard ' 413 

Digest  of  Current   Electrical   Literatuie .114 

New   Apparatus   and   .'\ppliances 418 

Industrial   and   Financial   News 423 

Weekly   Record    of   Electrical    Patents 43J 


ELECTRICAL  DEVELOPMENT  ON  THE  SUSQUEHANNA  RIVER. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  power  resources  of  the 
Susquehanna  River  are  little  developed,  notwithstanding 
that  the  river  is  one  of  the  largest  emptying  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  and  that  there  is  within  easy  transmission 
distance  a  much  better  potential  market  for  the  energy  than 
probably  anywhere  else  in  the  United  States.  Below  Harris- 
burg  the  fall  in  the  riverbed  averages  from  5  ft.  to  8  ft.  per 
mile,  and  it  is  here  that  the  greatest  opportunities  for  large 
hydroelectric  developments  e.xist.  Yet  the  only  points  at 
which  the  stream  is  now  being  used  to  any  great  e.xtent  are 
at  York  Haven,  where  15.000  kw  is  being  developed,  and  at 
McCall  Ferry,  where  an  initial  installation  of  59,000  kw 
has  been  made.  Between  York  Haven  and  the  sea  there  is 
a  fall  of  about  270  ft.  and  the  mean  annual  di.^charge  at 
York  Haven  is  about  40,000  cu.  ft.  per  second,  so  that  on 
the  assumption  that  11  cu.  ft.  per  second  of  water  dropping 
I  ft.  is  equal  to  a  horse-power  in  a  machine  having  an 
efficiency  of  80  per  cent,  about  1,000,000  hp  is  available 
throughout  the  river.  Only  a  small  portion  of  this  power 
is  reclaimed  from  the  water  at  McCall  Ferry.  There  are, 
of  course,  many  obstacles  in  the  way  of  development,  the 
most  serious  being  the  ice  freshets  and  gorges  which  reduce 
or  obliterate  to  a  large  extent  the  available  head.  There 
are  also  involved  financial  considerations  of  no  mean  pro- 
portions and  competition  with  e.xisting  utilities  in  localities 
where  cheap  fuel  is  available,  for  rich  coal  fields  are  not  a 
great  way  ot¥.  Some  of  these  causes  for  a  time  retarded  the 
hydroelectric  development  at  McCall  Ferry,  the  subject  of 
a  descriptive  article  appearing  elsewhere  in  this  issue,  but 
the  difficulties  which  beset  the  undertaking  were  eventually 
overcome  and  a  profitable  market  was  secured  for  the 
present  out;iut  of  the  station  in  Baltimore,  40  miles  away. 

Tlie  McCall  Ferry  plant  of  the  Pennsylvania  Water  & 
I'ower  Company  is  one  of  the  large  hydroelectric  stations 
of  the  country.  As  is  the  case  with  most  large  stations  of 
this  character,  the  energy  is  sold  in  bulk  to  existing  com- 
panies, and  in  this  respect  the  system  is  fortunate  in  having 
at  the  receiving  end  large  steam  stations  which  may  be 
pressed  into  service  when  necessary.  In  the  territory 
covered  are  many  distributing  plants,  and  these  with  the 
manufacturing  sites  owned  by  the  company  should,  with  a 
favorable  rate  for  energy,  insure  the  completed  plant  a  full 
load.  The  station  in  its  equipment  does  not  depart  from 
the  accepted  practice  of  the  day,  although  from  its  civil- 
engineering  side  it  has  some  special  features  ])eculiar  to 
itself.  The  available  head  is  63  ft.,  and  inasmuch  as  back 
water  during  flood  periods  will  reduce  the  head  somewhat 
the  turbines  are  arranged  to  carry  rated  load  even  in  time  of 
flood,  the  draft  tubes  being  in  two  parts.  The  generators 
are  wound  for  11,000  volts  and  the  potential  is  stepped  up  to 
70,000  volts  for  transmission.     Steel  towers  fitted  with  sus- 


386 


ELECTRICAL     \\ORLD 


Vol.  6o,  \o.  8. 


pension  insulators  are  employed  for  a  two-circuit  line  to 
Baltimore.  Although  the  distance  of  transmission  is  not 
over  40  miles,  the  better  service  obtained  because  of  the 
higher  potential  and  insulation  of  the  line  amply  justifies 
the  extra  expenditure  entailed  by  such  construction.  Ex- 
perience with  recent  iio,ooo-volt  lines  operated  side  by  side 
with  60,000-volt  lines  fitted  with  pin  insulators  proves  the 
wisdom  of  such  a  course. 


ELECTRIC  SHIP  PROPULSION. 

At  first  sight  it  would  seem  that  the  most  unlikely  and 
unfavorable  place  in  the  whole  world  for  the  transmission 
of  power  by  electricity  is  between  the  engine  and  the  pro- 
peller of  one  and  the  same  steamship.  On  board  a  steamer 
the  engine  is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  be  readily  capable  of 
driving  a  longitudinal  shaft  or  shafts,  and  the  screw  pro- 
peller is  a  device  that  has  to  be  driven  by  a  longitudinal 
shaft  projecting  from  the  hull.  Consequently,  it  would 
seem  that  not  only  are  the  marine  engine  and  the  propeller 
naturally  adapted  to  be  directly  coupled  on  one  and  the 
same  shaft,  but  that  any  attempt  to  divorce  these  appro- 
priate conjugal  units  would  be  economically  disastrous  and 
ludicrously  ill-starred.  Nevertheless,  when  we  come  to  con- 
sider that  the  ordinary  screw  propeller  is  an  essentially  low- 
speed  device  while  the  steam  turbine  is  essentially  a  high- 
speed engine,  the  above-stated  proposition  ceases  to  be  so 
self-evident,  and  the  possibility  of  overhauling  the  line  of 
sequence   presents   itself. 

The  reciprocating  marine  engine  of  the  multiple-expan- 
sion type  is  a  low-speed  machine.  Its  large  masses  naturally 
resist  rapid  reversals  in  direction  of  motion.  Consequently, 
it  is  but  natural  that  the  reciprocating  engine  should  be 
directly  coupled  to  the  propeller  shaft.  The  steam  turbine 
has  certain  manifest  advantages  in  marine  service.  Its 
lightness,  compactness,  large  specific  output,  balanced 
thrusts,  simplicity  of  piping  and  freedom  from  oil-cup  ex- 
crescences are  all  in  its  favor.  Its  great  objection  is  its 
high  speed  and  its  uniformity  of  speed.  If  the  steam-tur- 
bine is  lowered  in  speed,  its  efficiency  speedily  vanishes. 
Moreover,  if  attempts  are  made  to  drive  it  at  half  speed, 
for  economy  in  coal  consumption,  the  ineconomy  of  the 
turbine  partially  offsets  the  possible  economy  of  propulsion 
power. 

In  order,  then,  to  realize  the  advantages  of  the  steam 
turbine,  and  at  the  same  time  to  maintain  a  reasonable 
efficiency  in  the  screw  propeller,  it  becomes  necessary  to 
introduce  a  mechanical  transformer  to  exchange  low 
torque  and  high  speed  into  high  torque  and  low  speed. 
Such  a  transformer  may  be  either  mechanical  or  electrical. 
Some  form  of  reducing  gear  would  constitute  a  mechanical 
transformer.  The  combination  of  a  generator  and  motor 
would  constitute  an  electrical  transformer.  Each  of  these 
plans  has  its  advocates.  Theoretically,  a  set  of  reducing 
gear  wheels  would  be  much  the  simpler  of  the  two,  just  as 
a  gear-wheel  reduction  is  used  in  practically  every  electric 
street  car  between  the  motors  and  the  car  axles.  \\'hen, 
however,  we  come  to  examine  the  dimensions  necessary  in 
the  gear  mechanism  for  delivering  the  enormous  torque  re- 
quired for  propelling  a  vessel  of  the  proportions  of  any  one 


of  the  modern  ocean  greyhounds  the  difficulties  in  secur- 
ing economy,  efficiency  and  reliability  become  very  evident. 

The  United  States  government  is  preparing  to  secure 
reliable  data  on  the  relative  merits  of  these  systems  by 
building  three  large  steam  colliers,  for  naval  service,  all 
alike,  and  of  equal  displacement.  On  one  of  them,  the 
Cyclops,  will  be  placed  reciprocating  engines  of  5600  hp, 
for  driving  the  propeller  at  the  speed  necessary  for  14 
knots  of  ship  velocity.  On  the  second,  the  Neptune,  is 
being  placed  a  pair  of  steam  turbines  with  gear  reductions. 
On  the  third — the  Jupiter — will  be  placed  a  single  steam 
turbine  and  alternating-current  generator,  with  a  pair  of 
synchronous  motors  on  the  propeller  shafts.  Preliminary 
tests  of  the  turbo-generator  set  at  the  Schenectady  factory 
of  the  General  Electric  Company  were  described  recently 
in  our  columns.  It  is  already  claimed  that  the  electric  set 
will  show  a  very  distinct  economy  in  steam  consumption 
over  the  reciprocating  engine  set,  and  the  final  results  of 
comparison  between  the  three  will  be  watched  with  great 
interest. 

If  the  electric  set  should  prove  itself  distinctly  superior 
to  the  other  two  in  actual  service,  it  would  be  likely  to  pave 
the  waj-  for  the  introduction  of  similar  electric  sets  not 
only  in  battleships,  where  coal  economy  is  of  great  impor- 
tance, but  also  on  large  passenger  steamers.  An  incidental 
consequence  would  also  probably  be  that  alternating-current 
systems  would  supersede  direct-current  systems  of  lighting 
and  motor  service  on  board  ship.  It  has  been  generally 
admitted  that  the  induction  motor  is  better  adapted  to 
propulsion  service  than  any  direct-current  motor.  Evident- 
ly, since  the  electric  gearing  is  in  competition  with  a  single 
simple  propeller  shaft,  only  the  simplest,  crudest  and  most 
reliable  type  of  electric  motor  has  any  chance  of  success. 
Whether  the  electric  propulsion  system  comes  into  general 
adoption  or  not,  the  Jupiter  will  furnish  a  unique  example 
of  the  electric  transmission  of  power  to  a  distance  of  only 
a  few  feet  with  economical  intent.  An  abstract  of  a  dis- 
cussion of  this  general  subject  in  Elektrotechnik  und 
Mascliincnbau,  by  Profs.  Karl  Zickler  and  Rudolf  Czepek, 
is  given  in  this  week's  Digest. 


USE  OF  NAKED  ALUMINUM  WIRE  IN  ELECTROMAGNETS. 

In  the  early  days  of  electrical  investigations,  the  days  of 
Franklin,  Faraday  and  Henry,  bare  copper  wire,  of  a  kind, 
was  obtainable,  but  the  familiar  covered  wire  of  to-day 
was  unknown.  In  winding  a  coil  it  was  customary  to 
separate  the  turns  of  each  helical  layer  so  as  to  have  thenil 
air-insulated,  while  the  successive  layers  were  separated  by* 
paper  or  linen.  As  the  art  developed,  machines  were  intro- 
duced for  winding  on  layers  of  silk  or  cotton,  until,  at  the 
present  day,  covered  wire  is  so  common  that  bare  wire  is 
rather  the  exception  in  electromagnetic  structures.  The 
early  dynamo  machines  employed  cotton  or  silk  coverings 
as  insulation  for  the  active  conductors.  Only  in  very  low- 
voltage  machines  could  air  insulation  alone  be  relied  upon. 
Edison  tried  at  one  time  to  substitute  air  insulation  for 
cotton  insulation,  in  his  early  direct-connected  generators 
for  central-station  service ;  but  the  experience  so  obtained 
was  not  encouraging.     Even   at   120  volts  pressure,   short- 


August  24,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


387 


circuits  occurred  across  air-spaces  between  moving  con- 
ductors; apparently  because  partial  vacua  were  developed 
in  these  air-spaces  at  high  speeds.  The  progress  of  dynamo 
construction  has  rendered  necessary  the  abandonment  of 
cotton  insulation  in  various  forms  of  high-tension  rotors. 
In  some  stator  windings  also,  such  as  the  field  windings  of 
railway  motors,  cotton  insulation  has  given  place  to  sub- 
stances of  greater  heat-withstanding  power.  Nevertheless, 
a  vast  amount  of  silk-covered  and  cotton-covered  wire  finds 
its  way  every  year  into  electromagnetic  windings  of  all 
classes. 

The  cost  per  pound  of  covered  wire  is  not  much  greater 
than  that  of  bare  wire,  in  large  sizes;  but  as  we  come  to  the 
smallest  sizes  of  copper  wire,  the  extra  cost  of  insulation 
naturally  runs  up  very  rapidly.  Moreover,  with  moderate 
sizes  of  wire  the  coeflicient  of  space  utilization  in  the  wind- 
ings— that  is,  the  ratio  of  the  copper  space  to  the  total 
winding  space- — is  nearly  constant,  and  independent  of  the 
gage  of  wire;  but  when  we  come  to  very  small  wires,  this 
rule  is  widely  departed  from  and  the  coefficient  becomes 
greatly  reduced.  The  coils  hold  less  copper,  and  more 
insulation,  as  the  wire  becomes  smaller.  This,  in  turn, 
unduly  impedes  the  conduction  of  heat  from  the  interior  of 
the  coil  and  adds  to  the  internal  temperature  for  a  given 
number  of  watts  e.xpended  in  the  winding.  Finally,  when 
covered  copper  wires  of  very  small  size  are  utilized,  it  is 
easy  for  the  wire  to  break  inside  the  covering,  without  the 
winder's  knowledge.  For  all  of  these  reasons  efforts  have 
been  made  in  recent  years  to  get  rid  of  the  silk  or  cotton 
covering. 

Two  methods  of  coil  winding,  both  avoiding  silk  or  cotton 
insulation,  are  well  known  to  the  art.  One  employs  an  in- 
sulating Enamel  on  the  wire,  and  the  other  a  separating 
thread  between  adjacent  turns  of  bare  wire  with  paper 
insulation  separating  the  layers.  The  article  by  Mr.  H.  F. 
Stratton  in  this  issue  sets  forth  the  advantages  of  using 
bare  aluminum  wire  so  treated  that  a  non-conducting  film 
covers  its  surface.  There  is  doubtless  a  wide  field  in  the 
future  for  the  use  of  aluminum  in  coils,  if  a  reliable  method 
can  be  found  for  securing  the  necessary  insulation  between 
adjacent  wires,  without  the  use  of  silk  or  cotton  covering. 
Where  such  coverings  have  to  be  used,  aluminum  suffers 
in  comparison  with  copper,  on  the  score  of  conductivity. 


THE  LINCOLN  HIGH-TENSION  CASE. 

Almost  since  the  electrical  art  took  commercial  form, 
over  a  quarter  century  ago,  certain  of  its  branches  have 
found  their  interests  frequently  in  conflict  with  one  another 
in  a  physical  sense.  Earliest  of  all  it  was  learned  that  the 
single-wire  ground-return  type  of  telephone  line  could  not 
comfortably  inhabit  the  same  neighborhood  with  that  pio- 
neer disturber  of  electrical  calm,  the  single  overhead  trolley 
system  of  electric  traction.  The  vagabond  currents  which 
strayed  from  the  imperfect  track  returns  of  those  days, 
seemingly  to  wander  in  mere  haphazard  fashion,  and  the 
variable-pitched  note  of  telephone  induction  caused  by  com- 
mutation, serving  so  accurately  to  foretell  the  approach  as 
well  as  the  departure  of  the  occasional  trolley  car,  forced 
important  changes  in  the  telephone  art.     The   transposed 


two-wire  or  metallic  type  of  line  soon  took  its  permanent 
place  in  telephone  practice  and  the  difficulties,  for  a  time  at 
least,  were  overcome.  Then  came  that  more  insidious  evil, 
the  electrolysis  of  underground  metal  structures  such  as 
water  and  gas  pipes  and  cable  sheaths,  chargeable  again  to 
the  seemingly  homeless  currents  which  disdained  the  track 
return  and  roamed  unchecked  through  subterranean  courses. 
But  here  no  simple  remedy  or  change  in  practice  could  be 
found  to  render  the  pipe  systems  immune  or  the  offending 
currents  innocuous,  and  the  treatment  has  been  in  the  direc- 
tion of  prevention  rather  than  cure.  Generally  speaking,  it 
has  been  necessary  to  level  out  the  potential  differences  in 
the  track  system  and  approach  the  condition  of  an  equi- 
potential  plane  at  zero  pressure,  thus  treating  the  problem 
from  the  railway  side. 

Contemporaneously  the  alternating-current  system  of  en- 
ergy transmission  and  distribution  came  rapidly  into  use, 
early  giving  rise  to  the  annoyance  of  induction  in  telephone 
lines  from  parallel  distribution  circuits  of  the  familiar  con- 
stant-potential and  constant-current  types.  The  difficulties 
were  relieved  at  first  by  transpositions  in  the  telephone  cir- 
cuits and  later  by  improvements  in  the  construction  of  dis- 
tribution systems  tending  to  minimize  the  stray  fields.  The 
later  adoption  of  alternating-current  systems  of  traction, 
particularly  the  single-phase  system  which  has  almost  ex- 
clusively dominated  American  installations,  brought  to  the 
front  by  far  the  most  serious  induction  problem  yet  en- 
countered, and  one  still  lacking  a  fully  adequate  remedy 
from  the  telephone  and  telegraph  standpoint.  The  latest 
issue  created  between  two  major  branches  of  the  electrical 
art  is  one  purely  of  hazard,  arising  from  the  exposure  of 
telephone,  telegraph  or  similar  low-tension  systems  to  the 
high-tension,  high-energy  transmission  systems  which  are 
multiplying  so  rapidly.  The  dangers  are  well  recognized 
and  an  important  step  toward  establishing  safe  practice  was 
accomplished  in  the  joint  committee  work  which  evolved  the 
regulations  set  forth  in  the  report  of  the  overhead  line 
construction  committee  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  published  last 
year. 

The  court  opinion  in  what  is  probably  the  first  important 
test  case  involving  the  sole  question  of  hazard  to  low- 
tension  communication  lines  from  exposure  to  high-tension 
transmission  lines,  the  so-called  Lincoln  case,  is  abstracted 
elsewhere  in  this  issue.  The  dangerous  situation  created 
in  this  instance  was  severely  condemned  by  some  of  the 
leading  electrical  engineers  who  themselves  have  been  fore- 
most in  advancing  the  art  of  high-tension  transmission. 
While  the  complainants  without  doubt  displayed  tactical 
wisdom  in  demanding  adequate  protection  in  general,  with- 
out insisting  on  specific  measures,  good  engineering  practice 
requires  complete  separation  of  the  two  systems.  The 
National  Electrical  Code  has  for  some  time  recognized  the 
urgent  need  of  separating  such  systems  wherever  possible. 
The  191 1  edition  of  the  code,  under  Rule  13,  is  very  ex- 
plicit on  this  point.  Transmission  lines  of  this  character 
ought  always  to  be  on  private  right-of-way,  and  never  on 
the  public  streets  of  cities  or  towns.  Precedents  for  such 
practice  had  been  established  in  nearby  cities  and  towns, 
even  villages,  of  Illinois  and  the  necessity  for  contests  of 
this  sort  ought  now  to  be  past. 


388 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  8. 


RATE  RESEARCH  CONFERENCE. 


At  the  recent  meeting  of  the  rate  research  committee  of 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association  at  Association 
Island  there  were  present  Mr.  James  C.  De  Long,  chairman, 
and  Mr.  C.  H.  B.  Chapin,  secretary,  of  the  committee  on 
gas  and  electric  schedules  of  the  Second  Public  Service 
District  of  New  York  State.  The  recommendations  of  the 
two  committees  in  relation  to  uniform  schedules  were  con- 
sidered, and  Secretary  Norton,  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  com- 
mittee, was  instructed  to  advise  the  Second  District  Public 
Service  Commission  that  inasmuch  as  the  report  of  the 
N.  E.  L.  A.  committee  was,  to  a  large  extent,  based  upon 
the  report  of  the  Second  District  committee,  and  since  the 
two  reports  are  in  such  substantial  agreement,  the  N.  E.  L.  A. 
committee  believes  that  no  advantage  will  be  gained  by  the 
Second  District  committee  waiting  for  further  agreement 
liefore  making  a  year's  trial  of  the  recommendations  as 
proposed  by  that  committee. 

Recommendations  for  uniform  schedules  were  further 
considered,  and  Secretary  Norton  was  instructed  to  print 
and  send  out  to  all  of  the  member  company  assistants  blank 
sheets  and  suggestions  for  the  filing  of  schedules  in  the 
form  recommended  by  the  committee  in  its  1912  report. 
Plans  for  printing  the  BuUetin  beginning  with  the  issue  of 
Oct.  2,  1912,  were  discussed,  and  it  was  decided  that  the 
edition  should  consist  of  sixteen  pages  weekly  and  that  a 
general  subscription  price  should  be  charged. 


PASSAGE  OF  BILL  REGULATING  WIRELESS 
COMMUNICATION. 


On  Aug.  16  President  Taft  approved  the  Bourne  bill 
(S.  6412)  regulating  radio-communication.  This  act  re- 
quires every  person,  company  or  corporation  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  operating  any  apparatus 
for  commercial  radio-communication  among  the  several 
states  or  with  foreign  nations  to  obtain  a  license  from  the 
Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor.  Every  license  shall  be 
in  such  form  as  the  Secretary  shall  determine  and  shall 
state  the  restrictions  under  which  it  is  issued,  including  the 
wave-lengths  authorized  for  use  by  the  station  for  the  pre- 
vention of  interference  and  the  hours  for  which  the  station 
is  licensed  for  operation.  All  commercial  wireless  apparatus 
while  in  use  shall  be  under  the  supervision  of  the  Secretary 
of  Commerce  and  Labor. 

The  act  provides  that  the  normal  sending  and  receiving 
wave  of  each  station  shall  have  a  definite  length,  either  not 
exceeding  600  m  or  exceeding  1600  m.  All  ship  stations, 
and  all  coast  stations  open  to  general  public  service,  shall 
be  prepared  to  use  two  sending  wave-lengths,  one  of  300  m 
and  one  of  600  m.  If  the  transmitted  wave  be  not  pure, 
the  energy  of  any  minor  component  shall  not  exceed  10 
per  cent  of  the  energy  of  the  major  compo,nent.  The 
logarithmic  decrement  per  complete  oscillation  shall  not 
exceed  2  per  cent  except  when  sending  distress  signals.  The 
international  distress  signal  shall  be  three  dots,  three  dashes 
and  three  dots,  and  such  signals  shall  have  superior  right 

of  way. 

Whenever  possible  every  shipboard  station  must  be  pre- 
pared to  send  distress  signals  over  a  distance  of  at  least  100 
nautical  miles  by  day.  Shipboard  stations  when  within  15 
nautical  miles  of  a  naval  or  military  station  shall  not  use  a 
transformer  input  exceeding  I  kw,  and  when  within  5 
nautical  miles  the  input  shall  not  exceed  i/<  kw,  except  for 
distress  signals.  In  general,  wireless  stations  must  not  use 
more  energy  for  transmission  than  is  necessary.  Shipboard 
stations  in  general  shall  transmit  their  radiograms  to  the 
nearest  shore  station.  Every  operator  is  required  to  pre- 
serve with  secrecy  all  radiograms  he  may  receive  or 
transmit  and  penalties  are  provided  for  a  violation  of  any 
of  the  regulations  contained  in  the  new  act.     This  act  was 


passed  by  the  House  of  Representatives  on  Aug.  9  and  was 
apparently  enacted  without  any  consideration  of  the  wire- 
less convention  signed  at  London  by  the  delegates  of  some 
thirty  nations  early  in  the  month  of  July. 


ELECTRICAL  SUPPLY  JOBBERS'  MEETING. 

The  quarterly  meeting  of  the  Electrical  Supply  Jobbers' 
Association  was  held  at  the  Hotel  Clifton,  Niagara  Falls, 
Canada,  Aug.  14,  15  and  16.  These  gatherings  are  always 
the  means  of  bringing  into  closer  harmony  and  co-operation 
the  men  engaged  in  this  branch  of  the  electrical  industry. 
Discussions  on  various  matters  of  moment  to  the  dealers, 
such  as  selling  campaigns,  comparative  store  expenses,  etc., 
are  carried  on. 

At  this  meeting  a  proposition  was  made  to  the  association 
to  contribute  $5,000  toward  a  campaign  of  co-operation 
with  other  electrical  associations  and  the  matter  was  taken 
under  advisement.  It  was  decided  to  increase  the  member- 
ship fee.  The  next  meeting  will  be  held  at  Hot  Springs,. 
Va.,  in  November. 


EXTENSIONS  IN  AND  NEAR  MINNEAPOLIS. 


Coincident  with  the  announcement  that  on  Aug.  I  active 
management  of  the  Minneapolis  General  Electric  Company 
was  assumed  by  Messrs.  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company, 
Chicago,  announcement  was  also  made  that  the  firm  will 
proceed  to  develop  35.000  hp  on  the  St.  Croi.x  River  above 
the  present  2o,ooo-hp  installation  at  Taylor's  Falls,  which 
latter  will  be  augmented  by  the  installation  of  a  5000-hp 
unit.  Further  hydroelectric  development  on  the  Mississippi 
approximating  80,000  hp  is  under  contemplation,  so  that 
not  less  than  160,000  hp,  including  several  smaller  develop- 
ments in  the  region,  will  be  available  at  Minneapolis.  The 
firm's  properties  in  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  will  be  con- 
nected by  transmission  lines  and  the  water-powers  of  the 
Consumers'  Power  Company  at  Canon  Falls  and  Mankato 
will  be  tied  by  a  line  running  south  from  St.  Paul.  As 
announced  last  week.  General  George  H.  Harries  will  have 
general  supervision  of  the  Minneapolis  company. 


NEW  PATENT  BILLS. 


Two  new  bills  amending  the  patent  laws  were  introduced 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  Aug.  8  by  Representa- 
tive Harrison,  of  New  York.  Bill  H.  R.  26,184  provides 
for  an  amendment  of  Section  4884  of  the  Revised  Statutes, 
the  particular  feature  of  which  is  given  by  the  following 
quotation  : 

"But  a  subordinate  property  in  the  grant,  right  and  prop- 
erty covered  by  every  patent  issued  after  Sept.  i,  1912,  and 
by  every  extension  of  a  patent  issued  after  that  date,  may« 
be  taken,  upon  making  just  compensation  therefor,  for* 
public  use,  by  exploitation,  through  proceedings  in  equity 
duly  instituted  and  prosecuted  according  to  law  and  the 
rules  and  practice  of  the  appropriate  district  court  of  the 
United  States  by  the  government  of  the  United  States,  or 
by  the  owner  of  a  basic  patent  covering  a  correlated  inven- 
tion or  discovery,  or  by  the  owner  of  a  patent  covering  an 
improvement  thereon." 

Bill  H.  R.  26,185  provides  for  the  exercise  of  the  right 
of  eminent  domain  in  compelling  the  owner  of  a  patent 
under  which  the  patented  article  or  thing  is  suppressed 
from  public  use  to  grant  a  license.  The  applicant  for 
license,  in  cases  where  the  owner  of  the  patent  has  refused 
a  fair  offer,  must  bring  equity  proceedings  in  the  district 
court  and  prove  that  it  is  his  intention,  in  good  faith,  to 
exploit  the  patent.     Furthermore,  the  applicant  must  certify 


August  24.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


389 


that  he  will  pay  the  compensation  therefor  which  the  court 
may  determine.  The  five  sections  of  this  bill  practically 
prescribe  the  equity  proceedings  referred  to  in  the  first 
bill,  in  the  quotation  given  above.  These  bills  have  been 
referred  to  the  committee  on  patents. 


PROPOSED  MARCONI  WIRELESS  CONTRACT  WITH 
THE  BRITISH  GOVERNMENT. 


The  negotiations  which  have  been  carried  on  between  the 
Marconi  Wireless  Telegraph  Company  of  America  and  the 
British  government  have  resulted  in  a  form  of  contract 
which  was  recently  placed  before  the  House  of  Commons 
for  ratification.  The  company  agrees  to  erect  stations 
capable  of  communication  over  a  range  of  at  least  2000  miles 
in  England,  Cyprus,  Arden,  South  Africa.  India  and  other 
places  as  required  and  agreed  upon.  Complete  wireless 
apparatus  for  duplex  working  and  high-speed  automatic 
working  will  be  provided  by  the  company,  with  earth  con- 
nections and  duplicate  power  plants  at  each  station,  for  the 
sum  of  $290,000  per  station.  If  successful  working  has  been 
established  at  the  end  of  six  months,  the  company  shall  turn 
over  the  stations  for  operation  by  the  governments  con- 
cerned. The  agreement  shall  extend  for  twenty-eight  years 
after  the  completion  of  the  first  five  stations  and  is  terminable 
at  the  end  of  eighteen  years  by  six  months'  notice  from  the 
Postmaster  General.  The  company  is  to  receive  royalties  of 
10  per  cent  of  the  gross  receipts  of  the  stations.  Favorable 
comment  on  the  scheme  appeared  in  the  London  Economist. 
The  contract  will  be  acted  upon  at  the  autumn  session  of 
Parliament. 


PATENT  OFFICE  INVESTIGATION. 


The  joint  resolution  providing  for  an  investigation  of  the 
Patent  Office,  announced  in  our  issue  of  July  27,  was  passed 
by  the  House  of  Representatives  several  weeks  ago  and  was 
approved  by  the  Senate  on  Aug.  15.  This  measure  author- 
izes the  economy  and  efficiency  commission  to  conduct  a 
thorough  examination  into  the  administration  of  the  Patent 
Office  and  appropriates  therefor  the  sum  of  $10,000.  The 
commission  is  directed  to  report  to  Congress  not  later  than 
Dec.  10  what  changes  in  law,  appropriations  and  addi- 
tional building  accommodations  are  necessary.  Mr.  F.  A. 
Cleveland  is  chairman  of  the  commission.  It  is  announced 
that  hearings  will  be  held  during  the  course  of  the  in- 
vestigation. 

GEORGIA  SECTION,  N.  E.  L.  A. 


.■\t  the  opening  session  of  the  second  annual  convention 
of  the  Georgia  Section  of  the  National  Electric  Light  As- 
sociation, held  in  Tybee,  Ga.,  on  Aug.  15,  16  and  17,  the 
address  of  welcome  was  delivered  by  the  Hon.  W.  W. 
Osborne,  Savannah,  the  meetings  being  in  charge  of  Mr. 
William  R.  Collier.  Atlanta,  president  of  the  section. 

ELECTRIC   VEHICLES. 

A  paper  entitled  "The  Present  Status  of  Electric  Vehi- 
cles in  the  Southeastern  States"  was  presented  by  Mr.  A. 
N.  Bentley,  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company,  Atlanta. 
The  author  stated  that  the  Georgia  Railway  &  Power  Com- 
pany operates  four  commercial  vehicles.  The  company's 
battery  expert  makes  regular  inspection  of  many  electric 
vehicles  housed  in  private  garages.  The  work  of  this  man 
has  resulted  in  a  rapidly  increasing  popularity  of  the  elec- 
tric vehicle  in  Atlanta.  About  eighty  electric  pleasure 
vehicles  and  eight  commercial  cars  have  been  placed  in 
operation  in  Atlanta  during  the  past  two  years. 

The  Memphis  Consolidated  Gas  &  Electric  Company  last 
fall  opened  a  garage,  in  its  own  name  and  under  its  own 


management,  exclusively  for  electric  vehicles.  Nine  com- 
mercial cars  and  fifty  pleasure  cars  have  been  placed  in 
service  in  Memphis  since  the  opening  of  this  garage,  the 
number  of  cars  being  doubled  in  less  than  one  year. 

The  author  stated  that  central  stations  in  other  places 
should  exert  every  effort  to  encourage  the  use  of  electric 
vehicles  in  their  localities,  since  each  station  obtains  an  in- 
come of  from  $5  to  $50  per  month  from  every  electric 
vehicle  taking  energy  from  its  system.  Moreover,  the  load 
is  of  the  most  desirable  off-peak  character. 

Mr.  Bentley's  paper  was  discussed  by  Messrs.  Thomas  W. 
Peters,  Columbus  Electric  Company;  E.  C.  Deal,  Georgia 
Railway  &  Power  Company,  Atlanta;  John  S.  Bleecker, 
Columbus  Electric  Company;  Marcy  L.  Sperry,  Savannah 
Electric  Company;  E.  S.  Roberts,  Savannah  Electric  Com- 
pany, and  J.  Watterson.  Mr.  Peters  stated  that  a  mercury- 
arc  rectifier  was  installed  in  Columbus  for  at  least  two 
years  before  there  was  any  need  for  it  in  charging  vehi- 
cle batteries.  The  electric  company  has  attempted  to 
create  a  demand  for  electric  vehicles,  but  has  met  with 
no  success.  Mr.  Watterson  called  attention  to  the  work 
accomplished  by  the  Public  Service  Corporation  of  New 
Jersey.  This  company  employs  a  consulting  engineer  who 
spends  his  time  in  inducing  horse  owners  to  substitute  elec- 
tric vehicles  for  their  present  equipment.  There  are  now 
used  in  New  Jersey  about  300  more  vehicles  than  were  in 
use  before  this  plan  was  inaugurated. 

Mr.  Bleecker  explained  that  recently  an  electric  garage 
has  been  opened  in  Columbus  and  an  active  electric-vehicle 
campaign  is  now  under  way. 

Mr.  Deal  remarked  that  the  lack  of  confidence  in  the 
electric  vehicle  on  the  part  of  central  stations  has  been  the 
prime  cause  for  the  slow  introduction  of  the  vehicle.  The 
time  has  arrived  when  central  stations  can  consistently  use 
electric  vehicles  and  recommend  them  to  their  customers 
and  friends.  Central-station  companies  can  safely  assume 
practically  all  responsibility  and  reasonable  expense  con- 
nected with  the  operation  of  an  electric  vehicle  for  several 
months  after  it  is  sold. 

Mr.  Sperry  said  that  the  Savannah  Electric  Company 
now  believes  that  it  cannot  get  along  without  electric  vehi- 
cles, the  onlv  real  problem  being  to  determine  how  many 
should  be  used. 

President  Collier  called  attention  to  the  return  to  the 
electric  vehicle  of  the  Birmingham  Railway,  Light  &  Power 
Company,  which  abandoned  its  electric-truck  service  sev- 
eral years  ago  on  account  of  poor  results. 

SYNCHRONOUS    CONDENSERS. 

Mr.  H.  E.  Bussey,  General  Electric  Company,  Atlanta, 
presented  a  paper  outlining  the  operating  characteristics 
"  of  an  over-excited,  under-loaded  synchronous  motor  and 
explained  the  manner  in  which  it  may  be  employed  for 
counteracting  the  effect  of  lagging  wattless  volt-amperes 
demanded  by  inductive  loads  on  an  alternating-current 
system.  He  showed  that  the  use  of  the  so-called  "syn- 
chronous condenser"  will  sometimes  obviate  the  necessity 
for  additional  generator  equipment  and  again  may  elimi- 
nate complaints  of  bad  voltage  regulation.  The  distribution 
system  is  benefited  to  the  extent  of  better  service  to  con- 
sumers with  the  same  equipment  and  the  same  load,  or  the 
power  producer  derives  the  benefit  for  an  increased  energy 
distribution  without  increase  in  outlay  for  lines,  trans- 
formers, etc. 

The  paper  of  Mr.  Bussey  was  discussed  by  Messrs.  G.  K. 
Hutchins.  Columbus;  M.  L.  Sperry,  Savannah,  and  the 
author.  Mr.  Hutchins  remarked  that  as  a  result  of  a 
clause  in  the  contracts  of  the  Columbus  Electric  Company 
according  to  which  a  customer  is  charged  on  the  basis  of 
kva-hours  instead  of  kw-hours  when  his  load  power-factor 
is  below  90  per  cent,  many  of  the  large  customers  now 
install  synchronous  condensers  in  the  step-down  trans- 
former  rooms. 


390 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  8. 


Mr.  Sperry  stated  that  the  Savannah  Electric  Company 
plans  to  install  synchronous  motor-generator  sets  in  its 
railway  and  lighting  substation  in  order  to  be  able  to  main- 
tain a  satisfactory  power-factor  on  the  system. 

Mr.  Bussey  explained  that  it  is  advantageous  to 
install  synchronous  condensers  near  the  end  of  the  alternat- 
ing-current lines  rather  than  in  the  generating  station,  on 
account  of  the  improvement  in  voltage  regulation  and  the 
decrease  in  line  current. 

MOTOR-SERVICE    DATA. 

Mr.  H.  L.  Wills,  Savannah,  on  behalf  of  the  power  com- 
mittee called  attention  to  the  desirability  of  collecting  data 
on  the  energy  cost  of  operating  various  mills  and  fac- 
tories. Mr.  G.  K.  Hutchins,  Columbus,  explained  that  it  is 
highly  desirable  to  be  able  to  state  to  a  prospective  cus- 
tomer just  how  much  energy  will  be  needed  to  produce,  say, 
a  ton  of  phosphate  or  operate  a  thousand  spindles.  Mr. 
Thomas  W.  Peters,  Columbus,  remarked  that  the  Com- 
mercial Section  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  is  collecting  and  dis- 
tributing much  of  just  such  information.  Messrs.  J.  S. 
Bleecker  and  W.  R.  Collier  suggested  that  the  power  com- 
mittee of  the  Georgia  Section  co-operate  with  the  Commer- 
cial Section  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  in  order  to  supplement  but 
not  duplicate  the  work  of  the  latter  section. 

PREPAYMENT    METERS. 

"A  Mechanical  Collector;  Its  Offenses  and  Defenses" 
was  the  title  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  Thomas  W.  Peters,  Colum- 
bus. The  author  outlined  the  disadvantages  of  the  pre- 
payment watt-hour  meter  and  explained  the  conditions 
under  which  it  may  be  used  advantageously.  He  stated 
that  this  meter  has  enabled-  his  company  to  secure  certain 
classes  of  customers,  including  mill  operators  and  negroes. 
These  customers  use  light  in  the  morning  as  well  as  at 
night.  The  average  house  installation  is  about  four  i6-cp 
equivalents. 

The  paper  was  discussed  by  Messrs.  E.  C.  Deal,  Augusta ; 
W.  R.  Collier:  G.  S.  Merrill,  Cleveland,  Ohio:  J.  S. 
Bleecker,  Columbus :  E.  S.  Roberts,  Savannah,  and  the 
author.  Mr.  Deal  remarked  that  he  had  been  unable  to 
convince  himself  that  the  prepayment  meter  was  a  neces- 
sity in  the  electric  service  business.  There  is  a  real  de- 
mand, however,  he  said,  for  a  cheaper  watt-hour  meter  and 
ma.ximum  controlling  devices  for  small  consumers.  He 
expressed  doubt  as  to  any  advantages  possessed  by  the  pre- 
payment meter  over  the  maximum  controlling  device  for 
small  consumers. 

Mr.  Merrill  claimed  that  the  flat-rate  controlling  device 
has  proved  very  satisfactory  for  the  average  householder; 
it  eliminates  the  expense  of  a  meter  reader  and  permits  the 
use  of  a  fixed  charge.  Moreover,  it  is  an  inexpensive  de- 
vice and  seems  much  preferable  to  the  prepayment  meter. 

Mr.  Peters  remarked  that  he  prefers  the  prepayment 
meter  to  the  maximum  controlling  device  because  he  does 
not  believe  in  flat-rate  service. 

Mr.  Bleecker  said  that  in  Columbus  about  lo  per  cent 
of  the  electric  meters  and  40  per  cent  of  the  gas  meters  are 
of  the  prepayment  type. 

Mr.  Roberts  claimed  that  the  company  should  take  pains 
to  explain  that  the  prepayment  meter  is  used  at  the  request 
of  the  public  and  not  to  designate  poor-pay  customers. 

ARC-LAMP    DEVELOPMENTS. 

Some  of  the  recent  developments  in  arc  lamps  were  de- 
scribed in  a  paper  by  Mr.  L.  A.  S.  Wood,  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  Pittsburgh.  The  de- 
velopment of  the  arc  lamp  was  treated  under  five  separate 
heads,  the  open  carbon  lamp,  the  inclosed  carbon  lamp,  the 
metallic-flame  lamp,  the  open-flame  carbon  lamp  and  the 
inclosed-flame  lamp.  The  author  claimed  that  the  most 
satisfactory  and  economical  of  the  lamps  is  the  inclosed- 
flame  carbon.  In  this  lamp  superimposed  carbon  electrodes 
feed  together  simultaneously  so  that  the  arc  is  maintained 
in  a  fixed  position.     On  account  of  the  peculiar  shape  of 


the  globe  the  lower  portion  remains  comparatively  cool  and 
forms  the  lower  condensing  chamber,  wdiile  the  upper  por- 
tion of  the  globe  adjacent  to  the  arc  becomes  very  hot. 
The  lighter  fumes  are  carried  by  the  rising  currents  of  air 
into  the  upper  condenser,  leaving  the  upper  section  of  the 
globe  or  arc  chamber  through  which  the  light  is  emitted 
perfectly  clean  and  clear.  The  lamp  gives  a  maximum 
candle-power  of  from  2500  to  3000  candles.  The  specific 
consumption  varies  from  0.25  watt  to  0.40  watt  per  mean 
lower  hemispherical  candle-power. 

In  the  discussion  of  Mr.  Wood's  paper,  which  was  par- 
ticipated in  by  Messrs.  G.  S.  Merrill,  Cleveland,  Ohio;  E. 
C,  Deal,  Augusta ;  M.  H.  Hendee,  Augusta,  and  the  author, 
it  was  pointed  out  that  in  comparing  various  types  of  lamps 
it  is  necessary  to  consider  depreciation  of  candle-power 
during  service,  power-factors  and  the  adaptability  of  the 
unit  to  service  requirements.  Mr.  Hendee  related  experi- 
ence in  Augusta  where  arc  lamps  installed  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  manufacturer  to  give  four  times  as  much 
light  as  the  older  types  proved  unsatisfactory  to  the  city 
officials. 

PURCHASING    COAL    ON     THE     HEAT-UNIT    BASIS. 

The  desirability  of  purchasing  coal  on  the  heat-unit 
basis  was  discussed  briefly  in  a  paper  by  Mr.  Marcy  L. 
Sperry,  Savannah  Electric  Company.  The  author  said 
that  virtually  all  supplies  used  by  manufacturers  are  bought 
under  a  quality  guarantee,  and  there  is  no  equitable  reason 
why  the  500,000,000  tons  of  coal  used  in  the  United  States 
yearly  should  not  also  be  thus  guaranteed  as  to  quality. 

Messrs.  J.  T.  Chambers,  Georgia  Railway  &  Electric 
Company,  Atlanta,  and  H.  L.  Wills,  Savannah  Lighting 
Company,  commented  on  the  paper.  Mr.  Chambers  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  in  the  near  future  all  users  of  large 
quantities  of  coal  will  buy  on  the  heat-unit  basis.  Mr.  Wills  • 
claimed  that  an  effort  should  be  made  to  determine  the  desir- 
able chemical  contents  of  coal  to  give  the  best  results  in  the 
station  under   investigation. 

ELECTRIC   RATES. 

Mr.  S.  G.  Merrill,  National  Electric  Lamp  Association, 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  read  a  paper  in  which  were  discussed  the 
necessity  for  variation  in  the  rate  per  kw-hour  accord- 
ing to  the  character  of  the  load  and  the  methods  for  de- 
termining the  rate  to  be  charged.  The  author  stated  that 
experience  has  shown  that  for  large  commercial  and  in- 
dustrial customers  the  two-charge  block  rate  making  sepa- 
rate fixed  and  running  charges  is  simple,  equitable  and 
satisfactory. 

For  the  small  customer  the  multiple  rate  has  been  found 
uniformly  satisfactorv  and  well  designed  to  develop  profit- 
able, long-hour  use  of  service.  In  spite  of  the  complicated 
method  by  which  some  multiple  rates  have  deter- 
mined the  primary  consumption  they  have  been  intro- 
duced with  but  little  trouble.  By  the  use  of  floor  area  or 
number  of  rooms  the  multiple  rate  can  be  made  both  sim- 
ple and  equitable,  and  in  view  of  the  ease  with  which  the 
more  complicated  forms  have  been  adopted  in  the  past 
there  should  be  little  reason  for  criticising  such  rates  as 
being  too  complex  for  the  ordinary  service.  Simplified  by 
the  use  of  illuminated  area,  the  many  advantages  of  the 
multiple  rate  over  the  straight  meter  rate  should  lead  to  its 
greatly  extended  adoption. 

For  the  very  small  customers  the  controlled  demand  rate 
offers  great  opportunity  of  business  development,  particu- 
larly because  of  the  great  number  of  very  small  prospective 
customers  within  easy  reach  of  the  present  lines. 

The  paper  by  Mr.  Merrill  was  discussed  briefly  by  Mr. 
J.  S.  Bleecker,  Columbus,  who  claimed  that  in  formulating 
a  system  of  charging  one  should  consider  the  three  factors 
of  theory,   practice   and   policy. 

PUBLIC  POLICY. 

The  report  of  the  public  policy  committee  was  presented 
by  Mr.  P.  S.  Arkwright,  Georgia  Railway  &  Electric  Com- 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


391 


pany,  Atlanta.  This  report  dealt  with  the  duty  of  the  pub- 
lic to  the  central  station  company  and  the  duty  of  the  com- 
pany to  the  public.  Particular  attention  was  called  to  the 
disadvantages  of  short-term  franchises,  especially  under 
conditions  in  Georgia  where  the  service  and  rates  of  the 
company  are  under  the  control  of  the  railroad  commission 
and  no  franchise  is  exclusive.  A  short-term  franchise  is 
disadvantageous  to  both  the  company  and  the  public.  When 
the  company  applies  for  a  renewal  every  possible  and  im- 
possible burden  may  be  placed  on  the  company,  and  hence 
the  rates  must  be  such  as  to  insure  a  full  return  on  the 
money  invested  during  the  short  life  of  the  original  fran- 
chise. 

On  its  part  the  company  owes  the  public  the  duty  of  fair 
treatment,  good  service  and  reasonable  rates. 

DIVERSITY    FACTOR. 

A  paper  by  Mr,  W.  L.  Southwell,  Central  Georgia 
Power  Company,  Macon,  contained  an  instructive  treat- 
ment of  diversity  factor  and  its  effect  upon  central  station 
operation  and  economy.  It  was  stated  that  fair  average 
values  for  diversity  factors  are  about  0.37  for  residence 
lighting,  0.69  for  commercial  lighting  and  0.70  for  gen- 
eral motor  service.  These  figures  represent  the  ratio  be- 
tween the  maximum  demand  recorded  at  a  single  trans- 
former supplying  energy  to  a  group  of  consumers  and  the 
sum  of  the  consumers'  maxima. 

OFFICERS    ELECTED. 

At  the  executive  session  on  Aug.  17  the  following  officers 
were  elected :  President,  Mr.  E.  C.  Deal,  general  manager 
of  the  Augusta-Aiken  Railway  &  Electric  Company ;  vice- 
president,  Mr.  Thomas  W.  Peters,  Columbus  Electric  Com- 
pany; secretary-treasurer,  Mr.  M.  H.  Hendee,  Augusta; 
executive  committee.  Messrs.  E.  S.  Roberts,  Savannah ; 
C.  D.  Flanigan,  Athens,  and  W.  L.  Southwell,  Macon ; 
chairman  of  membership  and  finance  committee,  Mr. 
Thomas  W.  Peters,  Columbus ;  editor  of  Proceedings,  Mr. 
E.  C.  Roberts,  Savannah.  It  was  decided  to  organize  a 
Southeastern  section  of  the  association. 


DECISION  IN  THE  LINCOLN  HIGH-TENSION  CASE. 


On  Aug.  8  a  decision  for  the  plaintiff  was  handed  down 
in  the  chancery  branch  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Logan 
County,  111.,  in  the  case  of  the  .American  Telephone  & 
Telegraph  Company  versus  the  Springfield  &  Northeastern 
Traction  Company,  affecting  the  right  to  overbuild  a  tele- 
phone or  telegraph  line  with  a  parallel  high-tension  trans- 
mission line  on  the  same  right-of-way.  The  complaint 
grew  out  of  a  situation  which  arose  in  the  city  of  Lincoln, 
111.,  during  the  latter  part  of   1907. 

At  that  time  the  traction  company,  which  is  one  of  the 
numerous  companies  making  up  the  Illinois  Traction  Sys- 
tem, commenced  to  build  its  road  through  Lincoln,  form- 
ing part  of  a  continuous  route  from  Peoria,  111,  to  Spring- 
field, 111.,  and  points  south.  The  single-phase  traction 
system  was  employed,  with  catenary  construction  sup- 
ported from  span  wires  and  a  trolley-wire  pressure  of  3300 
volts  at  25  cycles.  On  one  of  the  lines  of  poles,  at  the 
street  curb,  there  was  carried  a  33.000-volt,  three-phase 
transmission  circuit  and  sundry  low-tension  wires  for  sig- 
naling and  communicating  purposes.  At  the  southern  out- 
skirts of  the  city  there  was  a  transformer  substation,  similar 
to  a  number  of  others,  receiving  energy  over  the  main  trans- 
mission circuit  from  Peoria  or  Riverton,  111.,  or  both. 

For  a  distance  of  about  700  ft.  on  one  of  the  principal 
streets  the  line  of  65-ft.  wooden  poles  supporting  both  the 
span  wires  and  the  high-tension  circuit  was  set  in  line  with 
the  poles  of  the  telephone  company,  so  that  the  33,000-volt 
line  was  about  14  ft.  above  the  telephone  wires  and  parallel 
to  them.  The  traction  company's  poles  were  of  chestnut  set 
7  ft.  in  the  ground,  surrounded  by  10  in.  of  concrete;  the 


butt  diameter  was  from  12  in.  to  15  in.,  and  the  top  was 
7  in.  to  8  in.  Each  pole  carried  three  2-in.  by  4-in.  fir 
cross-arms,  one  lo-ft.  arm  for  the  high-tension  circuit  and 
two  shorter  arms  for  the  signal  and  telephone  circuits. 
The  transmission  wire  was  No.  2  B.  &  S.  gage  bare  cop- 
per, tied  to  pin-type  porcelain  insulators  with  three  and  a 
half  turns  of  No.  6  B.  &  S.  gage  wire.  The  cross-arm 
braces  were  held  to  the  arm  by  bolts  and  to  the  pole  by  a 
lag  screw.  In  several  places  the  poles  of  the  traction  com- 
pany were  in  contact  with  the  wires  of  the  telephone  com- 
pany. On  Sept.  23,  1907,  the  traction  company's  construc- 
tion in  this  vicinity  was  completed. 

The  telephone  company  on  Nov.  20,  1907,  served  notice 
on  the  respondent  that  the  construction  was  defective  and 
dangerous  and  on  Jan.  10,  1908,  filed  formal  complaint.  In 
substance  the  complainant  averred  that  its  telephone  line 
had  been  a  lawful  occupant  of  the  street  in  question  for 
twelve  years,  under  due  authority  of  the  State,  county  and 
municipality,  and  that  this  line  formed  part  of  a  compre- 
hensive  telephone    network    used    for    serving    the    public. 


Parallel   Overbuilding   of  Telephone    Line   by    High-Tenslon   Trans- 
mission    Line. 

Furthermore  it  was  averred  that  the  transmission  line  con- 
stituted a  serious  menace  to  the  property  of  the  telephone 
company  and  the  lives  of  employees  and  patrons  and  would 
serve  its  purpose  equally  well  if  constructed  upon  private 
right-of-way,  removed  a  safe  distance  from  other  wires. 
Averment  was  also  made  that  the  trolley  wire  constituted 
a  serious  hazard  because  of  the  high  voltage  employed. 
The  telephone  company's  system  was  alleged  to  operate  at 
low  tension  and  to  constitute  no  hazard  to  the  public,  and  it 
was  maintained  that  the  system  was  necessarily  delicate  and 
incapable  of  withstanding  pressures  much  in  excess  of  500 
volts;  that  the  known  and  approved  protective  devices  are 
sufficient  to  e.xclude  only  those  currents  ordinarily  em- 
ployed to  operate  street  cars  and  incandescent  lamps  and 
unable  to  furnish  protection  against  the  pressures  employed 
by  the  traction  company ;  that  the  failure  of  the  traction 
company's  system  in  any  one  of  numerous  ways  might 
convey  dangerous  currents  to  the  telephone  systems,  with  at- 
tendant injury  to  life  and  property.  Complainant  finally 
averred  that  it  was  the  traction  company's  duty,  in  so 
locating  its  line,  "to  adopt  and  install  known  and  approved 


392 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  \o.  8. 


safeguards,  methods  and  protective  devices,  which  would 
prevent  its  own  Hne,  carrying  such  dangerous  electrical 
current,  from  coming  in  contact  with  the  wires  or  other 
properties  of  complainant;  that  such  safeguards,  methods 
and  devices  are  well  known  in  the  electrical  art  and  are 
accepted  by  those  versed  in  the  science  of  electricity,"  and 
that  such  parallel  overbuilding  is  contrary  to  approved  and 
accepted  methods  of  construction  now  in  use.  The  bill  of 
complaint  prayed,  among  other  things,  for  a  preliminary 
injunction  restraining  the  use  of  the  transmission  and  trol- 
ley circuits,  later  to  be  made  permanent  until  the  high- 
tension  line  might  be  removed  to  a  safe  distance  and  the 
trolley  voltage  reduced  to  a  safe  value,  or  until  adequate 
safeguards  and  protection  might  be  installed. 

In  its  answer  the  traction  company  denied  in  substance 
the  existence  of  danger  or  hazard  to  life  and  property 
while  the  line  was  maintained  in  the  safe  condition  that 
then  characterized  it  and  averred  that  the  construction  in 
all  respects  complied  with  the  franchise  granted  by  the  city 
of  Lincoln,  The  respondent  further  denied  that  it  had 
failed  to  use  the  best  known  methods  of  construction  and 
the  most  approved  safeguards  and  protective  devices  for 
preventing  contact  between  its  wires  and  those  of  the  com- 
plainant, and  denied  that  the  telephone  company  had  adopted 
the  safeguards,  methods  and  protective  devices  well  known 
to  the  art  and  accepted  by  those  versed  in  it  for  prevent- 
ing contact  between  the  two  systems.  It  denied  that  wind, 
snow,  sleet  or  storm,  or  interference  by  persons  or  ani- 
mals, commonly  caused  high-tension  lines  constructed  like 
those  in  question  to  fail,  as  charged  in  the  complaint. 

Owing  to  the  belief  of  the  telephone  company  that  it  had 
an  unusually  clear  case  involving  the  question  of  pure 
hazard  from  parallel  overhead  high-tension  wires,  the  issue 
was  made  a  test  case.  A  large  amount  of  evidence  was 
introduced  and  many  of  the  leading  electrical  engineers  of 
the  country  testified  in  behalf  of  the  complainant.  By 
agreement  the  high-tension  line  was  not  energized  in  the 
section  under  consideration,  and  during  the  progress  of  the 
case  the  traction  company  built  a  short  detour  to  the  east, 
installing  a  cradle  where  the  line,  at  one  place  only,  crossed 
over  the  telephone  line.  Also  during  the  trial  of  the  case 
the  traction  company  abandoned  the  use  of  the  3300-volt. 
single-phase  traction  system  entirely,  about  the  middle  of 
1909,  and  substituted  everywhere  the  600-volt  direct-cur- 
rent system.  The  illustration  shows  the  situation  as  it  was 
originally  when  the  action  was  brought. 

Judge  Harris  in  his  opinion  filed  on  Aug.  8  described 
both  complainant  and  defendant  as  public-service  corpo- 
rations differing  only  in  prior  authority  and  occupation  of 
street.  The  opinion  states  that  the  construction  of  the 
telephone  line  was  such  tliat  the  respondent  could  not 
complain  of  it,  and  from  all  the  evidence  of  all  the  wit- 
nesses no  protective  device  could  be  used  in  telephone  con- 
struction which  would  safeguard  it  against  a  pressure  of 
33,000  volts  or  anything  like  it.  After  considering  the 
question  of  the  court's  jurisdiction,  the  opinion  goes  on  to 
state  that  "so  far  as  concerns  the  respondent  the  complain- 
ant was  occupying  Chicago  Street  between  Broadway  and 
Clinton  Street,  not  with  any  exclusive  franchise,  not  with 
any  amount  of  space  to  be  measured  and  set  off  to  it,  but 
with  the  right  as  against  the  respondent  to  occupy  so  much 
of  the  street  as  was  necessary  for  the  successful  operation 
of  its  business."  A  little  further  on  the  opinion  says:  "The 
thing  to  be  guarded  against  by  respondent  in  the  construc- 
tion of  its  line  under  the  law,  as  I  understand  it,  is  such  an 
interference  as  will  prevent  the  practical  operation  of  the 
telephone  system." 

The  remainder  of  the  opinion  deals  with  the  question  of 
whether  the  respondent  has  so  interfered  with  the  rights  of 
the  complainant,  considering  alone  the  transmission  line, 
that  an  injunction  should  be  issued.  Again  the  court  stated 
that  the  respondent's  duty  was  to  use  every  reasonable 
safeguard   to  prevent   accidents.     Moreover,   the  court   re- 


garded the  evidence  as  showing  beyond  dispute  that  with 
any  of  the  construction  described  in  the  evidence  accidents 
occur  from  such  high-tension  lines.  Telephone,  telegraph, 
electric  light  and  power  lines  are  not  immune  to  decay  or 
destruction  caused  by  the  elements.  The  evidence  pre- 
ponderated also  on  the  proposition,  in  the  court's  judgment, 
that  high-tension  lines  crossing  over,  under  or  paralleling 
low-tension  lines  introduce  an  element  of  danger  which 
otherwise  does  not  exist,  demanding  extra  precautions  in 
the  way  of  shorter  spans,  extra  cross-arms  and  the  use  of 
screens  or  cradles.  The  judge  recognized  that  cradles  im- 
pose an  extra  burden  on  the  line  and  tend  to  cause  other 
trouble,  but  regarded  them  as  necessary  and  pointed  out 
that  they  are  in  use  even  by  the  respondent.  The  opinion 
then  concludes  as  follows:  "Therefore  I  find  from  the 
evidence  that  the  construction  of  the  transmission  line  of 
respondent  upon  Chicago  Street  between  Broadway  and 
Clinton  Street  in  the  city  of  Lincoln  is  not  the  best,  most 
approved  and  modern  construction.  While  practicable,  it 
was  not  necessary  to  the  successful  operation  of  the  rail- 
road to  be  so  located,  but  located  by  election  of  respondent 
under  lawful  authority  and  is  a  right  belonging  tu  re- 
spondent which  the  court  will  not  set  aside  or  order  re- 
moved provided  the  respondent  recognizes  the  rights 
belonging  to  complainant,  to  be  by  respondent  protected, 
provided  and  equipped  with  the  safeguard  to  minimize  the 
dangerous  and  hazardous  conditions  that  now  exist.  In- 
junction will  be  granted  as  prayed  for  in  the  bill,  except  as 
modified  bv  these  conclusions." 


PUBLIC   SERVICE  COMMISSION  NE"WS. 


NEW  YORK  COMMISSION. 

The  Public  .Service  Commission,  Second  District,  has 
completed  an  inspection  of  twenty  of  the  twenty-six  central 
offices  of  the  New  York  Telephone  Company  in  Manhattan, 
which  serve  327,840  subscribers,  or  about  78  per  cent  of 
the  total  number  of  subscribers  within  this  main  section  of 
Greater  New  York.  Public  opinion  concerning  the  service 
was  carefully  canvassed,  and  considerable  complaint  was 
made  by  the  users  in  some  sections.  Most  of  this  adverse 
criticism  was  on  account  of  getting  wrong  numbers  and 
being  subjected  to  "cut-offs."  No  complaint  was  registered 
concerning  the  speed  of  the  service  nor  concerning  line  and 
instrument  troubles. 

The  commission's  inspectors  examined  the  equipment  and 
central-office  methods  thoroughly  and  made  record  of  over 
2500  test  calls  from  subscribers'  stations  and  the  company's 
central  offices.  The  average  speed  of  first  answer  by 
operators  was  found  to  be  a  fraction  above  five  seconds. 
Special  attention  was  given  to  the  causes  for  the  defective 
service  which  caused  complaint,  and  the  inspectors'  reports 
call  the  telephone  company's  attention  to  specific  cases 
where  there  was  found  to  be  an  overload  and  where  there  jl 
was  a  shortage  of  operators  or  too  high  a  percentage  of  | 
inexperienced  operators.  These  matters  have  since  been 
taken  up  in  informal  conference  with  the  officers  of  the 
telephone  company  with  the  result  of  effecting  a  number  of 
changes  which  will  tend  to  improve  the  service.  It  is  the 
intention  to  have  these  inspections  continued  and  proper 
remedies  applied  wherever  found  necessary.  ■ 

The  commission  has  made  an  order  requiring  the  Port  | 
Jefferson  Electric  Light  Company  and  the  New  York  Tele- 
phone Company  to  show  cause  before  the  commission  on 
Monday,  Aug.  26,  why  an  order  should  not  be  entered 
against  each  of  them  requiring  them  to  place  their  respective 
plants  in  safe  and  proper  condition.  A  report  on  conditions 
at  Port  Jefferson  was  made  by  an  engineer  of  the  commis- 
sion and  both  companies  were  asked  to  advise  what  they 
would  do  under  the  circumstances,  but  neither  company 
has  made  satisfactory  answer. 


August  24,  igi^. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


393 


The  commission  has  inaugurated  a  system  of  cross-check- 
ing telegraph  messages  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  the 
character  of  the  service  rendered.  An  outline  of  the  method 
used  was  sent  to  the  Postal  Telegraph-Cable  Company  and 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  for  their  comment. 
Both  companies  replied  that  the  method  was  excellent  and 
that  they  would  appreciate  any  records  which  the  commis- 
sion makes  in  cross-checking. 

At  a  recent  inspection  of  the  Western  Union  office  at 
Elmira  a  cross-checking  record  of  fifteen  messages  was 
made,  which  appeared  to  show  that  attention  should  be 
given  to  the  transmission  of  messages  destined  for  Elmira. 
The  Western  Union  company  informed  the  commission  that 
this  service  had  been  materially  improved  by  the  employ- 
ment of  an  additional  operator  at  Elmira,  action  which 
had  been  taken  on  the  recommendation  of  its  own  traffic 
inspectors,  who  had  detected  the  cause  of  the  delays  prior 
to   the   receipt   of  the   commission's   cross-checking   report. 

OHIO  COMMISSION. 

The  coinniission  has  received  a  request  for  permission  to 
sell  the  Standard  Light  &  Power  Company  to  Mr.  Field  W. 
Swezey,  representing  the  American  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany of  New  York,  which  now  operates  plants  in  Canton, 
Newark,  Tiffin  and  Fremont.  Negotiations  have  recently 
been  closed  for  the  sale  of  plants  at  Lancaster  and  Mount 
Vernon  to  the  same  company.  The  control  of  the  Mount 
X'ernon  property  is  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  N.  C.  L.  Kachel- 
macher.  '  It  operates  the  Mount  Vernon  street  railway  lines 
and  a  short  interurban  line,  as  well  as  the  light  and  power 
plant,  which  is  practically  new,  having  been  in  operation 
but  a  short  time. 


Current  News  and  Notes 

Defe.^t  of  Iron  and  Steel  Tariff  Bill. — On  Aug.  16 
the  iron  and  steel  tarifif  bill,  passed  over  the  President's 
veto  bythe  House  of  Representatives,  was  finally  defeated 
in  the  Senate. 

*  *     + 

World-Wide  Naval  Wireless  System. — The  naval  ap- 
propriation bill  now  pending  in  Congress  provides,  among 
other  things,  for  the  establishment  of  a  world-wide  tele- 
graph system  through  which  the  Navy  Department  will  be 
enabled  to  keep  in  touch  with  its  ships  in  virtually  every 
part  of  the  globe. 

*  *     * 

Artificial  Daylight. — Dr.  C.  E.  Kenneth  Mees  on  Aug. 
20  delivered  a  lecture  before  the  Illuminating  Engineering 
Society  of  England  on  producing  in  artificial  light  the  exact 
qualities  of  daylight.  Dr.  Voege  contributed  on  the  same 
occasion  an  elaborate  discussion  on  his  color  studies  with 
artificial  illuminants. 

*  *     * 

Western  Electrical  Inspectors. — Mr.  James  H.  Fenton, 
Pierce  Building,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  is  the  committee  on  ar- 
rangements for  the  annual  convention  of  the  Western  Asso- 
ciation of  Electrical  Inspectors,  which  is  to  be  held  in  St. 
Louis  Jan.  29  and  30,  1913.  Mr.  William  S.  Boyd,  76  West 
Monroe  Street,  Chicago,  111.,  is  the  secretary  of  the  organi- 
zation. 

Coosa  River  Dam. — The  Senate  passed  a  bill  on  Aug.  16 
authorizing  the  construction  of  a  dam  across  the  Coosa 
River,  Alabama,  for  water-power  purposes.  Senator  Poin- 
dexter  offered  an  amendment  providing  for  a  tax  of  I  per 
cent  on  the  net  earnings  of  the  grantee,  but  this  proposition 
was  voted  down.  The  measure  has  been  sent  to  the  House 
of  Representatives. 

*  *     * 

Postal  Company  Building  Toll  Line. — The  Postal 
Telegraph   Cable   Company   secured   an    amendment   of   its 


charter  m  Kentucky  whereby  authority  is  given  it  to  oper- 
ate telephone  systems.  It  is  building  such  a  line  from 
Maysville,  Ky.,  to  Huntington,  W.  Va.  This  move  is  in 
harmony  with  the  general  policy  of  entering  the  telephone 
field  which  the  Postal  company  announced  some  time  ago, 
as  stated  in  the  Electrical  World  of  June  15,  191 1,  page 
1.S3S- 


*     *     * 


Strike  of  Telephone  Subscribers. — A  unique  method 
of  protesting  against  the  poor  service  rendered  by  a  tele- 
phone company  is  reported  from  Checotah,  Okla.,  where, 
it  is  said,  all  the  subscribers  in  the  town  took  down  the 
receivers  from  their  telephones  and  left  them  off  in  order 
to  make  the  system  as  a  whole  inoperative.  The  citizens 
of  Checotah  are  said  to  have  asserted  that  they  will  not 
permit  the  telephones  to  be  used  until  improvements  in  the 
service  are  made. 

+     *     * 

Production  of  Fog  by  Static  Discharges  in  the 
Arctic  Region. — On  some  of  the  moving-picture  films 
obtained  by  Captain  F.  E.  Kleinschmidt,  of  the  Carnegie 
Museum  expedition  to  Alaska  and  Siberia,  peculiar  and 
recurring  fog  marks  were  observed  and  for  a  time  chal- 
lenged explanation.  Finally  it  was  discovered  that  in  the 
intense,  dry  cold  of  the  Arctic  climate  static  electricity 
was  generated  on  the  rapidly  moving  film  and  this,  in  dis- 
charging between   metal   points   of  the  mechanism,   caused 

the  fog  marks  noted. 

*     *     If 

High  Water  in  Southwestern  Michigan. — During  an 
exceptionally  severe  electrical  storm  on  Aug.  17  and  18,  14  in. 
of  water  fell  in  twenty-four  hours  in  Berrien  County,  Mich- 
igan, which  forms  the  southwestern  corner  of  that  State. 
A  great  deal  of  damage  was  done  to  property  and  at  least 
two  persons  were  killed  by  lightning.  A  number  of  dams 
in  rivers  were  carried  away  or  damaged,  and  the  hydro- 
electric plants  of  the  Indiana  &  Michigan  Electric  Company 
at  Buchanan,  Mich..  Berrien  Springs,  Mich.,  and  South 
Bend,  Ind.,  were  considerably  damaged. 


New  Meeting  Place  for  Electric  Club  of  Chicago. — 
It  is  probable  that  future  meetings  of  the  Electric  Club  of 
Chicago  will  be  held  in  the  Hotel  Sherman  instead  of  the 
restaurant  of  the  Kuntz-Remmler  Company,  on  South 
Wabash  .A.venue.  where  the  weekly  meetings  have  been  held 
for  some  time  past.  The  new  location,  at  the  corner  of 
North  Clark  Street  and  West  Randolph  Street,  is  selected 
as  more  convenient  of  access  to  the  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers. The  first  meeting  of  the  fall  season  will  be  held  at 
12:15  p.  m.  on  Sept.  12. 

*  *     * 

Train  Accident  .Statistics. — In  a  bulletin  issued  by  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  on  train  accidents  during 
January,  February  and  March,  1912,  it  is  shown  that  267 
passengers  were  killed  and  4785  injured,  an  increase  of 
121  killed  and  1555  injured  compared  with  same  months  in 
191 1.  On  electric  lines  five  persons  were  killed  and  403 
injured.  For  this  quarter,  the  commission  says,  it  is  shown 
that  train  accidents  are  the  largest  in  number  of  casualties 
and  in  amount  of  financial  loss  since  1907,  when  the  high- 
water  mark  in  railroad  casualties  was  reached. 

*  *     + 

Platinum  Production. — The  world's  production  of  plat- 
inum was  314,323  Troy  ounces  in  1911,  compared  with 
286,952  ounces  in  1910.  All  of  the  platinum  mined  in  the 
United  States  in  191 1  came  from  California  and  Oregon, 
the  total  being  628  ounces,  valued  at  $18,138.  According 
to  Mr.  Waldemar  Lindgren,  of  the  United  States  Geolog- 
ical Survey,  the  platinum  imported  and  entered  for  con- 
sumption in  the  United  States  in  191 1,  including  ores  and 
manufactured  products,  was  valued  at  $4,866,207,  an  in- 
crease over  the  1910  figures  of  $1,212,543.  The  exports 
amounted  to  only  $8,139. 


394 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  8. 


Compilation  of  Public  Utility  Laws. — The  department 
on  regulation  of  utilities  of  the  National  Civic  Federation, 
Mr.  Emerson  McMillin,  chairman,  and  Mr.  John  H.  Gray, 
director  of  investigation,  has  nearly  ready  a  compilation 
and  analysis  of  public-utility  regulation  laws  of  the  United 
States.  This  analysis  will  be  prepared  in  fifteen  parts  and 
will  be  printed  and  distributed  to  interested  persons,  subject 
to  subsequent  additions,  deductions  and  alterations.  Pre- 
liminary page  proofs  of  the  section  on  "The  Regulation  of 
Accounts"  have  just  been  distributed,  and  suggestions  and 
criticisms  are  invited.  The  headquarters  of  the  federation 
are  at  i  Madison  Avenue.  New  York,  N.  Y. 

*  *     * 

Fire  in  Indianapolis  Telephone  Exchange. — On 
Thursday,  Aug.  15,  a  fire  started  in  the  terminal  room  of 
the  central  office  of  the  Indianapolis  Telephone  Company 
and  caused  a  total  interruption  of  both  local  and  toll  service. 
The  fire  was  evidently  due  primarily  to  dampness  which 
had  entered  the  cable  forms  on  the  switchboard  side  of  the 
cross-connecting  rack,  and  the  ringing  current  employed  by 
the  operators  in  signaling  subscribers  probably  started  an 
arc,  thereby  igniting  the  insulation.  The  cables  on  both 
sides  of  the  rack  were  badly  damaged.  The  company 
reports  that  repairs  are  progressing  very  rapidly  and  that 
it  expects  to  have  service  restored  within  a  week  or 
ten  days. 

*  *    * 

Angling  with  a  Trolley-Wire  Fishing  Pole. — The 
sale  of  large  quantities  of  fish  by  dealers  and  peddlers  in 
Lafayette,  Ind.,  recently  attracted  the  attention  of  the  fish 
and  game  warden  of  Tippecanoe  County,  who,  after  in- 
vestigation, assured  himself  that  no  seines  or  nets  were  in 
use  in  his  district.  Setting  out  to  ascertain  the  source  of 
the  unusual  supply  of  fish,  he  discovered  two  men  near  an 
interurban  railway  bridge,  one  of  whom  from  time  to  time 
indulged  in  the  extraordinary  practice  of  striking  his  fish- 
ing pole  against  the  trolley  wire,  after  which  the  other 
would  gather  in  a  boatload  of  the  dead  and  stunned  fish 
which  floated  to  the  surface.  Investigation  showed  that  an 
insulated  wire  ran  down  the  fish  pole  and  dipped  into  the 
water  under  the  bridge.  The  500-volt  contact  with  the  trol- 
ley served  to  electrocute  all  fish  near  the  wire,  killing  them 
outright,  it  is  declared,  instead  of  stunning  them  as  in  the 

case  of  dynamitmg. 

*  *     * 

Charging  Stations  for  Electric  Automobiles.— The 
touring  department  of  the  Automobile  Club  of  America  is 
taking  steps  to  have  charging  stations  for  electric  automo- 
biles established  at  convenient  points  in  New  York  State 
along  the  roads  between  New  York,  Poughkeepsie,  Sche- 
nectady, Amsterdam,  Utica,  Rochester  and  Buffalo,  giving 
electric  vehicles  a  touring  radius  of  40  miles.  The  bureau 
is  also  taking  up  the  matter  of  creating  available  routes 
throughout  the  southern  tier  of  counties.  It  is  pointed  out 
that  charging  stations  must  be  established  before  business 
can  be  obtained.  A  good  example  is  found  in  the  city  of 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  where  the  number  of  electric  pleasure 
vehicles  has  increased  in  a  few  years  to  720,  owing  largely 
to  the  existence  of  adequate  charging  facilities.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  city  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  which  is  said  to  have 
no  charging  facilities,  has  less  than  six  pleasure  cars  of 
this  type.  In  this  connection,  however,  it  may  be  recalled 
that  Albany  is  a  city  of  steep  hills. 


SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Engineer  Draftsmen  Meeting. — At  a  meeting  of  the 
American  Society  of  Engineer  Draftsmen  held  in  the  En- 
gineering Societies  Building  on  Aug.  15  Mr.  W.  T.  Wal- 
ters, Chicago,  presented  a  paper  on  the  application  and 
design  of  safety  devices.  A  visit  was  made  during  the 
evening  to  the  American  Museum  of   Safety,  which  ad- 


joins the  society's  meeting  room.  The  secretary  of  the 
society  is  Mr.  Walter  M.  Smyth,  116  Nassau  Street,  New 
York. 

*     *     * 

Annual  Outing  of  New  York  Companies  Section, 
N.  E.  L.  A. — The  second  annual  outing  of  the  New  York 
Companies  Section  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  will  be  held  on 
Saturday,  Sept.  14,  at  Donnelly's  Grove,  College  Point, 
L.  I.  Athletic  games  and  sports  will  fill  the  afternoon  pro- 
gram, after  which  dinner  will  be  served.  The  price  of 
tickets,  including  dinner,  will  be  $1.50.  Mr.  Clarence  L. 
Law  is  chairman  of  the  tickets  and  notices  committee,  and 
Mr.  J.   E.   Phillips  is  chairman   of  the   general   committee. 


Eastern  New  York  Section,  N.  E.  L.  A. — At  the  third 
annual  meeting  of  the  Eastern  New  York  Section, 
N.  E.  L.  a.,  held  at  Trenton  Falls,  N.  Y.,  the  following 
officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year :  President,  Mr. 
A.  T.  Throop;  vice-president,  Mr.  A.  Anderson,  of  the 
Municipal  Gas  Company,  Albany;  secretary,  Mr.  R.  E. 
Russell,  General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady;  treasurer, 
Mr.  F.  W.  McRae,  Adirondack  Power  Corporation,  Glens 
Falls.  The  executive  committee  is  composed  of  the  officers 
and  the  following  additional  members:  Mr.  H.  W.  Peck, 
Schenectady  Illuminating  Company;  Mr.  L.  W.  Emerick, 
Fulton  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company;  Mr.  O.  F.  Webster, 
Westinghouse  Manufacturing  Company,  Syracuse;  Mr.  J. 
Shreck,  of  the  Central  Hudson  Gas  &  Electric  Company, 
Poughkeepsie;  Mr.  J.  T.  Mange,  of  the  Ithaca  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company,  and  Mr.  C.  W.  Stone,  of  the 
General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady.  Dr.  William  B. 
Coolidge,  assistant  director  of  the  research  laboratory  of 
the  General  Electric  Company,  read  a  paper  entitled  "Some 
Contributions  of  the  Research  Laboratory  "to  the  Develop- 
ment of  the  Electrical  Industry."  A  paper  by  Mr.  W.  B. 
Underwood  on  "Heating  for  Increasing  the  Central-Station 
Load"  and  one  by  Mr.  E.  P.  Edwards  on  "Electricity  as  a 
Factor  in  Progressive  Agriculture"  were  read  and  dis- 
cussed. 


Outing  Meeting  of  Wisconsin  Electrical  Con- 
tractors.— The  ninth  summer  meeting  of  the  Electrical 
Contractors'  Association  of  Wisconsin  was  held  on  Aug.  15, 
16  and  17.  Members  with  their  wives  assembled  in  Osh- 
kosh  on  the  evening  of  Aug.  14  at  the  Athearn  Hotel  for 
an  informal  dinner.  On  the  following  morning  all  hands 
went  aboard  the  small  steamer  Mayftozver,  which  was  char- 
tered for  the  occasion,  bound  for  New  London,  lunch  at 
noon  being  served  aboard.  Owing  to  several  mishaps,  New 
London  was  not  reached  until  8:30  p.m.,  more  than  two 
hours  late.  Ordinarily  this  would  not  have  made  any 
material  difiference,  but  no  preparation  had  been  made  for 
supper  aboard.  A  little  "persuasive"  engineering  induced 
the  proprietor  of  the  Elwood  to  serve  supper  to  almost  a 
score  of  belated  and  hungry  mortals.  Next  morning  the 
steamer  was  again  boarded,  bound  for  Gill's  Landing,  from 
which  point  the  train  was  taken  for  \\'aupaca,  the  members 
continuing  by  trolley  to  the  Chain  of  Lakes,  which  was  the 
original  destination,  the  side  trip  to  New  London  not  having 
been  included  in  the  original  program.  After  luncheon  a 
launch  trip  covering  the  Chain  of  Lakes  was  in  order.  This 
was  keenly  enjoyed  by  all,  and  after  again  landing  on 
terra  firma  the  business  session  was  held,  routine  matters 
mainly  being  transacted.  At  10  a.  m.  on  Saturday  the 
trolley  cars  were  again  boarded  for  Waupaca,  the  members 
continuing  by  train  to  their  respective  homes.  Among 
those  present  were  l\Iessrs.  and  Mmes.  J.  L.  Acker,  She- 
boygan; A.  C.  Langstadt,  Appleton ;  William  F.  Meter  and 
Christopher  Saran,  Oshkosh ;  George  F.  Rohn,  Herman 
Andrae,  George  Knoerr  and  Albert  Petermann,  Milwaukee, 
and  Mr.  J.  D.  Warden,  Sheboygan. 


PENNSYLVANIA  WATER  &  POWER  COMPANY 


Hydroelectric  Generating  Station  on    the  Susquehanna    River  and  Terminal 

Station  at  Baltimore,  Md. 

Steel-Tower  Transmission   Lines  for   70,000- Volt  Circuits  Equipped  with  Suspension-Type   Insulators  — 
Features  of  Development  Near  McCall  Ferry — Transmitted   Energy  Used  for  '' 
Railway,   Lighting  and   Industrial  Service  in  Baltimore. 


THE  hydroelectric  development  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Water  &  Power  Company  is  located  on  the  Sus- 
quehanna River  at  Holtwood,  Pa.,  about  10  miles 
northwest  of  the  boundary  line  between  Pennsylvania  and 
Maryland  and  40  miles  from  Baltimore.  There  are  steep 
banks  on  either  side  of  the  river  at  McCall  Ferry  with  an 
island  in  midstream,  and  a  narrow  gorge  between  the 
eastern  bank  and  a  chain  of  islands  forms  a  natural  tail- 
race.  A  fall  in  the  river,  due  to  a  series  of  rapids  above 
the  site,  makes  available  for  hydraulic  purposes  a  total 
head  of  about  63  ft. 

The  Susquehanna  River  is  subject  to  extremely  high 
fluctuations,  the  floods  coming  with  remarkable  suddenness 
and  the  maximum  flood  discharge  being  roughly  225  times 
the  minimum  stream  flow.  For  that  reason  a  dam  has  been 
built  with  a  spillway  section  for  its  entire  length  of  2350  ft. 
The  completed  plant  is  laid  out  with  the  idea  of  having  its 
operation  unaffected  by  flood  and  ice  conditions  more  severe 


than  any  that  have  even  been  experienced  on  the  Susque- 
hanna. Just  above  the  plant  there  is  a  bend  in  the  river 
which  causes  the  ice  to  be  carried  almost  entirely  through 
the  channel  on  the  western  side,  the  normal  flow  of  the 
river  being  westward. 

DAM   AND  FOREBAY. 

The  dam  across  the  river  is  built  of  solid  concrete  with 
an  average  height  of  55  ft.  and  a  width  at  the  base  of 
65  ft.  The  downstream  face  is  provided  with  the  usual 
curve,  and  to  allow  for  expansion  and  contraction  layers  of 
compressible  material  are  introduced  at  intervals  of  40  ft. 
The  dam  impounds  a  body  of  water  forming  a  lake  above 
it  about  8  miles  in  length,  and  in  order  to  protect  itself 
against  claims  for  flooding  property  along  the  river,  the 
company  acquired  large  tracts  of  land  on  both  sides  of  the 
Susquehanna  adjoining  the  lake  thus  formed.  In  addition 
a  wing  dam  having  three  submerged  arches,  through  which 
the  water  enters  the  forebav,  is  built  at  right  angles  to  the 


Fig.  1 — Generating   Equipment  of  the   Pennsylvania   Water  <£.   Power  Company   at    Holtwood,    Pa. 


396 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  8. 


main  dam,  between  whicli  and  a  rock  fill  extending  out  for 
appro.ximately  300  ft.  at  right  angles  to  the  shore  floating 
booms  are  provided  so  as  to  divert  such  ice  and  debris  as 
are  carried  to  the  east  over  the  spillway.  The  submerged 
arches  start  at  the  junction  of  the  power  house  and  the  dam 
and  extend  upstream  about  220  ft.  The  crowns  of  the 
arches  are  2   ft.  below  low-water  level,   so  that  they  are 


GENERATOR   ROOM 


SCREKN  and  GATE  BOOM 


Fig.    2 — Sectional    Elevation    of    Generating    Station. 


always  submerged.  The  gap  between  the  end  of  the  arch 
construction  and  the  rock  embankment  is  closed  by  the  log 
booms  above  mentioned,  guided  by  concrete  piers.  Any  ice 
which  enters  the  forebay  despite  these  safeguards,  as  well 
as  ice  which  may  be  formed  there,  is  diverted  through  ice 
chutes  placed  between  the  power  house  and  the  shore,  with 
crests  at  the  same  elevation  as  the  crest  of  the  main 
spillway. 

GATEHOUSE. 

The  gatehouse  is  divided  from  the  forebay  proper  by  the 
line  of  submerged  arches,  which  also  form  the  support  for 
the  upstream  wall  of  the  building.  Immediately  back  of 
these  arches  are  the  trash  racks,  on  inclined  concrete  piers 
10  ft.  between  centers.  These  piers  have  a  maximum  thick- 
ness of  4  ft.,  so  that  the  waterways  between  them  are  6  ft. 
wide.  There  are  four  of  these  entrances,  each  16  ft.  high, 
serving  each  turbine,  and  the  four  merge  in  one  huge  tube 
30  ft.  wide  at  a  point  8  ft.  back  of  the  headgate. 

The  headgates  are  of  the  roller  type  of  special  design, 
permitting  quick  and  easy  operation.  The  gates  are  made 
up  entirely  of  steel,  with  the  exception  of  the  wooden 
bottom  bumper  beam,  and  move  on  rollers  of  gray  iron  9  in. 
in  diameter  turning  around  brass  bushings.  The  rollers  are 
greased  from  the  centers  of  the  bearings  by  pressing  fat 
through  the  roller  axle.  Located  longitudinally  over  the 
gates  is  a  5-in.  motor-driven  shaft  made  up  of  20-ft. 
lengths,  connected  alternately  by  standard  flange  couplings 
and  placed  so  that  vertical  racks  on  the  gate  stems  engage 
on  the  shaft.  The  shaft  runs  through  the  entire  length  of 
the  gatehouse  and  is  capable  of  lifting  the  four  gates  of  one 
unit  together  under  normal  water  conditions  in  about  one 
minute.  Provision  is  made  so  that  the  shaft  can  be  un- 
coupled and  the  gate  dropped  by  its  own  weight,  the  speed 
of  descent  being  controlled  by  a  friction  brake.  Two  30-hp 
direct-current  motors,  one  at  each  end,  drive  the  main  shaft, 
and  a  third  motor  will  be  installed  when  the  other  water- 


wheels   are   added.     A   hand   drive   has   been    provided   for 
emergency  use  in  case  the  motor  drive  should  fail. 

Ordinarily  a  gate  is  lifted  by  starting  the  motor  and 
throwing  a  clutch  in  by  hand  at  each  gate.  It  is  also  pos- 
sible to  bring  the  main  shaft  in  such  position  that  the  clutch 
can  be  thrown  in  while  the  shaft  is  not  running,  the  motor 
being  started  with  one  or  two  gates  connected  to  the  main 

shaft.  The  closing  of  the  gate 
can  best  be  effected  by  releasing 
the  brake  on  the  hand  lever  and 
lowering  the  gate  as  far  as  it 
will  go  by  its  own  weight,  then 
throwing  in  the  clutch  on  the 
main  shaft  and  driving  the  gate 
to  a  firm  seat  on  the  sill.  In  ad- 
dition the  clutch  may  be  thrown 
in  first,  in  which  case  the  addi- 
tional friction  on  the  gate  has 
to  be  overcome  by  the  motor  as 
long  as  there  is  any  negative 
movement,  after  which  the 
brake  will  be  released.  An 
adjustable  brake  on  a  combined 
brake  pulley  carries  a  special 
friction  lining  of  rubber,  and 
is  fixed  to  a  cast-steel  lever 
keyed  on  a  small  shaft,  on  one 
end  of  which  is  a  hand  lever  and 
on  the  other  a  lever  for  a  sole- 
noid dropping  device  and  an  ad- 
justable spring  for  keeping  the 
brake  tight.  The  solenoid  for  the 
dropping  device  can  be  operated 
from  the  benchboard  by  pulling 
a  switch,  and  the  dropping  speed 
can  be  so  arranged  that  the 
gates  reach  the  bottom  without 
the    gate   or    hoist.      This    dropping 


any    damaging   jar   to 

device  is  used  for  emergency  only. 

POWER  HOUSE. 

The  power  house,  gatehouse  and  transformer  house  are 
finished   for  six  units,  including  rheostat  and  switchboard 


Fig.    3 — Bus    Compartments    and    Oil    Switches. 

galleries,  compartments  for  transformers  and  other  ap- 
paratus. All  of  the  headworks,  foundations,  etc.,  are  com- 
pleted for  a  135,000-hp  development,  the  only  work  required 
to  prepare  the  power  house  for  the  full  installation  being 
an  addition  to  the  present  superstructure.  At  the  present 
time  there  are  six  units  installed  and  in  operation.  The 
power  house  is  48  ft.  wide  and  will  be  500  ft.  long  inside, 
with  a  floor  14  ft.  below  the  crest  of  the  dam.     The  pen- 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


397 


Stocks,  wheel  chambers  and  draft  tubes  are  formed  entirely 
of  concrete.  The  wheel  chambers  are  22  ft.  wide  and  33  ft. 
high,  and  from  them  two  draft  tubes,  one  above  the  other, 
are  carried  to  the  tailrace. 

The  waterwheels  are  of  the  vertical  shaft,  inward  and 
downward  flow  Francis  type,  built  by  the  L  P.  iVIorris 
Company,    of    Philadelphia.      Each    of    the    main    units    is 


Fig.   4 — Generating    Station    and    Dam. 

capable  of  developing  13,500  hp  when  operated  under  a 
head  of  53  ft.  and  with  80  per  cent  gate  opening.  When 
running,  at  its  rated  load  and  at  94  r.p.m.,  each  turbine 
takes  about  2700  cu.  ft.  of  water  per  second.  At  times  of 
ordinary  flood  the  minimum  head  available  will  be  50  ft., 
and  at  times  of  low  water  the  available  head  will  be  between 
60  ft.  and  65  ft.  Two  wheels  are  mounted  on  a  single  shaft 
of  forged  steel,  and  the  entire  weight  is  carried  on  a  roller 
bearing  supported  by  a  casting  set  into  the  masonry.  The 
draft  tubes  of  the  upper  and  lower  wheels  come  out  together 
below  the  level  of  the  standing  tail-water,  so  that  it  is 
possible  to  get  at  the  upper  wheel  by  closing  the  headgates. 
When  the  lower  wheel  requires  attention  stop  logs  may  be 
used  to  cut  off  the  tail-water,  and  the  draft  tube  may  be 
drained  by  electric  pumps.  The  design  of  the  wheels  is 
such  that  with  the  available  head  reduced  to  the  possible 
minimum   during  extreme  floods,  the   turbines  are  capable 


mm  dm  mim  mm  inijii  mi 


"  "       ij       n  i\ 

^^  -^  Wk  m  m'-ifii, 


% 


Fig,    5 — Transformer    House    and    Tailrace. 

of  giving  their  rated  output  with  100  per  cent  gate  opening. 

ELECTRICAL   EQUIPMENT. 

Five  of  the  generators  installed  are  of  General  Electric 
manufacture,  and  one  was  built  by  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company.  All  of  the  machines 
are  of  the  vertical  waterwheel,  internal-revolving-field  type, 
delivering   three-phase   alternating   current   at    11,000   volts 


and  25  cycles.  The  machines  are  Y-connected,  with  a  lead 
for  grounding  the  neutral.  Three  of  the  General  Electric 
machines  are  rated  at  7500  kw,  and  the  other  two  are  rated 
at  10,000  kw.  The  Westinghouse  machine  is  rated  at  12,000 
kw.  In  all  of  the  machines  the  generator  voltage  is  con- 
trolled by  motor-operated  field  rheostats  and  the  excitation 
is  automatically  controlled  by  Tirrill  regulators.  Pneumatic 
brakes  are  provided  for  stopping  the  machines,  the  brakes 
bearing  on  the  revolving  field  ring. 

Excitation  energy  is  supplied  by  three  machines,  two 
vertical  waterwheel-driven  units  rated  at  400  kw,  250  volts 
and  240  r.p.m.  These  are  compound-wound  machines  of 
General  Electric  manufacture  and  are  fitted  with  interpoles. 
The  third  exciter  is  a  Westinghouse  horizontal  motor- 
generator  set,  consisting  of  a  500-kw,  250-volt  compound- 
wound,  interpole,  direct-current  generator,  mounted  on  a 
common  frame  with  and  direct-connected  to  a  750-hp, 
10,500-volt,  three-phase,  25-cycle,  750  r.p.m.  synchronous 
motor. 

TRANSFORMERS 

There  are  six  General  Electric  25-cycle,  three-phase, 
11,000-70,000-volt  transformers  installed.  The  transformers 
are  delta-connected  on  the  low-tension  side  and  star-con- 
nected on  the  high-tension  side,  with  a  grounding  neutral 
lead.  Four  are  rated  at  7500  kw  and  two  are  rated  at 
10,000  kw. 

The  transformer  house  is  located  south  of  the  power 
house  and  is  carried  by  arches  spanning  the  draft  tube 
outlets  in  the  tailrace.  Provision  is  made  for  bringing  the 
transformers  into  the  generator  room  and  under  the  main 
crane  in  case  repairs  are  necessary.  The  general  layout 
does  not  differ  much  from  standard  practice,  and  the  scheme 
of  connections  from  the  generators  through  the  trans- 
formers to  the  transmission  lines  and  to  the  terminal  station 
in  Baltimore  is  shown  in  Fig.  7. 

The  barriers  for  the  high-tension  apparatus  in  the  trans- 
former house  are  built  entirely  of  reinforced  concrete. 
The  compartments  are  located  on  both  sides  of  a  12-in. 
division  wall  about  no  ft.  long  and  the  shelves  and  barriers 
are  4  in.  thick. 

TRANSMISSION    LINE. 

The  transmission  line  is  40  miles  long  and  is  built  in  the 


Fig.   6 — Dead-Ending   Tower   and    River-Crossing   Tower. 

most  substantial  manner.  The  line  is  strung  over  415  four- 
legged  galvanized  steel  towers  made  by  Messrs.  Milliken 
Bros.,  Milliken,  Staten  Island,  N.  Y.  Two  types  of  towers 
are  employed,  heavy-section  and  light-section  towers. 
Heavy-section  towers  are  used  where  the  span  is  over  700 
ft.  and  where  there  is  an  angle  in  the  line.  In  straight,  flat 
country  one  heavy-section  tower  is  placed  every  mile.  The 
six   main   cables,    three    for   each   line,   are   placed   in    two 


398 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  8. 


vertical   planes,   spaced    15    ft.,   and   the   distance  between  Brass  Company.     On  each  light  section  tower  five-unit  in- 

wires  in  the  same  plane  is  7  ft.     On  the  top  of  the  tower  sulators  are  used  for  supporting  each  cable,  while  on  the 

provision  is  made  for  stringing  two  ground  cables,  but  at  heavy-section   towers   six   units   are    used    for   dead-ending 

present  onlv  one,   which   is  clamped   to   the  center   of   the  each  cable. 

tower,  is  installed.  Special  towers  are  employed  at  certain  places  along  the 

The  standard  height  of  towers  is  44  ft.  to  the  lower  cross-  line,  notably  on  the  island  near  the  station,  where  a  120-ft. 

Substation.  Highlandtown,  Md.  ^sution  Tmnsfonaen. 

*  .     /^Feeder  Line  Relsjs. 


''mhllk       iiUiii 


Future  Installation. 


Lightning  .^TTMttra  oa  BlU. 

FccJtj  Line  Oil  Switcbeft. 

Bu8  Bar  -A'"  13,200  T.  &  SecUon  Switch. 

:.  S-itcbes  13,200  V. 
Bu!  Tie  Switches  13,200  V. 
Disc  Switches  13,200  V. 
■Bua  Bar  -B"  13,200  T.  t  Sectitrn  Switch. 
Ligbtuicg  ATT«sten  on  Bug. 
-tiviafiinaa  OQ  Switches. 
-Transformer  R«laTa  13,200  V. 

Ti»nsforaiei  Ground  Buses  4  Oruund  R«sl>t>a0e>  1 

■TMnsformcr  Gruund  Disc.  8wltcb<a. 

Step  Poirn  Trui^rormen. 

Ti»nsfonner  ReUjB  70,000  V. 

Transformer  Oil  Switches. 

Bus  BarB.  70,000  T.  &  Section  Switches. 

Disc  Si-itchcs  "0,000  V. 

Bus  Tie  Switches  70,000  V. 

Disc  Siritchcs  70,000  V. 

Bus  Bar  A.  70,000  V.  k  Section  Switch. 

Line  Oil  Switches. 

Line  Relajs. 

Choke  Coils. 

Line  Dbc,  Switches. 

Lightniug  .VrresterB. 

Horn  Gnji!. 

'Lightning  ArrcsterB. 

-Line  Disc.  Switches. 

Choke  Coils. 

Line  Relajs. 

Line  Oil  Switches. 

Bus  Bars  "A"  70,000  V.  i  Sectifn   Switch. 

Disc  Switches  70,000  V. 

Bus  Tie  Switches  70.000  T. 

■Disc  Switches  70,000  V. 

Bus  Ban  -li'  70,000  V.  k  Section  Switch. 

TKinsfonner  OU  Switches  70,000  V. 

Iianatormer  Belays  70,000  V. 

transformei  Ground  Disc  Switches. 

Tiansforutci  Grouad  Relajs. 

Step  t'p  Transformers. 

000  V.  Bus  Bar  Disc  &.  Oil  Switches. 
Tic  Disc  Switches. 

Transfonnet  Si  Tie  Switches  11,000  Y. 
:ransfonaer  Kclays  11,000  V. 
Transformer  Disc  Switches. 

Bus  11,000  V.  i  Disc  Switches, 
cncrat^r  Disc  Switches, 
enentor  Oil  Switches- 
cneiatot  Relajs, 
icnerators. 
Generator  Fields. 
Field  Rheostats. 
Id  Switches, 
field  Ilu9. 


Generating  Station,  Holtwood»  Pa. 
Fig.    7 — Wiring    Diagram    for    Generating    Station,    Transmission 


EUctrieal  ^Yorld 


Line  and   Substation. 


arm,  and  the  total  height  from  the  ground  to  the  ground 
cable  is  62.5  ft.  It  was  found  desirable,  due  to  the  rolling 
character  of  the  country  through  which  the  line  passes,  to 
make  use  of  lo-ft.  and  20-ft.  extensions  in  some  places,  so 
as  to  maintain  as  nearly  as  possible  a  standard  span. 

All  of  the  light  section  towers  have  one  of  the  four  legs 
bolted  to  a  steel  tripod  set  6   ft.  in  the  ground,  and  only 


tower  is  used,  and  also  near   Baltimore,   where  the  lines 
cross  the  railroad  right-of-way. 

BALTIMORE  TERMINAL  STATION. 

The  Baltimore  terminal  station  is  located  in  the  suburbs 
at  Highlandtown,  Md.,  and  is  built  of  brick,  with  footings, 
base  wall,  top  coping,  window  sills  and  lintels,  high-tension 


where  unusual  conditions  in  the  ground  made  it  necessary 
was  concrete  used.  All  heavy  towers  have  each  of  their 
four  legs  bolted  to  angle  irons  set  in  concrete. 

The  six  conductors  consist  of  300.000  circ.  mil  19-strand 
aluminum  cables,  and  the  ground  wire  consists  of  a  J^-in. 
double  galvanized  steel  cable  composed  of  seven  strands. 
The  insulators  are  of  the  suspension  type,  made  by  the  Ohio 


station. 


windows,  floors,  high  and  low-tension  bus  compartments 
as  well  as  all  barriers  and  transformer  compartments,  made 
of  concrete. 

The  building  is  now  194  ft.  10  in.  long.  54  ft.  wide 
(inside)  and  51  ft.  high.  Provision  has  been  made  for  a 
44-ft.  extension  on  the  north  end,  which  will  give  the 
building   its   final   quota   of  eight    10,000-kva   transformers. 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


399 


The  ground  floor  of  the  building  is  taken  up  by  the  high- 
tension  bus  compartments,  mains  and  station  service  trans- 
formers and  a  chamber  with  pumps  for  handling  trans- 
former cooling  water,  oil-treating  outfit,  also  oil-handling 
pump  and  vacuum  and  compressed-air  pumps.  Along  the 
entire  length  of  the  west  side  of  the  building  is  a  standard- 


buses  are  made  of  copper  tubing,  i  in.  by  Ji  in.,  supported 
by  post  insulators,  and  are  in  a  concrete  bus  structure. 

From  the  two  sets  of  high-tension  buses,  connection  is 
made  through  disconnecting  and  oil  switches  to  the  high- 
tension  side  of  the  io,ooo-kva  transformers;  from  the  low- 
tension  side  the  leads  are  taken  through  oil  and  discon- 


Fig.    10 — standard   Strain    Tower. 

gage  railway  track,  also  a  wider  track  with  trucks  for 
handling  the  transformers.  All  the  piping  is  placed  between 
and  below  the  standard-gage  track  in  a  suitable  pipe 
trench  covered  with  reinforced  concrete  slabs.  The  first 
floor  contains  the  transmission-line  entrances,  high-tension 

GENERAL  DATA  ON   TRANSMISSION  LINE. 

Altitude,  ft.,  tower  No.  177 690 

Altitude,  ft.,  tower  No.  394 35 

Average  percentage  of  length  of  line  wooded 20 

Strain  in  ground  cable  when  pulled  up  (25°  C),  lb 900 

Strain  in  main  cable  when  pulled  up  (25"  C),  lb 525 

Concrete   in    foundation    for    Susquehanna    River   crossing   towers, 

cu.  yds 173 

Concrete  in  foundation  for  B.  &  O.  R.  R.  crossing  towers,  cu.  yds.  200 

Concrete  in  foundation  for  all  other  towers  together,  cu.  yds 650 

Total   weight  of  tower  material,  tons 2,066 

Total  weight  of  insulators,  tons 165 

Total    weight    of   aluminum    cables,    lb 175,000 

Total  weight  of  ground  cables,  tons 63 

Average    span,    ft 500 

Number   of  light-section    towers 311 

Number  of  heavy-section  towers 104 

Length  of  larger  spans: 

Over  Susquehanna  River,  Pa.,  ft 1,750 

Over  Muddy  Creek,  Pa.,  ft 1,000 

Over   Big  Gunpowder   River,    Md.,    ft..- 1,280 

oil  switches,  low-tension  oil  switches  and  bus  compartments, 
outgoing  feeder  compartments,  charging  set  and  storage 
battery  with  battery  panels.  The  benchboard  and  meter 
panels  are  on  an  elevated  platform  underneath  which  is 
an  electrically  driven  crane  for  handling  the  transformers. 

ELECTRICAL  EQUIPMENT  AND  CONTROL. 

The  two  three-phase  circuits  of  the  transmission  line 
enter  the  substation  on  the  west  side,  the  lightning  arrester 
horn-gaps  being  installed  on  steel  towers  outside,  while  the 
electrolytic  cells  are  placed  inside.  Each  circuit  goes 
through  disconnecting  switches,  choke  coils  and  series 
transformers  to  a  70,000-volt  automatic  motor-operated  oil 
switch,  then  through  disconnecting  switches  to  the  two  sets 
of  high-tension  busbars.  These  buses  have  oil  section 
switches  in  the  middle,  with  disconnecting  switches  on 
each  side  and  oil  tie  switches  at  each  end  of  station  with 
bus   knife   switches    for   cutting   out   the   oil    switch.      The 


Fig.    11 — standard   Transmission    Tower. 

necting  switches  to  the  two  sets  of  low-tension  (13,200-volt) 
buses.  The  low-tension  buses,  which  are  made  up  of 
two  bars  of  3-in.  by  %-m.  hard-drawn  copper,  have  section 
switches  in  the  middle  and  tie  switches  at  each  end,  like 
the  high-tension  buses.  All  connections  from  the  buses  to 
the  switches  are  made  with  copper  tubing.     From  the  buses 


Fif.    12 — Transformer    at    Baltimore    Substation. 

leads  are  taken  through  disconnecting  and  oil  switches  to 
the  three-phase  outgoing  feeder  compartments.  These  com- 
partments are  occupied  by  the  various  series  and  shunt 
transformers  for  the  meters  and  relays  and  also  discon- 
necting switches.  From  the  feeder  compartments  the  leads, 
made  up  in  one  13,200-volt  lead-covered  cable,  are  taken 
through   clay   ducts   to   a   cable   vault   and   thence    to    the 


400 


ELECTRICAL     W  (J  R  L  D  , 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  8. 


underground  distribution.     A  storage  battery  provides  con- 
trol and  operating  energy  for  tiie  various  oil  switches. 

The  benchboard  is  made  of  blue  \'ermont  marble  and 
has  eight  panels — both  front  and  back.  The  front  panels 
have  an  upper  section  on  which  are  located  the  various 
meters ;  on  the  desk  section  are  the  control-switch  indicating 
lamps  and  mimic  buses ;  the  lower  section  has  the  time- 
limit  relay  for  operating  the  various  oil  switches.  The 
rear  panels  are  located  4  ft.  back  of  the  front  ones  and 
all  supported  from  a  pipe  framework.  Back  panels  are 
made  up  in  three  sections  and  have  mounted  on  them  the 
curve-drawing  wattmeters,  voltmeters,  station  service 
switches,  etc.  Separate  panels  are  provided  for  mounting 
the  outgoing  feeder  meters. 

TRANSFORMER   COOLING   SYSTEM. 

Cooling  water  for  the  lo,ooo-kva  transformers  is  pumped 
from  a  well  on  the  premises  to  a  cistern  and  from  there  to 
a  tower  tank  75  ft.  high,  from  which  it  flows  to  the  trans- 
former inlets.  The  warm  water  from  the  transformer  is 
pumped  to  the  'roof,  where  it  is  cooled  by  spraying,  after 
which  sufficient  of  it  is  allowed  to  run  into  the  cistern  and 
mix  with  the  cold  water  from  the  well  to  keep  the  cooling 
svsteni  in  operation. 

The    transformers    are    connected    through    8-in.    piping 


THE    USE    OF    NAKED  ALUMINUM    WIRE    IN 
ELECTROMAGNETS. 


Fig.    13 — Line    Entrance    at    Baltimore   Terminal    Station. 

and  back-pressure  valves  to  an  8-in.  relief  header,  which 
allows  the  gases  or  foaming  oil  to  escape  in  case  of  injury 
to  the  transformers.  The  back-pressure  valves  prevent 
impure  oil  from  getting  into  uninjured  transformers. 

TR.\NSF0RMERS. 

The  five  transformers  at  present  installed  are  of  the 
W'estinghouse  oil-insulated,  water-cooled  type,  rated  at 
lo.oco  kva  on  balanced  load  and  designed  to  step  down 
the  potential  from  60,000  volts  to  13,200  volts.  They  are 
25-cycle,  three-phase  machines  delta-connected  on  the  high- 
tension  side  and  star-connected  on  the  low-tension  side 
with  grounding  neutral  lead. 

There  are  two  small  transformers  of  General  Electric 
make  rated  at  50  kw  each,  which  reduce  the  potential  of 
the  three-phase,  25-cycle  main  secondary  circuit  to-  220 
volts  for  station  service.  In  addition  there  is  a  lo-kw 
motor-generator  set  made  up  of  a  15-hp  induction  motor 
and  a  lo-kw,  250-volt  generator,  the  output  of  which  is 
employed  to  charge  a  124-cell  Gould  battery. 

The  output  of  the  system  is  at  present  used  by  the  lighting 
and  railway  companies  of  Baltimore,  and  work  on  exten- 
sions to  the  system  is  now  in  progress.  Mr.  J.  E.  Aldred 
is  president  of  the  Pennsylvania  Water  &  Power  Company 
and  Mr.  F.  A.  Allner  is  general  superintendent.  The  com- 
pany maintains  offices  in  New  York  and  Baltimore. 


Advantages    of    Reduced    Cost,    Reduced   Weight    and 
Higher    Permissible    Temperature    as    Com- 
pared with  Insulated  Copper  Wire. 

By  H.  F.  Str.\tton. 

THE  Bureau  of  the  Census  of  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment estimates  that  insulated  copper  wire  and 
cable  to  the  value  of  about  $52,000,000  is  sold  an- 
nually in  this  country.  If  a  material  can  be  proposed 
which,  from  an  engineering  standpoint,  would  be  a  satis- 
factory substitute  for  even  a  portion  of  the  insulated  cop- 
per wire  used,  and  which  would  exhibit  conspicuous  mone- 
tary economies  in  a  large  number  of  instances,  it  must  be 
seen  that  the  subject  is  of  such  commercial  importance  as 
to  warrant  a  careful  analysis  of  the  underlying  facts.  If, 
in  addition,  the  substitute  material  betrays  advantages  over 
insulated  copper  wire  used  in  electromagnets,  and  if  these 
advantages  embrace  such  important  characteristics  as  re- 
duced weight  and  higher  permissible  temperature  rises,  then 
the  subject  becomes  increasingly  important  to  the  electrical 
industry. 

It  would  seem  logical,  first,  to  weigh  the  relative  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages  of  the  uses  of  naked  aluminum 
wire  and  insulated  copper  wire  for  magnet  windings,  from 
a  design  standpoint,  and  then  to  determine  if  the  use  of 
aluminum  wire  for  the  purpose  under  discussion  will  suc- 
cessfully stand  the  application  of  the  general  equation  of 
financial  feasibility. 

On  the  basis  of  the  Matthiessen  standard,  the  conductiv- 
ity of  99  per  cent  aluminum  is  61  per  cent  of  that  of  an- 
nealed copper,  which  possesses  the  characteristics  of  copper 
used  in  magnet  wire.  A  bare  aluminum  conductor  will 
therefore  be  64  per  cent  larger  in  cross-sectional  area  than 
a  bare  copper  conductor  of  equal  conductivity. 

If  aluminum  wire  is  to  replace  copper  wire  in  the  same 
coil  space,  it  is  clear  that  there  must  be  some  inherent  dif- 
ference between  the  two  conductors  to  compensate  for  the 
lower  conductivity  of  aluminum  Only  a  partial  answer  to 
this  need  is  found  in  the  fact  that  oxide  of  aluminum  is 
readilv  formed  on  the  surface  of  naked  aluminum  wire, 
and  this  oxide  is  a  successful  insulator  for  an  emf  of  0.5 
volt  or  less,  is  highly  refractory,  not  being  altered  by  tem- 
peratures greatly  in  excess  of  those  permitted  in  most  elec- 
trical machinery,  and  is  relatively  inert  in  the  presence  of 
moisture  and  organic  and  inorganic  acids  and  alkalis.  The 
insulating  material  which  is  wrapped  on  copper  wire,  on 
the  other  hand,  occupies  a  considerable  volume  compared 
to  the  volume  of  the  copper  conductor,  particularly  in  the 
smaller  sizes  of  wire,  and,  furthermore,  has  some  distinct 
disadvantages  from  the  standpoint  of  attack  bv  hi^jh  tem- 
peratures and  chemical  agents,  which  will  be  discussed  at 
more  length  below. 

Fig.  I  gives  a  graphic  comparison  between  round  copper 
wire  and  both  round  and  square  aluminum  wire  of  sizes 
having  conductivity  equal  to  the  conductivity  of  the  vari- 
ous sizes  of  copper  wire.  In  general,  and  approximately, 
the  conductivity  of  any  one  size  of  copper  wire  is  equiva- 
lent to  the  conductivity  of  round  aluminum  wire  of  the 
next  two  sizes  larger,  and  to  the  conductivity  of  square 
aluminum  wire  of  the  next  one  size  larger,  in  terms  of  the 
B.  &  S.  wire  gage. 

Since  the  aluminum  oxide  should  not  be  exposed  to  a 
potential  stress  larger  than  0.5  volt,  this  oxide  film  is,  in 
general,  serviceable  only  between  turns  and  not  between 
layers,  and  it  is  necessary  to  wind  on  a  sheet  of  some  in- 
sulating material,  such  as  asbestos  paper,  between  layers. 
The  writer  has  found,  in  his  experience  with  aluminum 
coils,  extending  from  a  coil  containing  perhaps  '4  'b.  of 
aluminum  up  to  a  coil  containing  about  400  lb.  of  aluminum. 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


401 


that  the  thickness  of  the  insulating  material  between  layers 
can  be  successfully  taken  as  about  10  per  cent  of  the  diame- 
ter of  the  wire. 

Taking  this  additional  space  into  consideration,  Fig.  2 
indicates  for  various  sizes  of  wire  the  percentage  of  the 
number  of  aluminum  conductors  per  square  inch  of  cross- 
section  of  coil  to  the  number  of  copper  conductors  per  square 


32 


^  20 


a 
a 

6  16 


/, 

r" 

A 

A 

/ 

^. 

^ 

/ 

/> 

^ 

l^ 

jy/ 

/- 

u* 

.^// 

/M" 

// 

// 

1/ 

// 

/ 

// 

/ 

// 

/ 

/ 

8  12         16         20 

Size  of  Aluminum  Wire 


24 


28 


Fig.     1- 


-Relation    of    Aluminum    and    Copper    Wires    of    Same 
Conductivity. 


inch  of  cross-section  of  coil,  the  aluminum  wire  being  con- 
sidered bare  and  having  an  insulating  sheet  between  layers, 
and  the  copper  wire  being  considered  to  have  a  single  cot- 
ton-covered insulation.  On  this  basis,  aluminum  wire  is  at  a 
disadvantage  in  sizes  larger  than  No.  5,  but  in  smaller 
sizes  the  aluminum  wire  enjoys  an  increasing  advantage, 
rising  to  a  "space  utilization"  of  180  per  cent  in  the  case 
of  No.  30  aluminum  wire.  In  Fig.  2  no  attention  has  been 
paid  to  the  fact  that  the  conductivity  of  aluminum  is  less 
than  that  of  copper,  and  if  this  consideration  be  properly 
injected  into  the  problem  it  is  seen  that  this  condition 
exists:  First,  comparing  single-cotton-covered  copper  wire 
with  round  aluminum  wire,  the  space  utilization  for  the 
aluminum  wire,  on  a  basis  of  equal  conductivity,  is  unity 
al  No.  29  size  of  copper  wire,  is  less  than  unity  in  larger 


28 

-^ 

'-' 

24 

^ 

^ 

"" 

^ 

^20 

^ 

/ 

<' 

•3 
M16 

/ 

/ 

V 

/ 

/ 

S 

ffi  8 

/ 

4 

/ 

/ 

n 

/ 

100       110       120 


130 


140       150       160       170       180 


Space  Utilization  of  Aluminum  Wire 

EUetrical  Wx^rld 

Fig.  2— Space   Relations  of  Copper  and  Aluminum  Wires. 

sizes  and  is  greater  than  unity  in  smaller  sizes;  and  second, 
comparing  the  single-cotton-covered  copper  wire  with 
square  aluminum  wire,  the  space  utilization  of  the  aluminum 
wire,  on  the  basis  of  equal  conductivity,  is  unity  at  No.  25 
size,  is  less  than  unity  in  larger  sizes  and  is  greater  than 
unity  in  smaller  sizes. 

On  the  basis  of  equal  conductivity  and  equal  length  of 


conductor  it  is  evident  from  the  statements  just  made  that 
in  most  sizes  bare  aluminum  wire  will  occupy  more  space 
than  single-cotton-covered  copper  wire,  and  w^here  the 
problem  is  one  of  replacing  a  copper  coil  by  an  aluminum 
coil  in  a  fixed  coil  space  in  standard  apparatus  there  is 
evidently   small   opportunity  of   accomplishing   the  desired 


Size  of 
Copper  Wire. 
B.  &  S.  Gage. 

Percentage  Saved, 

Round  Aluminum 

Wire. 

Percentage  Saved, 

Square  Aluminum 

Wire. 

0 

32 

20 

S 

33 

20 

10 

36 

25 

IS 

40 

20 

20 

27 

2 

25 

.36 

17 

30 

26 

-8 

result  if  the  characteristics  of  the  copper  coil  must  be 
duplicated  by  those  of  the  aluminum  coil.  In  many  cases 
it  would  be  pertinent  to  inquire,  however,  if  a  higher  ulti- 
mate temperature  should  not  be  permitted  in  aluminum 
coils  than  in  coils  constituted  of  single-cotton-covered  cop- 
per wire.     There  are  undoubtedly  many  examples  of  com- 


Fig.  3— Aluminum  Coil  Containing  About  400  lb.  of  Wire,  Operated 
at   300   Deg.   C. 

mercial  apparatus  where  the  permissible  coil  temperature 
is  dictated  solely  by  the  consideration  that  this  temperature 
should  be  kept  safely  below  the  charring  temperature  of 
the  cotton  insulation.  It  has  generally  been  assumed  that 
coils  wound  with  single-cotton-covered  wire  should  not 
reach  a  higher  ultimate  temperature  than  loo  deg.  C,  and 
in  many  cases  specifications  for  lower  temperatures  are 
proper  and  are  warranted  by  considerations  of  precautions 
or  reductions  of  the  PR  losses. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  writer  is  familiar  with  the  history 
of  a  large  aluminum  coil  which,  in  a  lifting  magnet,  has 
been  subjected  almost  constantly  day  and  night  to  a  tem- 
perature of  about  300  deg.  C,  and  which,  after  quite  a  long 
period  of  operation,  as  yet  shows  absolutely  no  measurable 
change  in  resistance.  It  goes  without  saying  that  a  coil 
composed  of  cotton-covered  wire  and  subjected  to  these 
same  operating  conditions  would  by  this  time  have  failed 
completely.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  aluminum  coil  in 
question,  in  addition  to  being  subjected  to  extremely  high 
temperature,  also  withstood  mechanical  abuse  the  severity 
of  which  is  probably  second  to  none  experienced  in  elec- 
trical apparatus. 

Where  the  increase  in  resistance  due  to  rise  in  tempera- 
ture has  determined  the  final  temperature  of  copper  coils, 
a  slightly  higher  temperature  may  be  permitted  with  the 
same  results  in  the  case  of  aluminum  coils,  since  the  tem- 


402 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  8. 


perature-resistance  coefficient  of  aluminum  is  about  6  per 
cent  less  than  that  of  soft  copper. 

It  has  been  contended  by  some  German  advocates  of  the 
use  of  aluminum  wire  that  aluminum  coils  may  be  safely 
depended  upon  to  absorb  considerably  more  heat  than 
similar  copper  coils,  their  arguments  being  based  on  the 
faci  that  the  specific  heat  of  aluminum  is  about  148  per 
cent  greater  than  that  of  copper.  However,  if  all  the 
facts  surrounding  this  situation  be  taken  into  consideration, 
it  does  not  appear  that  this  is  a  conspicuous  advantage,  if, 
indeed,  it  is  any  advantage  at  all.  When  it  is  recalled  that 
the  weight  of  an  aluminum  coil  is  about  49  per  cent  of  that 
of  a  copper  coil  of  equal  conductivity  and  equal  length  of 
conductor,  it  will  be  found  that  only  16  per  cent  more  watt- 
seconds  are  required  to  raise  the  temperature  of  the  alumi- 
num coil  to  a  certain  point  than  would  be  required  to  raise 
the  temperature  of  an  equal  copper  coil  by  the  same  amount. 
This  conclusion,  however,  is  based  on  what  might  be  called 
"heat  inertia,"  representing  the  ability  of  the  coil  to  absorb 
— by  a  rise  in  temperature — a  certain  amount  of  energy, 
but  not  in  any  sense  indicating  the  continuous  temperature 
of  the  coil.  This  latter  feature  is  purely  a  balance  between 
the  heat  generated  in  the  coil  and  the  ability  of  the  coil  to 
get  rid  of  this  heat  and  is  determined  by  its  thermal  con- 
ductivity, radiating  characteristics  and  its  ability  to  trans- 
mit heat  to  other  portions  of  the  machine,  which  in  turn 
serve  to  convey  the  generated  heat  to  the  surrounding 
atmosphere. 

The  writer  does  not  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  de- 
signer is  justified  in  allowing  more  watts  to  be  trans- 
formed into  heat  in  an  aliuiiinum  coil  than  he  would  in  a 
copper  coil,  unless  he  is  infllienced  by  one  of  the  following 
considerations — first,  the  lower  temperature-resistance  co- 
efficient of  aluminum,  permitting  a  higher  temperature  rise 
for  the  same  increase  in  resistance  than  in  the  case  of  cop- 
per, or,  second,  the  very  much  higher  temperatures  which 
are  safe  in  the  case  of  aluminum  coils  because  of  the  per- 
manence of  the  insulation  at  high  temperatures. 

When,  however,  the  question  of  coil  weight  is  considered, 
the  advantage  of  aluminum  over  copper  is  so  conspicuous 
as  not  to  be  open  to  argument.  This  can  be  summarized 
by  merely  stating  that  an  aluminum  coil  will  weigh  about 
49  per  cent  as  much  as  a  copper  coil  composed  of  singlc- 
cotton-covered  copper  wire  and  of  equal  conductivity  and 
length  of  conductor. 

When  the  very  important  question  of  cost  is  considered, 
the  use  of  aluminum  seems  to  show  some  startling  advan- 
tages. The  accompanying  table  was  prepared  showing  the 
saving  in  the  cost  of  conductor  secured  by  using  bare 
aluminum  wire  in  place  of  single-cotton-covered  copper 
wire,  and  assuming  in  each  case  that  a  size  of  aluminum 
wire  was  employed  having  a  conductivity  equal  to  that  of 
copper  wire.  This  table  considers  round  and  square  alumi- 
num wire  of  several  typical  sizes,  from  No.  o  to  No.  30  in- 
clusive, which  are  at  present  the  only  sizes  of  aluminum 
wire  on  the  market.  It  was  based  on  quotations  existing 
in  May,  1912,  and  is,  of  course,  inconsistent  in  its  relative 
figures  pertaining  to  different  sizes  of  wire,  since  it  takes 
into  account  the  arbitrary  fixing  of  prices  of  both  aluminum 
and  copper.  It  should  not,  by  any  means,  be  assumed  that 
the  total  cost  of  aluminum  coils  should  be  less  than  the 
total  costs  of  copper  coils  in  the  ratio  indicated  by  this 
table,  since  the  winding  and  other  processes  of  manufacture 
of  aluminum  coils  will  be  found  to  be  more  expensive  than 
similar  operations  in  the  case  of  copper  coils.  This  table 
does,  however,  indicate  the  possibilities  of  large  monetary 
savings  to  the  electrical  industry,  when  it  is  remembered 
that  insulated  copper  wire  to  the  value  of  many  millions  of 
dollars  is  used  annually  in  building  the  various  kinds  of 
electrical  machinery.  It  would  seem  that  these  figures  are 
an  admonition  to  the  electrical  engineers  to  direct  their 
energies  to  the  determination  of  successful  and  economical 
methods  of  winding  aluminum  wire,  and  to  the  producers 


of  aluminum  wire  to  foster  an  industry  of  large  potential 
magnitude  by  fixing  their  prices  consistently  and  at  figures 
which  contemplate  only  a  reasonable  profit. 

While  there  is  considerable  literature  relating  to  the  cost 
and  engineering  features  involved  in  the  use  of  aluminum 
conductors  for  overhead  transmission  and  some  published 
information  of  a  rather  theoretical  nature  concerning  the 
use  of  aluminum  wire  in  electromagnets,  yet  there  seem  to 
be  few,  if  any,  obtainable  instructions  which  would  inform 
a  manufacturer  just  how  to  build  an  electromagnet  wound 
with  bare  aluminum  conductor.  The  determination  of  the 
length  and  size  of  conductor  is  not  a  difficult  matter  and 
merely  means  the  use  of  the  data  relating  to  conductivities, 
temperature-resistance  coefficients,  etc.,  all  of  these  data 
being  readily  available  in  a  number  of  electrical  handbooks 
and  also  to  quite  a  large  extent  in  the  catalogs  on  aluminum. 
It  should  be  noted  at  this  point,  as  an  interesting  fact,  that 
if  a  reasonable  quantity  of  aluminum  wire  of  any  one  size 
be  ordered  at  a  time,  this  wire  can  be  obtained  either  square 
or  round,  of  any  desired  cross-sectional  area  within  certain 
limits.  In  other  words,  it  is  not  necessary  to  select  alumi- 
num wire  according  to  the  various  wire  gage  numbers. 

Aluminum  wire  can  be  purchased  under  the  supposition 
that  is  is  enveloped  in  a  skin  of  aluminum  oxide.  The 
writer,  however,  has  not  been  able  to  wind  coils  of  such 
wire  which  do  not  exhibit  a  serious  degree  of  short-circuit, 
either  because  the  oxide  did  not  sufficiently  inclose  the 
wire  when  it  was  received  from  the  wire  manufacturers 
or  because  the  oxide  was  partly  scraped  off  during  the 
process  of  winding.  In  Europe  some  manufacturers  claim 
to  have  formed  the  oxide  successfully  on  the  surface  of  the 
wire  after  the  coil  has  been  wound,  by  thoroughly  wetting 
the  entire  coil  structure  with  water  and  then  heating  the 
coil.  In  such  a  case  the  oxide  is  supposed  to  be  formed 
by  the  presence  of  the  hot  moisture.  The  writer,  in  at- 
tempting to  carry  out  this  process,  succeeded  in  forming  a 
considerable  degree  of  the  oxide,  but  not  enough  to  prevent 
a  partial  short-circuit,  and  not  nearly  enough  to  produce  a 
coil  of  absolutely  stable  and  uniform  resistance.  Very 
successful  results  have  been  obtained  by  passing  the  wire 
through  a  solution  of  sodium  hydroxide  as  the  wire  is 
wound  on  the  coil  and  then  drying  out  the  solution  by 
passing  current  through  the  coil  winding.  The  current,  of 
course,  should  be  regulated  by  a  rheostat,  as  initially  quite 
a  degree  of  short-circuit  will  e.xist,  but  as  the  temperature 
of  the  coil  increases  with  the  progress  of  the  chemical 
action  and  as  the  moisture  is  driven  off,  the  resistance  of 
the  coil  will  increase  until  it  reaches  a  point  where  no 
short-circuit  exists  in  the  entire  coil  structure. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  definitely  just  what  is  formed  by  the 
action  of  sodium  hydroxide,  but  it  is  certain  that,  as  a  par- 
tial or  a  preliminary  condition,  a  sodium  aluminate  is 
formed.  In  the  presence  of  heat  this  sodium  aluminate 
may  be  partially  or  completely  broken  up  into  several  con- 
stituents, of  which  aluminum  oxide  would  be  one.  Irre- 
spective of  the  precise  chemical  composition  of  the  sub- 
stance which  results  from  the  action  of  sodium  hydroxide 
and  metallic  aluminum,  the  fact  remains  that  this  substance, 
in  practice,  has  proved  to  be  stable  and  a  sufficiently  good 
insulator. 

In  winding  large  coils  which  contain  such  length  of 
conductor  that  joints  must  be  made  it  will  be  found  that 
the  aluminum  wire  can  be  easily  and  successfully  welded 
together.  The  procedure  is  first  to  cut  off  the  two  ends 
of  the  wire  squarely  and  hold  each  of  them  in  the  flame 
of  a  blow-torch  until  they  become  molten.  The  film  of 
aluminum  oxide  which  will  surround  the  coil,  being  very 
highly  refractory,  does  not  melt  and  serves  to  inclose  and 
retain  the  molten  metal.  After  the  two  ends  have  reached 
this  condition  they  should  be  suddenly  pushed  together, 
and  it  will  be  found  that  a  weld  will  be  secured  which  will 
exhibit  nearly,  if  not  entirely,  100  per  cent  strength  and 
electrical  conductivity. 


AUCL'ST  24,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


403 


WOODEN     TOWER     WITH     STEEL     BOWSPRING 

CROSS-ARM   FOR    100,000-VOLT 

TRANSMISSION  LINE. 


THE  wooden  transmission-tower  construction  shown 
in  the  sketch  below  has  been  adopted  by  the  Cen- 
tral Colorado  Power  Company  for  a  new  70-niile 
line  at  100,000  volts.  Each  tower  comprises  one  45-ft.  and  one 
40-ft.  pole,  which  are  set  into  the  ground  to  a  depth  of  5  ft. 
6  in.  .\t  the  ground  line  the  poles  are  separated  by  a  dis- 
tance of  1/  ft.  6  in.,  and  converge  to  a  distance  of  11  ft.  at 
a  level  35  ft.  above  the  ground.  The  cross-arm  is  formed 
of  a  pair  of  4-in.  5^-lb.  steel  channels  bolted  together  at 


Ground  Wire- 


i-in.  Top 


,Two4-in..5«  lb. 
Channels 


Spacing  Block 
Wooden    Tower  for   100,000-Volt    Line. 


4-in..  5!i  lb. 
Steel  Channels 

Eleeirieai  Vt'arld 


their  ends  and  inclosing  the  poles  as  a  bow-spring. 
Although  pinned  to  the  poles  by  through-bolts  the  spring 
pressure  of  these  deflected  channels  is  sufficient  to  grip  the 
cross-arm  securely  in  position.  A  lo-in.  spacing  block  is  in- 
serted at  the  mid-point  of  the  bow,  and  the  channels  are 
braced  to  the  poles  with  4-ft.  knee-pieces.  These  towers 
are  being  spaced  at  500-ft.  intervals  throughout  the  70-mile 
line  which  is  under  construction. 

The  arrangement  of  suspension  insulators  used  places  all 
three  phase-wires  in  the  same  plane.  While  such  disposi- 
tion is  susceptible  of  slight  theoretical  disadvantages,  the 
arrangement  has  the  great  practical  advantage  of  permitting 
any  wire  to  be  reached  and  worked  upon  without  danger  of 
contact  with  the  others.  As  the  sketch  shows,  the  ground 
wire  is  carried  at  a  distance  of  nearly  8  ft.  from  the  nearest 
conductor.  At  each  pole  a  ground  tap  is  run  down  under 
staples  and  wrapped  in  a  spiral  about  the  pole  butt  to  pro- 
vide a  permanent  earth  connection.  The  Central  Colorado 
Company  has  used  a  construction  similar  to  this  in  some  of 
its  13,000-volt  lines,  where  the  bow-spring  cross-arms  are 
formed  of  two  6-in.  by  6-in.  hardwood  members.  With  this 
construction  spans  as  long  as  iioo  ft.  have  been  used. 


Another  special  modification  used  on  these  13,000-volt 
lines  where  it  is  desirable  to  avoid  guying  against  the 
terrific  winds  that  prevail  in  the  region  has  been  an  A-frame 
arrangement.  Two  30-ft.  poles  are  erected  30  ft.  apart,  at 
an  angle  of  30  deg.  with  the  perpendicular,  forming  an 
equilateral  triangle.  The  frame  is  linked  and  braced  by 
^-in.  bolts  extending  through  plate  cross-pieces.  At  dis- 
tances 6  ft.  down  each  pole,  measured  from  the  apex  of  the 
frame,  provision  is  made  for  attaching  strain  insulators,  the 
jumpers  between  spans  passing  around  the  poles.  The  top 
wire  is  then  attached  to  the  frame  cross-piece,  while  the 
lower  conductors  clear  the  ground  by  20  ft.  This  construc- 
tion has  been  used  in  a  mountainous  country  for  a  distance 
of  nearly  3  miles,  the  maximum  of  the  forty-seven  spans 
being  iioo  ft. 


THE    POLARIZATION    EMF    OF     A    MIXTURE    OF 
CLAY,  FELDSPAR    AND    QUARTZ. 


By  a.  a.  Somerville. 

IN  this  day  of  electrical  heating  apparatus  used  for 
scientific,  technical  and  domestic  purposes,  insulation 
is  an  important  factor.  Electrical  insulation  is  neces- 
sary; thermal  is  desirable.  The  former  has  been  almost 
perfectly  attained;  the  latter  is  an  indefinite  quantity.  In- 
sulating power  or  resistance  varies  with  the  temperature; 
hence  it  is  desirable  to  know  the  function  of  variation  when 
designing  heating  apparatus.  Having  studied  the  tempera- 
ture coefficients  of  electrical  resistance  at  high  tempera- 
tures of  many  of  the  metals  and  alloys  now  obtainable,  it 
was  thought  desirable  to  extend  this  work  to  the  clays, 
o.xides  and  rare  earths,  one  reason  for  starting  on  this  line 
being  that  since  a  metal  ordinarily  oxidizes  at  high  tem- 
peratures it  seemed  well  to  start  with  the  oxide  and  see 
what  it  would  do  when  heated  under  simple  conditions. 

This  work  is  to  be  continued  probably  for  some  years, 
and  the  one  great  difficulty  now  is  that  of  securing  a  bind- 
ing material  to  hold  the  other  materials  in  the  form  of  a 
solid  conductor  or  insulator.  They  must  be  in  the  form 
of  a  solid,  for  if  they  are  pasty,  electrolysis  occurs,  form- 
ing a  film  of  hydrogen  which  makes  a  high  resistance,  and 
if  they  are  in  the  form  of  a  powder,  the  resistance  depends 
not  only  on  the  temperature,  but  to  a  much  greater  degree 
upon  the  pressure,  which  in  itself  may  vary  with  tem- 
perature. These  factors  may  combine  to  make  a  conductor 
which  will  carry  electrical  current  at  comparatively  low 
temperatures  and  act  as  an  insulator  at  higher  temperatures. 
There  being  a  sharp  break  in  the  temperature-resistance 
curve  at  a  certain  temperature,  this  bend  in  the  curve  can 
be  located  at  any  point  on  the  temperature  axis  by  varying 
the  percentage  of  the  ingredients  in  the  resistor.  The 
powdered  unit  offers  the  greatest  field  for  research  and 
invention,  since  it  can  readily  be  arranged  to  have  a  low 
resistance,  and  the  objection  to  the  solid-unit  metals  ex- 
cepted is  that  they  have  too  great  a  resistance  to  be  self- 
heating  at  ordinary  voltage.  It  may  be  possible  to  propor- 
tion properly  certain  ingredients  and  bake  them  so  as  to 
form  a  solid  which  will  be  self-starting  and  controlling,  but 
as  yet  everything  of  this  nature  has  the  characteristics  of 
the  Nernst  glower,  in  that  it  must  be  heated  before  it  will 
carry  sufficient  current  to  sustain  its  temperature  auto- 
matically and  a  balancing  resistor  such  as  iron  must  be 
used  to  prevent  an  overload  coming  on  and  melting  the 
conducting  filament. 

However,  the  solids  of  clay  and  rare  earths  exhibit  some 
other  peculiar  properties  that  are  interesting.  For  instance, 
it  has  been  found  that  the  Nernst  filament  and  platinum 
give  the  largest  thermal  emf  of  all  materials  known.  A 
mixture,  of  which  the  subject  of  this  article  gives  some 
idea,  acts  as  a  sort  of  storage  battery  or  condenser,  in  that 
it  will  give  off  current  some  hours  after  it  has  been 
charged  and  has  a  definite  .emf  which  is  readily  measured 


404 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  8. 


and  is  dependent  on  temperature,  time  of  charging, 
charging  voltage  and  electrodes  used,  and  the  rate  of  dis- 
charge is  also  dependent  upon  these  same  factors,  but  in 
a  different  way. 

The   specimens    were    made   by   Mr.    Charles    F.    Binns, 


I —  I 

Fig.  1 — Pottery  Suspended  by  Wires  in  Tubular  Furnace. 

director  of  the  New  York  State  School  of  Clay-Working 
and  Ceramics,  located  at  Alfred,  N.  Y. 

Designs  for  these  specimens  were  furnished  so  that  they 
would  be  of  suitable  shape  and  size  for  the  measurement 
of  the  resistance  thereof.  They  were  in  the  form  of  short 
heavy  rods  about  i  cm  in  diameter  and  5  cm  in  length, 
having  holes  near  either  end  through  which  to  pass  wires 
in  order  to  make  mechanical  connections.  They  were 
baked  at  a  temperature  of  iioo  deg.  C.  and  look  like  a 
cheap  grade  of  white  porcelain. 


7.50 


800 


HOC 


900  1000 

Temueratui'e-Ccatignnle 

Fig.   2 — Variation   of   Discharge   with   Temperature. 

The   percentage    analysis   of    these   pottery   mixtures   is 
shown  in  the  accompanying  table. 

ANALYSIS  OF  POTTERY  MIXTURES. 


Number. 

.  Clay. 

Feldspar. 

Quartz. 

1 

45 

22 

33 

2 

SO 

20 

30 

3 

55 

18 

27 

4 

60 

16 

24 

s 

65 

14 

21 

6 

70 

12 

18 

7 

75 

10 

IS 

In  each  case  the  clay  was  composed  of  equal  parts  of 

English  ball  clay,  brand  M  and  M,  and  English  china  clay, 
brand  MGR,  both  of  which  are  very  adhesive  and  hence 
make  good  binding  agents.  The  ground  feldspar  and  quartz 
required  something  like  this  clay  to  make  them  into  solids 


1.20 


1.00 


,.80 


:<.6o 

W.40 


20' 

0         io        40        GO        so        100  no 

Chargiuj;  E.M.F.-Volts 
Fig.    3 — Variation    of    Final    Emf    with    Charging    Emf. 

having  some  mechanical  strength.  The  varying  of  the  per- 
centage of  these  mixtures  did  not  show  any  striking  re- 
sults, and  the  seven  different  classes  may  all  be  considered 
as  one  so  far  as  present  results  show. 

The  electrical  resistance  behavior  of  the  mixtures  under 


^ 

^ 

/ 

Charge  2  Uin. 
1040'0. 
itickel  Leads 

i 

temperature  is  much  like  that  of  glass,  quartz  or  porcelain. 
That  is,  at  room  temperatures  they  are  almost  perfect  in- 
sulators and  as  the  temperature  is  increased  there  is  a 
definite  value  where  the  resistance  begins  to  decrease 
rapidly,  this  temperature  being  from  400  deg.  to  700  deg.  C, 
and  then  at  about  1000  deg.  the  rate  of  change  is  relatively 
much  slower. 

The   specimen   was   suspended    in    a    horizontal,    tubular, 


a 

1 

\ 

110  Volts 

1040°  C. 

\ 

<^ 

i 

- 

10 


30  40  CO  60 

Time  of  Charge-Jliuutes 


80 


Fig.   1 — Variation   of   Discharge   Rate   with   Time   of   Charge. 

spirally  wound  resistor  furnace.  Temperatures  were  meas- 
ured by  a  resistance  thermometer  and  indicated  on  an 
automatic  recorder.  The  whole  apparatus  has  been  in  use 
about  five  years  and  has  been  fully  described  in  the  Elec- 
trical World  and  Physical  Revieiv;  it  is  of  a  simple  type 
and  need  not  be  further  described. 

When  the  specimen  was  heated  to  about  1000  deg.  C.  and 
an  attempt  was  made  to  measure  its  resistance  it  was  found 
that  there  was  the  equivalent  of  an  emf  in  that  arm  of  the 


2.00, 


L.60 


Hi 


.20 


.80 


\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

Charge  2  Min. 

1040 "C. 
ijickel  Leads 

s 

\, 

\ 

\ 

\> 

750 


800 


Fig.     5 — Variation 


900  1000  1100 

Teraperat  ui-o  Centigrade 
of    Final    Emf    with    Temperature. 


Wheatstone  bridge  in  which  the  specimen  was  placed. 
Only  a  single  dry  cell  was  being  used  on  the  bridge,  but 
even  this  low  voltage  was  sufficient  to  produce  a  polariza- 
tion or  counter  emf  in  the  mixture  of  clay,  feldspar  and 
quartz,  so  that  alternating  current  had  to  be  used  to  de- 
termine its  resistance,  while  the  direct  current  was  em- 
ployed in  the  study  of  this  more  interesting  phenomenon  of 
a  counter  emf  produced  in  the  pottery  mixture  acting  as 
an  electrolyte,  dielectric  or  storage  battery. 

The  counter  emf  was  studied  by  means  of  a  potenti- 
ometer, the  specimen  being  placed  in  a  direct-current  cir- 
cuit of  known  voltage,  at  a  certain  temperature  and  for  a 
given  length  of  time;  then  a  switch  was  thrown  to  dis- 
connect the  specimen  from  the  source  of  voltage  and  con- 
nect it  into  the  potentiometer  circuit.  After  some  few 
trials  a  balance  could  be  obtained  in  about  ten  seconds  and 
the  so-called  polarization  emf  thereby  determined. 

Use  was  made  of  nickel  lead  wires  because  they  do  not 
oxidize  readily.  In  a  few  cases  lead  wires  of  other  metals, 
such  as  nichrome  or  iron,  were  used,  and  they  seem  to  in- 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


40s 


dicate  that  the  phenomenon  is  a  function  not  only  of  the 
electrolyte  but  also  of  the  electrodes  as  well.  For  instance, 
the  discharge  in  the  case  of  nichrome  is  about  four  times 
as  fast  as  when  nickel  leads  are  used.  The  rate  of  dis- 
charge also  depends  upon  the  size  of  the  electrodes  or  leads. 

1.08 


1.00 


.84 


S  .76 


9  .68 


.53 


.41 


.36 


.28 


1 

\ 

Charge  2  MiD. 
110  Voita 
1040'- 0. 
Nichrome  Leade 

\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

■-O^ 

^ 

0 


10 


12 


Fig.    6- 


:  4  G  S 

Time-Miuutes 
-Variation    of    Discharge    of    Emf   with    Time. 


On  the  theory  of  the  condenser  the  size  of  the  leads  would 
help  to  determine  the  capacity. 

The    voltage    obtained    is    a    function    of    the    time    of 


1.3-; 


i.co 


1.16 


1.1- 


l.CS 


> 

a,  1.04 


gl.OO 


.96 


.92 


.84 


J 

\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

110  Volta 
Charge  2  Min. 
Nickel  Leads 

\ 

\ 

\ 

0  m  -.il  3B  48  60 

Time-.Miuutes 
Fig.    7 — Variation    of   Emf   with   Time. 

charging;  it  is  found  that  about  95  per  cent  of  the  maxi- 
mum voltage  is  to  be  had  at  the  end  of  two  minutes  after 
beginning  to  charge.  After  that  time  the  rate  of  increase 
in  voltage  is  slow. 

The  voltage  obtained  is  also  a  function  of  the  charging 


emf,  and  4  volts  impressed  produces  a  counter  emf  that  is 
75  per  cent  as  large  as  when  no  volts  is  used  to  polarize 
the  specimen.  The  counter  emf  produced  is  also  dependent 
upon  the  temperature,  and  decreases  as  the  latter  increases. 
The  effect  is  twice  as  great  at  750  deg.  as  at  iioo  deg.  C. 
The  rate  of  discharge  is  dependent  for  one  thing  upon  the 

1.00 


.96 


e  .88 

■3 

> 


.9  .84 
^•.60 


.76 


--<^- 

<i 

/ 

r' 

I 

II 

icoo''o. 
no  voiis 

Nickel  Loads 

1 

■     0  2  4  6  8  10 

Time  of  Cluuginif-Jtuutts 

Fig.   8 — Variation   of   Finai    Emf  with   Time   of   Charging. 


time  of  charging.  There  is  a  rapid  drop  in  voltage  for  ten 
minutes  and  then  a  slow  uniform  decrease.  The  rate  of 
discharge  might  be  expected  to  be  dependent  on  the  tem- 
perature, since  the  resistance  varies  greatly  therewith.  As 
a  fact  the  discharge  is  twice  as  fast  at  iioo  deg.  as  at  750 
deg.  C,  but  this  is  not  nearly  so  large  a  difference  as  would 
be  expected,  since  the  resistance  varies  by  as  much  as  a 
factor  of  at  least  1000. 

1.08' 


u  1  2  3  1 

Minutes 
Fig.    9 — Variation    of    Discharge    Emf    with    Time. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  determine  how  various  lead 
wires  will  affect  the  results  and  just  what  there  is  about 
these  pieces  of  pottery  that  causes  this  phenomenon,  which 
has  as  yet  not  been  found  in  any  other  mixture  of  porce- 
lain or  pottery. 


4o6 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o.  Xo.  8. 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


NEWSBOYS'  TOAST-EATING  CONTEST. 


A  special  sale  of  electric  toasters  on  Aug.  lo  by  the 
Oklahoma  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Oklahoma  City,  was 
featured  by  Mr.  Robert  C.  Leonard,  manager  of  the  new- 
business  department  of  the  company.  The  sale  was  adver- 
tised in  all  the  papers,  and  an  arrangement  was  effected 
with  a  dealer  in  electrical  supplies  by  which  a  novel  demon- 
stration of  electric  toasters  was  made.  It  was  announced  in 
the  papers  that  during  certain  hours  of  the  day  the  news- 
boys of  the  city  would  participate  in  a  toast-eating  contest 
in  the  dealer's  show-window.  The  terms  of  the  contest 
were  that  each  newsboy  should  receive  l  cent  for  every 
slice  of  toast  he  could  eat  during  a  period  of  fifteen  minutes. 
In  addition,  the  boy  who  stowed  away  the  most  toast  was  to 
receive  a  prize  of  $i.  This  unique  contest  excited  a  great 
deal  of  attention.  The  newsboys  responded  with  alacrity, 
and  while  the  contest  was  on  the  sidewalk  in  front  of  the 
window  was  blocked  with  spectators  enjoying  the  laughable 
and  unusual  sight.  The  toast  was  made  by  electricity,  of 
course.  Thirty-seven  toasters  were  sold  during  the  day, 
while  the  influence  of  the  contest  was  shown  in  increased 
demand  for  toasters  on  succeeding  days.  The  contest,  which 
was  held  in  the  store  of  Arnold  &  Wetherbee,  was  won  by 
a  newsboy  who  ate  six  pieces  of  dry  toast  in  the  time 
specified. 


ADJUSTMENT  OF   CUSTOMERS'  COMPLAINTS. 


If  customers  are  worth  having,  they  are  worth  satisfying. 
The  right  kind  of  answers  to  complaints,  like  good  collec- 
tion letters,  are  largely  a  matter  of  attitude,  declared  Mr. 
F.  J.  Maxwell,  of  Fond  du  Lac,  Wis.,  before  a  recent  meet- 
ing of  the  Wisconsin  Electrical  Association.  Every  day 
that  a  complaint  hangs  over  it  becomes  increasingly  hard  to 
handle,  and  quick  attention  will  preclude  many  possibilities 
of  future  unpleasantness.     Assume  a  fair  and  open-minded 


N0,iSS2_       EASTERN  WISCONSIN  RY.  &  LIGHT  CO. 

FOND  DU  LAC.  WISCONSIN. 

. Date 


N«me_ 


_m 

—Street 


NATURE  OF  COMPLAINT 


TIME 


REPORTED 

A.  M. 

RECEIVED  BY  EMP. 

A.  H. 
P.M. 

CORRECTED 

A.M. 

P.M. 

P.M. 

THB  ABOVE  ORDRH  HAS  BKEN  ADJUSTED  TO  HV  SATISFACTION 


-Coiuumer 


Employe- 


Complaint    Record    Used    at    Fond    du    Lac,    Wis. 

position,  for  there  is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  allowing  one's 
self  to  become  aroused  over  anything  the  man  with  a  com- 
plaint may  say  or  write.  "Back  talk"  simply  irritates 
the  customer  instead  of  pacifying  him  and  leaves  the 
grievance  farther  from  settlement  than  it  was  before.  Nor 
should  the  central-station  man  give  the  complainant  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  his  temper  has  been  stirred. 


All  complaints  reported  to  the  office  of  the  Fond  du  Lac 
company  are  made  out  on  duplicate  slips  numbered  consecu- 
tively and  stating  the  nature  of  the  complaint,  time  reported, 
and  by  whom  received.  The  original  goes  to  the  operating 
department,  which  remedies  the  trouble.  After  this  has 
been  adjusted  the  customer's  signature  is  secured  to  the 
statement  that  the  complaint  has  been  adjusted  to  his  satis- 
faction. The  clerk  retains  the  duplicate  until  the  original 
is  returned.  In  some  cases  a  return  postal  card  similarly 
worded  is  used. 

Complaints  on  account  of  large  bills  are  handled  by  the 
chief  accountant.  The  complainant  whose  trade  is  worth 
retaining  is  certainly  worth  individual  attention,  and  if  the 
customer  thinks  there  is  an  error  in  the  company's  statement 
of  his  account,  an  investigation  must  be  made  to  see  if  the 
meter  was  read  correctly,  the  number  of  days  the  bill  covers, 
etc.  Care  should  also  be  taken  to  assure  the  complainant 
that  investigation  will  start  immediately. 

The  object  is  to  show  courtesy,  tact  and  open-minded  fair- 
ness and  to  allow  the  complainant  to  do  most  of  the  talking, 
for  his  system  is  at  high  tension.  He  should  not  be  angered 
and  after  he  has  "blown  his  fuse"  and  his  voltage  is  normal 
he  can  be  shown  that  his  trouble  is  understood.  By  this 
plan,  his  spirit  of  fairness  is  aroused. 

If  desired,  the  customer's  meter  will  be  tested  at  Fond  du 
Lac  and  a  report  mailed  to  him.  A  letter  accompanies  each 
of  these  reports  saying  that  the  company  is  pleased  to  hand 
therewith  a  report  from  the  meter-testing  department  show- 
ing how  the  meter  has  tested  on  various  loads  and  adding 
that  it  is  the  company's  aim  to  give  the  public  the  best  of 
service  and  that  it  will  be  pleased  to  hear  in  regard  to  any 
complaints  so  that  it  may  have  an  opportunity  to  investigate 
these. 

At  Fond  du  Lac  during  the  past  thirteen  months  an 
average  of  0.5  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  meters  have 
been  tested  by  request  each  month.  Of  these  328  meters 
tested.  161  proved  100  per  cent  accurate,  105  within  2  per 
cent  correct,  30  over  2  per  cent  slow  and  32  over  2  per 
cent  fast. 

It  is  appreciated  that  courtesy  goes  a  long  way  toward 
establishing  pleasant  relations  between  the  company  and  its 
patrons,  and  that  "a  smile  will  draw  a  dollar  when  a  grunt 
will  cause  a  chill." 


INDIVIDUAL  METERS  IN  GARAGES. 


For  some  time  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  of 
Chicago  has  been  urging  the  keepers  of  garages  to  make 
their  charges  to  their  customers,  the  owners  of  electric 
automobiles,  in  a  more  scientific  manner.  Thus,  instead  of 
making  a  flat  rate  to  the  vehicle  owner  it  is  urged  that  the 
garage  proprietor  make  a  separate  item  for  the  energy  used 
in  charging  the  batteries  and  another  for  the  other  service 
supplied  by  the  garage.  The  latter  may  be  fixed  at  a 
certain  amount  per  month,  depending  on  the  character  of  the 
vehicle,  whether  a  runabout,  carriage,  delivery  wagon, 
heavy  truck  or  what  not.  The  charge  for  electrical  energy 
should  be  a  flat  rate  per  kilowatt-hour  at  a  price  which  will 
enable  the  garage  to  make  a  profit.  For  instance,  it  is 
possible  that  the  garage  man  might  sell  electricity  to  his 
customers  at  4  cents  per  kw-hr.  that  cost  him,  under  the 
modern  off-peak  schedule,  not  more  than  2.5  cents.  He 
would  thus  sell  electricity  as  needed  to  the  electric-vehicle 
owners  on  a  measured  basis,  just  as  he  sells  gasoline  by  the 
gallon  to  the  owners  of  gasoline  cars. 

This   manner   of   doing   business   has   appealed   to   many 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


407 


garage  proprietors  when  suggested  to  them,  but  one  objec- 
tion urged  on  the  part  of  the  garage  keeper  is  the  heavy 
investment  necessary  for  the  individual  meters  needed  to 
measure  the  energy  suppHed  to  individual  customers.  To 
meet  this  objection  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company 
has  devised  the  plan  of  installing  such  meters  and  testing 
them  periodically  to  keep  them  in  running  order,  making 
the  garage  a  rental  charge  for  this  service  of  50  cents  a 
month  for  each  meter.  This  offer  applies  to  all  garages, 
whether  using  the  company's  service  or  not.  A  special 
type  of  watt-hour  meter  has  been  ordered  for  this  service,  in 
which,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  small  dials,  there  is  a 
larger  dial  with  a  pointer  which  can  be  set  back  to  zero 
after  each  period  of  battery  charging.  Thus  the  meter 
can  be  read  very  easily  for  each  charge.  This  plan  of 
renting  individual  meters  for  garages  bids  fair  to  be 
successful. 


CONTRACT  ROUTINE  SYSTEM  OF  DETROIT 
EDISON  COMPANY. 


Public  service  companies  are  often  unjustly  criticised  for 
the  "red  tape"  which  surrounds  their  business  relations 
with  their  customers,   although   these  same  customers   fre- 


AOOR-SS 

Ai*T.  No. 

Past  RtcoRO 

'■pRIMT 

IH  rut-L.) 

(Nu»^BtR) 

(bTnttT  rActMo) 

InaTALu 

KtY    FOR  RcAoiHa 

^■T, 

WmCJ* 

— 

,     Datf 

(t,>  I.^KS.  CrFttT) 

P*iioR  TO  Inst. 
Noiirv    AT 

Takcn 
BX 

Fig.    1 — Salesman's    Information    Report. 

quently  submit  to  greater  inconveniences  by  government 
and  civic  rules  without  complaint.  To  eliminate  this  phase 
of  sales  department  work,  declared  Mr.  R.  T.  Duncan,  of 
the  Detroit  Edison  Company,  in  a  paper  read  before  the 
Michigan  Electric  Association  recently,  standardization  is 
the  only  hope. 

In  small  companies,  said  the  author,  it  is  comparatively 
easy  to  keep  track  of  orders  that  should 
have  special  or  prompt  attention,  but  as 
the  demand  for  service  grows  no  sales 
department  can  keep  in  touch  with  all 
orders,  so  that  a  system  to  take  care  of 
the  work  is  imperatively  needed. 

The  Detroit  system  as  herein  outlined 
is  adequate  to  handle  effectively  the  pres- 
ent business,  averaging  3500  contracts  per 
month,  and  twice  this  business  if  neces- 
sary, by  simply  adding  to  the  night  force. 
The  Detroit  system  makes  the  meter  in- 
stallation department  a  division  of  the 
sales  department  and  gives  the  sales  de- 
partment authority  over  the  construction 
department  where  their  relations  with 
customers  are  concerned. 

When  the  application  is  entered  in  the  contract  register 
it  is  given  a  consecutive  number  before  orders  are  issued. 
The  numbering  of  applications  simplifies  filing  and  is  an 
easy  and  quick  method  of  accounting  for  contracts. 

Several  forms  of  work  orders  are  in  use,  but  all  classify 
in  the  two  prominent  systems — multiple  and  series.  In  the 
series   system   one  general   order   is   issued   and   is   passed 


through  the  various  departments  required  as  the  work  is 
completed.  In  the  multiple  system  several  copies  of  the 
order  are  made  by  use  of  carbons  or  a  duplicating  machine 
and  each  department  is  furnished  with  one  or  more  copies. 
In  the  distribution  of  order  copies  it  is  advisable  to 
furnish  at  least  two  copies  to  each  department.  By  so 
doing  unnecessary  work  is  avoided  in  the  departments,  the 
foreman  filing  one  copy  and  giving  the  other  copy  to  his 
workman.  The  original  copy  is  retained  by  the  sales  de- 
partment in  its  file. 

Once  each  day  the  various  departments  return  to  the 
office  one  copy  (A)  of  all  orders  completed  the  previous 
day  and  also  a  list  of  unfinished  work  with  explanations. 
These  reports  of  unfinished  work  are  at  once  noted  on  the 
office  order  copy,  so  that  inquiries  from  customers  can  be 
answered  instantly  by  the  sales  department. 

Upon  receipt  of  the  copy  from  the  department  finally 
completing  the  installation — usually  the  meter-installation 
department — the  office  copy  is  removed  from  the  file  pend- 
ing orders.  Each  department  copy  is  also  posted  to  the 
contract  register  in  the  column  provided.  This  first  order 
copy  is  not  intended  to  be  a  detailed  or  final  report,  but 
simply  an  advance  record  furnished  as  quickly  as  the 
work  is  finished.  Generally  two  or  three  days  are  required 
before  the  detailed  report  with  records  attached  is  re- 
ceived with  the  second  copy,  owing  to 
clerical  work  to  be  done  in  each  depart- 
ment. The  first  copy  is  obviously  of 
no  definite  value  now,  and  its  disposal 
is  at  the  discretion  of  the  local  manage- 
ment. 

One  company  forwards  the  meter  de- 
partment copy  to  the  bookkeeper  to  open 
an  account  at  once,  showing  meter  num- 
ber, contract  number  and  date  meter  was 
installed.  This  account  acts  as  a  check 
upon  the  sales  department  and  helps  in 
locating  new  installations.  The  copy  can 
then  be  passed  to  the  meter-reading  de- 
partment for  notation  and  to  the  address- 
ograph  department  for  p'ate.  Other 
copies  can  be  used  for  inmiediate  can- 
vass, as  by  leading  and  utensil  salesmen. 

The  contract,  with  completed  installation  records,  can 
then  be  passed  directly  to  the  bookkeeper  for  entry,  with- 
out being  diverted  through  several  office  departments 
before  reaching  its  destination. 

Contracts  should  always  be  found  in  one  of  two  files, 
"Pending    for    E.xecutinn"    or    "Contracts    in    Force,"    and 


"THE     tOiaON 

Run  5tRvicc.'?vr?^t4a<.'i^^?'^<»<^ 
Install  McTtRS.?5?ti:'2%^ 

In  STALL  Arcs 

Tt&T  AriwiATus 

Load      aoso'itatt 

S-30 


COPT    B 

ILLUMINATING    COMPANY  OF   DCTROIT 

Bu5INti5_l^^^^^'(»?I-fS'. O.C.OR  AC..<?.^.".'^o^.. 

l»WlRlN&C0MPLtTti'.3^^?<l:'...CnPTY   SoCKLTi.  .  .^f^ 

App*t  or  Room  No, Floor.  _t?r<=r^::^:^ 

Report  .^'^€;^5F^T/?£*#_'=^S-4^^-^^^4^_^;;K;'C^y^:.<-%<. 

Date  ..j^^^t-^Mr-y^.-.tai?..  5iGNto..jfe^.^^fen44^. 


Fig.   2 — Worl<   Order.      Installation    Complete. 

this  rule  can  be  carried  out  best  by  a  direct  route  from  the 
sales  department  to  customers'  accounts  department. 

The  second  copy  or  official  report,  with  all  necessary 
records,  is  returned  to  the  sales  department  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  is  attached  to  the  contract.  After  writing  a 
"customer's  index  card"  for  the  sales  department  alpha- 
betical file,  the  contract  is  checked  with  installation  records 


4o8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  8. 


and  delivered  to  the  customers'  accounts  department,  which 
gives  a  receipt  for  it  by  number.  This  receipt  is  posted 
in  the  contract  register  and  then  shows  the  entire  history 
of  the  order. 

All  orders   for  removal  of  meters  should  also  be  issued 
by  the  sales  department.     Where  the  meter-removal  depart- 


f3/f»                             f9tS. 

Rtc'D 

DtPT 

Co«ith't 
No. 

DATE 

INAMEL 

ADDRE.55 

RVN 

HtTl. 

Lpi. 

Cu^i 

REMARKS 

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32^=^/ 

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Figs.    3    and    ^ — Contract    and    Disconnect    Register    Forms 

ment  is  the  only  one  doing  the  physical  work,  two  A  and  B 
orders  should  be  given  it. 

Before  distribution  the  disconnect  order  should  be 
entered  in  a  disconnect  register  and  the  office  copy  placed  in 
the  "pending  disconnect  file."  The  same  system  of  record- 
ing progress  of  work  is  noted  on  the  office  copy  as  with  in- 
stallation orders. 

\\  hen  disconnection  is  completed,  copy  A  is  returned  to 
the  sales  department  and  posted  to  register,  the  office  copy 
is  removed  from  file,  and  the  customer's 
file  card,  with  date  of  disconnection,  is 
placed  in  "out"'  file  and  disconnection 
order  delivered  to  bookkeeper  to  render 
final  bill.  The  office  copy  can  then  be 
given  to  salesman  to  follow  for  next 
occupant. 

Copy  B  should  contain  all  informa- 
tion of  copy  A  and  be  an  exact  duplicate 
in  report.  This  copy  B  can  circulate 
through  meter-testing,  meter-reading  and 
other  necessary  departments  for  nota- 
tion, and  finally  be  returned  to  cus- 
tomers' accounts  department  file. 

The    foregoing    outlines    part    of    the 
system   in  use  by  the  Detroit  company. 
This  routing  could  be  changed  to  suit  a 
smaller    company,    but    the    idea,    as    Mr.    Duncan    recom- 
mended, should  be  fundamentally  the  same. 

A  salesman  in  his  ardor  to  close  a  contract  often,  neglects 
to  secure  necessary  office  information.  To  avoid  delaying 
a  connection,  he  should  furnish  his  report  on  a  printed  form 
either  separate  or  as  part  of  the  order.  The  order  should 
be  approved  by  the  sales  manager  or  someone  designated  to 
pass  on  its  general  correctness  and  acceptability  and  to 
have  orders  issued  for  the  necessary  work.  The  report 
blanks  shown  formed  part  of  the  paper  read  at  the  con- 
vention and  might  with  slight  modifications  be  also  made 
serviceable  elsewhere. 


The  public  lighting  commission's  representatives  make 
the  roughing-in  inspections  in  the  usual  way.  After  the 
fixtures  have  been  placed  in  position  and  the  job  is  ready 
for  service  the  Edison  Illuminating  Company  is  notified  to 
set  its  meter.  The  meternian  completes  his  installation, 
tests  out  the  circuits  and  assures  himself  that  everything  is 

in  working  order.    In  advance, 
the  city  inspection  department 
has     provided     him     with     a 
number   of   wire    seals   of    the 
freight-car  type,  red  tags,  etc. 
After  testing  out  the  job  the 
meterman    opens    the    service 
switch    and   wraps   around    its 
blades   one   of  the   seal   wires, 
passing  the  strands  through  a 
red   warning   tag   and   sealing 
the  ends  in  the  usual  way.    As 
a     precaution    the     fuses    are 
also    backed    out.      The    seal 
wire   short-circuits   the   switch 
blades   and  thus  makes  it  im- 
possible to  get  any  service  in 
the    house    until    the    seal    has 
been  removed  by  an  authorized 
person.     The  red  warning  tag  attached  recites  that  the  seal 
may  be  broken  only  by  an  inspector  of  the  public  lighting 
commission,   and   current   must   not   be   turned   on   without 
an    inspector's   approval,    under   penalty    of   the    city    ordi- 
nances. 

As  rapidly  as  the  electric  meters  are  placed  the  city  in- 
spectors are  notified.  After  examining  the  job  and  satisfy- 
ing himself  that  the  work  involves  no  infractions  of  rules 
promulgated  by  the  municipality   or   by  the   National   Fire 


OlSCOKHtC-nOM    SLIP 

PENINSULAR   ELECTRIC  LIGH 

D«it — 

^^m-t^tA.                                          A. 

T  COMPANY 

^    u»    /Asa. 

N^-T        JS?KTn^^   CL 

«fw:r%^  tea     COuyi,tmxi^    COtJZ^.. 

1/                                                                                                                       if 

OtMAHD    No                   36^6 

No 

Watta&e 

lO 

20 

3o 

50 

80 

lOOKt 

125  It 

leiKt 

asoMt 

LaMPd  lriS7AH.tO 

^o 

f 

Rm/KNEO  <M  Tmxw  Et* 

'S 

B...   M„ 

Short 

e 

, 

R.        2^^    O'crc- 

nK                     6, 

Qcmjt.A^                                  Trto.  MO.U 

OM if 

■^^^^ 

Fig.    5 — IVIeter- Department    Record    After    Discontinuance. 

Protection  Association  the  inspector  removes  the  seal,  after 
which  the  new  service  installation  is  sanctioned  and  ready 
for  use. 


FLATIRON  CAMPAIGN  IN  CHICAGO. 


DETROIT  PLAN  OF  FINAL  INSPECTION. 


Much  time  was  formerly  lost  in  connecting  service  to 
newly  wired  houses  at  Detroit,  Mich.,  between  the  successive 
visits  of  the  fixture  men,  meter  setters  and  city  inspectors. 
A  new  plan  recently  put  into  operation  has  proved  very 
successful  and  of  great  convenience  to  all  parties. 


On  Aug.  12  1776  electric  flatirons  had  been  put  out  by  the 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company  of  Chicago  in  pushing 
the  special  flatiron  campaign  begun  about  July  I.  The  fig- 
ure given  is  net,  or  exclusive  of  irons  returned.  It  is  con- 
fidently expected  that  a  total  of  10,000  will  be  reached  by 
Sept.  1.  The  campaign  has  been  carried  on  vigorously  un- 
der the  direction  of  Mr.  O.  R.  Hogue,  of  the  contract  de- 
partment. Advertising  announcements  have  been  carried 
in  the  daily  newspapers,  in  posters  and  on  the  screens  of 
motion-picture  shows.  The  plan  provides  for  the  installa- 
tion of  the  iron  without  charge,  with  free  trial  for  thirty 
days,  and  payment  in  one-dollar  instalments  at  the  end  of 
each  month  after  installation,  provided  the  iron  is  retained. 
On  payment  of  the  full  amount,  $3.  the  iron  becomes  the 
property  of  the  consumer.    General  Electric  irons  are  used. 


August  24,  1912  ELECTRICAL     WORLD 

Wiring  and  Illumination 


409 


COMBINATION    WARNING    AND      INTERRUPTION 
REPORT  CARD. 


Several  transmission  companies  operating  extensive  sys- 
tems with  remote  substations  and  plants  make  use  of  a 
warning  tag,  to  be  hung  on  open  switches  where  men  are 
working,  which  is  also  a  post  card,  ready  for  mailing  to 
headquarters  with  a  full  report  of  the  interruption,  after 
the  trouble  has  been  cleared.  Red  cardboard  is  used,  and 
the  tag  bears  in  large  letters  the  words  "Don't  close  without 
authority;  men  working  on  line."  There  are  also  blanks 
for  entering  the  nature  of  the  trouble,  time,  time  cleared, 
location,  of  switch,  extent  of  service  interruption,  authoriza- 
tion, etc.  The  obverse  bears  the  standard  post-card  form 
with  printed  address  of  the  operating  headquarters.  Record 
is  thus  automatically  afforded  of  each  interruption  or 
unusual  switching  operation  for  the  information  of  the 
operating  chief. 


ELECTRICAL  EQUIPMENT  FOR  THEATER. 


The  electrical  equipment  of  the  Orpheum  Theater,  Winni- 
peg, Manitoba,  possesses  certain  features  worthy  of  note. 
The  main  feeders,  entering  the  building  from  an  alley  in 
the  rear,  are  extended  to  a  cabinet  located  on  the  so-called 
fly  floor,  which  contains  fuses  only,  and  from  here,  in  3.5- 
in.  conduit,  to  the  basement,  where  the  main  distribution 
cabinet  is  located.  Extending  from  this  cabinet  are  branch 
circuits  for  the  main  switchboard,  for  the  box  office  cabinet 


Switchboard    of   Orpheum    Theater,    Winnipeg. 

and  for  a  cabinet  in  a  waiting-room,  for  lighting  and  heat- 
ing circuits  in  dressing-rooms,  etc. 

The  main  distributing  circuit  to  the  switchboard  is  car- 
ried along  the  stage  floor  to  a  main  switch  located  behind 
the  board  on  the  wall  in  an  iron  box.  Space  is  provided 
for  working  behind  the  board  and  the  whole  is  incased  in 
sheet  iron.  All  the  stage  and  auditorium  lighting  is  con- 
trolled from  this  point,  and  the  other  circuits  for  fire  exits. 


foyer  and  lobby,  ttc,  are  controlled  from  the  box-oftice 
panel. 

On  the  main  board  switches  are  provided  for  the  stage 
lamps,  border  lamps,  side  lamps,  foot  lamps  and  stage 
pocket  lamps,  and  also  for  the  fan  circuits  throughout  the 
house.  These  circuits  enter  a  large  distribution  box  at  the 
rear  of  the  board  and  are  then  carried  in  six  2.5-in.  con- 
duits to  another  long  rectangular  box  at  the  top  of  the  board 
and  from  there  to  the  proper  switches. 

The  same  idea  is  applied  to  the  stage-pocket  circuits. 
There  are  nine  stage  pockets,  four  on  each  side,  containing 
one  50-amp  plug  and  two  25-amp  plugs  each,  and  one  in  the 
center  containing  one  25-amp  plug. 

The  four  border  strips  and  the  foot  lighting  consist  of  100 
white,  50  red  and  50  blue  lamps  each.  The  three  banks  of 
dimmers  are  mounted  on  top  of  the  switchboard  and  are 
controlled  by  levers.  The  whole  bank  is  controlled  by  the 
master  wheel  shown  on  front  of  the  board  in  the  accom- 
panying illustration. 

On  two  panels  to  the  left  of  the  switchboard  are  mounted 
the  switches  for  the  stage  and  house  lighting.  To  the  right 
is  the  signal  panel,  on  which  is  also  located  the  annunciator 
for  calling  the  actors.  To  operate  this  annunciator  the  at- 
tendant pushes  the  room  number  wanted  and  rings  a  bell 
continuously  until  the  answer  is  given  by  pushing  a  button 
that  stops  the  bell  and  drops  the  corresponding  number  of 
the  annunciator.  Program  boxes  are  placed  at  each  side  of 
the  stage  and  are  controlled  by  the  dial  switch  mounted 
under  the  annunciator.  This  dial  switch  will  give  any  let- 
ter in  the  alphabet,  and  any  number  from  one  to  nine. 
There  are  also  speaking  tubes  and  push  buttons  on  this 
panel  for  signaling  to  the  orchestra  leader,  fly  man  and 
boiler-room.  The  two  single-pole  switches  at  the  top  are 
for  signaling  to  the  orchestra  and  fly  man. 

The  only  motor  service  in  the  building  is  provided  by  one 
2.3-hp,  500-volt,  direct-current  machine  belted  to  a  48-in. 
exhaust  fan  for  ventilating  purposes. 

The  electrical  equipment  for  this  theater  was  installed  by 
the  Reese  Engineering  Company,  Ltd.,  Winnipeg,  Manitoba, 
Can. 


RECONSTRUCTION  OF  OVERHEAD    LINES  AT 
NEWARK,  OHIO. 


It  is  interesting  to  note  the  enterprising  manner  in  which 
many  of  the  smaller  central  stations  are  seeking  to  build 
up  their  loads — not  in  a  spasmodic  "revival"  style  of  new- 
business  campaign  but  simply  by  using  ordinary  methods 
dictated  by  good  common  business  sense  and  working  at 
them  every  day.  The  Licking  Light  &  Power  Company,  of 
Newark,  Ohio,  furnishes  an  example  of  such  a  plant.  For 
a  number  of  years  the  company  was  practically  dormant, 
taking  only  what  business  came  to  it  or  making  spasmodic 
and  unsustained  efforts  therefor.  Recently,  however,  under 
the  management  of  Mr.  H.  L.  Montgomery,  formerly  super- 
intendent of  the  Auburn  (N.  Y.)  Light,  Heat  &  Power 
Company,  steps  have  been  taken  to  improve  the  service  and 
prepare  for  increased  load. 

The  first  point  to  receive  attention  was  that  of  the  lines. 
Like  so  many  present-day  systems  that  are  simply  the  out- 
growth of  smaller  ones  begun  in  the  early  days  of  the  elec- 
tric-lighting industry,  lines  were  run  and  transformers  in- 
stalled as  they  were  needed,  with  the  result  that  there  was 
no  system  whatever  in  vogue  and  the  number  of  trans- 
formers in  use  was  very  greatly  in  excess  of  what  it  should 
have  been. 

The  city  of  Newark,  which  has  a  population  of  about 
25,000,  is  laid  out  very  much  on  the  checkerboard  order  with 
the  court  house  in  the  center,  the  streets  adjacent  thereto 
being  the  main  business  thoroughfares. 

Desiring  to  avoid  the  main  streets  as  much  as  possible 
with  the  pole  lines  and  yet  effect  an  economical  system  of 


410 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  8. 


distribution,  it  was  decided  to  use  the  less  important  streets 
and  alleys  for  distribution  lines  and  distribute  to  the  busi- 
ness district  from  banks  of  transformers  located  at  con- 
venitnt  points. 

The   main  high-tension   line  is  run   from  the  plant  up  a 
side  street  and  taps  taken  off  down  an  alley,  as  shown  in 


it  is  intended  eventually  to  change  to  4400  volts,  three-phase. 
The  high-tension  wires  are  carried  on  unpainted  cross-arms 
and  white  insulators,  while  the  secondaries  are  carried  on 
green  cross-arms,  thus  giving  a  lineman  no  excuse  for  mis- 
taking one  for  the  other.  Extensive  use  is  made  of  strain 
insulators  and  guy  wires,  the  idea  being  to  relieve  the  in- 


Figs.    1,   2   and   3 — Details   of    Line   Construction    at    Newark.    Ohio. 


Fig.  I.  As  will  be  seen,  cross-arms  are  used  extending  en- 
tirely across  the  alley,  the  telephone  company's  poles  being 
used  in  some  cases.  \\'here  transformers  are  to  be  located 
double  cross-arms  are  used  and  units  of  25-kw  capacity  in- 
stalled thereon.     Bv  this  means  a  reduction  in  core  loss  is 


sulators  and  pins  of  all  the  strain  of  the  wires,  this  being 
taken  by  the  cross-arms. 

The  poles  are  doubly  cross-armed  and  guyed  at  every 
street  crossing  as  well  as  at  every  change  in  direction  of 
the  line,  and  at  these  points  the  strain  is  taken  at  the  pole 
adjacent,  which  is  well  guyed,  and  the  wires  over  the  street 
or  individual  pole  where  the  direction  changes  are  left  slack. 
An  example  of  this  construction  may  be  seen  in  Fig.  2, 
which  shows  clearly  the  method  employed.  By  this  means 
the  pins  and  insulators  are  subjected  only  to  a  minimum 
strain. 

Fig.  3  also  clearlv  shows  the  method  of  construction  used 
for  primary  cut-outs,  which  are  placed  on  a  lower  cross-ar  n, 
enabling  the  lineman  to  have  access  thereto  without  getting 
up  among  the  high-tension  wires.  It  will  be  noted  that  the 
pole  is  guyed  both  ways  and  doubly  cross-armed  and  that 
two  strain  insulators  are  placed  on  each  wire  which  is  at- 
tached to  the  cross-arm,  leaving  the  wires  running  to  and 
from  the  fuse  boxes  entirely  slack  and  the  insulators  free 
from  strain.  Fig.  4  shows  the  high-tension  line  running 
along  an  alleyway  parallel  to  one  of  the  main  streets. 


CURBSIDE    DOUBLE-THROW  FEEDER  SWITCHES 
AT  FORT  WORTH,  TEX. 


Fig.    4 — Higll-Tens  on     Dist  n  bLition     Line     at     Newark,     Ohio. 

obtained  by  the  elimination  of  a  lot  of  smaller  transformers 
and  trouble  is  much  more  easily  located. 

Of  particular  interest  are  some  of  the  features  of  line 
construction  used,  the  idea  having  been  to  build  the  line  for 
the  future  and  not  for  the  present  only.  The  system  is  2200 
volts,  two-phase,  and  three-wire  distribution  is  used,  though 


In  laying  out  the  new  underground  4400-volt  alternating- 
current  distribution  system  in  the  business  section  of  Fort 
Worth,  Tex.,  now  being  completed  in  connection  with  the 
erection  of  a  new  turbine  generating  station,  duplicate 
main  feeder  lines  have  been  provided,  either  one  of  which 
can  be  connected  to  the  branch  lines  througli  double-throw 
oil  switches.  These  4400-volt.  300-amp.  three-phase  double- 
throw  switches  are  normally  c'osed  on  the  main  operating 
feeder,  but  in  cafe  of  interruption  to  service  on  the  latter 
can  be  transferred  on  to  the  auxiliary  feeder.  The  feeder 
switches  are  inclosed  in  cast-iron  pedestals  mounted  over 
the  edge  of  the  manholes  at  the  allev  intersections  where 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


411 


the  branch  feeders  diverge.  The  pedestal  doors  are  kept 
locked,  keys  being  carried  by  the  operating  staff  so  that 
upon  interruption  the  switches  can  be  reached  and  service 
restored  with  the  minimum  delay. 


CONDUIT  SYSTEMS  IN  CONCRETE  BUILDINGS. 


By  J.  P.  MORRISSEY. 

A  great  difficulty  presented  itself  to  the  electrical  trade 
when  concrete  construction  was  first  begun;  but  this  has 
been  overcome  after  many  experiments  and  at  great  cost 
to  all  concerned.  In  the  first  building  of  this  construction 
the  electrical  work  was  not  started  until  the  concrete  had 


Wood  Form 


^~ 


Fig.    1 — Concrete    Floor    Without    Conduit. 

set,  as  shown  in  Fig.  i,  and  the  forms  had  been  removed. 
Then  the  outlet  location  was  found  and  a  hole  had  to  be 
punched,  which  proved  to  be  a  very  difficult  and  laborious 
task.  In  a  great  many  instances  larger  openings  than  neces- 
sary were  punched,  and  this  allowed  the  outlet  to  lose  its 
proper  center.  Before  all  the  punching  was  completed  the 
concrete  work  was  so  far  advanced  that  the  electrical  work 
had  to  be  pushed  to  keep  up  with  the  other  trades. 

Loss  by  experience  at  this  class  of  work  made  the  con- 
tractors cast  about  for  some  method  of  avoiding  expensive 
and  laborious  punching,  and  finally  a  round  wood  block 
especially  made  to  suit  the  construction  and  location  on  the 
wood  forms  at  the  location  of  the  outlet  was  devised,  as 
shown  in  Fig.  2.  These  blocks  were  made  with  a  small 
diameter   at   the   bottom   of   approximately   the   size   of   an 


Wood  Elcfk 


Fig.    2 — Provision    in    Concrete    Floor   for    Outlet. 

outlet  box  and  tapering  to  a  larger  diameter  at  the  top,  so 
as  to  prevent  them  coming  out  when  the  concrete  forms 
were  removed.  The  blocks  are  of  a  depth  to  suit  the  thick- 
ness of  the  concrete  slab  construction.  The  concrete  is 
poured  after  the  block  is  properly  set  and  fastened,  and 
the  opening  in  the  concrete  slab  after  it  has  set  and  the 
block  has  been  removed  leaves  easy  access  for  the  installa- 
tion of  the  outlet  boxes  and  conduit.  These  blocks,  being 
specially  made  for  the  purpose,  are  expensive;  therefore, 
much  care  is  exercised  in  their  removal. 

After  the  blocks  are  removed  one  method  of  installing 
the  conduit  and  outlets  is  to  bring  the  outlet  down  flush 
with  the  ceiling,  thereby  necessitating  sharp  and  small 
bends,  depending  on  the  allowable  thickness  of  construction 


^Flnilbed  Floor       Cioder  Fill,       Outlet  Eos       Conduit    Con-rete 


Fig.    3 — Method    of    Bringing    Outlet    to    Ceiling    Level. 

to  the  finished  floor,  so  as  to  prevent  its  being  exposed,  as 
shown  in  Fig.  4.  Where  conditions  will  not  permit  such 
installation  the  outlet  box  is  placed  over  the  opening  left 
by  the  removal  of  the  block  and  the  conduits  are  installed 
running  into  the  side  of  the  outlet  box,  properly  and  securely 
fastened.    A  sheet-iron  collar  is  then  made  up  of  the  proper 


depth  and  bolted  to  the  outlet  box,  thereby  making  a  box 
to  the  level  of  the  finished  ceiling,  as  shown  in  Fig.  3. 
These  methods  do  not  prove  very  satisfactory,  and  the 
conduit  and  outlet  boxes  are  now  installed  on  the  forms 
before  the  concrete  is  poured.  This  is  found  to  give  the 
most  satisfactory  results  and  adds  greatly  to  the  rapid 
completion  of  this  class  of  building.  The  wood  forms  are 
set  with  the  reinforcing  wire  netting,  and  upon  these  the 
outlet  boxes  with  one  length  of  conduit  are  located,  as 
shown  in  Fig.  5.  The  location  for  the  outlet  box  is  found 
and  a  nail  is  driven  into  the  wood  form  at  the  exact  center. 
The  outlet  box  is  made  up  with  the  fixture  hanger  securely 
and  properly  attached,  and  the  center  of  the  hanger  is  set 
over  the  nail  at  the  outlet  location.  The  box  is  then  fastened 
to  the  form  with  wire  nails. 

The  outlet  boxes  are  deep  enough  to  permit  the  conduit 
to  enter  on  the  sides.  The  conduit  rests  on  top  of  the 
netting.  In  a  great  many  instances  the  conduit  actually  is 
a  reinforcement  to  the  concrete  <;onstruction  and  can  be 
completed  back  to  the  distribution  box  location  and  be 
turned  up  or  down  at  switch  locations  as  conditions  neces- 
sitate.   This  gets  the  conduit  located  out  of  harm's  way  and 


•  Finibbed  Floor      ^Ciuder  Fill 


Fig. 


-IVIethod    of    Installing    Conduit    in    Concrete    Floor. 


does   not   permit   it   to   be   trampled   on    or    run   over   with 
wheelbarrows. 

Galvanized  iron  and  steel  conduit  have  been  used  almost 
exclusively,  and  have  proved  satisfactory  as  far  as  results 
are  concerned.  The  free  use  of  white  lead  on  all  joints  is 
a  point  insisted  upon  for  the  best  results.  The  boxes  used 
are  also  galvanized  to  withstand  the  corroding  action  of 
the  concrete  mixture.  The  wire  nails  that  are  used  for 
fastening  are  so  eaten  by  the  concrete  mixture  that  it  is 
not  a  difficult  job  to  remove  them  before  pulling  in  the 
wire.  Placing  the  outlet  box  flush  on  the  forms  brings  it 
almost  to  the  finish  of  the  ceiling,  which  is  very  rarely 
thicker  than  the  face  ring  which  is  added  to  the  outlet  box 
after  the  forms  are  removed.  The  fixture  hangers,  which 
have  proved  very  satisfactory,  are  made  up  of  a  T  fitting, 
into  which  a  piece  of  conduit  not  less  than  15  in.  long  has 
been  inserted  and  a  threaded  stem  installed,  locking  itself 


Fig.   5 — Box   and    Conduit    Embedded    in    Concrete    Floor. 

against  the  cross  head  and  then  being  bolted  to  prevent 
turning.  The  stem  is  made  long  enough  to  come  half  way 
down  in  the  outlet  box,  thereby  leaving  space  for  the  in- 
sulating joint.  Another  fixture  hanger  that  has  given  satis- 
faction when  properly  installed  is  made  up  with  a  "Thomas 
&  Betts"  loop  head.  A  length  of  conduit  is  installed  in  the 
loop  and  a  stem  is  screwed  into  the  bottom  of  the  loop  and 
wedged  against  the  conduit.  A  small  nail  is  then  driven 
into  an  opening  for  that  purpose,  which  spoils  the  threads 
of  the  stem  and  prevents  it  from  turning.  The  McKnight 
hanger  has  also  given  satisfaction,  but  requires  care  in  in- 
stallation. This  hanger  is  all  made  up  ready  for  installa- 
tion, and  it  is  only  necessary  to  lock  it  into  an  outlet  box 
with  lock  nuts,  one  on  the  inside  and  one  on  the  outside,  and 
then  let  it  stand  in  a  vertical  position  until  the  concrete  is 
poured  around  it.  The  holding  bands  are  then  offset  and 
fastened  with  nails  at  the  points  on  the  bands  made  for  that 
purpose. 


412 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo,  8. 


There  have  been  instances  where,  because  of  the  conduit 
being  embedded  in  the  concrete,  spikes  have  been  driven 
through  the  conduit  to  fasten  sleepers  for  flooring,  but  the 
cases  are  very  rare  because  the  more  modern  floors  are  of 
cement  finish  that  do  not  require  any  spike  driving.  There 
are  also  instances  where  concrete  has  leaked  into  conduits 
at  joints,  but  this  is  a  matter  of  faulty  construction  that 
might  present  itself  under  any  construction  where  concrete 
is  used.  These  are  the  only  faults  that  have  presented  them- 
selves, and  the  cases  are  so  few  and  far  between  that  they 
are  seldom  met  with  twice  by  the  same  workman. 


PROTECTION  OF  ELECTRIC  METERS. 


By  Robert  Montgomery. 
In  this  electrical  age,  when  almost  every  one  has  a  smat- 
tering of  electrical  knowledge  and  every  small  boy  is  an 
amateur   electrician,    the   unprotected   meter   is   as   imprac- 
ticable for  the  central  station  as  is  the  open  cash  drawer 


tomer  is  tampering  with  his  meter,  practically  nothing  can 
be  done  in  the  matter  unless  there  is  strong  evidence.  If 
there  is  evidence,  in  most  cases  the  meter  is  either  placed 
outside  on  a  pole  or  else  it  is  protected  by  placing  it  in  a 
steel  cabinet,  or  in  some  other  manner.  There  is  much  to 
be  said  against  the  practice  of  placing  meters  on  poles, 
however,  aside  from  the  possibility  of  vibration  caused  by 
wind,  etc.,  rendering  meters  inaccurate  because  of  creeping. 
In  such  an  attempt  to  safeguard  its  interests  a  company 
ignores  the  right  of  a  customer  to  read  his  meter,  which  is 
not  politic.  The  scheme  is  not  to  be  commended,  therefore, 
except  in  rare  circumstances.  In  Fort  Worth,  Tex., 
use  is  made  of  the  arrangement  shown  in  Fig.  i.  A 
small  iron  terminal  box  is  fastened  to  the  meter  in  such  a 
manner  that  it  cannot  be  removed  without  breaking  the 
seals  of  the  meter,  and  the  entrance  box  containing  the 
switch  is  also  sealed.  This  method  is  very  effective,  and 
were  it  not  for  the  cost  and  the  difficulty  of  fastening  the 
terminal  box  to  the  meter  case  it  would  be  a  very  practical 
arrangement. 

The  meter  manufacturers  can  furnish  a  solution  to  this 


„     ,  .  I — I         ODfset  to  prevent  Water 

Bushing.         d=d3^--       tTOm  Entering. 


% 


Lkctrtcal   Wurld 

Figs.   1   to  A — Devices   Used   for   Protecting   Meters   at   Fort  Worth,    Tex. 


Oast  Iron  Bushing- 
Tripped  for  Conduit 


Uottom  View  of 
liu^hins  showing 
how  the  Hor--e 
Slioe  Loclis  the 
Biishint^  in  Meter. 

£lectrual  iVorld 


for  the  merchant.  In  a  city  of  less  than  100,000  population 
an  inspection  was  made  recently  by  one  man  who  detected 
over  300  cases  of  theft  during  a  period  of  three  months. 
In  95  per  cent  of  the  cases  a  jumper  of   some   kind  was 


>^Hinged. 


To  Service  Switch  or 
=»  Center  of  Distribution, 


Junction  Box  with  Fuse  and  Switch. 
Cover  Sealed, 


Fuse  in  Junction  Box. 

Condulit  Outlet. 

n  n  n   n   n  n 


Consumers 

Switch  and  Fuse. 


Figs.   5.  6  and  7 — Application  of   Meter   Protectors  to   Various  Classes    of   Wiring 


used,  thus  shunting  out  the  series  coil,  or  else  the  shunt  wire 
to  the  meter  was  disconnected.  Only  in  a  very  few  cases 
were  holes  drilled  in  the  meters  or  hatpins  forced  through 
the  cover  or  case  of  the  meter. 

Though  a  central  station  may  be  convinced  that  a  cus- 


problem  with  very  little  expense  by  providing  every  meter 
with  a  device  for  fastening  to  it  a  conduit  and  sealing  it, 
and  undoubtedly  the  first  manufacturer  who  puts  such  a 
meter  on  the  market  will  find  it  meet  with  much  favor. 

During  the  past  year  many  experiments 
have  been  made  at  Fort  Worth  on  devices 
of  this  kind.  One  plan  is  indicated  in  Figs. 
2,  3  and  4.  A  meter  equipped  with  an  outlet 
of  this  kind  could  be  installed  in  houses  i 
already  wired  in  conduit  as  is  shown  in  1 
Fig.  5.  In  cases  where  a  residence  or  other 
building  was  wired  with  open  wiring  the 
meter  could  be  arranged  as  shown  in  Fig.  6. 
In  places  where  it  was  not  necessary  to  pro- 
tect the  meter  it  could  be  installed  as  is 
shown  in  Fig.  7. 

Referring  to  Fig.  4,  it  will  be  noticed  that 
the  arrangement  is  such  that  the  cast-iron 
bushing  can  first  be  screwed  on  the  conduit 
and  the  meter  slipped  over  the  bushing. 
Then  the  horseshoe  device  is  placed  over  the 
bottom  of  the  bushing,  thus  locking  the 
meter  to  the  bushing  in  such  a  manner  that 
it  cannot  be  removed  unless  the  seals  of  the 
meter  are  broken.  Another  advantage  is 
that  the  case  of  the  meter  would  not  be 
strained  as  it  would  be  should  the  conduit  be  screwed  di- 
rectly into  it. 

The  idea  of  protecting  a  meter  against  theft  of  energy 
is  not  new.  The  device  used  at  Fort  Worth,  however, 
differs  from  those  already  known  to  the  electrical  fraternity. 


n  i\  n  i\  IT-TT 


Condulet  Out- 
let Screwed  in 
Bushing  when 
L'sed  on  Open 
Wiring. 


Elcetrual  ItuWd 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


413 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


IMPROVED    TRANSMITTERS    AND    RECEIVER. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  more  recent  applica- 
tions of  the  telephone  is  its  adaptation  to  assist  those 
afflicted  with  deafness  in  hearing.  While  this  use  dates 
back  a  number  of  years,  still  considerable  work  is  being 
done  to  render  the  apparatus  inconspicuous  and  at  the  same 
time  more  sensitive.  There  have  recently  been  issued  three 
patents  for  audiphone  transmitters-  and  all  are  designed 
with  a  special  view  to  these  features. 

In  the  cuts  are  shown  sectional  views  of  two  of  these  in- 
struments. That  to  the  left  is  the  invention  of  Mr.  C.  E. 
Williams,  of  Chicago.  It  will  be  noted  that  sound  is  ad- 
mitted through  an  annular  slit  which  leads  to  a  resonating 
chamber.  Perforations  lead  from  this  chamber  to  a  second 
which  confronts  the  diphragm  of  the  transmitter.  The 
resonators  serve  to  intensify  the  sounds  which  find  en- 
trance, while  the  annular  sound  passage  is  adapted  to  over- 
come to  the  maximum  the  danger  of  complete  closure  when 
the  instrument  is  in  the  pocket. 

The  instrument  patented  by  Mr.  H.  G.  Pope,  of  Buffalo, 
also  has  an  annular  sound  passage,  as  is  shown  in  the 
right-hand   cut.     This   lies   in   the   face   of   the   instrument. 


Transmitter   for   Telephonic    or    Audiphonic    Systems. 

It  will  be  noted  also  that  there  is  a  row  of  openings  around 
the  edge  of  the  instrument  which  are  formed  with  flaring 
lips.  These  increase  the  probability  of  a  clear  sound 
passage  no  matter  where  or  how  the  instrument  is  con- 
cealed. Further,  both  front  and  rear  walls  carry  raised 
ribs  or  are  otherwise  made  irregular  to  prevent  close  con- 
tact of  adjacent  fabrics.  In  Mr.  Pope's  transmitter  the 
sound  is  primarily  admitted  to  the  rear  of  the  diaphragm. 
This  causes  an  increase  of  resistance  at  the  instant  of  a 
compression  and  a  decrease  with  a  rarefaction.  Thus  the 
connected  receiver  diaphragm  takes  a  motion  in  phase 
with  the  sound  waves  rather  that  in  opposition.  It  is 
claimed  that  this  produces  a  special  effect.  The  rear  sound 
passage  is  divided  by  internal  ribs  so  that  it  consists  of 
tapering  passageways,  with  a  view  to  concentrating  the 
sound  as  it  approaches  the  diaphragm. 

A  third  transmitter  for  similar  use  has  been  patented 
by  Mr.  H.  E.  Schreeve.  This  is  of  much  simpler  con- 
struction. The  cap  piece  is  of  sheet  metal  and  the  face  is 
slightly  dished  and  is  perforated  with  numerous  small 
holes.  Immediately  within  lies  a  mica  diaphragm,  then  a 
thin  carbon  diaphragm,  over  which  lies  a  metal  disk  with  a 
recessed  center.  All  are  clamped  by  an  annular  interval 
nut.  The  recess  in  the  bridge  piece  is  insulated  and  within 
the  insulation  a  carbon  block  is  bolted.  This  block  has 
several  hemispherical  recesses  which  carry  carbon  granules. 


The  construction  is  such  that  the  carbon  diaphragm  and 
carbon  block  so  nearly,  touch  that  the  granules  are  retained 
in  their  respective  recesses.  Mr.  Schreeve's  patent  is 
assigned  to  the  Western  Electric  Company. 

Another  patent  assigned  to  this  same  company  describes 
an  improvement  in  the  construction  of  watchcase  receivers. 
This  improvement  is  the  work  of  Mr.  W.  O.  Beck,  of 
Weehawken,  N.  J.,  and  consists  of  a  novel  terminal  and 
binding  post. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 

POWER-PLANT  EFFICIENCY  AS  DETERMINED  BY 
THE  TECHNICAL  EDUCATION  OF  EMPLOYEES. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — In  his  article  on  "Power-Plant  Efficiency  as 
Determined  by  the  Technical  Education  of  Employees,"  in 
your  issue  dated  June  8,  Prof.  C.  M.  Jansky  presented  data 
from  various  sources  which  he  interpreted  as  showing 
greater  efficiency  in  plants  managed  by  technically  educated 
men  as  compared  with  plants  managed  by  men  who  have 
not  had  the  advantage  of  a  college  education. 

In  one  large  plant  operated  by  men  without  technical 
education  he  found  the  coal  consumption  to  be  14.02  lb.  per 
kw-hr.,  while  in  a  smaller  plant  in  which  two  college  men 
were  employed  the  coal  consumption  was  only  8.24  lb.  per 
kw-hr.  Prof.  Jansky  considers  that  differences  in  local  con- 
ditions could  not  account  for  the  difference  in  coal  consump- 
tion, and  hence  concludes  that  the  better  results  in  the 
smaller  plant  are  attributable  to  the  technical  training  of 
the  employees.  Attention  should  be  called  to  the  possibility 
that  the  larger  plant  is  equipped  with  slide-valve  engines 
consuming,  say,  45  lb.  of  steam  per  hp-hr.,  while  the  smaller 
plant  might  be  equipped  with  Corliss  engines  consuming 
only  25  lb.  per  hp-hr.  Moreover,  one  boiler  may  evaporate 
10  lb.  per  pound  of  coal  while  the  other  may  evaporate 
only  7  lb. 

The  writer  once  replaced  a  slide-valve  engine  with  a 
Corliss  engine  in  a  municipally  owned  plant,  thereby  re- 
ducing the  coal  consumption  by  about  50  per  cent  and 
delivering  a  kilowatt-hour  at  the  switchboard  for  about  7  lb. 
of  coal  consumed.  A  much  larger  plant  in  a  neighboring 
town  operated  by  an  extremely  able  college  man  with  con- 
siderable experience  consumed  8  lb.  of  coal  per  kw-hr.  In 
this  case  the  rather  high  fuel  consumption  was  attributable 
to  the  fact  that  a  four-valve  engine  was  used.  While  such 
an  engine  is  more  economical  than  a  single-valve  engine,  it 
is  not  as  economical  as  a  Corliss  engine. 

From  Prof.  Jansky's  article  one  might  be  led  to  believe 
that  only  college-trained  men  are  capable  of  operating  a 
plant  economically  and  that  a  college-trained  man  at  double 
wages  is  a  good  investment.  To  be  a  good  operator  one 
should  have  knowledge  of  the  use  of  the  steam-engine 
indicator  and  some  knowledge  of  heat  and  the  chemistry  of 
combustion,  and  he  should  be  well  posted  in  all  the  details 
of  plant  operation  which  can  be  acquired  only  by  experience. 
The  rapidity  with  which  he  will  acquire  this  knowledge  will 
be  in  proportion  to  the  natural  ingenuity  of  the  man.  It  is 
not  now  necessary  for  one  to  attend  college  in  order  to  learn 
the  technical  part  of  power-plant  operation,  for  there  are 
books  on  the  market  and  periodicals  in  circulation  from 
which  anyone  with  a  moderate  education  may  obtain  this 
information  at  small  cost.  The  writer  does  not  believe  that 
college  men  are  failures  as  operators,  but  he  does  mean  to 
say  that  there  are  many  good  operators  who  are  not  college 
men.  It  is  his  belief  that  an  employer  runs  a  greater  risk 
of  getting  incompetent  men  when  he  employs  only  college 
men  than  when  he  employs  only  operators  of  practical 
experience  who  are  not  college  men. 

New  Egypt,  N.  J.  Lyman  Shep.vrd. 


414 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  8. 


Digest   of   Current   Electrical   Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Starting  of  Large  Direct-Current  Motors  Without  Series 
Resistance.^CARL  Trettin. — A  continuation  of  his  article 
in  which  he  shows  that  it  is  quite  possible  to  use  direct- 
current  motors  of  some  hundred  horse-power  rating  without 
series  resistances  and  without  fear  of  the  bad  effect  of  an 
excessive  starting  current.  Oscillographic  curves  are  given 
to  show  results  obtained  from  tests  of  propeller  motors  and 
elevator  motors  without  starting  resistances. — Elek.  Zeit., 
Aug.  I,  1912. 

Single-Phase  Commutator  Motors. — R.  E.  Hellmund  and 
E.  W.  P.  Smith. — The  first  part  of  an  article  in  which  the 
authors  discuss  the  useful  transformer  action  in  single- 
phase  commutator  motors.  The  authors  first  take  up  the 
series  motor  with  short-circuited  compensating  winding. 
They  show  that  the  short-circuited  compensating  winding  is 
always  to  be  preferred  to  the  series-connected  winding,  ex- 
cept for  cases  where  the  motor  is  to  be  used  on  both  direct- 
current  and  alternating-current  circuits.  The  article  is  to 
be  continued. — Elec.  Journal,  Aug.  i,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

The  Most  Favorable  Rate  of  Operation  and  Permissible 
Decrease  of  Candle-Power  of  Tungsten  Lamps. — L.  Bloch. 
— The  author  gives  the  theory  of  calculating  the  rate  of 
operation  of  an  incandescent  lamp  in  watts  per  candle  for 
which  the  total  cost  of  operation  (energy  cost  plus  cost  of 
renewal  of  lamps)  becomes  a  minimum.  He  also  shows  that 
for  every  rate  of  operation  there  is  a  certain  decrease  of 
candle-power  within  life  for  which  the  total  cost  becomes  a 
minimum.  This  decrease  of  candle-power  is  found  from  the 
formula  Ooo  =  m  ^- (m -{- 2) ,  where  aoo  is  the  value  by 
which  the  original  candle-power  is  to  be  multiplied  in  order 
to  determine  the  candle-power  at  the  time  when  it  is  best 
to  renew  the  lamp,  and  where  m  is  the  exponent  in  the 
formula  which  connects  the  life  T  with  the  rate  e  of  watts 
per  candle  for  a  given  percentage  degree  of  candle-power, 
namely,  T  —  c  e'".  For  the  tungsten  lamp  Ooo  =  0.75.  That 
is,  the  lamp  should  be  renewed  when  the  candle-power  has 
decreased  to  75  per  cent  of  the  original  value  (it  is  usual 
to  allow  carbon  lamps  to  run  until  the  candle-power  has 
decreased  to  80  per  cent  of  the  original  value).  The  author 
also  calculates  the  values  of  the  best  rate  of  operation  of 
tungsten  lamps  for  10  cp,  25  cp  and  100  cp  at  different  prices 
of  energy  and  different  prices  of  lamps,  and  finds  that  for 
the  prices  as  they  are  now  usual,  the  best  rate  of  operation 
for  lo-cp  and  25-cp  lamps  is  between  i  watt  and  i.i  watts 
per  hefner  cp.  For  loo-cp  lamps  it  is  from  0.85  watt  to 
0.95  watt  per  candle.  The  minimum  in  the  cost  curve  is 
rather  flat,  and  it  is  shown  in  a  detailed  table  that  the  rate 
of  operation  can  be  changed  by  0.15  watt  per  hefner  candle 
above  or  below  the  best  value,  or  the  permissible  life  can 
be  changed  by  0.12  above  or  0.18  below  the  best  value  of  a 
without  increasing  the  total  cost  by  more  than  5  per  cent. 
Under  those  circumstances  the  requirement  becomes  im- 
portant not  to  let  the  lamps  decrease  so  much  in  candle- 
power  as  to  make  a  visible  effect  on  the  total  illumination. 
This  is  especially  important  in  connection  with  carbon 
lamps  where,  according  to  the  author's  calculations,  the 
lowest  total  cost  would  be  obtained  if  the  lamp  was  operated 
at  1.87  watt  per  candle  and  a  decrease  in  candle-power  of 
33/4  per  cent  was  permitted;  but  practical  considerations 
prevent  this.  The  author's  conclusion  for  the  practice  is 
that,  if  not  at  an  earlier  moment,  metallic-filament  lamps 
should  be  surely  removed  when  they  have  decreased  by  25 
per  cent  in  candle-power.  The  author  refers  to  recent  in- 
vestigations of  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Association  of 


Cleveland,  Ohio,  dealing  with  similar  problems  and  leading 
to  results  which  are  in  good  agreement  with  his  own, 
although  the  subject  is  treated  in  a  very  different  way. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  i,  1912. 

Ductile  Tungsten. — A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent 
(No.  15,586,  July  18,  1912)  for  improving  the  strength  and 
ductility  of  tungsten,  granted  to  the  British  Thomson- 
Houston  Company,  Ltd.  (General  Electric  Company  of  this 
country).  Lamp  filaments  formed  in  the  usual  way  by  the 
paste  processes  or  by  alloying  with  a  ductile  metal  are 
treated  by  being  loosely  packed  in  a  powdered  alkaline 
earth  carbide;  for  example,  calcium  carbide,  contained  in 
an  iron  tube.  Access  of  air  is  prevented,  and  the  tube  is 
slowly  heated  to  a  temperature  of  from  850  deg.  to  1000 
deg.  C.  during  a  period  of  four  or  five  hours.  This  tem- 
perature is  maintained  for  ten  or  fifteen  hours  and  the  tube 
then  allowed  to  cook  slowly  for  a  period  of  four  or  five 
hours.  It  appears  that  impurities  are  thus  removed  from 
the  metallic  tungsten.  The  beneficial  effects  may  also  be 
obtained  by  incorporating  the  carbide  with  the  paste  during 
manufacture,  which  is  otherwise  carried  out  in  the  usual 
way.  Alternatively  I  or  2  per  cent  of  carbide  may  be  added 
to  dry  tungsten  powder,  which  is  subjected  to  great  pressure 
and  heated  in  a  stream  of  hydrogen  to  near  the  melting 
point. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  July  25,  1912. 

Electric  Lighting  of  Automobiles. — A.  Berthier. — A  con- 
tinuation of  his  illustrated  serial  on  the  use  of  electricity  on 
automobiles.  The  present  instalment  deals  with  automobile 
lighting  by  means  of  a  generator,  constant  voltage  being 
obtained  by  automatically  varying  the  intensity  of  the  ex- 
citing current  according  to  the  speed.  First  such  systems 
are  discussed  in  which  an  emf  is  inserted  in  the  exciting 
circuit,  the  current  being  produced  either  by  a  special 
generator  (systems  of  Loppe,  Auvert,  Moscowitz,  Mac- 
Elroy,  Siemens  &  Halske,  and  Verity-Dalziel)  or  by  stor- 
age battery  (Grob  system).  The  author  then  discusses 
systems  in  which  the  e.xciting  current  is  more  or  less  in- 
terrupted according  to  the  speed,  the  mechanism  being  some- 
what similar  in  principle  to  the  Tirrill  regulator  (methods 
of  Kull,  Aichale,  Vickers-Hall,  Dick,  Eygulm).  A  descrip- 
tion is  given  of  the  Carleou  generator  in  which  the  arma- 
ture can  be  displaced  parallel  to  its  axle  of  rotation. — La 
Lumiere  Elec,  July  20,  1912. 

Arc  Lamps. — A  continuation  of  the  long  illustrated  serial 
based  on  recent  German  patent  specifications  for  arc  lamps. 
In    the    present    instalment    various    new    mechanisms    for 
the    regulation    of    the    electrodes    are    described. — Zeit.   f.    i 
Bclcucht.,  June  20,  1912.  * 

Three-Phase  Arc  Lamp. — W.  Wedding. — An  illustrated 
English  translation  of  his  German  paper  recently  noticed    , 
in  the  Digest  on  the  Schaeffer  three-phase  arc  lamp. — Lon- 
don Electrician,  Aug  2,.  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Three-Phase  System  for  Ship  Propellers. — Karl  Zickler 
AND  Rudolf  Czepek. — The  authors  describe  a  combination 
of  an  induction  generator  driven  by  a  prime  mover  at  con- 
stant speed  with  a  converter  and  a  direct-current  machine 
whereby  a  continuous  speed  regulation  of  short-circuited 
armature  induction  motors  is  obtained  in  a  simple  and  com- 
mercial way.  The  system  ■  is  especially  suitable  for  regu- 
lating the  speed  of  squirrel-cage  induction  motors  driving 
propellers  on  shipboard.  The  arrangement  is  shown  in 
Fig.  I.  The  induction  generator  /  G  is  directly  driven  by 
the  prime  mover  T  with  a  constant  speed.  The  rotor  of 
I  G  is  excited  with  three-phase  currents  from  the  syn- 
chronous converter  C  which  is  supplied  with  direct  current 


August  24,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


41S 


from  the  direct-current  machine  A,  which  is  on  the  same 
axle  as  the  induction  generator  /  G  and  the  prime  mover  T. 
The  converter  U  and  the  direct-current  machine  A  are 
excited  by  means  of  a  source  of  direct  current,  for  instance, 
a  small  direct-current  machine  on  the  axle  of  T.  By  means 
of  the  regulating  rheostats  i?,  and  R.  the  exciting  currents 
can  be  regulated  at  will.  The  switch  US  permits  one  to 
reverse  the  exciting  current  of  A  and  thereby  the  direction 
of  rotation  of  U.  The  main  circuits  between  A  and  U, 
between  U  and  /  G  and  between  /  G  and  the  propeller  motor 
M  are  made  directly  without  the  use  of  resistors  or  switches. 
By  nieans  of  switch  5  the  motor  M  can  be  reversed  when 


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rig.   1 — Three-phase  System  for  Ship   Propellers. 

there  is  no  current.  The  principle  of  the  system  is  that  the 
induction  generator  running  at  constant  speed  and  being 
supplied  with  three-phase  currents  of  varying  frequency 
from  [/  gives  from  its  stator  three-phase  currents  of  con- 
tinuously changing  frequencies.  The  authors  give  the 
theory  of  the  arrangement  and  the  results  of  tests  with 
special  application  of  the  system  to  the  driving  of  pro- 
pellers on  board  ship. — Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  Aug. 
4,  1912. 

Dir.  ct-Ciirreiit  and  Alternating-Current  Motors  in  Steel 
Mills. — B.  R.  Shover  and  E.  J.  Cheney. — A  long  article 
giving  in  a  table  comparative  figures  of  first  costs  and 
annual  Costs  for  two  systems  of  modern  steel-mill  drive, 
the  first  being  one  in  which  alternating-current  motors  are 
used  throughout  and  the  second  the  mixed  system,  in  which 
alternating-current  motors  are  used  for  the  main  rolls,  etc., 
and  direct-current  motors  for  some  of  the  smaller  drives. 
The  authors  conclude  that  for  a  rolling  mill  properly 
motored,  where  the  percentage  of  power  required  for 
auxiliary  apparatus  (exclusive  of  pumps,  etc.)  is  25  per  cent 
or  less  of  the  total  power  delivered  to  that  mill,  and  where 
the  power-factor  of  the  entire  mill,  including  both  main  and 
auxiliary  apparatus,  is  70  per  cent  or  over,  the  all-alter- 
nating-current system  will  show  a  saving  in  annual  cost,  to 
say  nothing  of  its  greater  simplicity  and  more  satisfactory 
operation. — Gen.  Elec.  Reznew,  August,  1912. 

Traction. 

Light  Raikvays.—R.  Ha.as. — The  author  discusses  in  de- 
tail the  very  satisfactory  development  of  the  light  railway 
system  of  Belgium  and  compares  it  with  the  light  railways 
in  Prussia,  which  are  nearly  as  satisfactory.  The  econom- 
ical and  legal  reasons  for  this  development  are  analyzed. — 
Elek.  Zcif..  July  25,  1912. 

Hamburg. — G.  Cuvillier. — The  first  part  of  a  detailed 
illustrated  description  of  the  new  Metropolitan  railway  in 
Hamburg,  Germany. — La  Lumiere  Elec.,  July  20  and 
27,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Dangerous  Overvo'Jage. — F.  Klost. — A  critical  discussion 
of  the  possible  sources  of  dangerously  high  voltages  which 
may  occur  in  a  network,  with  criticisms  of  some  protective 
devices  in  use.  The  author  discusses  especially  the  use  of 
condensers,  the  action  of  which  he  thinks  is  to  be  found 
less  in  the  annihilation  of  the  oscillations  than  in  the 
increased  capacity  of  the  network  and  the  simultaneous  re- 


duction of  the  frequency  of  the  free  oscillations.  He  em- 
phasizes that  great  precautions  must  be  taken  in  the  inser- 
tion of  capacities  in  a  network. — Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna), 
July  21,  1912. 

High-Frequency  Oscillations  in  Electric  Networks. — G. 
Giles. — Atmospheric  discharges  or  the  sudden  opening  or 
closing  of  a  circuit  or  sudden  load  fluctuations  cause  tran- 
sient phenomena  which  may  result  in  dangerously  high- 
voltage  waves  being  propagated  along  a  network.  The 
author  investigates  the  action  of  a  capacity  used  as  a  pro- 
tective device  and  shows  that  it  changes  the  form  of  the 
wave.  It  does  not  annihilate  the  energy  of  the  wave  nor  is 
this  necessary  for  protection. — Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna), 
July  21,   1912. 

Voltage  Regulation. — F.  W.  Shackelford. — An  article  on 
the  advantages  of  the  installation  of  a  generator  automatic 
voltage  regulator,  preferably  when  constructing  the  station. 
It  obviates  the  necessity  of  carrying  the  lighting  and  motor 
loads  on  separate  mains  and  results  in  considerable  economy. 
For  larger  systems,  possessing  many  feeders,  it  is  further 
necessary  to  regulate  the  voltage  of  each  feeder  independ- 
ently. Several  methods  for  accomplishing  this  regulation 
are  outlined  in  the  article.  The  author  also  offers  some 
suggestions,  with  diagrams,  for  laying  out  a  new  system  of 
distribution  or  for  reconstructing  an  old  one. — Gen.  Elec. 
Reiieiv,  July,  1912.  In  a  second  article  on  the  same  subject 
the  author  takes  up  the  question  of  voltage  control  on 
alternating-current  feeders  by  means  of  the  automatic- 
feeder  voltage  regulator.  Seven  arrangements  of  this  regu- 
lator for  feeder  use  are  described,  one  for  single-phase  sys- 
tems, four  for  three-phase  systems  and  two  for  quarter- 
phase  systems.  The  general  usefulness  of  the  regulator  as 
a  voltage  balancer  is  illustrated  in  the  account  of  the  tying 
in  of  the  Oakland  station  of  the  Great  Western  Power 
Company  with  the  Fulsom  station  of  San  Francisco. — Gen. 
Elec.  Reviizu,  August,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Cable  Connector. — A.  Kastalski. — The  Leipzig  municipal 
e'ectricity  works  have  designed  a  cable  connector  for 
utilization  in  places  used  for  fairs,  conventions,  etc.,  and 
from  which  temporary  lighting  connections  can  be  made. 
Its  external  appearance  is  similar  to  that  of  a  water  hydrant. 
Thirty  such  connectors  have  recently  been  installed,  from 
which  a  surface  of  12,000  sq.  m  can  be  supplied  with  direct 
current  at  2  X  220  volts. — Elek.  Zeit..  July  18,  1912. 
Electrophysics  and   Magnetism. 

Transient  Phenomenon  on  Opening  a  Circuit. — K.  Meyer. 
— An  article  supplementing  another  recent  article  on  the 
same  subject.  When  a  circuit  is  broken  by  a  switch  and  the 
resistance  is  infinitely  large  at  the  end  of  the  switching 
operation  the  current  is  zero  at  the  end  of  the  operation.  If, 
however,  the  resistance  of  the  circuit  has  a  finite  value  the 
current  has  also  a  finite  value  depending  on  the  length  of 
the  switching  period.  This  value  of  the  current  is  larger 
than  would  follow  from  Ohm's  law  for  stationary  condi- 
tions. The  current  subsequently  decreases  gradually  while 
the  resistance  remains  constant.  The  equations  of  this 
phenomenon  are  given. — Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  July 
14,  1912. 

Rectifying  Effect. — H.  Rohmann. — If  an  alternating-cur- 
rent voltage  V  =  cos  2  nn^t  —  cos  2  it  n„ ;  is  impressed  on 
the  terminals  of  a  conductor  which  does  not  obey  Ohm's 
law  the  resulting  current  has  a  direct-current  component 
which  depends  in  general  on  the  ratio  of  the  two  frequencies 
n,  and  «...  If  «,  is  maintained  constant  and  n..  is  varied,  then 
the  direct-current  component  will  be  a  maximum  for  certain 
values  of  n,.  The  author  investigates  mathematically  the 
position  and  the  amplitude  of  the  maxima  in  their  relation 
to  the  characteristic  voltage-current  curve  for  the  conductor 
employed.  The  results  are  confirmed  experimentally  in  a 
qualitative  way  by  means  of  a  Geissler  tube. — Pliys.  Zeit., 
Aug.  I,  1912. 


4i6 


i:lectrical   world. 


Vol.  6o.  Xo.  S. 


Vibratioti  of  a  Lecher  System. — F.  C.  Blake  and 
Charles  Sheard. — In  a  former  paper  the  authors  described 
some  experiments  performed  on  a  Lecher  system  using  a 
Paalzow-Rubens  bolometer.  The  present  paper  is  a  con- 
tinuation of  that  work,  but  instead  of  a  bolometer  a  thermal 
couple  was  employed.  The  results  given  in  the  present 
paper  show  that  both  forced  and  free  oscillations  can  exist 
simultaneously  upon  the  Lecher  system  and  that  the  over- 
tones of  the  oscillator  are  related  to  each  other  as  the  odd 
numbers,  while  the  free  overtones  of  the  Lecher  system  are 
related  to  the  fundamental  as  the  natural  numbers.  When 
the  two  circuits  are  in  resonance  only  the  odd  harmonics 
are  present  to  any  appreciable  extent.  The  influence  of  the 
receiver  upon  the  wave-system  was  studied,  both  "selective" 
and  "non-selective"  receivers  being  used.  \\'hen  the  oscil- 
lator and  Lecher  circuits  were  in  tune  with  each  other  and 
with  the  first  overtone  of  the  receiver  the  ratio  of  "loop 
strength"  to  "node  strength"  was  found  to  be  325  to  i.  It 
was  found  that  under  certain  conditions  the  Lecher  circuit 
and  either  of  the  other  circuits  behaved  in  part  as  a  single 
circuit,  and  in  one  case  all  three  circuits  vibrated  as  a  single 
circuit.  It  has  been  shown  that  to  the  first  order  of  approxi- 
mation the  currents  in  the  Lecher  system  can  be  considered 
either  as  longitudinal  or  transverse,  the  bridge  current 
being  practically  non-inductive.  To  the  same  degree  of 
approximation  Abraham's  theory  can  be  said  to  hold.  For 
the  second  order  of  approximation  Drude's  theory  of 
standing  waves  explains  the  facts  better,  though  an  entirely 
satisfactory  theory  must  consider  the  induced  currents  in 
the  second  half  of  the  Lecher  system.  By  applying  Drude's 
theory  the  coefficient  of  damping  of  the  oscillator  was 
measured,  the  method  being  the  very  convenient  one  of 
measuring  the  internodal  space  shortening. — Phvs.  Rcvieiv. 
July,  1912. 

Diffusion  of  Alkali  Salt  Vapors  in  Flames. — H.  A.  Wil- 
son.— An  account  of  experiments  undertaken  with  the 
object  of  finding  the  coefficients  of  diffusion  of  alkali  salt 
vapors  in  a  Bunsen  flame.  The  results  obtained  on  the 
ionic  velocities,  coefficients  of  diffusion  and  conductivities 
of  salt  vapors  in  flames  seem  to  agree  with  the  view  that 
the  positive  ions  consist  of  metal  atoms  having  charges 
about  three  times  the  charge  on  one  hydrogen  ion  in  solu- 
tions. At  the  same  time  the  possible  error  in  the  determina- 
tions of  all  these  quantities  is  large,  so  that  it  is  possible, 
but  improbable,  that  the  charge  per  ion  is  in  reality  equal  to 
that  on  one  hydrogen  ion. — Phil.  Mag.,  July,  1912. 

Chemical  Compounds  of  Short-Lii'ed  Radioactive  Ele- 
ments.— H.  ScHRADER. — An  account  of  an  investigation  in 
which  the  volatilization  of  actinium  B  deposited  on  platinum 
was  measured  in  a  high  vacuum  and  was  found  to  take 
place  between  600  deg.  and  900  deg.  C.  By  allowing 
chlorine,  bromine,  hydrobromic  acid  and  hydriodic  acid  to 
act  on  the  active  material  its  volatility  can  be  increased. 
The  B  and  C  products  of  the  active  deposits  of  radium, 
thorium  and  actinium  condense  in  an  atmosphere  of 
hydrogen  and  at  a  temperature  several  hundred  degrees 
lower  than  in  air.  This  has  been  explained  by  the  forma- 
tion of  chemical  compounds. — Phil  Mag..  July,  igi2. 

Resistance  of  Pozvdered  Conductors. — A.  A.  Somerville 
— An  article  which  gives  in  diagrams  the  results  of  experi- 
ments on  the  variation  of  the  electric  resistance  of  pow- 
dered carbon  and  powdered  silicon  with  variation  of  the 
temperature  within  wide  ranges. — Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing 
August.  1912. 

The  Self -Demagnetisation  of  Steel. — S.  W.  J.  Smith  and 
J.  Guild.— An  abstract  of  a  British  Physical  Society  paper. 
The  constituents  iron  and  iron  carbide  are  easily  traceable 
in  annealed  steel,  owing  to  the  differences  between  their 
magnetic  properties.  The  ferromagnetic  transition  point 
of  the  carbide  is  about  500  deg.  C.  lower  than  that  of  the 
iron.  The  carbide  is  also  magnetically  harder  at  ordinary 
temperatures  and  possesses  greater  coercive  force  :  although, 
like  iron,  it  is  magnetically  very  soft  at  temperatures  near 


the  transition  point.  In  consequence  of  these  facts,  the 
effect  of  heat  upon  the  residual  magnetism  of  an  annealed 
steel  rod  is  peculiar  and  at  first  sight  mysterious.  As  the 
temperature  rises  the  residual  magnetism  falls  continuously 
until  it  becomes  zero  in  the  neighborhood  of  200  deg.  C. 
It  then  changes  sign  and  reaches  a  maximum  negative  value 
at  about  220  deg.  C.  Beyond  this,  the  negative  magnetiza- 
tion decreases  slowly,  and  it  finally  becomes  imperceptible 
between  700  deg.  and  800  deg.  C.  If  the  rod  is  cooled  from 
800  deg.  C,  it  remains  without  perceptible  polarity  as  the 
temperature  falls;  but  if  the  heating  is  interrupted  before 
the  whole  of  the  residual  magnetism  is  destroyed  the 
behavior  on  cooling  is  quite  different ;  thus,  to  quote  one 
case,  the  rod  was  heated  until,  at  600  deg.  C,  the  residual 
intensity  of  magnetization  was  about  — 0.5.  On  cooling,  the 
intensity  increased  to  a  maximum  negative  value  of  about 
— 1.6  at  about  245  deg.  C.  Then  the  magnetization  began 
to  fall,  reached  zero  at  about  210  deg.  C,  became  positive 
and,  finally,  was  about  -\-  15.5  at  the  air  temperature.  An 
explanation  of  these  and  other  results  is  that  the  residual 
magnetism  of  short  annealed  steel  rods  is  determined  by 
the  retentivity  of  the  carbide  and  the  residual  polarity  of 
the  iron  is  negative.  The  iron  may  thus  be  said  to  con- 
tribute less  than  nothing  to  the  residual  magnetism  of  the 
rods. — London  Electrician,  July  19.  1912. 

Dielectric  Hysteresis  at  Low  Frequencies. — W.  M. 
Thornton.— A  British  Physical  Society  paper  in  which  the 
author  makes  an  attempt  to  determine  from  dielectric 
hysteresis  loops  the  nature  of  the  change  of  polarization 
which  gives  rise  to  the  absorption  of  energy.  Current  and 
voltage  wave-forms  in  large  condensers  were  oscillographic- 
ally  recorded  at  a  frequency  of  36  cycles  a  second.  Cer- 
tain substances,  like  glass  or  gutta  percha,  are  found  to 
show  a  marked  triple-frequency  harmonic  in  the  current 
wave,  out  of  phase  with  the  fundamental.  Most  of  these 
have  a  low  power-factor;  others,  like  presspahn,  show  little 
distortion  but  have  a  high  power-factor.  The  loops  for  the 
former  have  straight  parallel  sides  and  a  true  hysteresis 
retardation  as  the  voltage  begins  to  fall;  the  latter  have 
lens-shaped  loops  corresponding  to  a  purely  viscous  re- 
tardation. Every  variety  of  transition  is  observed  between 
these  extreme  types.  The  cause  of  the  former  would  appear 
to  be  inter-attraction  between  the  induced  molecular 
charges,  which  reaches  a  maximum  when  these  are  greatest 
— that  is,  at  the  highest  voltage;  that  of  the  latter  is  a 
resistance  to  their  movement  through  the  substance  during 
the  establishment  of  the  usual  polarization,  the  retardation 
reaching  a  maximum  when  the  rate  of  change  of  the  voltage 
is  greatest — that  is,  in  passing  through  zero.  The  dielectric 
constants  of  substances  with  lenticular  loops  are  more 
affected  by  change  of  frequency  than  are  the  straight-sided 
type,  that  of  presspahn  changing  from  4.3  at  78  to  6.3  at 
15  cycles  per  second.  Ebonite  and  paraffined  paper,  on  the 
contrary,  changed  by  less  than  i  per  cent  throughout  the 
same  range.  For  the  same  substances  change  of  voltage 
gradient,  short  of  breakdown  voltage,  has  little  or  no  in- 
fluence on  dielectric  constant  at  this  frequency.  Power- 
factor  appears  to  increase  with  frequency  within  the  range 
determined. — London  Electrician,  July  19.  1912. 

Electrochemistry  and  Batteries. 

Electric  Furnace. — R.  S.  Wile.— An  illustrated  descrip- 
tion of  a  simple  electric  furnace  for  the  determination  of 
tin  dross,  concentrates  from  cyanide  mills  and  other 
metallurgical  work. — Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing.  .A.ugust,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Self-Adjusting  Prony  Brake.— ].  D.  Coales.— A  descrip- 
tion of  a  new  type  of  Prony  brake  which  obviates  the  use 
of  a  spring  balance  by  a  simple  device  which  compensates 
the  variations  in  friction  between  the  brake  and  brake  pulley 
and  automatically  adjusts  the  pressure  of  the  brake  belt,  so 
that  the  torque  is  maintained  at  a  constant  value  which  is 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


417 


independent  of  variations  of  the  speed  over  wide  limits. 
The  torque  is  put  on  and  measured  entirely  by  dead  weights, 
and  is  thus  perfectly  definite. — London  Electrician,  July 
19,  1912. 

Determination  of  Very  High  Temperatures. — G.  A. 
Shook. — After  the  discussion  of  the  radiation  laws  of 
Planck  and  Wien  he  describes  methods  of  reducing  incident 
energy  by  a  certain  fraction  so  as  to  extend  the  scale  of  a 
pyrometer  and  discusses  this  principle  with  reference  to 
the  high-temperature  scales  of  the  Le  Chatelier  pyrometer, 
the  Wanner  pyrometer  and  the  Holborn-Kurlbaum  pyrom- 
eter.— Met.  and  Chcm.  Eng'ing,  August,  1912. 

Comparison  of  Capacities. — Albert  Campbell. — A  British 
Physical  Society  paper  on  a  method  of  comparing  capacities 
at  various  frequencies  under  conditions  of  charge  and  dis- 
charge similar  to  those  used  in  the  Maxwell  commutator 
method.  A  rotating  double  commutator  is  arranged  (Fig.  2) 
to  charge  and  short-circuit  each  condenser  simultaneously, 
the  resistance  R  and  5'  and  the  frequency  being  such  that 
the  charge  and  discharge  are  practically  complete  for  both 
ATj  and  K^  in  each  cycle.  The  galvanometer  must  be  of  a 
long  period.  First  assume  that  the  two  commutators  are 
so  mechanically  perfect  that  their  corresponding  contacts 
are  made  simultaneously.  When  K^  and  K,  are  of  the  same 
type  as  regards  absorption  and  leakage,  the  current  through 


other  outer  which  carries  current  so  that  the  total  energy 
consumption  is  registered.  The  author  then  describes  an 
amp-hour  meter  with  compensation  for  friction  ;  a  mercury 
meter  based  on  the  principle  of  the  Barlow  wheel ;  a  tram- 
way meter  which  registers  the  time  when  current  is  sup- 
plied to  the  car;  a  slot-machine  prepayment  meter;  a  meter 
which  registers  only  the  consumption  in  excess  of  a  fixed 
number  of  watts,  a  flat  rate  being  charged  for  the  con- 
sumption up  to  that  number ;  finally  a  maximum  demand 
meter  and  a  meter  which  gives  directly  the  cost  of  the 
energy  in  dollars  and  cents. — Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna), 
July  28,  1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Inductive  Tuner. — J.  O.  Mauborgne. — An  illustrated 
article  on  the  operation  of  inductively  coupled  receiving 
sets  in  wireless  telegraphy.  Tests  were  made  with  ( i )  the 
inductive  tuner  alone,  (2)  the  inductive  tuner  with  variable 
condenser  in  secondary  circuit  for  the  purpose  of  tuning  it, 
(3)  the  inductive  tuner  using  a  variable-capacity  air  con- 
denser in  series  with  the  primary  of  the  tuner  (secondary 
circuit  untunable),  (4)  the  inductive  tuner  having  a  vari- 
able air  condenser  in  parallel  with  the  primary  of  the  tuner 
(secondary  circuit  untunable). — London  Electrician,  July 
19,  1912. 


Fig.   2 — Comparison    of   Capacities. 

the  galvanometer  will  be  practically  zero  at  every  instant 
if  R/S  =  KJK^.  If  the  condensers  are  not  of  the  same 
type  an  alternating  current  will  pass  through  the  gal- 
vanometer, but,  by  suitable  adjustment  of  the  ratio  R/S,  the 
mean  current  can  be  brought  to  zero  and  an  exact  balance 
obtained.  To  a  near  approximation  the  relation  KJK^ 
=  R/S  does  hold  good.  However,  it  is  not  possible  to  in- 
sure that  the  two  commutators  start  the  charging  of  each 
condenser  at  precisely  the  same  instant,  and  thus,  to  elimi- 
nate any  errors  due  to  the  dift'erence  between  the  two  com- 
mutators, a  second  balance  should  be  taken  with  the  com- 
mutators interchanged.  The  mean  of  the  two  results  gives 
the  ratio  of  the  capacities  to  a  high  degree  of  accuracy. 
The  truth  of  this  statement  has  been  established  by  experi- 
mental evidence.  The  advantages  of  this  method  are  that 
alternating  current  is  not  required  and  that,  as  a  direct- 
current  galvanometer  is  used,  very  high  sensitivity  can  be 
attained. — London  Electrician,  Aug.  2,  1912. 

Meters. — M.  Wiesengrund. — .A  paper  read  before  the 
Electrical  Society  of  Vienna  on  the  latest  designs  of  meters 
of  the  Isaria  Electro  Company.  Several  special  features 
of  the  design  are  first  described.  The  author  then  refers 
to  the  fact  that  in  three-wire  meters  in  which  the  neutral 
wire  does  not' enter  the  meter  the  burning  out  of  a  fuse  in 
one  outer  may  cause  the  armature  of  the  meter  to  be  with- 
out current  so  that  no  energy  consumption  will  be  registered 
although  the  other  half  of  the  network  carries  current. 
The  author  describes  a  relay  which  in  this  case  changes 
the  connections  automatically  in  such  a  way  that  the  meter 
shunt  is  now  connected  between  the  neutral   wire  and  the 


Book  Reviews 

KONSTRUKTION,    BaU    UND    BeTRIEB    VON     FUNKENINDUKTO- 

REN.  Part  I.  Berlin:  F.  &  M.  Harrwitz.  48  pages, 
59  illus.  Price,  1.25  marks. 
A  very  practical  little  treatise  on  the  design  and  con- 
struction of  high-tension  Ruhmkorf  coils,  especially  as  ap- 
plied to  X-ray  .application.  The  book  is  divided  into  five 
chapters  relating  to  the  following  topics:  Introduction, 
elements  of  mathematical  theory,  physiological  induction 
apparatus,  small  induction  coils,  large  induction  coils.  Al- 
though a  chapter  is  devoted  to  the  mathematics  of  the  sub- 
ject, yet  the  strong  points  of  the  book  are  in  the  descriptions 
of  practical  construction.  A  short  but  useful  bibliography 
of  the  subject  is  included. 


Toll  Telephone  Practice.  By  J.  Bernhard  Thiess,  B.  S., 
LL.B.,  and  Guy  A.  Joy,  B.  E.,  with  an  introductory 
chapter  by  Frank  F.  Fowle,  S.  B.  New  York:  D.  Van 
Nostrand  Company.  410  pages,  271  illus.  Price, 
$3.50  net. 
As  the  title  suggests,  this  volume  presents  a  treatment 
of  one  of  the  major  branches  of  telephony,  and  it  is 
especially  strong  on  equipment  and  systems.  It  is  well  illus- 
trated and  written  in  a  style  intended  for  men  of  practical 
training.  The  chapters  devoted  to  apparatus  are  note- 
worthy for  the  care  with  which  each  detail  of  operation  is 
described,  and  in  this  respect  the  book  should  be  unusually 
valuable  to  telephone  engineers,  designers  of  equipment, 
plant  superintendents  and  equipment  maintainers.  So-called 
simplex  and  composite  systems,  for  simultaneous  telephony 
and  telegraphy,  are  well  described.  The  chapter  on  line 
construction,  although  somewhat  conventional  in  its  method 
of  treatment,  covers  the  ground  with  considerable  thorough- 
ness. In  treating  the  topic  of  electrical  reactions  in  long 
telephone  lines  the  authors  seem  less  familiar  with  their 
subject,  and  from  the  standpoint  of  the  transmission 
engineer  the  discourse  leaves  the  reader  somewhat  short 
of  his  goal.  The  chapters  on  cross-talk  and  transpositions 
and  on  methods  of  line  testing  are  quite  satisfactory. 
Maintenance  is  very  inadequately  treated,  however,  and  the 
important  subjects  of  traffic  and  operating  methods  are  not 
covered  at  all.  Taken  as  a  whole,  the  volume  is  a  com- 
mendable undertaking  and  forms  a  worthy  addition  to  the 
better  class  of  literature  on  telephony. 


4i8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  8. 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


FIXTURE  LOOPS. 


By  means  of  a  brass  rosette,  chain  and  lamp  cord,  brass 
socket  and  two  fixture  loops  it  is  possible  to  make  a  neat 
and  inexpensive  fixture  for  an  incandescent  lamp.  Fixture 
loops  for  this  purpose  are  made  by  Pass  &  Seymour,  Inc.,  of 
Solvay,  N.  Y.,  and  are  shown  herewith.     One  of  these  is 


^J©       00© 


Fixture    Loops. 

designed  to  fit  a  standard  J^-in.-cap  socket,  and  the  other 
loop  has  a  long  shank  complete  with  brass  nut  for  use  with 
the  firm's  rosette.  The  chain  and  lamp  cord  may  be  pur- 
chased in  any  length  from  fixture  manufacturers,  and  the 
whole  assembled  in  a  remarkably  short  space  of  time. 


CORD  SWITCH  FOR  PORTABLE  DEVICE. 


A  cord  switch  at  the  table  provides  convenient  means  for 
controlling  the  circuit  to  heating  devices,  since  it  eliminates 
the  necessity  of  getting  up  to  operate  a  fixture  socket  or  for 
pulling  a  base  plug.  The  brass-shell  cord  switch  made  by 
the  Cutler-Hammer  Manufacturing  Companv,  of  Milwau- 
kee, because  of  its  small  dimensions  and  polished  nickel  fin- 
ish is  particularly  suited  for  use  with  heating  devices  at  the 


Cord     Switch. 

table.  Convenient  operation  is  provided  by  simply  pushing 
the  button  of  the  switch  placed  near  the  device.  When  used 
with  electric  irons  it  saves  the  wear  on  the  socket  and  al- 
lows easy  and  frequent  opening  and  closing  of  the  circuit. 
The  conductors  pass  through  the  switch,  bushings  being 
provided  in  both  caps,  and  the  ceramic  insulating  material 
developed  by  the  company  is  used  as  the  body  of  the  switch. 
This  material  is  tough  and  holds  in  alignment  the  small 
compact  operating  mechanism,  which  is  similar  to  that  used 
in  the  'Acorn"  pendent  switch  recently  marketed.  The 
switch  is  made  in  3  amp,  250  volt,  and  5  amp,  125  volt,  rat- 
ings and  is  said  to  have  been  passed  by  the  Underwriters. 


CLEANING  PAPER  MONEY  BY  ELECTRICITY. 


During  the  recent  "Made  in  Chicago''  display  by  individ- 
ual merchants  and  manufacturers  of  that  city  the  Hurley 
Machine  Company  made  an  interesting  and  unusual  exhibi- 
tion in  the  show  window  of  its  Jackson  Street  store.  The 
demonstration  consisted  in  washing  and  ironing  paper 
money  in  much  the  saine  way  as  is  done  by  the  United 
States  Treasury  at  Washington.  Soiled  bills  of  various  de- 
nominations were  placed  in  a  Thor  electric  washing  ma- 
chine and  agitated  in  soapsuds  for  five  or  ten  minutes.  The 
attendant  next  rinsed  them  in  clear  water,  afterward  pass- 
ing them  through  a  Thor  electric  ironing  machine  in  which 
electricity  is  used  both  for  motive  power  and  heating.  The 
operation  proved  a  great  attraction  to  passers-by. 


ELECTRIC  COMB  AND  HAIR  DRIER. 


The  new  electric  hair  drier  illustrated  is  made  in  the 
form  of  a  comb  and  is  particularly  useful  for  drying  the 
hair  quickly  after  shampooing.  It  is  also  used  by  women 
for  waving  the  hair.  The  comb  is  of  aluminum,  and  the 
heating  element  is  designed  so  that  the  device  cannot  be- 


Comb    and    Hair    Drier. 

come  hot  enough  to  burn  the  hair.  A  flexible  cord  fastened 
to  the  handle  permits  connection  to  a  source  of  electrical 
energy  by  means  of  an  attachment  plug.  The  sockets  of 
either  no- volt  or  220-volt  circuits  may  be  utilized.  This 
comb  is  the  invention  of  Mr.  Edward  Schwartz  and  is 
made  by  William  E.  Slaughter  &  Company,  1712  South 
Michigan  Avenue,  Chicago. 


DEVICE  FOR  DETECTING  OILY  EMULSION. 


The  presence  of  oil  in  boilers  being  recognized  as  dan- 
gerous and  the  removal  of  emulsion  from  water  being 
quite   difficult,  the  detection  of  oil  in  boiler-feed  water  is 

important,  especially  if  it  is  pos- 
sible to  use  condensate,  which, 
•      W^  barring    the    presence    of    oil, 

^^iSi  is    otherwise    chemically    pure 

^^^r^  water.     A  device  for  detecting 

jt  oily    emulsion,    known    as    the 

Martin  test  tube,  is  marketed  by 
the  Harrison  Safety  Boiler 
Works,  Philadelphia.  The  elon- 
gated test  tube  is  made  of  clear 
:j^.^  """^  glass     except     at     the     bottom, 

^^^'^—         — ^^•'  which  is  opalescent  and  has  a 

small  black  dot  in  the  center. 
A  small  quantity  of  the  con- 
densate to  be  tested  is  poured 
into  the  test  tube  under  well- 
diffused  daylight  until  the  black 
dot  just  disappears  from  view. 
The  graduations  on  the  tube 
opposite  the  level  of  the  vv'ater 
indicate  the  amount  of  oil  in 
grains  per  United  States  gallon. 
If  the  tube  is  viewed  by  elec- 
tric light  a  higher  result  will  be 
indicated  than  by  natural  light. 
Precautions  should  be  taken 
that  no  form  of  precipitated 
organic  matter  is  suspended  in 
the  water.  The  process  does 
not  differ  materially  from  that 
employed  for  measuring  the 
amount  of  matter  in  suspension 
in  natural  water  supplies.  In  looking  into  the  tube  filled 
with  clear  water  the  light  received  by  the  eye  comes  entire- 
ly from  the  white  porcelain  bottom  of  the  test  tube,  no  light 
coming  from  the  space  occupied  by  the  black  spot.  When, 
however,  the  tube  is  filled  with  water  containing  some  par- 
ticles in  suspension  the  light  coming  through  the  sides  of  it 
reaches  the  eye,  while  at  the  same  time  the  light  coming 
from  the  white  bottom  of  the  tube  is  likewise  deflected  and 


Tube  for   Detecting   Oily 
Emulsion. 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


419 


dispersed  so  that  less  of  it  reaches  the  eye.  When  so 
much  water  is  poured  into  the  tube  that  only  a  dispersed 
light  is  seen  the  eye  is  unable  to  distinguish  the  black  spot 
from  the  surrounding  white  field,  which  gives  the  measure- 
ment desired. 


LARGE       VERTICAL       SYNCHRONOUS-BOOSTER, 
COMMUTATING-POLE  ROTARY  CONVERTERS. 


Two  3000-kw  vertical  synchronous-booster,  commutating- 
pole  rotary  converters  have  just  been  built  and  tested  by 
the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  in 
its  East  Pittsburgh  works.  These  two  machines,  which 
are  of  unusual  interest  because  they  are  the  largest  vertical 
rotary  converters  ever  constructed  and  because  they  are 
the  only  Vertical  converters  ever  built  involving  the  syn- 
chronous booster  and  commutating-pole  features,  are  for 
the  New  York  Edison  Company  for  installation  respect- 
ively in  its  Clinton  and  its  Crosby  Street  substations. 

The  converters  deliver  a  normal  direct-current  voltage 
of  270  and  are  for  25-cycle,  six-phase  operation.  The 
direct-current  voltage  variation  obtained  by  virtue  of  the 
booster  feature  is  15  per  cent  buck  and  15  per  cent  boost 
from  the  normal  voltage,  giving  a  total  direct-current  volt- 
age variation  of  30  per  cent.    These  machines  were  made 


Fig.    1 — Sectional    Elevation    of   3000-kw   Rotary    Converter. 

of  the  vertical  type  to  conform  in  general  construction  to 
the  other  converters  in  the  substations,  all  of  which  are 
vertical  machines. 

The  sectional  drawing  shows  the  detail  construction  of 
the  machines.  The  converter  armature  and  frame  are 
mounted  above  the  booster  armature  and  frame.  The  com- 
mutator is  at  the  top  of  the  machine  and  the  collector  rings 
are  at  the  bottom.  The  armature  is  of  the  usual  construc- 
tion mounted  on  the  same  shaft  with  the  smaller  booster 
armature,  which  is  connected  in  series  with  the  converter 
armature  so  that  when  the  booster-field  excitation  is  varied 
the  alternating-current  voltage  impressed  on  the  converter 
armature  will  be  decreased  or  increased  accordingly. 

The  main  or  converter  poles  are  shunt-wound.  The  coni- 
mutating  poles  which  lie  between  the  main  poles  have  been 
so  wound  that  variations  in  armature  reaction  introduced 
by  the  booster  are  taken  care  of.  The  copper  grids  em- 
bedded in  the  main  pole  faces  do  not  extend  from  pole  to 
pole  as  in  ordinary  machines,  but  are  cut  off  flush  with  the 
sides  of  each  main  pole.  This  construction  is  used  on  all 
commutating-pole  converters  and  forms  the  most  effective 
starting  and  damping  winding.  The  booster  poles  are 
shunt-wound  and  the  booster  field  is  arranged  for  hand 
regulation.  Provision  is  made  for  effectively  cooling  the 
commutator  by  the  insertion  of  copper  heat-radiating  vanes 
in  the  upper  end  of  each  commutator  bar.  Ample  space  is 
provided  between  the  commutator  necks,  which  extend  from 


the  commutator  bars  to  the  armature  coils,  and  through 
these  spaces  the  cooling  air  is  forced  by  the  rotation  of  the 
machines. 

A  commutating-pole  converter  which  is  to  be  started  from 
the  alternating-current  end  must  be  provided  with  a  brush- 
lifting  device,   but   inasmuch   as   these  machines   are  to  be 


Fig.   2 — Vertical    Rotary    Converter    Unit. 

Started  from  the  direct-current  end,  a  brush-lifting  arrange- 
ment is  not  necessary. 

Some  of  the  mechanical  constructional  features  are 
unique.  The  pedestal  on  which  the  armature  rotates  is  a 
one-piece  hollow  steel  casting  having  a  large  area  of  base. 
With  this  construction  a  rigid  structure  results.  The 
pedestal  is  tapered  so  that  the  upper  bearing  is  smaller  in 
diameter  than  the  lower  one,  which  facilitates  assembly. 
The  bearings  proper  are  babbitted  and  cast  in  a  sleeve 
which  can  be  readily  taken  out  of  the  converter  spider  for 
re-babbitting. 

A  roller  thrust  bearing  is  arranged  at  the  top  of  the 
pedestal  to  take  the  weight  of  the  revolving  element.  The 
bearing  rests  on  a  plate  which  has  a  spherical  seat  carried 
on  the  pedestal  so  that  alignment  is  assured.  The  roller 
bearing  can  be  taken  out  by  removing  the  top  plate  of  the 
machine.  To  assume  the  weight  of  the  rotating  part  at 
times   when    it   is   necessary   to   remove   the   top    plate,    six 


F-.g.   3— Field   structure   of    Rotary   Converter. 

ij4-in.  bolts  are  provided  that  turn  through  the  lower  por- 
tion of  the  pedestal  flange.  When  it  is  necessary  to  take 
ofif  the  top  plate  these  bolts  are  screwed  up  until  they  raise 
the  rotating  element  a  trifle  and  assume  its  weight. 

Lubrication  is  effected  with  a  gravity  oiling  system. 
The  oil  is  drawn  from  reservoirs  and  forced  up  through 
the  oil  pipe  in  the  center  of  the  pedestal.  At  the  top  of  the 
pedestal  the  oil  discharges  through  a  nozzle  into  a  cylin- 


420 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  8. 


drical  chamber  within  the  roller  bearing.  The  pressure  on 
the  oil  forces  it  from  this  chamber  out  between  the  bearing 
rollers  into  an  annular  pan  surrounding  the  roller  bearing. 
Oil  cannot  leave  the  chamber  except  through  the  bearing, 
and  the  height  of  the  outlet  nozzle  and  the  oil  pan  rim  is 
such  that  the  bearing  rollers  always  travel  in  a  bath  of 
oil.      When    the    oil    overflows    from    the    pan    around    the 


Fig.  A — Armature   of   Rotary   Converter. 

roller  bearing  it  passes  into  an  annular  chamber  just  above 
the  upper  pedestal  bearing.  From  this  chamber  its  only 
exit  is  through  oil  grooves  in  the  pedestal.  While  it  is 
passing  through  these  grooves  the  rotating  babbitt-bearing 
surfaces  take  up  oil.  From  the  upper  pedestal  bearing  the 
oil  flows  down  through  the  chamber  around  the  shaft  to  oil 
grooves  for  the  lower  bearing  similar  to  those  above  de- 
scribed. From  the  lower  oil  grooves  the  oil  discharges  into 
an  annular  reservoir  to  the  lower  part  of  the  pedestal,  from 
which  it  drains  into  a  storage  reservoir,  to  be  circulated 
again  through  the  lubricating  system.  An  effective  oil- 
thrower  arrangement  is  provided  at  the  upper  part  of  the 
oil  space  and  around  the  lower  part  of  the  pedestal  which 
effectively  prevents  oil  creepage  up  the  shaft. 


LARGE  ELECTRIC  MINE  HOIST. 


The  hoist  operates  on  the  Ilgner  system  and  is  of  the 
double-drum  type,  having  7-ft.  drums  designed  for  an  effec- 
tive load  of  9000  lb.  in  a  car  and  cage  the  combined  weight 
of  which  is  11,000  lb.  Wire  hoisting  rope  ij^  in.  in  diam- 
eter is  used.  The  equipment  is  being  built  to  make  1000 
trips  from  a  6oo-ft.  depth  in  seven  hours.  The  cycle  ar- 
ranged calls  for  six  seconds  acceleration,  nine  seconds  at 
full  speed,  six  seconds  for  retardation  and  four  seconds 
loading  and  dumping,  which  corresponds  to  a  ma,ximum  rope 
speed  of  2400  ft.  per  minute. 

An  1150-hp,  550-volt  direct-current  motor  drives  the  hoist 
and  is  directly  connected  to  the  drum  shaft  by  a  flexible 
coupling.  This  motor  is  designed  especially  for  hoisting 
service  and  has  large  overload  capacity.  Power  will  be 
supplied  to  the  motor  by  a  flywheel  motor-generator  set, 
consisting  of  a  650-hp,  2300-volt  induction  motor,  an  880-kw, 
550-volt  generator,  a  17-kw,  125-volt  exciter  and  a  22,500-lb. 
flywheel.  This  unit  operates  at  600  r.p.m.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that,  through'  the  Leonard  method  of  control  and 
the  application  of  the  flywheel,  it  has  been  possible  to  de- 
crease the  sizes  of  the  hoist  motor,  generator  and  induction 
motor  progressively  contrary  to  usual  practice. 

The  speed  and  direction  of  rotation  of  the  hoist  will  be 
controlled  by  a  controller  at  the  operating  platform,  by 
means  of  which  the  voltage  and  polarity  of  the  generator 
will  be  governed.  The  efficiency  of  this  form  of  control, 
called  the  Leonard  control  after  its  inventor,  H.  Ward 
Leonard,  is  very  high,  as  there  are  no  rheostatic  losses  ex- 
cept the  comparatively  small  ones  in  the  field  circuit  of  the 
generator.  Fluctuations  of  the  hoisting  load  are  smoothed 
out  bv  means  of  the  flywheel  and  an  automatic  rheostat  in 
the  circuits  of  the  induction  motor. 

The  torque  of  the  regulating  motor  varies  with  the  line 
current,  and  when  this  current  tends  to  exceed  a  prede- 
termined value  the  torque  of  the  regulating  motor  will  over- 
come the  weight  of  the  moving  parts  of  the  rheostat,  intro- 
ducing resistance  into  the  rotor  circuits  of  the  main  induc- 
tion motor,  thereby  causing  the  motor  to  slow  down  and 
allowing  the  flywheel  to  give  up  its  energy.  When  the 
current  tends  to  fall  below  the  predetermined  value  the 
weight  of  the  moving  parts  of  the  rheostat  will  exceed  the 
torque  of  the  motor  and  the  resistance  will  be  cut  out  auto- 
matically. The  weight  of  the  moving  parts  of  the  rheostat 
is  counterweighted  for  purposes  of  adjustment.  In  the 
control  equipment  are  also  included  protective  devices  to 
guard  against  damage  from  overwinding,  failure  of  alter- 
nating-current supply,  loss  of  exciter  voltage,  loss  of  air 
pressure  for  the  brakes,  as  well  as  extreme  overloads.  Both 
service  and  energy  air  brakes  are  provided. 

The  hoist  is  to  be  of  the  Ottumwa  Iron  Works  make,  and 
all  the  electrical  apparatus  is  being  furnished  by  the  General 
Electric  Company. 


In  the  mine  of  the  Christopher  Coal  Mining  Company, 
recently  organized  at  Christopher,  Franklin  County,  111., 
will  be  installed  what  is  held  to  be  the  largest  electric  mine 
hoist  in  America.  The  m.ine  is  to  be  operated  entirely  by 
electricity  and  about  half  the  output  of  the  plant  will  be 
required  for  the  hoist.  Power  for  the  several  operations 
will  be  generated  at  the  mine  by  two  750-kw,  three-phase. 
60-cycle,  2300-volt  Curtis  turbo-generators,  for  which  ex- 
citation will  be  furnished  by  a  15-kw,  125-volt  turbo-exciter 
set. 

Above  ground  practically  all  the  machinery,  except  the 
hoist,  will  be  operated  by  alternating-current  motors,  while 
all  the  underground  equipment  is  to  be  operated  by  direct- 
current  motors  which  will  be  supplied  with  energy  from 
three  300-kw  synchronous  motor-generator  sets,  each  com- 
posed of  a  430-kva,  2300-volt  synchronous  motor,  a  300-kw, 
275-volt  compound-wound  direct-current  generator  and  a 
7.5-kw,  125-volt  direct-connected  exciter.  These  units  can 
also  furnish  approximately  700  wattless  kva  and  will  be 
made  use  of  to  bring  the  power-factor  nearly  to  unity. 


ELECTRICITY     IN     THE      MOTION-PICTURE 
INDUSTRY. 


In  the  motion-picture  industry,  which  has  now  assumed 
large  proportions,  electricity  plays  a  prominent  part.  Wher- 
ever a  supply  circuit  is  available  electric  arcs  are  almost 
invariablv  the  source  of  illumination  in  the  projectors  used 
in  motion-picture  theaters.  It  is  customary  to  employ  hand- 
regulated  arc  lamps  for  this  purpose,  the  beam  of  light  be- 
ing projected  through  a  small  aperture  before  wdiich  the 
strip  of  film  containing  the  photographic  pictures  is  drawn 
at  a  rapid  rate.  A  rapidly  revolving  interrupter  and  a  mag- 
nifying lens  are  also  essential  features  of  the  machine.  The 
film  reels  are  usually  operated  by  hand,  although  motion- 
picture  machines  operated  by  electric  motors  are  coming 
into  greater  use  following  a  recent  modification  of  the  Un- 
derwriters' requirements.  As  the  celluloid  films  are  very 
inflammable,  every  precaution  is  taken  to  make  the  moving- 
picture  machine  and  jts  surroundings  fireproof. 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


421 


Motion-picture  theaters  are  frequently  liberal  users  of 
electricity  for  spectacular  exterior  lighting  and  are  usually 
ventilated  by  electric  fans.  Thus  these  modern  purveyors 
of  entertainment  at  popular  prices  require  a  considerable 
amount  of  electrical  energy  and  electrical  apparatus.  The 
individual  installation  is  not  of  large  size  as  a  rule,  but, 
as  there  are  tens  of  thousands  of  these  small  theaters  scat- 
tered over  the  country,  the  aggregate  demand  is  large. 

The  energy,  vigor  and  enthusiasm  of  this  comparatively 
recent  industry  was  shown  at  the  second  annual  convention 
of  the  Motion  Picture  Exhibitors'  League  of  America, 
which  was  held  at  the  Hotel  LaSalle  in  Chicago  last  week. 
This  organization  is  formed  of  proprietors  and  operators  of 
motion-picture  theaters,  manufacturers  and  dealers  not  be- 
ing eligible  to  membership.  It  has  a  large  number  of  mem- 
bers, there  being  360  in  the  Chicago  branch  alone.  The  or- 
ganization aims  to  promote  and  conserve  the  interests  of 
the  "photo-play"  theaters.  A  number  of  manufacturers 
made  exhibits  in  the  hotel  during  the  convention,  and  sev- 
eral of  these  were  of  electrical  interest. 

One  room  was  occupied  b)'  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, which  had  on  exhibition  a  lens  lamp  (used  principally 
for  spotlight  effects),  various  types  of  electric  fans,  an 
ozonator,  a  long-burning  inclosed  flame-arc  lamp,  a  recti- 
fier panel  and  other  forms  of  electrical  apparatus  for 
theaters. 

The  H.  M.  Hirschberg  Company  of  New  York  exhibited 
the  Siemens  1912  model  flaming-arc  lamp,  callmg  particu- 
lar attention  to  the  new  Thompson  safety  cut-out  hangers, 
used  both  for  arc  lamps  and  large  tungsten  units  and  clus- 
ters. 

The  Charles  L.  Kiewert  Company  of  New  York  made  a 
display  of  carbons  for  use  in  motion-picture  machines. 

The  Saluform  Products  Company  of  Chicago  showed  a 
new  attachment  for  electric  fans,  consisting  of  an  annular 
ring  with  an  upper  compartment  for  storing  a  liquid  called 
"saluform."  This  attachment,  which  is  fastened  to  the  fan 
guard,  has  an  opening  across  which  are  arranged  vertical 
rows  of  diffusing  tubes  of  a  special  patented  composition. 
The  tops  .of  these  tubes  are  inserted  in  the  saluform  reser- 
voir and  the  liquid  fed  into  them  by  gravity.  The  tubes  are 
porous  and  the  liquid  evaporates  through  them,  the  vapor 
thus  being  diffused  through  the  atmosphere  by  the  action 
of  the  air  blast.  Fans  of  an  oscillating  type  are  used.  In 
operation  the  device  is  said  to  cool  and  purify  the  air,  pro- 
during  a  refreshing  element  which  is  described  as  "forest- 
ized  air." 

The  Pyrene  Company  of  Illinois  displayed  the  Pyrene  fire 
extinguisher.  A  feature  of  its  exhibit  was  a  glass  tank 
containing  a  quantity  of  the  Pyrene  liquid.  In  this  liquid, 
which  is  said  to  be  a  non-conductor  of  electricity,  a  small 
electric  motor  partially  submerged  was  in  operation.  A 
number  of  incandescent  lamps  were  burning  with  their 
sockets  immersed  in  the  liquid. 

Several  motion-picture  machines  were  exhibited,  that  of 
the  Nicholas  Power  Company  of  New  York,  known  as  the 
"cameragraph,"  having  an  arc  lamp  capable  of  taking  as 
much  as  100  amp  and  having  fourteen  adjustments  for  hand 
regulation.     This  machine  is  adapted  for  motor  drive. 


SOCKET     AND    RECEPTACLE    FOR    LARGE-BASE 
LAMPS. 


The  brass  shell  and  socket  shown  in  Fig.  i,  manufactured 
by  Pass  &  Seymour,  Inc.,  Solvay,  N.  Y.,  has  a  }i-in.  cap 
made  for  large-base  500-watt  incandescent  lamps,  although 
the  same  type  of  socket  is  manufactured  with  a  yi-in.  cap 
as  well.  The  cap  and  shell  are  fitted  with  a  fine  thread  and 
the  shade  holder  is  rigidly  and  permanently  attached  to  the 
shell.  By  means  of  a  set  screw  on  the  cap  the  lower  shell 
is  kept  from  backing  out  of  place  when  once  in  position. 
The  regulation  center-spring  contact  is  made  of  phosphor 


bronze,  and  the  fiber  lining  of  the  shell  is  readily  removable 
in  case  refinishing  is  desirable  at  any  time.  The  socket  may 
be  obtained  with  the  firm's  "Shurlok"  attachment.  The 
outlet  box  and  receptacle  shown  in  Fig.  2  is  also  designed 
for  use  with  large-base  500-watt  lamps  and  is  made  complete 
with  the  shade  holder  rigidly  attached.  The  receptacle  is 
located  well  down  into  the  box.  and  contact  terminals  are 


Figs.   1   and  2 — Socket   and    Receptacle   for   Large- Base   Lamps. 

arranged  so  that  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  loop  the  conductor 
up  without  cutting  the  wire,  regardless  of  whether  single 
or  twin  conductors  are  used. 


FREQUENCY   METERS. 


By  the  use  of  frequency  meters  irregularities  in  the  oper- 
ation of  engine  or  waterwheel  governors  may  be  readily  de- 
tected and  immediately  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  oper- 
ator so  that  adjustments  can  be  made.  On  circuits  that 
supply  energy  to  induction  motors  driving  textile-mill  and 
other  machinery  requiring  constant  speed,  constant  fre- 
quency is  essential,  and  the  installation  of  a  frequency 
meter  will  constantly  indicate  the  speed  being  maintained. 
In  the  central  station  supplying  energy  for  lighting  and 
motor  service  the  maintenance  of  normal  frequency  is 
equally  important. 

The  frequency  meter  here  illustrated  shows  the  fre- 
quency by  means  of  a  continuous  scale  and  pointer,  whereas 
meters  that  operate  by  means  of  resonance  reeds  or  simi- 


Fig.    1  —  Frequency    Meter. 

lar  devices  have  only   a   definite  number   of  possible   indi- 
cations and  intermediate  points  are  entirely  lacking. 

The  meter  consists  of  two  induction  voltmeter  elements 
A  and  B  (Fig.  3),  acting  on  a  disk  G  and  tending  to  move 
the  disk  (and  the  pointer  shaft)  in  opposite  directions.  One 
of  the  elements  is  in  series  with  a  resistor  H,  and  the  other 
in  series  with  a  reactor  /,  so  that  any  change  in  the  fre- 


422 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  8. 


quency  tends  to  change  the  relative  strength  of  the  two 
magnets  and  cause  rotation.  The  disk  is  so  shaped  that  as 
it  moves  the  amount  of  its  metal  under  the  stronger  magnet 
becomes  less  than  that  under  the  weaker  magnet,  so  that 
with  every  relation  between  the  two  magnet  strengths  there 
is  some  point  where  the  torques  produced  by  the  two  mag- 
nets balance  and  the  pointer  comes  to  rest.     Magnet  A  tends 


the  air-gap  of  B  depends  on  the  position  of  the  disk.  When 
magnet  B  becomes  relatively  stronger  than  A,  owing  to  low 
frequency,  the  disk  turns  toward  the  left  and  the  amount  of 
metal  in  the  air-gap  of  B,  and  consequently  the  torque  of 
B,  gradually  decrease  until  the  torques  of  the  two  magnets 
balance,  whereupon  the  disk  stops.  When  magnet  B  be- 
comes relatively  weaker  than  A,  owing  to  high  frequency, 
the  disk  turns  toward  the  right,  and  the  amount  of  metal 
in  the  air-gap  of  B,  and  consequently  the  torque  of  B,  grad- 
ually increase  until  the  torques  of  the  two  magnets  balance, 
when  the  disk  stops.  For  every  frequency  there  is  a  definite, 
point  at  which  the  disk  comes  to  rest. 

As  actually  constructed,  the  edges  of  the  disk  are  not 
true  circular  arcs.  The  shape  is  determined  experimentally, 
so  that  a  uniform  scale  will  result. 

Any  change  in  voltage  applied  to  the  two  voltmeter  ele- 
ments changes  the  current  in  both  of  them  in  the  same  pro- 
portion, so  that  their  relative  torques  are  not  changed.  The 
meters  are,  therefore,  unaffected  by  voltage  changes  within 
wide  limits. 

The  moving  element  consists  of  the  meter  disk,  the 
pointer,  a  counterweight  and  the  shaft.  This  element  is  so 
balanced  that  the  pointer  will  remain  in  any  position  when 
no  current  is  on  the  windings.  No  control  spring  is  used, 
as  all  the  forces  controlling  the  movement  of  the  pointer 
are  electromagnetic,  which  results  in  permanent  calibration. 

The  meters  are  built  in  7-in.  and  9-in.  round  pattern  and 
in  vertical  edgewise  and  portable  types  by  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company. 


Fig.    2 — Details    of    IMeter. 


to  turn  the  disk  in  clockwise  direction  and  magnet  B  in  the 
opposite  direction. 

The  torque  of  each  magnet  is  proportional  to  the  square 
of  the  current  in  the  coil  and  to  the  frequency.  At  normal 
frequency  the  torques  balance  when  the  disk  is  in  the  mid- 
dle position.  If  the  frequency  increases  the  current  in  coil 
A.  which  is  in  series  with  the  resistor,  remains  unchanged 
and  its  torque  increases  because  of  the  higher  frequency ; 
the  current  in  coil  B,  which  is  in  series  with  the  reactor, 
diminishes  and  its  torque  diminishes  correspondingly.  The 
disk,  therefore,  turns  toward  the  right.  For  similar  rea- 
sons, if  the  frequencv  decreases,  the  disk  turns  toward  the 
left. 

If  the  periphery  of  the  disk  were  a  true  circle,  any 
change  in  frequency  which  would  cause  the  torques  of  the 
two  magnets  to  be  unequal  would  produce  continuous  rota- 
tion in  one  or  the  other  direction.     The  disk  is.  therefore. 


SINGLE-UNIT    LIGHTING  FIXTURE. 


f  Fig.    3 — Diagram    of    Meter    Connections. 

made  of  a  special  shape.  The  left-hand  edge  of  the  disk, 
which  moves  under  magnet  A,  is  practically  the  arc  of  a 
circle,  having  its  center  at  the  shaft.  The  right-hand  edge, 
which  moves  under  magnet  B,  is  practically  the  arc  of  a 
circle  with  its  center  slightly  above  the  shaft.  With  this 
arrangement  the  amount  of  metal  in  the  air-gap  of  A  is 
always  practically  the  same,  while  the  amount  of  metal  in 


For  use  in  shop  lighting  a  single  unit  is  considered  by 
many  to  be  more  suitable  than  multiple  units,  especially  over 
benches,  lathes,  tools,  etc.,  as  a  more  uniform  lighting  ef- 
fect is  secured.  The  Delta-Star  Electric  Company,  of  Chi- 
cago, has  developed  a  single  unit  consisting  of  a  porcelain 
enameled  steel  shade,  complete  with  keyless  socket  and 
stranded  rubber-covered  wires  ready  for  connection  to  the 
ceiling  wires.     The  fixtures  are  so  designed  as  to  be  con- 


Shop-Ligllting    Unit. 

centrating  or  distributing,  depending  upon  the  rating  of  the 
lamp  used.  With  a  40-watt  lamp  the  relation  of  the  fila-I 
ment  to  the  reflector  is  such  that  the  light  is  concentrated 
and  with  a  6o-watt  lamp  the  light  is  distributed.  In  design- 
ing the  reflector  slots  or  holes  in  the  steel  have  been 
avoided,  thus  eliminating  edges  from  which  the  enamel  will 
break  off,  exposing  the  steel  to  atmospheric  action,  acid,  etc. 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


423 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


SEASONABLE  weather  in  the  greater  part  of  the  agri- 
cultural districts  has  given  still  further  promise  of  ex- 
cellent harvests,  and  in  consequence  of  this  favorable 
outlook  a  high  degree  of  optimism  is  noticeable  in  com- 
mercial circles.  The  volume  of  business  in  the  many 
branches  of  the  electrical  industry  shows  large  gains  over 
that  recorded  at  this  time  last  year.  Many  of  the  local 
jobbers,  contractors  and  manufacturers  say,  however,  that 
while  they  have  no  fault  to  find  with  the  volume  of  orders, 
they  are  frequently  unable  to  get  their  prices  owing  to  exist- 
ence of  keen  competition  and  that  profits  are  rather  meager 
on  this  account.  Many  look  for  higher  prices  in  view  of  the 
ascending  trend  of  the  copper  market.  During  the  week 
W.  S.  Barstow  &  Company  placed  orders  for  additional 
equipment  for  several  of  the  central  stations  designed  by 
them  and  the  Alabama  Interstate  Power  Company  awarded 
a  contract  for  construction  of  a  dam  on  the  Coosa  River, 
near  Birmingham,  where  it  will  shortly  begin  construction 
of  its  first  development  of  60,000  hp.  Specifications  for  the 
equipment  will  be  issued  with  a  short  time.  Dividend  dis- 
bursements on  public-utility  stocks  next  month  are  placed 
at  $1,425,997  and  interest  payments  on  public-utility  bonds 
are  placed  at  $5,727,535-  The  General  Electric  Company 
has  awarded  contracts  for  structural  material  for  extensions 
to  its  plant  at  Erie,  Pa. 


Personnel  and  New  Acquisitions  of  the  Middle  West  Util- 
ities Company. — The  latest  of  the  Insull  companies — that  is, 
the  Middle  West  Utilities  Company  of  Chicago — was  formed 
so  quietly  that  its  organization  and  scope  may  not  be  gen- 
erally known,  although  several  references  to  it  have  ap- 
peared in  the  Electrical  World  (May  4,  1912,  et  seq.)  and 
elsewhere.  The  company  was  incorporated  under  the  laws 
of  Delaware  in  April,  1912,  and  its  principal  office  is  in  the 
Merchants'  Loan  &  Trust  Building,  Chicago.  The  new  com- 
pany is  capitalized  for  $10,000,000,  divided  into  $4,000,000 
of  6  per  cent  preferred  stock  and  $6,000,000  of  common 
stock.  Its  purpose  is  to  finance  and  reorganize  public 
utilities,  mainly  in  the  Middle  West.  Samuel  Insull  is  presi- 
dent of  the  company.  He  is  also  president  of  the  Common- 
wealth Edison  Company  of  Chicago,  the  Public  Service 
Company  of  Northern  Illinois  and  the  Illinois  Northern 
Utilities  Company,  as  well  as  chairman  of  the  trustees  of 
the  Chicago  Elevated  Railways.  A  large  portion  of  the  cash 
capital  of  the  company  was  subscribed  by  his  English 
friends,  the  remainder  being  privately  subscribed  in  Chicago. 
Public  subscriptions  to  the  stock  were  not  solicited,  Mr. 
Insull's  friends  at  home  and  abroad  having  sufficient  con- 
fidence in  his  administrative  ability  to  subscribe  all  the 
necessary  funds  with  eagerness.  It  is  understood  that  he 
controls  this  company  personally  and  his  future  operations 
will  be  conducted  through  it  as  a  medium.  The  list  of 
officers  is  as  follows:  President,  Samuel  Insull;  vice- 
presidents,  Martin  J.  Insull,  John  F.  Gilchrist  and  Frank  J. 
Baker;  treasurer,  R.  W.  Waite:  secretary,  E.  J.  Doyle. 
Among  the  directors  are  Samuel  Insull,  Charles  A.  Munroe, 
William  A.  Fox,  Martin  J.  Insull,  Frank  J.  Baker,  John  H. 
Gulick,  Frank  T.  Hulswit,  Edward  J.  Doyle,  Frederick 
Sargent,  Louis  A.  Ferguson,  John  F.  Gilchrist  and  Edward 
P.  Russell.  The  executive  committee  consists  of  Messrs. 
Samuel  Insull,  E.  P.  Russell,  Martin  J.  Insull.  Munroe, 
Baker,  Fox  and  Gulick.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  nearly 
every  one  of  the  directors  has  been  closely  associated  with 
Samuel  Insull  in  the  conduct  of  public-utility  enterprises. 
Mr.  Hulswit  is  president  of  the  United  Light  &  Railways 
Company  of  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.;  Mr.  Sargent  is  of  Sargent 
&  Lundy,  engineers,  of  Chicago,  and  Mr.  Russell  is  of  the 
firm  of  Russell,  Brewster  &  Company,  the  well-known  finan- 
cial house  of  Chicago.  All  the  other  directors  named  ex- 
cept Martin  J.  Insull,  a  brother  of  Samuel  Insull  and  until 
recently  general  manager  of  the  United  Gas  &  Electric 
Company  of  New  Albany,  Ind.,  are  connected  directly  with 
the  Commonwealth,  Public  Service  or  Illinois  Northern 
companies.     The  Middle  West  company  has  already  made 


extensive  acquisitions  of  properties  in  Illinois,  Indiana  and 
Kentucky.  It  purchased  last  week  the  Freeport  Railway 
&  Light  Company  of  Freeport,  111.  This  company,  which 
is  itself  a  consolidation  of  older  companies,  does  both 
the  electric  service  and  street  railway  business  of  Free- 
port,  a  city  of  18,000  inhabitants  in  the  northwestern 
part  of  the  State.  A.  J.  Goddard  is  president  and  man- 
ager. The  company  owns  two  steam  stations  and  a  hydro- 
electric development.  It  has  the  city  lighting  contract. 
Two  dams  on  the  Pecatonica  River  are  included  in  the 
transfer.  The  property  of  the  company  will  be  put  in  first- 
class  condition  by  the  new  owners.  Negotiations  have 
also  been  completed  by  which  the  Middle  West  Utilities 
Companj'  has  purchased  the  Tulsa  Corporation  of  Tulsa, 
Okla.  This  company  supplies  the  electrical  energy  sold  in 
the  city  of  Tulsa,  giving  twenty-four-hour  electric  service 
and  doing  the  city  street  lighting  under  contract.  Tulsa 
had  18,182  inhabitants  in  1910,  and  its  electric  service  com- 
pany is  said  to  be  the  third  largest  in  the  State.  Paul  M. 
Gallaway  is  secretary  and  manager  of  the  Tulsa  company. 
The  Middle  West  Company  has  announced  a  first  quarterly 
dividend  of  i^  per  cent  on  the  preferred  stock  for  the 
period  between  May  15  and  Aug.  15,  1912.  The  dividend 
will  be  paid  on  Sept.  i  to  shareholders  of  record  at  5:30 
p.m.  on  Aug.   15. 

Barstow  Company  Awards  Station  Equipment  Contracts. 
— W.  S.  Barstow  &  Company,  Inc.,  50  Pine  Street,  New 
York,  consulting  engineers,  who  also  manage  and  finance 
public  utilities,  and  who  recently  organized  the  General 
Gas  &  Electric  Company  under  the  laws  of  Maine,  as  stated 
in  these  columns  July  6,  to  take  over  a  number  of  gas,  elec- 
tric-lighting and  traction  companies  in  Vermont  and  Ohio, 
have  placed  orders  for  additional  equipment  to  be  installed 
in  the  1500-kw  power  station  of  the  Northwestern  Ohio 
Railway  &  Power  Company  at  Port  Clinton,  Ohio,  on  Lake 
Erie.  This  company,  as  noted  previously,  is  controlled  and 
managed  by  the  General  Gas  &  Electric  Company  through 
the  Barstow  organization  and  has  purchased  the  Toledo, 
Port  Clinton  &  Lakeside  Railroad.  The  Port  Clinton  power 
house  has  been  enlarged  by  the  Barstow  engineers  and 
the  new  apparatus  to  be  installed  in  it  for  which  orders  have 
been  placed  includes  a  1700-kva  General  Electric  turbine 
unit,  a  Le  Blanc  condenser,  two  300-hp  Stirling  boilers  and 
Jones  auto-feed  stokers.  The  same  engineers  are  now 
completing'an  enlargement  of  the  electric  plant  of  the  Ex- 
celsior Springs  (Mo.)  Water,  Gas  &  Electric  Company.  In 
addition  to  the  present  equipment  the  enlarged  station 
building  will  contain  a  325-kw  .Mlis-Chalmers-Bullock  en- 
gine-driven generating  set,  three  150-hp  Kewanee  boilers  and 
Deane  feed  pumps. 

New  Directors  for  Telluride  Power  Company. — At  a  meet- 
ing of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Telluride  Power  Com- 
pany for  reorganization  this  week  several  of  the  directors 
and  officers  of  the  company  were  replaced  by  representatives 
of  the  syndicate  which  recently  purchased  the  property, 
as  was  noted  in  these  columns  Aug.  3.  The  purchase  was 
made  in  the  interest  of  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Com- 
pany. Those  who  resigned  from  the  board  were:  L.  L. 
Nunn,  general  manager;  A.  T.  Perry,  treasurer;  O.  M.  Staf- 
ford, vice-president;  F.  J.  Wade,  Ralph  T.  King,  D.  Leuty 
and  Andrew  Squire.  The  new  directors  are  J.  R.  Nutt, 
Bascom  Little,  C.  L.  Bradley,  W.  S.  Hayden  and  W.  H. 
Baldwin,  of  Cleveland,  and  J.  D.  Mortimer,  of  Milwaukee, 
vice-president  of  the  North  American  Company.  Mr.  Nutt 
was  elected  president;  P.  B.  Sawyer,  of  Cleveland,  vice- 
president,  and  George  Lomnitz,  of  Cleveland,  treasurer. 

Illinois  Traction  System  Acquiring  Lighting  Properties. 
— The  Illinois  Traction  System,  with  executive  offices  in 
Peoria,  has  purchased  the  Chenoa  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Plant,  of  Chenoa,  111.,  for  a  consideration  said  to  be 
$35,000.  The  properties  at  El  Paso  and  Gridley,  111.,  have 
also  been  purchased  by  the  Illinois  Traction  System  re- 
cently. All  three  of  these  local  systems  will  be  operated 
by  means  of  a  transmission  line  from  the  Bloomington 
plant  of  the  traction  system. 


424 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  8. 


Good  Prospects  for  Insulated- Wire  Trade. — "We  are 
very  optimistic,"  said  the  head  of  one  of  the  prominent 
insulated-wire  companies  this  week  to  a  representative  of 
the  Electrical  World,  "over  the  outlook  in  our  line  of  busi- 
ness for  the  rest  of  the  year.  There  are  a  number  of  un- 
usually favorable  conditions  in  the  trade  at  present  upon 
which  we  base  our  belief.  Demand  for  insulated  wire  is 
very  good  just  now,  and  as  many  of  the  large  users  have 
been  buying  on  a  hand-to-mouth  policy  during  the  past 
year  or  so  their  stocks  are  low  and  a  considerable  increase 
in  the  volume  of  inquiries  and  orders  is  expected  before 
long.  While  the  volume  of  business  is  large  the  existence 
of  strong  competition  is  curtailing  profits  to  an  appreciable 
degree.  We  find  that  competitors  frequently  cut  prices 
from  5  to  7  per  cent  on  the  larger  orders.  In  spite  of  this, 
our  sales  each  month  this  year  have  shown  an  increase 
over  the  corresponding  month  of  iQii,  and  sales  last  month 
went  about  i8  per  cent  ahead  of  those  in  July  a  year  ago. 
It  is  very  likely  that  prices  for  rubber-covered  wire  will  be 
higher  during  the  remainder  of  the  year.  This  is  on 
account  of  the  advancing  tendency  of  both  the  rubber  and 
the  copper  markets,  a  trend  which  in  our  opinion  is  based 
upon  actual  demand  for  these  products.  These  advances  in 
price  are  undoubtedly  a  natural  outcome  of  the  new  re- 
quirements of  the  National  Board  of  Underwriters  that 
went  into  efTect  on  Jan.  I.  It  is  a  little  too  early  for  the 
reputable  manufacturers  of  rubber-covered  wire  to  feel 
the  beneficial  effects  that  will  be  derived  from  the  new 
specifications,  as  in  many  instances  dealers  and  contractors 
have  been  taking  advantage  of  the  period  between  Jan.  i 
and  July  I  in  which  they  were  at  liberty  under  the  new 
rules  to  dispose  of  wire  on  hand  or  under  contract  that 
does  not  meet  the  rigid  tests  of  the  board.  The  use  of 
inferior  coverings,  selling  naturally  at  low  figures,  has 
caused  a  serious  inroad  upon  the  business  of  the  reputable 
manufacturers  in  the  past.  •  When  users  of  insulated  wire 
begin  to  replenish  their  stocks,  as  they  undoubtedly  will 
before  long,  the  contracts  will  be  based  entirely  upon  the 
new  specifications,  and  the  business  of  the  high-grade  com- 
panies will  expand  still  further." 

A.  B.  Leach  Elected  President  of  Columbia  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric (Ohio). — Reorganization  of  the  boards  of  directors  of 
the  Columbia  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  of  Cincinnati,  and 
its  subsidiary,  the  Union  Gas  &  Electric  Company, 
of  the  same  city,  which  was  forecast  in  these  col- 
umns Aug.  10,  was  effected  Aug.  14.  A.  B.  Leach, 
P.  G.  Gossler  and  George  P.  Tobey.  of  A.  B.  Leach 
&  Company,  the  firm  that  headed  the  syndicate  which 
recently  purchased  these  properties,  as  noted  in  the 
Electrical  World.  July  20;  Henry  Seligman,  Frederick 
Strauss  and  William  S.  Cox,  of  J.  &  W.  Seligman  &  Com- 
pany, another  member  of  the  purchasing  syndicate,  and 
W.  Y.  Cartwright,  general  manager  of  the  Hope  Natural 
Gas  Company,  of  Clarksburg,  W.  Va.,  were  elected  directors 
of  the  Columbia  company  to  succeed  A.  S.  White,  R.  W. 
White,  John  Omwake,  C.  H.  Davis.  F.  R.  Williams,  N.  S. 
Keith  and  Norman  G.  Kenan,  of  Cincinnati,  and  Caleb  E. 
G'owan,  of  Cleveland.  The  other  directors  were  retained. 
The  directors  organized  with  P.  G.  Gossler  as  chairman  of 
the  board;  A.  B.  Leach,  president;  James  C.  Ernst.  F.  B. 
Enslow  and  W.  Y.  Cartwright,  vice-presidents,  and  W.  T. 
Hunter,  secretary  and  treasurer.  Mr.  Cartwright  will  be 
the  expert  on  natural-gas  matters  and  will  give  special 
attention  to  that  part  of  the  business.  The  new  board  of 
the  LTnion  Gas  &  Electric  Company  consists  of  P.  G.  Gossler, 
William  S.  Cox.  W.  Y.  Cartwright,  J.  T.  Carew,  F.  B. 
Enslow,  James  C.  Ernst,  J.  W.  Gill,  August  Herrman.  W.  T. 
Hunter,  J.  M.  Hutton,  A.  B.  Leach,  M.  E.  Moch,  Theodore 
Clauss,  Louis  J.  Hauck  and  George  W.  Crawford.  A.  B. 
Leach  was  elected  president,  J.  C.  Ernst  and  W.  Y.  Cart- 
wright vice-presidents.  Theodore  Clauss  secretary  and  W.  T. 
Hunter  treasurer  of  the  Union  company. 

Electric  Bond  &  Share  in  New  Texas  Company. — Follow- 
ing its  acquisition  of  several  of  the  public-utility  companies 
in  and  near  Waco,  Tex.,  which  it  has  grouped  under  the 
name  of  the  Texas  Power  &  Light  Company,  as  noted  in 
these  columns  May  18,  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company 
has  now  obtained  an  interest  in  the  electric-lighting  com- 
pany at  Wichita  Falls,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State.  The 
Wichita  Falls  Water  &  Light  Company,  which  formerly 
operated  the  public  utilities  in  Wichita  Falls,  has  been  dis- 


solved, and  the  water  and  electric  branches  of  the  business 
have  been  segregated  and  transferred  to  two  separate  com- 
panies that  have  just  been  formed.  One  of  these,  the 
Wichita  Falls  Electric  Company,  which  has  been  incorpo- 
rated with  a  capitalization  of  $700,000,  has  been  formed 
in  the  interest  of  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company.  The 
other  company,  the  Wichita  Falls  Water  Company,  has  a 
capital  stock  of  $400,000  and  will  carry  on  the  water  business 
of  the   former  company. 

A  New  Firm  of  Specialty  Makers. — Edward  Schwartz, 
until  recentl}'  general  superintendent  of  the  Pelouze  Man- 
ufacturing Company  of  Chicago,  has  resigned  from  that 
company  and  has  obtained  a  half  interest  in  the  recently 
organized  firm  of  William  E.  Slaughter  &  Company,  which 
will  soon  be  incorporated  under  that  name.  Mr.  Schwartz 
is  an  experienced  designer  and  inventor  of  electrical  spe- 
cialties, and  the  new  concern,  which  will  have  its  head- 
quarters at  1712  South  Michigan  Avenue,  Chicago,  will  en- 
gage in  the  manufacture  of  various  electrical  appliances. 
Mr.  Schwartz  is  a  native  of  Austria  and  early  in  life  became 
known  as  an  expert  tool  maker.  For  several  years  he  was 
connected  with  the  Western  Electric  Company  and  other 
telephone  manufacturing  companies.  A  number  of  pat- 
ents for  his  inventions  have  been  granted  to  him. 

Tennessee  Railway,  Light  &  Power's  Initial  Dividend. — 
.■\n  initial  quarterly  dividend  of  iVl  per  cent  on  its  $10,250,000 
preferred  stock  has  been  declared  by  the  Tennessee  Railway, 
Light  &  Power  Company,  which  was  formed  this  spring  to 
construct  and  operate  hydroelectric  plants  in  Tennessee,  as 
was  mentioned  in  these  columns  April  13,  1912.  The  com- 
pany controls  the  Tennessee  Power  Company,  the  Nash- 
ville Railway  &  Light  Company  and  the  Chattanooga  Rail- 
way &  Light  Company.  Details  of  its  hydroelectric  devel- 
opments on  the  Ocoee  River,  in  Tennessee,  were  given  in  the 
Electrical  World  July  27.  page  201.  The  dividend  is  payable 
Sept.  3,  1912,  on  stock  of  record  Aug.  20. 

Electrical  Apparatus  for  Panama  Canal  Locks. — Con- 
tracts have  been  awarded  to  the  General  Electric  Company 
for  seventy-two  power  transformers,  thirty-nine  lighting 
transformers  and  thirty-six  banks  of  oil  switches  to  be  in- 
stalled in  the  transformer  rooms  within  the  lock  walls  of 
the  Panama  Canal.  Miscellaneous  electrical  equipment,  in- 
cluding ground  plate,  copper  bars,  tape,  cable,  bells  and 
other  accessories,  will  be  purchased  from  the  Standard 
LTnderground  Cable  Company  of  Pittsburgh,  the  G.  &  W. 
Electric  Specialty  Company  of  Chicago,  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  and  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company. 

New  Public  Utility  Management  Company  Formed. — The 
Civic  Service  Corporation,  with  offices  at  132  South  Fifteenth 
Street,  Philadelphia,  has  been  incorporated  to  take  over  and 
continue  the  public-utility  and  general  engineering  business 
conducted  individually  in  the  past  by  T.  Wilson  Battin  and 
A.  L.  Osgood.  The  latter  is  general  manager  of  the  new 
concern,  G.  H.  Stetson  is  president,  T.  W.  Battin  is  vice- 
president  and  secretary,  and  J.  L.  Patton  is  treasurer.  Man- 
agement of  gas,  water,  electric  lighting,  heating  and  traction 
systems,  examinations  of  public-utility  properties  and  finan- 
cing of  extensions  and  improvements  will  be  the  functions 
of  the   new   concern. 

McCrum-Howell  Reorganization  Plan. — .Announcement  of 
a  plan  for  reorganization  of  the  McCrum-Howell  Company, 
the  vacuum-cleaner,  radiator,  boiler  and  enameled-ware 
concern  for  which  receivers  were  appointed  early  this  year, 
as  noted  in  these  columns  March  23,  is  expected  shortly.  A 
stockholder  of  the  company  said  this  week  that  sufficient 
assets  have  been  collected  to  form  a  basis  for  placing  the 
company  in  a  satisfactory  condition.  Those  who  were 
responsible  for  placing  the  company  in  it?  present  condition 
will  have  no  voice  in  the  new  management,  he  added. 

Public  Utility  Merger  in  Northern  Indiana. — .According- 
to  newspaper  reports,  the  Northern  Indiana  Utilities  Com- 
pany has  been  formed  by  the  Insull  interests  to  take  over 
various  electric-service  properties  in  cities  and  villages  in 
northern  Indiana.  It  is  reported  that  central-station  plants 
have  been  acquired  in  Monticello,  Wolcott,  Earl  Park, 
Fowler  and  Kentland,  Ind.  The  capitalization  of  the  new 
company  is  said  to  be  $1,075,000.  If  the  report  is  correct,  it 
is  probable  that  the  new  company  is  a  subsidiary  organiza- 
tion of  the   Middle  West  Utilities  Company. 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


425 


Long  Island  (N.  Y.)  Public  Utility  Changes.— The  Public 
Service  Commission  of  the  Second  New  York  District  has 
authorized  the  Suffolk  Light.  Heat  &  Power  Company  to 
purchase  from  the  Riverhead  Electric  Light  Company  that 
part  of  its  franchise  and  system  which  it  now  owns  and 
operates  in  the  town  of  Southampton,  Suffolk  County,  and 
to  e.xercise  a  franchise  granted  to  the  Riverhead  company. 
The  Suffolk  company  is  authorized  to  execute  a  mortgage 
upon  its  entire  property  to  secure  the  payment  of  its 
refunding  and  extension  5  per  cent  twenty-five-year  gold 
bonds  of  the  par  value  of  $300,000.  The  company  is  author- 
ized to  issue  at  this  time  bonds  to  the  par  value  of  $47,000, 
to  be  sold  at  not  less  than  85.  Of  the  proceeds  of  these 
bonds,  $23,000  is  to  be  used  to  pay  for  the  property  of  the 
Riverhead  company  in  Southampton  and  $17,950  for  exten- 
sions and  improvements  to  its  plant  and  distributing  system. 
In  the  purchase  of  the  Riverhead  property  the  commission 
finds  the  estimated  reproduction  cost  of  the  property  to  be 
$15,000  and  that  the  company  is  reasonably  entitled  to 
capitalization  to  the  amount  of  $2,000  on  account  of  the 
business  now  secured  in  that  locality.  The  remaining  $S,ooo 
must  be  wiped  out  of  the  capital  account  in  ten  years  by 
the  payment  of  $500  annually  out  of  earnings. 

orooklyn  Edison  to  Acquire  Amsterdam  Electric  Light, 
Heat  &  Power  Company. — The  Edison  Electric  Illuminating 
Company  of  Brooklyn  has  applied  to  the  Public  Service 
Commission  for  the  First  New  York  District  for  authority 
to  purchase  122  shares  of  the  common  stock  of  the  Amster- 
dam Electric  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company,  of  a  par  value 
of  $12,200.  The  capital  stock  of  the  Amsterdam  com- 
pany is  $500,000,  and  $487,800  of  this  is  already  owned  by 
the  Brooklyn  Edison  company.  The  commission  will  hold 
a  hearing  on  the  matter  on  Sept.  16. 

Ohio  Telephone  Companies  Merged. — Negotiations  have 
been  closed  by  which  the  Fremont  Home  Telephone  Com- 
pany of  r'remont,  Ohio,  will  take  over  the  plant  of  the 
Central  Union  Telephone  Company  at  that  place.  While 
the  two  local  exchanges  will  be  merged,  the  Bell  coinpany 
will  retain  the  long-distance  business.  The  Home  Tele- 
phone Company  will  ask  for  permission  to  increase  its  cap- 
ital stock  from  $150,000  to  $250,000  and  will  submit  a  new 
schedule  of  rates  for  the  approval  of  the  Ohio  Public  Serv- 
ice Commission. 

Vote  to  Consolidate  Washington  (D.  C.)  Utilities. — Stock- 
holders of  the  Washington  ( D.  C.)  Railway  &  Electric 
Company  this  week  approved  the  plan  for  consolidating  the 
Anacostia  &  Potomac  River  Railroad  Company,  the  Bright- 
wood  Railway  Company,  and  the  Washington,  Woodside  & 
Forest  Glen  Railway  &  Power  Company  with  the  Washing- 
ton Railway  &  Electric  Company,  to  which  reference  was 
made  in  these  columns  June  20.  The  change  is  in  the  legal 
form  of  holding  the  properties. 

Kansas  City  Railway  &  Light  Protective   Committee. — ,\ 

protective  committee  consisting  of  John  B.  Dennis,  of  Blair 
&  Company;  S.  Y.  Fuller,  of  Kissell,  Kinnicutt  &  Company; 
J.  J.  Storrow,  of  Lee,  Higginson  &  Company,  and  Paul  M. 
Warburg,  of  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Company,  has  been  formed  for 
the  holders  of  the  two  series  of  6  per  cent  collateral-trust 
notes  of  the  Kansas  City  Railway  &  Light  Company,  due 
Sept.  I,  1912. 

Cleveland  Telephone  Increase  Approved. — The  Ohio  Pub- 
lic Service  Commission  has  approved  an  application  of  the 
Cleveland  Telephone  Cotnpany  to  issue  $900,000  additional 
capital  stock,  to  be  sold  at  not  less  than  par.  The  author- 
ized capital  stock  of  the  company  is  $4,000,000,  and  this  in- 
crease will  bring  the  outstanding  amount  up  to  that  figure. 

Receiver   for    Pennsylvania    Telephone    Company. — S.    R. 

Caldwell,  of  West  Chester,  Pa.,  has  been  appointed  tempo- 
rarj'  receiver  for  the  United  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, of  Philadelphia.  This  company  is  a  subsidiary  of  the 
American  Union  Telephone  Company,  of  Harrisburg. 

Pacific  Office  of  Byllesby  Company  Removed  to  Tacoma. 
— The  Pacific  Coast  headquarters  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Com- 
pany of  Chicago  has  been  removed  from  Portland,  Ore., 
to  Tacoma,  Wash. 

General  Electric  Improvements. — Contracts  for  300  tons 
of  structural  material  to  be  used  for  extension  to  its  plant 
at  Erie,  Pa.,  have  been  placed  by  the  General  Electric 
Company. 


REPORTS  OF  EARNINGS. 


PACIFIC    POWER    &    LIGHT    COMPANY,    PORTLAND,   ORE. 

The   earnings   statements   of   the   Pacific    Power  &   Light 

Company,  of  Portland,   Ore.,   for  the  months  of  July,   1912 

and  1911,  and  for  the  twelve  months  ended  July  31,  1912  and 

191 1,  compare  as  follows: 

July.                                                                                    1912.  1911. 

Gross   earnings $103,201  $93,336 

Operating  expenses  and  taxes 50,520  58,663 

Net     earnings $52,681  $34,673 

Total    interest 23,943  31,626 

Net  income  after  charges $28,738  $3,047 

Twelve   months  ended   July    31.                                              1912.  1911 

Gross    earnings $1,218,018  $1,164,906 

Operating  expenses  and  taxes 625,905  616,901 

Net     earnings $592,113  $548,005 

Total     interest 325,440  279,637 

Net   income   after   charges $266,673  $268,368 

Preferred    dividend    $118,125  65,625 

Second    preferred   dividend 30,000 

148,125 

Balance    $118,548  $202,743 


DAYTON    (OHIO)    POWER  &  LIGHT  COMPANY. 

The   income   statement   of   the   Dayton    (Ohio)  Power    & 

Light  Company  for  the  months  of  July,  1912  and  191 1,  and 
for  the  seven  months  ended  July  31,  1912  and  1911,  compare 
as  follows: 

Tulv,  1912.  1911. 

Gross' earnings    $49,004  $44,187 

Operating  expenses  (including  taxes)  25,718  26,975 

Net   earnings    $23,286  $17,212 

Interest    receivable    l,74o  .... 

Total    income    $25,031  $17,212 

Interest    on    bonds $14,993  $14,362 

Uncollectible   accounts 249  220 

Total   deductions    15,242  14,582 

Net    income    $9,789  $2,630 

Sevenmonthsended  July  31:  1912.  ,,,'„'iL 

Gross  earnings    ^^84.918  *"?'^!? 

Operating  expenses  (including  taxes)  198,885  ^^J^yy^^ 

Net  earnings    $186,033  *^''''^11 

Interest    receivable    16,754                        40 

Total    income    $202,787  $145,884 

Interest  on  bonds $115,918 

Uncollectible  accounts    1,971 

Total    deductions 117,889  105.587 

Net  income    $84,898  $40,297 


AMERICAN    GAS    S    ELECTRIC    COMPANY. 

The  income  accounts  of  the  subsidiaries  of  th 
Gas  &  Electric  Company  named  below  for  the 
July,  IQ12  and  191 1,  and  for  the  twelve  months 
31,  igi2  and  1911,  compare  as  follows: 

ATLANTIC     CITY      (N.     J.)      ELECTRIC     COMPANY. 

Gross.  Net. 

Tulv     1912    $49,509  $35,680 

July',    19n 44,159  26,979 

Twelve  Months: 

July,    1912    441,018  262,643 

July;    1911     399,728  211,700 

CANTON     (OHIO)     ELECTRIC    COMPANY. 

lulv     1912       $25,596  $12,288 

July,'    1911     20.201  9,254 

Twelve  Months: 

Tulv     191:'             334,378  165,026 

Ju!y;    IVn     293,530  156,965 

MUNCIE     (IND.)     ELECTRIC     COMPANY. 

Tulv     1912           $27,204  $8,719 

July;    llu     .: 19,588  7,647 

Twelve  Months: 

Tulv     191'             357,692  151.425 

July;  1911  ::; 294,990         111.345 

ROCKFOED     (ILL.)     ELECTRIC    COMPANY. 

.luly,    1912    $27,601  $9,756 

July,    1911    25,j22  11,227 

Tul"t9l"°""". 404,247  191,877 

July!  iln  ;::. 374,597         153,517 

WHEELING     (W.    VA.)     ELECTRIC    COMPANY. 

July,    1912    $18,769  $8,363 

July,    1911     '5.760  ^'^^^ 

Twelve  Months:  „.,,„,  mmi 

July,    1912    245.70  123,021 

July;     1911     186,6/1  99,058 


e  American 
months  of 
ended  July 


Surplus 
After  Charges. 
$27,097 
19,175 


160.604 
128,546 


$7,569 
4,478 


107,955 
101,284 


$2,133 
1,787 

76.475 
52,362 


$1,943 
3,570 

98,305 
69.843 


$4,324 
3,597 


76.805 
82,354 


426 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  8. 


PRICES  IM  NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET. 

Copper:                                                           r Aug.    13 ^  , — -Aug.  20 ^ 

Standard:  Bid.       Asked.  Bid.       Asked. 

Spot     17.25         17.50  17.25         17.50 

August    17.25         17.50  17.25         17.50 

September    17.25          17.50  17.37}4      17.50 

October     17.25          17.50  17.30          17.50 

November     17.20          17.50  

London   quotation:  £       s     d  £       s      d 

Standard  copper,  spot 78     12     6  78     17     6 

Standard   copper,   futures 78     12     6  78     17     6 

Prime   Lake    17.60tol7.70  17.60  to  17.70 

Electrolytic      17.60  to  17.70  17.60  to  17.65 

Casting     17.35  to  17.45  17.35  to  17.45 

Copper  wiie,  base   19.00  19.00 

Lead    4.50  4.50 

Sheet  zinc,  f.o.b.  smelter 8.75  8.75 

Spelter,  spot    7.00  

Nickel     40.00  to  41.00  40.00  to  41.00 

Aluminum: 

No.   1  pure  ingot 21^5to22Vi  21V5to22>-j 

Rods  and  wire,  base 32  32 

Sheets,  base   33J4  33J^ 

OLD   METALS. 

Heavy  copper  and  wire 15.75  15.50 

Brass,   heavy   10.00  10.00 

Brass,  light    8.00  8.00 

Lead,    heavy    4.15  .... 

Zinc,   scrap    5.75  5. 75 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  AUGUST. 
Total  tons,  including Vug.   13,  7,788         Aug.   20,   14,738 

STOCK  MARKET  PRICES. 

Aug.  14.  Aug.  21. 

Allis-Chalmers     1!4*  Vi* 

Allis-Chalmers,    pf 5H*  W^' 

Amalgamated    Copper    85H  87^2 

Araer.  Tel.  &  Tel 146;|  146 

Boston    Edison    291*  291* 

Commonwealth  Edison    138^2  139* 

Electric    Storage    Battery 57 5i  57^ 

General  Electric   183}i  183 

Mackay   Companies    89  87* 

Mackav   Companies,  pf 69J4*  69* 

Philadelphia    Electric    ■ 23!4  .     23^ 

Western    L^nion    83^  S3 

Westinghouse     88  88 

Weslinghouse,     pf 126  125 

*Last  price  quoted. 


Personal 


Mr.  D.  O.  Frailey,  of  Everett,  Wash.,  has  been  appointeil 
city  engineer  of  Monroe,  Wash. 

Mr.  S.  W.  Coleman,  formerly  general  manager  for  the 
Coast  Counties  Light  &  Power  Company  at  Santa  Cruz, 
Cal.,  has  been  transferred  to  the  San  Francisco  office  of  the 
company. 

Mr.  Edward  J.  Doyle,  private  secretary  of  Mr.  Samuel  In- 
suU,  has  been  made  secretary  of  the  recently  organized 
Middle  West'  Utilities  Company  of  Chicago,  a  ten-inillion- 
dollar  corporation. 

Mr.  R.  L.  Cardiff,  formerly  chief  electrician  of  the  Coast 
Counties  Light  &  Power  Company  at  Santa  Cruz,  Cal.,  is 
now  in  charge  of  the  plant,  having  succeeded  Mr.  C.  W. 
Coleman   as  general  manager. 

Mr.  C.  H.  Howell  on  Aug.  17  assumed  his  new  duties  as 
superintendent  of  the  Coshocton  Light  &  Heating  Company, 
Coshocton,  Ohio,  succeeding  Mr.  S.  E.  Holderman,  who  has 
just  left  on  a  business  trip  through  the  West. 

Mr.  F.  B.  Strong,  president  and  general  manager  of  the 
Technical  Publishing  Company,  San  Francisco,  which  pub- 
lishes the  Journal  of  Electricity,  Power  and  Gas,  is  making 
a  tour  of  the  eastern  section  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Martin  J.  InsuU,  formerly  general  manager  of  the 
United  Gas  &  Electric  Coinpany  of  New  Albany,  Ind.,  now 
vice-president  of  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Coinpany.  has 
moved  to  Chicago,  where  the  principal  office  of  the  latter 
company  is  located. 

Mr.  George  M.  Miller,  for  several  years  assistant  to  Mr. 
William  Holloway,  superintendent  of  the  distributing  de- 
partment of  the  Kentucky  Electric  Company,  Louisville, 
Ky.,  has  succeeded  to  Mr.  Holloway's  position,  owing  to 
the  latter's  ill  health,  which  has  made  it  necessary  for  him 
to  resign. 

Mr.  Egbert  Douglas,  until  recently  sales  manager  for  The 
Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company,  is  now  con- 
nected with  the  new-business  department  of  H.  M.  Byllesby 


&  Company.  Before  going  to  Milwaukee  Mr.  Douglas  was 
contract  agent  for  the  Springfield  (Ohio)  Light,  Heat  & 
Power  Company. 

Mr.  A.  Larney  has  been  appointed  manager  of  the  new- 
business  department  of  the  Minneapolis  General  Electric 
Company.  Mr.  Larney  had  been  new-business  manager  of 
the  Consumers'  Power  Company  of  St.  Paul  for  some  time. 
He  succeeds  Mr.  H.  J.  Gille  at  Minneapolis. 

Mr.  William  J.  Norton,  rate  expert  of  the  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company,  Chicago,  will  be  the  editor  of  the  month- 
ly Rate  Research  Bulletin,  which  will  be  issued  in  printed 
form  by  the  rate  research  committee  of  the  National  Elec- 
tric Light  Association,  Mr.  Norton  being  secretary  of  the 
committee. 

Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly  left  Boston  on  Aug.  23  to  attend  the 
meeting  of  the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  at  Dundee,  Scotland,  whch  is  to  be  held  in  the 
early  part  of  September.  Dr.  Kennelly  will  present  a  paper 
recording  the  result  of  recent  researches  in  telephone- 
receiver   impedances. 

Mr.  R.  G.  Black,  formerly  superintendent  and  chief  elec- 
trician of  the  Toronto  Electric  Light  Companj'.  Toronto, 
Ont.,  who,  broken  down  in  health,  sailed  for  Europe  on 
Nov.  15,  to  consult  specialists,  has  returned  to  Toronto 
again  somewhat  iinproved  in  appearance,  but  not  altogether 
so  robust  as  he  was  prior  to  his  illness. 

Mr.  L.  W.  Hench,  who  for  the  past  three  years  has  been 
power  engineer  of  the  Youngstown  Consolidated  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  has  resigned  and  will  become  the 
Youngstown  representative  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company,  of  East  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  Mr. 
Hench  will  continue,  as  in  the  past,  to  be  the  local  repre- 
sentative for  the  Winton  and  Pierce-Arrow  automobile 
concerns. 

Mr.  Sidney  L.  Cole,  who  has  served  in  various  capacities 
the  lighting  companies  at  Waukegan,  111.;  Little  Rock, 
Ark.,  and  Fort  Madison,  la.,  since  his  graduation  from  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  in  1905,  has  been 
appointed  manager  of  the  Municipal  Electric  Light  &  Gas 
Plant  at  Wakefield,  Mass.,  to  succeed  Mr.  Albert  B.  Mor- 
ton, who  resigned  to  become  superintendent  of  the  Rome 
(N.  Y.)  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company. 


Obituary 


Mr.  Harris  Boardman,  superintendent  of  the  Edison  Elec- 
tric Illuminating  Company,  Lancaster,  Pa.,  died  at  Atlantic 
City  on  July  25.  Mr.  Boardman  is  survived  by  a  widow  and 
two  small  children. 

Mr.  Warren  H.  Girvin,  formerly  manager  of  the  Syracuse 
( N.  Y.)  Ligliting  Company,  died  at  his  hoine  in  Marshall 
Street,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  on  Aug.  16.  Mr.  Girvin  was  born 
in  Oneida,  N.  Y.,  in  1865  and  went  to  Syracuse  about  forty 
years  ago.  Starting  as  a  telegraph  operator,  he  later  became 
interested  in  the  Bell  Telephone  Company  and  was  made 
manager  of  the  local  oflice,  which  position  he  held  until 
1890,  after  which  he  assumed  the  management  of  the  Syra- 
cuse Lighting  Company.  In  1900  he  returned  to  the  tele- 
phone business,  but  ill-health  compelled  him  to  retire  in 
1905.     A  widow,  son  and  daughter  survive  Mr.  Girvin. 

Mr.  Thomas  H.  Brady,  proprietor  of  the  Brady  Electric 
Manufacturing  Company,  of  New  Britain,  Conn.,  died  at  his 
suinmer  home,  Westbrook,  Conn.,  Sunday  morning,  Aug. 
18,  aged  sixty-nine  years  and  six  months.  Mr.  Brady  was 
one  of  the  earliest  pioneers  in  the  manufacture  of  outside 
electrical  construction  material,  his  first  contribution  being 
the  well-known  Brady  mast-arm,  patented  in  1897.  Since 
then  his  patents  have  been  numerous  and  his  goods  have 
been  extensively  known  throughout  the  country.  Mr. 
Brady  was  a  familiar  figure  at  conventions  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  until  within  the  past  few  years, 
and  his  acquaintance  in  the  electric  field,  especially  among 
those  who  may  be  called  the  old-timers,  was  very  extensive. 
His  social  spirit  and  fund  of  interesting  stories  of  the  early 
days  of  the  electric  business  made  him  welcome  at  any 
gathering.  Mr.  Brady  leaves  a  wife  and  ten  children,  four 
girls  and  six  boys,  with  a  well-established  incorporated 
business. 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


427 


Construction 


COLLINSVILLE,  ALA. — Irby  Hall  is  contemplating  rebuilding  the 
electric-light  plant,  recently  destroyed  by  fire. 

MONTGOMERY,  ALA.— A  bill  has  been  passed  by  the  United  States 
Senate  authorizing  the  construction  of  a  dam  across  the  Coosa  River  for 
water-power  purposes. 

MONTGOMERY,  ALA.— The  Alabama  Interstate  Pwr.  Co.,  100  Broad- 
way, New  York,  N.  Y.,  has  awarded  a  contract  for  a  1500-ft.  dam  in  con- 
nection with  its  first  hydroelectric  development  on  the  Coosa  River.  42 
miles  from  Birmingham,  to  Mc Arthur  Brothers,  11  Pine  Street,  New 
York.  Specifications  for  the  power-station  equipment  will  be  sent  out  in 
ibout  four  weeks.  The  initial  installation  will  develop  about  60,000  hp. 
LITTLE  ROCK,  ARK. — It  is  reported  that  St.  Louis  capitalists  are 
interested  in  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  to  connect  Little 
Rock,  Ark.,  and  Memphis,  Tenn.  Sufficient  funds  to  insure  the  success 
of  the  project  have  been  arranged  for,  and  a  company  capitalized  at 
$10,000,000  is  to  be  organized  to  carry  on  the  work.  W.  H.  Langford, 
of   Pine    Bluff,    Ark.,    is    interested    in    the    enterprise. 

ALHAMBRA,  CAL. — The  City  Trustees  have  voted  to  install  a  street- 
lighting  system  to  form  a  part  of  the  proposed  "Lighted  Way"  to  connect 
Los  Angeles  with  its  suburbs.      Concrete  posts  will  be  used. 

ATWATER,  CAL. — Plans  have  been  completed  by  the  San  Joaquin 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Fresno,  Cal.,  for  extending  its  transmission  lines  to  At- 
water   and    Livingston. 

BAIRDSTOWN.  CAL.— The  town  of  Bairdstown  has  formed  an  assess- 
ment district  and  will  install  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system. 

CORONA,  CAL. — The  Southern  Sierras  Pwr.  Co.,  San  Francisco,  has 
applied  to  the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to  transfer  to 
F.  A.  Worthey  its  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  Corona. 

DINUBA,  CAL.— The  San  Joaquin  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Fresno,  Cal.,  con- 
templates the  erection  of  a  new  substation  north  of  Dinuba.  about  1  mile 
east  of  its  present  station.  It  also  plans  to  rebuild  its  transmission  sys- 
tem in   the   city,  changing  from   a  4000-volt  to  a   10,000-volt  service. 

KELSEYVILLE,  CAL. — Press  reports  state  that  James  Gunn,  Jr.,  of 
this  city,  has  applied  to  the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission 
to  supply  electrical  energy  in  the  towns  of  Kelseyville,  Lakeport,  Upper 
Lake   and   the   surrounding   territory    in    Lake    County. 

LOS   ANGELES,    CAL. — Anson    W.    Delano.    Los    .Angeles,    has   applied 
for  several  franchises  to  construct  and  operate  an  aerial  electric   railway. 
LOS    ANG'ELES,    CAL. — ^The    Board    of    Supervisors    has    awarded    the 
Eagle  Rock  \V!tr.  Co.  the  contract  for  lighting  the  Annandale  lighting  dis- 
trict for  a  period  of  five  years. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— Plans  are  being  prepared  by  F.  C.  Finkle. 
consulting  engineer,  for  the  erection  of  two  power  plants  in  the  Lytic 
Creek  district   for   the   Fontana   Development  Co. 

LOS  Angeles,  cal. — it  is  reported  that  the  municipality  will 
compete  with  private  light  and  power  corporations  for  serving  other 
cities,  the  Public  Service  Commission  having  decided  to  notify  Tropico 
that  Los  Angeles  will  submit  a  bid  to  the  trustees  for  supplying  elec- 
trical energy  to  that  place.  It  is  understood  that  the  light  and  power 
business  of  Long  Beach,  Santa  Monica,  Venice,  Glendale  and  Redondo 
iJeach   is   also   to   be   solicited. 

MERCED,  CAL. — Plans  have  been  approved  by  the  San  Joaquin  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  for  extending  its  transmission  lines  to  the  Atwater  and  Livings- 
ton districts,  a  distance  of  about  20  miles.  It  is  expected  that  work  will 
soon  begin  on  the  erection  of  the  lines. 

ORO\'ILLE,  CAL. — The  Oro  El.  Corpn.  is  doing  preliminary  work  pre- 
paratory to  beginning  active  work  on  its  large  power  project  in  Humbug 
Valley,  to  cost  about  $10,000,000.     Albert  Reed  is  in  charge  of  the  work. 
RANDSBURG,    CAL.— The    Blackhawk    Mining   Co.    is    planning   to   in- 
stall an  electric  plant  to  operate  its  works.     D.  A.   Blue  is  manager. 

SACRAMENTO,  CAL. — Preparations  are  being  made  to  install  inter- 
locking signals  on  the  local  street  railway  systems. 

SACRAMENTO,  CAL. — The  city  commission  is  contemplating  sub- 
mitting to  the  people  a  proposition  to  establish  a  municipal  electric-light 
plant. 

SACRAMENTO,  CAL.— The  Pacific  Gas  &  El.  Co.  is  investigating  the 
feasibility  of  building  an  electric  railway  across  the  American  River  into 
North    Sacramento. 

SACRAMENTO,  CAL. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  improvements 
to  the  fire-alarm  system  and  the  police  signal  service.  Several  miles  of 
wire   will    be    placed   underground. 

SACRAMENTO.  CAL.— The  Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to 
erect  a  high-tension  transmission  line  along  the  Central  California  Trac. 
Co.'s  system  as  far  as  the  Consume  River.  Electricity  will  be  used  to 
operate  pumps  for  irrigating  purposes. 

SAN  BERNARDINO,  CAL.— The  Pacific  El.   Ry.   Co.  has  been  granted 
permission  to  cross  all  highways  between   San   Bernardino  and   Riverside. 
SAN   FRANCISCO,   CAL.— The   Sierra  &   San   Francisco  Pwr.    Co.    has 
applied  for  permission  to  enter  the  towns  of  Morgan  and   Gilroy. 

TROPICO,  CAL. — The  installation  of  a  municipal  lighting  system  and 
ornamental   street   lamps  is  under   consideration. 

\  ENICE,  CAL. — The  Sunset  Te'.  Co.  is  planning  to  erect  a  new  tele- 
phone exchange  at   Main   and   Hill   Streets,   Venice. 


TELLURIDE,  COL.— It  is  understood  that  the  Telluride  Pwr.  Co.. 
the  control  of  which  recently  passed  into  the  hands  of  James  Campbell, 
of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  J.  R.  Nutt,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  will  expend  about 
$1,750,000  in  completing  the  Bear  Lake  Reservoir  in  Utah  and  Idaho, 
constructing  a  reservoir  on  Bear  River  at  Soda  Springs,  Idaho,  and 
erecting  a  new  generating  plant  at  Oneida  Narrows,  Idaho.  The  com- 
pany operates  hydroelectric  generating  stations  in  Colorado,  Utah  and 
Idaho. 

COLLINSVILLE,  CONN.— The  Collins  Co.,  Collinsville,  is  preparing 
to  build  a  new  power  plant  on  the  Farmington  River  about  1  mile  below 
its  factory.  The  plans  call  for  the  construction  of  a  dam  408  ft. 
long  and  27  ft.  high  and  a  brick  power  house,  52  ft.  x  42  ft.  The  equip- 
ment will  consist  of  six  waterwheels  in  two  sets  of  three  each,  with  two 
shafts  on  each  wheel.  Each  shaft  will  be  connected  with  an  electric 
generator.      About    1000   hp   will   be   developed. 

HARTFORD,  CONN.— Press  reports  state  that  the  United  States 
Rubber  Co.  is  planning  to  erect  a  power  house  in  this  city,  prior  to 
commencing  construction  work  on  its  new  factory.  The  plant,  which 
will  have  a  capacity  of  3000  hp,  will  contain  the  latest  type  of  equip- 
ment. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.-An  American  official  in  a  South  American 
country  states  that  the  government  officials  of  that  country  are  contem- 
plating sending  an  official  commission  to  the  United  States  to  investigate 
railway  electrification,  provided  that  the  coming  budget  provides  adequate 
funds.  For  further  information  address  No.  9354,  Bureau  of  Manufac- 
tures, Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  Washington,  D.  C. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.-,-\n  American  consul  in  a  Latin-American 
country  reports  that  a  telephone  company  in  his  district  anticipates  ex- 
tending its  lines  a  distance  of  about  90  miles,  as  soon  as  authorization 
can  be  obtained  from  the  federal  government.  A  single  copper  circuit 
of  No.  ,8  or  No.  10  wire  is  to  be  installed.  Copy  of  the  report,  con- 
taining further  details  and  the  names  of  the  persons  to  be  addressed 
regarding  the  necessary  sui>plies.  can  be  obtained  from  the  Bureau  of 
Manufactures,  Washington,  D.  C.  Reference  should  be  made  to  File 
No.    9328. 

GAINESVILLE,  FLA.— The  construction  of  an  electric  and  gas  plant 
is  contemplated  by  the  city,  and  bonds  for  that  purpose  to  the  amount 
of  $35,000  have  been  voted. 

Wl^UCHULA,  FLA.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Wauchula  Mfg. 
&  Timber  Co.  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  here. 

ATLANTA,  GA. — Work  has  been  commenced  by  the  Georgia  Ry.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  on  a  substation  in  this  city,  the  estimated  cost  of  which  is 
$100,000.  The  contract  for  the  structure  has  been  let  to  the  Mackle- 
Crawford  Co  by  the  Northern  Coustr.  Co.,  which  has  charge  of  con- 
structing  the  company's   generating   plant    at   Tallulah   Falls. 

CORDELE,  G.\. — The  hi'l  iiroviding  for  mun-cipal  ownership  of  an 
electric-light  plant  by  the  city  of  Cordele  and  authority  to  issue  $50,000 
in  bonds  for  erection  of  the  plant  has  been  passed  by  the  State  Legis- 
lature. 

SARDIS,  G.A.— Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of  an 
electric-light  plant  in  connection  with  the  water-works  system.  J.  A. 
Davis  is  manager  of  the  water-works. 

VIDALIA,  GA.— The  proposition  to  issue  $15,000  in  bonds  for  im- 
l.rovements  to  the  light  and  water  plants  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote  on 
.\ug,  29.  The  J.  B.  McCrary  Company  has  been  engaged  to  prepare 
plans  for  same. 

ST.  MARIE'S,  IDAHO.— The  St.  Marie's  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co..  Ltd.,  is  de- 
veloping a  water-power,  by  pipe  line  and  turbine  wheel,  which  will  in- 
crease the  output  of  its  plant  by  from  750  hp  to  1000  hp,  P.  T.  Sweeney 
is   president   of  the  company. 

ABINGDON,  ILL.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  repeal  the  ordi- 
nance calling  an  election  to  vote,  upon  a  proposition  to  construct  a  munici- 
pal electric-light  plant  and  to  award  a  five-year  contract  for  street  light- 
ing to  the  Abingdon  Lt.  &  Pwr.   Co. 

,'\LTON,  ILL.— It  is  reported  that  an  ornamental  lighting  system  is 
to  be  installed  on  West  Second  Street,  between  Pissa  and  State  Streets, 
by  the  business  men  of  Alton.  A.  T.  Vivens  is  interested  in  the 
proposition. 

BEECHER,  ILL. — The  proposition  to  install  an  electric-light  system 
in   Beecher  has  been  approved  by  the  voters. 

BRIDGEPORT,  ILL.— The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  Bridgeport  Lt. 
&  Pwr.  Co.  have  been  sold  to  Marshall  E.  Sampsell,  Chicago,  represent- 
ing the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Co. 

C.MRO,  ILL. — Work  has  been  commenced  on  a  large  addition  to  the 
power  plant  owned  by  the  Cairo  El.  &  Tract.  Co.,  on  upper  Sycamore 
Street.  The  addition  with  the  new  machinery  which  is  to  be  installed 
will  represent  an  expenditure  of  about  $150,000,  and  upon  completion 
the  company  proposes  to  supply  both  Mound  City  and  Mounds  with 
light  and   power  service. 

CARLINVILLE,  ILL.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  building  com- 
mittee of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Macoupin  County  until  Aug.  29 
for  the  installation  of  a  lighting  plant  at  the  Macoupin  County  Almshouse. 

CHARLESTON,  ILL.— The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  Charleston  Illg. 
Co.  have  been  taken  over  by  the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Co. 

CHENO.A,  ILL. — The  property  of  the  Chenoa  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
purchased  by  M.  G.  Linn  and  H.  E.  Chubbuck  for  $35,000.  The  pur- 
(Insers  are  associated  with  the  Illinois  Traction  System. 


428 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D 


Vol.  6o,  No.  8. 


JERSEYVILLE,  ILL. — A  tentative  agreement  is  said  to  have  been 
made  between  the  City  Council  and  the  Jerseyville  lUg.  Co.  whereby  the 
company  will  furnish  40-cp  lamps  for  street  lighting  at  $20  each  per 
year  and  furnish  electricity  for  pumping  the  city  water,  if  the  city  wishes 
to,  at  4  cents  per  kw-hr.  The  streets  are  now  lighted  with  lamps  of  32  cp. 
LAWRENCEVILLE,  ILL.— The  property  of  the  Lawrenceville  Lt.  & 
Wtr.  Co.  has  been  purchased  by  Marshall  E.  Sampsell,  Chicago,  repre- 
senting the  Central  Illinois  Public   Service  Co. 

LO\INGTON,  ILL. — An  ordinance  has  been  passed  by  the  Village 
Board  providing  for  the  sale  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant.  The 
Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Co.  has  made  an  offer  of  $6,000  for  the 
plant.  The  purchaser,  it  is  reported,  will  be  awarded  a  10-year  contract 
for  street-lighting,  at  $600  per  year,  and  furnish  electricity  to  operate  the 
water-works  pumping  station. 

MATTOON,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Trac.  Co.  has  filed  a  notice 
with  the  Secretary  of  State  of  an  increase  in  capital  stock  from  $250,000 
to  $1,500,000. 

MORRISON,  ILL. — The  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Co.  has  petitioned 
the  highway  commissioners  of  12  townships  in  Whiteside  County  for  per- 
mission to  erect  and  operate  high-tension  transmission  lines. 

NEOGA,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  is  negotiating  with  the  Central  Illi- 
nois Public  Service  Co.  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  village.  A  trans- 
mission line  will  probably  be  erected   from  Mattoon. 

OLNEY,  ILL.— The  property  of  the  OIney  EI.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  re- 
ported to  have  been  purchased  by  the  Central  Illinois  Utilities  Co.  for 
$100,000. 

PAXTON,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  granted  H.  L.  Clarke  an  exten- 
sion of  time  until  Jan.  1,  1913,  to  construct  an  electric  system  for  light- 
ing the  streets  of  the  city  and  for  pumi)ing  water  at  the  municipal  water- 
works station. 

PEORIA,  ILL. — ^Plans  are  being  prepared  by  tlie  poor  farm  committee 
of  the  Peoria  County  Board  of  Supervisors  for  lighting  the  farm  by  elec- 
tricity. The  erection  of  a  transmission  line  from  Peoria  or  the  installa- 
tion of  a  plant  at  the   farm   is  unJer  consideration. 

PORT  KYRON,  ILL.— The  Village  Board  of  Port  Byron  has  passed 
an  ordinance  granting  the  People's  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Moline,  permission  to 
install    an    electric-lighting    system. 

ROBERTS,  ILL. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  to  cost 
about  $3,500  is  being  considered  by  the   Board   of  Village  Trustees. 

SIDNEY,  ILL.— The  Village  Board  has  granted  U.  S.  Thompson,  ot 
Homer,  a  franchise  to  install  and  operate  an  e.lectric-lighting  system  here. 
A  transmission  line  will  be  erected  from  Homer  to  Sidney. 

WESTFIELD,  ILL.— Application  will  be  made  to  the  Village  Board  by 
the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Co.  for  a  franchise  to  install  and  oper- 
ate an  electric  distributing  system  here.  A  transmission  line  will  probably 
be  extended  from  Mattoon. 

MONTPELIER,  IND.— The  property  of  the  Montpelier  El.  Lt.  Co.  was 
recently  sold  at  sheriff's  sale  to  the  Citizens'  Trust  Co.,  of  Fort  Wayne, 
the  trustee  of  the  original  bondholders,  for  $55,000.  The  purchasers  will 
continue  to  operate  the  plant. 

DELTA,  lA. — The  Sigourney  El.  St.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
franchise   to   supply   electricity   in    Delta. 

DES  MOINES,  lA. — It  is  reported  that  improvements  representing 
an  expenditure  of  about  $8,000  will  be  made  in  the  plant  of  the  Des 
Moines   El.   Co. 

GILMORE,  lA. — A  proposition  will  soon  be  presented  to  the  city 
of  Gilmore  asking  for  a  franchise  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light 
and  power  plant. 

GRUNDY  CENTER,  lA.— The  City  Council  has  contracted  with  the 
Grundy  Center  El.  Co.  for  the  installation  of  tungsten  lamps  to  replace 
the  present  system.  The  contract  calls  for  10  150-watt  lamps  on  Main 
Street  and  66   60-watt  lamps  in  the   residence  section. 

HUBBARD,  I  A. — A  special  election  has  been  called  by  the  \'illage 
Board  to  vote  upon  a  proposition  to  grant  the  Park  Dam  Co.,  of  Eldora, 
la.,  a  franchise  to  furnish  electrical  energy  in  the  village.  It  is  pro- 
posed   to    construct    a    transmission    line    from    Eldora. 

LINEVILLE,  lA. — At  an  election  held  Aug.  16  the  proposition  to 
establish  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  was  carried.  The  cost  of  the 
plant  is  estimated  at  about  $10,000.  An  engineer  has  not  yet  been 
engaged. 

MAXWELL,  lA.— The  Cedar  Rapids  &  Iowa  City  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.,  Cedar 
Rapids,  contemplates  extending  its  service  to  Maxwell.  Col.  William  C. 
Dows  is  president  and  general  manager. 

O.^KLAND,  lA. — It  is  reported  that  nearly  $2,000  has  been  sub 
scribed    toward   an    ornamental   street-lighting   system    for    this    city. 

OS.-VGE,  lA.— The  Elec.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  to  install  a  new  gen- 
erator   and    change    from    125-cycle    to    60-cycle    service. 

ROLFE,  lA. — At  a  special  election  held  in  Rolfe  recently  a  franchise 
was  granted  to  W'ard  Ferguson  to  install  a  lighting  system  in  that  city. 
Energy  is  to  be  furnished  over  a  transmission  line  to  be  erected  from 
the    large    power    house    at    the    Humboldt    dam. 

SHELDAHL,  lA. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  system  here  is 
under    consideration. 

SPIRIT  LAKE,  I  A. — Negotiations  are  under  way  which  will  result 
in  James  Ehret  becoming  the  owner  of  the  Spirit  Lake  El.  Co.  It  is 
his    intention    to    develop    the    plant    further. 


TOLEDO,  lA.— The  properties  of  the  Tama  &  Toledo  El.  Ry.  &  Lt. 
Co.  have  been  taken  over  by  Messrs.  Dow,  Smith,  Reed  and  Cook,  of 
Cedar  Rapids,  la.  Tlie  new  owners  also  control  the  Cedar  Rapids  & 
Iowa  Cty  Ry.  &  Lt.   Co. 

WOODBINE,  lA. — The  proposition  to  grant  a  franchise  to  the  Iowa- 
Nebraska  Public  Service  Co.,  of  Omaha,  Neb.,  for  which  a  special  elec- 
tion   was    called    for    Aug.    6,    has    been    defeated. 

TOPEKA,  KAN. — A  petition  is  to  be  presented  to  the  Board  of  City 
Commissioners  by  the  taxpayers  of  North  Topeka  asking  for  a  "great 
white  way"  from  First  Avenue  to  Gordon  Street,  on  Kansas  Avenue,  a 
distance   of  about   2    1-2   miles. 

FRANKFORT,  KY. — Proposals  will  be  received  by  John  V.  McDer- 
mott,  chief  engineer  of  the  State  Capitol  power  house,  Frankfort,  Ky., 
until  Aug.  31  for  changes  and  alterations  of  the  piping  in  the  State  Capi- 
tol power  house  in  accordance  with  plans  and  specifications  on  file  in  the 
office  of  the  chief  engineer. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY.— The  Postal  Teleg.  Cable  Co.  has  filed  amended 
articles  of  incorporation  at  Louisville,  which  will  enable  it  to  maintain 
telephone   as  well   as  telegraph  lines  in  this   State. 

SHELBYVILLE,  KY.— The  Middle  West  Utilities  Co.,  of  Chicago,  111., 
has  acquired  the  control  of  the  properties  of  the  Shelbyville  Wtr.  &  Lt. 
Co.,  which  operates  electric-light,  gas  and  water  plants  in  Shelbyville. 
The  new  owners  propose  to  make  improvements  to  the  system. 

STANFORD,  KY.— The  Stanford  Wtr.,  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.  is  contemplating 
the  installation  of  additional  machinery  with  a  view  of  establishing  a 
day  service.      George  L.   Penny  is  general  manager. 

WILLIAMSTOWN,  KY.— The  City  Council  has  awarded  J.  E.  Shoop, 
promoter  of  the  Williamstown  El.  Lt.  Co.,  a  franchise  to  construct  and 
operate  an  electric-light  plant  here.  A  55-hp  oil  engine  and  a  40-kw 
generator  will  be  purchased  for  the  plant. 

LEWISTON.  MAINE.— The  Union  Wtr,  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Lewiston,  in  con- 
junction with  other  interests  along  the  river,  have  decided  to  build  a  dam 
at  the  Pond-in-the-River,  this  fall. 

BALTIMORE,  MD. — •A.rrangements  have  been  made  whereby  the  old 
arc  lamps  and  poles  on  Fulton  Avenue,  between  Edmonson  and  Penn- 
sylvania Avenues,  will   be  replaced  with   "Baltimore"  upright  lamps. 

r..\LTIMORE,  MD. — It  is  announced  by  Robert  J.  McCuen,  super- 
intendent of  the  Department  of  Lamps  and  Lighting  of  Baltimore,  that 
sealed  proposals  for  furnishing  electrical  energy  for  use  in  the  public 
streets,  avenues  and  alleys  of  the  city  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of 
Awards,  in  care  of  City  Register  Gwinn,  Specifications  may  be  obtained 
at  the  office  of  superintendent  of  Department  of  Lamps  and  Lighting. 

CRISFIELD,  MD.— The  plant  of  the  Crisfield  Ice  &  El.  Co.  was  re- 
cently destroyed  by  fire. 

CHICOPEE,  MASS.— The  Board  of  Aldermen  has  granted  the  Amherst 
Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  Chicopee. 

LEOMINSTER.  MASS.— The  high  school  building  committee  is  con- 
templating the  installation  of  an  electric-light  and  power  plant  at  the 
high  school. 

MIDDLEBORO,  M.^SS. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  increasing  the 
output  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant.  It  is  proposed  to  replace 
the  present  waterwheels  with  new  ones. 

FRANKFORT,  MICH. — It  is  reported  that  nugene  Zimmerman,  of 
Cincinnati,  has  organized  and  incorporated  the  Benzie  County  Pwr.  Co. 
with  a  capital  of  $75,000.  It  is  stated  that  the  water-power  rights  of 
the  Betsy  River  have  been  secured,  and  that  work  is  to  be  commenced 
at  once  on  tiie  erection  of  a  dam  which  will  develop  600  hp,  to  be 
followed   by   the   construction   of  two   other   dams   later   on. 

HOUGHTON.  MICH. — Estimates  have  been  submitted  to  Mayor  Dodge 
by  J.  R.  Carroll  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant,  to 
cost  about  $40,000.  The  plans  call  for  the  installation  of  one  300-kw 
and  one  500-kw  generating  unit,  to  be  driven  by  turbine  or  cross-com- 
pound engines  directly  connected. 

DELANO,  MINN. — 'At  the  election  held  Aug.  13  the  proposition  to 
grant  the  Central  Minnesota  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  a  20-year  franchise  to  sup- 
ply electricity  here  was  carried.  The  company  will  take  over  the  munici- 
pal electric-light  system. 

FOXHOME,  MINN. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
install  an  electric-light  system  in  Foxhome  was  carried. 

MINNEOTA,  MINN.— The  Citizens'  Lt..  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co..  Canby,  has 
been  granted  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  here.  Work  will  begin 
immediately  on  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  from  Canby  to 
Minneota. 

KANSAS  CITY,  MO.— The  fire  committee  of  the  City  Council  has  ap- 
proved  an  ordinance  permitting  the  property  owners  on  Main  Street,  I 
from  Twenty-seventh  to  Thirty-first  Street,  and  on  Thirty-first  Street,  J 
from  Maine  to  McGee  Street,  to  erect  ornamental  lamps  on  the  trolley 
poles  on  both  sides  of  the  streets  at  their  own  expense.  It  is  proposed 
to  erect  four  80-cp  lamps  on  each  post.  The  city  will  pay  for  the  elec- 
tricity consumed,  provided  the  lighting  fund  will  permit  it. 

SPRINGFIELD,  MO. — The  City  Council  has  announced  that  it  will  not 
renew  the  contract  for  street  lighting,  which  expires  Sept.  8,  with  the 
Springfield  Gas  &  El.  Co.  Estimates  are  being  secured  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant. 

MISSOULA,  MONT. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  an  automatic  fire-alarm  system  in  Missoula. 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


429 


BEATRICE,  NEB. — It  is  reported  that  a  new  ligliting  system  similar  to 
that  employed  in  Omaha  is  being  planned  for  Beatrice  by  Mayor  Meyer 
and    members    of    the    Commercial    Club. 

CLAREMONT,  N.  H. — The  power  plant  of  the  Claremont  Ky.  &  Ltg. 
Co.  has  been  seriously  damaged  by  fire,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $15,000. 
L.  N.  Wlieelock  is  manager. 

EAST  ORANGE,  N.  J. — It  is  reported  that  Mayor  Gregory  is  con- 
sidering the  advisability  of  purchasing  electrical  energy  from  the  Orange 
municipal  light  plant,  owing  to  dissatisfaction  with  the  present  rates 
for  lighting  service  in  East  Orange. 

ELIZ.-\BETH.  X.  J. — The  Public  Service  El.  Co.  is  planning  the  con- 
struction of  an  electric  railway  between  ElizabetW  and  Milltown.  by  way 
of   W'oodbridge   and    Tremly. 

JERSEY  CITY,  N.  J. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  com- 
mittee on  the  high  schools  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  Jersey  City, 
Room  34,  City  Hall,  until  Aug.  29  for  furnishing  and  installing  lighting 
fixtures  in  the  William  L.  Dickinson  High  School,  Newark  and  Paterson 
Avenues,  Jersey  City.  Copies  of  specifications  and  blank  form  of  pro- 
posals may  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  John  T.  Rowland,  Jr.,  supervising 
architect,  98  Sip  Avenue,  Jersey  City.     G.  Fred  Ege  is  secretary. 

JERSEY  CITY.  N.  J. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  committee  on 
School  No.  25  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  Jersey  City  until  .^ug.  29 
at  the  office  of  the  board.  Room  34,  city  hall,  for  all  labor  and  material 
for  enlargement  of  School  No.  25,  Hudson  Boulevard  and  Zabriskie  Street, 
as  follows:  (1)  Mason  work,  including  fireproofing;  (2)  carpenter  work, 
including  metal  and  roofing  work;  (3)  painting;  (4)  plumbing  and  gas- 
fitting  work;  (5)  heating  and  ventilating  work;  (6)  electrical  work;  (7) 
all  work  comprised  in  plans  and  specifications.  Copies  of  plans  and 
specifications  and  proposal  blanks  must  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  John 
T.    Rowlands,   Jr.,    98    Sip   Avenue,   Jersey    City. 

MIDL.^ND  PARK,  N.  J. — The  Borough  Council  has  adopted  a  resolu- 
tion authorizing  Mayor  Wostbrock  to  enter  into  a  contract  with  the  Pub- 
lic Service  Corporation  of  New  Jersey  for  100  street  lamps,  to  cost  $18.77 
each  per  year. 

TRENTON,  N.-  J. — Contracts  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  rail- 
way connecting  Elizabeth  with  Trenton  and  establishing  a  short  line  be- 
tween New  York  and  Philadelphia  have  been  awarded  by  the  Trenton 
Terminal  Ry.  Co.  to  J.  F.  Shanley  &  Co.,  Newark. 

.\LB.\NY,  N.  Y. — .An  application  has  been  filed  with  the  Public  Serv- 
ice Commission,  Second  District,  by  the  Northwestern  Tel.  &  Teleg. 
Co.  for  permission  to  issue  $11,000  of  bonds,  the  proceeds  to  be  used 
for  a  new  switchboard,  the  construction  of  toll  lines  between  Carthage 
and  Black  River,  Harrisville  and  Benson  Mines,  and  in  other  improve- 
ments  and   extensions. 

BUFF.ALO,  N.  Y. — Plans  have  been  completed  by  the  Cataract  Pwr.  & 
Conduit  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  substation  to  supply  electricity  for 
its  conduit  system,  to  cost  about  $28,000. 

COBLESKILL,  N.  Y. — A  day  service  is  to  be  installed  in  this  city 
by  the  Courter  El.  Co.,  in  order  to  furnish  electrical  energy  for  the 
operation   of   motors. 

HUDSON,  N.  \'. — Several  villages  along  the  route  of  the  .Mbany 
Southern  R.  R.  Co.  have  made  arrangements  for  the  installation  of  elec- 
tric street-lighting  systems.  The  village  of  Niverville  is  negotiating  for 
the  erection  of  40  electric  lamps  for  street  illumination.  Negotiations  are 
under  way  for  street  lamps  in  East  Schodack,  Nassau  and  East  Greenbu^h. 
JAMESTOWN,  N.  Y. — 'The  power  house  of  the  Jamestown  St.  Ry.  Co. 
was  recently  damaged  by  fire,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $25,000. 

LOCK  BERLIN,  N.  Y^. — Press  reports  state  that  Lock  Berlin  is  soon 
to  be  lighted  by  electricity,  permission  to  install  a  lighting  system  having 
been  granted  to  the  Central  New  York  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  of  Seneca  Falls, 
N.    Y. 

.\EW  Y'ORK,  N.  Y. — Proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Park  Board, 
Department  of  Parks,  Arsenal  Building,  Fifth  Avenue  and  Sixty-fourth 
Street,  New  York,  until  Aug.  29  for  furnishing  all  labor  and  materials 
for  the  erection  of  a  power  plant  and  workshop  building  in  the  Zoologi- 
cal Park,  borough  of  the  Bronx.  Blank  forms  and  other  information  may 
be  obtained  at  the  office  of  Department  of  Parks,  Zbrowski  Mansion, 
Claremont  Park,  borough  of  the  Bronx.  Charles  B.  Stover  is  president 
of  the  Park  Board. 

POUGHKEEPSIE,  N.  Y. — It  is  understood  that  work  will  be  com- 
menced at  once  by  the  Central  Hudson  Gas  &  El.  Co.  on  the  installation 
of  a  conduit  system  in  this  city  which  will  represent  an  expenditure  of 
about  $42,000. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. — Permission  has  been  granted  to  the  Defender 
Photo  Supply  Co.  to  erect  a  power  plant  in  connection  with  its  new 
factory  on  Driving  Park  Avenue.  The  estimated  cost  of  the  building 
is   given   at   $7,000. 

S.ARATOGA,  N.  Y. — The  .Adirondack  El.  Pwr.  Corpn..  which  has 
already  spent  $75,000  in  construction  work,  is  reported  to  be  consider- 
ing a   further   expenditure   of   about  $500,000. 

SOUTII.AMPTON,  N.  Y.— The  Suffolk  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  received 
authority  from  the  Public  Service  Commission  to  purchase  from  the 
Riverhead  El.  Lt.  Co.  that  part  of  its  franchise  and  system  which  it  now 
owns  and  operates  in  the  town  of  Southampton  and  to  exercise  the  fran- 
chise granted  to  the  Riverhead  company.  The  Suffolk  company  is 
authorized  to  execute  a  mortgage  upon  its  property  to  secure  an  issue  of 
5300,000    in    bonds,    and    to    issue    at    this    time    bonds    to    the    amount    of 


$47,000,  to  be  sold  at  not  less  than  $85,  the  proceeds  of  $22,000  to  be  used 
to  pay  for  the  property  of  the  Riverhead  company  in  Southampton  and 
$17,950  for  extensions  and  improvements  to  its  plant  and  distributing 
system. 

WEEDSPORT,  N.  Y. — The  question  of  establishing  a  municipal  elec- 
tric-light plant  here  is  under  consideration.  The  village  may  construct  its 
own  distributing  system  and  purchase  energy  from  the  Rochester,  Syra- 
cuse &  Eastern  R.  R.  Co.  The  franchise  of  the  Weedsport  El.  Lt.  Co. 
lias  expired. 

KERNERSVILLE,  N.  C— T.  L.  Hall,  who  recently  petitioned  for  a 
franchise,  contemplates  the  purchase  of  the  equipment  of  the  Citizens' 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  extending  the  transmission  line  to  Oak  Ridge  In- 
stitute, a  distance  of  6  miles. 

WHITNEY,  N.  C. — Contracts  have  been  awarded  by  the  Southern 
.Aluminum  Co.  for  completing  canal,  masonry  and  power  house  for  the 
development  of  45,000  hp  on  the  Yadkin  River,  preparatory  to  the  erection 
of  its  large  aluminum  works  here.  The  property  was  purchased  from  the 
North  Carolina  El.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  which  acquired  the  plant  of  the  Whit- 
ney Co. 

DICKINSON,  N.  D. — The  contract  for  the  installation  of  an  orna- 
mental lighting  system  in  this  city  is  reported  to  have  been  awarded 
to    Grames   &   Peet    for   $8,567. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO.— Bids  will  be  received  by  S.  A.  Kinnear,  director 
of  public  service.  City  Hall,  Columbus,  Ohio,  until  Aug.  30  for  furnish- 
ing one  vertical  four-cylinder,  four-cycle,  water-cooled  gasoline  motor  for 
direct  connection  to  a  30-kw,  110-volt  direct-current  generator  for  use 
in  thawing  frozen  water  pipes.  Plans  and  specifications  are  on  file  at  the 
above  office. 

SPRINGFIELD,  OHIO. — It  is  reported  that  Engineer  C.  C.  Beckwith, 
of  Cleveland,  has  submitted  figures  on  electric-light  plant  to  be  operated 
in  conjunction  with  the  new  pumping  station.  He  estimates  that  it  wdl 
cost  $619,830  for  a  plant  and  distribution  system,  exclusive  of  building 
site    and    railroad    facilities. 

WASHINGTON  C.  H.,  OHIO.— The  Washington  Gas  S:  El.  Co.  has 
applied  to  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  authority  to  issue  $100,000 
in  bonds  for  the  purpose  of  paying  its  floating  indebtedness  and  making 
extensions. 

KINGFISHER,  OKLA.— The  contract  for  the  electric-light  and 
water-works  extensions,  bids  for  which  were  recently  opened,  has  been 
awarded   to  the   Connelly   Constr.    Co.,   of   El   Reno,    for  $47,450. 

ELGIN,  ORE.— The  electric  plant  of  H.  D.  Spencer  &  Co.  was  com- 
pletely destroyed  by  fire  recently. 

PORTLAND,  ORE.— The  Portland  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to 
extend  its  Hawthorne  Avenue  car  line  from  East  Sixtieth  and  Division 
Streets  to  East   Seventy-fourth   Street. 

C'.AMPHILL,  P.\. — The  City  Council  has  approved  an  appropriation  of 
$300  to  secure  the  services  of  an  expert  to  investigate  the  cost  of  in- 
stalling   a    municipal    electric-light    plant    and    water-works. 

H.ARRISBURG,  PA. — Formal  papers  providing  for  the  merger  of  the 
llarrisburg  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  Paxtang  El.  Co.  under  the  name 
of  the  Harrisburg  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  have  been  filed.  The  new  company 
has  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000,000  and  authority  to  issue  $2,000,000  in  bonds. 
The  company  will  proceed  to  make  improvements  and  changes  called  for 
in  the  ordinance  of  the  City  Council  which  permitted  the  merger. 

PINE  GROVE,  PA. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  construction 
of  an   electric-light  plant  in   Pine   Grove. 

PITTSBURGH,  P.A. — Bids  will  be  received  until  Sept.  2  by  J.  G. 
Armstrong,  director  Department  of  Public  Works,  for.  bronze  lamps 
and  a  tablet  on  Lorimer  Avenue  bridge  over  Washington  Avenue 
Boulevard. 

CAMDEN,  S.  C— The  City  Council  has  engaged  Gilbert  C.  White, 
engineer,  of  Durham  and  Charlotte,  N.  C,  to  prepare  plans  for  an  electric- 
light  plant  and  water-works  system,  for  which  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
$100,000  have  been  issued. 

CHATTANOOGA,  TENN. — Plans  have  been  prepared  by  the  Chatta- 
nooga Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  double-track  car  line 
from  the  Western  &  Atlantic  railroad  crossing  to  the  Citico  switch,  near 
Chattanooga.     W.   E.   Boileau  is  general   manager. 

CHATTANOOGA,  TENN. — The  Birmingham  &  Chattanooga  R.  R.  Co. 
contemplates  the  construction  of  an  interurban  electric  railway  about  177 
miles  long  between  Chattanooga  and  Birmingham,  over  Sand  Mountain, 
via  Boaz  and  Oneonla,  Ala.  Right-of-way  across  the  river  for  an  en- 
trance into  the  city  has  been  secured. 

ALPINE,  TEX.— The  Alpine  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  reorganized  and  is 
planning  to  install  additional  machinery  in  its  electric  plant.  The  capacity 
of  its  ice  factory  will  also  be  increased. 

BEAUMONT,  TEX. — An  ordinance  requiring  that  all  concealed  elec- 
tric wiring  shall  be  placed  in  conduits  has  been  adopted  by  the  City 
Council    as    an   amendment   to   the    building    code. 

FORT  WORTH,  TEX. — Steps  have  been  taken  to  organize  a  company 
to  build  an  electric  interurban  railway  between  Fort  Worth  and  Mineral 
Wells,  a  distance  of  about  60  miles.  Dr.  William  Brown  and  associates 
are  interested. 

HOUSTON,  TEX.— The  Southern  Pacific  Co.  is  planning  to  enlarge 
its  shops  in  Houston,  at  a  cost  of  about  $400,000.  The  plant  will  be 
equipped  with   electrically  driven   machinery. 


430 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol,  6o,  Xo.  8. 


MARBLE  FALLS,  TEX.— The  unfinished  reinforced  concrete  dam 
across  the  Colorado  River  in  Marble  Falls  and  other  holdings  of  the 
Colorado  River  Pwr.  Co.  have  been  sold  at  sheriff's  sale  to  the  St.  Louis 
Title  Trust  Co.,  which  held  a  mortgage  upon  the  property.  The  purchas- 
ing company,  it  is  said,  will  complete  the  dam  and  install  a  large  hydro- 
electric power  plant. 

N.ACOGDOCHES,  TEX.— The  Nacogdoches  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  others 
have  obtained  an  order  from  the  court  here  restraining  the  City  Council 
from  installing  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  constructing  a  sewer 
system,  for  which  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $57,000  were  recently  issued. 

PLE.AS.^NTON,  TEX. — It  is  reported  that  the  local  ice  company  con- 
templates installing  an  electric-lighting  system  in  connection  with  its 
ice  plant. 

ROGERS,  TE.X. — Plans  are  under  way  for  the  installation  of  a  light- 
ing system  in  this  city,  electrical  energy  to  be  secured  from  the  Temple 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Temple,  Tex.  G.  L.  Jones,  M.  V.  Bauch  and  W.  D.  Wilson 
re  interested   in   the   proposition. 

WICHITA  FALLS,  TEX.— The  Wichita  Falls  El.  Co.,  ■  recently  in- 
corporated, has  taken  over  the  property  and  holdings  of  the  Wichita 
Falls  VV'tr.  &  Lt.  Co.  and  also  the  property  of  the  Texas  Utilities  Corpora- 
tion, which  was  held  by  the  Wichita  Falls  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co.  D.  G.  Fisher, 
W.  H.  Painter,  P.  B.  Cruger,  Frank  Smith  and  C.  Hunn,  of  Dallas,  are 
directors. 

RICHMOND,  VA. — Plans  have  been  filed  by  the  Virginia  Ry.  &  Lt. 
Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  new  conduit  distributing  system  on  Broad 
Street. 

ROCKBRIDGE  BATHS,  VA.— It  is  reported  that  a  large  hydro- 
electric plant  is  to  be  installed  in  this  city,  options  having  been  recorded 
in  the  clerk's  office  of  Rockbridge  for  the  purchase  of  large  areas  of 
land  along  the  Big  Calf  Pasture  River,  to  be  used  as  a  storage  basis  for 
a  dam  in  North  River  at  Goshen  Pass,  near  Rockbridge  Baths.  The 
promoter  of  the  enterprise  is  W.  J.  Payne,  of  Richmond,  who  has  had 
experience  in  building  electric  power  plants  at  Danville  and  Newport 
News,   and   the   options  aggregate,   it   is   said,   nearly   $50,000. 

SEATTLE,    WASH.— The    Pacific    Northwestern    Trac.    Co.    has    made. 
arrangements  with  the  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corpn.   for  the  con- 
struction of  six  new  substations  near  Seattle. 

SPOKANE,  WASH.— The  Inland  'Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  has  applied  to 
the  County  Commissioners  for  a  franchise  to  construct  a  telephone  line 
from    Spokane   to   Lewiston,    Idaho,   a    distance   of   about    90   miles. 

W.^iLLA  WALLA,  W.^iSH. — The  construction  of  an  electric  line  from 
Walla  Walla,  Wash.,  to  Union,  Ore.,  is  under  consideration.  W.  A.  Ter- 
rell,  of  Union,   and   others  are  interested. 

WARWOOD,  W.  VA. — .'\ppIication  is  to  be  made  on  Sept.  10  to  the 
City  Council  by  the  Brooke  El.  Co.  for  a  franchise  to  construct,  operate 
and   maintain   an   electric-light   plant   in   the   city   of   Warwood. 

WHEELING,  W.  V.-\. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  Board  of  Con- 
trol for  the  construction  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant,  to  cost  about 
$110,000.     C.   B.   Cooke,  civil  engineer,  is  in  charge. 

BARABOO,  WIS. — The  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting 
system  in  the  business  district  is  under  consideration.  The  Baraboo  Gas 
&  EI.  Co.  is  planning  to  make  improvements  to  the  street-lighting  system. 

CLARESHOLM,  ALTA..  CAN.— The  engine  in  the  municipal  electric 
plant  was  seriously  damaged  by  fire  recently,  putting  the  plant  out  of  com- 
mission.    The  town  wil  be  without  electric  service  for  several  weeks. 

CLAYBURN,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  British  Columbia  El.  Ry.  Co.  is  plan- 
ning to  extend  its  line  from  Oayburn  to  Mission  City,  B.  C. 

KAMLOOPS,  B.  C,  CAN. — A  fu'l  report  for  the  proposed  hydro-electric 
power  plant  on  the  Barrier  River  and  a  steam  auxiliary  plant  for  the  city 
has  been  submitted  to  the  City  Council  by  Butcher,  Maxwell  &  Co.  To 
develop  6000  hp  the  cost  is  estimated  at  $237,600,  including  $21,600  for 
contingencies.  The  cost  of  a  7500-hp  plant  is  estimated  at  $473,000  and 
that  for  a  plant  of  11,000  hp  at  $840,000.  The  cost  of  the  steam  auxiliary 
plant  is  estimated  at  $122,040. 

NELSON,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  West  Kootcnay  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.  contem- 
plates enlarging  its  power  plant  in  aniticipation  of  the  equipping  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Railroad  for  electrical  operation  from  Rossland  to 
Castlcgar  next  year.     J.  D.  McDonald  is  general  superintendent. 

NORTH  VANCOUVER,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  City  Council  is  contem- 
plating the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Lons- 
dale Avenue  to  cost  about  $30,000.  It  is  proposed  to  install  a  similar 
system  on  First  Street  and  Mahon  Avenue,  at  a  cost  of  about  $15,000. 

WINNIPEG,  MAN.,  CAN.— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  M. 
Peterson,  secretary  Board  of  Control,  for  furnishing  Winnipeg  100  or- 
namental   lighting    standards. 

FOREST,  ONT.,  CAN.— A  by-law  authorizing  the  purchase  of  the 
local  electric-light  plant,  to  be  owned  and  operated  by  the  municipality, 
will   soon   be  submitted   to  the   ratepayers. 

MONTREAL,  QUE.  CAN.— At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Crown  Reserve 
Mining  Co.  held  in  this  city  it  was  announced  that  the  construction  of 
a   new   power   house   is   to   be  commenced  at   once. 

MONTREAL,  QUE.,  CAN.— It  is  reported  that  an  issue  of  $5,000.00o 
additional  capital  stock  is  being  considered  by  the  Shawinigan  Water  & 
Pwr.  Co.,  the  proceeds  to  be  utilized  for  extensions  to  its  plant. 

GUADALAJARA,  MEXICO.— The  Chapala  Hydroel.  &  Irrig.  Co.  is 
constructing    a    branch    transmission    line    to    the    Hostotipaquillo    district 


in    the    State    of    Jalisco.      The    company    is    already    supplying    electrical 
energy   to   a   number  of   mines  in  the  territory   west   of   Guadalajara. 

HOSTOTIPAQUILLO,  JALISCO,  MEXICO.— It  is  reported  that  the 
United  States  Smelting,  Refining  &  Mining  Co.,  of  Boston,  which  re- 
cently acquired  an  option  on  the  San  Pedro  Analco  silver  mines  in  this 
district,  also  plans  to  install  a  hydroelectric  plant  near  the  property. 
The  Negociacion  Minera  de  San  Pedro  Analco,  which  has  given  the 
option,  constructed  a  dam  across  the  Santiago  River  some  time  ago  as 
a  preliminary  part  of  its  plans  for  installing  a  hydroelectric  plant,  and 
this  will  be  used  by  the  United  States  company  if  the  purchase  is 
consummated. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  AUTO-PILOT  LAMP  COMPANY  has  filed  articles  of  incorpora- 
tion under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware  with'  a  capital  stock  of 
$25,000.  The  incorporators  are:  H.  B.  Martin,  E.  T.  Vennel,  of  Cam- 
den, N.  J.,  and  C.  U.  Martin,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

THE  CANTON  ELECTRIC  LAMP  COMPANY,  of  New  York.  N.  Y., 
has  been  incorporated  by  L.  Danby,  I.  Menoff.  P.  Menoff,  A.  A.  Canton 
and  S.  Block.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000  and  proposes  to 
manufacture  electric  lamps,  etc. 

THE  HI-GRADE  SUCTION  SWEEPER  COMPANY,  of  New  York, 
N.  Y.>  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  by  H.  R. 
Bernard,  G.  Klumpp  and  L.  C.  Dailey.  The  company  proposes  to 
manufacture  and  deal  in  vacuum  and  other  cleaning  appliances. 

THE  MASSACHUSETTS  TELEPHONE  HERALD  COMPANY  has 
been  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware  with  a  capi- 
tal stock  of  $1,000,000.  The  incorporators  are:  R.  B.  Cooling,  C.  J. 
Jacobs  and  H.  W.   Davis,  Wilmington,   Del. 

THE  MUELLER  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Ottawa,  111.,  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  John  J.  Mueller,  Jr.,  B. 
Mueller  and  J.  J.  Mueller.  The  company  proposes  to  do  a  general  elec- 
trical  business. 

THE  NEW  YORK  ELECTRIC  VEHICLE  ASSOCIATION,  New  York, 
N.  Y..  has  been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  to  manufacture 
and  deal  in  motors,  engines  and  machinery.  The  incorporators  are:  G. 
Tiernan,  F.  H.  Parcell  and  R.  G.  Redlefsen. 

THE  PEERLESS  INSULATED  WIRE  &  CABLE  COMPANY  has 
been  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware  with  a  capital 
stock  of  $1,000,000.  The  incorporators  are:  R.  B.  Cooling,  C.  J.  Jacobs 
and   H.    W.    Davis,   of   Wilmington,    Del. 

THE  SIDEWALK  LIGHT  COMPANY  OF  AMERICA  has  filed  articles 
of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware.  The  company  is 
capitalized  at  $75,000  and  the  incorporators  are:  E.  E.  McWhiney,  V.  J. 
Maloney  and  N.   P.   Coffin,  Wilmington. 


New  Incorporations 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.— The  Davis  El.  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000.  The  incorporators  are:  A.  F. 
Cripps,  J.  M.  Rich  and  M.   B.   Gallagher. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.— The  Union  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000.  The  incorporators  are:  Thomas 
Simeon,  Jr.,  F.  Arthur  Jost  and  John  J.  Maguire. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.— The  Indiana  Hydraulic  Trans.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000  by  W.  K.  Ernest  and  Paul 
Milhauland. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. — The  Santa  Clara  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $800,000.  The  directors  are:  S.  J.  Bischoff, 
Peter  J.  Brancato  and  David  J.  Broderick,  of  Brooklyn.  The  principal 
office  of  the  company  will  be  located  in  New  York. 

SAND  SPRINGS.  OKLA.— The  Sand  Springs  Pwr.,  Lt.  &  WTtr.  Co. 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  by  Edwin  A.  Page, 
of  Sand  Springs;  Charles  Page,  C.  F.  Tingley,  George  W.  Kinney  and 
C.    W.    Kingsbury,   all    of   Tulsa. 

PHILADELPHIA,  P.A.— The  Civic  Service  Corpn.  has  been  incor- 
porated to  take  over  and  operate  the  public  utility  and  general  engineer- 
ing business  which  has  been  conducted  by  T.  Wilson  Battin  and  A.  L. 
Osgood.  G.  Henry  Stetson  is  president  of  the  company,  T.  Wilson  Bat- 
tin  vice-president  and  secretary,  J.  Lee  Patton  treasurer,  and  A.  L. 
Osgood  general  manager. 

SCHULENBERG,  TEX.— The  Schulenberg  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000  by  G.  Russek,  Charles  A. 
Bogt  and   E.  J.   Russek. 

SEATTLE,  WASH.— The  Cascade  Pwr.  &  Trac.  Co.  has  been  incorpo- 
rated with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,200,000.  Clyde  C.  Chittenden  and  Ralph 
G.   Chittendon  are   directors. 

UFFINGTON.  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Muskoka,  Victoria  &  Haliburton  Tel. 
Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000  to  build  and 
operate  a  telephone  system  in  the  townships  of  Draper,  Oakley  and 
other  towns  in  the  district  of  Muskoka.  The  directors  are:  J.  A.  Boyes» 
G.  W.  Small,  Oakley;  Albert  Fawcett,  Bracebridge,  and  Charles  Mickle, 
Gravenhurst. 


August  24,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


431 


Trade  Publications 

WIRE  HANDBOOK.— The  Standard  Underground  Cable  Company, 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  sends  the  announcement  that  the  last  edition  of  its  hand- 
book is  exhausted.  Persons  whose  applications  the  company  was  unable 
to  fill  will  receive  copies  of  the  next  edition  when  it  appears. 

CARTRIDGE  FUSE  SHELLS.— The  F.  A.  Daum  Company,  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  tells  the  story  of  the  Daum  refillable  cartridge  fuse  shells  for 
electric  circuits  in  a  twenty-four-page  catalog  designated  as  No.  15. 
Price  lists,  a  wiring  table,  current  required  by  motors  and  report  of  tests 
made  of  the  Daum  fuses  are  found  in  this  catalog. 

RECORDING  PRESSURE  GAGES.— Bulletin  No.  65.  issued  by  the 
Industrial  Instrument  Company,  Foxboro,  Mass.,  has  just  been  published 
and  refers  to  its  recording  gages,  listing  nearly  2000  different  pressure 
ranges,  in  three  sizes  of  dial.  These  cover  all  purposes  and  pressures 
from  full  vacuum  to  10,000  lb.  per  square  inch.  The  bulletin  is  fully 
illustrated  and  contains  brief  descriptions  of  the  constructive  features 
of   these   instruments. 

LIGHT  .  REGULATOR— The  dim-a-lite  (a  portable  attachment  for 
dimming  a  single  electric  lamp)  is  the  subject  of  a  sixteen-page  pamphlet 
issued  by  the  Wirt  Electric  Specialty  Company,  of  Germantown,  Pa. 
Poetical  quotations  on  various  shades  of  light,  showing  the  dim-a-Hte 
used  in  different  rooms  in  a  house,  and  short,  terse  sentences  referring 
specifically  to  the  use  of  the  lamp  in  the  room  illustrated,  including 
prices  and  a  report  of  a  Bureau  of  Standards  test  on  a  dim-a-lite,  com- 
plete this  booklet. 

ELECTRICAL  SPECIALTIES.— W.  N.  Matthews  &  Brother,  St. 
Louis,  are  sending  out  with  their  imprint  Catalog  No.  8,  compiled  by 
Mr.  Claude  L.  Matthews.  The  first  100  pages  are  devoted  to  descrip- 
tions and  illustrations  of  Matthews  specialties.  The  remainder  of  the 
book,  which  contains  152  pages,  is  made  up  of  useful  data  on  the  con- 
struction end  of  the  electrical  business.  Twenty- two  pages  of  diagrams 
and  illustrations  are  devoted  to  the  Matthews  guy  anchor,  showing  actual 
photographs  of  the  method  of  placing. 

ILLUMINATION  FOR  INSURANCE  COMPANIES  AND  BANKS. 
— Catalog  No.  408,  recently  distributed  by  the  H.  W.  Johns-Manville 
Company,  gives  in  very  attractive  form  a  description  of  the  applicationi 
of  Frink  reflectors  in  banks  and  insurance  offices  and  for  office  lighting 
in  general.  The  Johns-Manville  Company  is  the  sole  selling  agent  for 
the  I.  P.  Frink  lighting  specialties.  Among  the  special  applications  illus- 
trated are  reflector  arrangements  for  accountants'  desks,  large  file  racks, 
typewriter  desks,   wall   tables  and   cornice   lighting. 

AUTOMOBILE  AND  MOTOR-BOAT  LIGHTING.— A  bulletin  de- 
icribing  a  small  generator  for  furnishing  electric-lighting  service  on 
automobiles  and  motor  boats  has  been  issued  by  C.  F.  Splitdorf,  263 
Walton  Avenue,  New  York.  The  Splitdorf  generator  is  a  highly  efficient 
type  of  magneto  arranged  for  mounting  on  the  engine  base,  with  gear 
or  chain  drive.  The  lighting  or  ignition  service  is  obtained  from  a  bat- 
tery when  the  magneto  is  not  in  operation,  the  latter  being  cut  in  by  an 
automatic  governor   when  it  attains   sufficient  speed. 

ELECTRIC  WELDING  MACHINES.— An  exceedingly  attractive 
front  cover  invites  one  to  the  not  less  attractive  pages  of  the  catalog 
of  the  Thomson  Electric  Welding  Company,  Lynn.,  Mass.  A  page  with  a 
brief  description  and  clear  illustration  is  given  to  each  type  of  machine, 
and  a  list  of  the  industries  in  which  electric  welding  is  employed  shows 
the  wide  uses  of  electric  welding  machines.  Data  on  metals,  alloys  and 
combinations  of  different  metals  actually  welded  by  the  Thomson  process, 
besides  wire  data,  complete  a  very  creditable  catalog. 

COMBUSTION.— The  Uehling  Instrument  Company,  of  Passaic,  N.  J.. 
has  its  imprint  on  a  new  publication  containing  much  information  on 
combustion  and  boiler  efficiency,  boiler-room  economy,  losses  and  wastes. 
and  other  matters  of  interest  to  the  engineer.  In  the  16- page  booklet 
issued  by  the  Uehling  Company  on  its  CO2  meters  are  described  in  con- 
cise manner  the  CO2  and  waste  meters  and  the  recorders  and  indicators 
which  are  combined  in  different  ways  to  form  various  styles  of  CO2  and 
waste-meter   equipment.      Six   styles   of   machines   are    illustrated. 

PRESSURE  AND  TEMPERATURE  GAGES.— The  Industrial  Insiru 
incnt  Company,  Foxboro,  Mass.,  has  recently  distributed  its  Bulletin  No. 
60,  describing  the  Foxboro  indicating  and  recording  pressure  gages  for 
liquids  and  gases.  Numerous  types  are  attractively  illustrated  and  a 
full  table  of  dimensions  is  appended.  This  bulletin  also  describes  an 
industrial  dial  type  of  thermometer,  which  is  designed  for  conditions 
where  it  would  be  very  difficult  or  impossible  to  employ  a  glass-stem 
thermometer  of   the   ordinary  type.      A   full   price   list   is   included. 

DIESEL  ENGINES.— "The  Present  Status  of  the  Diesel  Engine  in 
Europe  and  a  Few  Reminiscences  of  the  Pioneer  Work  in  America"  is 
the  comprehensive  title  of  a  lecture  delivered  by  Dr.  Rudolf  Diesel  before 
various  engineering  societies,  colleges  and  universities.  A  reprint  of  this 
lecture  has  been  issued  by  the  Busch-Sulzer  Brothers-Diesel  Engine  Com- 
pany, of  St.  Louis,  Mo.  The  pamphlet  is  of  general  historic  interest. 
The  illustrations  and  descriptions  of  various  types  of  the  Diesel  engines 
in  many  and  diverse  installations  add  considerable  value  to  the  publica- 
tion. 

CABLE  TERMINALS. — Two  booklets  on  the  Davis  station  terminals 
have  been  issued,  one  asking  "Are  you  acquainted  with  Davis  station 
terminals?"  and  giving  to  the  unacquainted  information,  illustrations 
and  diagrams,  and  the  other,  entitled  "D.  O.  A.  Terminals,"  going 
quite  fully  into  its  subject  of  Davis  open-air  terminals.  Information  de- 
sirable   for    the    prospective    purchaser    in    making    inquiries    is    included. 


Both  booklets  are  printed  in  two  colors  and  they  are  uniform  in  size. 
They  have  been  issued  by  the  Standard  Underground  Cable  Company, 
Pittsburgh,   Fa.  . 

LAMP  ADVERTISEMENTS.— The  department  of  publicity  of  the 
"National  Quality"  lamp  division  of  the  General  Electric  Company  has 
compiled  and  is  distributing  a  "Mazda  Ad  Book."  containing  suggested 
models  for  newspaper  advertising  copy  suitable  for  use  by  central  sta- 
tions, electrical  dealers  and  contractors.  The  advertisements,  which  set 
forth  the  advantages  of  electric  light  and  of  "National  Quality"  Mazda 
lamps,  are  well  written  and  attractively  illustrated.  Successful  results 
are  being  reported  by  the  various  concerns  which  have  followed  out  the 
suggestions   given. 

ALUMINUM  CONDUCTORS.— The  British  Aluminum  Company, 
Limited,  109  Queen  Victoria  Street,  London,  E.  C,  England,  has  recently 
distributed  a  pamphlet  entitled  "The  Characteristics  of  Aluminum  Over- 
head Line  Conductors,"  prepared  by  Mr.  E.  V.  Pannell.  The  contents 
of  this  pamphlet  appeared  .originally  in  the  London  Electrical  Review 
and  were  abstracted  in  the  Electrical  World's  Digest  in  the  issues  of 
June  1  and  June  8.  This  pamphlet  will  be  of  special  interest  to  engi- 
neers and  others  contemplating  the  use  of  aluminum  conductors  for  the 
transmission   of   electrical    energy. 

ELECTRICAL  INSTRUMENTS.— Pressure  and  vacuum  gages  are 
illustrated  and  described  on  a  large  scale  in  Catalog  No.  1000,  issued 
by  the  Bristol  Company,  Waterbury,  Conn.  Full-size  facsimile  sections 
of  a  12-in.  chart  with  record  of  draft  in  sack  for  a  B.  &  W.  boiler,  as 
recorded  by  a  Bristol  recording  vacuum  gage,  are  given,  as  is  another 
similar  chart  with  a  twenty-four-hour  record  of  top  gas  pressure,  recorded 
by  one  of  the  company's  combination  pressure  and  vacuum  gages  con- 
nected to  a  gas  main  near  the  dust  catcher  of  a  large  blast  furnace. 
Copies  of  other   sample  charts  are  included. 

ELECTRICAt-  SUPPLIES.— A  massive  catalog  has  recently  been 
issued  by  the  Central  Electric  Company,  320  Fifth  Avenue,  Chicago,  111. 
It  is  thoroughly  complete,  no  detail  apparently  having  been  overlooked. 
Value  is  added  by  the  excellent  indexing  and  cross-indexing.  Any  given 
material  or  apparatus  can  be  located  immediately.  The  catalog  contains 
also  much  descriptive  material  of  definite  value  to  every  user  of  electrical 
supplies.  The  book  is  bound  in  cloth  and  has  been  produced  at  much 
expense.  It  is  a  distinctive  addition  to  catalog  literature  and  its  publish- 
ers are  to  be  commended  on  its  production. 

RAILWAY  SUPPLIES.— Catalog  No.  12  of  the  Ohio  Brass  Com- 
pany, Mansfield,  Ohio,  with  its  490  pages,  covers  the  complete  line  of 
appliances  used  in  the  construction,  maintenance  and  operation  of  elec- 
tric railways,  mine  haulage  systems  and  transmission  lines  manufactured 
by  this  company.  The  description  and  illustration  of  each  appliance 
is  followed  (on  the  same  page  in  most  instances)  with  the  price  list. 
Various  tables  of  comparative  weights  of  solid  copper  and  aluminum 
wires  and  cables,  properties  of  bare  and  insulated  stranded  copper  cable 
and   others   of  value   to   the   street   railway   man   are   included. 

DIRECT-CURRENT  MACHINERY.— The  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company  has  recently  issued  the  following  leaflets  de- 
scribing the  various  forms  of  direct-current  apparatus  mentioned  below: 
No.  2303,  on  crane  motors,  detailed  and  completed  views  being  shown; 
Nos.  2313,  2314  and  2315,  on  commutating-pole  mine  motors;  No.  2464, 
rheostats  for  motors;  No.  2377,  box- frame  inter  pole  railway  motor  for 
locomotive  work;  No.  2376,  box-frame  interpole  railway  motoi*  for  use 
on  600-1200-volt  service;  No.  2370,  various  details  of  railway  motors  such 
as  bearings,  brush  holders,  commutators,  field  coils,  etc.;  No.  2368,  strap- 
wound  armature  coils  of  railway  motors — this  leaflet  contains  a  reprint 
from  the  Electric  Railway  Journal  on  the  subject  "Square  Wire  or 
Strap  Copper  Construction" ;  No.  2444,  equalizer  flywheel  hoisting  sets — 
this  leaflet  shows  application  and  diagrammatic  views  of  these  sets  and 
contains  a  full  explanation  of  their  method  of  operation;  No.  2393,  dy- 
namotor  compressor   for    1200-1500-volt   service. 


Business  Notes 


MR.  ADOLPII  C.  KRIEGER,  formerly  publicity  manager  of  the  Busch- 
Sulzer  Brothers  Diesel  Engine  Company,  has  opened  an  office  at  916  V^ic- 
toria  Building.  St,  Louis,  Mo.,  for  the  sale  of  the  Tacchella  oil-burning 
device,  which  is  described  as  being  suitable  for  domestic  heating  purposes, 
japanning  and  annealing  ovens,  baking  ovens,  cooking  ranges,  etc. 

GENERAL  VEHICLE  COMPANY.— Recent  sales  made  by  the  General 
\'^ehicle  Company  include  an  initial  order  from  the  Consolidated  Gas  Com- 
pany, New  York,  for  five  2000-lb.  and  three  750-lb.  trucks;  from  the  Kin- 
gan  Packing  Company,  an  additional  order  for  two  3j/2-ton  trucks,  to  be 
used  in  Richmond,  Va. ;  two  additional  tower  wagons  for  the  Milwaukee 
Railway  &  Light  Company,  and  four  additional  wagons  for  the  Hartford 
Electric  Light  Company.  The  General  Vehicle  Company  is  now  build- 
ing delivery   wagons  for   nine   different   department  stores. 

THE  NIAGARA  SEARCH  LIGHT  COMPANY.— Among  the  exhibits 
at  the  electrical  jobbers*  meeting  held  at  the  Clifton  Hotel,  Niagara  Falls, 
Ont.,  Aug.  14,  15  and  16,  was  the  display  of  the  Niagara  Search  Light 
Company,  which  manufactures  portable  lamps  in  different  styles  and  types, 
one  of  the  largest  of  which  is  intended  for  use  by  fire  department  chiefs. 
Smaller  sizes  and  styles  are  made  for  attachment  to  the  helmets  of  fire- 
men and  the  caps  of  bands  and  other  uniformed  organizations.  Hand 
types  are  also  made  for  use  in  automobiles,  motor  boats  and  by  hunters 
and  campers.  On  the  evening  of  Aug.  14  a  band  of  twenty  pieces 
equipped  with  cap  lamps  serenaded  the  jobbers. 


432 


ELECTRICAL     \\'  O  R  L  D 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  8. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED   STATES    PATENTS    ISSUED    AUG.    13.    1912. 

[Prepared   by    Robert   Starr   AUyn,    16   Exchange   Place,    New    York.] 

1,035,133.  ELECTROLYTIC  CELL;  E.  A.  Allen,  Portland,  Me.  App. 
filed  Aug.  24,    1907.      Diaphragm   type  for  saline  solutions. 

1,035,1.49.  INCANDESCENT  ELECTRIC  LAMP  SOCKET:  C.  H.  Bis- 
sell.  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Oct.  6,  1910.  Rotary-button,  snap 
tj-pe. 

1,035,157.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  H.  P.  Clausen,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed  March  23,  1901.  Central-station  energy  with  retardation  coils 
as  relays. 

1,035,158.;  TELEPHONE  APPAR.-\TUS;  H.  P.  Clausen,  Chicago,  111. 
App.  filed  March  11,  1903.  Subscribers'  set  for  cutting  down  "side 
tones." 

1,035,172.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM:  A.  H.  Dyson,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed  July  24,  1903.  All-metal-line  connection  with  lamp  signals  and 
line  and  supervisory  relays. 

1.035,167.  BATTERY  PLATE;  E.  G.  Dodge,  South  Orange,  N.  J. 
App.  filed  Dec.  26,  1908.  Enameled-iron  backing  with  compressed 
copper  oxide. 

1.035.172.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  A.  H.  Dyson,  Chicafo,  111.  .^pp. 
filed  April  14,  1902.  Trunking  system  between  a  centralized  call 
exchange  and  a  common-battery  exchange. 

1.035.173.  TELEPHONE  APPAR.ATUS;  A.  H.  Dyson,  Chicago,  111. 
App.  filed  July  24,  1903.  Trunking  system  with  central  common- 
battery  and  metallic-lined  connections  with  the  substations. 

1,035.;78.  ELECTRIC  BATTERY:  C.  D.  Gallowav.  Jr..  Elizabeth. 
N.  J.     App.   filed  Feb.    1,   1912.     A  vented  secondary  battery. 

1,035,204.  SYSTEM  FOR  MEASURING  THE  CAPACITY  OF  ELEC- 
TRICAL CONDUCTORS;  O.  M.  Leich  and  C.  E.  Hague.  Rochester. 
N.  Y.  App.  filed  July  16,  1907.  An  electrical  key  operates 
mechanism   for  charging  and  discharging  conductors. 

1,035.212.     INSULATOR;    L.    McCarthy,    Boston,    Mass.      App.    filed  Jan. 

21,  1911.     A  coupling  for  light   fixtures,  ball-strains  and  trolley-wire 
insulators. 

1,035.215.     ELECTRODE.     M.  McGary,  Helmar,  Idaho.     App.  filed  April 

22,  1909.     A  metal  casing  to  contain  a  sponge. 

1.035.227.  ELECTRIC  CONNECTOR;  L.  F.  Parkhurst,  Binghamton. 
N.  Y.  App.  filed  Nov.  25.  1911.  For  connecting  a  flat-ribbon  resist- 
ance and  a  round  or  stranded  conductor. 

1,035,231.  INSULATOR:  L.  M.  Randolph,  Newark,  N.  J.  App.  filed 
Oct.   17,   1910.     A  metal  center  with  porcelain  petticoat. 

1,035.247.  MEANS  FOR  ATTACHING  BINDING  POSTS  TO  DRY 
B.-\TTERIES;  \V.  A.  Scott,  Tacoma,  Wash.  App.  filed  Nov.  11. 
1911.     Slotted   engagement  between   the   post  and   the  zinc. 

1,035,249.  LOCOMOTIVE  CURRENT-SUPPLYING  MECHANISM; 
F.  L.  Sessions,  Columbus,  Ohio.  App.  filed  Feb.  18,  1908.  Trolley 
device  for  mine  use. 


1,035,231.— Insulator. 


1.035,257.  INSTRUMENT  FOR  TEACHING  TELEGRAPHIC  CODES: 
T.  M.  St.  John,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Aug.  8,  1910.  A 
metal   plate    with   insulating    enamel    forming   dot    and    dash    patterns. 

1,035,280.  MANUFACTURE  OF  STEEL;  VV.  R.  Walker,  New  York, 
N.  Y._  App.  filed  April  28,  1911.  Blown  metal  is  refined  in  an  acid 
electric  furnace  and  then  transferred  to  a  mixing  ladle. 

1,035,292.  SOUNDER:  E.  C.  Wood,  Somerville,  Mass.  App.  filed  Sept. 
22t   1909.     Vibrating  device  for  submarine  signaling. 

1.035.325.  B-XTTERY  ELEMENT:  E.  G.  Dodge.  South  Orange,  N.  J. 
App,   filed   Dec.   26,    1908.      Enameled-iron   backing   with   zinc   surface. 

1.035.326.  PROCESS  OF  MAKING  B.\TTERY  PLATES;  E.  G.  Dodge. 
South  Orange,  N.  J.  App.  filed  Dec.  26,  1908.  Depolarizing  material 
is  compressed  on  an  enameled  surface  and  then  fired. 

1,035,334.  WIRELESS  TELEGR.\PHY;  R.  A.  Fessenden.  Brant  Rock, 
Mass.  App.  filed  July  19,  1909.  A  shield  for  apparatus  in  an  iron 
battleship,  etc. 

1.035,338.  LIGHTNING  ARRESTER;  F.  T.  Forster,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
.App.  filed  Dec.  12,  1908.  Aluminum  type  having  a  plurality  of  cells 
in  a  single  tank. 


•App. 


1,035,354.  SIGNAL  TRANSMITTER;  W.  Kaisling,  Chicago.  111.  App. 
filed  May  3,  1907.     Semi-automatic  telephone  desk  stand. 

1.035355.  TELEPHONE  SUPPORT;  W.  Kaisling,  Chicago,  111.  .\pp. 
hied   May  3,    1907.      Automatic  telephone  desk  stand  with   finger-hold. 

1.035,373.  ALTERNATING-CLIRRENT  INDUCTION  MOTOR;  B.  Mc- 
Collum,  Washmgton,  D.  C.  App.  filed  March  11,  1912.  Closed- 
slot  type  with  thin  magnetic  bands. 

1,035.380.  SUPPORT  AND  HOUSING  FOR  ELECTRIC-SWITCH 
MOUNTING;  S.  Morris,  Hartford,  Conn.  App.  filed  July  23,  1909. 
.\   V-shaped  supporting  member  for  a  flush  wall  switch. 

1.035,394.  ALTERNATING-CURRENT  DISTRIBUTING  SY.STEM;  S 
D.  Sprong  and  W.  E.  McCoy,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Oct.  16, 
1911.  A  plurality  of  interconnected  transformers  with  an  overload 
fuse. 

1,035,415.     INSUL.\TOR;    R.    L.    and    G.    Brown.    Mavview,    Mo. 
filed  March  1,   1911.     Pin  insulator  with  lateral  slots. 

1,035443.  COMBINED  COUPLING  AND  NIPPLE  FOR  ELECTRIC 
OUTLET  BOXES;  O.  Von  Humrick,  Detroit,  Mich.  App.  filed  May 
16,   1910.      Connection  for  conduit. 

1,035,489.  APPARATL:S  FOR  THE  PRODUCTION  OF  OZONE:  J. 
Steynis,  Bayshore,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Jan.  IS,  1911.  Tubular  type. 
(See  Process  Patent  No.  906,468.) 

1.035.493.  TELEPHONE-LINE  SELECTIVE-SWITCH  DEVICE;  J.  H. 
Swanson,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  .-^pp.  filed  March  8.  1910.  Substation 
apparatus.      (Improvement  on  Patent  No.  941,743.) 

1.035.494.  TROLLEY  WHEEL;  W.  F.  Swoveland,  Altoona,  Pa.  App. 
filed  Jan.    14,    1910.      Spring-supported. 

1,035,499.  CABLE-ARMOR  JOINT;  W.  P.  Traver  and  L.  F.  Theis,  San 
Francisco,  Cal.  App.  filed  April  5,  1912,  Threaded  bars  for  reliev- 
ing strain. 

1,035,501.  ELECTRICAL  DEVICE  FOR  CONTROLLING  FROM  A 
DISTANCE  ANY  NUMBER  OF  MOVEMENTS;  P.  Viry,  Suresnes, 
France.  -App.  filed  Aug.  9,  1909.  .•\  vibratory  controlling  device. 
For  projectors,  enunciators,  etc. 

1.035.541.  AMALGAMATOR:  C.  F.  Cropsey,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed 
Aug.  15,  1910.     Rotatable  device  for  extracting  ore  from  fluids. 

1,035,555.  ELECTRIC  HEATER;  E.  C.  Donaldson,  Detroit,  Mich.  App. 
filed  Nov.   5,   1910.     Electric  lamp  pad. 

1.035,563.  SAFETY  DEVICE  FOR  ELECTRIC-CURRENT  MACHIN- 
ERY; J.  M.  S.  Fontecha,  Mexico,  Mexico.  .\pp.  filed  Oct.  11,  1911. 
Knife-blade  switch  type. 

1,035,568.  TELAUTOGRAPH:  R.  T.  Frazier,  Jr.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
.■\pp.  filed  .\ug.  17,  1908.  Movement  of  a  stylus  controls  the  action 
of  three  coils  in  different  planes. 

1,035,572.  ALARM-SOUNDING  DEVICE;  R.  A.  Gasch,  Seattle,  Wash. 
-App.  filed  April  29,   1911.     Boiler-pressure  alarm. 

1.035,577.  TELEPHONE  RECEIVER;  S.  P.  Grace,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
App.  filed  Oct.  17,  1910.  A  rotating  metallic  disk  for  magnifying 
sound. 

1.035,581.  APPARATUS  FOR  PRODUCING  ENDOTHERMIC  RE- 
ACTIONS IN  G.ASES:  P.  A.  and  C.  A.  Guye,  Geneva,  Switzerland. 
App.  filed  Dec.  14,  1908.  A  plurality  of  vertical  tubes  for  the  fixation 
of  nitrogen. 

1.035,593.  MOTOR  STARTER;  C.  Jewell.  Baltimore,  Md.  App.  filed 
Jan.  21,  1911.  Automatic  starter  with  solenoids  and  cushioning 
devices. 

1.035.596.  ELECTRIC  FURNACE:  M.  J.  Johnson,  Naugatuck,  Conn. 
App.  filed  Dec.  1,  1910.  A  quartz  lining,  a  resistance  layer,  an  insu- 
lating layer  and  an  aluminum  casing. 

1,035,608.  METHOD  OF  SMELTING  SULPHIDE  ORES:  S.  B.  Ladd, 
Washington,  D.  C.  .\pp.  filed  July  3,  1906.  Heat  is  electrically  devel- 
oped in  the  molten  bath  beneath  the  charge. 

1,035.633.  .APPARATUS  FOR  CLEANING  METAL  ARTICLES:  J.  D. 
Phillips  and  C.  Hambuechen,  Madison,  Wis.  App.  filed  June  22,  1911. 
A  perforated  zinc  container  with  a  tinned  grid. 

1,035,684.  METHOD  OF  PRODUCING  COMPOUNDS  OF  O.XYGEN 
.\ND  NITROGEN:  P.  Punet  and  A.  Badin,  Salindres,  France.  .\pp. 
filed  July  22,  1909.  An  a'-c  is  formed  in  a  restricted  space  and  extin- 
guished by  a  cooling  fluid. 

1,035,692.  .AD-APTER;  T.  Deaderick,  Nashville,  Tenn.  .Npp.  filed  Oct. 
16,   1911.     For  flush  plugs  with  screw  socket. 

1,035,705.  RAILW.\Y  SIGNALING  SYSTEM;  L.  F.  Howard,  Edge- 
wood  Park,  Pa.  App.  filed  .April  23,  1910.  Polyphase  transmission 
with  compensating  means. 

1,035,710.  HOT-BEARING  .ALARM;  R.  J.  Jobson,  Kinston,  N.  C. 
App.  filed  Jan.  27,  1911.     Chamber  with  mercury  and  contact. 

1,035,717.  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE;  J.  C.  Macfarlane  and  H. 
Burge,  Chelmsford,  England.  App.  filed  April  5,  1909.  Single-ring 
armature  with  meter  and  generator  windings. 

1,035,723.  METHOD  AND  APPAR.ATUS  FOR  PRODUCING  CHEM- 
ICAL REACTIONS  IN  .A  MASS  OF  GASES;  A.  A.  Naville  and 
P.  A.  and  C.  E.  Guye,  Geneva,  Switzerland.  App.  filed  Sept.  28,  1906. 
Magnetically  rotatecl  arc  with  continuous  gas  supply. 

1,035.767.  TROLLEY  WHEEL  AND  SWITCH:  S.  L.  Barringer, 
Winston  Salem,  N.  C.  App.  filed  Oct.  28,  1911.  Switch-frog  guide 
plate. 

1,035.777.  PROCESS  OF  IMPREGN.ATING  SUBSTANCES;  A.  R. 
Bullock,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  -App.  filed  Dec.  17.  1910.  Chemical  treat- 
ment of  meat,  hides,  etc.,  in  the  presence  of  a  magnetic  field. 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American   Electrician. 


iV 


> 


V'OL.    60. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  AUGUST  31,  1912. 


No.  9. 


PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  BY 

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NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  AUGUST  31,  1912, 


CONTENTS. 

Editorials     433 

Launching  of  the  U.    S.  Collier  "Jupiter" 436 

1  lecree   in   the   Lincoln   High-Tension    Case 436 

Philadelphia    Electric    Company    Secures    26,200-kw    Load 436 

Decision  in   Des  Moines  Gas  Case 436 

A.  I.   E.   E.   Affairs 437 

New  England  Section  N.   E.   L.  A.   Convention   Plans 437 

Program  of   September  Meeting  of  American   Electrochemical   Society  437 

Boston    Information    Bureau  Transferred 438 

Celebration   -\ttending  the  Installation   of  Luminous-Arc  Lamp  Stand- 
ards in  Utica,   N.   Y 438 

Convention  Program  of  the  Pennsylvania  Electric  -Association 438 

Hydroelectric  Power  for  Halifax,  N.  S 439 

Public   Service  Commission  News 439 

Current   News  and    Notes .|,. w,^,. .   440 

Development  on  East  Canada  Creek ^._. .:....,.  ^  443 

Use  cf  Electrical  Energy  in  the  Mines  of  the'Empire  Histriit*.  ...*.'..  ."^45 
Electrical  .Apparatus  for  Measuring  Power.     By  Charles  R.  Moore....    449 

Properties  of  a  Triangular  .Aerial.     By  Charles  A.   Culver 452 

The    Possibilities    of    Tidal    Power 453 

Electric  Furnaces  for  Zinc  Reduction 453 

The  Central   Station  and  Great  Movements 454 

Central-Station  Energy  for  Railroad  Switch  and  Signal  Service 454 

Reducing  Complaints  on  High  Bills 454 

Selling    Electricity    to    Col'eges 455 

New  .\t)pIication  for  Electric  Iron 455 

Promptness    in    Connecting    New    Customers 456 

Billboard  Advertising  in    San   Francisco 456 

Concrete  Versus   Wooden  Poles 456 

Corner    Construction    for   50,000-VoIt    Line 457 

Joint    Pole-Line    Construction 457 

Recent    Telephone    Patents '. 458 

Digest  of  Current   E'ectrical   Literature 459 

Book     Reviews 462 

New  -\pparatus  and  .Appliances 463 

Lndustrial   and   Financial    News 466 

Weekly    Record    of    Electrical    Patents 476 


CARRYING  COALS  TO  NEWCASTLE. 

It  might  seem  at  first  tliought  that  an  electrical  distri- 
hution  from  steam-driven  generators,  operative  in  a  ter- 
ritory supplied  with  gas  and  extremely  cheap  coal,  would 
encounter  commercial  difficulties  of  an  almost  insurmount- 
ahle  character.  Even  a  decade  ago  the  supposition  would 
have  been  painfully  true,  yet  to-day  in  regular  commercial 
work  and  en  a  businesslike  basis  the  thing  is  being  done, 
as  the  work  in  the  Empire  mining  district,  which  we  de- 
scribe elsewhere,  very  plainly  shows.  This  district  lies 
in  the  Missouri  and  Kansas  territory  long  known  as  the 
center  of  the  lead  and  zinc  mining  industries.  In  the 
region  are  more  than  600  mines  in  operation,  varying  from 
the  holdings  of  big  corporations  to  the  little  holes  in  the 
ground  through  which  an  industrious  man  has  dug  a  small 
fortune  out  of  his  own  back  yard.  This  whole  territory 
is  now  served  by  the  Empire  District  Electric  Company, 
which  has  in  operation  nine  generating  stations,  nineteen 
substations,  100  miles  of  33, ooo-volt  transmission  lines 
and  an  equal  mileage  of  2300-volt  distribution  circuits.  It 
serves,  besides,  the  running  needs  of  a  scattered  community 
of  more  than  150,000  people  and  165  miles  of  interurban 
railway.  This  service  of  itself  is  not  remarkable,  but 
that  it  should  grow  and  prosper  where  gas  can  be  had 
for  25  cents  per  1000  cu.  ft.  and  coal  is  somewhere  about 
$2  per  ton  speaks  volumes  for  the  practical  advantages  of 
electric  power. 

Mining,  however,  involves  peculiar  conditions  in  the 
use  of  power,  and  experience  has  shown  that  under  the 
circumstances  of  average  use  the  power  costs  in  mining 
run  abnormally  high.  For  instance,  in  one  case  of  mine 
pumping  it  was  found  that  even  with  fuel  gas  at  only  12.5 
cents  per  1000  cu.  ft.  the  actual  fuel  cost  per  1000  gal. 
pumped  rose  to  4.8  cents.  When  the  steam  pump  was  (lis- 
carded  and  an  electric  pump  installed  in  its  place  the  cost 
for  the  power  fell  to  8.3  mills  per  1000  gals.  In  addition 
to  more  than  100  pumping  installations,  many  motor-driven 
.  air  compressors  are  in  use,  with  hoists  and  other  equip- 
ment, bringing  th.e  total  connected  motor  load  up  to  about 
25,000  hp.  The  load  curve  of  the  system  is  unusual  on 
account  of  the  mining  service,  with  a  long  peak  from 
9  a.  m.  to  3  p.  m.,  rising  to  some  11,000  hp.  Building 
up  such  a  business  is  no  easy  matter,  for,  as  usual,  the 
users  of  power  have  no  exact  knowledge  of  its  real  cost, 
yet  load  is  steadily  being  secured  in  spite  of  the  very 
low  nominal  cost  of  fuel.  One  exceptional  feature  of  the 
practice  here  is  the  very  large  use  of  2300-volt  induction 
motors,  all  above  30  hp  being  thus  wound  for  the  regular 
distribution  voltage.  Taken  altogether,  the  system  is  a 
beautiful  example  of  the  adaptability  of  electric  drive  in 
the  face  of  cheap  gas  and  coal.  In  convenience  and  effi- 
ciency the  electric  motor  wins  on  its  merits,  so  that  it  can 


434 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9. 


be  made  to  pay  under  competitive  conditions  at  first  thought 
quite  hopeless.  We  have  seldom  seen  so  admirable  a 
demonstration  of  the  possibilities  of  electric  power  distri- 
bution. 


THE  GENERAL  ELECTRIC  STOCK  DIVIDEND. 

It  was  a  pleasant  task  for  the  stockholders  of  the  General 
Electric  Company,  when  they  met  on  Aug.  29,  to  vote 
their  approval  of  the  stock  increase  from  $80,000,000  to 
$105,000,000,  for  $23,000,000  of  this  stock  is  to  be  given 
to  the  present  holders  as  a  bonus  amounting  to  $30  per 
share.  With  their  shares  selling  at  150  ex  the  30  per  cent 
stock  dividend,  the  General  Electric  shareholders  will  re- 
ceive a  gift  having  an  aggregate  market  value  of  about 
$42,000,000,  on  which  at  the  present  rate  they  will  receive 
dividends  amounting  to  $1,850,000  annually.  The  plan  to 
issue  as  needed  $60,000,000  of  5  per  cent  debentures  "for 
the  future  financial  needs  of  the  company"  indicates  the 
possibility  of  an  even  more  liberal  dividend  policy  than  has 
been  pursued  in  the  past  when  needed  funds  have  been 
obtained  by  the  issuance  of  additional  stock. 

One  of  the  first  thoughts  occasioned  by  the  cutting  of  the 
General  Electric  "melon"  is  that  it  affords  impressive 
evidence  of  the  progress  and  prosperity  of  the  electrical 
industry  as  a  whole.  This  progress,  in  so  far  as  it  relates 
to  the  General  Electric  Company,  was  graphically  exhibited 
in  the  financial  review  published  in  the  Electrical  IVorld 
Aug.  3.  The  gross  business  of  the  company  is  now  even 
larger  than  shown  in  that  review,  being  considerably  above 
$90,000,000  a  year — a  threefold  increase  over  the  sales  of 
$32,000,000  in  1902.  Ten  years  ago  the  company  had  a 
working  capital  of  $23,000,000,  cash  on  hand  amounting  to 
$4,000,000,  15,000  employees  and  a  plant  area  of  2,500,000 
sq.  ft.  To-day  it  has  a  working  capital  of  $63,000,000,  cash 
amounting  to  $20,000,000,  42,000  employees  and  10,000,000 
sq.  ft.  of  floor  space.  Its  net  earnings  last  year  were  13.6 
per  cent  and  in  1910  16.6  per  cent  on  its  capital  stock.  In 
this  connection  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  asset  column 
of  the  company's  report  includes  only  a  nominal  sum  as 
representing  its  immensely  valuable  patents,  trade-marks 
and  good-will.  Its  book  values  of  $20,000,000,  after 
charging  off  nearly  $8,000,000  in  the  past  two  years,  stand 
for  tangible,  not  intangible,  assets.  Twenty  years  ago  the 
company  entered  its  patents  and  rights  at  a  valuation  of 
$8,000,000.  Now,  when  these  rights  are  vastly  more 
valuable,  they  are  put  down  at  $1  in  the  annual  report.  Com- 
pare this  with  the  Sears,  Roebuck  Company's  $30,000,000  of 
good-will,  the  Underwood  Typewriter's  $8,000,000  of 
patents,  etc.,  and  the  enormous  sums  at  which  smaller  in- 
dustrials carry  these  items,  and  the  General  Electric  book- 
keeping is  seen  to  be  the  extreme  of  conservatism. 

Viewed  statistically  from  any  angle  the  position  of  the 
company  warrants  the  stock  increase  voted  and  whicli  it 
was  announced  is  "in  partial  recognition  of  dividends  which 
in  prior  years  have  been  omitted  or  reduced."  As  to  this, 
7  per  cent  cumulative  dividends  on  the  preferred  stock  up 
to  the  time  it  was  converted  to  common  were  all  paid.  With 
the  exception  of  two  years  the  common  paid  no  dividends 
until  1899,  but  a  distribution  of  $25,000,000  is  far  in  excess 
of   any    amount    that    the    common    stockholders    might    in 


reason  have  received  from  1894  to  1899.  A  better  explana- 
tion, it  would  seem,  is  that  the  company  has  earned  and 
reinvested  $25,000,000,  which  is  now  to  be  turned  over  to 
the  shareholders  in  the  form  of  stock  certificates.  If  its 
equivalent  had  not  been  invested  in  the  securities  of  other 
companies,  the  distribution  might  already  have  been  made 
in  cash.  Granting — and  it  appears  to  have  been  demon- 
strated— that  this  stock  dividend  satisfies  the  acid  test  of 
sound  finance,  there  is  little  more  to  be  said  except  by  way 
of  speculation  upon  what  might  have  happened  if,  as  some 
of  our  leading  publicists  advocate,  we  had  the  same  regula- 
tion of  great  industrial  companies  that  we  nov/  have,  in 
many  cases,  of  public-service  corporations.  Under  those 
circumstances  would  an  industrial  commission,  guided  by 
the  general  rules  applied  to  public-service  companies, 
approve  the  General  Electric  stock  distribution? 


ELECTRICAL  APPARATUS  FOR  MEASURING  POWER. 

Power  is  essentially  a  double-component  quantity.  In 
the  typical  electric  circuit  it  has  for  its  components  volts 
and  amperes.  In  the  typical  case  of  translatory  power  the 
components  are  force  and  velocity.  In  the  case  of  rotatory 
power  the  components  are  torque  and  angular  velocity. 
In  the  direct-current  electric  circuit  it  is  optional  to  measure 
power  either  by  multiplying  the  readings  of  voltmeter  and 
ammeter  or  to  employ  a  wattmeter — a  single  instrument 
which  indicates  the  power  directly.  In  measuring  me- 
chanical power  there  is  ordinarily  no  option;  the  two  com- 
ponents must  be  measured  separately,  and  the  power  is 
then  obtained  from  their  product.  Prof.  Charles  R.  Moore, 
however,  describes  in  this  number  an  ingenious  electricial 
device  for  measuring  mechanical  power  in  the  reading  of 
a  single  instrument.  This  instrument  is,  therefore,  an 
electrical  wattmeter  for  measuring  mechanical  power. 

The  new  method  depends  upon  the  vector  sum  of  two  co- 
frequent  sinusoidal  emfs.  Each  of  the  two  component  emfs 
is  directly  proportional  to  the  angular  velocity,  and  their 
resultant  is,  for  any  given  speed,  directly  proportional  to 
the  torque,  approximately;  that  is,  within  a  correction  ratio 
of  the  sine  of  an  angle  to  the  angle  itself.  Over  a  reason- 
able range  of  small  to  moderate  angles  this  correction  is 
relatively  small,  and  by  changing  the  spring  coupling  the 
range  of  available  torque  may  be  extended  as  far  as  may 
be  necessary.  Such  a  device,  after  being  duly  calibrated, 
gives  the  mechanically  transmitted  power  as  the  reading 
of  one  alternating-current  voltmeter  connected  in  circuit 
with  the  two  armatures. 

For  many  engineering  purposes  SlacIi  a  direct-reading 
device  might  offer  considerable  advantages.  The  limita- 
tion of  wattmeter  range  without  changing  springs  would 
seem  to  be  the  least  favorable  attribute.  The  power  con- 
sumed in  the  device  itself  need  be  only  a  very  small  fraction 
of  the  power  delivered,  and  the  principle  on  which  the 
device  operates  is  a  very  interesting  one.  In  cases,  how- 
ever, where  the  transmitted  mechanical  power  must  be 
measured  with  the  greatest  possible  precision  it  remains  to 
be  shown  whether  greater  accuracy  cannot  be  secured  by 
independent  measurements  of  torque  and  velocity  than  by  a 
compounding  device  of  this  character,  since  corrections  of 
several  different  types  have  to  be  taken  into  account. 


August  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


435 


THE  BUSINESS  SITUATION. 

The  general  tone  of  optimism  in  reference  to  the  business 
situation  and  trade  in  general,  which  appears  to  be  wide- 
spread, excites  considerable  comment  in  the  face  of  a  com- 
plex political  situation.  It  has  long  been  a  tradition  that 
business  marks  time  during  Presidential  campaigns,  but 
contrary  to  expectations  there  seems  to  be  a  rising  wave  of 
business  activity,  even  in  the  face  of  national  political  con- 
ditions quite  as  uncertain  and  complex  as  we  have  seen  for 
two  decades.  Agricultural  prosperity  lies  at  the  foundation 
of  our  national  well-being  and  the  prospects  for  large  crops 
this  year  are  excellent.  Other  indications,  such  as  grad- 
ually increasing  bank  clearings,  predictions  of  a  car  short- 
age among  the  railroads,  increasing  net  earnings  of  public- 
utility  companies  and  a  larger  volume  of  unfilled  orders 
among  industrial  concerns,  all  point  to  the  same  general 
conclusion.  Moreover,  we  have  passed  sufficiently  beyond 
the  1907  panic  to  expect  that  the  succeeding  retrenchment 
ought  now  to  commence  yielding  tangible  results.  In  order, 
however,  that  we  may  not  assume  a  degree  of  complacence 
over  the  situation  which  is  unwarranted,  it  will  pay  to 
remember  that  we  have  still  with  us  the  high  cost  of  living, 
an  inequitable  tariff  and  an  obsolete  currency  system. 

The  electrical  industry,  in  particular,  shares  the  optimism 
which  seems  generally  to  prevail.  The  large  manufacturers 
report  a  good  volume  of  business  and  more  unfilled  orders 
than  a  year  ago.  The  chief  note  of  complaint  arises  over 
low  prices,  which  of  itself  is  a  good  sign  when  viewed  in 
the  light  of  events  since  the  panic  and  the  history  of  the 
rise  and  fall  of  business.  Evidently  we  are  near  that  point 
in  the  cycle  of  trade  changes  where  price  cutting,  suc- 
ceeding a  period  of  distress  and  inactivity,  is  commencing 
to  show  results  in  stimulating  business.  Contractors,  job- 
bers and  supply  dealers  report  a  satisfactory  volume  of 
trade,  but  complain  that  with  the  low  prices  and  keen  com- 
petition prevailing  they  must  do  considerably  more  business 
than  last  year  to  earn  equal  net  profits.  The  lamp  business 
is  also  reported  as  excellent.  Many  new  projects  and  de- 
velopments are  under  way  and  the  public  utility  companies 
are  constantly  making  needed  extensions.  The  copper  situa- 
tion, although  the  market  price  is  altogether  high  enough — 
possibly  too  high — is  affected  by  a  reduced  supply  of  the 
.  metal  as  compared  with  last  year,  A  further  rise  in  price, 
lately  predicted,  will  not  be  a  good  thing,  as  a  whole,  for 
the  industry,  because  it  is  certain  to  react  and  swing  upward 
the  prices  of  all  electrical  goods  at  an  unhealthy  rate.  This 
always  adds  zest  to  the  search  for  substitutes  for  copper, 
and  each  upward  swing  in  the  cycle  of  prices  serves  to 
establish  more  firmly  in  general  usage  any  substitutes  avail- 
able, and  emphasizes  the  great  possibilities  of  aluminum 
under  a  lower  tariflf. 


A  STUDY  OF  CENTRAL-STATION  DESIGN. 

The  attention  of  those  of  our  readers  who  are  particularly 
interested  in  central-station  work  should  be  directed  to  a 
paper  by  Mr.  G.  Klingenberg,  briefly  abstracted  in  the 
Digest  of  our  issues  of  Aug.  10  and  17  and  again  this  week. 
The  original  papers  should  be  particularly  commended  to 
those  interested  in  the  design  of  large  central  stations  as 
showing  the  trend  of  foreign  practice.     The  point  on  which 


the  author  lays  particular  stress  is  the  design  of  the  station 
with  reference  to  meeting  conditions  imposed  by  the  load- 
factor.  Some  interesting  examples  of  typical  load  distribu- 
tions point  the  moral  thus  drawn,  and  the  bearing  of  the 
load  distribution  and  the  efficiency  characteristics  of  the 
generating  sets  under  various  load  conditions  are  gone  into 
with  far  greater  detail  than  is  usual  in  studies  of  this  kind. 
In  the  matter  of  station  design  the  very  general  use  of  the 
horizontal  type  of  turbine  in  European  stations  produces 
some  interesting  modifications  in  arrangement  which,  in 
view  of  the  increasing  employment  of  the  horizontal  type  in 
this  country,  will  repay  study  on  the  part  of  the  American 
engineer.  Continental  practice  also  tends  toward  steam- 
driven  auxiliaries  rather  than  the  electrically  driven 
auxiliaries  of  American  practice,  the  objection  to  the  latter, 
in  spite  of  their  higher  efficiency,  being  the  interpolation  of 
another  link  in  the  chain  of  energy  delivery  which  may  at 
times  prove  a  weak  spot  in  the  regular  operation  of  the 
system. 

The  steam  generating  equipment  is  somewhat  elaborately 
investigated  in  the  articles  in  question,  and  a  very  telling 
diagram  is  given  of  the  temperature  characteristics  of  the 
steam-producing  system.  The  fact  is  that  the  generating 
units  have  as  a  general  proposition  quite  outrun  the  steam- 
producing  units  in  the  race  for  economy,  and  Mr.  Klingen- 
berg's  discourse  on  the  boiler  room,  its  losses  and  the  means 
of  diminishing  them  is  particularly  worth  studying.  It  is 
undoubtedly  true  that  the  next  great  step  in  central-station 
economy,  as  regards  both  construction  and  operation,  will 
be  in  the  more  efficient  use  of  boilers.  Larger  units,  such  as 
have  been  tried  at  Detroit,  or  units  worked  far  more  inten- 
sively than  at  present,  will  result  in  either  case  in  the  pro- 
duction of  steam  at  higher  efficiency  and  with  greater 
economy  of  space  than  is  now  the  rule.  An  improvement  of 
10  per  cent  or  more  in  the  efficiency  of  the  prime  mover 
everyone  recognizes  as  worth  struggling  for,  and  yet  it  is 
perfectly  certain  that  gains  greater  than  this  can  be  made 
in  boiler  efficiency  when  attention  is  more  effectively  con- 
centrated on  that  feature  of  the  central  station. 

The  last  part  of  the  paper  under  discussion  is  taken  up 
with  an  investigation,  enriched  by  many  diagrams  of  per- 
formance, of  the  bearing  of  power  transmission  on  station 
economics;  that  is,  the  relation  between  transmission  costs 
and  those  imposed  by  the  transportation  of  fuel  as  such. 
As  central  stations  grow  larger  and  larger  and  the  central- 
station  business  takes  on  its  widest  aspects,  the  transmission 
problems  become  more  and  more  serious  and  critical.  It 
seems  altogether  probable  that  the  central-station  system  of 
the  future  will  pass  in  the  scope  of  its  distribution  the  limits 
of  economical  generation  in  a  single  station  and  will  consist 
of  a  group  of  stations  so  proportioned  and  distributed  as  to 
bring  the  network  efficiency  to  a  maximum.  With  our 
present  tendencies  toward  high  voltage  and  the  utilization 
of  cheaper  and  cheaper  fuel  the  constant  tendency  must  be 
toward  increase  of  dimensions  of  a  central-station  dis- 
tributing network  and  an  increase  in  the  gain  of  electrical 
transmission  over  the  transportation  of  fuel.  The  phase  of 
the  general  problem,  therefore,  which  deals  with  the 
balancing  of  these  two  methods  of  supply,  if  one  may  call 
them  so,  is  an  extremely  important  one. 


436 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9. 


LAUNCHING|OF  THE  U.  S.  COLLIER  "JUPITER." 

The  United  States  collier  Jupiter,  the  first  electrically 
driven  seagoing  vessel  ever  built,  was  launched  at  the 
Mare  Island  Navy  Yard  on  Aug.  24.  This  vessel  is  also 
said  to  be  the  largest  ship  of  any  kind  ever  laid  down  on 
the  Pacific  Coast.  The  details  of  the  propulsion  equipment 
for  the  Jupiter  were  described  in  the  Electrical  World  of 
Aug.  3,  page  251.  This  twin-screw  vessel  will  be  driven 
by  a  pair  of  induction  motors  which  receive  their  energy 
from  a  variable-speed  turbo-generator.  In  our  June  i 
issue,  page  1148,  there  was  a  comparison  of  the  rating 
and  performance  of  the  Jupiter  with  those  of  her  sister 
ships  Neptune  and  Cyclops,  the  former  turbine-driven  and 
the  latter  engine-driven.  It  is  reported  that  the  Jupiter  will 
not  be  ready  for  her  trials  until  about  next  May. 


DECREE  IN  THE  LINCOLN  HIGH-TENSION    CASE. 


The  Circuit  Court  of  Logan  County,  111.,  Judge  Harris 
presiding,  has  handed  down  a  decree  in  the  case  of  the 
American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  versus  the 
Springfield  &  Northeastern  Traction  Company,  the  opinion 
in  which  was  abstracted  in  our  issue  of  last  week.  The 
court  found  that  the  overbuilding  of  the  complainant's  tele- 
phone line  in  Lincoln  by  the  defendant's  33,000-volt,  three- 
phase  transmission  line  created  a  condition  of  unreasonable 
danger  and  was  not  approved  or  proper  construction.  Fur- 
thermore, the  court  found  that  this  overbuilding  endangered 
life  and  property  through  the  lack  of  approved  safeguards 
and  protective  devices  and  the  resulting  possibility  of 
nnitual  contact  between  the  two  systems.  The  defendant, 
which  is  one  of  the  companies  comprising  the  Illinois  Trac- 
tion System,  has  been  permanently  enjoined  from  using  the 
section  of  high-tension  line  in  question  until  reasonable 
safeguards  and  protective  devices  are  installed.  Counsel 
for  the  defendants  have  taken  exception  to  the  findings  of 
the  court,  but  whether  an  appeal  will  be  taken  has  not  yet 
been  announced. 


PHILADELPHIA     ELECTRIC    COMPANY    SECURES 
26,200-KW  RAILWAY  LOAD. 


The  Philadelphia  Electric  Company  has  signed  a  con- 
tract with  the  Philadelphia  Rapid  Transit  Company  for  a 
railway  load  of  26.200  kw.  Some  of  the  operating  stations 
of  the  Rapid  Transit  Company  will,  as  a  consequence,  be 
shut  down  or  converted  into  substations  to  be  operated  by 
the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company,  which  is  required  to 
supply  direct  current  in  some  locations.  For  this  pur- 
pose these  stations  are  leased  at  a  nominal  rental,  and 
the  electric  light  company  has  the  privilege  of  operating 
them  in  case  there  should  be  any  trouble  with  its  con- 
verting apparatus. 

The  load  is  covered  by  three  separate  contracts,  known 
as  the  "Central  contract,"  the  "Northern  contract"  and  the 
"Delaware  County  contract."  The  Central  contract  cov- 
ers high-tension  alternating-current  energy  and  does  not 
entail  any  operating  expense  whatsoever  upon  the  Phila- 
delphia Electric  Company.  This  energy  is  delivered  to 
the  substation  of  the  Philadelphia  Rapid  Transit  Company 
at  812  Sansome  Street  and  at  a  substation  at  Twentieth 
and  Ranstead  Streets  now  being  built  and  which  will  be 
occupied  jointly  by  the  electric  light  and  rapid  transit 
companies.  This  contract  calls  for  15,000  kw,  and  5000 
kw  additional  to  be  delivered  by  Nov.  i,  1913,  at  a  new 
substation  yet  to  be  determined. 

The  Northern  contract  calls  for  energy  for  a  5000-kw 
direct-current  load,  and  the  substation  apparatus,  as  well 
as  the  operating  force  for  the  same,  must  be  supplied  by 
the  electric-light  company.     It   is   the   intention   to   supply 


this  energy  from  the  Tacony  station  of  the  Philadelphia 
Electric  Company  to  the  stations  of  the  Rapid  Transit 
Company  at  Ogontz,  Willow  Grove,  Neshaminy  and  Wheel 
Pump  (Chestnut  Hill).  In  order  that  the  electric-light 
company  may  carry  out  its  part  of  its  contract,  the  sta- 
tions named  will  be  occupied  at  a  nominal  rental  and  the 
company  will  also  have  the  privilege  of  utilizing  the  gen- 
erating apparatus  in  all  of  them  if  it  so  elects. 

The  Delaware  County  contract  is  made  with  the  Dela- 
ware County  and  Beacon  subsidiary  companies  of  the 
Philadelphia  Electric  Company  and  calls  for  1200-kw  di- 
rect current,  which  can  be  furnished  either  from  Phila- 
delphia or  from  the  Beacon  light  company's  station  at 
Chester,  Pa.  The  direct-current  energy  will  be  furnished 
from  the  electric-light  company's  own  substations  at  Media 
and  Chester,  and  the  electric-light  company  will  occupy  the 
Rapid  Transit  Company's  substation  at  Folsom  at  a  nomi- 
nal rental.  The  Rapid  Transit  Company  guarantees  on  the 
Central  and  Delaware  County  contracts  a  35  per  cent  load- 
factor,  and  a  30  per  cent  load-factor  on  the  Northern  con- 
cract.  All  of  the  contracts  are  for  a  period  of  ten  years, 
and  by  Nov.  i,  1913,  the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company 
will  be  carrying  a  load  of  26,200  kw  for  the  Philadelphia 
Rapid  Transit  Company. 


DECISION  IN  DES  MOINES  GAS  CASE. 


On  Aug.  21  Judge  Smith  McPherson,  of  the  United 
States  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of  Iowa, 
handed  down  a  decision  sustaining  the  findings  of  Special 
Master  Sloan  in  the  Des  Moines  gas  case,  which,  because 
of  its  bearing  on  the  principles  of  rate  making,  possesses 
special  interest.  By  the  terms  of  this  decision  it  is  held 
that  a  rate  of  90  cents  per  1000  cu.  ft.  is  remunerative  to 
the  Des  Moines  Gas  Company.  This  suit  grew  out  of  the 
passage  of  an  ordinance  by  the  City  Council  on  Dec.  27, 
1910,  reducing  the  price  of  gas  in  Des  Moines  from  $1 
to  90  cents  per  1000  cu.  ft.  A  temporary  injunction  was 
secured  in  the  federal  court  by  the  gas  company,  prevent- 
ing the  enforcement  of  the  ordinance  on  the  ground  that 
the  company's  business  would  not  be  remunerative  if  the 
price  of  gas  were  reduced  as  contemplated. 

Judge  McPherson  stipulated  that  the  90-cent  rate  should 
be  given  a  three-year  trial.  If  at  the  end  of  that  time  the 
company  finds  that  its  business  is  not  remunerative  at 
that  price,  it  has  the  privilege  of  reinstating  the  case  and 
endeavoring  to  secure  a  higher  rate.  The  gas  company 
is  allowed  sixty  days  in  which  to  prepare  for  the  change 
in  rate.  The  City  Council  was  criticised  in  the  decision 
for  the  hasty  manner  in  which  the  ordinance  was  .a,dopted.  ■ 
The  judge  also  remarked  that  much  litigation  of  this 
character  could  be  avoided  if  Iowa,  like  many  other  states, 
had  a  public  service  commission.  "Too  often,"  said  the 
court,  "we  have  selfish,  partisan,  prejudiced  and  unreliable 
e.xperts  engaged  for  weeks  at  a  time,  at  $100  or  more  and 
expenses  per  day,  exaggerating  their  importance  and  mak- 
ing the  successful  party  in  fact  a  loser."  It  is  recom- 
mended that  the  power  of  rate  making  be  taken  from 
city  councils  in  Iowa. 

The  court  declared  that  the  gas  company's  reproduction 
theory  for  determining  the  value  of  its  plant  in  Des 
Moines  is  a  fallacy.  The  company  attempted  to  prove 
the  value  of  its  plant  by  estimating  what  it  would  cost  to 
reproduce  it.  In  many  instances  its  mains  are  laid  in 
streets  which  have  been  paved  since,  and  the  cost  of  re- 
moving and  relaying  paving  was  included  as  a  part  of 
duplicating  the  plant.  Judge  McPherson  held  that  this  is 
not  a  fair  method  of  arriving  at  the  value  of  the  present 
plant.  "Good  will"  is  another  item  which  is  held  not  to 
be  an  element  of  value  on  which  profits  should  be  earned. 
The  present  value  is  the  basis  on  which  returns  are  to  be 


\ 


August  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


437 


estimated,  and  good  will  does  not  enter  into  the  equation. 
Out  of  a  total  value  of  $2,240,928  the  master  allowed 
$300,000  for  intangible  value ;  the  court  held  that  this  was 
sufficient,  although  the  company  made  a  strenuous  plea  for 
a  larger  allowance.  The  case  has  attracted  wide  atten- 
tion, and  many  well-known  public  utility  experts  testified 
at  the  hearings. 


A.  L  E.  E.  AFFAIRS. 


For  some  time  past  the  board  of  directors  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E. 
has  desired  to  promote  closer  relations  between  the  Institute 
and  foreign  electrical  engineering  societies.  The  advantages 
of  a  closer  understanding  were  evident  last  year,  when  so 
many  Institute  members  went  abroad  to  attend  the  Inter- 
national Electrical  Congress  at  Turin  and  the  meeting  of 
the  International  Electrotechnical  Commission.  On  receiv- 
ing the  report  of  Mr.  Gano  Dunn,  who  as  president  of  the 
Institute  headed  its  delegations  to  both  of  these  meetings, 
the  board,  feeling  that  it  would  not  only  promote  the  con- 
venience of  visiting  engineers  both  in  this  country  and 
abroad  but  would  also  increase  the  friendly  relations  created 
by  the  activities  of  the  International  Electrotechnical  Com- 
mission and  other  similar  agencies,  passed  the  following 
resolution : 

"Rcsolz'cd,  That  the  president  is  authorized  to  communi- 
cate with  certain  leading  foreign  electrical  engineering 
societies' with  respect  to  establishing  mutual  visiting-mem- 
ber privileges  for  a  limited  term,  with  the  end  in  view  of 
contributing  to  the  convenience  of  our  own  members  visit- 
ing foreign  countries,  and  in  return  afifording  corresponding 
conveniences  to  members  of  foreign  electrical  engineering 
societies  visiting  the  United  States,  and  of  increasing  the 
friendly  relations  between  American  and  foreign  electrical 
engineers." 

Accordingly  a  number  of  European  electrical  engineering 
societies  were  comnmnicated  with  by  President  Dunn,  and 
the  following  have  cordially  accepted  the  Institute's  pro- 
posals to  enter  into  reciprocal  arrangements  for  the  mutual 
benefit  of  the  members  of  the  respective  societies :  The 
Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers  (Great  Britain),  Ver- 
band  Deutscher  Elektrotechniker  (Germany),  Societe  In- 
ternationale des  Electriciens  (France),  Associazione  Elet- 
trotecnica  Italiana  (Italy),  Koninlijk  Instituut  van  In- 
genieurs  (Holland),  Association  Suisse  des  filectriciens 
(Switzerland).  The  Svenska  Teknologforeningen  (Swe- 
den) will  take  up  the  question  at  the  meeting  of  its  govern- 
ing body  in  the  fall. 

The  arrangements  entitle  members  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E.  while 
abroad  to  the  privileges  of  members  of  the  societies  desig- 
nated for  a  period  of  three  months,  and  foreign  members 
visiting  this  country  are  entitled  to  the  privileges  of  In- 
stitute membership  for  a  like  period.  To  foreign  engineers 
visiting  this  country  it  is  proposed  to  give,  upon  presenta- 
tion of  proper  credentials,  letters  of  introduction  to  Institute 
members  and  to  officers  of  manufacturing  and  operating 
companies;  also  to  place  at  the  disposal  of  visitors  the 
facilities  of  the  library,  in  which  are  a  large  number  of 
books  in  foreign  languages,  and  the  reception,  reading  and 
writing  rooms  at  Institute  headquarters. 

There  has  been  prepared  for  the  use  of  Institute  members 
while  abroad  a  form  of  certificate  to  be  signed  by  the  sec- 
retary, which  will  serve  as  credentials  from  the  Institute  to 
foreign  societies.  Any  Institute  member  in  good  standing 
intending  to  go  abroad  may  obtain  such  certificates  upon 
application  to  the  secretary,  a  separate  certificate  being 
necessary  for  each  foreign  society.  The  visiting-member 
privileges  involve  no  expense,  either  to  Institute  members 
or  to  foreign  members,  and  the  advantages  which  they  offer 
have  commended  them  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  all 
the  organizations  concerned.  They  are  undoubtedly  a  step 
toward  bringing  the  electrical  engineers  of  Great  Britain, 
Europe  and  America  more  closely  together. 


Through  the  generosity  of  Past-president  Gano  Dunn,  the 
Institute  has  been  enabled  to  add  to  its  historic  collection 
■  an  admirably  executed  bronze  bust  of  the  distinguished 
scientist  Joseph  Henry,  taken  from  the  life-size  statue  of 
Henry  in  the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washington.  The 
Institute  at  its  annual  meeting  last  May  presented  a  similar 
bust  to  the  Associazione  Elettrotecnica  Italiana,  as  an 
evidence  of  its  appreciation  of  the  cordial  hospitality  shown 
by  the  officers  and  members  of  that  association  to  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  United  States  attending  the  International 
Electrotechnical  Commission  at  Turin  last  fall.  The  bust 
recently  received  at  Institute  headquarters  and  the  one 
presented  by  the  Institute  to  the  Italian  society  were  repro- 
duced under  the  supervision  of  the  distinguished  sculptor  of 
the  original  in  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  Mr.  Herbert 
Adams,  of  New  York. 


NEW  ENGLAND  SECTION  N.  E.  L.  A.  CONVENTION 
PLANS. 


The  fourth  annual  convention  of  the  New  England  Sec- 
tion of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  will  be  held  at  Boston,  Mass.,  on 
Oct.  15,  16  and  17.  The  meetings  will  be  held  in  the 
Mechanics'  Building  in  connection  with  the  Boston  1912 
Electric  Show,  which  will  occupy  the  premises  from  Sept. 
28  to  Oct.  26,  and  it  is  planned  to  invite  the  entire  mem- 
bership of  the  association  to  the  New  England  gathering 
in  order  to  give  those  who  were  unable  to  go  to  Seattle  last 
spring  an  opportunity  to  attend  what  will  probably  be  the 
largest  geographical  section  meeting  ever  held  and  at  the 
same  time  to  visit  the  Electric  Show.  The  program  con- 
tains seven  papers  and  many  other  attractions  for  members 
and  guests  in  attendance. 


PROGRAM  OF  SEPTEMBER  MEETING  OF  AMERI- 
CAN ELECTROCHEMICAL  SOCIETY. 


The  twenty-second  general  meeting  of  the  American 
Electrochemical  Society  will  be  held  at  Columbia  Univer- 
sity, New  York  City,  Sept.  7,  9  and  10,  in  joint  session 
with  Section  X(a)  of  the  Eighth  International  Congress 
of  Applied  Chemistry.  The  general  topic  of  the  session 
to  be  held  on  Saturday  morning,  Sept.  7,  will  be  electro- 
metallurgy. The  Saturday  afternoon  session  will  be  held 
at  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  Seventy- 
seventh  Street  and  Central  Park  West,  where  the  subjects 
of  electrochemistry  and  physical,  inorganic  and  agricul- 
tural chemistry  will  be  the  topics  under  consideration. 
Tuesday  morning's  session  will  take  up  the  subject  of 
paper,  and  the  afternoon  session  will  consider  the  question 
of  conservation.  Registration  will  be  handled  in  connec- 
tion with  Section  X(a)  of  the  congress.  A  provisional 
program  has  been  arranged  as  follows : 

Saturday  morning,  Sept.  7:  "Heat  Losses  in  Furnaces," 
by  Mr.  F.  A.  J.  FitzGerald;  "Electrolytic  Induction  and 
Resistance  Furnaces."  by  Mr.  C.  H.  von  Bauer;  "Recent 
Developments  of  the  Electric  Steel  Furnace,"  by  Mr.  P. 
Heroult;  "Electric  Heating  and  the  Removal  of  Phos- 
phorus from  Iron,"  by  Mr.  A.  E.  Greene;  "The  Function 
of  Slag  in  Electric  Steel  Refining,"  by  Mr.  R.  Amberg; 
"The  Electric  Smelting  of  Zinc  Ore,"  by  Mr.  F.  T.  Snyder; 
"Extraction  of  Copper  from  Sulphide  Ores  by  Roasting, 
Leaching  and  Deposition,"  by  Mr.  J.  O.  Handy:  "Cathode 
Impurities  in  Copper  Refining  and  Their  Sources,"  by  Mr. 
L.  Addicks.  Saturday  afternoon :  Address  on  "Oxidation 
of  Atmospheric  Nitrogen  and  Development  of  Resulting 
Industries  in  Norway,"  by  Mr.  Samuel  Eyde,  of  Chris- 
tiania,  Norway. 

Monday,  Sept.  9:    "Electrolytic  Dissociation,"  by  Mr.  E. 


438 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  g. 


H.  Loomis;  "Die  Physikalische  Natur  von  Bioelektrischer 
Potentialdifferenzen,"  by  Mr.  R.  Beutner ;  "The  Vapor 
Pressure  of  Amalgams,"  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Hildebrand ;  "The 
Relation  Between  the  Potential  of  Liquid  Amalgam  Cells 
and  the  Constitution  of  the  Amalgam,"  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Hilde- 
brand; "Mineral  Electrodes,"  by  Mr.  R.  C.  Wells;  "The 
Silver  Coulometer,"  by  Messrs.  G.  A.  Hulett  and  G.  D. 
Buckner;  "Inclusions  and  Impurities  in  Electrolytic  Silver," 
by  Messrs.  J.  S.  Laird,  G.  D.  Buckner  and  G.  A.  Hulett; 
"A  Cadmium  Coulometer  and  the  Electrochemical  Equiva- 
lent of  Cadmium,"  by  Messrs.  J.  S.  Laird  and  G.  A.  Hulett ; 
"Coulometer  Research."  by  Mr.  G.  B.  Frankforter;  "fitude 
des  Proprietes  Magnetiques  des  Alliages  du  Per,  du  Cobalt, 
du  Nickel  et  du  Manganese  avec  le  Bore,"  by  Mr.  B.  du 
Jassonneix;  "The  Reduction  of  the  Chlorides  of  Titanium, 
Carbon,  Silicon,  Beryllium  and  Neodymium  by  Metallic 
Sodium,"  by  Mr.  M.  A.  Hunter;  "Unnatural  and  Artificial 
Sulpho-Antimonites  and  Sulpho-Arsenites,"  by  Mr.  Jaeger; 
"fiquilibres  des  Systemes  Eau-azotite  de  Soude,"  by  Mr.  M. 
Oswald;  an  experimental  lecture  on  "The  Element  Boron, 
Its  Compounds  and  Uses,"  by  Mr.  W.  Weintraub. 

Tuesday,  Sept.  lo:  "Factors  Controlling  the  Cost  of 
Sodium  Hypochlorite  Production,"  by  Messrs.  W.  H. 
Walker  and  R.  E.  Gegenheimer;  "Recent  Progress  in  the 
Electrolysis  of  Alkaline  Salts,"  by  Mr.  E.  Wilderman ; 
"Process  for  Manufacturing  Alkali  and  Chloride-Resistant 
Ebonite,"  by  Mr.  E.  Wilderman;  "Nouvelle  Contribution  a  la 
Theorie  des  filectrolyseurs  a  Diaphragmes,"  by  Mr.  Ph.  A. 
Guye;  "Mechanical  Depolarization  in  Electrolytic  Cells," 
by  Mr.  Alan  A.  Chaflin ;  "Die  Industrielle  Chlorgasver- 
wertung,"  by  Mr.  Rud.  Taussig;  "Commercial  Development 
of  Industrial  Processes,"  by'  Mr.  Jasper  Whiting:  "Our 
National  and  State  Governments  in  Relation  to  Mineral 
Waste,"  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Holmes;  "The  Extent  of  the  Iron  and 
Steel  Industry  in  the  United  States,"  by  Mr.  J.  Birkinbine ; 
"Power  Supply  Characteristics  of  the  Electric  Furnace," 
by  Dr.  C.  P.  Steinmetz ;  "Study  of  a  Small  Carborundum 
Furnace,"  by  Messrs.  W.  D.  Bancroft,  L.  V.  Walker  and 
C.  F.  Miller;  "Determination  of  Oxygen  in  Iron  and  Steel 
by  Reduction  in  an  Electric  Vacuum  Furnace,"  by  Messrs. 
W.  H.  Walker  and  W.  A.  Patrick  ;  "Action  of  Nitrogen  on 
Strontium  Carbide,"  by  Messrs.  S.  A.  Tucker  and  Y.  T. 
Yang;  "The  Electrochemical  Behavior  of  Very  Concen- 
trated Liquid  Thallium  Amalgams,"  by  Messrs.  Theo.  W. 
Richards  and  T.  Daniels;  "Electrolytic  Nickel  Solutions," 
by  Mr.  O.  P.  Watts ;  "Quantities  of  Carbon  as  Influencing 
Dry-Cell  Construction,"  by  Mr.  Carl  Hambuchen. 

The  following  papers  are  promised  by  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Mining  Engineers,  to  be  presented  at  the  joint 
sessions  on  Friday  and  Saturday:  "The  Decomposition 
of  Metallic  Sulphates  at  Elevated  Temperatures  in  a  Cur- 
rent of  Dry  Air,"  by  Mr.  H.  O.  Hofman  and  Mr.  Wan- 
jukoff;  "Some  Metallographic  Notes,"  by  Mr.  William 
Campbell ;  "The  Carbon-Iron  Diagram,"  by  Mr.  Henry  M. 
Howe ;  "A  Novelty  in  Open-Hearth  Furnace  Practice,"  by 
Mr.  N.  S.  MacColIum ;  "Blowing-in  of  Blast  Furnaces," 
by  Mr.  Ralph  H.  Sweetser;  "The  Manufacture  of  Coke," 
by  Messrs.  F.  E.  Lucas,  W.  H.  Blauvelt,  C.  W.  Andrews 
and  J.  De  Forrest ;  "The  Influence  of  Titanium  on  the 
Strength  of  Iron  Castings,"  by  Mr.  Bradley  Stoughton : 
"Cuyuna  Iron  Ore  Range,"  by  Messrs.  Walter  A.  Barrows, 
Jr.,  and  Carl  Zapffe;  "The  Case-Hardening  of  Special 
Steels,"  by  Messrs.  Albert  Sauveur  and  G.  A.  Reinhardt. 

The  following  additional  papers  have  been  promised  by 
members  of  the  American  Electrochemical  Society,  but 
cannot  be  assigned  before  the  announcement  of  the  final 
program:  "Electric  Furnace  Alloy  Steels,"  by  Messrs.  J. 
A.  Matthews  and  M.  T.  Lathrop ;  "The  Electrical  Resistiv- 
ity of  Fire  Bricks  at  High  Temperatures,"  by  Mr.  A. 
Stansfield;  (i)  "Radiation  and  Convection  of  Heat,"  and 
(2)  "Calculation  of  Flow  of  Heat  Through  Bodies  of 
Various  Shapes ;  "Experimentation  and  Theoretical  De- 
termination of  the  'Shape  Factor,'  "  by  Mr.  Irving  Lang- 


muir;  "The  Electric  Furnace  for  Heating  Steel  for  Forg- 
ing," by  Mr.  Thaddeus  F.  Bailey;  "Electric  Furnaces  in 
Metallurgy  of  Steel,"  by  Mr.  A.  E.  Greene;  "Fixation  of 
Atmospheric  Nitrogen  by  Alumina  and  Carbon,"  by  Messrs. 
S.  A.  Tucker  and  H.  L.  Read;  "The  Electrolytic  Refining 
of  Silver  Bismuth  Alloys,"  by  Mr.  William  N.  Lacey. 


BOSTON  INFORMATION   BUREAU  TRANSFERRED. 


The  headquarters  of  the  Boston  Co-operative  Informa- 
tion Bureau  have  been  transferred  from  the  library  of 
Stone  &  Webster  to  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology, Boston.  The  bulletins  of  the  organization  will 
hereafter  be  published  in  co-operation  with  other  sources 
of  printed  matter,  with  a  subsequent  yearbook  which  will 
be  an  amplification  and  revision  of  the  series.  The  bureau 
is  becoming  a  factor  in  the  interchange  of  engineering, 
scientific  and  commercial  information  in  the  Boston  dis- 
trict. 


CELEBRATION    ATTENDING    THE    INSTALLATION 

OF  LUMINOUS-ARC  LAMP  STANDARDS 

IN  UTICA,  N.  Y. 


The  lighting  of  the  luminous-arc  lamp  standards  in 
Utica,  N.  Y.,  last  week  was  made  the  basis  of  a  public 
celebration.  The  installation,  which  is  fed  from  the  cir- 
cuits of  the  Utica  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  consists  of 
sixty  inverted-type  General  Electric  luminous-arc  lamps 
rated  at  6.6  amp  and  installed  on  cast-iron  posts  spaced 
85  ft.  apart  along  both  sides  of  Genesee  Street,  from  Bagg 
Square  to  the  first  block  above  the  city  hall,  a  distance 
of  about  one-half  mile.  The  lamps  were  installed  at  the 
expense  of  the  merchants  and  business  men  along  this  sec- 
tion of  the  street,  and  their  maintenance  after  Jan.  i,  1913. 
will  fall  to  the  city  of  Utica  under  the  regular  contract 
for  street  lighting.  The  order  from  the  business  men's 
committee  was  placed  with  the  Utica  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany on  July  17,  and  the  lamps  were  started  for  commer- 
cial operation  on  the  evening  of  Aug.  20.  The  Ornamen- 
tal Lighting  Pole  Company,  of  New  York,  furnished  the 
standards,  which  were  cast  by  Munson  Brothers  Company, 
local  founders  and  machinists  of  Utica.  The  installation 
has  already  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention  and  com- 
ment, and  inasmuch  as  the  street  is  one  of  the  widest  anil 
best  known  in  the  State  of  New  York,  it  will  undoubt- 
edly prove  not  only  a  feature  of  considerable  interest  but 
add  to  the  attractiveness  of  the  business  district  of  Utica 
as  well. 


CONVENTION  PROGRAM  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA 
ELECTRIC   ASSOCIATION. 


The  fifth  annual  convention  of  the  Pennsylvania  Electric 
Association  (State  Branch  N.  E.  L.  A.)  will  be  held  at  the 
Bedford  Springs  Hotel,  Bedford  Springs,  Pa,,  from  Sept.  3 
to  Sept.  6.  The  convention  will  be  opened  with  a  reception 
to  the  president,  Mr.  R.  S.  Orr,  Pittsburgh,  on  the  evening 
of  Sept.  3,  and  the  regular  business  of  the  convention  will 
be  taken  up  the  next  morning.  The  opening  session  will  be 
devoted  to  reports  of  the  various  standing  committees,  and, 
as  has  been  the  custom  heretofore,  no  afternoon  sessions 
will  be  held.  The  session  on  Sept.  5  will  be  addressed  by 
Messrs.  F.  M.  Tait  and  T.  C.  Martin,  of  the  National  Elec- 
tric Light  Association,  and  a  paper  and  demonstration  of 
the  Schaefer  prone-pressure  method  of  resuscitation  from 
electric  shock  will  also  be  given  at  that  session  by  Dr.  C.  A. 
Lauffer,  Pittsburgh.  The  following  papers  are  scheduled 
for  presentation :      "Dollars   and   Factors,"   by   Mr.    C.   J. 


August  31,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


439 


Russell,  Philadelphia;  "The  Wiring  of  Already-Built 
Houses,"  by  Messrs.  J.  E.  McKirdy  and  Howard  H.  Wood, 
Pittsburgh;  "Welfare  Work,"  by  Mr.  B.  F.  Day,  Philadel- 
phia; "Automatic  Feeder  Regulators  for  Out-of-Door  Serv- 
ice as  Applied  to  Single-Phase  Lighting  Circuits,"  by  Mr. 
F.  W.  Shackleford,  Schenectady;  "Purchased  Power:  Its 
Advantages  Versus  Its  Cost,"  by  Mr.  A.  E.  Rickards,  Pitts- 
burgh, and  "Power-Factor:  Its  Efifects  on  Operation  and  a 
Means  for  Its  Improvement,"  by  Mr.  F.  N.  Jewett,  St. 
Louis. 

Entertainment  features  have  been  provided  for  the  after- 
noons and  evenings  of  convention  week,  in  addition  to  en- 
tertainments exclusively  for  ladies  on  the  mornings  of 
Sept.  4,  5  and  6.  A  golf  tournament  and  ball  game  will  be 
provided  on  the  afternoon  of  Sept.  4.  In  the  evening  a 
vaudeville  and  moving-picture  performance,  followed  by 
dancing,'  will  be  given.  The  convention  dinner  will  take 
place  on  the  evening  of  Sept.  5,  and  a  golf  match  between 
central-station  members  and  associate  members  will  take 
place  on  the  afternoon  of  Sept.  6.  Class  D  members  of  the 
association  will  have  an  opportunity  to  make  a  collective 
exhibit  of  apparatus,  etc.,  in  a  room  immediately  to  the 
rear  of  the  convention  hall  and  on  the  piazza  adjoining. 
Mr.  W.  E.  Long,  1000  Chestnut  Street.  Philadelphia,  is 
secretary  of  the  association. 


HYDROELECTRIC  POWER  FOR  HALIFAX,  N.  S. 


Plans  are  under  way  by  the  Nova  Scotia  Power  Com- 
pany, Kentville,  N.  S.,  for  the  construction  of  a  hydroelec- 
tric plant  at  White  Rock,  at  the  head  of  the  Gaspereau  Val- 
ley, for  the  supply  of  electrical  energy  to  Halifax  and  the 
towns  of  Kentville,  Wolfville,  Windsor,  Canning  and  Mid- 
dleton.  The  project  calls  for  the  utilization  of  a  drainage 
area  of  about  160  sq.  miles  on  the  so-called  South  Mountain 
watershed,  lying  from  50  to  75  miles  west  of  the  city  of 
Halifax,  and  includes  the  interconnection  of  a  double  chain 
of  reservoirs  and  lakes  and  the  construction  of  a  main 
dam  at  the  foot  of  Gaspereau  and  Murphy  Lakes,  with 
canal  and  flume  facilities  connecting  with  Little  River  Lake 
and  the  power-house  site.  About  3  miles  of  canal  and  5 
miles  of  flume  are  to  be  built,  and  the  developed  head  at  the 
generating  plant  is  to  be  about  475  ft.  A  steel  penstock 
about  2000  ft.  long  will  be  installed  at  White  Rock,  with  a 
forebay  at  the  top.  About  twenty  lakes  are  involved  in  the 
storage  scheme  and  the  total  power  available  is  estimated 
at  18,000  hp  with  the  ultimate  development.  The  principal 
dam  will  be  at  Beaver  Brook,  and  it  will  be  about  6000  ft. 
long  and  25  ft.  in  height.  According  to  present  plans,  a 
60,000-volt,  steel-tower  line  will  be  built  between  the  power 
house  and  Halifax.  The  intermediate  territory  is  now 
supplied  with  electrical  facilities  from  a  number  of  small 
and  relatively  inefficient  steam  plants  giving  no  day  service. 
These  will  be  shut  down  entirely  and  a  considerable  agri- 
cultural business  will  be  established,  including  the  opera- 
tion of  numerous  apple  and  potato  hoists  in  the  .Annapolis 
and  Cornwallis  valleys,  the  former  crop  averaging  from 
1,000,000  to  1,500,000  barrels  per  year.  Negotiations  are  at 
present  under  way  for  the  utilization  of  a  substantial 
amount  of  energy  in  Halifax. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    SECOND    DISTRICT. 

Mr.  W.  S.  Connolly,  of  Hamilton,  Out.,  president  of  the 
New  York  &  Ontario  Power  Company,  recently  appeared 
before  the  commission  in  response  to  an  order  to  show 
cause  why  the  company  should  not  be  required  to  put  its 
plant  in  the  village  of  Waddington,  St.  Lawrence  County, 


in  safe  and  proper  condition.  An  engineer  of  the  com- 
mission discovered  that  the  overhead  distribution  system 
was  in  a  generally  dilapidated  condition,  many  poles  were 
so  rotted  they  might  be  expected  to  fall  down  during  the 
coming  winter,  if  not  earlier,  and  the  entire  system  was 
in  a  deplorable  condition.  Mr.  Connolly  admitted  that  all 
of  the  criticisms  of  the  engineer  were  justified  and  said 
that  his  company  had  leased  the  plant  in  the  village  to 
an  individual  who  had  agreed  to  keep  it  in  condition.  He 
agreed  immediately  to  commence  reconstruction  of  the 
plant  and  to  carry  on  the  work  until  it  was  placed  in  first- 
class    condition. 

MARYLAND     COMMISSION. 

Hearings  continue  before  the  Public  Service  Commission 
in  the  investigation  of  the  gas  and  electric  rates  charged 
by  the  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, of  Baltimore.  Mr.  Herbert  A.  Wagner,  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Consolidated  company,  testified  recently  that 
in  order  to  finance  improvements  and  extensions  in  the 
electrical  department  this  year  it  will  be  necessary  for 
the  company  to  add  $1,000,000  to  its  present  capitalization 
of  $44,000,000.  Mr.  Wagner  stated  that  it  was  the  inten- 
tion of  the  company  to  apply  to  the  commsision  for  au- 
thority to  issue  these  additional  securities  as  soon  as  the 
market  conditions  made  it  advisable.  He  also  declared  that 
the  present  investigation  had  already  disturbed  the  market 
value  of  the  company's  securities  severely.  His  announce- 
ment concerning  the  additional  capital  required  was  made 
partly  in  justification  of  the  amounts  allowed  by  the  com- 
pany's experts  for  working  capital.  While  this  allowance 
of  :);750,ooo  has  already  been  set  aside  for  extensions  made 
this  year,  he  explained,  it  will  be  necessary  in  the  next 
three'  months  to  contract  for  $250,000  more.  This  money 
has  been  borrowed  from  the  banks  but  will  have  to  be  re- 
paid from  the  sale  of  new  securities.  Mr.  Wagner  con- 
cluded by  stating  that  at  the  rate  new  extensions  to  the 
electric  system  are  now  acquired  it  will  be  necessary  for 
the  company  in  the  next  ten  years  to  issue  $13,000,000 
additional  common  stock  to  finance  the  demands. 

WISCONSIN   COMMISSION. 

As  a  result  of  an  investigation  by  the  commission,  on  its 
own  motion,  into  the  rates,  rules  and  regulations  of  the 
lighting  and  power  companies  of  Milwaukee,  namely,  the 
Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company,  the  Plankin- 
ton  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  the  Commonwealth 
Power  Company,  the  Wells  Power  Company,  the  Railway 
Exchange  Building  Company,  the  Colby  &  Abbott  Building 
Company  and  the  Mohler  &  Hummell  Realty  Company,  the 
commission  has  issued  an  order  requiring  the  first  four 
named  companies  to  adjust  their  rates  to  a  uniform  basis 
and  to  revise  their  rules  and  regulations  so  as  to  conform 
with  the  policies  laid  down  by  the  commission.  The  investi- 
gation was  originally  begun  in  connection  with  complaints 
as  to  rates  and  rules,  but  conditions  were  disclosed  which 
warranted  the  commission  in  making  a  more  thorough  in- 
vestigation of  all  the  lighting  and  power  companies  in  the 
city.  It  was  found  that  at  least  one  of  the  companies, 
namely,  the  Commonwealth  Power  Company,  had,  in  order 
to  secure  new  business,  resorted  to  practices  which  were 
discriminatory  and  which  had  brought  about  a  situation  that 
verged  upon  a  destructive  rate  war.  It  appeared  that  the 
Commonwealth  Power  Company,  for  one,  had  indulged  in 
a  questionable  manipulation  of  its  rate  schedules  whereby 
certain  prospective  consumers  were  offered  lighting  service 
at  the  rates  for  motor  service.  Furthermore,  discrimination 
had  been  practised  in  billing  several  individual  consumers 
on  one  monthly  bill  and  by  furnishing  fixtures  free  or  at  a 
price  considerably  below  cost. 

In  its  final  opinion,  the  commission  took  occasion  to  point 
out  the  evils  of  competition  in  the  public  utility  business  as 
well  as  the  consequences  which  result  from  so  much  duplica- 


440 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9. 


tion  of  equipment.  Since  the  city  of  Milwaukee  has  seen 
fit  to  permit  the  existence  of  so  many  electric  utilities,  the 
commission,  in  conformity  with  its  established  policy  of 
preventing  ruinous  competition,  has  attempted' to  save  the 
situation  by  wiping  out  all  discrimination  and  by  requiring 
certain  of  the  companies  in  question  to  abandon  their  rate 
schedules  applying  to  the  business  district  and  to  adopt  a 
uniform  schedule  as  devised  by  the  commission.  According 
to  the  order,  the  charge  for  electric  service  is  to  be  com- 
puted on  the  following  basis :  Demand  charge,  $42  per  year 
for  each  kilowatt  of  demand  for  the  first  lo  kw;  $30  per 
year  for  each  kilowatt  of  demand  of  the  next  50  kw,  and 
$24  per  year  for  each  kilowatt  of  demand  in  excess  of 
60  kw.  This  charge  is  to  be  payable  in  equal  monthly  in- 
stalments, plus  an  energy  charge  as  follows :  Four  cents 
per  kw-hr.  for  the  first  1000  kw-hr.  consumed  during  any 
month ;  3  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  the  next  3000  kw-hr. ;  2  cents 
for  the  next  6000  kw-hr.,  and  1.5  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  all 
energy  consumed  in  excess  of  10,000  kw-hr. 

To  avoid  all  misunderstandings,  the  commission  has 
classified  the  service  into  electric  lighting,  power  and  com- 
bined lighting  and  power.  It  is  specified  that  "electric  light- 
ing service  shall  include  electric  energy  furnished  for  lamps 
and  other  appliances  utilized  for  illumination  purposes,  ex- 
cept as  hereinafter  specifically  exempted;  motors  and 
appliances  other  than  lighting  equipment  when  provided 
with  a  starting  device  designed  to  limit  the  starting  current 
to  a  value  not  exceeding  two  and  one-half  times  the  full 
load  current;  alternating-current  motors  of  0.25  hp  when 
wound  for  no  volts,  and  of  0.5  hp  when  wound  for  220 
volts,  and  direct-current  motors  of  I  hp;  the  aggregate 
rated  capacity  of  such  appliances,  not  to  exceed  2  kw,  will 
be  included  in  this  class  when  used  in  connection  with  light- 
ing equipment  and  when  the  connected  load  of  such  motors 
and  appliances  does  not  exceed  the  aggregate  rated  capacity 
of  the  lighting  equipment."  It  is  specified  that  power 
service  shall  include  electric  energy  utilized  for  motive 
and  heating  purposes  and  miscellaneous  lighting  service, 
when  the  demand  arising  from  the  lighting  service  does- 
not  exceed  20  per  cent  of  the  total  simultaneous  demand 
for  the  combined  service. 

The  order  provides  also  that  the  maximum  rate  of  charge 
for  electric  lighting  service  under  any  one  month  shall  not 
exceed  the  following  :  First  200  kw-hr.,  10  cents  per  kw-hr. ; 
next  200  kw-hr.,  8  cents  per  kw-hr. ;  next  200  kw-hr.,  6 
cents  per  kw-hr. ;  all  over  600  kw-hr.,  4  cents  per  kw-hr. 

Service  specified  as  "power"  may  be  contracted  for  at  the 
option  of  the  consumer  at  the  following  monthly  rates : 
First  200  kw-hr.,  6  cents  per  kw--hr. ;  next  200  kw-hr.,  5 
cents  per  kw-hr. ;  next  200  kw-hr.,  4  cents  per  kw-hr. ;  all 
over  600  kw-hr.,  3  cents  per  kw-hr. 

The  above  schedules  will  cause  reductions  in  the  rates  of 
the  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company,  the 
Commonwealth  Power  Company  and  the  Plankinton  Elec- 
tric Light  &  Power  Company,  but  the  commission  stated 
that  these  schedules  will  not  result  in  lower  earnings  than 
the  companies  are  entitle.d  to  receive.  '   '     ,  '      '^ 

In  addition  to  the  above  schedules,  the  comriiission  has 
fixed  rates  for  installation  and  for  combined  light  and 
power  service ;  determined  what  shall  be  the  assessed  and 
what  the  measured  demand;  classified  rates  for  breakdown 
service,  discounts,  etc.  In  regard  to  the  sale  of  fixtures,  the 
order  provides  that  the  company  may  sell  appliances,  fix- 
tures and  equipment  at  not  less  than  the  cost  price  thereof, 
including  interest  at  6  per  cent.  It  may  also  lease  such 
appliances  or  fixtures  at  rentals  which  amount  to  not  less 
than  the  sum  of  the  ordinary  repairs,  if  borne  by  the  com- 
pany,  and  the  depreciation  and   interest  charges  thereon. 

MASSACHUSETTS     COMMISSION. 

The  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission  will  give  a 
public  hearing  at  its  offices  in  Boston  on  Sept.  19  upon  the 
codification  of  laws  relating  to  the  manufacture,  transmis- 


sion, distribution  and  sale  of  gas  and  electricity,  exclusive 
of  street-railway,  telephone  and  telegraph  service,  as  re- 
quired by  act  of  the  last  Legislature.  The  board  will  give 
special  attention  to  discrepancies  in  the  existing  laws  and 
to  suggestions  for  amendments,  and  will  report  to  the  next 
Legislature  any  changes  which  may  appear  advisable. 

The  commission  has  approved  the  purchase  by  the  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Boston  of  the  Hyde 
Park  Electric  Light  Company  and  the  Weston  Electric 
Light  Company,  both  of  which  serve  communities  about 
10  miles  from  Boston.  The  maximum  net  price  will  be  re- 
duced from  13.5  cents  to  10  cents  per  kw-hr.  as  a  result  of 
the  consolidation.  The  board  further  stated  that  the  recent 
consolidation  of  Hyde  Park  with  the  city  of  Boston  ren- 
ders a  common  Edison  service  desirable  in  both  localities. 
In  the  Weston  case  the  town  authorities  contended  that 
the  merger  should  not  be  permitted  if  the  result  would  be 
an   increase  in  the   rate  for  street  lighting. 

The  board  pointed  out  that  the  question  of  street  lighting 
is  not  before  it,  but  that  ample  authority  exists  for  the 
adjudication  of  such  an  issue  if  it  arises  later.  The  high- 
est net  rate  for  commercial  lighting  will  drop  from  15 
to  10  cents  per  kw-hr.  as  a  result  of  the  merger. 

The  board  has  reduced  the  price  of  gas  in  the  town  of 
Plymuoth  to  $1.65,  following  the  conclusion  of  hearings 
brought  by  petitioners  for  a  lower  rate  on  the  system  of 
the  Plymouth  Gas  Light  Company. 

MICHIGAN   COMMISSION. 

Application  has  been  made  to  the  Railroad  Commission 
for  authority  to  merge  the  Home  Telephone  Company  of 
Washtenaw  County  with  the  Michigan  State  Telephone 
Company.  The  Home  Telephone  Company  operates  plants 
in  Ann  Arbor,  Ypsilanti  and  Dexter,  where  the  Michigan 
State  also  operates  exchanges. 


Current  News  and  Notes    , 

Concentration  in  East  Tennessee. — The  East  Ten- 
nessee Power  Company,  which  owns  large  hydroelectric 
plants,  recently  purchased  several  small  public-utility  plants 
in  its  territory.     It  is  subsidiary  to  the  Tennessee  Railway, 

Light  &  Power  Company. 

*  *     * 

Byllesby  Luncheon  Club. — The  recently  organized 
Byllesby  Luncheon  Club  of  Chicago  has  elected  a  new 
managing  committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  James  E.  Hewes, 
W.  F.  Stevens,  Jr.,  and  W.  H.  Hodge.     Mr.  H.  V.  Coffy 

was  re-elected  secretary. 

*  *     * 

Appraisal  of  Elmira  Electrical  Propert-ies. — The 
properties  of  the  Elmira  Water,  Light  &  Railway  Com- 
pany, Elmira,  N.  Y.,  were  recently  appraised  by  Mr.  Henry 
Floy,  consulting  engineer,  author  of  "Valuation  of  Public 
Utility  Properties."  The  company  attempted  to  collect  an 
overdue  account  and  the  customer  set  up  the  claim  of 
unfair  charges  considered  on  the  basis  of  a  fair  return 
upon  the  value  of  the  property  employed  in  the  service 
rendered.  The  court  requested  the  attorneys  to  submit 
briefs,  so  that  a  decision  will  not  be  rendered  until  autumn. 

*  *     * 

"Made  in  Chicago." — During  the  recent  "Made  in 
Chicago"  week  the  Chicago  Telephone  Company  introduced 
a  variation  by  advertising  that  1,696,589  telephone  calls  are 
made  in  Chicago  every  day.  The  company  also  asserted 
that  by  its  recent  growth  it  has  become  the  greatest  con- 
sumer of  the  telephonic  manufactures  of  the  Western 
Electric  Company.  It  was  declared  that  about  fifty  freight 
cars  daily  would  be  required  to  transport  the  entire  output 
of  the  Western  Electric  Company,  made  in  Chicago.  The 
Chicago  Telephone  Company  had  290,588  telephones  in- 
stalled in  the  city  on  Aug.  14. 


Au(;isr  ji.   igu 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


44" 


Bethlehem  Steel  Works  to  Install  Lllcikic  i- uk- 
naCe. — A  lo-ton  grid  electric  furnace  to  be  used  for  making 
special  steels  is  to  be  installed  by  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Com- 
pany.   This  furnace  is  used  to  some  extent  in  Germany. 

Transmission  of  Time  Signals  by  Wireless  Teleg- 
raphy.— It  is  stated  that  upon  the  completion  of  the  gov- 
ernment wireless  towers  at  Arlington,  Va.,  wireless  tiine 
signals  will  be  sent  out  daily.  The  details  of  the  plaur,  it 
is  said,  are  not  yet  completely  worked  out. 

*  *     * 

Keyless  Fire-Alarm  Bo.xes. — The  city  electrician  of 
Chicago  has  been  directed  by  the  City  Council  to  advertise 
for  "bids  for  the  changing  of  all  fire-alarm  boxes  in  the 
city  provided  with  keys  to  keyless. glass-front  boxes.  The 
change  will  affect  about  1500  fire-alarm  boxes. 

*  *     * 

Hydroelectric  Pl.\nts  Not  Damaged  by  Storm. — Late 
reports  from  the  Indiana  &  Michigan  Electric  Company,  of 
South  Bend,  Ind.,  in  relation  to  the  reported  damage  to  the 
hydroelectric  plants  of  that  company  in  Berrien  County, 
Mich.,  by  high  water  following  the  storm  of  Aug.  17  and 
18,  are  to  the  effect  that  the  reports  were  erroneous,  as  the 
storm  did  no  damage  to  the  plants  of  the  company  named. 

Electric  Vehicle  Advertising. — The  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company  of  Chicago  has  entered  into  contract  for 
the  rental  of  thirty  illuminated  display  signs  in  Chicago  to 
be  devoted  exclusively  to  electric-vehicle  advertising  for 
several  months.  These  signs  are  located  conspicuously  in 
various  parts  of  the  city  and  will  bring  the  advantages  of 

the  electric  vehicle  forcefully  to  the  attention  of  the  public. 

*  *     * 

Fire  in  London  Telegraph  Office. — On  Aug.  24  a  fire 
started  about  7  p.  m.  in  the  General  Post  Office  at  London, 
England,  and  it  is  reported  that  for  three  hours  all  tele- 
graphic communication  with  the  outside  world  was  inter- 
rupted. The  following  day  was  Sunday,  which,  owing  to 
the  light  traffic,  facilitated  the  restoration  of  service.  The 
telegraph  system  of  England  is  owned  and  operated  by  the 
government. 

*  *     * 

Foreign  Tariffs. — Issue  No.  7  of  Foreign  Tariff  Notes, 
prepared  by  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  has 
recently  been  published.  It  is  announced  that  hereafter 
the  Foreign  Tariff  Notes  will  appear  quarterly,  with  an 
annual  index.  The  present  issue  contains  an  index  of  the 
first  seven  numbers,  arranged  alphabetically  by  countries. 
These  notes  relate  to  the   tariff  provisions  of  the   foreign 

countries  of  the  world. 

*  *     * 

Four-Hundred-Foot  Wireless  Tower  Completed  at 
Sayville,  N.  Y. — The  Atlantic  Communication  Company 
recently  completed  a  400-ft.  wireless  tower  at  Sayville,  N. 
Y.,  for  use  in  radio-communication  with  the  vessels  of  the 
Hamburg-American  and  North  German  Lloyd  Lines. 
The  Telefunken  wireless  system  is  employed.  It  is  re- 
ported that  communication  will  be  established  later  across 

the  Atlantic  with  Germany. 

*  *     * 

The  Why  of  Electricity. — In  a  recent  issue  of  a  Wash- 
ington (D.  C.)  paper  appeared  the  following  enlightening 
discussion  of  the  operation  of  gas-engine  ignition  apparatus: 
"  'Many  motorists  do  not  understand  the  difference  between 
a  magneto  and  a  dynamo,'  said  an  electrician  yesterday, 
in  a  magneto  the  electricity  is  generated  by  the  action  of 
the  magneto,  while  in  the  dynamo  the  electricity  is  produced 

by  conversion  of  a  high  degree  of  mechanical  energy.'  " 

*  *     * 

Campaign  for  Telephone  Consolidation  in  Los 
Angeles,  Cal. — The  recently  organized  Te'ephone  Reform 
.Association,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  has  just  inaugurated  a  local 
campaign   against  the  dual  telephone  system.     In   a   set  of 


resolutions  adopted  by  the  association  it  is  set  forth  that 
the  experience  in  Los  Angeles  with  two  telephone  systems 
shows  that  they  are  less  satisfactory  and  less  economical 
than  a  single  system.  About  140,000  letters  containing 
copies  of  the  resolution  have  been  mailed  to  local 
subscribers. 

Curb  Lighting  in  Des  Moines. — Des  Moines,  la.,  has 
an  elaborate  system  of  curb  lighting,  and  some  of  the 
merchants  have  started  an  agitation  to  have  the  city  as- 
sume the  expense  of  operating  this  lighting  system,  which 
so  far  has  been  borne  by  the  merchants,  each  post  with 
five  loo-watt  lamps  being  charged  for  at  the  rate  of  $5.80 
per  month.  The  city  has  been  asked  to  discontinue  the 
arc  lamps  at  street  intersections,  which  burn  from  midnight 
to  dawn,  and  in  place  of  these  to  assume  the  expense  of 
the  all-night  lighting  of  the  top  lamp  in  the  five-lamp 
cluster. 

*  *     * 

Coosa  River  Dam  Bill  Vetoed. — Before  the  adjourn- 
ment of  Congress  this  week  President  Taft  vetoed  the  bill 
relating  to  the  Coosa  River  Dam  project.  This  bill  would 
have  authorized  the  construction  of  a  dam  across  the  Coosa 
River  in  Alabama  without  provision  for  reimbursement  of 
the  federal  government.  The  President  based  his  disap- 
proval upon  the  principle  that  the  government  in  granting 
water-power  rights  should  receive  compensation.  Secre- 
tary Stimson  has  consistently  urged  the  adoption  of  the 
policy  that  a  grant  of  water-power  privileges  is  one  for 
which  the  government  is  entitled  to  proper  compensation. 
41     *     * 

Water-Power  Sites  on  Green  River,  Wyoming. — The 
waters  of  the  Green  River,  the  main  branch  of  the  Colorado, 
and  its  tributaries,  while  possessing  large  possibilities  for 
the  development  of  power,  are  practically  unused  except 
for  irrigation.  Theoretically  it  would  be  possible  at  the 
present  time,  according  to  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey,  by  utilizing  know  storage  sites,  to  develop  about 
1,500,000  hp  in  the  basm  of  the  Green.  From  Wells,  Wyo., 
to  the  Wyoming  State  line,  a  distance  of  225  miles,  the 
stream  has  an  average  fall  of  11  ft.  to  the  mile,  and  from 
the  Wyoming  State  line  to  the  mouth  of  Minnie  Maud 
Creek,  a  distance  of  200  miles,  the  average  fall  is  7  ft.  to 
the  mile.     The  total  fall  is  3875  ft. 

*  *     * 

Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad  to  Build  Telegraph 
Lines. — The  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad  Company  and 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  have  failed  to  re- 
new a  contract  for  the  exchange  of  service  which  expired 
Aug.  17,  and  the  railroad  company  is  now  preparing  to 
build  and  operate  its  own  telegraph  system.  It  is  reported 
that  telephonic  train  dispatching  will  be  substituted  to  some 
extent  for  the  telegraph.  The  Western  Union  company  is 
endeavoring,  by  condemnation  proceedings,  to  continue  the 
use  of  the  railroad  right-of-way  for  its  poles  and  wires, 
which  the  railroad  company  is  opposing.  The  railroad  com- 
pany has  served  notice  that  the  telegraph  poles  and  wires 
must  be  removed  from  its  right-of-way  by  December. 
+     ♦     * 

Opportunities  for  the  Technical  Graduate. — The 
June  issue  of  the  Bulletin  of  the  Throop  Polytechnic  Insti- 
tute, Pasadena,  Cal.,  contains  an  interesting  analysis  of 
the  opportunities  for  technical  graduates  in  southern  Cali- 
fornia, written  by  Prof.  George  A.  Damon,  dean  of  the  in- 
stitute. Included  are  the  answers  to  three  questions  which 
were  asked  of  more  than  seventy  technical  men  of  southern 
California.  The  first  question  was,  "What  do  you  think  of 
a  technical  college  education?"  The  second  was.  "What  is 
the  best  way  to  get  practical  experience?"  The  third  was, 
"If  you  were  a  young  man  starting  all  over  again  at  the 
present  time  what  would  you  do?"  In  the  opinion  of  those 
asked  electrical  engineering  stood  higher  than  any  other 
engineering  profession  in  opportunities. 


44^ 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9. 


Knapsack  Wireless  Kits. — One  of  the  latest  develop- 
ments in  radio-communication  is  a  complete  wireless  in- 
stallation which  can  be  carried  in  the  knapsacks  of  four 
men,  as  adopted  by  the  British  army.  The  portable  tubular 
mast  is  about  30  ft.  in  height  and  is  made  chiefly  of 
aluminum  to  reduce  its  weight.  The  knapsack  stations  have 
a  range  of  about  10  miles. 

*  *     * 

Extension  of  Long  Island  Railroad  Electrification. 
— It  is  announced  that  electric  trains  will  commence  running 
on  the  Whitestone  branch  of  the  north  side  division  of  the 
Long  Island  Railroad  when  the  winter  time-table  takes 
efifect  on  Oct.  22.  This  date  is  tentative  to  the  extent  that  it 
depends  on  no  unforeseen  interruptions  to  the  work.  Grade 
revision  of  the  Port  Washington  line,  preliminary  to  the 
work  of  electrification,  is  in  progress. 

*  *     *  ' 

"Writ  Sarkastic." — In  commenting  on  the  announce- 
ment that  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad 
Company  has  decided  to  "electrify"  its  main  line  between 
Boston  and  Providence,  the  Chicago  Tribune  gave  expres- 
sion to  its  consternation  in  the  following  terms :  "Some- 
one stop  this  misguided  railroad  corporation  before  it  is  too 
late.  Electrification  is  not  possible.  If  it  were  possible, 
such  a  public-spirited,  public-serving  corporation  as  the 
Illinois  Central  would  electrify.  We  know  it  is  not  possible. 
The  Illinois  Central  says  so  in  season  and  out  of  season, 
and  the  only  reason  it  scatters  cinders  and  spouts  smoke  up 
and  down  the  south  shore  is  because  it  cannot  use  elec- 
tricity." 

*  *     * 

City  Planning  Congress  at  Dusseldorf,  Germany. — • 
Dusseldorf,  the  most  beautiful  and  modern  city  in  western 
Germany,  known  as  the  "Park  City,"  and  the  center  of 
the  industrial  empire,  with  its  extraordinary  commercial 
and  political  developments,  is  at  present  holding  an  exhibi- 
tion on  city  planning,  city  operation  and  city  administrative 
functions.  The  exhibition  will  be  open  to  the  public  until 
Oct.  31,  while  the  International  Congress  adjourned  its 
sessions  on  Sept.  28.  The  first  group  of  exhibitions  consists 
of  general  ground  plans,  traffic  systems,  such  as  railways, 
local  and  express  facilities,  elevated,  subway,  suspension 
and  street  railways,  aviation  stations,  city  embellishment, 
bridges,  docks,  parks,  lawns,  forests  and  real  estate  politics. 
Under  "city  operation"  are  grouped  gas  works,  water 
works,  electric  central  stations,  sewage  systems,  street 
cleaning,  refuse  disposal,  cemeteries  and  crematories. 
Under  the  third  group,  "administrative  functions,"  are  ex- 
hibited plans  and  models  of  hospitals,  rescue  homes,  poor- 
houses,  lodging  houses,  orphan  asylums,  homes  for  widows 
and  the  aged  and  infirm,  schools,  churches,  museums,  art 
galleries,  libraries,  concert  halls,  etc.  It  will  be  noted  from 
the  foregoing  that  this  exhibition  is  planned  with  the  well- 
known  German  thoroughness  so  that  hardly  any  subject  is 
omitted  that  is  of  importance  in  city  planning,  city  opera- 
tion and  administration. 

*  *     * 

SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 
Iowa  Railway  Convention. — The  Iowa  Street  and  In- 
terurban  Railway  Association  will  meet  at  Waterloo,  la., 
for  its  next  annual  gathering  in  April,   1913.     Mr.  H.  E. 
Weeks,  Davenport,  la.,  is  its  secretary. 

*  *     * 

Indiana  Association  Convention.^ — On  Oct.  16  and  17 
the  Indiana  Electric  Light  Association  will  hold  its  annual 
convention  at  Indianapolis.  The  secretary  of  the  associa- 
tion is  Mr.  J.  V.  Zartman,  120  South  Meridian  Street,  In- 
dianapolis, Ind. 

*  *     * 

Ohio  Engineers'  Convention. — On  Nov.  21  and  22  the 
Ohio  Society  of  Mechanical,  Electrical  and  Steam  En- 
gineers, of  which  Prof.  F.  E.  Sanborn,  Ohio  State  Univer- 


sity,   Columbus,    Ohio,    is   secretary,    will    hold    its   annual 
convention  at  Akron. 

*  *     * 

Telephone  Pioneers. — The  second  annual  convention 
and  reunion  of  the  Association  of  Telephone  Pioneers  of 
America  will  be  held  in  New  York  City  on  Nov.  14  and  15. 
Mr.  Henry  W.  Pope,  15  Dey  St.,  New  York  City,  is  sec- 
retary and  treasurer. 

*  *     * 

Convention  of  Vehicle  Association. — The  Electric 
Vehicle  Association  of  American  will  convene  for  its  annual 
meeting  in  Boston  on  Oct.  8  and  9.  Mr.  Harvey  Robinson, 
124  West  Forty-second  Street,  New  York,  is  the  assistant 
secretary  of  the  association. 

*  *     * 

Meeting  of  Railway  Association. — The  Central  Elec- 
tric Railway  Association  held  its  regular  meeting  at  the 
Oliver  Hotel,  South  Bend,  Ind.,  on  Aug.  29  and  30.  The 
mornings  were  devoted  to  the  transaction  of  business  and 
the  afternoons  to  pleasure  trips. 

*  *     * 

Alabama  Electric  Association  Convention. — The  Ala- 
bama Light  &  Traction  Association  will  hold  its  annual 
convention  at  Birmingham  in  November  on  a  date  not  yet 
selected.  Mr.  George  S.  Emery,  11  North  Royal  Street, 
Mobile,  Ala.,  is  the  secretary  of  the  association. 

*  *     * 

Railway  Electrical  Engineers. — The  1912  conventior» 
of  the  Association  of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers  will  be 
held  in  Chicago  from  Oct.  21  to  26,  with  headquarters  at 
the  Auditorium  Hotel.  Mr.  Joseph  A.  Andreucetti,  Chicago 
&  Northwestern  Railway,  Chicago,  111.,  is  the  secretary  of 
the  association. 

*  *     * 

American  Physical  Society. — The  annual  meeting  of 
the  American  Physical  Society,  of  which  Mr.  Ernest  Mer- 
ritt,  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  is  secretary,  will  be 
held  in  connection  with  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  during  the 
latter  part  of  December,  1912. 

*  *     * 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  New  York 
State. — Jan.  21,  1913,  has  been  selected  as  the  date  for  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Electrical  Contractors'  Association 
of  New  York  State,  which  is  to  convene  at  Syracuse.  Mr. 
George  W.  Russell,  Jr.,  25  West  Forty-second  Street,  New 
York,  is  secretary  of  the  association. 

*  *     * 

Vermont  Electrical  Association. — As  previously  an- 
nounced in  these  columns,  the  Vermont  Electrical  Associa- 
tion will  hold  its  twelfth  annual  convention  at  Rutland, 
Vt.,  on  Sept.  12  and  13.  The  following  program  has  been 
arranged:  On  the  first  day  an  executive  session  will  take  i 
place  at  2  p.  m.  During  the  day  automobiles  will  be  pro-  3 
vided  to  convey  the  guests  to  points  of  interest  about  the 
city,  and  at  8  p.  m.  an  illustrated  lecture  will  be  given  by 
Mr.  L.  D.  Gibbs.  On  the  second  day  there  will  be  a  clam- 
bake at  Lake  Bomoseen.  The  secretary  of  the  society  is 
Mr.  A.  B.  Marsden,  Manchester,  Vt. 

*  *     * 

Railway  Signal  Association. — The  sixteenth  annual  _ 
meeting  of  the  Railway  Signal  Association  will  be  held 
at  the  Chateau  Frontenac,  Quebec,  Can.,  Oct.  8,  9,  10  and  11. 
It  will  also  be  the  seventh  annual  meeting  of  the  Signal 
Appliance  Association,  the  membership  of  which  consists  of 
the  associate  members  of  the  Railway  Signal  Association. 
Arrangements  have  been  made  for  a  special  train  from 
Chicago  on  Sunday,  Oct,  6,  and  another  from  New  York 
on  Monday,  Oct.  7.  Morning  and  afternoon  business 
sessions  are  planned  for  Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  Oct.  8 
and  9,  and  a  morning  session  for  Thursday,  Oct.  10.  Friday- 
will  be  given  over  to  an  excursion. 


DEVELOPMENT  ON   EAST  CANADA  CREEK. 

Station    of    the    East   Creek    Electric    Light  &  Power    Company  at  Inghams 

Mills,  N.  Y. 

Plant  Supplements  Older  Hydroelectric  Station  on  Same  Stream  and  Operates  in  Conjunction 

with  Steam  Station  30  Miles  Away — Steel-Tower,  60, 000- Volt    Line  Connects  the 

Two  Generating  Systems — Energy  Used  Chiefly  for  Railway  Service. 


THE  station  of  the  East  Creek  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company,  located  on  East  Canada  Creek  at  Ing- 
hams Mills,  N.  Y.,  about  s  miles  above  the  junc- 
tion of  the  creek  with  the  Mohawk  River,  supplements  an 
older  development  owned  by  the  company  and  located  3J/2 
miles  below  the  new  site.  The  output  of  the  new  station 
is  used  chiefly  by  the  Fonda,  Johnstown  &  Gloversville 
Railroad  Company.  The  latter  has  a  4000-hp  steam  sta- 
tion at  Tribes  Hill,  and  on  this  account  it  was  not  consid- 
ered necessary  to  provide  much  water  storage  at  Inghams 
Mills,  the  steam  plant  being  of  sufficient  size  to  tide  the 
hydroelectric  station  over  any  low-water  periods  likely  to 
occur. 

DAM. 

A  dam  of  cyclopean  concrete  was  built  at  a  narrow  point 
in  the  East  Canada  Creek  channel.  It  reaches  a  height  of 
123  ft.  and  is  400  ft.  wide  at  the  crest.  This,  however,  does 
not  include  a  spillway,  which  was  built  as  a  separate  struc- 
ture, connecting  with  the  main  dam  at  one  end.  The  spill- 
way is  205  ft.  long  and  its  crest  is  8>^  ft.  lower  than  the  top 
of  the  dam.  It  is  built  at  an  angle  of  about  16  deg.  to  the 
main  dam,  and  inasmuch  as  it  is  located  outside  of  the 
natural  channel  limits,  a  diversion  wall  was  built  to  direct 
the  flow  back  into  the  stream  bed. 

Two  riveted  steel  pipes,  6  ft.  in  diameter,  pass  through 
the  dam  at  a  level  of  approximately  100  ft.  below  the  crest 
and  are  provided  with  butterfly  valves  at  their  lower  ends. 
By  this  means  the  reservoir  may  be  drained  when  neces- 
sary and  water  by-passed  to  the  lower  plant.  Moreover, 
these  sluice  pipes  may  also  be  employed  in  times  of  severe 


Fig.    1 — Generating    Equipment    of    East    Creel<    Electric    Light    & 
Power   Company. 

flood  to  supplement  the  spillway,  in  which  case  about  15,000 
cu.  ft.  of  water  per  second  may  be  discharged.  There  are 
three  headgates  now  in  place  on  the  dam,  two  for  the  pres- 
ent 9-ft.  penstock  and  one  for  a  Syi-it.  line  to  be  installed 
later.  The  racks,  which  are  27  ft.  long  and  28  ft.  deep, 
are  provided  with  a  floating  boom  between  the  piers  to 
ward  off  debris. 


PENSTOCK    AND    SURGE    TANK. 

The  single  9-ft.  pipe  line  at  present  installed  supplies  the 
two  units  now  in  operation.  This  penstock  is  625  ft.  long, 
and  at  a  point  415  ft.  from  the  dam,  where  the  pipe  dips 
down  from  the  crest  of  the  hill,  a  surge  tank  is  provided. 
The  latter  is  20  ft.  in  diameter  and  75  ft.  high,  and  its  top 


Fig.  2 — Dam    and   Spillway  on    East   Canada  Creek. 

is  20  ft.  above  the  crest  of  the  dam.  It  is  joined  to  the  pipe 
line  by  a  /-ft.  connection,  which  is  intended  to  throttle  the 
flow  between  the  penstock  and  the  tank,  and  thus  to  reduce 
the  time  of  the  surge  and  to  allow  a  smaller  diameter  stand- 
pipe  to  be  used.  On  the  side  of  the  penstock  opposite  the 
surge  tank  a  33/2-ft.  nipple  has  been  installed  for  connection 
to  the  future  penstock.  By  increasing  the  height  of  the 
tank  8  ft.  it  is  expected  that  the  surges  from  the  additional 
penstock  will  be  amply  provided  for.  At  its  lower  end  the 
penstock  divides  into  two  branches  to  serve  the  two  units, 
and  on  each  of  these  branches,  just  outside  the  entrance  to 
the  turbine  casing,  a  manually  operated  butterfly  valve  has 
been  installed.  The  exciter  turbine  is  supplied  through  a 
i6-in.  pipe  leading  from  one  of  the  branches.  Near  the 
power  house  a  9-ft.  nipple  is  provided  in  the  main  branch, 
which  will  be  later  connected  to  the  additional  pipe  line. 

The  penstock  is  made  of  riveted  steel  with  lap  joints,  the 
thickness  of  the  steel  at  the  upper  end  being  3/g  in.  and  at 
the  lower  end  J,'^  in.  There  are  angle  stiffeners  around 
the  outside  of  the  pipe,  spaced  about  12  ft.  apart  for  its  en- 
tire length.  The  lower  end  of  the  line  is  designed  to  with- 
stand a  pressure  100  per  cent  greater  than  the  static  pres- 
sure, in  order  to  guard  against  water  hammer  or  any  sud- 
den stresses  resulting  from  a  quick  closure  of  the  turbine 
gates.  Two  gland  expansion  joints  are  provided  on  either 
side  of  the  surge  tank  anchorages,  and  a  vent  pipe  has 
been  placed  just  below  the  intake  gate  at  the  dam  to  per- 
mit air  to  enter  the  pipes  when  the  headgates  are  closed. 

POWER    HOUSE. 

The  power  house  is  a  steel  frame  structure  with  brick 
walls  built  on  concrete  foundations,  and  inasmuch  as  the 
tailrace  level  almost  reaches  the  center  line  of  the  turbines 


444 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9. 


during  high  water,  the  outside  walls  of  the  foundation  are 

made  water-tight   and   a   sump   with   a   small   motor-driven 

centrifugal  pump  is  provided  to  keep  the  foundations  dry. 

The  main  turbines  are  vertical-shaft,  single-runner  Fran- 


phase,  25-c)'c!e  water-cooled  transformers  are  provided  for 
stepping  up  the  potential  from  2300  volts  to  30,000  or  60,- 
000  volts.  The  transformers  are  mounted  on  trucks  and 
can  be  rolled  out  of  their  pockets  into  the  generator  room 


Fig.  3- — Elevation   and   Plan  of  East  Creek   Electric   Light  &  Power  Company's  Station   at   Inghams   Mills.   N.   Y. 


cis  wheels,  with  cast-iron  spiral  casing  and  pivoted  guide 
vanes.  Each  has  a  rating  of  4000  hp  under  a  115-ft.  head 
when  operated  at  300  r.p.m.  The  runners  are  made  of 
bronze  and  are  4  ft.  in  diameter.  The  governors  for  each 
wheel  are  mounted  immediately  in  front  of  and  on  the 
turbine  casing  and  are  supplied  with  oil  under  pressure 
by  two  motor-driven  pumps.  The  wheels  and  governors  for 
both  the  main  and  the  exciter  units  were  manufactured  by 
the  Pelton  Water  Wheel  Company,  and  the  guaranteed 
efficiency  of  the  main  wheels  at  three-quarter  load  is  84 
per  cent. 

ELECTRICAL    EQUIPMENT. 

The  generators  are  rated  at  2800  kva,  three-phase,  25- 


under  the  crane.  The  barriers,  switch  compartments,  bus- 
bar chambers,  etc.,  throughout  the  station  are  constructed 
of  brick. 

TRANSMISSION  LINE. 

There  is  a  16,000-volt  transmission  line,  31^  miles  long, 
connecting  the  old  and  new  hydroelectric  developments, 
and  there  is  also  a  30-mile  transmission  line  from  the  new 
station  to  the  steam  station  at  Tribes  Hill.    The  latter  trans- 


Fig.  4 — Transmission   Line  Leaving  Station. 

cycle,  and  are  wound  for  2300  volts.  To  provide  excitation 
a  200-hp  horizontal  shaft  Francis  waterwheel  unit  is  in- 
stalled, and  this  is  supplemented  by  a  125-kw  exciter  set 
driven  by  a  200-hp  induction  motor.     Two  2830-kva.  three- 


Fig. 


-High-Tension   Switches. 


mission  line  is  not  at  present  fully  loaded,  and  the  trans- 
mission voltage  is  at  present  30,000,  it  being  the  intention  to 
operate  the  line  ultimately  at  a  pressure  of  60,000  volts. 
Steel  towers  60  ft.  high,  spaced  550  ft.  apart,  carry  a  two-  ' 


August  31.  1912, 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


445 


circuit,  three-phase  line  arranged  in  a  vertical  plane  on 
either  side  of  the  tower.  The  conductors  are  of  No.  2  cop- 
per on  pin  insulators,  and  a  galvanized-steel  stranded 
ground  wire  is  carried  along  the  tops  of  the  towers. 


USE  OF  ELECTRICAL  ENERGY  IN  THE 

MINES  OF  THE  EMPIRE  DISTRICT. 


Fig.    6 — Exciter   Sets    in    Generating    Station. 

Inasmuch  as  the  new  station  is  equipped  with  25-cycle 
machines,  while  the  old  station  still  operates  at  60  cycles,  a 
500-kw  frequency  changer  has  been  installed  so  that  energy 
may  be  supplied  either  to  the  old  station  from  the  new  sta- 
tion or  vice  versa.  It  was  thought  advisable  to  emp'.oy  the 
frequency  changer  until  such  time  as  changes  in  the  older 
station  become  necessary,  for  reasons  other  than  frequency 
uniformity. 

The  electrical  apparatus  in   the  station  was  supplied  by 


Extensive  Motor  Drive  of  Mines  and  Mills  Situated  in 
the  Lead  and  Zinc  Districts  of  Missouri  and  Kansas. 


Use  of  2300-VoIt  Primary   Motors  for    Underground   Pumping 

Duty — Riverton  Turbine  Plant  and  System  of  Empire 

District  Electric  Company,  Serving  Joplin, 

Webb  City  and  Carterville,  Mo., 

and  Galena,  Kan. 


MORE  than  a  million  dollars'  worth  of  lead  and  zinc 
ore  is  mined  and  milled  each  month  of  the  year  in 
the  famous  Empire  District  camps  centering  about 
Joplin,  Webb  City  and  Carterville,  Mo.,  and  Galena,  Kan. 
Within  half  a  decade  a  veritable  revolution  in  the  methods 
of  mining  and  milling  this  product  has  been  worked  by  the 
introduction  of  central-station  service  into  the  field,  making 
economical  and  efficient  motor  drive  available  for  the 
various  operations  formerly  performed  by  expensive  iso- 
lated plants. 

The   system  of  the   Empire  District  Electric   Company, 
which    serves    this    mining    territory,    now   comprises    nine 


-..._  T^i;.  7- 

i 

.'■■ 

1  1 

1 

u 

mrnnr- 

m^^^^^^^Mmi  ..._B^^H 

r---:^^ 

Fig.  7 — High-Tension,  Three-Phase  Transformer. 


Fig.  1 — Under-Water  Coal-Storage  Pit  at  Riverton  Turbine  Station 
of  Empire   District   Electric  Company. 

power  plants,  nineteen  substations,  mure  than  100  miles  of 
33,000-volt,  25-cycle,  three-phase  transmission  lines,  and 
an  equal  amount  of  2300-volt  primary  distribution.  Of  the 
company's  nine  generating  stations,  the  principal  ones  are 
the  2o,ooo-hp  .steam-turbine  plant  at  Riverton,  Kan. ;  the 
3000-hp  water-power  plant  at  Lowell,  Kan. ;  a  looo-hp 
water-power  at  Grand  Falls,  Mo.;  1000  hp  in  steam  gener- 
ating equipment  at  Joplin,  Mo.,  and  a  looo-hp  gas-engine 
station  at  Webb  City.  The  water-power  and  Riverton 
steam-turbine  plants  are  chiefly  relied  upon  for  the  system 
output,  the  other  stations,  including  the  gas-engine  plant, 
being  reserved  as  auxiliaries,  although  when  required  all 
of  the  various  generators  can  be  paralleled  and  the  several 
forms  of  prime  movers  operated  in  perfect  unison. 

Besides  its  power  service  to  mines  and  mills,  the  Empire 
District  Electric  Company  supplies  the  electrical  needs  of 
a  combined  community  of  152,000,  serving  3500  customers 
in  Joplin,  Webb  City,  Carterville,  Galena  and  other  towns 
on  the  camp.  Its  plants  also  generate  the  energy  to  operate 
165  miles  of  modern  500-volt  interurban  railway  connecting 
these  communities. 


the  General  Electric  Company,  and  the  entire  development  riverton   turbine   station. 

was  designed  and  erected  under  the  supervision  of  Messrs,  The  Riverton  steam-turbine  station,  4  miles  from  Galena, 

Viele,  Blackwell  &  Buck,  consulting  engineers.  New   York  Kan.,  contains  two  7500-kw,  6600-volt,  25-cycle,  three-phase 

City.  Westinghouse  alternators,  driven  at  1500  r.p.m.  by  Westing- 


446 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  9. 


house-Parsons  turbines.  Steam  is  furnished  by  sixteen 
500-hp  boilers,  under  which  slack  coal  is  burned.  Water 
sprays  over  each  firing  hopper  wet  down  this  slack  as  it 
is  fed  onto  the  grates,  the  conversion  of  the  moisture  into 
steam,  just  preceding  ignition,  acting  to  break  up  and 
prevent  the  objectionable  matting  of  the   fuel  which  ordi- 


Fig.   2 — 33.000-Volt  Transmission   Line,  Showing   Upper  and    Lower 
Ground    Wires,    Telephone    Wires,     Etc. 

narily  interferes  witli  combustion  when  such  slack  is  fired 
dry. 

One  of  the  accompanying  illustrations  gives  a  good  view 
of  the  elaborate  submerged  coal-storage  basin  adjoining 
the  boiler-room.  This  massive  concrete  holder  is  designed 
with  a  capacity  for  6000  tons  and  has  a  total  depth  of  26  ft., 
10  ft.  of  which  is  below  the  ground  level.  Loaded  coal  cars 
are  drawn  up  the  concrete  incline  b)'  a  motor-driven  winch, 
the  standard-gage  track  trestle  being  supported  on  piers 
at  the  center  line  of  the  pit.  Spreader  sheets  beneath  the 
track  distribute  the  coal  to  the  sides  of  the  pit  as  it  is 
discharged  from  the  drop-bottom  cars.  The  entire  basin  is 
built  water-tight  and  is  ordinarily  kept  fully  or  partially 
flooded,  both  as  a  preventive  of  spontaneous  combustion  in 
the  high-sulphur  coal  and  to  decrease  the  heat-unit  deterio- 
ration of  the  fuel  when  stored  for  any  time.  Delivery  of 
the  coal  from  the  storage  pit  to  the  overhead  bunkers  is 
effected  by  telpher  hoist  buckets,  running  on  I-beam  tracks 
supported  by  the  roof  chords.  There  are  three  parallel 
telpher  runways  over  the  pit,  the  two  outermost  serving  to 
take  coal  from  the  piles,  while  the  center  one,  over  the 
railroad  track,  enables  cars  to  be  unloaded  directly  into  the 
bunkers  if  desired.  Like  the  storage  pit,  the  boiler  building 
is  of  concrete  and  adjoins  the  turbine-room,  which  is  of 
brick.  The  two  brick  stacks  shown  stand  250  ft.  above  the 
ground. 

Within  200  ft.  of  the  turbine  station  at  Riverton  is  the 
old  vertical  Corliss-engine  plant  now  held  for  reserve  duty. 
This  au.xiliary  equipment  comprises  three  of  the  huge 
Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  units,  which  attracted  much 
attention  at  the  fair,  and  is  connected  by  an  underground 
steam  line  with  the  turbine-plant  boiler-room.  A  quarter 
of  a  mile  below  the  steam  plants  is  the  Lowell  water-power 
plant,  whose  head-water  pond  provides  the  condenser  cool- 
ing basin  for  the  steam  plants. 

TRANSMISSION    AND    DISTRIBUTION. 

Transmission  throughout  the  district  is  over  33,000-volt. 
25-cycle,  three-phase  circuits  carried  on  pin  insulators  on 
wooden  poles.  Double-arm  construction  is  employed,  one 
phase  wire  occupying  one  of  the  top  pins,  while  the  other 
pin  carries  a  No.  6  galvanized-iron  ground  wire.     Another 


similar  ground  wire  is  carried  on  a  pole  bracket  just  below 
the  second  arm,  so  that  all  the  phase  wires  are  located  be- 
tween two  grounded  conductors.  When  first  erected  this 
lower  ground  wire  was  alone  depended  upon  to  protect  the 
transmission  circuit,  but  experience  with  the  severe  light- 
ning storms  to  which  this  section  is  subject  soon  indicated 
the  upper  ground  wire  to  be  necessary.  The  lower  ground 
wire  is  now  retained  largely  for  the  inductive  shielding 
effect  it  interposes  on  the  telephone  wires  occupying  a 
pair  of  brackets  further  down  the  poles.  Presence  of  this 
lower  ground  conductor  decreases  the  induction  on  the 
telephone  circuit  to  a  negligible  quantity. 

Scattered  over  the  33,000-volt  transmission  network  are 
nineteen  substations  reducing  to  2300  volts.  For  all  drives 
larger  than  30  hp  in  the  mines  and  mills  2300-volt  motors 
are  employed,  while  the  small  motors,  of  course,  are  oper- 
ated at  220  volts  and  440  volts.  The  use  of  the  primary 
motors  200  ft.  or  more  underground,  amid  all  the  severe 
conditions  of  moisture  and  flooding  met  there,  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  features  of  this  electrification  of  the 
Joplin  district.  Special  wood  clamps  in  cast  conduit  boxes 
convey  the  2300-volt  lead-covered  cables  down  the  vertical 
mine  shafts,  as  described  in  the  Electrical  World  of  Nov. 
14.   1911. 

An  instructive  and  valuable  paper  on  power  development 
in  this  lead  and  zinc  field  was  presented  by  Mr.  R.  A.  Mac- 
Gregor,  power  agent  for  the  Empire  District  company, 
before  the  Missouri  Electrical  Association,  w-hich  met  at 
Joplin  not  long  ago.  In  preparing  this  material  Mr.  Mac- 
Gregor  had  the  collaboration  of  Messrs.  W.  O.  Custer, 
I.  G.  Horgan,  C.  B.  Rhodes  and  R.  J.  Busey,  all  specialists 
in    his   department. 

In  the  Empire  District  at  the  present  time,  said  Mr. 
MacGregor,  there  are  nearly  600  mines  in  operation,  rang- 
ing in  size  from  the  operator  using  hand  drills  and  a  horse 
hoister  and  making  his  recoveries  with  hand  jigs  to  such 
concerns  as  the  American  Company  and  the  Orogono  Cir- 
cuit Company,  which  have  in  operation  numerous  shafts 
and  are  recovering  through  complete  concentrator  plants 
driven  by  huge  Corliss-engine  plants  which  would  make 
even  a  central  station  in  a  city  of  15,000  people  look  small. 

All  these   mines,  however,  are   not   at  present   fields   for 


F'g.   3 — A    Disconnecting    Switching    Station    and    Telephone    Booth 
on    33,000-Volt    Network. 

electric  service,  for  some  of  them  are  about  worked  out 
and  others  are  hard'y  making  ends  meet.  In  his  esti- 
mate of  the  field  here  for  power  service  the  visitor  is  there- 
fore cautioned  not  to  become  over-enthusiastic.  Those 
mines  using  other  power  than  electricity  employ  ordinary 
tubular  boilers,  slide-valve  and  simple  Corliss  engines,  gas 


August  31.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


447 


engines,  steam  hoisters  and  duplex  steam  pumps.  1  his 
apparatus  is  often  pretty  old,  some  of  it  having  been  bought 
and  sold  as  second-hand  half  a  dozen  times,  so  that  its 
present  money  value  is  not  high.  Gas  is  generally  used 
as  boiler  fuel,  being  supplemented  in  cold  weather  by  oil. 
Such  furnace  gas  costs  $0,125  per  1000  cu.  ft.,  while  gas- 
engine  gas  is  purchased  at  $0.25  per  1000  cu.  ft.  Coal  costs 
from  $1.68  to  $2.75  per  ton  in  the  bin,  according  to  its  size 
and  the  pro-ximity  of  the  mine  to  railroads.  While  these 
fuel  costs  may  appear  to  make  brisk  competition  for  electric 
drives,  Mr.  MacGregor  declares  that  with  the  central-station 
rates  offered  they  are  not,  after  all,  hard  to  beat.  The 
worst  obstacle  to  be  overcome  is  really  that  of  illuminating 
the  total  ignorance  of  most  of  the  operators  regarding 
their  present  isolated-plant  costs.  Invariably  they  want  to 
make  a  direct  comparison  between  their  gas  bills  and  their 
electricity  bills,  which,  of  course,  is  unfair.  A  corps  of 
motor-service  salesmen  is  now  employed  regularly,  and  at 
present  the  power  load  is  increasing  at  the  rate  of  1000  hp 
per  month. 

The  present  connected  load  is  about  25,000  hp,  and  al- 
though the  rates  offered  may  seem  low,  there  is  considerable 
business  paying  $100  per  kw-year.  This  milling  and  pump- 
ing load  is  principally  twenty-hour  and  twenty-four-hour 
business.  The  average  station  load  is  aboVit  7000  hp,  and 
the  peak,  which  is  from  9  a.  m.  until  3  p.  m.,  runs  about 
11,000  hp.  All  energy  used  for  power  purposes  is  sold  on 
a  horse-power-hour  basis,  to  avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  elec- 
trical terrns  and  to  simplify  comparisons  of  the  expense  of 
electric   drive.' 

ELECTRIC    PUMPING. 

De-watering,  or  keeping  the  mines  dry,  is  often  the  most 
serious  problem  of  the  mine  operator,  on  account  of  the 
quantity  to  be  pumped,  or  the  strongly  acid  water  to  be 
handled.  Steam  pumps  for  mine  use  are  very  inefficient, 
since  they  must  be  located  several  hundred  feet  from  the 
boiler,  while  their  supply  pipes  are  seldom  covered  and 
usually  leaky,  causing  heavy  condensation.  One  test  on  a 
4-in.  duplex  steam  pump,  handling  200  gal.  per  minute  at 
200  ft.  head,  showed  a  consumption  of  150  lb.  of  steam  per 
hp-hr.,  with  a  combined  or  over-all  efficiency  of  20  per  cent. 
With  gas  at  $0,125  per  1000  cu.  ft.,  this  gave  a  fuel  cost 
of  4.8  cents  per  1000  gal.  pumped,  or  8  cents  total  cost, 
which  is  at  the  rate  of  4  cents  per  1000  gal.  per  loo-ft.  lift. 
Another  case  showed  a  fuel  cost  of  about  4.5  cents,  making 
the  net  power  cost  6.5  cents  per  1000  gal.  per  loo-ft.  lift. 

While  the  combined  efficiency  of  motor-driven  centrifugal 
pumps  seldom  exceeds  50  per  cent,  the  operation  of  such 
pumping  service   is   actuallv   much   more   satisfactory   than 


In  the  entire  district  there  are  more  than  100  electric 
pump  installations,  ranging  in  size  from  20  hp  to  100  hp. 
The  water  supply  of  Webb  City  is  pumped  by  five  25-hp 
motors  direct-connected  to  deep-well  pumps.  These  units 
are  run  only  between  4  p.  m.  and  9  a.  m.,  under  a  special 
contract  provided  to  build  up  the  ofif-peak  load. 


Fig.  4 — 2300-Volt  Service  to  Typical  Zinc   IVline  In   Empire   District. 

steam,  and  less  expensive.  For  the  above  case,  for  example, 
a  3-in.  two-stage  centrifugal  pump,  direct-connected  to  a 
25-hp  motor,  was  recommended.  The  load  was  20  hp, 
twenty-four  hours  per  day,  thirty  days  per  month,  using 
14,000  hp-hr.  at  a  cost  for  energy  of  $144.74,  or  a  net  cost 
of  8.3  mills  per  1000  gal.  per  lOO-ft.  lift. 


Fig.   5 — 2300-Volt   Entry   and   Switchboard    in    IVline   Substation. 

Acid  water  in  the  mines  is  one  of  the  problems  of  the 
Empire  field.  In  some  cases  bronze-lined  pumps  have  to 
be  used,  and  even  these  are  eaten  up  in  thirty  to  ninety 
days.  A  local  foundry  makes  a  centrifugal  pump  casing 
out  of  wood,  with  chilled-steel  shafts  and  bronze  impellers. 
The  wood  casing  has  a  sheet-lead  lining,  but  these  pumps 
have  not  been  entirely  satisfactory,  as  their  efficiency  is 
low  and  their  upkeep  high.  Tests  are  now  being  made  on 
a  triplex  pump  lined  with  a  special  acid-resisting  cement, 
for  which  75  to  80  per  cent  over-all  efficiency  is  guaranteed, 
in  addition  to  its  handling  any  acid  water  for  one  year. 

Another  difficult  problem  is  that  of  pumping  the  water 
out  of  an  old  mine  which  has  been  allowed  to  fill.  For  this 
service  two  types  of  pumps  are  used,  one  a  mine-sinking 
pump  and  the  other  a  centrifugal  pump  with  an  extended 
shaft  driven  from  the  surface.  The  sinking  pump  com- 
prises a  2.5-in.,  two-stage  centrifugal  pump,  direct-con- 
nected to  a  35-hp  vertical  motor,  the  whole  mounted  on  an 
iron  frame  and  hung  from  a  cable.  The  pump  can  thus  be 
lowered  from  the  top  of  the  shaft  as  the  water  is  pumped 
down,  and  is  available  for  heads  from  50  ft.  to  250  ft.  At 
the  smaller  heads  it  is  run  as  two  single-stage  pumps  in 
parallel,  and  at  higher  heads  as  a  two-stage  pump  with  the 
stages  in  series.  The  pump  has  a  capacity  of  200  gal.  to 
450  gal.  per  minute  at  low  heads.  The  other  unit  has  a 
capacity  of  1500  gal.  to  2000  gal.  per  minute,  and  is  a  four- 
stage  vertical  pump  with  the  driving  shaft  extending  out 
above  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Around  this  shaft  is  a 
3-in.  pipe  with  spider  bearings  every  8  ft.  This  3-in.  pipe, 
which  is  kept  full  of  oil,  is  surrounded  in  turn  by  a  lo-in. 
pipe  or  column,  also  centered  by  spiders,  the  discharge 
being  between  the  lo-in.  and  3-in.  pipes.  The  efficiency  of 
this  pump  is  from  35  to  45  per  cent.  It  is  driven  by  a 
200-hp  motor,  and  is  employed  to  keep  mines  dry  where  the 
inflow  is  1000  gal.  per  minute  or  more,  or  where  an  inter- 
ruption in  service  of  thirty  minutes  would  be  likely  to 
drown  the  direct-connected  motor  under  ground. 

COMPRESSED-AIR   DRILLING. 

In  the  majority  of  the  mines  in  the  Empire  region  dirt 
is  broken  with  compressed-air  drills.  Five  sizes  of  com- 
pressors are  in  use,  being  locally  rated,  according  to  the 
number  of  drills  they  can  operate,  as  three,  five,  seven, 
eleven  and  fourteen-drill  machines.  The  five-drill  machine, 
which  is  most  generally  used,  is  able  to  compress  about 
540  cu.  ft.  of  free  air  per  minute,  to  80  lb.  per  sq.  in. 
pressure,  and  it  requires  a  75-hp  motor   for  its  operation. 


448 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  00,   \o.  9. 


The  seven-drill  or  707-cu.  ft.  machine  takes  a  loo-hp  motor; 
the  eleven-drill  or  1056-cu.  ft.  machine  a  iso-hp  motor, 
and  the  fourteen-drill  or  1312-cu.  ft.  machine  a  200-hp 
motor.  All  of  the  drills  in  a  given  mine  are  seldom  in 
operation  at  the  same  time,  since  stops  have  to  be  made  to 
change  steel,  to  set  up  machines,  clean  holes  or  make  ad- 


Fig.  6 — Motor-Driven  Compressor  Furnishing  Air  for  Underground 

Drills. 

justments.  Since  the  compressor  automatically  shuts  off 
or  "unloads"  when  the  desired  pressure  is  in  the  receiver, 
the  usual  load-factor  is  low.  not  exceedmg  25  to  30  per  cent 
figured  at  actual  running  time,  which  is  about  eight  hours 
per  day.  All  the  compressors  in  the  Joplin  district  are  two- 
stage  machines,  except  those  used  in  the  Carthage  marble 
quarries.  Such  two-stage  machines  show  a  saving  of  10  to 
15  per  cent  in  energy  consumption  over  single-stage  ma- 
chines. In  general  3.5-in.  machines  are  used  in  hard  and 
sheet  ground,  2.75-in.  drills  in  soft  ground,  and  2.25-in. 
drills  in  very,  soft  ground. 

HOISTING. 

The  broken  "dirt,"  or  ore-bearing  rock,  is  hoisted  from 
the  mines  in  steel  buckets  commonly  called  "cans."  What 
is  generally  known  as  the  "looo-lb.  can,"  28  in.  x  30  in.  in 
size,  actually  holds  about  850  lb.  of  dirt.  Some  of  the 
mines  use  a  larger  can,  30  in.  by  30  in.  in  size,  which  holds 
about  HOG  lb.  of  dirt.  A  few  of  the  more  recent  shaft 
openings  have  been  of  a  double-compartment  type,  with 
self-dumping  skips,  but  the  ordinary  size  of  shaft  excavated 
is  5  ft.  by  7  ft.  Electric-hoist  sizes  range  from  37  hp  to 
75  hp,  with  the  52-hp  type  predominating.  These  are 
variable-speed  ratings,  the  constant  speed  ratings  being 
about  30  per  cent  lower.  The  rigging  used  where  electric 
hoists  have  displaced  steam  hoists  is  quite  similar  in  design 
to  that  of  the  steam  equipment,  the  difference  being  simply 
that,  instead  of  an  engine,  a  motor  is  back-geared  on  the 
hoisting  drum.  These  drums  are  20  in.  in  diameter  and 
when  greater  speed  is  desired  are  lagged  2  in.  more.  The 
usual  rope  speed  is  about  1000  ft.  per  minute,  but  the  75-hp 
outfits  develop  velocities  of  1250  ft.  to  1500  ft.  per  minute, 
and  in  some  cases  speeds  as  high  as  1730  ft.  per  minute 
have  been  used  with  success. 

After  being  filled  with  "dirt"  at  the  headings,  the  cans 
are  wheeled  to  the  bottom  of  the  shaft  on  individual  trucks, 
which  run  on  20-lb.  rails  laid  to  22-in.  gage.  Reaching  the 
shaft,  they  are  hooked  to  the  hoisting  cable  by  the  "tub- 
hooker."  From  650  to  700  cans  can  be  hoisted  per  eight- 
hour  shift.  The  average  height  of  the  hoists  is  150  ft.,  the 
mean  energy  used  being  i  hp-hr.  per  ton  per  250-ft.  lift. 
The  hoisting  motor  is  thus  loaded  during  only  about  30  per 
cent  of  the  actual  time  consumed  in  a  complete  cycle  of 
hoisting  operation.  As  the  overload  on  the  motor  during 
actual   hoisting  is   abrut   30   per   cent   more   than   variable- 


speed  rating,  it  follows  that  the  load  factor  on  a  hoist  motor 
is  poor,  hardly  reaching  18  to  30  per  cent.  For  e.xample,  a 
certain  37-hp  hoist  motor  working  on  an  eight-hour  basis 
showed  a  maximum  demand  of  6o  hp  while  hoisting.  The 
total  energy  consumed  for  the  eight  hours  was  88  hp-hr., 
giving  a  load-factor  of  18.3  per  cent  on  the  eight-hour  basis, 
or  6.1  per  cent  expressed  as  a  twenty-four-hour  load-factor. 
A  37-hp  hoist  pulling  7500  tons  per  month,  under  average 
conditions,  will  cost  $90  per  month  to  operate. 

The  hoisting  record  for  the  district  was  formerly  held 
by  a  first-motion  steam  hoist,  which  raised  1016  looo-lb. 
cans  in  one  shift,  but  this  record  has  since  been  excelled  by 
a  75-hp  motor  installation,  which  pulled  1032  1750-lb.  cans 
in  a  shift.  This  hoist  is  now  averaging  about  1000  cans 
per  shift,  and  it  is  only  a  matter  of  getting  the  cans  to  the 
shift  fast  enough  for  it  to  pull  1150  or  1200  cans  per  shift. 
The  record  established  by  the  steam  hoist  followed  elaborate 
preparations  for  a  record  run,  every  man  on  the  job  from 
shoveler  to  ground  boss  being  worked  at  top  speed.  The 
record  of  the  electric  hoists,  on  the  contrary,  was  made 
during  every-day  operation.  Where  the  distance  from  one 
face  out  to  the  shaft  is  very  long,  exceeding  1000  ft.  or  so, 
the  new  practice  is  to  install  electric  haulage.  The  cans  are 
wheeled  as  before  to  gathering  points  and  there  picked  u") 
hy  endless  cables,  which  pull  them  to  the  shaft.  Such  a 
cable  is  driven  by  a  7.5-hp  or  ic-hp  motor  and  will  pull 
twenty  cars  at  a  time. 

MILLING. 

In  the  process  of  "milling"  the  ore  relative  density  or 
specific  gravity  is  employed  for  separating  the  ore  values  of 
lead  and  zinc  from  the  ground  dirt.  The  dirt  as  hoisted  is 
first  discharged  into  the  mill  hopper,  from  which  it  is  de- 
livered to  a  jaw  crusher  and  reduced  to  approximately  a 
2-in.  size.  With  the  aid  of  water  it  is  then  sent  through 
rolls,  which  again  reduce  it,  this  time  to  J^-in.  or  yz-in. 
size.  After  this  the  finely  divided  material  is  elevated  and 
run  through  a  revolving  screen,  having  perforations  of 
from  }^  in.  to  yi  in.,  depending  on  the  character  of  the 
dirt.  The  smaller  sizes  pass  through  these  perforations  in 
the  screen  and  are  delivered  into  the  "rougher  jig."  Those 
sizes  which  will  not  pass  through  the  screen  are  returned 
through  the  rolls  once  more,  after  which  they  are  again 
elevated  to  the  screen,  to  be  finally  delivered  into  the 
rougher,  the  process  continuing  until  all  the  dirt  will  pass 
through  the  perforations  into  the  rougher  jig. 


Fig.   7 — 52-hp    Hoisting    Outfit    in    Shaft   Tower. 

The  rougher  jig  separates  the  coarser  particles  of  ore 
from  the  valueless  rock  and  dirt.  Following  it  the  ore 
passes  to  the  "cleaner  jig,"  which  recovers  the  finer  par- 
ticles of  ore  not  collected  in  the  rougher  jig.  These  jigs 
are  made  up  of  a  series  of  cells  having  plates  about  6  in. 
below  the  surface  with  slots  therein,  through  which  all  the 


August  31,  1512. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


449 


finer  particles  pass.  Tlie  water  in  the  cells  is  agitated  by 
shaking,  so  that  the  dirt  delivered  on  to  the  plates  is  in 
continual  motion,  causing  the  ore  particles  of  high  specific 
gravity  to  settle  to  the  bottom,  while  the  lighter  particles 
of  rock  and  dirt  pass  out.  In  some  cases  these  tailings  are 
taken  to  a  "sand"  jig  similar  in  principle  to  the  others,  but 
so  constructed  as  to  collect  the  finer  particles  of  ore  that 
may  be  washed  over. 

The  water  coming  from  the  jigs  is  diverted  into  "sludge 
tanks."  In  these  the  heavier  ore  matters  and  sands  settle 
out,  while  the  water  flows  on  into  the  millpond.  The  ore- 
bearing  sands  are  then  taken  from  the  tank,  elevated  and 
run  on  to  flat  tables  which  are  agitated  horizontally.  The 
heavier  ore  matter  collects  at  the  top  of  the  tables,  while 
the  lighter  particles  of  waste  dirt  and  rock  are  carried  off 
at  the  bottom  on  to  the  tailing  pile.  The  water  for  the 
mill  is  used  over  and  over  again,  being  returned  to  the  same 
pond  from  which  the  mill  pumps  take  their  supply. 

In  separating  the  ore  from  the  ground  dirt  steady  agita- 
tion is  required  in  order  to  make  the  ore  recovered  as  clean 
and  free  from  foreign  or  waste  matter  as  possible.  Zinc 
ore  is  sold  on  a  basis  of  60  per  cent  metallic  content,  and 
the  clean  production  obtained  with  motor-driven  mills  will, 
in  many  cases,  give  products  which  upon  assay  contain  an 
excess  above  60  per  cent.     In  such  instances  a  bonus  of  $1 


ELECTRICAL    APPARATUS    FOR    MEASURING 
POWER. 


Description    of  Direct-Reading  Dynamometer   Indicat- 
ing Torque,  Speed  and  Horse-Power  of  Revolving 
Mechanisms  Without  Calculations. 


Fig.   8 — 200-hp,    2i00   Volt    Motor    Which    Replaced    Coriiss-Engine- 
Driven    IVIill. 

for  each  point  assayed  above  60  per  cent  is  added  to  the 
base  price  upon  which  the  ore  is  sold. 

In  figuring  an  electric  installation  in  a  mill  it  is  cus- 
tomary to  allow  I  hp  for  each  2  tons  capacity  which  the 
operator  expects  to  handle  through  his  mill  in  a  ten-hour 
shift.  Ordinarily  a  single  "bull"  motor  is  used  to  drive  the 
entire  mill,  including  pumps,  jigs,  etc.,  but  since  it  is  prefer- 
able to  have  water  on  the  jigs  before  setting  them  in 
motion,  it  may  be  advisable  to  run  the  mill  pump  by  a 
separate  motor.  In  this  way  the  beds  of  the  jigs  are  not 
disturbed  by  being  agitated  out  of  water.  The  sludge  de- 
partment should  also  be  separately  driven  in  order  that 
this  dirt  may  be  run  independently  of  the  rest  of  the  mill. 
Ordinarily  the  recovery  from  the  sludge  department  will 
equal  nearly  10  per  cent  of  the  total  output.  Most  often 
agitating  tables  require  about  1.5  hp  each.  To  remove  the 
waste  rock  a  tailing  elevator  must  be  added.  Such  elevators 
require  about  8  hp.  Six  cents  per  ton  of  dirt  milled  is  a 
fair  estimate  of  mill  operating  cost.  With  electric  power 
the  grade  of  ore  is  improved  over  that  obtained  with  other 
forms  of  drives,  while  the  ore  values  in  the  tailing  pile  are 
reduced  to  from  0.50  to  0.75  per  cent. 

Mr.  Henry  L.  Doherty  is  president  of  the  Empire  Dis- 
trict Electric  Company,  and  Mr.  George  E.  Hayler  is  gen- 
eral superintendent. 


By  Charles  R.  Moore. 

THE  determination  of  the  amount  of  mechanical  power 
delivered  or  transmitted  by  revolving  mechanisms 
requires  the  accurate  measurement  of  two  quanti- 
ties, torque  and  speed.  In  English  units  the  torque  may  be 
defined  as  the  product  of  the  pull  in  pounds  and  the  radius 
in  feet  at  which  this  pull  acts.  When  measured  thus  the 
torque  is  expressed  in  pound-feet.  The  speed  is  meas- 
ured in  revolutions  per  minute.  In  making  power  tests  it  is 
obviously  essential  that  the  readings  of  speed  and  torque 
be  made  snnultaneousiy. 

When  these  two  quantities  are  known  the  horse-power 
acting  may  be  calculated  from  the  equation  Hp  =  KTN, 
where  T  =  torque,  A^  =  speed,  and  K  =  a  constant. 

Two  forms  of  apparatus  for  making  these  measurements 
are  in  general  use,  known  as  transmission  and  absorption 
dynamometers  respectively.  Both  types  are,  however,  torque- 
measuring  devices  only,  since  the  speed  reading  is  taken 
independently  and  does  not  constitute  an  inherent  function 
of  the  apparatus. 

Torque  may  be  measured  by  either  mechanical  or  elec- 
trical means.  The  Einerson  machine  is  a  conmion  type  of 
mechanical  transmission  dynamometer,  in  which  use  is 
made  of  an  epicyclical  gear  train  which  causes  a  lifting 
moment  when  power  is  transmitted.  The  Goss  dynamom- 
eter is  also  mechanical  in  its  action,  but  belts  instead  of 
gears  are  used.  The  belts  are  carried  by  pulleys  supported 
in  a  frame,  the  general  arrangement  being  such  that  when 
power  is  transmitted  a  lifting  moment  is  produced  and  may 
be  measured.  The  chief  objection  to  these  two  dynamom- 
eters is  the  friction  in  the  gears  or  belts  in  the  apparatus 
itself — a  large  and  uncertain  factor. 

The  Van  Winl^Ie  and  Flather  dynamometers  are  of  the 
transmission  type  and  very  much  alike.  Two  wheels  or 
disks  are  mounted  side  by  side  on  separate  shafts  having  a 
common  axis.  In  the  Van  Winkle  machine  these  two 
wheels  are  connected  mechanically  by  a  spring  in  such  a 
way  that  one  wheel  may  turn  the  other.  The  movement  of 
one  wheel  relative  to  the  other  is  a  measure  of  the  torque 
and  is  indicated  by  mechanical  means.  In  the  Flather  ma- 
chine one  of  the  two  wheels  is  fitted  with  a  cylinder  and 
the  other  with  a  piston  set  tangentially  in  such  a  way  that 
it  may  move  slightly  within  the  cylinder.  The  space  behind 
the  piston  is  filleil  with  oil,  and  a  small  pipe  leads  down  to 
the  shaft,  which  is  made  hollow.  At  the  end  of  this  hollow 
shaft  is  fitted  an  indicator,  consisting  of  cylinder,  spring 
and  piston,  which  gives  a  record  of  the  torque.  In  these 
two  machines  friction  is  largely  eliminated  but  both  are 
more  or  less  complicated.  In  the  Van  Winkle  machine 
centrifugal  action  on  the  springs  has  an  appreciable  effect. 

The  Goldsborough  dynamometer  overcomes  largely  the 
ill  effects  noted  above  by  placing  the  transmitting  spring 
directly  on  the  shafts  and  measuring  the  angle  of  twist 
electrically.  A  disk  is  placed  at  each  end  of  the  driving 
spring  and  arrang'ed  to  revolve  therewith.  Each  of  these 
disks  carries  a  contact  point  which  comes  under  a  brush 
pressing  on  the  disk  once  each  revolution.  One  brush  arm 
may  be  revolved  about  the  shaft  axis  and  carries  a  pointer 
working  over  a  scale  divided  into  degrees  of  arc.  Battery 
and  telephone  receiver  are  connected  in  series  with  the 
brushes.  By  adjusting  the  movable  brush  arm  until  a  click 
is  heard  in  the  receiver,  first  for  zero  load  and  then  for  any 
transmitted  load,  the  angle  of  twist  caused  by  the  turning 
moment  may  be  determined.  From  the  calibration  curve  of 
the  spring  the  torque  can  be  read.    This  device  is  simple  and 


450 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9. 


easily  operated  but  lacks  a  visual  indication  of  the  torsional 
moment.  This  lack  impairs  its  usefulness  on  fluctuating 
loads. 

The  absorption  dynamometer  may  also  be  of  the  me- 
chanical or  electrical  type.  The  Prony  brake,  Alden  brake, 
etc.,  are  examples  of  mechanical  dynamometers  which  ab- 
sorb all  the  power  supplied  to  them  and  at  the  same  time 


EUelrieat  H'orU 

Fig.   1 — Vector   Diagram.   Illustrating   Theory  of   Dynamometer. 

give  a  measure  of  the  torque  acting.  An  electrical  absorp- 
tion dynamometer  that  has  been  considerably  used  consists 
of  an  electrical  generator  mounted  in  a  frame  in  such  a 
way  that  as  the  generator  is  loaded  the  frame  is  swung  from 
its  central  position.  The  angle  of  movement  affords  a 
measure  of  the  torque  acting.  The  resisting  force  is  the 
weight  of  the  generator  and  frame,  and  the  power  devel- 
oped in  the  armature  is  absorbed  usually  in  dead  resistances, 
although  sometimes  this  power  is  put  to  ^useful  purposes. 
In  the  latter  case  the  apparatus  is  to  a  certain  extent  a 
transmission  dynamometer. 

In  all  the  types  of  apparatus  above  described  the  speed 
must  be  kept  constant  at  a  known  value  while  readings  are 
taken.  Calculations  are  then  made  to  arrive  at  the  power 
transmitted  or  absorbed.  They  all  fall  short  of  the  ideal 
dynamometer  when  the  load  is  fluctuating  in  that  it  may 
not  be  possible  to  determine  the  speed  accurately  and  be- 
cause of  the  large  number  of  calculations  necessary.  Fur- 
thermore they  do  not  afford  a  means  for  measuring  speed, 
separate  apparatus  being  necessary  for  this  purpose. 

With  these  objections  in  mind  the  writer  assigned  to  him- 
self the  task  a  few  years  ago  of  developing  a  direct-reading 
power  meter  which  would  not  only  give  indications  of 
speed  and  torque  but  also  show  directly  the  horse-power 
passing  through  it,  no  calculations  whatever  being  neces- 
sary. The  results  of  the  preliminary  experiments  have  been 
so  satisfactory  that  the  machine  (with  tests)  is  herein  de- 
scribed. So  far  as  the  writer  is  aware  this  machine  is  the 
first  successful  power  meter  built. 

THEORY    OF   DIRECT-READING    DYNAMOMETER. 

If  two  sine  waves  having  equal  amplitude  and  frequency 
be  combined  algebraically,  the  resultant  curve  is  also  sin- 
usoidal in  shape.  The  amplitude  of  this  resultant  curve  is 
a  function  of  both  the  amplitude  and  phase  displacement  of 
the  original  curves,  and  its  frequency  will  be  the  same  as 
that  of  the  two  curves  of  which  it  is  composed.  This  may 
be  shown  vectorially,  as  in  Fig.  i,  in  which  A  and  B  repre- 
sent equal  maximum  values  of  two  sine  curves  differing  in 
time-phase  (measured  from  point  of  direct  opposition)  by 
6  deg.     Vector  C  is  the  maximum  value  of  the  resultant 


curve.  From  this  diagram  it  is  clear  that  if  A  remains  equal 
to  B  but  both  change  in  value  a  given  percentage,  vector  C 
will  be  clianged  by  the  same  percentage. 

If  the  angle  6  varies,  vector  C  will  also  vary  but  not  in  the 

6 
same  proportion.   From  Fig.  I  it  is  clear  that  C  =  2A  sin  — ; 

2 
that  is,  C  varies  proportionally  to  the  sine  of  half  the  angle 
of  displacement.    For  small  values  of  6  values  of  C  may  be 
taken  proportional  to  the  angle,  since  for  small  angles  the 
sine  and  the  angle  differ  by  a  negligible  amount.  For  mathe- 

THEORETICAL    ERROR    IN    POWER    METER    UNDER    ASSUMED    CON- 
DITION. 


Twist. 

9/2. 

Sine  e/2. 

Value  Based 
on  Straight- 
Line  Law. 

Per  Cent 

of 

Error. 

10 

S 

0.087155 

0.087270 

0.1307 

IS 

7.S 

0.130526 

0.130905 

0.2900 

20 

10 

0.173648 

0.174540 

0.5140 

25 

12.5 

0.216440 

0.218175 

0.7950 

matical  work  the  sine  function  of  angles  up  to  3  deg.  or 
4  deg.  is  taken  proportional  to  the  angle,  but  for  engineering 
calculations  this  range  may  be  increased  to  8  deg.  or  10  deg., 
or  in  many  cases  more,  without  introducing  appreciable 
error.  From  the  equation  shown  above,  the  value  of  C 
varies  as  the  sine  of  half  the  angle  of  phase  displacement, 
so  that  in  the  apparatus  herein  described  angles  of  twist 
up  to  2^  deg.  or  30  deg.  may  be  used  with  no  appreciable 
deviation  from  the  straight-line  law  resulting. 

The  accompanying  table  has  been  prepared  to  show  the 
theoretical  error  involved  in  the  power  meter  herein  de- 
scribed when  tlie  straight-line  law  is  assumed  to  exist  be- 
tween an  angle  and  its  sine. 

This  table  shows  that  the  inherent  error  of  the  machine 
is  well  within  errors  of  observation,  instruments,  etc.  The 
use  of  a  small  angle  (which  means  a  stififer  spring)  is  an 
advantage  rather  than  otherwise  since  there  is  then  little 
danger  of  the  spring  being  overstressed.  Furthermore,  ex- 
periment shows  that  better  results  are  obtained  with  the 
Goldsborough  dynamometer  (which  uses  the  same  kind  of 
spring)   when  stiff  springs  and  small  angles  are  used. 

From  the  above  it  is  obvious  that  the  value  C  may  be 
taken  as  proportional  to  the  product  of  the  value  of  A  (or 
B)  and  the  angle  6.  If  now  voltage  A  be  produced  by  one 
single-phase  alternator  and  voltage  B  by  another,  voltage  C 
will  result  when  their  circuits  are  connected  in  series  with  a 
voltmeter.  If  the  two  alternators  have  their  shafts  set  on  a 
common    axis    and    flexibly    connected    by    a    spring,    any 


.?■  '■  -■ 


Fig.    2 — Dynamometer    Assembled. 

torque  existing  between  them  will  change  the  space-phase 
and  hence  the  time-phase  relationship  of  their  voltages.  By 
adjusting  the  field  (or  armature)  of  one  machine  these 
voltages  mav  be  made  to  have  a  time-phase  difference  of 
180  deg.  when  no  torque  exists,  and  the  voltmeter  will  read 
zero.  If,  however,  power  be  applied  to  the  shaft  of  one 
alternator   and   supplied   to   some   mechanism   by   the   shaft 


AuousT  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


451 


of  the  other,  the  voltmeter  will  read  the  value  C,  which  is 
proportional  to  the  amount  of  power  being  transmitted. 

.Since  both  alternators  are  e.xcited  with  the  same  field 
current,  which  is  constant  for  all  loads  and  speeds,  the  volt- 
age developed  singly  by  either  generator  will  be  propor- 
tional to  the  speed.  The  instrument  (voltmeter)  may  there- 
fore be  fitted  with  two  scales,  horse-power   (or  watts)   and 


Fig. 


-Dynamometer   Disassembled. 


speed.  By  arranging  the  circuit  with  a  single-pole,  double- 
throw  switch  readings  of  speed  and  power  may  be  made 
instantly.  Visual  indications  of  changes  both  in  speed  and 
transmitted  power  are  possible,  and  the  quantities  desired 
are  given  without  the  necessity  of  referring  to  curves  or 
tables  for  the  final  result. 


by  keeping  the  load  constant  long  enough  to  reset  the  re- 
sultant voltage  to  zero.  The  angular  movement  required 
will  be  the  angle  of  torque  since  the  machines  are  of  the  bi- 
polar type.  By  this  means  the  power  meter  may  be  cali- 
brated. 

Fig.  3  is  a  view  of  the  dynamometer  unassembled,  show- 
ing the  details  of  construction.  It  will  be  noted  that  both 
alternators  are  bi-polar  and  the  field  current  is  supplied 
through  slip-rings  and  brushes  in  the  usual  manner.  These 
two  revolving  field  windings  are  connected  electrically  in 
series  so  that  both  receive  the  same  exciting  current.  The 
two  generators  are  so  built  that  equal  voltages  are  obtained 
for  all  values  of  field  current.  The  shafts  revolve  in  phos- 
phor bronze  bushings  held  in  cast-iron  pedestals  as  shown 
in  the  illustration. 

The  armature  of  one  alternator  is  made  adjustable  about 
the  central  a.xis  by  mounting  the  laminations  in  a  ring 
which  fits  inside  a  frame  bored  out  to  receive  it.  This  frame 
is  shown  in  Fig.  3  bolted  to  the  base.  A  circumferential 
opening  is  cut  at  the  top,  through  which  a  bolt  is  screwed 
into  the  ring  holding  the  laminations  and  winding.  When 
adjustment  is  made  this  armature  is  locked  securely  in 
place  by  the  thumb  nut. 

As  will  be  seen  in  Fig.  3,  the  armature  cores  are  not 
slotted,  the  conductors  being  laid  evenly  over  about  75  per 
cent  of  the  armature  surface.  The  winding  is  of  the  drum 
type,  supported  at  the  ends  by  aluminum  rings.     Two  lay- 


■      CONSTRUCTION    OF   DYN.\MOMETER. 

Fig.  2  is  an  assembly  view  of  the  machine  showing  the 
general  arrangement  of  parts.  Pulleys  may  be  placed  on 
the  outer  ends  of  the  shafts  and  the  power  handled  by  belts 
or  the  meter  may  be  connected  between  the  source  of  power 
and 'the  receiving  mechanism  by  means  of  couplings.  A 
combination  of  these  two  schemes  is  shown  in  Fig.  6.  The 
driving  spring  is  rigidly  fastened  to  one  of  the  shafts  by 
means  of  a  key  and  set  screw.  On  the  other  shaft  it  is 
kept  from  turning  by  means  of  a  feather  key  but  is  allowed 
to  slip  endwise  freely.  This  design  is  made  necessary  owing 
to  the  excessive  end  thrust  on  the  bearings  when  both  ends 
of  the  spring  are  fastened  solidly  to  the  shafts.  By  using 
springs  of  different  stiffness  the  rating  of  the  dynamometer 
may  be  varied  over  a  wide  range. 

The  revolving  field  coils  are  fastened  to  the  shafts  with 
their  polar  axes  lying  in  the  same  plane,  so  that  by  re- 
versing the  field  current  in  one  machine  the  armature  volt 
ages  are  practically  opposite  each  other  in  time-phase. 
Further  adjustment,  however,  is  provided  for  (after  the 
machine  is  started)  by  arranging  one  of  the  armatures  in 
such  a  way  that  it  may  be  turned  about  the  shaft  axis. 
This   movement   is   controlled   by   the   thumb-nut   shown   at 


1   and   : 
3     and 


-Stationary  Armature, 
t — Movable     Armature. 


Fig.   4 — Oscillograms   of   Wave-Forms. 

the  top  of  the  machine  on  the  right  (see  Fig.  2).  This  ad- 
justment also  affords  a  means  of  compensation  for  the 
losses  in  the  machine  itself.  This  is  a  small  point,  however, 
since  these  losses  are  little  more  than  the  friction  in  lwo 
bearings,  but  there  are  cases  where  this  compensation  ot  the 
machine  losses  is  a  decided  advantage.  This  movable  arma- 
ture feature  may  also  be  used  to  measure  the  angle  of  t  A/ist, 


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Hlf.ilS    Calculated  Eleotrlcal  IVufld 

Fig.    5 — Test    Curves    of    Speed    and    Power. 

ers  of  No.  24  double-cotton-covered  copper  wire  constitute 
the  active  portion  of  the  winding. 

Fig.  4  shows  the  wave-forms  of  voltage  given  by  these 
machines  as  taken  with  an  oscillograph.  Calculations  show 
that  they  follow  the  sine  law  very  closely  indeed.  They  are 
entirely  free  from  any  higher  harmonics,  a  feature  essential 
in  this  apparatus.  The  curves  at  the  upper  part  of  this  film 
were  taken  with  the  machine  running  light  after  the  volt- 
meter reading  had  been  adjusted  to  zero.  The  lower  curves 
were  taken  when  a  torque  amounting  to  about  10  deg.  was 
carried  by  the  machine. 

TESTS. 

Test  curves  of  speed  and  power  are  shown  in  Fig.  5. 
In  these  tests  a  constant  field  current  of  4.75  amp  was 
used,  the  excitation  voltage  being  about  6  volts.  As  was 
expected,  both  curves  are  straight  lines  passing  through  the 
origin. 

In  order  to  separate  the  measurements  of  transmitted 
power  from  the  power  meter  itself  a  brake  pulley  was  ar- 
ranged at  one  end  and  the  power  calculated  as  in  any 
Prony  brake  test.  Results  of  this  test  are  shown  in  the 
power  curve,  where  readings  of  resultant  voltage  as  obtained 
from  the  power-meter  instrument  were  plotted  against  the 
horse-power  given  by  the  brake  readings.  In  this  test  errors 
incident  to  Prony  brakes  entered,  but  the  results  were  very 
satisfactory.  In  these  tests  the  speed  was  varied  from  about 
800  to  2000  r.p.m.     From  the  curve  i  volt  =  0.256  hp. 


452 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  9. 


USES  FOR  POWER  METER. 

Fig.  6  shows  one  of  the  many  uses  to  which  this  power 
meter  may  be  put.  The  meter  is  here  shown  directly  coupled 
to  a  direct-current  generator  for  measuring  friction,  wind- 
age and  core  losses.  The  writer  has  successfully  measured 
core  loss  in  terms  of  field  current  in  a  finished  machine, 
and  experiments  leading  to  the  separation  of  eddy  current 


Fig.  6 — Applicat.on   of   Dynamometer. 

and   hysteresis    losses    in    a    finished    machine*  are    now    in 
progress. 

Obviously  this  meter  may  also  be  used  to  measure  losses 
occurring  in  belts,  gears  and  all  sorts  of  transmission  appa- 
ratus. Since  its  own  losses  are  completely  compensated  for 
the  machine  is  capable  of  indicating  these  small  values  ac- 
curately. This  meter  may  also  be  used  to  measure  the 
efficiency  of  generators  and  motors  without  making  use  of 
the  laborious  processes  now:  in  vogue.  In  practically  every 
case  the  energy  involved  can  be  put  to  some  useful  pur- 
pose if  desired.  Gasoline  motors,  automobiles,  etc.,  may 
be  tested  and  instantaneous  readings  of  power  and  speed 
be  obtained  directly. 

The  machine  herein  described  was  built,  from  designs 
suggested  by  the  writer,  as  thesis  work  by  Messrs.  F.  C- 
Goldsmith  and  W.  Childress,  who  graduated  from  the 
school  of  electrical  engineering  at  Purdue  University,  class 
of  1912,  and  great  credit  is  due  them  for  their  untiring 
efforts  to  make  the  machine  a  complete  success.  It  is  now 
installed  in  the  electrical  laboratories  of  the  university. 


PROPERTIES  OF  A  TRIANGULAR  AERIAL. 


By  Charles  A.  Culver. 

AN  aerial  constructed  as  indicated  in  the  accompanying 
diagram  would  constitute  a  mechanicalh'  stable 
system  and  would  occupy  less  land  area  than  several 
of  the  other  types  in  common  use.  These  possible  mechan- 
ical advantages  led  the  writer  to  investigate  the  efficiency 
of  such  a  system  as  both  an  absorber  and  a  radiator  of 
electromagnetic  waves. 

Briefly,  the  conditions  under  which  the  tests  were  made 
were  as  follows.  The  source  of  energy  consisted  of  a 
25-watt  induction  coil  operated  on  storage  cells  and  con- 
nected to  suitable  inductance  and  capacity.  A  delicate 
thermoammeter  served  to  indicate  resonance  between  the 
primarv  and  secondary  oscillating  circuits.  A  sheet  of  tin 
plate  laid  upon  the  grass  answered  as  "earth."  As  an  in- 
dicator of  the  intercepted  energy  a  regular  loosely  coupled 
silicon  detector  with  shunted  telephone  was  employed.  Wire 
netting  laid  upon  the  grass  served  as  an  "earth."  The  tests 
were  carried  out  across  a  part  of  the  Beloit  College  campus 
over  a  distance  of  250  m,  the  soil  consisting  of  coarse 
gravel  covered  with  grass  and  trees.  The  wave-length  em- 
ployed was  285  m. 

Referring  to  the  sketch,  AB  and  AD  consisted  of  No.  12 
galvanized-iron  wire  5  m  each  in  length.  BD,  though 
originally  intended  to  be  5  m.  measured  only  4.5  m.     This, 


as  well  as  all  other  wires  radiating  from  the  common  con- 
necting point  C,  was  No.  18  copper.  The  system  as  a  whole 
was  supported  in  a  vertical  position,  with  BD  i  m  above  the 
ground,  and  was  arranged  to  rotate  about  a  vertical  a.xis 
through  AC. 

Using  two  parallel  wires  7.2  m  long  and  34  cm  apart  as 
an  aerial  at  the  radiating  station,  readings  were  made  of 
the  intercepted  energy  as  the  above-described  triangular 
aerial  was  rotated  about  a  vertical  axis.  Repeated  measure- 
ments showed  that  the  system  intercepted  approximately  25 
per  cent  more  energy  when  its  plane  coincided  with  the  line 
joining  the  two  stations  than  when  it  occupied  a  position 
at  right  angles  to  this  direction. 

The  efficiency  of  the  triangular  aerial  as  a  receiving 
system  was  compared  with  that  of  a  simple  aerial  composed 
of  two  vertical  wires  62  cm  apart  and  of  length  equal  to  AC 
(4.5  m).  The  triangular  type,  in  its  least  efficient  position, 
was  found  to  be  only  50  per  cent  as  efficient  as  the  two 
vertical  wires  just  mentioned. 

As  a  radiator  the  triangular  system  exhibited  different 
properties  from  those  manifest  when  functionating  as  a 
receivnig  system.  When  connected  to  the  oscillator  it  was 
found  to  radiate  equally  in  all  planes,  and  its  efficiency  was 
found  to  be  equal  to  that  of  the  parallel-wire  radiating 
aerial  mentioned  above  (7.2  m). 

A  change  was  next  made  in  the  construction  of  the  aerial 
under  test.  .Short  porcelain  insulators  were  inserted  be- 
tween the  ends  of  the  wires  radiating  from  C  and  the  heavier 
wires  AB  and  AD.  thus  eliminating  the  latter  from  the  elec- 
trical system.  Upon  testing  this  modified  aerial  both  as  a 
radiating  and  as  a  receiving  system  it  was  found  that  it  did 
not  differ  materially  in  its  properties  from  the  original  type 
just  described. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that,  though  the  system  tested 
possesses  certain  desirable  mechanical  features,  it  proves 
to  operate  at  a  comparatively  low  efficiency,  at  least  when 
employed  as  a  receiver.  Notwithstanding  this,  however, 
such  an  aerial  exhibits  several  interesting  properties.  The 
fact  that  it  does  not  functionate  equally  well  as  a  radiating 
and  as  an  absorbing  system  is  not  readily  accounted  for. 
It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  when  acting  as  a  radiator  its 
polar  curve  proves  to  be  a  circle,  and  that  as  a  receptor  it 
does  not  depart  radically  from  such  a  curve.  In  this  re- 
spect   it   differs    from   most    rectangular    grids   or   capacity 


Arrangement    of    Triangular    Aerial. 

areas.  This  result  is  probably  to  be  accounted  for  by  the 
effect  of  the  horizontal  components  of  those  elements  which 
depart  from  the  vertical,  these  components  doubtless  fol- 
lowing Marconi's  law  for  horizontal  aerials.  The  dimen- 
sions of  the  triangle  could  probably  be  so  modified  as  to 
make  the  polar  curve  a  circle,  even  when  such  an  aerial 
acts  as  a  receiving  system. 


August  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


453 


THE  POSSIBILITIES  OF  TIDAL  POWER. 


ONE  never  watches  the  sweep  of  the  tides  without  a 
certain  sense  of  regret  at  the  enormous  waste  of 
power  recurring  daily  through  the  years  and  a  more 
or  less  futile  attempt  to  speculate  on  what  might  be  done 
to  utilize  this  huge  natural  source  of  energy.  Unhappily, 
the  tidal  head  is  generally  far  too  low  for  ready  use  in  the 
ordinary  line  of  hydraulic  practice.  Only  here  and  there, 
as  for  instance  in  and  about  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  have  the 
tides  a  magnitude  sufficient  to  enable  one  to  put  them  readily 
to  work.  And  the  more  one  studies  the  practical  problem 
of  utilization  the  greater  the  difficulties  that  appear.  The 
actual  body  of  water  raised  in  a  tide  is  of  stupendous 
potentiality  as  a  producer  of  power,  yet  when  one  begins 
to  compute  the  really  attainable  results  the  low  efficiency 
is  discouraging.  To  start  with,  even  with  exceptionally 
high  tidal  flow  one  has  to  impound  a  very  large  area  of 
water  to  get  much  power.  For  a  first  approximation,  as- 
suming the  water  to  be  utilized  in  first-class  modern  tur- 
bines, one  can  get  about  700  hp-hr.  per  square  mile  of 
water  stored  per  foot  of  fall. 

Now,  even  though  the  tides  may  run  to  an  average  of 
40  ft.  or  more,  as  in  some  parts  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and 
at  a  few  other  points  on  the  earth's  coast  lines,  the  periodic 
flow  forbids  high  efficiency,  since  even  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances  one  can  only  rely  on  a  mean  head 
equal  to. half  the  depth  of  the  storage.  So  about  20  ft. 
would  be  the  best  available  head  in  the  case  considered, 
and  this  would  give  only  about  14,000  hp-hr.  per  square 
mile  of  storage.  To  get  even  this  amount  the  power  p. ant 
must  be  of  a  size  sufficient  to  run  off  the  pond  in  an  hour 
or  two,  the  exact  time  depending  on  the  rate  of  tidal  flow. 
This  large  plant  capacity  can  be  diminished  only  at  the  cost 
of  losing  available  head,  and  at  anything  like  full  hydraulic 
efficiency  the  operation  of  the  wheels  must  be  confined  to 
two  brief  periods  per  day,  shifting  in  regular  order  through 
the  entire  twenty-four  hours.  Hence  in  utilizing  the  power 
generated  there  must  be  such  a  system  of  storage  as  would 
enable  the  power  output  to  be  distributed  through  a  reason- 
able working  period.  Such  storage  entails  a  further  loss 
of  efficiency  if  made  in  any  way  whatever,  a  loss  amounting 
to  20  or  25  per  cent  by  most  methods  of  operating.  Add 
to  these  disabilities  the  ordinary  losses  in  transmitting 
power  to  a  point  where  it  can  profitably  be  used  and  it 
becomes  sufficiently  obvious  that  the  net  efficiency  of  the 
whole  series  of  operations  is  rather  low  and  the  cost  rela- 
tively high — much  higher  than  first  thought  would  indicate. 
One  can  make  a  rough  estimate  of  possible  returns  by 
noting  that  the  square  mile  of  impounded  water  on  a  40-ft. 
tide  would  give,  with  no  allowance  for  storage  or  trans- 
mission losses,  a  little  over  10,000,000  hp-hr.  annually,  or 
with  these  losses  included  say  about  5,000,000  kw-hr.  This 
output  would  have  to  bring  a  rather  high  price  to  pay  a 
fair  return  on  any  considerable  plant  investment  after  the 
charging  off  of  the  necessary  operating  expenses. 

That  tidal  power  nevertheless  might  be  made  to  pay  if 
worked  on  a  very  large  scale  in  a  place  where  topographical 
conditions  favored  is  still  probable,  assuming  that  it  did 
not  have  to  compete  with  cheap  fuel.  It  is  perhaps  to  be 
regarded  as  a  resource  to  be  held  against  the  time  when 
fuel  becomes  scarce,  as  it  must  be,  with  respect  to  the 
present  distribution  of  population,  within  a  few  generations. 

Opinions  differ  greatly  as  to  the  coal  supply,  yet  this 
much  is  certain,  that  the  supply  conveniently  located  with 
respect  to  the  needs  of  the  earth's  industries  is  disappearing 
very  fast.  Coal  fields  on  Hudson  Bay.  in  central  Africa  or 
along  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Andes  will  not  be  of  great  eco- 
nomic importance  until  the  present  nations  of  the  earth  are 
turned  topsy-turvy.  Perchance  this  result  may  eventually 
follow  the  fortunes  of  fuel.  But,  as  things  now  look,  of 
the  natural  sources  of  power  coal  is  certainly  by  far  the 
most  important.     Of  the  rest,  the  tides,  mighty  as  they  are, 


seem  to  be  economically  almost  the  least  important.  Direct 
power  from  solar  heat  is  far  more  promising,  as  it  is 
obtainable  for  a  longer  period  per  day  and  over  a  much 
wider  reach  of  the  earth's  surface.  The  earth's  arid  belt 
where  sunshine  is  reliable  is  of  vast  extent  and  in  a  region 
of  great  possibilities.  One  can  get  a  horse-power  per 
100  sq.  ft.  of  mirror  surface  for  a  daily  period  at  least 
equal  to  the  tidal  possibility  even  with  appliances  now 
available,  and  this  implies  a  far  greater  power  yield  per 
unit  of  area  than  can  be  hoped  for  from  the  tides. 

If  the  ordinary  hydraulic  resources  of  the  world  are  fully 
developed  it  is  a  question  whether  the  addition  of  the  tidal 
power  capable  of  fairly  economical  development  is  likely 
to  be  of  any  material  account.  We  have  as  yet  made  only 
a  bare  beginning  in  impounding  rainfall,  which  is  a  vastly 
more  economical  scheme  than  the  impounding  of  th«  tides. 
A  square  mile  of  pond  area  impounded  where  it  will  fur- 
nish 800  ft.  or  1000  ft.  of  available  head — the  more  the 
better — gives  a  far  better  chance  for  cheap  power  supply 
than  even  a  very  favorably  situated  tidal  basin.  For  the 
whole  year's  rainfall  can  be  stored  and  utilized,  less  evapo- 
ration, at  just  such  rate  as  may  be  required  for  the  varying 
demands  of  the  connnunity.  There  are  many  places  in  our 
country  in  which  such  all-the-year-round  storage  is  entirely 
practicable  and  not  at  all  forbidding  in  expense.  Rain 
power  is  just  as  cheap  as  tide  power  to  start  with  and  can 
be  obtained  at  points  much  better  situated  with  respect  to 
human  needs.  Here  and  there  a  little  power  can  be  advan- 
tageously obtained  from  the  tides,  but  on  the  whole  they 
are  merely  an  imposing  fraud,  not  of  serious  use  for  the 
world's  work. 


ELECTRIC  FURNACES  FOR  ZINC  REDUCTION. 


The  feasibility  of  employing  electric  furnaces  as  substi- 
tutes for  the  e.xternally  fired  retort  processes  of  zinc  ex- 
traction now  used  in  the  Joplin-Galena  mineral  district  of 
Missouri  and  Kansas  received  some  attention  at  the  recent 
convention  of  the  Missouri  Electrical  Association,  held  at 
Joplin.  As  pointed  out  in  the  discussion,  the  development 
of  such  an  application  would  have  an  excellent  effect  on 
the  load-factor  conditions  of  water-power  plants  in  the 
southwestern  section  of  Missouri,  where  an  increasing  num- 
ber of  hydroelectric  installations  are  now  under  construc- 
tion. Comparing  the  electric  furnace  with  the  retort  process 
for  zinc  reduction,  the  following  disadvantages  of  the 
present  externally  fired  retorts  were  enumerated : 

I  Low  thermal  efficiency  (ma.ximum  6  per  cent),  using  a 
maximum  of  4  tons  of  coal  per  ton  of  ore. 

2.  Impossibility  of  controlling  the  temperature. 

3.  Losses  are  large  (from  120  lb.  to  180  lb.  of  zinc  per 
ton  of  ore). 

4.  Impossibility  of  using  units  containing  more  than 
100  lb.  of  roasted  ore. 

5.  Short  life  of  the  clay  retort,  which  is  attacked  by 
mineral  impurities  in  the  ore. 

6.  Impossibility  of  treating  low-grade  ore. 

In  contrast  the  electric  furnace  presents  the  following 
advantages: 

1.  High  thermal  efficiency,  the  heat  being  communicated 
directly  to  the  ore  to  be  roasted,  and  not  from  the  outside 
through  a  fire-clay  wall. 

2.  Absolute  control  of  temperature,  resulting  in  a  mini- 
mum loss  of  metal. 

3.  Possibility  of  using  larger  units,  with  longer  life  and 
reduced  labor  charges. 

4.  Possibility  of  treating  lower  grades  of  ore. 
3.  Purer  and  more  uniform  product. 

6.  Recovery  of  lead,  copper,  silver  and  gold  which  the 
ore  may  contain. 

7.  Capital  invested  per  ton  of  ore  is  much  lower,  assum- 
ing electric  energy  can  be  purchased  at  from  $10  to  $18 
per  hp-year. 


454 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9.      '. 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


THE     CENTRAL    STATION    AND    GREAT    PUBLIC 
MOVEMENTS. 


The  story  of  how  the  Rocliester  Railway  &  Light  Com- 
pany comforts  those  whose  lives  are  spent  in  the  shadow 
of  suffering  and  sickness  hy  giving  invalids  the  cooling  and 
refreshing  benefit  of  free  electric-fan  service  is  now  well 
known.  Another  instance  of  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the 
company  seconds  any  movement  of  benefit  to  the  citizens 
of  Rochester  is  shown  in  the  part  played  by  it  in  the  "Field 
Day"  celebration  held  on  Aug.  10.  This  event  was  planned 
by  the  Rochester  Public  Health  Association  for  the  benefit 
of  a  children's  free  dispensary,  and  every  effort  was  made 
to  attract  the  attention  of  citizens  to  the  crying  need  of 
support  for  this  humane  work.  Complying  with  Vice- 
president  R.  M.  Searle's  order,  the  ''Field  Day"  slogan, 
"Children  healthy,  city  wealthy — 
Started  right  they'll  win  the  fight," 
was  printed  on  60,000  of  the  Rochester  Railway  &  Light 
Company's  gas  and  electric  bills.  It  was  also  flashed  on  all 
of  the  company's  electric  signs,  while  streamers  bearing  the 
same  message  were  carried  on  all  of  its  trucks  and  delivery 
wagons.  There  is  scarcely  any  great  public  movement  in 
Rochester  with  which  the  Rochester  Railway  &  Light 
Company  does  not  connect  itself,  from  a  sen^e  of  obligation 
as  a  great  public  utility,  indebted  to  the  people  of  the  city 
for  its  life  and  prosperity.  Needless  to  state,  the  effect  of 
this  interest  is  reflected  in  the  public  good-will  toward  the 
utility  company. 


CENTRAL-STATION      ENERGY      FOR       RAILROAD 
SWITCH    AND    SIGNAL    SERVICE. 


One  of  the  most  recent  applications  of  the  electric  motor 
in  railroad  auxiliary  service  is  in  the  operation  of  track 
switches  and  signals,  a  field  of  interest  to  the  central  station 
on  account  of  the  long-hour  characteristics  of  the  motor- 
service  demand,  or  at  least  its  ofif-peak  possibilities.  As 
compared  with  the  old  mechanical  methods  of  operating, 
the  electrical  system  takes  up  much  less  space  for  switch 
and  signal  connections,  operates  more  quickly,  will  handle 
switches  at  a  greater  distance  from  the  tower  and  is  free 
from  trouble  with  connections  in  icy  and  snowy  weather. 
Besides  giving  an  indication  of  the  movement  of  switches 
and  signals,  it  requires  fewer  levermen  in  the  larger  in- 
stallations. Better  protection  is  also  secured  by  the  use  of 
electric  motors  as  compared  with  pneumatic  equipment. 
The  size  of  the  installation  required  in  a  given  area  can  be 
decreased,  and  no  trouble  is  experienced  from  the  freezing 
of  the  moisture  in  air  pipes.  Although  the  amount  of 
power  required  at  a  given  switch  or  signal  is  small,  fre- 
quently not  exceeding  i  hp  per  switch,  the  practice  of 
operating  this  class  of  apparatus  by  direct  current  supplied 
from  a  storage  battery  enables  the  central  station  to  handle 
the  work  with  convenience  and  economy. 

A  representative  installation  of  motor-driven  switches 
and  signals  is  in  service  at  the  AUston  station  of  the  Boston 
&  Albany  Railroad,  at  the  entrance  of  the  Beacon  Park 
freight  yard  in  Boston.  In  this  installation  there  are 
twenty-six  switch  motors  and  twenty-four  signal  motors 
designed  for  operation  on  direct  current  at  no  volts  and 
supplied  with  energy  through  leads  carried  upon  and 
under  the  roadbed  in  iron  conduit.  Energy  for  motor 
operation  is  supplied  by  a  storage  battery  of  fifty-seven 
cells  of  400-amp-hr.  rating,  housed  in  a  brick  building  at 
the  side  of  the  track  and  charged  through  a  mercury-arc 
rectifier   set.     The   installation    is   primarily   supplied   with 


Motor-Operated    Track    Switch. 

motors  are  in  service,  charging  being  effected  by  a  motor- 
generator  set.  At  Riverside,  where  one  of  the  largest  in- 
stallations thus  far  made  in  this  territory  is  just  going  into 
service,  there  are  twenty-seven  switch  and  twenty-seven 
signal  motors  and  a  loo-lever  electric  interlocking  machine, 
the  battery  being  charged  by  either  a  motor-generator  or  a 
rectifier,  as  desired.  The  signals  are  operated  in  the  upper 
quadrant,  and  each  high  mast  is  equipped  with  three  arms 
to  produce  a  uniform  arrangement,  this  scheme  being  in 
accordance  with  the  recommendations  of  the  Railway  Sig- 
nal Association.  Approach  annunciators,  signal  and  track 
indicators  and  approach  and  route  electric  locking  are  used. 
The  use  of  motors  of  the  same  size  in  all  these  installa- 
tions greatly  simplifies  the  maintenance  problem.  The 
equipment  for  the  above  Boston  installations  was  supplied 
by  the  Federal  Signal  Company,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.  A 
feature  of  the  signal  lighting  at  Riverside  is  the  use  of  in- 
candescent electric  lamps  instead  of  oil  lamps,  which 
presages  a  movement  that  in  time  may  drive  the  oil  lantern 
from  its  position  in  fixed  railroad  illumination. 


REDUCING  COMPLAINTS  ON  HIGH  BILLS. 


electrical  energy  from  the  regular  alternating-current  cir- 
cuits of  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of 
Boston,  and  the  battery  equipment  required  in  the  operation 
of  track  relays  is  also  charged  from  this  source. 

The  outside  wiring  is  protected  against  the  worst  weather 
conditions,  and  the  installation  has  operated  with  so  much 
reliability  that  other  plants  of  similar  character  are  now  in 
operation  or  being  placed  in  service  at  Boylston  Street, 
Boston ;  Brookline  Junction  and  Riverside.  The  Boston 
Edison  company  supplies  the  service  in  each  case. 

At  Boylston  Street  thirty  switch  and  twenty-eight  signal 


Of  all  complaints  received  by  public-utility  companies, 
those  on  high  bills  are  probably  the  most  difficult  to  satisfy. 
It  appears  to  be  a  well-defined  trait  of  human  nature  for 
consumers  to  look  upon  bills  as  representing  monthly  con- 
sumption, rather  than  that  for  the  number  of  days  between 
the  visits  of  the  meterman,  and  difficulty  arises  from  the 
fact  that  the  customer  does  not  notice  that  the  interval 
between  readings  may  range  as  high  as  forty  days  or  more, 
although  the  average  consumption  per  diem  remains  about 
the  same.  Hence  the  increase  in  the  number  of  complaints 
when  the  visits  of  the  meterman  do  not  take  place  at 
regular  monthly  intervals.  At  the  present  time  complaints 
on  high  bills  of  the  Rochester  Railway  &  Light  Company  | 
are  not  more  numerous  than  they  were  five  years  ago  ' 
when  the  company  had  about  one-half  the  number  of  gas 


August  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


455 


and  electric  meters  installed  that  it  has  at  present.  This  is 
attributed  in  a  large  measure  to  the  company's  po.icy  of 
advertising  its  desire  that  consumers  shall  learn  to  read 
and  understand  their  meters,  and  at  the  "information 
counter,"  where  all  complaints  are  heard,  it  is  stated  that 
most  of  the  customers  are  now  able  to  read  their  meters, 
and  that  experience  shows  fewer  complaints  on  high  bills 
to  be  received  from  these  consumers. 


SELLING  ELECTRICITY  TO  COLLEGES. 


In  college  or  university  towns  one  uf  the  interesting  prob- 
lems of  the  central-station  manager  is  to  supply  electrical 
service  on  a  profitable  basis  to  the  principal  educational 
institutions,  including  laboratories,  dormitories,  lecture  and 
class  rooms,  libraries,  offices  and  other  departments.  The 
field  is  a  comparatively  new  one  for  the  reason  that  in  the 
past  many  such  institutions  have  preferred  to  maintain  their 
own  generating  and  distributing  plants  as  features  of  the 
instruction  equipment.  The  increasing  cost  of  administra- 
tion has  changed  the  conditions  in  many  cases,  so  that  the 
college  is  now  to  be  considered  a  remarkably  good  pros- 
pective consumer  of  electrical  energy. 

It  will  be  found  on  making  surveys  of  existing  college 
lighting  installations  that  many  of  these  are  utterly  behind 
the  times.  Carbon-filament  lamps  are  in  use  in  many  places 
where  high-efficiency  units  ought  to  be  in  service,  and  in 
not  a  few  instances  old  dormitories  and  lecture  halls  adhere 
to  open-jet  gas  equipments  which  are  inexcusable  in  these 
days  of  first-class  illuminating  engineering.  It  is  doubtful 
if  a  better  thesis  subject  could  be  suggested  for  electrical 
engineering  students  than  a  lighting  survey  with  recom- 
mendations for  modern  service  in  all  departments.  The  cost 
of  the  change  has  often  deterred  the  authorities  from 
making  it,  but  it  is  open  to  question  if  many  new  installa- 
tions could  not  be  effected  without  increasing  the  cost  of 
operation  materially,  perhaps  reducing  it  in  soine  instances, 
along  with  an  improvement  in  service  which  would  increase 
the  efficiency  of  both  students  and  instructors. 

In  both  lighting  and  motor-service  fields  the  college  offers 
an  excellent  diversity  factor.  The  changing  schedules  and 
transfers  of  student  interest  from  one  place  to  another  at 
different  hours  of  the  day  result  in  a  demand  upon  the 
central-station  system  considerably  below  the  connected  load 
at  any  one  time,  and  it  follows  from  the  service  require- 
ments that  a  relatively  small  investment  in  generating  plant 
and  transmitting  equipment  is  needed.  Even  if  the  lighting 
load  occurs  largely  during  the  fall  and  winter  peaks  it  has 
the  merit  of  long-hour  demands,  particularly  in  dormitories 
and  fraternity  houses.  Corridor  lighting  and  lavatory  illu- 
mination are  continuous  from  dusk  until  the  early  morning 
hours,  and  in  the  course  of  a  term  a  large  amount  of  extra 
service  is  required  in  connection  with  lectures  giving 
evening  instruction  to  the  general  public  as  well  as  to  the 
students.  The  exterior  lighting  of  yards  and  walks  also 
demands  a  long-hour  supply  of  energy,  and  it  is  noteworthy 
that  temporary  installations  of  incandescent  lamps  have 
lately  been  used  with  great  success  in  connection  with 
graduation  celebrations,  replacing  the  sputtering  and  greasy 
candle  in  the  Japanese  lantern  and  giving  a  service  inde- 
pendent of  weather  conditions. 

As  the  college  is  a  small  world  in  itself,  so  its  motor- 
service  demands  are  diverse.  In  the  dining  hall  and  kitchen 
the  operation  of  fans,  pumps,  dumb-waiters,  elevators,  chop- 
pers, grinders,  polishers,  refrigerating  apparatus  and  many 
other  machines  offers  an  attractive  field  for  electricity. 
Electric  cooking  of  waffles  and  griddle  cakes  is  entirely 
practicable  on  the  scale  of  a  university  galley  and  is  usually 
an  off-peak  load.  Electrically  driven  book  lifts  are  coming 
into  use  in  the  more  modern  libraries,  and  it  goes  without 
saying  that  the  laboratory,  whether  medical,  chemical, 
physical  or  mechanical,  is  coming  to  be  so  dependent  upon 


electrical  service  that  for  many  researches  and  experiments 
it  is  indispensable.  The  practice  of  depending  upon  the 
university  or  college  generating  plant  for  the  varied  service 
demanded  at  irregular  times  by  the  different  departments 
has  no  doubt  been  a  means  of  furnishing  engineering 
students  with  material  for  indicator  card  and  fuel  tests, 
but  it  has  often  been  an  expensive  policy.  The  require- 
ments of  instruction  can  be  obtained  easily  enough  in  other 
ways,  either  by  testing  smaller  equipments  on  the  college 
property  or  by  the  investigation  of  actual  service  runs  in 
commercial  stations  outside. 

Even  a  superficial  view  of  this  field  at  once  shows  the 
importance  of  thoroughly  investigating  it  before  attempting 
to  make  a  contract  for  the  entire  electrical  service  of  a 
great  educational  institution.  The  problem  of  dormitory 
rates  is  in  itself  one  of  some  moment.  Whether  the  lighting 
company  shall  deal  with  the  student  as  an  independent  con- 
sumer or  serve  the  building  from  a  master  meter  and  leave 
the  collections  to  the  landlord  is  a  question  to  be  decided 
locally.  It  has  been  found  a  good  plan  for  the  company  to 
read  the  meters  in  either  case.  Sometimes  the  plan  is 
adopted  of  measuring  energy  on  the  primary  side  and  later 
deducting  for  line  and  core  losses  as  determined  by  test  with 
the  secondary  circuits  open.  The  ownership  of  lines,  poles, 
meters  and  conduits  in  college  yards  is  another  question  to 
be  looked  into.  The  private  dormitory  injects  its  peculiari- 
ties into  the  problem,  and  may  be  located  sufficiently  near 
the  college  property  to  take  advantage  of  a  common  trans- 
mission or  distribution  service.  In  some  cases  only  the  new- 
buildings  can  be  obtained  as  customers ;  in  others  the 
authorities  can  better  be  approached  on  the  basis  of  a  com- 
plete study  of  the  conditions.  The  whole  problem  offers 
the  central  station  an  interesting  situation  for  treatment 
along  sound  engineering  lines. 


NEW  APPLICATION  FOR  ELECTRIC  IRON. 


Specifications  for  Shaft  No.  5,  Contract  No.  12,  of  the 
aqueduct  now  building  between  the  Catskill  Mountains  and 
New  York  City  stipulate  that  the  shaft  shall  be  lined  with 
concrete,  followed  by  a  second  lining  of  porous  building  tile 
and  a  third  of  waterproof  felt,  with  a  finishing  coat  of 
concrete.  In  the  application  of  the  waterproof  felt  the 
contractor,  the  T.  A.  Gillespie  Company,  experienced  great 
difficulty.  At  first  it  was  planned  to  use  iron  hooks  with 
which  to  fasten  the  felt  to  the  tile  until  such  time  as  the 
inner  concrete  lining  could  be  applied.  This  proved  to  be 
both  a  slow  and  an  insecure  method.  It  was  then  suggested 
that  the  felt  be  held  to  the  tile  by  means  of  hot  asphalt,  but 
the  dangers  attending  the  use  of  hot  asphalt  in  such  close 
quarters  made  the  plan  impracticable.  An  electric  iron  was 
finally  procured,  and  a  few  experiments  proved  that  the 
waterproof  felt  could  be  heated  fast  enough  to  make  the 
use  of  the  iron  satisfactory. 

Two  8-lb.  irons  and  one  9-lb.  iron  were  purchased  for  the 
work,  the  edges  on  the  working  faces  of  the  irons  being 
rounded  to  a  radius  of  J4  in-,  in  order  to  prevent  them 
from  cutting  into  the  soft  felt.  To  hasten  the  adhesion 
between  the  tile  and  the  felt  a  damp  sponge  was  applied  to 
the  latter,  and  an  operator  with  an  iron  in  one  hand  and  a 
sponge  in  the  other  applied  the  felt  to  the  face  of  the 
tiling  as  quickly  as  it  could  be  unrolled  in  front  of  him.  A 
circuit  for  feeding  the  irons  was  run  independently  of  the 
lighting  circuits  of  the  shaft,  so  as  to  avoid  complicating 
the  latter  circuits.  It  required  no  great  skill  on  the  part  of 
the  workmen  to  apply  the  iron,  it  being  necessary  to  exercise 
only  a  little  care  to  put  the  iron  in  the  right  place  in  order 
to  finish  the  work  with  dexterity.  The  two  8-lb.  irons  were 
employed  in  lining  446  ft.  of  the  shaft,  which  is  14  ft.  in 
diameter,  the  g-lb.  iron  being  held  as  a  reserve  for  emer- 
gency use.  The  irons  are  now  used  for  the  same  purpose 
in  another  contract. 


4S6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9. 


PROMPTNESS  IN  CONNECTING  NEW  CUSTOMERS. 


The  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company, 
of  Baltimore,  Md.,  is  giving  special  attention  to  the  quick 
execution  of  orders  for  electric  service.  Orders  taken  over 
the  counter  in  the  business  office  of  the  company  are  at 
once  investigated  as  to  the  availability  of  service  and  the 
customer's  standing  vvfith  the  company.  Within  a  short  time 
they  are  transmitted  by  telautograph  to  the  shop,  where 
multiple  orders  are  issued  not  less  frequently  than  each 
hour  to  the  meter  and  distribution  departments  located  near 
by.  In  cases  where  the  company  does  the  wiring  the  first 
work  required  of  the  wiremen  is  to  install  the  service 
wiring  so  that  the  service  loop  gang  can  proceed  with  their 
work  while  the  interior  wiring  is  being  done.  When  the 
wiring  is  done  by  contractors  the  service  loop  is  run  with- 
out waiting  for  the  building  inspector's  certificate.  In  cases 
where  special  haste  is  required  and  the  certificate  is  already 
issued,  the  service  loop  and  the  meter  are  usually  installed 
the  same  day  as  the  application  is  signed.  When  new  cus- 
tomers call  for  rush  service  by  telephone,  the  company 
issues  instructions  from  the  customer's  telephone  order  and 
confirms  the  application  at  convenience  through  the  mail 
or  by  personal  visit. 

The  tabulation  shows  that  the  Consolidated  company 
completed  a  large  majority  of  its  orders  within  two  days. 
The  time  given  for  the  completion  of  the  order,  in  case  the 
wiring  is  done  by  contractors,  dates  from  the  issuance  of 
the  building  inspector's  certificate;  if  the  meter  is  already  on 
the  premises,  it  dates  from  the  customer's  order  to  recon- 
nect service ;  in  cases  where  the  company  installs  the  wiring 
and  fixtures  it  dates  from  the  customer's  order;  in  cases  of 
extensions  it  dates  also  from  the  signature  of  the  order,  and 
in  the  case  of  discontinuance  of  service  it  dates  from  the 
receipt  of  the  cut-out  order. 

PERCENTAGE  OF  ORDERS  COMPLETED  WITHIN   THREE  DAYS. 


One 
Day. 

Two 
Days. 

Total. 

Three 
Days. 

Total. 

November,  1911 

29 
27 
32 
35 

61 
61 
59 
58 

35 
37 
44 
41 

21 

20 
20 
18 

64 
64 
76 
76 

82 
81 
79 
76 

11 
11 
10 
10 

7 

8 
8 
7 

75 

75 

January    1912       

86 

86 

89 

89 

May 

87 

83 

On  Aug.  I  and  2  an  analysis  was  made  of  the  actual  time 
consumed  in  handling  typical  orders  in  the  electrical  busi- 
ness office  in  Baltimore.  This  interval — in  twenty-one 
cases — computed  from  the  exact  moment  the  customer 
signed  the  application  at  the  business  counter  until  the  line 
order  was  handed  to  the  clerk  of  the  distribution  depart- 
ment, ready  to  commence  work,  was  49.6  minutes,  the  mini- 
mum being  14  minutes  and  the  maximum  128  minutes. 
During  the  interval  covered  by  this  test  the  following 
routine  w-as  carried  out:  (a)  The  data  called  for  on  the 
back  of  the  application  were  obtained  and  written  thereon; 
(b)  the  salesman  referred  to  the  counter  cards  to  determine 
whether  the  service  was  available;  (c)  the  ledger  and  folio 
numbers  for  the  customer's  account  were  obtained;  (d)  the 
customer's  credit  and  standing  were  determined  by  refer- 
ence to  the  delinquent  ledger;  (e)  the  line  order  was  then 
transmitted  to  the  shop  by  telautograph;  (f)  the  multiple 
order  was  written  in  the  shop:  (g)  the  multiple  orders  were 
assorted  for  transmission  to  the  different  departments,  and 
(h)  the  multiple  orders  were  delivered  to  the  respective  de- 
partments. 

The  August  issue  of  The  Baltimore  Gas  and  Electric 
Neti's,  published  by  the  Consolidated  company,  contains  a 
brief  comparison  of  these  statistics  with  the  results  obtained 
elsewhere,    including    Boston,    Mass. ;  Toronto,  Ont.,  and 


Denver,  Col.  The  dispatch  with  which  the  Consolidated 
company  executes  customers'  orders  is  noteworthy,  as  the 
tabulation  shows.  In  view  of  the  interest  which  these  sta- 
tistics will  have  for  operating  companies  it  would  have  been 
illuminating  had  the  percentages  of  orders  which  remain 
incomplete  at  the  end  of  five,  ten,  fifteen,  twenty  or  thirty 
days  been  given. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

BILLBOARD  ADVERTISING  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO. 


* 


An  example  of  the  particularly  effective  billboard  adver- 
tising to  be  seen  at  present  on  some  of  the  fences  of  San 
Francisco  is  shown  herewith.  It  is  also  indicative  of  the 
close  relationship  maintained  by  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric 
Company  with  the  Electrical  Contractors'  Association,  and 


San    Francisco    Billboard    Advertisement. 

it  reflects  to  some  extent  the  competitive  conditions  existing 
in  San  Francisco  between  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany and  the  Great  Western  Power  Company.  The  illus- 
tration is  apt  and  fits  conditions  in  many  cities  having 
unwired  houses.  There  is  much  of  human  interest  in  the 
picture  of  a  masculine  lady  delivering  a  well-directed  blow 
upon  a  vulnerable  part  of  the  anatomy  of  a  real-estate 
agent  and  exclaiming,  "Don't  show  me  any  more  old  houses 
without  electricity  !" 


CONCRETE  VERSUS  'WOODEN  POLES. 


The  Carnegie  Steel  Company  recently  conducted  tests  on 
reinforced-concrete  poles  at  its  South  Sharon  (Pa.)  plant, 
for  the  purpose  of  determining  the  relative  cost  and  strength 
of  concrete  as  compared  with  wood.  The  poles  tested  were 
32  ft.  long,  10  in.  square  at  the  butt  and  6  in.  square  at  the 
top.  The  corners  were  beveled,  and  iron  steps  bent  up  34  in. 
were  inserted  in  the  forms  before  the  concrete  was  poured. 
The  mixture  employed  consisted  of  one  part  of  Universal 
Portland  cement,  two  parts  of  sand  passing  a  H-'m.  screen 
and  four  parts  of  crushed  limestone  passing  a  ^4-'"-  screen 
but  retained  on  a  ^-in.  screen.  Each  pole  required  about 
a  barrel  of  cement,  ^  yd.  of  sand  and  yi  yd.  of  stone.  The 
reinforcement  comprised  four  groups  of  twisted  rods  at  the 
corners,  placed  not  less  than  ^  in.  from  the  surface.  Each 
group  was  made  up  of  one  J^-in.  rod  32  ft.  long,  two  yi-'m. 
rods  24  ft.  long  and  two  3/16-in.  rods  16  ft.  long.  The 
reinforcement  was  thus  proportioned  to  the  decreasing 
stress  toward  the  top  of  the  pole.  Sheet-steel  separators 
held  the  reinforcement  in  place  and  were  cut  away  to  avoid 
breaking  the  continuity  of  the  concrete  above  and  below  the 
separator. 

The  forms  used  consisted  of  an  upper  and  a  lower  section 
held  together  by  bolts,  the  lower  being  a  single  piece,  while 


August  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


457 


the  upper  was  made  up  of  a  series  of  units  beneath  which 
the  concrete  was  forced.  The  poles  weighed  about  2500  lb., 
or  approximately  five  times  as  much  as  a  wooden  pole  of 
the  same  length. 

The  tests  were  conducted  with  two  concrete  poles  and  a 
32-ft.  chestnut  pole  under  the  same  conditions.  It  was 
found  that  the  wooden  pole  showed  practically  the  same 
deflection  as  the  poles  of  concrete  up  to  2000  lb.,  the  load 
being  applied  at  right  angles  to  the  pole  and  at  the  top. 
The  deformation  at  2000  lb.  amounted  to  25^  in.,  this 
loading  being  far  greater  than  could  ever  be  experienced 
with  the  poles  in  actual  use.  For  deflections  of  less  than 
15  in.  the  concrete  pole  showed  no  permanent  set.  A  test 
to  destruction  was  carried  out  on  one  of  the  poles,  and 
failure  resulted  at  the  point  where  the  24-ft.  reinforcement 
rods  ended,  the  concrete  being  crushed  for  about  3  ft. 
above  and  below  the  break. 

The  results  obtained  showed  that  the  cost  of  manufacture 
of  such  poles  should  be  from  $7.50  to  $10,  as  against  $4  to 
$5,  the  price  for  a  wooden  pole.  The  cost  of  wooden  poles 
is  thus  from  one-half  to  two-thirds  that  of  the  concrete 
poles,  and  their  life  ranges  from  a  minimum  of  ten  years  to 
a  maximum  of  twenty  years,  whereas  the  life  of  a  concrete 
pole  is  considered  to  be  practically  unlimited.  Moreover, 
the  concrete  poles  require  no  painting. 


CORNER  CONSTRUCTION  FOR  50,000-VOLT  LINE. 


The  accompanying  illustration  shows  the  unique  corner 
construction  developed  by  the  engineers  of  the  Butte  Elec- 
tric &  Power  Company's  system,  for  use  on  some  of  the 
company's  50,000-volt  transmission  lines  in  southern  Mon- 
tana. These  angle  turns  are  employed  in  conjunction  with 
tlie  standard  wood-pole  line  using  on  tangent  stretches  two 


carried  around  the  outer  side  of  the  pole  at  turns,  and  the 
pole  itself  is  guyed  as  shown.  This  construction  has  now 
become  standard  for  making  all  turns  on  the  50,000-volt 
lines  of  the  Butte  associated  companies. 


JOINT  POLE-LINE  CONSTRUCTION. 

An  important  consideration  bearing  on  the  subject  of 
joint  pole-line  agreements,  as  pointed  out  by  Mr.  J.  L. 
Spore,  Toledo,  Ohio,  in  presenting  his  report  on  joint  tele- 
phone and  electric-light  construction  before  the  convention 
of  the  Ohio  Electric  Light  Association  at  Cedar  Point, 
Ohio,  last  month,  is  the  effect  such  agreements  may  have  pn 
the  financial  standing  of  the  companies  involved. 

To    the    company    having    a    joint-line    agreement,    with 


Angle    Construction    on    50,000-Volt    Line    In    IVlontana. 

wood  cross-arms  and  three-part  suspension  insulators.  The 
upper  cross-arm  is  then  occupied  by  one  conductor  and 
the  ground  wire.  For  turns  like  that  shown,  all  wires  are 
brought  into  a  single  vertical  plane  and  are  supported  from 
suspension  insulators  carried  on  special  steel  triangle 
brackets,    requiring   no    cross-arms.      The    ground    wire    is 


.^5  g  gj 


,8     8    8 0      „g    g    ^1 

1 — MV^^ 


g  g  g  g, 


ff  ^  ^  5  fiivrg  g  5  g  9 


Figs.   1   and  2- 


-Disposition  of   Eiectric   Light  and   Telephone   Wires 
on   Joint-Pole    Line. 


therefore  very  little  independent  construction  of  its  own, 
and  desiring  to  float  an  issue  of  bonds  the  financier  might 
be  less  willing  to  advance  money  on  the  ground  that  a 
joint  pole  line  is  not  a  tangible  asset  of  either  company. 
But  if  the  joint  pole-line  agreement  were  so  worded  that 
neither  party  thereto  forfeited  any  of  its  original  franchise 
rights  for  the  construction  of  independent  lines  in  the 
streets,  the  principal  objection  to  the  joint  pole  line  from  a 
financial  standpoint  would  be  eliminated. 

There  is  also  a  deep-rooted  prejudice  against  joint-pole 
construction  among  linemen  of  both  telephone  and  electric- 
light  companies,  on  the  ground  of  greater  danger  to  them- 
selves in  the  performance  of  their  duties,  but  this  is  due 
mainly  to  haphazard  methods  of  construction. 

The  installation  of  joint-pole  construction  with  substan- 
tially the  clearances  shown  in  the  illustrations  would  do 
much  toward  overcoming  the  linemen's  prejudice  against 
this  type  of  construction. 

In  closing,  the  author  declared  himself  in  favor  of  hav- 
ing every  wire  on  any  street  occupy  its  proper  place  on  a 
good,  safe,  well-constructed  joint-pole  line.  If  there  are 
so  many  wires  that  it  becomes  necessary  to  use  steel  towers 
in  place  of  poles,  and  the  cost  of  undergroiuu!  construction 
is  prohibitive,  then  let  steel  towers  be  used. 


SCREEN  COVER  FOR  MANHOLE  WORKERS. 

To  protect  its  workmen  in  manholes  in  the  downtown 
section  of  Chicago,  where  traffic  is  dense,  the  Common- 
wealth Edison  Company  provides  each  crew  with  a  screen 
cover  of  the  same  size  as  the  standard  manhole  cover. 
After  the  men  have  gone  below,  this  screen  is  dropped  into 
place  on  the  sills  of  the  manhole  framing,  and  it  admits 
ventilation  to  the  underground  chamber  while  protecting 
both  workmen  and  passers-by  from  accident.  The  screen- 
ing is  of  %-m.  interwoven  steel  wire  and  is  strong  enough 
to  bear  the  weight  of  a  horse.  In  several  cases  serious 
accidents  have  been  prevented  by  these  screens. 


458 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


COMBINED   AL.\RM    AND   TELEPHONE   SYSTEMS. 

The  alarm  system  has  been  adapted  to  the  automatic  tele- 
plione  system  by  Messrs,  J.  W.  Lattig  and  C.  L.  Goodruni, 
of  Rochester,  N.  V.  According  to  their  method  the  alarm 
code  is  preceded  by  such  a  set  of  impulses  that  a  special 
second  selector  is  picked  up.  This  is  assoicated  with  the 
recording  circuits.  The  alarm  code  is  there  recorded.  It 
will  thus  be  understood  that  the  first  series  of  impulses  is 
just  the- same  as  would  be  sent  were  a  regular  call  being 
made  for  a  number  corresponding  to  the  special  second 
selector.  This  patent  has  been  obtained  by  the  American 
Automatic   Telephone   Company   by   assignment. 

Mr.  E.  E.  Clement  has  also  patented  a  combined  system, 
but  for  use  with  manual  switchboards.  The  alarm-record- 
ing apparatus  ends  on  a  special  plug.  The  sender  repeats 
its  code  numerous  times,  first  quickly  to  flash  the  line  lamp 
and  then  more  slowly  for  record  purposes.  When  the 
lamp  shows  an  alarm  arriving,  the  recording  circuit  is 
plugged  into  the  jack  and  the  record  thus  forwarded. 

P.\RTY-LINE    SYSTEM, 

A  step-by-step  party-line  lock-out  system  has  been 
patented  by  Mr.  W.  F.  Marten,  of  Oakland,  Cal.  There 
are  three  features  belonging  to  the  substation  selector. 
These  are,  first,  the  selector;  second,  the  connector,  and. 
third,  the  release.  The  first  steps  up  the  blocking  wheels 
all  in  unison.  The  second  connects  in  the  desired  station, 
it  alone  having  the  block  removed.  The  third  removes  the 
retaining  pawls,  permitting  all  stations  to  restore  to  normal. 
The  block  is  removed  from  all  stations  in  the  normal  posi- 
tion. Therefore,  if  desired,  all  mav  be  called  sinnilta- 
neously. 

RECEIVER    SUPPORT. 

Mr.  T.  S.  Ludwig,  of  Sandusky,  Ohio,  is  the  patentee 
of  a  receiver-supporting  arm  with  linkage  to  operate  the 
switch  hook.  The  arm  swings  about  a  horizontal  pin. 
When  thrown  back  out  of  position  it  depresses  the  hook 
lever. 

COMBINED    TELEPHONE    AND    ALARM. 

Mr.  H.  G.  Webster,  of  Chicago,  has  obtained  a  patent  for 
a  combined  telephone  and  alarm  s>'!stem.  The  circuits  are 
so  arranged  that  an  alarm  may  be  sent  in  whether  or  not 
the  telephone  is  in  use.  The  alarm  is  initiated  by  the  re- 
lease of  a  code  wheel  which  is  legged  off  one  side  of  the 
line.  This  disturbs  the  balance  of  a  differential  relay,  which 
therefore  follows  each  impulse  record  or  displays  the  sig- 
nal at  the  central  office.  This  patent  is  assigned  to  the 
Kellogg   Switchboard    &   Supply    Company. 

NEW    SWITCHBOARD    KEYS. 

For  party-line  working  the  best  results  are  obtained  if 
the  ringing  keys  have  indicators  which  show  the  key  last 
depressed.  When  this  is  done  a  second  ring  may  be  given 
without  again  asking  the  calling  party  the  ring  of  the 
desired  station.  Many  forms  of  special  indicators  have 
been  devised  to  accomplish  this,  but  one  of  the  best  ar- 
rangements merely  leaves  the  key  button  in  an  intermediate 
position.  It  is  this  type  which  is  described  in  a  patent 
granted  to  Mr.  W.  E.  Harkness,  of  East  Orange.  N.  J., 
and  assigned  to  the  Western  Electric  Company.  In  this 
key  the  usual  button  is  replaced  by  a  turn  button  and  the 
key  springs  are  actuated  by  turning  the  button  about  a 
vertical  axis.  When  a  button  is  released  the  ringing  ceases 
but  the  button  returns  to  an  intermediate  position.  As 
each  button  when  turned  releases  all  others  the  indication 
is  perfect.  The  buttons  are  locked  in  these  intermediate 
positions  by  a  latching  bar,  which  is  momentarily  driven 
into  the  release  positions  as  any  key  is  thrown. 

Another  type  of  key  has  been  invented  by  Mr.  H.  E. 
Schreeve,  of  Millburn,  N.  J.  The  patent  for  this  key  is 
also  assigned  to  the  Western  Electric  Company.     This  key 


is  designed  for  repeater  circuits,  and  a  single  handle  serves 
to  operate  one  or  more  sets  of  switch  springs  as  may  be 
desired.  The'  key  plunger  is  arranged  to  slide  along  a 
base  piece  beneath  which  the  spring  sets  are  mounted.  As 
the  handle  is  pushed  along  the  wedge  slides  successively 
into  the  different  sets,  operating  one  after  the  other  cumu- 
latively. At  the  beginning  of  its  stroke  the  plunger  may 
be  depressed  into  a  lower  set  of  springs  and  thereupon 
pushed   forward  in  this  position  as  desired. 

CIRCUIT    SYSTEMS.  I 

Mr.  E.  R.  Hobbs,  of  Buhl,  Idaho,  is  the  inventor  of  a" 
switchboard  circuit  system  of  the  common-battery  two-wire 
type.  One  feature  lies  in  putting  a  busy  test  on  a  calling 
line  as  soon  as  a  ca.l  is  originated  and  before  the  operator 
has  responded.  Another  is  the  provision  of  a  control  relay 
for    the    calling    supervisory. 

In  a  system  invented  by  Mr.  F.  R.  Parker,  of  Chicago, 
the  lines  are  arranged  upon  the  two-wire  plan,  but  relays 
are  dispensed  with.  The  line  lamp  is  in  series  with  the 
line  and  becomes  shunted  out  upon  the  response  of  the 
operator  by  the  low  resistance  of  her  cord  circuit.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  subscriber's  instrument  shunts  out  the 
supervisory  lamp. 

A  patent  granted  to  the  estate  of  the  late  A.  M.  Bullard 
describes  a  reverting  busy  test  system.  When  a  call  is 
made  for  another  station  upon  the  same  line,  if  the  operator 
fails  to  note  this  condition  she  will  get  a  continuous  busy 
test  and  refuse  connection.  With  the  semi-automatic  sys- 
tem this  will  occur  in  practically  every  case  unless  special 
preventive  means  are  provided.  The  circuits  described  by 
Mr.  Bullard  provide  a  special  tone  to  replace  the  usual 
busy  test,  provided  the  line  tested  be  connected  to  the  same 
connecting  circuit  as  that  affording  the  test.  This  patent 
is  assigned  to  the  Western  Electric  Company. 

Mr.  J.  G.  Mitchell,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  has  obtained  a 
patent,  which  he  has  assigned  to  the  North  Electric  Com- 
panv,  describing  a  trunk  circuit  for  connecting  a  main  and 
a  branch  exchange.  The  branch  exchange  is  signaled  by 
a  ring  over  the  trunk.  This  sets  and  locks  a  signal.  The 
trunk  operator  answers  by  using  a  listening  key,  and  upon 
plugging  to  the  desired  line  and  receiving  a  response  the 
battery  at  the  distant  office  supplies  current  to  operate  the 
supervisory  relay,  the  windings  being  bridged  around  con- 
densers included  in  the  trunk  circuit. 

REPEATER    CIRCUIT. 

A  repeater  circuit  is  the  subject  of  a  patent  granted  to 
Mr.  H.  R.  Stone,  of  Providence,  R.  I.  He  uses  a  four- 
wound  coil  and  an  adjustable-core  control-repeating  coil. 
Two  of  the  windings  of  the  four-winding  coil  are  included 
respectively  in  the  two  sides  of  the  main  line.  Of  the 
remaining  windings  one  connects  with  the  receiver  part 
and  one  with  the  transmitter  part  of  the  repeater.  The 
two  windings  of  thie  adjustable  coil  are  also  included  re- 
spectively in  the  transmitting  and  receiving  circuits.  The 
reaction  of  the  reinforced  current  in  the  transmitter  circuit 
upon  the  receiving  circuit  arising  in  the  main-line  coil  is 
balanced  by  the  opposite  reactions  set  up  in  the  adjustable 
coil.    Adjustment  must  be  effected  for  each  connection. 

PARTY-LINE    SYSTEM. 

A  six-party  selective  system  has  been  invented  by  Mr. 
G.  L.  Goodrum,  of  Philadelphia.  He  uses  positive  and 
negative  currents  and  alternating  currents  in  conjunction 
and  differentiates  between  the  two  sides  of  the  line.  Three 
relays  are  legged  off  each  side  of  the  line  to  ground.  One 
responds  to  any  direct  current,  while  two  are  polarized  and 
respond  respectively  to  positive  and  negative.  Three  bells 
are  legged  off  each  side  of  the  line  through  the  contacts  of 
the  relays  of  the  other  side.  The  polarized  relays  close 
their  bell  circuits  while  the  non-polarized  relay  opens  its 
bell  circuit.  This  gives  the  six  combinations,  no  current, 
positive  current  and  negative  current  on  each  side  of  the 
line,  while  ringing  upon  the  opposite  side. 


August  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


450 


Digest  of  Current  Electrical   Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Acoustic  Tests  of  Machines. — W.  Burstyn. — The  noise 
caused  by  machine  parts  in  motion  often  permits  conclu- 
sions concerning  the  operation.  It  is  therefore  frequently 
helpful  to  listen  to  the  noise  of  a  certain  part  of  a  machine. 
For  this  purpose  the  author  uses  a  piece  of  ordinary  gas 
pipe  J4  m  to  I  m  (13/^  ft.  to  3  ft.)  in  length.  One  end  is 
pressed  against  the  ear  and  the  other  is  placed  on  the  part 
of  the  machine  which  is  to  be  tested.  In  order  to  hear 
electrostatic  alternating  fields  a  small  diaphragm  of  tin  foil 
is  placed  on  the  end  of  the  pipe.  A  mica  diaphragm  with  a 
small  piece  of  iron  attached  will  serve  to  detect  magnetic 
stray  fields.  The  sensitiveness  is  not  very  great  in  either 
case,  but  might  be  improved  by  special  arrangements. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  8,  1912. 

Large  Direct-Current  Motors  Ji'itlwut  Starting  Re- 
sistances.— Carl  Trettin. — .A  conclusion  of  his  article  on 
the  use  of  large  direct-current  motors  without  starting  re- 
sistances. The  author  finally  discusses  two  means  for  re- 
ducing the  starting  current.  One  is  the  use  of  a  compound 
winding  in  which  a  strong  starting  torque  is  obtained  by 
means  of  strengthening  the  fie'd.  The  second  method  is 
the  gradual  variation  of  the  voltage  with  the  aid  of  start- 
ing machines. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  8,  1912. 

Predetermining  Induction-Motor  Characteristics. — C.  R. 
Moore. — The  first  part  of  a  serial  in  which  the  author  col- 
lects and  compares  various  graphical  and  analytical  meth- 
ods for  predetermining  the  characteristics  of  induction 
motors.  Along  w'ith  this  the  author  publishes  the  results 
of  an  e.xtensive  experimental  investigation  carried  out  on 
actual  machines  to  elucidate  or  demonstrate  various  points 
which  are  introduced.  Tlie  first  part  is  confined  to  a  con- 
sideration of  the  rotating  field  and  a  comparison  of  the  in- 
duction motor  with  the  transformer. — Gen.  Elcc.  Reineiu, 
August,  1912. 

Rotary  Converters. — J.  L.  McK.  Yardley. — An  illus- 
trated article  giving  characteristics  of  commutating-pole 
rotary  converters.  It  is  shown  that  the  introduction  of  the 
commutating  pole  has  gradually  increased  the  permissible 
output  per  pole.  The  results  of  commutation  tests  are  given 
and  a  number  of  typical  rotary  converters  of  this  kind  are 
described  and  illustrated. — Elec.  Journal.  August.  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

The  Starting  of  the  Carbon  Arc. — A.  Occhialini. — An 
account  of  an  experimental  investigation  supplementing  the 
author's  former  researches  on  the  phenomena  observed  in 
the  starting  of  an  arc  between  carbon  electrodes.  Under 
ordinary  conditions — that  is,  when  the  anode  is  cold — two 
different  successsive  periods  may  be  distinguished  in  the 
starting  of  the  arc,  the  first  of  which  shows  the  characteris- 
tics of  a  spark  and  the  second  those  of  an  arc  proper.  The 
first  period,  that  of  a  spark,  occurs  only  when  the  anode  is 
initially  cold,  while  the  second  period  requires  a  hot  anode. 
If  the  arc  is  started  with  an  artificially  preheated  anode, 
the  first  period,  that  of  the  spark,  is  missing.  The  author 
concludes  that  the  preliminary  spark  period  has  the  func- 
tion of  heating  the  anode  so  as  to  permit  the  real  arc  period 
to  commence.  The  high  temperature  of  the  cathode,  which 
heretofore  has  been  considered  the  only  requirement  of  an 
arc,  produces,  therefore,  only  the  preliminary  spark,  and 
not  until  the  anode  has  been  heated  sufficiently  by  means 
of  the  spark  will  the  arc  itself  start.  For  the  experimental 
investigation  a  kinematographic  method  was  used. — Phys. 
Zeit.,  Aug.  I,  1912. 

Photo-Electric  Photometer. — J.  Elster  and  H.  X. 
Geitel. — The  authors  have  heretofore  proposed  to  use  the 


photo-electric  effect  on  metals  for  measuring  light  in- 
tensity, since  the  intensity  of  the  photo-electric  current  is 
proportional  to  the  intensity  of  the  exciting  light  within 
wide  limits.  The  zinc  spherical  photometer  for  measuring 
ultra-violet  radiation  from  the  sun  is  based  on  this  princi- 
ple and  has  proved  very  successful  in  practice.  The 
authors  also  emphasize  that  the  same  principle  can  well  be 
used  for  measuring  radiation  within  the  visible  spectrum, 
the  active  member  being  a  cathode  surface  of  pure  alkali 
metal  in  a  rarefied  gas.  They  describe  an  instrument  in 
the  structure  of  which  recent  advances  in  the  construction 
of  alkali  metal  cells  and  also  recent  improvements  in  elec- 
trical measuring  instruments  are  embodied  to  advantage. 
The  instrument  is  primarily  intended  to  be  used  for  meas- 
uring the  intensity  of  light  within  the  visible  spectrum  of 
sunlight  and  daylight,  but  with  the  use  of  very  sensitive 
ammeters  it  may  also  be  used  for  determining  candle- 
powers  down  to  a  few  thousandths  of  a  hefner  candle. — 
Phys.  Zeit.,  Aug.  15,  1912. 

Chemistry  and  Illuminating  Engineering. — O.  Kruh. — A 
paper  read  before  the  Electrical  Society  of  Vienna,  giving 
an  outline  of  the  results  of  chemical  research  along  the 
lines  of  recent  progress  in  electric  lamps.  Arc  lamps  with 
impregnated  carbons,  mercury-vapor  lamps  and  incandes- 
cent lamps,  especially  metallic-filament  lamps,  were  dis- 
cussed in  succession. — Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  July  28 
and  Aug.  4.  1912. 

Direct  and  Indirect  Lighting. — Sydney  W.  Ashe. — An 
illustrated  account  of  acuity  tests  in  a  particular  room  illu- 
minated in  turn  with  direct,  indirect  and  semi-indirect 
lighting. — Gen.  Elec.  Reiiciv,  August,   1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Large  Steam-Operated  Electric  Power  Stations. — G. 
Klingenberg. — A  continuation  of  his  long  illustrated  paper 
on  the  design  of  large  steam-operated  electric  power  sta- 
tions. The  present,  instalment  deals  with  the  switchboard 
and  the  situation  of  the  plant.  The  author  compares  the 
cost  of  electrical  transmission  of  energy  with  the  cost  of 
transportation  of  coal. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  I,  1912. 

Large  Steam  Stations. — G.  Klingenberg. — The  conclu- 
sion of  his  long  paper,  read  before  the  German  Association 
of  Electrical  F'ngineers,  on  fundamental  principles  in  the 
design  of  large  generating  stations  operated  by  steam.  The 
author  concludes  his  comparison  of  the  cost  of  electric 
power  transmission  and  the  transportation  of  coal  by  rail. 
The  results  are  given  in  a  number  of  diagrams  which 
permit  the  direct  determination  of  the  commercially  eco- 
nomical distances  to  which  electric  power  may  be  trans- 
mitted from  a  generating  station  operated  by  coal.  Other 
diagrams  give  the  cost  of  transmission  per  kw-hour  as 
functions  of  the  distance  and  the  amount  of  power  trans- 
mitted. It  is  shown  that  with  "brown  coal"  (lignite) 
electric  power  transmission  is  almost  always  cheaper  than 
transportation  of  the  fuel  by  rail  and  that  even  cheap 
•  transportation  by  water  cannot  compete  in  many  cases  with 
electric  transmission.  But,  in  general,  the  erection  of  very 
large  three-phase  generating  stations  operated  by  steam  is 
only  economical  if  lignite  or  some  other  very  cheap  fuel  is 
available.  In  other  words,  with  expensive  fuel,  transpor- 
tation is  cheaper  than  electrical  transmission.  Lastly,  de- 
tailed data  and  figures  showing  the  economy  and  generat- 
ing costs  in  electric  generating  stations  are  given  as  func- 
tions of  the  size  of  the  generating  sets  and  the  load  factor. 
— Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  8,  1912. 

Small  Water-Pozver  Plant. — An  article  giving  details  of 
a  rural  hydroelectric  distribution   scheme,  utilizing  the  en- 


460 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  9. 


ergy  derived  from  a  iS-hp  to  20-hp  water-power  plant  and 
transmitting  electricity  over  a  maximum  distance  of  4.5 
miles.  The  installation  is  situated  at  Cotentin,  on  the  banks 
of  the  River  Saire,  in  France.  Three-phase  currents  are 
generated  at  120  volts  between  phases  and  neutral  and  are 
distributed  at  this  voltage  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
station.  For  transmission  the  voltage  is  raised.  The  pres- 
sure on  the  longest  transmission  line  is  5000  volts.  Trans- 
former stations  are  provided  at  convenient  central  points. 
In  order  to  accommodate  the  many  small  consumers,  such 
as  farmers  who  have  but  a  few  lamps  in  their  stables,  en- 
ergy is  sold  by  contract,  from  sunset  to  11  p.m.  all  the  year 
and  from  5  a.m.  to  daylight  during  the  winter.  To  avoid 
restricting  the  number  of  lamps  installed,  which  is  so  fre- 
quently the  effect  of  a  contract  tariff,  an  ampere-year  basis 
of  charge  is  adopted  and  current-limiting  devices  are  in- 
stalled. A  uniform  rate  of  $2i  per  ampere-year  is  levied, 
with  a  minimum  of  $15  for  three  lamps  simultaneously  in 
use.  Some  consumers  have  only  one  or  two  i6-cp  lamps, 
but  on  the  other  hand  there  are  farmers  who  have  as  many 
as  twenty  lamps  in  their  stables  alone. — London  Elec.  Rc- 
viczv,  Atig.  2,  19T2. 

Competition  of  Coal-Miiie  Poller  Plants  zvith  Central 
Stations. — A.  H.\rtmann.- — The  author  states  that  in  some 
places  in  Europe  there  is  a  tendency  for  power  plants  in 
coal  mines  and  other  large  industrial  works  to  sell  energy 
in  competition  with  central  stations  at  a  rate  which  it  is 
absolutely  impossible  for  the  central  station  to  meet.  The 
author  severely  condemns  such  ruinous  competition. — 
Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  July  28,  1912. 

Motor  Control. — H.  L.  Be.\ch.— An  article,  illustrated 
by  diagrams,  on  automatic  motor  starters  and  controllers. — 
Elec.  Journal,  August,  1912. 

Traction. 

London  Subivay. — An  article  on  the  extension  of  the 
Central  London  Railway  to  Liverpool  Street.  The  con- 
struction of  the  new  track  does  not  differ  materially  from 
that  of  the  ordinary  track.  A  number  of  the  joints  in  the 
third-rail  are  thermit-welded.  An  interesting  feature  of 
the  extension  is  the  system  of  track-circuit  signaling  which 
has  been  installed  by  the  Mackensie  &  Holland  \\'esting- 
house  Power  Signaling  Company.  The  whole  of  the  Cen- 
tral London  line  is  also  being  converted  to  this  system,  in 
which  alternating  current  is  employed. — London  Electrician, 
July  26,  1912. 

Cologne. — R.  Kruger. — The  conclusion  of  his  illustrated 
article  on  the  suburban  railway  system  of  the  city  of 
Cologne,  Germany. — Elek.  Zcit.,  Aug.  8,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Loudon. — A  long  illustrated  description  of  the  Deptford 
generating  station  of  the  London  Electric  Supply  Corpora- 


CURRENT 
IRON  CORE        TRANSFORMER 
'WINDING 


LEAD  SHEATHING 
Fig.    1 — Application    of    Series    Transformer. 

tion.  It  is  declared  to  be  the  pioneer  high-tension  electric 
generating  station  of  the  world,  and  some  details  of  its 
early  history  are  given.  The  present  station  is  feeding 
four  distinct  types  of  distribution  systems,  as  follows:  (l) 
The  original  85-cycle,  1 0,000- volt,  single-phase  system  used 
for  lighting  purposes;   (2)  a  direct-current,  three-wire  sys- 


tem at  460  volts  and  230  volts,  used  for  motor  service  and 
lighting  purposes;  (3)  a  three-phase,  25-cycle,  6600-volt 
system  for  large  consumers  or  for  traction  purposes,  and 
(4)  the  single-phase,  6600-volt,  25-cycle  system  used  for 
the  Brighton  Railway.  All  of  the  high-tension  conductors 
are  laid  out  in  such  a  manner  that  each  conductor  and  iso- 
lating switch  is  inclosed  in  an  earthed  sliield.  One  of  the 
several  advantages  claimed  for  this  system  is  that  the  series 
transformers — a  weak  point  in  all  other  systems — are 
clamped  outside  the  earthed  covering,  thereby  making  a 
failure  at  this  point  almost  impossible.  The  arrangement 
for  the  series  transformers  is  shown  in  Fig.  I.  It  is 
pointed  out  that  the  usual  arrangement  of  series  trans- 
formers constitutes  a  weak  link,  as  has  been  proved  on  more 
than  one  occasion  at  other  stations,  when  the  transformers 
failed.  In  the  arrangement  here  used  any  such  trouble  is 
impossible.  The  only  difficulty  which  naturally  arises  is 
that  the  indications  may  be  affected  by  eddy  currents,  but 
this  is  obviated  by  making  a  small  gap  in  the  lead  sheathing 
at  one  side  of  the  transformers,  as  indicated  in  the  illus- 
tration.— London  Electrician,  Aug.  9,  1912. 

Syncl!roui::iug. — Harold  W.  Brown. — An  article  giving 
a  series  of  fifteen  diagrams  which  show  the  principal  con- 
nections employed  for  synchronizing  two  or  more  machines 
by  lamps  or  synchroscopes,  or  both,  to  a  single  bus  or  a 
double  bus. — Elec.  Journal,  July,  1912. 

Bus  and  Switch  Compartments. — E.  Bern. — An  illus- 
trated article  in  which  the  author  discusses  the  design  of 
fireproof  compartments  for  medium  high-voltage  appara- 
tus. He  states  some  of  the  advantages  of  brick  and  con- 
crete bus  compartments,  the  dimensions  being  usually  gov- 
erned by  allowable  distance  to  "ground,"  and  to  a  less  ex- 
tent by  the  apparatus  to  be  housed.  He  also  gives  approxi- 
mate dimensions  for  use  with  various  voltages,  and  dis- 
cusses and  illustrates  several  types  of  disconnecting 
switches  and  methods  of  mounting  them.  The  proper  loca- 
tion of  oil  switches  with  respect  to  the  buses  is  also  dis- 
cussed.-— Gen.  Elec.  Rez'ieiv,  August.  1912.  , 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits.  " 

Aluminum  Conductors. — F.  Marguerere. — As  a  disad- 
vantage of  aluminum  conductors  it  is  sometimes  claimed 
that  their  large  sag  and  the  resulting  increased  expense  for 
pole  construction  consume  to  a  great  extent  the  saving 
otherwise  resulting  from  their  use.  The  author  thinks  that 
this  criticism  is  wrong,  and  is  due  to  a  misconception  in  the 
standardization  rules  of  the  German  Association  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers.  In  these  rules  it  is  assumed  that  thin 
wires  are  covered  with  thinner  layers  of  ice  or  snow  than 
thick  wires.  But  practical  experience  shows  that  it  is  not 
so  in  general.  In  Norwav  he  found  that  telephone  wires 
of  4  mm  (5/32  in.)  and  aluminum  cables  300  sq.  mm 
(12/29  i"-)  were  coated  with  equal  thicknesses  of  ice. 
The  author  makes  a  suggestion  as  to  how  the  standardiza- 
tion rules  can  be  changed.  He  finally  mentions  that  high- 
tension  lines  of  10,000  volts  or  more  always  remain  free 
from  snow. — Elek.  Zcit,  Aug.  8,  1912. 

Electrophysics  and    Magnetism.  1 

The  Efficiency  of  Generation  of  Higli-Frequcncy  Oscilla- 
tions by  Means  of  an  Induction  Coil  and  Ordinary  Spark- 
Gap. — G.  W.  O.  Howe  and  J.  D.  Peattie. — An  abstract  of 
a  British  Physical  Society  paper.  The  apparatus  used  was 
similar  to  that  employed  in  small  radio-telegraph  stations. 
A  lo-in.  induction  coil  operated  from  battery  cells  through  a 
mercury  interrupter  gave  nower  to  an  oscillatory  circuif 
containing  a  spark-gap  between  spherical  electrodes. 
Coupled  to  this  circuit  was  another  oscillatory  circuit  rep- 
resenting the  aerial  and  containing  a  variable  resistance 
which  constituted  the  high-frequency  load.  The  input,  out- 
put and  efficicncv  were  determined  for  various  degrees  of 
coupling,  various  aerial  decrements,  different  lengths  of 
spark-gap   and   with   various   primary   voltages,   the   object 


August  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


461 


being  to  determine  the  effect  of  these  various  factors  on  the 
working  of  a  small  radio-telegraph  station.  A  second  part 
of  the  paper  dealt  with  some  oscillographic  records  of  the 
primary  and  secondary  currents  of  the  induction  coil.  These 
disclosed  many  interesting  features  and  explained  several 
peculiarities  in  the  working  of  the  coil,  especially  the  varia- 
tion of  input  with  spark  length.  This  was  shown  to  be 
due  to  the  particular  phase,  at  the  moment  of  "make,"  of 
the  remnant  current  in  the  primary  induced  by  the  oscilla- 
tions in  the  secondary  produced  by  the  last  spark.  This 
depended  on  the  time  which  had  elapsed  since  the  last  spark. 
— London  Electrician,  July  19,  1912. 

Velocity  of  Emission  of  Electrons. — R.  A.  Millikan. — 
An  abstract  of  an  American  Physical  Society  paper  on  the 
effect  of  the  character  of  the  source  upon  the  velocities  of 
emission  of  electrons  liberated  by  ultra-violet  light.  The 
author  had. formerly  made  experiments  in  which  the  positive 
potentials  acquired  by  metals  under  the  influence  of  ultra- 
violet light  were  greatly  in  excess  of  those  obtained  by 
other  observers.  This  "high-speed  emission"  he  has  now 
investigated.  High-speed  emission  is  obtained  only  with 
spark  sources,  and  variations  in  the  electrical  constants  of 
the  spark  circuit  (capacity,  self-induction,  spark  length, 
energy  output)  are  found  to  produce  large  variations  in  the 
potential  photo-current  curves.  The  types  of  these  curves 
for  quartz  mercury  lamp  sources  and  for  spark  sources  are 
very  dissimilar.  The  author  describes  various  experiments 
which  show  conclusively  that  the  high  velocities  obtained 
with  a  spark  source  are  due  to  the  light  itself  and  not  to 
secondary  effects,  of  any  description. — Physical  Review, 
July,  1912. 

Earth's  Magnetic  Field. — W.  F.  G.  Swann. — A  paper  in 
which  the  author  formulates  a  theory  for  the  earth's  mag- 
netic field  as  a  phenomenon  arising  out  of  the  radiation  of 
the  earth.  The  easiest  explanation  seems  to  be  based  on  the 
existence  of  electric  currents  brought  about  by  the  radia- 
tion.— Phil.  Mag.,  July,   1912. 

Electrochemistry  and  Batteries. 

Electro  Analysis. — F.  A.  Gooch  and  W.  L.  Burdick. — A 
paper  on  electrolytic  analysis  with  platinum  electrodes  of 
light  weight. — American  Journal  of  Science,  August.  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Kilowatt  as  the  Only  Unit  of  Pozver. — In  a  continuation 
of  the  stenographic  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  recent 
convention  of  the  German  Association  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers the  motion  of  the  committee  for  standardization  of 
machines  is  mentioned.  This  machine  was  made  not  only 
for  the  German  Association  of  Electrical  Engineers  but 
also  for  the  Society  of  German  Engineers  (comprising 
mechanical  and  civil  engineers).  It  provides  that,  begin- 
ning with  Jan.  I,  1914,  the  kilowatt  shall  be  the  only  unit 
of  power.  Until  that  date  the  kilowatt  and  the  horse-power 
are  both  permissible. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  8,  1912. 

Measuring  High  Alternating-Current  Voltages  with  the 
Quadrant  Electrometer. — A.  Baxmann. — The  quadrant 
electrometer  can  be  used  for  measuring  alternating-current 
voltages  above  40,000  volts  only  with  difficulty,  owing  to 
the  rapid  increase  of  the  spark-gap  required  and  to  the 
Occurrence  of  small  sparks  at  different  parts  of  the  elec- 
trometer. These  troubles  may  be  overcome  to  a  certain 
extent  by  inclosing  the  whole  instrument  in  a  vessel  filled 
with  carbonic  acid  compressed  to  20  atmospheres  pressure, 
but  this  involves  considerable  complication.  The  author 
describes  how  all  the  difficulties  can  be  very  easily  over- 
come by  the  use  of  condensers.  The  experiments  were 
made  with  ordinary  commercial  alternating  current,  employ- 
ing a  special  transformer  to  produce  the  necessary  high 
voltage.  The  arrangement  is  shown  in  Fig.  2.  The  voltage 
of  the  primary  commercial  source  is  measured  by  a  volt- 
meter V.  The  voltage  is  then  raised  by  means  of  the  special 
transformer  as  shown  and  the  ends  of  the  secondary  are 


connected  each  to  one  plate  /  of  the  condensers.  The  dis- 
tance between  plates  /  and  //  in  the  two  condensers  can  be 
adjusted.  The  plates  //  of  the  two  condensers  are  con- 
nected with  the  electrometer,  one  with  the  needle  and  the 
first  pair  of  quadrants  and  the  other  with  the  second  pair 
of  quadrants.    An  adjustable  air  condenser  C  is  connected 


^[7 


Transfojrmaror 


<t> 


.SO 
Fig.   2 — Diagram   of   Quadrant    Electrometer. 

in  shunt  with  the  electrometer  as  shown.  By  adjusting  the 
zero  position  of  the  needle  of  the  electrometer  the  following 
simple  relation  between  the  voltage  V  and  the  deflection  o 
of  the  needle  can  be  obtained:  V  =  aC,  where  C  is  a 
constant.  The  author  gives  results  obtained  with  this  ar- 
rangement and  shows  how  it  may  be  used  for  determining 
the  ratio  of  transformation  in  transformers. — Phys.  Zeit., 
Aug.  15,  1912. 

Vibration  Galvanometer. — H.  F.  Haworth. — An  illus- 
trated paper  read  before  the  British  Physical  Society  on  the 
maximum  sensibility  of  a  Duddell  vibration  galvanometer. 
The  author  shows  that  the  maximum  sensibility  of  a 
moving-coil  vibration  galvanometer  as  a  voltage  detector  is 
obtained  when  the  flux  through  it  is  so  adjusted  that  the 
back  emf  of  the  coil  is  equal  to,  and  in  phase  with,  its  ohmic 
resistance  drop. — London  Electrician,  Aug.  9,  1912. 

Diurnal  Variations  of  Electric  Waves. — W.  H.  Eccles. — 
A  note  on  a  recent  Royal  Society  paper.  The  natural  elec- 
tric-wave train  radiating  from  a  lightning  discharge  pro- 
duces a  disturbance  in  apparatus  for  the  reception  of  wire- 
less-telegraph messages.  Normally  these  disturbances  form 
a  steady  stream  of  loud  or  faint  clicks  in  the  receiving 
telephones.  The  rate  at  which  they  are  received  at  a  station 
varies  from  hour  to  hour  during  the  whole  day  and  also 
with  the  season;  but  as  a  general  rule  the  disturbances — or 
"strays,"  as  they  are  often  called — heard  at  night  are 
stronger  and  more  frequent  than  those  heard  in  the  day. 
The  change  from  day  to  night  and  from  night  to  day  condi- 
tions is  very  noticeable  at  sunset  and  sunrise.  It  is  chiefly 
this  transition  period  which  is  investigated  in  the  present 
paper.  It  is  found  that  very  frequently  there  is  not  the 
gradual  transition  that  might  be  expected,  but  instead  a 
passage  through  a  sharply  marked  minimum,  amounting 
sometimes  to  a  discontinuity.  In  order  to  explain  the  phe- 
nomena the  author  develops  a  hypothesis  which  is  based 
on  the  proposition  that  the  velocity  of  electric  waves  through 
ionized  air  increases  with  increasing  ionization.  Now,  it  is 
probable  that  the  ionization  produced  by  solar  radiation  in- 
creases, within  limits,  with  higher  altitudes  in  the  atmos- 
phere. Hence  it  follows  that  a  system  of  waves  with 
vertical  wave  fronts  must  suffer  a  forward  tilting  of  the 
wave  fronts  as  they  traverse  the  heterogeneous  medium,  and 
the  rays  will  follow  curved  trajectories  having  their  con- 
cavity downward.  This  also  explains  many  of  the  hitherto 
unexplained  phenomena  of  wireless  telegraphy,  but  to  ex- 
plain the  stray  minima    found   at  sunset   or   sunrise   it   is 


462 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  60,  No.  9. 


necessary  to  suppose  that  the  process  of  ionization  of  the 
atmosphere  at  sunrise  and  the  process  of  deionization  at 
sunset  produce  a  turbulence  of  the  medium  that  leads  to 
difficulty  of  propagation.  It  is  shown  in  the  paper  that  the 
existence  of  this  turbulence  is  corroborated  by  observations 
on  telegraphic  waves  coming  from  great  distances. — London 
Electrician,  July  26,   1912. 

Operators  Required  in  Telephone  Exchange. — F.  Am- 
BROSius. — It  is  often  desirable  to  know  how  many  te'.ephonic 
conversations  are  carried  on  simultaneously  in  order  to 
determine  how  many  operators  are  required  in  the  exchange. 
With  the  aid  of  curves  the  author  shows  that  the  number 
of  connections  existing  at  the  same  time,  and  therefore  the 
number  of  operators  required  at  any  hour  of  the  day,  are 
proportional  to  the  current  consumption  in  that  hour. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  July  25,  1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Submarine  Telegraphy. — M.  Roscher. — The  author  gives 
a  review  of  the  technical  development  of  submarine  teleg- 
raphy during  the  past  sixty  years,  with  special  reference  to 
changes  in  the  types  of  cables,  the  methods  of  laying  and 
the  apparatus  and  connections. — Elek.  Zeit.,  July  18,  1912. 

Protection  of  Telegraph  and  Telephone  Lines.— Gmouss^. 
^A  paper  on  the  troubles  and  dangers  inflicted  on  telephone 
and  telegraph  lines  by  adjoining  high-tension  lines  and  on 
methods  for  the  protection  of  the  former. — Soc.  Internat. 
des  Elec.  June,  1912;  abstracted  in  La  Lumierc  Elec,  July 

13,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

German  Association  of  Electrical  Engineers. — A  con- 
tinuation of  the  report  of  the  recent  annual  convention  in 
Leipzig.  The  number  of  members  is  now  5096.  The  asso- 
ciation owns  bonds,  etc.,  to  the  amount  of  $37,000. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  July  18  and  25,  1912. 

German  Rbntgen  Society. — A  report  of  the  eighth  con- 
gress of  the  German  Rontgen  Society,  held  on  April  13  and 

14.  There  were  463  members  present.  Most  of  the  sixty- 
four  papers  read  dealt  with  problems  of  medicine.  Jaksch 
discussed  the  particularly  favorable  action  of  the  silver 
filter,  which  was  confirmed  by  Dessauer  but  which  Rosen- 
tlial  considered  to  be  unexplainable  from  a  physical  stand- 
point. Koehler  and  others  advocated  the  leather  filter  and 
Walter  an  aluminum  filter.  Schlee  showed  a  new  instru- 
ment of  Loewenthals  which  is  based  on  the  speed  of  the 
discharge  of  an  electroscope  due  to  the  ionization  of  air 
by  Rontgen  rays. — Elek.  Zeit.,  July  18,  1912. 

Rubber. — An  abstract  of  the  report  of  last  year's  work  of 
the  Rubber  Central  Bureau  for  the  German  colonies. 
Methods  for  improving  low-grade  gutta  percha  have  been 
satisfactorily  evolved.  They  are  commercially  profitable 
wherever  large  quantities  of  raw  material  are  regularly 
available  for  treatment.  As  to  synthetic  rubber,  it  is  not 
thought  that  this  will  have  any  influence  on  the  price  at 
present.  The  viscosity  of  rubber  gives  valuable  informa- 
tion on  its  quality.  The  coagulating  agents  at  present  used 
in  German  East  Africa  have  a  bad  effect  on  the  rubber  pro- 
duced, but  a  new  coagulating  method  which  gives  excellent 
results  has  been  evolved.  External  appearance  is  often 
deceiving.  Apparently  poor-looking  rubber  which  brings 
a  low  price  is  often  superior  to  better-looking  kinds  which 
bring  a  higher  price.  To  heat,  roll  or  press  rubber  after- 
ward spoils  it  completely. — Elek.  Zeit.,  July  18,  1912. 

Lord  Kelvin. — A  long  abstract  of  H.  Dubois'  recent  lec- 
ture before  the  British  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers 
on  Lord  Kelvin's  work  in  the  fields  of  electricity  and  mag- 
netism.— Elek.  Zeit..  July  25,  1912. 

Poincare. — A  sketch,  by  A.  Blondel,  of  the  life  and  work 
of  the  late  Henri  Poincare,  with  a  photograph  showing 
Poincare  in  his  library. — La  Lumicre  Elec,  July  27,  1912. 

Recent  Developments  in  the  Electrical  Art. — Elihu 
Thomson. — An  address  of  a  general  nature  made  on  the 


occasion  of  the  award  of  the  Elliott  Cresson  medal  of  the 
Franklin  Institute  to  Professor  Thomson.  Recent  progress 
in  all  fields  of  electrical  engineering  is  briefly  sketched. — 
Journal  Franklin  Institute,  August,  1912. 


Book  Reviews 

Machine  Shop  Mechanics.  By  Fred  H.  Colvin.  New 
York:  McGraw-Hill  Book  Company.  172  pages,  116 
illus.  Price,  $1. 
This  exceedingly  practical  little  volume,  written  primarily 
for  those  who  have  not  had  a  technical  education,  explains 
in  simple  form  the  elementary  principles  of  mechanics  that 
govern  the  every-day  processes  and  mechanical  effects  with 
which  machine-shop  workers  come  into  contact  in  the  course 
of  their  work.  Among  the  topics  discussed  are:  Levers — 
the  amount  of  work  they  do  and  how  to  measure  it;  friction; 
heat  and  its  effects;  the  horse-power  transmitted  by  belting 
and  gearing;  the  blocks  and  tackle;  centrifugal  force; 
strength  of  materials;  hydraulics;  the  impact  of  a  drop- 
hammer,  and  shafting,  beams  and  force  diagrams.  It  is 
written  in  an  easy  style  and  avoids  much  of  the  obscurity 
with  which  textbooks  are  often  burdened.  The  questions 
and  answers  given  at  the  end  of  each  of  the  twenty  chap- 
ters, together  with  descriptions  of  a  number  of  simple  ex- 
periments, combine  to  make  the  book  one  that  will  be 
decidedly  helpful  to  the  machinist  who  wishes  to  learn  the 
"why"  of  things  associated  with  his  trade. 


Valuation  of  Public  Service  Corporations.  By  Robert 
H.  Whitten,  Ph.D.  New  York :  The  Banks  Law  Pub- 
lishing Company,  1912.  798  pages.  Price,  $5.50. 
The  most  important  and  systematic  treatise  on  the  legal 
and  economic  phases  of  the  valuation  of  public  utilities  yet 
written  for  the  engineer.  The  author  was  singularly  quali- 
fied to  prepare  such  a  work  from  a  wholly  unprejudiced 
standpoint  by  reason  of  his  service  with  the  Public  Service 
Commission  for  the  First  District  of  New  York.  Apprecia- 
tion of  the  public  importance  of  this  subject  seems  to  grow 
daily,  and  there  has  been  marked  need  of  a  thorough  and 
systematic  treatment  from  the  sides  on  which  Dr.  Whitten 
has  attacked  it.  In  preparing  the  volume,  unpublished  re- 
ports of  special  masters  in  equity,  reports  of  special  arbi- 
trators and  appraisal  commissioners  appointed  by  courts, 
decisions  of  state  railroad  and  public  service  commissions 
and  reports  of  appraisers  appointed  by  local  authority  were 
all  consulted.  These  reports  and  opinions  are  quoted  from, 
where  essential,  at  such  length  that  practically  all  the  avail- 
able material  is  brought  together. 

Among  the  major  subjects  treated  are  standards  of  value, 
land  valuation,  pavement  over  mains,  donated  property, 
property  constructed  out  of  surplus,  average  versus  present 
price,  piecemeal  construction,  working  capital,  bond  dis- 
count, depreciation,  going  concern,  franchise  value,  rate  of 
return,  and  others.  The  final  chapter  comprises  a  bibliog- 
raphy of  valuation  and  depreciation.  A  table  of  the  law 
cases  cited  is  also  included  after  the  table  of  contents.  The 
volume  is  given  over  wholly  to  discussions  of  law,  economics 
and  theory,  with  no  attempt  to  show  the  engineer  how 
to  conduct  the  actual  details  of  an  appraisal.  Depreciation 
and  going-concern  value  are  treated  with  care  and  at  much 
length.  In  view  of  the  controversial  status  of  many  of  the 
questions  presented  the  author  wisely  presents  each  prob- 
lem from  all  sides  and  discusses  it  without  attempting  to 
say  the  final  word  or  reach  a  positive  conclusion.  The 
volume  is  equipped  with  an  excellent  index.  Besides  bring- 
ing together  for  the  first  time  practically  all  of  the  legal 
and  economic  information  which  the  engineer  needs  as  a 
guide  in  valuation  work,  it  will  also  interest  managers  of 
public  service  companies,  accountants  and  attorneys. 


August  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


463 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


STARTER  FOR   SLIP-RING  MOTORS. 


A  new  form  of  non-reversing  starter  for  constant-speed, 
slip-ring  motors  of  5  hp  to  15  hp  has  recently  been  placed 
on  the  market  by  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufac- 
turing Company.  The  starter  is  self-contained  and  of  the 
general  appearance  shown  in  the  illustration.  It  is  not  ap- 
plicable for  speed  control.    There  are  three  sets  of  contacts 


starter    for    Slip-Ring    Motor. 

one  for  each  phase,  and  three  arms,  each  carrying  con- 
tacts for  one  of  the  phases.  The  motor  is  started  by  mov- 
ing the  handle  gradually  from  the  "off"  position  over  the 
six  steps  to  the  "running"  position,  where  it  is  locked.  The 
handle  cannot  be  left  in  any  intermediate  position.  In  the 
"running"  position  all  resistance  is  short-circuited.  The 
resistor  is  composed  of  wire  wound  on  porcelain  tubes  and 
then  coated  with  a  heat-proof  and  moisture-proof  varnish, 
making  it  practically  indestructible  The  only  wearing 
parts,  the  contacts,  are  easily  and  inexpensively  renewed. 
The  face  plate  and  the  resistors  are  inclosed.  The  features 
of  the  starter,  attention  to  which  is  directed  by  the  manu- 
facturer, are  its  simple  construction,  durability,  the  ease  of 
access  to  all  its  parts  and  the  protection  of  the  resistors  and 
switching  device  by  covers. 


ELECTRIC    AUTOMOBILE    WITH    TWO-SPEED 
TRANSMISSION. 


and  backward.  The  motor,  of  special  design,  is  connected 
to  the  rear  axle  by  a  shaft  that  gives  a  straight-line  drive. 
The  underslung  frame  of  the  car  is  of  steel  and  is  carried 
on  vanadium-steel  springs.  The  wheelbase  measures 
100  in.  Twenty-six  i8o-amp-hr.  cells  comprise  the  battery 
equipment. 


ELECTRICALLY  DRIVEN   CRUSHING  ROLLS   AND 
SKIP-HOIST. 


The  new  electric  roadster  built  by  the  Church-Field 
Motor  Company,  Sibley,  Mich.,  includes  among  other  de- 
partures from  ordinary  electric-vehicle  design  the  features 
of  a  two-speed  transmission,  ten-point  speed  control,  sim- 
plicity of  control  levers  and  underslung  construction  on  a 
long  wheelbase.  One  of  these  cars,  exhibited  on  the  beach 
at  Cedar  Point,  Ohio,  during  the  Ohio  Electric  Light  con- 
vention, displayed  its  ability  to  make  good  time  over  un- 
favorable road  surfaces,  besides  demonstrating  its  easy- 
riding  qualities  by  being  run  over  a  telegraph  pole  and 
other  beach  obstructions  without  discomfort  to  the 
occupants. 

The  two-speed  planetary  transmission  used  in  the  Church- 
Field  car  marks  a  distinctive  step  in  electrically  driven 
vehicles,  putting  the  battery-driven  car  on  a  footing  with 
gasoline  machines  in  climbing  hills,  and  minimizing  energy 
consumption  and  battery  wear.  The  controlling  lever  is 
mounted  on  top  of  the  steering  column,  and  with  only 
three  moving  contacts  affords  ten  speed  points  both  forward 


At  Martinsburg,  W.  Va.,  are  located  the  quarries  and 
crushing  plant  of  the  National  Limestone  Company.  The 
property  owned  consists  of  about  1000  acres,  on  which  are 
four  limestone  deposits.  Of  course,  economy  is  sought  in 
the  operation  of  the  works,  and  the  mechanical  breaking  up 
of  rock  can  ordinarily  be  performed  with  less  expense  than 
would  be  the  case  if  dynamite  were  used.  The  steam 
shovel  is  a  very  large  one,  capable  of  taking  great  stones. 
The  crushers  have  also  a  capacity  enabling  them  to  take 
stones  up  to  the  maximum  size  that  can  be  handled  by  the 
shovel. 

Not  a  great  deal  of  water  comes  into  the  quarries  to  give 
trouble.  Yet  it  is  important  that  the  pumping  arrangements 
shall  be  thoroughly  reliable  so  that  attention  can  be  given 
to  the  main  operations.  Two  Cameron  pumps  are  used  to 
dispose  of  the  water. 

The  actual  crushing  is  done  by  a  pair  of  enormous  rolls, 
each  6  ft.  in  diameter  and  7  ft.  long.  Their  cylindrical 
surfaces  are  provided  with  numerous  projections  or  knobs 
arranged  in  circumferential  and  longitudinal  lines.  All 
knobs  are  essentially  alike  with  the  exception  of  those  in 
two  longitudinal  rows  on  one  of  the  rolls.  The  great 
majority  are  about  2  in.  in  height.  A  circumferential  row 
is  in  reality  an  annular  rib  interrupted  here  and  there.  As 
the  rolls  are  given  a  rotational  movement,  the  knobs  have 
front  and  rear  faces.  These  are  planes  inclined  toward 
each  other  above.  Thus,  the  forward  face  is  a  plane  ex- 
tending upward  and  backward.  The  inclination  to  the 
cylindrical  surface  is  not  a  steep  one.  The  other  knobs, 
arranged  as  already  said  in  two  longitudinal  rows,  are  of 
superior    height.      Their    forward    faces    are    quite    steep. 


Fjg.    1 — Transformer    Station    and    Skip-Hoist. 

These  knobs  arranged  in  two  lines  diametrically  opposite 
each  other  are  known  as  "sluggers."  They  are  prominent, 
if  not  the  chief,  agents  in  shattering  the  rock.  The  two 
rolls  are  placed  alongside  each  other,  so  that  their  respective 
circumferential  rows  come  immediately  opposite;  that  is,  the 
arrangement  is  not  a  staggered  one.    When  in  operation  the 


464 


LECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  Xo.  g. 


rolls    rotate     in    opposite    directions — toward    each    other, 
viewed  from  above. 

The  crushing  rolls  are  an  invention  of  Mr.  Thomas  A. 
Edison  and  were  furnished  by  the  Edison  Crushing  Roll 
Company,  of  Stevvartsville,  X,  J.  Each  giant  roll  rotates 
with  a  shaft  21  in.  in  diameter  passed  through  it.  Six-foot 
giant  rolls  readily  take  care  of  stones  weighing  15  or  more 


Fig.    2 — Rock-Crushing    Rollers. 

tons.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  such  large  crushers  as  the 
giant  rolls  at  Martinsburg  have  a  capacity  well  up  to,  if 
not  beyond,  that  of  the  largest  of  the  steam  shovels.  The 
energy  of  such  a  pair  of  rolls  rotating  at  165  r.p.m.  is 
estimated  in  effect  at  about  4,000,000  ft. -pounds.  It  is 
important  to  have  this  accumulated  energv  available.  When 
the  rock  is  fairly  gripped  both  rolls  tend  to  rotate  in  unison. 
Because  of  the  enormous  amount  of  work  done  in  such  a 
short  time  the  rotative  speed  goes  down  sharply  and  then 
slowly  recovers  itself.  The  shattering  of  an  8-ton  rock 
will  require  perhaps  thirteen  seconds  from  start  to  finish. 
At  the  Martinsburg  plant  the  giant  rolls  are  driven  by  a 
pair  of  electric  motors,  each  having  an  output  of  200  hp. 
When  it  is  understood  that  the  power  demanded  at  the  most 


Fig.    3 — Skip-Hoist   Control    Board. 

intense  instant  may  rise  as  high  as  3000  hp  or  4000  hp,  it 
will  be  seen  that  it  is  very  necessary  to  store  up  energy  in 
the  rolls — just  as  with  an  ordinary  flywheel.  The  maximum 
demand  continues,  however,  for  a  very  short  interval — ■ 
perhaps  half  a  second. 

Electricity  is  employed  generally  in  the  operation  of  the 
plant.    It  is  only  the  quarry  locomotives,  the  drills,  etc.,  that 


are  driven  by  other  means.  The  energy  is  bought  from  a 
nearby  line  and  is  stepped  down  to  a  moderate  voltage.  The 
large  power  requirements  are  in  connection  with  the  crush- 
ing rolls  and  the  skip-hoist.  The  two  rolls  are  not  geared 
together  or  in  any  other  way  inflexibly  coupled.  The 
method  employed  is  to  drive  each  ro'.l  with  an  independent 
motor  and  independent  belt.  The  motors  are  located  30  ft. 
or  40  ft.  away  from  the  rolls  and  have  their  angular 
velocity  reduced  to  about  one-third  in  communicating  their 
drive  to  the  roll  shafts.  As  both  are  on  one  side  and  the 
rolls  are  rotated  in  opposite  directions,  the  slack  side  of  one 
belt  is  next  the  floor.     This  is  supported  by  an  idle  roll. 

The  skip-hoist  is  provided  with  a  two-track  incline,  hav- 
ing a  slope  of  45  or  50  deg.  There  are  two  large  skips 
which  counterbalance  each  other  in  making  the  trips  up  and 
down.  The  load  capacity  is  15  tons  of  rock.  At  the  top  of 
the  hoist  the  rear  wheels  of  the  skip  continue  on  up  the 
incline  on  two  rails,  while  the  forward  wheels  follow  two 
other  rails  which,  after  making  a  rather  sharp  bend,  enter 
the  screen  house  on  the  horizontal.  The  effect  of  sending 
the  rear  wheels  up  one  pair  of  rails  while  the  forward 
wheels  pursue  a  course  45  or  50  deg.  different,  the  same 
vertical  planes  being  maintained  throughout,  is  to  dump  the 
skip.  When  the  loaded  skip  has  reached  its  final  position 
the  unloaded  one  has  also  just  reached  its  lowest  point. 

The  hoisting  drums  are  driven  by  a  powerful  motor  which 


Fig. 


-Double-Drum   Alternating-Current   Hoist. 


efifects  its  drive  through  suitable  reduction  gearing.  There 
is  a  spring-applied  brake  which  is  released  by  electro- 
magnetic means  This  brake  bruigs  everything  to  rest  at 
the  moment  of  stoppage.  There  is  also  a  stop-motion  switch 
which  slows  down  and  stops  the  skip  in  a  manner  entirely 
automatic.  In  addition,  there  is  a  small  direct-current  gen- 
erator which  is  the  source  of  energy  for  the  accelerating 
and  load  magnets  located  on  the  controller. 

The  master  switch  is  the  only  controlling  device  with 
which  the  operator  has  to  do.  By  its  means  the  skip-hoist 
is  started  up  in  either  direction.  It  is  not  at  all  necessary 
that  this  switch  be  placed  near  the  controller.  Each  contact 
made  with  the  master  switch  effects  a  predetermined  opera- 
tion by  means  of  the  controller. 

On  the  controller  are  arranged  fourteen  electromagnetic 
switches.  By  their  means  are  carried  out  such  operations 
as  the  reversal  of  the  motor,  its  proper  acceleration,  the 
lifting  of  the  brake,  the  slowing  down  and  complete  stop- 
page at  the  termini,  and  also  the  adjustment  of  the  speed 
and  slow-down  to  a  constant  point  independently  of  the 
load.  To  these  are  applied  such  names  as  "reversing 
switch,"  "accelerating  magnet,"  "auxiliary  brake  magnet," 
etc.  Other  magnetically  operated  devices  are  designed  for 
emergency  use.  These  come  into  action  in  case  of  overload, 
failure  of  the  circuit,  slacking  of  the  hoisting  cable,  etc. 

The  main-hoist  motor  is  operated  by  alternating  current. 
Most  of  the  magnets  are,  however,  operated  by  direct  cur- 
rent supplied  by  a  small  continuously  running  motor-gen- 
erator set.     This  generator  must  not  be  confused  with  the 


August  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


465 


direct-current  auxiliary  accelerating  generator  previously 
mentioned. 

The  first  contact  of  the  master  switch  closes  the  circuit 
for  the  single  coinmon  wire  connected  with  the  five  ac- 
celerating magnets.  The  generator  supplying  the  power  is 
located  on  an  extension  of  the  main  motor  shaft.  However, 
no  power  will  be  actually  delivered  until  this  shaft  starts  up. 
The  five  accelerating  magnets  will,  accordingly,  not  come 
into  action  at  once. 

The  second  contact  of  the  master  switch  closes  the  circuit 
to  the  direct-current  load  magnets.  These  will  come  into 
action  during  the  slow-down  period  when  the  proper  con- 
tacts on  the  stop-motion  switch  are  made.  Until  then  these 
load  magnets  remain  inactive  but  in  readiness  to  operate. 

The  third  and  last  contact  of  the  master  switch  closes  the 
circuit  for  the  reversing  switch.  The  result  is  the  admission 
of  current  to  the  main  motor.  Simultaneously,  electricity  is 
admitted  to  the  brake  magnet  and  also  to  the  first  two  ac- 
celerating magnets.  The  motor  now  gets  under  way,  slowly. 
The  auxiliary  accelerating  generator  mounted  on 'the  shaft 
produces  current  of  higher  and  higher  voltage  as  the  motor 
speeds  up,  and  the  rest  of  the  accelerating  magnets  go  in 
successively,  short-circuiting  the  rotor  resistance  in  steps 
and  permitting  the  hoist  motor  to  attain  full  speed.  The 
loaded  skip  will  now  be  going  up  the  incline  at  maximum 
speed. 


MOTOR-DRIVEN  FIRE  PUMP. 


Fig.    5 — Slow-Down    and    Stop-Motion    Switcii. 

However,  as  the  upper  terminus  is  approached,  the  stop- 
motion  switch  mounted  on  the  end  of  the  hoist  drum  shaft 
where  it  is  driven  by  spur  gearing  operated  by  the  drum 
shaft  comes  into  action.  Its  office  is  to  slow  down  and  ulti- 
mately stop  the  hoist.  This  duty  is  performed  in  an  abso- 
lutely automatic  manner  whether  the  master  switch  is  swung 
over  to  center  or  not. 

When  a  point  in  the  skip  travel  is  reached  which  has  been 
determined  upon  in  advance  the  first  contact  on  the  stop- 
motion  switch  automatically  opens,  with  the  result  that  the 
line  to  the  accelerating  magnets  is  interrupted,  thus  allowing 
four  of  them  to  drop  back  and  insert  the  rotor  resistance  in 
series  with  the  rotor.  Immediately  following  this,  the  load- 
magnet  circuit  is  made.  A  number  of  operations  are  now 
accomplished  one  after  the  other  through  the  agency  of  the 
first  two  accelerating  magnets  and  the  two  load  magnets. 
These  operations  result  in  a  further  slowing  down.  The 
slow  speed  is  kept  constant  independently  of  the  load. 

Just  before  the  skip  reaches  the  limit  of  movement  both 
sides  of  the  reversing-switch  circuit  are  opened  by  the 
stop-motion  switch.  The  opening  of  the  reversing  switch 
interrupts  the  circuit  to  the  motor  and  brake.  The  loaded 
skip  now  comes  to  rest  at  the  top  and  the  unloaded  one  at 
the  bottom.  It  requires  about  fifty-four  seconds  to  make  a 
round  trip  over  an  incline  140  ft.  in  length.  The  main 
motor  which  operates  the  hoist  is  of  the  induction  type  and 
develops  375  hp.  It  is  furnished  with  collector  rings  and 
is  fed  from  a  three-phase,  6o-cycle,  440-volt  circuit.  The 
skip-hoist  equipment  was  supplied  by  the  Otis  Elevator 
.  Company. 


The  Westinghouse  underwriters'  motor,  illustrated  here- 
with, is  designed  in  accordance  with  all  specifications  of  the 
Chicago  Local  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters.  All  joints  in 
the  frame  are  waterproof,  and  the  leads  are  brought  out 
above  the  center  line  so  that  water  can  rise  to  that  depth 


iVIotop- Driven   Fire   Pump. 

without  affecting  the  operation  of  the  motor.  The  air 
outlet  can  be  fitted  with  a  down-turning  pipe,  thus  prevent- 
ing falling  water  from  entering  the  frame.  Effective  venti- 
lation is  obtained  by  an  external  blower  mounted  on  the 
shaft  extension.  Excellent  commutation  is  msured  by  the 
use  of  commutating  poles.  The  speed  can  be  increased  10 
per  cent  by  shunt-field  control.  It  is  made  in  sizes  of  50 
hp,  75  hp  and  100  hp  with  a  speed  of  1400  r.p.ni.,  and  150  hp 
at  1200  r.p.m.,  for  220  volts  and  500  volts. 


ELECTRIC    SCREENS  AND    INSECT   DESTROYERS. 

The  secondary  circuit  of  a  spark  coil  is  used  to  kill 
insects  by  means  of  electric  house  screens,  orchard  pro- 
tectors and  insect  exterminators  made  by  the  Interstate 
Manufacturing   Company.    Spokane.    Wash.      The    illustra- 


Electric     Orchard     Protector. 

tion  shows  the  orchard  protector,  designed  for  cotton  fields, 
tobacco  plantations  and  orchards.  The  small  incandescent 
lamp  in  the  center  attracts  the  insects,  which  are  killed  by 
contact  with  the  oppositely  charged  wires  making  up  the 
cylinder.  The  exterminator  for  garden  use  is  identical  in 
principle.  The  spark-coil  is  operated  by  storage  battery  or 
may   be  connected   to   a   6-volt   bell-ringing   transformer. 


466 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9. 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


STATEMENTS  made  this  week  by  railroad  officials  upon 
their  return  from  the  harvesting  sections  indicate  that 
the  movement  of  this  year's  crops  will  be  a  most  severe 
tax  upon  transportation  facilities.  Estimates  of  car  short- 
age are  numerous,  some  of  these  placing  the  amount  as  high 
as  200,000.  Some  scarcity  of  labor  is  reported  in  the  agri- 
cultural and  in  several  of  the  manufacturing  districts.  Pur- 
chasing in  anticipation  of  autumn  requirements  is  furnish- 
ing impetus  to  the  trade  movement  that  has  been  gathering 
headway  since  the  crop  outlook  became  so  favorable.  Col- 
lections are  improving  and  money  is  taking  on  a  firmer  tone. 
Large  demand  for  electrical  equipment  is  shown  in  advices 
that  the  unfilled  orders  on  the  books  of  the  General  Electric 
Company  are  the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  company,  and 
in  the  fact  that  the  plants  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company  are  running  at  full  capacity.  The 
local  jobbers  and  dealers  regard  the  outlook  as  favorable. 
While  prices  are  not  as  high  as  desired,  they  expect  to 
enjoy  a  better  business  this  year  than  was  the  case  in 
191 1.  In  the  insulated  wire  trade  demand  is  on  an  encour- 
aging scale.  While  no  pronounced  change  has  taken 
place  this  week  in  the  copper  market,  higher  prices  are 
expected. 


Cost  of  Gas  and  Electric  Service  Compared  with  "Cost  of 
Living." — An  investigation  made  by  C.  D.  Parker  &  Com- 
pany, bankers,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  into  the  variations  in  the 
prices  for  gas  and  electric  service,  the  amounts  paid  in 
dividends  by  gas  and  electric' companies  in  the  State  of 
Massachusetts  and  the  "cost  of  living"  in  that  State  during 
the  years  1904-1911.  inclusive,  reveals  a  very  creditable  rec- 
ord in  favor  of  the  public-utility  companies.  The  data 
upon  the  public-utility  companies  were  based  on  the  re- 
ports of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Gas  and  Electric  Light 
Commissioners,  and  the  figures  for  the  cost  of  living  were 
founded  upon  prices  for  household  commodities  in  market 
reports.  Taking  prices  and  the  amount  paid  in  dividends 
in  1904  as  a  base,  the  per  cent  of  increase  or  decrease  in 
prices  and  amounts  paid  in  dividends  as  ordinates  and  the 
years  1904-1911  as  abscissas,  three  curves  were  plotted. 
During  the  seven  years  mentioned,  according  to  these 
curves,  the  cost  of  living  increased  37  per  cent,  the  prices  of 
<?as  and  electricity  were  reduced  nearly  17  per  cent,  while 
the  amounts  paid  in  dividends  by  gas  and  electric  com- 
panies in  the  State  increased  over  112  per  cent,  as  com- 
pared with  these  items  in  1904.  The  greatest  variance,  the 
increase  of  more  than  112  per  cent  in  dividends  during  a 
period  when  the  prices  of  gas  and  electric  service  decreased 
nearly  17  per  cent,  is  a  significant  indication  of  the  ability 
of  many  public-utility  companies  to  increase  their  returns 
and  reduce  prices  simultaneously,  this  method  insuring  the 
holding  of  present  business  and  attracting  further  increase 
in  connected  load. 

Progress    of    Brazilian    Public    Utilities    Consolidation.— 

More  than  60  per  cent  of  the  shares  of  the  Rio  de  Janeiro 
Tramway,  Light  &  Power  Company,  Ltd.,  the  Sao  Paulo 
Tramway,  Light  &  Power  Company,  Ltd.,  and  the  Sao 
Paulo  Electric  Company,  Ltd.,  of  Brazil,  have  been  de- 
posited under  the  agreement  for  a  consolidation  of  these 
companies  into  the  new  $120,000,000  corporation  to  be 
known  as  the  Brazilian  Traction.  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, Ltd.  This  is  the  statement  of  Sir  William  MacKen- 
zie,  of  Toronto,  who  is  to  be  chairman  of  the  board  of  the 
new  company,  as  was  stated  in  these  columns  June  29, 
when  details  of  the  proposed  merger,  including  the  tenta- 
tive board  of  directors,  officers  and  capitalization  of  the 
new  company,  were  given.  While  no  specific  number  of 
shares  necessary  for  ratification  of  the  agreement  is  men- 
tioned. Sir  William  MacKenzie  states  that  a  substantial 
majority  must  be  deposited  to  effect  consummation  of  the 
plan.  Although  the  board  has  not  met  as  yet  to  pass  upon 
the  matter,  he  feels  certain  that  the  shares  already  de- 
posited, with  those  understood  to  be  coming  in,  will  be 
sufficient  to  assure  the  carrying  out  of  the  project. 


Westinghouse  Electric's  Shoviring. — The  plants  of  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  are 
working  at  full  capacity,  and  from  present  indications  the 
volume  of  business  that  will  be  handled  by  the  company 
this  year  will  reach  record  proportions.  Attention  has  been 
called  recently  to  the  improved  status  of  the  company 
during  the  past  four  years  under  the  new  management,  due 
to  the  policy  of  turning  all  surplus  earnings  into  better- 
ments. The  working  capital  of  the  company  has  increased 
in  the  past  four  years  from  $19,339,000  to  over  $29,000,000. 
Four  years  ago  the  company  had  $28,361,000  of  quick  assets 
and  $9,022,000  of  current  liabilities,  while  at  present  the 
quick  assets  are  placed  at  $32,830,847  and  the  current  lia- 
bilities at  $3,047,874.  Owing  to  the  improved  financial  con- 
dition of  the  company  it  has  been  expected  that  some  form 
of  extra  distribution  to  common  stockholders  will  be  made 
shortly.  As  was  noted  in  these  columns  Aug.  10,  it  is 
thought  that  the  directors  will  declare  dividends  at  the 
rate  of  at  least  6  per  cent  per  annum  on  the  common  stock 
at  their  meeting  in  September. 

Prest-O-Lite  Owners  Buy  Interest  in  Esterline  Company. 
— -Carl  Fischer  and  James  G.  Allison,  owners  of  the  Prest- 
O-Lite  Company  and  the  Indianapolis  Motor  Speedway, 
have  purchased  one-half  of  the  $250,000  capital  stock  of  the 
Esterline  Company,  of  Lafayette,  Ind.,  which  manufactures 
electrical  specialties,  including  graphic  registering  meters 
and  the  Berdon  electric-lighting  system  for  motor  vehicles. 
The  plant  of  the  Esterline  Company  will  be  moved  to  new 
quarters  near  the  Indianapolis  Motor  Speedway.  Orders 
for  the  Berdon  lighting  equipment  aggregating  more  than 
$1,000,000  have  been  booked  by  the  Esterline  Company.  The 
latter  has  been  conducting  tests  for  more  than  a  year  upon 
a  combined  electric  starting  and  lighting  equipment  for 
motor  cars.  A  new  electric  lamp  said  to  have  great  fog- 
piercing  qualities  which  the  company  has  developed  for 
use  on  motor  cars  will  be  one  of  the  most  important  lines 
which   it   will   manufacture. 

Acquires  Control  of  Arizona  Utility. — The  Arizona  Power 
Company,  of  Prescott,  Ariz.,  of  which  F.  S.  Viele,  of  Viele, 
Blackwell  &  Buck,  consulting  engineers,  49  Wall  Street, 
New  York,  is  president,  has  taken  over  the  control  of  the 
Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  of  Phoenix,  Ariz.  This 
company,  in  addition  to  operating  a  steam  plant,  buys  sur- 
plus energy  generated  at  the  station  at  the  Roosevelt  Dam, 
65  miles  from  Phoenix,  and  distributes  it  to  about  2200  cus- 
tomers in  that  city  and  adjacent  territory.  Its  authorized 
capitalization  is  $600,000  in  common  stock  and  $400,000  in 
5  per  cent  cumulative  preferred  stock.  All  of  the  latter  and 
$363,500  of  the  common  is  outstanding  as  well  as  $525,000 
5  per  cent  bonds.  In  addition  to  its  electric  business  the 
company  supplies  gas  to  nearly  1600  customers.  It  is  prob- 
able that  the  company's  steam  station  will  now  be  used 
only  as  a  reserve. 

General  Electric's  Business  at  Record  Level. — Unfilled 
orders  on  the  books  of  the  General  Electric  Company  at 
this  time  are  understood  to  be  larger  than  at  any  previous 
period  in  the  history  of  the  company.  Production  of 
lamps  is  running  at  a  rate  of  more  than  1,000,000  per  week, 
and  owing  to  the  wide  demand,  it  will  probably,  be  neces- 
sary to  increase  this  weekly  output  by  over  100,000  lamps. 
There  are  now  some  S500  employees  at  the  Harrison, 
(N.  J.)  Lamp  Works,  and  about  1200  will  be  employed  at 
the  new  lamp  factory  at  East  Boston,  which  will  enable  the 
company  to  meet  such  surplus  demands  for  lamps  as  can- 
not be  filled  by  the  present  factories.  The  company  has 
recently  closed  contracts  for  about  20.000  tons  of  pig  iron, 
the  bulk  of  which  will  be  used  in  its  Schenectady  plant. 

Yarrow  &  Company,  Scotland,  to  Make  Terry  Turbines. 
— The  Terry  Steam  Turbine  Company,  Hartford,  Conn.. 
has  given  Yarrow  &  Company,  Ltd.,  Glasgow,  Scotland, 
exclusive  rights  to  manufacture  Terry  turbines  for  forced- 
draft  work  in  Great  Britain. 

Plant  Extension  at  Mobile. — To  meet  the  increasing  elec- 
trical demands  of  the  city  the  Mobile  (Ala.)  Electric  Com- 
pany will  install  a  new  3000-kw  turbo-generator. 


August  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


467 


Incorporate  Kentucky  Utilities  Company. — The  Ken- 
tucky Utilities  Company,  capitalized  at  $2,000,000,  has  been 
incorporated  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  by  Charles  J.  Ruebling,  L. 
E.  Powell  and  W.  R.  Watson,  all  of  Chicago,  the  last  named 
being  secretary  of  the  Corporation  Trust  Company  of  that 
city.  The  charter  of  the  new  company  empowers  it  to 
construct  and  operate  electric  plants  and  natural  and  arti- 
ficial gas  plants,  to  sell  the  products  of  such  plants,  to  con- 
duct and  maintain  all  lines  of  work  connected  with  street 
railways  and  ice  plants,  to  manufacture  and  sell  machinery 
for  public-utility  plants  and  to  mine  coal.  According  to 
advices  emanating  from  Louisville,  there  is  a  belief  in  that 
city  that  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  who  are  interested 
in  Kentucky  public-service  companies,  are  affiliated  with 
the  new  concern.  Engineers  of  the  Byllesby  company  have 
been  making  a  preliminary  investigation  of  the  operating 
conditions  of  the  Louisville  Railway  Company,  with  a 
view  to  obtaining  data  upon  which  to  estimate  the  cost  of 
supplying  energy  from  the  mains  of  the  Louisville  Light- 
ing Company,  owned  by  the  Byllesby  interests,  to  the 
traction  company.  A  reference  to  this  movement  for  sup- 
plying energy  to  the  traction  company  appeared  in  these 
columns  Aug.  3.  There  have  been  rumors  in  Louisville 
that  the  Byllesby  company  will  shortly  make  an  offer  for 
the  stock  of  the  Louisville  Railway  Company,  but  no  for- 
mal announcement  of  such  offer  has  been  made. 

Merger  of  Rhode  Island  Utilities. — Formal  merger  of 
the  four  principal  public  utilities  in  the  Woonsocket  and 
Pawtucket  districts  of  Rhode  Island  into  the  Blackstone 
Valley  Gas  &  Electric  Company  will  take  place  about  the 
middle  of  September.  These  companies  are  controlled  by 
the  Stone  &  Webster  interests,  and  the  merger  with  the 
Blackstone  company  has  been  made  in  order  to  centralize 
the  financing  and  management  of  them.  As  was  noted  in 
these  columns  March  30,  1912,  in  an  account  of  the  bill 
which  was  filed  in  the  Rhode  Island  Legislature  to  effect 
this  consolidation,  the  companies  to  be  merged  are  the 
Woonsocket  Electric  Machine  &  Power  Company,  the 
Woonsocket  Gas  Company,  the  Pawtucket  Electric  Com- 
pany and  the  Pawtucket  Gas  Company.  The  bill  was 
passed  at  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature  and  sanctioned 
the  sale  of  the  companies  to  the  Blackstone  Valley  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  incorporated  under  Maine  laws  by  the 
Stone  &  Webster  interests.  Stockholders  of  the  four  com- 
panies will  meet  on  Sept.  16  to  ratify  the  actions  of  their 
boards  of  directors  relative  to  participating  in  the  merger. 

Standard  Underground  Cable  Company's  Business  In- 
creasing.— The  new  plant  of  the  Standard  Underground 
Cable  Company  at  Hamilton,  Ont.,  is  rapidly  nearly  com- 
pletion, and  it  is  understood  that  it  will  be  in  operation  at 
full  capacity  by  January,  1913.  Joseph  W.  Marsh,  vice- 
president  of  the  Standard  Underground  Cable  Company, 
was  quoted  this  week  upon  the  company's  business  as  fol- 
lows: "Our  new  plant  at  Hamilton  will  be  ready  by  Jan. 
I,  and  it  looks  as  if  it  would  be  run  to  full  capacity  at  once. 
We  are  not  as  yet  planning  any  further  extensions,  but  busi- 
ness is  very  good,  and  there  is  no  indication  that  it  will 
not  continue  to  increase.  We  had  a  good  year  last  year, 
doing  a  business  of  about  $12,000,000.  and  did  not  look  for 
the  good  fortune  we  have  realized  in  what  usually  would 
have  been  a  year  of  pessimism,  owing  to  politics.  Our 
business  this  year  will  be  between  $14,000,000  and  $15,000,- 
000.  So  far  as  I  can  see  there  is  no  reason  for  apprehen- 
sion for  the  future." 

Expect  Increase  in  Earnings  of  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric. — 

Estimates  of  earnings  of  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany for  the  full  twelve  months  of  1912,  based  upon  those 
in  the  first  six  months  in  the  year,  lead  to  the  belief  that 
a  gain  of  nearly  $1,000,000  in  gross  earnings  will  be  made 
in  1912.  Gross  revenue  of  the  company  last  year  was  $14,- 
604.609,  which  was  an  increase  of  $305,381  over  the  re- 
turns in  1910.  There  were  299,350  customers  on  the  books 
of  the  company  on  June  30,  1912,  which  means  an  increase 
of  12.244  consumers  in  the  first  half  of  this  year.  It  is  said 
that  the  gain  for  the  entire  year  will  probably  reach  nearly 
25,000,  so  that  with  the  revenue  from  these  new  sources 
and  with  the  increase  expected  from  the  older  customers 
the  estimates  of  larger  gross  business  noted  above  seem 
justified.  Work  on  the  company's  new  hydroelectric  plants 
on  Bear  River  is  going  forward  at  a  satisfactory  rate,  and 


it  is  expected  that  they  will  be  placed  in  operation  during 
the  coming  year. 

Pennsylvania  Companies  Consolidate. — A  merger  of  six 
electric  companies  in  the  northern  and  central  parts  of 
Pennsylvania  into  the  Central  Pennsylvania  Electric  Com- 
pany, of  Lock  Haven,  capitalized  at  $30,000,  has  been  ap- 
proved by  Governor  Tener  of  that  State.  The  companies 
named  in  the  merger  are  the  West  Branch  Light,  Heat  & 
Power,  Williamsport;  Susquehanna  Light,  Heat  &  Power, 
Jersey  Shore;  Logan  Electric  Company,  Bellefonte;  Avis 
Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company,  Avis,  and  Patterson, 
Scootac  &  Clinton  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company,  of 
Lock  Haven.  H.  B.  Waltman,  S.  A.  Greer  and  James  J. 
Geery,  of  York,  have  been  granted  charters  for  four  elec- 
tric companies  in  York  County.  Each  of  these  com- 
panies will  have  a  capital  of  $5,000  and  will  have  offices  in 
York.  They  will  operate  in  the  townships  of  Dover,  Man- 
chester and  East  and  West  Manchester,  and  each  corpora- 
tion will  bear  the  name  of  the  township  in  which  it  oper- 
ates. 

Capitalization  of  Northern  Indiana  Utilities  Company. — 
It  is  reported  that  the  newly  organized  Northern  Indiana 
Utilities  Company,  mentioned  in  the  Electrical  World  of 
Aug.  24,  has  an  initial  capital  of  $1,075,000,  and  that  it  has 
the  following-named  officers:  President,  Samuel  Insull; 
vice-presidents,  C.  A.  Munroe  and  T.  H.  Munroe;  secretary 
and  treasurer,  A.  S.  Scott.  C.  A.  Munroe,  who  is  one  of  the 
vice-presidents  of  the  Public  Service  Company  of  Northern 
Illinois,  is  credited  with  conducting  the  negotiations  which 
resulted  in  the  acquisition  of  electric-service  properties  in 
Monticello,  Wolcott,  Earl  Park,  Fowler  and  Kentland, 
Ind.  There  is  a  hydroelectric  plant  at  Monticello,  and  it  is 
probable  that  a  transmission  line  will  be  built  from  that 
place  to  Kentland.  At  the  present  time  the  Northern  In- 
diana Utilities  Company  is  not  a  subsidiary  organization 
of  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Company. 

Working  on  Northwestern  Electric  Company's  Plant. — 
Advices  from  California  state  that  the  Northwestern  Elec- 
tric Company,  backed  by  San  Francisco  and  Paris  bankers, 
will  be  ready  to  deliver  energy  from  its  20,000-hp  plant  on 
Salmon  River,  near  Portland,  by  Jan.  i,  1913,  and  that, 
while  not  intending  to  enter  the  electric-railway  field  itself, 
the  company  will  encourage  electric-railway  building  by 
offering  electric  energy  at  a  very  low  price.  The  company 
has  water  rights  on  the  Salmon,  Klickitat  and  Lewis  Rivers 
of  sufficient  capacity  to  generate  a  total  of  100,000  hp. 

Good  Prospects  for  Motor-Service  Loads  in  Ohio. — 
Owing  to  the  prosperous  condition  of  the  iron  and  steel 
business  in  the  Mahoning  Valley  at  this  time,  the  pros- 
pects for  supplying  energy  to  these  industries  from  the 
plant  of  the  Republic  Railway  &  Light  Company,  under 
construction  at  Lowellsville,  Ohio,  are  said  to  be  very 
bright.  Description  of  this  plant,  which  is  being  built  by 
the  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Company  and  is  to  con- 
tain two  9375-kva  turbine  units,  appeared  in  these  col- 
umns June  I. 

Southern  California  Utilities  Financing. — A  European 
syndicate  has  underwritten  the  bond  issues  of  the  Southern 
California  Utilities,  a  corporation  recently  organized  to  con- 
solidate a  number  of  public  utilities  in  Southern  California, 
as  was  noted  in  these  columns  June  29.  The  underwriting 
of  the  bonds  is  contingent  upon  approval  of  their  issue  by 
the  California  Railroad  Commission.  The  corporation  has 
$10,000,000  twenty-five-year  S  per  cent  bonds  and  $1,000,000 
in  stock. 

Ottawa  (Can.)  Consolidation  Plan  Abandoned. — An- 
nouncement has  been  made  that  the  plan  that  had  been 
made  for  a  merger  of  the  Ottawa  Street  Railway  Com- 
pany, the  Ottawa  Gas  Company,  the  Ottawa  Electric  Com- 
pany and  the  Ottawa  Car  Company,  of  which  previous 
mention  was  made  in  these  columns,  has  been  abandoned. 
Although  the  same  interests  are  identified  with  all  four 
properties,  it  was  decided  by  stockholders  that  separate 
maintenance  organizations  would  be  more  desirable. 

Roanoke  (Va.)  Traction  &  Light  Earnings. — Earnings 
and  expenses  of  the  Roanoke  (Va.)  Traction  &  Light  Com- 
pany for  the  year  ended  June  30,  1912,  were  as  follows: 
Gross,  $509,550;  operating  expenses  and  taxes,  $281,689;  net 
earnings,  $227,861;  interest  charges,  $101,470;  net  income, 
$126,391;  sinking  fund,  $11,226,  and  surplus,  $115,165. 


468 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  9. 


Scranton  (Pa.)  Electric  Company's  Bonds. — Among  the 
public  utility  securities  offered  for  sale  this  week  are 
$234,000  of  the  5  per  cent  gold  refunding  bonds  of  the 
Scranton  (Pa.)  Electric  Company,  which  is  a  consolidation 
of  several  companies,  controlling  the  entire  electric  light 
and  power  business  of  Scranton  and  nearby  towns,  and 
is,  in  turn,  controlled  by  the  American  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany. The  bonds  are  dated  July  i,  1907,  and  are  due  in 
1937.  but  are  redeemable  on  any  interest  date  after  1912 
at  no  and  accrued  interest.  The  company  serves  a  grow- 
ing population  which  numbers  about  225.000  at  the  present 
time.  The  bonds  are  secured  by  a  first  mortgage  on  the 
entire  property  of  the  company,  subject  to  a  prior  lien  of 
but  $21,000.  which  represents  outstanding  bonds  of  the  con- 
stituent companies.  An  annual  sinking  fund  of  2  per  cent 
of  the  total  amount  of  the  bonds  i?  provided  for  by  the 
mortgage.  The  officers  of  the  company  are:  President. 
R.  E.  Breed;  vice-president,  George  N.  Tidd;  secretary  and 
treasurer,  F.  B.  Ball,  all  of  30  Church  Street,  New  York. 
The  ofifering  is  being  made  by  Harris,  Forbes  &  Company. 

Authorize  General  Electric  Stock  Increase. — At  a  meet- 
ing in  Schenectady  on  .Aug.  29,  the  stockholders  of  the 
General  Electric  Company  voted  to  increase  the  capital 
stock  of  the  company  from  $80,000,000  to  $105,000,000,  in 
accordance  with  plans  of  the  company,  to  which  reference 
was  made  in  these  columns  July  27,  to  pay,  after  such  in- 
crease to  stockholders  of  record  of  Dec.  31,  1912,  out  of 
the  surplus,  a  dividend  of  $30  a  share,  payable  in  the  stock 
of  the  company  at  par. 

Cleveland  Electric  Illuminating  Company  to  Build  Sub- 
station.— A  new  substation  to  be  used  in  connection  witli 
furnishing  service  in  the  downtown  district  of  Cleveland  is 
to  be  built  by  the  Cleveland  Electric  Illuminating  Com- 
pany. The  latter  has  applied  to  the  Ohio  Public  Service 
Commission  for  authority  to  issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
$207,138.  The  proceeds  are  to  be  applied  to  meeting  the 
cost  of  property   recently  acquired  by   the  company. 

Additional  Equipment  for  Commonwealth  Edison  Com- 
pany.— The  Commonwealth  Edison  Cianpany  of  Chicago 
has  recently  ordered  from  the  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company  two  4000-kw,  6oo-volt,  six-phase, 
25-cycle  rotary  converters  and  two  4400-kva,  three-phase. 
25-cycle.  9000-volt  to  rotary-voltage  air-blast  transformers 
complete  with  reactance  coils  and  blower  sets;  also  one 
nineteen-panel   marble   switchboard. 

Lithographing  Company  Will  Use  Central-Station  Serv- 
ice.— The  Republic  Bank  Xote  Company,  of  Pittsburgh,  has 
decided  to  do  away  with  the  use  of  steam  power  and  will 
operate  its  new  works,  now  building,  entirely  by  central- 
station  service.  It  has  purchased  265  ft.  of  land  fronting 
on  Thackeray  Avenue,  Pittsburgh,  upon  which  it  is  erect- 
ing a  factory  building  that  will  have  about  six  times  the 
floor  space  of  its  present  plant. 


REPORTS  OF  EARNINGS 

KINGS    COUNTY    (n.    Y.)     ELECTRIC    LIGHT    &    POWER    COMPANY    AND 
EDISON    ELECTRIC    ILLUMINATING    COMPANY    OF    BROOKLYN. 

The  combined  statements  of  earnings  of  the  Kings  County 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  and  the  Edison  Electric 
Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn  for  the  seven  months 
ended  July  31,  1912  and  191 1,  compare  as  follows: 

Tan.    1    to    July    31.  1212.  1911. 

Gross  operating  revenue  $2,990,075.68  $2,665,992.12 

Operating         e.xpenses  . 

e.xcepting  taxes    and 
depreciation  charges.$1.247,227.87  $1,126,466.06 

Taxes     240,500.00  227,500.00 

Depreciation    charges..       410,369.41  321,751.45 
Total      operating       ex- 
penses                                   1,898,097.28  1,675,717.51 

Net      operating      reve- 

..fttles    i $1,091,978.40  $990,274.61 

Non  -  operating  reve- 
nues      27.749.95  37,638.47 

$1,119,728.35  $1,027,913.08 

Bond  discount   written 

off      11,823.49  11,823.49 

$1,107,904.86  $1,016,089.59 

Fixed  charges  —  bond 

interest      493,826.67  455,601.25 

Profit  and  loss  sur- 
plus for  the  seven 
months      $614,078.19  $560,488.34 


AMERIC.\N    LIGHT   AND  TRACTION    COMPANY. 

Earnings  of  the  American  Light  &  Traction  Company 
for  July,  the  seven  months  and  the  twelve  months  ended 
July  31,  1912,  compare  with  those  for  tlie  corresponding 
periods  of   191 1   as  follows: 

1912.  1911. 

lulv,     gross $299,729  $284,892 

iuly,    net 288,612  275,255 

Seven   months,  gross 2,278,946  2,295,203 

beven    months,    net 2,206,418  2,229,620 

Twelve  months,  gross 4,127,796  4,077,000 

Twe  ve    months,    net 4,007,040  3,960,075 

Expenses  in  July,  1912,  were  15.36  per  cent  greater  than 
in   July,    191 1. 


PRICES  IN  NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET 

topper:  , -Aug.   20 ^       r 

Standard:  Bid.       .'\sked 

Spot     17.25          17.50 

-•\uKU5t    17.25          17.50 

September    17.37J4      17.50 

October     17.30          17.50 

Londnn  quotation;  £       s     d 

Standard  copper,  spot 7S     17     6 

Standard   copper,   futures 78     17     6 

Prime    Lake    17.60  to  17.70 

Electrolytic      17.60  to  17.65 

Casting     17.35  to  17.45 

Copper    wire,    base 19  00 

Lead    4.50 

Sheet  zinc,  f.o.b.  smelter 8,75 

Spelter,    spot    .... 

Nickel     40.00  to  41.00 

-Muminunl : 

No.    1    pure   ingot 21J4to22J^ 

Rods  and   wire,   base }i2 

Sheets,  base    33  J4 

OLD  .MET.ALS. 

Heavy   copper  and   wire 15.50 

Brass,    heavy    10.00 

Brass,    light    8.00 

Lead,  heavy    _.._-. 

Zinc,  scrap    5.75 


COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  AUGUST. 


Total    Ions,    including. 


..\ug.  20,  14,738 


.Aug.  27 

Bid.   Asked. 
17.25 
17.25 
17.25 
17.25 
£   s 
79  15 
79  17 
17.65  to  17.70 
17.60  to  17.70 
17.40 
19.00 
4.65 
8.75 
7.20 
40.00  to  41.00 

21^2  to  22M 
32 
33  K 


15.75 

10.00 

8.25 

4.40 


.\ug.  27,  22.801 


STOCK  MARKET  PRICES. 

.\ug.  21. 

-Mlis-Chalmers   Vi* 

Allis-Chalmers,    pf 2J4* 

.Amalgamated    Copper    875^ 

.\mer.    Te'.    it    Tel 146 

Boston    £dison    291' 

CommonweaUh    Edison    139* 

Electric    Storage    Battery 57}i 

(ienerai    Electric    183 

-Mackay    Companies    87* 

-Mackay  Companies,   pf 69* 

Philadelphia  Electric   23H  • 

Western    L'nion    ' 83 

Westinghouse     88 

Westinghouse,   pf 125 

*Last  price  quoted. 


.\ug.  28. 

\\i 
87H 

144H 

291* 

139 
57 

18254 
87M 
69  H 
23  H 
82!^ 
87 
125 


Personal 


Mr.  A.  G.  Langenbach  has  resigned  as  superintendent  of 
the  Boulder  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  to  take  up 
ranch   life   in   Wyoming. 

Dr.  Charles  K.  Raber,  president  of  the  Rocky  Ford  Mill- 
ing and  Power  Company,  which  furnishes  electrical  energy 
for  Manhattan.  Kan.,  has  been  elected  Mayor  of  Junction 
City.  Kan. 

Mr.  William  B.  Whitehorn,  purchasing  ^gent  of  the 
Omaha  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  Omaha,  Neb., 
has  been  appointed  assistant  to  President  F.  .\.  Nash  of 
that  company. 

Mr.  E.  M.  Walker,  general  manager  of  the  Citizens'  Rail- 
way &  Light  Company,  Muscatine,  la.,  has  been  appointed 
general  manager  of  the  Union  Electric  Company,  Dubuque, 
la.,  effective  Sept.  i. 

Mr.  A.  R.  Doble,  secret.Try  and  treasurer  of  the  Western 
Canada  Power  Company,  Vancouver,  British  Columbia,  has 
been  elected  president  of  the  Royal  Securities  Company,  of 
Montreal.  Can.,  to  succeed  Sir  Max  .Aitken. 

Mr.  Edgar  K.  James,  formerly  manager  of  the  appliance 
bureau  of  the  United  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company, 
New  York  City,  has  resigned  and  will  represent  the  "Uni- 
versal"  appliances   made   in   New   Britain,   Conn. 

Mr.  J.  C.  Nelson,  formerly  general  superintendent  for  the 
Western   Union   Telegraph   Company   at    Denver,   has   been 


f 


August  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


469 


promoted  to  the  position  of  assistant  to  Mr.  Belvidere 
Brooks,  general  manager  of  the  same  company,  with  head- 
quarters in  New   York. 

Mr.  W.  L.  Greenleaf  has  resigned  his  position  as  engineer 
of  the  Hollingsworth  &  Vose  Paper  Company,  East  Wal- 
pole,  Mass..  and  accepted  the  position  of  superintendent  of 
the  Vineyard  Haven  Railway,  Gas  &  Electric  Company, 
Vineyard  Haven,  Mass. 

Mr.  T.  W.  Carroll,  of  New  York,  has  been  appointed 
division  traffic  superintendent  of  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company  in  Chicago,  succeeding  Mr.  W.  J.  Lloyd. 
Mr.  Carroll  is  a  telegraph  executive  of  wide  experience  and 
is  considered  one  of  the  best  traffic  men  in  the  service. 

Mr.  H.  E.  M.  Kensit,  for  the  past  four  years  engaged  in 
investigating  and  reporting  on  various  projects  in  Canada 
and  the  United  States  for  the  firm  of  Smith,  Kerry  &  Chase, 
of  Toronto,  has  received  an  appointment  with  the  Water 
Power  Branch  of  the  Canadian  Department  of  the  Interior, 
at  Ottawa,  Ont. 

Mr.  H.  L.  Patterson,  for  many  years  general  superintend- 
ent of  the  lighting  and  power  department  of  the  Mahoning 
&  Shenango  Railway  &  Light  Company,  Youngstown,  Ohio, 
and  later  mechanical  engineer  of  the  company,  has  severed 
his  connection  with  the  utility  in  order  to  become  manager 
of  the  Pennsylvania  China  Company  in  Kittaning  and  Ford 
City,  Pa. 

Mr.  C.  C.  Brown  has  been  appointed  superintendent  of 
the  Northern  Colorado  Power  Company's  station  in  Boulder, 
Col.,  succeeding  Mr.  A.  G.  Langenbach,  resigned.  Mr. 
Brown  has  been  connected  with  the  company  for  over  ten 
years,  and,  by. close  application  to  his  duties  and  loyalty  to 
his  employers,  has  worked  his  way  up  from  motorman  to 
street-car  superintendent  and  now  to  local  manager. 

Miss  Mary  Gray  Marston,  domestic  science  expert  and 
specialist  in  electric  appliances,  who  has  done  much  inter- 
esting work  in  this  line  and  in  lecturing,  having  been  asso- 
ciated with  the  United  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company, 
Springfield,  and  the  Boston  Edison  company,  is  to  replace 
Mr.  Edgar  K.  James  as  manager  of  the  appliance  bureau 
of  the  United  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  New  York 
City. 

Mr.  George  L.  Erwin,  president  of  the  Grand  Rapids 
Edison  Company  and  manager  of  the  Grand  Rapids-Muske- 
gon  Power  Company,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  has  become 
associated  with  the  Michigan  United  Traction  Company, 
with  headquarters  at  Kalamazoo.  The  long-projected  inter- 
urban  railway  from  Grand  Rapids  to  Kalamazoo  will  early 
occupy  Mr.  Erwin's  attention.  .-Xnother  project  being  con- 
sidered is  an  electric  belt  line  between  Grand  Rapids,  Kala- 
mazoo and  Battle  Creek  to  handle  freight  traffic,  the  plans 
for  which  will  be  in  Mr.  Erwin's  hands. 

Mr.  W.  F.  Wells  has  been  appointed  acting  general  man- 
ager of  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brook- 
lyn, relieving  Mr.  W.  W.  Freeman  of  many  of  his  duties. 
.\s  previously  announced,  Mr.  Freeman  has  been  appointed 
a  director  and  officer  of  the  .\labama  Interstate  Power  Com- 
pany, which  will  operate  several  electrical  properties  in  the 
South.  While  Mr.  Freeman  will  retain  his  official  rela- 
tions with  the  Brooklyn  properties  until  at  least  the  end 
of  the  year,  he  will  devote  a  large  part  of  his  time  to  the 
.Alabama  Interstate  Power  Company,  hence  the  assumption 
of  many  of  his  duties  by  Mr.  Wells. 

Mr.  A.  C.  King  has  been  employed  as  an  assistant  to  Mr. 
Ray  Palmer,  city  electrician  of  Chicago,  under  the  authority 
of  the  committee  on  gas,  oil  and  electric  light  of  the  City 
Council.  Mr.  Palmer  is  giving  a  good  deal  of  his  time  at 
present  to  the  committee's  investigation  of  the  rate  sched- 
ules of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company.  Mr.  King 
has  been  retained  to  assist  the  city  electrician  during  the 
period  of  his  investigation.  Mr.  King  is  an  engineering 
graduate  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  class  of  1901,  and 
some  years  ago  was  assistant  to  the  chief  engineer  of  the 
Northern  Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Madison, 
Wis. 

Mr.  William  J.  Lloyd,  of  Chicago,  formerly  division  traffic 
superintendent  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company, 
has  been  advanced  to  the  position  of  general  superintendent 
of  the  mountain  division  of  the  same  company,  with  head- 


quarters in  Denver.  The  appointment  will  be  effective  on 
Sept.  I.  Mr.  Lloyd  has  been  engaged  in  the  telegraph 
service  in  Chicago  since  1877.  Beginning  as  a  messenger 
boy  in  Dubuque,  he  has  been  successively  operator,  wire 
chief  of  the  Chicago  office,  night  chief,  manager  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  office,  chief  operator  of  the  Chicago  office, 
assistant  district  superintendent,  district  superintendent, 
division  traffic  superintendent  and  now  general  superin- 
tendent. Mr.  Lloyd  has  made  several  improvements  in 
the  service  and  has  been  called  on  often  to  do  special  work 
at  national  political  conventions.  He  is  very  well  known 
to  the  prominent  newspaper  correspondents  of  the  country. 
Mr.  Lloyd  is  a  former  president  of  the  Old  Time  Teleg- 
raphers' and  Historical  Association  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Union  League  Club  of  Chicago.  From  his  new  office  in 
Denver  he  will  supervise  the  Western  Union  service  in 
eight  states. 


Obituary 


Mr.  Edward  H.  Ball,  vice-president  of  the  Chicago  Belt- 
ing Company,  died  at  his  home  in  Evanston,  111.,  on  Aug. 
23,  aged  fifty-five  years.  Mr.  Ball  graduated  from  Prince- 
ton University  and  was  said  to  have  been  a  classmate  of 
Gov.  Woodrow  Wilson.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  company  with  which  he  was  connected. 

Mr.  Christopher  C.  Wilson,  formerly  president  of  the 
United  Wireless  Telegraph  Company,  died  on  Aug.  25  in 
the  United  States  penitentiary  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  where  he 
was  serving  a  three-year  sentence  for  using  the  mails  in 
an  attempt  to  defraud.  He  was  sixty-seven  years  of  age 
and  had  become  prominent  through  the  sensational  collapse 
of  the  company  and  subsequent  proceedings  to  ascertain 
the  disposal  of  the  company's  funds. 

Mr.  Harold  Gay,  who  had  been  employed  by  L.  B.  Still- 
well  in  important  engineering  work,  died  suddenly  on  Aug. 
25  at  Farmington,  Conn.  Prior  to  his  association  with  Mr. 
Stillwell  he  had  been  in  the  engineering  department  of  the 
General  Electric  Company  and  in  charge  of  some  of  that 
company's  important  electrical  construction  work.  For 
some  years  he  was  in  the  electrical  department  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  during  most  of  which  time  he  was  stationed 
at  Manila.  .After  joining  Mr.  Stillwell's  organization  he 
had  charge  of  the  testing  of  all  apparatus  purchased  and 
other  important  engineering  work.  Mr.  Gay  acted  as  super- 
vising engineer  in  the  construction  of  the  power  house  at 
North  Adams,  which  supplies  the  energy  for  the  operation 
of  the  Hoosac  Tunnel  electric  zone.  He  was  also  actively 
engaged  in  preparing  engineering  estimates  and  calculations 
for  important  steam  and  hydroelectric  developments.  In 
work  of  this  nature  he  showed  unusual  ability.  Mr.  Gay 
possesed  a  very  attractive  personality  and,  although  modest 
and  retiring,  he  was  a  general  favorite  among  his  associates. 
He  was  a  man  of  unusually  high  character,  and  his  loss  is 
keenly  felt  by  his  friends  and  business  associates. 

Mr.  Clift  Wise,  who  for  many  years  was  prominently 
identified  with  the  construction  of  street  and  interurban  rail- 
ways, and  who  was  well  known  to  electrical  men  of  the 
Middle  West,  died  in  Springfield,  Ohio,  on  Aug.  26.  Mr. 
Wise  was  born  in  St.  Louis  in  1861.  In  1886  and  1887  he 
was  chief  engineer  of  the  Kansas  City  Street  Railway 
Company  and  built  the  cable  railways  of  that  city.  Later 
he  went  to  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  and  reconstructed 
the  street  railways  in  those  cities.  Thereafter  he  was  engi- 
neer in  charge  of  the  laying  of  the  cable  railways  in  Phila- 
phia.  About  1892  he  came  to  Chicago  and  for  several  years 
engaged  in  electrifying  the  lines  of  the  Chicago  City  Rail- 
way Company.  Later  he  embarked  in  the  contracting  busi- 
ness and  built  electric  interurban  railways  between  LaSalle 
and  Peru,  111.;  Danville  and  Champaign,  111.;  Crawfordsville 
and  Lebanon,  Ind.;  Springfield  and  Troy,  Ohio,  and  Port- 
land and  Marion,  Ind.  He  also  constructed  a  large  storage 
reservoir  for  the  city  of  Lima,  Ohio.  About  seven  years 
ago  he  left  the  electric  railway  field  and  engaged  in  the 
construction  of  large  industrial  establishments.  Mr.  Wise 
is  survived  by  a  widow  and  a  married  daughter.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Kenwood  Club  and  the  Union  League 
Club  of  Chicago,  and  of  the  Lagonda  Club  and  Springfield 
Commercial   Club   of  Springfield,    Ohio. 


•470 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9. 


Construction 


MOBILE,  ALA. — The  Mobile  El.  Co.  is  planning  to  install  additional 
equipment  which  will  double  the  present  output  of  the  plant.  Orders 
have  been  placed  for  a  3000-kw  generator.  The  cost  of  the  improvements 
is  estimated  at  about  $85,000.     T.   K.  Jackson  is  president  and  manager. 

MONTGOMERY,  ALA.— The  bill  giving  the  Alabama  Pwr.  Co.  the 
right  to  build  a  dam  across  the  Coosa  River,  7  miles  above  Wetumpka, 
Ala.,  has  been  vetoed  by  President  Taft. 

PHOENIX,  ARIZ.— The  Phoenix  Ry.  Co.  has  been  ordered  to  recon- 
struct its  street  and  interurban  railway  systems  in  Maricopa.  The  work 
includes  new  cars,  signals,  switches,  roadbed,  rails,  poles  and  overhead 
construction. 

PHOENIX,  ARIZ.— The  Salt  River  Valley  Water  Users'  Association 
has  approved  the  contract  whereby  the  Inspiration  and  Miami  Copper 
companies,  of  Miami,  will  secure  electricity  generated  at  the  power 
plant  at  the  Roosevelt  dam  to  the  amount  of  11,000  kw.  The  companies 
will   erect  their  own  transmission   lines,   30   miles  long. 

LITTLE  ROCK,  ARK. — The  City  Council  is  considering  the  question 
of  placing  all  electric  and  telephone  wires  underground  in  the  business 
district. 

BURBANK,  CAL.— The  Burbank  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  filed  appli- 
cation with  the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  authority  to  take  over 
the  electric  light  and  power  franchise  granted  to  G.  H.  Deacon  by  the 
town  of  Burbank.     The  company  is  capitalized  at  $20,000. 

BURLINGAME,  CAL.— Ansel  M.  Easton,  of  Easton,  who  holds  a 
franchise  for  a  street  railway  through  the  town  of  Easton,  in  the  north- 
ern district  of  Burlingame,  is  contemplating  the  construction  of  a 
street-railway  system  in  Burlingame  and  is  planning  to  secure  other  fran- 
chises  in  the  central   and   western   districts   of   the   city. 

G'ALT,  CAL. — The  Board  of  Supervisors  has  adopted  a  resolution  call- 
ing for  an  election  to  vote  on  the  formation  of  a  street-lighting  district. 

GLENDALE,  CAL. — An  agreement  has  been  signed  by  the  officials  of 
the  city  of  Glendale  and  the  Public  Service  Commission  of  Los  Angeles 
whereby  the  city  of  Glendale  will  secure  electricity  generated  by  the 
Owen  River  Aqueduct  power  plant  .from  April  1,  1913,  and  to  July  1, 
1917,  at  a  cost  of  $69,378,  which  includes  interest,  depreciation  and 
maintenance  of  6  miles  of  30,000-volt  transmission  line.  The  cost  of  the 
line   is  estimated  at   $6,000. 

GREENVILLE,  CAL.— The  Greenville  Bullion  Mining  Co.  is  planning 
to  erect  an  electric  hoist  on  its  bullion  mine. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  lighting  the 
entire  San  Gabriel  Valley,  extending  from  Azusa  and  Glendora  in  the 
foothill  region  to  the  beginning  of  the  Mount  Wilson  trail,  and  around 
to  Whittier  and  the  coast,  by  the  San  Gabriel  Intercity  Commission  of 
which  John  D.  Reavis,  of  South  Pasadena,  is  president.  The  scheme 
involves  paved  highways  in  24  cities  and  towns  and  illuminating  more 
than  100  miles  of  highways.     It  is  proposed  to  use  electroliers. 

MARYSVILLE,  CAL. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  Pacific 
Gas  &  El.  Co.  for  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  from  Nicolaus 
across  the  Feather  River  and  the   Sutter  tule  basin  to   Kirksville. 

NEWPORT  BEACH,  CAL.— At  an  election  to  be  held  Sept.  ID  the 
proposition  to  issue  bonds  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric- 
light  plant  will   be  submitted   to  a   vote. 

OXNARD,  CAL. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  installation 
of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant,  bids  for  construction  of  which  will 
be  called  for  at  once.  Negotiations  are  under  way  between  the  City 
Trustees  and  the  officials  of  the  Ventura  County  Pwr.  Co.  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the   old  plant   of  the  company  before  erecting  a   new  plant, 

PORTERVILLE,  CAL.— It  is  reported  that  the  Porterville  Northeast- 
ern Railroad  will  be  equipped  for  electrical  operation  within  18  months. 
It  is  expected  that  the  proposed  railroad  from  Porterville  to  the  Wood- 
ville   district  will   also  be  electrically  operated. 

RANDSBURG,  CAL.— The  Consolidated  Mines  Co.  is  planning  to 
install  an  electrically  operated  pump  on  its  Kenyon  Wedge  property. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.— Surveys  are  being  made  by  the  Great 
Western  Pwr.  Co.  for  the  erection  of  a  new  high-tension  transmission 
line  from  Ororille  to  Napa,  a  distance  of  about  95  miles. 

TROPICO,  CAL.— The  Pacific  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Los  Angeles,  has  ap- 
plied to  the  State  Railroad  Commission  For  permission  to  purchase  the 
tangible  properties  of  the  Glendale  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  consisting  of  equip- 
ment used  to  furnish  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  Tropico. 

TULARE,  CAL.- — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  the  city  clerk  until 
Sept.  3  for  sale  of  a  franchise  applied  for  by  the  Big  Four  El.  Ry.  Co. 
to  construct  and  operate  an  electric  railway  in  the  town  of  Tulare. 

WATSONVILLE,  CAL.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Watson- 
ville  Ry.  &  Navigation  Co.  for  extending  its  railway  to  HoUister,  and 
later  to  Fresno  via  Firebaugh  or  Los  Banos.  F.  E.  Snowden,  311  Cali- 
fornia Street,  San  Francisco,  is  president  and  general  manager  of  the 
company. 

BOULDER,  COL. — A  committee  has  been  appointed  by  the  City 
Council  to  prepare  plans  for  the  proposed  municipal  electric-light  plant. 
Specifications  have  been  prepared  by  the  city  engineer,  and  the  com- 
mittee is  authorized  to  employ  other  engineers  for  consultation  to  get 
plans   in    shape   to    advertise    for    bids.      The    plans    provide    for    the    con- 


sirncliou  of  a  power  house  on  Boulder  Creek  5  miles  west  of  Boulder,  a 
substation  in  the  city,  a  reservoir  in  the  bills  and  a  transmission  line 
from  the  power  house  to  the  city.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated 
at  about  $90,000.  A  bond  issue  of  $35,000  has  been  authorized  and  a 
proposal  for  another  issue  for  the  balance  will  probably  be  submitted  to 
vote  at  the   next  city  election. 

THOMASTON,  CONN.— The  plant  of  the  Thomaston  El.  Lt.  Co.,  it 
is  reported,  will  be  leased  to  the  Connecticut  Co.,  New  Haven.  The  lat- 
ter company  has  purchased  the  power  plant  at  Falls  Village  and  will 
eventually  supply  Thomaston  with  electrical  service  from  that  plant.  The 
local  plant  will  be  held  in  reserve  for  use  in  emergencies. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau 
of  Supplies  and  Accounts,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Sept.  3  for  transformers  as  per  Schedule  4762.  Applications  for  pro- 
posals should  designate  the  schedule  desired  by  number. 

OKEECHOBEE,  FLA. — The  establishment  of  an  electric  and  ice  plant 
here   is   under  consideration.      Austin   &   Rice,    of   Jensen,    are    interested. 

NAMPA,  IDAHO. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  C.  M.  Talmadge, 
of  New  York,  for  the  construction  of  a  power  plant  on  the  Canyon 
Canal,  to  develop  10,000  hp.  Electricity  generated  at  the  plant  will  be 
used  to  operate  pumping  plants  for  irrigating  purposes  in  that  vicinity 
and  near  Weiser. 

WENDELL,  IDAHO.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  J.  W.  Crawley, 
of  the  Crawley-Salisbury  Constr.  Co.,  of  Davenport,  la.,  and  J.  Stewart 
Clark,  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  line  between 
Wendell  and  Hagerman,  a  distance  of  IS  miles. 

ALTON,  ILL. — The  Piasa  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  it  is  reported,  contemplates 
the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  from  Alton  to  Elsah.  Piasa,  Chautau- 
qua and  Grafton  and  will  seek  franchises  to  supply  electricity  in  those 
places. 

ARCOLA,  ILL. — -The  local  electric-light  plant  and  ice  factory,  owned 
by  George  C.  Hallauer,  has  been  purchased  by  Marshall  E.  Sampsell, 
representing  the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Co.,  for  $35,000.  Mr. 
Hallauer  was  recently  granted  a  50-year  electric  franchise  in  Areola,  in 
return  for  which  he  agrees  to  erect  ornamental  lamp  standards  to  cost 
$1,000,  and  to  furnish  electricity  to  maintain  same  during  the  life  of 
franchise  fre«  of  charge;  also  to  supply  electricity  for  lighting  all 
public  buildings  free  of  charge  until  the  expiration  of  the  franchise. 
A  24-hour  service  is  also  to  be  established.  The  new  company  will 
discard  the  local  plant  and  will  supply  electric  energy  to  operate  the 
system  from  its  high-tension  transmission  system. 

CANTON,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  instructed  the  lighting  com- 
mittee to  secure  data  regarding  the  cost  of  installing  a  municipal  electric- 
light  plant. 

CARROLLTON,  ILL.— The  property  of  the  Carrollton  Ht.,  Lt.  & 
Pwr.   Co.  has  been  taken  over  by  the  Northern  Illinois  Utilities  Co. 

CUBA,  ILL. — The  municipal  electric-light  plant  has  been  purchased 
by  Bass  &  Anderson,  of  Farmington. 

ELGIN,  ILL. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of  orna- 
mental lamps  on  the  business  streets  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  E.  D. 
Howell,  secretary  of  the  Commercial  Club,  has  asked  to  have  maps  of 
the  business  streets  prepared   for  this  purpose. 

IPAVA,  ILL. — Negotiations  are  under  way  between  the  owners  of  the 
local  electric-light  plant  and  the  Bushnell  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.,  Bushnell, 
whereby  the  latter  will  take  over  the  distributing  system  of  the  local 
plant.  The  new  company  proposes  to  furnish  a  24-hour  service  and  will 
also  furnish  electricity  to  the  farmers  along  the  transmission  line 
between  here  and   Bushnell. 

MOLINE,  ILL.— The  Tri-City  Ry.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  City  Com- 
mission for  a  franchise  on  several  streets  of  the  city. 

NEOGA,  ILL. — The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  is  securing  right- 
of-way  for  a  transmission  line  from  Mattoon  to  Neoga. 

PEORIA,  ILL. — The  Park  Board  has  decided  to  erect  17  ornamental 
lamps  on  Riverside  Drive. 

R.AMSEY,  ILL. — Application  has  been  made  by  F.  S.  Peabody  to  the 
City  Council  for  a  50-year  franchise  to  operate  an  electric-light  plant 
here. 

RANKIN,  ILL. — .Application  has  been  made  to  the  Village  Board  by 
H.  L.  Clark  and  Edwin  Johnson  for  permission  to  extend  their  trans- 
mission lin^es  from   Paxton  to   Rankin. 

RUSHVILLE,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  entered  into  a  contract 
with  the  Middle  West  Utility  Co.  whereby  the  latter  will  furnish  to  the 
city  electricity  delivered  at  the  city  limits  at  5  cents  per  kw-hr.  The 
company   also  agrees  to   furnish   energy   for   a   30-hp  and   a   20-hp   motor. 

SANDWICH,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Aurora.  Men- 
dota  &  Western  Ry.  Co.  a  franchise  to  build  and  operate  an  interurban 
railway   on   Church   Street. 

SULLIVAN,  ILL— The  Sullivan  EL  Co.  is  rebuilding  its  plant, 
changing  to  60-cycle,  three-phase  system  and  erecting  a  transmission  line 
to  Arthur,  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  there.  Charles 
Kuster   is   secretary   and   manager. 

AVILLA,  IND. — The  Village  Board  has  accepted  the  proposition  sub- 
mitted by  the  Olds  Constr.  Co.,  of  Fort  Wayne,  for  the  installation  of 
an  electric-light  plant  in  Avilla,  to  cost  about  $5,500.  Electricity  will 
be  purchased  for  operating  the  system. 


August  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


♦71 


LAFAYETTE,  IND. — "Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Indiana 
Ltg.  Co.  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  to  the  town  of  Otterbein  to 
supply  electrical  service  there. 

MADISON,  IND.— The  Madison  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  is  planning  to  erect 
a  transmission  line  to  Hanover  and  possibly  to  Cyrus  Ridge.  Cluster 
lamps  will  also  be  installed  on  the  principal  streets  in  Madison.  M.  F. 
Tennis,   Vandergrift   Building,  Pittsburgh,   Pa.,  is  treasurer  and  manager. 

NORTH  VERNON,  IND. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  erecting 
transmission  lines  from  the  local  plant  to  Vernon  with  a  view  of  furnish- 
ing electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  that  town. 

TIPTON,  IND. — The  installation  of  three  new  boilers  and  other  ex- 
tensions to  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  are  under  consideration. 
N.   Hiatt    is   superintendent. 

AUDUBON,  lA.— The  Creston  Mutual  EI.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Cres- 
ton,  is  contemplating  extending  its  transmission  lines  to  this  place  to 
supply  electrical  service. 

BOONE,  lA. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  extension  of  the 
transmission  lines  of  the  Boone  El.  Co.  to  the  towns  of  Slater,  Madrid, 
Woodward,   Luther  and   Perry. 

COON  RAPIDS,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
grant  a  20-year  electric-light  franchise  to  Mr.  Henry  was  carried.  It 
is  proposed  to  establish  a  24-hour  service.  Orders  have  been  placed  for 
a  second  engine  and  generator. 

DOWS,  lA. — The  Dows  El.  Lt.  &  Power  Co.  is  contemplating  the 
installation  of  an  electric  light  and  power  plant  to  be  operated  by  gas 
engines. 

FONTANELLE,  lA. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  an  electric-lighting  system  here. 

FORT  MADISON,  lA. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Mississippi 
River  Pwr.  Co.  a  25-year  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  Fort  Madison. 

GARDEN  GROVE.  lA. — The  Leon  El.  Co.,  Leon,  is  contemplating 
extending  its  transmission  lines  to   Garden  Grove. 

GILMORE  CITY,  lA. — At  an  election  to  be  held  Sept.  5  the  propo- 
sition to  grant  -a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  Gilmore  City  will  be 
submitted  to  a  vote.  Propositions  have  been  submitted  to  the  city  for 
furnishing  electrical  service  by  the  Fort  Dodge  Portland  Cement  Co., 
the  Humboldt   Dam  Co.  and  the  Fort  Dodge  Lt.  &  Pwr.   Co. 

MUSCATINE.  lA.— The  Davenport-Muscatine  Interurban  Ry.  Co.  has 
been  granted  a  franchise  to  use  the  streets  of  the  city. 

NEV.ADA,  lA. — Negotiations  are  under  way  between  the  Dow  syndi- 
cate, of  Cedar  Rapids,  and  the  officials  of  the  Nevada  El.  Co.  for  the 
purchase  of  the  Nevada  electric  plant.  The  Dow  syndicate  is  also 
negotiating  for  other  plants  along  the  Northwestern  and  tributary  lines. 

NEW  LONDON,  lA. — ^At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition 
to  is-^ue  additional  bonds  for  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  was  carried. 

NORTH  LIBERTY,  lA.— The  Iowa  City  &  Cedar  Rapids  Ry.  &  Lt. 
Co.   has  been   granted   a   franchise   in   this   city. 

OGDEN,  lA. — At  a  special  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
?rant  the  Central  Iowa  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity 
for  lamps  and  motors  here  for  a  period  of  10  years  was  carried.  Energy 
will  be  delivered  at  the  Ogden  plant  at  2  cents  per  kw-hr.  and  dis- 
Tibuted  over  the  r  i:nicipal  system.  The  company  agrees  to  take  over 
he  machinery  of  the  old  plant,  for  which  it  will  pay  $3,600. 

PETERSON,  lA. — Steps  have  been  taken  to  organize  a  company  to 
nstall  and  operate  an  electric  plant  here.  Work  has  commenced  on  the 
:onslruction  of  mill  and  dam.  The  equipment  will  include  two  new 
vater  turbines,  a  new  Corliss  engine  and  high-pressure  boiler  and  two 
■lectric  generators.  The  company  contemplates  extending  its  trans- 
nission  lines  to  Sutherland.  The  company  will  be  capitalized  at  $50,000. 
3.  McMillan,  A.  O.  Anderson,  E.  L.  Mantor,  W.  E.  Landsbery  and  A. 
"V.  Jones,   of  Peterson,   are  interested. 

ROLFE,  lA.— The  Northern  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Humboldt,  has  been 
ranted  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in   Rolfe. 

SLO.\N,  lA. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Town  Council  for 
he  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant,  bids  for  which  will  soon  be 
eceived. 

STORM  LAKE,  I.A. — The  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting 
ystem  in  Storm  Lake  is  under  consideration. 

WHITING,  lA. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  local  business  men  for  the 
nstallation   of  an  electric-light  plant. 

SALINA,  KAN. — Extensive  improvements  are  to  be  made  to  the  plant 
i  the  Salina  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Gas  Co.,  which  will  include  the  installation 
■f  a  750-kw  generating  unit,  a  new  gas  holder  and  extension  of  lines, 
Ic.     An  addition  will  also  be  built  to  power  house. 

SUMMERFIELD,  KAN.— The  City  Council  has  granted  a  20-year 
ranchise  to  Harry  D.  Hockman,  Beattie,  to  install  and  operate  an 
lectric  plant.  Electricity  for  operating  the  system  will  be  secured  from 
Ir.   Hockman's   plant   in   Beattie,    14   miles  distant. 

HORSE  CAVE,  KY. — The  proposition  to  appropriate  $5,000  for  the 
onstruction  of  an  electric-light  plant  in  Horse  Cave  will  be  submitted 
3  the  voters  on  Nov.   5.     Cyrus  Edwards  is  clerk. 

MIDWAY,    KY.— The    Middle    West    Utilities    Co.,    Chicago,    HI.,    is 

egotiating  for  the  purchase  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant   in   Mid- 

'ay.     If  taken  over" by  the  company  it  is  proposed  to  enlarge  the  plant. 

j   LAFAYETTE,    LA. — •,\t   an   election   to  be  held    Sept.    16   the   proposi- 

on    to    appropriate    funds    for    rebuilding    the    electric-light    and     water- 


works plant  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote.  It  is  proposed  to  substitute 
internal-combustion  engines  for  steam,  build  and  equip  a  fire  station 
and   install  an  electric  fire-alarm  system.     A.    R.   Trahan  is  Mayor. 

LAKE  PROVIDENCE,  LA.— The  city  is  planning  to  install  an  addi- 
tional engine  and  dynamo  in  the  municipal  electric-light  plant. 

JAY,  MAINE. — It  is  reported  that  the  International  Paper  Co.  has 
awarded  a  contract  to  the  H.  P.  Cummings  Co.,  Ware,  Mass.,  for  the 
construction   of   a   hydroelectric   power  plant   here,   to   develop   3000   hp. 

SACO,  MAINE. — Options  are  being  obtained  in  Poland,  Mechanic 
Falls,  Casco,  Raymond,  Windham  and  Gorham  for  the  erection  of  a 
high-tension  transmission  line  from  Oxford  County  to  Biddeford  and 
Saco  by  the  York  Pwr.  Co.  Power  for  the  system  will  be  obtained  from 
the  plant  of  the   Rumford    Falls   Pwr.    Co.,    Rumford. 

SOUTH  BERWICK,  MAINE.— The  property  of  the  Berwick  & 
Salmon  Falls  El.  Co.  has  been  purchased  by  the  Twin  State  Gas  &  El. 
Co.,  Dover,  N.   H. 

ASHBURNHAM,  MASS. — The  citizens  have  voted  to  appropriate 
$2,500  for  the  erection  of  a  three-phase  transmission  line  to  Naukeag 
Lake,   together   with   necessary   transformers. 

CHICOPEE,  MASS. — ^Mayor  Rivers  has  vetoed  the  ordinance  grant- 
ing a  franchise  to  the  Amherst  Pwr.  Co.  to  supply  electricity  in  Chicopee. 

CLINTON,  MASS. — The  Metropolitan  Water  and  Sewerage  Board 
has  awarded  the  contract  for  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  from 
the  Wachusett  dam  to  the  pumping  station  in  Clinton  to  the  Lt.,  Ht.  & 
Pwr.  Constr.  Co.  of  the  Massachusetts  Ltg.  Cos.  Electricity  generated 
at  the  dam  will  be  used  to  operate  the  sewage  pumps  in  Clinton. 

H.WERHILL,  MASS. — A  complete  rearrangement  of  the  street- 
lighting  system  is  contemplated  by  the  Municipal  Council,  under  the  new 
contract,  which  includes  the  substitution  of  incandescent  lamps  for 
naphtha  lamps  used  in  the  outlying  districts.  This  will  increase  the 
number  of  incandescent  lamps  from  88  to  213.  The  installation  of  64 
magnetite  ornamental  arc  lamps  to  replace  the  14  arc  lamps  now  in  use 
in  the  business  district  is  contemplated.  It  is  also  proposed  to  substitute 
incandescent  or  gas  lamps  for  75  arc  lamps  on  streets  shaded  with  trees, 
four  of  the  new  lamps  to  take  the  place  of  one  arc  lamp.  The  present 
contract   expires  in  November. 

MARBLEHEAD,  MASS. — ^Plans  are  being  considered  for  moving  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant  from  its  present  location  to  Leggs  Hill 
to   be   operated   in   connection  with   the  water-works   system. 

NORFOLK,  MASS.^Bids  will  be  received  by  the  trustees  of  the 
Foxborough  and  Norfolk  State  Hospitals,  care  of  Kendall,  Taylor  &  Co., 
architects,  93  Federal  Street,  Boston,  Mass.,  until  Sept.  4,  for  con- 
struction of  administration  building,  superintendent's  house  and  six 
cottages,  power  house  with  electrical  equipment  and  laundry  building 
for  the  Norfolk  State  Hospital,  plans  and  specifications  for  which  may 
be  seen  at  the  office   of  the  architects. 

ORLEANS,  MASS. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of 
a  municipal   electric-light  plant  and   water-works  system   in   Orleans. 

DOWAGIAC,  MICH.— The  City  Council  has  authorized  W.  E.  Rey- 
nolds, superintendent  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant,  to  secure 
estimates  on  the  installation  of  a  generator  to  supply  electricity  for 
commercial  lighting. 

IRON  RIVER,  MICH.— The  steam  auxiliary  power  plant  of  the 
Peninsula  Pwr.  Co.,  Iron  Mountain,  located  in  Iron  River,  will  be  in- 
creased from  1000  hp  to  2000  hp  this  fall.  F.  A.  Joslin,  Oshkosh,  is 
vice-president  of  the  company. 

BELLE  PLAINE,  MINN. — A  movement  has  been  started  by  the  Com- 
mercial Club  for  the   installation  of  ornamental  street  lamps. 

BRECKENRIDGE,  MINN,— The  City  Council  is  contemplating  im- 
provements to   the  light  and   water  plants. 

CHISHOLM,  MINN. — The  court  has  authorized  the  receiver  of  the 
Range  Pwr.  Co.  to  make  extensions  to  the  plant  to  meet  the  demand  for 
electrical  service. 

DULUTH,  MINN. — A  movement  has  been  started  by  the  West  End 
Improvement  Society  for  the  installation  of  street  lamps  in  the  Seventh 
Ward. 

KENYON,  MINN.— The  Consumers'  Pwr.  Co.,  Faribault,  is  consid- 
ering the  question  of  extending  its  service  to  Kenyon. 

MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN.— The  Village  Council  of  West  Minneapolis 
has  granted  the  Minneapolis  General  EI.  Co.  a  franchise  to  construct  and 
operate  an   eleetric  system  there   for  a  period   of  25   years. 

OLIVIA.  MINN. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  village  of  Olivia  until 
Sept.  10  for  furnishing  and  installing  one  100-hp,  90-hp  or  80-hp  gas 
producer  for  either  anthracite  or  bituminous  coal  or  both,  together  with 
all  auxiliary  apparatus,  etc.,  complete;  one  horizontal  or  vertical  pro- 
ducer-gas engine  of  at  least  80  hp,  together  with  all  appurtenances,  com- 
plete: frame  or  brick  extension  to  engine  room.  Plans  and  specifica- 
tions on  file  in  the  office  of  the  Oscar  Claussen  Engineering  Co., 
National  German-American  Bank  Building,  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  and  at  the 
office  of  John  Flaschenriem,  village  recorder,  Olivia. 

ST.  PETER,  MINN. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  an  ornamental  lighting  system   on   Minnesota  Avenue. 

WARREN,  MINN. — The  City  Council  contemplates  making  extensions 
to  the  municipal  electric-light  plant,  to  cost  about  $12,000. 

WATERTOWN,  MINN.— An  electric  franchise  has  been  granted  to  the 
Central  Minnesota  Lt.   &  Pwr-  Co.   in  Watertown. 


472 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9. 


BILOXI,  MISS. — Steps  have  been  taken  toward  the  installation  of  a 
new  street-lighting  system  for  this  city,  the  cost  of  which  is  estimated 
at  about  $48,000.  It  is  proposed  to  discard  the  present  arc  lamps  and 
use  50-cp  or  60-cp  tungsten  lamps  and  to  erect  an  ornamental  lighting 
system  in  the  business  district. 

BOONEVILLE,  MISS.— The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant 
and  water-works  system  is  being  promoted  by  the  Business  Men's  League, 
Bids  have  been  asked  for.     A.  J.  Mclntyre  is  president. 

JOPLIN,  MO. — The  Empire  District  El.  Co.  has  submitted  a  propo- 
sition to  the  City  Council  offering  to  take  over  the  municipal  electric- 
light  plant  and  to  enter  into  a  contract  with  the  city  for  electricity  to 
liglit  the  streets  and  all  places  now  supplied  by  the  city  plant.  The  com- 
pany offers  to  furnish  magnetite  arc  lamps  at  $45  each  per  year  and  to 
install  ornamental  lamp  standards,  to  cost  $60  each.  It  has  also  made  an 
offer  to  lease  the  municipal  plant  for  $5,000  per  year  or  to  purchase  it 
for  $60,000.  An  offer  was  also  submitted  to  furnish  electricity  to  oper- 
ate the  plant. 

MARYVILLE,  MO.— The  Maryville  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  recently 
organized  by  Richard  Kuchs  and  others,  is  planning  to  build  an  electric 
light  and  power  plant. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO.— The  Union  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  awarded  a 
contract  for  113  miles  of  electric  cable  to  transmit  the  current  from  the 
transformer  station  of  the  Mississippi  River  Pwr.  Distributing  Co.  at 
Page  Boulevard  and  the  city  limits  to  the  plant  of  the  Union  company 
at  Ashley  Street,  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,000,000.  The  General  El.  Co. 
and  the  Standard  Underground  Co.  were  awarded  the  larger  part  of  the 
contract. 

SHELDON,  MO. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of  a 
municipal   electric-light   plant   here. 

BUTTE,  MONT.— Plans  have  been  prepared  by  the  City  Council  foi 
a  new  lighting  system  for  the  main  streets  of  the  city.  The  cost  of  in- 
stalling the  system  is  estimated  at  $37,175,  and  provision  is  made  for 
366  lamps. 

DONIPHAN,  NEB. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system  in  Doniphan. 

GERING,  NEB. — The  City  Council  has  accepted  the  proposition  of 
the  Cross  &  Roberts  El.  Co.,  Scottsburg,  to  supply  electricity  for  light- 
ing this  city. 

KEARNEY,  NEB. — The  City  Council  has  instructed  the  city  clerk  to 
notify  the  Kearney  El,  Lt.  &  Pwr,  Co.  to  discontinue  the  street-lighting 
service.  The  clerk  was  also  instructed  to  prepare  an  ordinance  com- 
pelling the  company  to  remove  its  poles  and  wires  from  the  streets.  The 
Council  has  also  decided  to  call  a  special  election  to  vote  on  the  propo- 
sition to  issue  bonds  for  establishing  a  municipal  electric-light  plant.  An 
injunction  has  been  secured  against  the  City  Council  preventing  it  from 
selling  $40,000  in  bonds  which  were  authorized  last  February  for  the 
installation   of  a  lighting  system. 

CHATHAM,  N.  J. — The  Borough  Council  has  passed  an  ordinance 
providing  for  extensions  to  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  for  a 
bond  election  for  the  purpose  of  voting  on  the  proposition  to  issue 
$35,000  for  proposed  nnprovements.  The  Board  of  Water  Commissioners 
has  been  authorized  to  advertise  for  bids  for  the  following  equipment:' 
Additional  generating  unit  and  exciter,  steam  engine  and  electrically 
driven  pump,  one  75-kw,  2300-volt,  three-phase  generator,  one  35-hp, 
2300-voU,  three-phase  motor,  two  150-hp  B.  &  W.  water-tube  boilers, 
one  250-hp  condenser,  one  radial  brick  chimney,  switchboard,  piping  and 
changes  in   feeders. 

JERSEY  CITY',  N.  J.— Proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of 
Chosen  Freeholders  of  the  County  of  Hudson,  Court  House,  Jersey  City, 
until  Sept.  5  for  lighting  by  electricity  the  public  and  county  roads. 
Specifications  may  be  seen  at   the   above   office.      Walter   O'Mara  is  clerk. 

PASSAIC,  N.  J. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  Board  of  City 
Commissioners  and  the  Shade  Tree  Commission  for  placing  all  overhead 
wires,  both  transmission  and  distributing  lines,  for  traction  and  electric- 
lighting  service   in   underground   conduits. 

PENNS  GRO\'E,  N.  J. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Penns 
Grove  El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  power  plant  here 
to  supply   electricity   in   Penns   Grove   and   surrounding  towns. 

CADYVILLE,  N.  Y, — ^The  International  Paper  Co.  is  reported  to  have 
awarded  a  contract  to  the  H.  P.  Cummings  Constr.  Co.,  Ware,  Mass., 
for  the  construction  of  a  dam   175   ft.  long  and  54  ft.  high,  in  Cadyville. 

CATSKILL,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  authorized 
the  Catskill  Illg.  &  Pwr.  Co..  the  Schoharie  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  the 
Upper  Hudson  El.-Lt.  &  R.  R.  Co.  to  consolidate  under  the  name  of 
the  Upper  Hudson  El.  Lt.  &  R.  R.  Co.  The  Schoharie  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co. 
is  authorized  to  purchase  the  property  of  the  Cairo  El.  &  Pwr.  Co. 
before  the  merger  is  accomplished. 

LE  ROY,  N.  Y, — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  authorized  the 
L^  Roy  Hydraulic  EJ.  Gas  Co.  to  execute  a  mortgage  on  its  property 
to  secure  a  bond  issue  to  the  amount  of  $100,000,  and  to  issue  at  this 
time  $65,000,  to  be  sold  at  not  less  than  95,  the  proceeds  to  be  used 
for  the  discharge  of  obligations  amounting  to  $38,000  and  for  the  instal- 
lation of  a  turbine  engine,  condenser,  water-purifying  plant  and  boiler 
in  its  power  plant. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y'.— Bids  will  be  received  by  C.  B.  J.  Snyder,  super- 
intendent of  school  buildings.  Department  of  Education,  corner  of  Park 
Avenue    and    Fifty-ninth    Street,    New    York,    until    Sept.    4    for    installing 


electric  equipment  in  the  first  portion  of  the  new  Normal  College  build- 
ings, Thomas  Hunter  Hall,  on  Lexington  Avenue,  between  Sixty-eighth 
and  Sixty-ninth  Streets.  Blank  forms,  plans  and  specifications  may  be 
obtained  at  the  office  of  the  superintendent.  Egerton  L.  Winthrop,  Jr., 
is  chairman  board  of  trustees. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  State 
Hospital  Commission,  Capitol,  Albany,  until  Sept.  9,  for  furnishing  a 
compressor  refrigerating  plant  at  the  Manhattan  State  Hospital,  Ward's 
Island.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  seen  and  blank  forms  of  pro- 
posal obtained  at  the  Manhattan  State  Hospital,  Ward's  Island,  at  the 
office  of  the  State  Hospital  Commission,  1  Madison  Avenue,  New  York, 
and  at  the  office  of  Herman  W.  Hoefer,  state  architect,  Capitol,  Albany. 
Plans  may  be  secured  at  the  office  of  the  state  architect.  T.  E.  McGarr 
is  secretary  of  the  commission. 

NIAGARA  FALLS,  N.  Y.— The  Niagara  Falls  Business  Men's  Associ- 
ation has  voted  in  favor  of  establishing  a  municipal  electric-light  plant. 

PLATTSBURG,  N.  Y^— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Champlain 
Paper  Co.  and  the  Progressive  Pulp  &  Paper  Co.  for  the  construction  of 
a   power   plant   on   their   property   in   Plattsburg. 

PORTLAND,  N.  Y.— The  Niagara  &  Erie  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
Public  Service  Commission  for  authority  to  issue  $20,000  in  capital 
stock  and  to  issue  $60,000  in  bonds.  Permission  is  asked  to  sell  the 
bonds  at  $80,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  the  acquisition  of  right-of-way 
from  West  Portland  and  the  erection  of  a  high-tension  transmission 
line  southwesterly  to  the  boundary  line  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  a 
distance  of  17  miles,  and  for  reimbursement  of  the  treasury  for  the  cost 
of  extensions  and  improvements  made  since  Feb.  1,  1911.  The  cost  of 
the   transmission   line   is   estimated  at   $40,000. 

TONAWAND.A.  N.  Y. — Several  of  the  companies  operating  lumber 
and  woodworking  plants  in  this  section  have  asked  the  Tonawanda  Pwr. 
Co.  for  estimates  of  the  cost  of  equipping  their  plants  for  electrical 
operation.  The  Eastern  Lumber  Co.  has  discarded  steam  power  entirely 
and  is  using  electricity  for  motive  power.  F.  M.  Gordon  is  manager 
of  the  Tonawanda  Pwr.   Co. 

UTICA,  N.  Y.— The  Utfca  &  Mohawk  Valley  R.  R.  Co.  has  applied 
to  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  approval  of  franchises  granted  by 
the  town  of  German  Flats  and  the  villages  of  Ilion  and  Mohawk  for 
extensions   and   improvements   to   its   system   in   those    places. 

WADDINGTON,  N.  Y.— The  New  Y'ork  &  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.  is  plan- 
ning to  rebuild  its  power  plant  here,  work  on  which  will  begin  at  once. 

W.EEDSPORT,  N.  Y'.— Estimates  have  been  submitted  by  the  Roches- 
ter, Syracuse  &  Eastern  R.  R.  Co.  for  the  installation  of  an  electric- 
lighting  system  in  Weedsport.  The  cost  of  installing  a  street-lighting 
system  is  estimated  at  $10,246  and  that  of  a  commercial  system  at  $3,800, 
making  a  total  of  $14,046-  This  covers  the  erection  of  a  transmission 
line  from  Port  Byron  substation.  The  plans  provide  for  the  installation 
of  80  250-watt   lamps   for  street  lighting. 

RANDELMAN,  N.  C— Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  installa- 
tion of  a  new  electric-power  plant  for  the  Deep  River  Mills,  to  cost 
about  $65,000.  Orders  have  been  placed  for  a  lOOO-hp  cross-compound 
condensing  engine  for  direct  connection  to  a  600-kw  generator.  Con- 
tracts have  also  been  awarded  for  boilers,  pumps,  condensers  and  gen- 
erator. ^ 

LARIMORE,  N.  D. — The  City  Council  is  contemplating  the  installa- 
tion  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  business  district. 

ASHLAND,  OHIO. — The  installation  of  cluster  lamps  in  the  business 
district   is   under    consideration. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO.— The  Cleveland  Ry.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
Public  Service  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  $3,015,000  in  capital 
stock,  of  which  the  proceeds  of  $1,493,000  will  be  used  toward  paying 
for  improvements  as  agreed  upon  between  the  company  and  the  City 
Council,  to  cost  $2,500,000,  the  remaining  $1,522,000  to  retire  a  similar 
amount  of  bonds.  The  proposed  expenditure  for  improvements  in- 
cludes: Land  for  substations,  $50,000;  buildings,  $20,000;  equipment  for 
substations,  $500,000;  track  renewals,  $700,000;  track  extensions,  $250,000; 
cars,  $450,000;  automobiles.  $10,000.  and  fire  protection,  $33,000- 
Electricity  for  operating  substations  will  be  secured  from  the  Cleveland 
El.   Illg.   Co. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  S.  A.  Kin- 
near,  director  of  public  safety,  Columbus,  Ohio,  until  Sept.  10  for  fur^ 
nishing  one  600-kva  Taylor-connected  and  two  100-kva  Scott-connected 
transformers,  in  accordance  with  specifications  on  file  in  the  office  of  the 
director  of  public  safety  and  office  of  the  superintendent  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Lighting,   Dublin  Avenue,   from  whom  copies  may  be  obtained. 

DAYTON,  OHIO. — The  contract  for  lighting  North  Ludlow  Street 
has  been  awarded  to  the  Dayton  Ltg.  Co.,  at  $55  per  standard. 

DAYTON,  OHIO.— The  Central  Union  Tel.  Co.  contemplates  improve- 
ments to  its  local  system  involving  an  expenditure  of  about  $31,000. 

DAYTON,  OHIO,— The  capital  stock  of  the  Dayton  &  Troy  El.  Ry. 
Co.  has  been  increased  from  $1,000,000  to  $1,300,000.  The  proceeds  will 
be  used  for  improvements  to  the  system. 

WILMINGTON,  OHIO.— Under  terms  of  the  contract  recently 
awarded  the  Wilmington  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co.  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the 
village  for  a  period  of  10  years,  the  company  is  to  replace  the  present 
arc  lamps  with  new  arc  lamps.  The  new  contract  goes  into  effect  Feb. 
1,    1913. 


1 


AUGL-ST    31,     I912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


473 


TULSA,  OKLA. — The  property  of  the  Tulsa  Corpn.,  which  operates 
the  electric  plant  in  Tulsa,  has  been  purchased  by  the  Middle  West 
Utilities  Co.   for  about  $1,000,000. 

ENTERPRISE,  ORE. — H.  Hirschberg,  it  is  reported,  is  interested  in  a 
project   to   build   an   electric-light  and   water  plant. 

EUGENE,  ORE.— The  Portland,  Eugene  &  Eastern  El.  Ry.  Co.  has 
awarded  the  contract  for  construction  of  the  Monroe-Eugene  line,  a 
distance  of  about  25  miles,  to   Flagg  &  Standifer, 

l..\  GRANDE.  ORE. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  City  Council 
for  tlie  installation  of  a  lire-alarm  system  here. 

PORTLAND.  ORE. — The  City  Council  has  passed  the  resolution 
granting  the  Northwestern  El.  Co.  a  franchise  to  operate  in  this  city. 
Mortimer  Fleishhacker,  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  is  interested  in  the  company. 
SUMPTER,  ORE. — The  electric  plant  of  the  Northwestern  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  was  recently  destroyed  by  fire,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $10,000.  The 
plant  will  be  rebuilt  at  once. 

THE  DALLES,  ORE.— The  Pacific  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.  will  soon  begin 
work  on  the  erection  of  a  new  transmission  line  between  The  Dalles 
and  the  power  plant  at  White  River.  The  new  line  will  carry  66,000 
voits.      B.    F.   Bailey  is  local   manager. 

BELLEVUE,  PA.— The  merger  of  Ohio  Valley  El.  Cos.  of  Avalon, 
Ben  .Avon,  Bellevue  and  Emsworth  under  the  name  of  the  Ohio  Valley 
El.  Co.  has  been  approved  by  Governor  Tener.  The  new  company  is 
capitalized  at  $62,700  and  the  officers  are:  J.  D.  Gallery,  president;  W. 
B.   Carson,   secretary,   and   C.   J.    Braun,   Jr.,  treasurer. 

CARROLL,  P.\. — .\pplication  will  be  made  to  Governor  Tener  by 
Samuel  R.  Smith,  Martin  E.  Kraybill,  C.  J.  Kraybill,  John  E.  Kraybill 
and  others  for  a  charter  for  a  corporation  to  be  known  as  the  Carroll 
Township  El.  Co.  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  Carroll 
Township. 

EPnR,\T.\.    l'.\. — The    Borough    Council    has    derided    to    |iurchase    new 

equipment    for    the    municipal    electric-light    plant,    to    cost    about    $10,000. 

PERRYOPOLIS,    PA. — The    West    Penn    El.    Co.    has    taken    over    the 

electric  light  and  power  business  of  the  Washington   Coal  &  Coke   Co.   in 

PerryopoHs. 

PITTSBURGH,  P.\.— Robert  Daley,  superintendent  of  the  Bureau  of 
Electricity,  has  recommended  that  an  appropriation  of  $150,000  be  given 
to  the  Department  of  Public  Safety  for  the  purpose  of  placing  wires 
underground  in  Butler  Street  between  Forty-third  and  Sixty-second 
Streets.  Lateral  conduits  in  which  light,  telegraph  and  telephone  wires 
will  be  carrried  are  to  be  laid  by  the  several  companies,  and  it  is  pro- 
posed to  place  the  police  and  telegraph  wires  owned  by  the  city  at  the 
same  time. 

PITTSBURGH,  P.\. — The  West  Penn  Rys.  Co.  has  commenced  work 
on  the  erection  of  its  transmission  lines  from  the  Connellsville  district 
to  the  property  recently  acquired  by  the  Kuhn  interests  on  the  Cheat 
Kiver.  The  ,new  lines  will  be  supplied  for  the  present  from  the  power 
plant  at  Connellsville,  but  eventually  will  form  a  part  of  the  Cheat  River 
power  system.  Transmission  lines  are  being  erected  from  Greensburg, 
Sewickley,  Freeport,  Butler,  Kittanning  and  Saltsburg  to  the  site  of  the 
dam  at  Cheat  River. 

SOUTH  BETHLEHEM,  PA.— The  Bethlehem  Steel  Co.  is  planning 
to  install  a  Girod  electric  furnace  at  its  plant. 

HEBRONVILLE,  R.  I.— The  Attleboro  Steam  &  El.  Co.,  Attleboro,  is 
planning  to  make  changes  in  its  present  system  here  and  to  replace  the 
arc  lamps  with  incandescent  lamps.  Edgar  Tregoning,  Attleboro,  is 
manager. 

NEWPORT,  R.  I.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau  of 
Yards  and  Docks,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Sept.  21 
for  one  15-ton  manually  operated  single-trolley  traveling  crane,  48  ft. 
\\'/j  in.  span,  for  the  central  power  plant  at  the  United  States  torpedo 
station,  Newport,  R.  I.  The  cost  is  estimated  at  $1,800.  William  M. 
Smith  is  acting  chief  of  bureau. 

.ARLINGTON,  S.  D. — At  an  election  held  Aug.  17  the  proposition 
to  issue  $10,000  in  bonds  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant 
was  carried.      -An   engineer  has  not  yet  been  engaged. 

FAIR\  lEW,  S.  D.— The  Sioux  Valley  Wtr.  Pwr.  Co.  is  seeking  fran- 
chises to  supply  electricity  in  Inwood,  Hudson,  Fairview,  Hull,  Doon 
and  other  Iowa  towns.  The  plant  will  be  erected  on  the  Big  Sioux  River 
between  Sioux  Falls  and  Sioux  City.  The  contract  for  construction  of 
dam  and  power  plant  has  been  awarded  to  L.  O.  Latimer,  Eldora,  la. 

KIMB.XLL,  S.  D. — A  company  i%  being  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
supplying  electricity  in   Kimball. 

EAST  L.\KE,  TENN. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  residents  ol 
East  Lake  to  secure  the  installation  of  an  electric-lighting  system  here. 
LENOIR  CITY,  TENN. — The  City  Council  has  awarded  a  contract 
to  the  Lenoir  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  city  for  a 
period  of  ten  years.  The  contract  calls  for  five  100-watt  tungsten  lamps 
in  the  business  district  and  40-watt  tungsten  lamps  in  the  residence 
section. 

AUSTIN,  TEX. — Bids  are  being  asked  by  the  Dieter  &  Wenzel  Constr. 

Co.,  Joplin,  Mo.,  for  electrical  work  on  the  post  office  building  in  Austin. 

.'\USTIN,   TEX. — The  Austin   El.   Co.    has  begun  work  on  construction 

of  an  extension   of  its  street-railway  system  to  the   site  of  the  dam   that 

is  being  constructed  across  the   Colorado  River,  2  miles  west  of  the  city. 

HILLSBORO,    TEX.— The    City    Council    has    granted    the    Southern 


Trac.    Co.   a   franchise   to   construct   and   operate   an   electric   railway   over 
certain  streets  in  Hillsboro. 

HOUSTON,  TEX. — Among  the  improvements  contemplated  by  the 
Southern  Pacific  Company  at  its  terminals  here  is  the  erection  of  a  large 
central  electric  power  plant,  which  will  provide  electricity  for  operating 
the  machinery  in  the  shops,  boiler  works  and  transfer  table. 

PALESTINE,  TEX.— Negotiations  have  been  closed  whereby  the  plant 
and  holdings  of  the  Palestine  El.  &  Ice  Co.  have  been  purchased  by  the 
Texas  Utilities  Corpn.,  of  Dallas.  The  new  company,  it  is  understood, 
will  enlarge  the  plant  and  also  has  under  consideration  the  construction 
of  an  electric  railway  between   Dallas  and  Palestine. 

SANDERSON,  TEX.— Arrangements  are  being  made  by  E.  McGinley 
for  the  installation  of  an   electric-light  plant  here. 

STEPHENVILLE,  TEX.— The  plant  of  the  Stephenville  Lt.  &  Wtr. 
Co.  was  damaged  by  fire  recently,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $2,500. 

ALDERTON,  WASH. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  system  in 
Alderton  is  under  consideration. 

BREMERTON,  WASH.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the 
Bureau  of  Yards  and  Docks,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C, 
until  Sept.  21  for  electric  wiring  and  fixtures  in  new  general  foundry 
building  at  the  navy  yard,  Puget  Sound,  Wash.,  plans  and  specifications 
for  which  may  be  obtained  on  application  to  the  bureau  or  the  com- 
mandant o'f  the  navy  yard  named.  William  M.  Smith  is  acting  chief  of 
bureau. 

CENTRALIA,  WASH. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  construc- 
tion of   a  large  power  plant   on   Packwood   Lake,   near  Centralia. 

CLE  ELUM,  WASH. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Kittitas 
Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  to  Salmon 
la  Sac,  a  distance  of  31  miles.  It  proposed  to  erect  a  power  station  and 
dam  at  Salmon  la  Sac,  with  dams  at  Waptus  and  Cooper  Lakes,  costing 
$100,000  each.  Guy  C.  Williams,  engineer,  Williamsburg,  will  have 
charge   of  the   construction   work. 

NAPAVINE,  W.\SH. — The  Independent  El.  Co.,  a  subsidiary  of  the 
Washington-Oregon  Corpn.,  has  applied  to  the  commissioners  of  Lewis 
County  for  franchises  to  erect  and  operate  a  transmission  line  through 
Napavine  to  supply  electricity  here,  and  for  a  change  of  route  from  the 
old  military  road  in  southern  Lewis  County  to  the  C.  E.  Leonard  Road. 
The  latter  line  will  supply  electricity  in  Winlock,  Little  Falls  and  Castle 
Rock. 

SE.ATTLE.  WASH. — William  D.  Hall,  vice-president  of  the  Grote- 
Rankin  Co.;  J.  S.  Wheeler,  of  Wheeler  &  Heath,  and  S.  L.  Cravens, 
president  and  manager  of  the  Pacific  Lumber  &  Timber  Co.,  it  is  re- 
ported, are  contemplating  the  construction  of  an  interurban  railway  from 
Seattle  to  Olympia,  via  Tacoma.  The  company  will  be  known  as  the 
Seattle-Tacoma-OIympia   Ry.    Co.   and   is  capitalized   at   $1,500,000. 

F.MRMONT.  VV.  V.\. — The  Monongahe'a  Valley  Trac.  Co.  will  soon 
award  contracts  for  the  construction  of  two  new  substations  on  its 
Weston  extension,  each  to  be  equipped  with  one  300-kw  rotary  converter 
and  other  equipment. 

MILWAUKEE,  WIS.— The  Badccr  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  contemplates 
extending  its  system   from   Wliitewater  to  Jefferson. 

PRESCOTT,  WIS. — The  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission  has  ordered 
the  Clifton  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Prescott,  to  make  improvements  and  exten- 
si'  ns  to  its  plant  to  enable  it  to  meet  the  demands  for  electrical  service. 
WEST  SALEM,  WIS. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  issued 
an  order  authorizing  improvements  to  be  made  to  the  local  electric-light 
plant  within  the  next  six  months,  or  the  commission  may  grant  a  cer- 
tificate of  public  convenience  and  necessity  for  the  erection  of  a  new 
plant. 

CHELSE.\  GREEN,  ONT.,  CAN.— 'Petitions  are  being  circulated  by 
the  residents  of  Chelsea  Green  asking  the  city  of  London  to  furnish 
Chelsea   Green   with  electricity    from   its   hydroelectric  system. 

H.ARRISTON,  ONT.,  C.^N. — The  Town  Council  has  decided  to  submit 
to  the  ratepayers  in  the  near  future  a  by-law  providing  for  an  appropria- 
tion of  $12,000  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  system  in  Har- 
riston. 

PORT  D.ALHOUSIE,  ONT.,  CAN.— .\t  an  election  held  Aug.  19  the 
ratepayers  voted  in  favor  of  the  by-law  to  enter  into  a  contract  with 
the  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission  to  furnish  electricity  to  this 
village. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  AUTO  GAS  &  ELECTRIC  LIGHTING  COMPANY,  of  Hilbert, 
Wis.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  W.  E. 
Bishop,  J.  W.  Grupe,   H.  Grupe  and  C.  Bishop. 

THE  CHASTTEEN  SIGNAL  SYSTEM  COMPANY,  of  Chattanooga, 
Tenn.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000  for  the 
purpose  of  manufacturing  a  railway  signaling  device.  W.  J.  Chastteen, 
of  East  Chattanooga,  is  president. 

THE  J.  DUNCAN  COMPANY,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  has  been  incorpor- 
ated with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  F.  F.  Judd,  Winthrop;  J.  Dun- 
can, Somerville,  and  C.  T.  Judd,  Everett.  The  company  proposes  to 
manufacture  trolley  carriers,  switches,   etc.      F.   F.   Judd  is  president. 


474 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9. 


THE  ELECTRIC  SPARK  APPLIANCE  COMPANY,  of  New  York, 
N.  v.,  has  been  incorporated  by  Michael  M.  Lint,  Peter  Ross  and  Alex- 
ander Miller,  of  New  York.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $5,000,  and 
proposes   to   manufacture   electrical    devices    for   automobiles. 

THE  GENERAL  ENGINEERING  &  MANUFACTURING  COM- 
PANY,  of  Lynn,  Mass.,  has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock 
of  $30,000  for  the  purpose  of  doing  general  contracting  work.  The 
incorporators  are:  J.  Coates,  Coatesville,  Pa. ;  M.  M.  Merritt,  Middle- 
town,   and   W.    W.    De Wolfe,   Boston. 

THE  SUBMARINE  WIRELESS  COMPANY,  of  New  York.  N.  Y.,  has 
been  incorporated  by  Count  Laszio  Szechenyi,  of  Budapest,  Hungary;  E.  N. 
Robinson,  J.  M.  Russell  and  D.  C.  Watts,  all  of  New  York.  The  com- 
pany is  capitalized  at  $200,000  and  purposes  to  build  and  operate  systems 
for  submarine  telegraphy  and  signaling  and  transmission  of  messages 
under  or  through  water  by  means  of  sound  waves,  vibrations  or  other 
devices. 

THE  UNION  CAR  &  EQUIPMENT  COMPANY,  of  Chicago.  111.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $250,000  to  deal  in  railway 
equipment.  The  incorporators  are:  W.  G.  Davis,  A.  L.  Jacobs  and 
R.   M.   Davis. 

THE  UNIVERSAL  VACUUM  CLEANER  MAINTENANCE  COM- 
PANY, of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  kas  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock 
of  $25,000  to  manufacture  vacuum  cleaners,  etc.  The  incorporators  are; 
J.  L.  Lund,  R.  E.  Lund,  Brooklyn;  N.  P.  Lund,  Erie,  Pa.,  and  T.  A. 
Berry,  New  York. 


New  Incorporations 

NORDHOFF,  CAL.— The  Ojai  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  formed  by  J.  J. 
Burke  and  E.  L.  Weist  for  the  purpose  of  building  an  electric-light  plant 
at   Nordhoff. 

ANGOLA,  IND. — The  Angola-Waterloo  Utilities  Co.  has  been  granted 
a  charter  with  a  capital  stpck  of  $65,000  for  the  purpose  of  operating 
electric  and  water  systems  in  Angola  and  also  to  operate  in  Steuben  and 
DeKalb  Counties.  The  directors  are:  J.  W.  Durfee,  T.  S.  McGrath  and 
^ames  J.   Elliott,   of   Chicago,   111. 

ANGOLA.  IND.— The  Indiana  Utilities  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  and  operat- 
ing an  electric  i  ail  way  between  Angola  and  James  Lake,  and  to  acquire 
the  electric-light  plant  in  Angola  and  to  erect  and  operate  transmission 
lines,  to  supply  electricity  in  Angola  and  other  towns  and  cities  in 
Steuben  and  DeKalb  Counties.  The  directors  are :  John  E.  Van  Meter, 
H.   L.   Hanley  and   A.    M.   Steelhamer,  of  Chicago,  III. 

WINCHESTER,  IND.— The  Citizens*  Ht.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $400,000  by  J.  T.  Moorman,  E.  F.  Kit- 
selman,  E.  S.  Goodrich,  George  E.  Leggett,  W.  E.  Miller  and  C.  W. 
Moore.  The  company  proposes  to  supply  light,  heat  and  power  to  towns 
and  cities  in  the  vicinity  of  Winchester. 

MONMOUTH,  lA.— The  Monmoutk  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated to  operate  a  heat,  light  and  power  plant  at  Monmouth.  It  has 
an  authorized  capital  stock  of  $10,000,  and  the  incorporators  are  J.  S. 
Walsh,  John  J.  Ryan  and  P.  Wagner,  all  of  Davenport. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY.— The  Kentucky  Utilities  Co.  has  been  incorpo- 
rated with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000,000  by  William  R.  Watson,  Charles  J. 
Ruebling  and  L.  Earle  Powell,  of  Chicago.  The  company  proposes  to 
operate  hydroelectric  plants  and  distribute  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and 
motors;  also  to  operate  artificial  gas  plants,  street  and  interurban  railways, 
ice  factories,  etc. 

FRANKFORT,  MICH.— The  Benzie  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  organized  by 
Col.  Eugene  Zimmerman,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$75,000.  The  company  has  secured  water-power  rights  of  the  Betsey 
River  and  will  begin  work  at  once  on  the  construction  of  a  dam  which 
will  develop  about  600  hp.     Two  other  dams  will  be  erected  later. 

LITTLE  FALLS,  MINN.— The  Pike  Rapids  Hydro-Electric  Co.  has 
been  incorporated  to  construct  a  power  dam  at  Pike  Rapids,  near  Little 
Falls.  The  proposed  plant  will  supply  electricity  in  this  city.  John  L. 
McCauge,  Omaha,  Neb.,  is  interested. 

PRESTON,  MINN.— The  Root  River  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated for  the  purpose  of  developing  the  water-power  of  Root  River 
to  generate  electricity  for  use  in  Preston.  The  company  is  capitalized 
at  $100,000  and  the  incorporators  are:  W.  H.  Williams,  S.  A.  Langum, 
Ole  T.  Brokken,  H.  Somer,  Jr.,  A.  H.  Hanning,  Carl  Hanning,  A.  G. 
Olson  and  others,  all  of  Preston. 

KANSAS  CITY,  MO. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  by  the 
Commerce  Pwr.  Co.,  its  purpose  being  to  generate  and  distribute  steam, 
electricity  and  gas.  The  capital  stock  is  given  at  $75,000,  and  among 
those  interested  are  W.  T.  Kemper,  J.  Z.  Miller,  Jr.,  H.  C.  Schwitzgebel, 
R.  C.   Menefee  and  J.  D.  Rising. 

FULTON,  N.  Y. — The  Battle  Island  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $12,000  by  Thomas  Hunter,  James  C.  Hunter 
and  Robert  B.  Hunter,  all  of  Fulton.  The  company  proposes  to  develop 
water  power. 

HEBRON,  N.  D. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  by  the 
Hebron  EI.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  It  has  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000,  and  the  in- 
corporators are  T.  Bolke  and  E.  H.  Mann,  of  Hebron,  and  A.  Hannes, 
Pelican  Rapids,  Minn. 


FRE.MUNT,  OHIO.— The  Sandusky  River  Pwr.  Co..  with  a  capital 
stock  of  $9,000,000,  has  been  organized  with  F.  R.  McMuUin,  of  Chi- 
cago, as  president,  and  several  Fremont  capitalists  on  the  board  of 
directors. 

ARDMORE,  OKLA.— The  Ardmore  Western  Interurban  Ry.  Co.*  has 
been  organized  to  construct  an  interurban  electric  belt  railway  covering  a 
radius  of  100  miles,  making  Ardmore  the  terminal  point.  A  branch  line 
will  be  built  from  Springer  into  Murray  County.  The  company  is  capital- 
ized at  $250,000.  J.  S.  Owen,  D.  E.  Allen,  T.  C.  Bridgeman,  W.  R. 
Burnitt.  C.  B.  Kendrick  and  R.  A.  White,  all  of  Ardmore,  and  Jesse  L. 
Jordan,  of  Mariette,  are  interested  in  the  project. 

HARRISBURG,  PA.— Charters  have  been  granted  by  the  State  De- 
partment to  the  following  companies:  Hampton  Lt.  Co..  to  operate  in 
Hampton  Township;  Valencia  Lt.  Co.,  \'alencia  Borough ;  Richland  Lt. 
Co.,  Richland  Township;  Shaler  Lt.  Co.,  Shaler  Township;  Penn  Lt.  Co., 
Penn  Township,  Each  company  is  capitalized  at  $5,000  and  the  incorpo- 
rators are:  C.  R.  Battler,  Butler;  George  Heard  and  C.  H.  Hays,  Pitts- 
burgh.    The  offices  of  the  company  are  located  in  Pittsburgh. 

CEDAR  FALLS,  S.  C— The  Cedar  Falls  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  by  J.  M.  Geer,  Greenville,  and  R.  E.  Davenport,  Greer. 
The  company  proposes  to  construct  a  concrete  dam  to  replace  the 
wooden  dam,  and  to  install  an  electric  plant  to  supply  electricity  for  the 
cotton   mills  of  the  Katrine   Mfg.   Co.,   Fork  Shoals. 

FAIRFAX,  S.  C— A  charter  has  been  issued  to  the  Oil  Mill  Mfg. 
Co.,  of  Fairfax,  to  operate  an  electric-light  plant.  The  company  is 
capitalized  at  $20,000,  and  the  following  officers  have  been  elected:  J.  F. 
Lightsey,  president;  F.  M.  Young,  vice-president;  E.  L.  Young,  secre- 
tary and  treasurer. 

DALLAS,  TEX.- — The  Texas  Utilities  Corpn.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $240,000  by  J.  D.  Oliger,  Charles  E.  Hubbell 
and  George  H.  White.  The  company  will  supply  gas  and  electricity  in  20 
counties. 

EL  PASO,  TEX.— The  Rio  Grande  Valley  Trac.  Co.  has  been  incorpo- 
rated with  a  capital  stock  of  $300,000  by  Marshall  M.  P.  Hinncy, 
Theodore  T.  Whitney,  of  Boston,  Mass.;  Edwin  B.  Parker,  C.  R 
Wharton,  J.  H.  Tallichet,  Raymond  Neilson  and  David  Daly,  of  Houston. 

MENARD,  TEX.— The  Menard  Public  Service  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $75,000,  by  J.  L.  Clark.  J.  L.  Clark,  Jr., 
and   S.   C.   Rowe. 

BEAVER  CITY,  UTAH.— The  Beaver  Milling  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $8,000.  The  officers  are:  Wilford 
Robinson,  president;  John  M.  Murdock,  treasurer,  and  O.  A.  Murdock, 
secretary. 

GREEN  RIVER,  UTAH.— The  Green  River  Lt..  Pwr.  &  Utility  Co. 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $300,000  to  supply  elec- 
tricity to  the  town  of  Green  River.  The  officers  are:  D.  W.  Parker, 
president;  George  Day,  vice-president;  S.  J.  Neer,  secretary,  and  F.  A. 
Sparks,   treasurer* 

MINERS VILLE,  UTAH. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed 
by  the  Minersville  Milling  &  Pwr.  Co.  It  is  capitalized  at  $35,000,  and 
the  officers  are:  Frank  Clayton,  president;  George  Marshall,  vice-presi- 
dent; A.   L.  Dotson,  secretary  and  treasurer. 

RUTLAND,  VT.— The  Western  Vermont  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,300,000  by  A.  Livingston  Norman,  of 
New  York,  N.  Y. ;  Thomas  W.  Moloney,  W.  H.  Lawson,  Myrick  L. 
Arthur,  Albert  S.  Reed  and  Charles  H.  West,  of  Rutland.  The  company 
will  be  an  auxiliary  to  the  Rutland  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  and  will  purchase,  oper- 
ate electric  and  steam  plants,  electric  railways.  It  is  understood  that 
the  company  will  take  over  the  Carvers  Falls  plant,  which  is  now  operated 
by  lease  with  the  option  of  purchase  by  the   Rutland   Ry.   &   Lt.    Co. 

FRANKLIN,  \A.— The  Chowan  Wtr.  &  Pwr.  Corp.  has  been  granted 
a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000.  The  officers  are:  C  W.  Gary. 
president;  W.  O.  Bristow,  vice-president,  and  G.  T.  Stephenson,  secretary 
and   treasurer. 

ROSSLYN,  VA.— The  Virginia  Terminal  Co.  has  been  chartered  for 
the  purpose  of  building  a  street  railway  from  Rosslyn,  Va.,  to  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.  Work  will  begin  on  the  railway  as  soon  as  authority  i» 
received  from  Congress.  Harry  Wardman  and  E.  F.  Crawford  are  in- 
terested. 

POTLACH,  WASH.— The  Mason  County  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorpo-* 
rated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000,000  to  build  a  power  plant  in  Pot- 
lach  to  supply  electricity  in  various  parts  of  Mason  County.  Frank 
McKean  and  others  are  incorporators. 

SEATTLE,  WASH.— The  Western 
with  a  capita]  stock  of  $1,000,000.  A. 
among  the  directors. 

WAYNE,  W.  VA.— The  Wayne  Lt., 
a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $30,000  to  operate  water-works,  heat  and 
light  plants,  drill  for  oil  and  gas  and  market  same.  The  incorporators 
are:  B.  J.  Prichard.  E.  R.  Prichard,  Wayne;  J.  R.  Miller.  Eustis.  Fla.; 
H.  H.  Jones  and  I.   B.   Reed,  Crafton,  Pa. 

CAMBRIDGE,  WIS.— The  Cambridge  Lt. 
porated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $7,000  by  A. 
and  J.  W.   Porter. 

MILWAUKEE.    WIS.— The    Northern    EI. 
charter   with   a   capital    stock   of  $5,000.      The   incorporators   are:     William 
G.   Schenk,  Thomas  G.   Perry  and  August  E.  Mauthey. 


Pwr.    Co.    has    been    incorporated 
W.   Wing  and   H.   A.   Wilson   are 

Ht.  &  Wtr.   Co.  has  been  granted 


Pwr.   Co..  has  been  incor- 
C.   Amundson,    H.    C.    Stair 

Co.     has    been    granted    a 


August  31,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


475 


Trade  Publications 


WIRE. — A  folder  just  distributed  by  the  Duplex  Metals  Company, 
Chester,  Pa.,  presents  a  popular  talk  on  its  copper-clad  steel  wire,  in 
which  the  statement  is  made  that  50,000,000  lb.  of  this  wire  is  now  in 
use. 

VALVES. — The  Nelson  blow-off  valve  is  the  subject  of  a  twelve-page 
pamphlet  issued  by  the  Nelson  Valve  Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  It  is 
Btated  that  this  valve  has  no  seats,  no  disks  and  no  taper  joints  to  get 
out  of  order. 

DIE  SETS.— The  J.  M.  Carpenter  Tap  &  Die  Company,  Pawtucket,  R. 
I.,  in  a  small  four-page  folder,  gives  a  table  containing  set  numbers, 
cutting  sizes,  length  of  stock  and  prices  of  its  machinists'  and  blacksmiths' 
screw  plate  sets. 

ELECTRICAL  APPARATUS  IN  AGRICULTURE.— The  Allgemeine 
Elektricitats  Gesellschaft,  Berlin,  Germany,  in  its  Bulletins  Nos.  4  and 
9.  which  have  recently  been  received,  illustrates  and  describes  its 
portable   electric   motors  for  various  uses  on   the   farm. 

LUBRICATION.— ^Book  No.  117  of  the  Chicago  Pneumatic  Tool  Com- 
pany, Chi^cago,  III.,  sets  forth  the  importance  of  proper  lubrication  for 
machinery*  in  general  and  for  the  Rockford  railway  motor  cars  in  par- 
ticular. It  emphasizes  the  vital  necessity  of  proper  lubrication  and  gives 
the  reasons  therefor. 

OIL  DETECTOR.— A  leaflet  on  the  Rollins  oil  detector  for  attaching 
to  oil  separators  bears  the  imprint  of  the  Rollins  Steam  Specialty  & 
Valve  Company,  17  West  Kinzie  Street,  Chicago,  111.  This  detector 
was  designed  for  testing  and  checking  the  efficiency  of  oil  separators  and 
open  feed-water  heaters. 

ELECTRICAL  SPECIALTIES. -Knapp  Electric  &  Novelty  Company, 
511  West  Fifty-first  Street,  New  York,  in  Catalog  No.  22  illustrates  and 
describes  its  various  miniature  motors,  dynamo-motors  and  miniature 
railways  and  other  specialties.  It  contains  also  a  four-page  supplement 
on  Knapp  electric   fans. 

ELECTRICAL  SUPPLIES.— Additional  sheets  for  the  catalog  and 
data  book  of  the  Acme  Electric  Company,  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  have  been 
received.  Among  other  things  they  contain  various  kinds  of  useful 
information,  such  as  how  to  remember  the  wire  table,  equivalents  of 
electrical  units  and  other  matter  of  value. 

CABLE  CLIPS,  GUY  ANCHORS,  ETC.— Leaflets  on  the  Matthews 
cable  clips,  cable  rollers,  cable-splicing  joints  and  guy  anchors  are 
being  sent  out  by  W.  N.  Matthews  &  Brother,  3722  Forest  Park  Boule- 
vard, St.  Louis,  Mo.,  accompanied  by  a  circular  letter,  in  which  a  free 
sample   cable   clip   is   offered   to   anyone    interested. 

HYDROELECTRIC  DEVELOPMENT.— The  General  Electric  Com- 
pany has  just  issued  Bulletin  No.  4966,  devoted  to  hydroelectric  power 
developments.  Various  important  developments  of  this  nature  are 
described— some  of  them  in  considerable  detail — and  numerous  illus- 
trations  of   both   station    and   line    construction   are    shown. 

COPPER-CLAD  STEEL.— The  Duplex  Metals  Company,  of  Chester, 
Pa.,  has  just  published  a  new  illustrated  catalog  entitled  "Copper-Clad 
Steel  for  Telephone  Service."  This  forty-five-page  booklet  describes  the 
process  of  manufacture  and  presents  in  detail  the  properties  of  the 
product.      It  will   interest  all  telephone,   telegraph   and   signal   men. 

MOTORS.— Bulletin  No.  491  is  the  successor  to  Bulletin  No.  391, 
issued  by  the  Triumph  Electric  Company,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  devoted  to 
its  direct-current  steel-frame  motors.  A  full  description  of  the  con- 
structive features  of  these  motors  is  followed  by  illustrations  which  in- 
dicate the  variety  of  applications  in  many  different  industries  in  which 
the  Triumph   motors  are   used. 

STEAM  TRAPS. — Catalog  No.  326  of  the  American  Blower  Company, 
Detroit,  Mich.,  is  devoted  to  the  Detroit  steam  traps.  These  are  appli- 
cable anywhere  that  steam  heat  is  used  and  can  be  used  for  draining  any 
system  on  which  a  pot,  float  or  bucket  trap  is  now  or  could  be  used. 
The  catalog  contains  illustrations  and  descriptions  of  the  trap  system 
and  shows  typical  applications. 

LIGHTNING  ARRESTERS.— The  General  Electric  Company  has  re- 
cently issued  Bulletin  No.  4960,  which  illustrates  and  describes  direct- 
current  lightning  arresters  for  use  in  connection  with  electric  railways. 
Two  types  are  described,  the  magnetic-blowout  arrester  and  the  alumi- 
num arrester.  The  type  to  be  used  depends  upon  the  conditions  to  be 
met,  and  this   point  is  discussed  in   the  bulletin. 

SWITCHBOARDS.— Crane  switchboards,  manufactured  by  the  Elec- 
tric Controller  &  Manufacturing  Company,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  form  the 
subject  of  an  eight-page  insert  in  Common  Sense,  a  magazine  issued  by 
the  same  company  and  edited  by  Mr.  David  Gibson.  The  switchboard 
is  said  to  embody  certain  new  points  of  design  which  seemed  desirable 
from  consideration  of  convenience  of  operation  and  safety  to  the 
workmen. 

SWITCHES.— The  K-P-F  Electric  Company,  37  Stevenson  Street, 
San  Francisco,  Cal.,  is  distributing  Bulletin  No.  101,  devoted  to  its 
22,000-vo)t,  150-amp  pole-top  switch.  Great  simplicity  is  claimed  for 
this  apparatus,  and  its  installation  is  said  to  require  less  labor  and  ma- 
terial than  other  switches  designed  for  similar  service.  The  leaflet  ex- 
plains the  operation  of  the  switch  and  gives  details  of  construction  and 
two   illustrations. 

ELECTRIC     POWER     IN     THE     LUMBER      INDUSTRY.- Bulletin 


4962,  recently  issued  by  the  General  Electric  Company,  is  devoted  to 
the  use  of  electric  power  in  lumber  and  woodworking  industries.  The 
bulletin  contains  illustrations  of  installations  of  motors  used  in  connec- 
tion with  various  branches  of  the  industry,  discusses  alternating  current 
versus  direct  current  for  such  service  and  contains  descriptions  of 
several   important   installations. 

HOUSEHOLD  APPLIANCES.— "Cook  with  Electricity"  is  the  title 
of  a  thirty-two-page  pamphlet  which  is  being  distributed  by  the  Hughes 
Electric  Heating  Company,  226  West  Superior  Street,  Chicago,  111.,  and 
is  of  interest  alike  to  the  central-station  man  and  the  housewife.  The 
advantages  of  the  electric  range  and  other  heating  devices,  the  expense 
of  operation,  the  form  of  construction,  dimensions  and  prices,  are  all 
set    forth   in    a   convincing  manner.      The   booklet   is   fully  illustrated. 

AUTOMATIC  STOKERS.— Bulletin  B-1  on  the  Class  "E**  stoker 
made  by  the  American  Stoker  Company,  1 1  Broadway,  New  York,  has 
just  been  published.  This  type  is  said  to  embody  a  distinct  advance  in 
design,  and  a  claim  is  made  by  the  manufacturers  that  it  is  more 
efficient  than  any  stoker  heretofore  produced.  The  illustrations  and  de- 
scriptive matter,  together  with  some  useful  data  relating  to  steam  cal- 
culations, combine  to  make  a  bulletin  of  interest  to  all  present  and 
prospective   users   of   this   type    of   apparatus. 

INDUSTRIAL  RAILWAYS.— The  C.  W.  Hunt  Company,  West  New 
Brighton,  New  York,  has  just  published  Catalog  No.  12-1,  describing  its 
industrial  narrow-gage  railways.  These  railways  first  appeared  thirty 
years  ago  and  are  now  being  operated  in  large  numbers  all  over  the 
world.  The  catalog  illustrates  and  describes  in  detail  the  constructive 
features  of  this  railway  system,  and  throughout  its  pages  appear  il- 
lustrations shewing  installations  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  handling 
a  wide  variety  of  material.  Some  useful  engineering  data  are  also 
included. 

STREET  LIGHTING.— The  Macbeth-Evans  Glass  Company,  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  in  its  illustrated  Booklet  No.  53,  presents  information  of 
interest  on  the  lighting  of  the  Atlantic  City  Boardwalk.  This  famous 
pier  has  had  much  added  to  its  attractiveness,  by  day  as  well  as  by 
night,  since  the  installation  of  the  new  ornamental  lighting  system 
which  called  for  the  use  of  tungsten  lamps  in  Alba  diffusing  globes 
made  by  this  company.  The  posts  are  60  ft.  apart,  on  both  sides  of  the 
promenade,  and  the  entire  installation  presents  a  very  handsome  ap- 
pearance. 

LAUNDRY  MACHINERY.— The  current  interest  of  the  householder, 
as  well  as  of  the  central-station  man,  in  domestic  appliances  which  may 
be  used  with  electric  drive  makes  the  appearance  of  Catalog  A  of  the 
Hurley  Machine  Company,  Clinton  and  Monroe  Streets,  Chicago,  111., 
rather  timely.  Typical  laundry-room  plans,  two  for  high-class  homes 
and  one  for  medium-sized  homes  and  apartment  buildings,  are  illus- 
trated. Specifications  and  excellent  pictures  of  each  style  of  machine 
for  washing,  wringing,  drying  and  ironing  are  also  given,  with  prices 
and  other  general  information   on  the  Thor  apparatus. 

FUEL  ECONOMIZERS.— A  comprehensive  and  fully  illustrated  cata- 
log— No.  142 — has  been  issued  by  the  Green  Fuel  Economizer  Company, 
Matteawan,  N.  Y.,  on  the  subject  of  its  economizers,  white-heat  air 
heaters  and  mechanical-draft  outfits.  Beginning  with  a  chapter  on  the 
reason  for  the  economizer  and  following  with  others  of  a  very  practical 
nature  dealing  with  all  phases  of  the  improvement  of  steam-plant  economy 
via  the  fuel  economizer,  this  publication  will  be  found  interesting  and 
useful.  Details  of  design  and  photographs  of  actual  installations  lend 
additional  interest  as  showing  recent  developments  in  steam  practice.  A 
table  showing  the  properties  of  saturated  steam  forms  the  closing  matter. 

INDIRECT  LIGHTING.— A  specimen  of  the  fine  art  of  catalog 
making  is  found  in  the  unique  and  distinctive  addition  to  the  "bulletins" 
recently  distributed  by  the  National  X-Ray  Reflector  Company,  Chicago. 
It  consists  of  sixty  photogravures,  6  in.  by  9  in.,  showing  prominent 
installations  of  the  company's  "Eye  Comfort"  system  in  various  types 
of  interiors.  On  the  back  of  each  of  these  fine  illustrations  are  given 
engineering  data  and  a  brief  description  of  the  applicability  of  the 
"Eye  Comfort"  system  to  that  particular  type  of  interior.  Several 
new  fixture  designs  are  also  illustrated.  An  article  on  "Indirect  Illumi- 
nation" and  some  comparative  cost  data  add  practical  value  to  this 
rather  distinctive  form  of  publicity.  The  subject  of  illumination  is  re- 
ceiving such  wide  attention  at  the  present  time  that  these  new  pub- 
lications of  the  National  X-Ray  Reflector  Company  cannot  fail  to  appeal 
alike  to  the   dealer   and   contractor   and   the    prospective   user. 


Business  Notes 


BRYAN-MARSH  KANSAS  CITY  OFFICE.— The  Bryan-Marsh  Elec- 
tric Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  Chicago,  have  opened  a 
branch  office  at  908  Broadway,  Kansas  City.  The  new. office  is  known 
as  the  Southwestern  sales  office  of  the  Bryan-Marsh  Electric  Works.  Its 
manager  is  Mr.  Sam  Furst,  who  has  been  connected  with  the  company 
for  a  number  of  years. 

RECENT  INSTALLATIONS  OF  LANG-McWILLIAMS  METER 
PANELS. — Among  recent  oflice  buildings  to  install  the  Lang-McWilliams 
"Simplicity"  metering  panels,  by  means  of  which  the  circuits  of  any 
room  or  rooms  can  be  grouped  under  a  desired  meter  by  a  simple  plug 
adjustment,   are  the  following:      Rand  McNally   Building,  Kaestner   Build- 


476 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  9. 


ing,  Harris  Trust  and  Savings  Bank  IJuilding,  Webster  Building,  God- 
dard  Building,  City  Hall  Square,  Mailers  Building,  Lytton  Building, 
Otis  Building  and  Great  Lakes  Building,  all  of  Chicago;  Citizens'  Bank 
Building,  Tampa,  Fla.;  Merchants'  Trust  Bank  Building,  Indianapolis, 
Ind. ;  Detroit  Free  Press  Building,  Detroit,  Mich.;  First  National  Bank 
Building,     Waterloo,     la.,     and     Jefferson     Building,     Peoria,     111.       These 


panels  make  possible  permanent  construction  in  the  circuit  lay-out  of 
the  building,  all  changes  of  tenants'  circuits  made  necessary  by  changes 
in  number  of  rooms  to  be  connected  under  a  given  meter  being  accom- 
plished by  movable  contacts  between  two  transverse  sets  of  busbars  on 
the  panelboard.  The  panels  are  manufactured  by  the  J.  Lang  Electric 
Company.    421-429    North    Lincnln    Street,   Chicago. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED   STATES   PATENTS  ISSUED  AUG.   20,   1912. 
[Prepared   by   Robert    Starr   Allyn,    16   Exchange   Place,    New   York.] 

1,035,873.  PROCESS  OF  PRODUCING  ENDOTHERMIC  GAS  RE- 
ACTIONS AND  APPARATUS  THEREFOR;  H.  Grohmann, 
Cologne,  Germany.  App.  filed  Aug.  19,  1911._  Annular  air  and  gas 
nozzles  concentric  with  an  electrode;  for  forming  nitrogen  oxide,  etc. 

1,035,883.  MANUFACTURE  OF  EXCEEDINGLY  THIN  METALLIC 
GLOWING  FILAMENTS  FOR  ELECTRIC  INCANDESCENT 
LAMPS;  A.  Lederer,  Atzgerdorf,  Austria-Hungary.  App.  filed 
April  3,  1906.     A  filament  of  paste  is  reduced  by  sintering. 

1,035,894.  GAS-FEED  VAL\-E  FOR  VACUUM  TUBES;  D.  McF. 
Moore,  Newark,  N.  J.  App.  filed  Dec.  31,  1910.  Automatic  valve 
intended  to  prevent  loss  in  shipment. 

1,035,919.  REDUCTION  OF  BORON  COMPOUNDS;  F.  T.  Tone, 
Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Jan.  18,  1909.  A  bath  of  boron 
compound,  fluxing-material,  reducing-agent,  metalliferous  material 
is   fused   in   an   electric   circuit. 

1,035,931.  BENDABLE  INCLOSING  CASING;  A.  E.  Woodhouse, 
Kingsway,  London,  England.  App.  filed  March  7,  1910.  A  trough 
and  Its  cover  are  indented  along  the  edges  and  sides. 

1,035.958.  PROTECTIVE  APPARATUS  FOR  RADIOTELEGRAPHIC 
STATIONS;  E.  Girardeau,  Paris,  France.  App.  filed  May  26,  1911. 
Ultra-violet  rays  are  generated  near  the  spark-gap. 

1,035,964.  MACHINE  FOR  AND  METHOD  OF  ELECTRIC  WELD- 
ING; E.  I.  Heinsohn  and  W.  R.  Edwards,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  App. 
filed   Dec.   4,    1911.      Rotating  electrodes   for  lap-welding  tubes,   etc. 

1,035,971.  SELECTIVE  SIGNALING  APPARATUS;  D.  W.  Kneisly, 
Dayton,  Ohio.     .App.  filed  May  3.   1909.     Party-line  telephone  lock-out. 

1,035,986.  TROLLEY-POLE  CONSTRUCTION;  A.  K.  McQuade, 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.  App.  filed  June  4,  1910.  The  pole  is  operated  from 
the    interior    of   the   car. 

1,035,994  DEVICE  FOR  PASSING  CABLES  THROUGH  PIPE 
LINES;  O.  B.  Mueller,  New  Rochelle,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Nov.  11. 
1909.  An  expansible  cup  piston  is  provided  with  a  pulling  cable  and 
a  contracting   cable. 

1,036,010.  WEATHERPROOF  ELECTRICAL  RECEPTACLES;  F.  J. 
Russell,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Jan.  25,  1908.  Plug  and 
lamp  socket  with  a  helical  wire  holder. 

1,036,019.  ELECTRIC  SNAP  SWITCH;  T.  M.  Smith.  New  York, 
N.   Y.      App.   filed   March    17,    1909.      Terminal    molding   switch. 

1,036,056.  IMPULSE  TRANSMITTER;  C.  R.  .\ustin,  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.      App.   filed   Feb.    15,   1911.      Dial  type   for  telephones. 


1,036,136. — Tool   for  Stringing  Line  \\'ires. 

1,036,063.  VENTILATING  AND  COOLING  SYSTEM  FOR  BAT- 
TERIES; C.  H.  Bedell  and  G.  E.  Edgar,  New  London,  Conn.  App. 
filed  Aug.   7,    1911.      For  submarine  boats,  etc. 

1,036,077.  SWITCHBOARD  AND  RHEOSTAT;  E.  M.  Crane,  Detroit, 
Mich.  App.  filed  March  22,  1909.  For  dental  laboratory  motors, 
lamps,    driers,    furnaces,    etc. 

1,036,112.  TROLLEY  SPLICE;  E.  Heydon,  Indianapolis,  Ind.  App. 
filed  April  20,  1912.  Clamp  for  holding  the  ends  of  wire  in  align- 
ment. 

1,036,114.     DEVICE     FOR     PASSING     CABLES     THROUGH      PIPE 


A.    E.    Black- 
1910.      Junction 

App.    filed    June 


V.     A.     McHarg, 
Multiple   manually 


A.     Misland,      Bayonne. 
gradually   short-circuited 


LINES;    B.    B.    Hodgman,   East   Orange,    N.   J.      App.    filed   April    15, 
1910.     The   carrier   cup   has   a  plurality   of   compartments. 

1.036.115.  SWITCH    LOCK    FOR    IGNITION     CIRCUITS;     P.     Hoff- 
mann  and  T.   H.    Hupfer,   St.   Louis,   Mo.     App.   filed   Feb.   23,    1912.  ■ 
Pin-tumbler    lock   and    multiple    switch. 

1.036.116.  AUTOMATIC  TEMPERATURE  REGULATOR;  H.  Hohl- 
mann,  Jr.,  Es.'-en-on-the-Ruhr,  Germany.  App.  filed  Feb.  6,  1911.  For 
cooking   receptacles,    etc. 

1,036.126.  ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  F.  Kuhn  and  F.  E.  Shailor,  Detroit, 
Mich.  App.  filed  June  27,  1910.  Rotatable  cylinder  for  electrically 
heated  warming  pads,  etc. 

1,036,136.  TOOL  FOR  STRINGING  LINE  WIRES;  H.  A.  Menager, 
Gallipolis,  Ohio.  App.  filed  Jan.  7,  1911.  For  holding  the  wire  on 
the  cross-arm  before  tying. 

1,036.143.  TERMINAL  FOR  IGNITERS;  R.  M.  G.  Phillips,  Minneapo- 
lis, Minn.  App.  filed  Feb.  21,  1911.  A  slip  joint  between  the  con- 
ductor and  the  binding  post. 

1,036,177.     ELECTRICAL    DISTRIBUTING    CABINET; 
man.    Mount    Vernon,    N.    Y.      App.    filed    June    15, 
device  for  sectional  boxes  having  hinged  covers. 

1,036,286.     TROLLEY;    G.    E.    Lynch,    Chelsea,    Mass. 
21.  1907.     .\  torsion  spring  for  a  pivoted  trolley  arm. 

1.036.293.  SWITCH    AND    CUT-OUT    DEVICE;    A. 
New    York,    N.    V.      App.    filed    March    28.    1912. 
operated   switch  lever  and   removable   fuses. 

1.036.294.  SWITCH;  A.  V.  A.  McHarg,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed 
April  8,    1912.      Push-button  socket  switch. 

1.036.296.  CONNECTOR  FOR  ELECTRICAL  CONDUITS;  A.  McMur- 
trie,  New  York.  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Sept.  17,  1907.  Box  connector 
for  flexible  metallic  conduit,  etc. 

1,036,304.  ELECTRICAL  RESISTANCE;  J. 
N.  J.  App.  filed  May  23,  1910.  A  coil  i 
by  compressing  it  on  a  conducting  support. 

1,036,317.  CASING;  G.  E.  Palmer,  Winchester.  Mass.  App.  filed  June 
6,   1910.     For  meters  and  cut-outs. 

1,036,326.  ELECTRIC  PULL-SOCKET  SWITCH;  W.  Pfeifer,  Jr.,  Jer- 
sey City,  N.  J.  -App.  filed  Jan.  22,  1912.  Making  and  breaking  con- 
tact details. 

1,036.344.  PRIMARY  BATTERY;  A.  L.  Saltzman,  East  Orange,  N.  J. 
.\pp.  filed  Feb.  28,  1911.  Copper  oxide  and  zinc  type.  (Improve- 
ment  on    Dodge   patent,    No.   894,487.) 

1.036.372.  ELECTRIC  SIGNALING  SYSTEM;  J.  D.  Taylor,  Edge- 
wood  Park.  Pa.  App.  filed  Jan.  11,  1910.  Railway  block  system 
with    continuous   rails. 

1.036.373.  RAILW.AY  SIGNALING  MECHANISM;  J.  D.  Taylor, 
Edgewood  Park,  Pa.  App.  filed  May  26.  1910.  The  signal-actuating 
motor  holds  the  signal  in  its  clear  position. 

1,036.402.      TROLLEY    POLE;    W.    L.    Wright,    Philadelphia,    Pa.      App. 

filed  Jan.    19,    1909.      Tapered    tubu'ar   sheet-metal    pole. 
1,036,411.     ELECTRICAL   ADVERTISING    DEVICE;    N.    O.    Anderson 

and   F.   O.   Hutchings,   San   Francisco,   Cal.      App.   filed   Dec.   7,    1911. 

Rotatable  sign   with  colored  lights. 

1.036.417.  DISTANT-CONTROL  ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  C.  C.  Badeau, 
Winthrop,  Mass.  App.  filed  Feb.  17,  1911.  Iron-clad  magnet  and 
mechanical   details. 

1.036.418.  COMBINED  SOCKET  AND  SWITCH  FOR  ELECTRIC 
LIGHTS;  D.  A.  Bailey,  F'ort  Worth,  Tex.  App.  filed  Feb.  24,  1912. 
A  number   of  lamps  can  be  controlled   from   a  single   socket. 

1,036,423.     PROTECTING    DEVICE    FOR    METER    CONNECTIONS; 

P.    H.    Bartlett,    Philadelphia,    Pa.      App.    filed    March    19,    1912.      A 

metal  box  with  a  hinged  door  and  a  metal  adapter  box. 
1,036,437.     IRON   .ARM   AND   KNOB;   F.    Browalski,   Worden,   III.      App. 

filed  March   30,    1912.      Pole-insulator  construction. 
1,036.443.     TELEGRAPH    KEY;    G.    V.    Buqoui,    St.    James,    La.      App. 

filed    Oct.    30,    1911.      The    key    is    operated    by    a    horizontal    rolling 

motion  of  the  hand. 
1036  445.     SERIES    TR.ANSFORMER;     G.     A.     Burnham,    Cliftondale, 

Mass.      App.    filed    March    31,    1911.     The    ratio   may   be   changed   for 

accommodating  dift"erent  loads. 
1.036.457.     TROLLEY;    N.    B.    Coon,    North    Braddock,    Pa.      App.    filed 

Jan.   4,    1912.      Has   yielding  gripping  members. 
1,036.471.     STOR.AGE   BATTERY;   T.   A.    Edison,   Llewellyn   Park.  West 

Orange,   N.  J.     App.   filed  June  6,    1910.      Powdered  nickel   hydroxide 

and  bismuth  are   compressed  into  a  perforated  pocket. 
1,036,477.     TROLLEY-SUPPORTING     MECHANISM;     D.     T.     Fisher, 

Columbus,   Ohio.     App.  filed  Feb.    10,   1909.     Spring  device   for   mine 

locomotives,  etc. 

1.036.498.  PROCESS  OF  MAKING  STEEL;  F.  B.  Lamb,  Bettendorf, 
la.  .App.  filed  Jan.  3,  1911.  The  charge  is  liquefied,  bessemerized 
and  electrically  refined  in  a  single  vessel. 

1.036.499.  METALLURGICAL  FURNACE;  F.  B.  Lamb,  Bettendorf, 
la.  -App.  filed  Feb.  28,  1911.  Tilting  open-hearth  regenerative 
furnace   with  a  converting  chamber. 

1.036.507.  METER-TESTING  CONNECTION  BLOCK;  T.  E.  Murray, 
New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Sept.  1,  1911.  Spring  bridge  for  a 
gang  plug. 

1.036.508.  CONNECTION  DEVICE  FOR  CIRCUIT  CONDUCTORS; 
T.  E.  Murray,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  March  9,  1912.  Plural- 
ity   of    interchangeable    insulating   blocks. 

1,036.510.  ELECTRIC  FUSE;  T.  E.  Murray.  New  York,  N.  Y.  App. 
filed  May  2,  1912.  A  fuse  strip  is  wound  on  a  refractory  core  and 
placed  between  two  contacts. 


ay 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American   Electrician. 


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NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  SEPTEMBER  7,  1912. 


No.  10. 


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CONTENTS. 

Editorials     47J 

Congress  for  Testing  Materials 476 

New    England   Electric   Development   .\ssociation 476 

International  Congress  of  Applied  Chemistry 476 

Pennsylvania  Electric  Association  Convention  .^  ._,.... 476 

Street  Lighting  with  Quartz-Tube   Mercury-Vapor  Lamps 47S 

The    Tungsten    Lamp    Situation 479 

Electric  Lighting  Development  in  New  York 480 

Big   Creek    Hydroelectric    Development 460 

Municipal  Electricians  in  Session  at  Peoria 482 

An  Organized  Movement  Toward  Co-operation  and  Expansion 483 

Public  Service  Commission   News 486 

Current  News  and  Notes 487 

Western    Canada   Power    Company's   System <  . ; 489 

Street  Lighting  in  Toronto,  Ontario.     By  K.  L.  Aitken 493 

Keokuk-St.  Louis  Transmission  Line 496 

Installation    of    Small  Power   Plants   in    Federal    Office   Buildings.— 11. 

By  D.    F.   Atkins  and  H.   M.    Price 498 

Replacing    Old    Transformer    Cores    with    New    Ones.      By    John    G. 

Homan 501 

Radiant  Efficiency  of  the  Carbon  .-\rc  Lamp.      By  William  H.   Damon 

and  William  J.  Enders 502 

Experience  with  Lignite  in  Texas  Central  Stations 505 

Purchasing   Coal   on    a    Heat-Unit    Basis   at    Springfield,    Ohio 506 

Starting  Switch  for  Alternating-Cui  rent  Motors 506 

Home-Made    Anemometer     for     Healing     Plant 507 

Safety-Stop    Switches    for    Conveyor 507 

Consolidations   and    Street-Lighting    Rates 508 

Rural  Service  to  700  Farmers  Near  Stockton,  Cal 508 

A   Traveling   Electric    Show 509 

Electric  Deep-Well  Pumping.     By  J.   E.   Bullard 510 

Why  Lighting   Bills   Increase 512 

Electric   Service   Table 512 

Electrical    Illumination    at    Halifax 513 

Automatic   Control   of  Curb  Lighting  Fed   from   Edison   System 513 

Tungsten-Lamp  Standards  for  Church  Entrances 514 

Decorative  Flame-Arc  Lighting  for  Dearborn   Street,   Chicago 514 

Illumination  of  the  Grand  Avenue  Viaduct,  Milwaukee 515 

Ornamental  Street  Lighting  at  Jonesboru,  Ark 516 

Letter  to  the  Editors: 

Rates   for   Electrical   Energy.      By   William   McDonald 516 

Digest  of   Current   Electrical   Literature 517 

Book     Reviews 520 

New  Apparatus  and  .-Appliances 521 

Industrial     and     Financial     News 526 

Directory    of    Electrical    Associations,    Societies,   etc 535 

Weekly     Record    of    Electrical     Patents 536 


PROGRESS  IN  ELECTRIC  LIGHTING. 

It  has  long  been  our  custom  to  pubHsh  in  September  a 
special  number  devoted  to  the  electric-lighting  situation  in 
its  various  phases.  The  early  autumn  is  the  appropriate 
time  for  special  discussion  of  lighting  problems  since  it 
marks  the  beginning  of  the  annual  period  of  greatest 
activity  in  the  new  lighting  work.  Following  this  custom, 
readers  of  the  Electrical  World  may  expect  to  see  a  very 
thorough  special  consideration  of  many  topics  related  to 
electric  lighting,  not  as  heretofore  in  a  single  issue,  but 
enriching  all  of  our  issues  during  September  and  October. 
The  reason  for  this  abandonment  of  the  earlier  policy  is  not 
far  to  seek,  for  it  rests  on  the  very  growth  of  the  business. 
New  methods,  new  apparatus  and  new  interests  in  electric 
lighting  have  so  multiplied  in  number  and  importance  that 
no  single  issue  of  any  practicable  size  can  conveniently 
compass  them.  The  e.xtensions  in  the  uses  of  electricity 
and  the  forms  of  industry  in  which  electrical  energy  plays 
an  important  part  have  been  singularly  great,  and  the  rapid 
increase  in  the  intelligent  scientific  study  of  illumination  in 
all  its  branches  has  opened  new  fields  for  electric  lighting 
and  hence  new  avenues  for  the  sale  of  energy. 

Instead  of  publishing  a  single  annual  lighting  number 
we  purpose  to  recognize  the  annual  lighting  season,  dur- 
ing which  this  journal  will  be  enriched  by  special  articles 
covering  every  department  of  electrical  lighting,  technical 
and  practical.  The  papers  already  secured  total  nearly  two 
score  and  range  from  researches  on  the  technical  properties 
of  illuminants  to  practical  discussions  of  the  latest  installa- 
tions for  special  purposes.  We  believe  that  in  this  way,  and 
in  this  way  only,  can  we  be  of  the  greatest  service  to  our 
friends  in  the  lighting  business.  The  needs  of  our  readers, 
from  their  particular  association  with  the  industry,  are 
extremely  various  and  can  be  satisfied  effectively  only  by  a 
series  of  articles  touching  every  point  of  the  art;  and  right 
here,  as  an  essential  feature  of  further  advance,  let  us  point 
out  the  necessity  of  pushing  vigorously  and  aggressively  the 
campaign  for  good  lighting  all  along  the  line.  Electric 
lighting  for  many  years  rested  under  the  stigma  of  being  a 
luxury.  The  time  has  come  when  it  is,  or  ought  to  be,  con- 
sidered as  a  necessity,  and  moreover,  it  is  one  of  the  very 
few  necessities  of  which  the  prices  have  actually  declined, 
instead  of  conspicuously  rising,  during  the  past  decade.  To 
this  end,  the  recognition  of  electric  lighting  as  a  necessity, 
the  most  earnest  efforts  of  all  associated  with  the  electrical 
industry   should  be  directed. 

The  weakest  spot  among  the  infinitude  of  links  that  chain 
the  central  station  to  the  community  is  just  now  the  use  of 
electricity  in  the  household.  If  every  dwelling  in  which  a 
telephone  can  be   found  had  electric  lighting  and  auxiliary 


474 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


appliances,  the  business  of  the  central  stations  would  take 
so  sudden  an  upward  leap  that  it  would  be  hard  to  follow  it. 
The  telephone  companies  have  been  most  assiduous  in 
driving  home  to  every  householder  the  fact  that  the  tele- 
phone is  a  practical  necessity,  but  the  lighting  companies 
have  too  often  given  the  householder  the  cold  shoulder  and 
a  rate  which  convinces  him  that  electric  lighting  is  still  a 
luxury.  Unless  the  signs  of  the  times  fail  entirely,  how- 
ever, the  more  progressive  central  stations  are  now  building 
up  the  household  load,  not  yet  to  even  the  small  fraction  of 
its  true  importance,  but  far  beyond  the  practice  of  a  few- 
years  since.  Small  items  are  not  to  be  scoffed  at  in  the 
ledger,  if  there  are  plenty  of  them.  The  street-railway  com- 
panies live  and  move  and  pay  their  dividends  on  nickel  con- 
tributions. It  is  clearly  the  line  of  advance  in  electric 
supplv  to  look  sharply  after  every  chance  to  sell  a  few 
kilowatt-hours  to  someone,  or  for  some  purpose,  not  yet 
recorded  in  the  books  of  the  company.  \\'e  give  our  friends 
of  the  lighting  fraternity  greeting,  and  we  hope  that  our 
efforts  during  the  next  two  months  may  lay  before  them 
material  which  shall  help  to  their  greater  activity  and 
prosperity. 


TORONTO  STREET   LIGHTING. 

Elsewhere  in  this  issue  is  described  the  electric  street 
lighting  of  Toronto,  Canada,  which  is  unique  among  street- 
lighting  installations  on  this  continent  in  several  respects. 
It  represents  a  good  example  of  what  can  be  done  bv  placing 
small  lamps  at  frequent  intervals,  on  one  side  of  the  street 
in  some  cases  and  on  both  sides  of  the  street  in  others.  It 
also  represents  about  the  first  attempt  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic  to  light  all  the  residence  streets  of  a  good-sized 
city  with  closely  spaced  lamps  mounted  on  ornamental  poles. 
The  poles  and  lanterns  which  they  carry  are  specially  in- 
teresting because  they  render  the  overhead  distribution  sys- 
tem neat  and  ornamental.  It  is  by  far  the  largest  single 
installation  of  concrete  poles  for  electrical  purposes  yet 
made,  over  24,000  being  in  use  in  Toronto.  Remarkably 
good  results  in  concrete  molding  were  obtained  with  them, 
so  that  they  present  a  very  smooth  and  neat  appearance. 
The  lanterns,  which  are  supported  on  the  poles  by  simple 
and  inexpensive  brackets,  have  cylindrical  globes  of  dif- 
fusing glass.  The  concrete  poles  and  lanterns  were  very 
carefully  designed  with  a  view  to  neat  appearance  and 
low  construction  cost.  Both  objects  seem  to  have  been 
attained  to  a  notable  degree,  and  the  low  cost  at  which 
these  poles  are  said  to  have  been  produced  should  stimulate 
their  use  elsewhere. 

The  results  in  street  illumination  are,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, far  superior  to  those  usually  found  in  residence 
streets.  The  energy  expended  per  mile  of  street  is  suffi- 
cient, and  the  results  are  satisfactory.  Other  cities  should 
follow  the  example  set  in  Toronto  and  work  toward  the 
better  lighting  of  residence  streets  with  more  sightly  con- 
struction than  has  heretofore  prevailed.  Toronto  has  dem- 
onstrated that  there  is  a  happy  mean  between  prohibitively 
expensive  underground  construction  and  common  wood- 
pole  construction,  and  that  there  are  ways  of  rendering 
overhead  construction  neat  and  artistic. 


THE  CHEMICAL  TECHNOLOGY  OF  ELECTRICAL  ILLUHINANTS. 

A  very  interesting  and  clearly  presented  brief  on  the 
importance  of  chemistry  in  the  development  of  artificial 
illuminants  has  recently  appeared  in  Elcktrotechnik  und 
Maschincnbau.  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  O.  Kruh.  The  writer 
begins  by  pointing  out  that  whereas  pure  yellow-green  light 
represents  about  0.015  watt  per  mean  spherical  international 
candle-power,  the  best  arc  lamps  absorb  0.25  watt  and 
tungsten  lamps  1.6  watts  per  candle-power.  He  then  dis- 
cusses the  chemical  relations  of  the  substances  employed, 
both  in  arc  lamps  and  in  incandescent  lamps.  It  is  remark- 
able how  few  substances  have  hitherto  been  found  suitable, 
either  in  pure  or  in  alloyed  form,  for  illuminating  purposes. 
Moreover,  such  elements  as  have  been  found  suitable  do 
not  appear  to  be  grouped,  or  closely  related,  from  a  chemi- 
cal standpoint.  Carbon  arc  lamps  are  shown  to  divide  them- 
selves naturally  into  three  classes,  namely,  those  that  use 
solid  carbons,  cored  carbons  and  flaming-arc  carbons.  The 
first  two  classes  depend  essentially  for  their  light  produc- 
tion upon  the  continuous-spectrum  radiation  of  highly 
heated  carbon  in  the  positive  crater.  The  only  purpose 
served  by  the  core  in  these  cases  is  the  centralization  of  the 
arc.  In  the  third  class,  however,  the  drop  of  potential 
between  carbon  and  vapor  is  much  reduced,  while  that  in 
the  column  of  vapor  is  greatly  increased.  The  arc  itself 
therefore  yields  the  principal  share  of  emitted  light,  and 
the  spectrum  is  no  longer  continuous  but  shows  bands  or 
selective  distribution.  It  is  to  this  gas  spectrum  of  bright 
bands,  as  distinguished  from  the  continuous  spectrum  of  a 
glowing  solid,  that  the  flaming  arc  owes  its  relatively  high 
efficiencv.  A  distinction  is  clearly  drawn  between  mag- 
netite and  flaming  carbon  arcs,  since  in  the  former  it  is 
essential  that  the  magnetite  should  be  the  negative  elec- 
trode, whereas  in  the  latter  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference 
which  electrode  contains  the  calcium  fluoride.  Conse- 
quently, in  the  magnetite  arc,  as  well  as  in  the  titanium  arc, 
the  phenomena  are  not  merely  thermal,  but  are  essentially 
electrochemical. 

Mercury-arc  lamps  are  divided  into  two  classes  according 
to  the  pressure  of  the  mercury  vapor  which  they  contain. 
In  the  case  of  vacuum-tube  lamps,  the  spectrum  is  essen- 
tially of  the  banded  type,  or  glowing-gas  type.  In  the  case 
of  mercury  lamps  containing  mercury  vapor  under  appre- 
ciable pressure,  as  in  the  quartz-tube  lamps,  the  spectrum 
is  essentially  that  of  the  glowing  solid  type,  or  continuous 
type.  Nevertheless,  up  to  the  present  time,  a  higher 
efficiency  has  been  reached  in  the  quartz  mercury-arc  lamps 
than  in  the  vacuum-tube  mercury-arc  lamps.  Turning  to 
incandescent  lamps,  the  reasons  for  the  blackening  of  the 
lamp  chamber  during  the  working  lifetime  receives  con- 
sideration, among  various  other  subjects.  It  is  commonly 
supposed  that  the  blackening  action  is  mainly  physical,  it 
being  attributed  to  the  evaporation  of  carbon  vapor  from 
the  surface  of  the  glowing  filament  and  the  subsequent 
condensation  of  this  vapor  in  the  form  of  a  semi-opaque 
solid  film  on  the  cooler  interior  surface  of  the  lamp 
chamber.  Reasons  are  pointed  out,  however,  for  believing 
that  the  action  is  chemical  rather  than  physical.  Thus,  if 
oxygen  is  present  in  small  quantities  within  the  lamp 
chamber,    it    tends    to    combine    with    the    carbon    to    form 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


^7^' 


carbon-dioxide,  which,  at  the  higher  temperature  of  the 
filament,  tends  to  break  up  into  carbon  monoxide,  with 
absorption  of  carbon ;  while,  at  the  lower  temperature  of 
the  glass  wall,  this  carbon-monoxide  tends  to  return  to 
dioxide,  with  release  and  deposit  of  carbon.  There  is  thus 
set  up  a  chemical  endless  chain  taking  carbon  from  the 
high-temperature  filament  and  throwing  it  down  on  the  low- 
temperature  glass  wall.  It  is  pointed  out,  in  conclusion, 
that,  although  the  whole  known  field  of  chemical  substances 
has  already  been  worked  over  during  recent  years,  in  the 
search  for  improved  glow-lamp  filaments  there  is  yet  much 
hope  for  future  success,  in  finding  either  purer  specimens 
of  available  elementary  substances  or  suitable  combinations 
of  more  than  one  element. 


UTILIZATION  OF  PEAT. 

A  note  in  the  Digest  gives  a  report  on  some  instructive 
experiments  tried  abroad  on  peat  as  a  fuel  used  both  di- 
rectly and  as  the  source  of  producer  gas.  Many  an  effort 
has  been  made  to  utilize  peat  as  a  commercial  fuel  both 
in  this  country  and  abroad,  but  thus  far  the  economic  re- 
sults have  been,  in  this  country  certainly,  highly  unsatisfac- 
torv,  and  most  foreign  reports  show,  to  say  the  least, 
dubious  results  except  in  some  few  instances.  However, 
good  peat  is  not  to  be  despised  because  of  low  calorific 
value.  The  fundamental  trouble  with  its  utilization  lies 
in  the  usually  very  large  amount  of  moisture  contained, 
varying  from  15  to  20  per  cent  up  to  as  high  as  75  per  cent, 
according  to  the  weather  conditions  at  the  time  of  cutting, 
the  nature  of  the  peat  and  other  circumstances.  Once 
good  peat  is  properly  briquetted  and  dried  it  makes  excel- 
lent and  economical  fuel.  The  commercial  trouble  comes 
from  the  cost  of  drying  and  the  uncertainty  of  the  quality 
of  the  peat.  Peat  deposits  are  usually  streaky,  large  work- 
able veins  of  uniform  quality  being  comparatively  rare. 
Hence  when  the  peat  cutting  is  done  by  machinery  on  a 
considerable  scale  the  likelihood  of  very  irregular  quality 
is  serious,  and  in  any  event  the  cost  of  drying  has  usually 
proved  somewhat  forbidding.  Where  labor  is  cheap  hand- 
cut  and  sun-dried  peat  offers  much  greater  opportunities. 
It  is  to  such  fuel  that  the  article  particularly  refers. 

Experiments  were  also  tried  with  the  peat  used  as  fuel 
under  the  boilers,  and  for  some  time  past  a  large  factory 
has  been  in  operation  with  peat  as  a  source  of  power,  a 
portion  being  burned  directly  and  a  portion  used  in  the 
producer  plant  just  referred  to.  The  fuel  consumption 
varies  largely  according  to  the  quality  of  the  peat.  The 
variation  is  nearly  25  per  cent  above  or  below  the  normal 
according  to  whether  the  peat  is  heavy  and  rich  or  the 
reverse,  the  poorer  peat  clinkering  from  the  presence  of 
sand.  From  the  standpoint  of  economy  the  results  of  this 
combined  plant  have  been  rather  encouraging,  the  fuel  cost 
having  been  reduced  by  nearly  50  per  cent  by  the  use  of 
peat.  When  of  good  quality  and  comparatively  dry  the 
peat  ran  as  high  as  80  per  cent  in  combustible  matter,  about 
25  per  cent  being  fixed  carbon,  and  the  ash  was  singularly 
low,  only  a  little  over  i  per  cent.  The  case  cited  repre- 
sents, it  seems  to  us,  one  of  the  instances  in  which  peat 
fuel   can   be   utilized   successfully;   that   is,   with   a    nearbv 


supply,  facilities  for  sun-drying,  and  fairly  cheap  labor. 
As  a  general  source  for  power  the  material  still  seems 
difficult  of  utilization,  but  the  experiments  here  recorded 
are  sufficient  to  show  that  under  favorable  conditions  the 
economic  results  are  very  good.  As  an  indication  of  the 
relative  value  of  peat  and  coal  the  peat  in  the  instance 
before  us  was  reckoned  at  $1.25  per  ton  and  the  mixture 
of  coal  employed  at  about  $5.60  per  ton,  so  that  under  the 
existing  conditions  the  peat  equaled  in  cost  good  steam 
coal  at  about  $2.80  per  ton — not  a  bad  showing  by  any 
means,  and  quite  good  enough  to  encourage  similar  experi- 
ments elsewhere. 


THE  MUNICIPAL  ELECTRICIANS. 

At  the  annual  convention  of  the  International  Associa- 
tion of  Municipal  Electricians  held  in  Peoria  last  month 
there  was  observable  some  tendency  to  enlarge  the  scope 
of  the  association  and  to  advance  it  to  a  higher  plane  than 
it  has  occupied  during  its  sixteen  years  of  existence.  About 
forty-five  representatives  of  the  electrical  departments  of 
American  and  Canadian  cities  were  present,  and  the  sub- 
jects discussed  related  to  underground  cables  for  fire- 
alarm  and  police  signaling,  the  grounding  of  fire-alarm 
boxes,  ornamental  street  lighting,  electrical  inspection, 
locating  and  clearing  "trouble,"  and  various  practical  ques- 
tions relating  to  fire-alarm  and  police  signaling.  The  paper 
on  electrical  inspection  by  Mr.  W.  S.  Boyd,  of  Chicago, 
was  particularly  good.  In  the  past  the  association  has  not, 
it  must  be  admitted,  made  many  notable  contributions  to 
the  art  of  electrical  engineering.  And  yet  it  would  be  a 
mistake  to  underrate  its  accomplishments.  Its  members 
are  men  who  are  responsible  for  the  proper  working  of 
apparatus  (considering  fire-alarm  systems  alone)  on  which 
rests  an  enormous  responsibility  for  the  protection  of  life 
and   property. 

The  association  has  an  opportunity  to  become  even 
much  more  useful  and  to  rise  to  greater  development.  The 
electrical  departments  of  American  cities  have  nowadays 
a  much  wider  view  than  the  supervision  of  fire-alarm  and 
police  signaling,  important  as  that  work  may  be.  In  street 
lighting,  in  the  electrical  operation  of  such  municipal 
utilities  as  water-works  pumping  stations,  in  the  enforce- 
ment of  proper  rules  for  the  installation  of  wires  and  elec- 
trical apparatus,  in  the  study  of  such  questions  as  elec- 
trolysis, rates  for  electric  service,  telephone  and  street- 
railway  operation,  the  modern  city  electrician  should  be  a 
man  competent  to  give  his  municipality  honest  technical 
advice.  The  old  order  is  changing.  The  fire-alarm  office 
is  broadening  into  something  bigger  and  more  important, 
and  signs  of  this  change  are  evident  in  the  small  cities  as 
well  as  the  large  ones.  The  International  Association  of 
Municipal  Electricians  must  adapt  itself  to  this  change  if 
it  is  to  occupy  the  field  widening  before  it.  It  can  do  great 
things  in  uplifting  the  standard  of  work  done  by  city  elec- 
trical departments,  and  there  are  indications  that  it  is 
awakening  to  the  importance  and  magnitude  of  the  task 
before  it.  Nearly  all  the  societies  in  the  electrical  field 
have  had  to  undergo  a  rehabilitation  period,  and  it  looks 
as  if  that  of  the  municipal  electricians  were  near  at  hand. 


e^ 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF  APPLIED 
CHEMISTRY. 


FENNS"i;LVANIA  ELECTRIC   ASSOCIATION 
CONVENTION. 


The  eighth  annual  congress  of  Applied  Chemistry  held 
its  inaugural  meeting  on  Sept.  4  at  Washington,  D.  C,  with 
several  hundred  delegates  in  attendance  from  many  coun- 
tries of  the  world.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  first  day  the 
delegates  were  received  by  President  Taft.  On  Sept.  5, 
the  second  da)',  there  were  visits  to  the  art  galleries,  the 
Library  of  Congress  and  the  government  laboratories. 
Special  trains  took  the  members  to  New  York  City  late  in 
the  afternoon.  The  congress  continued  its  work  in  section 
meetings  held  at  Columbia  University.  As  announced  pre- 
viously, the  American  Electrochemical  Society  will  meet 
jointly  with  the  congress,  commencing  Sept.  7. 


NEW  ENGLAND    ELECTRIC    DEVELOPMENT 
ASSOCIATION. 


For  the  purpose  of  creating  more  electrical  business 
throughout  the  New  England  States  there  has  been  formed 
in  Boston  and  chartered  by  the  Massachusetts  Legisla- 
ture an  organization  called  the  Electrical  Development 
Association.  The  association  is  composed  of  central- 
station  men,  manufacturers,  jobbers  and  contractors.  It 
is  proposed  to  have  an  information  bureau  which  will  give 
to  contractors  full  information  on  all  new  electrical  de- 
vices and  apparatus  which  may  be  placed  on  the  market 
and  which  investigation  may  show  are  indorsed  generally 
by  the  public.  It  is  proposed  to  cement  as  far  as  possible 
the  relations  between  contractors  and  central  stations  so 
that,  contractors  being  active  to  the  fullest  extent  in  secur- 
ing new  business  for  central  stations,  the  latter  will  re- 
spond by  helping  the  contractors  to  make  direct  sales  of  ap- 
pliances to  consumers  as  well  as  to  wire  new  customers' 
premises.  The  president  of  the  association  is  Mr.  Frank 
S.  Price,  Pettingell-Andrews  Company,  Boston,  and  the 
secretary  is  Mr.  Zenas  W.  Carter,  53  State  Street,  Boston. 


CONGRESS  FOR  TESTING  MATERIALS. 


At  the  opening  of  the  sixth  congress  of  the  International 
Association  for  Testing  Materials  on  Sept.  3  in  the  Engi- 
neering Societies  Building,  New  York,  there  were  present 
about  400  members,  representing  twenty-seven  countries. 
Captain  Robert  W.  Hunt,  president  of  the  American  Society 
for  Testing  Materials,  in  welcoming  the  members  in  the 
name  of  that  organization,  announced  that  the  meetings 
would  be  in  charge  of  Dr.  Henry  M.  Howe,  who  has  acted 
as  president  since  the  death  of  President  Charles  B.  Dudley. 

Dr.  Howe  stated  that  the  membership  now  totals  3700. 
In  closing,  he  pointed  out  that  "in  building  a  society  fitted 
for  the  immediate  end  of  improving  methods  of  testing, 
we  have  simultaneously  fitted  it  for  the  indispensable  sup- 
plement, specification  making,  particularly  international 
specification  making.  In  bringing  together  those  competent 
to  improve  methods  of  test  we  have  also  brought  together 
those  most  competent  to  draw  specifications.  We  have  im- 
consciously  made  an  organization  fitted  for  filling  both 
needs  of  the  public,  for  telling  it  both  what  properties, 
quantitatively,  its  purchases  need  and  also  how  to  measure 
those   properties." 

The  professional  work  of  the  congress  was  carried  on  in 
three  separate  sections.  Section  A  was  devoted  to  metals. 
Section  B  to  cement,  stone  and  concrete,  and  Section  C  to 
wood,  oil,  bitumen,  rubber  and  other  materials.  The  pro- 
ceedings were  conducted  in  English,  German  and  French, 
all  important  statements  in  one  language  being  translated 
immediately  into  the  others  by  officials  of  the  several  sec- 
tions. 


{By   Telegraph.) 

With  a  registered  attendance  of  over  250  the  fifth  annual 
convention  of  the  Pennsylvania  Electric  Association,  state 
branch  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association,  opened 
at  the  Bedford  Springs  Hotel,  Bedford  Springs,  Pa.,  on 
Sept.  4.  The  hotel  is  situated  among  the  eastern  ridges  of 
the  Allegheny  Mountains,  at  an  elevation  of  about  1200  ft., 
in  the  township  of  Bedford,  Bedford  County.  The  place 
is  about  45  miles  from  Altoona,  where  connection  is  made 
with  the  main  line  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  and  is 
noted  for  its  mineral  springs.  These  possess  medicinal 
properties  said  to  rival  those  of  the  springs  at  Carlsbad, 
Austria.  The  estate  covers  about  4000  acres  and  includes 
golf  courses,  tennis  court,  bowling  alleys,  swimming  poo) 
and  other  means  of  diversion,  all  of  which  were  pressed 
into  service  during  the  week  of  the  convention  by  the 
entertainment  committee. 

A  reception  to  President  R.  S.  Orr,  which  was  held  on 
Tuesday  night  in  the  ballroom  of  the  hotel  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  dance,  marked  the  beginning  of  the  social 
festivities  for  which  the  conventions  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Electric  Association  are  noted,  and  lest  time  should  hang 
heavy  on  the  hands  of  any  of  the  men  present,  a  Browning 
society  was  formed,  and  almost  everyone  look  advantage 
of  the  opportunity  to  join. 

The  regular  meetings  took  place  in  the  large  ballroom  of 
the  hotel  and  were  well  attended.  A  few  of  the  Class  D 
members  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  made  an  exhibit  of  apparatus, 
etc.,  in  the  room  to  the  rear  of  the  convention  hall  and  also 
en  the  piazza  adjoining,  but  no  heavy  apparatus  was  on 
display.  The  papers  were  distributed  to  the  delegates  in  the 
registration  bureau  to  the  left  of  the  lobby,  where  were 
also  displayed  all  of  the  prizes  donated  by  Class  D  mem- 
bers, ranging  from  loving  cups,  radiant  heaters  and  fans  to 
pocket  flash-lamps. 

In  his  address  President  R.  S.  Orr  likened  the  convention 
of  the  association  to  a  clearing  house  through  which  the 
experience,  training  and  judgment  of  many  men  are  made 
available  to  all.  This  exchange,  he  said,  is  effected  through 
the  reading  of  papers  specially  prepared,  through  the  dis- 
cussions which  follow  and  through  the  opportunities 
afforded  of  bringing  all  the  members  into  personal  contact. 

He  spoke  of  the  difficulties  which  confronted  the  associa- 
tion in  getting  the  men  from  the  smaller  companies  to  take 
part  in  the  deliberations,  owing  to  the  fact  that  these  men 
can  spare  neither  the  time  nor  the  expense  incident  to  the 
work,  and  suggested  that  the  association  meet  the  expenses 
of  individual  members  engaged  in  collecting  data.  etc.  The 
president  also  recommended  that  a  special  committee  be 
appointed  for  the  purpose  of  taking  up  with  the  telephone, 
telegraph  and  railroad  companies  of  the  State  the  matter 
of  adopting  a  uniform  method  of  securing  exchanges  of 
pole   privileges   and  rights-of-way. 

This  committee,  in  the  judgment  of  the  president,  could 
also  deal  with  questions  relating  to  the  joint  occupation  of 
poles  and  also  with  wire  crossings,  since  many  of  the 
questions  with  which  such  a  committee  would  have  to  deal 
would  be  materially  afifected  by  local  peculiarities  of  state 
and  municipal  laws  and  customs  and  their  definite  determi- 
nation in  detail  can  best  be  effected  by  the  geographical 
sections.  Mr.  Orr  also  called  attention  to  important  legisla- 
tion which  will  doubtless  come  up  for  consideration  during 
the  year,  intimating  that  a  public-service  commissio'i  woul(d 
be  appointed,  and  emphasized  the  desirability  of  the  associa- 
tion watching  such  legislation.  At  the  conclusion  of  tltt! 
address  a  motion  was  made  to  refer  the  report  to  a  coiB- 
mittee  for  consideration  and  the  preparation  of  recom- 
mendations to  the  convention  before  adjournment. 

Reports  were  read  bv  the  program  committee,  entertain- 
ment committee,  executive  committee,  treasurer  and  mern-j 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


477 


bership  committee.  The  latter  showed  that  there  are  now 
in  the  association  eighty-five  Class  A  members,  1025  Class  B 
members,  twenty-eight  associate  members  and  one  honorary 
member,  or  a  total  of  1131.  as  compared  with  949  in  1911. 

After  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  this  is  the  thir- 
tieth anniversary  of  the  electric-light  industry,  Mr.  A.  R. 
Granger  offered  a  resolution  directing  that  a  congratula- 
tory telegram  be  sent  to  Thomas  A.  Edison,  the  founder  of 
the  industry.     The  resolution  was  received  with  applause. 

The  lamp  committee  in  its  report  drew  attention  to  im- 
provements and  developments  in  the  art  of  incandescent- 
lamp  manufacture,  the  most  important  of  which  were  the 
wire-filament  tungsten  as  distinguished  from  the  pressed 
filament  and  the  introduction  into  the  lamp  of  certain 
chemicals  to  improve  its  candle-power.  At  present  the 
chemical  is  placed  on  the  stem  of  the  ioo-130-volt,  150, 
250,  400  'and  500-watt  lamps  on'y  and  results  in  a  lamp 
with  a  specific  consumption  of  i  watt  per  candle  and  in 
an  approximate  life  of  1000  hours.  The  same  chemical 
has  also  been  introduced  into  the  series  street  lamps  of 
100,  200  and  300-cp  sizes.  The  chemical  is  said  to  neu- 
tralize the  action  of  harmful  gases,  thereby  preventing 
premature  blackening  and  maintaining  a  longer  useful 
hfe.  In  the  series  street  lamps  a  single  size  of  drawn  wire 
is  now  employed,  the  length  being  varied  to  suit  the  watt- 
age desired.  The  committee  recommended  that  in  the 
future  all  tungsten  series  lamps  be  given  standard  current 
ratings  of  .3.5  amp,  4  amp,  5.5  amp.  6.6  amp  and  7.5  amp. 
The  filament  has  resulted  in  better  efficiency  in  the  larger 
lamps,  although  the  smaller  lamps  require  more  current, 
owing  to  the  heat  radiation  of  the  leading-in  wires.  Con- 
siderable trouble  was  found  by  a  number  of  companies 
with  the  S-watt  tungsten  sign  lamps,  but  the  committee 
reported  that  improvements  made  in  the  product  would 
eliminate  these  troubles  hereafter.  It  also  reported  a  i- 
watt  multiple  sign  lamp  for  loo-130-volt  circuits  to  re- 
place carbon-filament  lamps  without  rewiring.  Tantalum- 
filament  and  carbon-filament  lamps  are  now  made  only 
on  order  and  the  graphitized-filament  lamp  now  occupies 
the  field'  formerlv  held  by  the  carbon-filament  lamp. 
Changes  in  base  terminology,  such  as  the  substitution  of 
the  word  ''screw"  for  "Edison"  and  "bayonet"  for  "Edi- 
swan,"  together  with  others,  were  reported.  From  the  in- 
formation given  to  the  committee  by  member  companies  it 
is  evident  that  there  is  a  marked  growth  in  the  number  of 
street  series  tungsten  lamps  in  use,  although  some  users 
do  not  get  satisfactory  performances  from  the  lamps. 

In  the  discussion  which  followed  the  reading  of  the  re- 
port by  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  Mr.  C.  W.  Ward, 
Pittsburgh,  it  became  evident  that  many  companies  ex- 
perienced trouble  with  the  series  tungsten  lamps,  and  the 
opinion  expressed  was  that  unless  something  is  done  to 
improve  the  product  the  series  tungsten  lamps  for  street- 
lighting  purposes  will  experience  a  setback.  Those  taking 
part  in  the  discussion  were  Messrs.  G.  F.  Wendle.  Wil- 
liamsport:  H.  N.  Muller,  Pittsburgh;  A.  R.  Grander,  Ches- 
ter; C.  W.  Ward,  Pittsburgh;  T.  Sproule,  Philadelphia;  S. 
C.  Pohe.  Bloomsburg,  and  C.  W.  Bettcher,  Harrison,  N.  J. 
Mr.  Robertson  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Under- 
writers limit  the  amount  of  power  of  a  single  lamp  cir- 
cuit to  660  watts  and  that  at  the  present  rating  of  lamps 
no  circuits  are  loaded.  He  suggested  that  in  addition  to 
the  various  lamps  at  present  on  the  market  lamps  rated  at 
no,  220,  330  and  660  watts  be  made  available. 

He  stated  that  the  chemical  inserted  in  the  lamp  might 
give  a  yellow  discoloration  on  the  end  of  the  bulb,  but 
that  the  candle-power  notwithstanding  is  improved  over 
that  of  a  lamp  not  so  treated  because  the  chemical  com- 
bines with  the  black  given  off  by  the  tungsten  filament  and 
forms  a  transparent  coating;  on  the  bulb.  Mr.  Granger 
also  called  attention  to  the  short  life  noted  on  tungsten 
series  lamps  when  operated  on  circuit  with  4-amp  mag- 
netite-arc lamps. 


The  report  of  the  overhead-line  construction  commit- 
tee was  made  up  of  three  parts,  the  first  part  treating  of 
the  inspection  of  electric  service  companies'  pole  lines,  the 
second  part  being  a  practical  story  of  low-tension  dis- 
tribution, showing  how  it  was  done,  what  it  cost  and  what 
it  did,  and  the  third  part  discussing  recent  developments  in 
transformer  hanging.  The  chairman  of  the  committee, 
Mr.  P.  N.  Muller,  said  that  the  inspection  of  electric  light 
and  power  lines  and  overhead  equipment  in  general  has 
not  received  the  attention  accorded  the  other  parts  of 
central-station  systems,  inasmuch  as  miles  of  line  have 
been  operated  without  any  attention  whatever  further  than 
to  replace  defective  poles  and  cross-arms  caused  by  gen- 
eral deterioration  and  which  were  only  found  after  failure 
of  the  part.  The  committee  is  of  the  opinion  that  reason- 
able inspection  and  maintenance  will  give  the  central-sta- 
tion operator  better  standing  in  the  courts  and  tend  to 
offset  the  antagonistic  attitude  of  the  public,  which  makes 
itself  felt  in  the  voltage  limitations  prescribed  in  ordi- 
nances and  in  agitation  for  underground  construction. 
Accordingly  the  committee  recommended  a  systematic 
inspection  and  records  of  the  same  and  outlined  a  method 
for  the  benefit  of  the  member  companies.  The  belief 
was  that  the  operating  executive  officials  responsible  for 
the  construction  would  take  advantage  of  the  informa- 
tion thus  afforded  not  only  as  a  defensive  measure  but 
also  and  chiefly  for  economic  reasons.  The  character  of 
inspection  warranted  depends  largely  on  the  class  of  main- 
tenance desired,  which  in  turn  is  dependent  upon  the  im- 
portance of  the  service  a  certain  line  is  delivering.  The 
inspection  and  record  recommended  cover  the  following: 
( I )  Improper  setting  of  poles  as  to  location,  depth  and 
alignment;  (2)  failure  of  foundations  by  landslides,  wash- 
outs, etc. ;  (3)  insufficient  dimension  for  burden  or  side 
stress;  (4)  weakening  by  decay  at  and  below  the  ground 
line;  (5)  weakening  by  decay  at  the  heart;  (6)  weaken- 
ing by  decay  or  other  causes  above  the  ground. 

The  committee  called  attention  to  the  use  of  a  monocular 
for  inspection  of  lines  and  outlined  a  method  of  overhead 
inspection  covering  sag  of  wire,  insulation  of  wires,  un- 
safe clearances  between  wires  of  various  kinds,  interfer- 
ence from  trees,  buildings  and  foreign  wires,  loose  or  im- 
proper tie  wires,  bad  or  improper  insulators,  broken  or 
falling  pins  and  broken  or  failing  cross-arms.  The  ques- 
tion of  frequency  of  inspection  must,  of  course,  be  de- 
termined locally.  The  recent  developments  in  transformer 
hanging  treated  by  the  committee  had  to  do  with  installa- 
tions possessing  maximum  strength  with  minimum  ma- 
terial where  the  results  sought  are  high  factors  of  safety 
electrically  and  mechanically,  expeditious  replacement  of 
parts,  minimum  cost  of  material  in  securing  greatest  me- 
chanical strength,  and  improvement  in  appearance  of  con- 
struction. 

The  report  was  discussed  bv  Messrs.  T.  Sproule,  Phila- 
delphia; P.  N.  Muller,  Pittsburgh;  E.  F.  McCabe,  Titus- 
ville;  R.  S.  Orr,  Pittsburgh;  }.  S.  Francis,  Philadelphia; 
G.  W.  Wendle,  Williamsport';  J.  P.  McDonald,  Phila- 
delphia; E.  P.  Davis,  Williamsport;  Van  Dusen  Rickert, 
Pottsville;  L.  H.  Conklin,  Warren;  and  W.  W.  McCleary, 
Pittsburgh.  It  was  apparent  from  the  discussion  that  a 
necessity  for  close  co-operation  between  the  railroads, 
telephone  companies  and  electric  light  companies  existj, 
and  that,  while  all  recognize  that  reasonably  good  and 
safe  construction  is  the  thing  required,  the  difficulty  lies  in 
effecting  quick  connections  owing  to  the  system  at  pres- 
ent followed  in  getting  permission  from  railroad  and  tele- 
phone companies  to  cross  rights-of-way  or  to  use  poles. 

Mr.  McDonald  suggested  that  the  Pennsylvania  Electric 
Association  start  a  movement  to  get  together  the  various 
companies  interested  for  a  discussion  of  the  matter.  The 
session  adjourned  with  the  appointment  of  the  nominating 
committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  C.  J.  Russell,  Philadelphia  ; 
L.  H.  Conklin,  Warren;  and  G.  F.  Wendle,  Williamsport. 


4/-8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


STREET  LIGHTING  WITH   QUARTZ-TUBE 
MERCURY- VAPOR  LAMPS. 


Six  770-watt  quartz-tube  mercury-vapor  lamps,  with  a 
specific  consumption  of  0.4  watt  per  cp,  have  been  experi- 
mentally installed  to  light  the  Randolph  Street  block  between 
Lasalle  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue.  Chicago,  the  first  street 
in  America  to  be  so  equipped.  This  novel  departure  in  street 
illumination,  utilizing  the  most  efficient  electrical  illuminant 
known,  was  installed  by  the  Randolph  Street  Improvement 
Association  and  converts  an  otherwise  rather  dark  street, 
almost  devoid  of  electric  signs  and  night  displays,  into  an 
inviting  thoroughfare  flooded  with  illumination  said  to  have 
an  intensity  equal  to  eight  times  that  of  full  moonlight.  The 
uniform  distribution  on  the  street  surface  and  the  distinct- 


I  Building  Line 

a  T  0 

z; 

■< 
W 

H 

S  o 


F 


o 

n 

R.IXDOLPH  STREET 
Quilding  Linex  O- 


4 


320- 


!   IV.ru] 


ness  with  which  persons,  objects,  signs,  traffic  vehicles, 
etc.,  all  appear  under  this  lighting  attract  the  notice  of 
passers-by.  Of  equal  interest  to  the  adjoining  property 
owners  who  contribute  to  the  maintenance  of  this  installa- 
tion is  the  low  energy  consumption  and  cost  of  operation 
of  the  quartz-tube  units. 

The  six  lamps  are  suspended  from  boom  hangers  at  a 
distance  of  8  ft.  from  the  buildings  and  40  ft.  above  the 
sidewalk.  In  the  320-ft.  block  the  six  units  are  ranged  three 
on  each  side  of  the  street,  the  opposite  rows  being  staggered, 
thus  making  the  distance  between  lamps  on  the  same  side 
of  the  street  128  ft.,  or  one  lamp  for  each  64  ft.  of  street. 
As  the  width  between  building  lines  is  80  ft.  and  each  lamp 
clears  the  buildings  by  8  ft.,  the  distance  between  the  two 
rows  of  lamps  is  64  ft.,  thus  placing  a  lamp  at  two  diagonal 
corners    of    each    64-ft.    square.      While    no    photometer 


Fig.   2 — Quartz-Tube    Lamp   on    Hanger   40   ft.    Above   Street. 


maining.  When  worked  at  the  higher  temperatures  possible 
with  quartz  tubes,  the  slight  red  line  in  the  ordinary  mer- 
cury-vapor spectrum  is   expanded   and  augmented,  making 


F  g.     1  —  Location     of    Quartz-TLibe     Lamps    on     Randolph     Street.        Fig. 
Chicago. 


-Night   View   of    Randolph    Street.    Lighted   by   Quartz-Tube 
Lamps. 


the  resultant  light  more  nearly  white  and  producing  the 
extremely  high  efficiency  already  noted.  The  lamps  used 
on  Randolph  Street  are  of  the  770-watt,  220-volt  "Z"  type 
manufactured  in  this  country  by  the  Cooper  Hewitt  Electric 
Company.      Their   mean   candle-power   in    the   lower   hemi- 


Flg.    4 — Illumination    on    Street    and    Building    Beneath    Lamp. 


measurements  have  been  taken,  the  average  intensity  on  the  sphere,  with  clear-glass  globes  and  reflectors,   is  stated  to 

street  surface  for  the  whole  block  is  estimated  at  more  than  average  2500,  while  a  ma.ximum  value  of  4900  cp  has  been 

1.67  ft.-candles.  measured  in  parts  of  the  distribution  curve.     The  minimum 

In   color  the   light    from   these   lamps  approaches   white,  light  intensity  within  the  etifective  angle  of  57  deg.  with  the 

only  a  suggestion  of  the  familiar  mercury-flame  color  re-  vertical,  however,  is  3200  cp,  which  more  nearly  indicates 


September  7,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


479 


the  useful  candle-power  of  the  lamp,  considered  from  the 
standpoint  of  street  illumination. 

Erected  in  place  and  ready  for  operation,  the  cost  of 
installing  the  system  was  within  $100  per  lamp.  All  the 
units  are  operated  from  dusk  until  midnight  or  I  a.  m.,  after 
which  the  two  lamps  nearest  the  center  of  the  block  are  in 
service  until  dawn.  For  the  operation  of  this  quartz-tube 
lighting  installation,  including  energy,  maintenance,  etc., 
the  cost  is  estimated  at  $444  per  year,  which  is  at  the  rate 
of  about  $0.69  per  curb-ft.  per  year. 

Mr.  Karl  Eitel,  president  of  the  Randolph  Street  Im- 
provement Association,  has  expressed  himself  as  thoroughly 
pleased  with  the  lighting  from  the  standpoints  of  attracting 
traffic  and  increasing  public  safety,  and  also  as  a  good  busi- 
ness investment.  He  has  interested  the  Association  of 
Commerce  in  the  plan,  hoping  to  see  this  lighting  extended 
to  other  "Loop"  streets  which,  except  for  corner  arc  lamps, 
are  now  plunged  in  darkness  after  nightfall.  The  arrange- 
ment of  the  lamps  was  planned  by  Mr.  George  C.  Keech,  of 
the  Cooper  Hewitt  Electric  Company.  Mr.  F.  W.  Hoyt  is 
secretary  of  the  improvement  association. 


THE  TUNGSTEN  LAMP  SITUATION. 


As  our  readers  will  remember,  the  report  of  the  lamp 
committee  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.,  presented  at  the  Seattle  con- 
vention during  June  last,  showed  very  clearly  that  of  the 
total  number  of  incandescent  lamps  sold  annually  in  this 
country  the  percentage  of  tungsten-filament  lamps  is  in- 
creasing rapidly.  At  the  same  time  the  percentage  of  car- 
bon-filament lamps  is  diminishing  steadily,  while  the  pro- 
portion of  metallized-filament  lamps  is  increasing  at  a 
moderate  rate,  .■\side  from  the  fact  that  the  carbon-fila- 
ment lamp  is  the  least  efficient  of  all,  there  is  in  the  com- 
mercial aspect  of  the  situation  another  factor  ascribable 
to  the  expiration  of  patents  on  the  carbon  lamp,  thus  mak- 
ing it  impossible  to  restrict  the  use  or  fix  the  re-sale  price 
of  these  lamps,  while,  of  course,  our  existing  patent  laws 
permit  both  of  these  practices  with  respect  to  metallized- 
filament  and  tungsten-filament  lamps.  Considering  that 
both  the  metallized-filament  and  tungsten  types  of  lamp 
are  covered  by  patents,  it  is  evident,  in  view  of  the  inferior 
economy  of  the  former  type,  that  the  market  for  it  is 
maintained  largely  on  a  basis  of  the  difference  in  price. 

Much  interest  over  the  tungsten  lamp  situation  centers 
in  the  infringement  suit  recently  filed  by  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company  against  the  Laco-Phi'.ips  Company,  of  New 
York,  in  which  the  complainant  cited  the  well-known  Just 
and  Hanaman  patent,  No.  1,018,502,  isssued  Feb.  27.  1912. 
Which  it  holds  by  assignment.  Action  was  brought  in  the 
United  States  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of 
New  York,  and  the  plaintiff  alleged  injury  of  its  lamp 
business  through  infringement  by  the  defendants,  and 
prayed  for  an  injunction  and  a  decree  compelling  the  pay- 
ment of  the  defendant's  profits  to  the  court  with  such  as- 
sessment as  the  law  provides  for.  No  answer  has  yet  been 
filed  to  this  action  by  the  Laco-Philips  Company,  and  it  is 
said  that  possibly  none  will  be  made  until  next  month. 

The  Just  and  Hanaman  patent  describes  a  number  of 
methods  for  the  manufacture  of  filaments  containing  tung- 
sten. By  one  method  a  mixture  of  tungsten  and  organic 
binding  media  is  carbonized,  and  thereupon  the  carbon  is 
removed  by  chemical  means,  the  remaining  filament  or  body 
consisting  purely  of  tungsten.  The  specification  also 
states  that  compounds  of  tungsten  may  be  utilized  in  the 
same  manner.  Again,  finely  divided  tungsten,  or  some  tung- 
sten compound  which  is  readily  reduced  by  carbon  to  a 
metal,  such  as  tungsten  oxid  or  tungsten  acid,  is  mixed  with 
an  organic  binding  medium,  such  as  a  solution  of  cellulose 
in  chloride  of  zinc,  collodion  or  coal  tar,  the  filaments 
then  being  formed  by  pressure  and  carbonized.     Efficient 


filaments  may  be  obtained,  the  inventors  state,  by  adding 
2  to  10  grams  of  tungstic  acid  to  a  solution  of  10  grams  of 
cellulose  in  260  grams  of  chloride  of  zinc  of  the  specific 
gravity  of  1.83,  this  mixture  then  being  formed  into  fila- 
ments and  carbonized  in  the  presence  of  air.  The  stage  at 
which  the  filaments  consist  of  a  carbon  tungsten  mixture  is 
purely  intermediate. 

The  carbon  may  be  removed  by  raising  the  filament 
to  a  high  temperature,  by  means  of  an  electric  current,  in 
an  atmosphere  of  steam  and  hydrogen,  in  which  the  carbon 
is  completely  oxidized  into  carbonic  oxide.  Such  filaments 
may  be  equalized  in  a  manner  analogous  to  that  employed 
in  the  treatment  of  ordinary  filaments,  by  submitting  them 
to  the  heating  action  of  an  electric  current  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  volatile  tungsten  compounds  with  a  considerable 
quantity  of  hydrogen  present,  so  that  the  deposited  tung- 
sten will  produce  the  desired  equalization.  The  coating 
process  is  also  described,  wherein  carbon  filaments  are 
coated  with  tungsten  by  heating  electrically  in  the  presence 
of  a  vapor  mixture  composed  of  hydrogen  and  a  halogen 
compound  of  tungsten.  After  a  sufficiently  thick  layer  of 
tungsten  has  been  deposited,  the  heat  treatment  is  con- 
tinued in  an  atmosphere  of  neutral  gases,  and  in  a  short 
time  the  carbon  contained  in  the  core  is  absorbed  by  the 
metal  surrounding  it,  producing  a  perfectly  homogeneous 
filament.  The  next  operation  is  to  remove  the  carbon  by 
the  methods  already  described. 

The  inventors  describe  their  filament  as  consisting  of 
dense  coherent  tungsten  metal,  having  a  high  fusing  point 
of  approximately  3200  deg.  C,  and  capable  of  incandescent 
efficiency  at  a  rate  of  less  than  i  watt  per  cp,  being  sub- 
stantially free  from  perceptible  disintegration  at  that  effi- 
ciency. The  patent  contains  only  three  claims,  the  first 
of  which  is:  "A  filament  for  incandescent  lights  consist- 
ing of  tungsten  in  a  coherent  metallic  state  and  homo- 
geneous throughout."  Claim  2,  which  is  nearlv  as  broad, 
is  as  follows:  "A  filament  for  incandescent  lights  con- 
sisting throughout  of  substantially  pure  metallic  tungsten 
of  high  fusing  point  and  electrically  conductive,  the  light- 
emitting  properties  of  the  filament  being  due  to  the 
coherent,  homogeneous  metallic  nature  of  the  tungsten." 

.A.S  is  well  known,  the  Laco-Philips  Company  is  not  a 
domestic  manufacturer  of  tungsten  lamps,  but  is  import- 
ing lamps  made  at  Eindhoven,  Holland,  by  the  Phi'lps 
Metallic  Glow  Lamp  Works.  While  the  defendant  has  not 
as  yet  filed  a  formal  answer  to  the  suit,  it  has  announced 
the  substance  of  its  position  in  the  matter,  which  is,  first, 
that  the  Just  and  Hanaman  patent  is  invalid  and.  second, 
that  the  drawn-wire  tungsten-filament  lamp  which  it  is 
selling  would  not  infringe  the  patent  even  if  it  were  valid. 

It  appears  on  the  face  of  the  matter  that  this  action 
marks  the  opening  of  litigation  over  the  tungsten-filament 
lamp  as  important  and  as  long-drawn-out  as  the  well- 
known  litigation  which  was  carried  on  over  the  carbon- 
filament  lamp  for  more  than  seven  years.  Considering  the 
fact  that  the  imported  lamp  marketed  by  the  Laco-Philips 
Company  is  not  patented,  it  seems  fairly  evident  that  this 
action  by  the  General  Electric  Company  was  taken  to 
protect  its  lamp  licensees,  who  are  paying  royalties  for 
the  privilege  of  manufacturing  tungsten-filament  lamps 
under  this  patent.  Conflicting  rumors  are  current  as  to 
the  true  nature  of  the  situation,  it  being  held  in  some  quar- 
ters that  the  suit  is  brought  in  good  faith  against  one  of 
the  strongest  of  a  number  of  alleged  infringers,  in  order 
that  the  possible  victory  in  this  case  will  make  it  unnece.'^- 
sary  to  proceed  formally  against  the  others.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  regarded  by  some  as  possible  that,  since  the 
Philips  company  in  England  avoided  litigation  with  the 
General  Electric  interests  and  secured  a  license,  the  out- 
come of  the  present  suit  will  be  similar,  amounting  in 
short  to  a  prearranged  program  for  strengthening  the 
patent  commercially.  Future  proceedings  in  the  whole 
matter  will  be  awaited  with  much  interest. 


48o 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


ELECTRIC    LIGHTING    DEVELOPMENT    IN 
NEW  YORK. 


Many  of  our  readers  are  familiar  with  the  facts  con- 
cerning the  introduction  of  electric  lighting  in  New  York 
City.  These  facts  were  set  forth  briefly  in  our  thirtieth 
anniversary  number  published  on  March  5,  1904.  On 
Wednesday,  Sept.  4,  191 1,  occurred  the  thirtieth  anniversary 
of  the  beginning  of  commercial  incandescent  lighting,  the 


Electric  Generator  Used  in  the  First  Central  Station   in  the  World. 

famous  Pearl  Street  station  in  Xew  York  having  been 
placed  in  service  in  1882  by  Mr.  Thomas  .A.  Edison.  In 
December,  1880,  there  was  organized  what  was  known  as 
the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  as  the  licensee  of 
the  Edison  Electric  Light  Company,  which  held  Edison's 
electric  light  patents,  .\fter  two  years  of  preliminary  work, 
there  was  established  a  steam  generating  station,  a  distribu- 
tion system  of  some  15  miles  and  about  400  incandescent 
lamps.  Thirty  years  of  commercial  growth  has  seen  this 
system  become  one  of  1300  miles  of  cable,  360  of  which  are 
of  the  high-tension  transmission  system,  whie  the  number 
of  incandescent  lamps  has  become  about  5,250,000,  the  con- 
nected load  equaling  714,000  hp. 

The  earlv  generating  equipment  consisted  of  six  125-hp 
steam-engine-driven  units  of  the  now  historical  "Jumbo" 
type,  similar  to  those  that  had  been  constructed  in  Edison's 
Goerck  Street  manufacturing  plant  and  shipped  to  London 
and  Paris.  During  the  summer  of  1882  the  underground 
distribution  system  was  planned  and  laid  out  and  the  wiring 
was  installed  in  the  buildings  of  prospective  customers. 
The  wiring  of  these  buildings,  the  laying  of  the  street  mains 
and  the  installation  of  the  generating  apparatus  were  done 
under  the  personal  supervision  of  Mr.  Edison. 

The  six  Jumbo  generators  in  the  Pearl  Street  plant  con- 
tinued in  operation  until  Jan.  2,  1890,  when  fire  destroyed 
the  building.  Only  one  generator  was  saved,  and  that  only 
because  it  was  near  a  window  and  firemen  playing  their 
hose  from  the  elevated  structure  were  able  to  confine  the 
flames  to  the  rear  of  the  floor.  That  fire  put  the  lighting 
system  out  of  commission  for  less  than  half  a  day,  because 
tiie  Liberty  Street  annex  opened  in  1887  was  able  to  take 
up  the  load.  By  placing  certain  restrictions  on  the  use  of 
energv.  it  carried  the  burden  until  new  machinery  was 
installed  at  Pearl  Street.  In  1890  another  annex  to  the 
Pearl  Street  station  was  opened  in  the  Produce  Exchange 
Building.  In  the  meantime  the  new  Duane-Pearl  Street 
station,  the  fourth  that  had  been  built  to  meet  the  increasing 
demands  for  electric  light,  had  been  completed,  and  in  1895 
the  old  station,  outgrown  and  out  of  date,  was  dismantled 
and  sold.  The  remaining  Jumbo  generator  yielded  to 
machines  of  greater  power  and  more  modern  design,  and  it 


is  now  treasured  by  the  New   York  Edison  Company  as  a 
relic  of  the  early  days  of  the  lighting  industry. 

With  the  exception  of  this  and  one  other  interruption, 
aggregating  together  less  than  twelve  hours,  electric  light- 
ing service  has  been  continuous  in  New  York  since  the  day 
the  first  generator  was  started — a  remarkable  fulfilment  of 
the  inventor's  prophecy  that  the  service  would  go  on  forever 
unless  stopped  by  an  earthquake. 

The  original  Edison  plan  called  for  the  generation  of 
energy  at  as  many  as  thirty-six  independent  stations  south 
of  Fifty-ninth  Street,  each  with  its  own  steam-boiler  equip- 
ment. However,  through  the  use  of  the  high-tension  system 
of  transmission  which  began  on  Nov.  3,  1898,  it  became 
possible  to  concentrate  all  the  generating  apparatus  at  one 
locality  and  to  operate  at  various  parts  of  the  city,  not  the 
steam  generating  plants  that  had  first  been  planned,  but  sub- 
stations connected  with  the  central  station  by  high-tension 
feeders. 

The  Waterside  stations  of  the  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany, built  in  1900  and  1905,  are  the  result  of  the  concen- 
tration made  possible  by  the  system  of  high-tension  alter- 
nating-current transmission.  These  generating  stations 
occupy  two  city  blocks  on  the  East  River  front  and  have  an 
equipment  rating  of  approximately  700,000  hp.  Through 
fome  1300  miles  of  cable,  which  connect  the  thirty-one  sub- 
stations with  the  generating  stations  and  interconnect  the 
substations  each  with  the  other,  energy  is  now  supplied  in 
New  York  to  5,245,000  incandescent  lamps,  40,400  arc  .amps 
and  337.000  hp  in  motors,  while  159,000  meters  are  required 
to  measure  the  energy.  The  Edison  system  covers  prac- 
tically the  entire  island  of  Manhattan,  with  its  22  square 
miles,  and  the  borough  of  the  Bronx,  which  contains  more 
than  45  square  miles. 

.\lthough  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  was 
the  first  organized  company  to  do  commercial  electric  light- 
ing and  the  Pearl  Street  plant  was  the  first  centra!  station 
in  the  world,  there  were  earlier  instances  of  incandescent 
lighting,  all  based  on  the  inventions  of  Mr.  Edison.  In 
fact,  at  his  own  home  in  Menlo  Park  he  had  laid  out  an 
underground  system  supplying  energ\-  to  more  than  400 
lamps,  and  in  1879  a  lighting  system  had  been  installed  on 
the  steamship  Columbia,  while  less  than  a  month  prior  to 
the  opening  of  the  Pearl  Street  station  a  small  generator 
of  a  different  type  had  been  placed  in  operation  at  .^ppleton. 
Wis.,  where  a  waterfall  supplied  the  power. 


BIG  CREEK  HYDROELECTRIC  DEVELOPMENT. 


The  Big  Creek  Development  in  central  California, 
reached  after  a  climb  of  over  50  miles  into  the  mountains 
on  a  railroad  just  built  by  the  Stone  &  Webster  Construc- 
tion Company,  the  contractor  for  the  entire  work,  is  not 
onlv  one  of  the  largest  but  in  several  respects  is  the  most 
interesting  undertaking  in  the  country.  In  addition  to 
involving  the  highest  voltage  for  transmission  over  the 
longest  distance  yet  attempted,  the  installation  possesses 
many  features  of  interest  from  the  purely  hydraulic  stand- 
point. 

If  a  straight  line  be  drawn,  e.xtending  from  San  Fran- 
cisco to  Los  Angeles,  and  from  a  point  on  this  line  slightly- 
over  a  third  of  the  way  down  another  line  be  carried  at 
right  angles  100  miles  eastward  into  the  heart  of  the  State, 
its  further  end  would  mark  the  site  of  the  Big  Creek  opera- 
tions. The  point  is  175  miles  from  San  Francisco  and  275 
miles  from  Los  Angeles,  and  the  elevation  is  about  7000  ft. 
In  the  total  installation  a  fall  of  4000  ft.  will  be  utilized  to 
generate  120,000  kw  for  the  system  of  the  Pacific  Light  & 
Power  Corporation,  which  already  has  an  aggregate  equip- 
ment rating  of  70,000  kva  in  six  hydroe'ectric  antf  three 
steam  plants. 

The  Pacific  Light  &  Power  Corporation  serves  a  popula- 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


481 


tion  of  400,000  in  Los  Angeles  and  surrounding  towns,  in- 
cluding Pasadena,  San  Bernardino  and  Riverside.  Its 
operating  records  for  191 1  indicate  that  the  expenses  of 
production  and  maintenance  per  unit  of  output  by  the 
steam  plants  are  over  five  times  those  of  the  water-power 
plants.  The  cost  of  transmitting  energy  from  the  latter  is 
naturally  greater  per  unit,  but  the  records   show  that  the 


Fig. 


1 — View   Showing    Incline  and   Pipe   Lines  for   No.   1    Develop- 
ment. 


entire  expense  of  the  water-power  developments  is  less 
than  a  third  of  the  cost  of  energy  delivered  from  the  steam 
plants.  It  is  in  order  to  save  this  difference  in  operating 
expenses  that  the  corporation  is  now  constructing  the  hydro- 
electric development  at  Big  Creek. 

Before  the  completion  of  the  construction  railroad  it 
was  practically  impossible  to  proceed  with  the  main  power 
development  on  account  of  the  great  ditificulty  and  expense 
of  getting  in  material  and  supplies.  The  road  branches  off 
from  the  Southern  Pacific  at  a  point  22  miles  north  of 
Fresno.  Work  was  begun  on  Jan.  26,  1912,  and  on  July  10 
the  last  spike  was  driven,  probably  a  record  for  a  railroad 
built   through   such   rough   country. 

For  over  25  miles  the  road  runs  on  a  private  right-of- 
■  way  to  the  Sierra  National  Forest  Reserve,  where  the 
trains  begin  their  heavy  climb  through  the  mountains. 
The  maximum  grade  is  5  per  cent  and  the  maximum  curva- 
ture 60  deg. 

At  the  site  of  power  house  No.  I,  2100  ft.  below  the 
storage  reservoir,  large  railroad  yards  have  been  instal'ed, 
connecting  with  a  standard-gage  inclined  hoist  which  ex- 
tends over  2  miles  to  the  reservoir.  Here  7  miles  of  track 
join  the  storehouses,  camps  and  dam  sites,  making  it 
possible  to  carry  material  by  rail  to  any  part  of  the  work. 

It  is  estimated  that  over  50,000  tons  of  material  will  be 
used  for  the  initial  equipment  and  100.000  tons  for  the 
total  installation.  At  present  1500  men  are  employed,  and 
two  permanent  camps,  built  to  care  for  approximately 
1000  men  each,  have  been  established.  The  construction 
company  maintains  boarding  houses,  stores  and  a  well- 
equipped  hospital  with  a  resident  surgeon  and  nurses, 
where  sick  and  injured  employees  can  be  cared  for. 

Big  Creek,  with  its  tributaries,  rises  in  the  Sierras  and 
drains  an  area  of  about  80  sq.  miles.  Just  above  Big  Creek 
Falls  the  stream  flows  through  a  mountain  meadow,  which 
is  now  being  converted  into  a  reservoir  with  a  storage 
capacity  of  approximately  100,000  acre-ft.  The  mountains 
which  mark  the  northern  and  eastern  boundaries  of  the 
basin  rise  to  elevations  of  10,000  ft.  and  11,000  ft.,  with 
only  a  small  section  below  9000  ft.  The  southern  and 
western  divides  are  comparatively  low,  however,  and  offer 
little  obstruction  to  the  warm,  moisture-laden  winds  from 
the  Pacific,  which  cannot  cross  the  peaks  to  the  north  and 
east  without  a  large  precipitation.     The  annual  rainfall  on 


the  Big  Creek  watershed  is  more  than  80  in.  for  an  average 
year,  and  the  run-off  is  equivalent  to  at  least  50  in. 

Three  gravity-section,  concrete  dams,  two  100  ft.  and 
the  third  164  ft.  in  height,  will  close  all  the  natural  open- 
ings in  the  basin.  These  dams  will  be  built  upon  solid 
granite  formation,  the  construction  material  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  cement  being  available  close  at  hand. 

Upon  leaving  the  basin.  Big  Creek  drops  about  4000  ft. 
within  a  distance  of  6  miles.  With  such  a  great  difference 
in  elevation,  and  with  a  reservoir  to  equalize  the  flow  of 
the  stream,  a  comparatively  small  amount  of  water  is 
necessary  for  hydroelectric  development.  If  there  were 
no  inflow  for  five  months,  it  would  probably  be  possible  to 
operate  during  that  period  on  storage  alone,  assuming  a 
50  per  cent  load-factor. 

From  the  reservoir  the  water  will  be  led  southwest 
through  a  4000-ft.  tunnel  cut  in  solid  granite  to  a  steel 
flow  pipe,  which  will  continue  6800  ft.,  along  the  surface 
to  the  mountainside  above  Big  Creek.  Here  the  water 
will  enter  pressure  pipes  and  drop  about  2100  ft.  through 
the  wheels  of  power  house  No.  i  to  the  forebay  of  a 
second  tunnel,  to  be  formed  by  a  dam,  70  ft.  in  height, 
built  across  the  bed  of  the  creek.  Tunnel  No.  2  will  carry 
the  water  through  solid  granite  to  the  crest  of  the  gorge, 
about  4  miles  southwest  of  power  house  No.  i.  From  the 
outlet  of  this  tunnel  the  water  will  enter  pressure  pipes 
and  fall  about  1900  ft.  to  power  house  No.  2. 

It  will  be  possible  to  generate  about  the  same  power  at 
each  of  the  plants,  as  the  forebay  of  the  second  tunnel 
will  be  located  at  a  point  just  below  the  juncture  of  Pitman 
and  Big  Creeks,  and  the  additional  supply  of  water  will 
increase   the   power   available   at   station   No.   2   and   in   a 


Fig.   2 — Site   of   Dam    No.   4. 

measure  compensate   for   the  difference   in   static   heads   at 
the  two  plants. 

The  power  houses  will  be  built  of  reinforced  concrete, 
and  each  will  have  an  ultimate  equipment  of  60,000  kw  in 
four  wheels,  of  which  two  will  be  installed  initially. 
Either  plant  will  be  capable  of  operating  without  the  other, 
if  desired,  as  power  house  No.  i  can  be  "by-passed." 


482 


ELECTRICAL     W^ORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


The  generating  units  will  consist  of  three-phase,  6600- 
volt  alternators  driven  by  two  overhung  impulse  wheels 
mounted  on  the  same  shaft.  The  combined  rating  of  the 
two  wheels  of  each  unit  will  be  20,000  hp.  The  emf 
from  the  generators  will  be  stepped  up  to  130.000  volts,  a 
new  record  for  transmission  emf. 

The  transmission  lines  will  be  longer  than  any  operating 
lines  yet  installed,  the  length  being  275  miles.  They  will 
consist  of  a  double  set  of  steel  towers,  each  supporting 
three  steel-cored  aluminum  conductors  arranged  in  hori- 
zontal plane.  The  hnes  will  be  located  on  a  private  right- 
of-way  for  a  large  part  of  the  distance.  At  Los  Angeles 
a  substation  equipped  with  synchronous  condensers  and 
step-down  transformers  will  convert  the  voltage  to  a  value 
suitable  for  delivering  energy  over  the  existing  distribut- 
ing systems. 


MUNICIPAL  ELECTRICIANS  IN  SESSION  AT  PEORIA. 


With  a  registered  attendance  of  about  no.  the  seven- 
teenth annual  convention  of  the  International  Association 
of  Municipal  Electricians  was  held  at  Peoria,  111.,  on  Aug. 
27  to  29.  President  John  W.  Kelly,  Jr.,  chief  of  the  Elec- 
trical Bureau  of  Camden,  N.  J.,  occupied  the  chair,  and 
Secretary  Clarence  R.  George,  city  electrician  of  Houston, 
Tex.,  performed  the  duties  of  his  office.  Mr.  W.  E.  Wol- 
gamott,  city  electrician  of  Peoria,  was  chairman  of  the 
executive  committee  and  made  the  local  arrangements.  The 
sessions  were  held  in  the  assembly  room  of  the  new  Jeffer- 
son Hotel,  and  here  also  were  displayed  exhibits  by  a 
number  of  manufacturers.  '  Mayor  Woodruff  of  Peoria 
welcomed  the  delegates  and  Mr.  Clark  E.  Diehl,  of  Harris- 
burg,  Pa.,  responded. 

In  his  presidential  address  Mr.  Kelly  urged  that  the 
powers  of  municipal  electrical  inspectors  be  enlarged  to 
take  in  all  electrical  matters  in  the  city.  The  chief  of  the 
electrical  bureau  in  a  large  city  is  much  more  than  a  signal 
engineer;  he  has  problems  to  solve  in  all  branches  of  elec- 
trical engineering. 

Papers  were  read  as  follows :  "'Underground  Cables  for 
Fire  and  Police  Telegraph  Service,"  by  Mr.  E.  G.  Looniis, 
Pittsburgh ;  "Grounding  Street  Boxes,"  by  Mr.  T.  C. 
O'Hearn,  Cambridge,  Mass. ;  "Ornamental  Street  Lighting." 
by  Mr.  A.  M.  Klingman.  Cleveland :  "Electrical  Inspection 
from  the  Underwriter's  Viewpoint."  by  Mr.  W.  S.  Boyd, 
Chicago;  "Municipal  Inspection."  by  Mr.  Charles  H.  Lum, 
New  York;  "Testing  and  Inspecting  Fire  Boxes."  by  Mr. 
W.  L.  Riehl,  Cincinnati:  "Handling  Fire  Alarms,"  by  Mr. 
John  Berry,  Indianapolis;  "Police  Call  or  Flashlight  Sys- 
tem," by  Mr.  W.  E.  Wolgamott,  Peoria;  "Locating  Trouble 
on  Lines  and  Cables."  by  Mr.  Leo  Firman,  Philade'phia. 

ORNAMENTAL   STREET  LIGHTING. 

Mr.  Klingman,  in  his  paper,  stated  that  there  are  now 
about  400  ornamental  street-lighting  systems  in  the  United 
States,  whereas  in  April,  1909,  there  were  only  six.  He 
made  a  plea  for  sufficiently  high  suspension  of  high-candle- 
power  sources.  Intensity  on  business  streets  should  be  from 
0.4  to  0.5  ft. -candle.  Single-line,  rather  than  staggered, 
lighting  should  be  used  on  the  curving  driveways  in  parks. 

POLICE-CALL   SYSTEM. 

The  police  flashlight  system  of  Peoria  was  described  by 
Mr.  Wolgamott.  To  convey  signa's  to  policemen  while 
patrolling,  eighty  lamps  are  used  at  night  and  the  same  num- 
ber of  bells  in  the  daytime.  The  bells  and  lamps  are  placed 
at  street  intersections,  either  on  tops  of  posts  supporting 
fire-alarm  boxes  or  on  brackets  extending  from  arc-lamp 
posts.  When  a  policeman  hears  or  sees  a  signal  he  tele- 
phones police  headquarters  at  once.  The  system  is  used  not 
only  to  get  into  communication  with  policemen  on  beat  but 
also  as  a  check  to  show  that  they  are  traveling  their  rounds. 
At  each  location  there  is  a  weatherproof  box  containing  a 


polarized  relay  by  means  of  which  the  bell  can  be  rung  or 
the  lamp  lighted,  as  desired.  The  small  amount  of  energy 
needed  is  supplied  to  the  city  without  charge  by  the  Peoria 
Gas  &  Electric  Company.  The  system  is  very  useful  in 
police  work,  in  tracing  criminals  or  in  cases  of  riot. 

MUNICIPAL   INSPECTION. 

Mr.  Boyd,  although  connected  with  the  Underwriters, 
advocated  municipal  regulation  for  electrical  inspection  to 
protect  lives  and  property.  This  inspection  is  a  natural 
municipal  function ;  the  supervision  must  extend  to  non- 
insurers  as  well  as  to  insurers.  Furthermore,  the  regulat-ion 
should  cover  outside  as  well  as  inside  wiring.  Final  decision 
as  to  inspection  should  not  be  left  with  owners  or  tenants. 
The  present  problem  of  electrical  inspection  relates  to  the 
small  cities.  Mr.  Boyd  advocated  the  creation  of  state  de- 
partments for  electrical  inspection.  Politics  must  not  be 
mixed  with  electrical  inspection  work.  "Graft"  among 
municipal  inspectors  is  rare.  These  inspectors  should  be 
paid  better  than  they  are.  Losses  from  fires  due  to  electrical 
causes  are  decreasing  in  all  cities  where  there  is  municipal 
inspection  on  a  rational  basis,  but  the  electrical  fire  loss  can 
be  reduced  to  a  nominal  amount  with  the  present-day  ex- 
cellence of  electrical  fittings.  Mr.  Boyd's  paper  was 
heartily  commended  by  the  members.  A  vote  of  thanks  was 
given  to  the  author,  and  he  was  made  an  honorarv  member. 

UNDERGROUND  CABLES. 

Mr.  Loomis  discussed  the  general  subject  of  underground 
cables  for  fire  and  police  te'egraph  service.  He  said  that 
his  experience  with  saturated-fiber  cables  had  been  satis- 
factory. A  recent  improvement  makes  this  type  approxi- 
mate a  rubber-insulated  cable  in  moisture-resisting  qualities. 

CONVENTION   NOTES. 

Thirty-six  new  members  were  elected,  including  twenty- 
two  active  members  and  fourteen  associate  members. 

Captain  William  Brophy,  of  Boston,  one  of  the  oldest 
members  of  the  association,  sent  in  his  resignation,  but  the 
association  refused  to  accept  it  and  elected  him  an  honorary 
member  for  life.  Mr.  Will  Y.  Ellett,  of  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  paid 
a  glowing  tribute  to  Captain  Brophy  and  his  work. 

A  committee  was  authorized  to  report  on  the  general 
subject  of  permissible  limits  of  voltage  within  the  bounds 
of  municipalities. 

Officers  were  elected  as  follows:  President,  Mr.  John  W 
Kelly,  Jr..  Camden,  N.  J.;  vice-presidents,  Messrs.  O.  C 
Trussler,  Indianapolis;  W.  R.  Arbuckle,  Bayonne,  N.  J. 
A.  G.  Sangster.  Saskatoon.  Sask. ;  B.  A.  Blakey,  Mont- 
gomery, Ala. ;  secretary,  Mr.  Clarence  R.  George,  Houston 
Tex.;  treasurer,  Mr.  C.  E.  Diehl,  Harrisburg,  Pa.;  execu- 
tive committee,  Messrs.  H.  C.  Bundy,  Watertown,  N.  Y. ; 
T.  C.  O'Hearn,  Cambridge,  Mass.;  Will  Y.  Ellett,  Elmira 
N.  Y. ;  W.  E.  Wolgamott,  Peoria.  111.;  A.  L.  W.  Kittredge. 
New  Haven,  Conn. ;  Clayton  W.  Pike,  Philadelphia ;  H.  A 
Boneen,  Cleveland;  W.  B.  Martin,  Albany;  John  Berry 
Indianapolis,  and  Robert  J.  Gaskill,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.  The 
election  was  enlivened  by  a  contest  over  the  secretaryship. 
Mr.  George  wished  to  retire,  owing  to  pressure  of  other 
duties,  and  several  candidates  were  placed  in  nomination, 
but  Mr.  George  was  re-eiected  by  a  large  majority  and 
consented  to  serve. 

The  entertainment  program  included  a  high-voltage  dem- 
onstration by  Mr.  J.  W.  Kelly,  an  enjoyable  boat  ride  on 
the  Illinois  River  and  several  other  features. 

Seven  candidates  were  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  the 
Sons  of  Jove  at  a  rejuvenation  held  on  the  night  of  Aug.  28. 
Among  these  were  two  ex-presidents  of  the  association. 
The  degree  team  was  composed  of  Mr.  V.  L.  Craw- ford  and 
Messrs.  Driscoll,  Dubsky,  Lyons  and  Friend,  of  Chicago. 
This  was  the  first  rejuvenation  of  the  order  held  at  a  con- 
vention of  the  municipal  electricians. 

It  was  voted  to  hold  next  year's  convention  of  the  Inter- 
national Association  of  Municipal  Electricians  in  Water- 
town,  N.  Y. 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


483 


AN  ORGANIZED  MOVEMENT  TOWARD  CO-OPERA- 
TION AND  EXPANSION. 


The  meeting  held  at  Association  Island,  Lake  Ontario,  on 
Tuesday,  Sept.  3,  was  a  "co-operation"  gathering  ot  more 
than  100  representatives  from  four  divisions  of  the  field — 
the  central  stations,  the  manufacturers,  the  jobbers,  and  the 
contractors  and  dealers.  The  purpose  of  the  meeting  was 
to  consider  means  for  bringing  about  more  systematic  and 
harmonious  relations  among  the  several  factors  having  to 
do  with  the  sale,  distribution  and  installation  of  electrical 
service  and  facilities.  The  result  of  the  meeting  was  a  de- 
cision to  create  an  organization  to  cary  on  a  co-operative 
movement  throughout  the  country.  That  decision  took  form 
in  the  election  of  an  executive  or  organization  committee 
composed  of  the  following : 
From  the  National  Electric  Light  Association : 

Henry  L.  Doherty,  Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company. 

J.  E.  Montague,  Buffalo  &  Niagara  Falls  Electric  Light 
&  Power  Company. 

W.  H.  Johnson,  Philadelphia  Electric  Company. 

A.  C.  Einstein,  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, St.  Louis. 

J.     F.     Gilchrist,     Commonwealth     Edison     Company, 
Chicago. 
From  the  Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Association  : 

W.  E.  Robertson.  Robertson-Cataract  Company,  Buf- 
falo, N.  Y. 

W.  W.  Low,  Electrical  .\ppliance   Company.  Chicago. 

R.  V.  Scudder,  Wesco  Supply  Company,  St.  Louis. 

F.  S.  Price,  Pettingell-Andrews  Company,  Boston. 
Gerard  Swope,  Western  Electric  Company,  New  York. 

From  the  National  Electrical  Contractors'  Association: 
Ernest  Freeman,  Chicago. 
Ernest  McCleary,  Detroit,  Mich. 
P.  N.  Thorpe,  Paterson,  N.  J. 

G.  M.  Sanborn,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 
James  R.  Strong,  New  York  City. 

From  the -Electrical  Manufacturers: 

A.  W.  Burchard,  General  Electric  Company. 

L.  A.  Osborne.  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing 

Company. 
W.     A.     Layman,     \\'agner     Electric     Manufacturing 

Company. 
J.  R.  Crouse,  National  Quality  Lamp  Division.  General 

Electric  Company. 

B.  L.  Downs,  Hemingray  Glass  Company  and  president 

Manufacturers'  Club. 
Mr.  Doherty  was  made  chairman  and  Mr.  Philip  S.  Dodd 
secretary  of  the  committee.  In  accepting  the  chairmanship 
Mr.  Doherty  said  that  he  proposed  to  go  into  this  movement 
to  make  it  a  success.  The  committee  held  its  first  meeting 
before  leaving  the  island  on  Tuesday  and  appointed  a  sub- 
committee on  by-laws. 

BOTH    PUBLICITY    .\ND    BUSINESS    METHODS    CONSIDERED. 

A  formal  program  had  been  arranged  for  the  meeting, 
the  theme  for  which  was  publicity  and  advertising  for  the 
industry.  It  soon  appeared,  however,  after  general  discus- 
sion of  the  set  papers  was  reached  that  the  problem  was 
more  than  one  of  publicity  alone.  The  long-standing  ques- 
tion of  adjustment  and  co-ordination  between  the  lighting 
companies  on  the  one  hand  and  the  contractors  and  dealers 
on  the  other,  in  the  matter  of  creating  new  business,  was 
soon  occupying  the  middle  of  the  stage.  In  brief,  the  job- 
bers, contractors  and  dealers  were  willing  to  co-operate  if 
the  central  stations  would  give  them  what  they  considered  a 
fair  show,  while  the  central-station  representatives  said  they 
would  be  glad  to  give  up  all  business  in  energy-consuming 
devices  and  in  wiring  the  moment  the  contractors  and 
dealers  were  prepared  to  handle  such  things  as  well  as  or 
better  tlian  the  central  stations  can  do  it  for  themselves. 


The  meeting  was  opened  by  an  address  of  welcome  by 
Mr.  A.  D.  Page,  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  who 
explained  the  object  of  Association  Island  as  a  co-operative 
meeting  place.  He  said  that  those  who  had  used  it  for  a 
number  of  years  had  found  the  results  gratifying,  and  that 
competitors  or  rivals  who,  in  the  informal  intercourse  of 
play  and  recreation,  met  each  other  with  the  mask  off  found 
it  subsequently  more  difficult  in  business  relations  either  to 
lie  to  or  disbelieve  one  another.  Mr.  Page  introduced 
Mr.  F.  M.  Tait,  president  of  the  National  Electric  Light 
-Association,  who  delivered  the  first  address  of  the  meeting. 
Mr.  Tait  discussed  the  question  of  "What  Co-operative 
Effort  Can  Do  for  the  Electric  Lighting  Industry  and  the 
Industry  as  a  Whole."  He  reviewed  the  difficulties  which 
beset  central  stations  and  local  contractors  and  dealers  in 
their  mutual  relations.  He  pointed  out  that  sometimes  local 
troubles  arose  from  causes  that  were  not  local,  and  that 
many  of  these  troubles  could  be  adjusted  or  removed  by 
some  general  co-operative  movement,  the  purpose  of  which 
would  be  to  stimulate  local  effort  to  advance  the  use  of 
electricity  by  the  consuming  public. 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  remarks  Mr.  Tait  was  made  per- 
manent chairman  of  the  meeting  and  he  presided  over  the 
deliberations  of  the  day. 

THE    jobbers'    POINT    OF    VIEW. 

Mr.  W.  E;  Robertson,  of  Buffalo,  spoke  on  behalf  of  the 
jobbers,  who,  he  said,  were  in  sympathy  with  any  co- 
operative movement  that  would  recognize  the  principles  of 
sound  merchandising  and  that  would  be  entirely  free  from 
suspicion  of  being  devoted  to  the  interests  of  any  special 
group.  The  jobbers  were  animated  by  the  native  caution 
of  men  who  felt  that  in  going  into  a  co-operative  movement 
they  would  be  justified  in  doing  it  only  to  the  extent  that 
the  execution  of  the  scheme  as  a  whole  would  benefit  them 
individually.  The  sale  of  goods  by  the  central  stations  at 
cost  or  for  prices  yielding  less  than  a  fair  profit  was  not  a 
basis  of  co-operation  that  would  be  attractive  to  the  jobbers. 

the    CONTRACTORS    READY    TO    CO-OPERATE. 

Mr.  Ernest  Freeman,  president  of  the  National  Electrical 
Contractors'  Association,  spoke  on  "What  Co-operative 
Effort  Can  Do  for  the  Contractor"  to  the  effect  that  if  "pull- 
ing together"  and  "co-operation"  meant  the  same  thing  he 
and  the  people  that  he  represented  were  for  it.     He  said: 

".\s  a  result  of  this  kind  of  pulling  together  or  co-opera- 
tion, I  can  see  the  electrical  contractor  coming  into  his 
rights,  but  I  am  unwilling  to  admit  that  the  results  would 
be  any  more  beneficial  to  the  contractor  than  to  the  manu- 
facturer, jobber  or  central  station.  It  is  my  belief  that  the 
electrical  contractor  of  to-day  is  in  better  position  than  ever 
before.  I  am  convinced  that  he  is  a  bigger  business  man 
and  that  through  his  associations  and  his  personal  push  he 
is  slowly  but  steadily  coming  into  his  own. 

"By  the  joint  publication  of  such  things  as  the  'Electrical 
Equipment  of  the  Home'  and  the  'Home  Beautiful'  I  can  see 
that  the  suggestions  contained  therein  will  tend  to  create  a 
desire  for  conveniences  the  installation  of  which  will  in- 
crease the  business  of  the  contractor.  I  can  see  a  chance  by 
this  method  of  showing  the  consumer  that  electricity  is  the 
best  of  all  methods  for  illumination,  for  laundry  work,  for 
cooking  and  for  hundreds  of  other  things.  I  can  see  that 
the  contractor  will  come  in  for  his  share  of  increased  busi- 
ness as  a  result  of  such  methods. 

"If  general  publicity  creates  a  demand  for  products,  the 
contractor  who  does  not  avail  himself  of  the  opportunities 
offered  by  the  'people's  electrical  page'  is  indeed  making  a 
mistake.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  the  place  for  the  men 
in  my  line  to  spend  money,  because  if  a  demand  is  created  or 
a  desire  is  instilled  into  the  public  mind  for  electrical  ap- 
paratus the  contractor  must  let  it  be  known  who  he  is  and 
where  he  is  in  order  that  these  demands  and  desires  may  be 
gratified.     Certain  it  is  that  the  contractor  is  the  best  one 


484 


ELECTRICAL     W'  O  R  L  D  . 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  io. 


to  look  to  for  these  things,  and  it  therefore  behooves  him  to 
go  to  the  limit  in  taking  space  in  co-operative  newspaper 
advertising.  " 

THE    JOVIANS    -AS    CO-OPER.\TORS. 

y[r.  R.  L.  Jaynes,  reigning  Jupiter  of  the  Sons  of  Jove, 
explained  with  some  care  the  purposes  of  the  order  and  its 
present  condition,  which  is  relatively  prosperous.  It  now 
has  about  8000  members  and  is  in  very  comfortable  financial 
circumstances.  He  felt  that  such  a  body,  which  was  not 
organized  alone  for  social  and  fraternal  purposes  but  was 
especially  intended  to  afford  a  means  for  carrying  out  prac- 
tical methods  of  commercial  co-operation,  should  in  any 
question  such  as  that  under  consideration  be  a  very  im- 
portant factor.  The  order  was  nation-wide  in  its  extent 
and  should  afford  a  logical  means  of  arriving  at  a  solution 
of  a  co-operative  scheme  in  the  electrical  industry. 

Mr.  T.  I.  Jones,  vice-president  of  the  Commercial  Section 
of  the  National  Electric  Light  .\ssociation,  was  on  the  pro- 
gram to  speak  of  the  Commercial  Section.  In  his  absence 
Mr.  Philip  S.  Dodd  explained  the  work  accomplished  by  the 
section  during  the  last  two  years.  This  work  is  already 
familiar  to  the  readers  of  the  Electrical  Jl'orld. 

HOW    TO    USE    TRADE   LITERATURE. 

Mr.  J.  C.  McQuiston,  manager  of  the  W'estinghouse  de- 
partment of  publicity,  spoke  on  "Co-operative  Publications." 
He  went  with  considerable  detail  into  practical  questions 
pertaining  to  the  use  made  or  to  be  made  by  dealers  and 
central  stations  of  printed  matter  furnished  at  the  expense 
of  manufacturers.  He  outlined  what  he  would  do  if  he  were 
a  dealer,  remarking  that  the  same  care  should  be  exercised 
in  distributing  the  printed  matter  provided  by  the  manu- 
facturer as  if  the  local  interest  paid  for  it.  Too  often  the 
publications  furnished  by  the  manufacturers  are  not 
appreciated  by  the  dealer  because  no  charge  is  made  for 
them.  If  those  same  publications  were  printed  by  the 
dealers  or  central  stations  at  their  own  expense  greater 
pains  would  be  taken  to  get  them  into  the  hands  of  people 
who  would  be  most  likely  to  become  purchasers.  The  local 
salesman  should  read  and  reread  any  and  all  literature 
which  has  a  bearing  on  articles  on  sale.  If  a  salesman  can- 
not make  a  sale  with  the  article  itself  in  his  hands  it  cannot 
be  expected  that  a  piece  of  literature,  however  attractive, 
can  do  it  for  hiuL  Of  far  greater  importance  than  the 
literature  given  out  is  the  treatment  of  the  display.  If  a 
woman  goes  into  an  electrical  supply  store  and  sees  chiefly 
a  display  of  sockets  and  dry  batteries  and  wiring  material 
the  price  for  a  coffee  percolator  seems  too  big  and  she 
wants  to  get  away.  A  good  display  room  might  be  likened 
to  a  carefully  planned  catalog.  All  of  the  articles  are 
arranged  on  neat  tables,  inviting  the  inspection  of  the  cus- 
tomer, and  the  articles  in  greatest  demand  are  placed  in  the 
rear  of  the  store,  so  that  the  customer  desiring  an  electric 
iron,  for  instance,  must  pass  tables  filled  with  chafing  dishes, 
samovars,  percolators  and  toasters  before  she  comes  to  the 
irons.  The  proprietor  of  this  display  room  has  little  need 
for  printed  literature,  for  the  whole  display  room  is  an 
open  catalog  illustrated  by  real  articles  instead  of  pictures. 
The  dealer  should  get  the  best  mailing  list  obtainable 
and  see  that  it  is  always  kept  up  to  date.  The  expense  of 
mailing  is  a  big  item,  and  from  the  list  should  be  cut  all 
names  that  could  not  be  counted  as  of  real  prospective  cus- 
tomers. Instead  of  a  list  of  1000  names  to  receive  third- 
class  mail  matter  it  would  be  better  to  select  the  best  500 
and  use  2-cent  stamps. 

"Co-operative  Publicity"  was  the  subject  of  a  paper  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  Frank  H.  Gale,  advertising  manager  of  the 
General  Electric  Company.  After  sketching  briefly  the 
history  and  nature  of  publicity  work  in  specialized  and 
technical  fields,  Mr.  Gale  said  that  the  situation  in  the  elec- 
trical business  points  to  the  value  of  an  independent  pub- 
licity organization  supported  by  the  industry  at  large.  ''Such 
an   organization   must   observe   strictly   the   trade   ethics   in 


planni/ig  publicity  either  for  newspapers,  magazines  or  tech- 
nical papers.  The  violation  of  a  few  simple  rules  will  insure 
the  failure  of  the  desired  publicity.  Publications  should 
not  be  expected  to  print  advertising  matter  free  of  charge. 
Nothing  but  straight,  legitimate  news  and  good  educational 
matter  should  be  supplied.  Publicity  should  never  be  con- 
sidered in  connection  with  advertising  space.  No  publishers 
should  be  approached  with  a  proposition  to  insert  a  small 
advertisement  and  get  a  large  free  news  article  on  the 
subject.  If  the  material  is  something  the  readers  will  like, 
the  editor  will  be  glad  to  publish  it.  Petty  tricks  and  dis- 
honesty should  never  be  resorted  to  for  the  sake  of  a  few 
lines  of  free  publicity. 

THE    FIELD    IS    RICH    IN    PUBLICITY    MATERI.AL. 

"Great  inventions,  new  methods,  enormous  undertakings, 
novel  installations  and  the  prominent  part  taken  by  elec- 
tricity in  the  wonderful  progress  of  to-day  all  offer  abundant 
material  for  the  publicity  man  working  in  the  interest  of  the 
industry  at  large.  Material  supplied  by  the  publicity  bureau 
must  be  written  in  an  entertaining  way  without  technical 
terms.  There  is  an  abundance  of  technical  literature  avail- 
able but  a  scarcity  of  that  which  the  layman  can  understand. 

"The  publicity  bureau  under  consideration  should  come 
out  into  the  open  and  should  endeavor  to  be  recognized  by 
writers  and  editors  everywhere  as  a  source  of  reliable  news 
on  electrical  subjects.  It  should  be  especially  equipped  for 
furnishing  data  to  free-lance  writers,  of  whom  there  are 
many  in  the  country  at  present  interested  in  the  subject  of 
electricity.  It  should  be  prepared  to  supply  notes  on  elec- 
trical subjects  for  use  by  local  lighting  companies  whenever 
they  are  themselves  unable  to  keep  their  local  editors  sup- 
plied with  sufiicient  material  of  that  sort. 

"The  first  duty  of  this  bureau  is  the  work  in  connection 
with  the  so-called  'people's  electrical  page.'  About  forty 
of  these  pages  are  now  being  published  in  various  cities. 
The  local  co-operative  electrical  page  has  great  local  adver- 
tising value,  but  its  success  depends  upon  the  quality  of 
the  material  published  as  reading  matter.  A  certain  part 
of  the  space  should  be  devoted  to  local  electrical  notes,  but 
there  is  no  reason  why  a  considerable  part  of  it  should  not 
be  supplied  from  a  central  bureau,  and  there  is  certainly  no 
objection  to  the  same  matter  appearing  simultaneously  in 
the  electrical  pages  published  in  all  the  different  cities. 

WHAT    A    CO-OPERATIVE    PUISLICITY    BUREAU    MIGHT    DO. 

"A  co-operative  publicity  bureau  should  undertake  the 
management  of  these  electrical  pages  in  all  of  the  different 
cities,  maintaining  a  traveling  representative  who  could  per- 
sonally keep  in  touch  with  each  situation.  While  the  bureau 
could  and  should  be  of  very  great  help  in  organizing  and 
conducting  these  electrical  pages,  it  should  not  be  called 
upon  for  financial  support  for  such  pages.  The  local  elec- 
trical page  is  of  great  value  as  a  stimulus  for  closer  co- 
operation among  local  electrical  interests  and  this  is  at  once 
relnoved  when  outside  financial  support  is  accepted." 

In  summing  up,  Mr.  Gale  said  that  a  co-operative  pub- 
licity- bureau  would  be  able  to  supplement  in  a  very  effective 
way  the  work  at  present  carried  on  to  a  greater  extent  by 
lighting  companies,  dealers,  jobbers  and  manufacturers,  and 
without  interfering  in  any  way  with  their  efforts  would  be 
able  to  distribute  to  the  reading  public  a  vast  amount  of 
educational  material  on  the  subject  of  electricity  which  in 
due  time  would  not  fail  to  increase  the  general  interest  in 
the  use  of  electricity  and  thereby  become  profitable  to  all. 

Mr.  Roger  V.  Scudder,  of  the  Wesco  Supply  Company, 
St.  Louis,  read  a  paper  outlining  briefly  a  plan  for  co-opera- 
tive advertising  service  which  dealt  with  suggestions  as  to 
ways  and  means  whereby  the  interests  concerned  can  app'y 
to   local   needs    material    and   plans   created   co-operatively. 

"The  Co-operative  Newspaper  Page"  was  the  subject  of  a 
paper  presented  by  Mr.  Frank  B.  Rae,  Jr..  publisher  of 
Electrical  Merchandise.  Mr.  Rae  stated  the  three  objects 
of  the  people's  electrical  pages  to  be: 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


48s 


First,  the  education  of  the  pubhc  in  a  wider  use  of  elec- 
tric service  (which  means  also  the  more  general  use  of  all 
manner  of  electrical  appliances)  ;  the  elimination  of  preju- 
dice against  the  supposed  high  price  of  such  service  and 
appliances;  the  overcoming  of  the  fear  of  electricity  both 
as  a  fire  risk  and  as  an  agent  of  personal  injury;  the  com- 
bating of  the  carefully  nurtured  hatred  of  public-utility 
companies,  and,  finally,  opposing  the  municipal-ownership 
idea. 

Second,  the  "people's  electrical  page"  is  designed  to  bring 
local  electrical  interests  together  in  harmonious  ettort  to- 
ward a  definite  end. 

Third,  the  "people's  electrical  page"  educates  local  inter- 
ests in  the  value  of  advertising  and  developing  their  own 
business. 

Mr.  Rae  said  that  the  two  parties  most  interested  in  the 
"people's  page"  are  the  central  station  and  the  newspaper. 
But  the  factor  that  makes  most  directly  for  success  is  the 
harmony  club — be  it  lunch  club,  Jovian  club  or  whatever 
form  the  harmony  movement  takes. 

HOW    TO    HANDLE    THE    PEOPLE's    PAGE. 

"To  Start  the  'people's  page'  it  should  be  presented  to  the 
harmony  club  as  a  definite  object  and  such  impetus  should 
there  be  given  the  movement  that  the  local  interests  will 
all  be  definitely  committed  to  it.  From  this  point  of  com- 
mitment the  newspapers  should  become  responsible  for  the 
actual  solicitation  of  advertising,  should  co-operate  in  the 
preparation  of  copy  and  should  be  charged  with  the  detail 
work.  The  central  station  should  always  be  the  largest 
advertiser  and  should  provide  if  necessary  the  funds  used 
to  procure  the  educational  articles  and  news  items  from  the 
co-operative  copy  bureau  designated  above. 

"With  this  copy  bureau  definitely  interested  in  the  sale 
of  its  product,  with  the  newspaper  definitely  understanding 
that  it  must  solicit  this  advertising  and  render  services 
just  as  it  solicits  and  renders  service  for  the  shoeman  or 
the  department  store  and  with  the  central  station  ag- 
gressively leading  the  procession  of  local  interests  with  ade- 
quate spage  and  by  meeting  the  cost  of  the  educational 
copy — with  such  a  division  of  work  and  with  the  har- 
mony club  as  the  mainspring  of  the  movement,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  of  the  success  of  any  'people's  page'  anywhere." 

Mr.  H.  H.  Cudmore.  general  manager  of  the  Brilliant 
Electric  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  dis- 
cussed "Harmony  Luncheon  Clubs  and  Electrical  Leagues," 
pointing  out  what  had  already  been  accomplished  in  this 
line  of  work  and  how  much  more  remains  to  be  done.  He 
laid  emphasis  upon  the  necessity  of  work  upon  definite  ob- 
jects in  the  activities  of  these  more  or  less  informal  or- 
ganizations. 

At  this  point  in  the  proceedings  the  question  of  organi- 
zing a  co-operative  movement  was  thrown  open  for  general 
discussion. 

INTELLIGENTLY   DEVISED  PLAN    IS   PRACTICABLE. 

Mr.  A.  W.  Burchard.  of  the  General  Electric  Company, 
stated  that  the  idea  of  co-operation  was  directly  in  line 
with  the  methods  demanded  by  modern  progress.  Orga- 
nized effort  properly  directed  is  more  efficient  than  indivi- 
dual effort.  The  difficult  question  to  solve  in  every  plan 
of  the  kind  is  the  harmonization  of  the  diverse  interests 
involved  and  the  avoidance  of  clashing  personalities  and 
jealousies.  He  felt,  however,  that  the  things  in  which  the 
different  groups  had  identical  interests  would  preponderate 
over  those  in  which  they  had  conflicting  interests,  and  that 
by  mutual  concession  and  the  subordinating  of  trivialities 
the  greatest  good  for  the  industry  as  a  whole  could  be  ac- 
complished by  an  intelligently  devised  scheme  of  co- 
operation. 

Mr.  S.  L.  Nicholson,  general  sales  manager  of  the  West- 
inghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  spoke  briefly 
and  said  that  he  believed  in  co-operative  organization  for 
the  good  of  the  industry,  and  that  if  the  good  of  the  in- 
dustry as  a  whole   is  to  be  subserved  in   good   faith   the 


Westinghouse  company  will  be  glad  to  help  in  the  organi- 
zation of  the  movement  and  to  co-operate  in  the  fullest 
degree  in  making  the  undertaking  a  success. 

A    BASIS    THE    FIKST    REQUISITE. 

Mr.  Gerard  Swope,  of  the  Western  Electric  Company, 
said  there  is  no  difficulty  in  getting  together  on  the  gen- 
eral theory  of  co-operation,  that  there  is  little  dispute  on  the 
desirability  of  co-operation,  but  it  will  be  necessary  to  have 
a  definite  understanding  as  to  the  object  of  the  co-opera- 
tion, hi  Cleveland,  where  all  parties  in  interest  had  a 
mutual  understanding,  it  was  easy  to  co-operate,  and  the 
Western  Electric  Company  was  glad  to  spend  money  under 
such  a  plan,  but  where  the  central  stations  are  not  selling 
goods  on  a  merchandising  basis  it  is  impossible  for  the 
jobbers,  contractors  and  dealers  to  co-operate.  He  believed 
that  the  jobber  performs  in  the  distribution  of  goods  an 
economic  service  for  which  he  should  be  paid. 

Mr.  F.  R.  Cagwin,  secretary  of  the  Electrical  League  of 
Cleveland,  explained  the  workings  of  the  organization  in 
Cleveland  and  the  satisfactory  results  obtained.  He  ex- 
pressed the  conviction  that  the  league  would  accomplish 
still  greater  good  in  the  adjustment  of  differences  in  the 
future. 

Mr.  Z.  W.  Carter,  of  the  Pettingell-Andrews  Company, 
Boston,  told  of  the  recent  organization  of  the  Electrical 
Development  Association  in  Boston  by  the  contractors  and 
jobbers,  and  of  the  relations  of  the  association  with  the 
Boston  Edison  company,  which  had  resulted  in  the  local 
contractors  and  dealers  pursuing  a  much  more  vigorous 
policy  in  the  matter  of  marketing  fans,  irons  and  other  de- 
vices than  they  had  pursued  before.  The  Boston  Edison 
company  was  about  to  put  fans  and  irons  on  the  market  at 
inviting  prices,  but  when  the  company  was  assured  of  the 
increase  in  activity  these  plans  were  changed. 

REMOVE     ANTAGONISM      BETWEEN     CENTRAL-STATION      DEALERS. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Robertson,  resuming  the  floor  and  referring 
to  Mr.  Rae's  paper,  said  that  the  first  electrical  page  was 
not  started  for  love  of  the  central  station  but  because  the 
individual  contractor  or  dealer  advertising  alone  could  not 
afford  an  expenditure  sufficient  to  make  an  impression  on 
the  public.  In  order  that  the  proper  impression  should  be 
made  they  had  to  join  hands  and  take  adequate  space  to 
present  their  needs.  He  stated  further  that  the  jobbers  and 
dealers  did  not  propose  that  the  central  station  should  re- 
tire from  the  business  of  selling  apparatus  unless  the  busi- 
ness of  selling  apparatus  could  be  conducted  by  the  job- 
bers, dealers  and  contractors  at  least  as  efficiently  and  in 
as  large  volume  as  by  the  central  station.  He  conceded 
that  the  central  station  was  entitled  to  its  full  measure  of 
expansion,  but  as  the  jobbers  have  $25,000,000  or  more  in- 
vested in  their  business  they  cannot  be  expected  to  favor 
the  central  stations  if  the  central  stations  antagonize  them. 
Antagonism  on  the  part  of  the  central  station  would  force 
jobbers  and  contractors  to  favor  municipal  ownership,  iso- 
iated  plants  or  other  means  through  which  they  might  be 
able  to  find  business.  He  considered  that  the  syndicate 
control  of  central  stations,  if  carried  to  an  extreme,  may 
mean  the  elimination  of  the  jobbing  business  entirely. 

Mr.  A.  D.  Page,  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  called 
attention  briefly  and  forcefully  to  the  fact  that  co-opera- 
tion so  far  as  the  local  dealer  and  central  station  is  con- 
cerned is  purely  a  question  of  getting  together  and  solv- 
ing their  local  problems,  and  that  co-operation  of  a 
national  character  had  to  do  with  fostering  those  ideas  and 
desires  that  would  tend  to  extend  the  use  of  electricity 
among  the  people. 

DOHERTY    ON    GIVING    THINGS    AWAY'. 

Mr.  H.  L.  Doherty,  of  New  York,  said  that,  while  he 
held  no  brief  for  either  jobbers  or  manufacturers,  he  did 
not  believe  in  selling  goods  at  less  than  cost.  The  central 
station  and  everybody  else  in  handling  electrical  apparatus 
should  handle  it  at  a  reasonable  profit.     He  cited  his  ex- 


486 


ELECTRICAL     \V  O  R  L  D  . 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


perieiice  in  the  gas  business  in  illustration  of  the  futility 
of  doing  business  without  profit.  While  in  Madison,  Wis., 
where  he  had  charge  of  a  gas  and  electric  plant  a  number 
of  years  ago,  he  changed  the  policy  of  the  company  with 
regard  to  making  free  service  connections  and  giving  away 
gas  stoves,  and  by  taking  two-thirds  of  the  receipts  from 
that  source  and  applying  them  in  a  way  to  make  people 
want  to  buy  his  goods  he  was  able  to  sell  more  gas  stoves 
than  another  company  owned  by  the  same  parties  was  able 
to  give  away  in  an  Eastern  town  that  was  larger  than 
Madison.  Mr.  Doherty  expressed  his  hearty  sympathy  with 
the  general  idea  of  a  co-operative  movement  and  said  that 
he  had  been  in  sympath)'  with  it  ever  since  the  original 
proposal  by  Mr.  J.  Robert  Grouse  made  at  the  Electrical 
Development  Association  meeting  in  1906.  Speaking  for 
his  own  central  stations,  Mr.  Doherty  said  that  he  would 
be  glad  to  leave  the  selling  of  electrical  goods  and  the 
wiring  of  buildings  to  the  dealers  and  jobbers  the  moment 
that  he  became  convinced  that  the  dealers  and  jobbers 
could  handle  the  business  with  equal  efficiencv.  He  con- 
tended, however,  that  the  dealers  and  contractors  must  be 
able  to  hold  their  own  people  in  line  and  avoid  poor  work 
and  other  improprieties  which  get  the  central  station  into 
ill  repute  with  their  customers. 

EXPERIE^"CE  .\T  NIAGAR.\   F.\LLS  .\N'D  ST.   LOUIS. 

Mr.  J.  E.  Montague,  of  Niagara  Falls,  explained  the 
difficulties  that  he  had  experienced  in  trying  to  induce  the 
dealers  of  his  community  to  obtain  the  business.  He 
expressed  himself  as  desiring  not  to  sell  electrical  goods 
or  to  do  wiring  and  glad  to  enter  into  any  co-operative  ar- 
rangement which  will  insure  to  the  central  station  through 
the  proper  activity  on  the  part  of  the  supply  dealer  and 
contractor  the  full  development  of  business  that  the  central 
station  may  reasonably  expect. 

Mr.  C.  A.  Einstein,  of  St.  Louis,  said  that  in  his  experi- 
ence the  chief  difficulty  was  that  the  contractor  was  lack- 
ing in  capital  and  push,  and  that  in  St.  Louis  his  company 
had  shown  its  belief  in  co-operation  by  going  so  far  as  to 
outfit  dealers  with  stock  and  to  assist  them  in  other  ways 
to  develop  their  business.  He  had  proposed  to  the  con- 
tractors to  carry  their  customers'  accounts,  but  neither  the 
dealers  nor  the  contractors  had  embraced  the  opportunity 
and  made  the  most  of  it. 

THERE    ARE    SOME    RESPONSIBLE    CONTRACTORS. 

Mr.  E.  McCleary,  of  Detroit,  stated  that  while  he  ap- 
preciated the  force  of  the  remarks  made  in  criticism  of 
contractors  and  their  failings,  he  knew  of  some  success- 
ful contractors.  The  time  was  when  many  contractors  and 
dealers  did  not  have  capital  adeqiiate  to  carry  on  their 
business,  but  any  of  them  are  in  better  circumstances  now. 
He  felt  that  the  practice  of  public-service  companies 
conducting  the  business  of  merchandising  was  impolitic. 
The  contractors  and  dealers  are  the  logical  and  proper 
parties  to  conduct  such  business.  He  believed  that  if  each 
party  were  made  to  underestand  the  others'  point  of  view 
there  could  be  developed  a  plan  of  co-operation  that  would 
solve   the  problem. 

Mr.  Gerald  Swope,  of  the  General  Electric  Company, 
said  that  if  the  attitude  of  all  central-station  managers 
was  the  same  as  that  of  Mr.  Doherty  there  would  be  no 
troub'.e,  but  that  some  of  them  are  selling  goods  below 
cost. 

Mr.  H.  H.  Cudmore.  of  the  Brilliant  Electric  Works, 
stated  that  in  the  organization  of  luncheon  clubs  he  had 
not  advised  the  central-station  companies  to  stop  selling 
goods  but  that  he  had  urged  contractors  and  dealers  to 
perfect  themselves  in  sales  methods  so  that  they  would 
gradually  equip  themselves  to  handle  the  business  and  re- 
lieve the  central  stations  of  the  need  of  engaging  in  it. 

Mr.  C.  A.  Littlefield.  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company, 
who  also  represented  the  Association  of  Edison  Illuminat- 
ing companies  at  the  meeting,  explained  the  results  of  the 


experience  in  New  York  where  the  company  does  not  en- 
gage in  the  contracting  or  the  supply  business.  He  said 
that  the  company  was  satisfied  with  its  experience.  He 
called  attention,  however,  to  the  dangers  that  follow  when 
the  contractors  pursue  a  mistaken  business  policy  and  ex- 
act prices  for  their  work  that  are  not  justified  and  that 
deter  the  best  development  of  the  business. 

Mr.  R.  \'.  Scudder.  of  St.  Louis,  said  that  for  the  purpose 
of  argument  it  might  be  admitted  that  the  contractors  and 
dealers  in  the  past  have  not  had  adequate  capital  and  that 
at  present  they  may  be  lacking  in  financial  resources,  but 
that  in  the  future  it  is  conceivable  that  they  will  be  able 
to  take  care  of  their  business  in  this  regard.  He  expressed 
the  opinion  that  where  a  central-station  company  is  en- 
gaged in  selling  goods  it  is  more  than  likely  that  some 
of  the  cost  of  that  part  of  its  business  will  be  absorbed 
in  its  overhead  charges,  and  that  the  basis  of  comparison 
between  the  cost  of  merchandising  on  the  part  of  central- 
station  companies  and  the  cost  of  doing  the  same  business 
bv   independent  dealers   will   thereby   be   vitiated. 

Mr.  Henry  Dwight  Smith,  of  the  Fuller  &  Smith  Ad- 
vertising Agency,  of  Cleveland,  stated  that  men  engaged 
in  the  discussion  to  which  he  had  listened  did  not  realize 
how  far  they  had  gone  on  the  pathway  toward  co-opera- 
tive effort.  The  spirit  of  the  discussion  was  to  his  mind, 
the  best  evidence  that  a  basis  of  co-operative  effort  was  at 
hand.  In  fact,  the  discussion  itself  was  a  species  of  co- 
operation. 

Mr.  Philip  S.  Dodd  summarized  the  situation  as  re- 
vealed by  the  papers  and  the  debate.  He  suggested  that 
some  definite  steps  be  taken  to  give  expression  to  the 
ideas  brought  out  at  the  meeting.  On  motion  of  Mr.  J.  E. 
Montague,  it  was  unanimously  voted  to  appoint  a  com- 
mittee on  plans  and  organization.  In  conformity  with  that 
action  the  organization  committee  named  at  the  beginning 
of  this  report  was  chosen. 


f 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


MASS.\CHUSETTS    COMMISSION. 

The  Railroad  Commission  has  handed  down  decisions  in 
several  electric-railway  fare  cases  which  have  been  pending 
before  the  board.  In  each  instance  the  petitioners  urged 
that  fares  be  reduced  or  that  the  existing  fare  zones  be 
lengthened.  In  the  petition  of  the  Selectmen  of  West 
Newbury  for  a  5-cent  fare  between  Haverhill  and  the 
former  town  the  board  recommended  that  this  tariff  be 
placed  in  effect  between  stated  hours  of  the  morning  and 
evening  for  the  benefit  of  regular  patrons  of  the  Bay  State 
Street  Railway.  The  railway  company  is  to  be  allowed  to 
raise  the  rates  if  those  suggested  prove  unreasonably  low. 
A  similar  reduction  has  been  recommended  by  the  board 
between  Cherry  Valley  and  Worcester  on  the  Worcester 
Consolidated  Street  Railway. 

OHIO    COMMISSION. 

Judge  Brodrick,  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court,  at  Belle- 
fontaine,  has  rendered  a  verdict  upholding  a  section  of  the 
public  utilities  law  requiring  that  before  a  telephone  com- 
pany can  build  a  competing  toll  line  it  must  first  secure  the 
permission  of  the  commission.  The  United  Telephone 
Company  of  Bellefontaine  brought  suit  to  restrain  the 
Farmers'  Telephone  Company  from  building  a  line  be- 
tween Degraff  and  West  Liberty  on  the  ground  that  it  is 
already  furnishing  proper  service  and  that  the  Farmers' 
Telephone  Company  had  not  secured  the  permission  of  the 
commission.  The  court  upheld  the  claim. 

Judge  Gard  in  Common  Pleas  Court  at  Hamilton  has  ren- 
dered a  decision  to  the  effect  that  the  Hamilton  Gas  & 
Electric  Company  has  no  right  to  charge  10  cents  per 
month  for  the  use  of  meters. 

The  commission  has  granted  the  request  of  the  Cleveland 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


487 


Railway  Qompany  for  authority  to  issue  $3,000,000  addi- 
tional stock  for  the  purpose  of  taking  up  a  portion  of  a  bond 
issue  and  making  certain  improvements. 

MARYLAND    COMMISSION. 

The  Maryland  Public  Service  Commission  has  received 
a  formal  announcement  that  an  amicable  understanding 
has  been  reached  under  which  the  town  of  Centerville,  Md., 
will  purchase  the  plant  of  the  Centerville  Electric  Com- 
pany and  will  conduct  it  as  a  municipal  enterprise.  A  large 
delegation  of  business  men  was  on  hand  to  represent  the 
town  when  the  announcement  was  made  to  the  commission 
by  Secretary  of  State  Robert  P.  Graham,  who  is  the  re- 
ceiver of  the  company.  The  plant  was  established  in  1906, 
but  has  been  in  the  hands  of  a  receiver  for  the  last  two 
years. 

WISCONSIN    COMMISSION. 

After  an  investigation  extending  over  a  period  of  more 
than  three  years,  and  involving  what  is  perhaps  the  most 
complete  cost  analysis  of  electric-street  railway  operation 
ever  undertaken,  the  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission  has 
issued  its  decision  on  the  complaint  of  the  city  of  Mil- 
waukee against  The  Milwauke  Electric  Railway  &  Light 
Company,  or  the  so-called  "three-cent-fare"  case.  Five 
other  complaints  against  The  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway 
&  Light  Company  and  the  Milwaukee  Light,  Heat  &  Trac- 
tion Company  are  disposed  of  in  the  same  decision. 

In  the  application  of  the  city  for  a  reduction  in  the  city 
fare,  the  commission  held  that  the  present  practice  of 
selling  twenty-five  tickets  for  $1  should  be  discontinued, 
and  in  lieu  thereof  the  practice  of  the  sale  of  thirteen 
tickets  for  50  cents,  with  the  usual  transfer  privileges  within 
extended  single-fare  limits,  should  be  established.  The 
application  for  a  universal  double  transfer  was  dismissed 
on  the  ground  that  there  was  no  reasonable  necessity  for 
the  extension  of  the  double  transfer.  In  the  Weakin  case, 
applying  for  a  reduction  in  the  rate  of  fare  between  the 
city  of  Milwaukee  and  the  city  of  Waukesha,  the  commis- 
sion held  that  the  earnings  of  this  line  were  too  low  to 
warrant  any  reduction.  The  application  for  single  fares  to 
West  Allis,  East  Milwaukee  and  Wauwatosa  were  granted, 
and  the  single-fare  zones  on  certain  of  the  streets  in  Mil- 
waukee were  extended.  A  subsequent  order  is  to  be  issued 
relating  to  the  betterment  of  service. 

In  connection  with  the  reduction  of  city  fares  the  com- 
mission called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  burdens  im- 
posed by  the  municipality  within  the  last  two  years  have 
materially  affected  the  city's  own  application,  and  they 
have  rendered  a  3-cent  fare  entirely  out  of  the  question. 
Among  other  things,  it  is  estimated  that  the  company  will 
be  compelled  to  expend  from  $150,000  to  $250,000  annually 
as  interest  and  depreciation  upon  the  pavement  between  its 
tracks  as  a  result  of  a  paving  suit  recently  decided  in  favor 
of  the  city.  In  connection  with  the  probable  future  ex- 
penditures, the  decision  noted  that  the  preliminary  inves- 
tigation of  electrolysis  conditions  in  Milwaukee,  which  is 
being  carried  on  by  the  commission,  indicates  that  con- 
siderable damage  is  taking  place  and  that  immediate  meas- 
ures of  relief  will  be  necessary. 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  decision  is  given  over  to  a 
review  of  the  company's  financial  history  and  to  the  de- 
termination of  what  should  constitute  a  reasonable  valua- 
tion for  rate-making  purposes.  It  was  averred  that  the 
value  upon  which  the  company  is  entitled  to  earn  a  fair 
return  should  aggregate  $20,546,930  on  Jan.  i,  1907.  The 
value  finally  allowed  by  the  commission  was  $10,300,000 
on  Jan.  i,  1910.  The  cost  of  the  reproduction  new  of  the 
physical  property  aggregated  about  $9,942,125,  and  the 
present  value  $7,378,950.  The  commission  was  of  the 
opinion  that  an  allowance  of  not  to  exceed  $500,000  should 
be  ample  for  going  value.  The  rate  of  return  was  limited 
to  7.5  per  cent. 


Current  News  and  Notes 

Wasted  Fuel  Energy. — Mr.  Charles  L.  Parsons,  chief 
mineral  chemist  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines,  has 
written  a  pamphlet  entitled  "Notes  on  Mineral  Waste," 
which  has  been  issued  as  Bulletin  No.  24  of  the  bureau. 
He  estimates  that  nearly  90  per  cent  of  the  energy  of  the 
coal  that  is  mined  is  wasted,  while  250,000,000  tons  of  coal 
per  year  is  left  underground  never  to  be  recovered  in  the 
future.  He  states  that  more  natural  gas  is  wasted  than 
the  total  output  of  artificial-gas  companies.  There  is  an 
annual  waste  of  more  than  $40,000,000  in  by-products  in 
the  making  of  coke  by  old-fashioned  processes. 
*     *     * 

National  Chamber  of  Commerce  Publicity. — The 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States,  which  has  re- 
cently opened  permanent  headquarters  in  the  Riggs  Build- 
ing, Washington,  D.  C,  recently  announced  that  on  Sept. 
2  it  would  commence  publishing  The  Nation's  Business. 
This  periodical  will  be  distributed  from  Washington  to  the 
editorial  writers  throughout  the  country  and  to  members 
of  the  National  Chamber  of  Commerce.  The  prospectus 
stated  that  the  publication  will  furnish  a  survey  of  con- 
structive progress  along  the  lines  of  agriculture,  mining, 
manufacturing,  transportation,  distribution  and  finance. 

The  Inventor  of  the  Dynamo-Electric  Principle. — A 
pamphlet  entitled  "Soeren  Hjorth,  Inventor  of  the  Dynamo- 
Electric  Principle,"  written  by  Dr.  Sigurd  Smith,  has  re- 
cently been  published  by  Messrs.  J.  Jorgensen  &  Company, 
of  Copenhagen,  and  contains  a  very  interesting  account  of 
the  inventor's  career.  He  was  born  at  Vesterbygaard, 
Denmark,  on  Oct.  13,  1801,  and  early  showed  great 
mechanical  genius,  though  for  many  years  he  was  engaged 
mainly  in  purely  business  pursuits.  He  experimented  un- 
successfully with  the  steam  engine,  but  thereby  gained  the 
attention  of  Oersted.  As  early  as  1842  he  invented  an 
electromagnetic  machine,  a  full  description  of  which  is 
given  in  the  pamphlet,  but  his  ideas  did  not  receive  much 
encouragement.  The  principle  discovered  by  Hjorth  did 
not  become  of  practical  importance  until  some  time  after 
his  death,  a  circumstance  which  was  due  partly  to  his 
inability  to  exploit  what  he  had  discovered.  His  claim  to 
be  the  inventor,  however,  was  subsequently  widely  recog- 
nized. The  pamphlet  is  interesting  historically  as  a  record 
of  the  work  of  one  of  the  earliest  pioneers  in  electrical 
engineering.     It  is  published  in  Danish  and  English. 

St.\tus  of  the  Gas  Producer. — The  United  States 
Bureau  of  Mines,  Department  of  the  Interior,  has  just  pub- 
lished a  technical  paper  on  "The  Status  of  the  Gas  Producer 
and  of  the  Internal  Combustion  Engine  in  the  Utilization  of 
Fuels,"  by  Mr.  Robert  Heywood  Fernald.  Tests  of  two 
kinds  have  been  conducted  at  the  government  fuel-testing 
plants,  first  with  the  pressure  producer,  and  second  with  the 
down-draft  producer.  A  more  detailed  account  of  these 
investigations  is  given  in  Bulletin  No.  15,  recently  issued  by 
the  bureau.  The  more  important  facts  and  conclusions 
given  in  that  bulletin  are  summarized  in  the  present  one, 
known  as  Technical  Paper  No.  9.  The  author  states  that  a 
personal  inspection  of  a  large  number  of  gas-producer  in- 
stallations warrants  the  conclusion  that  the  plants  as  a  rule 
are  giving  remarkable  satisfaction,  considering  the  brief 
period  of  development  since  this  equipment  was  first  intro- 
duced, and  that,  furthermore,  the  most  serious  difficulties 
seem  to  arise  from  a  lack  of  thoroughly  competent  operators 
to  run  the  plants,  rather  than  from  defects  inherent  in  the 
plants  themselves.  The  past  year  may  be  regarded  as  one 
of  steady  conservative  progress  and  development  in  the  field 
of  the  internal-combustion  engine.  Nearly  100  important 
gas-power  problems  are  now  under  consideration  by  the 
Bureau  of  Mines   as  subjects  for  proposed   investigations. 


488 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o.  Xo.  io. 


Western  Union  Messenger  Girls.— It  is  reported  that 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  will  replace  the 
messenger  boys  employed  in  its  Pittsburgh  offices  with  girls, 
the  change  to  take  place  at  once. 

*  *     * 

All-Night  Lighting  for  Halls  in  Tenement  Houses. 
— A  recent  amendment  to  the  municipal  code  of  Chicago 
provides  that  in  every  tenement  house  over  two  stories  high 
a  lamp  shall  be  kept  lighted  in  the  public  hall  on  each  floor 
during  every  night  in  the  year  from  sunset  to  sunrise. 

*  *     * 

Extension  of  Chic.xgo  Automatic  Telephone  System. 
— It  is  estimated  that  the  new  automatic  telephone  service 
in  Chicago,  which  is  rapidly  extending,  will  include  5000 
stations  in  the  Cottage  Grove  residence  district  this  fall. 
It  has  also  been  predicted  that  the  entire  system  will  em- 
brace 80,000  stations  in  two  years. 

*  *     * 

Agitation  for  Indiana  Public  Utilities  Law. — It  is 
'  reported  that  State  Senator  B.  B.  Shively,  of  Grant  County, 
Ind.,  has  under  consideration  the  preparation  of  a  public 
utilities  bill  for  introduction  at  the  next  session  of  the  Leg- 
islature. He  has  already  conferred  informally  with  the 
State  Railroad  Commission  and  will  recommend  enlarging 
the  powers  of  that  body,  to  give  them  control  of  public  utili- 
ties. The  question  of  whether  the  term  of  franchises  ought 
to  be  made  indeterminate  is  under  consideration,  but  no  con- 
clusion has  been  reached. 

*  *     * 

Park  Lighting  in  Chicago. — A  contract  has  been  exe- 
cuted between  the  Sanitary  District  and  the  West  Chicago 
Park  Commissioners  of  Chicago  whereby  the  former  agrees 
to  supply  electricity  for  lighting  Holstein  Park,  which  is 
one  of  the  smaller  parks  and  is  located  near  the  corner  of 
Western  Avenue  and  Hamburg  Street.  The  park  commis- 
sion agrees  to  install  the  necessary  transmission  Vmc  and 
transformer  substation,  taking  the  electricity  as  4000-volt, 
three-phase,  6o-cycle  alternating  current.  The  present  load 
consists  of  about  ten  arc  lamps  and  about  250  i6-cp  lamp 
equivalents  in  incandescent  lighting.  The  rate  is  $1.25  per 
month  per  hp  for  arc  lighting  (all  night  and  every  night), 
an  arc  lamp  being  considered  equivalent  to  0.8  hp,  and  1.25 
cents   per   kw-hr.    for   incandescent   lighting. 

*  *     * 

SiDE-DooR  Cars  for  New  York  Subways. — A  new  type 
of  side-door  car  for  the  New  York  subways  has  been  pro- 
posed in  a  report  submitted  to  the  Public  Service  Commis- 
sion by  Mr.  Theodore  Douglas,  consulting  engineer.  New 
York,  N.  Y.  The  51-ft.  car  proposed  by  Mr.  Douglas  will 
receive  and  unload  its  passengers  through  fifteen  folding 
doors  on  each  side,  of  jack-knife  construction,  divided  in 
the  center  and  opening  outward.  AH  doors  will  be  con- 
nected to  working  rods  operated  by  a  trainman  at  either 
end  of  the  car  and  may  be  opened  or  closed  by  a  single 
movement.  Seating  capacity  is  provided  for  sixty-eight 
passengers,  compared  with  forty-six  in  the  present  type  of 
subway  express  car.  Special  attention  has  been  given  to 
obtaining  better  ventilation. 

*  *     * 

Montana  Coal  Fields. — Owing  to  the  great  activity 
which  is  now  manifest  in  the  Bull  Mountain  conl  field,  Mus- 
selshell County,  Mont.,  the  United  States  Geological  Sur- 
vey has  made  a  careful  estimate  of  the  amount  of  coal  in 
that  field  to  supplement  its  geologic  reports  published  in 
Bulletins  381  and  431.  According  to  the  present  figures, 
the  field  originally  contained  in  beds  14  in.  or  more  in 
thickness  4,797,200,000  short  tons  of  coal.  A  small  part  of 
this  quantity  has  already  been  mined,  but  in  comparison 
with  the  total  coal  content  the  amount  removed  is  almost 
negligible.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  these 
figures  are  intended  to  include  all  the  coal  contained  in  this 


field  and  no  allowance  has  been  made  for  waste  in  mining. 
According  to  the  present  mining  practice  throughout  the 
country  probably  only  60  per  cent  of  the  total  coal  in  the 
ground  is  put  upon  the  market,  but  it  is  hoped  that  in  the 
future  greater  care  and  more  efficient  methods  will  enable 
the  operators  to  recover  a  larger  percentage,  if  not  the 
total  amount. 

*  *     * 

Proposed  United  States  Bureau  of  Farm  Power. — 
Congressman  Rainey  recently  introduced  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  a  bill  to  establish  in  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  a  bureau  of  farm  power.  The  bill  provides  that 
the  bureau  shall  be  under  the  direction  of  a  chief  to  be 
appointed  by  the  President  with  the  confirmation  of  the 
Senate,  at  a  salary  of  $6,000  per  annum.  It  is  the  intention 
that  this  bureau  shall  investigate  and  report  upon  all  matters 
pertaining  to  methods  of  furnishing  power  on  farms,  all 
labor-saving  machinery  adapted  for  farm  use,  and  the 
employment  of  electricity,  gasoline  and  steam  in  propelling 
farm  vehicles  and  in  operating  plows,  reapers,  mowing 
machines,  threshing  machines  and  other  implements  used  in 
agricultural  work.  It  shall  also  be  within  the  province  of 
this  bureau  to  pursue  investigations  into  the  uses  of 
machinery  and  labor-saving  devices  in  the  dairying  industry 
and  into  methods  of  heating  and  lighting  farm  buildings. 
It  is  the  desire  to  have  the  bill  carefully  considered  during 
the  recess  preceding  the  short  session  which  convenes  in 
December,  when  an  effort  w'ill  be  made  to  enact  it  into 
a  law. 

*  *     * 

SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Sons  of  Jove  in  Connecticut. — A  rejuvenation  of  the 
Sons  of  Jove  has  been  arranged  for  Saturday,  Sept.  7,  at 
Sea  Breeze  Island,  Bridgeport,  Conn.  A  record  attendance 
is  expected. 

Illinois  State  Electrical  Association. — The  next  an- 
nual convention  of  the  Illinois  State  Electrical  Association 
will  be  held  at  the  Jefferson  Hotel,  Peoria,  111.,  on  Oct.  22, 
23  and  24.     Mr.  H.  E.  Chubbuck,  of  Peoria,  is  secretary. 

*  *     * 

Annual  Jovian  Meeting. — The  annual  meeting  of  the 
Sons  of  Jove  will  be  held  in  Pittsburgh  on  Oct.  14,  15  and  16, 
the  official  headquarters  being  at  the  Fort  Pitt  Hotel,  with 
the  Seventh  Avenue  Hotel  used  for  the  extra  crowd.  In 
addition  to  the  regular  Jovian  features  a  banquet  limited  to 
500  covers  will  be  served  on  Oct.  16. 

*  *     *  ] 

Colorado  Electric  Club's  Juvenile  Day. — On  Saturday, 
Aug.  31,  the  entertainment  and  athletic  committees  of  the 
Colorado  Electric  Club  held  a  "juvenile  frontier  day"  at 
Elitch  Gardens,  Denver,  entertaining  all  children  who  came 
in  costumes.  In  the  morning  there  vvas  a  parade  starting 
from  the  club  rooms  in  the  Electric  Building,  and  a  prize  of 
$1  was  offered  for  the  best  "kid  get-up"  among  the  elec- 
trical men.  Basket  picnics  were  held  in  the  Gardens,  and 
the  day  closed  with  a  theater  party.  Mr.  H.  B.  Barnes  acted 
as  chairman  of  arrangements. 

*  *     * 

Old-Time  Telegraphers. — The  thirty-first  annual  re- 
union of  the  Old-Time  Telegraphers'  and  Historical  Asso- 
ciation and  the  fifty-first  anniversary  of  the  Society  of  the 
United  States  Military  Telegraph  Corps  will  be  held  jointly 
at  the  Windsor  Hotel,  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  on  Oct.  22  to  24. 
Hon.  William  S.  Jordan,  of  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  is  president 
of  the  Old-Time  Telegraphers'  Association,  and  Col. 
William  Bender  Wilson,  of  Holmesburg,  Pa.,  is  president 
of  the  military  society.  Mr.  F.  J.  Scherrer,  secretary,  30 
Church  Street,  New  York  City,  is  making  arrangements 
for  the  joint  meeting. 


WESTERN  CANADA  POWER  COMPANY'S  SYSTEM 


Hydroelectric    Development    at   Stave    Falls,    B.   C,  from   Which  Energy  Is 
Transmitted    to  Vancouver  and  Into  the  United  States. 


Two     7500-kw     Units    Installed    and    a    Steel-Tower    Transmission    Line,   Carrying    Two  60,000-Vol 
Circuits — Energy  at   13,000  Volts  Transmitted  from  Terminal  Station   at  Ardley  to 
Substations,  Whence   2,300-Volt  Circuits   Emanate  for  Local  Supply — 
Underground    Armored  Cable    Distribution  in  Vancouver. 


THE  hydroelectric  development  of  the  Western  Can- 
ada Power  Company  is  designed  for  an  ultimate 
output  of  52,000  hp,  although  for  the  present  equip- 
ment for  only  26,000  hp  has  been  installed.  The  generating 
plant  is  located  on  the  Stave  River,  one  of  the  tributaries 
of  the  Fraser,  about  35  miles  east  of  Vancouver  and  6 
miles  from  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  station  at  Ruskin. 
Stave  River  has  its  rise  in  a  lake  of  that  name  located  7 
miles  above  the  generating  station.  The  lake  is  about  9 
miles  long  and  has  an  average  width  of  I  mile.  Around  it 
and  forming  its  watershed  are  glacier-capped  mountains 
rising  well  above  the  timber  line,  and  the  available  storage 
made  possible  by  the  intake  dam  erected  at  the  power  sta- 
tion is  14,000,000,000  cu.  ft. 

HYDRAULIC    FEATURES. 

The  present  undertaking  consists  of  the  installation  of 
two  13,000-hp  Escher-Wyss  turbines  and  two  550-hp  exciter 
turbines  of  the  same  make,  connected  by  two  7500-kw  and 
two  250-kw  Canadian  General  Electric  Company's  genera- 
tors. Provision  is  made  in  the  completed  intake  dam  for 
two  more  penstocks,  and  an  average  head  of  90  ft.  is  ob- 
tained with  a  maximum  of  100  ft.  For  the  two  units  now- 
installed  the  development  comprises  (i)  a  sluice  dam  62  ft. 
high  and  160  ft.  long  at  the  crest,  consisting  of  four  con- 
crete piers  8  ft.  thick,  32  ft.  long  at  the  top  and  56  ft.  long 
at  the  bottom,  the  five  intervening  sluiceways  being  22  ft. 
wide  and  extending  up  to  the  top  of  the  dam;   (2)  an  in- 


take dam  of  concrete  75  ft.  high,  145  ft.  long  and  40  ft.  wide 
at  the  top;  (3)  a  wing  dam  of  concrete  connecting  sluice 
and  intake  dams  with  crest  lengtlJ  of  90  ft.,  height  of  60  ft. 
and  width  at  top  of  13  ft.;  (4)  two  main  steel  penstocks 
14.5  ft.  in  diameter  and  165  ft.  long  and  two  exciter  pen- 
stocks 4  ft.  in  diameter  and  of  slfghtly  greater  length;  (5) 
a  power  house  of  concrete  for  two  units  no  ft.  long  and 
104  ft.  wide,  including  besides  the  installation  of  the  units 
mentioned  above  six  60,000-volt,  3000-kva  transformers  and 
switch  gear;  (6)  a  regulating  weir  250  ft.  long  at  head  of 
tailrace;  (7)  excavation  of  tailrace  in  old  river  channel  for 
length  of  2000  ft.  vi'ith  a  width  at  bottom  of  60  ft. ;  (8)  a 
blind  slough  dam  consisting,  for  the  two  units,  of  three 
sluiceways  22  ft.  wide  and  four  concrete  piers  25  ft.  high 
and  of  similar  design  to  those  of  the  main  sluice  dam.  For 
the  four-unit  plant  these  piers  will  be  raised  20  ft.  and 
eight  more  will  be  built,  providing  a  corresponding  increase 
in  sluiceways. 

The  blind  slough  is  an  old  river  channel  covered  with 
timber,  beginning  above  and  ending  below  Stave  Falls  and 
lying  a  short  distance  to  the  east  of  the  sluice  dam.  Either 
the  whole  or  a  portion  of  the  river  originally  flowed  through 
this  channel  and  was  diverted  by  the  construction  of  beaver 
dams  a  long  time  ago.  The  channel  is  straight  and  large 
enough  to  carry  the  whole  river  into  the  existing  main  chan- 
nel below  the  falls.  A  ditch  has  been  dug  through  this 
channel  to  form  a  lead  to  the  flood  water. 

The  blind  slough  channel  constitutes  the  reservoir  spill- 


Fig.  1 — Generating  Equipment  of  Western  Canada  Power  Company   at   Stave   Fails,    B.   C. 


490 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


way,  the  main  river  being  boomed  across  south  of  its  en- 
trance and  all  logs  and  trash  diverted  through  its  channel 
to  the  main  river  below  the  works,  and  the  reach  between 
the  blind  slough  entrance  and  the  intake  dam  forms  an 
ideal  forebay.  The  four  main  sluiceways  are  operated  with 
24-in.  wide  stop  logs  and  the  remainder  for  the  four-unit 
elevation  will  be  operated  with  timber  tainter  gates.     The 


Fig.   2 — Intake.    Penstocks,    Power    House    and    Tailrace. 

sluiceways,  guides  or  checks  in  which  the  stop  logs  slide  are 
of  steel  built  into  the  piers.  The  winch  form  lifting  and 
lowering  the  stop  logs  is  operated  by  a  40-hp  variable-speed 
alternating-current  motor. 

The  main  intake  gates  are  of  the  balanced,  radial  pattern 
closing  an  opening  20  ft.  square.  Each  weighs  35  tons, 
works  on  a  pivot  and  is  raised  and  lowered  by  electrically 
operated  chains.  Supplementary  gates  on  the  stop-log  prin- 
ciple are  provided  upon  the  upstream  side  of  the  main 
gates. 

The  power  house  is  constructed  entirely  of  steel  and  con- 
crete and  one  end  is  provided  with  a  false  wall  which  will 
be  removed  when  the  other  two  units  are  required  and  the 
power  house  is  extended  to  double  its  present  size.  The 
draft  tubes  are  designed  on  the  water-seal  principle  so  that 
the  discharge  is  at  all  times  in  vacuo,  to  maintain  which 
the  lo-ft.  weir  has  been  constructed  in  the  tailrace  so  that  a 
sufficient  water  level  is  maintained  to  prevent  access  of  air. 
A  60-ton  electric  crane  spans  the  generator  room  and  is 
available  for  use  in  handling  parts  of  the  turbines,  genera- 
tors or  transformers. 

TURBINES. 

The  two  main  units  are  each  capable  of  developing  13,000 
hp  on  the  shaft  under  a  head  of  no  ft.  when  running  at  a 
speed  of  225  r.p.m.  The  machines  are  of  the  double,  hori- 
zontal Francis  type  with  central  discharge  and  weigh  about 
165  tons  each.  The  governors,  which  are  also  of  Escher- 
Wyss  pattern,  are  of  the  high-pressure  oil  type,  the  oil  re- 
quired for  their  operation  being  supplied  from  pumps  driven 
by  independent  waterwheels.  The  exciter  turbines  deliver 
500  hp  when  they  are  operated  at  a  speed  of  500  revolutions 
])er  minute. 

GENERATORS. 

The  generators  are  of  the  three-phase,  horizontal,  two- 
bearing  type  coupled  directly  to  the  turbine  shafts.  Each 
is  wound  for  4000  volts  and  delivers  7500  kw,  at  a  fre- 
quency of  60  cycles,  although  capable  of  running  continu- 
ously at  9375  kw,  at  a  power  factor  of  85  per  cent  without 
the  temperature  rising  more  than  55  deg.  C. 


SWITCHBOARDS. 

The  switch  gear  was  built  by  the  Canadian  Westinghouse 
Company  and  the  layout  has  been  kept  as  simple  as  possible, 
as  experience  has  proved  that  most  switchboards  contain 
far  too  much  costly  apparatus,  which  tends  to  complicate 
operations  and  militates  against  continuous  service.  There 
are  six  4000-volt  main  switches  and  four  6o,ooo-volt  oil 
switches  for  the  two  generators,  two  banks  of  transformers 
and  two  transmission  lines.  Aluminum-cell  lightning  ar- 
resters are  used  to  protect  the  station  apparatus. 

TRANSFORMERS. 

The  high-tension  transformers  are  of  the  Canadian  Gen- 
eral Electric  make.  Six  3000-kw  units  have  been  provided, 
and  these  are  of  the  water-cooled,  oil-insulated  type  wound 
to  step  up  the  generator  potential  to  60,000  volts.  They 
are  located  in  separate  concrete  compartments  to  one  side 
of  the  generator  room  under  the  crane.  The  compartments 
are  closed  at  the  top  by  steel  hatches  and  small  doors  are 
provided  to  give  ready  access  for  inspection.  The  trans- 
formers are  not,  as  is  commonly  done,  mounted  on  a  truck 
on  tracks,  so  that  they  can  be  wheeled  out  in  ease  repairs 
are  necessary.  In  such  a  contingency  they  are  lifted  bodily 
out  of  their  compartments  by  the  crane.  The  drain  pipes 
of  the  transformers  are  provided  with  quick-opening  gates 
installed  outside  of  the  compartments  so  that  in  case  of 
burn-out  the  oil  may  be  discharged  into  the  tailrace.  A  tap 
is  taken  from  this  pipe  at  a  point  between  the  main  gate 
valve  and  the  transformer  for  a  2-in.  line,  which  goes  to  the 
storage  and  drying  tanks. 

STORAGE  AND  DRYING  TANKS. 

Three  tanks  are  provided  under  the  switchboard  gallery, 
each  of  which  holds  sufficient  oil  for  two  transformers.    The 


Fig.    3 — Standard   Tower. 


Fig.   4 — Strain   Tower. 


Oil  is  handled  by  means  of  a  reversible  air  compressor, 
which  acts  either  as  a  compressor  or  a  vacuum  pump,  as 
desired.  One  tank  is  used  for  clean,  dry  oil,  one  for  dirty 
oil,  and  the  third  for  the  drying  process.  In  the  drying 
process  a  3-kw  electric  heater  of  rugged  German  make  is 
employed  and  this  is  inserted  in  the  tank  of  oil  to  be  treated. 
A  .slight    vacuum    is    maintained    on    the    tank   during   the 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


491 


process  and  a  basket  of  calcium  chloride  is  suspended  in 
the  top  of  the  tank  to  absorb  the  moisture.  Excellent  satis- 
faction is  obtained  from  the  layout,  which  has  also  been 
used  to  advantage  by  a  number  of  Mexican  companies. 

FEATURES   OF   ELECTRICAL    LAYOUT. 

In  arranging  the  electrical  equipment  of  the  station  the 


Fig.   5 — Tower   at   Angle. 

idea  was  tp  keep  every  piece  of  moving  apparatus  within 
sight  of  the  operator  at  the  control  board,  which  is  located 
at  one  end  of  the  station  directly  over  the  exciters.  The 
switches  themselves  are  arranged  in  rooms  separate  from 
the  main  generator  room.  The  main  bus  runs  lengthwise 
of  the  station  and  the  switches  are  set  opposite  the  genera- 
tors or  transformer  banks  which  they  control,  so  as  to  call 
for  as  short  a  cable  as  possible  and  to  have  the  cables  of 
equal  length. 

The  high-tension  switches  are  of  Canadian  Westinghouse 
manufacture  and  each  pole  is  separated  from  the  other  by 
reinforced-concrete  barriers.  The  circuits  from  the 
switches  to  the  bus  are  made  with  paper-insulated  cables 
drawn  into  fiber  conduit  placed  in  the  floor.  The  high-ten- 
sion line  exits  are  made  through  Ohio  Brass  Company 
bushings  in  the  roof  to  a  framework  made  up  of  2-in.  pipe 
and  the  lines  pass  thence  to  a  terminal  tower  located  on 
concrete  piers  in  the  tailrace  about  25  ft.  from  the  station. 
The  choke  coils,  which  were  originally  intended  to  be 
mounted  below  the  disconnecting  switches  inside  of  the 
building,  are  placed  outside  on  the  roof  immediately  above 
the  roof  bushings.  Copper  tubing  ^  in.  and  I  in.  in  out- 
side diameter  is  employed  for  all  high-tension  wiring  and 
time-limit  relays  are  connected  on  the  high-tension  side. 

LOW-TENSION    WIRING. 

The  main  leads  running  from  the  generator  to  the  gen- 
erator switch  are  made  up  of  two  i,ooo,ooo-circ.  mil  var- 
nished-cambric insulated  cables  per  phase  for  each  machine 
and  are  drawn  through  fiber  conduit  laid  in  the  floor  and 
the  end  walls.  The  neutral  is  brought  out  through  a  dis- 
connecting switch  located  in  the  generator  pit  and  is  car- 
ried to  an  individual  ground  for  each  generator.  In  oper- 
ation the  neutral  of  only  one  generator  is  grounded  at  a 
time  in  order  to  avoid  cross-currents. 


The  4000-volt  switching  scheme  is  designed  for  a  double 
bus,  although  at  present  only  a  single  bus  is  installed.  The 
separation  of  the  cables  from  the  single  run  from  the  gen- 
erators to  the  double  run  to  the  switches  for  both  busbars 
is  made  through  a  short  bus  of  strip  copper  mounted  on 
the  wall  in  a  reinforced-concrete  compartment.  The  delta 
connection  on  the  low-tension  side  of  the  main  transformer 
is  made  in  the  same  manner.  Shunt  transformers  and  fuses 
are  also  mounted  in  separate  concrete  compartments  above 
these  individual  busbars. 

The  switchboard  itself  and  panelboards  are  all  con- 
trolled with  direct  current  taken  from  a  connection  to 
either  exciter  made  ahead  of  the  main  exciter  switches 
through  a  double-throw  switch  mounted  on  the  panelboard. 
This  control  bus  also  supplies  the  8-hp  direct-current  series 
motors  for  operating  the  radial  gates  at  the  entrance  to  the 
penstocks. 

TRANSMISSION    LINE. 

Although  not  of  great  length,  the  Western  Canada  Power 
Company's  steel-tower  transmission  line  has  the  distinction 
of  being  the  first  of  its  kind  in  British  Columbia.  The  main 
line,  which  is  32  miles  long,  terminates  at  Ardley,  a  point 
on  the  Great  Northern  Railroad  about  midway  between 
Vancouver  and  New  Westminster.  Two  three-phase, 
60,000-volt  circuits  are  carried  on  either  side  of  the  towers, 
the  conductors  being  composed  of  No.  o  hard-drawn 
stranded  copper  with  hemp  center  and  a  ^-in.  galvanized- 
steel  ground  wire  being  carried  along  the  tops  of  the  towers 
The  height  of  the  towers  is  59  ft.,  which  brings  the  lowest 
conductor  41  ft.  above  ground.  The  standard  span  is  660 
ft.,  but  different  spans  are  oftentimes  used  owing  to  in- 
equalities in  level  of  the  ground. 


Fig.  6 — Transmission   Lines  Crossing  Pitt  River. 

The  Standard  towers  were  designed  to  withstand  a  strain 
of  2000  lb.  in  any  horizontal  direction  at  any  point  of  sup- 
port for  the  lines,  or  8000  lb.  in  any  horizontal  direction  on 
the  tower  as  a  whole  at  the  center  of  gravity  of  the  points 
of  support.  The  vertical  loading  is  1500  lb.  on  each  point 
of  support,  or  9000  lb.  on  the  tower  as  a  whole.  At  dead 
ends  or  sharp  corners  anchor  towers  are  used,  capable  of 


492 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


withstanding  twice  the  strains  of  the  standard  towers.  The 
latter  towers  have  angle-iron  posts  set  6.5  ft.  into  the 
ground,  bolted  at  the  bottom  to  a  cross  of  angle  iron,  the 
holes  being  loaded  and  tamped  with  stone  and  rock.  The 
anchor  towers  are  provided  with  castings  for  feet  which  are 
bolted  to  a  concrete  foundation.  The  standard  tower  weighs 
2515  lb.  and  the  anchor  tower  about  4000  lb. 

The  line  traverses  a^  rolling  country,  heavily  timbered  in 
parts,  and  a  clearance  of  600  ft.  in  width  was  made  on  cer- 
tain sections  of  the  right-of-way  where  trees  as  high  as 
275  ft.  and  9  ft.  in  diameter  were  encountered.  By  an 
agreement  with  the  provincial  government  the  right-of-way 
is  on  the  Dewdney  Trunk  Road  for  some  distance,  the  cen- 
ter line  of  the  towers  being  7  ft.  from  the  north  boundary 
of  the  road,  throwing  the  legs  of  the  towers  and  the  wires 
themselves  about  a  foot  south 
of  the  property  line.  Several 
creeks  and  gulches  are  crossed, 
and  in  one  case  the  span  on 
standard  towers  runs  up  to 
1020  ft. 

Fourteen  miles  from  Stave 
Falls  the  line  comes  out  on  the 
Pitt  Meadows,  a  flat,  grassy 
delta  which  was  formerly 
flooded  every  year  by  the  Pitt 
River.  The  government  had 
diked  the  river  and  installed 
pumping  stations  to  take  care 
of  the  flood  water,  but  the 
plain  is  still  quite  marshy  so 
that  piles  had  to  be  driven  for 
foundations  for  the  towers. 
The  piles  average  about  18  ft. 
in  length  and  are  capped  witli 
6-in.  by  8-in.  cedar  timber.  A 
special  foot  was  designed  to 
meet  the  conditions  and  the 
towers  were  bolted  directly  to 
the  timber. 

The  Pitt  River,  a  navigable 
stream,  is  crossed  on  a  span 
1360  ft.  long.  In  order  to  pro- 
vide a  clearance  of  at  least  100 
ft.  above  the  stream  a  gal- 
vanized-steel  tower  165  ft. 
high  over  all  and  140  ft.  from 

ground  to  lowest  wire  was  placed  on  concrete  and  pile 
foundations  just  outside  the  dikes  on  each  bank  of  the  river. 
A  rocker  tower  set  to  give  an  angle  to  the  main  line  of  about 
45  deg.  is  the  starting  point  of  the  line  wires.  This  rocker 
tower  is  securely  guyed  by  i-in.  steel  cables  to  a  concrete  and 
pile  anchor.  The  main  span  is  dead-ended  at  the  rocker 
tower  on  each  side  and  is  free  to  move  longitudinally  on  the 
supports  of  the  main  tower,  so  that  these  act  simply  as  struts 
to  afford  height  and  have  no  strain  due  to  the  line  itself.  The 
main  cables  are  of  J/a-in.  plow  steel.  It  was  necessary  to 
hang  two  sets  of  insulators  in  parallel,  connected  with  com- 
pensating links  for  each  point  of  support  and  for  the  dead 
ends  of  this  crossing,  as  the  strains  were  too  heavy  for  a 
single  set  of  insulators.  All  of  the  insulators  and  hardware 
were  supplied  by  the  Ohio  Brass  Company,  Mansfield.  Ohio, 
three  of  the  lo-in.  suspension  disks  being  used  on  straight- 
line  construction  and  four  disks  on  strains.  The  towers 
were  constructed  by  the  Riter-Conley  Company,  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. 

TERMINAL    STATION    AND    SUBSTATIONS. 

The  terminal  station  at  Ardley  is  equipped  with  six 
60,000-13,000  volt  transformers,  the  arrangement  of  which 
follows  closely  that  of  the  transformers  at  the  generating 
station.  Six  13,000-volt  circuits  leave  the  station  as  well  as 
a  2300-volt  line  for  local  supply.     The  general  arrangement 


of  the  station  is  well  shown  in  the  illustrations  reproduced. 
Substations  for  stepping  down  the  potential  from  13,000 
volts  to  2300  volts  are  located  at  Abbottsford,  Clayburne, 
Matsqui,  Mission,  Ruskin,  Nicomen,  Port  Hanly,  Coquit- 
1am,  Sapperton,  Ardley,  Vancouver  and  New  Westminster, 
the  latter  cities  possessing  two.  Besides  a  line  to  Port 
Moody,  the  company  has  also  under  construction  a  wooden- 
pole  60,000-volt  line  to  the  international  boundary  at  Sumas, 
at  which  point  the  Whatcom  County  Railway  &  Light  Com- 
pany has  contracted  for  the  purchase  of  power  in  blocks  up 
to  5000  kw.  From  Sumas  to  Bellingham,  Wash.,  is  23 
miles  and  a  60,000-volt  line  has  been  erected  between  the 
two  points,  making  the  line  from  Stave  Falls,  B.  C,  to 
Bellingham,  Wash.,  about  50  miles  long.  This  line  is  al- 
most complete,  and  when  in  service  the  Stave  Falls  station 


Fig.  7 — Switchboard,   Oil   Switciies   and   Transformer   Compartments  in  Ardiey  Terminal  Station. 

will   operate   in  parallel  with  the  system  of   the   Whatcom 
County  Railway  &  Light  Company. 

LOCAL  DISTRIBUTION. 

The  13,000-volt  lines  come  into  the  substations  over  50-ft. 
wooden-pole  lines,  which  also  carry  back  2300-volt  distribu- 
tion circuits.  The  distribution  in  the  business  section  of 
\'ancouver  is  by  means  of  steel-taped  armored  cable  laid 
directly  in  the  ground  without  conduits.  The  three-phase 
cables  used  are  made  up  of  No.  00  copper  and  placed  30  in. 
below  the  surface.  Tie  connections  are  provided  at  inter- 
vals and  some  sectionalizing  boxes  installed  in  very  shallow 
manholes.  Underground  transformers  are  located  in  vaults 
of  buildings  which  the  company  supplies.  In  some  cases  for 
factory  distribution  it  has  been  found  advisable  to  place 
the  transformers  on  double  pole  racks,  bringing  the  feeder 
cable  up  the  pole.  The  secondary  is  then  taken  overhead 
to  the  various  buildings.  The  13,000-volt  line  at  Mission 
crosses  the  Fraser  River  in  a  submarine  cable  1950  ft.  long. 

The  officers  of  the  Western  Canada  Power  Company  are 
as  follows:  Mr.  C.  H.  Cahan,  Montreal,  Que.,  president; 
Mr.  A.  R.  Doble,  Montreal,  Que.,  secretary-treasurer;  Mr. 
R.  F.  Hayward,  Vancouver,  general  manager  and  chief 
engineer;  Mr.  William  McNeill.  Vancouver,  assistant  man- 
ager; Mr.  John  Montgomery,  Vancouver,  contract  agent, 
and  Mr.  Frederick  D.  Ninis,  X'ancouver,  electrical  engineer. 


STREET  LIGHTING  IN  TORONTO,  ONTARIO. 


Five-Lamp  Standards  Used  in  Business  Section    and  Individual  Lanterns  in 

Residential  Section. 


Tungsten  Multiple  Lamps  Used   Exclusively  for    All    Public    Lighting — Underground    Distribution    in 
Business   Section   and   Concrete-Pole    Overhead    Lines    in    Residential 
Section — Features  of  the   Installation. 


By  K.  L.  Aitken. 


IN  laying  out  an  entirely  new  system  of  public  lighting 
for  a  modern  business  and  residential  city  it  is  ques- 
tionable whether  one  is  justified  in  trying  to  strike  the 
absolute  minimum  of  illumination  which  may  answer  a 
given  purpose.  Too  close  figuring  may  prove  to  hi  a  mis- 
taken policy.  Moreover,  concentration  of  the  light  in 
a  few  large  units  can  no  longer  be  justified  in  the  present 
state  of  the  art.  The  esthetic 
side  of  an  installation  deserves, 
and  nowadays  is  receiving,  rea- 
sonable attention,  and  the  vital 
fact  that  the  illumination  must 
not  blind  the  observer  is  also 
being  recognized. 

Toronto  is  a  modern  city  in  the 
Province  of  Ontario,  Canada, 
having  a  population  of  over 
400,000  and  possessmg  over  400 
miles  of  streets.  Prior  to  the 
installation  about  to  be  de- 
scribed, the  streets  were  lighted 
with  1700  9.6-amp  direct-current 
series  open-arc  lamps,  usually 
located  at  street  intersections  in 
the  business  section,  but  more 
widely  separated  in  the  outlying 
districts.  The  energy  was  sup- 
plied by  the  Toronto  Electric 
Light  Company. 

When  the  Hydro-Electric 
Power  Commission  of  Ontario 
commenced  operations  the  city 
of  Toronto  contracted  for  elec- 
trical energy  and  began  the 
installation  of  its  municipal  sys- 
tem, of  which  the  writer  was 
appointed  general  manager.  The 
first  work  undertaken  was  the 
design  of  a  completely  new 
street-lighting  installation,  and 
in  this  work  the  determination 
was  to  do  something  which 
would  be  worth  while.  It  will 
be  understood  that  the  power 
from  Niagara  Falls  comes  to 
Toronto  in  25-cycle  form,  which 
at  the  time  seemed  to  indicate 
that  constant-current  apparatus 
and  rectifiers,  or  motor-gen- 
erator sets,  would  have  to  be  in- 
stalled. It  was  also  felt  that 
the  metallic-flame  arc  lamp  was 
fairly  good  for  general  lighting 
purposes,  but  the  municipality  was  not  satisfied  that  its  use 
would  result  in  the  best  system  of  illumination  obtainable. 
The  engineers  of  the  Toronto  Hydro-Electric  System  were 
entirely  without  prejudice  in  the  matter,  and  had  the  writer 
been  convinced  that  the  arc  lamp  was  the  best  type  of 
illuminant  available,  it  certainly  would  have  been  adopted. 


Fig.    1 — Five-Lamp   Standards   on    Vonge    Street. 


Arc  lamps,  particularly  the  modern  ones,  are  esentially 
high-candle-power  units,  and  their  installation  would  mean 
that  some  portion  of  the  street  would  be  over-illuminated 
and  other  parts  would  remain  virtually  black. 

Much  photometric  work  was  done  with  five-lamp  cast- 
iron  pillars,  using  loo-watt  tungsten  lamps  covered  with 
glassware    of    every    description.     A    system    of    this    kind 

seemed  to  give  considerable 
promise  for  the  central  section 
of  the  city,  as  did  also  a  system 
employing  single  100- watt  lamps 
mounted  on  goosenecks,  bishops' 
crooks,  etc.,  for  illunlinating  the 
residential  section  of  the  city. 
The  investigation  appeared  to 
be  along  the  right  lines  and  a 
system  of  this  kind  to  be  so  far 
superior  to  any  arc  system  that 
it  was  felt  that  further  experi- 
mentation was  abundantly  war- 
ranted. 

At  the  request  of  Mr.  Alex. 
Dow,  of  Detroit,  who  at  that 
time  was  acting  as  the  con- 
sulting engineer  for  the  Toronto 
Hydro-Electric  System,  the 
writer  paid  a  visit  to  Boston  and 
frankly  admits  that  he  saw  there 
the  best  arc  lighting  he  had  ever 
seen.  The  6.6-amp  metallic- 
tlame  lamp  with  translucent 
glassware  is  without  doubt  a  su- 
perior unit,  and  the  yellow-flame 
lamp  has  unquestionably  great 
capacity  for  producing  light; 
but  the  system  in  Boston,  like 
all  arc-lighting  systems,  may  be 
best  characterized  by  the  word 
"cold,"  and  a  "cold"  system  was 
what  the  city  of  Toronto  de- 
sired most  to  avoid.  From  Bos- 
ton the  writer  went  to  Indian- 
apolis, and,  although  he  arrived 
in  the  city  very  late  at  night 
and  much  fatigued,  the  five- 
lamp  tungsten  columns  attracted 
his  attention.  Although  there 
were  few  people  abroad,  the 
streets  seemed  alive  in  that  they 
were  bright  without  any  glare. 
Moreover,  the  effect  was 
"warm,"  and  inasmuch  as  this 
was  what  was  sought,  the  writer 
returned  to  Toronto  thoroughly  convinced  that  for  the  cen- 
tral section  of  the  town,  in  which  the  prevailing  system  of 
distribution  was  of  the  underground  type,  the  five-lainp 
column,  using  loo-watt  tungsten  lamps,  would  without  any 
ground  for  question  furnish  a  really  ideal  method  of  illumi- 
nation. 


494 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


The  type  of  post  for  the  residence  streets  was  not  so  easily 
determined  upon,  although,  of  course,  having  adopted  the 
tungsten  lamps  for  the  downtown  sections,  nothing  else 
was  considered  for  the  rest  of  the  city.  It  was  decided  to 
use  on  both  sides  of  the  street  loo-watt  lamps  spaced  loo 
ft.  apart,  but  the  problem  which  confronted  the  munici- 
pality's engineers  was  how  to  arrange  a  suitable  mounting 
for  the  lamps.  It  might  be  of  interest  to  note  in  this  con- 
nection that,  as  in  almost  all  municipal  projects,  the  people 
voted  for  one  thing  and  then  wanted  another.  Money  was 
appropriated  for  an  overhead  system,  but  work  had  scarcely 
begun  when  there  was  a  cry  to  have  all  the  wires  placed 
underground.  Unfortunately,  with  the  funds  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  engineers  this  was  impracticable.  As  a  com- 
promise, however,  it  was  determined  to  design  an  overhead 
system  which  would  be  neat  and  unobstructive,  eliminating 
the  usual  objectionable  features  which  are  supposed  to  be 
inherent  in  overhead  work. 

About  this  time  a  salesman  appeared  on  the  scene  with 
dozens  of  photographs  of  Western  cedar  poles.  These  all 
stood  neat  and  trim  and  straight  as  ramrods,  aligned  with 
a   perfection   which   would   do   a   British   regiment   credit. 

The  writer's  experience  up 
to  this  time  had  been  limited 
to  the  crooked,  corkscrew 
poles  which  grow  in  East- 
ern swamps,  possessing 
large  butts  and  loading 
about  fifty  to  a  car.  A  car- 
load of  Western  cedar  poles 
was  accordingly  ordered, 
and  when  the  121  long,  thin, 
untapered  poles  arrived 
some  notion  of  how  an  over- 
head distribution  system 
which  would  not  prove  thor- 
oughly objectionable  could 
be  erected  was  obtained.  It 
was  concluded  that  if  the 
poles  were  very  straight 
and  were  perfectly  aligned 
one  great  difficulty  would 
be  overcome.  It  was  also 
concluded  that  if  the  poles 
were  made  as  short  as  pos- 
sible, so  as  not  to  stand  out 
against  the  sky  line,  a  sec- 
ond point  would  be  gained. 
And  as  a  third  considera- 
tion it  was  concluded  that 
if  the  usual  unsightly  four- 
pin  or  six-pin  cross-arm 
could  be  done  away  with  a 
still  greater  advantage 
would  be  secured.  The 
question  of  short  poles  was 
an  interesting  one,  for  it 
was  felt  that  if  the  short  pole  could  be  used  it  would  have 
the  twofold  effect  of  decreasing  the  cost  of  the  construc- 
tion very  materially  and  also  improving  the  appearance  of 
the  distribution  system. 

Up  to  this  time  no  thought  had  been  given  in  connection 
with  the  incandescent  lighting  for  the  residential  section 
to  any  other  than  the  usual  series  system  of  distribution. 
Upon  investigation,  however,  it  was  found  that  by  running 
2200-volt  feeders  from  the  substations,  employing  the  usual 
type  of  pole  transformer  to  step  down  the  primary  pressure 
to  230  volts,  and  making  a  standard  three-wire  secondary 
distribution  with  multiple  lamps,  an  exceedingly  flexible 
system  would  result.  This  plan,  in  addition  to  being  much 
cheaper  than  the  series  system,  would  have  the  advantage 
that  the  high-voltage  lines  could  be  concentrated  on  a  few 
"feeder"  streets,  upon  which,  of  course,  high  poles  would 


be  located.  This  arrangement  coincided  exactly  with  the 
proposed  scheme  for  residence  distribution,  and  its  adop- 
tion enabled  the  system  to  have  at  least  80  per  cent  of 
its  poles  carry  a  maximum  potential  of  only  115  volts  to 
ground.  The  advantage  of  this  was  at  once  apparent. 
The  wires  did  not  need  to  be  placed  high,  and  there  was 


Fig.  2— Post  Used 
Business  Section. 


Fig.  3 — Detail  of  Lantern  Used  In   Residential  Section. 

I 
no  risk  whatever  in  running  such  low-voltage  lines  through 
the  trees  on  Toronto's  streets. 

It  was  felt  that  with  the  necessity  for  high  poles  elimi- 
nated one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  was  overcome,  and 
the  officials  of  the  Toronto  systeip  set  about  getting 
quotations  on  Western  cedar  poles  having  a  length  not 
exceeding  25  ft.  Unfortunately,  the  prices  quoted  on 
Western  cedar  poles  of  this  size  were  disappointing,  and 
although  more  success  was  had  in  connection  with  Mich- 
igan cedar,  the  prices  were,  nevertheless,  altogether  un- 
satisfactory. Attempts  were  also  made  to  obtain  quota- 
tions on  octagonal  poles,  but  no  dealer  could  be  found  who 
could  supply  the  number  of  poles  desired. 

For  a  considerable  time  the  engineers  of  the  Toronto 
Hydro-Electric  System  had  discussed  concrete  poles,  and 
when  matters  had  reached  a  point  where  a  short  pole  was 


Fig.   A — Standards    on    King    Street. 

feasible  it  was  felt  that  a  concrete  type  would  not  only 
present  a  very  attractive  appearance  but  could  possibly  be 
obtained  at  a  reasonable  cost,  which,  although  higher  than 
the  cost  of  an  equivalent  wooden  pole,  would  be  justified 
by  the  superior  lasting  qualities.  The  investment  in  the 
long  run  would  also  be  a  better  one.     The  prices  quoted 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


495 


on  concrete  poles  in  24-ft.  sizes  ranged  at  about  $15  each 
at  Toronto,  and  considering  the  fact  that  it  was  expected 
that  some  30,000  would  be  required,  the  expenditure  would 
have  been  serious.  The  municipality's  engineers  then  de- 
termined to  do  some  investigating  on  their  own  account, 
with    results    which    were    highly    satisfactory.     It    is    not 


Fig.   5 — standard    Concrete   Post,    Lantern   and   Wiring. 

intended  here  to  discuss  either  the  concrete  pole  experi- 
ments or  the  municipality's  subsequent  experience  in  the 
manufacture  of  such  poles,  beyond  a  statement  to  the 
effect  that  a  concrete  pole  was  finaly  designed  the  cost  of 
which  approximated  $5.  This  pole  was  adopted  as  the 
standard,  and  the  Toronto  system  has  now  in  use  some 
25,000  of   them. 

On  the  concrete  pole,  in  place  of  using  a  cross-arm  of 
the  ordinary  type,  it  was  decided  to  hang  the  circuits 
vertically  (the  street-lighting  wires  on  the  street  side  of 
the  pole  and  the  residence  wires  on  the  property  side), 
thereby  doing  away  with  one  of  the  particularly  unsightly 
features  which  characterize  usual  overhead  work.  The 
illustrations  show  very  clearly  the  appearance  of  this  con- 
struction, and  in  Fig.  6  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  upper 
parts  of  the  poles,  as  well  as  the  wires,  are  completely  con- 


Fig.  6 — Typical   installation  on   Heavily  Shaded  Street. 

cealed  from  view.  When  the  concrete  pole  was  adopted 
all  further  thought  of  goosenecks,  poke-bonnets  and  such 
devices  was  put  out  of  our  minds  forever,  and  it  was  de- 
cided that  whatever  the  fixture  used  it  would  have  to  fit 
close  against  the  pole. 

In  giving  consideration  to  the  artistic  appearance  of  the 


street  lighting  it  was  felt  that  with  the  use  of  incandescent 
lamps  one  of  the  vitally  important  things  was  to  have 
them  well  aligned  and  all  clearly  visible;  that  is  to  say, 
when  a  person  stood  in  the  center  of  the  street  he  would 
be  able  to  see  all  the  lamps  on  both  sides  for  a  very  con- 
siderable distance.  A  height  of  9  ft.  6  in.  from  the  side- 
walk to  the  center  of  the  lamp  was  therefore  adopted  as 
being  the  distance  which  gave  a  fair  distribution  and  yet 
would  not  be  so  high  as  to  cause  the  lamp  to  be  hidden 
by  the  trees. 

In  developing  a  satisfactory  mounting  for  the  lamp  over 
fifty  different  designs  were  evolved.  These  designs  were 
duly  considered  and  the  most  promising  ones  were  con- 
verted into  full-size  wood  models,  which  were  mounted 
upon  concrete  poles  and  were  provided  with  glassware  and 
lamps,  the  latter  being  operated  by  energy  obtained  from  a 
nearby  plant.  As  a  result  of  this  experimental  work  the 
fixture  shown  in  the  illustrations  was  finally  adopted,  and 
the  writer  is  thoroughlv  satisfied  that  the  lantern  is  inex- 


Fig.    7 — Distribution    Employed    in    Residential    Section. 

pensive,  strong,  easily  opened  for  cleaning  and  for  lamp 
renewing,  and  acceptable  in  appearance.  The  glassware 
consists  of  a  cylinder  of  translucent  glass  with  a  closed 
bottom. 

For  a  time  there  was  some  local  criticism  because  clear- 
glass  cylinders,  were  not  used,  but  the  softening  of  the 
light  and  the  diffusion  which  is  obtained  entirely  counter- 
act the  very  small  loss  which  occurs  in  this  translucent 
glass  as  compared  with  clear  glass.  Clear-glass  cylinders 
will,  of  course,  permit  a  little  more  light  on  the  street,  but 
the  observer  will  not  be  able  to  see  as  well,  and  this,  in 
the  writer's  opinion,  is  the  final  test  of  any  system  of 
illumination. 

In  the  central  downtown  districts  five-lamp  clusters 
spaced  about  80  ft.  apart  are  used,  and  eight  of  these  clus- 
ters are  placed  at  each  street  intersection.  The  design 
comprises  a  cast-iron  fluted  shaft  with  circular  base,  and 
was  made  up  by  our  own  men.  In  some  of  the  uptown 
districts  where  the  concrete-pole  construction  is  used  there 
are  eight  loo-watt  lamps  at  street  intersections,  though  in 
the  majority  of  cases  there  are  only  four. 

This   important   question   of   intersection   lighting   is   one 


496 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


upon  which  there  has  been  considerable  comment.  In  an 
arc-lighting  system  with  lamps  placed  at  the  corners  the 
street  intersections  are,  of  course,  very  highly  illuminated, 
and  between  lamps  there  are  long  dark  stretches.  The 
Toronto  incandescent  system  does  away  with  this  uneven 
distribution  of  light,  with  the  result  that  when  the  system 


Fig.  8 — Night  View   of   Street   in    Residential   Section. 

was  first  operated  the  street  intersections  seemed  to  disap- 
pear. Complaints  on  this  point  have  largely  diminished, 
however.  Should  any  street  intersection  require  some- 
thing beyond  the  standard  lighting,  the  substitution  of  a 
larger  lamp  at  once  solves  the  difficulty,  though  any  change 
of  this  n.^tuie  is  hardly  necessary. 

In  connection  with  the  placing  of  the  concrete  poles  it 
was  thought  at  first  that  a  better  distribution  of  light 
would  result  if  the  poles  were  staggered  instead  of  being 
placed  opposite  each  other.  Poles  were  therefore  set  up 
on  one  street  lOO  ft.  apart  on  one  side  and  50  ft.  apart  on 
the  other  side,  with  wiring  and  switches  so  arranged  that 
it  was  an  easy  matter  to  throw  the  lamps  into  any  combina- 
tion desired.  Certainly,  with  the  lamps  staggered  there 
was  a  better  distribution,  but  not  enough  better  to  overcome 
the  objections  to  the  staggered  system.  With  the  lamps 
opposite  each  other  bands  of  light  are  cast  across  the  road- 
way and  it  was  found  from  experience  that  this  series  of 
bright  bands  makes  it  easier  to  see  an  approaching  vehicle. 
Furthermore,  poles  were  placed  opposite  each  other  to 
facilitate  cross-guying  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  the  side 
pulls  occasioned  by  service  wires  leading  to  residences,  and 
maintaining  more  perfect  alignment. 

When  the  downtown  and  uptown  plans  were  thoroughly 
developed  a  test  installation  of  each  kind  was  made. 
In  the  downtown  district  the  necessary  energy  was  ob- 
tained from  a  nearby  private  plant,  and  for  the  uptown  in- 
stallation a  storage  battery  was  brought  to  the  location 
every  night  on  a  truck.  It  may  be  said  with  all  truthful- 
ness that  the  citizens  of  Toronto  were  highly  enthusiastic 
over  both  these  demonstrations,  and  the  City  Council  at 
once  asked  for  data  on  the  annual  cost.  A  recommendation 
was  submitted  by  the  electric  department  calling  for  five- 
lamp  clusters  in  the  downtown  districts,  placed  approxi- 
mately 80  ft.  apart,  and  single-unit  loo-watt  lanterns  for  the 
residence  districts,  placed  100  ft.  apart.  It  was  estimated 
that  the  five-lamp  clusters  could  be  installed  at  a  cost  to  the 
city  of  $52.50  each  per  annum,  and  that  the  single  100- 
watt  lamps  would  cost  $9  each  per  annum.  These 
figures  are  inclusive  of  all  charges,  such  as  energy,  lamp 
and  glassware  renewals,  cleaning,  general  maintenance, 
depreciation,  interest,  sinking  fund,  and  so  forth.  The  City 
Council  approved  this  recommendation  and  gave  instruc- 
tions to  proceed  with  the  installation,  and  the  department 
has  been  busily  engaged  ever  since. 

At  the  present  time  there  are  in  operation  about  450 
of  the  five-lamp  clusters  in  addition  to  32,000  single 
units.  The  lamps  are  mounted  on  spring  suspensions  so 
that   no    breakage    from    vibration    has    been    experienced. 


The  average  lamp  life  ranges  from  1500  to  1800  hours. 
The  system  is  not  yet  completed,  and  before  the  end  of 
the  year  there  will  be  35,000  single  units  in  commission. 
Owing  to  the  termination  of  the  old  street-lighting  con- 
tract and  the  limited  time  in  which  the  work  had  to  be 
accomplished,  single  units  were  first  placed  on  one  side  of 
the  street  only.  So  far  quite  a  number  of  streets  have 
lamps  on  both  sides,  but  the  great  majority  have  lighting 
on  one  side  only.  The  distribution  consists  of  fifteen  2200- 
volt  circuits  switched  from  the  substations.  The  primary 
lines  are  run  on  parallel  streets  approximately  3000  ft. 
apart.  The  secondary  lines  fed  from  these  cover  the  inter- 
mediate streets. 

Without  exaggeration  it  can  be  said  that  the  city  of 
Toronto  is  to-day — despite  a  partially  completed  system — 
the  best-lighted  city  on  the  American  continent.  There 
are  plenty  of  cities  with  small  sections  better  lighted — and 
by  that  is  meant  quantity  of  light,  not  quality — but  the 
point  which  is  made  in  placing  Toronto  at  the  head  of  the 
list  is  that  while  no  portion  of  the  city  is  excessively  lighted, 
on  the  other  hand  there  is  no  portion  which  has  not  been 
given  practically  perfect  lighting.  Toronto  is  further 
unique  in  being  the  only  large  city  in  which  tungsten 
lamps  are  used  exclusively   for  street  lighting. 

The  writer  frequently  has  occasion  to  visit  various 
American  cities  such  as  Detroit,  Toledo,  Cleveland,  Buflfalo, 
Rochester,  Albany,  Springfield,  Boston  and  New  York,  and 
the  more  he  sees  of  the  arc  lighting  in  these  cities  the 
more  thoroughly  convinced  he  is  of  the  superiority  of  the 
incandescent  lamp  for  street  illumination. 


KEOKUK-ST.  LOUIS  TRANSMISSION  LINE. 


Description    of    the    Chief    Preliminary    Construction 
Feattires. 


Following  an  urgent  need,  long-distance  transmission  of 
electrical  power  has  developed  in  recent  years  more  rapidly 
perhaps  than  any  other  branch  of  electrical  industry.  No 
novelty  attaches  to  covering  100  miles,  and  three  times  this 
distance  has  been  found  quite  within  the  range  of  practical 


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^^^^^^^'~ 

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Fig.   1 — Foundation   for  Anchor  Tower. 

electrical  engineering  when  modern  needs  have  demanded. 
In  fact,  the  interesting  and  difficult  problems  now  fall 
quite  as  frequently  on  the  mechanical  as  on  the  electrical 
side.  Many  of  the  earlier  transmission  systems  were  located 
in  high  altitudes  and  involved  special  electrical  problems. 
With  the  increasing  number  of  large  systems  in  the  low- 


September  7,  191 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


497 


lying  country,  engineering  skill  has  been  drawn  more  and 
more  to  questions  of  mechanical  tension,  support  and  an- 
chorage connected  with  long,  heavy  spans. 

The  Keokuk-St.  Louis  transmission  line  involves,  as  a 
whole,  what  is  said  to  be  the  heaviest  work  of  the  kind  that 
has  yet  been  undertaken.     It  is  designed  to  transmit  90,000 


Mississippi,  the  lines  swing  over  into  Illinois.  They  con- 
tinue in  a  southerly  direction  about  no  miles,  measured  in 
an  air  line,  to  Brussels,  where  the  Mississippi  makes  a  wide 
semi-circular  sweep  to  the  eastward  across  the  right-of-way, 
necessitating  a  second  crossing.     Before  another  7  miles  is 


Ffg.   2 — Pedestals   for   Tower,    Crossing    the    Mississippi. 

hp  over  two  three-phase  lines.  The  six  transmission  cables 
are  of  stranded  copper.  Ji  in.  in  diameter,  and  consequently 
are  quite  heavy.  There  is  also  a  steel  ground  cable.  The 
standard  towers  are  built  to  support  a  load,  allowing  for  all 


Fig.    3 — Putting    in    Tower    Foundation    with    Construction    Train. 

weather  conditions,  of  more  than  9000  lb.  each,  on  the  usual 
spacing  adopted  of  800  ft.  Furthermore,  the  heavy  cables 
are  lifted  across  the  wide  expanses  of  the  Mississippi  River 
and  the  Missouri  River  altogether  three  times  in  traversing 
the  140  miles  from  Keokuk  to  St.  Louis.  From  the  roof  of 
the    power    house    at    Keokuk,    on    the    Iowa    side    of    the 


Fig.   A — Towers   Assembled    Ready   for    Erection. 

traversed  on  the  route  southeast  into  St.  Louis  the  Missouri 
River  is  encountered,  and,  as  though  to  substantiate  the 
claims  that  it  is  really'  the  parent  stream,  it  demands  one 
span  of  3200  ft. — greater  than  any  in  the  previous  crossings 
of  the  Mississippi — and  a  second  span  almost  as  long.     It 


Fig.    5 — Line    of    Standard    Towers. 

requires  also,  on  an  island  at  the  mid-point  of  the  crossing, 
one  of  the  highest  transmission  towers,  if  not  the  highest, 
yet  erected. 

Lifting  the  lines  to  a  height  of  220  ft.,  this  tower  enables 
them,  despite  the  long  span  and  consequent  heavy  deflection, 
to  clear  the  river  channel  at  a  minimum  height  of  70  ft. 


498 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


The  tower  on  the  south  bank  is  l8o  ft.  high,  being  located 
on  higher  ground.  On  tiie  north  bank  the  line  descends  to 
an  anchor  tower  50  ft.  high,  where  it  is  dead-ended.  The 
lines  are  dead-ended  by  means  of  these  low-anchor  towers 
also  at  the  Brussels  crossing  of  the  Mississippi  River. 

At  the  Brussels  crossing  the  lines  are  carried  on  towers 
150  ft.  high,  located  on  islands,  and  clear  the  three  channels 
of  the  river  at  a  height  of  70  ft.  The  Keokuk  crossing  con- 
sists of  a  single  span,  2900  ft.  long,  reaching  from  the  roof 
of  the  power  house  to  a  tower  135  ft.  high  on  the  Illinois 
side.  A  type  of  cable,  made  particularly  for  this  purpose, 
is  used  on  the  several  crossings.  It  is  known  as  special 
river-crossing  cable  and  has  a  plow  steel  core,  enabling  it 
to  withstand  a  working  tension  of  24,000  lb.  per  cable. 

The  right-of-way  for  the  transmission  line  across  the 
country  is  100  ft.  wide.  The  initial  installation  consists  of 
one  double-circuit  tower  line,  with  towers  spaced  approxi- 
mately 800  ft.  apart  on  level  country,  the  spans  varying 
from  400  ft.  to  1600  ft.  over  the  rougher  country.  Two 
types  of  towers  will  be  used,  known  as  standard  and  anchor 
towers.  Every  seventh  tower,  the  interval  averaging  about 
a  mile,  will  be  an  anchor  tower,  and  anchor  towers  will  be 


Fig.    6 — Erecting    Steel    for   220-ft.    Tower. 

used  al  every  change  of  direction  of  the  line.  These  anchor 
towers  are  designed  to  carry  the  load  of  all  seven  cables 
breaking  on  one  side,  while  the  standard  towers  are  designed 
to  withstand  the  strain  of  the  breaking  of  two  conductors  on 
one  side  of  the  tower.  For  durability  the  towers  are 
galvanized. 

The  foundations  of  all  towers  are  reinforced  concrete 
designed  to  resist  both  compression  and  uplift.  Each  leg  of 
the  standard  towers  will  rest  on  a  pedestal  having  a 
diameter  of  5  ft.  at  a  minimum  depth  of  5  ft.  from  the 
surface,  with  a  truncated  cone  of  lesser  diameter  super- 
imposed and  rising  a  few  inches  above  the  surface  to  step 
the  foot  of  the  tower. 

The  two  circuits  will  be  carried  on  suspension  insulators, 
the  cables  of  each  circuit  being  arranged  in  a  vertical  plane 
spaced  10  ft.  apart,  with  a  minimum  clearance  of  50  ft. 
between  the  lower  cable  and  the  ground  at  the  tower  and 
30  ft.  at  the  center. 

The  main  conductors  have  a  cross-section  of  300,000 
circ.  mils  and  consist  of  nineteen-strand  copper  cable.  The 
ground  cable  is  strung  on  the  top  of  the  towers  and  consists 
of  seven-strand  Siemens-Martin  galvanized-steel  cable. 

The  insulators  consist  of  seven  lo-in.  disks  of  the  suspen- 


sion type  on  the  standard  towers,  and  a  specially  designed 
type  of  strain  insulator  is  used  on  the  dead-end  or  anchor 
towers.  Each  of  these  latter  insulators  consists  of  two 
strings  of  eight  lo-in.  disks,  yoked  together  in  parallel. 
The  mechanical  strength  of  these  yoked  insulators  is 
20,000  lb. 

An  independent  telephone  line  consisting  of  two  copper 
wires  protected  by  a  steel  ground  wire  has  been  constructed 
the  entire  length  of  the  transmission  line.  This  telephone 
line  is  primarily  for  the  use  of  the  operating  force  when 
the  transmission  line  is  in  service,  but  it  is  very  necessstry 
during  the  construction  period  to  keep  the  forces  in  the 
field  in  direct  touch  with  the  main  office  at  Keokuk. 

The  St.  Louis-Keokuk  transmission  line  is  the  precursor 
of  a  transmission  system  which  will  be  enlarged  to  take  in 
various  other  cities  as  load  conditions  warrant.  The  Stone 
&  Webster  Engineering  Corporation  has  charge  of  the  work. 


INSTALLATION    OF    SMALL    POWER    PLANTS    IN 
FEDERAL  OFFICE  BUILDINGS— II. 


By  D.  F.  Atkins  and  H.  M.  Price. 

IX  the  previous  article  on  this  subject  the  considerations 
governing  the  Treasury  Department  in  the  choice  of 
the  mechanical  equipment  of  a  federal  building  were 
outlined.  The  general  arrangement  of  the  apparatus  and 
the  rules  governing  the  size  and  number  of  generating  units 
were  also  treated  at  some  length  in  order  that  the  general 
practice  of  the  Treasury  Department  might  be  understood. 
Having  thus  disposed  of  the  vital  points  leading  up  to  the 
choice  of  the  engines  and  generators  best  adapted  for  the 
conditions  obtaining,  the  present  article  will  discuss  the 
merits  of  the  various  types  of  machines,  having  in  view  the 
special  needs  of  the  department.  The  matter,  however,  is 
of  general  interest  to  the  profession  inasmuch  as  the 
Treasury  Department  requires  the  best  that  the  market 
affords. 

TYPE  OF  ENGINES. 

By  reason  of  the  advancement  in  steam  engineering  in 
recent  years  a  number  of  types  of  steam  engines  suitable 
for  operating  electric  generators  are  available,  each  type 
possessing  some  merit  peculiar  to  itself  which  adapts  it  to 
till  to  best  advantage  certain  operating  conditions. 

The  simple  and  compound  high-speed  single-valve  and 
simple  and  compound  medium-speed  Corliss-valve  engines 
are  the  principal  types  offered.  These  engines  are  inclosed, 
self-oiling  and  equipped  with  automatic  shaft  governor 
and  built  either  horizontal  or  vertical. 

No  arbitrary  rules  can  be  laid  down  to  determine  the 
choice  of  the  proper  type  of  engine,  and  each  particular 
installation  requires  individual  consideration.  Floor  space, 
size  of  unit,  cost  of  coal,  characteristics  of  load,  steam  pres- 
sures, building  heating  requirements  and  initial  cost  of  in- 
.^tallation  are  the  principal  factors  which  govern  such 
selection. 

SIMPLE    SINGLE-VALVE    ENGINE. 

This  type  has  the  fewest  mechanical  parts  of  all  of  the 
tvpes  mentioned,  which  commends  it  in  all  cases  where  a 
minimum  of  attention  is  desired  and  attendants  of  only 
average  ability  are  employed.  It  is  also  the  least  expensive, 
which  further  commends  it  where  first  cost  is  a  factor. 
On  the  ground  of  relatively  smaller  investment  it  is  usually 
selected  for  small  units  up  to  50-kw  loads.  This  type  is  also 
recommended  in  somewhat  larger  sizes  where  coal  is  not 
expensive  (say  $2  or  less  per  ton)  and -for  installations 
where  the  unit  is  in  service  for  but  short  periods.  It  is  also 
well  adapted  for  use  in  buildings  which  must  be  heated 
during  a  large  part  of  the  year  or  where  the  demand  for 
steam  heating  exceeds  the  engine  exhaust. 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


499 


The  speeds  of  this  type  of  engine  range  as  follows: 

SPEEDS    OF    SIMPLE    SINGLE-VALVE    ENGINES. 


STEAM  CONSUMPTION  OF  CORLISS-VALVE  ENGINES. 


Kilowatt 
Rating. 

Revolutions  per 
Minute. 

Kilowatt 
Rating. 

Revolutions  per 
Minute. 

25 

300-450 

125 

22S-27S 

35 

300-350 

ISO 

200-260 

50 

275-325 

200 

150-225 

75 

250-325 

250 

150-220 

100 

250-300 

300 

150-200 

The  steam  consumption  per  indicated  horse-power  per 
hour  for  all  the  different  sizes  given  above  should  not 
exceed  the  following  amounts  when  operating  with 
atmospheric  exhaust  and  at  the  initial  steam  pressures 
stated : 

STEAM   CONSUMPTION    PER   INDICATED    HORSE-POWER   PER    HOUR 
OF   SIMPLE  SINGLE-VALVE   ENGINES. 


Initial 

Steam  Pressure. 

Lb. 

One- 
quarter 
Load,  Lb. 

One- 
half 
Load.  Lb. 

Three- 
quarters 
Load,  Lb. 

Full 
Load. 
Lb. 

One  and  a 

Quarter 
Load,  Lb. 

80     

48.9 
44.0 
40.5 
37.6 
35.3 
33.9 
32.5 
31.6 

37.8 
35.4 
33.4 
31.7 
30.2 
29.0 
28.1 
27.1 

34.3 
32.4 
30.9 
29.6 
28.5 
27.6 
26.2 
25.8 

33.8 
32.0 
30.6 
29.2 
28.1 
27.2 
26.3 
25.6 

34.3 

90    :  . 

32.5 

100        

31 .1 

110 

29.7 

120 

28.4 

130 

27.7 

140 

26.9 

150 

26.1 

The  mechanical  efficiency  of  engines  of  this  type  is 
usually  not  less  than  95  per  cent  for  engines  under  300  hp 
in  rating  and  94  per  cent  for  larger  sizes. 

SIMPLE  CORLISS-VALVE  ENGINE 

This  type  is  a  development  of  the  releasing  Corliss  valve 
gear  engine  and  partakes  of  its  characteristics  so  far  as 
steam  consumption  is  concerned.  By  reason  of  fewer  parts, 
without  auxiliary  cut-offs,  dash-pots,  etc.,  more  advan- 
tageous regulation  and  speeds  are  obtainable,  making  it 
admirably  suited  for  installation  in  federal  buildings,  where 
the  available  floor  space  is  usually  limited.  It  is  recom- 
mended for  units  75  kw  in  size  and  above,  for  localities 
where  coal  costs  over  $2  per  ton,  and  with  steam  pressures 
in  general  use  which  range  from  no  lb.  to  125  lb. 

The  steam-consumption  curve  of  engines  of  this  type  is 
very  flat  throughout  its  range,  which  adapts  it  for  installa- 
tions with  fluctuating  loads.  This,  combined  with  the  high 
mechanical  efiiciency,  commends  this  type  for  the  usual 
federal  building  installation. 

Corliss-valve  engine  speeds  are  about  as  follows: 

SPEEDS    OF    CORLISS-VALVE    ENGINES. 


Kilowatt 
Rating. 

Revolutions  per 
Minute. 

Kilowatt 
Rating, 

Revolutions  per 
Minute. 

75 

225-250 

200 

150-200 

100 

225-250 

250 

150-200 

125 

200-225 

300 

150-200 

ISO 

220-225 

Steam  per  indicated  horse-power  per  hour  required  by 
engines  of  this  type  when  operating  at  the  initial  steam 
pressures  indicated  and  with  atmospheric  exhaust  should 
not  exceed  the  following  amounts  for  any  of  the  sizes 
above  noted : 


Initial 

Steam  Pressure, 
Lb. 


80. 

90. 
100. 
110. 
120. 
130. 
140. 
150. 


One- 
quarter 
Load,  Lb. 


40.0 
37.0 
34.8 
33.3 
32.4 
31.8 
31.2 
30.4 


One- 
half 
Load,  Lb. 


29.6 
27.8 
26.4 
25.3 
24.5 
24.0 
23.6 
23.1 


Three- 
quarters 
Load,  Lb. 


27.4 
26.1 
24.8 
23.8 
23.1 
22.6 
22.2 
21.8 


Full 

Load, 

Lb. 


27.5 
26.4 
25.3 
24.3 
23.6 
23.0 
22.6 
22.3 


One  and  a 

Quarter 
Load,  Lb. 


28.8 
27.5 
26.4 
25.3 
24.7 
24.2 
23.8 
23.5 


The  mechanical  efficiency  of  simple  Corliss-valve  engines 
is  usually  not  less  than  94  per  cent  for  engines  under  300  hp 
and  93  per  cent  for  larger  sizes. 

COMPOUND  SINGLE-VALVE  ENGINE. 

This  engine  is  adapted  for  installations  having  compara- 
tively high  steam  pressures,  ranging  upward  from  120  lb. 
with  no  back  pressure,  or  else  operating  condensing.  As 
shown  by  the  table  of  steam  consumption  following,  com- 
pound engines  are  not  economical  at  light  loads,  and  there- 
fore constant  full  loads  are  necessary  for  best  results. 

The  speeds  of  this  type,  built  either  tandem  or  cross- 
compound,  are  about  the  same  as  those  given  for  the  simple 
single-valve  engines. 

The  steam  consumption  per  indicated  horse-power  per 
hour  for  engines  ranging  from  75  kw  to  300  kw  should  not 
exceed  the  amounts  given  in  the  following  table  when 
operating  at  the  initial  steam  pressures  given  and  with 
atmospheric  exhaust: 

STEAM    CONSUMPTION    OF    COMPOUND    SINGLE-VALVE    ENGINES. 


Initial 

Steam  Pressure, 
Lb. 

One- 
quarter 
Load,  Lb. 

One- 
half 
Load,  Lb. 

Three- 
quarters 
Load,  Lb. 

Full 

Load, 

Lb. 

One  and  a 

Quarter 

Load,  Lb. 

100 

110 

48.6 
44.6 
42.4 
41.3 
40.3 
39.4 
38.7 
38.3 

32.9 
29.5 
28.2 
27.6 
27.0 
26.5 
26.0 
2S  6 

28.2 
25.4 
24.3 
23.7 
23.2 
22.7 
22.2 
21    8 

27.5 
24.6 
23.5 
23.0 
22.5 
22.0 
21.5 
21.1 

28.0 
25.0 
24.0 
23.4 
22.9 
22.4 
21.9 
21.6 

120 

130 

140 

150 

160 

170 

The  amounts  given  in  the  preceding  table  are  bettered 
approximately  15  per  cent  for  the  quarter  and  half  loads 
and  20  per  cent  for  the  other  loads  when  operating  condens- 
ing with  about  24  in.  of  vacuum.  The  amount  of  steam  re- 
quired for  the  condenser,  when  condensing  water  is  avail- 
able, will  average  7  per  cent  of  the  steam  used  by  the 
engine,  leaving  a  net  gain  of  about  8  per  cent  for  light 
loads  and  13  per  cent  for  heavier  loads  when  operating  con- 
densing instead  of  with  atmospheric  exhaust. 

For  engines  of  this  type  of  less  than  300  hp  capacity  the 
mechanical  efficiency  is  about  93  per  cent  and  in  larger 
sizes  about  92  per  cent. 

COMPOUND   CORLISS-VALVE  ENGINE. 

This  type  of  engine  is  recommended  where  proper 
operating  conditions  prevail  and  extreme  economy  is  de- 
sired. These  conditions  are  steam  pressures  of  120  lb.  or 
higher,  comparatively  steady  full  load  and  exhausting  with 
little  or  no  back  pressure,  or  operating  condensing. 

The  speeds  at  which  engines  of  this  type  operate  are 
about  the  same  as  those  given  for  simple  Corliss-valve 
engines. 

The  engines  of  this  type  ranging  in  size  from  75  kw  to 


500 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


300  kw,  when  operating  at  the  initial  steam  pressures  given 
and  with  atmospheric  exhaust,  should  not  consume  at  vary- 
ing loads  more  than  the  amounts  per  indicated  horse-power 
per  hour  following: 

STEAM    CONSUMPTION    OF   COMPOUND    CORLISS-VALVE  ENGINES. 


Initial 

Steam  Pressure, 

Lb. 

One- 
quarter 
Load,  Lb. 

One- 
half 
Load,  Lb. 

Three- 
quarters 
Ljad,  Lb. 

Full 

Load, 

Lb. 

One  and  a 

Quarter 
Load,  Lb. 

100 

110 

47.0 
43.4 
41.2 
39.6 
39.0 
38.5 
38.0 
37.6 

32.3 
30.0 
28.0 
26.8 
26.4 
26.0 
25.5 
25.0 

26.7 
24.3 
22.5 
21.3 
20.9 
20.  S 
20.1 
19.8 

25.2 
22.6 
21.1 
19.8 
19.4 
19.0 
18.7 
18.4 

24.9 

22.7 

120 

21.3 

130    

20.3 

140    

19.9 

150    

19.5 

160 

19.1 

170 

18.8 

The  amounts  given  in  the  table  above  are  improved  about 
the  same  percentage  when  operating  condensing  as  given 
under  compound  single-valve  engines  preceding. 

The  mechanical  efficiency  of  compound  Corliss-valve 
engines  of  less  than  300  hp  capacity  is  usually  not  less  than 
92  per  cent  and  for  larger  sizes  91  per  cent. 

SELECTING  AN  ENGINE. 

To  show  the  utility  of  the  foregoing  data,  the  following 
example  is  given  of  determining  the  proper  engine  to  be 
selected  under  assumed  conditions  of  operation: 

The  engine  is  to  be  required  to  drive  a  loo-kw  generator 
with  no-lb.  initial  steam  pressure,  exhausting  at  atmos- 
pheric pressure;  loads  ranging  between  half  load  and  full 
load  and  a  quarter;  unit  operating  ten  hours  per  day,  300 
days  per  year,  with  coal  costing  $3.50  per  ton. 

With  a  simple  single-valve  type  the  steam  consumption 
for  varying  loads  taken  from  the  table  is  as  follows : 


Steam  consumption  per  indi- 
cated hp  per  hour 


One-half 

Load, 

Lb. 


31.7 


Three- 
quarters 
Load,  Lb. 


29.6 


Full 

Load, 

Lb. 


One  and  a 

Quarter 
Load,  Lb. 


29.7 


The  steam  required  per  hour  at  varying  loads  would  be 
as  follows : 


HaMload  =31.7  Ib.X    75       indicated  hp  =  2375  lb. 

Three-quarters  load  =29.6  lb.  X  1 12  .5  indicated  hp  =  3340  lb. 

Full  load  =29.2  1b.XlS0       indicated  hp  =  43 70  lb. 

One   and   a   quarter   load  =  29.  7  lb.  X  187  .  5  indicated  hp  =  5575  lb. 
Average  steam  per  hour  (13,660  lb. -^4)  =3915  lb. 

Yearly  steam  consumption  of  engine  (391S  X3000)  =  11,745,000  lb. 


With  the  simple  Corliss-valve  engine  operating  the  same 
as  above,  with  steam  consumption  taken  from  the  table, 
steam  required  per  hour  would  be  in  accordance  with  the 
following : 


Steam  consumption  per  indi- 
cated hp  per  hour 


One-half 

Load, 

Lb. 


Three- 
quarters 
Load,  Lb. 


Full 

Load, 

Lb, 


24.3 


One  and  a 

Quarter 

Load,  Lb. 


25.3 


Half  load  =25.3  Ib.X    75       indicated  hp  =  1900  1b. 

Three-quarters  load  =  23  . 8  lb.  X  1 1 2  . 5  indicated   hp  =  2680  lb. 

Full  load  =24.3  lb.X150       indicated   hp  =  3650  1b. 

One  and   a   quarter   load  =  2S.3  lb.  .X  187  .  5  indicated   hp  =  4810Ib. 
Average  steam  per  hour  (13,040  lb.-^4)  =3260  lb. 

Yearly  steam  consumption  of  engine  (3260X3000  =  9,780.000  lb. 


A  compound  single-valve  engine  operating  under  the 
same  conditions  will  for  varying  loads  require  the  following 
amount  of  steam : 


Steam  consumption  per  indi- 
cated hp  per  hour 


One-half 

Load, 

Lb. 


29.5 


Three- 
quarters 
Load,  Lb. 


25.4 


Pull 

Load, 

Lb. 


24.6 


One  and'a 

Quarter 
Load,  Lb. 


Half  load  =29.5  Ib.X    75       indicated   hp  =  2210  1b. 

Three-quarters  load  =25  .4  lb.  X  1 12  .  5  indicated  hp  =  2860  1b. 

Full  load  =24.6  1b.X150       indicated  hp  =  3680  lb. 

One   and    a    quarter  load  =  25  .0  lb.  X  187  .5  indicated  hp  =  4730  lb. 
Average  steam  per  hour  (13,480  lb. -i-4)  =3370  lb. 

Yearly  steam  consumption  of  engine  (3370  X3000)  =  10,1 10.000  lb. 


With  a  compound  Corliss-valve  engine  the  steam  required 
at  varying  loads  will  be  as  follows: 


Steam  consumption  per  indi- 
cated hp  per  hour 


One-half 

Load, 

Lb. 


30.0 


Three- 
quarters 
Load,  Lb. 


24.3 


Full 

Load, 

Lb. 


22.6 


One  and  a 

Quarter  J 

Load,  Lb.  J 


22.7 


Half  load  =30.0  Ib.X    75       indicated  hp  =  2250  lb. 

Three-quarters  load  =24.3  lb.  XI 12.  5  indicated  hp  =  2740  lb. 

Full  load  =22.6  1b.X150       indicated  hp  =  3380  lb. 

One   and   a   quarter   load  =  22  .  7  lb.  X  187  .  5  indicated  hp  =  4290lb. 
Average  steam  per  hour  (12.660  lb. -i-4)  =3165  lb. 

Yearly  steam  consumption  of  engine   (3165X30001  =  9,495,000  lb. 


Comparing  the  performance  of  the  simple  single-valve 
engine  with  the  simple  Corliss-valve  engine,  there  will  be 
the  difference  between  11,745,000  lb.  steam  and  9,780,000  lb., 
or  1,965,000  lb.  steam  less  required  for  the  simple  Corliss- 
valve  than  for  the  simple  single-valve  engine.  Reducing 
this  saving  in  steam  to  coal  at  8-lb.  evaporation,  there  is  a 
total  saving  of  245,625  lb.  of  coal,  or  about  109  tons  of 
2240  lb.  each.  This  saving  in  coal  at  $3.50  a  ton  amounts  to 
approximately  $381  per  annum,  which  would  justify  the 
ditTerence  in  the  amount  of  investment  in  the  two  engines, 
roughly  about  $1,200. 

While  the  compound  single-valve  engine  shows  a  gain 
over  the  simple  single-valve  engine,  it  is  obviously  insuf- 
ficient to  weigh  against  the  selection  of  the  simple  Corliss- 
valve  type;  and  as  the  compound  Corliss-valve  engine,  in 
comparison  with  the  simple  Corliss-valve  type,  does  not 
show  enough  gain  to  warrant  selection  at  its  greatly  in- 
creased price,  it  may  be  concluded  that  the  simple  Corliss- 
valve  engine  would  be  the  proper  one  to  choose. 

If  the  coal  in  the  above  example  had  been  purchased  for 
$1.50  per  ton,  the  yearly  saving  with  the  simple  Corliss- 
valve  engine  over  the  simple  single-valve  engine  would 
have  been  only  $163,  an  amount  insufficient  to  justify  the 
expenditure  of  the  additional  sum  necessary  to  purchase  the 
simple  Corliss-valve  engine. 

The  engine  efficiencies  have  been  ignored  in  the  above 
calculations,  as  the  only  object  was  to  show  the  use  of  the 
tables  and  the  method  of  calculating  the  steam  required 
per  indicated  horse-power  with  different  type  machines. 

ELECTRIC    GENERATORS. 

The  usual  load  consists  of  elevators,  lighting,  ventilating  • 
fans  and  pumps,  the  elevator  load  being  the  major  part  of 
the  total  load.  It  is  therefore  desirable  to  use  a  generator 
of  such  characteristics  that  a  fairly  constant  lighting  voltage 
will  be  maintained  when  the  elevators  are  thrown  on  the 
circuit  and  frequent  overloads  will  be  carried  without 
sparking.  These  characteristics  are  best  obtained  in  the 
interpole  design. 

In  a  non-interpole  generator  sparking  is  due  primarily 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


301 


to  a  local  magnetic  field  surrounding  a  coil  which  is  being 
commutated.  This  field  sets  up  a  counter  emf,  or  voltage,  in 
the  commutated  coil  in  such  a  way  as  to  oppose  the  reversal 
of  the  current  in  the  coil,  and  thus  tends  to  cause  sparking 
as  the  coil  of  commutator  bar  leaves  the  brush.  This 
action  increases  with  current  or  load,  and  is  especially 
destructive  at  heavy  overloads. 

In  a  non-interpole  machine  sparkless  commutation  may 
be  obtained  if  the  brushes  can  be  so  located  that  the  arma- 
ture coils  short-circuited  by  them  are  brought  into  a  mag- 
netic field  of  exactly  the  right  direction  and  strength  to 
neutralize  the  effect  of  the  local  field  at  the  moment  of 
commutation. 

Such  a  field  is  found  to  exist  near  the  tips  of  the  pole 
pieces,  and  it  has  been  customary  to  advance  the  generator 
brushes  sufficiently  to  bring  the  armature  coils  within  it 
during  cortimutation ;  but  this  field  varies  in  strength  under 
various  c6nditions  of  loads,  and  instead  of  becoming 
stronger  with  increase  of  loads,  it  actually  becomes  weaker. 

In  interpole  generators  the  proper  conditions  for  com- 
mutation are  obtained  by  the  use  of  small  poles  interspaced 
between  the  main  poles.  The  interpoles  have  their  windings 
in  series  with  the  armature  and  set  up  magnetic  fields  which 
annul  the  effect  of  the  fields  formed  by  armature  magnetiza- 
tion and  generate  in  the  commutated  coils  an  emf  which 
assists  the  reversal  of  the  current.  Since  the  interpole 
coils  are  in  series  with  the  armature,  the  interpole  field 
strength  varies  in  proportion  to  the  load,  and  it  thus  has 
the  proper  corrective  effect  at  all  loads. 

Since  the  emf  due  to  the  interpole  which  assists  reversal 
has  a  definite  position  under  the  interpole,  the  coil  being 
reversed  must  also  be  located  accurately  with  respect  to 
this  reversing  emf.  The  brushes  are  consequently  located 
on  the  true  neutral  point,  and  experience  proves  that  spark- 
less  commutation  can  be  obtained  under  practically  all  con- 
ditions from  no-load  to  very  heavy  overloads. 

COMMERCIAL    KILOWATT   AND   SPEED   RATINGS   OF   DIRECT- 
CURRENT   GENERATORS. 

Standard  commercial  speeds  and  kilowatt  capacities  from 
25  kw  to  300  kw  for  125-volt,  250-volt  and  125-250-volt, 
three-wire  generators  are  as  follows  for  interpole 
machinery : 


REPLACING  OLD 


TRANSFORMER  CORES  WITH 
NEW  ONES. 


Kilowatt 
Rating. 

Revolutions  per 
Minute. 

Kilowatt             Revolutions  ptr 
Rating.                       Minute. 

25 
35 

50 

75 
100 

295-305-310-325 

285-305-315 

2  75-280-290-300 

250-265-275-290 

250-260-275 

125              225-250-260-275 
ISO              200-220-250-260-275 
200              100-150-200-210-220 
250              150-200-220 
300                100-120-150-200-220 

Late  designs  are  provided  with  steel  frames  to  produce 
rugged  construction  and  at  the  same  time  to  reduce  the 
handling  and  shipping  weights  and  permit  light  foundations. 
The  later  types  of  machines  have  open-end  windings  on 
the  armatures  as  well  as  air  ducts  in  the  armature  cores  for 
ventilation.  The  shunt-field  coils  are  form-wound  in  com- 
paratively long  coils  of  small  radial  depth.  The  series  and 
interpole  coils  are  wound  from  bare  copper  strap  insulated 
with  spacers,  with  ample  air  ducts  between  the  poles,  shunt 
coils  and  series  coils,  so  that  the  armature  and  field 
windings  of  the  generator  are  open  to  free  ventilation. 

Based  on  a  room  temperature  of  25  deg.  C,  the  tempera- 
ture rise  at  full  load  should  not  exceed  35  deg.  C.  after  con- 
tinuous operation  nor  50  deg.  C.  after  two  hours'  operation 
at  25  per  cent  overload.  A  small  margin  should  be  allowed, 
say  5  deg.  C,  on  the  commutators  of  l2S-volt  generators. 

In  another  issue  will  be  given  a  specification  for  engines 
and  generators  as  prepared  in  the  office  of  the  supervising 
architect  of  the  Treasury  Department. 


By  John  G.  Homan. 

RECENTLY  a  large  and  progressive  lighting  concern 
has  gone  into  the  matter  of  replacing  the  cores  of  its 
older  transformers  with  new  ones  of  improved  ma- 
terial. In  the  light  of  recent  advances  in  the  manufacture 
of  silicon-iron  alloys  this  procedure  seems  worthy  of  con- 
sideration. The  concern  mentioned  has  already  used  many 
tons  of  new  steel  in  the  replacement  of  old  cores. 

Below  are  given  the  results  of  an  investigation  of  the 
possible  economy  resulting  from  the  change  of  cores  in  a 
representative  line  of  1906  transformers  of  the  type  in- 
tended for  lighting  loads.  Fig.  i  shows  the  core  and  copper 
'osses  as  functions  of  output  rating,  or  size,  of  the  trans- 
formers to  be  considered  for  new  cores.  Unless  very  con- 
siderable aging  has  taken  place  in  the  transformer  cores,  it 
is  doubtful  whether  apparatus  of  manufacture  more  recent 
than  1906  would  show  any  economy  by  the  change. 

As  the  change  is  supposed  to  result  in  much  lower  core 
losses,  the  first  thing  to  know  is  the  quality  of  steel  in  the 
old  cores  and  its  comparison  with  the  available  higher 
quality  silicon-iron  alloy.  In  Fig.  No.  2  curve  a  shows  the 
character  of  the. material  used  for  transformer  cores  in 
1906,  while  curve  b  gives  a  fair  criterion  for  material  to  be 
had  at  present.  The  curves  show  total  core  or  iron  loss 
(the  sum  of  eddy  current  and  hysteresis  losses)  in  watts 
per  pound  of  material,  as  a  function  of  the  magnetic  density 


50 


•;:  30 


a  20 


10 


y 

4 

of/ 

/ 

,,°^ 

^ 

^ 

-^ 

flA^ 

nV^^ 

i^ 

/ 

/ 

0 

200 


300  400 

Losses  in  Watts 


Fig. 


Etactrieal  IF,»-ti 

1 — Copper   Loss  and   Iron   Loss  of  Lighting  Transformers  Six 
Years    Old. 


measured  in  lines  per  square  centimeter  at  60  cycles  with  a 
sine  wave  of  time  value. 

The  new  material  is  approximately  45  per  cent  better 
than  the  old  at  any  practical  density  of  magnetism. 

As  an  example  suppose  the  core  of  a  20-kva  transformer 
be  changed.  The  old  one,  according  to  Fig.  i,  has  a  core 
loss  of  170  watts;  the  new  core  is  45  per  cent  better,  so  that 
it  should  have  a  total  core  loss  of  93  watts.  The  difference 
is  674  kw-hr.  per  year. 

The  approximate  price  of  silicon-iron  transformer  mate- 
rial having  the  quality  indicated  by  curve  b  in  Fig.  2  is 
6  cents  per  pound  at  Pittsburgh.  The  size  is  No.  29  United 
States  standard  gage,  which  corresponds  to  a  thickness  of 
about  0.014  in.  Since  the  core  laminas  of  nearly  all  core- 
type  apparatus,  and  of  shell-type  also,  are  of  simple  form 
bounded  by  straight  lines  and  convex  angles,  it  follows  that 
these  core  laminas  may  be  easily  and  accurately  cut  from 
the  sheet  by  means  of  the  ordinary  tinner's  squaring  shears. 
The  loss  of  material  as  scrap  need  not  exceed  5  per  cent. 

The  core  of  the  20-kva  transformer  in  argument  should 
not  exceed  200  lb.  in  weight,  so  that  the  material  ready  for 
the  new  core  would  cost  $12.60  plus  the  freight.  The  matter 
of  building  up  the  new  core  is  very  simple,  and  after  a  few 
cores  have  been  changed  the  workmen  will  become  more 
or  less  expert  in  the  operation.  It  seems  fair  to  estimate 
that  the  labor  cost  need  not  exceed  the  cost  of  material. 
In  round  numbers,  then,  the  replaced  core  may  be  said  to 
cost  $26.    The  saving  per  year  of  674  kw-hr.  at  i  cent  per 


502 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


kw-hr.  is  a  saving  of  $6.74,  or  an  income  on  the  investment 
exceeding  25  per  cent  per  annum. 

In  the  repaired  transformer  the  total  full-load  losses  to  be 
dissipated  amount  to  380  watts  as  against  its  original  457 
watts.  In  Fig.  No.  4  the  efficiencies  of  the  transformer  at 
various  loads  are  shown  by  curves.  Curve  a  is  for  the  un- 
repaired apparatus,  while  curve  b  is  for  the  repaired.    These 


to  vary  directly  with  the  weight  of  core,  it  would  seem  that 
as  the  size  increased  the  saving  from  new  cores  would  be  ! 
less.  However,  the  kw-hr.  saved  per  pound  of  iron  in  any  | 
transformer  is  about  the  same.  The  labor  cost  of  core 
replacement  should  decrease  materially  with  transformer 
size  increase.  The  labor  on  a  40-kva  change  should  be  very 
little  more  than  for  a  20-kva.     So  that  while  the  saving  in 


10,000 


10.000 


g-  8,000 

o 

S  6,000 


S  4.000 
2,000 


Fig, 


-i«>V 

■ 

\\ 

/ 

y 

ONi, 

^ 

■^ 

/ 

o> 

^ 

^ 

/ 

y^ 

^ 

0.2      0.4      0,6      0.8      1,0      1,2      1.4 
Watts  per  Pound  of  Iron 

£UctrKal  World 

—Iron     Loss    as    a     Function    of 
iVIagnetic    Density. 


10,000 
8,000 
6,000 
4,000 
2,000 

Fig, 


^ 

^ 

\ 

/ 

/ 

// 

/ 

H  97 


96 


95 


1.0  2.0  3.0 

Mag.  Force  "H" 

EUetneal  World 

3 — B-H    Curves   for   Old    and    New 
Transformer  Steel. 


6 

New 

— 

a 

oia 

12 


14 


16        IS        20        22       24 
k  V  a  Output         a^tricoi  Woru 
Fig.   4 — Efficiency   Curves   of    New    and 
Old   Cores  of  20-kva  Transformer. 


curves  show  that  at  a  load  of  25  kva,  which  is  125  per  cent 

01  the  transformer's  original  load  rating,  the  efficiency  of 
the  repaired  apparatus  is  higher  than  the  very  highest 
figure  for  the  unrepaired  transformer. 

If  it  is  desired  to  increase  the  output  of  the  repaired 
transformer,  more  coil  radiation  may  be  provided  by  mak- 
ing the  new  core  enough  smaller  to  allow  for  oil  circulation 
between  it  and  the  coils.  Strips  of  wood  may  be  used  as 
separators.  In  the  smaller  transformers  it  is  doubtful 
whcthei  this  procedure  is  necessary  for  overloads  not  ex- 
ceeding 25  per  cent. 

Besides  the  saving  of  674  kw-hr.  per  year,  there  is  also 
the  asset  of  increased  output.  How  valuable  this  increase 
is  depends  upon  the  value  of  regulation.    If  a  regulation  of 

2  per  cent  is  tolerable,  a  carrying  capacity  of  22  kva  or 
more  may  be  easily  had.  At  present  transformer  prices 
this  extra  2  kva  is  worth  close  to  $15.  This,  then,  is  an 
extra  advantage. 

The  above  estimations  are  based  on  transformers  the 
cores  of  which  are  not  subject  to  aging.  Quite  recently 
there  was  brought  to  the  writer's  attention  a  core  loss  test 
which  displayed  an  aging  effect  of  more  than  100  per  cent, 
the  core  loss  increase  having  taken  place  in  seven  years. 
It  is  fair  to  believe  that  most  transformers  manufactured 
prior  to  1904  have  aged,  and,  taking  mixed  brands  of  this 
date  and  earlier  throughout  a  distributing  system,  an  in- 
crease of  15  per  cent  would  be  a  safe  approximation  for 
their  present  losses. 

Silicon-iron  alloy  does  not  increase  in  core  losses  with 
age.  The  probability  of  correcting  an  aged  core  is  then 
another  advantage  not  considered  above. 

Those  familiar  with  the  new  steel  may  question  the  ex- 
citing current  coincident  with  the  new  core.  The  answer 
is  that  in  the  earlier  transformers  the  magnetic  densities 
were  comparatively  low,  but  all-around  economy  has  neces- 
sitated higher  magnetic  densities  in  the  later  designs.  In 
Fig.  No.  3  are  given  two  B-H  curves,  b  being  for  silicon- 
alloy  and  a  for  steel  approximating  that  used  in  1906.  The 
data  for  these  curves  were  obtained  from  samples  sub- 
mitted to  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Standards. 

The  repairing  of  the  20-kva  transformer  representative 
of  the  best  manufacture  at  the  beginning  of  1906  results 
in  the  approximate  saving  of  674  kw-hr.  per  annum;  if 
aging  has  taken  place  in  the  cores  the  saving  may  in  extreme 
cases  be  double  this.  The  repaired  transformer  is  capable 
of  increased  output.  The  repairing  operation  permits  an 
inspection  of  the  insulation,  etc.,  which  may  result  in  sav- 
ing.   The  life  of  the  transformer  is  increased. 

The  weight  of  core  in  a  transformer  varies  approximately 
at  the  0.75  power  of  its  kva  rating.    Considering  the  losses 


kilowatt-hours  per  kva  of  rating  decreases  with  increase  of 
size,  the  cost  of  replacement  decreases  approximately  in 
proportion  and  the  relative  economy  for  the  various  sizes 
is  about  the  same. 

Transformers  of  the  type  intended  for  industrial  service 
make  repaired  ones  with  good  lighting  service  charac- 
teristics because  they  usually  have  better  regulation. 

V 


RADIANT  EFFICIENCY  OF  THE  CARBON  ARC 
LAMP. 


By  William  H.  Damon  and  William  J.  Enders. 
Since  the  energy  within  the  visible  portion  of  the  spec- 
trum represents  only  a  small  part  of  the  total  energy  emitted 
by  a  hot  body,  it  is  a  matter  of  much  importance  in  prob- 
lems of  illumination  to  have  accurate  information  regarding 
the  relative  intensities  of  the  visible  and  invisible  radiations 
from  various  sources,  and  it  is  the  purpose  of  this  article 
to  discuss  the  radiant  efficiency  of  the  crater  of  the  direct- 
current  carbon  arc.  The  radiant  efficiency  is  considered  to 
be  the  ratio  of  the  energy  of  the  visible  spectrum  lying 
between  o  |x  to  0.76  [ji  to  the  total  energy.  As  the 
boundaries  of  the  region  are  loosely  defined  and  the  limit- 
ing wave-lengths  somewhat  arbitrarily  chosen,  a  comparison 
of  the  radiant  efficiencies  obtained  by  different  observers 
for  the  arc  and  other  sources  of  light  shows  a  wide  varia- 
tion. The  different  methods  used  also  give  discordant  re- 
sults due  to  various  errors.  Any  change  in  the  boundary  be- 
tween the  infra-red  and  visible  gives  a  large  variation  in  the 
radiant  efficiency,  because  of  the  rapid  increase  of  energy 
with  wave-length  near  0.8  jj..     H.  P.  Gage'  in  his  work  on 


lis         G 
Fig.   1 — Arrangement  of  Apparatus. 


Electrical  WurU 


the  radiant  efficiency  of  the  arc  screened  off  the  infra-red 
at  0.68  [A,  considering  the  visible  to  lie  between  0.68  \i.  and 
0.4  a,  while  others  have  considered  different  limits.  The 
visible  spectrum  should  extend  as  far  as  the  average  eye 
can  be  affected,  and  0.76^1.  is  a  fair  limit.  The  definition  of 
radiant  efficiency  as  given  above,  a  purely  physiological  one, 

^Pliysical  Review,  Vol.  32,  .Tunc,  1911.  ■• 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


503 


loses  its  meaning  when  other  limits  are  taken.  In  this  work 
the  infra-red  rays  were  screened  off  at  0.76  [i,  as  this  is 
generally  accepted  as  the  lower  limit  of  the  visible  spectrum. 
For  this  work  the  method  adopted  was  that  used  by 
Mendenhall'  in  determining  the  luminous  efficiency  of  the 
carbon  filament  and  also  by  Forsythe.°  It  consists  of  a 
direct  comparison  of  energy  of  two  beams  from  the  same 


the  different  colors  so  that  the  light  falling  upon  the 
photometer  or  bolometer  B,  placed  at  the  focus,  is  white. 
The  other  beam  of  light  coming  from  A  is  partly  cut  out  by 
the  sectored  disk  D,  passes  through  the  screen  A'  and  strikes 
the  photometer  B. 

The  arc  A,  screen  E,  lens  L  and  prism  R  were  placed  on 
one  optical  bench  and  could  be  moved  horizontally  in  the 
direction  of  the  beam  of  light  from 
A  to  B.  A  photometric  balance  of 
the  two  beams  was  obtained  at  the 
bolometer  by  replacing  it  by  a 
Lummer-Brodhun  photometer  and 
shifting  the  part  ALR  of  the  sys- 
tem back  and  forth  as  desired,  cut- 
ting down  the  direct  beam  AB  by 
a  suitable  sector  D.     It  is  evident, 


Bolometer 

\ 

Resistance 
<-  Box  B 

Resistance      /  ,-c^  \ 

Bo.  .1  r^-©sj 

< 

>liesistauc-e 
Coils 

.      2  Volt 
-   Storage 
Battery 

V-— 

\ 

) 

Fig.    2 — Arrangement   of   Apparatus. 

source,  from  one  of  which  all  but  the  visible  has  been 
separated  out.  The  Rubens  thermopile,  however,  was  re- 
placed by  a  differential  bolometer,  thus  making  possible 
simultaneous  measurements  of  the  visible  and  total  energies. 
The  arrangement  of  the  apparatus  is  shown  in  Figs,  i 
and  2,  where  A  is  the  carbon  arc  the  radiant  efficiency  of 
which  is  to  be  determined.  The  two  carbon  electrodes 
make  an  angle  of  90  deg.  with  each  other  and  are  adjusted 
manually.  .  The  horizontal  electrode  which  contains  the 
positive  crater  makes  an  angle  of  45  deg.  with  the  other 
two  beams  as  shown  in  Fig.  i.  Rays  from  A  pass  through 
a  0.5-in.  round  hole  in  the  screen  £,  are  made  parallel  by 
the  lens  L  and  reflected  by  the  prism  R  to  the  lens  G,  which 
brings  them  to  a  focus  on  the  slit  6".  The  rays  diverge 
again  and  are  reflected  by  the  mirror  M  through  the  colli- 
mating  lens  H  to  the  prism  P,  which  is  set  to  refract  the 


Fig.   3 — Diagram   of   Connections. 

from  Fig,  i,  that  the  image  of  the  light  on  5  will  not  be 
changed  in  position  or  intensity  by  such  a  shift,  because  the 
rays  are  parallel  from  R  to  G. 

The  bolometer  was  made  with  a  central  disk  of  brass 
about  1/16  in.  in  thickness,  having  two  lugs  fastened  to 
each  side  but  insulated  electrically  from  it  with  mica,  the 
two  upper  lugs  being  soldered  together.  Platinum  bolometer 
strips  0.5  mm  wide  connecting  the  upper  and  lower  lugs 
were  soldered  in  place.  These  two  strips  were  selected  so 
that  each  had  practically  the  same  resistance.  After  the 
strips  were  put  in  place  their  resistances  were  measured 
accurately  by  means  of  a  Wheatstone  bridge  and  found  to 
be  3.51  ohms  and  3.52  ohms  respectively.  Both  platinum 
strips  were  blackened  with  camphor  soot  to  increase  their 
absorptive  power  so  that  they  would  absorb  heat  readily. 
The  bolometer  case  was  provided  with  three  equally  spaced 


TABLE  I. RADIANT  EFFICIENCIES  FOR  POSITIVE  CRATER;  VOLTS   6o,  AMPERES  7.5. 


Company. 

Electrode. 

DEFLECTIONS. 

Eo 

Observed 
Efficiency. 

Corrected 
Efficiency. 

Ei 

Eo 

Eo  +  Ei 

National  Carbon  Co 

National  Carbon  Co 

National  Carbon  Co 

H.  M.  Hirschberg 

Columbia  solid 

C.  C.  forced 

Columbia  cored 

Plania  cored 

20.03/?            21.06/? 
17.42/?            26.95/? 
19.23/?            18.51/? 
22    43R              2.?    28/? 

7.08L            7.27L 
.7/?              2. SI/? 
6.45L            5.81L 
7.45L             7.33L 
1.371,            1.18L 

2. 621.            2.47L 
4.08L             4.40L 
6.60L             5.71L 
2. SOL             2.91L 
4.30L             4. SOL 
3.15L             1.76L 

1.38           1.378 
.98              .925 
1.36            1.340 
1.358          1.340 
1.081          1.071 

1.345          1.340 
1.340          1.350 
1.340          1.360 
1.37S          1.380 
1.278           1.260 
1.208          1.200 

14.50 
21.05 
14.85 
14.87 
18.59 

14.89 
14.88 
14.80 
14.51 

14.73 
21.37 
15.09 
15.10 

H   M    Hirschberg        

Plania  solid              1     21.46)?            23.78i? 

Siemens  cored                 7.85f?             7.67i? 

Siemens  solid                  12,91/?            13.58R 
Blue  Label  cored             2 1 .  08/?           17.56/? 
Blue  Label  solid                 8.05/?              8.58/? 
Pink  Label  cored              17.20/?            20.82/? 
Pink  Label  solid                16.01/?             10   60/? 

18.88 

Central  Elec   Co     

15.12 

Central  Elec.  Co 

15.11 

Western  Elec   Co   

15. '03 

Western  Elec.  Co 

14.74 

Western  Elec   Co 

15.72         1         15.97 

Western  Elec.  Co 

16.60         1         16.87 

Ea+ E6  =  deflection   with   radiation  falling  on  both  sides  of  bolometer. 

/?  =  deflections  to  right.     L  =  deflections  to  left. 

One-half  sector  used  for  photometric  balance.     One-tenth  sector  used  to  cut  down  direct  radiation. 


light  at  the  angle  of  minimum  deviation.  This  prism 
separates  the  light  into  its  different  colors,  while  the  lens  / 
brings  it  to  a  focus  at  F ,  thus  forming  a  spectrum  in  the 
plane  of  the  screen  T  which  can  be  adjusted  to  cut  off  the 
infra-red  rays.     C  is  a  cylindrical  lens  which  recombines 

^Pltysical  Review,  Vol.  20,   March,   1905. 
'Physical  Review,   Vol.   34,   June,    1912. 


partitions   to   cut   down   the   effect   of   air   currents   on   the 
bolometer  strips. 

Two  resistance  coils  of  No.  26  "advance"  wire,  each 
having  a  resistance  of  about  18  ohms,  were  wound  non- 
inductively  upon  insulated  brass  cores  and  submerged  in  a 
bath  of  kerosene.  The  end  of  one  coil  was  soldered  to  the 
end  of   the  other  and   connected  to   a  battery,   while   the 


504 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


other  two  ends  were  soldered  to  the  lower  lugs  of  the 
bolometer  as  shown  in  Fig.  3.  If  both  sides  of  the  bolometer 
were  exactly  alike  and  the  two  coils  of  the  same  resistance, 
the  galvanometer  would  not  deflect  when  the  switch  S  is 
closed,  provided  that  the  energies  falling  on  each  side  of 
the  bolometer  are  equal.  If  the  energies  are  not  equal,  one 
of  the  bolometer  strips  will  heat  up  more  than  the  other  in 
proportion  to  the  energy  received.  Since,  for  small  ranges, 
the  resistance  of  the  strips  varies  lineally  with  the  tempera- 
ture and  the  temperature  change  is  proportional  to  the 
energy  received,  the  deflections  of  the  galvanometer  are 
proportional  to  the  excess  of  the  energy  falling  upon  one 
of  the  strips.  It  is  practically  impossible  to  construct  a 
bolometer  with  strips  exactly  alike.  Although  the  bolometer 
was  balanced  when  shielded  from  radiation,  a  small  deflec- 
tion was  obtained  when  equal  energies  fell  upon  both  sides. 
In  order  to  know  how  these  readings  varied,  a  number  of 
calibration  curves  were  obtained  using  known  sources  of 
energy  (Fig.  4).  Ea  is  proportional  to  the  energy  falling 
upon  the  bolometer  face  toward  C  (Fig.  i)  and  E^  to  that 
toward  A.  The  bolometer  current  during  calibration  and 
in  all  subsequent  readings  was  kept  constant  at  0.078  amp. 
The  curves  (Fig.  4)  were  straight  lines  passing  through 
a  common  point  on  the  x  axis  with  a  value  of  1.022  for 
77 

"  ■     Then  if  the  value  Ea  is  known  a  straight  line  can  be 
Ei 

drawn  through  the  point  1.022,  and  knowing  the  gal- 
vanometer  reading  when  both   sides   of   the  bolometer   are 

exposed  the  value  of  ^     can  be  read  directly. 
Eft 

By  following  through  the  various  steps  the  method  may 
be  made  clear.  First,  the  screen  T  (Fig.  i)  was  set  on  the 
A  line  0.76  [j.  by  sending  sunlight  through  the  lens  G,  slit  5 
and  prism  P  and  observing  the  lines  of  the  spectrum  through 
an  eyepiece  placed  at  C.  This  setting  of  the  screen  was 
checked  before  and  after  each  series  of  readings.  If  the 
slit  is  too  wide  there  will  be  an  overlapping  of  the  infra- 
red rays  and  a  resulting  efficiency  of  too  high  a  value. 
Consequently,  the  slit  was  opened  to  a  width  of  0.5  mm,  at 


ei5 


010 


, 

V 

\ 

.  N 

>! 

\  \ 

\V\ 

^oA~ 

'    \V 

\\_L_ 

\\\ 

— 

^ 

I 

\ 

\ 

^ 

^ 

\\ 

0.2  0.4  0.6    0.8    1.0  1.2   1.4    1.6   1.8   2.0  2.2  2.4 
E„ 

~  =  X  EUcUuat  WurU 


Fig.    4 — Calibration    Curves. 

which  position  the  principal  Fraunhofer  lines  could  still  be 
seen,  and  it  has  been  assumed  that  any  error  due  to  over- 
lapping of  the  infra-red  rays  would  then  be  negligible.  A 
photometric  balance  was  then  obtained  between  the  direct 
rays  AB  (Fig.  i)  and  the  indirect  rays  ARSB.  A  sec- 
tored disk  was  spun  between  the  photometer  and  source  to 
cut  down  the  direct  rays  and  a  balance  was  obtained  by 


inoving  the  source  on  the  optical  bench.  When  a  balance 
was  obtained  the  bolometer  was  substituted  for  the 
photometer  and  readings  were  taken,  first  for  the  direct 
radiation,  then  for  both  direct  and  indirect  at  the  same  time. 
Example :  The  direct  reading  for  the  Columbia  solid 
carbon  electrode  was  20.03  cm  to  the  right ;  for  both  direct 
and   indirect,  7.08  cm   to   the  left.     From   the  calibration 


3 

5 

7               9              11 
Amperes 

13            15 

so 

300 

420            540             660 

780         900 

Watts  Input 

EUclTUal  World 

Fig.    5 — Relations    Between    Radiant    Efficiencies    and    Power   and 
Current    Input. 

curves  of  the  bolometer    (Fig.  4)    the  value   of  the  cor- 

Ea 


rection   factor  x  ■ 


Ei 


is   1.38  for  a  deflection  of  20.03  cm 


lo  the  right  and  7.08  cm  to  the  left.  As  a  one-half  disk 
was  used  between  the  source  and  photometer  in  obtaining 
a  photometric  balance  and  a  one-tenth  disk  to  cut  down  the 
direct   rays  when   the   readings  were   taken,   the   observed 

efficiency  is  equal  to  — X    — q  X  'oo  =  14-5  per  cent.    A 

correction  for  the  selective  reflection  of  the  mirror  M 
(Fig.  i)  has  to  be  made,  for  which  Ingersoll's  value  of 
1. 016  was  used.*  The  correct  efficiency  is  then  1.016X  i4-5 
=  14.73  P^r  cent.  The  results  obtained  for  different  elec- 
trodes are  given  in  Table  I. 

In  order  to  see  the  variation  of  radiant  efficiency  with  a 
change  of  current,  the  efficiencies  of  two  carbon  electrodes, 
"C.  C.  forced"  and  "Columbia  cored,"  were  determined  for 
several  values  of  current.  A  constant  voltage  was  main- 
tained and  the  current  varied  by  means  of  resistance  in 
series  with  the  arc.  Table  II  gives  the  results  obtained  and 
Fig.  5  shows  the  radiant  efficiencies  ploted  against  watts 
and  amperes  input. 

TABLE    II. TEST    WITH    V.\RI.\BLE    CURRENT    AT    6o    VOLTS. 


Observed 

Corrected 

Electrode. 

Amperes: 

Watts. 

Efficiency. 

Efficiency. 

C.  C.  forced 

4.5 

270 

12.83 

13.03 

6.5 

390 

18.40 

18.68 

7.5 

450 

20.40 

20.73 

9.5 

570 

22.60 

22.95 

11.5 

690 

24.00 

24.40 

13.5 

810 

25.63 

26.04 

3.9 

234 

s.os 

5.14 

5.5 

330 

9.62 

9.76 

7.5 

450 

14.28 

14.45 

9.5 

570 

16.38 

16.61 

11.5 

690 

17.54 

17.82 

13. S 

810 

19.16 

19.47 

In  measuring  the  radiant  efficiency  of  the  carbon  arc,  the 
principal  difficulty  encountered  is  the  change  in  position 
of  the  crater.    If  it  should  shift  toward  the  side  of  indirect 


'Physical  Review,   Vol.    17,   November,    1903. 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


S05 


radiation  (toward  lens  L,  Fig.  I),  the  efficiency  observed 
would  be  higher  than  if  it  remained  in  the  center  of  the 
electrode  or  moved  toward  the  opposite  side.  Moreover, 
a  change  in  the  shape  of  the  crater  causes  a  variation  in 
the  amount  of  light  passing  through  the  slit.  In  order  to 
obtain  a  fair  value  several  readings  were  taken  and 
averaged. 

The  efficiencies  of  the  different  carbon  electrodes  for  the 
same  current  (7.5  amp)  and  voltage  (60  volts)  range  from 
14.5  per  cent  to  21.61  per  cent.  Temperatures  of  the  "C.  C. 
forced  carbon"  and  "Columbia  cored"  were  measured  and 
the  temperature  of  the  former  was  found  to  be  higher  than 
that  of  the  latter,  which  fact  probably  explains  the  high 
efficiency  of  the  former. 

The  authors  wish  to  acknowledge  their  indebtedness  to 
Profs.  C.  E.  Mendenhall,  E.  M.  Terry  and  W.  E.  Forsythe 
for  suggestions  and  assistance  in  connection  with  this  work. 


EXPERIENCE  WITH  LIGNITE  IN  TEXAS  CENTRAL 
STATIONS. 


A  large  portion  of  the  State  of  Te.xas  is  underlaid  with 
lignite,  or  partially  formed  coal,  which  represents  a  fuel 
store  of  enormous  value  for  the  central-station  plants  of 
the  Southwest.  This  lignite  has  been  burned  under  boilers 
with  a  fair  degree  of  success,  but  its  value  as  fuel  in 
bituminous  gas  producers  is  less  conclusively  proved.  Prac- 
tically all  makers  of  gas-producer  equipment  have,  after 
expensive  experimentation,  limited  or  withdrawn  their  rec- 
ommendations for  lignite  gas-producer  operation. 

The  use  of  lignite  as  a  fuel  was  discussed  at  length  at 
the  recent  Southwestern  electrical  convention  at  San 
Antonio.  Tex.,  several  operators  pointing  out  the  success 
already  attained  by  them  under  their  own  special  conditions 
of  operation.  Mr.  E.  W.  Kellogg,  El  Paso,  declared  that 
while  the  ordinary  run  of  mine-slack  refuse  coal,  averaging 
10,500  heat  units  per  pound,  gives  a  dense  black  smoke  when 
burned  on  ordinary  grates,  the  Coalgate  product  is  prac- 
tically smokeless,  showing  economies  expressed  in  cents 
per  kilowatt-hour  very  much  higher  than  those  obtained 
with  even  the  highest  grade  of  steaming  coal.  Mr.  R.  C. 
Brooks,  Dallas,  explained  that  lignite  is  usually  not  adapted 
for  burning  on  automatic  stokers,  since  it  requires  a  stronger 
draft  than  that  ordinarily  afforded.  While  it  produces 
more  ash,  it  is  nevertheless  found  to  be  a  satisfactory  fuel, 
and  at  $1.33  per  ton,  delivered,  compares  well  with  Oklahoma 
coal  at  $5  a  ton.  The  Texas  lignite  has  to  be  transported 
about  65  miles,  and  in  even  this  distance  suffers  considerable 
reduction  in  size  through  slacking.  Mr.  W.  S.  Rathell, 
Waco,  related  the  results  of  some  comparative  tests  of 
lignite  and  oil  made  on  a  150-hp  boiler,  six-hour  periods 
being  adopted.  These  tests  showed  i  ton  of  McAlester  slack 
to  equal  three  barrels  of  fuel  oil,  while  i  ton  of  Rockdale 
lignite  equaled  2.25  barrels  of  oil.  Lignite-burning  boilers 
have  the  disadvantage,  added  Mr.  Rathell,  that  they  cannot 
be  forced.  There  is  also  an  objectionable  tendency  to  slack- 
ing of  the  lignite.  As  the  result  of  all  these  drawbacks  as 
developed  from  experience  the  local  company  found  it 
necessary  to  carry  auxiliary  fuel,  fearing  to  depend  upon 
the  lignite  alone.  A  short  time  ago  chain  grates  for  burn- 
ing lignite  were  installed,  but  without  success.  The  slow 
ignition  of  the  fuel  made  it  impossible  to  keep  up  steam 
pressure.  An  excessive  amount  of  labor  was  also  required 
in  removing  ashes,  etc.  Even  when  protected  from  the 
weather  by  sheds  and  roofs  lignite  slacks  and  then  ignites 
from  spontaneous  combustion. 

Mr.  A.  E.  Judge,  of  Tyler,  reported  that  his  company  has 
been  burning  lignite  with  success  for  three  years,  having 
changed  from  oil  when  the  latter  reached  $3  a  barrel  to 
lignite  at  $i.go  per  ton.  with  an  incident  saving  of  about 
one-third  of  the   fuel  expense.     At  the  outset  lump  lignite 


was  used,  but  slack  is  now  purchased  at  $1.40  per  ton,  about 
10  per  cent  more  being  required  to  produce  the  equivalent 
heating  effects  of  the  large  size.  The  fuel  is  burned  under 
forced  blast  on  a  special  Wilderspin  grate  having  many 
^■^-in.  holes.  The  use  of  lignite  has  about  doubled  the 
cost  of  labor,  said  Mr.  Judge,  so  that  the  net  saving  of 
lignite  over  oil  represents  the  difference  between  $1,000  and 
$600  per  month  in  operating  expense.  From  every  view- 
point, concluded  the  speaker,  lignite  has  proved  a  success, 
and  there  has  been  no  trouble  in  forcing  the  boilers  thus 
fired  up  to  loads  well  beyond  their  normal  rating.  Hoyt 
lignite  is  used  at  Tyler,  the  freight  rate  from  the  mine 
being  50  cents  per  ton.  A  representative  of  the  Temple 
company  reported  that  lignite  is  also  now  being  burned 
with  success  in  his  plant,  after  precautions  were  taken  to 
increase  the  height  of  the  stack  to  improve  the  draft. 

Dr.  A.  C.  Scott,  Dallas,  called  attention  to  the  marked 
difference  in  the  qualities  of  lignite  mined  in  different  sec- 
tions of  Texas.  The  ash  content  of  such  lignite,  he  pointed 
out,  is  of  the  greatest  importance  in  producer  operation. 
The  combustion  of  lignite  containing  7500  to  8000  heat 
units,  at  60  per  cent  efficiency  and  $1.50  per  ton,  is  about 
equivalent  to  oil  fired  at  75  per  cent  efficiency,  the  oil  con- 
taining 18,500  heat  units  and  costing  $1  per  barrel.  The 
heat-unit  value  of  lignite  will  vary,  however,  with  the  con- 
ditions of  mining,  transit,  etc.  For  the  proper  combustion 
of  lignite,  continued  Dr.  Scott,  the  grate  bars  should  be  at 
least  24  in.  from  the  boiler  shell,  the  exact  distance  depend- 
ing on  the  moisture  content  of  the  fuel.  Troubles  with 
lignite  as  fuel  have  been  due  chiefly  to  slow  burning,  but 
this  difficulty  can  be  solved  by  mixing  the  fuel  with  bitu- 
minous material  of  a  higher  grade.  Thus  a  half-and-half 
mixture  of  lignite  and  McAlester  slack  burns  very  well. 
To  get  full  steaming  capacity  it  is  advisable  to  provide  a 
Dutch-oven  furnace  and  a  high  stack.  The  cost  of  handling 
lignite  has  averaged  on  test  from  8  to  12  cents  per  ton, 
suggesting  the  employment  of  some  simple  and  efficient 
conveyor.  Comparing  oil  at  $0.93  per  barrel  with  lignite  at 
$1.15,  there  is  a  saving  shown  in  favor  of  oil,  concluded  the 
speaker. 

Mr.  John  A.  Walker,  San  Angelo,  recounted  how  his 
company  had  changed  to  lignite  after  oil  rose  in  price  from 
$0.95  a  barrel  to  $1.15.  After  trying  lignite  for  eighteen 
months  the  use  of  oil  was  resumed,  owing  to  the  trouble 
of  handling  the  lignite,  which  had  to  be  hauled  ij^  miles  at 
an  expense  of  $150  a  month.  A  lignite-burning  plant,  said 
Mr.  Walker,  offers  some  difficulties  when  emergency  con- 
version to  oil  burning  is  attempted.  Prof.  F.  C.  Bolton 
observed  that  after  three  years'  experience  at  the  Texas 
Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  the  burning  of  oil  at 
$1  per  barrel  is  less  expensive  than  lignite  at  $1.50  per 
ton.  When  available,  lignite  screenings  are  cheaper  than 
either.  On  the  subject  of  energy  costs  a  central-Texas 
operator  testified  that  he  was  producing  a  kilowatt-hour  at 
the  switchboard  for  an  outlay  of  about  Yi  cent  for  oil. 

Mr.  Frank  E.  Scoville,  Laredo,  said  that  while  lignite 
requires  a  larger  boiler  equipment  for  the  same  output,  it 
was  his  experience  while  operating  a  plant  at  Austin  that 
this  low-grade  fuel  was  more  satisfactory  and  cheaper  than 
cannel  coal  mined  only  26  miles  away.  Another  speaker 
declared,  however,  that  wherever  lignite  is  to  be  used  some 
auxiliary  means  must  be  provided  for  forcing  the  boilers, 
and  that  some  mechanical  device  should  be  arranged  for 
conveying  the  fuel  from  the  cars  to  the  furnaces.  Mr.  E.  S. 
Fletcher,  Temple,  insisted  that  the  successful  burning  of 
lignite  is  only  a  question  of  heavy  draft  and  increased  grate 
surface. 

After  six  months'  experience  with  lignite  burned  under 
the  combined  draft  of  a  22-in.  turbine-driven  blower  and  a 
115-ft.  chimney,  7  ft.  in  diameter,  Mr.  P.  J.  Hays,  Palestine, 
reported  that  no  difficulty  was  encountered  in  carrying  75 
per  cent  overload  on  the  boiler  units,  as  has  also  been  done 
with  oil  firing.     At  Palestine  the  fuel  is  stored  in  wooden 


So6 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


bins  in  a  brick  building,  the  bins  being  7  ft.  above  the  boiler- 
room  floor.  If  the  labor  of  handling  lignite  could  be  re- 
duced by  the  aid  of  mechanical  conveyors,  the  cost  of 
operation  would  be  appreciably  decreased.  While  the  slack 
lignite  produces  no  smoke,  it  gives  rise  to  a  whitish  fog  and 
makes  ash  in  the  ratio  of  132  wheelbarrow-loads  to  32  tons 
of  lignite. 


PURCHASING  COAL   ON  A   HEAT- UNIT   BASIS  AT 
SPRINGFIELD,  OHIO 

The  Springfield  (Ohio)  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company 
purchases  coal  for  its  steam-turbine  station  on  a  heat-unit 
basis,  specifying  the  following  preferred  analysis  for  non- 
coking  coals  of  approximately  14,000  heat-unit  content: 
Moisture,  i  per  cent;  volatile  matter  33  per  cent;  fixed 
carbon,  60  per  cent ;  ash,  6  per  cent.  The  quantity  of 
sulphur  present  must  not  be  more  than  0.8  per  cent. 

As  the  cars  are  being  unloaded  samples  are  collected  in 
a  single  container  and  then  crushed  and  quartered  as  rapidly 
as  possible  to  prevent  the  escape  of  moisture,  the  crushing 
and  quartering  being  continued  a  sufficient  number  of  times 
to  secure  about  5  lb.  of  a  quantity  small  enough  to  pass 
through  a  0.25-in.  screen.  During  this  process  the  largest 
piece  in  the  portion  of  the  sample  remaining  should  never 
be  more  than  o.i  per  cent  of  the  total  weight  of  the  portion. 
The  final  portion  of  the  sample  is  then  divided  into  three 
parts,  each  equal  fraction  being  placed  in  a  glass  or  metal 
receptacle  with  tight-fitting  cover.  One  of  these  samples  is 
then  forwarded  to  the  shipper,  the  second  is  sent  to  the 
central-station  company's  analyst  and  the  third  is  retained 
for  record,  to  be  submitted  to  a  disinterested  chemist  in 
case  of  controversy  between  the  shipper  and  the  company. 
The  bomb  calorimeter  method  of  analysis,  recommended  by 
the  American  Chemical  Society,  is  used  in  determining  the 
heating  value  of  the  sample. 

While  no  reduction  is  made  in  the  price  of  the  coal  for 
deficiencies  up  to  300  heat  units  below  the  specified  content, 
for  all  deficiencies  in  excess  of  300  heat  units  the  following 
formula  is  applied : 

f-„-f--  .        ■        ^      ^^^^  units  in  dry  coal  delivered 

Contract    price    X    -r — ; r- '     .  . — j ,-=  price   paid. 

neat  units  specified  m  dry  coal 

The  deduction  for  ash  in  each  ton  of  dry  coal  in  excess 
of  the  percentage  guaranteed  in  the  bidder's  proposal  is 
made  on  the  following  basis: 

1  to  2  per  cent  1  cent  per  ton 

2  to  3  per  cent  3  cents  per  ton 

3  to  4  per  cent  (if  accepted)   6  cents  per  ton 

4  to  5  per  cent  (if  accepted)  10  cents  per  ton 

For  sulphur  present  above  the  percentage  guaranteed  in 
proposal : 

Up  to  0.25  per  cent  of  dry  coal,  deduct 1  cent     per  ton 

Up  to  0.25  lo  0.50  per  cent  of  dry  coal,  deduct.. 3  cents  per  ton 

Up  to  0.50  to  0.75  per  cent   (if  accepted),  deduct  6  cents  per  ton 

Up  to  0.75  to  1         per  cent   (if  accepted),  deduct  9  cents  per  ton 

For  all  coal  not  delivered  in  self-clearing  hopper-bottom 
cars  the  dealer  is  penalized  5  cents  per  ton.  A  record  of 
the  shipping  weight  of  each  car  must,  by  agreement,  be 
mailed  to  the  customer  within  three  days  after  the  coal  is 
delivered  to  the  railroad  at  the  point  of  shipment.  Any 
change  in  the  freight  rate  ruling  at  the  time  of  the  contract 
similarly  affects  the  delivered  price  of  the  coal.  For  the 
protection  of  the  company  it  is  also  agreed  that  in  case  of 
the  contractor's  failure  to  deliver  his  quota  of  coal  the  com- 
pany may  purchase  fuel  in  the  open  market  in  such  amounts 
as  are  necessary,  charging  the  contractor  with  any  excess 
difference  between  the  price  of  such  coal  and  the  contract 
price. 

The  company  may  reject  the  coal  and  nullify  the  contract 
if  at  the  end  of  a  service  test  of  ten  days'  duration  the  coal 
supplied  fails  to  give  satisfactory  results  when  burned  in  a 


model  furnace  or  chain  grate  at  a  rate  not  exceeding  30  lb. 
of  coal  per  square  foot  per  hour. 

It  is  also  agreed  that  coals  containing  sulphur  exceeding 
1.25  per  cent  on  the  dry  coal,  ash  exceeding  the  established 
standard  by  3  per  cent,  or  volatile  matter  exceeding  40  per 
cent,  are  subject  to  rejection,  at  the  option  of  the  company. 
If  accepted,  reduction  in  price  is  made  for  sulphur  and  ash, 
as  shown  above. 


STARTING  SWITCH  FOR  ALTERNATING-CURRENT 
MOTORS. 


Mr.  F.  G.  Dustin,  city  electrical  inspector  of  Minneapolis, 
Minn.,  has  devised  and  secured  patents  for  an  improved 
starting  switch  for  alternating-  current  motors  up  to  5  hp  in 
size.  Turning  the  switch  handle  to  the  first  starting  posi- 
tion supplies  energy  to  the  motor  through  heavy  starting 
fuses,  a  series-coil  interlock  preventing  the  handle  from 
passing  beyond  the  starting  position  until  the  current  taken 
by  the  motor  has  fallen  to  its  normal  running  value.  When 
this  has  occurred  the  interlock  is  released,  permitting  the 
handle  to  be  turned  further  in  the  same  direction  to  the 
second  or  running  position,  which  is  fed  through  lighter 
fuses,  the  change  of  connections  being  established  without 
interruptions  of  the  supply  circuit  to  the  motor.  The 
switch  handle  is  held  in  the  running  position  by  a  no-voltage 
relay  coil.  In  case  the  supply  should  fail  for  any  reason, 
this  coil  at  once  releases  the  switch  handle,  allowing  it  to 
return  to  the  "off"  position.  The  series  coil  is  also  made 
to  include  the  functions  of  an  overload  circuit-breaker, 
through  connection  with  this  release  mechanism.  Should 
the  load  on  the  motor  increase  above  a  predetermined  value, 
the  series  coil  operates,  causing  the  no-voltage  release 
mechanism  to  return  the  switch  to  the  off  position.  The 
same  no-voltage  coil  can  also  be  utilized   for  distant-stop 


Diagram   Showing   Operation   of  Starting     Switch  for  Alternatlna- 
Current    Motors. 

control.  All  contacts  on  the  switch  are  self-scouring  and 
self-aligning.  Use  of  the  device  should  eliminate  the  un- 
necessary blowing  of  fuses  and  the  expense  of  replacing 
them,  at  the  same  time  affording  proper  fusing  during  run- 
ning, as  the  motor  is  protected  under  all  conditions.  The 
series  overhead  can  be  set  to  operate  at  any  fixed  current 
value,  and  can  be  sealed  against  tampering. 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


507 


HOME-MADE  ANEMOMETER  FOR  HEATING  PLANT. 


The  demand  for  steam  or  hot  water  on  a  central  heating 
station  depends  as  much  on  the  velocity  of  the  wind  outside 
as  upon  the  actual  outdoor  temperature.  Of  these  changes 
the  engineer,  perspiring  in  a  thin  undershirt  inside  of  the 
plant,  is  likely  to  be  quite  unconscious  without  some  kind  of 
an  indicating  device. 

A  standard  cup  anemometer  for  measuring  wind  velocity 
costs  about  $275,  and  as  this  outlay  seemed  excessive  to 
the  engineers  of  the  Public  Service  Company  of  Northern 
Illinois,  the  simple  home-made  outfit  illustrated  herewith 
was  built  and  erected  on  the  plant  at  Chicago.  It  comprises 
a  sheet  of  aluminum,  8 
in.  by  12  in.,  weighted  at 
the  bottom  and  suspend- 
ed at  its  upper  edge  from 
the  pipe  frame  shown. 
Above  and  at  right  an- 
gles to  the  plane  of  the 
sheet  is  a  rudder  vane 
which  holds  the  sheet 
square  with  the  direction 
of  the  wind.  A  cord 
passing  over  the  top  of 
the  sheet  is  brought 
down  to  an  indicator 
pulley  in  the  engine 
room.  This  dial  is  di- 
vided into  four  parts, 
each  of  which  is  the  sig- 
nal for  putting  into  force 
the  corresponding  sched- 
ule of  pressures  and  flow 
temperatures,  depending 
on  the  outdoor  tempera- 
ture at  the  time.  The 
requirements  o  u  1 1  i  n  ed 
have  been  obtained  by 
experience  with  the  act- 
ual needs  of  the  system 

for  the  given  temperature  and  wind  velocities 
schedule  being  drawn  up. 

For  example,  anemometer  division  No.  i  indicates  a  wind 
velocity  of  o  to  2  miles  per  hour,  and  with  32-lb.  flow  pres- 
sure calls  for  a  hot-water  delivery  temperature  of  120  deg. 
Fahr.,  with  the  return  flow  at  100  deg.  Division  2,  3  to  10 
miles  per  hour,  requires  135  deg.  outflow  and  118  deg.  re- 
turn. Division  4,  indicating  25  to  50  miles  per  hour  wind 
velocity,  calls  for  45  lb.  flow  pressure  and  a  temperature  of 
215  deg.,  with  return  at  156  deg.  Variations  in  teinperature 
are  accounted  for  by  raising  the  initial  heat  of  the  water 
1  deg.  for  each  degree  of  temperature  fall  outside.  Thus 
the  same  schedule  is  in  force  for  a  25-deg.  wind  blowing  at 
25  to  50  miles  per  hour  as  in  the  case  of  zero  weather  with 
no  wind.  This  home-made  anemometer  has  been  checked 
with  the  indications  of  the  standard  government  instru- 
ments and  is  found  to  be  in  close  accord  with  the  latter's 
readings  for  all  ordinary  winds. 


Pivot  .Mounting. 


Electrical  World 

Home-Made  Anemometer  for 
Heating   Plant. 


an  extensive 


LABOR    INCENTIVE    OF    MACHINERY. 


the  luen's  lagging  energies  and  they  work  faster  while  they 
work,  although  perhaps  waiting  at  the  end  of  the  turn  for 
the  machine's  cycle  to  catch  up  with  them. 

This  experience  seems  to  bear  out  the  practice  on  certain 
battleships  where  the  band  is  required  to  play  quick,  stir- 
ring marches  during  the  operation  of  coaling  ship.  Here, 
again,  the  time  necessary  to  complete  a  given  piece  of  work 
is  cut  down,  and  the  ship's  coal  is  stowed  away  expeditious- 
ly. The  contractor  who  installs  motor-driven  apparatus 
substitutes  inexpensive  electricity  for  the  relatively  ex- 
pensive power  of  human  muscles.  But,  more  than  this,  he 
increases  the  efficacy  of  such  labor  as  he  still  needs  to  em- 
play,  for  even  the  stolid  "hunkie"  or  lazy  negro  will  re- 
spond with  renewed  activity  to  the  inspiriting  whir  and  rat- 
tle of  motor-driven  machines. 


A  practical  construction  superintendent  calls  attention  to 
the  psychological  effect  on  workmen  on  a  job  when  some 
piece  of  power-driven  machinery  such  as  a  concrete  mixer, 
conveyor  or  other  moving  device  is  running.  According  to 
his  experience,  supplemented  by  careful  cost  and  time  study 
of  jobs,  common  labor  is  rendered  50  to  75  per  cent  more 
effective  when  working  about  moving  machinery.  Not  only 
does  the  recurring  demand  of  the  machine  set  a  pace  for  the 
workmen,  but  the  rhythmical  noises  produced  by  motor, 
gears,  parts,  etc.,  seem  to  produce  genuine  stimulation  of 


SAFETY- STOP  SWITCHES  FOR  CONVEYOR. 


With  several  hundred  feet  of  heavy  machinery  in  motion 
on  different  levels  and  out  of  sight  of  the  controlling  switch, 
as  in  the  case  of  a  bucket  conveyor  in  a  power  house,  it  is 
important  to  have  some  means  of  stopping  the  conveyor 
from  several  points,  holding  it  positively  "shut  down"  until 
the  man  who  caused  the  stoppage  is  ready  to  have  it  started 
again.  Sometimes  a  bucket  becomes  inverted  or  some  part 
gets  out  of  place,  wdiich  might  cause  serious  damage  if  the 
conveyor  continued  to  run.  If  the  attendant  who  notices 
the  trouble  can  immediately  shut  down  the  motor  without 
losing  time  to  run  to  the  main  s-'itch  (which  may  be  on  an- 
other level),  damage  and  expense  may  often  be  averted. 
The  man  who  goes  onto  the  conveyor  after  thus  stopping  it 
should  also  have  assurance  that  the  machinery  will  not  be 
again  started  without  his  knowledge.  To  prevent  personal 
injury  the  automatic-stop  feature  should  make  it  impossible 
to  start  again  until  every  station  is  in  readiness. 

Such  a  safety  control  is  effected  in  a  Chicago  power  plant 
bv  including  in  the  circuit  of  the  holding  coil  on  the  auto- 
niatic  motor  starter  a  number  of  knife  switches  which  are 
located  at  the  principal  points  of  the  conveyor  travel.  There 
is  one  at  each  turn  where  buckets  are  likely  to  become  up- 
set, and  others  at  the  mid-points  of  the  vertical  and  hori- 
zontal travels.  As  the  sketch  shows,  these  switches  are 
wired  in  series,  using  about  500  ft.  of  No.  12  wire.  Open- 
ing any  one  switch  breaks  the  holding-coil  circuit  of  the 
automatic  starter,  thus  releasing  the  contact  arm  and  stop- 
ping the  motor.  When  the  open  safety  switch  is  again 
closed  the  solenoid  plunger  is  again  actuated,  performing 
the  normal  starting  cycle.  If  any  of  the  switches  has  been 
opened  while  the  conveyor  is  at  rest,  even  closing  the  main 

J^ta^o  Main  Switch  . 

.iTv^^j re- 


Holding  Coil 


_rf 


Safety  Switches 


Coaveyor 


-3=1. 


3=1 


-3=flJ 


Safet.v  Switches 


No.  12  Wire 

Electrical  Wcrld 

Diagram   of  Connections  for  Safety-Stop  Switch. 


switch  will  not  start  the  motor.  This  feature  permits  a 
workman  going  into  the  conveyor  to  make  repairs  to  pull 
the  safety  switch  nearest  him,  after  which  he  can  work 
without  danger  or  possibility  of  the  motor  starting.  The 
expense  of  installing  this  safety-stop  provision  is  not  exces- 
sive, and  the  investment  is  sure  to  prove  its  worth  in  pre- 
venting injuries  to  men  and  serious  damage  to  machinery. 


5o8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol,  6o,  \o.  io. 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


ELECTRICITY  AS  A  DETERRENT  FOR    SUICIDES. 


Hotel  and  inn  keepers  through  the  country  are  often 
put  to  great  trouble  because  some  of  their  guests  commit 
suicide  by  inhaling  the  illuminating  gas  with  which  the 
bedrooms  are  lighted.  Hearing  of  an  attempted  suicide  by 
illuminating  gas  at  a  hotel  in  Brooklyn,  a  district  agent  of 
the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn 
called  on  the  owner  of  the  hotel  and,  after  some  little  per- 
suasion, induced  him  to  replace  gas  in  all  of  his  sleeping 
rooms  with  electricity,  this  resulting  in  the  installation  of 
twenty-eight  20-cp  lamps.  Shortly  after  the  same  agent 
read  the  account  of  another  attempted  suicide  at  an  inn  and, 
encouraged  by  his  previous  success,  called  on  the  proprietor 
of  the  inn  and  suggested  that  he  wire  the  upper  floor  of  his 
building,  which  was  arranged  for  hotel  purposes.  After 
the  proprietor  had  thought  the  matter  over,  he  felt  that  the 
suggestion  was  not  at  all  a  bad  one  and  signed  a  contract 
for  ten  20-cp  lamps,  in  addition  to  his  first-floor  equipment, 
the  upper  part  of  the  structure  having  been  lighted  by  gas. 


TOASTER  CAMPAIGN  IN  BYLLESBY  PROPERTIES. 


As  the  result  of  a  one-w£ek  toaster  campaign  held  in  a 
number  of  the  cities  where  central  stations  are  operated  by 
H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  more  than  400  toasters  were 
placed.  In  some  of  the  cities,  as  the  result  of  the  special 
interest  created  by  the  campaign,  more  electric  toasters 
were  sold  during  the  week  than  had  been  disposed  of  dur- 
ing the  preceding  year.  A  coupon  plan  was  used,  adver- 
tisements appearing  in  the  local  papers  carrying  a  coupon 
which  was  redeemable  for  the  value  of  $i  if  applied  to 
the  purchase  of  a  standard  $3.50  toaster,  making  the  net 
cost  to  the  customer  $2.50.  A  similar  scheme  was  adopted 
in  an  electric-grill  campaign  carried  on  about  the  same  time 
as  the  toaster  campaign.  In  a  few  of  the  cities,  owing  to 
various  local  conditions,  the  number  of  devices  sold  was 
small,  but  in  most  places  the  results  were  verv  gratifving 
and  fully  repaid  the  efforts  made  to  place  additional  devices 
on  the  lines. 

Among  the  cities  where  the  success  of  the  campaign 
proved  the  value  of  the  idea  were  the  following,  with  the 
population  served  and  the  number  of  toasters  sold:  El 
Reno.  Okla..  8,000.  51;  San  Diego.  Cal.,  65,000,  56:  Okla- 
homa City.  Okla..  65,000,  46;  Minot.  N.  D.,  6600,  19;  Enid, 
Okla..  14.000,  15;  Fargo.  X.  D..  15,000,  21;  Sioux  Falls,  S. 
D.,  14,000,  39. 


CONSOLIDATIONS  AND  STREET-LIGHTING  RATES. 


The  purchase  of  a  small  central  station  by  a  large  organi- 
zation supplying  service  at  established  rates  in  a  number 
of  municipalities  sometimes  leads  to  complications  in  the 
matter  of  prospective  rates  in  the  community  taken  into 
the  greater  system.  The  general  principle  of  applying  the 
standard  rates  of  the  larger  company  to  all  portions  of  its 
territory  is  obviously  the  correct  one  to  follow  in  laying 
down  an  administrative  policy,  but  local  conditions  fre- 
quently prove  embarrassing  in  working  out  the  problem. 
Often  the  small  company  has  in  force  contracts  which  must 
be  carried  out,  even  at  the  risk  of  incurring  charges  of 
discrimination  in  other  parts  of  the  larger  territory,  and 
which  can  be  retired  only  as  fast  as  their  legal  periods 
expire.  Again,  low  or  perhaps  unprofitable  rates  may  be 
in  force  on  some  special  class  of  business,  such  as  street 
lighting,  and  when  the  larger  company  puts  its  own  stand- 


ard rates  into  effect  the  municipality  or  a  certain  class  of 
consumers  may  have  to  pay  more  for  service  than  under 
the  old  regime. 

To  deal  fairly  and  skilfully  with  situations  of  this  kind 
requires  great  negotiative  ability  and  no  small  amount  of 
.technical  insight.  Where  written  agreements  exist  as  the 
basis  of  prices,  about  the  only  thing  which  can  be  done  is 
to  persuade  the  parties  at  interest  to  cancel  the  contract  in 
favor  of  a  new  agreement,  or  else  abide  by  the  conditions 
without  attempting  to  conceal  their  character  or  the  rea- 
sons for  such  a  policy.  Much  advantage  can  be  taken  of 
the  fact  that  superior  service  will  probably  be  rendered  by 
the  larger  organization.  In  a  noteworthy  instance  of  this 
kind  a  large  company  purchased  a  small  local  plant  and 
applied  to  the  authorities  of  the  State  for  permission  to 
issue  securities  to  carry  through  the  deal.  At  the  public 
hearing  it  developed  that  the  street-lighting  bills  in  the 
town  would  be  increased  about  $339  per  year  with  the  new 
and  improved  service,  since  the  standard  rates  of  the  larger 
company  throughout  its  entire  territory  were  somewhat 
higher  for  the  types  and  sizes  of  lamps  involved.  The 
company  maintained  that  in  the  absence  of  a  lighting  con- 
tract with  the  town  it  could  not  consider  the  establishment 
of  any  other  than  its  regular  rates,  and  incidentally  raised 
the  question  whether  the  small  plant  had  not  been  attempt- 
ing to  carry  the  street-lighting  load  for  less  than  an  ade- 
quate return. 

Throughout  the  negotiations  the  company  vigorously  re- 
fused to  introduce  any  discriminations  in  rates,  but  for  the 
benefit  of  the  town  and  the  information  of  the  commission 
showed  that  the  introduction  of  the  new  service  would  re- 
sult in  a  saving  to  commercial  lighting  customers  amount- 
ing to  about  $4,357.  leaving  a  net  saving  to  the  community 
of  $4,018.  In  other  words,  the  small  company  had  charged 
15  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  commercial  lighting,  compared 
with  10  cents  charged  by  the  large  company,  and  this  dif- 
ference was  far  more  than  sufficient  to  offset  the  slightly 
higher  street-lighting  bills.  It  was  also  shown  that  under 
the  street-lighting  rates  of  the  larger  system  lamps  of  in- 
creased size  could  be  operated  at  a  lower  yearly  cost  than 
under  the  rates  of  the  old  company,  for  the  reason  that  the 
rates  of  the  larger  organization  were  based  on  a  fixed 
charge  per  lamp  per  year  plus  an  operating  charge  per  lamp- 
hour,  which  permitted  doubling  the  service  with  only  a 
slight  increase  in  price,  while  the  small  company  doubled 
its  rates  with  the  corresponding  increase  in  service. 


RURAL    SERVICE    TO    700    FARMERS    NEAR 
STOCKTON,    CAL. 


Within  the  last  four  months  more  than  60  miles  of 
secondary  distribution  lines  have  been  built  through  the 
rich  and  productive  farming  country  of  the  Sacramento 
and  San  Joaquin  valleys  near  Stockton,  Cal.,  by  the 
Western  States  Gas  &  Electric  Company.  This  central- 
station  system  now  has  a  connected  load  of  nearly  2000 
hp  in  the  irrigation  and  farm  service  of  some  700  ranchers. 
The  present  network  of  secondary  lines,  built  at  an  outlay 
of  $90,000,  covers  80  square  miles  of  the  best  farming 
country,  and  has  been  laid  out  with  extensions  in  view 
which  will  cover  200  square  miles. 

Irrigation  forms  an  important  part  of  farming  opera- 
tions in  this  region,  the  addition  of  water  to  the  land  multi- 
plying the  productiveness  from  two  to  ten  times.  Irriga- 
tion plants  operated  by  central-station  service  are  always 
ready  for  use.  and  are  started  and  stopped  with  no  more 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


509 


effort  than  throwing  a  switch.  Such  power  service  is,  of 
course,  a  great  boon  to  the  small  farmer,  and  enhances  the 
value  of  all  land  reached  by  the  lines.  The  rates  for  elec- 
tric service  offered  by  the  Western  States  Gas  &  Electric 
Company,  which  is  managed  by  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Com- 
pany, are  as  follows:  First  1000  kw-hours,  3  cents  per  kw- 
hour;  second  1000  kw-hours,  25  cents;  third  1000  kw- 
hours,  2  cents;  fourth  1000  kw-hours,  1.5  cents.  With 
electric  power  for  irrigation,  great  crops  of  asparagus, 
celery,  potatoes,  onions,  beans,  grapes  and  deciduous  fruits 
are  now  made  possible  in  this  section.  Within  three 
months  1500  hp,  mostly  in  small  motors  driving  irrigating 
plants,  have  been  connected  to  the  central-station  lines, 
and  the  prospective  business  in  sight  will  shortly  bring  the 
connected  load  up  to  2500  hp.  The  headquarters  of  the 
Western  States  operating  division  in  the  central  California 
territory  are  at  Stockton,  where  Mr.  W.  W.  S.  Butler  is 
general  manager. 


CONVERTED  FIRE  ENGINE. 


As  demonstrating  the  progress  made  by  the  electric 
vehicle  for  all  commercial  and  city  purposes,  the  converted 
fire  engine  shown  herewith  is  of  interest.  This  engine  was 
one  of  the  horse-drawn  type  in  general  use  in  Brooklyn  and 
was  rebuilt -by  Mr.  F.  J.  Hinners,  Jr..  electrical  engineer,  of 
New  York.  It  is  equipped  with  an  8o-cell  lead  battery,  and 
it   operates   by   means   of   a   coupled-gear,   two-front-wheel 


Converted   Fire   Engine. 

drive.  The  total  weight  of  the  fire  engine  is  8  tons,  and  it  is 
guaranteed  to  travel  20  miles  an  hour  on  level  streets  and 
to  attain  a  speed  of  from  8  to  10  miles  an  hour  on  a  12 
per  cent  grade.  Two  batteries  are  charged  from  the  Brook- 
lyn Edison  circuits  through  a  Westinghouse  charging  board, 
which  has  been  installed  in  the  engine  house,  and  if  the 
engine  is  as  successful  as  anticipated,  all  of  the  horse- 
drawn  Brooklyn  engine  trucks  will,  in  all  probability,  be 
similarly  reconstructed.  It  will  be  understood,  of  course, 
that  electricity  is  used  merely  to  operate  the  truck,  and  not 
the  engine  located  on  it. 


LIGHTING  MOTION-PICTURE  THEATERS  DURING 
PERFORMANCES. 


After  Jan.  i,  1913,  according  to  a  recently  passed 
ordinance  of  the  City  Council  of  Chicago,  every  portion  of 
a  motion-picture  theater  in  that  city,  including  exits  and 
corridors,  must  be  lighted  by  electric  lamps  during  all  per- 
formances and  until  the  entire  assemblage  has  left  the 
premises.  The  lighting  during  performances  must  be  such 
that  a  person  with  normal  eyesight  shall  be  able  to  read 
Snellen's  standard  test  type  40  at  a  distance  of  20  ft.  and 


type  30  at  a  distance  of  to  ft.  Normal  eyesight  is  taken 
to  mean  the  ability  to  read  type  20  at  a  distance  of  20  ft. 
in  daylight.  A  card  showmg  types  20,  30  and  40  must  be 
displayed  prominently  in  the  corridor  of  the  theater,  to- 
gether with  a  copy  of  the  ordinance. 


A  TRAVELING  ELECTRIC  SHOW. 


The  Albany  Southern  Railroad  Company  supplies  elec- 
tricity to  the  cities  of  Rensselaer  and  Hudson,  N.  Y.,  as 
well  as  to  a  large  rural  and  village  territory  between 
these  places.     To  induce  those  living  in  villages  to  travel 


Fig.    1  —  Exhibit   of    IVIotor- Driven   Appliances. 

considerable  distances  to  the  display  rooms  maintained 
by  the  company  at  Hudson  and  Rensselaer  has  been  a  diffi- 
cult matter,  and  to  obviate  this  it  was  recently  decided 
to  take  a  display  to  the  various  villages  by  means  of  cars 
especially   equipped   for  that   purpose. 

The  "Electric  Special,"  a  train  of  two  cars,  was  equipped 
with  a  full  line  of  electrical  appliances  such  as  motors, 
pumps,  mills,  suction  cleaners,  washing  machines,  etc.,  and 


Fig.    2 — Electric    Cooking    Apparatus    in     Freight    Car. 

scheduled  for  a  one  day's  stop  at  each  of  the  stations  in  the 
territory  served. 

The  running  of  this  train  was  thoroughly  advertised  by 
the  distribution  of  circulars,  one  of  these  notices  being 
left  at  every  house  about  one  week  ahead  of  the  arrival 
of  the  train  and  another  notice  being  delivered  at  each 
house   after  the  train   had  arrived   at  the  station. 


510 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol,  6o,  No.  io. 


One  car  was  devoted  to  devices  requiring  motor  drive 
for  their  operation — large  and  small  pumps,  both  directly 
connected  and  belted,  coffee  mills,  bone  and  meat  grinders, 
different  types  of  electric  vvfashing  machines,  and  several 
applications  of  the  pump  jack  for  transforming  windmill 
and  house  pumps  to  motor-driven  outfits.     The  other  car. 


Fig.    3 — Exhibition    Cars    for    Traveling     Electric    Show. 

which  was  a  standard  freight  car  lined  throughout  witli 
white  bunting,  was  arranged  to  exhibit  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage a  full  line  of  electrical  devices  for  household  use, 
counters  being  erected  along  the  sides  and  ends.  This  car 
contained  a  demonstrating  kitchen  including  electrical 
range  and  oven,  chafing  dishes,  coft'ee  percolators,  toasters, 


The  Electric  Special 

A  TRAVELING  ELECTRIC 

SHOW 

THE  ONLY  ONE  ON   EARTH 

Exhibiting  and  Demonstrating  an  Interesting  Collection  of 
Electrical  Devices  for  the 

HOME,  FARM,  FACTORY,  SHOP,  STORE 

IT  IS  FREE— IT  IS  WORTH  WHILE 

VALUABLE  PRIZES  WILL  BE  GIVEN 

ELECTRIC 

Motors,  Lights,  Flat  Irons,  Pumps,  Water  Heaters, 
Ranges,  Tea  Kettles,  Coffee  Percolators,  Chafing 
Dishes,  Toasters,  Broilers,  Grills,  Stoves,  Radiators, 
Washing  Machines, Suction  Cleaners,  Bone  Grinders, 
Coffee  Grinders,  Fans,  Fixtures,  Portables,  Cigar 
Lighters.    Battery    Charging   Sets,  Signs. 

SCHEDULE 


East  Greenbush,  Aug.  19 
East  Schodack,  Aug.  20 
Nassau,  -  -  Aug.  2 1 
North  Chatham,  Aug.  22 
Niverville,  -        -  Aug.  23 


Valatie,  -  -  Aug.  25 
Kinderhook,  -  Aug.  26 
Stuyvesant  Falls,  Aug.  28 
Hudson,  -  Aug.  29-30 
Rensselaer,     -      Aug.  31 


Electric  Park  (At  Farmers'  Convention),  Aug  24 


SIDE-TRACKED  AT  THE  STATION 


CD.  2 


The  Albany  Southern 


Fig. 


oster    Advertising    the    Traveling     Electric    Show. 


water  heaters,  etc.,  all  connected  and  in  use.  Biscuit,  toast, 
muffins,  cake,  candy,  coffee,  etc.,  were  made  and  served 
to  visitors.  Electric  fans  and  an  ozonator  took  care  of  the 
ventilation  in  a  most  satisfactory  manner. 

The  results  of  the  trip  were   fully  up   to  expectations, 
the  people  turning  out  in  large  numbers  and  showing  great 


interest  in  the  exhibition.  Many  appliance  sales  were 
made  and  one  of  the  most  gratifying  results  was  the  large 
number  of  prospective  customers  thus  reached.  The  com- 
pany states  that  the  number  of  orders  taken  for  motor- 
driven  appliances  has  fully  justified  the  effort  made. 

The  train  was  in  charge  of  Mr.  E.  K.  Ford,  the  commer- 


Fig.   5 — Exhibition    of    Electrical    Household    Devices. 

cial  agent  for  the  company,  assisted  by  the  company's 
solicitors  and  representatives  and  demonstrators  from  the 
various  supply  houses.  The  company  was  so  gratified  with 
the  results  that  in  all  probability  a  similar  trip  will  be 
made  next  year. 


ELECTRIC  DEEP-WELL  PUMPING. 


By    J.    E.    BULLARD. 

There  is  probably  no  load  which  is  more  profitable  to  the 
average  central  station  or  that  it  is  more  desirous  of  ob- 
taining than  city  water  pumping.  The  average  pumping 
plant,  however,  is  steam-driven  and  contains  a  quantity  of 
expensive  machinery  which  must  be  junked  or  disposed  of 
at  a  sacrifice  before  electric  pumps  can  be  used — a  condition 
which  adds  greatly  to  the  difficulties  of  getting  this  very 
desirable  class  of  business.  On  the  other  hand,  the  rapid 
increase  in  population  and  consequent  contamination  of  pre- 
viously good  water  supplies  makes  the  problem  of  an  ade- 
quate supply  of  pure  water  a  more  and  more  serious  one 
for  many  cities.  This  fact  is  leading  to  a  very  extensive  use 
of  deep  wells,  and  when  deep  wells  are  drilled  the  central 
station  has  an  opportunity  which  it  cannot  afford  to  neglect. 
Deep-well  pumping  is  almost  entirely  an  off-peak  load  and 
is  also  an  entering  wedge  toward  eventually  getting  the 
rest  of  the  pumping.  The  following  historv  of  a  deep-well 
pumping  contract  in  southwestern  Missouri  and  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  pumping  plant  bear  on  this  subject. 

The  Webb  City  &  Carterville  Water  Works  Company,  of 
Webb  City,  Mo.,  recently  found  its  supply  of  water  from 
Center  Creek  so  unsatisfactory  that  it  vv-as  decided  best  to 
drill  deep  wells.  Accordingly  a  contract  was  let  for  four 
14-in.  wells  to  be  of  sufficient  depth  to  furnish  pure  water 
at  the  rate  of  about  350  gal.  per  minute.  The  wells  as  finally 
drilled  varied  in  depth  from  1000  ft.  to  1200  ft.  This  water 
company  is  a  private  corporation  with  its  rate  regulated  by 
franchise.  It  w'as,  therefore,  of  the  utmost  importance 
that  the  water  from  these  w'ells  should  be  pumped  in  the 
cheapest  way.  In  order  that  no  mistakes  should  be  made  in 
determining  the  best  method  of  pumping  to  be  adopted,  the 
officers  of  the  company  began  a  very  thorough  investigation 
into  the  relative  merits  and  costs  of  the  various  methods  in 
common  use.  They  visited  plants  using  compressed  air, 
steam-pump  heads  and  lift  pumps  driven  bv  various  forms 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


of  power.  The  Empire  District  Electric  Company  lent  its 
aid  in  making  tests  and  in  getting  data  on  electrically  driven 
plants. 

A  test  was  run  on  a  pump  geared  to  a  20-hp  motor.  This 
pump  was  delivering  200  gal.  per  minute  and  as  nearly  as 
could  be  ascertained  was  working  against  a  total  head  of 
200  ft.  The  test  showed  an  electrical  input  into  the  motor 
of  0.9  kw-hr.  per  1000  gal.  of  water  pumped.  This  result 
being  highly  satisfactory  to  the  water  company,  it  imme- 
diately began  to  investigate  the  central  station's  ability  to 
furnish  reliable  and  uniform  service.  In  this  investigation 
the  Empire  District  Electric  Company  was  as  anxious  to  aid 
as  it  w-as  in  the  pumping  investigation.  Automobiles  were 
furnished  to  convey  the  water  company  officials  to  the  gen- 
erating plants,  to  take  them  for  a  tour  of  inspection  of  the 
transmission  system  and  to  aid  them  in  visiting  power  users 
who  for  s'ome  time  had  been  central-station  customers. 

After  thus  very  thoroughly  investigating  the  question  on 
all  its  sides,  the  water  company  finally  decided  to  pump  the 
water  with  double-acting  deep-well  pumps  geared  to  motors 
and  to  buy  the  energy  from  the  Empire  District  Electric 
Company.  This  decision  was  made  in  face  of  the  fact  that 
the  companv  could  buy  natural  gas  at  123/2  cents  per  1000 
cu.  ft.  for  boiler  firing  and  25  cents  for  gas-engine  use  and 
that  coal  delivered  to  the  bin  would  never  cost  more  than 
$2  per  ton.  It  may  be  well  to  state  at  once  that  the  main 
generating  plant  of  the  Empire  District  Electric  Company 
is  a  coal-fired  steam  p!ant. 

The  present  installation  of  the  water  company  is  laid  out 
as  follows :  There  are  four  double-acting  deep-well  pumps 
with  working  barrels  8  in.  in  diameter.  These  pumps  work 
against  a  head  of  about  250  ft.  and  deliver  about  300  gal. 
of  water  per  minute.  The  wells  are  at  a  distance  of  from 
75  ft.  to  300  ft.   from  the  corners  of  a  new   1.500.000-gal. 


makes  the  pump-house  equipment  simple  and  reliable.  The 
reservoir  into  which  the  water  is  pumped  holds  it  in  storage 
till  it  is  pumped  into  the  mains  through  the  steam-pressure 
pumps  which  have  for  years  been  in  use  in  the  old  pump 
house  located  just  north  of  the  reservoir.  The  south  side 
of  this  pump  house  has  been  extended  to  form  a  switch  and 


Fig.    1 — Pump    House    for    Electric    Deep-Wei!    Pumping. 

concrete  reservoir  into  which  the  water  is  pumped.  Each 
pump  is  geared  through  the  medium  of  a  cut  gear  and  a 
rawhide  pinion  to  a  25-hp,  220-volt,  720-r.p.m.,  25-cycle, 
three-phase  motor  with  a  squirrel-cage  rotor.  All  the  start- 
ing and  control  apparatus  for  the  motors  is  located  in  the 
switchboard   room   which   adjoins   the   engine    room.      This 


Fig.   2 — Electrically    Driven    Pump. 

transformer  room  which  will  be  readily  accessible  to  the 
engineer. 

The  Empire  District  Electric  Company  delivers  its  energy 
to  the  leads  brought  out  from  this  switchboard  room  at 
2200  volts.  The  circuit  passes  through  disconnecting 
switches  and  lightning  arrester  choke  coils  to  the  incoming 
line  panel,  where  it  can  be  cut  out  or  in  by  means  of  an  oil 
switch.  From  this  panel  the  circuit  goes  to  three  37j/2-kw, 
22oo-220-volt  transformers,  where  the  tension  is  stepped 
down  to  the  motor  voltage  and  energy  led  to  the  motor 
control  pane'.s  through  busbars.  The  transformers  also 
supply  no-volt  energy  to  the  lighting  panel.  There  are  at 
present  five  motor  panels.  This  leaves  a  spare  one  for 
emergency  use  until  such  time  as  it  is  needed  for  another 
well.  Each  motor  panel  has  all  the  control  and  starting 
apparatus  mounted  at  the  back.  The  only  part  of  the  ap- 
liaratus  visible  from  the  front  is  the  handle  of  the  double- 
throw  switch.  Above  this  handle  is  mounted  an  ammeter. 
The  ammeter  is  used  to  show  the  operator  when  the  motor 
reaches  full  speed  after  starting  and  also  to  indicate  by  the 
energy  consumed  when  the  pump  is  taking  air  or  anything 
else  is  wrong  with  it.  Each  panel  is  also  equipped  with 
an  overload  and  no-voltage  release  as  a  further  protection 
to  the  pump  and  motor. 

The  Empire  District  Electric  Company's  wattmeter  is 
mounted  on  the  incoming  line  panel,  as  is  also  a  curve-draw- 
ing ammeter  used  to  indicate  whether  all  the  energy  has 
been  used  off  the  peak.  On  the  front  of  the  lighting 
panel  is  mounted  a  two-pole  knife  switch  for  each  of  the 
well  circuits  and  one  for  the  engine-room  circuit.  This 
seven-panel  switchboard  is  so  placed  as  to  be  readily  ac- 
cessible and  plainly  seen  from  the  steam  pump  or  engine 
room.  It  has  proved  very  effective  in  controlling  the  opera- 
tion of  the  pumps  and  in  saving  labor.  In  appearance  it  is 
superior  to  many  switchboards  to  be  found  in  the  gen- 
erating and  substations  of  small  central  stations. 

The  installation  has  now  been  in  operation  for  a  sufficient 


512 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o.  Xo.  io. 


length  of  time  to  demonstrate  that  the  energy  consumption 
is  no  higher  than  was  estimated  from  the  data  obtained  by 
running  the  tests  on  the  other  pumping  plants.  On  an 
average  about  1,000,000  gal.  of  water  per  day  is  pumped. 

From  what  has  already  been  said  it  is  quite  apparent  that, 
if  not  a  deciding  factor  in  getting  the  contract  for  the 
central  station,  at  least  an  important  factor  in  so  doing  was 
the  aid  extended  in  getting  reliable  information  on  deep- 
well  pumping.  It  happened  in  this  instance  that  the  central 
station  was  able  to  get  more  reliable  information  on  electric 
pumping  than  was  forthcoming  from  any  other  quarter. 
This  and  the  courteous  treatment  and  prompt  attention 
given  to  all  the  officers  of  the  company  in  their  quest  for 
reliable  information  were  instrumental  in  securing  the 
contract. 


ELECTRIC  SERVICE  TABLE. 


WHY  LIGHTING  BILLS  INCREASE. 


The  chart  reproduced  herewith,  posted  in  the  offices  of 
the  lighting  department  of  the  Kokorao,  Marion  &  Western 
Traction  Company,  at  Kokomo,  Ind.,  helps  explain  to  cus- 
tomers the  inevitable  increase  in  their  bills  as  summer 
merges  into  fall  and  fall  passes  into  winter.  While  the 
tabulation  of  hours  of   light   and  darkness   is  perhaps  not 


Day 

Electric 

<             steep 

Light 

Light 

Jan. 

9.71  hrs. 

^l^l^l 

^^K^^^u^^^^ 

1 

Feb. 

lO.Si  ■■ 

IHHB 

1 

Mar. 

11.9S  •■ 

^^H 

^mmr^^m 

1                                       11 

Apr. 

13.20  •■ 

^^H 

^"•""  ^ 

May 

UM  ■■ 

■ 

^^^^^^£O^^J^I| 

June 

15.U3  ■■ 

1 

July 

li.6i  ■■ 

■ 

Aug. 

13.70  ■■ 

■ 

'                    l| 

Sept. 

12.50  •• 

^^^1 

^^  U.M   ■■     H 

J  1 

Oct. 

10.10  ■• 

^■^H 

^^^^^^^^^H 

j^^^^^j^^^^^H 

Nov. 

3.-J:  ■■ 

i^^^^l 

\ 

Dec. 

0.2:^  •  • 

^^B^l 

^tii-« 

Why  your  lijht  bills  increase. 


Electric  service  is  often  desired  in  unwired  residence 
buildings  where  the  trouble  and  expense  of  installing  wir- 
ing, meter,  switch,  etc.,  is  beyond  the  means  of  the  occu- 
pants or  the  value  to  them  of  such  service.  To  provide  this 
class  of  residences  with  a  self-contained  electrical  installa- 


Chart  Explaining  Increase  in  Lighting  Bills  During  Winter  Months. 

new,  Mr.  O.  M.  Booher,  local  contract  manager,  has  con- 
ceived the  original  idea  of  marking  off  the  hours  of  sleep 
by  a  vertical  line  which  leaves  as  a  margin  the  hours  of 
darkness  when  electric  light  is  required.  Thus,  allowing 
eight  hours  for  sleep,  the  "electric-light  hours"  are  seen 
to  range  from  six  and  three-quarters  hours  in  December 
to  less  than  one  hour  in   Tune. 


Connections   for    Electric    Service   Table. 


tion  which  makes  available  the  operation  of  a  fan,  iron, 
percolator,  vacuum  cleaner,  sewing  machine,  reading  lamp, 
etc.,  Mr.  W.  E.  Clement,  contract  agent  of  the  New  Orleans 
Railway  &  Light  Company,  has  devised  the  electric  service 
table  here  illustrated.  This  is  simply  a  standard  library 
table  arranged  with  four  or  more  outlets  or  plug  sockets 
located  on  the  sides,  where  they  are  out  of  the  way.  In  the 
frame  of  the  table  is  concealed  an  iron  bo.x  containing  the 
meter,  main  switch,  fuses,  wiring,  etc.,  making  the  device 
a  complete  and  self-contained  electrical  installation  and 
providing  ready  and  convenient  means  of  connecting  house- 


Fig.   2 — Electric   Service   Table. 

hold  appliances  and  lamps  without  the  necessity  of  wiring 
the  premises.  Connection  to  the  outside  lighting  mains  is 
made  through  a  run  of  conduit  leading  from  the  iron  meter 
box  through  the  baseboard  and  up  the  outside  wall  of  the 
building.  When  installed  this  conduit  is  well  grounded. 
Mr.  Clement  has  applied  for  a  patent  on  this  ingenious  ar- 
rangement. 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


S13 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

SERVICE  FOR  MOVING-PICTURE  ARC  LAMPS. 


Methods  of  supplying  moving-picture  machines  with 
energy  in  a  form  suitable  for  the  operation  of  projection 
arc  lamps  were  discussed  in  connection  with  the  "Question 
Box"  at  the  recent  Joplin  convention  of  the  Missouri  Elec- 
tric Association.  Replying  to  the  question,  "In  justice  to 
both  consumer  and  power  company  what  requirements 
should  the  company  make  in  regard  to  voltage-reducing 
apparatus  for  moving-picture  machines,  especially  with 
reference  to  power  factor?"  one  correspondent  pointed  out 
that  the  company's  first  duty  is  to  educate  the  customer  con- 
cerning the  operation,  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the 
various  methods  of  voltage  reduction,  after  which  the 
selection  should  rest  with  him.  The  central-station  desires, 
of  course,  to  give  customers  the  best  service  at  the  least 
cost,  but  if  they  are  not  willing  to  follow  its  advice,  poor 
policy  would  be  displayed  in  requiring  the  use  of  any  one 
form  of  voltage-reducing  apparatus. 

In  general  there  are  four  ways  of  handling  a  moving- 
picture  arc  lamp  from  the  ordinary  alternating-current  dis- 
tribution system.  A  transformer  stepping  down  to  50  volts 
or  80  volts  can  be  used  to  furnish  alternating  current  for 
the  arc,  but  such  an  arc  is  unsatisfactory,  consuming  large 
current;  the  arc  also  tends  to  wander,  thus  changing  the 
focus  of  the  lamp,  and,  moreover,  has  an  objectionable  color 
and  is  noisy.  A  motor-generator  may  be  employed  to  fur- 
nish direct  current  at  suitable  voltage  for  the  arc,  but  here 
both  efficiency  and  power-factor  are  low  and  the  consump- 
tion correspondingly  disproportionate  to  the  service.  Mer- 
cury-arc rectifiers  have  been  used  quite  largely,  on  account 
of  their  superior  efficiency  and  fair  power-factor,  as  well 
as  the  satisfactory  character  of  their  operation.  The  green 
light  from  the  tube  also  has  an  advertising  value  if  installed 
in  front  of  the  theater.  These  tubes  are  subject  to 
breakage,  however,  adding  a  source  of  expense  and  annoy- 
ance from  the  necessity  of  renewals.  The  single-phase 
rotary  converter  is  one  of  the  most  recent  developments 
for  supplying  moving-picture  machines.  Its  efficiency  is 
high,  while  its  power-factor  is  adjustable  from  unity  at 
full-load  to  80  per  cent  leading  at  no-load.  The  converter 
can  also  be  used  as  a  power  motor,  if  desired,  and  when  not 
employed  for  furnishing  direct  current  to  the  arc  may  drive 
a  fan  for  blowing  or  drawing  the  dead  air  out  of  the 
auditorium  during  intermissions.  This  auxiliary  applica- 
tion secures  the  central  station  the  additional  advantage  of 
an  improved  load-factor. 


ELECTRICAL  ILLUMINATION  AT  HALIFAX. 


An  elaborate  electrical  display  was  a  striking  feature  of 
the  visit  to  Halifax,  N.  S.,  on  Aug.  14  and  15  of  the 
Duke  and  Duchess  of  Connaught  and  Princess  Patricia, 
in  connection  with  the  dedication  of  a  memorial  tower  and 
other  exercises  commemorating  the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  the  founding  of  this  overseas  colonial 
government  by  the  British  Empire.  During  the  two  days' 
holiday-making  numerous  parades  and  formal  functions 
took  place,  the  climax  being  reached  on  the  last  evening  of 
the  royal  party's  visit,  when  there  was  an  electric  illumina- 
tion of  the  Public  Gardens.  Under  the  supervision  of  City 
Electrician  Colpitt,  of  Halifax,  a  handsome  arch  of  wel- 
come was  erected  at  the  main  entrance  of  the  gardens, 
about  150  red  and  white  incandescent  lamps  of  8  cp  each 
being  formed  into  a  greeting.  The  Jubilee  Fountain,  South 
African  Fountain,  band  stand,  duck  house  and  other  objects 
of  interest  were  decorated  with  outline  and  display  lighting, 
and  the  miniature  waterfalls,  bridges  and  shrubbery  were 


also  effectively  treated  with  festoons  of  incandescent  lamps 
and  Chinese  lanterns.  A  model  of  the  royal  steamship 
Earl  Grey  was  also  displayed  in  outline  lighting.  About 
1000  no-volt  lamps  were  used  in  the  garden  display,  and 
these  were  supplied  with  energy  by  the  Halifax  Electric 
Tramway  Company,  Ltd.,  through  a  special  transformer 
installation.  During  the  evening  the  grounds  of  the 
Lieutenant-Governor's  residence  on  Barrington  Street  and 
the  front  of  the  officers'  mess  on  Spring  Garden  Road  were 
electrically  lighted,  the  latter  displaying  a  crown  outlined 
with  incandescent  lamps.  The  Halifax  dockyard  was  also 
illuminated  in  honor  of  the  Governor-General  and  his 
party. 

On  the  evening  of  the  14th  a  regatta  was  held  on  the 
celebrated  Northwest  Arm  of  the  waters  inclosing  the 
greater  portion  of  the  city,  and  the  illumination  was  one 
of  the  most  elaborate  ever  seen  in  the  Dominion.  Over 
5000  incandescent  lamps,  ranging  in  size  from  2  cp  to  16  cp, 
were  temporarily  installed  on  shore  and  all  the  principal 
boat-club  houses  were  outlined  in  light,  as  were  the  memo- 
rial tower,  the  British  warship  Siriiis  and  numerous  private 
yachts.  A  special  submarine  cable  was  run  across  the  Arm 
by  the  tramway  company  to  handle  the  tower  lighting,  and 
many  private  residences  in  the  western  portion  of  the  city 
also  contributed  by  special  porch  and  interior  lighting  to 
the  gayety  of  the  occasion.  The  tramway  company,  which 
also  supplies  the  electric  lighting,  gas  and  power  service 
of  Halifax,  carried  during  the  day  and  evening  more  passen- 
gers than  it  had  ever  carried  in  a  similar  period. 


AUTOMATIC  CONTROL  OF  CURB   LIGHTING  FED 
FROM  EDISON  SYSTEM. 


The  business  section  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  is  lighted  by 
360  340-watt  tungsten  clusters,  divided  into  seven  groups, 
each  fed  at  a  convenient  point  from  the  220-volt  Edison 
three-wire  mains  of  the  Dayton  Lighting  Company.  For- 
merly controlled  by  hand  from  street  switches,  this  lighting 
is  now  all  manipulated  practically  simultaneously  from  the 
station  switchboard,  a  novel  magnet-switch  scheme  being 
used  which  has  saved  much  of  the  wiring  required  with 
the  usual  distribution  or  pilot-wire  controls.  The  scheme, 
which  is  due  to  Mr.  O.  H.  Hutchings,  general  superintendent 
of  the  company,  is  illustrated  in  simplified  form  in  Fig.  2. 


Fig.    1 — Ornamental    Cluster    Lighting    at    Dayton,    Ohio. 

Closing  one  of  the  control  switches  at  the  right  energizes 
the  magnet  contactor  of  a  nearby  section.  As  this  section 
lights  up,  it  in  turn  energizes  the  contactor  of  section  No.  2, 
and  the  action  is  repeated  throughout  the  system,  until  the 
lighting  of  the  last  section  is  indicated  by  the  pilot  lamps 
on  the  switchboard.  One  switch  thus  controls  the  four 
lower  6o-watt  lamps  on  the  posts,  operated  till  midnight ;  the 


514 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


other  governs  the  single  loo-watt  units  operated  all  night. 
Although  not  shown  in  the  sketch  to  avoid  complication, 
each  group  is  itself  balanced  across  the  three-wire  system, 
double-pole  switches  taking  the  place  of  the  single  contacts 
indicated.  Fig.  3  shows  a  set  of  these  loo-amp  General 
Electric   carbon-break   contacts   mounted,   with   the   section 


Midniglt        All-nlgbt 


StutiOD  220- Volt  Bus 


Pilot  Lamps 
ut  Station 


Last 
Sertion 


I        23J 


ikliduigbt 
Lumps 


All-nigtit 
Lamps 


Control  Switcbea 


tf   s 


Volt 


e^  Pilot  Wires    ("^  12) 


r-n- 


e  e  e  e 


•  e  e  e  e  e 


'—Ill 

0000000000000  I— Q^ 


V 


I  Contactors 


Section 
No.l 


^  Pilot  Wires   (*12) 

Section  ^'0,2  Contactors 

Fig.   2 — Simplified    Diagram    of   Curb- Lighting    Control. 

fuses  and  meter,  in  the  30-in.  by  34-in.  gasketed  manhole 
box  installed  at  the  feeding  point  of  each  section.  The 
meters  are  read  once  a  month  and  the  switches  are  inspected 
and  cleaned  at  this  time.  Each  magnet  winding  consumes 
about  0.3  amp  at  no  volts  m  its  holding  position,  and  the 
contacts  carry  58  amp  to  90  amp. 

From  the  closing  of  the  control  switch  to  the  flashing  of 
the  corresponding  pilot  lamp,  barely  one  second  is  required 
for  the  impulse  to  traverse  the  seven  switches  and  a  total 
distance  of  10,500  ft.  Half  of  this  path  is  in  No.  12  pilot- 
wire  circuit,  the  average  length  of  pilot  circuit  being  785  ft. 
The  system  cost  $120  per  switch  station  to  install,  exclusive 
of  meters,  and  now  saves  about  one-half  hour's  daily  opera- 
tion, due  to  irregular  lighting,  or  about  60  kw-hr.  per 
day,  in  addition  to  labor.  It  has  been  in  operation  two 
months  and  has  proved  entirely  reliable.  Half  a  mile  from 
the  nearest  post-lighting  circuit,  the  Dayton  company  also 


Fig.    3 — Section    IVlagnet    Switclies    in    IVIanhoie    Box. 

lights  a  bridge  with  alternating-current  multiple  tungsten 
lamps,  the  control  of  which  has  been  effected  by  extending 
a  pilot  circuit  and  magnet  switch  from  the  direct-current 
curb  system,  replacing  an  unsatisfactory  time  switch  for- 
merly used  at  the  bridge. 

The  city  pays  directly  for  the  Dayton  curb  ligiiting,  itself 


bearing  the  cost  of  all  corner  posts  and  one-eighth  of  the 
others,  and  assessing  the  abutting  property  owners  for  the 
remaining  seven-eighths  at  the  rate  of  74  cents  per  curb- 
foot  per  year.  The  cost  of  operating  the  curb  system  is 
$55  per  340-watt  post  per  year. 


TUNGSTEN-LAMP    STANDARDS  FOR  CHURCH 
ENTRANCES. 


It  is  a  very  common  custom  to  install  lamps  at  either  side 
of  church  entrances,  in  order  that  worshipers  may  not. 
stumble  owing  to  the  sepulchral  darkness  usually  prevalent 
at  such  places  at  night.  In  many  cities  gas  lamps  are  in- 
stalled at  the  entrance  at  the  expense  of  the  city,  and  as  a 
rule  gas  lamps  predominate.  The  accompanying  illustration 
shows    two    five-lamp    ornamental    lamp-posts    which    have 


f 


Tungsten-Lamp   Standards  for   Church    Entrances. 

replaced  the  oid  gas  lamp-posts  in  front  of  St.  Leonard's 
Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Brooklyn.  These  lamps  were 
installed  by  the  ecclesiastic  authorities,  who  also  pay  the 
Brooklyn  Edison  company  for  the  energy  consumed  in 
lighting  them.  The  rector  of  the  churcli  has  expressed 
satisfaction  with  the  installation  and  has  even  gone  so  far 
as  to  recommend  similar  installations  to  other  Roman 
Catholic   rectors   throughout   Brooklvn. 


DECORATIVE   FLAME-ARC  LIGHTING  FOR 
DEARBORN  STREET,  CHICAGO. 

Within  the  next  month  Dearborn  Street,  Chicago,  will 
be  lighted  from  Lake  to  Polk  Street  by  107  flame-arc  lamps 
of  the  type  developed  by  the  General  Electric  Company  for 
the  city  street  lighting  of  Chicago.     The  Dearborn  Street 


SEPTEMnER    7,     1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


installation  is  being  erected  by  the  Dearborn  Street  Im- 
provement Association,  an  organization  of  merchants  and 
property  owners  represented  by  Mr.  Herbert  A.  Seward, 
Fisher  Building,  engineer.  Each  trolley  pole  on  Dearborn 
Street  within  the  lighting  district  will  carry  one  of  the 
lamps,  which  will  be  hung  at  a  height  of  25  ft.  above  the 
street  level.  Other  lamps  will  be  placed  about  the  Dear- 
born Street  station.  Merchants'  associations  are  also  be- 
ing organized  to  install  similar  private  lighting  on  Clark 
Street  and  Wabash  Avenue  in  the  downtown  district. 
Energy  for  the  Dearborn  Street  lamps  will  be  supplied  by 
the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago. 


ILLUMINATION  OF  THE  GRAND  AVENUE  VIADUCT, 
MILWAUKEE. 


The  new  Grand  Avenue  viaduct  at  Milwaukee,  Wis., 
stated  to  be  the  largest  concrete  viaduct  in  the  world,  has 
some  interesting  features  in  its  illumination,  as  designed 
by  Vaughan  &  Meyer,  consulting  engineers,  Milwaukee. 
The  length  of  this  viaduct  is  2088  ft.  It  vifas  erected  for 
the  purpose  of  carrying  Grand  Avenue,  one  of  the  princi- 
pal streets  in  Milwaukee,  directly  across  the  Menominee 
X'alley.  The  viaduct  is  80  ft.  above  the  river  and  67  ft. 
wide  over  all,  with  a  40-ft.  roadway  and  two  lo-ft.  walls. 
The  total  cost  was  over  $500,000. 

For  the  illumination  of  this  viaduct  the  bronze  post 
shown  in  Fig.  2  was  designed.  A  concrete  base  for  the 
post  was  cast  as  a  part  of  the  viaduct  railing,  and  on  this 
the  bronze  post  with  its  three  lamps  is  placed.  The  cen- 
tral lamp  fixture  is  approximately  18  in.  in  diameter,  and 
the  two  smaller  are  about  14  in.  in  diameter. 

The  novel  feature  of  these  fixtures  is  that  they  have 
the  general  appearance  of  globes  but  are  in  reality  reflec- 
tors. The  upper  half  contains  a  large  tungsten  lamp  cov- 
ered with  a  prismatic  reflector  developed  specially  by  the 
engineer  for  this  w-ork.  This  reflector  is  protected  from 
dust  from  above  by  a  white  opalescent  glass  envelope  or 
hemisphere.  The  bottom  of  the  hemisphere  is  open  with- 
out  inclosing   glassware,   and   the   light   which   reaches   the 


Fig.    1 — Transformer    Station,    Milwaukee    Viaduct. 

eye  comes  largely  from  the  interior  surface  of  the  prismatic 
reflector.  The  depth  is  such  as  to  shield  the  eye  from  the 
direct  rays  of  the   filament. 

The  general  arrangement  of  the  lighting  units  is  such 
that  the  ends  of  each  span  are  marked  bv  a  double  pair  of 
posts,  while  there  is  a  single  pair  in  the  middle.     This  ap- 


plies to  the  central  portion  of  the  viaduct.  The  ends  have 
single  pairs  of  posts  spaced  from  75  ft.  to  85  ft.  apart. 
The  wiring  of  the  viaduct  is  with  lead-covered  cable  in 
ducts  in  the  bridge  structure.  Near  the  center  of  the 
bridge  is  a  transformer  station  which  receives  electrical 
energy  from  the  lighting  company  and  distributes  it  to  the 


To  Electric  Co.'s  ,  , 
2300  Volt  Service 
Leads 


Oil  Circuit 

Breaker, 

Hand  Operated, 

Over-Load  Trip 


9     9 


vice  L^^^^'^'^ — I 


25  Kw.  Servi< 
Trausformer.   r^^^-<   wi 
Subwii.v  Tjpc    I _J 


Main  Fuse  Ulocli. 
Switch.- 


I 


7 

Circuit  for 
Pier  Lamp 


Carbon  Break 
Over- Load 
Trip 

Circuit     I 

Breaker" 


'%--M 


■\ 


To  South  Lanii 
Kast  Half  of  V 

duct. 

Carbon  Break 

Over-Load  I 

Trip       I 

Circuit  J^ 

Breaker  y 

fx.c. 


1 


u 


]=_- 


To  Nortli  L.imps. 

West  Halt  of 

Viaduct. 


Watt  Hour  Meier 


Time-Switch. 
200 -imp.,  250  V. 


Carbon  Break 
SUver-Load  Trip 
/circuit  Breaker 


To  South  Lamps, 
West  Halt  ut  Viaduct. 


Carbon  Break 
J  Over-Load  Trip 
'  Circuit  Breaker 


To  North  Lamps, 
East  Halt  of  Viaduct. 


Fig.  2 — Lamp  StantJard 
for  Grand  Aventie  Via- 
duct,   Milwaukee. 


."  Hydro-Ground 

Electrical  1 

Fig.  3 — Diagram  of  Connections 
for    Center    Distribution. 


bridge  circuits.  Fig..  2  gives  a  view  of  the  transformer 
station.  Fig.  3  shows  the  general  scheme  of  connections 
of  this  station  or  center  of  distribution.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  an  Anderson. time  switch  is  included  in  the  secondary 
wiring  equipment  for  the  purpose  of  turning  lamps  on  and 
off  according  to  a  regular  schedule. 

Starting  from  the  source  of  supply  of  electrical  energy, 
the  electrical  installation  consists  of  the  following:  On 
tlie  high-voltage  side  is  one  2300-volt  lead-covered,  two- 
ciinductor  cable  installed  in  one  of  the  ducts  under  the 
sidewalk  and  connecting  with  the  central-station  company's 
cables  at  the  east  end  of  the  viaduct.  The  2300-volt  cable 
terminates  in  an  oil-circuit  breaker  at  the  transformer  sta- 
tion in  Pier  No.  7.  In  this  same  pier  is  the  watt-hour 
meter,  time  switch  and  four  carbon  circuit-breakers.  These 
four  circuit-breakers  control  the  feeder  cables  which  sup- 
ply energy  to  the  north  and  south  sides  of  the  east  and 
west  ends  of  the  viaduct.  The  fifth  circuit  supplies  energy 
to  the  lamps  within  the  pier. 

One  interesting  feature  of  this  installation  is  the  use  of  a 
bare  copper  wire  neutral,  which  can  be  seen  under  the 
cabinet  box  in  Fig.  2  and  which  forms  a  continuous  un- 
fused  conductor. 

It  is  intended  that  the  time  switch  shall  be  set  weekly 
according  to  a  printed  schedule.  Full  instructions  have 
been  prepared  by  the  consulting  engineers  covering  all 
points  likely  to  arise  in  the  operation  of  the  electrical  cir- 
cuits and  care  of  lamps. 


5i6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


From  the  foregoing  description  it  will  be  seen  that  this 
installation  is  of  considerable  electrical  interest,  aside  from 
the  fact  that  it  happens  to  be  the  lighting  installation  for 
the  largest  concrete  viaduct  in  the  world.  The  artistic  part 
of  the  post  design  is  the  result  of  work  done  under  the 
supervision  of  Mr.  A.  D.  Koch,  of  H.  C.  Koch  &  Sons, 
architects,  and  his  associates  in  the  Municipal  Art  Com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  Milwaukee  Art  Society.  The  other 
members  of  the  committee  were  Messrs.  George  Raab, 
curator  of  the  Layton  Art  Gallery;  Ale.xander  Mueller,  di- 
rector of  the  Art  Students'  League,  and  VV.  H.  Schuchardt, 
president  of  the  Wisconsin  Chapter  of  the  American  In- 
stitute of   Architects. 


ORNAMENTAL  STREET  LIGHTING  AT  JONESBORO, 

ARK. 


The  possibilities  which  "white-way"  lighting  offers  to  the 
central  station,  especially  in  small  communities,  are  well 
illustrated   in    the   case   of   Jonesboro,   Ark.,   which    owes 

its  system  of  orna- 
mental street  illumi- 
nation to  its  aggres- 
sive central  -  station 
manager,  who,  single- 
handed,  secured  con- 
tracts with  abutting 
merchants  for  pro- 
rata shares  of  the  cost 
of  erecting  and  oper- 
ating the  complete 
system.  ,The  present 
installation  comprises 
a  total  of  nine  blocks 
in  length,  extending 
up  Main  Street  and 
around  the  court 
house  square.  Two 
years  ago,  when  the 
city  widened  its  side- 
walks, requiring  the 
resetting  of  all  poles, 
some  street  -  railway 
agitation  arose,  and 
the  local  manager  had 
the  foresight  to  sug- 
gest to  the  City  Coun- 
cil that  all  telegraph 
and  electric-lighting 
poles  be  placed  direct- 
ly opposite  each  other 
on  the  business 
streets.  The  new  or- 
namental posts  were 
accordingly  later  lo- 
cated in  opposite 
pairs,  between  the 
poles    referred    to. 

Fifteen-foot      four- 
carrying  four  6o-watt 
The  lamps 


Fig.  1 — White  Way  at  Jonesboro,  Ark. 


arm  Riverside  poles  are  used,  each 
tungsten  lamps  inclosed  in  12-in.  Alba  globes 
are  10  ft.  7  in.  above  the  sidewalk  and  measure  40  in.  center 
to  center.  The  posts  have  14-in.  bases  and  each  standard 
weighs  525  lb.  As  shown  in  the  illustration,  all  wiring  is 
overhead.  The  leads  are  dropped  from  the  nearest  pole 
and  attached  to  the  two-pin  arms  on  the  3-ft.  post  extension, 
thence  down  through  the  center  to  the  distributing  arms. 
The  lamps  are  fed  with  energy  from  two  circuits,  one  of 
which  is  of  sufficiently  heavy  copper  to  supply  energy  also 
to  electric  signs  when  required,  and  is  switched  off  at  the 
plant  at  11  o'clock  each  night.     The  other  circuit  is  for  the 


all-night  post  lamps.  This  circuit  replaces  seven  660-watt 
street  arc  lamps  totaling  4620  watts,  with  an  after-ii-o'clock 
load  of  5760  watts  which  is  taken  care  of  by  connecting  each 
circuit  to  an  alternate  post  on  each  side  of  the  street.  An 
exception  is  made,  however,  of  four  posts  on  the  square, 
the  lamps  on  which  operate  all  night.  Replacement  was 
made   throughout   other   streets   of   Jonesboro   of   fifty-two 


WBBJI^^ 


Fig.   2 — White  Way   Lighting   at   Jonesboro,   Ark. 

660-watt  Street  arc  lamps,  totaling  34,320  watts,  with  151 
128-watt  series  tungsten  lamps,  totaling  19,328  watts,  thus 
affording  a  saving  of  14,992  watts. 

The  occasion  of  opening  of  the  White  Way  was  made  a 
general  holiday  at  Jonesboro,  and  billed  as  such  throughout 
the  neighboring  territory  by  the  local  business  men's  league. 
Prizes  were  offered  for  competitive  drills  by  the  local  uni- 
formed lodges,  military  organizations,  etc.  A  grand  street 
parade  was  also  a  feature  of  the  occasion  and  added  to  the 
popular  enthusiasm. 

The  original  estimate  of  the  cost  of  this  construction, 
which  covers  a  business  frontage  of  5205  ft.,  was  $3,250, 
but  the  work  was  actually  completed  with  a  saving  of  $125 
below  the  estimated  amount,  making  the  pro-rata  cost 
per  front  foot  60  cents.  The  manager  of  the  Jonesboro 
municipal  plant.  Mr.  J.  F.  Christy,  is  vice-president  of  the 
Arkansas  Public  Utilities  Association. 


1 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


RATES  FOR  ELECTRICAL  ENERGY. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World:  \ 

Sirs  : — Perhaps  there  are  as  many  solutions  to  the  prob- 
lem of  rate  determination  as  there  are  persons  to  attempt  to 
find  solutions.  However,  the  writer  believes  that  there  is 
one  class  of  solution  that  will  meet  with  the  approval  of 
practically  every  one  interested  in  the  problem.  This  solu- 
tion ignores  entirely  the  use  to  which  the  energy  is  put  but 
considers  fully  the  time  of  consumption. 

The  object  in  distinguishing  between  a  motor  load  and  a 
lamp  load  and  allowing  a  cheaper  rate  for  the  former  is 
merely  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the  lamp  load  occurs  dur- 
ing the  peak  of  the  station  load  at  night,  while  the  motor 
load  continues  throughout  the  day  and  seldom  overlaps  the 
night  peak.  The  cost  of  producing  a  kilowatt-hour  varies 
according  to  the  time  of  day  or  night,  but  is  the  same 
whether  used  for  motor,  lighting  or  heating  service.  It  is 
evident,  therefore,  that  any  logical  system  of  rate  determi- 
nation must  be  based  on  a  variation  of  the  rate  throughout 
the  hours  of  service.  The  production  of  a  reliable  meter 
providing  a  variation  in  rate  of  registration  during  the 
peak  and  non-peak  hours  would  represent  a  thoroughly 
satisfactory  solution  of  the  rate-determination  problem  for 
all  time  to  come. 

Lonisinlle,  Kv.  Willi.wi  McDon.\ld. 


I 


September  7,  1912 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


517 


Digest   of  Current  Electrical   Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Frequency  Changer. — A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent 
(No.  8853,  Aug.  I,  1912)  of  A.  M.  Taylor.  In  each  phase 
of  a  three-phase  circuit  is  inserted  a  choking  coil  with  a 
highly  saturated  core,  in  series  with  a  transformer  with  an 
unsaturated  core,  two  current  impulses  being  produced  in 
the  secondary  each  half  period.  The  duration  of  each 
impulse  is  only  one-third  or  less  of  the  pe'riod  of  the  funda- 
mental half-wave  of  emf,  but  the  amplitude  may  be  what- 
ever desired.  By  combining  three  or  a  multiple  of  three 
such  transformers  equivalent  impulses  of  current  are  ob- 
tained. The  secondaries  of  the  transformers  are  connected 
in  series,  or  they  may  be  combined  into  one,  whereby  the 
iron  volume  is  reduced.  The  transformers  being  connected 
across  the  phases,  the  emfs  in  the  secondaries  differ  by 
120  deg.  and  cancel  out,  leaving  the  third  and  higher  har- 
monies only.  The  secondary  of  the  triple  frequency  trans- 
former is  wound  in  four  parts.  One  is  connected  to  one 
phase  of  the  high-frequency  circuit  to  be  supplied;  another 
is  connected  in  series  with  a  reactance  coil,  which  causes 
the  current  to  lag  60  deg.,  and  the  free  terminals  are  con- 
nected in  the  reverse  sense  to  the  next  phase ;  the  remain- 
ing two  feed  the  primary  of  another  transformer,  one 
direct  and  the  other  through  an  impedance  coil  causing  a 
current  lag  of  60  deg.  The  secondary  supplies  the  third 
phase. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Aug.  8,  1912. 

Parallel  Operation  of  Alternators. — Carl  Czeija. — A 
French  translation  of  his  recent  German  paper  on  the  prin- 
cipal factors  which  are  of  importance  in  the  parallel  opera- 
tion of  alternators.  He  discusses  the  choice  of  the  moment 
of  inertia,  the  requirements  which  must  be  fulfilled  by  the 
prime  movers  and  means  for  improving  parallel  operation. 
— La  Revue  Elec.,  July  26,  1912. 

Regulation  of  Alternating-Current  Generators. — A  note 
on  a  recent  British  patent  (No.  22,757  of  Aug.  I,  1912)  of 
Siemens  Brothers'  Dynamo  Works,  Ltd.  (F.  E.  M.  Thrupp). 
A  secondary  exciter  is  driven  by  an  alternating-current 
commutator  motor,  the  speed  of  which  depends  on  the 
magnitude  and  power-factor  of  the  generator  load.  The 
stator  of  the  motor  is  fed  by  a  series  transformer  and  the 
rotor  direct  from  the  mains.  The  field  of  the  secondary 
exciter  has  an  auxiliary  winding  in  parallel  with  the  alter- 
nator main  field. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Aug.  8,  1912. 

Shunt  and  Series  Direct-Current  Motors. — E.  Cohen. — 
A  mathematical  note  on  the  speed  relation  between  shunt 
motors  and  series  motors  for  direct  current,  and  the  trans- 
formation of  a  shunt  motor  into  a  series  motor. — Bull.  trim. 
de  I'Ass'n  amicale  des  Ancicns  Eleves  de  i'&cole  prat. 
d'Elec.  ind.,  May,  1912;  La  Reznie  Elec,  July  26,  1912. 

Commutation.- — C.  L,  R.  E.  Menges. — The  author  criti- 
cises some  views  concerning  the  theory  of  commutation  ex- 
pressed by  Arnold  and  Lamme  among  others.  He  empha- 
sizes that  the  neutrality  of  the  zone  of  commutation  forms 
the  fundamental  idea  of  the  commutation  theory  as  now 
generally  accepted.  In  order  to  start  a  detailed  discussion, 
he  challenges  Latour  to  express  his  views  of  some  impor- 
tant details  of  the  commutation  theory. — La  Lumiere  Elec, 
Aug.  10,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Train  Lighting. — P.  Amsler. — A  description  of  a  new 
system  of  electric  train  lighting  used  by  Brown,  Boveri  & 
Company.  It  allows  the  use  of  low  lamp  voltages,  inde- 
pendently of  the  high  overhead  voltage.  The  generating 
unit  consists  of  two  machines.  One  of  these  is  a  motor, 
which  takes  the  whole  applied  voltage  and  has  two  com- 
mutators and  two  armatures,  which  are  joined  in  series; 


the  other  is  a  generator  which  can  be  wound  so  as  to 
generate  any  required  pressure,  say  between  30  volts  and 
50  volts,  and  thus  permits  the  use  of  metallic  filament  lamps 
all  connected  in  parallel.  At  voltages  of  this  order  metallic 
filaments  are  sutficiently  strong  to  withstand  the  vibration 
of  railway  traffic.  The  generating  unit  must  have  a  nearly 
constant  speed,  which  requires  a  shunt-wound  motor.  Ma- 
chines of  small  outputs,  say,  for  1.6  kw,  if  operated  on 
1200  volts,  cannot  be  shunt-wound  because  this  would  mean 
too  thin  a  gage  of  wire.  This  can  be  overcome  by  con- 
necting the  magnet  windings  in  shunt  with  the  terminals 
of  the  generator,  since,  if  motor  and  generator  are  rigidly 
connected  together,  the  requisite  characteristics  of  a  shunt- 
wound  motor  can  obviously  be  obtained.  A  number  of 
machines  have  been  constructed  on  this  system,  the  motors 
having  a  capacity  of  about  2  hp  at  2000  r.p.m.  The  con- 
nections are  shown  in  Fig.  i.    Besides  the  above-mentioned 


Oyerbead  Voltage  I20Q  Volts 


s:'.'  c5e 


Fig.    1 — Diagram    of    Connections. 


exciter  winding  the  magnets  have  a  small  series  winding 
which  starts  the  motor ;  otherwise,  with  the  generator  at 
rest,  there  would  be  no  voltage  at  the  terminals  of  the 
shunt  winding.  In  order  that  this  series  winding  should 
have  no  effect  on  the  speed  of  the  motor  there  is  a  com- 
pensating winding  in  the  opposite  direction  which  carries 
the  main  current  of  the  generator.  Both  currents,  there- 
fore, are  nearly  proportional  to  the  load  on  the  generator 
and  tend  to  neutralize  one  another  as  soon  as  the  machine 
starts,  the  result  being  that  the  motor  has  a  genuine  shunt 
characteristic.  The  series  windings  on  the  motor  are  on 
the  earthed  side  so  that  only  the  armature  windings  are 
really  exposed  to  the  high  pressure,  and  even  in  case  of 
short-circuits  the  high  pressure  cannot  reach  the  lamps. — 
London  Electrician,  Aug.  16,  19 12. 

Flame-Arc  Lamp.- — Passavant. — A  note  on  a  paper  read 
before  the  German  Association  of  Central  Stations  on  a 
new  flame-arc  lamp  with  a  specially  long  life  for  street 
lighting.  The  supply  of  oxygen-containing  air  to  the  arc 
is  reduced.  This  design  is  due  to  Livio  Carbone,  whose 
patents  were  bought  by  the  Allgemeine  Elektricitiits  Ge- 
sellschaft.  The  special  feature  is  "the  form  of  the  carbon, 
which  is  divided  into  two  zones,  the  upper  zone  being  hot 
and  the  lower  zone  cool."  After  success  was  obtained  in 
making  electrodes  whose  combustion  products  do  not  attack 
the  glass,  the  lamp  was  introduced  by  the  Berlin  Electricity 
Works,  which  are  making  extended  experiments  with  it. 
While  the  conclusions  already  obtained  are  very  favor- 
able, definite  results  can  be  given  only  after  continued  use 
of  the  lamps  in  practice. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  8,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Peat  for  Power  Purposes. — H.  V.  Tegg. — A  paper  read 
at  the  Belfast  meeting  of  the  British  Institution  of  Mechan- 


5i8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vor..  60,  Xo.  10. 


ical  Engineers.  The  author  gives  the  results  obtained  in 
a  commercial  plant  in  Great  Britain  in  which  peat  is  used 
for  the  generation  of  power,  the  plant  having  been  in 
operation  since  last  September.  Last  October  it  was  sub- 
jected to  a  test  run  of  six  hours'  duration  with  a  load  of 
250  bhp,  the  peat  consumption  per  bhp-hour  averaging 
2.55  lb.,  while  the  peat  fuel  contained  18.98  per  cent  of 
water.  This  was  with  both  producers  running,  although 
the  load  was  considerably  below  the  total  capacity  of  the 
plant.  Figures  on  the  cost  of  fuel  when  running  the  fac- 
tory either  on  coal  or  on  peat  are  $155  for  coal  and  $84 
for  peat  per  week,  allowance  being  made  in  the  last  figure 
for  extra  labor. — London  Electrician,  Aug.  9,  1912. 

Steam  Turbines  and  Diesel  Engines. — Gercke. — A  note 
on  a  paper  read  before  the  German  Association  of  Central 
Stations.  The  author  sketched  the  progress  in  the  develop- 
ment of  these  two  types  of  prime  movers  and  concluded 
that  the  Diesel  engine  is  superior  for  smaller  capacities, 
while,  especially  with  a  small  load-factor  and  a  low  fuel 
cost,  the  steam  turbine  is  greatly  superior  to  the  Diesel 
engine  for  larger  capacities.  In  the  discussion  Snechting 
emphasized  the  considerably  higher  first  cost  of  the  Diesel 
engine.  In  Bremen  a  large  Diesel  engine  plant  is  to  be 
placed  in  operation  because  for  special  reasons  it  was 
desirable  to  have  prime  movers  which  could  very  quickly 
be  started. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  8,  191 2. 

Ecuador. — A  long  illustrated  description  of  the  Guaya- 
quil water-power  plant  in  Ecuador.  The  plant  contains 
three  860-kva,  8oo-volt,  three-phase  generators. — La  Lu- 
micre  Elec,  Aug.  10,  1912. 

Traction. 

Railwax  Convention. — .\  report  of  the  seventeenth  con- 
gress of  the  International  Street  Railway  and  Light  Railway 
Association  held  in  Christiania,  Norway,  from  July  2  to  July 
5.  The  attendance  was  500.  Busse  discussed  rail  corruga- 
tion, Buschbaum  the  German  regulations  for  stray  cur- 
rents from  the  rails,  Kiihles  various  commercial  questions 
of  street  rail  systems;  Scott-Hensen  described  in  a  paper 
the  new  Rjukan  power  plant,  which  is  the  largest  water- 
power  station  of  Norway.  When  complete  250,000  hp  will 
be  available.  \'arious  extended  excursions  were  made. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  8,  1912. 

Interpole  Motors. — L.  Bacquevrisse. — A  report  pre- 
sented before  the  congress  of  the  International  Street  Rail- 
way and  Light  Railway  Association  in  Christiania,  Nor- 
way, on  the  results  obtained  in  practice  with  interpole 
motors  for  traction.  Notes  are  given  on  the  arrangement 
of  the  commutation  poles,  the  power  and  weight  of  the 
motors,  the  effect  which  the  use  of  interpoles  has  had  on 
the  increase  of  voltage,  on  sparking  of  the  conmiutator  and 
maintenance  of  the  conunutator  and  brushes,  on  speed  regu- 
lation by  reduction  of  the  field  strength  and  on  braking 
arrangements. — La  Revue  Elec,  July  26.  1912. 

Car  Mileage. — W.  Wykes. — The  author  suggests  an 
alteration  in  the  method  of  calculating  car  mileage.  He 
proposes,  in  the  first  instance,  to  reduce  all  the  mileage  to 
flat  miles  and  then  to  work  out  the  cost  per  passenger 
carried  per  mile  and  to  use  the  result  thus  arrived  at  as  a 
basis  of  comparison  with  other  tramways. — London  Elec. 
Reviciv,  Aug.  2,   1912. 

Electric  Mining  Locomotives. — G.  W.  Hamilton. — The 
author  discusses  the  importance  of  detailed  information 
covering  operating  conditions  in  mines,  especially  the 
maximum  output  handled  over  maximum  grades  and  dis- 
tances during  the  working  hours  of  the  day,  and  shows 
how  these  details  control  the  design  of  the  locomotive. — 
Elec.  Journal,  August,  1912. 

German  futerurban  Tramzvay  System. — R.  Krueger. — 
The  first  part  of  an  illustrated  statistical  article  on  the 
system  of  electric  tramways  in  and  around  Cologne. — 
Elek  Zeit..  Aug.  I.  1912. 

Hamburg. — G.    Cuvillier. — The   conclusion    of   his   long 


illustrated   article   on    the    equipment    of    the    Metropolitan 
Railway  in  Hamburg,  Germany. — La  Lumicrc  Elec,  Aug. 

3>  1912. 

Brazil. — L.  Wiener. — A  review  of  electric  traction  in 
Brazil. — Revue  Gen.  des  Chemins  de  Fer  et  des  Tramways, 
Nov.,   1911  ;  La  Revue  Elec,  July  26,   1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Starting  Resistances  and  Motor  Fuses. — Erich  Jasse. — 
In  the  first  part  of  his  article,  which  is  illustrated  by  numer- 
ous diagrams,  the  author  describes  how  to  calculate  the 
different  steps  of  a  starting  resistance  and  the  cross-section 
of  the  copper  required  in  each  step  in  order  to  prevent 
overheating  and  yet  not  waste  metal.  The  author  gives' 
formulas  for  use  in  practice  for  calculating  the  dimensions 
of  the  conductors  in  starting  resistances.  He  shows  that 
the  size  of  the  starting  resistance  depends  essentially  only 
on  the  momentum  of  inertia  of  the  masses  which  are  to 
be  accelerated  and  upon  the  ratio  of  the  starting  current 
to  the  stationary  current.  In  the  second  part  of  the  article 
the  author  deals  with  the  protection  of  motors  by  means  of 
fuses.  If  a  motor  which  will  be  started  without  a  special 
starting  resistance  is  protected  by  means  of  a  fuse  the 
dimensions  of  the  fuse  should  be  calculated  from  the  con- 
tinuous load  current  of  the  motor,  and  a  formula  is  given 
for  the  "time  constant"  of  the  fuse. — Elek.  n.  Masch. 
(Vienna),  Aug.   11   and  18,   1912. 

Combined  Central  Heating  and  Electric  Plants. — ^E.  D. 
Dreyfus. — A  paper  read  before  the  National  District  Heat- 
ing Association  at  Detroit.  The  author  discusses  the  gen- 
eral equipment  of  combined  central  heating  and  electric 
plants  and  especially  the  use  of  automatic  bleeder  tur- 
bines and  gives  working  results  obtained  in  such  plants 
together  with  a  series  of  typical  load  curves. — Elec.  Jour- 
nal, August,  1912. 

Electricity  in  Agriculture. — P.  Lecler. — An  illustrated 
report  to  the  Association  of  French  Central  Stations  on 
the  results  obtained  in  the  application  of  electricity  in 
agriculture  and  on  possibilities  of  improvement. — La  Revue 
Elec,  July  26,  1912. 

Switclies  for  Heating  and  Cooking  Appliances. — W.  P. 
Maycock. — A  fully  illustrated  article  on  tumbler-switch 
controls  for  heating  and  cooking  appliances. — London  Elec. 
Re-dczi'.  Aug.  2,  1912.  ■ 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Calculation  of  Insulation  Covering. — A.  Michard. — The 
author  first  develops  the  fundamental  formulas  for  calcu- 
lating the  insulating  covering  required  on  a  wire  from  the 
viewpoints  both  of  insulation  and  electrostatic  rigidity. 
The  formulas  derived  are  illustrated  by  diagrams  and 
applied  to  several  numerical  examples. — La  Revue  Elec, 
July  26.   1912. 

\        Electrophysics  and    Magnetism. 

The  Photoelectric  Effect  of  Phosphorescent  .Material. — 
Chester  A.  Butman. — An  account  of  an  experimental  in- 
vestigation the  chief  results  of  which  are  as  follows: 
Photoelectric  fatigue  and  recovery  is  an  inherent  property 
of  the  material  and  is  due  solely  to  the  incident  light.  High 
positive  voltages  accelerate  fatigue  with  light.  The  veloci- 
ties of  the  electrons  ejected  are  dependent  on  the  photo- 
electric state  of  the  material.  The  saturation  value  is 
dependent  on  the  photoelectric  state  of  the  material.  No 
photoelectric  effect  can  be  obtained  with  Lenard's  CaBiNa 
material  with  a  wave-length  longer  than  about  4100  ang- 
strom units.  Sulphur  is  photoelectric  with  light  of  a  longer 
wave-length  than  3200  angstrom  units. — Amer.  Jour,  of 
Science,  August,  1912. 

.4symmetry  in  the  Distribution  of  Secondary  Cathode 
Rays  Produced  by  X-Rays,  and  Its  Dependence  on  the 
Penetrating  Power  of  the  Exciting  Rays. —  C.  D.  Cooksey. 
— .^.n   account   of   an   e.xperimental    investigation    in   which 


September  7,  1912 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D 


S19 


the  ratio  of  emergence  to  incidence  cathode  rays  produced 
in  gold  and  silver  by  beams  of  fluorescent  secondary  X-rays 
was  measured  with  the  object  of  finding  the  dependence  of 
the  ratio  on  the  penetrating  power  of  the  exciting  rays. 
The  fluorescent  secondary  X-rays  from  tin,  zinc,  iron  and 
chromium  were  used  as  exciting  rays,  representing  an 
increase  in  absorbability  as  measured  in  aluminum  of  about 
8000  per  cent  between  tin  and  chromium.  After  allowing 
for  the  absorption  of  the  exciting  rays  in  the  layer  of  the 
metal  from  which  the  cathode  rays  come  and  in  the  air 
of  the  ionization  chamber  it  was  foimd  that  there  was  no 
definite  variation  in  the  ratio  of  emergence  to  incidence 
effect. — Phil.  Mag.,  July,   1912. 

Radium  C. — A.  S.  Russell. — An  account  of  an  experi- 
mental investigation  on  the  volatility  of  radium  C.  In 
presence 'of  oxygen,  radium  A,  radium  B  and  radiimi  C 
are  all  non-volatile  from  a  surface  of  quartz  below  700  deg. ; 
the  volatilization  point  of  radium  C  is  higher  than  1200 
deg.  In  presence  of  hydrogen  radium  A,  radium  B  and 
radium  C  are  completely  volatile  from  a  quartz  surface 
below  650  deg.  The  volatilization  point  of  radium  C  is 
about  360  deg. — Phil.  Mag.,  July.  1912. 

Electrochemistry  and  Batteries. 

Electrolytic  Hypochlorite  Solutions  for  Disinfection. — 
A  note  on  the  annual  report  for  the  year  191 1  of  Dr.  F.  W. 
Alexander,  medical  officer  of  health  for  the  Metropolitan 
Borough  of  Poplar,  which  contains  details  regarding  the 
employment  of  electrolytic  hypochlorite  disinfecting  fluid. 
There  were  53,063  gal.  used  during  the  year,  being  manu- 
factured at  a  total  cost  of  about  $640.  Since  the  plant  has 
been  installed,  a  period  of  about  six  years,  nearly  200,000 
gal.  of  fluid  has  been  manufactured  at  a  cost  for  energy 
and  materials  of  less  than  $1,900.  Not  only  are  the  Pub- 
lic Health  Department  and  the  various  institutions  of  the 
Council  (the  public  baths,  etc.)  furnished  with  the  dis- 
infectant, but  the  managers  of  the  sick  asylums  and  the 
Board  of  Guardians  are  supplied  with  an  unlimited  quan- 
tity free.-  For  the  fluid  supplied  to  the  works  department 
a  charge  of  2  cents  per  gallon  is  made.  The  Public  Health 
Department  is  credited  with  this  amount,  although  no 
actual  monetary  transaction  takes  place.  As  applicants 
now-  usually  bring  their  own  receptacles  to  the  depot,  there 
is  also  a  very  appreciable  saving  in  the  expense  on  bottles 
alone.  A  total  of  3494  gal.  was  supplied  to  the  London 
County  Council  for  use  in  cleaning  the  floors  of  school 
classrooms,  while  7560  gal.  w-ere  used  in  the  public  baths. 
In.  reply  to  adverse  criticisms  Dr.  Alexander  points  out 
that  after  six  years'  experience  he  is  convinced  that  there 
is  no  more  suitable  means  than  the  electrolytic  process  of 
producing  a  cheap,  clean  and  effective  chlorine  solution, 
and  that  such  a  solution  is  cheaper  and  more  convenient 
than  one  of  phenol. — London  Electrician,  Aug.  16,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Rcichanstalt. — An  account  of  the  work  of  the  German 
Reichanstalt  during  the  year  191 1.  Some  of  the  especially 
interesting  results  mentioned  are  or  will  be  given  else- 
where in  the  Digest. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  15,  1912. 

Measuring  Small  Inductances.- — S.  Butterworth. — This 
paper  describes  a  method  of  measuring  inductance  in 
w-hich  a  single  condenser  may  be  used  for  all  values  of 
the  self-induction.  Results  are  given  showing  the  accuracy 
that  may  be  expected  in  the  case  of  inductances  of  the 
order  of  a  few  microhenries.  A  self-induction  may  be 
measured  in  terms  of  a  capacity  by  the  method  of  Max- 
well. The  inductance  is  placed  in  the  fourth  arm  of  a 
balanced  Wheatstone  bridge  (Fig.  2)  and  a  condenser 
of  capacity  K  is  placed  in  parallel  with  the  conjugate 
arm  Q.  The  bridge  will  be  balanced  for  variable  currents, 
provided  that  L/K  =  RQ  =  SP.  where  L  is  the  self-induc- 
tion of  the  arm  R.  Unless  the  condenser  can  be  varied 
contiiuiously  this  method  is  tedious  in  operation.     The  fol- 


lowing    modifications     have,     therefore,     been     proposed : 

(a)  If  L/K  >  RQ,  move  the  contact  a  along  the  battery 
arm.  If  V  is  the  resistance  intercepted  between  a  and  A, 
balance  is  attained  when  OL/K  =  S  [V  (P  +  Q)  +  PQ]. 

(b)  If  L/K  <  RQ.  move  the  contact  b  along  the  5"  arm. 
If  U  is  the  resistance  intercepted  between  b  and  B,  balance 
is     attained     when     OL/K  =  P  (Q  +  U)  (S  —  U) .       The 


Fig.   2 — IVIaxweM's    Bridge 


IVIodified   Bridge. 


former  method  (a)  is  the  more  useful  because  the  adjust- 
ment of  V  can  be  made  without  disturbing  the  steady  cur- 
rent balance.  Method  (6)  requires  a  slide  wire  in  the  arm 
.S  for  rapid  w-orking.  In  order  to  avoid  this  the  author 
has  employed  a  combination  of  both  methods.  This  is 
shown  in  Fig.  3.  With  the  notation  of  this  figure  the 
conditions  for  balance  are  RO  =  P  (U  -\-  S)  and  QL/K  =  S 
U'  {P  +  Q)  +P  iQ  +  U)i  By  a  proper  choice  of  i^  a 
self-induction  may  be  measured  with  a  single  condenser. 
Also  by  adjusting  V  the  inductive  balance  may  be  made 
independently  of  the  resistance  balance. — London  Elec- 
trician, Aug.  16,  1912. 

Loading  Large  Alternators. — F.  D.  Newbury. — A  dis- 
cussion of  the  following  three  methods  of  loading  large 
alternators  devised  to  approximate  actual  load  conditions: 
(i)  Separate  open-circuit  and  short-circuit  tests;  (2)  zero 
power- factor  tests,  and  (3)  the  so-called  direct-current 
open-delta  test  in  which  the  field  winding  is  excited  to 
generate  the  full-load  core  losses  (as  nearly  as  these  can 
be  appro.xiniated  on  open  circuit)  and  the  armature  wind- 
ing is  connected  in  delta  with  one  corner  open,  through 
which  direct  current  is  introduced.  Of  these  three  methods 
the  zero  pow-er- factor  method  more  nearly  approaches 
actual  load  conditions  and  the  results  will  be,  if  anything, 
unfavorable  to  the  apparatus.  This  is  particularly  true  of 
the  field-winding  temperature,  but  this  temperature  can 
easily  be  reduced  to  the  guaranteed  condition  in  propor- 
tion to  the  losses.  The  direct-current  open-delta  method  of 
loading  gives  results  very  closely  approximating  actual 
load  conditions,  but  the  results  will,  if  anything,  be  favor- 
able to  the  generator.  The  armature-winding  temperature 
will  be  slightly  lower  than  under  actual  load  conditions  and 
the  field-winding  temperature  will  be  considerably  below 
that  corresponding  to  the  maximum  operating  conditions. 
Accurate  correction  can  be  made  for  the  field-winding  tem- 
perature, but  no  satisfactory  correction  can  be  made  for 
the  armature-winding  temperature.  The  short-circuit  and 
open-circuit  method  of  loading  gives  satisfactory  results 
with  machines  having  satisfactory  air  circulation,  but  this 
method  will  not  directly  detect  faulty  design  in  this  respect. 
The  results  will,  however,  indicate  such  defect  indirectly 
and  the  method  may  be  used  when  neither  of  the  other 
methods  is  feasible. — Electric  Journal,  August,  1912. 

Induction  Meter. — An  official  publication  by  the  Reichs- 
anstalt  admitting  for  calibration  the  single-phase  induc- 
tion meter  of  H.  Perpipersberg.  The  construction  of  the 
meter  and  its  method  of  operation  are  described  and  illus- 
trated.— Elek.  Zeit..  Aug.  8,   1912. 


520 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  io. 


Measuring  High  Speeds. — J.  Schillo. — An  English 
translation  of  his  recent  German  paper  on  the  stroboscope 
in  the  determination  of  high  speeds  of  rotation. — London 
Electrician,  Aug.  9,   1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Low-Frequency  Circuit  in  Spark  Telegraphy. — L.  B. 
Turner. — ^A  long  paper  illustrated  by  diagrams  in  which 
the  low-frequency  electrical  relations  in  a  wireless  trans- 
mitter operating  on  the  spark  system  are  investigated,  with 
special  reference  to  musical  note  transmitters.  The  case 
for  the  adoption  of  a  musical  note  is  first  outlined.  Per- 
missible assumptions  for  simplifying  the  treatment  of  the 
transformer  circuits  are  established  and  the  operation  with 
resonance  adjustment  is  fully  analyzed.  Calculations  are 
made  for  a  lo-kw  musical  transmitter  illustrating  the  quan- 
titative results  arrived  at. — London  Electrician,  Aug.  2, 
1912. 

Disturbances  in  Telephone'  Lines  "Due  to  Single-Phase 
Railroads. — Georg  Stein. — An  article  illustrated  by  dia- 
grams in  which  the  author  gives  a  formula  for  calculating 
the  currents  induced  in  a  telephone  line  which  runs  parallel 
to  a  single-phase  traction  system.  The  author  discusses  the 
means  for  overcoming  the  disturbing  noises  in  the  tele- 
phone. The  first  is  careful  crossing  of  the  two  telephone 
wires  with  respect  to  each  other,  in  order  to  make  the 
capacity  of  the  two  wires  with  respect  to  the  railway  wire 
as  nearly  equal  as  possible.  A  second  means  is  the  use  of 
a  discharge  coil  with  some  hundreds  of  ohms  resistance 
between  telephone  line  and  earth,  in  order  to  overcome  the 
effect  of  the  fluctuations  in  the  insulation  resistance  of  the 
two  telephone  wires.  A  third  means  is  equalization  of  the 
resistances  of  the  two  telephone  wires.  Finally  the  author 
discusses  the  production  of  high  voltages  in  a  telephone  line 
due  to  a  short-circuit  of  the  single-phase  railway. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  Aug.  15,  igi2. 

The  Effect  of  the  Atmosphere  on  Wireless-Telegraph 
Transmitters  and  Receivers. — A.  Esau. — By  experiments 
with  the  damping  effect  on  antennas  the  author  shows  that 
the  damping  varies  under  the  influence  of  the  atmosphere. 
With  respect  to  the  effect  on  damping  the  atmospheric  in- 
fluences may  be  divided  into  two  groups — first,  irregular 
effects  due  to  rain  or  snow  which  may  cause  variations 
up  to  200  per  cent,  and,  second,  effects  which  occur  with 
great  regularity,  but  which  are  much  less  in  intensity,  caus- 
ing variations  up  to  20  per  cent  only.  The  second  effect 
is  different  in  summer  and  in  winter. — Phys.  Zeit..  Aug.  i, 
1912. 

Radiation  Efficiency  of  Wireless  Transmitters. — L.  B. 
Turner. — A  note  criticising  two  points  in  the  recent  paper 
of  Erskine-Murray  on  a  method  of  measuring  the  power 
lost  in  and  the  power  radiated  by  a  transmitting  antenna. — 
London  Electrician,  July  26,  1912.  J.  Erskine  Murray  re- 
plies to  these  criticisms  in  detail  in  London  Electrician, 
Aug.  2.  1912.  A  further  reply  by  Turner  in  London  Elec- 
trician, Aug.  9,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

Central-Station  Convention. — Eswein. — A  report  of  the 
twenty-first  general  meeting  of  the  Association  of  Ger- 
man Central  Stations,  held  from  June  11  to  June  14.  1912, 
in  Kiel.  The  attendance  was  340.  In  his  presidential  ad- 
dress Meng  emphasized  that  the  chief  functions  of  central- 
station  managers  are  now  of  commercial  rather  than 
technical  character.  He  mentioned  the  advantages  of  ex- 
hibitions illustrating  the  various  applications  of  electricity 
and  of  an  extended  advertising  propaganda.  The  modern 
principles  employed  by  commercial  business  houses  should 
also  be  in  use  in  central  stations.  Too  many  regulations 
by  the  government  are  a  great  obstacle  to  the  development 
of  the  industry.  The  safety  rules  which  have  been  formu- 
lated for  the  electrical  industries  have  unfortunately  pro- 
duced the  idea  that  electricity  is  in  itself  very  dangerous. 
Gercke  read  a   paper  on  the  recent  development  of  steam 


turbines  and  Diesel  engines.  Schroeter  read  a  paper  on 
the  Neon  lamp,  Grossmann  a  paper  on  electrolytic  stia 
meters,  Wilkens  a  paper  on  mechanical  stokers,  Besag  a 
paper  on  automatic  parallel  connection  and  synchronizing. 
Various  reports  of  committees  were  presented.  Schlebach 
reported  on  the  results  of  tests  with  gas  lamps  and  electric 
arc  lamps  in  certain  streets  of  Karlsruhe,  where  it  was 
shown  that  arc  lamps  produced  a  very  uniform  and  supe- 
rior illumination  of  the  sidewalks.  Tillmetz  discussed  the 
use  of  refuse  destructors  in  connection  with  central  sta- 
tions. Passavant  spoke  on  new  flame-arc  lamps  with  a 
longer  life  of  the  carbons,  Scherbius  on  the  speed  regula- 
tion of  three-phase  motors.  Auhagen  on  the  use  of  elec- 
tricity aboard  ship,  Warrelmann  on  fuses  and  protective 
devices,  Frank  on  protection  of  networks  against  lightning 
and  dangerously  high  voltages,  and  Mahr  and  Wilkens  on 
force  versus  natural   draft. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.   8,   1912. 

Definitions. — A  further  account  of  a  report  of  the 
British  electrotechnical  committee  giving  the  second  in- 
stalment of  definitions  adopted.  Among  them  are  the  fol- 
lowing :  Admittance  is  the  reciprocal  of  impedance,  the 
quotient  obtained  by  dividing  the  current  in  a  conductor 
by  the  emf  which  produces  it.  The  conductance  of  a  con- 
ductor is  the  quotient  of  the  current  divided  by  the  poten- 
tial difference  between  the  terminals  of  the  conductor, 
usually  expressed  in  mhos.  Direct  current  is  a  term  not 
recommended.  Efliciency  is  (l)  in  the  case  of  generators, 
motors,  converters  or  transformers  the  ratio  of  the  total 
output  to  the  total  input  (for  instance,  in  case  of  a  sepa- 
rately excited  synchronous  generator  the  excitation  power 
should  be  added  to  the  power  received  at  the  shaft)  ;  (2) 
in  the  case  of  accumulators  efficiency  is  (a)  the  ratio  of 
the  amount  of  energy  available  during  the  discharge  to 
the  amount  of  energy  required  during  the  charge  (watt- 
hours)  and  (b)  the  ratio  of  the  amount  of  current  avail- 
able during  the  discharge  to  the  amount  of  current  re- 
quired during  the  charge  (ampere-hours).  A  field  mag- 
net is  defined  as  any  permanent  magnet  or  electromagnet 
employed  for  the  purpose  of  providing  a  magnetic  field. 
(It  is  incorrect  to  speak  of  the  field  magnets  of  a  dynamo 
or  motor  as  its  fields;  they  should  be  called  its  magnets,  if 
the  term  field  magnets  is  too  long). — London  Electrician, 
Aug.  9,  1912. 


Book  Reviews 

The  Manual  of  the  Railway  Signal  Association.     By 
a  committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  H.  S.  Balliet,  C.  C. 
Rosenberg  and   W.   J.   Eck,   chairman.     Published  by 
the  Association.  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  1912. 
A    compilation    of    the    findings,    conclusions,    standards 
and  specifications  of  the  Railway  Signal  Association.    This 
loose-leaf  manual  is  virtually  a  handbook  on  modern  rail- 
way  signal   practice    and   of    interest   to    signal    engineers, 
Signal   officers   and   employees   in   signal   departments,   with 
steam  and  electric  railways.     The  secretary  of  the  associa- 
tion is  Mr.  C.  C.  Rosenberg,  Bethlehem,  Pa.  | 


National  Commercial  Gas  Association  Proceedings, 
1911.  New  York:  417  pages,  17  illus. 
The  bound  volume  of  the  proceedings  of  the  seventh  an- 
nual meeting  of  the  National  Commercial  Gas  Association 
held  Oct.  24  to  26,  191 1,  at  Denver,  Col.  The  paper  con- 
tained therein  of  most  interest  to  electrical  engineers  is  one 
on  "Comparative  Costs  and  Efficiency  of  Gas,  Electric  and 
Gasoline  Lighting,"  by  Mr.  W.  M.  Blinks,  of  Kalamazoo, 
Mich.  Another  paper  of  more  general  interest  is  one  on 
"Pensions  and  Profit  Sharing,"  by  Mr.  J.  B.  Douglass,  of 
Philadelphia,  Pa.  The  discussions  of  the  papers  are  in- 
cluded in  the  proceedings. 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


521 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


COMPOSITION  CORD  CONNECTOR. 


A  black  composition  cord  connector  put  on  the  market 
by  the  Cutler-Hammer  Manufacturing  Company,  Milwau- 
kee. Wis.,  is  shown  in  the  accompanying  illustration.  The 
contacts  lock  firmly  and  yet  are  separated  by  a  pull  in  any 


Black   Composition   Cord    Connector 


direction.  The  composition  body  is  made  of  insulating 
material  developed  in  the  ceramic  laboratory  of  the  com- 
pany. This  material  is  eminently  suited  for  such  a  device 
because  it  is  tough  and  molds  accurately. 


INDICATING  SWITCH  FOR  HEATING  AND  COOKING 
APPLIANCES. 


Owing  to  the  convenience  of  their  use,  the  sale  of  elec- 
trical heating  and  cooking  appliances  is  steadily  increasing. 
However,  like  all  electrical  apparatus,  they  must  be  cor- 
rectly installed  to  insure  the  full  benefit  from  their  use. 
In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  note  the  requirements  of  the 
National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters.  According  to  the 
National  Electric  Code,  electric  heaters  must  be  protected 
by  a  cut-out  and  controlled  by  indicating  switches ;  more- 
over, it  is  advisable  to  connect  in  multiple  with  the  heater, 
and  between  it  and  the  switch,  a  low-candle-power  lamp. 
This  arrangement  is  suggested  to  prevent  the  switch  being 
left  in  circuit  while  the  heater  is  not  in  use.  For  portable 
devices  the  flexible  conductors  must  be  connected  to  an 
approved  plug  and  receptacle,  the  plug  nf  which  will  be 


Indicating   Switch   for   Heating   and   Cool<ing   Appliances. 

pulled  out  of  the  receptacle  when  an  abnormal  strain  is  put 
on  the  conductors. 

To  meet  the  demand  for  a  practical  device  which  would 
meet  the  above  requirements,  the  Machen  &  Mayer  Elec- 
trical    Manufacturing     Company,     Philadelphia,     Pa.,     has 


placed  upon  the  market  indicating  heater  receptacles  for 
installation  in  residences,  laundries,  factories,  etc.  For 
residences  and  similar  installations  use  is  made  of  switches 
rated  at  5,  10,  20  and  25  amp  respectively.  The  devices  con- 
sist of  a  suitable  switch,  lamp  and  base  receptacle  and  a 
flush  plug  and  receptacle.  The  outfit  is  mounted  in  either 
a  steel  wall-case  or  cast-iron  box  and  covered  by  a  brass 
face-plate  having  a  crystal  or  ruby  cut-glass  jewel  inserted 
in  it.  In  an  installation  of  this  kind  it  is  advisable  to  run 
a  separate  circuit  through  from  the  panelboard,  and  hence 
no  fuses  are  provided  in  the  box. 

For  industrial  installations,  such  as  tailor  shops  and 
laundries,  where  no  plug  and  receptacle  are  required,  use  is 
made  of  a  specially  designed  box  containing  a  cut-out,  a 
switch  and  a  lamp  and  base  receptacle.  The  cut-out  can  be 
either  of  the  cartridge  or  plug-fuse  type,  and  the  fuses 
become  accessible  by  opening  the  door  provided. 


LUMINOUS- ARC  LIGHTING  IN  UTICA,  N.  Y. 


An  initial  installation  of  sixty-six  ornamental  luminous- 
arc  lamps  has  been  placed  along  the  business  section  of 
Genesee  Street  in  the  city  of  Utica.  The  opening  of  this 
"Great  White  Way"  was  one  of  the  features  of  the  celebra- 
tion of  "Utica  Day"  and  the  notification  ceremonies  when 
Vice-president  James  Schoolcraft  Sherman  was  officially 
told  of  his  renomination. 

The  city,  gayly  decorated  for  the  occasion,  was  en- 
shrouded in  darkness  at  7:30  o'clock  on  the  night  of  Aug. 
20,  when  Mayor  Frank  J.  Baker  touched  the  button  which 
turned  on  the  new  arc  lamps.     Genesee  Street  was  packed 


Figs.    1.   2   and   3 — Details   of   Luminous-Arc    Lamp. 

with  pedestrians,  automobiles  and  traffic,  when  suddenly  the 
new  arcs  sprang  into  being  and  the  entire  street  was  flooded 
with  an  abundance  of  mellow  white  light,  noticeable  for  the 
entire  absence  of  dazzling  points  of  flame  and  confusing 
shadows. 


522 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  io. 


The  lighting  of  Genesee  Street,  of  which  the  city  may 
well  be  proud,  is  merely  the  beginning  of  a  new  system  of 
ornamental  street  lighting  which,  when  completed,  will  make 
Utica  one  of  the  best  lighted  cities  in  the  country.  Work 
is  now  in  progress  to  illuminate  the  Parkway  Boulevard, 
leading    from    upper    Genesee    Street    to    the    new    Roscoe 


Fig. 


-Day    View    of    Genesee    Street.    Utica.    N.    Y. 


Conkling  park.  Sixteen  new  Parkway  ornamental  luminous- 
arc  lamps,  mounted  on  i8-ft.  posts  and  equipped  with  special 
alabaster  globes  for  wide-angle  distribution,  have  already 
been  ordered.  The  Parkway  arc  lamps  will  be  set  along 
alternate  sides  of  the  Boulevard  and  will  be  spaced  about 
475  ft.  apart. 

The  new  lighting  system  is  also  to  be  carried  well  up  into 
the  residential  section  along  Genesee  Street.  Fourteen 
lamps  will  be  placed  on  Bleecker  Street  to  light  that  thor- 
oughfare for  three  blocks  east  of  Genesee  Street.  The  orna- 
mental illumination  which  now  ends  at  Baggs  Square  will 
be  carried  to  the  depot  and  along  the  high  bridge  over  the 
Xew  York  Central  tracks.  Sixteen  lamps,  similar  to  those 
installed  on  Genesee  Street,  will  be  placed  along  this  bridge 
and  its  approaches. 

The  work  of  installing  the  new  arc  lamps  along  Genesee 
Street  was  completed  just  four  weeks  from  the  date  that 
the  order  for  the  new  lamps  was  placed  with  the  General 
Electric  Company  and  that  for  the  poles  with  the  Ornamen- 
tal Lighting  Company.  A  committee  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  composed  of  Messrs.  Thomas  W.  Johnson,  John 
Slauson,  Edward  Martin.  John  J.  Booth  and  John  White, 
led  the  movement  for  better  lighting,  and  soon  all  the  busi- 
ness men  along  lower  Genesee  Street  had  expressed  their 
willingness  to  contribute  to  the  lighting  fund.  The  esti- 
mated cost  was  approximately  $2  a  lineal  foot  frontage 
along  the  street  for  the  lamps,  the  ornamental  poles  and 
the  foundations.  The  Utica  Gas  &  Electric  Company 
agreed  to  connect  the  lamps  at  its  own  expense.  Up  to 
the  first  of  next  year  the  business  men  will  also  refund  to 
the  city  all  extra  cost  for  energy  in  excess  of  the  fund 
provided  to  maintain  the  old  arc  lamps  which  have  been 
removed.  After  Jan.  i  the  citv  will  provide  for  the  main- 
tenance of  all  the  arc  lamps. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  arc  lamps,  being  mounted  on  the 
tops  of  specially  designed  bronze  pillars,  are  equally  orna- 
mental by  day  and  by  night.  The  lamp  is  designed  so  that 
the  mechanism  is  concealed  within  the  casing  of  the  lamp, 
which  forms  the  top  of  the  ornamental  post,  leaving  noth- 
ing visible  but  the  white  globe  and  the  top  of  the  post. 
These  pillars,  standing  at  stated  intervals  on  alternate  sides 
of  the  street,  add  greatly  to  the  general  appearance  of  the 
thoroughfare. 

The  new  lighting  imits  are  the  General  Electric  6.6  amp. 
direct-current   series   ornamental    luminous-arc   lamps,    and 


tlicy  are  operated  from  Brush  arc  generators  which  were 
already  installed.  Each  lamp  consumes  510  watts  and 
will  give  approximately  1000  cp.  These  lamps  are  for 
ornamental  street  lighting,  because  the  greatest  intensity 
of  light  occurs  about  10  deg.  to  30  deg.  below  the  hori- 
zontal plane  of  the  lamp,  giving  a  maximum  amount  of 
light  over  the  entire  street  area  and  at  the  same  time  illu- 
minating the  adjacent  buildings  in  detail  even  above  the  . 
Iiorizontal  plane  of  the  lamp  itself.  The  light  is  always 
steady  and  constant  throughout  the  length  of  the  trim 
and  there  are  no  brilliant  points  of  light  to  dazzle  the  eyes, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  light  emanates  from  the  large 
alabaster  globe,  which  is  completely  filled  with  light,  and 
at  the  same  time  makes  the  arc  invisible  to  the  eye,  thus 
forming  a  secondary  source  of  illumination. 

The  mechanism  of  the  lamp  itself  is  simple,  being  prac- 
tically the  same  as  that  of  the  standard  pendent  types,  over 
100.000  of  which  are  in  use.  In  trimming  only  one  electrode 
is  affected  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  remove  the  globe. 
The  chinmey  and  top  ornament  are  merely  raised  and 
swung  to  one  side  so  that  the  lower  electrode  can  be 
pushed  down  into  position.  A  cut-out,  located  in  the  base 
of  the  lamp,  provides  means  for  disconnecting  the  lamp 
for  trimming.  Globe  breakage  is  reduced  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  globe  is  some  distance  from  the  arc  and  that 
it  does  not  require  complete  removal  for  cleansing  pur- 
poses. The  large  amount  of  illumination  availab'e  from 
these  lamps  makes  it  possible  to  space  them  further  apart, 
requiring  fewer  lamps  than  other  forms  of  ornamental 
street  lighting. 

It  is  a  misnomer  to  call  Utica  s  street-lighting  system 
"ornamental"  because  it  is  more  than  that.  It  is,  first  and 
last,  strictlv  a  business  proposition.  Results  have  proved 
in  other  cities  that  well-lighted  streets  are  an  excellent  as- 
set to  a  city.  They  bring  new  business  and  new  inhabitants, 
and  on  those  nights  when  the  business  places  are  open 
there  is  no  question  that  a  well-lighted  street  makes  more 
business  for  all. 

The  arc  lamps  are  mounted  on  the  top  of  ornamental 
iron  columns,  which  were  made  in  Utica,  at  the  request  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  by  the  Ornamental  Lighting 
Pole  Company,  of  New  York  City.  These  posts,  fluted  and 
bronzed,  extend  14.5  ft*,  above  the  sidewalk.  The  base  of 
each  post  is  1.5  ft.  square,  securely  bolted  to  a  concrete 
foundation,    built    flush    with    the    sidewalk,    and    it    tapers 


Fig.    5 — Night    View    of    Genesee    Street.    Utica.    N.    Y. 

gracefully  toward  the  top.  All  connections  are  made  in 
conduits  so  that  the  wiring  is  entirely  concealed,  a  cable 
being  laid  along  Genesee  Street.  The  work  was  accom- 
plished under  the  energetic  direction  of  Mr.  A.  T.  Throop, 
general  manager  of  the  electrical  department  of  the  Utica 
Gas  &  Electric  Company.  ^ 


Settemrer  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


;-'3 


SEMI-INDIRECT    ILLUMINATION    OF 
RESTAURANT. 


A    MODERN 


An  installation  of  semi-indirect  lighting  representing  an 
advance  over  much  of  the  best  recent  practice  has  lately 
been  placed  in  service  at  the  Restaurant  Du  Pont,  in  the 
Boston  shopping  district.  The  establishment  occupies 
quarters  on  the  second  floor  of  the  new  Lawrence  Build- 
ing, overlooking  the  Tremont  Street  mall,  and  caters  to  the 
most  discriminating  patronage.  The  lighting  problem  has 
been  worked  out  with  unusual  care  and  the  results  are  well 
indicated  even  in  the  accompanying  reproduction  from  a 
negative  exposed  only  to  the  normal  evening  illumination 
of  the  cafe. 

The  restaurant  occupies  an  L-shaped  area  containing 
4712  sq.  ft.,  its  extreme  dimensions  being  about  146  ft.  x  42 
ft.,  with  a-  ceiling  10.5  ft.  in  height.  The  ceiling  is  divided 
into  panels,  opposite  which  are  wall  recesses  containing 
tapestried  windows,  the  curtains  being  green  and  the  ceiling 
white  with  a  slight  greenish  tint.  The  cafe  is  provided 
with  a  mosaic-tile  floor  in  which  white  insets  predominate, 
although  black,  yellow  and  green  pieces  are  used  to  a 
moderate  extent  to  furnish  the  desired  patterns  for  decora- 
tion. The  seating  capacity  is  320,  and  the  tables  are  pro- 
vided with  white  cloths  in  every  instance.  The  walls  and 
columns  are  finished  to  a  height  of  6  ft.  with  walnut-colored 
wooden  panels,  the  rest  of  the  space  being  white  with  deco- 
rations in  relief. 

The  fi.xtures  in  use  are  of  the  "X-ray,  Eye-Comfort 
type,"  in  which  four  iio-volt  tungsten  lamps  placed  in  a 
reflecting  bowl  hung  about  3  ft.  below  the  ceiling  provide 
the  general  illumination  of  the  room  by  the  indirect  method, 
small,  low-candle-power  lamps  being  added  to  provide  a 
warm  glow  of  light  through  glass  set  into  the  bases  of  the 
fixtures  for  the  purpose  of  satisfying  the  expectation  by  the 
eye  of  a  visible  source  of  light.  The  over-all  diameter  of 
this  type  of  fixture  is  24  in.,  each  one  being  hung  with  the 
bottom  about  7.5  ft.  above  the  floor.  Each  standard  fixture 
contains  a, present  equipment  of  two  40-watt  and  two  60- 
watt  wire-type  tungsten  lamps  placed  with  their  axes  hori- 
zontal, two  8-cp  lamps  being  provided  for  the  soft  direct 
illumination  mentioned  above.  A  three-way  switch  con- 
nected in  the  circuits  of  each  fixture  enables  the  lamp 
groups  to  be  cut  in  or  out  as  desired.  Four  of  the  fixtures 
at  the  distant  end  of  the  room,  where  the  ell  occupied  is 


Indirectly    Illuminated    Restaurant, 

but  14  ft.  wide,  are  now  equipped  with  four  40-watt  lamps 
each,  with  the  usual  smaller  units  for  esthetic  purposes. 
The  fixtures  are  installed  in  three  rows,  the  longest  con- 
taining nine  of  them  spaced  at  equal  distances  throughout 
the  entire  length  of  the  establishment,  the  next  containing 
six  fixtures  mounted   in   a  row   18   ft.   from  the   first,  and 


the  third,  two  fixtures  15  ft.  from  the  second.  There  are 
no  wall  fixtures  or  candelabra  except  single  decorative 
units  of  8-cp  rating,  each  mounted  in  a  brown  fabric  shade 
on  a  silver  standard,  used  on  the  outside  tables.  The  en- 
ergy requirements  of  the  cafe  total  about  0.8  watt  per 
square  foot  of  floor  area.  Electrical  service  for  the 
restaurant  is  furnished  by  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating 
Company  of  Boston,  and  the  lighting  installation  was  de- 
signed by  the  engineering  department  of  the  Pettingell- 
Andrews  Company,  Boston,  Mass. 


ELECTRIC  ROOF  SIGN. 


The  Sandusky  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Sandusky,  Ohio, 
is  advertising  its  service  with  a  large  electric  roof  sign 
built  by  the  A.  &  W.  Electric  Sign  Company,  Cleveland, 
Ohio.    This  sign  is  28  ft.  long  and  161/2  ft.  high,  with  letters 


s-  -«i 

€^y 

^ 

IZ.   d  \' 

.v^ 

\ 

c 

. 

"*" 

/Ul   C  l-;.T     £: 

v^ 

^v 

al 

\x. 

; '      1. 

k\ 

\ 

Electric    Roof    Sign. 

ranging  in  height  from  16  in.  in  the  top  row  to  20  in.  in 
the  second  row  and  18  in.  in  the  bottom  row.  The  opera- 
tion, by  referring  to  the  illustration,  may  be  described  as 
follows :  First,  the  words  "Use  Electric  Light  and  Power" 
appear,  with  the  figure  of  the  girl,  who  next  throws  a 
switch  displaying  the  upper  border  and  the  lamp  outline  at 
the  top.  Then  she  turns  another  switch,  starting  in  motion 
the  belt  and  pulleys  at  the  bottom,  typifying  electric  power. 
There  are  190  lamps  in  the  large  lamp  outline  at  the  top, 
180  lamps  in  the  letters  and  391  in  the  other  features,  all  of 
the  5-watt,  ll-volt  tungsten-filament  type.  The  Sandusky 
company  has  received  numerous  compliments  on  this  sign 
and  is  very  much  gratified  over  the  results.  The  design 
was  worked  out  by  the  builders  from  suggestions  con- 
tributed by  Mr.  E.  A.  Bechstein,  manager  of  the  Sandusky 
company. 


EXHIBITS   AT   MUNICIPAL   ELECTRICIANS' 
CONVENTION. 


A  number  of  electrical  manufacturers  made  exhibits  at 
the  Peoria  convention  of  the  International  Association  of 
Municipal  Electricians  on  Aug.  27-29.  Among  them  were 
the  Frank  Adam  Electric  Company,  St.  Louis,  knife 
switches  and  panelboards;  Central  Electric  Company,  Chi- 
cago, Alexalite  fixtures,  insulated  wires  and  supplies ;  Chi- 
cago Fuse  Manufacturing  Company,  Chicago,  fuses  and 
fuse  blocks ;  Detroit  Fuse  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
Detroit,  iron-clad  switches  and  alternating-current  motor 
starters ;  Duplex  Metals  Company,  Chester,  Pa.,  copper- 
clad  steel  wire;  Gamewell  Fire  Alarm  Telegraph  Company, 
New  York,  fire-alarm  apparatus;  H.  W.  Johns-Manville 
Company,  New  York,  subway  and  service  boxes,  fuses  and 
conduit;  C.  S.  Knowles,  Boston,  wires,  cables  and  special- 
ties; W.  N.  Matthews  &  Brother,  St.  Louis,  lamp  guards 
and  specialties ;  National  Metal  Molding  Company,  Pitts- 
burgh, casings  for  exposed  wiring;  Nelite  Works  of  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company,  Fostoria,  Ohio,  electrical  glass- 
ware; Pass  &  Seymour,  Solvay,  N.  Y.,  wiring  devices; 
Sprague  Electric  Works  of  General  Electric  Company,  New 
York,     interior     conduit ;     Standard    Underground     Cable 


524 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


Company,  Pittsburgh,  copper-clad  and  insulated  wires. 
Representatives  were  also  present  from  the  Crouse-Hinds 
Company,  Electrical  Appliance  Company,  National  India 
Rubber  Company,  National  Quality  Lamp  Division  of  the 
General  Electric  Company,  Okonite  Company  and  Safety 
Wire  &  Cable  Company. 


ORNAMENTAL  RECEPTACLES. 


REFLECTOR  AND  CANOPY. 


The  new  lighting  unit  put  on  the  market  by  the  Wheeler 
Reflector  Company,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  consists  of  a  porce- 
lain-enameled steel  canopy,  or  socket  housing,  with  an  inner 
copper  screw  ring.     The   reflector  part   of  the   unit   has  a 


i  Bef  ector    and    Canopy. 

threaded  collar  which  engages  with  the  screw  ring  in  the 
canopy.  This  allows  the  reflector  to  be  removed  easily 
from  the  canopy  for  cleaning.  Porcelain-enameled  steel 
reflectors  of  the  various  kinds  are  made  interchangeable. 


PORTABLE  WATT-HOUR  METER. 


The  Sangamo  Electric  Company,  Springfield,  111.,  has 
developed  a  line  of  portable  meters  illustrated  herewith. 
The  measuring  elements  are  of  the  mercury  flotation  type 
used  in  the  Sangamo  electric-vehicle  meters,  thus  securing 
immunity  against  damage  by  shocks  or  jars.  The  meters 
are  all  of  the  shunted  type,  so  by  the  use  of  a  few  extra 
shunts  a  large  range  of  measurements  can  be  made  with  a 
single  meter.  A  feature  of  the  meter  is  a  special  reset  dial 
operated  with  a  key.     After  each  test  or  run,  the  large  dial 


Ornamental  chinaware  receptacles  of  a  type  that  has 
been  in  use  abroad  for  several  years  are  now  being  intro- 
duced in  this  country  by  the  Murphy  Lamp  Company,  of 
New  York.  These  receptacles  can  be  made  in  an  infinite 
number  of  artistic  designs  and  in  any  desired  combination 
of  colors,  such  as  white  and  gold,  delft  patterns,  etc.  Any 
kind  of  incandescent  lamp  can  be  used  in  this  type  of  re- 
ceptacle, which  can  be  furnished  for  ceiling  or  for  wall 
use.  The  rigidity  and  strength  of  the  chinaware  afford 
protection  for  the  socket  against  disturbance  by  vibration 
from  any  source,  and  its  composition  renders  the  receptacle 
impervious    to    moisture,    corrosion    or    effects    of    dust   or 


•A 


\, 


Ornamental    Porcelain    Receptacles. 

Other  foreign  matter.  Inasmuch  as  they  can  be  made  to 
conform  to  any  desired  style  of  architecture,  these  recep- 
tacles offer  a  means  to  the  decorator  of  harmonizing  the 
lighting  features  of  a  room  with  the  general  decorative 
plan.  For  enriching  the  decorations  of  banks,  hotels, 
libraries,  steamship  saloons,  public  halls,  railroad  stations, 
etc.,  they  afford  the  decorator  a  means  of  departing  from 
the  commonplace  in  the  installation  of  lighting  fixtures. 


ELECTRICALLY  OPERATED    WOOD  SAW. 


Illustrated  herewith  is  a  machine  designed  for  sawing 
cordwood  with  the  least  amount  of  power  consumption. 
As  will  be  noted  the  motor  is  directly  connected  through 
flexible,  insulated  coupling  to  the  saw,  the  shaft  being  pro- 
vided with  a  heavv  flvwheel  for  relieving  the  motor  from 


Portable   Watt- Hour    Meter. 

is  read  and  the  hand  set  back  to  zero  without  in  any  way  af- 
fecting the  reading  on  the  small  dials,  which  therefore  give 
a  record  of  the  total  energy  consumed.  The  use  of  this 
reset  fast-moving  register  is  of  importance  in  securing 
records  of  energy  consumed  in  comparatively  short  inter- 
vals of  time.  The  entire  mechanism  is  mounted  in  a  sub- 
stantial hard-wood  polished  carrying  case. 


Electrically    Operated    Wood    Saw. 


excessive  momentary  loads.  It  is  stated  that  the  equipment 
will  saw  a  full  cord  of  wood,  four  pieces  to  the  stick,  for 
each  kilowatt-hour  of  energy  consumed.  The  motor  and 
saw  are  mounted  on  heavy  steel  angles  braced  and  riveted 
so  as  to  maintain  rigidity.  The  equipment  has  been  devel- 
oped for  the  market  by  Fred  W.  Walter,  33  Atlantic  Street 
Norfolk,  Va. 


Septemper  7,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


525 


ILLUMINATED    ADVERTISING  OF  BOSTON,  1912. 


Electric  illumination  is  playing  a  prominent  part  in  the 
preliminary  advertising  of  the  Boston  1912  Electric  Show 
throughout  eastern  New  England.  Electrically  lighted 
co-operative  development  signs  and  billboards  have  been 
utilized  by  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of 
Boston  at  many  strategic  points  in  its  territory,  and  at 
present  practically  all  the  railroad  trunk  .lines  entering 
Boston  as  well  as  important  street  railway  routes  are  "cov- 
ered" by  forceful  appeals  in  the  form  of  electric  signs 
which  fall  within  the  range  of  vision  of  all  inbound  and 
outbound  travelers  by  day  and  night.  The  Boston  & 
Albany  lines  are  served  by  display  lighting  at  South  Fram- 
ingham,  Newton,  Natick,  Hopkinton,  Holliston  and  Ash- 
land ;  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  travel  is 
reached  by  a  striking  sign  at  Canton  Junction,  and  the 
Boston  &'  Maine  traffic  is  appealed  to  at  Arlington,  Stone- 
ham,    Prospect    Hill,    Chelsea,    Waltham    and    points    near 


vard,  100  lamps  being  used  on  the  two  sides  of  the  board. 
At  Canton  Junction  a  double-faced  sign  is  in  use,  its 
dimensions  being  50  ft.  x  15  ft.,  the  lighting  being  effected 
by  ten  fixtures  on  each  side.  Each  fixture  is  equipped 
with  a  125-watt  (50-cp)  lamp  and  individual  reflector.  A 
similar  sign  is  in  use  at  Linden  Street,  Waltham. 

Besides  the  foregoing,  about  twenty  electric  signs  ordi- 
narily used  by  real  estate  dealers  are  in  service  in  adver- 
tising the  show.  The  company  furnishes  free  energy  and 
lamp  renewals  for  these  signs  under  normal  conditions 
with  the  proviso  that  new  buildings  advertised  shall  be 
equipped  with  electric  wiring  and  this  fact  featured.  The 
real  estate  signs  vary  in  size  from  6  ft.  x  8  ft.  to  10  ft.  x 
25  ft.  A  typical  sign,  located  on  Commonwealth  Avenue, 
Auburndale,  is  illustrated  herewith.  This  sign  is  20  ft.  x 
10  ft.  in  dimensions,  and  is  equipped  with  si.x  lOO-watt 
tungsten  lamps  mounted  in  6-in.  x  8-in.  x  li-in.  reflectors 
attached  to  l-in.  pipe  brackets  and  set  with  the  lamps 
about  12  ft.  above  the  ground,  30  in.  from  the  front  of  the 


Fig.     1 — Electric     Sign     at     Newton,     Mass., 
Electric   Show. 


mm.-:  1 


-^ 


Advertising      Boston 


Fig.     2 — Illuminated     Billboard     Used     for     Boston     Electric     Show 
Advertising. 


Swampscott  and  outside  of  Portsmouth,  N.  11.  la  gen- 
eral, these  displays  point  out  the  time  and  place  of  the 
show,  which  is  to  be  held  in  the  Mechanics'  Building,  Bos- 
ton, from  Sept.  28  to  Oct.  26;  emphasize  the  unprece- 
dented size  and  outlay  involved,  touch  upon  the  numtjer  of 
operating  exhibits  to  be  shown,  exceeding  10,000,  and  seek 
in  as  few  words  as  possible  to  arouse  interest  in  the  rap- 
idly approaching  event,  which  will  be  the  largest  all-elec- 
tric show  ever  held. 

The  co-operative  development  signs  employed  are  usu- 
ally about  50  ft.  long  x  15  ft.  high,  and  with  the  exception 
of  those  at  Waltham  (Linden  Street)  and  Canton  Junc- 
tion, are  equipped  with  trougli  reflectors.  Where  the  loca- 
tion permits,  the  signs  are  built  with  double  facing,  the 
Natick  board,  for  example,  being  situated  between  a  steam 
railroad  and  an  electric  railway,  so  that  an  appeal  to  each 
class  of  traffic  is  made.  This  board  is  illuminated  by  100 
So-watt  metallized-filament  lamps,  fifty  similar  lamps  being 
used  at  South  Framingham.  At  Chelsea  a  similar  sign 
appeals  to   traffic   passing  over  the   Revere   Beach   Boule- 


board  and  3  ft.  apart,  the  reflectors  being  set  with  axes 
making  a  downward  angle  of  about  45  degrees,  and 
painted  with  white  enamel  on  their  inside  surfaces.  All 
energy  is  supplied  on  a  meter  basis  at  no  volts,  coming 
either  from  the  outside  network  or  from  a  local  trans- 
former. Time  switches  are  also  provided  in  each  in- 
stance. 

The  Newton  and  Waltham  signs  are  two  of  the  most 
striking  on  the  Edison  system,  and  each  is  of  the  flashing 
type,  having  dimensions  about  22  ft.  x  35  ft.  The  instal- 
lations are  both  mounted  on  steel  framing,  upon  the  roofs 
of  buildings  close  to  railroad  trunk  lines.  The  Newton 
sign,  illustrated  herewith,  contains  650  lo-watt  metallized 
filament  lamps,  and  the  Waltham  sign  contains  200  4-cp 
lamps  and  500  2-cp  lamps.  Red  borders  are  used  on  each, 
color  caps  being  employed  in  the  Newton  sign  and  dipped 
lamps  at  Waltham.  Each  sign  sets  forth  a  line  at  a  time 
until  the  message  is  complete,  after  which  the  entire  dis- 
play is  cut  off.  Prior  to  the  opening  of  the  show  these 
signs  will  be  operated  practically  all  night,  every  night. 


526 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


DURING  the  past  week  tlie  general  situation  has  been 
marked  by  a  sharp  advance  in  money  rates  and  a 
large  decrease  in  the  bank  surplus,  while  the  pros- 
pects of  a  shortage  of  freight  cars  are  increasing.  Call 
money  rates  rose  to  4J^  per  cent  and  ninety-day  funds  have 
been  quoted  at  5  per  cent.  These  conditions  are  explained, 
in  part  at  least,  by  the  extra  demand  for  funds  at  the  crop- 
moving  season.  The  volume  of  business  in  the  machinery 
trade  is  reported  to  be  increasing  month  by  month,  and  the 
market  is  particularly  active  in  the  Middle  West.  Bank 
clearings  during  the  past  week  showed  an  increase  in  all 
of  the  five  leading  cities,  with  the  exception  of  St.  Louis. 

The  reports  of  business  in  the  electrical  industry  con- 
tinue to  be  encouraging,  and  steady  progress  seems  to  be 
the  rule.  New  enterprises  are  going  ahead  and  there  are 
no  inherent  difficulties,  apparently,  in  securing  the  neces- 
sary financing.  The  increasing  importance  of  the  political 
situation  is  commencing  to  influence  somewhat  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  business  situation,  particularly  since  the  re- 
cent election  in  Vermont. 


General  Electric's  Pension  System. — The  General  Elec- 
tiic  Company  has  recently  announced  an  extensive  pension 
system,  under  which  it  is  planned  to  pension  male  em- 
ployees who  have  been  in  the  service  of  the  company  for 
twenty  years  or  more  and  have  reached  the  age  of  seventy 
years  and  female  employees  who  have  been  with  the  com- 
pany for  a  like  period  and  have  reached  the  age  of  sixty 
years.  Employees  may  be  pensioned  if  incapacitated  for 
work  after  the  ages  of  sixty-five  for  men  and  fifty-five  for 
women.  The  pension  will  consist  in  all  cases  of  I  per  cent 
of  the  average  yearly  rate  for  the  ten  years  preceding  the 
employee's  retirement,  multiplied  by  the  number  of  years 
he  has  been  employed;  but  no  employee  shall  receive  more 
than  $125  per  month.  Some  fifty  employees  at  the  Schenec- 
tady works  will  be  pensioned  this  fall.  The  system  will 
apply  likewise  to  the  Lynn,  Pittsfield,  New  York,  Fort 
Wayne  and  Harrison  works  and  plants  in  other  cities.  The 
first  pension  board,  which  will  serve  for  one  year,  is  com- 
posed of  E.  W.  Rice,  Jr.,  chairman;  Marsden  L.  Perry,  F.  C. 
Pratt,  G.  E.  Emmons,  W.  C.  Fish,  G.  F.  Morrison,  C.  C. 
Chesney  and  M.  F.  Westover. 

Third  Avenue  Railway  Company  Seeks  to  Purchase 
Securities  of  New  York  City  Interborough  Railway  Com- 
pany.— The  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  First  Dis- 
trict of  New  York  has  received  from  the  Third  Avenue 
Railway  Company  a  petition  asking  consent  for  the  pur- 
chase of  13,560  shares  of  the  stock  and  $259,000  par  value 
of  the  bonds  of  the  New  York  City  Interborough  Railway 
Company  for  the  sum  of  $234,625.  The  petition  states  that 
the  Third  Avenue  Company  now  owns  28,650  shares  of  the 
stock  and  $1,413,000  par  value  of  the  bonds  of  the  New  York 
City  Interborough  Company.  The  latter  has  outstanding 
$5,000,000  in  capital  stock  and  an  authorized  bond  issue  of 
$5,000,000,  of  which  $3,000,000  have  been  issued.  Of  the 
bonds  issued,  $87,000  belong  to  the  sinking  fund,  $1,211,000 
are  in  possession  of  the  New  York  City  Interborough  Rail- 
way Company,  and  $1,702,000  are  outstanding.  A  hearing 
will  be  held  on  the  application  next  month. 

Bay    State    Street    Railway    Company    Notes. — The    Bay 

State  Street  Raihvay  Company,  which  owns  and  operates 
a  comprehensive  system  of  street-railway  lines  connecting 
the  principal  cities  and  towns  situated  within  a  distance  of 
30  miles  north  and  45  miles  south  of  the  city  of  Boston. 
including  Lowell,  Lynn,  Lawrence,  Haverhill,  Salem, 
Gloucester,  Quincy,  Brockton  and  other  cities,  is  disposing 
of  an  issue  of  $2,000,000  par  value  of  5  per  cent  coupon 
notes.  These  notes  will  mature  serially  from  1913  to  1932. 
The  Bay  State  company  controls  a  total  of  956  miles  of 
track,  including  68  miles  operated  under  lease  in  New 
Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island  and  26  miles  in  the  city  of 
Boston  leased  to  the  Boston  Elevated  Railway  Company. 
This   offering   is  being   handled   by   N.   W.    Harris   &   Com- 


pany, Marrill,  Oldham  &  Company  and  Perry,  Coffin  & 
Burr.  Approval  of  the  issue  has  been  secured  from  the 
Massachusetts  Board  of  Railroad  Commissioners. 

Growth  of  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company's  Business. — 

The  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company's  consumers  increased 
12,224  during  the  first  six  months  of  the  current  year,  and 
on  this  basis  it  is  estimated  that  at  the  end  of  1912  there 
will  be  a  total  of  312,000  consumers,  with  an  increase  of 
nearly  $1,000,000  in  gross  earnings.  For  191 1  the  gross  was 
$14,604,000  compared  with  $14,300,000  for  1910.  The  average 
gross  earnings  per  customer  amounted  to  $40  per  annum 
during  1911.  This  average  has  been  increasing  steadily  for 
several  years,  notwithstanding  rate  reductions  in  all  large 
centers  of  consumption.  Work  on  the  new  hydroelectric 
plant  on  the  Bear  River  is  said  to  be  progressing  rapidly, 
and  it  will  probably  be  ready  for  operation  during  1913. 
After  this  plant  is  placed  in  commission  the  company  will 
no  longer  be  required  to  purchase  electrical  energy,  as  it  is 
now  compelled   to  do. 

Chicago  Suburban  Gas  &  Electric  Company. — The  Chi- 
cago Suburban  Gas  &  Electric  Company  was  incorporated 
under  the  laws  of  Delaware  on  Aug.  27,  with  authorized 
capital  stock  of  $6,000,000.  It  will  take  over,  through  reor- 
ganization, the  North  Shore  Gas  Company,,  which  has  its 
headquarters  in  Waukegan,  111.,  and  supplies  gas  to  that 
city  and  also  to  North  Chicago,  Lake  Blufif,  Lake  Forest, 
Fort  Sheridan,  Highwood,  Highland  Park,  Libertyville, 
Ravinia,  Winnetka  and  Glencoe,  111.  Mr.  Charles  T.  Boyn- 
ton  is  president  of  the  company  and  Mr.  W.  Irving  Osborne 
is  secretary  and  treasurer.  The  new  company  is  not  in- 
cluded in  the  InsuU  group  of  public-service  properties,  as 
has   been   reported. 

Scranton  Electric  Company's  Bonds. — .\n  offering  of 
$234,000  of  the  S  per  cent  gold  refunding  bonds  of  the 
Scranton  Electric  Company,  of  Scranton,  Pa.,  is  being  made 
by  Harris,  Forbes  &  Company.  These  bonds  are  dated 
July  I,  1907,  and  are  due  in  thirty  years,  redeemable  at  any 
interest  date  after  1912  at  110  and  accrued  interest.  The 
Scranton  Company  is  a  consolidation  of  several  electric 
light  and  power  companies  controlling  the  entire  business 
of  Scranton  and  adjoining  towns.  It  is  estimated  that  the 
company  serves  at  the  present  time  a  population  of  225,000. 
Provision  is  made  under  the  mortgage  for  an  annual  sinking 
fund  of  2  per  cent  of  the  total  amount  of  bonds. 

Business  of  the  American  Steel  &  Wire  Company. — It  is 

reported  that  the  business  of  the  American  Steel  &  Wire 
Company  during  August  established  a  new  high  record 
compared  with  the  corresponding  months  of  the  previous 
years.  Orders  were  booked,  it  is  said,  at  the  rate  of  6000 
tons  per  day,  or  1,800,000  tons  per  annum.  Considering  the 
fact  that  August  is  not  ordinarily  a  brisk  month  in  the  wire 
trade,  this  volume  of  business  is  highly  encouraging.  The 
present  activity  is  due  in  a  considerable  measure  to  buying 
from  the  agricultural  districts. 

Crocker-Wheeler  Company  Orders. — The  Crocker-Wheel- 
er Company,  Ampere,  N.  J.,  announces  the  sale  to  the 
Sierran  Construction  Company,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  of  three 
2250-kva  waterwheel-driven  generators,  one  loo-kw  inter- 
pole  exciter  and  one  150-hp,  lOO-kw  interpole  motor-gen- 
erator set;  also  to  the  city  of  Austin,  Tex.,  of  three  1500-kva 
alternating-current  vertical  generators,  three  35-kva,  6600- 
440-volt  self-cooled  transformers,  three  looo-kva,  6600-2300- 
volt  water-cooled  transformers,  two  500-hp,  2300-volt  induc- 
tion motors  and  two  75-kw  motor-generator  sets.  — 

New  Iowa  City  Company. — The  Iowa  City  Light  & 
Power  Company  has  been  incorporated  in  Delaware  with 
authorized  capital  stock  of  $5,000,000.  It  is  reported  that 
this  company  is  affiliated  with  the  Tri-City  Railway  &  Light 
Company,  of  Davenport.  la.,  which  is  in  turn  controlled  by 
the  United  Light  &  Railways  Company,  of  Grand  Rapids, 
Mich.  Iowa  City  is  now  served  by  the  Iowa  City  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  which  is  a  consolidation  of  two  older 
utility  companies  serving  this  territory. 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


527 


Tennessee  Railway  Light  &  Power  Company  Pays  First 
Dividend. — On  Sept.  3  the  Tennessee  Railway,  Light  & 
Power  Company  paid  the  first  regular  quarterly  dividend  of 
V/z  per  cent  on  the  $10,250,000  of  outstanding  preferred 
stock.  The  corporation  was  organized  last  May  and  owns 
practically  all  the  stocks  of  the  Tennessee  Power  Com- 
pany, the  Chattanooga  Railway  &  Light  Company,  the 
Nashville  Railway  &  Light  Company  and  the  Cleveland 
Electric  Company.  .'\t  the  time  of  organization  of  the 
holding  company  it  was  estimated  that  the  earnings  for  the 
first  year  would  be  sufficient  to  provide  for  the  interest  on 
the  $7,500,000  of  5  per  cent  preferred  bonds  of  the  Ten- 
nessee Power  Company  and  the  preferred  stock  of  the 
Tennessee  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company,  but  as  the 
former  is  still  largely  in  a  construction  stage  it  was  not 
thought  that  there  would  be  much  surplus  above  the  pro- 
vision for  these  charges.  When  the  transmission  lines  are 
fully  completed  the  company  will  serve  a  population  of 
about  250,000,  including  Chattanooga,  Nashville,  Cleve- 
land, Knoxville,  Columbia  and  other  towns  in  Tennessee, 
as  well  as  Rome,  Ga.  The  20,000-hp  installation  of  the 
Tennessee  Power  Company  is  now  being  extended  to  a 
total  of  51,000  hp.  The  company  still  holds  undeveloped 
power  sites  capable  of  developing  110,000  hp.  The  phos- 
phate mines  of  Tennessee,  the  electric  traction  lines  oper- 
ating in  that  region  of  the  State  and  the  many  new  manu- 
facturing establishments  attracted  by  the  cheap  rates  for 
electrical  energy  will  consume  all  of  the  output  not  re- 
quired by  the  underlying  companies  of  the  Tennessee 
Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company. 

San  Domihgo  Light  &  Power  Company,  Santiago. — Plans 
are  being  pushed  by  the  San  Domingo  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany for  the  construction  of  a  hydroelectric  plant  of  sev- 
eral thousand  horse-power  capacity  on  the  River  Yaque, 
about  10  miles  south  of  the  city  of  Santiago,  San  Domingo. 
The  plant  will  supply  energy  to  the  seaport  of  Puerto  Plata, 
a  town  of  7000  inhabitants,  and  to  the  city  of  Santiago, 
which  has  a  population  of  16,000.  A  700-kw  auxiliary  steam 
plant  is  to  be  built  at  Puerto  Plata  for  temporary  service  in 
the  district  pending  the  completion  of  the  hydroelectric 
station.  Electrical  energy  will  be  used  in  the  construction 
of  the  dam  on  the  River  Yaque  and  for  the  operation  of 
a  pumping  installation  in  connection  with  a  new  water- 
works system  in  Santiago,  Moca,  La  Vega  and  elsewhere, 
superseding  the  use  of  human  water-carriers.  The  trans- 
mission line  between  Santiago  and  Puerto  Plata  will  pass 
through  a  mountainous  country  resembling  the  Sierras  of 
California.  The  project  is  being  completely  financed  in 
Boston,  the  following  gentlemen  being  associated  with  the 
San  Domingo  Company:  President,  J.  J.  Moore;  consulting 
steam  engineer,  George  H.  Barrus;  hydraulic  engineer,  H. 
S.  Ferguson,  New  York;  general  manager,  J.  L.  Bryne;  elec- 
trical superintendent,  George  T.  Street;  consulting  electric:>l 
engineer,  N.  J.  Neall,  Boston.  All  matters  relating  to  the 
San  Domingo  company  are  being  handled  by  Moore  &  Com- 
pany, Pemberton   Building,  Boston. 

The  Hall  Railway  Signal  Company  Succeeds  the  Hall 
Signal  Company. — The  Hall  Railway  Signal  Company  has 
been  incorporated  at  Portland,  Maine,  as  the  successor  to 
the  Hall  Signal  Company,  under  the  reorganization  plan. 
The  capital  stock  of  the  new  company  is  $5,000,000.  Six 
per  cent  debentures  will  be  issued  to  the  extent  of  $1,000,000 
par  value  for  the  purpose  of  adjusting  and  paying  off  the 
floating  debt  and  obligations  of  the  old  company.  The  new 
company,  it  is  said,  will  commence  business  with  more  than 
$500,000  cash  in  its  treasury  and  with  an  additional  $600,000 
of  quick  assets  in  bills  and  accounts  receivable,  without  any 
floating  debt.  It  has  been  announced  also  that  the  new 
company  has  on  hand  unfilled  orders  approximating  $2,000,- 
000,  and  the  plans  for  the  future  are  said  to  contemplate  the 
enlargement  of  the  plant  at  Garwood,  N.  J.,  and  the  entrance 
of  the  company  in  a  broad  way  into  the  interlocking  switch 
business. 

Heany  Lamp  Company  Assets  Sold  to  the  Independent 
Lamp  &  Wire  Company. — It  is  formally  announced  that  the 
Independent  Lamp  &  Wire  Company,  1733  Broadway,  New 
York,  has  purchased  the  assets  and  good  will  of  the  Heany 
Company,  the  Heany  Lamp  Company  and  the  Heany  Fire- 
Proof  Wire  Company,  assuming  in  addition  all  uncompleted 
contracts  undertaken  by  any  of  these  three  companies.    The 


new  company  also  announces  that  it  intends  to  continue  the 
plants  which  it  has  hitherto  operated  at  Weehawken,  N.  J., 
and  York,  Pa.  The  Independent  Lamp  &  Wire  Company 
furthermore  announces  that  it  will  manufacture  the  type  of 
tungsten-filament  lamps  covered  by  the  Karl  Farkas  patents 
as  well  as  continue  the  manufacture  of  the  asbestos-insulated 
magnet  wire  known  under  the  trade  name  of  "Salamander." 

Organization  of  Intercity  Power  Company  to  Succeed 
Long  Acre  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company. — It  has  been 
announced  that  the  Intercity  Power  Company,  of  New 
York  City,  which  was  recently  incorporated  under  the  laws 
of  the  State  of  Delaware,  will  take  over  the  entire  franchise, 
property  and  assets  of  the  Long  Acre  Electric  Light  & 
Power  Company.  It  is  also  reported  that  the  new  com- 
pany proposes  to  furnish  light  and  power  for  lighting  and 
motor  service  throughout  the  city  of  Greater  New  York 
and  will  enter  into  an  agreement  with  the  Hudson  &  Man- 
liattan  Railroad  Company  to  receive  all  of  the  latter's  sur- 
plus electrical  energy.     No  details  have  yet  been  announced. 

Pittsburgh  &  Butler  Street  Railway  Company  Abandons 
Alternating-Current  Equipment. — The  single-phase  alter- 
nating-current system  of  electric  traction  now  in  use  on 
the  Pittsburgh  &  Butler  Street  Railway  between  Pittsburgh 
and  Butler  will  be  abandoned  in  favor  of  the  1200-volt 
direct-current  system.  The  main  generating  station  is 
located  at  Renfrew,  about  midway  between  the  terminal 
points.  Nine  substations  will  be  established  along  the  33 
miles  of  line  between  terminals,  for  supplying  lighting  and 
motor  service  to  several  of  the  towns  traversed.  Energy 
will  be  transmitted  at  22,000  volts.  The  cars  and  substa- 
tions will  be  equipped  by  the  General  Electric  Company. 

Railway   Safety   Committees   Organized  at   Los  Angeles, 

Cal. — The  Pacific  Electric  Railway  Company,  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.,  has  appointed  a  division  safety  committee  and  a 
central  safety  committee  to  meet  every  month  for  the  pur- 
pose of  discussing  ways  and  means  to  prevent  railway 
accidents  to  both  the  public  and  employees.  The  division 
committee  is  to  be  composed  of  one  man  from  each  de- 
partment, while  the  central  committee  will  be  made  up  of 
officials  of  the  company  representing  the  entire  system.  All 
employees  will  be  invited  to  submit  recommendations  or 
discussion  pertaining  to  the  cause  and  prevention  of  acci- 
dents on  the  company's  lines. 

New  York  State  Railways  Bond  Issue  Authorized. — The 
stockholders  of  the  New  York  State  Railways,  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  have  approved  a  plan  to  execute  a  first  consolidation 
and  refunding  mortgage  to  secure  an  issue  of  fifty-year 
4!/.  per  cent  bonds  of  the  par  value  of  $50,000,000.  It  is 
announced  that  the  plan  is  to  cancel  the  company's  existing 
mortgage  authorizing  the  issuance  of  $30,000,000  of  5  per 
cent  bonds.  Of  the  $4,500,000  of  5  per  cent  bonds  which 
liave  been  issued,  all  are  in  the  hands  of  trustees. 

New  York  Railway  Company  Asks  for  Approval  of  Bond 
Issue. — The  New  York  Railway  Company  has  applied  to 
the  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  First  District  of 
New  York  for  permission  to  issue  $2,600,000  of  additional 
bonds.  The  proceeds  of  the  issue  are  to  be  applied  to  the 
purchase  of  320  additional  cars  of  the  stepless  type  and 
other  improvements.  These  bonds  are  thirty-year  4  per 
cent  first  real-estate  and  refunding  mortgage,  and  $16,299,- 
167  have  already  been  issued. 

Iowa  Public  Service  Corporation,  Cedar  Rapids,  la. — 
It  is  reported  that  tlie  Iowa  Public  Service  Corporation  will 
be  organized  under  the  laws  of  Iowa,  with  a  capital  stock 
of  $6,000,000,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  over  the  properties 
in  which  W.  G.  Dows,  J.  H.  Smith  and  J.  A.  Reed  and  their 
associates  are  interested.  These  include  the  Cedar  Rapids 
and  Iowa  City  Railway  &  Light  Company,  the  Boone  Elec- 
tric Company  and  the  Marshalltown  Light,  Power  &  Rail- 
way Company. 

Brazilian  Traction,  Light  &  Power  Company,  Ltd., 
Montreal,  Que. — The  board  of  directors  of  the  Brazilian 
Traction,  Light  &  Power  Company  has  declared  operative 
the  plan  for  the  exchange  of  the  securities  of  the  company 
for  the  stock  of  the  Rio  de  Janeiro  Tramway,  Light  & 
Power  Company,  Ltd.,  the  Sao  Paulo  Tramway,  Light  & 
Power  Company,  Ltd.,  and  the  Sao  Paulo  Electric  Com- 
pany, Ltd.,  which  was  referred  to  in  these  columns  last 
week. 


S2« 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


Permanent  Exhibit  of  Railway  Supplies  in  Chicago. — A 
permanent  exhibition  of  railway  supplies  has  been  open  to 
the  public  in  Chicago  for  several  months.  It  is  a  private 
enterprise,  but  is  free  to  visitors.  The  exhibit  occupies  the 
twelfth  floor  of  the  new  Karpen  Building,  900  South  Michi- 
gan Avenue.  It  is  planned  for  railway  men,  particularly, 
and  is  designed  to  show  devices,  materials  and  specialties  in 
which  they  are  interested.  The  exhibition  hall  contains 
26,000  sq.  ft.  of  floor  space,  divided  into  about  150  booths 
of  various  sizes,  which  are  rented  to  manufacturers.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  exhibit  spaces  are  still  vacant.  The 
booths  are  attractively  fitted  up  with  desks,  chairs  and 
tables,  and  in  some  cases  are  used  as  the  offices  of  the 
representatives  of  out-of-town  concerns.  An  assembly 
room,  seating  250,  is  provided,  and  here  several  societies  of 
railway  men  hold  their  meetings.  Concerns  like  the  Crane 
Company,  Pyle  National  Electric  Headlight  Company, 
Verona  Tool  Works,  Gold  Car  Heating  &  Lighting  Com- 
pany and  International  Correspondence  Schools  are  among 
the  exliibitors. 

Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  Or- 
ders.— Among  the  large  orders  recently  received  by  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  are  two 
from  South  America.  The  Rio  de  Janeiro  Tramway, 
Light  &  Power  Company,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Brazil,  has  or- 
dered 100  No.  304  motors  and  no  type  K-35-G  controllers; 
F.  H.  Walter  &  Company,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  have  ordered  two 
quadruple  No.  lOi-G  motors  with  type  K-28  control  and 
three  double  equipments  consisting  of  No.  lOi-G  motors 
with  type  K-io  control.  The  motors  last  mentioned  are  for 
narrow-gage  railway  service.  An  order  has  also  been  re- 
ceived from  the  Milwaukee  Electric  Light  &  Railway  Com- 
pany, Milwaukee,  Wis.,  for  thirty  quadruple  equipments  of 
No.  306  type  C-A-2  motors  with  type  K-35-G  control.  The 
August  business  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufac- 
turing Company  maintained  the  high  record  thus  far  estab- 
lished for  the  current  fiscal  year,  and  the  company  is  now 
reported  to  be  doing  the  largest  business  in  its  history, 
probably  at  a  rate  in  the  close  neighborhood  of  $40,000,000 
per  annum. 

Manhattan  Bridge  Three-Cent  Line. — The  application  of 
the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Company  and  associated  trac- 
tion companies  for  an  injunction  restraining  the  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn  from  supplying 
power  to  the  Manhattan  Bridge  Three-Cent  Line  has  been 
denied  by  Supreme  Court  Justice  Kelby  in  Brooklyn.  In 
upholding  the  right  of  the  new  line  to  commence  operation 
immediately.  Justice  Kelby  said  that  the  Public  Service 
Commission  had  determined  that  public  convenience  and 
necessity  required  the  construction  and  operation  of  this 
new  route,  and  that  the  finding  of  the  commission  is  binding. 
The  court  stated  that  the  plaintiffs  apparently  had  no 
greater  interest  in  the  Manhattan  Bridge  than  any  ordinary 
citizen  and  had  no  vested  rights  which  would  be  affected, 
particularly  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  grant  to  the  Three- 
Cent  Line  is  not  an  exclusive  one. 

New  York  City  Street  Railway  Accidents. — The  July  re- 
port of  accidents  on  railroads  and  street  railroads  in  the  city 
of  New  York  issued  by  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  the 
First  District  reflects  the  progressive  reduction  in  the  num- 
ber of  persons  killed.  This  report  shows  that  twenty-nine 
persons  were  killed,  compared  with  forty-one  in  the  corre- 
sponding month  last  year  and  forty-six  two  years  ago.  The 
number  of  serious  accidents  was  208,  compared  with  233  a 
year  ago  and  359  two  years  ago.  The  total  number  of 
accidents  of  all  kinds  shows  an  increase  about  in  proportion 
to  the  increase  in  traffic,  being  6548  in  July  this  year,  com- 
pared with  6046  last  year  and  5772  in  July,  1910. 

Foreign  Tariff  Notes. — All  changes  of  importance  in 
customs  tariff  or  regulations  of  foreign  countries  during 
the  last  two  years  are  shown  in  "Foreign  Tariff  Notes,"  of 
which  No.  7  has  just  been  issued  by  the  Bureau  of  Foreign 
and  Domestic  Commerce  of  the  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor,  Washington,  D.  C.  This  number  contains  also 
a  cumulative  index  of  all  numbers  issued  to  date.  This 
publication  prints  for  permanent  reference  the  notices  of 
changes  in  foreign  tariffs,  as  well  as  customs  and  consular 
regulations.  It  appears  about  once  every  three  months  and 
copies  of  all  seven  numbers  can  be  obtained  from  the  De- 
partment of  Commerce  and  Labor. 


New  York  Telephone  Company  Acquires  Independent 
Plant. — Notice  has  been  served  on  the  Public  Service  Com- 
mission for  the  Second  District  of  New  York  by  the  New 
York  Telephone  Company  that  the  physical  property  and 
business  of  the  Citizens'  Standard  Telephone  Company  has 
been  purchased  for  the  sum  of  $152,700.  The  Citizens' 
company  has  been  operating  in  Kingston,  Rosendale, 
Shokan  and  vicinity.  Under  the  law  the  consent  of '  the 
commission  was  not  necessary  before  this  change  in  owner- 
ship could  take  place. 

Organization  of  the  Kentucky  Utilities  Company. — An- 
nouncement has  been  made  of  the  incorporation  of  the 
Kentucky  Utilities  Company,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  with  an 
authorized  capitalization  of  $2,000,000,  for  the  purpose  of, 
operating  electric,  gas  and  water  utilities  in  the  vicinity  of 
Louisville.  It  is  said  that  Chicago  capitalists  are  back  of 
the  new  company,  but  details  are  not  yet  obtainable.  The 
Louisville  district  is  now  served  by  the  Louisville  Lighting 
Company  and  the  Kentucky  Electric  Company. 

Demand  for  United  States  Telephone  Company  Bonds. — 

It  is  reported  there  is  a  continued  demand  for  the  bonds 
of  the  United  States  Telephone  Company,  which  operates  in 
Ohio.  The  supposition  is  that  these  bonds  are  being  sought 
for  the  account  of  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company,  in  anticipation 
of  the  eventual  consolidation  of  the  company  with  the  Bell 
interests.  The  price  of  these  bonds  has  advanced  about  10 
points  within  a  short  time,  and  they  are  now  selling  in  the 
vicinity  of  88. 

Electrolytic  Process  Company  Placed  in  Hands  of  Re- 
ceiver.— Judge  Hough  has  appointed  Elihu  Root,  Jr.,  receiver 
for  the  Electrolytic  Process  Company,  of  225  West  Thirty- 
ninth  Street  and  309  De  Kalb  Avenue,  Brooklyn,  under  a 
bond  of  $2,500.  The  application  for  receivership  was  made 
by  the  attorneys  for  all  interested.  The  affidavit  of  August 
Leuchter,  vice-president  of  the  company,  asking  for  an  in- 
vestigation into  the  affairs  of  the  company  was  presented 
to  tlve  court. 


» 


PRICES  IN  NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET. 


Copper:  ( Aug.   27 

Standard:  Bid.       Asked. 

Spot     17.25 

August    1 7.25 

September      17.25 


October 

November     

London  quotation: 

Standard    copper,    spot.... 

Standard    copper,    futures. 

Prime    Lake     

Electrolytic     

Casting     

Copper  wire,  base 

Lead     

Sheet   zinc,   f.o.b.    smelter... 

Spelter,   spot    

Nickel      

Aluminum: 

No.    1    pure   ingot 

Rods  and  wire,  base 

Sheets,    base    


17.25 


17.50 
17.50 
17.5C 
17.50 


, Sept.  3 .. 

Bid.       Asked. 
17.25         17.62J4 


£ 
79 
79 


15     0 

17     6 

17.65  to  17.70 

17.60  to  17.70 

17.40 

19.00 

4.65 

8.75 

7.20 
40.00  to  41.00 

IW,  to22J^ 

32 
33 '/S 


17.25 
17.35 
17.30 

£ 

79 

79 


17.6254 

17.62J4 

17.6254 

d 

3 

0 


OLD  METALS. 


Heavy  copper  and   wire. 

Brass,  heavy    

Brass,  light    

Lead,    heavy    

Zinc,    scrap    


15.75 

10.00 

8.25 

4.40 

5.75 


17.60  to  17.65 

17.55  to  17.65 

17.3754 

19.00 

4.80 

8.75 

7.3754 

40.00  to  41.00 

2154  to  2254 
32 

3354 


15.75 

10.00 

8.25 

4.60 

5.75 


Total    tons. 


COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  AUGUST. 

including Aug.   27,   22,801 


( 


Sept.  3,  29,526 


STOCK  MARKET  PRICES. 

.\ug.  28.  Sept.  4. 

Allis-Chalmers    Vi"  Vi* 

Allis-Chalmers,    pf 1^  2)4 

Amalgamated    Copper    S?^  8654 

Amer.    Tel.    &    Tel 144j|  1445^ 

Boston    Edison 291'  291* 

Commonwealth    Edison    139  138 

Electric    Storage    Battery 57  57 

General    Electric     18254  182'/4 

Mackay    Companies    87^  8754 

Mackay  Companies,  pf 6954  69^ 

Philadelphia    Electric    23^  235^ 

Western    Union     82  54  8154 

Westinghouse     87  8654 

Westinghouse,     pf 125  124 


*Last  price  quoted. 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


529 


Personal 


Mr.  A.  E.  Mason  has  been  appointed  city  engineer  of 
the  town  of  Prince  Rupert,  B.  C,  Can. 

Mr.  K.  L.  Aitken,  manager  of  the  Toronto  Hydro-Electric 
System,  is  at  present  in  England  on  a  leave  of  absence. 

Mr.  Hilson  Warfield,  formerly  manager  of  the  new-busi- 
ness department  of  the  City  Light  Company,  Hopkinsville, 
Ky.,  has  become  associated  with  the  sales  staff  of  the 
Louisville   (Ky.)   Lighting  Company. 

Mr.  R.  J.  Dinwoodey,  for  many  years  connected  with  the 
Capital  Electric  Company,  of  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  has 
become  associated  with  the  sales  department  of  the  Inter- 
Mountain  Electric  Company  of  the  same  city. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Byllesby,  who  is  so  well  known  to  the  electri- 
cal industry,  is  now  president  of  the  Civic  Federation  of 
Chicago,,  and  is  taking  an  active  part  in  the  movement  to 
bring  about  reform  in  methods  of  taxation  in  the  State  of 
Illinois. 

Mr.  F.  Lydall,  manager  of  the  railway  department  of 
Siemens  Brothers  Dynamo  Works,  Ltd.,  Westminster,  Lon- 
don, England,  is  spending  the  first  two  weeks  of  September 
visiting  the  important  electric-railway  installations  in  this 
country. 

Mr.  William  B.  Boyd,  chief  engineer  of  the  Toronto 
Power  Company,  Niagara  Falls  and  Toronto,  Ont.,  has  re- 
signed to  take  general  supervision  of  the  electrical  depart- 
ment of  the  Canadian  Northern  Railway,  a  Mackenzie  and 
Mann  property. 

Mr.  H.  A.  Storrs,  of  Denver,  Col.,  has  recently  become 
associated  with  the  Edmund  T.  Perkins  Engineering  Com- 
pany, First  National  Bank  Building,  Chicago,  111.,  as  con- 
sulting engineer.  Mr.  Storrs  is  a  member  of  the  .\merican 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 

Mr.  Kenneth  Myers  will  soon  sever  his  connection  with 
the  Gallup  (N.  M.)  Electric  Light  Company  and  join  the 
forces  of  the  Cedar  Rapids  &  Iowa  City  Railway  &  Light 
Company,  of  Cedar  Rapids,  la.  Mr.  Myers  was  formerly 
associated  with  the  electric  light  company  at  Perry,  la. 

Mr.  J.  G.  Pomeroy  has  resigned  his  position  as  sales  man- 
ager of  the  Adams-Bagnall  Electric  Company  and  will  spend 
a  vacation  of  three  or  four  months  in  southern  California. 
Although  he  has  made  no  definite  plans  for  the  future, 
doubtless  he  will  continue  his  activities  in  the  electrical 
field. 

Mr.  U.  P.  Wooldridge,  local  manager  of  the  Cheyenne 
(Wyo.)  Light,  Fuel  &  Power  Company,  one  of  the  North- 
ern Colorado  Power  Company's  interests,  has  resigned. 
Mr.  Wooldridge  has  been  connected  with  the  company  since 
June.  1906,  having  charge  of  the  plants  at  Greeley  and 
Boulder,  Col.,  and  Cheyenne,  Wyo. 

Mr.  Frank  O'Neill,  who  was  formerly  associated  with  the 
Pacific  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  has  been  ap- 
pointed to  the  newly  created  position  of  electrical  engineer 
of  the  Bureau  of  Fire  Alarm  and  Police  Telegraph  of  Los 
Angeles,  Cal.  The  appointment  has  been  confirmed  by 
Mayor  Alexander  and  the  City  Council. 

Mr.  T.  A.  Strasswick  has  been  appointed  contract  agent 
of  the  Muskogee  (Okla.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  suc- 
ceeding Mr.  Norman  B.  Hickox,  who  resigned  recently  to 
become  manager  of  the  Greenwood  Advertising  Company, 
Knoxville,  Tenn.  Mr.  Strasswick  has  been  stationed  at 
Muskogee  for  several  years  as  Mr.  Hickox's  assistant. 

Mr.  Errett  Luther  Callahan,  manager  of  the  new-business 
department  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Co.,  Chicago,  111.,  has 
been  elected  secretary  of  the  Commercial  Section  of  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association.  In  addition  to  these 
new  duties  Mr.  Callahan  will  continue  his  work  in  connec- 
tion with  the  committee  on  the  Commercial  Section 
"Digest." 

General  George  H.  Harries,  president  of  the  Louisville 
(Ky.)  Lighting  Company,  who  is  also  commandant  of  the 
coast  defense  artillery  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  has  just 
returned  from  the  latter  place  after  five  days  of  sham  bat- 
tling. General  Harries  had  charge  of  the  "reds"  during 
the  period  of  military  maneuvering  against  a  temporary 
enemy,   the    "blues." 


Mr.  Peter  W.  Sothman,  formerly  chief  engineer  of  the 
Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission  of  Ontario,  has  estab- 
lished headquarters  in  the  Whitehall  Building,  New  York, 
for  the  practice  of  consulting  electrical  engineering  under 
the  firm  name  of  P.  W.  Sothman  &  Company.  His  asso- 
ciates in  the  company  are  Messrs.  J.  A.  Grundige  and  F.  P. 
Mansbendel.  The  company  will  continue  to  maintain 
engineering  offices  in  Toronto,  Can. 

Mr.  Gano  Dunn,  past-president  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  has  presented  to  the  College  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1889,  a 
Poulsen  set  of  radio-telegraph  and  radio-telephone  apparatus 
which  will  soon  be  set  up  at  the  college.  The  gift  of  the 
wireless  outfit  was  made  in  recognition  of  the  assistance 
Mr.  Dunn  received  while  at  the  college,  where  he  aided 
himself  by  acting  as  a  night  telegrapher.  The  apparatus  is 
of  the  high-power  long-distance  type,  consisting  of  the  in- 
struments used  by  the  government  at  San  Francisco.  The 
original  cost  of  the  set  has  been  estimated  at  $13,000. 

Mr.  Robert  Francis  Pack,  president  of  the  Canadian  Elec- 
trical Association,  honorary  president  of  the  Toronto  Com- 
pany Section  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association, 
and  general  manager  of  the  Toronto  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany, Ltd.,  has  severed  his  connection  with  the  latter  com- 
pany and  joined  the  staff  of  Messrs.  H.  M.  Byllesby  & 
Company,  whose  interests  he  will  look  after  in  Minneapo- 
lis, where  he  will  be  stationed  under  General  Harries.  Mr. 
Pack  has  been  with  the  Toronto  company  ever  since  a  lad 
and  worked  his  way  up  through  the  various  grades  to  the 
top.  He  is  one  of  the  best  known  central-station  men  in 
Canada  and  his  name  is  linked  inseparably  with  central- 
station  development  in  the  Dominion.  While  he  will  natur- 
ally be  missed  in  Canada,  he  will  be  a  valuable  acquisition 
to  the  Byllesby  forces. 

Mr.  E.  C.  Deal,  general  manager  of  the  Augusta-.Mken 
(Ga.)  Railway  &  Electric  Corporation,  who  was  recently 
elected  president  of  the  Georgia  Section  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association,  has  been  connected  with  the 
N.  E.  L.  A.  for  the  past  fourteen  years.  His  business  career 
began  in  his  native  State  with  the  Georgia  Electric  Light 
Company,  Atlanta.  Subsequently,  in  1904,  he  assumed 
charge  of  the  Bergen  County  (N.  J.)  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany, and  after  this  company  was  taken  over  by  the  Public 
Service  Corporation  of  New  Jersey  he  was  placed  in  charge 
of  the  central  New  Jersey  territory  for  the  corporation.  He 
resigned  this  position  to  become  general  manager  of  the 
properties  of  W.  N.  Coler  &  Company  in  North  Carolina. 
In  191 1  he  became  associated  with  J.  G.  White  &  Company 
as  general  manager  of  the  Augusta-Aiken  Railway  Company 
and  the  Augusta  Railway  &  Electric  Company,  which  have 
recently  merged  into  the  corporation  of  which  he  is  now  gen- 
eral manager.  Mr.  Deal  is  a  member  of  the  American  Street 
Railway  Association  and  the  American  Gas  Institute.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  commercial  and  country  clubs  in  Green- 
boro,  N.  C,  and  Augusta,  Ga. 


Obituary 


Mr.  Darlington  Turnbolt,  president  of  the  Louisiana 
(Mo.)  Light,  Power  &  Traction  Company,  died  at  the 
home  of  his  daughter  on  Aug.  22.  Mr.  Turnbolt  was  eighty- 
six  years  old.  He  was  at  one  time  Mayor  of  Lincoln, 
III.,  and  was  the  organizer  of  the  National  Gas  Works 
Building  Company,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Mr.  Arthur  D.  Wheeler,  former  president  of  the  Chicago 
Telephone  Company,  died  suddenly  at  his  summer  resi- 
dence in  Lake  Forest,  111.,  on  Aug.  29.  Mr.  Wheeler  was 
a  lawyer  by  profession  and  fifty-one  years  old.  At  the  time 
of  his  death  he  was  chairman  of  the  board  of  directors  of 
the  Chicago  Telephone  Company  and  a  director  of  the 
Western  Electric  Company. 

Mr.  Ralph  Carter  Peck,  lamp  specialist  for  the  General 
Electric  Company  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  died  at  Berkeley, 
Cal.,  on  Aug.  25,  after  a  long  illness.  He  was  born  in  San 
Francisco  and  was  thirty-two  years  of  age  at  the  time  of 
his  death.  His  first  work  with  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany was  in  the  order-handling  division,  and  from  that  posi- 
tion he  advanced  until  he  was  made  incandescent  lamp  spe- 
cialist in  1909. 


530 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


Construction 


HUNTS\'ILLE,  ALA. — Electricity  generated  by  the  power  plant  at 
the  falls  on  Little  River  will  soon  be  transmitted  to  Huiitsville  and 
several  other  Alabama  and  Tennessee  cities  by  the  Alabama  Pwr.  & 
Devel.  Co.,  of  Huntsville.  The  company  has  taken  options  on  the 
property  of  the  Huntsville  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  is  planning  to  con- 
struct an  elect!  ic  railway  from  Decatur  to  Huntsville,  for  which  surveys 
have  been  completed. 

TUSKEGEE,  ALA. — Bids  will  be  received  until  Sept.  24  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  central  heating  and  lighting  plant  for  the  Tuskegee  Normal 
and  Industrial  Institute,  Tuskegee.  The  work  includes  the  construction 
of  a  power  house  and  coal  bunker,  192  ft.  x  112  ft.;  water-tube  boilers, 
engines,  generators,  transformers,  motors,  electric  transmission  system 
and  underground  steam  transmission  system.  Plans  and  specifications 
may  be  seen  at  the  office  of  R.  R.  Taylor,  director  of  industries,  Tuskegee 
Institute;  Walter  G.  Travis,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  consulting  engineer;  Build- 
ers &  Traders'  Exchange,  Birmingham,  and  at  the  Contractors  and 
Dealers'  Exchange,  826  Perdido  Street,  New  Orleans. 

PHOENIX,  ARIZ. — Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect,  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Sept.  9,  for  the  installation  of  an  electric  elevator  in  the  United  States 
post  office  and  custom  house  building,  Phoenix,  Ariz.,  plans  and  specifi- 
cations for  which  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office  or  at  the  office  of 
the  custodian  of  the  building,  Phoenix.  Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising 
architect. 

LITTLE  ROCK,  ARK.— The  Merchants'  Ltg.  Co.,  recently  incorpo- 
rated, has  purchased  the  franchise  recently  granted  by  the  City  Council 
to  the  Arkansas  Cold  Storage  Co.  A  2000-kva  steam-turbine-driven 
plant  will  be  installed  at  once.  Both  polyphase  and  single-phase  alter- 
nating current,  as  well  as  direct  current,  will  be  furnished  in  the  busi- 
ness district.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $500,000.  The  officers  are: 
E.  Cornish,  president;  Christian  Ledwidge,  vice-president;  C.  E.  Rose, 
secretary    and    manager,    and    Isaac    Kempner,    treasurer. 

ALVISO,  CAL. — Work  has  begun  on  the  construction  of  a  substation 
for  the  Sierra  &  San  Francisco  Pwr.  Co.,  which  is  to  be  located  about  3 
miles  from  this  city.     The  cost  of  the  plant  is  estimated  at  $25,000. 

FORT  SEWARD,  CAL. — Surveys  are  being  made  for  laying  out  the 
town  site  of  Fort  Seward.  It  is  understood  that  G.  Y.  Henderson,  of 
Eureka,  and  Supervisor  Samuel  Ledgerwood,  of  Trinity  County,  who  are 
installing  an  electric  plant  near  Zenia  on  a  branch  of  Dobbyn  Creek,  have 
a  tentative  contract  to  furnish  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  here. 
Fort  Seward  has  not  a  post  office. 

HEMET.  CAL. — The  Southern  Sierras  Pwr.  Co.  has  purchased  a  site 
at  the  corner  of  Florida  and  Gilbert  Streets.  Hemet,  on  which  it  will 
erect  a  new  building. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  Home  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  has  taken  out 
a   permit  to  erect  a   new  substation  on   Arlington   Street,   Lo6   Angeles. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — Plans  are  being  prepared  in  connection  with 
the  municipal  railway,  to  extend  from  the  harbor  to  the  business  district. 
by  which  a  loop  will  encircle  the  entire  industrial  district. 

LOS  G.-XTOS,  CAL.— The  Pacific  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  purchased  the 
property  of  the  Los  Gatos  Ice,  Gas  &  El.  Co.  The  purchase  price  is 
said    to    be    $187,762    and    includes    ice,    gas    and    electric    plants. 

PALO  ALTO,  CAL. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of 
Public  Works  until  Sept.  23  for  furnishing  and  installing  a  steam  con- 
densing plant  and  an  electric  generating  unit  at  the  municipal  electric 
plant.      Frank   Kasson    is  clerk. 

QUINCY,  CAL.— The  Indian  Valley  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Greenville,  has 
applied  to  the  Board  of  Supervisors  for  a  franchise  to  erect  a  trans- 
mission line  around  Indian  Valley  and  to  other  points. 

RED  BLUFF,  CAL. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  authorized 
the  Sacramento  Valley  R.  R.  Co.  to  issue  $4,250,000  in  capital  stock.  The 
company  proposes  to  build  an  electric  railway  in  the  Sacramento  Valley 
beginning  at  Red  Bluff  and  extending  in  a  southerly  direction  through 
Tehama,  Glenn,  Colusa  and  Yolo  Counties  to  Woodland  and  thence  to 
Dixon  in  Solano  County,  where  connection  will  be  made  with  the  Antioch 
&  Eastern  Ry.  A  branch  line  is  also  contemplated  from  Colusa  to  Wil- 
liams.    The  railway  will  be  about  160  miles  long. 

RICHMOND,  CAL. — Arrangements  have  been  completed  whereby  the 
Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  will  supply  electricity  throughout  Richmond 
Annex.  Work  will  begin  immediately  on  the  erection  of  a  transmis- 
sion  line   along   the   Panhandle   Boulevard. 

SAN  BERNARDINO,  CAL. — The  Southern  Sierra  Pwr.  Co.,  it  is 
reported,  contemplates  installing  a  third  unit  at  its  generating  plant  in 
this   city. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.— Plans  have  been  completed  by  C.  P. 
W^eks  for  a  power  house  to  be  built  by  the  Union  Iron  Works  Co.  at  its 
Petrero   plant,   to  cost   about   $75,000. 

SAN  FR.\NCISCO,  CAL. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of 
Public  Works  until  Sept.  11  for  additional  and  finishing  present  elec- 
trical   work   at   the    San    Francisco    Hospital. 

SAN  FRANCISCO.  CAL.— The  contract  for  furnishing  and  installing 
the  underground  conduit  and  appurtenances  in  Geary  Street,  between 
Kearny  Street  and  Presidio  Avenue,  for  use  in  connection  with  the 
feeder  cables  for  the  Geary  Street  municipal  railway,  has  been  awarded 
to  Gruver  &  McCaffrey. 


TROPICO,  CAL. — The  business  men  along  San  Fernando  road  will 
erect  ornamental  posts  in  front  of  their  stores  in  connection  with  the 
100   incandescent  lamps  to  be  installed  by  the  city  in  the  near   future. 

TROPICO,  CAL. — The  town  of  Tropico  has  entered  into  a  contract 
with  the  Pacific  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Los  Angeles,  for  lighting  the  streets 
of  the  town  for  a  period  of  five  years.  The  company  is  to  furnish  100 
40- watt    incandescent   street   lamps. 

VALLEJO,  CAL. — The  City  Commissioners  have  adopted  a  resolution 
accepting  the  proposition  of  the  Chabot  interests  to  supply  the  city  of 
V'allejo  with  water.  It  is  understood  that  electrically  operated  pumps  will 
be  installed  at  once  at  Lake   Chabot. 

WASHINGTON,  CAL.— Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installa- 
tion of  a  complete  electric  plant  at  the  Arctic  mine  in  the  near  future. 
J.    V.   Fline  is  manager. 

BROOKSVILLE,  FLA.— The  Brooksville  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  recently 
organized,  will  take  over  the  local  water,  light  and  ice  plants.  Improve- 
ments are  contemplated  by  the  company,  including  extensions  to  water 
mains,    building    1,000,000-gal.   standpipe   for   reserve   supply,    etc. 

BOWDON,  GA. — The  proposition  to  issue  $8,000  in  bonds  for  the  con- 
struction of  an  electric-light  plant  will  be  submitted  to  the  voters  on 
Sept.'  28. 

MACON.  GA. — Bids  will  be  received  by  Bridges  Smith,  clerk  of  Coun- 
cil, until  Sept.  10  for  lighting  the  streets,  parks,  alleys  and  public  build- 
ings of  the  city  of  Macon  for  a  period  of  five  years,  beginning  July  1, 
1913.  W.  A.  McKenna  is  chairman  of  the  committee  on  lights  a:id  elec- 
tricity. 

SAVANNAH,  GA.— The  Great  Eastern  Lumber  Co.  is  building  a 
modern  village  just  west  of  Savannah,  which  will  be  inhabited  by  several 
hundred  workmen  who  will  be  employed  by  the  company.  The  plans  pro- 
vide for  electric  lights,  sewerage  and  other  modern  conveniences.  The 
town  will  be  known  as  Port  Wentworth. 

VALDOSTA,  GA. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
Louis  R.  Benz,  architect,  Valdosta,  until  Sept.  16,  for  installing  plumb- 
ing, steam  heating,  electric  wiring  and  an  electric  elevator  in  \'aldes 
Hotel,  Valdosta.  Copies  of  drawings  and  specifications  may  be  obtained 
from  the  architect,  for  which  a  deposit  of  $15  will  be  required,  which 
will  be  refunded  upon  return  of  the  plans.  C.  B.  Ashley  is  president 
of  the  \'aldes  Hotel  Co. 

HONOLULU.  HAWAII.— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
depot  quartermaster,  War  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Oct.  3, 
for  furnishing  generating  sets  and  switchboards  for  laundry  plant  at 
Schofield    Barracks.   Hawaii.      J.    E.   Normoyle   is   depot  quartermaster. 

BOISE,  IDAHO. — The  More's  Creek  Bowlder  Gold  Dredging  Co.  is 
planning  to  install  electrical  machinery  for  working  the  channel  in 
More's    Creek,    in    Boise    County,    for    gold. 

LEWISTON,  IDAHO.— Surveys  will  soon  begin  by  the  Nez  Perce  & 
Idaho  R.  R.  Co..  Nez  Perce,  for  an  electric  railway,  which  is  to  be  built 
across  the  Craig  Mountains,  from  Forest  to  Waha,  and  through  the 
Tammany   section   to  Lewiston. 

GIBSON  CITY,  ILL. — Steps  have  been  taken  toward  the  installation 
of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Sangamon  Avenue.  It  is 
proposed  to  use  the  cluster-lamp  system. 

HARVARD,  ILL. — An  agreement  has  been  entered  into  between  the 
Harvard  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  North  Shore  El.  Co.  whereby  the 
latter  will  erect  a  transmission  line  to  serve  local  patrons  when  the 
Harvard   company   is   unable   to   carry   the   load. 

MAYWOOD,  ILL.— The  Town  Council  is  contemplating  the  instal- 
lation of  an  electrolytic  sewage  plant  here.  Prof.  Edward  Bartow,  of  the 
University  of  Illinois,  has  been  engaged  to  make  investigations  and  re- 
port   on    same. 

MORTON,  ILL.— The  property  of  the  Morton  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co. 
has  been  purchased  by  H.  E,  Chubbuck,  of  Peoria,  general  manager  of 
the    Illinois    Trac.    system. 

PALIMER,  ILL. — The  Morrisonville  El.  Lt.  Co.,  Morrisonville.  is  con- 
templating e-xtending  its  transmission  line  to  Palmer,  a  distance  of 
4  miles,  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors.  Tne  company,  it  is 
reported,   is   planning  to   install   a   larger  generator   in   its   plant. 

PITTSFIELD,  ILL.— Messrs.  Whiting  &  Kendall  have  sold  the  electric 
light  and  power  franchise  here  and  the  franchise  for  a  distributing 
system  in  Griggsville,  to  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Co.,  of  Chicago. 

QLnNCY,  ILL. — The  property  owners  on  Sixth  Avenue  have  agreed 
to    install    15    ornamental    street    lamps. 

ROBERTS,  ILL. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
install   an    electric-light   system   here   was   carried. 

ROODHOUSE,  ILL.— The  property  of  the  Central  Lt..  Ht.  &  Pwr. 
Co.,  Roodhouse,  has  been  purchased  by  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Co., 
of   Chicago. 

ST.  FRANCTSVILLE.  ILL. — Steps  have  been  taken  to  secure  the  in- 
stallation of  an  electric-lighting  system  here.  The  Central  Illinois  Utilities 
Co.  may  extend  its  transmission  lines  from  Lawrenceville  to  St.  Francis- 
ville  to  supply  electricity  for  the  service. 

SULLn'AN,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  of  Mattoon, 
is  negotiating  for  the  purchase  of  the  property  of  the  Sullivan  El.  Co. 

T.AYLORVILLE.  ILL.— The  contract  for  furnishing  electricity  for 
lighting  the  Christian  County  court  house  and  jail  has  been  awarded  to 
the    Taylorville    Lt.,    Ht.   &    Pwr.    Co..   at   8H    cents   per   kw-hr. 


September  7.  zgi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


531 


TOLONO,  ILL. — The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  of  Mattoon, 
has  purchased  the  electric  plant  of  the  Tolono   El.    Lt.   &   Ice.    Co. 

MOUNT  VERNON,  IND. — The  merchants  have  submitted  a  proposi- 
tion to  the  Council  offering  to  install  cluster  lamps  in  the  business  dis- 
trict, provided  the  city  will  pay  for  their  maintenance. 

PRINCETON,  IND. — H.  H. ,  Heinrichs,  of  Chicago,  111.,  acting  for  a 
syndicate  of  Eastern  capitalists,  has  taken  a  60-day  option  upon  the 
electric  and  power  plants  in  Princeton,  Oakland  City,  Owensville  and 
Fort  Branch,   Ind.,  with  a  view  of  consolidating  these  utilities. 

CEDAR  R.APinS,  lA. — The  stockholders  of  the  Cedar  Rapids  & 
Iowa  City  Ry.  Co.  have  authorized  the  formation  of  a  utilities  corpo- 
ration for  the  purpose  of  taking  over  the  properties  of  Messrs.  Dows, 
Smith,  Reed  and  others.  The  company  will  be  known  as  the  Iowa 
Public    Service    Corporation    and    will    be    capitalized    at    $6,000,000. 

CHELSEA,  lA. — The  property  of  the  Chelsea  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is 
reported  to  have  been  purchased  by  Col.  Dows  &  Co.,  of  Cedar  Rapids,  la. 
DOWS,  lA. — Work  will  soon  begin  on  the  construction  of  the  new  elec- 
tric plant  of  the  Dows  EI.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  A  direct-current,  220-volt, 
three-wire-  system  will  be  installed.  The  plant  will  be  driven  by  gas 
engines  and  equipped  with  storage  batteries.  W.  T.  McCaskey,  of  the 
Seagar   Engine   Works,   Lansing,   Mich.,   is   interested   in  the   company. 

ELDORA,  lA. — The  property  of  the  Eldora  EI.  Lt.  Co.  has  been 
purchased  by  E.  H.  Lundy,  president  of  the  Park  Dam  Co.,  for  $22,000. 
The  plant  will  be  used  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  system  of  the  Park  Dam 
Co..   Eldora. 

L.^MONI,  lA. — The  Herald  Publishing  Company,  Lamoni,  has  applied  to 
the  Board  of  County  Supervisors  for  a  franchise  to  erect  and  operate 
electric  transmission  lines  along  the  highways  of  Decatur  County  for  a 
period  of  20  years. 

LEHIGH,  lA. — The  City  Council  has  entered  into  a  contract  with  the 
Central  Iowa  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Eraser,  whereby  the  latter  will  furnish 
electricity  to  operate  the  new  municipal  electric-light  system.  The  con- 
tract is  for  "a  period  of  10  years  and  a  continuous  service  will  be  fur- 
nished. The  city  will  erect  its  own  distributing  system.  The  company 
is  allowed  the  privilege  of  furnishing  power  direct  to  any  customer  in  the 
city  using  over  10  hp.  The  installation  of  electric  motors  is  contemplated 
by  the  lar^e  clay  manufacturing  plants   in   Lehigh. 

MANCHESTER,  lA. — The  City  Council  has  decided  to  extend  the 
electrolier  street-lighting  system  over  three  of  the  principal  streets  of 
the  city. 

MARCUS,  lA. — The  proposition  to  issue  $16,000  in  bonds  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  will  be  submitted  to  the 
voters  on  Sept.   16. 

MARSHALLTOWN,  I.^. — The  Board  of  Supervisors  has  granted  Dows, 
Smith,  Reed  &  Cook,  of  Cedar  Rapids,  a  franchise  to  erect  transmission 
lines  along  the  highways  of  the  county. 

MECHANICSVILLE,  lA. — A  franchise  for  the  installation  of  an 
electric  plant  here  has  been  granted.  Electricity  for  operating  the  system 
will    be    purchased. 

MONTOUR,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
grant  a  franchise  to  Dows,  Smith,  Reed  &  Cook,  of  Cedar  Rapids,  to 
install  and  operate  an  electric  system  was  carried.  The  voters  at 
La  Grand  have  also  voted  in  favor  of  granting  the  above-named  parties 
a  franchise  there. 

SIOUX  CITY,  lA. — A  special  election  has  been  called  to  vote  on  the 
proposition  to  grant  a  franchise  to  the  Sioux  City  Tel.  Co.  The 
proposed  measure  authorizes  the  Sioux  City  company  to  purchase  the 
property   and    holdings    of    the    Iowa   Tel.    Co. 

SPRINGVILLE,  lA. — .^t  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
grant  a  franchise  to  the  Wapsie  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.  was  carried. 

TITONKA.  lA. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  R.  L.  Lamoreub  to 
install  an  electric-light  plant  at  the  garage  to  furnish  electricity  for  street, 
residential  and  commercial  lighting.  If  sufficient  business  is  guaranteed 
he  will  enlarge  the  plant  and   furnish  a   24-hour  service. 

W.ALCOTT,  lA. — The  People's  Lt.  Co.  has  been  granted  a  franchise 
to  erect  a  high-tension  transmission  line  into  Walcott  from  the  line  of 
the  Davenport-Muscatine  Interurban  Ry.  Co.  at  Blue  Grass.  The  pro- 
posed line  will  be  6H  miles  in  length  and  will  cost  about  $27,000. 

W.WERLY,  I  A. — The  Board  of  Supervisors  has  adopted  specifica- 
tions for  an  electric-light  plant  for  the  County  Home,  for  which  bids 
will  soon  be  called. 

WEST  UNION,  I.\.— The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  West  Union 
EI.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  owned  by  Neff  Brothers,  have  been  purchased  by 
C.  Miller  &  Sons.  The  new  owners  will  operate  the  local  plant  to 
supplement   the   power    from    Turkey    River. 

HUTCHINSON,  KAN.— Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Hutchinson 
Commercial  Club  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting 
system  on  Main  Street.  V.  M.  Wiley  is  a  member  of  the  committee 
appointed  to  look  into  the  matter.  It  is  proposed  to  replace  the  present 
wooden  poles  with  ornamental  iron  lamp  standards  carrying  cluster 
lamps. 

SALINA,  KAN. — Arrangements  have  been  made  whereby  the  installa- 
tion of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  business  district  is  as- 
sured. Lamp  standards  carrying  five-lamp  clusters  and  three-lamp  clusters 
are  under  consideration.  F.  W.  Esktrand  is  chairman  of  the  lighting  com- 
mittee. 


IRVINE,  KY. — The  installation  of  a  lighting  plant  in  Irvine  is  con- 
templated  by    Edwin   C.    Stevens. 

PINE  KNOT,  KY. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  village  author- 
ities by  William  Cornelius,  Williamsburg,  and  Daniel  Taylor,  Jellico,  for 
a   franchise  to  install  an  electric-light   plant  here,  to  cost  about  $3,000. 

L.MCE  PROVIDENCE,  LA. — Additional  machinery,  including  dynamo 
and  engine,  will  be  installed  in  the  municipal  electric-light  plant,  bids 
for  which  will  be  received  until  Sept.  24. 

BALTIMORE,  MD. — The  Consolidated  Gas,  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  con- 
templates increasing  its  capital  stock  from  $44,000,000  to  $45,000,000,  the 
proceeds  to  be  used  for  improvements  and  extension  to  its  electrical 
system.      J.   E.   Aldred,   of   New    York,    is   president. 

BALTIMORE,  MD. — Only  one  bid  was  received  for  furnishing  elec- 
tricity for  the  municipal  buildings  and  schoolhouses  in  Baltimore.  It 
was  submitted  by  the  Consolidated  Gas,  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  The  bid 
was  'A  cent  lower  than  in  previous  years,  owing  to  the  intention  of  the 
city    to    supply    its    own    globes. 

CENTERVILLE,  MD. — Arrangements  have  been  made  whereby  the 
plant  of  the  Centerville  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  will  be  taken  over  and 
operated  by  the  municipality. 

CRISFIELD,  MD.— The  Crisfield  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  will  rebuild  its 
plant,  which  was  recently  destroyed  by  fire. 

BELCHERTOWN,  MASS.— The  Central  Massachusetts  El.  Co.,  Pal- 
mer, has  purchased  the  property  of  the  Belchertown  EI.  Lt.  Co.  and  is 
erecting    a    transmission    line    to   this    town. 

BELLINGH.\M,  M.\SS. — The  Bellingham  Woolen  Co.  has  entered  into 
a  contract  with  the  Edison  El.  Illg.  Co.  of  Boston  whereby  the  latter  will 
supply  electricity  to  operate  the  mills  of  the  former.  The  contract  calls 
for  330  hp.  The  two  steam  plants  of  the  woolen  company  will  be  closed 
down. 

M.VRLBORO,  MASS. — The  Board  of  Aldermen  is  considering  the 
erection  of  electric  lamps  on   Fort  Meadow  road. 

ORLEANS,  MASS.— J.  F.  Eldredge  contemplates  the  installation  of 
an    electric-light    plant    here. 

DETROIT.  MICH.— The  Michigan  State  Telephone  Co.  has  purchased 
the  property   of  the   Home   Tel.    Co.   in   Detroit,   at   $3,500,000. 

MILFORD,  MICH. — The  Milford  El.  Co.  is  planning  to  replace  old 
pumps  in  the  municipal  water-works  station  with  automatic  electric  pumps 
within  a  year.  The  company  is  negotiating  with  the  villages  of  High 
land,  Clyde  and  Nixon  to  furnish  those  towns  with  electricity  for  lamps 
and  motors.  Transmission  lines  will  probably  be  erected  within  two  or 
three  months.     C.  C.  Sherk  is  manager. 

BOYD,  MINN. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  in  Boyd 
is  under   consideration. 

CANBY,  MINN. — ^The  Canby  EI.  Co.,  which  has  been  granted  a  fran- 
chise to  supply  electricity  in  Minnesota,  also  proposes  to  furnish  electrical 
service  in  Taunton  and  Porter  and  to  farmers  residing  between  the 
towns.  The  company  will  not  be  ready  to  supply  the  service  before  next 
spring,  when  an  additional  generator  engine  will  be  installed  in  its  plant. 
Orders  have  been  placed   for  another  boiler. 

GLYNDON,  MINN. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  a  lighting  system  for  the  village  in  connection  with  the  electric  plant 
to  be  installed   in  the   new  school  building. 

LUVERNE,  MINN. — The  contract  for  remodeling  the  municipal  elec- 
tric-light plant  has  been  awarded  to  the  Northwestern  EI.  Equipment  Co., 
of  St.  Paul,  at  $6,373.  This  contract  does  not  include  the  installation 
of  new  transformers  or  the  necessary  changes  in  the  wiring  of  the  city, 
the  cost  of  which  is  estimated  at  about  $4,000.  The  equipment  will 
include  a  135-kw  alternating-current  generator  to  be  belted  to  the  Corliss 
engine  now  in  use  and  a  65-kw  generator  direct-connected  to  a  high- 
speed  Skinner  engine. 

NEW  LONDON,  MINN. — .■\  committee  has  been  appointed  by  the 
Commercial  Club  to  investigate  the  proposition  to  install  an  electric-light 
plant  in  New  London. 

ROCHESTER,  MINN. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Rochester 
Tel.   Co.   a    15-year   franchise. 

RUSH  CITY,  MINN. — The  Markham-Kelsey  interests  contemplate 
a  water-power  development  and  dam  on  the  St.  Croix  River,  near 
Rush   City. 

ST.  PAUL,  MINN. — Mayor  Keller  has  authorized  the  city  engineer  and 
city  chemist  to  prepare  plans  and  estimates  on  the  cost  of  a  municipal 
light,  heat  and  power  plant  to  furrrish  light,  heat  and  power  for  city  hall, 
jail,  library,  auditorium  and  central  police  station. 

SARDIS,  MISS.— The  installation  of  an  electric-light  system  in  connec- 
tion with  the  present  water-works  is  under  consideration.  J.  A.  Davis 
is  manager  of  the  water-works. 

HANNIBAL,  MO. — Three  large  consumers  of  electricity  in  Hannibal 
have  petitioned  the  City  Council  for  a  franchise  to  construct  and  operate 
an  electric  plant.  Electrical  service  is  now  supplied  by  the  municipal 
electric   plant. 

HOLLISTER,  MO. — A  bill  was  introduced  in  the  late  Congress  by 
Representative  Joseph  Russell  authorizing  the  municipality  of  Hollister  to 
construct  a  dam  across  White  River,  about  a  mile  above  this  town. 

KANSAS  CITY,  MO. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  board 
of    trustees    and    the    holders    of    the    trustees'    stocks    and   certificates   of 


532 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io. 


the  Kansas  City  El.  Ry.  Co.,  which  proposes  to  build  an  electric  rail- 
way from  Kansas  City  to  St.  Louis,  for  increasing  the  capital  stock 
from  $15,000,000  to  $30,000,000.  Work  on  the  proposed  railway,  it  is 
said,  will  begin  at  Independence  within  30  days.  The  railroad  with 
power  plants  to  be  located  near  the  county  line  of  Boone  and  Howard 
Counties,  in  the  coal  field,  will  cost  upward  of  $15,000,000.  The  addi- 
tional $15,000,000  is  to  be  used  to  establish  extensive  terminal  facilities 
at  the  termini.     D.  C.   Nevin  is  chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO. — The  Regents'  Publishing  &  Mercantile  Co.,  of 
University  City,  has  been  granted  a  20-year  franchise  to  supply  elec- 
tricity  for   lamps   and   motors   in  the  city,    and   also   for   stveet-lightnig. 

CEDAR  BLUFFS,  NEB.— The  Fremont  Gas,  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
submitted  a  proposition  to  the  Town  Board  offering  to  supply  electricity 
to  a  switchboard  in  Cedar  Rapids  to  operate  the  proposed  electric-liglu 
system,  for  which  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $8,000  have  been  voted. 

SEARCHLIGHT,  NEV. — An  electrically  operated  pump  will  soon  be 
installed   at  the   Pompeii    Mine.     Mr.    Rulon   is   manager. 

TONOPAH,  NEV.— The  Tonopah  Midway  Mining  Co.  is  planning 
to   install    an    electrically    operated   hoist   at   its   mine. 

TONOPAH,  NEV. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  N.  S.  Cutler, 
president  of  the  Tonopah  &  Goldfield  R.  R.  Co.,  and  associates  to 
develop  the  coal  fields  in  Esmeralda  County  for  coke  and  power  pur- 
poses. The  gas  produced  in  connection  with  the  production  of  coke 
will  be  utilized  for  fuel  for  an  electric  generating  plant.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  supply  electricity  for  mining  operations  in  the  vicinity  ot 
Tonopah. 

WINNEMUCCA,  NEV.— .\t  an  election  held  Aug.  15  the  proposition 
to  issue  $180,000  in  bonds  to  purchase  the  property  of  the  VVinnemucca 
Wtr.  &  Lt.   Co.   and  for  improvements  was  defeated. 

BEDFORD,  N.  H.— The  Manchester  Trac,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co..  Manchester, 
has  submitted'a  proposition  offering  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  to  this 
town  provided  sufficient  business  is  guaranteed. 

PHILLIPSBURG,  N.  J.— Local  capitalists  are  considering  the  advis- 
ability of  establishing  an  electric-light  plant  for  the  purpose  of  competing 
with  the  local  corporation.  The  cost  of  an  800-kw  plant  with  distributing 
system  is  estimated  at  $75,000. 

ALBANY,  N.  Y.— Sealed  proposals  subject  to  the  usual  conditions  for 
furnishing  incandescent  lamps  for  "State  hospitals  for  a  period  of  one 
year  from  October,  1912,  will  be  received  until  Sept.  12,  1912.  For  fur- 
ther information  address  the  purchasing  committee  for  State  hospitals, 
Room  138,  Capitol,  Albany,   N.  Y. 

ANTWERP,  N.  Y. — Plans  have  been  prepared  for  the  new  dam  to  be 
constructed  by  the  village  at  Old  Forge. 

CANAJOHARIE,  N.  \'. — The  Montgomery  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  de- 
cided to  extend  its  transmission  lines  from  Sharon  Springs  to  Cobleskill. 
A  24-hour  service  will  be   furnished. 

MILFORD,  N.  Y. — The  Otsego  &  Herkimer  R.  R.  Co.,  Hartwick,  has 
submitted  a  proposition  to  the  Village  Board  offering  to  supply  elec- 
tricity for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  village.  At  present  gas  lamps  are 
used. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  Henry  S.  Thomp- 
son, commissioner  of  water  supply,  gas  and  electricity,  Room  1903,  13  to 
21  Park  Row,  New  York,  until  Sept.  16  for  furnishing  electrical  supplies. 
NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — Contracts  have  been  awarded  by  the  Department 
of  Public  Charities  to  the  Luke  A.  Burke  &  Sons  Co.,  25  West  Forty- 
second  Street,  New  York,  for  the  construction  of  an  independent  electric 
generating  plant  at  Sea  View  Hospital,  Staten  Island,  to  cost  $59,150,  and 
for  the  installation  of  an  additional  boiler  and  accessories,  to  cost  $12,000. 
PENN  YAN,  N.  Y. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Board  of  Vil- 
lage Trustees  for  the  installation  of  an  underground  conduit  for  the 
electric  wires. 

PORTLAND,  N.  Y.— The  Niagara  &  Erie  Pwr.  Co.  has  received 
authority  from  the  Public  Service  Commission  to  issue  capital  stock  to 
the  amount  of  $20,000  and  $60,000  in  bonds,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  to 
secure  the  right-of-way  necessary  for  the  erection  of  a  high-tension  trans- 
mission line  from  West  Portland  to  the  boundary  line  of  Pennsylvania 
and  erection  of  transmission  lines  between   these   points. 

STAPLETON,  N.  Y. — Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect,  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Oct.  3,  for  gas  piping,  heating  apparatus,  conduit  and  wiring  at  the 
United  States  Marine  Hospital,  at  Stapleton,  N.  Y..  in  accordance  with 
specifications  and  drawings,  copies  of  which  may  be  obtained  from  the 
chief  supervising  engineer,  727  Custom  House,  New  York,  or  at  the 
above  office.     Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising  architect. 

T.ALCVILLE,  N.  Y. — The  power  plant  of  the  International  Pulp  Co. 
'n  Talcville  was  destroyed  by  fire  on  Aug.  21,  causing  a  loss  of  about 
$25,000. 

VARNA,  N.  Y. — The  residents  of  Varna  have  asked  the  Ithaca  El.  Lt. 
&  Pwr.  Co.  to  submit  estimates  of  the  cost  of  extending  its  transmission 
line  from  Forest  Home  to  Varna  to  furnish  electricity  for  street  and 
residential  lighting  here. 

SMITHVILLE,  N.  C. — The  contract  for  the  construction  of  an  electric 
light  plant  has  been  awarded  to  B.  C.  Copeland,  Asheville.  The  National 
El.  Sup.  Co.,  Washington,  D.  C,  was  awarded  the  contract  for  pole-line, 
pumping  machinery  and  electrical  apparatus. 

SPENCER,  N.  C. — Surveys  are  being  made  by  the  J.  B.  McCrary  Co., 
engineer,  Atlanta.  Ga.,  for  the  proposed   municipal  electric-light  plant. 


CARRINGTON,  N.  D. — The  City  Council  has  decided  to  enter  into 
an  agreement  with  the  Western  El.  Co.  for  street  lighting,  whereby  the 
company  will  furnish  electricity  for  the  street  lamps.  Orders  have  been 
placed  for  45  lamps  of  30  cp.  The  city  is  to  pay  for  the  lamps  and  cost 
of  installation. 

H.\TTON,  N,  D. — .\n  ornamental  street-lighting  system  will  be  installed 
in  the  business  district  and  the  principal,  residence  streets  here.  Lamp 
standards  carrying  three-lamp  clusters  will  be  used. 

VALLEY  CITY,  N.  D. — The  contract  for  machinery  for  the  municipal 
electric-light  plant  has  been  awarded  to  the  Erie  City  Iron  Works,  Erie 
City,  Pa.,  for  $24,950.  M.  J.  Boyd  is  city  auditor.  The  City  Council  nas 
decided  to  continue  the  work  of  installing  an  ornamental  street-lighting 
system. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
the  secretary  of  the  director  of  public  service.  No.  104  City  Hall,  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  until  Sept.  12  for  lead-incased,  rubber-covered,  two-conductor  , 
cable  for  the  Lighting  Department.  Proposals  must  be  submitted  on  blank 
furnished  by  the  superintendent  of  the  Water  Department.  W.  J.  Spring- 
born   is   director   of  public  service. 

NEWARK,  OHIO.— The  American  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  purchased  the 
Tliomas  Foundry  property,  south  of  the  B.  &  O.  station,  on  which  the 
new  plant  of  the  Licking  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  will  be  erected. 

SPRINGFIELD,  OHIO.— The  Springfield  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  con- 
templates making  improvements  to  its  plant,  involving  an  expenditure 
ot   about   $25,000,   and   increasing  the   output  by   25    per   cent. 

YOUNGSTOWN,  OHIO. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installa- 
tion of  a  power  plant  in  the  Dome  Theater  to  furnish  light  and  power 
for  the  building. 

YOUNGSTOWN,  OHIO. — A  report  has  been  submitted  to  the  Council 
giving  the  cost  of  the  proposed  dam  and  power  plant  at  the  Milton  Reser- 
voir. The  plans  provide  for  the  construction  of  a  dam  525  ft.  wide  at  the 
spillway,  with  dike  2400  ft.  long,  and  the  dam  proper,  35  ft.  high  and  20 
ft.  thick  at  the  crown,  to  cost  about  $500,000,  and  power  plant  to  cost 
$160,731. 

MUSKOGEE,  OKLA. — Samuel  Brown,  Jr.,  of  Chicago,  HI.,  has  closed 
a  contract  with  the  Muskogee  Wtr.  Pwr.  Co.  whereby  Mr.  Brown  agrees 
to  build  a  large  hydroelectric  power  plant,  at  a  cost  of  $1,000,000,  on  the 
Grand  River,  near  Muskogee.     Work  will  begin   within  60   days. 

PURCELL,  OKLA. — Bids  for  the  proposed  electric-light  plant  and 
w^ater-works  system  will  probably  be  ready  to  advertise  in  about  30  days. 
The  cost  of  the  plants  is  estimated  at  from  $25,000  to  $30,000.  W.  B. 
Blanchard  is  Mayor. 

INDEPENDENCE,  ORE. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  con- 
struction of  an  electric  railway  from  Independence  to  Buena  Vista,  a 
distance  of  8  miles.  H.  Hirschberg,  president  of  the  Independent  & 
Monmouth    R.    R.    Co.,    is  interested   in    the   project. 

SALEM,  ORE. — ^The  Southern  Pacific  Company,  through  its  subsidiary 
company,  the  Portland,  Eugene  &  Eastern  El.  Ry.,  contemplates  the 
construction  of  several  hundred  miles  of  electric  railway  of  which 
Salem  will  be  the  center.  A  large  terminal  station  will  be  erected  here. 
SUMPTER,  ORE.— The  Eastern  Oregon  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Baker,  has 
applied  to  the  City  Council  for  a  franchise  to  erect  a  transmission  line 
through  the  city  for  the  purpose  of  transmitting  power  to  the  dredge 
being  built  below  the  city. 

LOCK  HAVEN,  PA. — The  merger  of  six  electric  companies  in  the 
northern  and  central  parts  of  the  State  under  the  name  of  the  Central 
Pennsylvania  El.  Co.,  of  Lock  Haven,  has  been  approved  by  Governor 
Tener.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $30,000  and  has  taken  over  the 
plants  of  the  West  Branch  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Williamsport;  Susque- 
hanna Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Jersey  Shore;  Logan  EI.  Co.,  Bellefoute;  Avis 
Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Avis;  Patterson-Scootac  &  Clinton  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr. 
Corpn.,  Lock  Haven. 

T.^CONY,  PA. — The  contract  for  the  construction  of  a  power  house 
for  H.  Disston  &  Sons.  Tacony,  has  been  awarded  to  F.  W.  Van  Loon,  to 
cost  about  $50,000.  The  plant  will  be  equipped  with  a  turbo-generator. 
PROVI-DENCE,  R.  I. — In  accordance  with  the  new  contract  with  the 
city,  the  Narragansett  El.  Ltg.  Co.  will  soon  replace  the  47  arc  lamps  and 
79  incandescent  lamps  in  Roger  Williams  Park  with  tungsten  incan- 
descent lamps. 

PROVIDENCE,  R.  I. — Plans  for  equipping  the  Pettaconsett  pumping 
station  and  the  high-service  plant  at  the  Hope  station  for  electrical  opera- 
tion have  been  submitted  to  the  city  engineer's  department  by  the  Narra- 
gansett El.  Ltg.  Co. 

JOHNSON  CITY,  TENN. — lue  Tennessee  Eastern  Hydro-Electric  Co., 
which  has  taken  over  the  properties  of  the  Wautauga  El.  Co.  and  the 
Johnson  City  Trac.  Co.,  of  Johnson  City,  has  offered  to  supply  electricity 
to  new  industries  in  Johnson  City  free  of  charge  for  a  certain  period. 
The  company   is  building  a   power  dam   at   Greenville. 

MEMPHIS,  TENN. — The  William  R.  Moore  College  of  Technology, 
which  is  preparing  to  secure  a  site  and  begin  operations,  it  is  said,  will 
soon  require  electrical  equipment.  T.  O.  Vinson  is  one  of  the  trustees. 
CRYSTAL  CITY,  TEX. — A  committee,  consisting  of  M.  L.  Williams, 
J.  A.  Jennings,  O.  A.  Stubbs.  M.  L.  Harkey  and  John  Pegues,  has  been 
appointed  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  company  to  establish  an  elec- 
tric-light plant,  ice  factory  and  cannery 

HOUSTON,  TEX. — The  preliminary  survey  has  been  completed  for  the 


I 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     ^VORLD. 


b33 


proposed  interurban  railway  system  that  is  to  be  built  from  Houston 
to  several  towns  adjacent  to  the  Houston  ship  channel  and  extending 
to  La  Porte,  Sylvan  Beach,  Webster,  Friendswood  and  Pearland,  to 
be  built  by  a  French  syndicate,  represented  by  Dr,  F.  S.  George,  of 
Dayton,  Ohio.  It  is  stated  that  all  financial  arrangements  have  been 
made    for   construction    of   the    railway. 

SMITHV'ILLE,  TEX. — Work  will  soon  begin  on  the  construction  of  a 
power  house  for  tlie  Missouri,  Kansas  &  Texas  R.  R.  Co.  Equipment  lias 
been  purchased  for  the  plant  which  will  supply  electricity  for  the  depot, 
freight   office   and  yards. 

WACO,  TEX. — The  City  Commission  has  granted  the  Texas  Pwr.  Co, 
a  franchise  for  its  proposed  electric  power  plant.  The  power  station 
will  be  located  in  East  Waco  and  will  involve  an  expenditure  of  nol 
less  than  $600,000.  It  is  understood  that  substations  will  be  installed 
at    Hutchins,    Waxahachie,    Hillsboro    and    Rice. 

PROVO,  UTAH. — The  County  Commissioners  have  granted  the 
Knight  Consol.  Pwr.  Co.,  Provo,  a  21-year  franchise  to  construct  and 
operate  a  transmission  line  over  the  county  roads  from  Pleasant  Grove 
to  Provo  and  from  the  mountains  to  the  lake.  The  company  proposes 
to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  to  residents  on  Provo  Beach 
and    all    the    section    between    Provo    and    Pleasant    Grove. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH.— The  City  Comimission  has  granted  the 
Merchants'  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Ogden,  a  franchise  to  install  and  operate 
an  electric-light  plant  for  a  period  of  50  years. 

SOUTH  POULTNEY,  VT. — Equipment  has  arrived  for  the  substation 
■of  the  Rutland  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  here.  The  plant  will  have  an  out- 
put of  about  1000  hp  and  will  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  for 
towns  in  this  vicinity.  About  $500,000,  it  is  said,  will  be  expended  by 
tthe  company  within  eight  months  in  extending  its  street-railway  and 
transmission  systems  through  the  quarrying  districts  and  in  further  de- 
velopment to  its  public  utilities.  The  company,  it  is  reported,  will  extend 
the  Rutland-Fair  Haven-Poultney  electric  railway  to  Granville. 

PULASKI,  VA. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of  a 
1500-hp  steam-driven  electric  plant  to  replace  the  present  municipal  electric 
plant. 

ARLINGTON,  WASH.— The  Chamber  of  Commerce  is  promoting  the 
erection  of  a  telephone  line  from  Arlington  to  Darrington,  a  distance 
of  about  25    miles. 

BELLINGHAM,  WASH.— The  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corpn. 
has  applied  to  the  City  Council  for  a  franchise  to  extend  the  street-car 
line    on    Guide    Meridian    Street,    a    distance   of   2    miles. 

CLE  ELUM.  WASH.— The  Kittitas  El.  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.  will  soon 
begin  work  on  the  construction  of  an  electric  line  that  is  to  connect 
Cle    Elum    and    Roslyn. 

GLENDALE,  WASH.— Bids  are  being  received  by  G.  II.  Woodbury, 
-clerk  of  the  Board  of  City  Trustees,  for  copper  wire.  Beginning  in  Sep- 
tember the  lighting  department  will  erect  200  street  series  tungsten 
lamps  in  the  newly  annexed  territory.  The  city  electrician  has  charge 
of  the  work. 

NORTH  YAKIMA,  WASH.— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
the  supervising  architect,  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C, 
until  Oct.  4  for  an  electric  passenger  elevator  for  the  United  States  post 
-office  and  court  house,  North  Yakima,  plans  and  specifications  for  whicli 
may  be  secured  at  the  above  office.  Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising 
-architect. 

SPOKANE,  WASH.— The  Spokane  &  Inland  Empire  Ry.  Co.  is 
■planning  to  extend  its  electric  railway  from  Milwood,  Wash.,  to  Newman 
Lake,    Idaho,   in  the   near   future.      I.    H.    Young  is  president. 

WARWOOD,  W.  VA. — Application  has  been  raade  to  the  City  Council 
by  the  Brooke  El.  Co.  for  a  franchise  to  install  and  maintain  an  electric- 
light  plant  in  Warwood.      E.   H.   Wise   is   interested   in   the  company. 

WARWOOD,  W.  VA.— The  Wheeling  Elecl.  Co.,  Wheeling,  W.  Va., 
has  applied  to  the  City  Council  for  a  franchise  to  erect  transmission 
lines  throughout  the  city  for  the  distribution  of  electricity  for  lamps  and 
motors  for  a  period  of  25  years.  John  B.  Garden  is  general  manager  of 
the  Wheeling  company. 

BLACK  RIVER  FALLS.  WIS.— The  property  of  the  La  Crosse  Wtr. 
Pwr.  Co.  will  be  sold  at  a  foreclosure  sale  on  Oct.  11,  at  Black  Falls. 
The  plant  supplies  power  to  the  La  Crosse  Gas  &  El.  Co.  and  to  manu- 
facturing plants  in  Winona,  Minn.,   and  La  Crosse. 

ELKHORN,  WIS.— The  Badger  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  applied  for  a 
franchise    to    operate    an    electric    railway    in    this    city. 

LODI,  WIS. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  Byron  Rapp  to  install 
an  electric-light  plant  on  his  farm. 

CORONATION,  ALTA.,  CAN.— By-laws  will  soon  be  submitted  to  the 
ratepayers  to  appropriate  $45,000  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light 
plant   and   water-works  system. 

VICTORIA,  B.  C.,  CAN. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  illuminating 
the  harbor  in  this  city.  The  Canadian  Pacific  Ry.  Co.  has  offered  to 
assist  in  the  project,  provided  the  provincial  government  and  certain 
property  owners  do  their  share.  Captain  Troup  of  the  Municipal  Council 
is  interested. 

WINNIPEG,  MAN..  CAN.— Sealed  tenders  will  be  received  by  P.  t. 
Ryan,  secretary,  at  the  office  of  the  commissioners  of  the  Transcon- 
•tinental  Railway,  Ottawa,  Ont.,  until  Sept.  16,  for  furnishing  and  in- 
•stalling  all  pipi'ig  systems,  pipe  tunnels,  pipe  coverings  and   wiring  ducts 


required  in  connection  with  the  car-shop  plant  of  the  Winnipeg  shops, 
situated  on  the  line  of  the  National  Transcontinental  Railway  about  6 
miles  east  of  Winnipeg.  Plans  may  be  seen  and  specifications  and 
forms  of  tender  obtained  at  the  office  of  W.  J.  Press,  mechanical  en- 
gineer, Ottawa,  Ont.,  and  at  the  office  of  H.  11.  Pinch,  assistant 
engineer,   Transcona,   Man. 

AYR,  ONT.,  CAN. — The  owners  of  the  local  electric-light  plant  have 
offered  to  sell  it  to  the  municipality  for  $3,500.  The  Council  has  decided 
lo  submit  to  the  ratepayers  as  soon  as  possible  a  by-law  providing  for  pur- 
chase of  plant.  In  case  the  by-law  is  carried  it  is  understood  that  the 
plant   will    be   moved   to    Nithvale    and    operated   by   water-power. 

BERLIN.  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Berlin  Light  Commission  has  been  re- 
quested by  the  management  of  the  Canadian  Consol.  Rubber  Co.  to 
submit  an  estimate  for  furnishing  the  company  with  electrical  energy  to 
the  amount  of  2280   hp. 

KINGSTON,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  enlarge 
liie  municipal  electric-light  plant,  at  a  cost  of  about  $35,000. 

LINDSAY,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Town  Council  is  contemplating  the  pur- 
chase of  a  new  electrical  transformer.     D.   Ray  is  clerk. 

TODMORDEN,  ONT..  CAN.— The  Ontario  Hydro-Electric  Commis- 
sion, it  is  stated,  is  willing  to  finance  the  construction  of  distributing 
systems  in  Todmorden,  Woodbine  and  any  other  populous  area  in  York 
Township.  The  Toronto  Hydro-Electric  system  will  take  over  the 
systems    and    operate    them    if    the    proposition    is    adopted. 

BEAUHARNOIS,  QUE.,  CAN.— A  company  has  been  formed  by  a 
group  of  Montreal  financiers  and  business  men  for  the  purpose  ot  erect- 
ing a  power  plant  at  Beauharnois.  Permission  has  been  secured  from 
the  provincial  government  and  franchises  will  be  secured  in  the  city 
of  Montreal  and  in  the  counties  of  Laval,  Jacques  Cartier.  Hochelaga, 
Laprairie,  Chateauguay,  Beauharnois,  Two  Mountains,  Argenteuil,  Sou- 
langes,  Vandreuil.  Terrebonne,  L'Assomption,  Chambly,  Huntington, 
Napierville,   St.   Jean   and  Iberville. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  BEACH-FIELD  ENGINEERING  COMPANY,  of  New  York, 
N.  Y.,  has  been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $150,000  to  manufacture 
machinery,  tools  and  mechanical  equipment.  The  incorporators  are  C.  S. 
Beach,  II.  J.  Hall,  Jr.,  C.  C.  Field  and  W.   B.  Sheddan. 

THE  EASTERN  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  has 
filed  application  for  a  charter  with  the  State  Department.  The  company 
proposes  to  manufacture  electrical  equipment.  The  incorporators  are 
Howard  H.  Wood,  O.  .T.  Schaefer  and  J.  W.  Smith.  C.  S.  Crawford, 
Oliver   Building,  Pittsburgh,   is  solicitor. 

THE  C.  &  C.  ELECTRIC  &  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY  has 
filed  articles  of  incorporation  in  the  oifice  of  the  Secretary  of  State, 
Trenton,  N.  J.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $500,000  and  proposes 
to  manufacture  electrical  appliances.  The  incorporators  are:  Charles  L. 
Hyde,  Peter  F.  Hoffman,  Plainfield,  N.  J.,  and  George  Hills,  West- 
field,   N.   J. 

THE  FIAT  MOTOR  SALES  COMPANY,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  has 
been  incorporated  by  Charles  L.  A.  Whitney,  William  Scallon  and  John 
N.  Blair.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $300,000  and  proposes  to  deal 
in    motors,    engines    and    other    machinery. 

THE  GENERAL  SUPPLY  &  EQUIPMENT  COMPANY,  of  Trenton, 
N.  J.,  has  been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to  deal  in 
railway  supplies.  The  incorporators  are  William  J.  Pierrepont,  William 
U.    Ale    and    William    B.    Housel. 

THE  HERWIG  ART  SHADE  &  LAMP  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  111., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  H.  H.  Sadler, 
O.  H.  Hensel  and  Carl  Newburger.  The  company  proposes  to  deal  in 
gas    and    electric    fixtures. 

THE  INDEPENDENT  LAMP  &  WIRE  COMPANY,  of  Jersey  City, 
N.  J.,  has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,700  to 
manufacture  incandescent  lamps  and  wire  and  also  to  generate  power. 
The  incorporators  are  Stephen  C.  Fiero,  Ernest  J.  Ellenwood,  of 
Brooklyn:  George  Feinberg  and  Paul  S.  Guilfoil,  of  New  York,  and 
J.    Emil    Walscheid,    Union    Hill 

THE  JONES  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  111.,  has 
been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  for  the  pur- 
pose of  selling  gas  and  electrical  fi.\tures.  The  incorporators  are:  H.  B, 
SiWerberg,    H.    J.    Rosenberg   and    I.    B.    Perlman. 

THE  MONTAUK  WIRE  &  THERMOSTAT  COMPANY,  of  New 
York,  N.  Y.,  has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $555,000 
to  manufacture  mechanical  and  electrical  devices  for  prevention  of  fire. 
The  incorporators  are  E.  W.  Keese,  M.  A.  Garrison,  J.  T.  Quinlan, 
C.    R.    Rogers  and   H.    L.   Washburn. 

THE  PENNSYLVANIA  APPLIANCE  COMPANY,  of  Camden,  N.  J.. 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  to  manufacture 
electrical  and  mechanical  appliances,  etc.  The  incorporators  are  George 
H.  B.  Martin,  C.  U.  Martin  and  John  A.  MacPeak,  all  of  419  Market 
Street,   Camden,   N.   J. 

THE  RITTER  ILLUMINATING  &  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY, 
Ltd.,  of  St.  Catharines,  Ont.,  Can.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital 
stock    of    $75,000    to    manufacture    and    deal    in    electrical    appliances    and 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  io- 


devices.  The  directors  are  Cornell  Kmentt,  engineer,  and  G.  B.  Burson, 
of    St.    Catharines. 

THE  UNITED  MOTOR  EQUIPMENT  COMPANY,  of  Augusta, 
Maine,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000  for  the 
purpose  of  manufacturing  and  dealing  in  motors,  etc.  E.  M.  Leavitt, 
Augusta,    is   president   and   treasurer. 

THE  WILLIAM  F.  WOLFF  COMPANY,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  has 
been  incorporated  by  C.  L.  Hepburn,  E.  C.  Gossman  and  H.  Rohrback. 
The  company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000  and  proposes  to  manufacture  lamps 
and  equipment  for  producing  light-  The  company  will  take  over  the 
business    of    William    F.    Wolff,    32    Union    Square,    N.    Y. 


New  Incorporations 

WILMINGTON,  DEL.— Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  by 
the  Iowa  City  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware. 
The  company  is  capitalized  at  $1,000,000  and  the  incorporators  are: 
E.   E.   McWhiney,   N.    F.    Coffin  and   H.    E.    Latter,   of   Wilmington. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.— The  Chicago  Suburban  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $6,000,000  by  Burrell  J.  Cramer, 
Ralph  E.  Hyatt,  Raymond  J.  Mahoney  and  Clarence  C.  Sundmacher,  all 
of    Chicago. 

MONTICELLO,  IND.— The  Northern  Indiana  Utilities  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,075,000  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
over  the  public-utility  plants  in  the  small  towns  from  Monticello  to  the 
Illinois  state  line.  The  new  company  has  secured  the  electric  plants  in 
Monticello,  Wolcott,  Earl  Park,  Fowler  and  Kentland,  Ind.  A  high- 
tension  transmission  line  is  being  erected  from  the  hydroelectric  plant 
in  Monticello  to  the  other  towns  to  supply  electricity  to  operate  the 
systems  in  those  places.  Samuel  InsuU  is  president  of  the  company, 
C.  A.  Munroe  vice-president,  and  A.  S.   Scott  secretary  and  treasurer. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  by  the 
Haiti  Port  Rys.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  its  purpose  being  to  build  warehouses 
and  operate  telephone  and  telegraph  lines  in  Haiti.  The  capital  stock 
is  placed  at  $5,000,000,  and  the  incorporators  are  John  A.  Chrystie,  New 
York  City;  Frank  J.  Torpey,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  Charles  Sternheim, 
Fernwood,  N.  J. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— The  Inter-City  Pwr.  Co.  of  New  York  has 
filed  articles  of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000,000.  The  company  proposes  to  take  over 
the  rights  and  franchises  of  the  Long  Acre  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  New 
York.  The  incorporators  are:  Harry  M.  Duerning,  Louis  F.  Mentz,  of 
New   York,   and  James   W.    Deevy,    Brooklyn. 

PORTLAND.  ORE.— The  Hurley  Hydraulic  Pwr.  Trans.  Co.  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  W.  W.  Binns,  J.  W. 
Hurley   and   Alexander   Sweek. 

FORT  WORTH,  TEX.— The  Baptist  Seminary  St.  Ry.  Co.  has  been 
chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to  build  a  suburban  and  belt 
electric  railway  in  Fort  Worth.  The  incorporators  are:  L.  R.  Scarbor- 
ough,  J.   K.   Winston  and   B.    C.   McCarty,   all   of  Fort   Worth. 

NOCONA,  TEX.— The  Nocona  Ice  &  Lt.  Co.  has  been  organized  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $15,000  by  W,  D.  Carmichael,  C  P.  Dodson  and  H.  T. 
Weathers. 

TRINITY,  TEX. — The  Trinity  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $4,000  by  H.  H.  Thompson,  W.  A.  Bell  and  Jacob  Emery. 

RICHMOND  HIGHLANDS,  WASH.— The  Richmond  Highlands  Lt. 
&  Wtr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500  by 
William   D.  Perkins,   R.   S.  Bloss  and  others. 

PARKERSBURG,  W.  VA. — The  Charleston-Parkersburg  EI.  Juice  Co. 
has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000.  The  com- 
pany proposes  to  establish  its  chief  plant  in  Parkersburg  and  Clay  City 
or  Pettyville,  as  it  is  now  called.  The  company  proposes  to  generate 
electricity  for  light,  heat  and  power  purposes  and  to  build  in  Parkersburg 
the  necessary  terminals  for  the  railway  of  the  Kanawha-Ohio  Valleys 
Trade  Promoting  Co.  The  incorporators  are:  Albert  E.  Boone,  H.  G. 
Wile,    Parkersburg,    and    George    Pfalgraf,    Lockport,   W.    Va. 

WELLSBURG,  Wv  VA. — The  Brook  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  Alonzo  M.  Snyder,  Irvine  K.  Schnait- 
ter,    N.    I.    Y"oung  and   others. 

PORTAGE.  WIS.— The  Portage  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  R.  E.  Y'ork,  G.  E.  York  and 
John   A.   Raup. 

RIPON,  WIS. — The  Ripon  United  Tel.  Co.  has  been  granted  a  charter 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $40,000.  The  incorporators  are :  G.  F.  Horkcr, 
J.  B.  Barlow,  Jr.,  and  S.  M.  Pedrick. 

RIVER  FALLS,  WIS.— The  River  Falls  Pwr.  Co.  -  has  been  granted 
a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $75,000.  The  incorporators  are:  G.  B. 
Skogmo,  B.  W.  Utman  and  Robert  A.   Lang. 

ROME»  WIS. — The  Bark  River  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  chartered 
with  a  capita!  stock  of  $5,000  by  H.  H.  Lepper,  Alice  J.  Lepper  and  A.  A. 
Lepper. 

THIENSVILLE,  WIS.— The  Thiensville  EI.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $3,000  by  O.  R.  Lebscher,  J.  W. 
Schafer,   M.   Lebscher  and  A.   Schafer. 


Trade  Publications 

GENERATORS.— Bulletin  No.  1136  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Electric  Works 
of  General  Electric  Company,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  deals  with  direct- 
connected  direct-current  generators. 

ELECTRIC  SPECIALTIES.— A  folder  from  the  Cleveland  Storage 
Battery  Manufacturing  Company,  Central  Bank  Building,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
gives  illustrations,  brief  descriptions  and  price  lists  of  its  head-lamps, 
side-lamps,  fittings  and  other  specialties. 

KLOWERS  FOR  HOT-AIR  FURNACES.— Bulletin  No.  3312  of  the 
Emerson  Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  St.  Louis,  Mc,  features  elec- 
tric blowers  for  hot-air  furnaces  for  residence  use.  The  blower  equip- 
ment consists  of  a  special  motor  driving  a  six-blade  quiet  fan  mounted 
in  a  sheet-iron  casing  with  cover  and  handle.  The  blower  outfit  is  placed 
in  the  cold-air  box  of  the  furnace  and  procures  a  combined  heating  and 
ventilating  system. 

PUMPS. — Miniatures  of  the  first  page  of  bulletins  referring  to  the 
Goulds  pumps  form  a  circular  issued  by  the  Goulds  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y.  The  inside  cover  contains  an  invitation  to 
central-station  men  and  others  interested  to  send  for  the  bulletins  them- 
selves, and  the  back  cover  may  be  used  as  the  postal  request  for  these 
publications,  which  contain  a  great  many  facts  on  pump  construction  of 
special  interest  to  central-station  men. 

AIR  COMPRESSORS. — The  Barr  "unit-compound'*  air  compressor  is 
featured  in  a  twenty-four-page  pamphlet  issued  by  the  Pennsylvania 
Pneumatic  Company,  Erie,  Pa.  It  is  said  that  with  the  increasing  use 
of  air  in  high-class  and  more  efficiently  managed  office-building,  industrial, 
railway  and  public-service  plants  there  has  arisen  a  demand  for  some-  . 
thing  special  in  the  way  of  a  compressor,  which  demand  has  been  met 
by  the  unit-compound  type  which  has  been  developed  by  this  company. 

BAKERY'  INSTALLATION.— Ballinger  &  Perrot,  engineering  archi- 
tects,  Marbridge  Building,  Thirty-fourth  Street  and  Broadway,  New 
York,  have  issued  a  brochure  entitled  "Evidence  by  Pictures,"  which 
lells  briefly,  with  numerous  illustrations,  the  story  of  the  installation  of 
the  new  building  of  the  Acme  Tea  Company,  Philadelphia,  that  was  de- 
signed, erected  axid  equipped  throughout  by  this  firm.  A  large  view  of 
the  dynamo  and  engine  room  appears  on  the  last  page  of  this  publication. 

FILTERS. — The  De  Laval  Separator  Company,  165  Broadway,  New 
York,  has  issued  Bulletin  No.  125  on  its  clarifier  and  filter,  giving  de- 
scriptions and  illustrations  of  its  steam-turbine  style  for  direct  steam 
connection  and  also  its  belt-power  «tyle.  It  is  claimed  for  this  ap- 
paratus that  a  very  low  amount  of  steam  or  other  power  is  required 
to  operate  it.  The  company  has  also  published  some  testimonials  from 
users  of  its  apparatus  in  a  booklet,  "A  Few  Users  and  What  They  Say.'* 


Business  Notes 


INDIA  MICA  IMPORTERS'  REMOVAL.— Meirowsky  Brothers,  im- 
porters of  mica  for  all  industrial  purposes,  have  recently  removed  to 
146    Liberty   Street,    New    York. 

STEEL  AND  WIRE  COMPANY  REMOVAL.— The  general  offices  of 
the  Philadelphia  Steel  &  Wire  Company  have  been  moved  to  its  Camden 
plant.  Pearl  Street  and  Delaware  Avenue,  Camden,  N.  J.  The  wire 
and  rope  warehouse  of  this  company  will  remain  at  525  Commerce 
Street,   Philadelphia,  Pa. 

CONVENTION  OF  COLUMBIA  LAMP  SALESMEN.— During  the 
week  of  Aug,  1 1  the  sales  organization  of  the  Columbia  Incandescent 
Lamp  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company  held  its  annual  conven* 
tion  at  Macatawa  Hotel,  Macatawa.  Mich.,  a  picturesque  summer  resort 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Michigan.  The  program  of  the  week 
consisted  of  papers  and  discussions  of  commercial  interest,  all  of  which 
proved    both    interesting    and    helpful. 

P.  W.  SOTHMAN  &  COMPANY,  who  recently  opened  offices  in  the 
Kent  Building,  Toronto,  as  consulting  electrical  engineers,  have  also 
opened  offices  in  the  Whitehall  Building,  New  York  City,  for  engineer- 
ing work  in  hydroelectric  development,  high-tension  transmission  and 
other  undertakings  connected  with  the  generation  and  distribution  of 
electrical  energy.  Messrs.  J.  A.  Grundige  and  F.  P.  Mansbendel  are 
associated    with    Mr.    Sothman    in    the    firm. 

SUPPLY  COMPANY'S  BRANCH  REMOVAL.— The  American  Ever 
Ready  Company's  Southern  branch,  which  handles  its  business  in  all  the 
states  south  of  Virginia,  including  Texas,  will  on  Oct.  1  move  to  526 
Bienville  Street,  New  Orleans.  This  change  has  been  made  necessary  by 
the  rapid  increase  in  business.  The  new  building  will  occupy  three 
floors,  all  of  which  will  be  utilized  by  the  Southern  branch.  The  com- 
pany makes  the  "Everready"  dry  batteries,  electric  flashlights  and  other 
electrical  devices. 

MR.  JOSEPH  B.  BAKER  has  become  associated  with  Messrs.  Rickard 
&  Sloan,  promoters  of  "productive  publicity,"  Evening  Post  Building, 
New  York.  Mr.  Baker  is  a  graduate  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology,  class  of  1890.  He  has  been  actively  and  widely  identified 
with  electrical  engineering  work  and  has  contributed  largely  to  electrical 
literature.  Mr.  Baker  will  continue  to  carry  on  his  own  business  at  558 
West  158th  Street,  New  York,  in  addition  to  his  work  with  Richard  & 
Sloan,  who,  in  the  six  months  of  their  existence,  have  built  up  a  large 
business  in  their  line  as  publicity  promoters. 


September  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     \\- ()  R  L  D 


535 


Directory  of  Electrical  Associ- 
ations, Societies,  Etc. 

Alabama  Light  &  Traction  Association.  Secretary-Treasurer,  Geo. 
S.  Emery,  U  N.  Royal  St.,  Mobile,  Ala.  Annual  convention,  Birming- 
ham.   November,    1912. 

American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  Secretary, 
L.   0.   Howard,   Smithsonian   Institution,   Washington,   D.   C. 

American  Electric  Railway  Accountants'  Association.  Secretary,  H. 
E.  Weeks.    Davenport,   la.     Annual   meeting,   Chicago.   Oct.   7-11,   1912. 

American  Electric  Railway  Association.  Secretary,  H.  C.  Donecker, 
29   West    39th    St.,    New    York.     Convention,    Chicago,    Oct.    7-11,    1912. 

American  Electric  Railway  Engineering  Association.  Secretary, 
Norman   Litchfield,   Interborough   Rapid   Transit   Company,   New  York. 

.American  Electrochemical  Society.  Secretary,  Prof.  J.  W.  Richards, 
Lehigh  University,  South  Bethlehem,  Pa.  Next  general  meeting.  New 
York,   Sept.   9-11,   1912. 

American  Electro-Therapeutic  Association.  Secretary,  Dr.  J.  Wil- 
lard  Travell,  ^7   East    11th   St.,   New  York. 

American  Institute  of  Consulting  Engineers.  Secretary-Treasurer. 
Eugene  W.  Stern,  103  Park  Ave.,  New  York  City.  The  Council  meets 
the  first  Friday   of  every  month. 

American  Institute  ok  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary.  F.  L. 
Hutchinson,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York.  Meeting,  second  Friday  of 
each   month,    October- May. 

American  Physical  Society.  Secretary,  Ernest  Merritt,  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, Ithaca,  N.  Y.  Annual  meeting,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  jointly  with 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  December, 
1912. 

American  Water  Works  Association.  Secretary,  J.  M.  Diven.  271 
River   St.,   Troy,    N.    Y. 

.Arkansas  Association  Public  LTtility  Operators.  Secretary,  W.  J. 
Tharp,  Little  Rock,  Ark. 

Association  bF  Edison  Illuminating  Companies.  Secretary,  II.  T. 
Edgar,  Seattle.  Wash.  Annual  meeting.  Hot  Springs,  Va.,  Sept.  10-12. 
1912. 

Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary, 
James  Farrington,  Steuben ville,  Ohio.  Annual  convention.  Hotel  Pfister, 
Milwaukee.   Wis..    Sept.   23-28,    1912. 

Association  of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary-Treasurer, 
Jos.  A.  Andreucetti.  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway,  Chicago.  Annual 
convention.   Auditorium   Hotel,   Chicago.    Oct.    21-26,    1912. 

Association  of  Railway  Telegraph  Superintendents.  Secretary,  P. 
W.  Drew,  112  West  .\dams  St.,  Chicago.  Annual  meeting,  St.  Louis,  Mo.. 
May   20.    1913. 

Colorado  Electric  Club.  Secretary,  C.  F.  Oelilmann.  Meets  every 
Thursday   at   Albany   Hotel,    Denver,   Colo. 

Colorado  Electric  Light,  Power  &  Railway  Association.  Secretary, 
Thomas  F.  Kennedy,  900  15th  St.,  Denver,  Colo.  Annual  meeting,  Glen- 
wood   Springs,   Sept.    12-14,    1912. 

Electric  Club  of  Chicago.  Secretary,  W.  M.  Connelly,  1417  Monad- 
nock  Block,   Chicago.      Meets  every  Thursday  noon  at   Hotel   Sherman. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  New  York  State.  Secretary, 
Geo.  W.  Russell,  Jr.,  25  West  42d  St.,  New  York.  Annual  meeting,  Syra- 
cuse,  N.   Y..  January,   1913. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  State  of  Missouri.  Secre- 
tary, Ernest  S.   Cowie,   1613  Grand  Ave.,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  Wisconsin.  Secretary,  Albert 
Peter mann,   Milwaukee.   Wis. 

Electrical  Credit  Association  of  Chicago.  Secretary,  Frederick  P. 
Vose,   Marquette   Building,  Chicago. 

Electrical  Credit  Association  of  Philadelphia.  Secretary-Treas- 
urer, John  W.  Crum,  1324  Land  Title  Building,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  Execu- 
tive  Committee   meets   second   and   fourth   Thursday   of   each   month. 

Electrical  Salesmen's  Association.      Secretary,  Francis  Raymond.   125 

Micliigan    Ave.,    Chicago.     Annual    meeting,    Chicago,   January    each    year. 

Electrical    Supply    Jobbers'    Association.      Secretary,    Franklin    Over- 

bagh,   411    South   Clinton   St.,   Chicago,    111.     Next   quarterly    meeting.   Hot 

Spi  ings,    Va.,    November,    1912. 

Electrical  Trades  Association  of  Canada.  Secretary,  William  R. 
Stavely.    Royal    Insurance    Building.    Montreal,    Can. 

Electrical  Trades  Association  of  the  P.\cific  Coast.  Secretary. 
Albert  H-  Elliot.  Harding  Building,  34  Ellis  St.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
Meeting,    San    Francisco,    second    Thursday   of   each    month. 

Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America,  New  England  Section. 
Secretary,  W.  E.  Holmes,  46  Blackstone  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Meetings 
monthly  upon   notice. 

Electric  Vehicle  Club  of  Boston.  Secretary-Treasurer,  Leavitt  L. 
Edgar,  39  Boylston  .St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Meeting  every  Wednesday, 
12:30   p.    m. 

Empire    State    Gas    6t    Electric    Association.      Secretary,    Charles    H. 
ti.  Chapin,    Engineering   Societies   Building,   29  West  39th   St.,   New  York. 
Florida    Electric    Light    &    Power    Association.      Secretary,    H.     C. 
Adams,   West    Palm    Beach,    Fla. 

Gas,  Electric  &  Street  Railway  Association  of  Oklahoma.  Secre- 
:ary-Treasurer,  Prof.   H.  V.   Bozell,   Norman,  Okla. 

Illinois   State   Electrical   Association.     Secretary,    H.    E.    Chubbuck, 
Peoria.    111. 
Illuminating    Engineering    Society.      Secretary,    P.    S.    Millar,    Engi- 


neering Societies  Building,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York.  Sections  in 
New  York,  New  England,  Philadelphia  and  Chicago.  Annual  convention, 
Niagara    Falls,   Ontario,    Can.,    Sept.    16-19,    1912. 

Independent  Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  Grfater  New 
York.  Secretary,  A.  Newburger,  1153  Myrtle  Ave.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Meetings  second  and  fourth  Wednesdays,  New  Grand  Hotel,  New  York. 
Indiana  Electric  Light  .Association.  Secretary,  J.  V.  Zartman,  120 
So.  Meridian  St.,  Indianapolis,  Ind.  Annual  meeting,  Indianapolis,  Oct. 
16-17,    1912. 

International  Association  for  Testing  Materials.  Secretary,  H.  J. 
F.    Porter,    29   West  39th   St.,    New   York. 

International  Association  of  Municipal  Electricians.  Secretary. 
C.    R.    George,    Houston,   Tex. 

International      Combustion      Engineers'      Association.  President, 

Charles  Kratsch,  416  W.  Indiana  St.,  Chicago.  Meeting,  second  Friday 
of  each  month  at  Lewis  Institute. 

International  Electrochemical  Commission  {internation.il  body 
representing  various  national  electrical  engineering  societies  contributing 
to  its  support).  General  Secretary,  C.  le  Maistre,  28  Victoria  St.,  West- 
minster.   London,   S.   W.,   England.      Next  meeting  at  Berlin   in    1913. 

Institute  of  Radio  Engineers.  Secretary,  E.  J.  Simon,  81  Ne>v  St.. 
New    York.      Meeting,   first   Monday   of   each   month. 

lowA  Electrical  Association.  Affiliated  with  N.  E.  L.  A.  Annual 
convention,  Vvaterloo,  April  23-24,  1913.  Secretary,  A.  W.  Zali-n,  Mason 
City,    la. 

Iowa  Street  &  Interurban  Railway  Association.  Secretary,  H.  E. 
Weeks,   Davenport,    la.      Annual    meeting,   April,    1913,    Waterloo,    la. 

Kansas  Gas,  Water,  Electric  Light  &  Street  Railway  Association, 
Secretary,  James  D.  Nicholson,  Newton,  Kan.  Annual  meeting,  Man- 
hattan, Kan.,   Oct.    17-19,   1912. 

Louisiana  Electrical  Contractors'  Association.  Secretary,  W.  H. 
Bower  Spangenberg,  625  Poydras  St.,  New  Orleans,  La.  Mee'.s  second 
Thursday    of   each   month. 

Maine  Electric  Association.  Secretary,  Walter  S.  Wyman,  Water- 
ville,    Maine. 

Minnesota  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  E.  F.  Strong,  Chaska, 
Minn.      Sixth    annual   convention,   March    15-22,    1913. 

Missouri  Electric,  GaSj  Street  Railway  &  Water  Works  Associa- 
tion. Secretary-Treasurer,  P.  W.  Markham,  Brookfield,  Mo.  Next 
convention    at    Mexico,    Mo.,    1913. 

National  Arm,  Pin  &  Bracket  Association.  Secretary,  J.  B.  Magers, 
Madison,    Ind. 

National  District  Heating  Association.  Secretary,  D.  L.  Gaskili, 
Greeneville,   Ohio. 

National     Electrical     Contractors'      Association      of      the      United 
States.        Secretary,    W.    H.    Morton,    41    Martin    Building,    Utici,    N.    Y. 
National    Electric    Light    Association.      Executive    Secretary,    T.    C. 
Martin,    Engineering   Societies   Building,    33    West   39th    St.,   New   York. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Canadian  Section.  Secre- 
tary, T.   S.  Young,  220  King  St.  West,  Toronto,  Can. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Commercial  Section.  Secre- 
tary,   E.    L.    Callahan,    29    West   39th    St.,    New   York. 

National   Electric    Light   Association,    Eastern    New   York   Section. 
Secretary,   R.   H.   Carlton,   General   electric  Company,   Schenectady,   N.   Y. 
National    Electric    Light    Association,    Georgia    Section.     Secretary- 
Treasurer,    M.    H.    Hendle,    Augusta,   Ga. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Michigan  Section.  Secretary, 
Herbert    Silvester,    18    Washington    Boulevard,    Detroit,    Mich. 

National  Electric  Light  .Association,  Mississippi  Section.  Secre- 
tary,  A.    H.  Jones,   McComb    City,    Miss. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Nebraska  Section.  Secre- 
tary-Treasurer,  S.  J.   Bell,   David  City,  Neb. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  New  England  Section.  Sec- 
retary, Miss  O.  A.  Bursiel,  149  Tremont  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Semi-annual 
convention,    Boston,   Oct.    10-12,    1912. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Northwest  Section.  Secre- 
tary, N.  W.  Brockett,  Pioneer  Building,  Seattle,  Wash.  Annual  conven- 
tion,   Portland,    Ore.,    Sept.    11-13,    1912. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Hydroelectric  and  Power 
Transmission  Section.  Secretary,  Farley  Osgood,  Public  Service  Electric 
Company,    Newark,    N.    J. 

National  Electric  Credit  Association.  Secretary,  Frederic  P. 
Vose,    1343    Marquette    Building,    Chicago. 

National  Electrical  Inspectors'  Association.  Secretary,  W.  L. 
Smith,   Concord,   Mass. 

National  Fire  Protection  Association.  Secretary-Treasurer,  Franklin 
H.  Wentworth,  87  Milk  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Next  annual  meeting,  New 
York,    May    13-15.    1913. 

National  Independent  Telephone  Association.  Secretary-Treasurer, 
Richard   Valentine,   Janes  ville,    Wis. 

New  England  Electrical  Credit  Association,  Secretary,  Alton  F. 
Tupper,  60  State  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Directors  meet  first  Wednesday  of 
each  month. 

New  England  Street  Railway  Club.  Secretary,  John  J.  Lane,  12 
Pearl    St.,    Boston,   Mass.     Meets  last  Thursday  of  each  month. 

New  Orleans  Electrical  Contractors'  Association.  Secretary,  S.  J. 
Stewart,  312  Carondelet  St.,  New  Orleans,  La.  Meetings,  second  and 
fourth   Tuesday   of  each    month. 

Npw  York  Electrical  Credit  Associ.\tion  (affiliated  with  the  National 
Electrical    Credit    Association).     Secretary,    Franz    Neilson,    80    Wall    St., 


536 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  lo. 


New   York.      Board  of   Directors  meets   second  Thursday  of  each  month. 

New  York  Electrical  Society.  Secretary,  G.  H.  Guy,  Engineering 
Societies    Building,    33    West   39th    St.,    New   York. 

New  York  Electric  Railway  Association.  Secretary,  Charles  C. 
Dietz,   United  Traction   Company,   Albany,    N.   Y. 

Ohio  Electric  Light  Association.  Secretary,  D.  L.  Gaskill,  Green- 
ville,   Ohio. 

Ohio  Society  of  Mechanical,  Electrical  &  Steam  Engineers.  Sec- 
retary, Prof.  F.  E.  Sanhorn,  Ohio  State  University,  Columbus,  Ohio. 
Annual  meeting,   Akron,   Ohio,   Nov.   21   and  22.    1912. 

Pennsylvania  Electric  Associatiom  (State  Section  N.  E.  L.  A.) 
Secretary-Treasurer,  Walter  E.  Long,  1000  Chestnut  St.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Pittsburgh  Electrical  Booster  Club.  Recording  Watt,  George  H. 
Criss,  1806  Union  Bank  Building,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  Meeting,  first  Mon- 
each    month. 

Railway  Signal  Association.  Secretary,  F.  W.  Edmunds.  3868  Park 
Ave.,   New  York.    Annual   convention,  Oct.   8-11,   1912. 


Rejuvenated  Sons  of  Jove.  Jupiter,  R.  L.  Jaynes,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.; 
Mercury    (Secretary),   E.   C.   Bennett,   St.   Louis,   Mo 

Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education.  Secretary, 
Prof.    H.    H.   Korris,    Cornell   University,   Ithaca,   N.    Y. 

Southwestern  Electrical  &  Gas  Association.  Secretary,  H.  S. 
Cooper,    405    Slaughter   Buildmg,    Dallas,   Texas. 

Vermont  Electrical  Association.  Secretary-Treasurer,  A.  B.  Mar»> 
denj   Manchester,   Vt. 

Western  Association  of  Electrical  Inspectors.  Secretary,  W.  S. 
Boyd,  76  West  Monroe  St.,  Chicap  >,  111.  Convention.  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
Jan.    28-30,    1913. 

Western  Society  of  Engineers.  Electrical  Section.  Secretary.  J.  H. 
Warder,  1737  Monadnock  Block,  Chicago.  Regular  meeting,  fourth  Mon- 
day of  each  month,  except  January,  July  and  August.  Annual  meeting, 
Tuesday  after  Jan.   1   each  year. 

Wisconsin  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  George  Allison,  Ste- 
phenson  Building,   Milwaukee.   Wis. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED  STATES   PATENTS  ISSUED  AUG.   27,    1912. 

[Prepared  by   Robert   Starr  Allyn,   16  Exchange   Place,    New   York] 

1,036,548.  ELECTRIC  LAMP  SOCKET;  C.  H.  Bissell,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
App.    tiled    Dec.    S,    1909.      Porcelain,    for    decorative    purposes. 

1.036.551.  ELECTRIC  L.\MP;  T.  A.  C.  Both,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App. 
tiled    Dec.    2,    1911.      Two-piece   porcelain   snap   with   strain    reliet. 

1.036.552.  TRUCK  CONSTRUCTION  AND  INSULATION;  A.  L. 
Bower,  Boyertown,  Pa.  App.  filed  Nov.  14,  1908.  Dove-tailed  in- 
sulatior    cast   in   place   for   cab   and   signal   systems. 

1,036,554.     ELECTROLYTIC   CELL;    F.   H.   Briggs,  Elyria,   Ohio.    App. 

filed  Sept.   13,   1911.     The  container  and  contents  are  removable  from 

the  cell. 
1,036,571.     ELECTRODEPOSITION      OF      METALS;      J.      S.      Corey, 

Datchet,    England.      App.   filed   Jan.    13,    1911.      For   making    printers 

electrotypes.     Rotatable    annular    electrode. 
1,036,576.     ATTACHING  RUBBER  TO  METALS;   L.   Daft,   Rutherford, 

N.    J.      App.    filed    Tan.    28,    1911.     The   surface   to   which   the   rubber 

is    to    be    attar-hed  "is    first  'electroplated    with    an    alloy    of    antimony, 

copper  and  zinc 

1.036.596.  CENTRIFUGAL  MERCURY  CUT-OUT  SWITCH;  F.  E. 
Fisher,  Detroit,  Mich.  App.  filed  Feb.  2,  1912.  For  automobile 
ignition    and    lighting. 

1.036.597.  BATTERY  BOX;  H.  M.  Fisk,  Watseka,  111.  App.  filed 
June   2,    1911.      Multiple-unit    cell    with    cut-out   cover. 

1,036,605.  WELDING  MACHINE;  H.  Geisenhoner,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
App.  filed  March  16,  1911.  For  welding  space  blocks  to  laminations 
for  the  cores  for  direct-current  machines;  electrode  in  the  form  of 
a  gear. 

1,036,612.  PRESS  PLATE;  W.  S.  Hadaway,  Jr.,  East  Orange,  N.  J. 
App    filed  Nov.   20,   1909.     Electric  heater  with  interchangeable   units. 

1,036,616.  AUTOM.^TIC  DR.\FT  REGUL.ATOR  FOR  STEAM- 
BOILER  FURN.\CES;  F.  W.  Harrington,  Coventry,  R.  I.  .\pp. 
filed  Sept.  22,  1911.  Electrically  controlled,  normally  open  steam 
valve    for  actuating  the  blower. 

1,036,620.  ELECTRIC  SIGNALING  SYSTEM;  K.  A.  Hawley,  Los 
Angeles,  Cal.  App.  filed  Feb.  7,  1908.  Means  for  indicating  a 
defective    condition. 

1,036,632.  ELECTRIC  HEATING  PAD;  G.  Jahr,  Berlin,  Germany. 
App.    filed    Nov.    17,    1911.      Woven    fabric. 

1,036.654.  ANODE  SUPPORT;  C.  E.  LeflFel,  Meadville,  Pa.  App. 
filed    Sept.    27,    1911.      Hook   with   anode   engaging    enlargement. 

1036,655.  ANODE  SUPPORT;  C.  E.  Leffel,  Meadville,  Pa.  App. 
filed   Sept.   27,    1911.      T-shaped   shank   for   engaging   parallel    bars. 

1,036,657.  SNAP-SWITCH  MULTIPLE  FUSE;  N.  E.  Lemmon,  Chi- 
cago,   111.      App.    filed    Dec.    29,    1910.      Inclosed   cylinder   type. 

1,036,688.  MOTOR  CONTROL;  W.  Naumann,  Pankow.  Germany.  App. 
filed  March  10,  1911.  Reversible  braking  generator  type,  with  per- 
manent  shunt    field   and   two    series   fields. 

1,036,696.  TRANSFORMER  CUT-OUT  FOR  ALTERNATING-CUR- 
RENT CIRCUITS;  J.  S.  Peck,  Manchester,  England.  App.  filed 
July  15.  1909.  Main  and  au.viliary  transformer  with  a  relay  switch 
governing    an    automatic    switch. 

1.036.723.  ELECTRICAL  CIRCUIT  PROTECTOR;  C.  A.  Rolfe,  Chi- 
cago,  111.  -^pp.  filed  Nov.  30,  1906.  Self-soldering  type.  Improve- 
ment on  No.   867,212. 

1.036.724.  KEYBOARD  CONTACT;  C.  E.  Rowe,  Cortland,  N.  Y. 
App.   filed   May   16,    1911.     For  bell   ringing. 

1,036,742.     AUTOMATIC    ENGINE    STOP;    L.    P.     Strong,    Cleveland, 

Ohio.      App.    filed    July    19,    1911.      Electric    circuit    connections    for 

operating   a    steam    throttle. 
1,036.744.     INCANDESCENT     ELECTRIC     L.\MP;     E.    H.    Tate,    Los 

Angeles,    Cal.      App.    filed    Sept.    5.    1911.   Self-cooling   stem. 
1,036,754.     CONTROLLER     FOR    ELECTRIC     MOTORS;    T.     Varney. 

Pittsburgh,   Pa.     App.   filed  Jan.   7,   1911.     Auto  starter  for   polyphase 

induction  motors. 
1,036,757.     DYN.\MO-ELECTRIC    MACHINE;    M.    Walker,    Hale,    Eng- 
land.     App.   filedyNov.   30,    1910.      Rotary   converter. 
1,036,789.     CURRENT    RECTIFIER    SYSTEM;     I.    A.    Brackett,    Wil- 

kinsburg.     Pa.       .'kpp.     filed     Nov.     8,     1911.       Vapor     electric    device 

having  two   anodes  and   a   cathode. 
1,036.796.      SELECTIVE    SIGN.\L;    L.    W.    Carroll,    Anamosa,    la.      -\pp. 

filed    Oct.    1.    1906.     Synchronizing    vibratory    device. 
1,036,805.     TELEPHONE;     W.     W.     Dean,     Elyria,     Ohio.       App.     filed 

Aug.    9,    1909.      Embedded    U-shaped    iron    wires    in    a    receiver    or 

transmitter. 
1.036,809.     TELEPHONE    APP.ARATUS;   C.   F.   Dolle,    Cincinnati,   Ohio. 

App.    filed   Nov.   22,    1911.      Desk  stand   with   swinging   receiver. 
1,036,811.     ARTICULATED  LOCOMOTIVE;  G.  M.   Eaton,  Wilkinsburg. 


1909.     Friction-draft    gear    coupling    ar- 
between   two    half   units. 


Pa.  App.  filed  .\pril  12, 
ranged  to  oppose  "nosing" 
1,036.815.  ARC-LAMP  ELECTRODE;  G.  Egly,  Berlin,  Germany.  App. 
filed  Sept.  28,  1909.  Tungstate  of  a  rare  earth,  tungstate  of  iron 
and    a    fluoride. 

1.036.817.  POLE  CHANGER;  C.  J.  Erickson,  Chicago,  III.  App.  filed 
Aug.    11,    1908.     For    telephone    bell-ringer    system. 

1.036.818.  LINE  PROTECTIVE  DEVICE;  J.  Erickson,  Chicago,  HI. 
App.   filed   Nov.  22,    1911.      Heat  coil  and  line  spring  lock. 

1.036.835.  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE;  F.  C.  Hall,  Wilkins- 
burg, Pa.  App.  filed  Oct.  20,  1908.  Direct-current  generator  with 
two   commutators. 

1.036.836.  AUTOMOTONEER;  G.  W.  Hamilton.  Edgewood  Park,  Pa. 
App.  filed  Dec.  26,  1911.  A  drum  with  handle,  ratchet  and  latch 
for  delay  action. 

1.036.868.  ELECTRIC  SWITCH  FOR  SADIRONS;  C.  P.  Madsen 
Chicago,  111.  App.  filed  Jan.  22,  1908.  Separable  plug  attachmeni 
with  hand-regulating  switch. 

1.036.869.  .AL-\RM  DEVICE;  J.  Marshak,  New  Haven,  Conn.  App. 
filed   .^ug.    19,    1911.      Fire-bell   alarm. 

1,036,884.  ARC  LAMP;  W.  R.  Mott,  Lakewood,  Ohio.  App.  filec 
July  29,   1911.      Ventilation  for  a  plurality  of  globes  and  arcs. 

1.036.900.  FREQUENCY  METER-  A.  F.  Poole,  Wheeling,  W.  Va 
App.  filed  Dec.  16,  1907.  Clock-train  escapement  electromagnetically 
controlled. 

1.036.901.  ELECTRIC  AND  STEAM  LOCOMOTIVE;  J.  F.  Pope  anc 
H.  V.  Bennett,  Morton  Park,  111.  App.  filed  July  26,  1911.  Inter 
changeable  connection  between  the  steam  piston  and  the  electric 
motor. 

1,036,914.  SYSTEM  OF  ELECTRIC-CURRENT  DISTRIBUTION 
H.  M.  Scheibe,  Wilkinsburg,  Pa.  App.  filed  Oct.  8,  1910.  Alter 
nating-current-source  secondary  accumulators  and  an  interposef 
vapor    rectifier. 

1,036.933.  TRANSMITTER  FOR  THE  DEAF;  H.  Tideman,  Menomi 
nee,  Mich.  App.  filed  June  11,  1909.  Differential,  coaxial,  conical 
reflecting  surfaces. 

1.036.935.  ELECTRICAL  COIL  AND  METHOD  OF  MAKING  TBI 
SAME;  C.  R.  Underbill.  New  Haven,  Conn.  App.  filed  Jan.  19 
1912.  Alternating  layers  of  wire  and  insulating  tape  with  differen 
pitches. 

1.036.936.  ELECTRICAL  COIL  AND  METHOD  OF  MAKING  THI 
SAME;  C.  R.  Underbill,  New  Haven,  Conn.  App.  filed  Jan.  19 
1912.  Alternating  layers  of  wire  and  insulation  with  differentia 
overlap. 

1.036.937.  METHOD  OF  MAKING  ELECTRICAL  COILS:  C.  R 
Underbill,  New  Haven,  Conn.  App.  filed  Jan.  19,  1912.  The  inter 
Iving  insulating   tape   is  extended   into   concentrically  wound   heads. 

1,036.951.     ELECTRICAL    DISTRIBUTION    SYSTEM    AND    APPARA 

TUS;  V.  G.  Apple,   Dayton.  Ohio.     App.  filed  Nov.  26,   1906.    Rotar 

unidirectional   switch  for  motor   ignition,   etc. 
1,036,961.     TELEPHONE-EXCHANGE      SYSTEM;      E.       E.      Clement 

Washington,   D.   C.     App.   filed    March    17,    1905.     Semi-automatic;  th- 

auxiliary    switch   and   answering    jacks   and   signals    are    copibined. 
1,036,990.     ELECTRIC  WATER  HE.^TER;    R.    R.    Foster,    Colton,    Ca) 

App.   filed   Oct.    14,    1911.     Heater  troughs  are   arranged  in  a  cascade 
1,036,996.     ELECTRIC    INDUCTION    FURNACE;    A.    E.    Greene,    Chi 

cago.    III.      App.    filed    Feb.    12,    1912.      Three-phase    energy    is   trans 

formed  in   the   furnace   to   two-phase   without   unbalancing. 
1,037.016.     ELECTRIC-CIRCUIT    CONTROLLER;    H.    Kaetker,    Cincin 

nati,   Ohio.      App.   filed   Oct.  8,    1909.      Rack  and  pinion   contacts. 
1,037,030.     ELECTRIC    HEATER    FOR    W.\TCHMAKERS;    P.    and    F 

Lux,    Waterbury,    Conn.      App.    filed    April    8,    1912.      Heating   devic 

for  small   work. 
1.037,053.     TELEPHONE-CALL    REGISTER;    C.    V.    Richey,    Washin" 

ton.   D.   C.      App.   filed  April    17,   1911.      Meter  and   lock-out. 
1,037.059.     ELECTRIC    BELL;    H.   A.    Schmidt,    Chicago,   111.      App.  file< 

Jan.    31,    1910.      Double    gong    with    special    magnet    and    yoke    con 

nection. 
1,037,061.     PROCESS     OF     MANUFACTURING     NITROGEN     COM 

POUNDS;    A.    Schweitzer    and    F.    Hauff,    Stuttgart,    Germany.     Apf 

filed,  March    12.    1912.      Carbon    and    an    alkali    fed    through   an   elet 

Iricallv  heated  zone  through   which  nitrogen   is  passed. 
1,037.123.     TROLLEY;     F.    Bury,    Lyndora,    Pa.      App.    filed    March    14 

1912.      Lateral    retaining    guides. 
1,037.160.      BATTERY   V.'XULT;    G.    H.    MacDonough,   Chicago,  111.    Apt 

filed    March    16,    1912.      Plurality    of   compartments,   vented;    railroa' 

signal    service. 
1,037,172.     IMPULSE    TRANSMITTER;    E.    E.    Clement,    Washington 

D.    C.      .^pp.    filed    Aug.    23,    1906.      Push-button    signal    switch    fo 

semi-automatic    telephone. 
1.037,181.     CONTROLLER    FOR    ELECTRIC   MOTORS:    W.    A.    Pari 

Edsewood    Park,     Pa.       App.     filed      May      16,      1906.       High-voltai 

switching  device   and   automatic  interrupter. 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  SEPTEMBER  14,  1912. 


No.  II. 


PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  BY 

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CONTENTS. 

E.I  torial'S      537 

Mot   Springs  Convention  of  Association   of  Edison   Illuminating  Com- 
panies        540 

September  Meeting  of  Institute  of  Radio   Engineers 540 

Niagara  Falls  Convention,  I.   E.   S 541 

Twenty-fifth    .Anniversary    of    Mr.    Edgar's    Connection    w-tli    Boston 

Edison     Company 541 

Cooper    Hewitt    Diffusing    Lamp 542 

Consolidation  and  Extension  of  Electrical  Properties  in   Pennsylvania  542 

Commonwealth  Edison   Section   of  the   N.  E.   L.   A 544 

Plans  for  a  Comprf  hensive  .System   of  Passenger  Subways  in  Chicago  544 
Chicago    Section    oi   the    Electric   Vehicle   .\ssocialion   of   America....    544 

Convention  of  Pennsylvania  Electric  .\ssociation 545 

International    Congress    of    .\pplied    Chemistry 548 

Publ'c    Service    Commission    News 1 548 

Current   News   and   Notes 549 

System  of  the  Pacific  Power  &•  Light  Company 551 

Electrical   Features  of  Some   Chicago  Office  Buildings 556 

The  Impedance  of  Telephone  Receivers  as  .\ffected  by  the  Motion   of 

Their  Diaphragms.     By  .\.  E.  Kennelly  and  G.  W.   Pierce 560 

Rules  for    Employees'    Safety 566 

Cost  of  Extending  a   Small    Central   Station 566 

Lighting  Plant  in  "Farthest  North" 566 

Present-Day    Tendency   Toward    Consolidation    in    the    Electric-Service 

Industry      566 

Test  for  Power  Requirements  of  a  Paper  Mill.     By  W.  E.   Byerts....    567 

Illumination  of  Playground  with  Inverted  Magnetite  Lamps 568 

Remote-Control    Ornamental    Lighting 568 

Flame- Arc    Lamps    for    Park    Lighting 569 

Indirect   Lighting  in   a   "Soda    Den" 569 

Indirect  Light'ng  of  an  .Arched  .Auditorium  Ceiling 570 

Recent    Telephone    Patents 570 

Letter  to  the  Editors: 

Increasing  the  Range  of  A'oltage  Regulation.      By  P.   .Amsler 570 

Digest   of   Current   Electrical    Literature 571 

Book  Reviews 57.1 

New    .\pparatus    and    .\ppliances 574 

Industrial  and  Financial  News 578 

Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 588 


ADVANTAGES  OF  CONSOLIDATION  IN  ELEaRICAL  SYSTEMS. 

The  system  of  the  Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company, 
described  elsewhere  in  our  columns,  furnishes  a  striking 
example  of  a  type  of  consolidation  very  valuable  to  the 
community.  The  company  in  question  started  by  assuming 
ownership  of  a  considerable  group  of  electric  railway,  water 
and  gas  plants  in  the  States  of  Oregon  and  Washington. 
This  action  of  itself  is  very  commonplace.  The  steps  which 
have  followed  are  ones  that  make  for  efficiency  in  the 
unification  of  service,  the  establishment  of  transmission  net- 
works and  the  building  up  of  rural  load.  As  our  readers 
know,  there  is  a  wide  territory  in  southeastern  Washington 
which  depends  on  irrigation  for  fertility.  It  is  one  of  the 
finest  fruit-producing  sections  of  the  country  when  irriga- 
tion is  supplied,  and  not  the  least  of  the  functions  of  the  net- 
works here  considered  is  the  supply  of  water  by  local  pump- 
ing for  irrigation  purposes.  The  available  natural  water 
supply  is  here  insufficient,  but  water  can  readily  be  pumped 
from  wells  and  locally  distributed  through  pipes  with  a  high 
degree  of  economy.  Motors  having  a  total  rating  of  4000 
hp.  employed  exclusively  for  this  purpose,  furnish  no  mean 
load.  And  no  small  part  of  the  4000  hp  referred  to  as 
utilized  for  this  purpose  is  in  units  of  about  10  hp  arranged 
so  that  the  farmer  may  irrigate  his  land  when  and  as  much 
as  he  pleases.  The  work  is  done  by  small  three-phase  mo- 
tors and  centrifugal  pumps. 

The  high-voltage  network  is  of  very  simple  construction 
carried  mostly  on  6o-ft.  poles  and  worked  at  66,000  volts. 
There  are  now  nearly  350  miles  of  line  operated  at  this 
voltage,  with  about  125  miles  of  22,500-volt  lines  in  addition, 
and  much  rural  distribution  at  6600  volts,  making  in  all 
between  500  and  600  miles  of  high-tension  line  linked  into 
one  system.  The  generating  plants,  partly  steam  and  partly 
water,  are  for  the  most  part  of  moderate  size,  but  all  pull 
together  to  the  great  betterment  of  continuity  of  service. 
One  of  the  most  encouraging  features  of  electrical  energy 
transmission  has  been  the  ease  with  which  a  group  of  plants 
can  be  operated  in  multiple  on  a  large  network.  When 
tried  at  first  it  was  with  some  fear  and  trembling,  but  in 
point  of  fact  the  few  difficulties  are  easily  overcome  and 
the  results  are  uniformly  excellent.  Plans  are  now  being 
made  for  considerable  enlargement  of  the  energy  supplv 
system,  including  a  connection  for  a  high-voltage  line  with 
the  system  of  the  Washington  Water  Power  Company, 
which  has  heretofore  been  described  in  these  columns.  The 
supply  of  energy  to  scattered  rural  communities,  such  as 
furnish  a  considerable  portion  of  the  load  in  the  case  before 
us,  is  an  immensely  useful  work  and  can  be  carried  on 
economically  only  by  taking  advantage  of  the  consolidation 
of  isolated  plants  into  networks  like  this.  The  mere  con- 
solidation of  holdings  is  a  small  matter,  but  physical  con- 
solidation, when  carried  out,  brings  material  gain  to  all 
parties  interested,  to  the  consumer  as  well  as  to  the  owner. 


538 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  h. 


HEAHNG  LOADS  FOR  ELECTRICAL  STATIONS. 

The  remarks  of  President  George  H.  Harries  of  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies  on  heat-storage 
devices  in  their  bearing  on  station  load  may  well  serve  as  a 
text  for  a  disquisition  on  missed  opportunities.  Very  few 
central  stations,  and  those  only  within  a  comparatively  short 
time,  have  seriously  taken  up  the  problem  of  acquiring  a  do- 
mestic load.  They  have  been  so  busy  obtaining  occasional 
big  business  that  this  small  business,  aggregating  much  load 
and  relatively  much  more  profit  than  large  consumers,  has 
been  allowed  to  go  by  default  into  the  ever-ready  clutches  of 
the  gas  companies.  The  consequence  is  that  the  general 
public,  on  which  central  stations  have  to  depend  for  the 
revenues  that  keep  them  alive,  barely  knows  that  there  is 
any  such  thing  as  electrical  heating  and  cooking.  The  gas 
range,  the  gas  hot-water  heater,  even  the  abominable  gas 
radiator,  are  familiar  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the 
other,  while  the  corresponding  electrical  devices  are  looked 
on  as  fads  for  the  rich,  principally  important  as  a  source  of 
amusement. 

A  note  in  the  Digest  by  Mr.  A.  Rittershausen  calls  to  the 
attention  of  the  central  station  the  gain  which  can  be  made 
by  using  heating  appliances  which  invo've  the  principle  of 
heat  storage,  so  that  they  will  become  off-peak  load  and  can 
be  more  economically  handled  by  both  the  station  and  the 
consumer.  The  storage  idea  is  already  carried  out  in  some 
cooking  apparatus  in  use  ih  this  country,  but  has  not  been 
employed  enough  to  enter  into  station  economics.  In  fact, 
the  whole  heating  business,  on  account  of  the  high  prices 
usually  made  for  energy  for  this  purpose,  has  been  rather  a 
joke.  We  are  glad  to  be  able  to  report,  however,  that 
within  the  past  few  months  a  good  many  central  stations 
have  taken  up  the  heating  and  cooking  propositions 
seriously,  and  if  the  heat-storage  princip'e  can  be  brought 
to  bear  on  the  situation  electrical  heating  ought  to  become, 
at  prices  which  are  now  beginning  to  be  quoted,  a  valuable 
addition  to  the  load. 

Ordinary  cooking  apparatus  furnishes  mostly  oflf-the-peak 
load,  its  effect  as  a  whole  being  rather  to  prolong  the  light- 
ing peak  than  materially  to  increase  it.  The  storage  of 
heat  either  at  low  temperatures,  as  in  hot  water,  or  at  high 
temperatures,  as  in  heated  metal,  enables  the  bu'k  of  the 
domestic  load  to  be  carried  entirely  off  the  peak.  It  conse- 
quently could  be  profitably  furnished  at  a  still  lower  price, 
bringing  in  turn  a  larger  consumption.  The  critical  point 
is  to  provide  suitable  thermal  insulation,  and  toward  this 
end  the  energies  of  manufacturers  ought  to  be  exerted. 
Storage  at  low  temperature,  as  in  water  near  the  boiling 
point,  is  comparatively  easy.  Water  has  no  superior  as  a 
heat  reservoir  within  its  temperature  range,  and  a  50-gal. 
vacuum-jacketed  tank,  a  sort  of  gigantic  thermos  bottle,  can 
furnish  comparatively  cheap  and  wonderfully  thorough  heat 
insulation.  Electrical  heating  lends  itself  with  great  facility 
to  operating  an  apparatus  of  this  kind,  which  can  be  auto- 
matically held  at  the  desired  temperature  with  a  very  small 
expenditure  of  energy  and  could  easily  be  arranged  for  use 
entirely  off  the  peak.  High-temperature  heat  storage,  of 
equally  great  importance,  is  a  more  difficult  matter,  less 
because  the  high-temperature  body  is  hard  to  insulate  than 
because  one  must  be  able  to  get  at  it  for  working  purposes. 


All  cooking  apparatus  thus  far  devised  by  human  ingenuity 
is  wonderfully  crude,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  recent 
devices,  most  of  them  small. 

The  physical  difficulties  to  be  overcome  are  considerable, 
the  psychological  ones  very  much  greater.  When  the  patient 
and  painstaking  householder  is  able  to  convince  his  or  her 
cook  that  the  full  power  of  a  gas  range  is  not  needed  to 
keep  the  tea  kettle  simmering,  electrical  heating  and  cooking 
will  become  much  more  economical  than  at  present.  But 
even  with  the  present  handicap  it  will  pay  central  stations 
to  make  a  study  of  the  available  apparatus  and  its  suitable 
use,  with  a  view  to  building  up  a  new  and  not  unimportant 
source  of  revenue.  Additional  sales  of  even  25  cents  a  day 
from  a  thousand  houses  would  imply  enough  annual  revenue 
to  be  worth  a  large  amount  of  effort.  The  one  thing  needful 
just  now  is  hearty  co-operation  between  the  inventor,  the 
manufacturer  and  the  central  station. 


THE  PROPERTIES  OF  TELEPHONE  RECEIVERS. 

The  everyday  experiences  of  telephone  users  abundantly 
demonstrate  that  the  telephonic  transmission  of  speech,  in 
the  present  state  of  the  art,  is  but  semi-perfect.  This 
imperfection  in  transmission,  casting  aside  factors  having 
to  do  wholly  with  speed,  accuracy  and  reliability  of  service, 
consists  of  a  deficiency  in  clearness  or  intelligibility,  arising 
from  the  unequal  attenuation  of  the  different  voice  fre- 
quencies which  are  present  in  speech.  Distortion  of  this 
character  takes  place  at  almost  every  point  in  a  telephonic 
system  where  the  transmitted  energy  changes  its  form, 
commencing  with  the  diaphragm  of  the  transmitter,  and 
next  the  microphone,  then  the  induction  coil,  the  line  itself, 
many  intermediate  devices  and  equipments,  such  as  repeat- 
ing coils,  condensers,  relays  and  the  like,  and  finally  the 
electromagnetic  receiver  with  its  diaphragm.  Line  distor- 
tion has  received  the  attention  of  many  investigators,  com- 
mencing more  than  twenty  years  ago  with  Heaviside,  but 
has  never  constituted  a  major  obstacle  to  effective  trans- 
mission and  is  quite  satisfactorily  under  control  in  the' 
present  development  of  the  art.  Among  a  limited  few  it 
has  been  appreciated  for  more  than  a  decade  that  the 
really  prolific  sources  of  distortion  reside  in  the  terminals; 
that  is,  in  the  transmitters  and  receivers.  Nevertheless, 
little  progress  has  been  made  in  isolating  and  removing 
these  causes  of  unequal  or  selective  attenuation  until  quite 
recently. 

The  point  of  initial  attack  is  quite  naturally  at  the 
diaphragm,  where  both  the  initial  and  the  final  transforma- 
tions of  energy  take  place,  but  not  under  comparable  con- 
ditions. The  preliminary  researches  of  Dr.  J.  B.  White- 
head and  Mr.  C.  F.  Meyer,  presented  in  their  recent  Insti- 
tute paper,  take  up  the  problem  along  this  line  and  show 
very  clearly  that  the  natural  period  of  the  diaphragm  exerts 
a  strong  effect  in  apparatus  of  the  types  now  standard. 
When  a  simple  harmonic  force  of  adjustable  periodicity 
and  constant  intensity  is  impressed  on  a  circular  diaphragm, 
the  amplitude  of  oscillation  is  non-uniform  and  exhibits 
one  or  more  sharply  accentuated  peaks.  They  found  that 
a  receiver  diaphragm,  clamped  at  the  edges,  has  a  single 
characteristic   peak,   but  a   typical  transmitter  diaphragm, 


7 

t 
11 


EPTEMBEH    I4,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


539 


^stricted  by  the  usual  damping  springs,  was  characterized 
f  a  double  peak.  The  interesting  case  of  a  diaphragm 
ider  radial  tension,  which  materially  increases  the  sensi- 
veness  of  the  ordinary  type  of  receiver,  was  not  con- 
dered,  or  at  least  no  results  were  announced ;  but  this 
lase  of  the  problem  will  doubtless  receive  the  early  atten- 
on  of  investigators. 

Further  light  is  thrown  on  the  subject  by  the  investiga- 
ons  of  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly  and  Prof.  G.  W.  Pierce  into 
le  impedance  of  telephone  receivers  as  affected  by  the 
otion  of  the  diaphragms,  presented  elsewhere  in  this 
sue.  An  electromagnetic  telephone  receiver  with  its 
aphragm  undamped  is  a  special  case,  perhaps  not  hitherto 
assified,  of-  the  general  alternating-current  transformer. 
he  useful  secondary  output  is  wholly  in  the  form  of 
echanical  power,  represented  by  the  motion  of  the 
aphragm.  By  measuring  the  effective  impedance  of  a 
lephone  receiver,  first  with  its  diaphragm  damped  and 
;aih  with  it  free,  the  authors  obtained  their  so-called 
otional  impedance,  or  the  difference  between  the  im- 
;dances  damped  and  free.  They  show  that  this  motional 
ipedance  very  closely  approximates  certain  definite  laws 
;  a  relatively  simple  character.  These  investigations  bring 
It  the  important  fact  that  the  free  resistance  and  react- 
ice  undergo  marked  changes  as  the  frequency  passes 
rough  the  natural  period  of  the  diaphragm,  and  confirm 
e  conclusion  that  the  present  type  of  telephone  receiver 
.lis  far  short  of  the  ideal  requirements.  The  practical 
due  of  these  researches  lies  not  so  much  in  the  direction 
eliminating  the  sources  of  distortion  in  transmission  as 
revealing  and  clarifying  the  phenomena  which  occur, 
pparently  a  rich  field  of  research  has  been  opened  and 
e  means  are  at  hand  for  continuing  many  interesting  and 
ofitable  experiments  with  modifications  of  the  present 
pe  of  receiver  structure.  Several  changes  suggest  them- 
Ives  almost  at  once,  such  as  altering  the  natural  period 
the  diaphragm,  modifying  the  shape  and  number  of  the 
lie  pieces  and  changing  their  location  with  reference  to 
e  center  of  the  diaphragm.  The  results  of  attempts  at 
ogress  along  these  lines  will  be  awaited  with  much 
terest 


fERPOLE  TRACTION  MOTORS. 

A  report  on  the  use  of  interpole  motors  for  traction  pur- 
ises  read  before  the  recent  International  Tramways  Con- 
ess  in  Christiania  gave  a  very  encouraging  view  of  the 
lod  qualities  of  this  type  of  machine.  This  report,  ab- 
racted  in  the  Digest,  was  made  by  M.  Bacqueyrisse,  in 
arge  of  an  important  portion  of  the  Paris  tramway  net- 
ark,  and  gave  the  result  of  considerable  experience  on 
is  and  on  other  systems.  The  chief  advantages  cited  are 
a  certain  extent  familiar.  They  are  chiefly  sparkless 
mmutation,  lessened  wear  of  commutator  and  brushes, 
eedom  from  the  danger  of  flashing  over  at  the  commu- 
tor  in  the  careless  handling  of  the  controller,  and  in  addi- 
)n  material  advantages  in  motor  design,  since  extreme 
turation  of  the  magnet  cores  is  no  longer  necessary.  This 
rmits  not  only  reduction  of  magnet  losses,  but  also  regu- 
tion  by  shunting  the  field  magnets,  which  gives  a  greater 
nge  of  economical  speeds  than  would   otherwise   be   ob- 


tained. Perhaps  the  point  of  greatest  interest  in  the  larger 
aspect  of  the  matter  is  the  greatly  increased  facility  of 
design  for  voltages  much  exceeding  the  usual  figure.  High- 
voltage  direct-current  systems  are  in  fact  almost  dependent 
on  interpole  construction  for  the  success  that  is  beginning 
to  attend  them. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  reports  of  the  various  French 
companies  using  interpole  motors  thoroughly  reinforce  the 
facts  which  may  properly  be  deduced  from  the  general 
theory  of  the  matter.  Bacqueyrisse  examined  reports  from 
forty-five  tramway  companies  employing  nearly  1700  equip- 
ments of  this  character  in  a  total  of  about  6800.  Some 
very  interesting  figures  are  furnished  regarding  the  weights 
of  the  old  and  new  types  of  motors.  In  most  cases  the 
change  to  the  interpole  form  was  accompanied  by  increase 
of  power,  varying  from  less  than  10  per  cent  to  more  than 
200  per  cent.  This  of  itself  would  have  some  effect  on  the 
weight  per  unit  power,  and  besides  the  effect  of  size  one 
must  reckon  with  the  effect  of  changed  design,  especially 
with  reference  to  lowering  the  magnetic  flux  density  in  the 
field  magnets  for  the  sake  of  gaining  advantages  in  regula- 
tion. All  things  considered,  however,  the  interpole  motor 
makes  a  very  good  record  as  to  specific  weight.  As  a 
general  thing  the  weight  of  the  interpole  motors  appears 
not  to  have  increased  proportionately  with  the  increase  of 
output,  although  in  a  few  instances  a  slight  increase  of  this 
sort  has  appeared,  indicating  probably  that  the  advantages 
of  interpole  construction  were  directed  in  these  instances 
chiefly  to  other  ends  than  increasing  the  output  per  unit 
weight.  In  most  of  the  cases  cited,  however,  the  gear 
ratio  was  slightly  increased  with  the  new  motors,  which 
probably  accounts  for  part  of  the  gain.  The  testimony  that 
sparking  is  practically  suppressed  in  the  interpole  motors 
was  universal  in  all  the  companies  investigated ;  even  in 
the  case  of  heavy  overloads  the  tendency  to  sparking  was 
very  slight. 

Nearly  all  the  installations  showed  very  much  decreased 
wear  on  the  commutators  and  correspondingly  long  life  of 
the  brushes.  Figures  indicated  that  the  brush  life  was 
almost  doubled  in  the,  commutator-pole  motors.  A  number 
of  the  companies  which  contributed  information  were  using 
shunt  control  in  the  interpole  motors  with  very  material 
advantage  in  the  saving  of  energy,  estimates  of  the  actual 
energy  saved  by  the  new  type  of  machine  varying  from 
5  per  cent  to  as  high  as  15  per  cent,  based  on  the  cost  of 
energy  furnished.  Figures  based  on  measured  consumption 
of  the  cars  showed,  on  the  whole,  even  slightly  better  re- 
sults. Experience,  too,  with  the  interpole  motors  showed 
for  conditions  of  approximately  equal  use  lower  tempera- 
tures to  the  extent  of  from  10  deg.  to  15  deg.  C.  for  the 
interpole   motors. 

Reports  from  this  foreign  source  are  extremely  encourag- 
ing and  confirmatory  of  the  best  American  practice.  The 
commutating  pole  is  in  itself  an  old  device,  but  it  is  only 
within  recent  years  that  it  has  been  worked  out  so  as  to  do 
the  work  of  which  it  is  theoretically  capable.  There  is  no 
reason  why  it  should  not  be  much  more  widely  used  than  is 
now  common,  and  favorable  reports  of  extended  practical 
experience  such  as  those  before  us  cannot  fail  to  have  a 
good  effect  on  motor  design  as  a  whole. 


S40 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  ii 


HOT  SPRINGS   CONVENTION  OF    ASSOCIATION  OF 
EDISON  ILLUMINATING  COMPANIES. 


{By  Telegraph.) 
Fair  weather  and  an  attendance  of  approximately  250 
marked  the  opening  of  the  twenty-eighth  annual  meeting 
(thirty-third  convention)  of  the  Association  of  Edison 
Illuminating  Companies  at  the  Homestead  Hotel,  Hot 
Springs,  Va.,  on  Tuesday,  Sept.  10.  The  greater  part  of  the 
delegates  arrived  on  Monday  and  took  part  that  evening 
in  the  reception  by  President  and  Mrs.  George  H.  Harries, 
which  was  followed  by  dancing  and  refreshments.  The 
sessions  were  held  morning  and  evening  in  the  Casino  near 
the  hotel,  the  afternoons  being  given  over  to  recreation 
and  sports. 

As  has  been  the  custom  heretofore,  none  but  vouched-for 
delegates  was  permitted  to  enter  the  meeting  room.  The 
great  paper  of  the  convention  was  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee on  incandescent  lamps  presented  at  the  session  on 
Wednesday  morning  by  the  chairman  of  the  committee, 
Mr.  J.  W.  Lieb,  Jr.,  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company. 
The  report  of  the  lamp  committee  has  always  been  the 
feature  of  Edison  gatherings  for  many  years  past,  but  it 
was  freely  admitted  that  the  report  this  year  was  the 
greatest  one  of  its  kind  ever  presented  before  any  technical 
body.  Even  in  its  abridged  form  over  two  hours  were  re- 
quired to  place  it  before  the  meeting  and  another  hour  was 
spent  in  discussing  it. 

The   first   session   of   the   convention   began   on   Tuesday 
morning    with    an    address    by    President    Harries.      After 
touching  briefly  on  the  lamp-testing  practice  of  the  associa- 
tion,  he   referred   to   the   lamp-renewal   policy,   which   pro- 
vides the  ony  method  by  which  the  members  of  the  associa- 
tion   can    assure    for    their    consumers    the    best    the    lamp 
market  affords.     For  the  centra!  station  to  loosen  its  hold 
upon  lamp  distribution  would,  in  the  opinion  of  the  speaker, 
be   short-sighted,   since   its   reputation   for   efficiency   would 
then  be   in  the   keeping   of   those  who   would  make    lamps 
merely  to  sell.     That  the  relationship  between   the  manu- 
facturers and  the  central   station   is  not  as   cordial   as   it 
might  be  is  suggested  in  the  attitude  of  a  manufacturer  who 
complained   that   by   cutting   the   price   of   electrical    goods 
which  it  is  enabled  to  buy  in  large  quantities,  and  hence  at 
lower  cost,  the  central  station  takes  away  from  the  manu- 
facturer a  part  of  his  business  and  position  as  fundamental 
as   a   trade-mark,   practically    ruining   a   trade    which    the 
manufacturer  has  built  up  at  great  labor  and  expense.     A 
statement  has  been  made  that  the  manufacturers'  profits  are 
getting  to  such  a  low  point  that  it  is  with  them  a  serious 
question   whether  they  can   continue  to  expend  such  large 
sums  as  in  the  past  in  developing  and  improving  the  art. 
in  publicity  and  in  many  ways  which  as  a  whole  have  been 
of   great  value  to   the  central   station.     President  Harries 
stated  that  any  business  procedure  on  the  part  of  central 
stations  which  makes  it  more  expensive  or  difficult  for  the 
manufacturers  to  do  business  and  secure  a  fair  profit  reacts 
to   the   ultimate   disadvantage   of   the    central   station.      He 
then  contrasted  the  present  business  conditions  with  those 
of  other  years  when  a  presidential  campaign  caused  serious 
depression.      In    the    face    of    the    most    upsetting   political 
complications  business  this  year  is  moving  onward  and   it 
does  not  intend  to  be  quadrennially  scared  out  of  a  year  s 
growth;   the   honest,   hardworking   dollar   has   declared    its 
independence  of  politics.  . 

Passing  to  the  serious  and  practical  side  of  the  business 
of  the  industrv.  President  Harries  said  that  it  is  probable 
that  no  deliberate  bodv  has  devoted  more  thoughtful  energy 
to  economies  of  operation  than  has  the  Association  of 
Edison  Illuminating  Companies,  yet  the  results  achieved 
are  not  entirely  satisfactory.  With  comparatively  chea-i 
fuel  the  practice  in  this  country,  in  the  estimation  of  the 
speaker,  has  lagged  considerably  behind  the  best  European 
practice  as  to  prime  movers,  disregarding  an  extravagance 


in  coal  which  would  be  impossible  to  our  transatlantic 
brethren.  To  the  elimination  of  this  waste,  he  said,  th' 
industry  is  now  addressing  itself  seriously  and  with  gratify 
ing  prospects  of  success.  To  that  business  intellect  whicl 
relentlessly  scraps  good  machinery  as  soon  as  better  ma 
chinery  is  available  is  being  added  the  wisdom  of  the  olde 
people's,  to  whom  the  least  valuable  of  coins  has  alway 
been  important  and  who  consequently  have  insisted  upoi 
the  last  fraction  of  mechanical  efficiency.  This  blendinj 
of  method,  he  thought,  will  surely  enable  the  industry  ti 
meet  in  a  manner  mutually  satisfactory  the  growing  publi 
demand  for  the  best  possible  service  at  the  lowest  reason 
able  rates. 

Commenting  on  the  constantly  increasing  field  for  utillza 

tion  of  electricity,  President  Harries  called  attention  to  a' 

interesting  phase  of  the  campaign  for  complete  electrifica 

tion  in  the  new  domestic  intermittent  type  of  range,  whic 

will  operate  at  a  higher  efficiency  than  any  of  its  predeces 

sors  yet  with  the  maximum  demand  reduced  from  abov 

6300  watts  to  3500  watts.     He  intimated  that  the  electri 

range   operating  on  the   storage  principle  has  been  deve: 

oped  to  a  point  where  there  is  reason  to  believe  it  will  b 

available    for    sale   by   the    beginning   of   the    next   seasoi 

Considerable  further'  research  has  been  found  necessary  I 

determine    satisfactory    metals   and   heat   insulation   befot 

such  a  range  can  be  put  into  regular  service,  but  there 

now  good   reason   to   believe  that   this   problem   has  bee 

successfully  solved  and  that  during  the  coming  year  thei 

will  be  on  the  market  a  domestic  cooking  outfit  operated  c 

the  storage  principle,  so  constructed  on  the  unit  plan  as  1 

be   adapted    for   a   considerable   range   of   work.     Therm 

storage,  according  to  the  speaker,  will  be  one  of  the  gre; 

earning  factors  of  the  near  future  and  the  odds  are  that  1 

effect  upon  load  curves  will  be  as  profitable  as  it  will  1 

surprising  to  those  who  have  not  given  much  thought  to  : 

President  Harries   commented   on  the   conditions  of  tl 

times  in  the  labor  world  and  he  also  took  note  of  legislatk 

regarding  compensation.     He  said  that  there  is  a  growir 

clamor  for  a  lega'ized  minimum  wage  and  also  an  insiste 

demand   for   profit   sharing.     Although   all  the   suggestioi 

emanating  from  the  wage  earner  deal  only  witli  the  imm 

diate  present,  no  one  .should  deceive  himself  by  imagmii 

that   the   struggle    for    redistribution    of   profits    is   to   tal 

place  at  some  time  in  the  far  distant  future.     The  stri 

is  a  present  one.  he  said,  not  carried  on  openly,  except^ 

disturbed   centers,   but  none   the   less   actively   waged.     1 

.lealing  liberallv  with  the  employee,  the  distrust  and  di 

content    upon    which    the    labor    agitator    depends    for   l" 

strength  can,  in  the  estimation  of  the  speaker,  be  remove 

the    solution    of    the    problem    being    incorporated    m   tl 

■■Golden  Rule." 


SEPTEMBER  MEETING  OF  INSTITUTE   OF  RADI 
ENGINEERS. 


.\t  a  meeting  of  the  Institute  of- Radio  Engineers  helS 
Columbia  University  on  Sept.  4  President  R.  H.  Marr« 
exhibited  and  descri'bed  a  light  portable  wave-meter  recent 
designed  by  him  for  the  Marconi  Wireless  Telegraoh  Loi 
pany  of  America.     He  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  wi 
the  decrements  used  at  present  6oo-m  and  300-m  waves 
not  interfere  with  each  other,  but  that  no  decrement  ho; 
ever  small  will  prevent  a  6oo-m  wave  from  interfering  wi' 
the  reception  of  another  6oo-m  wave,     It  involves  a  usek 
expense  to  provide  a  0.2-decrement  with  waves  limited 
300  m  and  600  m.    A  better  law  would  be  one  permitting  t 
use  of  any  wave-length  between  300  m   and  800  m  w 
o  2-decrement  and  o.l -energy  clauses. 

In  a  paper  by  Messrs.  W.  Torikata  and  E.  \  okoyama. 
Tokyo,  Tapan. 'which  was  read  by  Prof.  Oliver  Goldsmi . 
arguments   were   advanced   to   show   tliat    it    is   not   adv. 


Septemder  14,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


541 


tageous  to  receive  energy  from  both  waves  emitted  from 
:losely  coupled  transmitters,  as  practically  the  same  amount 
3f  energy  can  be  received  by  tuning  to  one  peak  and  thereby 
jliminating  interference. 

The  next  meeting  will  be  held  on  Oct.  2,  at  which  time 
:he  report  of  the  standardization  committee  will  be  pre- 
sented and  discussed.  At  this  meeting  or  a  later  one  there 
ivill  be  exhibited  the  Seibt  direct-reading  wave-meter  which 
ndicates  the  wave-length  directly  in  the  same  manner  as  a 
I'oltraeter  shows  volts. 


NIAGARA  FALLS  CONVENTION,  I.  E.  S. 


All  arrangements  have  been  completed  for  the  sixth 
innual  convention  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society 
it  Niagara  Falls.  Ontario,  Can.,  from  Monday  to  Thursday, 
Sept.  16-19,  1912.  An  outline  of  the  preliminary  program 
vas  given  in  our  issue  dated  Aug.  3.  Since  that  time 
everal  changes  have  been  made  so  that  the  final  program  is 
IS  follows : 

MONDAY,    10  A.  M. 

( I )  Addresses  of  welcome,  by  Mr.  O.  E.  Dores,  president 
)f  the  Board  of  Trade,  Niagara  Falls,  Ontario,  and  Mr. 
li.  F.  Nye,  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  Niagara  Falls, 
\^.  Y.  (2)  Response  to  addresses  of  welcome,  by  Mr. 
.Villiam  J.  Serrill,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  (3)  Presidential 
iddress,  by  Mr.  y.  R.  Lansingh,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  (4) 
Report  of  committee  on  progress,  by  Dr.  Louis  Bell,  chair- 
nan.  (5)  Report  of  committee  on  nomenclature  and 
tandards,  by  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly,  chairman. 

MONDAY,  2:30  r.  M. 
(6)  "Recent  Developments  in  Series  Street  Lighting,"  by 
)r.  C.  P.  Steinmetz.  (7)  A  symposium  on  high-pressure 
;as  lighting:  (a)  in  Great  Britain,  by  Mr.  F.  W.  Good- 
■nough;  (b)  in  Germany,  by  Mr.  Oscar  Klatte;  (c)  in  the 
Jnited  States,  by  Mr.  R  N.'Zeek.  (8)  "The  Deterioration 
if  Gas-Lighting  Units  in  Service,"  by  Mr.  R.  F.  Pierce. 

TUESDAY,    10  A.  M. 

(9)  "The  Methods  of  Research,"  by  Dr.  E.  P.  Hyde. 
'10)  "The  Diffuse  Reflection  and  Transmission  of  Light," 
)y  Dr.  P.  G.  Nutting.  (11)  "Heterochromatic  Photometry 
ind  the  Primary  Standard  of  Light,"  by  Dr.  H.  E.  Ives. 
'12)  "A  New  Method  and  an  Instrument  for  Determining 
■he  Reflecting  Power  of  Opaque  Bodies,"  by  Dr.  P.  G. 
Mutting.  (13)  "A  Study  of  Natural  and  Artificial  Light 
Distribution  in  Interiors,"  by  Mr.  M.  Luckiesh. 

TUESDAY,  2:30  P.  M. 

(14)  "Tests  for  the  Efficiency  of  the  Eye  Under  Dif- 
ferent Systems  of  Illumination  and  a  Preliminary  Study  of 
;he  Causes  of  Discomfort,"  by  Dr.  C.  E.  Ferree.  (15) 
"Vision  as  Influenced  by  the  Brightness  of  Surroundings," 
n  Dr.  Percy  W.  Cobb.  (16)  "The  Determination  of  Illu- 
iiination  Efficiency,"  by  Mr.  E.  L.  Elliott.  (17)  "A  Pro- 
oosed  Method  of  Determining  a  Coefficient  of  Diffusion  for 
Lighting  Accessories,"  by  Mr.  E.  L.  Elliott.  (18)  "Some 
Reflecting  Properties  of  Painted  Interior  Walls,"  by  Mr. 
Claude  W.  Jordan. 

WEDNESDAY,    10   A.  M. 

(19)  Report  of  the  illumination  committee  of  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers,  by  Mr. 
C.  J.  Mundo,  chairman.  (20)  "Present  Practice  in  Small 
Store  Lighting  with  Tungsten  Filament  Lamps,"  by  Messrs. 
Clarence  L.  Law  and  A.  L.  Powell.  (21)  "The  Engineering 
Principles  of  Indirect  and  Semi-Indirect  Lighting,"  by  Mr. 
T.  W.  Rolph. 

WEDNESDAY,   8:30  P.  M. 

(22)  "Color  Values  of  Illuminated  Surfaces,"  by  Mr. 
Bassett   Jones,   Jr.      (23)     "The   Lighting    of   the    Buffalo 


Cjeneral  Electric  Company's  Building,"  by  Mr.  W.  D'A. 
Ryan.  (24)  "Theory  and  Calculation  of  Illumination 
Curves,"  by  Mr.  Frank  A.  Benford,  Jr.  (25)  "Character- 
istics and  Tests  of  Electrodes  for  Inclosed-Flaine  -Arc 
Lamps,"  by  Messrs.  Allen  T.  Baldwin  and  R.  B.  Chillas,  Jr. 

ENTERTAINMENT. 

On  Monday  evening  there  will  be  a  reception  and  dance. 
On  Tuesday  evening  the  annual  banquet  will  be  held. 
Wednesday  afternoon  will  be  devoted  to  a  trip  on  the 
Niagara  Belt  Line  and  an  automobile  ride  through  tlie 
New  York  State  Reservation.  For  Thursday  afternoqn 
there  has  been  arranged  a  trip  to  Buffalo. 

TRANSPORTATION. 

Special  transportation  arrangements  have  been  made  for 
members  from  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Chicago.  I'or 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  members  a  special  parlor-car 
train  will  be  run  over  the  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad,  leaving 
Jersey  City  on  Sunday,  Sept.  15,  at  10  a.m.  Special 
sleepers  will  be  run  over  the  Michigan  Central  from  Chicago 
on  Sunday  at  5  140  p.  m. 


TWENTY-FIFTH  ANNIVERSARY  OF  MR.  EDGAR'S 
CONNECTION  WITH  BOSTON  EDISON  COMPANY. 


President  Charles  L.  Edgar,  of  the  Edison  Electric  Illu- 
minating Company  of  Boston,  completed  twenty-five  years 
of  continuous  managerial  activity  on  Sept.  i,  19 12.  On 
Sept.  3  the  employees  of  the  company  placed  on  Mr.  Edgar's 
desk  a  loving  cup  in  recognition  of  his  quarter  century  of 
service.  On  the  reverse  side  is  engraved  an  appropriate 
toast,  "To  Our  President,"  written  for  the  occasion  by 
Mr.  E.  S.  Mansfield. 

Mr.  Edgar  received  manv  letters  of  congratulation,  among 


^ 


Loving    Cup    Presented    to    Mr.    Edgar. 

them  one  from  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison,  whose  service  he 
entered  in  1883  at  the  Menio  Park  laboratory.  Mr.  Edison 
wrote :  "When  you  took  hold  of  the  Boston  Edison  Com- 
pany, a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  I  expected  you  would  give 
a  good  account  of  yourself,  but  I  must  confess  I  did  not 
anticipate  the  magnificent  showing  that  has  been  made  by 
you  and  your  company  in  these  later  days.  Allow  me  to 
compliment  and  congratulate  you  on  your  success  and  to 
wish  you  many  more  years  of  useful  endeavor." 

The    history    of    the    company's    operations    during    Mr. 
Edgar's   twenty-five   years   of   management    includes   many 


542 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii 


events  of  both  historical  and  economic  interest.  He  joined 
the  company  in  1887  as  general  superintendent,  two  years 
later  becoming  general  manager  and  soon  after  vice-presi- 
dent. In  1900  he  succeeded  Mr.  Jacob  Rogers  as  president 
of  the  company.  During  Mr.  Edgar's  term  the  company  has 
adopted  the  underground  system  of  distribution,  the  multiple 
bus  method  of  feeder  operation,  storage  batteries  for 
emergency  and  peak-load  service  and  the  steam  turbine  as 
a  substitute  for  large  reciprocating-engine  units.  The 
Boston  Edison  Company  now  serves  forty  cities  and  towns. 
with  a  population  of  more  than  1,000,000  people  distributed 
over  an  area  of  about  600  square  miles.  Mr.  Edgar  has 
taken  an  intense  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  employees 
and  their  families,  and  was  the  means  of  having  his  com- 
pany create  a  welfare  bureau. 


COOPER  HEWITT  DIFFUSING  LAMP. 


One  of  the  inherent   objections  to  the   filament   type  of 
lamp    is    the    excessive    glare   which    results    when    such    a 


of  efficiency.  A  patent  granted  to  Dr.  Hewitt  under  dati. 
of  .'\ug.  20  describes  a  highly  interesting  means  of  securing 
this  result.  The  means  employed  consist  of  a  series  oi 
fine,  smooth,  substantially  paralleled  grooves  in  the  outer' 
surface  of  the  lamp  bulb,  constituting  a  system  of  prisms 
These  grooves  may  be  arranged  in  various  ways.  Tht 
illustrations  show  lamps  with  grooves  arranged  both 
longitudinally  and  transversely. 

These  prismatic  grooves  cause  a  general  diffusion  of  the 
light  emitted  by  the  filament  as  it  emerges  from  the  bulb 
A  partial  transverse  cross-section  of  a  bulb  having  longi 
tudinal  grooves  is  shown  in  Fig.  6,  where  the  size  of  tht 
grooves  is  greatly  magnified.  These  grooves  are  in  actual 
size  less  than  one  one-hundredth  of  an  inch  in  width,  thert 
being  ordinarily  from  100  to  120  per  inch.  Any  incandes- 
cent lamp  bulb  can  readily  be  grooved  in  this  manner  by 
dipping  it  in  wax  and  then,  after  baking,  ruling  the  de- 
sired lines  in  the  wax  by  means  of  a  simple  machine.  Next 
the  bulb  is  dipped  in  hydrofluoric  acid  for  a  requisite  length 
of  time,  and  finally  the  wax  is  removed,  leaving  etched 
grooves   in   the   glass.     The   chemical   method   of  grooving 


Figs.   1,  2  and  3— Three  Groups  of   Lamps,   Each   Showing   Effects      of   Etched   Grooving   at   Different   Stages  of  Completion. 


lamp  is  so  placed  that  the  highly  brilliant  filament  comes 
within  the  range  of  vision.  Dr.  Peter  Cooper  Hewitt  has 
for  some  years  past  been  studying  means  of  preventing 
such   glare  and   difTusing  the   light   without   sensible   loss 


the  glass  has  the  advantage  of  preventing  the  fractures 
which  might  occur  with  a  mechanical  method,  and  itii 
possible  to  apply  the  chemical  procedure  to  any  commercia; 
bulb. 


September  14,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


543 


Figs.  1,  2  and  3  illustrate  the  effects  actually  obtained. 
Each  figure  shows  four  lamps  with  the  etching  in  various 
stages  of  completion.  Fig.  i  shows  four  60-watt,  115-volt 
tungsten-filament  lamps,  the  one  on  the  left  being  etched 
but  slightly,  the  succeeding  ones  more,  and  the  lamp  at  the 
right  fully  etched.  It  will  be  noted  that  as  the  etching 
becomes  deeper  the  image  of  each  filament  becomes  broader. 


Fig.  A — End   View   of   Lamp   with   Transverse   Qrooves,   Contrasted 
with    Longitudinal   Type. 

until  in  the  final  stage  the  whole  bulb  becomes  luminous. 
Fig.  2  shows  a  group  of  40-watt  lamps,  and  Fig.  4  shows 
another  group  of  40-watt  lamps,  all  being  of  the  tungsten- 
filament  type.  The  luminous  edge,  which  can  be  seen  in 
Fig.  2,  is  the  result  of  etching  which  produces  very  sharp 
or  pointed  ridges  between  the  grooves. 

By  means  of  transverse  grooving  the  distribution  of 
light  is  modified  in  a  marked  degree.  Fig.  4  shows  the  end 
view  of  a  lamp  with  transverse  grooves,  in  contrast  with 
a  lamp  having  longitudinal  grooves.  The  efifect  of  the 
transverse  grooving  is  illustrated  in  Fig.  5,  which  shows 
the  candle-power  distribution  curves  of  tungsten-filament 


Socket  End 


0  15'  30°  lUHrUal  WmU. 

Flfl-  5 — Distribution   of   Light   from    Plain   and    Grooved    Bulbs. 

lamps  with  and  without  grooving.  The  dotted  curve  shows 
the  distribution  with  a  clear  bulb,  while  the  full  line  shows 
the  distribution  of  an  exactly  similar  lamp  after  grooving. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  the  horizontal  candle-power  is  dimin- 
ished nearly  25  per  cent,  while  the  downward  illumination 
is  greatly  increased  and  the  maximum  occurs  on  an  angle 
of  about  15  deg.  from  the  vertical.    There  is  also  an  increase 


of  intensity  at  a  point  considerably  above  the  horizontal, 
making  an  angle  of  150  deg.  with  the  vertical. 

Dr.  Hewitt  states  that  the  loss  in  efficiency  due  to  thus 
grooving  the  bulb  of  an  incandescent  lamp  is  entirely 
negligible,  amounting  to  a  few  per  cent  at  the  most.  One 
of  the  interesting  features  of  the  results  obtained  in  this 
way  is  the   fact  that  an   apparently  luminous  bulb  is  pro- 


Fig. 


ransverse   Section    of    Bulb,   Showing    Longitudinal 
Grooves,    Greatly    Enlarged. 


duced  in  connection  with  a  substantial  linear  source  of 
light,  such  as  an  incandescent  filament.  Dr.  Hewitt  be- 
lieves that  the  development  of  possibilities  along  this  line 
has  barely  commenced  and  predicts  great  advances  in  the 
not  distant  future. 


CONSOLIDATION  AND  EXTENSION  OF  ELECTRICAL 
PROPERTIES  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


Items  concerning  the  activities  of  the  West  Penn  Traction 
&  Water  Power  Company,  which  was  formed  by  J.  S.  & 
W.  S.  Kuhn,  Inc.,  Pittsburgh,  to  assume  ownership  of 
numerous  electric  lighting,  railway  and  water-works  prop- 
erties in  Western  Pennsylvania,  have  appeared  from  time 
to  time  in  our  columns,  notably  on  March  23,  1912,  page 
659;  May  4,  page  991;  May  11,  page  1038;  May  18,  page 
1086;  June  I,  page  1229;  June  8,  page  1280;  July  27,  page 
217,  and  Aug.  10,  page  331.  According  to  plans  for  inter- 
connection and  enlargement  that  are  now  under  way  and 
will  be  completed  this  year,  the  electrical  system  will  be  one 
of  the  most  extensive  in  the  country,  comprising  a  total  of 
285  miles  of  high-tension  lines  furnishing  energy  for  light- 
ing and  motor  service  to  more  than  100  cities  and  boroughs 
in  western  Pennsylvania.  The  work  now  under  way  in- 
cludes the  completion  of  the  enlargement  of  the  equipment 
of  the  Connellsville  generating  station  and  the  extension  of 
the  transmission  line  to  West  Virginia.  It  is  expected  that 
by  Oct.  15,  1912,  the  28-mile  transmission  line  from 
Greensburg  to  Crow's  Nest  and  from  Saltsburg  to  Vander- 
grift,  connecting  property  in  the  Kiskiminetas  Valley,  will 
be  completed.  By  Nov.  i  the  lines  from  Vandergrift  to 
Freeport  and  from  Kittanning  to  Creighton.  33  miles  in 
length,  will  be  comp'eted  to  supply  energy  in  the  Allegheny 
Valley  between  Cowanshannoc  and  Montrose. 

Surveys  have  been  completed  for  a  line  to  extend  from 
Freeport  to  Butler  and  the  right-of-way  is  practically  all 
secured.  This  line  will  supply  energy  to  the  Butler  Light, 
Heat  &  Motor  Company,  which  was  purchased  April  i, 
1912.  It  is  expected  that  this  line  will  be  completed  and  in 
operation  Nov.  i,  1912.  Construction  has  been  started  on 
the  extension  of  the  company's  high-tension  transmission 
line  south  of  Uniontown  to  the  West  Virginia  state  line  to 
supply  energy  to  the  Union  Utility  Company  of  Morgan- 
town,  W.  Va.  This  line  is  about  20  miles  in  length  and  will 
supply  energy  for  construction  purposes  on  the  West  Penn 
Traction  &  Water  Power  Company's  hydroelectric  plant 
being  built  at  the  state  line. 

To  the  west  and  southwest  of  Pittsburgh  the  company's 
high-tension  transmission  lines  from  Charleroi  and  Wash- 
ington to  McDonald  have  been  connected,  and  the  construc- 
tion of  the  extension  from  McDonald  to  Sewickley,  a  dis- 
tance of  14  miles,  is  rapidly  progressing.  This  line  will 
supply  energy  to  the  properties  owned  by  the  company  along 
the  Ohio  River  from  Coraopolis  to  Aliquippa.  It  is  ex- 
pected that  this  line  will  be  completed  and  in  operation  by 
Nov.  I,  1912. 


544 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  u. 


COMMONWEALTH  EDISON    SECTION  OF    THE 
N.  E.  L.  A. 


Despite  the  warm  weather,  there  was  a  good  attendance 
at  the  meeting  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company 
Section  (Chicago)  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Associa- 
tion on  Sept.  5.  This  was  the  first  meeting  of  the  season 
for  this  section.  Chairman  Schuchardt,  who  presided, 
announced  a  proposed  amendment  to  the  constitution  of  the 
section,  providing  for  associate  section  members,  without  a 
vote,  to  pay  annual  dues  of  $2,  the  dues  of  other  members 
being  $5.  The  associates — if  this  class  is  created — will  par- 
ticipate in  all  the  activities  of  the  section,  but  will  not  be 
members  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  and  will  not  be  eligible  for 
election  as  delegates  to  the  conventions  of  the  parent  asso- 
ciation.    Neither  can  they  hold  office  in  the  section. 

Mr.  John  F.  Gilchrist,  who  was  president  of  the 
N.  E.  L.A.  last  year,  addressed  the  section,  giving  a  brief 
review  of  the  year's  work  that  culminated  at  the  Seattle 
convention  and  speaking  also  of  the  general  outlook  in  the 
electric-service  industry.  Among  other  things  IMr.  Gil- 
christ remarked  that  during  the  year  the  membership  in- 
creased from  9200  to  12,500,  and  that  next  year's 
convention  would  probably  be  held  in  Chicago.  An- 
nouoncement  was  made  of  the  winners  of  prizes  for 
accepted  meritorious  suggestions  in  relation  to  business  of 
the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  during  the  year.  The 
X.  E.  L.  A.  orchestra,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  M.  L. 
Eastman,  gave  some  high-class  music,  and  an  agreeable 
innovation  was  furnished  in  the  shape  of  recitations  by 
Miss  Robinson,  one  of  the  employees  of  the  company.  A 
number  of  the  w^omen  employees  were  present.  It  was 
announced  that  the  next  meeting  will  be  held  on  Oct.  8, 
wdien  Mr.  George  M.  Reynolds,  president  of  the  Continental 
and  Commercial  National  Bank  of  Chicago,  will  speak  on 
"Money."  The  primary  letter-ballot  election  of  candidates 
for  officers  of  the  section  is  now  in  progress. 


H.  H.  Evans  is  secretary  of  the  transportation  committee. 
At  the  meeting  of  the  full  committee  on  Sept.  10  it  was 
voted  that  the  report  of  the  sub-committee  be  received  (but  i 
not  adopted)  and  that  25,000  copies  be  printed.  No  doubt 
there  will  be  an  exhaustive  discussion  in  the  full  committee 
before  the  report  is  adopted,  and  after  that  there  will  be 
public  hearings,  the  possible  adoption  of  the  report  by  the 
City  Council,  and  then  probably  a  referendum  vote  by  the 
people.  In  the  meantime  the  existing  surface  and  elevated 
railway  companies  in  Chicago  will  no  doubt  be  heard  on 
the  subway  proposition,  so  that  no  one  can  predict  what  the 
ultimate  outcome  will  be. 


PLAN  FOR  A    COMPREHENSIVE    SYSTEM 
PASSENGER  SUBWAYS  IN  CHICAGO. 


OF 


CHICAGO  SECTION   OF  THE  ELECTRIC   VEHICLE 
ASSOCIATION  OF  AMERICA. 


In  accordance  with  instructions  from  the  City  Council, 
the  Harbor  and  Subway  Commission  of  Chicago,  in  con- 
junction with  a  sub-committee  of  the  committee  on  local 
transportation  of  the  Chicago  City  Council,  presented  a 
joint  report  to  the  whole  committee  on  Sept.  10.  In  this 
report  was  outlined  a  proposed  comprehensive  system  of 
passenger  subways  for  the  city  of  Chicago. 

The  sub-committee  visited  recently  New  York.  Philadel- 
phia and  Boston.  Its  scheme  for  Chicago  has  been  worked 
out  on  the  theory,  based  on  New  York  experience,  that  the 
capital  cost  of  constructing  Chicago's  municipal  subways 
can  be  provided  for  in  full  out  of  future  earnings.  The 
subway  routes  submitted  are  intended  to  be  on  a  basis  of 
absolute  municipal  ownership  and  control,  for  all  time,  of 
the  leading  arteries  of  transportation  within  the  city  limits. 
The  initial  routes  have  been  laid  out  on  the  theory  that 
they  may  prove  to  be  trunk  lines  for  future  feeders  and 
extensions. 

Alternating-current  generation  and  distribution  and  di- 
rect-current operation  of  car  motors  are  proposed.  A  third- 
rail  system  is  to  be  used.  All  cables  between  the  central 
power  house  and  substations  are  to  be  placed  in  underground 
conduits,  ^^'here  practicable  these  conduits  will  be  built 
in  the  tunnel  walls.   , 

The  Harbor  and  Subway  Commission  consists  of  Messrs. 
John  Ericson,  James  J.  Reynolds  and  E.  C.  Shankland. 
Alderman  Eugene  Block  is  chairman  of  the  sub-committee, 
and  his  associates  are  Aldermen  Richert,  Carr,  Schultz, 
Healy,  Capitain  and  Twigg.  Mr.  William  J.  Shanks  is 
secretary  of  the  Harbor  and  Subway  Commission,  and  Mr. 


At  the  first  regular  monthly  luncheon  of  the  Chicago 
Section  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America, 
held  at  the  Hotel  LaSalle  on  Sept.  4,  there  were  several 
addresses,  some  of  them  containing  valuable  practical  hints 
in  relation  to  effective  co-operation  between  the  various 
interests  engaged  in  promoting  the  electric  vehicle.  Mr. 
George  H.  Jones,  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company, 
chairman  of  the  Chicago  Section,  presided,  and  there  was 
an  attendance  of  about  fifty-five. 

The  first  speaker  was  Mr.  John  F.  Gilchrist,  of  the  Com- 
monwealth Edison  Company,  who  spoke  of  the  marvelous 
development  of  the  art  since  1891  and  dwelt  on  the  neces- 
sity of  co-operation.  He  said  that  perhaps  $250,000,000  of 
capital  was  employed  by  the  concerns  represented  by  the 
men  at  the  luncheon  and  that  all  of  this  capital  is  more  or 
less  interested  in  the  promotion  of  the  electric  vehicle. 
This  amount  of  monetary  energy  can  accomplish  much  if 
aimed  right.  Mr.  Gilchrist  spoke  of  the  advertising  cam- 
paign of  the  association,  which  he  commended  heartily  and 
thought  would  have  great  effect,  particularly  if  the  argu- 
ments presented  at  intervals  in  the  magazines  could  be 
collected,  bound  up  and  sent  in  bulk,  as  it  were,  to  prominent 
central-station  companies.  The  central  stations  are  waking 
up  to  the  actual  practical  importance  of  the  electric  vehicle 
and  ultimately  will  wield  a  great  and  enthusiastic  influence. 

NEED    OF    C0-0PER.\TI0N. 

Mr.  Louis  E.  Burr,  president  of  the  Woods  Motor  \'ehicle 
Company,  was  the  next  speaker  and  addressed  himself  more 
particularly  to  the  manufacturers  and  dealers.  He  praised 
the  work  of  the  association  and  remarked  that  the  manufac- 
turers, dealers  and  agents  are  having  more  done  for  them, 
perhaps,  than  they  are  trying  to  do  for  themselves.  Fur- 
thermore, he  said,  the  electric  automobile  business  of  to-day 
has  become  absolutely  standardized  and  the  demand  is  con- 
stantly increasing,  both  for  pleasure  vehicles  and  commer- 
cial wagons.  If  the  associations  fostering  co-operation  are 
reallv  doing  effective  work,  and  Mr.  Burr  believes  that  they 
are,  they  might  turn  their  attention  to  such  practical  sub- 
jects as  endeavoring  to  stop  price-cutting  between  manufac- 
turers, the  making  of  ridiculous  allowances  for  old  cars, 
free  inspections,  free  repairs,  etc.  The  speaker  suggested 
that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  consider  this  phase  of 
practical  co-operation. 

Mr.  Godfrey  H.  Atkin.  of  the  Electric  Storage  Battery 
Company,  told  a  story  about  a  policeman  who  stopped  a 
gasoline  taxicab  on  Michigan  Avenue  with  the  statement, 
"If  you  are  going  to  burn  soft  coal,  you  must  get  off  the 
boulevard."  The  electric  vehicle,  said  the  speaker,  does  not 
burn  soft  coal.  Mr.  Atkin  urged  that  all  interests  become 
"boosters."  Don't  "knock"  your  competitors'  cars,  he  said. 
He  also  remarked  that  local  garage  associations  are  trying 
to  raise  rates  for  electric  garage  service  from  $35  to  $4 
a  month.  If  this  is  a  fair  charge,  all  the  interests  engaged 
in  electric-vehicle  work  should  be  in  favor  of  it. 

1 


September  14.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


545 


COMPETITIVE    METHODS    OF    BATTERY    MANUFACTURERS 
CRITICISED. 

Mr.  E.  E.  Witherby,  of  the  General  Vehicle  Company, 
agreed  with  Mr.  Burr  that  vehicles  should  not  be  "given 
away"  or  absurd  allovi'ances  made  for  old  machines.  He 
alluded  to  the  fact  that  twenty-five  breweries  are  using 
399  electric  trucks  made  by  his  company.  The  industry  is 
now  down  to  a  solid  business  basis,  and  the  speaker  advo- 
cated selling  the  product  at  a  fair  price.  In  the  early  days 
electric  automobiles  were  not  built  in  accordance  with 
proper  engineering  designs,  but  all  that  has  been  changed. 
The  storage  battery  is  the  real  life  of  the  electric  vehicle, 
and  the  vehicle  batteries  now  put  out  are  100  per  cent  better 
than  those  in  use  ten  years  ago.  Strange  as  it  may  seem, 
some  central  stations  still  consider  the  electric  vehicle  an 
experiment.  This  is  surprising  in  view  of  the  extensive 
educational  campaign  that  has  been  carried  on.  Mr. 
V\'itherby  deplored  the  severe  competitive  methods  of 
storage-battery  manufacturers. 

Another  drawback  in  the  electric-vehicle  business  is  the 
wretched  treatment  which  batteries  receive  in  the  average 
public  garage.  All  this  can  be  changed  by  missionary  work. 
The  central  stations  must  still  be  educated,  and  one  of  the 
first  things  they  ought  to  realize  is  the  need  of  using  electric 
vehicles  for  their  own  requirements,  thus  practising  what 
they  preach.  The  National  Electric  Light  Association 
might  well  give  more  attention  to  the  commercial  side  of 
this  question,  for  the  widespread  use  of  the  electric  vehicle 
holds  out  great  promise  for  the  leveling  of  the  load  curve 
of  the  average  central  station. 

Vehicle  manufacturers  have  convinced  department  stores, 
breweries  and  express  companies  that  electric  delivery 
wagons  and  trucks  are  good  investments,  but  it  seems  to  be 
the  fact  that  they  have  still  to  convince  many  central-station 
managers,  with  the  exception  of  some  of  the  managers  of 
the  larger  companies.  Mr.  Witherby  pointed  out,  in  the 
course  of  his  argument,  that  a  very  small  amount  of  space 
is  given  in  the  Question  Box  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  Bulletin  to 
the  discussion  of  the  electric  vehicle.  This  fact  seems  to 
show  the  ihdifference  of  the  average  small  central-station 
man  to  the  electric-vehicle  industry. 

POSITION  OF  THE  GARAGE  OWNER. 

Mr.  William  L.  Rudd,  president  of  the  Chicago  Garage 
Association,  which  was  formed  about  eighteen  months  ago, 
said  that  that  association  is  endeavoring  to  encourage  the 
use  of  the  electric  vehicle.  However,  it  is  somewhat  diffi- 
cult to  keep  the  members  in  line,  as  many  seem  to  persist 
in  price-cutting,  principally  the  newer  members,  who  find, 
after  a  short  experience,  that  there  is  not  as  much  money  in 
the  garage  business  as  they  had  thought.  Mr.  Rudd  said 
that  the  advocacy  of  private  battery-charging  plants  by 
the  central  stations  hurts  the  electric-vehicle  business  be- 
cause in  private  plants  the  cars  do  not  receive  such  careful 
attention  as  they  do  in  public  garages,  and  thus  the  electric 
automobile  gets  a  bad  name. 

Mr.  Gilchrist  explained  that  the  Connnonwealth  lulison 
Company,  at  least,  found  it  good  business  policy  to  en- 
courage the  public  garage  for  battery  charging.  It  is  found 
more  satisfactory  to  deal  with  public  garages,  even  if  the 
rate  is  low,  because  the  demand  from  the  public  garages 
gives  a  more  satisfactory  load  curve.  Mr.  Jones  added  that 
the  recently  adopted  off-peak  schedules  of  the  Common- 
wealth Edison  Company  should  be  of  special  advantage  to 
public  garages,  through  enabling  them  to  buy  energy  at 
rates  low  enough  to  permit  its  resale  at  a  fair  profit. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  meeting  motion  pictures  were 
shown  representing  an  electric-vehicle  parade  in  Boston, 
and  also  two  photo-plays  bearing  on  the  subject,  one  illus- 
trating in  an  amusing  manner  how  much  easier  it  is  for  a 
novice  to  operate  an  electric  car  than  a  gasoline  car,  and 
the  other  representing  a  lady's  experience  with  a  runaway 
horse  and  afterward  her  delight  in  an  electric  automobile. 


CONVENTION  OF  PENNSYLVANIA  ELECTRIC 
ASSOCIATION. 


The  fifth  annual  convention  of  the  Pennsylvania  Electric 
Association  was  held  at  the  Bedford  Springs  Hotel,  Bed- 
ford Springs,  Pa.,  Sept.  4,  5  and  6,  the  attendance  being 
slightly  over  300.  A  telegraphic  account  of  the  opening 
reception  and  first  day's  proceedings  was  published  in  last 
week's  number.  President  F.  M.  Tait  of  the  National  Elec- 
tric Light  Association  was  scheduled  to  make  an  address 
at  the  opening  session  on  Thursday,  but  was  unavoidably 
detained  in  New  York.  Mr.  T.  C.  Martin,  however,  was 
present  to  represent  the  national  body  and  to  make  apologies 
for  Mr.  Tait's  absence.  He  complimented  the  association 
on  the  program  and  told  of  contemplated  geographic  sec- 
tions in  California,  Colorado  and  Ohio.  The  Georgia  Sec- 
tion, he  said,  will  probably  be  enlarged  to  take  in  four  or 
five  states,  and  a  movement  is  also  afoot  to  create  a  section 
in  North  Carolina,  which  will  probably  take  in  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee.  Mr.  Martin  reviewed  briefly  the  work  of 
the  national  body,  which  had  at  the  time  of  his  visit  12,345 
members,  and  hinted  at  a  change  in  its  make-up.  He  said 
that  the  Proceedings  this  year  will  be  divided  into  four 
sections,  and  that  2000  copies  of  the  "Electric  Meterman's 
Handbook,"  which  was  brought  out  for  the  Seattle  conven- 
tion, had  already  been  sold.  The  convention  was  somewhat 
elated  at  Mr.  Martin's  reference  to  Pittsburgh  as  the  city 
which  might  be  honored  with  the  next  annual  convention. 
The  address  followed  the  presentation  of  the  paper  by  Dr. 
C.  A.  Lauffer  on  "Resuscitation,"  and  Mr,  Martin  told  of 
the  work  of  the  Commission  on  Resuscitation  from  Electric 
Shock  and  of  the  profound  impression  its  report  had  made, 
not  only  on  the  electrical  and  medical  fraternity,  but  also 
on  the  great  industrial  world,  the  association  being  in  re- 
ceipt of  requests  from  all  sources  and  from  all  quarters  of 
the  globe  for  the  booklets  and  charts  issued  by  the  commis- 
sion. 

Mr.  H.  N.  Muller,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  Mr.  E.  F.  McCabe, 
of  Titusville,  asked  Mr.  Martin  some  questions  about  the 
lecture  bureau,  suggesting  that  possibly  motion-picture  films 
might  be  issued  to  the  smaller  companies.  Mr.  T.  Sproule, 
of  Philadelphia,  stated  that,  owing  to  the  fact  that  motion- 
picture  companies  asked  $10,000  for  the  negative  and  30 
cents  per  foot  for  positives,  such  a  scheme  would  probably 
be  impracticable. 

RESUSCITATION. 

The  paper  on  resuscitation,  read  by  Dr.  Charles  A.  Lauf- 
fer. of  Pittsburgh,  described  the  prone-pressure  method  of 
resuscitation  as  reconmiendcd  by  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association.  The  author  emphasized  the  fact  that  time  should 
not  be  consumed  in  removing  the  body  to  another  place, 
and  that  the  work  of  resuscitation  must  be  begun  the  instant 
the  body  is  recovered  from  the  circuit,  even  though  other 
places  in  the  neighborhood  may  be  cleaner.  He  also  stated 
that  in  a  great  majority  of  cases  it  is  not  necessary  to  know 
whether  the  victim's  mouth  is  open,  merely  that  the  nose 
and  mouth  are  free  from  extraneous  obstruction,  since  the 
pressure  on  the  floating  ribs  would  force  the  air  out  of  the 
nostrils  even  if  the  mouth  were  closed,  and  breathing  can 
be  re-established  in  this  way.  Dr.  Lauffer  stated  that  the 
duration  of  the  efforts  at  artificial  respiration  should  ordi- 
narily exceed  an  hour  and  should  be  prolonged  indefinitely 
if  there  are  any  evidences  of  returning  animation  by  way 
of  breathing,  speaking  or  movement.  Evidences  of  life  are 
liable  to  manifest  themselves  within  twenty-five  minutes 
in  patients  who  will  recover  from  electric  shock,  and  al- 
though the  chances  for  recovery  of  a  patient  who  shows 
no  evidences  of  life  within  twenty-five  minutes  are  rather 
dubious,  the  speaker  said  that  where  there  is  doubt  the 
victim  should  have  the  benefit  of  it  and  no  relaxation  in 
the  effort  at  resuscitation  should  be  made  so  long  as  the 
least  hope  of  success  remains. 


546 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii. 


Discussion. 

Messrs.  E.  L.  Smith,  Tonawanda;  T.  Sproule,  Philadel- 
phia ;  Horace  Liversidge,  Philadelphia ;  G.  H.  Hoffman, 
Philadelphia;  C.  R.  Van  Winkle,  Pittsburgh;  H.  N.  MuUer, 
Pittsburgh;  L.  H.  Conklin,  Warren;  F.  F.  Kellogg,  Pitts- 
burgh, and  T.  N.  Shaw,  Pittsburgh,  joined  in  the  discussion 
on  the  paper.  Mr.  Sproule  ca.led  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  prevention  of  accidents  is  as  essential  as  the  resuscita- 
tion of  the  victim  after  accident,  and  Mr.  Liversidge  cited 
the  case  where  victims  died  from  electric  shock  on  iio-volt 
circuits  because  they  were  taken  away  in  an  ambulance 
before  any  method  of  resuscitation  could  be  applied.  Mr. 
Conklin  asked  about  the  legal  responsibility  of  a  company 
which  refused  to  allow  a  patient  to  be  taken  away  by  an 
ambulance  surgeon,  and  Mr.  Muller  showed  the  shortcom- 
ings of  the  medical  profession  in  the  case  of  a  man  resusci- 
tated after  the  physician  pronounced  him  dead. 

Following  the  presentation  of  the  paper  and  its  discussion, 
actual  demonstrations  were  made  on  the  platform  of  the 
lecture  hall,  and  the  interest  manifested  in  these  demonstra- 
tions and  the  willingness  of  nearly  all  the  delegates  to  serve 
as  subjects  in  their  turn,  while  an  opportunity  of  an  actual 
trial  was  afforded  to  them  and  others  under  the  guidance  of 
Dr.  Lauffer,  showed  that  the  central-station  fraternity  has 
been  impressed  by  the  work  of  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association  in  this  humane  cause.  Moreover,  the  simplicity 
of  the  method  would  hardly  be  believed  by  the  delegates 
until  after  a  personal  demonstration. 

DOLLARS    AND    FACTORS. 

A  paper  on  "Dollars  and  Factors,"  prepared  by  Mr.  C.  J. 
Russell,  of  the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company,  dealt  in  an 
elementary  way  with  the  relations  between  dollars  and 
those  factors  affecting  the  economic  results  of  their  utiliza- 
tion, with  special  reference  to  public  utilities.  The  author 
showed  from  statistics  that  for  each  dollar  of  capital  in- 
vested the  gross  earnings  of  a  manufacturing  business  were 
$1.12,  of  an  electric  utility  not  quite  15  cents,  and  of  a 
retail  grocer  S.Sjyi  cents.  The  total  expenses  of  the  manu- 
facturing business  were  89  per  cent  of  the  gross  earnings; 
the  public  utility  absorbed  64  per  cent  of  its  gross  earnings 
in  expenses,  and  the  retail  grocery  93  per  cent  of  the  total 
income.  In  order  to  bring  out  the  importance  of  the  rela- 
tion of  these  figures  to  each  other,  the  author  showed  that 
if  a  dollar  of  income  were  added  to  the  manufacturing 
business,  the  expenses  would  increase  89  cents  and  the  net 
returns  increase  11  cents;  if  a  do'lar  of  new  business  were 
added  to  the  electric  utility,  the  expenses  would  increase  64 
cents  and  the  net  returns  36  cents ;  in  the  grocery  business  a 
dollar  of  increased  gross  earnings  would  cost  nearly  93 
cents  in  the  expenses  and  the  net  returns  vv'ould  show  a 
gain  of  a  little  over  7  cents. 

From  a  consideration  of  these  figures,  Mr.  Russell  showed 
that  the  relation  of  gross  earnings  to  capital  and  the  rela- 
tion of  expenses  to  gross  earnings  are  important  factors  in 
fixing  the  value  of  a  given  undertaking,  from  the  investor's 
standpoint.  He  also  showed  by  other  illustrations  the  de- 
sirability of  increasing  gross  earnings  when  their  ratio  to 
capital  is  from  12  to  60  per  cent.  Excellent  information  and 
advice  are  also  incorporated  in  the  paper  under  the  titles 
of  "Increasing  Productive  Capacity  per  Dollar  of  Capital," 
"Increasing  Gross  Earnings,"  "Load-Factor,"  "Diversity- 
Factor,"  "Power-Factor,"  "The  Ratio  of  Expense  to  Gross 
Earnings"  and  "Points  of  Commercial  Importance."  The 
importance  of  increasing  the  productive  capacity  repre- 
sented by  a  dollar  in  public  utilities  was  emphasized,  as 
well  as  the  necessity  of  utilizing  existing  capital  to  bring  in 
additional  earnings.  Of  course,  in  public  utilities  the  load- 
factor,  diversity-factor  and  power-factor  play  important 
parts  in  this  scheme,  and  the  author  showed  wherein  each 
had  its  effect.  The  paper  contains  much  that  is  worthy  of 
deep  thought,  study  and  discussion  and  was  well  received. 


Discussion. 

Owing  to  the  completeness  with  which  the  author  han- 
dled his  subject,  there  was  little  discussion  following  the 
presentation  of  the  paper.  Messrs.  E.  H.  Davis,  Williams- 
port;  E.  F.  McCabe,  Titusvi.le;  E.  L.  Smith,  Tonawanda; 
Van  Dusen  Rickert,  Pottsville,  Pa.,  and  the  author  joined 
in  the  discussion.  Mr.  McCabe  showed  that  in  Titusville 
the  addition  of  a  load  of  no  hp  in  motors  added  only  20  kw 
to  the  peak,  and  Mr.  Russell,  replying  to  Mr.  Davis,  stated 
that  as  a  rule  of  all  the  additional  load  added  to  a  system 
approximately  40  per  cent  appears  on  the  station  demand 
curve.  ^ 

THE    WIRING    OF    OLD    HOUSES.  ' 

A  paper  on  the  wiring  of  old  houses  wras  presented  in 
two  parts,  the  first  part,  dealing  with  advertising,  being 
prepared  by  Mr.  J.  E.  McKirdy,  of  the  Allegheny  County 
Light  Company,  and  the  second  part,  which  was  devoted  to 
a  description  of  the  methods  employed  in  wiring  old  houses, 
by  Mr.  Howard  H.  Wood,  of  the  same  company.  Mr. 
AicKirdy  outlined  the  publicity  campaign  which  was  con- 
ducted, largely  through  the  daily  newspapers  of  Pittsburgh, 
by  the  Allegheny  County  Light  Company  on  the  wiring  of 
old  houses  without  defacement.  In  this  the  company  had 
the  co-operation  of  an  electrical  page  published  weekly  in 
two  of  the  daily  newspapers.  The  response  to  advertise- 
ments of  the  special  electric-wiring  offer  was  instantaneous, 
there  being  forty  inquiries  the  first  day  in  response  to  the 
advertisement  in  one  newspaper.  The  results  of  the  cam- 
paign, a  description  of  which  was  published  in  the  Electrical 
World,  showed  that  in  191 1  4000  free  estimates  were  made 
and  1050  contracts  secured.  In  the  first  six  months  357 
houses  were  wired,  and  in  the  last  six  months  698  houses, 
the  average  installation  per  house  being  eighteen  i6^cp 
lamps.  In  the  first  six  months  of  1912  free  estimates  num- 
bering 985  were  made,  from  which  were  secured  569  con- 
tracts. This  included  266  stores.  During  the  first  six 
months  of  19x1  106  contracts  were  given  to  wiring  con- 
tractors, w-hereas  in  the  same  period  in  1912  401  contracts 
were  placed  with  wiring  contractors. 

The  second  part  of  the  paper,  dealing  with  methods  em- 
ployed in  wiring  old  houses,  is  already  familiar  to  our 
readers,  they  having  been  described  at  much  greater  length 
in  the  columns  of  the  Electrical  JVorld  in  the  issues  of 
July  13  and  27  and  August  10  and  17,  1912.  As  bearing 
upon  the  methods  employed,  Mr.  Wood  pointed  out  that  in 
Pittsburgh,  although  the  National  Electrical  Code  applies, 
the  city  Bureau  of  Electricity  has  added  other  rules,  of 
which  the  following  affect  the  cost  of  wiring:  (i)  Each 
room  must  have  an  independent  switch,  located  at  the  most 
used  entrance  to  the  room.  (2)  Where  there  is  a  gas  out- 
let the  switch  must  be  double-pole  (most  houses  in  Pitts- 
burgh are  piped  for  gas).  (3)  Mains  must  not  be  smaller 
than  No.  8  B.  &  S.  gage.  (4)  Circuits  must  not  be  smaller 
than  No.  4  B.  &  S.  It  was  also  pointed  out  that  the  cost 
of  inspection  was  higher,  and  that  when  a  central  station 
operates  in  a  territory  subject  to  the  rules  of  the  National 
Electrical  Code  only  it  can  advertise  to  wire  houses  at 
from  $3  to  $3.50  per  room,  while  in  the  city  of  Pittsburgh 
the  price  would  have  to  be  set  at  from  $5  to  $6  per  room, 
owing  to  the  addition  to  the  rules  as  above  mentioned. 

Discussion. 

Messrs.  E.  H.  Davis,  Williamsport ;  R.  H.  Orr,  Pitts- 
burgh, and  H.  H.  Wood,  Pittsburgh,  joined  in  the  discus- 
sion. In  reply  to  Mr.  Davis'  inquiry  as  to  whether  the  com- 
pany lost  or  made  money  on  wiring  contracts,  Mr.  Orr 
stated  that  in  1900  the  company  wired  1000  old  houses  at  an 
aggregate  loss  of  $4,000.  Both  Mr.  Davis  and  Mr.  Orr 
felt  that  this  was  good  business,  and  that  in  wiring  old 
houses  a  company  can  afford  to  stand  a  loss  if  thereby 
enough  houses  on  existing  circuits  are  connected  to  the 
company's  system. 


f 


SErTEMBER    I4,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


547 


WELFARE    WORK. 

A  paper  on  welfare  work,  read  by  Mr.  B.  F.  Day,  of  the 
Philadelphia  Electric  Company,  dwelt  upon  the  change  in 
individual  and  in  public  sentiment  wrought  during  recent 
years  between  the  employer  and  employee,  all  of  which  is 
embraced  in  the  term  "welfare  work."  Mr.  Day  reviewed 
the  plans  recommended  by  the  public  policy  committee  of 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association  and  said  that,  while 
the  larger  companies  can  carry  on  welfare  work  in  its 
fullest  sense  within  their  own  ranks,  the  work  of  the  smaller 
companies  may  be  made  quite  as  effective  through  a  group- 
ing that  will  admit  of  the  development  of  the  idea  on  a  co- 
operative basis,  although  it  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into 
any  such  complete  industrial  combination  in  order  to  secure 
the  advantages  of  welfare  work  to  the  small  company, 
especially  those  features  referring  to  accident  and  sickness 
insurance  and  to  death  benefits.  He  suggested  that  the 
Pennsylvania  Electric  Association,  covering  in  its  member- 
ship so  many  separate  companies,  could,  through  a  regu- 
larly organized  co-operative  plan,  take  up  such  divisions  of 
welfare  work  as  accident  and  sickness  insurance  and  death 
benefits  and  extend  them  along  other  lines.  The  author 
submitted  for  consideration,  as  a  foundation  for  such  work, 
the  general  outline  of  a  plan  which  has  been  in  successful 
operation  in  the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company. 

Discussion. 

Messrs.  G.  H.  Hot¥man,  Philadelphia;  H.  Harris,  Wil- 
merding;  Van  Dusen  Rickert,  Pottsville;  R.  H.  Dutton, 
Hanover;  T.  Sproule,  Philadelphia,  and  C.  E.  Titzel,  Lan- 
caster, discussed  the  general  proposition  of  welfare  work 
from  many  points  of  view,  many  seeking  light  on  how  such 
work  could  be  inaugurated  by  small  companies.  Mr.  Hoff- 
man made  a  stirring  speech  showing  the  advantages  of  such 
humanitarian  movements  to  the  Philadelphia  Electric  Com- 
pany and  the  effect  on  the  company's  employees.  Mr.  Titzel 
also  told  of  the  work  of  his  company  at  Lancaster  and  the 
excellent  results  attending  it.  The  paper  and  discussion 
indicated  that  the  subject  is  a  live  one  and  worthy  of 
further  investigation,  and  a  committee  on  welfare  work 
was  appointed  to  follow  up  the  matter. 

POWER  FACTOR,  ITS  EFFECT  ON  OPERATION  AND  THE  MEANS  FOR 
ITS   IMPROVEMENT. 

The  paper  on  power-factor,  prepared  by  Mr.  F.  W. 
Jewett,  of  the  Wagner  Electric  Manufacturing  Company, 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  was  somewhat  similar  to  those  read  before 
other  conventions  by  the  same  author.  After  describing 
the  ill  effects  of  low  power-factor  on  generator  rating, 
generator  field  current  and  rotor  losses,  as  well  as  on  regu- 
lation, he  appended  a  description  of  a  unity-povver-factor 
motor  now  on  the  market,  which  operates  at  too  per  cent 
power-factor  at  full  load,  and  which  under  fractional  loads 
will  supply  leading  current  to  distribution  lines.  The  latter 
will,  of  course,  correct  a  corresponding  amount  of  lagging 
current  for  machines  already  installed. 

Discussion. 

Owing  to  the  similarity  of  Mr.  Rickard's,  Mr.  Jewett's 
and  Mr.  Russell's  papers,  a  general  discussion  was  had  on 
all  three.  Those  contributing  to  the  discussion  were  Messrs. 
E.  F.  McCabe,  Titusville;  L.  H.  Conklin,  Warren;  G.  B. 
Tripp,  Harrisburg;  C.  E.  Titzel,  Lancaster;  F.  Woodring, 
Meadville;  H.  Harris,  Wilmerding;  G.  F.  Wendle, 
Williamsport,  and  E.  H.  Davis,  Williamsport.  Mr.  Mc- 
Cabe emphasized  the  advantages  of  unity-power-factor 
in  making  rates,  and  Mr.  Conklin  expressed  the  opinion 
that  engineering  problems  are  not  so  important  as 
the  acquisition  of  business  to  improve  the  load-factor, 
and  in  this  respect  said  that  the  paper  of  Mr.  Russell 
is  an  excellent  one  for  close  study  by  central-station 
solicitors.  Mr.  Tripp  also  voiced  the  importance  of  loading 
up  existing  lines  and  showed  what  was  done  in  Colorado 


City,  Col.,  where  he  was  previously  stationed,  in  improving 
both  the  power-factor  and  load-factor  by  inducing  a  com- 
pany, through  a  low  rate,  to  install  large  synchronous 
motors  in  its  mills.  Mr.  Titzel  said  that  the  trouble  with 
most  manufacturers  is  that  they  do  not  appreciate  what 
their  energy  costs  are,  and  that  the  central  station  often- 
times makes  a  mistake  in  taking  the  business  at  too  low  a 
rate.  By  a  thorough  investigation  a  company  can  discover 
what  its  actual  service  is  worth  to  the  manufacturer,  and 
it  is  the  policy  of  the  Lancaster  company  not  to  sign  a  con- 
tract with  a  customer  for  motor  service  unless  it  is  able  to 
do  the  customer  some  good.  Mr.  Titzel  felt  that  any  other 
policy  would  be  foolish  and  react  on  the  central  station 
eventually  to  its  detriment.  Mr.  Jewett  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  a  rate  scheme  at  present  in  force  in  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  takes  into  consideration  the  power-factor  of  the  load, 
and  Mr.  Conklin  doubted  the  advisability  of  complicating 
rate  schemes  with-  power-factor  stipulations,  except  for 
small  companies. 

HYGIENIC  VALUE  OF  OZONE. 

A  paper  on  ozone,  prepared  by  Mr.  Randolph  Troy,  of 
the  supply  department  of  the  General  Electric  Company, 
was  read  by  title  only.     Incorporated  in  the  paper  was  a 


description  of  a  household  ozonator,  together  with  disserta- 
tions by  physicians  on  the  place  of  ozone  in  therapeutics. 

ELECTION  OF  OFFICERS. 

After  the  usual  resolutions  thanking  those  who  prepared 
the  papers  and  others  to  whom  the  association  was  indebted 
for  numerous  courtesies  in  connection  with  the  convention, 
the  nominating  committee  made  its  report  and  the  following 
officers  were  elected  on  its  recommendation :  President, 
Mr.  Van  Dusen  Rickert,  Pottsville;  vice-president,  Mr. 
Duncan  T.  Campbell,  Scranton;  secretary,  Mr.  Walter  E. 
Long,  Philadelphia;  treasurer,  Mr.  W.  C.  Anderson, 
Plymouth ;  executive  committee  one  year,  Mr.  N.  H. 
Spencer,  Warren ;  executive  committee  two  years,  Messrs. 
W.  R.  Kenney,  Connellsville ;  Thomas  Sproule,  Phila- 
delphia, and  E.  F.  McCabe,  Titusville. 

Mr.  Van  Dusen  Rickert  was  born  in  Pottsville  in  1869 
He  was  graduated  from  Princeton  University  in  1892  with 
the  degree  of  civil  engineer  and  for  a  time  was  engaged 
in  the  railroad  contracting  business  with  his  father,  Mr. 
Thomas  H.  Rickert.  In  1900  he  was  made  manager  of  the 
Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Pottsville,  and 
in  1906  became  general  agent  of  the  Eastern  Pennsylvania 
Railways  Company,  which  absorbed  the  Edison  company 
with  the  consolidation  of  the  trolley  and  lighting  interests 
of  Schuylkill  and  Carbon  Counties,  Pennsylvania,  by  J.  G. 


548 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,   \'o.  ii. 


White  &  Company.  He  was  later  made  assistant  manager 
of  the  consolidated  company  under  Mr.  W'.  B.  Rockwell. 
The  Eastern  Pennsylvania  Railway  Company  supplies 
electric  service  to  Palo  Alto,  Mount  Carbon,  Minersville, 
Fort  Carbon,  Orwigsburg,  Gerardville,  Frackville,  Gil- 
berton  and  Cressona.  Mr.  Rickert  was  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  the  Pennsylvania  Electric  Association  for  two 
years  and  was  elected  vice-president  at  the  convention  last 
year.  He  has  been  an  assiduous  worker  for  the  association 
ever  since  its  inception,  and  his  election  to  the  presidency 
met  with  the  unanimous  approval  of  the  association. 

EXTERT.\INMENT    FE.\TURES. 

Entertainment  features  in  abundance  were  provided 
during  the  week  of  the  convention.  On  Wednesday  morn- 
ing there  was  a  card  game  for  the  ladies,  and  in  the  after- 
noon there  was  a  golf  tournament,  together  with  tennis 
playing  and  swimming.  The  evening  was  devoted  to  a 
vaudeville  and  moving-picture  performance  in  the  open  air, 
and  the  entertainments  for  the  day  concluded  with  dancing 
in  the  ballroom  of  the  hotel.  On  Thursday  an  automobile 
trip  was  provided  for  the  ladies  through  the  mountain  roads, 
and  in  the  afternoon  court  golf  and  bowling  were  also  pro- 
vided for  their  amusement.  Owing  to  the  crowded  con- 
dition of  the  hotel,  the  convention  dinner,  which  was 
scheduled  for  Thursday  evening,  had  to  be  abandoned,  and 
the  guests  spent  the  time  in  singing  and  dancing.  On 
Friday  morning  the  ladies  again  engaged  in  playing  cards, 
and  in  the  afternoon,  after  the  convention  had  adjourned, 
there  was  a  golf  match  between  central-station  members 
and  associate  members.  Bowling  was  also  provided  for 
those  who  cared  to  engage  in  that  pastime.  As  was  the 
custom,  prizes  of  all  descriptions  were  contributed  by 
various  manufacturing  companies,  the  total  number  of 
prizes  being  seventy-five.  With  the  exception  of  three 
loving  cups  all  were  of  an  electrical  nature. 


INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    APPLIED 
CHEMISTRY. 


A  brief  note  on  the  opening  session  of  the  International 
Congress  of  Applied  Chemistry  in  Washington  appeared  in 
our  issue  dated  Sept.  7.  The  real  work  of  the  congress 
began  upon  the  arrival  of  the  delegates  in  New  York  after 
their  trip  to  Washington.  The  professional  sessions  were 
held  in  twenty-four  different  sections  dealing  with  various 
branches  of  the  subject.  For  each  section  there  was  a 
president,  a  vice-president  and  a  secretary,  the  ofificers  of 
the  electrochemical  section  being  Dr.  W^illiam  H.  Walker, 
Prof.  C.  F.  Burgess  and  Dr.  E.  F.  Roeber. 

The  section  on  electrochemistry  held  its  first  meeting  on 
Friday,  Sept.  6,  the  first  paper  being  one  by  Dr.  C.  C.  Fink, 
of  the  General  Electric  Company,  Harrison,  N,  J-,  entitled 
"Ductile  Tungsten."  This  paper  dealt  with  the  applications 
of  ductile  tungsten  not  only  in  incandescent  lamps  but  also 
for  other  industrial  purposes,  such  as  resistors  in  electric 
furnaces,  gauze  for  separating  solids  from  acid  liquors, 
targets  for  X-ray  tubes  and  standard  weights. 

A  paper  by  Dr.  Carl  Hering,  Philadelphia,  entitled  "Sim- 
plifying Calculations  by  the  Proper  Choice  of  Units,"  con- 
tained interesting  suggestions  relating  to  the  use  of  elec- 
trical units  or  their  equivalents  in  all  physical  calculations. 

Some  observations  on  base-metal  thermocouples  were  out- 
lined in  a  paper  by  Prof.  O.  L.  Kowalke,  of  the  University 
of  Wisconsin.  The  investigation  reported  covered  the 
variations  in  emfs  of  nickel,  iron,  aluminum,  copper  and 
manganese  thermocouple  combinations. 

A  paper  by  Mr.  Charles  Burton  Thwing,  Philadelphia. 
Pa.,  dealt  with  a  device  for  maintaining  any  desired  tem- 
perature in  a  small  electric  furnace. 

Mr.  D.  A.  Lyon,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  presented  a  paper  in 
which  it  was  shown  that  electric  furnaces  for  the  reduction 
of  iron  ores  now  in  use  have  a  combined  rating  of  32.500  hp. 


He  claimed  that  the  electric  furnace  with  energy  at  $16 
per  kw-year  can  compete  with  the  blast  furnace  with  coke 
at  $6  per  ton. 

Papers  on  electric  furnaces  were  presented  before  a  joint 
session  of  the  mining  and  metallurgy,  electrochemistry  and 
conservation  of  natural  resources  sections  on  Saturday, 
Sept.  7.  One  of  these,  by  Mr.  Paul  Heroult,  covered  recent 
developments  in  the  electric  steel  furnace.  In  Europe  the 
process  has  been  developed  for  high-priced  steels,  but  in  the 
L^nited  States  the  principal  problem  has  been  that  of 
making  rails. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


XEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    FIRST    DISTRICT. 

The  past  week  was  signalized  by  the  beginning  of  street 
surface  car  operation  over  the  Manhattan  Bridge  across 
the  East  River.  This  bridge  has  been  completed  for  three 
years,  but  up  to  this  time  had  not  been  used  except  for 
roadway  and  foot  traffic.  The  first  company  to  start  oper- 
ation was  the  Manhattan  Bridge  Three  Cent  Line,  an  in- 
dependent company  which  was  organized  in  Brooklyn  for 
the  purpose  of  providing  cheap  transportation  from  the 
business  center  of  Brooklyn  across  the  Manhattan  Bridge 
to  the  business  district  of  Manhattan.  The  company  re- 
ceived a  certificate  of  convenience  and  necessity  from  the 
Public  Service  Commission  for  the  First  District  more 
than  two  years  ago,  but  this  was  attacked  in  the  courts  by 
the  old  transportation  lines,  and  the  litigation  lasted  until 
June  of  this  year,  when  the  new  company  got  a  franchise 
from  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  .Apportionment  for  the 
operation  of  cars  over  the  bridge,  but  not  for  that  part  of 
the  line  running  through  Manhattan.  This  franchise  was 
approved  by  the  Public  Service  Commission,  and  under 
this  authority  the  Manhattan  Bridge  Three  Cent  Line  be- 
gan operation  last  week.  The  service  promises  to  prove 
popular,  as  more  than  3000  passengers  were  carried  the 
first  day  of  operation. 

The  old  transportation  companies  meanwdiile  have  been 
active  in  pressing  applications  for  rights  to  operate  over 
the  same  bridge.  The  New  York  Railways  and  the  Third 
.\venue  Railway  companies  on  the  New  York  side  of  the 
river  joined  with  the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  and  the 
Coney  Island  &  Brooklyn  companies  on  the  Brooklyn  side 
and  formed  what  is  known  as  the  Brooklyn  &  North  River 
Railroad  Company.  This  company  received  a  certificate 
of  convenience  and  necessity  for  a  street  railroad  over  the 
bridge  from  the  Public  Service  Commission  this  summer 
and  has  applied  to  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  .A.pportion- 
ment  for  a  franchise.  Meanwhile  the  individual  companies 
composing  it  secured  from  the  commissioner  of  bridges  a 
temporary  permit  to  operate  over  the  bridge,  and,  pending 
the  grant  of  a  franchise  to  the  Brooklyn  &  North  River 
Company,  they  have  applied  to  the  Public  Service  Commis- 
sion for  permission  to  operate  one  line  over  the  Manhattan 
Bridge  under  the  bridge  commissioner's  permit.  The 
commission  is  now  holding  hearings  on  this  applicatinn. 

M.\RYL.\ND   COMMISSION. 

The  Maryland  Public  Service  Commission  last  week 
signed  an  order  requiring  the  Chesapeake  &  Potomac  Tele- 
phone Company  to  show  cause  before  Sept.  13  why  the 
flat-rate  service  limit,  which  expires  Oct.  I,  should  not  be 
extended  to  April  i,  1913,  at  the  option  of  the  subscriber. 
This  is  the  second  step  in  the  action  begun  last  week  by 
the  Protective  Telephone  .Association.  This  organization 
filed  a  petition  for  an  extension  of  time  on  the  ground 
that  the  investigations  that  it  was  making  convinced  it 
that  not  only  are  Baltimore  rates  for  measured  service 
excessive,  but  that  a  large  majority  of  important  munici- 
palities have  a  flat-rate  service.  Should  the  extension  be 
granted,  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  Protective  Association  to 
submit  evidence  that  will  convince  the  commission  that  un- 


September  14,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


549 


limited  service  in  the  business  districts  of  Baltimore  should 
not  be  abolished. 

After  nearly  two  months  of  investigation  by  the  com- 
mission into  the  rates  charged  for  gas  and  electricity  by 
the  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company, 
the  taking  of  testimony  is  believed  to  be  nearing  the  end. 
Beginning  with  the  testimony  of  James  J.  Lindsay  and 
Archibald  Bowman,  of  the  accounting  firm  of  Marwich, 
Mitchell,  Peat  &  Company,  the  counsel  for  the  people,  Mr. 
Albert  C.  Ritchie,  has  attempted  to  show  that  the  physical 
valuation  placed  on  the  property  of  the  company,  amount- 
ing to  nearly  $26,000,000,  was  about  $12,000,000  in  excess 
of  the  actual  cost.  He  also  tried  to  show  by  the  testimony 
of  experts  and  of  Vice-president  Cohn  that  the  several 
consolidations  had  resulted  in  a  capital  inflation  of  nearly 
$10,000,000.  Secretary  William  Schmidt,  Jr.,  on  behalf  of 
the  company,  offered  in  evidence  a  number  of  letters  from 
leading  banking  houses  of  the  country  setting  forth  what 
ratio  the  net  earnings  should  bear  to  the  fixed  charges  in 
order  to  maintain  the  value  of  outstanding  securities.  In 
a  number  of  the  letters  the  opinion  was  expresseil  tliat 
net  earnings  equal  to  one  and  one-half  times  the  fixed 
charges  would  maintain  the  current  value  on  securities. 
At  once  Mr.  Ritchie  pointed  out  that  the  net  earnings  of 
the  Consolidated  last  year  were  $2,822,400  and  that  the 
fixed  charges  amounted  to  $1,417,267.  Computed  on  the 
basis  established  by  the  bankers,  the  rates  should  be  re- 
duced so  as  to  produce  net  earnings  of  $2,125,000,  or  nearly 
$700,000  less  than  those  of  last  year.  The  developments  of 
the  last  few  weeks  seem  to  indicate  that  the  Consolidated 
will  base  its  principal  defense  of  the  present  rates  on  the 
ground  that  they  are  necessary  in  order  to  uphold  the  vahu- 
of  the  securities.  Counsel  for  the  company  have  presented 
evidence  tending  to  show  that  the  Consolidated  is  planning 
vast  extensions  within  the  next  five  years  which  will  cost 
on  an  average  more  than  $1,000,000  a  year. 

OHIO  COMMISSION. 

The  Public  Service  Commission  of  Ohio  has  forn'ally 
approved  the  joint  application  of  Messrs.  Charles  Ash, 
Charles  A.  Strausch,  Ira  Cadwallader,  Charles  L.  Guernsey 
and  Earl  Ash,  doing  business  under  the  firm  name  of  the 
.Standard  Light  &  Power  Company,  for  permission  to  sell 
the  company's  property  lo  Mr.  Field  W.  Swezey.  The 
plant  of  the  Standard  Light  &  Power  Company  is  situated 
in  the  city  of  Fostoria,  Seneca  County.  Ohio.  The  con- 
sideration is  $82,500. 

A  ruling  was  made  recently  by  the  Public  Service  Com- 
mission to  the  effect  that  when  a  telephone  company  oper- 
ating between  two  points  is  able  and  willing  to  handle  all 
the  business  between  them  it  cannot  be  forced  to  est;iblish 
connections  with  a  rival  company  which  is  represented  at 
only  one  of  the  points.  This  decision  was  occasioned  by  the 
attempt  of  the  Hamilton  Home  Telephone  Company  to  force 
the  Cincinnati  &  Suburban  Bell  Telephone  Company  to  fur- 
nish it  connection  with  Cincinnati  over  the  latter's  long- 
distance lines.  The  petition  was  dismissed.  At  the  hearing 
some  weeks  ago  much  testimony  was  introduced  to  show 
that  the  Hamilton  company  could  rightly  demand  connection 
with  the  Bell  lines,  while  on  the  other  hand  the  Cincinnati 
&  Suburban  company  proved  that  it  had  the  facilities  for 
taking  care  of  the  business  offered  between  Cincinnati  and 
Hamilton  and  that  the  Legislature  did  not  intend,  in  the 
public  utilities  law  enacted  at  its  late  session,  to  force  a 
physical  connection  under  such  circunrstances.  The  inde- 
pendent companies  have  never  been  able  to  obtain  a  foothold 
in  Cincinnati  or  even  establish  a  long-distance  service  that 
amounted  to  much,  and  this  case  apparently  presented  an 
opening,  if  any  exists,  to  force  the  Bell  company  to  connect. 

MICHIGAN    COMMISSION. 

Judge  CoUingwood,  at  Lansing,  Mich.,  lately  denied  the 
application  of  the  Home  Telephone  Company,  of  Grass 
Lake,    for   an    injunction    to    prevent    the    consolidation    of 


the  Home  Telephone  Company  of  Detroit  with  the  Michi- 
gan State  Telephone  Company.  The  court  set  aside  the 
contention  of  the  plaintiff  that  the  consolidation  is  in  re- 
straint of  trade  and  that  the  State  Railroad  Commission 
was  without  authority  in  the  matter  because  of  the  alleged 
unconstitutionality  of  the  Giles  law.  It  has  been  reported 
that  the  case  will  be  appealed. 


Current  News  and  Notes 

Grazing  and  Water  Protection  Problems. — The  United 
States  Department  of  Agriculture  has  established  an  experi- 
ment station  on  the  Manti  National  Forest  Reserve,  near 
Ephraim,  Utah,  for  the  study  of  grazing  and  water-protec- 
tion problems.  It  has  already  been  proved  conclusively 
that  the  over-grazed  conditions  of  areas  on  which  the 
natural  vegetative  cover  had  been  seriously  altered  was 
responsible  for  the  formation  of  torrents  and  the  rapid  dis- 
charge of  debris-laden  flood-waters.  In  a  recent  destructive 
storm  the  water  ran  clear  from  a  portion  of  the  watershed 
which  was  within  the  National  Forest,  while  from  other 
areas  it  swept  down  sand  and  boulders.  One  of  the  objects 
of  the  study  will  be  to  learn  how  the  maximum  of  grazing 
use  of  natural  forest  land  can  be  obtained  without  injury  to 
forest  reproduction  and  stream  flow. 

*  *     * 

Dedication  of  Rice  Institute,  Houston,  Tex. — Rice 
Institute,  the  new  school  of  science,  engineering,  architec- 
ture and  classical  subjects  at  Houston,  Tex.,  founded  upon 
the  ten-million-dollar  bequest  of  William  M.  Rice,  will  be 
formally  dedicated  with  exercises  lasting  Oct.  10  to  13, 
although  classes  will  begin  Sept.  23.  The  opening  cere- 
monies will  be  attended  by  distinguished  scholars  from 
several  foreign  countries.  In  planning  the  Rice  Institute 
courses  it  is  declared  to  have  been  the  aim  to  place  facilities 
for  thorough  technical  and  professional  training  within  the 
reach  of  all.  Dr.  Edgar  Odell  Lovett,  formerly  of  Prince- 
ton, is  president  of  the  new  institution.  Mr.  Francis  Ellis 
Johnson,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin  and 
recently  associated  with  the  Vancouver  (B.  C.)  electric  com- 
pany, is  announced  as  instructor  in  electrical  engineering. 

Monument  Commemorating  the  First  Telegraph 
Train  Order. — An  attractive  illustrated  booklet  narrating 
the  movement  which  resulted  in  establishing  at  the  Harri- 
nian  (N.  Y.)  station  on  the  Erie  Railroad  a  monument 
commemorating  the  transmission  of  the  first  telegraph  train 
order  in  1831  has  been  prepared  by  Mr.  J.  B.  Taltavall. 
The  Harriman  station  stands  nearly  on  the  site  of  the 
original  Turner  station  from  which  the  first  order  was 
transmitted  to  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  by  Mr.  Charles  Minot,  then 
general  superintendent  of  the  New  York  &  Erie  Railroad. 
The  commemorative  tablet  was  erected  under  the  joint 
auspices  of  the  Association  of  Railway  Telegraph  Superin- 
tendents and  the  Old  Time  Telegraphers'  and  Historical  • 
.Association  during  May  of  the  present  year.  Copies  of  the 
booklet  may  be  obtained  from  Mr.  Taltavall,  at  253  Broad- 
way, N.  Y. 

*  *     * 

Medal  for  Safety  Device. — The  Allgemeine  Elec- 
tricitats  Gesellschaft,  of  Berlin,  has  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  the  American  Museum  of  Safety  the  Rathenau  gold 
medal  for  award  annually  for  the  best  device  or  process 
for  safeguarding  life  and  limb  or  promoting  health  in  the 
electrical  industry.  The  competition  is  open  to  every  coun- 
try in  the  world,  the  only  condition  being  that  the  device 
or  process  must  be  exhibited  at  the  American  Museum  of 
Safety  in  New  York  City.  One  Rathenau  medal  will  now 
be  cast  each  year  from  the  original  die  for  the  American 


550 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii. 


Museum  of  Safety  to  award.  The  Rathenau  medal  was 
presented  to  Dr.  Emil  Rathenau.  president  and  founder  of 
the  Allgemeine  Electricitats  Gesellschaft,  on  the  occasion 
of  his  seventieth  birthday,  with  the  felicitations  of  the 
Kaiser  for  his  services  in  the  field  of  electrotechnics,  nota- 
bly in  connection  with  the  introduction  of  incandescent 
electric   lighting  in  Germany. 


Report  of  Buffalo  Street  Railway  Investigation. — 
0The  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  Second  District  of 
New  York  State  has  published  as  a  separate  document  the 
126-page  report  covering  the  investigation  of  street  railway 
traffic  conditions  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  by  C.  R.  Barnes,  electric 
railroad  inspector  for  the  commission.  An  abstract  of  the 
findings  was  given  in  our  Public  Service  Commission  News, 
page  299,  of  our  issue  of  Aug.  10.  The  office  of  the  com- 
mission is  at  Albany,  N.  ^'. 


Reduction  in  Cable  Rates. — Official  announcement  has 
been  made  of  a  reduction  in  cable  rates  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States  and  Canada,  to  become 
effective  at  an  early  date.  Regular  messages  will  cost  25 
cents  per  word.  Messages  that  can  be  sent  at  such  times 
during  the  day  or  night  as  the  company  finds  convenient 
will  cost  9  cents  per  word.  Night  letters  will  cost  75  cents 
for  twelve  words  and  5  cents  for  each  additional  word. 
Week-end  letters  will  cost  $1.15  for  twenty-four  words  and 
5  cents  for  each  additional  word.  The  rates  are  about  25 
per  cent  lower  than  former  rates. 

The  Japanese  Tariff. — An  English  edition  of  the 
Japanese  tarifi"  of  July  17,  191 1,  has  just  been  published 
by  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  of  the 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor.  This  tariff  marks 
the  attainment  by  Japan  of  full  independence  in  commer- 
cial matters.  It  provides  for  higher  duties  than  those  for- 
merly in  force,  with  the  twofold  object  of  increasing  the 
amount  of  revenue  and  of  offering  increased  protection  to 
Japan  industries.  The  rates  of  duty  are  given  in  both 
Japanese  and  American  currency,  weights  and  measures. 
Copies  may  be  obtained  by  application  to  the  Bureau  of 
Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce. 

*  *     * 

California  191  i  Metal  Production. — The  mine  output 
of  gold,  silver,  copper,  lead  and  zinc  in  California  during 
the  year  1911,  according  to  Mr.  Charles  G.  Yale,  of  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey,  was  valued  at  $25,174,677, 
representing  a  decrease  of  $1,845,728  from  the  correspond- 
ing value  for  1910.  This  decrease  was  caused  mainly  by 
curtailment  in  the  copper  output,  because  of  litigation  over 
the  smelter-fume  question.  The  production  of  copper  was 
36.316,136  lb.,  valued  at  $4,539,517.  This  represents  a  de- 
crease of  12,384.620  lb.,  having  a  value  of  $1,645,479.  The 
output  of  lead  was  1,398,111  lb.,  valued  at  $62,915.  This 
output  was  only  about  one-half  that  of  the  previous  year. 
No  zinc  was  purchased  in  1910,  but  the  1911  production  was 
2,807,035  lb.,  valued  at  $160,001. 

*  *     * 

Free  Water-Power  Permits. — According  to  newspaper 
reports,  Mr.  Walter  L.  Fisher,  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
plans  to  grant  free  permits  for  the  development  of  water- 
powers  controlled  by  the  government,  provided  the  energy 
is  used  for  municipal  purposes  and  for  irrigation,  without 
making  any  rental  charge.  It  is  said  that  these  permits 
will  be  granted  under  new  regulations  governing  water- 
power  development  on  public  lands  outside  of  the  national 
forests.  These  regulations  were  promulgated  by  Secretary 
Fisher  before  leaving  for  Hawaii.  It  is  added  that  the 
intention  is  to  insure  that  the  benefits  which  are  to  be  con- 
ferred shall  be  enjoyed  by  the  citizens  of  the  municipalities 


and  by  the  irrigators,  for  whom  it  is  intended,  rather  than 
by  men  who  may  construct  and  operate  the  works. 

*  *     * 

Efficiency  Society. — As  noted  in  our  issue  of  March 
23,  page  632,  the  Efficiency  Society  was  organized  in  New 
York  City  on  March  18,  for  the  purpose  of  promoting 
efficiency  in  the  various  activities  in  which  man  is  engaged. 
The  society  has  recently  distributed  a  pamphlet  setting  forth 
its  purpose  and  organization  and  outlining  its  plans  for  the 
future.  Following  up  the  work  initiated  at  the  first  meet- 
ing, it  is  the  intention  to  develop  the  science  of  organization 
and  management  along  lines  which  will  lead  to  efficiency  in 
iiidustrial  and  other  fields.  The  program  will  be  a  dual  , 
one,  relating  in  part  to  the  cure  of  present  inefficiency  and 
in  part  to  the  prevention  of  future  inefficiency.  The 
pamphlet  recently  distributed  also  includes  the  constitution 
and  by-laws  of  the  society.  The  present  headquarters  are 
in  the  Engineering  Societies  Building,  29  West  Thirty- 
ninth  Street,  New  York.  Those  who  are  interested  in  the 
movement  for  which  this  society  stands  should  communicate 
with  Mr.  H.  T.  J.  Porter,  secretary. 

*  *     * 

Electrolytic  Volts. — That  electrical  engineers  have 
much  to  learn  about  electricity  is  indicated  in  the  following 
account  of  electrolytic  action  which  appeared  recently  in 
a  Montgomery  (Ala.)  paper:  "Harmful  as  electrolysis 
may  be,  it  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  freaks  that  develop 
in  the  use  of  electricity.  Electricity  is  measured  by  volts 
and  amperes,  volts  denoting  the  quantity  of  the  current  and 
amperes  its  quality,  or  strength.  It  is  possible  for  volts  to 
escape  from  a  distributing  point,  from  a  trolley  car  in  the 
rain,  and  in  almost  any  manner  where  the  wiring  may  be 
out  of  order.  They  may  come  down  the  trolley  pole  or  a 
street  car  in  rainy  weather,  be  picked  up  on  the  damp  floor 
in  a  woman's  si  k  petticoat,  left  on  the  metal  plate  of  a 
store's  door,  picked  up  by  the  steel  tire  of  a  vehicle,  but 
invariably  they  find  their  way  back  to  the  current-generating 
dynamo.  Left  a  while  on  a  piece  of  metal,  the  stray  volts 
will  feed  on  it,  destroying  it,  the  destruction  in  such  cir- 
cumstances being  known  as  electrolysis.  The  'disease'  is 
something  that  every  institution  using  metal  pipes  is  con- 
stantly on  guard  against,  as  far  as  it  can  guard,  but  usually, 
as  in  the  present  instance,  the  damage  is  not  found  out 

until  it  is  done." 

*  *     4< 

SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 
Western    Association    of    Electrical    Inspectors.—,,^ 
Attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  the  next  annual  meeting|l| 
of  the  Western  Association  of  Electrical  Inspectors,  to  be  W 
held  in  St.  Louis,  will  take  place  on  Jan.  28  to  30,  1913, 
beginning  one  day  earlier  than  announced  recently  in  the 

Electrical  World. 

*  *     * 

Outing  of  New  York  Electrical  Contractors. — On 
Saturday,  Sept.  28,  the  New  York  Electrical  Contractors' 
Association  wi'l  hold  its  outing  at  Donnelly's  Grove,  College 
Point,  L.  I.  In  addition  to  a  number  of  general  athletic 
events  there  will  be  a  baseball  game  between  the  material 
men,  under  Captain  V.  C.  Gilpin,  and  the  contractors,  under 

Captain  T.  C.  Hatzell. 

*  *     * 

Outing  of  New  York  Companies,  N.  E.  L.  A. — The 
second  annual  outing  of  the  New  York  Companies  Section 
of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  has  been 
arranged  for  Saturday,  Sept.  14,  at  Donnelly's  Grove, 
College  Point,  L.  I.  The  athletic  committee,  of  which  Mr. 
W.  Nelson  Valk,  New  York  &  Queens  Electric  Light  & 
Power  Company,  is  chairman,  has  arranged  for  a  set  of 
games  to  be  held  during  the  afternoon,  including  baseball, 
running  and  shot-putting,  for  which  numerous  prizes  are 
offered. 


SYSTEM  OF  THE  PACIFIC    POWER  &  LIGHT  CO. 


Numerous  Small  Generating  Stations  Operated  in  Multiple  on  a  66, 000- Volt 
Line  Traversing  Portions  of  Washington  and  Oregon. 

Typical    Rural   Service   in   the   Semi-Arid   Yakima  and  Walla  Walla   Valleys — Extensive  Use  of  Elec- 
tricity  for    Irrigation    Pumping   and    for    Domestic    Purposes    in    Sparsely   Settled    Com- 
munities— Improvements     in     Service    Incident    to    the    Consolidation    of 
Small    Generating    and    Distributing    Systems. 


THE  Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company,  of  Portland, 
Ore.,  operates  an  electric  generating  and  transmis- 
sion system  in  Oregon  and  Washington,  its  activi- 
ties extending  over  the  south  central  and  southeastern  parts 
of  Washington  and  along  the  northern  part  of  Oregon 
in  the  territory  tributary  to  the  Columbia  River,  extending 
from  the  Pacific  Coast  to  the  western  boundary  of  Idaho. 
The  company's  properties  are  located  in  sixteen  different 
counties  in  the  states  mentioned  above,  these  counties  hav- 
ing a  total  land  area  of  27,500  square  miles,  although,  of 
course,  the  system  of  the  company  does  not  cover  this  much 
territory  completely.  The  total  population  served  is  about 
100,000  and  an  appreciable  percentage  of  the  total  is  com- 
posed of  rural  and  farming  communities. 

ORGANIZATION. 

The  Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company  is  a  subsidiary 
of  the  American  Power  &  Light  Company,  of  New  York, 
and  is  therefore  affiliated  with  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share 
Company.  It  was  organized  in  the  spring  and  summer  of 
1910  to  take  over  a  number  of  isolated  electric,  gas,  railway 
and  water  plants  in  the  Pacific  Northwest.  These  plants 
varied  in  degree,  size  and  physical  equipment  when  they 
were  purchased  by  the  Pacific  company.  A  large  expendi- 
ture has  been  necessitated  to  put  them  in  proper  condition 
to  take  care  of  the  increasing  demand  made  upon  them  by 


the  growth  of  population  and  by  the  increased  business 
which  the  company  has  been  able  to  develop. 

Previous  to  the  formation  of  the  Pacific  Power  &  Light 
Company  the  American  Power  &  Light  Company  had  or- 
ganized the  Portland  Gas  &  Coke  Company,  which  owns 
and  operates  the  entire  gas  industries  in  Portland  and 
vicinity.  The  operations  of  the  Portland  Gas  &  Coke  Com- 
pany and  the  Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company  are  carried 
on  by  the  same  executive  officers,  although  separate  op- 
erating departments  are  maintained.  The  Pacific  com- 
pany operates  no  properties  in  Portland,  the  electric  and 
railway  properties  of  that  city  being  owned  by  the  Port- 
land Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company. 

The  more  important  of  the  companies  taken  over  by  the 
Pacific  company  in  1910  were  the  Astoria  Electric  Com- 
pany, of  Astoria,  Ore.;  the  Wasco  Warehouse  Milling 
Company,  of  The  Dalles,  Ore. ;  the  Northwestern  Corpora- 
tion, of  Walla  Walla,  Wash.,  and  the  Northwest  Light  & 
Water  Company  and  the  Yakima  Valley  Power  Company, 
of  North  Yakima,  Wash.  A  number  of  smaller  properties 
were  purchased,  with  the  result  that  the  Pacific  company 
now  owns  the  electric  lighting  and  motor-service  business 
in  the  following  among  important  towns:  North  Yakiina, 
Toppenish,  Sunnyside,  White  Salmon,  Goldendale,  Prosser, 
Walla  Walla,  Waitsburg,  Dayton  and  Pomeroy,  Wash. ; 
Pendleton,   The   Dalles   and   Astoria,   Ore.      It   also   owns 


Fig.   1 — Interior  of   White    River  Power  Plant. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii. 


the  electric  generating  and  distributing  system  at  Hood 
River,  Ore.,  which  is  operated  under  lease  by  the  Hood 
River  Gas  &  Electric  Company.  It  owns  gas  plants  in 
North  Yakima  and  Walla  Walla,  Wash. ;  Lewiston,  Idaho, 
and  Pendleton  and  Astoria,  Ore.,  and  owns  the  street-rail- 
way system  in  Astoria,  together  with  the  city  water-works 
in  North  Yakima,  Prosser,  Kennewick  and  Pasco,  Wash. 
It  owns  all  the  capital  stock  of  the  Walla  Walla  \'alley 
Railway  Company,  which  maintains  a  25-mile  city  and 
interurban  system  in  Walla  Walla,  Wash.,  and  Free- 
water,  Ore. 

RURAL    BUSINESS. 

Since  its  inception  it  has  been  the  policy  of  the  company 
to  build  up  its  rural  business,  particularly  the  use  of  elec- 
tricity for  irrigation  pumping,  and  the  company's  trans- 
mission line  extends  through  the  semi-arid  Yakima  and 
Walla  Walla  valleys,  which  are  particularly  famous  on 
account  of  their  fruit  products  and  in  which  it  is  quite 
impossible  to  secure  the  best  crops  without  the  aid  of  irri- 
gation. The  available  water  supply  through  gravity  is  lim- 
ited. In  many  cases  there  are  large  tracts  of  upland  which 
are  capable  of  producing  the  finest  fruits  and  field  crops 
when  water  is  applied.  It  has  been  practicable  to  do  this 
through  electrical  pumping,  and  the  company  has  at  the 
present  time  in  the  neighborhood  of  4000  hp  in  motors  con- 
nected to  its  lines  which  are  pumping  water  for  irrigators. 
These  motors  vary  in  rating  from  i  hp  to  230  hp  and  there 


Fig.  2 — Map  of  Territory   Served   by   Pacific   Power  &   Light  Company 

are  some  single  installations  having  a  total  of  800  hp.  The 
majority  of  the  installations  are  small,  however,  and 
average  between  5  hp  and  7.5  hp. 

The  Hanford  Irrigation  &  Power  Company,  which  is 
also  a  subsidiary  company  of  the  American  Power  & 
Light  Company,  operates  a  large  pumping  plant  at  Coyote 
Rapids  on  the  Columbia  River,  where  the  installed  rating 
'S  1775  bp,  in  three  units,  pumping  water  through  a  60-ft. 
head  and  distributing  this  water  by  means  of  a  20-mile 
main  irrigation  canal  the  greater  portion  of  which  is 
cement-lined.  The  high-tension  systems  of  the  Hanford 
company  and  Pacific  company  are  connected  and  operated 
in  multiple  with  each  other,  but  this  large  pumping  in- 
stallation is  not  included  in  the  4000  hp  connected  to  the 
Pacific  company's  system.  The  Hanford  company  has  in- 
stalled sufficient  generating  equipment  at  Priest  Rapids 
on  the  Columbia  River  to  take  care  of  its  own  motor  load. 

IRRIGATION. 

The  features  of  electric  pumping  for  irrigation  purposes 
that  have  appealed  to  the  farmers  are  the  fact  that  water 
can  be  secured   from  wells,   which   means  that   it   will  be 


free  from  weed  seeds  and  trash,  and  the  fact  that  the 
farmer  is  not  dependent  upon  the  governing  board  of 
some  irrigation  company  for  his  chance  to  use  water.  He 
can  pump' it  at  all  times  to  suit  himself,  and  in  pumping 
plants  similar  to  those  installed  on  the  Pacific  company's 
system  water  can  be  distributed  over  smaller  tracts  entirely 
through  pipes,  with  the  result  that  a  high  percentage  of 
water  is  utilized  on  account  of  low  ditch  seepage  and 
evaporation  losses. 

In  many  cases,  of  course,  water  is  pumped  directly  from 
rivers  and  irrigation  ditches,  but  even  in  such  cases  the 
farmer  has  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  pump  when  he 
wants  to  and  can  insure  the  delivery  of  water  to  any  part 
of  his  property.  The  installations  more  frequently  em- 
ployed consist  of  a  three-phase  horizontal  induction  motor 
directly  connected  to  a  centrifugal  pump.  The  pump  and 
the  motor  are  mounted  on  the  same  base  and  in  the  case 
of  wells  they  are  located  on  a  framework  situated  below 
the  surface.  Some  farmers  have  installed  vertical  equip- 
ments, but  these  are  not  as  popular  as  the  horizontal  ar- 
rangement. The  vertical  equipments  have  proved  less  ef- 
ficient than  the  horizontal.  There  seems  to  be  some  diffi- 
culty in  getting  them  properly  installed,  as  there  is  a 
tendency  for  the  shafts  to  get  out  of  line  and  the  exces- 
sive friction  affects  the  operation. 

RATES    FOR    IRRIGATION    LOADS. 

Energy  is  delivered  by  the  company  at  the  pump  house 
generally  at  220  volts,  and  the 
company  maintains  two  systems 
of  rates,  one  flat  and  one  meter, 
there  being   a   fixed   charge  in 
each  case,  however,  of  $12  per 
hp    per    annum    for    apparatus 
connected.     In  the  case  of  the 
flat   rate  the   running  charge  is 
based  upon  the  fixed  amount  per 
hp    of    the    customer's    demand 
and  in  the  meter  rate  upon  his 
kw-hour  consumption.     The  flat 
rate  is  very  popular  with  farm- 
ers   who     irrigate     for     certain 
fixed    periods    in    the    summer 
time  only   and  who  do  not  use 
their  plants  at  all  in  the  winter. 
The  meter  is  more  popular  with 
the  farmers  living  in  communi- 
ties where  total  irrigation  is  not 
required    and    where    consider- 
able assistance  is  derived  from 
the     natural     rainfall.       These 
farmers,  as  a  rule,  endeavor  to 
do  more  or  less  winter  pumping  and  prefer  the  meter  rate. 
In   some  cases   belt-connected   motors  are   installed,   and 
while  these  have  the  disadvantage  of  a  loss  in  efficiency, 
nevertheless  they  have  a  particular  advantage  in  that  the 
speed  of  the  pumps  can  be  varied  as  the  farmer  may  de- 
sire to  take  care  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  his  water  supply, 
which  is  an  important  feature  in  some  localities.    The  belt- 
driven  equipment  also  has  the  advantage  that  the  motor  can 
be   disconnected    from   the   pump    in   the   winter   time   and 
used   about   the    farm    for   running    feed   choppers    or   any 
other  apparatus  that  the  farmer  may  desire. 

The  company  maintains  a  special  irrigation  agent  with 
headquarters  at  North  Yakima,  Wash.,  whose  business  it  is 
to  solicit  the  irrigation  business  and  to  give  such  assistance 
as  is  necessary  to  the  farmers  in  installing  their  plants, 
although  the  company  does  not  furnish  the  pumping  equip- 
ment itself. 

Other  important  loads  in  this  territory  are  furnished  by 
flour  mills,  the  State  Penitentiary  at  Walla  Walla,  rock 
quarries  maintained  by  the  State  Highway  Commission  anij 
the  street  and  interurban  railways  in  North  Yakima  and 
\\'alla  Walla. 


September  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


553 


f  DIVISION    OF    PROPERTIES. 

The  electric  properties  of  the  company  are  divided, 
roughly  into  four  sections,  three  of  which  are  connected  by 
transmission  lines.  The  company  has  established  a  stand- 
ard of  66,000-vrilt  transmission  and  all  of  its  new  lines  are 


Fig.  3 — Naches   River  Generating   Station. 

being  constructed  for  this  voltage  and  as  fast  as  possible  its 
old  lines  are  being  reconstructed  whenever  necessary. 
Practically  all  the  distribution  in  the  irrigated  districts  and 
in  the  smaller  towns  is  at  6600  volts  and  energy  is  supplied 
to  the  irrigating  customer  at  220  volts,  the  company  fur- 
nishing transformers. 

Since    these    isolated    properties    were    acquired    by    the 
Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company  something  over  $3,000,000 
has  been  spent  in  extending  transmission  lines,  rebuilding 
j  distributing  systems,  installing  additional  generating  equip- 
■  ment  and  extending  the   system   generally ;   so   that   at  the 
I  present  time  its  physical  properties  are  in  excellent  shape 
and    fully    capable    of    taking    care    of    the      present    load. 
Much  new  equipment  in  the  shape  of  switchboard  appara- 
tus, feeder -regulators  and  substation  facilities  has  been  in- 
stal'ed.     All    of    the    new    construction    and    reconstruction 
work  has  been  done  by  the  engineering  department  of  the 
companv. 

INTERCONNECTION    OF    GENERATIN(i    STATIONS. 

Practically   all   of   the   properties   in   the  Yakima,   Upper 


Fig.   A — Power   Staton    on   Walla    Walla    River. 

Columbia  and  Walla  Walla  divisions  are  tied  together  on 
one  transmission  and  distributing  system,  extending  from 
the  power  house  on  the  Naches  River  10  miles  northwest 
to  North  Yakima  on  the  west,  to  Dayton,  Wash.,  on  the 
east,  to   Beverlv.   Wash.,   on   the   north,   and   to   Pendleton, 


Ore.,  on  the  south.  This  transmission  system  is  operated 
from  a  load  dispatcher's  office  at  Kennewick,  Wash.,  where 
telephone  communication  is  maintained  at  all  hours  with 
the  various  generating  stations  and  substations.  Load  dis- 
patchers are  employed  night  and  day  and  hourly  reports 
are  received  from  all  points. 

The  stations  which  feed  energy  into  this  66,000-volt 
system  are  as  follows :  A  plant  on  the  Naches  River  above 
North  Yakima  with  an  installed  water-power  equipment 
of  3750  kw  and  steam  equipment  of  2000  kw ;  a  combined 
steam  and  water-power  plant  of  350  kw  at  North  Yakima; 
a  water-power  plant  at  Prosser  of  500-kw  rating;  a  re- 
serve steam-turbine  plant  at  Kennewick  with  a  5oo-k\v 
generator ;  an  auxiliary  steam-turbine  station  at  Walla 
Walla  with  an  installation  rated  at  1000  kw ;  a  water-power 
plant  on  the  Walla  Walla  River  south  of  Walla  Walla  with 
an  installed  equipment  of  2750  kw,  and  a  smaller  combined 
steam    and    water-power    plant    at    Wailsburg    capable    of 


Fig.   5— Tygh   Valley   Hydroelectric   Plant. 

developing  75  kw.  These  plants  are  operated  synchronously 
on  the  transmission  system  mentioned  above. 

In  addition  to  the  power  plants  outlined  above,  the  Pacific 
company's  system  connects  with  the  Priest  Rapids  hydro- 
electric plant  of  the  Hanford  Irrigation  &  Power  Company, 
which  is  also  a  subsidiary  company  of  the  American  Power 
&  Light  Company.  The  Hanford  Irrigation  &  Power  Com- 
pany has  installed  at  Priest  Rapids  on  the  Columbia  River 
apparatus  aggregating  1800  kw,  which  is  also  operated  in 
multiple  with  the  Pacific  system. 

There  is  one  isolated  electric  plant  in  this  division  at 
Pomeroy,  Wash.,  energy  for  which  is  generated  on  the 
Tucanfion  River  about  10  miles  away  and  transmitted  to 
Pomeroy  at  a  pressure  of  6600  volts.  A  small  steam  plant 
of  loo-kw  rating  is  located  at  Pomeroy  and  serves  as  a 
reserve. 

TRANSMISSION    SYSTEM. 

The  Yakima-Walla  Walla  transmission  system  is  built  for 


554 


ELECTRICAL     W O  R  L  D . 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii. 


the  most  part  of  6o-l't.  poles  with  triangle  construction  and 
without  ground  wire.  The  company  has,  however,  adopted 
the  use  of  suspension-type  construction  on  its  later  installa- 
tions and  in  such  cases  a  ground  wire  has  been  installed 
at  the  top  cross-arm.  Somewhat  over  41  miles  of  66,00c- 
volt  line  has  recently  been  constructed  with  suspension  in- 
sulators. The  conductors  on  this  system  range  from 
aluminum  cable  of  approximately  55,000  circ.  mils  to  No. 
3-0  stranded  copper.  The  company  has  put  in  a  No.  3-0 
copper  line  with  the  expectation  that  business  will  increase 
so  that  these  heavy  conductors  will  be  necessary  at  some 
future  time.  Private  telephone  lines  parallel  the  entire  sys- 
tem, being  installed  on  the  same  poles.  Hard-drawn  copper 
and  copper-clad  steel  are  used  exclusively  on  the  telephone 
system.  The  6600-volt  rural  and  irrigation  distributing 
systems  are  built  for  the  most  part  either  of  copper  or 
of  steel-cored  aluminum,  and  the  company  has  also  installed 
a  considerable  amount  of  copper-clad  steel  and  galvanized- 


Flg.     6 — Priest     Rapids-Moxee 
Valley   Transmission    Line. 


Fig.   7— Pasco-Walla   Walla 
Transmission    Line. 


iron,  wire  on  extensions  of  this  character.     So  far  the  re- 
sults have  been  satisfactory. 

SUBSTATIONS. 

Among  the  important  substations  on  the  Yakima-Walla 
Walla  transmission  system  is  that  at  North  Yakima,  which 
has  just  been  completed  and  has  resulted  in  the  company's 
being  able  to  move  the  substation  formerly  located  in  its 
office  building  in  the  middle  of  the  town  to  its  power  house 
in  the  suburb  of  Fruitvale.  This  substation  supplies  energy 
to  the  city  of  North  Yakima,  and  another  substation  is 
maintained  by  the  Yakima  Valley  Transportation  Company 
where  transformers  are  located  to  supply  energy  to  the 
street-railway  and  interurban  lines.  The  transportation 
company  is  a  subsidiary  of  the  Harriman  lines  and  buys 
its  energy  from  the  Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company.. 

Between  the  Naches  power  house  and  the  North  Yakima 
and  the  Yakima  Valley  Transportation  Company's  substa- 
tions two  transmission  lines  have  been  maintained  to  pro- 
vide for  continuity  of  service.  From  North  Yakima  to 
Kennewick  there  are  also  two  transmission  lines,  one  ex- 
tending eastward   through   the   Moxee   Valley  by   way   of 


Priest  Rapids  and  Hanford  and  the  other  extending  down 
the  Yakima  Valley  in  the  more  thickly  settled  communities. 

The  substation  at  Toppenish,  Wash.,  supplies  energy  to 
the  town  of  Toppenish,  and  is  connected  to  Wapato  and 
Zillah  by  means  of  6600-volt  lines.  The  substation  at 
Sunnyside  also  distributes  energy  at  6600  volts  to  a  num- 
ber of  smaller  communities.  Additional  substations  are  lo- 
cated at  Prosser,  Benton  City,  Richland,  Hanford  and 
Beverly,  from  which  6600-volt  lines  feed  energy  to  a  large 
number  of  irrigation  customers.  Another  irrigation  dis- 
tributing system  is  at  Freewater  near  the  Walla  Walla 
River  power  plant  and  another  at  Waitsburg  northeast  of 
Walla  Walla. 

The  irrigation  load  on  this  system  exists  for  practically 
the  entire  summer,  the  season  averaging  about  five  months, 
beginning  in  April  and  extending  into  October.  More  re- 
cently the  farmers  have  been  experimenting  with  winter 
pumping  and  it  is  expected  that  very  favorable  results  will 
follow  from  this  class  of  irrigation,  especially  in  Walla 
Walla  and  Freewater  territory. 

LOWER    COLUMBIA    DIVISION. 

The  Lower  Columbia  division  consists  of  a  transmission 
line  from  a  2250-kw  plant  on  White  River  in  Wasco 
County,  Ore.,  extending  northerly  to  The  Dalles  and  thence 
west  to  Hood  River.  There  are  distributing  systems  in 
Dufur,  The  Dalles  and  Hood  River,  and  at  Hood  River  con- 
nection is  made  with  a  500-kw  water-power  plant.  Part  of 
the  system  is  already  built  for  66,000-volt  energy  trans- 
mission. During  the  coming  summer  the  line  between 
White  River  and  The  Dalles  will  be  reconstructed  for 
that  voltage,  and  before  the  end  of  the  year  all  energy 
will  be  transmitted  at  66,000  volts.  The  new  line  between 
White  River  and  The  Dalles  will  be  constructed  with  cop- 
per-clad steel-stranded  conductors  on  spans  averaging  be- 
tween 450  ft.  and  500  ft.  with  suspension  insulators.  The 
transformer  stations  have  already  been  arranged  to  take 
care  of  the  higher  voltage. 

The  important  load  on  this  system  is  the  flour-mill  busi- 
ness at  The  Dalles,  although  irrigation  pumping  is  now 
being  developed  along  the  territory  bordering  on  the  Co- 
lumbia River  between  The  Dalles  and  Hood  River.  A  par- 
ticularly interesting  feature  of  this  system  is  the  extent  of 
the  rural  distribution  in  the  Hood  River  valley.  The  com- 
pany has  6600-volt  lines  in  this  valley,  which  are  used  to 
distribute  energy  to  fruit  growers  for  many  mi'es  around. 

The  Hood  River  valley  is  famous  in  the  Northwest  for 
its  apple  and  strawberry  production  and  its  ranches  are 
high  class  and  have  excellent  homes.  The  use  of  electricity 
is  extensive  and  rapidly  becoming  more  so.  The  valley 
lies  between  Mount  Hood  and  Columbia  River,  is  from  7 
to  6  miles  wide  and  about  20  miles  long,  and  supports  a 
population  of  10,000  people,  with  the  town  of  Hood  River 
at  its  northern  extremity.  This  territory  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  in  the  Northwest  from  the  point  of  view 
of  rural  distribution  of  electricity,  although  irrigation  pump- 
ing is  not  practised  here  on  a  large  scale,  it  being  possible 
to  grow  fruit  in  the  valley  without  irrigation. 

Immediately  across  the  Columbia  from  Hood  River  is 
located  the  White  Salmon  valley,  which  is  somewhat  similar 
in  its  geographical  characteristics,  located  as  it  is  between 
the  base  of  Mount  Adams  and  the  Columbia  River.  A 
small  hydroelectric  plant  at  Husum  furnishes  electricity  for 
the  White  Salmon  valley  and  the  town  of  White  Salmon, 
which  is  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  from  Hood  River, 
and  here  6600-volt  rural  distribution  is  also  extensive.  A 
most  interesting  feature  of  this  section  is  the  wonderful 
view  that  can  be  had  in  either  valley  of  the  two  snow- 
capped sentinels  in  the  north  and  south — Mount  Adams, 
which  has  an  elevation  of  12,307  ft.,  and  Mount  Hood, 
with  an  elevation  of  10,225  ft. 

In  the  center  of  the  Klickitat  County  to  the  northeast 
of  The  Dalles  is  located  a  small  hydroelectric  plant  on  the 


September  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


55S 


Little  Klickitat  River,  which  feeds  energy  to  Goldendale 
and  Centerville.  These  localities  are  settlements  that  have 
existed  for  a  long  time  and  owing  to  their  isolation  have 
had  but  slow  growth.  With  the  general  waking  up  of  such 
communities,  however,  they  are  gradually  increasing  their 
populations  and  installing  the  municipal  improvements  of 
other    communities,    such    as    paved    streets,    incandescent 


Fig.  8 — North   Yakima   Substation   and   Old    Hydroelectric  Generat- 
ing   Station    at    Right. 

street-lighting  systems  on  ornamental  posts,  together  with 
city  water-works  and  other  improvements. 

The  coming  of  an  abundant  supply  of  electricity  has 
meant  a  great  deal  to  many  of  the  smaller  towns  in  the 
territory  fed  by  the  Pacific  company,  for  the  reason  that 
they  have  been  handicapped  by  being  dependent  upon  small 
plants  with  no  continuity  of  service.  The  building  up  of 
the  irrigation  business  has  been  of  particular  benefit  to 
many  of  these  communities  and  will  doubtless  result  in 
much  faster  growth. 

ASTORIA   PROPERTY. 

An  electric  property  of  the  company  herein  described 
last  is  located  at  Astoria  near  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia 
River,  one  of  the  oldest  communities  of  the  Pacific  North- 
west, founded  by  the  original  John  Jacob  Astor  when  fur 
trading  was  carried  on  at  the  beginning;  of  the  nineteenth 


^IS-    9 — Main    Substation    and    Reserve    Generating    Station    at 
^       V\/alla    Walla. 

century.  Astoria  is  different  from  the  other  communities 
served  by  the  Pacific  company,  in  that  it  is  in  a  more  humid 
climate  and  depends  almost  entirely  upon  the  lumber  and 
salmon-fishing  industries.  The  seining  grounds  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia  River  furnish  large  catches  of 
Chinook  salmon  every  year  and  most  of  this  catch  is  packed 
It  Astoria. 


The  Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company  has  a  steam  plant 
of  approximately  1600  hp  and  owns  and  operates  a  street- 
railway  system  and  also  the  gas  works.  At  the  present 
time,  however,  the  steam  plant  is  not  used,  the  energy 
being  purchased  wholesale  from  the  Hammond  Lumber 
Company,  which  utilizes  its  e.xhaust  steam  to  operate  low- 
pressure  turbines.  The  lumber  company's  plant  is  located 
about  4  miles  east  of  the  town  and  energy  is  transmitted  to 
the  Pacific  company's  substation  on  two  lines  at  a  tension 
of  23,000  volts. 

EXTENT  OF  TRANSMISSION  SYSTEM. 

At  the  present  time  the  company  has  in  operation  about 
350  miles  of  66,000-volt  line,  classifying  under  this  head 
the  line  between  White  River  and  Hood  River,  which  is 
not  now  operating  at  this  voltage  but  which  will  be  by  the 
end  of  summer.  The  company  also  has  73  miles  of  22,500- 
volt  lines,  most  of  which  is  double  circuit  on  a  single  pole 
line,  making  a  total  of  about  125  miles  of  single  line  of 
this  character.  Not  counting  city  distributing  systems,  it 
is  estimated  that  the  company  has  250  miles  of  6600-volt 
lines  in  the  rural  districts. 

The  operation  of  these  transmission  lines,  between  500 
and  600  miles  of  which  are  bound  together  in  one  sys- 
tem, was  an  interesting  problem  for  the  company  to  solve 
when  it  was  first  undertaken.  The  generating  plants  are 
not  large  and  the  charging  current  required  by  the  lines 
was  relatively  high,  but  at  the  present  time  the  load  dis- 
patcher  is   located   at   Kennewick,   near   the   middle   of   the 


Fig.    10 — Priest    Rapids    Hydroelectric    Plant. 

Yakima-Walla  Walla  line,  which  makes  the  situation  such 
that  it  can  be  handled  very  satisfactorily.  The  interrup- 
tions are  few.  It  might  be  mentioned  here,  however,  that 
during  the  summer  months  small  cyclonic  wind  and  dust 
storms  sometimes  visit  this  territory  and  these  play  havoc 
with  the  transmission  and  distributing  systems. 

Some  of  the  transmission  lines  extend  over  isolated 
country  and  to  keep  them  properly  patrolled  is  also  an 
important  function  of  the  operating  department.  Some 
lines  have  been  built  over  mountain  ranges  which  have 
necessitated  every  pole  hole  to  be  blasted  out  of  bed  rock, 
and  the  line  from  North  Yakima  to  Priest  Rapids  makes 
a  remarkable  descent  from  the  mountains  above  Priest 
Rapids  power  house  down  the  Columbia  River  at  an  angle 
of  about  45  deg.  Material  for  lines  of  this  character 
had  to  be  hauled  many  miles  over  almost  impassable  roads 
through  rocks  and  sagebrush  and  had  to  be  let  down  over 
cliffs  with  ropes. 

FUTURE    DEVELOPMENTS. 

The  American  Power  &  Light  Company  interests  have 
under  contemplation  the  construction  of  an  extensive  de- 
velopment at  Priest  Rapids  on  the  Columbia  River,  where 
1800  kw  is  now  being  generated  by  the  Hanford  Irrigation 
&  Power  Company.  The  available  power  at  this  place  has 
been  estimated  at  from  100,000  hp  to  300,000  hp.  The  river 
is  not  navigable  at  this  point  and  the  proposed  develop- 
ment would  include  locks  for  the  convenience  of  river 
boats,  which  together  with  the  canal  now  being  finished  near 


556 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  X(i. 


The  Dalles  by  the  governnienl  would  make  the  Columbia 
River  navigable  from  its  mouth  almost  to  the  British  Co- 
lumbia line. 

Another  available  source  of  supply  for  the  Pacific  Power 
&  Light  Company  is  provided  by  contract  with  the  Wasii- 
ington  Water  Power  Company,  which  stipulates  that  the 
Pacific  company  can  extend  its  transmission  line  to  Lind, 
Wash.,  and  there  make  connections  with  the  6o,ooo-volt  line 
which  has  already  been  built  to  that  place  from  Spokane. 
The  Washington  Water  Power  Company  has  an  abundance 
of  power  and  has  arranged  to  make  Lind  the  transfer 
point. 

PERSONNEL  OF   COMPANY. 

The  Pacific  company  maintains  general  offices  in   Port- 
land, where  approximately  sixty  persons  are  employed,  in- 
cluding those  in   its  engineering   and  construction   depart- 
ments.     Its    general    storeroom    is    maintained    at    Kenne- 
wick.  Wash.,  and  the  materials  and  supplies  are  distributed 
from  that  point.     The  president  of  the  company  is  Mr.  Guy 
W.  Talbot,  who  for  several  years  was  engaged  in  the  steam- 
railway  business  in  the  Middle  West  and  who  had  charge 
of  the  building  and  operation  of  the  Oregon  Electric  Rail- 
way,  a  75-mile  interurban   railway   line   between   Portland 
and  Salem.    In  1910  the  Oregon  Electric  Railway  was  ab- 
sorbed by  the  Hill  interests  and  Mr.  Talbot  was  elected 
president'  of  the  Portland  Gas  &  Coke  Company  and  of  the 
Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company.    Mr.  James  E.  Davidson, 
vice-president    and    general    manager,    was    formerly    con- 
nected with  the  Port  Huron  Light  &  Power  Company,  of 
Port   Huron,   Mich.,   and  was  later  president  of  the   Con- 
solidated   Light    Company,   of    Montpelier.    Vt.       He   went 
to  the  Pacific   Northwest  in   1910  to  become  new-business 
manager  of  the  Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company  and  was 
later  made  general  manager  and  in  April  of  this  year  was 
given   the    additional    title    of    vice-president.      Mr.    D.    F. 
McGee,  chief  engineer,  was  for  many  years  with  Messrs. 
J.  G.  White  &  Company  and  operated  a  number  of  prop- 
erties in  the  Middle  West.     He  was  manager  of  the  Astoria 
Electric   Company   at   the   time    it   was   taken   over   by   the 
Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company  and  was  made  a  division 
manager   of   the   new    company    and    later    chief    engineer. 
He   is   also   vice-president    of    the   Hanford    Irrigation    & 
Power  Company  and  has  charge  of  the  operation  of  that 
company.     Mr.  Lewis  A.  McArthur,  assistant  to  the  gen- 
eral  manager,    was    formerly   connected    with    the   Oregon 
Electric  Railway  Company,  of  Portland,  and  was  made  as- 
sistant secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Pacific  Power  &  Light 
Company  in  1910.     He  was  appointed  assistant  to  the  gen- 
eral manager  in  April  of  this  year.     Mr.  J.  H.  Siegfried, 
superintendent  of  power,  has  charge  of  the  transmission 
lines  and  maintains  an  office  at  Kennewick,  Wash.    Mr.  H. 
S.  Wells  has  charge  of  the  new-business  department  and 
Mr.   C.  H.    Still   is  purchasing  agent,   both   with   offices   in 
Portland. 


ELECTRICAL    FEATURES    OF    SOME    CHICAGO 
OFFICE  BUILDINGS. 


NEW  USES  FOR  TUNGSTEN. 


Equipments  for  Lighting  and  Motor  Service  in  Five  New 
High-Class  Buildings. 


Tungsten  is  finding  an  increasing  use  in  the  electrical 
arts  outside  its  application  in  incandescent-lamp  filaments. 
On  account  of  its  high  surface  tension,  the  metal  is  well 
adapted  for  sparking  or  arcing  terminals.  In  some  of  the 
newer  Crookes  or  X-ray  tubes  which  are  designed  to  work 
at  enormous  intensities,  being  capable  of  absorbing  10  kw 
and  taking  "snap-shot"  skiagraphs  of  even  the  thickest 
parts  of  the  human  body,  tungsten  has  been  used  as  the 
anode  target  for  the  cathode  rays,  the  rare  metal  being 
backed  up  with  copper  to  convey  away  the  heat  developed. 
Although  rendered  molten  by  even  this  instantaneous  im- 
pact of  electrons,  the  great  surface  tension  of  the  tungsten 
prevents  its  loss  or  change  of  shape.  Tungsten  electrodes 
have  also  been  used  for  gas-engine  spark-gaps  and  show 
longer  life  than  those  of  other  metals  of  equivalent  cost. 


DURING  the  last  twelve  months  a  number  of  fine  office 
buildings  have  been  completed  in  Chicago.  Among 
the  most  important  of  these,  with  their  estimatec 
cost,  are  the  following:  Insurance  Exchange,  twenty-ont 
stories,  $4,000,000;  North  American  Building,  twent) 
stories,  $1,800,000;  Otis  Building,  sixteen  stories,  $1,500,000 
Monroe  Building,  fourteen  stories,  $1,500,000.  Of  these 
the  largest  and  costliest,  the  new  Insurance  Exchange;  i; 
served  with  central-station  energy,  while  each  of  the  othei 
structures  has  its  own  power  plant.  The  equipment  of  the 
four  buildings  is  modern  and  comp'ete  in  every  respect 
among  the  utilities  supplied  to  tenants  being  electric  ligh 
and   motor   service,   steam   heat,   hot   and   cold    water,    icei 


Fig.   1 — Ornamental    Lighting   of    Entrances   to    Restaurant. 

drinking  water,  vacuum-cleaner  service,  two  telephone  con 
nections,  elevator  service,  etc. 

In  the  buildings  served  by  isolated  plants  the  plant  equip 
ment  occupies  the  basement  or  sub-basement  space.  In  th 
Insurance  Exchange,  however,  such  basement  room  ha 
been  rented  to  outside  tenants  at  an  advantageous  rate 
while  deep  or  expensive  excavation  has  not  been  necessar 
to  provide  for  commercial  use  of  the  first  level  beneath  th' 
street.  The  isolated  p'ants  have  the  advantage  during  * 
winter,  however,  of  combining  their  electrical  and  heatiui 
loads.  '  None  of  the  plants  here  listed  has  throw-over  0 
break-down  connection  with  the  central-station  lines,  and  i 
is  imperative  that  the  individual  service  of  each  be  main 
tained  uninterrupted.  ^ 

INSURANCE  EXCHANGE  BUILDING  EQUIPMENT. 

The  twenty-one-story  Insurance  Exchange  Building,  0 
lackson  Boulevard  between  Fifth  Avenue  and  LaSall 
Street,  obtains  its  electrical  energy  from  the  Comnionwealt 
Edison  Company  and  its  heat  from  the  Illinois  Maintenanc 
Company,  which  operates  the  l200-hp  boiler  plant  ni  th 
basement  during  the  winter  months.     The   Insurance  Ex 


September  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D . 


SS7 


change  Building  occupies  a  ground  area  200  ft.  square,  in 
the  center  of  which  is  an  open  court  72  ft.  by  73  ft.  The 
present  population,  with  the  offices  nine-tenths  rented,  is 
about  2800,  and  there  are  over  9000  lighting  sockets  in  the 
building. 

At  the  second  basement  level  and  beneath  the  central 
:ourt  is  the  boiler  room,  with  an  overhead  clear  height  of 
25  ft.  The  four  300-hp  Heine  boilers,  equipped  with  chain- 
jrate  automatic  stokers,  are  owned  by  the  building,  but  are 
eased  for  operation  by  the  Illinois  Maintenance  Company. 
These  are  high-pressure  boilers  and  were  originally  in- 
italled  with  the  intention  of  operating  an  isolated  plant. 
The  coal  bunkers  are  located  under  the  sidewalk,  the  fuel 
)eing  carted  through  a  runway  to  the  boilers  and  fired  by 
land  onto  the  chain  grates.  The  space  adjoining  the  boiler 
oom  will  be  partitioned  off  and  occupied  as  a  substation 
)y  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company.  Three  3500-kw 
.ynchroiious  converters  and  one  2500-kw  synchronous 
looster  will  be  installed  for  feeding  energy  into  the  down- 
I  own  Edison  network. 

I    Electricity  is  purchased  under  the  wholesale  schedule  of 

i  he  Edison  company  and  is  then  resold  to  tenants  through 

neters  at  the  rates  prevailing  for  similar  customers  of  the 

entral  station.     The  building  management  is  obligated  to 

neet  anv  reduction  in  the  Edison  rates  to  this  class  of  cus- 


^ 


^ 


X 


On 


0^,„li^' 


Cl^^^ 


t".^' 


al^^' 


Ll^^ 


Lt^ 


k 


Fig.   2 — Cornice    Lighting    in    Lobby   of    Insurance    Exchange. 

omers.    Lamps,  both  carbon  and  tungsten,  are  furnished  to 

enants  at  the  renewal  rates  charged  by  the  central  station. 

"he  building  management  owns  the  meters  and  attends  to 

eading  and  billing.     The  Insurance  Exchange  is  equipped 

hroughout  with  Crouse-Hinds  meter  panels  and  is  lighted 

11  the  unit  system,  using  Alba  glassware  and  a  large  pro- 

ortion  of  tungsten  lamps.     A  total  of  3750  Benjamin  unit 

oMers  and  sockets  is  used  in  the  offices.     Energy  consumed 

y  tenants,  motors,  elevators  and  public  lighting  is  metered 

eparately  and  recorded. 

There    are    sixteen    Otis    one-to-one    traction    passenger 

levators,  each  driven  by  a  35-hp  motor  and  capable  of  a 

peed  of  560  ft.  per  minute.     The  travel  of  these  cars  is 

iidividually  recorded  on  odometer  indicators.     A  contact 

j.heel  travels  with  the  car  but  has  its  motion  in  one  direction 

I  rrested  by  a  ball  clutch,  so  that  movement  in  only  one 

irection  is  transmitted  through  to  the  revolution  counter. 

'ince  the  car's  travel  upward  and  downward  must  be  equal, 

it  is  necessary  only  to  multiply  this  travel  by  two  to  get  the 

'otal  distance  covered.    The  indicator  thus  gives  a  record  of 

11  accidental  over-travel  caused  by  running  past  floors  and 

,eturning,  thus  enabling  the  expertness  of  the  operators  to 

}'e  judged   and   compared.      The   indicator  was   devised   by 

'ir.  F.  K.  Boomhower,  engineer  for  the  building.     During 

representative  month  the  sixteen  passenger  cars  traveled 


6507  nnles  and  the  freight  elevator  371  miles,  at  an  average 
e.xpenditure  of  4.58  kw-hr.  per  car-mile. 

Water  for  the  building  is  pumped  by  two  25-hp  General 
Electric  motors,  each  chain-connected  to  a  Gould  triplex 
pump.  The  pump  motors  are  automatically  controlled  by  a 
Cutler-Hammer  magnet-operated  starting  panel.  The  supply 
is  purified  in  a  Manhattan  water  filter.     Two  50-hp  motors 


Fig.   3- 


■Suspended   Fixtures   in    Elevator   Corridor,    Insurance 
Exchange. 


J 


are  connected  to  ventilating  fans  each  capable  of  delivering 
55,000  cu.  ft.  of  air  per  minute.  An  air-washing  outfit  is 
also  installed,  but  it  has  not  been  found  necessary  to  operate 
this  ventilating  apparatus  except  for  a  small  fan  exhausting 
the  toilets. 

The  large  lobby  beneath  the  central  court  is  finished  in 
white  tile  and  is  lighted  by  a  row  of  225  25-watt  frosted 
tungsten  lamps  bordering  the  cornice.  The  second-story 
gallery  which  surrounds  the  lobby  is  equipped  with  twenty- 
five  three-outlet  bracket  fixtures,  one  mounted  on  each  sup- 
porting pillar.  In  the  space  in  front  of  each  row  of  eight 
elevators  chain-suspended  fixtures  of  black  metal  provide 
the  illumination.  Each  of  these  ten  fixtures  carries  eighteen 
25-watt  tungsten  lamps,  sixteen  of  which  arc  arranged  in  a 


Fig.    4 — Entry    Corridor   of    IVIonroe    Building. 

ring  with  central  lamps  pointing  upward  and  downward' 
(Fig.  3).  These  suspended  fixtures  measure  10  ft.  from 
point  of  support  to  the  lamps. 

OTIS    BUILDING    EQUIPMENT. 

The  new  Otis   Building,  at  the  comer  of  LaSalle  and' 
Madison  Streets,  is  completed  to  its  initial  height  of  sixteen 


SS8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii. 


stories,  but  will  ultimately  be  extended  to  twenty-one 
stories,  for  which  steelwork,  foundations,  utilities,  etc., 
have  been  designed.  A  550-kw  isolated  plant  in  the  base- 
ment supplies  lighting,  motor  service  and  heat  for  the  build- 
ing. This  plant  is  probably  the  handsomest  ever  installed  in 
Chicago.  There  are  two  300-kw  sets,  one  150-kw  set  and 
one   loo-kw  set,  each  consisting  of  a   Ball  engine  directly 


of  the  tunnel  company.  The  conveyor,  which  has  a  total 
length  of  500  ft.,  extends  below  the  ash  chutes  leading 
from  the  furnaces,  so  that  ashes  can  be  delivered  to  the 
empty  coal  cars  for  removal  through  the  tunnel.  The  con- 
veyor is  provided  with  safety  switches  at  seven  stations  near 
the  corners  and  mid-points  of  the  runs,  so  that  in  case  of 
accident  an  attendant  can  stop  the  conveyor  from  any  of 
these  points  without  having  to  run  to  the  main  switch. 
Before  going  into  the  conveyor  for  repairs  he  can  also,  by 
opening  the  nearest  switch,  make  sure  that  the  conveyor 
will  not  be  started  without  his  knowledge.  This  protection 
is  afforded  by  inserting  the  safety  switches  in  the  holding 
coil  of  the  automatic  starter.  If  this  circuit  be  broken,  the 
coil  releases  the  contact  arm  of  the  starting  bo.x,  returning 
it  to  the  off  position,  from  which  it  cannot  be  moved  while 
the  switch  is  open. 

The  switchboard  in  the  engine  room  was  built  by  the 
Walker  company  and  contains,  besides  the  generator  and 
equalizer  panels,  a  metering  panel  through  which  the  energy 
delivered  to  freight  elevators,  passenger  elevators,  public 
lighting,  ventilation  apparatus  and  boiler-room  auxiliaries  is 
separatelv  measured.  The  distribution  section  of  the  board 
is  divided  into  four  parts,  from  which  radiate  twelve 
feeders.  All  motor  service  in  the  building  is  provided  for 
at  220  volts,  while  the  lighting  is  arranged  on  the  220-110- 


Fig.  5 — Cluster   Lighting  in   Restaurant,   North  American   Building.  ^p 


connected  to  a  Crocker-Wheeler  220-volt  direct-current  gen- 
erator. Three-wire,  iio-220-volt  service  for  the  lighting 
circuits  is  provided  by  two  balancer  sets,  one  of  175-amp 
and  the  other  of  75-amp  rating.  The  boiler  room  contaiuh 
three  300-hp  Edgemoor  boilers  fitted  with  automatic  stokers 
and  fed  from  a  traveling  weighing  hopper  which  runs  on 
rails  beneath  the  chutes  of  the  overhead  bunkers.  Coal  is 
delivered  from  the  underground  system  of  the  Illinois 
Tunnel  Company,  whose  narrow-gage  tracks,  40  ft.  below 
the  surface,  duplicate  in  arrangement  60  miles  of  Chicago's 
downtown  streets.  Coal  from  the  tunnel  cars  is  dumped 
into  a  track  hopper  over  the  bucket  conveyor  which  elevates 
the  coal  to  the  bunkers.  These  overhead  bunkers  have  a 
storage  capacity   for  1000  tons,  and  an  equivalent  amount 


Fig.   6 — Engine   Room,   Otis   Building. 

can  be  held  on  the  basement  level  adjoining  the  tracks. 
The  220-volt  trolley  extension  of  the  tunnel  system  is 
arranged  with  an  automatic  switch  which  normally  keeps 
the  wire  in  the  basement  "dead,"  energizing  it  when  a  loco- 
motive enters  and  disconnecting  it  again  when  the  train 
leaves.  An  electric  "mule"  is  to  be  installed  for  switching 
in  the  sub-basement,  in  order  to  save  the  locomotive  charges 


Fig.  7 — Balancer  Sets  and   Switchboard,  Otis   Plant. 

volt,  three-wire  Edison  system.  The  motor  rating  aggre- 
gates nearly  500  hp,  100  hp  being  used  in  the  ventilating 
machinery  alone.  There  are  nine  3000-lb.  Otis  elevators, 
operating  at  a  linear  speed  of  500  ft.  per  minute  and  each 
driven  by  a  40-hp  motor.  These  elevators  now  run  to  the 
sixteenth  floor,  but  will  be  extended  to  the  twenty-first  story 
when  the  building  is  completed  in  accordance  with  the  ulti- 
mate plans. 

On  each  floor  there  are  two  twenty-four  loop  Lang- 
McWilliams  meter  panels,  each  panel  serving  half  of  one 
story.  The  panels  used  are  arranged  with  seven  riser  buses, 
and  with  the  adjustable  contact  plugs  any  box  can  be 
balanced  across  the  220-1  lo-volt,  three-wire  circuit  to  within 
the  margin  of  the  smallest  meter  circuit.  When  installing 
the  service  each  box  was  balanced  with  the  aid  of  in- 
struments, with  the  result  that  the  looo-amp  full  load 
of  the  entire  building  shows  a  lack  of  balance  of  less 
than  20  amp  on  the  switchboard  meters.  Electrical  en- 
ergy is  sold  to  tenants  at  a  uniform  rate  of  10  cents  per 
kw-hr.,  regardless  of  the  quantity  used.  There  is  no  mini- 
mum monthly  charge,  the  tenant  being  billed  only  for  the 
actual  amount  of  his  consumption.  The  use  of  tungsten 
lamps  is  encouraged,  customers  being  supplied  at  a  price 
slightly  below  the  market  figure  for  such  lamps.  In 
arranging  the  lighting  of  the  offices  the  plan  has  been  to 


September  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


559 


rely  upon  overhead  fixtures  equipped  with  refracting  glass 
reflectors  for  general  illumination,  providing  in  addition 
numerous  baseboard  outlets  for  desk  and  table  lamps  where 
higher  intensities  are  required  for  close  work.  In  fact,  it 
has  been  stated  that  the  total  number  of  baseboard  outlets 
in  the  Otis  Building  exceeds  the  number  of  ceiling  outlets. 
The  hallways  are  equipped  with  220-volt  baseboard  outlets 


Fig,    8 — Switchboard    o^    Monroe    Building    Power    Plant. 

for  the  operation  of  portable  vacuum-cleaner  machines,  and 
the  public  lighting  in  the  corridors  is  by  means  of  tungsten 
lamps  in  inverted  glass  domes.  Habirshaw  wire  was  used 
throughout  the  building.  Mr.  C.  H.  Langs  is  chief  engineer 
of  the  new  Otis  Building  and  Mr.  A.  S.  McKee  is  chief 
electrician. 

NORTH    AMERICAN    BUILDING    EQUIPMENT. 

The  new;  twenty-story  Xorth  American  Building,  at  the 
corner  of  State  and  Monroe  Streets,  contains  a  650-kw, 
220-volt  direct-current  isolated  plant,  located  on  a  level  57 
ft.  below  the  street.  The  unusual  arrangement  of  equip- 
ment in  this  case  was  made  necessary  by  the  large  high- 
ceilinged  restaurant  which  occupies  the  first  basement  level. 
Below  the  pantries  and  storeroom,  four  stairways  down,  are 
located  the  engine  room  and  boilers.  The  prime-mover 
equipment  comprises  one  350-kw,  one  200-kw  and  one 
loo-kw,  220-volt  engine-driven  set  built  by  the  Ridgway 
Dynamo  &  Engine  Company.  Edison  three-wire  service 
is  furnished  through  a  pair  of  balancer  sets.  The  building 
is  wired  with  Simplex  wires  and  cables  and  is  equipped  with 
Crouse-Hinds  panel  boxes.  A  steam-driven  ammonia  com- 
pressor supplies  refrigeration  and  ice  for  the  restaurant  and 
for  the  drinking  water  of  the  building.  Coal  is  delivered  to 
the  bunkers  by  wagon  from  the  street  level,  but  there  is 
also  tunnel  connection  with  the  freight  subways,  through 
which  ashes  are  now  being  removed.  The  Xorth  American 
Building  was  built  as  a  novel  experiment  in  retail  mer- 
chandising, the  plan  being  to  collect  under  a  single  roof 
numerous  small  dealers  working  together  under  co-opera- 
tive conditions  and  constituting  virtually  a  great  depart- 
ment store  in  which  the  departments  are  owned  and  oper- 
ated by  individual  merchants.  There  are  few  offices  in  the 
structure,  practically  all  the  space  being  occupied  by  these 
retail  stores.  This  entails  a  large  amount  of  long-hour 
showcase  lighting,  so  that  the  North  American  isolated 
plant  benefits  from  the  comparatively  large  day  load  se- 
cured. Rates  for  electric  service  to  tenants  are  adjusted 
on  a  sliding  scale  which  takes  into  account  the  size  of  the 
customer's  installation  and  his  hours  of  use.  Mr.  W.  G. 
Lighty  is  chief  engineer  of  the  building. 

The  principal  lighting  effects  used  in  connection  with 
the  North  American  Building  are  employed  for  the  orna- 
mental   illumination    of   the   entrance   corridor   to   the    ele- 


vators and  in  the  restaurant  on  the  basement  level,  which 
has  its  approach  from  the  street.  The  corridor  lighting 
comprises  eight  elaborate  and  unique  bronze  candelabra 
fixtures  set  in  half  relief  into  the  marble  with  which  the 
walls  are  lined.  Each  panel  contains  three  lanterns  indi- 
vidually lighted  by  two  60-watt  tungsten  lamps.  The  first 
stairway  is  lighted  by  a  huge  decorative  bronze  chandelier 
carrying  thirty  frosted  60-watt  lamps,  and  over  the  outer 
threshold  there  are  three  60-watt  art-glass  semi-indirect 
fi.xtures  suspended  beneath  mosaic  domes. 

Fig.  I  shows  the  arrangement  of  the  decorative  lighting 
about  the  entrance  to  the  restaurant.  This  piece  of  light- 
ing, which  in  connection  with  the  graceful  design  of  the 
entrance  way  is  declared  to  be  very  good  in  an  artistic 
sense,  is  made  up  of  200  25-watt  frosted  lamps,  100  on  each 
fagade.  Classical  forms  of  corner  lanterns  mark  the  cor- 
ner post.  Within  the  first  row  of  lamps  in  the  arches  are 
art-glass  panels  behind  which  burn  tungsten  lamps  in  re- 
flectors. A  similar  plan  of  illumination  has  been  employed 
for  the  ceiling  of  the  stair  entry  leading  down  to  the  res- 
taurant. The  side  walls  are  of  blue  tiles,  and  the  arched 
ceiling  is  of  translucent  glass,  behind  which  are  mounted 
25-watt  and  40-watt  lamps  in  reflectors.  The  dining  room 
(Fig.  5)  is  lighted  by  eighteen  gilded  plaster  clusters, 
each  supporting  eight  60-watt  frosted  lamps  besides  a  cen- 
tral domed  bull's-eye.  On  the  columns  about  the  room  the 
fifty  shell-like  cap-piece  designs  are  accentuated  by  five 
frosted   carbon   lamps   each. 

MONROE  BUILDING   EQUIPMENT. 

The  new  fourteen-story  Monroe  Building,  at  the  corner 
of  Monroe  Street  and  Michigan  Avenue,  overlooking  Chi- 
cago's waterfront,  is  occupied  by  professional  and  busi- 
ness offices  of  the  better  class.  Its  isolated  plant  m  the  first 
basement  comprises  a  200-kw,  a  loo-kw  and  a  50-kw,  220- 
volt  set,  each  consisting  of  a  Sprague  generator  directly 
connected  to  a  Skinner  engine.  Coal  and  ashes  are  han- 
dled by  wagon  directly  from  the  street  level.  The  gener- 
ator   units    are    provided    with    a    specially    designed    corn- 


Fig.    9 — Adjustable    Metering    Panels    in    Monroe    Building. 

pounding  winding  arranged  to  prevent  voltage  fluctuations 
on  the  lighting  circuits  due  to  current  rushes  caused  by 
starting  the  seven  passenger  elevators.  The  plant  switch- 
board, built  by  J.  Lang  &  Company,  Chicago,  is  of  black 
Monson  slate  and  is  arranged  with  a  double  bus  so  that 
the  lighting  and  motor  loads  may,  if  necessary,  be  carried 
on    separate    units.     The    compounding    of   the    generators. 


56o 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii. 


which  was  adjusted  with  the  aid  of  an  oscillograph,  has 
proved  to  be  so  accurate  and  sufficient  that  the  tie  switch 
between  the  two  bus  sections  has  never  been  opened  in 
operation.  The  frame  of  the  switchboard,  illustrated  in 
Fig.  8,  is  of  heavy  angle  self-supporting  construction, 
with  corner  gusset  plates.  In  the  entire  bus  construction 
there  is  only  a  single  bend,  the  switch  and  circuit-breaker 
studs  being  made  of  lengths  such  that  straight  copper  may 
be  carried  from  the  busbars.  The  face  of  the  board  is 
lighted  by  linolite  units  with  copper-finished  shades.  Each 
of  the  four  watt-hour  meters  is  labeled  with  sand-blasted 
letters  blown  on  the  glass  case.  The  name-plates  for  the 
other  instruments  and  switches  are  of  dull  copper  and  are 
attached  to  the  slate  by  concealed  studs.  Solid  copper 
"buses  have  been  used  for  connecting  the  wattmeters  to  their 
shunts,  replacing  the  customary  cables.  Connections  on 
the  rear  of  the  board  have  been  designed  to  be  most  acces- 
sible. Each  switch  and  fuse  stud  is  inclosed  in  a  fiber  tube 
for  safety,  the  polarity  of  the  inclosed  terminal — positive, 
neutral  or  negative — being  indicated  by  one  of  three  colors. 

The  Monroe  Building  is  wired  with  Habirshaw  wires  and 
cables  and  is  equipped  with  Lang-McWilliams  metering 
panels.  These  panels  are  inclosed  in  steel  cabinets  of  the 
four-compartment  type,  one  compartment  containing  the 
metering  panel  for  the  tenants'  circuits,  another  that  for  the 
pubHc  lighting  circuits  for  the  corridors,  etc.,  and  the  other 
two  compartments  containing  the  meters.  The  bracket 
lighting  in  the  attractive  entrance  of  this  building  is  shown 
in  Fig.  4.  The  entry  corridor  is  made  up  of  a  succession 
of  arched  domes  formed  of  tinted  tiles  and  is  lighted  by  ten 
ornamental  brackets  carrying  14-in.  globes,  several  of  which 
are  arranged  with  ingeniously  concealed  emergency  gas 
outlets. 

Messrs.  Marshall  &  Fox  wfere  the  architects  for  the  In- 
surance Exchange  Building.  Messrs.  Holabird  &  Roche 
designed  the  Otis,  North  American  and  Monroe  Buildings, 
the  electrical  work  being  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  F.  H. 
Getchell. 


THE  ^IMPEDANCE  OF  TELEPHONE  RECEIVERS  AS 

AFFECTED  BY  THE  MOTION  OF  THEIR 

DIAPHRAGMS. 


By  A.  E.  Kennelly  and  G.  W.  Pierce. 

THE  writers  have  recently  made  a  series  of  measure- 
ments of  the  resistance,  inductance,  reactance  and 
impedance  of  various  telephone  receivers,  at  dif- 
ferent frequencies  up  to  2400  cycles  per  second,  some  of  the 
results  of  which  are  very  interesting  and  apparently  new. 

APP.^R.XTUS  AND  CONNECTIONS  USED. 

The  connections  used  are  shown  in  Fig.  I.  The  telephone 
receiver  T  under  test  was  placed  in  one  arm  of  a  Rayleigh 
bridge  ABCD.  The  arms  AD  and  DC  were  non-in- 
ductive resistances  of  5  ohms  each.  The  arm  B  C  contained 
an  adjustable  non-inductive  resistance  R  and  an  adjustable 
Ayrton-Perry  inductance  variometer  L.  In  order  to  obtain 
a  balance,  with  silence  in  the  head  telephones  H.  it  was 
necessary  to  adjust  both  the  resistance  R  and  the  inductance 
L  to  values  which  represented  the  resistance  and  inductance 
of  the  telephone  T  at  the  frequency  of  the  test. 

The  source  of  alternating  currents  was  a  Vreeland  oscil- 
lator V^  with  its  primary  circuit  supplied  from  ii8-volt 
direct-current  mains.  The  secondary  voltage  was  main- 
tained constant  throughout  each  series  of  tests  with  the 
aid  of  the  electrostatic  voltmeter  E.  The  frequency  supplied 
by  the  oscillator  was  ordinarily  varied  by  varying  the  con- 
denser c.  The  frequency  could  be  adjusted  to  any  desired 
value  between  the  limits  of  430  and  2400  cycles  per  second. 
The  frequency,  once  adjusted,  remained  substantially 
constant. 


A  non-inductive  resistance  R",  between  the  oscillator  and 
the  Rayleigh  bridge,  enabled  the  current  supplied  to  the 
bridge  to  be  controlled  and  computed.  Calling  et  the  voltage 
.Tt  telephone  terminals  and  Cg  the  voltage  at  Vreeland 
secondary  terminals,  the  conditions  for  balance,  very  nearly 
gave ; 

5 


et  =  Ca 


volts 


(I) 


R"  +  10 

and  this  voltage  et  remained  constant  throughout  each  series 
of  tests.  In  different  series  of  tests,  et  varied  from  0.3 
volt  to  I  volt. 

The  frequency  of  the  alternating  current  supplied  to  the 
bridge  was  measured  by  tonometer ;  that  is,  by  comparing 
the  pitch  of  the  sound  emitted  by  the  telephone  T  with  that 
of  the  nearest  of  a  series  of  75  tuning  forks  ranging  in  fre- 
quency from  256  to  552  double  vibrations  per  second,  by 
successive  steps  of  four  vibrations  per  second.  Having 
found  two  adjacent  forks  of  the  series  between  the  pitches 
of  which  lay  the  pitch  of  the  sound  in  the  telephone  T,  the 
relative  nearness  of  the  two  could  be  estimated  by  listening 
to  the  acoustic  beats.  These  acoustic  measurements  of  the 
frequencv  were  checked  by  electric  measurements  of  the 
inductance  and  capacity  in  the  Vreeland  oscil'ator  circuit, 
and  also,  in  one  or  two  instances,  by  stroboscopic  measure- 


'Physical  Review,    Vol.    27,   page    286,    1908. 


Fig.    1 — Rayleigh    Bridge   and    Connections. 

ments   of   the   flicker    frequency   of   illumination    from   the 
Vreeland  tube. 

ME.^SUREMENTS     WITH     THE    DIAPHRAGM     DAMPED    AND    FREE. 

In  making  a  series  of  Rayleigh  bridge  measurements  of 
the  resistance  and  inductance  of  a  telephone  at  successively 
increasing  frequencies  it  was  soon  found  that  the  measured 
values  were  different  when  the  diaphragm  of  the  telephone 
was  damped  by  pressure  from  the  finger,  so  as  to  be  in- 
capable of  vibrating,  and  when  it  was  released  or  free  to 
vibrate.  The  "damped"  resistance  and  inductance  differed 
indeed  but  little  from  the  "free"  resistance  and  inductance, 
when  the  frequency  impressed  on  the  Rayleigh  bridge  was 
either  low  or  high  in  the  range  of  experiment.  At  and  near 
the  natural  fundamental  frequency  of  the  diaphragm,  how- 
ever, the  damped  resistance  and  inductance  differed 
markedly  from  the  corresponding  free  values,  and  evidently 
for  the  reason  that  when  the  impressed  frequency  was 
in  consonance  with  the  natural  vibration  frequency  of 
the  diaphragm  the  latter  was  thrown  into  powerful  resonant 
vibration,  giving  out  a  powerful  sound.  This  large  motion 
of  the  diaphragm,  in  the  magnetic  field  of  the  telephone,  in- 
duced an  alternating  emf  of  like  frequency  in  the  telephone 
coils,  thus  altering  their  apparent  resistance  and  inductance. 
The  difference  between  the  free  and  damped  value  of  a 
resistance,  inductance,  reactance  or  impedance,  at  any  given 
frequencv,  may  be  called  the  "motional"  value.  The 
motional  impedance  always  reached  its  maximum  at  con- 
sonance between  the  inviressed  and  natural  vibration  fre- 
quency.    It  varied  in  magnitude  from  185  ohms  in  the  case 


September  14.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


S6i 


of  a  certain  monopolar  experimental  receiver  down  to 
values  too  small  to  recognize  with  certainty  in  cases  of 
receivers  dynamo-electrically  very  weak. 

PARTICULARS  OF  RECEIVERS  TESTED. 

Four  receivers  were  particularly  investigated  as  follows : 
(i)   A  Western  Electric  bipolar  Bell  telephone,  type  122. 

(2)  A  Western  Electric  bipolir  watchcase  receiver,  here 
designated  "watchcase." 

(3)  An  experimental  specially  constructed  monopolar  re- 
ceiver, with  a  laminated  pole. 

(4)  An  experimental  specially  constructed  bipolar  re- 
ceiver provided  with  exploring  coils  and  with  laminated 
magnetic  circuit. 

The  accompanying  table  contains  some  of  the  mechanical 
particulars  of  these  instruments. 

MECHANICAL    CONSTANTS    OF    RECEIVERS. 


No.  1. 
BeU 

Bipolar. 


Area  of  each  pole  in  cm.  X  cm , 

Distance  separating  poles, 
cm 

External  diameter  of  dia- 
phragm, cm 

Diameter  of  clamping  circle, 
cm 

Thickness  of  diaphragm,  cm. 

Weight  of  diaphragm,  gm.. 

Direct-current  resistance  of 
coils,  ohms  at  20  deg.  C. 


No.  2. 
Watch- 
case. 


No.  3. 
Experi- 
mental 
Mono- 
polar. 


1.4X0.225  1.61  X0.16;0   S3  XO. 53  1.17X0.38 


No.  4. 
Experi- 
mental 
Bipolar. 


0.85 

5.40 

4.94 

0.024 

4.0 


0.80 

5.48 

4.84 

0.030 

5.03 


4.45 

0.022 

5.3 

89.7 


0.73 

7.22 

4.45 

0.022 

5.3 


OBSERVED    EFFECTS    OF    INCREASE    IN    FREQUENCY    ON    DAMPED 

RESISTANCE. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  apparent  resistance  of  a  tele- 
phone receiver  increases  with  increase  of  frequency  owing 
to  the  increasing  expenditure  of  energy,  in  heat,  through 
eddy  currents  and  hysteretic  losses.  Figs.  2  and  3  indicate 
the  observed  changes  in  resistance,  inductance  and  react- 
ance as  ordinates  for  the  Bell  and  watchcase  receivers 
respectively,  with  0.3  volt  at  terminals,  as  the  frequency  is 
varied.''    The  abscissas  are  marked  off  to  a  scale  of  angular 


Henry 
0.064 


Ohm 

320 

300 

^ 

.<;!''■  A 

^ 

280 

\ 

u 

Pi 

f 

,^'- 

-^ 

A 

/ 

'X^"- 

,cfi 

\ 

/ 

y^ 

>- 

w 

n 

c    220 

\ 

A 

/^ 

«    20c 

\ 

A 

t 

V 

180 

^. 

■'^ 

^ 

K 

^ 

^ 

f^ ' 

A 

r 

^> 

.^^ 

/■ 

Y 

"/«£ 

'.^ 

*e 

~~^ 

^^ 

80 
6C 

/ 

y  ; 

" 

"^ 

r^ 

20 

/ 

0.C60 
0.056 
0.052 
0,048 
0.044 
0.040 

V 

0.036  c 
0  032^ 
0.028  - 
0.024 

0.020 

0.016 

0.0120 

O.OOSO 

0.0040 


2000        4000        6000       SOOO        10000      12000      14000 

Anijular  Velocity  in  Radians  per  Second  Lteetrieat  Wvru 

Fiq.    2 — Damped     Resistance,     IndLictance    and     Reactance    of    Bel! 
Receiver   at    Different    Angular    Velocities. 

velocity  u>,  in  radians  per  second,  instead  of  frequency  in 
cycles  per  second.  The  frequency  can  of  course  be  found 
for  any  given  angular  velocity  by  dividing  by  2  e. 

^A  more  detailed  account  of  these  measurements,  giving  tables  of 
numerical  values,  is  being  published  by  the  authors,  in  a  paper  of  the 
same  title,  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences. 


Thus,  referring  to  Fig.  2  and  the  curve  of  resistance,  the 
black  dots  indicate  observed  values.  The  damped  resistance 
was  thus  71  ohms  at  id  =  o,  and  increased  from  146.3  ohms 
at  o)  =  2760  (/  =  440~)  to  325  ohms  at  01  =  15,500 
(/  =  2464-). 

The  observed  values  of  resistance  correspond  satisfac- 
torily  to   the  quadratic   relation : 

R  =  ji  +  0.0234  o)  —  0.456  X  io"°  u>'  ohms   (2) 

Ohm 

280 


2000 


10000        12000 


4000  6000  8000 

Angular  Velocity 

Fig.  3 — Damped   Resistance,   Inductance   and   Reactance  of  Watch- 
case   Receiver    at    Different    Angular    Velocities, 

as  is  shown  by  the  small  circles  on  the  resistance  curve 
which  indicate  points  computed  from  formula  (2).  In 
Fig.  3  the  curve  through  the  black  dots  of  observations  for 
the  watchcase  receiver  corresponds  satisfactorily  to  the 
similar  quadratic  relation: 

7?  =  81.4 -f- 0.0214  u)  —  0.505  X  io'°  o)"  ohms   (3) 

OBSERVED      RELATIONS      BETWEEN       DAMPED      RESISTANCE      AND, 
DAMPED      INDUCTANCE     AT     DIFFERENT      FREQUENCIES. 

Figs.  2  and  3  indicate  that  the  measured  damped  in- 
ductance  falls  with  increasing  frequency  as  the  resistance 
increases.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  in  each  case- 
the  product  of  the  damped  resistance  and  damped  induct- 
ance remains  approximately  constant  over  the  entire  range 
of  frequencies  used,  or  the  product  is  independent  of  the 
frequency  over  this  range.  Thus  for  the  Bell  receiver  of 
Fig.  2,  at  0.3  volt, 

6.25 
L=    ^  Henrys   (4) 

and  for  the  watchcase  instrument  of  Fig.  3,  at  0.3  volt, 

S-88  ,  /    X 

L=    ^—  henrys   (5) 

The  black  dots  on  the  inductance  curves  correspond,  as 
before,  to  observations,  and  the  small  circles  to  values 
computed  from   (4)   to   (5). 

OBSERVED      RELATIONS      BETWEEN      DAMPED      RESISTANCE      AND 
DAMPED    REACTANCE. 

Multiplying  the  observed  damped  inductance  L'  by  the 
angular  velocity  u>  of  the  observation,  we  obtain  the  damped 
reactance  L'lo  plotted  in  Figs.  2  and  3  through  the  small 
crosses.  It  will  be  observed  that,  although  the  observed 
damped  inductance  diminishes  with  the  frequency,  the 
damped  reactance  increases  with  the  frequency  in  essen- 
tially the  same  manner  as  the  resistance,  except  in  the 
neighborhood  of  zero  frequency.  In  fact,  with  these  re- 
ceivers, the  damped  reactance  is  approximately  equal  to  the 
damped  resistance  over  a  considerable  range  of  frequency. 
This  means  that  the  damped  impedance  is  aiiproximately 
V  2/?Z45°  ohms  over  this  range. 


562 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol,  60,  No.  11. 


EFFECTS    OF    MOTION    OF    THE    DIAPHRAGM     UPOX    THE    RESIST- 
ANCE   AND    REACTANCE. 

In  order  to  analyze  the  effects  of  motion  of  the  diaphragm 
on  the  electrical  properties  of  a  receiver  it  is  important  to 
measure,  at  any  given  frequency  and  at  constant  terminal 
voltage,  the  resistance  and  inductance  of  the  receiver,  both 
damped   and   free. 


280 

---— ] 

iaoc 

iant 

s-Ds 

eFr 

I 

F 

K 

260 
240 

220 



-0  ] 

mpe 

36. 

"% 

y 

•■'* 

^f 

/ 

V 

e 

% 

¥' 

> 

0 

-2  160 

■6- 

S 

tyJ 

\e 

V 

'^. 

d 

--0^ 

•%, 

/'k 

^. 

U 

'#" 

\ 

en 

5190 

'i^" 

r 

n,.^ 

0 
100 

0 

\ 

4330 
/ 

89 
60 

4,0. 

'  tf* 

A 

\ 

y 

/ 

#" 

a^ 

h: 

/ 

20 

/ 

0 

/ 

/ 

Fig. 


0     20     40    60^80    100  120  140    160   ISO  200  220  240  260  2S0   300  320 

Ohms  Resistance  EUttrieai  WvrU 

A — Vector     Impedance     Diagram     of     Bipolar     Bell     Receiver, 
Damped   and   Free,   at   Different   Frequencies. 


Fig.  4  shows  the  locus  of  observed  free  and  damped 
impedance  in  the  case  of  the  Bell  bipolar  receiver  with 
0.3  volt  at  terminals.  Commencing  at  the  angular  velocity 
of  (0  =  2760  radians  per  second  (/  =  440~),  the  free 
impedance  is  O  .<4  =  152  ohms  resistance,  measured  along 
the  axis  of  abscissas,  plus  /  138  ohms  reactance,  measured 
parallel  to  the  a.xis  of  ordinates.  At  the  same  frequency 
the  damped  impedance  was  0  a  =  146.3  +  /  i35-i  ohms. 
Below  440  cycles  per  second  the  impedance  was  not  meas- 
ured either  free  or  damped;  but  the  impedance  locus  may 
be  assumed  to  follow  the  line  of  points  R  A,  because  at 
<o  =  o;  or,  with  direct  currents,  the  impedance  was 
O  i?  =  71  4-  y  0  ohms. 

As  the  angular  frequency  advances  beyond  2760  radians 
per  second  the  free  impedance  pursues  the  looped  path 
A  B  C  D  E  F,  while  the  damped  impedance  pursues  the 
smooth  curve  abcdef.  Thus,  at  the  angular  frequency 
of  4880  radians  per  second,  the  free  impedance  is 
O  C  =  212  +  y  78.1  ohms,  while  the  damped  impedance  is 
Oc=  i73-}-yi7i.4  ohms.  It  will  be  observed,  therefore. 
that  there  must  be  two  widely  different  angular  velocities 
(about  2000  and  5150  radians  per  second)  at  which  the 
free  impedance  is  identical  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  0  D. 
although  with  the  diaphragm  damped  the  impedance  would 
have  changed  from  about  O  D  to  0  d,  two  values  which 
would  differ  from  each  other  by  about  80  ohms. 

Figs.  5  and  6  give  the  motional  values  of  resistance, 
reactance  and  power  for  the  Bell  bipolar  receiver  with  0.3 
and  0.42  volt  at  terminals  respectively.  If  at  any  impressed 
angular  frequency  u>  we  denote  the  current  strength,  re- 
sistance and  inductance  by  /',  R'  and  L',  with  diaphragm 
free,  also  by  /,  R  and  L  when  damped,  then  the  motional 
resistance  is  (R'  —  R)  ohms,  the  motional  inductance 
(L'  —  L)  henries,  the  motional  reactance  (L'uj  —  Lm) 
ohms,  the  motional  impedance  (R'  —  R) -\- j  {U  —  L)isi 
ohms,  and  the  motional  power  (/"/?'  —  PR)  watts.  The 
values  of  /'  and  /  were  not  directly  observed  but  w-ere 
computed  from  the  constant  terminal  voltage  and  the  ob- 
served impedance  of  the  receiver.  It  will  be  observed  that 
the  motional  resistance  in  Fig.  5  changes  suddenly  from 
+  68  ohms,  at  4830  radians  per  second,  to  —  36.5  ohms  at 


5050  radians  per  second.  The  motional  reactance  develops 
a  sharp  negative  maximum  near  5000  radians  per  second. 
The  motional  power  is  negative  near  4000  radians  per 
second,  but  rises  to  a  sharp  maximum  of  180  microwatts 
near  5000  radians  per  second.  Not  all  of  this  motional 
power  is  necessarily  available  for  producing  energy  of 
vibrational  motion  in  the  diaphragm,  but  the  power  ex- 
pended in  moving  the  diaphragm  and  in  producing  sound 
is  associated  with  this  motional  power.  It  would  seem 
possible  to  measure  the  amount  of  power  expended  by  the 
telephone  diaphragm  in  sound  through  the  use  of  an  air 
pump  to  exhaust  the  air  from  a  chamber  containing  the 
telephone,  keeping  all  other  conditions  the  same.  The 
increase  in  motional  power,  at  constant  current  strength, 
after  admitting  air  into  the  chamber,  should  determine  the 
power  expended  in  sound.  In  the  measurements  here  re- 
ported the  electrical  measurements  were  often  distinctly, 
and  sometimes  markedly,  affected  by  the  absorption  or  re- 
flection of  sound  waves  from  neighboring  objects  when  the 
maximum  sound  and  motional  power  were  being  developed. 
If  an  assistant  walked  across  the  room  in  front  of  the 
sounding  telephone  under  test  and  at  a  distance  of  a  meter 
or  more  from  its  face,  the  Rayleigh  bridge  balance  was 
apt  to  be  seriously  upset.  In  the  case  represented  by 
Fig.  6,  of  the  Bell  receiver  with  0.42  volt  at  terminals,  the 
motional  power  at  resonance  is  338  microwatts,  an  increase 
of  68  per  cent  over  the  damped  power  at  the  same  fre- 
quency. That  is,  if  the  finger  is  removed  from  the 
diaphragm  at  this  frequency,  this  telephone  emits  a  loud 
sound  and  the  power  expended  in  the  telephone  jumps  up 
68  per   cent. 

CIRCULAR    GRAPHS    OF    MOTIONAL    IMPEDANCE. 

If  in  Fig.  4,  instead  of  plotting  motional  resistances  and 
motional  inductances  as  ordinates  against  angular  fre- 
quencies as  abscissas,  we  plot,  from  a  selected  point  as 
origin,   the  vector  motional  impedance  a  A,  b  B,  c  C,  etc., 


Micro 
Watts 
200 


Oh 


ms 

SO 

GO 

;  40 

1 

'•   20 
t 

t 

:  0 

-20 
-40 
-60 
-SO 
-100 


\ 

I 

Al 

\ 
\ 

-is 

y 

n 

»ll 

/ 

/ 

1 

"T^ 

"=^0^~ 

^ 

"^s 

0    ^ 

*-^ 

._<>•'"( 

\ ' 

• 

^ 

I'Res 

Stance   . 

=* 

'?»" 

ii 

•(* 

n  \ 

4 

] 

1 

160  5 


80  s 
40 
0 


7000 


8000 


3000  4000  5000  6000 

_  Angular  Velocity  in  Radians  Per  Second 

EUetrvat   n'urlJ 

Fig.  5 — Motional  Values  of  Resistance,  Reactance  and  Power 
for  Bell  Receiver  with  0.3  Volt  at  Terminals  and  with  Different 
Angular  Velocities. 

as  in  Fig.  7,  we  find  that  these  vectors  lie  upon  a  circle, 
which  may  be  called  the  circular  graph  of  motional  im- 
pedance. It  will  be  seen  that  in  Fig.  7  the  motional  im- 
pedance of  the  Bell  telephone  there  represented  is  a  pure 
resistance  of  36  ohms  near  the  angular  frequency  of  4300 
radians  per  second,  whereas  it  is  a  pure  reactance  of  95 
ohms  in  the  neighborhood  of  4950  radians  per  second.  At 
other    frequencies    it    is    a    combination    of    resistance    and 


September  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


563 


reactance.  The  maximum  motional  impedance  is  the  diam- 
eter of  the  circle  and  is  103  ohms,  at  an  angle  70.5  deg. 
below  the  axis  of  resistance  O  R,  and  at  the  frequency 
4885  radians  per  second,  which  is  the  resonant  frequency 
of  the  receiver,  or  the  fundamental  frequency  of  its 
diaphragm.  The  small  circles  represent  the  observations, 
and  the  scale  of  numbers  on  the  inside  rim  of  the  circle 
indicates  computed  values.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  motional 
impedance  on  the  graph  commences  at  o  for  very  low  fre- 
quencies, reaches  its  maximum  diametral  value  for  the 
resonant  frequency,  and  then  diminishes  again  toward  zero 
as  the  frequency  is  further  increased. 

In  Fig.  8  the  corresponding  circular  graph  of  motional 
impedance  is  presented  for  the  same  receiver  as  in  Fig.  7, 
but  with  the  terminal  voltage  raised  to  0.42  volt.  It  does 
not  differ  materially  from  the  graph  of  Fig.  7. 

The  circular  graph  for  the  watchcase  receiver  is  given 
in  Fig.  9.  Here  the  diameter  is  depressed  by  an  angle  of 
93  deg.  below  the  axis  of  resistance. 

In  Fig.  10  are  collected  five  circular  graphs,  all  drawn  to 
the  same  scale.  The  largest  circle  happens  to  belong  to 
the  experimental  monopolar  receiver  and  the  smallest  circle 


Ohms 
60 


40 


\ 

1 

3bU 
300 

ii 

Is 

1 

r% 

1 
1 

150 
100 

lf\ 

I 

^u^' 

,.< 

y  0 

1 
1 
♦ 

•\ 

iJ^ 

000 , 

./: 

^ 

^ 

X 

1 

.°°: 

V 

;^°° 

A 

r 

1 

/ 

/ 

20 


11-40 


S-co 

o 
■^-80 

-100 


3000  4000  5000  6000 

Angular  Velocity  in  Radians  Per  Second 

Eleetricat   Wt/rU 

Fig.  6 — Motional  Values  of  Resistance,  Reactance  and  Power 
for  Bell  Receiver  R,  with  0.42  Volt  at  Terminals  and  with  Differ- 
ent Angular   Velocities. 

to  the  experimental  bipolar  receiver,  both  employing  the 
same  diaphragm.  It  appears  that  the  frequency  of  res- 
onance is  a  property  of  the  diaphragm  only  ;  as  is  also  the 
spacing  of  the  frequencies  around  the  circle.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  diameter  of  the  circle,  both  as  to  magnitude  and 
as  to  depression  angle,  depends  upon  the  electromagnetic 
circuit  of  the  receiver.  The  more  powerful  the  inducing 
system  the  larger  the  diameter.  The  depression  angle  ap- 
pears from  the  theory  to  be  twice  the  angle  of  lag  of 
magnetic  flux  behind  electric  current  in  the  coils.  This 
was  found  to  be  substantially  true  in  the  case  of  the  ex- 
perimental bipolar  receiver,  which  was  constructed  with 
special  exploring  coils  for  investigating  this  point. 

The  circular  graph  of  a  receiver  thus  enables  the  natural 
frequency  of  the  receiver  diaphragm  to  be  readily  deter- 
mined, and  two  distinct  electrical  methods  are  therefore 
available  for  the  determination  of  this  natural  frequency.' 
Moreover,    the    theory    of    the    subject    indicates    that    the 

^It  has  been  shown  in  a  paper  by  Messrs.  A.  E.  Kennelly  and  W.  L. 
Upson  on  "The  Humming  Telephone,"  Proceedings  .^m.  Phil.  Soc.  1908. 
that  the  natural  period  of  vibration  of  a  telephone  may  also  be  obtained 
from  humming  telephone  measurements. 


damping  coefficient  A  of  the  diaphragm,  or  the  log  decre- 
ment per  second  of  its  free  vibration,  can  also  be  obtained 
from  the  circular  graph.  In  particular,  if  we  find  the 
frequencies  a),  and  o),,  which  correspond  to  the  opposite 
ends  of  a  diameter,  perpendicular  to  the  principle  diameter 
of  the  graph,  then  A  will  be  half  the  difference  between 
CO,  and  o)j.     Thus,  in  Fig.  7,  the  angular  velocities  co,  and  oj,. 


Fig. 


£Uetrieal  World 


7 — Circular   Graph   for   Bipolar   Bell   Receiver  with   0.3  Volt   at 
Terminals. 


quadrantal    to   the    principal    diameter,    are    approximately 
5100   and   4700    radians    per   second    respectively,    so    that 


A  = 


5100  —  4700 


=  200  per  second.     This  means  that  the 


diaphragm,  if  set  in  free  vibration,  would  have  its  amplitude 
fall  to  i/e,  or  to  0.3678,  in  a  time  equal  to  i/A  seconds,  or 
the  two-hundredth  part  of  one  second.  The  further  apart 
the  quadrantal  frequencies  lie  numerically,  the  larger  is 
A  and  the  greater  the  natural  damping  of  the  diaphragm's 
vibrations,  or  the  sooner  the  amplitude  of  vibration  will  fall 
to  l/e  th. 


Eleotrical  World 

Fig.  8 — Circular  Graph  for  Bell  Receiver  with  0.42  Volt  at  Ter- 
minals. Diameter  103.5  Ohms.  Depression  Angle  28  —  73°  Wo  = 
4940   Radians   per  Second. 

THEORY    OF    THE    CIRCULAR    GRAPH    OF    MOTIONAL    IMPEDANCE. 

As  a  first  approximation  to  the  theory,  we  shall  assume 
that,  so  far  as  concerns  the  fundamental  frequency  of  the 
diaphragm^  the  elastic  restoring  force  of  the  diaphragm  is 
concentrated  at  the  center  and  is  proportional  to  the  dis- 
placement; that  the  actually  distributed  mass  of  the 
diaphragm  may  be  replaced  by  an  equivalent  mass  con- 
centrated at  the  center,  and  that  the  motion  is  opposed  by 


564 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  11. 


a  frictional  force  proportional  to  the  velocity  and  also 
concentrated  at  the  center.  Then,  if  the  diaphragm  is 
solicited  bv  a  sinusoidal  force  of  maximum  cvclic  value 
F  (Fig.  II), 

sx  +  rx  +  mx"  =  /  =  Fs.'^'       dynes  L  (6) 
where 

X  =  the   displacement   of   the   effective    mass   of    the   dia- 
phragm from  its  position  of  rest   (cm). 

x'  =  the  displacement  velocity  (cm/sec). 
.1-"  =  the  displacement  acceleration  (cm/sec"). 

,r  =  the  elastic   force  per  unit  displacement    (dynes,  cm). 

r  =  the  resisting  force  per  unit  of  velocity  (dynes  per  cm 
per  second). 

/  =  Fe'oi',  the   impressed  moving   force  measured   in   the 
direction  of  x  toward  the  poles  (dynes). 

(0  =  2  51  u,   the   angular   velocity   of   the   impressed    force 
(radians  per  second). 

11  =  the     frequency    of    the    impressed     sinusoidal     force 
(cycles  per  second). 

;•=^/  — I. 


frequencies  the  phase  of  the  velocity  will  ead,  and  for 
super-resonant  frequencies  the  phase  of  the  velocity  will 
follow    that  of  the  impressed  force. 

The  mechanical  force  /,  above  considered,  is  produced  by 
the  magnetic  flux  across  the  air-gap  or  gaps  of  the  receiver. 
If  9  is  the  mean  flux  through  the  active  part  of  the  mag- 
netic circuit,  we  have  in  a  bipolar  receiver: 

F          Fo  +  4  7t  A'l 
9  =  ^  = z-n~      ,  =  B  S      maxwells  (9) 


R 


Ro 


2(1  — X) 


S 


and  in  a  monopolar  receiver: 


9  =  ^  = 


f  o  +  4  TT  Ni 

l  —  x 


Ro 


maxwells   (10) 


1 1^' 

- 

=0  i        1        1 

-B 

\^ 

r-  ^ 

— o-ro-o- 

?>>]  n  -^  ^ 

R 

■"    »V  •'0, 

1^ 

^ 

\  -^ 

v/ 

^ 

In 

•f''- 

OOJ 

i 

y 

H 

■v 

«»•'■'' 

\ 

^--«i 

/ 

^4 

\ 

^ 

0/ 

/ 

k, 

•V 

4 

^ 

n  1- 

^ 

y 

-X 

oil 

where 

F  =  the  total   mmf  due  to  the  permanent   magnet   and  to 
the  current  in  the  coils   (gilberts). 

Fo  =  the   mmf   due   to   the   permanent   magnet   alone    (gil- 
berts). 


0. 


D 


n~ 


Fig.  9 — Circular  Graph  for  Watchcase   Re- 
ceiver.   Diameter  47   Ohms.     0.3 
Volt  at  Terminals. 
Depression  Angle  B  —  93  ^     Wo  —  5820  Radi- 
ans per  Second.  A  =  150. 


Elietrical    -VortJ 

Fig.     10 — Collection     pf     Cipcular    Graphs    to     Same 

Origin    and    Scale. 

Large  Heavy  Circle,  Monopolar.      Pair  of  Adjacent  Light 

Circles,  Bell  Bipolar  with  O.i  and  0.42  Terminal  Volt 

Respectively.     Broken  Line.   Watchcase  Receiver. 

Small     Black     Circle,     Experimental     Bipolar 

Receiver. 


□ 


M 


J 


-V.  - 


Fig.  11 — Sections  of  Mono- 
polar  and    Bipolar 
Telephones. 


The  solution  of  equation  (6)  for  velocity  of  displacement 
is  well  known  and  may  be  written  in  the  form 

—      -  = cm/sec  Z   (7) 


where 


'+'{"""~i) 


s  =  r  +  j 


I  m  ii>  —        I       dyne  sec/cm  Z-  (8) 


This  solution  corresponds  precisely  to  the  well-known  case 
of  a  sinusoidal  emf  impressed  upon  a  simple  series  circuit 
of  resistance,  inductance  and  capacity.  The  mechanical  dis- 
placement X  corresponds  to  electric  quantity,  the  displace- 
ment velocity  x"  to  electric  current,  the  velocity  opposing 
resistance  r  to  the  current  opposing  resistance,  the  mass  m 
to  the  inductance,  and  the  mechanical  elastance  .f  to  the 
electric  elastance,  or  reciprocal  of  capacity.  The  quantity 
m  oj  may  therefore  be  called  the  mechanical  inertia  react- 
ance, the  quantity  j/<»  the  mechanical  elastic  reactance, 
and  s  the  mechanical  vector  impedance.  Consequently, 
just  as  in  the  electric  circuit  considered,  it  can  be  shown 
that  the  graph  of  the  electric  current  is  a  circle,  as  the 
frequency  varies  from  o  to  infinity,  so  the  displacement 
velocity  graph  is  also  a  circle.  The  diameter  of  the  circle 
will  coincide  with  the  axis  of  reals,  and  will  be  equal  to 
F/r  cm/sec  for  the  frequency  of  resonance;  i.  e.,  that 
frequency  at  which  the  inertia  reactance  m  u,  is  equal  and 
opposite  to  the  elastic  reactance  s/<ji  or  when  the  total  re- 
actance vanishes.  The  phase  of  the  velocitv  will  then  con- 
cur with   that   of   the   impressed   force.      For   sub-resonant 


R  =  the  total  reluctance  of  the  magnetic  circuit  (oersteds). 
Ro  =  the  reluctance  of  the  circuit  exclusive  of  the  air  gaps 

(oersteds). 
.V  =  the  total  number  of  turns  in  the  receiver  coil  or  coils. 

J  =  Is^t^',  the  instantaneous  current  in  the  coils   (absam- 
peres). 

Z  =  normal  air-gap  between  poles  and  diaphragm   (cm). 
B  =  mean  flux  density  in  the  air-gap  (gausses). 

.S"  =  area  of  one  gap  (cm^). 
Then 

'^  9* 

for  a  bipolar  receiver      dynes   (11) 


and 


Stt       87:5' 


9" 


for  a  monopolar  receiver      dynes   (12) 

If  we  denote  by  /{  the  relatively  small  part  of  the  total 
force  which  is  due  to  the  current  i,  we  may  write : 


dynes  Z   ( 13) 


which,  by  substituting  from  (11)  and  (9),  becomes: 

4  n  5      at 

2  N  <f  .      2  N  Bo    .  , 

^        -1  =  — ;:; t  for  a  bipolar  receiver     dvnes  Z   (14) 


RS 


R 


and 
/i  = 


NBq 
R 


for  a   monopolar   receiver      dynes  Z   (15) 

In    order    to    avoid    maintaining    parallel    discussions    for 
bipolar   and   monopolar   receivers,   it   w'ill   suffice   to   write: 


September  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


565 


2   N  Bo      r  ,    ■  ,  ■  ,  ,      ,  /      rN 

A  =  for  a  bipolar  receiver  dynes/absamperes   (10) 

R 

and 

N  B 
A  =^   ^"  for  a  monopolar  receiver  dynes/absamperes  (17) 
R 

In  either  case  then  fi=Ai  dynes  Z  (18) 

on   the   assumption   that   the   pull   on   the   diaphragm    is   in 

phase  with   the  flux,  and  that  the  flux  is  in  phase  with  ). 

But  owing  to  the  effects  of  hysteresis,  as  modified  by  eddy 

currents,  the  flux  and  the  pull  will  lag  behind  i  by  a  certain 

angle  p, ;  so  that  (18)  becomes 

fi  =  Ai\^,  dynes  Z  (19) 


Consequently  by  (7)  x'  =         -    - 


cm/sec  Z  (20) 


The  enif   induced   in   the   coils   by  the  motion   of   the   dia- 
phragms will  be,  in  the  absence  of  hysteresis, 

e,.  =  N  ~'^-  =  N  4^  x'    abvolts  Z  (21 ) 
at  dx 

and  by  differentiating   (9)   or   (10),  this  becomes 

2NB0X'  .       ,  L         ,  /  V 

ex=      — „ —   =Ax  abvolts  (22) 

K 


and  substituting  from   (20) 


A^i\%, 


abvolts   (23) 


But  there  will  also  be  a  hysteretic  lag  of  flux  with  respect 
to  change  of  air-gap  length,  and  this  will  cause  the  induced 
emf  to  lag  by  a  certain  angle  ^j.  Consequently,  (23) 
becomes : 


abvolts  Z  (24) 

If  L  and  R"  are  the  inductance  and  resistance  of  the  receiver 
when  damped,  in  abhenries  and  absohms  respectively,  the 
damped  impedance  of  the  receiver  will  be : 

Z  =  R"  -j-  j  L  oi  absohms  Z  (25) 

If  c  is  the  instantaneous  value  of  the  impressed  sinusoidal 
emf  of  the  type  Es'<^'  abvolts,  we  have, 

e  =  i  Z  abvolts  Z  (26) 

But,  owing  to  ihe  influence  of  the  emf  of  motion,  the  last 
equation 'becomes,  when  the  diaphragm  is  free: 

c  =  Cj.  -\-  i  Z  abvolts  Z  (27) 

That  is,  by    (23), 


.  =  .-|z  +  ^\p,  +  p,   ^=iZ' 


abvolts  Z   (28) 


where  Z'  is  the  free  impedance  of  the  receiver,  in  absohms. 
This  means  that  the  impedance  of  the  receiver  has  be- 
come increased,  through  the  motion  of  the  diaphragm,  by 
a   motional   impedance : 

Z'  — Z  =i--\p, -f  p^        absohms  Z  (29) 

This  motional  impedance,  being  the  reciprocal  of  s,  a 
straight  line  locus,  when  w  is  variable,  is  a  circle  for 
variable  oi,  with  a  diameter  A'/r  absohms,  depressed  below 
the  axis  of  reals  by  an  angle  \  Pi -|- Pj.  It  seems  reason- 
able that  whether  the  flux  lags  behind  a  cyclic  magnetizing 
current  or  behind  a  cyclic  air-gap  reluctance,  the  angle  of 
lag  should  be  the  same ;  or  that  p,  =  p,  =  ^  say.  This 
equality  was  substantially  borne  out  in  the  experimental 
case.    Consequently,  we  may  write  (29) 

A'       -  - 
Z' ■ — Z=       \2p  absohms  (30) 

Therefore,  if  we  vary  10  from  0  to  00,  keeping  the  impressed 
emf  and  all  other  quantities  constant,  the  motional  im- 
pedance has  a  circular  graph  through  the  origin,  with  its 
principal  diameter  of  length  A'/r,  depressed  2  p  below  the 
axis  of  reals. 

In  the  particular  case  when  the  angular  velocity  lOo  is 
such  that  the  inertia  reactance  m  co  is  equal  to  the  elastic 
reactance  s/uno — that  is,  when 

u>o  =  \s/m  rad/sec   (31) 


the  mechanical   impedance  s  becomes  by   (8;    equal  to  the 
mechanical  resistance  r,  and  (30J  becomes,  for  the  resonant 


condition : 


A' 


.2P 


absohms   (32) 


Z'  ~Z  =  -—^ 
r 

the  principal  diameter  of  the  circular  graph. 

Again,  let  A  be  the  logarithmic  decrement  per  second  of 

the   diaphragm,    if   vibrating   in   the    absence    of    impressed 

forces;  then,  by  the  theory  of  elasticity: 

r 

A= —  numeric/sec   (33) 

and  if  a  is  the  angle  of  the  mechanical  impedance  z  in  (8), 


tan  a  = 
From  {2,1)  and  (34) 

00  tan  ot  = 


»i  (J) 


0)     ISto 


2A 


numeric   (34) 


numeric/sec   (35) 


An  equation  from  which  the  angular  position  in  the  circular 
graph  can  be  found  for  each  value  of  00,  knowing  mo  and 
A ;  or,  having  found  oo  from  the  graph  and  at  one  other 
frequency  co,  the  point  corresponding  thereto  on  the  graph, 
with  its  vector  making  an  angle  a  with  the  diameter,  we 
may  use  (35)  to  find  A.  In  particular,  if  we  choose  a 
quadrantal  point  on  the  graph  at  which  co  is  w,  say,  so  that 
a  =  45  deg.  and  tan  a  =  i,  we  obtain  : 

2  2 

A  =  — ! numenc/sec   (36) 


Or,  if  we  select  the  two  quadrantal  points  which  lie  respec- 
tively 45  deg.  below  and  above  the  principal  diameter,  and 
for   which   tana   is    respectively   +1    and   — i,    we   obtain 

from   (35)  A  =  — —  numenc/sec   (37) 

The  measurements  described  in  this  paper  thus  enable  wo 
and  A  to  be  determined  for  a  telephone  receiver,  but  do  not 
permit  of  determining  the  fundamental  constants  r,  m  and 
J.  Nevertheless,  it  would  seem  that  if,  after  taking  such  a 
series  of  measurements  on  a  receiver,  a  small  load  of  known 
mass  were  secured  to  the  center  of  the  diaphragm  and  the 
series  repeated,  the  two  series  should  enable  these  funda- 
mental  constants  to  be   evaluated  between  them. 

SUMMARY   OF   RESULTS   AND   CONCLUSIONS. 

(i)  The  resistance  and  inductance  of  several  telephone 
receivers  were  measured  over  a  wide  range  of  frequencies, 
with  their  diaphragms  both  free  and  damped. 

(2)  In  two  typical  forms  of  receiver  the  damped  resist- 
ance was  found  to  be  a  quadratic  function  of  the  frequency. 

(3)  Although  the  damped  resistance  and  the  damped  in- 
ductance both  vary  with  the  frequency,  their  product  was 
found  to  be  a  constant,  independent  of  the  frequency,  over 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  range  of  audible  frequencies. 

(4)  The  free  resistance  and  reactance  of  a  receiver  go 
through  marked  changes  with  changes  of  impressed  fre- 
quency in  the  neighborhood  of  the  natural  fundamental  fre- 
quency of  its  diaphragm. 

(5)  The  motional  resistance  and  motional  reactance — • 
that  is,  the  excess  of  free  over  damped  resistance  or  react- 
ance— conform  accurately  to  certain  simple  laws,  thus: 

I.  The  motional  reactances  plotted  as  ordinates  against 
the  motional  resistances  as  abscissas  as  the  frequency  of 
constant  impressed  emf  is  changed  from  zero  to  infinity 
give  a  circular  locus,  with  various  interesting  character- 
istics, for  which  a  first  approximation  theory  is  given. 

II.  The  rectangular  plots  of  motional  reactance  and 
motional  resistance,  against  angular  velocity  of  constant 
impressed  emf,  give  curves  somewhat  analogous  to  the 
curves  of  index  of  refraction  and  absorption  of  light  in  an 
optical  medium,  in  the  neighborhood  of  an  absorption  band. 

(6)  The  power  taken  by  a  telephone  receiver  when 
sounding  at  0.3  volt  applied  voltage  may  exceed  by  68  per 
cent  the  power  taken  from  the  same  emf  when  the 
diaphragm  is  damped. 


566 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii. 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


RULES  FOR  EMPLOYEES'  SAFETY. 


LIGHTING  PLANT  IN  "  FARTHEST  NORTH." 


The  Minneapolis  General  Electric  Company  has  recently 
issued  to  its  employees  a  carefully  prepared  booklet  of 
safety  rules,  including  copies  of  the  state  labor  laws  and 
suggestions  by  the  state  commissioner  of  labor.  Each  book 
is  numbered  and  the  recipient  is  held  responsible  for  its 
safekeeping  as  well  as  for  familiarity  with  its  provisions. 
The  first  page  is  a  perforated  leaf  carrying  a  blank  state- 
ment that  the  employee  has  read  and  thoroughly  under- 
stands the  rules  therein  set  down.  Within  ten  days  after 
receiving  his  copy  the  employee  must  sign  and  return  this 
sheet  to  the  company's  office.  Besides  the  general  operating 
rules,  there  are  instructions  for  the  use  of  special  safety 
devices,  descriptions  of  methods  of  resuscitation  from  elec- 
tric shock,  etc.  The  publication  of  this  book  of  rules  is  but 
one  of  a  number  of  measures  to  conserve  employees'  safety 
recently  carried  out  in  Minneapolis.  By  a  recent  city 
ordinance  there  all  poles  carrying  2300  volts  or  more  must 
be  marked  with  a  3-in.  ring  of  bright  red  paint  just  below 
the  lowest  cross-arm.     Each  ring  must  be  kept  bright. 


COST  OF  EXTENDING  A  SMALL  CENTRAL  STATION. 


The  following  figures,  prepared  by  the  Amesbury  (Mass.") 
Electric  Light  Company,  give  the  estimated  cost  of  a 
500-kw  extension  of  the  present  generating  plant,  including 
further  a  small  amount  of  new  line  work  to  provide  for 
additional  street  lighting.  The  plant  now  includes  two 
direct-connected  engine  generating  sets  of  200-kw  and 
375-k\v  rating.  The  ordinary  day  load  of  the  plant  is 
400  kw  and  the  winter  peak  load  530  kw.  The  additional 
capacity  is  required  as  a  reserve. 

SUMMARY    OF    ESTIMATE. 


Power  Station. 

One   500-kw.   two-phase,   2300-volt,   60-c.vcle   turbo-generator;    f.o.b, 

works     $9,000 

One  No.   5   Le  Blanc  condenser,   with   air   and  circulating  pumps, 

driven   by   25-hp   steam   turbine,   erected 2,350 

Foundations. — Concrete,  8  ft.  x  16  ft.  x  8  ft.  6  in.,  for  condenser 

and    turbine    800 

Wiring. — 3-in.  iron  conduit  and  fittings  from  switchboard  to  gen- 
erator, with  four  No.  0  conductors  in  cable  and  two  No.  4 
wires  for  exciter   250 

Instruments. — Two  series  transformers,   one   recording  wattmeter, 

one  indicating  wattmeter,  and  scales  changed  on  two  ammeters  135 

Piping. — Extension  of  S-in.  steam  main  14  ft.;  5-in.  pipe  in  base- 
ment for  turbine  and  condenser;  10-in.  overflow  pipe  to  river 
adjoining  station;  tile  for  steam  piping;  10-in.  atmospheric 
exhaust     600 

Freight,  cartage  and  erection 125 

Plans  for  foundation,  piping,  etc SO 

Sundries    100 

Total,  power  plant $13,410 

No  boiler  expense  required. 

Line   Extpnsions. 
Poles. — 46    30-ft.    chestnut   poles,   including  teaming,   shaving,    set- 
ting  and   painting $322 

Cross-arms    and    braces 40 

Guying,  including  labor  and  material 160 

Wire. — 10,360  ft..   No.   6  weatherproof  wire 216 

Trimming    trees     75 

Street  Fixtures. — 21  brackets,  sockets,  40-watt  lamps,  etc 103 

Labor    375 

Total   line    extensions $1,291 

Grand   total    14,701 

The  estimated  cost  per  kilowatt  for  power  plant  exten- 
sions amounts  to  $26.80,  while  the  cost  of  line  extensions  is 
about  $1,300  per  mile. 


What  is  probably  the  most  northerly  electric  lighting 
plant  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  North  American  continent 
is  a  small  installation  at  St.  Anthony,  Newfoundland,  about 
50  miles  south  of  the  celebrated  Straits  of  Belle  Isle,  sepa- 
rating Newfoundland  and  Labrador.  The  plant  has  a 
rating  of  only  11  kw  and  consists  of  a  230-volt  continuous- 
current  generator  driven  by  an  i8-hp  kerosene  engine  which 
is  operated  on  crude  petroleum,  the  fuel  consumption  being 
about  2j4  gal-  per  hour,  with  an  average  load  of  30  amp. 
The  installation  supplies  energy  for  lighting  the  buildings 
and  grounds  of  the  Royal  National  Mission  to  Deep-Sea 
Fishermen,  of  which  the  well-knov^'n  Dr.  Wilfrid  T.  Gren- 
fell  is  the  head.  The  buildings  lighted  are  the  hospital, 
orphanage,  guest  house,  director's  residence,  several  tene- 
ments and  smaller  structures,  about  400  incandescent  lamps 
being  in  service.  The  inside  lighting  includes  275  i6-cp 
lamps,  125  8-cp  units  and  several  32-cp  lamps,  the  oper- 
ating room  of  the  hospital  being  well  equipped  with  the 
latter.  About  a  dozen  i6-cp  lamps  are  in  service  on  the 
paths  connecting  the  different  buildings  and  a  red  pilot 
light  is  used  at  the  end  of  the  mission  pier  to  facilitate  the 
docking  of  vessels.  Tungsten  lamps  are  being  installed  in 
place  of  carbon  units,  and  about  2  miles  of  outdoor  wiring 
are  in  service.  A  ^^'appler  X-ray  machine  is  being  in- 
stalled in  the  hospital.  The  plant  is  operated  from  a  mini- 
mum of  three  hours  per  day  (8  to  11  p.  m.)  in  summer  to 
eleven  hours  per  day  in  winter  (4  to  11  p.  m.  and  4  to  8 
a.  m.),  the  winter  nights  being  long  in  this  high  latitude 
and  correspondingly  short  in  summer.  An  employee  of 
the  mission  is  in  charge,  and  the  equipment  was  the  gift 
of  the  trustees  of  Pratt  Institute,  Brooklvn,  N.  Y. 


PRESENT-DAY  TENDENCY  TOWARD    CONSOLIDA- 
TION IN  THE  ELECTRIC-SERVICE  INDUSTRY. 


One  of  the  most  important  and  significant  features  of 
the  electric-service  industry  in  the  United  States  at  the 
present  time  is  the  tendency  toward  the  absorption  of 
small,  or  comparatively  small,  central-station  properties 
into  large  combinations.  Mr.  John  F.  Gilchrist  of  Chicago, 
former  president  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Associa- 
tion, alluded  to  this  tendency  in  general  terms  in  an  in- 
teresting address  which  he  made  before  the  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company  Section  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  on  Sept.  5. 
Speaking  of  the  outlook  in  the  central-station  field,  he 
said  that  the  present  situation  might  be  compared  to  that 
in  the  railroad  industry  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago.  At  that 
time  a  man  traveling  from  New  York  to  Chicago  found 
it  necessary  to  use  six  connecting  railroads  with  frequent 
changes  of  cars  and  much  inconvenience.  But  this  has 
all  been  done  away  with,  and  now  great  trunk-line  rail- 
roads, each  under  its  own  management  for  the  whole  dis- 
tance, extend  from  Chicago  to  New  York  and  from  Chi- 
cago to  the  Pacific  Coast.  This  change  has  greatly  en- 
hanced the  convenience  and  comfort  of  the  traveling  public. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  the  central-station  business  is 
undergoing  something  like  the  same  change  that  has  been 
witnessed  in  railroading.  For  a  long  time  operating  syn- 
dicates have  existed,  but  these  older  controlling  companies 
are  operating  central  stations  scattered  all  over  the  coun- 
try. There  is  now  a  pronounced  tendency  to  include,  say, 
an  entire  state  or  a  great  part  of  an  entire  state  in  one 
single  operating  system  or  in  several  systems  working 
together.     The  work  of  Mr.  Samuel  Insull  and  his  associ- 


September  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


567 


ates  in  the  State  of  Illinois  is  an  indication  of  this  ten- 
dency. 

Mr.  Gilchrist  sketched  the  development  of  the  Public 
Service  Company  of  Northern  Illinois,  operating  in  the 
northeastern  part  of  the  State;  the  Illinois  Northern  Utili- 
ties Company,  operating  in  the  northwest  part  of  the  State, 
and  the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Company,  operating 
in  the  central  portion  of  the  State.  All  of  these  are 
"Insull  companies"  and  work  in  harmony.  The  Central 
Illinois  company  is  one  of  the  most  recent,  and  it  has 
already  secured  properties  in  perhaps  thirty  or  forty  towns, 
although  not  taking  over  the  central  stations  in  aU  the  cities 
and  villages  in  the  territory  served.  The  operations  of  these 
large  companies  indicate  the  existence  of  a  movement  that 
may  lead  to  the  covering  of  an  entire  state  by  one  system 
or  by  several  large  co-operating  systems.  This  plan  of 
combination  allows  the  location  of  generating  stations  at 
the  most  advantageous  points,  and  Mr.  Gilchrist  mentioned 
the  new  station  which  is  to  be  built  at  Kincaid,  in  Christian 
County,  in  the  central  part  of  Illinois,  where  it  will  be 
practically  at  the  mouth  of  a  coal  mine,  so  there  will  be 
almost  no  expense  for  transporting  coal.  This  station  will 
have  a  rating  of  from  10,000  kw  to  15,000  kw,  and  its  size 
may  be  increased  later. 

California  is  another  State  where  the  same  tendency 
toward  concentration  is  evident.  The  Pacific  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric Company  of  San  Francisco  operates  over  perhaps  one- 
third  of  the  area  of  the  State.  Much  of  its  energy  is 
derived  from  water-power,  but  it  has  also  a  number  of 
steam  generating  stations.  Gas  is  piped  for  considerab'e 
distances  under  high  pressure  in  much  the  same  way  that 
electricity  is  transmitted  at  high  voltages.  Both  gas  and 
electricity  are  used  for  a  wide  variety  of  industrial  opera- 
tions. 

The  speaker  expressed  his  belief  that  it  will  be  only  a 
few  years  before  electric-service  systems  will  be  combined 
in  much  the  same  way  as  the  railroad  systems  have  been 
combined  and  will  cover  large  areas.  This  tendency  is  of 
great  significance  and  interest  to  all  engaged  in  the  hnsi- 
ness  because  it  gives  an  indication  of  the  opportunities 
which    the-  electric-service   industry   offers    to    young   men. 


PRIZE -WINNING     SUGGESTIONS    FOR    IMPROVE- 
MENTS IN    CENTRAL-STATION    SERVICE. 


Like  a  number  of  other  companies,  the  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company  of  Chicago  offers  prizes  for  accepted 
meritorious  suggestions  in  relation  to  possible  improve- 
ments in  the  company's  business.  Awards  were  recently 
made  of  these  prizes  for  the  semi-annual  period  ended 
June  30,  1912.  The  list  which  follows  is  of  general  inter- 
est as  indicating  the  character  of  suggestions,  some  of 
them  apparently  quite  simple,  which  were  accepted: 

First  Prize,  $50. — Awarded  to  Mr.  R.  E.  Sweetland,  who 
recommended  that  the  painters  at  the  Fisk  Street  station 
be  provided  with  safety  belts. 

Second  Prize.  $40. — Awarded  to  Mr.  E.  D.  McEwing, 
who  recommended  an  improved  method  of  handling  com- 
plaints that  are  referred  to  the  distribution  engineering  de- 
partment, with  the  idea  of  obtaining  greater  efficiency  and 
dispatch. 

Third  Prize,  $30. — Awarded  to  Mr.  H.  G.  Kobick,  who 
suggested  that  all  recommendations,  instructions,  executive 
orders  and  circular  letters  from  the  executive  office  of 
the  company  be  compiled,  codified  and  arranged  in  some 
form  similar  to  the  company's  classification  of  accounts 
for  the  convenience  of  heads  of  departments. 

Fourth  Prize,  $20. — Awarded  to  Mr.  W.  H.  Childs,  who 
proposed  a  scheme  for  promoting  the  sale  of  electric  ap- 
pliances to  small  stores  and  tradesmen  by  getting  out 
descriptive   literature,   with   the   plan   of   having  employees 


of  the  company  bring  such  literature  personally  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  tradesmen  with  whom  they  deal. 

The  prize  of  $10  for  the  greatest  number  of  suggestions 
accepted  from  any  one  employee  during  the  six-month 
period  was  divided.  One-half  was  awarded  to  Mr.  A.  G. 
Chamberlain  and  one-half  to  Mr.  Charles  Davidson,  both 
of  whom  had  four  accepted  suggestions  to  their  credit 
during    the    semi-annual    period. 


TEST  FOR  POWER  REQUIREMENTS  OF  A  PAPER 

MILL. 


By  W.  E.   Byerts. 

The  following  test  to  determine  the  power  required  by 
various  machines  was  run  in  a  paper  mill  which  takes  old 
newspapers  and  makes  a  paper  out  of  them  which  in  turn 
is  made  into  pasteboard  suitable  for  boxes,  etc. 

The  plant  is  equipped  with  direct-current  motors,  so  it 
was  only  necessary  to  connect  an  ammeter  in  series  with 
the  motor  being  tested  and  read  the  current  and  the  voltage 
to  obtain  the  power  input.  The  horse-power  output  was 
calculated  from  the  input  by  assuming  an  efficiency  of  90 
per  cent  in  the  heavily  loaded  motors  and  85  per  cent  in 
those  lightly  loaded,  which  will  give  fairly  accurate  results. 
The  machines  contained  in  the  plant  are  as  follows,  the 
accompanying  table  showing  the  amperage,  voltage  and  out- 
put for  each : 

Paper  Machine. — The  paper  machine  is  driven  by  a  90-hp 
motor  with  a  speed  of  from  200  r.p.m.  to  800  r.p.m.,  which 
is  obtained  by  field  control.  This  machine  has  sixty-two 
drier  rolls  32  in.  in  diameter  by  no  in.  long. 

Pumps  and  Screens  on  Paper  Machine. — These  are  driven 
by  a  90-hp  motor  running  at  525  r.p.m.  The  load  on  this 
motor  is  practically  constant  for  all  grades  of  paper. 

Jones  Standard  Jordan.- — Directiy  connected  to  a  75-hp 
motor  running  at  345  r.p.m.  This  motor  was  bought  under 
a  continuous  overload  guarantee  and  is  really  about  a  loo-hp 
machine. 

Jones  Imperial  Jordan. — Directly  connected  to  a  lOO-hp 
motor  running  at  330  r.p.m.  This  motor  was  also  bought 
on  a  continuous  overload  guarantee. 

Beaters. — A  loo-hp  motor  is  belted  to  two  beaters,  the 
motor  running  at  450  r.p.m.  The  beaters  have  a  capacity 
of  1500  lb. 

The  reading  marked  "average"  on  the  test  on  the  standard 

TEST    OF     POWER    REQUIRED    BY    PAPER-MILL     MACHINERY. 


Paper  machine: 

High  speed,  light  paper.. . 
Low  speed,  heavy  paper. . 


Pumps  and  screen  on  paper  machine . 

Jones  standard  Jordan: 

Running  hght 

Average  load 

Maximum  load 


Jones  imperial  Jordan: 

Running  light 

Average  load 

Maximum  load 


Amperes.        Volts. 


Heater: 

Full  pulp,  rolls  up 

Full  pulp  with  both  rolls  brushing.. 


264 
138 


63 
450 
484 


204 
474 
570 


306 
570 


226 
211 


227 


220 
214 
218 


220 
224 
221 


225 
218 


Output, 
hp. 


68 
33 


38.7 


16 
115 
126 


54 
127 
151 


69 
149 


Jordan  was  taken  when  it  was  on  a  medium  fine  paper  and 
is  actually  a  little  above  the  average.  The  "maximum"  on 
the  tests  on  both  the  Jordans  was  taken  when  they  were 
on  the  finest  grade  of  paper  this  mill  makes.  The  reading 
marked  "full  pulp,  rolls  up."  on  the  beaters  is  the  condition 
under  which  they  operate  most  of  the  time.  The  reading 
with  "both  rolls  brushing"  is  a  little  higher  than  the  average 
for  this  condition. 


S'tf. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

:  -LUMINATION    OF    PLAYGROUND  WITH    IN- 
VERTED MAGNETITE  LAMPS. 


Holstein  Park,  a  new  playground  near  Oakley  and  Ham- 
burg Streets,  Chicago,  recently  equipped  by  the  West  Side 
Park  Commissioners  at  an  outlay  of  $75,000,  is  lighted  by 


Fig.   1 — Ornamental    Magnetite   Standards.    Holstein    Park.   Chicago. 

ten  6.6-amp  inverted  magnetite  lamps  mounted  on  orna- 
mental iron  standards,  of  the  collective  type  which  has 
come  to  be  best  known  as  the  "Hartford  post."  The  park 
or  playground  measures  200  ft.  by  400  ft.  and  is  given  over 
to  apparatus  for  children's  games,  turntables,  swings,  see- 
saws, etc.  As  the  result  of  its  location  in  a  populous  region, 
it  draws  its  patronage  from  within  a  radius  of  a  mile  or 
more.  At  one  end  of  the  grounds  is  a  splendid  social-center 
building,  containing  an  auditorium,  library,  gymnasium, 
showers  and  locker  rooms. 

The  lamps  are  of  the  General  Electric  "inverted"  type, 
having  their  mechanism  concealed  in  the  standard  below 


is  open  until  10  o'clock  every  evening  and  is  the  social  focus 
of  many  of  the  older  foik  of  the  neighborhood  as  well  as 
the  young  people.  Adequate  illumination  after  dark  was 
therefore  important  to  secure  the  full  value  of  the  park  to 
the  class  it  is  intended  to  serve.  After  a  study  of  available 
lighting  units  the  lamps  here  shown  were  selected.  As  the 
units  are  arranged,  ample  illumination  is  provided  over  the 
entire  area,  and  some  of  the  more  enthusiastic  handball 
players  of  the  neighborhood  have  even  continued  their 
games  after  nightfall.  Mr.  Frank  Ksander  is  chief  elec- 
trician for  the  West  Side  Park  Board. 


REMOTE-CONTROL  ORNAMENTAL  LIGHTING. 


The  business  section  of  Billings,  Mont.,  is  lighted  by  190 
ornamental  curb  posts,  each  carrying  four  40-watt  and  one 
loo-watt    lamp,    fed    through    seven    separate    distributing 


Fig.    1 — Twenty. eighth    Street,    Billings,    Mont. 

centers.  A  negro  was  formerly  employed  at  $20  a  month  to 
turn  these  circuits  on  and  off,  but  his  irresponsibility  led  to 
the  installation  of  a  system  of  pilot  wires  and  magnet 
switches  centering  at  the  central-station  office.  From  this 
point  all  the  lam'js  can  now  be  turned  on  before  the  em- 
ployees leave  for  the  night.  The  master  switch  of  the  con- 
trol wiring  is  itself  held  in  place  by  a  magnetic  telephone 
droT  which  is  bridged  across  the  private  line  connecting  the 


.■- 

Am 

1 
1 

-            — 

Fi'J,     2 — Playground     Lighting     with     Inverted     Magnetite     Lamps.  Fig.   2 — Night    View   of    Twenty ■  seventh    Street,    Billings.    Mont. 


the  arc,  and  are  carried  on  handsome  15-ft.  iron  posts. 
Four  lamps  are  ranged  along  the  sides  and  two  at  the  ends 
of  the  grounds,  at  intervals  of  approximately  75  ft.  betw-een 
posts.  The  rectifier  equipment  for  the  6.6-anip  circuit  is 
installed  in  the  basement  of  the  settlement  building.  Each 
lamp  consumes  approximately  500  w-atts.     The  playground 


office  and  power  plant.  To  extinguish  the  street  lamps  at 
dawn  the  switchboard  operator  thus  has  only  to  ring  up  the 
office  line,  throwing  the  drop  which  releases  the  master 
switch  and  allows  the  latter  to  open  the  distant  magnet 
switches.  The  cost  of  installing  the  remote-control  system 
complete  was  $125,  which  was  saved  in  about  six  months. 


September  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


569 


FLAME- ARC  LAMPS  FOR  PARK  LIGHTING. 


The  Board  of  Commissioners  of  the  South  Side  Parks, 
Chicago,  has  purchased  280  7.5-amp  flame-arc  lamps  which 
it  is  using  to  replace  the  former  inclosed  carbon  lamps  at 


Fig.    1— Flame-Arc    Lamps,    Jackson    Park,    Chicago. 

important  boulevard  and  drive  intersections.  The  new 
units  are  arranged  for  insertion  in  the  existing  alternating- 
current  series  circuits,  and  consume  from  300  watts  to 
400  watts  per  lamp.  In  design  they  are  similar  to  the 
flame  lamps  purchased  for  the  city  street  lighting  of  Chi- 
cago and  were  also  furnished  by  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany. In  the  South  Park  system  there  are  altogether 
twenty-four  parks  and  playgrounds,  besides  50  miles  of 
boulevards.  For  the  illumination  of  these  parks  and  drives 
about  15,000  arc  lamps  are  needed,  of  which  number  nearly 
12,000  are  in  use  at  the  present  time. 

A  number  of  the  new  flame  lamps  have  been  employed 
for  the  lighting  of  Michigan  Avenue  south  from  Twelfth 
Street,  the  end  of  the  lake-front  ornamental  curb  lighting. 
The  lighting  of  these  boulevards  falls  within  the  scope  of 
the  park  board's  responsibilities  and  is  not  part  of  the 
general  street  lighting  of  the  city.  On  Michigan  .\venue 
near   Eighteenth   Street  a  number  of  the   new   lamps  have 


Fig.   2 — 7.5-Amp    Flame-Arc    Lamp    in   Jackson    Park,    Chicago, 

been  suspended  from  25-ft.  poles,  as  an  experiment  in  the 
determination  of  the  proper  height  of  these  units.  At  this 
height  the  lamps  are  well  above  the  angle  of  glare  for 
ordinary  vision,  at  the  same  time  affording  uniform  illumi- 
nation over  a  larger  area  of  the  street. 

The    installation    of   the   new    lamps    at    important    dark 


corners  in  the  parks  has  contributed  to  the  safety  of  both 
pedestrians  and  automobilists.  With  the  flame  type  of 
units  the  whole  area  of  broad  drive  intersections  is  well 
lighted,  so  that  no  driver  now  has  excuse  for  turf  cutting 
or  crossing  island  ''greens,"  which  had  become  too  frequent 
with  the  older  inclosed-arc  lamps.  Mr.  W.  R.  Bell  is  elec- 
trical engineer  for  the  South  Park  Commission. 


INDIRECT  LIGHTING  IN  A  "SODA  DEN." 


Indirect  lighting  is  utilized  effectively  in  the  so-called 
"soda  den"  of  one  of  the  Liggett  drug  stores  in  Boston, 
twelve  fixtures  being  used,  as  shown  in  the  accompanying 
illustration.  The  den  occupies  a  portion  of  the  basement 
at  474  Washington  Street,  and  is  cleverly  advertised  on 
the  main  floor  of  the  establishment  by  illuminated  signs, 
including  an  Old  English  lantern  equipped  wtih  incandes- 
cent lamps.  The  den  is  56  ft.  long  by  39  ft.  wide  at  its 
broadest  portion,  the  average  width  being  about  30  ft. 
The  architectural  treatment  of  the  room  is  Old  English, 
the  walls  being  of  paneled  mahogany  with  wainscoting  in 
light  green  decorated  by  mural  paintings  of  sixteenth 
century  scenes.     Nine  columns  of  mahogany-colored  tiling 


Indirect    Lighting    in    a    Refreshment    Room. 

with  green  upper  sections  support  the  street  floor,  and  the 
floor  of  the  den  is  of  rubber  tiling  with  red,  brown,  blue 
and  white  shades  interlocking,  the  red  being  the  dominat- 
ing color.  Three  rows  of  tables  with  mahogany  tops  30 
in.  above  the  floor  and  36  in.  square  occupy  the  center  of 
the  floor,  and  at  the  west  end  are  located  an  artificial  foun- 
tain with  electrically  pumped  water  and  a  6-ft.  by  12-ft. 
marble-topped  soda  fountain  with  a  counter  16  in.  wide  by 
42  in.  high.  The  latter  is  illuminated  with  two  old-fash- 
ioned ornamental  lanterns,  each  equipped  with  a  50-watt 
frosted    metallized-filament    lamp. 

The  indirect  lighting  fixtures,  which  are  provided  with 
opaque  bottoms,  are  each  22  in.  in  diameter  and  are  hung 
9  ft.  8  in.  above  the  floor  and  29  in.  below  the  ceiling, 
which  is  painted  white,  with  a  dull  finish.  Each  fixture 
for  the  main  lighting  of  the  room  contains  four  60-watt 
tungsten  lamps.  Twenty-four  tables  are  in  service,  and 
there  is  no  side  lighting  whatever.  No  candelabra  are 
used  on  the  tables,  and  even  at  the  sides  of  the  room  under 
the  ventilators  fine  print  can  be  read  with  ease  by  means 
of  the  general  illumination.  The  wiring  is  arranged  for 
the  control  of  each  pair  of  fixtures  by  a  single  strap  switch 
mounted  in  a  wall  panel  just  outside  the  room.  An  equip- 
ment of  eight  lo-in.  electric  fans  and  a  motor-driven  egg- 
beater  is  also  provided.  About  1.8  watts  per  sq.  ft.  are 
required  by  the  room. 


570 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii. 


INDIRECT  LIGHTING  OF  AN  ARCHED    AUDI- 
TORIUM CEILING. 


In  laying  oul  the  illumination  of  the  fine  new  temple  and 
social  center  of  the  Sinai  Jewish  Congregation  at  Grand 
Boulevard  and  Forty-sixth  Street,  Chicago,  care  was  taken 
to  permit  no  direct  glare  from  lamp  filaments  to  annoy  the 
eye.  In  the  auditorium  and  assembly  room  pure  indirect 
illumination  has  been  used,  while  the  guest  parlors  in  the 
social-center  building  are  lighted  by  semi-indirect  fixtures. 

The  main  auditorium,  shown  in  the  illustration,  measures 
137  ft.  wide  by  100  ft.  deep  and  is  surmounted  by  a  vaulted 
ceiling.  The  arch  of  the  ceiling  has  a  spring  of  50  ft.  and 
a  rise  of  16  ft.,  its  border  cornices  being  at  an  average 
height  of  35  ft.  above  the  inclined  floor.  Concealed  within 
the  plaster  work  of  these  cornices  are  rows  of  tungsten  re- 
flector units,  light  from  which  is  projected  onto  the  light- 
tinted  arched  ceiling  and  from  that  as  a  diffusing  surface 
down  to  light  the  chair  space.  There  are  forty-eight  reflec- 
tor units  on  each  of  the  front  and  rear  cornices,  each  poke- 
bonnet  reflector  containing  a  6o-watt  lamp.  These  lamps 
are  arranged  in  three  circuits,  controlled  from  Diamond 
"H"  remote-control  electromagnetic  switches,  which  are 
actuated  from  push-buttons  in  the  anteroom  at  the  right  of 


Indirect   Illumination   of   Sinai   Temple   Auditorium,   Chicago. 

the  organ.  The  magnet  switches  themselves  are  mounted 
in  a  metal  box  in  the  room  at  the  left  of  the  rostrum. 

Originally  the  plan  was  to  have  several  control  stations 
for  the  auditorium  lighting,  one  being  in  the  choir  gallery 
at  the  side  of  the  proscenium,  so  that  the  illumination  could 
be  switched  on  and  off  by  the  organist  or  the  director  of  the 
services.  The  single-control  station  actually  installed 
makes  possible,  of  course,  the  replacement  of  knife  switches 
by  a  bank  of  simple  flush  push-buttons,  but  introduces  some 
complications  into  the  lighting  circuits. 

Surrounding  the  proscenium  over  the  rostrum  is  a  row  of 
6o-watt  lamps  in  border  type  reflectors,  designed  to  illumi- 
nate the  platform,  organ  and  speaker.  For  lighting  the 
portions  of  the  main  floor  beneath  the  balcony,  as  well  as 
the  balcony  sections  which  are  outside  the  main  arched 
ceiling,  there  are  fifteen  ceiling  clusters  for  each  floor,  each 
comprising  four  40-watt  lamps  inclosed  in  diffusing  half- 
domes.  These  ceiling  clusters  are,  however,  outside  of  the 
visual  angle  of  most  of  the  occupants  of  the  chairs  beneath 
the  overhanging  balconies.  Ceiling  and  walls  of  audito- 
rium interior  are  all  white  with  tinted  panel  patterns,  but 
the  chairs  are  of  dark  wood  and  the  floor  is  carpeted  in  a 
rich  brown. 

For  the  corridors  direct-type  fixtures  have  been  used. 
The  assembly  room  in  the  adjoining  social-center  building 
is  decorated  in  pure  white  and  has  a  waxed  hardwood  floor 


suitable  for  dancing.  Its  ceiling  is  paneled  into  nine 
divisions  by  the  beaming,  the  center  of  each  section  being 
marked  by  an  indirect  bowl  fixture  containing  four 
40-vvatt  lamps.  The  bowls  are  handsomely  ornamented 
with  gold  leaf  and  are  suspended  from  the  ceiling  by 
bronze  chains.  Around  the  walls  of  the  room  are  eight 
groups  of  bracket  lamps  partially  concealed  by  glass  prisms. 
In  the  ladies'  and  gentlemen's  reception  rooms  semi-indirect 
fixtures  with  alabaster  bowls  are  employed,  the  light  which 
finds  its  way  through  the  diffusing  glass  brightening  the 
otherwise  dark  bottom  of  the  fixture. 

Mr.  A.  S.  Alschuler  was  the  architect  for  the  new  Sinai 
Temple  and  social  center.  The  electrical  equipment  was 
laid  out  by  Mr.  M.  C.  Schwab,  consulting  engineer.  Elec- 
trical wiring  was  done  by  Mr.  O.  M.  George. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


DISPATCHING   APPARATUS. 

Mr.  E.  R.  Gill,  of  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  has  invented  a  clock 
synchronizing  system  for  use  in  conjunction  with  a  tele- 
phone railway  dispatch  wire.  The  system  contemplates  the 
introduction  upon  the  dispatch  wire  of  time  signals.  This 
will  occur  at  specified  hours  and  all  blocks  may  be  set  to 
exactly  the  same  time.  The  system  contemplates  either 
direct  application  of  the  time  signals  to  the  telephone  line 
or  the  coimection  of  a  telegraph  line  carrying  time  signals 
to  the  telephone  line  in  such  a  manner  that  the  signals  are 
impressed  upon  the  telephone  line. 

Another  patent  granted  to  the  same  inventor  describes  a 
sender  for  a  step-by-step  system.  The  sending  process  is 
accomplished  by  first  instituting  a  rapid  series  of  impulses, 
a  device  for  interrupting  or  arresting  these  at  the  proper 
interval  and  a  device  for  freeing  or  restoring  the  series  of 
impulses.  The  intervals  are  spaced  by  predetermined  action 
so  that  the  desired  number   is  transmitted. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 

INCREASING  RANGE  OF  VOLTAGE  REGULATION. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — On  page  293  of  your  issue  dated  Aug.  10  there  is 
an  editorial  in  which  reference  is  made  to  my  article  in  the 
issue  dated  July  2y,  entitled  "Increasing  the  Range  of  Shunt- 
Voltage  Regulation  in  Direct-Current  Generators."  This 
editorial  terminates  with  the  following  sentence :  "We  be- 
lieve, however,  that  a  similar  pole-face  construction  of  pro- 
jecting laminas  has  been  used  in  the  past  for  the  purpose  of 
improving  commutation."  It  is,  in  fact,  well  known  to  me 
that  somewhat  similar  constructions  were  employed  for 
improving  the  commutation  at  a  tiriie  when  the  auxiliary 
pole  was  not  yet  in  use  for  this  purpose.  In  that  case,  how- 
ever, as  you  rightly  assume,  another  object  was  desired, 
namely,  to  lessen  as  much  as  possible  the  influence  of  the 
armature  reaction  on  the  pole  field,  especially  in  the  com- 
nnitation  zone. 

In  the  case  of  the  construction  described  by  me  the 
laminas,  which  project  over  the  whole  of  the  pole  face,  are 
in  a  definite  ratio  to  the  latter.  In  the  middle,  taken 
together,  they  have  a  section  of  from  one-tenth  to  one- 
twelfth  of  that  of  the  total  pole  face,  and  therefore  in  this 
instance  an  endeavor  has  been  made  to  obtain  a  special 
form  of  voltage  curve.  Hence  the  two  cases  mentioned  are 
by  no  means  identical,  but  differ  considerably.  I  know  of 
no  machine  in  practical  service  built  with  the  poles  arranged 
in  the  manner  indicated  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the 
shunt  regulation  range.  On  the  other  hand,  many  machines 
have  been  constructed  in  accordance  with  my  proposal. 

Baden.  Switzerland.  P.  Amsler. 


September  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


57' 


Digest  of  Current   Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Braking  of  Alternating-Current  Commutator  Motors. — 
M.  ScHENKEL. — The  possibility  of  braking  an  alternating- 
current  commutator  motor  in  such  a  way  as  to  return  elec- 
trical energy  to  the  supply  system  has  been  the  subject  of 
many  recent  discussions.  It  has  been  proved  that  such  a 
possibility  does  not  exist  with  single-phase  series  com- 
mutator motors.    This  proof  is  correct.    But  the  conclusion 


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Electrical  Dejjrees. 

ig.    1 — Curves    Showing    Operating    Characteristics    of    IVIotor   Re- 
turning   Energy   to   the    Networkc. 

las  wrongly  been  drawn  that  the  same  is  true  for  polyphase 
ommutator  motors.  The  author  gives  curves  which  show 
hat  with  polyphase  commutator  motors  a  method  of  braking 
an  be  used  by  which  electrical  energy  is  returned  into  the 
letwork.  The  curves  in  Fig.  i  were  determined  experi- 
nentally.  The  motor  which  on  braking  returned  energy  to 
he  network  was  a  'three-phase  series  machine.  Stator  and 
otor  windings  were  connected  directly  in  series.  This  ma- 
hine  was  driven  by  a  direct-current  motor.  A  three-phase 
;enerator  of  100  kva  which  was  also  driven  by  a  direct- 
urrent  motor  supplied  current  to  the  series  motor  through 
esistance.  The  voltage  of  the  generator  was  60;  the  speed 
'f  the  three-phase  series  motor  was  maintained  constant  at 
■50  r.p.m. ;  the  frequency  was  50.  At  the  same  voltage, 
peed  and  frequency  the  three-phase  series  motor  driven  as 
motor  consumed  50  hp.  By  displacement  of  the  brushes 
eyond  the  no-load  position  (indicated  in  the  curve  as  zero 
egrees)  the  motor  was  transformed  into  a  generator. 
Jnder  the  same  conditions  but  without  being  driven  it 
>'ould  have  changed  its  direction  of  rotation  and  would 
ave  continued  to  run  as  a  motor.  To  overcome  the  self- 
iduction  resistors  were  connected  in  each  phase,  their  re- 
istances  being  noted  on  the  diagram.  These  resistors  con- 
umed  relatively  small  power.  The  remaining  energy  was 
eturned  into  the  generator  in  such  a  way  that  the  direct- 
iirrent  motor  which  was  driving  it  not  only  was  unloaded 


but  returned  current  into  its  network.  Fig.  i  gives  the  current 
/  in  amperes  per  phase,  the  resistance  in  ohms  per  phase, 
the  power  A'K',«  returned  from  the  motor  and  the  power  kwn 
returned  into  the  network,  the  difference  between  kxvm  and 
kzvn  being  the  power  consumed  m  the  resistors.  All  powers 
were  measured  by  wattmeters.  The  author  shows  with  the 
aid  of  vector  diagrams  how  these  results  can  be  obtained. 
This  method  is  in  commercial  use. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug. 
22,  1912. 

Current  and  Poiver-Factor  in  Induction  Motors. — H.  J.  S. 
Heather. — A  note  pointing  out  the  general  recognition  of 
the  fact  that  to  any  one  value  of  the  torque  in  an  induction 
motor  there  correspond  two  values  of  the  current,  and 
similarly  that  to  any  one  value  of  the  power-factor  there 
correspond  two  values  of  the  current.  From  this  it  has 
apparently  been  wrongly  assumed  that  the  converses  must 
hold  good,  and  that  to  any  one  value  of  the  current  must 
correspond  two  values  of  torque  and  likewise  two  values  of 
power-factor.  This  conclusion  would  be  wrong,  however, 
as  is  shown  by  the  author  with  the  aid  of  diagrams. — 
London  Electrician,  Aug.  23,  1912. 

Compensated  Dynamo. — A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent 
(No.  24,570,  Aug.  I,  1912)  of  the  British  Thomson-Houston 
Company,  Ltd.,  and  A.  G.  Neild.  For  a  divided  field  frame 
each  of  the  poles  near  the  division  has  a  divided  shoe.  One 
part,  being  removable,  is  partly  supported  from  the  frame 
of  the  machine  or  the  adjacent  commutating  pole  shoe,  so 
that  when  the  upper  part  of  the  frame  is  removed  the 
armature  can  be  lifted  out  of  its  bearings.' — London  Etec. 
Eng'ing,  Aug.  8,  1912. 

Leakage  Coefficient  of  Interpoles. — L.  A.  Doggett. — 
Well-known  authorities  have  suggested  as  leakage  co- 
efficients for  commutating  poles  values  in  the  neighborhood 
of  1.3  to  1.75.  The  present  author  shows,  however,  that 
as  a  result  of  experiment  and  theory  the  leakage  coefficients 
are  from  2  to  3.5. — -London  Electrician,  Aug.  23,  1912. 
Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Color  Photometry. — Lord  Rayleigh. — The  author  refers 
to  a  recent  remark  of  H.  E.  Ives:  "No  satisfactory  theory 
of  the  action  of  the  flicker  photometer  can  be  said  to  exist. 
What  does  it  actually  measure?  We  may  assume  the  exist- 
ence of  a  'luminosity  sense'  distinct  from  the  color  sense. 
.  .  .  If,  for  instance,  there  exist  a  physiological  process 
called  into  action  both  by  colored  and  uncolored  light,  a 
measure  of  this  would  be  a  measure  of  a  common  property." 
To  the  present  author  it  occurred  a  long  time  ago  that  the 
adjustment  of  the  iris  afforded  just  such  a  "physiological 
process."  The  iris  contracts  when  the  eye  is  exposed  to  a 
bright  red  or  to  a  bright  green  light.  There  must,  therefore. 
be  some  relative  brightness  of  the  two  lights  which  tends 
equally  to  close  the  iris,  and  this  may  afford  the  measure 
required.  The  flicker  adjustment  is  complete  when  the  iris 
has  no  tendency  to  alter  under  the  alternating  illumination. 
This  question  was  brought  home  to  him  forcibly  when  in 
1875  he  fitted  the  whole  area  of  the  window  of  a  small  room 
with  revolving  sectors  after  the  manner  of  Talbot.  The 
intention  was  to  observe,  more  conveniently  than  when  the 
eye  is  at  a  small  hole,  the  movements  of  vibrating  bodies. 
The  apparatus  served  this  purpose  well  enough,  but  in- 
cidentally he  was  struck  with  the  remarkably  disagreeable 
and  even  painful  sensations  experienced  when  at  the  begin- 
ning or  end  of  operations  the  slits  were  revolving  slowly  so 
as  to  generate  flashes  at  the  rate  of  perhaps  three  or  four 
per  second.  The  author  suggests  that  experiments  be  under- 
taken to  ascertain  whether  in  fact  the  flicker  match  coincides 
with  quiescence  of  the  iris. — Philosoph.  Mag.,  August,  1912. 

Neon  Lamp. — Schroeter. — A  note  on  a  paper  read  before 


572 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii 


the  German  Association  ot  Central  Stations.  The  author 
compared  the  Moore  tube  lamp  with  the  neon  lamp,  and 
said  that  with  neon  gas  the  peculiarity  of  the  light  effect 
remains  intact,  but  the  quadruple  illumination  is  obtained 
per  unit  length  of  the  tube  in  comparison  with  nitrogen 
gas.  The  author  emphasizes  the  high  conductivity  of  neon 
gas,  but  states  that  when  only  a  trace  of  ordinary  gas  is 
added  to  neon  the  conductivity  is  reduced  to  that  of  the 
addition.  The  neon  lamp  is  of  relatively  high  efficiency. 
The  original  difficulties  with  the  neon  lamp  were  the  liability 
of  the  gas  getting  spoiled  by  impurities  and  the  gradual 
absorption  of  gas  in  the  electrode  metal.  Both  of  these 
troubles  have  been  overcome.  The  neon  lamp  is  especially 
suitable  for  "effective"  lighting;  in  combination  with  the 
green  mercury  vapor  lamp  it  is  also  suitable  for  lighting 
factories  and  workshops. — Elek.  Zcit..  Aug.  8,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Equa!ici)ig  Power  flitctualioiis  in  Central  Stations.— 
A.  ScHWAiGER. — The  first  part  of  a  long  paper  illustrated 
by  diagrams  on  methods  of  equalizing  the  fluctuations  of 
the  load  in  pow-er  stations  by  means  either  of  storage  bat- 
teries or  of  flywdieels.  In  both  cases  electrical  energy  is 
stored  at  moments  of  light  load  and  given  up  again  at  the 
moments  of  overload.  In  the  battery  the  energy  is  stored  in 
the  form  of  chemical  energy,  in  the  flywheel  in  the  form  of 
kinetic  energy,  and  in  order  to  give  off  energy  at  times  of 
overload  the  battery  must  decrease  in  emf  and  the  flywheel 
must  reduce  its  speed.  If  the  voltage  variation  or  the  speed 
variation  is  produced  automatically  by  the  load  fluctuation.'?, 
the  author  speaks  of  natural  systems  for  equalization  of 
load  fluctuations.  If  these  natural  systems  are  not  sufficient 
to  produce  the  desired  equalization  of  the  load  curve, 
artificial  means,  involving  regulators,  must  be  employed. 
In  the  present  employment  the  author  discusses  the  natural 
systems,  taking  up  first  the  systems  employing  storage 
batteries  and  second  the  systems  employing  flywheels. 
Diagrams  of  the  connections  in  the  various  possible  systems 
are  given.  The  article  is  to  be  continued. — Elck.  Zcit., 
Aug.  15,  1912. 

Electro-Hydraulic  Steering  Gear. — An  illustrated  descrip- 
tion of  the  electro-hydraulic  steering  gear  installed  on  the 
steamship  Orama  according  to  the  Hele-Shaw-Martineau 
patents.  A  feature  of  the  process  is  the  use  of  a  con- 
tinuously running  electric  motor,  protected  from  shocks 
upon  the  rudder  from  the  sea.  which  transmits  its  power  by 
means  of  a  pump  and  hydraulic  cylinders  attached  to  the 
rudder  stop.  The  pump  must  be  so  arranged  that  its  flow 
can  be  instantaneously  stopped  or  directed  by  the  steersman 
to  either  of  the  hydraulic  cylinders  operating  the  rudder. — 
London  Elcc.  Rcriczi',  Aug.  g,  1912. 

Traction. 

Electromagnetic  Track  Brake. — In  the  Reichsanstalt  re- 
port for  191 1  mention  is  made  of  an  investigation  of  the 
electromagnetic  track  brake.  A  preliminary  investigation 
was  made  of  the  disk  form  of  eddy-current  brake  with  a 
single  pair  of  poles.  The  essential  results  are  as  follows : 
The  increase  of  the  braking  effect  with  speed  is  proportional 
to  the  speed  for  low  speeds.  Later  on  the  braking  effect 
may  increase  somewhat  more  quickly  than  the  speed  if  a 
very  small  air-gap  is  used  or  somewhat  more  slowly  if  a 
very  large  air-gap  is  used.  In  both  cases  the  braking  effect 
reaches  a  maximum  for  a  certain  speed  and  then  decreases 
to  zero  for  very  high  speeds.  The  maximum  in  the  braking 
effect  curve  is  pointed  with  short  pole  shoes  and  very  flat 
with  stretched  pole-shoe  forms. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  15,  1912. 

Gasoline-Electric  Automobiles. — J.  Simey. — The  conclu- 
sion of  his  article  on  various  types  of  gasoline-electric 
automobiles.  In  the  present  instalment  is  discussed  the 
Pieper  system,  in  which  a  gasoline  engine  drives  directly 
the  wheel  axle  and  also  a  single  direct-current  machine. 
The  latter  operates  at  times  as  a  generator  and  at  times  as  a 
motor.     It   furnishes  the  power   required   for   starting  and 


for  climbing  grades.  It  is  connected  with  a  storage  battery 
which  is  charged  when  the  automobile  stands  still  or  runs 
down  hill,  while  it  discharges  at  starting  and  running  up 
hill. — La  Lumiere  Elec,  Aug.  10,  1912. 

Single-PlMsc  Traction. — W.  Kummek. — An  English  trans- 
lation of  his  recent  German  paper  on  various  problems  of 
design  in  connection  with  single-phase  traction. — London 
Electrician,  Aug.  23,  19 12. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Heat-Storage  Apparatus  for  Equalizing  the  Load  Curie 
of  Central  Stations. — A.  Rittershausen. — The  author 
emphasizes  that  the  chief  problem  of  central  stations  is  the 
equalizing  of  the  load  curve  and  to  encourage  consumers 
to  use  energy  during  the  daytime.  This  is  possible  only 
when  the  energy  is  stored  in  a  form  useful  for  domestic 
purposes.  The  author  recommends  the  use  of  hot-water 
storage  apparatus  of  the  type  shown  in  Fig.  2.  The  cold 
water  enters  at  the  bottom  at  d:  the  hot  water  leaves  at  the 


mnr: 


Fig.    2 — Heat-Storage    Apparatus. 

top  at  e;  f  is  a  layer  of  kieselguhr  which  serves  as  a  heat 
insulator.  In  order  to  make  sure  that  hot  water  can  always 
be  drawn  off  from  e.  it  is  necessary  that  the  cold  water 
which  enters  through  d  shall  not  stir  up  the  hot  water  above. 
For  this  reason  the  perforated  plate  /  is  provided.  A 
definite  circulation  of  the  water  is,  however,  necessary  in 
order  to  heat  the  cold  water.  For  this  purpose  the  heating 
resistor  g  is  surrounded  by  a  cylinder  /;.  The  water  within 
the  cylinder  is  heated  and  rises,  and  cold  water  enters  the 
cylinder  from  the  bottom  and  so  on.  The  author  figures 
that  the  extensive  use  of  such  heat-storage  apparatus  would 
permit  the  sale  of  electrical  energy  at  a  price  that  makes 
it  possible  to  heat  all  water  needed  for  domestic  purposes 
by  electricity. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  22,  1912. 

British  Central  Station. — An  abstract  of  last  year's  report 
of  the  municipal  station  of  Westham.  The  total  number  of 
kilowatt-hours  sold  for  the  twelve  months  ended  March  31 
last  was  24,147,890,  as  against  22.690,266  in  1910-11.  Private 
lighting  accounted  for  2,647,088  kw-hr.,  motor  service  and 


September  14,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


573 


heating  for  15,193.859  kw-hr.,  public  lighting  for  735,200 
kw-hr.,  and  traction  for  5,571,743  kw-hr.  Private  lighting 
shows  an  increase  of  nearly  400,000  kw-hr.,  or  over  17  per 
cent.  The  generating  cost  per  kilowatt-hour  sold  was  0.78 
cent  (against  0.68  cent  the  year  before),  the  distribution 
cost  o.io  cent  (against  o.io  cent),  the  management  cost 
o.io  cent  (against  0.12  cent),  the  total  cost  exclusive  of 
capital  charges  1.30  cents  (against  1.18  cents),  the  total 
cost  including  capital  charges  2.02  cents  (against  1.90 
cents). — London  Electrician,  Aug.  16,  19 12. 

Alternating-Current  Lifting  Electromagnets. — A  note  on 
a  recent  British  patent  (No.  16,374,  Aug.  8,  1912)  of 
H.  VV.  Lake  and  D.  L.  Lindquist.  Currents  in  a  primary 
coil  induce  currents  in  a  secondary  coil  having  a  phase  lag. 
Resistance  and  capacity  are  added  to  the  secondary  coil 
proportional  to  the  frequency  of  supply,  whereby  chattering 
of  the  armature  on  the  magnet  is  obviated.  The  secondary 
may  be  of  ring  or  sleeve  form,  inclosing  part  of  the  core, 
and  may  be  on  the  magnet  or  the  armature.  A  permanent 
reluctance  may  be  interposed  in  the  magnetic  circuit,  and 
the  armature  is  constructed  to  rock  on  a  convexity  on  the 
end  face  of  the  magnet  when  it  is  in  its  attractive  position 
for  symmetrical   adjustment. — London  Elcc.  Eng'ing.  Aug. 

15.  1912. 

Meter-Room  Equipment. — E.  P.  Austin. — An  illustrated 
article  on  the  suitalsle  equipment  of  a  testing  room  in  a 
medium-size  or  small  station  for  testing  new  and  old  service 
meters,  resistance  and  insulation  of  cables,  arc-lamp  elec- 
trodes and  dynamo  brushes,  etc. ;  also  for  checking  from 
time  to  time  the  network-testing  instruments,  switchboard 
sets  and  similar  devices. — London  Elec.  Ending,  Aug. 
8,  1912. 

Systems  of  Charging. — D.  Bercovitz. — An  English  trans- 
lation of  his  recent  German  paper  on  systems  of  charging 
for  electric  energy  by  contract  in  use  in  Continental  Europe. 
— London  Electrician,  Aug.  9,  1912. 

Electrophysics  and    Magnetism. 

Electric  Conductivity  of  Alloys. — A.  E.  W'hitford. — An 
account  of  an  investigation  undertaken  to  study  further  the 
extent  to  which  compounds  as  determined  from  the  melting- 
point  curve  influence  the  trend  of  other  physical  properties 
of  alloys.  At  63  per  cent  Bi,  corresponding  to  Bi^Tlj,  the 
electrical  conductivity  curve  shows  a  discontinuity,  but  the 
curve  does  not  form  an  ordinary  cusp  at  this  point  since  its 
slope  is  steep  on  only  one  side  of  the  point.  At  the  other 
bismuth-thallium  compound  (10.9  per  cent  Bi)  no  discon- 
tinuity was  detected.  The  characteristics  of  this  curve 
agree  well  with  those  of  the  magnetic  susceptibility  curve  of 
the  bismuth-thallium  series,  where  a  well-formed  cusp  ap- 
pears at  BijTl,,  but  no  discontinuity  is  evident  at  the  other 
compound  point.  The  compound  containing  10.9  per  cent 
Bi,  while  it  is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  affect  the  melting- 
point  curve,  does  not  affect  the  conductivity  or  suscepti- 
bility curves. — Phys.  Rcznezv.  August,  1912. 

Electrochemistry  and  Batteries. 

Silicon  Carbide. — F.  A.  J.  Fitzger.^ld. — An  illustrated  de- 
scription of  the  new  plant  of  the  Norton  Company  at 
Chippewa,  Ontario,  for  the  manufacture  of  crystolon  (sili- 
con carbide).  Energy  is  supplied  by  the  Ontario  Power 
Company  at  12,000  volts  in  the  form  of  three-phase  currents 
Since  it  was  decided  to  use  furnaces  having  a  capacity  of 
740  kw  and  to  install  only  two  units,  it  was  necessary  to 
use  transformers  with  suitable  taps  so  that  the  three-phase 
currents  are  transformed  to  two-phase.  The  transformers 
reduce  the  emf  to  145  volts.  The  secondary  busbars  then 
go  to  induction  regulators  by  means  of  which  the  emf  at 
the  furnaces  may  be  raised  to  215  volts  or  lowered  to  75 
volts.  The  special  conditions  under  which  silicon  carbide 
is  found  are  discussed  in  some  detail. — Met.  and  Chem. 
\Eng'ing,  September,  1912. 

Electric  Zinc  Furnace. — W.  McA.  John.son. — An  illus- 
trated   article    on    his    electric    zinc    furnace    with    special 


reference  to  a  particular  recent  test  made. — Met.  and  Chem. 
Eng'ing,  September,  1912. 

Dry  Cell. — H.  K.  Richardson. — An  illustrated  article  de- 
scribing the  essential  elements  of  the  modern  dry  cell  and 
the  different  steps  in  the  method  of  manufacture.  Figures 
of  cost  are  also  given. — Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing,  Sep- 
tember, 1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Radium  Standard. — VV.  Neumann. — According  to  the  de- 
cision of  the  International  Congress  of  Radiology  and  Elec- 
tricity in  Brussels,  an  international  preparation  of  a  radium 
standard  has  been  made  which  is  to  serve  in  future  as  the 
unit  for  all  measurements  of  radium  preparations.  The 
unit  of  radio-emanation  is  that  quantity  of  emanation  which 
is  in  radio-active  equilibrium  with  a  gram  of  metallic 
radium.    It  has  the  name  curie. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  22,  1912. 

Meter. — An  official  communication  of  the  Reichsanstalt 
admitting  a  direct-current  magnet  motor  meter  of  the  Isaria 
Company  for  calibration.  Its  construction  and  method  of 
operation  are  described. — Elek.  Zeit..  Aug.  22,  1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Telephone  Exchange. — Blohmer. — The  first  part  of  a 
long  illustrated  description  of  the  new  telephone  exchange 
in  Mainz,  Germany,  the  central  battery  system  being  used. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  22,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

Magnetic  Separation. — H.  C.  Parmelee. — An  illustrated 
article  on  zinc  ore  dressing  in  Colorado,  describing  the 
system  of  magnetic  separation  at  the  Wellington  mill  and  at 
the  Eagle  Mining  &  Milling  Company. — Met.  and  Chem. 
Ending,  September,  1912. 

Electric  Definitions. — F.  G.  Baily. — A  long  letter  criti- 
cizing various  definitions  recently  proposed  by  the  sub-com- 
mittee on  nomenclature  of  the  International  Electrotechnical 
Commission, — London  Electrician,  Aug.  23,  1912. 


Book  Reviews 

Manual    for    Engineers.      17th    edition.      Compiled    by 
Charles  E.  Ferris,  B.S.,  Knoxville,  Tenn.     University 
Press.     169  pages.     Price,  50  cents. 
A  small  handbook,  vest-pocket  size,  containing  the  usual 

tables  and  miscellaneous  engineering  data.     It  also  briefly 

describes  the  engineering  courses  offered  at  the  University 

of  Tennessee. 


Hendricks  Commerciai,  Register.  New  York:  S.  E. 
Hendricks  Company.  1574  pages.  Price,  $10. 
"Hendricks  Commercial  Register"  covers  very  completely 
the  architectural,  engineering,  electrical,  mechanical,  rail- 
road, mining,  manufacturing  and  kindred  trades  and  profes- 
sions. The  present  is  the  twenty-first  edition,  which  con- 
tains over  50,000  classifications,  each  representing  the  manu- 
facturers of  or  dealers  in  some  machine,  tool,  specialty  or 
material  required  in  the  industries  noted.  The  classifica- 
tions are  so  arranged  that  the  book  can  be  used  for  either 
purchasing  or  mailing  purposes.  As  an  illustration,  all 
manufacturers  of  a  particular  trade  are  classified  under  a 
general  heading  for  mailing  purposes,  and  then  each  firm 
or  corporation  is  subdivided  under  as  many  classifications 
as  all  the  varieties  of  its  products  call  for.  The  register 
also  gives  much  information  following  the  names  of 
thousands  of  firms  in  order  to  save  the  expense  of  writing 
to  a  number  of  firms  for  the  particular  article  required. 
There  are  included  the  trade  names  of  all  articles  classi- 
fied in  the  book  as  far  as  they  can  be  secured.  These  trade 
names  are  given  in  parentheses  between  the  names  and 
addresses  under  the  classifications  where  they  appear. 


574 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  u. 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


TEST  OF  PORTABLE    ELECTRIC  DRILL. 


A  recent  test  made  on  a  >2-iii-,  iio-volt  portable  electric 
drill  manufactured  by  the  Standard  Electric  Tool  Company, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  is  of  some  interest.  The  tests  were  made 
by  placing  the  drill  in  an  upright  position  under  the  spindle 
of  an  upright  drill  press,  thus  utilizing  the  press  feed  to 
force  the  drill  against  the  work.  Three  tests  in  all  were 
made.  The  table  shows  the  result  in  each  case.  The  time 
in  seconds  noted  in  the  last  column  was  that  required  to 
drill  a  hole  in  steel  to  a  depth  of  2  in.  in  each  case. 


SPACE-SAVING    GALVANOMETER  LAMP  AND 
SCALE  ARRANGEMENT. 


Test  Number. 

VolU. 

Watts. 

Time  in  Seconds 

1 
2 
3 

95 
110 
120 

* 
450 
650 

52 
67 
35 

♦The  power  consumed  on  the  first  test  fluctuated  owing  to  the  varying: 
load  on  the  drill,  as  the  feed  was  too  rapid  to  be  unifonn. 

Test  No.  I  was  made  at  less  than  normal  voltage  and  the 
drill  was  fed  to  the  work  under  extraordinary  pressure. 
The  second  test  was  made  under  normal  conditions  both  as 
to  voltage  and  load,  approximating  as  nearly  as  possible 
the  ordinary  conditions  of  service.  Test  No.  3  was  made 
with  an  abnormally  high  voltage  and  much  faster  feed 
than  would  be  possible  in' actual  practice.  In  none  of  these 
cases,  according  to  report,  was  the  drill  damaged  in  any 
way  either  by  overstressing  or  overheating. 


PORTABLE  ELECTRIC  LAMPS. 


In  its  line  of  portable  electric  lamps  designed  for  house- 
hold use  the  Phoenix  Glass  Company,  Pittsburgh.  Pa.,  has 


Among  the  distinguishing  features  of  the  lamp  and 
scale  arrangement  herewith  illustrated  are  legibility  and 
space  economy.  The  "spot,"  or  rather  line,  of  light  is  bril- 
liant enough  to  be  easily  seen  in  a  light  room.  The  "spot" 
is  thrown  directly  upon  a  paper  scale,  and  thus  can  be  seen 
from  an  angle.  Those  who  have  used  translucent  scales 
will  appreciate  the  advantage  of  the  latter  point,  for  with 
such  scales  the  observer  must  be  practically  in  front  of  the 
scale  in  order  to  see  the  "spot."  The  lamp  and  scale  are 
mounted  directly  upon  the  front  of  the  galvanometer,  thus 
economizing  space.  This  arrangement  also  makes  adjust- 
ment easier,  since  both  the  galvanometer  and  lamp  and 
scale -are  in  front  of  the  operator  and  he  does  not  have  to 
move  from  one  to  the  other  during  the  process  of  adjust- 
ment. 

The  lamp  and  scale  may  be  mounted  readily  on  gal- 
vanometers equipped  with  a  plane  mirror.  The  arrange- 
ment has  been  devised  by  the  Leeds  &  Northrup  Company, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  for  use  with  various  types  of  galvanome- 
ters. Since  all  Leeds  &  Northrup  galvanometers  with 
which  telescopes  and  scales  are  ordinarily  used  are  pro- 
vided with  plane  mirrors,  the  lamp  and  scale  may  be  used 
with   such    instruments   without   necessitating   any   change. 

The  lamp  and  scale  consists  of  a  frame  upon  which  are 
mounted  a  low  voltage  incandescent  lamp,  a  lens,  a  total 
reflecting  prism,  a  mirror  held  in  an  aluminum  frame  and  a 
0.5-meter  scale.  The  operation  of  the  instrument  will  be 
readily  understood  from  an  inspection  of  Fig.  2.  The  lamp 
provided  with  the  instrument  has  been  especially  designed 
for  use  with  this  instrument.  It  has  a  single  straight  fila- 
ment of  high  intrinsic  brilliancy.  It  operates  on  4  volts  and 
requires  a  current  of  0.5  amp.  It  may  be  operated  either 
from  a  storage  battery  or  from  an  ordinary  lighting  circuit. 


Portable  Electric  Lanop. 


Fig.    1 — Lamp    and    Scale    Used    with    Galvanometer. 


Fig.  2 — Diagram   Show- 
ing    Arrangement. 


included  many  of  pleasing  design.  The  lamp  here  shown 
is  provided  with  natural-colored  tree-scene  decoration. 
Other  schemes  employed  involve  the  Adam  decoration, 
which  is  of  creamy  brown  color  similar  in  appearance  to 
old  alabaster,  and  the  Nile  decoration,  which  is  of  soft, 
velvety  pale-green   tint. 


If  run  from  a  ligliting  circuit  a  fixed  resistance  must  be 
put  in  series  with  the  lamp.  If  a  number  of  galvanometers 
are  in  use  in  a  laboratory,  the  lamps  may  all  be  connected 
in  series,  and  only  one  resistance  unit  used  for  all,  this  unit 
being  of  proper  resistance  to  protect  as  many  lamps  as  are 
in   the  circuit. 


September  14.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


57S 


LIFTING    5000 


LB.    OF     PIG-IRON 
ELECTROMAGNET. 


WITH     60-IN. 


The  accompanying  illustration  shows  5000  lb.  of  pig-iron 
being  lifted  by  a  60-in.  electromagnet  at  the  plant  of  the 
Inland  Steel  Company,  Indiana  Harbor,  Ind.    This  magnet, 


60-in.   Electromagnet  Lifting  5000  lb.   of  Pig-iron. 

built  by  the  Electric  Controller  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
requires  an  exciting  current  of  47  amp  at  220  volts.  Ordi- 
narily such  a  60-in.  magnet  will  lift  about  2500  lb.  of  iron 
from  the  ground  with  the  "pigs"  lying  flat,  but  by  stacking 
the  pigs  vertically,  as  was  suggested  by  experience  in  rapid 
handling  of  iron  with  a  similar  magnet  at  the  Zenith  fur- 
nace, Duluth,  Minn.,  it  is  possible  more  than  to  double  the 
lifting  capacity  of  the  equipment.  With  the  pigs  lying  flat, 
the  magnetic  flux  lines  are  required  to  cross  considerable 
air-gaps,  imposed  by  the  rough  surface  of  the  iron,  in 
reaching  the  pieces  not  in  direct  contact  with  the  pole  faces. 
By  stacking  the  pigs  vertically  nearly  all  the  sixty-one 
pieces  shown  in  the  picture  made  contact  with  the  magnet 
and  were  readily  lifted  by  means  of  the  more  effective 
utilization  of  the  magnetic  field. 


NEW  INDUSTRIAL  USES  FOR  ELECTROMAGNETS. 


The  Vancouver  Salvage  &  Dredging  Company,  of  Van- 
couver, B.  C,  has  purchased  a  43-in.  electromagnet  from 
the  Cutler-Hammer  Manufacturing  Company,  Milwaukee, 
which  will  be  used  for  recovering  sunken  iron  and  steel 
objects  in  Puget  Sound  waters.  The  methods  employed  are 
similar  to  those  recently  used  in  raising  a  sunken  barge- 
load  of  kegged  nails  in  the  Mississippi  River  near  Natchez. 
The  Vancouver  magnet  is  of  standard  design  and  construc- 
tion, with  the  exception  of  the  terminal  outlets,  which  have 
a  special  boxing  filled  with  waterproof  compound.  The 
leads  are  inclosed  in  armored  hose  for  a  short  distance  back 
from  the  terminal  box. 

Rectangular  or  "chuck"  magnets  with  interleaved  pole 
pieces  are  being  utilized  to  pull  iron  cores  from  pipe  castings 
at  the  plant  of  the  Central  Foundry  Company,  Holt,  Ala. 
The  pipes  are  6  ft.  long  and  range  from  2  in.  to  6  in.  in 
diameter.  They  are  grouped  in  nests  of  twelve  each  in  the 
molds,  and  after  the  molten  metal  has  been  poured  and 
cooled  the  cores  are  withdrawn  by  the  electromagnets 
through  holes  in  the  flask  copes.  With  the  interfaced  mag- 
net pole  pieces  used,  a  strong  field  is  distributed  over  the 


entire  face  of  the  magnet,  effecting  powerful  traction 
wherever  the  cores  chance  to  be. 

"Corner"  magnets,  like  that  shown  in  the  illustration,  are 
employed  by  the  Asbestos  Shingle,  Slate  &  Sheathing  Com- 
pany to  draw  out  the  metal  spacers  that  are  placed  between 
the  i6-in.  by  i6-in.  asbestos  shingles  during  the  process  of 
baking  in  the  ovens.  After  the  shingles  have  been  thor- 
oughly fired  the  piles  are  removed  in  trays  and  the  17-in. 
by  50-in.  magnet  shown  is  dropped  on  to  one  corner,  grip- 
ping the  iron  spacing  sheets  and  drawing  these  from 
between  the  finished  shingles. 

A  Cutler-Hammer  electromagnetic  separator  has  been 
used  to  advantage  by  the  Southwestern  Portland  Cement 


Electromagnet    for    Drawing    Spacer    Plates    from    Shingles. 

Company,  during  the  last  eight  months,  to  pick  out  foreign 
material  from  the  coal  fed  to  its  driers.  Before  installing 
the  magnet  it  had  become  a  rare  condition  to  run  through  a 
twelve-hour  shift  without  changing  the  screens  of  the  fuller 
mills.  With  the  separator  in  use,  the  plant  is  now  kept  in 
continuous  operation  thirty  days  at  a  time  without  difficulty. 
Another  new  separation  problem  in  linoleum  factories  is 
the  removal  of  iron  particles,  and  magnetic  debris  off  the 
rolls,  from  the  macerated  material  of  which  linoleum  is 
made. 


MULTIPLE-STAGE  CENTRIFUGAL  PUMP. 


The  Manistee  Iron  Works  Company,  of  Manistee,  Mich., 
have  recently  brought  out  in  this  country  the  Rees  pressure- 
chamber  type  of  centrifugal  pump,  which  appeared  on  the 
foreign  market  some  few  years  ago.  The  characteristic 
feature  of  this  type  of  pump  is  the  automatic  regulation  of 
the  power  consumption,  secured  by  giving  the  impeller  a 
large  water-storage  capacity.  The  water  enters  the  pressure 
chamber  from  the  eye  of  the  impeller  and  is  discharged, 
through  guiding  nozzles  having  a  backward  direction,  to 
the  external  casing.  Fig.  I  illustrates  the  general  appear- 
ance of  two-stage  impellers  mounted  on  an  end  shaft.  The 
inner  portion  of  the  impeller  between  the  eye  and  the  largest 
section  in  the  pressure  chamber  may  be  looked  upon  as  con- 


Fig.   1 — Pump   Rotor. 

stituting  the  centrifugal  pump  proper,  and  the  blades  in  this 
portion  are  designed  similarly  to  those  of  an  ordinary  pump 
of  this  type.  The  rim  portion  beyond  the  pressure  chamber 
is  designed  as  a  reaction  turbine  having  the  backwardly 
directed  nozzles  already  mentioned,  which  discharge  from 
the  pressure  chamber  to  the  casing. 


576 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6c.  Xc.  ii. 


The  manufacturers  claim  thai  the  power  absorbed  when 
running  at  constant  speed  remains  practically  stationary 
for  all  heads  of  discharge  and  height  of  suction  and  never 
appreciably  exceeds  that  required  for  the  total  head  for 
which  the  pump  is  designed,  thus  making  it  impossible  for 
any  variation  of  head  or  suction  to  overload  the  driving 
motor.    There  are  no  moving  parts  in  contact  except  at  the 


Fig.    2 — Motor-Driven    Centrifugal    Pump. 

bearings,  and  the  internal  arrangements  are  such  that  the 
whole  pump  is  in  hydraulic  balance  without  end  thrust  on 
the  shaft. 

Fig.  2  represents  the  latest  type  of  Rees  boiler-feed  pump 
directly  connected  to  an  inclosed  direct-current  motor.  The 
pump  impeller  here  consists  of  a  series  of  pressure  chambers 
which  are  mounted  upon  a  central  shaft  supported  on  bear- 
ings throughout  its  entire  length  except  for  those  portions 
passing  through  the  chambers.  The  manufacturers  state 
that  this  pump  on  test  delivered  i8,ooo  gal.  of  water  per 
hour  against  a  boiler  pressure  of  225  lb.  per  square  inch, 
consuming  50  brake  hp  and  developing  a  pump  efficiency  of 
76.5  per  cent. 


OIL-IMMERSED  MOTOR  STARTERS. 


In  the  starter  here  shown  the  switch  and  resistors  are 
completely  immersed  in  oil.  This  arrangement  has  been 
employed  so  that  any  arcing  that  may  occur  must  take  place 


Oil-Immersed  Motor  Starter. 

under  oil.  All  contacts  will  be  kept  clean  and  the  resistors 
will  be  cooled  effectively.  The  starting  switch  and  coils 
can  be  removed  from  the  case  by  the  withdrawal  of  four 
fixing  screws  and  of  the  cables.  The  starter  is  of  the  slow- 
motion  ratchet  type,  in  which  each  stroke  of  the  lever  moves 
the  switch  arm  definitely  and  quickly  one  step  at  a  time, 
thus  avoiding  that  hovering  on  the  edges  of  the  contacts 


which  is  the  cause  of  so  much  destructive  burning  in  slow- 
moving  starters.  This  starter  has  been  developed  for  use 
with  direct-current  motors  by  the  Electrical  Construction 
Company,  Ltd.,  9  New  Broad  Street,  London,  E.  C. 


COMPOUND    STARTING    AND    REGULATING 
RHEOSTAT. 


The  compound  starting  and  regulating  rheostat  illustrated 
herewith  is  a  device,  as  its  name  indicates,  for  both  starting 
and  regulating  the  speed  of  direct-current  shunt  motors. 
In  this  rheostat,  which  is  made  by  the  Independent  Electric 
Manufacturing  Company,  of  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  there  are 
two  resistors,  one  for  the  armature  and  another  for  the 
field  circuit  with  corresponding  levers. 

When  starting  the  motor  the  left-hand  or  starting  lever 


Fig.    1 — starting    Position. 

is  moved  slowly  toward  the  right  to  the  last  or  running 
position,  where  it  comes  in  contact  with  the  no-voltage 
release  magnet,  which  holds  it  in  this  position.  When  the 
starting  lever  reaches  its  running  position  the  right-hand 
or  field-resistance  lever  is  automatically  unlocked.  By 
moving  the  field  lever  to  the  right  resistance  is  inserted, 
weakening  the  motor  field  and  increasing  the  speed.  The 
two  levers  are  mechanically  and  positively  connected,  so 
that  when  the  starting  lever  is  at  the  "off"  position  the 
field  lever  must   always  be  at   the  extreme  left,  or  on  the 


Fig.    2 — Running    Position. 

first  contact,  where  it  is  locked  and  remains  so  until  the 
starting  lever  is  in  its  running  position  and  held  in  place 
by  the  release  magnet. 

Should  the  voltage  at  any  time  fail  while  the  motor  is  in 
operation,  the  release  magnet  will  let  go  of  the  starting 
lever  and  the  hub  spring  in  the  lever  will  then  cause  it  to 
fly  back  to  the   "off"   position.     This   movement   will   also 


September  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


577 


return  the  field  lever  to  its  initial  position  and  lock  it  there 
as  before.  The  starting  segments  are  easily  replaceable, 
while  the  starting  levers  are  of  pressed  steel  equipped  with 
automatically  adjustable  and  removable  brushes.  The  field 
resistor  is  composed  of  special  high-resistance  wire  wound 
on  asbestos  tubes,  the  metal  in  which  has  no  appreciable 
temperature  coefficient.  This  rheostat  has  also  been  devel- 
oped for  use  with  overload  as  well  as  no-voltage  release 
devices. 


MANUFACTURERS  AND    JOBBERS    AT    PENNSYL- 
VANIA ELECTRIC  ASSOCIATION'S  CONVENTION. 


The  fifth  annual  convention  of  the  Pennsylvania  Electric 
Association  at  Bedford  Springs,  Pa.,  Sept.  4,  5  and  6  was 
marked  by  a  very  large  attendance  of  manufacturers  of  and 
jobbers  in  electrical  apparatus,  some  of  whom  made  ex- 
hibits. The  great  majority  of  the  manufacturers,  however, 
were  content  to  have  their  representatives  mingle  with  the 
central-station  men  during  the  week,  evidently  finding  this 
to  be  advantageous  from  previous  experience.  Moreover, 
the  entertainment  features  were  in  part  carried  out  through 
the  good-will  of  the  manufacturers  and  jobbers,  who  donated 
all  of  the  prizes,  approximately  seventy-five  in  all.  These 
ranged  from  silver  cups  to  small  pocket  flash-lamps  and  in- 
cluded many  electric  labor-saving  household  appliances. 
Those  contributing  to  this  end  of  the  entertainment  were  as 
follows:  Federal  Sign  System,  Electric;  Western  Electric 
Company;  Philadelphia  Electric  Company,  Supply  Depart- 
ment; Emerson  Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  through 
the  H.  C.  Roberts  Electric  Supply  Company;  North 
Brothers  Manufacturing  Company;  Westinghouse  Elec- 
tric &  Manufacturing  Company;  Rumsey  Electric  Com- 
pany; General  Electric  Company;  Iron  City  Electric 
Company;  Philadelphia  Electrical  Manufacturing  Company; 
.\merican  Cross  Arm  Company ;  American  Conduit  Manu- 
facturing Company ;  Union  Electric  Company ;  National 
Carbon  Company ;  Doubleday-Hill  Electric  Company ; 
Economical  Electric  Lamp  Company;  H.  W.  Johns-Manville 
Company;  Illuminating  Engineer  Publishing  Company; 
Electrical  Review  and  West  em  Electrician;  Simplex  Elec- 
tric Heating  Company,  and  the  Fostoria  Lamp  Company. 

The  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany had  a  display  of  electric  meters  of  various  types  and 
a  line  of  electric  heating  and  cooking  apparatus.  Among 
the  many  representatives  of  the  company  present  were 
Messrs.  F.  B.  Albrecht.  J.  Andrews,  Jr.,  E.  W.  Brown, 
V.  Cohen,  S.  A.  Fletcher,  A.  D.  Fishel,  J.  J.  Gibson, 
H.  Gausman,  F.  W.  Harrison,  A.  A.  Morton,  C.  R.  Powell, 
T.  J.  Pace,  L.  T.  Peck,  L.  A.  Sterrett,  H.  J.  Solon  and 
N.  Williamson. 

LuDwiG  HoMMEL  &  COMPANY,  Pittsburgh,  made  an  ex- 
hibit in  the  room  to  the  rear  of  the  meeting  room,  where 
were  shown  Wagner  meters  and  apparatus,  Sangamo  meters 
and  samples  of  the  products  of  the  Condit  Electric  Manu- 
facturing Company.  In  attendance  were  Messrs.  L. 
Hommel  and  C.  A.  Swartz. 

Simplex  Electric  Heating  Company,  Cambridge,  Mass., 
showed  a  large  array  of  electric  heating  and  cooking 
appliances.  The  company  was  represented  by  Mr.  E.  B. 
Stebbins. 

Electric  Service  Supplies  Company,  Philadelphia,  had 
on  view  a  pole  type  of  Garton-Daniels  lightning  arrester, 
the  features  of  which  were  explained  by  the  company's 
representative,  Mr.  Brown. 

Ohio  Brass  Company,  Mansfield,  Ohio,  made  a  small 
display  of  suspension-type  and  pin-type  porcelain  insulators. 
Representing  the  company  was  Mr.  Nathan  Shute. 

Hubbard  &  Company.  Pittsburgh,  in  addition  to  dis- 
tributing literature  on  the  company's  products  had  several 
samples  of  pole-line  fixtures  on  exhibition  on  the  hotel 
veranda.    Mr.  C.  L.  Peirce,  Jr.,  was  in  attendance. 


W.  N.  Matthews  &  Brother,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  displayed 
a  number  of  wire  and  cable  clamps,  lamp  guards,  fault- 
testing  outfit,  pole  fuse  switch,  lamp  replacer,  etc.  Mr. 
V.  L.  Crawford  was  in  attendance  as  tlie  firm's  representa- 
tive. 

Wagner  Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  showed  one  of  its  unity  power-factor  single-phase 
motors  on  the  veranda  of  the  hotel  Messrs.  F.  N.  Jewett, 
M.  D.  Koenig  and  J.  Mustard  registered  as  representatives 
of  the  company. 

Rumsey  Electric  Company,  Philadelphia,  made  a  large 
exhibit  of  apparatus.  The  company  represents  the  Bell 
Electric  Motor  Company,  Garwood,  N.  J.,  manufacturers 
of  single-phase  and  polyphase  motors  and  direct-current 
generators  and  motors;  Pelouze  Electric  Company,  Chicago, 
manufacturer  of  heating  appliances;  Sangamo  Electric 
Company,  Springfield,  111.,  manufacturer  of  meters;  Roller- 
Smith  Company,  New  York,  builder  of  circuit-breakers, 
meters  and  testing  sets;  Pittsburgh  High-Voltage  Insulator 
Company,  Derby,  Pa.,  maker  of  porcelain  insulators ;  Pitts- 
burgh Transformer  Company,  Pittsburgh,  manufacturer  of 
transformers  and  constant-voltage  series  street-lighting  sys- 
tems, and  the  Electric  Machinery  Company,  Minneapolis, 
Minn.,  builders  of  large  motors  and  generators.  The 
Rumsey  Electric  Company  is  one  of  the  largest  jobbers  in 
the  East  and  has  been  in  business  for  seventeen  years.  The 
company's  representatives  were  Messrs.  J.  H.   Burroughs, 

D.  C.  Anderson,  A.  M.  Goodloe,  H.  J.  Schiefer,  Jr.,  and 
A.  A.  Guardia. 

Among  the  other  companies  represented  at  the  convention 
were  the  following :  Pittsburgh  Transformer  Company, 
Messrs.  R.  V.  Bingay  and  H.  G.  Steele ;  H.  T.  Paiste  Com- 
pany, Mr.  H.  D.  Winship ;  American  District  Steam 
Company,  Messrs.  C.  R.  Bishop,  W.  J.  Kline  and  W. 
H.     Wells ;     Doubleday-Hill     Electric    Company,     Messrs. 

C.  P.  Hill,  J.  G.  Attwell  and  D.  W.  Shaler;  J.  A.  Roeb- 
ling's  Sons  Company,  Mr.  R.  J.  Smith ;  General  Vehicle 
Company,  Mr.  W.  W.  White;  H.  W.  Johns-Manville  Com- 
pany, Mr.  H.  M.  Voorhies ;  Hazard  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Mr.  C.  E.  Swanson ;  Excess  Indicator  Company, 
Messrs.  M.  Harris  and  W.  L.  Loeb ;  National  Carbon  Com- 
pany, Messrs.  C.  F.  Hill  and  F.  H.  MacDowell ;  Iron  City 
Electric  Company,  Messrs.  R.  C.  Murdock  and  C.  W. 
Rindinger;  Union  Electric  Company,  Messrs.  J.  P.  Provost 
and  P.  H.  Schaum ;  A.  F.  Moore,  Mr.  A.  Bournonville ; 
Western  Electric  Company.  Messrs.  A.  E.  Beling,  A.  L. 
Hallstrom,  E.  E.  Hedler,  F.  C.  Jaeger,  C.  B.  Price,  J.  G. 
Phillips,  J.  Sherman  and  J.  Sigg;  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, Messrs.  C.  W.  Bettcher,  T.  L.  Grifiin,  J.  M.  Hayes, 

E.  W.  Howard,  M.  F.  Knapp,  J.  J.  Liles,  W.  L.  Mason, 
H.  W.  Richardson,  W.  H.  Rue,  C.  A.  Raymond,  G.  Sach- 
senmaier,  R.  Troy,  L.  W.  Teegarden,  G.  L.  Thompson  and 
M.  P.  White;  National  Electric  Lamp  Association,  Messrs. 
R.  E.  Campbell  and  F.  E.  Mansfield;  Buckeye  Electric 
Works,  Messrs.  D.  Craft,  W.  O.  Conley,  F.  C.  Foster  and 
H.  D.  Porter;  J.  S.  Stewart  Electric  Company,  Mr.  J.  S. 
Connell ;  Federal  Sign  System,  Electric,  Mr.  W.  L.  Donald- 
son ;  Philadelphia  Electrical  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
Messrs.  W.  O.  Dale  and  J.  L.  Ludwig;  H.  C.  Roberts  Elec- 
tric Supply  Company,  Messrs.  F.  M.  Evans,  H.  G.  Nichols 
and  R.  O.  Meyrick;  Bryan-Marsh  Works,  Mr.  D.  E.  Eye- 
man  ;  Safety  Armorite  Conduit  Company,  Mr.  V.  F.  Gates ; 
Colonial  Electric  Works,  Mr.  W.  T.  Hinton;  Standard 
Underground  Cable  Company,  Messrs.  T.  E.   Hughes  and 

D.  C.  Hamilton;  American  Conduit  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Messrs.  H.  B.  Kirkland  and  H.  Winder;  Peerless 
Lamp  Works,  Mr.  H.  H.  Kundy;  Holophane  Company,  Mr. 
H.  W.  Karsten;  Pittsburgh  Reinforcing  Pole  Company, 
Mr.  W.  A.  McCombs ;  Elliott-Lewis  Electric  Company, 
Messrs.  T.  H.  Lewis  and  T.  E.  Reger;  Raphael  Electric 
Company,  Mr.  H.  M.  Raphael;  Frick  &  Lindsay  Company, 
Mr.  J.  W.  Smyth,  and  G.  Sachsenmaier  &  Company,  Mr.  G. 
Sachsenmaier. 


578 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii. 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


COMMENTS  on  the  general  improvement  in  the  busi- 
ness outlook  continue  to  be  widespread.  The  crop 
reports  are  most  promising  and  give  stability  to  the 
whole  situation.  The  volume  of  unfilled  orders  of  the 
United  States  Steel  Company,  while  not  yet  equal  to  past 
records,  is  approaching  them  and  reflects  the  general  busi- 
ness tendency.  Bank  clearings  last  week  suffered  a  verj' 
slight  loss  in  comparison  with  the  previous  week,  but  ex- 
hibited a  gain  of  g  per  cent  over  the  corresponding  week  a 
year  ago. 

The  situation  in  the  electrical  industry  is  discussed  else- 
where at  some  length  by  President  Wheeler  of  the  Crocker- 
Wheeler  Company.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  he  regards 
the  status  of  the  industry  as  a  barometer  of  general  business 
quite  as  reliable  as  some  other  factors  more  often  referred 
to.  American  engine  builders  will  be  interested  in  our  note 
on  the  development  of  the  Diesel  engine  abroad.  Among 
the  operating  companies  the  process  of  consolidation  contin- 
ues rapidly,  and  announcements  of  extensions  and  new 
financing  are  the  order  of  the  day. 


Diesel  Engine  Situation  Abroad. — Although  the  theoret- 
ical merits  of  the  Diesel  type  of  internal  combustion  engine 
are  highly  appreciated  in  this  country,  its  use  here  has  not 
kept  pace  with  the  developments  abroad.  Soon  after  Dr. 
Rudolf  Diesel  had  obtained  his  fundamental  patents  he  dis- 
posed of  manufacturing  rights  to  such  firms  as  the  Maschin- 
enfabrik  Augsburg-Nurmburg,  Germany;  the  Krupp 
Works,  Essen,  German}';.  Gebriider  Nobel,  St.  Petersburg, 
Russia,  and  Carels  Brothers,  Ghent,  Belgium.  After  several 
years  spent  in  experimentation  and  development  these  firms 
began  to  bring  ,the  Diesel  engine  into  considerable  prom- 
inence and  demonstrated  its  practical  value  as  a  highly 
economical  prime  mover.  The  development  has  gone 
steadily  forward,  and,  although  the  fundamental  patents 
have  now  expired,  many  engine  builders  have  taken  licenses 
from  the  pioneer  firms  in  order  to  have  the  benefit  of  their 
designs  and  shop  experience.  An  American  sales  repre- 
sentative who  has  recently  spent  three  months  abroad  in- 
vestigating the  situation  reports  that  every  shop  which  he 
visited  is  full  of  work  on  orders  for  Diesel  engines,  and 
that  because  of  the  large  demand  it  is  generally  impossible 
to  secure  immediate  delivery  and  in  some  cases  from 
eighteen  to  twenty-four  months'  time  is  demanded.  The 
activity  abroad  in  pushing  the  Diesel  engine  commercially 
is  well  exemplified  by  the  following  list  of  prominent  build- 
ers of  engines  of  this  type  in  Europe:  Maschinenfabrik, 
Augsburg-Nurmburg,  Germany;  the  Krupp  Works,  Essen, 
Germany;  Gebriider  Nobel,  St.  Petersburg,  Russia;  Gas- 
motoren  Fabrik,  Deutz-Cologne,  Germany;  Aktiebolaget 
Diesels  Motorer,  Stockholm,  Sweden;  Gebriider  Sulzer, 
Winterthur,  Switzerland;  Mirlees,  Bickerton  &  Day,  Stock- 
port, England;  Carels  Brothers,  Ghent,  Belgium;  Diesel 
Engine  Company,  Ltd.,  London,  England;  Gebriider  Koert- 
ing  Aktiengesellschaft,  Hanover,  Germany;  Franco  Tosi, 
Legnano,  Italy;  Nederlandsche  Fabrik,  Amsterdam.  Hol- 
land; Langan  &  Wolf,  Milan,  Italy,  and  Burmeister  &  Wain, 
Copenhagen,  Denmark.  The  four-cycle  engine  was  the 
type  generally  built  until  some  six  years  ago,  when  a  few 
of  the  larger  concerns  undertook  the  development  of  the 
two-cycle  engine.  The  four-cycle  type  is  being  built  from 
the  small  size  up  to  600  hp  or  700  hp.  The  two-cycle  en- 
gine, although  not  quite  as  economical  in  fuel  consumption, 
appears  to  be  meeting  with  favor,  and  units  are  now  being 
built  in  several  large  plants  in  capacities  ranging  from  750 
hp  up  to  6000  hp.  The  Diesel  engine  is  under  consideration 
by  many  central-station  companies  for  peak-load  service 
and  emergency  standby,  on  account  both  of  its  economy 
and  the  great  facility  with  which  it  can  be  placed  in  opera- 
tion at  short  notice.  The  engine-building  firm  of  Carels 
Brothers,  of  Belgium,  is  devoting  its  entire  shop  facilities 
to  building  Diesel  engines,  and  is  just  building  a  shop  ad- 
dition which  will  permit  it  to  double  its  output.  The  relia- 
bility of  the  Diesel  type  of  engine  of  foreign  make  is  illus- 
trated by  some   of  the   large   orders   recently   placed.     The 


city  of  Bucharest,  Roumania,  lias  recently  bought  its  sixth 
700-hp  engine  of  the  four-cycle  type  and  a  2250-hp  engine  of 
the  two-cycle  type.  The  Administration  Communale  of 
Brussels  is  installing  a  looo-hp,  two-cycle  engine,  with 
space  provision  for  additional  units.  The  Compagnie  Gen- 
erale  d'filectricite,  Paris,  is  installing  a  lOOO-hp,  two-cycle 
engine  for  substation  service.  There  are  several  hundred 
installations  of  the  four-cycle  type  of  engine  in  the  smaller 
cities  and  also  many  installations  of  the  large  two-cycle 
type  in  electric  plants  in  the  larger  cities,  including  Zurich, 
St.  Chamond  and  Luzerne. 

President  Wheeler  of  the  Crocker-Wheeler  Company  on 
the  Business  Situation. — Dr.  Schuyler  Staats  Wheeler,  presi- 
dent of  the  Crocker-Wheeler  Company,  stated  recently  to 
a  representative  of  the  Electrical  World  that  the  business 
outlook  in  the  electrical  industry  is  most  promising.  The 
remarkable  increase  which  has  taken  place  in  general  busi- 
ness, lie  said,  is  prominently  reflected  in  the  tendency  toward 
higher  prices.  During  the  last  half  year  the  factories  have 
filled  up  with  business  at  a  cumulative  rate,  which  is  now 
far  above  the  average.  "The  comparatively  long  dull 
period  just  passed,"  he  said,  "has  been  utilized  by  the  indus- 
tries in  preparing  plans  for  betterments  and  expansions, 
but  commitments  have  been  avoided  until  returning  confi- 
dence and  the  approach  of  better  times  were  apparent. 
Then  followed  a  condition  which  can  better  be  described 
as  a  stampede  than  a  normal  accession  of  orders.  There- 
fore at  present  we  have  not  only  the  world's  normal  business 
to  take  care  of,  but  in  addition  we  have  the  orders  resulting 
from  all  the  elaborate  and  wonderful  plans  for  better 
equipments  with  which  the  managers  of  the  country's  in- 
dustries have  been  occupying  their  minds  through  the  three 
years'  idleness.  The  consequence  is  that  prompt  deliveries 
are  being  sought  but  are  made  only  with  difficulty.  Pre- 
miums for  the  time  element  are  the  results.  Our  own 
business  for  July  and  August  shows  a  considerable  increase 
over  that  of  June  and  an  astonishing  increase  over  that  of 
July  and  August  last  year.  I  expect  this  increase  to  con- 
tinue steadily  and  believe  that  all  of  the  big  electrical  com- 
panies will  have  a  remarkable  year.  So  many  businesses 
are  now  using  electricity  either  for  their  processes  or  for 
the  mechanical  operation  of  all  their  machinery  that  I  con- 
sider the  state  of  the  electrical  trade  as  good  a  barometer 
of  the  industrial  condition  of  the  country  as  the  Clearing 
House  or  the  Stock  Exchange  is  of  its  financial  condition. 
It  is  difficult  to  say  what  class  of  equipment  is  in  greatest 
demand  because,  while  the  large  pieces  of  apparatus  attract 
most  attention,  the  aggregate  of  the  smaller  machinery 
which  goes  out  practically  unnoticed  amounts  to  a  surpris- 
ing total.  Large  generators  driven  by  waterwheels,  motors, 
steam  engines  or  steam  turbines,  and  also  big  power  trans- 
formers, are  probably  the  staples  of  demand  in  the  electrical 
market.  It  is  not  easy  to  explain  the  several  kinds  of  de- 
mands for  electrical  apparatus  which  make  a  total  demand 
which  has  increased  out  of  proportion  to  the  increase  in 
general  business.  As  a  generalization  I  should  say  that, 
in  addition  to  the  increase  resulting  from  and  in  proportion 
to  the  increased  general  prosperity,  the  prospective  crops 
and  the  rapid  development  of  the  South,  there  is  another 
distinct  factor,  namely,  the  introduction  of  electrical 
methods  into  new  fields.  In  other  words,  we  are  twice  as 
busy  as  usual  because  industries  already  using  electrical 
apparatus  are  twice  as  busy  as  usual,  and  we  are  twice  as 
busy  again  because  entirely  new  enterprises  like  wireless 
telegraphy,  newly  invented  chemical  processes  and  other 
new  consumers  of  electricity  are  now  creating  a  great  addi- 
tional demand  for  electrical  apparatus." 

Expansion  of  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Company. — 

The  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Company,  of  Mattoon, 
111.,  has  been  taken  over  by  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Com- 
pany of  Chicago,  of  which  Samuel  Insull  is  president.  Since 
the  control  of  the  company  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  In- 
sull company  its  activities  have  been  greatly  increased.  The 
company  has  operated  plants  in  Mattoon  and  Charleston, 
111.,   including   the   public-utility   properties   that   were   con- 


September  14.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


579 


trolled  formerly  by  P.  S.  Grosscup,  of  Chicago,  formerly 
United  States  Circuit  Court  judge.  Marshall  E.  Samp- 
sell,  of  Chicago,  continues  as  president  of  the  company,  and 
is  in  charge  of  the  management  under  the  general  oversight 
of  the  executive  officers  of  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Com- 
pany. To  the  original  properties  of  the  company  have  been 
added,  under  the  new  regime,  about  thirty  public-service 
properties  in  various  small  towns  in  central  Illinois,  extend- 
ing from  the  Indiana  line  to  the  Mississippi  River.  No 
doubt,  many  of  the  small  generating  plants  will  be  shut 
down,  energy  being  supplied  by  transmission  from  a  few 
larger  plants.  The  capitalization  of  the  company  includes 
$3,500,000  of  common  stock,  $2,500,000  of  preferred  stock, 
$3,000,000  of  first  and  refunding  mortgage  bonds  and  about 
$700,000  of  underlying  bonds.  Of  the  preferred  stock  $1,000,- 
000  is  retained  in  the  company's  treasury.  The  interest  of 
the  Middle  West  company  is  in  the  junior  securities. 
At  Kincaid,  111.,  a  new  steam  generating  station  with  an 
initial  rating  of  possibly  10,000  kw,  which  may  be  increased 
as  time  goes  on  to  25,000  kw,  will  be  built.  This  station  is 
in  the  coal-mining  region  and  will  be  virtually  at  the  pit's 
mouth.  It  will  feed  into  the  network  of  the  Central  Illinois 
company,  but  its  main  function  will  be  to  supply  energy  for 
the  operation  of  nearby  coal  mines. 

Annual  Report  of  Interborough  Rapid  Transit  Company. 
— The  full  pamphlet  report  of  the  operations  of  the  Inter- 
borough Rapid  Transit  Company  for  the  year  ended  June 
30  was  recently  made  public.  The  total  operating  expenses 
for  the  year  were  $13,047,802,  an  increase  over  the  previous 
year  of  $678,820,  and  the  net  surplus  for  the  year  was 
$3,023,766.  ■  This  amount  included  $900,000  received  from 
the  dividend  on  the  capital  stock  of  the  Rapid  Transit 
Subway  Construction  Company,  the  first  dividend  paid  by 
that  company  since  its  organization  in  1900.  Excluding 
this  dividend,  the  net  corporate  income  for  the  year  was 
$5,623,766,  equal  to  16.07  per  cent  on  the  capital  stock  of 
the  company,  as  compared  with  14.68  per  cent  for  the  pre- 
ceding year.  The  gross  operating  revenue  on  the  subway 
division  increased  9.34  per  cent,  while  the  net  revenue  in- 
creased 8.93  per  cent.  The  gross  operating  revenue  on  the 
Manhattan  Railway  division  increased  0.9  per  cent,  while 
the  net  increased  0.53  per  cent.  During  the  year  there 
was  an  increase  of  $3,407,000  in  the  5  per  cent  gold-mort- 
gage bonds  outstanding,  bringing  the  total  up  to  $33,959,000. 
The  total  amount  expended  for  additions  and  betterments 
on  subway  and  elevated  lines  chargeable  to  capital  account 
was  $1,417,271.  The  total  assets  given  in  the  balance  sheet 
amounted  to  $104,710,222.  The  present  surplus  amounts  to 
$8,531,261. 

Development  Plans  for  the  Telluride  Power  Company. — 

-As  noted  in  the  Aug.  3  issue  of  the  Electrical  World,  the 
controlling  interest  in  the  Telluride  Power  Company  has 
passed  from  L.  L.  Nunn  and  his  brother  and  their  Cleve- 
land associates  to  a  syndicate  represented  by  Hayden,  Stone 
&  Company,  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company  and 
Joseph  R.  Nutt,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio.  At  the  present  time 
this  power  company  is  developing  only  about  20,000  hp. 
but  it  is  reported  that  additional  developments  can  easily 
tie  made  which  will  bring  the  total  output  up  to  100,000  hp. 
It  is  announced  that  the  contract  of  the  Utah  Copper  Com- 
pany, which  has  been  obtaining  all  of  its  electrical  energy 
from  the  Telluride  company,  will  expire  on  Jan.  I  next 
and  will  not  be  renewed  owing  to  reported  dissatisfaction 
over  the  price  and  character  of  service.  It  is  also  reported 
that  this  situation  culminated  in  bringing  about  the  sale  of 
the  controlling  interest  to  the  syndicate  before  mentioned. 
The  new  interests,  it  is  said,  intend  to  develop  the  property 
on  a  large  scale,  with  a  twofold  purpose  in  view:  first,  to 
provide  cheap  and  adequate  power  for  the  development  of 
large  low-grade  mining  districts  in  Utah,  and,  second,  to 
develop  the  sale  of  electric  power  for  irrigation  pumping. 
The  new  interests  in  control  of  the  company  will  place 
D.  C.  Jackling  in  executive  charge. 

Hydroelectric  Negotiations  in  Connecticut. — It  is  under- 
stood that  the  Stone  &  Webster  interests  of  Boston  are 
negotiating  for  the  purchase  of  the  water-power  rights  of 
the  Connecticut  River  Company  at  Windsor  Locks.  Conn., 
and  that  in  case  the  deal  goes  through  upward  of  $4,000,000 
will  be  expended  in  the  development  and  acquisition  of  the 
property.  It  is  proposed  to  build  two  dams  in  the  river 
•on  either  side  of  Kings  Island,  which  is  north  of  the  Ware- 


house Point  bridge  of  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hart- 
ford Railroad,  with  various  locks  which  may  be  presented 
to  the  federal  government  and  which  are  to  be  operated 
and  illuminated  by  electricity.  A  7-ft.  channel  will  also  be 
dredged  in  the  river,  providing  for  the  completion  of  a 
7-ft.  waterway  from  Holyoke,  Mass.,  to  Hartford,  Conn. 
The  Connecticut  River  Company,  of  which  A.  D.  and  H.  R. 
Coffin  are  the  principal  stockholders,  is  a  Connecticut  cor- 
poration capitalized  for  $200,000.  It  has  not  paid  any  divi- 
dends in  the  past  thirty  years.  The  rehabilitation  and  de- 
velopment of  the  property,  which  includes  the  possibility  of 
an  extensive  hydroelectric  installation  within  a  short  dis- 
tance of  all  the  important  cities  of  the  Connecticut  Valley, 
will  be  carried  out  by  the  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering 
Corporation  in  case  the  present  owners  agree  to  the  terms 
offered. 

New  Stock  of  Shawinigan  Water  &  Power  Company. — 
The  shareholders  of  the  Shawinigan  Water  &  Power  Com- 
pany, Montreal,  Can.,  recently  voted  unanimously  to  au- 
thorize a  new  stock  issue  of  $5,000,000,  and  immediately 
afterward  the  directors  passed  a  resolution  to  issue  at  once 
$1,000,000  of  the  new  stock  to  be  offered  to  present  share- 
holders at  $120.  The  company's  business  has  been  growing 
very  rapidly,  and  additions  to  its  hydroelectric  plants  are 
said  to  be  absolutely  necessary.  During  the  past  year  a 
new  hydroelectric  plant  with  an  ultimate  capacity  of  75,000 
hp  was  constructed.  It  is  equipped  with  a  present  capacity 
of  30,000,  and  new  funds  are  required  in  order  to  pay  for 
these  additions  and  to  provide  for  future  extensions. 

Indiana  Utility  Consolidations. — The  Northern  Indiana 
Utilities  Company,  recently  organized  by  Chicago  finan- 
ciers, has  secured  control  of  the  properties  at  Monticello, 
Walcott,  Earl  Park,  Fowler  and  Kentland.  Plans  have  also 
been  announced  to  take  over  the  lighting  companies  in 
all  of  the  other  small  towns  between  Monticello  and  the 
Illinois  state  line.  Transmission  lines  will  be  extended 
from  the  hydroelectric  generating  station  now  in  operation 
at  Monticello  to  the  other  towns,  thus  making  it  possible 
to  shut  down  the  small  uneconomical  steam  plants.  The 
initial  capital  stock  of  the  holding  company  is  $1,075,000. 
Samuel   Insull,  of  Chicago,   is  president. 

August  Statement  of  Copper  Producers'  Association. — The 
monthly  statement  of  the  Copper  Producers'  Association 
for  August  shows  that  the  stocks  on  hand  Sept.  I  were 
46,701,374  lb.  The  total  consumption  during  August  was 
149,207,568  lb.,  of  which  78,722,418  lb.  was  for  domestic  use 
and  70.485,150  lb.  for  export.  The  August  production  was 
145.628,521  lb.,  or  about  3,580,000  lb.  less  than  the  con- 
sumption. The  stock  on  hand  on  Aug.  I  was  50,280,421  lb. 
Although  the  August  production  exceeded  the  output  of  any 
previous  month  for  the  two  preceding  years,  the  consump- 
tion increased  in  greater  ratio  and  brought  about  a  small  de- 
crease in  the  surplus  stocks. 

Texas  Utilities  Merged. — The  Texas  Utilities  Corpora- 
tion, recently  organized  to  take  over  a  number  of  central- 
station  properties  in  the  cities  of  northern  Texas,  has  re- 
cently acquired  the  entire  property  of  the  Palestine  Electric 
&  Ice  Company,  of  Palestine,  Tex.  The  new  owner,  it  is 
reported,  will  double  the  present  capacity  of  the  plant  and 
make  various  other  improvements  and  extensions.  It  is 
also  reported  that  the  holding  company  is  considering  the 
feasibility  of  constructing  an  interurban  electric  line  be- 
tween Dallas  and  Palestine,  which  will  be  about  100  miles 
in  length. 

Appalachian  Power  Company's  Business. — Recent  reports 
from  the  Appalachian  Power  Company  state  that  several 
new  contracts  amounting  to  about  650  hp  have  been  se- 
cured, and  the  company's  business  in  general  is  increasing 
rapidly.  The  volume  of  business  already  contracted  for, 
it  is  stated,  will  be  sufficient  to  defray  all  operating  costs 
and  bond  interest,  and  new  contracts  under  negotiation  are 
expected  to  provide  returns  which  will  more  than  care  for 
the   dividend   on   the   preferred   stock. 

Guarantee  Electric  Company  to  Be  Sold. — By  order  of 
the  executors  of  the  estate  of  the  late  owner,  the  business 
of  the  Guarantee  Electric  Company  of  Chicago  is  offered 
for  sale.  The  business  was  established  fifteen  years  ago  by 
Charles  E.  Gregory,  but  Mr.  Gregory  sold  out  several  years 
ago.  The  company  deals  in  new  and  second-hand  electrical 
machinery,  does  a  repair  business  and  rents  motors,  etc. 


58o 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  ii. 


Projected  Hydroelectric  Developments  in  Alabama. — Re- 
ports from  Montgomery,  Ala.,  state  that  the  commence- 
ment of  operations  to  develop  approximately  500,000  hp 
from  Alabama  waterways  is  the  most  important  material 
achievement  in  that  locality  within  recent  years.  The 
waterways  of  the  State  are  already  producing  175,000  hp, 
in  1382  plants.  Within  the  past  year  practically  all  of  the 
water-power  sites  in  the  State  have  been  acquired,  it  is 
said,  by  the  Alabama  Interstate  Power  Company,  a  corpora- 
tion supported  by  English  capital.  This  company  has  al- 
ready commenced  construction  work  at  Locks  12  and  18 
on  the  Coosa  River,  and  preliminary  work  is  under  way  at 
Cherokee  Bluff  on  the  Tallapoosa  River,  where  about  400,000 
hp  will  be  developed.  Each  of  these  points  is  within  40 
miles  of  the  city  of  Montgomery. 

New  Bonds  of  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company. — Appli- 
cation has  been  made  to  the  California  Railroad  Commis- 
sion by  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company  for  permission 
to  issue  $5,000,000  of  new  bonds,  to  be  a  portion  of  the 
$150,000,000  authorized  issue,  of  which  $20,000,000  are  now 
outstanding.  It  is  understood  that  the  proceeds  of  this 
issue  will  be  applied  largely  to  the  new  hydroelectric 
developments  on  the  Yuba  River,  in  Nevada  County,  and 
on  the  Bear  River,  in  Placer  County.  It  is  also  stated  that 
a  portion  of  the  proceeds  will  be  used  for  the  purchase  of 
the  properties  of  the  Los  Gatos  Ice,  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany, for  which  it  is  said  a  price  has  been  agreed  upon  at 
$187,762. 

General  Electric  Stock. — On  Dec.  31,  1912,  the  General 
Electric  shareholders  of  record  of  that  date  will  receive  a 
dividend  of  $30  a  share  payable  at  par  in  stock  of  the  com- 
pany. This  will  make  the  equivalent  of  32  per  cent  which 
the  shareholders  will  receive  up  to  the  first  of  next  year. 
Commencing  Sept.  6  the  stock  sold  ex  dividend.  Selling 
ex  dividend  2  per  cent  would  bring  the  market  price  down 
to  about  $180.  and  the  market  value  after  the  distribution  of 
the  30  per  cent  stock  dividend  on  this  basis  will  be  about 
$138,  which  is  regarded  by  many  as  a  low  price  for  an  8 
per  cent  stock  having  a  record  and  earning  power  like 
those  of  the  General  Electric. 

Idaho  Tax  Valuations  on  Hydroelectric  Properties. — The 
State  Board  of  Equalization  of  Idaho  has  appointed  a  sub- 
committee to  investigate  the  valuation  for  taxation  pur- 
poses placed  upon  the  hydroelectric  properties  in  that 
State.  It  has  been  charged  that  these  valuations  are  en- 
tirely too  low  in  comparison  with  the  earning  power  of 
the  plants.  The  property  of  the  Washington  Water  Power 
Company,  Post  Falls,  is  valued  at  $2,654,841;  that  of  the 
Telluride  Power  Company  at  $673,447;  the  Idaho  Con- 
solidated Power  Company,  $50,600,  and  the  Great  Shoshone 
&  Twin   Falls   Water  Power   Company,  $200,000. 

Allis-Chalmers  Stock  Assessments. — The  date  for  pay- 
ment of  the  balance,  or  90  per  cent,  of  the  Allis-Chalmers 
preferred  stock  assessment  of  20  per  cent,  and  of  the 
common  stock  assessment  of  10  per  cent,  remains  indefinite. 
The  $18  assessment  on  the  preferred  stock  and  $9  assess- 
ment on  the  common  was  set  for  any  date  on  or  after 
Oct.  I,  after  thirty  days'  notice,  but  no  notice  has  yet  been 
given.  This  date  will  be  fixed  at  a  meeting  of  the  reorgani- 
zation committee,  but  it  is  reported  probable  that  no  pay- 
ment will  have  to  be  made  before   Xnv.   i   or  later. 

Iowa  City  Gas  &  Electric  Property  Sold. — The  Western 
Qtilities  Company,  which  is  financed  by  Chicago  and  Grand 
Rapids  interests,  has  purchased  all  of  the  stock  of  the  Iowa 
City  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Iowa  City,  la.  This  prop- 
erty lies  in  the  heart  of  the  territory  served  by  the  United 
Light  &  Railways  Company,  and  it  is  reported  that  the 
stock  may  be  transferred  to  that  company  in  the  near 
future.  The  purchase  is  said  to  have  been  brought  about 
by  Frank  T.  Hulswit,  of  Grand  Rapids,  president  of  the 
L^nited  Light  &  Railways  Company. 

Receivers  Appointed  for  the  United  States  Motors  Com- 
pany.— As  we  go  to  press  announcement  is  received  that 
Judge  Hough,  of  the  United  States  District  .Court,  has  ap- 
pointed W.  E.  S.  Strong  and  Roberts  Walker  as  receivers 
for  the  United  States  Motors  Company  on  allegations  of 
insolvency  made  by  the  Brown  &  Sharpe  Manufacturing 
Company,  Providence,  R.  I.  The  capital  stock  of  the 
Motors  Company  is  $11,499,733  preferred  and  $12,205,350 
common. 


PRICES  IN  NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET. 

Copper:  ^ — ^Sept.   3 ^       ^ .Sept.   10 ^ 

Standard:  Bid.          Asked.  Bid.       .•'isked. 

Spot     17.25          17.6214  17.25          17.75 

September    17.25          17.62/2  17.25          17.37J4 

October     17.35          17.62}4  17.25           17.40 

November     17.30          17.62!4  17.25          17.50 

1-ondon   quotation:  £        s      d  £       s     d 

Standard  copper,  spot 79       6     3  78     10     0 

Standard  cupper,  futures 79     15     0  79       5     0 

Prime   Lake    17.60  to  17.65  17.65  to  17.75 

Electrolytic     17.55  to  17.65  17.60  to  17.70 

Casting    17.37}^  17.50 

Copper   wire,   base 19.00  19.00 

Lead   4.80  5.10 

Sheet  Zinc,  f.o.b.  smelter 8.75  8.75 

Spelter,   spot    7.3754  7.50 

Nickel    40.00  to  41.00  40.00  to  41.00 

.Muminum: 

No.    1    pure  ingot 21J4to2254  22  to  23 

Rods  and  wire,  base 32  32 

Sheets,  base   ii'/i  ii'/i 

OLD  MET.^LS. 

Meavy  copper  and  wire 15.75  15.75 

Brass,    heavy    10.00  10.00 

Brass,   liglit    8.25  8.25 

Lead,  heavy   4.60  4.85 

Zinc,  scrap 5.75  S.S7'/i 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  AUGUST. 

Total  tons,  including Sept.  3,  29,526         Sept.   10,  6118 

STOCK  MARKET  PRICES. 

Sept.  4.  Sept.  li. 

-Mlis-Chalmers    %*  H* 

.Mlis-Chalmerf,   pf 2yi  1 

.-\malgamated  Copper 8654  85 J^ 

Amer.  Tel  &  Tel 144J^  143J» 

Boston  Edison   291*  291* 

Commonwealth    Edison 138  140 

Elecliic    Storage    Battery 57  57 

tieneral    Electric     182K  180 

Mackay    Companies    87  Yz  89 

Mackav   Companies,  pf 69^  70 

Philadelphia    Electric    23H  24M 

Western    Union    Sl'A  81 X 

Westingbouse     865^  8654 

Westinghouse,     pf 124  124 

*Last  price  quoted. 


Personal 


Mr.  Robert  Sealy  has  been  appointed  sales  manager  ot 
The  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company,  suc- 
ceeding Mr.  Egbert  Douglass,  who  resigned  to  enter  the 
Byllesby  organization. 

Mr.  M.  F.  Flynn  has  been  appointed  district  sales  agent 
for  The  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Lighting  Company 
in  its  central  district.  Mr.  Flynn  was  formerly  the  heating- 
appliance  expert  for  the  company. 

Mr.  William  L.  Day  has  been  elected  vice-president  and 
general  manager  of  the  General  Motors  Truck  Company, 
Pontiac,  Mich.  Mr.  Day  was  formerly  general  sales  man- 
ager of  the  Mitchell-Lewis  Motor  Company,  Racine,  Wis. 

Mr.  Cale  R.  Gough,  until  a  short  time  ago  secretary,  treas- 
urer and  manager  of  the  Laurenceville  (111.)  Light  &  Water 
Company,  which  was  recently  sold  to  the  Central  Illinois 
Public  Service  Coinpany,  has  purchased  the  capital  stock  of 
the  Sparta  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  of  Sparta,  III,  and  will 
take  charge  of  the  property  next  month. 

Mr.  John  Fay,  who  was  formerly  superintendent  of  over- 
head lines  for  the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company, 
St.  Louis,  and  later  served  on  the  sales  staff  of  W.  N.  Mat- 
thews &  Brother,  St.  Louis,  has  been  appointed  superintend- 
ent of  distribution  for  The  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  & 
Light  Company,  having  charge  of  both  electric-lighting  and 
trolley- line  construction. 

Mr.  James  S.  Cummins,  of  the  law  firm  of  Cummins, 
Stearns  &  Milkewitch.  Chicago,  counsel  for  H.  M.  Byllesby 
&  Company,  addressed  the  Byllesby  Luncheon  Club  in  the 
Great  Northern  Hotel,  Chicago,  on  Sept.  4,  giving  some 
early  reminiscences  of  the  organization.  Mr.  E.  L.  Calla- 
han, head  of  the  commercial  department,  was  scheduled  to 
address  the  meeting  of  Sept.  11. 

President  Carl  A.  Rossander,  of  the  Swedish  Electrotech- 
nical  Committee,  Stockholm,  and  Dr.  Alfred  Ekstrom,  man- 
aging director  of  the  Hemsj5  (Sweden)  Hydroelectric 
Power  Company,  are  spending  the  month  of  September  vis- 
iting the  eastern  portion  of  the  United  States  for  the  pur- 
pose of  investigating  American  practice  in  hydroelectric 
development,  high-tension  transmission,  electric  and  district 
steam  heating. 


September  14,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


S8i 


CHARLtS    L.    EDGAR. 


Mr.   Charles  L.  Edgar,  president  of  the   Edison   Electric 
Illuminating  Company  of  Boston,  was,  on  Sept.  i,  1912,  pre- 
sented by  the  employees  of  the  company  with  a  loving  cup 
in      recognition       of      his     , 
twenty-five  years   of  serv- 
ice.     Charles    Leavitt    Ed- 
gar  was    Ijorn    at    Griggs- 
town,    N.    J.,    on    Dec.    23, 
i860.       He   was   graduated 
from    Rutgers    College    in 

1882  and  spent  one  year  in 
post-graduate  work  in 
electrical  engineering.     In 

1883  he  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  Mr.  Thomab  A. 
Edison  in  the  testing  de- 
partment of  the  Edison 
Machine  Works,  Goerck 
Street,  New  York,  where 
he  spent  nearly  a  year.  In 
1887  he  became  associated 
with  the  Edison  Electric 
Light  Company,  and  the  position  of  superintendent  of  the 
Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Boston  was 
given  to  him  in  Septemljer  twenty-live  years  ago.  In  1887 
he  was  made  general  manager,  subsequently  vice-president, 
and  in  1900,  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Jacob  Rogers,  was  elected 
president  of  the  company.  When  he  assumed  control  of 
the  company  it  had  fifty-one  employees,  as  compared  with 
1390  at  the  present  time,  and  served  260  customers,  as  com- 
pared with  43,142,  with  a  connected  load  of  439  kw,  as 
compared  with  152,446  kw.  Much  of  the  success  of  the  com- 
pany can  rightly,  be  attributed  to  the  interest  taken  by  Mr. 
Edgar  in  the  welfare  of  its  employees  and  their  attitude 
toward  the  company  and  the  public.  He  has  served  as 
manager  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
and  chairman  of  its  Boston  Section  and  as  president  of  the 
Massachusetts  Electric  Light  Association,  the  Association 
of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies  and  the  National  Electric 
Light  .Association. 

Mr.  William  C.  Anderson,  who  has  just  been  elected  treas- 
urer of  the  Pennsylvania  Electric  Association,  is  manager  of 
the  Luzerne  County  Gas  &  Electric  Company  and  a  gradu- 
ate of  Lehigh  University, 
class  1894.  His  first  posi- 
tion after  graduation  as 
electrical  engineer  was 
with  the  East  River  Gas 
Company,  which  was  then 
about  to  begin  operations 
in  New  York  City.  Mr. 
Anderson  remained  with 
that  company  in  various 
capacities  until  the  fall  of 
1895,  when  he  joined  the 
inspection  department  of 
the  New  York  Edison 
Company,  leaving  that 
company  the  following 
year  to  go  with  the  Con- 
solidated Gas  Company  of 
New  Jersey  as  assistant 
engineer  of  construction  at  Long  Branch.  A  few  months 
later  he  was  made  district  superintendent  at  Red  Bank, 
which  station  he  filled  until  early  in  1900.  For  a  year  fol- 
lowing Mr.  Anderson  was  manager  of  the  Gas  Company  of 
Montgomery  County  at  Norristown,  and  for  the  next  two 
years  he  acted  as  superintendent  of  the  Port  Chester  dis- 
trict of  the  Westchester  Lighting  Company.  The  Stanley 
Instrument  Company  next  engaged  Mr.  Anderson  and  sent 
him  to  Europe  as  engineer  in  the  foreign  sales  department 
at  Paris.  In  September,  1904,  Mr.  Anderson  accepted  the 
post  of  manager  of  the  Bergen  County  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany, which  position  he  filled  until  the  following  August, 
when  the  company  was  taken  over  under  lease  by  the  Public 
Service  Corporation.  He  then  assumed  charge  of  what  was 
then  known  as  the  Wyoming  Valley  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany, which  has  since  been  called  the  Luzerne  County  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  the  chief  office  of  which  is  located  at 
Plymouth,  Pa.  Within  the  past  two  years  Mr.  Anderson 
has  shut  down  every  municipal  plant  in  his  territory. 


ANDERSn.V. 


Mr.  Albert  Jackson  Marshall,  whose  resignation  from  the 
Holophane  Comjiany  to  enter  the  consulting  illuminating 
engineering  field  was  noted  in  our  issue  dated  June  29, 
1912,  has  been  appointed  editor  of  Good  Lighting  and  the 
Illuminating  Engineer. 

Mr.  C.  L.  Morgan,  until  recently  sales  manager  of  the 
electric  division  of  the  General  Motors  Truck  Company, 
Pontiac,  Mich.,  has  become  associated  with  the  Moon- 
Hopkins  Billing  Machine  Company  of  St.  Louis  as  Eastern 
sales  agent,  with  headquarters  at  350  Broadway,  New  York 
City. 

Mr.  W.  R.  McGovern,  formerly  engineer  of  the  Wiscon- 
sin Telephone  Company  and  for  the  past  year  engineer  of 
inventory  and  appraisals  for  the  so-called  central  group  of 
Bell  companies,  has  been  appointed  engineer  for  the  dis- 
trict of  Illinois,  including  all  the  property  of  the  Chicago 
Telephone  Company  and  the  Central  Union  Telephone 
Company  in  the  State.  This  is  the  largest  district  in  the 
central  group  of  companies. 

Mr.  Frederick  Dwight  Nims,  electrical  engineer  of  the 
Western  Canada  Power  Company,  who  was  recently  re- 
elected chairman  of  the  Vancouver  Section  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  was  born  in  Muske- 
gon, Mich.,  in  1877.  In 
1894  he  entered  the  shops 
of  the  Muskegon  Street 
Railway  Company,  and  he 
remained  in  the  employ  of 
that  company  and  of  the 
Muskegon  Electric  Light 
Company  until  1900,  with 
the  exception  of  the  year 
1898,  when  he  served  in 
the  Spanish-American  war 
in  Cuba  with  the  Thirty- 
fourth  Michigan  Volun- 
teers. He  then  went  into 
contracting  business  in 
Muskegon,  which  he  gave 
up  the  following  year  to 
take  charge  of  electrical 
work  for  the  Muskegon 
Traction  &  Lighting  Company,  a  consolidation  of  the  com- 
panies mentioned  above.  Early  in  1902  Mr.  Nims  went  to 
Salt  Lake  City,  where  he  became  associated  with  Mr.  R.  T. 
Hayward,  taking  charge  of  the  Big  Cottonwood  division  of 
the  Utah  Light  &  Railway  Company.  Later  he  became 
assistant  operating  engineer  of  the  same  company  and  then 
general  superintendent  at  Ogden,  LItah.  In  September, 
1905,  he  went  to  Mexico  as  chief  operating  engineer  of  the 
Mexican  Light  &  Power  Company.  The  work  there  in- 
volved the  completion  of  the  work  on  the  Necaxa  plant  and 
the  paralleling  of  the  three  existing  systems  in  Mexico 
City,  making  one  large  system,  besides  the  completion  and 
operation  of  600  miles  of  60,000-voit  circuit  on  steel  towers. 
The  completed  system  called  for  the  operation  of  seven 
hydroelectric  and  four  steam  stations,  together  with  thir- 
teen main  distributing  substations.  In  1909  Mr.  Nims  went 
to  Vancouver  as  electrical  engineer  of  the  newly  formed 
Western  Canada  Power  Company.  He  is  married  and  has 
two  children.  Mr.  Nims  is  a  member  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E. 
and  helped  organize  the  Mexico  Section  and  the  Vancouver 
Section  of  the  Institute,  the  one  farthest  south  and  the 
other   farthest    north   and   west. 


FREIIKRICK      11.      NIMS. 


Obituary 


Mr.  W.  W.  Gale,  president  of  W.  W.  Gale  &  Company, 
Inc.,  electrical  contractors,  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  was  sud- 
denly killed  in  an  automobile  accident  on  Sept  8.  Mr. 
Gale  was  making  an  automobile  trip  to  the  New  York  State 
hair  at  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  and  the  accident  occurred  near 
h'onda,  when  the  machine  overturned  was  running  at  a 
high  rate  of  speed.  Mrs,  Gale,  who  also  occupied  the  car, 
received  very  serious  injuries,  the  outcome  of  which  is  re- 
ported uncertain.  Mr.  Gale  was  well  known  to  the  elec- 
trical fraternity  in  Connecticut.  He  is  survived  by  three 
sons  and  a  sister. 


S82 


ELECTRICAL     W'ORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii. 


Construction 


BENTOXV'ILLE,  ARK.— The  Cty  Council  has  authorized  E.  T.  Holt, 
city  electrician,  to  purchase  meters  for  the  municipal  electric  system. 

NEWPORT.  ARK.— The  City  Council  has  granted  a  franchise  to  the 
Co-operative  El.  Co.  Under  the  terms  of  the  franchise  the  company  is 
to  install  an  electric-light  and  power  plant  within  six  months.  The  com- 
pany is  to  furnish  the  city  with  SO  60-watt  tungsten  lamps  for  street- 
lighting  service  and  also  electricity  for  lighting  the  court  house,  city  hall 
and  sewer  pumping  station  free  of  charge. 

BUREANK,  CAL.— The  Pacific  El.  Ry.  Co.  is  planning  to  build  a  per- 
manent  substation  in   Burbank.     A  portable  station   is  now  being  used. 

GREENVILLE,  CAL.— The  Indian  Valley  El.  Co.  has  submitted  an 
amended  application  to  the  State  Railroad  Commission,  again  asking  per- 
mission to  issue  $250,000  in  bonds. 

HALF  MOON  BAY,  CAL. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has 
granted  the  Half  Moon  Bay  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  permission  to  operate  in  the 
Jefferson  school  district  in  San  Mateo  County. 

KELSEYVILLE,  CAL. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  granted 
James  A.  Gunn,  Jr.,  permission  to  supply  electricity  in  the  towns  of 
Kelseyville,  Lakeport,  Upper  Lake  and  surrounding  territory  in  Lake 
County.  The  petition  to  furnish  electrical  energy  in  Lakeport  was  de- 
nied on  the  ground  that  the  Mount  Konocti  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  previous 
franchises  in  that  city  and  is  furnishing  electrical  service  there. 

LATON,  CAL. — The  San  Joaquin  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  contemplates  extend- 
ing its  transmission  line  from  Laton  to  Riverdale.  The  company  will 
supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  to  the  farmers  residing  along 
the  line. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  Pacific  EI.  Ry.  Co.  has  applied  for  a 
franchise  to  build  and  operate  a  double-track  electric  railway  from  First 
Street  to  Ninth  Street. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — Property  owners  on  Eighth  Street  between 
Hill  and  Figueroa  Streets  have  filed  a  petition  with  the  City  Council 
asking  for  the  installation  of  a  lighting  system  on  that  street  similar  to 
that  on  Hill  Street. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — The  Los  Angeles  Investment  Co.  has  an- 
nounced that  it  is  willing  to  finance  the  city's  electric  railway  to  the 
harbor.  The  city  is  unable  to  increase  its  bonded  indebtedness,  but  may 
be  able  to  build  the  railway  if  the  investment  company  advances  the 
money. 

MAXWELL,  CAL. — The  Nortfiern  California  Pwr.  Co.  is  erecting  a 
transmission  line  to  supply   electricity   for   pumps  north   of   Maxwell. 

OXNARD,  CAL. — All  bids  received  for  the  construction  of  the  pro- 
posed municipal  electric-light  plant  -  have  been  rejected.  New  bids  will 
be  called   for.     Olmsted   &   Gillelen,   Los  Angeles,  are   engineers. 

PLACERVILLE.  CAL.— The  Western  States  Gas  &  El.  Co.  will  soon 
begin  work  on  the  construction  of  a  transmission  line  to  Camino.  This 
line  will  furnish  electricity  to  the  Danaher  Pine  Co.  to  operate  the  mills 
in  Camino.  It  is  expected  that  the  line  will  eventually  be  extended  to 
Diamond  Springs  and   El   Dorado. 

SACRAMENTO,  CAL. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installa- 
tion ot  ornamental  lamps  in  McKinley  Park. 

SAN  DIEGO,  CAL. — The  Los  Angeles  &  San  Diego  Beach  railway, 
it  is  said,  will  be  equipped  for  electrical  operation,  the  cost  of  which  is 
estimated  at  $100,000. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.— The  Pacific  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  applied  to 
the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  $5,000,000  in  bonds, 
of  which  part  of  the  proceeds  will  be  used  in  constructing  two  new 
hydroelectric  plants  on  the  south  fork  of  the  Yuba  River  in  Nevada 
County  and  on  the  Bear  River  in  Placer  County.  A  high-tension  trans- 
mission line  will  be  erected  from  these  two  plants  through  Placer, 
Nevada,  Yuba,  Sutter,  Yolo  and  Solano  Counties  to  connect  with  the 
Pacific  Gas  &  El.   Co.  at  its  center  load. 

SAN  MIGUEL,  CAL. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Midland 
Counties  Gas  &  El.  Co.  for  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  between 
the  Coalinga  field  and  Santa  Maria,  passing  through  the  city  of  San 
Luis  Obispo.     A  substation  will  be  located  in  San  Miguel. 

STOCKTON,  CAL.— The  Oro  El.  Corpn.,  Oroville,  is  planning  to 
enter  the  local  field  as  competitor  to  the  Western  States  Gas  &  EI.  Co. 
If  granted  a  franchise  the  company  proposes  to  erect  a  2000-hp  plant.  It 
also  contemplates  furnishing  electricity  throughout  the  county  for  irri- 
gation  purposes. 

VAN  NUYS,  CAL. — A  committee  consisting  of  G.  O.  Houghton,  Will- 
iam Andrew  and  J.  H.  Heinen  has  been  appointed  to  determine  the  light- 
ing system  to  be  used  for  the  newly  created  Van  Nuys  highway  lighting 
district. 

VISALIA,  CAL. — The  Mount  Whitney  Pwr.  Co.  has  authorized  ex- 
tensions to  its  system,  including  the  erection  of  two  new  plants,  which 
will  develop  14,000  hp  and  cost  about  $1,000,000.  One  of  the  plants,  to 
be  known  as  Keweah  No.  3.  will  be  located  on  the  upper  Keweah  River, 
a  short  distance  from  the  border  of  the  Sequoia  Forest ;  the  other  on 
Wolverton  Creek,  a  short  distance  from  Giant  Forest. 

WOODLAND,  CAL. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Yolo  Wtr. 
&  Pwr.  Co.  for  raising  the  level  of  Clear  Creek  7  ft.  or  8  ft.  Work 
will  soon  begin  on  the  dam  to  be  built  at  the  outlet,  which  is  Cache 
Creek.     Eventually  several  power  houses  will  be  built  on   Cache  Creek. 


PAONIA,  COL. — The  municipal  electric-light  plant  was  recently  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $30,000. 

CLINTON,  CONN. — The  Selectmen  have  been  authorized  to  award 
contract  for  placing  110  electric  lamps  along  the  main  thoroughfare  from 
East  River  to  Hammonassett  River  and  along  the  shore  from  West  Wharf 
to  Waterbury  Avenue  and  other  streets. 

NEW  HAVEN.  CONN.— The  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford 
R.  R.  Co.  is  planning  to  build  a  large  dam  across  the  Housatonic  River 
and  an  electric  power  plant  near  Zoar  Bridge,  5  miles  above  Derby,  and 
three  smaller  dams  between  that  point  and  New  Milford.  The  proposed 
plant  will  supply  electricity  for  its  main  line  between  New  Haven  and 
Stamford  and  to  all  its  divisions  and  electric  railways  in  Western  Con- 
necticut. Work  will  begin  next  spring  on  the  dam,  which  will  be  35  ft. 
high   and  600  ft.  long. 

STORRS,  CONN. — Bids  for  the  construction  of  a  one-story  power 
house  at  the  Connecticut  Colony  of  Epileptics  are  being  received.  And- 
worth  &  Wood  worth,  148  Main  Street,  Norwich,  are  architects. 

THOMASTON,  CONN.— The  Connecticut  Pwr.  Co.  has  leased  the 
electric-light  plant  of  the  Thomaston  E!.  Lt.  Co.  for  99  years.  No 
changes  will  be  made  in  the  plant  at  present. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office 
of  the  supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C, 
until  Sept.  21  for  furnishing  and  installing  lighting  fixtures  in  the  United 
States  post  office  at  Wellington,  Kan.,  and  United  States  post  office  and 
court  house  at  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  in  accordance  with  drawings  and 
specifications,  copies  of  which  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office.  Oscar 
Wenderoth  is  supervising  architect. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the 
Bureau  of  Supplies  and  Accounts,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C, 
until  Sept.  24  for  furnishing  at  the  navy  yard,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  the  fol- 
lowing supplies:  Schedule  4800 — Electrical  equipment;  Schedule  4801 — 
steel-plate  fans;  Schedule  4805 — coaling  trucks,  etc.;  Schedule  4809 — 
porcelain  plugs  and  receptacles;  Schedule  4SI2 — steel  boiler  plates.  Ap- 
plications should  designate  the  schedule  desired  by  number.  Blank  pr> 
posals  will  be  furnished  upon  application  to  the  navy  pay  office,  New 
York,  N.  Y.,  or  to  the  above  bureau,  T.  J.  Cowie,  U.  S.  A.,  is  pay- 
master general. 

HASTINGS,  FL.A,. — The  Hastings  Cold  Storage  Co.  is  planning  to 
install  an  electric-light  plant,  material  for  which  has  been  ordered.  The 
town  has  contracted  for  20  tungsten  street  lamps  of  60  cp. 

PENSACOLA,  FLA. — The  lighting  committee  contemplates  the  erec- 
tion of  ornamental  street  lamps  from  Palafox  Street  to  the  new  Louis- 
ville &  Nashville  passenger  station  being  erected  at  the  corner  of  Wright 
and  Alcaniz  Streets. 

AMERICL'S,  GA. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Board  of  Trade  for 
the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  business 
district. 

MEIGS,  GA. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  city  of  Meigs  for  construc- 
tion of  an  electric-light  plant  until  Sept.  17.  The  equipment  will  con- 
sist of  a  50-kw  alternating-current  generator,  with  three-panel  switch- 
board and  street-light  regulator,  high-speed  automatic  engine,  etc.  The 
C.  W.  Murray  Co.,  Savannah,  Ga.,  has  charge  of  the  work. 

KELLOGG,  IDAHO.— The  Nabob  Mining  Co.  has  entered  into  a  con- 
tract with  the  Washington  Pwr.  Co.,  Spokane,  Wash,  to  erect  a  trans- 
mission line  to  its  property  on  Pine  Creek.  H.  M.  Ross  is  manager  of 
the  mining  company. 

LAPWAI,  IDAHO. — The  Lewiston-Clarkston  Improvement  Co.,  Lewis- 
ton,   contemplates  extending   its  transmission   lines  to  the   Lapwai   Valley. 

LEWISTON,  IDAHO. — Work,  it  is  said,  will  soon  begin  on  the  con- 
struction of  the  proposed  electric  line  to  extend  from  Lewiston  through 
the  Ca'mas  and  Nez  Perce  prairies,  which  will  involve  an  expenditure  of 
about  $1,500,000.     Z.   A.  Johnson,  of  Nez  Perce,   Idaho,  is  interested. 

MONTPELIER,  IDAHO. — Extensive  improvements  are  contemplated 
by  the  Tell u ride  Pwr.  Co.  to  its  system,  involving  an  expenditure  of 
about  $1,750,000.  The  work  includes  the  completion  of  the  Bear  River 
reservoir  in  Utah  and  Idaho,  building  of  an  irrigation  system  on  Bear 
River  at  Soda  Springs  and  a  generating  plant  at  Oneida  Narrows. 

ALTON,  ILL. — The  East  End  Improvement  Association  has  appointed 
a  committee,  consisting  of  H.  Beardslee,  Chris  Koenig  and  E.  G.  Herb, 
to  investigate  plans  for  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system. 

AUGUST.\,  ILL. — The  property  of  the  Independent  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co. 
has  been  sold  to  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Co.,  of  Chicago.  It  is  ex- 
pected the  energy  for  operating  the  local  system  will  be  supplied  from 
the   plant   in  Colchester. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.— The  La  Salle  County  El.  Ry.  Co.  is  planning  to  build 
a   new    power   house   in   Prairie   Center. 

HAR\  EL,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  granted  a  franchise  to  the 
Montgomery  County  Tel.  Co. 

JERSEYVILLE.  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  has  pur- 
chased  the   property   of  the  Jerseyville   Illg.   Co.   in  Jerseyvillc. 

MACOMB,  ILL.— The  properties  of  the  Macomb  El.  Lt.  &  Gas  Co. 
have  been  purchased  by  the  Central   Illinois  Pub.   Ser.  Co.,   Mattoon. 

MATTOON,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  has  awarded  a 
contract  to  the  Chuse  Engine  Co.  for  a  750-hp  engine.  Work  will  begin 
this  fall  on  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  to  Neoga. 

PITTSFIELD,  ILL.— The  property  of  the  Union  El.  Service  Co.,  in- 
cluding   the    local    plant    and    the    distributing    system    in    Griggsvillc,    has 


Septembek  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


S83 


been  purchased  by  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Co.,  of  Chicago.  It  is 
understood  that  the  new  owners  will  secure  electricity  for  operating  the 
system   from  the  power  plant  at  the  Keokuk  dam. 

PLYMOUTH,  ILL. — The  local  electric-light  plant  has  been  purchased 
by  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Co.,   of  Chicago. 

PROPHETSTOWN,  ILL. — The  North  Illinois  Utilities  Co.,  which  re- 
cently purchased  the  local  electric-light  plant,  has  applied  to  the  Village 
Board   for  a   franchise  to  operate  in   Prophetstown. 

TAYLORVILLE,  ILL. — Trust  deeds  have  been  filed  here  to  convey 
the  plants  of  the  Taylorville  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  Taylorville;  the  Pana  Gas  & 
El.  Co.,  Pana,  and  the  Edinburgh  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Edinburgh,  to  the 
Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  of  Chicago  and  Mattoon.  This  company 
has  acquired  public  utilities  plants  in  30  cities  in  the  central  and 
southern  part. of  the  State  and  has  secured  options,  it  is  said,  on  35  or 
40  more  plants.  Electrical  energy  for  operating  these  plants  will  be  gen- 
erated at  a  large  central  power  plant  to  be  erected  at  Kincaid.  A  site 
has  been  purchased  by  F.  S.  Peabody,  of  Chicago,  for  a  reservoir  near 
Kincaid. 

WATERTOWN,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  awarded  a  contract  to 
the  People's  Pwr,  Co.  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  village  for  a  period 
of  five  years.     Twenty  lamps  of  SO  cp  will  be  installed. 

COLUMBUS,  IND.— The  Citizens'  Tel.  Co.  has  increased  its  capital 
itock  by  $50,000. 

MONTPELIER,  IND. — .Application  has  been  made  by  J.  P.  Boyd,  re- 
reiver  of  the  Montpelier  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.,  to  the  County  Commissioners  for 
1  franchise  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  in  Wells  County  to  supply 
dectricity  to  residents  outside  of  incorporated  towns  and  cities.  The 
:ompany  proposes  to  e-xtend  its  lines  as  far  north  as  Keystone,  where  it 
las  applied  for  a  franchise. 

NEW  ALBANY,  IND.— The  United  Gas  Si  El.  Co.,  New  Albany,  is 
;)lanning  to  extend  its  service  to  Sellersburg,  Edwardsville,  Galena  and 
ieveral  other  neighboring  towns.  Samuel  Insull,  Chicago,  111.,  is  presi- 
ient  of  the  company. 

NOBLESVILLE,  IND. — The  property  of  the  Noblesville  Gas.  &  EI.  Co. 
las  been  purchased  by  Chicago  interests.  It  is  proposed  to  connect  the 
jlant  with  Tipton,  Ohi'o. 

CEDAR  FALLS,  lA. — The  City  Council  has  authorized  the  light  com- 
nittee  to  engage  an  electrical  engineer  to  prepare  plans  and  estimates 
if  the  cost  of  building  and  maintaining  a  municipal  lighting  plant.  The 
jtizens'  Gas  &  El.   Co.,  Waterloo,  now  supplies  electrical  service   here. 

CHURDAN,  I.\. — The  proposition  to  install  an  electric-light  plant  and 
vater-works  system  here  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote  on  Sept.  17.  The 
ost  of  the  electric   plant  is  estimated  at  $10,000. 

DES  MOINES,  lA. — Extensive  improvements  to  its  lighting  system 
,re  contemplated  by  the  Des  Moines  EI.  Co.,  which  will  involve  an 
xpenditure  of  about  $15,000.     W.  H.  Thomson,  Jr.,  is  local  manager. 

DES  MOINES,  lA. — Arrangements  have  been  made  whereby  the  oma- 
nental  street-lighting  system  will  be  continued.  Owing  to  the  reduction 
a  price  of  electricity  for  maintaining  the  electroliers,  it  has  been  de- 
ided  to  increase  the  number  of  standards  from  400  to  1000  within  the 
ext  18  months. 
EPWORTH,  lA. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  City  Council  toward 
he  installation   of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system. 

HASTINGS,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to  grant 
he  Glenwood  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Glenwood,  a  franchise  to  install  an 
lectric-light  system  here  was  carried. 
HENDERSON.  lA.— The  Glenwood  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Glenwood, 
as  been  granted  a  20-year  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lighting 
he  streets  and  residences  here.  Energy  for  operating  the  system  will 
e  transmitted  from  Glenwood.  The  Council  has  contracted  for  16  street 
amps. 
IOWA  CITY,  lA.— The  property  of  the  Iowa  City  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has 
een  purchased  by  the  Western  Utilities  Co.,  of  Chicago.  Frank  E. 
lulswit,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  has  been  elected  president  of  the  Iowa 
ity   company. 

IOWA  FALLS,  lA. — Arrangements  have  been  made  to  have  an  electro- 
ier  street-lighting  system  on  two  of  the  principal  streets  of  the  city.  A 
ranchise  was  recently  granted  the  Dows  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  to  install  an 
lectric-light  plant  here. 

SHELDON,  I,'\. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  local  business  men  to 
ubstitute  electroliers  for  the  arc  lamps  in  the  business  district. 
WHITING,    lA. — The  Town   Council   is  contemplating   the   installation 
f  an  electric  light  system  here.     It  is  proposed  to  secure  electricity  from 
he  municipal  electric  plant  at  Onawa. 

NORTON,  KAN. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  city  of  Norton  until 
iept.  20  for  engines  and  electrical  apparatus  for  the  municipal  electric- 
ight  plant.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  obtained  on  application  to 
he  city  clerk  or  to  C.  O.   Lund,  supervising  engineer. 

WHITE  CLOUD,  KAN.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $5,000  for  the  con- 
truction  of  a  new  municipal  lighting  plant  have  been  voted. 

ANCHORAGE,  KY. — The  Louisville  Ltg.  Co.  is  contemplating  ex- 
ending  its  transmission  lines  to  Anchorage  to  supply  electricity  for 
amps  and  motors  here. 

COV^NGTON,  KY.— The  Union  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  submitted 
an  estimate  to  the  City  Council  of  the  cost  of  placing  its  wires  under- 
iTound.     The  cost  of  the  work  is  placed  at  $58,705. 


COVINGTON,  KY. — The  City  Council  is  considering  the  question  of 
engaging  an  engineer  to  prepare  plans  and  supervise  the  construction  of 
a  municipal  electric-light  plant.  The  lighting  committee  has  submitted 
its  first  report   to  Mayor  Phillips  relative  to  the  proposition. 

DANVILLE,  KY. — Work  has  begun  on  the  construction  of  a  con- 
crete dam  across  Dix  River,  near  Danville.  The  dam  will  be  90  ft.  high 
and  will  furnish  power  to  generate  electricity  which  will  be  transmitted 
to  nearby  cities  and  also  to  operate  electric  railways  in  this  vicinity. 
L.  B.  Herrington,  of  Richmond,  Ky.,  has  charge  of  the  work. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY. — The  general  contract  for  construction  of  a  power 
house  for  the  Louisville  &  Interurban  Ry.  Co.,  to  be  located  at  Nineteenth 
and  High  Streets,  has  been  awarded  to  the  Henry  Bickel  Co.,  Louisville, 
to  cost  about  $300,000.  The  cost  of  the  plant  complete  is  estimated  at 
$750,000. 

PARIS,  KY. — The  contract  for  installing  an  electric  light  and  power 
plant  and  electric  elevators  at  the  W.  W.  Massie  Memorial  Hospital  has 
been  awarded  to  the  Danville  Constr.  Co.,  Danville,  Ky. 

WILMORE,  KY. — The  local  electric-light  plant  and  ice  plant  was  re- 
cently destroyed  by  fire,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $10,000.  The  plant  will 
be  rebuilt  at  once. 

SHREVEPORT,  LA. — The  Shreveport  Trac.  Co.  has  purchased  a  fran- 
chise to  build  and  operate  an  electric  railway  between  the  city  limits  and 
the  Cedar  Grove  factory  addition,  south  of  the  city. 

VILLE  PLATTE,  LA. — A  franchise  has  been  granted  to  L.  J.  Dossman, 
Opelousas,  La.,  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant  here.  An 
ice  plant  will   also  be  installed. 

WOOD,  LA. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  L.  M.  Fairbanks,  president 
of  the  Mansfield  Banking  Co.,  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  and 
power  plant  here. 

ANN-AFOLIS,  MD. — The  contract  for  installing  an  underground  dis- 
tributing system  at  the  United  States  Naval  -Academy  has  been  awarded 
to  the   Carroll   El.   Co.,   Washington,   D.   C,   for   $57,290. 

BALTIMORE,  MD. — The  Peabody  Heights  Improvement  Association 
has  petitioned  the  Park  Board  to  install  a  street-lighting  system  in  Wyman 
Park. 

MOUNT  WASHINGTON,  MD.— The  Mount  Washington  El.  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  contemplates  extending  its  transmission  line  to  Carney,  on  the 
Harford  Road. 

BOSTON,  MASS. — It  is  reported  that  Mayor  Fitzgerald  is  consider- 
ing the  question  of  lighting  the  entire  city  by  electricity,  substituting 
40-cp  incandescent  lamps  for  gas  lamps,  which  it  is  estimated  would  save 
the  city  $60,000  annually.  The  Edison  EI.  Illg.  Co.,  it  is  said,  would 
furnish  the  lamps  at  $18  each  per  year.  It  is  understood  that  the  com- 
pany  will   agree   to   place  its  wires   underground. 

CLINTON,  MASS.— The  Worcester  Consol.  St.  Ry.  Co.  has  petitioned 
the  Board  of  Selectmen  for  a  franchise  to  erect  and  maintain  wires  over 
several  streets  in  the  city. 

F.ALL  RIVER,  MASS. — The  aldermanic  committee  on  street  lights 
has  voted  to  recommend  to  the  Board  of  .Mdermen  the  installation  of  75 
additional   street   lamps   throughout   the   city. 

NORTHFIELD,  MASS.— The  Greenfield  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  ap- 
plied to  the  Selectmen  for  permission  to  extend  its  transmission  line  over 
Birnam   Road. 

EATON  RAPIDS,  MICH. — The  Commonwealth  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning 
to  extend  its  transmission  line  from  Charlotte  to  Eaton  Rapids.  The 
company  proposes  to  supply  electricity  to  the  woolen  mills  here  and  will 
probably  furnish  power  to  other  industrial  plants. 

BROWNTON,  MINN.— Bids  will  be  received  by  F.  W.  Booth,  village 
clerk,  until  Sept.  20  for  the  construction  of  an  electric-light  plant,  plans 
for  which  were  prepared  by  Earle  D.  Jackson,  engineer,  St.  Paul.  The 
work  includes  furnishing  and  installing  a  three-wire  generator,  storage 
battery,  pole  line,  street  lamps,  etc. 

CLARKFIELD,  MINN. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Village  Council 
to  secure  estimates  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant 
here. 

HIBBING,  MINN. — ^The  water,  light,  power  and  building  committee 
has  engaged  William  Burgess,  of  the  Burgess  El.  Co.,  Duluth,  to  pre- 
pare plans  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system 
in  the  business  district. 

KIMBALL,  MINN. — The  Lethert  El.  Co.,  of  St.  Paul,  has  applied  to 
the  Council  for  a  franchise  to  supply  electrical  service  in  Kimball. 

PRESTON,  MINN. — The  Root  River  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co,  which  is  planning 
to  build  a  hydroelectric  power  plant  on  the  Root  River,  will  not  award 
contracts  for  construction  of  the  plant  but  will  do  its  own  work.  The 
cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at  $85,000.  W.  H.  Williams,  of  Preston, 
is  manager. 

WATKINS,  MINN. — A  franchise  has  been  granted  to  the  Lethert  El. 
Co.,  of  St.  Paul,  to  install  an  electric-light  plant   here. 

GULFPORT,  MISS.— The  substation  of  the  Gulfport  &  Mississippi 
Coast  Trac.    Co.   at   Pass  Christian   was   recently  destroyed  by   fire. 

VICKSBURG,  MISS. — Work  has  begun  on  excavations  for  the  con- 
struction  of   a  new   power   house   in    Vicksburg. 

FREDERICKSBURG,  MO. — At  an  election  held  Aug.  31  the  propo- 
sition to  issue  $12,000  for  construction  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant 
was  carried. 


584 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii. 


KANSAS  CITY.  MO.~Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  South  Side  Im- 
provement Association  for  the  installation  of  ornamental  street  lamps 
on  South  Main  treet  and  East  Thirty-first  Street.  The  City  Council  is 
considering  an  ordinance  granting  permission  for  placing  ornamental 
street  lamps  on  trolley  poles  on  Thirty-first  Street  from  Main  Street  to 
Troost  Avenue  and  on  Main  Street  from  Twenty-seventh  Street  to  West- 
port  Avenue.  The  association  asks  that  the  city  furnish  energy  for  main- 
taining the  lamps. 

LAWSON,  MO.— The  Excelsior  Springs  Wtr.,  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  ap- 
plied to  the  City  Council  for  a  franchise  to  operate  in  Lawson.  S.  W. 
Henderson,   Excelsior   Springs,    is  vice-president   of  the  company. 

NEVADA,  MO. — The  property  of  the  Nevada  Wtr.,  Lt.  &  Trac.  Co., 
consisting  of  water,  gas  and  electric  plants  and  street-railway  system,  has 
been  purchased  by  W.  C.  Gunn,  of  Fort  Scott,  Kan.  The  properties 
have  been  taken  over  by  the  Fort  Scott  &  Nevada  Trac.  Co,  and  it  is 
understood  that  the  plants  in  the  two  cities  will  be  operated  in  conjunction 
with  each  other. 

HARDIN,  MONT.— The  Big  Horn  Canyon  Co.  is  planning  to  build  a 
dam.  across  the  Big  Horn  River  for  power  development  and  irrigation 
purposes. 

GENOA,  NEB. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  power  canal  com- 
pany for  the  construction  of  a  power  house  in  Genoa. 

NORFOLK,  NEB. — The  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting 
system  on  Norfolk  Avenue  is  under  consideration  by  the  Commercial 
Club. 

TILDEN,  NEB. — The  Board  of  Town  Trustees  has  awarded  a  contract 
to  the  Norfolk  El.  Lt.  &  Powr.  Co.  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  town 
for  a  period  of  ten  years.  The  contract  calls  for  43  50-watt  tungsten 
lamps. 

TRENTON.  N.  J.— The  Trenton  &  Mercer  County  Trac.  Corpn.  is 
building  an  addition  to  its  power  house.  A  1500-kw  De  Laval  turbo- 
generator  set    will    be    installed. 

ALBANY,  N.  Y. — Notice  is  hereby  given  that  the  time  for  returning  bids 
for  incandescent  lamps,  which  it  was  advertised  would  be  received  at 
the  office  of  the  purchasing  committee  for  state  hospitals,  Room  138. 
Capitol,  Albany,  until  Sept.  12,  is  changed  to  Sept.  24.  All  bids  received 
to  be  opened  on  the  12th  will  therefore  remain  unopened  and  may  be 
withdrawn  and  filed  again  on  the  24th  if  so   desired. 

ANTWERP,  N.  Y.— The  Village  Board  of  Trustees  has  granted  the 
Northern  Pwt.  Co.,  of  Potsdam,  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  here 
If  approval  of  the  franchise  is  secured  from  the  Public  Service  Com- 
mission work  on  securing  right  of  way  and  locating  route  for  transmis- 
sion line  from  Gouverneur  to  Antwerp  will  begin  at  once.  Work  on 
erection  of  the  line  will  begin  early  in  the  spring.  The  village  has 
entered  into  a  contract  with  the  company  for  street  lighting  for  a  period 
of  five  years.     K.  J.   Snell,  Potsdam,  is  manager  of  the  company. 

BINGHAMTON,  N.  Y. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  property 
owners  and  others  for  the  installation  of  ornamental  street  lamps  along 
the  river   front   on  Wall  Street. 

BINGHAMTON,  N.  Y. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  City 
Council  for  the  construction  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant.  Avail- 
able sites  are  now  being  investigated  by  the  Council.  J.  A.  Giles  is  city 
engineer. 

CHERRY  VALLEY,  N.  Y.— The  citizens  have  voted  to  have  the 
streets  of  the  village  lighted  by  electricity,  the  service  to  be  furnished  by 
the  Montgomery  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.   Co.,  of  Canajoharie. 

CHILI,  N.  Y. — The  Rochester  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  been  granted  a  fran- 
chise by  the  town  of  Chili  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors 
in  the  Elmwood  tract. 

FULTON,  N.  Y.^The  Baker  El.  Co.  has  submitted  a  proposition  to 
the  Board  of  Public  Works  for  the  installation  of  ornamental  lamps  in 
three  more  streets.  The  lamps  will  be  similar  to  those  in  Oneida  Street. 
NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — The  contract  for  installing  electrical  equipment 
in  the  first  portion  of  the  new  Normal  School  buildings,  Thomas  Hunter 
Hall,  has  been  awarded  to  the  Commercial  Constr."  Co.,  24  State  Street. 
New  York,  at  $19,777.  C.  B.  J.  Snyder  is  superintendent  of  school 
buildings. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— The  New  York  Rys.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  Public 
Service  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  $2,600,000  in  bonds  for  the 
purpose  of  acquiring  new  equipment  and  improving  its  property.  The 
company  proposes  to  purchase  320  stepless  cars  at  a  cost  of  $1,600,000  and 
to  add  two  stories  to  its  power  house  at  Fifty-fourth  Street  and  Ninth 
Avenue,  at  a  cost  of  about  $550,000.  The  commission  has  also  approved 
the  plans  for  the  proposed  extension  of  the  116th  Street  crosstown  line 
from  Pleasant  Avenue  to  the  East  River. 

OLE  AN,  N.  y. — ^Extensive  improvements  are  contemplated  by  the 
Olean  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  involving  an  expenditure  of  $250,000.  Work 
has  commenced  on  the  new  power  house,  which  is  the  first  step  toward 
the  extension.  Frederic  B.  Hofft  has  been  appointed  general  superin- 
tendent. 

UTICA,  N.  Y. — The  Adirondack  El.  Pwr.  Co.  has  secured  a  permit 
to  remodel  its  power  house  on  the  Mohawk  River  Flats  at  a  cost  of 
about  $7,500.  The  change  will  be  made  so  as  to  enable  the  company 
to  connect  with  the  lines  of  the  Utica  Gas  &  El.  Co. 

DURHAM,  N.  C. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  State  Department 
by  Benjamin  N.  Duke,  George  and  Buchanan  Lyon  and  Jone  Fuller  for 
a  charter  to  operate  an  electric-light   plant  and   electric  street   railway   in 


Durham.     The  company  will  be  known  as  the  Durham  Pwr.   Co.  and  will 
be  capitalized  at  $750,000. 

\'-\DE  MECUM,  N.  C. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  Cicero  Tise  for 
the  installation  of  a  hydroelectric  power  plant  to  supply  electricity  for 
lamps   and   motors   for    Vade    Mecum    Springs. 

BELFIELD,  N.  D. — The  mstallation  of  an  electric-light  plant  here  is 
under  consideration.     T.  Lerfald,  of  Anoka,  Minn.,  is  interested. 

GR.\ND  FORKS,  N.  D.— The  Water  and  Light  Commission  has  de- 
cided to  erect  a  new  electric-light  plant,  for  which  bids  have  been 
asked.  It  will  be  located  on  the  site  of  the  present  building  and  will 
be  equipped  with  new  machinery.  It  is  expected  that  the  Red  River 
Pwr.  Co.,  which  furnishes  energy  for  the  local  system,  will  install  a 
dynamo  in  the  new  structure,  so  as  to  do  away  with  the  large  cables 
now  erected  across  the  river. 

MINOT,  N.  D. — The  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  sys- 
tem  in    Minot   is   under   consideration. 

CINCINNATI,  OHIO.— Bids  will  be  received  until  Oct.  8  by  the 
Board  of  Hospital  Commissioners  of  the  city  of  Cincinnati  for  furnish- 
ing labor  and  material  required  in  the  completion  and  equipment  of  the 
18  buildings  composing  the  main  group  of  the  new  General  Hospital  as 
follows:  (1)  Laundry  machinery;  (2)  kitchen  equipment;  (3)  refrigerat- 
ing plant  and  cold-storage  rooms;  (4)  water-tube  boilers  and  stokers;  (5) 
steam  engines;  (6)  generators  and  switchboard,  (7)  main  feeders,  electric 
wiring  and  ground  lighting;  (8)  radial  brick  chimney;  (9)  main  gas  sup- 
ply ;  (10)  sterilizing  and  disinfecting  equipment ;  (11)  electric-lighting 
fixtures;  (12)  direct-lift  plunger  elevator.  Plans  and  specifications  are  on 
file  at  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Hospital  Commissioners,  Burnet  Ave- 
nue, Cincinnati,  and  at  the  office  of  Samuel  Hannaford  &  Sons,  archi- 
tects, Hulbert  Block,  Cincinnati.     Henry  T.  Hunt  is  president  of  board. 

CLEVEI-\ND,  OHIO. — A  permit  has  been  secured  by  the  Cleveland 
Ry.  Co.  to  erect  a  power  substation  and  a  battery  station  at  3880  West 
Twenty-fifth  Street.  The  cost  of  the  substation  is  estimated  at  $30,000 
and    that    of   the   battery    station   at   $11,500. 

CLE\'ELAXD,  OHIO. — The  Sinking  Fund  Commission,  it  is  reported, 
has  agreed  to  purchase  municipal  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $500,000.  author- 
ized at  the  last  municipal  election  for  the  purpose  of  making  extensions 
to  the  municipal  electric  generating  plant.  A  new  power  station  costing 
$300,000  will  be  erected  and  will  be  equipped  with  three  5000-kw  steam 
turbines.  Improvements  will  also  be  made  to  the  present  generating  sta- 
tions and  substations. 

FOSTORIA,  OHIO. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  approved  the 
sale  of  the  electric  light  and  power  plant  of  the  Standard  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.,  of  Fostoria,  to  Field  W.  Swezey.  The  price  paid  for  the  property 
is  said  to  be  $82,000. 

LIMA.  OHIO. — The  Board  of  Education  has  decided  to  install  an 
electric-light  plant  in  the  manual-training  department  of  the  high-school 
building.  A  gas  engine  is  already  installed  in  the  building  and  it  is 
proposed   to   purchase  a   generator. 

SANDUSKY,  OHIO. — The  City  Council  has  authorized  the  director 
of  public  service  to  advertise  for  bids  for  street  lighting  beginning  Jan. 
1,   1914.     Bids  will  be  asked  for  two,  five  and  ten  years. 

SPRINGFIELD,  OHIO.~The  contract  for  installing  112  cluster  lamps 
in  Snyder  Park  has  been  awarded  to  the  Sackett  Mine  Supply  Co.,  of 
Springfield. 

TEXHOMA,  OKLA. — The  construction  of  light,  water  and  ice  plant, 
to  cost  about  $40,000,  is  contemplated  by  J.  W.  McRea,  of  Amarillo,  Tex., 
and  associates. 

ORENCO,  ORE. — Work  will  soon  begin  on  the  construction  of  the 
proposed  electric  railway  between  Helvetia  and  Orenco.  J.  H.  Young, 
president  of  the  Oregon  El.  Ry.  Co.,  and  others  are  interested  in  the 
project. 

PORTLAND,  ORE.— 'George  F.  Huesner  has  been  granted  a  franchise 
to  construct  and  operate  an  electric  railway  from  the  northerly  boundary 
of  Portland  across  the  Broadway  Bridge  up  Seventh  Street  and  on  into 
South   Portland. 

S.ALEM,  ORE.~The  Southern  Pacific  Co.  has  purchased  the  electric 
lailway  which  runs  from  Willamette  to  Bolton  and  will  extend  it  from 
Holton  to   Salem. 

STAYTON,  ORE.— Work  will  soon  begin  on  construction  of  an  elec- 
tric railway  from  Salem  to  Stayton.  a  distance  of  18  miles,  for  which 
right-of-way  has  been  secured.  J.  P.  Mounce  is  interested  in  the  project. 
SUTHERLIN,  ORE. — F.  B.  Waites,  of  Sutherlin,  is  interested  in  » 
project  to  construct  an  electric  railway  to  connect  Coos  Bay  and 
Sutherlin. 

PAXAM.X. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  construction  of  two 
floating  pumping  plants,  one  to  be  used  at  the  uatun  locks,  Panama  Canal, 
and  the  other  at  the  Pedro  Miguel  and  Miraflores  locks,  as  auxiliaries  to 
the  pumping  plants  which  will  be  installed  in  the  lock  caissons  for 
unwatering  the  various  sumps.  Each  plant  will  consist  of  four  motor- 
driven  20-in.  centrifugal  pumps  or  their  equivalent,  for  operation  under 
heads  from  5  fl.  to  50  ft.  at  Gatun  and  Pedro  Miguel  and  from  5  ft.  to 
70  ft.  at  Miraflores.  mounted  on  one  or  two  barges. 

ELIZABETHTOWN,  PA. — The  property  of  the  Elizabeth  &  Marietta 
El.  Co.,  including  power  plant  and  distributing  system  in  Elizabethtown 
and  distributing  systems  in  Rheems.  Florin,  Maytown,  Mount  Joy  and 
adjacent  territory,  was  sold  at  receivers'  sale  to  John  A.  Coyle,  of  Lan- 
caster, for  $60,500. 


September  14.   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


S8S 


EPHRATA,  PA.— The  stockholders  of  the  Ephrata  &  Lebanon  El.  Ry. 
Co.  have  authorized  an  issue  of  $250,000  in  bonds,  the  proceeds  to  be 
used  to  complete  the  railway  between  Lebanon  and  Ephrata. 

HARRISBURG,  PA. — Announcement  has  been  made  that  Olmsted  & 
Stamm  will  apply  to  the  State  Department  on  Sept.  23  for  a  charter  for 
the  Capital  Ht.  &  Pwr,  Co.  The  company  proposes  to  supply  electricity 
for  lamps,  heat  and  motors   in   Harrisburg. 

LANCASTER,  PA.^The  property  of  the  Southern,  Oxford  &  Southern 
R.R.  Co.  has  been  purchased  by  F.  R.  Williams,  representing  interests 
allied  with  the  Conowingo  Pwr.  Co.,  for  $52,000.  Plans  have  been  per- 
fected by  the  power  company  for  building  a  dam  on  the  Susquehanna  and 
construction  of  a  hydroelectric  plant.  It  is  expected  that  the  railroad 
will  be  equipped  for  electrical  operation. 

MEYERSDALE,  PA.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Meyersdale 
El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  a  10-year  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in 
Meyersdale.  The  Council  has  also  awarded  the  company  a  five-year 
contract  for  street  lighting  under  the  terms  of  which  the  arc  lamps  now 
in  use  will  be  replaced  with  new  magnetite  arc  lamps. 

PITTSBURGH,  PA. — Extensive  improvements  to  the  equipment  of  the 
Pittsburgh-Butler  Street  Ry.  Co.  and  the  Butler  County  Lt.  Co.  are  under 
way.  Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  traction  company  to  change 
the  equipment  of  its  line  so  as  to  utilize  1200-volt  direct  current  instead 
of  the  single-phase  current  now  used.  Plans  are  also  being  made  to 
establish  nine  substations  along  the  transmission  line  between  this  city 
and  Butler  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors. 
Charters  recently  have  been  granted  to  nine  light  and  power  companies 
in  towns  along  the  line,  all  subsidiaries  of  the  Butler  company.  The 
transmission  line  is  33  miles  in  length  and  surveys  have  been  made 
for  an  extension  to  East  Butler.  The  main  power  plant  is  located  at 
Renfrew,  and  has  an  output  of  about  4000  kw,  of  which  about  half  is 
being  used  at  present.  Locations  have  been  selected  for  two  of  the  sub- 
stations. Electricity  will  be  transmitted  to  the  substations  at  22,000  volts. 
The  CQ^itract  for  equipping  the  substations  and  the  cars  has  been  awarded 
to  the  General  El.  Co.  James  Bryan,  Park  Building,  Pittsburgh,  is  con- 
sulting engineer. 

POLK,  PA.- — Chester  &  Fleming,  hydraulic  engineers,  of  Pittsburgh, 
have  been  authorized  to  prepare  plans  and  specifications  for  a  1,000,000- 
gal.  electrically  operated  pumping  station  for  the  water  supply  of  the 
State  Institution  of  the  Feeble-Minded  at  Polk.  Proposals  for  this  work 
will  soon  be  asked  for. 

NEWPORT,  R.  I. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau  of  Yards 
and  Docks,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Sept.  28  for  fur- 
nishing and  installing  complete  with  all  accessories  at  the  naval  station, 
Newport,  R.  I.,  one  120-hp  and  one  220-hp  fuel-oil  engines  with  one 
94-kw  generator  and  one  175-kw  generator;  also  to  remove,  remodel  and 
reinstall  one  160-kw  generatmg  unit  driven  by  Busch-Sulzer  Broihers 
Diesel  engine.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at  $38,000.  Plans  and 
specifications,  may  be  obtained  on  application  to  the  bureau  or  to  the  com- 
mandant of  the  naval  station,  Narragansett  Bay,  Newport,  R.  I.  Will- 
iam M.  Smith  is  acting  chief  of  bureau. 

NEWPORT,  R.  I. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau  of 
Yards  and  Docks,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Sept.  28 
for  four  centrifugal  pumps,  two  being  motor-driven  fire  pumps  of  1000 
gal.  per  minute  capacity  at  230-ft.  and  115-ft.  head,  and  two  steam- 
turbine-driven  hot-water  pumps  of  500  gal.  per  minute  capacity  at  150-ft. 
head,  all  delivered  and  installed  on  foundations  provided  by  the  gov- 
ernment at  the  naval  torpedo  station,  Newport,  R.  I.  Cost  of  the  work 
is  estimated  at  $7,500.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  obtained  on  ap- 
plication to  the  bureau  or  to  the  commandant  of  the  naval  station,  Nar- 
ragansett Bay,  Newport,  R.  I.  William  M.  Smith  is  acting  chief  of 
bureau. 

NEWPORT,  R.  L— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau  of 
Yards  and  Docks,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Oct.  5  for 
furnishing  and  installing  at  the  naval  station,  Newport,  R.  I.,  a  com- 
plete power-plant  piping  system  to  connect  1000-hp  boilers,  700-kw  en- 
gines, fire  pumps,  forced-circulation  hot-water  heating  system  pumps  and 
heaters,  boiler-feed  pumps,  feed-water  heaters  and  meters,  separators, 
traps,  special  valves,  feed-water  governors  and  regulators,  etc.,  to  be 
furnished  by  the  government,  and  to  furnish  and  install  all  additional 
necessary  accessories.  Cost  of  work  is  estimated  at  $9,000.  Plans  and 
specifications  may  be  obtained  on  application  to  the  bureau  or  to  the 
commandant  of  the  naval  station,  Narragansett  Bay,  Newport,  R,  I. 
William  M.   Smith  is  acting  chief  of  bureau. 

CHERAW,  S.  C. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Public 
Works  Commission  until  Sept.  17  for  construction  of  water- works  and  a 
sewerage  system.  The  water-works  will  include  electrically  operated 
pumping  station,  tower,  tank,  reservoir  and  auxiliary  electrically  operated 
pumping  station.  Plans  and  specifications  are  on  file  at  the  office  of 
William  Godfrey,  chairman  Public  Works  Commission,  Cheraw,  and  at 
office  of  Gilbert  C.   White,  engineer,  Charlotte,  N.  C. 

COLUMBIA,  S.  C— The  Parr  Shoals  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  granted  per- 
mission to  increase  its  capital  stock  from  $100,000  to  $2,300,000.  Edwin 
W.  Robertson,  G.  K.   Dustin  and  William  Elliott  are  among  the  directors. 

FAIRVIEW,  S.  D. ^Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  construction 
of  a  concrete  dam  across  the  Big  Sioux  River  at  Fairview.  Power  de- 
veloped by  the  dam  will  be  utilized  to  generate  electricity  which  will  be 
transmitted  to  towns  and  cities  in  this  vicinity.  Arthur  Lattimer,  of 
Eldora,   la.,   has   the   contract   for   construction   of  the   dam. 


HUMBOLDT,  S.  D.— The  Hartford  El.  Lt.  &  Tel.  Co.,  of  Hartford. 
has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  City  Council  offering  to  extend  its 
transmission  line  to  Humboldt  and  supply  electricity  for  lighting  the 
streets,  business  places  and  residences. 

CHATTANOOGA.  TENN.— Arrangements  have  been  made  by  C.  E. 
James,  who  is  building  an  electric  railway  up  Walden's  Ridge,  for  elec 
tricity  from  the  Ocoee  plant  until  the  Hale's  bar  lock  and  dam  is 
completed. 

PERYEAR,  TENN.— The  city  of  Peryear  is  installing  an  electric- 
light  plant  and   water-works  system. 

AMARILLO,  TEX. — Work  has  begun  on  the  installation  of  an  electric- 
light  plant  to  supply  electricity  for  lighting  the  yards,  roundhouses,  ma- 
chine shops  and  station  of  the  Santa  Fe  system  in  Amarillo. 

CORPUS  CHRISTI,  TE.X.— The  Corpus  Christi  St.  &  Interurban  Ry. 
Co.  is  planning  to  construct  a  power  plant,  the  equipment  to  include  a 
150-kw  generator,  240-hp  engine  and  200-hp  boiler.  Machinery  has  not 
been  purchased.  The  company  has  applied  to  the  City  Council  for  a 
franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  here.  E.  C.  Heinley 
is  vice-president  of  the  company. 

DALLAS,  TEX/ — Work  will  soon  begin  on  the  survey  of  the  pro- 
posed electric  railway  between  Dallas  and  Austin  to  be  built  by  the 
Trinity  Valley  Trac.  Co.  The  railway  will  be  235  miles  long  and  will 
]iass  through   Hubbard,   Marlin,   Temple   and   Georgetown. 

FORT  WORTH,  TEX.— The  Fort  Worth  Pwr.  &  Lt  Co.  is  planning 
to   extend   its   transmission   lines   to   Niles   City. 

HILLSBORO,  TEX.— Bids  will  be  received  until  Sept.  26  by  A.  W. 
Voung,  secretary  of  the  school  board,  for  wiring  a  16-room  school  build- 
ing.    Bids  will  be  taken  separately  or  with  general  contract. 

HILLSBORO,  TEX. — It  is  reported  that  the  interurban  railway  wh'ch 
extends  from  Dallas  to  Cleburne  will  be  extended  to  Hillsboro,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  35  miles.  Surveys  have  been  made  and  work  will  begin 
as  soon  as  the  right-of-way  is  secured  and  other  details  arranged.  The 
.Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corpn.,  Boston,  Mass.,  will  build  the  road. 

HOUSTON,  TEX. — The  County  Commissioners  have  granted  the 
Houston  El.  Co.  a  franchise  to  construct  an  electric  railway  on  Fifteenth 
Street  and  Navigation  Boulevard  in  Central  Park  and  Avenue  M  in 
-Magnolia  Park. 

WEST,  TEX. — Application  has  been  made  by  the  Southern  Trac.  Co. 
for  a  franchise  to  construct  an  electric  light  and  power  plaht  in  West. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH.— Surveys  are  now  being  made  by  the 
Utah  Lt.  &  Ry.  Co.  for  an  extension  of  the  North  Salt  Lake  line  to 
Bountiful,  a  distance  of  8  miles. 

TOOELE,  UTAH. — Work  has  commenced  on  the  construction  of  a 
new  hydroelectric  power  plant  for  the  Clarke  El.  Pwr.  Co.,  Tooele,  to  be 
erected  at  South  Willow,  6  miles  from  Grantsville.  Water  for  operating 
the  plant  will  be  carried  through  a  new  pipe  line  4  miles  long  and  from 
16  to  20  in.  in  diameter.  Electricity  will  be  transmitted  at  11,000  volts 
to  the  Ophir  Hill  Consolidated  Mining  property  and  connect  with  the 
Clark  company's  line  at  Stockton.  The  cost  of  the  plant  is  estimated  at 
$75,000.  E.  W.  Clarke,  of  Ophir,  is  president  and  m.anager  and  C.  E. 
Green   is  superintendent. 

STAUNTON,  VA. — The  City  Council  is  contemplating  building  an  en- 
tire new  municipal  electric  plant  instead  of  making  improvements  to  the 
present  plant. 

VESUVIUS,  VA. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Vesuvius  Plow 
Works  for  the  installation  of  a  small  electric-light  plant  to  be  operated 
b>-   water-power. 

ARLINGTON,  WASH.— The  South  Fork  Tel.  Co.,  recently  organized, 
ii  planning  to  install  a  telephone  system  in  Arlington. 

IJREMERTON,  WASH.— Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau  of 
Yards  and  Docks,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Oct,  5  for 
electric  wiring  and  fixtures  in  new  general  foundry  building  at  the  navy 
yard,  Puget  Sound,  Wash.  Cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at  $2,000. 
\\  illiam  M.   Smith   is  acting  chief  of  bureau. 

CAMAS,  WASH.- The  Northwest  El.  &  Pwr.  Co.  contemplates  the 
erection  of  a  substation  in  Camas. 

KIRKLAND,  WASH.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Kirkland 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  power  house  here.  Equipment 
for  the  power  plant  has  been  purchased. 

LYMAN,  WASH.— The  Pacific  Northwest  Trac.  Co.,  Seattle,  has  ap- 
plied for  a  franchise  to  install  and  operate  an  electric-light  system  in 
Lyman. 

SEATTLE,  WASH,— The  Puget  Sound  Trac.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
;iskcd  for  permission  to  make  extensions  to  its  Kinnear  Park  line. 
Jacob   Furth  is  president. 

SHELTON.  WASH.— The  Hartline  Tel.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  County 
Commissioners  for  permission  to  erect  a  telephone  system. 

TACOMA,  WASH.— The  Puget  Sound  Trac;,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  will  soon 
begin  work  on  the  extension  of  its  lines  from  the  county  poor  farm,  near 
Sumner,  to  Alderton. 

VANCOUVER,  WASH.— The  Washington  R>^,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  plan 
ning  to  erect  a  substation.  50  ft.  x  200  ft.,  at  the  foot  of  Washington 
Street,  Vancouver. 

NICOLETTE.  W.  VA.— The  charter  of  the  Breining  Mfg.  Co.,  re- 
cently incorporated,  gives  it  the  privilege  of  generating  and  selling  elec- 


586 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii 


tricity.     The  company  is  capitalized  at  $30,000.     Among  the  incorporators 
are:      H.    L.    Breining,   Millard    W.    NefT   and    W.    Scott    Radeker,   all    of 

Parkersburg. 

PRINXETON.  \V.  VA.— The  property  of  the  Princeton  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  purchased  by  the  Appalachian  Pwr.   Co.  for  $85,000. 

BOSCOBEL,  WIS.— The  Lancaster  El.  Lt.  Co.,  Lancaster,  has  sub- 
mitted a  proposition  to  the  Council  offering  to  supply  electricity  to 
operate  the  municipal  electric-light  plant.  A  committee  has  been  ap- 
pointed to  investigate  the  matter. 

COLUMBL^S,  WIS. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  water  and 
light  commission  tor  enlarging  the  municipal  lighting  system,  installing 
electroliers,   etc. 

KILBOURXE,  WIS. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  Southern  W^is- 
consin  Pwr.  Co.,  Madison,  for  enlarging  its  hydroelectric  power  plant, 
located  near  Kilbourne. 

MEXASHA,  WIS. — The  City  Council  contemplates  replacing  the  pres- 
ent street  arc  lamps  with  arc  lamps  of  modern  design. 

MILWAUKEE,  WIS.— The  Milwaukee  El.  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  is  planning 
to  extend  its  line  on  Forty-eighth  Street  from  Pabst  Avenue  to  North 
Avenue.     R.  B.   Stearn  is  assistant  general  manager. 

XEENAH,  WIS. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  Bergstrom 
Paper  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  large  hydroelectric  power  plant  near 
the  paper  mill. 

NEW  HOLSTEIN,  WIS.— The  contract  foi  installing  an  electric-light 
plant  for  the  village  has  been  awarded  to  the  Acker  Elcl.  Co.,  of 
Sheboygan,  to  cost  about  $15,000. 

SHAWANO,  WIS. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  building  commiltee 
for  the  Shawano  County  Asylum  until  Sept.  18  for  furnishing  and  in- 
stalling complete  one  50-kw  generator  and  80-hp  engine,  according  to 
plans  and  specifications  on  file  at  the  office  of  the  committee  and  F.  W. 
Dodge  Co.,  8-42  Monadnock  Bldg.,  Chicago,  111.  C.  F.  Lueke  is  chair- 
man  of  the  committee. 

WAUWATOSA,  WIS. — The  contract  for  construction  of  a  power  house 
at  the  Asylum  for  Chronic  Insane,  Wauwatosa,  has  been  awarded  to  the 
Appleton  Constr.  Co.  at  $12,889. 

WAUWATOSA.  WIS. — Plans  have  been  prepared  by  James  N.  Alear, 
consulting  engineer,  Chicago,  111*,  for  the  installation  of  a  central  heat- 
ing and  power  plant  for  the  county  institutions  at  Wauwatosa,  to  cost 
approximately  $494,550. 

EDMONTON,  ALTA.,  CAN.— The  Municipal  Council  will  submit  sev- 
eral by-laws  to  the  ratepayers  on  Sept.  23,  one  of  which  will  provide  for 
an  appropriation  of  $21,900  for  a  telephone  substation  in  the  Hudson 
Bay   reserve. 

MEDICINE  HAT,  ALTA.,  CAN.— A  bill  asking  for  an  appropriation 
for  the  installation  of  an  automatic  telephone  system  in  this  city  will  be 
submitted  at  the  next  session  of  the  Legislature. 

MERRITT,  B.  C,  CAN.— It  is  reported  that  bids  are  being  asked  by 
Dutcher,  Ma.xwell  &  Co.,  engineers,  of  Vancouver,  B.  C,  for  furnishing 
material  and  construction  of  an  electric  light  and  power  station  in 
Merritt. 

NEW  WESTMINSTER,  B.  C,  CAN.— Plans  are  being  considered  for 
the  installation  of  police  and  fire-alarm  systems. 

VANCOUVER,  B.  C,  CAN.— Bloedel,  Stewart  &  Welch,  Ltd.,  it  is 
stated,  will  petition  the  provincial  government  for  permission  to  develop 
a  water-power  on  the  Cheakamus  River,  a  few  miles  south  of  Green 
Lake,    to    cost    approximately    $2,000,000. 

VANCOUVER,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  Western  Canada  Pwr.  Co.  is  re- 
ported to  have  entered  into  a  contract  with  the  British  Columbia  EI.  Ry. 
Co.  to  supply  it  with  40,000  hp.  It  is  expected  that  the  power  company 
will  enlarge  its  plant  to  enable  it  to  fill  the  coT.ivact.  C.  H.  Cahan,  of 
Montreal,  Que.,  is  president  of  the  Western  Canada  Pwr.   Co. 

GALT,  ONT.  CAN. — Xegotiations  are  under  way  between  the  Grand 
Valley  Ry.  Co.  and  the  Hydro-Electric  Department  of  the  town  of  Gait, 
whereby  the  latter  is  to  supply  electricity  for  operating  the  cars  of  the 
former  from  Gait  to  Paris.     It  is  estimated  that  200  hp  will  be  required. 

IXGERSOLL,  ONT.,  CAN.— Several  of  the  farmers  of  North  and 
West  Oxford  Townships  have  applied  to  the  Hydro-Electric  Commission 
for    electrical    service. 

MILTON,  OXT..  CAX.— The  Hydro-Electric  Commission  has  decided 
to  extend  its  transmission  Imes  from  Brampton  to  Milton.  The  exten- 
sion will  be  about  13  miles  long  and  will  cost  about  $26,000. 

TORONTO,  OXT.,  CAX. — The  Hydro-Electric  Commission  is  contem- 
plating further  extensions  in  the  eastern  district.  The  town  of  Russell 
has  asked  the  commission  to  submit  estimates  on  750  hp,  1000  hp  and 
1500  hp.  The  municipality  of  Smith  Falls  alsc  contemplates  entering  into 
a  contract  with  the  commission  for  electricity. 

WELLAXD,  OXT.  CAN.— The  ratepayers,  of  Crowland  Township, 
have  granted  the  Canadian  General  Securities  Co.,  of  Toronto,  permis- 
sion to  lay  cables,  gas  mains  and  water  pipes  in  the  section  known  as 
Welland   South. 

MONTREAL.  QUE.,  CAX.— The  stockholders  of  the  Shawinigan  Wtr. 
&  Pwr.  Co.  have  ratified  an  issue  of  $5,000,000  in  new  capital  stock,  of 
which  the  directors  have  decided  to  issue  $1,500,000  to  the  stockholders 
at   $120  per  share. 

CANORA,    SASK.,   CAN. — The   ratepayers  have   voted   in   favor   of   the 


by-law  appropriating  $20,000  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric- 
light  plant. 

KINDERSLEY,  SASK.,  CAN.— The  ratepayers  have  voted  in  favor 
of  the  by-law  providing  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  and 
water-works  system   to  cost   $90,000. 

SAX  LUIS  POTOSI,  MEX.— D.  J.  Spillane,  of  San  Luis  Potosi,  who 
recently  obtained  a  concession  from  the  federal  government  to  install  a 
large  hydroelectric  power  plant  at  the  junction  of  the  Maria  and  Gal- 
linas  Rivers  in  this  State,  has  organized  a  company  in  the  United  States 
in  carry  out  the  project.  It  is  estimated  that  40,000  hp  can  be  developed 
at  the  proposed  site  of  the  hydroelectric  plant.  Surveys  have  also  been 
made  for  proposed  water-storage  reservoirs  in  that  section  by  which  the 
available  power  may  be  increased  to  100,000  hp.  Transmission  lines  will 
be  erected  to  the  cities  of  San  Luis  Potosi,  Tampico,  Saltillo,  Metahuala 
and  a   number  of  other  towns  and   industrial   centers. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  BRADY  ELECTRIC  &  MAXUFACTURIXG  COMPAXY,  of 
New  Britain,  Conn.,  has  been  incorporated  by  William  J.  Xoble,  N.  J. 
r.rady,  William  P.  Brady  and  Fred  M.  Brady,  all  of  New  Britain.  The 
Company  is  capitalized  at  $15,000. 

THE  COLONIAL  ELECTRICAL  COXSTRUCTIOX  COMPAXY.  of 
Chicago,  111.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500  by 
Bird   Malvin  Grayville,   Samuel  J.   Shaeffer  and  Morris  Kempel. 

THE  ELECTRIC  DISPLAY  COMPANY,  of  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  has 
been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000.  The  incorpo- 
rators are:   L.  A.   Hitchcock,  J.    B.    Pendleton  and   W.  and  H.   Oates. 

THE  HARRISON  ELECTRIC  COMPAXY,  of  Brooklyn,  X.  Y.,  has 
filed  articles  of  incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000.  The  in- 
corporators are:  Edward  F.  Quirke,  John  S.  Quirke  and  R.  M.  Quirke. 

THE  ILLUMIXATIXG  COMPANY,  of  Paterson,  X.  J.,  has  been  in- 
corporated by  W.  H.  Wiley,  Joseph  E.  Allen  and  A.  L.  Feidberg.  The 
company  is  capitalized  at  $125,000  and  proposes  to  manufacture  display 
letters. 

THE  SALVIXI  ELECTRICAL  HORN  MAXUFACTURIXG  COM- 
PANY, of  Xew  York,  X.  Y.,  has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital 
stock  of  $50,000.  The  incorporators  are:  Edward  Salomon,  Godfrey  S. 
Salomon  and  Salvatore  Salvini. 

THE  SAXTO  ELECTRICAL  APPLIAXCE  COMPAXY,  of  New 
York,  N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $15,000  by 
Charles  Groshut,  Florence  Groshut,  Herbert  A.  Durbrow  and  Alfred  F. 
Durbrow. 

THE  SOUTHERN  ELECTRIC  EQUIPMENT  COMPANY,  of  Colum- 
bus, Ohio,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $75,000  by 
W.  F.  Felton,  H.  C.  Mayers,  F.  L.  Ferguson,  X.  Patterson  and  D.  N. 
Postlewaite.  The  company  proposes  to  manufacture  electrical  laundry 
machinery  and  to  purchase,  operate  and  equip  laundries  with  electrical 
supplies  and  machinery. 

THE  WERX  MACHINERY  &  ENGINEERING  COMPANY,  of  New 
York,  X'.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  to  do 
general  contracting  work,  etc.,  by  G.  P.  Wern,  Algot  E.  Sylvan,  W.  C. 
W'ern,   all    of   96   Hamilton   Place.    X'ew    York. 


New  Incorporations 

CANTON,  ILL.— The  Central  &  Western  Illinois  Trac.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  by  J.  T.  Adams,  Columbus,  Ohio;  C.  P.  Williams,  Chicago, 
111.;  A.  L.  Ralson,  Grove  City,  Ohio;  W.  R.  Curran,  Pekin,  III.;  L.  H. 
Ash,  Canton,  111.,  and  others.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $200,000 
and  proposes  to  construct  and  operate  a  railway  from  Pekin  to  Peoria, 
III.,  through  the  counties  of  Tazewell,  Peoria,  Fulton,  McDonough  ami 
Hancock   to   Hamilton,    and   thence  to   Keokuk,    la. 

CHICAGO,  ILL. — The  Union  Central  El.  Co.  has  been  chartered  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  to  generate  and  sell  electricity.  The  incorpo- 
rators are:  William  H.  C.  Weston,  Guy  E.  Summers  and  Noble  U. 
Judah,  Jr. 

SPRINGFIELD.  ILL.— The  Springfield  Clear  Lake  &  Southern  Ry. 
Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500  to  take  over 
the  Springfield,  Clear  Lake  &  Rochester  Interurban  Ry.  It  is  planned 
to  secure  the  property  by  foreclosure,  to  improve  the  road  and  build 
a  branch  line  to  Riverton.  The  incorporators  are:  Dr.  N.  R.  Gordon, 
A.  W.  Sikking.  W.  R.  Thompson.  H.  L.  Metcalf,  of  Springfield,  and 
W  G.   Brown,  of  Rochester. 

ELDORA,  lA.— The  Iowa  River  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  o'  "^300,000  to  develop  the  water  rights  on  the  Iowa 
River  for  power  purposes.  The  incorporators  are.  E.  H.  Lundy,  G.  W. 
Wood,   E.   R.   Baskerville,   A.   H.   Latimer  and  J.   G.   Hartenberg. 

HUDSON  FALLS,  N.  Y.— The  Lake  George  Highway  Ltg.  Co.  has 
been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  The  incorporators  are: 
Charles  T,  Peabody,  John  Peterson  and  Elias  Taylor^  all  of  Lake  George. 


September  14.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


587 


I  NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— The  Metropolitan  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  has  been 
I  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  to  operate  telephone  and 
'  telegraph  lines  from  135  East  Sixteenth  Street,  borough  of  Manhattan, 
to  points  in  Long  Island  and  New  Jersey.  The  incorporators  are:  II.  Lee 
Sellers,  R.  H.  Sellers,  C.  A.  Aver,  Butler  Jack,  L.  Lemon,  \V.  H. 
1   McColIum   and   H.   T.    Haskell 

'        PORTLAND,     ORE. — The     Hurley     Hydraulic     Transmission     Co.     has 

been  incorporated  with  a  capital   stock  of  $50,000  by  W.  J.    Binns,  J.   H. 

Hurley  and  A.  Sweek. 

■       SENECA,  S.  C. — The  Conneross  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 

:   with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  by  G.  W.   Gagnilliat,   L.   A.   Edwards,  of 

Seneca,  and  Campbell  Courtenay,   of  Newry,   S.   C. 

HOWARD,  TEX.— The  Howard  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  been  chartered 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  J.  T.  Murphey,  W.  R.  Woods,  J.  S. 
Robinson  and  others.  Post  office  address  Howard,  R.F.D.  Waxhachie. 
COVINGTON,  VA.— The  Covington  Lt.  &  Power  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000.  The  company  proposes  to  sup- 
ply electricity  in  Covington,  Clifton  Forge  and  Alleghany,  Bath,  Bote- 
tourt and  Craig  Counties.  The  officers  are :  John  S.  Ham,  president ; 
W.  A.  Rinehart,  vice-president,  and  M.  S.  Noffsinger,  secretary  and 
treasurer. 

ROANOKE,  \'A. — The  Roanoke  Utilities  Corpn.  has  been  granted  a 
charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000.  The  officers  are:  E.  M.  Funk- 
houser,  president;  J.  W.  Fishbume,  vice-president,  and  H.  C.  Elliott,  sec- 
retary. 

TACOMA,  WASH. — The  Washington  El.  Ry.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000  for  the  purpose  of  building  an  electric 
railway  between  Tacoma  and  Vancouver  on  the  Columbia  River.  Branch 
!  lines  will  also  be  built  through  Tenino,  Raymond,  South  Bend,  Aberdeen, 
Hoquiara  and  Randle.  It  is  undersvood  that  Welsh  interests  controlling 
the  Washington-Oregon  Corporations  are  interested  in  the  new  compai^y. 
LESTER,  W.  VA. — The  Lester  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  to  construct  and  operate  water  and  elec- 
trical plants  and  operate  an  electric-car  line.  The  incorporators  are:  E. 
M,  Canady,  J.  Levi  Cook,  J.  B.  Canady.  J.  Q.  Brooke  and  G.  Y.  Kelley, 
Lester,  and  James  Bryson,   Bryson. 


Trade  Publications 

DIRECT-CURRENT  RAILROAD.— Buletin  No.  4950  of  the  General 
Electric  Company  gives  a  comprehensive  account  of  the  Washington, 
Baltimore  &  Annapolis   1200-voIt  direct-current   railroad. 

REVOLVING-FIELD  ALTERNATORS.— The  Fort  WTayne  Electric 
Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company  have  issued  Bulletin  No.  1137. 
which  refers  to  belt-driven    revolving-field   polyphase   alternators. 

VOLT-AMMETER. — A  railway  signal  volt-ammeter  is  illustrated  and 
described  in  Bulletin  No.  4880  of  the  General  Electric  Company.  This 
instrument  is  used  for  testing  direct-current  railway-signal  apparatus.. 

WATER  STRAINERS— Practical  information  on  the  installation  and 
operation  of  water  strainers  for  power-plant  purposes  is  given  in  an  eight- 
page  folder  issued  by  the  Lagonda  Manufacturing  Company,  Springfield. 
Ohio. 

DISTRinUTION  TRANSFORMERS.— Bulletin  No.  151  of  the  Croclcer- 
Wheeler  Company,  Ampere,  N.  J.,  gives  information  on  the  Remek  dis- 
tributing transformer,  for  which  type  a  very  low  average  core  loss  is 
claimed. 

ORNAMENTAL  LAMP-POSTS.— The  Morris  Iron  Company,  Fred- 
erick, Md.,  has  issued  a  new  bulletin,  size  9  in.  by  3^  in.,  illustrating 
eighteen  different  designs  of  ornamental  lampposts  and  brackets.  Many 
of  these  designs  show  lines  of  beauty  as  well  as  utility. 

MOTORS.— Bulletin  No.  141  of  the  Crocker-Wheeler  Company,  Am- 
pere, N.  J,,  refers  to  alternating-current  motors  of  the  induction  type 
designed  for  operating  from  25-cycle  polyphase  circuits.  It  briefly  de- 
scribes and  generously  illustrates  this  class  of  apparatus. 

INDUSTRIAL  RAILWAYS.— The  C.  W.  Hunt  Company,  West  New 
Hrighton,  N.  Y.,  is  mailing  a  stretcher,  20  in.  long  when  unfolded,  on  its 
industrial  railway  system.  Many  illustrations  showing  the  system  in 
operation  accompanied  by  terse  paragraphs  make  up  the  circular. 

AMMETERS. — Messrs.  Everett.  Edgcumbe  &  Company.  Ltd..  London. 
England,  have  distributed  a  fac-simile  of  an  ammeter  of  ordinary  size, 
with  the  dial  printed  on  it,  and  in  the  center  is  an  opening  which  per- 
mits of  the  adjustment   from  month  to  month  of  a  perpetual  calendar. 

BALL  BEARINGS.— The  Hess-Bright  Manufacturing  Company,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.,  has  issued  in  loose-leaf  form  a  series  of  sheets  illustrating 
the  application  of  ball  bearings  to  various  kinds  of  apparatus,  each  sheet 
referring  to  a  class  of  machinery  in  which  ball  bearings  have  been 
employed. 

MOTORS. — The  Emerson  Electric  Manufacturing  Company.  St.  Louis. 
Mo.,  in  its  Bulletin  No.  3221  gives  information  concerning  its  bipolar 
ventilated  motors.  These  motors  are  made  in  five  sizes  of  frames,  rang- 
ing from  0.05  hp  to  0.25  hp.  The  bulletin  contains  data,  dimensions,  code 
words,  prices  and  illustrations. 

REFLECTORS. — .\n  eight-page  folder  has  recently  been  issued  by  the 
Haskins  Glass  Company,  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  in  which  the  Haskins- 
Lucida    diffusive    reflectors    are    illustrated.      Among    the    types    of    re- 


flectors shown  are  the  semi-flared,  flat,  mission-bell  and  bowl  types,  and 
also    two    styles    of    pendent    reflectors. 

LAMPS. — In  a  twelve-page  pamphlet  issued  by  the  Straight  Filament 
Lamp  Company,  125  West  Forty-second  Street,  New  York,  information 
is  given  concerning  the  "rayline  lamp."  It  consists  of  a  straight  filament 
in  a  clear  glass  tube  12  in.  long.  It  is  constructed  to  withstand  hard 
usage  and  is  said  to  give  shadowless  light. 

GENERATORS.— Instruction  book  No.  3053  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Electr  c 
Works  of  General  Electric  Company  deals  with  multiphase  revolving-field 
alternating-current  generators  and  belted  exciters.  It  gives  much  general 
information  for  the  users  of  this  class  of  apparatus  and  contains  eight 
pages  of  diagrams  of  connections  and  wiring. 

MOTOR  VEHICLES. — A  preliminary  catalog  of  motor  vehicles  is 
being  issued  by  the  Duryea  Motor  Company,  Saginaw,  Mich.  Motor- 
driven  buggies  form  the  subject  of  the  pamphlet.  An  introduction  on 
the  development  of  this  class  of  vehicle,  illustrations,  specifications  and 
brief  descriptions  go  to  make  up  the  contents. 

SEWING  MACHINE  MOTORS.— Bulletin  No.  3912  of  the  Emerson 
IClectrJc  Manufacturing  Company,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  is  devoted  to  informa- 
tion with  respect  to  factory  sewing-machine  motors.  The  factory  motor 
outfits  described  in  the  bulletin  consist  of  motors  furnished  complete 
with  all   necessary   rods,  screws,   transmitters,  etc. 

INSTRUMENTS.— Bulletin  No.  62  of  the  Industrial  Instrument  Com- 
pany, Foxboro,  Mass.,  illustrates  and  describes  stationary  tachometers 
and  tachographs,  covering  a  great  variety  of  styles,  ranges  and  purposes 
for  practically  all  kinds  of  industrial  and  engineering  service.  Informa- 
tion  concerning   precision   instruments   is  also   included. 

PORTABLE  LAMPS. — In  a  booklet  recently  issued  by  the  Phoenix 
Glass  Company,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  illustrations  and  brief  descriptions  are 
given  of  a  handsome  line  of  portable  lamps  for  household  use.  The 
colorings  include  the  Adam  decoration,  which  is  similar  to  old  alabaster, 
and   the   Nile  decoration,   which   is  of  soft,  velvety   pale  green. 

MOTOR  DRIVE  IN  RAILROAD  SHOPS.— "The  Electrical  Opera- 
tion of  Railroad  Shops"  is  the  title  of  Bulletin  No.  4959,  recently  issued 
by  the  General  Electric  Company.  The  bulletin  shows  the  advantages  of 
individual  drive  over  group  drive  and  gives  an  illustrated  description  of 
installations  in  some  of  the  important  railroad  shops  in  the  country. 

STREET  LIGHTING. — The  series  incandescent  street-lighting  sys- 
tem is  th€  subject  of  Bulletin  No.  4952  issued  by  the  General  Electric 
Company.  The  pamphlet  contains  considerable  descriptive  information 
with  illustrations  relating  to  incandescent  street  lighting.  Bulletin  No.  4951 
takes  up  the  same  subject  with  reference  to  lighting  with  tungsten  lamps. 

ARC  RECTIFIER  OUTFIT.— The  General  Electric  Company's  Bulletin 
No.  4925  describes  its  combined  unit  mercury-arc  rectifier  outfit  in  con- 
siderable detail.  This  equipment  consists  of  the  constant-current  trans- 
former, direct-current  reactance,  tube  tank  and  exciting  transformer 
mounted  on  a  common  base.  Dimension  and  connection  diagrams  are 
includetl. 

ELECTRIC  SPECIALTIES.— The  G  &  W  Electric  Specialty  Company, 
6408  Jackson  Park  Avenue,  Chicago,  111.,  in  its  Catalog  No.  7,  follows  the 
lust  page  of  explanatory  definitions  of  its  specialties  with  a  general  de- 
scription of  them  and  gives  many  half-tone  illustrations  and  diagrams 
showing  its  pot-heads  in  actual  installation.  It  contains  a'so  other  mat- 
ter of  interest  to  central-station  men. 

ROOFING. — "A  Mile  of  Barrett  Specification  Roofs — and  What  the 
Owners  Write  About  Them"  is  the  title  of  a  publication  issued  by  the 
Barrett  Manufacturing  Company,  17  Battery  Place,  New  York.  It 
consists  of  two  pages  of  reading  matter  and  a  triple-page  photograph 
showing  the  Bush  Terminal  Buildings.  Brooklyn,  all  of  which  are 
covered   with  Barrett   specification   roofing. 

INTERIOR  TELEPHONES.— Catalog  No.  22  of  the  Connecticut  Tele- 
phone &  Electric  Company,  Meriden,  Conn.,  deals  with  intercommuni- 
cating telephone  systems  for  interior  use.  Single-point,  multiple,  apart- 
ment-house, "centerphone"  or  school,  hotel-annunciator  and  switchboard 
systems  are  described  in  this  catalog,  which  also  gives  illustrations  and 
diagrams  of  these  systems  and  various  telephone  accessories. 

DIRECT-CURRENT  MOTORS.— Bulletin  No.  149  has  been  issued  by 
the  Crocker- Wheeler  Company,  Ampere,  N.  J.  It  deals  with  Form  H 
direct-current  motors  and  generators  of  50  hp  and  larger.  This  line  of 
motor  replaces  the  C-W  form  D  direct-current  machines  of  the  pedestal 
type  and,  it  is  claimed,  has  the  advantage  of  being  more  compact  and 
therefore  better  adapted  for  application  to  machinery  of  all  kinds. 

INDUCTION  MOTORS. — Single-phase  repulsion  induction  motors 
rated  at  from  0.25  hp  to  15  hp  are  made  the  subject  of  Bulletin  No.  1140 
of  the  Fort  Wayne  Electric  Works  of  General  Electric  Company,  Fort 
Wayne,  Ind.  It  is  stated  that  this  motor  possesses  high  efficiency,  high 
power- factor,  high  starting  torque,  large  overload  range  and  mechanical 
simplicity.  The  bulletin  contains  illustrations,  diagrams  and  a  general 
description  of  the  apparatus. 

ELECTRIC  TRUCKS. — The  electric  division  of  the  General  Motors 
Truck  Company,  Detroit,  Mich.,  has  issued  a  forty-eight-page  booklet  on 
the  electric  truck,  a  sketch  indicating  the  development  and  present  status 
of  this  modern  successor  to  the  horse.  For  the  prospective  purchaser  of 
electric  trucks  the  booklet  contains  definite,  practical  information  as  to 
cost,  operation  and  maintenance  and  the  experience  of  others  who  have 
installed  electric  trucks.  Central-station  men  will  be  especially  interested 
in  this  little  story. 


588 


ELECTRICAL     W^ORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ii. 


Business  Notes 


THE  AMERICAN  CARBON  &  BATTERY  COMPANV,  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  has  announced  the  opening  of  its  new  factory,  built  to  replace  the 
one  destroyed  by  f.re  Dec.  27,  1911. 

THE  ATWATER  KENT  MANUFACTURING  COMPANV  has 
moved  its  offices  and  plant  for  manufacturing  electrical  instruments  from 
46  North  Sixth   Street,  Philadelphia,  to  4937  Stenton  Avenue.  Germantown. 

THE  CENTRAL  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  Chicago.  III.,  has  prepared 
for  distribution  to  its  electrical  supply  customers  a  celluloid  tablet 
arranged  for  the  rapid  determ-nation  of  net  profits  and  discounts.  The 
device   should    prove   especially   useful   to   supply    dealers   and   contractors. 

THE  INTERSTATE  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  445  South  Dearborn 
Street,  Chicago,  engineer  and  contractor  for  electrical  installations,  is 
about  to  open  an  otfice  in  Indianapolis.  The  company  makes  a  specialty 
of    water-pow  er    construction    and    carries    a    stock    of.  electrical    supphes. 

WALTER  E.  SNOW,  publicity  engineer,  Boston,  Mass..  has  added  to 
his  staff  Mr.  Chester  R.  Ross,  who  will  act  as  manager  of  the  addressing 
and  mailing  department.  Among  the  recent  publications  issued  is  a  neat 
booklet  entitled  "Publicity  Engineering,"  which  is  defined  as  a  combina- 
tion of  practical  engineering  knowledge  and  advertising  experience  for 
the   creation   of   productive    publicity   regarding   technical   matters. 


INDEPENDENT    ELECTRIC    MANUFACTURING     COMPANY.— A 

new  factory  building  is  being  elected  at  Milwaukee  by  the  Independent 
Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  builder  of  motor  controllers,  starters 
and  accessories.  The  new  structure  is  of  concrete  faced  with  brick  and 
will  be  equipped  with  individual  motor  drive  and  all  modern  equipment. 
.\fter  taking  possession  of  its  enlarged  qu.^rters,  the  company  plans  to 
extend   its  lines   of   manufacture   of  control   apparatus. 

BROWN,  HOPKINS,  NISSEN  &  SPRINKLE  is  the  new  name  under 
which  the  firm  of  Brown  &  Hopkins,  patent  attorneys.  1124  Monadnock 
Block,  Chicago,  will  continue  the  practice  of  patent  and  trade-mark  law. 
Mr.  Charles  M.  Nissen,  who  will  become  a  member  of  the  new  firm,  is 
a  member  of  the  bar,  was  graduated  in  electrical  engineering  from  the 
Case  School  of  Applied  Science  and  from  George  Washington  University, 
was  an  assistant  examiner  in  the  L^nited  States  Patent  Office  for  about 
five  years,  then  had  charge  of  the  patent  department  of  the  Otis  Elevator 
Company  for  a  few  years,  and  has  been  associated  with  Brown  &  Hop- 
kins in  the  practice  of  patent  and  trade-mark  law  for  several  years  past. 
Mr.  Arthur  L.  Sprinkle,  who  will  become  a  member  of  the  new  firm, 
was  for  a  number  of  years  connected  with  the  patent  department  of  the 
Warder,  Bushnell  &  Glessner  Company  and  the  experimental  depart- 
ment of  the  International  Harvester  Company.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Chicago-Kent  College  of  Law.  of  Austin  College  and  of  Rochester  Busi* 
ness  University,  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  bar  and  has  been  associated 
with   Brown   &  Hopkins  since    1906. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED  STATES  PATENTS  ISSUED  SEPT.  3,  1912. 
[Prepared  by  Robert  Starr  Allyn,   16  Exchange  Place,  New  York.] 

1,037,200.     HOLDING   SLEEVE  FOR  CONDUITS;   F.   M.   Brinckerhoff, 

New  York,  N.  Y.     App.  filed  Feb.  17,  1911.     Lock  nut  and  box  joint. 
1,037,268.        PROCESS      OF      MANUFACTURING      INX-KXDESCENT 

BODIES;    H.    Kuzel,    Baden,   Austria-Hungary.      App.    filed   April    10. 

1906.     Uses  colloidal  oxides  and  hydroxides  of  refractory   metals. 
1,037,290.     VACUUM-TUBE  LIGHTING;  D.  McF.  Moore,  Newark,  N.  ]. 

App.  filed   April   7,    1906.      The  system  employs  a  number  of  vacuum 

tubes  connected  to  a  conduit  system  and  a  single  transformer. 
1,037,304.     SOCKET    SWITCH;    \V.    G.    Peat,    Bridgeport,    Conn.      .\pp. 

filed  June  25,   1912.     Pull  switch  with  oscillating  blade. 
1,037,330.     SIGN.\L1NG    SYSTEM;    H.    O.    Rugh.    Sandwich,    111.      .\pp. 

filed   May   4,    1909.      Step-by-step   selector   with   distributing  resistance 

in  the  relay  circuit. 
1,037,344.     CONTROLLING  DEVICE  FOR  ELECTRIC  MOTORS;  J.  J. 

Sinclair,   Upper  Montclair,  N.  J.        App.  filed  Dec.   7,   1911.      Electro- 

magnetically  controlled    ratchet. 
1,037,349.     ELECTRIC    PIANO;    I.    B.    Smith,    Philadelphia,    Pa.'      .\pp. 

filed  Feb.   19,   1906.     Electromagnetic  hammer. 
1,037,369.     ELECTRICALLY     HEATED    STEAM     RADIATOR;    J.     S. 

Thompson,    Mill    Valley,     Cal.     App.     filed    March     12,     1912.     Auto- 
matically controlled  valve  action. 


V7777777} 


1,037,363. — Magnetic    Separator. 

1.027.370.  PROCESS  OF  DRYING  AND  BLEACHING;  J.  D.  Tomp- 
kins, Valatie,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Dec.  20,  1910.  Electric  current  is 
passed  through  a  traveling  wet  web  of  paper. 

1,037,379.  VACUUM  .XPP-VR-ATUS;  E.  Weiniraub,  Lynn,  Mass.  Api'. 
filed  Dec.   13,  1910.     Mercury  seal  for  a  silica  container. 

1,037,397.  INCLOSED  FUSE;  G.  Wright,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  App.  filed 
.\ug.   26,    1909.     Plurality   of  pa'-allel   trough-shaped  strips. 

1.037.421.  PROTECTING  DE^^CE  FOR  ELECTRIC-RAILWAY 
PLOWS;  W.  L.  Boycr,  Kingston,  N.  V  App.  filed  May  1.  1912. 
Underground  conduit  contact  shoe. 

1.037,433.  MaTOR-CONTROL  SYSTEM;  E.  R.  Carichoff,  Schenectady. 
N.  Y.  .\pp.  i:kd  Feb.  19.  1912.  Series  parallel  system  with  a  relay 
and  master  controller. 

1.037,435.  MOTOR-CONTROL  SYSTEM;  F.  E.  Case,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
.■\pp.  filed  Dec.  4.  1911.  Series  parallel  control  in  connection  witli 
storage  battery. 

1.037,438.  TELEPHONE-EXCH.\NGE  SYSTEM;  E.  E.  Clement,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.  .\Dp.  filed  March  20.  1908.  Semi-automatic  party  line; 
sttbscribers'  call. 


1,037,447.  ELECTRICAL  APPAR.A.TUS;  T.  F.  Crocker,  Dayton,  Ohio. 
App.  filed  Sept.  18,  1911.  Semi-automatic  telephone  for  Keith 
system,  etc. 

1,037,452.  ELECTRICAL  APPARATUS  FOR  TRANSMITTING  AND 
RECEIVING  SIGNALS;  .\.  T.  Dawson  and  G.  T.  Buckham.  West- 
minster, London,  England.  App.  filed  May  4,  1912.  Motor-driven 
switches,  with   number  arums  for  artillery-fire  control  system. 

1,037,470.  MAIL-BOX  ALARM;  M.  W.  Grindle,  Santa  Rosa,  Cal.  .\pp. 
filed  Feb.    13,   1911.     .Alarm  given   when   mail  is  deposited. 

1,037,485.  ELECTRICAL  APPLIANCE  FOR  GAS  ENGINES;  J.  W. 
Jepson,  New  York.  N.  Y.  App.  filed  March  29,  1910.  -Automatically 
regulated  dynamo-electric   ignition. 

1,037,500.  OZOXIZER;  K.  M.  Leggett,  .-^nn  Arbor,  Mich.  App.  filed 
Nov.  23,   1911.     Compressed-air  cooling. 

1,037,522.  ELECTRIC  CABLE;  V.  P.  von  Pindtershoffen,  Wiener-Neu- 
stadt,    Austria-Hungary.     App.   filed   Jan.   27,    1909.     .\ir  insulation. 

1,037.525.  ROTARY  CONTACT  FOR  SNAP  SWITCHES;  C.  D.  Piatt, 
Bridgeport,  Conn.     .App.  filed  April  24,   1912.     Double-crossed  arms. 

1.037.536.  TREATMENT  OF  MOLTEN  STEEL;  T.  W.  Richards,  South 
Bethlehem,  Pa.  .\pp.  filed  Dec.  8,  1910.  The  fin  shed  molten  steel 
is  transferred  to  an  acid-lined  induction  furnace  and  kept  melted 
until  ready  to  cast. 

1.037.537.  RINGER  FOR  TELEPHONES,  &c.;  H.  J.  Roberts,  Evanslon, 
111.      .App.  filed   May   1,   1905.     Polarized  type. 

1,037,558.  ALTERNATING-CURRENT  RECTIFIER;  C.  P.  Steinmctz. 
Schenectady,  N.    V.     App.  filed  May  23,   1905.     Mercury  arc. 

1.037,563.     M.AGNETIC    SEP.ARATOR;    G.    Ullrich.    Broken    Hill,    New 
South  Wales,  Australia.     -App.  filed  Dec.  13,  1906.     -V  conveyor  movcb 
between  a  magnetic  member  and  a  pole  piece. 

1,037,566.  ELECTRIC  SIGN.VL  LAMP;  W.  J.  Warder,  Jr.,  Cnicago, 
111.  App.  filed  -N'ov.  6,  1911.  Plurality  of  bulbs  with  automatic 
focusing. 

1,037,573.  ELECTRIC  HEATER;  C.  H.  Allen,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed 
May    26,    1911.      Ironing   roller. 

1,037,580.  CIRCUIT-CONTROLLING  MECHANISM;  F.  Bechoff,  Sche- 
nectady, N.  Y.  App.  filed  Dec.  16,  1908.  Remote  control  of  inter- 
locking devices  such  as  oil  switches. 

1.037,585.  ELECTROLYSIS  OF  LIQUIDS;  J.  Billiter,  Vienna,  Austiia- 
Hungary.  -App.  filed  July  8,  1910.  Horizontal  cathode  strips  witn 
covering  gas   conduits. 

1,037,603.  ELECTRICAL  MUSICAL  INSTRUMENT;  H.  R.  Dicks. 
Grey  Eagle,  Minn.  App.  filed  Jan.  20,  1912.  Key-operated  bell 
ringer. 

1.037,606.  ELECTRICAL  CONTACT  FOR  R.AILWAY  CROSSING 
BELLS;  E.  D.  EveiT,  Mason,  Mich.  App.  filed  Nov.  13,  1911.  At 
tached  to  the  rail. 

1,037,636.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  J.  Kennedy,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  App. 
filed  July  20,    1908.     Interconnecting  cord  circuits  with  lamp  signals. 

1.037,673.  AUTOMATIC  TRAIN-CONTROLLING  SYSTEM;  F.  D. 
Shindel,  Huntingdon,  Pa.  App.  filed  Feb.  16,  1911.  Train  stop  for 
single-track  roads,  etc. 

1,037.683.  CURRENT-REGULATING  DEVICE  OR  RESISTANCE  AP- 
PLICABLE FOR  ELECTRIC  LIGHTING  OR  HEATING;  W.  Sum- 
ner, Liverpool,  England.  App.  filed  Jan.  5,  1912.  Fibrous  material 
impregnated  with  carbon. 

1,037,713.  METHOD  OF  MAKING  SILIC(>N  ARTICLES;  T.  B.  AUea, 
Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  June  26,  1911.  Magnesium  is  added 
to  molten  silicon. 

1.037.744.  APPARATUS  FOR  A  PROCESS  OF  FUMIG.ATION;  F.  M. 
Duncan  and  W.  S.  Eisenberg.  Los  -Angeles  and  Alhambra,  Cal. 
.App.   filed  June   25.    1910.      Produces  hydrocyanic  acid  gas. 

1.037.76".  ALARM;  S.  Hoge,  Wayneshurg.  Pa.  .\pp.  filed  June  20. 
1911.      For  incubators,   drip-pans,  boilers,   etc. 

1.037.771.  FOOD  CARRIER;  J.  Hughes.  San  Francisco.  Cal.  -\pp.  lilcil 
-April    19.    1912.      Electrically  heated   receptacle  on   wheels. 

1.037,825.  TROLLEY-WHEEL  RETAINER;  S.  A.  Findura,  McKees-| 
port.  Pa.  -App.  filed  March  4,  1912.  Spring-pressed  pole  wlthj 
guards. 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  SEPTEMBER  2i,  1912. 


No.  12. 


PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  BY 

McGraw  Publishing  Company 

James  H.  McGraw,  Pres.  C.  E.  Whittlesey.  Sec'y  and  Treas. 

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Copyright,  1912,  by  McGraw  Publishing  Company. 
Entered  at  the  New  York  Post  Office  as  Second  Class  Mail  Matter. 

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NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY.  SEPTEMBER  21,  1912. 


CONTENTS. 

F.ditoriats     589 

.Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical   Engineers 592 

Fifth   International    Congress   of    Chambers   of   Commerce   and    Indus- 
trial    .Associations 59J 

Xew  York  Electric  \'eliicle  Association 592 

Illuminating  Engineering  Society  Convention 592 

Convention  of  .Association   of  Edison    Illuminating   Companies 594 

Final  Preparations  lor  Boston    1912  Electric  Show 595 

Colorado    Electrical    Convention 596 

Public  Service  Commission  News 598 

Current   News  and   Notes 599 

Electricity  in  Harper  Memorial   Library 601 

New  Snake  River  Water   Power  Plant  of  Idaho  Falls,  Idaho 604 

Minimizing   Sparking    in    Direct-Current    Machinery.      By    Prof.    Jens 

Eache-Wiig     605 

Hxperimental  .Analysis  of  Sags  in  Long  Spans 606 

Profitable  Peak-Load  Service  from  Small  Water-Power 608 

Compact  Data  for  the  Solicitor 608 

Central-Station    Activity   at   Boston 609 

Advantages  and  Costs  of  Purchased  Energy 609 

Inexpensive    Temporary    Switchboard    Panel 610 

Sale  of  Energy  to  Factories  on  "Unrefined"  Basis  in  St.  Louis 610 

•An    Off-Peak    Lighting    Contract 610 

Income  per  Hp-year  from  Various  Rates  and  Load-Factors 611 

Lamp  Signal    System   for   Hospital 612 

Painting  Line    Poles   in   the   Yard    Before    Erecting 612 

Three-Phase    Distributing    Transformers 613 

Primary   and    Secondary    Pole-Line   Record  Systems 613 

Improving  the   Illumination   of  a  Hotel   Writing  Room 614 

Private   Ornamental    Street    Lighting    in    Chicago 614 

Electric  Lighting  at  St.   Paul's  Church.  Halifax 616 

Semi-Indirect   Illumination    for   the    St.    Louis    Cathedral 616 

Ornamental   Lighting  of  .Albany  Hotel   Cafe,   Denver 616 

Department  Store  Lighting  by  Indirect   System 617 

Recent    Telephone    Patents 617 

Letter  to  the  Editors. 

Jupiter  of  the  Sons  of  Jove.      By  H.   H.   Cudmore 617 

Digest  of  Current   Electrical   Literature 618 

Book    Review 62 1 

New   .Apparatus    and    Appliances 622 

Industrial    and    Financial   News 626 

Weekly    Record    nf    Electrical    Patents 636 


ELEaRICAL  EQUIPHENT  OF  A  LIBRARY. 

The  new  Harper  Memorial  Library  of  the  University  of 
Chicago,  in  addition  to  being  a  splendid  example  of  archi- 
tecture, is  provided  with  a  singularly  complete  electrical 
equipment  for  all  purposes,  of  which  a  somewhat  detailed 
account  is  given  elsewhere  in  our  columns.  With  respect  to 
service  a  library  must  be  looked  at  from  three  viewpoints — 
first,  as  a  place  especially  equipped  for  reading;  second,  as 
a  meeting  place  where  a  large  number  of  persons  con- 
gregate, and,  third,  as  a  place  of  storage  which  must  be 
equipped  with  perfect  facilities  for  finding  and  bringing  to 
a  central  point  books  stored  over  a  large  area.  All  this 
implies  not  only  good  lighting  both  in  reading  rooms  and 
service  rooms  but  also  a  very  complete  heating  and  venti- 
lating equipment  and  elaborate  provisions  for  the  rapid  dis- 
tribution of  books.  As  respects  the  first  matter,  it  is  a 
generally  accepted  principle  that  all  rooms  designed  for 
reading  purposes  should  be  provided  with  both  general  and 
special  illumination,  the  former  to  give  convenient  general 
light  for  the  interior,  including  illumination  for  the  finding 
of  books  on  reference  shelves  and  for  similar  purposes,  and 
the  latter  to  provide  adequate  illumination  on  the  tables  for 
the  readers.  E.xperience  indicates  that  the  localized  illumi- 
nation for  reading  must  be  from  two  to  three  times  as  in- 
tense as  that  necessary  for  general  illumination,  and  while 
it  has  proved  feasible  in  some  instances  to  work  with  gen- 
eral illumination  only,  considerations  of  reasonable  economy 
usually  indicate  the  desirability  of  installing  specialized 
reading  lamps  over  the  tables. 

In  the  Harper  Memorial  Library  the  general  illumination 
in  the  reading  room  is  furnished  by  two  large  chandeliers 
mounted  far  above  the  floor  level  and  fitted  with  tungsten 
lamps.  The  special  illumination  for  the  tables  is  now  being 
selected,  the  form  installed  experimentally  being  somewhat 
different  from  the  usual  arrangement  of  shaded  reading 
lamps.  A  bronze  inverted  trough  lined  with  milk  glass  is 
placed  at  a  suitable  height  above  the  table,  and  light  is  fur- 
nished by  25-watt  tungsten  lamps  distributed  along  this 
trough.  An  additional  floor  outlet  provides  for  future 
change  in  the  installation  if  necessary.  The  heating  and 
ventilating  equipment  involves  the  use  of  a  number  of  blower 
sets  to  distribute  the  warm  air  in  various  parts  of  the 
bui'ding,  the  equipment  for  the  upper  floors  being  located 
in  the  attic  and  that  for  the  lower  floors  in  the  basement. 
In  addition,  exhaust  fans,  also  electrically  driven,  provide 
for  the  ventilation.  A  special  exhaust  equipment  is  used 
for  the  reading  room,  which  is  often  open  when  the  rest 
of  the  building  is  closed.  There  are  pumping  outfits  to 
provide  water  for  general  purposes  and  a  special  small 
pumping  equipment  for  circulating  iced  water  throughout 
the  building,  the  cooling  coils  for  this  being  located  in  the 
basement.  Finally,  as  regards  the  service  equipment,  there 
are  three  large  automatic  electric  elevators  for  general  pas- 


590 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  u 


senger  service,  besides  a  non-automatic  elevator  for  much 
of  the  regular  passenger  work  and  a  freight  elevator.  Five 
automatic  book  lifts  are  installed  to  take  care  of  the  work 
in  the  stack  rooms,  and  an  electrically  operated  pneumatic- 
tube  system  provides  intercommunication  for  messages  and 
orders.  Telephones  and  an  indicator  system  connect  the 
stacks  with  the  delivery  stations.  Altogether  this  library 
equipment  is  one  of  the  most  complete  that  have  ever  been 
installed  and  adds  enormously  to  the  efficiency  of  the 
Harper  Memorial  as  a  students'  working  library. 


When  this  is  done  the  necessity  for  operating  steam  boiler! 
in  connection  with  the  ice-making  service  is  eliminated,  anJ 
it  is  possible  to  supply  energy  to  such  combination  plant' 
from  transmission  lines  without  abandoning  the  very  profit 
able   ice-making  branch   of  the  business. 


PUBLIC-UTILITY  CONSOLIDATIONS. 

The  past  nine  months  have  seen  some  remarkable  devel- 
opments in  the  way  of  public-utility  consolidation  and 
finance.  For  a  number  of  years  there  has  been  a  steady 
increase  in  the  acquirement  of  electric-service  companies 
in  various  parts  of  the  country  by  syndicates  or  engineering 
and  management  firins  with  ample  financial  backing,  tech- 
nical resources  and  knowledge  of  how  to  manage  such  en- 
terprises. Until  recently,  however,  these  syndicates  and 
engineering  concerns  have  made  a  practice  of  acquiring 
desirable  properties  scattered  here  and  there  over  the  entire 
country.  Their  ownership  was  at  first  confined  almost  en- 
tirely to  the  larger  towns  and  cities.  Gradually,  as  the 
larger  properties  were  taken  up,  they  turned  their  attention 
to  the  smaller  ones,  until  to-day  comparatively  few  central- 
station  properties  in  towns  of  10,000  population  and  over 
have  not  passed  into  some  kind  of  syndicate  control  and 
away  from  local  ownership.  Among  the  notable  tendencies 
during  the  past  year  may  be  mentioned  the  consolidation 
under  one  ownership  of  all  the  properties  in  one  locality  or 
portion  of  a  state  so  as  ultimately  to  bring  about  actual 
physical  connection  of  the  various  properties  by  means  of 
high-voltage  lines.  The  work  of  supplying  energy  from  one 
transmission  network  to  a  number  of  small  properties  in  one 
district  has  been  going  on  for  a  number  of  years  in  a  rather 
small  way  in  isolated  places  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle 
Western  States,  but  on  the  Pacific  Coast  it  has  been  carried 
out  on  a  very  large  scale  to  include  both  large  and  small 
cities.  The  most  notable  recent  activities  of  this  kind  have 
been  in  the  Middle  Western  States,  and  particularly  in  the 
territory  within  500  miles  of  Chicago.  One  large  group 
has  been  formed  in  northeastern  Illinois,  another  group  has 
been  started  in  northwestern  Illinois,  and  work  has  begun 
on  other  groups  in  Illinois  and  adjacent  states. 

There  is  no  question  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  general 
engineering  proposition  that  a  number  of  small  towns,  if 
not  too  widelv  scattered,  can  obtain  better  and  cheaper  serv- 
ice from  a  few  central  stations  of  economical  design  and 
location  than  from  several  small,  uneconomical  plants. 
There  are  frequently  local  conditions,  however,  which 
modify  considerably  this  general  proposition.  For  example, 
if  the  existing  central  station  in  the  small  town  is  giving 
steam-heating  service  it  is  usually  out  of  the  question  to 
discontinue  such  service.  If  an  ice-making  plant  is  operated 
in  connection  with  the  central  station  and  it  is  of  the  usual 
distilled-water  type,  some  of  the  arguments  in  favor  of 
transmitted  energy  disappear.  However,  it  is  frequently 
possible  to  modify  an  ice-making  plant  so  as  to  render  it 
suitable    for   the   use   of    raw   rather   than    distilled    water. 


MEASURING  THE  STRESSES  IN  SPANS. 

Among  the  mechanical  problems  with  which  the  electric; 
engineer  is  confronted,  none  is  perhaps  more  interestin 
than  the  determination  of  the  stresses  in  transmission-lin 
spans.  The  elementary  mechanics  of  span  problems  v/i 
first  discussed  by  Weisbach  many  years  ago,  but  he  failed  I 
leave  us  a  ready  method  of  handlmg  span  calculatior 
possessing  both  accuracy  and  speed.  The  rigorous  theor 
of  the  catenary  is  expressed  in  an  exponential  equation 
which  one  of  the  variables  appears  in  the  exponents  ( 
both  exponential  terms.  Analytically  there  is  considerab 
difficulty,  therefore,  in  solving  span  problems  involvin 
changes  in  loading  and  temperature  by  the  rigorous  metho 
in  consequence  of  which  there  has  been  a  tendency  towai 
the  use  both  of  approximate  analytical  and  of  graphic 
methods  of  solution.  Three  interesting  papers  were  pr 
sented  on  the  subject  at  the  A.  I.  E.  E.  convention  a  ye; 
ago.  one  of  which,  by  Dr.  Harold  Fender  and  Mr.  H. 
Thomson,  treated  the  subject  from  the  analytical  side. 

Elsewhere  in  this  issue  we  present  an  account  of  e: 
periments  made  with  a  673-ft.  span  for  the  purpose 
verifying  the  theoretical  conclusions  reached  in  the  I 
stitute  paper  last  mentioned.  The  results  obtained  are  n 
entirely  satisfactory,  inasmuch  as  the  differences  betwei 
the  measured  and  the  calculated  sags  reach  relative  valu 
as  high  as  5.9  per  cent,  although  the  corresponding  ratio 
sag  to  span  did  not  exceed  3  per  cent.  A  discussion  of  t 
sensitiveness  of  the  dynamometer  employed  to  measure  t 
tension  and  the  sources  of  possible  error  in  the  resu! 
would  perhaps  be  illuminating.  One  of  the  inherent  dif 
culties  in  such  an  investigation  is  the  extreme  sensitivene 
of  the  sag  to  very  slight  changes  in  the  length  of  the  spa 
such  as  might  be  caused  by  yielding  of  the  supports  und 
changes  in  loading  or  by  wind  pressure.  On  the  whole,  t 
results  are  very  interesting,  and  while  they  check  the  theo 
in  a  more  or  less  rough  sense,  the  investigation  should 
continued  with  the  object  of  eliminating,  if  possible,  t 
sources  of  error. 


ANALYSIS  OF  DIRECT-CURRENT  COMMUTATION. 

Although  the  several  causes  contributing  to  sparking 
direct-current  machinery  are  well  known  and  their  interrel 
tions  have  been  completely  formulated,  yet  there  are  almc 
as  many  theories  concerning  the  proper  method  of  minimi 
ing  sparking  as  there  are  designers  of  machinery  of  tl: 
class.  The  disagreements  relate  not  so  much  to  the  fund 
mental  elements  as  to  the  relative  magnitudes  of  the  diffe 
ent  elements.  Each  designer  appreciates  that  altering  01 
element  in  a  certain  direction  tends  perhaps  to  decrease  01 
of  the  causes  for  sparking  and  to  increase  the  others.  Tl 
successful  designer  is  one  who  is  able  to  select  such  valu 
for  the  various  elements  that  the  final  result  expressed 
cause  for  sparking  will  be  a  minimum. 


SEPTEMBER  21,    igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


S9I 


Many  of  the  above-mentioned  elements  are  discussed  in- 
erestingly  in  an  article  by  Prof.  Jens  Bache-Wiig  on  page 
105  of  this  issue.  The  author  calls  attention  to  the  effect 
if  the  space  distribution  of  the  field  flux  upon  commutation, 
le  lays  particular  stress  on  the  importance  of  selecting  a 
leld  form  in  accordance  with  the  local  inductive  reactance 
•  f  the  coils  undergoing  commutation.  The  rather  unusual 
nference  is  drawn  that  the  difference  in  requirements  in 
his  respect  for  a  25-cycle  synchronous  converter  as  com- 
lared  with  a  6o-cycle  converter  is  attributable  to  the  lower 
eactance  of  the  latter.  In  comparing  these  two  machines 
t  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  mechanical  limita- 
ions  are  much  more  severe  in  a  6o-cycle  than  in  a  25-cycle 
onverter.  Unless  the  distance  between  adjacent  neutral 
loints  on  the  commutator  of  the  6o-cycIe  machine  is  de- 
reased,  its  peripheral  speed  is  2.4  times  that  of  the  25-cycle 
^nit.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  a  comparison  between 
hese  two  machines  may  prove  misleading,  at  least  in  theory, 
nless  the  inevitable  differences  in  mechanical  constants 
re  taken  into  consideration. 


BE  FIXATION  OF  SOLAR  ENERGY. 

Among  the  various  important  papers  read  at  the  recent 
nternational  Chemical  Congress  was  a  profound  analysis 
f  some  colossal  photo-chemical  problems  by  Professor 
'iamician,    the    distinguished    Italian    chemist.      His    topic 

as  the  photo-chemistry  of  the  future,  the  utilization  of 
alar  radiation  for  the  complex  needs  of  mankind.  To-day 
uman  industries  depend  chiefly  on  the  energy  stored  in 
le  form  of  carbon  by  the  natural  photo-chemical  processes 
perating  through  untold  ages — the  fixation,  in  other  words, 
f  the  carbon  of  the  earth's  early  atmosphere,  rich  in 
arbon-dioxide,  by  the  action  of  sunlight  through  vegeta- 
lon.  On  that  stored  supply  inherited  from  the  carbonifer- 
us  age  humanity  is  making  tremendous  inroads.  We  need 
ot  here  speculate  on  the  number  of  generations  which  are 
ikely  to  pass  before  the  coal  supply  shall  be  so  seriously 
epleted  as  to  overset  our  present  economic  conditions, 
"he  one  thing  certain  is  that  the  period  will  be,  as  history 
:oes,  not  a  long  one.  The  huge  problem  to  which  Professor 
'iamician  addressed  himself  was  the  possible  production 
if  useful  substances  now  obtainable  only  by  the  original 
latural  processes  through  the  skilfully  directed  utilization 
if  that  solar  energy  which  serves  as  the  chief  source  of 
:hange  upon  the  earth. 

We  are  already  familiar  with  the  attempt  to  utilize  direct- 
y  the  solar  energy  in  heat  engines.  It  is  well  known,  for 
■xample,  that  such  engines,  in  which  the  solar  radiation  is 
;oncentrated  on  a  boiler  by  mirrors,  are  capable  of  yielding 
luring  six  or  eight  daily  hours  of  sunshine  about  i  hp  per 
(00  sq.  ft.  of  mirror  surface.  This  figure  can  probably  be 
'aised  appreciably,  and  the  amount  of  energy  available  as 
I  whole,  quite  aside  from  the  thermal  cycle  of  the  engine, 
s  prodigious.  Professor  Ciamician  points  out  that  an  area 
anly  100  km  square  receives  from  the  sun  during  a  day  of 
Tierely  six  hours  a  quantity  of  heat  corresponding  to  more 
than  three  times  the  annual  consumption  of  coal  for  the 
whole  world.  The  efficiency  of  plant  life  as  a  transformer 
of  energy  is  not  great,  probably  much  less  than  that  of  the 
thermodynamic  cycle  just  referred  to,  but  it  possesses  the 


extraordinary  advantage  of  being  enormously  pliable,  in 
the  sense  that  it  can  synthesize  directly  from  the  crude  raw 
material  of  the  earth  and  air  substances  necessary  to  human 
activities  which  can  be  reached  through  ordinary  dynamical 
processes  only  by  a  long  and  enormously  intricate  chain  of 
transformations.  For  instance,  there  is  little  doubt  that 
artificial  indigo,  by  the  help  of  complicated  and  ingeniously 
directed  applications  of  electrical  energy  generated  from 
solar  heat,  could  be  produced  from  the  raw  material  of 
earth  and  air,  but  the  efficiency  of  the  process  from  any 
practical  standpoint  would  be  negligibly  small  compared 
with  that  of  the  indigo  plant  in  reaching  the  same  result 
from  the  same  starting  point.  So  long  as  naphthalene  is 
available  in  sufficient  quantities  synthetic  indigo  can  be 
cheaply  prepared,  but  that  means  falling  back  again  upon 
natural  resources  subject  to  relatively  early  exhaustion. 
Plants  perform  easily  feats  of  synthesis  which  defy  art, 
for  example,  in  transforming  the  carbon-dioxide  of  the 
atmosphere  into  starch  and  setting  free  oxygen.  The  proc- 
ess is  combustion  turned  upside  down. 

Professor  Ciamician  holds  that  it  is  possible,  working 
through  plants,  to  make  them  produce  abundantly  the  things 
we  need — many  things,  indeed,  which  they  do  not  produce 
now  in  appreciable  quantities.  For  instance,  an  obvious 
cycle  which  he  suggests  is  the  use  of  mineral  fertilizers  to 
raise  a  harvest  which,  dried  by  the  sun,  could  be  converted 
entirely  into  gaseous  fuel,  the  ammonia  being  fixed  and 
returned  to  the  soil  as  fertilizer,  together  with  all  the  ash. 
The  gaseous  fuel  could  be  utilized  on  the  spot  in  gas 
engines  and  the  energ_,  transmitted  wherever  it  might  be 
needed.  Thus  with  a  cycle  of  forced  crops  energy  might  be 
available  even  in  very  large  aggregate  amounts  without 
making  inroads  on  previously  stored  energy.  Incidentally 
it  has  been  possible  to  modify  the  physiological  functions 
of  plants  so  as  to  produce,  directly  and  in  usable  quantities, 
material  which  ordinarily  is  available  only  in  a  small 
amount ;  for  example,  Professor  Ciamician  himself  has  been 
able  artificially  to  raise  or  lower  by  a  large  amount  the 
production  of  nicotine  in  the  tobacco  plant.  A  still  larger 
view  of  the  possibilities  of  the  fixation  of  sunshine  lies  in 
the  artificial  reproduction  of  plant  processes  by  the  utiliza- 
tion of  solar  energy  in  connection,  perhaps,  with  catalytid 
substances.  It  has  already  proved  possible  to  obtain  am- 
monia directly  from  atmospheric  nitrogen  and  hydrogen  in 
this  way,  and  the  process  thus  established  should  be  capable 
of  modifications  of  even  greater  importance.  Thus  the 
arid  belt  of  the  tropics,  not  utilizable  for  ordinary  agricul- 
ture, might  be  made  the  scene  of  photo-chemical  laboratory 
work  on  a  colossal  scale,  with  the  result  of  producing 
directly  many  things  which  now  lie  at  the  end  of  a  long 
chain  of  transformations  which  deplete  the  world's  coal 
supply.  To-day  all  these  things  are  in  the  main  statements 
of  splendid  possibilities,  but  enough  has  been  accomplished 
already  to  show  that  an  assault  in  force  on  the  strongholds 
of  nature  may  at  some  not  distant  day  end  in  a  brilliant 
victory.  The  engineer  is  constantly  striving  to  increase  the 
efficiency  of  dynamical  processes  and  thereby  lessen  the 
waste  of  energy  in  human  activities.  The  physicist  and 
chemist  may  in  their  turn  reach  the  same  end  by  a  shorter 
road,  as  yet  shut  out  from  human  eyes,  but  from  which  the 
mists  are  even  now  beginning  to  drift  away. 


592 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No. 


ASSOCIATION  OF  IRON   AND    STEEL  ELECTRICAL 
ENGINEERS. 


Among  the  papers  to  be  presented  at  the  annual  conven- 
tion of  the  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical 
Engineers  to  be  held  in  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  from  Sept.  30  to 
Oct.  5  are  the  following: 

"Automatic  Speed  Regulators,"  by  Mr.  E.  J.  Cheney ; 
"Proper  Use  of  the  Compound  Field,"  by  Mr.  R.  B.  Treat ; 
"The  Use  of  Alternating-Current  versus  Direct-Current 
Motors  for  Crane  Service,"  by  Mr.  M.  A.  Whiting;  "Arc 
Welding,"  by  Mr.  J.  F.  Lincoln;  "Spot  and  Butt  Welding," 
by  Mr.  F.  Warren;  "Industrial  Lighting,"  by  Mr.  Ward 
Harrison;  "Lighting  Calculations,"  by  Mr.  C.  J.  Mundo ; 
"Industrial  Lighting,"  by  Mr.  C.  E.  Clewell;  "Types  of 
Winding  of  Electrical  Machines,"  by  Mr.  H.  C.  Specht ; 
"Effect  of  Temperature  on  Insulation  of  Dynamic 
Machinery,"  by  Mr.  C.  E.  Skinner;  "Fiber  Conduit,"  by 
Mr.  Atchison;  "Underground  Cables,"  by  Mr.  Palmer 
Collins;  "Tubular  Poles,"  by  Mr.  W.  T.  Snyder;  "Rein- 
forced-Concrete  Poles,"  by  Mr.  R.  A.  Cumniings;  "Struc- 
tural Steel  Poles,"  by  Mr.  R.  Fleming;  "Underground 
Electrical  Construction,"  by  Mr.  W.  W.  Grant;  "Dynamic 
Braking,"  by  Mr.  R.  B.  Davenport:  "Hoist  Limits,"  by 
Mr.  E.  H.  Wentz;  "Roll-Train  Drive,"  by  Mr.  Wilfred 
Sykes. 

On  the  dates  noted  above  there  will  be  held  in  Milwaukee 
parallel  sessions  of  the  Co-operative  Safety  Congress,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical 
Engineers.  The  president  of  the  association  is  Mr.  B.  R. 
Shover,  electrical  engineer  for  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company. 
The  secretary  is  Mr.  James  Farrington,  Steubenville,  Ohio. 
Mr.  C.  T.  Henderson,  Milwaukee,  has  been  appointed  chair- 
man of  the  entertainment  committee. 


FIFTH  INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF  CHAMBERS 
OF  COMMERCE  AND  INDUSTRIAL  ASSOCIATIONS. 


Oh  Sept.  24  there  will  convene  in  Boston  the  fifth  inter- 
national congress  of  chambers  of  commerce  and  industrial 
associations,  which  without  doubt  will  be  the  most  important 
gathering  of  business  interests  ever  held  in  this  country. 
More  than  700  delegates  will  be  present,  400  of  whom  will 
represent  foreign  commercial  organizations  and  countries. 
The  general  purpose  of  the  congress  is  to  improve  commer- 
cial intercourse  and  friendship  among  the  nations  of  the 
world.  Among  the  topics  on  the  program  are  the  regulation 
of  international  expositions,  the  establishment  of  an  inter- 
national court  of  arbitral  justice  for  suits  between  indi- 
viduals and  foreign  states,  international  postal  reform,  the 
desirability  of  an  international  conference  upon  the  valida- 
tion 01  through-order-notify  bills  of  lading  and  the  de- 
sirability of  international  uniformity  of  action  in  the  matter 
of  consular  invoices.  President  Taft  is  scheduled  to  address 
the  convention  on  the  evening  of  Sept.  26.  After  the  close 
of  the  congress  the  delegates  will  tour  the  country  in  special 
trains,  reaching  the  end  of  their  journey  at  New  York  City 
about  Oct.  20. 


NEW    YORK   ELECTRIC    VEHICLE    ASSOCIATION. 


For  the  purpose  of  insuring  the  proper  co-operation  of 
all  persons  in  the  neighborhood  of  New  York  interested  in 
the  electric  vehicle,  so  as  to  increase  this  business  along 
substantial  lines,  there  has  been  formed  an  organization 
known  as  the  New  York  Electric  Vehicle  Association,  with 
Mr.  Arthur  Williams,  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company,  as 
president.  The  vice-president  is  Mr.  William  P.  Kennedy, 
of  the  Baker  Vehicle  Company,  and  the  directors  are 
Messrs.  E.  W.  Curtis,  Jr.,  General  Vehicle  Company;  S.  W. 
Menefee,  Anderson  Electric  Car  Company ;  Nathaniel  Piatt, 


Baker  Vehicle  Company ;  C.  Y.  Kenworthy,  Ranch  &  Lang 
M.  G.  Macdonald,  Hupp-Yeats;  W.  R.  Chandler,  Flanders 
George  H.  Phelps,  Sludebaker;  V.  A.  Villar,  Champion 
John  H.  Kennard,  Couple  Gear;  W.  L.  Case,  Lansden 
Charles  A.  Ward,  Ward,  and  A.  B.  Roeder,  International 
Fritchle. 

The  association  will  co-operate  with  the  national  organr 
zation  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  .\ssociation  of  America.  Its 
membership  will  consist  of  corporations  and  firms  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  electric  vehicles,  electric 
vehicle  batteries  or  electric  motors  and  corporations  and 
firms  engaged  in  the  sale  of  electric  energy.  A  permanent 
paid  secretary  will  be  appointed  to  devote  his  entire  time 
to  association  work.  Included  among  the  plans  is  an  asso- 
ciation building  to  house  many  if  not  all  of  the  local  repre- 
sentation. The  first,  or  ground,  floor  will  be  used  as  a  co- 
operative garage,  where  electric  cars  of  all  descriptions 
will  be  cared  for  at  moderate  rates.  The  second  floor  wil 
be  used  as  a  showroom,  the  third  as  a  salesroom  and  th« 
upper  floors  as  offices  for  the  various  companies. 


ILLUMINATING     ENGINEERING      SOCIETY     CON- 
VENTION. 


The  sixth  annual  convention  of  the  Illuminating  Engi 
neering  Society  was  opened  at  the  Clifton  Hotel,  Niagar; 
Falls,  Ontario,  Sept.  16,  with  President  V.  R.  Lansingh  ii 
the  chair.  Mr.  O.  E.  Dores,  president  of  the  Board  0 
Trade  of  Niagara  Falls,  Ontario,  and  Mr.  G.  F.  Nye 
president  of  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. 
made  addresses  of  welcome,  which  were  responded  to  b' 
Mr.  William  J.  Serrill,  of  Philadelphia. 

PRESIDENTIAL    ADDRESS. 

The  presidential  address  of  Mr.  Lansingh  was  on  thi 
"Value  of  Illuminating  Engineering  to  Society."  Th< 
focusing  muscles  of  the  eye  were  stated  to  be  at  rest  whei 
the  object  viewed  is  over  20  ft.  away.  As  the  result  0 
industrial  development  the  daily  life  of  many  people  durinfi 
the  past  few  years  has  called  for  constant  use  of  the  eyej 
in  work  on  objects  nearer  than  20  ft.  Clerical  work  hai 
increased,  education  is  more  general,  books  and  papers  ar 
cheaper.  All  this  means  increased  close  work  for  the  eye. 
One  of  the  most  important  functions  of  the  Illuminatin; 
Engineering  Society  should  be  to  show  to  the  public  th 
conditions  of  illumination  that  are  best  for  the  eyes  in  orde 
that  eyesight  may  be  properly  preserved.  The  oculist  i 
devoted  mainly  to  correcting  or  curing  defects  rather  thai 
to  preventing  them.  A  somewhat  small  percentage  0 
offices  have  adequate  lighting  by  daylight.  In  modern  fac 
tories  with  saw-tooth  roofs  conditions  are  much  better  thai 
in  the  old  buildings.  Adequate  lighting  in  the  home  is  no 
common,  and  in  public  schools  it  is  rare. 

No  monetary  value  can  be  placed  on  good  vision,  Mi 
Lansingh  said,  but  there  is  an  economic  value  to  god 
lighting,  measurable  by  the  increased  quantity  of  work 
fewer  bodily  injuries,  decrease  in  defective  vision  and  con 
sequently  fewer  spoiled  or  defective  goods.  The  cost  o 
adequate  lighting  is  ordinarily  not  more  than  5  per  cen 
of  the  cost  of  labor,  and  five  minutes  time  lost  a  day  wil 
usually  pay  for  the  difference  between  adequate  and  inade 
quate  lighting.  The  present  tendency  is  so  to  improv 
illumination  that  the  eye  may  operate  at  its  best  efficienc) 
More  general  support  should  be  given  by  society  in  genera 
to  independent  illuminating  engineers  and  engineering  in 
vestigations.  At  present  engineering  is  largely  done  b 
the  manufacturers  and  central  stations.  It  is  a  questio 
how  long  manufacturers  can  continue  such  support  unde 
coming  conditions.  As  to  work  accomplished,  the  newe 
lighting  installations  are  much  better  than  those  of  a  fe^ 
years  ago,  and  this  result  can  be  traced  largely  to  th 
eff^orts    of    men    who    have    exchanged    ideas    through'  th 


September  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORL,  D 


593 


IHuminating  Engineering  Society.  The  improvement  in 
conditions  is  best  appreciated  when  comparison  is  made  with 
European  conditions. 

PROGRESS    REPORT. 

The  report  of  the  committee  on  progress,  consisting  of 
Dr.  Louis  Bell,  of  Boston;  Mr.  George  S.  Barrows,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  Dr.  Percy  VV.  Cobb,  of  Cleveland,  was 
read  by  Mr.  Barrows.  In  the  discussion  some  interesting 
facts  were  brought  out  about  progress  with  the  lamp  using 
rarefied  neon  gas  in  tubes.  Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp  told  of  the 
latest  foreign  work,  and  Mr.  D.  McFarlan  Moore  of  the 
work  he  is  doing  in  developing  this  lamp  for  the  General 
Electric  Company  in  America. 

NOMENCLATURE  A\D   ST.\NDARDS. 

The  conmlittee  on  "nomenclature  and  standards"  made  its 
regular  report  of  progress,  as  for  several  years  past,  but 
this  year  presented  a  tentative  set  of  definitions  for  con- 
sideration. Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp,  secretary  of  the  committee, 
made  the  report  in  the  absence  of  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly,  its 
rhairman. 

GAS-LIGIITING     PROGRESS. 

Monday  afternoon  was  devoted  to  the  presentation  and 
discussion  of  papers  on  gas  lighting.  Mr.  R.  F.  Pierce. 
af  the  Welsbach  laboratories.  Gloucester,  N.  J.,  presented 
in  a  paper  the  results  of  his  investigations  on  the  "Deterio- 
ration of  Gas-Lighting  Units  in  Service."  Messrs.  C.  O. 
Bond,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Ward  Harrison,  of  Cleveland, 
discussed  the  paper.  During  a  symposium  on  "High-Pres- 
sure Gas  Lighting"  there  was  read  a  paper  by  Mr.  F.  W. 
Soodenough,  of  London,  on  progress  in  England,  one  by 
Mr.  Oscar  Klatte  on  German  attainments,  and  one  by  Mr. 
R.  N.  Zeek  on  trials  in  the  United  States. 

The  symposium  brought  out  the  fact  that  considerably 
nore  has  been  done  with  high-pressure  gas  lighting  in 
Europe  than  in  this  country.  The  discussion  was  partici- 
)ated  in  by  Messrs.  W.  j.  Serrill,  of  Philadelphia;  H. 
Magdsick,  of  Cleveland;  H.  T.  Owens,  of  New  York;  C.  O. 
Bond,  of  Philadelphia,  and  E.  L.  Elliott,  of  New  York. 

The  printed  program  included  a  lecture  by  Dr.  C.  P. 
Steinmetz,  of  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  on  "Recent  Develop- 
iients  in  Series  Street  Lighting,"  but  it  was  announced  that 
Jn  account  of  certain  investigations  not  being  completed 
Dr.  Steinmetz  would  not  present  the  paper. 

INVESTIGATIONS. 

President  Lansingh  announced  a  series  of  tests  on  the 
lighting  of  steam  railroad  cars  now  being  carried  on  at 
Washington,  D.  C.  Upon  request  Mr.  Arthur  J.  Sweet, 
who  is  in  charge  of  the  tests,  outlined  them  at  some  length. 
They  are  being  conducted  under  the  auspices  of  the  Balti- 
more &  Ohio  Railroad,  with  the  co-operation  and  advice  of 
the  United  States  postal  authorities  and  various  railway 
electrical  engineers.  The  tests  will  include  the  lighting  of 
postal  cars,  day  coaches,  sleeping  cars,  dining  cars  and 
observation  cars.  Tests  on  postal  cars  which  have  just 
been  completed  included  a  number  of  different  systems  of 
lighting.  Various  fixtures  and  reflector  manufacturers  have 
been  contributing  to  and  co-operating  in  these  tests. 

On  Tuesday  morning  Dr.  E.  P.  Hyde,  of  Cleveland, 
presented  a  paper  on  "Methods  of  Research,"  which  covered 
certain  fundamental  principles  to  be  observed.  This  paper 
was  discussed  by  Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp,  Dr.  H.  E.  Ives  and 
Messrs.  Preston  S.  Millar  and  D.  McFarlan  Moore. 
"Heterochromatic  Photometry  and  the  Primary  Standard 
of  Light"  was  the  subject  of  a  paper  by  Dr.  H.  E.  Ives, 
which  was  briefly  discussed  by  Messrs.  R.  B.  Hussey,  H.  P. 
Gage,  of  Corning,  N.  Y.,  andF.  E.  Cady,  of  Cleveland. 

At  this  point  General  Secretary  Preston  S.  Millar 
announced  the  questions  to  be  discussed  at  the  meeting  of 
members  on  Wednesday  night.  He  told  of  the  various 
propositions  which  have  been  brought  forward  to  solve  the 


society's  financial  problem,  as  the  expenses  are  increasing 
more  rapidly  than  the  income  on  account  of  the  increasing 
amount  of  work,  publication,  etc..  being  undertaken  by  the 
society. 

In  connection  with  a  paper  by  Mr.  !'.  G.  Nutting,  of  the 
Bureau  of  Standards,  on  a  "New  Method  and  an  Instru- 
ment for  Determining  the  Reflecting  Power  of  Opaque 
Bodies"  an  exhibition  was  made  of  the  instrument  devised 
for  this  purpose. 

Mr.  M.  Luckiesh.  of  Cleveland,  reported  the  results  of 
"A  Study  of  Natural  and  Artificial  Light  Distribution  in 
Interiors."  This  gave  the  result  of  such  tests  in  three  dif- 
ferent rooms.  The  paper  was  discussed  by  Messrs.  J.  R. 
Cravath  and  A.  J.  Sweet. 

The  chairman  introduced  at  this  point  Mr.  Arthur 
Williams,  of  New  York,  as  president  of  the  Association  of 
Edison  Illuminating  Companies  and  referred  to  the  fact  that 
nearly  all  the  members  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering 
Society  are  also  members  of  other  allied  organizations  in- 
terested in  gas  or  electric  lighting.  Mr.  Williams  said  that 
the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society  had  demonstrated  the 
importance  of  its  existence  much  more  effectively  than  he 
had  anticipated  when  it  was  organized.  He  thought  the 
society  had  brought  to  the  public  results  of  much  general 
benefit. 

USE    AND     MISUSE    OF     LIGHT. 

The  "Illumination  Primer"  which  has  been  under  prepara- 
tion by  a  committee  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society 
for  about  ten  months  past  was  on  hand  for  distribution  at 
this  session  in  the  shape  of  a  twenty-page  pamphlet  printed 
on  unglazed  paper  and  entitled  "Light,  Its  Use  and  Misuse." 
President  Lansingh  said  that  the  society  had  undertaken  this 
work  to  fulfil  one  of  its  duties,  which  was  to  teach  the 
public  to  appreciate  proper  lighting.  After  some  further 
explanation  he  called  upon  Mr.  L.  B.  Marks,  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  the  "Illumination  Primer,"  who,  together 
with  Dr.  Louis  Bell  and  Mr.  J.  R.  Cravath,  had  prepared  the 
primer.  Mr.  Marks  told  briefly  of  the  months  of  work 
and  the  numerous  committee  meetings  required  in  pre- 
paring the  primer  and  of  the  many  revisions  found 
necessary.  Mr.  F.  A.  Vaughn,  of  Milwaukee,  called  atten- 
tion to  the  coated  or  non-glazed  paper  used  in  the  booklet 
and  commended  this  as  well  as  the  matter  contained  in  the 
primer.  Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp  thought  that  the  publication  of 
this  pamphlet  marked  an  important  epoch  in  the  history  of 
the  society.  Heretofore  the  mcmliers  have  been  educating 
each  other.  Now  the  society  has  begun  to  try  to  educate 
the  public.  A  rising  vote  of  appreciation  was  given  to  the 
"Illumination  Primer"  committee. 

On  Tuesday  afternoon  Mr.  E.  L.  Elliott  presented  a  paper 
in  which  was  outlined  a  proposed  method  for  determining 
illumination  efficiency  which  differed  somewhat  from  the 
usual  practice  of  measurement  by  substituting  a  hemi- 
spherical diffusing  test  plate  for  the  usual  horizontal  test 
plate  employed  in  determining  the  average  horizontal  illu- 
mination. Messrs.  M.  Luckiesh,  A.  J.  Sweet  and  Preston  S. 
Millar  discussed  the  proposition  from  a  point  of  view 
rather  unfavorable. 

A  paper  by  Dr.  P.  G.  Nutting,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  on 
the  "Diffuse  Reflection  and  Transmission  of  Light"  was 
devoted  largely  to  theoretical  considerations.  It  was  dis- 
cussed by  Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp  and  Mr.  M.  Luckiesh. 

A  paper  by  Dr.  Percy  W.  Cobb,  of  Cleveland,  on  "Vision 
as  Influenced  by  the  Brightness  of  Surroundings"  contained 
the  results  of  some  very  important  investigations  carried  on 
at  length  by  him,  the  results  obtained  being  rather  unex- 
pected. The  discussion  was  participated  in  by  Messrs.  A.  J. 
Sweet,  H.  P.  Gage,  A.  J.  Marshall,  E.  L.  Elliott,  H.  E. 
Ives,  L.  B.  Marks  and  J.  R.  Cravath. 

Another  paper  by  Mr.  E.  L.  Elliott  described  a  proposed 
method  for  determining  the  coefficient  of  diffusion  for 
globes.  The  method  consisted,  in  brief,  of  taking  the  ratio 
between  the  maximum  and  the  minimum  surface  brightness 


594 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  12. 


of  a  globe.  Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp  coniniended  the  plan,  and 
Mr.  C.  O.  Bond  told  of  having  used  this  method  in  connec- 
tion with  gas-globe  testing  at  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Claude  W.  Jordan,  of  Philadelphia,  in  a  paper  entitled 
"Some  Reflecting  Properties  of  Painted  Interior  Walls,"  re- 
ported the  results  of  a  considerable  number  of  tests  on  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  paints.  Mr.  Jordan  answered  a  number  of 
questions  relative  to  his  paper,  and  the  session  adjourned. 

In  the  evening,  at  7  o'clock,  the  official  banquet  was  held, 
Mr.  Arthur  Williams,  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company, 
being  toastmaster.  More  than  100  persons  were  in  attend- 
ance. 

WEDNESDAY    SESSIONS. 

Wednesday's  sessions  commenced  with  the  report  of  Mr. 
C.  J.  Mundo,  chairman  of  the  illumination  committee  of 
the  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers, 
which  was  read  by  Mr.  G.  H.  Stickley.  Dr.  Herbert  E. 
Ives,  of  Philadelphia,  as  chairman  of  reciprocal  relations 
with  other  societies,  followed  with  a  review  of  work  accom- 
plished along  the  line  of  joint  meetings  with  other  societies. 
The  paper  on  "Present  Practice  in  Small  Store  Lighting 
with  Tungsten-Filament  Lamps,"  by  Messrs.  Clarence  L. 
Law  and  A.  L.  Powell,  was  read  by  the  latter.  This  paper 
evoked  considerable  discussion.  Mr.  T.  W.  Rolph  com- 
mended the  practical  nature  of  the  paper.  Mr.  Rolph's 
paper  on  "The  Engineering  Principles  of  Indirect  and 
Semi-Indirect  Lighting"  was  then  presented  and  well  dis- 
cussed. The  other  papers  scheduled  for  the  convention 
were  presented  at  Thursday's  sessions. 

One  hundred  and  seven  members  had  registered  by 
Wednesday  afternoon,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day 
there  was  a  total  registration  of  158.  At  2:30  on  Wednes- 
day afternoon  a  trip  was  taken  by  the  delegates  and  families 
on  the  Niagara  Belt  Line  around  the  Gorge,  and  in  auto- 
mobiles about  the  New  York  State  Reservation,  Prospect 
Park  and  the  islands.  In  the  evening  Mr.  Bassett  Jones, 
Jr.,  of  New  York,  presented  a  paper  on  "Color  Values  of 
Illuminated  Surfaces,"  accompanied  by  experimental  demon- 
strations. There  was  then  held  a  special  meeting  of  the 
members  in  which  matters  pertaining  to  the  welfare  and 
advancement  of  the  society  and  its  financial  policy  were 
fully  discussed. 


CONVENTION    OF    ASSOCIATION    OF    EDISON 
ILLUMINATING  COMPANIES. 


The  twenty-eighth  annual  meeting  of  the  Association  of 
Edison  Illuminating  Companies  at  Hot  Springs,  Va.,  Sept. 
10,  II  and  12  was  in  many  respects  one  of  the  best  ever 
held  by  that  organization,  although  the  ambitious  program 
was  at  some  stages  hurried  through  in  order  to  finish  the 
business  on  time.  One  paper,  "Uses  of  Electricity  for 
Purposes  of  Irrigation,"  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Williams,  of  Denver, 
and  an  adddress,  "The  Relation  Between  the  Public  and 
Public  Utility  Corporations,"  by  Mr.  H.  M.  Byllesby,  of 
Chicago,  were  not  delivered  owing  to  the  unavoidable  ab- 
sence of  both  the  gentlemen  named,  and  Dr.  Steinmetz's 
address  on  Thursday  evening  took  the  place  in  part  of  a 
paper  scheduled  for  presentation  by  a  representative  of 
the  General  Electric  Company  at  the  meeting  on  Wednesday 
evening. 

For  the  second  time  in  the  history  of  the  association 
representatives  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufac- 
turing Company  were  in  attendance.  Mr.  B.  G.  Lanime 
read  a  paper  entitled  "Some  Controlling  Conditions  in  the 
Design  and  Operation  of  Rotary  Converters,"  and  Mr.  C. 
E.  Stephens  a  paper  on  "Good  Practice  in  the  Application 
of  Modern  Light  Sources  as  Exemplified  by  Recent  In- 
stallations in  Industrial  and  Street  Lighting."  In  addition 
to  these  papers  the  Westinghouse  company  contributed 
notes  on  its  practices  regarding  insulation,  limiting  tempera- 


tures, high-voltage  winding,  etc.,  of  turbo-generators  in  the 
report  of  the  committee  on  high-potential  disturbances;  and 
both  the  Westinghouse  Machine  Company  and  the  Westing- 
house Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  contributed  to 
the  report  of  the  committee  on  steam  turbines.  The 
Wheeler  Condenser  &  Engineering  Company  and  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company  also  contributed  to  the  turbine  com- 
mittee's report,  which  this  year  dealt  chiefly  with  small  tur- 
bines, condensers,  auxiliaries,  steam  and  exhaust  piping  and 
suction  tunnels. 

Unfortunately,  none  of  the  reports  and  papers  read  at 
the  meeting  will  be  available  for  publication  unless  the 
press  committee  releases  them  wholly  or  in  part,  so  that 
only  a  meager  account  of  the  convention  is  possible  at  this 
time.  Last  week's  number  of  the  Electrical  World  con- 
tained an  abstract  of  the  president's  address  with  a  brief 
reference  to  the  lamp  committee's  report  and  the  general 
arrangements  for  the  convention.  The  complete  program 
as  rendered  was  as  follows; 

CONVENTION    PROGRAM. 

.\ddress  by  the  president.  General  G.  H.  Harries ;  report 
of  executive  committee,  by  Mr.  H.  T.  Edgar,  of  Seattle; 
report  of  the  treasurer,  by  Mr.  L.  A.  Ferguson,  of  Chicago; 
report  of  meter  committee,  by  Mr.  S.  G.  Rhodes,  of  New 
York;  paper,  "Development  of  Meter-Testing  Methods," 
by  Mr.  Frank  V.  Magalhaes,  of  New  York;  report  of  com- 
mittee on  electric  heating  and  kindred  uses  of  electricity. 
by  Mr.  M.  E.  Turner,  of  Cleveland;  paper,  "Good  Practice 
in  the  Application  of  Modern  Light  Sources  as  Exemplified 
by  Recent  Installations  in  Industrial  and  Street  Lighting,' 
by  Mr.  C.  E.  Stephens,  of  Pittsburgh;  report  of  committee 
on  national  code,  by  Mr.  A.  A.  Pope,  New  York;  address, 
"Rates,"  by  Mr.  Arthur  Williams,  New  York;  report  ol 
committee  on  incandescent  lamps,  by  Mr.  J.  W.  Lieb,  Jr. 
of  New  York;  a  discussion  of  the  report  of  the  lamp  com- 
mittee, by  Mr.  John  W.  Howell,  of  Harrison,  N.  J. ;  paper 
"Promising  Fields  for  the  Development  of  Central-Statior 
Business,"  by  Mr.  Charles  J.  Russell,  of  Philadelphia;  paper 
"Instrumental  Methods  of  Measuring  Maximum  Demand,' 
by  Messrs.  T.  I.  Jones  and  W.  Eichert,  of  Brooklyn;  paper 
"The  Welfare  Plans  of  the  Boston  Edison  Company,''  bj 
Mr.  Herbert  W.  Moses,  of  Boston;  paper,  "One  Phase  ol 
Merchandising,"  by  Mr.  Leavitt  L.  Edgar,  of  Boston;  re- 
port of  committee  on  storage  batteries,  by  Mr.  W.  S 
Yeager,  of  Brooklyn;  report  of  committee  on  electric 
vehicles,  by  Mr.  E.  W.  Lloyd,  of  Chicago  ;  report  of  com- 
mittee on  high  potential  disturbances,  by  Mr.  S.  D.  Sprong 
of  Brooklyn ;  paper,  "Improvement  in  the  Design  of  Re- 
actance Coils  of  Large  Capacity,"  by  Mr.  P.  Torchio,  ot 
New  York;  paper,  "Fuel  Oil,"  by  Mr.  F.  H.  Varney,  ol 
San  Francisco;  paper,  "System  Operator's  Pilot  Board  anc 
Substation  Signaling  System,"  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Lawrence,  ol 
New  York;  report  of  committee  on  steam  turbines,  by  Mr 
W.  F.  Wells,  of  Brooklyn.  N.  Y. ;  paper,  "Some  Controlling 
Conditions  in  the  Design  and  Operation  of  Rotary  Con- 
verters," by  Mr.  B.  G.  Lamme,  of  Pittsburgh;  paper,  "Con- 
tinuity of  Service,"  by  Mr.  S.  D.  Sprong,  of  Brooklyn 
illustrated  lecture,  "Hydroelectric  Developments  in  Recla- 
mation and  Irrigation,"  by  Mr.  George  C.  Holberton,  oi 
San  Francisco,  and  address  by  Dr.  C.  P.  Steinmetz  on 
"Present  and  Future  Outlook  of  Central-Station  Practice.' 
The  closing  session  on  Thursday  night  was  given  over  tc 
the  talks  of  Mr.  Holberton  and  Dr.  Steinmetz,  and  botli 
were  well  received. 

RECOMMENDATIONS    ON    PRESIDENT'S    ADDRESS. 

The  committee  to  which  was  referred  the  president's  ad- 
dress commended  it  to  the  member  companies  because  ol 
its  scope  and  the  care  with  which  the  subjects  covered  were 
treated.  It  deemed  of  especial  importance,  particularly  in 
view  of  the  recent  changes  in  incandescent  lamps,  the 
recommendation  that  so  far  as  practicable  the  member  com' 
panics  adhere  to  the  policy  of  the  past  in  the  supply  of  in- 


ISeptember  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


595 


candescent  lamps  to  their  customers.  In  the  opinion  of  the 
committee  this  policy  has  secured  to  this  country,  in  contra- 
distinction to  the  practice  abroad,  the  highest  standards  of 
illumination.  Likewise  the  committee  deemed  it  of  the  ut- 
most importance  that  the  member  companies  co-operate  to 
the  fullest  possible  degree  with  the  manufacturers  of  appa- 
ratus and  appliances  used  by  the  public.  The  committee 
went  so  far  as  to  say  that  it  felt  that  upon  each  member 
rests  an  obligation  to  keep  the  public  it  serves  informed  of 
the  latest  development  of  the  art,  of  the  availability  of  the 
various  means  of  using  electrical  energy  economically  and 
efficiently  and  for  its  comfort  and  convenience  as  well  as 
for  purposes  of  practical  utility.  The  fullest  co-operation 
between  a'l  branches  of  the  industry  is  one  of  the  ways 
most  effectually  to  secure  public  interest  and  to  render  with 
entire  satisfaction  the  central  station's  obligation  to  the 
public.  In  .the  relations  witli  employees  the  committee  felt 
that  the  electric-lighting  industry  has  taken  a  leading  part. 
Too  great  emphasis  cannot  be  placed  upon  the  importance 
of  according  to  those  in  the  service  of  the  industry  the 
highest  measure  of  compensation  and  the  most  considerate 
treatment,  that  they  may  continue  a  contented  and  effective 
body  of  workers  devoted  to  the  public  service.     This  prac- 


tice, the  committee  believes,  is  uniformly  followed  in  the 
Edison  association. 

ACQUISITION    OF    HAMMER    COLLECTION    OF    INCANDESCENT 
LAMPS. 

Inasnuich  as  the  Genera!  Electric  Company,  through  its 
president.  Mr.  Charles  A.  Coffin,  has  permanently  secured 
for  the  Association  of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies  the 
William  J.  Hanniier  collection  of  incandescent  lamps  typical 
of  the  industry  and  practically  complete  from  its  earliest 
day  to  the  present  time,  and  since  this  collection,  the  only 
complete  and  classified  one  in  existence,  will  be  of  ever- 
growing educational  and  historic  value  in  the  progress  of 
the  industry,  on  motion  of  Mr.  C.  L.  Edgar,  of  Boston,  the 
thanks  of  the  association  were  tendered  to  the  General 
Electric  Company  and  to  its  president  for  the  gift. 

ELECTION    OF    OFFICERS. 

The  recommendations  of  the  nominating  committee  were 
submitted  and  acted  on  at  the  session  on  Thursday  morning 
with  the  following  result:  President,  Mr.  Arthur  Wil- 
liams, of  New  York ;  vice-president,  Mr.  William  Chandler, 
of  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Mich.;  secretary,  Mr.  George  C.  Hol- 
berton,  San  Francisco;  treasurer,  Mr.  Louis  Ferguson, 
Chicago;  assistant  secretary.  Mr.  Walter  Neumuller,  New 
York,  and  executive  committee,  Messrs.  Samuel  Insull, 
Chicago:    Charles   L.    Edgar,    Boston;    John    W.    Lieb,   Jr., 


New   York;  Joseph   B.   McCall,  Philadelphia,  and   W.   W. 
Freeman,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  Arthur  Williams,  the  newly  elected  president,  was 
born  Aug.  14,  1868,  at  Norfolk,  Va.,  the  son  of  the  Rev. 
Christopher  S.  Williams,  a  well-known  Methodist  Episcopal 
clergyman.  He  received  his  education  in  private  and  public 
schools  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  New  York  City  and  entered 
the  service  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company,  as  assistant 
in  the  chemical  meter  department,  in  February,  1885.  He 
later  became  electrician  of  the  company,  then  operating  only 
the  old  Pearl  Street  station,  and  in  1887  was  made  superin- 
tendent of  interior  construction.  The  following  year  he 
became  superintendent  of  the  Third  District  and  in  1889 
was  made  superintendent  of  the  underground  department. 
He  was  appointed  general  inspector  in  1890  and  general 
agent  in  1893.  since  which  time  he  has  exercised  the  func- 
tions of  both  general  inspector  and  general  agent.  Mr. 
Williams  is  also  connected  with  the  Yonkers  Electric  Light 
&  Power  Company  as  vice-president  and  with  the  Electrical 
Show  Company  as  president  and  is  a  director  in  the  Flat- 
bush  branch  of  the  Broadway  Trust  Company.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association,  having 
served  as  president  in  1906-7;  the  Illuminating  Engineering 
Society,  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  the 
New  York  Electrical  Society,  of  which  he  was  president  in 
1901-2;  the  Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America,  of 
which  he  was  vice-president;  the  Technical  Publicity  Asso- 
ciation, the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social 
Science,  the  Municipal  Art  Society,  of  which  he  was  vice- 
president;  the  American  Museum  of  Safety,  of  which  he  is 
president,  and  many  other  scientific  and  civic  bodies.  He 
has  received  the  decoration  of  Officier  de  I'lnstruction 
Publique  from  the  French  government.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  following  clubs:  Union  League,  Lotos,  Engineers', 
Press,  National  Arts,  Park  Place  Trades,  New  York  Boston 
Terrier,  Nassau  County,  Lake  Placid,  Twilight,  City 
(Yonkers),  Riding  and  Driving  (Brooklyn),  Upanin 
(Brooklyn),  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Pilgrims  and  the 
New  England  Society.  Mr.  Williams  has  been  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  recently  formed  New  York  Electric  Vehicle 
Association. 


FINAL  PREPARATIONS  FOR  BOSTON  1912 
ELECTRIC  SHOW. 


Rapid  progress  has  been  made  within  the  past  two  weeks 
toward  the  completion  of  the  Boston  1912  Electric  Show 
installation,  and  preliminary  visits  to  the  scene  justify  the 
belief  that  the  exhibition  will  be  one  of  surpassing  magni- 
tude and  quality.  The  show  will  be  opened  on  the  after- 
noon of  Sept.  28,  when  a  private  view  of  the  exhibits  will 
be  given  by  the  Boston  Edison  company,  under  whose 
auspices  the  show  is  being  planned  and  conducted,  to  about 
800  delegates  to  the  Fifth  Congress  of  International 
Chambers  of  Commerce,  then  meeting  at  Boston  and  repre- 
senting every  civilized  country  in  the  world  except 
Paraguay  and  Persia.  In  the  evening  the  show  will  be 
thrown  open  to  the  public  and  will  remain  on  view  daily 
with  the  exception  of  Sundays  until  Oct.  26. 

As  previously  stated  in  these  columns,  the  Boston  show 
will  be  the  most  elaborate  and  comprehensive  electrical 
trades  exposition  ever  held.  There  will  be  more  exhibit 
floor  space  assigned  through  actual  sale  to  a  greater  number 
of  individual  exhibitors  and  in  a  greater  number  of  fields 
of  electrical  service  than  was  ever  seen  before  in  any 
exposition.  The  preparations  have  extended  over  a  period 
of  two  years,  and  about  $200,000  has  been  expended  in 
preparatory  development  and  publicity  since  the  work 
began.  The  co-operation  of  300  New  England  central 
stations,  reaching  nearly  10,000,000  inhabitants  of  that  sec- 
tion, has  been  proffered  in  the  interests  of  a  record-breaking 


596 


ELECTRICAL     \V  O  R  L  D  . 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  12. 


attendance,  and  this  journal  has  already  referred  to  the 
foreign  and  American  touring  and  excursion  facilities 
which  have  been  utilized  in  order  to  make  the  show  of  far 
more  than  continental  interest.  In  New  England  alone  a 
dozen  steamship  excursion  rate  periods  will  be  in  effect 
during  the  show  between  points  in  Maine  and  Boston ; 
about  ten  similar  periods  will  be  in  effect  on  the  Maine 
Central  Railroad,  and  thirty  on  the  Boston  &  Maine  and 
Boston  &  Albany  systems.  Many  special  excursions  will 
be  run  to  Boston  in  this  connection,  and  a  preliminary  order 
of  30,000  posters  for  electric-car  dashers  has  just  been 
placed.  The  advertising  of  the  show  has  included  notices 
in  many  foreign  technical  journals,  including  publications 
in  Japan,  Europe  and  South  America.  More  recently 
posters,  personal  letters,  blotters,  stamps  and  other  matter 
have  been  sent  to  every  permanent  and  summer  hotel,  camp 
and  boarding  house  in  New  England  and  the  Maritime 
Provinces,  and  electrically  illuminated  signs  and  billboards 
calling  attention  to  the  show  have  become  conspicuous 
features  of  the  Greater  Boston  highways. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  week  over  200  exhibitors, 
occupying  space  costing  about  $go,ooo,  had  paid  the  show 
management  for  their  accommodations,  and  600  men  work- 
ing in  two  daily  shifts  between  8  a.  m.  and  2  a.  m.  were 
pushing  the  final  installation  of  booths,  floor  coverings, 
decorative  effects  and  electrical  installations  in  the 
Mechanics'  Building,  the  entire  area  of  which  will  be 
utilized  during  the  show  period.  Over  10,000  moving  elec- 
trical exhibits  will  be  on  view,  most  of  which  will  be  suf- 


The  Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America  will  hold 
its  annual  convention  at  Boston  on  Oct.  8-9,  and  the  New 
England  Section  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Associa- 
tion will  convene  in  the  same  city  on  Oct.  15-17.  A  recent 
co-operative  program  in  connection  with  the  show  is  being 
pushed  by  the  Maine  Electrical  Association,  the  Vermont 
Electrical  Association,  and  by  New  Hampshire  members  of 
the  N.  E.  L.  A.,  the  plan  being  the  rental  of  quarters  at 
the  Mechanics'  Building  during  the  entire  period  of  the 
show  and  the  dissemination  from  these  centers  of  maps, 
booklets,  etc.,  containing  information  bearing  upon  business 
development  and  opportunities  for  new  enterprises,  and  the 
exhibition  of  photographs  calling  attention  to  the  natural 
and  commercial  resources  of  the  localities  served  by  the 
member   centra!   stations. 


COLORADO  ELECTRICAL  CONVENTION. 


With  a  registration  of  128  members,  the  Colorado  Electric 
Light,  Power  &  Railway  Association  opened  its  tenth  annual 
convention  in  the  assembly  room  of  the  Hotel  Colorado, 
Glenwood  Springs,  on  Thursday,  Sept.  12,  and  continued  the 
meetings  through  Saturday.  The  convention  was  one  of 
the  most  successful  the  organization  has  ever  held,  from 
the  standpoints  of  importance  of  the  papers  and  discussions, 
the  entertainment  features  and  the  attendance.  Practically 
every  central  station   in  the  State  had  a  representative  at 


Mechanics'     Building.    Boston. 


ficiently  distinctive  in  character  to  deserve  special  study, 
and  for  the  supply  of  energy  to  these  and  for  the  elaborate 
interior  and  exterior  lighting  which  is  to  be  the  most 
striking  feature  of  the  show  a  temporary  substation  of 
1500-kw  capacity  has  been  installed  outside  the  building 
and  connected  by  special  underground  cables  with  the 
nearest  permanent  substations  of  the  Edison  system. 

The  outside  of  the  Mechanics'  Building  is  being  equipped 
with  35,000  incandescent  lamps  of  various  colors,  every 
detail  of  the  structure  being  outlined.  The  top  of  the  tower 
at  the  northeast  end  of  the  building  is  equipped  with  1384 
20-watt  lamps,  and  on  the  rear  of  the  building  is  a  roof 
sign  containing  the  words  "Electric  Show,"  270  ft.  long 
by  15  ft.  high,  containing  750  20-watt  lamps  spaced  8  in. 
apart.  This  sign  is  visible  from  every  train  entering  the 
city  on  the  Boston  &  Albany  Railroad  and  from  every 
electric  car  traversing  Boylston  Street.  "Elb  lighting"  is 
extensively  used  on  the  rear  and  West  Newton  Street  sides 
of  the  building.  Every  exhibit  booth  is  supplied  with  alter- 
nating current  or  direct  current  as  required,  and  the  entire 
interior  surface  of  the  building  has  been  treated  by  ex- 
perienced landscape  architects  with  the  object  of  elimi- 
nating the  former  barren  and  unpleasing  expanse  of  walls 
and  ceilings.  The  external  illumination  of  Huntington 
Avenue,  between  Copley  Square  and  Massachusetts 
Avenue,  a  distance  of  I  mile,  includes  forty-four  poles 
carrying  luminous-arc  lamps  about  30  ft.  above  the  street, 
and  it  is  planned  to  secure  new  and  striking  color  effects 
by  the  use  of  special  electrodes.  About  7000  lamps  will 
also  be  used  on  the  Grand  Hall  front. 


the  meeting,  and  the  jobbers  and  manufacturers  were  also 
well  represented. 

The  initial  session  was  called  to  order  on  Thursday  after- 
noon by  President  W.  E.  Robertson,  of  the  Leadville  Light 
&  Power  Company,  who  made  a  short  address  in  which  he 
urged  the  members  to  attend  every  session  of  the  present 
meeting  and  informed  them  it  would  be  advantageous  for 
them  to  keep  in  close  touch  with  the  executive  committee 
between  meetings. 

DOMESTIC  APPLICATIONS. 

The  first  paper  on  the  technical  program  was  one  by 
Mr.  E.  M.  Fay,  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufac- 
turing Company,  entitled  "Some  Phases  of  Central-Station 
Load  Building."  In  the  absence  of  the  author  it  was  read 
by  Mr.  B.  S.  Manuel,  of  the  Denver  office  of  the  company. 
The  author  claimed  that  the  application  of  electrical 
appliances  to  the  labor  problems  of  the  home  will  furnish 
the  solution  of  the  domestic-servant  problem.  This  applica- 
tion lies  whollv  in  the  field  of  small  appliances  such  as  small 
motors,  electric  heating  and  cooking  apparatus,  fan  motors 
and  the  like.  He  stated  that  whether  motor-service  rates 
should  be  given  to  customers  using  domestic  apparatus  de- 
pends on  the  equipment  installed  and  the  actual  hours  of  use. 
Mr.  Eay  contended  that  the  best  way  of  promoting  the 
use  of  these  appliances  is  by  a  combination  of  three  forces, 
namely,  attractive  advertising,  displays  and  demonstrations, 
house-to-house  campaigns  and  free  trials  of  the  appliances. 
Some  examples  of  effective  ways  of  advertising  and  dis- 
plaving  were  described.     Particular  stress  was  laid  on  the 


September  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


597 


importance  of  supplying  energy  efficiently  to  the  customer 
after  the  appliances  are  installed,  and  it  was  held  that  such 
service  will  prove  very  helpful  in  popularizing  electricity 
for  domestic  purposes.  A  table  showing  the  revenue  de- 
rived from  a  systematic  campaign  in  favor  of  small 
appliances  in  a  community  of  5000  was  also  included. 

In  a  twenty-minute  discussion  following  the  reading  of 
the  paper  much  valuable  information  was  brought  out. 
Mr.  R.  G.  Gentry,  of  Denver,  went  into  detail  in  explaining 
the  plans  of  the  Denver  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company  for 
installing  the  smaller  domestic  electrical  appliances.  He 
said  that  thirty-six  men  are  working  daily  to  increase  the 
use  of  electric  irons  and  other  appliances.  A  record  for  one 
month  showed  a  total  of  710  electric  irons  sold.  Some 
facts  regarding  the  work  of  the  service  supervisors  of  the 
company  were  also  related,  and  the  consensus  of  opinion 
seemed  to  be  in  favor  of  this  method  of  satisfving  the  con- 
sumers and  bettering  their  service. 

THE    ELECTRIC    VEHICLE   AND    THE    CENTR.^L    STATION. 

A  paper  on  "The  Electric  Vehicle  as  a  Source  of  Revenue 
to  the  Centra!  Station''  was  read  by  Mr.  George  D.  Luther, 
of  the  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company.  It  was  shown 
that  the  light  electric  commercial  vehicle,  the  heavier 
machine  and  the  heaviest  of  commercial  electric  trucks  fur- 
nish even  more  desirable  load  for  the  station  than  do  arc 
lamps,  flatirons,  utility  motors  and  numerous  other  small 
appliances.  Figures  tending  to  show  long  life  and  low 
depreciation  were  also  given. 

In  the  discussion  were  outlined  the  experiences  of  the 
different  central  stations  with  commercial  and  pleasure 
electric  vehicles.  That  the  electric  vehicle  has  not  taken 
greater  strides  was  thought  due  to  the  fact  that  the  manu- 
facturers have  not  been  very  active  in  advertising  in  the 
past.  However,  a  better  state  of  affairs  exists  at  the 
present  time.  This  paper  proved  of  general  interest,  as  the 
electric  commercial  machine  has  only  recently  come  before 
the  notice  of  the  Western  central  stations. 

ELECTRIC-SERVICE   ADVERTISING. 

In  the  evening  moving  pictures  used  in  advertising  the 
electric  service  were  exhibited.  The  first  of  these,  which 
belongs  to  the  Northern  Colorado  Power  Company,  showed 
a  number  of  uses  of  the  electric  motor  in  the  rural  districts 
in  the  northern  sections  of  the  State.  Views  of  motors  to 
which  were  attached  pumps  used  for  irrigating  thousands 
of  acres  of  arid  land  in  this  section  were  exhibited,  as 
were  views  showing  the  use  of  the  electric  motor  on  farm 
implements  and  machines  for  grinding  a  specially  selected 
food  for  fattening  cattle,  some  50,000  of  which  are  prepared 
for  market  in  northern  Colorado  every  year.  Views  of 
electrical  appliances  and  the  electric  range  in  the  home  of 
the  farmer  were  displayed.  The  Westinghouse  Electric 
&  Manufacturing  Company  also  showed  its  film,  "The 
Electrical  Education  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thrifty,"  which  was 
displayed  at  the  Seattle  convention  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association. 

VOLTAGE   REGULATION. 

Mr.  R.  E.  Campbell,  of  the  National  Quality  Lamp 
Division  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  followed  with 
a  paper  on  "The  Proper  Lamp  for  the  Circuit."  In  this 
paper  figures  showing  the  increased  revenue  to  be  secured 
by  a  central  station  maintaining  proper  voltage  was 
effectively  brought  out.  The  effect  of  power-plant  opera- 
tion and  the  transmission  of  energy  was  taken  up,  and  the 
author  stated  that  these  two  factors  have  considerable  to 
do  with  the  uniformity  of  voltage. 

In  discussing  the  subject,  the  use  of  compensators  was 
recommended  as  a  means  of  maintaining. a  uniform  voltage. 
Anticipation  of  trouble  was  another  feature  explained,  and 
one  of  the  delegates  told  how  anticipation  of  trouble  in  his 
case  had  worked  out  to  good  advantage.  In  this  particular 
case   an   examination   of   voltage   conditions   in    126   blocks 


showed  an  emf  varying  from  100  volts  to  120  volts.  As  a 
result  of  this  examination  the  whole  system  was  re-arranged 
and  uniform  voltage  secured  in  advance  of  complaints. 

RATE  RESEARCH. 

Mr.  S.  E.  Doane,  chief  engineer  of  the  National  Electric 
Lamp  Association  of  Cleveland,  outlined  the  work  of  the 
rates  research  committee  and  told  of  the  great  benefit  of 
this  work  to  the  central  station. 

RESUSCITATION. 

A  demonstration  of  the  Drager  "pulmotor,"  the  property 
of  the  Denver  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company,  was  given 
by  Mr.  Harry  Wickstrom,  of  that  company.  He  explained 
the  use  of  the  pulmotor  in  resuscitating  people  overcome  by 
gas,  electric  shock  and  drowning.  A  rubber  bag  was  used 
to  show  the  action  of  the  oxygen  on  the  lungs,  and  the 
demonstrator  explained  that  the  size  of  the  lung  determined 
the  action  of  the  motor,  a  long  stroke  being  used  for  a 
large  lung  and  a  shorter  one  for  the  smaller  lungs. 
Numerous  cases  of  the  restoration  of  life  in  cases  where 
doctors  had  pronounced  the  subject  dead  were  related. 

INDUSTRIAL   LOADS. 

On  Friday  afternoon  the  first  paper  presented  was  one 
on  "Industrial  Loads,"  by  Mr.  W.  S.  Harrison,  of  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company.  He 
gave  statistics  showing  the  increased  use  of  electrical  energy 
for  industrial  enterprise  since  1904,  the  relative  increase 
varying  from  10  to  67  per  cent.  He  claimed  the  resu't  to 
be  an  ample  indication  of  the  growth  that  might  be  ex- 
pected for  electricity  in  industrial  plants  in  the  future. 

In  the  discussion  it  was  stated  that  considerable  effort 
must  be  exerted  to  secure  this  kind  of  business.  A  manager 
of  one  company  related  that  his  district  is  already  beginning 
to  show  extensive  development,  a  number  of  flour  mills, 
sugar  factories,  mining  companies  and  other  industries 
having  already  made  installations. 

BOILER  EFFICIENCY. 

The  last  paper  of  the  convention  was  one  on  "Boiler 
Efficiencies,"  presented  by  Mr.  W.  N.  Clark,  of  the  Pueblo 
&  Suburban  Traction  &  Lighting  Company,  in  the  absence 
of  Mr.  A.  B.  Carpenter,  of  the  same  company,  its  author. 
Mr.  Carpenter  contended  that  fuel  has  a  great  deal  to  do 
with  efficiency,  no  one  furnace  being  adapted  to  burn  all 
kinds  of  coal  with  equal  efficiency.  Figures  showing  the 
loss  of  efficiency  in  boilers  when  coal  is  unconsunied  and 
gases  collect  were  given. 

.^s  most  of  the  delegates  were  representatives  of  hydro- 
electric plants,  the  discussion  on  this  paper  was  not  very 
general,  and  nothing  of  interest  was  brought  out. 

ELECTION   OF  OFFICERS. 

The  executive  session  was  held  on  Saturday  afternoon 
and  plans  for  an  extensive  campaign  to  add  new  members 
were  launched.  The  committee  considered  the  advisability 
of  adopting  a  company  membership  assessment  plan  similar 
to  that  used  by  the  National  Electric  Light  Association.  A 
long  discussion  was  held  on  this  topic,  but  definite  action  as 
to  the  plan  which  would  be  put  in  effect  was  deferred  to 
a  later  date  and  will  be  decided  by  the  incoming  officers. 

The  election  of  officers  was  held  immediately  after  the 
executive  business  was  finished.  Mr.  W.  N.  Clark,  of 
Pueblo,  was  elected  president.  Mr.  Clark  has  been  identi- 
fied with  the  electrical  industry  in  Colorado  since  1898  and 
is  well  qualified  for  the  office.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Colorado  State  School  of  Mines  and  the  University  of 
Illinois,  receiving  the  degree  of  electrical  engineer  from 
both  colleges.  He  is  the  general  superintendent  of  the 
Arkansas  Valley  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company  and  is 
an  associate  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers.  Mr.  \V.  C.  Sterne,  Denver,  was  elected  vice- 
president,  and  Mr.  T.  F.  Kennedy,  Denver,  was  re-elected 
secretary-treasurer. 


598 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol,  6o,  Xo.  12. 


ENTERTAINMENT. 

The  entertainment  features  of  the  convention  were  of 
much  variety  and  proved  very  popular  with  the  members 
and  ladies  attending.  The  introduction  of  all  members  and 
guests  occurred  on  Thursday  evening.  In  the  afternoon  the 
delegates  enjoyed  a  plunge  in  the  pool  on  the  grounds. 
Practically  every  member  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity 
and  the  pool  was  filled  for  about  an  hour  during  the 
afternoon. 

On  Friday  morning  about  fifty  of  the  ladies  and  gentle- 
men took  an  eight-mile  horseback  ride  to  the  Cave  of  the 
Fairies,  returning  to  the  hotel  at  8:30  a.  m.,  when  breakfast 
was  served.  In  the  afternoon  another  swim  in  the  pool  was 
in  order,  and  the  entertainment  committee  offered  a  number 
of  prizes  in  dififerent  lines  of  water  sport.  The  prizes  were 
donated  by  the  Class  C  members  attending  the  meeting.  At 
8:30  in  the  evening  a  dance  was  given  in  the  ballroom  of 
the  hotel. 

On  Saturday  a  trip  to  the  Shoshone  plant  of  the  Central 
Colorado  Power  Company,  a  baseball  field  day  and  a  trip  to 
Eagle  Canyon  were  planned,  but  owing  to  inclement 
weather  the  program  had  to  be  abandoned.  However,  card 
parties  in  the  hotel  rotunda  were  numerous.  The  entire 
delegation    departed    on    a    special    train    Sunday    morning. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    FIRST    DISTRICT. 

The  third  hearing  upon  the  complaints  filed  in  July  with 
the  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  First  District  by 
several  consumers  of  electrical  energy  in  the  borough  of 
Brooklyn,  alleging  that  the  retail  rates  charged  by  the 
Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn  are 
excessive  and  are  not  in  proportion  to  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion, and  that  the  company  discriminates  unfairly  between 
certain  classes  of  customers,  took  place  on  Sept.  16  before 
Commissioner  Maltbie.  The  complainants,  many  of  whom 
pay  for  electrical  energy  at  the  rate  of  11  cents  per  kw-hr., 
feel  that  the  practice  followed  in  some  instances  by  owners 
of  loft  buildings,  and  in  others  by  one  concern  on  a  city 
block,  of  making  a  contract  with  the  Edison  company  for 
large  amounts  of  energy  and  then  reselling  this  energy  to 
tenants  or  neighbors  at  rates  much  less  than  the  complain- 
ants can  obtain  by  individual  contract  with  the  central  sta- 
tion company,  constitutes  a  discrimination  in  favor  of  the 
larger  users  and  their  tenants.  As  a  result  of  this  practice, 
rates  less  than  3  cents  per  kw-hr.  are  enjoyed  in  numerous 
cases,  the  complainants  claim,  by  concerns  in  the  same 
lines  of  business  as  themselves,  for  the  same  service. 

Mr.  T.  I.  Jones,  general  sales  agent  of  the  Brooklyn 
Edison  Company,  testified  that  demand  in  all  cases  deter- 
mines the  consumer's  rate,  that  the  contracts  under  discus- 
sion are  of  the  standard  form  approved  by  the  commission, 
and  that  these  contracts  and  the  rates  obtained  under  them 
are  available  to  any  customer  of  the  company  having  the 
same  demand  and  consumption  as  one  of  the  large  con- 
sumers whose  contracts  are  under  investigation.  The  com- 
pany agreed  to  produce  the  bills  and  contracts  in  point  at 
the  next  hearing.  Tilts  between  counsel  livened  the  hear- 
ings on  several  occasions.  Adjournment  was  taken  until 
Oct.  7. 

NEW    YORK    COMMISSION.    SECOND    DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  District,  has  or- 
dered the  Federal  Telegraph  &  Telephone  Company  to  tes- 
tify before  the  commission  at  Albany,  Monday,  Sept.  16, 
as  to  whether  or  not  it  is  furnishing  free  service  to  various 
persons  in  violation  of  law,  and  show  cause  why  the  coni- 
mission  should  not  bring  an  action  in  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  State  of  New  York  as  provided  in  the  Public  Service 
Commissions  law  for  the  penalties  prescribed  for  such  vio- 
lations.    A  report  to  the  commission  made  bv  the  chief  of 


the  division  of  telegraphs  and  telephones  showed  that  for  a 
long  period  past  the  Federal  Telegraph  &  Telephone  Com- 
pany has  been  giving  free  service  to  thirty-nine  patrons  at 
Mount  Morris,  six  at  Batavia,  twelve  at  Avon,  ten  at  Dans- 
ville,  eight  at  Genesee,  eleven  at  Bath  and  two  at  Warsaw. 
An  investigation  showed  that  the  persons  receiving  free 
service  are  not  embraced  within  any  class  to  which  free 
service  may  be  given  under  the  Public  Service  Commissions 
law,  and  that  the  company  had  not  taken  steps  to  discon- 
tinue such  service  even  after  its  attention  was  called  to  the 
matter  by  the  commission. 

MARYLAND    COMMISSION. 

The  Chesapeake  &  Potomac  Telephone  Company  filed  an 
answer  last  week  with  the  Maryland  Public  Service  Com- 
mission opposing  the  extension  of  contracts  for  flat-rate 
telephones  in  the  business  district  of  Baltimore.  The  com- 
mission passed  an  order  recently  requiring  the  company 
to  show  cause  by  Sept.  13  why  the  petition  should  not  be 
granted.  The  Protective  Telephone  Association  of  Balti- 
more stated  in  its  petition  to  the  connnission  that  it  was 
making  an  investigation  of  the  prevailing  rates  for  business 
service  in  all  of  the  large  cities  of  the  country,  and  that 
the  inquiry  had  gone  far  enough  to  show  not  only  that 
Baltimore  rates  for  measured  service  are  excessive  but 
that  the  large  majority  of  important  municipalities  have  a 
flat-rate  business  service.  The  reply  of  the  company,  made 
through  its  attorneys,  states  in  substance  that  the  petition 
if  granted  would  practically  reopen  the  whole  question  of 
telephone  rates  which  was  decided  by  the  commission  in  its 
opinion  of  April  25  last  and  which  established  the  present 
rates.  That  the  commission  has  ruled  on  the  very  points 
made  by  the  association  is  pointed  out,  and  the  company 
claims  that  the  whole  matter  of  rates  is  now  properly  set- 
tled. It  furthermore  claims  that  to  allow  another  hearing 
would  be  to  bring  out  nothing  which  has  not  already  been 
brought  out.  The  association  contends  that  the  telephone 
company  could  furnish  a  flat-rate  service  in  the  business 
district  of  Baltimore  at  a  reasonable  profit  for  less  than 
$100  annually. 

OHIO    COMMISSION. 

The  Union  Gas  &  Electric  Company  has  made  applica- 
tion for  an  increase  of  $500,000  in  its  capital  stock  for  the 
purpose  of  meeting  a  depreciation  in  the  value  of  securi- 
ties it  owns.  When  this  company  took  over  the  Cincinnati 
Gas  &  Electric  Company  on  a  lease  in  1906,  it  deposited 
with  trustees  $3,333,000  in  bonds  of  the  Columbia  Gas  & 
Electric  Company  of  West  Virginia.  The  value  of  the 
bonds  deposited,  it  is  claimed,  has  depreciated  to  slightly 
less  than  $3,000,000.  The  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  ad- 
ditional stock  are  to  be  used  in  purchasing  additional  bonds 
for  deposit,  in  order  that  the  company's  contract  may  be 
maintained. 

The  Circuit  Court,  sitting  at  Napoleon,  Ohio,  on  Sept. 
12.  made  permanent  the  temporary  injunction  secured  re- 
cently by  the  town  of  Napoleon  to  prevent  the  Auglaize 
Power  Company  from  stringing  its  transmission  wires  over 
the  streets  and  alleys.  In  its  decision  the  court  said  that  it 
had  been  shown  that  the  lines  would  be  commercially  safe 
but  that  actual  immunity  of  users  of  the  streets  and  alleys 
from  danger  did  not  appear.  The  case,  however,  rested 
on  the  assumption  that  the  municipality  has  full  control 
over  the  company  so  far  as  placing  wires  over  streets  and 
alleys  is  concerned,  and  the  decision  was  based  upon  this. 
The  company  desired  to  run  its  wires  through  the  town  be- 
cause this  route  is  in  a  direct  line  between  its  station  near 
Defiance  and  the  city  of  Toledo,  where  it  will  furnish  en- 
ergy for  lighting  and  motor  service.  The  case  mav  be  ap- 
pealed to  the  Supreme  Court. 

Not  satisfied  with  conditions  as  they  have  existed  for  a 
year  past  in  relation  to  the  operation  of  the  electric  rail- 
way lines,  the  city  administration  of  Toledo  has  attacked 
the  Toledo  Railways  &  Light  Company  because  of  an  ad- 


September  21,  lyii 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


S99 


vance  in  rates  made  on  its  hot-vvater-heating  service.  Its 
franchise  for  occupying  the  streets  with  its  transmission 
pipes  has  been  revoked,  and  now  the  city  soHcitor  has 
threatened  receivership  proceedings  in  case  the  company 
does  not  continue  to  furnish  this  service.  The  company 
advances  the  argument  that  its  power  to  make  a  legal  con- 
tract with  consumers  has  been  nullified  by  the  repeal  of 
the  franchise  and  that  it  is  not  taking  on  any  new  con- 
sumers. The  city  solicitor  claims,  it  seems,  that  the  com- 
pany has  made  no  preparations  to  furnish  heat  to  old  con- 
sumers, and  allegations  have  been  made  that  pipes  reaching 
certain  sections  of  the  city  have  been  disconnected.  Sept. 
15  is  the  date  on  which  this  service  is  usually  opened  for 
the   fall  and  winter  months. 


Current   News  and  Notes 

A  Large  Company  Section. — There  are  now  1625  active 
members  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  Section 
(Chicago)   of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association. 

*  *     * 

Peoria  Electric  Show. — It  has  been  decided  to  hold  the 
second  annual  electric  show  in  Peoria,  111.,  during  the  week 
of  Jan.  20  to  25,  1913,  at  the  Coliseum.  Possibly  the  show- 
may  be  opened  on  Saturday,  Jan.  18.  Mr.  Leroy  A.  Mills, 
of  the  Mills  Electric  Company,  Peoria,  may  be  addressed 
in  relation  to  the  show. 

*  *     .t 

Electric  Delivery  Wagons  for  Department  Store. — 
Marshall  Field  &  Company,  of  Chicago,  general  merchants, 
have  ninety-one  motor  vehicles  and  are  rapidly  doing  away 
W'ith  horses  altogether  in  delivering  merchandise.  Their 
motor  vehicles  are  divided  almost  evenly  between  electric 
and  gasoline  machines,  there  being  forty-five  of  the  former 
and  forty-six  of  the  latter.  The  gas  trucks  are  favored  for 
heavy  loads  and  long  hauls,  while  the  electric  wagons  are 
preferred  for  short-haul  deliveries  from  local  distributing 
points. 

*  *     * 

A  Large  Arc-Lamp  Contract. — On  Sept.  12  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago  awarded  to 
the  General  Electric  Company  a  contract  for  4000  flaming- 
arc  lamps  to  be  used  for  street  lighting  in  Chicago.  These 
lamps  are  exceptionally  powerful  lighting  units,  being  of 
the  55C-watt,  lo-amp  alternating-current  series  type.  They 
are  operated  at  from  50  volts  to  65  volts  at  the  lamp 
terminals  and  burn  100  hours  or  more  on  one  trim.  The 
order  is  a  duplicate  of  one  p'aced  with  the  same  company 
on  Feb.  15  last,  so  that  8000  of  these  lamps  have  now  been 
ordered  for  the  new  street  lighting  of  Chicago. 

*  ♦     * 

Lebanon  (Pa.)  Edison  Company  Closes  Large  Con- 
tracts.— The  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of 
Lebanon,  Pa.,  has  entered  into  contract  to  supply  energy 
to  the  Lebanon  &  Campbelltown  Street  Railway  Company, 
which  operates  a  6-mile  road  between  Lebanon  and  Camp- 
belltown. The  Edison  company  has  also  closed  a  contract 
to  supply  the  Annville  &  Palmyra  Electric  Light  Company 
with  all  of  the  energy  required  for  the  lighting  and  motor 
service  in  Annville  and  Palmyra,  in  Lebanon  County,  both 
contracts  being  for  a  term  of  years.  The  Reading  Transit 
Company,  of  Reading,  Pa.,  controls  the  Lebanon  Edison 
Company. 

*  *     * 

Interruption  of  Service  by  Short-Circuit  in  Mil- 
waukee Station. — As  the  result  of  a  short-circuit  at  the 
switchboard  in  the  Commerce  Street  station  of  The  Milwau- 
kee Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company  on  Sept.  13,  service 
on   the   alternating-current   lines   of   the   company    was   in- 


terrupted for  three  hours.  The  storage  battery  equipment 
provided  uninterrupted  service  in  the  central  direct-current 
district,  while  the  electric-railway  service  was  interrupted 
for  only  twenty  minutes.  The  exact  cause  of  the  accident 
is  not  known,  but  changes  were  being  made  in  the  switch- 
board in  order  to  eliminate  the  possibilities  of  just  such  an 
accident. 

+     *     * 

A  Correction. — On  page  551  of  our  issue  of  Sept.  14 
there  appeared  an  illustration  over  the  caption  "Fig.  i — 
Interior  of  White  River  Power  Plant,"  in  the  description 
of  the  system  of  the  Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company.  In 
order  to  avoid  possible  confusion  with  the  White  River 
development  recently  completed  by  Stone  &  Webster,  the 
Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company  has  named  this  station  the 
Tygh  Valley  plant.  An  exterior  view  of  the  Tygh  Valley 
plant  appeared  in  Fig.  5  of  the  article  referred  to.  The 
Stone  &  Webster  White  River  development  is  on  the  White 
River  in  the  State  of  W^ashington,  while  the  Tygh  Valley 
plant  is  on  a  stream  of  the  same  name  in  the  State  of 
Oregon.  The  latter  river  is  a  tributary  of  the  Deschutes 
River,  which  empties  into  the  Columbia  River. 
*     *     * 

Visit  of  St.  Louis  Manufacturers  to  Keokuk. — 
Leaving  St.  Louis  Friday  evening,  Sept.  27,  officers  of 
the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  will  take  150 
of  the  leading  manufacturers  of  the  city  m  a  fourteen-car 
special  train  to  Keokuk  to  visit  the  works  of  the  Mississippi 
River  Power  Company.  The  train,  one  of  the  finest  ever 
assembled  in  the  West,  will  include  dining,  observation 
and  lounge  cars.  A  head-end  dynamo  set  will  furnish 
no-volt  lighting  throughout  the  train,  including  connec- 
tions for  electric  cooking  in  the  dining  cars.  After  spend- 
ing Saturday,  Sept.  28,  at  the  power  site  as  the  guests  of 
Mr.  Hugh  L.  Cooper,  chief  engineer  in  charge  of  the 
development,  the  party  will  return  to  St.  Louis  on  Sunday. 
The  trip  is  by  invitation,  and  those  taking  part  will  be  the 
guests  of  the  Union  Electric  company  throughout  Arrange- 
ments for  the  manufacturers'  train  de  luxe,  Sept.  27,  are 
in  charge  of  Mr.  F.  D,  Beardslee,  sales  manager  of  the 
Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company. 


Movement  for  Co-operation  in  Electrical  Merchan- 
dising.— In  a  publication  recently  issued  by  the  New  Eng- 
land Electrical  Development  Association,  the  formation  of 
which  was  noted  in  our  issue  of  Sept.  7,  it  is  stated  that  in 
the  New  England  territory  to-day  there  are  600  salesmen  and 
solicitors  selling  electrical  goods  and  apparatus.  Of  these 
100  are  representatives  of  jobbing  houses  and  500  of  elec- 
trical contractors.  In  addition  to  these,  the  central  stations 
have  probably  between  500  and  600  solicitors.  The  associa- 
tion is  endeavoring  to  bring  about  co-operation  between  the 
three  elements,  so  that  each  element  will  supplement  the 
work  of  the  others,  to  obtain  a  more  rapid  increase  in  the 
sale  of  electric  apparatus.  The  movement  has  been  in- 
dorsed and  is  being  supported  by  the  Edison  Electric  Illu- 
minating Company  of  Boston,  the  Massachusetts  Lighting 
Companies,  the  Central  Maine  Power  Company,  the  Narra- 
gansett  Electric  Lighting  Company,  the  Worcester  Electric 
Light  Company,  the  Manchester  Traction.  Light  &  Power 
Company  and  many  other  interests. 

*     +     * 

A  Request  for  Rate  Schedules. — In  accordance  with  a 
recommendation  in  its  1912  report,  presented  at  the  Seattle 
convention,  the  rate  research  committee  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  is  sending  out  to  member-com- 
pany assistants  a  request  for  rate  schedules,  to  be  filed  with 
the  association.  To  be  of  the  greatest  value  these  schedules 
should  be  made  out,  as  far  as  possible,  in  accordance  with 
a  standard  form,  samples  of  which  are  provided.  Thus,  in 
the  case  of  lighting  rates,  power   rates  or  wholesale  light 


600 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  12. 


and  power  rates  information  should  be  given  under  these 
headings:  Character  of  service,  rate,  discounts,  minimum 
charge,  lamp  renewals  (if  lighting  is  involved),  demand 
(where  specified),  standard  "riders"  (or  stipulations),  term 
of  contract,  terms  and  conditions,  etc.  .\11  companies  con- 
templating rate  revision  can  get  copies  of  the  printed  forms 
on  request.  Mr.  W.  J.  Norton,  120  West  Adams  Street, 
Chicago,  is  secretary  of  the  rate  research  committee. 

*  *     * 

FORESTATION    AND   ItS    RELATION    TO    StREAM    FlOW. The 

Journal  of  the  Association  of  Engineering  Societies,  pub- 
lished monthly  from  31  Milk  Street,  Boston,  contains  in  its 
September  issue  a  paper  entitled  "Forestation  and  Its  Rela- 
tion to  Flood  Waters  of  the  Lower  Mississippi  River,"  by 
Mr.  W.  B.  Gregory.  In  referring  to  the  relation  of  foresta- 
tion to  stream  flow,  the  author  cites  the  commonly  accepted 
theory  that  forest  areas  have  a  beneficial  effect  on  stream 
flow,  which  he  presents  as  follows :  ( i )  By  storing  the 
waters  from  rain  and  melting  snow  in  the  bed  of  humus 
that  develops  under  forest  cover,  preventing  their  rapid 
rush  to  the  streams  and  paying  them  out  gradually  after- 
ward, acting  as  true  reservoirs  in  equalizing  the  run-off; 
(2)  by  retarding  the  snow  melting  in  the  spring  and  pro- 
longing the  run-off  from  that  source;  (3)  by  increasing 
precipitation;  (4)  by  preventing  erosion  of  the  soil  on 
steep  slopes  and  thereby  protecting  watercourses,  canals, 
reservoirs  and  similar  public  works  from  the  accumulation 
of  silt. 

*  *     * 

The  Engineer  as  Expert  Witness. — The  Times  Engi- 
neering Supplement  (London)  of  Aug.  28  contains  an 
interesting  contribution  on  "The  Engineer  as  Expert  Wit- 
ness" prepared  by  a  writer  versed  in  legal  affairs.  The 
engineer  is  likely  to  appear  in  legal  cases  which  may  be 
classified  under  two  heads:  First,  those  in  which  he  testi- 
fies entirely  as  an  expert,  and,  second,  those  in  which  he 
merely  gives  evidence  of  facts  within  his  knowledge. 
When  the  case  involves  work  with  which  the  engineer  has 
been  connected  in  a  professional  capacity  he  will  probably 
testify  as  to  facts  only,  but  when  called  upon  to  give  expert 
testimony  his  relations  with  the  counsel  in  charge  of  the 
case  become  most  important.  It  is  difficult  to  overestimate 
the  importance  of  absolute  candor  in  discussing  the  case 
with  counsel,  and  nothing  whatever,  even  the  most  damag- 
ing facts,  should  be  held  back.  This  is  very  desirable  in 
order  not  to  be  taken  by  surprise,  possibly,  when  the  case 
comes  to  trial.  Although  reports  and  notes  are  not  as  a 
rule  admissible  in  evidence,  an  exception  exists  if  they 
were  made  at  the  time  the  events  therein  referred  to  took 
place.  'An  expert  who  is  under  cross-examination  is  some- 
times confronted  with  passages  from  leading  textbooks, 
and  he  should  therefore  familiarize  himself  with  what  has 
been  written  on  the  subject  beforehand.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  the  author  of  this  article  refers  to  the  sacrifice 
of  an  expert's  time  while  waiting  in  the  court  for  his  evi- 
dence to  be  taken,  sometimes  a  whole  day's  work  being 
lost  in  this  way.  This  indeed  seems  little  in  contrast  with 
the  many  days  or  even  weeks  of  delay  which  are  familiar 
in   our  own   court   practice. 

*  *     * 

SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Contractors'  Educational  Movement. — The  Faraday 
Electrical  Association  of  Chicago  was  incorporated  on 
Sept.  16.  Its  object  is  to  "promote  the  interests  of  the 
profession."  This  is  the  organization  of  electrical  con- 
tractors in  the  outlying  districts  of  Chicago  and  in  other 
portions  of  Cook  County  formed  for  the  mutual  improve- 
ment of  the  smaller  electrical  contractors  of  Chicago  and 
vicinity,  as  related  in  the  article  on  "Contractors'  Educa- 
tional Campaign  in  Chicago"  in  the  Electrical  World  of 
Dec.  9,  1911,  page  1440.  The  incorporators  are  Messrs. 
J.  P.  Kerns,  F.  L.  Decker  and  R.  C.  Bierdemann. 


Outing  of  the  Bronx  Gas  &  Electric  Company's  Em- 
ployees.— On  Sept.  15  the  employees  of  the  Bronx  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  Westchester,  N.  Y.,  gathered  at  Clason 
Point  for  their  annual  outing.  An  enjoyable  trip  was 
made  up  the  Long  Island  Sound  on  the  yacht  I'entnria,  the 
excursionists  landing  at  Valley  Grove  in  Oyster  Bay  for 
dinner.  Impromptu  games  and  bathing  afforded  amuse- 
ment during  the  afternoon,  and  the  party  reached  home 
safely  late  in  the  evening.  Music  and  vaudeville  entertain- 
ment enlivened  the  trip  on  the  Vcnturia  to  and  from  Oyster 
Bay.  About  fifty  employees  of  the  company  took  part  in 
the  outing. 

*     *     * 

Pittsburgh  A.  I.  E.  E. — At  the  first  regular  meeting  of 
the  Pittsburgh  Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  for  the  season,  held  in  the  rooms  of  the 
Society  of  Engineers  of  Western  Pennsylvania  on  Sept.  10, 
oflScers  and  directors  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year. 
Mr.  E.  L.  Farrar,  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  was 
elected  chairman,  and  Mr.  M.  C.  Turpin,  of  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  was  elected 
secretary-treasurer.  Messrs.  F.  L.  Bishop,  A.  M.  Dudley, 
F.  D.  Newbury,  W.  O.  Oschman,  F.  E.  Towne  and  F.  M. 
\\'elsh  were  elected  directors.  Mr.  K.  C.  Randall,  the  re- 
tiring chairman,  made  a  few  remarks  regarding  the  work 
of  the  past  season  and  urged  the  co-operation  of  the  mem- 
bers toward  securing  full  attendance  at  the  meetings,  there- 
by increasing  the  efficiency  of  the  section. 


Annual  Meeting  of  Seattle  Section,  A.  I.  E.  E. — 
The  opening  meeting  and  annual  banquet  of  the  Seattle 
Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
will  be  held  in  the  banquet  room  at  the  Rathskeller  on  the 
evening  of  Sept.  21.  The  executive  committee  has  for- 
mulated a  new  plan  of  holding  meetings  during  the  coming 
winter,  which  contemplates  dividing  the  section  membership 
into  seven  groups.  One  meeting  will  be  assigned  to  each 
group,  and  it  will  be  expected  to  furnish  one  or  more  papers 
and  take  entire  charge  of  the  meeting.  The  proposed  sub- 
division into  groups  according  to  subjects  is  as  follows: 
Electric  railways,  power  transmission,  generating  plants, 
telephony  and  telegraphy,  electrophysics,  electric  lighting, 
and  industrial  power.  The  meetings  and  papers  committee 
will  co-operate  with  each  group  in  the  preparation  of 
papers  and  programs  for  the  meetings.  This  new  plan  will 
come  up  for  discussion  at  the  meeting.  The  Seattle  Section 
now  has  nearly  100  members.  Mr.  J.  D.  Ross  is  chairman 
of  the  section  and  Mr.  M.  T.  Crawford  is  secretarv. 


CiAitEs  OF  New  York  Companies'  Section,  N.  E.  L.  A. — 
On  Saturday,  Sept.  14,  the  New  York  Companies'  Sec- 
tion of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  held  its  second  annual  games  at 
Donnelly's  Grove,  College  Point,  L.  I.  The  athletic  pro- 
gram commenced  at  3  p.  m.  and  included  the  following 
events:  loo-yd.  dash,  880-yd.  run,  potato  race,  running 
broad  Jump,  shot-put  and  i-mile  relay  race.  There  were 
many  entries  in  each  event.  Dinner  was  served  at  6  o'clock, 
during  which  the  winners  of,,  the  various  events  received 
their  prizes.  The  New  York  Edison  relay  team  won  the 
relay  race  in  19LI,  and  under  the  rule  that  any  company 
team  winning  the  relay  race  twice  becomes  the  permanent 
owner  of  the  silver  loving  cup,  the  participants  in  the  race 
proudly  exhibited  the  trophy  which  is  now  theirs.  Much 
credit  is  due  to  the  various  committees  and  the  judges  for 
the  successful  manner  in  which  the  whole  event  was  carried 
out.  Mr.  J.  E.  Phillips  was  chairman  of  the  entertainment 
committee,  Mr.  C.  L.  Law  was  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  tickets  and  notices,  Mr.  W.  Nelson  Valk  was  chairman 
of  the  athletic  committee,  and  the  dinner  arrangements 
were  in  charge  of  Messrs.  W.  J.  Kelly  and  W.  J.  Meara. 
About  400  members  of  the  section  attended. 


ELECTRICITY  IN  HARPER  MEMORIAL  LIBRARY 


Lighting   and    Motor-Service    Features    of    the    New   Million-Dollar    Library 

Building  of  the   University  of  Chicago. 

Ornamental  Fixtures — Reading  Tables  and  Book-Stack  Illumination — Electric   Passenger  Elevators  and 
Book   Lifts — Pneumatic-Tube  System — Mechanical  Ventilating  Machinery. 


CHIEF  among  the  splendid  architectural  acquisitions 
of  the  University  of  Chicago  campus,  as  well  as  one 
of  the  great  library  buildings  of  the  country,  is  the 
new  Harper  Memorial,  recently  completed  and  dedicated 
to  the  memory  of  the  former  university  president,  William 
Rainey  Harper,  who  died  on  Jan.  lo,  1906.  A  round 
million  dollars  was  appropriated  for  this  beautiful  structure, 
$800,000  being  expended  in  the  actual  erection  of  the  build- 
ing itself,  while  the  remaining  $200,000  has  been  set  aside 
in  trust  to  provide  a  permanent  income  for  its  maintenance 
and  upkeep. 

of  the  Chicago  campus,  the 
is  an  adaptation  of  English 
collegiate  type,  derived  from 
structures  as  King's  College 
Chapel  at  Cambridge,  England,  and  the  Magdalen  College 
and  Christ  Church,  Oxford.  In  outline  the  building  com- 
prises two  massive  square  towers,  135  ft.  in  height,  between 
which,  with  arched  Gothic  roof,  is  the  main  central  section 
of  the  library.  Cornices  and  turrets  are  elaborately 
castellated,  the  stone  being  intricately  carved  with  beautiful 
patterns  and  grotesque  designs,  griffins,  gnomes,  dragons, 
etc.  For  the  decoration  of  the  interior,  as,  for  example,  in 
the  great  reading  room,  the  coats-of-arms  of  leading 
American,  European  and  Asiatic  universities  and  the  pub- 
lishers' marks  of  certain  old-world  printing  houses  have 
been  used  effectively.    Covered  passages  connect  the  Harper 


Like  the  other  buildings 
Harper  Memorial  Library 
Gothic  architecture  of  the 
such    old-world    university 


Memorial  with  the  Haskell  Oriental  Museum  on  the  west 
and  with  the  Law  Library  building  on  the  east. 

ELECTRIC    SERVICE    FOR    THE    LIBRARY. 

In  providing  for  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  the 
student  using  this  handsome  building  electricity  plays  many 
and  necessary  roles  which  would  have  provoked  the  won- 
derment of  those  ancient  Alexandrian  sages  of  simple  tastes 
who  deemed  a  papyrus  roll  and  a  hard-wood  bench  the 
essentials  of  a  great  library.  Now  there  must  be  carefully 
considered  systems  of  artificial  lighting,  both  general  and 
local ;  motor-driven  blowers  to  deliver  tempered  air  to  the 
rooms  and  to  exhaust  the  vitiated  air,  motor-driven  pumps 
to  circulate  the  water  supply  and  to  furnish  iced  water  for 
drinking,  telephones  and  signal  networks  for  communica- 
tion between  departments,  electro-pneumatic  conveyor  sys- 
tems for  book  orders,  automatic  book  lifts  between  stacks 
and  reading  rooms,  electric  elevators  to  hoist  the  scholars 
to  their  favorite  nooks,  and  even  electric  clocks  to  disturb 
the  retreats  of  the  studious  with  reminders  of  passing  time. 

Electric  service  is  furnished  the  memorial  library  from 
the  university's  engine-driven  direct-current  plant,  1000  ft. 
distant,  over  special  lio-220-volt  lighting  feeders  made  up 
of  two  1,000,000-circ.  mil  outers  with  a  750,000-circ.  mil 
neutral.  To  secure  improved  lighting  regulation  there  is 
also  a  separate  pair  of  1,000,000-circ.  mil  cables  for  the 
220-volt  motor-service   supply.     The  library  lighting  load 


Fig.    1 — Harper   Memorial    Library,    University    of   Chicago. 


602 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


\'0L.   60,    No.    12. 


totals  nearly  200  k\v  and  the  motor  load  100  k\v.  For  the 
distribution  of  utilities  the  building  has  been  divided  into 
east  and  west  halves,  each  with  its  separate  switchboard, 
hot-air  and  exhaust  b  owers,  conveyor  systems,  lifts,  ice- 
water  circulation,   etc. 

The  two  main  distributing  boards  are  located  in  their 
respective  sections  of  the  basement.  Each  has  its  main 
lighting  and  motor  circuit  switches  into  which  the  common 
incoming  feeders  are  tapped.  A  row  of  two-pole  switches 
in  the  next  panel  above  control  the  220-volt  motor  circuits 
radiating  from  this  point,  while  in  the  topmost  panels  are 
the  eight  three-pole  switches  for  the  lighting.  Raceways, 
12  in.  by  48  in.,  extend  up  the  inner  wall  of  each  tower 
and  provide  courses  for  the  present  conduit  runs,  as  well  as 
for  future  additional  circuits.  All  electric  wiring  is  in- 
closed in  Galvaduct  conduit  with  Appleton  fittings. 

LIGHTING    THE    GENERAL    READING    ROOM. 

Among  the  several  e.xannles  of  handsome  lighting  equip- 
ment in  the  building,  the  illumination  arrangements  for  the 
great   reading   room   are   most   notable.     Here   the   general 


Fig.    2 — Main    Reading    Room,    Harper    Memorial    Library. 

lighting  is  afforded  by  two  huge  bronze  chandeliers,  each, 
with  its  seventy-two  40-watt  frosted  tungsten  lamps,  sug- 
gesting a  great  conical  shower  of  sparks.  The  fixtures 
measure  nearly  10  ft.  in  diameter  and  are  suspended  by 
chains  from  the  ceiling  20  ft.  above.  Each  72-lamp  group 
comprises  six  circuits.  These  chandeliers  provide  the  gen- 
eral lighting,  including  the  illumination  necessary  to  con- 
sult titles  on  the  reference  bookshelves  which  line  the  wall^^ 
of  the  room.  Above  the  shelves  the  walls  are  of  natural 
gray  stone,  while  in  the  arched  roof  cream-tinted  tiles  are 
used.  The  floor  of  the  great  room  is  occupied  by  twentv- 
six  15-ft.  reading  tables,  placed  in  two  rows  of  thirteen 
each.    Each  table  has  space  for  fourteen  readers. 

Several  plans  have  been  suggested  for  lighting  these 
tables,  and  an  experimental  installation  has  been  made  of 
the  scheme  illustrated  in  Fig.  3.  A  bronzed  reflector  trough 
runs  the  length  of  the  center  of  the  table  and  is  lined 
within  with  milk-glass  plates  as  reflectors  for  the  twelve 
25-watt  "bunghole"  tungsten  lamps  which  are  horizontally 
mounted  at  14-in.  intervals.  Beneath  each  reading  table 
is  a  floor  outlet  for  future  local  illumination.  The  boxes 
between  the  bookshelves  contain  the  openings  for  the  me- 


chanical ventilation  of  the  reading  room.  .\t  each  end  of 
the  room,  forming  the  central  feature  of  the  elaborately 
carved  stone  doorways  (Fig.  3),  is  an  electric  clock  auto- 
matically synchronized  with  a  master  clock.  These  clocks 
were  the  gift  of  the  university  class  of   1909,  and  similar 


Fig.   ; — Reflector   for    Lighting    Reading   Table   and    Electric   Clock. 

secondary  clocks  are  installed  in  the  principal  rooms  of  the 
building. 

Just  outside  the  main  reading  room  are  the  book-delivery 
stations  (Fig.  6),  one  at  each  end  of  the  building.  A 
Lamson  pneumatic-tube  system  conveys  messages  and  or- 
ders from  station  to  station  and  between  various  depart- 
ments and  special-study  rooms.  These  tubes  are  fitted  with 
pneumatic  timers,  and  air  at  a  pressure  of  0.8-in.  mercury 
column  is  furnished  by  duplicate  sets  of  2-hp  General  Elec- 
tric motors  driving  Connersville  positive  blowers.  Each 
compressor  set  is  located  in  the  attic  of  its  corresponding 
tower.  .A  pressure  cylinder  is  connected  to  the  controlling 
rheostat  in  such  manner  that  when  the  desired  pressure  has 
been  attained  the  motor  is  automatically  slowed  down  and 
runs  idle  until  air  is  again  needed.  Besides  the  telephones 
and  speaking  tubes,  a  Knapp  indicator  system  connects  the 
delivery  stations  with  the  bookstack  levels. 

BOOK    LIFTS    AND    ELEVATORS. 

Three  loo-lb.  Burdette-Rowntree  book  lifts  extend  the 
height  of  the  west  stacks,  while  the  east  stacks  are  served 
by  two  similar  lifts,  as  seen  in  Fig.  6.     The  lift  cars  are 


Fig.    4 — Bronze    Lantern     Fixture    in     Entry    Corridor. 

electrically  lighted  and  can  be  sent  to  any  of  the  ten  floors 
by  touching  the  proper  button  within,  after  the  door  has 
been  closed.  Similarly,  when  not  in  use,  cars  can  be  sum- 
moned to  any  level  by  call  buttons  on  the  sill.  The  position 
of  each  car  is  at  all  times  shown  by  a  pointer  moving  over 


September  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


603 


a  dial,  and  upon  arrival  at  the  desired  station  notification  is 
given  by  the  lighting  of  a  signal  lamp. 

Besides  the  five  book  lifts,  there  are  three  full-size  elec- 
tric elevators  in  the  library  building.  The  east  car  is  of 
the    Otis    2000-lb.    automatic    type    and    is    worked    by    the 


Fig.    5 — Semi-Indirect    Lighting    of    Assembly    Hall. 

passenger,  who,  after  closing  the  door,  touches  the  button 
corresponding  to  the  floor  he  wishes  to  reach.  When  not 
in  use  the  car  can  similarly  be  called  to  any  of  the  six 
floors.  The  12-hp  elevator  motor  is  installed  in  the  tower 
with  the  ventilating  machinery.  For  the  west  tower,  ad- 
joining the  principal  entrance  and  president's  office,  a  stand- 
ard 35-hp  hand-controlled  Otis  elevator  is  installed.  The 
automatic  over-speed  device  with  which  the  governor  is 
equipped  includes  a  dog  which  trips  out  the  potential  hold- 
ing-coil circuit  of  the  main  switch.  Communicating  with 
the  first  floor  and  basement  is  a  lo-hp  Otis  freight  elevator 
of  the  traction-drive  type. 

DIRECT    AND    SEMI-INDIRECT    LIGHTING. 

The  entry  (Fig.  4)  is  one  of  the  particularly  fine 
architectural  bits  in  which  the  Harper  Memorial  Library 
abounds.  With  walls  and  floor  of  the  natural  stone  and  a 
ceiling  of  richly  carved  walnut  beams,  two  appropriate  and 
handsome  bronze-fretwork  lanterns  are  employed  for  light- 
ing, each  inclosing  a  lOO-watt  lamp.  The  entry  sill  outside 
is  lighted  by  a  single  40-watt  unit  in  a  richly  wrought  bronze 


Fig.    6 — Annunciators,    Lifts    and    Pneumatic    Tubes    at    Bool<-De- 
livery    Station. 

fi.xtures  suspended  from  a  carved-«tone  rosette  (Fig.  7). 
Semi-indirect  lighting  has  been  used  in  the  assembly  or 
lecture  hall  (Fig.  5).  This  6o-ft.  by  35-ft.  room  is  equipped 
with  six  bowl  fixtures,  each  containing  a  four-lamp  cluster. 
The  bowls  are  of  translucent  glass  with  an  etched  design. 


and  the  suspension,  rim  and  central  tassel  are  all  of  heavy 
brass.  A  large  part  of  the  light  is  reflected  back  from  the 
white  beamed  ceiling,  which  is  particularly  adapted  for 
this  purpose,  although  the  lower  8  ft.  of  the  walls  is  finished 
in  dark-wood  panels  and  the  furniture  and  floor  are  dark. 
Each  fixture  is  separately  controlled  from  push  switches 
near  the  front  of  the  room. 

In  the  classrooms  on  the  first  and  second  floors  bright 
brush-brass  chain-suspended  fixtures  are  provided,  four  or 
six  to  the  room,  each  carrying  a  40-watt  tungsten  lamp  in  a 
Gleason-Tiebout  reflector.  Similar  fixtures  are  used  in  the 
card-file  rooms  and  other  special  workrooms.  For  the  halls 
and  corridors  unit  fixtures  have  been  employed,  lamped 
with  40-watt  frosted  ball-globe  tungsten  lamps.  At  the 
present  time  imported  tungsten  lamps  are  used  throughout 
the  building,  with  the  exception  of  the  domestic  bunghole 
lamps  in  the  reading  room. 

LIGHTING    A    "5-MII.E    BOOKSHELF." 

Three  hundred  and  forty  thousand  bound  and  cataloged 


Fig.   7 — Entrance    Doorway,   Harper   Memorial    Library. 

volumes  comprise  the  library  material  of  the  university, 
not  including  a  large  number  of  books  and  pamphlets  as 
yet  uncatalogued.  The  steel  stacks  which  will  make  up 
this  "5-mile  bookshelf"  in  the  new  Harper  Memorial  are 
arranged  on  six  levels,  each  double  stack  21  ft.  long,  pro- 
viding for  seven  shelves.  Between  the  rows  of  steel  stacks 
are  installed  25-watt  tungsten  lamps  in  Galvaduct  conduit. 
There  are  six  lamps  in  each  21-ft.  row,  and  each  of  these 
groups  is  controlled  by  a  pair  of  three-way  switches  located 
at  the  ends  of  the  stacks.  A  reader  following  down  the 
catalog  numbers  of  the  books  can  thus  extinguish  the 
lamps  from  the  end  of  the  stack  at  which  he  leaves,  with- 
out returning  to  the  switch  first  operated.  The  east  and 
west  stacks  are  reached  by  their  corresponding  book  lifts. 

MOTOR-DRIVEN    BLOWERS    AND    PUMPS. 

In  the  east-tower  attic  is  mounted  the  lo-hp  Sturtevant 
blower  set  which  delivers  tempered  air  to  the  east  half  of 
the  building  above  the  third  floor.  The  air  is  warmed  by 
passing  it  through  a  steam-coil  chamber,  the  control  of 
which  is  by  automatic  thermostats.     The  blower  motor  can 


6o4 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


\'0L.   60,   No.    12. 


be  operated  at  partial  speeds  when  its  full  capacity  is  not 
needed.  In  the  west  tower  is  a  similar  "heat''  blower  out- 
fit, for  the  upper  west  half  of  the  building.  Here  also  are 
the  exhaust-fan  blowers  for  ridding  the  building  of  vitiated 
air.  One  lo-hp  Sturtevant  set  exhausts  the  upper  stories 
and  the  other  set  the  first  and  second  floors  of  the  building. 
For  ventilating  the  reading  room,  which  is  open  evenings 
and  Sundays  when  the  rest  of  the  building  is  closed,  there 
is  also  a  special  ^-hp  motor-driven  exhaust  set. 

In  the  basement  are  the  "heat"  blower  sets  which  supply 
tempered  air  to  the  lower  stories.  Fresh  air  is  drawn  from 
a  roof  intake,  passed  through  the  coil  chambers,  and  then, 
tempered,  is  delivered  by  the  15-hp  blowers  to  the  floors 
served.  For  draining  the  basement  sump  there  is  a  l-hp 
Yeoman's  bilge-pump  outfit,  float-controlled.  The  water 
supply  is  filtered  in  the  university  purifying  plant  and  is 
delivered  throughout  the  library  building,  an  air-pressure 
system  taking  the  place  of  roof  tanks.  A  5-hp  Crocker- 
Wheeler  series  motor  drives  the  Yeoman  quadruplex  cen- 
trifugal pump  which  delivers  water  into  the  pressure  tanks 
against  air  at  80  lb.  per  square  inch.  An  automatic  pressure 
starter  controls  the  operation  of  the  motor  to  maintain  the 
supply  of  water  in  the  pressure  tanks.  Since  a  certain 
amount  of  air  is  in  time  dissolved  by  the  water,  a  ^-hp 
Crocker-Wheeler  motor  is  provided  to  drive  a  small  air 
pump.  With  this  the  loss  of  air  sustained  can  be  restored 
at  intervals  of  a  week.  For  circulating  iced  water  through- 
out the  building,  there  are  duplicate  >^-hp  Chicago  pump 
units,  which  deliver  from  cooling  coils  immersed  in  insu- 
lated ice  boxes  in  the  basement. 

In  addition  to  the  uses  of  electricity  already  mentioned, 
the  building  is  wired  to  terminal  boxes  for  both  intercom- 
municating and  city  telephone  systems  and  is  completely 
equipped  with  baseboard  outlets  for  desk  lamps,  addresso- 
graphs,  adding  machines,  etc. 

Messrs.  Shepley,  Rutan  &  Coolidge  were  the  architects 
for  the  building.  The  electrical  work  was  installed  in  part 
by  the  Masterson  Electric  Company  and  completed  by  the 
Pierce  Electric  Company.  Mr.  M.  A.  Connolly  is  chief 
electrician  of  the  universitv  buildings. 


NEW  SNAKE   RIVER   WATER-POWER   PLANT   OF 
IDAHO  FALLS,  IDAHO. 


The  picturesque  Snake  River,  which  in  its  fall  from  an 
altitude  of  8000  ft.  furnishes  such  a  large  part  of  Idaho's 
developed  water-power,  has  now  been  harnessed  to  light 
the  city  of  Idaho  Falls,  replacing  the  irrigation-canal  plant 
which  has  bt*en  in  service  there  a  number  of  years.  The 
new  development  utilizes  the  falls  and  rapids  in  the  main 
stream  itself,  through  the  construction  of  a  concrete  fender 
wall  1700  ft.  in  length,  extending  upstream  along  the  crest 
of  the  lava-rock  ledge  of  the  original  falls.  In  this  way 
the  main  flow  is  diverted  to  a  new,  parallel  and  higher 
channel,  while  the  whole  1700  ft.  of  retaining  wall  is  avail- 
able as  a  spillway  to  pass  extraordinary  floods.  Incidentally 
a  handsome  park  site  has  been  created  for  the  city,  with  a 
shore  line  flanked  by  nearly  half  a  mile  of  glistening  water- 
falls among  the  sinister  black  and  pock-marked  lava  rocks 
which  are  broken  into  jointed  hexagonal  pedestals.  At  its 
normal  stage  the  flow  in  the  Snake  River  at  this  point  is 
about  8000  cu.  ft.  per  second,  and  the  head  developed  by 
the  Idaho  Falls  municipal  plant  is  22  ft. 

A  floating  log  boom  and  heavy  headgates  protect  the 
power  canal.  500  ft.  long  and  75  ft.  wide,  broadening  into 
the  forebay,  which  is  closed  across  by  the  power-house 
bulkhead  wall  containing  compartments  for  ten  waterwheel 
runners.  The  power  house,  a  reinforced-concrete  structure. 
30  ft.  by  60  ft.,  contains  two  300-kw  General  Electric 
vertical  2300-volt,  6o-cycle.  three-phase  alternators  mounted 
on  the  main  floor,  and  each  driven  through  wooden  gears 


by  a  pair  of  Trump  waterwheels  located  below.  These 
wheels  are  controlled  by  Woodward  mechanical  governors. 
A  30-kw  exciter  generator  is  also  driven  by  a  20-m.  Trump 
waterwheel  and  will  be  supplemented  by  a  motor-driven 
exciter  to  be  installed  later.  In  an  addition  to  the  building 
on  the  river  side  of  the  station  are  housed  two  700-gal. 
centrifugal  pumps  for  the  city  water  supply,  belt-driven  by 
26-in.  Trump  turbines.  These  pumps  deliver  a  pressure  of 
125  lb.  per  square  inch.  A  motor-driven  1200-gal.  pump 
will  also  be  installed  here,  being  transferred  from  the  other 
station.  The  intake  for  these  pumps  is  from  the  tailrace 
of  the  power  plant. 

The  electrical  output  of  the  generators  is  led  through  an 
automatic  "master  switch"  arranged  with  overload  release, 
the  distribution  circuits  being  fed  from  the  bus  on  the  far 
side  of  this  switch.  In  case  of  line  trouble  this  main  switch 
opens  automatically.  The  attendant  can  then  open  the  line 
switches,  close  the  main  switch  and  close  the  line  switches 
in  succession  until  the  faulty  circuit  is  located  by  the  opera- 
tion of  the  overload  relay.  Leaving  the  injured  circuit  out, 
service  can  then  be  restored  to  the  other  lines.  The  circuits 
entering  the  building  are  protected  by  individual  horn-gaps, 
all  grounded  through  a  common  set  of  aluminum-cell  light- 
ning arresters.  For  the  comfort  of  the  men,  the  station 
equipment  includes  toilet,  shower  and  bath,  the  water  for 
which  is  heated  electrically. 

Electric   service   is   sold   locally   at    10   cents   per   kw-hr.. 


Snake  River  Power  Plant. 

subject  to  discounts  of  10  to  25  per  cent,  depending  on  the 
quantity  used,  the  minimum  bill  being  75  cents  per  month. 
For  cooking  and  heating  with  electricity  a  special  rate  of 
3  cents  per  kw-hr.  is  offered,  the  minimum  charge  for  the 
separate  meter  connection  being  $1  a  month.  At  the 
present  time  the  output  of  the  Idaho  Falls  plant  is  used 
almost  entirely  for  lighting  purposes,  the  evening  peak 
reaching  about  250  kw.  When  the  present  600  kw  of 
capacity  is  exceeded  provision  is  made  for  adding  three 
300-kw  units  behind  the  bulkhead  wall  already  built.  The 
cost  of  the  new  plant,  including  the  extensive  concrete  work 
necessary  to  develop  the  site,  was  $150,000,  $25,000  of 
which  came  from  the  proceeds  of  the  station  that  had  been 
operated  in  connection  with  the  former  plant.  Mr.  E.  J. 
Woodhams   is   citv   electrician   of   Idaho   Falls. 


I 


SEWAGE    PURIFICATION    BY  OZONE. 


Sewage  purification  affords  another  use  for  ozone  pro- 
duced by  electrical  means.  It  is  said  that  215  grams  of 
ozone  can  now  be  produced  per  kilowatt-hour  by  the 
Meeker  ozonizer  and  that  a  contract  for  a  complete  sewage- 
treatment  plant  to  be  operated  according  to  this  method 
has  been  entered  into  between  its  promoters  and  the  city  of 
Trenton,  N.  J. 


EPTEMBfiR   21,    IQIZ. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


60s 


MINIMIZING  SPARKING  IN  DIRECT-CURRENT 
MACHINERY. 


ffect  of  Altering  the  Field  Form  Upon  the  Commu- 
tation. 


By  Prof.  Jens  Bache-Wiig. 

'T  is  probably  safe  to  assume  that  most  designers  of 
direct-current  machinery  to-day  consider  that  the  com- 
-  mutation  depends  on  the  value  of  two  emfs,  of  which 
le  is  the  so-called  reactance  voltage  induced  in  the  short- 
rcuited  coil  by  the  reversal  of  the  current  and  the  other 
the  voltage  generated  by  the  coil  moving  in  the  stationary  ■ 
mature  field. 

Considering  non-interpole  machines,  the  reactive  action 
the  armature  field-flux  upon  the  main  field-flux  is  made 
small  as  possible  by  giving  the  pole  tips  a  proper  form 
id  by  providing  for  high  saturation  in  the  pole  tips  and  in 
e  armature  teeth,  in  addition  to  having  a  strong  main 
■Id  relative  to  the  field  set  up  hy  the  armature  ampere- 
rns. 

The  reactance  voltage  sets  up  circulating  currents  under 
e  brush  through  the  short-circuited  coil.  As  long  as  the 
rrent  density  in  the  brush  due  to  this  current  in  combina- 
)n  with  the  main  or  working  current  does  not  become  too 
^h  the  reactance  voltage  as  such  does  not  produce  spark- 
g  of  the  brushes.  However,  the  effective  reactance  volt- 
e  induced  in  one  coil  during  the  short-circuit  is  suddenly 
duced  to  zero  at  the  moment  the  short-circuit  is  opened; 
at  is.  when  one  end  of  the  coil  leaves  the  brush.  If  this 
Itage  is  too  high  sparking  will  be  produced  at  the  trailing 
jsh  tip. 

The  effective  reactance  voltage  depends  almost  wholly 
on  the  design  of  the  armature  proper;  that  is,  upon  the 
rangenient  and  number  of  conductors  in  a  slot,  upon  the 
mber  of  slots  and  upon  the  conductivity  of  the  leakage 
xes  around  the  various  parts  of  the  coil.  It  is,  of  course, 
rthermore,  4ependent  upon  the  number  of  turns  per  com- 
itator  bar,  length  of  armature  core,  peripheral  speed, 
:.;  in  other  words,  upon  the  main  characteristics  of  the 
mature.  After  an  armature  has  been  built  the  value  of 
-  effective  reactance  voltage  cannot  be  altered  for  a 
/en  load  on  the  machine  and  its  value  is  therefore  of 
ime  importance  with  regard  to  commutation. 
The  voltage  generated  in  the  short-circuited  coil  when 
)ved  in  the  stationary  armature  flux  depends  upon  the 
ength  of  this  flux,  and  like  the  effective  reactance  voltage 
pends  upon  the  number  of  turns  per  commutator  bar, 
igth  of  core  and  peripheral  speed  of  armature.  This  volt- 
e  can  be  altered  by  changing  the  shape  and  strength  of 
;  resulting  field  in  the  commutating  zone.  This  field  is 
;  resultant  of  the  main  field  at  no  load  and  the  field  set 
I  by  the  armature  ampere-turns. 

As  is  well  known,  the  armature  field  causes  a  shifting  of 
;  neutral  point  of  the  main  field  in  such  a  way  that 
is  point  moves  from  the  geometrical  mid-point  between 
e  two  poles  a  certain  distance  over  toward  one  pole  as 
s  load  comes  on.  For  this  reason,  to  obtain  good  com- 
Jtation  at  full  load,  the  brushes  must  be  shifted  from  the 
-load  neutral  to  the  full-load  neutral  position.  Further- 
3re,  in  order  that  the  effective  reactance  voltage  shall  not 
educe  sparking,  the  brushes  must  be  shifted  somewhat 
rther  than  to  the  full-load  neutral  on  into  a  field  of 
fficient  strength  to  produce  in  the  short-circuited  coil  an 
if  equal  to  and  opposing  this  effective  reactance  voltage. 
In  practice  the  brushes  are  usually  set  at  neither  the  no- 
jid  nor  the  full-load  neutral  position,  but  at  an  interme- 
late  point  corresponding  to  the  average  load  condition, 
I  d  the  machine  must  be  designed  in  such  a  way  that  good 
mniutation  is  obtained  both  at  no-load  and  full-load,  or 
>:v  whatever  range  the  load  may  vary. 
The  shifting  of  the  brushes  causes  an  increase  in  the  dis- 


torting and  weakening  effect  of  the  armature  field  upon 
the  main  field,  for  the  reason  that  the  conductivity  of  the 
armature  field  must  be  increased  on  that  side  of  the  center 
line  between  the  poles  toward  which  the  brushes  have  been 
shifted.  This  action  in  turn  shifts  the  neutral  point  fur- 
ther, and  so  forth.  Thus  there  must  be  a  sufficient  number 
of  ampere-turns  on  the  field  core  to  counterbalance  the 
armature  ampere-turns  in  order  that  the  field  set  up  by  the 
latter  shall  not  overpower  the  main  field. 

To  minimize  the  shifting  of  the  brushes  the  permeability 
of  the  path  for  the  armature  field-flux  should  be  made  as 
low  as  possible,  the  result  being  a  flat-shaped  form  for 
the  resultant  field  through  the  neutral  point.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  order  to  counterbalance  the  emf  produced  by  the 
reversal  of  the  current  in  the  short-circuited  coil  it  is  neces- 
sary that  this  coil  be  moved  into  a  field  of  a  certain 
strength.  If,  therefore,  the  shape  of  the  resulting  field 
through  the  neutral  point  be  a  flat  one,  considerable  shift- 
ing may  be  necessary  in  order  to  obtain  the  required  field 
strength,  and  when  the  necessary  field  strength  is  obtained 
the  effect  of  the  armature  mmf  upon  the  main  field  becomes 
too  large.  Thus  it  may  happen  that  even  with  a  flat-shaped 
field  form,  which  is  generally  considered  to  be  the  desired 
one,  and  with  a  value  for  the  effective  reactance  voltage 
which  experience  has  shown  to  be  allowable,  perfect  com- 
mutation cannot  be  obtained  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
brushes  can  be  shifted  over  a  considerable  range  without 
any  great  amount  of  sparking.  The  fact  that  the  com- 
mutation is  not  at  any  point  absolutely  perfect  is  thus 
accounted  for. 

To  obtain  perfect  commutation,  therefore,  it  is  not  only 
necessary  to  keep  the  effective  reactance  voltage  down  to 
a  certain  limit  and  to  obtain  a  flat  resulting  field  form 
through  the  neutral  zone,  but  since  the  reactance  voltage 
requires  a  certain  field  strength,  the  shape  of  the  field  rtiust 
be  made  such  that  it  is  best  suited  for  this  voltage. 

When  investigating  the  design  of  some  direct-current 
machines  which  did  not  commutate  satisfactorily,  the 
writer  found  that  while  the  effective  reactance  voltage  was 
very  low,  the  field  form  through  the  neutral  was  extremely 
steep.  The  course  of  action  decided  on  was  to  taper  the 
pole  tips  so  as  to  flatten  the  field  form,  the  field  margin 
being  sufficient  to  allow  for  this  being  done.  The  result 
was  that  satisfactory  commutation  was  obtained. 

In  laying  out  some  new  machines  later  on,  considerable 
attention  was  paid  to  the  field  form,  with  the  desire  .to 
obtain  a  flat-shaped  field  in  the  neutral  zone.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  effective  reactance  voltage  was  made  as 
high  as  consistent  with  results  obtained  on  similar  ma- 
chines. Furthermore,  the  ratio  of  field  to  armature  ampere- 
turns  was  made  rather  high. 

The  results  obtained  were  not  entirely  satisfactory. 
While  the  machines  would  carry  considerable  overload 
without  any  great  amount  of  sparking,  yet  they  would 
begin  to  show  very  fine  pin  sparks  at  comparatively  low 
loads.  The  trouble  with  these  machines  was  that  the  field 
form  was  too  flat  as  compared  with  the  effective  reactance 
voltage,  the  result  being  a  great  amount  of  shift  without 
improvement  in  the  commutation. 

A  remedy  would  consist  in  either  increasing  the  pole  arc 
or  lessening  the  saturation  in  the  pole  tips  so  that  the  field 
strength  required  to  overcome  the  effective  reactance  volt- 
age would  be  obtained  by  a  small  amount  of  shift. 

Usually  such  defects  are  corrected  by  increasing  the  air- 
gpp  and  using  a  correspondingly  greater  number  of  turns 
on  the  field  poles.  The  increase  in  the  air-gap  has  the 
same  effect  as  an  increase  in  the  pole  arc  or  a  reduction  in 
the  pole-tip  saturation,  a  steeper  form  being  given  to  the 
field  throughout  the  neutral  zone.  Since  the  former  action 
requires  more  field  ampere-turns,  while  the  latter  requires  a 
smaller  number,  the  latter  cure  is  preferable.  This  state- 
ment is  based  on  the  assumption  that  the  strength  of  the 
main  field  is  sufficient  to  produce  a  steady  commutation  for 


6o6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


\'oL.   60,    Xo.  1 


all  load  conditions.  A  further  point  to  be  considered  is 
that  an  increase  of  the  pole  arc  may  necessitate  the  use  of 
a  new  pole-core  die.  The  choice  then  depends  upon  the 
number  of  machines  to  be  built.  In  cases  where  the  pole 
tips  are  cut  off  to  obtain  saturation  the  change  may  be 
brought  about  by  simply  reducing  the  percentage  of  cut-off 
tips.  Another  instance  which  plainly  showed  the  effect 
of  the  field  form  upon  the  reactance  voltage  was  found  in 
the  case  of  a  number  of  25-cycle  and  60-cycle  rotary  con- 
verters. These  were  designed  throughout  with  a  consid- 
erably lower  reactance  voltage  for  the  60-cycle  than  for 
25-cycle  converters.  The  field  forms  were  the  same  for 
both  types,  the  pole  arc  was  large,  and  there  was  no  satura- 
tion of  the  pole  tips.  The  result  was  a  very  steep  field 
through  the  neutral  zone.  The  ratio  of  field  to  armature 
ampere-turns  was  high  for  each  type.  The  60-cycle  con- 
verters did  not  operate  satisfactorily  until  the  field  form 
had  been  changed  and  a  flat  form  obtained  in  the  neutral 
zone.  On  the  other  hand,  the  25-cycle  converters  operated 
perfectly  with  the  steep  field  form.  Moreover,  the  25-cycle 
converters  did  not  operate  well  with  a  flat  field,  as  was 
found  in  two  instances  where  it  was  necessary  to  alter  the 
pole  construction   for  mechanical   reasons. 

The  above  cases  show  that  it  is  not  always  wise  to  obtain 
as  flat  a  field  as  possible  in  the  neutral  zone,  but  that  a 
machine  may  work  better  with  a  steep  field,  depending  on 
the  value  of  the  effective  reactance  voltage.  Designers  of 
direct-current  machinery  do  not  always  comprehend  this 
fact  and  in  some  cases  do  not  obtain  the  best  results. 


EXPERIMENTAL    ANALYSIS    OF    SAGS    IN    LONG 
SPANS. 


Report  of  Systematic   Investigation  of   Sags   Observed 
as  Compared  with  Sags  Calculated. 


AN  exhaustive  investigation  of  the  stresses  in  long 
transmission-line  spans  was  carried  on  during 
the  past  year  at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology,  Boston,  by  Messrs.  Henry  W.  Codding  and 
Harold  H.  Brackett.  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Harold 
Pender,  of  the  department  of  electrical  engineering.  The 
object  of  the  investigation  was  to  verify  experimentally 
the  mathematical  deductions  concerning  the  interrelations 
of  tension,  sag,  temperature  and  loading  of  transmission- 
line  spans  of  considerable  length,  as  developed  in  a  paper 
published  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers  for  July,  191 1,  by  Messrs.  Harold 
Pender  and  H.  F.  Thomson.  A  further  investigation  was 
made  to  determine  the  correct  values  of  the  modulus  of 
elasticity  and  the  elastic  limit  of  stranded  copper  cable.  In 
the  following  paragraphs  a  resume  of  the  investigations  is 
given,  with  an  outline  of  the  methods  employed. 

An  experimental  span  was  erected  in  a  field  in  Brookline, 
Mass.,  its  length  being  672.9  ft.  between  points  of  support. 
Each  end  was  supported  on  a  35-ft.  pole,  set  about  6  ft. 
deep  in  the  ground,  at  a  slight  elevation,  giving  an  elevation 
at  points  of  support  about  31.15  ft.  above  the  permanent 
bench  mark.  Formula  i.  expressing  the  relation  between 
sag  and  tension,  was  studied  by  measuring  the  sag  at  the 
middle  of  the  span  and  the  horizontal  component  of  the 
tension  at  the  end  of  the  span.  This  horizontal  component 
is  equal  to  the  tension  at  the  center  of  the  span.  The  sag 
was  measured  by  taking  the  vertical  angle  from  the  hori- 
zontal chord  to  the  center  of  the  span  with  a  transit.  The 
instrument  was  set  up  over  a  stake  lying  in  a  plane  perpen- 
dicular to  the  center  of  the  span,  50  ft.  distant  from  the 
plane  of  the  span  in  a  perpendicular  direction.  The  sag 
therefore  could  be  calculated  for  any  condition  when  the 
vertical  angle  and  the  height  of  the  instrument  were 
known.     The  tension  was  measured  bv  means  of  a  vertical 


lever  and  a  heavy  spring  balance  employed  as  a  dynamon 
eter.  The  dynamometer  was  kept  in  a  horizontal  positio 
and  the  lever  vertical,  by  means  of  a  turnbuckle  permittir. 
the  dynamometer  and  the  lower  end  of  the  lever  to  1 
moved  several  inches  in  either  direction.  The  end  of  tl 
cable  was  attached  to  one  end  of  the  lever  and  the  dyn: 
mometer  to  the  other  end.  The  lever  was  so  hung  from 
bracket  bolted  to  the  top  of  the  pole  that  its  weight  h£ 
no  effect.  The  data  were  taken  in  December,  191 1,  ar 
April,   1 91 2. 

Formula  I  shows  the  mathematical  relation  between  tl 
sag  and  the  tension  at  the  middle  point  of  a  span  who 
supports  are  on  the  same  level.  This  formula  was  derivi 
under  certain  assumptions,  the  most  important  one  beii 
that  the  span  hangs  in  a  parabola  instead  of  a  catenar 
The  other  assumptions  are  of  little  importance.  The  wi 
used  in  the  span  was  the  equivalent  of  Xo.  0  B.  &  S.  gag 


34 


30 


,22 


'18 


14 


10 


6 


!          '          1 

- 

\ 

\ 

FullUne- 

^Theoretical  Saf-Tension  Carve 

i           1                     1          1 

Circles      ■ 

=  Observed  Result 

\ 

^ 

\ 

•j 

A 

1 

V 

\. 

1 

\ 

- 

c\ 

3 

' 

^           1 

l\p 

t 

1        "^ 

•t 

!       >si 

^ 

1      *^>^ ' 

400       SCO       1200      ICOO       2000 

Tension  in  Lb.  at  Centre  of  Span  suaru^!  ir«r 

Comparison    of   Sag-Tension    Curve    with    Results   of   Test. 

seven-Strand  copper  cable,  of  Roebling  manufacture.    Fo 
mula  ( I )  is  as  follows : 

^         k  ml'  ,. 

8000  T 
where  D  equals  the  sag  in  feet,  at  the  center  of  the  spa 
below  the  points  of  support ;  T  equals  the  tension  in  tho 
sands  of  pounds  per  square  inch  at  the  center  of  the  spai 
k  equals  the  ratio  of  the  total  force  acting  on  the  wire 
the  weight  of  wire ;  m  equals  the  weight  in  pounds  of  a  b: 
of  the  conductor  12  in.  long  and  i  sq.  in.  in  cross-section, 
being  3.856   for  the  material  used,  and  /   equals  the  hot 
zontal  distance  in  feet  between  the  points  of  support.    1 
all  calculations  k  equaled  unity,  since  at  no  time  during  tl 
winter  was  there  any  appreciable  ice  loading  or  sustain* 
wind  pressure   sufficient  to  produce   an   appreciable  latO' 
deflection  of  the  whole  span. 

The  formula  was  plotted  for  comparison  with  the  e: 
perimental  data  obtained,  as  shown  in  the  diagram,  the  rea> 
ings  being  given  in  Table  I,  with  the  percentage  differenc 
between  the  calculated  and  observed  sags. 

The  greatest  difference  between  the  calculated  and  0 
served  sags  is  about  6  per  cent,  occurring  at  a  high  vali 
of  the  tension.     The  difference  at  low  values  is  nearly 


September  21,  191; 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


607 


great,  but  is  not  indicated  so  clearly  by  the  plats  because  of 
the  steepness  of  the  curve  at  such  points.  More  than  half 
the  observations  are  less  than  3  per  cent  in  error. 

TABLE    I. COMPARISON    OF    OliSERVED    AND    CALCULATED    SAGS. 

k  m  /■ 


D  = 


8000  T 


Observa- 
vation. 


la 
2a 
3a 
4a 

5a 

6a 
5 
6 
7 


9 
10 
11 
12 
13 

14 
IS 
16 
17 
IS 

19 
20 
21 
22 
23 


Corrected 

Dyna- 
mometer 
Reading. 


62 

74 

80 

•    89 

104 


123.8 
109.3 
116.8 
121.5 
133.8 

145  .8 
167.6 
182.7 
194.5 
197.0 

215.5 

223.7 

61.8 

69.2 

79.8 

84.6 

97.8 

107.8 

122.7 

140.3 


"F."  in 
Pounds. 


565 
669 
731 
805 
944 

1120 
988 
1056 
1099 
1210 

1318 
1515 
1652 
1758 
1781 

1949 

2023 
558.7 
625.6 
721.4 

764.9 
884.1 
974.6 

1109 

1269 


Calcu- 
lated 
Sag, 
in  Feet. 


32.10 
27.10 
24.80 
22.5  5 
19.21 

16.18 
18.34 
17.16 
16.49 
14.98 

13.74 
11  .96 
10.77 
10.30 
10.17 

9.30 

8.96 

32.43 

28.96 

25.11 

23.69 
20.49 
18.59 
16.33 
14.28 


Observed 

Sag, 
in  Feet. 


30.37 
27.79 
25.02 
23.22 
19.14 

15.64 
19.49 
18.07 
17.38 
15.73 

14.29 
12.35 
11.27 
10.45 
9.73 

8.86 

8.47 

32.34 

29.18 

25.57 

23.69 
20.69 
18.67 
16.20 
14.29 


Per  Cent 
Differ- 
ence 
of  Sag. 


5.60 
2.48 
0.88 
2.88 
0.36 

3.45 
5.90 
5.04 
5.12 
4.77 

3.85 
3.16 
2.66 
1  .44 
4.52 

4.97 
5.67 
0.28 
2.68 
1.84 

0.80 
0.96 
0.43 
0,80 
0.07 


D   =   sag  in  feet  at  middle  of  span. 

/  =  horizontal  d'stance  between  ends  of  span. 

T  ^  tension  in  wire  at  center  of  span  in  pounds  per  square  inch. 

F  =  tension  in  wire  at  center  of  span  in  pounds  ^  T  X   0.083. 

iti  -:   weight  of  1   ft.  of  conductor   1  sq.  inch  in  cross-section  (3.856). 

k  =  loading  factor  (1). 

INVESTIGATIO.N   OF  TEMPERATURE  EFFECTS. 

Formula  2  expresses  the  relation  between  the  sag  and  the 
tension  under  any  conditions  of  loading  and  temperature, 
knowing  the  conditions  under  which  the  span  was  erected. 
This  relationship  was  studied  throughout  the  entire  period 
of  the  investigation.  Simultaneous  readings  of  temperature 
and  sag  were  taken.  The  temperature  was  measured  by 
binding  the  bulb  of  a  laboratory  thermometer  upon  a  piece 
of  wire  with  cotton  waste  and  tape.  The  wire  used  was  a 
short  piece  cut  off  the  main  span  and  hung  directly  beneath 
the  latter.  Each  pole  top  was  guyed  with  two  head  guys, 
making  a  considerable  angle  with  one  another  to  provide 
lateral  stiffness,  as  well  as  direct  support  of  the  span  itself. 
The  turnbuckles  enabled  the  length  of  the  span  to  be  kept 
nearly  constant.  Although  the  head  guys  were  made  as 
rigid  as  possible,  the  pole  tops  moved  somewhat  in  windy 
weather.  The  momentary  variation  could  be  detected,  but 
not  measured,  because  of  its  irregularity. 

Formula  (2)  is  as  follows: 


ik-k)  + 


37So|_  -J 


l\  ait,~L) 


1 000  ( T,  —  rj 

M 


(2) 


where  i,  =  initial  temperature  of  the  wire ;  T^  =  initial  ten- 
sion at  center  of  wire  in  pounds  per  square  inch ;  P,  =  in- 
itial per  cent  of  sag;  Z,  =  initial  horizontal  distance  between 
points  of  support,  and  t,,  T^,  P,  and  /,  are  the  final  values 
of  these  quantities  under  a  new  set  of  conditions.  Table  II 
gives  the  results  of  the  observations  made  in  checking 
formula  (2).  In  the  column  headed  "Observation"  the 
first  number  corresponds  to  the  higher  temperature  point, 
in  deg.  C,  and  the  tensions  and  sags  were  calculated  for 
this  point. 

The  greatest  percentage  difference  between  the  observed 


and  calculated  values  of  p  and  T  was  about  7  per  cent. 
The  actual  maximum  difference  between  the  observed  and 
calculated  sags  was  about  i  ft.  In  every  case  but  one  the 
observed  sag  was  greater  than  the  calculated  sag,  and  the 
difference  in  that  instance  was  only  0.33  per  cent. 

DETERMINATIONS   OF    MODULUS    OF   ELASTICITY. 

A  thorough  investigation  was  made  of  the  modulus  of 
elasticity,  elastic  limit  and  ultimate  strength  of  this  wire. 
As  the  value  obtained  for  the  modulus  did  not  agree  with 
that  used  for  stranded  copper  cable  in  the  original  paper. 


TABLE     II.- 


-OBSERVED     AND     CALCULATED     .SAGS     AT     DIFFERENT 
TEMPERATURES. 


Observa- 
tion 
Number. 

T 

Ob- 
served. 

T 
Caku- 
lated. 

Ob- 
served. 

Sag 
Ob- 
served. 

Sag 
Calcu- 
lated. 

Per  Cent 
Differ- 
ence of 
Sag. 

8-5 

12.19 

12.98 

49, 3F 

17,91 

16.82 

6.15 

8-6 

12.19 

12,40 

3  1  ,  1 F 

17.91 

17.60 

1  .68 

8-2 

12.  19 

13.02 

33. 3F 

17.91 

16.77 

6.15 

8-3 

12.  19 

12.81 

25. 7F 

17,91 

17   04 

4.47 

3-5 

13.95 

14.  16 

23. 6F 

15.63 

15,41 

1.46 

6-5 

13.25 

13.93 

18. 2F 

I0.47 

15  ,67 

7.28 

2-5 

•4.26 

14.21 

16. OF 

15.31 

15.36 

0.33 

m 

further  tests  were  made  on  some  larger  specimens  fur- 
nished by  Prof.  C.  E.  Fuller.  With  one  exception,  all 
specimens  gave  about  the  same  value  for  the  modulus  of 
elasticity.  The  exception  was  a  specimen  with  a  very  short 
pitch.  All  these  later  specimens  were  300,000-circ.  mil 
nineteen-strand  copper  cable.  For  the  purpose  of  test- 
ing, the  specimens  were  cut  into  about  12.5-ft.  lengths,  in 
order  to  provide  a  test  length  of  at  least  10  ft.  in  which  to 
measure  the  elongation.  The  specimens  were  bound  with 
tape  about  6  in.  from  the  ends  to  keep  them  from  unwind- 
ing and  then  passed  through  holes  in  the  flat  plates  of  the 
pulling  yokes.  The  individual  wires  were  then  bent  back 
in  the  form  of  hooks  and  placed  in  a  mold  which  was  filled 
with  melted  solder.  The  molds  were  removed  after  the 
solder  had  cooled  and  the  specimen  was  placed  in  a  large 
horizontal  testing  machine,  the  flat  tops  of  the  shoulders 
bearing  against  the  flat  plate  of  the  yoke  pieces. 

In  general,  the  behavior  of  all  specimens  was  the  same, 
irrespective  of  the  size  of  cable  or  manner  of  stranding. 
The  average  value  of  the  modulus  of  elasticity  that  was 
obtained  by  test  was  16X10°.  This  value  was  found  to 
hold  not  only  for  the  wire  used  in  the  span,  but  also  for 
300.000-circ.  mil,  nineteen-strand  cable.  Tests  on  in- 
dividual wires  uncoiled  from  the  stranded  specimens  showed 
about  the  same  characteristics  as  the  cable,  although  there 
was  more  variation  in  the  results.  The  elastic  limit  of  the 
cables  tested  was  found  to  be  about  25,000  lb.  per  square 
inch. 


NOVEL  TREATMENT  OF  FAULTY  CARBURETOR. 

A  CO,  recorder  was  used  with  success  in  adjusting  the 
carburetor  of  a  second-hand  automobile  purchased  recently 
by  a  Michigan  central-station  man.  The  engine  of  the  car 
had  displayed  considerable  crankiness  which  was  finally 
traced  to  the  faulty  operation  of  the  carburetor.  Taking 
the  carbon-dioxide  analyzer  off  his  power-plant  stack  for  a 
couple  of  days,  the  amateur  chauffeur  attached  the  sam- 
pling tube  to  his  muffler  exhaust,  adjusting  the  carburetor 
to  secure  best  combustion  as  indicated  by  the  CO,  content. 
Ahtr  completing  the  adjustment  the  automobile  developed 
speed  and  hill-climbing  ability  that  was  undreamed  of  by 
either  its  new  owner  or  the  man  who  disposed  of  it  be- 
cause he  couldn't  make  it  run. 


6o8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  12 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


HOV/    THE    EMPLOYEE    CAN    IMPROVE    PUBLIC 
RELATIONS. 


Progressive  utility  companies  are  always  striving  to  liave 
their  employees  exhibit  courtesy,  tact  and  cheerfulness  in 
their  relations  with  the  public.  In  a  recent  circular  letter 
to  the  employees  of  the  Portland  (Ore.)  Railway,  Light  & 
Power  Company  Mr.  B.  S.  Josselyn,  president  of  that  com- 
pany, puts  the  matter  in  an  effective  and  perhaps  novel  way 
when  he  shows  how  desirable  it  is  to  have  the  "outside 
policy"  of  the  company  agree  with  the  "inside  policy."'  As 
what  Mr.  Josselyn  has  to  say  may  be  of  interest  elsewhere, 
his  letter  to  employees,  which  is  dated  Aug.   15,   follows: 

"A  disinterested  stranger  has  taken  the  trouble  to  write 
me  a  letter  commenting  upon  what  he  terms  the  difference 
between  the  inside  and  outside  policy  of  our  company.  This 
gentleman  compliments  our  officials  for  their  excellent  policy 
in  striving  to  please  the  public  in  all  matters  but  says  there 
is  a  large  amount  of  feeling  against  the  company,  founded 
wholly  on  a  misunderstanding  by  the  public  of  our  policy, 
which  is  caused  by  false  impressions  reaching  the  individual 
through  some  overt  or  careless  act  of  some  subordinate  em- 
ployee. He  also  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  spirit  of 
pleasing  or  endeavoring  to  please  in  every  detail,  however 
trivial,  throughout  our  great  organization,  particularly  at 
every  point  where  our  employees  come  in  touch  with  the 
public  at  large,  is  the  proper  means  of  overcoming  criticism 
and  complaint. 

"He  suggests  that  the  excellent  policies  we  have  shown 
in  our  inside  organization  be  reflected  through  our  em- 
ployees, who  come  in  contact  with  the  public,  in  smiles  and 
good  service,  instead  of  permitting  the  public  to  get  the  idea 
that  we  are  oppressive  in  our  management  and  operations. 

"It  is  a  little  embarrassing  to  feel  that  our  policy  and 
efiforts  to  please  are  to  some  extent  destroyed  by  the  thought- 
less action  of  some  one  or  more  of  our  employees,  by  their 
not  being  courteous  at  all  times.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  any  act  of  any  individual  employee  that  causes  a  bad 
feeling  on  the  part  of  one  of  our  patrons  is  a  direct  censure 
of  the  corporation  as  a  whole.  No  amount  of  publicity  and 
proper  policy  adopted  by  a  management  can  produce  the 
results  desired  unless  each  individual  employee  does  his 
part  in  carrying  out  that  policy.  Will  you  not,  in  the  future. 
kindly  consider  the  embarrassment  you  cause  the  company 
as  a  whole  by  any  thoughtless  or  improper  act  of  your  own, 
and  strive  from  now  on  to  provoke  a  better  understanding 
and  a  better  feeling  between  the  public  we  serve  and  the 
corporation  which  gives  you  employment?" 


PROFITABLE  PEAK-LOAD  SERVICE  FROM  SMALL 
WATER-POWER. 


for  the  plant  is  operated  only  from  four  to  five  hours  eacl 
night  when  its  output  is  of  the  greatest  value  to  the  Geo 
nomowoc  system.  2  miles  distant.  Service  is  also  supplie( 
to  cottages  at  Okauchee.  The  equipment  consists  of  : 
Leffel-Sampson  waterwheel  driving  a  loo-kw  Westinghousi 
generator.    The  attendant  visits  the  plant  each  evening  am 


There  are  many  small  water-powers  going  to  waste  near 
urban  centers  which,  while  insufficient  for  all  the  needs 
of  the  community,  nevertheless  can  be  profitably  developed 
to  supply  a  block  of  peak-period  service  to  the  city  system 
at  a  fair  price  per  kilowatt-hour.  Such  opportunities  are 
generally  overlooked  in  the  local  power  survey  as  being  a 
mere  "drop  in  the  bucket,"  but  to  the  capital  necessary  for 
their  development — averaging  $100  per  kw — water-powers 
like  these  return  a  nice  rate  of  income. 

The  loo-kw  development  near  Okauchee,  Wis.,  utilizes 
the  12-ft.  head  originally  created  by  an  old  mill  dam,  now 
replaced  with  a  modern  50-ft.  concrete  spillway.  A  lake 
several  miles  in  extent  provides  the  daily  storage  needed. 


lOO-kw   Peak-Load   Water-Power   Plant   at   Okauchee,   Wis. 

Starts  the  machinery,  which  runs  until  the  evening  peak-loa^ 
on  the  Oconomowoc  system  is  passed.  During  the  daytim 
water  is  stored  up  to  the  level  of  the  spillway  and  then'thi 
surface  is  drawn  down  during  the  hours  of  operation.  Sine 
the  Okauchee  plant  has  been  running  there  has  always  bee 
an  ample  supply  of  water.  The  plant  was  designed  by  Mi 
O.  M.  Rau,  Milwaukee,  who  is  vice-president  of  the  com 
pany  making  the  development. 


COMPACT  DATA  FOR  THE  SOLICITOR. 


The  importance  of  saving  time  in  submitting  estimate 
to  prospective  consumers  of  electric  service  is  general! 
appreciated  by  active  solicitors  of  new  business.  Promp 
answers  to  questions  regarding  the  cost  of  energy  supplie 
to   installations   under   different   conditions   are   constant! 

SECTION   OF  LOOSE-LEAF   MOTOR-SERVICE   COST  SHEET. 


■ 

TT 

1-HP  MOTOR. 

• 

' 

Hours  per  Day. 

Kilowatt-Hours 

Consumption  for 

Total  Cost  of 

Rate  per 

One  Month. 

Energ>'. 

Kw-hr. 

1 

18.75 

SI. 87 

$0.10 

2 

.1 7 .  50 

3.75 

0.10 

3 

56.25 

5.34 

0.095 

4 

75.00 

7.12 

0.095 

5 

93.75 

8.90 

0.095 

6 

112.50 

10.12 

0.09 

131.25 

11.81 

0.09 

8 

150.00 

13.50 

0.09 

9 

168.75 

14.58 

0.09 

in 

187.50 

15.93 

0.085 

*- 

required  by  the  busy  owners  of  factories  and  mercai 
establishments  who  have  granted  brief  interviews  to  the  rq 
resentative  of  the  central-station  organization  and  who  e> 
pect  that  their  problems  will  be  discussed  with  little  loss  C 


;EPTEMBER    21,    1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


609 


time.  To  meet  this  condition,  the  electric  lighting  depart- 
ment of  the  town  of  North  Attleboro,  Mass.,  has  prepared  a 
lo-in.  X  23-in.  blue-printed  table  for  loose-leaf  folder  use, 
ajiving  the  cost  of  electric  energy  for  one  month  and  per 
Kilowatt-hour  for  motors  of  i-hp  to  25-hp  rating,  according 
to  the  daily  usage  of  each.  The  moment  the  solicitor  knows 
the  size  of  motor  and  the  average  number  of  hours  per 
day  which  it  will  run  at  its  rated  load,  he  can  inform  the 
srospective  customer  what  his  total  monthly  kilowatt-hour 
:onsumption  will  be,  the  rate  per  kilowatt-hour  and  the  total 
;ost  of  power  at  the  regular  rate.  Ten  sizes  of  motors  are 
ncluded  on  the  sheet. 

Another  data  sheet  which  Manager  William  Plattner  of 
he  North  Attleboro  plant  has  found  of  great  value  is  a 
;omparison  in  curves  of  the  rates  in  force  on  the  local 
;ystem  with  those  of  seven  other  companies  of  comparable 
;ize  and  conditions  in  the  same  state.  Small  merchants  and 
iianufacturers  figuring  upon  the  use  of  electricity  often 
]uote  the  rates  in  effect  elsewhere  in  discussing  tentative 
■ontracts,  and  the  presentation  of  all  such  rates  on  a  single 
iheet  showing  the  cost  of  service  per  kilowatt-hour  and  per 
ip-year  has  been  most  effective  in  clearing  up  misunder- 
;tandings  and  encouraging  the  use  of  the  local  service. 


The  manufacturing  cost  of  the  company's  output  for  the 
year  totaled  $920,136,  or  about  0.61  cent  per  kw-hr.  for 
the  entire  year.  The  company's  coal  consumption  for  the 
year  was  141,668  tons  at  an  average  price  of  $3.56,  com- 
pared with  124,724  tons  at  $3.83  in  191 1.  The  total  number 
of  customers  on  June  30  was  43.246,  compared  with  38,321 
in  191 1,  and  of  these  24,241  were  residents  of  Boston 
proper.  The  company's  connected  load  on  June  30  was 
153,583  kw  as  against  138,691  kw  in  191 1,  and  this  was  made 
up  as  follows:  Municipal  arc  lamps,  2759  kw  ;  commercial 
arc  lamps,  3444  kw ;  municipal  incandescent  lamps,  681  kw ; 
commercial  incandescent  lamps,  87,650  kw ;  electric  motors, 
59,049  kw.  The  company  has  131 1  employees,  compared 
with  1188  last  year,  and  the  number  of  stockholders  as  of 
June  30  is  3756,  of  whom  3182  are  residents  of  Massachu- 
setts. The  principal  sources  of  revenue  for  the  year  are : 
Motor  service,  $960,128;  street  railways,  $152,149;  com- 
mercial lighting,  $3,883,679;  street  arc  lighting,  $522,421; 
and  street  incandescent  lighting,  $196,420.  The  maximum 
load  in  the  year  was  55,114  kw.  occurring  on  Dec.  22,  191 1. 
The  plant  account  of  the  company  as  of  June  30  totaled 
$30,227,812,  of  which  the  largest  items  were  underground 
lines,  $7,842,426,  and  buildings,  steam  plant,  electric  plant 
and  overhead  lines,  between  $4,000,000  and  $5,000,000  each. 


CENTRAL-STATION  ACTIVITY  AT  BOSTON. 


The  return  of  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company 
)f  Boston,  Mass.,  has  been  filed  with  the  Gas  and  Electric 
Light  Commission  for  the  year  ended  June  30,  1912.  It 
;hows  a  remarkably  healthy  growth  in  the  company's  busi- 
less  during  the  past  twelve  months,  combined  with  an 
idministrative  skill  which  has  increased  the  net  as  well  as 
he  gross  earnings  of  the  company.  The  gross  earnings  for 
he  period  were  $5,787,345,  compared  with  $5,257,914  in 
(911,  and  the  corresponding  net  revenues  were  $2,591,626 
ind  $2,382,839.    The  company  generated  150,978.350  kw-hr. 


ADVANTAGES   AND    COSTS   OF  PURCHASED 
ENERGY. 


Ki.OOO 
JU.OOO 
45.000 
40  000 

i 

h 

\ 

- 

~ 

- 

-, 

3i.000 
"30  000 

l/l  \i 

1  1/  M  K 

- 

1 

r' 

k 

\ 

0 

g  25,000 

20  000 

-^  / 

\                   1 

/ 

!  i  \  . 

15.000 

10.000 

/'  1 

'■\ 

■ 

i 

V 

/] 

1 1 1 

1  i 

jX   1  1 

1         ' 

1  ] 

7    8   9  10  11  12  I    2    3   4    5   C    7    3    9  10  n  1-.;  1    2  3   4    5   C    i 
-M.  P  -M,  A  -M 

Boston    Edison    Heat-Load    Curve   of   1911. 

in  1912  as  against  131.988,004  kw-hr.  in  the  previous  year, 
and  its  total  sales  in  energy  were  109,912,685  kw-hr.  as 
compared  with  94,630,518  in  191 1.  Sales  of  energy  for 
commercial  lighting  increased  from  49,939,974  kw-hr.  in 
1911  to  58,802,070  units  in  1912,  and  the  corresponding  in- 
crease in  output  sold  to  motor  users  was  from  16,993,534 
kw-hr.  to  20,097,661  kw-hr.  These  increases  clearly  justify 
the  company's  broad-gaged  commercial  policy  and  go  far 
to  demonstrate  the  wisdom  of  the  various  campaigns  for 
the  wider  use  of  electric  service  in  many  forms  which  have 
been  particular  features  of  the  work  of  the  past  few  years. 


In  a  paper  by  Mr.  A.  E.  Rickards,  of  the  Industrial  Engi- 
neering Company.  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  read  at  the  Bedford 
Springs  convention  of  the  Pennsylvania  Electric  Associa- 
tion, the  features  of  purchased-energy  service  were  set 
forth  with  a  twofold  object  in  view.  The  first  desire 
was  to  show  electric  lighting  companies  that  central-station 
service  can  be  sold  to  the  manufacturers  on  the  basis  of 
the  advantages  it  affords,  rather  than  the  cost  of  energy, 
and  the  second  was  to  show  electric  lighting  companies  the 
advantage  of  marketing  their  production  on  this  basis,  since 
in  selling  electricity  on  the  advantages  to  be  gained  by  its 
use,  instead  of  on  its  cost,  the  company  can  sell  its  service 
to  the  largest  manufacturers  and  its  customers  will  be  satis- 
fied ones.  Moreover,  in  following  such  a  method  the  cost  to 
the  central  station  based  upon  the  revenue  received  will  be 
less. 

The  author  pointed  out  that  the  main  reason  why  central- 
station  service  should  be  sold  upon  its  advantages  lies  in 
the  fact  that  the  manufacturer's  expenditure  for  power  rep- 
resents only  a  small  portion  of  his  gross  income,  oftentimes 
less  than  i  per  cent,  and  rarely  exceeds  3  per  cent  even  with 
the  large  consumers.  Consequently,  if  a  central  station  is 
able  to  save  the  manufacturer  50  per  cent  on  his  cost  of 
energy,  it  would  not  increase  his  net  profit  i  per  cent,  so 
that  the  minor  detail  of  cost  when  exploiting  the  advan- 
tages of  purchased  energy  should  not  be  brought  up.  If 
the  solicitor  would  state  to  a  manufacturer  that  he  could 
show  him  how  by  purchasing  energy  he  would  increase  his 
net  profit  50  per  cent,  a  respectful  hearing  would  be  more 
readily  accorded  the  solicitor,  and  the  author  cites  an  ex- 
ample where  central-station  service  in  a  nut  and  bolt  factory 
increased  the  production,  which  in  turn  increased  the  net 
profit  of  the  manufacturer  60  per  cent. 

Prospective  customers,  according  to  the  author,  are  di- 
vided into  three  classes :  First,  new  industries  ;  second,  those 
using  eleclricitv  furnished  by  an  isolated  plant,  and,  third, 
those  using  a  steam  or  gas  engine  to  drive  machinery  by 
line  shafts  and  belts.  Each  of  these  was  treated  in  turn. 
Of  the  first,  the  author  said  that  every  new  industry  should 
be  a  user  of  central-station  service,  and  that  it  will  be  if 
the  proposition  is  put  up  to  those  in  charge  in  the  right 
manner.  Of  the  second,  the  author  stated  that  it  is  not 
always  easy  to  secure  a  contract   from  the  manufacturer 


6io 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  u. 


who  is  now  operating  his  factory  by  electricity  furnished 
by  an  isolated  plant.  However,  a  careful  analysis  of  the 
costs  of  his  energy  per  kilowatt-hour  will  show  that  they 
are  greater  than  the  central-station  rates  quoted,  provided 
the  rates  are  at  all  equitable,  and  an  investigation  will  also 
invariably  show  that  the  manufacturer  is  not  getting  the 
maximum  output  possible  with  electric  drive,  owing  to  in- 
accurate application  and  arrangement  of  motors,  etc.  Mr. 
Rickards  showed  that  a  manufacturer  operating  his  factory 
with  a  steam  or  gas  engine,  driving  machines  by  line  shafts 
and  belts,  affords  the  best  kind  of  proposition  on  which  to 
demonstrate  how  central-station  service  will  increase  the 
net  profits  by  increased  production.  In  soliciting  this  class 
of  business  shop  efficiency  should  be  the  chief  talking  point, 
and  the  author  showed  that  the  common  method  of  solicit- 
ing motor  service  is  wrong.  His  contention  was  that  the 
central  station  should  sell  service,  for  by  so  doing  it  will 
eliminate  the  customer  who  compares  his  bill  with  that  of 
the  same  month  of  the  previous  year.  If  the  work  is  well 
done,  the  manufacturer  will  know  that  the  energy  consumed 
will  be  in  proportion  to  his  output.  In  the  opinion  of  the 
author,  a  solicitor  has  just  as  great  an  opportunity  to  show 
a  manufacturer  how  to  increase  the  factory  efficiency  as  has 
an  efficiency  engineer,  the  only  difference  being  that  the  one 
treats  the  physical  equipment  while  the  so-called  efficiency 
engineer  treats  the  human  element.  Mr.  Rickards  stated 
that  the  more  money  a  manufacturer  ties  up  in  power  plant 
equipment  the  more  difficult  it  will  be  to  induce  him  to 
abandon  it,  but  by  means  of  a  thorough  and  systematic  in- 
vestigation, or.  in  other  words,  by  soliciting  business  by 
actual  demonstration  instead  of  persuasion,  excellent  results 
are  obtained. 


INEXPENSIVE    TEMPORARY     SWITCHBOARD 
PANEL. 


The  accompanying  photograph  shows  how  easily  a  tem- 
porary exciter  panel  was  placed  in  service  in  a  Nova  Scotia 
lighting  plant  during  the  course  of  extensive  switchboard 


Inexpensive    Temporary    Switchboard    Panel. 

changes  which  necessitated  the  transfer  of  the  instruments 
and  switches  to  a  new  location  on  the  main  board.  The 
plant  had  a  space  about  5  ft.  wide  behind  the  main  switch- 
board, and  in  this  the  temporary  panel  was  set  up,  two 
ammeters,  a  field  rheostat,  two  field  switches  and  two  main 
switches  being  mounted  upon  i^-'m.  pine  boards  3  ft.  in  total 
width  and  7  ft.  high.    The  boards  were  attached  to  the  wall 


by  four  J^-in.  x  6-in.  x  27-in.  wooden  braces.     Temporary 
busbars  were  run  from  the  old  panel  location  40  ft.  distant ! 
to  a  point  opposite  the  temporary  panel,  two  No.  4-0  copper  1 
wires   with   weatherproof   covering   serving   as   the   buses.  [ 
These  were  supported  at  intervals  of  about  6  ft.  on  Ji-in.  x 
2-in.  wooden  braces,  as  shown,  the  connections  being  made 
overhead.     The  temporary  panel  controlled  two  exciters  of 
65-kw  combined  rating  and  was  placed  in  service  by  a  man 
and  a  boy  working  five  hours. 


SALE    OF    ENERGY   TO  FACTORIES    ON 
FINED"  BASIS  IN  ST.  LOUIS. 


UNRE- 


"Unrefined  energy" — a  novel  term  and  an  equally  new 
idea  in  central-station  service — is  now  offered  to  St.  Louis 
factory  consumers  having  demands  of  200  kw  and  over  at 
the  rate  of  $20  per  year  per  kilowatt  of  demand,  plus  a 
small  energy  charge  of  yi  cent  per  kw-hr.  used.  For  de- 
mands above  200  kw  the  kilowatt  charge  is  reduced  to  $15 
per  year.  The  energy  to  be  disposed  of  under  this  schedule 
will  be  transmitted  from  the  great  hydroelectric  develop- 
ment now  under  construction  at  Keokuk,  la. ;  stepped  from 
the  loo,ooc-volt  transmission  pressure  down  to  13,000  volts 
at  a  substation  near  the  St.  Louis  city  limits,  and  thus  dis- 
tributed through  the  factory  territory  in  north  and  south  St. 
Louis,  in  the  Mill  Creek  Valley  and  along  the  Terminal 
Belt  lines.  Special  13,000-volt,  25-cycle  circuits  will  be 
built  through  these  manufacturing  districts.  Service  will 
be  measured  on  the  13,000-volt  side,  and  customers  will  be 
required  to  furnish  or  pay  for  their  own  transforming 
equipment.  Regulation  and  reliability  of  service  are  under- 
stood in  advance  to  be  based  upon  the  operation  of  the  _ 
transmission  system — "unrefined  energy"  being  distin- 
guished in  this  way  from  the  regular  service  furnished  by 
the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  from  its  steam 
plants.  The  Keokuk  system  will  go  into  operation  next 
spring,  but  meanwhile  the  Union  company  offers  to  take  on 
St.  Louis  factory  customers  under  the  "unrefined  energy" 
schedule,  supplying  service  from  its  steam  plants  until  the 
water-power  is  available.  Contracts  may  therefore  be 
made  on  this  basis  without  delay.  With  such  a  low  rate 
offered  motor  users,  it  is  expected  that  many  local  factories 
will  abandon  their  isolated  plants,  making  for  a  cleaner, 
more  healthful  St.  Louis. 

As  noted  elsewhere  in  this  issue,  the  company  has  ar- 
ranged to  convey  150  of  the  leading  manufacturers  of 
St.  Louis  to  its  station  at  Keokuk  in  order  to  have  them 
become  familiar  with  its  electrical  undertakings.  Recently 
the  company  sent  its  sales  representatives  to  Keokuk  to 
acquaint  them  with  the  preparations  there  being  made  to 
produce  the  "unrefined  energy"  which  they  will  be  called 
upon  to  help  dispose  of. 


AN  OFF-PEAK   LIGHTING  CONTRACT. 


An  electric  lighting  contract  of  special  interest  went  into 
effect  on  Sept.  i  between  the  Union  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, of  Franklin,  Mass.,  and  the  lighting  department  of  the 
town  of  North  Attleboro.  The  agreement  illustrates  the 
mutual  advantages  of  an  arrangement  for  the  delivery  of 
energy  to  an  existing  generating  station  from  a  commercial 
distribution  system  when  due  regard  is  paid  to  the  hours  at 
which  service  is  highly  profitable.  By  the  terms  of  the  con- 
tract the  Union  company  agrees  to  sell  and  deliver  to  the 
North  Attleboro  plant  all  electrical  energy  consumed  from 
May  I,  1913,  to  Sept.  i,  1913,  and  from  Sept.  i,  1912,  to 
May  I,  1913,  all  energy  consumed  between  the  hours  of 
10  p.  m.  and  one  hour  before  sunset  of  the  following  day. 

By  this  arrangement  the  lighting  company  is  in  a  position 


September  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


611 


to  handle  the  day  winter  load  and  both  the  day  and  night 
summer  loads  of  the  town,  while  the  latter  is  enabled  to 
manufacture  all  or  any  portion  of  the  energy  consumed 
between  one  hour  before  sunset  and  10  p.  m.  in  the  winter 
season.  This  facilitates  economical  operation  of  the  plants 
of  both  purchaser  and  seller,  since  the  Union  company  is  not 
normally  obliged  to  carry  the  winter  evening  peak  of  the 
town  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  town  runs  its  own  plant 
only  upon  a  load  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  make  it  worth 
while  to  start  up  the  machinery.  By  the  terms  of  the  con- 
tract the  Union  company  is  required  to  furnish  any  portion 
of  the  town's  output  up  to  300  kw,  the  town  supplying  any 
excess  if  such  occurs.  A  400-kw  breakdown  service  is  also 
available  to  the  town  without  extra  charge. 


INCOME    PER    HP- YEAR    FROM   VARIOUS   RATES 
AND  LOAD-FACTORS. 


The  interesting  table  presented  herewith  illustrates  the 
effect  of  load-factor  in  determining  the  income  per  hp- 
year  at  various  rates  per  kw-hour.  The  figures,  which 
were  prepared  by  Mr.  M.  C.  Osborn,  commercial  agent  of 
the  Washington  Water  Power  Company,  Spokane,  Wash., 
are  based  on  unity  load-factor  of  620  hours  per  month,  or 


Furthermore,  it  will  be  noted  that  twenty-four-hour  busi- 
ness at  the  low  rate  of  i  cent  per  kw-hour  is  about  three 
times  as  remunerative  on  the  yearly  basis  as  the  service 
which  is  supplied  to  the  one-hour  user  at  10  cents  per  kw- 
hour.  Scrutiny  of  this  table  and  comparison  on  an  annual 
load-factor  basis  of  existing  rates  for  different  classes  of 
business  will  reveal  some  interesting  contrasts  in  the  sched- 
ules of  many  operating  companies,  at  the  same  time  point- 
ing the  way  to  the  remunerative  kinds  of  business  to  be 
secured  and  the  relative  values  to  be  placed  upon  them. 
The  figures  presented  will  be  found  useful  to  the  central- 
station  manager  and  salesman,  not  only  for  their  own  con- 
sideration, but  for  bringing  forcibly  to  the  attention  of  the 
consumer  why  a  higher  kw-hour  rate  must  be  charged  for 
service  at  a  low  load- factor  as  against  a  low  rate  for  one 
of  better  load-factor. 


A  TELEPHONE   COURTESY  REMINDER   FOR  THE 
UTILITY  EMPLOYEE. 


Estimates  of  public-utility  corporations  formed  by  the 
local  public  are  too  often  based  upon  individual  instances 
of  contact  with  some  company  employee  over  the  counter 
or  at  the  telephone.     With  the  latter  instrument  the  busy 


INCOME  PER  HP-YEAR  FROM  VARIOUS  RATES  AND  LOAD-FACTORS. 


Rate  per 

Hours  Useb  per  Day  (100  per  Cent  Lo 

ad-Factob 

=  620  Hours  per  Month). 

Rate  per 

Kw-Hour. 

Kw-Hour. 

24 

23 

22 

21   20 

19 

18 

17 

16 

15 

14 

13 

12 

11 

10 

9 

8 

7 

6 

5 

4 

.  3 

2 

1 

1 

64 

62 

59 

56 

54 

51 

48 

46 

43 

40 

38 

35 

32 

30 

27 

24 

21 

19 

16 

13 

11 

8 

5 

3 

1 

IH 

97 

93 

89 

85 

81 

77 

72 

68 

64 

60 

56 

52 

48 

44 

40 

35 

32 

28 

24 

20 

16 

12 

8 

4 

i.H 

2 

128 

124 

118 

113 

107 

102 

97 

91 

86 

81 

75 

70 

66 

59 

54 

48 

43 

38 

32 

27 

21 

15 

11 

5 

2 

2^ 

161 

154 

148 

141 

134 

128 

121 

114 

107 

101 

94 

87 

81 

74 

67 

50 

54 

47 

40 

34 

27 

20 

13 

7 

2H 

3 

193 

185 

177 

169 

161 

153 

145 

137 

129 

121 

113 

105 

97 

89 

81 

72 

64 

55 

48 

40 

32 

24 

16 

X 

3 

3Ji 

226 

216 

207 

197 

188 

179 

169 

160 

150 

141 

132 

122 

113 

103 

94 

85 

75 

56 

56 

47 

38 

28 

19 

9 

3M 

4 

258 

247 

236 

226 

215 

204 

193 

183 

172 

161 

150 

140 

129 

118 

107 

97 

85 

75 

64 

54 

43 

32 

21 

11 

4 

4H 

290 

278 

266 

254 

242 

230 

218 

205 

193 

181 

169 

157 

145 

133 

121 

109 

97 

85 

72 

60 

48 

36 

24 

12 

4H 

S 

322 

309 

295 

282  1  269 

255 

242 

228 

215 

201 

188 

175 

161 

148 

134 

121 

107 

94 

81 

67 

54 

40 

27 

13 

5 

3H 

354 

340 

325 

310  1  295 

281 

266 

251 

236 

222 

207 

192 

177 

162 

148 

133 

118 

103 

89 

74 

59 

44 

30 

15 

SH 

6 

387 

371 

354 

338 

322 

306 

290 

274 

258 

242 

226 

209 

193 

179 

161 

145 

129 

113 

97 

81 

64 

48 

32 

16 

6 

6M 

419 

401 

384 

367 

349 

332 

314 

297 

279 

262 

244 

227 

209 

192 

175 

157 

140 

122 

105 

87 

70 

52 

35 

17 

6H 

7 

451 

432 

414 

395 

376 

357 

338 

320 

301 

282 

263 

244 

225 

207 

188 

169 

150 

132 

113 

94 

75 

56 

38 

19 

7 

TVl 

483 

463 

443 

423 

403 

383 

363 

342 

322 

302 

282 

262 

242 

222 

201 

181 

161 

141 

121 

101 

81 

60 

40 

20 

TVi 

8 

516 

494 

473 

451 

430 

408 

387 

365 

344 

322 

301 

279 

257 

236 

215 

193 

172 

150 

129 

107 

86 

64 

43 

21 

8 

83^ 

530 

508 

486 

464  :  442 

420 

397 

375 

353 

331 

309 

287 

265 

243 

221 

199 

177 

1S5 

132 

110 

88 

515 

44 

22 

9>\4 

9 

580 

556 

532 

508  '  483 

459 

435 

411 

387 

363 

338 

314 

290 

266 

242 

218 

193 

169 

145 

121 

97 

72 

48 

24 

9 

9)4 

612 

587 

561 

536  |510 

485 

459 

434 

408 

383 

357 

332 

306 

281 

255 

230 

204 

179 

153 

128 

102 

77 

51 

25 

9H 

10 

645 

618 

591 

564  537 

510 

483 

457 

430 

403 

376 

349 

322 

295 

269 

242 

215 

188 

161 

134 

107 

81 

54 

27 

10 

twenty-four  hours  per  day  for  all  weekdays,  omitting  Sun- 
days, from  the  thirty-day  month.  The  revenues  per  hp- 
year  are  found  beneath  the  column  headings  under  "Hours 
Used  per  Day"  and  opposite  the  lines  corresponding  to  the 
various  rates  per  kw-hour. 

A  little  study  of  this  compilation,  which  can  be  repro- 
duced by  anyone  with  pencil  and  paper  or  a  slide-rule,  will 
reveal  some  rather  startling  surprises  to  the  average  cen- 
tral-station man.  .\fter  all,  income  per  hp-year  is  the 
determining  factor  in  the  success  of  any  electricity-supply 
business,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  small  con- 
sumer using  his  connected  load  one  to  two  hours  daily  at 
10  cents  per  kw-hour  returns  an  income  barely  one-half 
the  annual  income  from  a  customer  using  2-cent  energy 
twenty  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four,  even  omitting  all  con- 
sideration of  the  greater  distribution,  office  and  billing 
costs  incidental  to  serving  the  small  ~,hort-hour  user.  For 
example,  again,  the  two-rate  schedule  of  a  large  central- 
station  company  in  the  West,  which  charges  10  cents  net 
for  the  first  thirty  hours'  use  of  the  maximum  and  5  cents 
per  kw-hour  thereafter,  returns  the  annual  income  of  only 
$27  per  hp-year  for  users  who  do  not  exceed  the  high-rate 
use.  and,  consistently,  $27  per  hp-year  for  the  second  hour's 
use  of  the  maximum  under  the  5-cent  or  low-rate  portion. 


clerk  or  electrical  man  is  sometimes  tempted  to  be  brusk 
and  impatient  in  listening  to  the  customer's  complaint,  and 
the  offense  thus  thoughtlessly  given  is  made  all  the  worse 
by  the  fact  that  the  customer  fails  to  understand  the  pres- 
sure in  the  office.  Being  far  away  at  the  end  of  the  line, 
he  feels  himself  helpless  in  getting  the  information  or 
satisfaction  he  desires,  and  thus  a  "grouch"  is  developed. 
Despite  its  great  benefit  as  a  convenience,  the  telephone  is 
still  a  temptation  to  impersonal  discourtesy,  and  this  ten- 
dency the  public-service  company  which  desires  to  hold  the 
respect  of  the  community  must  take  means  to  prevent. 

On  each  of  the  500  telephones  comprising  the  private 
branch  exchanges  of  the  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  & 
Light  Company  "courtesy"'  mouthpiece  cards  have  been 
attached,  affording  constant  reminders  of  the  company's 
wise  policy  of  demanding  respectful  audience  to  every  tele- 
phone caller  as  well  as  to  personal  visitors  at  its  offices. 
The  circular  cards,  with  central  holes  for  attaching  under 
the  mouthpiece,  carry  the  title  word  "Courtesy"  in  large 
letters,  followed  by  these  observations:  "It  pays  because 
the  public  is  entitled  to  it  and  has  a  right  to  expect  it; 
because  it  makes  valuable  friends  for  you  and  for  the  com- 
pany, and  good  friends  are  valuable  assets  to  you  personally 
and  to  the  company ;  because  it  reduces  friction  between  the 


6l2 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  12 


company  and  the  public;  because  it  gives  you  a  personal 
satisfaction  to  liave  done  the  right  thing;  because  it  raises 
your  standing  with  the  company.  The  management  desires 
that  all  employees  who  come  in  contact  with  the  public 
should  be  uniformly  courteous  and  cheerful  when  dealing 


Courtesy    Reminder   Attached   to   Telephone   Transmitter. 

with  its  patrons."  The  'cards  are  printed  in  three  colors, 
blue,  red  and  green,  and  carry  a  note  of  instruction.  "Please 
keep  this  card  on  the  telephone  transmitter." 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

LAMP  SIGNAL  SYSTEM  FOR  HOSPITAL. 


An  electric-lamp  signaling  system  without  solenoids  or 
other  complications  is  being  installed  in  the  new  St.  John's 
Hospital,  St.  Louis,  for  calling  nurses  and  attendants  to 
patients'  rooms.    In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  ordinary  bed- 


Floor  Nurses' 
,    Annunciator  Lamps 


Superintemleiit's 
Annunciator  Lumps 


cooooooo 
OoO  c  oqoo 
oooooooo 
Oooooooo 
0000  ')000 
000 


tzc 


000000 


1    ! 


^oCorridor  Lamp 


~]      11  V. 


AA^V~-I  S 


m 


Corridor 
Lamp 


Trip  Wall 
Switch 


-Pull  Cord 


EleetHcal  Woftd 

Low-Voltage    Lamp-Signal    System    for    Hospital. 

side  cord  push-button  may  possibly  injure  the  patient  by 
shock  or  by  his  rolling  upon  it,  a  soft  linen  pull-cord  with 
a  light  tassel  has  been  substituted.  A  slight  jerk  on  this 
cord  trips  out  a  contact  switch  in  the  wall  fixture,  com- 
pleting an  ii-volt  circuit  which  lights  a  miniature  lamp  at 
the  room  door,  another  in  the  annunciator  in  the  nurses' 
quarters  and  a  third  in  the  superintendent's  office.  The 
lamp  by  the  door  is  designed  to  attract  the  nurses'  attention 


if  she  should  be  passing  in  the  corridor  at  the  time.  Repro- 
duction of  all  signals  in  the  superintendent's  office  afford; 
official  supervision  of  the  promptness  with  which  calls  an 
answered.  \\'ith  the  system  installed  at  St.  John's  th( 
nurse  cannot  "clear  out"  a  call  without  going  to  the  roon- 
where  it  originated  and  resetting  the  switch.  This  is  done 
by  pressing  a  handle  back  into  place.  This  feature  assure; 
that  the  signal  will  continue  to  be  shown  until  the  call  ha.' 
been  answered.  The  soft  pull  cord  is  more  easily  handlec 
by  a  sick  man  than  a  spring  push-button,  and  since  al' 
electric  wires  end  at  the  wall  plate  he  cannot  be  injured  b\ 
accidental  shock  or  by  rolling  on  to  the  hard  pear-shapec 
button.  A  low-voltage  sign  transformer  furnishes  the 
ii-volt  energy  for  the  signal  system,  which  serves  24c 
private  patients'  rooms  besides  the  general  wards.  For  tht 
latter  individual  lamps  have  been  provided  at  the  patients 
beds,  so  that  the  source  of  any  call  can  be  followed  back 
promptly.  Some  of  the  larger  wards  are  also  furnishec 
with  annunciator  groups.  The  rooms  where  delirious 
patients  are  confined  have  emergency  call  buttons  near  the 
doors  for  use  of  the  nurses.  These  light  blue  lamps  at  the 
doors  and  in  the  various  signal  centers,  indicating  that  hel]. 
is  urgently  needed  and  summoning  anyone  who  may  be 
near.  Mr.  C.  J.  Sutter  devised  the  signal  system  described 
which  appears  to  have  many  advantages  of  simplicity  and 
practicability  over  the  usual  hospital-call  schemes. 


PAINTING    LINE    POLES    IN    THE    YARD    BEFORE 
ERECTING. 


Poles  can  be  painted  in  the  yard  at  an  outlay  only  one- 
fourth  of  the  cost  of  having  the  work  done  by  linemen 
after  the  poles  are  in  the  ground.  Besides  this  saving,  the 
painted  poles  can  be  stored  with  less  danger  of  rot,  and 
when  they  arrive  on  the  job  their  attractive  appearance 
often  disarms  criticism  from  objecting  property  owners. 

The  new  pole  yard  of  the  Milwaukee  electric  company 
at  its  Cold  Spring  shops  is  so  laid  out  that  as  the  poles 
progress  through  the  painting  process  they  are  incidentally 
being  moved  to  their  finished  storage  piles.  The  yard  is 
reached  by  two  spurs  of  track  laid  on  opposite  sides.  Rough 
poles  delivered  from  the  incoming  track  are  first  shaved, 
and  as  they  are  rolled  during  the  shaving  process  they 
reach  the  position  where  the  work  of  framing  and  boring 
is  to  be  done.  Each  time  the  pole  is  turned  over,  it  is 
always  moved  in  the  routed  direction  to  the  finished  pile. 


FINISUEU    POLES 

t       t 

PAINTING 

t  t 

Fli.\MING  .\N'U  UOniXG 

t  ! 

SB.VVING 

t  ! 

POLES  IN  THii  UOLGH 


3-1 


\ 


Efficiency     Engineering    Applied    to    a    Pole    Yard. 

thus  saving  uimecessary  handling  and  waste  motion.  While 
being  painted  with  two  coats  of  white  lead  and  oil  the  pole 
is  still  progressing  to  the  storage  pile,  and  when  finished 
the  painted  poles  are  stacked  on  skids  which  permit  free 
circulation  of  air  to  keep  the  poles  dry.  No  poles  will  be 
held  in  the  Milwaukee  yard  for  a  period  exceeding  two 
years,  although  experiments  made  in  St.  Louis  have  shown 


i 


September  21.  lou 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


613 


that  painted  poles  could  be  kept  six  years  without  rot,  while 
unpainted  poles  stored  alongside  were  attacked.  In  the 
Milwaukee  yard  the  finished-pole  piles  are  alongside  the 
shipping  spur  so  that  the  painted  wood  can  be  loaded  direct- 
ly onto  construction  cars. 

A  man  earning  22  cents  an  hour  can  paint  a  pole  on  the 
ground  every  sixty  minutes,  according  to  Mr.  John  Fay, 
superintendent  of  distribution  for  the  Milwaukee  company. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  crew  of  four  men,  foreman  and  team 
are  making  good  progress  if  they  paint  twenty  to  thirty 
poles  in  a  day's  work.  With  the  men  earning  30  cents  an 
hour,  or  $3  a  day,  the  foreman  $3.50,  and  the  team  costing 
$4  a  day,  the  painting  crew  represents  an  outlay  of  about 
$20  a  day,  which  is  at  the  rate  of  $0.60  to  $0.90  per  pole 
painted.  With  the  work  done  on  the  ground  in  the  pole 
yard,  the  cost  for  the  same  labor  is  not  above  22  cents  per 
pole,  less  paint  is  wasted,  and  a  better  job  is  obtained.  The 
messy  work  of  painting  poles  in  place  is  not  attractive,  and 
it  is  hard  to  hold  men  on  the  task.  Such  work,  too,  is 
usually  unsatisfactory,  and  as  inspection  is  difficult,  the 
surface  is  not  always  properly  covered.  When  painting  is 
done  in  the  yard  every  pole  can  be  inspected  and  the  work 
can  be  done  as  men  are  available,  without  drawing  on  other 
departments  for  wagons  and  equipment.  At  Milwaukee  an 
auxiliary  storage  yard  has  been  provided  near  the  main 
yard,  and  the  two  yards  will  be  used  alternately  for  painting 
and  storage,  the  work  being  transferred  from  one  to  the 
other  yard  as  the  first  fills  up  with  finished  poles. 

Aside  from  the  cost,  there  is  a  civic  advantage  in  sending 
out  painted  poles.  In  certain  cases  where  strenuous  objec- 
tion had  been  made  to  the  setting  of  any  pole  whatsoever 
abutting  property  owners  have  relented  on  seeing  the  attrac- 
tive painted  pole  and  have  even  in  some  instances  permitted 
it  to  be  set  up  in  their  own  yards.  Criticism  was  thus  dis- 
armed and  the  company's  purpose  attained  without  obstruc- 
tion. 


THREE-PHASE  DISTRIBUTING  TRANSFORMERS. 


Three-phase  transformers  are  being  installed  by  The 
Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company  wherever 
possible  for  serving  motor  customers.  The  accompanying 
illustration  shows  a  pair  of  75-kw,  three-phase  units 
hung  directly  from  the  poles  in  front  of  the  customer's 
factory.  Such  a  polyphase  installation  is  lighter  and  less 
expensive  than  the  equivalent  rating  in  single-phase  trans- 


Two    75-kw,    Three-Phase    Transformers    Serving     Milwaukee 
Factory. 

formers.  It  is  also  the  experience  in  Milwaukee,  as  well  as 
in  St.  Louis,  where  three-phase  transformer  installations 
were  first  introduced,  that  in  the  event  of  lightning  single- 
phase  units  are  often  affected  while  the  polyphase  windings 
mounted  on  a  single  core  pass  through  unscathed.  In  fact, 
it  is  declared  that  not  a  single  three-phase  transformer  in 
St.  Louis  or  Milwaukee  has  ever  been  "burned  out,"  even 


though  other  apparatus  in  the  neighborhood  suffered 
severely.  The  neat  and  attractive  methods  of  installing 
possible  with  polyphase  transformers  are  best  appreciated 
by  comparison  with  the  average  installation  of  an  equivalent 
150-kw  job  in  single-phase  units. 

Other  St.  Louis  line-construction  practices  are  being  ex- 
tended to  Milwaukee  in  the  shape  of  the  clamp  pin  used 
extensively  in  the  Missouri  city  and  the  "bug"  indicators 
which  are  inserted  between  line  and  lightning  arrester  ter- 
minals to  show  when  the  arrester  has  operated.  The  "bug" 
is  made  up  of  a  short  length  of  No.  20  copper  wire  inclosed 
in  a  glass  tube.  When  the  fuse  blows  the  glass  becomes 
discolored,  thereby  revealing  the  operation  of  the  arrester. 


PRIMARY  AND  SECONDARY    POLE-LINE  RECORD 

SYSTEMS. 


A  complete  sy!=tem  of  map  records  is  being  developed  for 
the  primary  and  secondary  distribution  systems  of  The 
Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company,  showing  in 
detail    all    transformers,    apparatus,    connections,    etc..    re- 


T  15  Kn 


M'^jT 


T  10  K a. 


ri5K..  Ty-^'-^^l^yl.. 


^^ 


T  1;K«. 


I  LigbtuiDL. 


IT'j  Kw.  Tiaiifiiormcr 
y  L'ndergroiinil 


100-.\inp  Oil  S«itvli  [  UjKu) 


Elalrictd   l*o.-/<( 


Fig.   1 — Nomenclature   and   Details,   Record   Map,    Primary  System. 

corded  with  an  unusual  degree  of  minuteness.  There  is 
also  a  large  general  reference  map  with  movable  nomen- 
clature made  up  of  colored  strings  and  tacks.  This  wall 
map,  approximately  12  ft.  by  15  ft.,  is  drawn  to  the  same 
scale  as  the  sectional  primary-line  map,  300  ft.  to  the  inch, 
and  is  reached  with  the  aid  of  a  rolling  ladder.  Yellow 
string  is  used  to  represent  single-phase  primary  lines,  brown 
represents  three-wire  star  circuits  without  neutral,  and  red 
string  marks  four-wire  star-connected  circuits  with  neutral. 
The  following  legend  applies  to  the  cloth-covered  tacks 
used  to  represent  line  apparatus:  Red  top,  fuse;  white  with 
red  dot,  oil-switch ;  black,  riser  from  underground ;  green 
top,  three-phase  transformer  group ;  white,  single-phase 
transformer.  The  rating  of  the  transformer  in  kilowatts  is 
;n  each  case  marked  on  the  corresponding  tack-head.  In 
addition,  three-phase  installations  have  a  small  index  figure 
"3"  if  the  transformer  group  is  made  up  of  three  single- 
phase  units.  For  three-phase  transformers  built  on  a  single 
core  the  subscript  is  omitted. 

The  sectional,  primary  and  secondary-system  maps  are 
filed  in  special  cabinets,  the  sectional  plots  being  mounted 
on  heavy  boards,  30  in.  square,  which  are  located  by  means 
of  key  maps.  The  key  map  for  the  primary  system  is 
mounted  on  a  roller  10  in.  in  diameter,  fixed  at  one  end  of 
the  case,  and  shows  the  whole  city  with  the  divisions  for 
charting.  Keys  to  the  secondary  maps,  which  are  drawn 
to  a  scale  of  50  ft.  per  inch,  are  pasted  in  the  tops  of  the 
cabinet  covers.  These  maps  show  all  service  drops,  houses, 
ttc,  and  in  most  cases  the  approximate  demand  in  kilowatts 
required  by  the  customer. 

The  sectional  primary  maps,  scaled  300  ft.  per  inch,  show- 
all  distribution  lines,  transformers,  lightning  arresters, 
risers,  oil  switches,  fuses,  etc.,  together  with  the  wire  size, 
exact  connections,  etc.  At  all  special  points  branches, 
switches,  etc.,  a  detail  sketch  is  added  at  the  side  of  the 
general  plot  (see  Fig.  l),  indicating  the  exact  arrangement 
of  the  wires,  connections  and  position  of  pole  with  respect 
to  construction  indicated.    Transformers  are  shown  bv  "X" 


6i4 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  12. 


marks,  underground  transformers  being  indicated  by  the 
cross  inclosed  in  a  circle.  Risers,  both  feeder  outlets  and 
connection   taps   into   underground   runs,   are   marked   with 


Wood  Strain 


Fig.    2 — Page    from    Lineman's    SI<etclibook. 

diamond-shaped  patterns.  The  "thumb-nail  sketches,"  show- 
ing connection  points,  are  found  of  great  convenience  in 
following  the  map  circuits  and  save  the  complication  of 
carrying  more  than  single  lines  throughout  the  map  to  in- 
dicate disposal  of  wires,  hi  addition  to  the  maps  mentioned 
the  records  of  the  Milwaukee  pole  plant  have  been  amplified 
with  detail  sketches  of  every  junction  pole  on  a  given 
feeder.  This  includes  a  circuit  diagram  and  a  perspective 
pencil  sketch  of  the  connections,  exactly  as  they  appear 
from  the  south  side  of  the  pole  in  each  case.  One  of  these 
sample  sketches  is  shown  in  Fig.  2,  with  the  corresponding 
diagrams  which  supplement  the  main  drawing.  The  sketches 
are  made  on  co-ordinate  paper  in  a  pocket  notebook  and  are 
filed  without  further  retouching.  A  former  lineman  does 
the  work,  following  up  one  feeder  after  another  and  enter- 
ing up  the  sketches.  At  the  same  time  a  complete  survey  is 
made  of  all  transformer  poles,  recording  gage  of  wire  used 
for  primary  and  secondary  connections,  transformer  rating, 
type,  number,  etc.,  pole  number  and  character  of  secondary, 
whether  isolated  or  banked  with  other  transformer 
secondaries.  This  survey  has  been  carried  out  independently 
in  order  to  provide  a  check  on  the  map  records,  and  the 
accuracy  with  which  the  two  have  agreed  confirms  the  care 
and  patience  exercised  by  the  men  who  gathered  the  data. 


IMPROVING    THE    ILLUMINATION    OF    A    HOTEL 
WRITING    ROOM. 


A  critical  study  of  the  lighting  of  the  writing  room  of  a 
summer  hotel  in  Nova  Scotia  led  to  the  following  outline 
of  the  service  requirements  and  recommendations  for  an 
improved  installation.  The  vv'riting  room  was  established 
at  one  side  of  a  sun  parlor  and  consisted  essentially  of  a 
continuous  table,  27  ft.  long  and  22  in.  wide,  covered  with 
dark  imitation  leather,  ten  chairs  being  attached  to  the 
floor  in  front  of  the  table,  within  easy  reach.  The  illumina- 
tion was  furnished  by  one  i6-cp  and  two  32-cp  bare  incan- 
descent lainps  hung  at  the  back  of  the  table  and  22  in. 
above  it,  the  small  lamp  being  at  the  middle  and  the  larger 
units  about  a  foot  from  either  end.  These  units  consumed 
about  280  watts  and  gave  a  poor  distribution  of  light,  no 
shades  being  used.  The  intermediate  areas  on  the  table 
were  really  too  dark  for  the  best  results,  the  total  of  80  cp 
being  distributed  very  irregularly. 

It   was    suggested    that    the    existing   lamps    be    removed 


entirely,  substituting  in  their  place  five  40-watt  tungsten 
lamps  at  a  height  of  36  in.  above  the  writing  surface,  these 
being  spaced  evenly  along  the  wall  in  front  of  every  other 
chair  and  mounted  in  reflectors  throwing  the  flux  down- 
ward upon  the  table,  without  glare,  as  indicated  in  the 
diagram.  The  total  flux  recommended  was  therefore  double 
the  former  flux,  although  the  total  power  required  was  only 

32  Cp.  16  Cp.  32  Cp. 

*  *  * 


Table 

Plan 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0       0 
Chairs 

0 

0 

0 

0 

-27-itr- 


Original  Installation 


a 


la 


40  Watts  each 


m 


El 


0000000000 

Improved  Installation        i:uctri^  w<^ii 

Original     and     Improved     Illuminating    for     Writing     Room. 

200  watts,  and  there  was  scarcely  any  comparison  between 
the  quality  of  illumination  in  the  two  schemes.  The  original 
32-cp  lamps  gave  a  bright  illumination  in  their  immediate 
vicinity  but  very  uneven  distribution,  whereas  the  improved 
plan  was  designed  for  a  highly  uniform  illumination  over 
the  whole  table,  with  no  objectionable  shadows. 


PRIVATE    ORNAMENTAL    STREET    LIGHTING    IN 
CHICAGO. 

Three  thousand  privately  owned  street-lighting  posts  are 
now  being  operated  in  Chicago  by  the  Commonwealth  Edi- 
son Company,  which  has  devoted  special  attention  to  secur- 
ing this  class  of  contracts  in  outlying  business  centers.  A 
load  of  about  1200  kw  is  thus  connected  and  in  use  for  this 
kind  of  public  illumination,  the  cost  of  which  is  defrayed 
by  abutting  merchants.  Of  the  total  number  of  posts,  85 
per  cent  are  installed  under  the  company's  regular  two- 
year  contract,  by  the  terms  of  which  the  central-station 
company  erects  and  maintains  the  installation,  operating 
it  a  given  number  of  hours  daily,  for  a  fixed  sum  collectible 
weeklv  from  the  individual  merchants  or  from  the  neigh- 
borliood  business  men's  association.  About  500  posts  are 
served  on  a  meter  basis,  the  customers  installing  their  own 
equipment  and  purchasing  energy  from  the  Commonwealth 
company  at  a  fi.xed  kilowatt-hour  rate. 

The  rates  for  this  ornamental  street  lighting,  under  the 
standard  two-year  contract,  are  as  follows  for  posts  carry- 
ing a  single  250-watt  tungsten  lamp  or  four  6o-watt  tung- 
sten lamps : 

Per  Lamp  Post, 
per  Weelc. 
Dusk  to   10  p.m.   six  nights    and  dusk  to  midnight  one  night 

per  week $1.75 

Dusk  to  11  p.  m.  six  nights  and  dusk  to  midnight  one  night 

per  week .- 1.85 

Dusk  to  midnight  seven  nights  per  week 1.95 

Dusk  to  1  a.m.  seven  nights  per  week 2. 10 

For  posts  equipped  with  five  6o-watt  lamps  the  sched- 
ule is : 

Per  Lamp  Post, 
per  Week. 
Dusk  to   10  p.m.   six  nights    and  dusk  to  midnight   one  night 

per  week $2.00 

Dusk  to   11    p.m.  six  nights    and  dusk  to  midnight  one  night 

per  week 2.13 

Dusk  to  midnight  seven  nights  per  week 2.25 

Dusk  to  1  a.m.  seven  nights  per  week 2.37 

These  charges  are  payable  weekly  and  are  subject  to  a 


SErTHMi'.Ki;  -'I.  ii;u. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


6i  = 


discount  of  25  cents  per  post  if  paid  within  three  days  from 
date  of  bill.  After  the  original  term  of  the  two-year  con- 
tract has  expired,  the  service  may  be  continued,  if  desired, 
at  a  cost  of  66.7  per  cent  of  the  above-listed  rates.  Lamps 
are  switched  on  and  off  at  the  specified  hours  by  the  com- 
pany's patrolmen.  Changes  in  posts  or  wiring  are  made  at 
the    expense    of   the    customer.      In    outlying    districts    the 


erected  by  the  adjoining  merchants,  and  energy  is  pur- 
chased by  meter  from  the  central  station,  the  posts  being 
operated  from  dusk  to  10  p.  m.  every  night  except  on  Satur- 
days, when  the  hour  of  extinguishment  is  midnight,  making 
a  total  of  thirty-seven  hours  per  week. 

Adjoining  the  concrete  posts  on  the  east  and  extending 
to    North    Clark    Street    is    an    installation    of    thirtv-five 


Fig.    1 — Concrete    Posts    on    Belmont    Avenue.    Chicago. 

lines  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  follow  the 
alleys,  and  to  reach  the  street-lighting  installations  taps  are 
brought  across  the  customers'  premises  to  the  curb,  serving 
a  group  of  three  or  four  posts  in  this  way  from  each  tap. 
Among  recent  interesting  installations  of  such  private 
lighting  in  -Chicago  is  that  on  Belmont  .A.venue  west  from 


Fig.    3 — 250-Watt    Posts    on     IVlilwaul<ee    Avenue,    Chicago. 

Morris  iron  posts,  each  carrying  five  60-watt  lamps.     These 
lamps  are  also  operated  on  a  meter  schedule. 

On  North  Clark  Street,  just  around  the  corner  from 
Belmont  Avenue,  Dearborn  Foundry  Company  posts  are 
used,  this  being  one  of  the  company's  installations  furnished 
under  the  two-year  contract  plan.     The  equipment  is  being 


Fig.   2 — Ornamental    iron    Posts   on    Belmont   Avenue,    Chicago. 

Sheffield  Avenue,  where  Aitken  lo-ft.  concrete  posts  have 
been  used,  each  post  carrying  five  loo-watt  lamps  in  12-in. 
white  globes.  The  posts  are  reinforced  and  cast  as  mono- 
liths, including  arms  and  staffs.  The  design  is  a  unique 
"art  nouveau"  pattern  which  is  both  attractive  and  service- 
able. A  cast-iron  cover  gives  access  through  one  of  the 
panels  to  the  interior  of  the  base.     This  installation  was 


Fig. 


our- Lamp    Clusters   on    North    Clark   Street,    Chicago. 


changed,  however,   from   four  60-watt  lamps,  as  originally 
installed,  to  five  loo-watt  units. 

Nearly  100  of  the  single-unit  posts,  with  250-watt  lamps 
inclosed  in  i6-in.  globes,  are  installed  on  Lincoln  Avenue 
and  on  Milwaukee  Avenue  near  North  Avenue.  The 
tendency  in  Chicago  curb  lighting,  however,  seems  to  be 
away  from  this  single-unit  type  in  favor  of  the  more  gen- 


6i6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol,  6o,  No.  12. 


erally  adopted  standard  four-lamp  or  five-lamp  fixtures. 
The  one-lamp  post  seems  to  have  demonstrated  that  it  is 
an  unsuccessful  departure  from  the  older  practice  in  elec- 
tric incandescent  street  lighting. 

On  North  Avenue,  just  west  from  the  Milwaukee  Avenue 
installation  referred  to,  an  installation  of  100  standard  posts 
is  being  erected,  service  to  be  furnished  under  the  two-year 
flat-rate  contract.  Another  important  lighting  installation 
is  nearing  completion  at  Western  and  Montrose  Avenues, 
where  100  posts,  each  carrying  four  60-watt  lamps  and  one 
loo-watt  lamp,  are  being  placed  by  the  company  under 
the  contract  plan. 


ELECTRIC  LIGHTING  AT  ST.    PAUL'S  CHURCH, 
HALIFAX. 


One  of  the  most  effectively  lighted  places  of  worship  in 
Nova  Scotia  is  St.  Paul's  Church,  Halifax,  famous  to  tour- 
ists and  residents  alike  as  the  oldest  Church  of  England 
meeting  house  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  This  historic 
structure,  now  over  150  years  old,  has  in  no  sense  lost  its 
"atmosphere"  as  a  result  of  the  introduction  of  the  tungs- 
ten  lamp  in   its   interior  lighting  service,   and   contrary  to 


K  1 

1 

Q 

■HI 

^^r*Sfc.'" 

1 

PI 

P^-^ 

t]&i 

^      *^    "   1 

N 

MM 

IH 

^^^^Hp 

'^^^^^HII^I^IIh 

H 

Interior    Lighting    of    St.    Patil's    Church.    Halifax.    N.    S. 

the  impression  that  a  "dim  religious  light"  is  a  requisite  to 
ecclesiastical  efficiency,  the  cheerful  illumination  now  en- 
joyed is  unquestionablv  a  decided  factor  in  the  attendance 
at  this  noted  shrine. 

As  shown  in  the  accompanying  illustration,  the  interior 
finish  of  the  church  consists  of  white  posts  and  galleries, 
the  pews  being  of  mahogany  color.  The  ceiling  has  a 
light  green  tint  and  the  floor  is  dark  gray  in  appearance. 
The  body  of  the  church  is  rectangular  in  shape,  about  80 
ft.  square,  and  at  the  east  end  is  a  chancel  about  30  ft. 
wide  and  28  ft.  deep,  containing  choir  stalls,  an  organ  oper- 
ated by  a  5.5-hp  motor-driven  air-supplying  equipment  and 
an  altar  about  15  ft.  long  at  the  extreme  rear  of  the  chancel. 
Two  galleries  about  25  ft.  wide  occupy  the  sides  of  the 
nave  throughout  its  entire  length,  each  being  divided  into 
seven  bays,  and  the  church  is  symmetrical  about  a  center 
aisle  wliich  extends  from  the  vestibule  to  the  chancel. 

The  lighting  of  the  center  aisle  and  pews  bordering  upon 
it  is  chiefly  accomplished  by  two  chandeliers  hung  about  36 
ft.  apart  and  about  20  ft.  above  the  floor  over  the  central 
axis  of  the  church.  Each  chandelier  contains  thirty  40- 
watt  tungsten  lamps  installed  on  horizontal  radii  and  sur- 
rounded by  three  circular  rows  of  dispersing  prisms  hung 
vertically  from  metal  supporting  rings.  The  pews  and 
side  aisles  beneath  the  galleries  are  illuminated  by  a  total 
of  four  rows  of  40-watt  tungsten  lamps,  two  rows  and  four- 
teen lamps  being  placed  on  each  side  of  the  church.     These 


lamps  are  installed  in  ceiling  outlets  10.5  ft.  above  the  floor, 
the  parallel  rows  being  about  13  ft.  apart.  Diffusing  re- 
flectors are  provided  for  all  sub-gallery  lamps.  The  chan- 
cel is  lighted  in  part  from  the  body  of  the  church,  and  in 
addition  by  two  vertical  rows  of  six  40-watt  lamps  each, 
equipped  with  reflectors  which  hide  the  lamps  from  the  con- 
gregation, and  also  with  frosted  bulbs  to  protect  occu- 
pants of  the  choir  stalls  from  eye  strain.  These  lamps  are 
installed  2  ft.  apart  and  are  located  on  the  vertical  sup- 
ports of  the  arch  above  the  chancel  entrance.  Three 
groups  of  five  60-watt  lamps  set  8  ft.  above  the  floor  are 
massed  along  the  front  of  the  organ  on  each  side  of  the 
chancel  and  add  greatly  to  the  illumination  of  the  choir 
stalls  nearer  the  altar  rail.  On  the  south  side  of  the  chan- 
cel is  located  the  organ  console,  which  receives  sufficient 
light  from  the  tungsten  cluster  above  mentioned  to  enable 
the  instrument  to  be  properly  handled  without  additional 
illumination.  The  altar  is  lighted  by  two  pairs  of  half- 
frosted  60-watt  lamps  attached  to  wall  brackets  set  12  ft. 
apart  on  centers.  A  l6-cp  tubular  lamp  is  installed  at  the 
pulpit  reading  desk.  The  galleries  are  mainlv  illuminated  by 
40-watt  lamps  with  diffusing  reflectors  spaced  one  to  each 
of  the  seven  bays  on  each  side,  supplemented  by  light  from 
the  chandeliers  over  the  center  aisle.  The  individual 
lamps  are  set  about  14  ft.  above  the  gallery  floor.  The 
electrical  energy  is  supplied  by  the  Halifax  Electric  Tram- 
way Company,  Ltd.,  from  its  regular  no-volt  secondary 
network. 


SEMI-INDIRECT    ILLUMINATION    FOR    THE 
ST.  LOUIS  CATHEDRAL. 


.\  semi-indirect  scheme  of  lighting  has  been  decided  upon 
for  the  dome  and  central  aisle  of  the  great  St.  Louis 
cathedral,  the  exterior  of  which  is  now  completed.  This 
building,  one  of  the  largest  church  structures  in  America, 
will  cost  over  $2,000,000  when  finished.  From  the  central 
dome.  150  ft.  above  the  floor,  will  be  suspended  a  huge 
fixture  consisting  of  four  great  bronze  candelabra,  one 
below  the  other,  each  supporting  dozens  of  candle  lamps 
on  bracket  arms.  The  value  of  these,  however,  will  be 
chieflv  ornamental,  the  practical  lighting  being  afforded  by 
tungsten  lamps  in  reflectors  concealed  in  the  bodies  of  the 
fixtures  and  projecting  their  light  on  to  the  sides  and  arches 
of  the  dome.  Three  hundred  and  fifty  50-watt  lamps  are 
to  be  used  in  this  central  chandelier.  Indirect  cove  lighting 
is  also  planned  for  the  side  aisles  where  the  ceiling  is  too 
low  to  permit  of  hanging  fixtures.  The  lighting  for  the 
entire  cathedral  will  be  controlled  from  a  group  of  eighty- 
two  remotely  operated  switches,  the  push-buttons  for  which 
will  be  located  in  the  sacristy  under  the  control  af  the 
priest  conducting  the  services. 


ORNAMENTAL  LIGHTING  OF  ALBANY  HOTEL 
CAFE,   DENVER. 

One  of  the  most  effective  applications  of  indirect  light- 
ing is  that  for  dining  rooms  in  which  the  reflector  units 
are  concealed  in  vase  or  pedestal  fixtures  on  the  floor, 
projecting  their  light  onto  the  unmarred  ceiling.,  from 
which  it  is  diffused  throughout  the  room.  The  reflector 
pedestals,  artistically  treated,  become  unobtrusive  among 
the  white  covers  of  the  tables,  and  the  room  is  suffused 
with  a  high  degree  of  illumination  without  introducing 
either  brilliant  light  sources  or  dark  fixtures  into  the  field 
of  vision.  An  initial  installation  of  this  pedestal  system 
was  completed  in  the  north  cafe  of  the  Congress  Hotel, 
Chicago,  last  fall  and  was  described  in  an  illustrated  arti- 
cle in  the  Electrical  World  of  Nov.  25,  igii,  page  1309. 

A  similar  illumination  scheme  has  been  employed  for  the 
new  cafe  of  the  Hotel  ."Mbanv,  Denver,  Col.     This   room, 


September  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


617 


nieasuriiig  54  ft.  by  40  ft.,  with  13-ft.  ceiling,  is  lighted  by 
four  pedestal  fixtures,  each  containing  six  lOO-watt 
tungsten  lamps  in  mirror  reflectors.  The  white  pedestals 
are  7  ft.  in  height,  bringing  the  lamps  well  above  the  level 
of  the  eye,  so  that  the  source  of  illumination  is  not  visible 
from  any  part  of  the  room.  In  the  cafe  decorations  old 
rose   has   been   employed   as   the   predominating  tint,   pro- 


*"'"  W'!"--=^^^' 


* 


f 


fi»  •" 


Lighting  in   Cafe  of  Albany   Hotel,   Denver. 

ducing  with  the  indirect  lighting  a  soft,  restful  quality  of 
illumination  that  is  especially  grateful  to  diners  and  has 
made  this  room  one  of  the  most  popular  dining  places  in 
Denver. 


DEPARTMENT    STORE    LIGHTING    BY    INDIRECT 
SYSTEM. 


The  loo-ft.  by  150-ft.  second-story  salesroom  of  the 
Kroeger  Brothers  department  store.  National  Avenue  and 
Fourth  .Street,  Milwaukee,  is  illuminated  by  twenty-eight 
indirect-lighting  fixtures,  each  containing  a  400-watt  tung- 
sten lamp.  Concrete  beams  divide  the  ceiling  into  panels, 
25  ft.  by  8  ft.,  the  corners  of  each  group  of  three  panels 
being  marked  by  a  supporting  post.  From  the  center  of  the 
middle  panel  of  each  bay  is  hung  a  reflector  fixture,  making 
the  rectangular  distance  between  units.  25  ft.,  the  same  as 
between  posts.  The  beams  extend  12  in.  below  the  flat 
ceiling  surface,  giving  rise  to  some  objectionable  shadows 
in  the  panels  thus  hidden,  but  the  general  effect  of  the 
lighting  is  verv  good  and  ample  in  quantity.  A  few  show- 
case reflectors  are  used  in  parts  of  the  room,  but  in  the  open 
departments,  as  in  the  shoe,  cloak  and  dress  sections,  the 
pure  indirect  illumination  suffices.  The  ornamented  plaster 
bowls  containing  mirror  reflectors  measure  15  in.  in  diam- 
eter and  18  in.  in  height  and  are  suspended  by  bronze  chains 
with  the  reflector  lips  at  a  height  of  10  ft.  above  the  floor. 


the  connection  is  taken  down,  while  any  further  attempt  to 
register  sets  a  telltale  on  the  operator's  position. 

A  step-by-step  system  has  been  patented  by  Messrs.  J.  B. 
Briggs  and  V.  P.  Hall,  of  Labette,  Kan.  This  has  dis- 
tributed synchronous  mechanism  of  special  type  and  pro- 
vides for  selective  ring  and  lock-out.  All  stations  may  be 
called  and  admitted  simultaneously  if  desired. 

TRANSMITTER  ATTACHMENTS. 

A  very  simple  antiseptic  device  has  been  produced  by 
Mr.  C.  V.  Fuller,  of  Newark,  N.  J.  This  is  a  lining  for  the 
mouthpiece  patterned  on  the  collapsible  drinking  cup. 

The  device  patented  by  Mr.  F.  C.  Tabler,  of  St.  Louis, 
is  much  more  elaborate.  The  regular  mouthpiece  is  super- 
seded by  a  plate  of  porcelain  or  glass  behind  which  are  two 
rolls  carrying  a  strip  of  antiseptic  cloth.  The  cloth  ex- 
tends across  the  mouthpiece  aperture  and  may  be  wound 
from  one  roll  to  the  other. 

Mr.  J.  L.  Donat,  of  Chicago,  has  patented  a  muffler  for 
transmitters.  This  is  a  shell  of  considerable  size  which 
surrounds  the  mouthpiece  and  contacts  with  the  face  of 
the  user.  The  shell  is  attached  to  a  nipple  which  is  in- 
serted between  the  mouthpiece  and  transmitter  casing. 

A  very  different  sort  of  muffler  has  been  invented  by 
Mr.  G.  W.  Lancaster,  of  Richmond.  Va.  He  has  produced 
a  miniature  booth  within  which  a  person  may  place  his  head. 
The  telephone  is  within  the  booth,  the  receiver  being 
mounted   upon   a   supporting   arm. 

AUTOMATIC    SYSTEM. 

A  patent  granted  to  Mr.  G.  W.  Loumer,  of  Piqua,  Ohio, 
and  assigned  to  the  Western  Electric  Company,  describes 
an  automatic  system.  In  this  the  sending  device  is  worked 
by  a  spring  which  is  wound  incident  to  making  a  call.  As 
the  call  goes  in  the  central  ofiice  apparatus  sends  out  im- 
pulses which  operate  an  escapement  in  the  sender.  It  is 
necessary  that  the  clockwork  at  the  sender  follow  the 
central  office  apparatus  synchronously.  Therefore  the 
spring  pressure  at  the  sender  must  be  maintained,  and  the 
sender  is  so  arranged  that  the  spring-winding  key  is  locked 
while  a  number  is  being  sent. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


SERVICE    METERS. 

Service  meters  may  be  located  at  the  central  office  or  on 
the  subscriber's  premises.  It  is  with  the  latter  class  that 
the  patent  issued  to  Mr.  A.  M.  Chrichton,  of  Quincy,  is 
r,  concerned.  He  provides  a  counter  operated  by  two 
"  ratchets.  The  pawl  of  one  drives  the  counter  forward 
whenever  a  call  is  made.  The  operator  may  operate  the 
second  pawl  to  deduct  one  if  the  call  fails. 
II  Messrs.  H.  D.  Currier,  of  Chicago,  and  G.  Wolf,  of  New 
York,  have  produced  a  register  system  of  the  central-office 
type.  Eacli  operator  has  a  register  which  counts  her  work 
and  each  line  a  register  which  counts  its  calls.  Upon  the 
completion  of  a  connection  the  operator  effects  a  registra- 
tion on  both  meters  by  pushing  a  key.  The  resistances  are 
so  adjusted  that  the  line  meter  counts  first,  immediately 
followed  by  the  position  meter,  the  latter  lighting  a  lamp 
to   show   complete   action.     The   line   meter   then   locks   till 


Letter  to  the  Editors 

JUPITER  OF  THE  SONS  OF  JOVE. 

To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs:— The  Rejuvenated  Order  of  the  Sons  of  Jove  has 
grown  to  such  an  extent  that  to-day  it  occupies  a  most 
important  place  in  the  development  of  the  electrical  in- 
dustry, and  the  man  who  is  to  be  honored  by  being  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  order,  containing  8000  members,  will  be 
obliged  to  give  to  the  office  a  great  deal  of  time  and  atten- 
tion. There  has  been  considerable  talk  of  the  possible 
candidacy  of  the  writer  for  election  as  the  eleventh  Jupiter 
of  the  order,  and  I  have  been  approached  by  many  of  the 
officers  and  statesmen.  I  have  considered,  fully  the  great 
honor  it  would  be  to  become  a  candidate  for  this  office, 
but  have  been  compelled  to  conclude  that,  for  strictly  busi- 
ness reasons,  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  do  so.  The 
business  of  the  company  with  which  I  am  connected  has 
grown  to  such  an  extent  that  its  management  will  require 
all  of  my  energies,  and  for  that  reason  I  am  not  in  a 
position  to  devote  any  time  to  a  campaign  as  a  candidate  for 
the  office,  and  if  I  were  so  fortunate  and  so  honored  as  to 
be  elected  my  business  would  prevent  my  giving  to  it  the 
attention  it  should  have.  Kindly  permit  me  through  the 
columns  of  your  paper  to  state  to  my  friends  who  are  mak- 
ing some  effort  in  my  behalf  that  I  should  much  prefer  that 
they  devote  their  time  to  considering  the  qualifications  of 
others  as  candidates  for  election  as  eleventh  Jupiter. 

Cleveland,  Ohio.  H.  H.  Cudmore. 


6i8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  12. 


Digest  of  Current   Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Braking  of  Series  Commutator  Motors. — A.  Fraenckel. 
— The  question  whether  braking  of  series  single-phase  com- 
inutator  motors  is  possible  in  such  a  way  that  energy  is 
returned  to  the  network  has  been  recently  the  subject  of 
various  theoretical  papers,  all  of  which  have  reached  the 
conclusion  that  this  is  impossible  because  self-excited  cur- 
rents occur  which  have  a  frequency  different  from  that  of 
the  network.  These  currents  either  increase  to  such  an 
extent  that  operation  becomes  impossible  or  if  they  are 
limited  or  suppressed  by  means  of  resistances  these  resist- 
ances must  be  so  large  that  the  whole  useful  power  is  con- 
sumed in  them.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  practice  has  proved 
that  these  theoretical  conclusions  are  wrong,  and  braking  of 
repulsion  motors  with  reciprocating  energy  has  been  car- 
ried out  in  hoisting  installations.  The  author  endeavors  to 
give  in  the  present  paper  an  elementary  explanation  of  this 
discrepancy  between  theory  and  practice.  He  discusses  the 
production  of  self-excited  currents  in  single-phase  and 
polyphase  commutation  machines  with  series  characteristics 
and  explains  the  conditions  of  stability  of  the  self-excited 
currents  when  the  machine  is  short-circuited  or  when  it  is 
connected  to  the  network.  He  shows  that  it  is  possible  to 
suppress  the  self-excitation  of  the  machine  so  that  recupera- 
tion of  energy  during  braking  becomes  possible.  The  calcu- 
lation is  given  for  a  repulsion  motor  and  the  theoretical 
results  are  in  agreement  with  the  measurements. — Elek.  it. 
Masch.  (Vienna),  Aug.  18,  1912. 

Speed  Regulation  of  Induction  Motors. — A  note  on  a 
British  patent  (No.  19,362,  Aug.  22,  1912)  of  J.  Wagner. 
An  emf  is  impressed  on  the  rotor  from  a  rotary  converter 
the  direct-current  side  of  which  is  supplied  with  a  variable 
emf  from  a  second  rotary  or  motor-generator,  the  alternat- 
ing-current side  being  connected  to  the  mains.  Alterna- 
tively the  rotor  receives  energy  from  the  rotor  of  another 
induction  machine  the  stator  winding  of  which  is  connected 
across  the  mains  and  is  driven  by  a  direct-current  motor 
supplied  with  energy  at  variable  voltage  from  a  rotary 
converter  connected  to  the  mains. — London  Elcc.  Ending. 
Aug.  29,  1912. 

Speed  Control  of  Induction  Motors. — A  note  on  a  recent 
British  patent  (No.  9134,  Aug.  22,  1912)  of  Siemens 
Brothers  Dynamo  Works,  Ltd.  (communicated  by  Siemens- 
Schuckertwerke,  of  Germany).  The  rotor  of  a  secondary 
induction  machine  is  connected  through  a  frequency  con- 
verter in  series  with  the  stator  winding,  w'hich  is  in  series 
with  the  rotor  winding  of  the  main  motor.  The  number  of 
poles  of  the  secondary  motor  is  such  that  the  cascade 
speed  falls  near  the  middle  of  the  range  of  regulation  of 
the  main  motor. — London  Elcc.  Eng'ing,  Aug.  29,  1912. 

Submersible  Motors. — A  note  on  a  British  patent  ( No. 
17,716,  ."^ug.  22.  1912)  of  T.  L.  R.  Cooper.  Totally  inclosed 
motors  are  filled  with  a  non-hygroscopic  insulating  oil  sub- 
jected to  a  pressure  slightly  greater  than  that  due  to  the 
depth  of  immersion  by  spring-loaded  plungers,  which  are 
also  open  to  the  water  pressure.  It  is  better  if  possible  to 
have  only  one  end  of  the  shaft  projecting  and  to  use  the 
motor  with  the  shaft  vertical  and  the  projecting  end  down- 
ward.— London  Elec.  Eng'ing.  Aug.  29,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Drazi'n-Wire  Lamps. — F.  W.  Willcox. — An  article  in 
which  the  author  points  out  that  the  strength  of  the  drawn- 
wire  lamp  does  not  rest  on  the  filament  alone,  but  is  due  to 
three  features:  (l)  the  strength  of  the  drawn-wire  fila- 
ment itself;  (2)  the  use  of  the  continuous  one-piece  wire 
of   uniform  cross-section;    (3)    the   method   of   support   of 


the  filament,  mounted  on  flexible  supports  in  which  there 
are  no  rigid  joints  or  welds  at  the  point  of  support.  A 
simple  apparatus  for  testing  filament  strength  is  described 
and  the  results  of  tests  made  with  the  apparatus  are  given. 
— London  Electrician,  Aug.  30,  1912. 

Arc  Projectors. — R.  E.  Neale. — .A.n  illustrated  article  on 
magnetic  arc  projectors  for  electric  vehicles. — London  Elec. 
Review,  Aug.  30,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Three-Phasc  Cascade  Motors. — An  illustrated  article  on 
the  equipment  and  performance  of  the  Werne  colliery 
(Osnabriick,  Germany),  where  a  fan  delivering  11,000  cu.  m 
per  minute  against  300  mm  of  water  pressure  is  driven  at 


I 


Fig.    1 — Connections    of    Three-Phase    Cascade    Motors. 

250  r.p.m.  by  a  1200-hp,  24-pole,  5c-cycle  slip-ring  induction 
motor  coupled  through  1:1  belting  (space  forbidding  direct 
mechanical  coupling)  to  a  cage-wound  auxiliary  motor,  the 
stator  of  which  has  two  windings — one  with  eight  poles 
and  the  other  with  four  or  two  according  to  connections 
shown  in  Fig.  2.  The  synchronous  speed  of  the  main  motor 
is  250  r.p.m.,  and  cascade  speeds  of  231,  214  and  188  r.p.m. 


-vwwvw- 


MWWW^ 

2  Pole. 


-""wm 


I 


Vw^^W^^A.^ 


Fig.    2 — Stator   Connections. 

are  available.  With  A^  closed  in  Fig.  i  the  speed  is  255 
r.p.m.,  with  U  down  231  r.p.m.,  with  U  up  214  r.p.m.,  and 
with  A.,  closed  188  r.p.m.  The  main  motor  is  connected 
to  the  2000-volt  mains  through  the  necessary  measuring 
instruments.  The  liquid  starter  has  a  split  neutral,  closed 
by  the  switch  A^.  and  the  connection  of  the  main  rotor  to 
the  auxiliary  motor  is  through  the  switch  A.,  and  the  re- 


September  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


619 


versing  switch  U.     (See  also  Fig.  2.) — London  Elec.  Re- 
tdezv,  Aug.  23,  1912. 

Equalizing  Load  Fluctuations. — A.  Schweiger. — A  con- 
tinuation of  his  recent  paper  presented  before  the  German 
Association  of  Electrical  Engineers  on  methods  of  equal- 
izing load  curves  by  means  of  storage  batteries  or  by 
means  of  flywheels.  In  the  present  instalment  the  com- 
bination of  these  means  with  special  regulating  machines 
or  regulating  mechanisms  is  taken  up,  the  different  possible 
systems  of  connections  being  given  in  a  series  of  diagrams. 
The  article  is  to  be  concluded. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  29,  1912. 

Gas-Driven  Generators  in  Parallel. — W.  O.  Schumann. 
— A  mathematical  paper  with  oscillographic  curves  on  free 
oscillations  of  gas-driven  generators  operated  in  parallel. — 
Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  Aug.  11,  1912. 

Lifting  .Magnets. — A.  Reisset. — An  illustrated  article  on 
industrial .  applications  of  lifting  magnets. — La  Lumiere 
Elec.,  Aug.  17,  1912. 

Traction. 

Electric  Propulsion  of  Ships. — E.  Berg. — An  illustrated 
article  in  which  the  author  first  mentions  the  more  impor- 
tant stipulations  in  the  contract  for  the  equipment  of  the 
Jupiter  with  electrical  propelling  machinery  and  then  pro- 
ceeds with  a  brief  description  of  the  vessel  and  a  compari- 
son in  tabulated  form  of  the  three  sister  ships,  the  Jupiter. 
the  Cyclops  and  the  Neptune.  The  principal  features  in  the 
design  and  operation  of  the  generating  unit  and  motors 
for  the  Jupiter  are  outlined  in  detail,  and  the  results  of 
complete  tests  made  under  conditions  identical  with  those 
of  ultimate  operation  are  included  in  the  form  of  curves. — 
London  Electrician,  Aug.  30,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

British  Central-Station  Account. — An  abstract  of  last 
year's  account  of  the  electric  supply  station  at  Coventry, 
which,  although  of  only  moderate  size,  is  operated  at  almost 
the  lowest  cost  per  kw-hr.  of  all  the  stations  in  England, 
and  this  notwithstanding  that  the  load-factor  is  by  no  means 
high.  For  the  year  ended  March  31  last  the  total  number 
of  kw-hr.  sold  was  10,473,339,  a  marked  increase  over  the 
figure  of  7,943,937  recorded  a  year  ago.  Of  the  above 
output  948,250  kw-hr.  was  sold  for  private  lighting  at  an 
average  price  of  7.2  cents  per  kw-hr.;  9,315,451  kw-hr.  for 
motor  service  at  an  average  price  of  1.74  cents  per  kw-hr., 
and  209.638  kw-hr.  for  public  lighting  at  1.84  cents  per 
kw-hr.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  motor  load  constitutes 
practically  the  whole  of  the  output.  The  load-factor  was 
19.6  per  cent,  the  maximum  demand  being  6090  kw.  The 
quantity  of  electricity  generated  was  12,305,070  kw-hr.,  the 
amount  used  on  the  works  385,009  kw-hr.  and  the  losses  in 
transformers  and  mains,  etc.,  1,446,722  kw-hr.  The  gen- 
erating cost  per  kw-hr.  sold  vyas  0.42  cent,  the  distribution 
cost  o.io  cent,  the  management  cost  0.08  cent,  the  total  cost 
excluding  capital  charges  0.8  cent  and  the  total  cost  in- 
cluding capital  charges  1.6  cent. — London  Electrician,  Aug. 
30,  1912. 

Protective  Reactance. — An  illustrated  article  giving  de- 
tails of  a  large  reactance  coil  which  is  used  in  connection 
with  the  5000-kw,  single-phase  Brown-Boveri  turbo-gen- 
erators at  the  Deptford  generating  station  of  the  London 
Electric  Supply  Corporation.  The  object  of  the  reactance 
coil  at  Deptford  is  to  protect  the  generators  as  much  as 
possible  from  the  effects  of  short-circuits,  which  in  the 
case  of  a  railway  load  such  as  these  machines  supply 
(6600  volts,  25  cycles,  single-phase)  are  of  very  frequent 
occurrence.  The  coil  is  of  the  oil-immersed,  water-cooled 
pattern  and  is  arranged  for  connecting  in  one  phase  of 
either  of  the  two  generators,  which  are  three-phase  ma- 
chines operating  at  a  single  phase  at  the  above-mentioned 
pressure  and  frequency.  The  coil  is  designed  to  reduce  the 
momentary  short-circuit  current  of  either  generator  to 
somewhat  less  than  half  the  value  which  it  would  otherwise 
attain;  that  is,  to  about  10,000  amp.    On  the  other  hand,  it 


will  carry  the  full-load  current  of  900  amp  continuously 
with  a  temperature  rise  of  less  than  50  deg.  C.  above  the 
temperature  of  the  cooling  water,  while  it  is  also  capable 
of  carrying  an  overload  of  25  per  cent  for  several  hours 
with  a  somewhat  higher  temperature  rise.  The  resistance 
of  the  coil  is  0.0127  ohm  at  a  temperature  of  70  deg.  C, 
and  the  impedance  drop  with  the  full  load  of  900  amp  on  the 


Fig.  3 — Reactance  Coll 
Used  with  Generator  Sup- 
plying  Railway   Load. 


generator  is  within  3.5  per  cent  of  the  generator  pressure, 
the  reduction  of  the  power-factor  brought  about  by  the 
insertion  of  the  coil  being  less  than  3  per  cent.  At  full  load 
the  copper  loss  amounts  to  1200  watts  and  the  iron  loss  to 
2000  watts.  The  method  of  construction  of  this  reactance 
coil  is  shown  in  Fig.  3,  from  which  it  will  be  noticed  that 
the  general  arrangement  is  similar  to  that  of  a  single-phase 
transformer  except  that  the  core  is  partly  built  up  of  non- 
magnetic material.  The  circulating  water  pipes  are  ar- 
ranged above  the  coil  and  supported  on  a  rigid  iron  frame 
which  is  carried  by  the  upper  yoke  and  securely  braced 
thereto.  The  total  weight  of  the  coil  complete  with  the 
tank  and  oil  is  13.5  tons,  the  oil  accounting  for  3.5  tons. 
The  over-all  height  of  the  tank  is  approximately  12  ft.  and 
its  extreme  width  6  ft.  2  in.  The  quantity  of  cooling  water 
required  is  about  400  gal.  per  hour. — London  Electrician, 
Aug.  30,   1912. 

Central  Stations. — J.  Reyval. — An  article  giving  data,  on 
the  basis  of  an  article  by  Rinkel,  on  hydroelectric  central 
stations  in  Germany.  In  a  separate  article  an  official 
statistical  report  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in 
France  on  hydroelectric  water-power  developments  in 
France  is  given.  The  use  of  steam  turbines  in  steam-driven 
central  stations  is  discussed  on  the  basis  of  a  paper  by  Paul 
Bergon. — La  Lumiere  Elec,  Aug.  24,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Impregnating  Pole. — W.  Mangtelow. — Creosoting  is  un- 
doubtedly the  best  preservative  treatment  yet  devised  for 


620 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


\"liL.   60,    Xo.    12. 


wood,  but  a  deep  penetration  of  tlie  impregnating  substance 
is  less  readily  obtained  with  the  tar  product  than  with 
mineral  substances.  Poles  are  almost  invariably  creosoted 
before  use  in  Great  Britain,  but  in  America  only  about  20 
per  cent  of  poles  are  treated  (though  the  proportion  is 
steadily  increasing)  owing  to  the  greater  relative  cost  of 
creosoting  in  this  country.  Reference  is  made  to  methods 
of  timber  preservation  based  on  the  electrolytic  replacement 
of  sap  by  saline  solutions.  These  systems  are  fairly  rapid 
in  operation,  and  the  electrolytic  action  causes  a  certain 
amount  of  chemical  change  to  take  place  in  the  cells  of  the 
timber  during  treatment,  which  would  otherwise  occur  dur- 
ing its  use.  This  tendency  to  a  more  durable  preservation 
is  quite  offset  by  the  readiness  with  which  most  salts  are 
leached  out  by  rain.  In  the  Nodon-Bretonneau  process  use 
is  made  of  a  compound  electrolyte  in  which  magnesium 
sulphate  effects  seasoning,  zinc  sulphate  acts  as  a  preserva- 
tive and  ammonium  sulphate  and  boric  acid  exercise  fire- 
proofing  and  antiseptic  action.  The  seasoning  and  pre- 
servative action  occupies  from  seven  to  fourteen  hours,  and 
the  fireproofing  process  from  fourteen  to  twentv-four  hours. 
— London  Elec.  Rcviac,  Aug.  30,  1912. 

Network  Problems. — R.  Appleyard. — Maxwell's  method 
of  solving  problems  relating  to  the  distribution  of  electric 
currents  in  networks  of  conductors,  by  means  of  mesh 
equations  and  determinants,  is  of  great  service  when  the 
currents  in  a  network  are  of  sine  form.  This  method  was 
fully  explained  in  a  paper  read  by  J.  A.  Fleming  to  the 
Physical  Society  in  1885.  and  he  also  added  a  method  for 
calculating  the  resistance  of  a  network  which  had  been 
given  b\'  Maxwell.  By  a  familiar  device,  capacities,  in- 
ductances and  leakances  in  networks  containing  such  cur- 
rents can  all  be  expressed  as  resistances,  and  Maxwell's 
method  is  consequently  applicable  to  the  general  case.  In 
the  present  paper  the  author  considers  how  mutual  in- 
ductance can  best  be  dealt  with  in  forming  the  equations 
and  the  determinates  and  suggests  some  simplifications. — 
London  Electrician.  Aug.  30,  1912. 

Electrochemistry  and  Batteries. 

International  Congress  of  Applied  Chemistry. — An  extra 
edition  reporting  the  proceedings  of  the  Eighth  Interna- 
tional Congress  of  Applied  Chemistry.  Especially  the 
papers  relating  to  electrochemistry  and  metallurgy  are  re- 
ported in  great  detail. — Metal,  and  Chem.  Eng'ing,  Sept.  12, 
1912. 

Electro-Osmose. — A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent  (Nos. 
28,185  and  725  of  Aug.  8,  1912)  of  the  Gesellschaft  fiir 
Elektro-Osmose.  The  material  to  be  treated  is  suspended  in 
liquid  to  form  a  colloidal  solution,  to  which  an  electrolyte  is 
added.  The  latter  should  be  basic  if  electro-negative  sub- 
stances are  to  be  separated  and  acid  if  electro-positive. 
Dealing  with  clay,  this  is  suspended  in  water,  and  an  elec- 
trolyte, such  as  sodium  hydroxide,  is  added.  The  liquid  is 
arranged  to  run  through  several  vats  in  series.  From  these 
the  suspension  is  now  conducted  to  the  osmose  apparatus. 
The  electro-negative  particles  of  clay  are  brought  into  the 
sol  condition,  while  the  oppositely  charged  particles  assume 
the  gel  condition.  After  a  certain  lapse  of  time  the  sus- 
pension contains  only  the  very  finest  particles,  which  are 
precipitated  on  one  of  the  electrodes  by  the  action  of  the 
current.  By  the  use  of  several  vats  different  impurities  may 
be  caused  to  settle  out  in  stages.  The  suspension  flows 
away  at  right  angles  to  the  fiow  of  current.  A  main  and 
au.xiliary  chamber  are  provided,  and  the  natural  current 
gradient  between  them  is  maintained  by  a  special  arrange- 
ment.— London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Aug.  15,  1912. 

Water  Purification  by  Ozone. — An  illustrated  description 
of  the  new  ozonizing  plant  at  St.  Petersburg,  Russia.  The 
new  plant  lies  upon  the  bank  of  the  Neva  and  serves  to 
purify  the  water  of  this  river  in  order  to  supply  the  populous 
quarters  of  Wiborg  and  old  Petersburg.  The  Otto  system 
of  water   ozonizing  is   employed.     In   the   present   type   of 


T^atcr  Inlet 


Sterilized  Water 
-Otto  "Emulsor" 


ozonizcr  the  electric  discharge  is  produced  between  two 
non-conducting  plates,  the  outer  surfaces  of  which  are  main- 
tained at  different  voltages.  Since  the  production  of  the  ! 
discharge  causes  the  temperature  of  these  plates  to  rise,  it  ' 
is  necessary  to  provide  continuous  cooling.  For  the  non- 
conducting plates  use  is  made  of  glass  plates  placed  in 
groups  of  two,  to  the  outer  surfaces  of  which  metal  plates 

are  applied.  Such  plates  are 
hollow  and  have  a  water  cir- 
culation within  them,  the  water 
serving  at  the  same  time  to 
conduct  the  electricity.  One 
terminal  of  the  metal  plates  is 
joined  to  earth  and  the  other 
is  connected  to  a  high-tension 
transformer,  so  that  the  dis- 
charge is  produced  in  the  well- 
known  way  between  the  glass 
plates.  It  is  necessary  to  pass 
the  water  into  an  apparatus 
which  is  supplied  at  the  same 
time  with  ozonized  air  coming 
from  the  electric  discharge 
plates.  This  is  done  by  what 
is  known  as  the  "Otto  emul- 
sor," shown  in  Fig.  4.  It  con- 
sists in  principle  of  a  double 
cone  in  which  the  water  is  well 
mixed  with  the  ozonized  air. 
The  water,  which  has  been 
previously  clarified  by  any  of 
the  usual  filtering  methods,  ar- 
the  upper  convergent  cone  and  flows  out  by  the 
divergent  cone  at  the  lower  end.  A  small  space  is  pro- 
vided between  the  two  cones.  The  rapid  passage  of  the 
water  through  this  space  produces  a  partial  vacuum,  giving 
rise  to  a  suction  effect,  so  that  the  ozonized  air  is  drawn  in 
by  the  left-hand  piping,  where  it  becomes  thoroughly  mixed 
with  the  water  and  produces  an  emulsion  of  water  and  air. 
— London  Electrician,  Aug.  23,  1912.  ■ 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Condenser  zvith  Rulimkorff  Coil. — W.  H.  Wilson. — An 
illustrated  account  of  an  experimental  investigation  of  the 
influence  of  the  condenser  on  the  working  of  a  Ruhmkorff 
coil.  By  means  of  Joubert's  method  the  author  determined 
curves  of  secondary  emf  and  of  the  currents  in  all  parts  of 
the  primary  system,  with  information  as  to  relative  phases 
and  amplitudes.  A  low  primary  self-induction  is  desirable 
to  enable  considerable  energy  to  be  dealt  with  when  only 
low  supply  voltages  are  available  but  tends  toward  bad 
sparking  at  the  interrupter  and,  if  obtained  by  reducing  the 
primary  turns,  to  serious  inverse  emf  at  "make."  The 
condenser  acts  normally:  (a)  by  limiting  the  maximum 
voltage  across  the  interrupter  contacts;  (b)  by  limiting  the 
rate  at  which  that  voltage  rises  as  the  contacts  are  sepa- 
rated; (c)  by  reducing  the  high-frequency  oscillations 
across  the  interrupter  which  delay  the  loss  of  energy  that 
would  otherwise  occur;  (d)  by  limiting  eddy-current  losses 
in  the  primary  and  core.  Sparking  at  the  interrupter  may 
be  made  as  small  as  desired  by  sufficiently  increasing  the 
periodic  time  of  the  primary  oscillating  circuit,  but  this 
necessitates  a  considerable  increase  in  the  ratio  of  trans- 
formation of  the  coil  for  a  given  spark  length.  To  obtain 
long  sparks  with  reasonable  dimensions  of  the  secondary  a 
small  periodic  time  is  required.  To  avoid  serious  inverse 
emf  at  "break"  magnetic  leakage  between  primary  and 
secondary  must  be  as  small  as  possible.  A  number  of 
arrangements  were  devised  whereby  magnetizing  turns  of 
low  self-induction  could  be  combined  with  an  oscillating 
circuit  of  long  periodic  time,  which  periodic  time  could  be 
reduced  to  any  desired  extent  after  interruption  of  the 
batterv  current,  thus  giving  long  sparks  with  few  secondary 

\ 


September  21,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


621 


turns  and  a  small  amount  of  inverse  emf.  The  most  suit- 
able arrangement  is  shown  in  Fig.  5.  The  magnetizing 
turns  are  on  a  separate  iron  core  to  the  primary  and 
secondary  windings  of  the  coil  and  have  in  series  with  them 
a  sufficient  number  of  turns  to  give  the  long  periodic  time 
for  satisfactory  interruption  of  the  supply  service.  Tap- 
ping points  on  this  inductance,  or  auto-transformer,  enable 


Fig.    5 — Condenser   with    RuHimkorff    Coil. 


the  magnetizing  turns  to  be  adjusted  to  suit  the  supply  volt- 
age.— London  Electrician,  Aug.  30,  1912. 

Radiation  Pyrometry. — G.  A.  Shook. — Another  article 
in  his  serial  on  radiation  pyrometry  discussing  the  relation 
between  black-body  temperature  and  true  temperature. 
Tables  are  given  for  corrections  to  be  added  to  pyrometer 
readings  to  reduce  to  true  temperatures. — Met.  and  Chem. 
Eng'ing,  September,  1912. 

Mutual  Inductance  of  Solenoids. — G.  R.  Olshausen. — A 
mathematical  note  on  absolute  formulas  for  the  mutual  in- 
ductance of  coaxial  solenoids. — Physical  Review,  August, 
1912. 

Instrument  Transformers. — Cecile  Toone. — An  illus- 
trated article  on  methods  for  compensation  of  errors  and 
methods  of  testing  potential  transformers  and  current  trans- 
formers.— London  Elec.  Review,  Aug.  30,  191 2. 

Unit  of  Capacity. — K.  Fischer. — The  author  thinks  that 
the  abbreviation  "farad''  from  Faraday  is  unjustified  and 
ugly.  He  proposes  that  a  new  unit  of  capacity  be  chosen 
called  "faraday"  and  representing  what  is  now  called  a 
microfarad. — Elck.  Zeit.,  Aug.  29,  1912. 

Thermometry. — In  the  Reichanstalt  report  for  191 1 
mention  is  made  of  a  careful  comparison  of  platinum  re- 
sistance thermometers  with  various  gas  thermometers  be- 
tween zero  and  450  deg.  C.  It  was  found  that  the  hydro- 
gen thermometer  and  the  helium  thermometer  with  con- 
stant volume  and  an  initial  pressure  of  620  mm  mercury 
gave  readings  about  o.i  deg.  higher  at  450  deg.  than  the 
nitrogen  thermometer  under  the  same  conditions. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  Aug.  15,  1912. 

Submarine  Telegraphy. — H.  W.  Malcolm. — A  continua- 
tion of  his  very  long  illustrated  mathematical  serial  on  the 
theory  of  the  submarine  telegraph  cable.  The  author  shows 
how  to  calculate  the  current  and  voltage  curves  at  the  send- 
ing end  when  sending  through  a  condenser  or  through  a 
resistance  and  a  condenser.  He  further  discusses  the  effect 
of  a  leak  in  increasing  the  speed  of  the  working  of  the 
cable.  He  considers  the  case  of  a  simple  leak  at  the  middle 
of  the  cable  and  shows  that  the  effect  of  the  leak,  while  it 
cuts  down  the  steady  value  of  the  current  to  one-half  its 
former  value,  is  to  improve  considerably  the  shape  of  the 
arrival  curve. — London  Electrician,  Aug.  9,  1912. 

Submarine  Cables. — O.  Wundram. — An  illustrated  de- 
scription of  three  different  methods  of  laying  cables  in  use 
in  the  harbor  of  Hamburg,  Germany. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug. 
8,  1912. 

Wireless  Telegraphy. — C.  Gutton. — A  paper  illustrated 
by  diagrams  on  the  emission  of  electromagnetic  waves  from 
a  wireless-telegraph  antenna.  The  author  combines  the 
results  of  his  researches  with  those  of  Birkeland. — La 
Lumierc  Elec.  Aug.  17,  1912. 


Telephone  Exchange. — Blohmer. — The  conclusion  of  his 
illustrated  description  of  the  new  telephone  exchange  in 
Mainz  using  the  Western  central  battery  system. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  Aug.  29,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

Engineering  and  Art.— A  set  of  rules  issued  by  the  gov- 
ernment bureau  of  Bavaria  on  precautions  to  be  taken  in 
the  design  of  electric  power  plants  and  transmission  lines  in 
such  a  way  as  not  to  disturb  the  natural  beauty  of  a  locality. 
— Elek.  Zeit.,  Aug.  29,  1912. 


Book  Review 

Modern  Illumination.  By  Horstmann  and  Tousley. 
Chicago:  Frederick  J.  Drake  &  Company.  265  pages, 
42  illus.     Price,  $2  net. 

This  book,  prepared  by  authors  who  have  written  a  num- 
ber of  other  books  on  electrical  subjects,  is  intended  for 
the  practical  workman  rather  than  the  student,  but  never- 
theless contains  much  of  the  theory  of  illumination  meas- 
urements and  practice.  It  certainly  brings  together  in  a 
systematic  manner  many  of  the  ideas  of  the  best  illumi- 
nating engineers  of  the  day,  heretofore  scattered  through 
current  periodicals  and  manufacturers'  catalogs.  The 
chapters  are  arranged  for  convenient  reference.  For  these 
reasons  the  book  appears  to  fill  a  distinct  need  as  a  quick 
reference  handbook  for  practical  men.  The  first  part  con- 
tains chapters  on  light,  principles  of  vision,  reflection,  re- 
fraction and  diffusion,  and  photometry,  and  deals  with  these 
subjects  briefly  in  somewhat  the  same  manner  as  some 
other  works  on  illumination.  Chapters  on  the  calculation 
of  flux  from  photometric  curves,  illumination  calculations 
and  other  chapters  on  calculation  and  design  contain'  matter 
very  well  selected  for  the  ready  use  of  men  who  have  not 
the  time  to  study  carefully  into  all  the  various  methods  and 
theories  which  have  been  proposed.  One  chapter  deals  with 
the  characteristics  of  different  electric  illuminants,  and  it  is 
in  this  chapter  that  the  ordinary  user  would  be  most  likely 
to  become  confused  on  account  of  the  inherent  difficulties 
in  drawing  comparisons  in  such  condensed  form.  The  book 
contains  many  suggesti_ons  about  drawing  up  plans  and 
details  to  be  looked  after  in  planning  electric  illumination. 
Tables  are  given  from  lamp  manufacturers  for  assistance 
in  finding  the  illumination  intensity  at  various  points  around 
a  lamp.  The  information  given  on  the  light  distribution 
characteristics  of  reflectors  is  rather  meager,  and  the  tables 
covering  this  particular  phase  of  the  subject  are  limited  to 
a  few  made  only  by  certain  manufacturers. 

In  the  main  the  statements  made  in  the  book  represent  the 
best  thought  of  the  day,  but  the  designer  who  uses  this 
book  should  be  cautioned  against  unquestioning  acceptance 
of  the  following  statements:  In  the  chapter  giving  illumi- 
nation tables  a  statement  is  made  that  one  would  ordinarily 
hold  the  book  or  paper  at  right  angles  to  the  rays  to  obtain 
the  best  light  and  hence  the  normal  illumination  should  be 
calculated.  This  is  very  far  from  correct.  Such  a  condition 
hardly  ever  exists,  and  when  it  does  approximately  exist 
it  results  in  very  annoying  glare  from  the  paper.  In  the 
chapter  on  indirect  lighting  it  is  stated  that  the  principal 
objects  of  this  system  are  to  prevent  the  bright  light  from 
striking  the  eye  and  to  secure  even  illumination.  While  it 
is  true  that  these  were  the  principal  talking  points  for 
several  years,  it  has  recently  become  recognized  that  the 
reduction  from  glare  from  paper  and  other  surfaces  is  the 
strongest  point  in  favor  of  this  system.  It  would  be  also  a 
serious  mistake  for  the  designer  to  accept  the  statement 
that  the  height  of  ceilings  does  not  materially  affect  the 
results  in  the  case  of  an  indirect  system.  Where  ceilings  are 
high  in  proportion  to  the  other  dimensions  of  a  room  the 
results  are  materially  affected  because  of  the  greater  wall 
absorption  which   is  unavoidable. 


622 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  12. 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


ELECTRIC  VEHICLES  ON  PARADE  IN  CHICAGO. 


During  the  annual  "street  show"  of  the  Chicago  Auto- 
mobile Trade  Association  beginning  Sept.  14  and  ending  a 
\veei<  later  there  were  a  number  of  automobile  parades,  and 
among  them  one  devoted  e.xclusively  to  electric  pleasure 
vehicles.  This  was  held  on  the  evening  of  Sept.  17,  and 
about  200  electric  passenger  automobiles  were  in  line,  be- 
longing mostly  to  private  owners.  The  cars  were  electrically 
lighted  and  presented  an  attractive  appearance.  The  route 
of  the  parade  was  along  Michigan  Boulevard  from  Twenty- 
eighth  Street  to  Jackson  Boulevard,  to  State  Street,  to 
Adams  Street,  to  Michigan  Boulevard  to  the  place  of  be- 
ginning, passing  through  Automobile  Row,  the  scene  of  the 
"street  show,"  twice.  Nearly  every  make  of  electric  pleas- 
ure car  made  in  the  United  States  was  represented,  includ- 
ing the  Argo,  Babcock,  Baker,  Borland-Grannis,  Broc, 
Columbus,  Detroit,  Flanders.  Hupp-Yeats,  Kimball,  Metro- 
pole,  Ohio,  Rauch  &  Lang,  Standard,  Waverly  and  Woods 
machines.     Mr.  C.  J.  Metzger  was  in  charge  of  the  parade. 

In  the  commercial-vehicle  parade  on  the  evening  of 
Sept.  14  there  were  about  700  power  wagons  and  trucks  in 
line,  and  of  these  about  fifty  were  electrically  driven.  While 
the  proportion  of  electric  machines  was  not  so  large  as  it 
should  have  been,  there  were  several  industries  represented 
by  owners  of  electric  trucks.  Among  them  were  The  Fair 
and  Carson,  Pirie,  Scott  &  Company,  department  stores; 
the  National  and  American  Express  companies;  the  Com- 
monwealth Edison  Company;  Schwarzschild  &  Sulzberger 
Company,  meat  packers;  Heileman  Brewing  Company; 
General  Electric  Company,  and  Charles  Weeghman,  caterer. 
Trucks  made  by  the  General  Vehicle  Company,  Walker 
Vehicle  Company,  Lansden  Company,  Baker  Motor  Vehicle 
Company  and  .'Xrgo  Electric  Company  took  part  in  the 
parade. 


REFLECTOR  FOR  LOW  CEILINGS. 


The  reflector  shown  below  is  designed  for  25-watt  and 
40-watt  tungsten  lamps  for  general  illumination  from  com- 
paratively low  ceilings  and  for  localized  lighting  over 
counters  and  work  tables.  It  is  made  of  glass  with  vertical 
and   spiral   corrugations   which,    it   is   claimed,   produce   an 


Reflector   for    Low    Ceilings. 

almost  perfect  diffusion.  A  coating  of  elastic  enamel  pro- 
tects the  silvered  reflecting  surface  from  cracking  and 
deterioration.  The  reflector  is  6ji  in.  in  diameter  and 
S}i  in.  high.  The  manufacturer,  the  National  X-Ray 
Reflector  Company,  Chicago,  claims  that  a  40-watt  tungsten 
lamp  provided  with  this  reflector  delivers  94  apparent 
candle-power  at  30  deg.  from  the  vertical. 


REFLECTOR  FOR  INCANDESCENT  LAMPS. 


The  so-called  "Magna"  reflector  is  a  simple  side  reflector 
for  use  with  individual  incandescent  lamps.  It  is  made  of 
a  pressed  metal  piece  conforming  to  the  shape  of  an 
ordinary  bulb  and   extends  slightly  over  half  way  around 


f 


f 


Fig.    1 — Applying   the    Reflector   to   a    Lamp. 

the  bulb  with  a  petticoat  overlapping  socket.  It  dispenses 
with  separate  holders  or  clamps  required  to  attach  the 
ordinary  reflectors  to  the  socket.  With  desk  lamps,  brackets, 
portable  shop-lighting  fixtures,  etc.,  it  produces  a  less  bulky 
effect  and  still  possesses  superior  reflecting  qualities.  The 
inner  and  outer  surfaces  are  covered  with  baked  enamel, 
white  inside  and  dark  green  outside.  On  account  of  the 
small  space  it  occupies  it  can  be  applied  to  ordinary  wire 
guard  lamp.  The  tip  of  the  lamp  is  inserted  into  the 
aperture  at  the  end  of  the  reflector  and  the  neck  with  its 
clip  fingers  is  pushed  over  the  neck  of  the  bulb. 


Fig.   2 — Lamp    Equipped    with    Reflector   and    Clip. 

In  case  this  reflector  is  applied  to  a  drop  lamp  used  both 
for  vertical  and  horizontal  illumination,  the  lamp  can  be 
adjusted  for  the  former  purpose  by  means  of  the  clip 
illustrated  in  Fig.  2.  This  clip  is  made  of  an  insulating 
material  and  is  simple  and  inexpensive.  These  reflectors 
and  clips  are  made  by  the  Sachs  Laboratories,  Inc.,  103 
and  105  Allyn  Street,  Hartford,  Conn. 


September  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


023 


ELECTRICALLY  OPERATED   REFRIGERATING 
PLANT. 


Artificial  cooling  plants  usually  run  twenty-four  hours  a 
Jay  and  a  failure  may  involve  the  loss  of  considerable 
money  through  the  spoiling  of  perishable  goods.  The  ques- 
tion of  greatest  importance  in  their  operation  is  continuity 
Df  service,  and  this  phase  of  the  subject  overshadows  even 
:he  efficiency  of  the  complete  system.  The  drive  must  be 
simple  and  substantial,  and  all  points  of  possible  derange- 
nent  or  failure  must  be  eliminated.  The  illustration  shown 
lerewith  represents  part  of  the  refrigeration  equipment  at 
he  Emil  Sieloff  refrigerating  plant,  butcher  shop  and  pack- 
ng  house  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.  The  equipment  consists  of  two 
i-ton  York  double-cylinder,  vertical,  single-acting  inclosed 
nachines  with  safety  head,  running  at  140  r.p.m.  Each 
nachine  is  run  by  a  25-hp  Wagner  220-volt,  850-r.p.m., 
hree-phase  wound-rotor  motor.  The  motors  are  mounted 
in  an  extended  base  from  the  machines  and  are  connected 
0  the  machines  by  means  of  25-hp  silent  chain  drives. 

Use  is  made  of  the  brine  system  of  refrigeration,  the 
irine  cooling  being  done  in  double-pipe  coolers,  which  are 
ubmerged  in  a  brine  tank.    The  brine  is  circulated  through 


Electrically   Operated    Refrigerating    Plant. 

le  coils  in  the  rooms  and  compartments  of  the  packing 
ouse  and  butcher  shop  by  a  loo-gal.  per  minute,  two-stage 
.ewis  centrifugal  brine  pump.  Another  Wagner  motor,  of 
-hp  rating,  is  used  to  operate  this  pump. 
The  plant  is  designed  for  twelve  hours'  operation  of  the 
lachines  when  operating  at  maximum  output.  At  other 
mes  only  one  machine  is  operated,  the  second  machine 
eing  kept  in  reserve.  The  centrifugal  brine  pump  is 
perated  continuously,  circulating  the  cold  brine  stored  in 
le  tank  through  the  pipe  line  in  the  various  compartments 
uring  the  period  when  the  machines  are  shut  down. 


HUGE    DIMMER    FOR    RIGGS   THEATER, 
WASHINGTON. 


A  theater  dimmer  two  stories  in  height  and  capable  of 
Dntrolling  go  circuits,  or  4300  lamps,  has  been  installed  in 
le  Riggs  Theater,  Washington,  D.  C.  The  resistor  ele- 
lents  are  made  up  of  ninety  17-in.  double-faced  dimmer 
lates  arranged  in  six  rows  of  fifteen  each.  Each  plate  if 
lus  a  self-contained  unit  for  controlling  both  sides  of  a 
iree-wire  Edison  circuit,  avoiding  the  necessity  for  using 
vo  plates,  as  was  the  former  practice.  The  entire  dimmer 
'  hand-controlled  but  is  arranged  with  master,  group  and 
idividual  handles   so   that   any  number   of   plates   can   be 


operated  simultaneously  with  a  single  movement.  Indi- 
vidual plates  can  be  set  in  advance  and  operated  to  give 
a  predetermined  illumination.  As  installed,  the  controller 
handles  will  be  at  the  stage  level,  while  the  resistance  plates 
are  in  the  basement  below.  In  assembling  the  dimmer  at 
the  plant  of  the  Cutler-Hammer  Manufacturing  Company, 
Milwaukee,  the  great  height  of  the  frame,  20  ft.,  made  it 
necessary  to  cut  a  hole  in  the  factory  ceiling  and  work 
from  two  floors.  Pull  rods  connect  the  operating  handles 
with  the  plate  units,  space  being  left  for  the  switchboard 
at  the  front  of  the  dimmer. 


WEATHERPROOF  PROTECTIVE   EQUIPMENT. 


The  Delta-Star  Electric  Company  of  Chicago  has  placed 
on  the  market  a  line  of  weatherproof  high-tension  fuses  for 


Fig.    1 — 33,000-Volt   Weatherproof   Fuse   and    Mounting. 

use  in  protecting  individual  transformers  or  small  sub- 
stations. This  new  type  of  apparatus  is  especially  usefu' 
for  mounting  directly  on  the  underside  of  cross-arms.  For 
use  in  controlling  the  circuit  an  under-hung  disconnecting 
switch  of  the  type  shown  in  Fig.  2  has  also  been  developed. 
From  tests  conducted  during  the  past  year  it  has  been  dem- 
onstrated that  the  fuses  rupture  the  circuit  with  remarkable 
rapidity,    in    fact   more    quickly    than    is    possible   with    the 


Fig. 


2 — Weatherproof   33,000-Volt    Locl<ed-Type    Disconnecting 
Switch. 


average  oil  circuit-breaker.  The  fuse  is  of  the  liquid  type 
employing  a  special  fluid,  which  quickly  quenches  the  arc 
and  at  the  same  time  secures  a  high  insulation  value.  In 
view  of  the  large  number  of  outdoor  substations  that  are 
now  in  process  of  construction  this  new  development  in 
weatherproof  switches  and  fuses  will  no  doubt  be  of  interest 
to  central-station  managers. 


624 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  12. 


CONVERTING   INCLOSED-ARC    LAMPS  INTO 
FLAMING-ARC  LAMPS. 


BATTERY    LOCOMOTIVE    FOR    MILWAUKEE    CAR 
SHOPS. 


A  simple  attachment  for  converting  inclosed-arc  lamps 
into  flaming-arc  lamps  has  recently  been  placed  on  the 
market  by  the  Dyer  Flaming  Arc  Company,   Philadelphia, 


Fig.    1  —  Attachment   for   Converting    an    Inclosed-Arc    Lamp    Into 
a    Flaming-Arc    Lamp. 

Pa.  By  removing  from  the  body  of  the  inclosed-arc  lamp 
the  lower  electrode  holder  and  the  globe  and  substituting 
the  attachment  shown  in  detail  in  Fig.  i  the  inclosed  arc  is 
converted  into  a  flaming  arc  ready  for  operation.  The 
upper  electrode  is  the  same  as  that  used  in  the  inclosed  arc. 
The  lower  electrode  is  tubular  and  of  a  special  composition. 
This   attachment   is   said   to   be   applicable   to   any   knid    of 


Fig 


Attachment  Applied  to  an   Ordinary   Lamp. 


inclosed  arc  for  both  alternating-current  and  direct-current 
circuits  and  for  any  voltage.  The  electrodes  have  an 
average  life  of  sixty^five  hours  operated  on  direct-current 
circuits  and  fifty-five  hours  on  alternating-current  circuits. 
The  luminous  efficiency  of  a  flaming-arc  lamp  provided  with 
this  attachment  is  said  to  be  equal  to  that  of  the  best  lamps 
of  this  type  on  the  market. 


For  switching  railroad  cars  about  its  Cold  Spring  shops 
and  for  moving  city  cars  over  unelectrified  tracks  in  the 
shop  buildings  and  across  the  transfer  table,  The  Milwaukee 
Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company  utilizes  a  7-ton  West- 
inghouse-Baldwin   battery  locomotive   equipped   with   Elec- 


Storage- Battery     Locomotive. 

trie  Storage  Battery  cells.  The  locomotive  attains  a  speed 
of  about  5  miles  per  hour  and  can  handle  a  50,000-lb.  loaded 
box  car.  It  is  equipped  with  both  M.  C.  B.  couplers  for 
switching  standard  railroad  cars  and  link-and-pin  pocket 
couplers  for  city  street  cars.  The  battery  comprises  forty- 
four  "Exide  Ironclad"  cells,  which  supply  energy  to  the  two 
double-geared  Westinghouse  vehicle-type  8o-volt  motors 
through  K-25  controllers.  Controller  and  hand-brake 
equipment  is  in  duplicate  so  that  the  car  can  be  operated  in 
either  direction.  The  body  measures  18  ft.  in  over-all 
length  by  6  ft.  4  in.  wide  and  is  surmounted  by  the  operator's 
cab,  4  ft.  by  4  ft.  6  in.  in  plan  and  7  ft.  in  height.  An  eight- 
hour  charge  supplies  energy  to  operate  the  locomotive  for 
two  or  three  weeks  under  its  present  schedule  of  duty 
about  the  Cold  Spring  shops.  Trucks  and  body  were  built 
by  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works,  Philadelphia,  the  elec- 
trical equipment  being  furnished  and  installed  by  the  West- 
inghouse Electric  &  Mauufacluring  Company,  Pittsburgh, 
Pa. 


NEW  COMMUTATING-POLE  ELEVATOR  MOTOR. 


A  new-line  of  direct-current,  commutating-pole  elevator 
motors  has  recently  been  put  on  the  market  by  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company.  These  new 
motors,  known  as  type  S  K,  are  designed  particularly  for 
elevator  service  and  are  equipped  with  commutating  poles, 
besides  having  extra  large  bearings  and  being  constructed 
throughout  in  a  very  rugged  and  substantial  manner. 

The  manufacturers  claim  that  the  commutating-pole 
feature  results  in  sparkless  commutation  even  under  severe 
overloads,  with  frequent  starting  and  stopping  and  the 
rapid  acceleration  incidental  to  elevator  service.  Good 
commutation  results,  of  course,  in  long  life  of  the  com- 
mutator, brush-holders  and  brushes,  while  freedom  from 
deposits  of  copper  and  carbon  dust  keeps  the  insulation  of 
the  windings  and  the  conunutator  in  good  condition.  The 
motors  are  designed  to  develop  very  high  torque  at  starting, 
and  the  controller  is  arranged  to  cut  out  the  starting  re- 
sistance automatically  at  a  rate  which  keeps  the  torque 
practically  constant  while  accelerating,  thus  tending  to 
bring  the  elevator  car  rapidly  to  full  speed.  Another 
advantage  claimed  for  these  motors  is  their  quiet  operation, 
said  to  be  obtained  by  the  peculiar  design  and  distribution 


September  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


625 


of  the  windings  and  from  certain  mechanical  adjustments. 
The  frame  yoke  is  a  slab  of  open-hearth  steel,  hot-rolled 
into  its  circular  shape.  It  is  riveted  under  pressure  to  a 
one-piece  pressed  steel  foot,  the  bottom  of  which  is 
machined  to  dimensions  for  mounting.  The  armature  has  a 
laminated  core  with  ventilating  slots.  The  shaft  is  re- 
movable without  disturbing  the  armature  windings  or  com- 


Computing-Pole    Elevator    Motor. 

mutator  connections,  and  the  commutator  end  of  the  shaft 
has  an  extension  of  1%  in.  clear  of  the  housing. 

For  different  kinds  of  elevator  service  these  motors  are 
made  in  three  classes.  Class  I  comprises  adjustable-speed 
motors,  suitable  for  high-speed  passenger  elevator  service; 
class  II  is  for  moderate-speed  freight  and  passenger 
elevator  service,  and  class  III  is  for  slow-speed  freight 
elevators. 


VERTICAL-SHAFT 


20,000-HP 
UNITS. 


HYDROELECTRIC 


The  power  plant  of  Pirahy,  of  the  Rio  de  Janeiro  Light 
&  Power  Company,  was  designed  initially  for  receiving 
six  units  each  capable  of  developing  9000  hp,  or  having  a 
total  output  of  54,000  hp.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  capital 
of  Brazil,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  which  is  supplied  with  electrical 
energy  by  the  above-mentioned  plant,  has  brought  about  a 
greatly  increased  demand  for  electric  service  and  neces- 
sitated the  extension  of  the  power  house,  so  two  more  units 
have  been  installed,  each  capable  of  developing  20,000  hp, 
the  total  output  of  the  plant  thus  approaching   100,000  hp. 

The  initial  development  consisted  of  vertical-shaft  tur- 
bines of  the  impulse-wheel  type,  and  the  two  new  units 
were  designed  on  the  same  principle.  The  vertical  arrange- 
ment of  impulse  turbines  is  not  very  often  used,  but  the 
advantages  gained  thereby  are  easily  understood.  It  is 
possible  to  place  four  nozzles  around  the  runner  without 
one  interfering  with  another,  thus  developing  large  power 
by  one  single  wheel.  Thus  the  cost  of  the  machinery  is 
reduced  and  the  design  of  it  is  greatly  simplified,  in  addition 
to  which  are  the  well-known  advantages  of  a  vertical  water 
turbine  such  as  minimum  floor  space,  entire  separation  of 
the  hydraulic  and  electrical  end  of  the  machinery,  etc. 
The  wheels  run  at  a  speed  of  300  r.p.m.  under  a  net  head 
of  900  ft. 

This  total  of  20,000  hp  is  generated  by  one  single  runner 
provided  with  heavily  built  pear-shaped  buckets.  The 
wheel  is  keyed  on  the  end  of  the  shaft  and  no  bearing  is 
provided  for  at  its  lower  end.  The  four  jets  are  arranged 
at  90-deg.   intervals  around  the  runner.     The  jet  is  pro- 


duced in  cast  steel  nozzles,  machined  and  polished,  so  as  to 
decrease  losses  due  to  friction  as  much  as  possible.  The 
amount  of  water  discharged  is  controlled  by  steel  needles 
provided  with  pear-shaped  heads  moved  inside  the  nozzle, 
thus  enlarging  or  diminishing  the  diameter  of  the  jet. 
These  four  needles  are  connected  together,  so  that  all  move 
simultaneously,  the  controlling  of  their  movement  being 
effected  by  oil-pressure  governors. 

In  order  to  render  the  force  exerted  by  the  governors 
constant  at  all  points  of  their  stroke,  spBings  are  fitted  to 
the  needles  to  counterbalance  the  pressure  caused  between 
the  high-speed  water  and  the  needle,  which  tends  to  close 
the  valves.  The  water  escapes  through  the  nozzle  at  a 
velocity  of  235  ft.  per  second,  and  the  circumferential  speed 
of  the  runner  is  108  ft.  per  second. 

In  order  to  prevent  an  excessive  pressure  rise  in  the  pen- 
stock in  the  event  of  sudden  changes  of  load,  one  pair  of 
relief  valves,  attached  to  the  lower  end  of  the  penstock,  is 
so  designed  as  to  discharge  the  total  amount  of  water  con- 
sumed by  the  turbine  when  fully  opened.  One  of  these  relief 
valves  is  connected  rigidly  to  the  oil-pressure  governor  in 
such  a  way  that  failure  should  be  practically  impossible.  The 
other  valve  is  designed  to  act  in  an  emergency,  and  is  con- 
trolled directly  by  the  pressure  in  the  penstock,  the  increase 
of  which  above  a  certain  point  causes  this  valve  to  open. 

The  water  supply  to  the  turbine  is  shut  off  by  a  hydraulic- 
ally  operated  gate  valve,  which  is  handled  through  the  mini- 
mum of  a  small  controlling  valve  distributing  the  pressure 
water  to  the  upper  or  lower  side  of  the  servo-motor  piston. 

The  pressure  oil  required  for  the  operation  of  the  speed 
governor  as  well  as  for  the  pressure  regulator  is  furnished 
by  an  oil-pumping  plant  comprising  three  high-pressure 
piston  pumps  capable  of  discharging  a  maximum  of  80  gal. 
per  minute.  The  pumps  are  driven  by  small  impulse  wheels, 
the  power  being  transmitted  by  gear. 

The  above-described  wheels  have  been  in  uninterrupted 
operation  for  about  one  year.  They  were  built  by  Escher, 
Wyss  &  Company,  Zurich,  Switzerland,  which  firm  al-so 
supplied  the  initial  equipment  of  this  plant. 


ENERGY-COST  METER. 


A  meter  intended  for  use  in  the  central-station  display 
room  has  been  put  on  the  market  by  the  Harbrook  Service 
Company,  of  Pittsburgh.  The  device,  called  the  Donkin 
cent-hour  meter,  is  the  invention  of 
Mr.  William  A.  Donkin.  contract  agent 
of  the  Allegheny  County  Light  Com- 
pany. Its  purpose  is  to  give  an  author- 
itative answer  to  the  question  "How 
much  does  it  cost  to  operate?"  When 
any  energy-consuming  device  is  con- 
nected to  the  meter  the  hand  points  in- 
stantly to  the  number  of  cents  per  hour 
that  it  costs  to  operate.  It  is  especially 
useful  in  demonstrating  to  a  customer 
the  cost  of  energy  for  a  device  that 
consumes  energy  at  more  than  one  rate. 
The  meters  are  calibrated  and  the  read- 
ing of  the  dial  is  made  to  correspond 
to  the  central  station's  rate  for  energy. 
The  mechanism  is  similar  to  that  of  a 
regular  watt-hour  meter.  The  meter 
is  mounted  on  a  floor  pedestal  and  is 
^0^jf>>»  provided  with  a  stand  to  hold  the  de- 

j^^^^  vice  being  tested  for  energy  consump- 

^r  ^W  tion.    It  has  been  shown  by  actual  test 

Energy-Cost  Meter.  (hgt  this  method  of  answering  the  all- 
important  question  has  more  weight  with  the  customer  than 
a  verbal  answer  and  that  the  meter  is  an  important  factor 
in  making  sales. 


626 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  12. 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


SUPPORTED  by  the  certainty  of  excellent  harvests,  the 
trade  situation  is  improving  at  a  highly  satisfactory 
rate.  Conlidence  in  the  future  is  giving  impetus  to  all 
departments  of  industry  and  new  enterprises  and  expansion 
in  existing  lines  are  noted  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Firm- 
ness in  the  money  markets  is  the  dominant  feature  of  finan- 
cial circles,  a  condition  that  will  probably  continue  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  year.  Owing  to  the  large  call  for  funds 
there  has  been  an  appreciable  decline  in  demand  for  invest- 
ment securities.  It  is  of  interest  to  note  in  this  connection, 
however,  that  the  demand  for  securities  of  public-service 
companies  has  been  brisk  in  otherwise  quiet  markets.  The 
increased  activity  in  industrial  lines  is  shared  by  the  electri- 
cal industry,  reports  bearing  upon  its  various  branches  re- 
flecting a  high  degree  of  progress  in  the  industry  as  a 
whole.  As  noted  elsewhere,  the  business  of  the  Western 
Electric  Company  increased  about  3  per  cent  in  the  past 
eight  months  as  compared  with  the  corresponding  period 
last  year,  and  the  other  large  manufacturers  are  also  operat- 
ing at  record  rates.  New  electrical  work,  large  and  small,  is 
going  forward  briskly  all  over  the  country,  while  the  earn- 
ings of  public-utility  companies  continue  to  show  increases 
w-hich  -justify  the  widespread  confidence  in  their  securities. 


Western  Electric's  Business  Satisfactory. — Returns  of  the 
Western  Electric  Company  for  the  eight  months  ended 
with  August  indicate  a  gross  business  for  the  present  year 
of  dose  to  $68,000,000,  a  figure  that  is  decidedly  gratifying 
to  the  company  in  view  of  the  forecast  of  $67,000,000  that 
was  made  for  1912  somewhat  earlier  in  the  year.  July 
business  of  the  company  was  about  3  per  cent  ahead  of  that 
in  the  same  month  a  year  ago  and  that  in  August  was 
3  per  cent  better  than  in  .-Vugust,  191 1-  The  showing  in 
the  eight  months  of  the  current  year  is  also  about  3  per 
cent  ahead  of  that  in  the  corresponding  period  last  year. 
While  the  improvement  in  business  has  been  rather  uni- 
formly distributed,  both  in  territory  and  in  the  nature  of 
the  goods  shipped,  a  pronounced  tendency  toward  further 
activity  has  been  noticed  in  the  states  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. This  revival  of  activity  is  attributed  to  the  approach 
of  the  harvests  in  that  great  section:  New  business  is  being 
placed  at  a  rate  in  excess  of  that  of  deliveries,  as  is  shown 
in  the  fact  that  unfilled  orders  on  Sept.  i  were  $10,000,000, 
whereas  on  Jan.  I  they  were  $8,000,000,  a  difference  of  25 
per  cent.  While  there  has  been  no  radical  change  in  the 
average  level  of  prices  for  the  Western  Electric  products 
recently,  the  company  is  now  enjoying  a  larger  average 
margin  of  profit  than  it  did  a  year  ago,  owing  to  improve- 
ments in  the  manufacturing  and  administrative  departments 
and  to  new  economies  and  more  efficient  work  along  other 
lines.  Export  business  in  August  and  the  last  eight  months 
has  shown  a  relatively  larger  gain  than  has  domestic  busi- 
ness. About  $750,000  will  be  spent  in  erecting  new  build- 
ings at  Hawthorne  this  year  to  take  over  the  company's 
New  York  manufacturing  business.  These  additions  are  to 
be  completed  in  about  one  year  and  are  in  line  with  the 
company's  policy  in  concentrating  its  manufacturing  at 
Chicago. 

Annual  Report  of  Bureau  of  Manufactures. — In  his  annual 
report  for  the  fiscal  year  1912  A.  H.  Baldwin,  chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Manufactures,  states  that  the  growth  of  the 
bureau  and  the  number  and  interest  of  those  who  make 
use  of  its  facilities  are  well  indicated  by  the  increase  of 
45  per  cent  in  its  correspondence  over  that  in  the  preceding 
year.  Probably  the  most  important  service  that  the  bureau 
rendered  during  the  year  was  in  the  conference  at  which 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States  of  America 
was  organized.  Over  100  organizations,  representing  more 
than  100,000  members,  have  become  affiliated  with  the  new 
national  body.  The  work  of  the  commercial  agents  of  the 
bureau  in  foreign  fields  was  continued  during  the  year  and 
an  investigation  was  also  made  of  the  various  activities  of 
commercial  organizations  in  certain  parts  of  the  United 
States,  especially  those  activities  related  to  the  development 
of  foreign  trade.  A  report  on  the  general  subject  of  com- 
mercial  organizations   will   soon   be   issued.      Investigations 


in  foreign  fields  include  those  of  the  trade  in  cotton  goods, 
machinery  and  tools,  shoes  and  leather  and  lumber  and  its 
manufactures.  Foreign  chemical  and  electric  industries 
were  also  the  subject  of  study  by  e.xperts  in  those  lines. 
Reports  on  these  subjects  have  been  issued  or  are  in  course 
of    preparation. 

Westinghouse,  Church,  Kecr  &  Company  Contracts.— 
Materials  and  equipment  have  been  purchased  for  a  number 
of  large  contracts  for  which  Westinghouse,  Church,  Kerr 
&  Company  ace  the  engineers  and  constructors.  At  Wilkes- 
Barre,  Pa.,  a  bleach  house,  68  ft.  x  197  ft.,  will  be  built  for 
the  Wilkes-Barre  Lace  Manufacturing  Company.  This 
building  will  be  of  brick  and  timber  construction,  partly 
two-story  and  partly  one-story,  with  full  equipment  of 
heating,  lighting,  plumbing  and  sprinkling  systems.  For 
the  American  Cotton  Oil  Company  the  firm  has  entire 
charge  of  the  rehabilitation  of  the  stoker  equipment  under 
si.x  500-hp  boilers  at  N.  K.  Fairbanks  &  Company's  Chicago 
plant,  and  at  Luray,  Va.,  the  company  is  overhauling  the 
hydroelectric  plant  of  the  Shenandoah  River  Light  & 
Power  Corporation. 

New  Tie  Line  Completed  by  Minneapolis  General  Elec- 
tric Company. — .\  new  tie  line  has  just  been  completed 
between  one  of  the  generating  stations  of  the  Minneapolis 
General  Electric  Company  and  one  of  the  substations  of 
the  Consumers'  Power-Northern  States  Power  system  at 
St.  Paul,  and  the  transmission  of  energy  has  commenced. 
It  is  estimated  that  this  new  source  of  supply  for  the 
requirements  of  St.  Paul  will  bring  about  a  substantial  gain 
in  the  gross  receipts  of  the  Consumers'  Power  Company  at 
this  point,  owing  to  the  greater  economy  of  hydroelectric 
power.  St.  Paul  is  also  served  by  the  St.  Paul  Gas  Light 
Company,  which  controls  the  Edison  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, the  St.  Paul  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company  and  the 
East  Side   Electric   Company. 

Stone  &  Webster  Contract  with  the  City  of  Saskatoon, 
Canada. — The  city  of  Saskatoon,  Saskatchewan,  Canada, 
has  arranged  with  the  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Cor- 
poration of  Boston  for  the  construction  of  a  new  street- 
railway  system.  The  contract  includes  the  building  of  12 
miles  of  single-track  road  throughout  the  city,  the  instal- 
lation of  two  300-kw  motor-generator  sets  in  the  present 
power  station,  together  with  the  necessary  switchboard 
apparatus,  etc..  and  the  designing  and  construction  of  a 
brick  and  timber  carhouse  with  a  housing  capacity  for 
eighteen  single-truck  cars.  There  will  also  be  provided 
twelve  32-ft.  cars,  each  equipped  with  tvi'O  40-hp  motors. 
Saskatoon  is  served  by  a  municipal  plant. 

A  New  Holding  Company  for  Public  Utilities. — The  firm 
of  .-\bbott  &  Eaton  has  lieen  organized  at  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
to  engage  in  engineering  work  and  to  direct  the  operation 
of  gas  and  electric  companies.  One  member  of  the  firm, 
Cyrus  S.  Eaton,  has  within  the  past  year  acquired  control 
of  eighteen  such  companies  throughout  the  country.  These 
companies  will  shortly  be  merged  under  a  holding  company, 
it  is  said.  The  other  member,  W.  H.  Abbott,  was  formerly 
of  the  engineering  firm  of  Roberts  &  Abbott.  He  is  the 
engineering  expert  of  the  firm.  George  H.  Harper,  formerly 
with  the  United  Gas  Improvement  Company,  will  also  be 
associated  with  the  new  concern. 

Gain  in  August  Revenues  of  Massachusetts  Electric 
Companies. — The  August  operating  revenues  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Electric  Companies  exhibited  a  gain  of  $49,400,  or 
SYi  per  cent.  According  to  reports  made  public,  this  is 
considered  a  surprisingly  good  showing  when  the  unfavor- 
able weather  conditions  are  taken  into  account.  These  re- 
sults compare  with  a  decline  in  gross  earnings  of  $30,000 
during  the  month  of  July. 

El  Paso  Electric  Company  on  7  per  Cent  Basis. — The 
3}4  per  cent  semi-annual  dividend  on  the  common  stock 
of  the  El  Paso  Electric  Company,  El  Paso,  Tex.,  recently 
announced,  places  the  stock  of  that  company  on  a  7  per  cent 
basis.  The  last  payment  was  at  the  rate  of  6  per  cent,  but 
the  company's  business  has  been  growing  under  the  man- 
agement of  Stone  &  Webster  at  a  rapid  rate. 


September  21,  igi2 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


627 


New   York   Electric   Vehicle   Association   Formed. — At   a 

meeting  held  in  New  York  last  weelc,  representatives  of  the 
electric  vehicle  manufacturers  and  the  central-station  inter- 
ests in  that  city  organized  the  New  York  Electric  Vehicle 
Association  as  a  medium  for  promoting  electric  pleasure 
and  commercial  vehicles  in  the  local  market.  It  is  the 
intention  of  the  organizers  to  place  the  new  association 
upon  a  most  sound  and  efficient  basis.  A  suitable  building 
will  be  obtained  to  house  the  association  and  a  permanent 
salaried  secretary  will  have  his  ofifices  there.  The  ground 
floor  will  be  used  as  a  co-operative  garage,  where  electric 
cars  of  all  classes  will  be  cared  for  at  moderate  rates;  the 
second  floor  will  be  used  as  a  showroom;  the  third  as  a 
salesroom,  and  the  upper  floors  will  be  used  for  offices  for 
the  various  companies.  The  building  has  not  been  decided 
upon  as  yet.  Its  site,  however,  will  be  a  central  one. 
The  Grand  Central  Palace,  where  the  New  York  Electrical 
Show  was  held  last  year,  has  been  considered.  The  tem- 
porary headquarters  is  at  124  West  Forty-second  Street, 
New  York.  Officers  and  directors  have  been  chosen  as 
follows:  President,  Arthur  Williams,  New  York  Edison 
Company,  and  vice-president,  William  P.  Kennedy,  Baker 
Vehicle  Company.  The  directors  of  the  association  are: 
E.  W.  Curtis,  Jr.,  General  Vehicle  Company;  S.  W.  Menefee, 
Anderson  Electric  Car  Company;  Nathaniel  Piatt,  Baker 
Vehicle  Company;  C.  Y.  Kenworthy,  Ranch  &  Lang;  M.  G. 
Macdonald,  Hupp-Yeats;  W.  R.  Chandler,  Flanders;  G.  H. 
Phelps,  Studebaker;  V.  A.  Villar,  Champion;  John  H.  Ken- 
nard,  Couple  Gear;  W.  L.  Case,  Lansden;  C.  A.  Ward, 
Ward,  and  .-\.  B.  Roeder,  International  Fritchie.  The  exec- 
utive committee  is  composed  of  Nathanial  Piatt,  C.  Y.  Ken- 
worthy,  S.  W.  Menefee  and  V.  A.  Villar.  It  is  estimated 
that  there  are  now  about  1800  electric  vehicles  in  service  in 
New  York,  of  which  400  are  pleasure  cars  and  1400  com- 
mercial cars. 

Allis-Chalmers  Reorganization. — Holders  of  certificates 
of  deposit  of  the  Central  Trust  Company  of  New  York  for 
preferred  or  common  stock  of  the  Allis-Chalmers  Company 
deposited  under  the  plan  and  agreement  of  reorganization 
dated  March  18,  igi2,  to  which  previous  reference  has  been 
made  in  these  columns,  have  been  notified  by  the  reor- 
ganzation  committee  that  it  has  called  for  a  payment  of  $4 
per  share  on  the  preferred  stock  and  $2  per  share  on  the 
common  stock  of  the  Allis-Chalmers  Company,  deposited 
under  the  plan.  These  payments  are  to  be  made  to  the 
Central  Trust  Company  on  Oct.  16.  These  are  the  second 
instalments  under  the  plan.  The  latter,  as  stated  in  these 
columns  March  23,  called  for  an  assessment  of  20  per  cent 
on  the  preferred  and  10  per  cent  on  the  common,  and  for 
payment  of  10  per  cent  of  the  respective  assessments  upon 
deposit  of  shares  with  the  balance  on  or  after  Oct.  I  on 
thirty  days'  notice.  Payments  of  $14  per  share  on  the  pre- 
ferred and  $7  on  the  common,  or  70  per  cent  of  each,  will 
be  forthcoming  after  the  present  payments  of  $4  and  $2, 
noted  above,  are  made. 

Proposed  Municipal  Telephone  System  for  San  Fran- 
cisco.— The  first  of  a  series  of  ordinances  necessary  to  bring 
about  the  establishment  of  a  municipal  telephone  system  in 
San  Francisco  is  reported  to  have  been  submitted  by  the 
public  utilities  committee  of  the  Council  to  the  Supervisors. 
At  an  initiative  election  held  last  March  the  people  decided, 
by  a  vote  of  21,174  to  10,353,  in  favor  of  the  project.  Sub- 
sequently the  ordinances  submitted  at  that  election  were 
held  to  have  been  illegally  drawn,  but  in  spite  of  this  the 
city  attorney  is  said  to  have  declared  that,  since  the  people 
spoke  in  favor  of  the  policy,  the  question  of  a  bond  issue 
must  now  be  submitted  at  a  referendum  election.  The 
ordinance  now  submitted  declares  that  the  public  requires 
a  municipal  telephone  system  to  be  operated  and  maintained 
by  the  city  and  county,  and  directs  the  Board  of  Public 
Works   to  prepare  plans  and   estimates. 

Washington  (D.  C.)  Public  Utilities  May  Merge. — Fol- 
lowing the  recent  exchange  of  the  securities  of  the  .\na- 
costia  &  Potomac  River  Railroad  Company,  the  Bright- 
wood  Railway  Company  and  the  Washington,  Woodside 
&  Forest  Glen  Railway  &  Power  Company  for  those  of 
their  parent  company,  the  Washington  Railway  &  Electric 
Company,  to  which  reference  was  made  in  these  columns 
•'\uff.  24,  it  is  now  understood  that  an  offer  for  the  stock  of 
the  latter  and  its  affiliated  companies  will  be  made  by  the 


Maryland-Virginia  Company.  The  latter  was  incorporated 
in  Richmond,  Va.,  about  two  years  ago,  with  a  capitaliza- 
tion of  $5,000,000,  which  was  later  increased  to  $30,000,000. 
Stock  to  the  amount  of  approximately  $5,000,000  has  been 
issued. 

Alabama  Traction,  Light  &  Powrer  Acquires  Electric 
Bond  &  Share's  Alabama  Properties. — The  Alabama  public 
utility  holdings  of  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company 
have  been  merged  with  the  Alabama  Traction,  Light  & 
Power  Company.  The  properties  included  in  the  trans- 
action are:  Alabama  Power  Development  Company,  of  Tal- 
ladega; Anniston  Electric  &  Gas  Company,  of  Anniston; 
Little  River  Power  Company,  of  Gadsden,  which  has  a 
500-ft.  head  development  near  Fort  Payne;  as  noted  in 
these  columns  April  20,  and  a  hydroelectric  plant  at  Jack- 
son's Shoals,  together  with  a  number  of  generating  stations 
and  traction  systems  in  Anniston,  Decatur,  Gadsden,  Talla- 
dega and  Sylacauga. 

4500-Kw  Allis-Chalmers  Turbo-Generator  for  Commerce 
Street  Station,  Milwaukee. — The  Milwaukee  Electric  Rail- 
way &  Light  Company  is  installing  a  4500-kw  Allis-Chalmers 
horizontal  turbo-generator  in  its  Commerce  Street  power 
house.  This  6o-cycle  set  will  replace  two  looo-kw  vertical 
turbine  units  which  have  been  in  operation  there  since  1904. 
The  new  4500-kw  generator  will  deliver  energy  to  the  4000- 
volt,  60-cycIe  system  in  connection  with  the  two  14,000-kw 
high-pressure  Curtis  turbine  sets  installed  a  year  ago  (see 
Electrical  World,  Feb.  16,  1911),  which  are  to  be  rewound 
for  4000-volt  operation.  C.  G.  Post  is  electrical  engineer  for 
the  Milwaukee  company. 

Public  Utility  Interests  Open  Foreign  Branch. — J.  S.  & 
W.  S.  Kuhn,  Inc.,  of  Pittsburgh,  bankers,  who  are  interested 
in  the  American  Water  Works  &  Guarantee  Company  and 
numerous  other  public  utilities,  have  announced  the  open- 
ing of  the  offices  of  their  European  correspondents,  J.  S. 
&  W.  S.  Kuhn  (European  Agency),  Ltd.,  at  Pinner's  Hall, 
Austin  Friars,  London,  E.  C.  The  establishment  of  a  per- 
manent European  agency  to  handle  foreign  business  has 
been  necessitated  through  the  various  connections  which 
the  concern  has  made  in  London,  Paris,  Amsterdam  and 
Brussels  in  the  past  two  years. 

Low  Water  in  Catawba  River  (N.  C). — Although  there 
is  about  a  foot  more  water  in  the  Catawba  River,,  North 
Carolina,  than  there  was  at  this  time  last  year,  the  present 
flow  of  the  river  is  so  low  that  the  Southern  Power  Com- 
pany has  had  to  discontinue  service  on  some  of  its  second- 
ary contracts,  under  which  it  agrees  to  furnish  energy  only 
when  it  has  a  surplus.  While,  it  is  understood,  all, of  the 
company's  reserve  steam  plants  are  in  operation,  there  is 
no  danger  that  the  many  cotton  mills  which  are  dependent 
on  the  company  for  service  will  sufifer  any  inconvenience. 

Adirondack  Electric  Power  to  Improve  Service. — The 
Public  Service  Commission  for  the  Second  New  York  Dis- 
trict has  directed  the  Adirondack  Electric  Power  Corpora- 
tion to  show  cause  before  the  commission  on  Sept.  30  why 
an  order  should  not  be  made  by  the  commission  requiring 
it  to  put  its  plant  and  distribution  system  in  such  condition 
as  would  obviate  failure  to  supply  its  customers  with  ade- 
quate service.  The  company  supplies  energy  in  Troy,  Al- 
bany, Schenectady  and  other  localities  in  the  upper  part  of 
New  York  State. 

Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Files  Mortgage. — A  mort- 
gage to  secure  an  issue  of  first  and  refunding  bonds,  of 
which  $791,000  are  reserved  to  retire  underlying  securities, 
has  been  filed  by  the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Com- 
pany, of  Mattoon,  111.,  with  the  First  Continental  Trust  & 
Savings  Bank,  of  Chicago.  As  was  described  in  these  col- 
umns last  week,  the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Com- 
pany has  been  taken,  over  by  the  Middle  West  Utilities 
Company. 

Findlay  Electric  Porcelain  Company  S'eeks  Location  for 
a  New  Plant. — The  Findlay  Electric  Porcelain  Company, 
of  Findlay,  Ohio,  manufacturer  of  interchangeable,  self- 
centering,  split  porcelain  knobs  for  electric  wiring  is  con- 
sidering the  erection  of  a  thoroughly  modern  porcelain  plant 
at  some  new  location  which  will  be  favorable  in  every  way 
to  the  requirements  of  porcelain  manufacture.  No  site  has 
yet  been  chosen.  J.  E.  Bicknull  is  president  and  treasurer 
of  the  company. 


628 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  12. 


Puts  Westinghouse  Common  on  4  per  Cent  Basis.— Con- 
trary to  expectations  that  the  board  of  directors  of  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  would 
place  the  common  stock  of  the  company  on  a  6  per  cent 
per  annum  basis  by  declaring  a  semi-annual  dividend  of  8 
per  cent  at  its  meeting  on  Sept.  17,  a  dividend  of  only  I 
per  cent'  on  that  issue  for  the  quarter  ended  Sept.  30  was 
declared.  This  is  payable  Oct.  30  to  stock  of  record  Sept. 
30.  The  regular  dividend  of  lii  per  cent  on  the  preferred 
stock  was  also  declared.  Following  the  announcement  of 
the  dividends,  this  statement  was  issued:  "The  action  of 
the  board  of  directors  to-day  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
&  Manufacturing  Company  means  that  the  company  has 
established  the  common  dividend  on  a  4  per  cent  basis  and 
will  continue  on  a  4  per  cent  basis  unless  there  should  de- 
velop less  favorable  conditions  than  the  present  outlook  in- 
dicates. Increases  in  dividends  will  be  subject  to  future 
considerations."  When  dividends  on  the  common  stock 
were  resumed  on  March  27  last,  at  the  rate  of  i  per  cent, 
this  being  the  first  dividend  on  the  issue  since  1907,  a  state- 
ment made  by  the  company,  to  which  reference  was  made 
in  these  columns  March  30,  said  that  no  further  action 
would  be  taken  on  the  common  stock  for  six  months, 
after  which  time  the  rate  would  be  decided  after  full  con- 
sideration of  the  earnings  of  the  company  in  the  intervening 
period  and  of  the  prospects  for  the  future.  Inasmuch  as  the 
earnings  of  the  company  are  now  understood  to  be  at  the 
rate  of  about  14  per  cent  on  the  common  stock,  the  feeling 
that  a  dividend  of  at  least  3  per  cent,  which  would  have 
made  a'total  of  4  per  cent  for  the  year,  would  be  declared 
was  very  general.  That  such  action  was  not  taken  is  attrib- 
uted to  the  predominance  of  the  conservative  element  in 
the  management  of  the  company.  Following  announce- 
ment of  the  dividend  at  a  4  per  cent  per  annum  basis,  the 
common  stock  dropped  to  84.  a  decline  of  4%  points  from 
the  closing  price  on  Monday. 

Iowa    Railway    &    Light    Company    Bonds    Offered. — .^n 

offering  of  $1,687,000  first  and  refunding  mortgage  5  per 
cent  bonds  of  the  Iowa  Railway  &  Light  Company  is  being 
made  by  Harris,  Forbes  &  Company.  The  Iowa  Railway 
&  Light  Company  owns  and  operates  the  electric  lighting 
properties  in  Cedar  Rapids,  Marshalltown,  Boone,  I^Iarion, 
Perry,  Tama  and  Toledo,  la.;  an  interurban  electric  rail- 
road between  Cedar  Rapids  and  Iowa  City;  the  local  street 
railways  in  Marshalltown,  Boone,  Tama  and  Toledo;  the 
gas  plant  at  Marshalltown,  and  the  heating  properties  in 
Cedar  Rapids,  Boone,  Marion  and  Perry,  serving  a  popula- 
tion of  more  than  85.000.  Gross  earnings  in  the  year  ended 
July  31,  1912,  were  $877,896,  net  earnings  were  $317,444  and 
the  balance,  after  payment  of  $150,000  interest  on  outstand- 
ing bonds,  was  $167,444.  The  company  was  formerly  known 
as  the  Cedar  Rapids  &  Iowa  City  Railway  &  Light  Com- 
pany. 

McCrum-Howell  Plan. — The  two  committees  of  creditors 
of  the  McCrum-Howell  Company,  which  has  been  in  the 
hands  of  receivers  since  last  March,  have  agreed  tipon  plans 
for  reorganization  of  the  company.  While  all  details  have 
not  been  announced,  it  is  believed  that  stockholders,  in  or- 
der to  participate  in  the  plan,  will  be  called  upon  to  pay  an 
assessment  of  $16  per  share  on  the  present  preferred  stock 
and  $8  a  share  on  the  common.  The  present  capital  of 
$7,000,000,  in  accordance  with  the  plan,  will  be  reduced  to 
$i.57St000  preferred  and  $3,150,000  common.  F.  W.  Moore, 
treasurer  of  the  International  Heater  Company,  is  said  to 
be  slated  for  the  presidency  of  the  reorganized  company. 

Arrowhead  Reservoir  &  Power  Company  (Cal.)  Financ- 
ing Improvements. — .\pplication  has  been  made  to  the  Cal- 
ifornia Railroad  Commission  by  the  Arrowhead  Reservoir 
&  Power  Company,  of  San  Bernardino,  Cal.,  for  permission 
to  issue  $4,000,000  bonds.  The  proceeds  from  the  sale  of 
these  bonds  are  to  be  used  as  follows:  For  paying  present 
indebtedness,  $926,383;  general  e.xpenses,  $100,000;  for 
equipment.  $250,000;  for  construction  and  completion  of  its 
water  system,  including  completion  of  a  dam  at  Little  Bear 
Valley,  a  dam  at  Grass  Valley  reservoir,  one  at  Halcomb 
reservoir,  and  a  reservoir  at  Deep  Creek,  about  $2,750,000. 

Sale  of  the  Standard  Light  &  Power  Company,  Fostoria, 
Ohio. — Permission  has  been  secured  from  the  Public  Serv- 
ice Commission  of  Ohio  by  Charles  Ash,  Charles  A. 
Strausch,  Ira   Cadwallader,   Charles   L.   Guernsey  and   Earl 


Ash  to  sell  the  property  of  the  Standard  Light  &  Power 
Company,  of  Fostoria,  Ohio,  to  Field  W.  Swezey  for  a 
consideration  of  $82,500.  This  transfer  will  embrace  the 
generating  station   and   the   entire   distribution   system. 


PRICES  IN  NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET . 

Copper:  , Sept.    10 ^       . Sept.    17 

Standard:  Bid.         Asked.  Bid.       Asked 

Spot     17.25          17.75  17.25          17.50 

September    17.25          17.37^  17.25          17.50 

October     17.25          17.40  17.25          17.50 

November     17.25          17.50  17.25          17.50 

London   quotation:  £        s     d  £       s     d 

Standard    copper,    spot 78     10     0  78       5     0 

Standard  copper,  futures 79       5     0  79       2     6 

Prime   Lake    17.65  to  17.75  17.65  to  17.75 

Electrolytic     17.60  to  17.70  17.60  to  17.70 

Casting    17.50  17.50 

Copper   wire,  base 19.00  19.00 

Lead    5.10  5.10 

Sheet   zinc,   f.o.b.   smelter 8.75  8.90 

Spelter,  spot   7.50  7.55 

Nickel    40.00  to  41.00  40.00  to  41.00 

Aluminum : 

No.    1    pure  ingot 22  to  23  21H  to  22J4 

Rods  and  wire,  base 32  32 

Sheets,   base    33  J4  33  !4 

OLD  METALS. 

Heavy  copper  and  wire 15.75  15.75 

Brass,  heavy    10.00  10.00 

Brass,   light    8.25  8.25 

Lead,    heavy    4.85  4.85 

Zinc,  scrap   5.87^  5.87^5 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  SEPTEMBER. 

Total   ions,   including Sept  10,  6,118         Sept.   17,  13,624 

STOCK  MARKET  PRICES. 

Sept.  11.  Sept.  18. 

Allis-Chalmers     H'  H 

.-Mlis-Chalmers,    pf I  4J4 

-Amalgamated  Copper  85H  87Ji 

Amer.  Tel.  &  Tel 143J4  14A'A 

Boston     Edison 291*  291 

Commonwealth     Edison 140  139 

Electric    Storage   Battery 57  56J4 

General   Electric   180  182Ji 

Commonwealth   Edison    140  138^ 

Mackav   Companies,  pf 70  68^ 

Philadelphia  Electric   24H  24^ 

Western  Union   81^  82 

V\'estinghouse    86}4  84 Ji 

Westinghouse.   pf 124  124" 

*Last  price  quoted. 


Personal  '« 

Mr.  C.  T.  Alden  on  Sept.  15  was  appointed  manager  of 
the  Edison  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  Amster- 
dam, N.  Y. 

Mr.  William  C.  Hill  has  been  appointed  superintendent  of 
district  "J"  of  the  Public  Service  Company  of  Northern 
Illinois,  with  headquarters  at  Joliet,  111. 

Mr.  J.  I.  Wheeler  has  been  appointed  purchasing  agent 
of  the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  St.  Louis, 
succeeding  Mr.  E.  H.  Shufer,  who  removed  to  New  York. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Place,  of  Chicago,  has  been  appointed  manager 
of  the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Company's  plants  at 
Tavlorville,  Nokomis,  Edinburg.  Pawnee,  Auburn  and  Kin- 
caid.  111. 

Mr.  W.  W.  Brisen,  until  recently  right-of-way  agent  for 
the  Southern  Sierras  Power  Company,  has  been  appointed 
division  manager  of  that  company,  with  headquarters  in- 
San   Bernardino,   Cal. 

Mr.  Joseph  E.  Tills  has  been  made  contract  agent  of  the 
Middle  West  Utilities  Company,  Chicago.  Mr.  Tills  was 
formerly  connected  with  the  contract  department  of  the 
Commonwealth   Edison   Company. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Collins  has  been  appointed  vice-president  in 
charge  of  operation  of  the  Edison  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company,  Amsterdam,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Collins  was  fonnerly 
manager,   with   headquarters  at  Gloversville. 

Mr.  Charles  E.  Dotson,  at  one  time  connected  with  the 
Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  and  recently  associated  with 
the  Tri-State  Railway  &  Electric  Company,  has  resigned 
from  that  company  and  will  locate  at  Columbus,  Ohio. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Wissing,  recently  manager  of  the  new-business- 
department  of  the  Sierra  &  San  Francisco  Power  Company, 
of  San  Francisco,  has  resigned  to  take  charge  of  similar 
work  with  the   Oro   Electric  Corporation  of  the   same  city.. 


September  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


629 


Mr.  Elmer  Bonnell  Severs,  of  the  engineering  department 
of  J.  G.  White  &  Company,  New  York,  has  been  appointed 
engineer  of  motive  power  of  the  Tri-State  Railway  &  Elec- 
tric Company,  with  East  Liverpool,  Ohio,  as  headquarters. 

Mr.  T.  L.  Billingsley,  who  was  with  the  Washington 
Water  Power  Company  of  Spokane,  is  now  located  at  Salem, 
Ore.,  as  general  superintendent  of  the  Portland,  Eugene  (x. 
Eastern  Railway  Company,  which  operates  in  the  Willam- 
ette Valley. 

Mr.  Charles  O.  Anthony,  who  was  connected  with  the 
New  York  Insulated  Wire  Company  for  nine  years,  is  now 
issociated  with  the  sales  stafT  of  the  Walpole  Rubber 
Zompany  (Massachusetts  Chemical  Department),  with  head- 
juarters  in  New  York. 

Mr.  H.  H.  Noble,  president  of  the  Northern  California 
Power  Company  of  San  Francisco,  is  touring  the  East, 
^e  recently  attended  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Twenty- 
irst  Maine  Regiment  on  the  drill  grounds  on  which  he  was 
nustered  in  for  the  Civil  War. 

Mr.  A.  G.  White,  electrical  engineer  of  the  Tri-State  Rail- 
vay  &  Electric  Company,  with  headquarters  at  East  Liver- 
)Ool,  Ohio,  has  resigned.  It  is  understood  that  Mr.  White 
nd  a  number  of  business  men  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  will  engage 
n  the  manufacture  of  cement  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  B.  O.  Ellis,  who  has  been  connected  with  the  engi- 
leering  department  of  J.  G.  White  &  Company,  New  York, 
or  the  past  five  years,  sailed  on  Sept.  18  from  New  York 
or  Caracas,  Vene2uela,  to  become  the  representative  there 
f  J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Ltd.,  of  London,  England. 

Messrs.  Guy  E.  Tripp,  chairman  of  the  board  of  directors 
f  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
nd  L.  A.  Osborne,  vice-president  of  the  company,  sailed 
rom  New  York  Sept.  18  on  the  Lusitania  to  visit  the  vari- 
us  foreign  properties  in  which  the  company  is  interested. 

Mr.  Nathanien  Allen  Carle,  formerly  with  the  Puget 
ound  Bridge  &  Dredging  Company,  Seattle,  Wash.,  is  now 
ssociated  with  the  Public  Service  Corporation  of  New 
ersey.  Mr.  Carle  is  a  graduate  of  Stanford  University 
nd  is  a  member  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
'.ngineers. 

Mr.  H.  L.  Frueaufl,  who  has  been  connected  with  tne 
'ueblo  (Col.)  Gas  &  Fuel  Company  for  the  past  three  years, 
as  recently  become  associated  with  the  Sedalia  Light  & 
'raction  Company,  Sedalia,  Mo.  Mr.  Frueaufif  is  succeeded 
t  Pueblo  by  Mr.  James  M.  Daily,  for  several  years  secre- 
iry  of  the   company  there. 

Mr.  Max  Lov^enthal  has  recently  resigned  as  manager  of 
le  sales  department  of  the  electric  shop  of  the  Philadelphia 
Mectric  Company  to  become  sales  manager  of  the  Helion 
'.lectric  Company,  Newark,  N.  J.,  manufacturers  of  elec- 
■ically  heated  appliances  using  Prof.  H.  S.  Parker's 
Helion"  unit  in  toasters,  irons,  etc. 

Mr.  H.  G.  D.  Nutting,  for  several  years  manager  and 
uperintendent  of  the  municipal  light  and  water  plant  at 
ort  Atkinson,  Wis.,  recently  became  associated  with  the 
entral  Illinois  Public  Service  Company  as  district  super- 
itendent.  Mr.  Nutting  will  be  succeeded  by  Mr.  W.  D. 
.eonard  at  the  Fort  Atkinson  plant. 

Mr.  Ross  Book  Mateer,  motor-service  expert  of  the  Deii 
er  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company,  has  recently  assumed 
he  management  of  the  agricultural  sales  department  of 
tie  Great  Western  Power  Company,  with  headquarters  in 
an  Francisco.  Mr.  Mateer  will  pay  special  attention  to 
■rigation  pumping  and  other  applications  of  electricity  to 
irmwork. 

Mr.  Frederic  Hamilton  Leggett,  formerly  foreign  sales 
lanager  of  the  Western  Electric  Company,  with  head- 
uarters  in  New  York,  is  now  in  charge  of  the  sales  staff 
f  the  Pacific  Coast  department  of  this  company,  reliev- 
ig  Mr.  F.  B.  Gleason,  who,  as  stated  below,  is  about  to 
:ave  for  Tokio,  to  assume  the  position  of  Far  Eastern 
lanager  of  the  Western   Electric   Company. 

Mr.  Peter  Junkersfeld,  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison 
ompany  of  Chicago,  is  in  Europe,  accompanied  by  Mrs. 
unkersfeld.  While  in  England  Mr.  Junkersfeld  will  visit 
ie  Heaton  works  of  C.  A.  Parsons  &  Company,  where  that 
oncern  is  building  the  new  25,000-kw  turbo-generator  for 


the  Fisk  Street  station  in  Chicago.     Mr.  and  Mrs.  Junkers- 
feld expect  to  return  to  Chicago  next  month. 

Mr.  F.  B.  Gleason,  who  for  some  years  past  has  been 
manager  of  the  Western  Electric  Company's  San  Francisco 
branch,  has  been  appointed  Far  Eastern  manager  for  that 
company,  with  headquarters  at  Tokio,  Japan.  He  will  be  in 
charge  of  the  company's  factory  at  that  point  and  will 
have  general  supervision  of  Chinese  and  Japanese  territory. 
Mr.  P.  J.  Condict,  the  present  representative  of  the  West- 
ern Electric  Company  in  Japan,  will  return  to  this  coun- 
try. Mr.  Gleason  will  leave  San  Francisco  within  the  next 
two  weeks  and  go  to  the  Orient  by  way  of  Europe  and  the 
Suez  Canal.  He  will  remain  at  his  new  post  for  a  term  of 
three  years. 

Mr.  Hans  Christian  Specht,  who  for  several  years  has 
been  electrical  engineer  with  the  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company,  East  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  will  soon 
leave  America  for  an  indeterminate  stay  in  Germany. 
While  in  Germany  Mr.  Specht  will  be  associated  as  chief 
engineer  of  the  construction  work  with  the  Norddeutsche 
Wollkammerei  &  Kammgarn  Spinnerei,  a  textile  firm  near 
Bremen.  Since  1909  Mr.  Specht  has  been  a  full  member 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  before 
which  body  he  has  presented  several  papers  on  engineering 
subjects.  He  was  the  author  of  an  article  on  vector  dia- 
grams for  induction  motors  which  appeared  in  our  issue 
dated  Feb.  25,  1905. 


Obituary 


Mr.  Frank  V.  Pierson,  general  foreman  for  the  Western 
Electric  Company  at  Hawthorne,'  111.,  died  at  Pasadena. 
Cal.,  on  Sept.  13,  aged  forty-nine  years.  Mr.  Pierson  had 
been  in  poor  health  for  some  time,  and  his  death  followed 
an  operation  for  appendicitis  performed  over  a  year  ago, 
after  which  he  was  taken  to  California  in  the  hope  that 
he  might  recover.  He  showed  decided  improvement,  but 
death  came  as  the  result  of  a  sudden  collapse.  He  was  in 
charge  of  several  manufacturing  departments  at  Haw- 
thorne. He  had  been  with  the  company  for  about  twenty- 
five  years,  removing  from  New  York  to  Hawthorne  five  or 
six  years  ago.  A  wife  and  a  married  daughter  survive  him. 
The  body  was  taken  to  Silverton,  Ohio,  for  burial. 

Mr.  Edward  A.  Calahan,  inventor  of  the  gold  and  stock 
ticker  telegraph,  died  at  his  home,  215  Cumberland  Street. 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  12.  The  Gold  &  Stock  Telegraph 
Company  had  its  origin  in  the  construction  of  a  printing 
instrument  by  Mr.  Calahan  for  the  provision,  by  telegraph, 
of  sales  of  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange  and  other  ex- 
changes. Mr.  Calahan  entered  the  service  in  1850  as  mes- 
senger, under  Mr.  George  B.  Prescott,  for  the  New  York 
&  New  England  Telegraph  Company  in  Boston,  having  for 
companions  William  Porter  and  Sidney  Fairchild.  He 
afterward  became  one  of  the  operators  of  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company,  and  previous  to  his  invention 
was  draftsman  and  assistant  to  General  Marshall  Lef- 
ferts,  at  that  period  its  engineer.  The  device  of  Dr.  Laws 
had  a  single-type  wheel  which,  by  the  aid  of  two  electro- 
magnets and  wires,  could  be  made  to  rotate  backward  or 
forward  at  will,  thus  rapidly  reaching  the  letters  desired. 
Mr.  Calahan  devised  the  plan  of  employing  two  wheels — - 
one  for  figures  and  fractions  and  one  for  letters — a  direct 
forward  movement  for  both,  and  the  ordinary  step-by-step 
motion.  This  he  regarded  as  simpler  and  more  certain  in 
action.  The  first  instrument  constructed  by  Mr.  Calahan 
was  not  successful.  Unskilled  as  a  mechanician,  he  needed 
the  aid  of  a  competent  workman  and  of  capital.  He  was 
fortunate,  therefore,  in  interesting  in  his  project  Mr.  Elisha 
W.  Andrews,  now  president  of  the  American  District  Tele- 
graph Company  of  New  York,  who  enabled  Calahan  to 
produce  an  effective  apparatus  and  to  secure  the  issue  of  a 
patent  therefor  on  April  21,  1868.  In  1872  Mr.  Calahan 
resigned  as  general  superintendent  of  the  Gold  &  Stock 
Telegraph  Company  and  went  to  London,  England,  where 
with  Mr.  P.  B.  Delany  he  organized  the  Exchange  Tele- 
graph Company,  Ltd.  In  1873  he  invented  the  American 
District  automatic  messenger  call  box.  Mr.  Calahan  left  a 
widow  and  four  children. 


630 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  12. 


Construction 


ALTOONA,  ALA, — A  proposition  to  issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
$10,000  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water- works 
system  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote. 

BIRMINGHAM,  ALA. — The  City  Commissioners  have  adopted  a  reso- 
lution to  employ  three  engineers  to  make  investigations  as  to  the  feasi- 
bility of  acquiring  a  water-works   plant  and  electric-light   plant. 

NORWOOD,  ALA.— The  city  commission  has  engaged  Martin  J.  Lide, 
consulting  engineer,  to  investigate  the  proposition  of  lighting  Norwood 
from  the  city  plant  at  North  Birmingham  as  suggested  by  W.  H.  Aber- 
ncthy,  city  electrician.  It  is  proposed  to  remove  all  arc  lamps  in  Norwood 
and  install  250  tungsten  lamps,  electricity  to  maintain  the  lamps  to  be 
supplied  by  the  city  plant. 

TALLADEGA,  ALA. — The  Alabama  Interstate  Pwr.  Co.  has  absorbed 
the  Alabama  Pwr.  Devel.  Co.,  Talladega;  the  Anniston  El.  &  Gas  Co., 
Anniston;  the  Little  River  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  water-power  plant  at  Jack- 
son Shoals,  near  Gadsden.  The  power  plant  at  Jackson  Shoals,  8  miles 
from  Talladega,  the  power  plant  at  Little  River,  10  miles  from  Gadsden, 
and  the  electric  lines  of  Anniston  and  Gadsden  are  all  included  in  the 
purchase.  The  company  proposes  to  build  interurban  electric  railways 
and  to  furnish  electricity  in  Gadsden,  Anniston,  Oxford  and  Talladega 
and  the  sections  between.  Surveys  have  already  been  made  for  an  inter- 
urban railway  from  Talladega  to  Oxford,  thence  to  Anniston,  and  also 
from  Anniston  to  Jacksonville,  and  thence  to  Gadsden  and  to  Rome.  Lord 
Fairfax,   of  London,   Eng.,  and  other  English  capitalists  are   interested. 

GLOBE,  ARIZ. — Preliminary  surveys  are  being  made  by  the  Inspira- 
tion Copper  Co.  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  from  Globe 
to  Miami,  a  distance  of  about  6  miles.  Surveys  are  also  being  made 
by  interests  represented  by  N.  L.  Amster,  of  Boston,  Mass..  for  an 
electric  railway   between    Globe   and  Miami. 

TUCSON,  ARIZ. — The  Tucson  Farms  Co.  has  entered  into  a  contract 
with  the  Tucson  Gas.  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  electricity  to  the  amount  of 
400  hp,  which  will  be  transmitted  to  Silver  I  ake  to  operate  pumps  for 
irrigating   purposes. 

ALAMEDA,  CAL. — The  City  Council  has  ordered  the  installation  of 
electrolier  lamps  in  District  No'.  8,  which  embraces  all  of  the  city  east  of 
Park  Street. 

AZUSA,  CAL. — The  Cit,  Trustees  have  decided  to  extend  the  street- 
lighting  system  still   further  north   on   Alameda   Street. 

BURBANK,  CAL.— The  Board  of  Trustees  has  decided  to  place  street 
lamps  on  Second  and  Olive  Streets. 

CORONA,  CAL. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  granted  the 
Southern  Sierras  Pwr.  Co.  permission  to  take  over  the  franchises  held 
by  F.  A.  Worthley  for  the  construction  and  operation  of  an  electric  light 
and  power  system  in   Corona. 

GLENDALE,  CAL. — The  Pacific  El.  Ry.  Co.  is  planning  to  build  a 
second  electric  line  through  Glendale,  beginning  in  Tropico  and  extend- 
ing north  through  the  east  pan  of  Glendale. 

HALF  MOON  BAY,  CAL.— The  Half  Moon  Bay  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is 
planning  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  in  a  southerly  direction  to  the 
Santa  Cruz  county  line.  If  granted  a  franchise,  the  company  will  supply 
electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  Purissima,  Lobitus.  San  Gregorio, 
Pomponio,  Pescadero,  Pigeon   Point  and  Steele. 

LIVERMORE.  CAL.— The  Livermore  Wtr.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  erecting  a 
transmission  line  from  Liverpool  to  Sunol  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps 
and  motors  in   the   latter  place. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — Plans  are  under  way  for  placing  especially 
designed  electroliers  through  Country  Club  Park.  The  lamps  will  extend 
the  entire  length  of  the  Country  Club  drive,  from  Western  Avenue  to 
Westchester  Place,  and  on  Gramercy  Place,  from  Pico  Street  north. 

MARYSVILLE,  CAL.— The  Pacific  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  submitted  a 
proposition  to  the  City  Council  offering  to  install  electroliers  on  Fifth 
Street  and  E  Street,  62  on  the  former  and  16  on  the  latter,  provided  the 
cit>'  will  give  the  company  a  five-year  contract  for  street-lighting. 

MODESTO,  CAL. — The  directors  of  the  Modesto-Empire  Trac.  Co. 
are  contemplating  equipping  its  railroad  with  electric  storage-battery  cars. 

NEWPORT  BEACH.  CAL. — At  an  election  held  Sept.  10  the  propo- 
sition to  issue  $25,000  in  bonds  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric- 
light   plant  was  carried. 

NORDHOFF,  CAL. — The  Ojai  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  Board  of 
Supervisors  of  Ventura  County  for  a  40-year  franchise  to  erect  trans- 
mission lines  over  and  under  certain  county  roads  for  the  transmission 
of  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors.  Bids  for  the  above  franchise  will  be 
received  by  the  Board  of  Supervisors  until  Oct.  3.  J.  B.  McCloskey, 
Ventura,  is  clerk  of  board. 

OROVILLE,  CAL. — Notice  of  appropriation  of  49,000  in.  of  water 
in  the  Middle  Fork  of  Feather  River  has  been  filed  by  F.  G.  Ebey,  S.  H. 
Wisher  and  L.  F.  Rreuner,  of  San  Francisco.  The  notice  states  that  the 
water  is  to  be  used  to  generate  electricity,  and  it  is  estimated  that  80,000 
hp  can  be  developed.  The  power  house  will  be  located  on  the  river, 
where  a  fall  of  more  than  600  ft.  will  be  available. 

PASADENA,  CAL. — ^The  power  plant  of  the  Southern  California 
Edison   Co.,   on   East  Colorado   Street,   was   recently   destroyed   by  fire. 

RIVERSIDE,    CAL. — The    City    Council    would    be    pleased    to    receive 


bids  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on 
approximately  19  blocks,  the  work  to  include  posts,  wiring,  etc.  As  no 
bids  were  received  for  the  erection  of  ornamental  lamps  now  being 
erected   on   five   blocks,   the  city   is   doing   the   work. 

SAN  DIEGO,  CAL. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  granted  tke 
San  Diego  Consol.  Gas  &  EI.  Co.  permission  to  issue  $250,000  in  bonds, 
the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  improvements  to  its  system.  The  commission 
also  authorized  the  use  of  the  recent  issue  of  $500,000  in  bonds  for 
improvements. 

SAN  FERNANDO,  CAL. — Preliminary  surveys  are  being  made  by  the 
Pacific  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  or  one  of  its  allied  corporations,  around  the 
eastern  edge  of  the  valley  following  close  to  the  foothills  east  of  the 
town,  cutting  across  the  valley  toward  Grapevine  Canyon.  This  line  will 
be  erected  on  steel  towers  and  will  take  the  place  of  the  Kern  River 
high-tension  transmission  line,  it  is  reported,  which  now  runs  throug 
the  eastern   portion  of   the  town. 

SANTA  BARBARA,  CAL.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  W.  H. 
Brackerridge,  vice-president  of  the  Southern  California  Edison  Co.,  and 
H.  W.  Dennis,  chief  construction  engineer  of  the  company,  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  street  railway  in   this  city. 

MILTON,  DEL. — Owing  to  the  insufficiency  of  the  water-power  of  the 
electric  plant  at  Ingram's  mill  the  Royal  Packing  Co.  has  discontinued 
the  electric-light  service  for  the  present.  A  large  gasoline  engine  may 
be  installed  in  the  near  future  to  provide  power  for  the  plant  during  low- 
water  periods. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the 
Bureau  of  Supplies  and  Accounts,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C, 
until  Oct.  1  as  follows:  Schedule  4823 — lightning  arresters,  street  tungs- 
ten lamp  fixtures,  transformers,  stranded  steel  wire,  insulation  weather- 
proof    wire,    yellow    pine    octagonal    poles. 

EAU  GALLIE.  FLA.- The  Indian  River  &  Lake  Worth  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lighting  the  streets  and  resi- 
dences in  Eau  Gallic. 

JACKSONVILLE,  FLA. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Board  of 
Bond  Trustees  to  replace  the  present  arc-lighting  system  with  new  lamps 
erected  on  ornamental  standards.  The  Jacksonville  Trac.  Co.  has  agreed 
to  furnish  posts  on  all  streets  occupied  by  its  tracks  and  will  use  a  com- 
bination trolley  and  lamp  post.  Wires  for  feeding  these  lamps  will  be 
placed  underground.  E.  M.  Markham,  of  Jacksonville,  is  consulting  en- 
gineer. 

TAMPA,  FLA. — Arrangements  are  being  made  for  the  installation  of 
an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  business  district.  Ornamental 
lamp   standards   carrying   five  lamps   will   be  installed. 

DARIEIN,  GA, — Application  has  been  made  to  the  City  Council  by  the 
Darien  Ice  &  Lt.  Co.  for  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  here  and  also 
for  a  contract  to  light  the  city.  C.  M.  Tyson  is  interested  in  the  com- 
pany. 

DOUGLASVILLE,  GA.— At  an  election  to  be  held  Oct.  3  the  propo- 
sition to  issue  $14,000  in  bonds  for  improvements  to  the  water-works 
system  and  $6,000  for  the  electric  light  and  power  plant  will  be  submitted 
to  a  vote. 

MACON,  GA. — The  Central  Georgia  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  awarded  tht 
contract  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  city  for  a  period  of  five  years  ai 
$21.95  per  arc  lamp  per  year. 

AMERICAN  FALLS,  IDAHO.— The  James  H.  Greene  Constr.  Co.  hai 
been  awarded  a  contract  for  completion  of  a  dam  here  in  connection  will 
a  30,000-hp  hydroelectric  power  plant.     James  A.   Brady  is  interested. 

CALDWELL,  IDAHO. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Idaho  Ry., 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  large  substation  in  Caldwell 
which  will  be  used  as  a  distributing  station  for  the  surrounding  towns 
and  cities.  In  addition  to  the  transmission  line  direct  from  the  Crane 
Falls  plant,  a  line  will  extend  from  the  Caldwell  substation  to  the  pump- 
ing plant  of  the  Gem  district.  Work  will  be  started  on  the  construction  of 
the  Roswell  railway  as  soon  as  the  station  is  completed.  Transmission 
lines  from  the  plants  at  Ox  Bow,  Horse  Bend,  Swan  Falls.  Crane  Falls 
and  Barber  will  enter  the  city. 

GOODING,  IDAHO. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  construc- 
tion of  an  electric  railway  from  Twin  Falls  to  Ketchum.  Ex-Governor 
Gooding  and   associates  are   interested. 

LEWISTON,  IDAHO. — Plans  have  been  completed  by  the  Pacific 
Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.,  Portland,  Ore.,  for  the  installation  of  an  electric  power 
plant   in   Lewiston,    to    cost   about   $50,000. 

TROY.  IDAHO. — The  local  electric-light  plant  has  been  purchased  by 
A.  W.  Tyler,  of  Moscow.  Mr.  Tyler  is  planning  to  erect  a  transmission 
line  from  Moscow  to  Troy. 

BLOOMINGTON.  ILL.— The  capital  stock  of  the  Bloomington  J 
Normal   Ry.   &  Lt.   Co.   has  been  increased  from  $900,000  to  $1,500,000. 

CARLINVILLE,  ILL. — No  bids  were  submitted  to  the  Board  of  Super- 
visors of  Macoupin  County  on  Aug. ,  29  for  lighting  the  Macoupin 
County   Almshouse.      New  bids  will  be  asked   for. 

CERRO  GORDO.  ILL.— The  Cerro  Gordo  Mutual  Tel.  Co.  has 
applied  to  the  Village  Board  for  a  franchise  to  install  a  telephone  system. 
The  board  has  requested  the  company  to  guarantee  a  metallic  system  and 
has  asked  it  to  submit  plans  of  construction,  etc. 

CHARLESTOWN.  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  has 
applied    to    the    Board    of    County    Supervisors    of    Coles    County    for  I 


September  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


631 


franchise    to   erect   transmission    lines    along    the    highways    of    the    county 
to  connect  with  lines  in  Edgar  County. 

DANVILLE,  ILL.— The  Danville  St.  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  increased  its 
capital  stock  from  $700,000  to  $1,500,000. 

FAIRBURV,  ILL. — The  Union  Central  El.  Co.  is  seeking  consent  of 
property  owners  here  to  erect  transmission  lines  to  supply  electricity 
for  lamps,   heat  and  motors. 

FR.ANKFORT,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  awarded  a  contract  to 
the  Public  Service  Co.  of  Northern  Illinois  to  install  18  street  lamps  of 
from  80  cp  to  180  cp  each. 

GEORGETOWN,  ILL.— The  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Edgar  County 
has  granted  the  Georgetown  El.  Co.  a  franchise  to  erect  transmission 
lines  in  the  townships  of  Ross.  Prairie,  Brouillettes  Creek,  Edgar,  Young 
America  and  Embarras.  The  company  has  already  secured  a  contract 
for  street  lighting  in  Chrisman  and  to  supply  energy  to  the  Rayfield 
automobile  factory  at  Chrisman,  and  it  also  proposes  to  supply  electricity 
to  farmhouses  along  the  line. 

GIR.XRD,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  called  a  special  election  to  be 
held  Sept.  30  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  dispose  of  the  municipal 
electric-light'  plant. 

MARSHALL,  ILL. -^Application  has  been  made  to  the  City  Council 
by  J.  O.  Goff  for  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  Marshall.  He 
proposes  to  build  a  dam  across  Big  Creek  at  Blizzard's  Ford  and  develop 
the   water-power. 

R.\MSEY,  ILL. — The  Mayor  has  vetoed  the  ordinance  granting  a 
franchise  to  F.  S.  Peabody  to  operate  an  electric-light  plant  in  Ramsey. 
A   new  franchise  will  be  submitted. 

ROCKFORD,  ILL. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion for  construction  of  a  new  high  school  building  until  Sept.  30. 
Separate  bids  will  be  received  for  wiring  the  building.  W.  B.  Eittner, 
of  St.   Louis,   Mo.,  is  architect. 

ROCK  ISLAND,  ILL. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  building  com- 
mittee of  the.  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  until  Sept.  27  for 
electrical   work  for  the  new  building. 

SANDWICH,  ILL. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  until  Oct.  14  for 
the  sale  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant. 

STERLING,  ILL. — The  commissioners  of  Sterling  Township  have 
granted  the  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Co.  a  franchise  to  erect  trans- 
mission lines  along  the  highways  in   the  town. 

TAMPICO,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  awarded  a  contract  to  the 
Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Co.  to  light  the  streets  of  the  village.  The 
present  lamps  will   be   replaced  with   SO  tungsten  lamps  of  40  cp. 

COLUMBUS,  IND.— The  Interstate  EI.  Co.,  of  Chicago,  111.,  which 
was  refused  a  franchise  by  the  City  Council,  has  filed  a  new  petition  for 
a  franchise. 

EVANSVILLE,  IND. — The  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light 
plant  in  Evansville  is  under  consideration.  It  is  estimated  that  a  plant 
could  be  installed  for  about  $350,000.  The  city  now  pays  $50,000  per 
year   for  street  lamps. 

GOSHEN,  IND. — Chapman  &  Co.,  of  Chicago,  111.,  consulting  engi- 
neers, have  reported  to  the  Council  that  it  will  require  an  expenditure 
of  $83,500  to  make  the  necessary  improvements  to  the  municipal  electric- 
light  plant.  The  City  Council  favor  the  installation  of  an  entire  new 
plant. 

GREENCASTLE,  IND.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Putnam 
El.  Co.  a  20-year  franchise  and  contract,  to  take  effect  from  July   1,   1913. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND. — The  capital  stock  of  the  Indianapolis.  Colum- 
bus &  Southern  Trac.  Co.  has  been  increased  from  $1,000,000  to 
$1,840,000. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.— The  power  plant  of  the  Cleveland,  Cincin- 
nati, Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Railway,  located  at  the  corner  of  Delaware 
Street  and  Pogues  Run,  was  recently  destroyed  by  fire,  causing  a  loss 
of  about   $10,000. 

MOORESVILLE,  IND. — The  property  of  the  Mooresville  Lt.,  Ht.  & 
Pwr.  Co,  has  been  purchased  by  W.  C.  Stevens,  of  Chicago,  for  $60,000. 
The  plant  will  be  taken  over  by  the  Mooresville  Utilities  Co.,  recently 
incorporated. 

NEW  ALBANY,  IND.— The  syndicate  headed  by  Samuel  Insull,  of 
Chicago,  111.,  has  acquired  the  light,  heat  and  traction  properties  in  New 
Albany  and  Jeffersonville. 

WATERLOO,  IND. — Investigations  are  being  made  by  M.  R.  Gor- 
don, of  Chicago,  111.,  representing  the  Angolia  &  Waterloo  Utilities  Co., 
for  the  purpose  of  deciding  on  the  route  between  the  two  cities  for  the 
l>roposed  electric  railway.  The  company  also  proposes  to  supply  elec- 
tricity for  lamps  and  motors  to  fanners  along  the  line. 

WEST  LEBANON,  IND.— At  an  election  to  be  held  Sept.  26  the 
I'loposition  of  installing  an  electric-light  plant  will  be  submitted  to  a 
vote. 

DUBUQUE,  lA. — The  Union  El.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  City  Council 
for  a  25-year  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric  railway  on 
Thirteenth  and  West  Locust  Streets  to  the  entrance  of  Mount  St.  Joseph 
College  grounds. 

FORT  DODGE,  lA. — ^The  Central  Iowa  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to 
erect  a  substation  and  make  other  improvements  to  the  local  system,  to 
cost  about  $90,000. 

FORT   M.ADISON,   I  A. — The   voters  have   approved   the   proposition   to 


grant  the  Mississippi  River  Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to  construct  and  oper- 
ate an   electrical  distributing   system   in   this   city. 

GRUNDY  CENTER,  lA. — A  special  election  has  been  called  by  the 
City  Council  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  grant  a  franchise  to  the 
Grundy  Center  Mutual  Tel.  Co.  If  granted  a  franchise  the  company 
will  install  a  telephone  system  here  to  cost  about  $15,000. 

HEDRICK,  lA. — The  Council  is  considering  a  proposition  submitted  by 
the  Sigourney  Trans.  Co.,  Sigourney,  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  to 
Hedrick  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors. 

IOWA  FALLS,  lA.— The  Iowa  River  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  granted 
franchises  in  Union,  Hubbard  and  Steamboat  Rock.  The  company  has 
acquired  water  rights  in  Eagle  City. 

L.\URENS,  lA. — The  Northern  Pwr.  Co.,  Humboldt,  is  planning  to  in- 
stall an  electric  light  and  power  system  here.  A  street-lighting  system 
will  be  installed,  including  electroliers.  The  company  will  extend  its 
transmission   lines  from    Rolfe   to   Laurens. 

OAKVILLE,  lA. — A.  Weiland,  who  proposes  to  erect  an  e'ectric-light 
plant   here,   has  secured   a  site  for  the   power  house. 

CHERRYVALE,  KAN. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  voters  ratified 
the  proposition  to  grant  a  franchise  to  D.  H.  Siggins,  president  and  man- 
ager of  the  L^nion  Trac.  Co.,  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors 
in   Cherryvale. 

CIM.'\RRON,  K.\N.— Plans  are  being  prepared  by  Worley  &  Black, 
engineers.  Reliance  Building,  Kansas  City.  Mo.,  for  the  installation  of  an 
electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system,  to  cost  about  $20,000. 

TOPEKA,  KAN. — Plans  have  been  prepared  by  H.  P.  Miller,  commis- 
sioner, for  installing  an  additional  generating  unit  in  the  municipal 
electric  plant,  to  cost  about  $3,500,  during  the  coming  winter.  The  new 
unit  will  increase  the  output  of  the  plant  by  100  kw  and  will  be  run  by 
exhaust  steam  of  the  present  plant.  Contract  for  the  work  will  be  awarded 
after  Jan.    1,    1913. 

ERL.\NGER,  KY. — The  Town  Council  is  considering  the  question  of 
establishment    of    a    municipal    electric-light    plant    here. 

IRN'INE,  KY. — -Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of  an 
electric-light  plant  here.     Edwin  C.   Stevens  is  interested. 

MOUNT  VERNON,  KY. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installa- 
tion of  an  electric-light  plant  here  in  the  near  future. 

WILMORE,  KY. — Plans  have  been  completed  by  Edward  and  C.  G. 
Glass  for  rebuilding  the  local  electric  light  and  power  plant,  recently 
destroyed  by  fire.  The  plant  will  be  enlarged  so  as  to  meet  the  demands 
for  street  lighting  as  well  as  residential  lighting.  An  ice  factory  and 
creamery  will  be  operated  in  conjunction  with  the  electric  plant. 

L.'\FAYETTE,  LA. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Improvement 
Company  of  Lafayette  permission  to  erect  electric  wires  across  Jefferson 
Street  from  a  private  plant  to  be  built  near  the  Motor  Car  Company's 
plant.  The  company  proposes  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors 
to  the  Jefferson  Theater  and  Gordon  Hotel. 

CONOWINGO,  MD. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Susfluehanna 
River  Pwr.  Co.  toward  the  construction  of  a  hydroelectric  power  plant 
on  the  Susquehanna  River  below  Conowingo,  where  it  is  estimated  that 
75,000    hp   can   be    developed. 

DEALS  ISLAND,  MD.— The  Eastern  Shore  Pwr.,  Lt.  &  Ry.  Co.  of 
Maryland  will  soon  begin  work  on  construction  of  a  railway  along  the 
eastern  shore  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  from  Deals  Island  to  Snow  Hill,  a 
distance   of    43   miles. 

II.XGERSTOWN,  MD. — H.  B.  Grimm,  Winchester,  Ky.,  has  been 
awarded  the  contract  for  the  construction  of  power  house  for  the  Hagers- 
town  Pwr.   Co.,  the  cost  of  which  is  estimated  at  about  $40,000. 

FITCHBURG,  MASS. — Residents  of  Water  Street  have  signed  a  pe- 
tition asking  for  the  installation  of  cluster  lamps  in  that  section  of  the 
city.  -X  petition  has  also  been  presented  to  the  City  Council  asking 
for  cluster  lamps  on  upper  Main  Street. 

NORTH  BROOKFIELD,  MASS.— T  iie  North  Brookfield  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  has  entered  into  a  contract  with  the  Board  of  Water  Commissioners 
whereby  the  company  will  install  an  electric  motor  and  equipment  in  the 
power  house  at  Doane's  Pond  to  pump  the  water  from  the  pond,  which 
supplies   the   town,   to  the   reservoir   on   Ben    Hill. 

PEABODY,  MASS. — The  municipal  light  board  has  been  authorized  to 
enter  into  a  contract  with  the  town  of  Lynnfield  for  street  lighting  for  a 
period   of   five   years. 

WEST  SPRINGFIELD,  MASS.— The  Warren  Mills  &  Power  Co., 
Warren,  has  applied  for  permission  to  erect  transmission  lines  on  Park 
Street  and  Boulevard  Street.  John  T.  F.  MacDonald  is  treasurer  of  the 
company. 

MARQUETTE,  MICH.— The  Cleveland  Cliffs  Iron  Co.  has  submitted  a 
proposition  to  the  City  Council  offering  to  supply  electricity  to  operate 
the  municipal  electric-light  plant. 

TRAVERSE  CITY,  MICH. — Final  steps  have  been  taken  by  the  City 
Council  to  acfluire  the  property  of  the  Queen  City  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co. 
The  price  paid  for  the  plant  was  $150,000. 

ANN.\NDALE,  MINN. — It  is  reported  that  plans  are  being  considered 
to  organize  a  company  to  establish  an  electric-light  plant  in  Annandale. 

nULUTH.  MINN. — The  Duluth  Street  Ry.  Co.  has  decided  to  erect  a 
substation  in  the  East  End,  to  cost  about  $40,000,  work  on  which  will 
soon  begin. 


632 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  12. 


MONTGOMERY,  MINN.— The  City  Council  has  granted  James  P. 
Porteus  and  associates  a  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric- 
light    plant    in    Montgomery. 

MONTICELLO,  MINN.— The  Village  Council  is  considering  the  in- 
stallation of  an  electric-light  plant. 

OLIVIA,  MIKN.— The  Wherland  EI.  Co..  Redwood  Falls,  has  sub- 
mitted a  proposition  to  the  Village  Council  offering  to  supply  electricity 
in  this  town.  The  company  offers  to  erect  a  transmission  line  from  its 
plant  in  Redwood  Falls  to  Olivia  within  90  days  and  to  furnish  electrical 
service  at  a  lower  rate  than  it  is  now  paying.  R.  F.  Wherland,  Redwood 
Falls,   is  manager   of  the  company. 

ROCHESTER,  MINN.— J.  F.  Druar,  of  the  Claussen  Engineering  Co., 
St.  Pau],  has  prepared  a  report  for  the  construction  of  a  new  municipal 
electric-light  plant,  to  cost  about  $80,000.  The  city  is  also  considering 
a  proposition  to  purchase  power  from  the  Zumbro  Pwr.  Co.  This  will 
require  the  construction   of  a  dam  about   12  miles  from  the  city, 

ST.  CLOUD,  MINN. — Plans  have  been  adopted  for  the  insiaJlation  of 
an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  business  district  of  St.  Germain 
Street  and  Fifth  Avenue. 

SHAKOPEE,  MINN.— The  Consumers'  Pwr.  Co.  is  contemplating  ex- 
tending its  transmission  lines  to  this  city  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps 
and  motors. 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU.  MO.— At  an  election  to  be  held  Oct.  1  the  propo- 
sition to  issue  $25,000  in  bands  for  construction  of  an  electric- light  plant 
and  water-works  system  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO. — James  C.  Travil,  city  street  commissioner,  is  inter- 
ested in  a  project  to  secure  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-light- 
ing system  on  certain  streets  of  the  city. 

SEDALIA,  MO. — A  committee,  consisting  of  L.  P.  Andrews.  C.  C. 
Evajis  and  E.  H.  Weinrich,  has  been  appointed  by  the  Boosters'  Club  to 
take  steps  to  secure  an  extension  of  the  ornamental  street-lighting  system 
in  Sedalia. 

BASSETT,  NEB. — The  question  of  issuing  bonds  for  the  construction 
of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system  is  under  con- 
sideration. 

WAUSALT,  NEB. — The  Village  Board  has  granted  Carl  Murner  a 
franchise  to  install  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant  here.  Work  will 
begin  immediately  on  construction  of  the  plant.  It  is  proposed  to  es- 
tablish   a   24-hour    service. 

RENO,  NEV. — The  Commonwealth  Mining  Co.  has  awarded  a  contract 
to  the  Trent  Engineering  Co.  for  the  installation  of  a  power  plant  and 
hoist  at  the  Commonwealth   Mine,  located  near  Reno. 

MORRISTOWN,  N.  J.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $5,000,000  have  been 
issued  by  the  Morris  County  Trac.  Co.,  of  which  the  proceeds  of  $2,000,- 
000  will  be  used  for  extensions  and  improvements  to  its  system. 

ARTESIA,  N.  M.— The  Pecos  Valley  Gas  &  El.  Cd.  has  taken  over 
the  property  and  holdings  of  the  .\rtesia  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  here.  Improve- 
ments will  be  made  by  the  new  company  to  the  plant,  including  the 
installation   of   a  new  engine  and   other   equipment. 

BROOKLYN.  N.  Y. — The  contract  for  installing  electric  equipment 
in  the  Bushwick  High  School  has  been  awarded  to  the  Commercial  Constr. 
Co.,  24  State  Street,  New  York,  at  $33,733.  The  John  P.  Williams  Co. 
was  awarded  the  contract  for  electrical  equipment  for  School  174,  at 
$9,800.  Both  schools  are  in  the  borough  of  Brooklyn.  C.  B.  J.  Snyder 
is  superintendent  of  school  buildings. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y.— Bids  will  be  received  by  C.  B.  J.  Snyder,  super- 
intendent of  school  buildings.  Department  of  Education,  corner  of  Park 
Avenue  and  Fifty-ninth  Street,  New  York,  until  Sept.  23,  as  follows; 
No.  1 — for  installing  electric  equipment  in  new  Public  School  173. 
Pennsylvania  Avenue,  near  Liberty  Avenue,  Brooklyn.  No.  2,  item  I — 
installing  heating  and  ventilating  apparatus  and  electric  generating  equip- 
ment; item  2 — installing  temperature  regulator  in  Bushwick  High  School, 
on  Irving  Avenue,  near  Putnam  Avenue,  Brooklyn.  Blank  fonns,  plans 
and  specifications  may  be  obtained  or  seen  at  the  above  office  or  at  the 
branch    office,    131    Livingston    Street,   Brooklyn. 

CATO,  N.  Y.— The  Board  of  Trustees  has  granted  the  Seneca  River 
Pwr.  Co.,  Phoenix,  a  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric- 
light  system  in  Cato. 

FL'LTON,  N.  Y. — A  petition  has  been  presented  to  the  Board  of  Pub- 
lic Works  by  the  business  men  of  Fulton  asking  permission  to  erect  45 
ornamental  electric  street  lamps  in  the  business  district.  The  cost  of 
the  lamps  is  estimated   at  about   $3,000. 

LE  ROY,  N.  Y. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Le  Roy  Hydraulic 
El.  &  Gas  Co.  for  enlarging  its  power  plant.  Contracts  have  been  placed 
for  a  1000-hp  steam  turbine  and  generator  and  a  300-hp  boiler.  The 
entire  system  is  to  be  changed  to  three-phase,  60-cycle,  alternating- 
current  system  and  continuous  service  given.  The  cost  of  the  work  is 
estimated  at  $20,000. 

LESTERSHIRE.  N.  Y. — Plans  have  been  submitted  to  the  Board  of 
Trustees  by  the  Binghamton  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Binghamton.  for  es- 
tablishing a  new  street-lighting  system  throughout  the  town.  The  plans 
call  for  about  175  lamps,  many  of  which  will  be  80- watt  tungsten,  re- 
placing a  number  of  arc  lamps  now  in   use. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — The  contract  for  furnishing  material  and  in- 
stalling two  high-pressure  boilers  and  other  apparatus  for  the  heating  and 
power  house.  Metropolitan  Hospital   District,   Blackwell's  Island,   has  been 


awarded  to  the  Child  &  Scott  Co.,  112  Wooster  Street,  New  York.     Frank 
Sutton,  80  Broadway,  New  York,  is  consulting  engineer. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— The  Public  Service  Commission  has  awarded 
contracts  for  construction  of  five  sections  of  the  proposed  dual  system 
of  subways,  as  follows:  Section  No.  1,  Broadway-Lexington  Avenue  sub- 
way, to  F.  L.  Cranford,  177  Montague  Street,  Brooklyn,  at  $1,222,269; 
section  No.  1-A,  Broadway-Lexington  Avenue  subway,  to  F.  L.  Cran- 
ford. at  $982,740;  section  No.  1,  extension  to  Fourth  Avenue  subway, 
to  Degnon  Contracting  Co.,  60  Wall  Street,  New  York,  at  $1,930,258; 
section  No.  2,  extension  of  Fourth  Avenue  subway,  to  Degnon  Co 
tracting  Co.,  for  $1,904,171,  and  section  No.  1,  Southern  Boulevard 
subway,  to  John  F.  Stevens  Constr.  Co.,  55  Wall  Street,  New  York, 
at  $2,253,281. 

PHILMONT,  N.  V. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $5,000  have  been  voted 
for  lighting   the   village. 

WARWICK,  N.  Y.— The  Orange  &  Rockland  El.  Co.,  Monroe,  is  ex- 
tending its  transmission  line  from  Monroe  to  Warwick.  As  soon  as  the 
line  is  completed  the  Warwick  plant  will  be  abandoned.  The  company 
some  time  ago  purchased  the  property  of  the  Warwick  Vallev  Lt.  & 
Pwr.   Co. 

WATERXlIET,  N.  \^— The  Adirondack  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Corpn.,  it  is  re- 
ported, is  planning  to  erect  a  new  station  to  replace  the  present  structure. 

NASHA'ILLE,  N.  C. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of 
a  municipal  electric-light  system,  for  which  $10,000  to  $15,CK)0  in  bonds 
will  be  issued. 

DEVIL'S  L.-\KE,  N.  D.— The  property  of  the  Devil's  Lake  Improve- 
ment  Co.   has  been  purchased  by   E.   C.    Corson,   of   Fargo,  for  $175,000. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  locate  the 
downtown  municipal  light  and  power  distributing  station  and  high-pres- 
sure pumping  station  at  the  corner  of  Lakeside  Avenue  and  East  Eleventh 
Street.  Ordinances  have  been  passed  by  the  Councii  authorizing  the  ex- 
penditure of  $475,000  to  construct  the  East  Fifty-third  Street  lighting 
plant  and  purchase  of  necessary  equipment;  this  amount  also  covers  the 
cost  of  the  Walworth  Avenue  substation. 

DALTON.  OHIO.— The  Massillon  El.  &  Gas  Co.,  Massillon,  has  sub- 
mitted a  proposition  to  the  village  of  Dalton  offering  to  furnish  elec- 
tricity for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  village.  It  is  estimated  that  66  street 
lamps  would  be  required.  The  company  offers  to  furnish  the  service  at 
$18  per  lamp  per  year  under  a   10-year  contract. 

FOSTORIA,  OHIO.— The  plant  of  the  Standard  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Fos- 
toria,  which  was  recently  taken  over  by  Field  W.  Sweezy,  New  York, 
trustee  of  the  American  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  will  be  rebuilt  and  equipped 
with  new  machinery.  It  is  proposed  to  supply  electrical  service  in  Fos- 
toria,  Fremont  and  Tiffin  on  one  circuit,  under  the  management  of 
Frank   Espey,   of  Tiffin. 

MILAN,  OHIO. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  rebuilding  the  mu- 
nicipal electric-light  plant.  A  proposition  has  been  submitted  to  the 
Council  by  the  Lake  Shore  El.  Ry.  Co.,  offering  to  supply  electricity  to 
operate  the  municipal  system. 

NEW  KNOXVILLE,  OHIO. — A  company  has  been  organized  by  local 
citizens  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors 
here.  It  is  proposed  to  secure  electricity  for  the  power  plant  of  the 
Western  Ohio  Trac.  Co.  in  this  city.  Work  will  begin  at  once  on  the 
new  plant.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $8,000.  The  officers  are  B,  J. 
Cook,  president ;  E.  J.  Rodeheffer,  vice-president ;  A.  H.  Steinecker, 
secretary   and   treasurer,  and   E.   C.    Holl,  manager. 

NORWALK,  OHIO. — Investigations  are  being  made  with  a  view  of 
enlarging  and  improving  the  local  electric-light  plant.  New  machinery 
will   be   installed. 

PORT  CLINTON,  OHIO.— The  Northwestern  Ohio  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
applied  to  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  authority  to  purchase  the 
property  of  the  Port  Clinton  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  $30,000.  If  permis- 
sion is  granted  the  company  will  furnish  electricity  for  lighting  in 
Port  Clinton  in  connection  with  its  electric  railway,  which  passes  through 
the  town. 

ZANESVILLE,  OHIO.— The  Ohio  El.  Ry.  Co.  has  submitted  a  propo- 
sition to  the  City  Council  offering  to  erect  cluster  lamps  on  Main  Street 
from  the  **Y"  Bridge  to  Ninth  Street  and  to  place  its  wires  underground; 
also  to  furnish  electricity  for  lighting  *'Y"  Bridge  free  of  charge  and  to 
make  a  reduction  of  $2  per  year  in  the  price  of  street  arc  lamps,  in  re^ 
turn  for  a  ten-year  franchise  for  lighting. 

FORT  SILL,  OKLA.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  until  Oct.  3  by 
the  constructing  quartermaster  for  construction,  electric  lighting,  plumb- 
ing,  heating,   etc.,   for   remodeling  hospital   here. 

HOOKER,  OKLA. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  installation  of 
a  municipal  electric-light  plant,  for  which  bids  have  been  received.  Ken- 
nedy &  Fleming,  State  National  Bank  Bldg..  Oklahoma  City,  Okla.,  are 
engineers. 

PORTLAND,  ORE. — The  Southern  Pacific  Company  is  planning  to 
equip  the    Fourth    Street  line    for    electrical    operation. 

WOODBURN.  ORE.— The  Portland  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Salem  divi- 
sion, has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  Council  offering  to  light  the  streets 
of  the  city  for  a  period  of  20  years. 

PANAMA. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  the  general  purchasing  of- 
ficer of  the  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Sept. 
25  for  furnishing  miscellaneous  electrical  supplies  under  Circular  No. 
731-A.     Major   F.    C.    Boggs   is   general    purchasing  officer. 


September  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


633 


PANAMA, — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  general 
purchasing  officer,  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Oct.  I,  for  furnishing  electric  cable.  Blanks  and  general  information 
relating  to  this  circular  (No.  732-.^)  may  be  obtained  from  the  above 
office  or  the  offices  of  the  assistant  purchasing  agents,  24  State  Street, 
New  York,  N.  Y.  and  614  Whitney-Central  Building,  New  Orleans.  La. 
Major  F.   C.    Boggs   is  general   purchasing  officer. 

PANAMA, — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
general  purchasing  officer,  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  Washington. 
D,  C,  until  Oct,  15  for  furnishing  lighting  material  for  all  Panama 
locks,  consisting  of  panelboards,  reflectors,  outlet  boxes,  receptacles  and 
portable  lamps.  Blanks  and  general  information  relating  to  this  cir- 
cular (No.  732)  may  be  obtained  from  the  above  office  or  the  offices 
of  the  assistant  purchasing  agents,  24  State  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y. ; 
614  Whitney-Central  Building,  New  Orleans,  La.,  and  1086  North  Point 
Street,  San  Francisco,  Cal.  Major  F,  C,  Boggs  is  general  purchasing 
officer, 

BEAVER,  PA. — Application  has  been  made  for  a  charter  for  the 
Beaver  Pwr.  Co.  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
company  wilj  start  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000,  which  later  will  be 
increased.  It  proposes  to  build  an  electric  power  plant  in  Ohio  Town- 
ship, Beaver  County,  located  near  the  Ohio-Pennsylvania  State  line  and 
the  Ohio  River,  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  electricity  for  lamps  and 
motors  to  the  Tri-State  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.,  which  controls  electric  railway 
and  lighting  franchises  in  all  towns  and  villages  between  Beaver,  l^a., 
<lown  the  Ohio  River  to  Wellsburg.  W.  Va.,  a  distance  of  about  SO 
miles.  The  officials  of  the  Tri-State  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  are  interested  in  the 
Beaver  Pwr.  Co, 

D.MSYTOWN,  PA. — .Application  will  soon  be  made  for  a  charter  for 
the  Daisytown  El,  Co.,  which  proposes  to  generate  and  distribute  elec- 
tricity for  lamps,  heat  and  motors  here. 

ELWOOD  CITY,  PA,— The  Borough  Council  has  granted  the  West 
Penn.  Trac.  Co.  a  franchise  to  extend  its  Harmony  line  into  this  borough. 
GROVE  CITY,  P.A. — The  Northwestern  Pennsylvania  Trac.  Co.  will 
extend  its  lines  from  Grove  City  to  Slippery.  Rock,  grading  for  which 
has  been  completed.  ■  A  charter  will  soon  be  asked  for  to  operate  this 
line, 

HARRISBURG.  PA. — Notice  has  been  given  that  application  will  be 
■made  to  the  Governor  on  Sept,  27  by  Charles  R.  Maguire,  J.  Charles  Mur- 
tagh  and  Herman  H,  Wilson  for  a  charter  for  the  LTpper  Gwynedd  EI. 
Co.,  the  Lower  Gwynedd  El.  Co.  and  the  Montgomery  Township  El,  Co,, 
for  the  purpose  of  supplying  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  the 
townships  of  Upper  Gwynedd,   Lower   Gwynedd  and   Montgomery. 

HARRISBURG,  PA. — Plans  have  been  about  completed  by  the  Harris- 
burg  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  placing  overhead  electric  wires  in  the  central 
part  of  the  city  underground.  Work  has  been  started  on  the  installation 
of  one  of  the  three  substations,  at  22  North  Second  Street,  which  will  be 
the  main  distributing  point  for  the  underground  system.  Two  other  sub- 
stations will  be  installed,  one  at  Strawberry  and  .\berdeen  Streets  and 
the  other  on  Blackberry  Street,  the  site  for  which  has  not  yet  been  lo- 
cated. The  substation  will  be  equipped  with  switchboard  and  trans- 
former and  will  have  sufficient  capacity  to  maintain  16,000  incandescent 
lamps  of   16  cp. 

KAYLOR,  P,\. — The  Pittsburgh  Limestone  Co.  is  planning  to  erect 
2  power  station,   for  which  bids  are  being  asked. 

PITTSBURGH,  PA. — Announcement  has  been  made  that  surveys 
have  been  completed  for  the  two  larger  power  dams  for  the  Clarion 
River  Pwr,  Co..  to  be  built  on  the  Clarion  River,  50  miles  from  Pitts- 
burgh, The  project  will  involve  an  expenditure  of  about  $15,000,000 
.and  about  200,000  hp.  will  be  developed.  .Toseph  R.  Paul,  905  Common- 
wealth Building,  Pittsburgh,  is  interested, 

ARANSAS  PASS.  TEX. — .\rrangements  have  been  made  by  the  City 
'Council  for  the  installation   of  an  electric-light  system   here, 

AUSTIN,  TEX. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of  a 
flew  lighting  system.     It   is  proposed  to  use  tower  lamps, 

BR.'\DY,  TEX. — The  City  Council  has  completed  arrangements  for  the 
purchase  of  the  water  and  light  plants  of  the  Brady  Wtr.  &  Lt,  Co.  The 
price  paid  for  the  properties  is  said  to  be  $42,250,  An  election  will  be  held 
to  ratify  the  sale. 

COTULLA,  TEX.— The  Cotulla  Pwr.  &  Ice  Co.  is  planning  to  estab- 
lish an  electric-light   plant   here, 

FORT  WORTH,  TEX,— Contracts  have  been  closed  by  the  Northern 
Texas  El,  Co,  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  all  towns 
lletween  Fort  Worth  and  Waxahachie  and  Fort  Worth  and  Waco, 

FREDERICKSBURG.  TEX.— The  local  electric-light  plant  has  been 
purchased  by  Messrs.  Nentiwig  and  Backmann.  Extensive  improvements 
will  be  made  to  the  plant  in  the  near  future,  including  the  installation  of 
a  new  generator,  the  erection  of  new  transmission  lines,  etc, 

GREENVILLE,    TEX. — Preparations    are    being    made    by    the    Eastern 
Texas  Trac,    Co,    for  the  construction   of  an   electric  plant,   to  cost  about 
1    ■$200,000,    Joseph  F,  Nichols,  Grtenville,  and  J.  W.  Cri/tty,  Dallas,  are  in- 
terested in  the  company. 

HE.ARNE,  TEX, — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  City  Council  for 
the  construction  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant,  bids  for  which  have 
teen  received.    P.  L.  Brady  is  Mayor. 

SAN    .\NCELO,    TEX. — Local   citizens   are    promoting   the   organization 
I    of    a    company    for    the    construction    of    an    interurban    electric    railway 
between   -San   Angelo  and  Christoval,  '■   ■ 


SWEETWATER,  TEX.— The  Texas  Lt.  &  Pwr,  Co,,  which  is  con- 
trolled by  the  Strickland  interests,  has  taken  over  the  Sweetwater  light 
and  ice  plant  and  the  electric  plant  at  Big  Springs,  the  consideration 
being  $140,000  for  the  three  plants, 

VELASCO,  TEX. — Preliminary  surveys  are  being  made  for  the  con- 
struction of  an  interurban  electric  railway  between  Houston  and 
Velasco,  a  distance  of  about  85  miles.  Dr.  F.  S.  George,  of  Dayton, 
Ohio,  is  interested  in  the  project  and  has  established  offices  in  Houston 
for  the   purpose  of  promoting  it. 

YOAKUM,  TEX. — Messrs.  Green  &  Welhausen  are  planning  to  build 
a  dam  across  the  Guadalupe  River,  about  12  miles  from  Yoakum,  to  fur- 
nish power  to  operate  a  hydroelectric  power  plant.  Transmission  lines 
will  be  erected  from  the  plant  to  Yoakum  and  other  towns  in  this  sec- 
tion. It  is  also  proposed  to  supply  electricity  to  operate  their  industries 
in  this  city,  as  well  as  for  lighting  purposes. 

BINGHAM,  UTAH. — Extensive  improvements  are  contemplated  by  the 
Utah  Copper  Co.  to  its  properties  at  Bingham.  The  plans  include  equip- 
ping the  entire  property  with  electrically  driven  machinery,  lighting  the 
mines  and  mills  with  electricity  and  the  installation  of  motors  to  replace 
the  steam  engines  for  the  transportation  of  ores  about  the  works. 

KAYSVILLE,  UTAH.— The  Home  Tel.  &  El.  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  Clearfield,  Hooper, 
Syracuse  and    surrounding  country. 

S.-^LT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH.— A  consolidation  of  practically  all  the 
hydroelectric  power  plants  of  LJtah  and  Southern  Idaho  is  contemplated 
in  the  reorganization  of  the  Tclluride  Pwr.  Co.  Extensive  improvements 
are  contemplated  to  present  plants  and  also  the  building  of  new  plants, 
increasing  the  output  of  the  company  to  125,000  hp.  It  is  understood 
that  D.   C.  Jackling  will  be  president. 

CATAWB-A  S.-\N.'\TORILTM,  VA, — Arrangements  have  been  made  by 
the  State  Board  of  Health  for  the  construction  of  a  10,000-volt  transmis- 
sion line  from  the  substation  at  Mason's  Creek,  on  the  Catawba  Valley 
Railroad,  to  the  sanatorium  to  furnish  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors 
for  the  grounds  and  buildings  and  to  operate  cold-storage  and  ice  plants. 
A.  Lambert  is  manager  of  the  sanatorium. 

ST.  CHARLES,  VA.— The  Bewley-Darst  Coal  Co.,  Bristol,  Va.-Tenn., 
it  is  reported,  is  planning  to  install  a  central  electric  power  plant,  to  cost 
about  $250,000,  and  a  central  washing  plant.  Electricity  will  be  trans- 
mitted to  the  various  companies  developing  mines  in  the  Black  Mountain 
field.  The  plant  will  be  located  at  the  mouth  of  the  mine,  and  gen- 
erating units  of  1000  kw  each  will  be  installed. 

DEER  PARK,  WASH. — William  Binter  and  Frank  Spinning,  of  Spo- 
kane, have  purchased  George  Nixon's  interests  in  the  Little  Spokane  Pwr. 
Co..  in  Deer  Park.  The  new  owners,  it  is  said,  will  rehabilitate  the 
system,   adding   new   transmission  lines,  etc. 

PULLM.XN,  WASH. — The  Idaho- Washington  Lt,  &  Power  Co.  is 
making  arrangements  with  the  local  business  men  for  the  installation 
of  a   cluster-lamp   street-lighting  system    here. 

SEATTLE.  WASH. — Estimates  have  been  submitted  to  the  City  Coun- 
cil by  the  city  utilities  committee  for  the  establishment  of  a  steam-power 
plant  on  Lake  Union,  adjoining  the  hydraulic  power  plant  now  owned  and 
operated  by  the  city.  The  cost  of  the  plant,  including  the  site,  is  esti- 
mated at   $500,882. 

TACOM.\,  W.'\SH. — The  light  commissioners  are  planning  to  change 
the  Nisqually  power  plant  from  single-phase  system  to  three-phase,  alter- 
nating current.     The  cost  is  estimated  at  about  $140,000. 

TACOMA,  WASH.— The  Tacoma  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  exten- 
sive changes  in  its  cable  system.  The  Eleventh  Street  line,  it  is  under- 
stood, .will  have  a  cable  and  a  counterbalance  put  in  to  carry  the  regular 
trolley   cars   up  the   hill. 

WINTHROP,  W.\SH.— It  is  reported  that  James  Dodd,  of  Winthrop, 
and  associates  contemplate  a  large  water-power  development.  It  is  pro- 
posed  to   utilize  the   water   for   irrigation   and   power   purposes, 

ELKINS,  W,  VA.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  County  Court  of  Ran- 
dolph County,  Elkins,  until  Oct,  8,  for  furnishing  and  installing  electric 
and  gas  fixtures  in  the  county  jail,     F.   A,  Rowan  is  clerk. 

WHEELING,  W,  VA. — Bids  will  be  received  until  Sept.  26  for  the 
purchase  of  electrically  driven  triplex  pumps,  J,  Richard  Kommer,  of 
Pittsburgh,   Pa.,  is  consulting  engineer. 

COON  VALLEY,  WIS.— The  Village  Board  has  decided  to  install  an 
electric-lighting    system    here, 

NEENAH,  WIS, — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  City  Council  for  the 
establishment    of    a   municipal    electric-light    plant. 

OSSEO,    WIS. — Plans   are   being   considered   for  the   installation   of   an 
electric-light  plant  here,     J,   N.  Lee  &  Son  are   reported  to  be  interested, 
VANCOUVER,   B,   C,   CAN,— The  British  Columbia  Tel.   Co.   is  plan- 
ning   to    erect    another    circuit    between    Nanaimo    and     Parksville    next 
spring. 

BERLIN,  ONT.,  CAN. — The  residents  on  Heinz  Avenue  are  con- 
templating  the   installation   of  ornamental  street  lamps. 

CHATHAM.  ONT.,  CAN. — The  Council  has  authorized  the  installation 
of  tungsten  lamps  on  several  streets, 

HAGERSVILLE,  ONT.,  CAN. — The  ratepayers  have  voted  in  favor  of 
a  by-law  authorizing  the  village  of  Hagersville  to  enter  into  a  contract 
with   the   Hydro-Electric  Commission   for  electricity. 


634 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  12. 


NIAGARA  FALLS,  ONT..  CAN.— The  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning 
to  build  a  hydroelectric  power  plant  on  the  Salmon  River,  to  cost  about 
$1,500,000.  The  general  contract  for  the  work  has  been  awarded  to 
John  F.  Stevens,  55  Wall  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.  The  dam  will  be 
1,000  ft.  long  and  the  power  house  200  ft.  by  250  ft.,  two  stories  high. 

NIAGARA  FALLS,  ONT.,  CAN.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by 
the  secretary  of  the  Board  of  Water  Commissioners,  Niagara  Falls,  Ont., 
until  Oct.  1  for  the  installation  of  electrically  driven  centrifugal  pumps. 
Specifications  may  be  obtained  upon  application  at  the  office  of  the 
water-works.     Blanche  Carr  is  secretary. 

RICHMOND  HILL,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  officials  of  the  Metropolitan 
Railway  have  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  Council  offering  to  furnish 
electrical  energy  to  this  municipality  to  operate  its  street-lighting  system. 

THOROLD,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Montrose  Paper  Mills  Co.,  Ltd.,  is 
planning  to  build  a  reinforced-concrete   power  house,   36  ft.  by  72  ft. 

WINDSOR,  ONT.,  CAN.— Bids  are  being  received  by  Robert  S.  Stew- 
art, 814  Penobscot  BIdg.,  Detroit.  Mich.,  for  an  electric  pole  line  from 
Windsor  to  Leamington,  a  distance  of  40  miles.  Estimates  are  asked  on 
35-ft.  and  40-ft.  wooden  poles  and  insulators. 

DORVAL,  QUE.,  CAN. — The  municipality  of  Dorval  has  awarded  a  con- 
tract for  the  installation  of  water-works  and  sewerage  systems  and  elec- 
tric-light plant  to  Kennedy  Brothers,  of  Montreal.  The  cost  of  the  work 
is  estimated  at  $134,902.  The  electric-light  system  will  be  installed  first. 
The  water-works  and  sewage-disposal  systems  will  be  driven  by  electricity. 

HUMBOLDT,  SASK.,  CAN.— The  ratepayers  have  voted  in  favor 
of  a  by-law  providing  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light 
plant,  to  cost  about  $30,000.  It  is  proposed  to  use  tungsten  lamps  for 
street  lighting. 

REGINA,  SASK..  CAN. — The  City  Council  is  considering  several  ex- 
tensions to  the  municipal  lighting  system.     A.  W.  Pool  is  clerk. 

SASKATOON,  SASK.,  CAN.— The  city  of  Saskatoon  has  made  ai- 
rangements  with  the  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corpn.,  Boston,  Mass., 
for  the  construction  of  a  new  street-railway  system.  The  contract  in- 
cludes building  12  miles  of  single  track  in  the  city,  the  installation  of 
two  300-kw  motor-generator  sets,  together  with  necessary  switchboard 
apparatus,  etc..  in  the  present  ppwer  station,  a  brick  and  timber  car- 
house  capable  of  housing  18  single-truck  cars;  also  12  cars,  each  equipped 
with  40-hp  motors. 

SAN  SIMONITO,  MEXICO.— The  plant  of  the  Sultepec  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co. 
at  this  place  was  recently  attacked  by  a  band  of  Zapatista  rebels  and 
considerable  damage  done  to  the  property.  The  plant  has  beer,  closed 
down  for  some  time,  owing  to  the  disturbances  in  this  part  of  the 
country.     R.  J,  M.  Donnelly  is  president. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  AUTOMOBILE  ELECTRIC  EQUIPMENT  COMPANY,  of 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000  by 
Paul  S.  Crampton,  Charles  R.  Brown,  Jr..  Guy  W.  House,  Frank  S. 
Viilts  and  H.   Davis. 

THE  COLUMBIA  ELECTROTYPE  COMPANY,  of  New  York,  N.  Y., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  Lewis  V.  Hulse, 
George  A.   Blank  and  John  T.   Booth. 

THE  COMMONWEALTH  ELECTRIC  &  SUPPLY  COMPANY,  of 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000. 
The  incorporators  are:  F.  R.  Fortune,  J.  R.  Swift,  D.  E.  Crane  and  L. 
Lobinger,   all   of   Pittsburgh,    Fa. 

THE  KOSMAK  ELECTRICAL  COMPANY,  of  Jersey  City,  N.  J., 
has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  to  manufacture 
electrical  appliances.  The  incorporators  are:  John  R.  Mack,  Charles  T. 
Cubit  and  Walter   Kosinski. 

THE  MIAMI  ELECTRICAL  CONTRACTING  COMPANY,  of  Mi- 
ami, Fla.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  for  the 
purpose  of  doing  an  electrical  contracting  business.  The  company  will 
take  over  the  business  of  Myers-Boyd  Co.  The  officers  are:  J.  T.  Myers, 
president;  W.  L.  Boyd,  vice-president,  and  E.  W.  Bebinger,  secretary  and 
treasurer. 

THE  MODERN  ELECTRIC  MACHINE  COMPANY,  of  New  York, 
N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000  by  Arnold 
Tyroler,   Samuel   Miller   and    Isaac    Smith,   all    of  New   York,   N.    Y. 

THE  STANDARD  ELECTRIC  INCUBATOR  COMPANY,  of  New 
York,  N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  by 
John   G.  Congrewe,   Mark  W.    Davis  and  William  R.   Greenway. 

THE  STATES  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Wilmington,  Del.,  has  been 
incorporated  by  Isaac  Fogg  and  George  D.  Hopkins,  of  Wilmington,  Del. 
The  company  is  capitalized  at  $300,000  and  proposes  to  manufacture  and 
deal   in    electrical    devices   of  all   kinds. 

THE  UTAH  POWER  COMPANY,  of  Augusta,  Maine,  has  filed  arti- 
cles of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Maine.  The  company 
is  capitalized  at  $6,000,000  and  proposes  to  buy,  sell  and  lease  machinery, 
generators,  lamps  and  electrical  apparatus.  E.  M.  Leavitt  is  president 
and    treasurer. 


New  Incorporations 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.— The  California,  Shasta  &  Eastern  Ry.  Co. 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $600,000  for  the  purpose 
of  building  an  interurban  railway  from  Anderson  to  Ingot,  via  Belle 
Vista,  a  distance  of  28 "4  miles.  The  directors  are:  S.  E.  Brotherton, 
Felix  T.  Smith,  W.  T.  Barnett,  Paul  A.  McCarthy,  F.  D.  Madison,  Piatt 
Kent  and  V.  W.  Vincent. 

SANTA  ANA,  CAL.— The  Southern  California  Beach  Ry,  Co.  has 
been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $3,000,000  for  the  purpose 
of  building  an  electric  railway  from  Colton  to  San  Diego,  via  Santa 
Ana,  Laguna  and  Oceanside,  a  distance  of  about  125  miles.  The  incor- 
porators are:  H.  C.  Foster,  W.  D.  Gilman  and  M.  L.  Cook,  all  of  Los 
Angeles. 

WILMINGTON,  DEL.— The  States  El.  Co.  has  filed  articles  of  in- 
corporation under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware.  The  incorporators 
are:  I.  Fogg,  G.  W.   Dillman  and  G.   D.  Hopkins,  all  of  Wilmington.  Del. 

BROOKSVILLE,  FLA.— The  Brooksville  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
organized  with  a  capita!  stock  of  $50,000  to  take  over  the  Brooksville 
ice,  light  and  water  plants.  Improvements  will  be  made  to  the  systems 
by   the   new  company. 

CHAUTAUQUA,  ILL.— The  Chautauqua  Utilities  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $3,000  to  operate  hotels, 
water-works,  electric  plants  and  amusement  enterprises.  The  incorpora- 
tors are;  Nelson   Levis,   D.   W.   Caughlin  and  L.   C.  Haynes. 

EAST  ST.  LOUIS,  ILL.— The  St.  Louis,  Chester  &  Thebes  Ry.  Co. 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  to  construct  and 
operate  a  railway  from  East  St.  Louis  to  Thebes.  C.  F.  Stephens  and 
A.  B.  Corwin,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo. ;  W.  J.  Lewis,  J.  N.  Sparling  and  G.  W. 
Holley,  of  East  St.  Louis,  are  among  the  incorporators. 

RUSHVILLE,  ILL.— The  Schuyler  Tel.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000  to  build  and  operate  a  telephone  system. 
The  incorporators  are;  Enoch  Edmondston,  H.  B.  -Anderson,  D.  F. 
Haber  and  C.  L.   De  Witt. 

FRANKFORT,  IND.— The  Chicago  &  Indianapolis  El.  R.  R.  Co.  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  for  the  purpose  of 
constructing  an  electric  railway  between  Indianapolis,  Frankfort,  Ham- 
mond and  other  towns  in  Indiana.  The  directors  are;  Edward  L.  Spray, 
David    C.    Skiphir   and    Abraham    F.    Long. 

INDL-\N.APOLIS,  IND. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  for 
the  Interstate  Public  Ser.  Co.,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $3,000,000,  for 
the  purpose  of  financing  and  operating  street  and  interurban  railroads, 
electric-light  and  power  plants  and  other  public  utilities.  The  directors 
are:  Malcolm  E.  Thornton,  L.  Ota  Heikes.  J.  Fred  Doyle,  Louis  C. 
Joyce,  .\rthur  Zachary,  -Mbert  E.  Papineau  and  William  R.  Watson. 

MOORES\'ILLE,  IND. — The  Mooresville  Utilities  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $75,000  by  Edward  E.  Gates,  James 
A.  Ross  and  John  S.  Powell.  The  company  proposes  to  furnish  elec- 
tricity, water  and  other  utilities  in  Mooresville. 

BOSTON,  MASS.— The  Commonwealth  Gas  &  El.  Corpn.  has  filed 
articles  of  incorporation  with  the  Secretary  of  State  with  a  capital  stock 
of  $1,000.  The  incorporators  are;  Josiah  Q.  Bennett,  .\lonzo  F.  Weeks, 
Elihu   G.   Loomis,   Bowen  Tufts  and  Paul   B.   Webber. 

SODUS,  N.  Y. — The  Wayne  County  Pwr.  Co.  has  filed  a  certificate  of 
incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  for  the  purpose  of  supply- 
ing electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  the  villages  of  Avoca  and  Cohoc- 
ton.  The  directors  are:  Charles  W.  Mills,  Willard  H.  Richardson  and 
George   R.    Mills,   of  Sodus. 

OKL.\HOMA  CITY,  OKL.\.— The  National  Htg.  &  Ltg.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  by  C.  W.  Stone,  A.  B. 
Schuck  and    B,    H.   Grady,  all   of  Oklahoma  City. 

EBENSBURG.  PA. — The  Central  Cambria  Lt..  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  James  McCIune,  of 
Ebensburg. 

LEB.\NON,  P.'\. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  with  the 
State  Department  by  the  Latrobe-Hecla  Street  Ry.  Co.  with  a  capital  stock 
of  $57,000.  D.  M.  McBride,  6102  Walnut  Street,  Pittsburgh,  and  asso- 
L'iates  are  incorporators. 

MUNCY,  PA. — -A  charter  has  been  granted  to  the  Montgomery  & 
Muncy   EI.   Lt.,  Ht.   &  Pwr.   Co.   wi-th  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000. 

PITTSBURGH,  PA. — The  Gilmore  Tunnel  Terminal  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $250,000  for  the  purpose  of 
acquiring  by  purchase  or  otherwise  and  to  construct  and  operate  tunnels; 
also  to  acquire  and  operate  mines,  etc.  The  incorporators  are:  W,  A. 
McCutcheon,  R.  B.  Little,  Pittsburgh;  Edgar  C.  R.  Ross,  Ridgeway.  and 
.\.   S.   Ross,  Salt   Lake  City,  Utah. 

CH.\RLESTON,  S.  C— The  North  Charleston  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Corpn.  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000  to  do  a  general  water, 
power  and  light  business  in  Charleston  County.  The  incorporators  are; 
Samuel   L.   Buist   and   George   L.   Buist. 

COLUMBI.A,  S.  C— The  Carolina  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000,000  and  proposes  to  purchase  and 
build  electric  and  other  public  utility  plants.  An  oflfice  will  be  estab- 
lished in   Columbia   with   C.    S.   Campbell   in  charge. 


SEPTliMBER  21,    igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


630 


Trade  Publications 


DIRECT-CURRENT  GENERATORS.— Direct-current  generators  are 
described  and  illustrated  in  Bulletin  No.  25,  issued  by  the  Ridgway 
Dynamo  &  Engine  Company,  Ridgway,  Pa. 

ELECTRICITY  IN  THE  BREWING  INDUSTRY.— Bulletin  No. 
4932,  recently  issued  by  the  General  Electric  Company,  is  devoted  to 
the   application    of   electricity    in   the   brewing   industry. 

ELECTRIC  DRIVE  IN  GRAIN  ELEVATORS  AND  FLOUR  MILLS. 
— Bulletin  No.  4976,  recently  issued  by  the  General  Electric  Company,  is 
devoted  to  electric  drive  in  grain  elevators  and  flour  mills,  and  supersedes 
a  previous   bulletin    on    this    subject. 

TREE  INSULATORS.— The  High  Tension  Electrical  Specialty  Com- 
pany, Newton,  Mass.,  in  its  Bulletin  6  T  gives  a  brief  description  with 
Ilustrations  of  its  improved  tree-type  insulator  (Holmes  patent)  with 
iorcelain  bushing.      These  insulators  are  made  in   two   sizes. 

FUSE  SWITCHES.— An  illustration  showing  three  Matthews  fuse 
iwitches  on  the  lines  of  the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company, 
:>(  St.  Louis,  forms  the  first  page  of  a  four-page  folder  being  sent  out  by 
W.  N.  Matthews  &  Brother,  of  the  same  city.  This  folder  contains  brief 
nformation    on    their    fuse    switches. 

BALL  BEARINGS. — Recent  additions  to  the  loose-leaf  literature  of  the 
t^Iess-Eright  Manufacturing  Company,  Front  Street  and  Erie  Avenue, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  are  leaflets  on  collar  thrust  bearings,  driving-clutch 
hrust  bearings  and  ball-bearing  mountings  for  vertical  armature  shafts 
if  electric  motors.  These  latest  data  sheets  briefly  describe  and  illustrate 
he  constructive   features  of  these   ball   bearings. 

SECOND-HAND  MACHINERY.— The  September  list  of  used  electri- 
:al  and  steam  machinery,  power-house  equipment,' etc.,  is  being  sent  out 
)y  Archer  &  Baldwin,  114  Liberty  Street,  New  York.  The  company 
:laims  that  all  of  the  machinery  offered  in  this  list  is  in  first-class  con- 
lition  in  every  i-espect  and  ready  for  immediate  shipment.  Some  appar- 
itus  that   has  never   been   used   is   also   listed   for  sale. 

IRON  AND  STEEL  CORROSION.— Bulletin  No.  10  of  the  National 
Tube  Company,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  contains  an  abstract  of  a  paper  read 
ast  year  before  the  New  England  Water  Works  Association  on  "The 
Relative  Corrosion  of  Iron  and  Steel  Pipe  as  Found  in  Service,"  by 
i*rof.  William  H.  Walker,  director  of  the  Research  Laboratory  of 
\pplied  Chemistry,   Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. 

PUMPS. — The  Goulds  Manufacturing  Company,  Seneca  Falls,  New 
i'ork,  is  sending  out  its  latest  catalog.  Bulletin  No.  109,  which  contains, 
1  addition  to  pumps  described  in  a  previous  edition,  three  new  designs 
f  horizontal  double-acting  triplex  and  duplex  pumps  for  large  capacity 
ervice.  The  bulletin  is  well  illustrated  and  gives  specifications  of  the 
arious  pumps   for  the   special   services  that  are   described   therein. 

CENTRIFUGAL  PUMPS. — Centrifugal  sump  pumps  form  the  subject 
latter  of  Bulletin  No.  Ill,  just  issued  by  the  Goulds  Manufacturing 
'ompany,  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y.  Illustrations  of  one  of  these  pumps 
;irectly  connected  to  a  1-hp  single-phase  motor,  also  one  directly  con- 
ected  to  a  3-hp,  220-volt  direct-current  motor  and  one  of  a  belt-driven 
>ump,  are  briefly  described,  together  with  sizes,  capacities  and  prices. 

MOTOR-DRIVEN  PUMPS.— "Irrigation  with  Electrically  Driven 
'umps"  is  the  title  of  Bulletin  No.  4978,  recently  issued  by  the  General 
electric  Company.  It  illustrates  various  installations  of  motor-driven 
'umps  used  for  irrigating  purposes  and  contains  charts  giving  compara- 
ive  crop  yields  of  irrigated  and  unirrigated  lands.  Central-station  men 
.s  well  as  agriculturists  will  find  much  of  interest  in  this  publication. 

VENTILATING  FANS.— The  Mechanical  Appliance  Company,  of 
vlilwaukee.  Wis.,  makers  of  Watson  motors  and  ventilating  fans,  is 
listributing  a  twelve-page  booklet  describing  and  illustrating  its  line  of 
'entilating  fans,  including  sizes  from  18  in.  to  42  in.  There  are  also 
ncluded  a  chart  and  data  on  how  to  determine  the  required  ventilating  fan 
apacity  for  various  classes  of  buildings,  such  as  theaters,  factories, 
tails,    etc. 

BLOWERS. — Bulletin  No.  2.  describing  their  blowers,  has  just  been 
ssued  by  McEwen  Brothers,  Wellsville,  N.  Y.  These  blowers  are  made 
vith  two  types  of  runners,  helical  and  propeller,  both  designed  for  the 
ligh  speeds  most  suitable  for  steam-turbine  drive.  The  bulletin  also 
ontains  data  and  performance  curves,  showing  the  advantage  of  using 
•lowers  having  economical  speeds  corresponding  with  those  of  the  driv- 
ng  turbines. 

MOTORS. — The  Fort  Wayne  Electric  Works  of  the  General  Electric 
-ompany  in  Bulletin  No.  1139  show  some  of  the  many  applications  of 
'ort  Wayne  motors  to  various  machines  used  in  several  industries.  The 
atalog  IS  beautifully  got  up  and  the  pictures  tell  their  own  story.  Follow- 
ng  the  "foreword"  are  two  pages  of  reading  matter  on  the  subject  of 
notor  drives,  giving  the  essential  features  of  this  apparatus,  its  flexi- 
'ility,  efficiency,  adaptability  and  the  advantages  of  electric-motor  drive 
>ver   other    methods. 

ADVERTISING  TELEPHONE  SERVICE.— Independent  telephone 
ompanies  will  find  suggestive  reading  in  the  pamphlet  of  the  Stromberg- 
-arlson  Telephone  Manufacturing  Company,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  "On 
'ower  of  Advertising"  by  the  sales  and  advertising  manager,  Mr.  H.  C. 
^lemin.  It  is  an  appeal  to  the  independent  telephone  company  to  build 
;ip  its  service  by  an  advertising  campaign  in  the  rural  papers.  Copies 
iif  advertisements  of  various  sizes  suitable  for  such  publicity  lend  prac- 
ical  value   to   the   treatise. 


COMMUTATOR  BRUSHES.— The  Corliss  Carbon  Company,  Brad- 
ford, Pa.,  is  distributing  a  twelve-page  catalog  of  its  railway  motor 
brushes.  It  is  claimed  for  these  brushes  that  the  friction  is  practically 
nil  after  they  have  had  time  to  polish  the  commutator,  which  takes  aboui 
thirty  hours  if  the  commutator  is  newly  turned,  and  that  this  low  co- 
efficient of  friction  causes  them  to  operate  anywhere  from  10  deg.  to  40 
deg.  Fahr.  cooler  than  the  average  brush.  Data  and  price  lists,  with  i 
few   illustrations,  are   included. 

SWITCHES.  FUSES  AND  LIGHTNING  ARRESTERS.— The  Rail- 
way &  Industrial  Engineering  Company,  701  People's  Bank  Building, 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  has  issued  a  four-page  folder  on  the  use  of  horn-type 
switching  apparatus  on  high-tension  transmission  lines.  This  apparatus 
is  now  said  to  be  in  successful  operation  at  all  v'oltages  up  to  and  in- 
cluding 66,000.  A  list  of  users  of  this  apparatus  is  printed  on  the 
reverse  side  of  a  full-page  advertisement  reproduced  from  the  Elec- 
trical   World   and  mailed   with   the   folder. 

CONVEYING  MACHINERY.— The  Sprague  Electric  Works  of  the 
General  Electric  Company  is  distributing  an  excellently  illustrated  and 
descriptive  catalog  devoted  to  Sprague  electric  grab-bucket  cranes.  The 
problem  of  handling  material  in  bulk  is  one  that  every  industrial  plant 
has  to  solve.  The  universal  consumption  of  coal  makes  the  handling  of 
this  material  of  vital  interest,  and  the  present  bulletin  describes  the 
Spragrae  electric  crane  for  this  service,  although  these  cranes  are  equally 
efficient  in  the  handling  of  other  bulk  material,  such  as  iron  pyrites, 
sand,   ashes   and  cement. 

DIRECT-CURRENT  RAILWAYS.— The  General  Electric  Company 
has  just  issued  an  attractively  bound  book  of  132  pages  (Publication 
4958),  devoted  to  the  use  of  higher  voltages  in  the  operation  of  direct- 
current  electric  railways,  and  setting  forth  the  advantages  thus  gained. 
It  contains  numerous  tables  showing  the  comparative  costs  of  1200- 
volt  and  600-volt  systems  and  illustrates  and  describes  station  and  car 
locomotive  equipments.  It  also  gives  information  on  the  various  sys- 
tems employing  direct  current  at  1200,  1500  and  2400  volts.  The  bulletin 
will  be  of  interest  and  value  to   electric-railway   operators  and  engineers. 

ELECTRICAL  SUPPLIES. — A  catalog  somewhat  out  of  the  ordinary 
has  been  published  by  the  Adams-Bagnall  Electric  Company,  Cleveland, 
Ohio.  It  is  arranged  in  loose-leaf  form  and  is  divided  into  four  sections 
—sales  data,  engineering  data,  direction  sheets  and  detail  part  lists,  and 
miscellaneous  data.  Each  section  is  printed  on  paper  of  different  color 
from  the  others.  These  sections  are  subdivided  into  lettered  classes 
covering  different  general  lines  of  manufacture,  and  each  class  is  nu- 
merically subdivided  into  specific  lines.  It  is  very  complete  and  gives  a 
great  deal  of  general  information.  The  engineering  data  will  be  found 
of  special  interest. 

STORAGE  BATTERY  CARS.— Bulletin  No.  1  of  the  Berg  Storage 
Battery  Car  Company.  Hudson  Terminal  Building,  New  York,  has  re- 
cently been  issued.  The  manufacturers  state  that  the  most  important 
feature  of  this  car  is  the  driving  mechanism,  known  as  the  four-motor, 
four-wheel-drive  system.  This  system  has  recently  been  adapted  and  ap- 
plied to  the  propulsion  of  street  and  railway  cars  operated  from  either  a 
trolley  line  or  a  storage  battery.  One  of  the  features  in  connection 
with  the  Berg  car  is  an  apparatus  by  means  of  which  an  exhausted  bat- 
tery may  be  removed  from  a  car  and  a  new  one  substituted  in  less 
than  one  minute.  An  illustration  showing  the  axle  and  brake  construe 
tion  and  another  showing  the  battery  being  pushed  into  the  cradle  and 
pushing  nut  the  exhausted  battery  on  the  opposite  side  are  given,  to- 
gether with  a  number  of  others. 


Business  Notes 


MR.  W.  R.  HAYNIE,  well  known  to  the  industry  through  his  former 
connection  with  the  Busch-Sulzer  Brothers-Diesel  Engine  Company,  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  has  become  United  States  representative  of  Carels  Brothers,  of 
Ghent,  Belgium,  who  are  among  the  largest  exclusive  builders  of  Diesel 
engines  in  Europe.  Mr.  Haynie's  offices  are  at  the  Hudson  Terminal, 
30  Church  Street,   New  York. 

MR.  HARRINGTON  EMERSON,  president  of  the  Emerson  Com- 
pany, efficiency  engineers,  with  offices  in  New  York,  Pittsburgh  and 
Chicago,  is  the  author  of  an  essay  which  has  just  been  printed  in  pamphlet 
form,  entitled  "Practising  Efficiency  and  Knowing  Costs,"  with  the 
subtitle  "A  Letter  to  a  New  England  Manufacturer,"  which  is  logically 
and  convincingly  written,  as  well  as  artistically  prepared. 

INGERSOLL-RAND  TO  MANUFACTURE  RATEAU  REGULATOR. 
-The  Rateau  Steam  Regenerator  Company  has  granted  a  license  to  the 
Ingersoll-Rand  Company  to  manufacture  the  patented  Rateau  regulalor 
for  mixed-flow  turbines.  The  General  Electric  Company,  the  Southwark 
Foundry  &  Machine  Company  and  the  Ridgway  Dynamo  &  Engine  t  om- 
pany have  been  for  some  time  manufacturing  under  a  similar  license 
from   the    Rateau    Steam   Regenerator   Company. 

RE-i-NOLDS  ELECTRIC  FLASHER  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY. 
—The  Reynolds  Electric  Flasher  Manufacturing  Company,  61"  West 
Tackson  Boulevard,  Chicago,  is  planning  to  extend  its  activities,  and  in 
addition  to  manufacturing  flashers  a  complete  line  of  sign  supplies,  trans- 
formers, time  switches,  colored  lamp  hoods  and  sockets  will  be  included. 
Mr.  William  L.  Laib,  for  many  years  manager  of  the  Hanna  Engineering 
Works,  is  the  new  secretary   and  treasurer  of  the  company. 


6i6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  I2. 


WIGHTMAN  &  RICHARDS.— A  technical  department  has  been  or- 
ganized by  Joseph  A.  Richards  &  Staff,  general  advertising  agents. 
Tribune  Building,  New  York  City.  The  iirtn  consists  of  Messrs.  Josepk 
.A.  Richards,  Lucius  I.  Wightman  and  Paul  Morse  Richards.  Mr.  J.  A. 
Richards  is  the  head  of  the  agency  bearing  his  name.    Mr.  Wightman  is  an 


engineer  who  ha»  for  many  years  specialized  in  the  advertising  and 
marketing  of  machinery  and  engineering  products.  Mr.  P.  M,  Richards  is 
a  publisher,  sales  manager  and  advertising  man,  until  recently  with 
Motor  ll'orld  and  prior  to  that  advertising  manager  for  Power  and  other 
technical   journals. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED    STATES    PATENTS    ISSUED    SEPT.    10,    1912. 
[Prepared  by  Robert  Starr  Allyn,    16  Exchange  Place,  New  York.] 

1,037,871.  RAILWAY  SIGNAL  MECHANISM;  W.  J.  Cook,  Denver, 
Col.     App.  filed  March  25,   1911.     Automatic  crossing  signal. 

1.037883.  WATERPROOF  CABLE;  H.  W.  Fisher,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
App.  filed  .Tan.  29,  1912.  Successive  layers  of  varnished  cloth  and 
asphaltum. 

1.037,887.     PROCESS     OF     PLATING     METALS;     M.     W.     Franklin, 

Schenectady.    N.    Y.      App.    filed    Aug.    4,    1911.      A    cathode    has    a 

conductive    layer    formed    of    a    soluble    gum    and    a    finely    powdered 

conducting  metal. 
1,037,901.     CARBON    ARTICLE;    C.     A.     Hansen,     Schenectady,    N.    Y. 

App.  filed  Nov.   16,   1909.     A  baked  carbon  brush  is  impregnated  with 

pitch  and  then  fired  at  a  higher  temperature. 
1,037,927.     TELEGRAPHY;     I.     Kitsee      Philadelphia,    Pa.       App.     filed 

April   15,   1907.      Duplex  operation  lor   railroad  work. 
1,037,932.     ELECTRIC   HEATER;    F.    Kuhn   and   F.   E.    Shailor,   Detroit, 

Mich.     App.  filed  Oct.    16,   1909.     Vertical  toasting  rack. 
1,037,941.     APPAR.\TUS    FOR    CURING    MEAT;    J.    C.    Lincoln,    East 

Cleveland,    Ohio.       App.    filed    Nov.    27,     1908.       Cold    air    is    forced 

through   an  electrolyte   of  brine. 

1.037.964.  ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  H.  J.  Morey  and  F.  A.  Brogden, 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  June  27,  1911.  Rotary  button,  lamp- 
socket   type- 

1.037.965.  METHOD  AND  MEANS  FOR  TREATING  PAPER  ON  A 
PRINTING  PRESS;  C.  H.  Mortimer,  Chicago,  III.  App.  filed  Jan. 
27,   1911.     The  feed  board  is  heated. 

1,037.969.  TROLLEY  GUARD;  F.  J.  Nolan,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  App,  filed 
Oct.  1,  1910.  Has  plurality  of  guard  wires;  for  a  grade  crossing, 
etc. 


1,037,932. — Electric  Heater. 

1,037,972.  ELECTRO-CAPILLARY  INSTRUMENT  FOR  DETECT- 
ING AND  RECORDING  THE  PASSAGE  OF  ELECTRIC  IM- 
PULSES; A.  Orling,  Tooting,  England.  App.  filed  Dec.  29,  1908. 
Movement   of  a   mercury  contact  is   restrained. 

1,037,979.  PROCESS  AND  APPARATUS  FOR  WELDING;  F.  C. 
Perkins,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Nov.  29.  1910.  Simultaneous 
operation  of  an  electric  arc  and  a  cutting  gas  flame. 

1,037,989.  SOCKET  COVER  FOR  LIGHT  FIXTURES;  G.  A.  Rich- 
ards and  A.  J.  Price,  Watertown,  Wis.  App.  filed  Feb.  8,  1912. 
Angular  socket  with   spring  latches. 

1,037,994.  SOCKET  FOR  INCANBESCENT  ELECTRIC  LAMPS; 
J.  J.  Rooney,  New  York.  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Jan.  5,  1910.  Turn- 
down  lamp   with   chain    pull. 

1,038,037.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  H.  G.  Webster,  Chicago,  III.  App. 
filed  Nov.  27,  1908.  .-\utomatic  ringing  system  with  electromagnetic 
relay   cut-off  control. 

1,038.064.  CONVERTER  FOR  CONTINUOUS  CURRENT;  W.  A\- 
horn,  Berlin,  Germany.  -'\pp.  filed  June  8,  1911.  For  transforming 
the  continuous  current  from  one  voltage  to  another  without  move- 
ment of  the  coils. 

1,038,070.  ADTUSTABLE  EXTENSION  SOCKET;  R.  B.  Benjamin, 
Chicago,  111.  App.  filed  July  17,  1908.  The  plug  is  in  two  parts 
angularly  adjustable. 

1,038,076.  INCANDESCENT  ELECTRIC  LAMP  AND  METHOD  OF 
RENEWING  THE  SAME;  R.  Berrenberg,  Boston,  Mass.  App.  filed 
Nov.  28,  1911.  For  transforming  a  cast-off  carbon  lamp  into  a 
metal-filament  lamp. 

1,038,089.  AERIAL  TRACK;  B.  Clausen,  Dortmund,  Germany.  App. 
filed  July  25,    1910.      Parallel   supporting  cables  with   cross   stays. 

1,038.093.  CONDUIT  FISH-WIRE  MACHINE;  F.  Crawford,  Pasa- 
dena, Cal.  .^pp.  filed  Sept.  10,  1909.  Rotary  clamp  for  feeding  the 
fish  wire  into  the  conduit. 


1,038.117.  ELECTRIC  ANNUNCIATOR  AND  SIGNALING  SYS- 
TEM; F.  C.  Graham,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  June  14,  1911. 
For  elevators,  etc. 

1,038,122.  ELECTROLYTIC  WATER  PURIFIER;  V.  B.  Haag,  Los 
-Angeles,  Cal.     App.  filed  April  1,   1912.     Filter  and  electrolizer. 

1.038.129.  ELECTRIC  RAILWAY  SIGNALING  SYSTEM;  M.  L. 
Hein,  Moonee  Ponds,  Victoria,  Australia.  App.  filed  July  5,  1911. 
Automatic  cab  signal. 

1.038.130.  APPARATUS  FOR  PRODUCING  OZONE;  S.  Held,  Chi- 
cago, 111.  -'Xpp.  filed  Aug.  2,  1911.  Tubular  electrode  with  an  air- 
circulating  fan. 

1.038.131.  MAGNETIC  CLUTCH;  V.  Hemming,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
App.  filed  Nov.   10,  1911.     For  connecting  the  parts  of  a  rotary  shaft. 

1,038.151.  LAMP  SOCKET;  C.  J.  Klein,  Milwaukee,  Wis.  App.  filed 
Sept.    14,   1908.      Pull-switch  mechanism. 

1,038.194.  METHOD  OF  PREPARING  HALOGEN-OXYGEN  COM- 
POUNDS BY  ELECTROLYSIS;  M.  Pier,  Schlachtensee,  Germany. 
-App.  filed  .-\pril  8,  1911.  A  compound  of  the  rare-earth  metals  is 
added  to  the  acid  electrolyte  solution. 

1,038.206.  SIGNAL;  E.  E.  Salisbury,  Milwaukee.  Wis.  App.  filed 
Sept.    1,   1910.      Visible  and   audible  alarm,  solenoid-operated. 

1,038,208.  ELECTRODE;  O.  Schonherr  and  J.  Hessberger,  Fiska,  Nor- 
way. App-  filed  March  16,  1906.  A  hollow  holder  with  cooling 
means. 

1,038,213.  SELECTOR  FOR  AUTOMATIC  TELEPHONE  EX- 
CH.\NGES;  B.  Settegast,  Karlshorst,  Germany.  -App.  filed  May 
23.    1910.      .Arrangement   of  the  fixed  contacts. 

1,038,252.  REINFORCED  GRID  RESIST.ANCE;  H.  J.  Wiegand,  Mil- 
waukee, Wis.  .\pp.  filed  May  4,  1908.  Sheet-metal  strip  and  water- 
proof insulation. 

1,038,254.  ELECTRIC-CURRENT  GENERATOR;  J.  M.  Wilson,  New 
York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Feb.  1,  1911.  For  automobile  ignition  cir- 
cuits, etc. 

1,038,278.  SEMAPHORE  SIGN.AL;  W.  W.  Brown,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
.App.  filed  March  21,  1907.  Top-post  type  with  inclosed  operating 
mechanism. 

1  038.284.  PUSH-BUTTON  ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  H.  Cahen,  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  Germany.  .App.  filed  March  22,  1911.  Protected 
contacts. 

1,038.296.  SIGNAL;  A.  G.  Clark,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  App  filed  Jan. 
27,   1908.      Permissive  block  type   for  electric   roads;   has  a  counter. 

1.038.301.  TELEPHONE  AND  TELEGRAPH  RELAY  OR  RE- 
PE.ATER;  J.  H.  Cuntz,  Hoboken,  N.  J.  App.  filed  Feb.  19,  1903. 
Uses  a  uniformly  varying  current  from  an  independent  source. 

1,038,320.  ELECTRIC  CONTROLLER;  G.  B.  Dusinberre,  Cleveland, 
Ohio.     .App.  filed  Jan.  4,   1910.     Variable-pressure  carbon  type. 

1.038.337.  ALTERN.ATE-CURRENT  MOTOR;  V.  A.  Fynn.  Black- 
heath.  England.  -App.  filed  May  4,  1908.  Single-phase  alternating- 
current   commutator  type. 

1.038.338.  ALTERNATE-CURRENT  MOTOR;  V.  A.  Fynn,  London, 
England.  -App.  filed  May  26,  1910.  Squirrel-cage  armature  with 
slip-rings. 

1,038.342.  ADTUSTABLE  AUTOMATIC  RHEOST.AT;  C.  H.  Gaylord, 
Chicago,   111.     -App.    filed  Sept.   6.   1910.      Electroplating. 

1.038.364.  BLOCK  SIGNAL  SYSTEM;  L.  A.  Hawkins,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.  .App.  filed  Aug.  7,  1909.  .Alternating-current  signal,  single- 
phase. 

1.038.365.  INDICATOR;  L.  .A.  Hawkins,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  App. 
filed  Dec.   1,   1911.     Railway  signal  system,  three-position  type. 

1,038,410.  ELECTRIC  HEATER;  F.  P.  Mies,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed 
Jan.   10,   1910.     Concentric  truncated-cone  structure. 

1,038,415.  ELECTRIC-LIGHT  SOCKET;  F.  T.  Moreland,  Oakland, 
Cal.  .App.  filed  April  1,  1912.  Two-piece  porcelain  rotary  snap 
switch. 

1.038.418.  INSUI.J\TOR:  W.  H.  S.  Nelson,  Capon  Springs,  W.  Va. 
App.   filed   Feb.   20,   1911.     Undercut  grooved  type. 

1.038.419.  TELEPHONE  CALLING  DEVICE;  R.  C.  Nevin,  Oakland, 
Cal.  App.  filed  -Aug.  10,  1911.  Make-and-break  device  for  a  number 
of  different   signals. 

1,038,422.  RESISTANCE  ELEMENT;  J.  J.  Nolan,  Linton,  Ind.  App. 
filed  -April   13,    1912.      Superposed  looped  coils. 

1.038.437.  TROLLEY  CATCHER;  C.  H.  Reames.  Fort  Worth,  Tex. 
App.  filed  March  11,  1911.  The  pressing  springs  are  released  when 
tile  trolley  pole  slips  off. 

1.038.438.  ELECTRO-RESPONSIVE  VIBRATOR  MOVEMENT;  C. 
H.  Rettmann,  Chicago,  111.  -App.  filed  Jan.  7,  1911.  Electric  beU 
for  high-voltage  circuits. 

1,038.471.  SPLICE  B.AR;  W.  C.  Workman,  Loudonville,  Ohio.  .App. 
filed   March  30,   1912.     Has  a  ceiling  groove  for  the  rail  bond. 

1,038,473,  INSULATOR;  J.  -Alsberg,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed 
Nov.   18,   1908.     Tubular  suspending  sections  and  spaced  hoods. 

1,038,494.  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE;  L.  W.  Nelson,  Philadel- 
phia, Pa.  .App.  filed  May  16,  1910.  Motor  generator  for  '  selfr 
starting"    automobile    motors. 

1,038,506.  APPARATUS  FOR  AERIAL  SIGNALING  AND  SIM- 
ILAR PURPOSES;  W.  G.  Spiegel,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed 
Sept.  8,   1911.      Special  form   of  kite. 

1,038,508.  SLEET-CUTTING  TROLLEY;  D.  E.  Barton  (deceased), 
Milwaukee,  Wis,  .App.  filed  Oct.  4,  1909.  Multiple-faced  cutting 
shoe,    adjustable. 


^s- 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of   Electrical   World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  SEPTEMBER  28,  1912. 


No.  13. 


PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  BY 

McGraw  Publishing  Company 

James  H.  McGraw,  Pres.  C.  E.  Whittlesey,  Sec'y  and  Treas, 

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17,750   copies  are  printed. 

NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY.  SEPTEMBER  28,  1912, 


CONTENTS. 

Editorials    .  ■  .^. , 637 

Free   Lectures   on    Electrical    Engineering   in    Brooklyn 640 

Convention  Program  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America..  640 

The  Electric  Vehicle  at  Boston 640 

Hydroelectric  Energy  at  Pittsburgh 640 

Third  International   Rubber  Exhibition 640 

The  Dundee  Meeting  of  the  British  .Association 641 

I.  E.   S.   Convention   Papers 642 

Xorthwest  Electrical   Convention 646 

Regulations  of  the  London  Wireless  Conference 648 

Public  Service  Commission  News 652 

Current  News  and  Notes 653 

Generating  Energy  at  the  Coal  Mines 655 

Reinforced   Cement  and   Concrete  Poles  for  Overhead  Electric   Lines. 

By  Alfred  Still 658 

The  Crank   Diagram   for  Representation  of  Electrical   Power.      By  Al- 
bert A.  Niras 660 

-Automatic    Feeder    Regulator 663 

Electric     Cooking 664 

Production  Cost  in  a  6500.Kw  Central  Station 664 

Complaint  of  Property  Owners  .Against  Power  House 664 

Once-a-Month    Heating  Device   Campaign 665 

Merchants'  Show- Window  Lighting  Contest 665 

Street-Lighting  Rates  at  Macon,  Ga 665 

Commercial  Electric-Lighting  Data  from  Six  Central  Stations 666 

Lighting  Up  the  "For  Rent"  Storeroom 666 

Disconnect  Switch   for   Feeder   Regulators 667 

All-Day  Supervision  of  Arc  Circuits 667 

Inserting    Spare    Transformers    in    Star-Delta    Group 667 

Electric  Lighting  of  a  Palatial  St.   Louis  Residence 667 

.Alarm  to  Indicate  Operation   of  Remote   Rectifier  Set 668 

Indirect   Effect   in   .Architectural   Illumination 668 

Ornamental  Curb  Posts  for  Hearst  Building,   Chicago 669 

Indirect  Lighting  of  a  Banking  Room  from  the  Cashier's  Cage  Grille  669 
Recent  Telephone  Patents 670 

Letter  to  the  Editor: 

Radiant  Efficiencies.     By  Herbert  E.   Ives 670 

Digest   of   Current  Electrical   Literature 671 

Book  Reviews 674 

New  Apparatus  and   .Appliances 675 

Industrial   and   Financial    News 679 

Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 688 


TRANSMISSION  OF  ENERGY  FROM  THE  COAL  MINE. 

The  proposition  to  use  low-grade  or  refuse  coal  as 
a  source  of  energy  to  be  transmitted  to  any  available 
market  dates  back  to  the  very  beginning  of  electric  energy 
transmission,  but  the  plan  proposed  has  seldom  been  car- 
ried into  practice.  There  are  very  few  plants  of  this 
character  in  the  world,  so  that  any  addition  to  the  list  is 
of  special  significance.  Such  a  plant  is  that  of  the  Mari- 
time Railway  &  Power  Company,  of  Amherst,  Nova 
Scotia,  situated  at  the  very  mouth  of  the  Chignecto  mine, 
which  has  long  been  worked  for  export  purposes  as  well 
as  for  domestic  use.  When  coal  falls  below  a  certain 
grade  it  ceases  to  be  profitable  to  mine  it  for  shipment 
involving  added  cost  for  transportation.  Hence  the  pos- 
sible advantage  of  shipping  the  electricity,  so  to  speak, 
at  low  cost  instead  of  trying  to  transport  the  coal. 

The  source  of  energy  in  the  plant  described  in  this 
issue  is  the  slack  and  culm  derived  chiefly  from  the  poorer 
seams  of  the  mine.  The  plant,  started  some  five  years 
ago,  has  gradually  grown  until  now  it  is  a  profitable  and 
useful  source  of  energy  distributed  over  a  considerable 
area,  including  six  municipalities.  The  fuel  is  decidedly 
poor,  containing  up  to  30  per  cent  of  ash  and  clinker  and 
showing  under  boiler  test  an  evaporation  of  only  about 
6J4  lb.  of  water  per  pound  of  coal.  Nevertheless,  the  fuel 
has    proved    very    useful    when    burned    at    the    pit    mouth. 

The  generating  plant  has  been  designed  for  service- 
ability and  moderate  cost  rather  than  with  the  intention 
to  provide  it  with  the  refinements  which  are  fundament- 
ally adapted  merely  to  save  fuel.  The  steam  generating 
plant  consists  of  eight  boilers  of  the  return  tubular  form, 
giving  about  150  lb.  pressure.  The  steam  is  utilized  in 
a  pair  of  vertical  cross-compound  condensing  engines, 
each  directly  coupled  to  a  three-phase  generator.  Al- 
though such  engines  are  not  generally  rated  as  giving 
the  highest  feasible  economy  in  energy  generation,  yet  they 
do  remarkably  well  considering  the  conditions  of  opera- 
tion, consuming  about  14  lb.  of  steam  per  indicated  hp.- 
hour  at  and  near  rated  full  load.  The  local  distribution 
of  energy  is  accomplished  at  2200  volts,  and  the  distribu- 
tion to  neighboring  territory  at  11,000  volts,  energy  being 
transmitted  to  the  principal  centers  of  distribution  over 
two  independent  pole  lines.  Several  mines  and  quarries 
are  served  by  the  transmission  system.  The  connected 
load  rises  to  some  900  hp  in  motors  and  500  kw  in  lamps. 
The  plant  runs  twenty-four  hours  per  day,  the  total  num- 
ber of  men  employed  being  ten  in  two  shifts.  Owing  to 
the  considerable  motor  load  the  load-factor  even  for  the 
twenty-four-hour  run  is  high,  being  about  70  per  cent. 
Altogether  the  plant  is  an  excellent  example  of  utiliza- 
tion of  waste  fuel,  an  example  that  deserves  to  be  followed 
in  not  a  few  localities  in  this  country. 


638 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13. 


VECTOR  REPRESENTATION  OF  ALTERNATING-CURRENT  PHENOMENA. 

In.  the  solution  of  problems  relating  to  alternating-cur- 
rent phenomena  the  method  in  almost  universal  use  is  one 
involving  vector  diagrams  of  one  kind  or  another.  Even 
when  the  algebraic  method  is  employed,  the  equivalents 
of  vector  diagrams  are  usually  either  plotted  for  assist- 
ance in  following  the  treatment  or  held  in  mind  for  this 
purpose  by  both  the  reader  and  the  writer.  It  will  be  ap- 
preciated, therefore,  that  a  knowledge  of  vector  diagrams 
is  highly  desirable,  if  not  essential,  on  the  part  of  one 
who  wishes  to  becorne  familiar  with  alternating-current 
workings.  A  simplified  treatment  of  the  more  complex 
features  of  this  subject  is  given  in  an  article  by  Mr.  Al- 
bert A.  Nims  in  this  issue.  After  describing  the  meth- 
ods of  representation  of  current  and  voltage  by  revolv- 
ing .circles  or  lines  traveling  clockwise  or  counter-clock- 
wise, the  author  develops  a  method  of  representing  power 
by  non-rotative  vectors  similar  in  final  results  to  the 
method  described  by  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly  at  the  1910  con- 
vention of  the  A.  I.  E.  E.  The  simplicity  of  the  method 
is  its  most  prominent  feature.  It  should  prove  as  useful 
as  it  is  simple. 


CONCRETE  POLES. 

The  increasing  scarcity  of  timber  and  the  accompanying 
increase  in  cost  have  for  some  time  past  compelled  engi- 
neers to  look  about  for  suitable  substitutes.  For  many 
purposes  steel  and  concrete  have  long  since  replaced  the 
weaker  and  less  durable  wood.  For  poles,  however,  both 
for  transmission  lines  and  for  telegraph  lines,  wood  is  still 
extensively  used  and  concrete  is  comparatively  scarce. 
Elsewhere  in  this  issue  appears  a  timely  article  by  Mr. 
Alfred  Still  on  the  use  of  reinforced-concrete  poles,  which 
brings  out  clearly  the  many  advantages  of  concrete  and 
at  the  same  time  shows  how  rapidly  its  use  is  now  increas- 
ing. There  is  probably  little  doubt  in  the  minds  of  engi- 
neers as  to  the  desirability  of  using  either  steel  or  concrete 
poles  in  place  of  wood,  as  soofi  as  it  becomes  economically 
possible  to  do  so.  The  principal  objection  is  the  increased 
first  cost  of  steel  or  concrete  as  compared  with  wood. 
Whether,  in  the  future,  this  cost  can  be  reduced  to  the 
present  price  of  wood,  the  future  alone  can  show,  but  at  the 
present  time  it  appears  improbable.  A  second  objection 
which  has  been  found  to  concrete  poles  is  their  increased 
weight  as  compared  with  either  wood  or  steel.  A  solid 
concrete  pole  weighs  probably  three  times  as  much  as  one 
of  wood  of  the  same  strength,  and  a  hollow  pole  about 
twice  as  much.  This,  of  course,  increases  the  cost  of  trans- 
portation   and    handling. 

When  ultimate  costs  are  considered,  however,  the  con- 
crete pole,  with  its  greater  strength  and  lower  maintenance 
cost  as  compared  with  either  wood  or  steel,  appears  to  be 
the  logical  successor  of  the  wooden  pole.  An  essential 
feature  intimately  connected  with  the  use  of  concrete  poles 
is  that  they  should  be  designed  as  carefully  and  even  more 
conservatively  than  steel  poles  would  be.  Concrete  poles 
have  been  built  which  after  a  short  time  in  service  devel- 
oped unsightly  cracks,  and  which  under  tests  proved  to 
have  considerably  less  strength  than  wooden  poles  of  the 
same  size.     The  knowledge  which  a  series  of  tests  would 


give  us.  to  show  how  closely  the  behavior  of  concrete  poles 
agreed  with  their  theoretical  behavior  would  be  of  extreme 
value,  for  the  strength  depends  not  only  upon  the  materials 
but  also  upon  the  care  with  which  they  are  placed  in  posi- 
tion. In  this  connection  it  is  of  interest  to  know  that  one 
of  our  Eastern  railroad  companies  is  now  conducting  a 
series  of  tests  on  concrete  poles  of  various  types  and 
designs,  with  the  idea  of  replacing  some  of  the  wooden 
telegraph  poles  along  its  right-of-way  with  concrete. 

The  relative  merits  of  building  poles  at  the  site  as  com- 
pared with  constructing  them  in  a  well-equipped  central 
plant  will  depend,  of  course,  upon  conditions  varying  with 
each  location  and  upon  the  number  required.  When  the 
poles  are  built  at  the  site  there  is  a  choice  between  con- 
structing them  flat  on  the  ground  or  vertically  in  place. 
In  a  hollow  pole,  in  which  the  reinforcing  rods  with  their 
accompanying  bands  or  rings  take  up  a  large  proportion  of 
the  comparatively  thin  concrete  shell,  the  difficulty  in  pour- 
ing concrete  into  the  top  of  the  vertical  form,  without 
causing  objectionable  voids  and  a  possible  separation  of 
the  stone  from  the  cement,  becomes  considerable.  It  is  a 
question  whether  even  the  use  of  very  fine  stone  and  a 
very  wet  mixture  will  reduce  this  difficulty  sufficiently  to 
warrant  making  hollow  poles  vertically. 


THE  ILLUMINATING  ENGINEERING  SOCIETY'S  PROBLEM. 

In  view  of  the  rather  extended  discussion  at  the  recent 
Illuminating  Engineering  Society  convention  on  matters 
of  financial  policy  and  the  support  of  the  society,  a  few 
words  as  to  the  past  and  prospective  work  of  this  organiza- 
tion are  in  order.  This  society  differs  from  some  others  in 
the  engineering  field  because  it  brings  together  men  from 
such  widely  different  fields  of  daily  activity.  At  one  ex- 
treme are  purely  scientific  men  engaged  in  research,  and  at 
the  other  extreme  are  central-station  solicitors,  contractors 
and  salesmen  who  work  altogether  with  the  appliances  and 
methods  furnished  to  them  by  the  manufacturers  and  ex- 
perts. Between  these  extremes  are  the  engineers  and  ex- 
perts who  are  taking  the  results  obtained  in  research  by  the 
physicist,  the  psychologist  and  the  physiologist  and  applying 
them  to  the  design  of  illuminating  appliances  and  the  engi- 
neering of  installations.  These  latter  form  the  connecting 
link  between  the  purely  scientific  investigators  and  the 
purely  commercial  men  who  are  desirous  of  giving  the  best 
results  to  their  customers.  One  natural  result  of  such 
diversity  of  membership  is  that  the  commercial  men  at  one 
end  of  the  line  do  not  always  appreciate  the  ultimate  prac- 
tical importance  of  the  investigations  reported  by  their 
scientific  friends  at  the  other  end  of  the  line.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  papers  which  appeal  to  the  purely  commercial 
practical  man,  giving  simply  certain  rules  of  design  or 
descriptions  of  successful  installations,  do  not  appeal  to 
more  technical  men.  Then  there  is  another  element  in  the 
society,  although  perhaps  not  so  great  in  numbers  as  it 
should  be,  which  considers  lighting  mainly  from  the  artistic 
viewpoint.  Now,  this  is  a  very  desirable  combination  of 
interests  for  producing  practical  results  in  the  improve- 
ment of  illumination.  However,  such  a  varied  membership 
has  prevented  the  society  from  receiving  the  financial  sup- 
port  which    it   might   have    received    had    it   become    more 


f 


September  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


639 


closely  identified  with  some  one  set  of  commercial  interests. 
Yet  the  results  of  society  work  in  the  aggregate  are  of  far 
more  value  to  the  manufacturers  of  electric-lighting  ap- 
pliances, the  companies  which  supply  gas  and  electric  serv- 
ice and  the  general  public  than  to  the  individual  members. 

The  Illuminating  Engineering  Society  in  its  six  years  of 
existence  has  rendered  great  assistance  to  the  electric 
public-service  companies  of  this  country.  This  assistance 
first  came  in  the  shape  of  information  on  to  how  to  utilize 
light  to  the  best  advantage,  in  order  to  produce  the  highest 
measured  efficiency  and  compete  with  other  illuminants. 
Some  of  this  help  came  directly  and  some  through  manu- 
facturers of  electric  appliances  who  altered  their  designs 
to  conform  with  economical  practice.  Illuminating  engi- 
neers are  now  giving  their  attention  to  the  design  of  in- 
stallations which  will  be  the  most  comfortable  to  work 
under  and  secure  the  highest  working  efficiency  for  the 
eyes  of  the  users,  because  the  recent  advances  in  the  effi- 
ciency of  lighting  appliances  have  made  the  cost  of  electric 
service  entirely  secondary  to  the  more  important  considera- 
tions of  human  health  and  efficiency.  The  upshot  of  the 
whole  matter  is  that  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society 
has  been  conducting  important  work  with  very  little  direct 
financial  support  from  those  who  profit  most  by  its  results. 
The  society  is  face  to  face  with  either  a  hampering  of  im- 
portant work  through  lack  of  funds  or  a  change  of  financial 
policy  which  will  permit  contributions  to  its  support  by  the 
manufacturing  and  central-station  interests  which  profit  by 
its  work.  Steps  are  to  be  taken  to  alter  the  constitution  to 
provide  for  such  support,  and  it  is  inconceivable  that  manu- 
facturing and  central-station  interests  will  allow  this  im- 
portant work  to  languish  for  lack  of  it. 


THE  LONDON  RADIO-TELEGRAFHIC  CONVENTION. 

The  convention  and  regulations  signed  by  the  delegates 
of  the  various  nations  in  attendance  at  the  London  Radio- 
telegraphic  Congress  show  a  number  of  steps  in  advance 
of  the  position  taken  by  the  Berlin  convention  of  1906.  It 
is,  nevertheless,  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  so  many  archaic 
customs  in  the  transmission  and  delivery  of  radiograms  are 
not  only  authorized  but  practically  forced  into  use  by  their 
statement  in  the  new  convention.  Such  matters  as  the 
absolute  precedence  of  emergency  calls  and  the  adoption 
of  a  uniform  distress  signal,  the  prohibition  of  unnecessary 
transmission,  insistence  upon  intercommunication,  licensing 
of  stations  and  of  operators  and  the  requirement  of  auxil- 
iary equipment  for  emergency  signaling  can  hardly  fail  to 
meet  with  complete  support.  In  contradistinction,  how- 
ever, the  specific  prohibition  of  the  use  for  public  service 
of  wave-lengths  between  600  and  1600  meters,  the  stipula- 
tion that  all  ship  communication  shall  be  on  either  300  or 
600  meters  wave-length  (with  the  possible  use  of  1800 
meters  for  long-distance  transmission)  and  the  cumber- 
some form  of  sending  messages  would  seem  likely  not  only 
to  work  an  extreme  hardship  upon  corporations  engaged 
in  commercial  radio-transmission  but  also  to  bring  about 
a  considerable  decrease  in  service  efficiency. 

Since  the  Titanic  disaster  there  has  been  much  agitation 
toward   securing   a   strict   legislative   regulation   of   radio- 


signaling.  Points  which  really  needed  attention  and 
remedy,  such  as  the  inability  of  the  usual  ship  installation 
to  transmit  when  the  engine-room  equipment  was  damaged 
and  the  fact  that  nearly  all  ships  put  out  to  sea  carrying 
only  one  operator,  were  brought  out.  However,  as  is  usual 
when  we  find  a  situation  which  has  deserved  attention  for 
some  time  but  has  received  none,  the  matter  of  regulation 
seems  to  have  been  rather  overdone  in  the  zealous  endeavor 
to  prevent  recurrence  of  the  circumstances  in  the  days 
inmiediately  following  the  accident,  when  no  news  could  be 
obtained   by   wireless. 

The  Senate  and  House  bills  proposed  shortly  after  the 
United  States  ratified  the  Berlin  convention,  which  were 
tremendously  influenced  by  the  popular  outcry  against  the 
"failure  of  the  wireless,"  provided  for  everything  that 
could  be  considered  a  remedy  in  any  sense.  Had  the  more 
radical  of  these  become  laws  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  there 
would  have  been  any  public  radio-telegraph  at  all.  Fortu- 
nately for  the  art  and  its  development,  the  radio-communi- 
cation act  approved  last  month  and  taking  effect  on  Dec.  13 
next  is  somewhat  less  rabid  than  were  others,  although  it  is 
based  almost  directly  on  the  Berlin  convention.  This  new 
wireless  law  relieved  the  strict  provisions  made  at  Berlin 
in  much  the  same  way  as  was  done  at  the  London  con- 
ference, and  so  stands  more  nearly  in  agreement  with  the 
new  convention  than  it  does  with  that  of  six  years  ago. 
It  would  appear  that  the  effect  of  what  is  perhaps  the 
worst  feature  of  the  regulations  adopted  at  London  has 
been  tempered,  for  the  new  law  does  not  insist  upon  all 
ship-message  traffic  being  conducted  upon  either  300  or 
600  meters  wave-length,  but  states  that,  in  addition  to  a 
designated  normal  wave-length,  stations  may  use  other 
waves,  provided  that  they  are  less  than  600  meters  or  more 
than  1600  meters  in  length.  Had  not  this  choice  of  wave- 
lengths been  permitted  it  is  probable  that  great  confusion 
would  have  arisen  wherever  a  large  number  of  ships  came 
together,  for  all  would  have  been  "on  the  same  wire,"  so  to 
speak.  Nevertheless,  what  is  said  to  be  a  tremendous 
obstacle  in  effective  ship-to-ship  and  ship-to-shore  trans- 
mission still  remains  in  both  the  London  convention  and 
the  radio-communication  act;  this  is  the  restriction  for 
government  use  of  the  entire  middle  range  of  wave-lengths. 

The  fundamental  wave-lengths  of  ship  antennas  average 
about  400  meters,  with  extreme  points  about  150  meters 
above  and  below.  Modern  transmitters  operate  efficiently 
at  wave-lengths  from  about  one  and  one-fifth  to  say  four 
times  the  natural  wave-length  of  the  antenna  used  and  give 
best  results  at  about  two  and  a  half  times  this.  Therefore, 
the  working  ranges  of  wave-lengths  for  small,  average  and 
large  ships  are  300-1000,  480-1600  and  660-2200  meters 
respectively.  Since  it  is  considered  impossible  to  transmit 
with  good  efficiency  at  wave-lengths  below  the  antenna 
fundamental,  it  is  very  evident  that  in  prohibiting  the 
range  between  600  and  1600  meters  the  government  has 
effectually  prevented  ship-to-ship  and  ship-to-shore  signal- 
ing under  the  best  conditions.  This  is  without  regard  to  the 
effect  of  atmospheric  absorption,  which  causes  remarkably 
rapid  attenuation  when  wave-lengths  less  than  800  meters 
are  used  and  so  increases  the  difficulties  of  transmission 
with  short  waves. 


640 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  60,  No.  13. 


FREE  LECTURES  ON  ELECTRICAL   ENGINEERING 
m    BROOKLYN. 


The  department  of  electricity  of  the  Brooklyn  Institute 
of  Arts  and  Sciences  announces  a  series  of  five  lectures  by 
Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly,  of  Harvard  University,  on  the  elements 
of  hyperbolic  functions  and  their  applications  to  electrical 
engineering.  The  lectures,  which  will  be  illustrated  by  lan- 
tern slides,  are  free  to  the  profession  and  will  be  given  on 
the  second  Thursday  evening  of  each  month  of  the  season 
in  the  physics  lecture  room  of  the  Polytechnic  Institute,  99 
Livingston  Street,  Broolflyn,  at  8:15.  A  working  acquaint- 
ance with  ordinary  circular  functions  of  plane  trigonometry 
will  be  assumed,  but  no  calculus  or  mathematics  above  alge- 
bra will  be  involved.  The  dates  and  subjects  of  the  lectures 
are  as  follows:  Oct.  10,  hyperbolic  angles:  their  properties 
and  applications;  Nov.  14,  the  behavior  of  direct-current 
lines  of  uniform  linear  conductor  resistance  and  dielectric 
conductance,  in  the  steady  state,  as  simplified  by  the  use  of 
hyperbolic  functions;  artificial  lines  and  equivalent  circuits; 
Dec.  12,  the  behavior  of  alternating-current  lines  of  uniform 
linear  conductor-impedance  and  dielectric  admittance,  in 
the  steady  state,  and  also  in  simple  unsteady  states,  as  sim- 
plified by  the  use  of  hyperbolic  functions;  Jan.  9,  the  ap- 
plication of  hyperbolic  functions  to  long  alternating-current 
power-transmission  lines;  Feb.  13,  the  application  of  hyper- 
bolic functions  to  telephone  lines,  loaded  and  unloaded, 
single  and  composite. 


PROGRAM  OF  ELECTRIC  VEHICLE  CONVENTION. 


As  previously  announced  in  our  columns,  the  third 
annual  convention  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Association  of 
America  will  be  held  in  Boston,  Mass.,  on  Oct.  8-9.  The 
meetings  will  take  place  in  Paul  Revere  Hall,  Mechanics' 
Building,  where  the  Boston  Electric  Show  will  then  be  in 
progress.  The  Electric  Show  will  contain  an  electric-vehicle 
department,  and  a  portion  of  the  basement  will  be  arranged 
to  represent  a  modern  electric  garage  in  active  operation. 

The  program  which  has  been  arranged  for  Tuesday,  the 
first  day,  after  the  president's  address,  reports  of  commit- 
tees, the  consideration  of  other  regular  business  and  the 
election  of  officers,  is  as  follows :  "Where  We  Stand  To- 
day," by  Mr.  C.  E.  Michel,  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company,  St.  Louis,  Mo. ;  "Street  and  Traffic  Conditions  as 
Applied  to  the  Use  of  Electric  Vehicles,"  by  Mr.  R.  Mc- 
Allister Lloyd,  International  Motor  Company,  New  York 
City;  "The  Publicity  Campaign  of  Electric  Vehicle  Associ- 
ation of  America,"  by  Mr.  Frank  W.  Smith,  United  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company,  Ntvi  York  City ;  "The  West  as  a 
Field  for  Electric  Vehicles,"  by  Dr.  M.  Ekstromer,  Denver 
Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company,  Denver,  Colo. ;  "Notes  on 
the  Cost  of  Motor  Trucks,"  by  Dr.  Harold  Pender  and  Mr. 
H.  F.  Thompson,  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
Boston,  Mass.,  and  "Some  Recent  Developments  in  the 
Lead  Battery,"  by  Mr.  Bruce  Ford,  Electric  Storage  Bat- 
tery Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

The  pre-arranged  program  for  Wednesday,  the  second 
day,  is  as  follows :  "Electric  Vehicle  Development  in  the 
East,"  by  Mr.  Stephen  T.  Thompson,  Public  Service  Elec- 
tric Company,  Newark,  N.  J.;  "Electric  Vehicle  Charging 
Apparatus,"  by  Mr.  R.  E.  Russell,  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, Schenectady,  N.  Y. ;  "Progress  of  Commercial  Cars 
in  America  with  Special  Reference  to  the  Electric,"  by 
Mr.  E.  S.  Foljambe,  Commercial  Car  Journal,  Philadel- 
phia, Pa. ;  "Insurance  from  the  Standpoint  of  Electric 
Vehicles,"  by  Mr.  Carl  H.  Clark,  Field  &  Cowles,  insurance. 
Boston,  Mass.;  "The  Edison  Storage  Battery  in  Service," 
by  Mr.  H.  H.  Smith,  Edison  Storage  Battery  Company, 
Orange,  N.  J.,  and  "Electric  Vehicle  Service,"  by  Mr.  J.  C. 
Ford,  National  Electric  Lamp  Association,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


.\  registration  fee  of  $1  will  be  charged  for  guests  ai)d 
non-members,  payable  at  the  convention  headquarters  at 
the  time  of  registration.  Delegates  and  invited  guests  upon 
receipt  of  registration  cards  will  be  provided  with  buttons 
bearing  the  emblem  of  the  association,  which  will  secure 
for  them  all  the  privileges  of  the  convention.  The  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  has  extended  an  invitation 
to  all  those  attending  the  convention  to  visit  the  Electric 
.Show,  and  those  bearing  the  association  button  will  be  ad- 
mitted on  Oct.  8,  9  and  10. 


THE  ELECTRIC  VEHICLE  AT  BOSTON. 


The  fall  campaign  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Club  of  Bos- 
ton was  inaugurated  at  a  meeting  last  week  at  the  Hotel 
Thorndike,  about  60  members  and  guests  being  present. 
President  Day  Baker  reviewed  the  work  accomplished  by 
the  club  during  the  past  season  and  touched  upon  the 
bright  outlook  for  the  future  which  has  resulted  from  the 
exploitation  of  electric  truck  and  passenger  vehicle  ser- 
vice under  the  auspices  of  .the  Boston  Edison  company. 
Vice-President  Mansfield  announced  that  in  the  past  four 
months  thirty-three  electric  passenger  cars  and  twenty- 
seven  commercial  electric  vehicles  have  been  registered 
at  the  office  of  the  Massachusetts  Highway  Commission. 
He  stated  that  the  Boston  Edison  company  has  under 
consideration  the  reduction  of  rates  for  electric-vehicle 
charging  which  will  materially  help  the  trade  in  com- 
peting with  gasoline.  Mr.  L.  D.  Gibbs,  Edison  Electric 
Illuminating  Company  of  Boston,  described  the  prepara- 
tions for  the  Boston  1912  Electric  Show,  at  which  a  large 
model  garage  will  be  in  service.  The  electric-vehicle  ex- 
hibit will  be  more  extensive  than  at  any  previous  show. 
Among  the  other  speakers  were  Messrs.  A.  P.  Bouguar- 
dez,  F.  D.  Emerv,  J.  S.  Codman  and  Converse  D.  Marsh. 


HYDROELECTRIC  ENERGY  AT    PITTSBURGH. 


According  to  plans  of  the  Clarion  River  Power  Company, 
which  it  is  said  will  be  carried  out  next  spring  energy  will 
be  transmitted  to  Pittsburgh,  50  miles  from  a  hydroelectric 
plant  on  the  Clarion  River.  The  plans  include  the  construc- 
tion of  two  dams,  one  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  and  the 
other  about  35  miles  upstream.  The  first  dam  is  to  be  259 
ft.  high  and  1200  ft.  long.  At  a  point  where  the  first  arti- 
ficial lake  ends  the  other  dam  will  be  constructed.  This 
dam  will  be  265  ft.  high  and  about  1400  ft.  long.  It  will 
produce  a  storage  reservoir  40  miles  long.  It  is  stated  that 
the  drainage  area  will  be  25,000  acres  and  that  200,000  hp 
can  be  developed.  The  estimated  cost  is  between  $15,000,000 
and  $20,000,000. 


THIRD     INTERNATIONAL    RUBBER    EXHIBITION. 


On  Sept.  23  the  third  international  rubber  and  allied  trades 
exhibition  was  thrown  open  to  the  public  in  the  New  Grand 
Central  Palace,  New  York  City.  The  exhibition  will  be 
open  until  Oct.  3.  One  hundred  and  thirty-four  exhibitors 
are  included  in  the  entries,  representing  the  various  rubber- 
producing  countries  of  the  world  and  numerous  manufac- 
turers and  fabricators  of  rubber  products.  Among  the 
many  interesting  exhibits  there  are  several  of  rubber-mak- 
ing machinery  and  many  of  rubber  products  of  all  kinds. 
The  exhibits  of  several  of  the  rubber-producing  countries 
are  extensive  and  deserving  of  careful  examination.  la: 
connection  with  the  rubber  exhibition  the  American  Mu4 
seum  of  Safety  has  a  large  exhibit  showing  safety  devices] 
adopted  in  a  number  of  leading  industries. 


September  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


641 


THE  DUNDEE  MEETING  OF  THE  BRITISH 
ASSOCIATION. 


The  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 
held  its  eighty-second  annual  meeting  in  the  city  of  Dundee, 
Scotland,  from  Sept.  4  to  11.  It  is  forty-five  years  since  an 
association  meeting  was  held  in  that  city.  The  meeting 
was  very  successful  from  various  points  of  view.  The  total 
membership  enrolled  was  large — some  2400.  The  papers 
read  were  about  330  in  number,  distributed  among  twelve 
sections,  and  many  were  of  especial  interest.  The  schedule 
provided  an  average  of  27.5  papers  or  discussions  per  sec- 
tion and  continued  for  five  working  mornings,  papers  not 
being  read  in  the  afternoons  or  evenings..  Moreover,  both 
Saturday  and  Sunday  were  passed  over  without  work,  so  that 
a  week  wa-s  assigned  to  the  assimilation  and  discussion  of  less 
than  thirty  papers  per  section.  The  distribution  of  papers 
was  by  no  means  uniform,  and  the  largest  share — -forty- 
seven  papers — fell  to  Section  A,  the  section  of  mathemati- 
cal and  physical  science.  This  section  found  it  desirable  to 
divide  itself  into  two  parallel-  subsections  for  part  of  the 
sessions.  Three  evening  discourses,  including  the  presiden- 
tial address,  were  attended,  very  largely,  by  the  association 
as  a  whole.  The  remaining  afternoons  and  evenings  of  the 
week  were  given  to  receptions,  excursions  and  social  events. 

From  the  standpoint  of  engineering,  interest  centered  in 
the  proceedings  both  of  the  mathematico-physical  section.  A, 
and  of  the  engineering  section,  G.  In  Section  A  the  ad- 
dress of  President  Callendar,  which  was  a  plea  for  the  res- 
toration of  caloric  in  the  theory  of  heat,  as  a  material  en- 
tity to  replace  the  abstract  conception  of  entropy,  repre- 
sented a  remarkable  instance  of  a  recent  intellectual  change 
shared  bv  heat  and  electricity.  We  all  know  that  in  the 
days  of  Franklin  there  was  much  debate  between  the  double- 
fluid  and  single-fluid  theories  of  electricity.  All  electri- 
cians, however,  then  agreed  upon  a  hypothesis  of  some 
kind  of  electric  fluid  or  fluids.  After  the  development  of 
the  voltaic  cell,  these  notions  concerning  an  imponderable 
hypothetical  fluid  fell  into  desuetude  and  were  abandoned. 
In  recent  years,  however,  they  have  become  revived  under 
a  new  guise.  It  is  now  generally  held  that  at  least  nega- 
tive electricity  is  a  material  entity,  whose  particles  are 
all  of  the  same  size;  so  that  any  quantity  of  electricity  must 
be  a  definite  multiple  of  the  electronic  charge,  which  is 
equivalent  to  assuming  that  no  separate  electric  quantity 
less  than  the  electronic  charge  can  exist. 

In  a  somewhat  similar  way,  heat  was  at  one  time  as- 
sociated with  a  certain  imponderable  fluid  named  caloric, 
or  occasionally  phlogiston,  which  was  emitted  by  a  cooling 
body.  The  discovery  of  the  law  of  conservation  of  energy 
led  to  the  abandonment  of  this  conception.  Nevertheless, 
a  certain  abstract  quantity  named  entropy  was  created  by 
thermists,  such  that  when  multiplied  by  the  absolute  tem- 
perature the  product  was  a  quantity  of  energy.  This  en- 
tropy corresponded  in  several  ways  to  quantity,  or  cou- 
lombs, in  the  electric  case,  while  temperature  corresponded 
to  voltage.  This  entropy  is  sought  to  be  regarded  as  caloric 
in  the  president's  address  and  is  endowed  with  attributes 
of  a  fluid  entity.  Whereas  such  entropy  or  caloric  is  ac- 
cepted to  be  constant  in  any  given  quantity  of  a  workmg 
substance  operating  thermodynamically  in  purely  reversible 
cycles,  it  is  known  to  increase  in  amount  when  the  working 
substance  does  not  operate  in  such  a  cycle.  For  example, 
when  heat  is  passing  from  a  hot  body  to  a  cold  body, 
through  a  separating  layer,  by  pure  conduction,  the  entropy 
and  caloric  in  the  system  are  increasing,  which  would  cor- 
respond in  the  electric  case  to  an  increase  in  the  coulombs 
of  an  electric  circuit.  The  address  suggests  hypotheses  by 
which  this  difficulty  of  the  increase  of  caloric  in  dissipa- 
tive  heating  systems  can  be  met  without  sacrificing  the  ad- 
vantage of  substituting  a  simple  fluid  concept  for  the  arbi- 
trary abstract  notion  at  present  attached  to  entropy. 

A  joint  meeting  of  Sections  A  and  G  was  held  to  con- 


sider some  of  the  problems  presented  by  radio-telegraphy, 
particularly  as  to  the  nature  of  the  electromagnetic  waves, 
as  to  the  effects  of  sunlight  upon  their  transmission  and  as 
to  the  phenomena  involved  in  directive  telegraphy.  The 
discussion  was  opened  by  a  paper  on  the  subject  from  Prof. 
J.  A.  Fleming.  It  was  participated  in  by  a  number  of 
physicists,  mathematicians  and  electrical  engineers.  The 
discussion  indicated  that  the  phenomena  were  regarded 
very  differently  by  these  different  types  of  observers,  and 
that   in   many  cases  the   engineer's  view   opened   from  the 


point  where  the  mathematician's  closed,  the  particular  dif- 
ficulties perceived  being  of  a  different  character.  It  was, 
however,  manifest  that  it  is  still  too  early  to  pronounce  def- 
initely on  the  solutions  of  many  of  these  problems,  but  that 
there  is  urgent  need  of  the  accumulation  of  more  experi- 
mental evidence  before  conjecture  can  give  place  to  con- 
clusion. It  was,  therefore,  voted  to  appoint  a  special  com- 
mittee of  the  association  to  take  up  the  research  into  and 
discussion    of    the    general    problems. 

The  presidential  address  in  Section  G,  by  Prof.  Archi- 
bald Barr,  was  an  eloquent  plea  for  efficiency  in  engineer- 
ing plants,  machinery  and  devices,  not  merely  on  economic 
grounds,  but  also  for  esthetic,  artistic  and  humanitarian 
reasons.  A  remarkable  proposition  was  adduced  in  refer- 
ence to  the  injuries  and  inconveniences  that  result  to  the 
community  as  incidents  of  engineering  work,  namely,  that 
"the  more  completely  the  engineer  achieves  the  primary 
end  of  his  work  the  less  is  the  damage  or  injury  that  can 
be  laid  to  his  charge."  As  an  instance  of  this  general  rule, 
it  is  manifest  that  the  nuisance  of  smoke  from  the  chimneys 
of  boiler  plants  is  due  to  imperfect  combustion,  or  ineffi- 
ciency in  the  process  of  combustion ;  so  that  the  higher  the 
eflSciency  of  the  boiler  furnaces  the  less  the  chance  for  the 
incidental  production  of  soot  and  smoke. 

Of  the  twenty-four  papers  presented  to  the  engineering 
section,  two  were  on  magnetic  hysteresis,  two  on  electric 
arcs,  one  on  telephones,  and  one  on  the  electrical  measure- 
ment of  wind  velocities. 

A  convenient  plan  adopted  by  the  association  is  to  print 
in  separate  booklets  short  resumes  of  all  the  papers  pre- 
sented to  each  section.  These  section  booklets  are  very 
useful  and  can  be  secured  by  application,  through  the  proper 
official  channels. 

The  annual  presidential  address  of  the  association  as  a 
whole  was  not  directly  electrical  in  its  subject  matter,  being 
on  the  nature  and  origin  of  life,  but  it  was  given  by  Profes- 
sor Schafer,  who  developed  the  method  of  artificial  respi- 
ration recently  advocated  by  the  American  Commission  on 
Resuscitation  from  Electric  Shock.  The  address  was  of 
great  general  interest   and   has   aroused  widespread   com- 


I 


642 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  13. 


ment.  In  brief,  it  takes  tlie  position  that  life  is  a  product 
of  evolution  in  matter,  and  that  the  passage  by  evolution  of 
non-living  to  living  matter  may  have  occurred  on  our 
planet  not  once  only  but  possibly  at  many  different  times. 
At  the  same  time,  the  differentiation  of  living  from  non- 
living matter  becomes  constantly  more  difficult  as  our 
knowledge  of  the  properties  of  both  is  extended. 

The  evening  discourse  by  Prof.  W.  H.  Bragg,  on  "Radia- 
tions Old  and  New,"  was  noteworthy  for  its  lantern  slides, 
showing  the  ionization  produced  in  air  by  radio-activity. 
That  is,  the  trajectories  of  individual  alpha  and  beta  rays 
were  actually  rendered  visible  to  the  eye,  photographically, 
by  the  beautiful  experimental  process  of  Professor  Wilson. 
In  this  process  the  paths  of  the  rays  in  air,  although  pri- 
marily invisible  to  the  eye,  are  marked  by  numerous  elec- 
trons, due  to  collision  by  impact  along  the  trajectory.  These 
electrons  persist  for  a  little  while  and  may  become  the 
nuclei  of  little  drops  of  water  vapor,  if  the  air  is  at  the 
point  of  aqueous  condensation.  By  suddenly  chilling  the 
air  at  the  proper  moment  the  individual  trajectories  are 
rendered  visible  as  thin  radiating  lines  of  fog  where  the 
condensation  has  occurred  selectively.  The  photographs 
reveal  these  fog  lines,  and  their  detailed  appearances  per- 
mit of  many  interesting  deductions. 

The  president  of  the  association  for  ne.xt  year  will  be 
Sir  William  Henry  White,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.,  past-president 
of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  the  Institution  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers,  the  Institute  of  Metals,  the  Institute  of 
Marine  Engineers  and  the  Institute  of  Junior  Engineers. 


L  E.  S.  CONVENTION  PAPERS. 


In  last  week's  issue  was  given  an  account  of  the  Niagara 
Falls  convention  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society, 
Sept.  16  to  19,  with  the  exception  of  Thursday's  proceed- 
ings. The  convention  was  notably  successful  from  several 
aspects,  and,  considering  that  it  was  held  far  from  any  city 
where  the  society  has  a  section,  the  attendance  was  large. 
There  were  158  registered,  of  whom  107  were  members  of 
the  society,  29  men  guests  (mainly  prospective  members) 
and  22  ladies. 

Before  the  convention  adjourned  resolutions  were  passed 
thanking  those  who  had  contributed  time  and  money  to 
make  the  convention  a  success.  A  special  resolution  of 
thanks  was  ordered  prepared  for  Mr.  Norman  Macbeth, 
chairman  of  the  general  convention  committee,  who  con- 
tributed a  large  amount  of  valuable  time  and  personal 
attention  to  the  preparations  for  and  carrying  out  of  a  very 
successful  convention. 

REPORT   OF   THE   COMMITTEE  ON    PROGRESS. 

While  there  is  nothing  startling  to  record  in  the  progress 
made  during  the  past  year  in  the  science  and  art  of  illumi- 
nation, it  is  gratifying  to  note  that  more  attention  than 
ever  before  has  been  paid  to  the  proper  installation  of 
lamps,  and  the  public  is  awakening  to  a  fuller  realization  of 
the  necessity  of  scientific  methods  in  illumination.  The 
most  conspicuous  advance  in  the  material  of  gas  lighting 
has  been  the  extensive  introduction  of  the  artificial  silk 
mantle,  which  has  shown  itself  capable  of  longer  life  and 
of  more  uniform  efficiency  than  anything  yet  tried.  The 
use  of  high-pressure  lighting  has  increased  materially 
abroad,  but  as  yet  few  and  small  permanent  installations 
have  been  made  in  this  country.  The  general  efficiency  of 
the  mantle  burner  in  commercial  use  has  been  improved  to 
some  extent,  and  the  manufacturers  have  met  the  demand 
for  a  wider  range  of  burner  sizes. 

The  most  important  change  in  incandescent  lighting  has 
been  the  widespread  adoption  of  the  drawn-wire  tungsten 
filament.  Satisfactory  tungsten  lamps  for  iio-volt  opera- 
tion, with  ratings  as  low  as  10  watts,  have  been  produced. 
The  larger  tungsten  lamps  up  to  500  watts  bave  awakened 


considerable  demand  in  competition  with  both  gas  and  elec- 
tric-arc lamps.  Tungsten  lamps  with  ratings  as  large  as 
1000  watts  are  coming  into  commercial  use  abroad.  A 
specific  consumption  of  about  0.9  watt  per  cp  is  frequently 
noted  in  foreign  lamps,  and  at  this  figure  a  commercial  life 
of  500  hours  or  more  has  been  repeatedly  claimed. 

The  chief  advance  in  arc  lamps  in  this  country  has  been 
toward  the  production  of  long-burning  flame  lamps,  which 
have  been  adopted  on  a  considerable  scale  in  Chicago  and 
elsewhere.  An  electrode  life  of  100  hours  or  more  has  been 
produced  by  certain  manufacturers.  The  tendency  is  to 
use  electrodes  mineralized  practically  throughout.  A  three- 
phase  triple-electrode  flame-arc  lamp,  furnishing  a  very 
powerful  light  of  remarkably  low  specific  consumption,  has 
been  introduced  abroad.  In  this  country  the  principal 
novelty  is  the  so-called  "boulevard"  type  of  magnetite  arc 
lamp,  now  used  in  a  number  of  cities  with  excellent  results. 
Intensified  carbon  arc  lamps  have  been  coming  into  steadily 
increasing  use,  which  is  merited  on  account  of  their  regu- 
larity and  the  desirable  quality  of  their  light  for  color  dis- 
crimination. 

The  production  of  artificial  light  capable  of  replacing 
daylight  for  color-matching  purposes  is  receiving  increased 
attention.  None  of  the  devices  yet  brought  out  meets  all  of 
the  requirements  of  color  discrimination  satisfactorily. 
.\mong  the  new  illuminants  the  neon  vacuum  tube  lamp, 
developed  in  France,  is  of  much  theoretical  interest.  The 
quartz  mercury  arc  lamps  have  also  made  much  progress 
during  the  year.  Important  research  work  continues  to 
be  carried  on  with  aggressiveness.  In  lighting  installations 
the  most  noticeable  change  has  been  in  the  direction  of  in- 
direct and  semi-indirect  lighting. 

Discussion.  ' 

Mr.  D.  McFarlan  Moore,  commenting  on  the  reference 
of  the  report  to  the  neon  tube  lamp  filled  with  rare  neon 
gas,  said  that  the  Moore  lighting  interests  in  this  country 
have  been  taken  over  by  the  General  Electric  Company  and 
that  he  is  now  at  work  developing  the  neon  tube  lamp  for 
that  company.  By  means  of  tube  lighting  it  may  be  pos- 
sible, he  thinks,  to  produce  light  at  about  one-fiftieth  the 
cost  of  that  obtained  from  tungsten  lamps  at  the  present 
time. 

Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp  told  of  neon  tube  lamps  he  had  seen 
abroad  operating  on  2200  volts  from  a  special  transformer 
at  the  lamp  terminals.  The  fall  of  potential  at  the  lamp 
terminals  is  large  relative  to  the  fall  of  potential  through 
the  remainder  of  the  tube.  Therefore  it  is  important  to 
make  the  tube  as  long  as  possible  to  get  high  efficiency  so 
as  to  have  the  loss  at  the  terminals  a  low  percentage  of  the 
whole.  The  tubes  are  4  in.  or  5  in.  in  diameter.  They 
are  shipped  ready  for  use  instead  of  being  put  up  in  place 
like  the  former  Moore  tubes  in  this  country.  The  air  is 
exhausted  from  the  tubes  by  a  process  using  liquid  air  and 
charcoal,  and  they  are  then  washed  out  with  neon.  They 
are  said  to  be  giving  1000  hours'  life  with  0.5  watt  per 
candle  consumption.  In  color  the  light  is  a  very  red  orange 
without  blue  rays. 

Dr.  Herbert  E.  Ives  thought  the  selenium  cell  hopeless 
as  a  means  of  solving  difficulties  of  photometry.  He  also 
thought  the  photo-electric  cell  for  measuring  light  energy 
should  be  mentioned  among  important  developments  made 
during  the  year. 

In  reference  to  the  .high  efficiency  given  in  the  report  for 
tungsten  lamps  abroad,  a  member  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  American  tungsten  lamps  of  400  watts  and  500 
watts  have  recently  been  improved  to  a  consumption  of  I 
watt  per  horizontal  candle. 

Mr.  G.  H.  Stickney,  speaking  along  the  same  lines,  said 
that  the  lamp  efficiencies  and  life  adopted  as  most  desirable 
by  American  manufacturers  were  selected  as  representing 
the  desires  and  best  interests  of  users  and  central  stations. 
Higher  efficiency  means  shorter  life. 


September  28,  igi^ 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


643 


REPORT    OF    THE    COMMITTEE    ON     NOMENCLATURE    AND 
STANDARDS. 

The  committee  on  nomenclature  and  standards,  of  which 
Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly  is  chairman  and  Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp  secre- 
tary, submitted  a  report  covering  international  relations 
and  a  list  of  definitions  tentatively  adopted.  The  president 
of  the  International  Photometric  Commission,  which  is  at 
present  an  organization  of  the  gas-lighting  interests  alone, 
lias  made  a  formal  proposal  to  the  constituent  societies  to 
enlarge  this  commission  in  such  a  way  as  to  render  it  rep- 
resentative of  all  important  photometric  interests  in  a  man- 
ner satisfactory  to  them,  so  that  there  would  be  only  one 
single  international  body  charged  with  the  establishment  of 
photometric  nomenclature  and  standards  and  with  the  solu- 
tion of  all  questions  concerning  photometry.  The  proper 
international  action  desired  by  the  committee  on  nomencla- 
ture and  standards  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society 
will  eventually  be  taken  up  by  the  •international  body.  In 
the  meanwhile  this  committee  has  formulated  its  views  on 
some  important  terms  and  definitions.  The  definitions  pro- 
posed relate  to  luminous  flux,  stimulus  coefficient,  luminous 
intensity,  illumination,  candle-power,  lumen,  lux,  brightness, 
coefficients  of  specular  and  diffuse  reflection,  fundamental, 
primary,  secondary,  reference  and  working  standards,  com- 
parison and  test  lamps,  and  performance  and  characteristic 
curves. 

THE  DETERIORATION   OF  GAS-LIGHTING  UNITS  IN   SERVICE. 

Tests  relating  to  the  deterioration  of  gas-lighting  units 
in  service  were  outlined  in  a  paper  by  Mr.  R.  F.  Pierce. 
Tests  were  made  on  twelve  inverted  gas-mantle  burners 
selected  at  random  from  factory  stock,  which  were  equipped 
with  artificial  fiber  mantles  similarly  selected.  At  the  end 
of  a  period  of  from  4000  to  5000  hours  the  specific  con- 
sumption had  increased  by  an  average  of  8.5  per  cent.  The 
deterioration  in  candle-power  fell  from  2.14  per  cent  per 
5000-hour  period  to  5.34  per  cent  per  2000-hour  period. 
The  author  claimed  that,  so  far  as  the  design  of  illumination 
is  concerned,  there  is  no  substantial  difference  between 
the  performance  of  gas  and  electric  units,  and  the  quantity 
of  illumination  required  and  initially  obtained  by  the  one 
will  be  equally  suitable  for  the  other.  A  short  discussion 
was  participated  in  by  Messrs.  C.  O.  Bond,  of  Philadelphia, 
and  Ward  Harrison,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

SYMPOSIUM    ON    HIGH-PRESSURE    GAS    LIGHTING. 

A  three-part  symposium  on  high-pressure  gas  lighting 
was  presented  by  Messrs.  F.  W.  Goodenough,  Oscar  Klatte 
and  R.  N.  Zeek.  Part  i,  by  Mr.  Goodenough,  dealt  with 
high-pressure  gas  lighting  in  Great  Britain.  Part  2,  by 
Mr.  Klatte,  discussed  conditions  in  Germany,  showing  that 
its  use  has  been  increasing  rapidly  in  the  last  few  years. 
Mr.  Zeek,  who  contributed  Part  3  of  the  symposium,  de- 
scribed some  of  the  features  of  high-pressure  gas  lighting  in 
America.  He  referred  briefly  to  installations  in  Philadel- 
phia, Waterbury,  Conn. ;  Wilmington,  Del. ;  Washington, 
Des  Moines  and  Chicago. 

TESTS    ON    CAR    LIGHTING   AT    WASHINGTON,    D.    C. 

Mr.  Arthur  J.  Sweet,  commercial  engineer  of  the  Nelite 
Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  was  requested  to 
give  some  account  of  the  tests  which  he  is  conducting  on 
steam  railroad  car  lighting  at  Washington,  D.  C.  Some 
of  the  points  brought  out  by  his  informal  address  were  as 
follows : 

These  tests  are  being  conducted  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  and  the  expense  is  being 
borne  by  various  reflector  and  car-fixture  manufacturers 
jointly  with  the  railroad  company.  Tests  will  be  made 
on  all  of  the  common  types  of  cars  used  in  steam-railroad 
service  and  on  various  lighting  equipments.  At  the  present 
time  tests  are  nearly  completed  on  railway  postal  cars 
and  in  these  tests  the  United  States  postal  authorities  have 
taken  an  active  interest,  as  the  results  should  be  of  great 


value  in  determining  the  best  type  of  postal  car  lighting  for 
the  proposed  standard  postal  car  specifications.  These 
tests  have  included  equipments  of  gas  and  electric  units 
distributed  over  the  car  and  provided  with  various  types 
of  reflectors.  The  tests  have  been  witnessed  at  various 
times  by  fourteen  division  superintendents  of  the  United 
States  railway  mail  service  and  by  nearly  all  railway 
electrical  engineers.  A  6o-ft.  postal  car  was  set  aside  for 
the  work.  Measurements  have  been  made  of  horizontal 
illumination  and  also  of  the  vertical  illumination  on  the 
face  of  the  letter  boxes.  Some  study  has  also  been  made 
of  shadows.  An  attempt  was  also  made  to  learn  which 
kind  of  installation  was  the  most  comfortable  to  read 
under.  About  400  observations  were  taken  with  different 
lighting  systems  and  with  ten  different  subjects,  five  of 
whom  were  postal  service  men.  The  illumination  was 
raised  from  almost  darkness  up  to  the  point  considered  the 
minimum  for  continuous  comfortable  work  by  the  subjects, 
which  point  was  noted,  and  then  it  was  raised  again,  to 
a  point  considered  ample.  The  method  was  similar  to 
that  adopted  by  Mr.  J.  R.  Cravath  in  the  paper  reported 
at  the  1911  convention.  Mr.  Sweet's  results  in  general 
confirmed  the  conclusions  of  the  paper  referred  to.  The 
systems  which  gave  the  most  diffused  light  on  the  reading 
page  required  the  least  illumination  for  comfortable  read- 
ing. The  lowest  values  were  obtained  with  indirect  light- 
ing with  Pintsch  gas.  There  was  some  question  as  to 
the  possibility  of  keeping  car  ceilings  light  enough  in 
service  to  make  this  system  feasible.  Of  the  direct- 
lighting  systems  the  one  using  a  large  number  of  small 
lamps  in  aluminum  finished  reflectors  gave  the  best  re- 
sults in  illumination  required.  Translucent  glass  reflectors 
and  mirrored  reflectors  required  more  illumination,  pre- 
sumably on  account  of  their  reflecting  surface  being  less 
diffusing  and  causing  slightly  more  glare  on  the  reading 
page.  The  paper  used  in  the  test  was  not  a  glossy  paper. 
This  brought  out  the  point  that  the  glare  of  specular  re- 
flection from  paper  may  be  a  very  disturbing  influence  in 
comfortable  reading  even  though  the  paper  is  one  from 
which  there  is  no  noticeable  glare.  In  these  tests  the 
highest  average  illumination  required  by  any  subject  was 
4.5  ft.-candles,  and  the  average  illumination  considered 
ample  by  all  the  subjects  was  3.5  ft.-candles. 

THE    METHODS   OF   RESEARCH. 

In  a  brief  paper  on  this  topic  Dr.  Edward  P.  Hyde 
analyzed  from  a  critical  standpoint  some  of  the  research 
methods  which  have  been  employed  in  scientific  inves- 
tigations. Truth,  he  said,  is  always  the  goal  of  research, 
and  all  truths  may  be  distinguished  in  two  classes:  first, 
those  which  are  known  directly  or  of  themselves,  as  our 
own  bodily  sensations,  and,  second,  those  truths  which  are 
known  through  the  medium  of  other  truths,  as  the  theorems 
of  mathematics.  The  former  are  the  subject  of  intuition 
or  consciousness,  the  latter  of  inference.  Practically  all 
of  the  truths  of  physical  science  are  found  through  in- 
ference. In  arriving  at  truth  through  inference  logicians 
distinguish  two  methods,  that  of  induction  and  that  of  de- 
duction. By  the  first  is  meant  the  process  of  drawing  a 
general  conclusion  from  particular  cases.  In  the  second 
method  there  are  two  processes,  observation  and  experi- 
ment. The  deductive  method  of  investigation  consists  of 
three  steps:  First,  direct  induction;  second,  ratiocination, 
or  reasoning;  and  third,  verification.  It  is  evident  that  these 
two  methods  of  arriving  at  truth  by  inference  are  not 
independent.  The  basis  of  the  deductive  method  is  a  previ- 
ous induction,  and  the  two  methods  are  interdependent. 
The  inductive  method  in  research  consists  of  observation 
and  experiment,  and  the  author  designated  two  subordinate 
methods  of  induction  termed  definitive  and  non-definitive. 
The  deductive  method  of  research  is  one  of  hypothesis  or 
theory,  ratiocination  and  verification.  It  is  peculiarly  the 
method  of  mathematical  sciences.  Granted  a  definite  scheme 


644 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13. 


of  research  (the  definitive  inductive  method),  or  a  de- 
sired conckision  (the  deductive  method),  it  is  quite  pos- 
sible to  lay  down  a  general  formula  which  will  be  of 
assistance  in  carrying  out  the  experimental  work.  Such 
a  general  plan  includes:  (i)  Exact  definition  and  state- 
ment of  problem;  (2)  study  of  literature  pertinent  to  the 
problem;  (3)  determination  of  experimental  method;  (4) 
choice  or  design  of  apparatus;  (5)  isolation  of  specific 
phenomenon  to  be  studied,  or  of  quantity  to  be  measured, 
and  elimination  of  complicating  phenomena  or  quantities; 
(6)  preliminary  investigation  of  instruments  used;  (7) 
investigation  and  discussion  of  sources  of  error;  (8)  care- 
ful analysis  of  results;    (9)   justifiable  conclusions. 

In  conclusion  the  author  referred  to  the  extensive  harm 
down  by  incompetent  investigators,  who  infer  generaliza- 
tions from  inadequate  data  or  draw  conclusions  from  non- 
established  inductions. 

HETEROCHROMATIC    PHOTOMETRY    AND    PRIMARY    STANDARD    OF 

LIGHT. 

In  a  paper  on  this  subject  the  author  stated  that  the  two 
problems  of  major  importance  in  the  science  of  light 
measurement  are:  First,  the  problem  of  the  photometry  of 
lights  of  different  colors;  and,  second,  the  problem  of  se- 
curing a  scientific  primary  standard  of  light.  Four  photo- 
metric methods  were  considered,  namely,  visual  acuity, 
critical  frequency,  equality  of  brightness  and  flicker.  As 
a  result  of  these  investigations  the  author  recommended 
that  the  following  requirements  be  standardized  in  hetero- 
chromatic  photometry  :  ( i )  The  use  of  the  flicker  photom- 
eter; (2)  an  illumination  of  25  meter-candles  (under- 
stood to  be  on  a  white  surface,  such  as  magnesium  oxide)  ; 
(3)  a  photometric  field  of  2  deg.  diameter,  surrounded  by 
an  approximately  equally  bright  area  of  25  deg.  diameter 
(the  small  field  is  chosen  because  with  it  the  effect  of 
varying  the  illumination  is  largely  eliminated;  the  bright 
surrounding  field  is  introduced  because  it  has  been  found 
to  increase  the  comfort  and  sensibility  of  reading,  without 
the  disadvantage  of  the  large  photometric  field);  (4)  the 
observer  must  have  an  average  eye. 

The  author  discussed  the  question  of  a  primary  standard 
of  light  from  the  standpoint  of  radiant  energy,  and  pointed 
out  that  the  sensation  of  light  is  caused  by  radiant  energy 
of  a  certain  quality,  measurable  in  the  fundamental  units 
of  length,  mass  and  time.  Assuming  a  flux  of  radiant 
energy  of  value  E  measured  in  watts,  its  value  as  light 
flux  may  be  found  by  introducing  the  specific  luminous 
output  of  the  radiation  K  expressed  in  lumens  per  watt, 
or  flux  of  light  =  K  E.  Expressing  K  as  the  product  of 
the  luminous  efficiency  of  the  source  and  the  maximum 
possible  specific  luminous  output,  or  K  =  \LKmax,  it  fol- 
lows that  luminous  flux  =  (j-^ma.,-  E.  If  iC  is  made  unity 
and  E  is  expressed  in  watts,  then  the  unit  of  luminous 
flux  will  be  the  flux  from  a  source  radiating  energy  of 
maximum  luminous  efficiency  at  the  rate  of   i   watt. 

In  conclusion  the  author  laid  before  the  society  two 
proposals;  First,  that  the  conditions  of  heterochromatic 
photometry  outlined  above  be  adopted  as  standard;  and, 
second,  that  the  unit  of  luminous  flux  be  specified  in 
terms  of  flux  of  radiation  and  luminous  efficiency,  as 
outlined  above. 

.\EW  METHOD  AND  INSTRUMENT  FOR  DETERMINING  REFLECTING 
POWER   OF  OPAQUE   BODIES. 

In  a  paper  by  Dr.  P.  G.  Nutting  were  described  a  new 
method  and  an  instrument  for  determining  the  reflecting 
power  of  opaque  bodies.  The  method  is  based  on  the  use 
of  two  parallel  planes,  one  of  which  is  a  diffuse  illumi- 
nator and  the  other  is  a  surface  the  reflecting  power  of 
which  is  to  be  determined.  The  relative  brightness  of 
the  two  planes  represents  the  reflecting  power  of  the  non- 
luminous  plane.  .\  description  is  given  of  a  simple  de- 
vice  for  determining  the   relative   illumination  on   the  two 


planes.  Use  is  made  of  a  brass  ring  heavily  nickel-plated 
and  polished.  Into  this  ring  is  inserted  a  polarization 
photometer,  used  to  determine  the  relative  brightnesses  of 
the  two  planes  at  the  center  of  the  ring. 

DETERMINATION     OF     ILLUMINATION     EFFICIENCY. 

Mr.  E.  L.  Elliott  presented  a  paper  in  which  was  de- 
scribed a  proposed  method  of  determining  illumination  effi- 
ciency. The  method  is  one  intended  to  give  proper  weight 
to  the  light  received  from  all  directions  above  the  horizontal 
plane.  In  carrying  out  the  method  use  is  made  of  appa- 
ratus similar  in  many  respects  to  that  employed  with  the 
so-called  globe  photometer.  The  beams  of  light  from  all 
angles  above  the  horizontal  are  allowed  to  pass  through  an' 
opening  in  the  horizontal  plane  surface,  and  the  average 
intensity  over  the  opening  is  determined  in  screens  with 
the  well-known  principle  of  the  globe  photometer.  A  brief 
adverse  discussion  upon  the  proposed  method  was  partici- 
pated in  by  Messrs.  M.  Luckiesh,  A.  J.  Sweet  and  Preston 
S.  Millar. 

DIFFUSE  REFLECTION   AND   TRANSMISSION    OF   LIGHT. 

In  a  paper  on  the  "Diffuse  Reflection  and  Transmission 
of  Light,"  Dr.  P.  G.  Nutting  distinguished  three  different 
types  of  diffusing  screen.  The  three  types  of  diffusion 
are  :  ( i )  Transmission  with  maximum  diffusion  and  mini- 
mum absorption.  Such  screens  are  required  to  reduce  the 
intrinsic  brilliancy  of  sources  with  the  minimum  loss  of 
light.  (2)  Diffuse  reflection  with  both  reflecting  power 
and  diffusion  a  maximum.  Such  properties  in  wall  cover- 
ings not  only  save  light,  but  produce  a  more  uniform  illu- 


Fig.    1 — Varieties   of    Diffuse    Reflection    and    Transmission. 

mination  with  fewer  fixtures.  (3)  Diffuse  reflection  with 
high  reflecting  power,  but  with  the  reflected  light  massed 
within  a  given  angle.  Reflection  of  this  type  produces  light 
economy  in  indirect  illumination  as  well  as  in  projection 
screens. 

In  a  laboratory  survey  of  these  problems  one  finds  ex- 
amples of  practically  all  kinds  of  diffuse  reflection  and  trans- 
mission, as  indicated  in  Fig.  I.     These  include  the  purely 


* 


Fig.    2 — Types    of    Selective    Diffusion. 

specular,  semi-specular,  the  selectively  diffuse  and  the  per- 
fectly diffuse  distributions  of  both  reflected  and  transmitted 
light.  Practically  any  amount  of  absorption  may  occur 
with  any  type  of  diffusion.  Each  case  of  diffusion  may  be 
traced  to  particular  kinds  of  reflection,  refraction  and 
diffraction  within  or  near  the  surfaces  of  bodies.  Different 
types  of  selective  diffusion  are  shown  in  Fig.  2.     Assuming 


September  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


645 


that  the  reflecting  surface  is  composed  of  a  layer  of  minute 
reflecting  spheres  of  uniform  size,  the  author  showed 
mathematically  that  such  surfaces  would  reflect  in  accord- 
ance with  Lambert's  law,  except  as  the  specular  reflecting 
power  of  each  sphere  varied  with  the  angle  of  incidence; 

■kR  ,       . 

the  coefincient  of  diffuse  reflection  would  be     „-    neglectmg 

o 

multiple  reflection  from  sphere  to  sphere.  Next  the  author 
considered  the  case  of  a  mass  of  minute  plain  reflecting 
surfaces  spread  loosely  in  an  approximate  plane,  and  also 
the  case  of  surfaces  composed  of  small  transparent  particles, 
such  as  snow  and  other  crystals,  and  in  each  instance  theory 
indicated  that  reflection  following  Lambert's  law  is  to  be 
expected. 

A   PROPOSED    METHOD   OF   DETERMINING   A    COEFFICIENT   OF   DIF- 
FUSION FOR  TRANSLUCENT  MEDIA. 

The  author  of  this  paper,  Mr.  E.  L.  Elliott,  defined  the 
coefficient  of  diffusing  power  of  a  globe  as  the  ratio  of  its 
maximum  to  its  minimum  brightness.  He  proposed  that  in 
determining  this  ratio  use  be  made  of  one  of  two  methods. 
First,  a  screen  having  a  small  opening  may  be  moved  about 
in  front  of  the  globe  and  the  intensity  of  illumination  of 
the  visible  space  determined  by  means  of  a  photometer. 
Second,  the  globe  could  be  projected  on  a  white  screen  and 
the  intensity  on  the  various  parts  of  the  screen  measured  by 
an  illuminometer  arranged  for  determining  surface  bright- 
ness. The  ratio  thus  determined,  together  with  the  absorp- 
tion factor,  would  give  complete  and  definite  information 
as  to  the  value  of  the  diffusing  globe. 

Discussion. 
Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp  thought  Mr.  Elliott's  proposal  along  cor- 
rect lines  and  Mr.  C.  O.  Bond  reported  having  used  prac- 
tically this  method  in  connection  with  the  testing  of  gas 
globes.  Mr.  H.  P.  Gage,  of  the  Corning  Glass  Works,  said 
that  from  the  standpoint  of  a  glassmaker  he  would  like  to 
see  some  such  method  of  rating  established. 

SOME    REFLECTING    PROPERTIES    OF    PAINTED    INTERIOR    WALLS. 

Reflectioh  coefficients  for  various  types  of  wall  papers 
are  often  of  great  assistance  to  the  illuminating  engineer 
in  working  out  specific  lighting  problems,  and  Mr.  Claude 
W.  Jordan  presented  a  paper  describing  some  of  the  results 
recently  obtained  in  determining  such  coefficients  for 
painted  interior  walls.  A  knowledge  of  the  coefficients  of 
painted  walls  is  becoming  more  important,  because  it  has 
been  proved  that  in  comparison  with  papered  walls,  from 
a  sanitary  standpoint,  painted  walls  are  decidedly  superior. 
The  author's  results  were  presented  in  both  graphic  and 
tabular  form,  covering  various  types  of  both  flat  and  glossy 
finish  paints. 

REPORT    OF   THE    ILLUMINATION    COMMITTEE    OF    THE    ASSOCIA- 
TION   OF   IRON    AND   STEEL   ELECTRICAL   ENGINEERS. 

The  illumination  committee  of  the  Association  of  Iron 
and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers,  of  which  Mr.C.  J.  Mundo 
is  chairman,  described  the  work  undertaken  since  1910, 
when  the  association  first  became  interested  in  the  subject 
of  illumination.  The  present  committee  was  appointed  at 
the  191 1  convention  of  the  association  to  study  and  report 
on  the  needs  of  the  iron  and  steel  works  engineer  with  re- 
spect to  illumination.  Attention  was  called  to  the  fact 
that  next  to  the  mean  lower  hemispherical  candle-power 
of  the  illuminant  the  most  important  question  is  that  re- 
lating to  the  deterioration  of  the  candle-power  in  service. 
The  committee  made  the  following  recommendations:  (l) 
That  in  judging  lamp  size  the  mean  lower  hemispherical 
candle-power  or  the  downward  lumens  be  used,  in  conjunc- 
tion at  least  with  the  average  inherent  deterioration  of  the 
lamp  during  the  life  or  trim.  The  liability  of  the  lamp  to 
,  deteriorate  can  be  judged  on  the  basis  of  mechanical  con- 
struction until  acquired  deterioration  data  are  availab'e.  (2) 
That  the   illumination  curve   for  the  height   at   which   the 


lamp  must  be  used  be  employed  to  check  the  evenness  of  the 
illumination  from  the  lamp  and  the  utilization  of  the  Hgnt. 
(3)  That  manufacturers  be  encouraged  to  submit  candle- 
power  distribution,  illumination  and  deterioration  curves 
on  illuminants.  (4)  That  manufacturers  be  urged  to  sub- 
mit constant  or  spacing  tables  for  the  use  of  lamps.  (5) 
That  illumination  tests  be  encouraged  by  the  members  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  data  on  deterioration.  (6)  That 
the  association  co-operate  with  the  Illuminating  Engineer- 
ing Society  by  encouraging  such  tests  and  by  presenting 
from  time  to  time  for  discussion  and  solution  the  problems 
of  the  members. 

PRESENT    PRACTICE    IN    SMALL    STORE    LIGHTING    WITH    TUNG- 
STEN-FILAMENT  LAMPS. 

Messrs.  Clarence  L.  Law  and  A.  L.  Powell  presented  an 
extended  paper  describing  present  practice  in  small  store 
lighting  with  tungsten-filament  lamps,  the  purpose  of  which 
was  not  to  advance  new  ideas  on  lighting  but  rather  to  sub- 
mit a  record  of  current  practice  in  this  particular  field.  In 
other  words,  the  paper  can  perhaps  be  characterized  as  an 
attempt  to  determine  the  present  state  of  this  branch  of 
the  art,  and  it  is  therefore  mainly  descriptive.  Illustrations 
were  presented  showing  the  interior  lighting  arrangements 
of  twenty  stores  of  the  smaller  retail  class  in  various  lines 
of  business. 

Discussion. 

Mr.  Ely,  of  Philadelphia,  spoke  in  favor  of  individual 
treatment  of  each  case  in  order  to  have  some  variety  and 
avoid  monotony  of  design  rather  than  treat  store  lighting 
by  the  wholesale  as  suggested  by  the  paper.  Mr.  A.  H. 
Keleher  thought  that  certain  general  averages  could  be 
established,  and  in  fact  would  have  to  be  established,  for 
planning  large  numbers  of  small  store  installations.  One 
watt  per  square  foot  was  his  estimate.  He  also  spoke  in 
favor  of  better  and  more  artistic  fixtures,  such  as  are 
used  in  foreign  countries.  Mr.  H.  C.  Sterling,  central 
station  manager  from  Three  Rivers,  Mich.,  said  that  men 
of  his  class  wanted  more  of  this  kind  of  papers.  Many 
of  the  papers  presented  in  the  society  were  above  their 
heads,  but  this  paper  gave  information  which  could  be  put 
into  practical  use,  and  if  the  society  would  have  more  of 
them  they  would  attract  more  of  the  smaller  central- 
station  managers.  He  said  that  in  small  towns  what  the 
people  think  they  want  is  glare— the  more  the  better.  He 
though  the  first  men  to  receive  the  "Illumination  Primer" 
should  be  the  central-station  manager.s.  Mr.  J.  R.  Cravatli 
said  that  as  a  manager  of  several  central  stations  in  smaller 
towns  he  had  found  it  true  that  what  many  people  were 
looking  for  is  glare.  However,  after  some  installations 
representing  the  best  modern  practice  were  made,  the  more 
progressive  customers  soon  wanted  the  same  thing.  Mr. 
Flexner,  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  Chicago, 
said  that  it  was  the  prcatice  of  his  company  to  treat  each 
installation  by  itself.  Mr.  C.  O.  Bond,  of  Philadelphia, 
objected  to  having  clothing  stores  rated  for  higher  intensity 
illumination  than  grocery  stores.  Mr.  H.  T.  Owens,  of 
New  York,  thought  it  well  to  consider  in  installing  wiring 
that  many  of  the  lighting  installations  of  the  future  will 
employ  indirect  lighting. 

CHARACTERISTICS   AND  TESTS  OF   CARBONS   FOR    INCLOSED 
FLAME-ARC    LAMPS. 

A  paper  by  Messrs.  Allen  T.  Baldwin  and  Richard  B. 
Chillas,  Jr.,  dealt  with  the  characteristics  and  tests  of  elec- 
trodes for  inclosed  flame-arc  lamps.  An  outline  was  given 
of  the  operating  features  of  the  usual  types  of  flame-arc 
lamp  electrodes,  special  attention  being  devoted  to  the  diffi- 
culties encountered  by  reason  of  the  fumes.  Next  a  synop- 
sis was  presented  of  tests  such  as  lamp  owners  can  readily 
make,  in  order  to  obtain  a  measure  of  the  extent  to  whicri 
the  respective  characteristics  exist  in  the  electrodes  and  to 
determine  their  value  for  the  service  desired.  The  tests  de- 
scribed would  require  the  use  of  ammeters,  voltmeters,  an 


646 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  60,  No.  13. 


integrating  sphere  and  a  photometer  of  the  Sharp-Millar 
type.  The  authors  claimed  that  the  problem  of  devising 
adequate  measures  of  color,  particularly  that  of  fluctuating 
light  sources  such  as  the  flame-arc  lamp,  has  not  been  satis- 
factorily solved.  They  recommend  merely  that  all  condi- 
tions surrounding  comparative  color  and  value  tests  be  as 
nearly  identical  as  possible. 

Discussion. 

Mr.  R.  B.  Hussey,  of  Lynn,  said  there  are  now  5000 
inclosed  flame-arc  lamps  in  street  lighting  service  in  this 
country.  Mr.  S.  L.  Rose,  of  Schenectady,  noted  that  in 
laboratory  trials  such  flame  lamps  slag  worse  when  turned 
on  and  off  a  few  times  before  starting  than  after  they  have 
been  run  a  few  hours.  He  inquired  the  probable  reason. 
Mr.  Spaulding,  of  Cleveland,  noted  variations  in  candle- 
power  from  500  to  3600  WMthin  thirty  minutes  in  tests  made 
on  certain  lamps,  a  fluctuation  which  considerably  detracted 
from  their  value  as  illuminants. 

Mr.  Baldwin,  in  answering  the  question  of  Mr.  Rose, 
said  that  at  the  present  time  such  carbons  are  made  with 
the  impregnation  extending  the  full  length  and  they  are  cut 
off  in  a  machine  to  standard  lengths  after  being  manu- 
factured. The  carbon  acts  like  a  wick  when  heated  in  op- 
eration, and  consequently  there  is  an  excess  of  flame  ma- 
terial at  the  tip  of  the  carbon  when  the  lamp  starts.  When 
these  carbons  are  made  in  large  quantities  with  a  smaller 
amount  of  flame  material  at  the  end,  this  condition  may  be 
changed.  He  recommended  making  tests  and  regulating 
lamps  after  at  least  three-quarters  of  an  hour  of  operation. 

THEORY  AND  CALCl'LATION  OF  ILLUMINATION  CURVES. 

In  a  paper  entiled  "Theory  and  Calculation  of  Illumina- 
tion Curves,"  Mr.  Frank  A.  Benford,  Jr.,  described  an  elab- 
orate method  of  determining  the  density  of  luminous  flux 
over  any  plane  area  when  the  space  distribution  of  the 
candle-power  around  the  lighting  source  is  known.  Use  is 
made  of  a  drafting  board,  a  T-square  and  a  "triangle," 
together  with  a  previously  calculated  chart  and  a  tabulation 
of  the  relations  between  heights  of  suspension,  distances 
from  source,  candle-powers  and  foot-candles. 

LIGHTING  OF  BUFFALO   GENERAL  ELECTRIC   COMPANY'S 

BUILDING. 

Mr.  \y.  D'A.  Ryan  presented  a  paper  describing  the  light- 
ing equipment  of  the  Buffalo  General  Electric  Company's 
oflice  building,  the  lighting  specifications  of  which  were 
drawn  by  the  illuminating  engineering  department  of  the 
General  Electric  Company.  The  general  interior  illumina- 
tion is  semi-indirect,  the  fixtures  having  been  especiallv 
designed  for  the  building.  The  number  of  watts  per  square 
foot  for  the  entire  building  averages  1.4.  The  illumina- 
tion is  not  less  than  4  and  not  over  6  ft.-candles,  except  in 
a  few  special  cases,  such  as  in  the  drafting  room,  where  it 
is  slightly  higher.  The  main  units  in  the  offices  throughout 
are  of  the  semi-indirect  convertible  type,  making  it  possible 
for  the  respective  tenants  to  have  either  direct  or  semi- 
indirect  lighting  as  they  may  desire.  Along  the  sidewalk 
line,  mounted  on  standards,  are  6.6-amp  series  ornamental 
luminous-arc  lamps  giving  a  white  light.  The  effect  at 
night  is  of  a  white  building,  relieved  by  the  warm  yellow 
light  of  the  tungsten  lamps  streaming  through  the  windows, 
rising  to  a  colonnade  illuminated  by  concealed  blue-purplish 
light  in  simulation  of  shadow  effect,  contrasted  with  the 
white  light  thrown  on  the  outer  surface  of  the  columns  by 
the  luminous-arc  lamps.  Mounted  on  a  revolving  platform 
in  the  dome  are  three  30-in.  projectors  provided  with 
motors,  so  that  they  revolve  on  their  own  centers  through 
color  evolutions  produced  by  screens  on  the  projectors. 

Abstracts  of  papers  entitled  , 'Tests  for  Efficiency  of  the 
Eye  Under  Different  Systems  of  Illumination,"  "The  En- 
gineering Principles  of  Indirect  and  Semi-Indirect  Light- 
ing," "Vision  as  Influenced  by  Brightness  of  Surroundings" 
and  "A  Study  of  Natural  and  Artificial  Light  Distribution 
in  Interiors"  will  appear  in  a  subsequent  issue. 


NORTHWEST    ELECTRICAL   CONVENTION. 


The  fifth  annual  convention  of  the  Northwest  Electric 
Light  and  Power  Association  was  held  in  Portland,  Ore.,  on 
Sept.  II,  12,  13  and  14,  the  meeting  being  the  most  success- 
ful that  the  association  has  ever  held.  In  addition  to  the 
formal  papers  and  discussions  there  were  many  entertain- 
ment features,  including  a  "rejuvenation"  of  the  Sons  of 
Jove,  the  annual  banquet  and  a  trolley  ride  to  an  old- 
fashioned  picnic  at  Estacada,  which  is  situated  near  the 
Portland  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company's  hydroelectric 
plants  on  the  Clackamas  River. 

The  convention  was  called  to  order  on  Wednesday,  Sept. 
II,  in  the  Multnomah  Hotel  in  Portland  by  President  J.  E. 
Davidson.  There  were  about  125  delegates  from  Oregon, 
Washington,  Idaho  and  British  Columbia  in  attendance  on 
the  first  day,  and  before  the  convention  was  over  nearly  200 
delegates  had  registered.  An  important  feature  of  the  con- 
vention was  the  interest  displayed  by  members  of  the 
Public  Service  Commission  of  Washington  and  the  Railroad 
Commissioner  of  Oregon.  The  latter  will  soon  have  control 
over  public  utility  companies  in  Oregon  if  the  law  which 
is  now  before  the  people  of  the  State  is  carried. 

Mr.  Edgar  B.  Piper,  president  of  the  Portland  Commer- 
cial Club,  in  welcoming  the  delegates  to  Portland,  related 
many  interesting  events  in  the  development  of  electrical 
undertakings  in  the  West. 

president's   ADDRESS. 

In  his  presidential  address  Mr.  Davidson  called  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  Northwest  association  secured  during  the 
year  ten  new  company  members,  making  a  total  of  fifty. 
He  urged  upon  the  member  companies  the  desirability  of 
forming  company  sections  and  brought  out  the  financial 
phase  of  increased  membership.  He  spoke  with  pride  of  the 
excellent  action  taken  by  the  Northwest  association  in  be- 
coming affiliated  with  the  National  Electric  Light  Associa- 
tion and  thereby  securing  a  number  of  advantages  that  it 
had  not  previously  possessed.  He  also  called  to  mind  the 
Seattle  convention  and  the  opportunity  it  gave  to  Northwest 
association  members  to  see  how  big  and  strong  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  really  is.  The  Northwest  asso- 
ciation will  endeavor  to  carry  out  a  campaign  of  education 
relative  to  resuscitation  and  will  also  co-operate  with  the 
public  service  commissions  in  its  territory.  Mr.  Davidson 
closed  his  remarks  with  a  strong  appeal  for  co-operation 
with  the  public. 

PROFITABLENESS   OF   RESIDENCE   LIGHTING. 

The  first  paper  before  the  convention  was  one  by  Mr.  O. 
B.  Snyder,  of  Seattle,  entitled  "Is  Residence  Lighting  Profit- 
able?" The  author  called  the  attention  of  central  stations 
to  a  very  profitable  field  for  investigation  and  requested  the 
delegates  present  to  urge  upon  their  companies  the  de- 
sirability of  investigating  a  number  of  problems  relative  to 
residence  lighting  and  conditions  attendant  thereon. 

RATES. 

In  a  paper  by  Mr.  D.  C.  Barnes  on  "Justification  of  a 
Rate"  were  discussed  the  various  methods  of  rate  making, 
together  with  the  conditions  and  factors  that  enter  therein. 
The  author  paid  particular  attention  to  the  distinctive  fea- 
tures that  mark  some  of  the  important  methods  of  estimating 
bills.  Mr.  Barnes'  conclusions  were  that  the  rates  charged 
by  the  companies  in  this  association  are  not  in  excess  of 
what  the  service  is  reasonably  worth,  although  he  thought 
there  should  be  a  careful  analysis  made  to  determine 
whether  the  rates  charged  for  different  classes  of  service 
yield  a  reasonable  return  upon  the  fair  valuation  of  the 
property  employed.  The  paper  contained  many  statistics 
relative  to  rates  used  in  various  cities  throughout  the 
Northwest. 

UNIFORM  ACCOUNTS. 

Mr.  F.  Shaw  Baker,  of  Butte,  Mont.,  presented  a  paper 


Septembfr  28,   191 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


647 


on  "Uniform  Classification  of  Accounts  for  Electric  Light 
and  Power  Companies"  in  which  was  urged  the  necessity 
of  correct  accounting  methods  and  complete  statistics,  for 
by  their  use  only  can  a  company  properly  estimate  the  value 
of  its  business  and  the  service  rendered.  Mr.  Baker  then 
discussed  the  results  that  had  been  obtained  by  the  Butte 
Electric  &  Power  Company  with  the  uniform  system  of 
accounting  recommended  by  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association  and  the  New  York  Public  Service  Commission. 

INTANGIBLE    VALUES    OF    PUBLIC    UTILITIES. 

Mr.  William  J.  Hagenah,  formerly  chief  statistician  of 
the  Wisconsin  Public  Service  Commission,  read  a  paper  on 
"Intangible  Values  of  Electric  Lighting  and  Power  Prop- 
erties." 

He  treated  the  development  of  the  movement  for  regula- 
tion of  public  utilities,  discussing  the  leading  decisions  of 
state  arid  federal  courts  and  public  service  commissions. 
The  various  forms  in  which  regulation  is  exercised  were 
explained,  together  with  the  principles  which  underlie  the 
determination  of  the  facts  which  govern  in  each  case.  The 
speaker  outlined  the  evils  of  competition  in  the  public 
utility  industries,  which,  he  concluded,  not  only  cause  a 
great  increase  in  the  fixed  charges  through  the  duplication 
of  investment  but  greatly  interfere  with  sound  regulation 
by  public  utility  authorities  on  the  comprehensive  scale 
which  is  necessary  in  order  to  make  it  most  successful. 
Mr.  Hagenah  claimed  that  public  utilities  should  receive 
credit  for  the  costs  incurred  in  developing  their  business, 
and  in  this  determination  the  reasonable  and  necessary  dis- 
counts on  early  construction  bonds  and  the  losses  due  to 
enforced  competition  should  receive  proper  weight  by  rate- 
regulating  bodies. 

Mr.  Clyde  B.  Aitchison,  a  member  of  the  Railroad  Com- 
mission of  Oregon,  said  that  the  problems  which  Mr. 
Hagenah  suggested  are  economic  in  nature  and  in  no  sense 
judicial  or  political  and  that  they  must  be  solved  by  the 
meeting  of  mind  and  mind  and  the  clashing  of  argument 
against  argument.  Mr.  Aitchison  congratulated  the  elec- 
tric utilities  on  their  efforts  to  secure  uniform  accounting 
features-  and  said  that  the  electrical  industry  is  in  advance 
of  steam  railroads  in  this  feature  of  administration. 

Mr.  G.  A.  Lee,  of  the  Public  Service  Commission  of 
Washington,  stated  that  the  public  service  act  of  Wash- 
ington uses  the  expression  "market  value,"  and  that  this 
may  have  a  tendency  to  complicate  the  question  of  in- 
tangible values.  He  also  stated  that  it  is  a  well-known 
fact  that  the  expression  "market  value"  implies  a  sale  be- 
tween a  willing  seller  and  a  willing  buyer,  but  that  fre- 
quently there  may  not  be  a  "market  value,"  although  there 
may  be  a  "sale  value"  and  in  some  cases  there  is  a  "con- 
demnation value."  He  also  pointed  out  that  the  valuation 
that  the  Public  Service  Commission  of  Washington  might 
render  for  rate-making  purposes  must  be  certified  to  the 
Tax  Commission  and  State  Board  of  Equalization,  and 
that  anything  less  than  this  valuation  cannot  be  taken  for 
assessment  and  taxation  purposes.  He  gave  an  example  of 
a  case  recently  filed  against  a  large  company  in  Washing- 
ton in  which  the  commission  found  that  the  rates  were  so 
low  as  not  to  warrant  a  fair  return  on  the  investment  and 
the  complaint  was  therefore  dismissed.  These  problems, 
he  said,  are  constantly  coming  before  the  board  and  re- 
quire a  great  deal  of  attention.  Mr.  Lee  also  stated  that 
every  progressive  utility  manager  should  interest  himself 
in  proposed  legislation. 

The  convention  was  addressed  by  Mr.  F.  T.  Griffith,  a 
member  of  the  Portland  bar,  who  spoke  on  "Public  Service 
Commissions." 

COMMERCIAL    DEPARTMENT. 

In  a  paper  on  "Relative  Value  of  the  Commercial  Depart- 
ment in  Central-Station  Service,"  Mr.  A.  F.  Douglass,  of 
Portland,  stated  that  by  proper  development  of  the  com- 
mercial department  a  closer  relationship  is  obtained  between 


the  central  stations  and  the  public,  with  the  result  that  the 
commercial  departments  more  than  justify  their  existence. 
Mr.  Douglass  told  of  a  number  of  instances  where  various 
departments  of  the  public  service  companies  had  become 
acquainted  with  many  surprising  facts  regarding  their  own 
organization  simply  from  statistics  and  figures  provided  in 
the  commercial  department. 

ELECTRICITY    IN    IRRIGATION    WORK. 

The  last  paper  before  the  convention  was  one  by  Mr. 
George  C.  Arrowsmith,  of  North  Yakima,  Wash.,  upon  the 
"Use  of  Electric  Power  for  Irrigation  and  Other  Rural 
Purposes."      In    the    semi-arid    territory    of    the    Yakima, 


1 

1 

ii 

\ 

PRESIDENT- 

ELECT 

WILLIAM 

J- 

GRAMBS. 

Columbia  and  Walla  Walla  valleys  lands  which  without 
water  are  worth  nothing  have  been  made  productive  by 
water  obtained  either  through  gravity  flow  or  irrigation 
pumping  until  they  bring  in  from  $50  to  $500  per  acre  per 
year,  according  to  the  crop  grown  and  the  degree  of  cultiva- 
tion. Mr.  Arrowsmith  discussed  the  farmer  as  a  patron  of 
electric  companies  and  outlined  the  problem  of  electric 
pumping.  He  told  of  the  various  methods  of  irrigation 
and  pumping  from  deep  driven  wells,  artesian  wells,  shallow 
dug  wells,  rivers  and  canals. 

ELECTION    OF   OFFICERS. 

The  annual  election  of  officers  resulted  in  the  selection 
of  the  following  gentlemen :  President,  Mr.  W.  B.  Grambs, 
Seattle,  Wash.;  vice-president  for  Idaho,  Mr.  J.  J.  Jennings; 
vice-president  for  Oregon,  Mr.  A.  C.  McMicken,  Portland, 
Ore.;  members  executive  committee  for  three-year  term, 
Messrs.  O.  B.  Coldwell,  Portland,  Ore.,  and  Douglass  AU- 
mond,  Anacortes,  Wash.;  member  executive  connirittee  for 
one-year  term,  Mr.  Elmer  Dover,  Tacoma,  Wash.;  secre- 
tary-treasurer, Mr.  N.  W.  Brockett,  Seattle,  Wash. 

Mr.  William  J.  Grambs,  the  newly  elected  president  of 
the  Northwest  Electric  Light  &  Power  Association,  was 
born  in  Honesdale,  Pa.,  and  educated  at  the  United  States 
Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis.  In  the  spring  of  1888  he  en- 
gaged in  the  electrical  business  in  Seattle,  Wash.,  and  es- 
tablished the  Northwest  Electric  Supply  &  Construction 
Company,  which  acted  as  agent  for  many  of  the  large  elec- 
trical manufacturing  companies  of  the  Middle  West  and 
East.  In  1899  Mr.  Grambs  was  appointed  purchasing  agent 
of  the  Seattle  Electric  Company,  of  which  he  became  con- 
tract agent  in  1905  and  sales  manager  in  1907.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1911,  he  was  promoted  to  be  superintendent  of  light 
and  power  of  the  company,  and  when  the  latter  was  ab- 
sorbed by  the  Puget  Sound  Traction,  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, early  this  year,  Mr.  Grambs  was  appointed  superin- 
tendent of  light  and  power  of  the  Seattle  division. 


648 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  60,  No.  13. 


REGULATIONS  OF  THE  LONDON  WIRELESS 
CONFERENCE. 


The  holding  of  the  International  Wireless  Conference  at 
London,  which  terminated  on  July  5,  being  still  freshly  in 
mind,  our  readers  will  recall  that  an  impenetrable  veil  of 
secrecy  was  cast  over  the  proceedings  and  nothing  more 
than  a  meager  statement  was  made  public  in  London  at  the 
close  of  the  proceedings  or  since.  A  summary  of  that  state- 
ment, accompanied  by  editorial  comment  on  the  situation, 
appeared  in  our  issue  of  July  27.  On  Aug.  9  the  House  of 
Representatives  passed  the  Bourne  bill  to  regulate  wireless 
communication,  more  than  a  month  after  the  London  con- 
vention was  officially  signed.  President  Taft  on  Aug.  16 
approved  this  bill,  as  noted  in  our  issue  of  Aug.  24.  Xever- 
theless,  no  authentic  details  of  the  London  proceedings 
have  been  made  public  up  to  this  time.  However,  we 
are  now  able  to  present  our  readers  with  a  full  transcript  of 
the  London  convention  and  the  final  protocol,  and  an  ab- 
stract of  the  Regulations,  which  follow  in  order: 

CONVENTION. 

"The  undersigned,  plenipotentiaries  of  the  governments 
of  the  countries  enumerated  above,  having  assembled  in 
conference  in  London,  have  with  common  accord,  and  with 
the  limitations  of  ratification,  determined  upon  the  following 
agreement : 

"Article  I.  The  contracting  parties  promise  to  apply  the 
resolutions  of  the  present  convention  in  all  radio-telegraphic 
stations  (coast  stations  and  marine  stations)  which  are 
established  or  managed  by  the  contracting  parties  and  open 
for  the  service  of  public  intercourse  between  the  land  and 
the  ships  at  sea. 

"They  also  promise  to  impose  the  observation  of  these 
resolutions  upon  all  private  enterprises  authorized  either 
to  establish  or  to  manage  radio-telegraphic  coast  stations 
open  to  the  service  of  public  intercourse  between  the  land 
and  vessels  at  sea,  or  to  establish  or  manage  radio-tele- 
graphic stations,  whether  open  to  the  service  of  public  inter- 
course or  not,  on  board  vessels  carrying  their  flag. 

"Article  H.  Every  radio-telegraphic  station  established 
on  land  or  on  board  a  permanently  anchored  vessel  and  used 
for  communication  with  ships  at  sea  is  called  a  coast  station. 
Every  radio-telegraphic  station  established  on  board  a  vessel 
other  than  a  permanently  anchored  ship  is  called  a  ship 
station. 

"Article  HI.  The  coast  and  ship  stations  are  obliged  to 
exchange  radio-telegrams  without  regard  to  the  radio-tele- 
graphic systems  used  by  these  stations.  Each  ship  station  is 
obliged  to  exchange  radio-telegrams  with  every  other  ship 
station  without  regard  to  the  radio-telegraphic  system  used 
by  these  stations. 

"However,  in  order  not  to  hinder  scientific  progress,  the 
resolutions  of  this  article  shall  not  interfere  with  the  future 
use  of  a  system  of  radio-telegraphy  incapable  of  communi- 
cating with  other  systems,  provided  that  this  inability  be 
due  to  the  specific  nature  of  the  system,  and  not  the  result 
of  arrangements  adopted  solely  for  the  purpose  of  hindering 
inter-communication. 

"Article  IV.  Notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  Article 
III,  a  station  may  be  destined  for  a  restricted  public  service 
determined  by  the  purpose  of  the  correspondence,  or  by 
other  circumstances  independent  of  the  system  used. 

"Article  V.  Each  of  the  contracting  parties  promises  to 
join  the  coast  stations  to  the  telegraphic  system  (network) 
by  special  wires,  or,  at  least,  to  take  other  measures  insuring 
a  rapid  exchange  between  the  coast  stations  and  the 
telegraphic  system. 

"Article  VI.  The  contracting  parties  will  give  each 
other  the  names  of  the  coast  stations  and  the  ship  stations 
under  the  scope  of  Article  I,  as  well  as  all  indications  neces- 
sary to  facilitate  and  to  accelerate  the  radio-telegraphic 
exchange  which  will  be  specified  in  the  regulations. 


"Article  VII.  Each  of  the  contracting  parties  reserves 
the  power  to  prescribe  or  to  admit,  except  in  the  stations 
under  the  scope  of  Article  I,  independent  of  the  installation 
concerning  which  information  is  made  public  according  to 
.\rtic.e  VI,  other  purview,  which  shall  be  estalilished  and 
managed  for  the  purpose  of  special  radio-telegraphic  trans- 
mission, whose  details  need  not  be  made  public. 

".\rticle  \'III.  The  management  of  the  radio-telegraphic 
stations  is  to  be  organized  so  as  to  give  as  little  disturbance 
as  possible  to  other  stations  of  the  same  kind. 

"Article  IX.  The  radio-telegraphic  stations  are  obliged 
to  give  absolute  priority  to  appeals  of  distress  wherever 
they  may  come  from,  to  reply  in  the  same  manner  to  these 
appeals,  and  to  give  them  the  precedence. 

"Article  X.  The  price  of  a  radio-telegram  includes, 
according  to  the  case : 

"i.  (a)  The  'coast  price'  which  belongs  to  the  coast 
station,  (b)  The  'ship  price'  which  belongs  to  the  ship 
station. 

"2.  The  price  for  the  transmission  by  telegraph,  calculated 
according  to  the  regular  custom. 

"3.  The  prices  of  transmission  from  coast  stations  or  in- 
termediate marine  stations  and  the  prices  appertaining  to 
special  services  asked  by  the  sender. 

"The  rate  of  the  coast  price  is  subject  to  the  approbation 
of  the  government  to  which  the  coast  station  belongs ;  that 
of  the  marine  price  to  the  approbation  of  the  government  to 
which  the  ship  belongs. 

"Article  XI.  The  resolutions  of  the  present  convention 
are  supplemented  by  a  regulation  which  has  the  same  power 
and  is  in  force  simultaneously  with  the  convention.  The 
prescriptions  of  the  present  convention  and  of  the  regula- 
tion relative  thereto  may  at  any  time  be  changed  by  com- 
mon consent  of  the  contracting  parties.  Conferences  of 
plenipotentiaries  having  power  to  change  the  convention 
and  the  Regulations  will  take  place  periodically;  each  con- 
ference will  choose  the  place  and  the  time  for  the  next 
reunion. 

"Article  XII.  The  conferences  are  composed  of  dele- 
gates from  the  contracting  countries.  In  the  debates  each 
country  has  only  one  vote.  If  a  government  represents  its 
colonies,  possessions  or  protectorates  at  the  convention,  the 
interior  conferences  may  decide  whether  the  whole  or  a 
part  of  the  colonies,  possessions  or  protectorates  shall  be 
considered  as  forming  one  country  for  the  application  of 
the  preceding  sentence.  In  every  event  the  number  of  votes 
at  the  disposal  of  any  government,  including  its  colonies, 
possessions  and  protectorates,  shall  not  exceed  six.  The 
following  are  considered  as  forming  a  single  country  for 
the  application  of  the  present  article.     [List  omitted.] 

".Article  XIII.  The  International  Bureau  of  the 
telegraphic  union  is  charged  to  gather  together  and  to  pub- 
lish all  information  relating  to  radio-telegraphy,  to  inform 
the  convention  of  the  demands  for  modifications,  to  pro- 
mulgate the  charges  adopted,  and  in  general  to  take  care  of 
the  administrative  works  attendant  upon  the  interests  of 
international  radio-telegraphy.  The  expenses  of  this  in- 
stitution shall  be  met  by  all  the  contracting  countries. 

".■\rticle  XR'.  Each  of  the  contracting  parties  reserves 
the  right  to  fix  the  conditions  under  which  it  will  admit 
radio-telegrams  passing  through  or  destined  for  a  station, 
either  coast  or  ship,  which  is  not  submitted  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  present  convention.  If.  a  radio-telegram  is 
admitted,  the  regular  prices  are  applicable  to  it.  The  right 
to  pass  is  given  to  all  radio-telegrams  coming  from  a  ship 
station  and  received  by  a  coast  station  of  a  contracting 
country  or  accepted  in  transit  by  the  government  of  a  con- 
tracting country.  The  right  to  pass  is  equally  given  to  all 
radio-telegrams  destined  for  a  ship,  if  the  government  of 
a  contracting  country  has  accepted  them  in  transit  from  a 
non-contracting  country,  subject  to  the  right  of  a  coast 
station  to  refuse  the  transmission  to  a  marine  station  of  a 
non-contracting   country. 


September  28,  191: 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


649 


"Article  XV.  The  regulations  of  Articles  VIII  and  IX 
of  this  convention  are  equally  applicable  to  radio-telegraphic 
installations  other  than  those  included  in  Article  I. 

'Article  XVI.  The  governments  which  have  not  taken 
part  in  this  convention  have  a  right  to  be  admitted  at  their 
request.  This  request  is  made  known  diplomatically  to  that 
one  of  the  contracting  governments  in  which  the  last  con- 
ference took  place,  and  by  it  to  all  the  others.  This  admis- 
sion gives  full  rights  of  all  the  clauses  of  the  present  con- 
vention and  to  all  the  advantages  herein  stipulated.  The 
admission  of  the  government  of  a  country  having  colonies, 
possessions  or  protectorates  does  not  include  the  admission 
of  the  colonies,  etc.,  unless  a  declaration  to  this  effect  has 
been  made  by  the  government.  The  whole  of  the  colonies 
or  one  separate  one  may  be  admitted  under  the  conditions  of 
the  present  article  and  of  Article  XXII. 

"Article  XVII.  The  resolutions  of  Articles  I,  11,  III, 
IV,  V,  VI,' VII,  VIII,  XI,  XII  and  XVII  of  the  interna- 
tional telegraphic  convention  of  St.  Petersburg  of  July  10 
to  22,  1875,  are  applicable  to  international  radio-telegraphy. 
"Article  XVIII.  In  case  of  a  disagreement  between  two 
or  more  contracting  governments  relative  to  the  interpreta- 
tion or  execution  either  of  the  present  convention  or  of  the 
Regulations  referred  to  in  Article  XI,  the  question  may, 
by  common  accord,  be  submitted  to  arbitration.  In  this  case 
each  of  the  interested  governments  chooses  another  disin- 
rerested  one.  The  decision  of  the  arbiters  is  determined  by 
he  majority  of  the  votes.  In  case  of  a  tie  the  arbitrators 
ihall  choose  •  another  disinterested  government.  In  case 
:here  is  a  dispute. as  to  the  choice,  each  government  shall 
propose  a  disinterested  contracting  government,  and  lots 
ihall  be  drawn  between  the  disinterested  governments.  The 
Irawing  of  lots  shall  take  place  on  the  territory  of  the  gov- 
;rnment  on  which  the  International  Bureau  is  working  as 
)rovided  in  Article  XII. 

"Article  XIX.    The  contracting  parties  promise  to  take 

)r  to  propose  to  their  respective  legislatures  the  necessary 

,  neasures  to  assure  the  execution  of  the  present  convention. 

1    "Article  XX.    The  contracting  parties  will  inform  each 

*  )ther  as  to  the  laws  already  passed  or  which  are  about  to  be 

)assed   in    their   countries    relating   to   the    object    of    the 

)resent  convention. 

"Article  XXI.  The  contracting  parties  retain  their 
ibsolute  liberty  relative  to  radio-telegraphic  installations 
lot  included  in  Article  I,  and  especially  naval  and  military 
nstallations,  as  well  as  stations  insuring  communication 
letween  fixed  points.  All  these  installations  and  stations  are 
iubject  only  to  the  obligations  mentioned  in  Articles  VIII 
ind  IX  of  the  present  convention.  Always,  when  these  in- 
■tallations  and  stations  exchange  public  maritime  intelli- 
gence, they  shall  conform,  so  far  as  the  execution  of  this 
service  goes,  to  the  rules  of  the  Regulations,  so  far  as  the 
nethod  of  transmission  and  the  responsibility  are  con- 
cerned. If,  however,  coast  stations  guarantee  communica- 
ions  between  fixed  points  at  the  same  time  that  they  com- 
nunicate  public  correspondence  to  ships  at  sea,  they  are  not 
•ubject  for  this  service  to  the  Regulations  of  the  convention 
'xcept  so  far  as  Articles  VIlI  and  IX  are  concerned, 
-lowever,  fixed  stations  which  communicate  between  land 
ind  land  may  not  refuse  to  exchange  radio-telegrams  with 
mother  fixed  station  because  of  the  system  used  by  the 
atter;  always  each  country  is  absolutely  free  so  far  as  the 
jrganization  of  the  service  between  fixed  points  is  con- 
"erned,  and  the  determination  of  the  correspondence  done 
'V  the  stations  belongs  to  this  service. 

Article  XXII.  The  present  convention  shall  be  put 
lUo  execution  on  July  I,  1913,  and  shall  remain  in  force  for 
in  indefinite  length  of  time  and  until  the  expiration  of  a 
ear  from  the  day  of  its  denunciation.  The  denunciation 
las  effect  only  in  respect  to  the  government  in  whose  name 
t  is  made;  for  all  the  other  contracting  parties  the  conven- 
ion  remains  in  force. 
"Article  XXIII.    The  present  convention  shall  be  ratified 


and  the  ratifications  shall  be  deposited  in  London  as  soon 
as  possible.  In  case  one  or  more  of  the  contracting  parties 
does  not  ratify  the  convention,  it  will  be  none  the  less  bind- 
ing on  the  parties  who  shall  have  ratified  it.  In  testimony 
whereof  the  respective  plenipotentiaries  have  signed  the 
convention  by  an  exemplary  which  shall  remain  among  the 
archives  of  the  British  government  and  a  copy  of  which 
shall  be  kept  in  Paris. 

"London,  July  5,   1912."      [Signatures  omitted.] 

FINAL  PROTOCOL. 

'At  the  moment  of  proceeding  with  the  signing  of  the 
convention  agreed  upon  by  the  international  radio- 
telegraphic  conference  of  London,  the  undersigned  plenipo- 
tentiaries agreed  upon  what  follows : 

"I.  The  exact  nature  of  the  acquiescence  announced  in 
the  interest  of  Bosnia-Herzegovina  not  being  as  yet  decided 
upon,  it  is  recognized  that  if  a  voice  is  attributed  to  Bosnia- 
Herzegovina,  a  decision  comes  up  as  to  whether  this  voice 
belongs  to  it  because  of  Article  XII  of  the  convention,  or 
if  this  voice  is  in  accord  with  the  third  paragraph  of  this 
article. 

"II.  It  has  made  the  following  declaration:  The  delega- 
tion from  the  United  States  declares  that  its  government 
finds  its  necessary  to  abstain  from  all  action  concerning  the 
prices,  because  the  transmission  of  radio-telegrams,  as  well 
as  of  telegrams,  in  the  United  States,  is  managed,  either 
entirely  or  in  part,  by  commercial  or  special  companies. 

"III.  It  has  also  made  the  following  declaration:  The 
government  of  Canada  reserves  the  right  to  fix  separately 
for  each  one  of  its  coast  stations  a  total  ship  price  for  radio- 
telegrams  originating  in  North  America  and  destined  for  a 
ship,  the  coast  price  mounting  from  three-fifths  of  the  price 
on  board  to  two-fifths  of  this  total  price. 

"In  witness  whereof  the  respective  plenipotentiaries  have 
drawn  up  the  present  final  protocol,  which  shall  have  the 
same  force  and  the  same  weight  as  if  these  resolutions  had 
been  inserted  in  the  text  of  the  convention  to  which  it 
refers,  and  they  have  signed  it  in  an  exemplary  which  shall 
be  deposited  among  the  archives  of  the  British  government 
and  a  copy  of  which  shall  be  delivered  to  each  party. 

"London,  July  5,  1912." 

SERVICE  REGULATIONS. 

I.      ORGANIZATION   OF  RADIO-TELEGRAPHIC  STATIONS. 

Xo  restriction  is  placed  upon  the  choice  of  apparatus  to 
be  used  by  coast  or  ship  stations,  and  these  installations 
should  correspond  as  far  as  possible  with  scientific  and 
technical  progress.  Two  wave-lengths,  one  of  650  meters 
and  the  other  of  300  meters,  are  allowed  for  general  public 
correspondence,  and  every  coast  station  open  to  this  service 
should  be  so  equipped  as  to  operate  with  these  two  wave- 
lengths, one  of  which  is  designated  as  the  normal  wave- 
length of  the  station.  During  the  time  it  is  open,  each  coast 
station  should  be  ready  to  receive  calls  made  at  least  at  its 
normal  wave-length.  For  the  repetition  of  original  mes- 
sages and  documents  by  ship  stations  to  their  respective 
governments,  use  is  made,  however,  of  a  wave-length  of 
1800  meters.  Each  government  may  authorize  the  use  in 
coast  stations  of  other  wave-lengths  for  the  purpose  of 
insuring  long-distance  service  other  than  that  of  the  general 
public  correspondence,  but  established  in  accordance  with 
the  rules  of  the  convention  and  with  the  reservation  that 
the  wave-lengths  shall  not  exceed  600  meters  or  that  they 
shall  be  greater  than  1600  meters. 

Stations  used  exclusively  for  sending  signals  for  the  pur- 
pose of  determining  the  position  of  ships  shall  not  use 
wave-lengths  of  more  than  150  meters.  All  ship  stations 
should  be  equipped  for  the  use  of  wave-lengths  of  600 
meters  and  of  300  meters.  The  former  is  the  length  of 
normal  waves,  and  cannot  be  exceeded  except  in  the  case 
of  a  sender  on  shipboard,  who  has  always  the  right  to  desig- 
nate bv  which  coast  station  he  wishes  his  radio-telegram  to 


650 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13. 


be  sent;  and  in  such  case  the  ship  station  waits  until  that 
particular  coast  station  is  the  nearest  one.  Other  wave- 
lengths, less  than  600  meters,  may  be  used  in  special  cases, 
with  the  approval  of  the  administration  which  has  jurisdic- 
tion over  the  coast  and  ship  stations  involved.  During  the 
entire  time  which  any  coast  or  ship  station  is  open  it  shou'.d 
be  able  to  receive  signals  or  calls  at  its  normal  wave-length. 
Boats  of  small  tonnage  which  cannot  conveniently  employ 
wave-lengths  of  600  meters  for  transmission  may  be 
authorized  to  use  wave-lengths  of  300  meters,  but  they 
should  be  able  to  receive  signals  at  a  wave-length  of  600 
meters.  Communications  between  two  ship  stations  or 
between  a  ship  station  and  a  coast  station  should  be  ex- 
changed in  every  case  by  means  of  the  same  wave-lengths, 
but  when  communication  is  difficult  the  two  stations  mav, 
in  a  particular  instance  and  by  common  accord,  pass  from 
the  wave-length  by  means  of  which  they  ordinarily  corre- 
spond to  the  other  regulated  wave-length.  As  soon  as  the 
communication  is  completed  they  shall  resume  again  their 
normal  wave-length. 

The  International  Bureau  publishes  and  periodically  re- 
vises an  official  chart,  naming  the  coast  stations,  their  nor- 
mal range,  the  principal  navigation  lines  and  the  time  nor- 
mally taken  by  ships  to  traverse  the  routes  between  the  dif- 
ferent ports.  The  bureau  establishes  and  publishes  the 
nomenclature  of  radio-telegraphic  stations  according  to 
Article  I  of  the  convention,  as  well  as  periodic  supplements 
containing  additions  and  modification.  This  list  gives 
general  information  about  each  station,  including  the  name, 
nationality,  geographical  position  or  name  and  nationality 
of  ship,  the  call  letters,  normal  capacity,  radio-telegraphic 
system  employed,  length  of  waves  (with  normal  wave-length 
underlined),  character  of  service  rendered,  uses  of  service, 
and  the  coast  or  ship  rate.  The  exchange  of  superfluous 
words  and  signals  is  forbidden  to  stations  coming  under 
Article  I  of  the  convention.  Practice  exercises  are  not 
permitted  except  when  they  do  not  interfere  with  the  service 
of  other  stations,  and  should  be  made  with  a  wave-length 
differing  from  those  used  for  public  correspondence  and 
with  the  minimum  of  power.  All  stations  are  expected  to 
exchange  messages  with  the  minimum  necessary  power. 

All  coast  and  ship  stations  should  comply  with  the  follow- 
ing requirements:  (a)  The  waves  sent  out  should  be  as 
pure  and  as  little  damped  as  possible.  Direct  spark  dis- 
charges from  antennas  are  not  allowed  except  in  cases  of 
distress  and  also  for  certain  special  stations  in  which  the 
primary  power  does  not  exceed  50  watts,  (b)  The  mini- 
mum speed  requirement  is  twenty  words  per  minute,  the 
average  word  being  considered  to  contain  five  letters.  New 
installations  with  a  primary  input  of  more  than  50  watts 
should  be  equipped  so  that  it  will  be  readily  possible  to  em- 
ploy several  ranges  inferior  to  the  normal  range,  the  weak- 
est being  about  130  nautical  miles.  Old  installations  having 
a  primary  input  in  excess  of  50  watts  shall  be  changed  to 
conform  with  the  new  rules  as  soon  as  possible,  (c)  The 
receiving  apparatus  should  be  able  to  receive  wave-lengths 
provided  by  the  present  regulations  up  to  600  meters,  with 
a  maximum  protection  against  disturbances. 

Stations  employed  only  to  determine  the  position  of  ships 
should  not  operate  w-ithin  a  radius  of  more  than  30  nautical 
miles.  In  the  case  of  ship  stations  power  delivered  to  the 
radio-telegraphic  apparatus,  measured  by  the  capacity  of 
the  station  generator,  should  not  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances exceed  i  kw ;  but  power  capacity  greater  than  i  kw 
may  be  used  if  the  distance  from  the  nearest  coast  station 
is  greater  than  200  nautical  miles,  or.  under  exceptional 
circumstances,  if  the  communication  cannot  be  established 
except  by  augmenting  the  power.  Every  ship  station  owned 
or  managed  by  private  enterprise  must  hold  a  license  from 
the  government  to  which  it  belongs,  and  this  license  should 
be  honored  by  all  of  the  contracting  governments  as  indi- 
cating the  possession  of  an  installation  complying  with 
these  regulations. 


Operators  in  charge  of  ship  stations  should  possess  a 
license  from  the  governments  to  which  the  vessels  belong, 
or,  in  case  of  necessity  and  for  one  voyage  only,  from  an- 
other contracting  government.  First-class  operators'  cer- 
tificates certify  ability  to  regulate  the  apparatus  and  knowl- 
edge of  its  functioning,  ability  to  transmit  and  receive  mes- 
sages b)'  sound  at  a  rate  of  not  less  than  twenty  words  per 
minute  and  a  knowledge  of  the  Regulations.  Second-class 
certificates  will  be  issued  to  operators  who  qualify  under 
the  requirements  of  the  first  class  except  in  failing  to  attain 
the  speed  requirements.  Second-class  operators  will  be 
allowed  on  boats  which  employ  radio-telegraphic  communi- 
cation only  for  their  own  service  and  the  correspondence  oi 
the  crew,  particularly  on  fishing  boats,  and  on  all  boats., 
under  the  title  of  "assistant,"  provided  there  is  in  additior 
at  least  one  operator  holding  a  first-class  certificate.  At 
the  ship  stations  having  a  permanent  service  there  should  b« 
at  least  two  first-class  operators  in  attendance.  No  om 
may  transmit  a  message  from  a  ship  station  except  a  first- 
class  or  second-class  operator,  except  in  an  emergency 
Operators'  certificates  impose  the  burden  of  secrecy  in  re- 
lation to  all  correspondence.  The  radio-telegraphic  servia 
of  all  stations  is  subject  to  the  authority  of  the  captain. 

Ship  stations  having  a  permanent  service  or  limited  hour: 
of  service  are  obliged  to  have  radio-telegraphic  installa 
tions  whose  elements  are  placed  under  conditions  of  th< 
greatest  possible  security.  These  safeguarded  installation! 
should  be  equipped  with  an  adequate  source  of  power 
should  be  in  condition  to  be  placed  quickly  in  service,  shoulc 
be  capable  of  continuous  operation  for  at  least  six  hour; 
and  should  have  a  minimum  range  of  80  nautical  miles  fo 
ships  giving  continuous  service  and  50  nautical  miles  fo: 
those  having  limited  hours  of  service.  This  safety  appa 
ratus  is  not  required  on  boats  whose  regular  apparatus  al 
ready  fulfils  the  foregoing  conditions. 

Infraction  of  the  convention  committed  by  a  duly  author 
ized  station  is  punishable  by  the  administration  which  ha 
jurisdiction  by  revoking  the  license  of  the  operator  or  thi 
station,  or  both.  In  the  case  of  repeated  infractions  by  th' 
same  station,  when  repeated  complaints  to  the  administra 
tion  have  had  no  effect,  arbitration  is  provided  for. 

11.    DUR.\TI0N    OF    SERVICE    IN    STATIONS. 

The  duration  of  service  in  coast  stations  is  to  be  uninter 
rupted,  as  far  as  possible,  day  and  night.  Certain  stations 
however,  may  have  a  limited  service.  Each  administratio 
will  fix  the  hours  of  service.  Coast  stations  having  limite 
service  may  not  close  before  having  transmitted  all  th 
radio-telegrams  for  ships  in  their  sphere  of  action,  an 
before  having  received  from  such  ships  all  the  radio-tele 
grams  announced.  Ship  stations  are  divided  into  thre 
classes :  First,  those  having  permanent  service ;  seconc 
those  having  limited  hours  of  service,  and,  third,  those  no 
having  stated  hours  of  rest.  During  navigation  stations  o 
the  first  category  should  be  always  listening;  those  of  th 
second  category  should  listen  during  hours  of  service  an' 
also  during  the  first  ten  minutes  of  every  hour,  and  station 
of  the  third  class  are  never  compelled  to  listen. 

III.     THE   WORDING   .\ND  FILING  OF  RADIO-TELEGRAMS. 

In  the  transmission  of  original  radio  telegrams  from 
ship  at  sea,  the  date  and  hour  of  filing  at  the  ship  station  ar 
indicated  in  the  preface,  and  in  the  re-transmission  over  th 
telegraphic  system  the  coast  station  is  inscribed  as  an  in 
dication  of  the  station  of  origin,  with  the  name  of  the  origi 
nal  ship  and,  if  possible,  that  of  the  last  ship  which  serve 
as  an  intermediary.  The  address  of  radio-telegrams  sen 
to  ships  should  be  as  complete  as  possible,  and  must  con 
form  to  certain  detailed  rules  given  in  the  regulations. 

IV.      COAST    CHARGE    AND    SHIP    CHARGE. 

The  coast  charge  and  the  ship  charge  are  fixed  accordin 
to  the  charge  per  word  on  the  basis  of  a  fair  remuneratio: 


Septembkr  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


651 


for  the  radio-telegraphic  work,  with  an  optional  addition 
of   the   minimum    charge    per    radio-telegram.     The    coast 

I  price  cannot  exceed  12  cents  per  word,  and  that  of  a  ship 
8  cents  per  word.  However,  each  administration  has  the 
right  to  authorize  coast  prices  higher  than  the  maximum  in 
the  case  of  stations  having  a  range  exceeding  400  nautical 
miles  or  stations  operating  under  exceptionally  burdensome 
conditions.  The  minimum  optional  price  cannot  be  more 
than  the  coast  or  ship  price  of  a  ten-word  radio-telegram. 
When  an  original  radio-telegram  sent  from  a  ship,  destined 
for  the  land,  passes  through  one  or  two  ship  stations,  the 
price  includes,  besides  the  charge  of  the  originating  ship  or 
coast  station  and  the  telegraphic  line,  the  ship  price  of  each 
boat  which  has  participated  in  the  transmission.  The 
sender  of  a  radio-telegram  from  an  inland  station  addressed 

'  to  a  ship  station  deposits  the  amount  of  the  telegraphic  and 
radio-telegraphic  charges,  and  in  addition  a  sum  to  cover 
possible  charges  at  intermediate  ship  stations.  Charges  for 
radio-telegrams  from  ship  to  ship,  passing  through  one  or 
two  intermediate  coast  stations,  include  the  ship  price  on 

>  board  both  ships,  the  charge  at  the  coast  station  or  stations 
and  the  charge  for  transit  between  the  two  coast  stations. 
The  charges  for  radio-telegrams  from  ship  to  ship,  without 

1  the  intervention  of  a  coast  station,  include  the  two  ship 
charges  plus  the  charge  of  any  intermediate  ship.  The 
charges  for  intermediate  ships  or  coast  stations  are  the 
same  as  for  stations  of  origin  and  destination.  The  country 
on  whose  territory  the  coast  station  serves  as  an  inter- 
mediary for'  the  exchange  of  radio-telegrams  between  a 
ship  and  another  country  is  considered,  in  so  far  as  the 
charges  are  concerned,  as  the  country  of  destination  and  not 
as  the  country  of  transit. 

V.     THE    LEVYING    OF    CHARGES. 

The  total  charge  for  a  radio-telegram  is  collected  from 
the  sender,  except,  at  first,  in  the  case  of  the  express  charges 
and,  second,  in  the  case  of  combined  or  altered  words  de- 
clared non-admissible  by  the  office  or  station  of  destination, 
when  these  extras  are  collected  from  the  receiver.  Ship 
stations  should  carry  a  list  of  tariffs  on  board. 

VI.     THE   TRANSMISSION    OF    RADIO-TELEGRAMS. 

The  signals  used  are  to  be  those  of  the  Morse  inter- 
national code.     The  international  distress  signal   is  to  be 

... ...  repeated  at  short  intervals  and  followed  by 

the  necessary  indications. 

Distress  signals  will  take  precedence  over  all  other  com- 
munications. Between  two  stations  radio-telegrams  of  the 
same  rank  will  be  transmitted  alternately,  one  by  one,  or 
in  a  series  of  several,  following  the  instructions  of  the 
coast  station,  on  the  condition  that  the  duration  of  the  trans- 
mission of  each  series  shall  not  be  in  excess  of  fifteen 
minutes. 

The  Regulations  prescribe  detailed  rules  at  considerable 
length  to  govern  the  procedure  in  calling  from  station  to 
station  and  dispatching  messages.  Every  station  which  is 
about  to  send  a  message  necessitating  the  use  of  great  power 

must  first  send  out  a  warning  signal, .. — • — ,  three 

times  in  succession,  and  shall  not  commence  using  the  in- 
creased power  until  thirty  seconds  after  the  warning.  As 
soon  as  a  ship  station  picks  up  a  coast  station  it  is  to  in- 
dicate its  approximate  distance,  its  position,  the  next  port 
for  which  it  is  bound  and  the  number  of  radio-telegrams 
awaiting  transmission.  When  a  coast  station  is  called  by 
several  ship  stations  simultaneously  it  decides  upon  the 
order  in  which  these  stations  shall  be  allowed  to  exchange 
their  correspondence. 

When  a  radio-te'egram  contains  more  than  forty  words 
the  sending  station  interrupts  the  transmission  after  each 
group  of  twenty  words  and  sends  a  special  signal,  awaiting 
acknowledgment  and  repetition  of  the  last  transmitted  word 
before  it  continues  with  the  message.  Coast  stations  occu- 
pied in  transmitting  long  radio-telegrams   should   suspend 


transmission  after  every  fifteen-miinite  interval  and  remain 
silent  for  three  minutes  before  continuing  again.  When 
signals  become  uncertain  it  is  important  to  have  recourse 
to  all  possible  expedients  for  securing  transmission.  For 
this  purpose  a  radio-telegram  shall  be  repeated  at  most 
three  times,  at  the  request  of  the  receiving  station.  If  then 
the  signals  are  still  indistinct,  the  message  will  be  annulled. 
In  general  ship  stations  send  their  radio-telegrams  to 
the  nearest  coast  station.  However,  if  the  ship  station  can 
choose  between  several  coast  stations  practically  equidistant, 
it  gives  preference  to  that  one  established  on  the  territory 
of  the  country  of  destination,  or  to  the  natural  destination 
of  the  radio-telegram.  A  sender  on  shipboard  has  always 
the  right  to  designate  to  which  coast  station  he  wishes  his 
radio-telegram  sent,  and  the  ship  station  then  waits  until 
that  coast  station  is  the  nearest  one,  but  in  certain  excep- 
tions transmission  may  be  made  through  more  distant  coast 
stations,  provided:  (a)  that  the  radio-telegram  is  destined 
for  the  country  in  which  this  nearest  coast  station  is  situ- 
ated and  comes  from  a  ship  registered  in  that  country; 
(b)  that  the  two  stations  use  a  wave-length  of  more  than 
1800  meters;  (c)  that  this  transmission  does  not  interfere 
with  transmission  by  means  of  the  same  wave-lengths  by 
a  nearer  coast  station;  (d)  that  the  ship  station  is  more 
than  50  nautical  miles  distant  from  all  stations  mentioned 
in  the  nomenclature.  The  distance  of  50  miles  may  be 
reduced  to  25  miles,  with  the  reservation  that  the  maximum 
generator  power  does  not  exceed  5  kw,  and  that  the  ship's 
station  conforms  with  the  regulations  in  respect  to  the 
character  and  quality  of  waves  and  the  allowable  power 
input. 

VII.    DELIVERING  OF  RADIO-TELEGRAMS  AT  THEIR  DESTINATION. 

If  for  any  reason  a  radio-telegram  coming  from  a  ship 
at  sea  and  directed  to  the  land  cannot  be  delivered  to  the 
addressee,  notice  of  non-delivery  is  sent  out  to  the  coast 
station  that  first  received  the  message.  The  latter  in  turn 
transmits  the  notice  to  the  ship,  if  possible.  If  a  ship  to 
which  a  radio-telegram  is  addressed  has  not  signaled  its 
presence  to  the  coast  station  within  the  time  limit  indicated 
by  the  sender,  or  when  there  is  a  delay  of  more  than  eight 
days,  the  coast  station  notifies  the  originating  office,  which 
in  turn  transmits  word  to  the  sender. 

VIII.      SPECIAL    RADIO-TELEGRAMS. 

The  Regulations  enumerate  several  special  forms  of 
messages,  and  stipulations  in  regard  thereto,  which  will  be 
accepted  for  transmission.  These  include  radio-telegrams 
handled  by  mail  over  the  land  portion  of  their  routes. 

IX.     ARCHIVES. 

The  originals  of  radio-telegrams,  as  well  as  the  documents 
relating  to  them  kept  by  the  administration,  are  preserved, 
with  all  necessary  precaution  from  the  point  of  view  of 
secrecy,  for  at  least  fifteen  months. 

X.      REDUCTIONS     AND    REIMBURSEMENTS. 

In  all  that  concerns  reductions  and  reimbursements  ap- 
plication is  made  of  the  rules  of  the  International  Tele- 
graphic Bureau,  with  due  regard  for  the  present  regula- 
tions relating  to  special  radio-telegrams.  The  time  con- 
sumed in  transmission,  as  well  as  delays  in  coast  stations 
awaiting  the  ship  of  destination,  is  not  considered  in  mak- 
ing reductions  and  reimbursements.  If  a  coast  station  sends 
word  to  an  originating  office  that  a  message  cannot  be  trans- 
mitted to  the  ship  for  which  it  is  destined,  the  administra- 
tion of  the  country  of  its  origin  demands  the  repayment  of 
the  coast  and  ship  charges  to  the  sender. 

XI.     CHARGES. 

The  coast  and  ship  rates  have  no  relationship  to  the 
charges  provided  for  by  the  International  Telegraphic  Reg- 
ulations.    The  charges  collected  under  these  rates  should 


652 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  13. 


be  liquidated  by  the  administration  interested.  In  trans- 
mission over  telegraphic  lines  a  radio-telegram,  from  the 
standpoint  of  rates,  is  treated  in  conformity  with  the  tele- 
graphic regulations.  The  Regulations  provide  at  some 
length  for  international  settlements  of  the  charges  collected 
by  the  various  administrations  for  the  transmission  of 
radio-telegrams. 

XII.     THE   ISTERXATIONAL   BUREAU. 

The  supplementary  expenditures  resulting  from  conduct- 
ing the  International  Bureau  should  not,  in  all  that  con- 
cerns radio-telegraphy,  exceed  $16,000  per  annum,  not  in- 
cluding the  special  expenditures  occasioned  by  the  meeting 
of  the  International  Conference,  So  far  as  contributions 
to  expenditures  are  concerned,  the  contracting  govern- 
ments are  divided  into  six  classes,  the  members  of  each 
class  being   enumerated   in  the  regulations. 

XIII.      METEOROLOGICAL     AND    TIME     SIGNALS. 

Each  government  shall  take  the  necessary  steps  to  trans- 
mit to  its  coast  stations  any  meteorological  telegrams  con- 
taining news  of  interest  to  the  regions  in  which  they  are 
situated.  These  telegrams,  which  should  not  exceed  twenty 
words,  are  to  be  transmitted  to  ships  which  request  such 
information.  The  charges  for  these  meteorological  tele- 
grams will  be  paid  by  the  ships  to  which  they  are  sent. 
Meteorological  observations  made  by  certain  ships  desig- 
nated for  this  work  by  the  countries  to  which  they  belong 
may  be  transmitted  once  a  day,  charged  as  service  notices, 
to  coast  stations  authorized  to  receive  and  transmit  them 
to  certain  designated  meteorological  offices.  Time  signals 
and  meteorological  messages  will  be  transmitted  in  succes- 
sion, so  that  the  total  duration  of  transmission  will  not 
exceed  ten  minutes,  and  in  general  every  station  whose 
operation  would  interfere  therewith  should  be  silent  during 
this  interval  except  in  the  case  of  distress  signals  and  state 
telegrams.  Each  government  shall  also  facilitate  commu- 
nication for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  maritime  information 
concerning  matters  of  danger  to  vessels  or  information  of 
general   interest   concerning   navigation. 

XIV.     MISCELLANEOUS  REGULATIONS. 

Messages  exchanged  between  ship  stations  should  be  car- 
ried on  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  disturb  the  coast  stations, 
the  latter  having,  as  a  general  rule,  the  right  of  way  as 
regards  public  communication.  Coast  and  ship  stations  are 
to  assist  in  the  transmission  of  radio-telegrams  when  direct 
communication  cannot  be  established  between  the  origi- 
nating station  and  the  destination.  The  number  of  re- 
transmissions is  limited  to  two.  If  a  radio-telegram  is  to  be 
sent  partly  over  telegraphic  lines  or  via  radio-telegraphic 
stations  belonging  to  a  non-contracting  government,  it  may 
be  transmitted  on  the  condition  that  the  administration  of 
the  government  in  question  has  declared  itself  willing,  when 
possible,  to  observe  the  convention  and  the  Regulations, 
which  are  indispensable  to  the  regular  transmission  of 
radio-telegrams,  and  upon  the  further  condition  that  the 
charges  are  paid.  Modifications  of  the  present  Regulations 
which  shall  be  found  necessary  in  further  conferences  shall 
be  put  in  force  on  the  date  decided  upon  by  each  such  con- 
ference. The  provisions  of  the  International  Telegraphic 
Regulations  are  applicable,  by  analogy,  to  radio-telegraphic 
communication,  in  so  far  as  they  are  not  contrary  to  the 
present  Regulations.  For  the  application  of  the  provisions 
of  the  radio-telegraphic  regulations,  coast  stations  are  con- 
sidered as  stations  of  transit,  except  when  the  Regulations 
expressly  stipulate  that  these  stations  shall  be  considered 
as  stations  of  origin  or  destination. 

On  Julv  I,  1913,  the  present  Regulations  will  become 
effective.  These  Regulations  have  been  signed  by  the  re- 
spective plenipotentiaries  and  a  copy  has  been  deposited  in 
the  archives  of  the   British    government. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW     YORK     COMMISSION,     FIRST     DISTRICT, 

The  Public  Service  Commission,  First  District,  has 
denied  the  request  of  the  New  York  Railways  Company 
and  five  other  street  car  companies  of  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  for  permission  to  operate  a  line  of  trolley  cars 
across  the  Manhattan  Bridge  over  the  East  River  under  a 
temporary  permit  granted  by  the  Bridge  Commissioner 
Feb.  29,  1912.  This  action  was  taken  under  an  opinion  by 
Mr.  George  S.  Coleman,  counsel  to  the  commission,  holding 
that  the  bridge  commissioner  has  no  authority  to  issue  such 
a  permit  and  that  all  franchises  for  street-railway  operation 
should  be  granted  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Appor- 
tionment. 

NEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    SECOND   DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  District,  has 
made  an  order  requiring  the  Adirondack  Electric  Power 
Corporation  to  show  cause  before  the  commission  at 
Albany  on  Sept.  30  why  an  order  should  not  be  made 
requiring  it  to  put  its  plant  and  transmission  lines  generally 
in  such  condition  as  would  obviate  and  prevent  failures  to 
supply  its  patrons  and  customers  with  electric  energy, 

NEW  JERSEY  COMMISSION. 

The  Board  of  Public  Utility  Commissioners  has  printed 
and  distributed  in  pamphlet  form  the  proposed  rules  and 
regulations  for  electric-light  companies  submitted  for  con- 
sideration by  the  chief  inspector  of  the  utilities  division. 
The  proposed  regulations  embrace  twenty-nine  different 
items,  covering  methods  of  construction,  maintenance  and 
operation.  It  is  specified  that  buildings,  machinery  and 
plant  must  be  maintained  at  all  times  as  required  by  the 
National  Electric  Code.  The  N.  E.  L.  A.  specifications  for 
overhead-line  construction,  joint  pole  lines  and  overhead 
line  crossings  are  made  part  of  the  proposed  regulations. 
A  copy  of  these  proposed  regulations  has  been  sent  to 
each  electric  light  and  power  company  operating  in  New 
Jersey,  with  notice  that  a  conference  will  be  held  at  Tren- 
ton on  Oct.  6  to  consider  their  adoption, 

MARYLAND  COMMISSION, 

Through  an  order  signed  last  week  by  the  Maryland 
Public  Service  Commission,  there  will  practically  be  a 
rehearing  of  the  telephone  rate  case.  The  order  was  issued 
as  a  result  of  a  petition  filed  by  the  Protective  Telephone 
Association  of  Baltimore.  This  petition  asked  that  the 
flat-rate  schedule  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Potomac  Tele- 
phone Company,  which  expires  Oct.  I,  be  extended  until 
April  I,  1913.  The  order  provides  that  arguments  shall 
be  heard  on  Sept.  30  on  whether  the  petition  should  be 
granted. 

MASSACHUSETTS    COMMISSION. 

The  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission  gave  a  public 
hearing  last  week  upon  the  proposed  codification  of  laws 
relative  to  the  distribution  and  sale  of  gas  and  electricity, 
pursuant  to  an  act  of  the  last  Legislature.  The  act  pro- 
vides that  the  board  shall  revise,  consolidate  and  arrange 
the  general  laws  of  the  State  in  this  connection  and  recom- 
mend any  additional  legislation  deemed  necessary  in  a 
report  to  the  next  General  Court  in  January,  1913.  The 
hearing  was  preliminary  to  a  more  extended  discussion  to 
be  held  at  a  later  date.  President  Henry  I.  Harriman  of 
the  Connecticut  River  Transmission  Company,  Boston, 
informed  the  commission  that  his  interests  are  doing  busi- 
ness in  three  New  England  states,  and  that  the  only  way 
in  which  the  Massachusetts  plants  can  be  run  profitably 
under  the  present  laws  is  by  maintaining  separate  corpora- 
tions and  controlling  them  by  a  holding  company.  He 
advocated  such  a  revision  of  the  laws  that  holding  com- 
panies would  be  needless  and  favored  the  consolidation  of 
the  separate  properties  now  existing.    Mr.  Alton  D.  Adams,,i 


September  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


653 


for  the  town  of  Leominster,  contended  that  the  small  motor 
customer  does  not  obtain  the  benefit  of  the  lowest  rates 
for  transmitted  energy  and  urged  such  modification  of  the 
laws  as  would  give  the  commission  jurisdiction  over  the 
rates  of  power  companies.  The  hearing  was  continued  to 
Oct.  21. 

OHIO  COMMISSION. 

The  Public  Service  Commission  recently  heard  testimony 
and  arguments  on  the  application  of  the  Union  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  of  Cincinnati,  for  authority  to  issue 
$500,000  new  preferred  stock.  President  James  C.  Ernst 
and  Attorney  J.  C.  Heintzman  appeared  for  the  company, 
while  City  Solicitor  Bettman  was  present  to  oppose  the 
petition.  Representatives  of  the  company  explained  that 
when  the  properties  of  the  Cincinnati  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany were  -taken  over  on  a  lease  the  agreement  provided 
that  securities  to  the  amount  of  $3,000,000  should  be  depos- 
ited with  a  trustee  to  insure  the  terms  being  carried  out. 
.\t  that  time  $3,300,000  bonds  of  the  Columbia  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric Company  were  deposited,  but  they  have  since  depreci- 
ated until  they  are  worth  less  than  the  amount  agreed  upon. 
The  companv  wishes  to  exchange  this  new  issue  of  pre- 
ferre  i  stick  for  a  like  amount  of  Columbia  bonds  and 
deposit  them  with  the  trustee  to  make  good  the  deposit. 
The  dividends  on  the  stock  are  to  be  at  the  rate  of  6  per 
cent,    while    the    bonds    draw    5    per    cent    interest. 

The  Mount  Vernon  Railway  Company  has  made  applica- 
tion to  the  commission  for  authority  to  purchase  the  plant 
3f  the  Mount  Vernon  Electric  Company  for  $50,000.  The 
railroad  company  has  been  operating  the  lighting  and  power 
olant  under  a  lease  for  some  years. 

MICHIGAN    COMMISSION. 

Commissioner  Hemans  stated  a  few  days  ago  that  the 
State  Railroad  Commission  had  not  been  officially  notified 
)f  the  temporary  restraining  order  issued  in  the  case  of 
Edward  McGill  against  the  commission  and  the  Home  Tele- 
)hone  Company  of  Detroit  to  prevent  consolidation  with 
he  Michigan  State  Telephone  Company.  He  said  that  this 
s  necessary  in  cases  of  this  kind.  Attorney  James  O. 
Vlurfin,  representing  the  Bell  interests,  stated  that  no  notice 
)f  the  temporary  injunction  had  been  served  upon  his  com- 
)any  and  that  it  would  proceed  with  the  consolidation,  since 
m  injunction  had  been  refused  the  Home  Telephone  Com- 
)any  of  Grass  Lake  in  the  lower  courts.  However,  Attor- 
ley  Samuel  Kelley,  acting  for  the  petitioners  in  the  two 
njunction  cases,  said  that  the  time  allowed  for  the  appeal 
)f  the  Grass  Lake  Company  has  not  expired  and  the  case 
vill  be  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court.  The  Bell  interests,  he 
leclared.  cannot  proceed  with  the  consolidation  in  the  face 
)f  the  temporary  injunction,  no  matter  what  may  be  said 
)y  their  attorneys. 

WISCONSIN    COMMISSION. 

In  a  decision  reviewing  the  action  of  the  commission  in 
he  ."Kppleton  water-works  case.  Judge  Park  has  taken  issue 
vith  the  commission  on  the  subject  of  franchise  values, 
lolding  that  the  commission  should  have  included  a  fran- 
:hise  value  in  its  valuation  of  the  plant.  The  result  of 
slacing  a  value  on  the  indeterminate  permit,  which  the 
lecision  holds  should  be  done,  would  be  practically  to 
iestroy  the  effect  of  the  public  utilities  law.  It  is  con- 
>idered  very  probable  that  the  Supreme  Court  will  reverse 
he  decision  of  the  lower  court. 

CALIFORNIA   COMMISSION. 

On  Sept.  7  the  Railroad  Commission  issued  a  general 
jrder  requiring  all  public  utilities  to  file  with  the  commis- 
sion such  rates  as  depart  from  the  standard  schedule  be- 
:ause  of  service  rendered  in  return  for  right-of-way  or  at 
■educed  rates  to  employees,  charitable  and  educational  insti- 

utions,  etc.  On  Sept.  12  announcement  was  made  that 
Jrders  are  in  preparation  requiring  all  utilities  to  preserve 
ill  records  and  calling  upon  railroads   for  monthly  statis- 

ical  reports. 


Current  News  and  Notes 


Russian  Wireless  Conference. — It  is  reported  that  the 
postal  authorities  of  Russia  have  called  a  conference  for 
the  purpose  of  formulating  regulations  for  government 
supervision  of  wireless  stations  and  the  use  of  radio-teleg- 
raphy on  foreign  ships  in  Russian  waters. 

*  *     * 

Government  Monograph  on  "Commercial  Organiza- 
tions."— Trade  associations  throughout  the  country  will 
be  interested  in  a  bulletin  soon  to  be  issued  by  the  Bureau 
of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  of  the  Department  of 
Commerce  and  Labor  entitled  "Commercial  Organizations." 
This  will  give  the  results  of  the  activities  of  seventy-six 
commercial  associations  of  the  United  States,  with  special 
reference  to  the  development  of  foreign  trade.  Other 
phases  of  the  work  of  these  bodies  will  also  be  described, 
including  industrial  expositions,  methods  of  developing 
wholesale  and  retail  trade,  municipal  publicity,  extension 
of  industrial  enterprises,  etc. 

*  *     * 

Surface  Waters  of  California. — The  United  States 
Geological  Survey  has  published  as  Water  Supply  Paper 
No.  295  a  loo-page  pamphlet  entitled  "Gazetteer  of  Sur- 
face Waters  of  California;  Part  I,  Sacramento  River 
Basin."  This  gazetteer  is  the  first  of  a  series  of  reports 
on  the  surface  waters  of  California  prepared  by  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  under  co-operative  agreement  with  the  State 
of  California.  Part  II  when  it  appears  will  cover  the  San 
Joaquin  River  basin,  and  Part  III  will  deal  with  Great 
Basin  and  Pacific  Coast  streams.  The  stream-flow  meas- 
urements in  these  three  districts  will  apear  in  Water 
Supply  Papers  Nos.  298,  299  and  300  respectively,  bearing 
the  general  title  "Water  Resources  of  California." 

*  *     * 

People's  Electrical  Page  in  Chicago. — The  second 
appearance  of  the  "People's  Electrical  Page"  in  Chicago 
was  made  on  Sept.  17  in  the  Chicago  Tribune.  Like  its 
predecessors  in  Chicago  and  elsewhere,  the  page  is  made 
up  of  a  central  portion  devoted  to  electrical  miscellany  sur- 
rounded by  the  displayed  advertisements  of  electrical  busi- 
ness houses.  The  largest  space  is  taken  by  the  Common- 
wealth Edison  Company.  An  exceptionally  interesting  "ad" 
is  that  of  the  Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  the 
city  of  Chicago.  Here  the  use  of  modern  electrical  con- 
veniences is  recommended  for  the  home,  and  the  anounce- 
ment  concludes  with  the  statement  that  "the  business  world 
to-day  concedes  that  the  electrical  contractor  is  the  logical 
man  to  consult  in  reference  to  the  installation  of  these  ap- 
pliances." 

San  Francisco  Gas  Rates. — The  San  Francisco  Board 
of  Supervisors  recently  fixed  a  gas  rate  for  the  city  and 
county  of  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  of  75  cents  per  1000  cu.  ft. 
for  the  fiscal  year  of  1912-13.  This  rate  was  accepted  by 
the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  which  serves  this 
community.  The  action  of  the  board  was  taken  as  a  result 
of  an  exhaustive  investigation  conducted  by  Supervisor 
Adolf  Koshland  into  the  company's  gas  business.  The  re- 
sult of  this  investigation  was  submitted  in  a  report  of  the 
committee  on  gas  lighting  and  rates  to  the  Board  of  Super- 
visors under  date  of  June  17.  For  the  previous  year  the 
rate  was  80  cents.  In  the  early  days  the  gas  rate  was  as 
high  as  $1.25  per  1000  cu.  ft.,  having  been  reduced  in  suc- 
cessive steps  to  $1,  then  to  95  cents,  and  still  later  to  90 
cents.  The  litigation  which  has  always  attended  the  efforts 
of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  to  reduce  rates  in  former  years 
was  absent  in  the  present  instance,  partly  for  the  reason,  it 
is  said,  that  the  present  investigation  was  thorough  and 
exhaustive. 


II 


6S4 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol,  6o,  No.  13. 


Pennsylvania  Utilities  Bill  Under  Consideration. — 
A  public  utilities  bill  was  the  first  of  a  series  drafted  by 
the  legislative  sub-committee  of  the  Republican  State  Com- 
mittee in  session  at  Harrisburg.  The  bill  is  framed  along 
the  lines  of  the  Tener  bill  of  191 1,  but  has  wider  powers 
and  more  drastic  provisions.  It  was  presented  by  Mr. 
William  Draper  Lewis,  of  Philadelphia. 

=F      *      * 

Movement  for  Electricity  Standard  in  France. — The 
Minister  of  Commerce  of  France  is  reported  to  be  working 
on  a  bill  for  the  further  protection  of  consumers  against 
fraud.  Minister  David's  bill  will  establish  legal  standards 
for  electricity,  heat,  candle-power  and  other  results  of 
modern  progress,  and  those  who  supply  service  will  have 
to  conform  to  its  standards  under  the  penalty  of  legal  pro- 
ceedings. Electricity  meters  and  lamps  purporting  to  give 
certain  candle-powers  will  be  among  the  articles  henceforth 
subject  to  the  same  regulations  as  trade  weights  and 
measures. 

Water  Resources  of  the  Penobscot  River  Basin, 
Maine. — Water  Supply  Paper  No.  279,  prepared  by  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey,  is  a  280-page  publication 
entitled  "Water  Resources  of  the  Penobscot  River  Basin, 
Maine,"  by  Messrs.  H.  K.  Barrows  and  C.  C.  Babb.  This 
exhaustive  paper  describes  the  general  features  of  the 
basin  and  presents  data  on  stream  flow,  the  relation  of  run- 
off to  precipitation,  evaporation,  floods,  low-water  condi- 
tions, developed  and  undeveloped  water-power,  water  stor- 
age, effect  of  present  storage  flow,  and  log-driving  and 
lumbering.  It  includes  all  data  that  were  available  at  the 
end  of  the  calendar  year  1909  and  is  accompanied  by  plans 
and  profiles  of  the  principal  rivers,  lakes  and  ponds  in  the 
basin,  given  in  Plates  XIII  to  XIX  at  the  end  of  the 
volume.  The  stream  flow  data  for  1910  and  191 1  will  be 
published  in  Water  Supply  Papers  Nos.  281  and  301  re- 
spectively. 

*     *     * 

Operations  of  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company. — 
Statistical  information  presented  in  a  recent  announcement 
of  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company  of  San  Francisco 
contains  some  facts  of  interest  in  showing  the  extensive 
operations  of  this  large  company.  The  company  has  six- 
teen electric  generating  plants,  including  those  under  con- 
struction, with  a  total  rating  of  292,573  hp.  This  rating 
is  divided  into  192,973  hp  in  hydroelectric  plants  and  99,- 
600  hp  in  steam  generating  plants.  The  overhead  trans- 
mission and  distribution  lines  total  3289  miles  in  length, 
and  there  are  6i  miles  of  underground  lines  and  105  suu- 
stations.  The  water  department  reports  storage  capacity 
for  50,000,000,000  gal.  and  540  miles  of  irrigation  canals, 
pipe  lines,  etc.  In  the  gas  department  there  are  fifteen 
plants  rated  for  an  output  of  40,000,000  cu.  ft.  per  day. 
There  is  also  a  street  railway  system  in  Sacramento  having 
39  miles  of  track  and  sixty-two  cars.  Mr.  F.  G.  Drum  is 
president  of  the  company  and  Mr.  John  A.  Britton  is  vice- 
president  and  general  manager. 

Government  Regulation  of  Wireless  Communication 
at  Panama. — In  the  Panama  Canal  act  signed  by  President 
Taft  on  Aug.  24,  which  includes  the  much  discussed  declara- 
tion that  "no  tolls  shall  be  levied  upon  vessels  engaged  in 
the  coastwise  trade  of  the  United  States,"  there  is  rather 
elaborate  provision  for  the  use  of  wireless  communication 
along  and  near  the  canal.  Under  Section  6  the  President 
is  authorized  to  have  such  wireless  telegraph  stations 
erected  and  operated  at  such  suitable  places  along  the  canal 
and  the  adjacent  coast  as  he  may  deem  necessary  for  the 
operation  and  protection  of  the  canal.  If  necessary,  the 
President  is  authorized  to  conduct  negotiations  for  the 
erection  of  wireless  stations  upon  the  territory  of  the 
Republic  of  Panama.  Private  and  commercial  messages 
will    be    handled,    but    government    communications    will 


always  receive  precedence  in  transmission.  The  President 
is  also  authorized  to  make  such  arrangements  with  private 
wireless  companies  as  seem  in  his  judgment  desirable  for 
the  purpose  of  insuring  immunity  of  the  government  wire- 
less system  from  interference  by  commercial  companies. 

*  *     * 

SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Indiana  Electric  Light  Association. — Announcement 
has  been  made  by  Mr.  J.  V.  Zartman,  secretary,  of  a 
change  in  the  date  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Indiana 
Electric  Light  Association.  The  meeting  will  be  held  at 
Indianapolis  on  Oct.  30  and  31.  The  office  of  the  secretary 
is  at  1208  Meridian  Street,  Indianapolis. 

*  Hf     * 

Electric  Club  of  Chicago.- — There  was  a  good  attend- 
ance at  the  first-of-the-season  meeting  of  the  Electric  Club 
of  Chicago  on  Sept.  19  at  the  Hotel  Sherman,  the  new 
meeting  place  of  the  club.  President  A.  A.  Gray  spoke 
of  the  co-operative  movement  started  at  the  Association 
Island  conference,  and  Mr.  William  E.  Mason,  former 
United  States  Senator  from  Illinois,  gave  a  brief  talk  on 
"Citizenship." 

*  *     * 

Telephone  Pioneers  of  America. — At  a  recent  meeting 
of  the  general  committee  on  arangements  for  the  second 
annual  reunion  of  the  Telephone  Pioneers  of  America,  it 
was  determined  that  the  second  annual  meeting  will  be 
heW  at  the  Hotel  Astor,  New  York  City,  on  Nov.  14  and  15. 
According  to  the  tentative  program,  the  first  day  will  be 
given  up  to  a  general  business  meeting  in  the  morning, 
followed  by  addresses  in  the  afternoon.  In  the  evening 
a  reception  will  be  given  under  the  auspices  of  the  New 
York  Telephone  Society.  The  second  day  will  be  given 
over  to  entertainment  features  and  a  banquet  in  the  eve- 
ning. Mr.  Henry  W.  Pope,  26  Cortlandt  Street,  New  York, 
is  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  organization. 
+     *     * 

New  York  Jovian  Meeting. — The  semi-monthly  meet- 
ings of  the  New  York  Section  of  the  Sons  of  Jove  were 
resumed  for  the  season  1912-1913  with  a  luncheon  at 
Kalil's  Restaurant,  New  York,  on  Sept.  25.  A  representa- 
tive gathering  of  nearly  100  electrical  men  from  New  York 
and  vicinity  was  present.  Interesting  and  forceful  ad- 
dresses on  the  good  of  the  order  and  the  beneficial  effect 
of  the  work  of  the  Jovians  on  the  co-operative  development 
of  the  electrical  industry  were  made  by  Messrs.  Corey, 
Kiefer,  De  Veau,  Becker,  Dodd,  Christesen  and  others,  all 
of  whom  spoke  in  complimentary  terms  of  the  results  that 
have  been  accomplished  by  Statesman  F.  E.  Watts  in  carry- 
ing through  to  success  the  New  York  Jovian  Lunch  Club 
and  the  bringing  together  at  these  gatherings  of  men  of 
prominence  in  all  branches  of  the  electrical  industry. 
*     *    ♦ 

Convention  of  the  New  York  State  Waterways  Asso- 
ciation.— The  third  annual  convention  of  the  New  York 
State  Waterways  Association  was  held  in  Watertown, 
N.  Y.,  on  Sept.  19  and  20.  Delegates  were  present  repre- 
senting the  Merchants'  Association  of  New  York  City  and 
the  city  of  New  York.  In  view  of  the  very  large  amount 
of  work  which  is  being  done  by  the  State  in  the  enlarge- 
ment of  its  canals  and  the  construction  of  canal  terminals,, 
as  well  as  the  agitation  for  the  development  of  water-power, 
the  holding  of  the  convention  was  of  unusual  interest. 
Among  some  twenty  addresses  delivered  by  prominent 
officials  identified  with  the  improvement  of  waterways  and 
the  development  of  water-power  were  the  following: 
"Waterways,  Water-Powers,  and  a  Fair  Deal,"  by  Mr. 
Howard  D.  Hadley,  of  Plattsburg;  "Electricity  in  Canal 
Operation,"  by  Colonel  E.  C.  Pruyn,  of  Schenectady,  and 
"How  Shall  the  Greatest  Benefit  of  the  Conservation  of 
Water-Power  of  the  State  Be  Obtained?"  by  Mr.  John  C. 
Parker,  of  Rochester. 


GENERATING   ENERGY  AT  COAL   MINES. 

The  Chignecto  Plant  of  the  Maritime  Coal,  Railway  &  Power  Company,  Ltd., 

of  Amherst,  Nova  Scotia. 

Description   of   the    Pioneer   Installation    for    Generating   Electrical    Energy  from  Waste    Fuel  at   the 
Pit  Mouth — Energy  Transmitted  to  Neighboring  Towns,  Mines  and 

Quarries  at   ii,ooo  Volts. 


THE  casual  reading  of  a  magazine  article  a  few  years 
ago  by  Hon.  H.  J.  Logan,  formerly  member  of  the 
Canadian  Parliament  from  Cumberland  County, 
N'ova  Scotia,  was  the  initial  step  in  the  establishment  of  the 
)ioneer  electric  transmission  plant  of  the  ^Maritime  Coal, 
Railway  &  Power  Company,  Ltd.,  of  Amherst,  N.  S.,  at  the 
iiouth  of  the  celebrated  Chignecto  mine,  located  8  miles 
ioutheast  of  the  latter  city  and  within  an  easy  transmission 
listance  of  an  important  industrial  and  coal-bearing  area. 
The  article  in  question  suggested  the  possibilities  of  elec- 
,  rical  transmission  from  the  pit  mouth,  crediting  the  scheme 
0  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison.  In  company  with  Senator 
Vlitchell  of  Nova  Scotia,  Mr.  Logan  visited  Mr.  Edison  at 
lis  New  Jersey  home,  discussed  plans  for  the  carrying 
'orward  of  the  enterprise,  and  on  July  31,  1907,  service  was 
legun  to  the  accompaniment  of  a  telegram  of  congratulation 
rom  the  great  inventor  and  in  the  presence  of  many  dis- 
inguished  guests.  The  plant  has  now  been  in  service  for 
iver  five  years  and  its  success  has  completely  demonstrated 


the  practicability  of  turning  the  potential  energy  of  sack 
or  refuse  screenings  into  electricity  for  sale  in  distant  mar- 
kets. The  demand  for  its  output  has  constantly  increased, 
and  to-day  the  installation  is  the  source  of  electrical  supply 
for  the  municipalities  of  Amherst,  Maccan,  Nappan,  River 
Hebert,  Joggins  and  Chignecto,  operating  about  sixty  mo- 
tors with  a  combined  rating  of  900  hp  and  a  lighting  load 
of  about  10,000  l6-cp  equivalents  in  the  above  communities. 
Factory  machinery,  a  gypsum  quarry,  pumps,  blowers,  hoists, 
fans  and  other  equipment  are  included  in  the  motor  load, 
and  by  the  use  of  an  otherwise  unmarketable  fuel  which 
constitutes  about  30  per  cent  of  the  mine  output  the  plant 
is  enabled  to  deliver  electricity  at  economical  prices  through- 
out the  entire  district. 

The  mining  areas  of  the  company  in  the  district  cover 
about  5  sq.  miles,  and  the  output  of  the  mines  at  Chignecto 
and  Joggins  is  now  about  800  tons  per  day,  with  the  pros- 
pect of  an  early  increase  to  1200  tons.  Both  domestic  coal 
and  steam  coal  are  mined,  and  the  market  exists  chiefly  in 


Fig.   1 — Interior  of  Generating   Room,   Chignecto,   N.   S. 


6s6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No. 


'3- 


Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  although  a  considerable 
amount  of  the  Joggins  slack  is  sold  in  the  United  States. 
It  is  estimated  that  about  12,000,000  tons  remain  unmined  on 
the  property.  At  the  time  that  the  company  began  to  mine 
the  Chignecto  seam  it  was  found  that  the  top  seam  was 
divided  from  the  bench  by  a  soft  ply  from  6  in.  to  8  in. 
thick.     In  the  mining  process  this  came  out  in  the  form  of 


Fig.   2 — A    Home-Made    Cooling    Tower. 

dust  or  culm  and  was  extremely  dirty.  During  the  screening 
this  material  became  mixed  with  the  slack,  lowering  the 
quality  of  the  latter  to  such  an  extent  that  the  slack  was  of 
very  little  marketable  value  on  account  of  the  large  amount 
of  ash  present.  It  cost  the  company  about  10  cents  per  ton 
to  dispose  of  the  material,  so  that  the  saving  in  converting 
the  fuel  energy  of  this  cheap  grade  of  coal  into  electricity 
is  much  greater  than  if  a  good  quality  were  used,  as  the 
rate  per  ton  for  conveyance  to  the  boiler  room  is  the  same 
in  both  cases.  The  fuel  used  at  the  plant  could  not  be  sold 
on  account  of  its  quality,  and  the  space  for  banking  was 
limited  to  an  area  close  to  the  mine.  The  Joggins  culm  is 
cleaner  in  character  than  that  at  Chignecto,  and  some  of  this 
is  marketed,  but  experience  at  the  plant  indicates  the 
desirability  of  utilizing  all  the  culm  from  this  mine  as  soon 
as  the  load  warrants  it. 

The  power  plant  is  a  75-ft.  by  loo-ft.  brick  and  steel  struc- 
ture with  concrete  foundations  and  is  located  within  about 
100  ft.  of  the  colliery  bankhead,  fuel  being  delivered  to  the 
station  from  screens  at  the  bankhead  by  a  Jeffery  motor- 
driven  conveyor  which  discharges  into  a  steel-lined  overhead 
wooden  bunker  of  250  tons  capacity  above  the  firing  aisle  of 
the  boiler  room.  From  the  bunker  the  coal  is  fed  to  the 
boiler  batteries  through  inclined  swinging  chutes  discharg- 
ing into  the  hoppers  of  Jones  underfeed  stokers.  The  boilers 
are  installed  on  one  side  of  a  single  firing  aisle  with  a 
dividing  well  at  their  rear,  the  engine  room  being  located  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  latter.  Eight  150-hp  Robb  hori- 
zontal return  tubular  boilers  are  in  service,  four  batteries 
being  installed.  Two  sets  of  blower  engines  and  fans  are 
provided,  either  being  capable  of  giving  5  in.  of  draft  in 
the  ash  pit  with  all  boilers  in  operation.  Natural  draft  is 
also  provided  by  a  steel  stack  60  in.  in  diameter  and  40  ft. 
high,  with  a  lower  section  of  brick  designed  to  receive  the 
products  of  combustion  from  a  breeching  leading  outward 
from  the  boiler  room.  The  stokers  are  capable  of  supplying 
fuel  to  boilers  of  2So-hp  individual  rating.  Ashes  are  dis- 
posed of  by  a  car  running  on  a  track  in  front  of  the  fur- 
naces, the  car  discharging  into  freight  cars  of  the  Inter- 
colonial Railway.  The  ash  track  is  brought  out  of  the 
boiler  room  on  the  south  side  of  the  station  and  is  im- 
mediately swung  around  90  deg.  and  stub-ended  across  two 


steel  I-beams  which  span  the  railway  track  below.  Coal 
enters  the  power  house  on  the  same  side  through  a  gallery 
housing  the  conveyor  above  mentioned.  The  fuel  burned 
averages  20  per  cent  ash,  and  when  using  this  culm  and 
refuse  the  fires  have  to  be  cleaned  every  two  hours.  The 
grate  areas  of  the  boilers  were  designed  for  49  sq.  ft.  each, 
somewhat  above  the  usual  practice  on  account  of  the  poor 
quality  of  the  fuel.  The  boiler  room  is  provided  with  an 
ample  supply  of  daylight,  as  the  firing  aisle  borders  on  six 
large  windows  in  the  exterior  view. 

I'eed  and  condensing  water  for  the  plant  is  obtained  from 
an  artificial  pond  about  1000  ft.  above  the  power  house,  the 
pond  being  1000  ft.  long,  600  ft.  wide  and  10  ft.  in  average 
depth  and  held  in  position  by  an  earth  dam  which  crosses  a 
narrow  gulley  at  the  foot  of  the  lake.  The  water  level  at 
the  dam  equals  the  height  of  the  basement  beneath  the 
boiler  room.  The  water  is  brought  to  the  station  in  a  cast- 
jron  pipe  discharging  into  concrete  wells  in  the  basement, 
and  the  feed  water  and  injection  water  supplies  are  taken 
from  these  wells.  Ordinarily  the  feed  water  is  taken  from 
the  condenser  discharge  pipes  and  is  delivered  to  the  boilers 
on  the  front  sides  after  passing  through  a  looo-hp  Cochrane 
open  heater  and  an  installation  of  two  Canada  Foundry 
Company  feed  pumps.  A  2-in.  Penberthy  injector  is  in 
service  during  emergencies.  About  a  mile  above  the  power 
house  a  second  dam  of  wooden  construction,  125  ft.  long 
and  20  ft.  high,  has  been  built  on  St.  George's  Creek,  and  it 
is  estimated  that  about  2,000.000  gal.  of  water  is  held  back 
by  this.  The  total  supply  of  water  available  for  feed  and 
condensation  purposes  is  6,000,000  gal.  At  the  upper  dam  a 
small  pump  house  has  been  built,  with  a  turbine  pump, 
motor  and  transformer  installation  arranged  to  supply 
water  to  the  intake  wells  as  specially  required.  The  motor 
is  operated  by  an  11,000-volt  service  from  the  generating 
station,  control  being  through  a  switch  in  the  plant.  Steam 
is  supplied  to  the  bankhead  from  the  boiler  room  for  pump- 
ing and  hoisting  service,  the  installation  shutting  down  an 
old  boiler  plant  and  saving  the. wages  of  two  firemen,  a 
machinist  and  a  helper. 

The  steam  and  feed-water  piping  and  fittings  are  of 
extra  heavy  design,  all  joints  being  packed  with  corrugated 
copper  gaskets.  Each  boiler  is  connected  with  an  8-in. 
steam  main  at  the  rear  of  the  boiler  room  through  a  6-in. 


Fig.   3 — Boiler   Room,   Chignecto,    N.   S. 

riser.     From  the  main  leads  7  in.  in  diameter  are  run  to 
the  engines.    The  working  steam  pressure  is  150  lb. 

Two  500-kw,  three-phase  generators  are  at  present  in 
service,  each  being  direct-driven  by  a  17-in.  by  33-in.  by 
i6-in.  Robb-Armstrong  vertical,  center-crank,  cross-com- 
pound engine  operating  at  300  r.p.m.,  on  a  26-in.  vacuum, 
and    having    13-kw    and    20-kw    outboard-hung    direct-con- 


rpTEMBEK   28,    igiJ 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


657 


;cted  exciters.  These  engines  are  among  the  largest  ver- 
:al-type  machines  ever  built  in  Canada  and  are  designed 
)r  automatic  governing  within  3  per  cent  maximum  on 
omentary  changes  of  load.  Each  engine  exhausts  through 
14-in.  pipe  into  a  14-in.  by  20-in.  by  24-in.  twin  horizontal 
t  condenser  and  air  pump  of  Canada  Foundry  Company's 
:sign,  the  condensing  units  being  located  on  the  engine- 
)om  floor  beside  the  engines.  The  engine  room  is  about 
1  ft.  wide,  but  is  not  unduly  crowded  even  with  the 
•rangement  of  equipment  shown  in  the  photograph.  The 
igine  bearings  are  fitted  for  water  cooling,  and  each  unit 
equipped  with  a  forced  system  of  bearing  lubrication, 
n  the  acceptance  test  this  equipment  operated  with  the 
illowing   steam   consumptions   at   the   loads   given   below: 


TOTAL  INDICATED  HP. 


471.5 


steam     per     indicated' 
ip-hr 

riesponding       to       26-in. 
.-acuum,  lb.  steam. 


16.68 


14.9 
14.03 


l.i.6 
14.48 


16* 
14.75 


♦Vacuum  21  in.  to  22.5  in. 


The  generators  were  built  by  the  Canadian  General  Elec- 
ic  Company,  one  being  wound  for  420  volts  and  the  other 
ir  11,000  volts.  Sixty-cycle  current  is  delivered  from  each 
lit  to  a  main  switchboard  located  at  the  east  side  of  the 
Lgine  room  parallel  to  the  outer  wall  of  the  building.  The 
/itchboard  at  present  consists  of  six  marble  panels,  two 
ing  assigned  to  the  generators,  one  to  a  Tirrill  regulator 
id  three  to  oil  switching  equipment  controlling  the  out- 
ling  service,  which  is  at  ir.ooo  volts,  three-phase.  The 
.nels  are  provided  with  the  usual  synchronizing  equipment, 
id  the  layout  of  the  engine  room  is  such  as  to  permit  an 
sy  expansion  of  the  plant  northward  in  the  future.  It  is 
obable  that  a  new  looo-kw  unit,  probably  a  turbo  set,  will 
■  installed  at  an  early  date.  A  4-ton  hand-operated  crane 
■ans  the  engine  room  and  serves  its  entire  area.  Below 
e  engine  room  are  carried  two  discharge  pipes  10  in.  in 
ameter  from  the  condensers  to  the  first  dam  above  the 
iwer  house,  at  which  point  the  condensate  is  returned  to 


Fig.    4 — Switchboard    at   tine    Chignectc    Plant. 

le  pond.  A  home-made  cooling  tower  designed  by  Mr. 
V.  Cooke,  chief  engineer  of  the  station,  is  in  use  at  this 
oint.  It  consists  of  two  inclined  decks  about  30  ft.  long, 
le  upper  deck  being  bored  with  holes  3/16  in.  in  diameter 
nd  2  in.  apart  on  centers.  Water  is  discharged  upon  the 
pper  deck  at  the  head  of  the  tower  from  the  condenser 
elivery  pipes  and  thrown  back  into  the  pond,  part  leaving 


tlie  Hume  in  the  form  of  thin  sprays  falling  from  the  upper 
to  the  lower,  or  solid,  deck,  and  the  rest  leaving  in  a  stream 
at  the  end  of  the  upper  deck  as  shown.  The  flume  is  built 
of  2-in.  by  4-in.  wooden  planking  and  is  braced  by  bents  at 
three  intermediate  points.  The  upper  deck  has  a  drop  of 
about  4  in.  in  30  ft.,  while  the  lower  deck  drops  about  4  ft. 
in  a  slightly  longer  distance.     To  avoid  washing  down  the 

600 


5.  450 

3 

o 

S  400 

s 

i  350 
300 


250 


200 


j/l      1 

\ 

V 

/ 

s 

- 

1 

1 

1 

^ 

L    i 

, 

\ 

il!L^ 

508  KW. 

'      1 

r" 

f 

/ 

'> 

\ 

i  1 

/ 

> 

K 

.    i! 

S.L    J,    i 

Difi 

Eveninjg 

Ijight 

7  8  9  10  11  12  1  2  .3  4 
A.M. 
Aug.  16 

Fig.  5- 


56     789    10  111212     34     56 
P.M.  A.M. 

1912  Aue.  17 

Electrical  Wurld 

Load    Curve    of    Chignecto    Plant. 


surrounding  stream  bank,  the  upper  deck  is  made  2.5  ft. 
wide  at  the  upper  end  and  6  ft.  wide  at  the  lower  end,  com- 
pared with  3-ft.  and  7-ft.  widths  in  the  lower  portion  of 
the  structure.  The  discharge  water  is  cooled  about  4  deg.  C. 
in  passing  over  and  through  the  tower,  and  as  the  cost  of 
the  device  and  expense  of  operating  it  are  negligible,  there 
results  from  its  use  a  positive  though  moderate  economy  in 
the  use  of  injection  water. 

The  local  load  at  Chignecto  is  handled  by  a  2200-volt 
service.  From  the  power  house  two  11,000-volt  overhead 
lines  are  run  separately  to  the  principal  centers  of  distribu- 
tion at  Joggins  and  .Amherst,  each  line  being  built  of  No.  4 
B.  &  S.  copper  carried  on  15,000-volt  porcelain  insulators 
supported  on  30-ft.  wooden  poles  spaced  125  ft.  apart.  The 
pole  lines  are  each  designed  for  a  second  circuit,  but  at 
present  Joggins  and  .\mherst  are  supplied  by  one  circuit 
each.  Where  the  lines  cross  tidal  streams  the  usual  practice 
is  to  set  two  poles  close  together  and  employ  a  J^-in.  steel 
cable  for  the  conductor.  At  these  spans  the  poles  are  fitted 
with  double  fixtures  having  four  insulators  at  each  end  of 
the  span,  the  spans  varying  from  400  ft.  to  700  ft.  in  length. 
At  points  where  the  line  crosses  the  track  of  the  Inter- 
colonial Railway  the  line  conductor  used  is  300.000-circ.  mil 
cable.  The  poles  at  these  crossings  are  all  set  in  concrete 
with  an  overhead  network  designed  to  establish  a  short- 
circuit  in  case  the  cables  break.  The  Joggins  line  is  about 
15  miles  long  and  supplies  the  Joggins,  Maccan  and  River 
Hebert  district.  -All  the  machinery  at  the  Joggins  mines 
is  now  electrically  operated,  distribution  being  at  220  volts 
alternating  current.  .  The  largest  motor  on  this  line  is  rated 
at  Q5  hp  and  drives  a  ventilating  fan  for  the  mining  service. 
The  Amherst  line  supplies  energy  for  all  the  lighting  and 
motor  service  in  the  town,  and  from  this  transmission 
circuit  a  tap  is  taken  off  at  Nappan  for  the  iVIaritime 
Gypsum  Company,  a  modern  substation  for  voltage  con- 
version and  local  distribution  being  situated  at  the  mouth 
nf  the  quarry.  Previous  to  the  installation  of  electric  service 
the  gypsum  quarry  was  not  a  commercial  success,  but  the 
use  of  electricity  has  turned  the  enterprise  into  a  profitable 
one.  Local  service  at  Amherst  is  handled  through  a  two- 
story  i2-ft.  by  i2-ft.  substation.  On  the  upper  floor  are 
placed  self-cooling  transformers  reducing  the  potential  to 
2400  volts  for  local  use,  fuses,  switches  and  low-equivalent 
lightning  arresters.  The  lower  floor  contains  2400-volt  oil 
circuit-breakers  controlling  the  local  feeders.  An  old 
direct-current  station  of  small  equipment  and  very  limited 


658 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13. 


distribution  area  was  shut  down  by  the  entrance  of  the 
Chignecto  service  into  Amherst,  which  is  a  city  of  about 
9000  inhabitants  and  an  active  manufacturing  community. 
Among  the  larger  customers  of  the  Maritime  interests  at 
Amherst  are  the  McLean  Milling  Company,  Canada  Car  & 
Foundry  Company.  Robb  Engineering  Company  Works  and 
Hansen  Wool   Goods  Company.     Day  and  night  service  is 


Fig.    6 — Local    Transformer    House. 

given  to  all  the  municipalities  readied  by  the  Chignecto 
plant,  and  in  the  outlying  districts  energy  is  supplied  through 
local  transformer  stations  of  an  inexpensive  sheet-iron  fire- 
proof type,  usually  mounted  out  of  doors  on  piling  or  other 
wooden  foundations. 

The  operation  of  the  Chignecto  plant  requires  a  force  of 
ten  men.  Two  shifts  are  run,  these  being  thirteen  and 
eleven  hours  in  length,  with  alternate  assignment  of  em- 
ployees to  long  and  short  runs.  In  the  daytime  the  fire  room 
requires  two  firemen,  one  ash  wheeler  and  one  man  to 
blow  out  tubes  and  clean  the  boiler  combustion  chambers. 

TEST  OF   CHIGNECTO   UOILEk,    15URN1NG   REFUSE   CULM. 


Duration  of  test,  hours 

Grate  surface,  in  square  feet  (Jones'  underfeed  stokers).. 

Total  square  feet  boiler  heating  surface 

Ratio  water-heating  surface  to  grate  area  .  . 
Average  boiler  pressure,  lb.  per  square  inch. . 

Absolute  pressure,  lb.  per  square  inch 

Average  air  pressure  in  ash  pit.  inches  water 

Average  temperature  external  air.  deg.  Fahr 

Average  temperature  fire  room,  deg.  Fahr 

Feed-water  temperature,  deg.  Fahr 


Total  amount  of  coal  from  pile  (Chignecto  culm),  lb. 

Moisture  in  coal,  per  cent 

Total  dry  coal,  lb 

Total  dry  weight  ashes  and  clinkers,  lb.. 

Proportion  of  ashes  and  clinkers .  per  cent .  . 

Total  loss  in  coal  from  all  causes,  lb 

Total  combustible  fuel,  lb 

Total  feed  water,  lb 

Equivalent  water  evaporated  from  and  at  2 12  deg.  Fahr.  per  pound 
of  coal  from  pile,  lb 

Equivalent  water  evaporated  from  and  at  212  deg.  Fahr.  per  pound 

of  combustible,  lb 

C^al  burned  per  square  foot  grate  surface  per  hour,  lb 

Combustible  per  square  foot  grate  surface  per  hour,  lb 

Water  evaporated  from  and  at  2 1 2  deg.  Fahr.  per  square  foot  grate 
surface  per  hour,  lb 

Above,  per  square  foot  heating  surface  per  hour,  lb 

Average  hp  developed 

Moisture  in  steam,  percent 

Approximate  heat  units  in  1  lb.  coal  from  pile  as  accounted  for  in 
water 


_ 

42 

1605 

JS.l  to  1 

143.3 

158 
4.65 
25 
50 
157.3 

5506 
3.1 
5534 
1567 
29.4 

1739 

3767 

31,358 

6.291 

9.196 
18.72 
12.81 

U7.S 

3.083 
143.4 
0.73 

At  night  two  firemen  and  an  ash  wheeler  handle  the  service. 
In  the  engine  room  the  chief  engineer  and  an  assistant 
engineer  handle  the  day  load,  the  night  shift  being  carried 
by  one  assistant  engineer.  A  typical  load  curve  of  the 
station  for  a  recent  August  twenty-four-hour  run  is  given 
herewith,  the  average  output  for  the  period  being  398  kw 
and  the  station  load-factor  72.5  per  cent.    The  labor  require- 


ments are  somewhat  increased  by  the  care  needed  to  burn 
successfully  the  poor  fuel  offered,  without  decrease  in  steam 
pressure.  The  installation  is  at  present  producing  energy 
upon  a  fuel  consumption  of  about  6.5  lb.  per  kw-hr.  The 
average  loads  upon  the  plant  during  the  past  eight  months 
have  ranged  from  323  kw  to  398  kw.  About  40  tons  of 
refuse  slack  is  burned  per  day  at  present. 

The  accompanying  data  are  taken  from  a  test  conducted 
upon  one  of  the  150-hp  boilers  of  the  plant  by  Mr.  Philip 
A.  Freeman,  of  Halifa.x,  X.  S.,  consulting  mechanical 
engineer. 

The  consulting  electrical  engineer  in  charge  of  the  work 
at  Chignecto  was  Mr.  Julian  C.  Smith,  Montreal,  the 
general  manager  of  the  company  being  Mr.  David  Mitchell. 


REINFORCED    CEMENT    AND     CONCRETE 
FOR  OVERHEAD  ELECTRIC  LINES. 


POLES 


By  Alfred   Still 

AS  a  substitute  for  the  familiar  wood  poles  supporting 
overhead  wires,  steel  poles  of  the  tubular  form  and 
latticed  steel  masts  are  used.  The  full  advantage 
of  the  galvanized  or  painted  steel  structure  is  best  realized 
in  the  high  towers  with  extra  wide  spacing,  such  as  are 
used  for  the  transmission  of  electric  energy  at  high  pres- 
sures. The  use  of  Portland  cement  for  molded  poles  of 
moderate  height,  to  be  used  in  lieu  of  wood  poles  on  the 
shorter  spans,  is  by  no  means  new ;  the  experimental  stage 
has  long  ago  been  passed,  and  with  the  deplorable  but  no 
less  rapid  depletion  of  our  forests  and  the  incomparably 
longer  life  of  the  concrete  poles,  these  will  probably  be 
used  in  largelv  increasing  numbers  during  the  next  few 
years. 

There  is  much  to  be  said  in  favor  of  the  wood  pole 
when  the  right  kind  of  timber,  properly  seasoned  and 
treated,  is  used ;  but,  apart  from  the  general  unsightliness 
of  wood  poles  in  urban  districts,  their  life  is  uncertain  and 
alwavs  comparatively  short.  In  Switzerland  the  experiment 
has  been  tried  of  covering  the  ordinary  wood  pole  with 
concrete  mortar  about  i  in.  thick.  The  strength,  and 
especially  the  life,  are  greatly  increased  thereby,  as  the 
decay  which  so  frequently  occurs  at  ground  level  will  be 
largely,  if  not  entirely,  prevented ;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether 
the  system  will  in  the  long  run  prove  satisfactory  or  eco- 
nomical. The  ideal  material  to  use  for  reinforcing  con- 
crete is  undoubtedly  steel  or  iron.  Longitudinal  rods  or 
bars  of  iron  can  be  placed  exactly  where  required  to 
strengthen  those  parts  of  the  pole  section  that  will  be  in 
tension,  and  the  concrete,  filling  up  the  spaces  between  the 
reinforcing  rods,  takes  the  place  of  all  bracing  and  stiffen- 
ing members  of  the  ordinary  steel  structure  in  an  almost 
perfect  manner.  It  is  probably  at  this  time  generally  ad- 
mitted that  iron  embedded  in  cement  will  last  almost  in- 
definitely without  suffering  any  deterioration.  When  ex- 
cavating for  the  foundations  of  the  new  General  Post 
Office  in  London,  England,  some  old  Roman  brickwork  was 
discovered  in  which  the  hoop-iron  bonds  were  still  bright 
and  in  perfect  condition.  The  life  of  a  concrete  pole  is,  in 
fact,  almost  unlimited,  a  consideration  which  should  not  be 
overlooked  when  estimating  the  relative  costs  of  different 
kinds  of  supporting  structures.  It  requires  no  painting  and 
practically  no  attention  once  it  is  erected.  If  any  small 
cracks  should  at  any  time  develop,  they  can  readily  be 
filled  with  cement. 

An  unlimited  life  is  not  necessarily  an  unmixed  blessing; 
in  the  case  of  a  badly  or  inharmoniously  designed  pole  it 
might  be  considered  a  disadvantage.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  concrete  pole,  with  its  inexpensive  requirements  in  the 
matter  of  molds,  can  easily  be  so  designed  as  to  harmonize 
with  its  surroundings,  and  undoubtedly  much  might  be  done 


Septembek  28,  1 912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


659 


with  concrete  poles  in  our  larger  cities  to  mitigate  the  un- 
slightly  and  inartistic  effect  of  overhead  lines  until  such 
time  as  it  may  be  found  possible  or  expedient  to  put  all  such 
wires  underground.  By  making  the  interior  of  the  poles 
hollow  connections  can  readily  be  made  between  overhead 
wires  and  conductors  in  underground  conduits,  without 
any  unsightly  attachment  to  the  outside  of  the  pole. 

While  referring  to  the  advantages  of  the  cement  pole  it 
may  be  added  that  every  pole  is  virtually  a  lightning  rod, 
an  advantage  which  it  shares  with  the  steel  pole  or  tower. 
On  lines  where  both  timber  and  concrete  poles  have  been 
used  and  where  many  wood  poles  have  been  shattered  by 
lightning  the  concrete  poles  have  rarely  been  struck.  There 
is  an  instance  of  a  concrete  pole  of  the  Marseilles  (111.) 
Land  &  Water  Company  having  been  struck,  but  the  only 
damage  done  was  the  chipping  out  of  a  small  piece  at  the 
top  of  the  pole  and  one  at  the  bottom  where  the  current 
entered  the  ground  after  following  down  the  steel  rein- 
forcing bars  inside  the  pole. 

The  weight  of  concrete  poles  is  necessarily  considerable, 
and  unless  they  are  made  on  or  near  the  site  where  they  will 
be  erected  the  cost  of  transportation  would  generally  be  pro- 
hibitive. Some  data  given  by  Mr.  George  Gibbs  in  a  paper 
read  before  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  and 
abstracted  in  the  Electrical  IVorld  in  the  issue  of  Sept.  2. 
191 1,  may  be  of  interest.  The  concrete  poles  he  refers  to 
are  erected  on  the  Meadows  division  of  the  Pennsylvaxiia 
Railroad,  the  average  spacing  being  120  ft.  The  total 
(over-all)  ■  lengths  varied  between  35  ft.  and  65  ft.  The 
specification  called  for  poles  to  withstand  a  transverse  load- 
ing of  6000  lb.  applied  6.5  ft.  below  the  top.  The  cross- 
section  of  the  poles  is  a  square  with  chamfered  corners, 
the  taper  being  i  in  120.  The  weight  of  a  35-ft.  pole  without 
fixtures  was  5300  lb.,  while  that  of  the  65-ft.  pole  was 
17.300  11).  These  weights  are  in  excess  of  what  would 
ordinarily  be  required  because,  the  foundations  being  poor, 
the  portion  of  the  pole  buried  in  the  ground  is  abnormally 
long. 

It  is  probable  that  the  concrete  poles  of  cross-country 
transmission  lines  are  usually  made  somewhat  heavier  than 
the  strength  requirements  necessitate  because,  being  molded 
on  the  site,  not  always  with  the  best  and  most  convenient 
appliances,  they  are  made  solid  throughout  or  through  a 
large  part  of  their  length,  whereas  a  hollow  construction 
would  have  been  adopted  had  suitable  collapsible  cores 
been  available. 

Poles  up  to  35  ft.  in  length  are  usually  molded  in  a 
horizontal  position,  the  forms  being  removed  after  three  or 
four  days.  After  a  period  of  seasoning  lasting  from  two 
to  three  weeks  they  are  erected  in  the  same  manner  as  wood 
poles. 

Poles  longer  than  35  ft.  are  best  molded  in  a  vertical  posi- 
tion; in  fact,  it  is  possible  that  this  method  may  be  found 
advantageous  even  in  the  case  of  shorter  poles.  The  forms 
are  set  up  immediately  over  the  hole  previously  prepared 
for  the  pole  base.  They  are  set  truly  vertical  and  tem- 
porarily guyed,  the  reinforcing  inside  the  form  being  held 
together  and  m  position  by  whatever  means  of  tying  or 
bracing  may  be  adopted.  Sometimes  iron  wire  is  used, 
but  more  uniform  results  are  obtained  by  using  specially 
designed  iron  distance  pieces  with  the  required  spacing 
between  them.  The  concrete  is  raised  to  the  top  of  the 
mold  by  any  suitable  and  economic  means  (preferably  direct 
from  the  concrete  mixer  by  an  arrangement  equivalent  to 
the  ordinary  grain  elevator)  and  is  dropped  in.  By  this 
means  the  hole  in  the  ground  is  entirely  filled  with  con- 
crete. No  tamping  is  required,  a  firm  hold  being  obtained, 
since  the  ground  innncdiately  surrounding  the  concrete  base 
has  not  been  disturbed. 

The  best  quality  of  crushed  stone  and  sand  should  be 
used,  the  usual  proportions  being:  cement,  one  part;  sand. 
two  parts :  crushed  stone,  three  or  four  parts,  not  too  large 
to  pass  through  a  ■>^-in.  screen.     When  gravel  is  used  the 


mixture  may  be  one  part  of  Portland  cement  to  five  parts 
of  gravel,  provided  that  the  latter  is  graded,  including  sand, 
and  with  the  largest  pieces  of  a  size  to  pass  through  a 
%-in.  screen. 

The  cost  of  concrete  poles  does  not  compare  unfavorably 
with  that  of  other  types  of  poles.  The  manufacturing  cost 
of  a  35-ft.  pole  may  be  as  low  as  $8.50,  but  $9.50  would  be 
a  safer  figure  to  allow  for  estimating  purposes.  A  40-ft. 
pole  might  cost  from  $15  to  $20,  while  for  a  50-ft.  pole  con- 
taining about  50  cu.  ft.  of  concrete  from  $25  to  $30  should 
be  allowed;  but  the  cost  will  depend  much  on  local  condi 
lions  and  the  method  of  manufacture.  An  increased  initial 
expenditure  on  convenient  and  economic  forms  and  suitable 
manufacturing  plant  will  usually  lead  to  reduction  of  total 
cost. 

When  designing  a  concrete  pole  to  withstand  a  definite 
maximum  horizontal  load  applied  near  the  top,  the  pole  is 
treated  as  a  beam  fixed  at  one  end  and  loaded  at  the  other. 
The  calculations  are  very  simple  if  certain  assumptions  are 
made,  these  being  as  follows: 

(i)  Every  plane  section  remains  a  plane  section  after 
bending. 

(2)  The  tension  is  taken  by  the  reinforcing  rods. 

(3)  The  concrete  adheres  perfectly  to  the  steel  rods. 

(4)  The  modulus  of  elasticity  of  concrete  is  constant 
within  the  usual   limits  of  stress. 

The  ultimate  crushing  stress  of  the  concrete  may  be 
taken  at  about  2200  lb.  per  square  inch.  The  reinforcing 
bars  should  be  covered  with  concrete  to  a  depth  of  not  less 
than  I  in.  The  effect  of  keeping  the  reinforcing  bars  under 
tension  while  the  concrete  is  poured  in  the  mold  and  until 
it  has  hardened  sufficiently  to  support  the  strain  itself  has 
been  tried  and  found  to  improve  the  performance  of  the 
poles,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  extra  apparatus  and 
labor  required  are  justifiable  on  economic  grounds.  When 
subjected  to  excessive  load  a  concrete  pole  will  generally 
yield  by  the  crushing  of  the  material  in  the  base  near 
ground  level;  but,  unless  it  is  pulled  out  of  its  foundations, 
it  will  not  fall  to  the  ground. 

The  comparative  rigidity  of  concrete  poles  cannot  be  said 
to  be  a  point  in  their  favor,  as  the  flexibility  and  elasticity 
of  wood  poles  and  some  forms  of  steel  structures  are  fea- 
tures of  undoubted  advantage  under  certain  conditions.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  degree  of  deflection  of  concrete  poles 
before  breaking  is  remarkable.  The  elastic  limit  is  variable, 
and  no  exact  figure  can  be  given  for  the  elastic  modulus  of 
cement  concrete ;  but  for  a  1:2:4  mixture  3,000,000  may  be 
taken  as  a  good  average  figure  for  approximate  calculations. 
For  cinder  concrete  this  coefficient  may  be  as  low  as 
900,000. 

Some  tests  made  on  30-ft.  concrete  poles  gave  deflections 
of  from  3  in.  to  4  in.  at  a  point  near  the  top  of  pole,  when 
submitted  to  a  test  load  equal  to  about  double  the  maximum 
working  load.*  Another  series  of  tests  made  recently  in 
England  on  some  44-ft.  poles  of  hollow  section,  17  in.  square 
at  the  base  and  8  in.  square  at  the  top  (inside  dimensions 
13  in.  and  4  in.  respectively),  with  loads  applied  38.5  ft. 
above  ground  level,  gave  a  deflection  of  66  in.  under  a 
horizontal  load  of  10,500  lb.,  and  the  permanent  set  on 
removal  of  load  was  21  in.  The  pole  did  not  fail  com- 
pletely until  the  deflection  was  78  in. 

As  examples  of  concrete-pole  lines,  the  transmission  hne 
of  the  Northern  Illinois  Light  &  Traction  Company,  of 
Marseilles.  111.,  and  the  42-mile,  33,000-volt  line  of  the 
Empreza  Luz  e  Forqa  da  Ribeirao  Preto,  Brazil,  may  be 
mentioned.  The  Northern  Illinois  company  transmits  three- 
phase  energv  at  from  30,000  volts  to  33,000  volts.  Most  of  ^ 
the  poles  used  by  it  are  about  30  ft.  high,  spaced  from 
125  ft.  to  132  ft.  apart.     The  section  is  square,  with  6-m. 


'These  poles  were  probably  of  large  cross-section.  Some  tests  inade  on 
poles  measuring  10  in.  square  at  the  base  and  32  ft.  high  gave  a  deflec- 
tion of  just  over  2  ft.  with  a  horizontal  load  of  2000  lb.  applied  near  the 
top. 


66o 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13. 


sides  at  the  top  ot  the  pole  and  9  in.  at  the  base.  The 
reinforcing  consists  of  six  J/j-in. -square  steel  bars  through 
the  entire  length  of  the  pole.  Many  of  the  concrete  poles 
on  this  line  have  now  been  in  position  over  four  years,  and 
they  have  given  entire  satisfaction. 

In  the  matter  of  supporting  distributing  lines  in  cities  it 
may  be  stated  that  upward  of  1000  concrete  poles  have  been 
erected  for  this  purpose  in  Oklahoma  City  during  the  last 
four  years.  These  poles  are  mostly  35  ft.  high,  of  hexag- 
onal section,  7  in.  wide  at  top  and  16  in.  at  the  base.  They 
are  hollow,  with  walls  about  2j4  in.  thick,  and  they  weigh 
2000  lb.  each. 

The  accompanying  illustration  shows  a  typical  concrete 
pole  of  hollow  section  suitable  for  carrying  six  transmission 
wires  on  two  wooden  cross-arms.  The  pole  is  35  ft.  long 
over  all,  about  6  ft.  being  buried  in  the  ground.  With  a 
top  measurement  of  7  in.  square  and  a  taper  to  give  an 
increase  of  I  in.  width  for  every  5  ft.  of  length,  the  size 
at  the  bottom  will  be  14  in.  square.  The  drawing  shows  a 
section  through  the  hollow  pole  taken  at  a  point  about  4  ft. 
above  the  ground  level.  Iron  spacing  pieces,  as  here  shown, 
or  their  equivalent,  must  be  placed  at  intervals  to  hold  the 
longitudinal   steel   reinforcing  bars   in  the  proper  position. 


THE  CRANK  DIAGRAM  FOR  REPRESENTATION  OF 
ELECTRICAL  POWER. 


Comparison     of     Cycle     and    Integral    Diagrams    for 

Showing  Values  of  Current,  Voltage  and  Power 

in  Alternating-Current  Circuits. 

By  Albert  A.  Nims. 

IN  view  of  the  decision  of  the  International  Electro- 
technical  Congress  at  Turin  in  favor  of  the  "crank 
diagram"  method  of  representing  alternating-current 
quantities  by  vectors,  it  is  of  interest  to  develop  a  general 
form  of  this  method  and  to  note  its  close  connection  with 
the  method  of  representation  by  means  of  an  intercepting 
circle  or  "polar  diagram,"  as  it  is  often  called,  and  as  it 
will  be  referred  to  in  what  follows. 

In  Fig.  I  is  shown  an  ordinary  crank  diagram,  in  which 
the  line  OE  represents  some  sinusoidal  emf;  instead  of 
dropping  a  perpendicular  upon  the  F-axis  in  order  to  deter- 
mine Oje,  the  instantaneous  value  at  the  phase  indicated, 
describe  upon  OE  as  a  diameter  a  circle  which  shall  rotate 
with  it.  Then,  by  geometry,  that  part  of  the  F-axis  within 
the  circle  is  the  projection  of  OE.  and  therefore  represents 
the  instantaneous  value  of  the  emf.  This  is  true  at  all 
phases,  a  negative  value  being  represented,  of  course,  when 
the  y-intercept  is  below  the  X-axis. 

The  diameter  OE  is  merely  one  instantaneous  value,  the 
maximum,  of  the  function,  of  which  a  complete  cycle  is 
represented    by    the    complete    circle.      The    circle    passes 


X 


Dimensional     Plan     and     Section 
Concrete    Pole. 


Fig.     1 — Ordinary    Crank     Diagram. 


Fig.  2 — Cycle  Diagram  of  Voltage  and 

Ctirrent. 


\ 


The  number  of  rods  will  vary  with  the  distance  below  the 
point  of  application  of  the  load.  The  bending  moment  to 
be  resisted  at  every  point  being  known  and  the  taper  of  the 
pole  decided  upon,  the  amount  of  reinforcing  required  at 
any  given  section  is  easily  calculated.  The  weight  of  a  pole 
as  illustrated  would  be  about  2700  lb.  without  fixtures.  The 
reinforcing  rods  and  spacing  rings  would  account  for  ap- 
proximately one-seventh  of  the  total  weight.  A  factor  of 
safety  of  four  is  generally  employed  in  strength  calcula- 
tions of  reinforced  concrete  poles. 


COAL  ANALYSES. 


During  the  last  six  years  a  large  number  of  coal  analyses 
have  been  made  from  samples  from  time  to  time  collected 
from  various  fields  by  members  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey,  but  for  one  reason  or  another  the  re- 
sults have  not  hitherto  been  published.  In  a  twenty-nine- 
page  pamphlet  entitled  "Miscellaneous  Analyses  of  Coal 
Samples  from  Various  Fields  of  the  United  States,"  issued 
by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  Department  of 
the  Interior,  as  Bulletin  47I-J,  the  results  of  the  analyses 
referred  to   are   given    in   a   series   of   forty-eight   tables. 

These    tables    cover    samples    taken    from    many    mines. 


through  the  origin  and  rotates  counter-clockwise  about  it. 
For  a  function  whose  value  is  zero  at  zero  time  the  initial 
position  of  the  diameter  OE  is  in  the  X-axis;  for  any  other 
initial  value  the  rotating  diameter  starts  from  a  position 
which  is  at  the  proper  angle  ahead  of  the  X-axis  or  be- 
hind it.     The  value  of  the  F-intercept  is 

Oye  =  e  =  OE  [sin  (o>f  +  aj  ]  =  £m  sin  ((ut  -f-  o^)  ( i ) 
In  this  equation  all  letters  have  their  usual  significance,  a, 
being  the  epoch  of  the  function,  or  its  phase  at  zero  time. 

A  lagging  current  developed  in  a  circuit  by  this  emf  is 
represented  by  another  rotating  circle,  of  which  the  diam- 
eter, 01,  is  not  so  far  advanced  in  the  direction  of  rotation 
as  OE  (Fig.  2).  The  value  of  the  F-intercept  of  this 
circle  is 

Oyi  =  i  =  01  [sin  (co<  +  a„)]  =  /„,  sin  (u)/  +  aj,    (2) 
■X,  being  the  epoch  of  the  current  function. 

With  the  same  facility  as  sinusoidal  functions,  non- 
sinusoidal  functions  may  be  represented  by  similar  means. 
Thus,  in  order  to  obtain  the  triple-peaked  wave  of  Fig.  3, 
the  curve  of  Fig.  4  is  rotated  counter-clockwise  about  the 
origin  and  the  F-intercepts  are  plotted  to  rectangular  co- 
ordinates against  time  of  rotation.  Each  different  wave 
shape  in  rectangular  co-ordinates  has,  in  polar  co-ordinates, 
an  equally  distinct  intercepting  curve,  which  may  naturally 


September  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


661 


be  termed  the  characteristic  curve  of  the  function.  From 
this  characteristic  curve  can  be  determined  the  circle  repre- 
senting the  equivalent  sine  wave. 

Non-sinusoidal  enif  waves  are  known  to  be  equivalent  to 
the  superposition  of  odd  harmonics  upon  a  fundamental 
wave,  and  the  instantaneous  value  of  a  non-sinusoidal 
wave  is 

g  =  £„sine+ (£m),sin3e+ (£m),sin5  6-f  .    .    .    (3) 


beauty,  Fig.  2  becomes  the  orthodox  crank  diagram  of 
Fig.  6,  which  represents  the  effective  values  and  time-phase 
positions  of  a  sinusoidal  emf  wave  and  a  sinusoidal  current 
wave.  The  diagrams  in  which  the  characteristic  curves  are 
retained  will  be  spoken  of  herein  as  "cycle"  diagrams,  and 
those  in  which  simply  the  diameters  of  the  intercepting 
circles  are  used  as  "integral"  diagrams. 

The  "crank  diagram"  may  now  be  regarded  as  a  special 


Fig. 


rlple-Peaked    Wave. 


SiKctrtcal  World 

Fig.    4 — Curve     to     Generate    Triple- 
Peaked    Wave   by    Rotation. 


Fig.  5 — Elementary  Curves  of  Triple- 
Peaked   Wave. 


Visual  interpretation  may  be  given  to  this  expression  by 
plotting,  to  either  polar  or  rectangular  co-ordinates,  all  the 
curves  represented  by  the  expressions  on  the  right-hand 
side  of  the  equation  and  adding  their  simultaneous  values 
to  produce  the  characteristic  curve  of  the  non-sinusoidal 
wave.  The  actual  expression  for  the  wave  of  Fig.  3  is 
e  =  ^2s\nx  -\-  21  sin  3;r  +  14  sin  ^x,  (4) 

and   the   curves   up   to   the   fifth   harmonic   are   plotted   in 

Fig-  5- 

The  general  form  of  the  expressions  in  equation   (3)   is, 
in  terms  of  analytic  geometry, 

r  =  asinnG,  (5) 

where  6  is  the  variable  angle  and  o  and  n  are  constants. 
This  equation  represents  a  family  of  closed  curves,  clustered 
about  the  origin,  each  one  having  a  different  number  of 
lobes,  according  to  the  following  rule,  as  illustrated  in 
Fig.  5 :  When  n  is  even  the  number  of  lobes  is  2n;  when 
n  is  odd  the  number  of  lobes  is  n. 
It  is  generally  true,  especially  with  sine  waves,  that  one 

Y 
Y 


case  of  a  general  intercepting  curve  method  of  graphically 
representing  periodic  functions.  The  limitations  which 
make  it  a  special  case  are  two :  First,  it  is  an  integral  dia- 
gram and,  second,  it  is  confined  to  the  representation  of 
sinusoidal  functions.  The  general  intercepting  curve 
method  to  which  it  belongs  differs  from  the  "polar  diagram" 
intercepting  curve  method  in  only  one  particular,  as  will 
now  be  shown. 

Let  the  circle  of  Fig.  i  be  brought  to  a  standard  position, 
so  that  its  diameter  coincides  with  the  X-axis,  as  in  Fig.  7. 
If,  instead  of  rotating  the  circle  counter-clockwise  from 
this  position,  a  radius  vector,  or  time  axis,  is  started  from 
the  X-axis  and  rotated  counter-clockwise,  the  lengths  in- 
tercepted by  the  circle  will  represent  the  same  sine  wave  as 
the  intercepts  obtained  by  rotating  the  circle,  but  with  a 
lead  of  a  quarter  period.  A  lagging  function  must  be  rep- 
resented by  another  circle  with  its  diameter  in  the  first 
quadrant  (Fig.  8),  or  farther  advanced  in  the  direction  of 
rotation  than  the  diameter  of  the  leading  function.     If  the 

y 


SUetrie.*l  World 

Fig.    S^lntegral    Diagrams    of    Voltage 
and    Current. 


i:ioetrical  World 

-Standard   Position  of  Stationary 
Circle. 


Fig.  S^Cycle   Diagram   of   Lagging 
Current. 


is  more  concerned  with  each  wave  as  a  whole  than  with 
the  instantaneous  values  of  any  of  them.  In  such  cases, 
since  the  characteristic  circles  are  fully  determined  as  to 
size  and  position  by  the  length  and  position  of  their  diam- 
eters, the  diagram  can  be  simplified  by  omitting  the  circles 
and  retaining  only  their  diameters,  which  may  be  shortened 
to  the  scale  of  the  effective  values  and  which  may  be  prop- 
erly spoken   of   as   vectors.     Thus,    shorn   of   its   lines   of 


circles  be  dropped  from  this  diagram,  there  is  obtained 
(Fig.  9)  the  vector  diagram,  according  to  the  "polar  dia- 
gram" method,  of  a  leading  emf  and  lagging  current. 

The  relative  rotation  between  the  axes  and  the  curve 
necessary  for  obtaining  the  instantaneous  va'ues  of  the 
function  represented  in  Fig.  7  may  be  obtained  by  manipu- 
lating the  figure  in  four  different  ways :  by  fixing  the  axef 
and  rotating  the  circle  about  the  origin  either  ( i )  counter 


662 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13. 


clockwise  or  (2)  clockwise,  or  by  fixing  the  circle  and 
rotating  the  axes,  (3)  counter-clockwise  or  (4)  clockwise. 
It  is  evident  at  once  that  the  first  method  is  the  general 
form  of  the  crank  diagram,  and  that  the  third  is  the  "polar 
diagram"  method.  In  both,  be  it  noted,  there  is  an  inter- 
cepting circle  and  the  rotation  is  counter-clockwise;  the 
only  difference  is  in  what  rotates.  The  International  Elec- 
trotechnica!  Commission  has  decided,  by  indicating  its 
choice  between  the  two  forms  of  resulting  integral  dia- 
grams, that  it  shall  be  standard  practice  to  rotate  the  circle. 
Methods  (i)  and  (4),  also  (2)  and  (3),  are  exact  nega- 
tives of  each  other,  and  may,  without  affecting  the  repre- 
sentation, be  used  interchangeably,  as  is  sometimes  con- 
venient from  the  standpoint  of  graphical  construction. 

The  principle  of  the  intercepting  curve  may  be  extended 
and  made  to  include  a  cycle  diagram  of  power  in  the  follow- 
ing manner:  With  the  circles  of  Fig.  2  fixed,  rotate  the 
axes  clockwise,  plotting  upon  each  position  of  the  7-axis 
the  product  of  its  intercepts  with  the  two  circles.  The  locus 
of  these  points  is  the  four-lobed  curve  of  Fig.  10.  If  the 
axes  be  now  restored  to  their  original  position  and  all  three 
curves  rotated  counter-clockwise  about  the  origin,  the  Y- 
intercepts  will  represent  instantaneous  values  of  power  as 
well  as  of  emf  and  current.  These  intercepts  when  plotted 
to  rectangular  co-ordinates  give  the  familiar  waves  of 
Fig.  II. 


Eltctrical   n'orid 


(6) 
(7) 


(i)   Draw  the  line  A'  OA  bisecting  the  angle  6. 

(2)  With  O  as  a  center  describe  a  circle,  CDK,  with  a 
radius  proportional  to  EI  cos  6,  and  another  FGH,  with  a 
radius  proportional  to  EI. 

(3)  With  A'OA  as  a  diameter,  divide  FGH  into  any  even 
number  of  parts. 

(4)  To   any   radius,    OL,   extended,   of   CDK,   add   LP, 


Fig.    9 — Polar    Diagram   of    Lagging    Current. 

The  equation  of  the  power  curve  of  Fig.  10  is  derived  as 
follows : 
/>  =  «■  =  Em  sin  (u)  t  +  a,)  /„,  sin  (u)  t  -\-  a.,) 

=  fim^m  j.^^^  ^^^  _  ^^^  _  COS  (2  o>  « -f  a,  -f  a,)  ] 
2 
=  EI  [cos  (a^  — a,)— cos  (2  a)  < -f  2  a, -f  a,— x,)].         (8) 

Denoting  a,  —  a„  the  phase  difference  between  emf  and  cur- 
rent, by  6, 

/p  =  £/ [cos6  — cos  (2u)i  +  2x,  +  6)].  (9) 

If  ttj  is  zero — that  is,  if  the  current  circle  is  in  standard 
position,  as  is  generally  the  case — equation  (9)  becomes 

/.  =  £/[cosO  — cos(2o>f  +  e)].  (10) 

The  general  form  of  equations  (9)  and  (10)  is,  in  terms 
of  analytical  geometry, 

r  =  k  —  a  cos  (2  0 -|- y).  (iU 

This  is  seen  to  be  a  modification  of  the  general  expression 
for  the  cosine  term  of  the  second  harmonic  of  the  funda- 
mental function.  The  modification  consists  of  a  constant 
addition  to  the  phase  angle  and  a  constant  addition  to  the 
radius  vector.  The  effect  of  the  latter  is  to  distort  the 
symmetry  of  the  lobes,  which  are  normally  equal;  the  effect 
of  the  former  is  to  rotate  the  resulting  major  axis  of 
symmetry  counter-clockwise.  Since  this  is  the  second  har- 
monic, the  amount  of  this  rotation  is  half  the  constant 
added  angle. 

This  natural  division  of  the  F-intercept  of  the  power 
curve  into  two  parts,  a  constant  and  a  variable — equation 
(11) — suggests  a  method  of  constructing  the  curve  inde- 
pendent of  the  instantaneous  values  of  the  emf  and  current, 
provided  their  vectors  are  given.  This  will  be  illustrated 
for  the  case  in  which  the  current  vector  lies  in  the  A'-axis. 

In  Fig.  12,  let  OE  and  01  be  the  emf  and  current  vectors 
respectively,  representing  effective  values. 


Fig.    10 — Polar    Curves    of    Voltage.    Current    and    Power. 

equal  to  OA',  the  projection  upon  A'  OA  of  the  radius  DM 
of  FGH,  OM  being  taken  so  that  lAOM  is  equal  tc 
2(Z^0X). 

Then  OP  represents  the  instantaneous  value  of  the  powei 
at  phase  u)  t  =  LOY. 
Proof: 

OP  =  OL  +  LP  (12) 

0L  =  £/ cos  6  (i;^ 


Fig.    11 — Rectangular-Coordinate   Curves   of    Voltage.    Curren 
and     Power. 

LP  =  0N  =  OM  cos  AOM  =  EI  cos  2  (Z  AOL)  (14 

CO  t  =  LOY  =  Z XOY  —  Z XOA  —I  AOL 


=  -!-—- 1  AOL 

2         2 


m 


■K  6 

LAOL  = —  <or 


September  28,  191: 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


663 


2  (lAOL)  =  %  —  d  —  2(,i  t  =  %— {2u)  t  +  ^)         (17) 
.■.LF  =  £/cos  [tc—  (2a)f  +  6)] 

=  — £/cos  (2u)  i  +  0)  (iS) 

.'.  0P  =  £/ [cos6  — cos  (2u);  +  e)]  (19) 

It  is  seen  at  once,  from  Fig.  12,  that  the  maximum  power 

is  always  equal  to  the  sum  of  the  radii  of  the  two  circles, 


LUttrtcat  Wnrid 


Fig.  12 — Circular  Diagram  of  Power. 

Elch><)  and' HI,  and  tiiat  this  maxiiinnii  value  is  always 
halfway  between  the  maximum  emf  and  maximum  current. 
The  latter  is  to  be  expected  from  the  constant  addition  to 
the  phase  angle,  which  in  this  particular  case  becomes  6. 

The  only  integral  value  of  the  power  wave  with  which 
one  is  concerned  is  the  average  value  or  active  power.  This 
is  evidently  equal  to  the  radius  of  the  circle  CDK  of  Fig.  12, 
EI  cos  6,  ;ind  is  in  no  respect  a  vector  quantity.  Its  magni- 
tude may  be  scaled  off  along  the  X-axis,  which  is  the 
position  of  zero  phase,  as  OA  in  Fig.  13.  The  apparent 
power,  or  product  of  effective  emf  and  current,  is  then 
represented, by  a  line  OP,  of  length  EI,  making  the  angle 
6  with  the  X-axis,  in  the  first  quadrant  if  the  current  lags, 
and  in  the  fourth  if  it  leads.  By  completing  the  triangle  a 
figure  entirely  similar  to  the  impedance  triangle  is  obtained, 
and  one  is  led  at  once  to  the  similar  triangles  for  an  electric 
circuit  described  by  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly  in  his  paper  on 
"Vector  Power"  before  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  in  June,  1910. 

Since  the  line  OP  has  magnitude  and  direction,  with 
respect  to  the  X-axis,  it  becomes  a  vector.  It  determines 
the  length  of  OA,  and  together  these  two  determine  the 
size  and  shape  of  the  power  curve.  Therefore  OP  may  be 
termed  the  power  vector,  and,  remembering  that  it  is  not  a 
geometrical  element  of  the  power  curve  and  that  the  latter's 
position  is  dependent  upon  the  position  of  the  emf  and  cur- 


Y 

P 

X 

0 

A 

Elo^t, 

.iut 

I'orl'i 

Fig.    13 — Integral    Power    Diagram. 

rent  circles,  OP  may  be  said  to  represent  the  power  curve. 
This  vector  is  fixed  and  comes  within  Dr.  Kennelly's  classi- 
fication of  non-rotative  vectors,  in  contrast  with  the  rotating 
emf  and  current  vectors. 

By  analysis  and  development  of  the  "crank  diagram"  for 
alternating-current  quantities  it  has  been  seen  that  the  point 
at  issue  in  the  controversy  between  direct  and  inverse  rep- 
resentation was  fundamentally  not  a  question  of  direction 


of  rotation  but  of  what  should  rotate.  Two  classes  of 
representations  have  been  distinguished :  The  cycle  diagram, 
showing  instantaneous  values,  and  the  integral  diagram, 
showing  integral  values.  In  the  third  place,  it  has  been 
shown  how  the  general  form  of  the  "crank  diagram"  may 
be  extended  to  include  power  values.  The  cycle-power 
diagram  consists  of  a  four-lobed  curve,  with  lobes  generally 
unequal  in  size.  The  integral-power  diagram  consists  of  a 
right  triangle  similar  to  the  impedance  triangle. 


AUTOMATIC  FEEDER  REGULATOR. 


A  paper  written  by  Mr.  F.  W.  Shackelford,  of  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company,  for  the  Pennsylvania  Electric  Asso- 
ciation and  in  his  absence  presented  at  the  Bedford  Springs 
convention  by  Mr.  W.  P.  White,  of  the  same  company,  on 
automatic  feeder  regulation  for  outdoor  service  as  applied 
to  single-phase  lighting  circuits,  described  a  small  com- 
pact device  which  in  outward  appearance  resembles  an 
ordinary  pole-type  transformer  and  is  mounted  upon  the 
pole  in  a  similar  manner.  These  regulators  are  de- 
signed for  6o-cycle,  2300-volt,  single-phase  circuits  and 
have  ID  per  cent  boost  and  buck,  with  current  ratings 
of  10.  15,  20  and  25  amp.  Although  automatic,  the  regu- 
lator employs  no  electrical  contacts.  It  is  of  the  induc- 
tion type,  oil-immersed  and  self-cooled.  The  operating 
mechanism  is  mounted  above  the  oil  line  and  comprises  a 
small  single-phase,  self-starting  motor,  which  operates  con- 
tinuously. The  motor  is  geared  to  a  crank,  which  drives  a 
rocker  on  which  are  mounted  two  pawls.  The  latter  are 
held  in  a  certain  position  by  triggers,  but  if  the  voltage 
varies  beyomi  the  prescribed  limits,  they  are  adjusted  so  as 
to  engage  with  a  gear  connected  to  the  regulator  armature 
shaft.  The  potential  balance  consists  of  a  solenoid  having 
a  movable  core,  which  is  connected  to  a  pivoted  lever  at 
the  top  and  its  action  regulated  by  a  dash-pot  at  the  bottom. 
The  solenoid  lever  carries  two  stop  pins,  one  on  each  side 
of  the  lever  pivot.  When  the  voltage  is  normal  the  rocker 
triggers  just  clear  these  stop  pins,  but  with  a  variation  of 
voltage  one  or  other  of  the  points  interferes  with  one  or 
the  other  of  the  pawl  triggers  and  the  pawl  is  tripped  into 
mesh  with  the  gear.  As  the  rocker  moves  forward  the  pawl 
engages  the  gear,  and  as  it  returns  it  carries  the  gear 
through  a  fraction  of  a  revolution.  Should  the  voltage 
variation  be  greater  than  the  range  of  the  regulator,  an 
automatic  mechanical  limit  device  cuts  the  operating  motor 
out  of  circuit.  The  author  maintained  that  the  regulator 
will  satisfactorily  hold  the  voltage  within  1.5  per  cent  of 
normal  and  can  be  relied  upon  for  performance  and  regu- 
lation. 

In  discussing  the  paper  Mr.  Horace  Leversidge,  of  Phila- 
delphia, drew  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  modern  central- 
station  practice  the  regulating  equipment  costs  from  two 
to  three  times  as  much  as  the  other  apparatus  for  station 
control,  not  including  the  transformer  equipment,  and  sug- 
gested that  some  self-contained  regulator,  minus  automatic 
adjuncts,  somewhat  similar  to  that  described  would  be  wel- 
comed if  the  item  of  expense  could  be  reduced.  Mr.  G.  F. 
Wendle,  Williamsport,  Pa.,  felt  that  1.5  per  cent  of  regula- 
tion was  hardly  close  enough,  since  a  small  variation  in  volt- 
age has  a  very  detrimental  effect  on  high-efficiency  lamps  on 
lighting  circuits,  Mr.  A.  D.  Fishel,  of  the  Westinghouse 
Electrical  &  Manufacturing  Company,  said  that  any  regu- 
lator which  had  to  be  mounted  on  the  pole  must,  of  a 
necessity,  be  more  or  less  fool-proof,  since  the  average 
lineman  could  not  be  depended  upon  to  give  to  delicate 
apparatus  the  attention  it  requires.  He  stated  that  it  was 
owing  to  this  reason  that  the  transformer  switch  for  cutting 
out  large  transformers  and  inserting  small  transformers 
in  the  circuit  during  periods  of  light  load  never  met  with 
wide  use  in  this  country,  although  the  device  was  merito- 
rious.   He  held  out  scant  hope  for  cheaper  regulators. 


664 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol,  6o.  ND.  ] 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


GROWTH    OF    MOTOR-SERVICE    BUSINESS    AT 
WORCESTER,  MASS. 


Exploitation  of  the  market  for  motor  service  at 
Worcester,  Mass.,  resulted  in  a  large  increase  in  the  busi- 
ness handled  by  the  Worcester  Electric  Light  Company  in 

MOTOR    SERVICE    BUSINESS,    WORCESTER    ELECTRIC    LIGHT 
COMPANY. 


Total  kw-hr.  sold  tor  motor  service 

Number  of  alternating-current  motors 

Number  of  direct-current  motors 

Total  number  of  motors 

Connected  motor  load  in  hp 

Number  of  motor  customers 

Average  hp  per  motor  connected 

Total  revenue  from  motors  connected 

Average  revenue  per  kw-hr.  from  motor  service,  cents. 


1912. 


I 


3,376,246 

595 

420 

1015 

5150 

455 

5.06 

S106,388 

3.15 


6,618,605 

899 

403 

1302 

8920 

455 

6.85 

$161,891 

2.44 


1912,  contrasted  with  the  revenue  obtained  from  the  same 
source  in  191 1.  A  summary  of  this  business  for  the  two 
fiscal  years  is  given  in  the  accompanying  table.  The  fiscal 
year  ends  June  30. 


ELECTRIC  COOKING. 


At  the  recent  convention  of  the  Colorado  Electric  Light, 
Power  &  Railway  Association  a  paper  was  presented  by 
Mr.  H.  F.  Holland,  Denver,  on  "Electric  Cooking  and  the 
Field  It  Offers  to  Central  Stations."  The  author  said 
that  the  electric  range  is  the  height  of  perfection  in 
cooking  devices  and  is  an  improvement  over  the  gas  range, 
which  has  been  considered  the  last  thing  as  a  perfect 
appliance.  He  explained  why  the  electric  oven  is  superior 
to  the  gas-range  oven  on  account  of  the  fact  that  air  must 
be  admitted  to  the  gas-range  oven,  and  why  baking  or  roast- 
ing in  the  electric  oven  insures  an  absolutely  finished 
product.  It  is  the  only  range,  according  to  Mr.  Holland, 
that  can  be  installed  in  a  kitchen  without  flue  connections, 
and  it  is  really  as  economical  from  an  operating  standpoint 
as  is  gas.  He  gave  figures  with  gas  at  $1.50,  $1.25  and  $1. 
and  said  that  in  competition  with  gas  sold  at  these  rates  elec- 
trical energy  can  be  purchased  at  3.40  cents,  2.83  cents  and 
2.27  cents  respectively. 

He  then  outlined  the  kilowatt  demand  for  electric  ranges 
and  said  that  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  non- 
coincident  use  of  all  ranges  at  any  one  time  will  represent 
a  diversitv-factor  of  1.25,  the  non-coincident  use  of  all 
heating  elements  a  diversity-factor  of  1.5,  and  the  non- 
coincident  use  of  high  and  low  heat  one  of  1.75.  The 
diversity-factor,  therefore,  on  the  entire  range  load  under 
the  above  assumption  would  be  4.5,  which  means  that  a 
generator  equipment  of  only  126  kw  would  be  sufficient  to 
handle  a  range  load  amounting  to  566  kw,  or  150  ranges  of 
3.775  kw  each. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  paper  Mr.  A.  H.  Hahn,  of  the 
Northern  Colorado  Power  Company,  related  the  experience 
of  his  company  with  the  electric  range  and  said  that  his 
company  recently  held  a  demonstration  in  its  Boulder  office 
at  which  several  hams  were  roasted  in  the  oven  of  the 
range  and  served  to  the  1500  ladies  attending,  the  result 
being  that  thirty-five  ranges  were  placed  on  the  lines  of 
the  company.  Regarding  the  rate  charged  for  energy  sup- 
plied to  electric  range  users,  he  stated  that  a  rate  of  3  cents 
per  kw-hr.  is  in  effect,  but  that  the  company  also  offers  to 
the   consumer   another   rate   with   a  $1.25   minimum   and   a 


3.5-cent  rate  for  the  energy  consumed.  He  also  stated  tha 
where  a  farmer  has  a  readiness-to-serve  charge  for 
motor  or  electric  lamp  the  company  does  not  make  anothe 
readiness  charge  for  the  electric  range,  but  one  charg 
applies  to  ail  uses  of  the  energy.  One  company  stated  tha 
it  had  been  installing  ranges  free  and  also  putting  them  ou 
on  trial  with  satisfactory  results.  The  practice  of  the  Twi: 
Falls  (Idaho)  Company  was  cited.  At  that  place  the  coin 
pany  is  makmg  a  minimum  charge  of  $2.40  with  a  rate  0 
3.5  cents  and  in  addition  guaranteeing  that  the  bills  for  on 
month  will  not  exceed  $4.80. 


PRODUCTION   COST    IN   A   6500-KW  CENTRAL 
STATION. 


Figures  now  available  from  the  operation  of  the  Fa" 
River  (Mass.)  Electric  Light  Company's  generating  plan 
during  the  year  ended  June  30,  1912,  show  a  decided  in 
crease  in  economy  of  operation  as  compared  with  the  rec 
ords  of  191 1.  The  station  is  a  tidewater  plant  of  65O0-k\ 
rating,  containing  six  350-hp  water-tube  boilers,  one  4000 
kw,  one  500-kw  and  two  2000-kw  turbines.  The  4000-k\ 
unit  was  in  process  of  installation  in  191 1  and  was  not  con 
cerned  with  the  station  performance  during  that  year.  I: 
191 1  the  plant  produced  5,764,466  kw-hr.  at  a  manufacturin 
cost  of  $51,840,  or  0.9  cent  per  kw-hr.,  coal  costing  $3.6 
per  ton.  The  fuel  consumption  averaged  3  lb.  per  kw-hi 
This  year  the  plant  generated  7,293,783  kw-hr.  at  a  statioi 
cost  of  $55,359,  or  0.76  cent  per  kw-hr.,  coal  costin; 
the  company  $3.53  per  ton.  The  payroll  of  the  generatin 
department  listed  sixteen  men  in  191 1  and  eighteen  in  igii 
The  costs  given  include  no  fixed  charges  or  administrativ 
expenses,  but  show  the  results  of  station  operation  in  191 
iis  follows: 

F.\LL  RIVER   STATION   OPERATING  COSTS,    I9I2. 

Fuel  (0.47  cent  per  kw-hr.) t34,16 

Oil  and  waste 90 

Water 1,2C 

Wages  at  station  (0.19  cent  per  kw-hr.) 13, 6S 

Repairs  of  building. 1,68 

Repairs  of  steam  equipment 1,53 

Repairs  of  electrical  equipment 68 

-Miscellaneous 1,49 

Total,  excluding  fixed  costs  (0.  76  cent  per  kw-hr.) $55,35 


The  Station  load-factor  for  the  year  was  32.5  per  cent 
During  the  year  the  sales  of  energy  for  motor  service  in 
creased  from   1.230,960  kw-hr.  to  2,055,979  kw-hr. 


COMPLAINT    OF     PROPERTY    OWNERS    AGAINST 
POWER  HOUSE. 


One  possibility  always  to  be  considered  in  building  electrii 
generating  plants  in  thickly  populated  or  even  thinly  popu 
lated  districts  is  a  hostile  attitude  on  the  part  of  adjacen 
property  owners.  This  is  exemplified  by  the  fact  that  free- 
holders in  the  vicinity  of  the  new  Northwest  station  of  th« 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company  at  Roscoe  Street  anc 
California  Avenue.  Chicago,  have  brought  four  suits  in  tht 
Circuit  Court  of  Cook  County  to  restrain  the  company  fron' 
further  operation  of  the  plant  on  the  ground  that  it  is  i 
nuisance.  This  action  is  taken  in  the  face  of  the  fact  thai 
the  station  is  built  on  what  was  formerly  an  open  waste 
space ;  that  it  has  been  very  carefully  designed  with  all  the 
latest    improvements    in    the    art    to    eliminate    smoke    and 


September  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


66s 


vibration,  and  that  the  company  has  spent  and  is  spending 
large  sums  of  money  to  beautify  the  surroundings,  so  that 
the  station  and  its  appurtenances  shall  be  considered  not  a 
drawback  but  an  acquisition  to  the  neighborhood.  None 
of  these  things  moves  the  plaintiffs  who  have  filed  their 
complaints. 


ONCE-A-MONTH  HEATING-DEVICE  CAMPAIGN. 


At  intervals  of  about  a  month  the  sales  department  of 
the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
has  been  holding  bargain-day  sales  of  various  electrical 
heating  appliances  at  half  a  dozen  downtown  dealers'  and 
department  stores  besides  its  own  showrooms.  Advertise- 
ments in  all  the  daily  papers  precede  the  sales,  and  on  the 
date  itself  there  is  a  final  "To-day  Only"  reminder,  with  a 
list  of  the  places  where  the  reduced  prices  are  in  force. 

On  the  July  date  standard  $4.25  electric  irons  were 
marked  down  to  $3.19,  and  the  returns  of  the  one-day  sale 
showed  690  to  have  been  disposed  of  by  eight  dealers.  At 
the  August  sale  $6.50  toaster  stoves  were  sold  for  $4.93, 
125  stoves  being  placed.  During  the  months  to  come 
similar  one-day  sales  will  be  held  for  toasters,  percolators, 
etc.,  and  in  November  and  December  there  will  be  special 
sales  of  "club"  groups  of  appliances,  various  combinations 
of  toasters  and  percolators,  irons  and  stoves,  etc.,  being 
marked  even  lower  than  the  individual  sale  price.  This 
combination-device  campaign  will  come  appropriately  at  a 
time  when  Christmas  gifts  are  in  demand  and  will  also 
follow  the  earlier  campaigns  by  an  interval  in  which  the 
devices  already  sold  will  have  served  as  excellent  demon- 
stration material  to  the  neighbors  of  the  first  purchasers, 
so  that  a  harvest  is  to  be  expected  from  the  holiday  follow- 
up  campaign.  Mr.  F.  D.  Beardslee  is  sales  manager  for 
the  company. 


MERCHANTS'  SHOW-WINDOW  LIGHTING  CONTEST. 


During  a  holiday  trade  carnival  at  Muncie,  Ind.,  last  year 
local  interest  in  window  lighting  and  decoration  was  stimu- 
lated by  the  award  of  cash  prizes  to  the  merchants  making 
the  best  illuminated  window  displays.  The  Muncie  Elec- 
tric Light  Company  contributed  to  the  fortnight's  festivi- 
ties by  donating  the  energy  required  to  operate  the  10,000 
decorative  street  lamps  temporarily  installed,  but  the  win- 
dow-lighting contest  was  handled  entirely  by  the  merchants 


received  first  honors.  Mr.  Feltman,  the  shoe  merchant, 
who  earned  third  prize  in  the  minds  of  the  lay  jury  of 
awards,  is  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of  electric  lighting  on 
an  extensive  scale  and  declares  that  electricity  is  the  great- 
est   advertising    medium    the    retail    merchant   can    employ. 


1                      .- 

'.;;  P^Lfy  i  j;>-. :m^j=^Jm^ .  f:-'^  ■ 

j^^^^^l*  ;..Bu«:r«'^.«»r. 

^^^KlBfe6CB;.;o>viiSaiSa:W.::  ..:,,,, ,                               ii■^.,..    .  .„,:^i>,«ii3M«K3?!l«B 

Fig.    2 — Third-Prize    Winner    at    Show-Window    Lighting    Contest. 

A  high  Standard  of  illumination  prevails  in  his  own  win- 
dows, each  of  which  is  lighted  by  1400  watts  in  tungsten 
lamps. 


STREET-LIGHTING  RATES  AT  MACON,  GA. 


The  City  Council  of  Macon,  Ga.,  has  accepted  bids  for 
street  lighting  from  the  Central  Georgia  Power  Company, 
subject  to  ratification  by  the  people  at  an  election  to  tie 
held  in  March  next.  A  contract  between  the  city  and  the 
company  embodying  the  proposed  rates  is  in  preparation. 
The  bids  in  detail  are  as  follows :  Four  hundred  4-amp 
magnetite  or  metallic  flame-arc  lamps,  operating  from  dusk 
to  daylight,  approximately  4000  hours  per  year,  $21.95  PO" 
lamp  per  year;  fifty  50-cp  series  incandescent  lamps,  same 
hours  of  operation,  $8.75  per  lamp  per  year;  100  "white 
way"  posts,  each  carrying  a  cluster  of  five  40-watt  tungsten- 
filament  lamps,  same  hours  of  operation,  $15.90  per  post 
per  year;  188  "white  way"  posts,  same  as  last  item,  $11.50 
per  post  per  year;  eleven  "white  way"  posts,  each  bearing 
a  cluster  of  two  6o-watt  tungsten-filament  lamps,  same 
hours  of  operation,  $11.90  per  post  per  year. 

The  Georgia  Public  Service  Corporation  filed  a  competing 


Fig.   1 — First-Prize   Winner   at   Show-Window    Lighting   Contest  at  Muncie,    Ind. 


themselves,  $1,500  in  all  being  collected  to  defray  the  ex- 
pense of  installing  the  street  lamps  and  holding  the  vari- 
ous carnival  contests.  Prizes  of  $25,  $15  and  $10  were 
awarded  to  the  three  best  lighted  window  displays,  the 
selection  of  prize  winners  being  made  by  a  committee  of 
the  merchants.     The  Keller-Bryce  Company,  haberdasher. 


bid  which  was  considerably  higher.  For  arc  lamps  the 
price  offered  was  $32.50  per  lamp  per  year,  for  incandes- 
cent lamps  $17.50  per  lamp  per  year,  for  the  first  100  "white 
way"  posts  $17  per  post  per  year,  for  the  next  188  "white 
way"  posts  $9  per  post  per  year,  for  the  eleven  "white 
way''  posts  carrying  two-lamp  clusters  $10  per  post  per  year. 


666 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13. 


The  bids  accepted  from  the  Central  Georgia  Power  Com- 
pany will  mean  a  large  annual  saving  to  the  city  in  the  cost 
of  street  lighting.  The  city  is  now  paying  $60  per  year  for 
arc  lamps.  It  is  reported  that  this  company  was  influenced 
in  making  its  low  competitive  bid  by  the  fact  that  it  has  a 
large  investment  in  street-lighting  equipment  which  would 
not  be  available  for  use  in  case  it  failed  to  secure  a  renewal 
of  its  lighting  contracts. 

These  low  rates  recall  to  mind  the  high  rates  paid  for 
street-lighting  service  many  years  ago.  When  the  first  bids 
were  received  in  1889  from  the  Macon  Gas  Light  &  Water 
Company  and  the  old  Brush  Electric  Company  the  price 
oflered  was  $144  per  arc  lamp  per  annum  and  $108  per  in- 
candescent lamp  per  annum.  The  street-lighting  appropria- 
tion for  the  first  year  was  $6,500.  Appropriations  for  the 
present  year  were  $26,308. 


MOTION-PICTURE    THEATER    LOAD 
LOUISVILLE,  KY. 


IN 


The  Louisville  Lighting  Company,  Louisville.  Ky.,  has 
been  conducting  a  special  campaign  to  secure  the  business  of 
motion-picture  theaters.  As  a  result,  it  has  closed  contracts 
with  twenty  customers  of  this  class  and  is  furnishing  elec- 
trical energy  both  for  lighting  and  for  motor  service  for 
the  fans  and  ventilators.  The  motion-picture  theater  man- 
agers in  Louisville  are  believers  in  advertising,  and  every 
theater  served  by  the  Louisville  Lighting  Company  is  promi- 
nently featured  by  an  electric  sign.  The  Ideal  Theater,  at 
Twentv-sixth  and  Market  Streets,  is  the  company's  latest 
acquisition  in  this  class  of  business. 


COMMERCIAL  ELECTRIC-LIGHTING    DATA   FROM 
SIX  CENTRAL  STATIONS. 


In  the  following  table  is  given  an  analysis  of  the  commer- 
cial electric-lighting  revenue  and  kilowatt-hour  sales  for 
the  fiscal  year  191 1  in  six  Massachusetts  central  stations 
serving  cities  ranging  in  population   from  about  80,000  to 


mercial  electric  lighting  varied  from  5.8  cents  to  10.8  cents 
per  kw-hr.,  and  the  revenue  per  capita  from  $1.32  to  $3.44. 
The  United  Electric  Light  Company,  of  Springfield,  had 
the  largest  number  of  commercial  lighting  customers  in 
proportion  to  population,  about  one  person  in  every  twenty- 
five  being  on  the  company's  books.  This  company  also 
derived  the  largest  revenue  per  kilowatt  of  connected  com- 
mercial lighting  load,  or  $44.  All  six  companies  earned 
nearly  equal  amounts  in  this  connection.  The  revenue  per 
lighting  customer  varied  from  $37.40  at  Maiden  to  $83.50 
at  Cambridge,  the  Maiden  company  occupying  mainly  resi- 
dential territory  in  several  northern  suburbs  of  Boston  and 
not  being  so  highly  developed  as  Cambridge  from  the  manu-. 
facturing  and  commercial  points  of  view. 

The  figures  given  as  to  average  connected  commercial 
lighting  load  were  derived  by  averaging  the  connected  load 
data  for  the  year,  and,  similarly,  the  number  of  customers 
was  obtained  by  adding  the  number  at  the  ends  of  the  fiscal 
years  1910  and  191 1  and  dividing  by  two.  The  figures 
given  as  to  the  ratio  of  combined  average  lighting  demand 
at  the  consumers'  installations  to  the  total  connected  com- 
mercial lighting  load  show  the  use  of  the  connected  load 
during  the  year,  and,  as  might  be  anticipated,  the  capacity 
required  to  handle  the  average  twenty-four-hour  lighting 
load  at  the  consumers'  premises  was  only  from  about  4  to 
8.4  per  cent  of  the  total  required  installation.  The  revenues 
shown  in  the  table  include  earnings  fronj  the  operation  of 
small  motors  and  heating  appliances  on  domestic  and  other 
commercial  circuits,  but  do  not  include  street-lighting 
operations. 


LIGHTING  UP  THE  "FOR   RENT"  STOREROOM. 


A  building  owner  had  an  empty  storeroom  for  rent.  The 
fixtures  and  lamps  used  by  the  last  tenant  were  still  in  place, 
so  he  turned  them  on  one  evening,  just  to  see  if  his  brightly 
lighted  proposition  would  not  look  more  attractive  than  the 
dismal  shades  pervading  the  empty  storeroom  a  few  doors 
down  the  street.  People  passing  the  lighted  but  empty 
shop  looked  in,  some  merely  out  of  curiosity.  Several  ad- 
mired the  ceilings  and  cornice.  One  went  off  figuring  up 
in  his  mind  how  the  place   would  meet  his  own  needs  in 


COMMERCIAL  LIGHTING  REVENUE,  SIX  CENTRAL  STATIONS,  I9II. 


Worcester. 


Population  served 

AveraRe  number  commercial -lighting  customere.    .  . 
Average  connected  commercial-lighting  load.  kw.  . . 

Revenue,  cents  per  kw-hr.  commercial  lighting 

Kw-hr.  sales,  commercial  lighting 


Total  revenue,  commercial  lighting 

Revenue  per  kw,  connected  lighting  load. 

Lighting  revenue  per  capita 

Lighting  revenue  per  lighting  customer. . .  . 


182 
785 
1 
.793 


124,984 
2,176 
4,257 
7.7 
2.229,825 


Connected  lighting  load  per  capita,  watts 

Connected  lighting  load  per  lighting  customer,  watts 

Maximum  net  rate  per  kw-hr.  commercial  lighting,  cents.  ........ 

Average  load   in  kw,   combined   commercial  customers'    lighting 
installations 


Ratio  of  above  combined  average  demand  to  commercial  connected 
lighting  load  in  per  cent .■■•■, ,■  •  ■  v 

Ratio  commercial  lighting  revenue  to  total  earnings  from  sale  of 
electricity,  in  percent 

Kw-hr.  sales  per  capita 

Kw-hr.  sales  per  customer 


$258.821 .00 

38.20 

1.73 

81.00 

45.5 
2120 
12 


57.0 
21.3 
1000 


S171, 


384.00 

40.00 

1.38 

79.00 

34.3 
1963 
11.7 


38.5 
17.8 
1060 


Brockton. 


Maiden. 


83,550 
2,249 
4,019 
5.8 
2.966,773 

S172.303.00 

43.00 

2.06 

77.00 

48.0 
1790 
15 

338 


52.3 
35.2 
1320 


116,753 
4,105 
4.107 
10.8 
1 ,419,483 

$153,057.00 

37.20 

1.32 

37.40 

34.5 
1000 
12 


3.95 

51.7 
12.1 
1210 


Cambridge. 


Springfield. 


104,839 
2,233 
5,018 
10.6 
1.758,685 

Jl 86, 446. 00 

37.10 

1.79 

«3.S0 

48.0 
2260 
12 


48.4 

16.8 

790 


104.182 
4,346 
8,156 
7.1 
5,049.405 

S357.622.00 

44.00 

3.44 

82.50 

78.2 
1875 
12 


7.0 

60  8 
48.0 
1164 


150,000.  The  results  are  compared  both  in  totals  and  on 
the  unit  basis  and  show  decided  differences  in  the  use  of 
electric-lighting  service  even  for  cities  of  approximately 
the  same  size.  At  Worcester,  Lowell,  Brockton,  Cambridge 
and  Springfield  competing  gas  companies  are  in  the  field, 
but  at  Maiden  the  same  interests  control  both  gas  and  elec- 
tric service.  All  six  plants  are  operated  by  private  com- 
panies. 

The  table  shows  that  the  net  revenue  derived  from  corn- 


case  he  made  his  intended  removal  to  that  part  of  town. 
Others  kept  coming  along  and  looking  in,  until  the  night 
watchman  opened  the  switch.  Not  one  out  of  a  dozen  saw 
or  noticed  the  other  empty  store  in  its  Stygian  darkness, 
although  by  daylight  it  looked  like  a  better-finished  room. 
By  the  end  of  the  week  the  owner  of  the  first  room  accepted 
the  most  desirable  of  several  good  offers,  and  the  new 
tenant  is  now  paying  good  lighting  bills.  And  the  dark 
and  empty  room  is  still  dark  and  empty  as  before. 


September  28,  1912 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


667 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

DISCONNECT  SWITCH  FOR  FEEDER  REGULATORS. 


In  an  Illinois  turbine  plant  having  its  lighting  feeders 
equipped  with  induction-type  regulators  use  is  made  of 
disconnect  switches,  like  those  shown,  to  cut  the  regulators 
clear  of  their  circuits  so  that  they  may  be  repaired  or 
inspected.     There  are  three  single-blade  hook-type  switches 

From 
Switchboard  To  Feeder 


MMAAT 


Electrical  ^Vcrld 

Regulator 
Winiling 

Disconnect  Switch  for  Feeder  Regulator. 

mounted  on  a  common  slate  block  each  over  its  correspond- 
ing regulator.  When  the  two  outer  blades  are  closed  the 
regulator  winding  is  in  series  with  the  line.  To  disconnect 
the  regulator,  its  rotor  is  first  brought  back  to  zero,  to 
avoid  short-circuiting  any  incremental  voltage,  and  the 
middle  blade  is  then  closed.  Opening  the  outer  blades 
finally  disconnects  the  apparatus  altogether,  rendering  it 
"dead."  Meanwhile  the  feeder  may  continue  in  use  un- 
interruptedly. 


ALL-DAY  SUPERVISION    OF  ARC  CIRCUITS. 


When  the  plug  connectors  are  withdrawn  from  the 
switchboard  jacks  controlling  arc-lamp  circuits  in  the  St. 
Louis  substations  test  wires  are  plugged  in  in  their  place, 
each  pair  lighting  a  couple  of  4-cp  lamps  from  the  220-volt 
bus  through  one  of  the  outside  arc-circuit  loops.  The  test 
wires  are  formed  up  to  length  so  that  each  enters  its  indi- 
vidual jack  and  makes  connection  with  the  test  lamps  corre- 
spondingly numbered.  These  test  lamps  are  thus  connected 
up  all  day,  as  long  as  the  arc  circuits  are  not  in  use.  If  a 
lamp  goes  out  it  is  the  duty  of  the  station  operator  to  call 


Street  Arc 
Circuits 


16  n  18  19  20  21 

■— o  "-o  I— o  L-o  [—0  \-o 
I \ \ \ I L 


Eteclriciil  IVvrU 

Test   Lamps  for   All-Day   Supervision   of   Arc   Circuits. 

up  the  trouble  department  and  notify  it  of  the  number 
of  the  circuit  in  trouble  in  order  that  repairs  can  be  started 
without  delay.  The  operator  is  also  required  to  look  at  the 
test  lamps  once  every  hour,  when  he  reads  his  meters,  mak- 
ing a  note  of  any  circuits  open.  He  must  then  call  the 
trouble  department  and  report  whether  or  not  all  test  lamps 
are  burning   properly.     These   calls   must  be   made   hourly 


whether  trouble  is  present  or  not.  This  system  of  all-day 
supervision  of  air  circuits  has  greatly  reduced  the  number 
of  cases  of  trouble  going  undiscovered  until  nightfall. 
With  the  low  voltage  employed  trimmers  cannot  get  a  shock 
of  more  than  220  volts,  or  no  volts  to  ground,  but  they  are 
instructed  to  wear  rubber  gloves  when  handling  arc  lamps 
on  the  street. 


INSERTmO  SPARE  TRANSFORMER  IN  STAR-DELTA 
GROUP. 


A  fourth  spare  unit  is  included  in  the  bank  of  trans- 
formers which  furnish  energy  for  the  various  motors  about 
the  new  9000-kw  steam-turbine  plant  of  the  Laclede  Gas 
Company,  St.  Louis.  The  primary  windings  of  these  trans- 
formers are  connected  in  star  and  the  secondaries  in  delta. 
Switching  provision  has  been  made  by  Mr.  William  Brad- 
ford, electrical  engineer  for  the  company,  so  that  the  spare 
transformer  can  be  immediately  connected  in  place  of  any 
of  the  other  units  which  may  burn  out  or  break  down.  The 
scheine  used  is  illustrated  in  the  accompanying  sketch.  For 
the  star  connection  three  single-pole,  double-throw  switches 


Spare  MAM/V 

Transformer        /VVWW^ 


D.P.D.T. 
Secondary 
Switches 


f^^^^f^Z-^^ 


J ^      ?    '^    _?    f 


220  V. 


Eleetrieal  fVarU 


Connections  for  Inserting   Spare  Transformer   Into  Star  and   Delta 

Groups. 

are  required,  while  for  the  delta  transfer  double-pole, 
double-throw  switches  are  needed.  The  corresponding 
primary  and  secondary  switches  are  mounted  in  line  on  the 
board,  so  that  both  windings  of  the  spare  unit  will  be  auto- 
matically connected  to  the  proper  phase.  The  switch  panel 
for  effecting  this  transfer  is  mounted  directly  in  front  of 
the  transformer  bank  in  the  basement. 


ELECTRIC  LIGHTING  OF  A    PALATIAL  ST.   LOUIS 
RESIDENCE. 


A  number  of  the  electrical  fixtures  for  the  $300,000  resi- 
dence now  being  completed  for  Mr.  E.  A.  Faust,  St.  Louis, 
are  bronze  works  of  art  imported  from  abroad  and  copied 
after  famous  old-world  chandeliers  and  lanterns.  The 
accompanying  illustration  shows  the  massive  bronze  chan- 
delier for  the  grand  entrance  hall.  This  masterpiece  meas- 
ures 5  ft.  5  in.  in  height  and  3  ft.  5  in.  in  width  and  was 
reproduced  by  Bende,  of  Mayence,  Germany,  from  the  4-ft. 
6-in.  original  which  hangs  in  the  cathedral  at  Pisa,  Italy. 
The  fixture  is  of  Renaissance  design  and  is  suspended  by  a 
i6-ft.  bronze  chain  from  the  40-ft.  goldleaf  dome.  It 
carries  twenty  8-cp  candle-bulb  lamps  and  an  equal  number 


668 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13 


of  suspended  ball-giobe  lamps  and  is  reported  to  have  cost 
$1,000.  The  cornice  forming  the  ceiling  of  the  second- 
story  gallery  of  this  main  hall  conceals  120  25-watt  indirect 
units,  the  light  from  which  is  projected  onto  the  dome.  The 
central  portion  of  the  latter  is  finished  off  with  art  glass, 
and  above  this  will  be  hung  reflector  units  to  simulate  day- 
light.    The   approach    to    the   sweeping   bronze-and-marble 


Bronze  Chandelier  for  Grand   Entrance  of  St.   Louis  Residence. 

Staircases  will  also  be  lighted  by  pedestal  candelabra  fix- 
tures now  being  built  in  this  country.  Elaborate  gold- 
bronze  chandeliers  imported  from  Germany  are  also  hung 
in  the  east  living  room.  For  the  30-ft.  by  i6-ft.  dining  hall 
indirect  cove  lighting  has  been  employed.  A  cornice  con- 
ceals the  lamps,  which  project  their  light  onto  the  arched 
white  ceiling. 

In  the  kitchen  electric  heating  ovens,  warmers,  iron  out- 
lets, dumbwaiters,  etc.,  are  provided.  Intercommunicating 
telephones  connect  all  rooms.  Switch  plates  and  te'ephone 
boxes  are,  like  the  hardware,  all  plated  with  gold,  except 
those  in  dark-finished  apartments  where  the  color  of  the 
metal  has  been  made  to  conform  to  the  woodwork.  For 
emergency  control  a  number  of  lamps  on  the  first  and 
second  floors  are  wired  with  single  three-point  switches, 
the  master  control  switch  which  energizes  their  "off"  posi- 
tions being  placed  by  the  bedside  in  the  owner's  room.  By 
a  touch  of  the  button  the  lower  floors  can  be  flooded  with 
light,  and  these  "burglar"  lamps  cannot  be  extinguished 
from  any  other  switch  than  that  at  which  they  are  turned 
on.  Mr.  C.  J.  Sutter,  St.  Louis,  is  the  electrical  contractor 
for  the  Faust  residence. 


ALARM    TO    INDICATE    OPERATION    OF    REMOTE 
RECTIFIER  SET. 


Two  of  the  seventy-five  lamp,  4-amp  magnetite-arc  recti- 
fier sets  in  the  Vandevanter  substation  of  the  Union  Elec- 
tric Light  &  Power  Company,  St.  Louis,  had  to  be  mounted 
in  the  basement  on  account  of  lack  of  space  on  the  main 
operating  floor.     Since  the  station  operatfir  could  not  make 


sure  that  the  rectifiers  were  working  properly  without  run 
ning  up  and  down  stairs  at  intervals,  Mr.  W.  A.  Yandell 
in  charge  of  substations,  arranged  the  series-solenoid  alarn 
circuit  illustrated.  As  long  as  the  rectifier  operates  prop 
erly  the  white  lamp  is  lighted.  If  the  arc  circuit  is  inter 
rupted  the  contact  arm  drops  to  the  bell  circuit,  at  the  sam( 
time  lighting  a  red  lamp  as  a  visual  warning.     .\t  the  St 


Kectitier  EUetriaiL  Wvrtd 

Alarm   for   Operation   of   Remote   Rectifier  Set. 

Charles  Street  substation,  where  a  number  of  rectifiers  ar 
banked  together  closely,  the  series  solenoids  of  the  tub' 
circuits  are  arranged  to  ring  an-  alarm  bell  in  case  of  an; 
interruption.  If  an  arc  forms  between  the  auxiliar 
electrode  of  the  tube,  short-circuiting  and  causing  dange 
of  overheating  of  the  exciting  transformer,  the  alarm  » 
similarly  sounded. 


INDIRECT  EFFECT  IN  ARCHITECTURAL 
ILLUMINATION. 


The  splendid  white  Corinthian  faqade  of  Temple  Israe 
King's  Highway,  St.  Louis,  is  lighted  by  tungsten  lamp 
concealed  in  the  classical  brazier  ornaments  which  flan 
the  steps  of  the  approach.  Graceful  tripods  carry  th 
brazier  bowls  at  a  height  of  8  ft.  above  the  pedestal  block; 
which  are  in  turn  6  ft.  above  the  sidewalk,  so  that  the  lamp 


Indirect    Fixture     Lighting     Fafade    of    Temple    Israel. 

are  well  beyond  the  level  of  the  eye.  Protecting  the  ope 
tops  of  the  bowls  from  the  weather  are  heavy  24-in.  gla: 
domes,  which  inclose  the  lamps.  Each  brazier  contait 
four  loo-watt  units,  the  light  from  which  is  projected  u) 
ward  onto  the  noble  faqade  of  the  temple,  bringing  it  int 
gentle  relief  after  dark. 

In   this   artistic   concealment   of   practical    lighting   uiii 


j  September  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


669 


seems  to  he  a  suggestion  for  enhirging  the  architectural  and 
artistic  value  of  many  handsome  public  or  semi-public  struc- 
tures whose  lines  of  beauty  are  now  shrouded  in  darkness 
during  evening  hours  when,  perhaps,  most  human  eyes 
would  be  ready  to  enjoy  them.  The  application  of  indirect 
lighting  to  the  front  of  the  St.  Louis  temple  is  most  digni- 
fied and  appropriate,  and  the  ancient  bowls  seem  well  fitted 
to  contain,  at  least,  their  measure  of  the  fire  of  heaven 
whose  fateful  fury  they  formerly  supplicated. 


INDIRECT  LIGHTING  OF  A  BANKING  ROOM  FROM 
THE  CASHIERS'  CAGE  GRILLE. 


ORNAMENTAL  CURB  POSTS  FOR  HEARST 
BUILDING,  CHICAGO. 


The  six  handsome  five-lamp  curb  posts  installed  in  front 
of  the  new  Hearst  Building,  Chicago,  are  of  a  unique  and 


"Neo-grec"   Lighting   Posts  at   Hearst   Building,   Chicago. 

beautiful  pattern  built  after  .sjiecial  designs  made  by  Mr. 
Albert  Fournier,  a  Chicago  sculptor,  for  the  Common- 
wealth Edison  Company.  "Neo-grec,"  a  combination  of 
:lassic  Greek  with  art-nouveau  principles,  supplies  the 
graceful  outlines  and  ornamental 
surface  detail  of  the  stand- 
ards. Each  post  carries  four 
downward  lamps  and  one  up- 
turned center  lamp,  each  inclosed 
in  a  14-in.  milk-glass  ball  globe. 
The  new  Hearst  building  is  of 
elaborately  ornamented  rococo 
design  with  varicolored  tiles. 
and  it  was  the  desire  to  em- 
ploy lighting  fixtures  whicli 
would  conform  to  the  orna- 
■nentation  of  the  building  itself. 
The  posts  used,  one  of  which 
is  illustrated  herewith,  measure 
14  ft.  from  the  sidewalk  to 
the  center  of  the  lower  lamp 
globes  and  16  ft.  10  in.  to 
the  topmost  lamp.  The  arms 
have    a    maximum    spread    of    40 

in.  and  are  set  at  right  angles  with  the  curb  line,  showing 
at  least  three  of  the  lower  lamps  when  viewed  from  any 
position  on  the  sidewalk.  The  four  arms  and  main  stand- 
ards of  each  post  were  all  cast  separately,  and  the 
entire  fixture  complete  weighs  about  1600  lb.  The 
posts  were  furnished  by  the  Dearborn  Foundry  Company, 
Chicago. 


The  room  occupied  by  the  savings  department  of  the 
Union  Trust  Company  in  the  Tribune  Building.  Chicago, 
has  been  equipped  with  indirect  lighting  from  tungsten 
lamps  in  reflectors  concealed  in  the  cornice  of  the  cashiers' 
cage  grille.  The  light  thus  diffused  by  the  dull-finished 
ceiling  suffices  for  the  illumination  of  the  tellers'  cages, 
bookkeepers'  desks,  etc,  without  the  use  of  local  desk 
lamps  of  any  kind.  From  the  bank  grille  proper  an  open 
partition,  made  up  of  corresponding  mahogany  columns 
carrying  the  lighting  cornice,  has  been  extended  back 
through  the  depositors'  reception  room  and  around  to  join 
another  cage  grille,  making  altogether  nearly  150  ft.  of 
reflector  trough  near  the  center  of  the  room  and  available 
for  supporting  the  concealed  tungsten  units. 

As  shown  in  the  accompanying  plan  of  the  room,  care 
was  taken  in  planning  the  location  of  the  25-watt  lamps  to 
space  them  so  as  to  conform  to  the  varying  lighting  re- 
quirements of  the  interior,  the  units  being  placed  closer 
together  in  the  darker  portions  of  the  room. 

A  total  of  173  25-watt  lamps  make  up  the  lighting  equip- 
ment of  the  room,  each  lamp  being  inclosed  in  a  National 
■X-ray  E-40  reflector.  The  ceiling  is  12  ft.  high  and  the 
reflector  trough  is  7  ft.  6  in.  above  the  floor.  In  area  the 
main  banking  room  measures  roughly  74  ft.  by  38  ft.,  and 
the  lighting  was  designed  to  give  an  average  intensity  of 
4  ft. -candles  over  the  entire  space.  In  the  working  area 
behind  the  grille  the  intensity  probably  rises  to  4.25  ft.- 
candles,  while  outside,  in  the  public  space,  3.75  ft, -candles 
proves  sufficient.  The  flat  skylight  at  thei  rear  of  the  room 
is  of  diffusing  translucent  glass  with  an  absorptive  loss  co- 
efficient of  about  27  per  cent.  Above  this  skylight  are 
twelve  beehive  reflector  units  which  take  the  place  of 
natural  illumination  when  the  sun  fails  to  find  its  way  in 
between  the  buildings.  For  purposes  of  control  the  re- 
flector lamps  in  the  trough  are  divided  into  groups  of  five 
and  six  each,  individually  manipulated  from  thirty  double- 
pole  knife  switches  in  a  steel  panel  box  mounted  in  one  of 
the  columns.  Bv  means  of  these  switches  any  group  of 
lamps  may  be  lighted  or  e.xtinguished  independently  of 
the  others,  so  that  parts  of  the  room  can  be  illuminated 
while  the  remainder  is  in  darkness.  Indeed,  with  this 
refinement  of  control  a  single  accountant  working  overtime 
in  the  evening  need  turn  on  only  the  group  of  lamps  nearest 


A. 

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Skylight 

0 

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32  ft.                        \ 

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52  ft.         63  RefK-ctors        9-in  Lunters 

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aiille, 
t.  G  in. 

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ling  12  ft. 

• ' 

Fig.   1  —  Indirect   Lighting   of   a    Banking   Room   from   the  Cashier's     Cage  Grille. 


him,    securing    all    necessary    illumination    and    saving   the 
energy  required  to  light  the  entire  installation. 

The  general  effect  produced  by  this  grille-cage  illumina- 
tion is  very  attractive  and  restful.  All  light  sources  are 
concealed  from  direct  view  and  no  fixtures  are  in  sight  to 
mar  the  unobstructed  ceiling.  The  tellers  and  clerks  declare 
that  thev  are  able  to  work  in  entire  comfort  with  the  illumi- 


6/0 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13. 


nation  afforded  by  the  indirect  fixtures  alone,  no  desk  lamps 
or  other  direct  illuminants  being  used.  The  grille  structure 
itself  is  of  dark  mahogany  with  a  base  of  black-and-green 
marble.  Graceful  ionic  columns  are  employed  to  support 
the  cornice,  while  the  customary  brass  caging  makes  up 
the  panels.  In  the  pergola  extensions  of  the  trough  light- 
ing behind  the  cages  proper  the  same  type  of  columns  is 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


RADIANT  EFFICIENCIES. 


F  g.  2 — Indirect   Lighting   from   Cashier's   Cage. 

used  to  carry  the  overhead  cornice.  Marshall  &  Fox,  archi- 
tects, designed  the  fixtures  for  the  banking  room,  the  light- 
ing features  of  which  were  laid  out  by  the  engineering 
department  of  the  National  X-Ray  Reflector  Company, 
Chicago. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


MAGNETO   CORD    CIRCUITS. 

It  has  long  been  found  desirable  to  employ  electrically 
locked  and  restored  drops  for  certain  conditions  of  service. 
It  is  with  such  a  type  of  drop  that  the  patent  lately  granted 
to  Mr.  R.  H.  Manson,  of  Elyria,  Ohio,  is  concerned.  He 
employs  two  relays,  mounted  as  a  single  unit,  the  coils  lying 
side  by  side.  One  of  these  operates  a  trip  mechanism, 
which  permits  the  armature  to  fall  and  close  a  back  contact, 
thereby  exhibiting  the  signal.  The  armature  of  the  second 
relay  serves  to  restore  and  latch  the  shutter.  The  advan- 
tage of  this  arrangement  lies  in  confining  all  the  working 
parts  to  one  side  of  the  mounting  plate,  the  terminals  being 
confined  to  the  opposite  side.  This  patent  is  assigned  to 
the  Dean  Electric  Company. 

When  at  the  close  of  a  message  it  is  desired  to  signal  the 
operator  the  distant  station  should  not  be  disturbed ;  but  in 
magneto  systems  this  often  cannot  be  accomplished.  To 
overcome  this  difficulty  Mr.  E.  H.  Colpitts,  of  East  Orange, 
N.  J.,  has  devised  a  magneto  circuit  in  which  the  conoecting 
cords  are  divided  by  a  repeating  coil.  This  coil  has  two 
pairs  of  windings,  the  inside  terminals  of  both  pairs  being 
connected  to  condensers.  The  outer  ends  are  connected  to 
the  respective  cord  strands.  The  clearing-out  drop  is 
double-wound,  each  winding  being  associated  with  one  end 
of  the  cord  pair  and  bridged  around  the  corresponding  con- 
denser. The  success  of  the  system  depends  upon  connecting 
the  drop  so  that  the  secondary  induced  potential  is  equal 
and  opposite  to  the  induced  potential  in  the  corresponding 
winding  of  the  repeating  coil.  Thus,  if  a  signal  arrives 
from  either  direction  it  will  actuate  the  drop,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  secondary  side  of  the  drop  and  the  secondary 
of  the  repeating  coil  will  short-circuit  each  other,  owing  to 
the  method  of  connection,  and  no  current  will  flow  out  on 
the  other  line.  The  Western  Electric  Company  has  ob- 
tained this  patent  by  assignment. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — The  article  by  Messrs.  Damon  and  Enders  on 
"Radiant  Efficiency  of  the  Carbon  Arc  Lamp"  in  your  issue 
dated  Sept.  7,  while  interesting  and  valuable,  is  nevertheless 
open  to  criticism  for  its  treatment  of  the  definition  of 
luminous  efficiency.  The  authors,  in  common  with  many 
physicists  who  have  attacked  the  problem  of  luminous 
efficiency,  appear  to  be  content  with  determining  the  ratio 
of  a  certain  portion  of  the  radiation  (from  0.0  (i.  to  0.76  ^.) 
called,  largely  by  courtesy,  "luminous"  to  the  total  radiation. 
Tills  definition  of  luminous  efficiency,  they  remark,  is  a 
"purely  physiological  one."  On  the  contrary,  it  is  almost  a 
purely  physical  one.  A  purely  physiological  one  not  only 
takes  into  account  the  fact  that  the  radiation  can  be  seen 
but  weighs  the  radiation  by  its  light-producing  value. 

In  the  matter  of  luminous  efficiency  physicists  are  still 
following  Prof.  Langley,  the  pioneer  in  this  work,  who  as 
the  first  in  the  field  desired  some  rough  measure  of  light 
value.  I  venture  to  say  that  Langley — who  was  also  a 
pioneer  in  determining  the  luminosity  curve  of  the  eye- 
alive  to-day,  would  quickly  abandon  the  largely  arbitrary 
and  crude  division  into  luminous  and  non-luminous  radiation. 

The  defect  of  the  purely  physical  division  is  that  it  takes 
no  account  of  the  relative  luminous  efficiencies  of  the  visibk 
radiations  of  the  sources  measured.  The  100  per  cent 
efficiency  is  not  fixed,  but  differs  for  each  light  source.  The 
100  per  cent  of  a  Hefner  lamp,  for  instance,  is  very  niucl: 
less  efficient  than  is  the  100  per  cent  of  a  carbon  arc  lamp 
owing  to  the  more  advantageous  distribution  of  energy  fot 
the  purpose  of  light  production  in  the  visible  spectrum  ol 
the  latter.  Drude,  in  his  "Lehrbuch  der  Optik,"  one  of  tlit 
most  trustworthy  of  modern  te.xtbooks  on  optics,  falls  intc 
an  error  for  this  very  reason.  Taking  an  experimenta 
value  for  the  mechanical  equivalent  of  the  visible  radiatioi 
of  the  Hefner  lamp,  he  assumes  the  same  value  for  th( 
visible  radiation  of  a  carbon  arc  lamp  and  then,  from  th< 
watts  per  candle  of  the  latter,  calculates  the  "luminoui 
efficiency."  Since  the  true  luminous  efficiency  of  the  visibl' 
radiation  of  the  arc  is  about  50  per  cent  greater  than  that  o 
the  Hefner,  an  error  of  that  amount  figures  in  the  result. 

The  significant  thing  to  note  is  that  the  numerical  value 
given  for  the  carbon  arc  in  the  paper  referred  to  are  no 
on  the  same  scale  but  on  a  different  scale  for  each  valui 
given,  and  that  these  values  are  at  best  only  a  rough  indicai 
tion  of  true  specific  output  in  lumens  per  watt.  There  i 
another  multiplying  factor,  namely  the  "how-useful"  factor' 
to  be  applied  to  these  values  of  useful  radiation.  The  over 
refinement  of  working  out  such  values  to  four  significan 
figures  is  obvious.  Our  interest  is  in  knowing  not  wha 
proportion  of  the  energy  would  be  sufficient  to  give  th' 
same  quality  of  light  in  each  individual  case  considers 
per  se,  but  what  relative  energy  is  consumed  to  give  th' 
same  quantity  of  light  from  the  different  sources. 

A  true  measure  of  radiant  luminous  efficiency — exact!; 
proportional  to  lumens  per  watt — is  obtainable  by  sub 
stituting  for  the  opaque  screen  used  by  Mendenhall 
Forsythe  and  Messrs.  Damon  and  Enders  a  screen  the  trans 
mission  of  which  is  proportional  at  each  wave-length  to  th 
luminosity  curve  of  the  average  eye,  with  a  maximum  trans 
mission  of  unity. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  in  passing  that  such  a  screen  can  b 
very  closely  approximated  by  colored  absorbing  media 
whereby  the  elaborate  spectroscopic  apparatus  necessary  t' 
secure  a  sharp  spectral  cut-off  may  be  dispensed  with. 

Reference  niav  be  made  in  this  connection  to  a  paper  o 
"Luminous  Efficiency"  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Illu 
niinating  Engineering  Society.  February,  1910. 

Philadelphia.  Pa.   ^  Herbert  E.  Ives. 


September  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


671 


Digest  of  Current   Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Voltage  Variation  of  Dircct^Current  Shunt  Machines. — 
M.  OsNOS. — Voltage  regulation  of  self-exciting  direct-cur- 
rent shunt  machines  by  means  of  ordinary  resistances  is 
possible  only  within  very  narrow  limits.  The  reason  is  that 
so  far  the  voltage  has  been  regulated  by  the  uniform  change 
of  the  mean  flux  in  the  whole  machine  and  the  mean  flux 
cannot  be  reduced  below  a  certain  limit.  The  author  de- 
scribes a  new  method  in  which  the  total  flux  in  the  machine 
is  varied  to  regulate  the  voltage,  but  in  one  part  of  it  the 
value  of  'the  mean  flux  is  maintained  constant  to  provide 
stability.  '  Experiments  were  made  with  a  250-r.p.m.,  10.8- 
kw,  iio-volt,  eight-pole  machine  and  an  ordinary  rheostat 
was  connected  in  a  shunt  with  six  of  the  eight  pole  coils  of 
the  machine.  Fig.  i.)  In  series  with  the  resistor  and 
the  six  pole  coils  were  the  other  two  pole  coils  of  the 
machine.  In  this  way  the  current  in  the  six  coils  can  be 
reduced  at  will  by  means  of  the  resistor  while  the  cur- 


values  for  the  cross  flux,  and  especially  high  magnetic  re- 
luctance for  the  cross  flux  (by  providing  an  increased  air 
cap).  With  all  these  motors  the  efficiency  of  braking  can 
be  further  increased  by  suitable  connections  of  the  braking 
resistance,  for  instance,  connection  with  choking  coils. 
The  possibility  of  braking  with  recuperation  of  energy  at 
any  speed  is  a  particular  property  of  alternating-current 
commutatpr  motors  with  series  characteristic,  which  makes 
them  superior  to  all  other  types  with  respect  to  braking. — 
Elek.  II.  Masch.  (Vienna),  Sept.  8,  1912. 
Lamps  and  Lighting. 
New  Metallic  Vapor  Lamp  with  White 
WoLFKE. — An    account    of   an 

wo 


Light.— M. 
investigation    in   which   the 


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Fig.    1 — Voltage   Variation   of   Direct-Current 
Shunt   Machines. 


:00         WO        600        800        1000 

Total   Watts  Consumed 

Fig.     2 — Specific     Consumption 

of    Metallic    Vapor    Lamp. 


0     1 


t-     5     6     7     8    9     10 


Fig.     3 — Relation      Between 
Voltage    and     Current    in     New 
Metallic    Vapor    Lamp. 


rent  in  the  other  two  coils  is  not  reduced  but  even  somewhat 
strengthened.  In  this  way  the  voltage  can  be  regulated 
between  136  volts  and  38  volts.  This  was  possible  with 
the  unloaded  as  well  as  the  loaded  machine  without  any 
sparks  occurring  on  the  commutator.  The  curves  for  no 
load  are  given  in  Fig.  I.  For  the  sake  of  symmetry  two 
diametrically  opposite  pole  coils  were  chosen  as  those  in 
which  the  current  was  not  reduced.  The  author  shows  how 
to  pre-determine  the  no-load  characteristic  curves  and 
gives  the  results  of  tests  confirming  the  theory. — lilck.  u. 
Masch.  (Vienna),  Sept.  8,  1912. 

Braking  of  Alternating-Current  Commutator  Machines. — 
F.  NiETHAMMER  AND  E.  SiEGEL. — The  conclusion  of  their 
illustrated  article  on  methods  of  braking  alternating-current 
commutator  motors  having  a  series  characteristic  in  such  a 
way  as  to  return  energy  into  the  network.  Under  normal 
conditions  this  is  impossible  because  self-excited  currents 
are  produced,  but  if  proper  precautions  are  taken  these  self- 
excited  currents  can  be  held  back.  With  a  series  motor 
with  a  cross-coil,  braking  with  recuperation  of  energy  be- 
comes possible  by  the  aid  of  an  intermediate  transformer 
with  high  magnetic  reluctance.  If  the  proportions  are 
properly  chosen,  the  self-excited  currents  may  be  completely 
suppressed  even  when  the  braking  resistance  is  short- 
circuited.  With  repulsion  motors  of  all  types  braking  with 
recuperation    of   energy    becames    possible   by    using   large 


author  jointly  with  C.  Ritzmann  developed  a  new  metallic- 
vapor  lamp  which  gives  a  light  similar  to  daylight.  The 
metals  which  can  be  used  for  this  purpose  must  have  a 
low  evaporation  temperature  and  must  not  react  chemically 
with  quartz.  Only  zinc  and  cadmium  fulfil  these  conditions 
in  every  respect.  Experiments  with  zinc  did  not  give  good 
results.  Further  experiments  were,  therefore,  made  with 
cadmium.  Cadmium  alone  gives  a  light  in  which  the  red  pre- 
dominates, but  if  from  3  to  10  per  cent  of  mercury  is  added 
to  the  cadmium  the  light  is  practically  of  daylight  quality. 
Fig.  2  gives  the  specific  consumption  in  watts  per  cp  as  a 
function  of  the  total  watts  consumed.  Curve  I  relates  to 
a  lamp  in  which  the  cathode  was  of  alloy  of  cadmium  with 
mercury,  while  the  anode  was  of  graphite.  Curve  II  re- 
lates to  a  lamp  in  which  both  cathode  and  anode  were  made 
of  the  cadmium  amalgam.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  lamp  in 
which  both  electrodes  are  made  of  the  amalgam  is  consider- 
ably more  economical.  The  specific  consumption  tends  to 
reach  a  minimum  of  0.16  watt  per  cp.  The  relation  be- 
tween voltage  and  current  is  given  in  Fig.  3.  Curves  I 
and  II  relate  to  cadmium  amalgam  lamps,  as  just  mentioned. 
Curves  a  and  b  relate  to  the  mercury-vapor  lamps  of  Kuech 
and  Retschinsky  and  of  Cooper  Hewitt  respectively.  Dif- 
ferent methods  of  starting  the  lamp  are  described. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  Sept.  5,  1912. 
Photometry  of  Lights  of  Different  Colors. — H.  E.  Ives. — 


672 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60.  No.  13 


A  secund  paper  of  his  serial,  in  the  present  paper  the 
author  deals  with  spectral  luminosity  curves  by  the  method 
of  critical  frequency.  Spectral  luminosity  curves  obtained 
by  the  method  of  critical  frequency  show  a  reversed  Pur- 
kinje  effect,  but  at  very  low  illuminations  a  true  Purkinje 
effect,  the  latter  observed  by  Haycraft.  A  plot  of  critical 
frequencies  against  the  logarithm  of  the  illumination  for 
white  light  gives,  as  found  by  Porter,  two  straight  lines  of 
different  slope,  which  meet  at  about  2.5  L  U.  The  reversed 
Purkinje  effect  occurs  above  this  point,  the  true  Purkinje 
effect  below  it.  When  separate  colors  are  investigated  and 
plotted  in  the  above  manner,  a  set  of  straight  lines  of  differ- 
ing slope  results.  At  about  2.5  L  U.  these  lines  in  general 
change  their  slope,  but  while  the  line  for  deep  red  does  not 
change,  that  for  blue  becomes  horizontal,  or  critical  fre- 
quency becomes  independent  of  illumination.  The  Pur- 
kinje effect  and  its  opposite  follow  at  once  from  these  facts. 
The  flicker  photometer  is  shown  to  be  largely  influenced  by 
the  critical  frequency  phenomena,  but  not  to  obey  the  simple 
law  which  would  follow  were  it  a  mere  dovetailing  of  two 
pure  flickers.  The  peripheral  retina  is  found  to  be  more 
sensitive  to  flicker  only  for  momentary  observation  before 
adaptation  or  fatigue  sets  in.  The  fovea  is  more  sensitive 
to  red  flicker,  the  periphery  to  blue,  and  the  difference  is 
more  striking  at  low  illuminations,  as  noticed  by  Dow.  The 
phenomena  of  critical  frequency  are  in  general  accord  with 
Koenig's  theory  of  the  function  of  the  visual  purple  and 
with  the  hypothesis  that  the  retinal  cones  are  chiefly  active 
in  the  case  of  intermittent  or  alternating  stimuli. — Phi!. 
Mag.,  September,  1912. 

Generation,  Transn>ission  and  Distribution. 
Equalisation  of  Load  Fluctuations. — A.  Schwaiger. — The 
conclusion  of  his  long  illustrated  paper  on  the  equalization 
of  the  rapid  load  fluctuations  in  power  plants  by  means  of 
storage  batteries  or  flywheels  so  as  to  cause  the  generators 
and  prime  movers  to  be  operated  with  a  constant  mean  load. 
The  equalizing  effect  is  usually  artificially  increased  by 
means  of  balanced  or  non-balanced  regulating  machines  or 
regulating  mechanisms.  The  operation  of  the  balanced  sys- 
tems is  more  accurate  than  that  of  the  non-balanced  sys- 
tems, but  with  the  former  there  is  occasionally  a  tendency 
to  oscillations,  and  this  is  more  serious  with  regulating 
mechanisms  than  with  regulating  machines.  The  operation 
of  non-balanced  systems  is  stable  under  all  circumstances. 
If  flywheels  are  used  for  equalizing  the  load,  it  is  preferable 
to  use  only  balanced  systems.  Storage  batteries  are  pref- 
erable when  the  load  fluctuations  are  irregular  and  do  not 
occur  so  often  but  are  of  a  longer  duration.  Storage  bat- 
teries should  be  discharged  in  general  with  current  not 
higher  than  their  normal  one-hour  discharge  current.  If 
the  load  curve  shows  very  high  peaks  in  comparison  with 
the  mean  load,  the  batteries  become  expensive  and  are  not 
utilized  fully.  On  the  other  hand,  flywheels  can  give  almost 
instantly  any  amount  of  energy.  They  are  therefore  espe- 
cially suitable  when  the  load  curve  has  high  peaks.  The 
author  concludes  that  the  storage  battery  is  particularly 
suitable  for  slow  and  moderate  and  long-lasting  discharges 
and  charges,  while  the  flywheel  is  suitable  for  short  excess 
loads  of  any  amount  of  intensity.  For  operations  with  a 
rapidly  varying  load  and  high  peaks  combined  battery  and 
flywheel  system  is  the  most  suitable  to  use. — Hick.  Zcit.. 
Sept.  5,  1912. 

Traction. 

Monorail  Traction. — B.  L.  Newkirk. — The  author  points 
out  that  the  Brennan  apparatus  for  the  stabilization  of  the 
monorail  car  is  subject  to  the  phenomena  of  nutation,  as 
are  all  rotating  bodies.  So  far  little  attention  has  been 
paid  to  this  part  of  the  theory.  The  author  investigates  the 
magnitude  which  nutational  vibrations  may  reach  and  finds 
that  the  amplitudes  of  nutational  vibration  are  small  and  the 
period  is  short,  and  that  all  harmful  effects  could  be  pre- 
vented by  taking  care  in  the  design  of  the  car  and  stabiliz- 
ing apparatus. — Journal  Franklin  Inst..  September.   1912. 


Electro-Pneumatic  Braking. — W.  V.  Turner  and  P.  H. 
I)o.\ov.\N. — The  first  parts  of  a  very  long  illustrated  serial 
un  the  use  of  the  electro-pneumatic  brake  system  tor  steam 
road  service. — Journal  Franklin  Inst.,  August  and  Septem- 
ber, 1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Electricity  Supply  to  Madrid. — H.  Binde.mann. — The 
author  discusses  the  promotion  of  electrical  companies  dur- 
ing the  last  ten  years  in  the  city  of  Madrid,  Spain.  They 
include  a  producer  gas  plant,  four  hydroelectric  transmis- 
sion plants  and  one  new  distribution  company  aside  from 
the  ten  which  already  existed.  The  competition  which  re- 
sulted has  caused  the  larger  plants  to  form  groups  and  to. 
absorb  the  smaller  ones  and  has  caused  a  reduction  of  the 
original  rates  for  electrical  energy  by  75  per  cent.  It  is  to 
be  expected  that  within  a  short  time  the  two  remaining  main 
groups  will  combine  to  form  a  trust  and  increase  the  tariff 
again,  as  at  present  the  business  does  not  pay. — Elek.  Zeit., 
Sept.  5,  1912. 

Lessening  the  Effect  of  Sudden  Current  Rushes. — A  note 
on  a  recent  British  patent  (No.  22,624,  Aug.  29,  1912)  of 
P.  V.  Hunter  and  \\".  L.  Shand.  Instead  of  connecting 
large  generators  to  the  busbar  through  impedance  coils  to 
lessen  the  effect  of  sudden  current  rushes,  use  is  made  of 
transformers  in  the  secondary  circuits  of  which  are  placed 
resistors  with  a  positive  temperature  resistance  coefficient, 
for  example,  metallic-filament  lamps.— London  Elec. 
Ending,  Sept.  5,  1912. 

Autonvatic  Motor  Starter. — A  note  on  a  recent  British 
patent  (No.  18,611,  Aug.  29,  1912)  of  M.  B.  Field.  The 
starter  may  be  controlled  from  a  distance  and  is  arranged 
when  once  started  to  cut  out  resistance  at  a  definite  rate, 
but  it  returns  to  the  oft"  position  in  abnormal  circumstances 
and  under  the  usual  overload  and  no-voltage  conditions. 
,\  pendulum,  when  started  swinging,  makes  an  electrical 
contact  at  each  beat,  and  thus  moves  a  ratchet  wheel  one 
tooth  forward  and  cuts  out  one  step  of  resistance  electro- 
magnetically.  A  further  pawl  mechanism  provides  against 
backward  rotation.  An  auxiliary  ratchet  and  pawl  mechan- 
ism carrying  a  cam  breaks  the  electrical  circuit  of  the  main 
ratchet  mechanism  after  such  time  as  the  starter  should 
have  completed  its  motion.  In  a  modification  use  is  made 
of  two  pendulums  with  slightly  different  periods,  one  con- 
trolling the  forward  and  the  other  the  backward  pawl. 
They  are  started  out  of  phase  and  are  adjusted  to  be  just 
in  phase  when  the  starter  should  be  at  the  full  position, 
when  both  pawls  are  withdrawn,  so  that  the  starter  is 
either  held  on  by  the  hold-on  coil  or  else  flies  back  to  the 
off  position. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing.  Sept.  5,   1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Conduits. — J.  Schmidt. — The  first  part  of  an  illustrated 
description  of  various  new  systems  of  cable  conduits.  In 
the  present  instalment  conduits  made  of  clay,  cement  and 
concrete  are  discussed. — Elck.  Zeit.,  Sept.  5,  1912. 

Electrophysics  and   Magnetism. 

Caloric  TJicorv. — H.  L.  C.\llend.\r. — His  presidential 
address  to  Section  A  of  the  British  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science.  The  object  is  to  consider  "somt 
of  our  fundamental  ideas  with  regard  to  the  nature  of  heat, 
and  in  particular  to  suggest  that  we  might  with  advantage 
import  into  our  modern  theory  some  of  the  ideas  of  the  old 
caloric  or  material  theory  which  has  for  so  long  a  time  been 
forgotten  and  discredited."  Its  relation  to  the  kinetic  the- 
ory is  sketched.  "We  may  at  least  assert  with  some  degree 
of  plausibility  that  material  bodies  under  ordinary  condi- 
tions probably  contain  a  number  of  discrete,  physical  enti- 
ties, similar  in  kind  to  X-rays  or  neutral  corpuscles,  which 
are  capable  of  acting  as  carriers  of  energy  and  of  preserv- 
ing the  statistical  equilibrium  between  matter  and  radiation 
at  any  temperature  in  virtue  of  their  interchanges  with  elec- 
trons. If  we  go  a  step  further  and  identify  these  corpuscles 
with   the  molecules  of  caloric,  we   shall  certainly   come  in 


I 


September  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


673 


conflict  with  some  of  the  fundamental  dogmas  of  the  kinetic 
theory,  wliich  tries  to  express  everything  in  terms  of  en- 
ergy, but  the  change  involved  is  mainly  one  of  standpoint 
or  expression.  The  experimental  facts  remain  the  same, 
but  we  describe  them  differently.  Caloric  has  a  physical 
existence,  instead  of  being  merely  the  logarithm  of  the 
probability  of  a  complexion.  In  common  with  many  ex- 
perimentalists, I  cannot  help  feeling  that  we  have  every- 
thing to  gain  by  attaching  a  material  conception  to  a  quan- 
tity of  caloric  as  the  natural  measure  of  a  quantity  of  heat 
as  opposed  to  a  quantity  of  heat  energy." — London  Electri- 
cian, Sept.  6,  1912. 

Electrochemistry  and  Batteries. 

Heat  Losses  in  Electric  Furnaces. — F.  A.  J.  FitzGerald. 
— A  paper  emphasizing  that  in  the  design  of  an  electric  fur- 
nace one  of  the  first  things  to  be  considered  in  avoiding 
heat  losses  is  to  make  the  rate  of  generation  of  energy  per 
unit  volume  of  charge  as  high  as  is  compatible  with  other 
considerations,  for  in  this  way  the  saving  of  heat  losses 
may  be  largely  prevented.  Another  point  of  great  impor- 
tance in  furnace  design  in  order  to  avoid  heat  losses  is  to 
keep  the  external  surface  of  the  furnace  as  small  as  pos- 
sible. Further  experiments  were  made  with  different  ma- 
terials to  study  their  behavior  as  heat  insulators.  Red 
building  brick  and  "insulating  building  brick"  are  bette.- 
heat  insulators  than  either  firebrick  or  silica  brick  or  man- 
ganese brick.  By  far  the  best  heat  insulator  is,  however, 
kieselguhr  brick.  Further,  the  heat  loss  from  a  furnace 
constructed  of  firebrick  could  be  reduced  to  less  than  one- 
half  by  providing  the  fire-brick  walls  with  a  special  asbes- 
tos jacket. — Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing,  Sept.  12,  1912. 

Electric  Steel  Refining. — A  paper  by  R.  Amberg  on  the 
function  of  the  slag  in  the  different  steps  of  electric 
stee!  refining;  a  paper  by  P.  Heroult  on  recent  progress 
made  in  electric  steel  refining,  especially  for  rail  steel,  and 
a  paper  by  A.  E.  Greene  on  electric  heating  and  the  removal 
of  phosphorus  from  iron. — Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing,  Sept. 
12,  1912. 

Phosphate  Fertilizers. — W.  Palmaer. — A  paper  describing 
a  new  method  which  is  in  commercial  operation  for  pro- 
ducing bicalcic  phosphate  fertilizers  with  the  help  of  elec- 
trolytically  produced  acid  and  alkali. — Met.  and  Chem. 
Eng'ing,  Sept.   12,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Mercury-Break  Converter. — P.  R.  Coursey. — An  illus- 
trated description  of  a  mercury-break  converter  which  is 
specially  useful  for  small-power  wireless  installations,  for 
short-distance  transmission  and  for  experimental  purposes, 
where  a  direct-current  supply  is  available,  in  cases  where 
the  expense  of  installing  a  motor-alternator  set  is  not  war- 
ranted. The  apparatus  consists  of  a  motor-driven  mercury 
jet  break,  or  interrupter,  which  when  combined  with  a 
condenser  converts  straight  from  the  direct-current  supply 
to  alternating  current  at  from  10,000  to  50,000  cycles  per 
second,  and  this  can  then  be  transformed  up  to  a  voltage 
suitable  for  use  with  a  spark-gap  transmitter  by  means  of 
an  air-core  transformer,  thereby  avoiding  all  iron  losses 
and  rendering  the  apparatus  very  much  smaller  and  less 
costly  to  construct  for  a  given  power  output.  The  mercury 
break  was  constructed  as  follows :  A  piece  of  steel  rod,  A 
(Fig.  4  )was  turned  to  the  shape  shown,  and  was  drilled 
with  two  holes,  BC  and  DE  in  the  figure,  which  terminate 
at  their  upper  ends,  C  and  £,  in  two  jet  holes  perpendicular 
to  the  axis  of  the  rod  and  about  3/16  in.  in  diameter.  This 
rod  forms  the  mercury  pump,  and  when  mounted  between 
bearings  F  and  G — the  lower  end  dipping  into  mercury  con- 
tained in  the  glass  jar  H — and  driven  by  a  motor,  it  pumps 
mercury  up  through  the  holes  BC  and  DE  by  centrifugal 
action  and  causes  the  revolving  jets  of  mercury  from  C  and 
E  to  impinge  on  the  ring  of  contacts  KK,  of  which  there 
are  eight,  equally  spaced  round  the  circle.  A^  is  a  small 
vane  to  prevent  the  whole  mass  of  mercury  being  carried 


round  by  the  rotation  of  the  pump.  The  complete  pump  is 
mounted  in  the  glass  jar  in  the  manner  shown,  all  the  parts 
being  fixed  to  the  upper  (insulating)  cover  P,  which  is 
bolted  down  to  the  base  with  four  steel  rods.  The  usual 
level  of  the  mercury  is  shown  at  00.     Tubes  are  also  pro- 


4 — General    Arrangement    of    Mercury    Break. 


vided  in  the  cover  for  leading  coal  gas  through  the  jar 
when  the  break  is  in  operation,  so  as  to  prevent  oxidation 
of  the  mercury.  This  break  is  belt-driven  from  a  small 
direct-current  shunt  motor  at  speeds  which  can  be  varied 
from  about  1000  to  over  4000  r.p.m.  Two  different  meth- 
ods of  connections  are  possible,  one  being  called  the  charge 
and  discharge  connection  and  the  other  the  discharge  con- 
nection. The  latter,  which  is  the  more  effective,  is  shown 
in  Fig.  5.  in  vv'hich  the  condenser  is  permanently  connected 
to  charge  across  the  supply  voltage,  and  the  break  B  peri- 
odically discharges  it  through  the  primary  L^.  The  sec- 
ondary L,  feeds  the  condenser  C,  forming  part  of  the  high- 
frequency  transmitting  oscillatory  circuit  C^L^;  and  hence 
for  best  effects  the  circuit  C,L^  should  be  resonated  with 
the  circuit  C^L, — that  is,  C,L^  =  C^L,,  from  which  L^,  the 
secondary  inductance,  can  be  determined,  the  value  of  C, 
being  fixed  by  the  wave-length  of  signals  that  it  is  desired 


Fig. 


Circut  til 
5 — Connections    of    IVlercury    Break. 


to  transmit.  The  remainder  of  the  circuit  is  the  same  as 
that  usually  employed  for  spark  transmitters.  The  results 
of  some  tests  are  given. — London  Electrician,  Sept.  6,  1912. 
Quadrant  Electrometer. — W.  F.  G.  Swann. — Very  small 
currents  are  frequently  measured  by  observing  the  rate  of 
movement  of  the  needle  of  a  quadrant  electrometer  as  the 
electricity  enters  one  of  the  quadrants.  Such  currents  are, 
of  course,  often  measured  by  connecting  the  quadrant  to 
earth  through  a  very  high  resistance  and  noting  the  steady 
deflection  which  is  produced  when  the  electricity  passes 
into  the  quadrant  at  the  same  rate  as  it  leaves  through  the 
high  resistance.  The  former  method  is  more  sensitive, 
however,  and  is  very  convenient  in  practice,  but  even 
though  the  electricity  passes  into  the  quadrant  at  a  uniform 
rate,  the  needle  does  not  move  with  uniform  velocity,  owing 
to  the  inertia.  If  this  fact  is  not  taken  into  account  it  may 
cause  considerable  errors.  The  author  gives  the  exact  the- 
ory for  two  special  cases.     In  the  first  case  the  difference 


674 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.,  60,  Nd.  13 


of  potential  driving  the  electricity  into  the  quadrant  is 
large  compared  with  the  rise  of  potential  of  the  quadrant 
during  the  observations.  The  second  case  considered  is 
the  one  in  which  the  alteration  of  the  current  due  to  the 
rise  of  potential  of  the  electrometer  is  of  importance. — 
Phil.  Mag.,  September,  19 12. 

Frequency  Indicator. — A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent 
fNo.  7658,  Aug.  29,  1912)  of  W.  P.  Thompson  (communi- 
cated from  Gesellschaft  fur  Drahtlose  Telegraphie).  To 
measure  any  frequency,  and  at  the  same  time  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  the  amplitude  of  the  current,  an  instrument  like 
a  torsion  balance  with  no  external  control  is  used.  Two 
conductors  with  different  impedances  rigidly  connected  are 
placed  in  a  magnetic  field  produced  by  the  current  the  fre- 
quency of  which  is  to  be  measured.  The  position  at  which 
they  come  to  rest  determines  the  frequency. — London  Elec. 
Eng'ing,  Sept.  5,  1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Electrolytic  Condenser  for  Sparkless  Contacts. — Karl 
SiEGL. — A  sparkless  contact  for  electric  clocks,  etc.,  is  ob- 
tained either  by  a  shunt  which  makes  the  contact  device 
complicated  or  by  a  condenser  in  series  which  simplifies 
greatly  the  construction.  Since  a  well-insulating  con- 
denser of  high  capacity  is  expensive,  the  author  has  looked 
for  a  cheaper  substitute  and  has  found  that  the  electrolytic 
condenser  consisting  of  iron  electrodes  in  caustic  potash 
solution  is  very  suitable.  A  number  of  such  cells  connected 
in  series  represent  an  electric  valve  which  permits  passage 
of  the  commutated  current  only  for  a  very  short  time.  The 
time  of  passage  depends,  on  the  one  hand,  on  the  ratio  of 
the  capacity  of  the  valve  cells  to  the  resistance  of  the  cells 
and  on  the  external  circuit,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  on  the 
ratio  of  the  number  of  cells  to  the  voltage  of  the  supply 
circuit.  By  properly  proportioning  these  elements  it  is 
possible  to  reduce  the  time  of  passage  of  the  current  to  a 
very  short  interval,  so  that  the  electrolytic  condenser  in  an 
electric  clock  system  insures  accuracy  to  a  high  degree. — 
Elck.  Zcit..  Aug.  29,  1912. 

Submarine  Telegraph  Cable. — H.  W.  Malcolm. — In  the 
continuation  of  his  long  serial  on  the  theory  of  the  sub- 
marine telegraph  cable  application  of  the  formulas  is  made 
to  a  leak  with  double  block  and  to  a  continuously  distributed 
leakance.  One  of  the  conclusions  of  the  author  is  that  the 
insulation  resistance  of  the  submarine  telegraph  cable  is 
10,000  times  greater  than  it  need  be. — London  Electrician, 
Aug.  30,  1912. 

Transmission  of  Pictures. — A.  Marino. — An  illustrated 
description  of  the  principles  of  the  Marino  system  of  trans- 
mitting photographs  and  pictures.  Selenium  cells  are  used, 
a  special  method  being  employed  to  eliminate  the  effects  of 
their  inertia. — La  Lumiere  Elec.  Aug.  31,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

Amount  of  Energy  Required  for  Electro-Culture. — A 
note  on  exact  measurements  of  the  amount  of  energy  used 
in  electro-culture  which  have  been  made  by  M.  Breslauer. 
In  his  experiments,  which  were  carried  on  in  conjunction 
with  the  German  Society  of  Agriculture,  near  Potsdam, 
60,000  sq.  m.  were  covered  with  a  network  consisting  of 
tinned  steel  wires  0.8  mm  in  diameter,  suspended  from  4  m 
to  5  m  above  ground  at  a  distance  of  10  m  from  each  other. 
This  wire  net  was  charged  positively,  while  the  negative 
pole  of  the  current  source  was  connected  to  the  ground. 
The  measuring  arrangement  consisted  of  a  very  sensitive 
moving-coil  ammeter  inserted  in  the  earth  connection.  The 
tension  could  be  measured  only  by  the  aid  of  a  spark-gap  in 
free  air,  which,  as  is  well  known,  corresponds  to  a  tension 
of  about  3000  volts  per  millimeter  with  spheres  25  mm  in 
diameter.  In  dry,  not  too  hot,  weather  the  instrument 
showed  a  deflection  of  sixty-one  scale  divisions  with  the 
entire  net  in  circuit  and  forty-one  scale  divisions  with  half 
the  net  in  circuit,  each  scale  division  representing  0.00076 
amp.     Taking  into  consideration  a  shunt,  which  reduced  the 


sensitiveness  of  the  instrument  to  about  one-tenth,  the  cur- 
rent employed  for  one-half  of  the  net  was  0.385  milliam- 
pere,  for  the  entire  net  0.51  milliampere.  The  spark-length 
varies  between  20  mm  and  25  mm,  and  the  average  tension, 
therefore,  was  65,000  volts.  The  fact  that  the  currents  are 
not  as  I  to  2  shows  that  strong  radiations  probably  take 
place  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  apparatus  and  from  the 
conductor  leading  to  the  net.  Twice  the  difference  between 
the  two  measurements,  namely,  0.26  milliampere,  must 
therefore  be  considered  as  the  energy  actually  radiated  by 
the  net  for  the  entire  60,000  sq.  m.  Thus  the  power  was  17 
watts,  0.00028  watt  per  square  meter.  According  to  the 
meteorological  observations  made  near  Potsdam  during 
1908,  the  current  intensity  thus  artificially  produced  is 
from  1000  to  10,000  times  as  large  as  that  furnished  by 
nature  and  should,  therefore,  be  sufficient  to  produce  per- 
ceptible effects,  if  any  influence  on  the  vegetation  is  ex- 
erted at  all. — London  Electrician,  Sept.  6,  1912. 

Rubber.- — A.  Troller.- — An  article  on  the  synthesis  of 
rubber.  After  giving  notes  on  the  chemical  compositon  of 
India  rubber  the  author  discusses  the  polymerization  of 
isoprene  and  economical  sources  of  supply  of  isoprene. — 
La  Lumiere  Elec,  Sept.  7,  1912. 


Book  Review 

Concentration  .\nd  Control.  By  Charles  R.  Van  Hise. 
New  York:  The  Macmillan  Company.  281  pages. 
Price,  $2  net. 

In  the  present  conflict  of  minds  as  to  what  the  trust 
problem  is  and  how  it  should  be  met,  Professor  Van  Hise's 
sub-title — 'A  Solution  of  the  Trust  Problem  in  the  United 
States" — has  an  ambitious  sound.  However,  it  will  be 
observed  that  this  is  a  solution,  not  necessarily  the  solution. 
The  first  chapters  present  a  useful  and  succinct  review  of 
industrial  concentration  as  exemplified  by  its  most  con- 
spicuous examples.  This  review  is  up  to  date  and  is  charac- 
terized by  skilful  marshaling  of  facts  and  figures,  as  well 
as  by  illuminating  comment.  The  other  chapters  contain  a 
brief  review  of  the  trust  problem  and  tell  how  it  has  been 
solved  in  the  great  industrial  countries  of  Europe. 

Convinced  that  any  further  amendment  of  the  anti-trust 
law  so  as  to  make  it  more  rigid  would  be  futile,  and  that 
the  problems  of  combination  in  restraint  of  trade  are  too 
complex  to  be  handled  by  the  courts,  the  author  proposes 
to  allow  a  measure  of  "co-operation"  and  to  turn  over  to 
industrial  commissions  the  regulation  of  industrial  corpora- 
tions "affected  with  a  public  interest."  All  businesses  which 
restrain  trade  to  such  a  degree  as  to  control  the  market  by 
that  fact,  in  the  author's  opinion,  become  of  public  interest. 
The  distinction  between  what  Professor  Van  Hise  calls 
"co-operation"  and  what  the  law  now  bans  under  the  name 
of  combination  is  not  always  clear.  He  would  permit  co- 
operation, even  including  that  which  would  fix  prices  and 
outputs,  but  it  must  be  "reasonable  co-operation"  and  must 
fall  short  of  monopoly.  A  considerable  number  of  amend- 
ments to  the  Sherman  law  as  written,  amended  and  con- 
strued by  the  courts  are  proposed,  all  these  amendments 
being  aimed  to  make  procedure  easier  for  the  aggrieved  and 
at  the  same  time,  under  adequate  regulation,  to  protect 
business  that  is  conducted  in  a  manner  not  injurious  to  the 
general  welfare. 

Professor  Van  Hise  can  claim  approval  of  this  program 
by  many  high  authorities  who  have  arrived  at  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  trust  problem  must  be  turned  over  to  com- 
missions, on  the  same  theory,  and  in  much  the  same  way, 
that  public-service  corporations  are  now  controlled.  This 
volume  is  a  good  exposition  of  the  theory  as  applied  to  in- 
dustrial corporations  and  embodies  an  elaborately  worked 
out  method  by  which  the  theory  may  be  put  into  practice. 
For  these  reasons  it  is  useful  and  timelv. 


Septembrk  _'f<,  lyiJ. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


67s 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


INDICATOR    FOR     CONTRASTING   LAMP   CON- 
SUMPTIONS. 


The  Warner  "automatic  watt  indicator"  is  an  exhibition 
device  for  indicating  the  dilTerence  in  consumption  between 
two  lamps  or  other  units.  In  shape  it  simulates  an  indicat- 
ing wattmeter,  but  it  contains  no  measuring  elements,  the 
readings  of  the  pointer  being  set  by  stops  which  are  adjust- 
able. A  flasher  mechanism  in  the  box  turns  on  first  one 
lamp  and  then  the  other,  while  the  pointer  is  supposed  to 
compare  the  watts  taken  by  each.  Thus,  if  a  25-watt  tung- 
sten is  being  compared  with  a  i6-cp  carbon  lamp,  the  stops 
are  set  respectively  at  25  watts  and  55  watts  on  the  scale, 
and  solenoids  pull  the  points  to  the  corresponding  readings 
as  the  lamps  are  successively  lighted.  The  device  is  manu- 
factured by  the  Warner  Lamp  Company,  Muncie,  Ind..  and 
Wilton   Tunction.  la. 


MOTOR-DRIVEN   WASHING  MACHINE. 


The  manifold  advantages  of  the  electric  washing  machine 
for  the  home  have  won  for  it  a  permanent  place  in  the  list 
of  moderrl  labor-saving  devices.  The  principle  of  washing 
consists  in  forcing  the  soapsuds  through  the  clothes.  Be- 
fore the  advent  of  the  washing  machine,  this  was  accom- 
plished by  rubbing  the  clothes  against  a  board.  The  ma- 
chine illustrated  herewith  utilizes  the  above  principle  by 
means  of  an  electric  motor  which  raises  and  lowers  rust- 
proof metal  funnels  or  basins  through  the  soapy  water. 
These  basins  are  attached  to  a  yoke  which  is  in  turn  fastened 
to  a  center  bar  by  thumbscrews.  The  bar  is  backed  up  by  a 
compression  spring  that  automatically  adjusts  the  position 
of  the  basins  according  to  the  amount  of  clothes  in  the 
machine..  The  electric  motor  is  mounted  on  the  frame 
under  the  washpan  in  an  accessible  place  from  which  it 
may  easily  be  detached. 

The  machine  is  equipped  with  a  wringer,  which  is  also 


Motor- Driven    Washing    IVIachlne. 

Operated  by  the  electric  motor  through  a  set  of  silent,  in- 
closed bevel  gears,  the  power  being  transferred  from  the 
washer  basins  by  a  clutch  lever  conveniently  located  near 
the  bottom  of  the  tub.  This  lever  can  be  operated  to  trans- 
fer the  power   from   wringer  to  washer  or  in  the   reverse 


direction  without  stopping  the  motor.  The  wringer  can  be 
reversed  by  a  small  lever  located  near  the  upper  roll.  A 
gas  burner  for  heating  the  water  is  also  attached  to  the 
frame  of  the  washer  under  the  bottom  of  the  tank.  This 
device  will  heat  the  usual  quantity  of  water  to  the  scalding 
point  in  from  twenty  to  thirty  minutes.  The  entire  machine 
is  mounted  on  channel  steel  legs  and  roller-bearing  casters. 
It  weighs  about  130  lb.  and  can  be  conveniently  wheeled 
about  the  floor.  It  is  known  as  the  "Easy"  motor  washer 
and  is  manufactured  by  Dodge  &  Zuill,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

A  >i-hp  motor  is  used  and  as  above  stated  may  easily  be 
detached  and  made  available  for  other  household  uses  such 
as  operating  the  ice-cream  freezer,  vacuum  cleaner,  food 
chopper,  emery  wheels  and  others.  It  is  built  by  the  West- 
inghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  East  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. 

PORTABLE  ILLUMINOMETER. 


In  response  to  the  increasing  demand  in  this  country 
for  a  commercially  accurate,  portable  apparatus  for  the 
measurement  of  both  interior  and  exterior  illumination,  an 
instrument  of  British  design  and  manufacture,  termed  the 


Fig.   1  —  llluminometer   and   Auxiliary    Equipment. 

"lu.xometer,"  has  recently  been  placed  upon  the  market. 
The  general  appearance  of  the  luxometer  with  its  auxiliary 
equipment  is  shown  in  Fig.  I.  The  principle  upon  which 
it  operates  is  a  modification  of  the  so-called  Trotter  method, 
in  which  the  illumination  from  the  incandescent  lamp  within 


Fig.    2 — IVleasuring     Horizontal     Illumination. 

the  case  is  adjusted  until  it  equals  the  illumination  to  be 
measured.  A  pointer  moving  over  a  direct-reading  scale 
indicates  the  measured  illumination  at  once.  A  standard 
incandescent  lamp  is  employed  and  can  be  satisfactorily 
operated  from  a  small  portable  storage  battery,     Illumina- 


676 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13, 


tion  measurements  with  the  luxometer  can  be  made  at  any 
angle.  The  surface  brightness  or  intrinsic  brilliancy  of 
any  surface  can  be  quickly  measured  by  viewing  it  through 
the  instrument.  Candle-power  measurements  can  also  be 
made  readily.  Fig.  2  illustrates  the  instrument  in  use,  where 
it  is  shown  in  proper  position  for  measuring  horizontal 
illumination. 

This  instrument  provides  ready  means  for  comparing  the 
effective  illumination  of  different  objects,  or  of  the  same 
objects  in  different  positions  or  under  varying  conditions. 
For  exaniple,-'the  reflective  qualities  of  different  kinds  of 
wall  paper  can  be  directly  compared.  The  instrument  is 
compact  in  bulk  and  weighs  less  than  2  lb.  complete. 
The  manufacturers  state  that  it  has  been  used  in  Engl.and 
to  some  extent.  James  G.  Biddle,  121 1  Arch  Street,  Phila- 
delphia,   Pa.,   is   marketing  the  lu.xometer   in   this   country. 


ALTERNATING-CURRENT  PRINTING-PRESS 
CONTROLLER. 


The  Carpenter  type  of  printing-press  controllers  for 
direct-current  circuits  has  long  been  used  for  the  control  of 
flat-bed  presses.  For  use  with  alternating  current  the  con- 
troller illustrated  herewith  has  been  developed  and  placed 
on  the  market  by  the  Cutler-Hammer  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Milwaukee.     It  is  suitable  for  the  speed  control  of 


Alternating-Current    Printing-Press    Controller. 

slip-ring  induction  motors  driving  printing  presses,  machine 
tools,  etc.  These  controllers  provide  -for  seven  forward 
speeds  and  two  reverse  speeds.  'Standard  designs  allow  for 
50  per  cent  speed  reduction  under  full-load  conditions.  The 
resistor,  except  in  the  case  of  the  7.5-hp  size,  consists  of  one 
plate  divided  into  three  sections  so  that  speed  variations  are 
obtained  by  inserting  equal  amounts  of  resistance  in  the 
rotor  circuits.  The  resistance  plate  can  be  installed  under 
the  press  or  machine  without  danger.        \ 


RECORD-BREAKING   CABLE  REELS. 


In  February  of  this  year  the  largest  reel  of  armored  sub- 
marine cable  ever  manufactured  up  to  that  time  was  shipped 
from  the  Hawthorne  works  of  the  Western  Electric  Com- 
pany. This  was  a  thirty-seven-pair,  No.  13  gage  armored 
cable  containing  approximately  80  miles  of  copper  con- 
ductor and  forming  a  continuous  cable  5500  ft.  long.  The 
weight  of  cable,  reel  and  blocking  to  hold  it  on  the  flat  car 
was  38  tons.  The  reel  heads  were  9  ft.  in  diameter  and 
9  ft.  apart.  The  cable  was  laid  in  Galveston  Bay,  Texas, 
connecting  the  lines  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany from  Virginia  Point  to  Galveston  Island. 

More  recently  there  was  shipped  to  the  Cumberland  Tele- 
phone  &   Telegraph    Company    the   largest    reel    of   duplex 


armored  submarine  cable  ever  turned  out  at  the  Hawthorne 
works.  The  cab  e  contained  twenty-six  pairs  of  No.  13 
gage  copper  conductor  made  up  into  a  cable  4500  ft.  long. 
To  manufacture  the  cable  there  were  required  over  1000  lb. 
of  paper,  15,000  lb.  of  lead.  47,000  lb.  of  wire  and  7500  lb.  of 
miscellaneous  material.  The  gross  weight  of  the  reel  with 
its  blocking  was  56  tons,  or  over  18  tons  more  than  the  first 
one  described.  This  cable  has  been  laid  across  the 
Mississippi  below  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  connecting  the  toll  lines 
between  that  city  and  Shreveport. 


TROUBLE  MAN'S  PORTABLE  SEARCH-LAMP. 


Widespread  interest  has  been  aroused  in  the  portable 
acetylene  search-lantern  for  linemen,  used  by  the  Marion 
(Ind.)  Light  &  Heating  Company,  described  in  the  Elec- 
trical World  of  May  18,  page  1076,  resulting  inquiries  hav- 
ing reached  the  Marion  company  from  all  parts  of  the 
United  States  and  from  many  foreign  countries.  The  out- 
fit comprises  an  adapted  motorcycle  lantern  and  Prestolite 
tank  arranged  with  a  carrying  harness.  The  Electric  City 
Sales  Company,  of  Marion,  Ind.,  has  now  arranged  to  fur- 
nish these  outfits  to  central  stations  which  wish  to  provide 
their  linemen  with  these  safety  devices. 

In  practical  use  at  Marion  recently  one  of  the  outfits 
saved  a  lineman  from  almost  certain  electrocution  by  show- 
ing a  2300-volt  wire  which  had  dropped  down  to  the  height 
of  the  man's  head.  The  man  was  in  search  of  line  trouble 
and  was  about  to  come  into  contact  with  the  wire  when  the 
light   from   the   lantern   showed   him   his  danger.     Besides 


Trouble     Man     Equipped    with     Portable    Search-Lamp. 

avoiding  injuries  to  the  man,  an  expensive  case  for  the 
company  was  avoided.  During  a  large  fire  in  Marion,  the 
firemen  borrowed  the  central-station's  search-lamps,  and 
with  their  aid  were  able  to  reach  and  save  property  under 
conditions  that  with  their  ordinary  oil  lanterns  would  have 
made  the  task  impossible.  One  dark  night  some  time  ago 
a  limb  of  a  tree  fell  across  the  Marion  transmission  line, 


September  28,  ipii 


EI.  ECTRICAL     WORLD. 


677 


shutting  down  the  service.  The  branch  struck  the  center 
■  of  the  span,  where  it  could  not  have  been  detected  from  the 
ground  or  from  the  poles  until  morning,  but  with  the 
search-lantern  the  short-circuit  was  quickly  detected  and 
removed  without  delay. 


FIBER  INSULATION. 


An  insulating  substance  called  "Disfico  horn  insulation" 
has  recently  been  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Diamond 
State  Fibre  Company,  Elsmere,  Del.  It  is  made  from  a 
specially  prepared  rope  stock  and  contains  no  zinc,  salts, 
chemicals  or  similar  substances.  It  is  tough  and  pliable, 
can  be  pressed  or  bent  into  any  form  and  will  not  crack  or 
become  brittle  with  age.  It  is  said  to  be  well  adapted  for 
impregnating  with  insulating  varnishes.  It  is  manufactured 
in  rolls  or  sheets  from  0.005  '"•  to  yi  in.  thick. 


WATT-HOUR  METER  SEAL. 


There  has  been  developed  for  the  market  by  the  Palmer 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  161  Franklin  Street, 
Boston,  Mass.,  a  watt-hour  meter  seal  which,  it  is  claimed, 
is  so  designed  that  it  is  impossible  for  an  unauthorized 
person  to  replace  it  without  committing  the  crime  of  for- 
gery. In  the  accompanying  illustrations  Fig.  I  shows  a 
meter  with  its  seal  and  Fig.  2  the  operation  of  installing 
the  sealing  member.  The  sealing  member  consists  of  a 
renewable  paper  cone  which  for  convenience  in  handling 
is  folded  in  a  flat  wafer;  on  it  is  printed  any  desired  infor- 
mation such  as  a  warning,  a  serial  number  or  a  distinguish- 
ing mark,  specified  by  the  user,  as  well  as  the  signature  of  a 
responsible  company  officer.  The  cone  is  then  treated  with 
a  waterproofing  compound  that  permits  the  seal  being  fur- 
ther marked  for  identification  by  the  operation  installing  it. 

The  seal  holder  consists  of  a  metal  cone  having  the  same 
taper  as  the  seal.  It  is  inserted  in  the  paper  cone  (see 
Fig.  2)  and  the  seal  wire  is  then  engaged  with  the  meter 


Fig.    1 — Sealed    Meter. 

and  the  seal  holder.  When  the  glass  cylinder  and  locking 
cap  are  snapped  into  place  it  is  impossible  to  open  the  seal 
without  tearing  the  paper  at  two  distinct  points.  The  torn 
places  are  instantly  apparent  in  the  event  of  the  seal  being 
again  closed  with  the  same  paper.  A  glance  at  the  seal  in 
Fig.  I  will  show  the  appearance  of  a  seal  that  has  been 
opened  and  closed. 


The  paper  cone  cannot  be  fraudulently  replaced  without 
that  act  being  plainly  apparent,  except  by  a  very  skilful 
preparation  of  a  sealing  cone  as  well  as  a  deliberate  repro- 
duction of  the  signature  of  a  company  officer.  As  it  can- 
not be  accidentally  torn,  an  attempt  at  illegal  opening  is  at 
once  apparent. 

Though  the  device  has  sufficient  mechanical  strength  to 


Fig.    2 — Installing    Sealing    Member. 

meet  all  service  conditions,  it  is  apparently  fragile;  but  as 
neither  the  breaking  of  the  glass  cylinder  nor  the  cutting 
of  the  seal  wire  will  defeat  its  object,  its  fragility  is  a 
matter  of  appearance  only.  It  is  impossible  to  insert  a  new 
seal  wire  or  cut  and  then  braze  the  original  without  de- 
stroying the  seal. 


STREET  LIGHTING  WITH    FLAMING-ARC   LAMPS. 


The  adoption  of  a  new  lighting  system  for  Federal  Street, 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  has  been  brought  about  by  the  influence  of 
the  North  Side  Board  of  Trade,  Pittsburgh.  Recently  the 
grade  of  Federal  Street  has  been  raised  considerably  in 
order  to  place  it  above  the  flood  level.  With  the  street  in 
a  much  better  condition  than  previously,  it  was  decided  to 
complete  the  improvements  with  an  efficient  lighting  system. 

After  an  investigation  of  the  subject  the  long-burning, 
flaming-arc  lamp  recently  placed  on  the  market  by  the  West- 
inghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  was  adopted. 
This  is  the  same  type  of  lamp  that  was  used  to  illuminate 


Night    View    of    Federal    Street,    Pittsburgh,    Pa. 

the  hall  at  Baltimore  where  the  Democratic  national  con- 
vention was  held. 

There  are  installed  ninety  lamps  in  all,  each  with  the  com- 
mercial rating  of  3000  cp.  The  street  is  48  ft.  wide  and 
the  lamps  are  placed  60  ft.  apart.  They  are  hung  on  orna- 
mental poles  of  colonial  pattern  25  ft.  high  with  ornamental 
goosenecks. 


678 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  \c.  13. 


mSULATING    COVER    FOR    CABLE    CONNECTORS. 


A  special  form  of  insulating  cover  for  use  with  Dossert 
connectors  has  recently  been  placed  on  the  market.  This 
cover  is  applicable  only  to  connectors  for  joining  con- 
ductors ranging  in  size  from  No.  o  B.  &  S.  gage  to  250,000 


Fig.     1 — Cross-Section     of    Insulating    Cover. 

circ.  mil.  The  general  construction  is  shown  by  the  cross- 
sectional  view  in  Fig.  i.  It  differs  from  the  insulating 
covers  furnished  for  connectors  used  with  wires  smaller 
than  No.  o  B.  &  S.  in  the  respect  that  it  is  held  in  place  by 
means  of  shoulders  at  the  outer  ends  of  the  connector,  in- 
stead of  at  the  center.  The  covers,  as  shown,  are  made  in 
two  parts  with  a  threaded  coupling.  The  conductor  open- 
ings range  from  25-32  in.  to  29-32  in.,  accommodating 
various  thicknesses  of  insulation.  Fig.  2  shows  the  appear- 
ance of  a  completed  joint  with  its  cover.  The  manu- 
facturer states  that  other  sizes  will  be  added  as  occasion 


Fig.  2 — Cover  for  Cable  Connector. 

requires.  These  insulating  covers  and  connectors  are  mar- 
keted by  Dossert  &  Company,  242  West  Forty-first  Street, 
New  York,  N.  Y. 


BELL-RINGING    TRANSFORMERS. 


A  new  type  of  bell-ringing  transformer  has  been  brought 
out  by  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Com- 


:.    2()        100  VOLTS 
WATTS  hOCfCUS 


VESTINGHOUSE 

BELL  RINGING  .  . 
TRANSFORM"" 

■■'     TYPES? 
STYLE  165Cil  -:; 

.BV0Lr|:^0LT4 


Bell-Ringing   Transformer. 

pany,  East  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  It  is  light  in  weight,  fireproof 
and  practically  indestructible,  so  that  it  can  be  mounted 
in  any  out-of-the-way  place.  It  will  deliver  on  open  circuit 
8,  16  or  24  volts.  It  is  stated  that  the  coils  and  magnetic 
circuit  are  vacuum-dried  and  impregnated  with  a  moisture- 


proof  insulating  compound  before  insertion  into  the  case. 
The  interior  of  the  case  is  filled  with  a  specially  treated 
cement,  with  the  result  that  the  coils  and  iron  are  com- 
pletely embedded  in  a  fireproof  and  indestructible  com- 
pound, which  prevents  the  bell-ringing  circuit  coming  in 
contact  with  the  lio-volt  circuit.  Rubber-covered  primary 
leads  are  brought  out  of  the  top  of  the  case  through  porce- 
lain bushings.  Binding  posts  are  provided,  as  shown  in  the 
illustration,  for  the  bell  circuit,  and  the  transformer  is 
mounted  by  lugs  cast  on  the  case  for  this  purpose.  These 
lugs  are  so  arranged  that  an  air  space  is  provided  between 
the  transformer  and  the  wall.  A  test  of  2500  volts  for  one 
minute  is  applied  between  the  primary  windings  and  the 
secondary  winding  and  case. 


FUSED  SWITCH  BOX. 


An  improved  combined  switch  and  fuse  box  for  250-volt 
direct-current  circuits  has  recently  been  brought  out  by  the 
D.  &  W.  Fuse  Company,  Providence,  R.  I.  These  boxes 
are  particularly  adapted  for  mill  service,  since  they  may 


Fig.    1 — Fused    Switch    Box. 

be  permanently  locked  after  the  fuses  are  installed,  thereby 
making  it  impossible  to  tamper  with  the  connections.  At 
the  same  time  they  can  be  used  as  a  switch  since  the 
circuits  can  be  opened  or  closed  at  will  by  simply  moving 
the  lever  at  the  side  of  the  box.    When  the  cover  is  opened 


Fig.   2 — Fused   Switch    Box. 

the   circuit   is   also   opened,   which   makes   it   impossible   to 
re-fuse  the  circuit  when  the  switch  is  closed. 

The  boxes  are  provided  with  rubber  gaskets  which  render 
them  waterproof  provided  that  the  terminal  wires  are  taped 
in  at  the  bushings  or  protected  by  outlet  hoods. 


September  28,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


679 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


ADVANCEMENT  of  the  fall  season,  bringing  with  it 
the  harvesting  of  the  unusually  large  crops  that  were 
predicted  earlier  in  the  year,  is  resulting  in  further 
progress  along  industrial  lines.  The  more  favorable  reports 
are  naturally  coming  at  this  time  from  the  West  and  North- 
west. Improvement  in  collections,  a  firmer  tone  in  the 
money  markets,  an  increase  of  nearly  S  per  cent  in  bank 
clearings  last  week  over  those  in  the  week  preceding  it, 
scarcity  of  labor  and  of  railroad  cars,  increases  in  traffic 
returns  and  an  ascending  trend  in  the  metal  markets  are 
among  the  signs  of  expansion  in  the  commercial  field.  Indi- 
cations of  a  belief  in  decided  and  not  far  distant  improve- 
ment in  the  demand  for  electrical  equipment  are  found  in 
the  sale  of  $10,000,000  debenture  bonds  by  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company.  Other  signs  of  confidence  in  the  future  growth 
of  the  electrical  industry  may  be  seen  in  the  recent  action 
of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company  in  raising  the  common  stock  to  only 
a  4  per  cent  per  annum  instead  of  a  higher  basis,  as  had 
been  expected,  with  a  view  to  conserving  the  surplus  earn- 
ings toward  improvement  of  property  and  working  capital. 
The  reorganization  of  the  Garwood  Electric  Company  into 
the  C.  &  C.  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  noted  be- 
low, will  be  of  interest  to  those  who  have  followed  the 
history  of  this  pioneer  in  the  electrical  manufacturing  field. 
From  the  public-utility  viewpoint  the  centralization  of 
ownership  and  operation  continues  to  be  the  most  promi- 
nent tendency  in  this  field.  Earnings  of  many  of  the  public- 
utility  companies  are  showing  favorable  rates  of  increase. 


Satisfactory  Conditions  in  the  Mica  Market. — According 
to  one  of  the  leading  importers  of  high-grade  mica  in  the 
East,  the  present  conditions  and  outlook  in  the  mica  market 
are  highly  satisfactory.  "Demand  for  high-grade  mica,"  he 
said,  "is  very  evenly  distributed  throughout  the  year.  The 
various  mica  consumers,  of  which  the  electrical  and  the 
stove  manufacturing  industries  are  the  largest,  all  have  their 
individual  .periods  or  seasons  of  greatest  activity,  and  the 
diversity  of  these  seasons  results  in  a  fairly  constant  and 
uniform  demand  for  mica  at  nearly  all  times.  Just  at 
present  we  are  receiving  a  greater  volume  of  inquiries  and 
orders  than  we  did  a  little  earlier  in  the  year — a  little  better, 
1  mean,  than  what  has  been  regarded  as  normal  in  the  past 
two  or  three  years.  This  increase  is  not  especially  large, 
but  the  fact  that  it  exists  may  be  taken  as  an  indication  of 
commercial  expansion  throughout  the  country.  Prices  have 
been  getting  higher  steadily  for  the  past  three  years;  but 
they  are  now  as  high,  I  think,  as  they  will  be  for  a  little 
while  to  come.  The  consumer  naturally  takes  more  interest 
in  the  market  when  he  can  feel  that  prices  are  on  a  fairly 
stable  basis.  Roughly  speaking,  there  has  been  an  increase 
of  some  20  per  cent  in  prices  in  the  last  three  years, 
although  some  grades  have  advanced  as  much  as  33J.-3  per 
cent.  During  the  present  year  quotations  have  advanced 
about  10  per  cent  over  those  in  1911.  I  am  speaking,  of 
course,  only  of  high-grade  imported  mica.  We  do  not  pay 
much  attention  to  the  domestic  grades.  The  domestic  mica, 
while  large  in  the  aggregate,  is  not  as  fine  in  quality  as  the 
imported,  and  the  supply  is  not  uniform  or  reliable.  Most 
of  the  better  grades  are  imported  from  India  and  Canada. 
Size  of  the  pieces  is  one  of  the  chief  factors  governing  cost, 
the  larger  pieces  bringing  the  higher  price  per  pound.  The 
greater  part  of  the  mica  obtained  from  India  is  known  as 
'splittings,'  which  are  thin  films.  They  are  made  up  into 
'mica  plates'  in  this  country.  .Amber  mica,  so  designated 
by  its  color,  comes  from  Canada  and  is  used  especially  for 
commutators.  The  rates  of  duty  on  mica  are  as  follows: 
On  unmanufactured,  or  rough  trimmed,  S  cents  per  pound, 
plus  20  per  cent;  on  ground  mica,  20  per  cent,  and  on  cut  or 
trimmed  mica,  mica  plates  or  built-up  mica,  10  cents  per 
pound,  plus  20  per  cent." 

C.  &  C.  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  Succeeds 
Garwood  Electric  Company. — The  C.  &  C,  Electric  &  Manu- 
facturing Company  has  purchased  the  good-will,  patents 
and   other   assets    of   the    Garwood    Electric    Company    and 


will  continue  the  manufacture  of  the  special  lines  of  electric 
apparatus  developed  by  that  company  and  by  its  predeces- 
sor, the  C.  &  C.  Electric  Company.  Notwithstanding  these 
changes  of  name,  the  factory  at  Garwood,  N.  J.,  has  been 
in  continuous  operation  for  nearly  twenty  years,  some  of 
the  employees  having  been  identified  with  the  business 
when  the  manufacturing  was  done  in  New  York  before 
removal  to  Garwood,  while  the  records  of  the  business  run 
back  to  1882.  It  is,  therefore,  one  of  the  oldest  electrical 
manufacturing  enterprises  in  the  country.  Its  specialties 
will  include  planer  motors,  newspaper  press  drives,  electric 
welding  sets,  wireless  equipments  and  slow-speed  motors 
for  modern  steam-heating  and  ventilating  systems.  The 
company  will  not  manufacture  machines  of  large  capacity, 
but  will  confine  its  energies  to  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
its  specialties.  It  has  agreed  to  complete  all  of  the  unfilled 
orders  of  the  Garwood  Electric  Company  and  is  said  to  be 
amply  financed  and  free  from  the  many  handicaps  of  the 
Garwood  Electric  Company  arising  from  lack  of  sufficient 
working  capital.  The  officers  of  the  new  company  are; 
Alexander  Chandler,  president;  Edward  D.  Floyd,  vice- 
president;  Charles  L.  Hyde,  treasurer.  These,  with  John 
A.  Montgomery  and  B.  W.  Johnson,  constitute  the  board 
of  directors.  The  capitalization  consists  of  $250,000  7  per 
cent  cumulative  preferred  and  $250,000  common  stock  and 
there  is  no  bond  issue  or  other  lien  on  the  property. 

General  Electric  Sells  Debentures. — A  block  of  $10,000,000 
5  per  cent  debenture  bonds  has  been  sold  by  the  General 
Electric  Company  to  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company.  It  will  be 
recalled  that  when  the  company  decided  to  increase  its 
capital  stock  from  $80,000,000  to  $105,000,000  and  to  give 
$23,292,500  of  this  new  stock  to  the  shareholders  as  a  30  per 
cent  dividend,  as  was  noted  in  these  columns  July  27,  the 
management  in  its  announcement  of  the  dividend  said  in 
part:  "For  the  future  financial  needs  of  the  company  it  is 
proposed  to  issue  debentures  from  time  to  time,  and  for 
this  purpose  the  board  of  directors  has  authorized  an  issue 
of  debentures  at  5  per  cent  or  less,  the  total  to  be  limited 
to  $60,000,000."  At  the  current  dividend  rate  of  8  per  cent 
the  recent  stock  distribution  will  call  for  an  additional  divi- 
dend disbursement  of  $1,863,000  annually,  and  the  bond 
issue  just  announced  will  increase  the  fixed  charges  $500,000 
per  annum.  It  is  the  policy  of  the  company  to  maintain  a 
large  working  capital,  a  large  cash  balance  and  to  incur  no 
floating  debt.  The  business  of  the  company  is  now  under- 
stood to  be  running  at  a  rate  of  about  $93,000,000  per  annum 
as  compared  with  $70,000,000  last  year.  As  the  company 
already  has  a  large  working  capital,  it  is  supposed  that 
adjustment  financing  or  an  additional  volume  of  business 
requiring  increased  capital  must  be  in  sight  to  necessitate 
the  issuance  of  these  new  bonds  at  this  time. 

To  Furnish  Electrical  Energy  in  Utah  Copper  Region. — 
The  Telluride  Power  Company,  according  to  D.  C.  Jack- 
ling,  vice-president  and  general  manager  of  the  Utah  Cop- 
per Company,  is  to  furnish  energy  to  the  latter  for  electrical 
operation  of  all  of  its  properties,  including  a  mine  at  Bing- 
ham, the  smelter  at  Garfield,  a  mill  at  Magna,  Utah,  and 
also  for  operating  the  pumping  stations  connected  with 
these  works.  The  Bingham  &  Garfield  Railroad  will  also 
be  equipped  for  electrical  operation.  The  Utah  Copper 
Company  is  now  using  about  6000  hp  of  electrical  energy 
supplied  by  the  Telluride  company  and  is  also  obtaining 
such  other  energy  as  is  needed  from  a  steam  station  at 
Magna.  When  the  new  contract  with  the  Telluride  com- 
pany, calling  for  a  total  of  14,000  hp,  is  ratified,  this  steam 
plant  will  be  discontinued.  Plans  for  the  equipping  of  the 
company's  steam  shovels  for  electrical  operation  are  being 
made  by  its  engineers. 

Bondholders  Purchase  Mooresville  (Ind.)  Company. — The 
Mooresville  (^Ind.)  Light,  Heat,  Power  &  Water  Company 
has  been  purchased  by  the  holders  of  the  bonds,  the  con- 
sideration paid  having  been  $60,000  on  an  appraised  value, 
taken  from  the  receiver's  invoice,  of  $35,000.  L.  T.  Keech, 
Indianapolis,  acted  as  receiver  for  the  Mooresville  plant. 
The  Mooresville  company  operates  a  steam-heating  service 
and  also  controls  the  local  Arctic  Ice  Company. 


68o 


ELECTRICAL     WOR^.D. 


Vol.  6o,  Ko.  13 


Reorganization  of  Merchants'  Heat  &  Light  Company, 
Indianapohs. — Indianapolis  newspapers  during  the  last 
month  have  contained  a  number  of  speculative  accounts  of 
supposed  mergers  between  the  two  local  central-station 
companies,  as  well  as  of  the  importation  of  water-power 
from  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  hydroelectric  plants  follow- 
ing the  presumed  acquirement  of  the  Indianapolis  prop- 
erties by  certain  prominent  Chicago  syndicate  interests. 
These  reports  have  been  publicly  denied  by  Edwin  L.  Mc- 
Kee,  president  of  the  Merchants'  Heat  &  Light  Company, 
who  has  insisted  that  neither  Insull  nor  Byllesby  interests 
are  concerned  in  the  reorganization  of  the  Merchants'  prop- 
erty now  going  on.  Possibilities  of  a  local  merger  are  also 
scouted  by  T.  A.  Wynne,  vice-president,  treasurer  and  gen- 
eral superintendent  of  the  Indianapolis  Light  &  Heat  Com- 
pany, who  declares  that  the  older  company  does  not  in- 
tend to  dispose  of  its  holdings  and  expects  to  continue 
operation  of  its  system  as  in  the  past.  Under  the  Indiana 
state  law,  competitive  utilities  cannot  be  merged  unless 
every  share  of  stock  is  voted  favorably.  The  Merchants' 
Heat  &  Light  Company  has,  however,  been  reorganized 
during  the  past  week,  a  holding  company,  the  Merchants' 
Public  Utilities  Company,  being  formed  virith  a  capital  stock 
of  $4,000,000,  to  be  subscribed  by  Indianapolis,  Louisville 
and  Chicago  interests.  This  stock  will  be  divided  into  two 
issues,  $2,000,000  common  and  $2,000,000  preferred.  Half 
of  the  preferred  issue  has  been  contracted  for  sale  to  Hen- 
ning.  Chambers  &  Company,  Louisville;  L.  C.  McHenry  & 
Company,  Louisville,  and  George  Eustis  &  Company,  Cin- 
cinnati. A  bond  issue  of  $6,000,000  has  also  been  authorized 
and  sold  to  the  Harris  Trust  and  Savings  Bank,  Chicago. 
The  Union  Trust  Company,  Indianapolis,  will  act  as  co- 
trustee with  the  Harris  bank.  With  the  Merchants'  Public 
Utilities  Company  as  the  holding  concern,  the  Merchants' 
Heat  &  Light  Company  will  continue  operation  with  the 
same  set  of  officers.  These  are:  President,  E.  L.  McKee; 
secretary,  C.  M.  Polen;  directors,  F.  M.  Ayers,  E.  G. 
Efroymson,  Henry  Kahn,  Charles  Mayers  and  E.  L.  McKee. 
During  the  last  three  months  the  Merchants'  company  has 
expended  nearly  a  third  of  a  million  dollars  in  improve- 
ments to  its  plants.  The  newer  West  Washington  Street 
station  is  one  of  the  largest  exhaust-steam-heating  plants  in 
the  country.  The  Merchants'  company  has  moved  its  gen- 
eral offices  from  the  old  location  at  18  South  Pennsylvania 
Street  to  temporary  quarters  on  North  Meridian,  near 
Vermont.  After  Oct.  I  it  will  remove  to  its  new  permanent 
headquarters  in  the  Merchants'  Bank  Building.  33  and  35 
South  Meridian   Street.  Indianapolis. 

Electrification  Prospects  at  Boston. — At  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  stockholders  of  the  Boston  &  Providence  Rail- 
road Corporation  on  Oct.  9  at  Boston,  Mass.,  the  owners  of 
the  company  will  be  asked  to  vote  upon  an  eight-million- 
dollar  bond  issue  for  the  electrification  of  the  main  line 
leased  by  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad 
between  the  above  cities,  in  accordance  with  an  act  of  the 
last  Legislature.  In  connection  with  this  meeting  the 
directors  have  issued  a  circular  letter  recommending  a 
favorable  vote  upon  the  electrification  project  and  pointing 
out  that  unless  the  railroads  voluntarily  undertake  to  adopt 
electric  motive  power  legislative  enactment  toward  that  end 
with  possible  adverse  changes  in  charters  will  result.  The 
directors  call  attention  to  the  willingness  of  the  New  Haven 
management  to  do  its  part  in  the  work,  although  the  latter 
cannot  be  expected  to  electrify  at  its  own  expense,  as  all 
improvements  upon  the  road  become  the  property  of  the 
Boston  &  Providence  stockholders  at  the  expiration  of  the 
present  lease  in  1987. 

Boston  Edison  Earnings  Increase. — The  Edison  Electric 
Illuminating  Company  of  Boston,  Mass.,  reports  for  August 
gross  earnings  of  $403,391,  a  gain  of  $37,748  over  a  year  ago. 
and  a  gain  in  net  for  the  month  of  $17,180.  In  the  past 
two  months  the  company's  gross  earnings  have  increased 
$68,342,  compared  with  the  corresponding  period  in  191 1. 
A  considerable  amount  of  temporary  service  is  now  handled 
by  the  company,  including  the  supply  of  energy  for  lighting 
and  motor  service  in  the  construction  of  the  Boylston 
Street  subway,  special  illuminations,  etc.  The  electric 
vehicle  battery  charging  load  is  gaining  steadily  and  many 
industrial  applications  of  electric  heating  are  being  pushed. 
With  the  opening  of  the   igi2  Electric  Show  at  Boston  on 


Sept.  28  an  impetus  vvill  be  given  to  electrical  development 
in  eastern  New  England  which  will  soon  be  reflected  in  the 
company's  patronage. 

Another   Long  Acre   Electric   Light  &   Power   Rumor. — 

Tlie  latest  rumor  concerning  the  Long  Acre  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company,  which  has  been  endeavoring  for 
a  number  of  years  to  gain  an  entrance  into  the  central-st.a- 
tion  field  in  New  York,  is  that  a  majority  of  the  Long  ."^cre 
company's  $500,000  outstanding  first-mortgage  4  per  cent 
bonds,  the  interest  on  which  has  been  long  in  default, 
changed  hands  at  private  sale  this  week,  and  that  the  new 
holders  will  begin  proceedings  for  a  foreclosure  sale  of  the 
company's  property  with  a  view  to  obtaining  control  of  the 
company  and  turning  it  over  eventually  to  the  New  York 
Edison  Company,  thus  ending  the  long  litigation  between 
the  two  concerns.  Attorneys  of  the  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany state  that  they  have  no  knowledge  that  such  a  move 
has  been  made. 

Operations  in  Central  Indiana. — The  Interstate  Public 
Service  Company  of  Indianapolis  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000  in  preferred  and  $2,000,000  in 
common  stock.  It  will  finance  and  operate  public-service 
properties  in  Indiana  and  elsewhere.  It  is  said  that  it 
will  take  over  and  operate  the  Indianapolis,  Columbus  & 
Southern  Traction  Company,  recently  leased  by  the  Middle 
West  Utilities  Company  of  Chicago,  and  also  the  Central 
Indiana  Company,  which  controls  lighting  and  traction 
properties  in  Columbus,  Ind.,  and  electric-service  com- 
panies in  Greenwood,  Franklin,  Bloomington  and  Seymour, 
Ind.  The  capital  stock  of  the  Indianapolis,  Columbus  & 
Southern  has  been  increased  from  $920,000  to  $1,840,000. 

First  Dividend  of  Central  States  Electric  Company. — The 

first  quarterly  dividend  of  1^4  per  cent  on  the  preferred 
stock  of  the  Central  States  Electric  Company  has  been  de- 
clared. It  is  payable  on  Oct.  i  to  stockholders  of  record 
on  Sept.  10.  The  Central  States  company,  as  was  noted 
in  these  columns  May  25  and  July  6,  was  formed  by  Har- 
rison Williams,  of  New  York,  and  associates  in  May  as  a 
holding  company  for  the  70  per  cent  of  the  common  stock 
of  the  Cleveland  (Ohio)  Electric  Illuminating  Company  that 
was  secured  by  them  earlier  in  the  year. 

Westinghouse  Dividend  Action  Unanimous. — The  action 
of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &' 
Manufacturing  Company  last  week  in  placing  the  common 
stock  on  a  4  per  cent  basis  was,  it  is  understood,  unanimous, 
the  board  being  united  in  the  belief  that  the  policy  of  using 
earnings  at  this  time  to  build  up  the  properties  and  work- 
ing capital  is  the  most  desirable  course  to  follow.  A 
further  charging-oflf  of  about  $2,000,000  would,  it  is  under- 
stood, be  sufficient  to  place  the  book  valuation  of  the  com- 
pany's foreign  investments  upon  a  strong  basis. 

Harrisburg  (Pa.)  Light  &  Power  Personnel. — Officers  of 
the  Harrisburg  (Pa.)  Light  &  Power  Company,  which  re- 
cently secured  control  of  the  Harrisburg  Light,  Heat  & 
Power  Company  and  the  Paxtang  Electric  Company,  have 
been  elected  as  follows:  President,  George  Bullock;  vice- 
president  and  general  manager,  George  B.  Tripp;  secretary 
and  treasurer,  George  W.  Stone;  assistant  secretary,  Plenry 
Morgan;  superintendent,  Edward  Z.  Wallower,  and  general 
counsel,  E.  B.  Mitchell.  The  company  is  capitalized  at 
$2,000,000. 

Financing  Maryland  Utility  Company  in  London. — John 
Bogart,  consulting  engineer  and  chief  engineer  of  the 
Youghiogheny  Water  &  Electric  Power  Company,  141. 
Broadway,  New  York,  says  that  while  plans  are  being  made 
for  construction  of  the  company's  hydroelectric  develop- 
ments in  western  Maryland,  near  Friendville,  full  details, 
will  not  be  completed  until  the  president  of  the  company,- 
who  is  now  in  London  arranging  for  the  financing,  returns 
to  this  country. 

Western  Union's  Business  Shows  Increase. — Gross  earn- 
ings of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  for  the 
fiscal  year  ended  June  30  showed  an  increase  of  slightly 
more  than  11. 5  per  cent  over  those  in  the  preceding  twelve 
months,  which  represents  a  total  volume  of  business  of 
close  to  $40,000,000  as  compared  with  $34,714,000  in  191 1. 
The  expansion  in  earnings  is  attributed  to  the  introduction 
of  the  night  and  day  letter  service. 


September  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


681 


Public-Utility  Earnings  Im{.;roving. — Steady  improvement 
continues  to  be  shown  in  tlie  earnings  of  public-utility  com- 
panies in  various  parts  of  the  country.  In  the  twelve 
months  ended  Aug.  31,  1912,  subsidiaries  of  the  American 
Gas  &  Electric  Company  showed  increases  in  gross  and 
net  earnings,  respectively,  over  the  returns  in  the  previous 
year  as  follows:  .Atlantic  City  (N.  J.)  Electric  Company,  10 
per  cent  and  22  per  cent;  Canton  (Ohio)  Electric  Company, 
14  per  cent  and  6  per  cent;  Muncie  (Ind.)  Electric  Com- 
pany, 22  per  cent  and  36  per  cent;  Rockford  (111.)  Electric 
Company,  8  per  cent  and  22  per  cent;  Scranton  (Pa.)  Elec- 
tric Company,  9  per  cent  and  7  per  cent.  The  Dayton 
(Ohio)  Power  &  Light  Company's  statement  shows  an 
increase  of  9.97  per  cent  in  gross  and  of  27.46  per  cent  in 
net  earnings  in  the  eight  months  ended  Aug.  31,  1912,  as 
compared  with  returns  in  the  corresponding  period  of  the 
previous  year,  while  an  increase  of  115  per  cent  is  sh'/wn 
in  the  surplus,  after  all  deductions,  in  the  1912  period.  The 
report  of 'the  Federal  Light  &  Traction  Company  for  the 
seven  months  ended  July  31,  1912,  shows  a  gain  of  14.7  per 
cent  in  gross  and  of  17  per  cent  in  net  as  compared  with 
returns  in  191 1.  The  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light 
Company  in  the  eight  months  ended  Aug.  31  showed  a  sur- 
plus over  dividends  and  charges  of  nearly  $55,000,  as  against 
about  $11,000  in  the  same  period  last  year.  The  Consumers' 
Power  Company,  in  the  first  eight  months  of  this  year, 
made  an  increase  of  about  175^2  per  cent  in  its  gross  and 
izYz  per  cent  in  its  net  earnings  as  compared  with  the 
showing  in  the  previous  year.  Owing  to  substantial  m- 
crease  in  preferred  stock  dividends  and  charges,  the  sur- 
plus over  these  items  showed  a  falling  off  of  some  18  per 
cent,  however.  The  report  of  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminat- 
ing Company  of.  Boston  for  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30, 
1912,  reference  to  which  appeared  in  the  Electrical  World 
last  week,  showed  a  gain  of  over  $500,000  in  gross  and  of 
about  $200,000  in  net,  as  compared  with  the  1911  showing. 
Attention  is  called  to  the  substantial  gains  recorded  in  the 
August  statement  of  the  company,  noted  on  page  680  of  this 
issue.  The  Kings  County  (N.  Y.)  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company  and  its  operating  company,  the  Edison  Electric 
Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn,  in  the  eight  months 
ended  Aug.  31  showed  an  increase  of  $341,309  in  gross,  of 
$80,352  in  net  operating  revenue  and  of  %22„7>ii  in  surplus 
over  charges.  The  August  statement,  while  showing  an 
increase  of  $17,225  in  gross,  showed  a  decrease  in  net  oper- 
ating revenue  of  $21,351  and  of  $29,806  in  surplus  over 
charges  for  the  month  as  compared  with  returns  in  August, 
191 1.  Increased  depreciation  and  operating  charges  were 
the  causes  of  the  falling  off.  The  recent  reduction  in  light- 
ing rates  made  voluntarily  by  the  company  {Electrical 
World,  April  27,  page  886)  is  expected  to  induce  more  than 
sufficient  new  business  to  offset  any  decrease  in  revenue 
that  results  from  the  reduced  schedule. 

Merchants'  Company,  Indianapolis,  to  Buy  io,ooo-kw  Tur- 
bine.— E.  Darrow,  general  manager  of  the  Merchants.'  Heat 
&  Light  Company,  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  has  announced  that 
bis  company  is  prepared  to  receive  bids  for  a  io,ooo-kw 
steam  turbine  for  its  West  Washington  Street  staion. 


I 


NEW  YORK  MfiTAL  MARKET  PRICES. 

Copper:  '. ...    ,  f Sept.  17 ^ 

Standard:                                ' '.  ■  Bid.          Asked. 

Spot    ;..,.  17.25          17.50 

September    .' .  . .  17.25          17.50 

October    17.25          17.50 

November    17.25          17.50 

December   

London  quotation :  £        s     d 

Standard  copper,  spot 78       5     0 

Standard  copper,  futures 79       2     6 

Prime  Lake    17.65  to  17.75 

Electrolytic     17.60  to  17.70 

Casting    17.50 

Copper  wire,  base '      19.00 

Lead    :..  5.10 

Sheet  zinc,  f.o.b.  smelter . :  8.90 

Spelter,  spot 7. 5  5 

Nickel    1...  40.00  to  41.00 

■Murainum: 

No.    1   pure  ingot 21 J/^  to  22Vi 

Rods  and  wire,  base 32 

Sheets,  base ZZYz 

OLD  METALS. 

Heavy  copper  and  wire 15.75 

Brass,  heavy    10.00 

Urass.  light    8.25 

Lead,  heavy 4.85 

Zinc,  scrap  5.87^4 


, Sept.  24 

Bid.       Asked. 

17.25  

17.25         

17.25         

17.25         

17.25         

£       s     d 

78  17     6 

79  17     6 
17.65  to  17.75 
17.65  to  17.75 

17.60 
19.00 

5.10 

8.90 

7.65 
45.00 

21^4  to22H 
32 
3354 


16.50 
10.50 
8.75 
4.75 
6.10 


COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  SEPTEMBER. 

Total  tons,  including Sept.   17,   13,624         Sept.  24,  19.203 

STOCK  MARKET  PRICES. 

Sept.  18.         Sept.  25. 

AUis-Chalmers    Yt  H 

Allis-Chalmers,  pf '^'A  3'A 

.Amalgamated  Copper 87^  90^ 

Amer.  Tel.  &  Tel 144Ji  146 

Boston  Edison 291  290* 

Commonwealth   Edison    138H  138J^* 

Electric    Storage    Battery 56 Ji  56^ 

General  Electric   182J4  18354 

Mackay   Companies,  pf 68^  68J4 

Philadelphia    Electric    24H  23^ 

Western    Union     .  .  ; 82  81 J^ 

VVestinghouse     MT/i  85!^ 

Westinghouse,    pf 124*  124* 

*Last  price  quoted. 


Personal 


Mr.  Douglas  J.  W.  Metcalf,  electrical  contractor,  of 
Seattle,  Wash.,  has  been  appointed  assistant  superintendent 
of  the  Calgary  Light  &  Power  Company,  Alberta,  Canada. 

Mr.  Henderson  W.  Knott,  American  manager  of  the 
Morgan  Crucible  Company,  Ltd.,  sailed  for  Europe  on  Sat- 
urday on  the  steamship  Caronia  for  a  month's  sojourn  in 
England. 

Mr.  Charles  H.  Clark,  formerly  chief  engineer  of  the  Con- 
nersville  (Ind.)  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company,  has  been 
appointed  manager  of  the  Martinsville  (Ind.)  Light,  Heat, 
Power  &  Water  Company. 

Mr.  Thomas  F.  Kelly,  contract  agent  of  the  Hamilton 
Cataract  Power,  Light  &  Traction  Company,  Ltd.,  Hamil- 
ton, Canada,  has  been  appointed  a  member  of  the  com- 
mercial committee  of  the  Canadian  Electrical  Association.    ' 

Mr.  Clemens  Blank,  formerly  manager  of  the  Martinsville 
(Ind.)  Light,  Heat,  Power  &  Water  Company,  has  removed 
to  Indianapolis  to  become  assistant  superintendent  of  out- 
side construction  for  the  Indianapolis  Water  Company. 

Mr.  N.  M.  Argabrite,  formerly  manager  of  the  electrie- 
light  company  at  Hartford  City,  Ind.,  has  been  appointed 
manager  of  the  Elwood  (Ind.)  Electric  Light  Company, 
succeeding  Mr.  S.  B.  Harting,  formerly  manager  there. 

Dr.  William  Marconi  met  with  an  automobile  accident 
nn  Sept.  25  in  the  Italian  Riviera,  near  Borghetto,  between 
Spezia  and  Genoa.  In  a  collision  with  another  automobile 
both  cars  were  overturned.  Dr.  Marconi's  right  eyeball 
was  badly  bruised,  although  possibly  not  seriously  injured. 

Mr.  Paul  B.  Sawyer,  of  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Com- 
pany, formerly  manager  of  central-station  properties  in  Des 
Moines  and  Dubuque,  has  been  made  vice-president  and 
general  manager  of  the  Telluride  Power  Company  of  Colo- 
rado and  Utah,  succeeding  Mr.  L.  L.  Nunn  as  general 
manager. 

Mr.  E.  T.  Penrose,  formerly  general  manager  of  the  Penn 
Central  Light  &  Power  Company,  Altoona,  Pa.,  and  more 
recently  electrical  engineer  of  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  & 
Coke  Company,  has  severed  his  connection  with  the  lat- 
ter concern  and  joined  the  staff  of  the  Electric  Bond  & 
Share  Company,  of  New  York. 

Mr.  G.  N.  Lemmon  has  been  temporarily  appointed  chief 
engineer  of  the  Mahoning  &  Shenango  Railway  &  Light 
Company,  Youngstown,  Ohio.  Permanent  appointment  will 
be  made  later,  as  on  Nov.  i  Mr.  Lemmon  will  join  the 
Railway  &  Industrial  Engineering  Company,  of  Pittsburgh, 
Pa.,   as   cons  ilting  electrical   engineer. 

Mr.  W.  W.  Brison  has  been  appointed  division  manager 
of  the  Southern  Sierras  Power  Company  at  San  Bernardino., 
Cal.,  where  he  will  have  general  supervision  of  all  of  the 
business  of  the  company  in  that  vicinity  from  the  southern 
county  line  to  the  mountains  in  the  north.  The  duties  of 
the  right-of-way  agent  are  combined  with  the  position  of 
division   manager  in  that  territory. 

Mr.  George  W.  Elliott,  of  the  Electrical  Worlds  has  been 
appointed  master  of  transportation  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  to  succeed  Mr.  Charles  H.  Hodskinson, 
who   has   so   capably  filled   this   position   for   several   years. 


682 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13. 


Mr.  Hodskinson  has  had  added  to  his  work  with  the  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Boston  so  many  new 
duties  that  he  has  found  it  necessary  to  be  released  from 
transportation  matters. 

Mr.  Sidney  G.  Vigo,  formerly  connected  with  the  contract 
department  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  of 
Chicago,  and  more  recently  in  charge  of  the  motor-service 
business  of  the  Consumers'  Electric  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany of  New  Orleans,  has  been  appointed  an  assistant  to 
Mr.  M.  S.  Hart,  general  contract  agent  of  the  Middle  West 
Utilities  Company  of  Chicago,  in  charge  of  motor-service 
business.  Mr.  Vigo  will  make  his  headquarters  in  Chicago, 
but  will  travel  a  good  deal  among  the  recently  acquired 
properties  of  the  Middle  West  company. 

Mr.  F.  C.  Loring,  formerly  connected  with  the  Marion 
(Ind.)  Municipal  Electric  Light  Plant  and  afterward  with 
the  Metropolitan  Street  Railway  Company  of  New  York, 
has  been  appointed  instructor  in  electrical  engineering  at 
the  University  of  Illinois.  Mr.  Loring,  who  was  born  at 
Marion,  Ind.,  was  graduated  from  Purdue  University  with 
the  degree  of  bachelor  of  science  in  electrical  engineering 
in  1904  and  from  Columbia  University  with  the  degree  of 
master  of  arts  in  1907.  He  was  instructor  in  experimental 
•engineering  at  Cornell  University,   1907-8. 

Mr.  Nathaniel  A.  Carle,  whose  retention  by  the  Public 
Service  Electric  Company,  Newark,  N.  J.,  was  announced 
in  these  pages  last  week,  has  been  appointed  chief  engineer 
to  succeed  Mr.  James  T.  Whittlesey,  resigned.  Mr.  Carle 
is  a  native  of  Portland,  Ore.,  and  was  graduated  from  Le- 
land  Stanford  University,  at  which  institution  he  received 
his  degree  in  electrical  engineering.  For  ten  years  he  was 
connected  with  Westinghouse,  Church,  Kerr  &  Company, 
after  which  he  spent  two  years  as  second  in  command 
of  the  construction  work  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
Company's  power  station  in  Long  Island  City.  He  next 
engaged  in  hydroelectric  development  work  in  the  northern 
part  of  Colorado  and  subsequently  became  affiliated  with 
the  Puget  Sound  Bridge  &  Dredging  Company,  Seattle. 
Wash.  Mr.  Carle  has  for  some  time  been  associated  with 
Professor  Lucke  of  Columbia  University  in  experimental 
and  testing  work.  He  is  thirty-eight  years  old  and  is  a 
member  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E.,  the  A.  S.  C.  E.  and  the  A.  S.  M. 
E.  Mr.  E.  B.  Meyer  has  been  made  assistant  to  the  chief 
engineer  of  the  company,  Mr.  H.  L.  Pallard  electrical  en- 
gineer, and  Mr.  S.  H.  Kent  mechanical  engineer,  the  last 
three   changes  being  in   the   nature   of  promotions. 


Obituary 


Mr.  Alfred  Fitler  Moore,  wire  manufacturer  of  Philadel- 
phia, died  at  his  home  in  that  city  on  Sept.  18.  Mr. 
Moore,  who  was  fifty-six  years  old,  was  born  in  Phila- 
delphia and  succeeded  to  the  business  established  by  his 
grandfather,  who  conducted  what  was  said  to  be  the  first 
company  in  this  country  to  manufacture  insulated  wire  for 
electrical  work.  The  deceased  was  also  president  of  the 
Northern  Liberties  Gas  Company  and  a  director  of  the 
Bank  of  Northern  Liberties,  of  the  Franklin  Fire  Insur- 
ance Company  and  of  the  old  Second  and  Third  Streets 
Passenger  Railway  Company.  He  was  also  prominent  in 
club  circles,  being  a  member  of  the  Junior  League  and  of 
the  Bachelors'  Barge  Club.  He  is  survived  by  his  widow 
and    a   brother. 

Mr.  James  H.  Wise,  assistant  general  manager  of  the 
Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company  of  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  died 
Sept.  16  in  the  Merritt  Hospital  at  Oakland,  Cal.,  whither 
he  had  been  taken  the  previous  night  from  Caliente.  Mr. 
Wise  was  making  an  automobile  inspection  trip  of  the  Los 
Angeles  aqueduct  for  the  purpose  of  getting  information  of 
value  to  him  in  the  construction  of  the  hydroelectric  devel- 
opment of  his  company  at  Spaulding  and  on  Bear  River, 
where  work  is  under  way  on  a  53.000-hp  station.  A  leak 
developed  in  the  gasoline  tank  of  the  car,  and  while  Mr. 
Wise  was  emptying  the  tank  in  order  to  effect  repairs  the 
torch  used  to  heat  a  soldering  iron  ignited  the  gasoline  and 
Mr.  Wise  was  enveloped  in  flames  and  fatally  burned.  The 
deceased  was  thirty-three  years  old  and  a  graduate  of  the 
University    of    California    in    mining    engineering.      After 


teaching  mathematics  for  a  year  he  entered  the  employ  of 
the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company  in  1904,  becoming  an 
assistant  to  Mr.  F.  G.  Baum,  and  on  the  latter's  resignation 
he  was  appointed  hydraulic  and  civil  engineer  of  the  com- 
pany. Early  in  1910  he  joined  the  consulting  engineering 
firm  of  Messrs.  F.  G.  Baum  &  Company,  but  was  still  re- 
tained in  a  consulting  capacity  by  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric 
Company.  In  July,  191 1,  he  was  made  assistant  general 
manager  of  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company  with  entire 
charge  of  the  construction  and  extension  of  the  steam  and 
hydroelectric  plants  which  the  company  is  building.  His 
untimely  death  came  as  a  shock  to  his  numerous  friends 
and  associates.     Mr.  Wise  is  survived  by  his  mother. 

Mr.  James  Dix  Schuyler,  who  died  last  week  at  his  home 
near  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  was  born  at  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  May  II, 
1848.  He  was  educated  at  Friends'  College.  From  1869  to 
1873  he  engaged  in  railway  construction  in  Colorado,  and  in 
the  latter  year  went  to  California.  He  was  assistant  state 
engineer  of  that  State  from  1878  to  1882,  was  chief  engineer 
and  superintendent  of  the  Sinaloa  &  Durango  Railroad, 
Mexico,  1882-84,  and  built  the  Sweetwater  Dam  in  1888,  and 
later  the  Hemet  Dam,  the  highest  masonry  dam  in  Western 
Australia.  He  engaged  in  building  large  power  plants  in 
California  and  Mexico  and  extensive  works  for  irrigation 
and  power  development  in  Mexico,  Brazil,  New  Mexico, 
Colorado  and  other  Western  States.  He  was  a  member  of 
a  commission  of  engineers  on  the  Los  Angeles  city  aque- 
duct and  was  consulting  engineer  to  the  territorial  govern- 
ment of  Hawaii  on  the  construction  of  the  Nuuanu  Dam; 
to  the  Monterey  Water  Works  and  Sewer  Company,  Ltd., 
Mexico;  to  the  Kobe  syndicate  on  an  extensive  power 
project  in  Japan,  involving  a  very  high  dam;  to  the  Mexican 
Light  &  Power  Company,  Ltd.,  on  the  building  of  four 
large  dams  for  power  in  Necaxa  Valley,  Mexico,  and  to  the 
Vancouver  Power  Company,  Ltd.,  Vancouver,  B.  C,  on  the 
building  of  a  dam  at  Coquitlam  Lake.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  commission  of  engineers  appointed  by  President 
Roosevelt  to  accompany  President-elect  Taft  to  Panama  in 
January,  1009,  to  decide  finally  on  the  type  of  canal.  He 
was  the  author  of  "Reservoirs  for  Irrigation,  Water  Power 
and  Domestic  Supply,"  1901.  For  two  years,  in  1888  and 
1896,  he  was  the  winner  of  the  Rowland  prize  for  the  best 
papers  of  the  year  read  before  the  American  Society  of 
Civil  Engineers,  of  which  he  has  been  vice-president. 

Mr.  John  Thomas  Cowling,  electrical  engineer  of  the 
Westchester  Lighting  Company,  Mount  Vernon,  N.  Y.,  died 
at  Fullerton,  Cal.,  on  Sept.  18,  after  a  lingering  illness.     Mr. 

Cowling  was  born  in  Eng- 
land Dec.  21,  1862,  and 
came  to  Wilkes-Barre, 
Pa.,  with  his  parents  at 
the  age  of  four.  His  early 
education  was  limited,  as 
he  was  obliged  to  leave 
school  at  the  age  of  nine 
owing  to  the  death  of  his 
father.  He  acquired  his 
first  electrical  experience 
with  the  telephone  and 
lighting  companies  in 
Wilkes-Barre,  and  later 
became  connected  with 
the  Powellton  Electric 
Company  of  Philadelphia, 
where  he  served  as  gen- 
eral manager  from  1890  to 
1900.  In  January,  1900,  he  was  sent  by  the  United  Gas 
Improvement  Company  to  act  as  superintendent  of  the 
Hudson  River  Gas  &  Electric  Company  of  Tarrytown,  N.  Y., 
and  in  December  of  that  year  he  was  made  engineer  of  the 
electrical  department  of  the  Westchester  Lighting  Com^s 
pany,  which  position  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death.  To0 
close  application  to  work  resulted  in  breakdown,  and  in 
March,  1911,  he  went  to  the  Pacific  Coast  for  rest,  returning 
to  New  York  in  June  of  that  year.  His  health  began  to  fail 
again,  however,  and  last  December  he  went  to  Denver,  then 
to  Phoenix,  Ariz.,  and  finally  to  Fullerton,  Cal.,  where  he 
died.  Mr.  Cowling  was  highly  esteemed  by  all  who  knew 
him,  and  his  breakdown  a  year  ago  was  keenly  felt  by  his 
associates.     He  is  survived  by  a  wife,  a  son  and  a  daughter. 


JOHN    T.    COWLING 


r 


September  28,  igu 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


683 


Construction 


ANNISTON,  ALA. — The  Alabama  Pwr.  Devel.  Co.  has  purchased  a 
site  of  16  acres  in  Anniston  on  which  it  proposes  to  erect  a  transforming 
and  distributing  station. 

GADSDEN,  ALA.— The  Alabama  Pwr.  Devel.  Co.  has  purchased  80 
acres  of  land  in  East  Gadsden,  which  will  be  used  as  a  site  for  a  large 
auxiliary  steam  plant  and  other  purposes.  Work  will  soon  begin  on  con- 
struction of  the  proposed  plant. 

RAGLAND,  ALA. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Ragland  Wtr. 
Pwr.  Co.  to  begin  work  on  a  water-power  development  on  the  Coosa 
River  at  Ragland,  to  cost  about  $500,000.  From  6000  hp  to  10,000  hp 
will  be  generated  for  transmission  by  electricity.  Senator  W.  T.  Brown  is 
interested. 

TUSCALOOSA,  ALA.— The  Tuscaloosa  Ice  &  Lt.  Co.  has  submitted 
1  proposition  to  the  city  commissioners  asking  for  a  franchise  for  an 
electric  street  railway  and  an  extension  of  the  present  street-lighting 
;ontract  with  the  city  for  a  period  of  seven  years. 

TUSCALOOSA,  ALA. — The  city  commissioners  are  considering  a 
proposition  submitted  by  the  Birmingham  Gulf  &  Navigation  Co.  relative 
to  equipping  its  street-car  line  for  electrical  operation.  The  company  also 
isks  for  a  franchise  to  generate  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors. 

WILLIAMS,  ARIZ. — Work  will  begin  at  once  by  the  Atchison,  Topeka 
Sj  Santa  Fe  R.  R.  Co.  on  the  construction  of  a  concrete  power  house,  78 
ft.  X  100  ft.  A  plant  for  treating  water  for  locomotives  will  also  be 
:rected. 

BENTONVILLE,  ARK.— The  Bentonville  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  is  installing 
neters  throughout  its  entire  system.  The  company  is  in  the  market  for 
I  two-phase  generator  and  contemplates  erecting  a  transmission  line  to 
he  municipal  water-works  pumping  station  to  supply  electricity  to  operate 
:he  pumps.     Carroll  Holt  is  superintendent. 

I     BAKERSFIELD,  CAL.— The  Hale-McLeod  Oil   Co.  has  decided  to  in- 
:  itall   electric   motors  in  its  two   properties. 

FORT    BIDWELL,    CAL.— -At   the   last   session    of    Congress   an    appro- 

.  niation  of  $15,000  was  made  for  construction  work  at  the  Indian  School 

1  It  Fort   Bidwell,  .including  construction    of   water-works   and   electric-light 

tiant,    to    cost    $7,000;    steam    laundry,    $3,000,    and    $2,000    for    complete 

.eating   system. 

GLENDALE,  CAL. — The  city  lighting  system  will  be  extended  to 
/erdugo  Canyon,  which   was  recently  annexed  to  the  city. 

HUNTINGTON  BEACH,  CAL.— The  city  trustees  have  decided  upon 
tn  ornamental  street-lighting  system.  Forty-five  ornamental  lamp  posts 
.f  reinforced  concrete,  each  carrying  three  lamps,  will  be  used.  The 
lost  is  estimated  at  about  $1,200. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  City  Council  has  authorized  City  Attor- 
ley  Shenk  to  draft  an  ordinance  providing  for  a  special  engineering 
orce  to  prepare  maps  of  the  entire  conduit  system  in  the  streets  of  the 
:ity.  The  cost  of  preparing  the  maps  is  estimated  at  $12,000.  The  plans 
ire  being  prepared  with  a  view  of  determining  where  the  conduits  for 
he  aqueduct  power  distribution  may  be  advantageously   placed. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office 
if  the  United  States  Reclamation  Service,  Federal  Building.  Los  Angeles, 
mtil  Oct.  11  for  furnishing  electrical  apparatus,  including  275-hp  motors, 
me  30,000-volt  oil  circuit-breaker,  three  30,000-volt  single-phase,  expan- 
lion  fuses,  two  automatic  controllers,  three  50-kva  transformers,  one  1-kva 
ransformer  and  one  three-phase  electrolytic  lightning  arrester.  O.  H. 
insign  is  consulting  engineer. 

REDLANDS,  CAL. — The  Southern  California  Edison  Co.  is  planning 
0  extend  its  transmission  lines  throughout  the  Yucaipa  Valley  to  supply 
electricity  to  operate  pumping  plants  and  for  lamps  in  the  valley.  W.  L. 
?rost  is  local  manager. 

SACRAMENTO.  CAL.— The  Vallejo  &  Northern  El.  Ry.  Co.  is  plan- 
ling  to  double-track  its  system  within  the  city  limits. 

SAX  BERNARDINO.  CAL.— The  Southern  Sierras  Pwr.  Co.,  which 
s  erecting  225  miles  of  steel  tower  line  from  Bishop  Creek  to  this  city, 
recently  lost  18  towers  which  were  overturned  by  a  heavy  wind;  several 
nore   were    partly   overturned. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,   CAL.— The  contract   for  the  electrical  work  at  the 

San  Francisco   Hospital   has  been  awarded  to  the   Butte   Engr.   &   El.   Co., 

)83  Howard  Street,  San  Francisco,  at  $11,900. 

1      SAN   FRANCISCO,   CAL.— The    Board    of    Supervisors   has   passed   an 

\  ordinance  authorizing  the  city  engineer  to  prepare  plans  and  estimates  of 

■    he  cost   of   the    installation    or   the   acquisition    of   a    municipal    telephone 

•ystem. 

S,\N    MATEO,    CAL. — .Ansel    M.    Easton    has    entered    into    a    contract 
-vith  Mahoney  Brothers  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway,  which 
'■  >vill  extend    from    the    Easton    Hills    to    the    Easton    Station    and    connect 
with  the  suburban   lines   of   the   United    Railroads.     The   cost    of   the   rail- 
way with  power  houses  and  rolling  stock  is  estimated  at  about  $75,000. 

SOUTH  PASADENA,  CAL.— The  City  Trustees  are  considering  the 
installation  of  a  modern  police  call  system  and  an  up-to-date  fire-alarm 
system. 

TULARE,    CAL.— The    Big   Four    El.    Ry.    Co.,    of   Tulare    County,    has 

I  [received  authority   from   the   State  Railroad   Commission  to  issue  $100,000 

in   capital    stock,    the    proceeds    to    be    used    for    construction    of    its    road. 


The  company   proposes  to  build   a   railway  from  Tulare  to   Porterville   via 
Woodville  and  Poplar,  a  distance  of  about  34  miles. 

CREEDE,  COL. — The  Creede  Triune  Pwr.  Co.  is  building  a  steam 
electric  generating  plant  in  Creede  to  supply  electricity  for  three  mines 
in  this  vicinity.     Webber  &  Possett,  of  Denver,  are  engineers. 

WILMINGTON,  DEL.— The  Wilmington  &  Philadelphia  Trac.  Co.  is 
planning  to  install  an  electric  distributing  system  in  the  Cedars,  a  resi- 
dential suburb,  to  supply  electricity  for  lighting. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  su- 
pervising architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Oct. 
7  for  furnishing  lamp  standards  and  brackets  that  may  be  required  for 
the  various  buildings  under  control  of  the  department.  Copies  of  draw- 
ings and  specifications  may  be  secured  at  the  above  office.  Oscar  Wende- 
roth  is  supervising  engineer. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
the  secretary,  electrical  engineer  in  charge  of  automatic  scales.  Treasury 
Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Oct.  9  for  furnishing  and  in- 
stalling complete  automatic  weighting  and  recording  scales  for  customs 
service  in  accordance  with  specifications,  copies  of  which  may  be  obtained 
at  the  above  office.     James  F.  Curtis  is  assistant  secretary. 

MIAMI,  FLA. — The  Ocean  Beach  Amusement  Co.  is  planning  to  estab- 
lish an  amusement  park  across  Biscayne  Bay  from  Miami.  The  improve- 
ments will  include  pavilion,  water- works  and  electric-light  plant,  to  cost 
from  $10,000  to  $15,000.     C.  A.  MuUer  is  secretary  and  general  manager. 

TAMPA,  FLA. — The  Tampa  El.  Co.  is  planning  to  erect  cable  houses 
on  the  river  front,  from  which  cables  will  cross  under  the  river  in  trench 
to  be  blasted  out,  or  in  the  event  of  the  river  being  deepened,  through 
tunnel  to  be  bored.  The  cost  of  cable  houses  is  estimated  at  $12,000  and 
that  of  equipment  at  about  $20,000. 

AMERICAN  FALLS,  IDAHO.— It  is  reported  that  the  plant  of  the 
Idaho  Consol.  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  sold  to  the  Kuhn  interests,  Pittsburgh, 
Pa.  It  is  understood  that  the  new  owners  will  increase  the  output  of 
the  plant  to  30,000  hp  and  extend  the  tranmission  lines  to  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utah.     James  H.  Brady  is  president  of  the  Idaho  Consol.  Pwr.  Co. 

HAILEY,  IDAHO.— The  Rockwell  White  Pwr.  Co.  has  submitted  a 
proposition  to  the  City  Council  offering  to  furnish  electricity  for  lighting 
the  streets  of  the  city  for  a  period  of  ten  years,  to  begin  not  later  than 
Jan.    1,    1913. 

BARRY,  ILL.— The  plant  of  the  Barry  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
purchased  by  the  White-Hall  syndicate,  which  is  buying  all  the  electric 
plants  between  Hull  and  Chapin  and  is  now  making  arrangements  to 
erect  a  transmission  line  between  the  towns.  The  new  owners  will  secure 
electricity  from  the  Keokuk  Pwr.  Co.,  which  has  decided  to  erect  a  sub- 
station at  Hull,  to  cost  about  $60,000. 

BELVIDERE,  ILL.— The  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Co.  has  applied  to 
the  City  Council  for  a  new  50-year  franchise  in  this  city. 

CHAMPAIGN,  ILL. — The  West  Park  Avenue  residents  have  appointed 
a  committee,  consisting  of  C.  A.  Kiler,  N.  M.  Harris  and  Dr.  C.  H. 
Peres,  to  report  on  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system. 

ELGIN,  ILL. — A  proposition  to  create  a  bond  issue  next  spring  for  the 
purpose  of  establishing  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  will  be  submitted 
to  the  voters.     The  present  contract  for  street  lighting  will  expire  in  1915. 

FARMINGTON,  ILL.— The  Farmington  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  entered 
into  a  contract  with  the  Maplewood  Coal  Co.  to  supply  electricity  to 
operate  the  machinery  at  its  No.   1  mine. 

MOLINE,  ILL. — The  City  Commission  will  ask  for  bids  for  lighting 
the  new  city  hall. 

NEOGA,  ILL. — The  Village  Council  has  granted  the  Central  Illinois 
Pub.  Ser.  Co.  a  franchise  to  furnish  electricity  in  Neoga.  The  company 
has  also  been  awarded  a  10-year  contract  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the 
village.  A  transmission  line  will  be  erected  from  Mattoon,  which  will 
also  supply  electrical  service  in  the  village  of  Etna  and  may  be  extended 
to  Effingham. 

OTTAWA,  ILL. — The  Board  of  Supervisors  of  La  Salle  County  has 
granted  the  La  Salle  County  El.  Co.  a  franchise  to  erect  and  operate 
transmission  lines  along  the  highways  of  the  county  for  a  period  of  20 
years. 

PEORIA,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  passed  a  resolution  authorizing 
an  ordinance  to  be  drawn  revoking  the  franchise  of  the  Central  Union 
Tel.  Co. 

PEORIA,  ILL. — The  Board  of  County  Supervisors  has  authorized  the 
committee  of  poor  farm  inspectors  to  install  an  electric-light  plant  at 
the  county  farm,  the  cost  not  to  exceed  $2,500.  If  it  costs  more,  the 
committee  is  to  secure  estimates  and  report  to  the  board. 

PLAIN VILLE,  ILL. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  representatives 
from  Plainville,  Payson,  Kinderhook,  Hall  and  Barry  to  organize  a  com- 
pany to  distribute  electrical  energy  in  those  towns  from  the  plant  of  the 
Mississippi  River  Pwr.   Co.  at  Keokuk. 

RICHMOND,  ILL. — The  Public  Service  Co,  of  Northern  Illinois  is 
reported  to  be  seeking  a  franchise  to  operate  an  electric  distributing  sys- 
tem in  Richmond. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.— The  Springfield,  Clear  Lake  &  Southern  Ry. 
Co.  has  announced  that  Clear  Lake  will  be  made  a  summer  resort  and 
that  the  railway  will  be  extended  from  Rochester  to  Hillsboro  soon.  Dr. 
N.  R.  Gordon,  of  Springfield,  is  president. 


i 


684 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13. 


ANGOLA,  IND. — The  Indiana  Utilities  Co.  has  taken  over  the  proper- 
ties of  the  Angola  Lt.  &  Ry.  Co.,  Angola,  and  of  the  Waterloo  El.  Ll. 
&  Wtr.  Wks.  Co.,  Waterloo.  A  new  transmission  line  will  be  erected 
from  Angola  to  Pleasant  Lake  and  Waterloo.  The  plant  in  Waterloo  will 
be  closed  down.  Electricity  will  be  supplied  from  the  Angola  plant  in 
Pleasant  Lake.  Waterloo  and  several  other  adjoining  towns.  E.  J.  Condon 
is  president  of  the  new  company. 

CROWN  POINT,  IND. — Proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of 
Commissioners  of  Lake  County  until  Oct.  9  for  lighting  fixtures  for  use 
at  the  county  farm.     Charles  A.  Johnson  is  county  auditor. 

HOBART,  IND. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  installation  of  a 
new  street-lighting  system  on  Front,  Main  and  Fourth  Streets  and  to 
continue  along  the  boulevard. 

INDIAN.XPOLIS,  IND. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  In- 
dianapolis Lt.  &  Ht.  Co.  to  enlarge  its  Mill  Street  power  house.  A 
10,000-kw  steam  turbine  will  be  installed  and  a  new  boiler  room  paral- 
leling the  present  steam  units  will  be  equipped  with  boilers  of  7000  hp. 

INDI.XNAPOLIS,  IND. — The  Merchants'  Ht.  &  Lt.  Co.  is  planning  to 
install  a  10,000-kw  steam  turbine  in  its  West  Washington  power  station, 
for  which  it  is  prepared  to  receive  bids.  The  company  has  been  reor- 
ganized, a  holding  company,  the  Merchants'  Public  Utilities  Co.,  being 
formed  with  a  capital  stock  of  $4,000,000  to  control  it.  E.  Darrow  is 
general   manager  of  the   Merchants'   company. 

M.'\RTINSVILLE,  IND. — The  property  of  the  Martinsville  Lt.,  Ht.  & 
Wtr.  Co.  has  been  sold  to  the  Reliance  Engineering  Co.,  of  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  which  operates  electric  public  utility  plants  in  Gosport  and  Spencer, 
nearby  towns.  Charles  H.  Clark  has  been  appointed  manager  of  the 
Martinsville    company. 

MONTPELIER,  IND. — The  new  owners  of  the  Montpelier  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  have  reorganized  and  propose  to  apply  for  a  new  franchise  in  this 
city. 

PLYMOUTH,  IND. — In  an  effort  to  purchase  the  local  electric-light 
plant,  owned  by  C.  D.  Snoeberger,  the  City  Council  had  an  appraise- 
ment of  the  plant  made  by  experts,  which  placed  the  value  of  the 
system  at  $71,000.  The  city  refused  to  buy  the  plant  at  that  price  and  is 
preparing  to  submit  the  question  of  installing  a  municipal  lighting  plant, 
to  cost  $40,000,  to  the  voters.  Preparations  are  being  made  by  Mr. 
Snoeberger   for  the  installation  of  additional   machinery  in  his   plant. 

WARSAW,  IND. — The  Winona  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to  re- 
place the  old  arc  lamps  now  in  use  with  new  lamps.  The  Council  will 
be  permitted  to  select  the  new  lamps. 

BL.^NCHARD,  lA. — The  proposition  to  grant  the  Lee  El.  Lt.  Co.,  of 
Clarinda,  a  franchise  to  install  an  electric-light  system  here  will  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  voters   on   Sept.   30. 

BURLINGTON,  lA.— The  Mississippi  River  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to 
the  City  Council  for  a  25-year  franchise  to  supply  electricity  here  from 
its  plant  in  Keokuk. 

COLLEGE  SPRINGS,  lA.— At  an  election  to  be  held  Sept.  30  the 
proposition  to  grant  the  Lee  El.  Lt.  Co.,  of  Clarinda,  a  franchise  to 
install  and  operate  an  electric-lighting  system  here  will  be  submitted  to 
the   voters. 

FORT  DODGE,  lA. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  board  of  directors 
of  the  independent  school  district  of  Fort  Dodge  until  Oct.  10  for  vacuum 
cleaners  and  electric-light  fixtures  for  two  school  buildings  now  in  course 
of   construction.     J.    L.    Porter   is   secretary. 

G.^RDEN  GROVE,  lA. — The  citizens  recently  voted  to  grant  the  Leon 
El.  Co.  a  15-year  franchise  to  supply  electrical  service  here.  Electricity 
for  operating  the  system  will  be  transmitted  from  the  plant  at  Leon.  The 
company  may  possibly  extend  the  line  from  Garden  Grove  to  Humeston. 

GILMORE  CITY,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
grant  a  25-year  franchise  to  H.  W.  Heath  to  construct  and  operate  an 
electric-light   plant   here  was  carried. 

HUXLEY,  lA.— The  Central  Iowa  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Fort  Dodge,  has 
been  granted  a  25-year  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric- 
light  and  power  plant  here.  The  company  operates  an  interurban  railway 
through  the  town. 

LISBON,  \A. — The  Town  Council  has  decided  to  install  ornamental 
street  lamps  in  the  business  district.  The  plans  call  for  16  standards 
carrying  four  lamps  each. 

MARBLE  ROCK,  lA. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant.  It  is  proposed  to  develop  the  water 
power  of  Shell  River  to  supply  power  to  operate  the  plant. 

MELROSE,  L'\. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  and  power  plant 
here  is  under  consideration.     Mark  Carmody  is  interested. 

SHELDAHL,  lA. — .^t  an  election  to  be  held  Oct.  12  the  proposition 
to  grant  the  Boone  El.  Co.  a  franchise  to  install  an  electric  light  and 
power  system  here  will  be  submitted  to  ^  vote. 

BELLE  PLAIN,  K.\N. — At  an  election  to  be  held  Oct.  15  the  proposi- 
tion to  issue  $35,000  in  bonds  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric 
light  plant  and  water-works  system  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote.  Pre- 
liminary plans  for  the  proposed  plants  have  been  prepared  by  Rollins  & 
Westover,   Midland  Building,   Kansas  City,   Mo.,  the  engineers. 

CHENEY,  KAN.— The  Council  has  engaged  Rollins  &  Westover, 
Midland  Building,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  to  prepare  plans  for  the  proposed 
water  and  lighting  plant,  to  cost  approximately  $30,000.  A  proposition  to 
issue  bonds    for   the   project   will   be   submitted   to   the  voters. 


MULBERRY,  KAN. — A  petition  is  being  circulated  asking  the  Mayor 
and  Council  to  call  an  election  to  vote  on  the  proposition  of  establishing  a 
municipal   electric-light   plant   and   water-works  system. 

SOLOMON,  KAN. — A  petition  has  been  presented  to  the  City  Council 
asking  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  here.  The  cost  of  a 
plant  with  sufficient  output  to  supply  electricity  for  street,  residential  and 
commercial   lighting  is  estimated  at   $10,000. 

CLOVERPORT,  KY.— The  Cloverport  Ice  Co.  is  planning  to  install  an 
electric-light  plant.     A.  A.   Simons  is  president. 

DANVILLE,  KY.— The  property  of  the  Danville  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Trac. 
Co.  has  been  purchased  by  H.  C.  Wood.  The  new  owner  proposes  to 
enlarge  the   plant  and   make   improvements   to  the  system. 

EDDYVILLE,  KY. — Plans  are  under  way  for  reorganizing  the  man- 
agement and  operation  of  the  municipal  electric  light  and  power  plant 
and    for   an   extension    of   the    street-lighting   system. 

MOUNT  VERNOX,  KY.— J.  E.  Shoop,  of  Danville,  Ky.,  is  planning 
to   install    an   electric    light   plant    in    Mount   Vernon. 

PERRYVILLE,  KY.— Plans  are  being  prepared  by  W.  J.  DeBaun,  of 
Perryville,  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  light  and  power  plant  here 
in   connection    with    his   creamery    and    ice    factory. 

BREAUX  BRIDGE,  LA. — At  a  special  election  held  recently  the 
proposition  to  grant  the  Louisiana  El.  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Lafayette,  a 
franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric  railway  in  this  parish  was 
carried. 

SYKESVILLE,  MD. — The  contract  for  erection  of  an  electric  trans- 
mission line  from  the  Springfield  State  Hospital  electric  plant  to  Sykes- 
ville  has  been  awarded  to  the  Marriottsville  Construction  Co.,  Marriotts- 
ville,   Md. 

AMESBURY,  MASS. — The  town  has  accepted  the  proposition  sub- 
mitted by  the  Amesbury  El.  Lt.  Co.  to  supply  electricity  for  operating  the 
municipal  electric-light  system  for  a  period  of  10  years.  The  company 
also  olfered  to  furnish  power  to  operate  the  purnping  station  of  the 
water-works  system.  The  city  has  decided  to  operate  the  pumping  plant 
for  three  months  on  trial  to  find  the  actual  cost  of  pumping  the  city 
water. 

BOSTON,  MASS. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  trustees  of  the  Con- 
sumptives' Hospital  of  Boston,  926  Tremont  Building,  Boston,  until  Oct. 
4,  for  electrical  work  for  Children's  Hospital,  River  Street,  Mattapan, 
Boston.  Bids  must  be  made  on  form  obtained  at  the  office  of  Hollis, 
French  &  Allen  Hubbard,  engineers,  88  Pearl  Street,  Boston.  Edward 
F.    McSweeney   is   chairman   of   board. 

CHICOPEE,  MASS.— The  Board  of  Aldermen  has  passed  over  the 
veto  of  Mayor  Rivers  the  ordinance  allowing  the  Amherst  Pwr.  Co.  z 
franchise  to  furnish  electricity  in  Chicopee. 

ENFIELD,  M-^SS,— The  Central  Massachusetts  EI.  Co.,  Palmer,  has 
submitted  a  proposition  to  the  Board  of  Selectmen  for  lighting  the  street! 
of  the  town. 

PRINCETON,  MASS. — At  a  town  meeting  held  recently  the  citizen; 
voted  to  appropriate  $15,000  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric 
light   plant  in   Princeton. 

SALEM,  MASS. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  until  Oct.  7  at  thi 
office  of  Hartwell,  Richardson  &  Driver,  architects,  62  Devonshire  Street 
Boston,  Mass.,  for  complete  electrical  installation  for  the  proposed  Prac 
tice  School,  State  Normal  School,  Salem,  in  accordance  with  drawinjr- 
and  specifications,  which  may  be  seen  at  the  office  of  the  Richard  D 
Kimball  Co.,  engineers,   6   Beacon   Street,  Boston,  Mass. 

WINCHENDON,  MASS.— The  Massachusetts  Northern  Rys.  Co. 
Greenfield,  is  planning  to  install  a  rotary  converter  in  its  Winchendor 
power  house  to  furnish  power  for  its  new  line  from  Baldwinville  U 
Winchendon. 

ANN  .■XRBOR,  MICH.— Bids  will  be  received  until  Oct.  14  for  th< 
installation  of  a  new  power  plant  at  the  University  of  Michigan.  Shurle; 
W.   S.   Smith  is  secretary. 

DETROIT,  MICH. — The  Chalmers  Motor  Car  Co.  is  erecting  a  powe; 
idant.     Albert   Kah,   58  Lafayette  Avenue,  Detroit,  is  architect. 

GR.^ND  R.\PIDS,  MICH. — At  an  election  held  recently  it  was  votec 
to  authorize  the  Board  of  Public  Works  to  make  investigations  as  tt 
how  much  power  can  be  developed  from  a  dam  across  the  Grand  Rive 
and  the  cost  of  same. 

HOLLY,  MICH. — Upon  being  granted  a  franchise  the  Independen 
Pwr.  Co.  will  build  and  operate  an  electric  railway  from  Pontiac  ti 
Owosso,  passing  through  Holly,  Fenton,  Linton,  Gaines  and  Uurand 
The  company  owns  and  operates  a  number  of  electric-lighting  plant 
along  the  Shiawassa  River  and  has  dams  at  Byron,  Linden  and  Hollj 
George   C.    Weber,   of   Linden,   is  head   of  the  new   enterprise. 

KALAMAZOO,  MICH.— The  Bayston  Paper  Mills  Co.  will  erect  : 
power  plant,  contracts  for  which  have  been  awarded  to  C.  R.  Meyers  ! 
Son.  Oshkosh,  Wis. 

MARQUETTE,  MICH. — .-Xrrangements  are  being  made  to  equip  th 
municipal  water-works  pumping  station  with  electrically  operated  machin 
ery.  Contracts  for  machinery  have  been  placed  and  work  on  installatioi 
will  begin  Nov.  1.  Electricity  for  operating  the  pumps  will  be  furnishei 
by  the  municipal  electric-light  plant.  The  steam  plant  will  be  held  fo 
use    in    emergencies. 

MOUNT  CLEMENS.  MICH. — The  City  Council  has  decided  to  chang 


1 


September  28,  191 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


685 


the  present  system  of  street  lighting,  by  means  of  78  festoons  of  lamps 
extending  from  one  side  of  the  street  to  the  other,  to  the  cluster-lamp 
system.     The  public  lighting  committee  has  charge  of  the  matter. 

NEGAUNEE,  MICH.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  enter  into  a 
contract  with  the  Cleveland  Cliffs  Iron  Co.  for  electrical  energy  to 
operate   the   municipal   electric-light   system. 

NILES.  MICH. — The  Kawneer  Mfg.  Co.  is  planning  to  build  an  inde- 
pendent electric  power  plant  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors 
for   its   factory. 

OWOSSO,  MICH.— The  Union  Tel.  Co.  has  rejected  all  bids  for  con- 
struction of   its   new  building.     The  work  will  be   readvertised. 

RICHMOND,  MICH. — At  a  special  election  held  Sept.  16  the  proposi- 
tion to  sell  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  to  the  Eastern  Michigan 
Edison  Co.,  Detroit,  was  carried.  The  amount  paid  for  the  plant  was 
$18,000.  A  24-hour  lighting  service  will  be  established  and  a  day  power 
service  furnished. 

ST.  CLAIR  HEIGHTS,  MICH. — Negotiations  are  under  way  between 
the  \'illage  Council  and  the  Peninsular  Lt.  Co.,  of  Detroit,  for  the  re- 
newal of  the  street-lighting  contract.  The  compE.:.^  has  submitted  a 
proposition  offering  to  install  new  street  lamps  under  a   10-year  contract. 

MOORHEAD,  MINN. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office 
of  the  supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C, 
until  Oct.  21  for  furnishing  lighting,  heating  and  electrical  conduits, 
wiring  and  interior  lighting  fixtures  for  the  federal  building  at  Moorhcad. 

NEW  LONDON,  MINN. — At  a  special  election  held  recently  the 
proposition   to   install   a   municipal   electric-light   plant   here   was   carried. 

ST.  CLOUD,  MINN.— The  Public  Service  Co.  has  applied  to  the  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  permission  to  erect  a  power  line  from  the  dam  to 
the  city  limits.  This  line  will  form  a  part  of  the  transmission  line  to  be 
erected  through  Waite  Park,  Rockville,  Cold  Springs  and  Richmond. 

BEVIER,  MO. — At  an  election  to  be  held  Oct.  8  the  proposition  to 
issue  $11,000  in-  bonds  for  the  purchase  of  the  plant  of  the  Bevier  El. 
Lt  &  Pwr.  Co.,  to  be  owned  and  operated  by  the  municipality,  will  be 
submitted  to  a  vote. 

MARYVILLE,  MO.— The  Maryville  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  granted 
I  franchise  for  municipal  heating.  Steam  from  its  power  boilers  will  be 
utilized  to  heat  the  business  section  of  the  city. 

ST.  CHARLES,  MO. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  City  Council 
by  the  Mississippi  River  Pwr.  Co.  for  a  franchise  to  distribute  electricity 
in  this  city. 

DARBY,  MONT. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Commercial  Club  to 
secure  the  establishment  of  an  electric-light  plant  in  Darby. 

HILGER,  MONT.— The  Kendall  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
[bounty  Commissioners  for  a  franchise  to  erect  a  transmission  line  from 
ts  power  plant;  in  Warm  Springs  Creek  to  Hilger.  H.  Lang  is  superin- 
:endent  of  the  company. 

GENO.A,  NEB. — The  Nebraska  Pwr.  Co.,  which  proposes  to  develop 
ultimately  over  150,000  hp  by  diverting  water  from  the  Loup  River 
through  a  canal  to  a  series  of  power  plants  with  heads  varying  from 
90  ft.  to  150  ft.,  is  now  building  a  small  plant  at  Genoa.  W.  J.  Eatherton 
is  engineer.     H.  L.   Doherty,  of  New  York,  is  interested  in  the  project. 

KE.\RNEY,  NEB.— The  City  Council  has  notified  the  Kearney  Wtr.  & 
El.  Co.  that  it  must  terminate  its  city  lighting  business  by  Dec.  1  and 
after  that  time  its  poles  and  wires  must  be  removed  from  the  streets  and 
alleys  of  the  city.  The  Council  will  engage  an  engineer  to  prepare  plans 
for  a  municipal  electric-light  plant,  for  which  bonds  were  voted  some  time 
ago. 

MANHATTAN,  NEV. — A  H.  Crampton,  who  has  a  lease  of  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Manhattan  Mining  Co.,  is  planning  to  install  an  electric  hoist. 

RENO,  NEV. — The  Pacific  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  will  soon  begin  work  on 
the  construction  of  a  new  exchange  plant  and  office  building  here,  to 
cost  $75,000. 

LEBANON,  N.  H.- — Plans  are  being  considered  for  organizing  a  hold- 
ing company,  to  be  known  as  the  Grafton  County  El.  Co.,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  controlling  the  local  plant  and  two  plants  between  here  and 
West  Lebanon.  It  is  proposed  to  expend  inunediately  $45,000  for  im- 
provements to  the  down-river  plants  and  $8,000  to  the  plant  in  Lebanon. 
George  S.   Rogers  is  president  of  the  Lebanon  El.   Lt.  &  Pwr.   Co. 

ALBUQUERQUE,  N.  M.— D.  C.  Collier,  of  San  Diego,  Cal.,  and  as 
sociates,  who  recently  purchased  a  large  tract  of  land  near  here,  are 
planning  to  build  a  large  dam  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  large  stora^je 
reservoir  and  also  to  install  a  hydroelectric  power  plant.  It  is  proposed 
to  colonize   the   tract   with    farmers, 

ANTWERP,  N.  Y. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  F.  X.  Baumert  & 
Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  concrete  power  house  at  its  cheese  factory 
in  Antwerp.  The  equipment  will  include  a  200-hp  boiler,  for  which  con- 
tract has  been  awarded.  A  135-hp  steam  turbine  generator  will  also  be 
installed. 

BINGH.AMTON,  N.  Y. — The  proposition  for  the  county  to  install  an 
ornamental  lighting  system  in  Court  House  Square  will  be  submitted  to 
the  Board  of  Supervisors  on  Oct.  19.  It  is  proposed  to  erect  about  20 
ornamental  lamp  standards,  each  carrying  three  large  incandescent  lamps. 
The  cost  is  estimated  at  about  $2,500. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y.— Plans  have  been  filed  with  the  Building  Depart- 
ment by  the  Edison  El.   Illg.  Co.   for  the  construction   of  a  concrete  and 


steel  power  house,  to  be  located  in  Jay  Street,  near  Front  Street,  which 
will  be  used  partly  to  generate  electricity  for  the  Manhattan  Bridge 
Three-Cent  Line, 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. — The  contract  for  installing  electric  equipment 
in  Public  School  173,  Brooklyn,  has  been  awarded  to  the  Anderson- 
Martin   El.    Co.,    1    Madison   Avenue,   New   York,    for   $10,459. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y. — Proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Commissioner  of 
Public  Works,  Room  5,  Municipal  Building,  Buffalo,  until  Oct.  5  for  fur. 
nishing  labor  and  material  for  remodeling  the  building  formerly  known 
as  the  Buffalo  Orphan  Asylum,  located  at  the  corner  of  Virginia  and  Mor- 
gan Streets,  to  be  used  for  the  temporary  accommodation  of  the  Masten 
Park  High  School.  A  separate  and  distinct  proposal  must  be  made  for 
each  of  the  following  divisions  of  the  work;  (a)  Masonry,  ironwork, 
plastering,  roofing,  painting,  glazing,  hardware,  etc.;  (b)  electrical  work, 
generators,  switchboards,  motors,  lighting  fixtures,  etc.;  (c)  heating, 
radiation,  etc.;  (d)  plumbing,  gas-fitting,  etc.  Plans  and  specifications  are 
on  file  at  the  office  of  the  deputy  building  commissioner.  Room  6,  Munici- 
pal Building,  where  blank  forms  of  proposals  may  be  obtained.  Francis 
G.  Ward  is  commissioner  of  public  works. 

CARTHAGE,  N.  Y. — The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  Carthage  El.  Lt. 
&  Pwr.  Co.  have  been  purchased  by  J.  B.  Taylor,  of  Watertown.  It  is 
said  that  Mr.  Taylor  proposes  to  double  the  output  of  the  Belfort  plant. 
CLAYTON,  N.  Y. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  Board  of  Village 
Trustees  by  John  B.  Taylor,  of  Watertown,  for  a  franchise  to  supply 
electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  here. 

COMSTOCK,  N.  Y. — The  contract  for  electrical  work  for  the  new  cell 
building  at  Comstock  has  been  awarded  to  Isador  Fajans,  122  East 
Twenty-fifth  Street,  New  York,  for  $7,985. 

FLUSHING,  N.  Y. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Long  Island 
R.  R.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  an  electrical  substation  on  Barclay 
Street.  This  station  will  supply  electricity  to  operate  the  North  Shore 
road. 

JOHNSTOWN,  N.  Y. — The  Council  has  awarded  the  contract  for 
street  lighting  to  the  Fulton  County  Gas  &  El.  Co  for  a  period  of  five 
years  beginning  May  1,  1913.  Under  the  terms  of  the  contract  the  com- 
pany will  furnish  110  or  more  arc  lamps  at  the  rate  of  $59  each  per  year 
and  75  or  more  40-watt  incandescent  lamps  at  $14.50  each   per  annum. 

NIAGARA  FALLS,  N.  Y.— Richard  Crick,  president  of  the  Business 
Men's  Association,  has  been  authorized  to  engage  a  hydroelectrical  engi- 
neer to  prepare  plans  for  the  construction  of  a  municipal  electric-light 
plant. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— Bids  will  be  received  by  C.  B.  J.  Snyder,  super- 
intendent of  buildings.  Department  of  Education,  corner  of  Park  Avenue 
and  Fifty-ninth  Street,  New  York,  until  Sept.  30  for  installing  electric 
equipment  necessitated  by  the  addition  to  and  alterations  in  Public 
School  72,  on  Lexington  Avenue,  between  105th  and  106th  Streets,  and 
for  installing  electric  equipment  in  Public  School  76,  Lexington  Avenue 
and  Sixty-eighth  Street,  borough  of  Manhattan.  Blank  forms,  plans  and 
specifications  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office. 

SARATOGA,  N.  Y. — The  Adirondack  Pwr.  Corpn.  has  appropriated 
$500,000  for  extensive  improvements  to  its  plant  at  Spier  Falls  and 
throughout  its  territory.  Among  the  improvements  will  be  the  erection 
of  a  new  steel  tower  transmission  line  between  Mechanicsville  and 
Ballston,  which  will  be  merged  with  the  Albany  transmission  line. 

SCHENECTADY,  N.  Y. — Bids  will  be  received  by  B.  A.  Farrell,  clerk 
of  board,  Schenectady,  until  Oct.  1  for  furnishing  and  installing  electric- 
light    and    gas   fixtures    in    the    county    court    house. 

SPRINGVILLE,  N.  Y. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $8,000  have  been 
voted  for  the  installation  of  an  electric  generator  and  gas  engine  and 
other  equipment  in  the  municipal  electric-light  plant. 

GLEN  ULLIN,  N.  D. — A  site  has  been  secured  for  the  proposed  elec- 
tric-light plant  and  work  will  be  started  at  once  on  construction  of 
building. 

ATHENS,  OHIO. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Ohio  University,  Athens,  Ohio,  until  Oct.  18,  for  fur- 
nishing materials  and  labor  necessary  for  extension  of  heating  plant 
and  electrical  conduits  in  accordance  with  plans  and  specifications  pre- 
pared by  Frank  L.  Packard,  architect,  Columbus,  Ohio,  which  are  on 
file  at  the  office  of  I.  M.  Foster,  secretary  of  board  of  trustees,  Athens, 
and  at  the  office  of  the  architect,  New  Hayden  Building,  Columbus. 
.Mston   Ellis  is   president   of   the   board   of  trustees. 

CINCINNATI,  OHIO. — The  Cincinnati  Trac.  Co.  contemplates  exten- 
sive improvements  to  its  system,  involving  an  expenditure  of  about 
$3,000,000.  Work  will  begin  at  once  on  the  belt  line,  which  is  to  be 
known  as  the  Elberon-Warsaw  line  and  which  is  to  connect  two  routes  in 
Cincinnati. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO.— The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted 
the  Cleveland  Ry.  Co.  permission  to  issue  $3,015,000  in  capital  stock,  the 
proceeds  to  be  used  for  increasing  power  plant  facilities  and  other  im- 
provements. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office 
of  W.  H.  Kirby,  secretary  to  the  director  of  public  safety,  104  City 
Hall,  Cleveland,  until  Oct.  8  for  six  1000-hp  water-tube  boilers  for  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant.  W.  J.  Springborn  is  director  of  public 
safety. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO— The  Northwestern  Ohio  Ry.  &  Pwr,  Co.  has 
been    granted     permission    by    the    Public    Service    Commission    to    issue 


I 


686 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13, 


$105,000  in   bonds  for  improvements  and  betterments.     About  $70,000  will 
be  used  for  enlarging  its  power  plant  and  the  rest  for  purchase  of  cars. 

DAYTON.  OHIO.— The  Dayton,  Covington  &  Piqua  Trac.  Co.  has  de- 
cided to  extend  its  railway  from  Covington  to  Bradford  and  thence  to 
Loramie  if  possible.  The  company  has  applied  to  the  Public  Service 
Commission    for    permission    to    issue    $400,000    in    bonds. 

EDGERTON,  OHIO.— The  Town  Council  has  awarded  E.  A.  Geauque, 
owner  of  the  local  electric-light  plant,  a  10-year  contract  for  street  lighting. 
The  new  contract  calls  for  84  tungsten  lamps  of  32  cp.  Iron  posts  will  be 
used  and  the  wires  placed  underground. 

GREENFIELD,  OHIO.— It  is  reported  that  Cleveland  capitalists  are 
interested  in  a  hydroelectric  development  of  about  5000  hp,  near  Green- 
field. Transmission  lines  will  be  erected  to  Hillsboro,  Wilmington,  Wash- 
ington C.  H.,  Circleville,  Chillicothe  and  intervening  towns. 

SALINEVILLE,  OHIO.— The  Salineville  El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is 
planning  to  rebuild  its  plant,  recently  destroyed  by  fire. 

TOLEDO,  OHIO.— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  director 
of  public  safety,  Toledo,  until  Oct.  1  for  the  purchase  of  approximately 
5000  ft.  of  13  conductor  cable  and  400  ft.  of  submarine  cable,  according 
to  specifications  on  file  at  the  office  of  the  superintendent  of  fire  and 
police  alarm  telegraph,  fire  department  headquarters,  Jefferson  Avenue 
and  Ontario  Street.     J.  J.  Mooney  is  director  of  public  safety. 

ALTUS,  OKLA. — The  proposition  to  sell  the  municipal  electric-light 
and  power  plant  to  John  C.  Keys,  of  Oklahoma  City,  for  $35,000,  and  to 
grant  him  a  21-year  franchise,  was  defeated. 

TULSA,  OKLA. — The  Sands  Springs  Interurban  Ry.  Co.  is  planning 
to  build  an  electric  railway  from  Tulsa  to  Nowata,  via  Owasso  and  Col- 
linsville,  a  distance  of  about  45   miles. 

PORTLAND.  ORE.— The  Northwestern  El.  Co.  has  commenced  work 
on  the  power  plant  to  be  installed  on  the  White  Salmon  River  in  the 
State  of  Washington,  about  3  miles  from  where  the  stream  empties  into 
the  Columbia  River.  The  dam  is  to  be  built  of  concrete  and  to  be  125  ft. 
high  and  450   ft.   long. 

SALEM,  ORE. — The  state  engineer  has  granted  the  application  of 
George  T.  Holcomb  to  appropriate  1000  second-ft.  of  wa*er  oi  the 
Clackamas  River,  to  be  used  foe  power  purposes.  D.  P.  Donovan,  of  Pay- 
ette, was  also  given  permission  to  appropriate  1000  ft.  from  the  same 
river   for   power  purposes. 

PANAMA. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  gen- 
eral purchasing  officer,  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C, 
until  Dec.  25  for  furnishing  miscellaneous  electrical  supplies.  Major  F. 
C.  Boggs  is  purchasing  officer. 

PANAMA. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  gen- 
eral purchasing  officer  of  the  Isthmian  Canal.  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Oct.  5  for  furnishing  miscellaneous  electrical  material  for  power  and 
control  wiring,  including  special  cable-end  bells,  lead  splicing  sleeves, 
copper  sleeve  connectors,  insulating  tapes,  solder,  soldering  flux,  filling 
compound  for  end  bells  and  joints,  cable  pulling  grips,  etc.  Clanks  and 
general  information  pertaining  to  this  circular  (No.  734)  may  be  obtained 
at  this  office  or  at  the  offices  of  the  assistant  purchasing  agents,  24  State 
Street,  New  York,  and  614  Whitney  Central  Building,  New  Orleans,  La. 
Major  F.   C.   Boggs  is   purchasing  officer. 

ALTOONA,  PA.— The  South  Fork-Portage  Ry.  Co.,  recently  organized 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $48,000,  will  furnish  electricity  for  power  pur- 
poses.     Charles   H.    Morgan   is   interested. 

DRAVOSBURG,  PA.— The  Clairton  &  Blair  El.  St.  Ry.  Co.  and  the 
Pine  Run  St.  Ry.  Co.  have  been  consolidated  under  the  name  of  the 
McKeesport  &  Clairton  Rys.  Co.  Preliminary  steps  have  been  taken  to- 
ward construction  of  the  railway.  James  E.  White  and  associates  are 
interested. 

EL  PASO,  TEX.— The  Board  of  Aldermen  has  authorized  the  El 
Paso  El.  Ry.  Co.  to  place  arc  lamps  on  many  street  corners  in  the  city. 

NORTH  WALES,  PA.—The  property  of  the  E.  K.  Freed  El.  Lt.  Co., 
of  North  Wales,  has  been  purchased  by  W.  W.  Levering,  of  Philadelphia. 
The  company  supplies  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  North  Wales 
and  surrounding  towns  in  Upper  and  Lower  Gwynedd  Townships.  The 
company  has  been  reorganized  with  Mr.  Levering  as  president  and 
Franklin  S.   Kreibel  secretary  and  treasurer. 

PHII_j\DELPHIA,  PA. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  Mayor  Blank- 
enburg  to  enforce  the  ordinance  requiring  all  overhead  wires  to  be 
placed  underground.  An  appropriation  of  $10,000  for  renewal  of  poles 
owned  by  the  city  will  be  recommended  by  the  Mayor.  A  request  for 
an  appropriation  to  place  the  city-owned  wires  underground  will  be  in- 
cluded in  the  maintenance  budget  of  the  Electrical   Bureau  next  year. 

PITTSBURGH,  PA. — Electric  equipment  will  be  used  almost  exclusively 
in  the  new  coal  mines  of  the  United  States  Coal  Co.  The  company  has 
taken  over  2300  acres  of  deep  vein  coal  in  the  Kemmer  district,  Wyo. 
The  offices  of  the  company  are  located  in  the  First  National  Bank  Build- 
ing,  Pittsburgh. 

SELLERSVILLE,  PA.—The  capital  stock  of  the  Excelsior  El.  Lt.,  Pwr. 
&■  Gas  Co.  has  been  increased  from  $30,000  to  $50,000.  The  office  of  the 
company  is  located  at  412  Commonwealth  Building,   Philadelphia,  Pa. 

UPPER  DARBY,  PA.—The  Philadelphia  &  West  Chester  Trac.  Co.  is 
planning  to  build  a  new  substation  in  Upper  Darby. 

EAST  PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.— The  Narragansett  El.  Ltg.  Co.  has  sub- 
mitted a   proposition   to  the   Council   offering  to  change   the   present   32-cp 


incandescent  lamps  for  60-cp  lamps  and  to  replace  the  present  arc  lamps 
with  new  magnetite-arc  lamps.  The  change  will  cost  the  town  $1,OQ0 
per  year  additional.  The  proposition  will  be  submitted  to  the  voters  ft 
the   November   election. 

PROVIDENCE,  R.  I. — The  city  engineer's  department  has  granted  the 
request  of  the  Connecticut  River  Pwr.  Co.  to  submit  an  estimate  of  the 
cost  of  operating  pumping  stations  of  the  municipal  water-works  system 
by  electricity. 

PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.— Plans  have  been  completed  by  R.  L.  Burnet, 
electrical  engineer,  for  the  redistribution  of  electric  lamps  on  Exchange 
Place  and  the  business  section  of  the  city,  and  plans  for  the  redia* 
tribution  of  lamps  in  the  Roger  Williams  district,  which  will  eventually 
be  extended  through  other  sections  of  the  city,  are  being  prepared.  The 
change  in  the  illumination  will,  when  completed,  call  for  replacing  934 
Welsbach  gas  lamps,  1950  open-arc  lamps  and  2684  incandescent  lamps  by 
600  magnetite-arc  lamps  fed  by  overhead  wires,  800  arc  lamps  fed '  by 
underground  wires  and  7500  tungsten  incandescent  lamps. 

CUMBERLAND  GAP,  TENN.— The  Town  Council  is  negotiating  with 
the  Middlesborough  El.  Lt.  Co.,  Middlesborough,  Ky.,  for  electrical  ser- 
vice here.  The  company  desires  a  franchise  in  Cumberland  Gap  and 
proposes  to  supply  electricity  to  the  Lincoln  Memorial  University  and  to 
the   residents  of  Harrogate,  a  suburb  of  Cumberland  Gap. 

ANNA,  TEX. — It  is  reported  that  G.  I.  Wilcox,  of  Melissa,  is  contem* 
plating  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  here.  Energy  for  operat- 
ing the  system  will  be  secured  from  the  Texas  Trac.  Co. 

CLARENDON,  TEX.— The  Clarendon  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  erecting 
transmission  lines  to  the  farming  district  in  this  section;  improvements 
are  also  being  made  to  the  lighting  system  in  Clarendon. 

DALLAS,  TEX. — Extensive  improvements  are  contemplated  by  tht 
Dallas  Automatic  Tel.  Co.  to  its  system  in  and  around  Dallas  within  six 
months,  which  will  involve  an  expenditure  of  about  $500,000.  J.  C 
Casler  is  president. 

ELECTRA,  TEX. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  in  Electn 
is  under  consideration.     S.  S.  Walker  is  said  to  be  interested. 

FLORESVILLE,  TEX.— The  City  Council  has  granted  a  franchise  fo: 
the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  to  J.  H.   Spencer  and  associates. 

HOUSTON,  TEX.— A  franchise  has  been  granted  to  Anderson  Broth 
ers,  of  Houston,  owners  of  the  Gem  El.  Co.,  to  operate  an  electrii 
transmission  line  over  Main  Street  road  from  the  city  limits  of  Houstoi 
out  past  the  Rice  Institute,  Dr.  Greenwood's  new  sanitarium,  and  alonj 
the  south  side  of  Brays  Bayou.  The  line  will  also  be  extended  over  th' 
new  street  known  as  University  Avenue,  lying  on  the  west  side  of  th' 
institute  grounds  and  connecting  with  Bellaire  Boulevard.  It  is  under 
stood  that  the  company  will  extend  its  line  out  on  Bellaire  Boulevan 
to  supply  electricity  along  tliat  thoroughfare.  The  company  will  connec 
with  the  city  system  at  Southmore. 

PLAINVIEW,  TEX.— The  capital  stock  of  the  Plainview  Lt.  &  Jc- 
Co.  has  been  increased  from  $30,000  to  $60,000,  the  proceeds  to  be  usci 
for   improvements   and   extensions   to    its   plant. 

PLANO,  TEX.— The  property  of  the  Piano  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  beei 
sold  to  G.  A.  Wilcox,  of  Melissa. 

TYLER,  TEX.— Plants  have  been  prepared  by  the  Tyler  Street  Ca 
Co.  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  power  plant  here.  The  compan 
is  building  the   first  5  miles  of  its   electric   railway  system. 

WEST,    TEX.— The    Southern    Trac.    Co.,    Dallas,    has    been    granted 
franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant  here. 

BINGHAM,  UTAH. — Negotiations  are  under  way  between  the  Uta 
Copper  Co.  and  the  Telluride  Pwr.  Co.,  whereby  the  latter  will  suppl 
electricity  to  operate  the  entire  works  of  the  copper  company.  At  presen 
the  Telluride  company  supplies  it  with  about  6000  hp.  and  the  rest  is  ger 
erated  at  the  steam  plant  at  Magna.  The  copper  company  is  negotiatin 
with  the  new  management  of  the  Telluride  company  for  14,000  hp.  A 
soon  as  the  contract  is  closed  the  steam  plant  at  Magna  will  be  close 
down,  but  will  be  held  in  readiness  for  use  in  emergencies.  D.  C.  JacV 
ling  is  vice-president  and  general  manager  of  the  Utah  company. 

BURLINGTON,  VT.— The  Burlington  Trac.  Co.  is  negotiating  with  tb 
villages  along  the  line  between  Burlington  and  Vergennes  to  furnish  ele< 
tricity  for  lamps  and  motors  from  the  Vergennes  plant.  A  24-hour  servic 
will  be  supplied. 

COLONIAL  BEACH,  VA.— The  city  is  planning  to  install  an  electri< 
light  plant  to  be  operated  in  connection  with  the  water-works  system.  F 
W.  B.  Williams  is  Mayor. 

BREMERTON,  WASH.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  have  plar 
prepared  for  the  construction  of  a  municipal  lighting  and  power  pkui 
to  cost  about  $25,000. 

SEATTLE,  WASH.— Plans  have  been  prepared  by  the  Puget  Soun 
Trac,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co  for  the  erection  of  a  steel  boiler  house  at  Duwamis 
Avenue. 

SEATTLE,  WASH.— Plans  are  being  prepared  by  Edgar  Blair,  schoi 
architect,  for  a  power,  lighting  and  heating  plant  for  the  Mercer  Ilig 
Parental  School,  to  cost  about  $20,000. 

SPOKANE,  WASH.— Announcement  has  been  made  by  the  Inlan 
Underwriters,  Eagle  Building,  Spokane,  that  plans  have  been  complete 
for  the  light  and  power  plant  of  the  Waneta  Devel.  Co.,  bids  for  whic 
will  be  called  in  the  near  future.  The  cost  of  the  plant  is  estimated  i 
about  $30,000. 


September  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


687 


WALLA  WALLA,  WASH.— The  property  and  lioldiiigs  of  the  Bur- 
bank  Tvvr.  &  Wtr.  Co.  have  been  purchased  by  the  Sanderson  &  Porter 
Co.,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  for  $60,000.  It  is  stated  that  a  new  power 
plant  and  new  canals  will  be  constructed  at  a  cost  of  about  $400,000. 

COON  VALLEY,  WIS. — Thompson  Brothers  are  installing  an  electric- 
light  plant  in  Coon  Valley.     Material  for  the  plant  has  been  purchased. 

EDGERTON,  WIS. — The  business  men  are  planning  to  install  an  orna- 
mental street-lighting  system  in  the  business  district.  The  installation  of 
15  ornamental  lamp  standards  carrying  five-lamp  clusters  is  under  con- 
sideration. 

R.\CINE,  WIS. — The  business  men  have  decided  to  install  a  new 
street-lighting  system  in  the  business  district  in  Columbia  Corners.  It  is 
proposed  to  erect  seven  large  arches  over  the  street  carrying  incandescent 
tungsten  lamps. 

EDSON,  ALTA.,  CAN. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  ratepayers 
voted  in  favor  of  by-laws  authorizing  the  installation  of  a  fire-alarm  sys- 
tem to  cost  $5,000,  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system,  to  cost 
$65,000,  and  erection  of  city  hall,  to  cost  $20,000. 

DUNCANS,  B.  C,  CVN. — The  ratepayers  have  voted  in  favor  of  the 
by-law  authorizing  an  expenditure  of  $100,000  for  extensions  to  the 
municipal  power  plant  and  water-works  system.  Tenders  for  the  work 
will  soon  be  called  for.  The  Dutcher,  Maxwell  Co.,  319  Pender  Street, 
West,  Vancouver,  B.   C.,   has  charge   of  the  engineering  work. 

K.AMLOOPS,  B.  C,  CAN. — Petitions  have  been  received  by  the  City 
Council  from  the  ratepayers  for  the  submission  of  three  by-laws  to  the 
ratepayers  as  follows.  To  appropriate  $250,000  for  a  hydroelectric 
power  plant,  $65,000  for  improvements  and  extensions  to  the  municipal 
electric-lighting  system  and  $90,000  for  extensions  and  improvcmeni's 
to  the  municipal   water-works  system. 

PORT  ALBERNI,  B.  C,  CAN.— Anderson,  Warden  &  Wilkin.  Wil- 
liams Building,  Vancouver,  have  been  engaged  to  prepare  plans  for  an 
electric  power  plant  and  electric  distributing  system   for  this  city. 

VANCOUVER,  B.  C.  CAN. — The  Canadian  Pacific  Ry.  Co.  announces 
that  work  -will  begirt  this  year  on  the  construction  of  a  tunnel  8  miles 
long  through  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  tunnel  will  cost  about  $9,000,000, 
and  trains  will  be  operated  by  electricity  through  the  tunnels. 

WINNIPEG,  MAN.,  CAN. — The  by-law  authorizing  the  Council  to 
expend  $750,000  on  an  electric  distributing  system  has  been  indorsed  by 
the  ratepayers. 

BERLIN,  ONT.,  CAN. — The  Canadian  Consol.  Rubber  Co.  has  re- 
quested the  Berlin  Light  Commission  to  submit  estimates  for  furnishing 
the  company  with  hydroelectric  power  to  the  amount  of  2280  hp.  to 
operate  its  factory  now  in  course  of  construction.  In  order  to  provide 
this  service  it  will  be  necessary  not  only  to  enlarge  the  local  power 
plant  but  also  the  substation  of  the  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission. 
ELMIRA,  ONT.,  CAN. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Board  of  Trade 
to  secure  electrical  service  from  the  Hydro-Electric  Commission.  In 
order  to  furnish  the  service  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  10  miles 
long  will  be  necessary.  A  movement  has  been  started  in  St.  Jacobs  to 
interest  the  ratepayers  there  with  a  view  of  installing  a  transformer  sta- 
tion to  supply  electricity  in   St.  Jacobs. 

GALT,  ONT.,  CAN. — Petitions  have  been  presented  to  the  Hydro- 
Electric  Department  of  the  city  of  Gait  asking  for  the  installation  of  oi- 
namental   street  lamps  on  eight  streets,   covering  about  4  miles. 

H.\MILTON,  ONT.,  CAN. — Sealed  tenders  will  be  received  by  George 
H.  Lees,  Mayor,  chairman  of  Board  of  Control,  Hamilton,  until  Oct.  7, 
for  various  works  required  in  the  erection  of  electric  pumping  station  at 
the  Hamilton  water-works  Beach  pumping  station.  Plans  and  specifica- 
tions may  be  seen  at  the  office  of  W.  A.  Edwards,  Hamilton  Provident  & 
Loan  Building,  Hamilton,  where  form  of  tender  and  other  information  can 
be  obtained.      S.   H.   Kent  is  city  clerk. 

OTTAWA,  ONT.,  CAN.— J.  A.  Morden  and  R.  J.  Percy,  of  Toronto, 
are  promoting  a  new  railway  using  gas-electric  cars.  The  new  railway 
will  be  known  as  the  St.  Lawrence  Railway  and  will  run  from  Ottawa 
to  Morrisburg  and  back  to  Ottawa,  forming  a  belt  line,  touching  Prescott, 
Brockville  and  Arnprior.  A  branch  line  will  also  be  built  from  Morris- 
burg through  Cornwall  to  the  Quebec  border.  The  railway  will  be  about 
274  miles  long  and  will  cost  about  $20,000  per  mile. 

OTTAWA,  ONT.,  CAN. — It  is  reported  that  plans  are  being  perfected 
for  equipping  the  new  Hudson  Bay  Railway  for  electrical  operation.  A 
hydroelectric  power  plant,  it  is  stated,  will  probably  be  constructed  at 
White  Mud  Falls,  which  is  about  halfway  between  I-^ke  Winnipeg  and 
Hudson  Bay.  Plans  are  also  being  considered  for  utilizing  this  great 
hydroelectric  power  in  the  Western  provinces  under  similar  regulations 
to  those  under  which  the  Ontario  Hydroelectric  Commission  controls  the 
power  at  Niagara  and  other  locations  in  the  Province  of  Ontario.  Frank 
Cochrane  is  president  of  the  Hudson   Bay  Co. 

PORT  ARTHUR,  ONT.,  CAN.— At  a  special  election  held  Sept.  16  the 
ratepayers  voted  in  favor  of  by-laws  authorizing  an  extension  of  the 
street-railway  system  easterly  to  Hedge  Siding,  to  cost  $34,000,  and  the 
construction  of  a  belt-line  railway,  at  a  cost  of  $82,200;  also  the  extension 
of  the  street  railway  on  Queen  Street  from  Algoma  Street  to  High  Street, 
at  a  cost  of  $4,300. 

SHERBROOKE,  QUE,,  CAN.— The  Sherbrooke  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.  con- 
templates extending  its  street-railway  system  to  Bromptonville,  a  distance 
of  6  miles.     N.  C.   Pilcher  is  manager  of  the  company. 


YORKTON,  SASK.,  CAN.— Sealed  tenders  will  be  received  by  T.  F. 
Atcheson,  secretary  and  treasurer,  Yorkton,  until  Oct.  31  for  one  500-hp 
Diesel  engine,  direct-connected  to  alternator  and  exciter,  one  switchboard 
with  auxiliary  panel  and  series  tungsten  street-lighting  apparatus.  Speci- 
fications may  be  obtained  on  application  to  the  office  of  M.  M.  Inglis, 
^leclricaI  engineer. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  BELL,  BAYERS  &  WOODBURY  COMPANY,  of  Boston,  Mass.. 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  John  Bell, 
Harry  I.  Bayers  and  Ronald  S.  Woodbury.  The  company  proposes  to 
deal  in   electrical  supplies. 

THE  GAY  ELECTRIC  CLOCK  COMPANY,  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  has 
been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to  manufacture  electric 
clocks.  The  incorporators  are:  Herman  T.  Gay,  1604  Hoffman  Street, 
Baltimore;   Joseph   Carroll   and   James   Hochrein. 

THE  JUDSON-McCARTHY-LOWE  COMPANY,  of  New  York,  N.  Y., 
has  been  granted  a  charter  "with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000  for  the  pur- 
pose of  doing  a  general  electrical  contracting  and  engineering  business. 
The  incorporators  are:  George  E.  Judson,  Joseph  F.  McCarthy  and  Wil- 
lia.n  Lowe. 

THE  K.  D..  ELECTRIC  WATER  HEATER  COMPANY,  of  San 
Francisco,  Cal.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $300,000  by 
E.    L.    Braswell,    L.    Gardella  and   E.    R.    Bellew. 

THE  NEW  ENGLAND  ELECTRO-CHEMICAL  COMPANY,  of  Port- 
land, Maine,  has  been  incorporated  by  Albert  T.  Jones,  T.  L.  Croteau 
and  Albert  A.  Richards.     The  company  is  capitalized  at  $5,000,000. 

THE  NEW  YORK  ELECTRIC  SIGN  COMPANY,  of  New  York, 
N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  by  William  Abrahamson,  Howard  A.  SchoUe, 
of  New  York,  and  A.  Ehrlich,  of  Brooklyn.  The  company  is  capitalized 
at  $25,000  and  proposes  to  furnish  electric  signs. 

THE  PALMER  ELECTRIC  &  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY,  of 
Kittery,  Maine,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by 
Horace  Mitchell,  H.  A.  Paul  and  M.  G.  Mitchell,  of  Kittery.  The  com- 
pany proposes  to  deal  in  mechanical  implements  and  electrical  supplies, 
apparatus,  etc. 


New  Incorporations 

SAN  DIEGO,  CAL. — The  Mission  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  William  Rose.  J.  H.  Richey  and  A.  Jones. 
Mr.  Jones  is  the  inventor  of  an  electric  generator  which  the  company 
will    use   at    its    plant   at    False    Bay.   near    San    Diego. 

S.-^N  FRANCISCO,  CAL. — The  Presto  Electric  Company  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  by  S.  A.  Fairchild.  M.  Mea- 
gher. E.  Barats,  S.  J.  Brun  and  J.  W.   Schmitz. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.— The  Merchants'  Public  Utilities  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $4,000,000.  It  will  be  a  holding 
company  for  the  Merchants'  Ht.  &  Lt.  Co.  A  bond  issue  of  $6,000,000 
has  been  authorized.  The  incorporators  are:  Edward  L.  McKee,  C.  M. 
Polen,   H.   H.   Hornbrook,   Albert   Smith   and   Walter   S.    Glass. 

MAQUOKETA,  lA. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  for  the 
Eastern  Iowa  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000,  by  Elmer 
G.  Fuller  and  W.  C.  Hill,  of  Pierre,  S.  D. 

YARMOUTH,'  MAINE. — The  Yarmouth  Ltg.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $70,000  to  supply  gas  or  electricity  for  lamps,  heat 
and  motors  in  Yarmouth,  North  Yarmouth,  Pownal,  Freeport,  Gray  and 
New  Gloucester.  The  officers  are:  H.  L.  Cram,  president,  and  M.  P. 
Lufkin,  treasurer,  both  of  Portland. 

CHESANING,  illCH.— The  Advance  El.  Co.  has  been  organized  by 
Myron  E.  Coryell  and  others  for  the  purpose  of  installing  and  operating 
isolated  electric  light  and  power  plants. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — The  Dow-Jones  Trans.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated by  Clarence  W.  Barron,  Jessie  M.  Barron,  Hugh  Bancroft,  Lang- 
don  P.  Marvin,  J.  W.  Bancroft,  H.  Wendell  Endicott  and  Joseph  Cash- 
man.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000  and  proposes  to  operate 
electric,   telephone  and  telegraph   lines. 

HAMILTON,  OHIO. — The  Hamilton  Utilities  Co.  has  been  chartered 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $850,000  for  the  purpose  of  operating  artificial-gas 
and  electric  plants.  The  incorporators  are:  J.  C.  Thomas,  J.  M.  Hutton 
and  W.  Schmitt. 

KINGSTREE,  S.  C. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  for  the 
Kingstree  EI.  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $15,000,  by  P.  G. 
Gourdon,  D.  C.  Scott,  Jr.,  R.  H.   Kellahan  and  M.  F.  Keller. 

SWEETWATER,  TEX. — The  West  Texas  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
by  J.  D.  Oliger,  Walter  Graner,  H.  I.  Gehagan,  J.  D.  Caldwell  and  G.  H. 
White.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $360,000  and  proposes  to  supply 
electricity  and  gas  in  Jones,  Taylor,  Fisher,  .NolaJ  Scurvy  Mitchell, 
Howard  and  Runnels  Counties. 

YACOLT,  WASH. — The  Northern  Clark  County  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $15,000  by  C.  R.  Miller  and 
others. 


II 


688 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  13. 


Trade  Publications 


TRANSFORMERS.— A  miniature  of  Bulletin  99  has  been  issued  by  the 
Wagner  Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  which  refers 
to  transformers.  Considerable  information,  fully  illustrated,  is  given  in 
this  miniature  publication. 

DIRECT-CURRENT  MOTORS.— Westinghouse  commutating-pole,  di- 
lect-current  motors  (Type  QM)  for  compressors,  blowers,  pumps  and 
similar  classes  of  service  are  fully  illustrated  and  described  in  Leaflet 
No.  2499,  recently  published  by  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufac- 
turing  Company. 

GENERATORS. — The  Crocker- Wheeler  Company,  Ampere,  N.  J.,  has 
recently  distributed  Bulletin  No.  153,  which  supersedes  No.  119  on  the 
same  subject.  It  is  devoted  to  direct-current  generators  with  ratings 
from  200  kw  to  1500  kw.  The  constructive  features  are  given  in  detail, 
with  illustrations  of  typical  installations  in  numerous  industrial  plants 
throughout    the    country. 

ELECTRIC  TRUCKS.— The  General  Vehicle  Company,  Long  Island 
City,  N.  Y.,  has  distributed  an  eight-page  folder,  the  subject  of  which  is 
"Hot  Weatherisms  on  G.  V.  Electric  Trucks."  Comparisons  between  the 
electric  truck  and  the  horse  are  given  in  a  clear,  terse  manner,  and 
convincingly  demonstrate  the  advantage  of  the  electric  truck  over  the 
horse-drawn  vehicle.  The  statement  that  twenty-five  customers  have  al- 
ready purchased  791   G.    V.   trucks  excites  attention. 

MECHANICAL  DRAFT.— The  American  Blower  Company,  Detroit, 
Mich.,  has  issued  Publication  No.  343,  which  refers  to  mechanical  draft, 
forced  and  induced,  using  "Sirocco"  and  "A  B  C"  blowers  and  exhaust 
fans.  The  subject  matter  is  fully  illustrated  and  is  treated  in  a  bioad, 
comprehensive  manner  that  will  interest  and  instruct  every  prospective 
user  of  this  class  of  apparatus.  The  publication  calls  particular  attention 
to  the  natural  advantages  realized  with  artificial  draft  produced  by  me- 
chanical means  and  shows  photographs  of  actual  installations,  thus  making 
clear  to  those  interested  the  various  methods  of  applying  draft  fans 
to  steam  boilers.  There  are  chapters  on  economical  power  production, 
principles  governing  combustion,  draft-creating  appliances  and  a  large 
variety   of   other  general   information.      Tables   showing  the   properties   of 


coal,  steam  and  air  occupy   the  last  six  pages  of  this  sixty-four-page  cata- 
log. 

HOISTING  MACHINERY.— The  Lidgerwood  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany,  96  Liberty  Street,  New  York,  has  issued  a  handsome  9^i-in.  x 
llj^-in.  catalog  on  its  derricks  and  hoisting  engines.  Present  and  pros- 
pective users  of  such  equipment  cannot  fail  to  be  interested  in  the  con- 
tents of  this  catalog.  Lidgerwood  derrick  irons  are  made  under  the 
patents  of  Edward  F.  Terry.  The  use  of  a  universal  ball  and  socket 
connection  between  the  mast  step  and  a  foot  block  is  one  of  the  main 
features.  Many  minor  changes  have  been  introduced  in  the  design  of 
the  foot  blocks,  mast  steps,  masthead  irons,  goosenecks  and  spider  plates, 
all  of  which  are  fully  illustrated  in  this  catalog.  All  the  standard  styles 
of  steam  and  electric  hoists  used  for  derrick  work  are  illustrated,  de- 
scribed and  tabulated.  The  twenty  pages  illustrating  installations,  show- 
ing Lidgerwood  derricks  in  use  on  the  Wool  worth  Building,  the  New 
York  Post  Office  and  other  important  buildings,  form  a  very  attractive 
part  of  this  excellent  publication. 


Business  Notes 


THE  PARKER-CLARK  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  manufacturer  of  elec- 
trically heated  devices,  will  be  known  hereafter  as  the  Helion  Electric 
Company,   the  office  and  factory  remaining  at  Newark,  N.  J. 

MR.  GEORGE  W.  CONOVER,  an  experienced  electrical  business  man 
of  Chicago,  has  established  the  Buyers'  Exchange,  with  office  at  122 
South  Michigan  Avenue,  Chicago,  to  act  as  a  clearing  house  between 
buyer  and  seller  of  all  sorts  of  commodities,  including  electrical  ma- 
chinery. 

THE  EMERSON  COMPANY,  efficiency  engineers,  New  York,  Pitts- 
burgh and  Chicago,  has  published  the  address  of  its  president,  Mr.  Har- 
rington Emerson,  "Educational  Demands  of  Modern  Progress,"  which 
was  given  before  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education 
at  its  recent  convention  in  Boston.  The  great  value  of  initiative  is  em- 
phasized by  the  author,  who  has  handled  his  theme  in  a  thoughtful  and 
pleasing    manner. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED    ST.ATES    P.\TENTS    ISSUED    SEPT.    17,    1912. 

[Prepared  by  Robert  Starr  .'\llyn,   16  Exchange  Place,  New  York.] 

1,038,567.     ELECTRICAL  SWITCH;  M.  D.  Greengard,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

App.  filed  Oct.   14,    1910.     For  electrolier  cluster. 
1,038,594.     BURGLAR-ALARM    SYSTEM;    M.    F.    .Turuick,    New    York, 
N.    Y.      App.    filed    Aug:.    16,    1907.      Both    electrical    and    mechanical 
bell-ringing  means;   for  instance,   for  bank  vaults. 


1,038,681.— Incandescent       Electric 
Lamp. 


1,038,776.— Plunger 
Switch. 


1.038.604.  PROCESS  OF  ELECTRIC  WELDING;  L.  S.  Lachman,  New 
York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  May  8,  1907.  Small  welding  pieces  are  in- 
terposed at  the  joint. 

1.038.605.  COMPOSITE  SYSTEM;  O.  T.  Lademan,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 
.App  filed  Feb.  15,  1909.  Telephone  and  telegraph  for  railway  service, 
etc. 


1,038,610.  ELECTROM.AGNET;  D.  L.  Lindquist.  Yonkers,  N.  Y.  App. 
filed  Feb.  13,  1909.  .Mternating-current  magnet  with  adjustable 
armature 

1.038.613.  .METAI,FILAMENT  INCANDESCENT  LAMP;  G.  Liidecke, 
Augsburg.  Germany.  App.  filed  March  20,  1909.  The  carrying 
frame  is  elastically  supported. 

1.038.614.  ELECTRIC  MELTING  FURNACE;  W.  D.  Ludwick,  Tacoma, 
Wash.  App.  filed  Jan.  9,  1911.  Rotary-hearth  type  for  smelting  iron- 
ore  sand. 

1,038,617.     TELEPHONE  EXCHANGE  SYSTEM;  R.  H.  Manson,  Elyria, 

Ohio.     App.  filed  May  22,   1906.     Trunk  ringing. 
1,038.659.     ELECTRIC   METERING  APPARATUS;    F.   W.    Roller,   East 

Orange,  N.  J.     App.  filed  Jan.   19,   1911.     Reversible  motor  type  for 

automobiles,   etc. 
1,038,663.     DOOR   LOCK;   G.    Sahmer,   Strassburg,  Germany.     App.   filed 

Oct.  5,   1911.     Electric  release  for  a  door  latch. 
1,038,681.     INCANDESCENT    ELECTRIC     LAMP;     E.     H.    Tate,    Los 

.Angeles,  Cal.     App.  filed  Sept.  21,  1911.     Multiple-filament  turn-down 

type. 

1.038.775.  INDUCTION  MOTOR;  B.  McCollum,  Washington,  D.  C. 
-App.  filed  March  3,  1911.  The  heat  of  the  starting  gives  a  tem- 
porary  resistance   for  increased  starting   torque. 

1.038.776.  PLUNGER  SWITCH;  E.  S.  McLarn.  New  York,  N.  Y.  App. 
filed  March  16,  1909.  Multiple  spring-jack  type  with  special  plunger 
mounting. 

1,038,827.  REFRACTORY  ARTICLE  AND  PROCESS  OF  MAKING. 
IT;  F.  M.  Becket,  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  June  23,  1911. 
Furnace  lining  with  titanium-carbide  surface. 

1,038,832.  R.AILWAY  TELEPHONE;  D.  D.  Biggers,  May.  Oklahoma. 
App.  filed  May  27,    1911.     Third-rail  and  current  collector. 

1,038,861.  ALTERNATINCr-CURRENT  COMMUTATOR  DYNAMO- 
ELECTRIC  MACHINE:  W.  Doinikoff,  Karlsruhe,  Germany.  App. 
filed  March  6,  1908.  To  prevent  sparking  at  the  brushes  of  com- 
pensated  single-phase   machines. 

1,038,910.  RELAY  FOR  UNDULATORY  CURRENTS;  R.  von  Lieben 
and  E.  Reise,  Viennia,  .Austria-Hungary.  .App.  filed  Jan.  30,  1911. 
Vacuum    discharge   tube   with   a   partition. 

1,038,940  COMBINED  SWITCH  AND  TAP-OFF;  W.  J.  Newton,  New 
York,  N.   Y.     App,   filed   March  4,   1911.     Push-button,  wall  type. 

1,038,963.  COVER  FOR  ELECTRIC  SWITCH  BOXES;  H.  B.  Roe, 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.  -App.  filed  Dec.  13,  1909.  Adjustable  cover  for  flush 
bo.xes. 

1,038,990.  SWITCH  FOR  ALTERNATING-CURRENT  MACHINES; 
F.  W.  Trefry,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  App.  filed  Nov.  25,  1911.  Motor- 
driven  switch  for  elevator  service. 

1,038,995.  ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  A.  F.  Wallbillich,  Bridgeport,  Conn. 
App.  filed  .\ug.   18,   1911.     Rotary  snap  escapement. 

1,038,997.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  H.  G.  Webster,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed  March   19,   1909.     Circuits  and  apparatus  for  ringing. 

1,039,011.  CURRENT  INTERRUPTER;  E.  S.  Beck,  Treichlers.  Pa. 
App.  filed  June  2,  1911.     Electrodes  of  copper  and  iron. 

1,039,039.  PUSH-BUTTON:  W.  B.  Eicholtz,  New  Orleans,  La.  App. 
filed   March   15,    1911.      For  street-car  signal-bell   circuit,   etc. 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,   SATURDAY,  OCTOBER  5,   1912. 


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« ^ 

CONTENTS. 
Editorials    689 

Program  of  New  England  Section  Convention.  N.   E.  L.  A 692 

tiectric-Vehicle    Activity   in    Chicago 692 

San    Francisco's    Transportation    Problem 693 

Boston    Electric    Show 693 

The  Exterior  Lighting  of  the   Boston   Electric   Show.      By    Dr.    Louis 

Bell     694 

New    York    Electric    Show 696 

Convention  of  Association   of  Iron   and   Steel   Electrical    Engineers. .  .   697 

Public    Service    Commission     News 698 

Current     News     and     Notes 699 

Chicago's  New  Generating  Station.     By  H.   H.   Norris 701 

.Application  of  Hydroelectric  Energy  to  Irrigation  Pumping  in  South- 
ern  Idaho.      By   E.   A.    Wilco.x 705 

Quality    in    Illumination 710 

Reclaiming  Two    Miles   of   East   St.    Louis   Shore    Line    with    Central- 
Station     Energy 712 

Motor-Driven    Irrigation   Plant  Near   Lodi.    Cal 71'1 

Underwater    Coal-Storage    Pit    for    Indianapolis 714 

Water-Cooled  Iron-Pipe  Kfieostat  Capable  of  Dissipating  1500  kw  Con- 
tinuously         715 

The   Problem   of   the   Small   Electric-Light   Company 715 

Improvement   in    Steam    Turbo-Generators 716 

Protecting   Secondary   Networks   .Against    Defective   Transformers....    717 
Installation  of  Small   Power  Plants  in  Federal  Office  Buildings.— III. 

By  D.  F.  Atkins  and  H.  M.  Price 717 

Dperation  of  Mixed  Underground  and  Overhead  High-Tension  Lines  7K 

House-Wiring  Offer  at   Muncie,   Ind 719 

tlectric- Vehicle    Performance 720 

New  Rates   Established   at   Boston 720 

.Memphis    Electric-Vehicle    Charging    Service 72  f 

Comparative  Costs  of  Horse  and  Electric  Delivery 721 

Street- Lighting  Rates.     By  J.  R.  Cravath 722 

Cost   of  Operation   of   Electric  Trucks 723 

i  ost   of    Concrete    Poles    at    Indianapolis 724 

Use  of  Clamp  Insulators  Without  Tie- Wires  in  St.   Louis 725 

Downtown  Street-Lighting  in   Baltimore 726 

I'ungsten    Lamps   in    Car   Lighting 728 

Improvements   in   Street   Lighting   in   Rochester,   N.    Y 728 

Steel-Mill  Illumination.     By  B.  G.  Beck 730 

Letter  to  the  Editor. 

The  Kilovolt-Ampere.     By  C.   W.  Eisenmann 731 

Digest  of  Current   Electricail   Literature 732 

^ew   Apparatus   and    Appliances 735 

Industrial   and    Financial   News 741 

IJirectory   of   Electrical    .Associations,    Societies,   Etc 751 

Weekly   Record  of  Electrical   Patents 752 


ELECTRICAL  IRRIGATION  WORKS. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  characteristic  uses  of 
electric  energy  to  be  found  in  our  Western  country  is  the 
pumping  of  water  for  irrigation  by  motor-driven  pumps. 
A  paper  by  Mr.  E.  A.  Wilcox  in  this  issue  gives  a  striking 
report  of  actual  accomplishments  along  this  line  in  the  arid 
territory  of  southern  Idaho.  This  great  American  desert, 
which  in  our  grandfathers'  geographies  reached  from  the 
Missouri  to  the  Coast  Range,  has  gradually  narrowed  its 
limits  and  may  now  be  described  as  a  strip  of  very  fertile 
country  which  suffers  from  sub-normal  rainfall.  Experience 
with  irrigation  soon  showed  its  value,  and  wherever  there  is 
a  good  available  water  supply  the  ditch  companies  have 
done  their  work  well.  It  has  remained  for  very  recent  years 
to  show  the  immense  value  of  the  motor-driven  pump  to  the 
farmer  in  rendering  available  the  water  sources  at  his  very 
doors  which  did  not  admit  of  utilization  by  the  ordinary 
gravity  distribution.  As  experience  with  irrigation  has 
grown  it  has  been  found  that  the  supply  of  just  enough 
water,  for  different  crops,  is  rather  a  fine  art,  that  different 
soils  require  greatly  varying  amounts  of  water,  and  that  if 
used  skilfully  the  actual  amount  of  water  needed  is  small. 
Hence  with  every  such  increase  of  knowledge  pumping  for 
irrigation  becomes  more  and  more  practicable. 

Mr.  Wilcox  describes  the  extension  of  irrigation  work  as 
part  of  the  development  of  several  of  the  big  electrical  trans- 
mission systems  in  the  arid  district.  It  has  been  found  in 
general  that  it  is  wise  to  use  fairly  large  pumping  installa- 
tions, taking  care  of  considerable  land  but  yet  not  so  ex- 
tensive as  to  make  the  distribution  difiBcult.  While  the  older 
data  on  water  requirements  called  for  a  depth  of  4  ft.  or 
more  annually,  recent  tests  show  that  a  modest  fraction  of 
this  is  sufficient  for  most  crops  and  soils.  The  demand  for 
water  runs  chiefly  over  the  si.x  months  from  April  to  Sep- 
tember inclusive,  more  than  a  half  of  the  total  requirements 
falling  in  June  and  July,  so  that  from  the  standpoint  of 
electrical  supply  the  load  is  a  midsummer  one.  As  most 
of  the  pumping  is  done  in  a  fairly  large  way  and  pumps  are 
used  pretty  steadily  in  the  dry  season,  the  diversity  is  near 
unity.  It  has  been  found  that  the  load-factor  in  such  work 
is  a  little  better  than  0,5.  In  charging  for  energy  the  bill 
is  based  on  the  consumer's  highest  half-hour  peak,  as  shown 
by  a  recording  meter,  the  price  being  quite  commonly  $20 
per  hp  of  this  peak  for  the  whole  season  of  six  months. 
This  figure  has  been  found  low  enough  for  competition  with 
gravity  supply  at  ordinary  rates,  and  it  is  fairly  remunera- 
tive to  the  stations.  Owing  to  the  increase  in  this  summer 
pumping  load,  the  utilization  of  the  installed  generating 
equipment  in  winter  has  proved  somewhat  of  a  problem. 
This  has  been,  in  part  at  least,  met  by  encouraging  the  use 
of  electricity  for  general  heating  purposes.  The  heating 
load  is  taken  on  at  a  flat  rate,  generally  varying  with  the 


690 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  14. 


size  and  character  of  the  installation,  and  the  net  result 
is  that  the  heating  of  homes,  offices  and  stores  is  being  ac- 
complished as  a  winter  load  in  a  territory  where  the  usual 
winter  lighting  peak  could  not  begin  to  equal  the  excess 
output  shown  in  summer  by  the  irrigation  load.  Altogether 
the  motor-pumping  scheme  seems  to  have  worked  out  well 
for  all  parties  concerned.  It  opens  to  agriculture  great 
regions  otherwise  useless,  furnishes  a  large  and  profitable 
load  for  low-priced  energy  on  a  large  scale  and  opens  the 
way  for  a  heating  load  on  a  scale  hitherto  untried. 


Formerly  in  steel  mills  dependence  was  placed  in  large 
part  on  the  light  from  the  hot  metal,  but  the  exacting  re- 
quirements of  modern  industry  now  demand  methods  of 
precision  in  many  things  and  call  for  every  aid  toward  this 
end  that  can  be  obtained  at  practicable  cost. 


STEEL-HILL  LIGHTING. 

When  one  can  start  with  a  new  building  having  no  struc- 
tural peculiarities  and  used  for  ordinary  manufacturing 
purposes  the  task  of  designing  the  illumination  installation 
is  a  very  simple  one.  The  practical  conditions  in  a  steel 
mill  are  very  far  indeed  from  this  ideal  simplicity.  In 
general  the  problem  is  to  light  a  large,  high  building  grimy 
with  dust,  hazy  with  smoke  and  obstructed  by  heavy 
machinery  and  a  huge  traveling  crane.  In  addition  the 
yards  must  be  well  lighted,  and  especially  good  illumina- 
tion is  required  in  inspection  and  office  rooms.  As  to 
general  methods,  Mr.  B.  G.  Beck,  in  an  article  elsewhere  in 
this  issue,  finds  that  the  main  facts  indicate  the  desirability 
of  installing  lamps  placed  well  above  the  crane  and  all 
other  local  obstructions  and  supported  from  the  roof  rather 
than  from  the  walls.  This  plan  leads  rather  naturally  to 
the  use  of  powerful  units  equipped  with  reflectors,  neces- 
sitating trimming  or  renewals  at  somewhat  infrequent  in- 
tervals. The  very  obvious  difficulty  of  interference  with 
illumination  by  the  crane  has  been  happily  met  by  simply 
providing  the  crane  with  a  powerful  lamp,  thus  removing 
its  own  shadow  as  it  goes  along. 

One  interesting  fact  brought  out  by  Mr.  Beck  is  that  in 
determining  the  illumination  for  this  kind  of  work  the 
best  method  is  the  old  reliable  point-by-point  scheme 
worked  out  from  the  polar  candle-power  curve  of  the 
lamp.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  the  conditions  are  far 
from  uniform  over  the  space  considered  and  the  real  prob- 
lem is  not  to  obtain  a  sufficient  average  but  enough  light 
at  the  darkest  points  wherever  they  may  be.  Generalized 
methods  of  computation  are  suited  only  to  generalized  re- 
quirements— a  fact  too  often  overlooked  in  arranging  arti- 
ficial lighting.  As  to  light  sources,  Mr.  Beck  has  little 
to  say  in  recommendation  of  particular  things,  but  his  re- 
quirements suggest  strongly  the  use  of  the  yellow  long- 
burning  flame-arc  lamp.  He  has  a  good  word,  however, 
for  the  large  tungsten  lamps  as  giving  long  life,  although 
obviously  the  necessary  cleaning  of  the  globes  is  as  much 
of  a  nuisance  as  is  the  trimming  of  an  arc  lamp.  The 
incandescent  lamp  withstands  fumes  that  would  soon  put 
an  arc  lamp  out  of  commission.  One  of  the  rather  strik- 
ing features  of  steel-mill  practice  is  that  the  plant  can 
roughly  be  divided  into  two  parts,  one  requiring  very  little 
light  and  the  other  a  great  deal  of  light.  Over  most  of 
the  area  less  than  half  a  foot-candle  suffices,  while  in  places 
requiring  materially  more  than  this  there  must  be  almost 
eight  or  ten  times  as  much.  The  peculiarities  of  this  nature 
call  for  real  skill  on  the  part  of  the  illuminating  engineer. 


THE  NORTHWEST  STATION. 

The  article  by  Prof.  H.  H.  Norris  on  the  Northwest  sta- 
tion of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  of  Chicago 
treats  a  subject  already  familiar  to  readers  of  technical 
literature.  The  station  possesses  many  ingenious  features^ 
and  the  hugeness  of  the  project  impresses  one  with  the 
strides  made  in  central-station  practice  within  the  past  few 
years.  In  this  station  we  have  an  excellent  example  of  a 
system  planned  with  an  eye  single  to  every  detail  conducive 
to  efficiency  and  reliability,  and  as  such  it  is  worthy  of 
close  study  by  all  engineers  engaged  in  central-station  work. 

There  is  one  feature  wherein  the  Northwest  station  differs 
from  the  usual  central  station  and  wherein  it  is  worthy  ol 
emulation  by  even  the  smallest  property  in  the  country 
and  that  is  the  beautification  of  the  grounds  surrounding  it 
A  power  house  need  not  look  like  a  palace ;  neither  need  it 
resemble  a  squatter's  shack.  Germany  abounds  with  numer- 
ous steam  stations  that  are  architectural  gems,  and  ever 
prosaic  America  possesses  many  water-power  stations  thai 
are  a  pleasure  to  behold.  Where  stations  are  located  withir 
city  limits  it  is  due  the  community  that  the  site  shall  not  b« 
an  eyesore,  and  in  large  cities  this  debt  to  the  citizens  is 
being  recognized.  It  is  surprising  what  a  little  patch  oi 
green  and  some  shrubbery  will  do  to  cover  up  the  baldness 
of  what  must  of  necessity  be  a  homely  structure  until  th« 
advent  of  that  master  mind  who  can  convert  a  common  iror 
smokestack  into  a  thing  of  beauty  and  take  away  the  un- 
sightliness  from  a  black  coal  pile. 


ILLUMINATION  AND  VISION. 

A  tendency  of  much  public  importance  noted  in  con- 
nection with  the  papers  and  discussions  at  the  recent  Illumi- 
nating Engineering  Society  convention  is  the  increased 
amount  of  attention  being  given  to  a  study  of  illuminatinf 
conditions  which  are  most  comfortable  for  vision  and  fa- 
vorable to  the  conservation  of  good  eyesight.  The  im- 
portance of  investigating  this  subject  has  been  appreciatec 
for  some  time  by  many  of  those  who  are  trying  to  desigr 
artificial  lighting,  but  knowledge  on  the  subject  has  hereto- 
fore been  extremely  general  rather  than  specific.  For  ex- 
ample, it  is  known  that  under  certain  conditions  ver) 
bright  light  shining  in  the  eyes  interferes  with  clear  visiof 
and  causes  eye  strain.  When  it  comes  to  applying  thest 
and  other  principles  connected  with  vision  to  actua 
lighting  design,  however,  there  is  little  definite  informa- 
tion. To  obtain  such  information  requires  research  b) 
scientific  investigators  along  physiological  and  psycho- 
logical lines,  as  well  as  experiments  by  engineers.  Th* 
papers  and  discussions  at  the  last  convention  indicatec 
that  within  another  year  the  data  on  this  important  sub- 
ject will  be  greatly  increased;  in  fact,  the  collection  of  in- 
formation has  already  been  largely  increased  by  the  pre- 
liminary  researches   reported   in   the  convention   papers. 


October  5.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


691 


Tlie  research  conducted  by  Dr.  P.  W.  Cobb  showed 
that  at  the  ordinary  working  intensities  of  artificial  illu- 
mination and  wall  brightness  there  is  very  little  differ- 
ence in  the  visual  acuity  amid  light  surroundings  as  com- 
pared with  dark  surroundings.  Greater  visual  acuity  was 
shown  with  bright  surroundings  than  with  dark  surround- 
ings when  the  illumination  of  the  test  object  upon  which 
the  eye  was  working  was  increased  beyond  a  certain 
point.  This  point  is  within  the  upper  ranges  of  com- 
mercial practice.  In  the  discussion  good  authorities 
called  attention  to  the  confirmation  these  results  have  in 
practical  experience.  Constant  work  with  the  eye  fixed 
on  a  highly  illuminated  object  with  dark  surroundings  is 
extremely  tiresome  and  causes  discomfort. 

An  important  suggestion  as  to  a  method  of  investigat- 
ing eye  fatigue  was  made  in  a  paper  by  Prof.  C.  E.  Ferree. 
In  this  method,  which  promises  valuable  results,  advan- 
tage is  taken  of  the  fact  that  when  the  eye  is  steadily  fixed 
on  some  object  which  is  barely  distinguishable  there' come 
periods  when  the  object  is  blurred,  and  these  periods  oc- 
cur more  frequently  and  for  a  greater  percentage  of  the 
time  the  greater  the  previous  eye  fatigue.  Professor 
Ferree  tested  subjects  in  this  way  by  having  them  record 
the  blur  periods  before  and  after  working  under  given 
conditions  of  lighting  for  a  number  of  hours.  The  pre- 
liminary results  published  show  a  striking  difference  in 
the  fatigue  under  natural  lighting  as  compared  with  an 
atrocious  example  of  direct  lighting.  Now  that  the  in- 
terest of  psychologists  has  been  attracted  to  this  subject, 
more  rapid  advance  may  safely  be  expected.  Among 
other  contributions  to  the  knowledge  of  lighting  condi- 
tions favorable  to  vision  brought  forth  by  the  convention 
should  be  mentioned  the  postal-car  lighting  tests  informally 
reported  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Sweet,  which  confirmed  certain 
evidence  presented  at  the  191 1  convention  as  to  the  im- 
portance of  avoiding  glare  or  specular  reflection  from  a 
reading  paper.  Glare  from  paper  appears  as  a  disturbing 
factor  in  easy  vision,  even  though  the  paper  has  an  ap- 
parently unglazed,  matt  surface. 


THE  ELECTRIC  VEfflCLE  AND  THE  CENTRAL  STATION. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  groups  of  exhibits  at  the  elec- 
trical show  now  being  held  in  Boston  is  that  of  electric 
vehicles  of  various  models.  Vehicles  of  numerous  types 
have  been  displayed  at  practically  all  electrical  shows  dur- 
ing recent  years,  so  that  the  present  exhibit  marks  no  new 
departure  in  this  respect.  However,  one  cannot  fail  to  note 
the  ever-increasing  tendency  on  the  part  of  electric-vehicle 
manufacturers  and  users  to  appreciate  the  need  for  healthy 
co-operation  with  central-station  men  and  the  increasing 
appreciation  on  the  part  of  central-station  managers  of 
the  desirable  character  of  vehicle-battery  charging  as  a 
load  on  the  stations.  No  more  appropriate  place  and  time 
could  have  been  selected  for  the  convention  of  the  Electric 
Vehicle  Association  of  America  than ,  Boston  during  the 
electric  show,  and  it  is  safe  to  predict  from  the  very  evident 
increasing  co-operation  between  the  electricity  supply  and 
electric-vehicle  men  results  highly  satisfactory  to  both  of 
these  interests. 


ELECTRICAL  PROPERTIES  OF  INCANDESCENT  LAMPS. 

Reference  is  made  in  the  Digest  to  an  article  by  Dr.  H. 
Pecheu.x  which  brings  together  much  information  concern- 
ing the  electrical  properties  of  incandescent  lamps.  One 
of  these  properties  is  the  ratio  of  the  working  normal 
resistance  of  a  lamp  to  that  it  possesses  at  zero  Centigrade, 
or.  in  other  words,  the  ratio  of  its  ohms  hot  to  its  ohms  cold. 
The  precise  value  of  this  ratio  depends,  of  course,  not  only 
on  the  material  of  the  filament  but  also  on  the  particular 
temperature  at  which  the  filament  is  operated  when  incan- 
descent. However,  for  lamps  in  practical  service  the  ratio 
has  a  definite  value  and  is  of  practical  interest.  It  is  well 
known  that  in  the  case  of  carbon  filaments  the  resistance 
hot  is  much  less  than  the  resistance  cold.  The  ratio  is  not 
the  same  for  graphite  and  for  gaseously  deposited  or  treated 
carbon.  But  the  working  resistance  of  the  ordinary  carbon 
incandescent  lamp  is  well  known  to  be  about  one-half  when 
hot  of  what  it  is  when  cold.  In  the  article  the  ratio  is  given 
as  in  the  neighborhood  of  0.6  for  the  particular  carbon  lamps 
investigated.  In  the  case  of  metallic-filament  lamps  the 
conditions  are  reversed ;  that  is  to  say,  the  resistance  hot 
is  much  greater  than  the  resistance  cold,  following  the  well- 
known  rule  of  metallic  conductors.  Thus  the  article  gives 
a  mean  ratio  of  7.4  for  tantalum-filament  lamps ;  so  that  the 
normal  resistance  of  the  tantalum  lamps  tested  when  hot 
averaged  7.4  times  as  much  as  their  resistance  at  zero 
Centigrade.  For  tungsten-filament  lamps  the  ratio  given  is 
still  higher,  the  average  being  a  little  over  15.  In  the  case 
of  a  pair  of  zircon-tungsten  lamps  tiie  ratio  was  11.36. 

The  effect  of  the  ratio  is  very  marked  on  the  initial  rate 
at  which  energy  is  liberated  in  a  lamp  filament  when  the 
current  is  turned  on  to  it.  In  the  case  of  a  carbon  filament 
the  initial  watts  when  turning  on  the  current  are  only  about 
half  the  final  watts  when  the  temperature  has  become  steady. 
On  the  contrary,  in  the  case  of  a  tungsten  filament  the 
initial  watts  are  fifteen  times  as  great  as  the  final  watts. 
This  means  that  the  initial  rate  of  increase  of  temperature 
is  much  greater  in  a  tungsten  than  in  a  carbon  lamp ;  never- 
theless, the  rate  of  lighting  up  is  in  all  practical  cases  so 
great  that  it  is  hard  to  distinguish,  with  the  unaided  eye, 
the  greater  swiftness  of  incandescence  in  the  tungsten  lamp. 

The  article  brings  out  also  the  well-known  and  important 
differences  between  different  types  of  filaments  in  regard  to 
their  candle-power  as  affected  by  voltage.  In  the  case  of 
carbon  lamps  the  candle-power  in  the  vicinity  of  nor- 
mal voltage  varies  usually  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  fifth 
or  sixth  power  of  the  voltage;  so  that  if  the  voltage  rises 
say  I  per  cent  above  normal,  the  candle-power  rises  say 
5-5  per  cent.  The  corresponding  power  of  the  voltage  is 
less  in  all  of  the  standard  metallic-filament  lamps.  Thus, 
the  article  gives  the  power  for  tantalum  as  about  4  and  for 
tungsten  as  about  3.9.  Consequently,  if  the  voltage  at  the 
terminals  of  such  a  tungsten  lamp  rises  i  per  cent  above 
normal  the  candle-power  rises  only  3.9  per  cent.  This  is  a 
very  valuable  advantage  of  the  tungsten  as  compared  with 
the  carbon  lamp,  since  the  inevitable  small  variations  of 
voltage  that  are  bound  to  occur  on  incandescent  lighting 
mains  produce  only  some  two-thirds  as  much  fluctuation  in 
tungsten  lamps  as  they  would  produce  in  ordinary  carbon 
lamps. 


692 


ELECTRICAL     W^ORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  14. 


PROGRAM    OF    NEW    ENGLAND    SECTION     CON- 
VENTION, N.  E.  L.  A. 


Arrangements  have  been  completed  for  the  forthcoming 
convention  of  the  New  England  Section  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  at  Boston  on  Oct.  15-17.  The 
meeting  will  begin  at  10  a.  m.  Oct.  15  with  the  address  of 
President  J.  S.  Whitaker,  of  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  and  the 
following  papers  will  be  read  during  the  convention:  "The 
Education  and  Welfare  of  the  Employee,"  by  Mr.  A.  S. 
Nichols,  Woonsocket;  "Electric  Protective  Devices,"  by  Mr. 
C.  C.  Badeau,  Boston;  "The  Relation  of  the  Central  Station 
to  the  Prospective  Consumer,"  by  Mr.  E.  M.  Addis,  Brattle- 
boro;  "Transmission  Line  Construction,"  by  Mr.  R.  D. 
Coombs,  New  York;  "The  Development  and  Application  of 
Electricity  to  Agriculture,"  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Miles,  Boston; 
"Illuminating  Engineering  for  the  Central  Station  Sales- 
man," by  Mr.  R.  Beman,  Cleveland;  "Co-operation  Between 
the  Central  Station  and  the  Motor  Manufacturer,"  by  Mr. 
J.  M.  Tomb,  Boston.  The  social  program  includes  a 
dancing  party  on  Oct.  15  in  Paul  Revere  Hall  in  the 
Mechanics'  Building,  where  the  convention  sessions  will 
also  be  held.  The  election  of  officers  will  take  place  on 
Thursday  afternoon,  Oct.  17,  and  in  the  evening  the  annual 
banquet  will  be  held.  The  headquarters  of  the  association 
during  the  convention  will  be  at  the  new  Copley  Plaza 
Hotel.  All  members  of  the  national  body  have  been  invited 
to  attend.  The  entertainment  committee  consists  of  Messrs. 
R.  W.  Rollins,  Worcester,  Mass.,  chairman,  and  Messrs. 
S.  J.  Lent,  C.  B.  Burleigh,  W.  C.  Dronet,  H.  M.  Savage, 
B.  M.  Bates,  H.  T.  Sands  and  W.  E.  Holmes.  Miss  O.  A. 
Bursill,  Boston,  is  secretary  of  the  New  England  Section. 


ELECTRIC- VEHICLE  ACTIVITY  IN  CHICAGO. 


In  Chicago  all  persons  connected  with  the  electric- 
vehicle  industry,  whether  as  manufacturers,  dealers,  cen- 
tral-station operators  or  garage  owners,  appear  to  agree 
that  the  industry  is  in  an  active  and  flourishing  condition. 
The  newly  organized  Chicago  Section  of  the  Electric  Ve- 
hicle Association  of  America  has  started  to  work  with 
enthusiasm,  and  it  exemplifies  the  excellent  degree  of  co- 
operation to  be  observed  among  the  various  parties  at 
interest  in  the  great  Western  city.  The  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company  is  active  in  promoting  the  electric  ve- 
hicle in  many  ways.  It  advertises  in  the  daily  news- 
papers and  issues  literature  on  the  subject,  the  most  re- 
cent contribution  being  a  map  showing  the  location  of 
public  charging  stations  for  electric  vehicles  in  Chicago. 
The  services  of  the  company's  experts  are  always  at  the 
disposal  of  garage  owners  and  independent  proprietors  of 
electric  cars,  and  the  company  takes  pains  to  co-operate 
in  every  movement  tending  to  increase  the  use  of  the 
vehicle.  It  believes  that  the  charging  of  batteries  for 
automobiles  is  a  desirable  central-station  load,  and  by 
means  of  its  recently  devised  off-peak  schedules  for  both 
alternating-current  and  direct-current  energy  it  makes 
very  low  rates  for  energy  available  for  this  class  of  busi- 
ness. The  company  encourages  the  public  garage  owner 
to  resell  electricity  to  vehicle  owners  at  a  profit,  and  for 
this  purpose  rents  individual  meters  for  vehicle  charging 
in  garages  at  a  rate  of  50  cents  a  month. 

One  of  the  aids  in  electric-vehicle  operation  distributed 
by  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  consists  of  a  card 
5  in.  high  and  3  in.  wide  bearing  two  printed  dials  each 
1.75  in.  in  diameter  and  reading  from  o  to  9.  The  dials 
are  provided  with  movable  pointers  and  the  purpose  of 
the  card  is  to  be  of  assistance  in  keeping  a  record  of  the 
amount  of  electricity  used  in  charging  the  vehicle  battery. 
When  starting  to  charge  the  operator  sets  the  pointers  on 
the  card  in  the  same  position  as  the  pointers  on  the  two 


dials  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  watt-hour  meter  used. 
When  the  battery  is  charged  it  is  easy  to  compare  the  posi- 
tion of  the  pointers  on  the  meter  dials  with  the  original 
position  as  shown  by  the  pointers  on  the  card.  This  saves 
the  trouble  of  making  a  written  memorandum  of  the 
original  position  of  the  meter  dials. 

In  all  there  are  perhaps  100  public  garages  in  the  city 
and  immediate  suburbs  where  electric  charging  facilities 
are  available.  Of  these  perhaps  half  a  dozen  are  exclu- 
sively for  electric  vehicles.  The  largest  of  these  is  the 
Fashion  Garage,  on  the  South  Side,  which  has  recently 
purchased  an  acre  of  ground  at  the  corner  of  Hyde  Park 
Boulevard  and  Fifty-first  Street  and  will  here  erect  an 
exclusively  electric  garage  having  accommodations  for  no 
less  than  300  vehicles.  The  off-peak  schedules  permit  the 
garage  owner  under  certain  conditions  to  purchase  elec- 
trical energy  at  as  low  a  rate  as  2  cents  or  2.5  cents  a 
kw-hr.  It  is  therefore  possible  to  resell  this  energy  at 
the  moderate  rate  of  4  cents,  permitting  the  garage  owner 
to   make   a   profit.  ^ 


EXTENSION  TO  FISK  STREET  STATION,  CHICAGO. 

It  is  reported  that  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company 
has  awarded  the  building  contract  for  the  addition  to  its 
Fisk  Street  station  in  Chicago  to  the  Falkenau  Construction 
Company.  This  addition  will  house  the  25,000-kw  Parsons 
horizontal  turbo-generator  now  under  construction  for  the 
Chicago  company  at  the  Heaton  works  of  Charles  A. 
Parsons  &  Company,  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  England.  As 
related  in  the  Electrical  World  of  March  23  last,  this  unit  is 
being  built  from  designs  made  by  Sir  Charles  A.  Parsons, 
who  is  also  superintending  its  manufacture.  It  will  be  about 
75  ft.  long  and  18  ft.  wide,  and  the  steam  turbine  will  be  a 
two-chamber  machine,  the  low-pressure  end  being  of  the 
double-flow  type.  The  generator  will  be  wound  for  4500 
volts,  three  phase,  25  cycles,  and  will  have  a  speed  of  750 
r.p.m.  The  exciter  will  be  placed  at  the  end  of  the  shaft. 
Sargent  &  Lundy,  of  Chicago,  are  the  American  engineers 
in  charge  of  the  design  of  the  general  arrangement  and  the 
coal-handling  and  steam-raising  equipment  at  the  new  addi- 
tion to  the  Fisk  Street  power  house. 

The  addition  to  the  plant  now  under  contract  will  be  large 
enough  to  house  four  25,000-kw  units,  although  only  one  of 
these  has  been  ordered.  As  the  present  rating  of  the  station 
(ten  I2,ooo-kw  vertical  turbo-generators)  is  120,000  kw,  the 
addition,  when  completed,  will  bring  the  total  rating  of  the 
plant  up  to  220,000  kw.  Work  will  be  begun  for  the  new 
building  at  once,  but  it  will  be  several  months  before  the  new 
unit,  which  will  be  the  largest  in  the  world,  will  be  shipped 
to  this  country,  erected  and  placed  in  service. 


ORGANIZATION  OF    ELECTRICAL    CO-OPERATIVE 
ASSOCIATION.  f 

As  we  go  to  press  (Oct.  3)  the  committee  composed  of 
representatives  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association, 
the  Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Association,  the  National 
Electrical  Contractors'  Association  and  of  several  of  the 
electrical  manufacturers  that  was  formed  at  Association 
Island,  Lake  Ontario,  on  Sept.  3,  as  noted  in  the  Electrical 
World  Sept.  7,  page  483,  to  create  a  co-operative  association 
for  the  benefit  of  these  various  electrical  interests,  is  hold- 
ing its  organization  meeting  at  the  Engineering  Societies 
Building,  New  York.  The  business  which  will  be  trans- 
acted will  be  the  discussion  and  preparation  of  incorporation 
papers  for  the  proposed  association,  the  methods  of  financ- 
ing it  and  the  selection  of  a  name.  If  time  permits  the 
election  of  directors  and  officers  and  discussion  of  the  work 
which  it  is  hoped  will  be  accomplished  by  the  association 
will  also  be  taken  up. 


October  5,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


693 


SAN   FRANCISCO'S    TRANSPORTATION   PROBLEM. 


In  preliminary  report  No.  9  on  his  investigation  of  the 
transportation  conditions  in  San  Francisco,  Mr.  Bion  J. 
Arnold  discusses  some  of  the  principal  factors  involved 
in  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  transportation  at  the  pres- 
ent and  in  the  future.  He  states  that  if  the  prevailing 
rate  of  growth  continues  San  Francisco  in  1925  virill  be  the 
center  of  a  district  community  of  1,400,000  persons,  or 
600,000  persons  within  the  city  proper,  from  which  $16,000,- 
000  per  year  will  be  paid  into  the  coffers  of  the  railway 
company  alone.  Inasmuch  as  the  daily  trans-bay  com- 
muter traffic  is  fully  23  per  cent  of  the  population  of  San 
Francisco,  the  results  in  earnings  per  capita  are  as  high  as 
$20,  as  against  about  $12  for  the  average  American  city 
of  moderate  size.  This  fact  constitutes  the  one  prime 
source  of  optimism  regarding  the  city's  future  develop- 
ment. The  earning  capacity  is  available.  It  only  remains 
to  develop  a  transit  policy  commensurate  to  the  opportunity 
and  to  execute  this  policy  with  courage  and  dispatch. 

Mr.  Arnold  states  that  at  the  present  time  San  Fran- 
cisco absolutely  requires  a  large  increase  in  transportation 
facilities,  but  the  fact  exists  that  under  the  conditions  that 
have  been  imposed,  in  the  hope  of  immediate  results,  no 
doubt,  not  one   foot  of  extensions   may   be   expected   from 


competitive  extensions,  with  the  object  of  ultimate  unifica- 
tion of  the  entire  property  at  the  lowest  possible  invest- 
ment cost. 

He  argues  that  the  question  of  a  sane,  reasonable  and 
workable  franchise  agreement  between  the  city  and  the 
United  Railroads  is  the  first  great  matter  to  be  settled,  to 
which  all  others  are  subordinate,  and  no  time  should  be 
lost  in  formulating  a  plan  for  submission  to  the  voters  in 
November. 


BOSTON  ELECTRIC  SHOW. 


The  Boston  1912  Electric  Show  was  opened  by  the  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Boston  on  Sept.  28,  the 
climax  of  two  years'  preparation  being  reached  when  the 
doors  of  the  Mechanics'  Building  swung  inward  to  welcome 
several  hundred  delegates  attending  the  Fifth  Congress  of 
the  International  Chambers  of  Commerce,  several  hours 
before  the  general  public  was  admitted.  Nearly  every 
square  foot  of  exhibit  space  in  the  building  is  occupied  by 
displays  almost  unparalleled  in  numbers  and  unequaled  in 
variety  in  any  previous  show,  and  fully  40,000  persons 
passed  the  entrances  on  the  opening  evening. 

An  outline  of  the  exhibits  and  a  description  of  the  ex- 


M?¥^?L-' 


Central    Aisle    of    Exhibition    Hall,    Looking    Toward    Band    Stand. 


private  capital  An  attempt  might  very  well  be  made  at 
this  time  to  clarify  the  franchise  situation  and  relieve  the 
city  streets  of  present  questionable  franchise  encumbrances 
by  a  new  blanket  agreement  in  the  form  of  a  co-operative 
contract-franchise.  In  the  new  city  charter  and  the  con- 
templated amendments  thereto  conditions  are  imposed 
which  practically  debar  private  capital  from  investment 
in  San  Francisco,  whether  the  point  of  view  of  the  capi- 
talist is  reasonable  or  not.  These  charter  provisions  and 
the  underlying  theory  with  respect  to  private  capital  will 
have  to  be  modified,  or  else  it  is  incumbent  upon  the  city 
to  buy  its  utilities  at  once  at  a  considerable  premium. 

Mr.  Arnold  makes  three  recommendations  concerning 
steps  to  be  taken  to  remedy  existing  conditions : 

First,  the  charter  may  be  amended  so  as  to  make  private 
investment  possible. 

Second,  present  corporate  franchises  may  be  merged  on 
some  equitable  basis  of  equalization,  with  extension  fran- 
chises desired. 

Third,  duplication  of  investment  may  be  avoided  by  non- 


terior  lighting  effects  secured  are  printed  elsewhere  in  this 
issue.  The  interior  lighting  and  scenic  background  provided 
successfully  cover  every  structural  detail  of  the  building, 
and  the  use  of  curtains  at  all  windows  to  exclude  daylight 
enables  the  visitor  to  study  the  lighting  effects  at  all  times. 
Despite  the  irregularities  of  every  section  of  the  building,  a 
consistent  scheme  of  interior  lighting  has  been  effected 
under  the  designs  of  Dr.  Louis  Bell,  consulting  illuminating 
engineer  of  the  Boston  Edison  company,  who  was  responsi- 
ble for  the  general  outside  and  inside  lighting  plans  of  the 
entire  show. 

The  lighting  of  the  exhibition  reaches  its  height  in  Grand 
Hall,  a  large  central  area  bordered  on  three  sides  by 
galleries,  a  stage  on  the  fourth  side  being  occupied  by  a 
castle  of  medieval  architecture.  The  galleries  on  two  sides 
are  occupied  by  sixteen  shelter  houses  of  German  design, 
while  the  exhibits  flank  a  main  aisle  and  four  side  aisles 
extending  through  the  hall.  The  general  lighting  of  middle 
aisles  is  secured  by  ten  large  bronze  lanterns  mounted  ou 
pedestals   14  ft.  high,  each  containing  a   500-watt  frosted 


694 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


lamp.  The  lanterns  are  of  prismatic  glass  and  are  frosted 
inside  and  out. 

Around  the  front  of  the  balcony  at  about  the  same  height 
are  carried  fifty  ornamental  lanterns  suspended  from  brack- 
ets and  provided  with  glazed  prismatic  panes  alternating 
pink  and  green  in  color.  Each  lantern  contains  a  250-watt 
dipped  lamp,  and  around  each  unit  artificial  foliage  and 
electric  flowers  have  been  tastefully  draped.  The  balcony 
houses  are  each  equipped  with  a  60-watt  lamp  in  a  7-in. 
ground-glass  globe,  the  attics  being  provided  with  a 
40-watt  lamp  suspended  to  shine  through  stained-glass 
windows. 

About  5  miles  of  decorative  cable  lighting,  aggregating 
25,000  lamps  of  150,000  total  candle-power,  is  used  in  the 
interior  illumination  of  Exhibition  Hall,  beneath  galleries 
and  in  basement  aisles.  In  general,  the  structural  bays  are 
followed  with  diagonals  of  4-cp  units  festooned  between  the 
corners  and  a  central  pinning  unit  composed  of  a  shaded 
400-watt  lamp,  except  in  a  portion  of  the  basement,  where 
the  reduced  spacing  of  bays  enabled  250-watt  units  to  be 
used.  Under  the  balconies  of  Grand  Hall  the  decorative 
cable  is  pinned  with  shaded  white  250-watt  lamps.  Red 
effects  are  required,  clear  lamps  being  used  over  most  of 
the  aisles  and  show  spaces  of  Exhibition  Hall  and  the  base- 
ment. The  same  general  plan  is  followed  in  corridor  and 
lobby  lighting.  About  200  cp  in  decorative  cable  units  are 
used  per  bay.  In  the  center  of  Exhibition  Hall  the  electric 
vehicle  exhibit  has  been  laid  out  in  an  artificial  park  sur- 
mounted by  an  elaborate  canopy  of  red  and  green  decorative 
cable  strings  festooned  between  the  surrounding  balcony 
edges  and  a  crown  of  4-cp  colored  lamps  at  the  top.  About 
100  ornamental  brackets,  carrying  40-watt  lamps  in  6-in. 
globes,  are  in  use  and  on  posts  60-watt  lamps  are  carried  at 
points  where  single  ornamental  units  are  needed.  Electric- 
ally lighted  artificial  flowers  are  widely  used  and  all  back- 
grounds are  painted  in  natural  scenery. 


THE  EXTERIOR   LIGHTING    OF  THE    BOSTON 
ELECTRIC  SHOW. 


By  Dr.  Louis  Bell. 
The  problem  of  suitable  exterior  lighting  for  the  Boston 
Electric  Show  involved  two  entirely  separate  considera- 
tions, first,  the  external  decoration  of  the  building  itself  and, 
second,  the  decorative  lighting  of  the  street  on  which  the 
building  is  located.  The  two  necessarily  formed,  however, 
part  of  the  same  general  scheme  and  finally  were  in  the 
and  green  festoons  are  supplied  where  special  decorative 
course    of    events    still    more    closely    associated,    owing    to 


included  rather  complete  outlining  of  the  entire  building 
with  incandescent  lamps,  with  decorative  effects  in  color. 
The  building  itself,  about  600  ft.  in  length,  is  practically  a 
long  right-angled  triangle  in  shape,  terminated  by  a  tower 
with  entrance  and  porte-cochere  on  the  east,  with  the  base 
lying  along  West  Newton  Street  on  the  west  and  the 
hypothenuse  on  the  rear  of  the  building  along  the  Boston 


^^""""^             .'■"--^ 

'^^*^^"^-^^ 

liu'4 

iJ_J_LLLi— i^      »_>■  -r^-         * 

m 

i 

Fig.  2 — Huntington   Avenue  and   West   Newton   Street  Sides  of  the 
Building    at    Night. 

and  Albany  Railroad  yards  and  over  them  facing  Boylston 
Street.  On  the  front  of  the  building  are  three  entrances, 
the  main  faqade  and  entrance  lying  near  the  western  end, 
the  tower  forming  the  eastern  entrance,  and  the  third  en- 
trance being  practically  in  the  center  of  the  building  along 
the  front,  connecting  the  main  building  with  the  tower. 
Eig.  I,  the  front  of  the  building,  shows  the  general  arrange- 
ment, consisting  really  of  a  building  in  three  united  portions, 
each  with  an  entrance  necessarily  treated  in  a  scheme  of 
decoration. 

A  large  part  of  the  front  is  heavily  covered  with  ivy,  the 
growth  of  many  years,  and  this  could  under  no  circum- 
stances be  interfered  with  or  imperiled  by  the  decorations. 
Moreover,  the  owners  of  the  building  were  insistent  that  no 
bolts  or  spikes  should  be  fixed  in  the  wall,  so  that  the  prob- 
lem of  supporting  the  decorations  became  an  exceedingly 
trying  one.  Exposition  buildings  are  ordinarily  temporary 
and  permit  of  any  means  of  attaching  decoration  that  seems 
desirable,  and  therefore  the  requirements  in  this  case  pre- 
sented unique  difficulties.  The  general  plan  of  decoration 
was  also  modified  later  by  a  change  in  the  design  of  the 
street   illumination. 

The  Mechanics'  Building  faces  on  Huntington  Avenue. 
This  street  terminates  on  Copley  Square,  the  most  important 
square  in  the  city,  and  runs  westward  across  Massachusetts 


Fig.  -1 — IVlechanics'    Building.    Boston. 


considerations  which  arose  quite  accidentally.  The  funda- 
mental idea  in  laying  out  the  lighting  as  a  whole  was  the 
free  use  of  color  as  a  decorative  element,  a  thing  generally 
neglected  in  exposition  lighting.  The  evolution  of  the 
present  arrangement  from  the  preliminary  studies  is  not 
without  interest,  as  showing  how  such  schemes  have  to  be 
modified  in  order  to  meet  conditions  which  have  nothing  to 
do  with  the  decorations  as  such.    The  first  preliminary  plan 


Avenue,  the  natural  terminus  of  decoration  on  the  west  end, 
a  distance  of  about  3000  ft.  The  outside  problem,  there- 
fore, resolved  itself  into  beginning  a  consistent  lighting 
scheme  at  Copley  Square  and  continuing  it  to  Massachusetts 
Avenue.  At  the  outset  the  plans  contemplated  a  great  arch 
spanning  the  whole  width  of  the  avenue  at  its  entrance  into 
Copley  Square  and  elaborately  ornamented  with  electric 
lamps.     Beyond  this  the  street  was  to  be  brilliantly  lighted 


OCTOBKR   5.    19 1 2 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


69s 


with  arc  lamps  for  its  entire  length.  At  that  time  the 
"Boulevard"  magnetite  arc  had  not  come  into  use  and  it 
was  somewhat  doubtful  whether  it  would  be  put  out  com- 
mercially prior  to  the  Electric  Show.  The  first  arc-lighting 
scheme,  therefore,  was  intended  to  be  carried  out  with 
these  beautiful  lamps,  carried  on  tall  ornamental  poles  and 
leading  from  the  entrance  arch  at  one  end  and  from  a  pair 


ivy,  so  that  a  composite  decorative  plan  had  to  be  adopted. 
The  front  of  the  building  was,  therefore,  treated  according 
to  the  original  scheme,  and  some  2  miles  of  the  available 
cable  was  then  devoted  to  draping  the  rear  and  the  West 
Newton    Street   face. 

The  chief  matters  from  the  standpoint  of  decoration  were 
the  main  entrance  on  the  west  and  the  tower  entrance.    The 


Fig.    3 — Illumination    of    Main    Entrance. 

of  elaborately  decorated  pylons  at  the  other  to  the  Me- 
chanics' Building.  The  early  appearance  of  the  boulevard 
arc  lamp  in  commercial  use,  however,  which  robbed  it  of  the 
element  of  novelty,  and  the  structural  difficulties  connected 
with  the  arch,  which  required  a  span  of  70  ft.,  led  to  the 
abandonment  of  this  particular  design. 

It  was  followed  by  a  comprehensive  scheme  based' on  the 
use  of  Eiblight  cable,  including  a  long  succession  of  arches 
supported  on  steel  cables  stretched  between  50-ft.  poles 
with  much  supplementary  decoration,  also  carried  out  with 
Eiblight.  This  plan,  like  the  other,  was  worked  out  almost 
to  the  point  of  letting  contracts  for  it,  and,  as  a  preliminary, 
arrangements  were  made  for  the  use  of  practically  all  the 


Ki.  jCBfli 


Fig. 


-Night    View    of    Huntington    Avenue. 


whole  faqade  of  the  building  is  outlined  with  4-cp  incan- 
descent lamps,  for  the  most  part  uncolored,  except  along 
the  roof  line,  where  the  lamps  are  light  red  or  amber. 
Then,  seizing  on  the  architectural  features  of  the  faqade 
containing  the  main  entrance,  its  chief  lines  were  outlined 
and  the  main  architectural  features  were  treated  with 
mosaic  decorations  in  color,  conventionalized  flowers  and 
foliage.  The  whole  effect  at  night  is  shown  in  Fig.  2. 
The  colors  used  are  dark  green,  light  green,  dark  and  light 
red  and  amber,  the  dark  lamps  being  of  8  cp  and  the  lighter 
lamps  of  4  cp.  Advantage  was  taken  of  the  psychological 
effect  of  this  diversity  of  color  to  secure  an  element  of 
relief  which  otherwise  would  not  have  been  present.     Two 


FI9. 


-Night    Effect    of   Tower    Decorations. 


Eiblight  cable  in  the  country.  At  the  last  moment  diffi- 
culties connected  with  the  necessary  permits  and  rights-of- 
way  for  the  extremely  elaborate  plan  in  view  compelled 
somewhat  regretfully  a  complete  change  of  base  at  so  late 
a  date  that  use  had  to  be  made  of  the  immense  quantity  of 
Eiblight  cable  provided.  The  natural  expedient  was  to 
transfer  this  cable  to  the  decoration  of  the  building,  but  the 
owners  would  not  permit  it  on  the  front  on  account  of  the 


Fig.  6 — Special   Illumination  on   Huntington  Avenue. 

huge  blank  spaces,  about  5  ft.  by  10  ft.,  flanked  the  main 
entrance  below  the  entrance  arch,  spaces  customarily  used 
for  billboards.  These,  as  the  illustration  shows,  were  trans- 
formed by  falsework  extending  to  the  ground  into  support- 
ing members  for  the  arch,  divided  into  two  fluted  pilasters 
with  appropriate  capitals,  decorated  in  colors  and  illumi- 
nated throughout  with  4-cp  lamps.  The  main  arch  is  em- 
phasized in  bands  of  light-red  and  light-green  lamps.     The 


696 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  \o.  14. 


whole  of  this  front  is  also  decorated  in  mosaic  and  colored 
lamps. 

Passing  to  the  center  entrance,  a  similar  decorative 
scheme  was  carried  out  with  colored  lamps  on  a  smaller 
scale,  presenting  a  very  striking  appearance.  Fig.  3  shows 
the  center  entrance  at  night  as  well  as  the  west  end  of  the 
building. 


Fig.  7 — Rear  of  Mechanics'  Building,  Showing  Large   Electric  Sign. 

An  analogous  scheme  was  followed  on  the  tower,  the 
general  efifect  of  which  is  shown  in  Fig.  4.  Here  the  tower 
decorations,  mainly  in  clear  lamps,  were  enriched  by  the 
free  use  of  red,  green  and  amber  lamps.  In  the  chief  deco- 
ration immediately  over  the  entrance  space  did  not  permit 
of  a  free  use  of  foliage  and  the  mosaic  was  formed  in  a 
fleur-de-lis  design,  the  fleur-de-lis  itself  being  worked  out 
in  lamps  tinged  very  faintly  blue  so  as  to  eliminate  the  red 
and  to  show  white  against  the  background.  The  lamps, 
save  in  the  mosaics,  are  spaced  at  8-in.  intervals  on  the 
entire  front.     In  the  mosaics  the  sockets  almost  touch. 

The  rear  of  the  building  and  the  West  Newton  Street 
end  are  festooned  with  Elblight  cable,  the  crossing  points 
of  the  festoons  being  marked  out  with  knots  of  colored 
lamps.  On  the  rear  of  the  building  against  the  sky  line 
rises  a  huge  electric  sign  with  the  words  "Electric  Show," 
in  all  270  ft.  long  with  letters  18  ft.  high.  Fig.  7  shows  the 
general  nature  of  this  festooning  on  the  rear  as  viewed 
from  Boylston  Street.  Although  more  than  2  miles  of 
cable  was  used  in  the  festooning,  only  the  smaller  portion  of 
the  supply  available  was  thus  accounted  for  and  the  re- 
mainder has  been  used  in  the  interior  decorations  of  the 
building.     So  much  for  the  lighting  of  the  building  itself. 

After  much,  although  considerably  hurried,  consideration 
it  was  decided  to  carry  out  the  lighting  of  Huntington 
Avenue,  from  Copley  Square  to  Massachusetts  Avenue,  by 
means  of  colored  flame-arc  lamps,  furnishing  an  entirely 
novel  decorative  element  in  such  work.  It  is  obviously 
impracticable  to  obtain  color  in  a  powerful  illuminant  with- 
out the  loss  of  an  enormous  percentage  of  light,  and  the  use 
of  colored  globes  was  therefore  out  of  the  question.  Even 
colored  flame  arcs,  unless  one  desired  the  ordinary  garish 
yellow,  are  obtained  only  at  considerable  loss  of  efficiency, 
but  still,  far  greater  brilliancy  is  available  from  their  use 
than  from  using  colored  globes.  A  standard  arc  lamp  pole 
of  Gothic  design  carrying  one  lamp  at  the  top  and  three 
below  it  on  curved  arms  was  designed  as  shown  in  Fig.  6, 
an  under-exposed  night  view  from  Copley  Square.  This 
pole  is  30  ft.  high  to  the  upper  lamp,  which  is  inclosed  in 
an  i8-in.  opal  globe  and  gives  pale-green  light.  The  three 
lower  lamps,  fitted  with  12-in.  globes  of  opal,  furnish  pale 
rose-red  light.  The  lamp  cases  are  dull  bronze  in  finish, 
with  poles  painted  a  verde  antique.  Through  the  efficient 
co-operation  of  the  General  Electric  Company's  arc-lamp 
department  a  special  short-flame  lamp  was  designed,  avoid- 


ing the  unwieldy  length  of  the  flame-arc  lamps  in  ordinary 
use.  For  use  in  these  lamps  two  varieties  of  special  flame 
electrodes  were  worked  out,  pale  pink  and  green  respectively, 
so  that  the  colors  are  reinforced  by  simultaneous  contrast. 
The  lamps  are  operated  in  multiple  circuit,  controlled  b\ 
cut-outs  in  the  base  of  the  pole.  While  they  are  much  lower 
in  candle-power  than  the  uncolored  arcs,  they  are  still  mate- 
rially more  effective  than  the  arc  lamps  hitherto  in  ordinary 
use,  which  is  of  itself  a  striking  comment  on  the  effective- 
ness of  the  flame  lamps. 

At  the  two  ends  of  the  system,  Copley  Square  and  Massa- 
chusetts Avenue,  pairs  of  pylons  35  ft.  high  to  the  topmost 
lamp  mark  the  entrance.  These,  like  the  standard  poles, 
are  of  Gothic  design  and  carry  thirteen  flame-arc  lamps 
each,  the  uppermost  and  the  middle  tier  being  pale  green  and 
the  others  rose  pink.  Fig.  6  shows  also  the  general  ap- 
pearance of  this  pylon  by  night.  The  effect  of  the  long 
vista  of  colored  lamps  is  very  striking  and  is  but  dimly 
indicated  in  Fig.  7,  which  shows  a  night  view  looking  east 
from  beyond  the  Mechanics'  Building.  The  result  of  this 
adaptation  of  the  colored-flame  lamp  is  so  decorative  as  to 
leave  little  regret  that  the  earlier  schemes  failed  of  adop- 
tion. 


NEW  YORK  ELECTRIC  SHOW. 


The  New  York  Electrical  Exposition  of  1912,  to  be  held 
at  the  New  Grand  Central  Palace,  Oct.  9-19,  will  differ 
from  its  predecessors  in  that  the  historical  side  of  the 
electrical  industry  will  be  emphasized.  This  is  in  honor 
of  the  completion  of  thirty  years  of  central-station  exist- 
ence, which  is  being  celebrated  this  fall  by  the  New  York 
Edison  Company.  Bearing  this  in  mind,  many  exhibitors 
at  the  exposition  and  automobile  show  have  arranged  their 
displays  to  demonstrate  the  advance  either  in  central-station 
practice  or  in  the  manufacture  of  electrical  goods  and  ap- 
paratus in  the  last  three  decades.  The  exposition  itself 
will  be  opened  with  a  luncheon  to  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison, 
given  by  the  New  York  Edison  Company,  next  Wednesday 
atternoon. 

Contrasting  especially  with  these  exhibits  of  old  appli- 
ances will  be  the  government  exhibits  presented  by  arrange- 
ment with  several  departments  and  the  New  York  Edison 
Company.  Here  the  latest  developments  in  electrical  appli- 
cations of  all  kinds  will  be  strikingly  presented.  Wireless 
telegraph,  for  instance,  will  be  the  province  of  the  Bureau 
of  Navigation  and  the  electrical  school  of  the  Brooklyn 
Navy  Yard.  The  navy  men  will  set  up  the  very  newest 
type  of  wireless  apparatus,  a  20-kw  set,  with  which  the 
first  wireless  message  will  be  sent  to  the  Panama  Canal 
The  canal  itself  is  to  be  represented  by  a  large  operative 
model  of  the  Gatun  Dam,  locks  and  spillways,  provided 
by  the  Isthmian  Commission.  New  York  State  will  also 
furnish  an  illustration  of  the  use  of  electricity  on  the  Mo- 
hawk River  dam  at  Yosts.  This  model,  too,  will  be  opera- 
tive.. 

Less  spectacular,  but  no  less  important,  is  the  part  played 
by  electricity  in  government  accounting.  The  Bureau  of 
the  Census  will  open  a  branch  at  the  Electrical  Exposition 
where  census  cards  will  be  sorted  and  tabulated  by  a  re- 
markably complex  machine,  motor-driven.  The  Army  Sig- 
nal Corps,  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, through  several  of  its  bureaus,  and  the  coast-de- 
fense division  of  the  army,  as  well  as  the  National  Museum, 
will  join  in  demonstrating  their  several  electrical  activities. 

One  departure  for  this  year's  program  is  the  attention 
given  to  the  application  of  electricity  to  agriculture.  That, 
on  a  large  scale,  will  be  shown  by  a  series  of  large  photo- 
graphs showing  the  irrigation  systems  of  the  West  in  con- 
nection with  government  power  projects.  On  a  small  scale, 
as  one  might  expect  to  see  it  used  around  New  York  in 
the  next  decade,  will  be  a  demonstration  greenhouse,  show- 


October  5,  191 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


697 


ing  plants  growing  as  the  result  of  electric  radiation  and 
electrified  irrigation  as  it  might  be  developed  for  truck 
farming. 

The  central  stations  in  and  around  New  York  City  will 
be  well  represented.  The  United  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company  will  display  model  lighting  systems  for  the  home, 
the  store  and  the  factory.  In  the  small  home-kitchen  meals 
will  be  prepared  entirely  by  electrical  methods.  The  Na- 
tional Electric  Lamp  Association  has  brought  together  a 
collection  of  incandescent  lamps  to  show  development  from 
the  Goebel  lamp  of  1870  down  to  the  metallic  tungsten  lamps 
of  the  present  time.  A  novelty  will  be  a  series  of  special 
automobile  lamps. 

The  New  York  &  Queens  Electric  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany will  devote  itself  to  showing  the  attractions  of  Queens 
Borough  by  means  of  an  automatic  stereopticon.  The 
series  o.f  views  will  include  home  real  estate  together  with 
sites  suitable  for  factory  growth. 

The  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn 
has  set  itself  to  display  the  advantages  of  Brooklyn  as  a 
manufacturing  center.  A  panoramic  view  100  ft.  long  will 
show  in  colors  the  water  front  of  that  borough.  On  this 
map  all  the  commercial  and  manufacturing  developments 
along  the  water  will  be  reproduced  in  miniature,  while  light- 
ing effects  will  add  to  the  realism  of  the  picture.  The 
Brooklyn  Edison  company  has  been  assisted  in  this  work 
by  the  Bridge  Department  of  the  city  of  New  York  and 
some  of  the  large  warehouse  and  terminal  companies. 

The  Westchester  Lighting  Company  will  make  its  quar- 
ters a  reception  booth  for  its  friends  and  patrons.  This 
will  be  decorated  with  photographs  illustrating  electrical 
installations  in  its  territory,  which  covers  New  Rochelle, 
Mount  Vernon  and  other  Westchester  County  cities  subur- 
ban to  New  York  City. 

The  New  York  Edison  Company  will  have  a  series  of 
exhibits  illustrating  both  its  history  and  growth,  together 
with  striking  modern  applications  of  its  energy.  The  one 
surviving  old  and  original  Jumbo  is  to  be  brought  forth 
from  its  honored  retirement  at  Shadyside,  while  a  model 
of  the  oid  Pearl  Street  station  of  1882  will  be  shown.  This 
will  contrast  with  a  model  of  the  modern  Waterside  sta- 
tions. Modern  applications  will  include  an  exhibit  of  the 
city's  aqueduct  work  being  done  by  electricity ;  a  modern 
electrically  operated  print  shop,  where  a  small  newspaper 
will  be  published,  together  with  exhibits  of  unusual  elec- 
trical applications,  such  as  painting  on  chiffon,  electrified 
irrigation  and  electrical  forcing  for  greenhouse  use.  The 
scientific  aspects  of  the  company's  growth  will  be  demon- 
strated by  a  series  of  charts,  while  relations  with  the  em- 
ployees will  be  shown  in  an  exhibit  of  educational  work  and 
methods  that  wi^  contain  many  interesting  features. 


OLD  AND  NEW  ELECTRIC  AUTOMOBILES. 


One  of  the  features  of  the  recent  "street  show"  of  the 
Chicago  Automobile  Trade  Association  was  a  parade  of 
•old  cars.  A  considerable  proportion  of  the  old  "electrics" 
in  the  parade  were  furnished  by  the  Woods  Motor  Vehicle 
Company.  Before  the  parade  the  Woods  group,  including 
fourteen  cars,  both  old  and  new,  was  photographed,  and 
this  picture  is  reproduced  herewith.  The  number  under 
each  car  indicates  the  year  in  which  it  was  built,  or  of  the 
"model"  in  the  case  of  the  1913  cars. 

Sixteen  years'  development  is  represented.  The  1896 
break,  shown  in  the  foreground  at  the  left,  was  one  of  the 
first  cars  built  by  the  company.  It  ran  under  its  own  power 
for  12  miles  in  the  parade  and  at  the  finish  seemed  good  for 
as  many  miles  more.  When  new  this  car  had  a  maximum 
speed  of  12  miles  an  hour  and  would  run  25  miles  on  one 
battery  charge.  The  1913  models,  shown  in  the  back- 
t;round,    are    rated    by    the    manufacturer    at    a    maximum 


speed  of  22  miles  and  a  radius  of  from  80  to   125  miles 
on  one  charge. 

Near  the  center  of  the  picture  is  shown  a  runabout  of 
1904.  This  is  said  to  be  the  earliest  model  of  a  shaft-driven 
electric  vehicle  now  in  operation,  and  the  maker  declares 
that  it  is  the  first  shaft-driven  electric  vehicle  manufactured 
and  offered  for  sale  in  the  United  States.     This  machine 


Old  and  New  Electric  Automobiles. 

was  the  smallest  in  the  entire  parade  and  attracted  mucli 
attention.  Officers  of  the  Chicago  association  were  much 
pleased  by  the  interest  taken  in  the  various  parades.  A 
satisfactory  stimulus  to  trade  is  predicted  as  a  result  of  the 
association's  work  during  the  automobile  "fall  opening 
week." 


CONVENTION     OF    ASSOCIATION    OF    IRON    AND 
STEEL  ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERS. 


(By   Telegraph) 

The  opening  of  the  sixth  annual  convention  of  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers,  held  at  the 
Pfister  Hotel,  Milwaukee,  Sept.  30  to  Oct.  5,  also  marked 
the  inauguration  of  a  permanent  co-operative  Safety  Con- 
gress, a  body  having  broad  humanitarian  ideals  and  of  in- 
dustrial scope,  whose  sessions,  attended  by  many  promi- 
nent men,  were  held  parallel  with  those  of  the  electrical 
engineers'  association.  At  the  joint  banquet  Monday  eve- 
ning Mr.  Gano  Dunn,  past-president  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E., 
officiated  as  toastmaster  and  addresses  were  made  by  Dr. 
J.  A.  Holmes,  director  Bureau  of  Mines;  Dr.  L.  W. 
Chaney,  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor;  Mr.  R.  W. 
Campbell,  attorney  Illinois  Steel  Company;  Mr.  B.  R. 
Shover,  president  of  the  association,  and  Mayor  G.  A. 
Bading,  of  Milwaukee.  A  committee  on  permanent  Safety 
Congress  organization,  chosen  in  part  from  the  mining, 
transportation  and  manufacturing  industries,  was  also  an- 
nounced by  President  Shover  as  follows:  Chairman,  Dr. 
L.  W.  Chaney,  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor;  Mr. 
F.  W.  Houk,  Commissioner  of  Labor,  Minnesota;  Mr.  H. 
M.  Wilson,  Bureau  of  Mines;  Mr.  B.  C.  Richards,  Chicago 
Northwestern  Railway ;  Messrs.  John  Kirby  and  F.  C. 
Schwedtman,  National  Manufacturers'  Association ;  Mr. 
R.  J.  Young,  Illinois  Steel  Company;  Mr.  J.  T.  McCleary, 
Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  and  Mr.  L.  R.  Palmer,  Jones  & 
Laughlin  Steel  Company. 

The  result  of  the  election  for  officers  of  the  Association 
of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers,  held  at  the  morn- 
ing business  session,  was  also  made  public  at  the  dinner, 
the  following  having  been  chosen  unanimously:  Presi- 
dent, Mr.  C.  W.  Parkhurst,  Johnstown,  Pa. ;  vice-presi- 
dents, Messrs.  E.  Friedlander,  Braddock,  Pa.,  and  O.  R. 
Jones.    Youngstown,    Ohio ;    secretary,    James    Farrington, 


698 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o.  No.  14. 


LaBelle  Iron  Works,  Steubenville,  Ohio.  An  honorary 
membership  was  voted  to  Mr.  Gano  Dunn.  Mr.  C.  W. 
Parkhurst,  the  newly  elected  president,  is  electrical  engi- 
neer of  the  Cambria  Steel  Company,  a  position  he  has  held 
for  twelve  years.  He  was  formerly  associated  with  the 
old  Siemens  &  Halske  Works,  Chicago,  before  its  pur- 
chase by  the  General  Electric  Company.  Mr.  Parkhurst 
is  a  graduate  of  Lehigh  University  and  a  member  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and  the  Ameri- 
can Electrochemical  Society. 

The  technical  program  began  on  Monday  afternoon  with 
a  paper  on  mixed-pressure  turbines,  with  special  reference 
to  the  use  of  steam  regenerators,  by  Mr.  E.  D.  Dickinson, 
of  the  General  Electric  Company.  The  paper  was  dis- 
cussed by  Messrs.  Barton  Stevenson,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.;  H. 
M.  Gassman,  Birmingham,  Ala. ;  W.  T.  Snyder,  McKees- 
port.  Pa.;  E.  L.  Farrar,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.;  O.  R.  Jones, 
Youngstown,  Ohio;  J.  H.  Wilson,  Middletown,  Ohio;  J. 
C.  Reed,  Steelton,  Pa.;  E.  J.  Cheney,  Schenectady;  B.  R. 
Shover,  Youngstown,  Ohio;  T.  E.  Tynes,  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
and  A.  B.  Bartholomew,  Donora,  Pa.  Mr.  Wilfred  Sykes, 
of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
followed  with  a  paper  entitled  "Power  Problems  in  Steel 
Mills."  Messrs.  B.  G.  Beck,  Gary,  Ind. ;  R.  Tschentscher, 
South  Chicago,  111. ;  B.  Stevenson,  T.  E.  Tynes,  J.  Farring- 
ton  and  J.  H.  Wilson  took  part  in  the  discussion.  A  paper 
on  "Blast  Furnace  Tops,"  prepared  by  Mr.  A.  E.  Handy, 
of  the  Otis  Elevator  Companj',  New  York,  was  read  in  his 
absence  by  Mr.  E.  C.  Smith,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  and  was 
discussed  by  Messrs.  T.  E.  Tynes,  B.  W.  Gilson,  Youngs- 
town, Ohio,  and  C.  Pirtle,  Cleveland. 

Mr.  E.  J.  Cheney,  of  the  General  Electric  Company, 
opened  the  Tuesday  forenoon  session  with  a  paper  on  auto- 
matic speed-regulating  equipment  for  induction  motors  with 
flywheels.  Messrs.  T.  E.  Tvnes,  C.  S.  Lankton,  Pittsburgh, 
Pa.;  C.  E.  Bedell,  Warwood,  W.  Va. ;  B.  G.  Beck,  F.  P. 
Townsend,  Ampere,  N.  J. ;  W.  Sykes,  E.  Friedlander. 
Braddock,  Pa.;  S.  Eton.  J.  Farrington,  C.  W.  Parkhurst  and 
B.  R.  Shover  discussed  the  subject.  A  paper  on  "Direct- 
Current  Motor-Field  Coils,"  by  Mr.  R.  B.  Treat,  of  the 
Crocker-Wheeler  Company,  was  discussed  briefly  by 
Messrs.  B.  Wilev,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.;  M.  A.  Whiting,  Sche- 
nectady ;  S.  Egan,  C.  W.  Parkhurst,  C.  E.  Bedell  and  T.  E. 
Tynes.  A  paper  by  Mr.  C.  J.  Mundo,  of  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company,  entitled  "Curves  and  Data  for  Illumination 
Calculations"  and  scheduled  for  a  later  program  date, 
closed  the  morning  session.  Messrs.  B.  W.  Gilson,  Ward 
Harrison,  Cleveland;  G.  W.  Richardson,  Philadelphia;  J. 
Farrington,  H.  M.  Gassman,  C.  W.  Parkhurst  and  B.  R. 
Shover  took  part  in  the  discussion,  paying  a  tribute  to  Mr. 
Mundo's  work  in  improving  mill  illumination. 

Mr.  J.  F.  Lincoln,  Lincoln  Electric  Company,  Cleveland, 
opened  Tuesday  afternoon's  session  with  a  paper  on  "Arc 
Welding."  In  the  absence  of  Mr.  Frank  Warren,  his 
paper,  "Electric  Welding  Machines,"  was  read  by  title 
only  and  was  followed  by  Mr.  M.  S.  Plumley's  paper,  "Ac- 
complishments and  Possibilities  of  Oxyacetylene  Welding." 
read  by  Mr.  J.  M.  Morehead,  Chicago.  The  joint  dis- 
cussion on  w-elding  processes  was  participated  in  by  Messrs. 
R.  F.  Patterson.  McKee's  Rocks,  Pa. ;  E.  Friedlander.  B. 
W.  Gilson,  B.  Wilev.  T.  A.  Seed,  J.  Farrington.  T.  E. 
Tynes,  W.  E.  Snyder,  C.  Pirtle,  W.  Sykes,  R.  C.  Reed,  M. 
G.  Lloyd,  Chicago:  V.  Martindale  and  George  Hills,  Gar- 
wood, N.  J.  Mr.  Ward  Harrison's  paper,  "The  Electric 
Lamp  in  the  Steel  Industry,"  which  had  been  transferred 
from  Wednesday's  program,  brought  the  meeting  to  a 
close  and  was  discussed  briefly  by  Messrs.  T.  E.  Tynes,  H. 
M.  Gassman,  B.  Switzer  and  C.  J.  Mundo. 

On  Wednesday  the  delegates  viewed  the  Vanderbilt  Cup 
automobile  race  on  special  cars  and  in  the  evening  attended 
a  theater  party.  An  elaborate  and  complete  collection  of 
photographs  and  models  of  safety  devices  occupied  a  dis- 
play room  in  the  hotel  during  the  joint  conventions. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


.NEW   YORK   COMMISSION.   FIKST   DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  First  District  has 
just  issued  a  fifty-four-page  illustrated  publication  describ- 
ing the  plans  for  the  dual  system  of  rapid  transit  for  New 
York  City.  The  solution  of  the  rapid-transit  problem  is 
discussed  and  the  general  construction  features  of  the  dual 
system  and  the  methods  of  financing  are  gone  into  at  some 
length. 

NEW     YORK     COMMISSION,     SECOND     DISTRICT. 

The  Metropolitan  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  has  ■ 
complained  to  the  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  Dis- 
trict, against  the  New  York  Telephone  Company  for  refusal 
of  the  latter  company  to  furnish  telephone  service  to  the 
complainant.  The  complainant  is  located  at  135  East  Six- 
teenth Street,  New  York  City,  and  desires  service  of  the 
New  York  company.  The  commission  is  asked  to  make  an 
order  directing  the  New  York  company  to  install  a  switch- 
board and  furnish  telephone  service  promptly.  Reports  of 
tests  of  meters  filed  with  the  commission  during  August, 
igi2.  show  that  out  of  7985  tests  399,  or  5  per  cent,  were 
fast.  6668,  or  83  per  cent,  were  accurate,  and  918,  or  12  per 
cent,  were  slow.  Reports  were  made  by  239  companies, 
but  of  this  number  99  made  no  tests.  There  were  forty-six 
companies  that  did  not  make  any  report. 

The  Public  Service  Commission.  Second  District,  has 
begun  an  investigation  into  the  rates  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  on 
complaint  of  the  city,  the  sessions  being  held  in  the  Buffalo 
city  hall.  The  interwoven  interests  of  the  electrical  com- 
panies were  explained  by  Mr.  Charles  R.  Huntley,  president 
and  general  manager  of  the  Buffalo  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, and  an  officer  and  director  in  other  electrical  concerns 
in  the  vicinity  of  Buffalo.  Mr.  Philip  H.  Barton,  of  the 
Niagara  Falls  Power  Company,  and  Mr.  Morris  Cohn,  Jr., 
of  the  Cliff  Electrical  Distributing  Company,  also  testified. 
The  Cliff  Electrical  Distributing  Company  refused  to  pro- 
duce its  contracts  and  books  relating  to  the  cost  of  pro- 
ducing electricity,  on  the  ground  that  it  did  not  sell  its 
product  outside  of  Niagara  Falls,  and  that  its  business  there 
was  confined  to  manufacturing  plants,  so  that  it  could  not 
be  considered  as  a  public  service  corporation.  The  hearings 
will  be  continued. 

MARYLAND    COMMISSION. 

The  Maryland  Public  Service  Commission  last  week 
passed  an  order  which  practically  meant  the  winning  of 
the  contest  of  the  Telephone  Protective  Association,  an 
organization  composed  of  Baltimore  business  men,  for  a 
six-month  extension  of  the  flat-rate  telephone  service  in 
the  business  district  of  Baltimore.  It  is  reported  that  the 
members  of  the  association  will  proceed  at  once  to  gather 
evidence  which  they  claim  will  prove  that  the  Chesapeake 
&  Potomac  Telephone  Company  is  charging  excessive  rates. 
The  last  order  changes  a  clause  in  the  original  order  of  the 
commission  and  extends  the  flat-rate  privileges  from  Oct.  i, 
the  time  set  for  their  withdrawal,  until  April  i.  1913.  At 
the  same  time  the  Telephone  Protective  Association  is  to 
have  until  Jan.  i,  1913.  to  submit  evidence.  The  extension 
was  granted  on  the  ground  that  one  commissioner  was  not 
present  at  the  original  proceedings,  held  more  than  a  year 
ago,  when  there  was  dissension  in  the  commission  on  the 
question  of  whether  the  public  had  been  properly  repre- 
sented at  the  hearings. 

A  few  weeks  ago  a  table  of  electric  rates  was  presented 
to  the  commission  bv  Vice-president  Herbert  A.  Wagner 
of  the  Consolidated  Gas.  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company, 
showing  that  the  Baltimore  primary  rate  of  10  cents  per 
kw-hr.  compared  favorably  with  the  rates  of  other  large 
cities  of  the  country.  During  the  hearing  last  week  a 
statement  was  made  by  Mr.  Oscar  T.  Crosby,  president  of 
the  Wilmington  &  Philadelphia  Traction   Company,  to  the 


October  s,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


699 


effect  that  tlie  tables  were  absolutely  worthless.  This  state- 
ment took  counsel  for  both  sides  completely  by  surprise, 
since  Mr.  Crosby  was  testifying  for  the  company.  He  also 
gave  extensive  testimonj'  on  the  rate  of  return  on  an  in- 
vestment in  a  public  utility  such  as  an  electric  plant,  and 
consumed  an  entire  hour  in  answering  a  specific  question 
on  this  subject. 

I  OHIO    COMMISSION. 

I  On  Sept.  27  a  number  of  central-station  representatives 
appeared  before  the  commission  to  discuss  the  question  of 
wiring  buildings  for  which  they  are  to  furnish  service  and 
the  rules  which  many  of  them  have  formulated  and  sub- 
mitted. Mr.  L.  G.  White,  electrical  e.xpert  in  the  office  of 
the  commission,  objected  to  the  rule  that  the  company's 
wires  should  be  brought  only  to  within  18  in.  of  the  build- 
ing and  contended  that  it  would  be  dangerous  to  the  con- 
sumer, since  safety  devices  cannot  be  attached  on  the  out- 
side. He  contended  that  the  wires  should  be  brought  within 
the  building.  Led  by  Mr.  W.  C.  Anderson,  of  Canton,  the 
central-station  men  argued  that  the  commission's  plan  in- 
creases the  danger  and  works  a  hardship  on  the  companies. 
For  outside  use.  it  was  stated,  weatherproof  wires  are  used 

'  and  they  would  be  highly  dangerous  if  brought  inside  where 
rubber-covered  wires  are  used  and  are  demanded  by  insur- 
ance companies.  Another  trouble  encountered  relates  to 
labor.  Outside  and  inside  wiring  are  two  distinct  employ- 
ments, as  the  labor  men  look  at  it,  and  there  would  be 
trouble  if  the  outside  men  were  required  to  carry  the  wires 
within  the  buildings,  it  was  said.  The  commission  took  the 
matter  under  advisement  and  will  render  a  decision  later. 
For  the  first  time  since  its  establishment  the  commission 
has  been  called  upon  to  exercise  its  authority  in  requiring 
a  public  utility  to  provide  suitable  service  for  the  public. 
Recently  Mayor  McElroy  of  Ottawa  filed  a  complaint  alleg- 
ing that  the  Putnam  Telephone  Company  is  not  furnishing 
proper  service.  At  a  hearing  on  the  complaint  Mr.  McElroy 
described  conditions  as  he  saw  them,  while  Secretary  M.  E. 
Matthews  of  the  company  explained  the  conditions  which 
perhaps  stand  in  the  way  of  first-class  service.  Two  years 
ago  a  very  severe  storm  swept  Putnam  County  and  the 
poles  and  wires  of  the  company  were  wrecked.  Temporary 
repairs  were  made  and  the  wires  were  strung  on  anything 
at  hand,  but  it  is  claimed  that  the  lines  have  not  yet 
been  permanentlv  rebuilt  and.  as  a  result,  the  service  is 
very  poor. 

I  SAN     FRANCISCO     BOARD     OF    SUPERVISORS. 

In  a  recently  enacted  ordinance  the  Board  of  Supervisors 
for  the  city  and  county  of  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  has  fixed 
the  maximum  rates  for  central-station  electric  service  for 
the  year  which  will  terminate  June  30,  1913.  These  rates 
are  given  herewith.  For  electric  light  and  motor  service 
the  same  schedule  applies,  as  follows : 

Minimum  bill,  per  montb $1.00 

2  kw-hr.   per  16-cp  lamp,  or  less,  per  kw-lir 08 

2  kw-hr.  to  3  kw-hr.  per  16-cp  lamp 07 

3  kw-hr.  to   5   kw-hr.   per   16-cp  lamp 06 

5  kw-hr.  to  9  kw-hr.   per   16-cp  lamp 05 

Over  9  kw-hr.    per   16-cp   lamp 04 

In  computing  the  l6-cp  lamp  equivalent  of  an  arc  lamp, 
two  incandescent  lamps  shall  be  taken  as  the  equivalent 
for   each   ampere   of   current   consumed   by    the   arc    lamp. 

The  maximum  rate  for  arc  lamps  consuming  7  amp  and 
not  less  than  70  volts  each,  or  lamps  of  equal  consumption 
in  watts,  on  a  weekly  basis,  is  as  next  given : 

Twenty-four  hours  per  day $5.00 

Sunrise  to  sunset 3.00 

Sunset  to  sunrise ' 2.25 

Sunset  to  midnight 1.75 

Six  nights,  sunset  lo  9.30  p.ni 1.40 

Violations  of  the  ordinance  are  punishable  by  a  fine  of 
$5  or  six  months'  imprisonment,  or  both. 


Current  News  and  Notes 

Stein METZ  Lecture  in  Chicago. — Once  a  year  Dr.  C.  P. 
Steinmetz  gives  a  lecture  in  Chicago  before  a  joint  meeting 
of  the  Chicago  Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  and  the  Electrical  Section  of  the  Western 
Society  of  Engineers.  This  year's  meeting  will  be  held 
as  usual  at  Fullerton  Hall,  Art  Institute,  and  the  date  is 
Oct.  28.  The  lecturer's  subject,  as  announced,  is  "Some 
Problems  in  Electrical  Engineering." 

*  *     * 

Protection  of  the  Rubber  Industry. — The  Brazilian 
Bureau  of  Information,  59  Rue  de  Richelieu,  Paris,  France, 
has  translated  into  English  the  recently  enacted  laws  and 
regulations  of  Brazil  for  the  protection  of  the  rubber  in- 
dustry. The  forty-eight-page  pamphlet  which  the  bureau 
is  distributing  contains  a  copy  of  the  statute  enacted  on 
Jan.  5,  1912,  and  the  decree  of  April  17,  1912,  embodying 
the  regulations  in  connection  with  the  administration  of 
the  law. 

*  *     * 

Electricity  in  Denver  Parade. — The  Colorado  Electric 
Club  will  take  charge  of  illumination  of  streets  and  an  ex- 
tensive electrical  illuminated  parade  at  the  "Mountain  and 
Plains  Festival"  in  Denver  Oct.  15,  16  and  17.  This  is 
the  first  revival  for  years  of  the  Denver  carnival.  One 
hundred  and  fifty  club  members  in  costume  will  man  elec- 
tric floats  and  ride  horses  in  electric  panoplies.  Five  hun- 
dred dollars  was  voted  on  Sept.  26  te  cover  the  expenses 
of  costuming. 

Ozone  Sterilization  of  Water  for  St.  Petersburg. — 
The  magistrate  and  City  Council  of  St.  Petersburg  have 
practically  agreed  to  adopt  the  ozone  method  in  connection 
with  rapid  filtration  for  the  cleaning  and  sterilization  of 
water  for  the  city,  on  account  of  the  good  results  obtained 
from  the  Siemens  &  Halske  ozone  water-works  already  in 
operation  at  Penkowaja.  Advertisements  for  proposals  for 
the  plant  have  already  been  issued,  the  city  having  appro- 
priated 10,000,000  rubles  ($7,700,000)  for  the  project. 

*  *     * 

Coal  Washing  and  Coking. — The  Bureau  of  Mines, 
Department  of  the  Interior,  has  recently  issued  as  Bulle- 
tin 5  the  second  edition  of  the  sixty-two-page  report  on 
"Washing  and  Coking  Tests  of  Coal,"  which  covers  the 
work  carried  out  at  the  fuel-testing  plant  at  Denver  from 
July  I,  1908,  to  June  30,  1909.  These  tests  form  part  of 
the  investigation  of  mineral  fuels  of  this  country  carried 
on  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  under  the 
authority  of  Congress  and  were  a  continuation  of  the  work 
commenced  at  St.  Louis  during  the  Louisiana  Purchase 
Exposition,  1904.  The  results  are  presented  in  tabular 
form. 

*  *     * 

Coal  Fields  in  Colorado  and  New  Mexico. — Bulletin 
471-H  lately  issued  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey, 
Department  of  the  Interior,  entitled  "Coal  Fields  in  Colo- 
rado and  New  Mexico,"  contains  an  advance  chapter  from 
Bulletin  471,  "Contributions  to  Economic  Geo.logy,  1910, 
Part  II."  The  first  portion  of  this  sixteen-page  bulletin  is 
devoted  to  the  coal  resources  of  Gunnison  Valley,  Mesa 
and  Delta  Counties,  Col.  As  to  future  use  of  these  fields, 
the  bulletin  states  that  it  is  doubtful  if  their  development 
will  ever  be  extensive.  The  beds  of  coal  are  thin  and 
limited  in  extent  and  the  coal  is  also  impure.  These  facts 
render  mining  difficult  and  also  interfere  with  ready  com- 
bustion. The  latter  portion  of  the  bulletin  is  devoted  to  the 
Tijeras  coal  field.  Bernalillo  County,  N.  M.  It  is  stated 
that  many  attempts  have  been  made  to  find  coal  in  the 
Tijeras  field  in  beds  thick  enough  to  be  worked  with  profit, 
but  most  of  these  attempts  have  proved  futile.  The  eco- 
nomic importance  of  these  beds  is  yet  to  be  demonstrated. 


700 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


Past  Jupiters'  Endowment  Fund. — The  Past  Jupiters' 
Association  of  the  Sons  of  Jove  is  composed  of  nine  men 
who  have  served  as  Jupiter,  who  is  the  president  or  chief 
officer  of  the  order.  This  association  is  making  provision 
for  an  endowment  fund  for  the  future  development  of  the 
order.  At  the  start  this  fund  will  be  made  up  of  the  member- 
ship dues  of  the  nine  past  Jupiters,  amounting  to  $900;  a 
Ijequest  of  one  past  Jupiter,  amounting  to  $1,000,  and  2>4 
per  cent  of  the  annual  income  of  the  order,  estimated  at 
$500.  This  makes  a  total  of  $2,400,  in  addition  to  which 
individual  Jovians  may  voluntarily  make  such  subscriptions 
as  they  desire,  addressing  Mr.  J.  Robert  Grouse,  1818  East 
Forty-fifth  Street,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  No  part  of  either  the 
principal  or  interest  of  the  fund  shall  be  withdrawn  during 
the  first  ten  years.  The  Past  Jupiters"  Association,  for  this 
and  other  purposes,  is  being  organized  under  a  charter  from 
the  State  of  Ohio. 

*  *     * 

SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Toronto  A.  I.  E.  E. — At  the  meeting  of  the  Toronto 
Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
on  Oct.  4  Mr.  Horatio  A.  Foster  was  scheduled  to  deliver  an 
address  on  "The  Principles  of  Engineering  Valuations  and 
Their  Applications." 

*  *     * 

Philadelphia  Section,  I.  E.  S. — The  opening  meeting 
of  the  season  for  the  Philadelphia  Section  of  the  Illu- 
minating Engineering  Society  was  held  on  Sept.  28  at  the 
athletic  association  grounds  of  the  Philadelphia  Electric 
Company.  Prof.  Monroe  -B.  Snyder,  of  the  Central  High 
School,  read  a  paper  entitled  "The  Light  of  the  Stars,"  and 
Dr.  Herbert  E.  Ives  outlined  the  recent  I.  E.  S.  convention 
at  Niagara  Falls. 

*  *     * 

Electric  Club  to  Visit  Sanitary  District  Hydroelec- 
tric Plant. — At  the  meeting  of  the  Electric  Club  of  Chi- 
cago on  Sept.  26  an  invitation  was  extended  from  the  San- 
itary District  to  visit  the  power  house  and  controlling 
works  on  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal  at  Lockport,  111., 
including  the  use  of  the  steamer  Robert  R.  McCormick  for 
the  trip.  The  club  has  accepted  the  invitation  and  the  de- 
tails of  the  excursion  have  been  left  with  its  entertainment 
committee. 

*  *     * 

Electrical  Protective  League. — The  second  annual 
meeting  of  the  Electrical  Protective  League  was  held  in 
Chicago  on  the  evening  of  Sept.  23,  after  a  dinner  at  the 
Hamilton  Club.  This  organization  is  composed  of  nearly 
all  the  electrical  manufacturers,  representatives  of  manu- 
facturers, supply  houses  and  jobbers  in  Chicago.  Its  pur- 
pose is  to  protect  its  members  against  theft.  There  was  a 
general  discussion  of  the  work  of  the  year,  and  officers 
were  elected  to  serve  for  the  ensuing  twelve  months. 

*  *     * 

Institute  Banquet  in  Los  Angeles. — About  150  mem- 
bers and  guests  of  the  Los  Angeles  Section  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  took  part  in  a  "get- 
acquainted  dinner"  which  was  given  in  a  Los  Angeles  res- 
taurant on  Sept.  24.  Chairman  George  A.  Damon,  Dr. 
Henry  S.  Carhart,  Prof.  R.  W.  Sorensen,  James  E.  Mac- 
donald  and  others  made  speeches.  This,  the  first  social 
gathering  of  the  kind  by  the  Institute  members  in  Los 
Angeles  and  vicinity,  was  so  successful  that  it  is  planned 
to  have  a  regular  annual  dinner  hereafter. 

*  *     * 

Meeting  of  New  England  Section,  E.  V.  A. — The  first 
fall  meeting  of  the  New  England  Section  of  the  Electric 
Vehicle  Association  of  America  was  held  at  Paul  Revere 
Hall,  Mechanics'  Building,  Boston,  on  Sept.  30.  The  fol- 
lowing officers  were  elected  prior  to  a  tour  of  inspection  of 
the  Boston  1912  Electric  Show:     Chairman,  Mr.  Fred  M. 


Kimball,  Lynn,  Mass. ;  secretary  and  treasurer,  Mr.  Leavitt 
L.  Edgar,  Boston ;  executive  board,  Messrs.  E.  S.  Mans- 
field, Frank  N.  Phelps,  J.  A.  White,  H.  L.  Converse,  Day 
Baker,  F.  J.  Stone,  E.  H.  Hewins  and  P.  E.  Whiting,  all  of 
Boston. 


\ 


Boston  Jovians. — Under  the  title  "Everybody  for  Every 
body  Else"  the  Sons  of  Jove  of  New  England  have  issued 
attractive  invitations  to  their  "rejuvenation,"  to  be  held  at 
the  American  House,  Boston,  Mass.,  on  Oct.  7.  The  parade, 
which  will  form  in  front  of  the  hotel  at  7:30  p.  m.,  will  con- 
sist of  platoon  of  police.  First  Corps  cadets'  band,  reigning 
Jupiter  and  his  congress  in  automobiles,  chairmen  of  com- 
mittees, visiting  statesmen  and  invited  guests  in  automobiles, 
special  degree  team  from  New  York  City  in  automobiles, 
candidates  for  rejuvenation  in  costume,  order  of  the  Re- 
juvenated Sons  of  Jove  and  mounted  police. 

*  *     * 

Meeting  of  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  Section, 
Technical  Division,  N.  E.  L.  A. — Mr.  P.  B.  Juhnke  pre- 
sided at  the  meeting  of  the  technical  division  of  the  Com- 
monwealth Edison  Company  Section  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  in 
Chicago  on  Sept.  26.  Papers  were  read  by  Mr.  A.  D.  Bailey 
on  "Human  Engineering"  and  Mr.  D.  Macrae  on  "Storage 
Battery  Engineering."  Messrs.  R.  F.  Schuchardt,  M.  L. 
Eastman  and  D.  W.  Roper  took  part  in  the  discussion.  Mem- 
bers of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  Orchestra,  composed  of  employees  of 
the  company,  gave  really  high-class  music.  The  soloists  were 
as  follows :  Flute,  Mr.  M.  L.  Eastman ;  clarinet,  Mr.  T. 
Becker;  violin,  Mr.  M.  P.  Botts;  violoncello,  Mr.  D.  E. 
Rowland.  The  next  meeting  of  the  whole  section  will  be 
held  on  Oct.  8,  when  Mr.  George  M.  Reynolds,  president  of 
the  Continental  and  Commercial  National  Bank,  will  speak 
on  "Money." 

*  *     * 

Progr.\m  of  the  Railway  Signal  Association. — The 
seventeenth  annual  convention  of  the  Railway  Signal  As- 
sociation will  be  held  at  Quebec,  Can.,  on  Oct.  8-10.  The 
order  of  events  recently  announced  in  the  official  pro- 
gram is  as  follows :  Tuesday,  Oct.  8,  president's  address, 
secretary-treasurer's  report  and  reports  of  the  following 
committees:  mechanical  interlocking,  power  interlocking, 
automatic  block,  manual  block,  electric  railways  and  al- 
ternating-current signaling,  and  storage  batteries.  On 
Wednesday,  Oct.  9,  the  reports  of  the  following  committees 
will  be  presented :  Signaling  practice,  standards,  and  sub- 
jects and  definitions.  On  Thursday,  Oct.  10,  the  following 
committee  reports  will  be  submitted:  Wires  and  cables,  con- 
tracts, and  method  of  recording  signal  failures.  After  tak- 
ing up  miscellaneous  business  and  the  selection  of  a  place 
for  the  next  annual  convention,  the  annual  election  of 
officers   will   be  held  and  the  convention   will  come  to  a 

close. 

*  *     * 

.A.MERICAN  Mining  Congress. — The  fifteenth  annual  ses- 
sion of  the  American  Mining  Congress  has  been  called  for 
Nov.  25-28  at  Spokane,  Wash.  In  the  official  call  the  fol- 
lowing topics  are  announced  for  consideration :  Conserva- 
tion, workman's  compensation,  interstate  trade  commission, 
mine  taxation,  federal  control  of  mineral  lands,  liberal  con- 
struction of  public  land  laws,  water-power,  right-of-way 
over  public  domain,  revision  of  mineral  land  laws,  the 
Alaskan  situation,  railroad  construction  in  Alaska,  the  use 
of  electricty  in  mining  operations,  federal  aid  for  mining 
schools  and  mining  investments.  A  special  committee  hav- 
ing under  consideration  the  use  of  electricity  in  metal- 
mining  operations  will  present  a  code  for  the  use  of  elec- 
tricty in  metalliferous  mines.  The  American  Mining  Con- 
gress is  a  practical  organization  devoting  itself  to  the  econ- 
omic, administrative  and  commercial  phases  of  the  mining 
industry.  Mr.  James  F.  Callbreath,  Denver,  Col.,  is  secre- 
tary of  the  organization. 


CHICAGO'S  LATEST  GENERATING  STATION. 

Commonwealth  Edison  Company's   Northwest  Plant,  Designed  for  Ultimate 

Equipment  of  240,000  Kw. 

Unit  System  of  Arrangement  of  Apparatus  Adhered   to  Throughout — Two  20,000-kw  Vertical   Turbo- 
Generators  at  Present  Installed — General  Description  of  Main   and  Auxiliary    Steam 
Equipment — Parking  of  Station  Grounds. 


By  H.  H. 

IN  the  issue  of  the  Electrical  World  for  June  i,  191 1,  a 
preliminary  account  of  the  new  Northwest  station  of 
the  Commonweakh  Edison  Company  was  published. 
The  policy  of  expansion  which  led  to  the  planning  of  this 
remarkable  station  was  explained  and  general  information 
as  to  the  layout  of  the  site  and  the  buildings  was  given. 
Now  that  the  buildings  as  planned  for  the  present  are  com- 
plete and  all  of  the  machinery  installed  that  is  needed  for 
immediate  requirements,  it  is  appropriate  that  a  more 
detailed  description  of  the  plant  should  be  given. 

The  new  Northwest  station  is  the  third  of  the  modern 
plants  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company.  The  other 
two  are  the  well-known  Fisk  Street  and  Quarry  Street 
stations,  located  respectively  on  the  north  and  south  banks 
of  the  South  Branch  of  the  Chicago  River,  about  2  miles 
from  the  intersection  of  Dearborn  and  Madison  Streets 
in  the  downtown  business  district.  The  Fisk  Street 
station  contams  ten  12,000-kw  turbine  generators,  and  the 
Quarry  Street  station  six  14,000-kw  sets.  The  last  station 
is,  as  the  name  indicates,  located  northwest  of  the  business 


NORRIS. 

center,  being  on  a  109-acre  site  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
North  Branch  of  the  Chicago  River,  5J/2  miles  from  the 
down-town  section  of  Chicago.  The  completed  project 
includes  two  similar  groups  of  buildings,  each  to  contain 
six  20,ooo-kw  generating  sets  arranged  on  the  unit  system; 
that  is,  with  boilers  and  auxiliaries  for  each  set  practically 
independent.  The  ultimate  cost  of  the  completed  project 
is  about  $20,000,000,  or  say  $83.50  per  kilowatt.  This  low 
first  cost  is  due  to  the  size  of  units  employed,  namely,  steam 
turbines  of  practically  30,000  hp  each  and  boilers  of  5600 
sq.  ft.  heating  surface,  ten  to  each  turbine. 

The  site,  on  the  bank  of  the  North  Branch  of  the  Chicago 
River,  within  a  few  thousand  feet  of  the  tracks  of  the 
Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway  Company,  is  convenient 
for  the  supply  of  fuel  and  water  and  for  the  disposal  of 
ashes.  At  the  same  time  it  is  near  the  center  of  a  populous 
and  prosperous  section  of  the  city  and  one  that  is  bound  to 
demand  a  steady  increase  in  electrical  energy  supply.  Being 
adjacent  to  a  residence  district,  every  effort  has  been  made 
to   produce   an   attractive   park    about    the   station   and   the 


Fig.    1 — Generating    Room    of    the    Commonwealth     Edison    Northwest  Station. 


702 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


grounds  have  been  laid  out  under  the  direction  of  a  land- 
scape architect.  The  coal  piles  and  other  necessarily  un- 
sightly features  have  been  subordinated,  from  the  landscape 
viewpoint,  to  trees,  flower  beds,  lawns  and  winding  road- 
ways. The  approach  from  the  city  side,  therefore,  gives  an 
impression  of  beauty  and  completeness  not  ordinarily  asso- 
ciated   with    the    prosaic    generation    of    electrical    energy. 

GENERAL  LAYOUT  OF  PLANT 

The  buildings  are  placed  for  the  best  possible  arrange- 
ment of  fuel  and  circulating-water  supply  with  due  regard 
to  appearance.  As  this  station  is  being  built  for  the  future 
without  hurry,  it  has  been  possible  to  select  the  site  and  lay 
out  the  buildings  and  apparatus  in  accordance  with  the 
engineering  ideals  of  the  designers.  No  expense  is  being 
spared  to  get  the  best  possible  equipment,  using  that  term 
in  its  broad  engineering  sense. 

The  buildings  will  ultimately  front  on  California  Avenue, 
if  it  is  extended  through  the  company's  property.  They 
will  lie  symmetrically  about  an  axis  perpendicular  to  the 
avenue.  This  axis  is  one  of  the  important  architectural 
features  of  the  scheme,  for  symmetry  is  an  element  of 
beauty  in  a  case  like  this.  On  the  axis  and  near  the  avenue 
will  be  a  small  administration  building,  and  even  the  coal 
piles  will  lie  in  positions  symmetrical  with  and  parallel  to 
the  axis.  The  buildings  are  of  plain  design,  of  structural 
steel  and  brick,  liberal  in  proportions  but  well  adapted  in 
size  and  form  to  the  apparatus  which  they  house. 

There  are  three  buildings  in  each  group — the  boiler  and 
turbine  house,  the  transformer  house  and  the  switch  house. 
The  buildings  are  separated  to  give  security  from  communi- 
cation of  fire  from  one  to  another.  The  ultimate  sizes  of 
these  buildings  are  as  follows :  Boiler  and  turbine  house, 
boiler  room,  275  ft.  by  121  ft.;  turbine  room,  290  ft.  by 
70  ft. ;  transformer  house,  290  ft.  by  28  ft.,  and  switch 
house,  290  ft.  by  35  ft. 

The  construction  of  the  plant  is  readily  followed  if  one 


electrical  apparatus  for  transforming,  controlling  and 
measuring  the  output  of  the  generators.  In  the  present 
boiler  house  one  coal-conveying  outfit  furnishes  two  rows 
of  boilers  with  fuel,  but  it  is  probable  that  in  the  extension 
of  the  station  (which  now  contains  but  two  units)  each 
row  of  boilers  will  have  its  independent  coal  supply.  The 
excitation  system  is  also  not  in  units,  because  a  common 


Fig.  2 — Boiler  Room   of  the   Northwest  Station. 

remembers  that  the  basis  is  the  unit  system.  Each  half  of 
the  twin  stations  comprises  six  nearly  independent  units 
placed  side  by  side.  A  unit  consists  of  ten  boilers,  each  of 
5600  sq.  ft.  heating  surface,  with  feed-water  heater,  pumps 
and  auxiliary  apparatus ;  a  20,000-kw  vertical  turbo-gen- 
erator, with  condenser,  circulating  and  vacuum  pumps, 
pressure   pumps   and   accumulator    for   step   bearings,   etc.; 


Fig.   3 — View   of  the   Grounds   and   Office    Buildings. 

source  of  excitation  for  the  alternators  is  considered  more 
reliable  and  efficient  than  separate  exciters   for  each  unit. 

TURBINES  AND  AUXILIARIES.  ■ 

The  turbine  room  at  present  contains  two  20,ooo-kw  tur- 
bines of  standard  construction,  differing  mainly  in  size  from 
those  in  the  station  located  at  Quarry  Street.  The  re- 
volving member  contains  six  disks,  each  carrying  a  double 
row  of  buckets.     The  rims  of  the  disks  are  made  up  in 

detachable  sections,  each  of  a 
convenient  size  for  handling 
and  slotted  on  the  inside  sur- 
face. In  assembling  they  are 
driven  on  the  edge  of  the  web 
of  the  disk  and  bolted  through 
firmly.  The  buckets  are  held  at 
the  inside  end  in  a  dovetail 
groove  in  the  rim  sections  and 
their  outer  ends  are  held  in 
position  by  a  metal  strip  riveted 
on.  The  first  three  stages  have 
twenty-eight  double  bucket  sec- 
tions of  twenty-four  buckets 
each;  the  last  three  have 
twenty-eight  double  bucket  sec- 
tions of  twenty  buckets  each. 
The  total  number  of  buckets  is, 
therefore,  7392.  The  outside 
diameter  of  the  first-stage  wheel 
is  nearly  11  ft.  10  in.,  and  that 
of  the  sixth-stage  wheel  slightly 
over  13  ft.  The  lengths  of  the 
buckets  are  given  in  Table  I, 
on  page  703.  The  guaranteed 
steam  consumption  of  the  tur- 
bine at  250  lb.  pressure  and  of 
the  turbine  at  250  lb.  pressure 
and  100  deg.  superheat  is  given 
in  Table  II,  with  the  corresponding  water  rate.  Table  III 
shows  the  weights  of  the  turbine  and  generator  parts. 

From  the  table  it  will  be  noted  that  the  rotating  parts 
weigh  almost  exactly  100  tons.  This  great  weight  is  sup- 
ported on  a  step  bearing  supplied  with  oil  at  800  lb.  per 
square  inch  pressure.  The  pressure  is  maintained  by  an 
accumulator  and  pumps  which  operate  at  a  pressure  of  1200 

V 


)CTOBER    5,    1 91; 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


703 


b.  per  square  inch,  this  being  throttled  at  the  bearing  to  the 
bove  value.  The  bore  of  the  accumulator  is  8  in.  and  its 
ilunger  stroke  is  8  ft.  It  is  designed  for  1500  lb.  per  square 
nch  pressure  and  is  tested  to  2000  lb.  The  cylinder  and 
ase  are  of  semi-steel.  The  plunger  is  weighted  with  cast- 
ron  weights  4J/2  ft.  in  diameter.  The  oil  for  the  step 
■earing  is  put   under  pressure  by  two  steam-driven    l2-iu. 


BOILERS   AND   AUXILIARIES. 

A  boiler  unit  or  battery  consists  of  ten  boilers,  each  of  a 
steaming  capacity  of  33,600  lb.  per  hour,  giving  a  liberal 
reserve  margin  over  the  steam  requirements  for  the  tui- 
bines.    This  reserve  takes  care  of  the  auxiliaries  and  allows 

TABLE  I. LENGTHS  OF  BUCKETS. 


STAGE. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Length  top.  inches       

2 

2 
3i 

2 

a 

2i 
4 

51 
9 

6f 

18 

for  regular  cleaning  of  the  boilers  even  if  the  turbines  are 
fully  loaded.  Each  boiler  contains  fourteen  rows  of  4-in. 
tubes,  sixteen  tubes  to  the  row,  the  entire  heating  surface 
being  5600  sq.  ft.  There  is  also  a  single-loop  superheater 
designed  for  125  deg.  superheat  at  full  steaming  capacity. 
The  chain  grate  is  10  ft.  wide  by  ii>4  ft.  long,  having  ar. 
effective  area  of  115  sq.  ft.    This  type  of  grate  is  very  suc- 


Flg.   A — Coal    Conveyor   in    Monitor   Over    Boiler    Room. 

V  3-in.  by  l8-in.  horizontal,  double-acting  high-pressure  oil 
limps.  The  pressure  for  the  upper  bearings  and  the 
ydraulically  operated  valve  gear  is  supplied  by  two  6-in.  by 
■in.  by  6-in.  pumps. 

CONDENSER. 

The  turbine-base  condenser,  upon  which  the  turbine  sits 

:  floor  level,  contains  three  sections — the  main  or  center 

xtion,  with   3750  tubes,   and  two   auxiliary   sections  with 

le-half  this  number  of  tubes  each.    The  tubes  are  of  brass, 

in.  outside  diameter  and  17  ft. 

ing.  Each  has,  therefore,  4.44 
,  J.  ft.  surface.  The  total  effect- 
1  e  condensing  surface  is  32.000 

[.   ft.,  or   1.2   sq.    ft.   per  b.hp. 

nder    the     specifications     the 

jndenser  must  maintain  a  2-in. 

jcuum  when   condensing  280,-' 

JO  lb.  of  steam  per  hour  when 

ipplied  with  40,000  gal.  of  cir- 
;  ilating  water  per  minute  at  65 
leg.  Fahr.,  and  30,000  lb.  per 
I  our  at   i-in.   vacuum  with  cir- 

ilating   water  at  40  deg.      In 

Idition,  the   degree   of   refrig- 

'ation  of  the  water  of  conden- 

ition   may   not   exceed    5    deg. 

ahr.  over  that  of  vacuum  tem- 

erature  when  condensing  be- 
'  veen  limits  of  180,000  lb.  and 

30,000  lb.  of  exhaust  steam  per 

our. 
'j  Of  the  pumps  which  are  used 
•ji    connection     with     the    con- 

enser  the  most  conspicuous  is 

le  36-in.  volute  centrifugal  cir- 

ulating  pump,  which  is  driven 

t  120  r.p.m.  by  a  20-in.  by  30- 

1.   Corliss   engine.     The   pump 

perates   against  20-ft.   head   and   delivers   40,000   gal.   of 

•ater  per  minute.     The  Corliss  engine  also  drives  the  dry- 

acuuni   pump,   the   cylinder   of   which   is  mounted   tandem 

'ith  the  engine  cylinder  and  which  displaces  2550  cu.  ft.  of 

ir  per  minute.    The  wet-vacuum  pump  is  a  5-in.,  two-stage 

entrifugal    machine,   turbine-driven,   which    extracts    from 
I  le  condenser  660  gal.  of  water  per  minute. 


TABLE  II. GUARANTEED  STEAM 

CONSUMPTION. 

Load  in  Kw. 

Lb.  Water  per  Kw-hr. 

Lb.    Water   per   Hp-hr. 

10,000 
15,500 
20,000 

14.00 
13.45 
14.00 

10.4 
10.0 
10.4 

cessful  in  burning  the  screenings  used  about  Chicago  for 
power  purposes.  These  screenings  contain  about  10,000 
heat  units  per  lb.  Below  the  grate  are  two  hoppers,  the 
front  one  for  the  fine  coal  which  drops,  unburned,  through 


Fig.  5 — Condensers  Under  Base  of  Vertical  Curtis  Turbine. 

the  front  end  of  the  grate.  The  other  is  for  the  ashes  and  is 
located  at  the  back  end  of  the  grate  under  the  middle  of 
the  boiler. 

The  steam  is  collected  from  each  battery  of  boilers  in  a 
i6-in.  header,  located  in  a  header  room  below  the  rear  ends 
of  the  boilers.  This  header  is  supported  on  roller  bearings 
resting  on  the  floor,  and  it  is  fixed  at  the  turbine-room  end, 


704 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o.  Nc.   14. 


where  a  hydraulically  operated  valve  is  located.  The  boiler 
leads  are  of  6-in.  pipe.  The  tops  of  the  boilers  are  con- 
veniently arranged  for  inspection  and  repair  of  the  various 
valves,  a  continuous  runway  being  provided  from  end  to 
end  of  the  row.  The  safety  valves  discharge  into  vertical 
open  pipes  ending  above  the  roof,  thus  providing  against 
the  discharge  of  steam  into  the  boiler  room  and  eliminating 

TABLE  III.-^WEIGHTS  OF  TURBINE  AND  GENERATOR  PARTS. 


Steam  End; 

Main  condenser  shell,  lb   141 .000 

\\Tieel  case  and  diaphragms,  lb 166,000 

Wheels,  lb 71 ,400 

Turbine  shaft  and  coupling,  lb 22,600 

401,000 

Generator  End: 

Armature  stool,  lb 56.000 

Armature,  lb 255,000 

Field,  lb 105  ,000 

Top  shield,  lb   44,000 

460,000 

861,000 


Total 


danger  from  scalding.  An  8-in.  auxiliary  header  connects 
the  boiler  units  and  makes  it  possible  to  use  steam  from  one 
unit  to  supplement  the  supply  from  another. 

Each  row  of  boilers  is  supplied  with  feed  water  by  means 
of  two  5-in.,  three-stage  centrifugal  pumps  driven  by  steam 
turbines  at  2300  r.p.m.  and  designed  to  deliver  700  gal.  per 
minute  against  285  lb.  per  square  inch  pressure.  The  feed 
water  is  drawn  from  the  heater  and  hot  well  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  210  deg.  Fahr.  This  heater  is  of  the  closed  type  and 
contains  4000  sq.  ft.  of  heating  surface.  It  can  raise  the 
temperature  of  the  320,000  lb.  of  water  per  hour  from  70 
deg.,  at  which  it  comes  from  the  condenser,  to  the  above 
value,  when  supplied  with  steam  at  2  lb.  per  square  inch 
pressure.  The  steam  for  this  purpose  conies  from  the 
several  auxiliary  engines  and  pumps.  The  make-up  water 
is  introduced  by  suction  into  the  feed-water  heater,  the 
water  level  in  the  hot  well  being  automatically  controlled  by 
a  float-operated  valve. 

CHIMNEYS. 

One  stack  will  care  for  the  waste  gases  of  ten  boilers. 
The  six  stacks  will  be  alike,  17  ft.  inside  diameter,  18  ft. 
outside  the  steel  shell,  giving  a  brick  thickness  of  nearly 
6  in.     The  stacks,  of  which  three  are  now  built,  stand  250 


Fig.   6 — Smokestacks   with   Steel    Bracings. 

ft.  high  above  the  boiler-room  floor  and  210  ft.  above  the 
roof.  They  are  built  up  of  twenty-two  rings  of  plates,  the 
thickness  of  which  varies  from  J^  in.  at  the  bottom  to  ^4  in. 
at  the  top.  The  total  weight  of  plates  in  one  stack  is  133 
tons.  The  stack  is  supported  upon  a  braced  steel  structure 
resting  upon  its  own  concrete  footings  and  so  tied  in  with 
the  main  building  frame  as  to  make  a  rigid  support  for  the 
stack.     When   one   contemplates   the   enormous    weight    of 


the  stack,  the  forces  which  may  act  upon  it  in  a  gale  and 
the  distance  (nearly  70  ft.)  from  the  bottom  of  the  bell  to 
the  footings,  he  realizes  what  careful  designing  is  neces- 
sary to  render  the  structure  safe. 

The  smoke  flues  rest  on  the  roof  trusses  and  are,  there- 
fore, out  of  doors.  The  space  above  and  behind  the  boilers 
is  thus  kept  clear  for  the  accommodation  of  piping. 


Fig.   7 — Header   and    Hydraulic   Valves. 
FUEL  SUPPLY. 

The  principal  supply  of  fuel  will  be  received  over  the 
Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railroad,  which  runs  less  than  a 
mile  from  the  power  plant.  On  a  private  right-of-way  a 
third-rail  electric  road  of  electrified-steam-road  standard 
construction  has  been  erected.  At  the  railroad  end  a  large 
terminal  yard  will  eventually  be  built  so  that  the  company 
can  store  several  hundred  coal  cars.  The  steam  road  would 
not  permit  electrification  of  any  of  its  own  tracks,  so  that 
at  present  the  electric  locomotives  of  the  Edison  company 
take  the  cars  from  the  railroad  at  the  boundary  of  the 
property  of  the  latter  and  either  store  them  on  the  Edison 
company's  main  track  or  haul  them  to  the  sidings  at  the 
power  plant. 

In  the  large  space  which  will  eventually  lie  between  the 
twin  stations  is  the  yard  coal  storage,  ample  for  250,000 
tons.  Over  the  piles  bridge  cranes  will  eventually  be  in- 
stalled and  the  yard  trackage  so  arranged  that  cars  can  be 
unloaded  and  reloaded  with  minimum  expense  by  electric- 
ally operated  clamshell  buckets.  Under  the  firing  floor 
between  two  rows  of  boilers  is  a  long  room,  37  ft.  wide  and 
27  ft.  high,  in  the  floor  of  which  are  the  concrete  coal 
receiving  hoppers,  nine  in  number.  Below  these  is  a  tunnel 
about  16  ft.  wide  and  20  ft.  high,  with  a  track  for  the  port- 
able coal  crushers.  On  the  floor  of  the  tunnel  is  the  bucket 
conveyor,  which  takes  the  coal  from  the  crushers.  The 
conveyor  belts  the  boiler  house,  its  upper  section  being 
carried  in  a  monitor  on  the  roof  about  104  ft.  above  the 
floor  of  the  tunnel.  The  nine  receiving  hoppers  have  a 
capacity  of  about  14S0  tons,  or  say  74  tons  per  boiler  served 
by  them. 

The  coal  crushers,  of  which  there  is  one  for  each  two 
rows  of  boilers,  are  four-roll  crushers,  having  two  Cornish 
and  two  fluted  rolls.  Each  crusher  is  driven  by  a  70-hp, 
three-phase,  6o-cycle  motor,  and  it  has  also  a  traversing 
motor  of  7>4  hp.  The  specifications  require  that  95  per 
cent  of  the  crushed  product  must  pass  a  }i-m.  clear  opening. 
The  buckets  of  the  conveyor  are  34  in.  by  36  in.  and  the 
speed  is  45  ft.  per  minute.  The  conveyor  is  driven  by  a 
35-hp,  three-phase  motor  which  is  located  at  the  roof  level. 
The  motor  drives,  through  a  reducing  gear,  a  large  spur 
wheel,  and  it  is  about  fully  loaded  when  the  conveyor  is 
operating  at  its  full  capacity  of  175  tons  per  hour.  A 
ratchet  arrangement  has  been  put  on  the  spur  wheel  recently 
to  prevent  accident  in  case  of  trouble  with  the  motor. 


October  ;,  iQii 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


70s 


•  !  The  conveyor  gallery  for  a  pair  of  boiler  units  is  located 
over  the  boiler-room  coal  bunkers,  which  consist  of  a  single 
row  of  bifurcated  hoppers,  one  for  each  opposite  pair  of 
boilers.  Each  hopper  holds  126  tons  of  coal,  so  that  the 
total  storage  capacity  in  the  building  is  137  tons  per  boiler, 
sufficient  for  somewhat  more  than  a  day's  requirements 
under  the  heaviest  operating  conditions. 


APPLICATION  OF    HYDROELECTRIC   ENERGY   TO 
IRRIGATION  PUMPING  IN  SOUTHERN  IDAHO. 


Fig.  8 — Exciter  Bay. 

The  coal-receiving  room  on  the  ground  floor  is  equipped 
for  either  dump  cars  or  for  ordinary  coal  cars.  The  former 
:an  dump  their  load  directly  into  the  receiving  hoppers. 
Ordinary  cars  are  unloaded  by  means  of  a  clamshell  bucket 
:rane.  The  bucket  has  2  cu.  yd.  capacity  and  it  can  handle 
io  tons  of  slack  or  60  tons  of  run-of-mine  per  hour.  Its 
;pan  is  34J/;  ft.  from  center  to  center  of  runway  rails,  and 
the  maximum  lift  of  bucket  is  15  ft.  Four  three-phase, 
5o-cycle,  220-volt  motors  are  required  for  the  crane  as 
follows:  37  hp  on  main  hoist,  37  hp  on  auxiliary  hoist,  5  hp 
3n  the  trolley  travel  and  11  hp  on  the  crane  travel.  The 
fine  coal  hoppers  under  the  boilers,  already  referred  to, 
smpty  at  the  sides  of  the  coal-receiving  room  into  the 
receiving  hoppers,  and  the  fine  coal  thus  finds  its  way 
through  the  crusher  and  the  conveyor  to  the  bunkers  again. 

DISPOSAL   OF   ASHES. 

On  the  ground  level  and  on  each  side  of  the  coal-receiving 
room  is  a  space  to  accommodate  the  ash  cars.  A  track  is 
located  directly  under  the  spouts  of  the  hoppers,  connecting 
with  the  electric  railway  system  already  referred  to.  The 
ashes  are  at  present  used  for  filling  up  land  to  be  used  later 
for  track  space.  Each  hopper  has  capacity  for  a  day's 
accumulation  of  ashes. 

WATER  SUPPLY. 

Water  for  condensing  purposes  is  required  at  such  a  rate, 
and  continuity  of  supply  is  so  vital,  that  unusual  precautions 
have  been  taken  to  insure  ample  and  continuous  supply. 
Concrete  intake  and  discharge  tunnels,  10  ft.  by  10  ft.,  run 
from  the  turbine  room  to  the  Chicago  River,  somewhat  over 
600  ft.  away.  For  most  of  the  way  one  is  directly  over  the 
other  and  the  top  is  a  few  feet  below  the  ground  level.  The 
walls  of  the  conduit  are  2  ft.  thick,  and  the  roof,  floor  and 
dividing  horizontal  partition  average  about  the  same.  The 
injection  tunnel  is  underneath  the  discharge  and  draws 
water  from  the  river  450  ft.  upstream  from  the  outlet  of 
the  discharge  tunnel.  The  mouth  of  the  injection  tunnel  is 
covered  with  a  novel  revolving  screen  which  automatically 
cleans  itself  of  accumulations  of  debris  removed  from  the 
water.  The  screen  is  5  ft.  wide  and -is  made  up  of  sections 
covered  with  woven  wire  each  16  in.  long.  This  belt  of 
sections  passes  over  an  electrically  driven  drum  at  the  top 
and  over  an  idler  drum  at  the  bottom,  being  inclined  at  an 
angle  of  about  30  deg.  from  the  vertical. 


Description    of   Various    Installations,    with   Data   on 

Water  Requirements   and  Considerations 

Governing  Rates  for  Service. 


By  E.  a.  Wilcox. 

THE  growth  of  the  pumping  business  has  been  so 
rapid  in  certain  localities  that  very  little  is  known 
by  the  general  public  of  the  actual  development 
that  has  taken  place  or  of  the  immense  future  that  the  ap- 
plication of  electrically  driven  pumps  to  the  field  of  irriga- 
tion has  made  possible. 

In  California,  Oregon,  Washington,  Colorado  and  a  few 
other  Western  States  electrically  operated  pumping  plants 
have  been  in  use  for  irrigating  the  land  for  a  considerable 
length  of  time.  In  some  of  these  States  water  is  pumped 
from  wells  where  an  underground  supply  is  found  to  exist. 
In  other  States  the  plants  are  located  along  small  streams, 
rivers  and  lakes  and  are  used  for  lifting  water  to  the 
adjoining  land. 

Four  years  ago  practically  nothing  was  known  of  irriga- 
tion pumping  in  Idaho.  The  only  plants  then  in  operation 
consisted  of  small  low-lift  stations  owned  by  individuals, 
the  first  one  of  which  was  installed  by  General  L.  V.  Patch, 
of  Payette.  The  water  was  lifted  70  ft.  and  was  used  to 
water  his  160-acre  ranch.  The  success  of  this  initial  in- 
stallation, coupled  with  the  consistent  boosting  of  this  and 
other  pumping  projects  by  General  Patch  and  his  asso- 
ciates, has  done  much  to  bring  about  the  wonderful  re- 
sults that  have  been  accomplished  thus  far.  The  results 
may  be  gaged  by  the  fact  that  to-day  a  greater  acreage  of 
land  is  watered  by  electrically  operated  pumping  plants  in 
the  State  of  Idaho  than  in  any  other  State  of  the  Union,  or 
possibly  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  Approximately 
125,000  acres  of  land  are  under  pumping  systems  already 
installed,  and  at  least  150,000  acres  additional  will  be 
watered  in  a  similar  manner  in  a  short  period  of  time. 

The  general  development  of  the  State  of  Idaho  has  been 
more  rapid  than  that  of  any  other  State.  One  instance  of 
this  growth  is  the  town  of  Twin  Falls.  Where  seven  years 
ago  there  was  merely  an  uninhabited  sagebrush  desert 
to-day  is  found  a  city  of  7500  people,  modern  in  every  par- 
ticular, and  surrounded  by  a  half  million  acres  of  well- 
cultivated  land.     This  rapid  growth  has  been  due  mainly 


Fig.    1 — Typical    Small    Pumping    Plant    at    Twin    Falls. 

to   the   development   of    irrigation   enterprises    within    the 
State. 

The  earlier  installations  were  of  the  gravity  type,  the 
water  being  diverted  from  the  streams  and  distributed  over 
wide  territories.  The  easiest  and  cheapest  developments 
were  the  first  to  be  carried  to  completion.  As  the  country 
advanced  and  the  demand  for  irrigated  land  increased,  the 
more   expensive  projects   were   undertaken,   and  the   ones 


7o6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i 


that  have  lately  been  put  under  way  are  found  to  require 
one  or  more  expensive  reservoirs,  diverting  dams,  long 
earth  or  rock  cuts,  tunnels  and  often  many  miles  of  side-hill 
canals  or  flumes  in  order  to  deliver  water  upon  the  land. 
The  cost  of  installing,  maintaining  and  operating  these 
various  necessary  adjuncts  to  the  modern  gravity  project 
is  often  very  considerable. 

When  it  became  generally  known  that  the  modern  elec- 
trically operated  pumping  plant  was  proving  successful  on 
small  tracts  of  land  the  local  engineers  estimated  that  the 
larger  propositions  might  be  equally  or  even  more  feasible 
than  the  smaller  ones.  It  was  soon  shown  that  the  pumping 
plant  was  far  cheaper  in  construction  and  often  more  re- 
liable and  satisfactory  than  the  average  gravity  system. 
The  greater  number  of  pumping  projects  in  Idaho  are 
located  along  the  course  of  the  Snake  River  and  the  plants 
are  built  on  the  banks  of  this  great  stream.  On  account  of 
these  natural  conditions  the  pump  houses  are  comparatively 
inexpensive  to  construct :  very  short  pipe  lines  are  neces- 
sary, and  the  water  is  delivered  directly  to  the  land,  making 
it  unnecessary  to  construct  any  expensive  diversion  works 
or  long  lines  of  main  canals. 

As  some  of  the  finest  and  most  fertile  land  in  southern 
Idaho  is  so  situated  that  it  can  be  more  feasibly  watered 
under  a  pumping  system  than  by  the  more  familiar  gravity 
methods,  a  decided  impetus  has  been  given  to  the  pumping 
business  during  the  past  two  or  three  years. 


higher  up,  owing  to  the  warmer  atmosphere  and  the  consi 
quent  rapid  evaporation.  The  kind  of  crop  that  is  raise 
on  a  certain  piece  of  land  has  a  large  bearing  on  the  quar 
tity  of  water  that  must  be  made  available.  Hay  crops  re 
quire  more  water  than  grain,  grain  crops  more  than  pota 
toes,  and  potatoes  more  than  fruit  trees.  Some  experience 
fruit  growers  have  matured  orchards  on  the  lower  land 
where  the  maximum  supply  of  water  never  exceeded  6  ii 
in  six  months.  On  the  other  hand,  some  inexperience 
irrigators  contend  that  they  must  have  at  least  7  ft.  0 
water  in  six  months  in  order  to  grow  their  crops  properl) 

RELATIVE  MONTHLY  WATER  REQUIREMENTS. 

Many  tests  have  been  made  on  the  older  gravity  pre 
jects  to  show  the  amount  of  water  that  is  actually  use 
during  each  month  of  the  irrigating  season.  Table  I  wa 
taken  from  a  report  of  the  operating  irrigation  engineer 
of  Idaho  for  November,  191 1.  The  data  were  compiled  b 
Mr.  W.  G.  Steward,  assistant  engineer  on  the  Boise  Pre 
ject. 

The  Boise  Project,  on  which  the  above  data  wer 
secured,  is  an  old  tract  having  an  abundant  supply  0 
water  and  cultivated  by  farmers  who  are  accustomed  t 
using  as  much  water  as  they  wish. 

Various  tests  made  on  all  kinds  of  growing  crops  hav 
shown,  however,  that  the  very  best  results  are  secured  b 
using  less   water  than   the   average    farmer   claims   to  b 


Fig.  2 — Snake   River  Irrigation  Company's  Pumping   Plant. 


It  has  been  found  that  it  is  much  cheaper  and  better  to 
water  a  large  tract  of  land  with  one  large  pumping  plant 
than  with  a  number  of  smaller  plants.  The  machinery  effi- 
ciency is  greater,  the  losses  through  seepage  and  evapora- 
tion are  reduced,  and  the  cost  of  installing  is  lowered  by 
the  use  of  a  large  pumping  plant. 

WATER    REQUIRED    FOR     IRRIGATION. 

A  large  part  of  the  land  under  irrigation  projects  in 
Idaho  is  segregated  under  the  Carey  law,  by  the  provisions 
of  which  private  companies  dispose  of  land  and  water 
rights  to  settlers  at  regular  drawings  under  contract  with 
the  State.  The  State  contract  specifies  the  manner  of  de- 
velopment, the  amount  of  water  right  and  the  price  per 
acre  for  which  the  land  and  water  right  is  to  be  sold. 
Many  local  conditions  affect  the  water  supply  that  it  is 
necessary  to  provide  under  any  irrigation  proposition.  The 
altitude  of  the  land  being  watered  under  Idaho  irrigation 
projects  varies  from  2200  ft.  to  as  high  as  5500  ft.,  with  the 
result  that  whereas  water  is  required  for  irrigation  for 
only  four  months  in  the  higher  altitudes  it  may  be  required 
for  six  months  in  the  lower  districts,  where  the  irrigating 
seasons  are  longer.  On  account  of  the  abundant  stream 
flow  available  for  most  of  the  irrigated  land  in  Idaho  the 
farmers  have  become  more  or  less  wasteful  of  the  water, 
many  of  them  using  several  times  the  quantity  that  would 
best  mature  their  crops. 

Many  different  kinds  of  soils  are  found  in  Idaho  and 
they  absorb  water  in  varying  amounts.  The  land  in  the 
lower  altitudes  is   found  to  require  more  water  than  that 


necessary.  In  no  case  has  it  been  found  wise  or  profitabi 
to  use  more  than  0.5  in.  of  water,  and  rarely  is  this  amoun 
required. 

TABLE     I. WATER    REQUIREMENTS. 


Bench 

Land, 

Bottom  Land, 

Nineteen  Canal; 

105,258  Acres. 

26,359  Acres 

131.617  Acres. 

Period. 

Acre 

Per  Cent 

Acre 

Per  Cent 

Acre 

PerCen 

Feet 

Total 

Feet 

Total 

Feet 

Total 

per 

Divert- 

per 

Divert- 

per 

Divert- 

Acre. 

ed. 

Acre. 

ed. 

Acre. 

ed. 

April      1  to  1 5  ...  . 

0.05 

1.3 

0.12 

2.9 

0.06 

l.S 

April    16  to  30 

0.26 

6.8 

0.20 

5.1 

0.26 

6.4 

May        I  to  1 S  ...  . 

0.38 

9.2 

0.33 

8.2 

0.37 

l^ 

May     16  to  31 

0.42 

10.1 

0.36 

8.9 

0.40 

0.88 
0.88 
0.52 
0.48 

21.6 
21.4 
12.5 
11.3 

0.41 
0.77 
0.64 
0.54 

20.3 
19.3 
16.0 

13. S 

0.87 
0.86 
0.54 
0.48 

21. a 

July 

2i.al 

August 

13.  W 

September 

11.* 

October 

0.23 

5.8 

0.23 

5.8 

0.23 

5.7 

Total 

4.10 

100.0 

4.00 

100.0 

4.07 

lOO.ff 

The  relative  quantities  of  water  usually  necessary  for 
irrigation  during  the  different  months  of  the  irrigation  sea- 
son are  shown  in  Table  II.  The  data  were  compiled  by 
Mr.  Don  Bark,  government  expert  in  charge  of  irrigation 


October  5,  191 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


707 


investigations  in  Idaho.  They  show  the  results  of  Mr. 
Bark's  tests,  made  during  1910  and  191 1  on  123  fields  of 
hay  and  grain  planted  in  medium  lava  ash  and  clay  soils 
and  in  porous  gravelly  soils.  The  experiments  were  made 
at  various  points  between  St.  Anthony,  Idaho,  and  Weiser, 
Idaho. 

TABLE   II. RELATIVE    MONTHLY    WATER  REQUIREMENTS. 


MINIDOKA   PUMPING  PROJECT. 


Percentage  op  Total  Applied  Each  Month 
durinc5  1910  and  1911. 


Months. 


Lava  Ash 

and 
Clay  Soils. 


April 

May 

June 

July 

August .... 
September. 


1.20 
17,33 
29.70 
30.65 
17.44 

3.67 


100.00 


Porous  and 

Gravelly 

Soils. 


3.28 
13.60 
30.57 
26.43 
25.02 

1.10 


100.00 


Average 

of  Both 

Kinds  of 

Soil. 


2.24 
15.46 
30.14 
28.54 
21.23 

2.39 


Approxi- 
mate      1 
Average 
Both  Kinds, 
of    Soil.    1 


Equivalent 
Percentage 

of  Maxi- 
mum 

Demand. 


100.00 


2.50 
15.00 
30.00 
30.00 
20.00 

2.50 


100.00 


8.33 

50.00 

100.00 

100.00 

66.66 

8.33 


The  pertinent  result  of  these  tests  is  given  in  the  last 
;olumn  of  the  tabulation.  It  indicates  that  8^/3  per  cent 
)f  the  maximum  demand  for  water  will  come  in  April,  50 
per  cent  in  May,  100  per  cent  in  June,  100  per  cent  in  July, 
56J^  per  cent  in  August,  and  8}^  per  cent  in  September. 

SOURCE  OF   ELECTRICAL    ENERGY. 

Some  of  the  finest  water-power  sites  to  be  found  in  the 
world  are  on  the  Snake  River, 
in  Idaho,  •  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  many  attractive 
pumping  projects.  Among  these 
sites  are  Twin  Falls,  Shoshone 
Falls.  Thousand  Springs,  Upper 
Salmon  Falls,  Lower  Salmon 
Falls,  Malade  Falls  and  nu- 
merous others.  All  of  these 
water-power  sites  are  absolutely 
free  from  ice  trouble  and  are 
natural-head  developments  that 
are  being  constructed  independ- 
ently of  impounding  dams  or 
reservoirs.  At  least  150,000  hp 
can  be  developed  at  the  sites 
mentioned  above.  On  account 
of  the  ease  and  cheapness  with 
which  power  may  be  developed 
and  the  short  distance  the 
energy  must  be  transmitted,  it 
has  been  possible  to  make  very 
low  rates  for  electric  pumping. 

The  development  of  southern 
Idaho  irrigation  pumping  enter- 
prises has  been  carried  on 
largely  through  the  agency  of 
the  Idaho-Oregon  Light  & 
Power  Company,  Boise,  Idaho : 
the  Government  Reclamation 
Service,   Boise,   Idaho,   and  the 

Great  Shoshone  &  Twin  Falls  Water  Power  Company, 
Twin  Falls,  Idaho.  The  last-named  company,  although  the 
latest  to  enter  the  field,  has  up  to  the  present  time  done  more 
than  any  other  toward  developing  the  irrigation  pumping 
business. 


The  largest  individual  pumping  project  in  the  world  was 
completed  three  years  ago  by  the  Government  Reclama- 
tion Service  near  Minidoka,  Idaho.  There  are  15,000 
acres  under  a  31 -ft.  lift,  16,000  acres  under  a  62-ft.  lift  and 
24,000  acres  under  a  93-ft.  lift.  The  pump  houses  are 
several  miles  apart.  At  the  No.  i  plant  water  for  the 
entire  acreage  is  raised  from  the  main  gravity  canal  to  the 
first-lift  canal.  The  No.  2  plant  elevates  the  water  for  the 
two  upper  canals  from  the  first-lift  canal.  The  No.  3  plant 
raises  the  water  from  the  second-lift  canal  to  the  high-lift 
canal.  The  buildings  are  of  reinforced-concrete  construc- 
tion. The  machinery  consists  of  large  vertical  type  Allis- 
Chalmers  centrifugal  pumping  equipment  directly  con- 
nected to  Westinghouse  phase-wound  motors.  The  entire 
equipment  rating  of  the  three  plants  is  approximately  3000 
hp.  The  energy  for  operating  the  pumps  is  furnished  from 
the  government  power  house  located  at  the  diversion  dam 
in  the  Snake  River  near  Minidoka,  Idaho.  This  installation 
was  described  in  the  Electrical  World,  Dec.  30,  191 1. 

HIGH-LINE     PUMPING    PROJECT. 

The  land  under  this  project  consists  of  3800  acres  a  few 
miles  southwest  of  Twin  Falls.  The  lifts  are  42  ft.  and  &4 
ft.,  although  the  greater  portion  of  land  is  under  the  lower 
lift.  The  water  is  diverted  from  the  high-line  gravity 
canal  of  the  Twin  Falls  Land  &  Water  Company.  The 
building  is  of  heavy  lava  rock  construction.  The  machin- 
ery consists  of  a  number  of  General  Electric  motors  having 
a  total  rating  of  500  hp  directly  conneeted  to  horizontal-type 
American  Well  Works  double-suction,  split-case,  centrifu- 
gal pumping  equipment.  The  energy  for  operating  the 
plant  is  furnished  from  the  lines  of  the  Great  Shoshone  & 
Twin  Falls  Water  Power  Company.  This  project  has  been 
in  constant  and  successful  operation  for  two  full  irrigating 
seasons. 


Fig.  3 — Map  of  Transmission  System  of  Great  Shoshone  and  Twin  Falls  Power  Company. 

TWIN    FALLS    NORTH    SIDE    PUMPING    PROJECT. 

This  project  comprises  14,000  acres  of  choice  land  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Snake  River  between  Jerome  and  Milner, 
Idaho.  It  is  a  Carey  act  project  and  is  composed  of  sev- 
eral large  bodies  of  high  land  adjoining  the  gra-vity  canals 


7o8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


of  the  Twin  Falls  North  Side  Land  &  Water  Company. 
There  are  five  separate  pumping  plants  installed,  and  the 
water  is  lifted  from  the  gravity  canals  in  heights  varying 
from  35  ft.  to  60  ft.  The  buildings  are  well-designed  brick 
and  concrete  structures  and  the  equipment  consists  of 
large  Westinghouse  motors  directly  connected  to  R.  D. 
Wood  horizontal-type,  centrifugal,  split-case,  double-suction 


reinforced-concrete  building.  The  machinery  consists  of 
four  large  Westinghouse  phase-wound  motors,  having  a 
total  rating  of  600  hp,  directly  connected  to  horizontal-type, 
single-suction  Krough  centrifugal  pumps.  Energy  for 
operating  the  Indian  Cove  plant  is  supplied  from  the  lines 
of  the  Great  Shoshone  &  Twin  Falls  Water  Power  Com- 
pany. 


Fig.  4 — Snake   River   Irrigation    Company's   Pumping    Plant. 

pumps.  The  total  motor  rating  of  the  five  pumping  plants 
is  2500  hp,  each  plant  having  at  least  one  reserve  pump  and 
motor  outfit.  The  energy  for  operating  the  motor  equip- 
ment is  supplied  by  the  Great  Shoshone  &  Twin  Falls 
\\'ater  Power  Compan}'.  No  trouble  has  been  experienced 
in  operating  the  plants  and  the  results  of  one  year's  service 
have  been   very  satisfactory. 

INDIAN    COVE    PUMPING    PROJECT. 

The  Indian  Cove  tract  is  located  in  the  Snake  River 
Canyon  about  20  miles  southeast  of  Mountain  Home, 
Idaho.  It  comprises  about  10,000  acres  of  choice  fruit 
land.  A  pumping  plant  has  been  installed  to  irrigate  3500 
acres  under  the  loo-ft.  lift,  and  the  surveys  and  plans  have 
been  completed  for  covering  the  rest  of  the  tract  by  lifting 
the  water  250  ft.  from  the  Snake  River.  The  enterprise 
was  promoted  by  Captain  O.  M.  Carter  and  has  been  in 
operation  for  practically  two  seasons.  On  account  of  the 
land  being  held  in  private  ownership,  the  project  was 
handled  in  a  different  manner  from  that  characterizing  a 
majority  of  the  Idaho  pumping  propositions.  A  construc- 
tion company  (the  Indian  Cove  Reclamation  Company)  in- 
stalled the  pumping  plant  and  irrigation  system.  After  the 
completion  of  the  works  an  operating  company  (the  Indian 


Fig.    6 — Interior    of    Pumping    Plant    No.    2,    Twin    Falls. 
SNAKE   RIVER   PUMPING    PROJECT. 

This  pumping  project,  located  about  20  miles  southwest 
of  Mountain  Home,  Idaho,  in  the  Snake  River  Canyon, 
comprises  approximately  15,000  acres  of  choice  fruit  land. 
The  water  is  elevated  from  the  Snake  River  through  three 
direct  lifts  of  40  ft.,  85  ft.  and  146  ft.  The  pump  house 
is  a  massive  reinforced-concrete  building.  The  machinery 
equipment  consists  of  five  450-hp  Westinghouse  motors  di- 
rectly connected  to  Worthington  horizontal-type,  split-case, 
double-suction  pumps.  Energy  is  obtained  from  the  Great 
Shoshone  &  Twin  Falls  Water  Power  Company,  and  the 
plant  has  operated  successfully  for  one  full  season. 

OTHER     PUMPING    PROJECTS. 

In  addition  to  the  pumping  projects  described  in  more  or 
less  detail  herein,  there  are  a  number  of  other  interesting 
pumping  developments  in  southern  Idaho.  The  Pavette 
Heights  Project  covers  3800  acres,  with  a  direct  lift  of  146 
ft.  The  Payette-Oregon  Slope  Project  covers  7000  acres, 
with  two  lifts  of  40  ft.  and  100  ft.  The  Ontario-Nyssa 
Project  covers  7500  acres,  with  a  direct  lift  of  70  ft.  The 
Kingman  Colony  Project  covers  2500  acres,  with  several 
lifts  varying  from  30  ft.  to  70  ft.  The  Gem  Irrigation 
Project,  now  in  course  of  construction,  will  cover  34,000 


Fig.   5 — Pumping    Plant   No.   2,   Twin    Falls. 

Cove  Canal  Company),  composed  of  entrymen  and  settlers 
under  the  project,  took  over  the  system,  giving  in  exchange 
individual  water  contracts.  An  irrigation  district  has 
since  been  formed  by  the  settlers,  under  the  plan  of  which 
irrigation  district  bonds  will  be  issued  and  exchanged  for 
the  water  contracts.  The  pump  house  installed  by  the  con- 
struction  company   is   an   exceedingly   neat   and   attractive 


Fig.    7 — Interior    of    Pumping    Plant    No.    2,    Twin    Falls. 

acres,  with  lifts  varying  in  height  from  35  ft.  to  160  ft. 
The  Grand  View  Irrigation  Project,  in  course  of  construc- 
tion, will  cover  4000  acres,  with  lifts  of  30  ft.  and  70  ft. 
There  are  also  a  large  number  of  smaller  pumping  plants 
installed  all  along  the  Snake  River,  varying  in  rating  from 
I  hp  to  100  hp.  The  rapidity  with  which  the  pumping 
plants  have  been  installed  and  the  excellent  machinery  and 


October  5,  191 2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


709 


construction  that  have  been  used  are  remarkable  features 
of  the  development. 

RATES    FOR    PUMPING. 

In  evolving  a  system  of  charging  for  electric  energy 
several  important  considerations  had  to  be  taken  into  ac- 
count. It  was  necessary  to  make  a  rate  so  low  that  the 
average  farmer  could  afford  to  pay  his  proportionate  share 


late  season  and  to  economize  in  the  use  of  water  during 
June  and  July,  thereby  reducing  his  peak  requirements. 
In  this  connection  it  might  be  mentioned  that  it  is  possible 
to  effect  a  great  saving  of  water  (sometimes  as  high  as 
75  per  cent)  by  means  of  thorough  cultivation  of  the  soil. 

CONTRACT. 

An   energy   contract   is   made  with   the   irrigation   corn- 


Fig.  8 — Minidoka   Pumping  Plant. 

of  the  charge,  rendering  it  possible  for  him  to  compete 
with  his  neighbor  on  the  gravity  project,  thereby  insuring 
the  success  of  the  pumping  business  as  a  whole.  As  most 
of  the  pumping  is  done  in  a  large  way  on  tracts  of  1000 
acres  or  more,  where  it  is  necessary  to  keep  water  in  the 
ditches  continuously  and  where  all  the  plants  require  energy 
simultaneously,  it  is  impossible  to  figure  on  a  diversity 
factor  other  than  unity.  It  is  also  found  from  the  last 
column  of  Table  II  that  the  load-factor  for  a  season  of 
six  months  is  approximately  55.55  per  cent  on  the  basis  of 
the  experiments  made  by  Mr.  Bark. 

With  tliese  considerations  in  mind,  the  outcome  has  been 
that  in  installations  of  250  hp  and  more  the  usual  rate  is 
based  on  the  highest  half-hour  peak  recorded  by  a  graphic 
meter  during  the  irrigating  season.  While  this  method  is 
somewhat  unsatisfactory  on  account  of  the  inaccuracies 
of  the  recording  meters  at  present  manufactured  and  the 
further  difficulty  usually  encountered  in  explaining  to  the 
land  owners  the  reason  for  making  the  rate  on  such  a 
basis,  nevertheless  it  has  been  quite  generally  adopted. 
The  usual  price  charged  is  $20  per  hp  for  a  six-month 
season,  the  power  being  noted  on  the  secondary  side  of 
the   transformers   furnished   bv   the   consumer.     As   it  was 


Fig.   10 — Indian   Cove   Pumping   Plant. 

panics  at  the  time  the  plants  are  installed.  The  contract 
binds  the  electric  company  to  deliver  energy  perpetually, 
but  the  irrigation  company  may  terminate  the  contract  by 
giving  written  notice  of  its  intention  so  to  do  six  months 
prior  to  the  termination  of  any  ten-year  period.  The  mak- 
ing of  contracts  in  perpetuity  is  necessary  in  order  that 
entrymen  may  fulfil  the  requirements  of  the  law  in  making 
proof  on  desert,  homestead  and  Carey  act  entries. 

ELECTRIC    HEATING. 

On  account  of  the  peculiar  conditions  that  exist  in 
southern  Idaho,  fuel  being  more  or  less  expensive,  it  has 
been  found  profitable  to  dispose  of  the  surplus  energy  not 
required  for  pumping  in  the  winter  for  general  heating 
purposes  during  that  season.  As  a  result  there  are  hun- 
dreds of  homes,  offices  and  places  of  business  in  the  Twin 
Falls  country  that  depend  entirely  upon  electricity  for 
their  supply  of  heat.  This  business  is  handled  by  the  cen- 
tral station  on  a  flat-rate  basis,  varying  with  the  size  of 
installation  and  the  number  of  months  the  energy  is  used. 

COST  OF  PUMPING. 

The  energy  required  for  pumping  is  directly  proportional 
to  the  lift  and  to  the  quantity  of  water  lifted.     On  account 


Fig.   9 — Interior   High-Line   Pumping   Plant. 

shown  before  that  the  approximate  load-factor  is  55-55  per 
cent,  it  would  be  necessary  to  charge  a  rate  of  at  least  $36 
per  hp  in  order  to  secure  a  revenue  of  $20  per  hp  if  the 
charge  were  based  on  a  watt-hour  meter  reading. 

It  has  been  found  by  actual  experience  that  the  peak-load 
method  of  charging  has  a  great  advantage  in  that  it  en- 
courages the  farmer  to  do  more  irrigating  in  the  early  and 


Fig.   11 — Interior  of   Indian   Cove   Pumping   Plant. 

of  the  short  space  of  time  the  several  pumping  plants  have 
been  in  operation,  very  few  reliable  data  regarding  the 
actual  cost  of  pumping  have  been  obtained  thus  far.  In 
the  absence  of  such  data  the  accompanying  curves  were 
prepared  to  show  the  cost  of  pumping  various  quantities 
of  water  to  different  elevations  under  the  prevailing  whole- 
sale   rate,    namely,   $20   per   hp    for    a    six-month    season. 


710 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  14. 


The  costs  are  based  on  an  arbitrarily  assimied  over-all 
pump  and  motor  efficiency  of  60  per  cent.  A  loo-ft.  lift 
costs  $1.05  for  I  ft.  and  proportionately  more  or  less  for 
other  lifts  or  depths. 

The  estimates  do  not  include  any  expense  other  than 
the  cost  of  energy.  There  are,  however,  certain  operating 
and  maintenance  charges  that  must  be  added  to  show  actual 


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1400 
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0  20         40  60  SO         100        120        140       160        ISO       200 

Lift  in  Feft  f&ci,,™!  \\„u 

Fig.    12 — Cost  of    Irrigation    Pumping. 

costs  under  a  pumping  system.  No  effort  is  made  to  in- 
clude them  here,  as  they  are  dependent  upon  the  size  and 
kind   of  plant  installed. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  remarkable  growth  of  the  pumping  business  during 
the  past  two  or  three  years  may  be  taken  as  a  logical  in- 
dication of  what  the  immediate  future  development  will 
be.  Only  a  fraction  of  the  land  available  for  profitable 
pumping  propositions  has  been  put  under  water  thus  far. 
With  the  reclamation  of  the  land  under  the  lower  lifts 
and  the  successful  development  of  irrigation  pumping  en- 
terprises in  general  will  come  the  further  development  of 
projects  taking  in  the  higher  lifts. 

.\11  these  natural  conditions  that  exist  in  Idaho  will  not 
only  bring  about  a  rapid  growth  of  the  pumping  business, 
but  these  conditions  may  be  taken  as  an  indication  of  the 


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Apjii    Ma.v    June      Julv     Aug.      Sept. 

S'eetrica\  UoriJ 

Fig.    13 — IVIonthly    Water    Requirements. 

growth  and  permanency  of  the  central-station  revenue  to 
be  derived  from  this  source. 

As  the  pumping  load  is  disposed  of  on  a  wholesale  basis, 
and  as  it  is  for  the  most  part  uniform  and  steady  in  char- 
acter, it  is  very  attractive  for  the  central-station  com- 
pany. The  winter  heating  and  summer  pumping  loads 
work  in  well  together. 


QUALITY  IN  ILLUMINATION. 

AT  the  Niagara  Falls  convention  of  the  Illuminating 
Engineering  Society,  Sept.  16-19,  the  general  subject 
of  quality  as  distinguished  from  quantity  in  illumina- 
tion received  an  unusual  amount  of  consideration.  Below  are 
given  abstracts  of  papers  and  discussions  relating  to  this 
topic : 

CAUSES  OF  EYE  DISCOMFORT. 

In  an  extended  paper  Prof.  C.  E.   Ferree  discussed  the 
effect    of    lighting    systems    on    the    eye.      The    prominent 
physiological  effects  of  lighting  systems  are  loss  of  eye  ef- 
ficiency,  temporary   and  progressive,  and   eye  discomfort. 
The  author  spent  much  time  in  devising  accurate  and  re- 
liable test  methods  and  then  undertook  to  determine   (i) 
the  lighting  conditions  that  give  in  general  the  highest  level 
or  scale  of  visual  efficiency,    (2)    the  conditions  that  give 
the   least   loss   of   efficiency    for   continued   work,   and    (3) 
the  conditions  that  cause  the  least  discomfort.     The  pres- 
entation  of   the   subject   in   this   paper   was   divided   under 
three  heads,  as  follows:      (i)   The  scale  or  general  level 
of  efficiency  of  the  eye  under  different  systems  of  lighting, 
including  the  conventional  tests   for  color  discrimination, 
brightness  discrimination  and  visual  acuity;   (2)   the  loss 
of  efficiency  as  the  result  of  a  period  of  work,  dwelling  on 
the  failure  of  the  foregoing  tests  to  indicate  the  loss  of 
efficiency;    (3)    a  preliminary  study  of  the  causes  of  dis- 
comfort.    Discomfort  seems  to  be  a  complex  mixture  of 
three  experiences,  each  of  which  develops  at  a  different 
time.     When   a   lamp  is   turned  on  the   first  sensation  is 
glare,  and,  though  unpleasant,  it  has  no  painful  elements. 
Next  comes  conjunctival  sensation,  which  begins  with  what 
is   ordinarily   known   as   "sandiness"   and   soon   becomes   a 
sharp,  stinging  pain.     Lastly  there  comes  what  is  probably 
muscular  discomfort,  or  pain  and  aching  in  the  ball  of  the 
eye,  which  seems  under  continued  exposure  to  radiate  to 
the   socket   and   the   surrounding   regions   of   the   face  and 
head.     The  periphery  of  the  retina  is  more  sensitive  than 
the   center;   the   nasal   half   is   in   general   more   sensitive 
than  the  temporal  half,  and  the  upper  half  more  sensitive 
than  the  lower.    In  passing  from  the  center  to  the  periphery 
of  the  retina  the  sensitivity  is  found  first  to  increase  and 
then   to   decrease,   becoming   very   small   at   the   limits   of 
the  field  of  vision.     The  author  promises  a  further  state- 
ment and  explanation  of  these  results,  soon  to  be  published. 
Discussion. 
Dr.  H.  E.  Ives  commented  enthusiastically  on  this  paper, 
not  only  on  account  of  the  method  suggested  of  determin- 
ing fatigue  of  the  eye,  but  because  it  showed  the  active 
interest  of  a  psychologist  of  note.     What  illuminating  en- 
gineers  have    needed   in   solving   these   problems    are   the 
methods  of  the  physiologist  or  psychologist  of  experience. 
There  was  now  a  method  suggested  in  Professor  Ferree's 
paper.    Mr.  J.  R.  Cravath  emphasized  the  need  felt  by  the 
practising  illuminating  engineer   for  scientific   research   of 
the  kind  being  carried  on  by  Professor  Ferree. 

NATURAL    AND    ARTIFICIAL    LIGHT    DISTRIBUTION. 

In  a  paper  on  the  subject  of  light  distribution  in  inter- 
iors, Mr.  M.  Luckiesh  presented  an  extensive  account  of 
some  of  his  investigations  in  this  field.  Three  different 
test  rooms  of  sharply  different  characteristics  were  em- 
ployed, and  careful  tests  made  of  the  distribution  of  illu- 
mination, both  with  natural  and  artificial  light.  The  au- 
thor presented  the  results  of  his  investigations  primarily 
as  data  to  be  interpreted  by  others  as  they  might  consider 
proper,  and  drew  but  few  conclusions  of  his  own,  in 
which  the  following  were  included :  The  measurement  of 
illumination  on  a  horizontal  plane  does  not  give  a  fair 
comparison  of  illuminating  efficiencies  and  the  distribu- 
tion of  illumination  in  various  planes  has  considerable 
importance  in  comparing  different  systems  of  lighting. 
The  degree  of  uniformity  in  the  distribution  of  light  about 


October  5,  191 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORE.  D 


711 


a  point  under  natural  lighting  conditions  in  interiors  is 
not  so  great  as  is  sometimes  assumed  and  is  frequently 
less  than  that  obtained  by  direct  or  indirect  lighting. 
Unless  a  room  has  windows  on  more  than  two  sides,  it 
is  likely  that  indirect  lighting  will  always  produce  a 
greater  degree  of  diffusion  and  a  larger  illumination  uni- 
formity factor  about  a  particular  point  than  natural  in- 
terior lighting.  While  extended  sources  aid  in  diffusing 
light,  a  still  larger  uniformity  factor  is  obtainable  by 
means  of  a  distributed  direct  system.  Extended  sources, 
however,  are  advantageous  in  eliminating  shadows  and 
glare  from  glazed  paper  and  polished  objects.  Daylight 
entering  a. room  through  windows  is  to  a  considerable 
extent  incident  upon  the  walls,  producing  a  distribution  of 
brightness  much  like  that  obtained  by  direct  artificial 
lighting.  .  In  rooms  with  light  walls  the  brightest  spot 
under  daylight  illumination  is  usually  on  the  wall  near  the 
horizontal  line  of  sight. 

Discussion. 

Mr.  J.  R.  Cravath  agreed  with  the  author  on  the  desir- 
ability of  measuring  the  illumination  received  in  various 
directions  about  any  given  point  before  deciding  upon  the 
quality  of  such  illumination  for  working  purposes.  How- 
ever, he  had  found  that  the  method  of  measuring  this  illu- 
mination through  the  diffusing  test  plate  of  a  Sharp-Millar 
photometer  could  not  give  a  true  indication  of  the  character 
of  the  illumination  received,  because  of  the  diffusing  action 
of  the  test  plate.  Measurements  of  the  surface  brightness 
or  intrinsic  brilliancy  in  various  directions  would  give  a 
much  better  indication  of  what  might  be  expected  in  the 
shape  of  glare  from  glazed  paper  when  used  under  the 
system  of  illumination  in  question. 

Mr.  A.  J.  Sweet  called  attention  to  the  frequent  mention 
made  of  the  importance  of  diffusion  in  the  papers  and  dis- 
cussions at  this  convention  and  said  that  his  investigations 
had  convinced  him  that  the  maximum  diffusion  possible 
is  necessary  wherever  close  work  is  to  be  performed  on 
paper.  He  asked  why  he  should  wish  to  imitate  daylight. 
Davlight  has  two  very  desirable  qualities,  namely,  diffusion 
and  color,  but  its  distribution  is  often  not  as  good  as  arti- 
ficial light.  He  doubted  whether  light  distribution  tests  in 
various  planes  about  a  point  would  really  show  the  quality 
of  light  for  working  purposes.  The  important  point  is  the 
surface  from  which  the  light  is  coming;  that  is,  whether  it 
is  a  point  source  of  light  or  an  extended  area.  The  prob- 
lem is  primarily  one  of  getting  away  from  light-giving 
sources  of  high  intrinsic  brilliancy. 

VISION  AS  INFLUENCED  BY  THE  BRIGHTNESS  OF  SURROUNDINGS. 

Dr.  Percy  W.  Cobb  presented  a  brief  paper  in  which  an 
attempt  was  made  to  show  the  extent  to  which  vision  is 
influenced  by  the  bright  visible  surroundings  of  its  par- 
ticular objective.  The  experimental  method  utilized  was 
briefly  as  follows:  An  observer  sitting  in  a  dark  room  faced 
a  bright  surface  of  small  dimensions,  trans-illuminated  from 
the  next  room.  At  a  given  moment  the  bright  light  thus 
seen  was  replaced  for  a  short  time  by  a  field  of  black  and 
white  lines  of  the  same  outside  dimensions  and  the  same 
average  brightness.  By  repeating  the  experiment  with  lines 
of  various  widths,  the  exact  width  of  the  lines  can  be 
determined  which  is  necessary  in  order  that  they  may  be 
just  visible.  Similarly,  instead  of  employing  a  lined  sur- 
face, the  original  blank  surface  was  replaced  by  a  field  of 
the  same  brightness,  except  that  one-half  of  it  w'as  increased 
or  diminished  by  a  small  fraction  of  its  intensity.  In  this 
way  the  minimum  detectable  difference  can  be  determined. 
Since  the  smallest  visible  detail  and  the  smallest  visible 
difference  both  vary  with  different  degrees  of  brightness, 
the  determinations  were  made  for  a  series  of  seven  different 
brightnesses  from  a  mere  glimmer  up  to  the  maximum 
capacity  of  the  apparatus. 

The  rapid  increase  in  the  least  noticeable  difference  at 
very  low  intensities  comes  out  clearly  in  the  results  and  also 


the  low  value  for  visual  acuity  at  low  intensities.  The 
most  striking  feature  of  the  results,  in  the  author's  opinion, 
was  the  fact  that  by  all  three  criteria  used  vision  at  the 
highest  intensity  of  test  object  showed  a  distinct  improve- 
ment in  the  presence  of  the  brightest  visual  field;  that  is, 
vision  is  actually  improved  by  filling  the  visual  field  with 
a  surface  almost  as  bright  as  the  test  object. 

Discussion. 

Dr.  H.  E.  Ives  told  of  some  evidence  confirming  Dr 
Cobb's  conclusions  on  the  increase  of  visual  acuity  amid 
bright  surroundings  when  the  illumination  on  the  viewed 
test  object  is  high.  In  research  work  which  he  had  done, 
comparing  lights  of  different  colors,  it  was  found  that  it 
was  impossible  to  work  for  more  than  a  few  minutes  with 
the  light  spots  which  were  under  scrutiny  amid  dark  sur- 
roundings. By  making  the  surroundings  light  the  work  was 
made  much  more  comfortable  and  could  be  carried  on  for 
some  time. 

Mr.  L.  B.  Marks  said  that  in  practice  a  system  of  purely 
localized  lighting  with  brightly  illuminated  spaces  under 
the  reflectors  and  dark  surroundings  had  been  found  to  be 
very  uncomfortable. 

Mr.  J.  R.  Cravath  pointed  out  that  in  part  of  Dr  Cobb's 
tests  the  illumination  of  the  test  object  and  the  surroundings 
corresponded  closely  to  ordinary  good  illumination  practice 
for  artificial  lighting,  and  within  this  range  the  results  were 
such  as  to  indicate  that  there  would  not  be  much  difference 
between  ordinary  commercial  colors  of  light  and  dark 
finished  walls.  He  suggested  that  perhaps  the  light  sur- 
roundings caused  a  contraction  of  the  pupil  of  the  eye  which 
made  a  clearer  image  and  might  account  for  the  striking 
results  noted  by  Dr.  Cobb.  Dr.  Ives,  however,  pointed  out 
that  this  would  not  account  for  the  ability  to  discern  small 
differences  of  brightness  which  was  involved  in  some  of 
Dr.  Cobb's  tests. 

PRINCIPLES    OF    INDIRECT    AND    SEMI-INDIRECT    LIGHTING. 

A  paper  entitled  "The  Engineering  Principles  of  In- 
direct and  Semi-Indirect  Lighting,"  by  Mr.  iThomas  W. 
Rolph,  contained  a  discussion  in  detail  of  the  desired  ratio 
between  the  direct  and  indirect  components  of  light  used 
in  illuminating  reading  pages.  In  making  the  tests  to 
determine  this  ratio  the  surface  of  a  desk  was  kept  illu- 
minated at  an  intensity  of  3  ft. -candles,  while  the  propor- 
tion between  direct  light  received  from  the  central  lighting 
unit  and  indirect  light  received  from  the  ceiling  was  varied. 
The  observers  were  instructed  to  state  when  specular  re- 
flection   became    perceptible,    when    it    became    perceptibly 


60°        "      30°      0°      m'  W 

Prototype    Curve    for    Semi- Indirect     Lighting. 

annoying,  when  it  became  decidedly  annoying  and  when  it 
became  sufficient  to  prevent  reading  the  printing  on  two 
kinds  of  paper,  one  having  an  appreciably  glazed  surface 
and  the  other  a  diffusely  reflecting  surface.  As  a  result 
of  the  observations,  the  author  concluded  that  the  en- 
gineering advantages  of  semi-indirect  lighting  are  obtained 
to  their  fullest  degree  and  most  efficiently  if  the   lighting 


712 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


unit  possesses  a  candle-power  distribution  curve  such  that 
the  flux  below  60  deg.  from  the  nadir  is  6  per  cent  of  the 
total  flux;  that  the  candle-power  values  between  60  deg. 
and  105  deg.  are  low,  while  above  105  deg.  they  increase 
to  a  maximum  at  145  deg.  with  approximately  uniform 
ceiling   illumination   between    145    deg.   and    180   deg. 

Discussion. 

Mr.  L.  B.  Marks  condemned  indirect  lighting  for  a  num- 
ber of  cases  and  showed  that  reflection  from  paper  is  not 
altogether  absent  with  it.  He  cited  one  case  of  a  drafting 
room  with  a  fairly  evenly  illuminated  ceiling  with  indirect 
lighting,  where  it  is  impossible  to  work  on  the  glossy  side 
of  tracing  cloth  at  night  because  of  the  reflection  from  it. 
Mr.  J.  R.  Cravath  said  that  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that 
specular  reflection  from  paper  is  altogether  absent  with 
indirect  lighting.  It  is,  however,  much  reduced  compared 
with  a  direct  system,  unless  a  direct  system  can  be  adopted 
with  the  lamps  in  such  positions  in  reference  to  the  work 
that  this  type  of  reflection  will  be  avoided.  Mr.  W.  F. 
Little  said  that  with  a  direct  component  as  low  qs  15  pei 
cent  there  would  be  no  more  shadows  with  semi-indirect 
lighting  than  with  totally  indirect.  Mr.  S.  G.  Hibben,  of 
Pittsburgh,  pointed  out  that  in  some  kinds  of  work  shadowy 
are  required,  as,  for  example,  in  engraving.  At  times  they 
are  also  desirable  in  residences  to  bring  out  decorations. 
Mr.  M.  Luckiesh  pointed  out  that  it  will  make  a  ditTerence 
whether  the  direct  light  is  received  from  i  sq.  in.  or  from 
100  sq.  in.  This,  he  said,  might  alter  Mr.  Rolph's  conclu- 
sions. Mr.  E.  D.  Edwards  pointed  out  that  specular  reflec- 
tion from  paper  is  less  with  indirect  lighting,  but  what 
there  is  may  be  harder  to  escape  from  because  of  the  large 
area  from  which  the  light  comes  to  the  paper.  Mr.  D. 
McFarlan  Moore  said  that  the  indirect  system  had  grown 
in  popularity  on  account  of  the  shortcomings  of  present 
direct  systems.  Vacuum-tube  lighting  would  afford  a  happy 
medium. 

Mr.  Spaulding,  of  Cleveland,  said  the  efficiency  of  the 
indirect  system  is  too  low  for  many  kinds  of  lighting.  He 
cited  a  test  made  on  a  20-ft.  by  40-ft.  room  lighted  with 
eight  units  direct  and  indirect.  The  results  were  as  fol- 
lows: Direct,  3.52  lumens  per  watt;  semi-direct,  2.77  lu- 
mens per  watt;  indirect,  1.74  lumens  per  watt. 

Mr.  C.  W.  Jordan  pointed  out  an  error  in  Mr.  Rolph's 
assumption  that  all  commercial  ceiling  surfaces  are  perfect 
diffusers.  Coatings  prepared  with  oil  or  varnish  give  much 
specular  reflection,  as  shown  by  his  paper  of  the  day  be- 
fore. Mr.  L.  B.  Marks  emphasized  the  point  that  it  was 
the  glossy  side  of  the  tracing  cloth  with  which  he  had  ex- 
perienced difficulty  under  the  indirect-lighting  system. 


FURNACE  EFFICIENCY. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Western  Society  of  Engineers,  Chi- 
cago, on  Sept.  2^,  Mr.  Joseph  Harrington  presented  a  paper 
on  "Furnace  Efficiency,"  pointing  out  that  the  furnace 
factor  is  the  controlling  element  in  combined  efficiency. 
The  author  also  undertook  to  show  that  a  heat  balance  on 
the  basis  of  coal  fired  is  necessary  for  the  complete  under- 
standing of  efficiency  losses  and  that  furnace  efficiency  is 
the  key  to  high  boiler-room  economy.  Furnace  efficiency, 
he  said,  is  independent  of  the  rate  of  combustion,  adding  that 
a  horizontal  combined-efficiency  curve  is  possible  of  ap- 
proximate attainment.  The  paper  included  curves  showing 
the  relation  of  flue  temperature  to  boiler  output,  influence 
of  moisture  in  coal,  relations  between  furnace  efficiency, 
excess  air  and  loss  of  carbon-monoxide,  calculated  com- 
bined efficiencies,  and  relation  between  draft  and  capacity. 
A  number  of  concrete  tests  and  examples  were  cited,  to- 
gether with  the  calculations  by  which  the  author's  results 
were  deduced.    The  coking  chain-grate  stoker  made  by  the 


Green  Engineering  Company  was  also  described  in  detail, 
especially  in  its  application  to  the  combustion  of  certain 
coals.  The  paper  was  discussed  by  Messrs.  W.  L.  Abbot, 
J.  C.  Peebles,  T.  A,  Peebles,  T.  A.  Marsh,  A.  Bement  and 
Alfred  Saxe.  In  closing  the  author  called  attention  to  the 
practical  fact  that,  while  efficiency  may  be  slightly  reduced 
by  forcing  boilers  beyond  their  rating,  this  sacrifice  is  much 
more  than  offset  by  the  saving  made  in  investment  and 
banking  of  boilers  otherwise  necessary  to  meet  the  de- 
mands of  a  varying  load. 


RECLAIMING  2  MILES  OF  EAST  ST.  LOUIS  SHORE 
LINE  WITH   CENTRAL-STATION  ENERGY. 


Within  the  next  two  years  6,000,000  cu.  yd.  of  material 
dredged  from  the  bed  of  the  Mississippi  will  be  used  to 
create  2  miles  of  new  river  front  at  East  St.  Louis,  111., 
both  this  made  land  and  the  present  flood  ground  behind  it 
being  elevated  well  above  the  high-water  level  of  the  stream. 


^^ 


Fig.    1 — 1500-hp    Electric    Dredge    "St.    Louis." 

The  dredge  performing  this  work  is  motor-driven  by  cen- 
tral-station energy  from  the  lines  of  the  East  St.  Louis  & 
Suburban  Railway  Company,  which  lights  East  St.  Louis, 
and  the  outfit  has  been  in  operation  since  Aug.  15  with 
entire  success.  Twenty-four-hour  working  seven  days  a 
week  is  the  rule,  making  the  load  a  desirable  one  for  the 
central  station.  Service  is  measured  at  the  power  house, 
the  construction  company  bearing  all  losses  of  the  2-mile, 
13,200-volt,  25-cycle  transmission  line.  The  rate  is  based  on 
the  maximum  fifteen-minute  demand  during  the  month,  plus 


Fig.   2 — 1000-hp    Pump    IVIotor   and    Dredge   Switchboard. 

a  unit  charge  per  kilowatt-hour  consumed.  For  last  month's 
operation  the  demand  of  the  dredge  outfit  was  about 
1200  kw. 

The  accompanying  diagram  and  illustrations  make  clear 
the  method  of  conveying  energy  to  the  looo-hp  main  pump 
motor  and  auxiliary  apparatus  on  the  dredge.     A  13,200- 


October  s,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


713 


volt,  25-cycle,  three-phase  transmission  line  skirts  the 
present  shore  line.  From  this  is  tapped  the  600-ft.  cable 
leading  to  the  transformer  barge.  An  aluminum-cell  ar- 
rester, mounted  a  few  poles  back  of  the  tap,  and  choke 
coils  in  each  cable-conductor  tap  protect  the  equipment 
from  lightning.  This  cable  is  of  the  armored  submarine  type 
and  contains  three  No.  4  conductors.  The  transformer 
barge,  which  is  usually  anchored  near  shore,  carries  a  9-ft. 
reel  (on  which  the  13,200-volt  cable  terminates),  three 
400-kw,  I3,200-to-2200-volt  transformers  and  the  switch- 
board. Connecting  the  transformer  barge  with  the  dredge 
is  a  i200-ft.  length  of  armored-submarine  2200-volt,  three- 
conductor,  350,000-circ.  mil  cable.  While  entirely  adapted 
for  submersion,  this  cable  is  for  convenience  strung  along 
over  the  steel  pontoons  which  carry  the  20-in.  discharge 
pipe.  Another  9-ft.  cable  reel,  similar  to  that  on  the  trans- 
former barge,  takes  up  slack  in  the  2200-volt  cable.  The 
shafts  of  both  these  reels,  extending  into  the  deck  housings, 
carry  sets  of  20-in.  slip-rings,  from  which  brushes  convey 
the  current  to  the  switchboard  busbars.  Practically  all  the 
motors  on  the  dredge  are  2200-volt  machines. 


The  main  dredge  pump  is 
looo-hp  slip-ring  motor,  with 
pump  has  a  20-in.   discharge. 


MAIN    DREDGE   PUMP. 

driven    at   375 


r.p.m.  by  a 
drum  type  controller.  This 
and  can  deliver   about   500 


handling  spuds,  head  lines,  stern  line,  cutter  ladder,  etc., 
are  performed  by  a  75-hp,  500-r.p.m.  motor  through  seven 
Lidgerwood  hoist  drums,  which  are  individually  clutched 
and  braked  by  means  of  air  cylinders  controlled  from  valves 
in  the  lever  man's  pilot  house. 

AUXILIARY    EQUIPMENT. 

In  addition  to  the  above  2200-volt  equipment,  there  are 
two  35-hp,  2200-volt  motors  driving  Morris  service  pumps, 
which  provide  water  packing  for  pipe-line  joints,  and  two 
lo-hp,  2200-volt  bilge  pumps,  besides  the  air-compressor 
motors.  A  30-kw,  220o-to-ii5-volt,  three-phase  trans- 
former furnishes  deck-lighting  service  and  also  energy  to 
operate  the  2.8-kw  motor-generator  set  which  supplies 
8o-volt  direct-current  energy  to  the  i8-in.  search-lamp 
above  the  pilot  house.  With  the  aid  of  this  lamp  work  is 
continued  all  night  long,  and  the  dredge  need  never  be  shut 
down  except  to  change  the  pontoon  discharge  line. 

Compared  with  steam  dredging,  the  motor-driven  outfit 
has  the  advantages  of  lower  first  cost,  requiring  less  space 
and  reducing  the  cost  of  the  dredge.  The  apparatus  is  more 
flexible  and  easily  handled,  and  likelihood  of  shut-down  or 
interruption  is  less.  With  the  muddy  water  of  the 
Mississippi,  steam  dredges  must  shut  down  to  clean  boilers 
at  least  once  a  week.  Troubles  of  transporting  coal  to  the 
dredge  are  also  avoided  by  using  central-station  power. 


13  200- Volt,  25-OycIe  Transmission 


From 
Power  House 


600-ft., 
No.  4,  3-Cond. 
]3.(K)0-V.  Cable 


Cable  Reel- 


Fig.    3 — Arrangement    of    Electrical    Apparatus   on    Dredge    and    Transformer   Barge. 


Head  Line 


cu.  yd.  of  solid  material  per  hour.  Pumping  river  silt,  the 
solids  handled  comprise  from  15  to  20  per  cent  of  the  total 
fluid  discharge.  Besides  its  starting  resistance,  this  motor 
is  arranged  with  continuous-duty  resistors  for  15  per  cent 
speed  reduction.  These  resistor  grids  are  mounted  in  the 
roof  of  the  cabin.  While  this  speed  reduction  is  available  in 
case  of  overload  on  long  discharge-line  deliveries,  the 
motor  is  now  being  run  at  normal  rating.  To  operate  the 
cutter  head  which  precedes  the  intake  and  loosens  bottom 
material,  a  75-hp  slip-ring  motor  with  14-point  controller 
and  heavy  starting  rheostat  is  provided.  This  motor  is 
double  geared  to  the  cutter  shaft,  which  moves  with  the 
pivoted  ladder  structure. 

Although  without  propeller  power  for  navigation,  the 
dredge  advances  ahead  when  at  work,  by  the  aid  of  spuds 
and  head  lines.  At  the  stern  are  a  pair  of  Oregon  fir  spuds, 
huge  perfect  timbers,  30  in.  in  diaineter  and  50  ft.  long, 
shod  with  steel  points.  One  spud  is  dropped  into  the  river 
bottom  at  a  time,  and  with  it  as  a  pivot  the  lever  man  swings 
the  dredge  and  cutter  into  new  "ground"  with  the  aid  of 
the  sheaves  on  the  head  lines.  After  successive  swings 
back  and  forth,  finally  cutting  down  to  the  30-ft.  level,  the 
second  spud  is  dropped  while  near  the  end  of  a  swing,  the 
first  raised,  and  the  dredge  is  thus  "walked"  ahead  for 
cutting    into   new    material.     These   various   motions    of 


The  work  of  filling  in  the  2  miles  of  level  north  from  the 
new  municipal  bridge  is  being  done  for  th;  Terminal  Rail- 
road Association,  which  owns  the  riparian  rights.  The 
Kinser  Construction  Company,  St.  Louis,  is  the  contractor 
and  devised  the  present  interesting  method  of  handling  the 
work.  Mr.  S.  W.  Fox  is  chief  engineer  for  the  work,  and 
Mr.  H.  J.  Muehlman  is  electrical  engineer.  The  electric 
dredge  St.  Louis  was  built  by  the  Morris  Machine  Works, 
Baldwinsville,  N.  Y.,  all  electrical  equipment  being  fur- 
nished by  the  General  Electric  Company. 


FIRE  ENGINE  USED  TO  THAW  CABLE  DUCTS. 


In  a  Western  city  last  winter  it  became  necessary  to  pull 
some  cable  from  a  dozen  blocks  of  underground  duct  which 
had  frozen  up  as  a  result  of  the  severe  weather.  The  old 
cable  was  in  cement-lined  conduit  which  had  been  in  the 
ground  for  a  number  of  years  and  was  badly  out  of  align- 
ment. Mud  and  water  had  collected  in  the  depressions  and, 
solidifying,  held  the  cable  fast.  Several  methods  of  melting 
the  ice  were  suggested,  the  first  plan  proposed  being  that  of 
sending  a  heavy  current  through  the  cable  and  sheath.  It 
was    feared,    however,    that    the    lead    covering    might   be 


714 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o.  No.  14. 


damaged  by  this  procedure,  so  that  the  use  of  steam  heat  to 
melt  the  ice  was  decided  upon.  A  fire  engine  was  borrowed 
from  the  city  department  and  stationed  over  the  first  man- 
hole outlet,  a  hose  from  its  steam  line  being  led  directly  into 
the  cable  duct.  With  this  equipment  an  average  of  a  300-ft. 
block  was  freed  each  day,  so  that  the  job  was  completed  in 
about  ten  days.  The  engine  was  moved  from  day  to  day, 
the  old  cable  being  pulled  out  as  rapidly  as  the  ice  was 
melted  and  new  conductor  drawn  in  in  its  place. 


MOTOR-DRIVEN    IRRIGATION  PLANT  NEAR 
LODI,  CAL. 


One  of  the  illustrations  below  shows  a  typical  installation 
of  motor  drive  replacing  a  gasoline   engine   formerly   em- 


Fig.    1 — A    Typical    Transformer    Installation      Near    Lodi.    Cal. 

ployed  to  do  irrigation  work  on  the  distribution  system  of 
the  Western  States  Gas  &  Electric   Company,  the  general 


Fig.   2 — Interior   of   Pumping    Plant.   Showing    a   20-hp    IVtotor    Dis- 
placing   a    30-hp    Gasoline    Engine. 

offices  of  which  are  at  Stockton.  Cal.  The  Cutting  Packing 
Company,  which  owns  this  pumping  station  near  Lodi,  Cal., 
originally  installed  a  30-hp  gasoline  engine.  When  central- 
station  energy  became  available  this  drive  was  altered,  a 
20-hp  motor  being  installed  to  drive  the  vertical-shaft  cen- 
trifugal pump.     The  electric  method  of  irrigation  has  not 


only  proved  to  be  cheaper  than  gas-engine  drive,  when  all 
items  of  expense  are  included,  but  it  avoids  the  troublesome 
delays  and  interruptions  incident  to  operating  a  small  iso- 
lated power  plant.  The  packing  company  operates  several 
such  irrigation  plants  in  its  orchards.  Other  installations 
in  the  vicinity  are  used  to  supply  water  for  almond  orchards 


Fig.    3— Pumping     Plant     Located    In    an    Almond    Orchard. 

and  alfalfa  fields.  Motors  for  this  duty  range  from  5  hp 
to  25  hp.  Fig.  3  shows  a  plant  containing  a  3-in.  centrifugal 
pump.  This  outfit  is  located  in  an  almond  orchard  with 
alfalfa  planted  between  the  trees. 

Seven  hundred  farmers  are  now  supplied  with  central- 
station  energy  from  the  transmission  system  of  the  Western 
States  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  which  has  a  connected  load 
of  nearly  2000  hp  in  pumping  installations.  The  company's 
network  of  secondary  lines  covers  80  sq.  miles  of  the  best 
farming  territory.  Projected  extensions  will  bring  this  total 
area  up  to  200  acres.  Products  of  the  vicinity  are  celery, 
potatoes,  asparagus,  onions,  beans,  grapes  and  fruits.  Rates 
for  irrigation  service  are  as  follows:  First  1000  kw-hr..  3 
cents:  second  1000  kw-hr..  2.5  cents:  third  1000  kw-hr..  2 
cents:  fourth  1000  kw-hr..  1.5  cents. 

H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  Chicago,  are  managers  of  the 
\\'estern  States  Gas  &  Electric  Company.  Mr.  W.  W.  S. 
Butler  being  local  general  manager. 


UNDER-WATER    COAL-STORAGE    PIT   FOR 
INDIANAPOLIS. 


.•\n  under-water  coal-storage  pit,  300  ft.  long,  100  ft.  wide 
and  20  ft.  deep,  capable  of  holding  25,000  tons,  of  which 
15.000  tons  can  be  submerged,  is  now  being  constructed  for 
the  Indianapolis  Light  &  Heat  Company  at  its  Mill  Street 
turbine  station.  Fuel  will  be  discharged  into  the  storage 
pit  by  dump-bottom  cars  from  a  trestle  carried  down  the 
center  on  concrete  piers  and  will  be  taken  out.  as  needed, 
by  a  locomotive  crane,  clamshell  bucket  and  cars  running  on 
the  same  track.  The  cost  of  handling  the  coal  will  thus  be 
limited  to  one  transfer,  the  pit  being  filled  by  gravity.  The 
trestle  connects  directly  with  the  track  hopper  leading  to 
the  plant  conveyor,  and  after  the  locomotive  crane  has  filled 
the  cars  on  each  side  of  it  the  train  will  be  conveyed  to  the 
hopper  house,  emptied  and  returned  for  a  fresh  load. 

The  rectangular  section  of  the  prism  excavated  has  been 
modified  by  leaving  19-ft.,  45-deg.  inclined  surfaces  along 
the  bottom.  This  accomplishes  a  double  result.  Since  the 
natural  slope  of  the  outside  gravel  material  is  followed,  the 
concrete  lining  need  not  be  built  as  a  retaining  wall  to  hold 
back  the  excavated  material.  A  shorter  boom  for  the  loco- 
motive  crane   is   also   made   possible,   since   as   the   coal    is 


October  5,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


removed  from  the  pit  all  the  fuel  beyond  the  35  ft.  line  will 
run  back  within  the  bucket  radius.  A  12-in.  lining  of  con- 
crete will  be  applied  to  the  entire  surface,  extending  this 
concrete  as  a  wall  6  ft.  above  the  ground  level  at  the  sides. 
Half-inch  and  Yn-m.  round  steel  section  is  to  be  used  for 
reinforcing.  As  armor  to  protect  the  concrete  bottom 
against  the  impact  of  the  bucket,  40-lb.  rails  will  be  em- 
bedded up  to  their  heads  in  the  floor,  at  i8-in.  intervals. 
The  central  trestle  construction  is  designed  to  carry  the 
heaviest  rolling  stock.  Excavation  for  the  pit  is  already 
completed,  and  the  placing  of  concrete  has  begun.  The 
basin  should  be  ready  to  receive  coal  by  Nov.  I. 

Completed,  this  under-water  coal-storage  pit  will  represent 
an  investment  of  about  $20,000,  according  to  Mr.  T.  A. 
Wynne,   vice-president   and   general   superintendent   of   the 


Saud-.Gj'iuX'l 


Uuinf.   4  O  Steel 


SUei.leul  iFvriil 

Under-Watep    Coal-Storage    Pit    for    an     Indianapolis    Station. 

Indianapolis  Light  &  Heat  Company.  The  excavation  con- 
tract was  let  for  $6,000.  The  sand  and  gravel  removed  is 
piled  near  the  pit,  and  will  be  used  for  concreting  this  and 
other  work,  including  the  reinforcement  of  poles  which  the 
company  now  makes  its  practice.  For  similar  gravel  $2.50 
per  load  was  formerly  paid.  The  excavated  material  can  be 
delivered  to  the  job  for  $1  a  load,  thus  netting  $1.50  saving. 
Reinforcing  and  rails  for  the  pit  walls  cost  $2,000,  and 
3000  bags  of  cement  at  $1  per  bag  cost  $3,000.  The  re- 
mainder is  represented  by  labor  and  by  the  equipment  for 
handling  the  fuel.  Under-water  storage  of  coal  prevents 
the  spontaneous  firing  prevalent  with  fuel  containing  sulphur 
and  diminishes  the  loss  of  heat  units  when  the  coal  is  to  be 
stored  for  long  periods. 


WATER-COOLED  ERON-PIPE  RHEOSTAT  CAPABLE 
OF  DISSIPATING  1500  KW  CONTINUOUSLY. 


For  testing  a  large  substation  storage  battery  at  St. 
Louis  it  became  necessary  to  provide  a  rheostat  capable  of 
dissipating  continuously  the  power  represented  by  5000  amp 
at  300  volts.  A  water-cooled  pipe-grid  type  of  resistor  was 
decided  upon,  the  iron  pipe  to  act  as  the  conductor  while 
being  cooled  by  a  flow  of  water.  Preliminary  experiments 
and  calculations  indicated  that  about  600  ft.  of  2-in.  pipe 
would  be  required.  The  rheostat  was  assembled  as  shown 
in  the  sketch,  forty-seven  20-ft.  lengths  of  double-strength 
2-in.  pipe  being  coupled  in  40-ft.  pairs  and  connected  by 
standard  pipe  returns,  making  a  total  length  of  569  ft,  of 
pipe.  It  was  soon  found  that  the  rheostat  could  not  be 
cooled  sufficiently  by  passing  water  from  end  to  end  through 
the  569  ft.  of  pipe,  so  it  became  necessary  to  tap  holes  in 
the  return  fittings,  threading  one  set  and  inserting  nipples 
to  hold  the  hose  connections  to  the  manifold  water-supply 
pipe.  From  the  other  ends  the  water  was  allowed  to  escape 
and  waste. 

A  serious  problem  was  next  presented  in  making  an  ade- 
quate connection  between  the  battery  leads  and  the  iron 
pipe.  The  connections  between  the  battery  bus  and  rheo- 
stat consisted  of  ten  i,ooo,ooo-circ.  mil  cables  30  ft.  in 
length  on  each  polarity.  The  attachment  was  made  by 
bending  ten  4-in.  by  yi-in.  copper  straps  around  a  i-in. 
copper  pipe,  soldering  them  to  its  tinned  surface.     To  the 


flat  lugs  thus  provided  the  cables  were  securely  clamped. 
An  ordinary  pipe  fitting  connected  the  copper  tubes  with 
the  main  rheostat  pipe.  Water  circulating  through  the 
copper  kept  it  at  a  workable  temperature  and  prevented  the 
solder  from  melting.  With  this  rheostat  the  5100-amp 
output   of  the  battery   was   satisfactorily   dissipated   during 


Copper  Strai>3  Wriippod 
and  Soldered  to  Copper  Pipe 


Xen       1, 003.000  C.il.    O.-ibloa 
Water-Cooled  Pipe  Rheostat  for  Testing  Storage  Battery. 

the  rated  one-hour  discharge,  1310  cu.  ft.  of  water  being 
used  for  cooling.  Local  hot  spots  in  the  pipe  were 
quenched  by  playing  with  a  hose  or  loading  on  snow.  The 
pipe  grids  rested  on  bricks  placed  on  sawhorses  to  prevent 
the  wood  from  charring. 

For  a  six-minute  test  of  the  same  battery  at  a  discharge 
rate  of  21,000  amp,  two  3-in.  pipe  sections  were  connected 
in  parallel,  one  section  being  154  ft.  and  the  other  161  ft. 
long.  Resistance  was  cut  out,  as  needed,  by  bridging  short- 
circuiting  copper  straps  across  the  iron  pipe.  For  the  six- 
minute  test  at  an  average  20,000-amp  discharge,  319  cu.  ft. 
of  cooling  water  was  required.  The  rheostat  was  designed 
and  the  tests  carried  out  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  K.  H. 
Hansen,  electrical  engineer  for  the  Union  Electric  Light  & 
Power  Company. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  SMALL  ELECTRIC-LIGHT 
COMPANY. 


I'he  problem  of  supplying  electric-lighting  service  to  the 
average  small  town  is  a  very  difficult  one  to  solve  so  as  to 
satisfy  the  people  of  the  town  and  also  the  stockholders  of 
the  company,  according  to  the  view  of  Mr.  R.  S.  Stewart, 
expressed  in  a  paper  read  before  the  recent  convention  of 
the  Michigan  Section  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Asso- 
ciation. The  total  amount  of  business  is  limited,  usually 
being  less  than  $3  per  capita.  The  customers  have  small 
bills  and  use  no  more  lamps  than  are  necessary.  The  habits 
of  the  people  are  all  very  similar  and  there  is  therefore 
not  as  large  a  diversity  factor  as  is  found  in  the  large  cities. 
The  maximum  load  is  small,  probably  in  the  neighborhood 
of  30  kw  per  1000  inhabitants. 

In  order  to  keep  the  fuel  bills  down  to  reasonable  limits 
and  also  to  keep  the  investment  as  low  as  possible,  most 
small  plants  are  content  with  one  engine  and  generator  of 
a  size  sufficient  to  carry  the  maximum  load.  No  spare  ma- 
chine is  installed.  As  a  result  of  this  practice  the  machine 
is  operated  under  very  inefficient  conditions  after  11  o'clock 
at  night,  and  in  some  towns  the  companies  go  so  far  as  to 
shut  down  at  midnight  in  order  to  cut  down  operating 
expenses. 

The  question  of  labor  is  very  serious,  for  one  man  is 
expected  to  operate  the  plant  at  night  without  the  assistance 


7i6 


ELECTRICAL     W^  O  R  L  D  . 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


of  a  fireman,  make  all  the  necessary  repairs  in  the  daytime, 
do  all  the  wiring,  order  supplies  and,  in  fact,  be  a  man- 
of-all-work.  With  all  these  qualifications  he  must  be  con- 
tent with  a  salary  which  is  usually  less  than  that  of  a  fire- 
man in  a  large  plant.  The  consequence  is  that  the  plant  is 
not  kept  in  the  same  efficient  state  as  are  the  plants  in  the 
larger   cities. 

\\'hat  the  small  town  needs  is  not  an  engineer  who  will 
install  a  plant  of  the  highest  efficiency  possible,  but  an  all- 
around  man  who  will  use  common  sense  and  will  so  arrange 
the  plant  that  he  can  obtain  the  greatest  possible  amount  of 
revenue  without  increasing  the  expenses  to  a  prohibitive 
point.  Where  small  towns  are  not  too  far  distant  from 
other  towns  it  is  more  profitable  for  several  small  towns  to 
combine  into  a  single  system  than  for  each  town  to  work 
out  its  problems  independently  of  the  others. 


IMPROVEMENT  IN    STEAM  TURBO-GENERATORS. 

According  to  the  report  of  the  committee  of  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies  on  steam  tur- 
bines, based  on  information  supplied  by  the  manufacturers, 
a  number  of  developments  and  improvements  have  been 
made  recently  in  Westinghouse  steam  turbo-generator  prac- 
tice. Speed  limits  have  been  materially  raised  within  re- 
cent times  in  both  25-cycle  and  60-cycle  practice.  In  60- 
cycle  practice  generators  of  5000  kva'rating  at  3600  r.p.m. 
have  been  built,  which  is  considerably  larger  than  had  been 
completed  a  year  ago.  For  machines  larger  than  5000  kva 
four  poles  are  being  used  up  to  approximately  20,000  kva, 
whereas  a  10,000-kva  generator  was  about  the  largest  ma- 
chine yet  built  with  four  poles  up  to  a  year  ago. 

In  25-cycle  practice,  two-pole,  1500  r.p.m.  machines  are 
being  built  in  sizes  up  to  20,000  kva,  and  it  is  probable  that 
the  ratings  will  be  carried  up  to  25,000  kva  or  possibly 
30,000  kva,  although  at  these  ratings  other  factors  than 
the  design  of  the  turbo-generator  itself  may  control  the 
speed  conditions.  It  may  be  said,  however,  that  the  gen- 
erator itself  is  practicable  up  to  30,000  kva  at  1500  r.p.m. 
At  750  r.p.m.  it  is  hard  to  say  what  the  upper  limit  will  be. 

Some  of  the  most  radical  improvements  in  the  later  high- 
speed turbo-generators  have  been  in  the  methods  of  ventila- 
tion. In  the  older  Westinghouse  practice  practically  all  the 
ventilation  of  the  machine  was  through  the  air-gap  between 
the  rotor  and  stator.  On  the  more  recent  machines,  espe- 
cially where  the  speed  limits  have  been  raised,  it  is  not 
practicable  to  force  sufficient  cooling  air  through  the  air- 
gap  alone,  and  therefore  additional  ventilating  channels  are 
provided  and  particular  provision  is  made  to  prevent  the 
currents  of  cooling  air  in  the  various  paths  from  interfering 
with  each  other.  In  particular,  the  air  passages  are  ar- 
ranged with  a  view  to  cleaning  them  without  dismantling 
the  machine.  Methods  have  also  been  devised  for  effective- 
ly cooling  machines  which  have  a  comparatively  great 
length  compared  with  their  diameter,  and  thus,  it  is  claimed, 
a  long  machine  of  very  high  rating  can  be  cooled  as  effec- 
tively as  a  short  one,  which  has  not  been  usually  the  case. 

In  the  more  recent  machines  of  very  large  outputs  the 
rotor  is  made  up  of  rolled-steel  plates  which  are  rigidly  and 
permanently  clamped  together,  without  a  through  shaft,  to 
form  the  rotor  body  as  a  whole.  This  core  is  then  suitably 
slotted  for  the  rotor  windings  and  for  purposes  of  ventila- 
tion. The  rotor  windings  consist  of  formed  strap  coils 
insulated  with  mica  and  asbestos,  so  that  they  can  withstand 
an  excessively  high  temperature  under  emergency  condi- 
tions. Tests  made  with  this  type  of  insulation  are  said  to 
have  shown  that  it  can  successfully  withstand  temperatures 
higher  than  that  of  the  melting  point  of  tin  solder. 

As  far  as  the  records  show,  the  manufacturer  claims  that 
there  has  never  been  a  failure  of  the  insulation  with  the 
Westinghouse  mica-wound  rotors  due  to  deterioration  by 
temperature,  although  a  large  number  of  such  rotors  have 


been  employed  in  commercial  service  for  a  number  of  years. 

On  account  of  the  higher  speed  limits  with  large  ma- 
chines, the  methods  of  supplying  cooling  air  have  required 
more  or  less  modification  recently.  For  instance,  a  60-cycle, 
four-pole  machine  of  20,000  kva  rating  will  not  have  a 
materially  larger  diameter  of  rotor  than  a  10,000-kva  ma- 
chine of  the  same  speed,  although  the  amount  of  air  re- 
quired for  cooling  must  be  twice  as  great.  In  the  10,000- 
kva  machine,  a  ventilating  fan  of  the  largest  permissible 
dimensions  may  be  installed  directly  on  the  rotor  shaft,  and 
the  opening  through  such  fans  may  be  just  sufficient  to 
force  in  the  required  amount  of  ventilating  air.  Therefore, 
on  the  20,ooo-kva  machine  it  may  be  impracticable  to  obtain 
enough  opening  through  a  ventilating  fan  of  the  largest 
practicable  dimensions  to  allow  the  necessary  air  to  be  sup- 
plied to  the  machine,  and  hence  some  other  method  of 
ventilation  becomes  necessary  or  desirable.  In  consequence, 
on  very  large  high-speed  turbo-generators  separate  blowers 
are  coming  into  use,  these  blowers  being  designed  for  any 
suitable  speed  and  driven  by  electric  motors.  When  a 
number  of  large  turbo-generators  are  located  in  one  station 
the  ventilating  fans  can  supply  air  to  a  large  air  chamber 
which  opens  to  all  the  machines.  This  scheme  is  somewhat 
more  economical  than  with  blowers  directly  on  the  ma- 
chines, as  the  fans  can  be  operated  at  the  most  economical 
speed,  and  furthermore,  if  the  fans  are  driven  by  motors 
with  adjustable  speed  characteristics  it  is  possible  to  vary 
the  air  pressure,  depending  upon  the  requirements  of  the 
load,  so  that  further  economy  is  thus  obtained. 

The  Westinghouse  company  countenances  the  use  of  volt- 
ages up  to  11,000  volts  and  13,000  volts  directly  on  the 
armature  winding.  Two  principal  difficulties  incident  to  the 
use  of  high  voltage  on  the  armature  winding — namely, 
dangerous  heating  in  that  part  of  the  copper  buried  in  the 
core,  and  deterioration  or  "eating  away''  of  the  insulation 
by  static  discharges — have  both  been  overcome  by  the  use 
of  mica  insulation  on  the  buried  part  of  the  coil,  this  insula- 
tion being  put  on  individual  turns  as  well  as  on  the  outside 
of  the  coil  as  a  whole. 

The  end  windings  of  Westinghouse  machines,  it  is  said, 
have  been  braced  in  a  still  more  rigid  manner  than  in  the 
past,  so  that  no  danger  is  anticipated  from  dead  short- 
circuits  across  the  terminals  of  such  machines  without  ex- 
ternal reactance  in  series.  The  Westinghouse  company 
designs  its  turbo-generators  with  a  relatively  large  internal 
reactance,  sufficient  to  prevent  damage  to  the  machine  in 
case  of  a  dead  short-circuit  across  the  terminals.  This 
usually  means  from  twelve  to  eighteen  times  full  load  cur- 
rent at  the  first  instant  of  short-circuit.  If  for  any  reason 
outside  the  machine  itself  it  is  necessary  or  desirable  to 
reduce  still  further  the  short-circuit  current,  it  is  recom- 
mended that  this  be  done  by  means  of  external  reactors. 
By  this  expedient  a  certain  amount  of  adjustment  is  possible 
to  meet  external  conditions,  while  the  machine  is  able  to 
protect  itself  regardless  of  the  use  of  additional  reactors. 


REVOLVING  MOLDS  FOR  CONCRETE  POLES. 


Concrete  posts  for  carrying  electric-light  and  trolley  wires 
across  the  new  Avenue  Twenty  Bridge,  Los  Angeles,  Cal., 
are  being  constructed  by  the  centrifugal  method  under 
German  patents.  The  mold  is  revolved  rapidly  while  the 
concrete  is  being  poured,  throwing  the  material  into  the 
outer  edges  of  the  pattern.  Motion  is  continued  while  the 
concrete  is  setting,  holding  the  material  under  centrifugal 
action  until  it  has  become  thoroughly  fixed.  Reinforcing 
bars  are  placed  in  the  molds  in  the  usual  way  near  the  outer 
surfaces  of  the  concrete.  Posts  formed  in  this  way  are 
declared  to  be  stronger  than  those  in  which  the  concrete 
has  set  under  ordinary  conditions,  but  the  cost  of  the 
centrifugal  method  is  greater.  Mr.  Homer  Hamlin  is  city 
engineer  in  charge  of  the  bridge  construction. 


October  5,  igu. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


717 


PROTECTING    SECONDARY    NETWORKS    AGAINST 
DEFECTIVE  TRANSFORMERS. 


In  a  paper  presented  before  the  annual  convention  of  the 
Association  of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies  at  Hot 
Springs  recently,  Mr.  S.  D.  Sprong,  of  the  Brooklyn  Edison 
Company,  described  a  method  of  eliminating  a  defective 
distributing  transformer  on  primary  circuits  without  allow- 
ing it  to  remain  as  a  short-circuit  on  the  secondary  network. 
In  approaching  this  problem,  the  author  and  Mr.  W.  E. 
McCoy,  of  the  United  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  of 
New  York,  dismissed  from  consideration  differential  relays 
with  contacts  and  all  of  the  variety  of  other  devices  that  are 
suitable  for  interior  work.  By  this  process  of  elimination 
there  was  left  but  one  protective  device  that  might  be  em- 
ployed, namely,  the  fuse;  but  unfortunately  the  fuse  has  no 
sense  of  discrimination  in  the  direction  of  the  flow  of  cur- 
rent. Therefore  it  remained  to  utilize  the  fuse  in  such  a 
way  as  to  make  it  respond  to  reverse  power,  regardless  of 
direction.  Apparently  the  only  means  of  doing  this  was  to 
superpose  on  it  a  current  resulting  only  from  the  reversal 
of  load.  It  then  remained  so  to  connect  this  fuse  that  when 
ruptured  by  reverse  power  it  would  disconnect  the  trans- 
former secondary  from  the  network.  This  was  accom- 
plished by  connect- 
ing the  transformer 
to  the  center  of  the 
fuse  and  one  of 
its  terminals  respec- 
tively. 

The  connections 
of  the  device  for  a 
three-wire  network 
are  shown  herewith. 
The  commercial 
transformer  is 
shown  at  A,  ope 
terminal  of  the  pri- 
mary being  connect- 
ed in  series  with  a 
coil  B  of  the  series  ■ 
instrument  trans- 
former. The  termi- 
nals of  the  second- 
ary of  the  commer- 
cial transformer  are 
connected  through 
coils  C  and  C,  on  the 
series  transformer.  These  latter  coils  are  connected  to  the 
middle  point  of  the  looped  fuses  D  and  D^,  one  side  of  which 
is  connected  from  E  and  £,  to  the  outer  conductors  of  tlie 
three-wire  network.  The  fuses  D  and  Z?,  act  as  a  short-cir- 
cuit connection  on  the  coils  E  and  £,.  Under  normal  condi- 
tions the  primary  B  and  secondary  coils  C  and  C„  having  the 
same  ampere  turns  and  being  connected  in  opposition,  will 
neutralize  each  other  so  that  there  will  be  no  mmf  circu- 
lating in  the  core  of  the  series  transformers  to  energize  the 
coils  E  and  £j.  This  balance  of  conditions  is  maintained 
at  all  loads  and  is  only  upset  by  a  reverse  current  flowing 
from  the  secondary  network  into  the  transformer  such  as 
is  occasioned  by  a  short-circuit  in  the  latter.  Such  a  con- 
dition reverses  the  relative  polarity  of  the  coils  C  and  C,, 
thus  energizing  the  core  and  causing  a  heavy  short-circuit 
current  to  flow  through  the  coils  E  and  £,  by  way  of  the 
short-circuiting  fuses  D  and  £>,.  The  heavy  short-circuit 
current  through  the  fuse  immediately  ruptures  them  and 
isolates  the  main  terminals  at  G  and  G,. 

This  device  has  been  built  and  tested  in  transformers 
ranging  from  5  kw  to  50  kw,  two-wire  and  three-wire.  It 
operates  so  nearly  instantaneously  that  it  does  not  blow 
the  primary  fuses  in  transformers  immediately  adjacent. 
The  fuses  D  and  Z3,  each  carry  the  secondary  current  and 
under  normal  working  conditions  are  so  proportioned  that 


Fuse    Connections. 


they  will  not  blow  from  overload.  Their  current-carrying 
capacity  compared  with  the  full  load  of  the  transformer  is 
not  less  than  five  to  one.  In  other  words,  the  short-circuit 
current  available  to  blow  this  fuse  in  case  of  reversal  is  at 
least  five  times  the  full-load  secondary  current  of  the  trans- 
former. Various  tests  have  been  made  in  the  degree  of 
short-circuit  in  the  commercial  transformer,  varying  from  a 
direct  short-circuit  across  its  primary  terminals  to  a  partial 
short-circuit  on  the  secondary  winding.  The  protecting 
fuses  D  and  Z?,  blow  in  every  case  and  almost  instanta- 
neously even  on  the  minor  short-circuits  in  the  secondary  of 
the  transformer.  According  to  the  author  the  device  oper- 
ates so  effectively  that  on  a  few  tests  a  short-circuit  in  the 
commercial  transformer  of  such  proportions  as  not  to  blow 
the  primary  fuse  did  blow  the  protector  fuse.  This,  how- 
ever, results  very  infrequently  and  was  due  to  the  very  nice 
balance  of  conditions  that  occurred  in  some  of  the  tests. 


INSTALLATION    OF    SMALL    POWER    PLANTS    IN 
FEDERAL  OFFICE  BUILDINGS— III. 


By  D.  F.  Atkins  and  H.  M.  Price. 
In  the  previous  articles  on  this  subject  the  considerations 
governing  the  Treasury  Department  in  the  choice  of  the 
mechanical  equipment  of  a  federal  building  were  outlined, 
and  in  order  that  the  general  practice  of  the  Treasury  De- 
partment might  be  understood  the  rules  governing  the  size 
and  number  of  units  were  also  treated  at  some  length.  In 
the  last  article  the  merits  of  the  various  types  of  machines 
were  discussed  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  special  needs  of 
the  department,  and  as  having  a  bearing  upon  the  subject 
excerpts  from  the  specifications  for  the  engines  and  genera- 
tors as  prepared  in  the  office  of  the  supervising  architect  are 
given  below. 

ENGINES. 

The  engines  required  are  of  the  single-cylinder,  auto- 
matic, horizontal,  side  or  center  crank  type,  designed  to 
operate  non-condensing  on  dry  saturated  steam  at  no-lb. 
gage  pressure  at  the  throttle.  The  speed  of  the  loo-kw  set 
is  required  to  be  not  more  than  250  r.p.m.  and  of  the  150-kw 
set  not  more  than  220  r.p.m.  The  engines  must  be  designed 
to  operate  most  economically  when  the  generators  are  carry- 
ing three-quarter  load  at  rated  voltage  and  speed,  but  must 
be  capable  of  operating  the  generators  for  two  hours  on 
25  per  cent  overload  at  rated  voltage.  Foundations  of  i  12:3 
concrete,  with  the  bottom  not  less  than  4  ft.  below  the  floor 
line  and  the  top  extending  not  less  than  6  in.  beyond  the 
edge  of  the  sub-base  of  the  frames,  are  required,  and  the 
batter  in  the  depth  specified  must  not  be  less  than  2J-2  ft. 
each  side.     A  6-in.  cushion  of  sand  is  also  required. 

In  addition  to  a  heavy  and  substantial  cast-iron  sub-base, 
each  engine  is  required  to  have  a  heavy  and  substantial 
cast-iron  frame  designed  for  strength,  rigidity  and  compact- 
ness and  equipped  with  suitable  covers  to  prevent  the  throw- 
ing of  oil  or  the  accumulation  of  dust  on  moving  parts. 
Long,  well-proportioned,  dust-proof  bearings,  lined  with 
genuine  babbitt  metal  carefully  peened  in  place  and  accu- 
rately bored  to  gage,  are  specified.  The  main  bearing  must 
be  of  the  removable  shell  type,  and  the  outboard  bearing, 
which  is  required  to  have  large-size  oil  wells,  visual  gages 
and  pet  cocks  for  drawing  off  the  oil,  must  be  of  the  oil-ring 
type.  Means  for  adjustment  of  all  bearings  are  demanded. 
According  to  the  specification  each  engine  must  be  provided 
with  an  automatic,  self-lubricating,  continuous-circulating 
system,  which  will  supply  pure  clean  oil  continuously  to  all 
bearings,  etc.,  the  operation  of  the  system  to  be  positive 
and  free  from  the  throwing  or  spilling  of  oil. 

The  engine  cvlinders  must  be  of  sufficient  thickness  to 
allow  for  re-boring  and  be  well  lagged  with  magnesia  or 
other  material  having  equal  heat-insulating  value  and  cov- 
ered with  ornamental  cast-iron  jackets  or  with  Russia  iron. 


7i8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


The  piston  heads  must  be  of  hollow  cast  iron,  with  at  least 
two  cast-iron  snap  rings  with  lapped  joints  sprung  into 
accurately  fitting  grooves.  The  rings  must  override  the 
bore  of  the  cylinder. 

Nickel  steel  is  required  in  the  piston  rods,  which  must 
be  turned  to  a  taper  at  the  piston  ends  and  driven  up  to  the 
shoulder  and  securely  held  by  a  heavy  nut  provided  with  a 
cotter  or  dowel  pin.  The  forward  ends  of  the  piston  must 
be  secured  into  the  crossheads  and  be  provided  with  a  jam 
nut  and  suitable  lock  to  prevent  turning.  The  crossheads 
must  be  of  cast  steel,  equipped  with  adjustable  bronze  shoes 
or  shoes  of  cast  iron  and  babbitt.  The  connecting  rods  must 
be  of  forged  open-hearth  steel  in  one  piece  with  solid  crank 
pin  end  and  crosshead  end.  The  crosshead  boxes  must  be 
made  of  phosphor  bronze,  adjustable  by  means  of  a  wedge, 
and  the  crank  ends  must  be  fitted  with  adjustable  boxes  of 
steel  or  phosphor  bronze,  lined  with  babbitt  metal.  Open- 
hearth  steel,  forged  in  one  piece,  with  counter-balancing 
crank  disks  of  annealed  steel  securely  fastened  thereto,  is 
specified  for  the  crank  shafts. 

Each  engine  must  be  fitted  with  four  valves  of  the  semi- 
rotary,  poppet  or  gridiron  type,  designed  to  be  slightly 
unbalanced.  Multi-ported  steam  valves,  giving  ample  port 
openings  for  all  points  of  cut-off,  are  required,  the  steam 
valves  to  be  provided  with  removable  bushings  or  cages  and 
the  gridiron  valves  to  be  provided  with  a  suitable  balancing 
plate.  The  valve  mechanism  must  be  designed  to  give  quick 
and  positive  motion  at  opening  and  closing,  and  lubrication 
of  the  pins  and  bearings  must  be  accomplished  while  in 
motion  by  compression  grease  cups  placed  at  accessible 
points,  or  they  must  operate  in  oil  wells. 

Inertia  governors  of  approved  type  are  required,  and 
each  engine  when  operating  under  the  conditions  specified 
and  at  uniform  load  must  not  consume  more  than  the  speci- 
fied amount  of  dry  steam,  which  is  determined  by  the  weight 
of  condensed  exhaust  steam.  The  following  table  gives  the 
load  under  these  conditions  for  loo-kw  and  150-kw  genera- 
tor engines : 


Load. 

2S 

Per 

Cent. 

SO 

Per 

Cent. 

7S 

Per 

Cent. 

100 

Per 

Cent. 

12s 

Per 

Cent. 

lOO-kw  generator  engine,  dr>'  steam .... 
ISO-kw  generator  engine,  dry  steam 

74.0 
74.0 

48.0 
45.0 

41.0 
40.0 

41.0 
40.0 

43.0 
41.0 

The  efficiency,  output,  etc.,  of  each  unit  is  determined  by 
actual  test  in  the  presence  of  the  Treasury  Department's 
authorized  agent,  and  units  failing  to  meet  the  specified 
requirements  may  be  rejected  or  the  builder  subjected  to 
penalty.  The  regulation  called  for  is  such  that  with  a  slow 
change  of  speed  from  no  load  to  full  load,  and  vice  versa, 
there  must  be  not  more  than  1J/2  per  cent  variation,  and 
from  full  load  suddenly  thrown  on  and  off  the  variation 
must  not  exceed  2  per  cent. 

GENERATORS. 

The  generators  called  for  in  the  specifications  are  of  the 
direct-current,  engine-driven,  compound-wound,  inter-pole 
type  for  115-voIt  direct  current,  each  mounted  on  a  sub-base 
connected  to  its  engine  sub-base.  One  has  a  full-load  rating 
of  800  amp  at  not  more  than  250  r.p.m.,  and  the  other  a 
full-load  rating  at  1200  amp  at  not  more  than  220  r.p.m. 
The  armatures  and  commutators  are  required  to  be  built 
upon  ventilated  sleeves  or  spiders,  arranged  to  be  pressed 
or  keyed  to  the  shafts.  The  field  or  magnet  frames  must  be 
provided  with  screws  and  liners  for  adjustment  in  position, 
the  frames  themselves  being  of  high-grade  steel  or  iron  and 
the  poles  of  laminated  steel  or  iron,  the  interpoles  being  of 
steel. 

The  main  field  coils  must  be  form-wound  and  be  provided 
with  ventilating  ducts.  The  armatures  are  required  to  have 
slotted  cores,  and  the  windings  must  be  thoroughly  insulated 


and  provided  with  ventilating  ducts.  Drop-forged  or  hard- 
drawn  copper  commutator  segments  insulated  with  mica  are 
specified,  together  with  carbon  brushes  and  brush  holders 
permitting  the  removal  of  any  brush  while  the  machine  is  in 
operation  without  disturbing  the  others.  The  voltage  regu- 
lation specified  is  115  volts  no  load  to  115  volts  full  load 
at  the  switchboard,  based  on  a  variation  of  speed  in  the 
engine  of  not  more  than  2  per  cent  from  no  load  to  full  load. 
Moreover,  the  design  must  be  such  that  no  change  in  voltage 
will  occur  sufficient  to  cause  objectionable  flicker  of  lights 
when  the  elevator  motors  are  in  operation. 

The  insulation  resistance  between  frames,  field  coil,  arma- 
ture windings  and  brushes  must  be  not  less  than  i  megohm, 
and  the  generators  must  be  capable  of  withstanding  a  break- 
down test  of  1500  volts  alternating  current  for  one  minute. 
It  is  required  that  the  heating  effect,  insulating  resistance, 
etc.,  of  the  generators  shall  be  determined  by  actual  tests 
in  the  presence  of  the  department's  authorized  agent,  who 
shall  also  determine  the  tests. 


OPERATION     OF     MIXED     UNDERGROUND 
OVERHEAD  HIGH-TENSION  LINES. 


AND 


In  the  report  of  the  committee  on  high-tension  disturb- 
ances presented  at  the  recent  convention  of  the  Association 
of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies  it  was  pointed  out  that 
a  number  of  Edison  companies  are  operating  mixed  over- 
head and  underground  distributing  and  transmission  sys- 
tems, embracing  tensions  ranging  from  4000  volts  to  20,000 
volts.  Some  of  these  are  60-cycle  circuits  with  tensions 
ranging  from  4000  volts  to  13,000  volts,  and  some  are  25- 
cycle  circuits  with  tensions  ranging  from  6600  volts  ta 
20,000  volts.  The  general  experience  has  led  the  companies 
to  consider  mixed  overhead  and  underground  systems  as 
entirely  practical,  and  as  yet  they  have  involved  no  unusual 
hazards  that  cannot  be  taken  care  of  by  standard  protective 
devices  which  in  themselves  have  proved  satisfactory  and 
adequate  for  the  work. 

One  company  reported  that  in  using  porcelain  end  bells 
on  standpipe  cable  terminals  a  number  have  broken  down  at 
the  end  of  the  lead  sheath.  It  was  thought  that  this  was 
due  to  the  use  of  porcelain  (a  non-conductor)  instead  of 
metal,  which  localized  at  the  end  of  the  lead  sheath  a  con- 
siderable static  strain.  This  experience,  in  the  estimation 
of  the  committee,  tends  to  confirm  the  theory  of  Dr.  Stein- 
metz  that  wherever  a  change  takes  place  in  the  relation 
between  inductance  and  capacity  there  is  a  corresponding 
change  in  superposed  potentials  resulting  from  static  dis- 
turbances. The  practical  application  of  this  theory  is  that 
a  flaring  metallic  end  bell  causes  a  less  abrupt  gradient  in 
the  static  strains  localized  at  this  point.  It  is  sometimes 
the  practice  when  using  metallic  end  bells  to  allow  the  lead 
sheath  to  project  through  the  neck  beyond  the  inside  of  the 
bell.  This  in  at  least  one  case  has  resulted  in  breakdowns 
similar  to  those  that  might  be  expected  in  the  absence  of 
the  bell.  As  porcelain  cable  terminals  are  coming  into  more 
general  use,  the  committee  feels  that  it  would  be  worth  while 
to  make  an  experimental  investigation  of  this  interesting 
problem. 

Referring  to  the  use  of  choke  coils  in  an  overhead  line 
where  it  connects  to  a  cable  system,  it  is  stated  that  it  has 
never  been  desirable  to  use  such  a  device  alone,  as  there  is 
a  possibility  of  resonance  taking  place  between  the  capacity 
of  the  cable  and  the  inductance  of  the  choke  coil.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  choke  coil  is  very  desirable  as  it  assists  the 
lightning  arrester  in  its  protective  functions.  In  order  to 
use  a  reactor  in  this  relation,  it  is  necessary  to  shunt  it  with 
a  certain  amount  of  resistance,  by  which  all  of  the  good 
effects  of  the  choke  coil  can  be  obtained  without  experienc- 
ing any  of  the  ill  effects  which  are  apt  to  arise  from 
resonance. 


October  5,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


719 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


DISTRIBUTION  SYSTEM  DIAGRAMS. 


The  use  of  the  card  index  record  of  connected  loads  is 
generally  recognized  as  one  of  the  best  methods  of  keeping 
data  of  consumers'  installations,  and  in  the  street-lighting 
field  the  employment  of  large  maps  showing  pole  and  lamp 
locations  is  a  common  practice.  In  order  to  have  all  the 
distribution  system  close  at  hand  in  diagram  form  the 
Worcester  (Mass.)  Electric  Light  Company  has  provided 
for  this  purpose  a  set  of  20-in.  by  ii.s-in.  loose-leaf  binders 
showing  ill  numbered  sheets  of  the  white-print  type  the 
exact  location  in  each  section  of  the  city  of  every  pole, 
transformer,  arc  lamp,  manhole,  underground  and  over- 
head motor-service  and  lighting  feeder  owned  and  operated. 
Each  sheet  is  keyed  by  an  appropriate  number  or  letter  to 
a  corresponding  section  of  a  city  map  maintained  under 
glass  in  the  company's  general  office,  and  the  sheets  are 
brought  up  to  date  at  least  once  a  week  by  the  company's 
electrical  department.  Differently  colored  lines  are  used 
for  different  classes  of  service,  and  whenever  an  inquiry 
is  received  at  the  office  regarding  any  class  of  service  in  any 
locality  the  .data  book  instantly  shows  what  facilities  the 
company   has   in   the   neighborhood. 


HOUSE-WIRING  OFFER  AT  MUNCIE,  END. 


By  arrangement  with  local  electrical  contractors,  the 
Muncie  (Ind.)  Electric  Light  Company  offered  to  have 
prospective  customers'  houses  wired  during  the  month  of 
September  at  the  following  schedule,  all  work  to  be  con- 
cealed wiring,  with  rosettes,  drop-cords,  and  sockets,  and 
approved  by  the  city  inspector:  Three  rooms,  $9;  four 
rooms,  $10.65;  five  rooms,  $12.25;  six  rooms,  $13.80;  seven 
rooms,  $14.35;  eight  rooms,  $15.90;  nine  rooms,  $17.45; 
additional  rooms,  $1.50. 

This  campaign  has  been  followed  up  with  extensive  news- 


Renting  Signs  Come  Out  When   Electric  Light  Goes  In. 

paper  advertising  in  the  local  press,  explaining  the  details 
of  the  house-wiring  offers  and  setting  forth  the  advantages 
:of  electric  light. 

Electric  wiring  as  an  investment  was  forcibly  illustrated 
in  one  "ad"  as  follows:  "The  cost  of  wiring  is  really  an 
investment.  If  you  are  a  landlord  you  will  find  that  wiring 
your  property  for  electric  light  is  one  of  the  most  profitable 


investments  you  can  make.  It  will  sell  better  or  rent 
quicker.  The  renter  who  insists  on  having  electric  light 
is  usually  one  who  will  care  for  your  property  as  well  as 
his  own.  Renting  signs  come  out  when  electric  light 
goes  in." 

To  help  rent  untenanted  houses  wired  for  electricity,  the 
Muncie  company  also  maintains  an  illuminated  display  de- 
vice in  front  of  its  office  with  moving  cards  carrying  photo- 
graphs and  data  of  local  houses  for  rent.  For  owners  who 
furnish  pictures  and  details  the  company  exhibits  these  dis- 
plays free  of  charge  until  the  houses  have  been  rented. 
Such  electrically  lighted  bargains  are  usually  snapped  up 
quickly,  so  that  the  offerings  are  being  continually  renewed. 

In  addition  to  its  meter  rate  the  Muncie  Electric  Light 
Company  also  offers  a  controlled  flat-rate  proposition  for 
residences,  charging  I  cent  per  month  for  each  watt  of  con- 
nected load,  with  a  minimum  charge  of  $1  for  four  25-watt 
tungsten  lamps.  Nearly  1000  excess  indicators  are  now 
in  use  in  Muncie,  and  these  flat-rate  controllers,  according 
to  Mr.  T.  F.  English,  local  manager,  have  made  it  possible 
to  secure  a  class  of  customers  who  could  never  have  been 
reached  under  a  meter  schedule. 

To  encourage  its  solicitors  in  closing  house-wiring  con- 
tracts and  service  orders,  the  company  recently  offered  a 
series  of  prizes  to  representatives  who  turn  in  the  greatest 
number  of  contracts.  These  awards  are  for  $50,  $25  and 
$15.  Many  residence  contracts,  if  not  the  majority,  are 
closed  after  working  hours  when  the  head  of  the  household 
is  at  home  and  can  be  reached  in  consultation  with  his  wife. 
To  stimulate  the  men  in  putting  in  these  after-business 
hours,  these  prizes  were  arranged  in  addition  to  their  regu- 
lar salaries. 


BOSTON  WINDOW-LIGHTING  DISPLAY. 


In  connection  with  the  opening  of  the  1912  Electric 
Show,  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Bos- 
ton, Mass.,  equipped  its  entire  display  window  space  at  the 
main  office  building  on  Boylston  Street  with  an  electrically 
illuminated  transparency  of  unusual  design.  The  trans- 
parency consists  of  a  12-ft.  by  25-ft.  drop  surrounding  a 
4-ft.  by  8-ft.  photographic  enlargement  from  the  celebrated 
Poole  painting  of  "Twentieth  Century  Boston,"  the  bottom 
of  the  drop  containing  a  perforated  painting  of  the  Me- 
chanics' Building,  where  the  Electric  Show  is  being  held, 
and  the  upper  portion  a  perspective  map  of  the  world, 
showing  ships  of  all  nations  carrying  passengers  toward 
Boston.  The  enlargement  shows  the  greater  city  viewed 
from  an  extreme  elevation  above  Boston  Harbor  and  con- 
tains over  30,000  perforations  cut  with  special  dies  through 
the  bromide  print.  About  1200  holes  are  also  punched 
through  the  view  of  the  Mechanics'  Building,  and  behind 
the  drop  and  the  enlargement  are  moimted  about  200  4-cp, 
30-volt  lamps,  connected  four  in  series,  and  a  dozen  40-watt 
lamps  carried  in  a  reflector  trough  serving  the  lower  por- 
tion of  the  display.  Inside  the  window  at  the  front  fifty 
40-watt  lamps  are  installed  in  such  a  way  as  to  provide  a 
daylight  effect  at  certain  periods.  The  4-cp  lamps  are  used 
in  the  illumination  of  the  enlargement  and  the  larger  lamps 
behind  the  drop  are  utilized  in  the  lighting  of  the  Mechan- 
ics' Building  transparency. 

The  display  operates  on  a  two-minute  cycle  in  which  full 
daylight,  sunset,  twilight  and  moonlight  follow  each  other 
in  due  course.  At  the  beginning  of  the  cycle  the  entire 
scene  is  shown  in  full  daylight  effect.  The  lamps  illumi- 
nating the  drop  are  then  cut  off,  concentrating  attention 
upon  the  view  of  Boston,  after  which  sunset  begins.     As 


720 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


the  sky  reddens  the  picture  darkens;  the  State  House  win- 
dows are  lighted,  and  in  rapid  succession  groups  of  build- 
ings, street  lamps,  boats  in  the  harbor,  bridges  and  the 
Mechanics'  Building  are  shown  in  miniature  with  realistic 
illumination,  which  remains  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
ensuing  moonlight  period,  at  the  close  of  which  all  lamps 
are  cut  out  of  circuit  until  the  beginning  of  the  next  cycle. 
The  various  circuits  are  controlled  by  a  single  flasher  of 
the  motor-driven  type,  the  gradations  of  the  light  flux 
being  governed  by  a  single  Cutler-Hammer  dimmer  of  the 
solenoid-operated  cross-head  type,  requiring  only  one  con- 
tact aside  from  the  transfer  contacts  on  the  flasher  to  per- 
form the  required  service.  The  solenoid  is  equipped  with 
a  double-acting  oil  dash-pot  adjusted  to  hold  the  plunger 
in  synchronism  with  the  flasher.  Color  effects  are  obtained 
by  the  use  of  dyed  tracing  cloth,  and  even  the  mercury- 
vapor  lamps  used  in  the  Boston  Post  Ofiice  and  in  several 
photo-engraving  establishments  in  the  city  are  simulated 
by  the  use  of  greenish  paper  between  the  low  candle-power 
incandescent  lamps  and  the  transparency.  The  installation 
was  designed  and  built  by  the  laboratory  department  of  the 
Edison  company,  the  drop  being  painted  by  a  scenic  artist. 
It  was  placed  in  service  after  a  single  night's  assembly 
work  in  the  window  and  illustrates  in  a  striking  degree 
the  convenience  of  electricity  in  securing  in  a  compara- 
tively simple  manner  effects  of  extraordinary  intricacy  and 
beauty. 


ELECTRIC  VEHICLE  PERFORMANCE. 


In  its  report  to  the  Association  of  Edison  Illuminating 
Companies  the  electric-vehicle  committee  appends  a  state- 
ment of  average  miles  per  vehicle,  average  kilowatt-hours 

DATA  ON  ELECTRIC^TEHICLE  PERFORMANCE. 


Number 
Vehicles 
in  Ser- 
vice. 

Average 
Miles. 

Average 

per 

Kw-hr. 

Vehicle 

Mile. 

AVERAGE  DAYS   AND   HOURS 
OUT  OF  SERVICE. 

Type. 

Days 
Paint- 
ing and 

Over- 
hauling. 

Hours 
Break- 
down. 

Hours 
Out  of 
Power. 

9 
3 

10 
2 
30 
23 
6 
2 
4 
6 

SS94 
6641 

7168 
8024 
S422 
6478 
6899 
75SS 
3726 
3131 

.7 
.7 

.7 

.4 

.8 
1.0 
1.0 

.8 
2.0* 
2.7* 

30 
3 

'I 

17 

7 

1 

3 

S 
16 

6 

3 

S 

13 

7 

7 

20 

18 

0 

Superintendent's 

0 

Landaulets, 
broughams,  run- 
abouts,   r  0  a  d  - 

0 

7S0-lb.  wagons. . .  . 
1000-lb.  wagons. . . 
2000-lb.  wagons.. . 
3000-lb.  wagons. . . 
4000-lb.  wagons  . . 
2i-3J-ton  trucks.  . 
S-ton  trucks 

0 

1 
1* 

0 
0 
2 
4 

^Includes  windlass. 


Average  per 

Average 

Months 

Number 

Automobile 

Miles  per 

Average 

in 

of  Auto- 

Size. 

per  Month. 

Automo- 

Kw-hr. 

Use. 

mobiles. 

Number  Days 
in  Use. 

bile  per 
Day. 

per  Mile. 

12 

6 

700 

26 

25 

.62 

12 

1 

700 

20 

30 

.09 

12 

6 

1,000 

24 

21 

.68 

12 

1 

1,000 

23 

17 

.92 

12 

4 

2,000 

20 

24 

1.06 

12 

3 

2,000 

19 

12 

1.58 

12 

2 

4,000 

20 

14 

1.31 

12 

2 

4,000 

15 

19 

1.36 

12 

2 

7.000 

23 

18 

1.42- 

12 

1 

10.000 

23 

16 

1.53 

per  vehicle  mile  and  average  time  out  of  service  per  vehicle 
as  given  herewith.  While  the  committee  realizes  that  the 
value  of  such  data  depends  upon  the  conditions  surrounding 
ttie  service  rendered,  the  paucity  of  available  data  on  elec- 


tric-vehicle service  prompted  it  to  incorporate  what  informa- 
tion it  could  obtain. 

The  committee  also  places  on  record  its  opinion  as  to  the 
non-necessity  of  presenting  statistics  for  the  purpose  of 
proving  the  practicability  of  the  electric  commercial  truck, 
although  it  feels  that  the  compilation  of  such  data  is  im- 
portant and  useful  to  the  central  station.  It  expresses  im- 
plicit confidence  in  the  future  of  the  electric  vehicle. 


NEW  RATES  ESTABLISHED  AT  BOSTON. 


The  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Boston, 
Mass.,  has  recently  established  a  new  schedule  of  "miscella- 
neous energy  rates,"  taking  effect  Oct.  l  and  applying  par- 
ticularly to  battery  charging,  electric  heating,  electroplating, 
refrigeration,  water  supply  and  irrigation  service.  A  price 
of  10  cents  per  kw-hr.  is  charged  under  the  new  schedule 
for  all  energy  not  exceeding  20  kw-hr.  a  month,  with  a 
minimum  of  $12  per  year  per  meter.  Above  20  kw-hr.  per 
month  the  charge  is  3  cents,  with  a  second  deduction  to 
2  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  all  electricity  furnished  in  excess  of 
2000  kw-hr.  per  month,  provided  that  the  customer  agrees 
to  pay  a  price  of  10  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  electricity  used 
during  certain  hours  specified  from  time  to  time  by  the 
company,  but  not  exceeding  500  hours  during  the  year  and 
not  exceeding  four  hours  during  any  day,  this  amount  being 
a  separate  charge  independent  of  the  energy  billed  at  the 
other  rates.  It  is  further  provided  that  whenever  the 
monthly  bill  for  electricity  shall  be  less  than  $100  the  cus- 
tomer shall  pay  $5  per  month  as  rental  for  the  instrument 
necessary  to  determine  when  he  uses  electricity.  If  the 
monthly  bill  is  less  than  $100  but  over  $95,  only  the  differ- 
ence between  the  amount  of  the  bill  and  $100  will  be 
charged.  - 

CENTRAL-STATION  FLOAT  IN  CIVIC  CELEBRATION. 


Friday,  Sept.  13,  was  Tin  Plate  Day  at  Elwood,  Ind.,  in 
celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversay  of  the  opening  of  the 
tin-plate  industry  and  the  city's  prosperity.  In  the  parade 
which  was  a  feature  of  the  celebration  forty  decorated 
floats  took  part,  the  Elwood  Electric  Light  Company  ex- 
hibiting the  novel  display  illustrated.  This  float  received 
second  prize  out  of  the  forty  displays,  the  exhibit  of  the 
tin-plate  company  itself  being  awarded  first. 


9H! 

ni|H 

Mfi 

^^J 

^9| 

wR^^ 

^^jp^f^^f- 

^iV!l,/JH 

HHW*'^ 

|1-EC 

wH^^^^^\--* 

&^ 

Float  of  Elwood   Electric  Light  Company. 

The  central-station  float  carried  two  short  poles  with  a 
span  of  transmission  line  from  which  were  tapped  drops  to 
the  electric  devices  exhibited.  At  the  front  was  a  little  boy 
in  cook's  uniform  before  a  toaster,  who  distributed  to  the 
crowd  a  thousand  pieces  of  toast  previously  prepared  and 
wrapped  in  tissue.     Next  was  a  little  girl  costumed  as  a 


October  5,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


721 


laundress  at  work  over  an  ironing  board.  Near  the  rear 
sat  two  little  people  dressed  as  old  folks,  reading  by  electric 
light  to  illustrate  its  value  in  conserving  eyesight.  A  pile 
of  small  motors  formed  the  tail-end  of  the  float,  while  over- 
head, perched  on  the  rear  pole,  was  the  nine-year-old  son 
of  Manager  N.  M.  Argabrite,  in  complete  lineman's  rig, 
with  spurs,  climbers,  safety  belt,  etc.,  pounding  away  on 
the  pole  and  cross-arm.  Insulators,  knobs,  tubes  and  cleats 
made  up  the  decorations  at  the  side  of  the  float  and  the 
drivers  were  seated  on  rolls  of  wire.  Banners  bore  the 
legends  "We  turn  the  wheels  of  progress"  and  "Children  are 
safe  in  the  electrical  home." 


MEMPHIS   ELECTRIC    VEHICLE    CHARGING 
SERVICE. 


On  account  of  the  activity  of  the  Memphis  Consolidated 
Gas  &  Electric  Company  in  providing  a  place  where  the 
electric  vehicle  cars  receive  proper  attention  and  in  adver- 
tising it  at  every  opportunity,  the  number  of  cars  in  active 
service  in  this  Tennessee  city  has  been  doubled  in  less  than 
one  year.  According  to  Mr.  A.  N.  Bentley,  who  read  a 
paper  on  the  subject  before  the  recent  convention  of  the 
Georgia  Section  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.,  a  year  ago  there  was 
no  garage  in  the  city  where  an  electric  vehicle  could  be 
taken  care  of.  There  were  in  use  a  considerable  number 
of  antiquated  machines,  constantly  in  need  of  repair,  which 
represented  a  source  of  annoyance  and  expense  to  their 
owners  but  were  kept  in  service  on  account  of  the  urgent 
demand  for  a  clean  and  odorless  machine  to  be  driven  with 
ease  and  safety  by  women.  Finding  that  the  existing  ad- 
verse conditions  were  causing  a  decrease  in  the  number 
of  electric  cars  in  service,  the  Memphis  Consolidated  Gas 
&  Electric  Company  opened  a  garage,  in  its  own  name  and 
under  its  own  management,  exclusively  for  electric  vehi- 
cles. It  is  believed  that  many  central-station  managers 
are  interested  in  the  methods  and  results  of  the  company's 
■  activity  i'n  this  direction.  The  company  established  fixed 
charges  for  its  services,  as  follows : 


Full  service,   per   month $25.00 

Full  service  less  delivery,  per  month 20.00 

Vehicle    care    and    oiling,    per    month 10.00 

Battery   care,    per    month 7.50 

Trucks.  1.000  lb.  to  3,000  lb.,  full  service 20.00 

Charging  energy   on  above  contracts,  per  kw-hr 0.05 

Charging  energy   <no  contract,  $1   minimum),  per  kw-hr 0.10 

Dead    storage,    per    month 7. 50 

Wet   storage,   per  month 13.50 

Single     wash,     day 1-00 

Single    wash,    night 0.75 

Battery  and  car  labor,   per  hour 0.75 

Single    call    or    delivery 0.25 


In  eight  months  after  opening  this  garage  the  company 
was  forced  to  increase  its  floor  area  from  6500  sq.  ft.  to 
11,500  sq.  ft.  It  now  has  twenty-six  charging  plugs  and  a 
daily  energy  consumption  load  of  over  600  kw-hr.  It  is 
charging  eleven  commercial  vehicles  and  thirty-four  pleas- 
ure cars.  All  but  two  of  the  commercial  machines  have 
been  placed  in  service  since  the  garage  was  opened. 


THE  USES  OF  ELECTRICAL  ENERGY  IN  FARMING. 


trical  energy  were  made.  The  Hon.  Adam  Beck,  chairman 
of  the  Ontario  Hydro-Electric  Commission,  addressed  the 
assemblage  of  farmers  and  told  his  hearers  that  an  -poch 
in  the  agricultural  life  of  the  Province  of  Ontario  is  at 
hand.  He  pointed  out  that  means  are  now  available  for 
doing  away  with  the  old-fashioned  labor-wasting  methods 
by  the  substitution  of  electrically  driven  machinery.  The 
farmers  of  Ontario  should  become,  as  the  farmers  of 
Germany  and  Switzerland  have  already  become,  not  merely 
husbandmen  but  mechanics.  It  was  pointed  out  that,  while 
the  German  farmer  can  obtain  an  abundance  of  labor  at 
low  wages  and  while  his  energy  supply  costs  more,  he  finds 
it,  nevertheless,  to  his  advantage  to  employ  electrical  energy 
for  nearly  all  purposes.  Mr.  Beck  dwelt  at  some  length  on 
the  cost  of  such  electrical  service  and  pointed  out  that  the 
diversity  of  individual  demands  would  automatically  tend 
to  reduce  the  cost  of  service.  He  also  pointed  out  that  the 
purchase  and  use  of  electrically  driven  threshing  equip- 
ments on  a  co-operative  basis  would  reduce  the  investment 
by  each  individual  farmer  and  thus  bring  the  advantages 
of  this  service  within  the  reach  of  all  for  a  moderate  outlay. 


COMPARATIVE  COSTS  OF   HORSE  AND  ELECTRIC 
DELIVERY. 


New-business  managers  of  central  stations  will  find  much 
valuable  infonnation  in  a  compilation  herewith  shown  of 
comparative  costs  of  delivery  operation  with  battery-driven 
trucks  and  with  animal  traction  made  by  a  well-known 
manufacturer  to  show  the  increased  radius  and  diminished 
cost  of  operation,  both  per  mile  and  per  ton-mile,  to  be 
obtained  from  electric  vehicles,  with  approximately  the  same 
daily  outlay.    The  expense  of  operating  electric  automobiles 

COMPARATIVE    COSTS    OF    ELECTRIC    AND    HORSE    TRAFFIC. 


1500- Lb. 

Two-Ton. 

Five 

-Ton. 

Horses. 

Electric. 

Horses. 

Electric. 

Horses. 

Electric. 



Miles  per  day. . 

17 

30 

16 

30 

12 

24 

Ton-miles 

12.75 

22.50 

32 

60 

60 

120 

Cost  per  day... 

$6.00 

$6.63 

$8.37 

$8.50 

$9.10 

$11.00 

Cost  per  mile .  . 

0.35 

0.20 

0.52 

0.283 

0.76 

0.458 

Cost    per    ton- 
mile 

0.466 

0.267 

0.26 

0.14 

0..15 

0.091 

is,  of  couse,  much  lower  than  that  of  either  horse-drawn  or 
gasoline  vehicles.  The  table  includes  the  stabling  costs  of 
horses,  etc.,  required  to  draw  the  1500-lb.,  2-ton  and  5-ton 
loads,  the  rated  capacity  of  the  trucks  with  which  they  are 
contrasted,  and  it  makes  clear  the  longer  daily  travel  possible 
with  electric  drive  and  its  effect  on  the  lower  cost  per  mile 
and  per  ton-mile. 


CO-OPERATIVE    MESS    COMMITTEE    OF    CON- 
STRUCTION GANG. 


A  demonstration  was  recently  made  of  the  uses  of  elec- 
trical energy  in  farming  operations  on  the  farm  of  Mr. 
J.  W.  Might,  near  Cooksville,  Ontario,  which  is  served 
from  the  distribution  system  of  the  Ontario  Hydro-Electric 
System.  The  applications  of  electric  power  to  threshing 
grain,  operating  milking  machines,  cream  separators  and 
miscellaneous  farm  machines  were  shown,,  and  demonstra- 
tions of  electric  cooking  and  other  domestic  uses  for  elec- 


During  the  construction  of  the  18-mile  33,000-volt  trans- 
mission line  connecting  Muncie  with  Alexandria,  Ind.,  the 
construction  crew  has  been  fed  on  a  co-operative  plan,  at  a 
weekly  cost  of  $1.50  to  $1.75  for  each  man's  board.  The 
electric  company  furnished  the  services  of  the  cook  and  his 
culinary  equipment,  and  the  men  appointed  a  mess  com- 
mittee of  three,  who  supervised  the  purchase  of  provisions 
and  selection  of  the  menu.  The  course  of  the  line  lay 
through  a  rich  farming  country,  so  that  meat  and  vegetables, 
butter,  milk,  eggs,  etc.,  were  purchased  at  low  prices  directly 


722 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


from  the  farmers.  At  the  close  of  each  week  the  expetidi- 
tures  for  supplies  were  totaled  and  divided  equally  among 
the  thirty-five  men  fed,  the  amount,  averaging  $1.60  per 
week,  being  subtracted  from  the  men's  pay  checks.  In  this 
way  the  members  of  the  crew  secured,  through  their 
committee,  the  kind  of  food  they  preferred,  and  if  there 
was  any  dissatisfaction  the  responsibility  lay  with  those 
who  themselves  had  a  share  in  the  co-operative  mess.  The 
men  paid  only  for  what  they  actually  consumed,  and  the 
responsibility  for  the  mess  arrangements  was  taken  off  the 
company's  hands. 

This  18-mile  Muncie-Alexandria  J3,ooo-volt,  three-phase 
transmission  line  is  carried  on  Archbold-Brady  flexible  A- 
frame  towers,  set  at  380-ft.  intervals  and  securely  guyed 
at  distances  of  i  mile.  The  main  phase  conductors  are  of 
No.  I  copper,  while  the  ground  wire,  which  also  serves  to 
lash  the  flexible  towers  together,  is  of  three-strand,  5/16-in. 
galvanized  Siemens-Martin  steel.  Three-unit  suspension 
insulators,  designed  for  66,ooo-voU  use,  carry  the  line  con- 
ductors. 


MOTOR-DRIVEN    GEAR    FOR    HOISTING    INTAKE 
SCREENS. 


A  '/s-hp  motor  is  now  used  to  raise  the  9-ft.  by  22-ft. 
intake  screens  which  protect  the  condenser  line  of  the 
Marion  (Ind.)  Light  &  Heating  Company's  turbine  station. 
Through  gearing  and  a  three-strand  tackle  the  motor  can 
raise  a  screen  in  three  minutes.  With  the  former  hand- 
crank  method  half  an  hour  of  man-killing  work  was  re- 
quired. Since  the  job  has  become  an  "easy"  one,  the 
screens  are  now  cleaned  more  often  and  with  less  grum- 
bling. Frequency  of  cleaning  means,  of  course,  improved 
turbine  efficiency  and  reduced  operating  cost.  The  value  of 
the  motor  drive  has  thus  proved  to  be  far  greater  than  the 
simple  saving  of  an  attendant's  time  and  effort.  The  motor 
hoist  has  also  demonstrated  its  value  when  a  mass  of  leaves 


^ 

j    ,'i 

lk\  r  ^.  «^. 

m 

^ 

m 

w 

k 

":n 

Motor- Driven    Hoist   for    Intake   Screens. 

or  drift  material  suddenly  enters  the  intake,  choking  the 
supply.  A  screen  can  be  lifted  in  three  minutes,  whereas 
formerly  twenty  minutes  at  least  was  required  to  hoist  by 
hand,  during  all  of  which  time  operation  of  the  plant  would 
have  been  impaired. 

The  Yi-hp  motor  was  used,  since  it  happened  to  be  on 


hand,  the  gearing  being  calculated  by  Mr.  \V.  F.  Thompson, 
chief  engineer,  to  bring  the  hoisting  duty  within  the  motor 
rating.  The  double-geared  winding  drum  connects  to  the 
free  line  of  a  three-rope  block,  which  is  supported  from  a 
25-ft.  steel  framework  built  over  the  screen  runs.  The 
upper  tackle  is  attached  to  a  roller  trolley,  which  runs  back 
;md  forth  on  an  I-beam  to  bring  it  directly  over  any  one  of 
the  three  screens  to  be  lifted.  The  position  of  this  roller 
block  is  controlled  by  a  rope  and  lever,  which  can  be  locked 
in  fixed  positions  to  bring  the  tackle  above  either  slideway. 
The  intake  screens  are  made  up  of  fi-in.  wires  meshed  three 
to  the  inch. 


STREET-LIGHTING  RATES. 


By  J.  R.  Cravath. 

The  method  of  arriving  at  street-lighting  rates  which 
has  often  been  pursued  in  this  country  was  once  described 
by  a  speaker  before  an  electric  lighting  convention  about  as 
follows :  Whenever  the  question  of  street-lighting  rates 
comes  up  for  settlement,  the  city  council  asks  for  the  rates 
in  all  the  surrounding  towns  and  then  asks  the  electric 
service  company  for  the  lowest  rate  that  any  anyone  in  the 
council  is  able  to  learn  about.  Every  central-station 
manager  who  has  had  to  adjust  rates  with  his  city  council 
knows  how  difficult  it  is  to  combat  arguments  of  this  kind. 
The  council,  of  course,  should  be  interested  in  getting  the 
lowest  possible  rate  for  the  city  and  is  simply  pursuing  the 
ordinary  methods  of  business  in  learning  the  rates  else- 
where and  insisting  upon  the  lowest.  The  method  would  be 
all  right  were  it  not  that  in  many  cases  street  lighting  is 
taken  by  companies  at  less  than  cost  either  through 
ignorance  of  what  the  real  cost  is  or  for  reasons  of  policy. 
It  is  a  fact  well  known  among  experts  that  many  street- 
lighting  contracts  are  taken  below  cost  to  the  service  com- 
pany. It  is  comparatively  seldom  that  complete  investiga- 
tions are  made  into  the  cost  of  giving  street  lighting  service, 
and  it  may  be  of  interest  here  to  mention  some  of  the 
results  of  investigations  of  this  kind. 

The  Electrical  World  published  a  digest  of  a  number  of 
Massachusetts  street-lighting  cases  coming  before  the 
Massachusetts  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Commission  in  the  past 
few  years  in  its  issue  of  Sept.  29,  1910.  In  a  number  of 
these  cases  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  commission  authorized 
a  rate  of  over  $100  per  arc  lamp  per  year.  The  respective 
decisions  in  these  cases  were,  of  course,  based  on  the  cost 
of  giving  the  service  plus  the  depreciation  and  a  fair  return 
on  the  investment.  It  should,  however,  be  remembered  that 
fuel  costs  are  high  in  Massachusetts. 

Another  notable  investigation  of  the  cost  of  street  light- 
ing was  that  by  Mr.  B.  J.  Arnold,  of  Chicago,  consulting 
engineer,  and  Arthur  Young  &  Company,  public  account- 
ants, on  the  actual  cost  of  street  lighting  of  Chicago.  This 
was  made  in  the  year  1908  and  covered  the  cost  to  the  city 
per  lamp  per  year  from  1903  to  1907.  This  cost  was  given 
as  $81.46  per  lamp.  The  lamps  in  this  case  were  the 
9.6-amp  direct-current  open  series  type  and  the  7.5-amp 
alternating-current  inclosed  series  type.  The  cost  at  the 
time  the  foregoing  report  was  made  was  stated  to  be  $60.56 
per  lamp  per  year.  The  latter  was  with  a  partial  supply  of 
energy  from  the  Sanitary  District  water-power. 

In  1907  the  Civic  League  of  St.  Louis  appointed  a  com- 
mittee of  well-known  experts  to  investigate  municipal  street 
lighting  for  that  city.  The  decisions  of  this  committee  were 
that  a  municipal  plant  for  street  lighting  could  be  built  in 
St.  Louis  which  would  supply  arc  lamps  at  a  yearly  cost  of 
$69  per  lamp  per  year. 

In  191 1  the  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission  rendered  a 
decision  in  reference  to  street  lighting  at  Sheboygan,  Wis. 
The  commission  on  complaint  investigated  the  street  light- 
ing supplied  by  the  company  at  that  place  and  went  thor- 


October  5,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


723 


oughly  into  the  price  of  this  service  and  the  quality.  The 
arc  lamps  at  Sheboygan  are  7.5-anip  alternating-current  in- 
closed series  lamps.  After  placing  a  valuation  on  the  prop- 
erty of  the  company  used  in  street  lighting  and  estimating 
the  cost  of  service,  the  commission's  conclusions  were  that, 
allovkfing  4.7  per  cent  depreciation  (which  the  commission 
considered  correct  for  Sheboygan  conditions)  and  8  per 
cent  for  interest  on  investment,  the  cost  per  arc  lamp  per 
year  was  $68.38. 

One  of  the  important  events  of  the  past  year  in  connec- 
tion with  street-lighting  rates  was  the  decision  rendered  by 
the  Wisconsin  commission  in  the  Waupaca  street-lighting 
case.  That  case  was  reviewed  at  length  in  these  columns 
and  commented  upon  editorially,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  go 
into  details  here  further  than  to  say  that  the  controversy 
originally'  arose  over  the  substitution  of  one  kind  of  lamp 
for  another  by  the  company.  The  main  point  at  issue  was 
whether  the  company  had  defrauded  the  city  by  making  the 
substitution.  The  argument  at  first  hinged  mainly  on  the 
point  of  whether  the  substitution  which  had  been  made  by 
the  company  gave  the  city  an  equivalent  amount  of  light. 
The  commission,  however,  probably  went  farther  than  either 
of  the  parties  to  the  controversy  anticipated  when  it  went 
to  work  to  investigate  the  cost  of  giving  street-lighting 
service  in  Waupaca  and  the  price  received  for  the  service. 
It  evidently  proceeded  on  the  theory  that  if  there  was  to 
be  real  justice  a  controversy  over  a  small  difference  in 
candle-power  or  useful  light  was  useless  if  the  company 
was  not  receiving  enough  for  its  service  in  any  case.  The 
Waupaca  plant  is  operated  most  of  the  day  by  water-power, 
with  steam  for  helping  at  the  peak  load.  There  are  thirty 
arc  lamps  of  the  inclosed  type  operating  on  7  amp,  alter- 
nating current.  From  these  a  gross  revenue  of  $78.57  per 
lamp  per  year  was  obtained.  The  expense  of  supplying  this 
service,  including  depreciation  but  including  no  interest  on 
the  investment,  was  found  to  be  $77.43  per  year.  In  other 
words,  the  street-lighting  revenues  left  practically  nothing 
beyond  depreciation  with  which  to  pay  interest  on  the  in- 
vestment. The  commission  in  its  decision  gave  $97.88  per 
year  as  the  amount  which  the  city  would  have  to  pay  per 
lamp  if  the  street-lighting  investment  were  to  yield  8  per 
cent,  the  rate  of  return  which  the  Wisconsin  cornmission 
usually  allows  as  fair  for  investments  in  electrical  prop- 
erties. In  view  of  the  rate  the  city  was  paying  for  arc 
lamps,  the  commission  decided  that  it  had  no  ground  for 
complaint  as  to  the  substitution  of  one  lamp  for  another 
where  the  difference  between  the  lamps  is  so  small. 

From  the  figures  which  have  been  quoted  from  various 
decisions  it  is  evident  that  street-lighting  rates  as  they  pre- 
vail in  this  country  to-day  are  many  of  them  below  the  cost 
of  giving  the  service.  Rates  for  450-watt  arc  lamps  may  be 
said  in  general  to  range  all  the  way  from  $35  per  lamp  per 
year  to  over  $100.  In  some  cases  extremely  low  rates  have 
been  made  for  street  lighting  on  account  of  competition 
either  present  or  prospective.  There  is  even  a  difference  of 
opinion  among  public  utility  owners  and  managers  as  to 
whether  a  company  is  justified  in  making  a  rate  below  cost 
for  street-lighting  service.  Some  managers  have  openly 
expressed  themselves  as  favoring  the  taking  of  street- 
lighting  contracts  at  a  figure  which  would  yield  no  profit. 
They  favor  this  on  the  grounds  that  the  higher  the  street- 
lighting  rates  the  greater  the  temptation  to  build  a 
municipal  street-lighting  plant,  especially  as  the  city  fre- 
quently has  a  water-works  pumping  station  to  which  a 
street-lighting  plant  could  be  added.  If  the  street-lighting 
plant  is  added  there  is  the  further  temptation  to  go  into  the 
commercial  side  of  the  business  in  competition  with  the 
central-station  company,  which  is  likely  to  be  disastrous  to 
the  company  because  the  taxpayers  make  good  all  losses  on 
the  municipal  venture  if  the  municipal  rates  are  too  low. 

These  same  managers  also  point  to  the  value  of  a 
municipal  pumping  contract,  which  certainly  could  not  be 
so  easily  obtained  if  the  city  owned  a  combined  water-works 


and  street-lighting  plant.  Managers  who  hold  this  view 
simply  consider  any  losses  on  the  street-lighting  business  as 
a  kind  of  franchise  pact  and  a  method  of  preventing  unfair 
propositions.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  many  who 
maintain  that  each  branch  of  the  service  should  be  entitled 
to  a  fair  return  on  the  investment.  They  argue  that  it  is 
unfair  to  ask  commercial  electric-service  consumers  to  pay 
for  losses  on  the  street-lighting  business.  Public  service 
commissions  have  generally  taken  this  view  when  the  ques- 
tion has  come  before  them. 

The  problem  of  arriving  at  satisfactory  and  just  street- 
lighting  rates  has  been  complicated  by  the  rapid  changes  in 
the  art  ever  since  electric  street  lighting  began.  The  cost 
of  generating  electricity  has  been  steadily  decreasing, 
while  changes  in  lamps  and  appliances  for  light  production 
have  also  been  frequent,  all  having  an  important  influence 
on  the  cost  of  production.  As  a  rule  not  enough  attention 
IS  given  to  the  cost  of  street  lighting  at  the  time  new  rates 
are  made.  It  is  too  often  a  one-sided  proposition,  with  the 
odds  in  favor  sometimes  of  one  side  and  sometimes  of  the 
other.  The  city  council  usually  has  the  power  to  make  it 
very  uncomfortable  for  the  company  if  it  does  not  come  to 
its  terms,  whether  the  terms  are  just  or  not.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  company  usually  has  the  practical  information  as 
to  costs,  etc.,  which  sometimes  give  it  an  advantage.  If 
these  matters  were  settled  on  the  basis  of  expert  knowledge 
of  costs,  street-lighting  rates  would  be  much  less  erratic 
than  they  are  at  the  present  day. 


COST  OF  OPERATION  OF  ELECTRIC  TRUCKS. 


A  study  of  the  cost  of  operation  of  battery-propelled 
trucks  was  carried  out  by  the  Waverley  Company,  Indian- 
apolis, Ind.,  some  time  ago,  comparisons  being  made  for 
vehicles  of  600-lb.,  1500-lb.  and  2500-lb.  carrying  capacity. 
In  these  fiigures  it  was  assumed  that  the  600-lb.  car  would 
travel  40  miles  per  day,  or  12,000  miles  per  year,  and  the 
1500-lb.  and  2500-lb.  cars  30  miles  per  day,  or  9000  miles 
per  year.  The  cost  of  repairs  and  renewals  given  in  the 
table  was  computed  on  a  ten-year  life  of  the  car,  and  all 

COST  OF   OPERATION   OF   ELECTRIC  TRUCKS. 


600-lb. 

Capacity. 

40  Miles 

per  Day, 

12.000  Miles 

per  Year. 

1500-lb. 
Capacity, 

30  Miles 
per  Day, 
9000  Miles 
per  Year. 

2500-lb. 
Capacity, 

30  Miles 
per  Day, 
9000  Miles 
per  Year. 

Battery 

$190.00 

120.00 

28.37 

22.50 

$216.90 

129.06 

77.91 

30.00 

$232.00 

Tires                                   

173.20 

Chains,  gears,  etc 

85.00 

33.00 

Total  replacement  charges 

Electric  energy 

$360.87 

$176.00 

224.00 

750.00 

72.00 

$453.87 

$156.00 

224.00 

750.00 

77.00 

$523.20 

$163.00 
224.00 

750.00 

Rent  light  heat   etc            

78.00 

Total  operating  expense 

$1222.00 

$125.59 
54.00 
18.00 
75.00 

$1207.00 

$147.91 

61.50 

20.50 

100.00 

$1215.00 
$172.99 

72.00 

24.00 

100.00 

$272.59 

$1855.46 
6.18 
0.15S 

$329.91 

$1990.78 
6.63 
0.22 

$368.99 

Grand  total                           

$2107.19 

7.02 

0.234 

parts  were  charged  at  regular  list  prices.  The  cost  of 
batteries  and  tires  was  estimated  at  market  price  to  the 
customer,  although  no  account  has  been  taken  of  the  labor 
item  of  putting  them  on. 

For  the  purpose  of  the  calculation,  batteries  and  tires 
were  figured  at  one  year's  life,  and  gears,  chains  and 
sprockets  at  two  years   (gears,  four  years;  bearings,  four 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.   14. 


years;  driving  gears,  exposed,  one  year;  driving  chain,  one 
year).  Electrical  energy  has  been  charged  for  at  4  cents 
per  kw-hr.,  and  rent,  light,  heat,  etc.,  are  estimated  at  $1 
per  square  foot.  The  depreciation  allowed  is  based  on 
writing  off  that  part  of  the  vehicle  not  covered  by  mainte- 
nance in  ten  years.  Interest  is  computed  at  6  per  cent  of 
one-half  of  the  purchase  price,  as  the  investment  is  being 
written  off.  Under  these  conditions  the  conclusions  show-n 
in  the  accompanying  table  were  reached. 


COST  OF  CONCRETING    WOODEN  POLES  AT 
INDIANAPOLIS. 


The  Indianapolis  Light  &  Heat  Company  now  makes  a 
practice  of  concreting  all  its  poles  at  the  ground  line  to 
prevent  rotting  and  deterioration,  some  1500  poles  having 
been   so   treated   during   the    last    season.      New    poles    are 


Fig.   1 — Concreted    Base   of   Pole,    Indianapolis.    Ind. 

erected  and  first  allowed  to  stand  a  year  to  make  sure  that 
they  have  become  firmly  set.  With  a  small  spade  an  open- 
ing 4  in.  to  5  in.  wide  is  then  made  all  around  the  pole  to  a 
depth  of  3  ft.  or  4  ft.,  and  this  is  poured  full  of  concrete, 
tamped  securely  and  troweled  off  w^ith  an  inclined  water- 
shed to  prevent  water  from  standing  about  the  base.  The 
concrete  collar  extends  a  few  inches  above  the  ground  and 
gives  a  neat  appearance  to  the  pole  base. 

A  concreting  gang  of  four  men  with  a  team  can  concrete 
eight  to  ten  poles  in  this  manner  in  a  day.  Estimating  the 
cost  of  keeping  such  an  outfit  in  the  field  to  be  about  $15 


Fig.   2 — Experimental    Concrete    Pole    Base. 

a  day,  Mr.  T.  A.  Wynne,  general  superintendent  of  the 
Indianapolis  company,  figures  the  cost  of  concreting  poles 
at  $1.50  each.  Experiments  with  inclosing  the  poles  in  a 
covering  of  concrete  before  erection  have  also  been  carried 
out  at  the  company's  pole  yard,  and  poles  have  been  in- 
serted into  rectangular  concrete  butts  and  braced  with 
heavy  steel  straps  bolted  to  the  wood.     Another  departure 


involved  the  fixing  of  the  pole  on  a  rectangular  concrete 
butt,  20  in.  at  the  base  and  tapering  to  15  in.  at  the  upper 
end,  5  ft.  distant.  The  connection  was  made  by  means  of 
four  2-in.  by  ^-in.  straps,  crossing  and  inclosing  the  con- 
crete butt  as  in  a  basket.  These  earlier  experiments  have 
all  been  discarded,  however,  in  favor  of  the  new  plan  of 
concreting  at  the  ground  line,  the  portion  to  which  the 
major  part  of  the  deterioration  is  confined.  Old  poles  as 
well  as  new  are  receiving  this  treatment,  which  is  expected 
to  extend  their  lives  by  an  amount  far  exceeding  the  outlay 
for   the   concreting   work. 


STANDS  FOR  COOKING  ON    INVERTED  ELECTRIC 
IRONS. 


The  Marion  Light  &  Heating  Company,  Marion.  Ind., 
recently  distributed  among  its  customers  who  have  electric 
irons  400  little  stands  for  holding  the  irons  in  an  inverted 
position  for  cooking,  heating  water,  etc.  The  holders  were 
simply  and  substantially  constructed  of  J^-in.  by  l/l6-in. 
iron,  securely  riveted  and  painted  with  aluminum  bronze. 
In  lots  of  100  they  cost  15  cents  each,  but  they  were  given 
away  by  the  central  station  to  any  customer  owning  an  iron 
who  called  and  asked  for  a  holder.  The  holders  fit  any 
kind  of  electric  iron  and  adapt  the  upturned  heating  surface 
for  warming  w-ater,  cooking  eggs,  boiling  coft'ee,  warming 
baby's  milk,  etc.  With  no  other  device  than  the  electric 
iron  in  the  house,  a  fair  breakfast  can  be  prepared  in  a  few 
minutes,  the  inverted  iron  making,  it  is  declared,  especially 
fine  coffee.  The  holder  is  also  useful  for  other  household 
operations,  such  as  steaming  velvet,  etc.  Mr.  S.  H.  Smith, 
local  manager,  checked  the  consumptions  of  several  cus- 
tomers who  employed  these  holders  to  amplify  the  uses 
of  their  electric  irons,  and  found  that  those  compared  had 
each  increased  consumption  by  about  1 5  cents'  worth,  so 
that  the  little  stands  paid  for  themselves  the  first  month. 


STEAM-HEATED  MANHOLE  COVERS  FOR  CORNER 
POLICEMEN. 


The  city  of  Indianapolis  has  appropriated  $700  to  meet 
the  cost  of  installing  steam-heating  coils  beneath  the  covers 
of  manholes  at  twelve  downtown  crossings  for  warming 
the  feet  of  traffic  policemen  who  are  required  to  stand  in 
the  street  all  day  long  during  wintry  weather.  One  such 
steam-heated  manhole  is  already  installed  at  the  corner  of 
Washington  and  Illinois  Streets,  but  according  to  the  esti- 


Street 


SUetrical  U'orU 

Steam-Heated    Manhole   Cover. 

mates  of  local  central-station  engineers  the  $700  appro- 
priated will  not  cover  the  cost  of  equipping  twelve  manholes. 
The  steam  radiating  coil,  as  shown  in  the  sketch,  is  pro- 
vided with  a  pet  cock  for  freeing  it  of  condensation  from 
time  to  time.  The  city  will  pay  for  the  steam  on  a  radiation 
basis.  Certain  policemen  have  objected  to  the  scheme  on 
the  grounds  that  the  heat  will  cause  sore  feet. 


OCTOBEK    5.    igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


725 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

CONNECTIONS  FOR  OBTAINING  FEEDER  VOLTAGE 
RECORDS. 


The  switch  structure  of  the  new  turbine  station  of  the 
Laclede  Gas  Company,  St.  Louis,  is  arranged  with  a  double 
bus,  and  in  the  office  of  the  electrical  engineer,  Mr.  William 
Bradford,  are  corresponding  duplicate  recording-instrument 


six  aluminum  and  seven  iron  plates  in  a  10  per  cent  solution 
of  boric  acid.  The  check  cell  alone  operates  very  satis- 
factorily in  preventing  flow  of  energy  in  the  reverse  direc- 
tion, but  was  found  to  introduce  about  5  volts  drop  when 
passing  current  normally.  This  loss,  which  occasioned 
local  heating,  has  now  been  prevented  by  adding  a  relay 
with  contacts  closing  across  the  check  cell.     For  reverse- 


Push-Plug   Connections  for  Voltmeter   Records. 

panels,  each  with  a  Bristol  recording  voltmeter,  General 
Electric  curve-drawing  wattmeter  and  totalizing  kw-hr. 
meters.  As  only  one  bus  is  commonly  used  in  operating, 
the  instruments  on  the  other  hand  are  available  for  studying 
individual  feeder  conditions.  For  taking  voltage  curves  of 
each  of  the  ten  single-phase  feeders  Hubbell  push  sockets 
have  been  mounted  on  the  rear  of  these  panels.  Suspended 
from  the  switchboard  braces  and  running  the  length  of  the 
feeder  panels  is  a  conduit  line  with  condulet  fittings  in- 
closing similar  push  sockets  opposite  the  panel  sockets.  A 
double-ended  prong-plug  jumper  serves  to  make  the  con- 
nection between  panel  and  conduit  sockets.  The  conduit 
line  ends  in  a  connection  to  the  regular  voltmeter  plug, 
so  that  a  continuous  record  can  be  secured  of  any  feeder 
by  plugging  from  the  voltmeter  to  the  corresponding  panel 
socket. 


RELAY    AUXILIARY    CONTACT    FOR   ALUMINUM 
CHECK  CELL. 


The  exciter  bus  is  connected  to  the  operating  bus  in  Sub- 
station No.  5  of  the  Union  Electric  Company's  system,  St. 
Louis,  through  a  reverse-power  circuit-breaker  which  opens 
in  case  of  any  reversal  due  to  shutdown  of  the  5-hp  motor- 
generator  set  commonly  energizing  the  combined  125-volt 
bus.  Bridged  across  the  operating  bus  is  also  an  8o-amp 
storage  battery,  provided  for  operating  the  oil  switches  in 
case  of  interruption  of  direct-current  supply.  This  battery 
is  arranged   with   an   aluminum-iron   check   cell   containing 


80-Amp.-hou 
Batter.v 


T^"' 


lay 


.^^ 


5-Hp.  Mg. 


Station 
Lamps 


Operatiii;^ 
Bus 


Etectrieal  World 


Reverse-Curreut 
GreaUer 

Relay    Auxiliary    to    Aluminum    Check    Cell    in    Operating-Battery 

Circuit. 

direction  currents  the  circuit  is  still  open  as  before.  But 
when  the  check  cell  admits  current  in  the  normal  direction 
the  relay  winding  is  thereby  energized,  closing  the  path 
around  the  cell.  The  relay  remains  closed  as  long  as 
energy  is  being  drawn  from  the  battery,  dropping  out  again 
when  the  current  falls  below  the  value  necessary  to  hold  up 
its  armature. 


USE    OF  CLAMP  INSULATORS  WITHOUT  TIE- 
WIRES  IN  ST.  LOUIS. 


On  the  arc  circuits  and  4400-volt  distribution  lines  of 
the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  St.  Louis, 
nearly  20,000  Fay  clamp-type  insulators  are  now  in  use, 
the  first  of  these  tie-wire-less  insulators  having  been  in- 
stalled about  eighteen  months  ago.  In  these  insulators  the 
tie-wire  is  replaced  by  a  galvanized  bale  clamp,  similar  to 
those  used  on  some  fruit  jars,  which  exerts  pressure  through 
a  round  porcelain  pin  to  clamp  the  wire  down  into  its 
slotted  seat  in  the  body  of  the  insulator,  without  injury  to 
the  wire  or  its  insulation.  This  construction  was  fully 
described  and  illustrated  in  the  Electric  World  of  May   19, 


Fig.   1 — Clamp   Instilator  and   Parts. 

1910.  The  insulator  was  devised  by  a  former  line  superin- 
tendent of  the  St.  Louis  company,  Mr.  John  L.  Fay,  now 
superintendent  of  distribution  for  The  Milwaukee  Electric 
Railway  &  Light  Company. 

The  first  carload  of  these  insulators  used  in  St.  Louis 
was  ordered  to  equip  the  city  arc  circuits,  which  had  been 
giving  much   trouble   from   the   corrosion   and   breaking  of 


726 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


line  wires  just  under  the  necks  of  the  tie  wires.  As  this 
peculiar  action  occurred  only  on  the  magnetite  or  direct- 
current  circuits,  the  cause  appears  to  have  been  electrolytic, 
after  being  started  by  slight  nicks  made  in  tying  up  the 
tie  wires.     Use  of  the  clamp  insulators  has.  however,  com- 


1 


■!^i_9w^y-  ,»:♦; 


rai'in; 


mmm  ^  ns 


=   ^Q^Fl 


—      -.-f<^.W, ' 


Pig.    2 — Clamp    Insulators    on    Wooden    Pins. 

pletely  removed  the  trouble,  according  to  Mr.  K.  H.  Han- 
sen, electrical  engineer  for  the  company.  The  same  con- 
struction is  now  being  extended  to  4400-volt  feeder  con- 
struction, as  shown  in  the  accompanying  illustration. 
Among  the  advantages  secured  by  the  use  of  the  clamp 
insulators  are  the  superior  quickness  and  permanency  with 
which  they  can  be  installed;  prevention  of  injury  to  line- 
wire  insulation;  avoidance  of  kinking  by  the  lineman  in 
making  a  wire  tie,  and  elimination  of  corrosion  of  the  wire 
at  the  neck  of  the  tie — all  of  which  lead  to  ultimate  break- 
ing of  the  wire.  If  such  a  broken  span  drops  into  the 
street,  it  is  highly  dangerous;  if  the  insulation  holds  it,  the 
break  under  the  tie-wire  is  extremely  difficult  to  locate. 
The  position  of  the  wire  at  the  top  of  the  new  clamp  in- 
sulator also  introduces  greater  insulating  value  for  the 
same  size,  compared  with  the  usual  side-tie  insulator.  A 
lineman  can  also  replace  insulators  or  pins  when  using  the 
clamp  device,  without  "killing"  the  line,  since  the  insulator 
has  no  holding  or  conducting  parts  in  contact  with  the  wire. 
In  case  a  pin  is  broken,  the  wire  can  be  tied  up  in  an  emer- 
gency by  passing  a  cord  or  wire  through  the  clamp  arms, 
without  impairing  the  insulation  of  the  line. 

Purchased  in  quantities  the   St.   Louis  clamp  insulators 
cost,   complete   with    bale    and   parts,    11    cents   each.     The 


Fig.  3^^400Volt   Feeders  Carried   on   Clamp   Insulators   and  Clamp 

Pins. 

equivalent  No.  30  porcelain  insulator  of  the  ordinary  type 
has  recently  risen  in  price  to  5.75  cents.  A  No.  6  tie  wire 
at  the  present  price  of  copper  costs  2  cents  to  4  cents.  After 
counting  the  copper  lost  and  time  taken  to  make  the  ordi- 


nary tie,  compared  with  that  for  putting  up  a  clamp  in- 
sulator, there  is  a  difference  in  cost  apparently  slightly  in 
favor  of  the  clamp  insulation,  especially  when  the  advan- 
tages of  permanence  and  safety  of  the  clamp  construction 
are  considered. 

For  comparison  ten  poles  were  equipped  with  tie  insula- 
tors, two  primary  wires  being  in  easy  reach.  28  ft.  above 
the  ground.  It  required  one  lineman  thirty-five  minutes 
to  tie  in  the  twenty  insulators.  The  twenty  tie  wires, 
weighing  5  lb.  14  oz.,  cost  4.7  cents  per  insulator.  For 
clip  ends  necessary  for  the  grip  of  pliers  17  oz.  was  lost, 
representing  a  cost  of  0.875  cent  per  insulator.  With  the 
insulators  themselves  costing  5.75  cents,  the  total  cost  of 
material  used  vv-as  thus  iiyi  cents  per  insulator,  excluding 
the  labor  of  the  lineman,  which  at  50  cents  an  hour  would 
be  about  2  cents  per  tie.  The  present  cost  of  the  bale- 
clamp  insulators  is  11  cents  each,  complete  with  galvanized 
bale  and  screw,  thus  showing  a  saving  of  a  fraction  of  a 
cent  over  the  bare  material  cost  of  the  ordinary  tied  con- 
struction. Since  the  clamp  insulators  permit  more  rapid 
installation,  the  labor  cost  of  2  cents  per  insulator  would 
be  decreased,  adding  to  the  slight  advantage  in  price  in 
favor  of  the  clamp  devices.  But  the  important  factor  in 
the  St.  Louis  situation  resulting  from  the  use  of  these 
insulators  has  been  the  permanency  and  freedom  from 
broken  wires  and  the  saving  of  future  repairs  and  recon- 
struction work.  Mr.  Frederick  Worthington  is  general 
foreman  in  charge  of  overhead  wires  for  the  Union  Elec- 
tric Company. 


DOWNTOWN  STREET-LIGHTING    IN  [BALTIMORE. 


The  city  of  Baltimore  has  the  distinction  of  possessing 
more  than  2j^  miles  of  business  streets,  comprising  nearly 
fifty  blocks,  which  are  illuminated  with  ornamental  lumin- 
ous-arc lamps.  These  are  of  the 
inverted  General  Electric  type  rated 
at  6.6  amp,  and  there  are  at  the 
present  time  352  installed.  Thir- 
teen more  will  be  connected  within 
a  few  weeks.  The  pole,  which  is 
shown  in  detail  in  Fig.  i,  was  de- 
signed by  the  Baltimore  Art  Com- 
mission and  is  an  adaptation  of  the 
slender  supports  which  the  ancients 
utilized  to  hold  a  torch  or  "flam- 
beau" for  the  lighting  of  their 
streets.  The  posts,  which  were  cast 
by  the  Morris  Iron  Works,  Fred- 
erick, Md.,  and  the  Lundin  Elec- 
tric &  Machine  Company,  Boston, 
Mass.,  are  14.5  ft.  high  and  1.5  ft. 
in  diameter  at  the  base. 

The  installation  was  promoted  by 
Mr.   G.  A.  Miller,  of  Atlanta,   Ga., 
and   in   the   campaign   the   property 
owners  and  merchants,  together  with 
the  manufacturers'  associations  and 
advertising   clubs   of  the  city,  were 
conspicuous  for  their  industry.    The 
merchants  paid  the  initial  cost  of  the 
lamps,  the  Consolidated  Gas,  Elec- 
tric Light  &  Power  Company  obtain- 
ing this  money  from  the  city  and  the 
latter  collecting  from  the  merchants. 
The  lamps  and  posts  erected  repre- 
sent an  investment  of  approximately 
$105  each  and  are  spaced  from  50  ft. 
up,  according  to  the  amount  of  money  collected  from  the 
merchants,  which  ranged   from  approximately  $2  a  front 
foot  to  $1.20  a  front  foot. 
The   "white   way,"   as   it   is   called,   was    first   placed   in 


Fig.    1 — Baltimore 
Standard. 


October  5,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


727 


Figs.   2  and   3 — Howard   Street,    Looking    North    and    South   from   Lexington  Street,  Baltimore. 


Figs.   4   and   5 — Arrangement   of    Luminous-Arc   Standards   In    Business  Section  of   Baltimore. 


Figs.  6  and  7— Lexington   Street,   Looking   East  and   West  from    Howard  Street,   Baltimore. 


728 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,.  No.  14. 


service  June  22,  1912,  Just  a  week  prior  to  the  Democratic 
convention.  As  is  probably  well  known,  in  the  inverted- 
type  luminous-arc  lamp  the  arc  is  formed  between  an  upper 
electrode  of  copper  and  a  lower  electrode  containing  the 
magnetite  composition.  The  lower  electrode  has  a  life 
ranging  from  100  hours  to  120  hours  and  has  a  composition 
identical  with  that  used  in  the  regular  series  luminous-arc 
lamps.  The  upper  electrode  is  practically  non-consuming. 
In  trimming  the  lamp  the  ornamental  top  on  the  globe  is 
swung  to  one  side  and  the  lower  electrode  pushed  into  place. 
The  casing  below  the  globe  which  protects  the  mechanism 
is  provided  with  a  door  through  which  access  to  the  mechan- 
ism is  had.  The  globe  is  of  special  shape,  so  designed  that 
all  shadows  are  eliminated,  and  as  some  of  the  light  is 
allowed  to  pass  upward  adjacent  buildings,  as  well  as  the 
streets  and  sidewalks,  are  illuminated  with  a  white  light. 
The  density  of  the  glassware  is  such  as  to  make  it  a  second- 
ary source  of  light,  the  arc  itself  being  invisible.  The 
lamps,  therefore,  are  free  from  glare.  The  five  business 
thoroughfares  of  Baltimore  equipped  with  this  iy'pt  of  lamp 
are  as  follows:  Baltimore  Street  from  Paca  to  West  Falls 
Avenue;  Eutaw  Street  from  Camden  to  Franklin;  Howard 
Street  from  Camden  to  Center;  Charles  Street  from  Balti- 
more to  Center,  and  Lexington  Street  from  Eutaw  to  Guil- 
ford Avenue. 

The  city  of  Baltimore  pays  the  Consolidated  Gas,  Elec- 
tric Light  &  Power  Company  $99  a  year  for  each  of  the 
lamps  burning  all  night  and  $91  for  each  of  the  lamps 
burning  on  half-night  service.  Where  the  equipment  is 
erected  and  owned  by  the  city  the  prices  in  each  case  are 
$89  and  $81  respectivelv. 

The  accompanying  illustrations  show  views  of  some  of 
the  streets  at  night  and  give  some  idea  of  the  distribution 
of  the  light  on  the  building  fronts  and  also  on  the  thorough- 
fares. From  Figs  4  and  5  it  is  apparent  that  the  lamps 
are  pleasing  by  day  and  do  not  add  materially  to  the  ob- 
struction on  the  sidewalk  or  to  the  view,  as  is  the  case  with 
the  collection  of  small  tungsten  lamps  used  in  the  tungsten 
post  system  that  prevails  in  many  cities. 

The  installation,  which  is  the  largest  of  its  kind  at  present 
in  this  country,  reflects  the  tendency  now  manifesting  itself 
in  a  number  of  cities  to  use  a  higher  candle-power  unit  sup- 
ported at  a  greater  height  from  the  street  surface  on  first- 
class  business  thoroughfares. 


TUNGSTEN  LAMPS  IN"  CAR  LIGHTING. 


An  exhaustive  trial  of  the  tungsten  lamp  in  street-car 
lighting  service  is  being  made  by  the  Bay  State  Street 
Railway  Company,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  under  the  direction 
of  Mr.  E.  W.  Hoist,  superintendent  of  equipment,  with 
the  co-operation  of  Mr.  George  H.  Stickney,  of  the 
General  Electric  Company,  Harrison,  N.  J.  The  test  is 
being  conducted  upon  two  28-ft.  and  two  34-ft.  semi- 
convertible  cars,  and  the  new  lighting  units  consist  of 
60-watt  clear  tungsten  wire-type  filament  lamps  equipped 
with  intensive  prismatic  reflectors  and  special  holders. 
the  lamps  being  run  in  two  .series  circuits  of  five  per 
circuit  in  order  to  insure  a  fair  illumination  in  case  one 
circuit  is  out  of  service.  Six  tungsten  lamps  are  installed 
in  the  monitor  of  each  of  two  cars,  the  other  two  cars 
being  equipped  with  64-watt  carbon  lamps.  Sixteen  of 
the  latter  are  used  in  the  28-ft.  car  and  twenty-one  in  the 
34-ft.  car.  Readings  with  a  Sharp-Millar  photometer 
show  that  in  the  28-ft.  cars  the  average  illumination  with 
tungsten  lamps  is  3.6  ft. -candles  and  with  carbon  lamps 
2.1  ft. -candles;  the  34-ft.  car  equipped  with  tungsten 
lamps  has  an  average  of  2.4  ft.-candles  against  2.4  ft.- 
candles  with  the  34-ft.  car  and  carbon-lamp  equipment. 
In  the  28-ft.  car  the  power  expenditure  is  360  watts  for 
the    tungsten-lamp   installation   compared    with    1024   watts 


for  the  carbon-lamp  equipment;  in  the  34-ft.  cars  the 
power  expended  is  360  watts  for  the  tungsten  equipment 
compared  with  1344  watts  for  the  carbon.  The  quality 
of  the  illumination  is  greatly  improved  with  the  tungsten 
units.  From  present  indications  the  company  expects 
to  obtain  reasonable  lamp  life  in  the  tungsten  installations 
in  spite  of  the  severities  of  railway  service. 


IMPROVEMENTS    IN   STREET   LIGHTING    IN 
ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. 


The  rapid  introduction  of  the  tungsten  incandescent  lamp 
for  interior  lighting  has  resulted  in  the  education  of  the 
general  public  toward  higher  standards  of  illumination. 
In  a  remarkably  short  space  of  time  this  desire   for  more 


rigs.    1    and    2 — Luminous- Arc    and    Tungsten    Standards    In 
Rochester. 


light  has  also  left  its  impress  on  public  officials,  and  the 
central  stations  throughout  the  country  have  been  kept  busy 
changing  older  forms  of  lamps  for  improved  ones  and  in- 
creasing the  illumination  in  certain  other  sections.  This 
transition  period  in  public  lighting  has  by  no  means  run  its 
course,  and  the  past  four  years  have  witnessed  more  changes 
on  public  highways  than  the  preceding  decade. 

The  city  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  is  one  of  the  many  which 
are  struggling  to  keep  pace  with  the  insistent  demands  for 
more  light  on  highways,  and  the  engineering  department  of 
the  Rochester  Railway  &  Light  Company  has  given  con- 
siderable thought  to  the  problem  of  street  lighting,  in  its 
desire  to  meet  the  wishes  of  the  city  officials  and  at  the  same 
time  install  units  which  are  not  likely  to  be  rapidly  super- 


October  5,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


729 


seded.  Chasteness  of  design  being  necessary  in  any  system 
erected  with  an  eye  to  permanency,  this  phase  of  the  public 
lighting  business  has  had  mature  consideration.  Rochester 
is  a  city  of  homes  and  beautiful  streets,  and  the  Rochester 
Railway  &  Light  Company,  not  less  than  the  residents  them- 
selves, takes  a  commendable  pride  in  the  appearance  of  the 


bring  them  just  under  the  branches.  By  this  means  dark 
spots  are  avoided  and  one  can  see  approaching  vehicles  or 
pedestrians  with  ease.  The  public  press  and  the  citizens 
have  given  the  company  unstinted  praise  for  this  system. 
Part  of  its  cost  was  borne  by  local  assessment  on  the 
abutting   property,   and   the   rest   was   paid    for   out   of   the 


Figs.  3  and  4 — Concrete  Tungsten  Standards  and  Cast-iron   Luminous- Arc   Posts  on   Residence  Streets  of  Rochester. 


"Flower  City's"  thoroughfares.  The  illustrations  herewith 
show  some  of  the  more  recent  street-lighting  installations. 
In  Figs.  I  and  4  the  new  cast-iron  standards  for  support- 
ing the  inverted  luminous  6.6-amp  magnetite-arc  lamps  are 
illustrated.  There  are  eighty-six  of  these  on  East  Avenue, 
one  of  the  finest  residential  streets  of  Rochester,  which  runs 


general  lighting  fund  of  the  city.  The  posts  were  built  by 
the  Lundin  Electric  &  Machine  Company,  Boston,  and  the 
lamps  are  of  General  Electric  make. 

Figs  2  and  3  show  in  detail  and  in  vista  the  new  con- 
crete posts  with  bronze  top  erected  on  Warwick  Avenue. 
The   bronze  top   supports   a    l6-in.   rough    inside   globe   in- 


Fig.  5 — Combination  Arc  and  Trolley 
Post. 


Fig.  6 — Mast-Arm   Pole  for  Shaded 
Streets. 


Fig.    7 — Bacl<-Yard    Distribution 
System. 


from  the  center  of  the  town  to  the  city  line.  At  either  end 
of  the  avenue  there  are  two  posts  placed  opposite  each 
other,  so  as  to  form  a  gateway  to  the  system.  The  rest  of 
the  lamps  are  placed  200  ft.  apart  and  staggered  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  street.  Although  the  thoroughfare  is  lined  with 
beautiful  shade  trees,  the  height  of  the  lamps  is  such  as  to 


closing  a  6o-cp,  4-amp  series  tungsten  lamp.  The  posts  arc 
scrubbed  and  the  panels  bush-hammered,  so  that  their  ap- 
pearance is  very  pleasing,  the  poles  looking  as  though  they 
had  been  chiseled  out  of  a  piece  of  granite.  On  practically 
all  of  the  residential  streets  of  Rochester  there  are  demands 
for  this  type  of  lighting,  and  the  policy  of  the  company 


730 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


is  to  install  posts  of  this  design  wherever  there  are  existing 
overhead  vi-ires  and  wooden  poles.  The  additional  revenue 
received  for  a  lamp  fed  from  underground  circuits  is  suffi- 
cient to  carry  the  extra  investment  necessary. 

Fig.  5  shows  a  new  design  of  post  on  Arnett  Boulevard, 
which  serves  to  support  the  trolley  wires  as  well  as  the  arc 
lamp.  In  the  judgment  of  the  engineers  of  the  lighting 
company,  this  design  is  not  too  ornate  and  its  use  has  been 
attended  with  much  satisfaction.  A  steel  post  supporting 
an  arc  lamp  by  means  of  a  crane  arm  12  ft.  long,  as  used  on 
Dartmouth  Street,  is  shown  in  Fig.  6.  This  type  of  post  is 
very  effective  on  streets  where  the  shade  trees  are  dense. 

With  its  present  facilities,  the  Rochester  Railway  &  Light 
Company  cannot  keep  up  with  the  demand  for  rear-lot  line 
construction  involving  the  use  of  concrete  poles.  Fig.  7 
shows  a  type  of  installation  of  concrete  pole  for  rival  tele- 
phone circuits,  series  arc  circuits  and  secondary  service 
feeders.  These  poles  are  erected  on  every  other  lot,  per- 
mitting both  telephone  and  electric  light  wires  to  run  to  the 
four  adjoining  lots  without  necessitating  the  crossing  of 
any  property  but  that  served.  During  the  past  twelve 
months  the  company  has  installed  practically  1500  of  these 
poles. 

STEEL-MILL  ILLUMINATION. 


By  B.  G.  Beck. 

In  the  lighting  of  steel  mills  the  present  tendency  is  to 
supply  the  demand  for  an  increased  illumination  at  all 
parts  of  the  mill.  How  to  supply  this  demand  efficiently 
and  with  the  least  cost  of  maintenance  or  interruption  to 
the  service  requires  a  special  study  for  each  individual  mill 
building.  Not  many  years  have  passed  since  the  white-hot 
iron  furnished  the  light  for  tapping  a  furnace,  converters 
the  light  for  manufacturing  steel,  the  soaking  pits  that  for 
drawing  the  ingots,  and  the  hot  steel  sufficient  light  for 
rolling.  Where  sufficient  light  was  not  furnished  by  the 
metal  itself,  work  was  done  with  the  aid  of  a  tallow  candle 
or  kerosene  torch.  The  rolls  were  lighted  either  by  a 
torch  on  top  of  the  roll  housing  or  by  a  natural-gas  pipe 
emitting  a  flickering  streamer  of  light.  This  latter  method 
is  in  use  at  present  in  some  of  the  older  mills,  where  natural 
gas  is  cheap.  The  results  of  the  above  methods  of  illumi- 
nation were  a  large  number  of  accidents. 

The  changed  requirements  are  due  to  the  increasing  use 
of  mechanical  devices  which  require  attention  at  all  times, 
the  increased  watchfulness  over  the  safety  of  employees 
and  the  increased  production  which  good  illumination 
makes  possible.  A  steel  mill  consists  of  a  number  of  de- 
tached buildings  or  departments,  each  contributing  some 
operation  in  turning  out  the  finished  product  and  each 
building  requiring  more  intensity  of  light,  from  the  blast 
furnaces  to  the  finishing  mills,  until  the  inspection  depart- 
ments are  reached,  where  well-placed  intense  light  is  re- 
quired. 

Most  of  the  buildings  will  be  constructed  for  the  use  of 
overhead  traveling  cranes  with  the  rolls,  tables  and  mill 
equipment  located  near  the  center  of  the  building.  The 
buildings  will  range  from  about  50  ft.  to  100  ft.  in  width 
and  25  ft.  to  60  ft.  from  the  floor  line  to  clearance  line  of 
top  of  crane.  The  lamps  for  the  general  illumination  can 
therefore  be  located  either  along  the  side  walls  of  the 
building  or  in  the  roof  above  the  crane  runway.  The  location 
along  the  side  walls  is  undesirable  for  the  following  rea- 
sons: (i)  Glare  in  eyes  of  workmen;  (2)  inefficient  dis- 
tribution due  to  absorption  of  light  by  the  black  sides  of 
building;  (3)  constant  repairs  due  to  lamp  being  damaged 
by  crane;  (4)  small  percentage  of  useful  light  on  the  rolls 
or  machinery  in  the  center  of  the  building. 

The  usual  method  of  locating  the  lamps  in  the  roof  above 
the  crane  runway  is  also  objectionable  for  the  reasons 
next  given:    (i)    Large  units  required  to  obtain  satisfac- 


tory light;   (2)   inaccessibility  for  trimming;   (3)   screening 
or  cutting  off  of  the  light  by  the  crane. 

The  last  two  objections  are  the  only  serious  ones  against 
this  location.  Safety  demands  that  trimmers  should  not 
be  required  to  trim  the  lamps  daily  from  cranes,  and  the 
use  of  the  cranes  for  this  purpose  interferes  with  the  oper- 
ation of  the  mill.  In  some  cases  where  the  safety  require- 
ments will  not  allow  lamps  to  be  trimmed  from  the  cranes 
it  has  been  found  necessary  to  build  a  steel  footwalk  the 
entire  length  of  the  building  in  order  to  trim  the  lamps. 

The  cutting  off  of  the  light  owing  to  cranes  being  di- 
rectly below  the  lamp  can  be  obviated  by  installing  on  the 
cranes  under  the  bridge  girders  lamps  of  such  candle-power 
as  to  increase  the  foot-candles  on  the  floor  area  covered ' 
by  the  crane.  This  method  proves  satisfactory,  as  in  most 
cases  ordinary  illumination  is  all  that  is  required  except  in 
case  of  a  breakdown,  when  the  use  of  the  crane  becomes 
necessary  and  very  good  light  is  required.  By  placing 
lamps  of  high  candle-power  directly  under  the  footwalk 
the  repairs  can  be  made  safely  under  an  intense  and  cheer- 
ful light  in  the  shortest  possible  time.  In  laying  out  the 
general  illumination  of  the  buildings  the  location  of  lamps 
with  respect  to  the  machinery  housed  is  of  first  considera- 
tion. Where  large  individual  machines  require  intense 
light  at  some  particular  part  of  the  machine  this  illumma- 
tion  should  not  be  attempted  in  the  general  illumination  of 
the  buildings.  Where  a  large' number  of  small  machines 
are  located  close  together  it  may  be  advantageous  to  supply 
intense  general  illumination  and  eliminate  the  individual 
lighting  of  each  separate  machine. 

The  lamps  to  be  placed  first  should  be  those  near  rolls, 
engines,  shears  or  other  high  obstructions,  arranging  these 
lamps  so  as  to  throw  as  little  shadow  as  possible  and  deliver 
the  maximum  intensity  where  it  is  most  needed.  Then  it 
becomes  possible  to  arrange  various  intermediate  lamps  so 
as  to  give  the  most  satisfactory  distribution  with  the  inten- 
sity required.  Having  the  distribution  curve  of  the  lamp 
to  be  used,  the  best,  although  the  most  tedious,  is  the  point 
by  point  method  of  distribution.  This  method  is  very  desir- 
able, as  the  light  thrown  on  the  side  walls  can  be  considered 
lost  and  its  use  brings  out  the  location  of  each  obstruction 
or  dangerous  pitfall,  which  then  can  have  the  advantage 
of  the  high  spots  of  illumination.  In  using  a  distribution 
curve  of  this  kind  only  one  certified  by  some  reputable 
testing  laboratory  should  be  employed.  It  must,  of  course, 
be  kept  in  mind  that  these  curves  are  taken  with  the  lamps 
operating  at  their  highest  efficiency  under  ideal  operating 
conditions,  while  in  actual  practice  they  will  be  affected  by 
dirt,  deposits  on  the  globes,  depreciation  of  candle-power 
and  poor  voltage  regulation.  A  system  of  mill  illumination 
laid  out  from  an  ideal  distribution  curve  and  not  discounted 
for  all  the  disadvantages  inherent  in  the  lamp  may  prove  a 
disappointment  when  the  lamps  are  being  worked  at  their 
lowest  efficiency. 

The  following  figures  give  the  intensities  which  have 
been  found  necessary  at  some  mills: 


Foot-Candles. 

Roadways      0.1  to  0.75 

Yards   and   loading   docks    0.3  to  0.5 

Loading    in    cars 0.75 

General    illumination    in    mill   buildings    0.4  to  0.6 

Warehouses    0.3  to  0.5 

Inspection    tables     3.5 

Shops     0.5  to  1.0 

Machine    tools     5 

Offices    4 

Drafting     rooms     4  to  6 

In  the  choice  of  the  lamp  itself  there  are  available  all 
the  types  and  sizes  which  are  generally  used  for  street  or 
factory  lighting.  Most  of  these  are  sold  on  recommenda- 
tions which  make  them  seem  well  adapted  to  the  steel  in- 
dustry. Although  the  power  problems  in  steel  mills  have 
overshadowed  the  subject  of  plant  illumination,  unreliable 


October  5,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


731 


and  unsatisfactory  illumination  has  subjected  the  electri- 
cian in  charge  to  more  criticism  and  abuse  than  any  other 
cause.  Therefore  a  lamp  possessing  reliability  ranks  first 
in  importance,  while  efficiency,  maintenance  and  first  cost 
are  minor  considerations.  The  lamp  should  require  no  at- 
tention during  the  life  of  one  trim,  and  this  should  be  true 
at  all  times,  even  when  it  becomes  old  and  the  parts  badly 
worn.  The  rough-and-ready  expedients  of  poking  the  lamp 
with  a  stick  or  hitting  it  with  a  piece  of  coke,  in  order  to 
induce  it  to  fulfil  its  duties,  should  not  be  necessary.  But 
this  has  been  the  unavoidable  practice  with  some  lamps,  to 
their  obvious  detriment.  There  also  have  been  numerous 
accidents  to  workmen  who  have  attempted  to  assist  balky 
lamps.  For  the  safety  of  the  trimmer,  the  lamp  should 
have  a  long  life  and  should  never  require  retrimming, 
adjustment  or  other  attention  for  at  least  seven  nights  of 
fourteen   hours    each. 

The  unreliability  of  most  lamps  is  due  to  the  atmospheric 
conditions  of  the  mill.  Where  wires  are  found  corroded 
off  at  the  binding  posts,  difficulties  with  contacts  or  moving 
parts  are  to  be  expected  and  grounded  coils  become  an  evil 
which  it  is  almost  impossible  to  prevent.  Under  conditions 
where  rotors  of  induction  motors  are  polished  by  dust  in 
the  air-gap,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  lamps  will  have  a  hard 
fight  for  existence.  A  lamp  with  complicated  operating 
mechanism  suffers  most  from  the  above  causes  as  well  as 
from  the  damage  done  by  inexperienced  workmen.  The 
color  should  be  yellow,  since  this  conforms  with  the  light 
given  off  by  the  hot  steel,  and  wil  penetrate  the  smoke. 

On  account  of  the  low  cost  of  energy  the  efficiency,  in  so 
far  as  energy  consumption  is  concerned,  has  a  very  small 
bearing  on  the  cost  of  operation.  When  comparing  the 
efficiency  of  two  lamps  the  ratio  of  the  average  foot-candles 
on  the  working  area  of  the  mill  to  the  watts  required  should 
be  taken  as  a  basis,  since  the  distribution  of  light  from  some 
lamps  may  be  such  as  to  throw  most  of  the  light  on  the 
absorbing  walls  and  very  little  on  the  floor  area. 

The  voltage  regulation  in  most  mills  is  very  poor  at  times 
owing  to  low  pressure  of  steam  or  gas,  excessive  station 
overloads,  or  temporary  overloads  on  feeders.  The  ma- 
jority of  the  lamps  will  be  installed  in  multiple  or  series  on 
the  standard  250-volt  circuit  and  should  burn  at  any  inter- 
mediate point  between  180  volts  and  270  volts  without 
vibrating  or  damage  to  lamps.  In  some  buildings  only 
direct  current  will  be  available,  while  in  others  alternating 
current  only  may  be  used.  The  lamps  where  possible 
should  be  connected  on  a  feeder  direct  from  the  power 
house,  but  in  some  cases  this  may  prove  expensive  for  the 
small  amount  of  energy  necessary  for  the  service,  and  they 
should  be  capable  of  operating  on  either  alternating  or 
direct  current. 

All  lamps  should  be  made  in  different  sizes  so  as  to  adapt 
themselves  to  the  height  of  the  building  and  obtain  good 
distribution.  The  first  cost  of  lamps  is  always  of  impor- 
tance, but  maintenance  cost  is  the  final  consideration  of 
the  mill  engineer.  The  effects  of  fumes  and  dirt  on  lamps 
with  moving  parts  is  such  as  to  give  them  a  short  life  with 
excessive  maintenance  cost  after  the  second  year.  With 
expert  repair  men  and  trimmers  this  cost  can  be  kept  down 
to  some  extent,  but  the  chances  are  that  the  lamps  will  re- 
ceive the  least  attention  of  all  the  apparatus  in  the  mill. 

Due  consideration  should  be  given  to  lamp  outages,  as 
a  short-life  lamp  will  have  more  outages  than  long-life 
lamps.  No  lamp  should  be  used  which  will  require  an 
expert  to  repair  or  maintain  it.  The  simpler  the  lamp  the 
lower  will  be  the  maintenance  cost  and  the  less  the  depre- 
ciation. All  lamps  should  be  equipped  with  shades,  thus 
saving  a  large  proportion  of  the  light  ordinarily  lost  on 
walls,  roof  or  through  windows.  The  large  quantity  of 
light  which  streams  through  the  roof  windows  of  some 
mills  may  impress  a  person  on  the  outside,  but  it  is  possible 
that  the  workman  on  the  inside  would  be  glad  of  an  in- 
crease of  light  on  his  work  or  that  the  owner  of  the  plant 


would  be  pleased  to  reduce  the  number  of  lamps  necessary. 

Since  the  introduction  of  high-candle-power  tungsten 
units,  large  numbers  of  these  lamps  have  been  installed 
on  account  of  their  reliability.  They  have  shown  an  av- 
erage life  of  over  1500  hours  in  mill  and  yard  lighting 
and  over  1000  hours  average  when  hung  from  crane  foot- 
walks.  The  only  difficulty  experienced  with  these  lamps 
is  in  having  the  old  lamps  replaced  before  they  depreciate 
too  far  in  light  value.  Their  life  when  hung  from  cranes 
has  been  longer  than  expected,  as  previously  the  jar  and 
shaking  of  the  traveling  crane  had  proved  very  trouble- 
some, but  the  tungsten  units,  being  light,  can  be  fitted  with 
light  supporting  springs  and  give  very  good  service.  Where 
loading  of  cars  is  necessary  in  buildings  with  runways 
up  to  30  ft.,  one  500-watt,  4-amp  lamp  hung  from  the  crane 
directly  over  the  cars  and  one  over  the  material  to  be 
loaded   have    furnished   excellent    light    for   the   workmen. 

Keeping  the  shades  or  reflectors  clean  is  a  matter  that 
must  be  followed  up  at  all  times.  The  interval  at  which 
they  will  require  cleaning  depends  upon  their  location.  In 
smoky  and  dirty  locations  it  has  been  found  necessary  to 
clean  shades  every  week,  while  in  locations  with  little  or 
no  dirt  they  have  furnished  satisfactory  service  for  months 
without  being  cleaned.  For  yard  lighting,  the  500-watt 
units  when  mounted  with  flat  cone  reflectors  on  light  pipe- 
framework  poles  have  rendered  excellent  service  and  with- 
stood severe  storms  successfully. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


THE  KILOVOLT-AMPERE. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — It  seems  to  have  become  a  fad  recently  to  give 
the  rating  of  inductive  apparatus  in  kilovolt-amperes  in- 
stead of  in  kilowatts  as  in  the  past. 

It  seems  to  me  that  machinery  used  exclusively  in  han- 
dling energy  should  be  rated  in  energy  units  and  not  in 
terms  of  dimensions  or  current-carrying  capacity  or  of  the 
separate  components  of  the  energy  units.  Further,  a  ma- 
chine should  be  rated  in  terms  of  its  capacity  to  perform  the 
particular  work  it  is  used  for  most.  For  instance,  a  steam 
shovel  is  rated  in  cubic  yards  of  earth  per  hour  and  not  in 
terms  of  coal  per  hour  just  because  it  could  be  used  for 
that  purpose  occasionally. 

Now,  it  is  objectionable  and  irregular  to  have  a  machine 
operating  at  less  than  unity  power-factor,  and  everything 
is  being  done  to  make  this  the  exception  rather  than  the 
rule ;  and  while  we  need  a  very  small  quantity  of  quadrature 
current  in  the  operation  of  some  important  alternating- 
current  apparatus,  we  can  look  forward  to  improvements 
in  apparatus  or  systems  that  will  eliminate  all  useless  watt- 
less power,  and  the  remaining  out-of-phase  current  will  be 
so  insignificant  in  effect  as  hardly  to  justify  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  new  unit  or  its  extensive  use  in  preference  to  the 
familiar  and  satisfactory  "kw,"  which  is  already  estab- 
lished in  our  vocabulary  and  is,  moreover,  more  easily  pro- 
nounced and  read.  The  term  "kilowatt"  is  applicable  to 
both  alternating-current  and  direct-current  apparatus,  and, 
if  left  alone,  may  ultimately  be  used  in  rating  steam,  gas 
and  hydraulic  power  also. 

Chicago,  III.  C.  W.  Eisenmann. 


[The  use  of  the  term  "kilovolt-ampere"  is  thoroughly 
justified  by  the  fact  that  it,  and  not  "kilowatt,"  is  the 
universally  applicable  practical  electrical  power  term. 
When  the  power-factor  is  unity — as  is  always  true  with 
direct-current  apparatus,  but  never  absolutely  true  with 
alternating-current  machinery — it  is  permissible  to  rate 
electrical  machinery  in  kilowatts,  but  never  incorrect  to 
rate  it  in  kilovolt-amperes. — Eds.] 


732 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  14. 


Digest  of  Current   Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF   THE   IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Drying  Motor  IVmdings. — F.  C.  Aldous. — Where  induc- 
tion motors  operate  in  a  very  damp  atmosphere  and  the 
service  is  not  continuous,  then,  if  the  period  of  rest  is  long 
enough  to  allow  the  motor  to  cool,  moisture  will  be  de- 
posited on  the  windings.  No  moisture  can,  however,  be 
deposited  if  the  windings  are  kept  at  a  temperature  above 
the  surrounding  atmosphere.  To  obtain  this  result  certain 
European  firms  use  lamps  which  are  installed  inside  the 
stator  casing  and  switched  on  when  the  motor  is  not  run- 
ning. The  author's  method  is  to  use  a  small  auxiliary 
transformer  by  means  of  which  a  low  voltage  is  switched 
on  to  the  terminals  of  the  motor  when  at  rest,  causing 
sufficient  current  to  flow  through  the  stator  and  rotor  wind- 
ings to  give  the  required  temperature  rise.  In  the  case  of 
a  motor  with  wound  rotor  and  slip-rings,  these  are  short- 
circuited  before  the  low  voltage  is  switched  on.  The  power 
consumption  is  relatively  very  small,  as  is  seen  by  the 
following  example:  Motor,  1000  hp,  three-phase,  5000 
volts;  normal  current,  97  amp  per  wire;  short-circuit  cur- 
rent with  full  voltage,  550  amp  per  wire.  When  the  motor 
is  at  rest  and  short-circuited  the  current  required  to  give 
20  deg.  C.  temperature  rise  is  34  amp  per  wire,  requiring  an 
emf  of  350  volts.  The  power  taken  from  the  line  is  only 
4  kw,  or  0.5  per  cent  of  the  total  power  taken  by  the  motor. 
A  transformer  would  be  required  of  20-kva.  5000-350  volts, 
or  14:1  ratio,  which  ratio  would  vary  somewhat  according 
to  the  size  and  design  of  the  motor.  For  drying  out  pur- 
poses a  voltage  40  per  cent  higher  would  be  employed,  giv- 
ing 40  deg.  temperature  rise.  In  this  case  a  40-kva  trans- 
former, 10:1  ratio,  would  be  used  and  the  power  consump- 
tion would  be  8  kw. — London  Electrician,  Sept.  13,  1912. 

Standardiuition  Rules. — An  English  translation  in  ab- 
stract of  the  rules  of  the  German  Association  of  Electrical 
Engineers  for  testing  and  rating  electrical  machinery  and 
transformers.  As  has  already  been  noticed  in  the  Digest, 
these  regulations  refer  to  the  rating  of  machines  on  the 
name-plates,  commutation,  temperature  rise,  overload,  in- 
stallation and  the  standardization  of  frequencies  and  volt- 
ages.— London  Elec.  Rei^icu\  Sept.  13,  1912. 

Single-Phase  Commiitatoy  Motors. — R.  E.  Hellmund  and 
E.  W.  R.  Smith. — In  a  further  instalment  of  their  long 
illustrated  serial  on  single-phase  commutator  motors  the 
authors  conclude  their  discussion  of  types  involving  useful 
internal  transformer  action.  They  deal  with  the  repulsion 
motor,  the  double-fed  series  motor  for  speeds  above  and 
below  synchronism,  and  motors  with  armature  excitation 
(Winter-Eichberg  motor).  In  conclusion,  they  give  a  brief 
classification  of  the  fundamental  types  of  single-phase  com- 
mutator motors.- — Elec.  Journal,  September.  1912. 

Unipolar  Generator. — W.  A.  Dick. — An  illustrated  article 
giving  some  comments  on  the  construction  and  transforma- 
tion of  a  2000-kw  unipolar  direct-current  generator. — Elec. 
Journal.  September,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Electric  Properties  of  Filaments. — H.  Pecheu.x. — A  Ger- 
man translation  of  his  long  French  paper  giving  data  on  the 
electric  properties  of  a  great  many  different  filaments. 
These  refer  to  the  relations  between  candle-power  and  volt- 
age, resistance  and  temperature  coefficient  of  resistance,  and 
the  relation  between  voltage  and  current.  These  data  are 
given  for  carbon  filaments,  the  older  metallic  filaments  and 
the  new  drawn-tungsten  filament.  One  of  the  conclusions 
of  the  author  is  that  the  drawn-tungsten  filament  is  chem- 
ically quite  different  from  the  older  sintered  tungsten  fila- 
ment.    Optically  the  drawn-tungsten  filament  is  similar  to 


the   older   zirconium-tungsten    filament. — Zeit.  f.  BeUucht., 
July  30.  Aug.   10  and  Aug.  20,   1912. 

Manufacture  of  Metallic  Filaments. — A  note  on  a  recent 
British  patent  (No.  18,392,  Sept.  5,  1912)  of  H.  Hoge  and 
the  "Z''  Electric  Lamp  Manufacturing  Company,  Ltd.  In 
the  continuous  squirting  of  hard  paste  in  the  ordinary  way 
straight  from  the  die,  the  filament  is  quite  flexible  and  soft 
and  rather  putty-like  when  it  reaches  the  card  onto  which 
it  is  squirted  and  cannot  readily  be  wound  into  symmetrical, 
circular  or  spiral  form.  According  to  this  invention,  the 
squirted  material,  of  suitable  hardness  or  with  a  sufficiently 
volatile  binding  agent,  is  guided  as  it  leaves  the  press  by  a 
conical  or  cylindrical  funnel,  so  that  the  filament  collects  in 
a  refractory  tray  in  symmetrical,  circular  or  spiral  form. 
The  filament  is  heated  as  it  issues  from  the  die,  whereby  the 
volatile  solvents  in  the  binding  agent  are  driven  off  and  the 
filament  receives  sufficient  rigidity  to  fall  by  its  own  weight. 
The  coiled  filament  on  the  tray  is  now  removed  to  a  baking 
oven.  .-\  finished  zigzag  filament  is  obtained  by  hanging  the 
spiral  on  a  rod  of  steatite  or  similar  material,  which  is 
placed  in  a  vacuum  or  inert  atmosphere  while  current  is 
passed  through  the  filament.  Weights  may  be  hung  on  the 
bottom  of  the  loops  as  required. — London  Elec.  Engineer- 
ing. Sept.  12,  1912. 

Manufacture  of  Metallic  Filaments. — A  note  on  a  recent 
British  patent  (No.  18,351,  Sept.  5,  1912)  of  E.  R.  Grote. 
Instead  of  the  baking  and  sintering  processes  in  the  manu- 
facture of  paste  filaments  being  carried  out  separately,  the 
uncarbonized  filament  as  it  leaves  the  press  passes  through 
the  center  of  a  high-pressure  electric  arc  in  a  vacuum  or 
inert  or  reducing  atmosphere,  whereby  it  is  brought  to  a 
temperature  over  2000  deg.  C.  The  filaments  are  then  cut 
into  lengths,  placed  on  a  rod  or  wire  in  an  inert  atmosphere 
and  heated,  when  their  ends  fall  by  their  own  weight. 
Alternatively  the  raw  metal  is  extruded  and  sintered  through 
the  arc  in  the  form  of  thick  rods,  which  may  then  be  drawn 
out  and  annealed  to  form  a  filament.  Also,  the  metal  may 
be  rolled  as  it  leaves  the  press  before  passing  through  the 
arc. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Sept.  12,  191 2. 

Miners'  Safety  Lamps. — A  note  on  a  British  committee 
report  on  suitable  methods  of  testing  miners'  safety  lamps. 
It  is  recommended  that  safety  lamps  should  be  required  to 
pass  a  combined  test,  consisting  of  mechanical  tests,  photo- 
metric tests  and  tests  in  an  explosive  mixture.  The  mechan- 
ical tests  consist  of  dropping  lamps  from  a  height  of  6  ft. 
onto  the  floor,  and  dropping  weights  onto  the  lamp,  along 
with  heating  tests  of  lamp  glasses.  The  minimum  candle- 
power  required  of  flame  lamps  (in  contradistinction  to  elec- 
tric lamps)  should  be  0.30  cp  as  determined  by  a  pentane 
standard,  and  lamps  should  be  required  to  give  this  mini- 
mum of  ten  hours.  In  the  case  of  electric  lamps  they 
should  be  required  to  give  not  less  than  1.5  cp  at  the  end  of 
ten  hours.  The  mechanical  dropping  test  should  be  carried 
nut  with  the  battery  removed  and  a  dummy  of  the  same 
weight  substituted.  .Another  requirement  is  that  no  liquid 
should  escape  from  the  battery  when  it  is  turned  upside 
down. — London  Electrician,  Sept.  13,  1912. 

Are  Lamps. — Illustrated  French  translation  of  two  recent 
German  articles  on  the  Schaeffer  three-phase  arc  lamps  and 
on  a  new  single-phase  mercury-vapor  quartz-tube  lamp. — 
La  RcTue  Elec,  Sept.  13,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Engine  Cycle. — .•\.  Leduc. — A  paper  presented  before  the 
French  .Association  for  the  .Advancement  of  Science  on  the 
engine  cycle.  The  author  first  gives  the  equations  for  the 
efficiency  of  an  engine  using  steam  as  operating  agent  ?"'^ 


OcTUBEk  5,    igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


733 


of  another  engine  using  etlier  as  agent,  showing  the  differ- 
ence between  the  cycles  in  the  two  cases  and  discussing 
adiabatic  expansion  of  vapors  accompanied  or  not  by  partial 
condensation. — La  Revue  Elec,  Sept.  13,  1912. 

Corona  Losses. — K.  Zickler. — The  first  part  of  an  article 
in  which  the  author  summarizes  the  formulas  given  by 
former  investigators  and  the  results  of  experimental  tests 
of  the  corona  losses  from  high-tension  overhead  wires. — 
Elck.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  Sept.  15,  1912. 

Traction. 

Single-Phase  Traction. — An  illustrated  description  of  the 
overhead  work  on  the  Dessau-Bitterfeld  single-phase  rail- 
way in  Germany.  The  multiple  suspension  system  here 
used  has  an  auxiliary  wire  hung  by  means  of  movable 
clamps  at  a  suitable  distance  below  the  suspension  wire. 
With  th'is  arrangement  an  approximately  vertical,  elastic 
and  longitudinal  displacement  of  the  conductor  is  possible, 
and  such  an  arrangement  in  conjunction  with  the  auto- 
matic tightening  device  insures  both  safety  and  efficiency. 
— London  Elcc.  Rezncic,  Sept.  13,  1912. 

Budapest. — J.  Fischer  de  Tovaros. — The  first  part  of  an 
article  on  the  electrification  of  the  suburban  lines  around 
Budapest,  Hungary. — La  Lumiere,  Elec,  Sept.  7,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Large  High-Voltage  Oil  Circuit-Breakers. — J.  N.  Ma- 
HONEY. — An  illustrated  article  in  which  the  author  reaches 
the  following  conclusions :  For  successful  operation  a 
circuit-breaker-  should  have  an  operating  mechanism  giving 
quick  and  positive  action.  Tests  show  that  speeds  of  circuit- 
breaker  operation  as  low  as  0.09  second  have  been  obtained 
and  that  an  average  of  0.3  second  to  0.6  second  is  usual, 
depending  on  the  method  of  tripping  and  the  type  of  circuit- 
breaker  and  instantaneous  relay.  They  also  show  that  the 
voltage  disturbance  increases  with  the  speed  of  operation. 
Isolated  generators  present,  on  a  given  short-circuit,  a 
harder  circuit-breaking  problem  than  a  like  short-circuit 
from  busbars  which  also  carry  another  load.  The  nature  of 
this  load  is  also  a  large  factor.  While  a  long  time-element 
serves  to  limit  the  shock  to  the  circuit-breaker  when  open- 
ing circuits  with  large  power  and  low  impedance  involved, 
it  allows  of  objectionable  drop  in  voltage  and  of  extensive 
destruction  at  the  point  of  short-circuit.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  not  only  impracticable  but  undesirable  to  interrupt  a 
short-circuit  during  the  first  cycle  when  the  current  is  at  a 
maximum.  The  shock  to  the  generator  is  not  eliminated  by 
any  practical  speed  of  operating,  and  such  interruption  of 
the  magnetic  flux  results  in  serious  rise  of  voltage,  unless 
some  other  suitable  means  of  absorbing  the  accumulated 
energy  is  provided,  a  requirement  difficult  to  meet  success- 
fully in  commercial  operation.  Moreover,  under  some  con- 
ditions, oscillatory  surges  and  resultant  voltage  rises,  due  to 
the  combined  effect  of  this  accomulated  generator  energy, 
and  the  presence  of  cables  make  it  difficult  for  the  circuit- 
breaker  to  operate  satisfactorily.  Hence  the  stored  dielec- 
tric and  magnetic  energy  in  the  apparatus  and  lines  of  the 
system  that- affect  a  circuit-breaker  in  a  particular  situation 
must  be  considered  in  selecting  a  circuit-breaker  of  appro- 
priate "ultimate  capacity"  or  circuit-breaking  ability.  This 
factor  is  independent  of  the  insulation  and  current-conduct- 
ing characteristics  of  the  circuit-breaker. — Elec.  Journal. 
September,  1912. 

Electric  Heaters. — A.  note  on  a  recent  British  patent  (No. 
16,143,  Sept.  5,  1912)  of  C.  O.  Bastian.  In  order  to  cheapen 
the  construction  of  "Bastian"  heaters  a  tube  of  jena  glass 
or  other  highly  vitreous  material  is  substituted  for  the 
quartz  tube  previously  used  to  house  the  resistance  spiral. 
The  jena-glass  tubes  are  made  of  about  ^-in.  bore  and 
1/32  in.  thick,  and  the  spiral  resistor,  closely  fitting  therein, 
is  adapted  to  absorb  between  10  watts  and  13  watts  per 
inch  length.  If  the  glass  is  sand-blasted  inside  and  out  or 
otherwise  rendered  cloudy,  the  whole  tube  glows  as  if  red 
hot. — London  Elcc.  Engineering,  Sept.  12,  1912. 


Electric  Operation  of  Saving  Machines. — An  account  of 
successful  experiments  with  electric  driving  of  sewing  ma- 
chines in  the  residences  of  seamstresses.  The  central  sta- 
tion paid  the  whole  cost  of  installation  and  was  recompensed 
by  payments  on  the  instalment  plan  distributed  over  several 
years.  The  financial  returns  of  the  station  and  the  com- 
mercial and  hygienic  advantages  for  the  seamstresses  are 
pointed  out.— Elck.  Zeit.,  Sept.  12,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Cable  Conduits. — J.  Schmidt. — The  conclusion  of  his 
illustrated  paper  on  modern  cable  conduit  construction. 
After  having  discussed  conduits  of  concrete  he  passes  over 
to  iron  conduits. — Elck.  Zeit.,  Sept.  12,  1912. 

Impregnating  Poles. — B.  Malenkovic. — An  article  on  im- 
pregnating wooden  poles  with  zinc  chloride,  sodium  fluoride 
solutions,  and  with  a  "bellite."— £/£•*>.  «.  Masch.  (Vienna), 
Sept.  15,  1912. 

Electrophysics  and   Magnetism. 

Photo-Electric  Effect.— A.  L.  Hughes.— An  illustrated 
article  on  the  photo-electric  effect  of  some  compounds,  es- 
pecially in  ZnCl,  PP„  Pbl„  Hgl,  Hgl„  HgCl,  HgCl„ 
FeCl,,  Sbl,  BiClj,  the  oxides  of  Ba  and  Cu,  and  anthracene. 
Dry  ZnCl.  and  P.O^  show  no  photo-electric  effect.  There 
is  practically  no  effect  for  FeCl,,  and  only  a  very  small  one 
for  Pblj,  after  exposure  to  ultra-violet  light.  The  other 
halogen  salts  show  well-marked  effects  after  exposure  to 
ultra-violet  light.  The  initial  effect  is  either  zero  or  very 
small  for  the  halogen  salts,  but  after  exposure  increases  in 
many  cases  to  a  large  value.  {Shi,  is  an  exception  to  this 
rule.)  The  explanation  suggested  is  that  the  salts  them- 
.selves  are  not  photo-electric  with  wave-lengths  longer  than 
X  1949,  but  that  the  light  first  of  all  decomposes  the 
surface  and  then  acts  on  the  metallic  element  in  the  ordi- 
nary way.  The  more  stable  the  salt,  the  less  is  this  effect. 
The  photo-electric  effect  in  anthracene  is  produced  en- 
tirely by  wave-lengths  shorter  than  2002  (x.  The  maxi- 
nuim  emission  velocity  corresponding  to  1849  (i.  is  0.87 
volt.  ZnCl,  and  P„0,  have  no  photo-electric  effect  when 
dry,  but  after  contact  with  moist  air  they  show  a  distinct 
effect.  This  effect  cannot  be  accounted  for  by  the  photo- 
electric activity  of  water,  which,  if  it  exists,  is  much  too 
small.- — Phil.  Mag.,  September,  1912. 

Alpha  Rays  of  Poloninm.—Y.  E.  Pound.— An  account  of 
an  investigation  in  which  the  secondary  radiation  excited 
by  the  alpha  rays  of  polonium  in  carbon  was  found  to  in- 
crease in  intensity  as  the  temperature  of  the  carbon  was 
lowered  from  room  temperature  to  that  of  liquid  air.  This 
increase  in  the  secondary  radiation  from  carbon  as  its  tem- 
perature was  lowered  has  been  shown  to  be  due  to  an  in- 
crease in  the  amount  of  gas  occluded  in  the  surface  of  the 
carbon.  Since  it  has  been  shown  that  gases  occluded  in 
such  substances  as  carbon  contribute  to  the  secondary  radia- 
tion excited  at  the  surface  of  these  substances  by  alpha  rays, 
it  follows  that  the  procedure  adopted  in  this  investigation 
constitutes  a  new  method  of  studying  the  phenomena  of  oc- 
clusion. The  results  of  the  experiments  described  in  this 
paper  also  go  to  show  that  with  a  metal  like  brass  the 
amount  of  a  gas  retained  in  its  surface  when  it  is  placed  in 
a  vacuum  is  less  at  the  temperature  of  liquid  air  than  at 
ordinary  room  temperature.— P/ti/.  Mag.,  September,  1912. 
Discharge  from  an  Electrified  Point.— A.  M.  Tyndall.— 
An  account  of  an  investigation  of  the  spread  of  the  dis- 
charge from  an  electrified  point.  A  method  of  comparing 
the  specific  velocity  of  ions  under  different  physical  condi- 
tions, from  the  distribution  of  current  over  the  plate  in 
point-plate  discharge,  was  tested  for  the  ions  in  air.  The 
observed  ratio  of  velocities  of  these  ions  at  atmospheric 
pressure  agrees  with  the  accepted  value.  Owing,  however, 
to  the  breakdown  of  assumptions  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
discharge  the  method  cannot  be  applied  to  lower  pressures, 
and  for  the  same  reason  has  probably  only  a  restricted  ap- 
plication in  general.— P/«7.  Mag.,  September,  1912. 


734 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol,  6o,  No.  14. 


An  Electromagnetic  Effect. — S.  R.  Williams. — A  discus- 
sion of  some  experiments  made  in  1895  by  Bowden  on  the 
behavior  of  a  cohnnn  of  mercury  in  a  magnetic  field  when 
carrying  an  electrical  current.  The  author  explains  the 
magnetism  of  this  effect  by  assuming  that  a  liquid  conductor 
represents  a  bundle  of  conducting  filaments.  The  current 
flowing  through  these  in  a  magnetic  field  will  behave  as  it 
does  in  a  flexible  conductor  in  a  magnetic  field.  In  any 
case,  whether  we  are  dealing  with  conduction  through  gases, 
liquids  or  solids,  the  effect  obtained  is  due  to  the  reaction 
between  the  magnetic  field  produced  by  the  moving  charges 
and  the  field  in  which  the  charge  is  moving.  The  author 
uses  his  results  to  suggest  a  simple  and  accurate  method 
for  measuring  magnetic  field  strengths. — Amer.  Jour,  of 
Science,  September,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Magnetic  Sliiiiit  J'ibration  Gah'anomcter. — H.  Tinsley. 
— After  briefly  discussing  the  difiiculty  of  making  a  vibra- 
tion galvanometer  for  low  frequencies,  a  Kelvin  type  of 
vibration  galvanometer  with  magnetic  shunt  is  described. 
This  type  is  convenient  and  robust,  has  stability  of  zero  and 
is  easily  tuned.  Some  details  are  given  of  the  results  ob- 
tained. In  Figs.  I  and  2  SP  is  the  suspension  piece  carrying 
the  moving  system,  MC  the  magnetizing  coil  through  which 
the  alternating  current  flows  to  actuate  the  needle,  PM  is 


on  the  nickel-chromium  heating  wire  connecting  the  two 
terminals  in  the  cover,  the  latter  being  connected  to  the 
battery  P.  Oxygen  at  200  lb.  pressure  is  introduced  into  the 
bomb  through  the  needle-valve  p.  Thermocouples  made  of 
constantan  (an  alloy  of  copper  and  nickel)  and  iron  are 
largely  employed  commercially,  giving  an  emf  of  about  40 
micro-volts  per  degree  Centigrade.  In  this  instrument  the 
constantan  disks  and  the  bomb  act  as  a  thermocouple,  the 
iron  of  the  bomb  forming  the  hot  junction,  the  brass  sur- 
rounding vessel  the  cold  one.  The  emf  thus  generated  is 
measured  by  the  voltmeter  I'. — London  Electrician,  Sept. 
12,   1912. 

Mercury  Rectifier. — A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent 
(No.  17,286,  Aug.  8,  1912)  of  H.  S.  Hatfield.  On  account 
of  the  liability  of  glass  to  crack  by  heat,  a  quartz  or  similar 
heat-resisting  body  is  fixed  within  a  glass  tube  which  con- 
tains an  indifferent  gas.  Two  poles  of  the  circuit  may  be 
connected  to  two  masses  of  mercury,  one  being  contained  in 
a  quartz  tube  immersed  in  the  other.  In  the  make  position 
the  mercury  is  continuous.     By  suitably  causing  the  level  of 


TT 


PM 


SP 


Ci 


-W S5 JS— 


iiiwiWiiiiiiiWiiiwm^^^^^^  '^ 


Fig.    1 — Side    Elevation   of   a    Magnetic-Shunt 
Vibration   Galvanometer. 


Fig.  2— Front  Elevation 
of  Magnetic-Shunt  Vibra- 
tion  Galvanometer. 


Fig.    3 — Cross-Section    of   the    Firy 
Bomb  Calorimeter. 


the  permanent  magnet  giving  directive  force  to  the  moving 
system,  and  MS  is  a  magnetic  shunt  which  traverses  the 
two  limbs  of  the  permanent  magnet  by  turning  the  screw 
TS.  The  motion  of  this  magnetic  shunt  increases  or  de- 
creases the  amount  of  magnetism  acting  on  the  suspended 
needle  and  forms  a  very  ready  and  robust  method  of  bring- 
ing it  into  resonance  with  the  frequency  of  the  alternating 
current  being  measured.  The  pole  pieces  NS  are  slightly 
adjustable  in  order  to  further  diminish  the  controlling  force. 
By  this  means  the  scale  of  the  galvanometer  for  different 
frequencies  can  be  opened  out  and  made  to  give  as  much  as 
2  in.  for  a  difference  in  tuning  of  10  cycles  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  so  per  cent. — London  Electrician,  Sept.  13,  1912. 

Bomb  Calorimeter. — R.  S.  Whipple. — A  British  Asso- 
ciation paper  on  a  new  bomb  calorimeter  due  to  C.  Fery. 
The  bomb  of  the  usual  calorimeter  is  somewhat  heavy  and 
necessitates  a  considerable  weight  of  water,  so  that  the 
temperature  rise  is  only  about  2  deg.  C,  requiring  careful 
observation.  In  the  present  apparatus  the  bomb  is  much 
lighter  and  no  water  is  used,  the  rise  of  temperature  being 
observed  thermo-electrically.  The  bomb  A  (Fig.  3),  in 
which  combustion  takes  place,  is  a  cast-iron  vessel  weighing 
about  I  kg  (2.2  lb.)  and  having  a  holding  capacity  of  about 
250  cu.  cm.  It  is  supported  by  two  constantan  disks,  K  and 
K',  of  about  I  mm  thickness,  the  disks  being  soldered  both 
to  the  bomb  and  to  the  brass  surrounding  vessel  B.  The 
cover  of  the  bomb  is  held  in  position  by  means  of  the  collar 
(shown  in  section),  which  fits  over  the  top  of  the  bomb  in 
a  somewhat  similar  manner  to  that  in  which  a  breech  fits 
a  modern  gun.  The  coal  to  be  tested  is  placed  on  the  small 
tray  C  and  is  ignited  by  means  of  a  piece  of  cotton  resting 


the  mercury  in  one  or  both  to  sink  the  break  takes  place  at 
the  edge  of  the  quartz  tube. — London  Elec.  Ending,  Aug. 
15,  1912. 


Book  Review 

Structural  Design.  By  Prof.  Horace  R.  Thayer.  New 
York:  D.  Van  Nostrand  Company.  213  pages,  numer- 
ous illustrations.  Price,  $2. 
An  elementary  handbook  on  simple  wood  and  steel  roofs 
and  bridges  and  their  members,  intended  to  supplement 
future  books  on  the  design  of  simple  and  advanced  struc- 
tures. The  character  is  largely  descriptive,  explaining  con- 
ditions, practice  and  requirements  in  a  manner  calculated 
to  aid  the  designer  in  understanding  the  reasons  for  dif- 
ferent methods  of  procedure  and  also  the  application  and 
modification  of  the  ordinary  methods  of  designing.  It 
therefore  supplements  the  technical  data  already  easily 
available  from  many  sources  and  is  especially  valuable  for 
the  beginner  or  the  theoretical  student  without  much  prac- 
tical training.  The  principal  plant  methods  and  operations 
for  the  fabrication  of  structural  steel  are  illustrated  suffi- 
ciently to  indicate  the  manner  in  which  ordinary  structures 
are  built.  Many  of  the  principal  points  of  design  and  com- 
putation for  steel  strusses  are  explained  and  illustrated  and 
some  examples  are  worked  out.  The  preparation  of  bills  of 
material  and  members,  checking  and  inspection  are  outlined 
and  a  brief  analysis  is  made  of  the  reasons  for  some  im- 
portant bridge  failures. 


October  5,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


735 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


RADIANT  ELECTRICAL  TOASTER. 


A  radiant  toaster,  stated  to  possess  many  improvements 
in  design  and  advantages  in  operation,  has  recently  been 
placed  on  the  market  by  the  Helion  Electric  Company,  of 


Electric     Toaster. 

Newark,  N.  J.  It  is  equipped  with  four  straight  "Helion" 
resistor  units,  which  are  brought  to  an  almost  white  glow 
when  the  current  is  passed  through  them,  making  the  de- 
vice very  cheerful  in  appearance.  The  toaster  has  a  rack 
on  top  for  holding  finished  toast  and  two  hinged  doors  at 
the  sides  to  keep  the  toast  in  close  proximity  to  the  heating 
units.  It  is  equipped  with  a  cast-metal  base  and  6-ft.  silk 
cord  with  plug,  and  the  legs,  made  of  insulating  material, 
are  sufficiently  long  to  prevent  the  heat  from  scorching  the 
table.  It  is  claimed  that  the  "Helion"  resistor  material 
will  withstand  a  temperature  of  3100  deg.  Fahr.  without 
any  change  in  its  physical,  chemical  or  electrical  charac- 
teristics and  that  it  cannot  be  injured  by  dirt,  wind  or 
water. 


ELECTRIC  VULCANIZER. 


Any  article  or  piece  of  apparatus  which  can  be  used  for 
lessening  the  repair  bill  of  automobiles  is  of  considerable 


^^L'    f^tk  "^''^^^       T^\i^B 

1 

i 

^3 

'\  ^^m                      ^^ 

|rtwK    \^JI 

K      ^ 

V^H'^Sj 

^S& 

Electric    Vulcanizer   Outfit. 

advantage  to  both  manufacturers  and  prospective  buyers 
of  motor  vehicles.  Such  a  device  is  an  electric  vulcanizer 
which  has  recently  been  placed  on  the  market  by  the  West- 
inghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  East  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.  The  vulcanizer  may  be  used  for  repairing  both 
the  cover  or  shoe  and  the  inner  tube  of  the  tire  and  is  for 
that  purpose  provided  with  one  concave  surface  and  one 


flat  surface.  The  concave  surface  is  attached  to  the  shoe 
while  on  the  wheel,  the  process  being  completed  even  with- 
out detaching  the  tire.  In  repairing  the  inner  tube  the 
patch  is  placed  on  the  tire  and  then  clamped  to  the  flat 
surface  of  the  vulcanizer.  The  heating  element  consists 
of  a  metal  ribbon  embedded  in  mica  and  hermetically 
sealed  in  the  vulcanizer  casing.  This  construction  keeps 
the  heater  free  from  contact  with  the  air,  thus  preventing 
oxidation.  The  vulcanizer  should  be  brought  up  to  a  tem- 
perature of  275  deg.  before  applying  and  this  temperature 
must  be  maintained  throughout  the  process.  The  tem- 
perature is  controlled  by  a  fifteen-step  rheostat  attached 
to  a  clamping  board,  and  the  operator  can  observe  the 
temperature  on  a  thermometer  also  attached  to  the  same 
board.  Connection  can  be  made  to  any  direct-current  or 
alternating-current  circuit  of  from  100  volts  to  125  volts. 
The  complete  outfit  is  compact  and  can  be  placed  anywhere 
in  a  garage. 


ELECTRIC   RUNABOUT. 


The  Waverley  Company,  of  Indianapolis,  has  originated 
a  new  design  of  electric  runabout  known  as  the  sheltered 
roadster,  designed  after  the  fashion  of  the  gas-car  roadster, 
but  with  several  improvements  in  body  design. 

The  manufacturer  states  that  the  chief  feature  of  origi- 
nality in  this  roadster  is  the  combined  landau  and  open- 
roadster   top   effect.     With   this   particular   top   it   is   only 


Electric    Runabout. 

the  work  of  a  moment  to  convert  from  one  to  the  other, 
adapting  the  car  for  every  season. 

This  roadster  accommodates  three  persons,  for  an  extra 
folding  seat  is  comfortably  arranged  on  the  right  hand  in 
front.  The  body  is  long,  deep  and  wide  and  the  back  of  the 
seat  is  unusually  high.  Full  elliptic  springs  are  provided  in 
order  to  make  the  car  easy  riding.  The  manufacturer 
claims  that  it  has  a  speed  of  more  than  25  miles  an  hour 
and  a  greater  mileage  than  any  other  electric  closed  car 
known. 


ELECTRICAL   VEHICLES  FOR  YEAST   DELIVERY. 


Competitive  tests  to  determine  whether  the  gasoline  or 
the  electric  vehicle  is  better  suited  for  the  delivery  of  its 
product  are  being  made  by  the  Fleischmann  Yeast  Company, 
of  New  York,  in  the  various  localities  which  it  serves.  All 
of  its  horse  delivery  wagons  have  been  supplanted  by  either 


736 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


electric  or  gasoline  cars.  These  tests  have  been  going  on 
for  about  six  months  and  will  be  continued  for  at  least  six 
months  more,  the  company  feeling  that  a  year  is  the  shortest 
time  in  which  the  respective  merits  of  the  different  types  of 
commercial  vehicle  can  be  demonstrated.  It  now  has  the 
twenty  6oo-lb.  VVaverley  electric  delivery  wagons  shown  in 
the  accompanying  illustration  in  service  in  New  York  and 


EXHIBITS  AT  THE    BOSTON    ELECTRICAL   SHOW 


Electric    Delivery    Wagon. 

has  placed  an  order  for  ten  more  Waverley  electrics  of  the 
same  capacity,  which  will  be  placed  in  operation  in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  by  the  first  of  next  year.  0.ne  750-lb.  Walker 
and  one  5-ton  General  Vehicle  are  also  being'tested  by  the 
company. 


A  1913  MODEL  ELECTRIC  BROUGHAM. 


Dignity  and  attractiveness  characterize  the  "1913  model" 
of  electric  brougham  made  by  the  Woods  Motor  Vehicle 
Company,  of  Chicago,  and  illustrated  herewith.  The  car 
is  characterized  by  greater  roominess  and  width  of  seat 
than  former  models.  The  car  seats  four  persons.  It  has 
a  wheelbase  of  92  in.,  being  provided  with  forty  cells  of 
ii-plate  battery  of  a  new  style  which  is  said  not  to  require 
washing.  The  motor  is  designed  especially  for  hill  climb- 
ing, and  there  is  a  powerful  motor  brake,  operated  by  the 
controller  handle,  as  well  as  large  internal-expanding  rear- 


Electric    Brougham. 

hub  brakes  operated  by  a  foot  lever.  Five  running  speeds, 
ranging  from  4  miles  to  20  miles  an  hour,  are  provided. 
Thirty-two-mch  tires  are  used  in  front  and  34-in.  for  the 
rear  wheels.  The  chassis  has  a  drop  frame  and  is  inter- 
cl'.angeable  with  victoria  or  roadster  body.  A  view  of  one 
of  the  new  model  broughams  built  by  the  Woods  Motor 
Vehicle  Company  is  reproduced  herewith. 


A  news  account  is  published  elsewhere  in  this  issue  of 
the  opening  of  the  electrical  show  which  is  being  held  in 
the  Mechanics'  Building,  Boston,  Mass.  We  append  here- 
with brief  notes  on  some  of  the  most  interesting  exhibits. 

Adams  Gas  Light  Company,  Adams,  Mass.,  is  keeping 
open  house  for  the  Massachusetts  Lighting  Companies  at 
the  show. 

Alberger  Pump  &  Condenser  Company,  New  York,  is 
showing  centrifugal  pumps  under  test  with  Venturi  meter 
measurements,  motor-driven  turbine  pumps  and  photo- 
graphs. 

Albert  &  J.  M.  Anderson  Manufacturing  Company, 
Boston,  is  showing  a  2o,ooo-amp  circuit-breaker  for  250- 
volt  service,  a  motor-driven  end-cell  switch,  time  switches 
and  trolley-line  material. 

Dr.  F.  S.  Alden,  Boston,  is  exhibiting  "Cryptofil"  chains, 
concealing  lead  wires  for  electric  lighting  in  the  links. 

The  American  Brass  Company,  Waterbury,  Conn.,  is 
showing  a  new  line  of  die-pressed  metals,  for  supplying 
metal  pieces  of  highest  quality  for  service  where  the  defects 
of  cast  stock  would  be  intolerable,  extruded  products,  also 
samples  of  transmission  cable  used  in  recent  important  work 
on  the  Mississippi  River  at  Keokuk,  Panama  Canal  con- 
ductor rail  for  lock  service,  special  intricate  sections  pro- 
duced by  the  extension  process,  insulated  wire  and  cable. 
"Benedict  nickel  white  metal"  is  also  shown. 

American  Electric  Tool  Company,  West  Newton, 
Mass.,  is  showing  "Carver"  portable  electric  tools,  including 
drills  and  grinders. 

American  Sign  Company  of  New  England,  Portland, 

Me.,  is  showing  fixed  and  flashing  signs  and  flashers.     The 

company  uses  one  25-watt  lamp  per  square  foot  of  sign  area. 

American  Sugar  Refining  Company,  Boston,  is  showing 

a  motor-operated  model  pneumatic  scaling  machine. 

American  Technical  Society,  Boston,  is  showing  cyclo- 
pedias of  electrical  and  mechanical  engineering,  architecture 
and  law. 

American  Woodworking  Machinery  Company,  Boston, 
is  showing  a  line  of  motor-driven  tools  for  the  pattern  shop 
and  wood  mill. 

Anderson  Electric  Car  Company,  Detroit,  Mich.,  ex- 
hibits a  new  five-passenger  car,  all  seats  forward,  speed 
25  m.p.h. ;  a  two-passenger  gentleman's  roadster,  a  looo-lb. 
truck  capable  of  a  speed  of  15  m.p.h.,  and  a  four-seated 
brougham. 

Apple  Products  Company,  Suffern,  N.  Y.,  is  operating  a 
cider  mill  of  50  gal.  per  hour  capacity  by  a  i-hp  motor. 

.•\sHT0N  Valve  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  electric- 
lighted  steam  gages. 

.\tlantic  Vehicle  Company,  New  York,  shows  a  5-ton 
cha.iisis  with  40-in.  rear  wheels,  irreversible  steering  gear 
and  improved  thin  spring  suspension. 

Automatic  Refrigerating  Company,  Hartford,  Conn., 
is  showing  a  ^-hp  refrigerating  plant  for  domestic  service, 
its  capacity  being  250  lb.  in  24  hours.  The  temperature 
regulation  is  within  2  deg.  Fahr.  A  larger  outfit  for  butcher 
service  is  also  in  the  company's  booth. 

Automatic  Transportation  Company,  Buffalo.  N.  Y.,  is 
showing  a  2000-lb.  storage-battery  industrial  truck,  with 
buffer  to  open  swinging  doors,  and  a  coal  truck  with  detach- 
able hopper. 

Automobile  Journal  Publishing  Company.  Pawtucket, 
R.  I.,  is  distributing  the  Motor  Truck. 

S.  R.  Bailey  &  Company,  Boston,  shows  three  roadsters 
with  the  usual  Edison  battery  equipment,  including  a  patrol 
car  with  ladder  and  lamp  fitting  box  for  twenty-four-hour 
central-station  service. 


October  5,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


737 


Walter  Baker  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  electrically 
heated  chocolate  urns,  a  miniature  mill  and  a  full-sized 
wrapping  machine. 

Baker  Motor  Vehicle  Company,  A.  F.  Neale,  Boston, 
shows  a  model  brougham,  seating  five  passengers  facing 
forward  and  equipped  with  a  G.  E.  1913  design  vehicle 
motor  of  increased  capacity,  wheel  steering  and  control,  arm 
rests,  silk  curtains  and  improved  grease  cups. 

Baker  Motor  Vehicle  Company,  F.  N.  Phelps,  Boston, 
commercial  exhibit,  shows  eight  trucks  and  wagons  of 
500-lb.  to  4000-lb.  rating,  including  a  new  combination  police 
patrol  and  electric  ambulance  for  the  town  of  Swampscott, 
Mass.,  with  plate-glass  furnishings  and  speaking-tube  serv- 
ice, capacity  two  patients.  A  chassis  showing  the  motor 
drive  in  operation  is  in  service  at  the  booths. 

Berger 'Manufacturing  Company,  Canton,  Ohio,  is  dis- 
playing three  sizes  of  motor-driven  "Tuec"  vacuum  cleaners 
for  domestic  and  factory  service. 

Blake  &  Knowles  Steam  Pump  Works.  Boston,  exhibits 
a  Dean  electrically  operated  sand  riddle,  triplex  pump,  open 
feed-water  heater,  single  pump  with  positive  starting  feature 
and  a  garage  pump. 

Boston  Ice  Cream  Company,  Boston,  is  operating  a  com- 
plete motor-driven  ice-cream  plant  with  direct-current 
motors. 

Boston  Insulated  Wire  &  Cable  Company,  Boston,  is 
exhibiting  samples  of  its  regular  products,  and  is  showing 
two  motor-driven  braiding  machines. 

Boston  Last  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  the  applica- 
tion of  electric  heat  to  every  heating  process  in  the  shoe- 
making  industry. 

Boston  Lightning  Rod  Company,  Boston,  exhibits  its 
regular  products  with  miniature  test  installations. 

Brown-Howland  Company,  Boston,  is  exhibiting  loose- 
leaf  and  office  economy  devices,  including  a  mailometer 
driven  by  a  vertical  motor,  and  a  new  envelope  sealing 
machine  belt-driven  by  a  i/20-hp  motor,  the  capacity  being 
300  per  mfnute. 

Buffalo  Electric  Vehicle  Company,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  is 
showing  two  model  "30"  five-seated  limousines,  one  equip- 
ment having  wire  wheels,  and  a  model  "29"  roadster.  Long 
wheelbase,  wheel  steering  and  steel  motors  are  used. 

Bureau  of  Standards,  Washington,  D.  C,  is  showing 
testing  instruments,  copies  of  electrical  standards,  publica- 
tions and  photographs  of  the  Washington  laboratory,  with 
samples  of  rails  from  recent  wrecks. 

A.  S.  Campbell,  Boston,  is  showing  electric  marine  fit- 
tings, binnacle  and  search-lamps,  cabin  fixtures  and  battery 
boxes. 

Campbell  Electric  Company,  Lynn,  Mass.,  is  showing 
a  full  line  of  electro-medical  apparatus,  time  switches, 
flashers  and  low-voltage  transformers. 

William  Carter  Company,  Needham,  Mass.,  is  demon- 
strating the  use  of  knitting  machines  of  the  motor-driven 
type  and  also  crocheting  machines  for  underwear  manu- 
facture. 

Central  Stations. — Maine  Electric  Association,  Lynn 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Massachusetts  Lighting  Com- 
panies, Worcester  Electric  Light  Company,  Tenney  Com- 
panies, United  Electric  Light  Company  of  Springfield, 
Mass. ;  Cambridge  Electric  Light  Company,  Lowell  Electric 
Light  Corporation,  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company 
of  Brockton,  Mass. ;  Turners  Falls  Power  Company,  C.  D. 
Parker  &  Company,  Boston,  and  the  Narragansett  Electric 
Lighting  Company,  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  are  maintaining 
visitors'  headquarters  at  the  shdw,  displaying  photographs 
of  plants  and  the  last  named  a  model  electrically  driven 
factory. 

The  Central  Station,  New  York,  is  keeping  open  house 
and  exhibiting  the  "Standard  Wiring  Handbook." 


Century  Electric  Car  Company,  Detroit,  Mich.,  has 
established  headquarters  at  the  show. 

Chase  &  Sanborn,  Boston,  are  showing  an  electric  coffee 
weigher  operating  to  i/ioo  oz.,  a  motor-driven  labeling 
machine  and  a  heading  machine. 

Clark  &  Mills  Electric  Company,  Boston,  is  demon- 
strating "Vacuna"  vacuum  cleaners. 

Wm.  H.  Colgan,  West  Newton,  Mass.,  is  exhibiting 
"Rex"  junction  box  covers,  stage  receptacles  and  special 
fixtures. 

W.  H.  CoLGAN  Company,  West  Newton,  Mass.,  is  show- 
ing a  one-way  charging  plug  and  "Rex"  junction  boxes. 

Columbus  Buggy  Company,  Columbus,  Ohio,  is  showing 
four  coupes  and  roadsters  embodying  increased  battery 
equipment,  larger  motors,  a  full  floating  type  of  rear  axle 
and  two  internal  expanding  brakes  on  the  rear  hub  operated 
by  foot-levers.  One  of  the  latter  equalizes  with  tlie  con- 
tracting brake  on  the  drive  shaft  instead  of  being  operated 
by  the  controller.     A  double  torsion  bar  is  used  and  another 


Fig.   1 — General   View   of   Grand    Hall. 

improvement    is   the   use   of   a    35-in.    three-quarter    elliptic 
spring  suspension. 

A.  L.  Colwell,  Boston,  is  showing  electric  massage  and 
hair-drying  outfits. 

Condit  Electrical  Manufacturing  Company,  Boston, 
is  showing  a  full  exhibit  of  circuit-breaking  and  remote- 
control  devices,  including  a  new  line  of  remote-control 
electrically  operated  switches.  Chase-Shawmut  fuses  and 
time-limit  relays. 

S.  B.  Condit,  Jr.,  Boston,  is  exhibiting  a  variety  of  in- 
terior wiring  material,  flexible  conduit,  "Alphaduct"  and 
Thomas  &  Betts  fittings. 

Crandall  Packing  Company,  Boston,  features  packing 
and  boiler  compounds. 

Crocker-Wheeler  Company,  Ampere,  N.  J.,  is  exhibit- 
ing motors,  generators,  armature  coils,  punchings  and 
"Remek"  transformers.  A  new  line  of  electric  fans  of  fixed 
and  oscillating  type,  including  a  new  9-in.  fan,  is  shown. 

Dalton  Adding  Machine  Company,  Poplar  Bluff,  Mo., 
is  displaying  several  sizes  of  motor  and  hand-operated 
comptometers. 

C.  J.  Darling,  Oak  Bluffs,  Mass.,  is  showing  motor- 
driven  pop-corn  and  candy  machinery. 

Dennen  &  Hall,  Boston,  have  an  exhibit  of  "Easy" 
motor-driven  washers. 

Draeger  Oxygen  Apparatus  Company,  Pittsburgh,  Pa., 
is  showing  the  "pulmotor,"  with  daily  demonstration. 

John  Dugdill  &  Company,  Failsworth,  Manchester,  Eng- 


738 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


land,  are  displaying  a  full  line  of  patent  focusing  movable 
electric  fixtures  with  universal  adjustments. 

DuNTLEY  Products  Company^  Erie,  Pa.,  is  showing 
four  sizes  of  motor-driven  vacuum  cleaners. 

Economical  Electric  Lamp  Company,  New  York,  is 
showing  "Hylo"  and  "Mazda"  lamps. 

Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Boston  is 
displaying  a  12-ft.  by  SO-ft.  map  of  the  company's  transmis- 
sion lines  and  the  principal  centers  of  distribution  in  its 
6oo-sq.  mile  territory.  A  branch  appliance  exchange  is  also 
in  service,  and  the  company  is  maintaining  a  branch  sales 
organization  and  service  bureau  at  the  show.  The  labora- 
tory department  has  an  elaborate  exhibit  of  testing  instru- 
ments with  photographs  illustrating  the  principal  service 
tests  regularly  conducted  on  the  system.  A  large  display 
of  energy-consuming  devices  and  machinery  for  home  and 
farm  service  is  also  shown. 

Edison  Storage  Battery  Company,  Orange,  N.  J.,  is 
showing  materials  and  methods  used  in  the  construction  of 
its  plates  and  application  of  electrolyte,  a  new  alternating- 
current  rectifier,  a  voltage  regulator  and  a  house-lighting 
outfit 

Thomas  A.  Edison,  Orange,  N.  J.,  is  exhibiting  primary 
batteries,  alternating-current  rectifiers,  new  Edison  phono- 
graphs and  kinetoscopes  for  home  use. 

Electrical  Merchandise  and  Electrical  Progress,  the  Rae 
Company,  New  York,  are  maintaining  headquarters  at  the 
show. 

Electrical  Review  and  Western  Electrician,  Chicago,  is 
maintaining  business  quarters  at  the  show  and  distributing 
current  copies. 

Electric  Speedometer  Company,  Boston,  exhibits  an 
aeroplane  tachometer  with  gage  attached  to  wrist  strap,  and 
also  speed  indicators  of  the  magneto  type  for  electric  car 
service. 

Electric  Vehicle  Club  of  Boston  is  co-operating  in 
maintaining  a  model  commercial  garage  in  the  basement  of 
the  Mechanics'  Building. 

Electrical  Testing  Laboratories,  New  York,  exhibit 
photometric,  thermometric,  vacuum,  coal  and  paper  testing 
equipment,  characteristics  of  the  arc  lamp,  and  a  2700-cp, 
3000-watt  incandescent  lamp,  understood  to  be  the  largest 
ever  built.  Photographs  of  the  work  of  the  organization 
are  also  shown. 

Electrical  World,  New  York,  is  exhibiting  periodicals  and 
books  from  the  presses  of  the  McGraw  Publishing  Company, 
bound  volumes  of  the  Electrical  World  for  the  past  fifteen 
years,  photographs  of  the  home  offices  and  a  map  showing 
the  distribution  of  circulation  in  the  United  States. 

Electric  Blower  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  fans  for 
forge  and  ventilation  service. 

Electric  Development  Association,  Boston,  is  conduct- 
ing a  co-operative  popular  campaign  for  the  larger  utiliza- 
tion of  electricity  in  domestic  and  industrial  service. 

Electric  Show  News,  a  daily  published  at  the  Mechanics' 
Building,  has  a  complete  printing-plant  exhibit  with  electric 
driving. 

Electric  Storage  Battery  Company,  Philadelphia,  is 
displaying  photographs  and  maps  showing  notable  installa- 
tions, district  office  and  service  organization,  plates  and  cells 
of  various  types  and  an  "H-77  Exide"  cell  of  the  type  used 
by  the  Boston  Edison  Company,  besides  battery  maintenance 
equipment. 

Geo.  H.  Ellis  Company,  Boston,  is  operating  a  complete 
job-printing  plant  by  electric  power,  each  machine  having 
individual  motor  drive. 

Ensign  Manufacturing  Company,  Boston,  is  showing 
motor-driven  calculating  machines  of  various  sizes. 

L.  Erickson  Electric  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  fix- 


tures for  display  case  work,  ceiling  service  and  reflector 
equipment. 

Fancleve  Specialty  Company,  Jamaica  Plain,  Mass.,  is 
exhibiting  interior  wiring  fittings,  including  a  new  design 
of  elbows  for  attachment  to  molding. 

Federal  Sign  System,  Chicago,  is  displaying  sockets, 
heating  appliances,  coffee  grinders,  signs,  vacuum  cleaners, 
chandeliers  and  reflectors. 

Flanders  Manufacturing  Company,  Pontiac,  Mich.,  is 
showing  a  colonial  passenger  car  of  the  company's  standard 
design,  a  four-passenger  car  and  a  duplicate  of  the  car  en- 
tered by  the  company  in  the  late  Glidden  tour. 

Flexlume  Electric  Sign  Company,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  is 
showing  an  "Oplex"  glass  sign  of  new  design  and  flashers. 

General  Acoustic  Company,  Jamaica,  N.  Y.,  is  showing 
dictographs  and  a  new  acousticon  with  six  rheostatic  adjust- 
ments in  the  transmitter  circuit  for  sound  regulation. 

General  Baking  Company,  Boston,  is  exhibiting  an 
electrically  driven  bakery,  including  a  l-lb.  bread  mixer, 
weigher,  automatic  proofer,  molding  and  conveying 
machinery. 

General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  has  a 
striking  display  of  motor-driven  machine  tools  designed, 
built  and  operated  by  students  in  the  factory,  apprentice 
course,  safety  features  applying  to  tool  service,  and  a  bank 
of  motors  equipped  with  friction  brakes,  controllers  and 
testing  instruments.  For  the  first  time  at  any  exhibition 
the  manufacture  of  miniature  carbon  incandescent  lamps  is 
being  conducted  in  every  detail  before  the  eyes  of  visitors, 
nine  young  women  being  employed  in  this  work.  An  exhibit 
is  also  shown  of  cloth  pinions  driven  by  electricity. 

General  Motors  Truck  Company,  Detroit,  is  showing  a 
1-ton  test  car  chassis,  a  hotel  bus  of  fifteen-passenger 
capacity,  speed  14  m.p.h.,  and  a  3-ton  truck,  speed  9  m.p.h. 
The  batteries  are  carried  on  the  chassis  and  a  flexible  steel 
drive  shaft  is  used. 

General  Vehicle  Company,  Boston,  shows  a  5-ton 
brewery  truck,  a  2-ton  truck,  a  2-ton  chassis,  a  750-lb.  wagon 
chassis;  two  i-ton  industrial  trucks  of  recent  design  and  a 
i-ton  traveling  electric  hoist  with  Sprague  elevating  motor. 
The  improved  chain  housing  of  the  trucks  is  emphasized. 

Globe  Earphone  Company.  Boston,  is  showing  its  regu- 
lar products  in  aid  of  the  deaf. 

Goulds  Manufacturing  Company,  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y., 
is  showing  a  variety  of  pumps,  both  steam  and  electrically 
driven,  for  pneumatic,  vacuum,  oil  and  water  service. 

Gould  Storage  Battery  Company,  Boston,  is  showing 
cells  for  mining  locomotive  and  train  lighting  service,  a 
cell  for  submarine  boat  operation  and  an  automatic  train- 
lighting  and  ignition  set. 

Gray  &  Fiske,  Boston,  are  showing  the  "flandy  lamp," 
a  portable  incandescent  service  fixture. 

Joseph  E.  Greene  Company,  Boston,  is  displaying  wiring 
fittings,    fans,   motors   and   Wirt   "delite"   insulating  joints. 

F.  S.  Hardy  &  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  a  line  of 
supplies,  including  "Vulcan"  heaters,  "Ericsson"  telephones, 
"Monarch"  vacuum  cleaners,  lamps  and  condulets. 

Haskins  Glass  Company,  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  is  exhibit- 
ing a  full  line  of  Tiffany  iris  glass,  ornamental  shades. 
"Lucida"  glass  and  diffusion  reflectors. 

Hawley  School  of  Engineering,  Boston,  has  a  complete 
exhibit  of  apparatus  used  in  its  electrical  courses,  including 
phase-relation  demonstrators,  generators,  motors,  trans- 
formers and  auxiliary  equipment. 

Hill,  Clarke  &  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  electrically 
driven   machine  tools,   including   saws,   drills   and   lathes. 

Holophane  Company  (Nelite  Works  of  General  Electric 
Company),  Cleveland,  Ohio,  is  showing  iris  glass,  prismatic 
steel,  reflectors,  "Pyro"  cut-glass  ware  and  etched  globes. 


October  5,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


739 


Holtzer-Cadot  Electric  Company,  Brookline,  Mass.,  is 
showing  an  automobile  lighting  dynamo  and  motor-driven 
separator,  polisher,  drills  and  telephone  exchange  motors 
and  generators. 

H.  W.  Johns-Manville  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  a 
full  line  of  ';J-M"  fiber  conduit  for  carrying  heavy  cables, 
line  material,  a  new  asbestos  wood  switchboard  designed  not 
to  flake  or  crack,  and  a  No.  2  Audiffren-Singrun  refriger- 
ating machine  of  novel  design. 

Kinetic  Engineering  Company,  Philadelphia,  is  showing 
a  ^-hp  motor-driven  organ  blower  with  ball  bearings, 
capacity  800  cu.  ft.  per  minute  at  3-in.  air  pressure,  machines 
of  this  type  being  built  for  both  alternating-current  and 
direct-current  service. 

Kinney  Manufacturing  Company,  Boston,  is  showing 
a  new  ^-hp  rotary  compressor  with  motor  drive  for  air- 
brush work  in  dentistry,  a  2-hp  tire-charging  and  gas-engine 
starting  outfit  built  for  garages,  operating  at  200  lb.  per 
square  inch,  and  a  portable  garage  air-compressor  outfit 
driven  by  a  2-hp  motor.  A  positive  rotary  pump  is  the  note- 
worthy feature. 

C.  S.  Knowles,  Boston,  is  showing  flexible  conduits,  strain 
insulators,  "Boston  F  &  S"  switches,  Goodall  unions  and 
insulators. 

Lansden  Electric  Vehicle  Company,  Newark,  N.  J., 
shows  a  looo-lb.  delivery  wagon  and  two  trucks  of  i-ton 
and  2-ton  capacity,  equipped  with  Edison  batteries.  The 
2-ton  truck  made  a  trip  unloaded  from  Newark  to  Boston, 
295  miles,  in  thirty-four  hours'  actual  running  time,  the 
average  speed  on  the  road  being  8.6  miles  per  hour.  The 
trip  consumed  189  kw-hr.  of  energy,  making  the  energy 
cost  about  3  cents  per  mile  on  the  4-cent  per  kw-hr.  rate. 

Lewandos^  Boston,  is  operating  a  complete  commercial 
laundry  and  cleansing  plant  by  motor-drive. 

F.  T,  Ley  &  Company,  Springfield,  Mass.,  are  showing  a 
concrete  balustrade  and  pylons,  and  photographs  of  hy- 
draulic and  railway  construction  work. 

E.  S.  Lincoln,  Inc.,  Brookline,  Mass.,  is  showing  high- 
tension  testing  facilities,  including  a  200,000-volt,  loo-kva 
transformer  and  switchboard  equipment  for  advanced  in- 
sulation experiments  and  trials. 

LuNDiN  Electric  Machine  Company,  Boston,  display 
new  single-lamp  and  double-lamp  standards  equipped  with 
G,  E.  luminous  inverted  arcs  for  ornamental  street  service, 
the  arc  being  carried  14.5  ft.  above  the  ground,  with  fuses 
and  switch  in  the  base  of  the  fluted  column. 

Donald  MacDonald,  Boston,  has  an  exhibit  of  leaded 
glass,  semi-indirect  lighting  fixtures  and  shades. 

Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  Boston,  is 
showing  diagrams  of  its  courses,  statistics  of  graduates  and 
student  activity,  charts  and  photographs.  A  meter-testing 
exhibit  is  also  being  maintained. 

McKenney  &  Waterbury  Company,  Boston,  is  exhibiting 
"Equalite"  lighting  fixtures  for  semi-indirect  service. 

Metropolitan  Engineering  Company,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
is  showing  a  working  model  of  its  alternating-current  net- 
work protector  and  a  line  of  protective  apparatus,  including 
high-tension  switches,  fuses  and  connection  blocks. 

Minerallac  Company,  Chicago,  are  showing  cable  and 
conduit  hangers,  contact-making  motors,  the  "maxicator," 
compounds  and  insulating  material  and  tape. 

Moneyweight  Scale  Company,  Boston,  has  an  exhibit 
of  a  motor-driven  meat  shaver. 

John  J.  Myer,  Boston,  is  displaying  a  full  line  of  iron- 
clad switches  and  motor  starters,  arc-less  fuses  and  interior 
conduit  material. 

Murphy  Iron  Works,  Detroit,  Mich.,  show  photographs 
of  stokers  and  smokeless  furnaces. 

National  Acme  Manufacturing  Company,  Boston,  is 
showing  a  multiple  spindle  screw  machine  and  sundries. 


National  Electric  Lamp  Association,  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
is  showing  samples  of  tungsten  lamps  of  a  wide  range  of 
sizes  and  is  contrasting  them  with  carbon  filaments,  a  wheel 
showing  that  the  tungsten  lamp  can  be  operated  in  any 
position. 

New  England  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company, 
Boston,  has  an  elaborate  display  showing  the  detailed  front 
and  rear  operation  of  a  four-position  common-battery 
switchboard  which  is  telephone  headquarters  for  the  show, 
cables  of  from  i-pair  to  600-pair  capacity,  a  full-sized 
elevated  manhole  with  daily  cable-splicing  demonstration, 
early  forms  of  telephone  apparatus,  model  showing  method 
of  handling  a  single  call,  counter  showing  addition  of  a 
new  subscriber  to  the  Bell  system  every  forty-two  seconds, 
and  a  map  showing  by  illuminated  figures  on  a  moving  roll 
the  telephone  toll  charges  between  Boston  and  New  England 
cities  indicated  by  changing  miniature  lamps. 

New  Hampshire  Section,  National  Electric  Light 
Association,  is  maintaining  quarters  at  the  show  where 
visitors  are  welcomed,  and  is  distributing  a  booklet  on  the 
Rockingham  plant  at  Portsmouth, 

New"Home  Sewing  Machine  Company,  Orange,  Mass,, 
is  showing  its  equipment  operated  by  motors, 

Ohio    Electric   Car    Company,   Toledo,    shows   a    five- 


Fig,  2— Entrance  of   Electric  Vehicle   Exhibit,   Exhibition    Hall, 

passenger  model  "X"  de  luxe  car,  speed  24  m.p.h,,  with 
patented  magnetic  control  and  straight-shaft  drive. 

Old  Colony  Trust  Company,  Boston,  is  maintaining  a 
"change-making"  bank  branch  at  the  show,  money  being 
transferred  by  an  electric  automobile. 

Otis  Elevator  Company,  Boston,  is  operating  a  40-ft, 
model  of  an  alternating-current  automatic  push-button 
elevator  and  is  showing  factory  and  escalator  photographs. 

H,  T,  Paiste  Company,  Philadelphia,  is  showing  a  new 
line  of  pipe  taplets  from  J^  in.  to  4  in.  in  diameter,  only 
three  covers  being  required  for  six  sizes,  and  a  new  fusible 
plug  with  permanent  holder  and  detachable  fusette  saving 
2  cents  per  fuse  blown  after  two  replacements  of  the  fusette. 

George  Lincoln  Parker,  Boston,  is  exhibiting  an  elec- 
trically operated  piano  player  with  hand  and  foot  attach- 
ments. 

J.  H.  Parker,  Boston,  is  showing  insulators,  molded  in- 
sulation parts  and  fittings,  including  battery  boxes. 

Pettingell-Andrews  Company,  Boston,  is  occupying  a 
suite  of  seven  beautifully  furnished  rooms  in  Grand  Hall, 
where  the  company  is  showing  domestic  motor-driven 
apparatus,  "Ever-Ready"  supplies  and  selected  lighting 
shades  and  fixtures  from  the  company's  studios. 

Philadelphia  Storage  Battery  Company,  Philadelphia, 


740 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D . 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


is  showing  plates  and  battery  parts  witli  progressive  steps 
of  the  past  six  years  leading  to  a  45  per  cent  increase  in 
capacity  and  a  decrease  in  weight  in  a  fixed  size  of  jar. 
These  improvements  have  increased  the  radius  of  a  5-ton 
truck  from  I2j4  to  20  miles. 

Otto  J.  Piebler,  Boston,  is  displaying  a  fur-cleaning 
machine  driven  by  a  j4-hp  motor,  the  machine  containing 
about  forty  straps  ^4  in.  in  diameter  and  18  in.  long  and 
operating  at  about  350  r.p.m. 

Herbert  S.  Potter,  Boston,  is  showing  rectifiers,  yacht- 
lighting  batteries.  Edison  battery  controllers,  flashers, 
"E.  C.  K."  dynamos  and  motors  and  automobile  lamps,  in- 
cluding a  step  lamp  for  use  in  the  under  side  of  the  door. 

Samuel  L.  Prentiss,  Boston,  is  exhibiting  a  line  of  "In- 
vincible" vacuum  cleaners  specially  designed  for  decreased 
weight,  and  a  line  of  Copeman  electric  ranges  with  detach- 
able heating  units  and  automatic  switching  arrangements 
utilizing  the  fireless  cooker  principle. 

Printogr.\ph  Sales  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  a  new 
letter-copving  machine  which  prints  a  different  address 
uniform  in  type  and  ink  at  the  head  of  the  body  of  each 
copy.  The  output  is  2000  letters  per  hour,  compared  with 
1000  "fi'l-ins"  per  day  by  a  typist.  The  machine  is  directly 
driven  by  a  i/6-hp  motor. 

Pyreke  Company  of  New  England,  Boston,  is  demon- 
strating the  non-conductivity  and  arc-extinguishing  char- 
acteristics of  pyrene. 

Ramsey- Vance  Sales  Company,  Madison,  Wis.,  exhibits 
an  electric  silver-cleaning  pan  of  the  electrolytic  type. 

Rauch  &  Lang,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  D.  C.  Tiffany,  Boston, 
show  a  four-passenger  landaulet  and  a  brougham  with  two 
extra  head-lamps,  full-skirted  fenders  carried  flush  with 
the  car  body  and  a  new  glass  rain  visor  protecting  the  wind 
shield  in  stormy  weather. 

Frank  Ridlon  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  a  full  line 
of  electric-railway  supplies  and  emphasizing  its  maintenance 
facilities. 

RiVETT  Lathe  &  Grinder  Company,  Brighton,  Mass.,  is 
showing  a  line  of  grinders,  bench  and  percussion  lathes. 

RoBB  Engineering  Works,  South  Framingham,  Mass., 
are  exhibiting  boiler  parts. 

Robins  Conveying  Belt  Company,  New  York,  is  ex- 
hibiting a  motor-driven  model  of  sand  and  gravel  conveying 
machinery,  with  photographs  of  typical  installations. 

Rounds  Electric  Company,  Boston,  is  displaying  elec- 
trically lighted  artificial  flowers. 

Simplex  Electric  Heating  Company,  Cambridge,  Mass., 
is  exhibiting  a  line  of  electric  ranges,  domestic  and  hospital 
heating  devices,  including  a  200-watt  water  boiler  with  a 
three-heat  switch.  A  noveltv  is  a  miniature  electric  range 
for  a  child's  doll  house. 

Franklin  A.  Snow  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  views 
of  underground  construction,  an  electrically  driven  concrete 
mixer  and  a  display  of  lamp  conduits. 

C.  H.  Sprague  &  Son,  Boston,  are  showing  an  electrically 
driven  working  model  of  a  West  Virginia  soft  coal  mine. 

Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corporation.  Boston,  is 
exhibiting  large  photographs  and  drawings  of  its  latest  con- 
struction work  on  power  houses,  dams,  hydroelectric  plants, 
railways,  substations  and  office  buildings,  including  the 
newly  completed  plant  of  the  Boston  Elevated  Railway  Com- 
pany, the  Keokuk  plant  of  the  Mississippi  River  Power 
Company  and  large  engineering  works  in  the  Puget  Sound 
district. 

Stuart-Howland  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  "Ex- 
cello"  lamps,  "Regina"  vacuum  cleaners.  "Hot  Point"  flat- 
irons,  heating  and  lighting  materials. 

Studebaker  Company,  South  Bend,  Ind.,  is  exhibiting  a 
4000-lb.  truck  with  stake  body,  a  looo-lb.  express  body  truck. 


both  designed  for  cither  Edison  or  Exide  battery,  and  one 
of  three  looo-lb.  delivery  wagons  which  have  been  used 
three  and  one-half  years  by  the  Christian  Science  Monitor 
of  Boston. 

Toledo  Electric  Welder  Company,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  is 
exhibiting  spot  welders  for  stove  and  hollow  work,  including 
a  welder  for  aluminum  wire. 

Tufts  College  Engineering  School,  West  Medford, 
Mass.,  is  exhibiting  motor  apparatus  built  by  students,  and 
photographs  of  construction  work  in  charge  of  graduates. 

Underbill  Company,  Boston,  agents  for  the  Grinnell 
car,  is  showing  the  latest  model  coupe  with  Earnsdale  whip- 
cord lining  and  solid  tires. 

United  Electric  Apparatus  Company,  Boston,  is  show- 
ing time-limit  relays,  wiring  material  and  instruments  for 
railway  signal  service. 

United  Shoe  Machinery  Company,  Boston,  has  a  Good- 
year welt  machine  and  a  stitcher  in  operation,  each  driven 
by  a  yi-hp  motor. 

Vacuum  Sales  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  the  Eureka 
vacimm  cleaner. 

Vermont  Electrical  Association  is  keeping  open  house 
at  the  show  and  is  displaying  Harrigan's  lighting  specialties. 

Wagner  Electric  Manufacturing  Company.  Boston,  is 
showing  a  single-phase  motor  of  high  power  factor  and 
rectifier  sets. 

Walker  Vehicle  Company,  Chicago,  is  showing  2-ton, 
ij^-ton,  looo-lb.  and  750-lb.  trucks  and  delivery  wagons, 
with  sectional  wheel  showing  operating  features  of  balanced 
gear  drive. 

Ward.  Drouet  &  Foster,  Boston,  are  showing  a  new 
ys-hp  Bissell  vacuum  cleaner,  "Delco"  heating  appliances, 
a  l/30-hp  sewing  machine  motor  with  a  stitching  range  of 
I  to  1500  per  minute.  Hubbell  sockets  and  switches,  and 
Steel  City  outlet  boxes,  fire-alarm  apparatus.  Selmore  signs, 
and  arc  lamps. 

Waterbury  Company,  New  York,  has  made  a  display  of 
an  insulating  mill  and  a  braiding  machine,  with  samples  of 
insulated  wire  and  rope. 

\N'averley  Company,  Boston,  show  a  five-passenger 
limousine,  a  four-passenger  Louis  XIV  coach  and  a  four- 
passenger  car  equipped  with  Pullman  seats.  A  6oo-Ib.  truck 
is  also  shown. 

Western  Electric  Company,  Boston,  is  exhibiting  a 
large  assortment  of  motors,  heating  devices,  domestic  and 
industrial  apparatus  operated  by  motors,  receptacles  and 
telephone  supplies.  The  company  also  has  an  installation 
of  eighty  loud-speaking  telephones  scattered  throughout  the 
building  and  used  in  general  announcement  work. 

Western  Novelty  Company,  New  York,  is  showing  a 
double  soap-bubble-pipe  machine  operated  by  an  electric 
motor. 

Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
East  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  is  exhibiting  a  line  of  general-utility        | 
motors,  rheostats,  heating  apparatus,  fans,  switchboard  in-        " 
^truments,   a    motor-driven    grinder,   vehicle   motors    and 
materials   and   steps  used   in    the   manufacture   of   tungsten 
lamps. 

Wetmore-Savage  Company,  Boston,  is  showing  a  line  of 
Sangamo  meters,  polyphase  motors,  wiring  materials.  Sim- 
plex heating  devices  and  Allis-Chalmers  transformers, 
Bryant  electric  switches,  wire  and  Columbia  dry  batteries. 

Wheeler  Reflector  Company,  Boston,  is  exhibiting  its 
well-known  products  for  street-lighting  service  and  a  trans- 
parency contrasting  daylight  with  artificial  illumination  by 
photographic  methods. 

D.  Whiting  &  Sons,  Boston,  is  operating  a  motor-driven 
milk  depot,  with  pasteurizing,  bottling,  capping  and  filling 
machines  in  service. 


October  5,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


741 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


ALTHOUGH  some  hesitancy  is  noticeable  in  future 
commitments  for  large  amounts,  due  possibly  to 
uncertainty  over  the  political  outcome,  buying  in  the 
majority  of  lines  is  on  an  active  scale  and  is  fully  equal  in 
volume  to  that  of  recent  years  at  this  time.  Early  delivery 
is  being  sought  more  and  more  in  nearly  all  industrial 
transactions.  Stocks  are  low,  prices  are  attractive  and  the 
time  is  undoubtedly  favorable  for  healthy  e.xpansion.  Bank 
clearings  showed  an  increase  of  nearly  2  per  cent  last  week 
over  those  in  the  week  preceding,  and  of  more  than  8  per 
cent  over  those  in  the  corresponding  week  last  year.  Offer- 
ings of  bonds  of  the  Philadelphia  Company  and  the  General 
Electric  Company  were  heavily  oversubscribed  this  week. 
Many  offerings  of  public-utility  securities  at  this  time  to 
obtain  funds  for  improvements  and  additions  may  be  taken 
as  indications  of  activity  in  that  field.  The  Ozark  Power  & 
Water  Company  will  soon  place  its  new  station  on  the 
White  River,  Missouri,  in  operation.  Incorporation  of  new 
electrical  companies,  both  manufacturing  and  central-station 
concerns,  is  very  pronounced  at  present.  The  Allis-Chal- 
mers  Company  reports  numerous  sales  of  large  recipro- 
cating engines  and,  in  company  with  several  other  electrical 
manufacturers,  a  substantial  growth  in  its  business.  The 
president  of  the  General  Vehicle  Company,  as  noted  below, 
considers  the  outlook  in  the  electric  vehicle  field  very 
encouraging. 


General  Vehicle  President  on  the  Commercial  Vehicle 
Outlook. — P.  D.  Wagoner,  president  of  the  General  Vehicle 
Company,  Long  Island  City,  N.  Y.,  discussing  conditions 
in  the  electric  commercial  vehicle  industry  this  week,  said  in 
part:  "The  development  of  the  electric  commercial  vehicle 
industry  has  shown  some  particularly  interesting  phases 
in  the  past  twelve  months.  Among  these  may  be  men- 
tioned the  following:  (l)  The  increase  in  orders  received 
this  year  over  those  in  191 1.  (2)  The  wonderful  percentage 
of  repeat  orders,  which  in  our  case  in  191 1  was  69.4  per 
cent,  and  thus  far  in  1912  is  well  over  65  per  cent.  (3)  The 
encouraging  increase  in  "small  wagon"  business,  as  com- 
pared with  the  situation  in  previous  years  when  the  use  of 
heavy  trucks  greatly  predominated  and  department  stores 
and  retailers  favored  non-electrics.  (4)  The  increase  in 
sales  to  retailers  who  own  from  two  to  six  horses  and  to 
whom  the  purchase  of  even  our  smallest  wagon  often 
meant  a  heavy  initial  investment.  We  have  won  their  con- 
fidence and  have  shown  them  that  they  can  make  electrics 
pay  as  well  as  the  big  firms  do.  (5)  The  fairer  attitude  of 
the  public  toward  the  electric.  (6)  The  recognition  by 
business  men  of  the  respective  fields  of  the  electric  and  the 
gasoline  vehicle  and  of  the  importance  of  buying  the  proper 
vehicle  for  each  class  of  work.  (7)  The  increase  in  battery 
efficiency  and  the  encouraging  decrease  in  the  cost  of 
energy  to  off-peak  users.  I  look  for  the  electric  truck  and 
wagon  to  improve  still  more  in  operating  efficiency  as 
actual  service  under  varied  conditions  yields  its  secrets, 
with  the  result  that  electric  vehicles  will  be  handled  more 
intelligently.  As  to  the  future  of  the  electric  vehicle,  that 
is  largely  in  the  hands  of  its  friends.  If  quality  of  product 
and  adaptability  in  marketing  are  maintained,  the  time 
should  come  when  75  per  cent  of  the  transfers  and  deliv- 
eries in  its  field  will  be  performed  by  the  battery-driven 
vehicle." 

Ozark   Power    &   Water   System    Nearing   Completion. — 

So  far  as  can  be  foreseen  at  tliis  time,  the  hydroelectric 
development  of  the  Ozark  Power  &  Water  Company  on 
the  White  River  at  Branson,  Mo.,  will  be  in  operation  by 
April  I,  1913,  which  is  the  time  originally  planned.  Energy 
from  this  station,  in  which  the  initial  installation  will  be 
15,000  hp,  will  be  transmitted  to  Springfield,  Mo.,  and  the 
Ozark  company's  transmission  system  will  also  be  tied  in 
with  that  of  the  Empire  District  Electric  Company,  at 
Joplin,  Mo.,  as  was  described  in  detail  in  these  columns  on 
Feb.  24,  1912,  when  the  plans  of  H.  L.  Doherty  &  Company 
for  financing  the  project  were  given.  It  is  expected  that 
the  dam  will  be  ready  to  impound  water  by  Feb.  i,  1913; 
that  the  reservoir  will  be  full  by  Feb.   15,  and  that  the  en- 


tire plant  will  be  in  operation  by  April  i,  1913,  as  above. 
The  transmission  line  from  Joplin  to  Springfield  and  the 
installation  of  substation  equipment  are  almost  completed, 
and  the  company  will  be  ready  to  deliver  energy  in  Spring- 
field by  Nov.  I,  1912.  Until  the  time  when  energy  can  be 
furnished  from  the  Ozark  company's  plant  the  service  over 
this  line  to  Springfield  will  be  supplied  from  the  steam 
generating  stations  of  the  Empire  District  Electric  Com- 
pany. When  the  Ozark  plant  is  ready  for  operation  the 
Empire  District  Electric  Company  will  become  a  purchaser 
of  the  excess  energy  developed  by  it  and  will  also  serve  as 
a  reserve  to  the  Ozark  company.  About  400  men  are  now 
at  work  on  the  dam  and  power  house. 

Demand  for  Large  Reciprocating  Engines. — Recent 
sales  of  Corliss  engines  made  by  the  AUis-Chalmers  Com- 
pany include  a  number  of  large  units.  Among  these  are  a 
twin  tandem  compound  reversing  engine,  40  in.  and  66  in. 
by  60  in.,  for  the  Minnesota  Steel  Company,  Duluth,  Minn.; 
a  tandem  compound  rolling-mill  engine,  50  in.  and  78  in. 
by  60  in.,  for  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company,  Bessemer,  Pa.; 
an  i8-in.  and  30-in.  by  36-in.  cross-compound  direct-con- 
nected unit  for  the  Northwestern  Iron  Company,  Mays- 
ville.  Wis.;  two  20-in.  and  42-in.  direct-connected  engines 
for  the  Illinois  Vinegar  Manufacturing  Company,  Chicago; 
belted  engines  for  the  American  Trading  Company,  New 
York,  the  city  of  Lamar,  Mo,,  and  Henry  Seers,  Inc.,  New 
York,  and  a  30-in.  and  46-in.  by  42-in.  cross-compound 
direct-connected  engine  for  the  Charles  Netcher  Estate, 
Chicago  (Boston  Store).  The  last  named  includes  a  750-kw 
direct-current  generator,  built  also  by  the  Allis-Chalmers 
Company  and  especially  interesting  from  the  fact  that 
the  terminal  pressure  is  only  I20  volts,  the  low  voltage 
being  unusual  for  a  machine  of  this  size.  The  generator 
has  a  single  commutator  and  is  supplied  with  interpoles. 
Units  of  this  character  find  a  place  in  large  office  and 
mercantile  buildings,  and  the  manufacturer  believes  that 
they  are  likely  to  grow  in  favor. 

Pelton  Waterwheels  for  Cuban  Plant. — The  initial  gener- 
ating equipment  for  the  central  station  that  is  being  built 
for  the  Madrazos  Hydroelectric  Company,  about  20  miles 
from  Cienfuegos,  Cuba,  and  which  will  supply  energy  for 
use  in  that  city,  will  consist  of  three  440-hp  Pelton  water- 
wheels  direct-connected  to  General  Electric  generators. 
The  wheels  will  operate  at  900  r.p.m.  under  an  effective 
head  of  1200  ft.,  and  will  be  equipped  with  Pelton  governor- 
controlled  needle  nozzles  and  automatic  by-passes.  The 
generators  will  be  equipped  with  direct-connected  exciters. 
The  generators  will  furnish  three-phase,  60-cycle  energy  at 
2300  volts,  and  this  will  be  raised  to  23,000  volts  for  trans- 
mission to  Cienfuegos.  The  transmission  line  is  nearly 
completed.  Provision  has  been  made  for  doubling  the  in- 
itial installation  in  the  future.  The  Pelton  company  will 
also  furnish  6500  ft.  of  riveted  and  welded  steel  pipe,  15  ft. 
in  diameter,  for  the  Cuban  company.  It  has  just  shipped 
three  3600-hp  waterwheels  for  use  on  the  Panama  Canal. 

Good  Business  in  Arc-Lamp  Posts. — "Our  post  business," 
said  M.  J.  Maroney,  of  the  J.  L.  Mott  Iron  Works,  118-120 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  this  week,  "is  very  gratifying, 
both  as  to  volume  and  prices.  The  demand  in  the  East  at 
present  is  chiefly  for  arc-lamp  posts,  and  the  scroll  bracket 
type  is  the  one  mostly  in  favor.  In  other  parts  of  the 
country  the  twin-arc  type  is  in  greater  demand.  There  is 
not  as  much  of  a  demand  for  'tungsten'  posts  as  there  has 
been,  although  there  is  some  interest  shown  in  these  in  the 
South  and  Southwest.  Our  export  business  is  very  good. 
We  are  selling  large  numbers  of  ornamental  tungsten  posts 
and  ornamental  designs,  such  as  fountains,  to  South  Ameri- 
can cities.  The  showing  of  all  departments  of  our  business 
compares  very  favorably  with  last  year's  records." 

American  Steel  &  Wire  Business  Expanding. — During 
the  month  of  September  a  new  high  record  of  production 
and  incoming  business  was  made  by  the  American  Steel  & 
Wire  Company,  as  compared  with  the  corresponding 
months  in  previous  years.  Incoming  orders  averaged  close 
to  7500  tons  per  day,  which  is  much  in  excess  of  produc- 
tion.    The  outlook  for  October  is  also  promising. 


742 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


Say  That  Long  Acre  Litigation  Will  Continue. — Further 
information  has  developed  concerning  the  report  published 
in  these  columns  in  the  previous  issue  that  a  majority  of 
the  $500,000  4  per  cent  bonds  of  the  Long  Acre  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company,  of  New  York,  which  has  been 
seeking  for  several  years  to  establish  itself  as  a  competitor 
to  the  New  York  Edison  Company,  were  sold  at  private 
sale  last  week  to  interests  associated  with  the  last-named 
concern.  It  is  stated  on  good  authority  that,  while  neither 
the  New  York  Edison  nor  the  Consolidated  Gas  Company, 
which  controls  it,  was  directly  concerned  in  the  transaction, 
the  bonds  were  purchased  by  a  large  stockholder  of  the 
Consolidated  Gas  Company.  The  plan,  it  is  understood, 
was  to  bring  about  foreclosure  proceedings,  based  upon  the 
fact  that  the  interest  on  the  bonds  has  been  long  in  default, 
obtain  control  of  the  company  at  foreclosure  sale,  and  turn 
it  over  to  the  New  York  Edison  Company.  Officials  of 
the  latter  and  of  the  Consolidated  Gas  Company  have  de- 
nied that  the  companies  were  concerned  in  the  purchase  of 
the  bonds  and  say  that  the  litigation  to  prove  the  franchise 
invalid  will  continue.  Interests  associated  with  the  Inter- 
city Power  Company,  which,  as  noted  in  the  Electrical 
World  Sept.  7,  was  formed  to  succeed  the  Long  Acre  com- 
pany, say  that  the  sale  will  make  no  difference  in  their  plans, 
as  it  is  possible  that  the  New  York  Edison  would  be 
outbid  at  a  foreclosure  sale  if  one  took  place. 

Seek  to  Consolidate  Maryland  and  Delaware  Companies. 

— A  petition  has  been  filed  with  the  Maryland  Public  Serv- 
ice Commission  asking  for  permission  to  consolidate  the 
Patapsco  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  of  Maryland 
and  the  Patapsco  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  of 
Delaware  into  the  Patapsco  Electric  Company.  The  peti- 
tion sets  forth  that  the  old  companies  have  operated  in 
conjunction  in  Baltimore  and  Howard  Counties,  that  title 
to  land,  water  rights,  building  and  machinery  at  the  plants 
located  at  Grays  and  Ilchester,  on  the  Patapsco  River,  is 
vested  in  the  Maryland  company,  and  that  title  to  rights- 
of-way,  poles  and  the  transmission  system  generally  is  in 
the  Delaware  company.  It  has  been  found  inconvenient  to 
conduct  the  business  further  through  the  two  companies. 
The  stock  of  the  proposed  new  company  will  be  $200,000, 
divided  into  20,000  shares  of  the  par  value  of  $10  each.  Of 
this  $145,000  will  be  issued.  The  consolidation  contem- 
plates a  bond  issue  of  $280,000  in  denominations  of  $1,000 
each,  bearing  interest  at  5  per  cent. 

Massachusetts  Company  Financing  Improvements. — The 
Gardner  (Mass.)  Electric  Light  Company  has  petitioned  the 
Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission  for  authority  to  issue 
400  shares  of  additional  preferred  stock  and  400  shares  of 
new  common  stock  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the  cost  of  a 
transmission  line  to  South  Barre,  the  construction  of  dis- 
tributing lines  and  substations  in  the  towns  of  Westminster, 
Hubbardston  and  Barre,  and  for  meeting  the  cost  of  im- 
provements lately  effected  and  in  further  prospect  in  its  lo- 
cal plant  and  distributing  system  at  Gardner.  The  total 
amount  of  indebtedness  incurred  on  these  accounts  is  about 
$102,000.  The  company  desires  to  issue  the  preferred  and 
common  stocks  at  $105  and  $150  per  share  respectively. 
The  company  is  controlled  by  interests  identified  with  the 
Connecticut  River  Transmission  Company  and  distributes  a 
considerable  amount  of  hydroelectric  energy  in  northern 
Worcester  County. 

Philadelphia  Company's  Debentures  Sold. — In  order  to 
provide  the  Philadelphia  Company  with  funds  for  further 
improvement  and  development  work  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  large  territory  in  which  it  operates  and  to  purchase  ad- 
ditional public-utility  properties,  the  unsold  portion  of  the 
$10,000,000  5  per  cent  convertible  debentures  which  the 
stockholders  authorized  on  April  29  last,  as  was  noted  in 
these  columns  May  4,  were  sold  this  week  by  Blair  &  Com- 
pany and  Ladenburg,  Thalmann  &  Company,  and  also  by 
London  bankers.  The  offering  was  made  at  97V2  and  ac- 
crued interest  and  was  heavily  oversubscribed.  The  Phila- 
delphia Company  was  organized  in  1871  and  is  one  of  the 
largest  public-service  corporations  in  the  country.  It  is 
engaged  in  supplying  both  natural  and  artificial  gas,  elec- 
trical energy  and  street-railway  service  in  Pittsburgh  and 
its  suburbs.  In  the  last  fiscal  year  the  balance  of  earnings 
available  for  interest  on  the  $10,000,000  convertible  5  per 
cent  debentures  of  1912  was  $4,415,621. 


Baltimore  Utility  Has  Good  Year. — The  annual  report 
of  the  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company 
of  Baltimore  shows  that  its  gas  output  increased  8  per  cent 
and  the  output  of  electric  energy  increased  43.6  per  cent. 
The  increase  in  the  company's  net  earnings  totaled  $410,- 
063.38,  or  17  per  cent.  The  report,  which  will  be  submitted 
at  the  annual  meeting  to  be  held  Oct.  7,  shows  the  fol- 
lowing results:  Gross  income,  $5,465,287;  operating  ex- 
penses and  taxes,  $2,642,887,  and  the  net  earnings,  $2,822,399. 
Fi.xed  charges  were  $1,417,267.86,  leaving  net  income  of 
$1,405,131.  Dividends  paid  and  payable  amounted  to  $744,- 
749,  leaving  a  balance  of  $660,381.96,  The  reserve  for  re- 
newals, etc.,  is  $455,526.64,  leaving  a  net  surplus  of  $204,- 
855.3-'- 

Progress  of  Washington  (D.  C.)  Utilities  Merger. — Fol- 
lowing the  recent  incorporation  of  the  $30,000,000  Maryland- 
Virginia  Company,  which  was  formed  to  effect  a  merger 
of  the  public  utilities  in  Washington  and  elsewhere  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  as  was  briefly  noted  in  these  columns 
Sept.  21  the  directors  of  the  Arlington  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany and  the  Braddock  Electric  &  Power  Company  have 
voted  to  consolidate  with  the  Maryland-Virginia  Company. 
It  is  now  understood  that  the  latter  plans  to  acquire  the 
common  stock  of  the  Washington  Railway  &  Electric  Com- 
pany, to  sell  more  of  its  own  securities,  and  with  the  pro- 
ceeds acquire  the  stock  of  the  other  utilities  in  the  District. 

York  (Pa.)  Company  Sold. — Interests  affiliated  with  the 
Edison  Electric  Light  Company  of  York,  Pa.,  have  taken 
over  the  properties  of  the  York  &  Windsor  Electric  Light 
Company  by  the  purchase  of  practically  all  of  its  stock  and 
bonds.  It  is  expected  that  improvements  will  be  made  in 
the  physical  condition  and  in  the  service.  The  following 
new  ofiicers  and  directors  were  elected:  John  B.  Landers, 
president  and  director;  S.  H.  Ludwig,  secretary,  treasurer 
and  director;  Joseph  E.  Wayne,  A.  J.  Hershey  and  E. 
Philip  Stair,  directors.  These  replaced  George  A.  Kohler, 
president;  Michael  Hose,  Horace  Welty,  C.  S.  Lamotte 
and  John   N.   Flinchbaugh,   resigned. 

Eastern  Texas  Electric  Company  Improvements. — Stone 
&  Webster  have  sold  a  new  issue  of  $550,000  6  per  cent 
cumulative  preferred  stock  of  the  Eastern  Texas  Electric 
Company  at  90,  to  yield  6.65  per  cent.  This  company, 
under  Stone  &  Webster  management,  owns  the  securities 
of  the  company  doing  the  entire  electric  lighting  business 
of  Beaumont.  Te,x.  The  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  this 
issue  of  preferred  stock  will  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of 
the  electric  lighting  and  refrigerating  properties  in  Port 
Arthur,  about  20  miles  distant  from  Beaumont,  and  to 
further  additions  and  improvements. 

H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company  Said  to  Be  Seeking  Control 
of  Merchants'  Heat  &  Light  Company,  Indianapolis. — It  is 

reported  from  Louisville,  Ky.,  that  a  syndicate  of  local  busi- 
ness men,  headed  by  Henning,  Chambers  &  Company  and 
L.  H.  McHenry,  who  have  been  identified  with  H.  M.  Byl- 
lesby in  recent  negotiations  for  Kentucky  electric  properties, 
is  now  negotiating  fcpr  a  controlling  interest  in  the  Mer- 
chants' Heat  &  Light  Company  of  Indianapolis. 

Virginian  Power  Company  Organized. — The  Virginian 
Power  Company  has  been  incorporated  under  Massachu- 
setts laws  with  a  capitalization  of  $10,000,000.  This  is  di- 
vided into  50,000  shares  of  6  per  cent  non-cumulative  pre- 
ferred stock  and  50,000  shares  of  common  stock,  par  value 
being  $100.  The  new  concern  will  have  offices  in  Boston 
and  Charleston,  W.  Va.  It  will  engage  in  the  development 
of  water-power. 

General  Electric  Bonds  Oversubscribed. — The  $10,000,000 
5  per  cent  gold  debenture  bonds  of  the  General  Electric 
Company,  to  which  reference  was  made  in  these  columns 
last  week,  were  largely  oversubscribed  this  week  when 
offered  by  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company  and  Lee,  Higginson  & 
Company,  in  connection  with  Morgan,  Grenfell  &  Company, 
of  London.     The  price  was  9954  and  interest. 

Kansas  City  Railway  &  Light  Notes. — Announcement  has 
been  made  by  the  committee  representing  the  holders  of 
the  6  per  cent  five-year  gold  notes  of  the  Kansas  City  Rail- 
way &  Light  Company,  which  matured  Sept.  I,  1912,  that  a 
majority  of  the  notes  was  deposited  under  the  reorganiza- 
tion agreement  of  Aug.  15,  1912. 


October  5.  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


743 


May  Sell  Springfield  (Ohio)  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Com- 
pany.— Stockholders  of  the  Springfield  (Ohio)  Light,  Heat 
&  Power  Company,  who  some  time  ago  deposited  their 
holdings  with  the  Central  National  Bank  under  option  to 
sell  to  Hodenpyl,  Hardy  &  Company,  of  New  York,  have 
received  $1  per  share  as  a  guarantee  payment  on  the  pur- 
chase. This  firm  agreed  to  take  the  stock  if  80  per  cent  of 
it  could  be  secured,  and  thus  far  95  per  cent  of  the  out- 
standing preferred  stock  and  86  per  cent  of  the  common 
stock  has  been  deposited.  The  purchasers  have  until  Nov. 
16  to  complete  their  arrangements  for  financing  the  pur- 
chase. It  has  been  stated  that  the  property  will  be  placed 
in  another  corporation,  but  the  optioning  firm  is  not  ready 
to  give  any  information  as  to  its  disposition. 

September  Incorporations. — Papers  filed  in  the  Eastern 
States  for  companies  with  an  authorized  capital  of  $1,000,- 
COO  and  over  during  September  represented  $145,050,000, 
according 'to  compilation  by  the  Journal  of  Commerce,  New 
York.  This  figure  represents  an  increase  of  $68,046,000 
over  that  for  the  same  period  a  year  ago,  but  a  decrease  of 
$19,450,000  as  compared  with  the  August  returns.  Charters 
taken  out  during  the  month  by  other  companies  with  an  in- 
dividual capital  of  $100,000  and  more,  but  less  than  $1,000.- 
000,  including  states  other  than  those  in  the  East,  brought 
the  grand  total  up  to  $224,165,000,  which  is  an  increase  over 
1911   of  $67,253,000. 

Will  Take  Over  Wisconsin  Utilities. — The  Wisconsin 
Gas  &  Electric  Company  has  been  incorporated  in  Wiscon- 
sin with  a  capital  of  $1,200,000.  The  new  concern  will  be  a 
holding  company  for  the  public  utility  properties  of  the 
North  American  Company  in  Illinois  and  Wisconsin  out- 
side of  Milwaukee.  It  will  take  over  the  public  utilities  in 
Kenosha  and  Racine,  Wis.,  including  the  plants  of  the 
Racine  Gas  Light  Company,  the  Kenosha  Gas  &  Electric 
Company    and    the    Kenosha    Electric    Railway    Company. 


NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET  PRICES. 


Copper: 
Standard, 


spot 


spot. 


London,   standard. 

Frinie  Lake   

Electrolytic     

Casting    . ., 

Copper  wire,  base 

Cead    

Nickel     

Sheet  zinc,   f.o.b.   smelter. 

Spelter,   spot    

Tin,   spot    

Aluminum: 

Prompt    delivery    

Future     


, Sept.  24 

Bid.         Asked. 

17.25  

£        s      d 

78       5     0 

17.65  to  17.75 

17.65  to  17.75 

17.60 

19.00 

5.10 

45.00 

8.90 

7.65 


, Oct.   1 

Bid.       Asked. 

17.25  

f        s     d 

78     17     6 

17.70  to  17.80 

17.70  to  17.75 

17.60  to  17.65 

19.00 

5.10 

45.00 

9.00 

7.65 

50.00 

24.00  to  25.00 
23.50  to  24.50 


OLD   METALS. 

16.50 

10.50 

8.75 

4.75 

6.10 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  SEPTEMBER. 
Total  tons,  weekending Sept.   24,   19,203 


Heavy  copper  and  wire. 

Brass,  heavy    

Brass,  light    

Lead,    heavy    

Zinc,    scrap    


16.50 
10.50 
8.75 
4.75 
6.10 


Oct.    1,  25,57: 


INDUSTRIAL  SECURITIES 


Security. 


Allis-Chalmers  t.  r.  Isfas- 
ses.s.  paid 

Allis-Chalmers  pf 

Allis-Chalmers  pf.  t.  r.  1st 
assess,  paid 

Amalgamated  Copper 

American  Tel.  &  Tel 

Crocker- Wheeler,  c 

Crocker- Wheeler,  pf 

Electric  Storage  Battery,  c. 

Electric  Stor.   Battery,  pf. 

General  Electric 

Mackay  Cos. ,  c 

Mackay  Cos.,  pf 

Western  Union  Tel 

Westinghouse  E.  &  M..  c.  . 

Westinghouse  E.  &  M.,  pf. 

*Last  price  quoted. 


Capital  Stock 
Listed. 


Percent. 


17,125,800 
2,083,800 

13,966,200 

153,887,900 

334,303,300 

1,700,000 

500,000 

16,074,425 

175.100 

77,726,700 

41,380.400 

50,000.000 

99,743,400 

31,685,301 

3,998,700 


1 
2 

li 
U 


U 


1} 


Period, 


Q 
0 

0 

u 


0 
Q 
Q 
0 
0 
0 


QUOTATI     ON. 


Sept. 25.  Oct  2 


i* 

2* 

a* 

90j 
146 

89* 
105* 

56f 

183J 
88* 
68i 
81} 
85i 

124* 


i* 
2* 


90  J 

144} 

89* 

1105* 

56 

1821 
88* 
68i 
81 
84} 

124* 


ELECTRIC  SECURITIES 


0— Quarterly.          M— Monthly.              S — Se 

mi-annually. 

A — Annually. 

LAST 

QUO- 

DIVIDEND. 

TATION. 

Per  Cent. 

Period. 

Bid. 

Asked 

Adirondack  Electric  Power,  c. 
Adirondack  Elec.  Power,  pf . . 

$9,500,000 
2,500,000 

23 
6Si 

26 
67i 

Amer.  Gas  &  Electric  (S50),  c. 
Amer.  Gas  &  Electric  ($50)  .pf. 

2,500,000 
1.537.500 

u 
li 

Q 
0 

90 
49 

95 
50 

Amer.  Light  &  Traction,  c.  . 
Amer.  Light  &  Traction,  pf .  . 

10,395,400 
14,236.200 

n 

8 

426 
110 

428 
111 

Amer.  Power  &  Light,  c 

Amer.  Pwr.  &  Lt.,  6%  cum  pf. 

Amer.  Pwr.  &  Lt.,  opt.  warr.  . 

Amer.  Pwr.  &  Lt.,  6%  notes, 

'21      

5,631,400 
3,106,800 
1,604,000 

2,199,100 

6,000,000 
2,180,000 

"li" 

3 

"q" 

s 

69 
87 
13 

97i 

25i 
74} 

72 

87i 

15 

99i 

Appalachian  Power,  c 

Appalachian  Power,  pf 

26i 

75  • 

3,000,000 
850,000 

1,100,000 

2,800,000 
2,250,000 
1,500,000 

2i 

2i 
li 
li 

s 

s 
"q" 

10 
SO 

93 

90 
25 
75 

15 

55 

Ashville  Light  &    Power.   1st 
s    f    5s    '42      . 

96 

Augusta-Aiken      Railway      & 

Electric,  s.  f.  5s,  '35 

Augusta-Aiken  Ry.  &  Elec,  c. 
Augusta-Aiken  Ry.  &  Elec.pf. 

95 
35 
85 

Augusta  Railway  &  Electric, 
1st  Ss    '40  .              

967,000 

4,000,000 
1,000,000 
4,283,000 

5 

li 
li 

2i 

s 

101 

140 
79i 
95 

Butte  Electric  &  Power,  c 

Butte  Electric  &  Power,  pf... 
Butte  Elec.  &  Pwr.,  1st  5s.  '51. 

145 
80i 
97i 

Central  Maine  Power  1st  5s... 

1,923,000 

5 

A 

97 

99 

5,499,430 
10,195,360 

2,454,000 

2,000,000 

840,000 

32,964,800 
11,564,000 

1 

i 

2i 

"ii" 

7 
2i 

M 
M 

s 
"q" 

lA 
S 

121} 

89; 

94 
60 
85 

138i 
88 

122 

91i 

Columbus     Railway     Gas     & 

Electric.  1st  5s.  '36 

Columbus  Ry.  G.  &  Elec.  c.  . 
Columbus  Ry.  G.  &  Elec,  pf . 
Commonwealth    Edison.;,  cap. 

95 

100 

93 

Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  & 
Power  (Baltimore),  4js. .  .  . 

S8i 

Consum.  Pwr.  (Mich.).  5s,  '36 

8.407,000 

2i 

S 

96 

98 

Consumers  Power  (Minn.),  1st 
5s    '29       

9,539,500 
3,659,000 

2i 
2i 

s 
s 

89i 
95 

92 

Dallas  Elec.  Corp.,  5s,  '22 

98 

Denver  Gas  &  El.  Lt.,  c 

Denver  Gas  &  El.  Lt.,  gen.  5s. 

7.001,300 
6,000,300 

i 
2i 

M 

220 
95 

'97' 

Empire  District  Electric.  5s.  . 

1,925,000 

2i 

s 

87 

88 

Edison  El.  111.  of  Boston,  cap. 
stock 

15,603,700 

4,750,000 
2,500,000 

2i 

"ii" 

0 

"6" 

290* 

3Si 
84 

Federal  Light  &  Traction,  c. . 
Federal  Light  &  Traction,  pf. 

37 
85 

Kings'^County^El.;,Lt. .  &^Pwr. 

10,000,000 

2 

0 

130 

134 

NiagaralFallslPower.  5s,l'32. 

10,000,000 

2i 

s 

101} 

102i 

Northern     Ohio     Railway    & 
Light.  4is.  '35 

17,544,000 

2} 

s 

87J 

87i 

Northern  States  Power,  c.  .  .  . 
Northern  States  Power,  pf .  .  . 

5,975,OOu 
8,386,700 

"ij" 

"6" 

27i 
88 

30 
90 

Pacific  Gas  &  Electric,  c 

Pacific   Gas   &   Electric,   gen. 
and  ref.   5s,   '42 

31,908,750 

20,000,000 
10,000.000 

li 

2i 
li 

s 
0 

63i 

91 
92J 

64i 
91i 

Pacific  Gas  &  Electric,  pf 

92i 

Philadelphia  Electric  ($25). .  . 

24.987.750 

li 

0 

231* 

23i 

Portland  General  Electric.  5s. 

8,000,000 

2i 

s 

lOli 

102i 

Republic  Railway  &  Light,  c. 
Republic  Railway  &  Light,  pf. 

5,200,000 
6,360.000 

"ii" 

"q" 

27 
81 

29 

83 

St.  Joseph's  R.  L.  H.  &  P.,  Ss. 

4.250,000 

2i 

s 

99i 

100 

Seattle  Electric  Co.  Cons 

7,417,000 

2i 

s 

98 

100 

Southern  California  Edison,  c 

Southern    Calif.   Edison,  con. 

5s.  '29 

7,200,000 

9,975,000 

4,000,000 

9,343,150 
10,977,950 

li 

2i 

2i 

.  .^.. . 

Q 

s 
s 

..... 

82i 

96 

99i 

$23i 
SSOi 

83 
98 

101 

standard  Gas  &  Elec.  ($50).  c. 
Standard  G.  &  Elec.  (S50),  pf. 

$24 
$51 

Tennessee  R.  L.  &  Pwr.,  c 

Tennessee  R.  L.  &  Pwr.,  pf .  . 

20,000.000 
10.250,000 

■  ■  li  ■ 

"q" 

24} 
79 

25* 
79} 

Tri-City  Railway  &  Light,  c. 
Tri-City  Railway  &  Light,  pf. 
Tri-City  Ry.  &  Lt.,  5s,  '23.  . 

9.000,000 
2.826,200 
8,207,000 

"ii" 
2} 

§■ 

55 
90 
973 

'%■ 

14,670,000 
6,000,000 

"6" 

29i 
S9i 

30i 

Western  Power,  6%  cum.  pf . . 

60i 

744 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


Personal 

Dr.  William  Marconi,  the  injury  to  whose  eye  was  noted 
last  week,  is  improving  satisfactorily  and  it  is  now  believed 
that  the  injury  will  not  prove  permanent. 

Mr.  J.  F.  McLaughlin,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  has  been  en- 
gaged by  the  Board  of  City  Commissioners  of  Atlantic 
City,  N.  J.,  to  frame  a  code  of  electrical  regulations. 

Mr.  Floyd  N.  Dull,  for  several  years  secretary  for  the 
Home  Telephone  Company  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  will  shortly 
assume  the  management  of  the  Valley  Telephone  Company 
properties. 

Mr.  John  F.  Griffin  has  been  appointed  secretary-treasurer 
of  the  Chicago  Mica  Company,  with  which  company  he  has 
been  associated  for  many  years,  succeeding  Mr.  E.  H.  Heil- 
stedt,  resigned. 

Mr.  R.  J.  Mack,  manager  of  the  new-business  department 
of  the  Fort  Smith  (Ark.)  Light  &  Traction  Company,  has 
been  appointed  secretary  of  the  Arkansas-Oklahoma  Inter- 
state Fair  Association. 

Mr.  F.  B.  Lewis,  formerly  engineer  of  light  and  power 
in  the  department  of  distribution  of  the  Southern  California 
Edison  Company,  has  been  promoted  to  the  position  of 
superintendent  of  the  Los  .■\ngeles  district. 

Mr.  Paul  Newell,  of  the  Woonsocket  (R.  I.)  Electric 
Machine  &  Power  Company,  has  recently  become  associated 
with  the  Columbus  (Ga.)  Electric  Company.  Mr.  George 
L.  Davis  succeeds  to  the  position  occupied  by  Mr.  Newell. 

Mr.  Walter  W.  Dearth,  formerly  superintendent  of  the 
Pana  (111.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  has  resigned  his  posi- 
tion to  engage  with  a  manufacturing  company  at  Muncie, 
Ind.  He  is  succeeded  by  Mr.  H.  I.  Nutt,  of  Taylorville, 
111. 

Mr.  Harold  Almert,  manager  of  the  examinations  and 
reports  department  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  ad- 
dressed the  Byllesby  Luncheon  Club  in  Chicago  on  Sept.  25 
on  the  subject  of  "Business  Science  and  Personal  Effi- 
ciency." 

Mr.  Nelson  L.  Pollard  has  been  appointed  electrical  engi- 
neer of  the  Public  Service  Electric  Company,  Newark, 
N.  J.  Owing  to  a  typographical  error  in  last  week's  issue 
the  name  of  the  electrical  engineer  was  given  as  Mr.  H.  L. 
Pallard. 

Mr.  W.  D.  Weaver,  formerly  editor  in  chief  of  the 
Electrical  World  and  now  consulting  editor,  sails  on  Mon- 
day for  Nice,  France,  where  he  will  spend  a  short  vacation. 
Mr.  Weaver  has  chosen  a  slowgoing  vessel  so  as  to  obtain 
all   of  the   benefits   of  the  ocean   trip. 

Mr.  W.  L.  Bird,  of  Fort  William,  Out.,  the  first  vice- 
president  of  the  Canadian  Electrical  Association,  has  as- 
sumed the  office  of  president  of  the  association,  owing  to 
the  resignation  of  Mr.  R.  F.  Pack.  Mr.  C.  A.  Bowden, 
of  Toronto,  was  appointed  secretary  at  a  recent  meeting. 

Mr.  J.  T.  Huntington  has  been  appointed  manager  of  the 
Santa  Barbara  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Santa  Barbara, 
Cal.,  in  place  of  Mr.  S.  C.  Haver,  Jr.,  acting  manager,  who 
has  returned  to  his  regular  post  as  assistant  district  agent 
of  the  Southern  California  Edison  Company  in  Los 
.Angeles. 

Mr.  C.  L.  Cory,  professor  of  electrical  engineering  at  the 
University  of  California,  has  been  made  the  recipient  of  the 
gold  medal  of  the  Pacific  Coast  Gas  Association  for  a  paper 
on  "Reasonable  Gas  Rates  and  Their  Determination."  The 
paper  outlines  a  method  of  rate  determination  which  is  just 
to  the  public  and  to  the  corporation. 

Mr.  Thomas  Eslinger,  formerly  connected  with  the  To- 
ledo Railways  &  Light  Company,  has  resigned  from  that 
company  to  become  superintendent  of  the  Rockford  & 
Interurban  Railway  Company,  Rockford,  111.  Mr.  Eslinger 
will  be  succeeded  by  Mr.  William  Condon,  formerly  night 
dispatcher  with  the  Toledo  Railways. 

Mr.  A.  B.  Hitzel,  formerly  connected  with  the  Eastern 
Pennsylvania  Power  Company,  Easton,  Pa.,  and  with  the 
South  Carolina  Light  &  Power  Company,  Raleigh,  S.  C, 
has  been  appointed  manager  of  the  commercial  department 
of  the  Elmira  Water,  Light  &  Railroad  Company,  Elmira, 
N.  Y.,  vice  Mr.  T.  B.  Rhodes,  resigned. 


Mr.  Ralph  H.  Rice,  the  recently  selected  chairman  of  the 
Chicago  Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  is  the  division  engineer  of  electrical  transmission 
and  distribution  for  the  Board  of  Supervising  Engineers, 
Chicago  Traction.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Armour  Institute  of 
Technology  and  was  formerly  connected  with  The  Arnold 
Company. 

President  Carl  A.  Rossander,  of  the  Swedish  Electro- 
chemical Committee,  Stockholm,  and  Dr.  Alfred  Ekstrom, 
managing  director  of  the  Hemsjo  (Sweden)  Hydroelectric 
Power  Company,  who  have  made  a  tour  through  the  eastern 
portion  of  the  United  States  for  the  purpose  of  studying 
recent  developments  in  central-station  practice,  returned  to 
Sweden  on  Oct.  i. 

Mr.  Val.  A.  Fynn,  consulting  engineer  to  the  Wagner 
Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  has  returned  to  St.  Louis 
from  a  trip  throughout  Europe  occupying  three  months, 
much  of  which  time  was  spent  in  the  strenuous  exercise  of 
mountain  climbing.  Mr.  Fynn  is  the  inventor  of  the  unity 
power-factor,  single-phase  motor  now  being  marketed  by 
the  Wagner  company. 

Mr.  W.  W.  Ryder  on  Oct.  i  assumed  the  newly  created 
position  of  manager  of  the  railwa3'  department  of  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  with  headquarters  in 
New  York  City.  He  is  widely  known  in  railroad-telegraph 
circles  and  resigned  his  position  as  general  superintendent 
of  telegraph  of  the  New  York  Central  lines  west  of  Buflfalo 
in  order  to  accept  his  new  appointment.  Mr,  Ryder  has 
long  been  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the  Association  of 
Railway  Telegraph  Superintendents. 

Mr.  Samuel  A.  Freshney,  former  general  manager  of  the 
Muskegon  Traction  &  Lighting  Company,  Muskegon, 
Mich.,  and  until  recently  general  manager  of  the  Union 
Electric  Company,  of  Dubuque,  la.,  has  severed  his  con- 
nection with  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company,  the 
owner  of  the  property,  and  returned  to  Grand  Rapids  as 
manager  of  the  Grand  Rapids-Muskegon  Power  Company. 
Mr.  Freshney  had  scarcely  become  settled  in  Dubuque 
when  he  received  the  more  flattering  ofifer  from  Grand 
Rapids,  so  that  he  was  in  charge  at  Dubuque  for  only 
about   a   month. 

Mr.  J.  McA.  Duncan,  who  has  been  appointed  Pittsburgh 
district  manager  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufac- 
turing Company  in  place  of  Mr.  W.  F.  Fowler,  who  has  re- 
signed to  accept  a  position  with  the  W.  S.  Kuhn  Corpora- 
tion, has  been  in  the  employ  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
&  Manufacturing  Company  for  about  twenty-five  years  and 
is  one  of  the  original  group  of  eight  men  taken  from  the 
LTnion  Switch  &  Signal  Company,  then  doing  business  on 
Garrison  Alley,  Pittsburgh,  to  form  the  Electric  Company, 
which  was  established  at  the  same  place.  His  first  position 
was  in  the  shipping  department,  and  his  second  in  the  corre- 
spondence department,  of  which  he  was  afterward  placed  in 
charge.  In  1906  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  price  de- 
partment, and  as  head  of  this  division  of  the  company  he 
passed  on  prices  of  all  apparatus  manufactured.  For  a  year 
or  two  he  was  stationed  in  the  New  York  office  on  some 
special  work  in  connection  with  costs.  Mr.  Duncan  then 
returned  to  East  Pittsburgh  and  was  attached  to  the  man- 
ager of  works'  office  as  director  of  costs,  and  later  as 
assistant  manager  of  works  in  charge  of  production  and 
costs.  Last  spring,  when  the  present  revival  of  industry 
began,  the  increased  activity  resulting  from  additional  busi- 
ness necessitated  a  division  of  work,  and  Mr.  Duncan  was 
appointed   director  of  works   accounting. 


Obituary 


Mr.  William  McCaffrey,  of  the  Canadian  General  Electric 
Companj-'s  Toronto  sales  office,  his  mother,  wife  and  two 
children  were  drowned  in  the  Pigeon  River,  Ontario,  on 
Sept.  29.  The  party  were  fishing  in  a  canoe  and  met  acci- 
dental death  in  its  overturning  from  the  eflforts  of  Mr. 
McCaffrey  to  land  a  14-lb.  muskallonge  which  he  had 
hooked.  When  Mr.  McCaffrey's  body  was  recovered  a 
trolling  line  was  clasped  in  his  hands  and  on  the  hook  was 
the  muskallonge,  still  alive. 


October  5.  1912 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


745 


Construction 


ALABAMA  CITY,  ALA.— The  Alabama  Pwr.  Devel.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  franchise  to  enter  Alabama  City.  The  transmission  line  will 
be   extended    from   Anniston    to    Alabama    City. 

BLOCTON,  ALA. — The  Galloway  Coal  Co.  is  planning  to  equip  its 
coal  mines  with  electrically  operated  machinery  at  a  cost  of  about  $30,- 
000.  It  is  understood  that  contracts  have  been  placed  for  electrical 
equipment. 

BEAUMONT,  CAL. — Notice  of  appropriation  of  6000  in.  of  water  of 
the  Whitewater  River  to  be  used  for  power  purposes  has  been  filed  by 
Marcus  Platts,  of  Riverside.  The  proposed  plant  will  be  located  north 
of    Beaumont,    near    the    Riverside-San    Bernardino    county    line. 

COACHELLA,  CAL.— Investigations  are  being  made  by  A.  E.  West 
with  a  view  of  securing  information  as  to  the  amount  of  business  that 
can  be  secured  for  an  electric  power  plant  in  the  Coachella  Valley.  If 
established  the  plant  will  be  financed  entirely  by  outside  capital  and 
will  cost  frdm  $250,000  to  $300,000.  Benjamin  F.  Pearson,  Los  .\ngeles, 
is  interested. 

DIXON,  CAL. — Surveys  are  being  made  by  the  Sacramento  Valley 
El.  Ry.  Co.  for  an  extension  from  Woodland  through  Dixon  to  Denver- 
ton,  a  distance  of  about  35   miles.     C.   L.   Donohue  is  interested. 

GLENDALE,  CAL. — The  municipal  electric-light  department  has  taken 
over  from  the  Glendale  El.  Ry.  Co.  the  electric-light  circuit  leading  to 
Verdugo  Park.  H.  B.  Lynch,  city  electrician,  is  planning  to  place  a  large 
part  of  the  distributing  system  of  the  municipal  service  underground.  Most 
of  the  new  ornamental  street  lamps  will  be  maintained  by  underground 
wires.    More  material  will  be  needed  in  connection  with  the  work. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  City  Power  Bureau  is  in  the  market  for 
high-tension  and  low-tension  switchboards  for  the  generating  and  re- 
ceiving stations  on  the  aqueduct  power  system.  E.  F.  Scattergood  is 
engineer. 

LOS  ANGELES,-  CAL.— The  Los  Angeles  Ry.  Corpn.  has  applied 
to  the  Council  for  three  electric  railway  franchises.  One  is  for  third- 
rail  privileges  on  San  Pedro  Street,  from  Fifth  Street  to  the  old  plaza, 
in  connection  with  the  Pacific  El.  Ry.  Co.,  which  asked  for  a  franchise 
from  Ninth  to  Aliso  Streets.  The  two  other  franchises  are  on  South 
Main  Street  from  Thirty-sixth  Street  to  Slauson  Avenue  and  from 
Slauson  Avenue  to  Manchester  Avenue  respectively. 

PETALUMA,  CAL— The  City  Council  has  authorized  Mayor  William 
Zartmen  to  appoint  a  committee  to  confer  with  the  Petaluma  Pwr.  & 
Wtr.  Co.  and  devise  plans   for  acquiring  the  plant. 

SACRAMENTO,  CAL.— The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  granted 
the  Pacific  Gas  &  El.  Co.  permission  to  issue  $5,000,000  in  bonds  for 
improvements  and  extensions  to  its  system  in  California,  entailing  ulti- 
mately a  total  expenditure  of  about  $12,282,441.  The  proposed  improve- 
ments include  hydroelectric  power  plants  on  the  South  Fork  of  the  Yuba 
River  in  Nevada  County  and  on  the  Bear  River  in  Solano  County  oppo- 
site Crockett  in  Contra  Costa  County,  a  eteam  power  station  in  Sacramento, 
a  two-circuit  steel  tower  transmission  line  from  Cordelia  to  San  Rafael, 
and  general  extensions  and  improvements  to  its  system,  including  new 
office  building  in  Sacramento  and  additions  to  the  San  Francisco  offices. 
The  steam  power  station  in  Sacramento  will  cost  about  $409,820  and  the 
additions   to  the   San  Francisco  oflfices   $350,000. 

SAN  BERNARDINO,  CAL.— The  Arrowhead  Reservoir  &  Pwr.  Co. 
has  applied  to  the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to  issue 
14,000,000  in  bonds,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  to  complete  the  Little  Bear 
Valley  dam,  to  construct  dams  in  Grass  Valley  and  at  Holcomb  reser- 
voir, to  build  a  reservoir  ,on  Deep  Creek  and  other  work. 

SOMESBAR,  CAL. — A  company  has  been  formed  to  build  a  power 
plant  2  miles  above  the  junction  of  the  Klamath  and  Salmon  Rivers.  At 
this  point  a  tunnel  2  miles  long  will  be  bored  and  water  from  the  Klamath 
River  carried  to  the  Salmon  River.  Electricity  generated  at  the  plant 
will  be  used  to  operate  a  gold  dredger  between  the  dam  in  Klamath 
River  and  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers.  Mr.  Langford  is  engineer 
in    charge    of    the    work. 

VALLEJO,  CAL. — The  contract  for  furnishing  electricity  for  operating 
the  pumping  station  at  Lake  Chabot  has  been  awarded  to  the  Great 
Western  Pwr,  Co.  The  city  commissioners  recently  made  arrangements 
to  secure  the  city  water  supply  from  Lake  Chabot. 

COLORADO  SPRINGS,  COL.— Steps  have  been  taken  to  extend  the 
ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Nevada  Avenue  to  Bijou  and  on 
Bijou  between  Nevada  Avenue  and  Tejon  Street.  Ornamental  lamp 
standards  carrying  five-lamp  clusters  will  be  used.  John  Argust  is  a 
member   of   the  committee. 

WILMINGTON,  DEL.— Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect,  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Oct.  17  for  an  electric  passenger  service  and  hydraulic  freight  lift  in 
the  extension  to  the  United  States  post  office  and  court  house,  Wilming- 
ton, Del.,  in  accordance  with  drawings  and  specifications,  copies  of  which 
may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office.  Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising 
architect. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— Plans  have  been  completed  for  the  installa- 
tion of  a  new  street-lighting  system  on  Delaware  Avenue  and  the  streets 
surrounding  the  Capitol  and  the  Senate  and   House  office  buildings,   work 


on  which  will  begin  in  the  near  future.  An  appropriation  of  $12,000  has 
been  made  for  the  purchase  of  new  lamp  standards. 

ATLANTA,  GA.— Plans  have  been  prepared  by  R.  C.  Turner,  city 
electrician,  for  a  municipal  arc-lamp  system,  which  provides  for  1600 
arc  lamps  and  925  incandescent  lamps  and  400  ornamental  lamp 
standards. 

CAMILLA,  GA. — The  City  Council  has  called  an  election  to  be  held 
Oct.  9  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  issue  $27,500  in  bonds,  of  which  the 
proceeds  of  $10,000  will  be  used  for  extensions  and  improvements  to 
the  municipal   electric-light   plant   and  water-works  system. 

COLUMBUS,  GA.— The  Columbus  Pwr.  Co.  contemplates  the  erection 
of  a  transmission  line  from  Columbus  to  Americus  to  supply  electricity 
there. 

DARIEN,  GA. — The  Council  has  awarded  the  Darien  Ice  &  Lt.  Co. 
a  contract  to  light  the  streets  with  electricity.  Machinery  for  the  pro- 
posed plant  has  been  ordered.  William  H.  Blount  will  have  charge  of 
the   plant. 

BUHL,  IDAHO.— I.  B.  Perrine  has  submitted  a  proposition  to  C.  A. 
Taylor  and  E.  A.  Milner,  of  Buhl,  for  the  construction  of  an  electric 
line  out  of   Buhl   through   Castleton  to  the   Salmon   River. 

CALDWELL,  IDAHO.— The  Idaho-Oregon  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  will  soon 
begin  work  on  the  construction  of  a  substation  and  depot  in  Caldwell,  to 
cost    about    $75,000. 

GRANGEVILLE,  IDAHO.— The  Rapid  River  Mining  &  Milling  Co. 
has  acquired  a  power  site  and  will  develop  it. 

BLOOMINGTON,  ILL. — The  power  plant  of  the  Bloomington  &  Nor- 
mal Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  was  damaged  recently  by  explosion  of  one  of  the 
boilers. 

CHAMPAIGN,  ILL.— C.  A.  Kiler  and  E.  S.  Swigert,  representing 
citizens  on  West  Park  Avenue,  have  asked  the  City  Council  for  per- 
mission to  erect  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system,  to  cost  $1,500, 
on  West  Park  Avenue,  the  city  to  maintain  it. 

DANVILLE,  ILL.— The  capital  stock  of  the  Danville  St.  Ry.  &  Lt. 
Co.  has  been  increased  from  $700,000  to  $1,500,000.  the  proceeds  to  be 
used  to  care  for  increased  business  and  for  improvements  to  the  property. 

ELGIN,  ILL. — The  North  Spring  Street  Improvement  Association  con- 
templates the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system.  E.  N. 
Herbster  is   interested. 

FORESTON,  ILL.— The  Village  Board  has  accepted  the  proposition 
of  the  Northern  Illinois  Utilities  Co.  to  install  23  ornamental  lamp 
standards,  carrying  cluster  lamps,  in  the  business  district  and  36  tungsten 
lamps  of  60  cp  in  the  residential  section  and  to  maintain  same  at  a 
cost  of  $1,688  per  year. 

HIGHWOOD,  ILL.— The  property  of  the  Chicago  &  Milwaukee  El. 
R.  R.  Co.  was  purchased  at  master's  sale  on  Sept.  25  by  Attorney  New- 
man for  the  bondholders  for  $1,650,000.  The  company  will  soon  be  re- 
organized and  $10,000,000  in  bonds  issued,  of  which  $3,000,000  will  be 
spent    immediately    for   betterments   and   equipment, 

ROCKFORD,  ILL.— The  Central  Union  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  to  erect 
a   new    direct    copper    metallic    circuit    from    Rockford    to    Dixon. 

ROCK  ISLAND,  ILL.— The  Tri-City  Automatic  Home  Tel.  Co.  has 
filed  a  petition  with  the  city  commission  asking  that  the  proposition  to 
grant  the  company  a  25-year  franchise  be  submitted  to  the  voters. 

CAMPBELLSBURG,  IND.— The  City  Council  has  granted  J.  H. 
James  a  25-year  franchise  to  build  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant  here. 

LA  PORTE,  IND. — Announcement  has  been  made  that  Fox  Brothers 
have  offered  to  pay  one-half  of  the  cost  of  a  lighting  system  in  the  Fox 
Memorial,  the  cost  of  which  is  estimated  at  $1,500.  The  La  Porte  El. 
Co.,  it  is  said,  will  have  to  install  a  new  transformer  to  enable  it  to  fur- 
nish  the   park  service. 

MILROY,  IND. — An  electric-light  plant  is  being  installed  by  Charles 
Witters  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  during  the  fall  festival.  Later 
the  plant  will   be  enlarged  and  will  supply  electrical  service  to  the  town. 

VALPARAISO,  IND. — A  company  has  been  organized  to  install  an 
electric  plant  here.  Plans  submitted  by  a  consulting  engineer  estimate 
the  cost  of  a  plant  of  sufficient  output  to  meet  the  demands  of  the 
city  at  from  $50,000  to  $75,000  and  the  cost  of"  operating  same  at 
$15,000   per  year. 

WEST  LEBANON,  IND.— The  Village  Board  is  contemplating  the 
installation    of   an    electric-light    plant. 

CEDAR  FALLS,  lA. — In  the  report  submitted  to  the  City  Council 
by  A.  T.  Maltby,  of  Chicago,  111.,  consulting  engineer,  the  cost  of  a 
municipal  electric-light  plant  for  street-lighting  is  estimated  at  $30,000, 
and  one  to  supply  electricity  for  municipal  and  commercial  lighting  at 
$48,000. 

CHURDAN,  lA. — At  an  election  held  Sept.  17  the  proposition  to  ap- 
propriate $10,000  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  and  $5,000 
for  a  water-works   system  was  carried. 

GLIDDEN,  lA. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  erection  of  an 
electric-light  plant  here.  Transmission  lines  will  probably  be  erected 
to    Ralston    and    Scranton. 

GOLDFIELD,  lA.— The  Park  Dam  Co.,  of  Eldorado,  has  been  granted 
a   franchise   to   supply  electricity   for   lamps  and   motors   here. 

GREENFIELD,  lA. — At  an  election  to  be  held  Oct.  21  the  proposition 
to  issue  $9,000  in  bonds  for  extensions  to  the  municipal  electric-light 
plant  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote. 


746 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


HOPKINTON,  lA. — The  Council  has  decided  to  establish  its  former 
street-lighting  service.  It  is  proposed  to  erect  16  electroliers  on  Main 
Street  and  42  suspended  lamps  throughout  the  residential  district.  The 
city  has  been  without  street  lamps  for  some  time. 

LEON,  lA. — The  City  Council  has  decided  to  purchase  the  property 
adjoining  the  railroad  track  east  of  the  depot  for  a  site  for  the  electric 
power  station.  It  has  not  yet  been  decided  whether  to  use  steam  or 
gasoline  engines  to  drive  the  plant. 

MARSHALLTOWN,  lA. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  Electric 
Lighting  Department  to  replace  a  large  number  of  the  old  arc  lamps 
with  150-watt  lamps,  which  will  make  it  possible  to  extend  the  lighting 
service. 

NORWAY,  lA. — At  an  election  held  Sept.  23  the  proposition  to  grant 
the  Cedar  Rapids  &  Iowa  City  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  a  franchise  to  supply  elec- 
tricity for  lamps  and  motors  here  was  carried.  The  town  has  also  con- 
tracted  with  the  company  for  street  lighting. 

OTTUMWA,  lA. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  Otil  T.  Hare,  of 
Quincy,  111.,  and  associates  for  the  construction  of  electric  interurban 
railways  radiating  from  Ottumwa. 

OTTUMWA,  lA. — The  Ottumwa  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  is  planning  to  extend 
its  railway  out  on  Court  Street  beyond  the  Ottumwa  Country  Club  to  the 
corner  of  Grand  Avenue  and  Prairie   Avenue. 

RIVERTON,  lA. — At  an  election  to  be  held  Oct.  12  the  proposition 
to  install  an  electric-lighting  system  here  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote. 
Electricity  for  operating  the  system  will  be  supplied  from  either  Shenan- 
doah or  Hamburg. 

WEST  BURLINGTON,  lA.— The  City  Council  has  called  a  special 
election  for  Oct.  29  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  grant  the  Burlington 
Pwr.    Co.    a    25-year    franchise    in    West    Burlington. 

GEORGETOWN.  KY.— The  Kentucky  Trac.  &  Terminal  Co.  contem- 
plates extending  its  electric-lighting  service  to  Georgetown  and  will  re- 
quire  additional   equipment   for   substation. 

HOPKINSVILLE,  KY.— E.  H.  Kennedy,  president  of  the  Owensboro 
Bridge  &  Trac.  Co.,  is  contemplating  the  construction  of  an  electric  rail- 
way to  connect  Owensboro.  Hopkinsville  and  other  places  in  the  western 
part  of  Kentucky. 

LOUISV'ILLE,  KY. — Surveys  'are  being  made  by  the  Louisville  & 
Interurban  R.  R.  Co.  for  an  extension  of  its  suburban  railway  to  Orell 
and  on  to  West  Point,  a  distance  of  6  miles  from  the  present  terminal,  on 
the  Eighteenth  Road. 

BALTIMORE,  MD.— The  Consolidated  Gas  &  El.  Co.  is  extending  its 
transmission  lines  from  Catonsville  to  Hebbville,  a  distance  of  4  miles. 

BALTIMORE,  MD. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  Lighting  Superin- 
tendent McCuen  for  the  installation  of  1000  additional  street  lamps  next 
year,  principally  in  alleys  and  sections  where  streets  are  being  improved. 

AMHERST,  MASS.— The  Amherst  Gas  Co.  has  petitioned  the  Gas  and 
Electric  Light  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  $75,000  in  capital 
stock  to  pay  for  improvements  recently  made  for  extensions  contemplated. 

CHICOPEE.  MASS.— The  Amherst  Pwr.  Co.  has  petitioned  the  Board 
of  Aldermen  for  permission  to  erect  transmission  lines  on  the  Ludlow 
Road. 

GARDNER.  MASS.— The  Gardner  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  Gas 
and  Electric  Light  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  400  shares  of 
additional  preferred  stock  at  $105  per  share  and  400  shares  of  common 
stock  at  $150  per  share,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  paying  the  cost 
of  a  transmission  line  to  South  Bar  re,  erecting  distributing  lines  and 
substations  in  the  towns  of  Westminster,  Hubbardston,  and  Barre  and 
for  improvements  recently  made  and  contejnplated  to  the  local  plant  and 
distributing  system  in  Gardner. 

ROYALSTON,  MASS. — Options  on  large  tracts  of  land  in  Royalston 
have  been  taken  by  parties  connected  with  the  Connecticut  River  Pwr.  & 
Transportation  Co.  It  is  proposed  to  create  a  large  reservoir  as  an 
auxiliary  to  the  company's  system  for  generating  electricity  for  commer- 
cial  purposes. 

WEST  SPRINGFIELD,  MASS.— The  Amherst  Pwr.  Co.  will  apply  to 
the  Selectmen  for  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  West  Springfield. 

GRANT,  MICH.- — The  Village  Council  has  entered  into  a  contract  with 
the  Grand  Rapids-Muskegon  Pwr.  Co.,  Grand  Rapids,  for  lighting  the 
streets  of  the  village  for  a  period   of   10  years. 

PONTIAC.  MICH.— The  Michigan  State  Tel.  Co.  has  appropriated 
$5,000  for  the  erection  of  additional  toll  lines  between  Pontiac  and 
Detroit. 

\^'YANDOTTE,  MICH.— The  City  Council  has  authorized  the  city 
clerk  to  advertise  for  bids  for  a  new  electric  generating  unit  for  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant.  This  equipment  will  include  either  a 
250-kw  turbine  or  a  condensing  engine,  together  with  other  necessary 
equipment. 

BRECKENRIDGE,  MINN. — A  special  election  will  soon  be  held  to 
vote  on  the  proposition  to  issue  bonds  for  improvements  to  the  municipal 
electric-light   plant. 

CROSBY,  MINN. — The  Crosby  Milling  Co..  recently  incorporated,  pro- 
poses to  operate  an  electric  light  and  power  plant  in  connection  with  its 
milling  business.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $25,000.  T.  H.  Kolbo 
and   Carl   E.   Gilbertson  are  among   the   incorporators. 

EAST  GRAND  FORKS.  MINN.— All  bids  submitted  for  the  substation 


for  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  have  been  rejected  by  the  water  and 
light  commission.     New  bids  will  soon  be  asked. 

HOPKINS,  MINN. — A  franchise  has  been  granted  to  the  Consumers' 
Pwr.    Co.   to  supply   electricity   for  lamps   and   motors  here. 

McKINLEY,  MINN. — The  Village  Council  has  entered  into  a  ten-year 
contract  with  the  Northern  Minnesota  Pwr.  Co.  to  supply  electricity 
heie. 

MINNESOTA,  MINN.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  Emil  W.  Erick,. 
vice-president  and  manager  of  the  Citizens'  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Canby» 
for  the  installation  of  a  temporary  plant  here  for  the  winter.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  erect  a  tran.smission  line  from  the  plant  in  Canby  in  the  spring. 

PAYNESVILLE,  MINN.— The  Public  Utilities  Co.,  of  St.  Cloud,  has 
applied  for  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  here,  and  if  it  is  granted  will 
extend  its  transmission  line  to   Paynesville. 

THIEF  RIVER  FALLS,  MINN.— The  Council  has  engaged  an  engi- 
neer  to  prepare  plans  for  a  municipal  telephone  system. 

PURVIS,  MISS. — The  Hand- Jordan  Lumber  Co.  has  purchased  the 
electric  plant  of  the  Purvis  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  which  has  been  out  of  com- 
mission for  the  past  six  months.  The  company  will  move  the  power 
house  from  its  present  site  to  a  location  near  the  planing  mi!!  and  make 
preparations  to  install   the  street  lamps. 

VICKSDURG,  MISS.— Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Wasliington,  D.  C.,  until 
Oct.  30  for  extension,  remodeling,  etc.,  including  plumbing,  gas  piping, 
heating  apparatus,  electric  conduits  and  wiring,  interior  lighting  fixtures 
and  approaches  of  the  L'nited  States  post  office  and  court  house  at 
Vicksburg,   Miss,      Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising  architect. 

HIGGINSVILLE.  MO.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $12,000  have  been 
voted  for  improvements  to  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  water- 
works system. 

LIBERTY,  MO.— The  City  Council  has  awarded  the  Liberty  El.  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  a  new  contract  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  city  for  a  period 
of  five  years.  Lender  the  new  contract  the  arc  lamps  now  in  use  will  be 
replaced  with  88  tungsten  lamps  of  80     cp  and  16  lamps  of  200  cp. 

PALMYRA,  MO. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $6,000  have  been  voted 
for    improvements   to   the   electric-light   plant   and   water-works   system. 

RICH  HILL,  MO. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
issue  $15,000  in  bonds  for  improvements  to  the  municipal  electric-light 
plant  and   water-works  system  was   carried. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  James  C.  Travilla, 
city  street  commissioner,  for  the  installation  of  ornamental  street  lamps 
on  Locust  Street  from  Jefferson  Avenue  to  Crrand  .\ venue  and  later  to 
he   extended   to   several  other   streets. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO.— '■Work  will  soon  be  started  on  the  construction  of  a 
substation  for  the  United  Railways  Co.,  to  be  located  on  the  block 
bounded  by  Mississippi,  Gravois  and  Ann  Avenues.  The  building  will 
transform  power  received  from  the  plant  of  the  Keokuk  Pwr.  Co.  for  use 
on  the  railways  in  the  south  central  part  of  the  city.  The  cost  of  the 
substation   is  estimated  at   $30,000. 

THOMPSON  FALLS.  MONT.— Surveys  have  been  made  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  transmission  line  from  Thompson  Falls  to  Iron  Mountain  to 
supply  electricity  for  the  mines  from  the  plant  of  the  Northwestern 
Devel.    Co. 

BASSETT,  NEB.— At  an  election  held  Sept.  20  the  proposition  to  issue 
bonds  for  the  construction  of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water- works 
system  was  carried.      W.   E.   Buckendorf  is  village  clerk. 

OMAHA,  NEB. — Three  propositions  for  the  construction  of  hydroelec- 
tric plants  upon  the  Loup  and  Platte  Rivers  in  Nebraska  are  under  con- 
sideration by  the  business  men  of  Omaha  and  Lincoln.  The  proposed 
development  includes  the  construction  of  concrete  dams,  building  long 
lines  of  canal  for  irrigation  purposes  and  the  erection  of  more  than  800 
miles  of  transmission  lines.  It  is  estimated  that  more  than  300,000  hp 
can  be  developed.  The  site  for  the  proposed  plants  lies  between  Genoa 
and  Omaha. 

PIERCE,  NEB.— The  Pierce  Milling  Co.  has  purchased  the  local  elec- 
tric-light plant,  and   will   operate  the  same. 

RULO.  NEB. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  in  Rulo  is 
under  consideration.  The  service  may  be  secured  from  the  municipal 
plant  at  Falls  City. 

SHICKLEV.  NEB. — The  Village  Trustees  have  granted  a  franchise  to 
John  F.  Montgomery  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant  here 
for  a  period  of  25  years.  Mr.  Montgomery  and  associates  will  erect  a 
central  generating  plant  at  Edgar  and  erect  transmission  lines  to  the  sur- 
rounding towns  and  villages. 

TILDEN,  NEB. — The  Town  Council  has  awarded  a  contract  to  the  ._ 
Norfolk  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Norfolk,  Neb.,  for  the  installation  of  20  orna-  , 
mental  lamp  standards  carrying  five  lamps  each. 

RENO,  NEV.— The  Sierra  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.,  organized  by  interests 
connected  with  the  Nevada-California-Oregon  R.  R.  Co.,  has  applied  to 
the  City  Council  for  a  franchise  in  Reno.  T.  F.  Dunaway,  president 
of  the  above   railroad;   H.  G.    Comstock  and   E.   F.    Brown  are  interested. 

WINNEMUCCA,    NEV.— The    Golconda   Tel.    &    Pwr.    Co.    has    applied 

to  the  County  Commissioners  for  a  franchise  to  erect  telephone,  electric- 
light  and  power  lines  in  the  streets  and  alleys  of  Winnemucca.  Paradise 
and   National  and   highways  between   the   towns. 


October  s,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WOkLD 


747 


EAST  JAFFREY,  N.  H.— The  New  Hampshire  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co.  has 
purchased  the  property  of  the  Troy  &  Jaffrey  El.  Lt.  Co.  The  New 
Hampshire  Co.  proposes  to  erect  an  independent  transmission  line  and  will 
purchase  electricity  from  the  Connecticut  River  Trans.  Co.,  Fitchburg, 
Mass.  This  line  is  to  run  from  the  main  transmission  line  in  Gardner 
through  Winchendon,  connecting  with  the  Winchendon  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co., 
thence  to  Fitzwilliam;  from  there  the  line  will  continue  to  Jaffrey,  East 
Jaffrey  and  Troy. 

LEBANON.  N.  H.— The  Grafton  County  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  pe- 
titioned the  Public  Service  Commission  for  authority  to  issue  stock  and 
bonds  and  for  permission  to  engage  in  business  in  the  towns  of  Leb- 
anon and  Hanover  and  also  to  transmit  electricity  outside  of  the  State. 
The  company  has  also  asked  for  permission  to  purchase  the  property 
of  the  Lebanon  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Lebanon,  and  of  the  Mascoma  El. 
Lt.  &  Gas  Co.,   of  White  River  Junction,   Vt. 

?IACKETTSTOWN.  N.  J.— The  Hackettstown  El.  Lt.  Co.  is  planning 
to  erect  a  transmission  line  from  its  plant  here  to  Vienna  and  Great 
Meadows,  a  distance  of  4  miles.     Charles  P.  Hankinson  is  superintendent. 

MORRIS.  PLAINS,  N.  J.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  board  of 
hospital  managers  of  the  New  Jersey  State  Hospital  until  Oct.  10  for 
electric  wiring  of  said  hospital.  James  M.  Buckley  is  president.  The 
George  W.  Knight  Co.,  Firemen's  Building,  Newark,  N.  J.,  has  charge 
of  the   engineering  work. 

NEWARK,  N.  J. — The  Board  of  Works  has  passed  a  resolution  asking 
the  Common  Council  to  authorize  a  bond  issue  of  $650,000  for  the  purpose 
of  building  a  municipal  garbage  incineration  and  electric  generating  plant. 
The  cost  of  the  incinerating  plant  is  estimated  at  $400,000  and  that  of 
the  electric  plant  at  $250,000.  The  proposed  plant  will  be  located 
somewhere  in  the  Salt  Meadows  near  the  "mosquito  line."  The  gar- 
bage plant  will  have  a  capacity  of  300  tons  and  the  electric  plant  an 
output  of  750  kw,  which  will  be  sufficient  to  light  one-third  of  the 
city.  It  is  planned  to  install  a  sufficient  number  of  plants  to  supply 
electricity  to  light  all  the  city  streets,  public  buildings,  parks  and  other 
places  under  municipal  control.  The  contract  between  the  city  and  the 
Public   Ser.    El.   Co.- expires   Sept.    1,    1913. 

FIERRO,  N.  M. — The  Phelps-Dodge  interests  are  planning  to  install 
a   large   electric   plant   at   the    copper    mines   at    Fierro. 

BINGHAMTON,  N.  Y.— The  Board  of  County  Supervisors  has  voted 
to  accept  the  proposition  submitted  by  the  city  engineer  for  the  installa- 
tion of  ornamental  street  lamps  in  the  Court  House  Square.  Elecricity 
for  maintaining  the  lamps  will  be  furnished  by  the  county  lighting  plant. 
The  cost  of  the   work  is  estimated  at  about  $2,000. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y.— Bids  will  be  received  by  C.  B.  J.  Snyder,  super- 
intendent of  school  buildings,  Department  of  Education,  corner  Park 
Avenue  and  Fifty-ninth  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  until  Oct.  14  for  in- 
stalling, heating  and  ventilating  apparatus  and  electric  generating  equip- 
ment in  the  Bush  wick  High  School,  on  Irving  Avenue  near  Putnam 
Avenue,  Brooklyn.  The  bids  must  include  a  separate  proposal  on  each 
of  the  following  propositions:  (a)  plant  with  Fitzgibbons  boilers;  (b) 
plant  with  Stirling  boilers;  (c)  plant  with  Milne  boilers;  (d)  ash  con- 
veyor, etc.,  with  proposition  (b)  and  (c).  Blank  forms,  plans  and  specifi- 
cations may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office  and  also  at  the  branch  office, 
\o.    131    Livingston    Street,    Brooklyn. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y. — The  contract  for  electrical  work  in  connection 
with  the  construction  of  the  Buffalo  State  Normal  School  has  been 
awarded  to  the  Johnson-Fay  Electrical  Co.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  for  $10,268. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y.— The  Board  of  Aldermen  has  granted  the  Inter- 
national Ry.  Co.  permission  to  construct  and  maintain  a  six-duct  conduit 
with  necessary  manholes  in  Fay  Street  from  West  Shore  Avenue  to 
Walden  Arenue  and  in  Walden  Avenue  from  Fay  Street  to  Bailey 
Avenue. 

CARROLL,  N.  Y.— The  Carroll  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
Public  Service  Commission  for  approval  of  its  charter  and  franchises. 
The  company  proposes  to  supply  electrical  service  in  Carroll  and  Kian- 
tone.  Electricity  for  operating  the  system  will  be  purchased  from  the 
Warren  &  Jamestown  St.  Ry.  Co.  Arrangements  may  also  be  made  to 
supply    electricity    in    Frewsburg. 

CARTHAGE,  N.  Y.— The  Village  Board  of  Trustees  has  adopted  a 
resolution  looking  toward  the  placing  of   electric  wires   underground. 

CHATHAM,  N.  Y.— The  Chatham  El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  making 
preparations  to  extend  its  transmission  line  from  Ghent  to  Philmont  to 
supply  electricity  in  the  latter  place.  The  company  has  secured  a  con- 
tract for  lighting  the  village. 

FREEPORT,  N.  Y.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Village  Board  of 
Trustees  of  Freeport,  addressed  to  S.  P.  Shea,  village  clerk,  until  Oct. 
18  for  two  78-in.  by  18-in.  horizontal  tubular  steam  boilers  and  for  steam 
main,  boiler-feed  piping,  blow-offs,  and  all  piping  in  connection  with  set- 
ting and  installation  of  the  two  boilers;  also  for  one  22-in.  by  30-in.  hori- 
zontal single-cylinder  Corliss  engine  and  one  300-kw,  three-phase,  60-cycle, 
1100-2200-volt,  150  r.p.m.  alternating-current  generator  and  125-voIt  belt- 
driven  exciter;  also  for  furnishing  and  erecting  a  switchboard  in  con- 
nection with  present  switchboard.  Plans  and  specifications  are  on  file 
at  the  office  of  the  village  clerk.     James  Hanse  is  president  of  the  board. 

LOWVILLE,  N.  Y. — It  is  reported  that  several  large  capitalists  of 
Lewis  and  Jefferson  Counties  have  purchased  the  property  at  Eagle  Falls, 
on  Beaver  River,  and  propose  to  install  a  large  hydroelectric  power  plant 
there.  It  is  proposed  to  build  a  large  sawmill  at  once  for  the  purpose 
of  getting   out   timber    for   the    proposed   dam    and   buildings   at    the    falls. 


The  promoters  have  secured  a  right-of-way  from  Eagle  Falls  to  the 
Carthage  electric  plant  above  Belfort.  It  is  understood  that  electricity 
will  be  supplied  to  the  St.  Regis  Co.,  at  Deferiet,  and  1200  hp  to  the  J. 
P.    Lewis  Co.,  at   Beaver   Falls. 

MIDDLETOWN,  N.  Y.— Plans  have  been  adopted  for  the  erection  of 
a  power  house  for  the  Middletown  State  Hospital,  for  which  an  appro- 
priation has  been  made.  It  will  be  necessary  to  secure  an  additional 
appropriation   for  the   equipment   of  the  building. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  executed 
two  contracts  with  F.  L.  Cranford,  177  Montague  Street,  Brooklyn,  for 
the  construction  of  Sections  Nos.  1  and  1-A  of  the  Brooklyn  subway  in 
Manhattan.  Section  No.  1  runs  from  Trinity  Place  and  Morris  Street 
up  Trinity  Place  and  Church  Street  to  about  Dey  Street,  Manhattan, 
and  Section  No.  1-A  from  that  point  up  Church  Street,  Vesey  Street 
and  Broadway  to  Park  Place.  The  contract  price  for  Section  No.  1  is 
$1,222,269  and  for  Section  No.    1-A,  $982,740. 

NORTH  SYRACUSE,  N.  Y.— A  company  is  being  organized  by  H. 
Romeyn  Smith,  of  Syracuse;  John  Hart  and  C.  L.  Jackson,  of  North 
Syracuse,  and  J.  J.  Jackson,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  to  furnish  electricity  for 
lamps  and  motors  here.  The  company  will  be  known  as  the  North  Syra- 
cuse Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  will  secure  energy  from  the  power  plant  of  the 
Syracuse   &   South    Bay   El.   Ry.    Co. 

NORTH  TONAWANDA.  N.  Y.— The  Tonawanda  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied 
to  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  permission  to  exercise  franchises 
in  the   towns   of   Wheatfield  and   Pendleton,    Niagara   County. 

PERRY,  N.  Y. — The  Perry  Knitting  Co.  is  planning  to  increase  the 
output  of  its  power  plant  by  500  hp.  It  is  proposed  to  construct  a  new 
dam  in  Silver  Lake  and  install  additional  electric  generating  machinery 
and    equipment. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  a  new  street-lighting  system  for  Main  Street.  It  is  expected  that 
State  Street  will  be  included.  Howard  A.  Barrows  is  chairman  of  the 
committee. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  State  En- 
gineering Department  to  contract  with  the  Rochester  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  to 
furnish  electricity  to  operate  and  light  the  guard  locks  of  the  barge 
canal  where  it  crosses  the  Genesee  River  in  Genesee  Valley  Park.  The 
company  will  be  called  upon  to  furnish  the  motors  and  lamps  and  main- 
tain same. 

SHERBURNE,  N.  V. — Arrangements  are  being  made  for  enlarging 
the  municipal  electric-light  plant,  to  cost  about  $5,000.  A  new  engine 
and  generator   will   be  installed. 

WARREN,  N.  Y. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of 
cluster  lamps  on  Liberty  Street  between  Third  Street  and  Pennsylvania 
Avenue. 

HENDERSONVILLE.  N.  C.— Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  Laurel 
St.  Ry.  Co.  to  equip  its  line  in  Hendersonville,  2J^  miles  long,  for  elec- 
trical  operation. 

WHITNEY,  N.  C. — Contracts  have  been  awarded  by  the  Southern 
Aluminum  Co.  to  the  General  EI.  Co.  for  electrical  equipment  for  its 
power  plant  at  Whitney,  to  cost  about  $400,000,  which  will  supply  elec- 
tricity for  the  extensive  aluminum  work's  to  be  established  here.  The 
equipment  consists  of  seven  5000-kw  and  two  2500-kw,  250-volt  alternat- 
ing-current generators  with  necessary  switchboard  and  control  apparatus. 
Electrical  furnaces  will  be  used  in  the  reduction  of  alumina  to  pure 
aluminum  and  the  entire  oytput  of  the  hydroelectric  plant  will  be  uti- 
lized. Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  construction  of  a  second  plant 
to  develop  35,000  hp  later. 

WILLISTON,  N.  D.— The  Council  is  making  arrangements  to  secure 
electricity  from  the  government  to  operate  the  municipal  electric-light 
plant. 

WILTON,  N.  D. — The  City  Council  is  negotiating  with  the  Washburn 
Lignite  Coal  Co.  with  a  view  of  making  extensions  to  the  street-lighting 
system. 

ALLIANCE,  OHIO. — The  City  Council  has  adopted  a  resolution  to 
submit  the  proposition  to  issue  $15,000  in  bonds  to  establish  a  municipal 
electric-light   plant   here  to  the   voters  at   the   November   election. 

AKRON,  OHIO. — The  ordinance  granting  the  Northern  Ohio  Trac. 
&  Lt.  Co.  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  Akron  and  a  contract  for 
street-lighting    has    been    signed    by    Mayor    Rockwell. 

BEACH  CITY,  OHIO. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted 
Mrs.  Peter  Shister  permission  to  purchase  the  local  electric-light  plant. 
The   purchase  price   is  said   to   be   $8,000. 

CINCINNATI,  OHIO.— The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted 
the  Ohio  Trac.  Co.  permision  to  issue  $750,000,  to  be  sold  at  98  to  provide 
funds  for  making  extensions,  acquiring  property  and  completing  work 
already   planned   for   the    Cincinnati   Trac.    Co. 

EAST  LIVERPOOL,  OHIO.— The  Public  Service  Commission  has 
granted  the  Ohio  River  Ry.  Co.  permission  to  issue  $750,000  in  bonds 
to  cover  the  cost  of  extending  its  railway  between  Wellsville  and  East 
Liverpool. 

MARYSVTLLE,  OHIO. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Union 
County  Tel.  Co.,  Marysville,  to  take  over  the  property  and  business  of 
the  Central  Union  Tel.  Co.  in  this  place.  Improvements  and  extensions 
costing  about  $18,000  will  be  made  to  the  system. 

MIDDLETOWN,  OHIO.— The   Eastern  Ltg.  &  Pwr.  Co.   has  purchased 


748 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  14. 


the   property   of  the  Middletown   Gas  &   EI.   Lt.   Co.      Extensions  and  im- 
provements will  be  made  to  the  plant.     L.  C.  Anderson  is  manager. 

MOUNT  BLANCHARD,  OHIO.— The  City  Council  is  contemplating 
the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant,  to  cost  from  $5,000  to 
$6,000. 

MOUNT  VERNON,  OHIO.— The  Mount  Vernon  Ry.  Co.  has  applied 
to  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  permission  to  purchase  the  street- 
lailway  property  of  the  Mount  Vernon  El.  Co.,  which  it  is  operating  un- 
der a  lease.  The  price  has  been  placed  at  $50,000.  The  company  ha« 
also  petitioned  for  authority  to  issue  $100,000  in  bonds,  the  proceed! 
of  the  remainder,  after  payment  for  the  railway,  to  be  used  for  improve- 
ments and  extensions  to  the  property. 

ORRVILLE,  OHIO.— The  Massillon  EI.  &  Gas  Co.,  Massillon,  has  ap- 
plied to  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  permission  to  purchase  the 
property  of  the  Orrville  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr  Co.  for  $20,000.  The  Massillon 
company  proposes  to  consolidate  the  two  systems  and  operate  them  under 
one   head. 

HOOKER,  OKLA. — The  Council  has  awarded  the  contract  for  con- 
struction of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system  to 
Kennedy  &  Fleming,  engineers,  Oklahoma  City.  The  cost  is  estimated 
at  $22,000. 

EUGENE,  ORE.— The  electric  railway  of  the  Oregon  El.  Ry.  Co. 
from  Portland  to  Eugene  is  nearly  completed.  The  road  will  be  ex- 
tended to  Medford   in   the   near   future. 

FLORENCE,    ORE. — The    Florence   El.    Co.    contemplates   enlarging   its 
plant  soon  to  enable   it  to  supply  electricity  for  range  and  harbor  lamps. 
LA    GRANDE,    ORE. — Work    will    soon    begin    on    the    installation    of 
cluster  street  lamps  in  the   business  section. 

NEHALEM,  ORE. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  Council  by 
Charles   Foster   for  a   30-year   franchise   to   supply   electricity   here. 

PORTLAND,  ORE.— The  PorUand  Ry.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to 
begin   work   on   the   Mount  Tabor  branch  in   the   near   future. 

PANAMA. — Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  general 
purchasing  officer.  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C,  un- 
til Oct.  12  for  furnishing  structural  steel  for  hydroelectric  power  sta- 
tion. Blanks  and  general  information  relating  to  this  circular  (No.  736) 
may  be  obtained  from  the  above 'office  or  at  the  offices  of  the  assistant 
purchasing  agents,  24  State  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  and  614  Whitney- 
Central  Building,  New  Orleans,  La.  Major  F.  C.  Boggs  is  general 
purchasing    olficer. 

PANAMA. — Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  general 
purchasing  officer.  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C,  un- 
til Oct.  30  for  furnishing  necessary  equipment  for  the  new  Colon  water 
works,  including  regulators,  controllers,  air  compressors,  air  hoists,  etc., 
and  the  necessary  multi-stage,  electrically  driven  fire  pumps,  transform- 
ers, pump-station  piping,  traveling  crane  and  miscellaneous  details  for 
pumping  station.  Blanks  and  general  information  relating  to  this 
circular  (No.  739)  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office  or  at  the  offices 
of  the  assistant  purchasing  agents,  24  State  Street,  New  York;  614 
Whitney-Central  Building,  New  Orleans,  La.,  and  1086  North  Point 
Street,  San  Francisco,   Cal.     Major  F.   C.   Boggs  is  purchasing  agent. 

DALLASTOWN,  PA.— The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  York  &  Windsor 
El.  Lt.  C^.  have  been  taken  over  by  interests  affiliated  with  the  Edison 
El.  Ll  Co.,  of  York.  It  is  expected  that  improvements  will  be  made 
to  the  plant  and  service.  John  B.  Landers  has  been  elected  president 
and    S.    H.    Ludwig    secretary    and    treasurer. 

IRWIN,  PA. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of  an 
ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  Irwin. 

PITTSBURGH.  PA.— The  West  Penn  Trac.  &  Wtr.  Co.  has  com- 
menced work  on  several  important  additions  to  its  railway  system  and 
IS  also  enlarging  its  substation  and  carhouses  at  various  points.  Fran- 
chises and  rights-of-way  have  been  secured  and  contracts  let  for  an 
electric  railway  to  connect  Latrobe  with  the  main  line  between  Con- 
nellsville  and  Greenburg  at  the  Hecla  Works  on  the  Frick  Coal  &  Coke 
Co.  Surveys  are  also  being  made  for  a  railway  to  extend  from  Hunker 
to  West  Newton,  and  another  from  West  Newton  to  Scott  Haven,  a 
total    of   about    15    miles. 

SHARON,  PA.— The  Shenango  Valley  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  submitted  a 
proposition  to  the  City  Council  offering  to  supply  street  arc  lamps  at  $55 
each  per  year  under  a  five-year  contract  and  $48  per  lamp  per  year  on  a 
ten-year  contract,  the  city  to  use  any  number  of  lamps  that  may  be 
desirable.  At  present  149  lamps  are  in  use.  The  city  is  contemplating 
the   installation   of  a  municipal   electric-light   plant. 

SUNBURY,  PA. — Work  has  begun  on  construction  of  the  power  house 
for  the  Odd  Fellows'  Orphanage,  near  Sunbury.  The  plant  will  supply 
electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and  motors  for  the  school  buildings  and  to 
pump  water  for  the  institution. 

PAWTUCKET,  R.  I.— Plans  have  been  prepared  by  McClintock  & 
Craig,  Springfield,  Mass.,  for  the  erection  of  a  power  plant  for  D.  Gough 
&  Son,  Pawtucket. 

ABERDEEN,  S.  D.— The  Dakota  Central  Tel.  Co.  contemplates  im- 
provements and  extensions  to  its  system  in  South  Dakota  and  southern 
North   Dakota  which  involve  an   expenditure   of  about   $50,000. 

CANASTOTA.  S.  D. — Plans  have  been  prepared  for  the  installation 
of  an  electric-light  system   here. 

LESTERVILLE,  S.  D. — ^The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  here 
is  under  consideration. 


DRESDEN.  TENN. — The  Dresden  Commercial  Club  is  promoting  a 
movement  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water-work* 
system   for  the  town. 

JOHNSON  CITY,  TENN.— Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  installa- 
tion  of  an   ornamental   street-lighting  system  in  the   business  district. 

FORT  WORTH,  TEX.— The  city  commissioners  and  the  Park  Board 
are  contemplating  installing  arc  lamps  in  the  parks  to  replace  the 
incandescent  lamps  now  in  use. 

GAINESVILLE,  TEX.— The  Texas  Utilities  Co..  of  Dallas,  is  con- 
templating the  construction  of  an  interurban  electric  railway  between 
Gainesville   and    Sherman,    a   distance   of   about    30   miles. 

GREENVILLE,  TEX. — Arrangements  are  being  made  for  the  installa- 
tion of  an  electric-light  plant  at  Wesley  College  to  supply  electricity  for 
lighting   the   college    buildings   and   dormitories. 

GREENVILLE,    TEX. — It   is    reported   that   steel   rails   have   been    pur- 
chased   for    the    first    12    miles    of    the    Anna,    Blue    Ridge    &    Greenville 
Interurban    Railway.      The    entire    length    of    the    road    will    be    32    miles.  ■ 
A.    R.    Nichols   is    promoter. 

HALLETTSVILLE,  TEX.— The  City  Council  is  planning  to  install 
new   equipment   in    the   municipal   electric-light   and   water   plants. 

HOUSTON,  TEX. — Extensive  improvements  and  extensions  are  con- 
templated by  the  Houston  El.  Co.  to  its  system  this  year,  which  will  in- 
volve an  expenditure  of  about  $1,000,000.     David  Daly  is  manager. 

LONGVIEW,  TEX.- — Preliminary  arrangements  are  being  made  for 
the  construction  of  an  interurban  electric  railway  to  extend  from  Long- 
view,  Tex.,  to  Shreveport,  La.,  a  distance  of  about  65  miles.  A  branch 
line  will  probably  be  built  to  Jefferson,  Tex.  T.  C.  Morgan,  R.  G. 
Brown,  G.  A.   Kelly  and  W.   K.   Eckman,  all  of  Longview,  are  interesetd. 

NEW  BRAUNFELS,  TEX.— The  City  Council  has  awarded  the  Mid- 
land Engineering  &  Const r.  Co.  the  contract  for  erecting  pumping  sta- 
tion at  head  of  river  to  furnish  water  supply  at  $52,447.  The  contract 
includes  pump,  pipe  line  to  city  reservoir,  280-hp  engine  and  equipment 
for  electric-light  plant. 

SHINER.  TEX.— The  United  Pwr.  Devel.  Co.  would  like  to  receive 
estimates  on  electrical  machinery  for  water-power  plant,  including  tur- 
bines,  wire,   poles,  etc.      William  Green,   Shiner,   is  president. 

WICHITA  FALLS,  TEX. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  con- 
struction of  an  electric  railway  from  Wichita  Falls  to  Electra  and  from 
Elect ra  to  Burkburnett,  a  distance  of  about  30  miles.  A  syndicate 
of   Tulsa.    Okla.,   capitalists   are   interested. 

WICHITA  FALLS,  TEX. — Extensive  improvements  are  contemplated 
by  the  Strickland  interests  within  the  next  few  months  to  water  and 
light  systems  recently  acquired  by  them,  which  will  involve  an  expendi- 
ture of  about  $100,000,  and  will  include  the  erection  of  new  lighting  cir- 
cuits so  as  to  give  three  circuits  instead  of  one,  changes  in  the  lighting 
system  in  the  downtown   district  and  extensions  to   water  mains. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH. — Surveys  are  being  made  for  a  proposed 
electric  interurban  railway  between  Salt  Lake  City  and  Payson,  a  distance 
of  62  miles.  The  cost  of  the  road  is  estimated  at  $2,000,000.  John 
MacGinness,  a  Montana  banker,  and  Thaddeus  S.  Lane,  of  Spokane, 
Wash.,   are   interested   in   the   project. 

LYNCHBURG,  VA. — The  Chamber  of  Commerce  would  like  to  receive 
estimates  on  the  installation  of  sixty-eight  five-lamp  electroliers,  equipped 
with  tungsten  lamps.  Specifications  may  be  obtained  on  application  to 
E.   H.    Mayfield,    business  secretary. 

NEWPORT  NEWS.  VA.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  special 
lighting  committee  for  the  installation  of  a  new  street-lighting  system. 
The  plans  call  for  luminous-arc  lamps  and  "Mazda"  lamps  in  the  busi- 
ness district. 

CONCRETE,  WASH.— The  city  will  soon  begin  work  on  the  instal- 
lation  of   a  fire-alarm   system. 

EATONVILLE,  WASH.— The  Forestry  Service  is  planning  to  build 
more  than  40  miles  of  trails  and  telephone  lines  in  the  Raincr  National 
Forest,    involving   an    expenditure    of    about    $5,000. 

ELLENS  BURG,  WASH. — Tentative  plans  have  been  prepared  for 
the  construction  of  a  large  hydroelectric  power  plant  on  the  Columbia 
River  at  Priest  Rapids  to  develop  from  75,000  hp  to  100,000  hp.  The 
plans  call  for  the  construction  of  a  canal  9  miles  long.  300  ft.  wide  at 
the  top  and  150  ft.  at  the  bottom,  with  a  depth  of  45  ft.  Electricity 
generated  at  the  plant  will  be  distributed  in  the  towns  along  the  river 
for  lamps  and  motors.  The  cost  of  the  project  is  estimated  at  $12,000,000. 
Oscar   \  oightlander   is   interested. 

EVERETT,  WASH. — The  County  Commissioners  have  granted  the 
Sultan  El.  Co.  a  25-year  franchise  to  erect  a  transmission  line  along 
the   E.   M.   Taylor,  and   Monroe-Sultan   roads. 

LYMAN,  WASH.— The  Skagit  River  &  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  franchise  to  operate   in   Lyman. 

LYMAN,  WASH.— The  Pacific  Northwestern  Trac.  Co.  has  been 
granted   a    franchise   to  extend   its  system   to  Lyman. 

GREEN  BAY,  WIS.— The  Wisconsin  Securities  Co.  has  purchased 
for  the  use  of  the  Green  Bay  Gas  &  El.  Co.  a  site  on  the  Fox  and  East 
Rivers,  near  the  gas  works.  The  coirpany  proposes  to  build  a  coal  dock 
on    the    rivers   and    to    build    on    other    property    as    business   develops. 

SPRING  VALLEY,  WIS.— The  Chippewa  Valley  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.. 
Eau  Claire,   it  is  said,  will  take  over  the  property  of  the   Spring  Valley 


October  5,  igra. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


749 


Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  extend  its  transmission  lines  to  Spring  Valley.  Tlic 
system  will  be  changed  from  direct-current,  220  volts,  to  alternating-cur- 
rent,   110    volts. 

VERNON,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  Okanogan  Tel.  Co.  is  contemplating 
extensive  improvements  and  extensions  to  its  system,  involving  an  ex- 
penditure  of   about    $200,000. 

ST.  JOHN.  N.  B.,  CAN.— The  St.  John  St.  Ry.  Co.  is  extending  its 
transmission  lines  to  East  St.  John  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps.  The 
company  will  begin  work  at  once  on  the  extension  of  its  street  railway 
to  that  district. 

COBALT,  ONT.,  CAN. — The  British  Canadian  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
absorbed  by  the  Northern  Ontario  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  J.  H.  Black  is 
manager    of    the    Northern    Ontario    company. 

GODERICH.  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission 
has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  Town  Council  offering  to  develop  power 
on  the  Maitland  River  if  1500  hp  is  guaranteed  and  to  sell  it  at  $27  per 
hp.  In  the  meantime  if  the  power  is  wanted  at  once,  it  will  erect  a  trans- 
mission line  from  Seaforth  and  supply  it  at  the  same  price. 

HAMILTON,  ONT..  CAN.— Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  City  Council 
to  compel  the  local  electric-light,  telephone  and  telegraph  companies 
to    place   their   wires  underground    in   the   business   district. 

TORONTO,  ONT..  CAN.— Electricity  for  lighting  York  Township  in 
this  vicinity  will  be  supplied  by  the  Hydro- Electric  Power  Commission. 
Work  will   begin  at  once   on   installation   of  the  system. 

WELLAND,  ONT..  CAN.— The  Welland  Elecl.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
City  Council  for  permission  to  erect  transmission  lines  on  Heilems 
Avenue. 

WINDSOR.  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Edison  Illg.  Co.  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  has 
commenced  work  on  the  construction  of  a  large  electric  plant  on  the 
river  front  in  Sandwich,  Ont.,  which  when  completed  will  probably 
supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  the  towns  of  Essex.  Leaming- 
ton and  Amberstburg.  These  towns  at  present  are  supplied  with  electrical 
service  by  small  Ipcal   plants. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  ALYEA  MANUFACTURNG  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  111.,  has 
been  incorporated  by  Charles  B.  Alyea,  Graham  Van  Ness  and  Preston 
Clark.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000  and  proposes  to  manu- 
facture  and   deal   in   machinery,    electrical    devices   and    appliances. 

THE  BLANDING  ELECTRICAL  SUPPLY  COMPANY,  of  Bingham- 
ton,  N.  Y.,  has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000. 
The  incorporators  are:  Harold  T.  Blanding,  J.  A.  Blanding  and  E.  L. 
Ackerman,  all   of  Binghamton. 

THE  DYER  FLAMING  ARC  COMPANY,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  has 
filed  articles  of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  to  manufacture  and  deal  in  motors, 
dynamos  and  other  electrical  machinery. 

THE  ELECTRIC  SERVICE  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  111.,  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500  to  do  a  general  electrical 
work  and  an  electrical  engineering  business.  The  incorporators  are : 
L.   V.   Murphy,   Ambrose   McLaughlin   and   George   C.    Schnackle. 

THE  KOSMARK  ELECTRICAL  COMPANY,  of  Jersey  City.  N.  J.. 
has  been  incorporated  by  J.  R.  Cubit,  of  Eatontown,  N.  J.;  W.  Kosinski, 
39  Stevens  Avenue,  and  J.  R.  Mack,  530  Garfield  Avenue,  both  of  Jersey 
City.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000  and  proposes  to  manufac- 
ture  electrical    horns   and   signals   for   automobiles,    electric   batteries,   eU. 

THE  LAMAY  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to  manufacture 
and  sell  motors,  engines,  machines,  etc.  The  incorporators  are:  A.  B. 
Headley.  P.  E.  Tucker  and  A.  C.   Lamay,  of  Rochester. 

THE  RETENBER  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Logansport,  Ind.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  E.  A.  Retenber, 
J.  F.  Digan  and  J.  E.  Long.  The  company  proposes  to  manufacture  all 
kinds    of    electrical    devices,    machinery,    implements,    etc. 

THE  SLTNSET  SIGN  COMPANY,  of  Newark.  N.  J.,  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $125,000  by  C.  B.  Herman,  J.  F. 
Marion  and  A.  McMahon.  of  Jersey  City.  The  company  proposes  to 
manufacture  electrical   signs,  etc. 

THE  WIZARD  SIGN  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY,  of  Chicago. 
111.,  has  been  incorporated  by  W.  H.  Devenish,  H.  J.  Meyers  and  J. 
Warner,  of  Chicago,  111.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $25,000  and 
proposes  to  manufacture  advertising  devices. 


New  Incorporations 

BENTONVILLE,  ARK.— The  Northwest  Arkansas  Ry.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $648,000  to  build  an  electric  rail- 
way to  connect  Bentonville.  Rogers,  Springdale,  Cave  City  and  Pea 
Ridge,   a  distance   of  36   miles. 


CENTRALIA,  ILL.— The  Centralia  Trac.  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
charter  to  construct  a  railway  from  Broadway  in  Centralia,  to  the 
new  Illinois  Central  railroad  yards  in  Washington  County.  The  com- 
pany is  capitalized  at  $25,000  and  the  directors  are:  John  Langen- 
field.  Max  Prill,  Martin  Beck,  John  Kihnlein  and  Charles  C.  Baldwin, 
all    of   Centralia. 

PAYSON,  ILL.— The  Payson  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  filed  articles  of 
incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  to  operate  an  electric  light 
and  power  plant.  The  incorporators  are;  William  K.  Elliott,  1..  K. 
Seymour,   H.    F.    Scarborough   and   G.   W.   L.    Baker. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILL. — The  Mississippi  Valley  Trac.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  by  George  M.  Skelley,  Col.  W.  S.  Campbell,  C.  F.  Smith, 
of  Springfield;  Edward  C.  Creager,  of  Kent,  Ohio,  and  Johnson  M. 
Creager,  of  Youngstown,  Ohio.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $2,500  and 
proposes  to  construct  an   interurban   railway  from   Springfield   to   Quincy. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.— The  Merchants'  Utility  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $4,000,000  to  construct  electric  inter- 
urban railways  and  to  distribute  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and  motors. 
The  directors  are:  Edward  L.  McKee,  C.  M.  Polen,  Henry  H.  Horn- 
brook,  Albert  P.  Smith  and  Walter  S.  Gloss. 

MICHIGAN  CITY,  IND.— The  Michigan  City,  Lakeside  &  St.  Joe 
El.  Ry.  Co.,  has  applied  for  a  charter  to  construct  an  electric  railway 
from  St.  Joseph  to  New  Buffalo,  thence  in  a  southwesterly  direction 
to  the  Indiana  State  line  to  connect  with  an  extension  to  Michigan  City. 
The  proposed  railway  will  be  36  miles  in  length.  The  company  is 
capitalized  at  $750,000  and  the  directors  are:  G.  C.  Marsh,  P.  C.  Cramer, 
Otto  Egloff,  all  of  Chicago,  111.;  Eugene  Sheed  and  H.  Bussan,  of  New 
Buffalo,   Mich.,   and   J.   H.   MacMillan,   of   Lagrange,    111. 

VALPARAISO,  IND.— The  Citizens'  Mutual  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000.  The  directors  are: 
Charles  E.  Foster,  John  W.   Sieb  and  James  H.  McGill  and  others. 

PETERSON,  lA. — The  Peterson  Pwr.  &  Milling  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $40,000  to  supply  light  and  heat  and  do  a 
general  milling  business.  The  directors  are:  A.  M.  Jones,  D.  McMillan, 
A.   O.   Anderson,  W.   E.   Landsberg  and  E.  L.  Mantor. 

KANSAS  CITY,  MO.— The  Heath  El.  Co.  has  been  chartered  witk  a 
capital  stock  of  $2,500  by  H.  L.  Heath,  G.  G.  Steele  and  H.  G.  Woodruff. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. — The  New  Y'ork  Municipal  Railway  Corpn  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000,000  in  the  interests 
of  the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Co.,  to  carry  out  the  company's  agree- 
ment with  the  city  for  the  joint  construction  of  certain  new  rapid- 
transit  lines  embraced  in  the  dual  system.  The  directors  are:  Anthony 
N.  Brady,  J.  Horace  Harding,  Walter  G.  Oakman,  John  T.  Greier,  James 
C.  Brady  and  George  W.  Davidson,  of  New  York;  Timothy  S.  Williams, 
Charles  A.  Brady,  Clinton  D.  Burdick,  John  W.  Weber,  George  D. 
Yeomans,  John  Englis  and  Arthur   K.   Woods,   of   Brooklyn. 

SPENCER,  N.  Y'.— The  Seely  EI.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $15,000  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and  motors  in 
Spencer.  The  incorporators  are:  Mary  E.  Seely,  Charles  A.  Seely  and 
Hart  I.  Seely,  all  of  Spencer. 

NAZARETH,  PA. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  with  the 
StWe  Department  by  the  Pennsylvania  Utilities  Co.  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$40,000.  The  company  has  taken  over  and  merged  the  following  com- 
panies: Slate  Belt  El.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Jay,  Adams,  Webster,  Calhoun, 
Quincy  and  Jackson  Pwr.  Companies,  which  were  chartered  to  operate 
in    Northampton   and    Monroe    Counties. 


Trade  Publications 

SYNCHRONISM  INDICATOR.— The  General  Electric  Company  has 
recently  issued  Bulletin  No.  4975,  which  is  a  revision  of  a  former  bul- 
letin, No.  4613,  devoted  to  the  synchronism  indicator. 

CIRCUIT-BREAKERS. — The  Condit  Electrical  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, 76  Batterymarch  Street,  Boston,  Mass.,  is  distributing  its  advance 
catalog  on  the  Big  "C"  line  of  oil-break  and  carbon-break  circuit-breakers, 
which  supersedes  all  previous  price  lists. 

POWER  TRANSFORMERS. — Bulletin  No.  154,  recently  brought  out 
by  the  Crocker-Wheeler  Company,  Ampere,  N.  J.,  is  devoted  to  its  oil- 
insulated,  self-cooled  and  water-cooled  transformers,  50  kva  to  5000  kva. 
A  fully  illustrated  description  of  this  apparatus  is  given. 

LAMP  TESTING. — The  engineering  department  of  the  National  Elec- 
tric Lamp  Association,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  tells  a  litle  "story"  about  itself, 
its  efforts,  accomplishments  and  aims  in  Bulletin  2A,  recently  published. 
Illustrations  of  the  various  sections  of  this  department  brighten  tke 
pages  of  text. 

POLYPHASE  INDUCTION  MOTORS.— The  Mechanical  Appliance 
Company,  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  has  just  brought  out  a  new  thirty-page  cat«- 
loe  describing  its  type  K  polyphase  induction  motors.  This  illustrated 
booklet  gives  all  the  details  of  construction,  a  list  of  the  standard  sizes, 
with  speed  and  horse-power  output,  and  a  description  of  the  operating 
characteristics. 

MACHINE  TOOLS. — The  Newton  Machine  Tool  Works,  Inc.,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.,  have  recently  published  Catalog  No.  47,  which  describes  in 
detail  the  machine  tools  manufactured  by  this  company.  It  contains 
several  excellent  full-page  illustrations  of  boring,  drilling  and  milling 
machines  and  also  numerous  smaller  views.  The  catalog  contains  muck 
of   interest   to   the   manufacturers   of   electrical   apparatus. 


750 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14, 


ROTARY  CON VERTEK.— Leaflet  No.  2494  issued  by  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  fully  illustrates  and  describes 
the  Westinghouse  synchronous-booster  rotary  converter.  This  machine 
consists  of  a  standard -rotary  converter  in  combination  with  a  revolving- 
armature  alternating-current  generator  mounted  on  the  sirae  shaft  with 
and  ha/ing  the  same  number  of  poles  as  the  converter,  by  means  of 
which   the  direct-current  voltage   may   be  varied. 

WOOD-PRESERVING  MACHINERY.— The  Power  &  Mining  Ma- 
chinery Company,  115  Broadway,  New  York,  has  issued  Bulletin  P-35, 
which  contains  interesting  historical  information  on  wood  preservation, 
treating  especially  the  period  which  began  with  the  introduction  of  Sir 
William  Burnett's  process  in  1838  and  subsequent  developments.  The 
general  arrangement  of  a  creosoiing  plant  is  presented,  with  illustrations 
of  the  machinery   employed  and   miscellaneous   information. 

MAP  OF  CROCKER-WHEELER  DISTRICT  OFFICES.— The  Crock- 
er-Wheeler Company,  Ampere,  N.  J.,  is  sending  out  as  part  of  a  letter 
an  outline  map  of  the  United  States,  on  which  are  indicated,  by  means  of 
black  lines  radiating  from  one  large  'business  center  to  another,  the 
cities  in  which  the  company  maintains  district  and  sales  offices.  The 
object  of  this  is  to  make  it  plain  that  any  kind  of  electrical  machinery 
may  be  secured  without  delay  from  any  of  these  district  offices. 

HIGH-TENSION  PANELS.— A  booklet  distributed  by  Messrs.  Fer- 
ranti,  Ltd.,  of  England,  describes  their  totally  inclosed  high-tension,  iron- 
clad panels  and  shows  various  safety  interlocks  coupled  to  the  switches 
and  door.  It  also  describes  a  typical  panel  and  gives  details  of  addi- 
tional equipment  that  may  be  required.  Further  descriptive  matter  deals 
with  the  upper  and  lower  doors,  the  switch  operations  and  the  busbar, 
isolating   switch,   transformer,   oil   switch   and   other   compartments. 

ELECTRIC  DRILLS  AND  GRINDERS— The  Standard  Electric  Tool 
Company,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  devotes  Bulletin  D-6  to  its  "Standard"  high- 
power,  ball-bearing  electric  drills  and  Bulletin  G-5  to  its  small  portable 
electric  grinders.  Both  bulletins  were  recently  issued,  and  these  tools 
are  now  being  placed  on  the  market.  It  is  claimed  that  they  will  with- 
stand the  most  severe  continual  service;  that  their  mechanical  construc- 
tion is  strong,  rigid  and  simple  and  that  they  are  built   for  high   power. 

STEAM  AND  GAS  ENGINES.— An  attractive,  well-illustrated  forty- 
eight- page  catalog  is  being  distributed  by  the  Mesta  Machine  Company, 
West  Homestead,  Pa.,  which  contains  a  brief  description  of  its  plant  and 
product.  Among  other  machinery  manufactured  by  this  company  are 
gas  and  steam  engines  for  power  plants,  power-transmitting  machinery, 
air  compressors  and  condensers,  rolling  mills  and  blast  furnaces.  Some 
recent  installations  of  Mesta  gas  engines  in  power  stations  are  described. 

TUNGSTEN  LAMPS. — The  Edison  Lamp  Department  of  the  General 
Electric  Company,  through  its  general  sales  office  at  Harrison,  N.  J.,  has 
recently  distributed  a  lithographed  chart,  size  44  in.  by  28  in.,  ready  foi 
hanging,  illustrating  eighteen  different  types  of  tungsten-filament  lamps 
in  actual  size.  The  poster  is  brilliantly  colored  and  produces  a  very 
striking  effect.  Under  each  lamp  appears  its  own  specification.  The  chart 
makes  a   ready   pictorial   reference   for   present   and  intending   purchasers. 

ELECTRIC  SUPPLIES.— A  large  general  catalog— No.  9— size  8  in. 
by  11  in.,  has  recently  been  issued  by  the  Electrical  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, 926  Lafayette  Street.  New  Orleans,  La.  It  has  sixty  pages,  devoted 
to  the  illustrations,  descriptions  and  specifications  of  panels,  cabinets, 
service  boxes,  switchboards,  electric  signs,  theater  equipments,  knife 
switches,  electric  incubators  and  hovers,  and  other  miscellaneous  devices. 
The  section  relating  to  self-regulating  electric  incubators,  hovers  and 
brooders  is  very  complete. 

STEEL  AND  TIN  PLATE  REFERENCE  BOOK.— The  American 
Sheet  &  Tin  Plate  Company,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  has  issued  a  new  and  revised 
edition  of  its  "Reference  Book,"  and  has  conjbined  in  it  some  interesting 
history  of  the  industry,  specific  data  and  numerous  tables  and  calcula- 
tions. A  good  index  to  the  contents  and  another  to  tables,  gages, 
weights,  etc.,  lend  value  to  the  little  book.  It  contains  152  pages,  a  few 
of  which  are  blank  for  memoranda,  and  is  bound  in  leather,  vest-pocket 
size,   with   full   gilt   edges.      It  is  copyrighted  and   the   price  is   $1. 

INSULATING  MATERIAL.— Five  serial  bulletins  on  insulating  ma- 
terial are  being  sent  out  by  the  Mica  Insulator  Company,  68  Church 
Street,  New  York,  which  are  printed  separately  'and  placed  in  a  special 
binder.  They  are  Nos.  78.  79,  80,  81  and  82.  This  company  has  been 
manufacturing  insulating  material  for  the  last  twenty  years.  The  latest 
catalog  contains  information  on  its  various  products,  including  vulcanized 
fiber  sheets,  tubes  and  rods,  untreated  papers,  sleevings,  friction  and 
splicing  tapes,  sheliac.  etc.,  and  will  be  of  interest  to  engineers  and  pur- 
chasing agents. 

SWITCHBOARD  INSTRUMENTS.— The  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company  has  just  issued  a  series  of  dtsciiptive  leaflets 
(Nos.  2465  to  2473)  illustrating  its  new  line  of  switchboard  indicating 
meters.  On  each  leaflet  is  a  full-size  fac-simile  of  the  meter  dial,  the 
purpose  of  which  is  to  present  a  correct  idea  of  the  actual  appearance 
of  the  meter  when  installed.  By  mounting  one  of  these  leaflets  on  the 
wall  an  accurate  idea  of  the  readability  of  the  meter  from  any  distance 
or  position  may  be  gained. 

MANILA  ROPE.- The  C.  W.  Hunt  Company,  West  New  Brighton, 
N.  '^.,  is  distributing  its  Catalog  12-8  on  manila  rope  for  transmission 
and  hoisting  purposes.  This  fifty-page  illustrated  pamphlet  is  a  brief 
treatise  for  engineers  on  the  use  of  ropes  for  power  transmission,  to- 
geth'er    with    formulas,    tables    and    data    useful    in    mill    engineering.      It 


rope.  Page  46  gives  a  condensed  bibliography  on  rope-driving,  which  in- 
cludes  only   recognized   authorities. 

CONTROLLERS. — The  Reliance  Electric  &  Engineering  Company, 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  in  its  recently  issued  Bulletin  No.  7010  illustrates  and 
describes  its  automatic  starting  control  apparatus  for  motor-driven  ma- 
chinery. This  company  has  developed  a  complete  system  of  automatic 
starling  control  for  practically  all  types  of  machine  tool  drives  and 
claims  that  it  was  the  first  motor  manufacturer  to  accomplish  this,  which 
it  did  after  thoroughly  demonstrating  the  practical  merit  and  relJabilily 
of  automatic   starters   for   such   service. 

DIFFERENTIAL  RECORDING  GAGES.— Bulletin  No.  67.  recently 
issued  by  the  Industrial  Instrument  Company,  Foxboro,  Mass.,  deals 
with  its  differential  recording  gage.  This  instrument  has  been  placed 
on  the  market  to  meet  the  increasing  demand  for  an  instrument  to  record 
satisfactorily  the  difference  between  two  existing  pressures.  This  dif- 
ferential recorder  does  not  differ  in  appearance  from  the  regular  indus- 
trial recorder,  having  a  round  case  which  is  moisture-proof,  dust-proof 
and  flume-proof.  These  instruments  are  especially  adapted  for  use  with 
Venturi  meters  and  Pilot  tubes  to  record  the  velocity  and  volume  of 
liquids  and  gases  flowing  through  mains,  also  to  record  height  of  liquids 
in  vessels  under  pressure,  such  as  the  height  of  water  in  steam  boilers. 
The  bulletin  contains  records  from  two  different  installations  as  ex- 
amples of  results  obtained. 


Business  Notes 


als 


-il.iri»>lp    f»n 


different  methods  of  splicing  transmission 


THE  MACHEN  &  MAYER  ELECTRICAL  MANUFACTURING 
COMPANY,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  has  moved  its  factory  from  Seventh  and 
\  ine   Streets  to  Twenty-first   Street   and   Fairmount  Avenue. 

THE  PACIFIC  ELECTRIC  HEATING  COMPANY,  Ontario,  Cal,,  kas 
changed  its  name  to  the  Hotpoint  Electric  Heating  Company  in  order  to 
indicate  the  character  of  its  output  and  remove  the  implication  of  limita- 
tion in  territory  covered. 

LOCKWOOD,  GREENE  &  COMPANY,  architects  and  engineers,  of 
Boston,  have  opened  a  Chicago  office  in  the  First  National  Bank  Building, 
which  will  be  in  charge  of  Mr.  Theodore  A.-Hurgen,  who  will  look  after 
the  firm's  business  in  the  new  territory. 

THE  CRAVENS  ELECTRIC  COMPANY  has  moved  its  offices  as 
designing  and  manufacturing  engineers  from  the  Commercial  National 
Bank  Building  to  12  South  Jefferson  Street,  Chicago,  III.  A  fully 
equipped   shop   will    be    maintained    at    the    same   address. 

THE  UNION  LIGHT  &  SUPPLY  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  which  is 
the  sole  American  importer  and  distributor  of  wire-drawn  "Just"'  tungsten 
lamps,  has  opened  an  office  in  the  Hudson  Terminal,  50  Church  Street, 
New  York  City,  where  Mr.  J.  F.  A.  Comstedt,  president  of  the  company, 
will    maintain    his    headquarters. 

THE  KERR  TURBINE  COMPANY,  Wellsville,  N.  Y.,  has  opened 
a  district  office  in  Pittsburgh,  at  2137  Oliver  Building.  The  office  will 
be  in  charge  of  Mr.  R.  M.  Rush,  formerly  with  the  Dravo-Doyle  Com- 
pany. With  Mr.  R»sh  will  be  associated  Mr.  F.  B.  Allen,  formerly  of 
the  Cleveland  office  of  the  Cooper-Hewitt  Electric  Company. 

THE-  PURE  CARBON  COMPANY.  Wellsville.  N.  Y.,  is  making 
announcement  of  the  establishment  of  an  engineering  department  for 
the  aid  of  engineers  and  others  interested  in  carbon  brushes  of  any 
manufacture,  and  tbe  services  of  these  experienced  engineers  are  placed 
at  the  service  of  all  users  of  electrical  machines  and  carbon  brushes. 

MR.  H.  E.  RICE,  who  for  a  number  of  years  has  been  connected  with 
the  Atwater-Kent  Manufacturing  Works,  of  Philadelphia,  as  sales  mana- 
ger, has  resigned  from  that  company  and  has  accepted  a  position  as 
general  manager  of  sales  of  the  Schoen-Jackson  Company,  of  Media.  Pa. 
The  Schoen-Jackson  Company,  which  was  formerly  a  prominent  manu- 
facturer of  pressed-steel  cars  and  car  wheels  and  which  now  manufactures 
flexible  metallic  tubing,  is  about  to  place  on  the  market  a  new  carburetor 
for  automobile  use. 

THE  CROCKER-WHEELER  COMPANY,  Ampere,  N.  J.,  in  a  recently 
published  illustrated  thirty-two-page  brochure,  gives  an  interesting  history 
of  its  home  city  and  of  the  company  and  its  personnel.  Some  excellent 
photographs  embellish  this  attractive  publication  and  give  an  idea  of  the 
extensive  works  developed  from  modest  beginnings.  Biographies  and 
portraits  of  Dr.  Wheeler  and  Professor  Crocker  lend  additional  interest 
to  this  publication.  A  financial  statement  for  the  year  ended  Dec.  31, 
1911,  is  also  included.  The  front  cover  contains  a  reproduction  in  colors 
of  the  bronze  tablet  which  is  set  in  the  wall  of  the  waiting  room  at 
Ampere,  in  honor  of  Andre  Maiie  Ampere,  whose  name  is  used  through- 
out the  world  to  designate  the  unit  of  electric  current. 

WESTERN  ELECTRIC  COMPANY.— As  the  result  of  taking  over 
the  business  of  the  Cleveland  Electrical  Supply  Company,  the  Western 
Electric  Company  has  increased  its  family  of  distributing  houses.  It 
retains  the  entire  personnel  of  the  supply  company  which  it  supersedes, 
with  the  exception  of  Mr.  R.  F.  La  Ganke,  vice-president  and  manager, 
who  is  retiring  from  active  business.  Mr.  H.  A.  Speh,  of  the  Buffalo 
house,  succeeds  to  the  post  of  manager.  Mr.  Louis  Griesser,  sales 
manager,  has  been  twenty  years  in  the  electrical  business  at  Cleveland. 
The  Cleveland  house  has  in  Mrs.  M.  L.  Hausman  the  only  saleswoman 
in  the  company's  employ.  It  is  probable  that  a  warehouse  will  be  es- 
tablished in  the  near  future  for  the  service  of  the  Central  Union 
Telephone  in  Ohio.  A  telephone  sales  department  has  also  been  or- 
ganized under  the  sppervision  of  Mr.  F.  E.  Triebner,  formerly  of  the 
electric    company's    Nashville    office. 


October  5,  19.' 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


751 


Directory  of  Electrical  Associ- 
ations, Societies,  Etc. 

Alabama  Light  &  Traction  Association.  Secretary-Treasurer,  Geo. 
S.  Emery,  11  N.  Royal  St.,  Mobile,  Ala.  Annual  convention,  Birming- 
ham, November,    1912. 

American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  Secretary. 
L.   O.   Howard,    Smithsonian    Institution,   Washington,    D.   C. 

American  Electric  Railway  Accountants'  Association.  Secretary,  H. 
E.  Weeks,    Davenport,  la.     Annual   meeting.   Chicago,    Oct.    7-11,    1912. 

American  Electric  Railway  Association.  Secretary,  H.  C.  Donecker, 
29  West   39th   St.,   New   York.     Convention,   Chicago,   Oct.    7-11,    1912. 

American  Electric  Railway  Engineering  Association.  Secretary, 
Norman   Litchfielcl,   Interborough   Rapid  Transit  Company,  New  York. 

American  Electrochemical  Society.  Secretary,  Prof,  J.  W.  Richards. 
Lehigh   University,    South    Bethlehem,    Pa. 

American  Electro-Therapeutic  Association.  Secretary,  Dr.  J.  Wil- 
lard  Travell,  27  East   11th  St.,  New  York. 

American  Institute  of  Consulting  Engineers.  Secretary-Treasurer: 
Eugene  W.  Stern,  103  Park  Aye.,  New  York  City.  The  Council  meets 
the  first  Friday  of  every  month. 

American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary,  F.  L. 
Hutchinson,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York.  Meeting,  second  Friday  of 
each  month,   October-May. 

American  Physical  Society.  Secretary,  Ernest  Merritt,  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, Ithaca,  N.  Y.  Annual  meeting,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  jointly  with 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  December, 
1912. 

American  Water  Works  Association.  Secretary,  T.  M.  Diven,  271 
River  St.,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Arkansas  Association  Public  Utility  Operators.  Secretary.  W.  J. 
Tharp,   Little   Rock, ,  Ark. 

Association  of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies.  Secretary,  H.  T. 
Edgar,   Seattle,   Wash. 

Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary, 
James    Farrington,    Steubenville.    Ohio. 

Association  of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary-Treasurer, 
Jos.  A.  Andreucetti.  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway.  Chicago.  Annual 
convention.  Auditorium  Hotel,  Chicago.  Oct.  21-26,   1912. 

Association  of  Railway  Telegraph  Superintendents.  Secretary.  P. 
W.  Drew,  112  West  Adams  St.,  Chicago.  Annual  meeting,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
May  20,    1913. 

Colorado  Electric  Club.  Secretary,  C.  F.  Oehlmann.  Meets  every 
Thursday  at  Albany   Hotel,   Denver,   Colo. 

Colorado  Electric  Light,  Power  &  Railway  .Association.  Secretary, 
Thomas    F.    Kennedy,    900    15th    St.,    Denver,    Colo. 

Electric  Club  of  Chicago.  Secretary,  W.  M.  Connelly,  1417  Monad- 
nock  Block.   Chicago.     Meets  every  Thursday  noon  at  Hotel   Sherman. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  New  York  State.  Secretary, 
Geo.  W.  Russell,  Jr.,  25  West  42d  St.,  New  York.  Annual  meeting,  Syra- 
cuse, N.   Y.,  Jan.   21,    1913. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  State  of  Missouri.  Secre- 
tary, Ernest  S.  Cowie,   1613  Grand  Ave.,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  Wisconsin.  Secretary,  Albert 
Petermann,    Milwaukee,   Wis. 

Electrical  Credit  Association  of  Chicago.  Secretary,  Frederick  P. 
Vose,  Marquette  Building,  Chicago. 

Electrical  Credit  Association  of  Philadelphia.  Secretary-Treasurer, 
John  W.  Crum,  1324  Land  Title  Building.  Philadelphia,  Pa.  Executive 
Committee  meets  second  and   fourth  Thursday   of   each   month. 

Electrical  Salesmen's  Association.  Secretary,  Francis  Raymond,  125 
Michigan   Ave.,    Chicago.      Annual    meeting,    Chicago,    January   each    year. 

Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Association.  Secretary,  Franklin  Over- 
bagh.  411  South  Clinton  St.,  Chicago,  III.  Next  quarterly  meeting.  Hot 
Springs,    Va.,    November    13-15,    1912.  ' 

Electrical  Trades  Association  of  Canada.  Secretary,  William  R. 
Stavely,   Royal   Insurance   Building,   Montreal,   Can. 

Electrical  Trades  Association  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  Secretary, 
Albert  H.  Elliot,  Harding  Building,  34  Ellis  St.,  San  Francisco.  Cal, 
Meeting,  San  Francisco,  second  Thursday  of  each  month. 

Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America.  Ass't  Secretary,  Harvey 
Robinson,  124  West  42nd  Street.  New  York.  Meeting,  fourth  Tuesday 
of  each   month.      Convention,    Boston,    Oct.   8-9,    1912. 

Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America,  New  England  Section. 
Secretary,  W.  E.  Holmes.  46  Blackstone  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Meetings 
monthly  upon  notice. 

Empire  State  Gas  &  Electric  Association.  Secretary,  Charles  H. 
B.  Chapin,  Engineering  Societies  Building,  29   West  39th   St.,  New  York. 

Florida  Electric  Light  &  Power  Association.  Secretary,  H.  C. 
Adams,  West  Palm  Beach,   Fla. 

Gas,  Electric  &  Street  Railway  Association  of  Oklahoma.  Secre- 
tary-Treasurer,   Prof.    H.    V.    Bozell.    Norman,    Okla. 

Illinois  State  Electrical  As.sociation.  Secretary,  H.  E.  Chubbuck, 
Peoria.    III. 


Illuminating  Engineering  Society.  General  Secretary,  P.  S.  Millar, 
Engineering  Societies  Building,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York.  Sections 
in  New  York,   New   England,   Philadelphia,   Chicago   and   Pittsburgh. 

Independent  Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  Greater  New 
York.  Secretary,  A.  Newburger.  1153  Myrtle  Ave.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Meetings   second  and   fourth   Wednesdays,   New   Grand   Hotel,   New   York. 

Indiana  Electric  Light  Association.  Secretary,  J.  V.  Zartman,  120 
So.  Meridian  St.,  Indianapolis,  Ind.  Annual  meeting,  Indianapolis,  Oct. 
16-17,    1912. 

Institute  of  Radio  Engineers.  Secretary,  E.  J.  Simon,  81  New  St., 
New  York.     Meeting,  first  Monday  oi  each  month. 

International  Association  for  Testing  Materials.  Secretary,  H.  J. 
F.   Porter,  29  West  39th  St.,   New  York. 

International  Association  of  Municipal  Electricians.  Secretary, 
C.   R.  George,  Houston,  Tex. 

International  Combustion  Engineers'  Association.  President, 
Charles  Kratsch,  416  W.  Indiana  St.,  Chicago.  Meeting,  second  Friday 
of  each  month  at  Lewis  Institute. 

International  Electrical  Congress.  Secretary.  J.  A.  Barus.  Expo- 
sition   Bldg.,    San   Francisco.    Cal.     San    Francisco,    1915. 

International  Electrotechnical  Commission,  (international  body 
representing  various  national  electrical  engineering  societies  contributing 
to  its  support).  General  Secretary,  C.  le  Maistre.  28  Victoria  St.,  West- 
minster,   London,   S.   W.,   England.     Next   meeting  at   Berlin  in   1913. 

Iowa  Electrical  Association.  Affiliated  with  N.  E.  L.  A.  Annual 
convention,  Waterloo,  April  23-24,  1913.  Secretary,  A.  W.  Zahm.  Mason 
City.  la. 

Iowa  Street  &  Interurban  Railway  Association.  Secretary.  H.  E. 
Weeks,  Davenport,  la.     Annual  meeting,  April,   1913,  Waterloo,  la. 

Kansas  Gas,  Water,  Electric  Light  &  Street  Railway  Association. 
Secretary,  James  D.  Nicholson,  Newton,  Kan.  Annual  meeting,  Man- 
hattan, Kan.,  Oct.   17-19,   1912. 

Louisiana  Electrical  Con'tractors'  Association.  Secretary,  W.  H. 
Bower  Spangenberg,  625  Poydras  St..  New  Orleans,  La.  Meets  second 
Thursday   of  each  month. 

Maine  Electric  Association.  Secretary,  Walter  S.  Wyman,  Water- 
ville.   Maine. 

Minnesota  Electrical  Association.  Secretary.  E.  F.  Strong.  Chaska, 
Minn.     Sixth  annual  convention,  March   15-22,    1913. 

Missouri  Electric,  Gas,  Street  Railway  &  Water  Works  Associa- 
tion, Secretary-Treasurer,  P.  W.  Markham,  Brookfield.  Mo.  Next 
convention   at   Mexico,  Mo..    1913. 

National  Arm,  Pin  &  Bracket  Association.  Secretary.  J.  B.  Magers, 
Madison,    Ind. 

National  District  Heating  Association.  Secretary.  D.  L.  Gaskill, 
Greenville,   Ohio. 

National  Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  the  United  States. 
Secretary,   W.    H.   Morton,   41    Martin   Building,   Utica.   N.   Y. 

National  Electric  Light  Association.  Executive  Secretary,  T.  C. 
Martin.  Engineering  Societies  Building,  33  West  39th  St.,  New  York, 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Canadian  Section.  Secre 
tary,  T.   S.  Young.  220  King  St.   West,  Toronto.   Can. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Commercial  Section,  Secre 
tary,  E.   L.   Callahan,  29  West  39th   St.,  New  York. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Eastern  New  York  Section, 
Secretary,  R,   H.   Carlton,   General   Electric   Company,  Schenectady,    N.   Y, 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Georgia  Section.  Secretary' 
Treasurer.   M.   H.   Hendle,   Augusta,   Ga. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Michigan  Section,  Secretary, 
Herbert   Silvester,   18  Washington  Boulevard,  Detroit.  Mich. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Mississippi  Section.  Secre- 
tary,  A.   H.  Jones,   McComb   City,   Miss. 

National  Electric  Light  Association.  Nebraska  Section,  Secre- 
tary-Treasurer,  S.  J.   Bell,   David   City,   Neb. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  New  England  Section.  Sec 
retary.  Miss  O.  A.  Bursiel,  149.  Tremont  St..  Boston,  Mass.  Fourth 
annual   convention,   Boston,  Oct.   15-17. 

National  Electric  Light  Association.  Northwest  Section.  Secre- 
tary,  N.    W.   Brockett,   Pioneer   Building,    Seattle.   Wash. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Hydroelectric  and  Power 
Transmission  Section.  Secretary.  Farley  Osgood,  Public  Service  Electric 
Company.   Newark.  N.   J. 

National  Electric  Credit  Association.  Secretary,  Frederic  P.  Vose, 
1343  Marquette  Building,  Chicago. 

National  Electrical  Inspectors'  Association.  Secretary.  W.  L. 
Smith,    Concord,    Mass. 

National  Fire  Protection  Association.  Secretary-Treasurer,  Franklin 
H.  Wentworth,  87  Milk  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Next  annual  meeting,  New 
York,    May   13-15,   1913. 

National  Independent  Telephone  Association.  Secretary -Treasurer, 
Richard  Valentine,  Janesville,   Wis. 

New  England  Electrical  Credit  Association.  Secretary,  Alton  F. 
Tupper,  60  State  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Directors  meet  first  Wednesday  of 
each  month. 

New  England  Street  Railway  Club.  Secretary,  John  J.  Lane.  12 
Pearl   St..  Boston,  Mass.     Meets  last  Thursday  of  each   month. 


X 


7S2 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


New  Orleans  Electrical  Contractors'  Association.  Secretary,  S.  J. 
Stewart,  312  Carondelet  St.,  New  Orleans,  La.  Meetings,  second  and 
fourth  Tuesday   of  each  month. 

•Vew  York  Electrical  Credit  Association  (affiliated  with  the  National 
Electrical  Credit  Association).  Secretary,  Franz  Neilson,  80  Wall  St., 
.\'ew   York.      Board   of   Directors   meets  second   Thursday   of  each   month. 

New  York  Electrical  Society.  Secretary.  G.  H.  Guy,  Engineering 
Societies  Building.  33  West  39th  St.,  New  York. 

New  York  Electric  Railway  Association.  Secretary.  Charles  C. 
Dietz.   United  Traction   Company,   .Mbany,  N.   Y. 

Ohio  Electric  Light  .Association.  Secretary.  D.  L.  Gaskill,  Green- 
ville, Ohio. 

Ohio  Society  of  Mechanical.  Electrical  &  Steam  Engineers.  Sec- 
retary, Prof.  F.  E.  Sanborn,  Ohio  State  University,  Columbus,  Ohio. 
Annual  meeting,   Akron.  Ohio,  Nov.   21   and  22,   1912. 

Pennsylvania  Electric  Association  (State  Section  N.  E.  L.  A.). 
Secretary-Treasurer.  Walter  E.  Long,   1000  Chestnut  St.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Pittsburgh  Electrical  Booster  Club.  Recording  Watt,  George  H. 
Criss.  1806  Union  Hank  Huilding.  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  Meeting,  first  Mon- 
day each   month. 


Railway  Signal  Association.  Secretary,  C.  E.  Rosenberg,  Bethlehem, 
Pa. 

Rejuvenated  Sons  of  Jove.  Jupiter,  R.  L.  Jaynes.  Pittsburgh,  Pa.; 
Mercury   (Secretary),  E.  C.  Bennett,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education.  Secretary. 
Prof.  H.  H.  Norris,  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

Southwestern  Electrical  &  Gas  Association.  Secretary,  H.  S. 
Cooper,   405   Slaughter  Building,   Dallas,  Texas. 

Vermont  Electrical  Association.  Secretary-Treasurer,  A,  B.  Mars- 
den,  Manchester,  V't. 

Western  Association  of  Electrical  Inspectors.  Secretary,  W.  S. 
Boyd,  76  West  Monroe  St.,  Chicago,  111.  Convention,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
Jan.   28-30.   1913. 

Western  Society  of  Engineers.  Electrical  Section.  Secretary,  J.  H. 
Warder,  1737  Monadnock  Block,  Chicago.  Regular  meeting,  foyrth  Mon- 
day of  each  month,  except  January,  July  and  August.  Annual  meeting, 
Tuesday   after  Jan.    1   each  year. 

Wisconsin  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  George  Allison,  Ste- 
phenson Building,  Milwaukee.  Wis. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED   STATES   PATENTS   ISSUED  SEPT.    24.    1912. 
[Prepared   by   Robert    Starr   Allyn.    16   Exchange    Place,    New   York.] 
1.039,107.       GOVERNING    DEVICE;     W.    W.     Dean,    North    Ridgeville, 
Ohio.      App.    filed    Aug.    16,    1911.      Centrifugal   governor   for    circuit 
controlling. 

1.039,110.  ELECTRIC  MOTOR;  H.  I.  Finch,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  App.  filed 
April    15,    1911.      Self-ventilating. 

1.039  120.  ELECTRIC  SADIRON;  L.  E.  Grubbs,  Logansport,  Ind.  App. 
hied  March  30,    1911.      Resistance  coil   disposed  in   grooves. 

1.039.129.  DISCONNECTING  ELECTRICAL  SWITCH;  D.  G.  Hooker, 
l-armmgton,  Conn.  .App.  filed  Oct.  27.  1911.  Blade  switch  with  long 
operating   handle    for   manhole   bo.x.   etc. 

1.039,135.  PROCESS  OF  ELECTRIC  WELDING;  A.  L.  Johnson,  Ham- 
burg, N.  Y.  App.  filed  Sept.  29,  1911.  Metal  buttons  are  interposed 
between  members  to  be  welded. 

1.039,137.  PROCESS  OF  ELECTRIC  WELDING;  A.  L.  Johnson,  Ham- 
burg N.  Y.  App.  filed  April  4,  1912.  Tubular  metal  buttons  and 
angular  contact  faces  are  interposed  between  the  members  to  be 
welded. 

I.039,13.S.  PROCESS  OF  ELECTRIC  WELDING:  A.  L.  Johnson,  Ham- 
burg, N.  Y.  App.  filed  .April  17,  1912.  A  welding  piece  is  projected 
through   one  of  the  members  to  be  welded  and  against  the  other. 

1,039,139.  SECTIONAL  SERVICE  BOARD;  N.  Joleen,  Chicago,  III 
App.   filed   Oct.   30,    1911.      Lock  cabinet   for  electrical   distribution. 

1.039.142.  ELECTRIC  BURGLAR  ALARM;  T.  W.  Keenleyside,  Bisbee, 
.Ariz.  App.  filed  April  15,  1912.  Window  contacts  with  a  look-out 
device. 

1.039.151.  GOVERNOR:  J.  J.  Lisch,  Bellevue,  Ky.  App.  filed  Nov.  15, 
1909.      Automatic    controller    for    fluid    compressors. 

1.039  156.  PLUG  SWITCH;  J.  J.  Lyng,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed 
Nov.    18,   1909.     Twin  plug  and  jack  for  telephone  switchboard. 

1.039,162.  ELECTRIC  ARC  LAMP;  L.  M.  McBride,  Denver,  Col.  App. 
filed  Oct.   18,   1909.     Feeding  device  for  converging  electrodes. 

1.039,170.  ELECTRIC  CONTROLLER  DEVICE;  J.  F.  Miller  and  W.  V. 
Turner,  Edgewood.  Pa.  App.  filed  April  6,  1911.  Slow-motion  de- 
vice  for  car-coptrolier   handle. 

1.039.174.  THERMOSTAT;  E.  Moss.  Christchurch,  New  Zealand.  App. 
filed    June    24.    1909.      F.xpansible    liquid   type. 

1.039,197.  VARIABLE-SPEED  ELECTRIC  GENER.\TOR;  C.  H 
Roth  and  W.  J.  Warder,  Jr.,  Chicago,  HI.  App.  filed  Nov.  3,  1909. 
Centrifugal    governor   for   car   and   windmill   motor-generator   sets. 

1.039.247.  ELECTRIC  SIGNAL;  C.  V.  Blake.  Brookline,  Mass.  App. 
filed  Feb.  29,  1912.  Long-distance  electric  trolley  systems.  (Im- 
provement on  Patent  No.  810,027.) 

1.039.248.  JUNCTION  BOX;  W.  L.  Bliss,  Milwaukee,  Wis.  App.  filed 
-May  2,  1910.  For  protection  against  moisture,  for  instance  on  car 
roofs. 

1.039,257.  FUSED  DISCONNECTINV,  SWITCH;  R.  C.  Cole,  Hart- 
ford, Conn.  App.  filed  April  23,  1912.  Pivoted  tubular  fuse  hous- 
ing. 

1.039,264.      PNEUMATIC   BLOW-OUT   FOR    ELECTRIC   SWITCHES; 

E.    H.    Dewson,    New    York,    N.    Y.      App.   filed   Oct.    13,    1905.      For 

electric    pump    governor,    etc. 
1.039.266.       DIAPHRAGM     FOR     ELECTROLYSIS:     O.     Dieffenbach. 

Darmstadt,  Germany.     App.  filed  July   I,   1911.     Composed  of  cement 

and  asbestos  fiber. 
1.039,272.       SYSTEM     FOR     CONTROLLING     ELECTRIC     MOTOKS 

.\NI)  THE   LIKE    FRU.M   A    DISTANCE;    H.   Gradenwitz.    W.    Voll- 

brecht    and    H.     Levzow,    Berlin,    Germany.       App.    filed    March     15. 

1911.     Telpherage  system. 
1.039.279.     CONNECTOR;   W.    P.   Hammond,   Passaic,   N.   J.     App.   filed 

Oct,    12,.  1911.      Spring-pressed  jaws   for  gripping  a  binding  post. 
1.039.298.     STEP-BY-STEP  INSUL.ATION  FOR  ELECTRIC  CONDUC- 
TORS  OR  THE   LIKE;   K.   Kurda.   Cliarlottenburg,   Germany.     App- 

filed    Aug.    20,    1907.      Plurality    of    alternating    layers    of    insulating 

and   conducting   material. 
1.039,307.      ARMATURE    WINDING;    J.    F.    McEIroy,    Albany,    N.    Y. 

.App.  filed  Oct.  21,  1905.     Special  slotted  core  winding  for  multipolar 

machines. 
1,039,324.     ELECTRIC  SIGNAL  AND  TRAIN  CONTROL;  J.  H.   Sanor 

and    E.    W.    Conkel,    Canton,    Ohio.      App.   filed   Nov.    27,    1911.      For 

signaling   and    braking   approaching    trains. 
1,039,346.     TROLLEY  POLE  RETRIEVER;   E.   B.  Wintrode   (deceased). 


Lus    .Angeles,    Cal.      App.    filed    April    13,    1911.      Maximum    pressure 
during    maximum    consumption. 

1.039,361.  CAR  ATTACHMENT;  E.  E.  Campbell,  Tacoma,  Wash.  App. 
filed   June   2,    1911.      Gravity   trolley   retriever. 

1,039,387.  ALTERNATING-CURRENT  METER;  K.  H.  Gyr,  Zug. 
Switzerland.  App.  filed  May  12,  1909.  Magnetic  field  of  rotary 
disk   type. 

1.039,395.  EXPULSION  SWITCH;  E.  M.  Hewlett,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
App.   filed   May  21,    1906.     Oil   type   with  swinging  contact. 

1.039,410.  TELEGRAPHIC  INSTRUMENT;  L.  H.  Jernigan,  Sacra- 
mento, Cal.  .App.  filed  Feb.  23,  1912.  Sending  instrument  with  ad- 
justable   sounder. 

1.039,415.  PROCESS  OF  O.XIDIZING  OR  REDUCING  CHEMICAL 
SUBSTANCES  BY  WAY  OF  ELECTROLYSIS;  G.  Kolsky,  New 
York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Nov.  3,  1911.  One  electrode  surrounds  the 
other. 

1,039,418.  APPARATUS  FOR  CONTROLLING  THE  PASSAGE  OF 
VEHICLES  ALONG  A  RAILW'AY:  A.  C.  Livermore,  Edgewood 
Park,  Pa.     App.  filed  Nov.  11,  1910.     Switch-operating  controller. 

1.039,422.  CONNECTOR  FOR  ELECTRIC  CONDUCTORS;  H.  F. 
Maxim,  Norfolk,  Va.  App.  filed  Aug.  4,  1911.  Spring  jaws  for 
gripping    wire. 

1,039,424.  CONNECTOR  FOR  ELECTRIC  CONDUCTORS:  H.  F. 
Maxim,  Norfolk.  Va.  App.  filed  May  20,  1911.  Wire  clip  for  bat- 
tery   terminal,    etc. 

1,039,443.       TELEPHONIC     TRANSMITTING     APPLIANCE;     J.     K.- 
Rhodes,  Brooklyn,  N.   Y.     App.  filed  .April  6,   1912.     To  be  attached 
to  the  clothing;   for  the  deaf. 

1,039,463.  ELECTRICAL  RESISTANCE;  E.  Thomson,  Swampscott. 
.Mass.     App.  filed  Sept.  18,  1909.     Silicon  is  fused  with  inert  sand,  etc. 

1,039.465.  GAS-STOVE  LIGHTER;  T.  L.  Wiese,  Milwaukee.  Wis.  App. 
filed   Oct.   25.   1911.     Automatic   pilot  cut-out. 

1.039,467.  ELECTRICITY  METER;  G.  M.  Willis.  Chicago,  III.  Afy 
filed  Jan.  10,  1908.  Windings  are  inclosed  by  celluloid  shell  and  air- 
Bap. 

1,039,502.  TROLLEY  RETRIEVER;  R.  R.  Dunlop,  Columbus,  Ohio.  App 
filed  Feb.  20,   1909.     -Automatic  spring  device. 

1,039,522.     ARC-LIGHT   ELECTRODE;    E.   J.    Guay,   Lynn,   Mass.     App., 
filed  May  22,   1911.     Titanium,  carbide,  cerium  fluoride,  cryolite  and 
carbon. 

1.039.542.  ELECTRICAL  CONNECTOR;  W.  O.  Kennington,  Bloomfield, 
N.  J.  App.  filed  Oct.  10,  1911.  Socket-connection  for  flexible  con- 
ductor. 

1.039.543.  HIGH-TENSION  MAGNETO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE;  W.  O. 
Kennington,  Bloomfield,  N.  J.  .App.  filed  Oct.  10,  1911.  The  arma- 
ture has  two  maximum  or  sparking  positions. 

1,039.553.      ELECTRIC    CIGAR   LIGHTER;   J.   Leveen   and   M.    L.   Aah- 

baugh,  Anderson,   Ind.     App.   filed   Feb.    16,    1912.     Ignitable  dip  and 

contacts. 
1,039,568.     MOTOR  CONTROL;  R.  H.  McLain,  Schenectady.  N.  Y.    Apo. 

filed  Sept.   17,  1910.     Control  of  shunt-wound  motors  by  varying  field 

strength. 
1,039,577.      SELF-COOLED   TRANSFORMER;   J.   J.   Mullen,   St.   Louis. 

Mo.     App.  filed  Aug.  21,  1911.     Air-cooled  radiating  members. 
1,039.589.     TROLLEY  WHEELS;  J.  W.  Pennell,  Youngstown,  Ohio.  App. 

filed  Aug.  24,   1910.     Has  lateral  replacing  wheels. 
1,039,600.     SAFETY   SWITCH;   H.    B.   Shreve,   Chicago,  III.     App.   filed 

May  26,  1910.     For  interlocking  elevator  gates,  etc. 
1.039,644.      ELECTRIC   PUSH-BUTTON    SWITCH;   J.    Brunner,  Oelen- 

burg,  Germany.     -App.  filed  Sept.  11,  1911.     Two  independent  insulated 

receptacles  filled  with  mercury. 

1.039.656.  CORDLESS  JACK  BOX;  E.  E.  Dildine  and  J.  A.  Rugh,  St. 
Paul,  Minn.  App.  filed  April  12,  1910.  A  plurality  of  jacks  for  asso- 
ciation with  plugs  to  interconnect  various  circuits. 

1.039.657.  APPARATUS  FOR  WINDING  THE  FILAMENTS  OF  IN- 
CANDESCENT ELECTRIC  LAMPS  ON  THEIR  SUPPORTS;  G. 
Dobkevitch,  Paris,  France.  App.  filed  April  30,  1912.  Automatically 
measures  the  filament  and  provides  the  necessary  slack. 

1,039,667.  EMERGENCY  SIGNALING  DEVICE  FOR  TELEPHONE- 
EXCHANGE  SYSTEMS:  I.  D.  Fellows,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  App.  filed 
Feb.  25,  1911.     Alarm  attachment  for  connection  in  the  circuit. 

1,039,670.  ELECTRICAL  ROSETTE;  W.  I.  Gagnon,  Bridgeport,  Conn. 
•App.    filed   June   25.    1908.      Strain    relief. 


o-^ 


C)  ^V- 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  OCTOBER  12,  1912. 


No.  15. 


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I 

CONTENTS. 

Editorials      75 1 

Kansas   Electric    Associat-on    Program 754 

Commercial   Section  N.   E.  L.  A.   PIxecutive  Committee  Meeting 754 

Society   for   Electrical    Development 754 

Principles    and    Policies    of    the    New    England    Electric    Development 

Association      755 

North  Carolina  Aluminum  Works 755 

Development   Plans  of  the  Niagara.  Lockport  &  Ontario  Power  Com- 

pany 755 

Opening  of  Electric  Railway  Conventions  in  Chicago 756 

Convention  of  Steel   Mill  Electrical  Engineers 757 

Opening  of  the  New  York  Electrical  Show 759 

Electric    Vehicle    Association    Convention 760 

The   Jordan   River   Power   Development 767 

New  Street  Lighting  in  Chicago. — 1 772 

Efficacy  in  Illumination.     By  Preslon  S.  Millar 775 

New  Generating  Station  for  Trinidad  (Col.) 777 

Storage-Battery    Central-Station    Practice    in    Chicago 778 

Displacing  Steam  Power  in  a  Group  of  Manufacturing  Buildings...,  778 

House- Wiring  Campaign  in   Emporia 779 

Joint   Pole-Line  Construction   Proposed  for  Competing  Companies....  780 

Cost    of    Pole-Line    Construction 781 

:.Conduit   Versus  Openwork  in    Places   Subject   to   Moisture,   Corrosive 

Fumes,    Steam,   Etc.      By   F.    G.   Waldenfels 782 

Improvements  in  the  Illumination  of  a  Grill  Room 784 

Entrance   Lighting  of  St.    Louis   Boulevards 784 

Ornamental    Lighting  Used   as    Police   Auxiliary 78.'? 

Column   Transparencies   for   Street   Decoration 785 


JULY  ELECTRICAL  EXFORTS. 

The  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  of  the 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  has  for  a  long  time 
past  issued  the  statistics  of  import  and,  export  trade,  under 
the  supervision  of  Mr.  O.  P.  Austin,  the  assistant  chief  of 
bureau,  Division  of  Statistics.  These  data  as  applying  to 
electrical  exports  have  been  quoted  and  commented  upon 
in  these  columns  for  many  years.  The  form  of  issuance 
has  helped  to  an  understanding  of  the  general  conditions  of 
such  export  trade,  which  amounted  in  the  fiscal  year  ending 
June  30  to  $20,169,362.  Hitherto  the  figures  have  been  pub- 
lished under  two  general  heads,  electrical  instruments  and 
apparatus  and  electrical  machinery.  It  would  appear  from 
the  July  returns  that  these  classes  have  now  been  merged 
into  one  group,  namely,  "electrical  machinery  appliances 
and  instruments."  The  total  for  July  is  given  as  $1,932,619 
as  compared  with  $1,291,929  in  July,  191 1.  Beyond  this  it 
is  not  easy,  and  would  be  useless,  to  compare  the  figures  of 
the   two   months   as   the  details   differ. 

The  items  making  up  the  handsome  gross  for  July,  1912, 
are,  however,  as  follows:  Generators,  $184,841;  fans, 
$40,438,  to  the  number  of  3724;  arc  lamps,  492.  worth 
$9,307;  carbon-filament  lamps,  96,940,  valued  at  $14,288; 
metallic-filament  lamps,  84.140,  valued  at  $27,441  ;  motors, 
no  number  given,  $203,262 ;  telegraph  and  wireless  appa- 
ratus, $39,559;  telephones,  $113,626;  all  other.  $1,299,857. 
It  will  be  noted  that  two-thirds  of  the  apparatus  is  so  mis- 
cellaneous that  it  is  lumped.  Another  feature  of  the  new 
data  is  the  disappearance  of  the  details  by  leading  countries 
of  consumption,  showing  where  the  goods  went.  It  would 
be  illuminating  to  get  this  at  least  once  or  twice  a  year. 
The  gross  figures  for  the  first  seven  months  of  the  year 
compare  as  follows:  1910,  $9,836,038;  191 1,  $11,269,818; 
1912,  $12,724,334.     Tlie  improvement   is  conspicuous. 


ENERGY  TRANSMISSION  FOR  VICTORIA. 

Of  building  transmission  plants  in  these  days  there  is  no 
end.  Such  installations  as  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  art 
would  have  been  heralded  from  one  end  of  the  country  to 
the  other  do  not  now  cause  even  the  novice  in  transmission 
to  lift  an  eyebrow.  Roughly,  about  100,000  kw  at  100,000 
volts  is  required  to  make  the  engineer  really  take  notice  of 
a  new  plant.  Yet  now  and  then  there  are  installed  plants  of 
comparatively  small  size  and  not  sensational  in  voltage 
worth  bringing  to  the  attention  of  our  readers  on  account  of 
some  unusual  condition  which  has  been  met  or  some  com- 
paratively unfamiliar  method  of  construction.  One  of  these 
is  the  Jordan  River  plant  for  the  supply  of  electrical  energy 
to  Victoria,  B.  C,  described  elsewhere  In  oiir  columns. 

There  are  two  features  of  the  plant  which  make  it  of  im- 
portance to  the  enginegr.  and  cause  it  to  rise  above  the  dead 


f¥ 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  15. 


level  of  standardization  which  of  late  years  has  been  estab- 
lished for  all  except  the  largest  and  most  important  plants. 
These  are  the  hydraulic  situation  and  the  line  construction. 
British  Columbia,  like  a  portion  of  the  adjacent  coast  on 
our  own  side  of  the  line,  is  distinguished  by  extraordinarily 
heavy   rainfall,   the   heaviest   in   fact   on   the   northern   part 
of  our  continent.     Rainfall  in  the  region  near  Vancouver 
has  been  known  to  rise  as  high  as  160  in.     One  hundred 
inches  is  often  passed  in  the  region  to  which   we  are  re- 
ferring,  and   on   the   watershed   of  the  Jordan   River  the 
average  annual  rainfall   for  the  past   four  years  has  been 
about  80  in.    Although  it  would  not  pass  for  a  large  stream 
elsewhere,  having  a  drainage  area  of  only  75  sq.  miles,  the 
Jordan  is  in  fact  one  of  the  principal  streams  of  Vancouver 
Island.      The    greater    part    of    the    area    fortunately    lies 
1200  ft.  or  more  above  the  sea,  and  the  hydraulic  possibili- 
ties of  the  Jordan  are  out  of  proportion  to  its  drainage  area, 
judged  by  ordinary  rainfall  and  elevation.    The  watershed, 
being  snow  covered  during  winter  about   5   ft.    in   depth, 
furnishes  a  great  storage  reservoir  of  slowly  melting  snow, 
which  does  not  disappear  entirely  until  June  or  even  July. 
Then,    too,   the   watershed   is   covered    with    heavy   virgin 
forest,  and  thus  carries  an  immense  layer  of  spongy  soil 
which  steadies  the  flow  of  the  stream  to  a  very  considerable 
degree.     What  the   stream  will   be  worth  as   a   hydraulic 
proposition  after  the  lumberman  gets  in  his  deadly  work 
is  quite  another  story,  but  that  evil  hour  is  probably  some 
distance  ahead.     Nevertheless,  owing  to  the  small  drainage 
area,  there  is  likely  to  be  a  period  of  very  low  water  in 
summer  and  fall,  which  must  be  balanced  by  water  storage, 
fortunately   easy    to    obtain    under    existing    topographical 
conditions. 

The  transmission  line,  the  second  point  of  particular  in- 
terest in  the  system,  is  constructed  with  cedar  poles  from 
SO  ft.  to  60  ft.  in  height,  each  carrying  three  galvanized 
steel  cross-arms.  The  poles  are  placed  from  300  ft.  to 
400  ft.  apart,  and  the  construction  thus  constitutes  a  com- 
promise between  the  costly  steel  tower  arrangement  and 
the  dull  imitation  of  old  telegraph  practice  which  impels 
the  building  of  so  many  wooden  transmission  lines  with 
absurdly  small  spacing.  The  pole  line  is  intended  to  carry 
two  electric  circuits,  one  of  which  is  now  installed  on  one 
side  of  the  pole.  The  circuit  consists  of  aluminum  cable. 
No.  2-0  equivalent,  carried  by  suspension  insulators.  It 
would  be  interesting  to  know  the  cost  of  this  extremely 
simple  line  as  compared  with  that  of  the  canonical  "stand- 
ardized" practice  of  Eastern  transmission  companies. 

One  feature  of  the  line  construction  remains  to  be  noted. 
The  right-of-way  passes  through  the  very  densely  forested 
country  and  on  account  of  the  towering  growth  of  fir  it  was 
necessary  to  clear  a  way  in  many  places  up  to  even  600  ft. 
ni  width.  Approximately  20,000,000  ft.  of  fir  timber  had 
to  be  cut  down  to  make  way  for  the  transmission  system. 
Part  of  this  may,  of  course,  be  marketed,  but  much,  un- 
happily is  unavailable  for  lack  of  suitable  transportation 
facilities.  Altogether  this  Jordan  River  plant  rises  far 
above  the  average  level  in  interest  and  when  completed  bv 
the  addition  of  the  second  generating  set  and  the  extension 
of  the  storage  basin  it  should  be  one  of  the  most  reliable 
plants  in  the  great  West. 


EFFECTIVE  ILLUMINATION. 

An  article  in  this  issue  by  Mr.  Preston  S.  Millar  on 
efficacy  of  illumination  gives  a  very  comprehensive  view 
of  the  general  lines  of  progress  followed  in  the  development 
of  illumination  to  its  present  stage.  The  author  divides 
the  growth  of  illumination  into  three  periods.  Practically, 
they  may  be  described  as  the  period  of  just  plain  light,  the 
period  of  efficiency  development  and  at  present  the  period 
of  artistic  development,  including  the  introduction  of 
hygienic  principles  into  lighting.  It  is  not  easy  from  this 
distance  to  see  fully  the  influences  which  were  at  work 
during  the  first  period  mentioned.  The  crudity  of  the 
earlier  results  obtained  with  incandescent  lamps  was  by  no 
means  entirely  due  to  the  absence  of  thought  about  better 
things.  From  almost  the  beginning  of  electric  lighting  there 
were  available  fairly  well  designed  reflectors,  crude,  it  is 
true,  compared  with  the  best  now  in  use.  but  nevertheless 
possessing  a  high  degree  of  utility.  Nor  were  the  esthetics 
of  illumination  by  any  means  ignored,  even  twenty  years 
ago,  and  a  few  installations  very  good  from  the  artistic 
standpoint  date  from  about  the  same  period. 

The  period  of  booming  efficiency  practically  began  with 
the  introduction  of  prismatic  glass  and  other  efficient  com- 
peting reflectors.     The  illuminating  engineer  of  that  date, 
such  as  he  was,  virtually  said  to  the  public  that  lamps  are 
now  as  efficient  as  they  are  likely  to  become  for  some  time, 
and  the  price  of  energy  is  reasonable,  therefore,  in  the  in- 
terest of  economy  keep  down  the  lighting  bills  by  utilizing 
the  available  sources  of  light  in  a  suitably  efficient  manner. 
The  efficiency  movement  continued  up  to  the  arrival  of  the 
metallic-filament  electric  lamp  and  the  mantle  burners  for 
gas,  which  reduced  the  cost  of  lighting  to  a  point  not  pre- 
viously touched.    This  condition  of  itself  lessened  the  neces- 
sity   for    hunting    extreme    efficiencies.      The    Illuminating 
Engineering  Society,  as  Mr.  Millar  states,  encouraged  the 
study  of  ocular  hygiene,  and  perhaps  the  final  touch  in  the 
way  of  needed  stimulus  was  added  when  the  tendency  began 
to  appear  among  the  manufacturers  of  reflectors  to  stand- 
ardize their  products  so  as  to  make  fairly  efficient  illumina- 
tion a  rather  cut-and-dried  affair.     Efficiency  was   pushed 
not  perhaps  to  its  limit,  but  so  far  toward  it  that  material 
improvements     could     be     made     only     with     considerable 
difficulty  and  expense. 

The  third  period,  with  its  work  along  hygienic  and 
esthetic  lines,  has  begun.  Just  now  there  is  a  tendency  to 
go  to  extremes,  always  evident  when  any  considerable 
change  takes  place  during  the  development  of  an  art.  It  is 
perhaps  somewhat  doubtful,  for  instance,  whether  extreme 
diffusion  under  all  circumstances  is  worth  its  cost.  Cer- 
tainly from  the  esthetic  standpoint  it  is  not  always  desirable, 
and  esthetics  seems  to  be  the  order  of  the  hour.  The  result 
of  the  present  tendency  will  undoubtedly  be  good,  and  the 
steady  reduction  in  the  cost  of  electricity  makes  artistic 
lightmg  practicable  under  many  circumstances  which  would 
have  been  forbidding  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago.  One 
need  not  use  cheap  illuminants  efficiently  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, and  at  present  prices  electric  lighting  may  be 
freely  employed  as  a  decorative  element,  as  well  as  for  pure 
illumination.  The  trend  of  present  practice,  which  is  cer- 
tainly in  this  direction,  is  well  worthy  of  being  encouraged. 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


753 


The  only  danger  is  that  the  alleged  esthetics  may  be  pushed 
beyond  any  reasonable  limit.  Any  such  tendency  will,  how- 
ever, correct  itself  in  due  season,  so  that  we  need  not  fear 
the  ultimate  results. 


THE  COMPARATIVE  COSTS  OF  MOTIVE  POWER  FOR  SMALL  MACHINES. 

The  Elcktrotechnische  Zeitschrift  has  recently  published 
an  interesting  article  by  Mr.  E.  Vollhardt  on  the  compara- 
tive annual  costs  of  service  by  gas  engine,  petrol  engine 
and  electric  motor  for  driving  small  machinery  in  various 
industries.  As  might  have  been  surmised,  the  results  show 
that  the  electric  motor  gives  the  cheapest  service  at  ordinary 
energy  .rates  when  the  load  is  small  and  intermittent.  When 
power  is  required  in  considerable  amount  and  for  many 
hours  a  day  steadily,  there  is  a  certain  point  beyond  which 
the  internal  combustion  engine  will  be  cheaper  than  the 
motor  at  the  usual  relative  costs  of  gasoline  fuel  and  elec- 
trical energv. 

While  experience  and  statistics  are  likely  to  coincide  with 
the  above  conclusion,  there  is  another  reason  for  the  popu- 
larity of  the  electric  motor  in  general  power  distribution, 
and  that  reason  is  apart  from  costs  or  money  valuations. 
It  is  the  combined  convenience,  simplicity,  smoothness  and 
cleanliness  of  electric-motor  operation  as  compared  with 
engine  operation  of  any  kind.  The  gas  engine  is  a  very 
valuable  device  in  its  own  field,  but  it  requires  more  expert 
attendance  and  is  more  likely  to  get  out  of  order,  in  com- 
parison with  the  electric  motor.  The  electric  motor  is  a 
very  satisfactory  device  for  intermittent  service.  Its  depre- 
ciation in  periods  of  disuse  is  very  small  and  it  is  ready  for 
work  at  a  moment's  notice  on  the  closing  of  a  switch. 


FLICKER  PHOTOMETRY. 

Two  recent  papers  in  the  Philosophical  Magacine  bring 
the  theory  of  the  flicker  photometer  again  to  the  front. 
One  of  these  by  Dr.  Herbert  E.  Ives  gathers  on  record  the 
results  of  a  long  series  of  experiments  on  flicker  and 
equality-of-brightness  instruments.  The  paper  is  a  long  one 
and  well  worth  detailed  study.  The  chief  points  brought 
out  are  tliat  the  flicker  method  is  the  more  sensitive  and 
more  uniform  from  time  to  time  and  observer  to  observer; 
that  a  reversed  Purkinje  effect  and  a  reversed  yellow-spot 
effect  appear  at  low  illuminations  in  using  the  flicker  instru- 
ment, and  that  the  results  with  the  two  types  of  photometer 
agree  fairly  well  when  using  small  fields  of  view  and  high 
illuminations.  With  these  facts  before  us  we  are  little 
nearer  to  knowing  the  real  action  that  takes  place  in  the 
flicker  photometer  than  we  were  when  it  was  invented  many 
years  ago. 

As  regards  the  matter  of  sensibility  in  the  photometry  of 
colored-light  sources,  most  observers  will  probably  agree 
with  Dr.  Ives  so  far  as  very  different  colors  are  concerned. 
For  moderate  and  slight  differences  the  advantage  of  the 
flicker  instrument  is  much  less  marked,  and  in  the  latter 
case  most  observers  find  it  less  consistent  than  the  equality- 
of-brightness  instrument.  Its  best  qualities  are  displayed  in 
comparing,  say,  arc  and  incandescent  lamps.  However,  it  is 
as  easy  to  work  with  as  is  the  contrast  screen  when   the 


latter  is  used  with  small  color  differences.  The  same  situa- 
tion is  probably  true  of  reproducibility  from  time  to  time 
and  observer  to  observer.  In  other  words,  the  flicker  instru- 
ment is  admirable  for  heterochromatic  work,  but  the 
observer  nuist  not  conclude  that  it  holds  the  highest  rank 
for  sensitiveness  in  general.  With  respect  to  the  reversed 
Purkinje  effect,  it  has  recently  been  shown  that  many  of 
the  difficulties  of  the  equality-of-brightness  method  are 
attributable  to  the  shift  of  luminosity  values  by  simultaneous 
contrast,  and  that  apparent  reversed  Purkinje  effects  are 
certainly  within  the  range  of  possibility  from  this  cause, 
so  that,  as  Dr.  Ives  suggests,  such  results  may  be  associated 
in  the  flicker  experiments  with  the  color  of  the  comparison 
light.  He  has  done  admirable  service  in  proving  that  fairly 
concurrent  results  by  both  methods  may  be  had  by  using 
plenty  of  light  and  a  small  field. 

There  is  left  unanswered  the  fundamental  question  as  to 
why  color  flicker  vanishes  before  brightness  flicker  and  thus 
wipes  out  simultaneous  contrast  and  renders  the  observer 
able  to  make  a  color-free  balance.  If  one  could  use  the 
flicker  method  best  with  peripheral  vision  and  at  low 
illuminations,  he  might  comfortably  fall  back  on  the 
"Duplicitats-Theorie."  Unhappily  these  are  not  the  facts,  and 
whatever  the  real  cause  may  be  it  must  be  ascribed  to  that 
part  of  the  retina  occupied  almost  exclusively  by  cones. 
The  question  remains  as  to  what  is  the  physiological  process 
that  comes  into  play  and  causes  absence  of  color  flicker 
while  the  brightness  flicker  remains.  Lord  Rayleigh  has 
come  to  the  rescue  in  a  brief  note  in  the  Philosophical  Maga- 
zine suggesting  that  the  adjustment  of  the  iris  may  be  the 
important  matter,  pointing  out  that  there  must  be  some 
relative  value  of,  say,  red  and  green  light  that  tends  equally 
to  close  the  iris  and  thus  to  establish  absence  of  flicker. 
The  proposition  is  an  interesting  one,  yet  it  does  not  touch 
the  root  of  the  matter;  that  is,  the  disappearance  of  color 
flicker,  leaving  a  smoothly  blended  color  field  still  affected 
with  a  conspicuous  brightness  flicker.  One  can  readily 
imagine  a  balanced  pupillary  reflex  due  to  balanced 
luminosity  of  the  two  fields,  but  this  conception  does  not  in 
the  least  explain  why  color  blending  takes  place  prior  to 
the  luminosity  balance  that  brings  absence  of  flicker.  In 
point  of  fact,  the  pupil  is  so  far  from  quiescent  even  in  the 
most  uniform  light  that  the  hypothesis  could  hardly  be 
proved  or  disproved  by  experiment. 

After  all,  what  reason  is  there  to  assume  that  the  color 
blending  is  not  psychological  rather  than  physiological? 
One  can  fuse  red  seen  with  one  eye  and  green  seen  with 
the  other  into  a  resultant  yellow  as  well  as  if  the  perform- 
ance were  monocular  or  by  ordinary  b'ending,  and  there  is 
no  apparent  reason  for  supposing  that  the  two  cases  involve 
two  distinct  processes.  If  color  blending  be  cortical  rather 
than  retinal,  it  might  well  have  the  time-constants  of  its 
own  independent  of  those  involving  mere  brightness  values. 
It  is  throwing  too  heavy  a  responsibility  on  the  retinal 
structure  to  hold  it  responsible  for  all  the  infinite  details 
of  the  sense  of  sight.  This  whole  matter  is  a  problem 
lying  in  the  debatable  ground  that  forms  a  no-man's-land 
at  the  boundaries  of  physics,  physiology  and  psychology. 
The  several  classes  of  investigators  should  co-operate  in  its 
solution. 


754 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


ANNUAL  MEETING    OF  THE  EMPIRE  STATE   GAS 
AND  ELECTRIC  ASSOCIATION. 


SOCIETY  FOR  ELECTRICAL  DEVELOPMENT. 


The  annual  meeting  of  the  Empire  State  Gas  &  Electric 
Association  was  held  in  the  Engineering  Societies  Building, 
New  York,  on  Oct.  9,  Mr.  R.  M.  Searle,  of  Rochester, 
presiding.  Approximately  sixty  representatives  of  the  cen- 
tral stations  of  the  State  were  in  attendance.  The  session 
was  given  over  entirely  to  executive  business,  so  that  no 
details  are  available  for  publication  in  the  technical  press. 
The  officers  for  the  coming  year  are  as  follows:  President, 
Mr.  C.  G.  M.  Thomas,  of  the  New  York  &  Queens  County 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  Long  Island  City;  first 
vice-president,  Mr.  J.  T.  Hutchings,  Rochester  Railway  & 
Light  Company;  second  vice-president,  Mr.  J.  C.  DeLong, 
Syracuse  Lighting  Company ;  treasurer,  Mr.  Stuart  Wilder, 
Westchester  Lighting  Company,  Mt.  Vernon ;  secretary, 
Mr.  C.  H.  B.  Chapin,  New  York.  The  executive  commit- 
tee, to  serve  for  two  years,  is  composed  of  the  following : 
Messrs.  H.  W.  Peck,  Schenectady  Illuminating  Company; 
H.  M.  Beardsley,  Elmira  Water,  Light  &  Railroad  Com- 
pany, and  G.  M.  Cole,  Plattsburgh  Gas  &  Electric  Company. 


KANSAS  ELECTRIC  ASSOCIATION  PROGRAM. 


The  fifteenth  annual  convention  of  the  Kansas  Gas, 
Water,  Electric  Light  and  Street  Railway  Association  will 
be  held  at  Manhattan,  Kan.,  Oct.  17,  18  and  19.  Special 
efforts  have  been  put  forth  to  make  this  the  most  successful 
meeting  held  thus  far  in  the  .history  of  the  organization. 
Among  the  papers  scheduled  for  presentation,  as  announced 
in  the  preliminary  program,  are :  "Why  the  Cost  of  Living 
Is  High,"  by  Mr.  H.  J.  Waters,  president  of  the  Kansas 
State  Agricultural  College,  Manhattan;  "Relation  of  Inter- 
urbans  to  Community  Development,"  by  Mr.  W.  A. 
Scothorn,  Hutchinson  ;  "New  Alternating-Current  Devices," 
by  Mr.  F.  N.  Jewett,  St.  Louis,  and  "Central  Energy  for 
Manufacturing  Plants,"  by  Mr.  Gordon  Weaver,  Kansas 
City.  There  will  also  be  a  paper  on  "Plant  Records,"  and 
one  on  the  "Economic  Combustion  of  Coal."  Addresses 
will  be  delivered  by  Messrs.  L.  O.  Ripley,  Wichita;  H.  W. 
Prents,  Jr.,  Pittsburgh,  and  Ivor  F.  Thomas,  Wichita.  Ar- 
rangements have  been  made  for  a  visit  of  the  delegates  to 
the  hydroelectric  plant  6  miles  from  Manhattan,  and  to  the 
Kansas  State  Agricultural  College  where  over  2000  students 
are  in  session.  The  secretary-treasurer  of  the  association 
is  Mr.  James  D.  Nicholson,  Newton,  Ran. 


COMMERCIAL  SECTION   N.    E.    L.    A.    EXECUTIVE 
COMMITTEE  MEETING. 


A  meeting  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Commercial 
Section  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  was  held 
at  the  Hotel  TouraJne,  Boston,  on  Oct.  3  and  4.  Chairman 
E.  W.  Lloyd,  Chicago,  presided,  Mr.  E.  L.  Callahan, 
Chicago,  being  secretary.  Fourteen  out  of  a  total  member- 
ship of  seventeen  were  present,  including  Messrs.  S.  V. 
Walton,  San  Francisco;  T.  I.  Jones,  Brooklyn;  F.  H.  Gale, 
Schenectady ;  E.  McLeavy,  Detroit ;  R.  C.  Rypinski,  Pitts- 
burgh ;  F.  B.  Rae,  New  York ;  J.  C.  McQuiston,  Pittsburgh  ; 
Douglass  Burnett,  Baltimore ;  J.  Robert  Grouse,  Cleveland ; 
J.  F.  Becker,  C.  A.  Littlefield  and  George  Williams,  New 
York.  The  meeting  was  occupied  by  the  reading  and  dis- 
cussion of  the  reports  of  the  financial  committee,  the  com- 
mittee on  Commercial  Digest,  and  the  naming  of  officers  and 
members  of  the  eight  committees  in  charge  of  the  detailed 
work  of  the  section.  It  was  decided  to  hereafter  issue  the 
Commercial  Digest  sheets  quarterly  under  the  name  of  the 
Electrical  Salesman's  Handbook'.  The  next  meeting  will  be 
held  at  Chicago  on  Monday,  Dec.  9. 


At  a  meeting  held  in  the  Engineering  Societies'  Building, 
New  York,  on  Oct.  3,  a  reference  to  which  appeared  in  our 
previous  issue,  the  Society  for  Electrical  Development  was 
organized  by  the  committee  which  was  appointed  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  a  co-operative  association  at  the  gather- 
ing of  representatives  of  the  Electrical  Supply  Jobbers' 
Association,  the  National  Electrical  Contractors'  Associa- 
tion, the  National  Electric  Light  Association  and  of  some  of 
the  electrical  manufacturers  at  Association  Island,  Lake 
Ontario,  on  Sept.  3. 

A  list  of  the  members  of  the  committee  appeared  in  the 
issue  of  Sept.  7.  Messrs.  Einstein  and  Montague  were  not 
present  at  the  meeting  on  Oct.  3,  and  Messrs.  Swope,  Lay- 
man and  Osborne  were  represented  by  Messrs.  Rockefellow, 
Goldschmidt  and  Nicholson  respectively.  Others  present 
were:  Mr.  Franklin  Overbaugh  and  Mr.  T.  M.  Debevoise, 
secretary  and  general  counsel,  respectively,  of  the  Elec- 
trical Supply  Jobbers'  Association;  Mr.  T.  C.  Martin,  secre- 
tary of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association,  and  Mr. 
W.  H.  Morton,  secretary  of  the  National  Electrical  Con- 
tractors' Association.  The  meeting  lasted  all  day.  Papers 
of  incorporation  under  New  York  laws  and  a  constitution 
and  by-laws  for  the  society  were  drawn  up  and  have  been 
submitted  to  attorneys  for  examination  as  to  legality.  De- 
tails of  financing  have  not  been  completed,  but  an  equitable 
assessment  on  the  annual  income  of  subscribers  has  been 
spoken  of  as  a  possible  basis  for  the  financial  plan.  Direc- 
tors and  officers  will  be  chosen  at  the  ne.xt  meeting,  which 
is  scheduled  for  Oct.  18.  A  central  publicity  bureau,  which 
will  do  much  of  the  educational  work  that  the  association 
hopes  to  accomplish,  will  be  established. 


BOSTON  ELECTRICAL  JOVIANS. 

What  was  said  to  be  the  most  enthusiastic  rejuvenation 
of  the  Order  of  the  Sons  of  Jove  since  the  formation  of 
this  electrical  fraternity  took  place  in  Boston  on  Oct.  7 
under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Robert  L.  Jaynes,  who,  as 
Jupiter,  is  the  highest  officer  of  the  order.  One  hundred 
and  forty-two  new  members  were  received  into  the 
organization,  the  initiatory  ceremonies  being  performed  by 
a  special  degree  team  from  New  York  in  charge  of  Mr. 
F.  E.  Watts,  consisting  of  Mr.  George  Feher  as  Mars,  Mr. 
C.  L.  Hight  as  Vulcan,  Mr.  W.  V.  Dolan  as  Pluto,  Mr.  ^ 
A.  E.  Farrenkopf  as  Hercules  and  Mr.  J.  E.  Morey  as  " 
Neptune. 

Credit  for  the  success  of  the  rejuvenation  is  given  to 
Messrs.  Charles  H.  Hodkinson,  statesman  for  Massachu- 
setts; L.  D.  Gibbs,  chairman  of  the  membership,  S.  B. 
Condit  and  W.  J.  Keenan. 

Elaborate  preparations  are  being  made  for  the  next 
annual  Jovian  congress,  which  will  be  held  in  Pittsburgh 
from  Oct.  14  to  16.  the  expectation  now  being  that  fully 
1000  members  will  be  in  attendance. 


FIRST  INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF   ELECTRO- 
CULTURE. 


The  first  International  Congress  of  Electroculture  and 
of  the  Applications  of  Electricity  to  Agriculture,  Viticul- 
ture and  Horticulture  will  be  held  at  Reims,  France,  on 
Oct.  24-26.  The  congress  will  be  given  under  the  auspices 
of  the  French  Society  of  Motoculture  and  the  Agricultural 
Commission  of  Reims.  In  conjunction  with  the  congress 
there  will  be  an  exhibition  of  agricultural  machinery  and 
numerous  demonstrations  of  motor-driven  agricultural  im- 
plements. An  international  association  for  electroculture 
will  be  formed  at  the  close  of  the  congress. 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


755 


PRINCIPLES  AND    POLICIES    OF    THE   NEW   ENG- 
LAND ELECTRIC  DEVELOPMENT  ASSOCIATION. 


Officers  of  the  Electric  Developmeivt  Association  have 
prepared  for  submittal  to  the  membership  on  Oct.  23  a 
declaration  of  principles  and  statement  of  policies  which 
were  formulated  at  a  meeting  held  with  the  executive  and 
advisory  boards  in  Boston  on  Oct.  2. 

According  to  the  declaration  of  principles  the  electrical 
industry  as  a  whole  divides  itself  naturally  into  two  general 
branches.  First,  the  manufacture,  sale  and  erection  of 
energy-consuming  and  energy-handling  devices,  and  second, 
the  manufacture,  distribution  and  sale  of  electrical  energy. 
The  interests  of  these  two  branches  are  mutual,  and  there- 
fore anything  which  advances  the  interests  of  one  must  be 
beneficial  to  the  other.  The  service  rendered  in  the  second 
general  branch  of  the  industry  is  entirely  the  province  of 
the  central  station,  which  can  best  increase  its  business  by 
the  protection  of  the  manufacturer,  the  jobber  and  the  con- 
tractor, and  by  co-operating  with  them  in  an  effort  to 
educate  the  consumer  in  the  use  of  electricity.  The  follow- 
ing out  of  the  National  Code  Rules  to  the  letter  by  all  mem- 
bers is  of  the  greatest  importance. 

According  to  the  statement  of  policies,  the  manufacturers 
should  co-operate  with  the  association  to  introduce  new 
appliances  and  demonstrate  the  present  appliances  to  the 
public.  The  central  station  should  carry  on  active  cam- 
paigns in  general  advertising  for  the  instruction  of  the 
general  public,  and  should  use  their  influence  to  encourage 
the  dealers  and  contractors.  The  jobber  should  discontinue 
all  forms  of  installation  work  and  discourage  the  handling 
of  anything  but  standard  approved  material ;  they  should 
co-operate  with  the  association  and  with  the  manufacturers, 
central  station  and  contractor  to  advertise  new  goods.  The 
contractors  should  confine  their  business  to  the  installation 
of  electrical  materials  and  to  the  retailing  of  materials  and 
devices;  they  should  endeavor  to  influence  owners  to  install 
suitable  wiring  for  the  accommodation  of  future  extensions 
of  energy-consuming  devices. 

There  were  present  at  the  meeting  all  of  the  officers  of 
the  association,  four  of  the  six  members  of  the  executive 
board  and  sixteen  of  the  twenty-eight  members  of  the 
advisory  board,  those  present  being  thoroughly  representa- 
tive of  the  electrical  industry  in  New  England.  The 
executive  and  advisory  boards  and  officers  of  the  associa- 
tion believe  the  movement  to  be  necessary  in  order  that  an 
unbiased,  new  and  unrestrained  body  may  take  up  the 
definite  work  of  starting  with  local  conditions  and  im- 
proving them  along  broad  lines  and  through  the  co-opera- 
tion of  all  businesses  interested  in  the  electrical  industry, 
rather  than  to  work  from  a  national  association  back  to  a 
local  condition. 


NORTH  CAROLINA  ALUMINUM  WORKS. 


Seven  vertical  waterwheel  type  electric  generators,  which 
represent  units  of  the  largest  rating  ever  built  for  generating 
direct  current,  will  be  installed  in  the  new  plant  of  the 
Southern  Aluminum  Company  at  Whitney,  N.  C.  Each 
machine  will  have  a  rating  of  5000  kw,  delivering  20,000 
amp  at  250  volts  and  operating  at  a  speed  of  170  r.p.m. 
Two  smaller  direct-current  generators  of  the  same  type, 
rated  at  2500  kw  at  300  r.p.m.;  two  1250-kva  alternators, 
having  a  speed  of  514  r.p.m.,  with  two  i6-kw  exciters,  and 
all  necessary  switchboard  and  controlling  devices  are  also 
included  in  the  installation,  which  will  be  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  modern  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  It  is  the  intention 
of  the  Southern  Aluminum  Company  to  push  to  completion 
the  project  now  under  way  and  to  have  in  operation  in  the 
course  of  the  next  eight  months  a  manufacturing  plant  that 
will  turn  out  some  25,000  tons  of  aluminum  annually. 

The  company  was  recently  incorporated  under  the  laws  of 


the  State  of  New  York  with  a  capitalization  of  $8,000,000 
and  was  organized  by  some  of  the  largest  aluminum  manu- 
facturing companies  of  Europe.  The  enterprise  has  been 
financed  in  France  and  is  closely  associated  with  I'Alumin- 
ium  Franqais,  of  Paris.  The  work  at  Whitney  is  in  charge 
of  Dr.  R.  Heroult.  Although  he  has  been  directing  con- 
structive operations  there  only  a  few  weeks,  remarkable 
progress  has  been  made,  and  it  is  confidently  expected  that 
the  entire  plant  will  be  in  readiness  for  turning  out  the 
product  of  the  company  by  the  middle  of  1914.  It  is  said 
that  the  plant  throughout  will  rank  among  the  most  per- 
fectly equipped  for  the  manufacture  of  aluminum  in  the 
United  States.  Only  one  other  in  the  country,  at  Niagara 
Falls,  can  compare  with  it.  In  the  complement  of  buildings 
are  nine  furnace  rooms,  wherein  the  alumina  will  undergo 
the  various  processes  incidental  to  conversion  into  alumi- 
num. Each  of  these  structures  measures  60  ft.  by  500  ft., 
and  one  electrode  factory  of  similar  dimensions  is  also  in- 
cluded in  the  group. 

The  generators  will  be  installed  immediately  over  wheel 
pits  and  directly  connected  to  vertical  shafts  of  S.  Morgan 
Smith  turbines  by  forged  steel  flanged  couplings.  Each 
5000-kw  generator  will  weigh  in  the  neighborhood  of  150 
tons,  measure  22  ft.  in  diameter  and  extend  13  ft.  above  the 
floor  level.  The  entire  rotating  element  of  the  generators 
will  be  supported  from  an  overhead  thrust  bearing.  While 
the  normal  speed  will  be  170  r.p.m.,  they  will  be  designed 
with  provision  for  a  safety  runaway  speed  of  75  per  cent 
above  normal.  The  wheel  governors  will  be  provided  with 
remote  electric  control  for  both  hand  and  automatic  opera- 
tion. The  electrical  equipment  will  be  supplied  by  the 
General   Electric  Company. 


DEVELOPMENT  PLANS  OF  THE   NIAGARA,  LOCK- 
PORT  AND  ONTARIO  POWER  COMPANY. 


Approval  has  recently  been  secured  from  the  Public 
Service  Commission  for  the  Second  District  of  New  York 
State  for  the  transfer  to  the  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario' 
Power  Company  of  the  capital  stock  of  the  Salmon  River 
Power  Company,  which  was  formerly  the  Oswego  County 
Light  &  Power  Company,  the  total  outstanding  stock  being 
7500  shares  of  $100  par  value  each.  This  secures  to  the 
Niagara  company  the  hydroelectric  development  on  the 
Salmon  River,  which  is  now  under  construction,  some  40 
miles  north  of  Syracuse.  In  order  to  acquire  this  stock  the 
Niagara  company  is  authorized  to  issue  its  preferred  stock 
to  the  amount  of  $750,000.  The  approval  of  the  Public 
Service  Commission  carries  with  it  authority  for  the  execu- 
tion of  a  mortgage  by  the  Salmon  River  Power  Company 
upon  all  of  its  property  to  secure  its  forty-year  5  per  cent 
bonds  to  the  amount  of  $5,000,000,  and  to  issue  $2,353,000 
of  bonds  at  85,  the  proceeds  to  be  employed  in  the  construc- 
tion of  a  dam,  transmission  line  and  for  acquiring  the  neces- 
sary auxiliary  equipment.  The  Salmon  River  company  is 
also  authorized  to  lease  its  entire  system  to  the  Niagara 
company  at  a  rental  equal  to  one  and  three-quarter  times 
the  interest  on  the  bonds.  These  bonds  are  guaranteed  by 
the  Niagara  company. 

One  of  the  provisions  in  the  formal  consent  of  the  com- 
mission is  that  in  any  investigation  or  inquiry  by  the  com- 
mission or  other  lawful  authority  into  the  rates  or  charges 
for  any  electric  energy  generated  at  the  Salmon  River  plant, 
whether  such  rates  are  made  by  the  Niagara  company  or 
by  any  other  person  or  corporation,  the  rental  provided  by 
the  lease  shall  not  be  deemed  as  material  or  conclusive  in 
any  respect  as  to  the  reasonable  price  or  rate  to  be  charged 
for  energy  to  the  consumer,  and  the  commission  will  be  at 
full  liberty  to  inquire  into  the  actual  cost  of  generation  and 
base  its  determination  upon  such  cost  and  other  material 
facts  without  regard  to  the  rental. 


756 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  i,. 


The  acquirement  of  the  Salmon  River  property  by  the 
Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Power  Company  was  deemed 
necessary  in  view  of  the  increasing  demand  for  electrical 
energy  in  the  Syracuse  district  and  the  desirability  of  avoid- 
mg  the  construction  at  great  expense  of  a  new  transmis- 
sion line  from  Niagara  Falls  to  Syracuse,  a  distance  of  154 
miles.  The  plans  for  the  initial  development  of  the  Salmon 
River  project  include  a  generating  plant  of  15,000  hp  present 
capacity,  42  miles  of  60,000-volt,  two-circuit,  steel-tower 
transmission  line  and  a  storage  reservoir  of  1,000,000  cu.  ft. 
capacity.  The  Salmon  River  company  owns  approximately 
8000  acres  of  land,  situated  about  42  miles  northeast  of 
Syracuse,  including  the  river  bed  of  the  Salmon  River  for 
a  distance  of  approximately  12  miles,  in  which  distance 
the  river  has  a  fall  of  330  ft.  A  concrete  dam  600  ft.  long 
is  being  built  on  solid  rock  foundation  in  order  to  create 
the  reservoir,  which  will  have  a  superficial  area  of  about 
4  square  miles.  The  storage  capacity  can  be  more  than 
doubled  by  raising  the  dam  11  ft.  The  drainage  area  above 
the  dam  is  191  square  miles  in  extent  and  lies  on  the 
westerly  slope  of  the  Adirondacks  in  a  region  which  has 
one  of  the  heaviest  rainfalls  in  the  state.  The  transmission 
line  will  be  carried  on  private  right-of-way,  sutficiently  wide 
to  permit  of  a  duplicate  tower  line.  The  construction 
features  present  no  unusual  difficulties  from  an  engineering 
standpoint.  The  contract  for  the  construction  of  the  dam 
and  the  power  house  was  recently  awarded  to  the  Tohn  F. 
Stevens  Construction  Company,  55  Wall  Street,  New  York 
City,  as  noted  on  page  634  of  our  issue  of  Sept.  21. 

The  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Company  is  now 
operating  its  transmission  system  at  practically  the  full 
capacity  of  60.000  hp.  By  supplementing  the  Niagara 
supply  with  the  energy  transmitted  from  the  Salmon  River 
development  the  company  asserts  that  it  will  not  only  be  in 
a  position  to  increase  its  business  in  Buffalo  and  in  the 
territory  between  Buffalo  and  Syracuse,  but  will  also  be  able 
to  improve  the  quality  of  service  in  the  Syracuse  district 
by  reducing  the  interruptions  to  a  minimum.  The  Niagara 
company  has  contracts  with  lighting  and  railway  companies 
in  the  Syracuse  district  which  operate  160  miles  of  electric 
railway,  besides  lighting  Syracuse,  Auburn  and  the  ter- 
ritory served  by  the  Oswego  River  Power  Transmission 
Company,  which  includes  Baldwinsville,  Fulton,  Oswego, 
Hannibal,  Phoenix  and  the  Oswego  River  vallev.  The 
average  demands  of  these  companies  during  1912  were  more 
than  two  and  one-half  times  the  demands  in  1908. 

"  HUMAN  ENGINEERING." 


OPENING  OF    ELECTRIC-RAILWAY  CONVENTIONS 
m  CHICAGO. 


Taking  "human  engineering"  as  his  subject,  Mr.  Alex- 
ander D.  Bailey,  assistant  chief  engineer  of  the  Fisk  Street 
and  Quarry  Street  generating  stations  in  Chicago,  read  a 
short  paper  before  the  technical  division  of  the  Common- 
wealth Edison  Company  Section  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association  on  Sept.  26.  Technical  men,  said  Mr. 
Bailey,  are  interested  in  the  data  of  material  engineering 
accomplishment,  but  there  is  a  wide  field  of  human  relations 
that  is  still  more  important.  When  engineering  is  defined 
it  is  seen  that  it  is  a  very  broad  subect.  and  the  human  side 
of  technical  engineering — that  is,  the  interrelations  of  men 
in   organizations — has  been   neglected. 

No  formulas  or  rules  exist  for  carrying  out  processes  of 
"human  engineering" ;  no  preliminary  training  is  given 
anywhere  in  its  finer  points.  There  are  rules  of  moralitv 
and  of  conduct,  but  in  the  nicer  relations  of  men  with  their 
fellows  scientific  adaptability  must  come  as  the  result  of 
practical  experience.  But  study  of  these  human  relations  is 
as  valuable  to  the  engineer  or  the  technical  man  as  is  studv 
in  any  branch  of  material  engineering.  The  smooth  run- 
ning of  a  group  of  men  surpasses  in  importance  the  inven- 
tion of  any  machine  or  device,  and  it  is  trulv  engineering 
to  achieve  this  smooth  running. 


On  Monday,  Oct.  7,  the  thirty-first  annual  convention  of 
the  American  Electric  Railway  Association  and  its  affiliated 
associations  of  accountants,  engineers,  claim  agents  and 
traffic  managers  was  begun  in  Chicago.  Convention  head- 
quarters were  established  in  the  Liternational  Amphitheater 
on  South  Halsted  Street  near  Forty-second  Street,  several 
miles  from  the  "downtown"  district,  but  in  a  building  giving 
ample  accommodations  for  a  very  large  and  excellent  col- 
lection of  exhibits.  Meetings  were  held  in  the  adjacent 
Saddle  and  Sirloin  Club — a  social  organization,  obtaining 
its  unusual  name  from  the  fact  that  nearly  all  of  the  mem- 
bers are  connected  with  business  establishments  in  the  Union 
Stockyards.  The  attendance  was  large,  the  number  regis- 
tered at  the  close  of  the  first  day  being  estimated  at 
over  2000. 

Decorations  of  a  varied  nature  made  the  exhibit  halls 
attractive.  A  large  space  adjoining  the  main  entrance  to 
the  central  hall  was  arranged  as  a  formal  garden,  with  grass 
plots,  flower  beds  and  concrete  walks.  Surrounding  this 
garden  and  the  large  exhibit  spaces  around  it  were  a  row  of 
stately  electric-light  standards  that  were  striking  and  unique. 
These  fluted  columns  were  about  9  ft.  high  and  14  in.  in 
diameter,  and  each  one  supported  a  globe.  Both  column 
and  globe  were  of  translucent,  white  moonstone  glass  and 
were  lighted  from  within  by  tungsten  lamps.  The  effect 
was  dignified  and  pleasing.  General  illumination  was 
obtained  by  "sunbursts"  of  ico-watt  tungsten  lamps  sus- 
pended from  the  ceiling.  Electrical  energy  for  lighting 
and  for  operation  of  exhibits  was  obtained  from  the  nearby 
plant  of  the  Union  Stockyard  &  Transit  Company,  which 
owns  the  amphitheater,  Mr.  H.  G.  McConnaughy,  of  New 
York,  the  director  of  exhibits,  designed  the  lamp  columns 
for  the  occasion. 

FIRST  SESSION   OF  ENGINEERING  .'\SS0CI.\TI0N. 

Four  of  the  affiliated  associations  held  opening  sessions 
on  Monday  afternoon.  At  that  of  the  American  Electric 
Railway  Engineering  Association  President  E.  O.  Acker- 
man,  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  presided.  In  his  annual  address 
he  made  the  interesting  suggestion  that  members  attending 
the  convention  make  a  written  report  to  the  executive 
officers  of  their  respective  companies  on  returning  home. 
In  this  report  the  engineer  might  state  what  items  of  in- 
formation obtained  at  the  convention  were  most  valuable 
to  him  and  suggest  how  this  information  could  best  be 
applied  to  local  needs. 

Mt.  Norman  Litchfield,  of  New  York,  made  reports  for 
the  executive  committee  and  for  himself  as  secretary- 
treasurer. 

REC0MMEND.\TI0NS  RELATING  TO  ENERGY  DISTRIBUTION. 

Nearly  all  the  first  session  of  the  engineering  association 
was  devoted  to  a  consideration  of  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee on  power  distribution,  presented  by  Mr.  G.  W. 
Palmer,  Jr.,  of  Boston,  chairman.  The  committee  made  a 
number  of  recommendations,  and  all  were  adopted  except 
one  relating  to  the  use  of  trolley  guards  at  grade  crossings 
with  steam  railroads.  The  committee  reported  against  the 
use  of  trolley  guards,  except  possibly  in  unusual  cases,  but 
the  association  was  about  equally  divided  for  and  against 
this  form  of  protection,  and  the  subject  was  referred  back 
to  the  committee. 

JOINT  USE  OF  POLES. 

In  relation  to  the  specifications  for  the  joint  use  of  poles, 
the  committee  pointed  out  the  need  of  a  standard  form  of 
agreement.  Reference  was  made  to  the  work  of  the  com- 
mittee on  overhead-line  construction  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association.  The  formation  of  a  joint  pole 
committee  was  announced  with  membership  thus  far  as 
follows :      .American     Telephone    &     Telegraph     Company, 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


757 


Messrs.  H.  S.  Warren  and  F.  L.  Rhodes;  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  Messrs.  Farley  Osgood  and  W.  T. 
Oviatt;  American  Electric  Railway  Association,  Mr.  W.  J. 
Harrie  and  Prof.  A.  S.  Richey.  It  is  expected  that  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  the  Association 
of  Railway  Telegraph  Superintendents  and  the  Railway 
Signal  Association  will  also  be  represented  on  this  com- 
mittee. In  view  of  the  formation  of  the  new  committee, 
the  committee  on  power  distribution  was  discharged  from 
further  consideration  of  the  subject. 

There  was  considerable  discussion  on  the  joint-pole  ques- 
tion. Mr.  William  Roberts  declared  that  the  prime  factor 
to  be  considered  was  the  safety  of  linemen.  There  should 
be  a  clear  space  of  15  in.  on  each  side  of  the  pole,  making 
an  opening  of  30  in.  between  wires  for  the  lineman  to  climb 
through.  Professor  Richey  said  the  railway  men  took  the 
position  that  vertical  attachments,  like  transformers,  should 
be  on  the  "face"  of  the  pole,  leaving  the  "back"  free  for 
climbing  through  the  30-in.  space.  Telephone  cables  should 
not  be  attached  to  the  pole  by  a  bracket  in  the  case  of  joint 
use,  but  suspended  from  a  cross-arm  like  all  other  wires 
and  cables.  Apparently  the  railway  and  electric-light  men 
are  in  agreement  on  this  subject,  but  the  telephone  men  are 
inclined  to  object  to  cross-arm  suspension  of  telephone 
cables. 

Tentative  specifications  for  overhead  crossings  of  electric 
railway  wires  have  been  adopted,  but  the  subject  is  still 
under  discussion  with  other  parties  at  interest.  The  com- 
mittee was  authorized  to  continue  its  investigation  of  the 
so-called  30  per  cent  para  rubber  compound  in  order  that 
it  may  submit  standard  specifications  at  the  1913  convention. 
In  reference  to  stranded  cables,  the  committee  recom- 
mended the  adoption  of  the  proposals  of  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Standards  covering  the  properties  of  bare  con- 
centric cables,  and  this  action  was  approved.  Certain 
changes  in  wording,  based  on  the  "annealed  copper 
standard"  were  made  in  the  association's  standard  copper- 
wire  tables.  The  standard  specifications  for  both  single- 
conductor  and  three-conductor,  paper-insulated,  lead-cov- 
ered cables  for  1200-volt  service  were  revised  in  certain 
respects.  The  committee  called  attention  to  the  present 
situation  in  regard  to  standard  specifications  for  overhead 
crossings  of  electric  light  and  energy  transmission  lines. 
The  N.  E.  L.  A.,  the  steam  railroad  interests  and  the 
electric  railway  associations  have  severally  adopted  speci- 
fications for  such  crossings.  The  committee  feels  that  final 
action  on  the  subject  should  be  taken  only  after  careful 
consideration  with  respect  to  the  legal  aspects  of  the  matter 
and  the  position  taken  by  public  service  commissions  and 
municipalities.  However,  the  specifications  adapted  by  the 
association  have  been  revised  and  are  approved  as  "recom- 
mended practice."  subject  to  further  conferences  to  be  held 
with  the  other  interests  involved. 

BLOCK   SIGNALING. 

Meetings  of  the  accountants',  claim  agents'  and  trans- 
portation and  traffic  associations  were  held  on  Monday 
afternoon,  and  on  Tuesday  morning  there  was  a  joint  meet- 
ing of  the  engineering  and  traffic  associations.  The  report 
of  the  joint  committee  on  electric-railway  block  signals  was 
presented  and  discussed.  Interurban-railway  men  from 
Indiana  reported  favorably  as  the  result  of  experience  with 
block  signaling.  Mr.  Charles  L.  Henry  gave  a  description 
of  the  Simmen  signal  equipment  as  used  by  the  Indianapolis 
&  Cincinnati  Traction  Company.  He  said  that  for  inter- 
urban  service  the  continuous  track-circuit  automatic  block- 
signal  system  is  not  wanted.  Another  point  brought  up 
is  that  arc  head-lamps  make  red  signals  look  white,  but 
this  statement  was  doubted.  There  was  considerable 
discussion  on  the  subject  of  signaling,  and  afterward  the 
report  of  the  joint  committee  on  train  operation  was 
taken  up. 

Our  next  issue  will  contain  an  account  of  the  concluding 
session  of  the  convention. 


CONVENTION    OF    STEEL    MILL    ELECTRICAL 
ENGINEERS. 


The  first  three  days'  sessions  of  the  Association  of  Iron 
&  Steel  Electrical  Engineers  in  convention  at  the  Hotel 
Pfister,  Milwaukee,  Sept.  30  to  Oct.  5,  was  reported  by 
telegraph  in  our  issue  of  last  week.  Following  is  an  ac- 
count of  the  papers  and  discussions  presented  at  the  con- 
vention : 

MIXED-PRESSURE    TURBINE    AND    STEAM     REGENERATOR. 

In  a  paper  by  Mr.  E.  D.  Dickinson,  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  presented  Monday  afternoon,  was 
described  the  development  of  mixed-pressure  turbines  of 
three  classes :  Low-pressure  turbines  with  live-steam  ad- 
mission valves;  turbines  with  separate  low-pressure  and 
high-pressure  valves,  and  turbines  having  complemental 
operation  of  these  sets  of  valves.  Best  operating  conditions 
and  efficiency  are  usually  obtained  by  arranging  the  gov- 
ernor to  control  the  low-pressure  valve,  except  where  ad- 
mission of  atmospheric  pressure  into  the  exhaust  line  may 
make  a  flow-regulating  valve  necessary.  Tables  of  steam 
regenerator  capacity  were  given,  and  an  example  cited  in 
which  a  240,000-lb.  regenerator  carried  a  1500-kw  turbine 
load  7  per  cent  of  the  time,  saving  .$895.50  per  month.  If 
the  engine  be  shut  down  more  than  three  minutes,  twice 
each  hour,  an  additional  net  saving  of  $335  per  month  would 
be  obtained. 

Mr.  Barton  Stevenson,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  declared  the 
mixed-pressure  turbine  to  be  a  compromise  between  high 
and  low-pressure  designs,  affirming  mill  experience  to  favor 
the  simplicity  of  straight  low-pressure  operation  in  which 
the  unit,  its  generator  locked  onto  the  bus,  acts  as  a  third 
cylinder  of  the  engine.  When  mill  engines  are  down,  he 
said,  the  boilers  usually  blow  anyway,  so  that  this  wasted 
steam  may  as  well  be  utilized  in  low-pressure  turbines, 
efficiency  being  at  the  time  out  of  the  question.  Mr.  H.  M. 
Gassman,  Birmingham,  Ala.,  insisted  that  there  may  be 
little  economy  in  attempting  to  absorb  peaks,  since  increase 
in  regenerating  capacity  brings  small  return  on  investment. 
Mr.  W.  T.  Snyder,  McKeesport,  Pa.,  recited  his  troubles 
with  pressure-reducing  valves,  which  were  later  replaced 
by  piston  valves.  Another  speaker,  taking  the  author's 
figures,  declared  the  regenerator  to  be  hardly  worth  while 
on  a  mill-practice  basis  if  carrying  load  only  7  per  cent  of 
the  time.  With  coal  at  $2,  he  estimated  the  saving  to  be 
about  $1,400  yearly  in  return  for  a  regenerator  outlay  of 
$20,000.  Capitalists,  he  said,  more  "often  demand  a  return 
of  20  per  cent  when  asked  to  install  such  fuel-saving 
devices.  Mr.  J.  H.  Wilson,  Middletown,  Ohio,  thought 
regenerator  expense  hardly  warranted  with  mixed-pressure 
turbine.  Messrs.  O.  R.  Jones,  Youngstown,  Ohio;  J.  C. 
Reed,  Steelton,  Pa. ;  E.  J.  Cheney,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. ; 
B.  R.  Shover,  Youngstown,  Ohio;  T.  E.  Tynes,  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.,  and  A.  B.  Bartholomew,  Donora,  Pa.,  also  spoke 
briefly. 

STEEL-MILL    POWER    PROBLEMS. 

"Power  Problems  in  Steel  Mills,"  presented  by  Mr.  Wil- 
fred Sykes,  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  described  and  quoted  operating  data 
on  turbine-driven  blowers,  turbo-alternators  and  gear-con- 
nected direct-current  turbine-generators,  boilers  fired  with 
blast-furnace  gas,  gas-engine-driven  generators,  high-pres- 
sure steam  turbines,  low-pressure  turbines  with  engines,  and 
motor  drive  of  rolls  and  mill  auxiliary  equipment.  A  num- 
ber of  eflSciency  curves  were  included  in  the  paper,  which 
unqualifiedly  recommended  electric  operation  in  competition 
with  all  other  drives,  even  under  the  most  severe  conditions. 

Mr.  R.  Tschentscher,  South  Chicago,  111.,  observed  that 
the  fallacy  of  placing  too  much  weight  on  original  analyses 
is  nowhere  better  exemplified  than  in  the  steel  business.  A 
20,ooo-ton  mill  is  designed  for  an  energy  consumption  of, 
say,  50  kw-hr.  per  ton  of  material,  but  later  this  rating  is 


758 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


far  overreached.  One  mill,  for  example,  rated  at  8000  tons, 
is  now  regularly  producing  23,000  tons  per  day.  Motors  do 
not  "lie  down"  like  steam  engines  when  overloaded,  so  that 
no  warning  is  given  to  the  operator  to  ease  up  until  the 
limit  of  the  machine  has  been  passed.  The  allowance  of 
ample  reserves,  declared  Mr.  Tschentscher,  greater  than  is 
the  present  practice,  will  effect  tremendous  savings.  Mr. 
F.  W.  Stevens,  Ambridge,  Pa.,  cited  a  European  plant  using 
a  looo-kw  turbine  to  drive  a  three-high  mill  through  double 
gears.  Mr.  J.  H.  Wilson,  Middleton,  Ohio,  mentioned  a 
German  installation  in  which  a  low-pressure  turbine  drives 
a  bar  mill  through  helical  gearing,  utilizing  the  rolling-mill- 
engine  exhaust.  Messrs.  B.  G.  Beck,  Gary,  Ind..  F.  W. 
Stevens,  T.  E.  Tynes  and  James  Farrington  also  spoke 
briefly. 

ILLUMINATION    CALCULATIONS. 

Mr.  C.  J.  Mundo,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  presented  a  collec- 
tion of  curves  and  data  for  making  illumination  calculations 
for  various  illuminants,  including  flame-arc  lamps,  tungsten 
lamps,  etc.  A  useful  feature  was  a  table  of  constants  giving 
the  horizontal  illumination  for  various  heights  and  distances 
from  the  source.  Mr.  B.  W.  Gilson  told  of  the  need  of 
frequent  cleaning  of  reflectors.  Mr.  Ward  Harrison,  Cleve- 
land. Ohio,  recommended  using  220-volt  lamps  on  220-volt 
systems,  instead  of  two  in  series,  thereby  simplifying  the 
wiring  and  arrangement.  When  alternating  current  is  avail- 
able, a  no-volt  transformer  will,  of  course,  be  most  advan- 
tageous. Mr.  James  Farrington  reported  9000  hours'  life 
obtained  by  running  ten  25-volt  lamps  in  series  on  250  volts. 
Mr.  Parkhurst  next  paid  a  high  personal  tribute  to  the 
work  done  by  Mr.  Mundo  in  improving  mill  lighting.  This, 
he  declared,  has  actually  increased  the  tonnage  output.  Mr. 
B.  R.  Shover  confirmed  these  expressions,  adding  that 
proper  lighting  has  also  reduced  accidents  and  greatly  im- 
proved working  conditions  in  the  mills. 

LIGHTING  OF  STEEL   MILLS. 

In  a  paper  entitled  "The  Incandescent  Lamp  in  the  Steel 
Industry"  Mr.  Ward  Harrison,  General  Electric  Company, 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  discussed  the  principles  of  light  flux  and 
distribution,  illustrated  by  practical  data  on  reflector  char- 
acteristics. The  author  also  showed  examples  of  shop,  mill 
and  furnace-room  lighting  using  large  tungsten  units.  These 
lamps  gave  higher  intensities  and  saved  the  trimming  for- 
merly required  with  the  flame-arc  lamps.  In  the  discussion 
Mr.  H.  M.  Gassman  referred  to  aluminum  paint  as  a  re- 
flecting material.  Mr.  Switzer  described  a  new  compact 
illuminonieter  adapted  to  the  use  of  inexperienced  observers. 
Mr.  C.  J.  Mundo  said  that  practical  men  are  still  disposed  to 
cling  to  flat  reflectors,  although  dome  units,  hung  higher, 
will  give  the  same  effect  in  distribution. 

Mr.  C.  E.  Clewell's  paper  on  "Modern  Illumination  in  the 
Iron  and  Steel  Industry,"  read  by  Mr.  C.  E.  Stephens,  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  opened  Thursday's  program  following  the  recess 
of  Wednesday.  After  showing  the  economic  necessity  for 
adequate  lighting  and  describing  the  modern  illuminants 
available,  the  author  cited  particular  examples  of  foundry, 
open-hearth,  machine-shop,  erecting-shop,  carpenter  and 
pattern-shop  lighting,  using  carbon  arc,  incandescent  and 
mercury-vapor  tube  lamps.  The  deserved  importance  of 
proper  yard  lighting  was  also  touched  upon,  and  the  paper 
closed  with  tabulations  of  lamps  used  and  complete  lighting 
data  on  a  number  of  mill  and  industrial  installations. 

Opening  the  discussion  of  the  paper,  Mr.  Ward  Harrison, 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  showed  photometric  curves  of  flame-arc 
lamps  taken  at  ten-second  intervals,  revealing  light  varia- 
tions from  500  to  3000  cp,  despite  the  steady  storage-battery 
supply  of  the  arc  and  general  favorable  laboratory  condi- 
tions of  the  test.  Mr.  F.  D.  Egan,  Midland,  Pa.,  confirmed 
the  necessity  ior  higher  illumination  in  steel  mills,  but 
warned  against  hanging  lamps  too  high,  with  consequent 
loss  of  efficiency.  He  exhibited  photographs  of  the  lightino; 
of  open-hearth  rooms.    The  life  of  arc  lamps  rated  normally 


at  175  hours  per  trim  under  favorable  conditions  is  reduced, 
he  said,  to  115  hours  and  less,  when  operated  on  traveler 
bridges  or  off  circuits  with  motors.  Mr.  G.  W.  Richardson, 
Philadelphia,  recommended  the  use  of  250-watt  tungsten 
lamps  on  cranes.  Mr.  E.  Trudlander,  Braddock,  Pa.,  re- 
marked that  his  safety  department  requires  two  250-watt 
lamps  on  each  crane.  These  units  have  not  suffered  from 
the  jar  of  crane  travel  and  concentrate  the  light. where  men 
are  working,  saving  other  yard  illumination.  Mr.  James 
Farrington,  Steubenville,  Ohio,  told  of  operating  two 
125-volt  loo-watt  lamps  in  series  on  each  of  forty  cranes, 
securing  an  average  life  of  1300  hours.  Mr.  E.  B.  Rowe, 
Newark,  Ohio,  referred  to  the  necessity  of  cleaning  re- 
flectors often  to  get  good  illumination.  Mr.  C.  J.  Mundo 
advised  separate  circuits  for  lamps  and  motors.  Pressure 
variations  on  motor  lines  produce  flicker  and  may  even 
cause  some  units  to  go  out.  Light  is  also  most  needed  when 
a  breaker  has  tripped  on  a  motor  circuit. 

ENERGY  DISTRIBUTION. 

Mr.  W.  D.  Ligon  opened  the  Thursday  afternoon  session 
with  a  discussion  of  underground  systems  of  distribution, 
tracing  development  from  the  Edison  tube  to  pump  logs, 
clay  tile  and  fiber  conduit.  Detailed  data  of  filser-conduit 
construction  were  included,  and  the  paper  closed  with  a 
tabulation  of  equivalent  costs  of  installing  single-duct  and 
multiple-duct  tile  and  fiber-pipe  conduit,  computed  to  a 
trench-foot  basis. 

In  a  paper  entitled  "Underground  Cables"  Mr.  Charles  R. 
Sturdevant  described  the  various  single  and  multiple  con- 
ductor cable  made  by  the  American  Steel  &  Wire  Company, 
use  of  varnished  cambric  and  paper  insulation,  composite 
cables,  methods  of  forming  joints,  etc. 

A  paper  on  "Tubular  Poles  for  Line  Construction,"  by 
Mr.  W.  T.  Snyder,  electrical  engineer  for  the  National  Tube- 
Company,  McKeesport,  Pa.,  covered  applications  of  steel 
poles,  ease  of  cutting  and  jointing,  etc.  A  mass  of  detailed 
data  on  pole  sizes,  strengths,  loads  and  deflections  was  also- 
presented.  Tests  quoted  by  Mr.  Snyder  show  that  for 
hollow  poles  both  strength  and  stiffness  increase  more 
rapidly  than  the  weight  as  the  diameter  is  increased. 

Mr.  R.  A.  Cummings'  paper,  "Reinforced  Concrete  Poles," 
contained  detailed  construction  data  and  covered  several 
tests  made  by  the  New  York  Central  Railroad,  in  which 
deflection  of  concrete  poles  and  foundations  was  carried  to 
destruction  with  the  aid  of  a  locomotive  and  dynamometer 
car.  Comparing  concrete  and  chestnut  poles  the  author 
showed  a  saving  of  40  per  cent  on  25-ft.  lengths  and  17- 
per  cent  on  40-ft.  lengths  in  twenty-five  years'  service. 

A  paper  on  "Structural  Steel  Poles  and  Towers,"  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  R.  Fleming,  New  York,  related  to  subjects 
of  loading,  unit  stresses,  foundations,  etc.,  of  fabricated 
structures,  and  was  illustrated  with  detailed  descriptions  of 
the  steel  towers  used  on  several  American  and  foreign 
transmission  lines,  special  river  crossings,  etc.  The  author 
recommended  strongly  the  use  of  heavier  steel  sections 
in  poles  and  towers  to  contribute  to  longer  life  of  the 
structures. 

Mr.  R.  B.  Freeman  presented  the  paper  scheduled  ta 
have  been  given  by  Mr.  W.  W.  Grant,  and  exhibited  a  num- 
ber of  lantern  slides  showing  conduit  installations  made  by 
Mr.  G.  M.  Gest.  The  slides  illustrated  methods  of  installing 
fiber  duct  in  concrete,  arrangement  of  manhole  forms,  using 
steel,  wood,  etc.,  and  methods  of  splicing  cable.  The  first 
cost  of  the  duct  itself  is  such  a  small  fraction  of  the  outlay 
for  underground  work  that  the  use  of  the  best  tube  obtain- 
able represents  the  best  economy. 

In  the  joint  discussion  on  the  general  subjects  covered 
by  the  distribution  papers.  Mr.  L.  -R.  Rankin,  Sharon,  Pa., 
described  the  construction  of  some  25-ft.  concrete  poles 
completed  at  a  cost  of  $7.50  each,  equivalent  wood  poles 
costing  $4  to  $5.  On  test  the  25-ft.  concrete  and  chestnut 
poles  showed  equal  deflections  at  2000-lb.  load.  Mr.  J.  C. 
Reed,  Steelton,  Pa.,  explained  his  plans  for  bolting  wood 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


759 


tops  to  i6-ft.  concrete  Initts  in  replacing  a  transmission 
line  on  which  pressure  cannot  be  removed  more  than  two 
hours  weekly.  He  estimated  the  cost  of  the  composite  pole 
to  be  less  than  either  all-concrete  or  all-wood.  Mr.  T.  E. 
Tynes  reported  his  own  costly  experience  with  the  dry- 
rotting  of  poles  at  the  line  where  imbedded  in  concrete 
butts.  Mr.  C.  W.  Parkhurst  spoke  of  the  complex  and 
difficult  requirements  impased  by  railroads  for  transmission- 
line  crossings,  extending  even  to  the  chemical  analysis  of 
the  steel,  unit  strength  and  provision  for  extreme  wind  and 
ice  conditions.  Mr.  W.  A.  Worcester  advised  the  use  of 
heavy  structures,  since  light  sections  soon  rust.  Mr.  George 
Mann  referred  to  difficulties  in  fastening  cross-arms  and 
steps  to  concrete  poles  and  the  fragility  of  the  poles  to 
chipping,  breaking  of  corners,  etc. 

Owing'  to  the  pressure  on  our  colunms  this  week  the  re- 
maining papers  delivered  before  the  association  will  be 
printed  in  abstract  next  week  together  with  whatever  dis- 
cussion and  comment  their  presentation  called  forth. 


OPENING  OF  NEW  YORK  ELECTRICAL  SHOW. 


As  we  go  to  press  the  Electrical  Exposition  and  the 
Automobile  Show  given  annually  in  New  York  City  opens 
its  doors  to  the  public.  Like  last  year's  exposition,  the 
show  this  year  is  being  held  in  the  New  Grand  Central 
Palace  on  Lexington  Avenue.  The  general  arrangements 
are  about  the  same,  three  floors  of  the  immense  structure 
being   given    over   to   the    exhibits,   but   there    is    this   year 


some  of  the  great  work  on  the  Barge  Canal  now  ncaring 
completion. 

The  exposition  itself  was  opened  with  a  luncheon  to 
Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison,  given  by  the  New  York  Edison 
Company,  on  the  afternoon  of  Oct.  9,  in  commemoration 
of  the  completion  of  thirty  years  of  central-station  service. 
Among  the  350  guests  attending  the  luncheon  were  many 
men  best  known  in  the  electrical  industry  and  many  promi- 
nent in  the  industrial  world.  These  assembled  to  pay 
tribute  to  the  genius  of  Edison  and  such  an  array  of  well- 
known  men  of  the  industry  has  seldom  been  seen  at  one 
time  in  New  York.  As  an  appropriate  prelude  to  the 
speech-making,  an  ode  to  Mr.  Edison,  composed  by  Mr. 
W.  J.  Lampton,  was  delivered.  Mr.  J.  W.  Lieb,  Jr.,  as 
toastmaster,  reviewed  at  some  length  the  early  history  of 
the  New  York  Edison  Company,  and  the  general  trend  of 
development  since  the  establishment  of  the  old  Pearl  Street 
station.  Statistics  were  quoted  to  show  the  almost  magical 
growth  of  the  central-station  industry  within  the  last  three 
decades  and  its  incomprehensible  monetary  value.  The 
impetus  for  all  of  this  was  attributed  to  Mr.  Edison,  who, 
strangely  enough,  insisted  upon  continuity  and  dependa- 
l)ility  of  central-station  service  from  the  outset.  A  fit- 
ting response  on  behalf  of  the  guest  of  honor  was  made 
by  Mr.  Samuel  Insull,  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Com- 
pany of  Chicago.  After  the  luncheon,  which  was  given  on 
one  of  the  upper  floors  of  the  New  Grand  Central  Palace, 
the  guests  were  afforded  an  opportunity  to  see  the  exhibits 
prior  to  the  admission  of  the  general  public. 

In  the  exhibition  the  central  stations  in  and  around  New 
York   are    well    represented.     Unfortunately,   as   we   go   to 


General    View   of   New   York    Electrical    Exposition    and    Automobile    Show. 


more  of  general  public  interest  to  hold  the  attention  of 
the  multitude  besides  the  array  of  electrical  apparatus  and 
appliances  intended  for  ordinary  use.  In  this  respect  the 
United  States  Government  has  contributed  much  that  is 
instructive,  and  New  York  State  has  also  been  mindful  of 
the  opportunity  afforded  to  give  its  citizens  an  insight  into 


press  the  exhibits  of  the  various  central-station  companies 
are  not  entirely  complete. 

The  government  exhibits  are  scattered  on  the  three 
floors.  Experiments  in  the  stimulation  of  plant  growth 
by  means  of  electricity  have  been  carried  on  quite  exten- 
sively, and  in  a  miniature  greenhouse  on   the  third   floor 


76o 


ELECTRICAL    ^VORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  is 


are  shown  flowers  being  subjected  to  high-tension  currents. 
Contrasting  with  the  flowers  thus  affected  is  a  bed  grow- 
ing under  normal  conditions.  Through  the  courtesy  of  the 
•Navy  Department,  a  naval  electrical  exhibit  operated  by 
the  electric  class  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard  is  on  view. 
The  exhibit  comprises  a  fully  equipped  wireless  station, 
models  of  war  ships  and  standard  electrical  fittings  for 
marine  use.  The  Army  Signal  Corps,  War  Department, 
the  Bureau  of  Mines,  the  National  Museum,  the  Bureau  of 
Census  and  the  Department  of  the  Interior  each  demon- 
strate their  several  electrical  activities.  A  large  operative 
model  of  the  Gatun  dam,  locks  and  spillways  is  contributed 
by  the  Isthmian  Commission  and  an  illustration  of  the  use 
of  electricity  on  the  Mohawk  River  Dam  at  Yosts,  N.  Y., 
is  furnished  by  the  State  Engineer  at  Albany,  N.  Y. 

There  is  a  large  array  of  electric  automobiles  for  pleas- 
ure and  commercial  use  on  view,  and,  needless  to  state, 
numerous  electrical  household  conveniences  are  to  be  seen 
on  all  sides.     The  exposition  closes  on  Oct.   19. 


ANNUAL  CONVENTION  OF  ELECTRIC  VEHICLE 
ASSOCIATION  OF  AMERICA. 


The  third  annual  convention  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Asso- 
ciation of  America  was  called  to  order  at  Paul  Revere 
Hall,  Mechanics'  Building,  Boston,  Mass.,  on  Tuesday 
morning,  Oct.  8,  by  President  W.  H.  Blood,  Jr.,  about  100 
members  and  guests  being  present.  Interest  in  the  conven- 
tion was  enhanced  by  tlie  holding  of  meetings  in  the  same 
building  which  houses  the  Boston  1912  Electric  Show,  mem- 
bers and  guests  in  attendance  being  welcomed  freely  to  all 
departments  of  the  latter  upon  presentation  of  badges.  The 
program  included  two  sessions  on  Tuesday  and  t\v;o  on 
Wednesday,  with  automobile  and  country  club  trips  on 
Tuesday  afternoon  and  a  theater  party  following  adjourn- 
ment Wednesday.  Many  of  the  delegates  were  taken  to 
the  historic  points  of  interest  in  Greater  Boston,  Lexington 
and  Concord,  and  the  varied  autumnal  scenery  of  New 
England,  combined  with  fine  weather,  contributed  much  to 
the  enjoyrtient  of  those  in  attendance. 
.     president's  address. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Blood,  Jr.,  of  Boston,  in  his  presidential  ad- 
dress called  attention  to  the  splendid  growth  of  the  associa- 
tion in  its  short  life  of  two  years,  and  stated  that  the 
present  membership  represents  companies  having  a  com- 
bined capital  account  of  over  $500,000,000.  The  success 
of  the  movement  has  beeri  almost  entirely  the  result  of  co- 
operation. Larger  sales  of  electrics  have  lowered  overhead 
charges  in  manufacturing  plants  and  reductions  in  electric 
rates  have  followed  in  the  central-station  systems.  The 
public  is  the  ultimate  gainer  from  the  use  of  the  electric 
vehicle.'  The  price  of  gasoline,  on  the  other  hand,  has 
risen  from  10  cents  to  a  maximum  of  23  cents  per  gallon  in 
some  localities,  with  a  recent  discussion  among  New  York 
garage  owners  of  a  possible  price  of  30  cents.  President 
Blood  emphasized  the  reliability  of  the  electric  vehicle,  its 
freedom  from  evils  associated  with  the  horse,  and  predicted 
the  replacement  in  the  near  future  of  all  city  dray  horses 
bv  motor  trucks.  Operating  data  show  that  electric  vehicles 
are  in  service  more  davs  in  a  year  than  any  other  trans- 
portation device.  In  closing,  the  speaker  commended  the 
work  of  the  various  officers  and  committees  and  paid  a  high 
tribute  to  the  co-operation  of  the  technical  press  in  the 
vvork  of  the  association.  He  recommended  the  employment 
of  a  permanent  secretary  and  spoke  in  terms  of  congratu- 
lation regarding  the  growth  in  membership  and  the  adoption 
of  a  standard  charging  plug. 

In  presenting  his  address,  Mr.  Blood  referred  appre- 
ciatively to  a  recent  traffic  census  by  the  Massachusetts 
Highway  Commission,  which  shows  that  only  about  half 
the  number  of  light  horse-drawn  vehicles  of  three  or  four 
J'ears  ago  pass  a  given  point,  and  that  on  an  observed  road- 


r 


way,  at  least  one  automobile  truck  passed  for  every  two- 
horse  team. 

PAPERS. 

The  committee  on  papers,  Mr.  Frank  W.  Smith,  chairman 
reported  that  seven  monthly  meetings  of  the  association  hac 
been  held  at  New  York  in  the  past  year,  one  paper  being 
presented  and  discussed  at  each.  The  average  attendance 
was  about  150.  The  committee  favors  the  continuation  ol 
the  policy  of  treating  a  single  subject  at  a  meeting,  with  one 
or  two  evenings  for  topical  discussions  by  authorities.  At- 
tention was  called  to  the  electric  vehicle  research  work  being 
carried  on  at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  as 
a  possible  source  of  material  for  presentation  at  meetings. 

MEMBERSHIP. 

Mr.  Frank  J.  Stone  as  chairman  of  the  membership  com- 
mittee reported  a  total  membership  of  317  compared  with 
197  a  year  ago.  Two  hundred  and  twenty-eight  members 
are  located  in  the  Atlantic  Slope  and  Gulf  States,  including 
nine  electric  vehicle  manufacturers  and  thirty-four  central 
stations;  seventy-two  members  are  in  the  Middle  States, 
including  eight  manufacturers  and  thirteen  central  stations; 
and  seventeen  are  situated  west  of  the  Mississippi,  including 
nine  central  stations.  The  association  now  has  active 
branches  in  New  England  and  Chicago.  The  committee 
recommends  the  engagement  of  a  permanent  secretary,  the 
expense  to  be  met  from  the  advertising  revenue  of  an 
official  organ. 

In  the  course  of  his  report  Mr.  Stone  announced  that  the 
association  has  at  present  secured  237  members,  or  a  total 
gain  of  71  per  cent  over  a  year  ago.  He  referred  to  the 
success  of  the  New  England  Street  Railway  Club  in  main- 
taining offices  and  a  permanent  secretary  in  Boston,  and 
commended  a  similar  plan  for  the  Electric  VeMcle  Asso- 
ciation. 

ASSOCIATION   EMBLEM. 

The  emblem  committee,  Mr.  Arthur  Williams,  chairman, 
announced  that  an  association  emblem  has  been  selected.  It 
now  appears  upon  letter-heads  and  lapel  buttons  used  at  the 
convention. 

INSUR.\NCE. 

Mr.  Baker  remarked  in  presenting  the  report  that  the 
insurance  companies  are  practically  prepared  to  offer  a 
lower  rate  for  company  automobiles  which  are  not  in  the 
emergency  service  class  than  upon  "hurry-up"  wagons. 

THE    MODERN     ELECTRIC    VEHICLE. 

In  a  paper  entitled  "Where  We  Stand  To-day"  Mr.  C.  E. 
Michel  vigorously  asserted  that  the  day  of  apology  for  the 
electric  vehicle  has  passed,  and  that  it  is  no  more  a  corti- 
promise  than  is  a  gasoline  truck,  a  freight  hauling  steam 
engine  or  a  transatlantic  merchandise  carrier.  The  field  of 
application  is  just  as  clearly  defined  as  is  the  field  of  the 
foregoing  transportation  units.  The  problem  of  mileage 
has  been  solved  and  the  central  station  has  come  to  the 
realization  of  the  value  of  the  vehicle  battery  load,  its 
beneficent  influence  upon  production ;  the  public  has  come 
to  appreciate  the  necessity  for  the  car  and  the  manufacturer 
has  developed  and  improved  his  product  to  meet  a  condition 
exactly  as  have  the  steam  engineer  and  the  ship  builder. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  the  electric  vehicle  manufacturers  are  jn 
better  condition  financially  to-day  than  are  their  brothers 
in  the  gasoline  car  industry. 

A  strong  plea  was  made  in  the  paper  against  accepting 
horse  traction  as  a  result  of  inherited  habit.  Said  the, 
author:  "What  excuse  could  you  give  for  the  slowing 
down  of  a  delivery  system  when  it  is  acknowledged  that  the 
work  that  can  be  accomplished  is  a  rough  function  of  the 
speed  of  the  delivery  unit;  for  the  actual  increasing  of  costs 
of  25  to  40  per  cent  for  at  least  80  per  cent  of  the  concerns 
delivering  merchandise  in  cities ;  for  the  many  collateral 
forms  of  expense  that  are  almost  entirely  absent  in  the  case 
of  the  electric  vehicle  ;  and  for  the  limitations  of  the  animal 
itself  and  the  dirt  attendant  upon  its  use?     Even  through 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


761 


some  very  questionable  mental  gymnastics  you  could  justify 
the  animal,  it  is  fairly  certain  that  the  police  department, 
acting  under  orders  from  the  Board  of  Health,  would  run 
you  off  the  street.  When  reduced  to  cold  facts,  this  is  the 
actual  competition  we  have  to  overcome,  and  sooner  or  later 
it  is  bound  to  fall  flat." 

In  closing,  the  author  emphasized  the  enormous  field  for 
the  electric  truck,  the  burden  upon  the  manufacturer  in  edu- 
cating the  public  as  to  what  can  be  done  by  his  products, 
and  the  recent  rapid  growth  of  the  industry.  Thus  in  St. 
'  Louis  there  has  been  an  increase  in  charging  revenue  dur- 
ing the  first  half  of  1912  at  the  rate  of  $1,000  per  month,  or 
nearly  37  per  cent  over  1911;  it  is  estimated  that  in  New 
York  the  number  of  electric  vehicles  increased  35  per  cent 
in  the  year  ending  June,  1912,  and  in  Chicago  during  that 
month  there  were  200  electric  commercial  vehicles  under 
order  and  undelivered.  One  electric  truck  dealer,  during 
191 1,  sold  single-handed,  trucks  to  the  value  of  $981,000, 
and  not  an  apology  was  made  for  a  single  one.  The  field 
is  broad  and  only  the  surface  has  been  scratched. 

Discussion. 

Mr.  G.  H.  Jones,  Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  Chi- 
cago, emphasized  the  rapid  growth  of  electric  vehicle  appli- 
cations, pointing  out  that  in  two  years  the  number  of  elec- 
tric trucks  in  Chicago  has  increased  from  eighty-one  to  400. 
The  company's  largest  garage,  built  about  eight  years  ago, 
is  about  to  .be  transferred  to  a  new  establishment  capable 
of  caring  for  300  commercial  and  pleasure  vehicles  at  one 
time.  The  extensive  use  of  electric  trucks  by  the  large 
express  companies  and  great  mercantile  establishments  has 
done  much  to  put  the  business  on  a  solid  foundation. 

STREET    CONDITIONS    AND    THE    ELECTRIC    VEHICLE. 

In  a  paper  by  Mr.  R.  McAllister  Lloyd  emphasis  was 
placed  on  the  need  of  improved  streets  and  roads  for  all 
kinds  of  automobile  traffic,  the  author  contending  that  as 
a  rule  the  highways  are  not  being  constructed  on  good 
enough  foundations  or  being  systematically  and  properly 
maintained.  The  cost  of  motor  vehicle  maintenance  would 
be  largely  reduced  if  Belgian  blocks  could  be  eliminated, 
holes  in  asphalt  filled,  proper  rails  used  for  trolley  tracks 
and  rails  maintained  flush  with  the  street  surface.  The 
enormous  waste  of  money  in  the  replacement  of  worn-out 
and  broken  parts  of  motor-trucks  enters  into  the  cost  of  all 
commodities  and  here  is  an  opportunity  for  the  association 
to  co-operate  with  public  welfare  organizations  in  securing 
better  highway  conditions.  The  paper  closed  with  a  plea 
for  holding  to  the  present  speeds  of  electric  trucks  in  the 
interests  of  safe  operation  under  conditions  of  heavy  traffic. 

Discussion. 

Mr.  W.  P.  Kennedy,  New  York,  urged  that  the  associa- 
tion co-operate  with  organizations  trying  to  secure  better 
street  conditions  and  criticised  the  expenditure  of  large 
sums  of  money  by  state  organizations  upon  highway  con- 
struction almost  entirely  outside  of  cities.  He  contended 
that  horse-drawn  vehicles  do  not  pay  a  proper  tax  or  bear 
their  fair  cost  of  road  maintenance  work.  Even  where 
such  taxes  are  collected  on  a  wheel  basis  much  of  the  money 
appears  to  be  diverted  from  road  maintenance  in  munici- 
palities. Mr.  Day  Baker,  Boston,  called  attention  to  the 
recent  attempts  of  the  Massachusetts  Highway  Commission 
to  limit  the  weight  on  motor  truck  tires  and  the  speed  of 
machines.  The  board  desires  to  enforce  a  maximum  of 
1000  lb.  per  inch  width  of  tire,  but  on  account  of  the  absence 
of  adequate  engineering  data  the  Legislature  of  1912  re- 
fused to  sustain  the  commission  in  this  position.  An  at- 
tempt will  be  made  in  the  coming  session  to  carry  this 
recommendation  through,  and  the  matter  deserves  the  con- 
sideration of  both  gasoline  and  electric  truck  users.  Motor 
ways  are  now  being  considered  by  the  street  commissioner 
of  Boston  at  the  initiative  of  the  motor  truck  interests  of 


the  city.  Mr.  Baker  said  in  closing  that  a  law  should  be 
passed  making  it  a  misdemeanor  to  deposit  glass  upon  high- 
ways. Dr.  Harold  Pender,  Boston,  suggested  that  an  in- 
vestigation should  be  undertaken  under  the  auspices  of  the 
association  of  the  best  types  of  road  surfaces  for  motor- 
vehicle  traffic,  with  thorough  tests  of  the  suitability  of 
different  highway  constructions.  Mr.  E.  W.  Curtis,  Jr., 
New  York,  concurred  with  Mr.  Kennedy  in  regard  to  the 
need  of  applying  more  funds  to  the  maintenance  of  city 
streets,  and  also  emphasized  the  importance  of  parking 
spaces  for  electric  vehicles  in  down-town  districts.  Other 
speakers  were  Messrs.  W.  W.  Scott,  Pawtucket,  R.  L; 
R.  M.  Lloyd  and  E.  C.  Kavanaugh. 

THE  ELECTRIC  VEHICLE  IN   DENVER. 

This  paper,  by  Dr.  M.  Ekstromer,  reviewed  the  advan- 
tages of  Denver  as  a  field  for  the  electric  vehicle, 
emphasizing  the  favorable  topography  and  climate  of  the 
city,  the  excellent  street  system  and  absence  of  heavy 
grades.  The  Denver  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company's  rates 
to  private  garages  on  the  oft'-peak  basis  are  $5  minimum 
monthly  charge  plus  4  cents  per  kw-hr.  over  and  above  the 
minimum,  with  a  10  per  cent  discount.  Peak  charging 
raises  the  minimum  to  $7.50  per  month.  For  public  garages 
the  rates  are  about  3  cents,  with  discounts  based  upon 
quantity. 

Early  in  1910  the  company  established  a  department  of 
electric-vehicle  and  storage-battery  engineering,  which  has 
since  done  much  to  standardize  garage  practice,  educate 
users  in  the  proper  care  of  equipment,  assemble  and  utilize 
cost  data  and  promote  co-operation  among  dealers.  The 
company  sells  no  vehicles  directly  and  maintains  -im- 
partiality between  the  competitive  makes  in  its  territory. 
An  attractive  monthly  publication  is  mailed  free  to  all 
owners  of  pleasure  and  commercial  electric  cars  and  also 
to  merchants  owning  and  operating  gasoline  or  horse-drawn 
vehicles  and  trucks.  The  majority  of  charging  garages  in 
Denver  cater  exclusively  to  the  electric  clientele,  and  the 
private  garages  are  models  of  neatness  and  efficiency.  In 
June,  1910,  there  were  three  commercial  and  480  electric 
pleasure  vehicles  in  the  city,  which  now  has  fifty-seven  com- 
mercial electric  vehicles  in  service  or  on  order  and  850 
pleasure  vehicles  of  the  electric  type  in  service.  The  vehicle 
load  calls  for  2,160,000  kw-hr.,  yielding  a  revenue  of  about 
$64,800  per  year.  Repeat  orders  are  coming  in,  and  the 
estimated  increase  in  the  next  two  years  is  300  per  cent. 
Denver  now  has  one  electric  pleasure  car  for  every  217  per- 
sons, or  more  per  capita  than  any  other  city  of  its  size  in 
the  country. 

PUBLICITY. 

The  report  of  the  publicity  committee  with  Mr.  C.  L. 
Edgar,  Boston,  as  chairman,  and  Mr.  Frank  W.  Smith  as 
chairman  of  the  sub-committee,  was  presented  with  lantern 
slides  showing  the  plan  and  detailed  handling  of  the  adver- 
tising campaign  now  being  carried  forward  by  the  associa- 
tion, and  demonstrating  in  a  striking  way  the  value  of 
systematic  work  in  the  exploitation  of  the  electric  vehicle. 
Special  credit  was  given  to  the  Electric  Storage  Battery 
Company  and  other  manufacturers  for  the  inception  of  the 
campaign,  which  marks  the  expenditure  of  about  $38,000  in 
seven  groups  of  periodicals,  calling  for  432  insertions  in 
publications  having  a  combined  circulation  of  nearly  3,600,- 
000  copies.  The  campaign  has  been  under  way  since  May, 
1912,  and  advertisements  featuring  the  value  of  the  electric 
vehicle  as  a  general  proposition  have  been  published  in 
general  magazines,  fashion  and  social  periodicals,  central 
station,  auto  trade  and  physicians'  journals,  and  also  organs 
appealing  to  the  coal,  wool,  cotton,  brewing,  brick,  iron, 
cement,  teaming  and  department  store  trades.  The  general 
policy  has  been  the  criticism  of  the  horse  and  the  indication 
of  its  being  the  passing  victim  of  an  age  of  higher  efficiency, 
whose  elimination  is  demanded  by  present-day  economy  and 


762 


ELECTRICAL     \V  O  R  L  D  , 


Vol..  60,  N'o. 


sanitation.  The  total  number  of  readers  of  the  forty-two 
trade  journals  and  publications  employed  is  estimated  at 
14,000,000.  The  association  had  received  702  inquiries  re- 
garding the  electric  vehicle  up  to  the  printing  of  the  report. 
In  conclusion  the  committee  recommended  that  the  associa- 
tion continue  the  campaign  for  another  year ;  that  the  com- 
mittee be  enlarged  to  solicit  subscriptions,  care  for  publicity 
work  and  pursue  inquiries  of  prospective  customers;  and 
that  immediate  steps  be  taken  to  secure  subscriptions  for 
the  coming  months'  publicity  work  along  educational  lines. 

Discussion. 
Mr.  H.  S.  Knowlton,  Boston,  commended  the  thorough- 
ness of  the  analysis  made  by  the  conmiittee  and  urged  that 
the  advertising  in  technical  journals  be  manitained  as  well 
as  that  in  popular  periodicals.  Messrs.  E.  S.  Mansfield, 
Day  Baker,  T.  H.  Schoepf,  E.  C.  Kavanaugh,  C.  D.  Marsh 
and  W.  D.  Mcjunkin  participated  in  a  vigorous  discussion 
of  the  report,  in  which  varied  opinions  were  advanced  as  to 
the  fitness  of  different  types  of  mediums  for  publicity.  The 
plan  of  continuing  the  campaign  appeared  to  receive  gen- 
eral favor.  The  last  speaker  cited  other  national  publicity 
campaigns,  notably  that  of  the  Bell  telephone  interests,  and 
urged  the  benefits  of  co-operative  advertising  along  unified 
lines. 

THE  COST  OF  MOTOR  TRUCKING. 

Dr.  Harold  Pender  and  Mr.  H.  F.  Thomson,  of  the  elec- 
trical engineering  department  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology,  presented  a  thirty-six-page  paper  upon  the 
cost  of  motor  trucking,  with  extensive  data  in  tables  and 
curves.  The  work  has  been  done  under  an  appropriation 
by  the  Edison  Electric  Illui.iiinating  Company  of  Boston  and 
is  the  second  publication  of  data  by  the  department.  The 
authors  pointed  out  the  difficulties  of  estimating  the  cost  of 
operation  of  electric  trucks  under  specific  conditions  and 
emphasized  the  influence  of  improved  designs  and  operating 
methods  upon  costs. 

In  addition  to  the  data  upon  (he  class  of  service,  nature 
of  roads  and  grades,  there  is  given  in  the  tables  data  upon 
the  number  of  trucks  represented  in  the  report,  their  age, 
length  of  time  covered,  mileage  and  days  of  use  of  the 
equipment.  The  authors  contributed  an  extended  discussion 
of  the  desirable  methods  of  estimating  the  cost  of  tires, 
repairs,  battery  renewals,  energy  for  charging,  fuel  for 
gasoline  trucks,  lubricants,  garage  expenses,  wages  of 
driver  and  helper,  interest,  depreciation  administration  and 
insurance. 

PROGRESS   OF   ELECTRIC   TRUCKS. 

The  progress  of  electric  trucks  in  America  was  discussed 
in  a  paper  by  Mr.  E.  S.  Foljambe,  who  reviewed  the  increase 
in  the  use  of  commercial  motor  vehicles  from  2500  in  1908 
to  over  30,000  at  present,  including  both  gasoline  and  elec- 
tric machines,  with  a  brief  history  of  the  industry.  The 
production  of  commercial  cars  of  both  types  in  1913  will 
probably  add  40,000  new  units  to  the  motor  transportation 
service  of  the  country,  so  vast  are  the  preparations  made  to 
handle  the  business.  On  account  of  the  disinclination  of 
electric  vehicle  makers  to  give  out  figures  it  is  practically 
impossible  to  ascertain  the  exact  number  manufactured,  but 
estimates  place  the  number  of  electric  trucks  now  in  use 
at  between  7000  and  8000. ' 

The  author  contended  that  no  greater  mistake  can  be 
made  than  to  compare  continually  or  extol  the  advantages 
of  gasoline  and  electric  vehicles  as  against  one  another  and 
took  the  ground  that  the  displacement  of  the  horse  is  the 
great  work  ahead  rather  than  the  triumph  of  either  type  of 
motor-truck.  To-day  the  electric  vehicle  makers  are  com- 
ing to  the  front  in  the  advertising  field.  The  freedom  of 
the  electric  from  sunstroke,  effects  of  cold,  etc.,  has  en- 
deared it  to  many  a  business  man,  particularly  during  such 
torrid  weather  as  occurred  in  the  summer  of  1911,  when 
over  50,000  horses  valued  at  about  $11,000,000,  succumbed 
during   sixty   days.     Touching   upon   the   improvements    in 


batteries  and  vehicle  design  and  construction  the  paper 
emphasized  the  excellent  life  characteristics  of  such  ma-  ■ 
chines  and  reviewed  the  advantages  of  low  depreciation,  in-  1 
creased  mileage  per  charge,  overtime  capacity,  low  insur-  | 
ance  rates,  occupancy  of  onerquarter  the  stable  room  of  the 
equivalent  in  horses  and  wagons,  reduced  maintenance 
through  strict  limitation  of  speed,  ability  to  supplement 
horses  in  mixed  installations  and  off-peak  charging  features 
which  distinguish  the  electric  truck.  A  large  number  of 
applications  were  outlined  and  tables  of  data  quoted  from 
the  first  bulletin  of  the  electric  vehicle  research  division  of 
the  Electrical  Engineering  Department  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  of  Technology,  Boston.  In  the  brewing  estab- 
lishment of  Peter  Doelger,  New  York,  the  cost  of  delivery 
per  barrel  has  been  reduced  2y  per  cent  by  electric  trucks 
compared  with  horses,  the  saving  being  $800  per  year  per 
truck.  One  7-ton  truck  with  two  side  chutes  is  furnishing 
all  the  coal  used  at  the  Hudson  &  Manhattan  Terminal,  in 
New  York,  and  is  doing  more  work  than  four  three-horse 
teams.  The  ease  with  which  electric  trucks  can  be  fitted 
with  winches  for  transferring  loads  to  buildings,  upper 
windows,  etc.,  is  a  point  of  importance.  A  tilting  body 
truck  with  an  electric  winch  in  the  service  of  Henry  Disston 
&  Sons,  Inc.,  Philadelphia,  for  hauling  material  around  the 
plant  yard  has  displaced  four  horses,  two  wagons,  eight 
men  and  one  hand  car.  Freight  car  shifters  in  factory 
yards  and  small  electric  trucks  for  general  industrial  service 
are  noteworthy  recent  applications. 

These  papers  were  brieflv  discussed  by  Messrs.  H.  F. 
Thomson,  E.  W.  Curtis,  Jr.,  and  W.  W.  Scott,  stress  being 
laid  upon  the  desirability  of  separating  labor  from  material 
charges    in    analyzing    operating   costs. 

POSSIBILITIES    OF   THE    ELECTRIC   VEHICLE. 

Mr.  S.  G.  Thompson  presented  a  paper  in  which  the 
future  of  the  electric  vehicle  was  forecasted  from  the  rapid 
progress  made  in  the  past  as  compared  with  the  rate  of 
application  of  gasoline  trucks.  The  ratio  of  increase  of 
electric  machines  has  quite  closely  adhered  to  the  predic- 
tions of  a  year  ago.  The  author  contended  that  the  future 
of  the  electric  truck  lies  in  the  large  city,  since  it  is  pre- 
eminent under  conditions  of  traffic  congestion.  In  New 
Jersey  at  the  moment  an  overwhelming  percentage  of 
those  now  evincing  interest  in  the  electric  wagon  are  the 
present  gasoline  machine  operators,  a  fact  that  indicates 
market  economic  limitations  in  the  latter  type  of  machines. 
In  twenty  months  the  number  of  electric  commercial  cars 
in  use  in  the  country  has  increased  from  a  mere  handful 
to  a  quantity  exceeding  20  per  cent  of  the  total  number 
of  commercial  motor  vehicles  of  all  sorts  now  in  service. 
In  closing  the  author  presented  the  following  reasons  for 
the  assured  future  of  the  electric  commercial  vehicle:  that 
with  a  few  exceptions,  all  the  largest  motor  wagon  in- 
stallations in  the  country  are  of  electric  vehicles ;  that  the 
"fleet"  orders  have  been  placed  by  concerns  experienced  in 
its  handling  of  rriotor  wagons ;  that  in  one  electric  in- 
stallation are  more  commercial  wagons  than  the  total  num- 
ber of  all  types  represented  in  thirty-one  states;  that  the 
combined  electric  vehicle  equipments  of  only  fifty  opera- 
tors represent  10  per  cent  of  the  total  motor  wagon  service 
of  the  country;  that  one  prominent  express  company  de- 
pends almost  entirely  upon  electric  machines  for  its  de- 
livery service  in  eleven  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  United 
States,  and  that  despite  the  pessimists,  all  this  has  been 
accomplished  by  less  than  ten  active  electric  vehicle  makers 
in  the  face  of  aggressive  competition  of  nearly  300  makes 
of  gasoline  machines. 

Discussion. 

.Supplementing  his  paper,  Mr.  Thompson  emphasized  the 
prestige  which  association  with  a  central-station  organiza- 
tion gives  the  electric  vehicle  sales  engineer  and  spoke  of 
the  favorable  results  gained  from  the  weekly  circu'ar  letters 
on   the   electric  vehicle  issued  bv   the   Public    Service   Cor- 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


763 


poration  of  New  Jersey  and  sent  to  a  selected  mailing  list 
of  about  2000  concerns  interested  in  electric  truck  develop- 
ment. Mr.  J.  E.  Hale,  Akron,  Ohio,  called  attention  to  the 
increasing  value  of  the  industrial  electric  truck,  but  urged 
thorough  investigation  of  conditions  before  recommending 
its  application  in  specific  cases.  Unless  the  speed  can  be 
utilized  beyond  that  possible  with  the  hand  truck,  or  uhless 
the  capacity  can  be  augmented,  it  is  questionable  whether 
the  industrial  truck  should  be  installed.  In  most  cases 
there  are  no  serious  obstructions  to  the  movement  of  the 
industrial  truck,  so  that  its  full  economies  can  be  secured 
if  the  speed  conditions  can  be  met.  President  Blood  urged 
electric  vehicle  manufacturers  to  make  all  necessary  plans 
for  raising  the  capital  which  will  certainly  be  required  in 
the  near  future  to  meet  the  demand  of  the  public  for  elec- 
tric trucks  and  pleasure  cars,  warning  the  convention  that 
if  this  is  not  done  serious  competition  will  come  from 
gasoline  motor  vehicle  makers.  Messrs.  R.  L.  Lloyd,  Phila- 
delphia; E.  W.  Curtis,  Jr.,  New  York,  and  E.  S.  Mansfield 
also  spoke  briefly. 

OPERATING     RECORDS. 

The  committee  on  operating  records  of  which  Mr.  J.  T. 
Hutchings,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  is  chairman,  recommended  the 
employment  of  a  public  accountant  and  the  working  out  of 
a  complete  system  of  operating  records  after  visits  to  im- 
portant cities.  The  committee  recommended  the  following 
subdivision  of  charges  and  expenses  prior  to  the  carrying 
out  of  the  foregoing  plan :  Operating  charges,  including 
lubricants,  electricity,  battery  renewals,  tire  renewals,  re- 
pair material,  repair  labor  and  painting;  fixed  charges, 
including  garage  general  expense,  garage  labor,  sundries, 
driver,  helper;  overhead  charges,  including  amortization, 
interest,  fire  insurance,  liability  insurance,  and  adminis- 
tration. Battery,  tire  and  performance  records  should  be 
kept  in  complete  form. 

RATES    AND    CHARGING    STATIONS. 

Through  its  chairman,  Mr.  John  F.  Gilchrist,  Chicago, 
the  committee  on  rates  and  charging  stations  submitted  a 
report' favoring  the  wider  use  of  the  public  garage,  lower 
maximum  prices  for  energy,  separating  the  energy  charge 
from  the  garage  charge,  and  the  use  of  a  uniform  sign 
for  garage  service.  The  electric  vehicle  is  more  closely 
approaching  the  service  of  a  touring  car  and  there  is  great 
need  of  a  more  general  awakening  to  its  importance  by 
central  stations.  In  cities  of  the  first  magnitude,  $5,000,000 
to  $15,000,000  per  year  for  electric  charging  when  the  elec- 
tric vehicle  has  completely  displaced  the  horse,  is  a  con- 
servative estimate,  and  smaller  cities  should  reap  a  pro- 
portional benefit.  Greater  co-operation  is  desirable  be- 
tween the  central  station  and  the  heavily  burdened  manu- 
facturer. Representative  garage  signs  were  shown  by  the 
committee. 

Upon  motion  of  Mr.  E.  S.  Mansfield,  Boston,  it  was 
voted  to  recommend  the  separation  of  housing  and  energy 
charges  in  commercial  garages.  Mr.  G.  H.  Jones,  Chicago, 
stated  that  to  meet  the  requirements  of  truck  owners  who 
find  the  reading  of  meters  burdensome  before  and  after 
charging,  a  new  form  of  meter  has  been  developed  for  the 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company.  The  apparatus  is  provided 
with  means  for  setting  the  pointer  on  one  dial  back  to  zero 
at  the  beginning  of  each  charge,  and  a  direct  reading  in 
kilowatt-hours  is  secured.  Where  the  vehicle  user  does  not 
wish  to  invest  in  meters  the  company  supplies  him  and 
maintains  the  meter  at  a  price  of  50  cents  per  month,  which 
just  about  covers  the  expense,  including  fixed  charges.  It 
was  voted  to  give  the  executive  committee  full  power  to 
act  upon  the  recommendation  for  a  standard  sign  for  elec- 
tric garages,  the  association  insignia  to  be  included  as  a 
feature. 

EDUCATION    OF    VEHICLE    EMPLOYEES 

The  committee  on  education,  through  Mr.  William  Pan- 
coast,  cliairman,  emphasized  the  need  of  better  training  of 


garage  and  electric  vehicle  factory  employees,  and  de- 
scribed the  electric  vehicle  course  lately  inaugurated  by 
the  Technical  High  School,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio.  The  en- 
deavor will  be  to  give  both  theoretical  and  practical  in- 
struction, and  a  prominent  automobile  factory  is  encour- 
aging the  work  by  giving  the  instructor  in  charge  every 
opportunity  to  familiarize  himself  with  factory  conditions. 
Il  is  expected  that  the  training  will  do  much  to  provide 
better  garage  employees,  as  well  as  material  in  some  cases 
for  electric  vehicle  salesmen.  Before  reaching  that  part 
of  the  course  actually  applying  to  electric  vehicle  practice 
the  pupil  will  have  a  substantial  groundwork  of  mathe- 
matics, English,  drawing,  industrial  geography  and  shop- 
work.  The  actual  study  of  electric  vehicles  includes  the 
principles  of  every  detail  of  equipment,  assembly,  loca- 
tion of  troubles  and  adjustments,  with  elementary  elec- 
tricity. 

Discussion. 

Mr.  Dav  Baker,  Boston,  cited  the  lecture  work  which  he 
is  conducting  at  the  request  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  authorities 
at  Boston  upon  the  electric  vehicle,  for  the  benefit  of  each 
monthly  graduating  class  in  the  automobile  training  school. 
Mr.  C.  Blizard,  Philadelphia,  stated  that  steps  have  also 
been  taken  to  interest  Y.  M.  C.  A.  directors  in  the  electric 
vehicle  in  many  other  parts  of  the  country. 

STANDARDIZATION    OF    DETAILS. 

The  committee  on  standardization  recommended  making 
the  shell  of  the  charging  plug  of  high  carbon  or  case- 
hardened  steel,  and  the  adoption  of  the  association  plug 
as  a  standard  in  vehicle  practice.  It  was  also  recommended 
to  standardize  the  "Ediswan"  bayonet  socket  for  lighting 
and  suggested  that  a  maximum  tractive  effort  be  standard- 
ized for  a  given  size  of  tire. 

Following  the  presentation  of  this  report  it  was  voted 
that  the  association's  standard  charging  plug  be  recom- 
mended for  general  use. 

THE  ELECTRIC  VEHICLE  FROM  AN   INSURANCE  STANDPOINT. 

The  author,  Mr.  Carl  H.  Clark,  explained  the  terms  of  the 
automobile  fire  policy,  discussing  the  "valued"  and  "non- 
valued"  forms.  In  the  former  the  value  of  the  automobile 
is  agreed  upon  when,  the  policy  is  written,  so  that  there 
can  be  no  question  as  to  the  amount  payable  in  case  of 
destruction.  In  the  event  of  partial  loss  the  "valued"  form 
allows  the  replacement  of  damaged  parts  with  new,  without 
regard  to  depreciation.  Damage  during  transportation  by 
rail  or  water  is  allowed  for,  as  are  loss  by  theft  in  excess 
of  $25  and  damage  in  the  hands  of  unauthorized  persons. 
In  the  "non-valued"  form,  which  costs  less  than  the  former, 
losses  are  adjusted  on  the  basis  of  the  value  of  the  damaged 
parts  at  the  time  of  the  loss,  including  depreciation.  An 
extension  of  the  fire  policy  provides  for  any  loss  sustained 
from  collision.  Electric  vehicle  insurance  rates  at  present 
average  about  half  those  for  gasoline  cars.  The  electric 
rate  remains  at  a  fixed  percentage,  that  on  the  gasoline 
machine  increasing  with  the  age  of  the  car.  The  rate  on 
electric  vehicles  has  lately  been  reduced,  with  the  prospect 
of  further  reductions  with  improved  conditions. 

The  author  discussed  the  causes  of  electric-vehicle  fires 
in  the  following  general  order  of  frequency:  Overheating 
of  resistor  coils  by  accidental  closing  of  the  switch  while 
the  car  is  at  rest ;  heat  given  off  by  resistor  coils  in  ordinary 
use;  short-circuits  in  wiring,  caused  by  water  or  snow; 
chafing  or  bruising  of  insulation,  and  ignition  while 
charging.  The  remedies  from  an  insurance  standpoint 
would  be  some  means  of  practically  compelling  the  with- 
drawal of  the  plug  when  leaving  the  car,  a  positive  lock  on 
the  control  lever  when  in  the  neutral  position,  resistors 
better  ventilated  and  at  a  proper  distance  from  woodwork, 
wires  run  in  conduits  or  fiber  tube,  elimination  of  all  loose 
and  swinging  wires,  and  charging  without  the  presence  of 
open  flames.     In  closing,  the  author  advised  stamping  the 


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ELECTRICAL     \V  O  R  L  D  . 


Vol.  60,  No.  iS- 


machine  number  into  the  frame  in  a  definite  location  to 
insure  identification,  not  seldom  lost  by  the  removal  or 
melting  of  a  numbered  brass  plate. 

Discussion. 

Col.  E.  \y.  M.  Bailey,  Amesbury,  Mass.,  urged  co-opera- 
tion with  the  insurance  interests  in  vehicle  design  and  con- 
struction. Mr.  C.  A.  White,  Boston,  stated  that  the  Edison 
company's  cars  are  being  rewired  in  accordance  with  the 
most  approved  practice.  He  cited  the  use  of  an  electric- 
bell  attachment  to  warn  the  operator  in  case  the  controller 
is  left  on  the  first  notch  with  the  brake  set.  Mr.  S.  G. 
Thompson,  Newark,  N.  J.,  spoke  briefly  of  the  value  of  an 
extra  locking  brake  which  cannot  be  operated  unless  the 
current  is  off  the  machine.  Mr.  K.  Bostell,  Newport,  R.  L, 
also  spoke  briefly. 

STANDARDIZATION    OF    VEHICLES. 

In  a  paper  entitled  "Standardization  of  Electric  Ve- 
hicles," Mr.  Alex.  Churchward,  of  the  General  Electric 
Company,  recommended  certain  standard  maximum  speeds 
for  electric  vehicles,  and  presented  a  series  of  curves  and 
data  showing  the  influence  of  speed  conditions  upon  the 
operating  characteristics  and  particularly  the  energy  con- 
sumption of  cars  under  actual  service.  He  recommended 
maximum  speeds  in  miles  per  hour  as  follows:  Closed 
coupes,  18  with  solid  and  19  with  solid  cushion  tires;  open 
victoria  type,  20  and  19,  respectively.  The  present  speeds 
of  commercial  vehicles  vary  from  6.5  in  6-ton  equipments  to 
from  12  to  13  in  the  looo-lb.  units.  The  tests  showed  in 
great  elaboration  the  benefits  of  moderate  speed,  which  is 
all  that  is  necessary  to  enable  competition  with  the  horse 
to  be  successful. 

Following  the  reading  of  the  paper  the  association  voted 
to  adopt  the  "Ediswan"  or  bayonet  base  for  automobile  in- 
candescent lamps  in  place  of  the  screw  base,  as  recom- 
mended by  the  committee. 

Mr.  Jean  Blaise,  of  the  Peter  Doelger  Brewing  Com- 
pany, New  York,  was  called  upon  at  the  Wednesday  session 
as  a  user  of  electric  trucks  on  a  large  scale,  and  stated  that 
his  company  is  about  to  build  depots  outside  New  York 
from  which  electric  truck  deliveries  will  be  facilitated  over 
a  25-mile  radius  from  each  depot.  The  company  owns 
fifteen  gasoline  trucks  of  German  make,  but  these,  although 
of  the  best  design,  are  out  of  service  for  repairs  30  per  cent 
of  the  time.  Within  six  years  the  company  intends  to  do 
away  with  all  its  gasoline  trucks  and  use  only  the  electric 
type.  The  maintenance  costs  of  the  former  are  very  high. 
The  company  has  expended  $350,000  in  two  years  for  elec- 
tric trucks,  and  the  entire  change  thus  far  made  from 
horses  to  electric  haulage  will  pay  for  itself  in  three  years 
if  the  business  grows  at  the  present  rate. 

SECTION  REPORTS. 

The  annual  reports  of  the  Chicago  and  New  England 
branches  of  the  association  were  respectively  presented 
by  Chairman  George  H.  Jones  and  Secretary  Welles  E. 
Holmes.  Both  branches  are  in  good  condition  and  appear 
to  have  an  assured  future. 

A  moving-picture  display  of  the  electric  vehicle  parades 
in  Boston  on  Memorial  Day  in  the  past  two  years  was 
shown  to  the  convention  on  Tuesday  evening.  On  Wednes- 
day noon  a  luncheon  w-as  given  to  the  delegates  and  their 
guests  by  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of 
Boston,  Mass. 

The  following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year: 
President,  Mr.  Arthur  Williams,  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany; vice-president,  Mr.  F.  W.  Smith,  United  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company,  New  York;  secretary,  Mr.  Her- 
vey  Robinson,  New  York  Edison  Company;  treasurer,  Mr. 
Day  Baker,  General  Vehicle  Companv,  Boston;  directors, 
Messrs.  W.  G.  Bee,  W.  H.  Blood,  jr.,  E.  S.  Mansfield, 
G.  H.  Kelley  and  P.  D.  Wagoner. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW  YORK  COMMISSION. 

The  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  District,  has 
given  its  permission  for  the  transfer  of  the  control  of  the 
Salmon  River  water  power  development  to  the  Niagara, 
Lockport  &  Ontario  Power  Company.  The  authorization 
of  the  connnission  allows  the  Niagara  company  to  hold  all 
the  capital  stock  of  the  Salmon  River  Power  Company, 
formerly  the  Oswego  County  Light  &  Power  Company,  the 
total  outstanding  amount  of  stock  being  7500  shares  of  the 
par  value  of  $100  per  share.  The  Niagara,  Lockport  & 
Ontario  Power  Company  is  authorized  to  issue  its  first 
preferred  stock  to  the  amount  of  $750,000  for  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  stock  of  the  Salmon  River  Power  Company. 
The  Salmon  River  company  is  authorized  to  execute  a 
mortgage  upon  all  its  property  to  secure  its  forty-year  5 
per  cent  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $5,000,000  and  to  issue 
$2,353,000  of  bonds  at  the  same  price  as  permission  was 
previously  given  the  Oswego  County  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, viz.,  85.  The  proceeds  of  the  bonds  are  to  be  used 
for  the  construction  of  a  dam,  transmission  line  and  the 
necessary  apparatus  and  appliances  for  transmitting  elec- 
tricity. The  Salmon  River  company  is  also  authorized  to 
lease  all  its  franchises,  works,  system  and  property  to  the 
Niagara  company  at  a  rental  equal  to  one  and  three-quarter 
times  the  interest  on  bonds.  The  bonds  are  also  guaranteed 
by  the  Niagara  company.  A  further  account  of  the  de- 
velopment plans  of  the  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Power 
Company  appears  elsewhere. 

The  commission  is  now  distributing  its  fifth  annual 
report,  which  covers  the  year  ended  Dec.  31,  191 1.  Vol.  i 
contains  the  text  of  the  report  and  the  orders  issued  during 
the  year.  Vol.  2  contains  the  abstracts  of  reports  of  steam 
railroad,  electric  railroad,  express  and  sleeping-car  cor- 
porations, and  the  report  of  steam  railroad  inspections. 
Vol.  3,  when  it  appears,  will  contain  abstracts  of  reports 
of  gas.  electrical,  telegraph  and  telephone  corporations. 
Vol.  2  of  the  reports  of  the  commission,  which  will  be  the 
second  bound  volume  of  the  opinions  rendered,  is  in 
preparation. 

MASSACHUSETTS   COMMISSION. 

A  petition  for  the  establishment  of  a  5-cent  fare  for  the 
Hyde  Park  section  of  Boston  has  been  brought  before  the 
Railroad  Commission  by  Representative  David  W.  Murray. 
The  board  will  be  asked  to  hear  the  case  on  the  ground 
that  Hyde  Park  is  the  only  section  of  Boston  where  a 
double  fare  exists,  and  that  through  consolidation  and 
general  agreement  between  companies  it  has  become  a 
general  rule  throughout  the  State  that  within  the  limits  of 
a  city  or  town  there  should  be  a  5-cent  street-railway  fare. 
The  situation  is  complicated  at  Hyde  Park  by  the  operation 
of  two  connecting  electric  railway  systems,  the  Bay  State 
Railway  and  the  Boston  Elevated  Railway  Company.  The 
latter  is  obliged  by  the  terms  of  its  charter  to  carry  pas- 
sengers in  the  same  general  direction  upon  its  system  for 
a  single  5-cent  fare,  no  reduction  being  required  where  the 
car  of  a  foreign  company  is  handled.  It  is  probable  that 
the  present  rates  will  be  maintained  unless  arrangements 
are  made  for  a  lease  of  the  Bay  State  trackage  by  the 
elevated  company. 

MARYLAND  COMMISSION. 

Mr.  Victor  G.  Bloede,  president  of  the  Patapsco  Electric 
Company  of  Maryland  and  Patapsco  Electric  Company  of 
Delaware,  testified  last  week  before  the  Maryland  Public 
Service  Commission  that  the  rates  of  both  companies  for 
electricity  were  20  per  cent  low^er  than  those  of  the  Con- 
solidated Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company.  This 
assertion  was  made  in  connection  with  a  petition  to  merge 
the  first  two  concerns.  These  companies  supply  thirty  or 
forty  customers  in  Baltimore,  mainly  along  the  Frederick 
Road,  while  the  rest  of  their  energy  is  used  in  Baltimore 
County,  west  of  the  city,  and  in  Howard  County  and  around 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


765 


Ellicott  City.  The  Maryland  company  has  a  fixed  capital 
of  $200,000  and  the  Delaware  concern  $225,000  of  capital 
stock.  There  is  also  an  indebtedness  of  $40,000,  which  is 
secured  by  notes  of  stockholders.  The  amount  of  new  stock 
to  be  issued,  if  permission  be  accorded  by  the  commission 
for  the  merger,  is  $425,000,  retiring  the  old  securities. 
Charles  E.  Phelps,  electrical  expert  for  the  commission, 
appraised  the  properties  at  $345,623,  without  including  cer- 
tain water  rights.  The  concerns  have  two  water-power 
stations,  one  at  Ilchester  and  the  other  at  Grays  Mills,  and 
also  a  steam  station.  The  area  served  is  from  two  miles 
beyond  Ellicott  City  to  the  city  limits  and  from  Ilchester 
to  Rogney  Heights,  or,  roughly,  an  area  of  40  square  miles. 
President  Bloede  said  that  only  within  the  last  two  years 
have  the  companies  made  profits.  Some  small  competition 
has  been  fought,  which,  Mr.  Bloede  said,  is  one  reason  for 
the  cheap  rates.  Senator  Arthur  P.  Gorman  and  Mr. 
Robert  Biggs  represented  the  companies  at  the  hearing. 
The  Baltimore  gas  and  electric  rate  investigation  was 
brought  to  a  close  last  week,  and  the  counsel  for  the  people 
and  also  for  the  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company  thanked  the  members  of  the  commission  for  their 
patience  and  their  attention  during  the  several  months  of 
hearings  on  the  question.  The  stenographic  record  of  the 
investigation  is  probably  the  largest  and  most  technical 
ever  reported  in  the  State  of  Maryland,  containing  4819 
pages  of  lengthy  and  complicated  tabulations,  testimony 
and  arguments.  There  were  forty-four  hearings  by  the 
commission,  and  each  lasted  not  less  than  four  hours. 
Expert  testimony  was  given  by  financiers,  engineers,  real 
estate  brokers,  accountants  and  statisticians. 

OHIO   COMMISSION. 

Application  has  been  filed  with  the  commission  for 
authority  to  consolidate  the  Bell  and  Independent  telephone 
systems  at  Delaware.  Some  months  ago  the  commission 
refused  a  similar  application  because  of  the  loss  to  the 
Independent  company  of  about  $1,500  from  the  duplication 
of  equipment.  In  this  application  nothing  is  included  for 
loss  in  duplication,  as  the  Bell  company  has  agreed  to  retain 
all  equipment  on  which  there  is  duplication  and  dispose  of 
it  as  may  seem  best.  The  purchase  price  of  the  Bell 
property  is  to  be  $10,576.17,  and  this  company  is  to  furnish 
the  local  company  with  long-distance  service. 

The  commission  is  now  making  a  very  careful  investiga- 
tion of  all  telephone  properties  that  are  to  be  consolidated, 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  some  of  the  larger  companies  are 
expected  to  make  application  for  consolidation  at  no  dis- 
tant date. 

.  WISCONSIN   COMMISSION. 

In  order  to  enable  the  Racine  Gas  Light  Company  to 
acquire  the  properties  of  the  Kenosha  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany and  the  Kenosha  Electric  Railway  Company  the  Wis- 
consin commission  has  authorized  the  issue  of  $2,000,000 
par  value  of  5  per  cent  bonds,  $200,000  par  value  of  6  per 
cent  cumulative  preferred  stock  and  $500,000  par  value  of 
common  stock.  Of  this  issue,  stock  and  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  $1,308,000  are  to  be  exchanged  for  the  properties 
to  be  acquired;  the  remainder  is  to  be  used  in  repaying 
loans  and  in  making  future  extensions  to  the  property. 

In  the  application  for  improved  telephone  service  in  the 
village  of  Altoona  the  commission  has  ordered  the  Wis- 
consin Telephone  Company  to  install  the  necessary  addi- 
tional equipment  and  to  furnish  a  higher  grade  of  service, 
provided  a  majority  of  the  subscribers  signify  their  inten- 
tion of  using  such  service  at  the  higher  rates  ordered  by  the 
commission. 

The  preliminary  testimony  has  been  taken  in  the  com- 
plaint of  the  city  of  Waukesha  against  the  Waukesha  Gas 
&  Electric  Company.  The  city  alleges  that  the  rates  for  gas 
and  electric  service  are  excessive  and  that  the  service  is 
inadequate. 


CALIFORNIA   COMMISSION. 

The  California  Railroad  Commission  has  granted  the 
application  of  the  Mt.  Whitney  Power  &  Electric  Company 
to  put  into  effect  a  new  form  of  meter  contract  for  motor 
service  providing  for  a  minimum  of  $24  per  year. 

The  commission  has  set  Oct.  16  for  the  hearing  of  the 
telephone  induction  cases.  The  Pacific  Telephone  &  Tele- 
graph Company  filed  four  complaints,  one  against  the  Sierra 
&  San  Francisco  Power  Company,  alleging  interference  with 
the  lines  in  Santa  Clara  and  Monterey  Counties;  one  against 
the  Coast  Counties  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  alleging  in- 
terference in  Santa  Clara  and  Santa  Cruz  Counties,  and 
two  against  the  Great  Western  Power  Company,  alleging 
interference  in  the  section  north  of  San  Francisco  Bay. 
The  telephone  company  requested  that  the  power  com- 
panies be  compelled  to  move  their  high-tension  wires  from 
700  ft.  to  2000  ft.  from  the  telephone  lines. 

The  Great  Western  Power  Company  has  applied  for  a 
certificate  of  public  convenience  and  necessity  to  exercise 
franchise  rights  in  the  towns  of  Suisun,  Fairfield  and 
Dixon,  and  to  sell  electrical  energy. 


Current   News  and  Notes 

Electrical  Wiring  Ordinance  in  Durango,  Col. — It  is 
reported  that  the  City  Council  of  Durango  has  instructed 
the  city  attorney  to  draw  up  an  electrical  ordinance  which 
will  substantially  enforce  the  requirements  of  the  National 
Electric  Code.    The  grounding  of  transformer  secondaries 

will  also  be  mandatory. 

*  *     * 

Smoke  Abatement  Discussion  by  A.  S.  M.  E. — A  gen- 
eral discussion  of  the  subject  of  smoke  abatement  will  be 
conducted  under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  in  New  York  on  Oct.  8.  The  dis- 
cussion will  be  opened  by  Mr.  George  H.  Perkins,  head  of 
the  engineering  department  of  the  Lowell  Textile  School, 
who  attended  the  International  Smoke  Abatement  Exhibi- 
tion and  Conference  held  in  London  in  March  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  A.  S.  M.  E.  and  of  the  city  of  Lowell. 
The  meeting  will  be  preceded  by  an  informal  dinner  ar- 
ranged for  by  a  local  committee  of  the  society. 

*  *     * 

Unification  of  Chicago  Surface  Street  Railways 
Urged. — A  resolution  has  been  introduced  in  the  local  trans- 
portation committee  of  the  City  Council  of  Chicago  direct- 
ing the  committee  to  take  such  action  as  may  bring  about, 
if  possible,  the  merger  of  the  two  surface  street  railway 
companies  operating  in  the  city.  It  is  recited  that,  al- 
though the  companies  operate  in  different  sections  of  the 
city,  there  is  duplication  of  service,  difficulty  in  making 
through-route  arrangements  and  inadequate  service  and 
misunderstandings  at  connecting  points.  The  presidents  of 
the  two  companies  are  asked  to  meet  the  committee  and 
give  their  views  before  the  resolution  is  adopted. 

*  *     * 

Steel  Tonnage  Consumed  by  Transmission  Struc- 
TURES.T— The  quantities  of  steel  entering  into  the  construc- 
tion of  some  of  the  great  transmission  systems  may  prove 
surprising  to  those  who  underestimate  the  importance  of 
tower  structures.  The  Southern  California  Power  Com- 
pany has  used  to  date  20,000  tons  of  steel-tower  construc- 
tion. For  the  150-mile  transmission  from  the  Mississippi 
River  development  at  Keokuk,  Iowa,  to  St.  Louis,  10,000 
tons  have  been  ordered.  The  Georgia  Railway  &  Power 
Company's  system  comprises  5000  tons,  and  the  Connecticut 
Power  Company's  lines  3000  tons.  In  comparison  with 
these  figures  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  an  average  ten- 
story   office   building,   occupying  ground   80   ft.   by    150   ft., 


766 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


require,s  about  1200  tons  of  steel,  and  that  the  large  Cali- 
fornia system  above  cited  contains  enough  to  build  a  dozen 
stecl-arcii  bridges  like  that  spanning  the  gorge  at  Niagara. 

*  *     * 

Rate  Research. — The  new  printed  organ  of  the  rate 
research  committee  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  made  its  appearance 
on  Oct.  2.  It  is  a  pamphlet  of  16  pages,  and  is  an  out- 
growth of  the  weekly  bulletin  of  the  committee.  It  will 
be  issued  weekly,  the  subscription  price  being  $10  a  year 
or  three  copies  to  one  address  for  $25.  Mr.  William  J. 
Norton,  120  West  Adams  Street,  Chicago,  is  the  editor  and 
manager  of  the  publication. 

*  *     * 

Errors  in  Water  Supply  Paper  295  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey. — The  director  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey  states  that  a  careful  examination 
of  Water  Supply  Paper  295,  "Gazetteer  of  Surface  Waters 
of  California,  Part  I,  Sacramento  River  Basin,"  has  dis- 
closed so  many  important  errors  that  it  is  desirable  to  re- 
print the  paper.  The  reprint  has  been  ordered.  A  notice 
of  the  appearance  of  the  original  publication  appeared  in 
the  Electrical  World  of  Sept.  28,  page  653. 

*  *     * 

Regulations  Governing  Radio  Communication. — Under 
date  of  Sept.  28  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor 
has  addressed  to  all  owners  and  operators  of  apparatus  for 
radio  communication  a  circular  of  instructions  relating  to 
the  provisions  of  the  act  to  regulate  radio  communication, 
which  will  take  effect  on  Dec.  13.  The  regulations  estab- 
lished by  the  act  will  be  enforced  by  the  Secretary  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor  through  collectors  of  customs  and  other 
officers  of  the  Government.  For  the  purpose  of  administra- 
tion the  department  has  divided  the  country  into  nine  dis- 
tricts having  principal  offices  at  the  custom  houses  in  the 
following  ports :  Boston,  New  York,  Baltimore,  Savannah, 
New  Orleans,  San  Francisco,  Seattle,  Cleveland  and 
Chicago.  The  examination  of  operators  for  licenses,  as 
prescribed  in  the  regulations,  will  be  held  at  the  United 
States  navy  yards  at  Boston,  Brooklyn,  Philadelphia,  Wash- 
ington, Norfolk,  Charleston,  New  Orleans,  Mare  Island  and 
Puget  Sound;  the  naval  stations  at  Key  West,  San  Juan 
and  Honolulu;  also  the  Naval  Academy,  Fort  Sam  Houston, 
Fort  Wood,  Fort  Omaha,  Fort  Leavenworth,  and  the  army 
stations  at  St.  Michael  and  Fairbanks,  Alaska,  and  at  the 
Bureau  of  Standards.  The  circular  covers  the  new  regula- 
tions at  considerable  length,  describing  the  several  classes 
and  the  different  grades  of  operators.  An  abstract  of  the 
new  law  appeared  in  the  Electrical  World  of  Aug.  24, 
page  388. 

*  *     * 

Investigation  of  Pittsburgh  Smoke  Nuisance. — Bul- 
letin No.  I.  issued  by  the  Department  of  Industrial  Re- 
search of  the  University  of  Pittsburgh,  under  date  of 
August.  1912,  is  devoted  to  an  outline  of  the  investigation 
of  the  smoke  nuisance  in  the  Pittsburgh  district.  The  ex- 
pert staff  in  charge  of  the  smoke-nuisance  investigation  is 
unusually  large  and  comprehensive,  including  two  chem- 
ists, one  attorney,  four  engineers,  seven  physicians,  one 
botanist,  five  architects,  one  bacteriologist,  two  economists, 
one  meteorologist,  one  physicist,  one  bibliographer,  one 
surgeon  iand  a  secretary.  At  the  present  time  the  investi- 
gation is  being  carried  on  by  this  staff  of  specialists,  six 
of  whom  are  giving  their  entire  attention  to  the  work.  A 
prominent  Pittsburgh  business  man  in  191 1  donated  a  fund 
for  this  undertaking.  The  investigation  as  a  whole  has 
been  separated  into  two  broad  divisions,  the  analytical  or 
diagnostic  portion,  and  the  constructive  or  remedial  meas- 
ures. Among  the  numerous  phases  of  the  problem  which 
are  receiving  attention  are  the  effect  of  smoke  upon  vege- 
tation, the  chemistry  of  smoke  and  soot,  the  physical  prob- 
lems of  smoke,  deterioration  of  buildings  and  building  ma- 
terials, relation  of  smoke  to  disease,  the  cost  of  the  smoke 


nuisance  and  the  legal  aspects  of  its  prevention.  Dr.  Rob- 
ert Kennedy  Duncan  is  director  of  the  Department  of  In- 
dustrial Research. 

*  +     * 

Reasons  for  Considering  Steam  Drive  for  New  Mill 
at  Gary. — Much  interest  has  been  aroused  by  the  report 
that  the  Indiana  Steel  Company  is  considering  steam-engine 
drive  for  the  rolls  of  its  new  slab  mill  at  the  Gary,  Ind., 
plant.  By  some  this  action  has  been  taken  as  evidence  that 
the  extensive  equipment  of  electric  motors  in  the  Gary 
mills  has  proved  unsatisfactory  and  that  the  proposed  steam 
drive  represents  a  return  to  early  practice.  The  real  reason 
for  considering  engines  in  this  particular  -case,  however, 
rests  on  the  economic  fact  that  it  will  be  possible  to  place 
boilers  in  the  flues  of  the  reheating  furnaces  required  for 
the  slab  mill,  thus  saving  heat  otherwise  wasted  and  making 
available  large  quantities  of  steam  at  small  expense.  The 
main-roll  engines  would  utilize  this  steam,  thus  contributing 
to  the  by-product  efficiency  of  plant  operation,  without  addi- 
tional power-house  equipment.  Under  such  special  condi- 
tions, of  course,  no  reflection  could  be  implied  upon  elec- 
trical operation,  and  in  fact,  even  here,  despite  the  manifest 
economies  of  engine  drive  above  pointed  out,  electric  power 
is  being  considered  as  an  alternative  to  the  proposal  to  use 
steam.  Very  careful  study  is,  of  course,  being  given  to  the 
choice  of  driving  equipment,  as  the  new  slab  mill  will  be 
one  of  the  largest  ever  built. 

*  *     * 

SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Radio  ENGiNEERS.^At  the  regular  monthly  meeting  of 
the  Institute  of  Radio  Engineers,  held  on  Oct.  2,  1912,  a 
paper  was  presented  by  Dr.  Alfred  N.  Goldsmith  on 
"Present  Educational  Necessities  in  Radio  Communication," 
in  which  emphasis  was  laid  on  the  fact  that  Germany  is, 
and  has  been  for  some  time,  far  in  advance  of  all  other 
nations  in  scientific  radio  education  and  consequent  develop- 
ment. Dr.  Goldsmith  stated  that,  with  the  exception  of  a 
part-year  course  in  connection  with  the  electrical  engineer- 
ing course  at  the  Ohio  State  University,  apparently  no 
progress  had  been  made  in  America  in  this  direction  until 
the  present  time.  The  College  of  the  City  of  New  York 
has  now  established  a  course  in  radio  communication,  in 
charge  of  Dr.  Goldsmith,  the  object  of  which  is  to  develop 
scientific  radio  engineers,  no  instructions  to  be  given  in 
operating.  The  course  will  cover  a  period  of  forty  weeks, 
or  240  hours.  200  of  which  are  to  be  spent  in  laboratory 
work,  and  will  take  up  in  succession  mechanical  vibrating 
and  electrical  systems  and  include  numerous  lectures  and 
much  experimental  work.  With  the  addition  of  a  complete 
Poulson  telephone-telegraph  set,  the  money  for  which  was 
furnished  by  Mr.  Gano  Dunn,  the  college  possesses  adequate 
equipment  for  quite  extensive  instructions.  The  standard- 
ization committee  of  the  institute,  composed  of  Messrs.  J.  L. 
Hogan,  A.  N.  Goldsmith  and  R.  H.  Marriott,  reported  satis- 
factory progress  in  the  work  of  standardization.  The  next 
meeting  of  the  Radio  Institute  will  be  held  at  Fayerwether 
Hall,  Columbia  Universitv,  on  Nov.  6. 

*     +     * 

Los  Angeles  Section,  A.  I.  E.  E. — The  first  meeting  of  the 
Los  Angeles  Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  aftfeT  the  summer  recess,  was  held  on  the  evening 
of  Sept.  24.  Over  100  members  and  associates  gathered  at 
Brink's  Cabaret  for  what  was  designated  as  a  "Who's  Your 
Neighbor?"  meeting.  Mr.  George  A.  Damon,  the  newly 
elected  chairman,  was  in  charge,  and  Mr.  E.  R.  Northmore, 
re-elected  secretary,  assisted.  Each  one  of  those  present 
was  asked  to  tell  his  name,  family  history,  and  future  pros- 
pects. Everybody  responded,  and  jollity  ruled  supreme. 
Several  instructive  short-talks  were  made,  some  of  which 
were  aptly  supplemented  with  views  on  the  screen.  If  the 
winter  technical  meetings  are  as  well  attended  and  as  en- 
thusiastic as  the  first  one,  the  season  will  be  very  successful. 


THE  JORDAN  RIVER  POWER  DEVELOPMENT. 

Description  of  Hydraulic,   Generating  and  Transmission  Features  of  the 
Vancouver  Island  Power  Company's   Plant. 

Extraordinary  Difticulties   Encountered  in   Practically  Unknown   Regions  of  British  Columbia — Average 
Rainfall  of  80   Inches  the  Heaviest  in  the  Northern  Part  of  the  Continent — Construc- 
tion of  Reservoirs  with  a  Total  Capacity  of  1,500,000,000   Cu.  Ft. 


WESTERN  Canada,  particularly  the  southern  coast 
districts  of  British  Columbia  adjacent  to  the  cities 
of  Vancouver  and  Victoria,  is  growing  with  such 
rapidity  that  in  these  communities  it  has  been  for  some  time 
a  serious  problem  with  the  public-utility  companies  to  keep 
pace  with  the  rapidly  increasing  demand  for  service. 

The  British  Columbia  Electric  Railway  Company,  Ltd., 
owning  and  operating  the  traction,  lighting  and  power  sys- 
tems of  Vancouver  and  Victoria  and  territories  adjacent 
thereto,  has  been  for  the  past  five  years  laboring  with  this 
problem.  The  growth  and  expansion  of  the  districts  which 
this  company  is  serving  have  been  phenomenal,  and  the 
demand  for  electricity  has  been  multiplied  several  times 
within  that  period.  The  steam  and  water-power  equipment 
of  the- British  Columbia  Electric  Railway  Company's  plants 
has  been  increased  constantly  and  generally  in  time  to  an- 
ticipate requirements. 

As  early  as  1907  it  was  realized  that  material  increase  in 
generating  equipment  would  be  required  by  the  Victoria 
branch,  but  that  this  could  be  met  within  a  period  allowing 
adequate  investigation  of  the  available  water-power  re- 
sources on  the  southern  end  of  Vancouver  Island  and  the 
installation  of  a  modern,  well-equipped  hydroelectric  station. 

At  the  time  the  Jordan  River  development  was  actually 
begun  the  British  Columbia  Electric  Railway  Company  was 
serving  Victoria  and  adjacent  territory  with  electricity  from 


an  8oo-kw  steam  station  in  Victoria  and  a  2000-kvv  hydro- 
electric station  at  Coldstream,  about  10  miles  out  of  the 
city.  The  latter  plant  was  operated  with  surplus  water 
purchased  from  the  Esquimalt  Water  Company  and  could 
run  at  full  load  only  during  a  part  of  the  year  on  account 
of  water  shortage. 

PRELIMIN.\RY    WORK. 

Mr.  Wynn  Meredith,  then  consulting  engineer  for  the 
British  Columbia  Electric  Railway  Company,  was  author- 
ized to  look  into  the  available  power  possibilities,  and  under 
his  direction  an  exhaustive  series  of  investigations  were 
carried  out.  which  included  practically  all  the  sources  of 
w'ater-power  within  a  radius  of  commercially  feasible  trans- 
mission to  the  city  of  Victoria.  This  preliminary  work  was 
continued  for  upward  of  a  year  and  was  accomplished  under 
the  most  extraordinary  difficulties,  the  investigation  in  many 
cases  being  more  properly  exploration  of  an  unmapped  and 
practically  unknown  region,  untraversed,  except  for  a  nar- 
row fringe  of  coast  line,  beyond  the  occasional  visit  of 
trapper  or  timber  cruiser.  Pioneer  work  in  the  forests  of 
British  Columbia  can  be  properly  appreciated  only  by  those 
who  have  undertaken  it.  Water-powers  are  abundant,  but 
the  wild,  rugged  and  inaccessible  character  of  the  country 
renders  it  difficult  in  the  extreme  to  acquire  even  very 
limited  preliminary  knowledge  of  a  possible  water-power 
development.     Most  of  the  virgin  country  is  covered  with 


Fig,    1 — Rear    of    Power    House,    Jordan     River     Development. 


768 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


heavy  timber,  and  whether  timbered  or  not  the  ground  is 
covered  with  a  dense  growth  of  brush  and  fallen  and  rotting 
trees. 

The  hardships  endured  by  the  engineers  on  reconnoissance 
work,  their  heart-breaking  conquest  of  the  jungles,  strug- 
gling with  pack  on  back  through  the  proverbial  "impene- 
trable" British  Columbia  forest,  blazing  many  paths  in 
order  to  insure  safe  retreat  in  case  further  advance  was 
impossible  or  to  retrace  the  course  if  promising  conditions 
were  discovered,  have  become  a  part  of  the  history  of  the 
"job,"  and  to  the  perseverance  and  hardihood  of  these 
pioneers  the  successful  culmination  of  the  investigation  is 
largely  due. 

An  examination  of  the  upper  watershed  of  the  Koksilah 
River  in  the  latter  part  of  1907  led  to  the  first  consideration 
of  a  possible  power  development  on  the  Jordan  River,  the 
headwaters  of  which  lie  adjacent  to  and  separated  by  only 
a  few  hundred  yards  from  the  source  of  the  Koksilah.  A 
visit  to  the  mouth  of  the  Jordan  on  the  west  coast  of  the 
island  a  few  weeks  later  disclosed  a  large  and  rapid  stream, 
further  exploration  of  which  was  prevented  at  the  time  by 
the  absence  of  trails  and  the  prevailing  wet  season,  which 
renders  pioneer  work  in  this  country  almost  impossible.  A 
gaging  station  was,  however,  established  near  the  mouth 
of  the  stream  and  a  series  of  observations  of  the  run-off 
were  instituted. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1908  a  party  of  engineers  was 
engaged  to  explore  thoroughly  the  river  and  all  its  branches, 
investigate  the  possible  reservoir  sites  and  ascertain  in  a 
preliminary  way  the  head  or  fall  obtainable.  This  informa- 
tion was  gathered  during  the  summer,  and  in  November, 
1908,  Mr.  Meredith,  who  had  in  the  meantime  entered  the 
firm  of  Sanderson  &  Porter,  engineers,  of  New  York,  made 
a  formal  report  on  the  project,  having  determined  that  the 
watershed  with  the  run-off  observed  and  the  use  of  certain 
storage  reservoirs  which  had  been  discovered  would,  with 
the  head  available,  amply  warrant  development  for  power 
purposes.  Messrs.  Sanderson  &  Porter  were  then  retained 
by  the  British  Columbia  Electric  Railway  Company,  Ltd., 
to  design  and  construct  the  Jordan  River  system.  A  sub- 
sidiary corporation,  known  as  the  Vancouver  Is'and  Power 
Company,  Ltd.,  was  formed  under  the  auspices  of  the 
British  Columbia  Electric  Railway  Company  to  finance  and 
otherwise  assume  charge  of  the  project. 

JORDAN    RIVER. 

The  Jordan  River  flows  into  the  Straits  of  Juan  de  Fuca 
at  a  point  about  40  miles  west  of  the  city  of  Victoria.  It  is 
one  of  the  large  streams  on  Vancouver  Island,  the  drainage 
area  being  about  75  sq.  miles,  the  greater  part  of  which 
lies  above  an  elevation  of  1200  ft.  The  source  of  the  main 
river  is  at  Jordan  Meadows,  which  lie  about  midway  be- 
tween the  east  and  west  coasts  of  the  island  at  an  elevation 
about  1700  ft.  above  sea  level.  Three  large  tributary 
streams  join  the  main  river  in  the  upper  10  miles  of  its 
course,  Bear  Creek  and  Alligator  Creek  from  the  east  and 
"Y"  Creek  from  the  west,  forming  a  high-level  watershed, 
the  entire  run-off  from  which  is  available  for  power  pur- 
poses. The  entire  watershed  is  covered  with  a  very  heavy 
growth  of  timber  and  at  the  higher  levels  receives  each 
year  a  covering  of  snow  from  4  ft.  to  7  ft.  in  depth,  which 
is  gradually  melted  in- the  spring,  but  does  not,  as  a  rule, 
entirely  disappear  until  June  or  July. 

British  Columbia  is  noted  for  excessive  precipitation  and 
great  changes  in  amount  of  precipitation  in  short  distances. 
On  the  mainland  near  Vancouver  an  annual  precipitation 
of  160  in.  has  been  observed,  and  a  variation  of  100  per  cent 
in  annual  precipitation  has  been  noted  in  the  same  season 
at  points  only  a  few  miles  apart.  The  average  precipitation 
over  the  entire  Jordan  River  watershed,  as  shown  by  obser- 
vations extending  over  a  period  of  four  years,  is  about 
80  in. 

The  development  has  the  usual  features  of  storage  reser- 


voirs, diverting  dams,  flumes,  forebay  reservoir,  pressure 
pipes,  power  house,  transmission  line  and  substation,  but 
the  extraordinary  conditions  under  which  the  work  was 
accomplished,  the  development  of  special  methods  of  meet- 
ing these  abnormal  conditions  and  the  details  of  the  execu- 
tion possess  more  than  passing  interest. 

The  Jordan  River  has  a  wide  variation  between  summer 
and  winter  flow.  The  highest  portion  of  its  watershed  is 
not  more  than  2700  ft.  in  elevation.  The  area  possesses 
features  especially  calculated  to  conserve  the  precipitated 
waters,  more  particularly  in  the  dense  jungle  of  forest  and 
underbrush  with  which  it  is  clothed,  the  mat  of  forest  floor 
from  I  ft.  to  2  ft.  in  depth  overlying  the  soil,  the  retarded 
melting  of  the  snow  due  to  the  dense  shade  of  the  forest, 
and  the  moderate  transverse  slope  of  the  mountain  sides. 
All  of  these  features,  however,  do  not  prevent  a  period  of 
extremely  low  water  for  from  sixty  to  ninety  days  in  the 
summer  and  fall  of  each  year.  The  stream  flow  has  been 
systematically  observed  since  1907,  and  the  results  obtained 
more  than  sustain  the  findings  of  the  original  report  in 
which  the  maximum  power  production  of  the  watershed, 
based  on  a  50  per  cent  load-factor,  was  placed  at  24,000  hp, 
with  the  commercially  feasible  storage  available. 

It  was  seen  at  the  beginning  of  the  investigation  that  a 
large  storage  capacity  would  be  required  to  impound  flood 
waters  for  use  during  the  dry  season.  Five  favorable 
reservoir  sites  were  found  in  the  flats  and  meadows  along 
the  upper  reaches  of  the  river  and  its  branches.  The 
capacities  of  these  storage  basins  and  the  sizes  of  the  im- 
pounding dams  required  have  been  determined,  and  the 
results  show  that  ample  storage  capacity  is  available,  within 
reasonable  cost,  to  provide  for  an  ultimate  maximum  plant 
output  of  24,000  hp  to  36,000  hp.  The  capacity  of  these 
reservoir   sites   is   given   in   the   accompanying   table.     One 


TABLE    I.- 


-HEIGHT    OF    DAM    AND    CAPACITY    OF    PROJECTED 
RESERVOIRS. 


Sites. 

Height  of 
Dam,  Ft. 

Capacity, 
Cubic  Ft. 

Bear  Creek  (initial  development) 

Bear  Creek  (ultimate  development) 

55 
75 
35 
35 
35 
85 

320,000,000 

608,000,000 

95,000.000 

"Y"  Creek       

110,000,000         1 

Jordan  Meadows 

179.000. 000 
250,000,000 

impounding  dam  is  now  complete  at  Bear  Creek  Reservoir, 
and  the  other  storage  sites  can  be  developed  as  additional 
generating  units  are  installed  to  meet  the  increasing  power 
requirements. 

BEAR    CREEK    RESERVOIR. 

This  reservoir  site  lies  near  the  headwaters  of  Bear 
Creek,  the  dam  being  about  a  mile  above  the  junction  of 
that  stream  with  Jordan  River,  about  4I/2  miles  by  wagon 
road  from  the  diverting  dam  and  some  13  miles  from  the 
pov^^er  station  at  the  beach. 

The  impounding  basin  is  formed  in  the  long  and  com- 
paratively narrow  valley  of  Bear  Creek,  through  which  the 
stream  winds  in  a  succession  of  sluggish  pools  for  a  distance 
of  some  2  miles  above  the  site  of  the  dam.  The  sloping 
sides  of  the  valley  are  chiefly  of  broken  and  partly  meta- 
morphosed slate,  covered  with  soil  to  a  depth  of  from  3  ft. 
to  6  ft.  As  the  flat  bottom  of  the  valley  is  approached,  the 
bedrock  dips  gradually  from  either  side  toward  the  center 
of  the  valley  and  is  topped  with  a  layer  of  hardpan — a  semi- 
cemented  glacial  gravel  mixed  with  clay.  This  attains  a 
depth  of  87  ft.  in  the  ancient  bedrock  channel,  which  at 
the  dam  site  is  some  300  ft.  north  of  the  present  stream  bed. 
The  entire  reservoir  area  supports  a  heavy  growth  of  fir, 
spruce,  hemlock,  red  cedar  and  yellow  cedar  timber. 


October  12,  1912 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


769 


The  drainage  area  above  the  dam  is  about  8  sq.  miles  in 
extent,  gently  sloping  and  rising  to  an  altitude  of  about 
2300  ft.  The  average  precipitation  observed  at  the  site 
during  the  past  two  seasons  is  about  85  in.  In  the  winter 
months  this  precipitation  takes  the  form  of  snow,  which 
accumulates  at  times  to  a  depth  of  7  ft.  in  the  reservoir 
area. 

Until  the  preliminary  construction  work  began  this'  site 
was  unexplored,  except  for  the  rough  preliminary  survey 
which  had  been  made  in  1908  to  determine  the  general  fea- 
tures of  the  project.  In  September,  1910,  the  construction 
of  a  wagon  road  from  the  diverting  point  to  the  dam  site 
was  begun,  and  it  was  only  after  its  completion  late  in 
November  of  that  year  that  a  permanent  camp  could  be 
installed  and  steps  taken  to  determine  with  certainty  the 
nature  of  the  material  underlying  the  dam  site  and  the 
quantity  and  quality  of  the  material  available  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  dam.  The  winter  and  spring  of  191 1  were 
spent  in  investigating  the  dam  site  and  the  sites  for  borrow 
pits.  A  series  of  test  pits  were  sunk  and  borings  taken,  and 
in  Ma)',  191 1,  complete  data  were  obtained  from  which  the 
construction  details  could  be  planned. 

The  principal  dimensions  of  the  dam  and  reservoir  are: 


Greatest  height  above  bottom  of  valley,  ft 57 

Greatest  height  above  bottom  of  sheet-piling  curtain,  ft 12  7 

Length  of  crest  of  dam,  ft 1017 

Greatest  depth  of  cut-off  trench,  ft 31 

Top  width  of  dam,  ft IS 

Width  of  spillway,  ft 50 

Depth  of  spillway  below  high-water  level,  ft 10 

Upstream  slope  of  dam .^  to  1 

Downstream  slope  of  dam 2>^  to  1 

Total  volume  of  dam  (embankment  measurement),  cu.  yd 148,390 

Capacity  of  reservoir  above  outlet  gates  with  high-water  level 

5  ft.  below  crest  of  dam,  cu.  ft 320,000.000 

Area  of  reservoir  at  high-water  level,  acres 284 

Drainage  area  above  dam  (approximate),  sq.  miles 8 

In  prospecting  the  site  of  the  dam  to  determine  the  nature 
of  the  underlying  material,  a  trench  l6  ft.  to  20  ft.  in  depth 
was  excavated  along  the  entire  length  of  the  dam  axis  and 
following  the  top  of  the  bedrock  as  far  as  the  depth  of  the 
trench  would  safely  permit.  Test  holes  were  put  down  in 
the  bottom  of  the  trench  by 
driving  3-in.  pipe  casing  to 
the  bedrock.  The  casing  was 
.sunk  with  churn  drills  oper- 
ated inside  the  casing,  the 
material  being  removed  with 
a   water   jet. 

The  formation  was  found 
generally  to  consist  of  a  stra- 
tum of  top  soil  from  2  ft.  to 
3  ft.  in  thickness,  underlying 
which  was  a  mass  of  heavy 
gravel  and  boulders.  At  a 
depth  of  from  12  ft.  to  16  ft. 
the  boulders  diminished  in  size 
and  gave  way  to  coarse,  partly 
cemented  gravel,  hard  enough 
to  offer  considerable  resistance 
in  removal  with  picks,  below 
which  and  at  a  depth  of  about 
20  ft.  alternating  layers  of 
loose  sand  and  gravel-carrying 
water  extended  to  the  bedrock. 

With  these  foundation  con- 
ditions determined,  and  in  order  to  provide  a  secure  founda- 
tion, not  only  for  the  initial  structure,  55  ft.  in  height,  but 
for  an  ultimate  structure  which  would  raise  the  water  level 
70  ft.  above  the  floor  of  the  valley  and  double  the  capacity 
of  the  impounding  basin,  it  was  decided  to  install  a  curtain 
of  steel  sheet  piling  extending  to  the  bedrock. 

After  thoroughly  prospecting  both  slopes  of  the  valley,  a 


sufficient  amount  of  suitable  material  for  building  the  em- 
bankment was  found  on  the  north  side,  directly  opposite 
the  dam  and  distant  about  400  ft.  from  the  north  end  of  the 
dam  axis.  The  material  consisted  of  the  hard-pan  common 
to  the  district,  gravel  and  sand  mixed  with  clay,  favorably 
proportioned  for  sluicing  from  place  into  the  fill.  The  bor- 
row pits  were  150  ft.  to  250  ft.  in  elevation  above  the  valley 
floor  and  afforded  a  working  face  or  bank  8  ft.  to  18  ft. 
high. 

Clearing  the  timber  from  the  dam  site  and  the  adjacent 
areas  was  begun  as  soon  as  men  and  equipment  could  be 
placed  on  the  work.  Powder  and  donkey  engines  were 
used  extensively  in  removing  stumps  and  piling  the  timber 
and  debris  for  burning.  A  single  acre  in  the  dam  site  was 
found  to  contain  240  stumps  of  a  size  to  require  blasting 
for  removal.  The  flowage  area  was  not  cleared  beyond  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  dam  where  clearing  was  required 
for  construction  purposes. 

After  the  clearing  was  finished  and  the  stumps  removed, 
the  forest  floor,  consisting  of  partly  decomposed  vegetation, 
rotten  wood  and  smaller  roots,  was  removed  to  a  depth  of 
I  ft.  or  2  ft.  from  the  area  to  be  occupied  by  the  base  of  the 
dam.  Thirty  acres  of  ground  were  cleared  in  all,  10. i  acres 
of  which  were  stumped  and  4.1  acres  stripped. 

A  cut-off  trench,  6  ft.  wide  at  the  bottom,  10  to  31  ft. 
deep,  with  side  slopes  about  one-quarter  to  one,  was  ex- 
cavated parallel  to  the  axis  of  the  dam,  the  center  line  of 
the  trench  being  directly  under  the  downstream  edge  of  the 
crest  of  the  embankment.  The  material  excavated  from  the 
trench  consisted  of  heavy  boulders,  gravel  and  sand.  Steam 
and  hand  derricks  with  skips  were  used  in  the  dryer  parts 
of  the  trench,  while  the  secticm  under  water  near  the  stream 
bed  was  removed  with  a  hydraulic  elevator.  The  total 
volume  of  material  removed  was  8675  cu.  yds. 

Interlocking  steel-sheet  piling — Carnegie  12-in.,  40-lb. 
section — was  driven  in  the  bottom  of  the  cut-off  trench  to 
the  slate  bedrock.  Two  pile-drivers  with  2000-lb.  drop- 
hammers  were  used,  the  driving  gangs  working  night  and 
day.  The  piles  were  furnished  in  lengths  of  50  ft.  and  less, 
the  first  shipment  arriving  at  the  site  Aug.  6,  1911.  Hard 
driving  was  encountered  on  the  north  side  of  the  creek,  but 
no  pile  was  left  until  it  reached  bedrock  as  indicated  by  the 


F:g.  2 — Territory  Served  by  the  Vancouver  Island  Power  Company,   Ltd. 

test  holes.  The  piles  were  driven  along  the  center  line  of 
the  cut-off  trench,  and  from  4  ft.  to  6  ft.  was  left  projecting 
above  the  bottom.  The  trench  was  thoroughly  cleaned 
before  sluicing  was  started. 

A  permanent  flood-water  spillway  having  a  net  opening 
50  ft.  wide  by  10  ft.  deep  below  the  high-water  level  of  the 
reservoir  was  excavated  in  solid  slate  bedrock  around  the 


770 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o.  No.  15. 


north  end  of  the  dam.  The  spillway  cut  was  about  350  ft. 
in  length  by  35  ft.  maximum  depth,  with  side  slopes  one- 
quarter  to  one.  The  larger  part  of  the  work  was  done 
under  contract  before  sluicing  was  started,  the  rock  being 
placed  in  the  downstream  toe  of  the  dam. 

Six  concrete  piers  were  erected  in  the  throat  of  the  spill- 
way, against  which  timber  stop  logs  can  be  set  horizontally 


Fig.    3 — Conditions    Encountered    In    Vancouver    Island    Forest. 

to  hold  the  pond  at  any  desired  level.  A  platform  or  run- 
way extends  from  pier  to  pier  and  an  overhead  cable  with 
traveling   tackle    is    provided    for    handling   the    stop    logs. 

PILING   MATERIAL   IN  BEAR   CREEK   DAM. 


Total  number  of  steel-sheet  piles  driven 616 

Total  length  of  steel  cut-off ,  ft 580.5 

Net  length  cut-off  per  pile,  in.,  about 112 

Maximum  penetration  of  pile  below  bottom  of  cut-off  trench,  f t .  .    .  68.5 

Average  penetration  of  pile  below  bottom  of  cut-off  trench,  ft,  about  46  .3 

Maximum  penetration  of  pile  below  original  ground  surface,  ft .  .    -  87.0 

Total  piling  driven,  ft 23,509.0 

Total  weight  of  piling,  tons 5  70 

The  floor  of  the  spillway  is  paved  between  piers  and  down- 
stream for  a  distance  of  lo  ft.  A  concrete  cut-off  wall 
extending  into  impervious  solid  rock  is  provided  at  the 
upstream  end  of  the  spillway  piers.  A  second  concrete  cut- 
off wall,  founded  on  bedrock,  extends  from  the  south  abut- 
ment to  the  puddle  core  of  the  dam.  The  total  quantity  of 
material  removed  from  the  spillway  was  11,267  cu.  yd.,  of 
which  10,431  cu.  yd.  was  rock  and  836  cu.  yd.  earth.  The 
masonry  used  in  the  piers,  cut-off  walls,  paving,  etc., 
amounts  to  no  cu.  yd.  The  material  was  placed  in  the 
dam  by  sluicing  except  the  rock  from  the  spillway  cut,  and 
the  material  excavated  from  the  cut-off  trench,  the  material 
not  sluiced  amounting  to  13,985  cu.  yd.  in  all. 

A  gravity  supply  of  water  for  sluicing  was  obtained  from 
a  small  creek  on  the  north  slope  of  the  valley  near  the  dam 
site.  A  storage  reservoir  was  built  on  the  ridge  near  the 
headwaters  of  the  stream,  in  which  about  1,500,000  cu.  ft. 
of  water  were  stored,  sufficient  to  operate  the  sluices  for  a 
period  of  five  to  seven  days,  depending  upon  weather  con- 
ditions. The  water  was  taken  from  the  creek  at  a  point 
about  2  miles  below  the  storage  reservoir  in  a  lo-in.  spiral- 
wound  wood-stave  pipe,  1300  ft.  in  length,  and  discharged 
into  a  head-box  from  which  a  riveted  steel  slip-joint 
hydraulic  pipe,  No.  12  gage.  8  in.  in  diameter,  was  laid  to 
the  borrow  pits,  the  water  being  delivered  at  the  nozzles 
with  a  static  head  of  from  150  ft.  to  200  ft. 

Owing  to  the  necessity  of  completing  the  dam  in  time  to 
store  water  for  use  at  the  power  station  during  the  summer 
of  1912,  and  in  order  to  preclude  as  far  as  possible  inter- 
ruptions in  sluicing  from  failure  of  the  gravity  supply,  a 
pumping  plant  was  installed  below  the  dam  near  the  creek 
and  pipes  were  laid  from  the  pumps  to  the  borrow  pits,  all 
arranged  to  permit  changing  from  gravity  to  pumped  supply 


with  small  loss  of  time.  The  plant  consisted  of  two  three- 
stage  centrifugal  pumps,  6-in.  discharge,  capacity  1000  gal. 
per  minute  each,  driven  with  steam  engines.  Four  50-hp 
boilers  were  installed,  and  wood  from  the  site  was  used  for 
fuel.  The  pumping  plant  was  put  into  service  whenever  the 
gravity  supply  ran  low. 

Sluicing  flumes  for  carrying  the  material  were  erected 
from  the  borrow  pits  and  extended  the  full  length  of  the 
dam.  The  grade  of  slope  of  the  boxes  was  6  per  cent  on 
the  main  flumes,  the  size  of  box  being  16  in.  wide  by  18  in. 
deep,  built  of  2-in.  plank  and  lined  in  the  bottom  with  wood 
paving  blocks  4  in.  deep.  The  lateral  or  distributing  flumes 
were  built  with  a  grade  of  from  7  per  cent  to  9  per  cent, 
were  not  lined  and  were  made  with  lap  or  telescopic  joints 
to  facilitate  moving. 

Three  decks  or  levels  of  flume  were  used  as  the  work 
progressed,  the  maximum  height  of  supporting  trestle  being 
70  ft.     The  trestle  posts  were  round  poles,  cut  on  the  site. 

TOTAL  LENGTH  OF  FLUME. 

First  or  lowest  deck,  ft 1050 

Second  deck,  ft 1150 

Third  deck,  ft 1400 

Lateral  or  distributing  flumes 3000 

Total,  ft 6600 


About  360,000  board  feet  of  lumber  were  used  in  the 
course  of  the  entire  work,  the  larger  portion  of  which  was 
in  the  sluicing  flumes. 

Sluicing  was  started  Sept.  i,  1911,  and  carried  forward 
night  and  day  during  the  winter  and  spring  until  April  15, 
1912,  when  the  fill  was  completed.  More  or  less  serious 
delays,  due  to  freezing  weather,  snowfall,  maintaining  tem- 
porary spillway  through  the  dam  for  discharging  flood  water 

MATERIAL   USED   IN  THE  BEAR  CREEK   DAM. 

Excavation  measurement: 

Cu.  Yd. 

Rock  from  spillway  and  gravel  cut-off  trench 13, 985 

Material  sluiced  from  borrow  pits 129,364 

Total 143,349 

Embankment  measuienient : 

Completed  structure 148,390 

Excess  of  embankment  over  excavation  measurement  (3.6  per 

cent) 5,041 

and  minor  interruptions,  were  experienced,  but  in  spite  of 
these  the  average  progress  was  better  than  anticipated,  the 
estimated  date  of  completion  being  May  15. 

The  water  in  the  reservoir  was  raised  gradually  as  work 
of  building  the  dam  proceeded,  no  run-off  being  wasted 


Miied  Matciiftl  03  Lalivored  from  Pi;x  i 


Elev.l^.l>    \V/|-     ^ 


;^,^     ^r.T   rSnrfaoc  EIcV.  I5Q.0 


Eioivaud  Material         ^\ 
from  TrcQoh  — ■- 


1  Uoiildors 

EUt. 


12'4C  Ib-Camcgic  Iniorlookioj 
^/-      atect  aiic«t-PiUag 


EUftri^iil  WurUi 


Fig.   4 — Section   of    Bear   Creek    Reservoir. 

after  March  i,  1912.  At  the  date  of  completion  the  water 
level  in  the  pond  stood  at  the  elevation  of  the  spillway 
floor.  Extremely  dry  weather  conditions  prevailed  during 
the  spring  and  the  basin  failed  to  fill,  the  highest  level 
reached  being  about  7  ft.  below  the  high-water  level.  The 
storage  obtained,  however,  250,000,000  cu.  ft.,  was  sufficient 


October  12,  1912, 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


771 


for  normal  plant  operation  with  one  machine  during  the 
summer.  The  second  unit  which  is  being  installed  by  the 
company  will  not  be  ready  for  service  before  the  coming  of 
the  wet  season. 

No  attempt  was  made  to  break  the  hard-pan  formation  in 
the  pits  with  the  water  from  the  monitors.  Powder  was 
used  throughout  the  work  for  breaking  down,  holes  being 
gophered  in  the  base  of  the  bank  to  a  depth  of  10  ft.  to 
16  ft.  A  gang  of  men  was  kept  constantly  at  work  with 
picks  breaking  up  the  larger  masses  to  assist  the  action  of 
the  monitor  stream.  In  fact,  it  was  endeavored  at  all  times 
to  keep  the  solid  material  coming  at  a  rate  to  utilize  the  full 
carrying  power  of  the  water  flowing  to  the  sluices.  The 
quantity  of  water  used  in  sluicing  varied  from  3  cu.  ft.  to 
6  cu.  ft.  per  second,  which  was  discharged  through  3-in.  and 
4-in.  nozzles  in  the  pit. 


SLUICING  RECORI 


!;e.\r  creek  d.\m. 


Water 

Cubic 

Per  Cent 

Used, 

Propor- 

Yards 

Time 

Hours 

Average 

Cubic 

tion 

per  24 

Date. 

Sluic- 

Sluic- 

in 

Yards 

Solids 

Hours' 

ing 

ing. 

Second- 
Feet. 

Placed. 

to 

Water. 

Sluic- 
ing 
time. 

1911. 

September,  30  days 

50.0 

504.0 

3.53 

17,085 

7.2 

813 

October,  J 1  days... 

43.5 

322.8 

3.2 

10,300 

7.3 

765 

November,  30  days 

51.9 

373.0 

6. 25 

14.950 

4.8 

964 

December.  3 1  days. 

66.4 

493.5 

6.25 

18,150 

4.4 

888 

1912. 

January,  31  days... 

85.6 

637.0 

4.7 

19.600 

4.9 

740 

February,  29  days.. 

99.9 

694.5 

4,3 

29,650 

7,5 

1110 

March,  31  days. .  .  . 

69.2 

518.8 

3.4 

17,300 

4.4 

802 

April,  15  days 

48.5 

174.4 

4.3 

7,370 

7.3 

1060 

66.9 

134,405 

6.3 

893 

Remarks. — -October,  delay  waiting  for  free  or  gravity  water;  November, 
delay  waiting  for  free  or  gravity  water,  due  to  freezinij  weather;  December, 
delay  due  to  flood  through  temporary  spillway;  January,  delay  removing 
temporary  spillway;  due  to  freezing  weather;  March,  delay  draining  fill ;  April, 
delay  slow  work  finishing  crest. 

A  temporary  spillway  was  maintained  through  the  dam 
during  the  winter  season,  the  maximum  observed  flood  dis- 
charge through  which  amounted  to  1300  second-ft.  The 
structure  was  removed  about  Jan.  i,  1912,  after  which  and 
until  the  elevation  of  the  permanent  spillway  was  reached 


long,  are  installed  in  the  base  of  the  dam  immediately  south 
of  the  original  stream  bed.  The  trench  in  which  the  pipes 
are  laid  is  excavated  in  the  bedrock  and  back-filled  with 
concrete  which  forms  a  casing  around  the  pipes  i  ft.  thick 
on  all  sides.  At  the  upper  end  of  the  pipes  a  reinforced- 
concrete  intake  structure  with  screens  is  provided.  This 
contains   two   24-in.   hydraulic   gate   valves   with   stems   ex- 


Fig.    6 — Bear    Creek    Dam. 

tended  to  a  platform  at  the  top  of  a  structural-steel  tower, 
50  ft.  in  height,  from  which  the  valves  are  operated. 
Venturi  tapers  were  inserted  in  the  pipes  on  both  sides  of 
the  valves  to  minimize  flowage  losses  through  the  24-in. 
valves,  made  smaller  than  the  pipe  merely  for  sake  of 
economy.  The  excavation  for  the  outlet  works  amounted 
to  3730  cu.  yd.  and  343  cu.  yd.  of  concrete  was  used  in  pipe 
casing  and  headworks. 

The  behavior  of  the  dam  since  completion  has  been  most 
satisfactory.  Measuring  weirs  set  at  points  below  the  dam 
to  intercept  the  water  flowing  by  the  dam  show  that  the 
aggregate  discernible  loss  on  April  4,  igi2,  was  0.191 
second-ft.,  which  was  decreased  on  .'\pril  27  to  o.ioo  second- 
ft.  Subsequent  reports  indicate  that  the  loss  is  steadily 
diminishing  as  the  body  of  the  fill  gradually  drains  out. 

The  desirability  of  raising  the  height  of  this  dam  to 
obtain  additional  storage  will  no  doubt  appear  shortly.  The 
undertaking  will  be  comparatively  simple  with  the  apparatus 
now  on  the  site,  a  safe  foundation  installed  and  all  the  per- 


■ 

W 1 

ip[fa 

^h»L''^^,^l^§B  'im 

Fig.    5 — Stop-Log    in    Spillway,    Bear    Creek    Reservoir. 

an  emergency  overflow  spillway  was  maintained  over  the 
dam,  with  plank  apron  attached  to  timbers  embedded  in 
the  fill  extending  down  the  slope.  The  necessity  of  using 
this  emergency  overflow  never  arose. 

OUTLET  STRUCTURE. 

Two  30-in.  riveted  steel  pipes,  }i  in.  thick,  each  300  ft. 


Fig.     7 — Forebay     Reservoir. 

plexing  and  expensive  features  of  design,  methods  and 
transportation  solved.  By  raising  the  embankment  20  ft, 
the  capacity  of  the  storage  basin  may  be  increased  to 
608,000,000  cu.  ft. 

In  a  subsequent  issue  will  appear  a  description  of  the 
diverting  dams,  flumes,  forebay  reservoir,  pressure  pipes, 
power  house,  transmission  lines  and  substations. 


7/2 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


NEW  STREET  LIGHTING  IN  CHICAGO— 1. 


Operations  Under  the  Blanket  Street-Lighting  Contract 
of  the  City  of  Chicago  and  the  Sanitary  District. 

WORK  is  well  advanced  in  carrying  out  the  construc- 
tion features  of  the  contract  by  which,  among 
other  things,  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago  is 
to  install  and  operate  10,000  additional  arc  lamps  (or  their 
equivalent)  for  street  lighting  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  In 
planning  this  installation  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago 
has  done  some  original  engineering  work  in  relation  to  the 
new  550-watt  flaming-arc  lamps  which  are  being  used,  the 
extensive  system  of  series-tungsten  street  lighting  which  is 
to  form  a  considerable  part  of  the  whole  installation,  the 
compact  design  of  substations  and  the  arrangements  for 
cable  distribution.  The  work  is  also  noteworthy  from  the 
exceptional  size  of  the  installation  and  the  powerful  light- 
ing units  employed. 

HYDROELECTRIC   ENERGY   FROM    DRAINAGE    CANAL. 

As  the  readers  of  this  journal  are  aware,  the  Sanitary 
District,  which  is  a  municipal  corporation,  operates  a  32,000- 
Icw  hydroelectric  station  on  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal  at 
Lockport,  III.,  transmitting  electricity  at  44,000  volts  for 
30  miles  over  aluminum  wires  to  a  terminal  station  in 
Chicago,  whence  the  energy  is  transmitted  at  12,000  volts 
to  various  substations,  where  the  voltage  is  reduced  to  meet 
commercial  requirements.  The  generating  station,  trans- 
mission line,  terminal  station  and  distribution  were  care- 
fully described  and  illustrated  in  articles  entitled  "Electricity 
from  a  Drainage  Canal,"  published  in  the  Electrical  World 
on  Jan.  12  and  Jan.  19,  191 1. 

With  a  supply  of  energy  available  from  a  plant  created 
by  taxpayers'  money,  it  was  very  natural  that  it  should  be 
used  for  street  lighting  in  Chicago.  This  has  been  done  for 
several  years,  the  Drainage  Canal  energy  being  utilized  first 
for  driving  motors  operating  arc  machines  in  the  generating 
stations  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  which  for  a  long  period  of 
years  has  operated  a  municipal  electric  street-lighting  plant. 
Later,  transformer  substations  were  built  in  which  hvdro- 


the  city's  thirteen  stations  and  substations  used  for  electric 
street  lighting  and  to  operate  them,  in  addition  making  a 
large  extension  to  the  municipal  street-lighting  system.  A 
contract  to  this  eflfect  was  executed  in  October,  1910,  and  the 
work  performed  under  this  contract  is  what  is  described  in 
the  present  articles  under  the  title  "New  Street  Lighting  in 
Chicago." 

Under  the  1910  contract  the  city  yielded  to  the  District 
the  possession  of  thirteen  stations  and  substations  and  also 
the  transmission  and  distribution  lines  used  by  the  city  to 
convey  the  energy  to  and  from  the  stations.  The  city  also 
agreed  to  permit  the  District  to  make  such  rearrangement  of 
cables,  wires  and  connections  as  might  be  agreed  upon  by  the 
city  electrician  and  the  electrical  engineer  of  the  District. 
The  city  also  agreed  to  allow  the  District  to  use  any  or  all 
of  the  conduits  and  transmission  lines  then  installed  and 
owned  by  the  city,  this  additional  use  to  be  for  the  corporate 
purposes  of  the  District,  provided  the  transmission  lines 
were  not  overloaded  and  that  the  use  by  the  District  of  such 
circuits  was  subordinated  to  the  obligation  of  the  District 
to  furnish  to  the  city  electrical  energy  for  municipal  pur- 
poses. This  permission  included  the  use  of  lamp  poles, 
provided  suitable  provision  was  made  for  the  city's  circuits. 
The  District  agreed  to  take  over  the  substations,  machinery, 
transmission  lines  and  other  electrical  equipment  and  operate 
them  during  the  life  of  the  contract. 

PROVISION   FOR    IMPROVED   MODERN    EQUIP.MENT. 

In  addition,  the  Sanitary  District  agreed  to  change  over 
the  existing  direct-current  arc-lighting  system  into  "an 
improved  modern  equipment,"  and  also  to  constitute  a  new 
operative  electrical  system  of  10,000  arc  lamps  of  a  type  to 
consume  not  less  than  450  watts  at  the  lamp  terminals,  in 
addition  to  the  arc  lamps  already  in  service.  However,  it 
was  stipulated  in  the  contract  that  in  the  event  of  the  city 
electrician  and  the  electrical  engineer  of  the  District  agree- 
ing that  lamps  of  a  different  type  were  necessary  in  the 
whole  or  in  part  of  the  new  system,  the  District  would 
furnish  lamps  of  the  newer  type,  with  the  understanding 
that  the  same  amount  of  electrical  energy  needed  for  the 
10.000  arc  lamps  should  be  consumed.     It  is  under  this  pro- 


Fig.  1- 


450-Watt  Flaming-Arc   Lamps   and 
Boulevard  Type  of  Poles. 


Fig.   2 — Type   of   Pole   and    Overhead    Con- 
struction   Used    In    Outlying    Districts. 


Fig.    3 — Series    Tungsten    Lamps    on    Lake 
Avenue,    Chicago. 


electric  energj'  was  used  directly  for  the  operation  of  street 
arc-lighting  circuits. 

A  COMPREHENSIVE  STREET-LIGHTING  CONTRACT. 

From  this  condition  of  affairs  the  next  step  was  the  execu- 
tion of  a  contract  between  the  Sanitary  District  and  the  city 
of  Chicago  by  which  the  former  agreed  to  take  over  all  of 


vision  that  the  series-tungsten  street  lighting  is  being  in- 
stalled in  a  portion  of  the  residence  district,  although  the 
powerful  flaming-arc  lamps  are  retained  for  a  larger  area. 
Three  pictures  given  herewith  illustrate  types  of  lamps 
and  lamp  standards  installed.  Fig.  I  shows  the  new  flaming- 
arc  lamps,  with  the  boulevard  type  of  poles,  the  picture 
being  taken  on  Ashland  Boulevard  near  West  Van  Buren 


OcroBtR   12,    ly: 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


773 


Street.  Fig.  2  shows  the  same  type  of  lamp,  but  with  the 
tubular  post  and  bracket  suspension  used  in  outlying  dis- 
tricts. This  picture  also  illustrates  the  extension  above  the 
lamp  bracket  to  provide  for  cross-arm  attachment.  Fig.  3 
depicts  loo-watt  series-tungsten  lamps  mounted  on  former 


wide  adoption  in  this  country  in  spite  of  the  somewhat  com- 
plicated station  equipment  required.  Considerable  surprise 
was  created,  therefore,  when  it  became  known  that  Chicago 
was  thinking  of  using  a  type  different  from  the  luminous  arc. 
Upon   the   suggestion   of  the  electrical   engineer  of   the 


Fig.  4 — Details  of  Arc- Lamp   Bracket. 

gas-lamp  posts  in  a  residence  district.    The  view  is  one  on 
Lake   Avenue   near   Thirty-seventh   Street. 

OTHER   FEATURES   OF  THE   CONTRACT. 

The  city's  old  street  arc  lamps,  to  the  number  of  12,200 
at  the  time  of  execution  of  the  contract,  were  retained  as  a 
part  of  the  new  system,  the  10,000  new  lamps,  or  their  equiv- 
alent, being  additional.  However,  the  old  lamps  are  to  be 
replaced  by  new  ones  ultimately.  The  contract  provides  that 
the  platting  of  the  new  lamps  shall  be  done  by  the  city  elec- 
trician, and  that  he  and  the  electrical  engineer  of  the  Dis- 
trict shall  locate  the  substations.  The  plans  for  transmission 
lines  are  prepared  by  the  District  and  approved  by  the  city. 
The  District  agreed  to  construct  at  least  three  additional 
substations,  although,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  four  have  now 
been  built  or  are  nearly  completed. 

The  contract  period  is  seven  years  from  the  date  that 
service  is  first  begun.  During  this  time  the  District  agrees 
to  furnish  electrical  energy  to  operate  both  the  old  and  the 
new  lamps  of  Chicago's  municipal  electric-lighting  system. 
The  rate  paid  for  electrical  energy  is  $15  per  hp-year,  the 
electricity  to  be  metered  on  the  primary  side  of  substations. 
In  addition,  the  sum  of  S'/s  cents  per  month  is  paid  for 
substation  operating  charges  for  every  450-watt  lamp  or 
its  equivalent.  The  lamps  are  to  be  operated  for  an  average 
period  of  eleven  hours  daily  for  every  day  ni  the  year,  the 
hours  of  burning  varying  from  eight  and  one-half  hours  in 
May,  June  and  July  to  fourteen  hours  in  November  and 
December.  The  city  agrees  to  repay  the  District  for  all  real 
estate,  labor  and  material  used  in  the  new  construction  work, 
with  interest  but  without  profit.  The  rate  of  interest  is  to 
be  the  same  as  that  of  the  last  bond  issue  of  the  Sanitary 
District. 

SELECTING   THE   TYPE   OF   ARC   LAMP. 

In  carrying  out  the  contract  the  first  thing  to  be  decided 
upon,  before  the  plans  for  the  extension  of  the  lighting 
system  could  be  begun,  was  the  type  of  lamp  to  be  used.  At 
the  time  plans  for  making  the  contract  between  the  two 
municipalities  were  first  being  discussed  the  magnetite  lamp 
had  just  reached  its  full  development  and  was  heralded  as 
the  up-to-date  il'uminant  for  street  lighting;  in  fact,  the 
merits  of  the  magnetite  system  were  so  great  that  it  found 


-  -3'''„  Rad. ^      ; 

4V,;Kad. ^ 

EUiiincal  World 


Fig.    5 — Detail    of   Cross-Arm    Support. 


Sanitary  District,  one  of  the  large  lamp  manufacturers 
began  experimenting  with  the  long-burning  flaming-arc 
lamp,  and  almost  simultaneously  a  lamp  of  this  type,  in- 
vented and  patented  in  Europe,  was  placed  upon  the 
American  market. 

At  the  time  the  rehabilitation  work  was  started  both 
lamps  were  in  the  experimental  stage.  The  experiments 
were  of  such  a  promising  character  that  it  was  considered 
safe  to  adopt  this  type  of  illuminant  as  the  Chicago  standard. 
The  lamp  adopted  may  be  classified  briefly  as  a  550-watt, 
lo-amp  alternating-current  inclosed  flaming  arc.  It  oper- 
ates with  from  50  volts  to  65  volts  at  the  terminals,  and 
under  normal  operating  conditions  each  trim  will  last  from 
100  to  no  hours. 

EIGHT   THOUSAND    lO-AMP   FLAMING-ARC    LAMPS    ORDERED. 

The  substation  and  lamp  circuits  were  laid  out  for  this 
type  of  lamp,  and  while  the  construction  of  new  circuits 
was  in  progress  500  lamps  were  mounted  temporarily  on 
some  of  the  old  lamp-posts  to  secure  information  about 
reliability  and  cost  of  operation.  One-half  of  these  lamps 
were  of  the  single-globe  type,  while  the  remainder  were  of 
the  double-globe  type.  Later,  on  Feb.  15,  1912,  a  contract 
for  4000  lamps  was  awarded  to  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany for  a  double-globe  lamp  designed  in  the  Fort  Wayne 
works  and  manufactured  in  the  Lynn  works  of  the  General 
Electric  Company. 

These  lamps  have  been  in  operation  several  months  and 
have  given  excellent  satisfaction.  A  second  order  for 
4000  additional  lamps  of  the  same  type  was  placed  Sept.  12, 
1912.  The  simplicity  of  station  equipment,  combined  with 
low  cost  and  reliability  of  operation,  make  the  flaming  arc, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  Sanitary  District  and  city  engineers, 
the  ideal  unit  for  street  lighting  where  profuse  illumination 
is  required. 

It  was  with  great  interest  and  some  apprehension  that 
both  manufacturers  and  the  city  looked  forward  to  the 
amount  of  electrode  trouble  to  be  contended  with  in  this 
type  of  lamp.  From  the  records  of  the  city  of  Chicago  it 
appears  that  the  outages  from  this  and  all  other  causes 
have  amounted  to  less  than  0.5  per  cent  since  the  lamps 
were  put  into  operation. 


774 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


THE   LAYOUT    IN    THE    UNDERGROUND    DISTRICT. 

In  the  downtown  territory,  where  underground  con- 
struction is  used,  there  will  be  two  lamps  on  diametrically 
opposite  corners  at  every  street  intersection  and  one  lamp 
in  the  middle  of  each  block  at  the  alley.  The  lamps  will  be 
hung  with  the  arcs  24  ft.  11  in.  from  the  ground  on  posts. 
as  shown  in  Fig.  6.  The  exterior  design  of  this  lamp-post 
was  adopted  last  winter  by  a  special 
pole  committee  appointed  by  the  Mayor. 

The  trimming  of  lamps  in  Chicago 
has  heretofore  been  done  by  climbing 
the  poles  by  means  of  ladders  carried 
by  the  trimmers  and  by  pole  steps. 
Careful  inspection  and  thorough  clean- 
ing are  difficult  by  this  method,  and 
locating  trouble  when  a  lamp  is  re- 
ported out  is  almost  an  impossibility 
for  a  man  standing  on  a  pole  step  and 
reaching  out  to  a  lamp  suspended  from 
a  24-in.  bracket.  This  naturally  de- 
veloped an  expensive  tendency  to  cart 
all  lamps  which  failed  in  operation  to 
the  lamp-repair  shop,  where  in  many  in- 
stances the  trouble  was  found  to  be  one 
which  could  easily  have  been  remedied 
in  the  field  if  the  inspector  had  had 
better  access  to  the  lamp. 

METHOD  OF  TRIM  AUNG  ADOPTED. 

Furthermore,  in  order  to  insure  the 
best  illuminating  results  from  the  new 
flaming-arc  lamp  it  was  necessary  to 
increase  the  height  of  the  new  poles. 
If  the  same  system  of  trimming  should 
be  maintained  it  would  mean  an  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  pole  steps  to 
be  climbed,  and  therefore  in  the  labor 
cost  for  trimming,  which  in  the  city  of 
Chicago  is  an  item  as  large  as,  and  in 
some  mstances  even  larger  than,  the 
cost  of  electricity  consumed  by  the 
lamp.  It  was  therefore  decided  to  in- 
stall series  cut-outs  and  lower  the  lamps 
to  the  ground  when  trimming  instead 
of  climbing  the  poles.  None  of  the 
many  systems  now  in  the  market  for 
this  purpose  seemed  satisfactory  or  to 
fulfil  the  requirements,  and  new  devices 
had  to  be  designed. 

Fig.  6  is  a  sketch  of  the  new  downtown  pole,  which  con- 
sists of  a  cast-iron  ornamental  base  and  a  tubular  pole  made 
of  4-in..  5-in.  and  6-in.  pipe.  The  bracket  is  practically 
identical  with  the  one  used  for  overhead  construction 
shown  in  Figs.  2  and  4.  It  is  made  of  malleable  iron  and 
slips  over  the  4-in.  section  of  the  pole,  resting  with  a 
shoulder  on  the  top  of  the  pole,  and  has  at  the  lower  end  a 
band  tightened  on  the  pole  with  bolts  and  nuts. 

A  vertical  cross-section  of  the  bracket  half  way  between 
the  pole  and  the  lamp  has  the  shape  of  a  trough,  in  which 
are  located  the  steel  rope  for  raising  and  lowering  the  lamp 
and  the  lead-covered  cables  leading  to  and  from  the  sta- 
tionary part  of  the  cut-out.  The  steel  rope  is  in  the  middle. 
and  a  section  in  Fig.  5  shows  the  notches  guiding  the  rope 
and  preventing  it  from  rubbing  against  the  cable.  Two 
pulleys,  a  malleab'e-iron  cover  and  an  ornamental  pole 
top.  which  is  fastened  to  the  bracket  by  three  screws,  com- 
plete the  equipment. 

VARIOUS    TYPES    OF    POLES. 

In  the  "downtown"'  type  of  pole  the  raising  and  lowering 
of  the  lamp  is  done  by  means  of  a  windlass  in  the  base,  to 
which  access  can  be  had  through  a  door  if  desired,  but 
which  can  be  operated  without  ooening  the  door  by  inserting 
a  crank  in  a  hole  on  one  side  of  the  base. 


ElectrUai   ^VurU 


Fig.  6 — Type  of 
Flaming-Arc  Pole 
for  Underground 
District. 


Fig.  I,  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  shows  a  boule- 
vard type  of  lamp-post  which  was  designed  for  the  old 
lamps  and  has  been  in  service  for  several  years.  The  old 
lamps  are  superseded  by  the  flaming  arcs,  but  the  pole  and 
equipment   have   been   retained. 

In  districts  where  overhead  arc-lamp  construction  is  used 
the  lamps  are  all  on  one  side  of  the  street.  There  will  be 
one  lamp  at  each  street  intersection  and  one,  or  in  some 
cases  two,  lamps  between  street  intersections.  The  distance 
between  lamps  will  be  from  250  ft.  to  275  ft.  All  poles  used 
in  outlying  districts  are  of  tubular  steel  30  ft.  in  length 
set  in  concrete.  Ordinary  line  poles  are  made  of  4-in.  and 
5-in.  standard-weight  pipe.  Ordinary  lamp  poles  are  4-in. 
and  5-in.  extra-heavy  pipe.  Corner  poles  and  dead-end 
poles  are  made  in  three  sections  of  4-in.,  5-in.  and  6-in.  pipe. 
Fig.  2  shows  a  typical  lamp  pole  of  this  type  with  the  equip- 
ment used  in  outlying  districts. 

ANOTHER    METHOD    OF    RAISING    AND    LOWERING    LAMPS. 

Many  of  the  present  overhead  circuits  will  undoubtedly 
be  put  underground  later,  and  with  this  in  mind  it  was 
decided  to  use  the  same  lamp  bracket  on  both  the  poles 
used  for  overhead  and  those  used  for  underground  con- 
struction. There  is  not  room  enough  in  the  "overhead" 
style  of  pole  for  a  windlass,  and  the  raising  and  lowering 
of  the  lamp  therefore  had  to  be  provided  for  in  a  dififerent 
manner. 

The  trimmer  removes  a  small  cast-iron  shield  from  a 
hole  in  the  pole.  At  the  lower  end  of  the  steel  rope  for 
lowering  the  lamp  is  a  counterweight,  to  the  bottom  of 
which  is  attached  a  short  piece  of  chain.  The  length  of  the 
steel  rope  is  such  that  the  counterweight  is  suspended  with 
its  lower  end  slightly  above  the  opening  in  the  pole.  The 
chain  ends  in  a  snatch  hook  which  can  be  attached  to  an 
eye-bolt  on  the  inside  of  the  shield ;  therefore,  when  the 
shield  is  removed  the  chain  at  the  same  time  comes  out  of 
the  hole.  The  trimmer  carries  with  him  an  extension  cord 
with  a  ring,  which  he  attaches  to  the  snatch  hook.  By 
means  of  this  cord  the  lamp  is  then  lowered  and  raised. 

DETAILS  OF  OVERHEAD  CONSTRUCTION. 

The  cross-arms  are  of  malleable  iron  and,  as  shown  in 
Fig.  2,  are  mounted  on  top  of  the  lamp  bracket.  For  this 
purpose  there  has  been  designed  a  cross-arm  support  which 
is  screwed  on  to  the  lamp  bracket  in  the  same  three  holes 
as  are  used  in  the  case  of  the  ornamental  pole  tops  in  the 
downtown  district.  The  upper  part  of  this  cross-arm  sup- 
port is  shaped  as  a  pipe,  with  the  same  outside  diameter  as 
the  top  section  of  the  pole,  and  it  is  crowned  by  a  plain  cast- 
iron  pole  top.  Fig.  5  is  a  sectional  drawing  of  this  cross- 
arm  support,  which  was  designed  by  the  Sanitary  District 
engineers.  Two-pin,  four-pin  and  six-pin  malleable-iron 
cross-arms  are  used. 

In  straight  sections  of  the  line  the  insulators  are  mounted 
on  locust  pins,  but  Fletcher  steel  pins  with  felt  insertion 
are  used  at  corners  or  dead  ends.  At  most  lamp  locations 
so-called  transposition  insulators  are  used.  They  were 
designed  especially  for  tho  city  of  Chicago  by  the  city  elec- 
trician some  years  ago  and  have  given  good  service.  They 
are  of  the  double-groove  type  and  have  been  manufactured 
both   in  electrose  and  porcelain. 

TUXGSTEN-SERIES    INCANDESCENT    STREET    LIGHTING. 

The  series-tungsten  system,  which,  as  before  mentioned, 
will  be  installed  in  certain  residence  districts,  will  undoubt- 
edly attract  wide  attention,  as  it  is  new  and  original  in 
many  respects.  The  old  gas  posts  have  been  and  will  be 
remodeled  into  neat-looking  electric  posts  (Fig.  3)  by 
removing  the  lanterns  and  ladder  supports  and  substituting 
cast-iron  post-heads,  surmounted  by  spherical  Alba  glass 
globes  14  in.  in  diameter.  Each  globe  contains  a  lOo-watt, 
4-amp.  23-volt  tungsten  lamp,  which,  with  clear  bulb,  gives 
61.6  mean  lower  hemispherical  candle-power.  The  posts 
are  placed  on  both  sides  of  the  streets  and  staggered,  so 
that  there  is  one  lamp  for  each  75  ft.  of  street. 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


775 


CAULE    LAID   IN    PARKWAYS    WITHOUT   CONDUIT. 

The  laying  of  conduit  for  the  series  incandescent  lighting 
has  been  avoided  and  the  cost  of  labor  in  installing  the 
system  greatly  reduced  by  using  a  single-conductor,  lead- 
covered  cable  armored  with  i/i6-in.  wall  of  spirally  wound 
galvanized-steel  band  which  is  protected  from  contact  with 
the  earth  by  layers  of  tape  and  jute  treated  with  tar. 

A  trench  12  in.  wide  and  2.5  ft.  deep  is  dug  in  the  park- 
way near  the  curb,  and  the  cable  is  laid  therein.  This  work 
can  be  done  without  obstructing  the  streets  or  inconvenienc- 
ing the  residents  in  any  way.  If  the  sod  is  replaced  care- 
fully, all  trace  of  the  work  disappears  in  a  short  time. 
The  use  of  steel  armor  on  single-conductor  cable  for  alter- 
nating current  is  a  departure  from'  usual  practice,  but  has 
given  good  results. 

TESTS  ON  CABLE  LAID  IN   PARKWAYS. 

After  the  first  circuit  had  been  installed  the  lamp  sockets 

Porcelain  Series  Soclcet  for 
LargelBase  Lamp 


the  total  and  the  curreiit  remains  sensibly  constant. 
At  the  end  of  this  year  there  will  have  been  installed  and 
in  operation  at  least  6000  of  the  new  flaming-arc  lamps  and 
1000  tungsten  lamps.  Half  of  these  will  be  in  new  arc-lamp 
locations  and  half  will  replace  old  direct-current  arc  lamps. 


r\:ri 


EUctricil  Ui/rld 

Fig.   7 — Reactance   Coil   for   Series    Incandescent   Street    Lamp. 

were  short-circuited  with  No.  6  copper  wire  and  the  con- 
stants of  the  cable  determined  as  follows: 

The  copper  resistance,  measured  with  direct  current,  was 
12.71  ohms. 

Measurements  with  voltmeter,  ammeter  and  wattmeter 
at  4  amp  and  60  cycles  gave  the  following  results ; 

Ohms. 

Apparent    resistance... 19.6 

Reactance     8.8 

Impedance     21.5 

The  increase  in  line  loss  for  this  circuit,  due  to  the  armor, 
was  only  no  watts,  at  the  current  for  which  the  circuit  is 
designed. 

LAYOUT    FOR    THE    SERIES    CIRCUITS. 

The  incandescent  street-lighting  circuits,  which  are  laid 
out  for  l6o  tungsten  lamps  in  series,  are  fed  from  the  same 
station  bus  as  the  arc  circuits  and  controlled  from  panels 
with  the  same  equipment  as  the  arc  panels,  the  only  differ- 
ence being  in  the  ratio  of  the  instruinent  transformers. 

The  tungsten-lamp  circuits  have  no  regulators  in  the 
station,  but  the  current  is  maintained  constant  by  stationary 
shunt  coils,  which  here  for  the  first  time  are  used  on  a 
large  scale.  Each  cast-iron  post  head  contains  a  reactance 
coil  wound  on  a  laminated  iron  core  and  connected  in 
parallel  with  the  lamp.  (See  details  of  reactance  coil  in 
Fig.  7.)  When  the  lamp  is  in  operation  there  is  a  pressure 
of  23  volts  across  the  coil  and  only  a  small  magnetizing 
current  passes  through  it.  When  the  lamp  filament  burns 
out  the  whole  line  current  passes  through  the  coil  and 
magnetically  saturates  the  core,  and  the  pressure  across  the 
terminals  rises  somewhat,  but  not  excessively.  The  con- 
stants of  the  coils  are  so  proportioned  that  the  reactive 
component  of  the  series  impedance  when  added  to  the  re- 
maining resistance  component  does  not  appreciably  increase 


EFFICACY  IN  ILLUMINATION. 


By  Pkeston  S.  Wn.i.AR. 

The  development  of  illuminating  engineering  has  been 
associated  intimately  with  large  improvements  in  the 
efficiency  and  other  qualities  of  illuminants.  Following 
closely  upon  sucii  improvements  have  come  marked  advances 
in  the  efficacy  of  lighting  auxiliaries.  The  inauguration 
and  principal  growth  of  the  movement  have  been  con- 
temporaneous with  the  formation  and  expansion  of  the 
Illuminating  Engineering  Society. 

So  closely  have  the  three  developments  conformed  in 
point  of  time,  and  so  interdependent  have  they  been,  that 
in  some  respects  it  is  difficult  clearly  to  distinguish  cause 
from  effect.  The  increase  in  efficiency  of  illuminants  was 
largely  an  independent  advance,  but  the  growth  of  knowl- 
edge, as  represented  by  the  work  of  the  society  and  the  in- 
crease in  commercial  developments,  may  be  said  to  have 
been  mutually  stimulative. 

Recent  years  have  witnessed  strong  tendencies  in  lighting 
which  were  occasioned  by  practical  application  of  the  results 
of  observation  and  investigation.  To-day  there  is  observable 
a  distinct  trend  in  illuminating  practice.  This  trend  be- 
comes more  evident  when  modern  practice  is  contrasted 
with  that  of  a  few  years  ago.  To  bring  out  this  condition 
clearly,  it  is  proposed  to  review  briefly  the  development  of 
illuminating  practice  in  three  periods,  dealing  only  with 
generalities  and  refraining  from  discussing  developments 
of  lighting  which  are  individual  in  character. 

PERIOD  OF  NEGLECT  OF  PRINCIPLES  OF  GOOD  ILLUMINATION. 

In  the  average  installation  lamps  were  used  merely  to 
light  the  place.  The  recognized  object  was  to  produce  light 
without  excessive  cost.  Usually  the  intensity  was  inade- 
quate owing  to  insufficient  production  of  light  and  to  neglect 
of  means  of  applying  effectively  what  was  produced.  This 
resulted,  not  unnaturally,  in  restricting  ameliorating  efforts 
to  the  installation  of  more  lamps  or  of  larger  lamps.  So 
evident  was  the  inadequacy,  and  so  general  was  the  ig- 
norance of  good  illumination  requirements,  that  considera- 
tions of  hygiene,  esthetics  and  efficiency  were  perforce 
subordinated  to  the  one  great  demand  for  more  light. 

Electric  lamps  were  usually  unshaded  and  were  frosted 
only  in  rare  instances.  The  existing  shades  were  used 
generally  only  upon  oil  lamps.  The  oil  lamp  offered  a  light 
source  of  relatively  low  specific  intensity  and  of  pleasing 
color,  and  it  was  also  portable.  Its  other  qualities  must  be 
considered  as  demerits.  Being  of  low  candle-power,  it  had 
to  be  placed  near  both  the  observed  object  and  the  observer, 
where  it  obtruded  itself  objectionably  as  a  source  of  both 
light  and  heat.  When  shaded,  the  greater  part  of  the  room 
was  shrouded  in  gloom,  only  a  small  area  in  its  immediate 
environment  being  illuminated.  Yet  because  of  the  neces- 
sity of  placing  it  near  the  observed  object  it  had  to  be 
shaded,  as  otherwise  it  was  in  the  direct  line  of  vision  and 
near  at  hand.  When  so  shaded  it  was  used  alone  and  there 
was  only  one  position  of  observation  in  which  the  flame 
could  be  reflected  specularly  from  an  observed  surface  to 
the  observer,  and  that  position,  naturally,  was  avoided. 
Thus  many  of  the  more  recently  developed  tenets  of  satis- 
factory illumination,  which  were  transgressed  by  early  elec- 
tric lighting,  were  complied  with  fortuitously  in  the  use  of 
the  oil  lamps.  There  is  to-day  a  general  popular  impression 
that  the  light  from  oil  lamps  is  of  all  artificial  light  the  most 
satisfying.  Ophthalmologists  often  deem  its  composition 
best  suited  to  the  human  eye.     The  widespread  acceptance 


776 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


of  this  belief  is  the  best  evidence  of  the  defects  of  illumina- 
tion by  electric  lamps  during  this  early  period.  Not  the 
superiority  of  light  from  oil  lamps  but  the  neglect  of  illumi- 
nating engineering  in  the  application  of  electric  lamps  has 
given  the  oil  lamp  its  reputation. 

Survivals  of  conditions  obtaining  during  this  period  are 
seen  from  time  to  time  in  interiors  and  are  quite  common 
in  lighting  of  passenger  cars  and  of  streets. 

PERIOD    OF    EFFICIENCY    EXALTATION. 

Recognition  of  need  for  improved  lighting  conditions  led 
to  study  of  some  phases  of  illumination.  Redirection  of  a 
large  part  of  the  light  suggested  itself  and  offered  commer- 
cial reward  to  those  who  might  render  it  feasible.  There 
followed  a  large  extension  in  manufacture  of  illuminating 
appliances — reflectors,  globes,  etc. 

Existing  shades  were  usually  very  deficient;  either  they 
failed  to  conceal  the  lamp,  or,  concealing  the  lamp  fairly 
well,  they  absorbed  excessive  quantities  of  light.  The  newer 
appliances  were  as  a  rule  fairly  efficient  and  a  larger  pro- 
portion of  them  shaded  the  lamp.  Moreover,  they  presented 
a  better  appearance.  Prismatic  glassware,  vigorously  ex- 
ploited along  broad  and  constructive  lines,  became  a  promi- 
nent factor  and  its  installation  was  generally  followed  by 
improvement  in  lighting  conditions.  The  tungsten  lamp, 
because  of  its  high  specific  intensity  and  great  candle-power, 
demanded  shading  more  than  did  the  carbon  lamp,  and  its 
manufacturers  early  showed  appreciation  of  the  fact  by 
frosting  the  lower  part  of  the  bulbs  and  by  issuing  the 
larger  sizes  with  reflectors  which  in  general  improved  the 
light  distribution  and  covered  the  brilliant  filaments. 

The  further  study  of  illumination  brought  about  talk  of 
efficiencies,  and  soon  it  became  customary  to  speak  of  the 
illuminating  efficiency  as  the  ratio  of  the  light  flux  delivered 
upon  a  given  plane  to  the  total  flux  produced. 

To  secure  highest  "illuminating  efficiencies"  reflectors 
had  to  be  efficient,  and  for  a  time  efficiency  became  almost 
exclusively  the  watchword  in  new  illumination  work.  To 
increase  efficiency,  apply  more  light  or  reduce  bills  for 
energy  became  the  guiding  principle  of  manufacturers  of 
illuminating  appliances  and  their  agents.  The  purpose  was 
a  good  one,  and  much  in  the  way  of  improvement  was 
accomplished. 

TRANSITION    FROM    SECOND   TO  THIRD    PERIOD   OF   DEVELOPMENT. 

While  "efficiency"  was  the  ruling  consideration,  other 
phases  were  not  altogether  neglected.  In  some  quarters 
the  need  for  more  attention  to  the  hygiene  and  esthetics  of 
illumination  was  felt,  and  in  consequence  the  most  recent 
trend  in  the  art  began  to  manifest  itself.  The  development 
which  followed  continues  to-day  and  seems  likely  to  con- 
tinue for  some  time  to  come. 

In  retrospect  the  principal  elements  which  taken  together 
liave  contributed  to  bring  about  this  considerable  advance 
in  illuminating  engineering  stand  out  clearly.  To  each  may 
be  credited  a  measurable  share  of  the  advance.  In  the 
following  paragraphs  they  are  discussed  briefly. 

Improved  Efficiency  of  IlluminaMts. — The  gas  mantle, 
yielding  four  times  the  light  of  the  open-flame  burner ;  more 
largely  the  tungsten-filament  lamp,  yielding  three  times  as 
much  light  as  the  carbon  lamp,  and  in  a  lesser  degree  the 
newer  arc  lamps — these  have  made  possible  the  notable 
lighting  developrrients  of  the  past  five  years.  In  a  way 
they  have  necessitated  improvement  in  practice,  because 
high  candle-power  illuminants  demand  more  intelligent 
handling,  much  as  do  high  power  explosives.  Out  of  this 
need  and  because  of  the  opportunities  offered  by  the  new 
higher  efficiency  illuminants  has  come  the  large  extension  of 
illuminating  engineering. 

Illumination  Research. — Study  of  the  physical  and 
physiological  aspects  of  the  illumination  problem  has  been 
pursued  earnestly.  The  research  laboratories  of  the  great 
manufacturing  corporations  and  the  less  pretentious  in- 
vestigations made  possible  through  the  interest  of  lighting 


corporations  and  individuals  have  extended  largely  the 
boundaries  of  our  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  good  illumination.  While  investigation  serves  to  reveal 
the  great  lack  of  knowledge  and  to  emphasize  the  demand 
for  more  exhaustive  study,  yet  real  progress  has  been  made 
and  it  is  felt  that  the  success  attained  in  research  is  an 
earnest  of  what  is  to  come. 

Growing  Appreciation  of  Esthetics. — In  the  great  ma- 
jority of  installations  the  requirements  are  for  efficiency  and 
beauty  in  varying  degrees.  There  are  but  few  installations 
in  which  either  of  these  elements  may  safely  be  neglected. 
Several  years  ago  architectural  considerations  were  not 
properly  appreciated  by  engineers  who  undertook  lighting 
work.  A  few  there  were  who  gave  them  proper  place  in 
the  category  of  requirements.  Chiefly,  however,  it  remained 
for  architects,  decorators  and  fixture  manufacturers  to  urge 
their  importance.  To-day  the  veriest  tyro  in  illuminating 
engineering  recognizes  that  they  must  receive  consideration 
in  all  cases  and  often  in  advance  of  efficiency  considera- 
tions. 

Pioneer  Work  of  Leading  Practitioners.— The  small  num- 
ber of  illuminating  engineers  who  have  led  the  vk^ay  in  suc- 
cessful application  of  the  principles  of  good  lighting,  in- 
cluding purely  industrial  lighting  in  which  practical 
considerations  were  predominant,  and  all  gradations  of 
installations  up  to  those  in  which  architectural  requirements 
demanded  paramount  attention — these  men  have  not  hesi- 
tated to  describe  their  work  in  great  detail,  thereby  giving 
the  benefits  of  their  experience  to  their  confreres.  This 
generous  spirit  has  proved  very  constructive  and  has  played 
no  little  part  in  the  development  of  the  art. 

Enterprise  of  Manufacturers  of  Lamps  and  Lighting 
Auxiliaries. — In  addition  to  research  and  investigation  in 
the  field  of  illumination,  manufacturers  have  done  much  to 
promote  general  knowledge  of  the  subject.  Through  elabo- 
rate systems  of  bulletins,  lectures  and  papers  by  representa- 
tives, and  through  illuminating  engineering  advice  con- 
tributed for  the  benefit  of  their  customers,  these  corpora- 
tions have  done  much  to  advance  the  practice  of  lighting 
and  to  bring  it  into  line  with  best  knowledge  on  the  subject. 
Moreover,  they  have  manifested  considerable  initiative  in 
applying  in  their  manufacture  the  principles  of  good  illumi- 
nation as  these  have  come  to  be  recognized  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  art. 

Improved  Lighting  Au.xiliaries. — An  examination  of  the 
illuminating  glassware  and  other  lighting  accessories  now 
being  produced  in  standard  lines  will  demonstrate  the  ad- 
vance of  the  art  very  conclusively.  In  general,  the  tendency 
now  is  to  conceal  the  light  source,  thereby  obviating  objec- 
tionable glare,  to  reduce  or  eliminate  glare  from  reflecting 
surfaces  by  diffusing  the  light,  and  to  devote  more  attention 
to  the  appearance  of  the  lighting  auxiliary.  Where  a  few 
years  ago  one  had  small  choice  in  selecting  reflectors,  to-day 
there  is  a  bewildering  variety  of  reflectors  and  globes,  all 
having  more  or  less  merit  and  most  of  them  being  highly 
efficient.  Corresponding  advances  have  been  made  in  illumi- 
nating glassware  designed  for  decorative  purposes. 

Progressive  Attitude  of  Central  Stations.- — The  formation 
by  many  of  the  larger  central  stations  of  illuminating  engi- 
neering departments  whose  services  are  available  to  their 
customers,  together  with  the  general  practice  of  organizing 
display  rooms  for  the  sale  of  lighting  appliances,  has  fur- 
thered the  adoption  by  their  customers  of  fixtures  and  light- 
ing auxiliaries,  designed  in  accordance  with  the  more  re- 
cently recognized  principles  of  good  illumination.  The  prac- 
tice of  some  of  the  largest  central  stations  in  issuing  tung- 
sten filament  lamps  to  customers  under  favorable  cost 
conditions  has  still  further  aided  the  development. 

Specialisation  by  Numerous  Unqualified  Practitioners. — 
The  large  number  of  young  men  who  have  sensed  an  oppor- 
tunity in  connection  with  the  growing  interest  in  good 
illumination,  and  who  have  without  any  justification 
assumed    the    title    "illuminating    engineer,"    has    been    the 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


777 


source  of  much  levity.  It  is  true  that  the  effect  has  been  to 
bring  the  title  "illuminating  engineer"  into  some  disrepute. 
Far  outweighing  this  objection,  however,  is  the  tremendous 
impetus  which  such  developments  have  given  to  the  general 
movement  for  improved  illumination.  These  men,  at  first 
utterly  unqualified  for  the  duties  they  assumed,  have  gradu- 
ally learned  the  principles  that  should  be  applied  in  their 
practice  and  are  gradually  bringing  the  practice  into  con- 
formity with  the  principles.  To-day  many  of  them  are 
qualified  illuminating  engineers,  and  most  of  them  have 
accomplished  a  great  deal  in  the  way  of  improving  installa- 
tion by  substituting  modern,  good  equipment  for  old  equip- 
ment which  had  little  or  nothing  to  recommend  it. 

Measuring  Instruments. — The  general  availability  of 
photometric  appliances  has  contributed  materially  to  investi- 
gation- and  to  the  establishment  of  lighting  criteria,  all  of 
which  have  played  a  considerable  part  in  improving  illumi- 
nation conditions.  The  fact  that  everyone  engaged  in  light- 
ing work  has  become  conversant  with  the  form  of  photo- 
metric data  and  is  accustomed  to  apply  such  data  in  his  work 
goes  far  toward  systematizing  that  work  and  rendering 
practice  uniform  with  regard  to  established  standards. 

Illuminating  Engineering  Society. — Combining  in  an  un- 
usual degree  scientific  with  humanitarian  objects,  this  or- 
ganization has  striven  to  meet  requirements,  first,  as  a 
forum  for  discussion  of  the  art  and  science  of  illuminating 
engineering  and,  second,  as  an  organization  for  the  promo- 
tion of  education  along  illumination  lines.  Its  meetings  and 
Transactions-  have  stimulated  interest  and  given  direction 
to  the  development  of  the  art. 

PERIOD  OF  GROWING  APPRECIATION  OF  HYGIENIC  AND  ESTHETIC 
ASPECTS. 

The  above-mentioned  contributing  elements,  complemen- 
tary and  supplementary,  have  brought  about  a  net  improve- 
ment which  warrants  the  statement  that  illuminating  prac- 
tice is  now  in  a  third  period — one  of  growing  appreciation 
of  hygiene  and  esthetics.  Practitioners  have  learned  that 
true  lighting  efficacy  does  not  inhere  alone  in  high  illumi- 
nating efficiency  but  is  measured  broadly  by  the  extent  to 
which  an  installation  serves  the  purpose  for  which  it  is 
intended.  The  lighting  may  be  designed  in  various  in- 
stances for  such  diverse  purposes  as  the  illumination  of 
accountants'  books  and  the  display  of  the  architectural  fea- 
tures of  a  building,  the  rendering  of  a  drawing  room  attrac- 
tive or  the  brightening  of  the  ceiling  and  walls  of  a  store 
to  tempt  the  passer-by  to  enter;  the  lighting  of  a  street  for 
vehicular  and  passenger  traffic  and  the  lighting  of  a  street 
for  advertising  purposes  to  attract  people  to  the  neighbor- 
hood. Each  has  its  own  test  of  efficacy,  and  whatever  its 
other  good  qualities,  none  can  be  effective  unless  it  achieves 
the  principal  object  in  view. 

In  this  third  period  one  finds  for  the  first  time  illuminating 
efficacy  raised  as  the  general  criterion  in  the  best  practice. 
Subordinate  to  this  are  the  three  leading  desiderata — 
hygiene,  esthetics,  efficiency.  Each  of  these  enters  in  some 
degree  into  every  installation,  the  type  of  installation  and 
local  conditions  determining  their  relative  importance. 

Stores,  and  to  a  less  extent  offices,  have  undergone  an 
awakening  and  in  general  are  now  lighted  more  effectively 
than  other  classes  of  installations.  Commercial  progressive- 
ness  accounts  for  this.  The  pendulum  has  swung  to  the  end 
of  its  arc  of  illuminating  efficiency  in  store  lighting.  At- 
tractiveness is  becoming  the  keynote,  and  as  thoroughly 
good  and  attractive  illumination  requires  more  energy  ex- 
penditure than  does  merely  "efficient"  illumination,  a  greater 
demand  for  electrical  energy  seems  to  be  indicated. 

Two  classes  of  lighting  insta'lations  have  not  been  mate- 
rially improved.  These  are  residences  and  buildings  having 
architectural  features  requiring  appropriate  illumination. 
Is  the  illumination  in  such  installations  to  be  improved  in 
the  near  future?  The  need  is  obvious.  How  shall  it  be 
met? 


NEW  GENERATING  STATION  FOR  TRINIDAD,  COL. 

When  the  Federal  Light  &  Traction  Company  took  over 
the  Trinidad  Electrical  Transmission,  Railway  &  Gas  Com- 
pany, of  Trinidad,  Col.,  extensive  improvements  were  under- 
taken in  the  Trinidad  generating  plant,  as  noted  on  page 
1249  of  our  issue  of  Nov.  18,  1911.  The  latest  development 
is  the  opening  of  a  new  generating  station  at  a  location  i 
mile  west  of  Walsenburg  and  40  miles  north  of  the  Trinidad 
plant.  The  two  stations  are  now  operated  in  parallel  over  a 
22,000-volt,  three-phase  transmission  line,  for  which  a 
second  circuit  is  planned. 

The  new  plant  is  housed  in  a  heavy  brick  and  concrete 
structure,  with  a  corrugated  iron  roof  supported  on  steel 
trusses  and  a  temporary  sheet-iron  wall  closing  the  east  end 
of  the  building,  pending  future  additions  to  the  station.  The 
engine  and  boiler  rooms  are  each  50  ft.  by  60  ft.  in  floor 
plan.  The  boiler  equipment  consists  of  four  vertical  Wickes 
boilers,  installed  in  two  banks,  with  Dutch  furnaces.  Murphy 
stokers  fed  from  overhead  steel  bunkers  and  individual  self- 
supporting  steel  stacks. 

Coal  supply  is  obtained  from  the  company's  mine  300  ft. 
distant  by  means  of  a  motor-driven  locomotive  crane  and 
bucket,  delivering  coal  directly  to  the  boiler-house  bunkers. 
The  mine  water  supply  being  unsuitable,  the  make-up  water 
for  boiler  feed  and  condenser  circulation  is  obtained  from 
the  Walsenburg  public  mains. 

The  generating  equipment  consists  of  two  Westinghouse- 
Parsons  turbo-generators  rated  at  1500  kva  each,  with 
delivery  at  6600  volts,  three-phase.  One  motor-driven  and 
one  turbine-driven  exciter  are  located  on  the  engine-room 
floor.  Surface  condensers  of  the  Wheeler  type  are  built 
into  the  turbine  foundations  and  equipped  with  electrically 
driven  air  and  circulating  pumps.  The  heat  of  the  cir- 
culating water  is  extracted  in  a  cooling  tower  designed  by 
Sanderson  &  Porter,  for  which  highly  efficient  heat  extrac- 
tion and  low  water  loss  are  claimed. 

One  bank  of  three  water-cooled,  oil-insulated,  750-kva 
transformers  is  installed  in  open-faced  concrete  pits, 
arranged  with  a  drainage  trough  of  large  capacity  for 
carrying  off  the  transformer  oil  in  case  of  an  emergency. 

This  company  transmits  energy  to  coal  mines  in  Las 
Animas  and  Huerfano  Counties,  which  lie  in  the  extreme 
southern  portion  of  Colorado,  at  such  low  rates  that  motor 
service  has  replaced  many  of  the  steam  plants  formerly 
operated  at  mines  and  tipples.  Commercial  and  public  light- 
ing service  is  also  furnished  in  Trinidad,  Walsenburg  and 
neighboring  towns  in  the  two  counties.  In  many  of  the 
local  districts  retailing  companies  hold  franchises  for  dis- 
tributing energy  to  customers  and  draw  their  primary  supply 
from  the  transmission  system.  The  company  also  ooerates 
the  street-car  service  and  the  gas  plant  in  Trinidad  and  an 
interurban  road  to  the  mining  districts  in  the  vicinity. 


NORTH  DAKOTA  LIGNITE. 


Economical  methods  for  the  combustion  of  the  brown  lig- 
nite found  in  parts  of  North  and  South  Dakota  and  Montana 
has  for  some  time  received  the  attention  of  government  in- 
vestigators. In  a  forty-page  pamphlet  prepared  by  Messrs. 
D.  T.  Randall  and  Henry  Kreisinger  the  results  of  a  series 
of  tests  are  presented  and  analyzed.  The  authors  conclude 
that  the  combination  of  boiler  and  furnace  setting  which 
they  describe  gives  good  results  with  North  Dakota  lignite, 
and  they  state  that  steam  can  be  produced  with  a  fuel 
efficiency  of  55  to  58  per  cent  of  all  the  heat  in  the  coal. 
They  experienced  no  difficulty  in  working  the  boiler  to  full 
capacity.  Equally  good  or  perhaps  better  results,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  authors,  can  be  obtained  by  the  use  of 
mechanical  stokers.  Although  this  fuel  is  generally  con- 
sidered unsatisfactory,  they  conclude  that  it  may  be  used 
with  fair  economy  under  boilers  at  their  full  rated  capacity. 


778 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


THE  UTILITY  MANAGER  AND  HIS  DUTIES. 


The  broad  character  of  the  utility  organization's  obliga- 
tions to  the  public  has  been  the  stumbling  block  of  many 
managers  who  failed  to  perceive  why  ordinary  commercial 
methods  were  not  applicable  in  their  business,  as  Mr.  W.  H. 
Hodge,  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  Chicago,  points  out 
in  a  discussion  of  aims  and  problems  of  public-utility  cor- 
porations contributed  to  the  Chicago  Evening  Post  of 
Sept.  28.  He  claimed  that  even  in  the  larger  organizations 
the  personality  of  the  manager  stands  for  the  personality 
of  the  organization.  He  is  or  should  be  called  on  to  mingle 
with  the  leaders  of  thought  and  action  in  his  community, 
and  he  is  compelled  to  express  himself  upon  many  matters 
not  directly  connected  with  the  company's  affairs. 

The  manager  of  a  utility  company,  in  a  sense,  occupies 
a  position  with  reference  to  the  public  somewhat  similar  to 
that  of  a  mayor.  He  has  a  varied  constituency  and  he 
should  endeavor  as  much  as  possible  to  come  in  contact 
with  all  the  people  and  to  obtain  a  sympathetic  point  of 
view.  An  atmosphere  of  exclusiveness  about  the  manage- 
ment is  bound  to  result  to  his  company's  detriment.  His 
door  must  be  open  to  anyone  who  is  convinced  that  he  must 
see  him.  It  is  of  untold  benefit  to  his  organization  if  it  is 
known  throughout  the  city  that  he  is  accessible  to  the  poor 
and  rich  alike,  and  that  any  person,  regardless  of  age,  ap- 
pearance, nativity  or  affluence,  may  come  to  his  office  with 
absolute  confidence  that  he  will  obtain  a  square  deal  in  a 
pleasant  way. 

STORAGE-BATTERY  CENTRAL-STATION  PRACTICE 
IN  CHICAGO. 


Mr.  Donald  Macrae,  storage-battery  expert  of  the  Com- 
monwealth Edison  Company,  gave  an  illustrated  talk  before 
the  technical  division  of  the  company  section  of  the 
N.  E.  L.  A.  in  Chicago  on  Sept.  26.  The  speaker  laid  stress 
on  the  fact  that  it  is  impossible  to  determine  the  value  of  a 
storage  battery  to  a  large  light  and  power  company.  He 
sketched  the  history  of  central-station  storage  batteries  in 
Chicago,  beginning  in  1897.  The  first  five  batteries  installed 
by  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  and  its  predecessor 
have  chloride  negatives  which  are  still  giving  satisfactory 
service.  The  company  uses  lead  cells  entirely  in  its  sta- 
tionary battery  plants,  and  both  chloride  and  exide  plates 
are  used.  Exide  plates  cost  less  than  chloride  plates  and 
have  greater  capacity  of  discharge.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  the  batteries  are  now  used  for  emergency  only  and  not 
for  long  discharges  on  peak  as  formerly. 

The  Chicago  company  has  in  use  twenty-two  system 
storage  batteries ;  that  is,  batteries  that  are  discharged  into 
the  circuits  supplying  consumers  when  needed.  In  addition, 
it  has  seven  exciter  batteries  at  stations  and  fifteen  oper- 
ating busbar  batteries  for  oil  switches  and  reserve  station 
lighting.  Records  show  that  in  the  year  191 1  interruptions 
to  service  at  the  company's  direct-current  substations  varied 
from  ten  seconds  to  seventeen  minutes  in  duration,  the 
average  being  three  and  one-half  minutes.  During  this 
period  the  storage  battery  carried  from  25  to  100  per  cent 
of  the  load  on  the  substation. 

The  twenty-two  system  storage  batteries  in  use  in  the 
substations  of  the  Comonwealth  Edison  Company  have  an 
aggregate  rating  of  21,600  kw  at  the  one-hour  rate  of  dis- 
charge. The  combined  weight  of  these  batteries  is  7800  tons 
and  they  contain  1600  tons  of  dilute  sulphuric  acid.  At 
the  eighteen-minute  rate  of  discharge  the  batteries  in  the 
downtown  district  are  nearly  equal  to  carrying  the  entire 


downtown  load  of  the  company  for  that  period.  Curves 
were  given  to  show  how  the  direct-current  areas  in  different 
parts  of  the  city  are  protected  by  storage  batteries,  as  well 
as  lantern-slide  pictures  illustrating  the  various  types  of 
lead  batteries  used  in  Chicago.  Concluding,  Mr.  Macrae 
remarked  that  in  his  opinion  the  only  practical  test  of  a 
storage  battery  is  commercial  service. 

In  the  discussion  Mr.  Ernest  Lunn,  battery  engineer  of 
the  company,  said  a  good  word  for  the  Edison  storage 
battery,  which  is  used  on  many  of  the  company's  electric 
vehicles.  Tests,  he  said,  showed  that  so  far  as  could  be 
revealed  by  an  experience  of  from  two  and  a  half  to  three 
years,  the  claim  of  long  life  made  by  the  manufacturer  is 
justified.  The  manufacturer  guarantees  four  years'  life. 
However,  the  first  cost  of  this  battery  is  high  in  comparison 
with  other  types.  The  company  is  well  pleased  with  the 
service  of  its  electric  vehicles  containing  batteries  of  both 
the  Edison  and  lead  types. 


DISPLACING  STEAM  PO'WER  IN  A  GROUP  OF 
MANUFACTURING  BUILDINGS. 


The  supply  of  electric  power  to  manufacturing  buildings 
occupied  by  a  considerable  number  of  independent  tenants 
offers  many  interesting  problems  to  the  central  station 
motor-service  engineer.  The  conditions  are  seldom  uniform 
in  the  various  establishments  gathered  under  one  roof,  and 
out-of-date  methods  of  machine  driving  are  constantly  en- 
countered. Many  of  these  buildings  are  old  and  have  been 
occupied  for  years  by  tenants  whose  absorption  in  their  own 
business  has  led  them  to  overlook  the  advances  of  the  elec- 
tric drive  in  practically  every  branch  of  industry.  Me- 
chanical power  is  often  paid  for  in  the  rental  charge  along 
with  steam  heat  and  elevator  facilities,  and  in  many  in- 
stances the  friction  load  demands  more  than  half  the  output 
of  the  local  plant.  Exhaust  steam  from  the  engine  is  gen- 
erally used  in  heating  during  the  winter  season  and  thrown 
away  at  other  times  wholly  or  in  part;  but  even  with  this 
favorable  condition  for  the  operation  of  an  isolated  plant  it 
is  frequently  possible  to  install  the  electric  drive  and  show 
a  substantial  profit  at  the  end  of  the  year.  In  the  following 
paragraphs  are  given  the  main  points  of  a  successful  motor- 
service  survey  in  a  group  of  factory  buildings  housing 
seventeen  tenants. 

The  establishments  are  located  in  four  brick  buildings, 
from  two  to  four  stories  in  height,  and  are  mainly  occupied 
by  pattern  makers,  manufacturing  jewelers,  machinists  and 
toolmakers.  Mechanical  drive  of  many  small  machines  was 
used  throughout,  power  being  furnished  by  a  Greene  engine 
about  twenty-five  years  old,  the  steam  plant  being  operated 
fifty-five  hours  a  week.  The  engine  ran  at  84  r.p.m.  with  an 
approximate  steam  pressure  of  60  lb.,  and  was  supplied  with 
steam  by  two  75-hp  horizontal  return  tubular  boilers.  The 
flywheel  was  belted  to  a  countershaft  on  the  first  floor,  from 
which  all  other  floors  were  belted. 

Tests  with  the  indicator  showed  a  serious  overloading  of 
the  engine  when  the  factory  buildings  were  working  at  full 
capacity.  Steam  is  used  throughout  the  property  to  operate 
dryers,  sawdust  boxes,  for  heating  solutions,  etc.  In  the 
summer  the  exhaust  steam  was  passed  through  a  feed-water 
heater  and  then  discharged  into  the  atmosphere.  The  build- 
ing was  heated  by  the  exhaust,  any  deficiency  in  winter  be- 
ing supplied  directly  from  the  boilers  through  a  reducing 
valve.  Coal  is  delivered  to  the  boiler-room  in  wagon  loads, 
the  storage  capacity  permitting  practically  no  reserve  supply 
of  fuel  to  be  carried.     The  serious  aspects  of  this  situation 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


779 


were  emphasized  by  the  central-station  solicitors  in  securing 
the  patronage  of  the  plant  owner.  The  plant  formerly  re- 
quired the  services  of  an  engineer  at  $16.50  per  week  who 
handled  both  engine  and  boiler  service,  a  helper  also  being 
employed  for  seven  months  in  each  year  at  $25  per  month. 
Water  for  the  plant  and  manufacturing  establishments  is 
purchased  from  the  city  mains. 

EXCESSIVE    FRICTION    LOSSES. 

In  making  the  power  survey  a  test  was  made  on  the  engine 
extending  over  several  days,  indicator  cards  being  taken 
every  five  minutes  and  oftener  when  the  load  was  coming 
on  or  going  off.  Several  cards  were  taken  at  the  noon  hour 
to  obtain  the  friction  load  of  the  building.  The  average  load 
on  the  engine  was  74.6  hp,  the  total  friction  load  being  63  hp. 
Less  than  15  per  cent  of  the  output  of  the  engine  was  there- 
fore utilized  in  productive  work,  and  the  effect  of  this  con- 
dition upon  the  fuel  bill,  contrasted  with  the  economy  of 
the  electric  motor  drive,  was  the  yielding  point  which  ad- 
mitted central-station  service  into  the  establishment  as  a 
whole.  In  most  of  the  individual  shops  the  friction  loads 
were  heavy,  and  the  lighting  facilities  were  poor,  tending  to 
increase  the  time  required  to  perform  each  job  and  to 
demand  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  coal  and  water 
consumption.  Under  the  former  system  the  tenants  paid 
for  their  floor  space  and  were  supplied  with  mechanical 
power,  heat  and  water  without  regard  to  the  quantity  of 
each  used,  so  that  each  tenant  did  not  pay  his  true  share  of 
the  cost  of  operating  the  building.  It  was  also  necessary  at 
frequent  intervals  to  stop  the  engine  for  repairs,  requiring 
all  tenants  to  either  stop  work  or  get  along  without  me- 
chanical power.  In  one  or  two  cases  the  tenants  had  already 
installed  motors  to  permit  overtime  operations.  Once  yearly 
the  plant  was  shut  down  for  at  least  a  w-eek  in  order  that 
the  engine  and  boilers  might  be  overhauled.  No  service  was 
furnished  by  the  engine  after  6  p.  m.  on  week  days  or  after 
noon  on  Saturdays. 

COST   OF   OPERATION    BY    STEAM    POWER. 

The  analysis  of  operating  cost  with  steam  driving  is 
tabulated  below. 

Insurance,  taxes  and  interest   $200.00 

Depreciafon     200.00 

Repairs  and  renewals 175.00 

Coal   for   power  service 2,431.00 

Water     165.00 

Oil    100.00 

Ashes,   removal    65.00 

Labor     1.033.00 

Total   per   year $4,369.00 

The  above  fuel  costs  were  based  on  an  average  evapora- 
tion of  8  lb.  of  water  per  pound  of  coal,  a  steam  consumption 
at  the  engine  of  45  lb  per  hp-hr.,  and  coal  at  $4.25  per  ton. 

ELECTRICAL    INSTALLATION. 

The  survey  disclosed  the  need  of  fifteen  500-volt  direct- 
current  shunt  and  compound-wound  motors  aggregating 
148  hp  and  ranging  in  size  from  I  hp  to  25  hp.  The  esti- 
mated cost  of  these  motors  was  $2,254,  and  the  correspond- 
ing cost  of  wiring  the  factory  group  was  $600.  In  the 
actual  installation  some  of  the  motors  already  in  service 
were  used ;  very  little  shafting  had  to  be  changed  and  the 
cost  of  putting  in  the  electric  drive  on  the  group  basis  was 
trifling.  It  was  considered  better  practice  to  install  a  single 
motor  per  tenant,  as  a  rule,  instead  of  attempting  to  provide 
individual  electric  driving  at  the  outset.  The  engine,  shaft- 
ing, hangers,  pulleys  and  belts  represented  a  moderate 
salvage  value  which  was  taken  into  account  in  purchasing 
the  motors. 

COST    OF    OPERATION    BY    ELECTRIC    POWER. 

On  the  basis  of  the  following  estimated  cost  of  operation 
by  electric  power  the  steam  plant  was  discarded : 

Heating  by  steam   $425 

Ashes,   removal    - 25 

Labor,  one  man,  firing  and  misc.,  $10  pei"  week 520 

Repairs   and    renewals 50 

Depreciation    110 

Interest,   taxes  and  insurance 125 

■Central  station  bill,  7.150  kw-hrs..   Si   3.6  cts 2,574 

Total  per  year $3,829 


There  was  indicated  a  saving  of  $540  per  year  by  the  use 
of  the  electric  drive.  It  was  advised  in  the  report  of  the 
survey  that  the  plant  owner  supply  energy  to  his  tenants  at 
4.5  cents  per  kw-hr.,  giving  a  further  profit  of  $1,287  P^"" 
year  and  making  the  total  gain  due  to  electricity  $1,827 
per  year.  On  this  showing  central-station  service  was 
adopted. 

WINDOW  DISPLAY  DURING  COUNTY  FAIR  WEEK. 


Recognizing  the  desirability  of  suiting  the  character  of 
a  window  display  to  harmonize  with  current  events  and  the 
season,  the  Sterling  Consolidated  Electric  Company,  of 
Sterling,  Col.,  exhibited  the  window  display  shown  here- 
with during  the  week  of  the  Logan  County  Fair,  Sept.  9-14. 


Window    Display    During    County    Fair   at   Sterling,    Col. 

The  general  manager  of  the  company  reports  that  they 
received  many  compliments  on  this  exhibit,  the  unusual 
features  of  which  were  obtained  by  making  use  of  stalks  of 
ripened  grain  in  various  ways,  including  the  imitation  of  a 
lady's  dress,  as  shown  on  the  figure  in  the  center  of  the  dis- 
play, and  also  the  hedge  effect  which  forms  the  background. 
It  was  estimated  that  at  least  5000  people  came  to  look  at 
this  exhibit,  although  it  was  situated  a  half  block  from  the 
main  thoroughfare. 

During  the  same  period  the  company  had  also  on  exhibit 
a  motor-driven  centrifugal  pumping  plant,  such  as  would 
interest  farmers  in  irrigation  districts,  and  found  that  this 
developed  intense  interest  among  the  large  number  of 
visitors  at  the  County  Fair.  These  exhibits,  the  company 
believes,  yielded  direct  returns  in  the  way  of  increased 
business. 


HOUSE-WIRING  CAMPAIGN  IN  EMPORIA. 


An  interesting  arrangement  has  been  made  between  the 
Emporia  (Kansas)  Railway  &  Light  Company  and  leading 
electrical  contractors  of  that  city  by  which  the  company  is 
advertising  and  pushing  a  house-wiring  campaign,  the  con- 
tractors doing  the  work  but  receiving  their  pay  at  once 
from  the  central-station  company,  the  latter  collecting  from 
the  house  owner  later.  The  company  does  the  advertising, 
soliciting  and  collecting,  and  a  low  rate  is  made  to  the 
owner.  A  booklet  entitled  "Electric  Service  Bulletin"  is 
distributed  to  the  owners  of  unwired  houses  by  boys  super- 
vised by  the  company's  solicitors.  The  arrangement  is  out- 
lined in  this  pamphlet  in  the  following  concise  manner: 

"You  'phone  double-nine  and  ask  for  our  representative. 
We  send  him  out  when  you  desire.  You  decide  on  a  house- 
wiring  plan  and  sign  the  contract.  Also  choose  your  own 
electrician  to  do  the  work.  We  send  out  your  electrician. 
He  installs  the  wiring.     Our  inspector  calls  and  examines 


78o 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15 


the  job  before  it  is  accepted.  You  make  the  first  payment 
of  one-twelfth  of  the  amount  of  your  contract,  one  pay- 
ment each  month  thereafter.  We  pay  the  electrician  cash 
for  the  whole  contract  price  and  carry  the  account.  You 
sign  a  service  contract  and  make  your  meter  deposit  of  $5. 
We  connect  and  set  the  meter  same  day.  and  if  you  are  a 
home-owner  we  send  out  a  6-lb.  iron  without  cost." 

Various  propositions  for  wiring  five,  six  or  eight  rooms, 
with  drop  cords  and  some  fixtures,  are  given  at  fixed  prices 
ranging  from  $13  to  $24.15.  A  price-list  is  given  of  extra 
outlets,  switches  and  fixtures,  so  that  the  owner  of  a  small 
house  can  figure  his  own  combination  by  taking  the  base 
price  and  adding  the  extras.  If  extras  are  desired  after 
the  work  is  started,  the  owner  must  arrange  with  the  con- 
tractor and  pay  him  for  such  labor  and  material.  The  flat- 
iron  mentioned  above  is  given  free  to  those  who  own  their 
own  houses.  To  a  tenant  who  will  induce  his  landlord  to 
wire,  a  credit  memorandum  for  $2  is  given.  This  can  be 
used  to  purchase  lamps  or  other  appliances.  Lamps  are  not 
included  in  the  listed  wiring  propositions.  To  the  landlord 
who  wires  for  a  tenant,  a  10  per  cent  discount  is  given. 

In  explaining  its  liberal  offers  the  company  says  that  the 
Emporia  plant  has  a  larger  output  per  capita  than  any 
other  in  the  State  of  Kansas.  Every  home  not  using  electric 
light  is  considered  a  loss  to  the  company.  The  lines  are 
being  extended  to  every  part  of  the  city,  and  the  added 
business   is  needed  to  justify  the  expenditure. 

The  plan  offered  is  one  well  calculated  to  attract  residence 
business.  It  also  indicates  a  method  of  securing  the  active 
co-operation  of  the  contractors.  Mr.  Charles  A.  Bergen  is 
the  manager  of  the  new-business  department  of  the  com- 
pany. 

CENTRAL  STATION  HELPS  ENGINEER  FIND   NEW 
POSITION. 


"Situation  wanted  for  faithful  employee"  was  the  headline 
of  a  display  advertisement  appearing  recently  in  the  In- 
dianapolis papers.  "Engineer  has  been  in  our  employ  nine 
years,  but  on  account  of  changing  our  factory  to  central- 
station  drive,  using  the  service  of  the  Merchants  Heat  & 
Light  Company,  which  has  demonstrated  that  it  can  save  us 
$250  per  month  over  our  former  isolated  plant,  we  are 
dispensing  with  the  services  of  this  faithful  employee.  He 
is  not  only  a  good  engineer  but  a  capable  mechanic  and 
steamfitter  as  well.  Thoroughly  reliable — you  can  set  your 
watch  by  his  appearance  every  morning.  Never  missed  a 
day  in  nine  years,  except  vacations  with  pay.  Address  for 
further  information  Capital  Rattan  Company,  Naomi  Street, 
corner  Shelby  Street,  Indianapolis."  In  using  its  display 
space  for  this  worthy  purpose  the  central  station  struck  a 
new  note  in  advertising  the  advantages  of  electric  drive, 
since  the  unusual  heading  at  once  attracted  the  attention 
of  even  casual  readers,  and  a  supplanted  but  faithful  em- 
ployee was  helped  to  find  a  new  position  of  usefulness. 


will  be  installed  and  a  fire-alarm  box  will  be  situated  within 
the  building. 

As  a  result  of  such  changes  the  fire  insurance  will  be 
reduced  from  $1.05  to  54  cents  per  $100.  The  rate  can  be 
still  further  reduced  by  bricking  up  the  openings  between 
the  boiler  and  engine  rooms  and  installing  automatic  fire 
doors.  This  will  bring  the  insurance  rate  down  to  23 
cents  per  $100. 


JOINT  POLE-LINE  CONSTRUCTION  PROPOSED  FOR 
COMPETING  COMPANIES. 


At  Glenwood,  Col.,  the  Mutual  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Com- 
pany, which  about  a  year  ago  received  a  franchise,  has  now 
nearly  completed  an  overhead  distribution  system  through 
the  alleys  of  the  city,  paralleling  the  lines  of  the  Glenwood 
Light  &  Water  Company.  Short,  light  poles  were  used,  set 
directly  under  the  lines  of  the  older  company,  with  so  little 
clearance  that  actual  contacts  between  the  new  primary  and 
secondary  circuits  with  the  secondary  circuits  of  the  older 
company  have  been  noticed.  In  some  places  the  new  lines 
swing  against  the  old  poles  and  cross-arms,  and  quite  gen- 
erally there  is  a  condition  of  inadequate  separation. 

Although  no  energy  had  been  turned  on  the  new  system 
at  the  last  report,  the  increased  fire  hazard  to  buildings 
served  from  the  lines  of  the  old  company  caused  Mayor 
E.  E.  Drach  to  call  for  a  full  investigation  and  report  on 
the  character  of  fire  and  life  hazards  created  by  the  con- 
struction of  the  new  system.  Mr.  W.  J.  Canada,  engineer 
of  the  Rocky  Mountain  Fire  Underwriters'  Association, 
has  recommended  the  early  adoption  of  joint  pole-line  con- 
struction with  all  primary  circuits  carried  at  the  top  of  the 
pole  line,  or,  as  an  alternative,  the  construction  of  another 
line  by  the  new  company  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  alleys, 
overbuilding  the  existing  telephone  lines  at  a  sufficient 
height  to  provide  adequate  clearance. 

The  new  company's  central-station  plant  consists  of  two 
70-hp  horizontal,  return  tubular  boilers  and  one  Chuse  high- 
speed engine  directly  connected  to  a  Fort  Wayne  three- 
phase,  2300-volt  generator,  and  also  a  two-panel  switch- 
board. Street  arc  lamp's  will  be  operated  on  the  Wood 
system.  For  lighting  service,  one  2300-volt,  three-phase 
feeder  leaves  the  station  and  supplies  individual  single-phase 
primary  circuits  in  the  individual  alleys.  The  existing  poles 
are  25  ft.  and  30  ft.  in  length  with  5-in.  and  6-in.  tops, 
and  the  construction  in  general  follows  light  telephone 
practice  rather  than  the  standard  practice  of  central-station 
companies. 

The  new  company  is  said  to  be  strong'y  favored  by  the 
present  City  Council,  and  before  Mr.  Canada's  adverse 
report  was  received  the  purchase  of  additional  equipment 
was  under  contemplation.  Injunction  proceedings,  it  is 
reported,  will  probably  be  brought  by  the  Glenwood  Light 
&  Water  Company,  which  has  hitherto  served  the  com- 
munity exclusively. 


REDUCING  CENTRAL-STATION  INSURANCE  RATES. 


An  excellent  example  illustrating  how  central-station  in- 
surance rates  may  be  reduced  by  adopting  precautions  which 
reduce  the  fire  hazard  is  found  in  the  case  of  the  plant  of 
the  Durango  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Durango,  Col.  This 
company  is  contemplating  the  reconstruction  of  various 
portions  of  its  substation  and  emergency  steam  plant  in 
Durango,  replacing  the  wood  flooring  and  open  wiring  with 
concrete  floors  and  conduit  wiring.  The  gasoline  storage 
tank  will  be  removed  from  the  building,  and  the  lamp-test 
board,  which  is  now  constructed  of  wood,  will  be  replaced 
bv  a  slate  and  metal  board.     Chemical  hand  extinguishers 


MOEEL  GARAGE  AT  BOSTON  ELECTRIC  SHOW 


An  electric  garage  space  of  6000  sq.  ft.  has  been  set  apart 
at  the  1912  show  in  Boston,  from  two  to  four  men  being 
constantly  on  duty.  Three  six-circuit  charging  panels  of 
75-amp  capacity  each  at  no  volts  have  been  installed,  and 
the  equipment  a'so  includes  four  Westinghouse  rectifiers 
of  30-anip  and  so-amp  capacity,  two  General  Electric  recti- 
fiers of  30-amp  and  50-amp  rating,  and  two  5-kw  rotary 
converters  of  Wagner  and  General  Electric  make.  The 
garage  prices  correspond  to  those  in  force  at  the  Atlantic 
.\venue  garage  of  the  Boston  Fdison  Company,  a  flat  rate 
being  charged  for  exhibitors.  Fifty  pleasure  cars  or  about 
twenty-five  trucks  can  be  accommodated. 


October  12,  191 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


781 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

COST  OF  POLE-LINE  CONSTRUCTION. 


In  a  paper  read  by  Mr.  S.  B.  Hood  before  the  recent 
convention  of  the  Canadian  Electrical  Association  is  con- 
tained information  of  value  on  the  cost  of  distribution  sys- 
tems. According  to  the  author,  for  suburban  and  semi- 
suburban  work  a  30-ft.  pole  line  is  amply  high  enough  where 
the  run  is  free  of  trees  or  other  obstructions.  Special  cases 
will,  of  course,  require  higher  poles,  but  the  average  con- 
dition is  covered  by  the  sizes  shown  in  the  accompanying 
table.  The  prices  here  apply  to  average  conditions  of  labor 
and  material  costs  in  the  vicinity  of  large  cities  in  Canada 
and  the  United  States. 

The  cost  of  pole  in  the  rough  is  that  of  good  clear  British 
Columbia  cedar,  with  an  increase  in  diameter  of  i  in.  for 
every  10  ft.  In  addition  there  is  the  cost  of  shaving,  fram- 
ing and  treating  covers,  shaving  from  ground  line  to  roof, 
taper  or  wedge  roofing,  cutting  and  boring  of  gains  and 
boring  for  steps  and  sockets.  The  treating,  where  this  is 
included,  consists  of  a  double  immersion  of  the  butt  to  a 
point  I  ft.  above  ground  line  in  carbolineum  oil.  The  first 
immersion  should  be  in  hot  oil  and  the  second  immersion 
in  cold  oil. 

Painting  implies  one  coat,  in  pole  yard,  of  entire  pole 
above  ground  line ;  this  coat  preferably  to  be  of  a  light  body 
paint  or  stain,  .such  as  shingle  stain,  which  will  penetrate 
into  the  surface  for  an  appreciable  distance.  The  object  of 
painting  is  primarily  to  improve  the  appearance  of  the  pole, 
as  any  pole  line  is  objectionable  from  the  public's  stand- 
point and  anything  that  renders  it  less  so  is  a  first-class 
investment.  In  addition,  a  coat  of  stain  undoubtedly  does 
act  as  a  preservative  to  a  considerable  extent.  The  object 
of  stepping  and  socketing  the  pole  is  to  prevent  its  being 
cut  up  by  continual  climbing  with  spurs,  which  not  only 
spoils  the  appearance  of  the  line,  but  leaves  countless  little 
holes  or  pockets  to  collect  water  and  drain  it  right  into  the 
heart  wood  of  the  pole.  Steps  are,  or  shou'd  be,  standard 
j^-in.  by  9-in.  hot-galvanized  and  have  a  life  far  beyond 

TABLE   I. INVESTMENT  AND   ANNUAL   COST   ON    POLES. 


•a 

Sti 

TJ 

Size  and 

1 

c 

M 
C 

!3g 

be 

c: 

^ 

•a 

0 
0 

Kmd  of  Pole. 

•la 

.J 

^ 

> 

3 
C 
C 

s 

•S.S 

a, 

J 

< 

30  ft.x6  in.  plain.  . 

S  3.06 

$1.10 

$0.45 

$1.35 

$3.50 

$   9.46 

6 

$2.05 

30ft.x6  in.  treated. 

3.06 

2.20 

0.45 

1.35 

3.50 

10.56 

11 

1  .49 

30ft.x7  in  plain.  .  . 

5.00 

1.10 

0.45 

1.39 

3.50 

11  .44 

7 

2.21 

30ft.x7  in.  treated. 

5.00 

2.30 

0.45 

1.39 

3.50 

12.64 

12 

1.69 

35ft.x7  in.  plain... 

6.00 

1.30 

0.48 

1.64 

3.75 

13.17 

8 

2.30 

35  £t.x7in.  treated. 

6.00 

2.60 

0.48 

1.64 

3.75 

14.47 

13 

1  .84 

35ft.x8in.  plain... 

7.50 

1.30 

0.48 

1.68 

3.20 

14.76 

10 

2.21 

35(t.x8in.  treated. 

7.50 

2.75 

0.48 

1.68 

3.80 

16.21 

IS 

1.89 

35   ft.x7    m.    plain 

and  reset 

6.00 

1.30 

0.68 

1.84 

7.35 

17.17 

15 

1.89 

35  ft.x7  in.  treated 

and  reset 

6.00 

2.60 

.068 

1.84 

7.35 

18.47 

20 

1.71 

35    ft.xS   in.   plain 

and  reset 

7.50 

1.30 

0.68 

1.88 

7.40 

18.76 

18 

1.87 

35  ft.x8in.  treated. 

7.50 

2.75 

0.68 

1.88 

7.40 

20.21 

23 

1.76 

35ft.x7  in.  treated. 

re-treated     and 

reset 

6.00 

3.80 

1.38 

1.64 

7.35 

20.17 

2,5 

1.67 

35  ft.x7  in.  treated. 

brush     re-treated 

an     reset 

6.00 

3.60 

0.48 

1.64 

7.35 

19.07 

23 

1.65 

30    ft.    steel    pole. 

painted 

8.75 

0.40 

*7.50 

5.00 

21.65 

30 

1.62 

30    ft.    steel    pole. 

galvanized 

12.75 

0.40 



S.OO 

18.15 

25 

1.63 

*Every  three  years. 

that  of  the  pole  in  which  they  are  to  be  used.  The  best 
form  of  socket  is  a  malleable-iron  or  wrought-iron  thimble 
which  will  drive  into  a  ?^-in.  hole.  The  hole  in  the  thimbe 
will  take  a  y'2-in.  lag  screw  or  pin  which  is  slipped  in  by  the 


lineman  when  he  is  about  to  climb  a  pole  and  taken  out  when 
he  comes  down.  Four  of  these  sockets  are  required  for  each 
pole,  making  the  first  step  come  7  ft.  from  the  ground.  As 
the  sockets  are  not  readily  removable  after  they  are  once 
driven,  their  life  is,  of  course,  that  of  the  pole  in  which  they 
are  placed. 

The  cost  of  setting  given  in  the  table  is  that  for  average 
digging  in  hard  clay  or  loam.  This  column  for  items  9  to 
14  gives  original  cost  of  setting  plus  the  cost  of  cutting  off, 
digging  out  old  butt  and  dropping  down  and  retamping  the 
rest  of  the  pole. 

The  life  of  a  pole  is  taken  as  that  where  the  butt  rot  at 
ground  line  has  decreased  the  sound  diameter  to  that  of  the 
top  of  the  pole.  This  life  varies  widely  with  different  con- 
ditions of  soil,  climate,  etc.,  but  the  figures  given  represent  a 
fair  average.  For  a  treated  pole  the  life  is  uncertain  owing 
to  lack  of  definite  data.  The  author  has  taken  the  increased 
life  as  being  five  years  for  a  pole  with  7-in.  top.  as  poles  so 
treated  have  been  under  observation  for  this  length  of  time 
and  some  are  starting  to  show  signs  of  decay  while  others 
are  as  good  as  the  day  they  went  into  the  ground.  Where 
this  decay  has  started  there  is  no  means  of  telling  whether 
it  is  going  to  be  the  same  as  an  untreated  pole,  or  faster  or 
slower.  Five  years'  increased  life,  is,  therefore,  taken  as  the 
known  increase. 

The  table  shows  sixteen  sizes  or  combinations  of  poles 
suitable  for  suburban  or  semi-suburban  conditions,  fourteen 
of  which  are  wood.  In  figuring  the  annual  costs  it  is  as- 
sumed that  the  value  of  the  pole  will  be  entirely  wiped  out 
at  expiration  of  the  given  time.  The  steps  can  probably  be 
used  over  again  and  the  pole  may  have  a  slight  resale  value, 
but  these  at  best  will  only  cover  removal  costs.  It  will  be 
noted  that  while  the  investment  costs  vary  by  over  100  per 
cent  the  annual  costs  only  vary  about  35  per  cent.  Taking 
the  average  of  these  annual  costs,  which  is  $1.84,  and  elimi- 
nating all  above  the  average,  those  given  in  Table  II  are 
left  to  select  from. 

TABLE    II. COST    OF   POLES    BELOW    THE    AVERAGE. 


Cost. 

Annual 
Charge. 

$10.56 
21  .65 
18.15 
19.07 
20.17 

12.64 
18.47 
20.21 
14.47 

$1  .49 

30  ft   painted  steel 

1   62 

30  ft.  galvanized  steel 

35  ft.  X  7  in.  treated,  brush  re-treated  and  reset.  .  .  .  . 
35  ft.  x  7  in.  treated,  re-treated  and  reset 

30  ft.  X  7  ft.  treated                            

1.63 
1.6S 
1.67 

1   69 

35  ft.  X  7  ft.  treated  and  reset 

1.71 
1    76 

35  ft.  X  7  ft.  treated 

1.84 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  no  untreated  po'e  comes  below 
the  average.  The  30-ft.  by  6-in.  appears  to  be  the  best, 
although  such  a  pole  is  hardly  strong  enough  for  supporting 
transformers,  corner  poles,  etc.  Assuming  that  every  fifth 
pole  should  have  a  7-in.  top,  the  average  cost  per  year  would 
be  $1.53.  This  clearly  shows  that  butt  treatment  is  eco- 
nomical, and  if  such  treatment  should  turn  out  to  give  a 
life  as  long  as  the  makers  of  the  carbolineum  claim,  the 
economy  will  be  very  much  greater.  For  this  class  of  work 
the  author  recommends  the  use  of  30-ft.  treated  po'es  for 
branch  secondary  lines,  using  poles  with  6-in.  tops  for 
straight  runs  and  poles  with  7-in.  tops  for  strains  and  cor- 
ners. For  trunk  lines  requiring  primary  wires  a  3S-ft.  pole 
should  be  used,  7-in.  tops  meeting  all  usual  requirements. 
While  the  table  gives  the  annual  cost  of  such  a  pole  as  $1.84, 
the  actual  cost  with  above  suggested  arrangement  is  less 
owing  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  good,  framed,  30-ft.  pole 
left  from  the  old  35-ft.  when  it  requires  renewing  at  the 
end  of  thirteen  years.  This  brings  the  annual  cost  of  the 
35-ft.  pole  down  to  $1.33,  or  less  than  the  30-ft.  pole.  This 
saving  would,  however,  not  be  possible  unless  30-ft.  poles 
were  used  for  standard  branch  lines. 


782 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


CONDUIT  VERSUS    OPENWORK    IN  PLACES    SUB- 
JECT TO  MOISTURE,  CORROSIVE 
FUMES,    STEAM,  ETC.— I. 


By  F.  G.  Waldenfels. 

VARIOUS  methods  of  wiring  have  been  tried  in  places 
subiect  to  moisture,  corrosive  fumes,  heat,  salty 
atmosphere,  pickling  vapor,  steam,  etc.,  such  as  are 
found  in  packing  houses,  breweries,  tanneries,  etc.  In  fact, 
such  places  have  had  to  be  wired  and  rewired  at  very  short 
intervals  for  years,  and  although  all  kinds  of  experiments 
have  been  tried  with  different  supports,  wires,  knobs,  insu- 
lators, screws,  sockets,  cut-outs,  cabinets,  snap  switches, 
etc.,  wiring  practice  is  not  much  further  advanced  than  it 
was  ten  years  ago,  because  so  long  as  open  work  is  tolerated 
so  long  will  mechanical  injury  to  wiring  be  a  detrimental 
factor. 

In  packing  houses  electric  circuits  are  subject  to  severe 
treatment.  Each  building  is  used  to  carry  on  a  certain 
branch  of  the  business,  and  the  conditions  in  one  building 
are  different  from  conditions  in  the  other,  thus  calling  for 
special  wiring  methods.  Some  sections  of  a  building  are 
wet  with  condensation  which  collects  on  everything;  in 
other  sections  water  drips  from  the  ceilings  and  runs 
through  the  floors  below ;  while  in  still  others  steam  is  ever 
present.  In  the  pickling  department  there  is  the  salty  atmos- 
phere, in  the  glue  houses  and  tank  rooms  corrosive  fumes 
have  to  be  contended  with,  and  there  are  many  other  depart- 
ments demanding  special  electrical  treatment.  Thus  in  a 
single  packing  house  there  are  extremely  wet  places,  ex- 
cessively cold  places,  and  places  where  the  corrosive  fumes 
destroy  all  kinds  of  insulation.  Each  of  these  places  has 
conditions  that  must  be  recognized  and  each  condition  has 
a  certain  effect  on  the  different  kinds  of  wiring. 

The  writer  has  had  many  years  of  experience  in  the  con- 
struction field  and  has  been  in  many  different  plants  study- 
ing methods  which  have  given  the  best  results  at  the  most 
reasonable  first  cost.  The  different  installations  will  be 
described  in  detail,  attention  called  to  their  defects,  and 
improvements  recommended  with  a  view  to  encouraging  the 
use  of  conduit. 

Up  to  the  present  time  to  meet  the  severe  conditions  en- 
countered in  packing  houses,  breweries,  etc.,  open  wiring 
has  been  most  extensively  used,  although  a  conduit  installa- 
tion is  occasionally  found.  For  certain  reasons  electricians 
are  very  skeptical  in  using  conduit  in  such  places  and  even 
hesitate  to  employ  conduit  or  pipe  for  the  risers.  If  asked 
what  their  objection  against  conduit  is  they  will  invariably 
claim  that  it  corrodes,  or  that  it  is  subject  to  condensation, 
or  that  they  are  not  accustomed  to  pipe  work.     While  it  is 


Fig.    1 — Old    Method    of    Using    Solid    Knobs    for    Supporting    Line 
Wires    and    Drops. 

admitted  that  conduit  will  corrode  and  that  some  kinds  will 
even  rust  faster  than  others,  still  if  one  gets  the  right  kind 
— the  latest  that  the  manufacturers  have  developed — he  will 
find  that  the  conduit  job  will  last  longer  than  any  style  of 
open  work,  if  it  is  properly  installed.  Moreover,  such  a  job 
will  not  be  as  expensive  as  others  employing  some  classes 
of  open  work,  such  as.  for  instance,  pin  and  insulator  work 


with  3-32  in.  rubber-insulated,  triple-braided  wire  (see 
Fig.  2),  or  knobs  with  like  wire,  and  at  the  same  time  conduit 
assures  a  greater  factor  of  safety  and  reduces  the  electrical 
fire  hazards.  Slaughter  houses  are  generally  wet  from  top 
to  bottom  and  a  hide  cellar  can  be  found  on  the  first  floor 
in  the  majority  of  cases.  So  much  water  is  used  on  all  the 
floors  that  if  these  are  not  watertight  it  drips  through  to 


Fig.  2A — Loomed  Wires 
In    Conduit. 


Fig.  2 — Pin  and   Insulator  Work. 

the  ceiling  below,  and  so  on  down  through  to  the  first  floor. 
It  therefore  devolves  on  the  electrician  to  install  the  best 
system  of  wiring  that  he  knows  of  with  special  reference  to 
security,  safety  and  permanency. 

In  very  wet  places  with  water  on  the  floors,  walls  and 
ceilings  an  installation  is  required  that  will  give  the  best 
insulating  qualities,  and  particular  pains  must  be  exercised 
to  keep  the  system  free  from  grounds.  To  accomplish  this 
many  methods  have  been  employed.  The  methods  herein- 
after described  have  been  found  especially  serviceable  in 
wet  places,  hide  cellars,  tank  rooms,  fertilizer  plants,  glue 
houses,  salt  storages,  casing  rooms,  excessively  hot  places 
and  excessively  cold  places,  etc. 

Where  ceilings  are  low  the  employees  extinguish  the 
lights  by  turning  the  lamp  in  the  socket,  thereby  twisting 
the  joints  on  the  drop  wires  until  the  bare  wires  come  to- 
gether, causing  a  short  circuit  and  possibly  flames  that  will 
feed  along  the  conductors  and  set  fire  to  combustible  mate- 
rial. If  the  joints  are  not  properly  made,  taped  and  then 
compounded,  any  amount  of  trouble  can  emanate  from 
them.  For  such  installations  it  is  recommended  that  com- 
position or  hard  rubber  sockets  be  used.  Porcelain  sockets 
are  too  fragile  in  low  places  and  are  better  suited  for  high 
ceilings.  In  wet  places  all  metals  on  sockets,  switches,  cut- 
outs, etc.,  are  subject  to  rapid  corrosion,  but  this  can  be 
greatly  reduced  in  cabinets  if  the  latter  are  maintained  as- 
dry  as  possible  by  keeping  a  lamp  burning  in  each  all  the 
time.  Snap-switch  covers  could  be  painted  with  asphaltum 
or  lacquer;  the  knife-switch  blades  could  be  painted  with 
vaseline  or  lacquer;  in  fact,  all  the  terminals  on  the  cut- 
outs, etc.,  could  be  coated  with  vaseline  to  good  advantage. 
Strange  to  say,  brass  T.  &  H.  base-key  sockets  when  pro- 
tected have  given  better  results  in  wet  and  steamy  places 
than  weatherproof  sockets.  They  were  first  painted  with 
white  lead,  then  taped  with  friction  tape,  then  painted  again 
with  white  lead  or  asphaltum.  The  No.  14  stranded  wires 
entering  the  3/s-in.  cap  of  the  socket  were  first  taped  and 
then  treated  with  compound  to  keep  out  the  moisture.  This 
gave  a  non-corrosive,  unbreakable  socket  and  the  lamp 
circuit  could  be  opened  or  closed  with  a  key. 

CORROSIVE    FUMES. 

Corrosive  fumes  are  encountered  in  tank  houses,  glue 
houses,  hair  houses,   fertilizer   factories,  casing  rooms  or 


October  f2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


783 


wherever  steam  emanates  from  a  hog.  In  the  tank  house 
the  offal  of  the  plant  is  boiled  and  worked  into  fertilizer, 
ammonia  and  sulphur  mixed  with  the  ingredients.  The 
steam  from  these  tanks  attacks  and  corrodes  metal  very 
readily.  Open  wiring  has  always  been  installed  in  these 
places,  but  there  are  several  plants  where  sherardized  and 
galvanized  conduit  have  been  in  use  for  more  than  two 
years  with  very  good  results. 

SALTY  ATMOSPHERE. 

In  places  full  of  salty  atmosphere,  such  as  salt  storage 
and  hide  cellars,  open  work  reigns  supreme,  but  in  spite  of 
this  fact  some  conduit  is  installed  for  the  mains  and  rises, 
and  this  is  holding  out  as  well  as  the  open  work.  The  wires 
come  from  the  floor  above,  in  circular  loom,  which  is  in- 
closed in  common  galvanized-iron  water  pipe.  (See  Fig. 
2  A).  Tht  loom  and  the  pipe  are  taped  and  shut  with  com- 
pound at  the  top  so  as  to  exclude  water. 

In  hide  cellars  all  methods  of  wiring  have  been  tried, 
including  the  inverted  trough.  The  ceilings  in  such  places 
are  about  7  ft.  or  8  ft.  high  and  open  wiring  is  always  in 
the  way  and  therefore  always  subject  to  mechanical  injury. 
When  a  workman  wants  to  extinguish  any  lights  he  simply 
turns  the  lamp  in  the  weatherproof  socket.  This  practice 
should  be  discouraged  because  the  continual  twisting  finally 
affects  the  wires  at  the  joints,  breaking  the  strands  one  by 
one  until  the  current  is  carried  by  only  one  or  two  strands 
of  each  polarity.  When  a  circuit  is  reduced  to  this  condi- 
tion the  small  strands  heat  up  or  a  short-circuit  occurs  and 
the  ensuing  fire  readily  runs  up  the  wires  to  the  ceiling. 

The  iron  screws  in  the  knobs  are  also  attacked  by  the 
salty  water,  causing  them  to  rust  and  expand,  thereby 
cracking  the  knobs,  especially  if  they  are  of  glass,  and 
allowing  the  wires  to  drop.  Conditions  in  casing  rooms  are 
worse  than  in  tank  rooms,  because  in  casing  rooms  an 
acidulous  paste  coats  everything  and  this  paste  destroys 
the  insulation  of  wires  and  motors. 

CONSTRUCTION    OF   BUILDINGS. 

At  the  present  time  most  packing  houses  are  of  old-time 
co!istruction  or  have  been  remodeled,  and  at  their  best  are 
poor  structures.  They  are  continually  being  repaired  and 
altered.  The  floors  are  leaky  and  do  not  hold  the  water, 
allowing  it  to  seep  through  to  the  floor  below,  and  with  the 
water  continually  dripping  safe  wiring  is  a  problem.  Open 
work  is  usually  installed  in  these  places,  and  one  can  imagine 
how  long  it  will  last  when  continually  soaked  with  water. 
Because  of  governmental  sanitary  precautions  a  great  deal 
of  soda  is  used  in  the  water  for  scrubbing  the  floors  after 
the  slaughter,  and  soda  is  very  injurious  to  wiring. 

Very  often  rotted  beams  and  crosspieces  have  to  be  re- 
placed, which  necessitates  loosening  the  supports  for  the 
wires,  allowing  them  to  slacken  toward  both  ends.  Car- 
penters very  seldom  notify  the  electrician  when  alterations 
are  to  be  made,  and  if  wires  are  in  their  way  they  knock 
them  loose  and  leave  them  in  that  state,  which  has  been 
found  to  be  very  hazardous. 

ROUGH    MECHANICS. 

Pipefitters  and  machinists  also  have  an  inherent  habit  of 
knocking  wiring  supports  loose  and  leaving  them  in  an 
extremely  dangerous  condition.  The  workmen  in  general 
are  foreigners,  often  ignorant,  rough  and  careless,  and 
think  nothing  of  destroying  electric  wiring.  A  set  of  rules 
printed  in  different  languages,  with  especial  reference  to 
better  respect  for  electric  wiring,  would  help  a  great  deal 
if  violation  of  them  was  backed  up  by  dismissal. 

ELECTRICIANS. 

Competent  help  is  one  of  the  essential  features  for  this 
special  work.  The  great  trouble  is  that  the  wages  are  not 
such  as  to  attract  good  electricians.  No  matter  how  good 
a  man  is,  if  he  has  reached  the  limit  of  $3  for  nine  hours 
he  can  quit  if  not  satisfied.  The  writer  has  observed  very 
closelv   that   most   of  the   men   hired   are    friends   of   some 


employee  who  want  to  be  electricians.  These  "green" 
hands  are  willing  to  put  up  with  conditions  found  in  pack- 
ing houses  and  the  small  pay  offered  to  beginners  for  a 
while  only.  They  have  to  be  taught  first  how  to  do  this 
special  work  which  only  an  expert  should  do. 

When  the  green  hand  becomes  proficient  he  asks  for  more 
pay,  and  if  this  is  not  forthcoming  he  quits,  leaving  the  job 
open  for  another  green  hand  to  be  broken  in.  It  is  unrea- 
sonable to  expect  good  work  under  such  conditions  and, 
needless  to  state,  the  best  material  on  the  market  looks  like 
a  wreck  when  installed  by  a  novice. 

It  actually  requires  an  effort  to  do  a  good  class  of  open 
work,  because  there  are  many  small  details  that  need  con- 
scientious attentions,  whereas  with  conduit  work  better  re- 
sults can  be  obtained  with  inferior  workmen,  because  it 
only  has  to  be  fitted  together,  and  it  is  easier  for  the  in- 
spector to  detect  defects,  which  would  have  to  be  looked 
for  at  the  drops  of  outlets  only. 

SOLID    KNOBS. 

Where  low  ceilings  are  encountered,  certain  classes  of 
open  knob  work  are  installed.  Fig.  i  shows  the  type  of 
wiring  that  has  been  used  almost  universally  for  all  kinds 
of  places  in  the  past.  Here  No.  43/$  standard  solid  porcelain 
knobs  have  been  employed  for  the  line  supports  and  to 
anchor  drops.  This  system  proved  unsatisfactory  and  was 
found  very  defective. 

Such  an  installation  was  made  as  follows:  Every  4I/2  ft. 
a  pair  of  knobs  was  screwed  to  the  woodwork,  with  a  sepa- 
ration of  6  in.  Then  the  electrician  followed  with  the  line 
wire  and  gave  it  a  twist  around  each  knob.  The  operation 
required  the  services  of  two  men,  one  to  hold  the  wire  taut 
while  the  other  went  along  and  twisted  it  around  each  knob. 
No.  14  stranded  rubber-covered  wires  were  used  for  the 
drops,  and,  in  order  to  anchor  them  on  the  solid  knob,  two 
objectionable  knots  were  necessary  to  fasten  the  drop 
properly.  Then  the  drop  wires  were  extended  to  the  joints 
on  the  line  wires  after  a  few  turns.  It  will  readily  be 
appreciated  that  two  knots  drawn  tight  on  a  No.  14  wire 
is  not  beneficial  to  the  insulation,  neither  is  it  beneficial  to 
twist  the  wire  around  the  knob  or  around  the  line  wires, 
because  all  these  small  twists,  turns  and  knots  break  the 
rubber  insulation  of  the  conductor.-  In  many  cases  the  in- 
sulation wears  thin  at  the  knots  on  account  of  the  strain 
from  handling  the  lamp  or  from  extensions,  causing  short- 
circuit  and  flames,  which  readily  feed  on  the  rubber-covered 
wire,  resulting  in  many  fires.  If  a  line  knob  should  get 
broken  or  be  knocked  from  its  place,  which  is  often  the 
case,  the  whole  line  on  that  side  is  slackened  and  the  least 
strain  will  pull  it  from  some  more  knobs  and  finally  the 
whole  line  is  down. 

PIN    AND    INSULATOR. 

In  places  where  the  ceilings  are  high,  over  9  ft.,  the  pin 
and  insulator  system  has  given  the  best  results,  as  far  as 
insulating  qualities  are  concerned;  but  this  method  of  wiring 
requires  much  space  and  is  constantly  disturbed  by  the  pipe 
fitter  and  mechanic,  and  therefore  needs  constant  repairing 
to  keep  it  in  working  order. 

To  make  an  installation  of  this  kind  requires  an  expert 
wireman.  There  are  so  many  important  details  involved 
that  if  any  is  neglected  abundant  troubles  ensue.  The  con- 
struction is  as  follows:  The  hangers  and  cross  pieces  are 
of  2  in.  x  4  in.  lumber,  dressed  and  painted  with  red  mineral 
paint.  The  pieces  are  fastened  together  with  }i-in.  gal- 
vanized-iron bolts,  and  the  insulator  pins  are  set  and  fit  in 
holes  in  the  cross  piece.  Ordinary  glass  petticoat  insulators 
are  screwed  on  the  pin  and  No.  12  B.  &  S.  gage  wire  with 
a  3-32  in.  rubber  insulation  is  employed.  It  will  be  ob- 
served that  the  rubber  is  just  twice  the  thickness  of  ordinary 
No.  12  wire.  Tie  wires  are  employed  to  fasten  the  line  wire  to 
the  insulator  and  for  this  purpose  two  ways  are  employed,  as 
will  be  shown  in  a  future  issue.  No.  14  stranded  rubber- 
covered  wires  are  used  for  the  drops,  and  they  are  generally 


784 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


J  anchored  from  a  standard  Xo.  4/2  split  knob.  This  knob 
has  two  grooves  for  the  wires,  while  at  the  same  time  sepa- 
rating them  an  inch  before  being  twisted.  Very  often  the 
drops  are  anchored  from  the  line  wires  after  a  few  turns, 
before  being  fastened  to  the  joints,  but  in  this  case  such  a 
method  of  anchoring  is  discouraged.  The  joints  are  a  very 
important  feature  and  should  be  made  as  described  under 
another  heading.  Composition  mica,  porcelain  or  hard- 
rubber  sockets  should  be  used. 

The  pin  and  insulator  system  of  wiring  is  expensive,  cost- 
ing slightly  more  than  a  conduit  installation.  The  extra 
cost  arises  from  the  use  of  the  special  3-32  in.  rubber- 
covered  wire,  which  amounts  to  about  $50  per  1000  ft.,  or 
about  four  times  the  price  of  ordinary  rubber-covered  wire. 

X'arious  other  phases  of  the  subject  will  be  treated  in 
several  instalments,  which  will  appear  in  subsequent  issues. 


FIRE  ENGINEERS'  ELECTRICAL  SIGN. 


In  the  accompanying  photograph  are  shown  some  of  the 
striking  electrical  decorative  lighting  used  in  connection 
with  the  Denver  convention  of  the  International  Association 
of  Fire  Engineers.    The  view  is  one  looking  southeast  along 


Illumination   at    Denver   Convention    of   the    International    Associa- 
tion  of  Fire   Engineers. 

Seventeenth  Street.  The  appearance  of  water  flowing  in  a 
stream  from  a  nozzle  in  the  hand  of  a  fireman  is  obtained 
by  incandescent  lamps  controlled  by  a  sign  flasher,  the 
effect  being  thoroughly  appropriate  to  the  occasion. 


IMPROVEMENTS    IN    THE    ILLUMINATION    OF    A 
GRILL  ROOM. 


The  grill  room  of  the  Great  Northern  Hotel,  Chicago, 
160  ft.  by  50  ft.,  was  formerly  lighted  by  268  carbon-filament 
lamps  exposed  directly  to  the  vision  of  patrons.  There  were 
thirty-five  ceiling  fixtures  marking  the  centers  of  the  panels, 
each  fixture  carrying  five  l6-cp  lamps.  Around  the  walls  of 
the  room  and  on  the  columns  are  seventy-five  brackets, 
each  of  which  was  formerly  equipped  with  a  i6-cp  unit. 
The  interior  decoration  was  in  general  dark,  the  wal's  being 
paneled  with  deep-red  mahogany,  although  the  ceiling  was 
light.  The  walls  include  a  number  of  mirrors,  and  these 
added  to  the  efiiciency  of  reflected  illumination. 

Very  recently  the  grill  was  rehabilitated,  the  woodwork 
being  converted  to  ivory  finish  while  the  ceiling  was  re- 
tinted  in  a  cream  color.  For  each  of  the  thirty-five  five- 
unit  ceiling  fixtures  an  indirect  bowl  unit  was  substituted. 
Each  bowl  contains  a  lOO-watt  tungsten  lamp  inclosed  in  an 
X-ray  reflector,  the  light  from  the  concealed  lamp  being 
projected  first  onto  the  ceiling  and  thence  diffused  into  the 


room.  The  i6-cp  units  in  the  brackets  were  replaced  by 
25-watt  tungsten  lamps,  provided  with  shades  edged  with 
fringe,  the  latter  helping  to  break  up  the  direct  rays  emitted 
from  the  filaments. 

With  the  new  light-colored  interior  and  the  indirect  light- 
ing from  the  ceiling  fixtures  a  degree  of  illumination  is 
obtained  which  is  equally  satisfactory  and  much  more  rest- 


Lighting    of    Great    Northern    Grill    Room,    Cricago. 

ful  than  with  the  old  direct  lighting,  while  the  energy  con- 
sumption is  hardly  one-half  the  former  amount.  The  268 
i6-cp  carbon  lamps  formerly  used  consumed  about  15,000 
watts.  The  present  thirty-three  loo-watt  ceiling  units  and 
seventy-five  25-watt  wall-bracket  lamps  consume  altogether 
but  6175  watts.  In  the  new  arrangement  the  illuminating 
value  of  these  exposed  bracket  lamps  is  doubtful,  whi  e  it 
is  likely  that  they  introduce  glare  in  the  field  of  vision 
which  nullifies  their  use  as  lighting  units,  but  in  the  interior 
decorative  scheme  the  brackets  have  an  ornamental  value 
and  add  greatly  to  the  monotony  of  pure  indirect  lighting. 


ENTRANCE  LIGHTING  OF  ST.  LOUIS  BOULEVARDS. 


In   the  better-class   residence  section  of   St.   Louis  there 
are  a  number  of  exclusive  streets  and  parkways  set  off  from 


Entrance    to    Hawthorne    and    Longfellow    Boulevards,    St.    Louis, 

the  public  thoroughfares  by  ornamental  gateways  designed 
to  give  privacy  to  the  residents  within.  This  class  of  com- 
munity boulevards  has  become  very  popular  in  the  Mis- 
souri metropolis,  since  the  householders  of  the  district  are 
able  to  restrict  the  advent  of  newcomers  and  the  purposes 
to  which  property  in  the  addition  is  put.  Most  of  the  hand- 
some city  homes  of  St.  Louisans  are  located  in  these  park- 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


785 


ways.  The  accompanying  illustration  shows  the  attractive 
entrance  gateway  to  Hawthorne  and  Longfellow  Boule- 
vards, with  the  attractive  bracket  fi.xtures  which  carry  ball- 
inclosed  tungsten  lamps  for  illuminating  the  street.  This 
bracket  also  serves  as  the  support  for  the  bronze  title  tablet 
imparting  to  the  wayfarer  the  name  of  the  addition. 


lyi-in.  galvanized  pipes  were  bent  to  shape  and  fixed  to  the 
building  wall  by  flanges,  while  the  insulators  are  mounted 
between  them  on  through-bolts  and  the  house  taps  taken  up 
and  in  through  conduit  outlets. 


ORNAMENTAL  LIGHTING    USED  AS  POLICE 
AUXILIARY. 


Control  of  the  ornamental  street-lighting  installation  re- 
cently completed  at  Marion,  Ind.,  has  been  carried  to  a 
switchboard  in   the   office  of   the  chief   of  police,  so  that 

after  regular  lighting 
hours,  in  case  of 
alarm  of  burglars  or 
highwaymen,  the 
lamps  can  be  flashed 
on  while  the  police  are 
scouring  the  streets 
and  alleys.  This  ar- 
rangement has  proved 
effective  several  times 
when  suspicious  char- 
acters were  seen 
loitering  around  the 
downtown  stores  and 
was  also  of  aid  dur- 
ing a  recent  midnight 
fire. 

There  are  fifty  of 
the  posts,  each  carry- 
ing four  60-watt 
lamps  and  one  100- 
watt  lamp.  The  cir- 
cuit is  balanced  by 
taking  all  the  top 
lamps  off  one  phase, 
and  alternate  lower- 
Fig.  1— Lamp  Standard  at  Marlon.  lamp  groups  off  the 
other  two  phases,  thus  permitting  the  top  lamps  to 
run  all  night  if  desired.  The  installation  was  made 
by  the  Marion  Light  &  Heating  Company,  at  a  cost  of 
$50  per  post,  which  was  apportioned   among  the  property 


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^^^^^H^^^^Hs,,^ 

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^^^^ 

COLUMN    TRANSPARENCIES    FOR    STREET 
DECORATION. 


During  the  recent  "street  show"  in  the  automobile  dis- 
trict of  Michigan  Avenue,  Chicago,  that  broad  thorough- 
fare  was  decorated   with   ornamental   pillars   and    festoons 


Fig.  2 — Iron-Pipe  Arm   Entry   Construction. 

owners  and  tenants  on  a  basis  of  $1.15  per  front  foot.  The 
lamps  are  operated  by  the  city,  energy  being  purchased  on 
a  meter  basis  at  the  rate  of  1.5  cents  per  kw-hr.  Fig.  2 
shows  the  iron-pipe  entry  at  the  police  switchboard,  follow- 
ing the  practice  of  the  Marion  company  in  making  ex- 
tensive use  of  iron-pipe  construction  for  cross-arms,  etc. 
(see   page    1316,   ELctrical   World,   June    15,    1912).     Two 


Fig.    1 — Corner    Columns    with    Translucent    Panels    and    Balls 

of  lamps  from  Twelfth  to  Eighteenth  Street.  The  corners 
of  intersecting  streets  were  marked  by  30-ft.  columns  sur- 
mounted by  6-ft.  balls.  Intermediate  between  these  corner 
pillars  were  four  20-ft.  pillars  capped  with  3-ft.  balls  and 
decorated  with  green  branches.  Suspended  between  the 
posts   were   hung   festoons  of   8-cp  carbon   lamps   at   i8-in. 


Fig.   2 — Columns    in    Middle   of    Blocks. 

intervals.  The  balls  on  the  pillars  and  certain  panels  of  the 
uprights  themselves  were  rendered  transparent  by  coating 
wire  netting,  like  fly-screen,  with  a  tenuous,  translucent 
varnish  or  paint,  presenting  an  effect,  when  lighted,  like 
art  glass.  This  was  also  heightened  by  lining  the  panels 
and  tinting  them  various  colors.  Inside  the  columns  strings 
of  lamps  were  suspended  to  light  the  transparencies. 


786 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o.  No.  15. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


AUTOMATIC  SYSTEMS. 

While  the  automatic  system  has  enjoyed  considerable 
use  commercially,  it  has  not  been  fully  reduced' to  standard 
practice  and  there  is  still  much  difference  of  opinion  over 
the  best  means  of  applying  the  principles  of  automatic 
operation.  Consequently  the  call-sending  and  switching 
mechanisms  present  a  great  variety.  The  same  comment 
applies  to  the  semi-automatic  systems,  which  may  be  con- 
sidered a  subdivision  of  the  automatic.  This  point  is  well 
brought  out  by  a  patent  recently  granted  to  Mr.  H.  O. 
Kabitzsch,  of  Hamburg,  Germany,  for  displaying  the  num- 
ber wanted  by  a  calling  subscriber  as  a  printed  numeral 
before  the  operator.  In  order  to  accomplish  this,  a  swinging 
arm  is  provided  at  the  central  office,  which  arm  may  raise, 
against  the  force  of  gravity,  digit  sectors.  The  'arm  is 
driven  by  a  solenoid,  the  pull  of  which  corresponds  to  a 
variable  potential  adjusted  by  means  of  a  potentiometer 
under  control  of  the  sending  keys  at  the  subscriber's  sta- 
tion. When  any  particular  number  is  desired  the  sub- 
scriber sets  up  his  sending  keys  accordingly.  This  causes 
the  arm  at  the  central  office  to  rotate  until. the  angular  dis- 
placement of  the  sector  is  such  as  to  display  the  first  de- 
sired digit.  The  arm  then  returns,"  leaving  this  sector 
latched  in  position,  and  upon  the  next  forward  swing  sets 
up  the  second  digit,  etc..  until  the  desired  number  is  dis- 
played. When  the  operator  completes  the  call  she  restores 
all  sectors  to  normal  simultaneously.  This  aft'ords  a  means 
of  transmitting  the  called  number  to  the  operator  without 
direct  audible  communication. 

Mr.  E.  E.  Clement,  of  Washington,  D.  C.  has  recently 
obtained  two  patents  for  automatic  devices.  One  of  these 
describes  an  automatic  switching  apparatus.  According  to 
this  system  the  contact  banks  are  arranged  upon  a  segment 
of  a  hollow  cylinder  and  are  composed  of  horizontal  and 
vertical  rows.  The  axes  of  the  individual  contacts,  how- 
ever, are  vertical,  and  therefore  the  rotary  motion  of  the 
wipers  is  made  the  first  operation,  while  the  plane  of  the 
wipers  is  below  the  contact  bank.  The  vertical  motion 
then  follows.  The  apparatus  contains  the  usual  rotating, 
elevating  and  releasing  elements,  these  being  mounted  upon 
a  common  frame.  One  novelty  lies  in  a  stationary  shaft 
upon  which  rides  a  sleeve  carrying  the  ratchets  and  wipers  ; 
therefore  the  parts  never  extend  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
frame  no  matter  what  the  position  of  the  wipers  in  the 
contact  bank.  As  is  usual  with  automatic  systems,  the 
selection  of  any  desired  number  is  a  question  of  co- 
ordinates. 

Mr.  Clement's  second  patent  relates  to  a  unit  system  for 
the  erection  of  automatic  or  other  telephone  systems.  Unit 
steel  cases  are  provided  having  cable  and  wire  space  at  the 
rear;  at  the  front  are  slotted  guides  into  which  may  be 
slipped  the  various  connectors.  These  connectors  are  ar- 
ranged as  nearly  as  possible  in  a  single  plane,  the  contact 
bank  being  mounted  independently  of  the  connector  appa- 
ratus. By  this  system  the  contact  banks  may  be  mounted 
in  the  cases  and  permanently  wired.  The  selectors  may 
then  be  slipped  into  the  guides  so  as  to  register  with  the 
contacts.  In  order  to  confine  the  contact  bank  to  a  single 
plane  the  individual  groups  are  mounted  in  vertical  rows, 
in  groups  of  ten.  One  set  of  wipers  is  provided  for  each 
group  and  to  these  wipers  an  angular  displacement  is  given 
corresponding  to  the  notches  on  the  rotating  ratchet.  It 
will  thus  be  seen  that  only  one  wiper  is  in  position  to  engage 
its  contact  group  for  each  angular  position  of  the  switch. 
Thus  ten  vertical  and  ten  horizontal  steps  cover  100  con- 
tacts. In  this  system  it  is  planned  to  extend  the  installation 
by  adding  unit  cases,  one  or  more  at  a  time,  as  required. 

Another  automatic  device  has  been  patented  by  Mr.  J.  W. 
Lattig,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y..  the  patent  being  assigned  to 
the  American  Automatic  Telephone  Company.  This  patent 
is  entitled  "impulse  transmitter"  and  describes  the  sending 


device  ol  an  automatic  system.  The  various  numerals  to 
be  sent  are  arranged  consecutively  upon  the  dial,  each 
numeral  being  represented  by  a  hole  in  the  dial.  To  send 
a  number  a  pin  is  inserted  in  the  corresponding  hole  and 
then  the  dial  is  rotated  until  the  pin  encounters  a  permanent 
stop.  Upon  releasing  the  dial  it  returns  to  normal  and 
drives  a  gear  train  which  transmits  the  desired   impulses. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 

THE  MASCULINE  ELECTRIC  CAR. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs  :— Nothing  could  be  better  adapted  to  the   use  of 
ladies  than  the  typical  electric  passenger  vehicle  which  is 
such  a  familiar  object  on  the  streets  of  American  cities. 
Quiet,  dignified,  unobtrusive,   cleanly,   easy  to  operate  and 
control,  starting  at  the  touch  of  a  switch,  of  few  and  simple 
parts,  and  not  apt  to  get  out  of  order,  it  is  not  strange  that 
the  electric  brougham  should  be  the  ideal  ladies'  car,  most 
appropriate   for  calling,   pleasure   riding,  shopping  or  the 
theater.      But   have   not    these   manifest   advantages   been 
accepted  so  complacently  that  we  have  identified  the  electric 
pleasure  vehicle  with  women  rather  than  with  men?     Is  it 
not  a  fact  that  we  all  have  a  tendency  to  consider  the  electric 
carriage  as  nice,  correct  and  lady-like,  but  really  not  quite 
the  thing  for  a  strong,  virile  man— this  man  "with  red  blood 
in  his  veins"  or  "the  man  in  the  street"  that  we  hear  about? 
There    is   nothing   namby-pamby    in   the   electric   vehicle 
per  se.    Consider  a  three-ton  electric  truck  used  by  a  brewer 
for  delivering  barrels  of  beer  !    There  are  many  such.    The 
electric  commercial  vehicle  is  essentially  a  business  proposi- 
tion brought  to  the  attention  of  men,  and  it  is  doing  well  in 
competition  with  gas  trucks.     But  when  it  comes  to  pleasure 
riding  or  passenger  vehicles,  is  it  not  true  that  the  average 
man  considers  the  electric  car  as  something  in  the  nature  of 
a  toy,  and  for  his  own  use,  even  for  riding  around  town, 
goes  in  for  an  imposing  roadster  or  touring  car  that  must 
in   effect  be   a   small  locomotive  to   propel   its  own   great 
weight?     Why  is  this  so?     All  the  stock  objections  to  the 
electric  car  account  for  this  prejudice  only  in  part.    It  seems 
to  be  "up  to"  the  manufacturers  of  electric  pleasure  vehicles 
to  convince  a  great  army  of  possible  users  that  their  product 
is  something  more  than  a  dainty  contraption  for  the  ladies. 
For  one  thing,  more  attention  might  be  paid  to  the  design- 
ing of  electric  vehicles  to  be  attractive  to  men.     Most  men 
do    not  care   over    much    for   the    coupes,   victorias    and 
broughams  which  are  so  popular  with  the  manufacturers. 
A  well-nourished  man  is  apt  to  feel  a  little  cramped  in  one 
of  these  luxuriously  upholstered  interiors.     Wou!d  it  not  be 
well  to  emphasize  to  a  greater  extent  large,  roomy,   open 
cars,  with   some  dash  and  "class"  to   them,  conveying  the 
idea   of   power   and    strength,    with    good    appearance,    but 
without  the  ponderous,  moving-machine-shop  aspect  of  the 
gasoline  car?     It  cannot  be  said  that  such  cars  as  here 
intended — cars  neither  slavish  copies  of  the  typical  gasoline 
touring  cars  nor  carriages  looking  much  like  stylish  horse- ai 
drawn  "turnouts"  minus  the  horses — do  not  exist,  but  at  anyi| 
rate  it  may  be  said  that  they  are  not  common.     Such  cars 
ought  to  appeal  to  doctors  and  to  many  other  business  and 
professional   men,   among   whom   there   are   comparatively 
few  users  of  electric  vehicles. 

A  familiar  advertisement  represents  Henry  George  as 
saying  "I  am  for  men  !"  If  the  quotation  is  correct,  the 
author  meant,  no  doubt,  that  the  word  "men"  should  stand 
for  all  mankind — men  and  women.  The  electric  automobile, 
too,  is  for  the  service  of  men  and  women  both,  but  there 
should  be  styles  suitable  for  all  classes  of  users,  and  its 
attractions  for  women  should  not  be  dwelt  on  so  exclusively 
as  to  feminize  it  in  the  minds  of  men. 

Pittsburgh,  Pa.  ]\MEf-  Robertson. 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


787 


Digest  of  Current   Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


and 


the 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Resistance  of  Contacts. — Ludwig  Binder. — There  is  a 
very  intimate  connection  between  the  passage  of  current 
from  brushes  to  commutators  or  slip  rings  and  the  passage 
of  the  current  at  the  point  of  two  contacts.  The  author  has 
investigated  the  nature  of  the  resistance  at  the  point  of  con- 
tact. He  shows  that  the  hypothesis  of  an  air  film  between 
the  two  contacts  is  wrong.  The  contact  resistance  is  a 
purely  ohmic  resistance,  at  least  as  long  as  the  contacts  are 
dry.  The'very  high  resistance  of  a  contact  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  current  passes  only  at  one  single  or  a  few  points,  so 
that  the  lines  of  current  are  considerably  contracted.  The 
author  gives  the  results  of  tests  of  various  contacts  like 
those  between  steel  globe  and  steel  globe,  steel  globe  and 
copper  plate,  steel  globe  and  lead  plate,  steel  globe 
carbon,  etc. — Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  Sept.  22,  1912. 

Parallel  Operation. — Lee  Hagood. — An  article  on 
operation  of  synchronous  machines  in  parallel.  The  author 
takes  up  chiefly  the  question  of  the  economical  control  of  the 
exciting  or  wattless  current  in  a  system  so  as  to  obtain  suit- 
able voltages  at  the  centers  of  distribution,  and  the 
economical  use  of  the  generators,  transformers  and  trans- 
mission lines  involved.  The  importance  of  this  problem 
appears  chiefly  where  inductive  loads  occur. — Gen.  Elec. 
Re-i'icu'.  October,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Metallic  Filaments. — D.  H.  Ogley. — The  author  gives  re- 
sults of  numerous  tests  of  modern  metallic-filament  lamps 
which  show  that  as  a  general  rule  the  watts  vary  as  the 
1. 6th  power  of  the  impressed  volts.  From  extended  life 
tests  on  a  constant-voltage  circuit  of  a  batch  of  lamps  of 
each  of  the  best-known  commercial  makes  the  author  con- 
cludes that  both  drawn  and  pressed  filaments  become  entirely 
crvstalline  after  use,  and  that  when  in  this  condition  no  dif- 


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Fig.    1  —  Relations   Between   Candle-Power   and   Volts. 

ference  in  strength  exists  between  the  two.  The  only  ques- 
tion is  as  to  the  period  of  time  that  elapses  before  the 
crystalline  state  is  attained ;  it  appears  that  the  drawn  fila- 
ments crystallize  more  slowly,  and,  therefore,  are  stronger 
at  the  beginning  and  during  the  initial  stage  of  the  run. 
This  increased  strength  at  the  commencement  obviously 
assists  in  the  manufacturing  process  and  render  breakages 


in  handling  and  transit  less  numerous.  Resistance-time 
curves  are  given  which  are  thought  to  exhibit  the  crystalline 
nature  of  both  drawn  and  pressed  filaments.     "At  no  two 


1 

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Fig.    3 — Relations    Between    Candle-Power    and    Watts. 

l)eriods  were  the  resistances  identical ;  an  increase  or 
decrease  in  the  case  of  the  metal  lamps  seems  a  matter  of 
chance,  and  this  clearly  could  only  occur  when  the  subject 


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Fig.    2 — Relations    Between    Candle-Power   and    Current. 

under  examination  was  of  a  crystalline  nature."  The 
relationship  between  candle-power  and  volts  is  given  for 
tungsten,  carbon  and  tantalum  lamps  in  Fig.  I ;  the  rela- 
tionship between  candle-power  and  current  in  Fig.  2.  The 
variation  among  the  tungsten  filaments  is  considerable, 
probably  due  to  the  different  manufacturing  processes.  The 
carbon  in  this  respect  is  equal  almost  to  the  best  tungsten 


788 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


and  superior  to  the  tantalum.  It  would  appear  that  the 
practice  of  running  lamps,  when  used  for  sub-standards  in 
making  photometric  measurements,  at  a  fixed  current  is  the 
correct  one.  A  potentiometer  method  is,  of  course,  the  one 
that  ought  to  be  adopted  in  maintaining  a  constant  current. 
Fig.  3  shows  the  relationship  between  candle-power  and 
watts.  Curves  are  also  given  of  the  change  of  candle-power 
and  specific  power  consumption  with  time.  The  efficiency  of 
the  metal-filament  lamps  remains  practically  constant  for  the 
greater  portion  of  their  lives.  It  seems  that  such  lamps 
would  serve  admirably  as  photometric  sub-standards,  as  the 
curve  for  the  carbon  lamp  is  varying  continuously. — London 
Elcc.  Rc7'iew,  Sept.  20,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Poiver  for  SiimII  Shops. — E.  Vollhardt. — In  a  paper  by 
Hoeltje  the  problem  was  investigated  whether  gas  engines 
or  electric  motors  are  cheaper  for  industrial  purposes  in 
small  shops,  and  the  conclusion  was  reached  that  this  de- 
pends on  the  number  of  hours  per  year  for  which  the  power 
is  used.  The  present  author  has  extended  his  investigations, 
and  results  are  given  in  different  curves  for  dift'erent  com- 
parative prices  of  gas  and  electricity.  The  results  are  in 
general  very  favorable  to  electric  motors.  The  smaller  the 
capacity  the  greater  is  the  superiority  of  the  electric  motor. 
Only  for  machines  above  10  hp  which  are  used  for  at  least 
two  or  three  hours  per  day  and  for  smaller  machines  which 
are  used  for  a  great  many  hours  during  the  day  gas  engines 
have  economical  advantages,  if  they  are  always  fully  loaded. 
In  such  cases  where  a  machine  is  not  always  fully  utilized 
the  electric  motor  is  always  superior.  In  Berlin  at  the  end 
of  last  year  32,800  electric  motors  with  130,000  hp  were  con- 
nected to  the  central  station,  while  the  number  of  gas 
engines  was  422  with  a  capacity  of  6600  hp.  The  final  con- 
clusion is  that  with  the  present  prices  of  gas  and  electricity 
the  electric  motor  is  pre-eminent  in  small  shops.  For  larger 
capacities  for  very  long  hours  of  operation  the  heavy  gas 
engines  may  be  employed.  With  the  usual  hours  of  work  in 
small  shops  the  12-hp  electric  motor  is  still  superior  to  the 
gas  engine. — Elck.  Zeit.,  Sept.  ig,  1912. 

Gas  Turbine. — Dug.\ld  Clerk. — A  British  Association 
paper  giving  a  summary  of  various  researches  on  the  gas 
turbine,  especially  those  by  Armengaud,  Karovodine  and 
Holzwarth. — London  Electrician,  Sept.  13,  1912. 

Traction. 

Single-Ph-ase  Traction  System  in  France. — P.  Chazaux. 
— -The  network  of  railways  in  the  Haute-Vienne  district  has 
a  length  of  345-km  (210  miles)  and  comprises  four  prin- 
cipal lines  around  Limoges.  The  single-phase  system  is 
used  at  10,000  volts  and  the  energy  is  furnished  by  two 
plants,  one  a  water-power  plant  of  2400  hp  at  Eymoutieux 
and  the  other  a  steam  plant  at  Limoges.  The  equipment  of 
the  water-power  plant  and  of  the  trolley  lines  is  described. — 
La  HouUIc  Blunchc,  July.  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Municipal  Electricity  Loans. — J.  H.  Bowden  and  F.  Tait. 
— The  authors  contend  that  the  action  of  the  London  County 
Council  in  further  reducing  the  periods  of  loans  in  respect 
of  buildings,  mains  and  machinery  is  ill-advised.  The  effect 
of  such  short  periods  is  to  throw  a  heavy  burden  on  the 
undertaking  when  such  loans  are  current,  followed  by  a 
sudden  relief  (and  consequent  abnormal  profits)  upon  their 
extinction.  During  such  periods  of  relief  there  would  be  a 
tendency  either  to  reduce  the  price  per  unit  unduly  or  for 
the  profits  to  be  used  for  the  relief  of  the  rates.  The 
authors  claim  that  depreciation  should  be  allowed  for  at 
the  rate  of  10  per  cent  per  annum  in  respect  of  machinery 
and  accumulators  and  5  per  cent  in  respect  of  buildings,  the 
estimate  being  based  on  the  written-down  values,  this  allow- 
ance being  independent  of  the  sinking  fund. — London  Elec- 
trician, Sept.  20,  1912. 


Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Corona  Losses. — K.  Zickler. — The  conclusion  of  his 
paper  on  the  calculation  of  corona  losses  on  high-tension 
transmission  lines.  From  laboratory  experiments  of  the 
author,  he  concludes  that  the  general  reliability  of  Peek's 
formula  must  be  doubted. — Elek.  11.  Masch.  (Vienna),  Sept. 
22,  1912. 

Electrophysics  and   Magnetism. 

Hysteresis.— T.  F.  Wall. — A  paper  on  the  hysteresis  loss 
in  iron  due  to  a  combined  pulsating  and  rotating  magnetic 
field.  The  author  describes  experiments  which  were  under- 
taken with  a  view  to  discovering  whether  the  two  simul- 
taneous hysteresis  effects,  due  respectively  to  a  pulsating 
and  a  rotating  magnetic  field,  can  be  superposed  without 
mutual  reaction.  As  a  result  of  these  experiments  he 
reaches  certain  definite  conclusions  which  are  set  out  in  full 
in  the  paper.  Some  of  these  conclusions  are  as  follows: 
The  rotation  hysteresis  torque  is  very  considerably  reduced 
by  the  pulsating  action  of  the  flux  for  those  values  of  the 
frequency  which  are  usually  employed  in  practice,  namely, 
for  frequencies  between  20  and  50  cycles  per  second.  The 
reduction  is  about  60  per  cent  for  the  range  of  flux  den- 
sities used.  The  rotation  hysteresis  torque  is,  within  wide 
limits  of  frequency  of  pulsation,  constant,  and  for  all  prac- 
tical values  of  the  frequency  may  be  considered  to  be  the 
same  for  any  frequency.  .'Vs  the  hysteresis  frequency  be- 
comes reduced  to  very  low  values,  the  rotation  hysteresis 
torque  approaches  in  magnitude  the  value  deducted  from  a 
curve  connecting  rotation  hysteresis  torque  and  direct  cur- 
rent in  the  stator  winding. — London  Electrician,  Sept. 
20,  1912. 

Electrochemistry  and   Batteries. 

Aluminum. — A.  H.  Cowles. — -An  illustrated  paper  read 
before  the  International  Congress  of  Applied  Chemistry  on 
a  new  process  due  to  Kayser  and  Cowles.  The  starting 
materials  are  salt,  clay  and  lime.  The  products  are  alumina, 
hydrochloric  acid,  caustic  alkalies  and  a  white  hydraulic 
cement.  A  plant  for  the  operation  of  the  process  has  been 
erected  at  Sewaren,  N.  J. — Met.  and  Chem.  Ending. 
October,  19 12. 

Electric  Furnaee  in  Foundry  Practice. — An  illustrated 
article  by  Paul  Girod  on  the  use  of  his  electric  steel  furnace 
in  steel-foundr}'  practice.  The  same  issue  contains  abstracts 
of  two  papers  read  before  the  American  Foundrymen's 
Association,  one  by  G.  H.  Clamer  and  Carl  Hering  on  the 
electric  furnace  for  brass  melting,  and  the  other  by  C.  A. 
Hansen  on  electric  melting  of  copper  and  brass. — Met.  and 
Chem.  Enging,  October.  1912. 

Pinch  Effect. — ^An  artic'e  on  "the  recent  work  of  Carl 
Hering"  concerning  the  pinch  phenomenon,  the  stretching 
of  a  conductor  by  its  current,  and  the  design  of  his  electric 
furnace  based  on  the  pinch  phenomenon. — London  Elec. 
Reviexv,  Sept.  20,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Meter  Errors. — S.  M.  Powell. — An  illustrated  article 
pointing  out  that  with  the  small  margin  of  profit  allowed  to 
central  stations  by  the  rates  now  in  force  meter  errors  of 
2  per  cent  or  even  3  per  cent  may  be  of  great  financial  im- 
portance as  regards  the  net  profit  realized.  The  author 
gives  a  long  English  translation  of  a  French  paper  by  A. 
Durant,  of  the  Central  Laboratory  of  Electricity  in  Paris, 
on  various  sources  of  errors  in  electric  meters.  These  are 
discussed  under  the  following  headings :  temperature,  volt- 
age variations,  friction,  external  magnetic  fields,  short- 
circuits,  shunts,  creeping,  frequency,  vapor,  power-factor, 
transformers,  eddy  currents,  construction  and  erection. 
After  referring  to  some  special  meters,  the  author  deals 
with  the  calibration  curves,  the  starting  of  meters,  and 
tests  in  place. — London  Elec.  Reinew.  Aug.  30,  1912. 

Electric  Measuring  Instruments.  —  Goldschmidt.  —  An 
illustrated  paper  read  before  the  Berlin  Electrical  Society 
on   a  new   design  of  precision  moving-coil   voltmeters  and 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


789 


ammeters.  Their  permanent  magnets  are  in  the  form  of 
tungsten-steel  rings,  with  a  punched  hole  at  the  place  of  the 
poles.  The  construction  is  shown  in  Fig.  4,  the  moving  coil 
being  removed  in  the  illustration  from  its  hole  in  the  ring 
magnet.  The  ring  magnets  are  made  in  a  simple  manner  by 
winding  tungsten-steel  ribbon  in  spiral  form  around  a  core. 


Fig.   A — Construction   of   Precision    IVIovlng-CoM    Voltmeter. 

All  parts  are  interchangeable.  The  author  also  describes  an 
air-damping  arrangement  used  in  his  electromagnetic  volt- 
meters and  ammeters. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Sept.  19,  1912. 

Power-Factor  of  Thrce-Phase  Circuit. — H.  N.  Lucas. — ■ 
An  article  illustrated  by  diagrams  on  the  determination  of 
the  power-factor  of  a  three-phase  circuit  by  means  of  two 
single-phase  watt-hour  meters. — Elec.  Journal,  September, 
1912. 

Thrce-Phase  Wattmeters. — C.  R.  Riker. — An  article  giv- 
ing a  series  of  vector  diagrams  showing  correct  and  incor- 
rect methods  of  connections  of  three-phase  wattmeters  and 
watt-hour  meters  and  the  effects  which  incorrect  connec- 
tions have  on  the  measurements  and  how  mistakes  can  be 
repaired. — Elcc.  Journal,  September,  1912. 

Base-Metal  Thermocouples. — O.  L.  Kowalke. — A  paper 
giving  the  results  of  an  investigation  in  which  the  varia- 
tions in  the  emf  of  various  types  of  base  metal  couples  were 
determined  when  heated  over  different  lengths  and  also 
after  several  heat  treatments. — Met.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing, 
Sept.  12,  I912. 

Reichsanstalt. — An  English  translation  in  abstract  of  the 
report  of  the  German  Reichsanstalt  for  191 1. — London 
Electrician,  Sept.  20,  1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Bimetallic  Telephone  Wires. — In  order  to  improve  me- 
chanical strength,  bimetallic  wires  have  been  introduced  into 
telephone  practice,  having  a  core  of  steel  and  a  cover  of 
copper.  A  line  of  bimetallic  wire  of  4  mm  (s/32-in.) 
diameter,  weighing  109  grams  per  meter  (1.15  oz.  per  foot), 
the  weights  of  the  steel  and  of  the  copper  being  equal,  was 
recently  strung  between  Paris  and  Lyons  in  France  and 
measurements  were  made  on  the  part  of  the  line  between 
Villeneuve  and  Melun  (27.5  km,  or  17  miles,  length).  The 
results  are  shown  in  the  accompanying  table,  giving  the 
electric  properties  per  kilometer  (i  km  =  0.62  mile)  for  this 
bimetallic  wire  in  comparison  with  a  pure  copper  wire  of 
the  same  diameter. 


Copper. 

Bimetallic. 

Frequency  per  Second 
430.          1         1010. 

Frequency 
430. 

per  Second 
1010. 

Resistance        (ohms 

j 

2.85           1           2.82 
2. 39X10-'       2.31X10-S 

5.60 

2.39X10-S 

S.65X10- 
'40x10-  * 

5.55 

Self-induction  (hen- 

2.27X10-' 

Capacity      (mirofar- 
ad) 

5.7X10-' 
23  X10-< 

S.1X10-' 
23X10-* 

5.1 X 10-' 

40.1  X10-< 

The  bimetallic  wire  of  4  mm  (5/32  in.)  diameter  is  quite 
inferior  to  a  copper  wire  of  the  same  diameter.  It  does  not 
permit  communication  over  greater  distances  than  800  km 


(500  miles)  and  seems  equivalent  to  a  pure  copper  wire  of 
7/64  in.  diameter. — La  Revue  Elec,  September  13,  1912. 
Transatlantic  Cables.— K.  W.  'Wagner.— The  first  part 
of  an  illustrated  article  on  the  various  transatlantic  cables 
of  the  different  countries  and  the  new  German  cable  to 
South  Africa.— £Ze(fe.  Zeit.,  Sept.  12,  1912.      ■' 

Submarine  Telegraph  Cable.— H.  W.  Malcolm.— The 
conclusion  of  his  long  mathematical  serial  on  the  theory  of 
the  submarine  telegraph  cable.  In  the  concluding  instalment 
he  considers  the  effect  of  an  inductive  leak  and  shows  that 
"the  effect  of  the  inductance  is  to  lift  the  arrival  curve  up 
over  the  steady  value  to  which  it  afterwards  sinks.  The 
steepness  of  the  curve  would  lead  one  to  expect  a  considsr- 
able  increase  in  the  speed  of  signaling  were  this  plan 
adopted  with  a  coil  of  the  right  dimensions."  In  summing 
up  the  serial  he  says  its  object  was  to  establish  a  systematic 
method  of  attacking  by  calculation  all  the  problems  that 
arise  in  connection  with  submarine  telegraphy.  By  the 
application  of  this  method  the  answer  may  be  obtained  to 
many  questions  which  have' hitherto  been  without  solution. 
Such  applications  are,  for  example,  to  find  the  arrival  and 
the  sending  currents  and  voltages  with  various  arrange- 
ments of  apparatus,  to  derive  the  theory  of  the  inductive 
shunt,  the  theory  of  leaks,  of  inductive  leaks,  and  of  the 
cable  with  continuously  distributed  leakance,  and  to  extend 
the  "KR"  law  to  include  the  signaling  apparatus.  The 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  high-speed,  long-distance  telegraphy 
seem  by  no  means  to  be  insuperable,  and  it  is  probable  that 
the  near  future  may  see  the  speed  of  telegraphy  greatly 
increased.  But  to  bring  this  about,  theory  and  experiment 
must  go  hand  in  hand.  "As  evidence  of  the  experimental 
work  that  requires  to  be  done,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that 
there  is  no  available  record  of  the  observation  in  ordinary 
units  of  even  the  simplest  arrival  curve,  although  this  curve 
has  been  known  for  half  a  century.  When  the  problem  of 
the  high-speed  submarine  telegraph  cable  is  attacked  with 
the  modern  resources  and  the  scientific  knowledge  that  have 
won  success  in  other  branches  of  electrical  science,  notably 
in  telephony  and  in  radio-telegraphy,  a  great  transforma- 
tion  may   be   anticipated."— London   Electrician,    Sept.   20, 

1912. 

Photo-Telegraphy.— Kn  illustrated  article  on  a  new 
method  of  Korn  for  transmitting  pictures  electrically.  He 
has  now  given  up  the  use  of  selenium,  as  it  permits  only  a 
very  small  current  to  be  transmitted  along  the  line,  and  is, 
therefore,  unsuitable  for  long  lines.  He  has  adopted  another 
method  for  transmitting,  somewhat  similar  to  that  of 
T.  Thorne  Baker,  using  a  copper  sheet  prepared  by  a  photo- 
graphic process  from  the  original  negative.  It  resembles  a 
halftone  and  consists  of  parallel  lines  in  gelatine  upon  a 
copper  surface,  the  lines  being  of  greater  or  less  width; 
that  is,  in  the  blacks  we  have  wide  gelatine  lines  which 
cover  nearly  all  the  space,  and  in  the  white  these  lines  are 
very  narrow.  Such  a  copper  sheet  is  put  around  a  metal 
cylinder,  resembling  a  phonographic  cylinder,  and  against 
it  bears  a  metal  point.  As  the  point  traverses  the  gelatine 
line  it  breaks  contact  for  a  greater  or  less  time,  according 
to  the  width  of  the  line,  in  the  well-known  way,  in  order  to 
give  the  transmission.  In  the  receiver,  Korn's  photographic 
method,  with  some  modifications,  is  retained.  The  photo- 
graphic film  is  wrapped  upon  a  cylinder  rotating  within  a 
dark  box,  and  upon  the  front  cover  is  a  small  aperture  for 
the  entry  of  the  beam  of  light.  In  the  path  of  the  beam  is  a 
galvanometer  shutter,  which  works  on  the  Einthoven  prm- 
ciple.  An  electromagnet  energized  by  a  storage  battery 
affords  a  strong  permanent  field,  across  which  is  stretched  a 
thin  metal  strip,  and  this  latter  receives  the  current  from 
the  line.  It  is  thus  deflected  when  current  passes  and  moves 
off  the  path  of  the  narrow  beam  of  light,  allowing  it  to 
enter  the  film  box.  The  transmitter  and  receiver  are  com- 
bined in  one  apparatus  and  are  in  turn  operated  by  a  com- 
mon synchronous  motor.  A  synchronizing  impulse  is  sent 
over  the  line  at  each  revolution  so  as  to  make  the  correction 


790 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o.  No.  15. 


for  speed  in  the  usual  way.  The  copper  plate  can  be  quickly 
made  from  the  photographic  negative  by  the  use  of  arc  light 
or  daylight,  and  the  copper  sheet  has  the  great  advantage 
of  allowing  the  use  of  a  larger  current  on  the  line.  The 
Paris  daily  journals  are  beginning  to  use  blocks  made  by 
the  present  method,  and  the  description  of  an  event  which 
happens  in  the  south  of  France  in  the  afternoon  appears  the 
next  morning  in  Paris  along  with  the  illustrations. — London 
Electrician,  Sept.  20,  1912. 

British  Association. — A  report  of  the  British  Association 
meeting  held  at  Dundee  from  Sept.  4  to  11. — London  Elec- 
trician. Sept.  13,  1912. 


Book  Reviews 

Memoires  sur  l'Slectricite  et  l'Optique.  Par  A.  Potier, 
Annotated  by  A.  Blondel,  with  a  preface  by  Henri 
Poincare.  Paris :  Gauthier-Villars.  330  pages,  por- 
trait.    Price,  13  francs. 

Owing  to  a  modesty,  both  personal  and  intellectual,  which 
restricted  knowledge  of  both  the  man  and  his  work,  the 
subject  of  this  handsome  volume  did  not  during  his  life 
receive  beyond  his  immediate  circle  the  recognition  as  a 
savant  and  technician  which  it  is  in  part  the  object  of  this 
volume  to  secure  for  him  posthumously.  As  an  instance  of 
this  modesty,  Professor  Blondel  states  that  Potier  would 
never  consent  to  the  publication  of  his  portrait  or  of  a 
biographical  sketch — a  disinclination,  we  may  say,  of  which 
the  Electrical  World  has  had  direct  evidence. 

In  his  preface  Poincare,  who  so  recently  also  joined  the 
great  majority,  pays  an  eloquent  tribute  to  the  character 
and  ability  of  his  subject,  as  does  also  in  other  pages  Pro- 
fessor Blondel.  the  editor  of  the  book  and  a  one-time  pupil 
of  Professor  Potier.  "His  elevation  and  the  integrity  of 
mind,"  writes  the  former,  "gave  him  a  rightful  authority 
in  all  that  relates  to  natural  philosophy;  his  kindliness,  his 
modesty,  his  indiflference  to  honors,  the  rectitude  of  his 
character,  made  him  loved  and  esteemed  by  all ;  and  in  his 
latter  years  the  serene  tranquillity  with  which  he  supported 
cruel  bodily  trials,  the  incessant  effort  to  maintain  his  soul 
above  the  ruins  of  his  body,  made  us  admire  his  courage  as 
we  already  admired  his  ability." 

As  pointed  out  by  both  Poincare  and  Blondel,  though  a 
savant  by  inclination,  Potier  had  also  a  highly  developed 
sense  for  the  practical,  or  at  least  for  the  practical  that 
illustrated  theory,  as  is  exemplified  in  particular  by  his 
work  in  connection  with  the  epoch-making  Paris  electrical 
exposition  of  1881.  His  reports  of  that  period  on  dynamo- 
machinery,  motors  and  transmission  of  power  will  always 
remain  of  great  historical  value,  and  the  method  of  tests 
which  he  in  collaboration  w'ith  Tresca  and  others  then  de- 
vised and  applied  was  the  foundation  upon  which  the  art  of 
electrical  testing  was  later  erected.  He  was  also  prominent 
in  the  discussions  which  led  to  the  adoption  in  1881-2  of  the 
practical  system  of  electrical  units.  A  high  service  of 
another  order  was  rendered  in  connection  with  the  transla- 
tion into  French  of  Maxwell's  great  work,  to  which  Potier 
contributed  some  of  the  explanatory  notes  that  give  to  the 
translation  such  a  high  value  to  all  students  of  the  great 
master,    not    excluding    English-speaking    students. 

Poincare  in  his  preface  dwells  more  particularly  on  the 
high  merit  of  Potier's  work  in  optics,  while  Blondel  treats 
in  greater  detail  his  work  in  electricity  and  supplies  annota- 
tions to  the  reports  of  papers  on  this  subject.  Among  those 
of  more  theoretical  nature  are  papers  on  the  subject  of 
electrodynamics  and  induction,  in  which  as  early  as  1873 
Potier  pointed  out  that  the  phenomena  involved  admitted 
of  numerical  treatment  that  could  aid  in  imparting  a  clearer 
and  more  complete  understanding  of  their  practical  bearing 
than  it  was  possible  to  obtain  from  the  classical  treatises ; 
on  the  propagation  of  heat  and  distribution  of  electricity : 


on  the  theory  of  contact  eltctricity,  the  determination  of 
the  electrochemical  equivalent  of  silver,' the  measurement  of 
energy,  the  calculation  of  self-induction  and  the  energy  of 
currents. 

Under  the  head  of  electrotechnics  is  a  series  of  papers, 
some  of  which  have  played  an  important  part  in  the  develop- 
ment of  electrical  engineering.  The  first  in  date — 1889 — is 
on  armature  reaction,  in  which  the  whole  subject  is  system- 
atically treated,  principles  defined,  the  role  of  self-induc- 
tion for  the  first  time  brought  out  clearly,  and  auxiliary 
poles  suggested  for  correcting  the  ill  effect  of  variation  of 
position  of  the  line  of  commutation  with  load.  A  paper 
dated  1900  on  alternator  armature  reaction  has  partly  for 
subject  a  method  by  which  quantities  proportional  to  the 
self-induction  and  counter  ampere-turns  may  be  determined 
by  means  of  a  characteristic  and  a  simple  triangle.  In  a 
paper  on  the  operating  diagrams  of  transformers  and 
synchronous  motors  (1894-5)  the  circular  diagram  is  first 
described  which  has  erroneously  been  credited  to  Osanna. 
Space  forbids  mention  of  papers  of  little  less  importance, 
the  last  in  order  of  publication  (1902)  being  an  elegant 
treatise  on  transient  phenomena  in  alternating-current  cir- 
cuits. 

Professor  Blondel  has  rendered  a  notable  service  to 
physical  science  and  to  electrical  engineering  in  thus  bring- 
ing out  in  collected  form  the  more  important  writings  of 
Potier  and  in  extending  their  value  by  his  able  annotations; 
and  at  the  same  time  the  work  constitutes  a  gracious  tribute 
to  the  memory  of  one  of  those  rare  characters  who  go 
through  life  content  if  they  can  serve  a  high  purpose,  and 
whom  acclaim  for  achievement  is  apt  to  disturb  as  indicating 
a  suspicion  of  the  unselfish  nature  of  their  devotion. 


Traite  DE  Metallographie.  Par  Felix  Robin.  Paris:  A. 
Hermann.  464  pages,  244  illus.  in  text.  460  reproduc- 
tions of  micro-photographs. 

The  growing  specialization  in  physical  science  is  illus- 
trated by  this  treatise,  relating  to  a  branch  of  knowledge 
which  only  began  to  be  systematized  in  1895  and  yet  is  now 
represented  by  a  volume  comprising  over  450  large  octavo 
pages,  244  illustrations  in  the  text  and  no  less  than  460  re- 
productions of  micro-photographs.  The  greater  part  of  the 
work  deals  with  the  microscopic  examination  of  broken  and 
polished  sections  and  of  polished  surfaces  which  have  been 
subjected  to  corrosion.  Its  scope,  however,  extends  to 
physical  examinations  of  metals  in  general  and  includes  the 
study  of  the  electric  spark  drawn  from  a  specimen,  the  effect 
of  an  electric  arc  on  a  polished  surface,  the  determination  of 
electrical  conductivity  and  of  the  degree  and  the  retentivity 
of  magnetization. 

The  author  follows  Osmond's  classification  under  three 
heads,  of  steels  with  relation  to  magnetism :  First,  non- 
magnetic steels,  which  are  defined  as  those  containing  25 
per  cent  of  nickel  or  13  per  cent  of  manganese,  or  less  when 
the  carbon  content  is  large;  second,  steels  incapable  of 
permanent  magnetization,  which  are  those  of  low  carbon 
content  and  slow  cooling,  and  also  steels  containing  a  maxi- 
mum of  12  per  cent  nickel  or  3  to  5  per  cent  manganese; 
third,  steels  capable  of  permanent  magnetization,  such  as 
tempered  steel  and  those  of  low  carbon  content  containing 
12  to  24  per  cent  nickel  or  3.5  to  7  per  cent  manganese.  As 
to  the  magnetic  alloys  of  non-magnetic  metals,  it  is  sug- 
gested that  manganese  may  be  magnetic  at  an  extremely 
low  temperature  and  that  the  admixture  of  copper  and 
aluminum  together  with  tin  or  lead  may  act  to  raise  this 
temperature  limit. 

To  all  having  to  do  with  the  control  of  metal-making 
processes,  or  with  the  inspection  or  test  of  metals,  this 
treatise  will  be  invaluable,  not  only  because  of  the  vast 
amount  of  information  contained,  but  also  because  of  its 
remarkably  practical  character.  In  this  respect  the  volume 
is  virtually  a  working  handbook. 


October  12,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


791 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


ELECTRIC  ROADSTERS  FOR  BOSTON. 


The  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Boston, 
Mass.,  has  recently  placed  on  order  for  four  additional 
Bailey  roadsters  for  use  by  its  representatives  in  covering 
its  large  territory  of  600  sq.  miles.  The  company  nov^f  has 
in  use  or  on  order  twelve  of  these  cars,  and  the  service 
analysis  of  the  past  year  shows  that  the  machines  covered 
20  per  cent  more  than  the  required  mileage.  The  company 
has  been  searching  for  two  years  for  an  electric  vehicle 
capable  of  covering  80  miles  in  four  hours  on  average 
roads  with  average  grades,  prior  to  the  purchase  of  the 
first  two  units  of  the  above  design.  The  second  set  of  six 
roadsters  followed  a  test  made  in  October,  191 1,  when  a 
run  was  made  from  Boston  to  New  York  over  a  distance 
of  244  miles  in  twelve  hours  and  twelve  minutes  running 
time.  In  a  recent  test  one  of  these  machines  was  run  from 
Boston  to  Pawtucket,  R.  I.,  and  back,  about  78  miles,  and 
thence  over  roads  about  Boston  until  103.2  miles  had  been 
covered.  No  representative  of  the  manufacturer  was  pres- 
ent at  the  test,  and  the  roads  were  in  good  condition,  al- 
though several  steep  hills  had  to  be  surmounted.  The  bat- 
tery was  first  given  a  normal  charge  and  discharge  to  ascer- 
tain its  condition,  and  then  a  normal  charge  prior  to  the 
run.  The  car  was  equipped  with  fifty-two  new  Edison 
"A-6"  cells  and  carried  two  men.  An  average  speed  of 
over  20  miles  per  hour  was  maintained  for  the  entire  dis- 
tance covered.  The  data  shown  in  the  accompanying  table 
were  secured. 

Battery  Capacity  Test. 

Charge.  Discharge' 


Ampere-hours     326.0 

Kilowatt-hours    28.71 

•Discharge   carried   to   point   where   cells  averaged    1   volt  each. 

Data  of  Run. 


Dis- 
tance. Time. 

To  turning  point   in    Pawtucket..   39.2  1  hr.  48  min. 

First   75   miles 75.0  3  "    34    " 

Battery  down  to  1  volt  per  cell..    86.9  4  "    9'/5  " 

Total     run 103.2  5"    714" 


Aver. 
Miles 
per 
hour. 
21.77 
21.03 
20.90 
20.14 


236.0 
14.46 


.\mp. 
Hours 

per 
mile. 
2.68 
2.80 
2.76 
2.76 


hands  are  17  ft.  and  10  ft.,  and  the  decorative  and  lighting 
effects  are  obtained  by  6500  incandescent  lamps  of  many 
colors.  The  general  design  represents  mermaids  disporting 
in  a  fountain  surrounding  the  clock  dial.  The  clock  is 
electricallv  operated. 


Fig.   2 — Large    Electric   Clock   Sign. 

The  operating  mechanism  is  controlled  by  a  pendulum 
movement  which  is  arranged  to  close  the  solenoid  circuit, 
which  in  turn  operates  a  relay  switch,  thereby  energizing 
a  motor  which  revolves  the  hands.  The  shafts  of  the  clock 
are  equipped  with  roller  bearings,  and  the  hands,  which 
weigh  almost  looo  lb.,  are  properly  counter-balanced.  The 
electric  fountain  on  each  side  of  the  clock  contains  1400 
lamps,  which  are  operated  by  the  sixty-eight-circuit  high- 
speed flasher  shown  herewith.  This  flasher  was  built  by 
Betts  &  Betts,  256  West  Fifty-fifth  Street,  New  York,  for 
the  Federal  Sign  System  (Electric). 


CLOCK  FOR    ADVERTISING    ELECTRIC    SERVICE. 


A  large  electric  clock  sign  containing  more  lamps  than 
any  previously  built  has  been  erected  by  the  Edison  Electric 
Illuminating  Company  of   Boston,   Mass.,  on  a  building  at 


POLYPHASE  MOTORS. 


The  Mechanical  Appliance  Company,  of  Milwaukee,  Wi.s., 
well  known  as  the  maker  of  Watson  direct-current  motors, 
has  recently  augmented  its  line  of  polyphase  squirrel-cage 


Fig.    1 — SIxty-Eight-Clrcult    High-Speed    Flasher. 


the  intersection  of  Boylston  Street  and  Massachusetts 
Avenue,  in  the  Back  Bay  district.  The  sign  is  supported 
on  a  40-ft.  by  50-ft.  framework  carrying  the  word  "Edison" 
at  the  top  in  letters  6  ft.  high  and  the  words  '"Power"  and 
"Light"  at  the  bottom  in  letters  5  ft.  high.  The  outside 
diameter  of  the  clock  dial  is  34  ft.,  the  height  of  numerals 
on  the  face  is  5   ft.,  the  lengths  of  the  minute  and  hour 


and  slip-ring,  wound-rotor  motors  to  include  standard  sizes 
up  to  45  hp  for  iio-volt,  220-volt  and  440-volt  circuits. 
Restricting  the  sizes  up  to  only  45  hp  is  in  line  with  the 
company's  policy  to  concentrate  on  motors  for  individual 
drive  principally.  The  illustration  shows  the  general  ap- 
pearance of  the  "type  K"  squirrel-cage  motor.  On  the 
rotor  of  this  type  the  bars  between  the  core  and  short-cir- 


792 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


cuiting  rings  are  arranged  to  act  as  blower  vanes,  causing 
air  to  be  forced  through  the  coils  of  the  motor  and  tending 
to  increase  the  range  of  overload  without  excessive  heating. 
The  slots  of  the  rotor  and  stator  are  of  the  semi-inclosed 
type.  Form-wound  coils  are  used  and  these  are  immersed 
in  an  insulating  and  moisture-repelling  compound  after  the 
winding  is  complete.     Bearings,  frame,  sliaft,  etc.,  are  de- 


Polyphase    Motor. 

signed  along  lines  similar  to  those  found  to  be  successful 
in  the  direct-current  motors  made  by  the  company.  A  motor 
speed  of  1800  r.p.m.  is  thediighest  standard  speed  listed,  but 
a  new  3600  r.p.m.  motor  for  direct  drive  of  high-speed  ma- 
chines, such  as  vacuum  cleaners,  etc.,  has  been  developed. 
Special  care  is  taken  and  tests  are  made  to  insure  a  per- 
fectly balanced  rotor,  so  necessary  in  motors  of  such  high 
speed. 


ROTARY  BITUMINOUS  GAS    PRODUCER. 


A  novel  form  of  bituminous  gas  producer  has  been  de- 
veloped and  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Chapman  En- 
gineering Company,  Mt.  Vernon,  Ohio.  The  chief  dis- 
tinctive feature  of  this  producer  is  the  method  employed  to 
agitate  the  fuel  bed,  which  consists  of  revolving  one-half 
of  the  bed  over  the  other,  thus  setting  up  a  twisting  or 
shearing  action  throughout  the  entire  fuel  chamber.  The 
shell  is  divided  horizontally  through  the  hot  zone  into  an 
upper  and  a  lower  section,  and  the  sections  are  made  to 
revolve  in  the  same  direction,  but  at  different  speeds.  Each 
section  of  the  wall  tends  to  carry  with  it  that  portion  of  the 
fuel  bed  which  it  surrounds.  No  agitating  arms  are  em- 
ployed. The  fuel  chamber  is  stationary  and  has  no  bottom. 
It  has  a  capacity  of  1000  lb.  of  coal,  or  enough  to  last  for 
about  half  an  hour.  The  lower  edge  of  the  chamber  is 
water-cooled.  Mechanical  means  are  employed  to  feed  and 
spread  the  fuel,  agitate  the  entire  bed  and  remove  the  ashes. 

As  the  revolving  fire  bed  comes  under  the  fuel  chamber 
a  fresh  supply  of  fuel  is  spread  over  the  surface,  thus  con- 
stantly keeping  the  level  of  the  fire  bed  up  to  the  bottom 
of  the  chamber.  The  lower  edge  of  the  fuel  chamber  is 
beveled  for  the  purpose  of  producing  a  down-stroking  effect 
upon  the  fire  bed  as  it  passes  under  it.  The  manufacturers 
claim  that  the  rotation  of  the  fuel  bed  tends  to  prevent  the 
formation  of  blow  holes  and  clinkers.  The  first  step  in  the 
process  of  mechanical  ash  removal  is  the  grinding  of  the 
ashes  between  the  sides  of  the  stationary  corrugated  air 
pockets  and  the  revolving  corrugated  wall  of  the  lower 
section.  After  the  ashes  have  been  crushed  they  are  forced 
up  to  the  top  of  the  ash  pan  by  three  adjustable  ash  plows 
which  are  kept  continually  in  operation.  As  fast  as  the 
ashes  are  lifted  to  the  surface  of  the  water  in  the  ash  pan 
they  are  automatically  scooped  up  and  carried  to  the  re- 
quired point   for  automatic   discharge. 


The  capacity  of  this  producer,  according  to  the  manufac- 
turers' claim,  is  one  ton  of  coal,  completely  gasified,  per 
hour.  The  supporting  rollers  for  the  moving  parts  run  on 
high-carbon  chilled-steel  pins  and  are  provided  with  brass 
bushings.  Separate  rollers  are  used  to  take  care  of  the  side 
thrust,  and  all  rollers  are  mounted  in  pairs  in  equalizing 
yokes.     The  bearings  are  provided  in  every  case  with  large 


Rotary     Bituminous     Gas     Producer. 

oil  wells,  and  the  faster  gears  run  in  oil.  Steel  castings  are 
used  extensively  both  in  the  gears  and  throughout  the 
remainder  of  the  construction.  The  manufacturer  claims 
for  this  producer  that  it  gives  both  unusually  high  quality 
of  gas  and  remarkably  uniform  quality.  The  average 
results  of  a  two  weeks'  test  on  one  of  these  producers 
installed  in  a  steel  plant  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  as  reported  by 
the  manufacturer,  gave  150.8  heat  units  per  cubic  foot  of 
gas  with  a  maximum  variation  of  2.54  per  cent.  Mr.  W.  B. 
Chapman,  11  Broadway,  New  York  City,  is  the  inventor  of 
this  type  of  producer. 


POLE-TYPE  TRANSFORMER. 


The    Foster    Engineering    Company,    Ltd.,    Wimbledon, 
London,   S.   W.,   has   p!aced   on   the   market   a  number  of 


Pole-Type   Transformer. 

special  types  of  transformers  such  as  furnace  transformers, 
instrument  transformers,  bell-ringing  transformers,  etc. 
The  accompanying  illustration  shows  a  lo-kw,  2000/200- 
volt,   oil-filled,   pole-type   transformer. 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


793 


BATTERY  SWITCH. 


A  simple  and  reliable  switch  for  the  battery  and  magneto 
is  illustrated  herewith.  It  is  a  two-circuit  switch  equipped 
with  spring  binding  posts  and  can  easily  be  installed  and 
used  for  any  wire  connections.     The  base  is  of  hard  black 


Two-Circuit     Switcll. 

fiber.  There  is  no  wiring  inside  the  switch  all  parts  being 
riveted  together  so  that  they  cannot  become  loosened  by 
rough  usage.  These  switches  are  manufactured  by  the 
Fahnestock  Electric  Company,  129  Patchen  Avenue, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


EXHIBITS   AT   NEW   YORK    ELECTRICAL   SHOW. 

The  New  York  Electrical  Exposition  and  Automobile 
Show  which  opened  at  the  New  Grand  Central  Palace, 
New  York  Qity,  on  Oct.  9  and  which  will  remain  open  until 
Oct.  19,  is  the  largest  of  its  kind  thus  far  given.  There 
are  well  nigh  onto  100  exhibits  on  the  three  floors  of  the 
building  given  over  to  the  show  and  a  brief  description  of 
those  in  place  on  the  opening  night  is  given  below. 

Acorn  Manufacturing  Company,  New  York,  is  mak- 
ing the  New  York  Edison  Company's  tin-bank  souvenir. 

Addressograph  Company,  Chicago,  has  in  operation  a 
number  of  its  machines  which  print  addresses  from  plates 
of  durable  type. 

American  Clay  Products  Company,  New  York,  makes 
a  display  of  sample  sections  of  vitrified  conduit  for  under- 
ground distribution  work. 

American  Museum  of  Safety  and  Sanitation,  New 
York,  has  on  exhibition  an  array  of  photographs,  models, 
etc.,  dealing  with  the  broad  subject  of  safety  and  imparting 
to  the  visitor  some  impression  of  the  humane  work  in 
which  it  is  engaged. 

Anderson  Brothers,  Paterson,  N.  J.,  have  an  interest- 
ing demonstration  of  the  spinning  of  silk. 

Anderson  Electric  Car  Company,  Detroit,  Mich.,  dis- 
plays an  electric  brougham  seating  five  persons  in  which 
all  passengers  face  forward  and  a  1913  model  roadster. 

Atlantic  Vehicle  Company,  New  York,  is  showing 
the  chassis  of  a  2-ton  truck. 

Automobile  Journal  Publishing  Company,  New  York, 
has  three  of  its  automobile  periodicals  on  view. 

Baker  Motor  Vehicle  Company,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  has 
on  exhibition  a  new  model  brougham  and  the  chassis  of 
a  2-ton  express  wagon. 

Bell  Electric  Motor  Company^  Garwood,  N.  J.,  is 
showing  a  number  of  self-starting  single-phase  motors  and 
a  line  of  two-phase  machines. 

Boston  Pencil  Pointer  Company,  New  York,  is  show- 
ing a  motor-driven  pencil  sharpener  and  also  some  hand- 
operated  machines.  £y       ^ 

Brunswick  Refrigerating  Company,  New  Brunswick, 
N.  J.,  displays  a  two  storage  compartment  electric  refrig- 
erator which  also  is  capable  of  making  from  15  to  20  lb.  of 
ice  daily. 

Buffalo  Electric  Vehicle  Company.  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
is  showing  several  models  of  the  "Buffalo  Electric"  auto- 
mobiles. 

Burroughs  Adding  Machine  Company,  New  York,  is 
exhibiting  a  number  of  its  adding  machines  for  diversified 
uses. 


Canton  Rubber  Company,  Canton,  Ohio,  displays  a  line 
of  rubber  goods  intended  for  electrical  use,  together  with 
rubber  goods  of  a  general  nature. 

Champion  Electric  Vehicle  Company,  New  York,  dis- 
plays an  electric  vehicle  with  battery  located  under  the  seat 
and  the  chassis  of  an  electric  truck  with  an  under-slung 
battery. 

Comptograph  Company,  Chicago,  is  showing  a  line  of 
electric  and  hand-operated  calculating  machines. 

Consolidated  Telegraph  and  Electrical  Subway 
Company,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  depicts  a  model  manhole 
illustrating  the  methods  of  underground  distribution  m 
New  York  City. 

Croker  National  Fire  Prevention  Engineering  Com- 
pany, New  York,  is  showing  fire  extinguishers,  safety 
devices  and  fireproof  office  equipment. 

Cutler-Hammer  Manufacturing  Company,  Milwau- 
kee, Wis.,  has  an  imposing  display  of  electrical  heating 
apparatus. 

Dalton  Adding  Machine,  Poplar  Bluffs,  Mo.,  is  ex- 
hibiting through  Oscar  Muller  Company,  the  New  York 
agents,  electrically  operated  calculating  machines. 

Decorus  Manufacturing  Company,  New  York,  is 
demonstrating  the  aerograph,  which  sprays  colors  on  deli- 
cate fabrics. 

Edison  Storage  B.\ttery  Company,  Orange,  N.  J., 
shows  an  assortment  of  Edison  cells,  an  alternating-current 
rectifier  and  an  automatic  voltage  regulator. 

Electric  Controller  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  has  on  exhibition  a  number  of  automatic 
motor  starters  and  controllers. 

Electric  Storage  Battery  Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
is  making  a  display  of  "Chloride,"  "Tudor,"  "Exide"  and 
"Iron-Clad"  cells,  together  with  a  mammoth  end-cell 
switch. 

Electrical  Review  &  Western  Electrician,  Chicago, 
111.,  is  distributing  copies  of  recent  issues  and  contrasts  old 
volumes  with  those  of  to-day. 

Electrical  Testing  Laboratories,  New  York,  is  mak- 
ing a  display  of  its  methods  of  testing  paper,  and  also  ex- 
hibits developments  in  watt-hour  meters,  illuminating 
shades  and  reflectors. 

Electrical  World,  New  York,  is  distributing  copies  of 
current  numbers  and  reflects  in  its  volumes  the  strides 
made  by  the  central-station  industry  from  the  beginning 
to  the  present  time. 

Ensign  Manufacturing  Company,  Boston,  is  demon- 
strating motor-driven  calculating  machines. 

Eureka  Vibrator  Company,  New  York,  is  exhibiting  a 
number  of  vibratory  massage  machines  for  operation  from 
central-station  or  battery  circuits. 

Eureka  Vacuum  Cleaner  Company,  New  York,  is 
demonstrating  its  various  household  vacuum  cleaners. 

Federal  Sign  System  Electric,  Chicago,  111.,  makes  a 
display  of  sample  signs,  as  well  as  an  electric  power  table 
for  kitchen  use. 

General  Acoustic  Company,  New  York,  is  showing 
dictagraphs  and  an  acousticon  with  electrically  controlled 
sound  regulation. 

,  General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  has  an 
elaborate  display  of  heating  apparatus,  incandescent  lamps 
and  general  household  devices. 

General  Motors  Truck  Company,  Pontiac,  Mich.,  is 
showing  the  chassis  of  a  5-ton  truck,  the  battery  of  which 
is  carried  above  the  frame. 

General  Vehicle  Company,  Long  Island  City,  N.  Y., 
exhibits  a  number  of  commercial  trucks,  together  with  an 
industrial  truck  for  dock  use. 

Gould  Storage  Battery  Company,  Depew,  N.  Y.,  has 
on  display  a  number  of  its  batteries,  together  with  sample 
plates. 

Grosser  Knitting  Machine  Company,  New  York,  is  ex- 
hibiting foreign-made  hosiery  machinery. 


794 


ELECTRICAL     \V  O  R  L  D  , 


Vol.  6o.  Xo.  15. 


GuDEMAN  &  Company.  New  York,  exhibits  all  kinds  of 
electric  flowers  for  decorative  purposes. 

Hahirshaw  Wire  Company,  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  displays  in 
its  booth  boards  showing  samples  of  its  wires,  cables,  etc. 

Wallace  B.  Hart,  New  York,  shows  in  operation  a 
Copeman  automatic  electric  cook  stove  and  a  Dodge  &  Zuill 
easy  motor  washer. 

Helion  Electric  Company,  Newark,  N.  J.,  is  demon- 
strating its  electric  toasters,  irons  and  cigar  lighters  re- 
cently placed  on  the  market. 

Hurley  Machine  Company,  New  York,  has  on  exhibi- 
tion a  complete  electric  home  laundry,  comprising  "Thor" 
washing  machines,  an  electric  drier  and  an  ironing  machine. 
In'dependent  Electrical  Supply  Company,  New  York, 
which  handles  a  complete  line  of  electrical  devices,  dis- 
tributes literature  on  its  appliances  from  its  booth. 

H.  W.  Johns-Manville  Company,  New  York,  is  making 
a  demonstration  of  the  "Audit^ren-Singrun"  refrigerating 
machine,  together  with  a  number  of  its  asbestos  and  elec- 
trical specialties, 

Kalor  Company,  New  York,  shows  an  instantaneous  hot 
water  heater. 

Kinetic  Engineering  Company.  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  is 
making  a  display  of  electric  organ  blowing  apparatus. 

Lansden  Company,  Newark,  N.  J.,  is  showing  the  chassis 
of  a  1913  model  l-ton  gear-driven  truck;  a  combination 
flushing,  sprinkling  and  road-oiling  wagon,  and  a  large 
truck  equipped  with  a  bottle  crowning  machine. 

Lighting  Studios  Company,  New  York,  is  showing  a 
full  line  of  moonstone  glass  reflectors,  diffusing  spheres  and 
decorative  globes. 

Mail-Om-Meter  Company,  Detroit,  is  displaying  elec- 
trically driven  sealing,  counting  and  stamping  machines  for 
office  purposes. 

Meacham  Addressing  Machine  Company,  New  York, 
has  an  exhibit  of  addressing  and  wrapping  machines. 

Metropolitan  Engineering  Company,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
exhibits  meter  and  service  protective  devices,  high-tension 
fuses  and  cut-outs,  and  protectors  for  transformer  secondary 
networks. 

Mead-Morrison  Manufacturing  Company,  New  York, 
exhibits  a  %-ton  orange  peel  grab  bucket,  connected  to  a 
double-drum  electric  hoist. 

Monarch  Vacuum  Cleaner  Company,  New  York,  has  a 
number  of  demonstrators  pointing  out  the  advantages  of  its 
vacuum  cleaners,  which  are  shown  in  operation. 

Philip  Morris  &  Company,  Ltd.,  New  York  and  London, 
is  exhibiting  a  miniature  tobacco  plantation  and  cigarette 
factorv  and  a  complete  line  of  its  products. 

y.  L.  Mott  Iron  Works,  New  Y'ork.  has  on  exhibition  a 
number  of  lighting  standards  for  luminous  arcs,  inclosed 
arcs  and  tungsten  lamps. 

National  Electric  Lamp  Association,  Cleveland.  Ohio, 
displays  samples  of  its  products,  ranging  from  miniature  to 
large  incandescent  lamps. 

New  York  Electrical  School,  New  York,  is  showing 
photographs  of  the  school  and  exhibits  of  work  done  by 
the  pupils. 

New  York  Steam  Service  Company,  New  York,  is  ex- 
hibiting photographs  of  buildings  furnished  by  steam  from 
its  mains  and  managed  by  its  supervision  bureau. 

Nelson  Valve  Company,  Philadelphia.  Pa.,  displays  an 
assortment  of  valves  of  all  sizes. 

Dr.  Emilio  Olson  is  exhibiting  a  model  of  his  scientific 
farm, 

Otis  Elevator  Company,  Y'onkers,  N.  Y.,  demonstrates 
its  reversible  inclined  elevator  for  carrying  either  passen- 
gers or  freight  from  floor  to  floor  in  either  direction. 

Pass  &  Seymour,  Inc..  Solvay,  N.  Y.,  displays  a  sample 
l)oard  on  which  are  mounted  P.  &  S.  key  and  keyless  sockets 
and  lighting  specialties. 

Private  Estate  Coffee  Company,  New  York,  has  elec- 
tric cofifee  roasters  and  grinders  in  operation. 


Philauelphfa  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company, 
Philadelphia,  Pa,,  exhibits  a  number  of  its  thin-plate  bat- 
teries. 

Regina  Company,  Rahway,  N.  J,,  is  exhibiting  four 
models  of  the  Regina  vacuum  cleaner,  two  of  which  are 
motor  driven. 

Rex  Sales  Company,  New  York,  in  its  booth  shows  the 
various  goods  manufactured  by  the  Vulcan  Electric  Heat- 
ing Company,  the  washing  machines  of  the  Brokaw-Eden 
Manufacturing  Company  and  the  L.  B.  Allen  soldering 
pastes, 

RONEO  Co.mpany,  New  York,  has  an  exhibit  of  office 
equipment,  including  a  motor-driven  letter  copier. 

Rosenfield  Manufacturing  Company,  New  York,  is 
demonstrating  the  "Magic"  electric-suction  cleaner. 

Runkel  Brothers  (Inc.),  New  York,  are  showing 
chocolate  making  and  wrapping  machinery  in  operation. 

Shannon  Manuf.\cturing  Company,  New  Y'ork,  is 
showing  domestic  laundry  equipment,  including  washers, 
dryers  and  irons. 

Shelton  Electric  Company,  New  York,  is  exhibiting 
its  various  vibratory  massage  machines,  hair  dryers  and 
therapeutic  devices. 

Simplex  Electric  Heating  Company,  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  through  its  New  Y'ork  agent,  Mr.  Roger  Williams, 
makes  a  comprehensive  display  of  its  electric  heating  and 
cooking  apparatus. 

Standard  Electric  Incubator  Company,  New  Y'ork, 
lias  a  line  of  electric  incubators  and  some  of  its  live 
products  on  exhibition. 

Stock  Quot.\tion  Telegraph  Company,  New  York,  is 
showing  a  number  of  tickers  in  operation  on  its  regular 
circuits. 

Straight  Fil.\ment  Lamp  Company,  New  Y'ork,  dis- 
plays, in  addition  to  its  lamps,  different  types  of  reflectors 
and  fixtures, 

Studebaker  Corporation,  South  Bend,  Ind.,  has  on  ex- 
hibition a  5-ton  truck  and  a  looo-lb.  delivery  wagon,  in 
addition  to  a  1913  2-ton  model. 

Terry*  Steam  Turbine  Company,  Hartford,  Conn,, 
shows  small  vertical  and  horizontal  steam  turbines  con- 
nected to  motors  and  the  rotor  of  a  turbine  unit. 

William  Truswell  &  Son,  New  York,  are  showing 
photographs  of  electrical  contracting  work  done  by  them. 

Twin  Volute  Pump  &  M.\nufacturing  Company', 
Irvington,  N.  J,,  is  showing  a  number  of  motor-driven 
turbine  pumps. 

Universal  Electric  Welding  Company,  New  York, 
has  on  display  a  number  of  Thomson  welding  machines,  in 
addition  to  a  display  board  containing  samples  of  welded 
products, 

Vacuna  Sales  Company,  New  Y'ork,  is  demonstrating 
the  "Vacuna"  turbine  vacuum  cleaner,  which  is  fitted  with 
a  "universal"  motor. 

Wagner  Electric  Manufacturing  Company',  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  is  displaying  the  Wagner  converter  for  charging 
storage  batteries,  a  rectifier  for  automobile  lighting  and 
ignition  sets,  in  addition  to  its  unity  power  factor  single- 
phase  motor,  and  a  line  of  switchboard  and  portable  in- 
struments. 

Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
Pittsburgh,  Pa,,  exhibits  a  complete  line  of  heating  de- 
vices for  both  industrial  and  domestic  use,  small  motors, 
incandescent  lamps,  etc. 

Weston  Electrical  Instrument  Company,  Newark, 
N,  J.,  shows  a  complete  array  of  portable  and  miniature  in- 
struments, switchboard  meters  and  instrument  trans- 
formers. 

Ward  Motor  Vehicle  Company,  New  York,  is  display- 
ing an  electric  delivery  wagon. 

Xanthos  Candy  Company,  Jamaica,  L.  I.,  is  giving 
samples  of  its  candv  and  is  operating  a  motor-driven  candy 
puller. 


OCTOBKR    12,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL     VV  (J  R  L  D  . 


;95 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


THE  general  trade  situation  continues  to  improve  at 
the  same  liigii  rate  that  has  characterized  its  ad- 
vancement during  the  past  few  months.  Demand 
for  early  delivery  is  being  made  of  manufacturers  of  all 
lines  of  material.  One  of  the  most  encouraging  features  of 
recent  weeks  is  the  more  uniform  state  of  activity  shown  in 
all  parts  of  the  country.  Bank  clearings  last  week  were  the 
largest  since  those  in  the  week  ended  Jan.  6,  1910.  Car 
shortage  is  being  commented  upon  very  freely.  A  distinct 
tone  of  enthusiasm  and  progress  is  noticeable  in  reports 
from  many  branches  of  the  electrical  industry.  Business 
conditions  in  the  majority  of  localities  served  with  electrical 
energy  from  the  mains  of  Byllesby  properties  are  reported 
as  very  promising,  and  substantial  increases  are  being  made 
in  the  rates  of  new  business  secured  by  the  various  com- 
panies. Local  second-hand  dealers,  contractors,  manufac- 
turers and  dealers  in  electrical  equipment,  as  noted  below, 
are  receiving  a  much  better  volume  of  inquiries  at  present 
than  in  the  past  few  months,  and  gains  are  shown  in  the 
business  of  the  General  Electric,  Western  Electric  and 
Allis-Chalrners  companies.  The  September  report  of  the 
Copper  Producers"  Association  showed  a  marked  increase 
in  surplus  stocks,  which  may  be  regarded  in  a  favorable 
light,  as  it  may  prove  a  means  of  reducing  prices  for  the 
metal  to  levels  that  will  be  attractive  to  consumers. 


AUis-Chalmers    Company    Makes    Favorable    Showing. — 

The.  reorganization  committee  of  the  AUis-Chalmers  Com- 
pany has  sent  to  the  holders  of  certificates  of  deposit  for 
the  company's  first  mortgage  bonds  and  preferred  and  com- 
mon stock  a  report  covering  operations  of  the  company 
from  Jan.  i  to  Aug.  31,  1912.  After  deducting  costs  of 
operation,  maintenance  and  depreciation,  excepting  interest 
on  bonds,  this  shows  profits  for  June  of  $25,642;  for  July  of 
$66,984,  and  for  August  of  $48,471.  The  average  monthly 
sales  billed  during  the  last  three  months  exceeded  the  av- 
erage of  the  first  five  months  by  17  per  cent.  The  average 
monthly  orders  booked  for  these  three  months  exceeded 
the  average  of  the  first  five  months  by  64  per  cent.  Un- 
filled orders  on  hand  at  various  dates  were  as  follows: 
Dec.  31.  191 1,  $3,453,085;  May  31,  1912,  $3,689,506;  and  Aug. 
31,  1912,  $5,195,669.  Otto  H.  Falk,  the  receiver,  advises 
that  overhead,  administration  and  selling  expenses  have 
been  redvtced  by  an  average  of  about  $40,000  a  month  as 
compared  with  those  in  the  last  few  years.  A  report  of  the 
company's  financial  condition  as  of  Aug.  31,  1912,  made 
by  the  receiver,  shows  current  assets  of  $9,526,954,  of  which 
$1,480,798  is  cash;  $4,328,779  inventories,  and  $3,717,377  is 
in  accounts  receivable.  The  total  liabilities  are  given  as 
$-',198,779,  leaving  a  surplus  of  $7,328,175.  This  is  $198,000 
in  excess  of  that  reported  by  the  company  on  Dec.  31,  1911. 
In  conclusion  the  committee  states:  "The  foreclosure  suits 
in  the  various  jurisdictions  are  all  at  issue  and  will  be 
pressed  for  decrees  of  foreclosure  and  sale  as  early  as  prac- 
ticable." Deposits  with  the  committee  as  of  Oct.  7  comprise 
93.4  per  cent  of  the  bonds,  87.7  per  cent  of  the  preferred 
stock,  and  86.7  per  cent  of  the  common. 

Westinghouse  Machine  Financing. — A  plan  has  been  sub- 
mitted by  President  George  Westinghouse  to  holders  of 
the  Westinghouse  Machine  Company's  $4,605,000  extension 
notes  to  exchange  these  for  thirty-year  6  per  cent  bonds 
dated  Nov.  i,  1910.  This  plan  was  agreed  upon  at  a  meet- 
ing attended  by  creditors  of  the  company,  the  chairman  of 
the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company 
and  President  Westinghouse,  representing  $2,000,000  of 
the  outstanding  notes.  It  will  become  effective  when  85  per 
cent  of  the  holders  give  their  consent.  The  management 
feels  certain  that  enough  noteholders  to  make  the  plan 
effective  will  accept.  President  Westinghouse  has  stated 
that  he  will  purchase  $1,000,000  of  the  thirty-year  bonds,  in 
order  to  provide  the  company  with  more  capital.  He  also 
stated  that  if  the  plan  becomes  effective  the  company  will 
be  capable  of  earning  in  addition  to  its  interest  and  sink- 
ing fund   requirements,   an   amount  available   for   dividends 


of  6  per  cent  or  mure,  on  its  capital  stock.  In  announcing 
the  plan,  Mr.  Westinghouse  stated  that  during  the  past 
five  years  the  machine  company  has  been  handicapped  by 
lack  of  working  capital,  and  that  it  has  not  been  able,  on 
this  account,  to  enjoy  all  of  the  benefits  that  would  result 
from  co-operation  with  the  Westinghouse  F^lectric  &  Man- 
ufacturing Company  in  the  production  and  sale  of  turbo- 
generator sets.  He  stated  further  that  the  chairman  and 
directors  of  the  electric  company  in  view  of  the  advantages 
to  the  latter  of  such  co-operation,  have  recommended  to 
such  of  those  in  the  electric  company  who  hold  notes  of 
the  machine  company  that  they  accept  the  refunding  plan. 

Second-Hand  Dealers  Active. — "Second-liand  machinery 
IS  in  far  greater  demand  at  present  than  it  has  been  at  any 
time  in  the  past  three  years,"  said  a  member  of  one  of  the 
well-known  firms  of  second-hand  dealers  this  week  upon 
returning  from  a  trip  to  several  of  the  trade  centers.  "In- 
quiries for  generating  equipment  and  motors  are  being  re- 
ceived from  all  sorts  of  manufacturing  plants  all  over  the 
country,"  he  continued,  "which  is  a  rather  good  indication 
of  general  trade  expansion.  The  policy  of  retrenchment 
has  been  followed  so  closely  in  the  past  few  years  that  now 
that  trade  revival  is  taking  place,  many  manufacturing 
plants  are  being  severely  taxed  by  the  demands  upon  them. 
Manufacturers  are  finding  it  imperative  to  install  additional 
equipment  in  order  to  increase  production.  In  other  words, 
general  business  is  expanding  so  rapidly  that  manufac- 
turers are  turning  in  large  numbers  to  the  second-hand 
dealers  to  get  apparatus  which  the  machinery  builders  can- 
not deliver  as  early  as  wanted  by  reason  of  being  already 
crowded  with  orders.  Prices  are  naturally  very  good  at 
present.  During  my  trip  I  found  some  shortage  of  labor  in 
several  localities,  a  very  cheerful  attitude  and  a  general 
demand  for  early  delivery  of  all  kinds  of  materials  in  all 
the  places  I  visited." 

Western   Electric's   Business   Shows  3   Per  Cent   Gain. 

The  business  of  the  Western  Electric  Company  for  the  nine 
months  of  the  present  year  shows  a  gain  of  3  per  cent 
over  that  in  the  corresponding  period  of  1911.  If  this  rate 
continues  gross  business  of  the  company  this  year  will  be 
about  $67,000,000.  An  officer  of  the  company  is  quoted  as 
saying:  "The  business  of  the  Western  Electric  Company 
has  not  felt  any  of  the  large  expansion  that  the  other  elec- 
trical companies  have  been  and  are  experiencing,  but  is  ' 
showing  a  quiet  and  steady  growth  over  that  of  last  year, 
which  seems  to  be  quite  in  line  with  all  that  was  expected 
of  this  year  by  the  officers  of  the  company."  There  are 
now  about  22,000  people  on  the  payrolls.  The  company  is 
now  making  preparations  for  the  extensive  business  which 
is  expected  in  1913. 

Wisconsin    Gas    &    Electric    Company's    Officers. J.    D. 

Mortimer,  president  of  the  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway 
&  Light  Company,  is  president  of  the  Wisconsin  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  which  as  noted  in  these  columns  last 
week  has  been  incorporated  in  Wisconsin  as  a  holding 
company  for  properties  of  the  North  American  Company 
in  Illinois  and  Wisconsin,  outside  of  Milwaukee.  Robert 
Sealy,  sales  manager  of  the  Milwaukee  company,  is  secre- 
tary of  the  new  concern.  The  capitalization  of  the  new 
company,  $1,200,000,  is  slightly  more  than  the  sum  of  cap- 
ital stock  of  the  constituent  companies,  the  increase  hav- 
ing been  made  for  the  purpose  of  building  up  the  prop- 
erties. 

Production  of  Tungsten  in  1911. — There  was  a  consid- 
erable decrease  in  the  production  of  tungsten  ore  last  year, 
according  to  a  report  just  issued  by  the  United  States' 
Geological  Survey.  The  falling-off  is  attributed  to  decrease 
in  the  demand  for  tool  steels,  in  which  the  bulk  of  the 
tungsten  produced  is  used.  The  production  of  tungsten 
ore  in  igii  amounted  to  1,139  short  tons,  valued  at  $407,985, 
as  compared  with  1,821  short  tons  in  1910,  valued  at  $832,- 
992.  Only  a  few  tons  of  tungsten  ore  are  used  annually 
for  incandescent-lamp  filaments.  The  report  calls  atten- 
tion to  the  growing  use  of  tungsten  in  electric  furnaces, 
electric  contacts  and  in  targets  for  Roentgen  rays. 


796 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


Insull  Interests  Said  to  Have  Purchased  National  Light, 
Heat  &  Power  Company. — It  is  believed  that  Samuel  Insull 
and  his  associates  in  the  public  utility  field  have  purchased 
the  National  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company,  30  Pine 
Street,  New  York,  although  an  officer  of  that  company 
would  neither  confirm  nor  deny  the  report  this  week.  The 
company's  properties,  many  of  which  are  in  localities  near 
those  in  which  the  public  utilities  are  owned  by  the  sev- 
eral Insull  companies  are:  the  Charleston  (111.)  Illuminat- 
ing Company;  City  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Paris,  111.; 
Jerseyville  (111.)  Illuminating  Company;  Lexington  (Mo.) 
Gas  &  Electric  Company:  Marshall  (Mo.")  Light.  Heat  & 
Power  Company;  Pana  (111.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company; 
Taylorville  (111.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company:  Central  In- 
diana Lighting  Company,  Columbus,  Ind.,  and  the  Twin  State 
Gas  &  Electric  Company  which  operates  in  Hoosick  Falls, 
N.  Y.,  Dover,  N.  H.,  Bennington  and  Brattleboro,  Vt. 
The  National  company  has  an  authorized  capital  of 
$20,000,000  common  and  $10,000,000  S  per  cent  cumulative 
preferred  stock,  of  which  $2,010,600  and  $1,332,236,  respec- 
tively, are  outstanding.  Its  gross  earnings  in  191 1  were 
$895,906,  and  its  net  earnings,  $448,050.  The  surplus,  after 
dividends,  was  $160,682.  It  is  understood  that  the  property 
will  be  reorganized  by  the  new  owners. 

Substation  Equipment  for  Illinois  Traction  Company. — 

The  Illinois  Traction  Company,  with  executive  offices  at 
Peoria,  has  recently  placed  orders  with  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  for  transformers  for 
ten  substations  used  mostly  for  combined  electric-service 
and  electric-railway  operation.  These  substations  are  located 
at  Mindale,  Fithian,  Minooka,  Utica,  Spring  Valley,  Bloom- 
ington.  El  Paso,  Gridley,  Chenoa  and  Hudson,  111.  They 
will  contain  thirty  single-phase  transformers  ranging  from 
10  to  100  kva  in  rating.  All  of  the  transformers  are 
wound  for  33.000  volts  primary  and  2300  volts  secondary 
and  for  either  25  or  60  cycles,  depending  upon  available 
energy.  Each  of  these  transformer  substations  is  complete 
in  itself  with  electrolytic  lightning  arresters,  switchboard, 
etc.  Some  of  the  substations  are  equipped  with  automatic 
feeder  regulators. 

Demand  for  Ornamental  Lighting  Posts. — "The  volume 
of  inquiries  coming  into  our  office  has  increased  wonder- 
fully in  the  past  month  or  so  and  while  there  is  some 
disposition  to  postpone  the  closing  of  contracts,  the  out- 
look is  very  encouraging,"  said  the  head  of  a  lamppost 
house  this  week.  Commenting  further  upon  trade  condi- 
tions he  said,  "The  fact  that  the  inquiries  are  coming  from 
all  parts  of  the  country  is  one  of  the  most  promising  fea- 
tures of  the  situation.  We  find  that  inquiries  for  orna- 
mental clusters  of  the  three  and  five-light  types,  and  for 
the  luminous-arc  standard  predominate  at  present.  In- 
dividual sales  are  not  large,  but  the  orders  placed  by  mer- 
chants' associations,  civic  bodies,  etc.,  make  a  large  ag- 
gregate." 

Reports  of  Chicago  Elevated  Railways. — Owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  present  fiscal  year  covers  a  period  of  eighteen 
months  from  July  I,  191 1,  an  interim  report  was  furnished 
to  stockholders  of  the  Metropolitan  West  Side  Elevated 
Railway  Company  of  Chicago  for  the  six  months  ended 
June  30,  1912.  This  report  showed  gross  income  of  $1,501,- 
612;  net  income,  $728,860;  fixed  charges,  including  taxes, 
$538,653;  dividends  paid,  $130,618;  surplus,  $59-588.  A  sim- 
ilar interim  report  of  earnings  for  the  period  ended  June 
30,  1912,  was  furnished  to  stockholders  of  the  South  Side 
Elevated  Railroad  Company.  It  showed  gross  income  of 
$1,207,734;  net  income,  $499,664;  fixed  charges,  including 
taxes,   $352,074;   dividends   paid,   $127,872;    surplus,   $19,717. 

New  Officers  and  Directors  of  Bullock  Electric  Com- 
pany.— At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  stockholders  of  the 
Bullock  Electric  Company,  which  is  controlled  by  the 
AUis-Chalmers  Company,  held  at  Norwood,  Ohio,  last 
week,  O.  H.  Falk  and  Max  W.  Babb,  of  Milwaukee,  and 
E.  T.  Pardee,  E.  J.  Clyne  and  E.  R.  Knight,  of  Norwood, 
were  chosen  members  of  the  board  of  directors.  Otto  H. 
Falk,  receiver  of  the  Allis-Chalmers  Company,  was  chosen 
president,  and  E.  T.  Pardee  vice-president  and  general 
manager.  L.  F.  Bower  was  re-elected  secretary  and  treas- 
urer. Mr.  Falk  succeeds  Edward  D.  Adams,  of  New  York, 
as  president. 


To    Acquire    Pacific    Gas    &    Electric    of    Arizona. — The 

Western  Cities  Gas  &  Electric  Corporation  is  a  new  public 
utility  company  which  has  an  authorized  capital  of  $3,000,- 
000  in  7  per  cent  cumulative  preferred  stock  and  $7,000,000 
in  common  stock.  Of  these,  $500,000  of  the  preferred  and 
$700,000  of  the  common  are  outstanding.  The  new  con- 
cern is  to  acquire  the  capital  stock  of  the  Pacific  Gas  & 
Electric  Company  of  Arizona,  which  owns  and  operates  the 
gas  and  electric  properties  in  Phoenix,  Ariz.  W.  P.  Bon- 
bright  &  Company  are  offering  $500,000  of  the  preferred 
stock  of  the  Western  Cities  company. 

Public  Utility  Appraisals  in  Ohio. — The  Ohio  State  Tax 
Commission  made  an  increase  of  $4,976,610  in  the  valuation 
of  the  150  electric  light  and  power  plants  in  the  State  this 
year.  In  191 1  the  valuation  was  increased  from  $6,437,941 
to  $29,472,085,  and  this  year  the  figures  are  $34,420,895.  The 
largest  increase  was  in  the  case  of  the  Cleveland  Electric 
Illuminating  Company,  from  $11,555,000  to  $14,452,000. 
This,  as  recently  noted,  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  com- 
pany had  been  granted  authority  to  make  an  increase  in  its 
securities  to  cover  future  improvements. 

Changes  in  Personnel  of  Baltimore  Company. — At  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  stockholders  of  the  Consolidated 
Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  Baltimore,  on 
Oct.  7,  the  retiring  directors  were  re-elected.  The  mem- 
bership of  the  executive  committee  was  increased  at  a 
subsequent  meeting  of  the  board  from  seven  to  nine. 
Charles  E.  Clark,  of  New  York,  resigned  from  the  com- 
mittee. New  members  of  the  latter  are:  Charles  M.  Cohn 
and  Herbert  A.  Wagner,  vice-presidents,  and  John  L.  Bail- 
ey, treasurer. 

Walpole  Rubber  Company  Reincorporated. — On  Oct.  2 
the  Walpole  Rubber  Company  was  reincorporated  under 
the  laws  of  Massachusetts  as  the  Walpole  Tire  &  Rubber 
Company,  with  an  authorized  capital  of  $3,000,000  preferred 
and  $1,500,000  common  stock.  In  addition  to  its  mechan- 
ical rubber  products,  including  rubber  tires,  the  growth  of 
which  business  led  to  the  change  in  name,  the  company  is 
one  of  the  largest  manufacturers  of  insulating  tapes  and 
compounds   in   the   world. 

General  Gas  &  Electric's  Initial  Dividend. — An  initial 
dividend  at  the  rate  of  6  per  cent  per  annum  on  its  $1,300,- 
000  preferred  stock  has  been  declared  by  the  General  Gas 
&  Electric  Company  which  was  organized  in  June  last  by 
W.  S.  Barstow  &  Company,  50  Pine  Street,  New  York, 
as  noted  in  these  columns,  as  a  holding  company  for  pub- 
lic utility  properties  in  Vermont  and  Ohio.  A  reference  to 
new  equipment  purchased  for  this  company  appeared  in  the 
Electrical  World,  July  6,  page  72. 

United  States  Independent  Telephone  Suit  Ended. — Liti- 
gation over  the  losses  of  the  United  States  Independent 
Telephone  Company,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  has  been  ended 
by  an  agreement  through  which  investors  in  the  enter- 
prise will  receive  $1,500,000  or  about  58  per  cent  of  their 
losses.  The  directors  of  the  company  wil  contribute  the 
funds.  Attorneys  for  the  investors  will  receive  35  per  cent, 
or  $525,000  of  the  amount  recovered. 

General  Electric  Output  Increasing. — It  is  understood 
that  the  General  Electric  Company  is  doing  the  largest 
business  in  its  history,  and  that  its  gross  business  will 
closely  approach  $95,000,000  in  the  current  year.  New 
business  is  increasing  rapidly  in  all  of  the  company's 
lines.  About  50,000  men,  the  largest  number  in  its  history, 
are  now  employed  by  the  company. 

Pole  Dealer  Reports  Good  Year. — In  discussing  busi- 
ness conditions  recently,  a  lumber  dealer  who  has  been 
identified  with  the  untreated  wooden-pole  business  for  a 
number  of  years  stated  that  this  year's  pole  business  was 
much  better  than  that  in  recent  seasons.  All  branches  of 
the  lumber  industry,  he   said,  are  very  active. 

American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Earns  More. — The  re- 
port of  the  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  for 
the  twelve  months  ended  June  30,  1912,  shows  a  surplus 
available  for  dividends  of  $29,510,967,  as  compared  with 
$27,080,981   in  the  preceding  year. 

Puget  Sound  Traction,  Light  &  Power  to  Increase  Stock. 
• — A  special  meeting  of  the  Puget  Sound  Traction,  Light  & 
Power  Company  will  be  held  on  Oct.  16  to  authorize  an 
increase  of  $1,136,000  in  preferred  stock. 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


797 


Texas  Power  &  Light  Sells  Bonds. — As  was  noted  in 
tliese  columns  May  18,  1012,  a  numlier  of  the  properties  of 
the  American  Railway  &  Lighting  Company  in  and  near 
Waco,  Tex.,  were  sold  at  that  time  to  the  Electric  Bond 
&  Share  Company,  which  grouped  them,  with  several  others 
acquired  later,  as  noted  June  8,  into  the  new  concern 
known  as  the  Texas  Power  &  Light  Company.  This  com- 
pany has  an  authorized  common  stock  of  $10,000,000  of 
which  $8,500,000  is  outstanding,  and  $3,000,000  7  per  cent 
cumulative  preferred  stock  of  which  $1,400,000  is  outstand- 
ing. In  order  to  conservatively  provide  in  part  for  its  fu- 
ture financial  requirements,  the  authorized  issue  of  first 
mortgage  S  per  cent  bonds  was  made  $30,000,000.  Of  these 
$2,100,000  are  now  being  offered  jointly  by  Perry,  Coffin  & 
Burr,  of  Boston,  and  N.  W.  Harris  &  Company,  Inc.,  of 
New  York.  They  are  dated  June  i,  igi2,  are  due  June  i, 
1937,  and  are  optional  at  105  and  interest  on  any  interest 
date  (June  i  and  Dec.  i.)  on  or  after  June  i,  1917.  The 
company  furnishes  the  entire  commercial  electric  service 
in  Waco,  Sherman,  Paris.  Temple,  Tyler,  Cleburne,  Gaines- 
ville, Brownwood.  Waxahachie,  Hillsboro  and  Bonham;  the 
gas  business  in  Waco,  Paris,  Cleburne  and  Brownwood, 
and  the  municipal  lighting  in  all  of  these  communities  ex- 
cepting Sherman,  serving  a  population  of  approximately 
125,000.  Each  of  the  communities  now  served  by  the  com- 
pany has  its  own  generating  station,  the  aggregate  rated 
output  of  these  being  12,000  hp.  As  previously  noted,  a 
large  central  station  to  serve  the  unified  system  will  be 
built  by  the  company  in  Waco. 

Will  Sell  Telluride  Povyer  Company. — Stockholders  of 
the  Telluride  Power  Company  at  their  meeting  Oct.  2 
voted  to  dissolve  the  company  and  directed  the  officers  to 
take  the  necessary  steps  to  that  end.  A  resolution  was 
adopted  providing  for  the  sale  of  the  company  at  Telluride 
on  Nov.  18.  It  is  expected  that  the  Utah  Securities  Cor- 
poration, a  $30,000,000  company  that  is  being  formed  by 
Cleveland  interests,  will  purchase  the  property  at  the  sale. 
The  following  directors  and  officers  were  chosen  at  the 
meeting:  Directors — S.  A.  Bailey,  Salt  Lake;  James  Camp- 
bell, St.  Louis;  Markham  Cheever,  B.  A.  Cummings,  Otto 
Miller,  and  Charles  E.  Niles,  all  of  Cleveland;  P.  N.  Nnnn, 
Provo;  J.  R,  Nutt,  Cleveland;  Daniel  R.  Purdy,  New  York; 
P.  B.  Sawyer,  F.  F.  Steggmeyer,  Salt  Lake;  William  Story, 
Ouray;  George  P.  Thomas.  Officers — J.  R.  Nutt,  president; 
P.  B.  Sawyer,  vice-president  and  general  manager;  George 
Lomnitz,  Cleveland,  treasurer;  Charles  E.  Niles,  assistant 
treasurer;   David  T.  Perry,  Cleveland,  secretary. 

Contracting  Business  Expands. — "Our  business  is  much 
better  now  than  it  has  been  at  any  other  time  this  year, 
and  is  far  ahead  of  what  it  was  in  the  fall  of  191 1.  We  re- 
gard the  prospects  for  the  balance  of  the  year  as  decidedly 
bright,"  says  a  representative  of  a  large  New  York  firm 
of  electrical  contractors  and  consulting  engineers.  "There 
is  a  great  wave  of  new  business  sweeping  over  the  country, 
but  it  has  not  reached  this  city  yet  to  any  great  extent. 
We  are  doing  a  great  deal  of  installation  work  for  new 
buildings  in  the  Middle  West,  and  are  now  being  asked  to 
bid  on  a  larger  scale  nearer  home.  New  business  in  elec- 
trical contracting  in  Canada  is  also  looking  up.  Prices 
are  very  favorable,  and  while  competition  is  brisk,  price- 
cutting  is  not  so  general  as  it  has  been  in  the  past." 

Status  of  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company. — The  bal- 
ance sheet  of  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company  as  of 
Aug.  31,  1912,  shows  assets  as  follows:  Cash  on  hand  and 
in  banks,  $756,612;  accounts  receivable,  $61,166;  notes  re- 
ceivable, $1,861,915;  interest  accrued  receivable  $19,204; 
syndicate  holdings,  underwriting  and  advances,  $2,484,682; 
investments,  $4,806,445;  total,  $9,990,024.  Liabilities  are: 
Accounts  payable,  $14,586;  dividend  on  preferred  stock, 
due  Nov.  I,  $17,480;  syndicate  and  contingent  liabilities, 
$50,800;  reserves,  $93,756;  preferred  stock,  $3,500,000;  com- 
mon stock,  $3,500,000;  surplus  and  undivided  profits,  $2,813,- 
401 ;  total,  $9,990,024. 

Western  States  Gas  &  Electric  Bonds.— A  block  of 
$600,000  5  per  cent,  thirty-year  first  and  refunding  bonds  of 
the  Western  States  Gas  &  Electric  Company  have  been 
purchased  by  White,  Weld  &  Company  who  will  offer  them 
at  95  and  interest.  With  this  issue  the  company  has 
$3,548,000  of  these  bonds  outstanding.  The  proceeds  will 
be   used    in   meeting   part    of   an   expenditure    of   $1,142,000 


made  for  new  construction  and  improvements.  As  is  well 
known  the  company  operates  in  California  and  is  controlled 
through  stock  ownership,  by  the  Standard  Gas  &  Electric 
Company. 

Allis-Chalmers- Bullock  Company  Sold. — The  Canadian 
General  Electric  Company,  Ltd.,  lias  acquired  con.trol  of 
the  Allis-Chalmers-Bullock  Company,  which  has  a  manu- 
facturing plant  at  Rockfield  near  Montreal,  Can.,  according- 
to  advices  from  that  city.  The  Canadian  company  was 
controlled  at  one  time  by  the  Allis-Chalmers  Company  of 
Milwaukee,  but  the  latter  is  not  concerned   in  the  deal. 

Boston-Providence  Electrification  Assured. — The  stock- 
holders of  the  Boston  &  Providence  Railroad  voted  unani- 
mously, on  Oct.  9,  to  authorize  the  issue  of  bonds  to  elec- 
trify the  main  line  now  leased  by  the  New  York,  New 
Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad  between  the  above  cities,  re- 
ferred to  in  these  columns  Sept.  28. 

General  Electric  May  Build  a  Manufacturing  Plant  in 
Mobile. — It  is  reported  that  the  General  Electric  Company 
is  planning  to  build  a  new  branch  manufacturing  plant  in 
Mobile,  Ala. 


SEPTEMBER  STATEMENT  OF  COPPER   PRODUCERS'  ASSOCIATION. 

The  September  statement  of  the  Copper  Producers'  As- 
sociation, issued  on  Oct.  8,  compares  with  the  August 
statement   as   follows: 

r-September,   Pounds-^     , ^.^ugust.  Pounds , 

Stock     on     hand     in     the 

United    States    on    first 

of   month    46,701,374  50,280,421 

Production     140,089,819  145,628,521 

186,791,193  195,908,942 

Domestic     deliveries 63,460,810  78,722,418 

lixport     deliveries 60,264,796  70.485,150 

Total  deliveries    123,725,606  149,207,568 

Stocks    on     hand    at    the 

end  of  this  month 63,065,587  46,701,374 

NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET  PRICES. 

, Oct.  1 ,  , Oct.  9 » 

Copper:                                                                Bid.       .'\sked.  Bid.       Asked. 

Standard,    spot 17.25         ....  17.25         .... 

T       J                 .J                                        £        s      d  £        s     d 

London,  standard,  spot 78        17     6  77         2     6 

Prime    Lake 17.70  to  17.80  17.70tol7.75 

Electrolytic     17.70  to  17.75  17.70  to  17.75 

Casting    17. 60  to  17.65  17.50 

Copper  wire,  base 19.00  19.00 

Lead    5.10  5.10 

Nickel     45.00  45.00 

Sheet  zinc,   f.o.b.   smelter 9.00  9.00 

Spelter,    spot 7.65  7.65 

Tin,    spot 50.00  49.75 

.'Vluminum : 

Prompt    delivery 24.00  to  25.00  25.50  to  26.50 

Future  23. 50  to  24.50  25.00  to  26.00 

OLD  METALS. 

Heavy  copper  and  wire 16.50  17.00 

Brass,  heavy 10.50  10.25 

Brass,    light 8.75  8.75 

Lead,  heavy 4.75  4.75 

Zinc,    scrap 6.10  6.25 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  OCTOBER. 

Total  tons,  week  ending Oct.  8.  6,452 


INDUSTRIAL  SECURITIES. 


Security. 


Allis-Chalmers  t.  r.  1st  as- 
sess, paid 

Allis-Chalmers  pf 

Allis-Chalmers  pf.  t.  r.  1st 
assess,  paid 

Amalgamated  Copper 

American  Tel.  &  Tel 

Crocker- Wheeler,  c 

Crocker- Wheeler,  pf 

Electric  Storage  Battery ,c. 

Electric  Stor.  Battery,  pf. 

General  Electric 

Mackay  Cos.,  c 

Mackay  Cos.,  pf 

Western  Union  Tel 

Westinghouse  E.  &  M.,  c. 

Westinghouse.  E.&  M..  pf .  | 

*Last  price  quoted. 


Capital  Stock 
Listed. 


17,125,800 
2,083,800 

13,966,200 

153,887,900 

334,303,300 

1,700,000 

500,000 

16,074,425 

175,100 

77,726,700 

41,380,400 

50,000,000 

99,743,400 

31,685,300 

3,998.700 


Per  Cent. 


1 
2 

li 
li 


2 

11 
1 

3 
1 
IS 


Period. 


Q 
0 
Q 
Q 
0 
0 


Oct.  2 


i* 
2* 

t 
90  i 

144i 
89* 

105* 
56 

1821' 
88* 
68i 
81 
843 

124* 


Oct.  9 


3* 

3i 

i 

89f 
1433 

89* 
104* 

56i 

isii' 

87* 
68i* 
81i 
84J 
126* 


798 


ELECTRICAL     WO  R  [.  D 


Vol.  6o,  \'o. 


Personal 

Mr.  Nelson  Andrew  Eckart  has  joined  the  engineering 
forces  of  the  Oro  Electric  Corporation,  of  Oroville,  Cal., 
and  is  stationed  in  the  Humliug  Valley. 

Mr.  B.  H.  Strong,  formerly  with  the  Baraboo  (Wis.)  Gas 
.&  Electric  Company,  has  been  appointed  manager  of  the 
Antigo  (Wis.)   Gas  Company,  succeeding  Mr.  S.  Smith. 

Mr.  Theodore  Blech,  formerly  motor  service  agent  of  the 
Public  Service  Company  of  Northern  Illinois,  has  been 
made  superintendent  of  the  Waukegan  District  for  the 
same  company. 

Mr.  Renzo  Norza,  who  is  a  native  of  Milan,  Italy,  has 
resigned  his  position  in  the  examination  and  reports  de- 
partment of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  Chicago,  and  will 
return  to  Milan  to  take  up  private  engineering  practice. 

Mr.  Arthur  Hadley,  managing  director,  and  Mr.  Bernard 
Price,  cliief  engineer,  of  the  Victoria  Falls  &  Transvaal 
Power  Company,  of  South  Africa,  have  recently  arrived  in 
America,  and  will  visit  some  of  the  large  electric  power 
plants  in  this  country. 

Mr.  C.  Nesbitt  Duffy,  vice-president  and  comptroller  of 
The  IMihvaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company,  ad- 
dressed the  Milwaukee  company  section  of  the  .\merican 
Electric  Railway  Association,  on  Oct.  3,  on  the  subject  of 
electric  railway  valuation. 

Mr.  D.  E.  Clough,  formerly  with  the  Great  Western 
Power  Company,  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  in  charge  of  tlie 
Concord  District,  has  now  active  supervision  of  construc- 
tion of  the  two  hydroelectric  plants  of  the  Appalachian 
Power  Company  at  Pulaski,  \'a. 

Prof.  C.  A.  Adams,  of  the  department  of  electrical  en- 
gineering at  the  Harvard  Graduate  School  of  Engineering 
Research,  will  give  Prof.  D.  C.  Jackson's  lectures  at  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  during  the  latter's 
absence  aliroad.  as  noted  elsewhere. 

Mr.  Horace  Everett  Shedd,  formerly  general  superintend- 
ent of  the  Great  Western  Power  Company.  San  Francisco. 
Cal.,  has  been  appointed  general  superintendent  of  the  Ap- 
palachian Power  Company,  with  headquarters  at  Bluefield, 
\"a.  Mr.  Shcdd  was  at  the  head  of  the  construction  work 
of  both  systems. 

Mr.  B.  Magnus,  general  manager  of  the  Electrolytic  Re- 
fining &  Smelting  Company,  Port  Kemble,  Australia,  has 
been  appointed  general  manager  of  the  Mount  Morgan 
Gold  Mining  Company,  Queensland.  Mr.  Magnus  will 
continue  to  act  as  consulting  engineer  to  the  Electrolytic 
Refining  and  Smelting  Companj-. 

Mr.  Frederic  Austin  Warren  for  the  past  eleven  years 
chief  electrician  of  the  Colorado  Fuel  &  Iron  Company, 
died  at  Canon  City,  Colo.,  on  September  18,  1912.  Prior  to 
his  connection  with  the  Colorado  Fuel  &  Iron  Company, 
he  was  employed  by  the  General  Electric  Company,  and 
later  served  as  electrician  at  the  Fremont  and  Coal  Creek 
mines. 

Mr.  H.  V.  Hayes,  consulting  engineer,  of  Boston,  Mass.. 
has  been  retained  by  the  English  telephone  companies, 
which  are  about  to  transfer  their  properties  to  the  Post 
Office  Department  of  the  English  Government.  Mr.  Hayes 
for  many  years  was  electrical  engineer  of  the  American 
Bell  Telephone  Company  and  later  of  the  American  Tele- 
phone &  Telegraph  Company. 

Mr.  Emil  C.  Braun,  who  has  been  connected  with  H.  M. 
Byllesby  &  Company  since  the  organization  of  the  com- 
pany in  1902,  addressed  the  Byllesby  Luncheon  Club  in 
Chicago  on  Oct.  2,  his  subject  being  "European  Utilities." 
Mr.  Braun  dwelt  upon  the  extent  to  which  electricity  is 
used  in  Europe  in  agriculture,  and  predicted  development 
in  the  United  States  in  this  direction. 

Mr.  James  Graham,  who,  for  the  past  ten  years,  has  been 
erecting  engineer  for  the  Canadian  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, has  accepted  the  position  of  general  superintendent 
of  the  Yarmouth  Street  Railway  Company,  Yarmouth.  N. 
S.  The  latter  company  operates  a  hydroelectric  plant  with 
an  18-mile,  22.ooo-volt  transmission  system  and  is  plan- 
ning  considerable   further   development. 

Mr.  L.  E.   Caldwell,  formerly  treasurer  of  the   Interstate 


Light  &  Power  Company,  Galena,  111.,  has  been  appointed 
manager  of  the  Iowa  City  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  which 
was  recently  purchased  by  the  United  Light  &  Railway 
Company  of  Chicago.  For  the  past  eight  years  Mr.  Cald- 
well has  been  connected  with  the  engineering  and  oper- 
ating departments  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company. 

Mr.  Joseph  L.  Bradfield,  contract  agent  of  the  Des  Moines 
(Iowa)  Electric  Company,  resigned  his  position,  Oct.  I, 
to  become  sales  engineer  for  the  National  X-ray  Reflector 
Company,  with  offices  at  Seattle,  Wash.  Mr.  Bradfield  is  a 
graduate  of  Purdue  University,  and  before  becoming  asso- 
ciated with  the  Des  Moines  company,  served  with  the 
.Southern  California  Edison  Company,  of  Los  Angeles. 

Mr.  Robert  L.  Jaynes,  retiring  Tenth  Jupiter  of  the 
Rejuvenated  Sons  of  Jove,  was  born  in  Quincy,  111.,  in 
1866,  to  which  his  family  had  moved  from  Spottsylvania 
County.  X'irginia.  He  began  active  life  as  an  electrician, 
locating  in  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  where  he  became  representative 
for  several  manufacturers  of  electrical  supplies.  Before 
being  selected  as  the  chief  officer  of  the  Jovians  he  was 
statesman  of  the  order  for  the   Pittsburgh  district. 

Prof.  D.  C.  Jackson,  head  of  the  department  of  electrical 
engineering  at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
has  been  granted  a  leave  of  absence  until  Jan.  i,  to  accept 
the  invitation  of  the  Post  Office  Department  of  the  English 
Government  to  advise  it  in  connection  with  the  govern- 
ment purchase  of  the  telephone  systems.  Prof.  Jackson  has 
l)een  in  consultation  with  the  English  officials  on  this  same 
matter  on  several  previous  occasions,  .-^bout  1500  telephone 
exchanges  and  half  a  million  subscribers,  involving  a  cap- 
italization of  $60,000,000,  are   concerned   in  the   transaction. 

Mr.  Louis  Cohen  has  recently  severed  his  connection  with 
the  National  Electric  Signalling  Company,  where  he  was 
chief  of  the  research  department  and  also  had  charge  of 
the  Brant  Rock  station.  He  is  now  engaged  temporarily 
in  carr3-ing  on  some  private  researches  in  wireless  com- 
munication at  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  experi- 
menting with  the  Poulsen  set  which  was  presented  to  the 
institution  by  Mr.  Gano  Dunn,  past  president  of  the  A.  L 
E.  E.  Prior  to  becoming  associated  with  the  National 
company  Mr.  Cohen  was  connected  for  four  years  with 
the  National  Bureau  of  Standards,  some  of  the  publications 
of  which  appeared  under  his  avithorship. 

Mr.  Hugh  L.  Cooper,  vice-president  and  chief  engineer  of 
the  Mississippi  River  Power  Company,  which  is  making 
the  hydroelectric  development  at  Keokuk,  Iowa,  is  the  sub- 
ject of  a  eulogy  by  Mr.  William  Marion  Reedy  in  the  St. 
Louis  Mirror  of  Oct.  3.  Mr.  Reedy  was  one  of  the  person- 
ally conducted  party  of  St.  Louisans  taken  to  the  Keokuk 
dam  and  power  house  by  Mr.  A.  C.  Einstein,  vice-president 
of  the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  on  Sept. 
28.  He  was  much  impressed  by  Mr.  Cooper  and  his  work 
evidently,  for  he  wrote  of  both  with  appreciation  and  dis- 
cernment, .\  rather  unusual  angle  of  estimate  is  shown  by 
the  following  extract:  "I  do  not  doubt  that  every  man  who 
was  Mr.  Einstein's  guest  last  Saturday  at  Keokuk  thinks 
better  of  all  men  as  the  result  of  the  touch  with  Mr.  Hugh 
L.  Cooper  and  his  work,  and  feels  that  there  is  something 
much  to  say  for  corporations  that  give  play  for  such 
achievement  and  direct  its  energies  into  the  amelioration  of 
life  for  multitudes  who  may  never  give  a  thought  to  their 
ministrants  save  in  complaint  or  condemnation  that  serv- 
ice has  to  be  paid  for." 


Obituary 


Dr.  Morris  Loeb,  president  of  the  New  York  Chemists 
Club,  died  on  Oct.  8  at  his  summer  home,  Seabright,  N.  J., 
of  typhoid-pneumonia.  Dr.  Loeb,  who  was  born  in  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio,  May  23.  1863.  was  graduated  from  Harvard 
College  in  i883  with  the  degree  of  A.B.,  and  the  University 
of  Berlin  in  1887.  He  had  been  prominently  identified 
with  the  chemical  industry,  and  it  was  due  in  a  large  meas- 
ure to  his  untiring  zeal  that  the  present  building  of  the 
Chemist  Club  became  a  reality.  He  was  a  leading  spirit 
in  many  of  the  most  prominent  chemical  associations  in 
this  country  and  abroad,  in  which  he  has  served  in  various 
official  capacities.  Many  charitable  organizations  also 
were  benefited  by  his  association  with  them. 


October  ij,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


799 


Construction 


ATTALLyN,  ALA. — The  Alabama  Pwr.  Devel.  Co.,  Gadsden,  has  taken 
over  the  property  of  the  Etowah  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  $40,000.  The 
Alabama  Co.  is  planning  to  raise  the  dam  on  Willis  Creek  about  10 
ft.,  increasing  the  output  of  the  plant  from   1500  hp  to  2000  hp. 

DECATUR,  ALA. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of 
an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  Decatur  and  New  Decatur.  It 
is  expected  that  the  system   will  connect  both  cities. 

(JLOBE,  ARIZ. — Irving  G.  Harris,  engineer,  who  has  charge  of  the 
erection  of  the  electric  transmission  line  from  the  Roosevelt  dam  to 
the  Inspiration  and  Miami  mines,  states  that  three  power  plants  will  be 
erected  in  the  Salt  River  Valley  to  supply  electricity  for  pumping,  drain- 
age, irrigating  and  lighting  purpose  in  the  valley. 

MIAMI,  ARIZ. — The  Board  of  Supervisors  has  granted  a  franchise 
for  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  to  extend  from  Miami  to  Globe. 
M.  N.   Amnster,  of   Boston,   Mass.,  is  interested. 

LITTLE  ROCK,  ARK.— The  Little  Rock  Ry.  &  El.  Co.  has  applied  to 
the  Council  for  a  franchise  to  extend  its  Highland  Park  line  to  the 
Nineteenth  Street  pike  in  the  vicinity  of  the  penitentiary. 

ALAMEDA,  CAL. — The  Electric  Light  Commission  has  accepted  the 
plans  of  M.  C.  Couchot  for  a  new  power  house  for  the  municipal  electric- 
light  plant.  The  new  building  will  be  erected  on  the  site  of  the  present 
plant.     A  large  amount  of  new  machinery  will  be  installed. 

ALLEGHANY,  CAL. — The  Bear  Creek  Mining  Co.  has  made  arrange- 
ments with  the  Middle  Yuba  Hydro-Electric  Co.  for  the  erection  of  a 
transmission  line  from  its  substation  here  to  the  mine  on  Bear  Creek, 
a  distance  of  6  miles.  Electrical  equipment  for  the  mine  has  been 
ordered. 

EUENA  VISTA,  CAL. — The  City  Council  has  awarded  the  Fulton 
El.  Co.  the  contract  for  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant.  The  cost 
of  the   plant  is  estimated  at  about  $4,375. 

GREENVILLE.  CAL.— The  Indian  Valley  EI.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  ap 
plied  to  the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to  build  a  hydro- 
electric power  plant  in  North  Canyon  to  use  the  water  impounded  in 
Kound   Valley   reservoir. 

MARTINEZ,  CAL.— The  Oakland,  Antioch  &  Eastern  Ry.  Co.  is 
planning  to  build  a  branch  electric  line  to  Martinez,  a  distance  of  6 
miles,   as  soon   as  the  main   line  is  completed. 

OAK  PARK,  CAL. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  State  Railroad 
Commission  by  the  Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  North  Sacramento 
Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  for  an  order  permitting  the  former  to  purchase  the 
distributing  system  of  the  latter  in  Oak  Park  for  $9,000. 

REDWOOD  CITY,  CAL.— The  City  Council  has  adopted  a  preliminary 
resolution,  to  submit  a  proposition  to  issue  $6,000  in  bonds  for  improve- 
ments to  the  street-lighting  system  to  the  voters. 

RIVERSIDE,  CAL.— The  Pacific  El.  Ry.  Co.  is  planning  to  rebuild 
the  Riverside  and  Arlington  branch. 

RIVERSIDE,  CAL. — The  City  Council  has  engaged  Burns  &  McDon- 
ald, Kansas  City,  Mo.,  to  make  surveys  of  the  Baldwin  power  site  in  the 
San  Bernardino  Mountains  with  a  view  of  developing  same  to  supply 
power  to  operate  the  municipal   electric-light  plant. 

SNOWDEN,  CAL. — .-\rrangements  are  being  made  to  install  a  small 
hydroelectric  power  plant  to  operate  a  small  stamp  mill  at  the  Home- 
stake  Mine  in  Siskiyou  County. 

STOCKTON,  CAL. — Plans  are  nearly  completed  for  the  construction 
of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  Electric  Railway  from  Stockton  to  Modesto, 
via  Manteca,  Ripon,  Salida  and  Woods  Colony,  a  distance  of  about  50 
miles. 

UPL.\NDS,  CAL. — Plans  are  being  made  to  give  the  local  electric- 
light  system  a  general  overhauling  and  to  install  several  electroliers  in 
the   business  district. 

WILLOWS,  CAL. — Preparations  are  being  made  to  erect  electroliers 
in   the  business  district  of  the   city. 

BOULDER,  COL. — Four  propositions  for  a  renewal  of  the  street- 
lighting  contract  and  a  renewal  of  the  light  and  railway  franchise  sub- 
mitted by  the  Northern  Colorado  Pwr.  Co.  to  the  City  Council  recently 
have  been  rejected  and  a  committee  was  authorized  to  advertise  for  bids 
on  the  construction  of  a  balance  reservoir,  power  house,  and  substation 
for  a  municipal  electric-light  plant;  also  for  bids  on  a  bond  issue  of 
$40,000  authorized  by  the  taxpayers  at  the  election  in  April,   1909. 

CRIPPLE  CREEK,  COL. — Preliminary  estimates  have  been  made  by 
the  Cripple  Creek  Drainage  &  Tunnel  Co.  for  construction  of  a  hydro- 
electric power  plant  near  the  portal  of  the  Roosevelt  deep  tunnel  to 
utilize  the  water  power  to  generate  electricity  for  the  mines. 

JOHNSTOWN,     COL.— George     H.     Sethman,     of  Denver,     has    been 

granted   a   franchise  to  operate  an   electric-light  plant  for  a  period   of  25 

years.     The   town   reserves  the  right  to  purchase  the  system  at  any  time 
at  the  original  cost   of  installation. 

MINTURN.  COL.— The  Chowchilla  Ranch  Co.  contemplates  building 
an  electric  railway  to  connect  Minturn  and  its  property  with  the  Tide- 
water and  Southern  railroad,  a  distance  of  16  miles. 

ANSONIA,  CONN. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Ansonia  Business 
.Men's    Association    for    the    installation    of    an    ornamental    street-lighting 


system    on   Main    Street.      F.    T.    Terry,   C.    F.    O'Brien   and   John    Walsh 
are  members  of  the  committee  appointed  to  look  into  the  matter. 

EAST  HAMPTON,  CONN.— The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  East  Had- 
dam  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co..  which  supplies  electricity  in  East  Hampton  and 
Moodus,  has  been  purchased  by  a  Providence,  R.  I.,  concern,  which 
contemjilates  raising  the  dam  in  the  Salmon  River  at  Lecsville,  and  en- 
larging the   plant. 

NEWARK,  DEL. — .Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  Elk  River 
Ht.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  to  place  its  plant  near  Cowentown  in  operation 
again.  Work  will  soon  begin  on  repairing  the  dam  which  was  washed 
away  a  few  months  ago.  The  company  proposes  to  extend  its  transmis- 
sion  lines    to    West   Grove   and   Avondale,    Pa. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— The  directors  of  the  ,-\rlington  El.  Lt.  Co., 
Clarendon,  Va.,  the  Braddock  Lt.  Co.  and  the  Braddock  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.,  Braddock,  Va.,  have  voted  to  consolidate  with  the  Maryland  & 
Virginia  R.   R.   Co. 

-\UBURNDALE,  FLA. — The  question  of  granting  a  franchise  for  the 
installation  of  electric-light  and  ice  plant  and  water-works  system  here  is 
reported  to  be  under  consideration. 

L.MsELAND,  FLA.^The  citizens  residing  around  Lake  HoUingsworth 
for  a  distance  of  3  miles  have  petitioned  the  City  Council  to  extend  the 
electric-light  system  around  the  lake  to  supply  electricity  in  that  district. 

S.\NFORD,  FLA.— The  Sanford  Mfg.  Co.  contemplates  the  installa- 
tion of  a  small  electric-light  plant  to  supply  electrical  service  in  Sanford. 

BOWDON,  G.\. — .At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to  issue 
$20,000  for  the  installation  of  light,  water  and  sewer  systems  was  carried. 

GUYTON,  G.\. — The  installation  of  electric-light  plant  and  water- 
works system  and  school  improvements  in  Guyton  is  under  consideration. 

V.\LDOSTA,  G.A. — The  Valdosta  St.  Ry.  Co.  will  soon  award  con- 
tracts  for  the  construction   of  a  belt  line  in   Valdosta. 

ID.-\  GROVE,  ID.'\HO. — The  installation  of  an  ornamental  street- 
lighting   system    here    is    under   consideration. 

N.AMPA,  ID.AHO. — ^Preparations  are  being   made  to  double   the  output 
of   the    Swan    Falls   power   plant,    now   owned    by   the    Mainland    interests. 
.\  transmission  line  will  be  erected  to  connect  the  Swan  Falls  plant  with  . 
the   irrigation   dtstrict   south   of   Mountainhome,    Idaho. 

.\LEDO,  ILL. — The  committee  of  the  Business  Men's  Association  has 
recommended  the  installation  of  66  ornamental  street  lamps  in  the  business 
district. 

.ALTON,  ILL. — The  Piasa  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  which  was  recently  granted 
a  franchise  here,  is  negotiating  for  the  purchase  of  a  site  from  the  Bluff 
Line  Railroad  for  its  proposed  power  house,  the  cost  of  which  is  esti- 
mated at  about  $90,000.  John  J.  Cummings,  of  Chicago,  111.,  is  interested 
in  the  company. 

BEECHER.  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  awarded  contracts  to  the 
International  Harvester  Co.  and  H.  E.  Kammann  for  the  installation  of 
the  electric-light  system  in  Beecher. 

CAMBRIDGE,  ILL. — The  capital  stock  of  the  Citizens'  Mutual  Tel. 
Co.    has  been   increased   from   $2,250   to   $5,000. 

CARLINVILLE,  ILL.— The  property  of  the  Carlinville  Tel.  Co.  and 
the  Macoupin  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  has  been  purchased  by  E.  S.  Street  and 
C.   B.  Cheadle,  both  of  Henry,  111. 

CARROLLTON,  ILL. — The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  is  planning 
to  rebuild  its  plant  in  this  city.  The  work  will  include  the  installation 
of  new  boilers,  new  machinery  and  rebuilding  transmission  lines.  Trans- 
mission lines  will  be  erected  south  through  Kane  to  Jerseyville,  north 
to  Roodhouse  and  west  to  Eldred.  The  company  is  reported  to  have 
secured  contracts  to  supply  power  for  the  drainage  district  on  the  Il- 
linois    River. 

DIXON,  ILL. — The  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Co.  has  decided  to 
build  a  large  power  plant,  to  cost  $1,000,000,  in  Dixon.  The  proposed 
plant  will  supply  electricity  in  30  cities  and  villages  where  the  company 
now   has   power   stations.      C.   A.   Munroe  is  general  manager. 

FAIRBURY,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Central  Illinois 
Utilities  Co.   a  30-year  franchise  to   operate  an  electric-light  system   here. 

GIBSON  CITY,  ILL. — Arrangements  have  been  made  by  James  Hood 
and  E.  L.  Allsbury  with  H.  L.  Clarke,  of  Chicago,  111.,  to  erect  a  trans- 
mission line  from  Gibson  City  to  Paxton,  to  furnish  electricity  in  that 
city. 

GIRARD,  ILL. — .At  a  special  election  held  Sept.  30  the  proposition 
to  sell  the  municipal  electric-light -plant  was  carried. 

HARRISBURG,  ILL.— The  property  of  the  Peoples  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co. 
has  been  purchased  by  Chicago  capitalists,  represented  by  R.  W.  Waite. 
of  that  city. 

PEORI.A,  ILL. — The  contract  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light 
plant  at  the  Peoria  County  Farm  has  been  awarded  to  the  Palmer  El. 
Co. 

PETERSBURG,  ILL.— Orders  have  been  placed  by  Abbott  Brothers, 
owners  of  the  local  electric-light  plant  for  a  Westinghouse,  100-kva, 
three-phase,  2300-volt,  60-cycle  generator  complete  with  exciter  and 
switchboard,  also  for  two  50-kva  transformers  which  will  be  used  in 
connection  with  the  I6,S00-volt  transmission  line  which  they  are  building 
to  Tallula,  111. 

ROCKFORD,  ILL. — The  contract  lor  electric  wiring  in  the  new  higk 
school   has  been  awarded  to  Hebrick  and  Lawrence,    for   $3,250. 


8oo 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


ROBINSON.  ILL.— The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  Robinson  Wtr..  Lt. 
&  Ht.  Co.  have  been  purchased  by  the  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co., 
of   Matoun. 

SYCAMORE.  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  awarded  a  contract  to  the 
DeKalb-Sycamore  El.  Co.,  whereby  the  latter  will  furnish  at  least  160 
100-watt  tungsten  lamps  at  $23.50  each  per  year,  and  66  magnetite  arc 
lamps  at  $72.50  per  lamp  per  year.  Under  the  terms  of  the  contract  the  city 
IS  allowed  to  substitute  an  ornamental  lighting  system  for  3  cents  per 
kw-hour.  Electricity  for  operating  the  pumping  station  will  be  supplied 
for  4^2   cents  per  kw-hour. 

THEBES,  ILL. — The  National  Motor  &  Supply  Co.  has  sold  its  electric 
plant  to  the  village  of  Thebes,  taking  in  exchange  the  municipal  electric 
plant,   which  is  smaller,   and  $3,000. 

VERSAILLES,  ILL. — The  local  electric-light  plant,  owned  by  John 
G.  Elliott,  has  been  purchased  by  the  Western  Utility  Co.  of  Chicago. 
Mr.  Elliott  has  been  made  manager  of  the  company. 

WINDSOR.  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  granted  the  Central  Illinois 
Public  Ser.  Co.  a  50-year  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electri- 
cal distributing  system  here.  Electricity  for  the  system  will  be  supplied 
by  a  transmission  line  from   Mattoon. 

BLUFFTON,  IND. — The  City  Council  has  adopted  an  ordinance  rescind- 
ing and  annulling  an  ordinance  passed  a  few  months  ago  declaring  for 
the  sale  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant.  The  Council  has  decided 
to  make  extensive  improvements  to  the   plant. 

BRYANT.  IND. — The  Marion  Motor  Pwr.  Co.  has  submitted  a  propo- 
sition to  the  town  of  Bryant  offering  to  extend  its  transmission  lines 
here,    providing   sufficient    patronage    is   guaranteed. 

EAST  CHICAGO,  IND. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Northern 
Indiana  Gas  S  El.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  large  power  plant  at  the 
junction  of  the  canal  and  the  Calumet  River  in  East  Chicago,  to  cost 
about  $750,000.  Part  of  the  machinery  has  been  purchased  and  contracts 
will  soon  be  placed  for  two  large  turbine  engines. 

ELKHART,  IND. — The  Board  of  Public  Works  has  granted  the  In- 
diana Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  a  25-year  franchise  to  construct  and  operate 
a  long-distance  system  in  Elkhart. 

HOBART,  IND. — Bids  will  soon  be  received  by  the  town  of  Hobart  for 
the  installation  of  a  conduit  wiring  system  for  66  ornamental  lamp 
standards.  O.  L.  Shore  is  superintendent  of  municipal  electric-light 
plant. 

KENDALLVILLE,  IND. — The  City  Council  is  asking  for  bids  for  a 
Corliss  engine  and  a  belted  unit  or  two  Corliss  engines  for  the  munici- 
pal  electric-light   plant. 

NEW  ALBANY.  IND. — The  City  Council  has  prepared  an  ordinance 
authorizing  the  Federal  El.  Sign  System  to  erect  modern  lamp  stand- 
ards and  wires  along  Main,  Market,  Spring,  Pearl.  Bank  and  State 
Streets  in  New  Albany  to  provide  the  entire  business  district  with  an 
ornamental  street-lighting  system. 

SHERIDAN,  IND.— The  Town  Board  has  purchased  the  electric  plant 
from  L.  M.  Vidkey,  which  it  sold  to  him  two  years  ago.  and  proposes 
to  make  improvements  to  same. 

WEST  LEBANON,  IND. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposi- 
tion to  install  an  electric-light  system  here  was  carried. 

ANKENY.  lA. — The  proposition  to  grant  a  franchise  to  the  Central 
Iowa  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  in  Ankeny  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote  on  Oct.  14. 

DES  MOINES,  lA. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  Cit>'  Council 
for  a  telephone  company  which  proposes  to  operate  in  this  city.  L.  W. 
Stanton  and  O.  C.  Schultz  are  promoters  of  the  enterprise.  The  com- 
pany will  start  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000.  The  total  investment 
will  be  about  $2,000,000. 

GREENFIELD.  lA. — ^The  proposition  to  issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
$9,000  for  extensions  to  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  will  be  submitted 
to  the  voters  on  Oct.   21. 

GRISWOLD,  lA.— The  installation  of  an  electric-lighting  systetn  is 
under  consideration. 

GRUNDY  CENTER.  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposi- 
tion to  grant  the  Grundy  Center  Mutual  Tel.  Co.  a  franchise  was  car- 
ried. The  company  agrees  to  install  a  telephone  system  to  cost  about 
$15,000. 

LAWLER.  I  A. — The  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant 
in  Lawler  is  und^"  consideration,  plans 'for  which  have  been  prepared. 

MARCUS,  lA. — The  Village  Board  has  abandoned  the  plan  to  call 
an  election  to  vote  upon  a  bond  issue  for  the  construction  of  a  munici- 
pal electric-light  plant,  and,  it  is  said  will  grant  a  franchise  to  a  private 
concern. 

MELROSE,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to  grant 
a  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant  here  was  car- 
ried. 

MURRAY.  lA. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  Gilbert  Johnson,  who 
holds  a  franchise  here,  to  erect  an  electrical  distributing  system  in  Mur- 
ray. Electricity  for  operating  the  system  will  be  supplied  by  a  trans- 
mission  line   from   Osceola. 

NEW  PROVIDENCE.  lA.— Application  has  been  made  to  the  City 
Council  by  E.  H.  Lundy  and  J.  G.  Hartenberg,  of  Eldora,  for  a  fran- 
chise to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  here.     It  is  proposed  to 


extend  the  transmission  line  from  Union  to  New  Providence  and  furnish 
electrical   service  to  the  farmers  along  the  proposed  line. 

REDFIELD,  lA. — The  proposition  to  issue  $15,000  in  bonds  for  the 
installation  of  electric-light  plant  and  water  works  system  will  be  sub- 
mitted to  a  vote. 

WORTHINGTON,  lA. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of   an   electric-light   plant   in   Worthington. 

CHERRYVALE,  KAN. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  extensions  to 
the  local  electric-light  plant,  which  was  recently  taken  over  by  the 
Kansas   Gas  &   El.    Co. 

EL  DORADO,  KAN.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  petition  of  the 
business  men  for  the  installation  of  ornamental  street  lamps  in  the 
business  district,  covering  six  blocks.  Forty-eight  standards  carrying 
three-lamp  clusters  will  be  erected. 

LAWRENCE,  KAN. — Proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Regents  of 
the  Kansas  State  University,  Lawrence,  until  Oct.  22  for  furnishing 
labor  and  material  for  the  erection  and  installation  of  plants  for  power, 
heat,  water  supply,  plumbing,  sewage  disposal  and  electric  lighting  on 
the  grounds  of  the  State  Fish  and  Game  Hatchery  near  Pratt,  Kan. 
Copies  of  plans  and  specifications  can  be  seen  at  the  office  of  Charles  H. 
Chandler,  state  architect,  Capitol  Building,  Topeka,  and  at  the  institution 
at  Pratt.  Edward  E.  Brown  is  secretary  of  Kansas  State  University. 
Lawrence. 

CARLISLE,  KY. — The  power  plant  of  the  Carlisle  EL  Co.,  together 
with  the  exchanges  of  the  Cumberland  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  and  the  Carlisle 
Home  Tel.  Co.,  of  Carlisle,  were  damaged  considerably  by  a  fire  which 
swept  the  business  district  of  the  city  on   Sept.   30. 

KNOXVILLE,  KY. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Business  Men's  Club 
for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Prince 
Street. 

YARMOUTH.  MAINE.— The  Yarmouth  Ltg.  Co.  has  taken  over  the 
property  formerly  owTied  by  the  Yarmouth  Mfg.  Co..  which  includes  the 
large  electric-lighting  plant  in  Yarmouth  and  electric  transmission  line 
from  here  to  Freeport,  which  supplies  electricity  to  private  enterprises 
in  that  town.  The  new  company  proposes  to  enlarge  the  plant  and 
make  some  extensions.     Harry  L.   Cram   is  attorney. 

AUBURN,  MASS. — The  Suburban  EI.  Co.  has  awarded  a  contract  for 
the  construction  of  a  transformer  station  in  Auburn. 

HOLYOKE,  MASS. — The  Lighting  Department  has  decided  to  extend 
the  electric-lighting  service  to  Smiths  Ferry  as  far  north  as  the  Holyoke 
Country   Club  house   in   the   near   future. 

LOWELL,  MASS. — An  agreement  has  been  reached  between  Commis- 
sioner George  H.  Brown  and  the  Lowell  El.  Lt.  Corpn.,  which,  if  ap- 
proved by  the  Municipal  Council,  will  ^ve  the  city  of  Lowell  a  "great 
white  way."  Under  the  proposition  submitted  the  Lowell  El.  Lt.  Corpn. 
agrees  to  install  137  arc  lamps  on  ornamental  standards  from  the  city 
hall  to  the  square  on  Prescott  Street,  and  Central  Street  to  Middlesex 
and  on  Middlesex  Street  to  the  Boston  and  Maine  depot,  and  will  operate 
these  lamps  together  with  the  other  lamps  throughout  the  city  at  a  cost 
of  $68,357  per  year.  The  installation  of  the  ornamental  lamps  is  esti- 
mated at  between  $50,000  and  $60,000.  the  entire  expense  to  be  paid  by 
the  company.     J.  A.  Hunnewell  is  general  superintendent. 

LYNNFIELD,  MASS.— The  Lynn  Gas  &  El.  Co.  is  planning  to  extend 
its  service  to  Lynnfield  and  will  soon  apply  to  the  County  Commissioners 
for  a  franchise.  The  Reading  municipal  electric-light  commission  has 
been  authorized  to  contract  with  Lynnfield  to  furnish  electricity  for 
lighting  the  Center  for  a  period  of  five  years.  At  present  the  town  is 
without  street  lighting  service. 

SOMERVILLE,  MASS. — The  committee  on  electric  lines  and  lights  is 
contemplating  the  installation  of  magnetite  arc  lamps  on  several  streets 
in  the  city. 

WESTFIELD,  MASS.— The  Amherst  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  asked  to 
submit  three  propositions  on  furnishing  electricity  in  Westfield:  (1)  That 
the  company  sell  to  the  town  all  the  power  used  and  the  towTi  distribute 
same.  (2)  The  company  to  lease  the  municipal  plant  and  supply  electrical 
service  to  the  town.  (3)  The  company  to  ask  for  a  franchise  to  enter 
Westfield.  selling  energy  direct  to  the  town  and  also  to  consumers  using 
more  than   50  hp.     Philip  Cabot,   of  Boston,   is  president. 

BATTLE  CREEK,  MICH.— The  City  Council  has  entered  into  a  ten- 
year  contract  with  the  Citizens  El.  Co.  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the 
city,  under  which  the  company  will  furnish  five-lamp  cluster  groups,  at 
$45   each   per  year,   and  arc   lamps  at   $60   per   lamp  per  year. 

DETROIT,  MICH.— The  Public  Lighting  Commission  is  erecting  a 
substation   on  Palmer  Avenue,  east  of   McDougall   Avenue. 

FRANKENMUTH,  MICH. — Negotiations  are  under  way  between  the 
V^illage  Trustees  and  the  Frankenmuth  Milling  Co.  in  connection  with 
the  installation  of  an  electric-light   plant  in   Frankenmuth. 

GRAND  RAPIDS.  MICH.— The  City  Council  on  Oct.  1  adopted  a  reso- 
lution authorizing  Mayor  Ellis  to  appoint  a  commission  of  nine  mem- 
bers to  look  into  the  question  of  municipal  ownership  of  the  street  rail- 
way system.  This  action  follows  the  refusal  of  the  local  street  railway 
company  to  extend  its  lines  into  districts  where  such  extensions  are 
deemed  necessary. 

HASTINGS,  MICH. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  a  municipal  electric-light  and  pumping  plant.  It  is  probable  that  a 
proposition  to  issue  $120,000  in  bonds  for  this  purpose  may  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  voters  at  the   fall  election* 


October  12,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


801 


MONTAGUE,   MICH.— At  an   election   held  recently  the  proposition  to 
grant    Dr.    Bailey,    of    Michillinda,    a    franchise   to    install   an    electric-light 
11        plant  here  was  carried. 

I  MUSKEGON,   MICH.— The  City  Council  has  instructed  the  Muskegon 

I         Lt.    &    Trac.    Co.    to    extend    its    tracks    from    Sanford    Street    along    the 
Southern    Avenue,   a  distance   of   1    mile. 

NORTHVILLE,  MICH.— Plans  are  being  considered  for  extensions 
to  the  municipal  electric-light  plant,  including  the  installation  of  a  new 
water  wheel  and   75-kw  generator,      Samuel  Wilkinson  is  manager. 

I  SAULT    STE.    MARIE.    MICH.— An   agreement    has   been    reached   be- 

I         tween  the  Edison  Sault  Ste.  Marie  El.  Co.  and  the  United  States  Govern- 
,  ment  in  reference  to  power  rights  in  the  rapids  of  the  St.  Mary's  River 

above  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Mich.  The  government  has  executed  a  lease 
granting  the  electric  company  power  rights  in  the  rapids  of  St.  Mary's 
for  a  period  of  30  years,  and  provides  for  an  annual  rental  of  $25,000, 
the  electric  company  being  permitted  to  divert  water  sufficient  to  supply 
its  present  needs.  The  company  now  has  an  output  of  2000  hp.  Provision 
is  made  for  future  expansion  by  stipulation  permitting  the  amount  to  be 
increased   to  a  maximum   of  5000  hp. 

YALE, 'MICH. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  improvements  to  the 
municipal    electric-light    plant, 

YPSILANTI,  MICH.— The  boiler  in  the  power  house  of  the  De- 
troit, Jackson  &   Chicago  Ry.   Co.   was  recently  wrecked  by   an  explosion. 

ANNANDALE,  MINN. — Arrangements  have  been  made  for  the  in- 
stallation of  an  electric-light  plant  here.  W.  H.  Towle  is  president  of  the 
new  company  and  G.  G.   Sawyer  is  manager. 

CLARA  CITY,  MINN.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $5,000  have  been 
voted  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant. 

DEER  RIVER,  MINN.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Village  Council 
until  Oct.  17  for  the  installation  of  an  air  lift  pumping  plant,  consisting  of 
well,  compressor,  receiver,  supply  pipe,  air  pipe,  motor,  foundations  for 
machinery,  -sewer  pipe  and  power  house.  Plans  and  specifications  are 
on  file  in  the  office  of  the  village  recorder.  Deer  River,  and  at  the  office 
of  the  Duluth  Engineering  Co.,  Paladio  Bldg.,  Duluth,  Minn.  A.  D. 
IngersoU  is  recorder. 

DELANO.  MINN.— The  Central  Minnesota  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  which  has 
taken   over  the  municipal   electric-light   plant,   proposes  to   rebuild  same. 

LUVERNE,  MINN. — The  Northwestern  Tel.  Exchange  Co.,  which 
recently  took  over  the  local  system,  will  rebuild  the  local  exchange  and 
install  a  central  energy  system,  cables,  etc.,  at  a  cost  of  about  $20,000. 

ST.  CLOUD,  MINN.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Public  Service  Co., 
St.  Cloud,  until  Oct.  15,  for  the  construction  of  a  street-lighting  system, 
consisting  of  furnishing  and  erecting  50  ornamental  lamp  standards, 
steel  taped  cable,  transformers  and  accessories,  according  to  plans 
and  specifications  which  are  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  company,  St.  Cloud, 
and  at  the  ofllice  of  Earle  D.  Jackson,  consulting  engineer,  St.  Paul. 
Copies  of  plans  and  specifications  may  be  secured  from  the  engineer 
upon   payment  of  $2  to  cover  cost   of  printing  and  mailing. 

LOUISVILLE,  MISS.— The  Louisville  Lt.  Cp.  has  been  granted  a 
franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric-light  and  power  plant  here. 
Albert  Y.  Woodward  is  Mayor. 

KIRKSVILLE,  MO. — The  proposition  to  issue  $99,000  in  bonds  for 
the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system 
will  soon   be  submitted  to  a  vote. 

RICH  HILL,  MO. — Improvements  will  be  made  to  the  municipal  elec- 
tric-light plant  which  will  involve  an  expenditure  of  about  $15,000  and 
include  the  installation  of  two  150-hp  boilers,  two  engines,  poles,  wire, 
meters,  two  electric  motors  of  150  hp.  brick  smoke  stack  and  repairs  to 
building.  Bids  for  the  work  will  be  opened  about  Oct.  21,  S.  B,  Cole 
is  Mayor. 

CHOTEAU,  MONT.— It  is  reported  that  the  Great  Falls  Pwr.  Co., 
Great  Falls,   contemplates  extending  its  transmission  lines  to   Choteau. 

HILGER,  MONT.— The  Kendall  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
franchise  to  install  an  electric-light  system  here  and  erect  a  transmission 
line  from  its  power  plant   on   Warm   Springs  Creek  to  Hilger. 

THOMPSON,  MONT.— The  Northwestern  Devel.  Co.  is  planning  to 
construct  a   large   power  plan   in  Thompson. 

CLAKKS,  NEB. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  village  clerk,  Clarks,  Neb., 
until  Oct.  28  for  the  construction  in  full  or  in  part  of  an  electric- 
light  plant,  according  to  plans  and  specifications  on  file  at  the  office  of 
the  village  clerk  and  in  the  office  of  W.  E.  Donner,  engineer.  Grand  Island. 
Neb.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  obtained  from  the  engineer  upon  de- 
posit of  $5.     Cost  of  the  plant  is  estimated  at  $4,800. 

CURTIS,  NEB.— The  contract  for  construction  of  the  proposed  elec- 
tric-light plant  has  been  awarded  to  Fred  Holmes. 

DONIPHAN,  NEB. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
issue  bonds  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water- 
works system  was  carried. 

CHATHAM,  N.  J. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
issue  $35,000  in  bonds  for  extensions  and  improvements  to  the  electric- 
light  plant  and  water-works  system  was  carried. 

LONG  BRANCH,  N.  J.— The  Jersey  Central  Trac.  Co.  will  soon  begin 
work  on  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  between  Long  Branch 
and   Red   Bank,  a  distance   of  about   10  miles. 

MONTCLAIR,   N.    J.— Bids   will   be   received   by   Harry   Trippett,    town 


clerk,  Montclair,  until  Oct.  14  for  the  electrical  work  for  the  new  munici- 
pal building  for  use  of  police  and  fire  departments,  etc.,  according  to 
plans  and  specifications  on  file  at  the  office  of  the  town  clerk,  460  Bloom- 
field  Avenue,  Montclair.  Copies  of  plans  may  be  secured  from  O.  F. 
Semsch,  architect,  183  Montclair  Avenue,  Montclair,  and  100  Broad 
Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.  A  deposit  of  $5  will  be  required,  $3  of  which 
will  be  refunded  upon  return  of  plans. 

NEWARK,  N.  J.— The  Newark  Board  of  Works  has  decided  to  install 
a  hydroelectric  power  plant  in  connection  with  the  municipal  townsite 
it  proposes  to  establish  at  its  water  shed  at  Macopin,  near  Butler,  N.  J. 
The  proposed  plant  will  supply  electricity  for  local  service  including 
lighting.     Charles    F.    Puff,   engineer  board   of  works,    is   in   charge. 

PHILLIPSBURG,  N.  J.— A  committee  has  been  appointed  by  the 
Board  of  Trade  to  organize  and  draw  up  a  charter  for  the  company 
which  proposes  to  establish  a  new  electric-light  plant  to  compete  with  the 
Eastern  Pennsylvania  Pwr.  Co.  in  Phillipsburg.  The  company  will  be 
known  as  the  Phillipsburg's  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  and  will  be  capitalized 
at  $125,000.  The  proposed  plant  will  be  equipped  with  two  l50-kw. 
generating  units  and  will  cost  about  $77,868.  J.  L.  Lomerson  is  chairman 
of  the  committee  and  George   W.    Smith,  secretary. 

ALEXANDRIA  BAY,  N.  Y.— The  Watertown  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co., 
Watertown,  has  been  granted  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps 
and  motors  in  Alexandria  Bay.     J.  B.  Taylor  is  treasurer  of  the  company. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  approved 
of  two  contracts  awarded  by  the  city  of  New  York  to  the  Degnon  Con- 
tracting Co.,  60  Wall  Street,  New  York,  for  construction  for  sections 
Nos.  1  and  2  of  the  extension  of  the  Fourth  Avenue,  Brooklyn,  subway. 
The  bid  for  section  No.  1  was  $1,930,250,  and  for  section  No.  2,  $1,904,171. 

FONDA,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  authorized  the 
Fulton  County  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  of  Gloversville,  to  purchase  the  property 
of  the   Cayadutta  Generating   Co.,   Fonda,    for   $40,000. 

FREWSBURG,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted  the 
Frewsburg  Lt.  Co.  permission  to  sell  to  William  N.  Rohn  all  its  interest 
in  a  franchise  granted  by  the  town  of  Carroll  for  furnishing  electricity  in 
that  town.  Further  consent  is  given  to  Mr.  Rohn  to  sell  to  the  Carroll 
El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  franchises  taken  over  from  the  Frewsburg  El.  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  to  exercise  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric-light 
plant  in   Carroll  Township. 

FULTON,  N.  Y.— The  Board  of  Public  Works  has  decided  to  ask  for 
bids  for  the  installation  of  the  new  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on 
Oneida,  Cayuga,  Rochester,  East  and  West  First  Streets  and  East  and 
West  Broadway. 

GENEVA,  N.  Y. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Board  of  Public 
Works  for  placing  overhead  wires  on  Genesee  Street,  from  Castle  Street 
to  Lewis  Street,  in  underground  conduits  and  also  to  install  a  new 
street-lighting  system. 

HELENA,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  authorized  Hugh 
Raymond  to  construct  a  power  plant  and  exercise  a  franchise  for  fur- 
nishing electricity  in  the  village   of  Helena. 

PULASKI,  N.  Y, — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  given  its  ap- 
proval for  the  transfer  of  the  control  of  the  Salmon  River  Wtr.  Pwr. 
Devel.  Co.  to  the  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.,  Buffalo.  The 
latter  company  is  authorized  to  issue  capital  stock  to  the  amount  of 
$750,000  for  the  acquisition  of  the  stock  of  the  Salmon  River  company, 
which  is  authorized  to  issue  $5,000,000  in  bonds,  and  to  issue  $2,353,000 
bonds  at  85  for  construction  of  dam,  transmission  lines  and  equipment. 
The  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.  has  decided  to  develop  hydro- 
electric power  on  the  Salmon  River,  near  Syracuse,  rather  than  to  erect 
a  new  transmission  line   154  miles  long,  from  Niagara. 

SYRACUSE,  N.  Y.— The  Syracuse  &  South  Bay  R.  R.  Co.  has  re- 
ceived authority  from  the  Public  Service  Commission  to  exercise  the 
franchise  granted  by  the  town  of  Salina  for  extension  of  its  railway  along 
the  Brewerton  Plank  Road  in  that  town  from  the  north  city  line  of 
Syracuse. 

UTICA,  N.  Y.— The  Utica  Gas  &  El.  Co.  is  planning  to  build  a  large 
concrete   dam   on   West  Canada   Creek  at   Prospect. 

WAPPINGER  FALLS,  N.  Y.— The  Public  Service  Commission  has 
granted  the  Garner  Print  Works  and  Bleachery  permission  to  extend 
its  lighting  system  in  the  town  of  Wappingers,  taking  in  Hughsonville 
district,  together  with  the  village  of  Wappinger  Falls  and  also  to  light 
residences  in  the  town  of  Poughkeepsie.  This  extension  provides  for 
about   40  new  street  lamps. 

DEVILS  LAKE,  N.  D. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installa- 
tion of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  six  blocks  in  the  business 
district. 

GRAND  FORKS,  N.  D.— The  Tri-State  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  improve- 
ments to  its  focal  system,  involving  an  expenditure  of  from  $13,000  to 
$15,000. 

MAYVILLE,  N.  D. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $20,000  have  been  voted 
for  the  installation  of  a  new  electric-light   plant. 

MERRICOURT,  N.  D.— The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  in 
Merricourt   is  under   consideration.      George   Webb   is   interested. 

MINOT,  N.  D. — Bids  will  be  received  by  Frank  A.  Wilson,  secre- 
tary of  the  State  Board  of  Normal  School  Trustees,  at  the  office  of  the 
Valley  City  Normal  School,  Valley  City,  N.  D.,  until  Oct.  29  for  heat- 
ing, plumbing,  wiring,  fan  ventilating,  heat  regulation,  etc.,  for  the 
normal   school   building   and   boiler   house   to  be   erected   at   Minot,   N.    D. 


802 


ELECTRICAL     A\'  O  R  L  D 


Vol.  6o.  \'o.  i: 


Flans  can  be  seen  at  the  office  of  Haxby  &  Gilespie,  architects,  Fargo, 
A.  D.;  Builders  Exchange,  St.  Paul,  Minn.;  Minneapolis,  Minn.;  Minol, 
tirand  Forks  and  Fargo,  N.   D. 

PORTAL,  N.  D. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  system  in  Portal 
is  under  consideration. 

REYNOLDS,  N.  D. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  in 
Reynolds  is  under  consideration. 

BARNESVILLE,  OHIO.— The  Village  Council  has  granted  the 
Barnesville  Gas  &  El.  Co.  a  renewal  of  its  franchise  for  a  period  of  25 
years.     J.   W.   Bradford  is  president  of  the  company. 

BUTLER.  OHIO.— Preparations  are  being  made  to  install  a  new 
street-lighting  system.  The  present  arc  lamps  will  be  replaced  with 
tungsten  lamps  erected  on  ornamental  standards,  and  wire  placed  under- 
ground. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO.— The  City  Council  has  adopted  a  resolution 
authorizing  Mayor  and  Public  Service  Director  Springborn  to  investi- 
gate the  question  of  public  ownership  and  operation  of  one  or  both  of 
the  local  telephone  systems. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO. — Improvements  to  the  municipal  electric-lighting 
system  in  Collinwood,  including  the  installation  of  additional  machinery 
m  plant,  replacing  the  old  arc  lamps  with  new  magnetite  arc  lamps,  have 
been   authorized.     J.    W.    Springborn   is  public   service  director. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO.-The  Scioto  Valley  Trac.  Co.  will  finance  the 
Lnion  Depot  Co.,  which  proposes  to  erect  a  large  interurban  station  in 
Columbus,  to  cost  about   $500,000. 

PAULDING,  OHIO.-The  City  Cuncil  ,s  negotiating  with  the  Auglaize 
Pwr.  Co.,  of  Defiance,  for  electrical  energy  to  operate  the  municipal 
electnc-light  system.  Extensive  improvements  will  be  necessary  to  the 
municipal  plant  to  enable  it  to  meet  the  demands  made  upon  it,  and  many 
of  the  citizens  favor  securing  current  from  the  Auglaize  plant. 

CORVALLIS,  ORE.-The  Oregon  El.  Ry.  Co.,  Portland,  lias  been 
granted  a  franchise  to  operate  in  Corvallis. 

GRANTS  PASS,  ORE.-The  California-Oregon  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  plan- 
ning to  build  a  power  plant  here  and  to  erect  transmission  lines  through 
the  county. 

HOOD  RIXER,  ORE.-Plans  are  being  considered  bv  A.  Welch  of 
the  Oregon-Washington  Corpn.,  and  associates  for  the  construction  of 
an  electric  railway  through  the  Hood-  River  Valley,  which  will  ultimately 
be  extended  to  The  Dalles.  It  is  reported  that  application  will  soon  be 
made  to  the  City  Council  for  a  franchise  in  Hood  River. 

JACKSONVILLE,  ORE.-The  California-Oregon  Pwr.  Co.  is  plan- 
ning to   erect  several   transmission  lines,  including  a  line  to  Jacksonville 

KLAMATH  FALLS,  ORE.-The  California  &  Oregon  Pwr.  Co  has 
completed  its  transmission  line  to  Klamath  Falls  and  has  connected  with 
the  power  lines  here.  The  company  has  generating  plants  at  Prospect 
on  Rogue  River,  on  the  Klamath  River  at  Klamath  Falls  and  in  the 
Klamath  River  Canyon  at  Falls  Creek,  having  a  total  output  of  110  000 
hp.  It  IS  expected  the  company  will  supply  electricity  to  operate  pumps 
for  pumping  water  into  lands  that  are  too  high  for  the  government 
canal.  ihe  company  has  also  completed  a  transmission  line  into  Butte 
Valley.  Cal.,  and  is  planning  to  furnish  electricity  to  farmers  in  that 
section  to  operate  pumps  for  irrigating  purposes  and  also  for  industrial 
purposes  in  southern    Oregon  and  northern   California. 

WOODBURN,  ORE.-The  City  Council  has  awarded  the  Portland 
Ky  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  a  contract  for  street-lighting  for  a  period  of  15  years 
under  the  terms  of  which  the  company  is  to  supply  140  incandescen; 
lamps  of  80  cp  at  $14.40  each  per  year. 

ALTOONA.   P.^. — The   Penn    Central   r  t     s    P„-r     r„      -  j-        . 

.     .  i^eiin    i_eniral   l^t.   \-   t^wr.    Co.,   is   extending  its 

transmission  line  from  Delaney  to  Patton,  a  distance  of  from  10  to  15 
miles,  to  supply  electricity  to  mines  in  that  vicinity,  and  to  other  indus- 
tries along  the  line.  The  company  also  contemplates  furnishing  elec- 
tricity to  mines  along  the  Puritan  branch,  which  will  be  completed  about 
Uec.  1  Another  line  will  also  be  erected  to  Benscreek.  The  new 
slope  of  the  Portage  Coal  Mining  Co.,  and  the  mines  of  Irish  Brothers 
m  the  Portage  field,  will  also  use  electricity  furnished  bv  the  Penn  Cen- 
tral    Company. 

B.\TH,  PA.— The  proposition  to  issue  $10,000  in  bonds  for  the  in- 
stallation of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  will  be  submitted  to  the 
voters  at   the   fall   election.   Nov.   5. 

HARRISBURG,  PA.— Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C  until 
Nov.  12.  for  extension  and  remodeling  United  post  office  and  court 
bouse,  etc.,  including  plumbing,  gas  fitting,  heating  apparatus,  electric 
conduits  and  wiring  system  and  interior  lighting  fixtures,  at  Harrisburg 
Pa.  Drawings  and  specifications  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office  or 
from  the  custodian  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.  Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising 
architect.  '^ 

JENNERS,  PA.— It  is  reported  that  the  United  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co  of 
Stoyestown.  is  planning  to  extend  its  transmission  line  along  the  Pitts- 
burg and  Philadelphia  pike  to  this  place.  The  companv  may  also  furnish 
electrical  service  in  Ferrollton. 

PITTSBURGH.  PA.-The  Carter  El.  Co.  has  been  awarded  the  contract 
tor  electrical  fixtures  for  the  $250,000  bank  and  office  building  of  the 
Last    Saving   &   Trust    Co.    in    Pittsburgh. 

GREENVILLE,  R.  I.— The  Village  Council  has  granted  the  Narra- 
gansett  El.  Ltg.  Co.  permission  to  erect  transmission  lines  on  the  Farnum 
Pike,    through    the   village   of   Georgiaville  and  G.eystone   annex. 


MANNING, 


is  contemplating 


advertising 


making    improv 


S-  C. — J.  Newton  Johnston,  of  Florence,  has  been  en- 
gaged by  the  Town  Council  to  prepare  plans  and  estimates  for  installa- 
tion of  electric-Iight  and  water-works  systems. 

COGGSWELL.  S.  D.— A  franchise  has  been  granted  to  R.  E.  Tohnson 
and  H.  L.  Taylor  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  here. 

KIMBALL,  S.  D.— A  company  is  being  organized  to  install  a  new 
electnc-light  plant  here.  Application  has  been  made  to  the  Council  for 
a  franchise  to  operate  an  electric  system  in  Kimball.  J.  L.  Slifer  is  to 
be  president  of  the  new  company.  Garnet  Ashley  vice-president,  and 
Herbert  Hannaman  secretary  and  treasurer. 

WATERTOWN,   S.   D.— The  Dakota  Central   Tel.   Co 
the  installation  of  an  automatic  telephone  system. 

CHATTANOOGA,  TENN.-Plans  are  being  considered  by  Commis- 
sioner A.  N.  Sloan,  of  the  Department  of  Streets  and  Sewers,  for  the 
installation  of  a  municipal  conduit  system  for  electric  wires  in  Chatta- 
nooga.    Preliminary  estimates  have  already  been  made  upon   the  work 

MANCHESTER,  TENN.-The  Stone  Fort  Pwr.  Co.  has  purchased 
the  water  power  rights  of  Big  Falls  and  Little  Falls,  near  here  The 
company  will  soon  begin  work  on  developing  the  power  and  will  furnish 
electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  Manchester  and  to  towns  along 
Nashville,  Chattanooga  &  St.  Louis  Railroad.  Contracts  have  alreadv 
been  signed  to  furnish  electrical  service  in  Tullahoma.  W.  G  Cum- 
mings,  H.  T.  Brown,  John  Cumbley  and  Mrs.  F.  H.  Wooten  are  in- 
terested. 

HEAKNE,    TEX.-.Mayoi-    P.    L    Brady,    it    is    reported,    is 
lor   bids    for   the   installation    of   an    electric-light   plant    here. 

PALESTINE,    TEX.— The    Palestine    El.    Lt.    Co. 
ments   to  its  plant   in   Palestine. 

TERRELL,  TEX. — Arrangements  have  been  made  by  the  Texas  Mid- 
land R.  R.  Co.  to  establish  a  through  motor  car  service  passenger  service 
between  Paris  and  Dallas,  a  distance  of  113  miles.  Trackage  .rrange- 
ments  have  been  made  with  the  Texas  &  Pacific  Railroad  for  operating 
the  motor  cars  over  that  line  between  Terrell  and  Texas,  a  distance  of 
about  35  miles. 

WACO.  TEX.— The  Southern  Trac.  Co.  is  planning  to  extend  the 
Providence   Heights   El.   Ry.   to  Highland  PI.  in  Northwest  Waco. 

HARTWICK,  VT.— At  a  special  town  meeting  held  recently  the 
citizens  voted  to  accept  the  proposition  of  the  Woodbury  Granite  Co.  to 
Mease  the  municipal  electric-ligbt  plant  for  a  term  of  five  years.  It  was 
also  voted  to  erect  an  auxiliars'  electric  power  plant  at  Jackson's  Bridge 
and  connect  same  with  the  present  power  line,  the  cost  not  to  exceed 
$25,000. 

DUBLIN,  VA.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Town  Council  until  Oct. 
18  for  a  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant  here. 
George  C.  Moomaw  is  Mayor. 

POCAHONT.^S,  VA. — The  City  Council  has  authorized  the  Appalachian 
Pwr.  Co.  to  install  16  additional  street  lamps  of  100  cp  and  40  lamps  of 
60   cp. 

PUV.VLLUP,  W.\SH.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  investigate 
municipal  ownership  of  a  city  lighting  system  before  granting  a  fran- 
chise  for  lighting  the  city  for  the  next  five  years. 

SPOKANE,  WASH.— The  Washington  Wtr.  Pwr.  Co.  will  soon  begin 
concrete  work  at  its  dam  at  Long  Lake,  which  will  involve  an  expenditure 
of  about  $900,000.  Excavation  for  the  power  plant  will  soon  start. 
C.  S.  McCalla,  of  Spokane,  is  general  manager. 

TONO.  WASH. — The  city  Tono  has  awarded  the  contract  for  wiring 
the  city  preparatory  to  starting  up  the  new  power  plant  to  the  Dings  El. 
Co.,  of  Centralia.  The  contract  includes  wiring  of  ICO  houses,  stores, 
opera  house  and  street  lamps. 

MOUNDSVILLE,  W.  VA.— The  Parrs  Run  Coal  Co.  is  planning  to 
develop  1275  acres  of  coal  land  having  a  daily  capacity  of  500  tons.  The 
mines  will   be   equipped  with   electrically  driven   machinery. 

E.-\U  CLAIRE,  WIS. — The  City  Council  is  contemplating  improvements 
to  the  street-lighting  system  and  the  installation  of  ornamental  street- 
lamps  in  the  business  section  of  the  city. 

I.\NES\  ILLE,  WIS. — The  merchants  and  business  men  on  Milwaukee 
Avenue  are  contemplating  the  installation  of  a  new  street-lighting  system. 
It  is  proposed  to  use  goose-neck  standards. 

KENOSHA,  WIS. — The  Wisconsin  Commission  has  authorized  the 
Racine  Gas  Lt.  Co.  to  issue  $3,000,000  in  bonds  and  $700,000  in  capital 
stock.  Of  this  issue  $1,308,000  in  stocks  and  bonds  are  to  he  exchanged  for 
properties  of  the  Kenosha  Gas  &  El.  Co.  and  the  Kenosha  El.  Ry.  Co.. 
and  the  remainder  for  repaying  loans  and  for  future  extensions  to  the 
property.  The  Racine  company  will  be  reorganized  under  the  name  of 
the  Wisconsin  Gas  &  El.  Co..  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000,000. 

M.\NITOWOC,  WIS.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  submit  the 
proposition  to  purchase  the  local  electric-light  plant  to  be  owned  and 
operated  by  the  municipality  to  a  vote  at  the  general  election  Nov.   5. 

DUNCANS,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  contract  for  construction  of  power 
plant  and  distributing  system  for  the  city  lighting  dep.'.rtment  has  been 
awarded  to  C.  H.  E.  Williams,  615  Pender  Street,  West  Vancouver,  B.  C. 

\-ANCOUVER,  B.  C.  CAN.— Bids  will  be  received  by  William  Mc- 
Queen, city  clerk,  \ancouver,  until  Oct.  17  for  the  installation  of  orna- 
mental lamp  standards  on  Main.  Granville,  Harris  and  Hastings  Streets, 
\'ancouver. 

\ICTORIA,   B.    C,   CAN.— A.   T.    Coward,   local   manager   of  the   Brit- 


October   12,  191 


ELECTRICAL     \V  O  R  L  D 


803 


jsh  Columbia  El.  Ky.  Co.  announces  tliat  it  is  proposed  to  extend  the 
electric-light  and  power  system  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Saanich 
peninsula. 

FREDERICTON,  N.  B.,  CAN. — The  Provincial  Government  has  author- 
ized the  water  power  and  five  acres  along  the  banks  of  the  St.  John 
Kiver  at  Great  Falls  to  be  transferred  to  the  Grand  Falls  Co.,  on  pay- 
ment of  $60,000.  Below  the  falls  only  one-half  of  the  river  can  be 
conveyed  to  the  cumpany,  the  other  half  being  held  by  the  crown.  The 
company  proposes  to  develop  the  power  and  erect  pulp  and  paper  mills, 
involving   an   expenditure   of  about   $8,000,000. 

BERLIN,  ONT.,  CAN.— P.  W.  Sothman,  of  Toronto,  formerly  chief 
engineer  of  the  Ontario  Hydro-Electric  Commission,  has  submitted  a 
proposition  to  the  Canadian  Consolidated  Rubber  Co.,  of  Berlin,  offer- 
ing to  supply  electricity  for  operating  the  new  tire  factory  at  25  per 
cent  less  than  it  can  be  secured  from  the  Hydro-Electric  Commission. 

BRANTFORD,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  sub- 
mit to  the  ratepayers  on  Oct.  25  a  by-law  appropriating  $115,000  for  the 
installation  of  a  system  to  utilize  power  to  be  supplied  by  the  Hydro- 
Electric   Commission. 

MIDLANO,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Simcoe  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.,  which  has  devel- 
oped a  water  power  at  the  Big  Shute  on  the  Severn  River,  and  is  trans- 
mitting electricity  to  Midland,  Penetang  and  Orilla.  Ont.,  is  planning  to 
erect  a  transmission  line  to  Collingwood,  Earrie  and  other  points  in  On- 
tario. At  present  a  duplicate  transmission  line  is  being  erected  from 
Big  Shut  to  Waubaushene,  Ont. 

MILTON,  ONT.,  CAN. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  installation 
of  an  electric-light  system  here.  The  Hydro- Electric  Commission  has 
decided  to  extend  its  system  from  Brampton  &  Milton. 

NEWMARKET.  ONT.,  CAN.— The  municipalities  of  Bradford,  Aurora, 
Markham,  Stouffville,  Uxbridge,  Port  Henry,  Newmarket  and  the  town- 
ships of  King  and  Whitechurch  are  negotiating  with  the  Hydro-Electric 
Commission  with  a  view  of  securing  hydroelectric  power  for  this  dis- 
trict. 

NORTH  BAY,  ONT.,  CAN.— Two  by-laws  will  be  submitted ,  to  the 
ratepayers  at  the  municipal  elections  in  January,  one  on  the  hydroelectric 
proposition  for  municipal  light  and  power,  the  other  to  grant  the  Nipis- 
sing  Pwr.   Co.  a   15-year  franchise  to  supply  electricity   in   North   Bay. 

PETERBORO.  ONT.,  CAN. — A  by-law  authorizing  the  installation  of 
hydroelectric  power  in  Peterboro  will  be  submitted  to  the  ratepayers  in 
the  near  future.     The  cost  of  the  system  is  estimated  at  $88,000. 

TORONTO,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Toronto  El.  Lt.  Co.  is  planning  to  in- 
stall a  SOOO-kw  turbine  in  connection  with  its  auxiliary  storage  battery 
plant  to  provide  electricity  in  case  of  breakdown  in  the  hydroelectric 
system.      Tlie   storage  battery   plant   will   cost   about    $650,000. 

WINDSOR,  ONT.,  CAN. — An  agreement  has  been  reached  whereby 
the  Sandwich,  Windsor  &  Amherstburg  Ry.  Co.  will  improve  the  service 
on  the  present  Windsor  and  Tecimiseh  line  and  for  an  extension  of  the 
railway   further  east. 

SHERBROOKE,  QUE.— Contracts  have  been  awarded  for  the  con- 
struction of  electric  power  house  for  the  Canadian  Ingersoll  Rand  Drill 
Co. 

WILKIE,  SASK.,  CAN. — The  ratepayers  have  approved  a  by-law 
authorizing   extensions  to  the   electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system 


New  Incorporations 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  AUTO  LIGHTING  CORPORATION  OF  AMERICA,  of  Norfolk, 
Va.,  has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,500,000.  The 
officers  are  A.  D.  Newcomb,  president;  Wailes  Hank,  vice-president,  and 
W,  J.  Simpson,  secretary  and  treasurer,  all  of  Norfolk,   Va. 

AUTOMATIC  MACHINE  VENDING  COMPANY,  of  Camden,  N.  J., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  I.  Ferris,  Jr., 
Camden;  J.  Axford,  of  Germantown,  Pa.,  and  .T.  M.  Kalbach,  of  Phila 
delphia,  Pa.  The  company  proposes  to  do  a  general  mechanical  and 
•lectrical    engineering   business. 

THE  ELECTRIC  CAR  SALES  AND  SERVICE  COMPANY,  of  Roch- 
ester, N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  by  Max  Bernstein,  Minnie  L.  Bohrer 
and  C.   H.  Leaty,  Webster.   The  company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000. 

THE  FERRO-FLEX  CONDUIT  COMP.ANY,  of  Lelonia,  Ohio,  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  to  manufacture  metal 
armored  conduit  and  conductor  and  other  articles.  The  incorporators 
are:  C.  C.  Hubbell,  E.  A.  Henry,  C.  G.  Wilderson,  W.  G.  Bess  and  J.  G. 
Quigley. 

THE  ROCKFORD  MOTOR  TRUCK  COMPANY,  of  Rockford,  Ill- 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  P.  A.  Peterson, 
Levin  Faiist  and  John  Ledin.  The  company  proposes  to  manufacture 
electric    and    gasoline    motors. 

THE  STERLING  TROLLEY  BASE  COMPANY,  of  Newark,  N.  J., 
has  been  incorporated  by  B.  Helwig,  Edward  L.  Klump  and  F.  Bentsen, 
all  of  359  Oraton  Street,  Newark.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $150,000 
and   proposes  to  manufacture  sterling  trolley  bases. 

THE  TITUSVILLE  ELECTRICAL  SUPPLIES  COMPANY,  of  Titus- 
ville,  Pa.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  The  in- 
corporators are:  William  M.  Measey,  1328  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia, 
treasurer;  James  B.  Lichtenberger,  William  J.  Seltzer,  of  Philadelphia, 
and   Henry  V.   Smith,  Chester,  Pa. 


CHICO,  CAL.— Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  for  the  Deer 
Creek  Pwr.  Co.  by  Martin  C.  Polk,  C.  L.  Crowder,  T.  H.  Polk,  Park 
Henshaw,  all  of  Chico,  and  L.  M.  Fletcher.  The  company  is  capitalized 
at  $1,000,000  and  proposes  to  develop  water  power  to  generate  electricity 
for  lighting  and  other  purposes  and  to  impound  water  in  reservoirs  for 
irrigation   purposes. 

JACKSONVILLE,  FLA.— The  Home  Tel.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,325,000.  Charles  Blum  is  president,  John  J. 
Ahern  vice-president,  A.  S.  Metzner  secretary,  and  J.  W.  Ingram  treas- 
urer. 

CARLINVILLE,  ILL.— The  Macoupin  County  Tel.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  George  B.  Carey,  Thomas 
A.   Cheadle  and  C.    B.   Cheadle. 

CERRO  GORDO,  ILL.— The  Piatt  County  Mutual  Tel.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  Frank  Etnoyer,  Robert 
Blood.   John   C.    Wine,    Frank   Wolfe  and   George   Fulk. 

COLCHESTER,  ILL.— The  Colchester  Farmers'  Tel.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $6,000  by  Frank  Stump,  James  M. 
Clayton  and   Louis  A.    Nunn. 

PORTLAND,  MAINE. — The  American  Trac.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000  to  operate  railway  lines.  E.  W.  Porter 
is  president  and  treasurer;  Eben  W.  Freeman,  E.  M.  Walls,  Charles  M. 
Drummond,  of  Portland,  Alexander  L.  Sorter,  Jr.,  and  Ackley  Hubbard, 
of  Minneapolis,   Minn.,   are  promoters. 

BOSTON,  MASS.— The  Orswell  El.  Co.  has  been  granted  a  charter 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000.  The  incorporators  are:  Isreal  C.  Ors- 
well,  Annie  E.   Orswell  and  Joseph  R.   Fuller. 

ST.  P.AUL,  MINN. — The  Hoffman  Ltg.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $30,000  by  W.  H.  Hoffman,  Adams  M.  Lawson,  of  St. 
Paul,    and    Peter    L.    Dansingberg,    of    Rochester,    Minn. 

MANSFIELD,  MO.— The  Mansfield  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  F.  B.  Fuson,  M.  W.  Oliver 
and    Perry    Simonds. 

LUCIFN,  OKLA.— The  Lucien  Tel.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  J.  W.  Oliver,  O.  S.  Alloway,  S.  H.  Gaines 
and  others. 

HARRISBURG,  PA. — A  charter  has  been  granted  to  the  Daisytown 
El.  Co.,  of  Daisytown,  and  the  Middle  Taylor  El.  Co.,  of  Middletown 
Township.  Each  company  is  capitalized  at  $5,000  and  the  incorporators 
are:  P.  J.  Morrisey,  August  Weis  and  J.  W.  Blou.gh,  of  Jamestown,  Pa. 
MOUNT  HOLLY  SPRINGS,  PA.— The  Upper  Allen  Township  El. 
Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  Martin  E. 
Kraybill,   of   Boiling   Springs,  is  treasurer. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA.— ^  charter  has  been  granted  to  the  Valley 
Forge  EI.  Lt.  Co.,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000,  to  operate  in  Schuylkill 
Township.     The  office  of  the  company  is  located  in   Philadelphia. 

GREENVIILE,  S.  C. — The  River  Falls  Co.  has  been  organized  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $50,000  for  the  purpose  of  installing  power,  water  and 
sewer  systems.  O.  K.  Maudlin,  of  Greenville,  is  attorney  for  the 
company. 

PENNINGTON  GAP,  VA.— The  Pennington  Lt.  Co.  has  been  granted 
a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $3,000.  The  officers  are:  J.  H.  Legg, 
president;  P.  H.  Marsee,  vice-president,  and  R.  L.  Wood,  secretary  and 
treasurer,    all    of    Pennington    Gap. 

RICHMOND,  VA.— The  Atlantic  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Corpn.  has  been  incorpo- 
rated with  a  minimum  capital  stock  of  $1,000  with  privilege  of  increasing 
it  to  $20,000,000.  Ernest  Flippen  is  president;  Thomas  E.  Gay,  vice- 
president;  H.  H.  Chalkley,  secretary  and  treasurer,  all  of  Richmond,  \'a. 
SEATTLE,  WASH.— The  Cohassett  Beach  Tel.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porat'ed  with 'a  capital  stock  of  $1,000  by  J.  B.  Benson,  H.  B.  Waldron 
and    W.    C.    Munaw. 

CHARLESTOWN,  W.  VA.— The  Virginia  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  with  offices  in 
Boston,  Mass.,  and  Charleston,  W.  Va.  The  company  is  capitalized  at 
$10  000,000  and  p'roposes  to  control  and  utilize  water  power,  dams  and 
canals.  The  incorporators  are:  Herbert  A.  Wadleigh,  Lincoln  G.  Ash- 
croft    Norman   T.   MacGaffin,  Daniel  W.   Merritt  and   Clarence  R.  Veaton. 


Trade  Publications 

CONDUIT.— The  American  Conduit  Manufacturing  Company,  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  has  printed  on  celluloid  a  rigid-conduit  price  list  effective 
August  1,  1912,  which  will  be  found  very  useful  by  all  present  and 
prospective  users  of  this  company's  conduit,  elbows  and  couplings.  It 
makes  a  ready  reference  for  prices  on  the  various  sizes  of  conduit.  The 
reverse  side  contains  net  prices  per   100   ft.  at  various  discounts. 

MAGNETOS.— The  Bosch  magneto,  type  ZEl,  for  motorcycles,  is  the 
subject  of  the  latest  publication  of  the  Bosch  Magneto  Company,  223 
West    Forty-sixth    Street,    New    York.      It    is    distinguished    by    its    water- 


8o4 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  15. 


tight  construction  and  by  the  accessibility  of  the  parts  requiring  at- 
tention. It  produces  a  high-tension  or  jump  spark,  the  high-tension  cur- 
rent being  generated  in  the  winding  of  the  rotating  armature  without 
the  use  of  a  separate  induction  coil  or  other  part.  The  pamphlet  con- 
tains information  on  the  setting  of  the  magneto,  cable  connections,  oiling, 
detection  of  faults  and  other  general  matter,  including  a  dimensioned 
drawing  and  a  full-page  illustration  of  the  parts  of  this  type  of  magneto. 

ELEVATOR  MOTORS.— Bulletin  No.  1091.  recently  published  by  the 
Ideal  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  Mans6eld,  Ohio,  has  for  its 
subject  elevator  motors  of  both  direct-current  and  alternating-current 
types.  It  is  said  to  be  the  most  complete  bulletin  issued  on  the  subject. 
The  direct-current  elevator  motors  are  furnished  for  the  standard  pres- 
sures of  110,  220,  550  and  600  volts;  the  alternating-current  motors  are 
furnished  for  two-phase  and  three-phase  circuits  for  the  standard  voltages 
of  no,  220,  440  and  550  volts  and  frequencies  of  60  and  25  cycles. 
Fully  illustrated  descriptions  of  both  these  types  are  given,  showing  the 
operating  characteristics.  Various  tables  and  curves  of  interest  are  also 
included. 

SWITCHBOARD  METERS.— The  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufac- 
turing Company,  East  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  has  recently  issued  Special  Publi- 
cation No.  1524,  on  the  subject  of  switchboard  indicating  meters.  It  is 
divided  into  four  parts,  as  follows:  (1)  "Modern  Tendencies  in  De- 
sign;" (2)  "Advantages  of  Induction  Meters;'*  (3)  "Westinghouse  High- 
Grade  Meters;"  (4)  "Theory  of  Induction  Meters."  The  various  meters 
and  their  uses  are  set  forth,  and  the  principles  of  operation  clearly 
illustrated  and  described.  With  the  increasing  size  of  power  plants  and 
the  concentration  of  generating  and  controlling  equipment  into  small 
space,  as  often  refluired  in  large  cities,  new  problems  arise  with  regard 
to  the  equipment  of  switchboards.  This  publication  gives  considerable  in- 
formation on  the  subject. 

"YE  OLD  MINT."— The  Frank  H.  Stewart  Electric  Company,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.,  is  now  occupying  its  new  building  at  27  and  39  North 
Seventh  Street,  built  on  the  site  of  the  first  United  States  Mint  and 
called  the  Old  Mint  Building.  The  historical  feature  of  the  site  is  per- 
petuated by  bronze  tablets  with  the  name  of  the  building.  A  six-page 
folder  tells  about  the  physical  features  of  the  new  Stewart  home.  Mr. 
Frank  H.  Steivart,  president  of  the  company,  is  the  author  of  a  twenty- 
eight-paee  illustrated  pamphlet,  entitled  "Ve  Old  Mint,"  which  contains 
a   brief  description    of   the   iirst    United    States   Mint,   established   by   Con- 


gress in  the  year  1792,  at  the  site  of  the  new  Stewart  Building.  It  is  a 
well-written  and  interesting  historical  booklet  and  is  being  sent  out  with 
the  compliments  of  the   Frank    H.   Stewart   Electric  Company. 

HANDBOOK  OF  THE  JOHNS-MANVILLE  COMPANY.— The  H.  W. 
Johns- Man viUe  Company,  Madison  Avenue  and  Forty-first  Street,  New 
York,  has  recently  printed  a  limited  edition  of  its  Handbook  No.  409,  con- 
taining new  and  valuable  engineering  data  on  illumination.  It  is  di- 
vided into  eleven  sections,  each  section  being  printed  on  a  loose  leaf 
and  inclosed  between  heavy  pasteboard  folders.  The  folders  are  thumb- 
indexed  for  easy  reference.  The  leaflets  and  folders  are  inclosed  within 
a  clotli  binder  which  is  large  enough  to  admit  of  future  additions.  The 
contents  of  the  present  leaflets  include  instructions,  definitions  and 
tables,  lamp  data,  showcase  lighting,  picture  lighting,  cove  lighting,  show- 
window  lighting,  outlining  and  sign  lighting,  type-case  lighting,  bank  illu- 
mination, lighting  specialties  and  general  applications  and  test  reports,  all 
fully   illustrated. 


Business  Notes 


ORNAMENTAL  LIGHTING  POLE  COMPANY.— The  offices  of  the 
Ornamental  Lighting  Pole  Company  have  been  removed  from  17  Battery 
Place  to  114  Liberty  Street,  New  York  City. 

MR.  KERN  DODGE,  one  of  the  founders  and  for  many  years  one  of 
the  partners  of  the  engineering  firm  of  Dodge  &  Day,  has  opened  an 
office  in  the  Morris  Building,  Philadelphia,  where  he  will  devote  himself 
to  the  engineering  and  financing  of  public  service  properties.  His  office 
is  in  the  suite  with  the  banking  firm  of  William  A.  Read  &  Company. 

COLUMBIA  INCANDESCENT  LAMP  WORKS  OF  GENERAL 
ELECTRIC  COMPANY.— The  General  Supply  Committee  of  the  United 
States  Treasury  Department  has  awarded  to  the  Columbia  Incandescent 
Lamp  Works  of  General  Electric  Company  a  contract  covering  $150,000 
worth  of  Columbia  Mazda,  Gem  and  Tantalum  lamps.  These  are  to  be 
supplied  to  the  Navy,  Treasury,  War  and  other  departments  of  the 
United  States  Government  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30th,  1913. 
This  is  the  third  consecutive  year  that  the  supplying  of  a  large  portion 
of  the  Government  lamp  requirements  has  been  given  to  the  Columbia 
Incandescent   Lamp   Works. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED  STATES  PATENTS  ISSUED  OCT.   I,  1912. 

[Prepared  by  Robert  Starr  Allyn,  16  Exchange  Place,  New  York.] 

1,039,685.  POWER-TRANSMISSION  DEVICE;  V.  G.  Apple,  Day- 
ton. Ohio.  App.  filed  Dec.  26,  1911.  Motor  generator  with  two  re- 
versible drive  shafts. 

••0^9  691.  LOCOMOTIVE  FRAME;  G.  Bright,  Wilkinsburc,  Pa.  App. 
filed  Feb.  23,  1912.  Side  frame  castings  adapted  to  accommodate 
different  arrangements  of  motors. 

1,039,717.  HIGH-FREQUENCY  ELECTRICAL  CONDUCTOR;  R  A 
Fessenden,  Brant  Rock.  Mass.  App.  filed  Jan.  7,  1911.  Special 
multiplex  strip  winding. 

1,039,722.  KNOCK-OUT  CLOSURE  IN  WALL  BOXES;  T.  M.  G  Full- 
man,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  App.  filed  Dec.  2,  1910.  The  knock-out  is 
secured  only  at  a  number  of  spaced  units. 

1,039,732.  ELECTRIC  FURNACE;  E.  A.  A.  Gronwall,  A.  R.  Lindblad 
p.  Stalhane,  Ludvika,  Sweden.  App.  filed  Mar.  2,  1909.  The  charge 
IS  introduced  through  the  top  past  the  electrodes. 

1,039  744.  RAILWAY  SIGNALING;  J.  S.  Hollidav.  Wilkinsburg,  Pa. 
App.  filed  May  8,    1912.      For  single  track  system  between  sidings. 

1,039  773.  TELEPHONE  SWITCH  BOARD;  E.  S.  McLarn,  ~  East 
Orange,  N.  J.     App.  filed  Oct.  7,  1910.     Sectional  operator's  desk. 

1,039,767.  SYSTEM  OF  ELECTRICAL  DISTRIBUTION-  P.  M  Lin- 
coln, Pittsburgh,  Pa.  App.  filed  January  3,  1906.  Railroad  system 
with  sections  supplied  with  currents  of  different  characters. 

1,039  799.  SUSPENSION  CHAIN  FOR  HIGH-PRESSURE  ELECTRIC 
TRANSMISSION  LINES;  C.  M.  E.  Priestley,  Paris,  France.  App 
filed  Dec.  20,  1910.     Made  up  of  saddle-shaped  links. 

1,039,810.  CUT-OUT  FOR  ELECTRIC  HEATING  DEVICES-  E  E 
Rose.  Swissvale,  Pa.  App.  filed  Nov.  8,  1909.  Automatic  'ihermoJ 
switch  for  sad  irons,  etc. 

1,039,851.  METHOD  AND  APPAR.\TUS  FOR  THE  CARRYING  OUT 
OF  GAS  REACTIONS  BY  MEANS  OF  AN  ELECTRIC  ARC- 
G.  Wagener,  Schlebusch-Manfort,  Germany.  App.  filed  Nov.  22^ 
1911.     Gas  js  passed  through  an  air-tight  reaction  chamber. 

1,039852.  METHOD  OF  .-VND  APPARATUS  FOR  CARRYING  OUT 
GAS  REACTIONS  BY  THE  USE  OF  AN  ELECTRIC  ARC; 
G.  Wagener,  Schlebusch-Manfort,  Germany.  App.  filed  Nov.  22, 
1911.     The  reaction  is  carried  out  under  pressure. 

1,039,882.  ELECTRICALLY-HEATED  FLAT  IRON;  R.  W.  Baker 
Newark,  N.  J.  App.  filed  Apr.  30,  1912.  The  heater  is  within  the 
iron. 

1,039,907.  SECONDARY  B.XTTERY;  A.  H.  Darker.  Blackheath,  Eng- 
land.      App.   filed    Feb.    12,    1910.      Staggered   supports   for   the   plates. 

1,039,918.  TROLLEY-WHEEL  RETAINER;  J.  H.  Finch,  Jr.,  Dor- 
chester, Mass.  App.  filed  Sept.  25,  1911.  The  wheel  rises  as  it 
passes  around   the  curve. 

1,039,925.  ALTERNATING-CURRENT  MEASURING  DEVICE-  B 
Gati,  Budapest,  Austr-a-Hungary.  App.  filed  luly  20,  1907.  '  Im- 
provement on  Kenelly  "baretter"  method. 

1,039,949.     PRIMARY   CELL;   C.   &   B.   Jaeger.   Los   Angeles,   Cal.      App. 


filed    Mar.    6,    1912.      Ventilated    cell    with    improved    depolarizer   and 
electrolyte. 

1,039,955.  OUTLET  BOX;  J.  Keefe,  Boston,  Mass.  App.  filed  Oct.  17, 
1910.  Knock-out  opening  with  two  sets  of  gripping  teeth  of  different 
lengths. 

1.039.975.  TROLLEY;  C.  A.  Lindberg,  Bradford.  Pa.  App.  filed  Aug. 
7,    1911.      Self-lubricating  bearing. 

1.039.976.  PORTABLE  STEAM  OR  HOT-WATER  RADIATOR;  A.  R. 
Little,  Stockton.  Cal.  App.  filed  July  5,  1910.  Connected  main  and 
auxiliary  drums  of  special  form. 

1,039,988.  CONTROLLING  APPARATUS;  E.  C.  Molina,  East  Orange, 
N.  J.  App.  filed  Sept.  14,  1911.  Electromagnetic  automatic  tele- 
phone selecting  switch. 

1,039,996.  SIGNALING  MEANS  FOR  FIRE  ALARM;  G.  Noack,  Char- 
lottenburg,  Germany.  App.  filed  July  10,  1908.  For  automatically 
replacing  central-station  apparatus  after  an  alarm. 

1,040,008.     REFLECTOR:   A.   E.   Pike,   Longbeach,   Cal.     App.   filed  July 

17,  1911.  For  electric  glower  lamp,  Nernst  or  Mazda  type. 
1,040,043.     ELECTRIC   HEATER:    F.    H.    Smith,   Yonkers,   N.   Y.     App. 

filed  May  10.  1911.  Multiple-unit  heater  for  street  cars,  etc. 
1,040.050.     HIGH-POTENTIAL     INSULATOR;     L.     Steinberger,     New 

York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  June  6,  1910.  For  oil  switches,  etc. 
1,040.055.      BATTERY;   A.  E.  Thompson,  Hastings,  Col.     App.  filed  Dec.  , 

18,  1911.      Reinforcements   of  the  jar.  ^- 
1,040,107.     CONNECTING  TERMINAL;  A.  J.  Allen.  New  York,  N.  Y. 

App.  filed  --Vug.   12,    1911.     Cord  and  binding  screw  attachment. 

1,040,110.  SYSTEM  OF  TRANSMITTING  IMAGES  TO  A  DIS- 
TANCE; A.  C.  &  L.  S.  Anderson,  Copenhagen,  Denmark.  App. 
filed  Dec.   16,  1909.     Color-selecting  prism,  screen  and  selenium  cell. 

1,040,116.  APPARATUS  FOR  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  INC.-\N- 
DESCENT-LAMP  FILAMENTS  AND  HEATERS;  R.  W.  Baker, 
New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Aug.  23,  1911.  Automatic  vacuum  and 
flasher  control. 

1,040,123.  OZONIZER;  H.  E.  Beck,  Chicago,  HI.  App.  filed  July  25, 
1911.     Blower  type  of  fan  and  electric  discharge. 

1.040.131.  ELECTRIC-LAMP  SOCKET:  A.  C.  Both,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
App.  filed  Dec.  2,   1911.     Center  contact  and  circuit  terminal. 

1.040.132.  MECHANICAL  MOVEMENT  AND  ELECTRIC-LAMP 
SOCKET;  T.  A.  C.  Both,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Dec.  30, 
1911.      Special-shaped   switch   operating  parts. 

1,040,144.  ELECTRIC  SIGNALING  DEVICE:  F.  W.  Cole,  Newton 
Mass.     App.  filed  Dec.  22,   1910.     Key-controlled  switch. 

1.040.150.  INDICATOR  FOR  INCLOSED  FUSES;  R.  C.  Cole,  West 
Hartford,  Conn.     App.   filed  June  10,   1911.     Cartridge  type. 

1.040.151.  OPEN-LINK  FUSE  CARRIER;  R.  C.  Cole,  Hartford,  Conn. 
App.  filed  Aug.  3.  1912.  To  be  inserted  in  the  usual  spring  clips 
provided  for  a  cartridge-type  fuse. 

1,040,197.  ALARM:    J.    Hartley.    Philadelphia,    Pa.      App.    filed    July    30, 

1908.  Mercury  thermometer. 

1,040,212.  TROLLEY-WIRE    SWITCH    OR    FROG;   J.    Kirby,    Douglas, 

Ariz.  --\pp.  filed   May  3,    1912.     Guard  device. 


r 


106 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  OCTOBER  19,  1912. 


No.  16. 


PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  BY 

McGraw  Publishing  Company 

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17,750  copies  are  printed. 


New  YORK,  SATURDAY.  OCTOBER  19,  1912. 


CONTENTS. 

Editorials    805 

Chicago  Chosen  for  N.  E.  L.  A.  Convention 808 

Engineering  Lectures   at   Brooklyn   Institute 808 

Meeting  of  N.  E.  L.  A.   Rate  Research  Committee 803 

Kennelly    on    Hyperbolic    Functions 808 

Eleventh  Jovian   Congress 808 

Pittsburgh   Section.   I.   E.   S 808 

A.   I.    E.   E.  Affairs 809 

New   York   Section,    I.    E.   S.,   Meeting 810 

Illumination   for  Naval   Pageant  in   New   York  Harbor 811 

New  England  Section,  N.  E.  L.  A.,  Convention 812 

Chicago   Electric   Railway   Convention. . .  .'. 814 

Public    Service    Commission    News 814 

Current   News  and   Notes 815 

The  Jordan   River   Power   Development. — II 817 

New   Street   Lighting   in   Chicago. — II 822 

Steel    Mill    Electrical    Engineering 826 

Safety    Precautions    .\round    Electrical    Apparatus 827 

Motor  Drive  in  a  Cider  Mill.     By  R.  B.  Mateer 829 

Electric   Window-Display    Devices 829 

Storeroom,  Garage  and  Stable  Methods  at  Milwaukee 830 

Curb   Lighting   Posts   with   "Hanging  Gardens" 832 

Tests  and  Deflections  of  Concrete  Poles 832 

Indirect   Illumination   of  a   Drafting   Room 832 

Illumination  at  the  Electric  Railway  Exhibition  in  Chicago 833 

Conduit  Versus  Open  Work  in  Places  Subject  to  Moisture,  Corrosive 

Fumes,    Steam,    Etc. — II 834 

Small   Structural    Sections  in  Transmission  Towers 836 

Recent   Telephone   Patents 837 

Letter  to  the  Editors: 

Telephone   Phenomena   Investigation.      By   A.   P.    Connor 837 

Digest  of  Current  Electrical   Literature 838 

Book    Reviews    84 1 

New    Apparatus   and   AppliaiKes 842 

Industrial  and   Financial   News 845 

Weekly  Record   of   Electrical   Patents 854 


THE  CHICAGO  STREET-LIGHTING  SYSTEM. 

In  this  issue  appears  the  second  and  final  section  of  a 
description  of  the  new  and  very  interesting  street-lighting 
system  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  to  which  we  have  made 
reference  from  time  to  time.  The  lighting  situation  in 
Chicago  is  an  interesting  one,  not  only  by  reason  of  the 
somewhat  unusual  contractual  arrangements  by  which  the 
Sanitary  District  undertakes  to  light  the  streets,  but  also  on 
account  of  the  use  of  flame-arc  lamps  on  a  very  large  scale 
for  the  first  time  in  American  practice.  The  long-burning 
flame-arc  lamp  is  by  no  means  a  navelty,  since  it  has  been 
in  successful  use  in  England  for  three  or  four  years,  but 
its  adaptation  for  use  on  alternating-current  circuits  and 
the  appearance  of  suitable  lamps  and  electrodes  of  Ameri- 
can manufacture  have  given  it  recently  a  much  more  im- 
portant position  in  the  art  than  it  had  at  first.  When  the 
long-burning  flame-arc  lamp  was  built  exclusively  for 
direct-current  circuits  and  the  electrodes  were  obtained  only 
abroad  and  at  large  expense,  it  could  make  no  headway 
against  the  magnetite-arc  lamp  as  developed  in  this  country. 
However,  when  our  manufacturers  developed  the  present 
lamp  and  electrodes  the  system  became  a  useful  one  for 
the  very  numerous  cases  in  which  alternating  current  is 
much  more  conveniently  obtainable  than  direct  current. 

The  requirements  in  Chicago  were  a  powerful  and  valu- 
■  able  stimulus  to  the  production  of  improved  lamps,  and  the 
results  seem  to  have  shown  that  the  present  product  pos- 
sesses much  of  merit.  These  lamps  in  considerable  numbers 
have  now  been  in  use  long  enough  to  permit  one  to  form 
some  judgment  of  their  comparative  qualities.  The  record 
of  outages  from  all  causes  is  less  than  one-half  of  i  per 
cent  per  day,  which  is  a  decidedly  good  record,  particu- 
larly for  a  new  lantern.  Difficulties  other  than  outages 
tending  to  make  the  lamp  troublesome  or  expensive  to 
operate  have  not  yet  been  made  public,  and  full  information 
may  be  lacking  for  some  considerable  period. 

The  standard  construction  for  the  poles  is  a  rather  in- 
teresting one.  A  plain  but  very  neat  iron  structure  carry- 
ing the  lamp  on  a  30-in.  bracket  with  the  arc  at  an  elevation 
of  25  ft.  has  been  adopted.  The  height  was  adopted  after 
a  considerable  discussion,  and  it  is  about  right  for  districts 
where  the  lamps  are  fairly  closely  spaced.  It  seems  a 
little  low  for  lamps  spaced  as  much  as  250  ft.  apart,  the 
common  distance  in  the  outlying  districts.  The  lamps  are 
lowered  for  trimming,  being  provided  with  automatic  series 
cut-outs.  The  lowering  gear  is  entirely  concealed,  and  the 
whole  arrangement  appears  to  be  very  workmanlike  and 
convenient.  We  shall  await  with  considerable  interest  an 
authoritative  report  of  costs  of  operation  with  these  new 
lamps.  Their  light-giving  efficiency  is  extremely  high. 
Their  adaptation  to  use  on  alternating-current  circuits  is 
a  matter  of  considerable  economy  in  equipment  cost,  and 


8o6 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


their  place  in  the  future  of  the  art  will  hinge  chiefly  on  the 
costs  of  trimming,  cleaning  and  repairs.  From  the  6000 
lamps  now  in  use  reliable  figures  should  soon  be  obtained. 

The  change  in  the  arc-lighting  situation  for  the  past 
three  or  four  years  has  been  astonishing  even  to  those 
whose  minds  are  pretty  well  seasoned  to  the  rapid  changes 
in  electrical  conditions.  Within  that  time  the  old  open-arc 
lamp,  already  obsolescent,  has  almost  entirely  disappeared 
except  in  a  few  places  where  it  is  retained  for  reasons 
wholly  of  local  significance.  The  inclosed-arc  lamp  has 
become  obsolescent  for  street  work,  and  for  commercial 
lighting  it  has  been  in  large  measure  replaced  by  the  in- 
tensified and  flame-arc  lamps.  The  magnetite-arc  lamp, 
despite  the  confinement  of  its  use  to  direct-current  circuits, 
has  made  an  immense  change  for  the  better  in  street-light- 
ing conditions,  and  now  the  long-burning  flame-arc  lamp  is 
here  and  an  improved  titanium-arc  lamp  is  on  the  way 
for  street  lighting  by  alternating-current  circuits. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  questions  outstanding  is  the 
position  of  the  large  tungsten  lamp  in  street  lighting.  Had 
it  appeared  before  the  advent  of  the  luminous  and  flame-arc 
lamps  in  common  practice  it  would  unquestionably  have 
superseded  the  carbon-arc  lamp  as  a  street  illuminant  within 
a  very  short  time.  There  is  a  large  difference  between 
from  1.5  to  2.5  watts  per  candle  in  the  old  arc  lamps  and 
from  0.5  to  0.75  watt  per  candle  in  the  new  arc  lamps,  so 
that  even  with  i  watt  per  candle  in  the  large  tungsten  lamps 
competition  is  not  easy.  We  cannot  help  feeling,  however, 
that  the  large  tungsten  units  will  have  a  far  better  field  in 
the  next  few  years  than  they  have  had  up  to  the  present, 
and  that  in  the  places  where  arc  lamps  are  now  spaced  at 
distances  of  from  200  ft.  to  300  ft.  there  is  much  to  be  said 
in  favor  of  the  incandescent  substitute. 


THE  USE  OF  REACTANCE  IN  TRANSFORMERS. 

Until  comparatively  recently  it  was  held  as  an  article  of 
faith  by  orthodox  electrical  engineers  that  internal  react- 
ance in  a  transformer  was  pernicious  and  obnoxious — a 
thing  which  could  not  indeed  be  extirpated  completely,  but 
nevertheless  one  which  the  designer  abhorred  and  burned 
the  midnight  taper  to  exorcise.  Indeed,  the  reactance  factor 
of  a  transformer,  or  the  ratio  of  its  internal  reactance  to 
its  internal  resistance,  on  the  basis  of  unity  ratio  of  trans- 
formation, was  commonly  regarded  as  a  comparative 
measure  of  the  imperfection  of  transformer  design  for  a 
given  type,  output  and  voltage  ratio  of  transformation. 

A  paper  read  by  Mr.  W.  S.  Moody  at  the  last  New  York 
meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
shows  how  completely  the  above  set  of  notions  has  been 
modified  by  recent  practice,  thus  laying  another  illusion  on 
the  scrap  heap  of  time.  It  is  still  true  that  in  the  case  of 
the  ordinary  small  transformer  on  electric-lighting  mains 
the  less  internal  reactance  it  has  the  better  it  will  regulate 
its  voltage  and  give  satisfactory  service,  but  in  the  case 
of  large  transformers,  especially  those  delivering  energy  to 
synchronous  converters  in  extensive  high-tension  generating 
systems,  the  conditions  favoring  inherent  regulation  become 
secondary  to  those  favoring  the  safety  of  the  generators,  in 
the  event  of  accidental  short-circuits. 


With  the  recent  increase  in  the  size  and  output  of  gen- 
erating stations  the  mechanical  stresses  that  may  be  thrown 
suddenly  upon  the  generators  in  case  of  a  short-circuit  have 
increased  at  a  rapid  rate.  If  such  a  short-circuit  occurred 
at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  station  the  resistance  of 
the  transmission  lines  up  to  the  fault  might  serve  to  keep 
the  overload  currents  and  mechanical  stresses  down  to  a 
safe  limit;  but  if  the  short  occurred  close  to  the  busbars 
the  amount  of  electric  power  which  the  generators  could 
collectively  throw  into  the  breach  might  involve  mechanical 
stresses  sufficient  to  wreck  a  machine.  Although  such  an 
accident  might  be  reasonably  guarded  against  by  various 
devices,  nevertheless  the  mere  possibility  of  such  a  mishap 
should  be  prevented  automatically.  The  safest  way  at 
present  is  to  inject  such  reactance  into  the  generator  sys- 
tem as  will  confine  a  short-circuit  to  the  required  safety 
limit. 

As  the  paper  points  out,  there  are  two  ways  of  inserting 
reactance  between  the  source  of  supply  and  the  collector 
rings  of  a  converter.  One  is  to  use  an  external  reactance 
coil  and  the  other  is  to  insert  extra  reactance  into  the 
transformers  delivering  energy  to  the  converter.  In  the 
case  of  external  reactances,  these  are  massive  devices  of 
concrete  and  air.  That  is,  they  have  non-ferric  magnetic 
circuits  and  constant  values  of  inductance  at  all  loads.  In 
the  case  of  the  internal  reactances  of  transformer  coils, 
non-ferric  magnetic  circuits  cannot  be  used  with  advantage, 
partly  because  the  air  space  needed  for  a  non-ferric  react- 
ance path  is  too  expensive  inside  a  transformer,  and  partly 
because  large  air-path  magnetic  leaks  in  transformers  pro- 
duce divergences  in  the  magnetic  flux,  which  in  turn  set 
up  eddy  currents  in  the  coils.  An  ingenious  arrangement 
of  incompletely  closed  ferric  magnetic  leaks  in  transformers 
has  therefore  been  worked  out. 

It  would  seem  that  magnetic  saturation  must  play  an  im- 
portant and  undesirable  part  in  the  characteristics  of  the 
leakage  flux  paths.  If  the  object  in  providing  the  extra 
leakage  is  not  to  increase  the  series  reactance  in  normal 
service  but  rather  to  minimize  the  short-circuit  current, 
this  object  is  largely  defeated  by  the  unavoidable  presence 
of  high  series  reactance  at  light  and  normal  load  and  a 
marked  reduction  in  reactance  at  overload  and  short-circuit. 


COLORS  OF  ILLUMINANTS. 

In  view  of  the  present  interest  in  so-called  artificial  day- 
light a  recent  research  by  Dr.  Voege,  of  Hamburg,  contains 
many  interesting  features.  It  is  a  study  of  the  color  com- 
position of  a  score  of  sources  with  the  view  of  determining 
their  exact  color  relations  with  one  another  and  with  natural 
daylight,  so  far  as  there  is  any  such  thing.  Our  readers, 
of  course,  remember  the  studies  of  Dr.  Ives  in  the  same 
direction  made  with  the  colorimeter.  There  have  also  been 
many  spectro-photometric  investigations  of  a  few  sources. 
Dr.  Voege's  method  of  investigation  was  slightly  different 
from  any  of  these  in  that  it  was  based  on  isolating  certain 
spectral  regions  by  means  of  a  carefully  adjusted  set  of 
filters  made  from  Jena  glass,  the  transparency  of  which 
had  been  accurately  determined.  Using  duplicate  screens, 
it  was  possible  accurately  to  compare  by  ordinary  photometry 


October  19,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


807 


the  relative  intensities  at  various — in  this  case  five — regions 
of  the  spectrum.  The  results  of  these  comparisons  form  a 
valuable  contribution  to  the  literature  of  photometry. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  feature  of  Dr.  Voege's  tabu- 
lated results  is  the  demonstration  of  the  uncertainty  of  the 
datum  point  in  any  consideration  of  daylight.  It  has  been 
many  times  shown,  of  course,  that  a  cloudy  sky  is  radically 
different  in  color  effect  from  a  blue  sky,  and  both  of  these 
from  sunlight.  For  example,  in  Dr.  Voege's  results  it 
appears  that  the  blue  component  of  the  blue  sky  is  2.5  times 
as  intense  as  the  similar  component  in  sunlight,  while 
through  the  entire  red  end  of  the  spectrum  the  blue  sky 
shows  a  deficit  of  from  15  to  20  per  cent.  Both  differ  in 
color  by  a  considerable  margin  from  light  received  from  a 
cloudy  sky.  Comparing  now  the  group  of  incandescent 
electric  lamps,  having  carbon,  tantalum  and  tungsten  fila- 
ments, with  the  Nernst  glower  in  addition,  it  is  found  that 
through  the  entire  green  and  blue  end  of  the  spectrum  the 
differences  within  the  group  are  practically  negligible.  The 
carbon-filament  lamp  shows  a  slight  but  not  large  excess  of 
red  over  the  three  others,  which  are  so  nearly  alike  that  the 
variations  are  hardly  worth  mentioning.  The  acetylene 
flame  runs  pretty  near  to  these  incandescent  lamps,  but  on 
Dr.  Voege's  figures  is  a  slightly  better  approximation  to 
white  than  any  of  them.  The  incandescent  gas  lamp  clearly 
belongs  in  the  same  category  with  acetylene  and  the  in- 
candescent electric  lamps  in  color,  while  the  petroleum 
burners,  two  of  which  were  tested,  are  considerably  redder 
than  the  carbon-filament  lamp. 

Passing  now  to  the  group  of  arc  lamps,  the  common  open 
arc  runs  pretty  close  to  direct  sunlight,  but  with  somewhat 
greater  .strength  than  the  red  end  of  the  spectrum.  The 
light  from  the  intensified  inclosed-arc  lamp  is  about  as 
much  bluer  than  sunlight  as  that  from  the  ordinary  arc  lamp 
is  redder;  it  is  less  blue  than  light  from  a  clear  sky,  and 
slightly  bluer  than  that  from  a  cloudy  sky.  A  flame  lamp 
fitted  with  Siemens  white-light  electrodes  runs  wonderfully 
close  to  the  color  of  a  cloudy  sky,  showing  a  slight  excess  in 
the  green,  while  the  yellow  and  red  flame  electrodes  give 
about  the  result  that  their  names  would  indicate.  Of  the 
less  familiar  sources  of  light  the  mercury  tube  with 
rhodamine  reflector  gives  a  good  approximation  to  the  light 
of  an  overcast  sky  until  the  red  is  reached,  when  it  falls  off 
somewhat,  the  deep  red  being  conspicuous  by  its  absence, 
although  the  lighter  reds  are  well  represented.  The  one 
fact  which  stands  out  conspicuously  as  the  result  of  this 
particular  set  of  tests  is  that  open  and  intensified  arc  lamps 
and  flame-arc  lamps  with  "white"  electrodes  all  give  a  pretty 
close  approximation  to  natural  light,  varying  among  them- 
selves and  from  the  average  of  natural  light  less  than 
natural  light  itself  varies  from  its  own  average.  Could  we 
see  simultaneously  sunlight  and  the  light  received  from 
clear  and  cloudy  skies  we  should  be  tempted  to  denounce 
natural  light  as  singularly  bad  for  color  matching.  For- 
tunately one's  memory  for  color  is  anything  but  precise,  so 
that  the  gradual  variations  between  noon  and  sunset  are 
not  noticed.  With  very  little  modification  of  several  arti- 
ficial illuminants  it  is  possible  to  produce  an  illumination 
quite  close  to  average  daylight,  if  there  could  be  any  general 
agreement  as  to  the  definition  of  the  latter. 


EFFEa  OF  TEMFERATURE  UPON  HYSTERESIS  LOSS. 

At  the  last  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  in  New  York  City  a  paper  was  presented 
by  Prof.  Malcolm  Maclaren  on  the  effect  of  temperature 
upon  hysteresis  loss  in  sheet  steel.  In  a  paper  of  similar 
title  presented  in  April,  191 1,  the  results  of  a  research  on 
hysteresis  losses  in  furnace-heated  steel  rings  had  shown 
that  the  loss  per  cubic  centimeter  and  cycle  diminished 
markedly,  for  a  given  flux  density,  as  the  temperature 
increased,  until  at  a  critical  temperature  not  far  below 
800  deg.  C.  the  loss  disappeared  altogether.  Moreover,  it 
transpired  from  a  calculation  of  the  results  recorded  in 
those  measurements  that  at  all  the  temperatures  examined 
up  to  over  700  deg.  C.  the  loss  varied  very  nearly  as  the 
1. 6th    power   of    the    flux    density. 

In  the  new  paper  investigation  was  directed  particularly 
to  the  effect  of  rate  of  heating  or  cooling  on  the  hysteretic 
loss,  and  also  to  the  shape  of  the  hysteresis  loops  at 
different  temperatures.  In  regard  to  the  rate  of  heating,  no 
marked  effects  were  noticeable,  but  the  effect  of  long- 
continued  temperature  elevation  in  increasing  the  loss, 
according  to  the  well-known  aging  effect  in  transformers, 
was  clearly  shown.  The  salient  result  reached  and  pre- 
sented in  the  paper  is  that  the  falling  off  in  hysteretic  loss 
at  elevated  temperatures  is  mainly  due  to  a  reduction  in 
coercive  force.  It  is  well  known  and  was  pointed  out  by 
Mascart  and  Ewing  that  if  a  plot  be  made  with  the  flux 
density  in  gausses  as  ordinates  and  the  magnetic  intensity 
in  gilberts  per  centimeter  as  abscissas,  the  area  of  the  loop 
formed  in  one  regular  cycle  of  magnetization  will  be  411 
times  the  hysteretic  loss  in  ergs  per  cubic  centimeter.  The 
area  inclosed,  for  a  given  range  of  flux  density,  will  mani- 
festly vary  with  the  breadth  of  the  loop.  The  breadth,  in 
turn,  will  vary  with  the  coercive  force,  or  that  magnetic 
intensity  which  is  necessary  to  apply  to  the  tested  sample, 
in  order  completely  to  destroy  its  residual  magnetic  flux 
density.  It  is  clear  that  if  in  two  different  samples  of 
magnetic  material,  each  magnetized  cyclically  to  say  10,000 
gausses,  one  has  a  coercive  force  of  i  gilbert  per  centimeter 
and  the  other  a  coercive  force  of  2  gilberts  per  centimeter, 
then  unless  the  shapes  of  the  two  loops  differ  the  area 
inclosed  by  the  second  loop  will  be  double  that  in  the  first, 
or  the  specific  hysteretic  loss  of  the  latter  will  be  double 
that  of  the  former. 

In  the  cases  investigated  and  reported  in  the  paper  the 
flux  density  diminished  distinctly  as  the  temperature  of  the 
test  ring  advanced  from  25  deg.  to  say  725  deg.  C,  but  not 
very  greatly ;  whereas  the  coercive  force  diminished  very 
greatly.  Consequently,  the  diminution  in  the  area  of  loop 
and  in  specific  hysteretic  loss  is  in  these  cases  mainly 
attributable  to  diminished  coercive  force  with  rising  tem- 
perature. From  a  physical  standpoint,  we  may  explain  the 
above  phenomenon  by  saying  that  as  the  temperature  of 
sheet  steel  is  increased  the  magnetic  molecules  become  freed 
from  each  others'  entangling  magnetic  influences  and  also, 
perhaps,  become  more  delicately  pivoted,  so  that  in 
obedience  to  a  reversal  of  magnetizing  force  they  are  more 
easily  reversed  and  require  a  smaller  magnetic  force  to 
reverse  them.  In  other  words,  their  coercive  force  is 
reduced. 


8o8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


CHICAGO  CHOSEN  FOR  N.  E.  L.  A.  CONVENTION. 


KENNELLY  ON  HYPERBOLIC  FUNCTIONS. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  it  was  unanimously  voted  to 
accept  the  invitation  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Com- 
pany to  hold  the  1913  convention  of  the  association  in 
Chicago.  The  exact  dates  of  the  convention  have  not  yet 
been  fixed,  but  they  will  probably  fall  in  either  the  third 
week  in  May  or  the  first  week  in  June.  The  fourth  week 
in  May  will  not  prove  suitable  because  Decoration  Day  will 
fall  on  Friday  of  that  week.  It  is  predicted  that  the 
attendance  at  the  convention  will  reach  7500. 


ENGINEERING  LECTURES  AT  BROOKLYN 
INSTITUTE. 


The  course  of  scientific  lectures  arranged  by  the  Brooklyn 
Institute  of  Art  and  Sciences  for  the  present  season  is  of 
unusual  importance  and  interest.  Sir  William  Ramsay  will 
again  be  heard  at  the  Institute,  where  his  lectures  will  be 
given  under  the  joint  auspices  of  the  department  of 
chemistry  of  the  Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences  and 
the  Brooklyn  Polytechnic  Institute.  They  will  relate 
to  those  elements  and  conditions  of  the  atmosphere  which 
have  been  discovered  by  Sir  William.  There  will  be 
three  lectures  as  follows :  Oct.  22,  "The  Ancient  History  of 
the  Gases  of  the  Atmosphere";  Oct.  29,  "The  Discovery  of 
Argon,  Helium,  Neon,  Krypton,  Xenon" ;  Nov.  5,  "Nitron, 
or  the  Radium  Emanation."  The  lectures  will  be  illustrated 
by  the  aid  of  the  spectroscope  and  the  stereopticon. 

The  department  of  electricity  has  also  arranged  for  a 
series  of  illustrated  lectures  on  electrical  engineering  at 
the  evening  meetings  of  the  department.  Prof.  John  S. 
McKay,  of  the  Packer  Institute,  will  lecture  on  "Modern 
Views  of  Electricity,"  the  date  to  be  announced  later.  On 
Nov.  6  Mr.  George  I.  Rhodes,  New  York,  will  lecture  on 
"The  Making  of  Electricity";  Dec.  7,  Prof.  Sidney  W.  Ashe, 
Harrison,  N.  J.,  on  "Modern  Illuminants";  Feb.  i,  Mr. 
Bancroft  Gherardi,  New  York,  on  "Long-Distance  Under- 
ground Telephony" ;  March  8,  Mr.  Nicola  Tesla,  New  York, 
on  "Is  Wireless  Power  Transmission  Feasible?"  April  5, 
Mr.  D.  B.  Rushmore,  Schenectady,  on  "The  White  and 
Black  Coal  Electric  Problem" ;  May  3,  Prof.  Michael  Pupin. 
of  Columbia  University,  on  "Long-Range  Transmission." 
The  department  of  physics  has  also  announced  three 
Tuesday  evening  illustrated  lectures  on  "Light"  by  Prof. 
Robert  W.  Wood,  of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  which  will 
be  given  on  April  8,  15  and  22. 


MEETING   OF  N.  E.  L.  A.  RATE   RESEARCH 
COMMITTEE. 


A  meeting  of  the  rate  research  committee  of  the  Na- 
tional Electric  Light  Association  was  held  at  the  Hotel 
Touraine,  Boston,  on  Oct.  4  and  5.  Chairman  E.  W.  Lloyd,- 
Chicago,  presided,  Secretary  W.  J.  Norton  and  Messrs. 
L.  H.  Conklin,  of  Scranton,  S.  E.  Doane,  of  Cleveland,  and 
R.  S.  Hale,  of  Boston,  also  being  present.  A  number  of 
matters  in  conection  with  the  Bulletin  were  discussed, 
and  it  was  decided  to  try  so  far  as  possible  to  keep  distinct 
those  questions  regarding  the  proper  amount  of  gross  reve- 
nue, involving  such  matters  as  the  proper  return  on  the  in- 
vestment, etc.,  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other,  ques- 
tions relating  to  rates  for  different  customers  which  are 
concerned  primarily  with  the  subject  of  discrimination.  A 
number  of  companies  have  reported  their  rates  on  the 
forms  suggested  by  the  committee  and  considerable  work 
was  done  in  collating  these  reports.  The  next  meeting  will 
be  held  at  Chicago  on  Nov.  20. 


Under  the  auspices  of  the  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts 
and  Sciences,  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly,  of  Harvard  University, 
on  the  evening  of  Oct.  10  gave  the  first  of  his  series  of  five 
lectures  on  the  elements  of  hyperbolic  functions  and  their 
application  to  electrical  engineering  before  an  interested 
and  enthusiastic  audience  of  about  300  in  the  physics  lec- 
ture room  of  Brooklyn  Polytechnic  Institute.  Dr.  Ken- 
nelly devoted  his  first  lecture  to  a  discourse  on  the  nature 
of  hyperbolic  functions  and  the  elements  of  hyperbolic 
trigonometry,  forming  an  introduction  to  the  future  con- 
sideration of  linear  conductors,  both  uniform  and  non- 
uniform, when  subject  either  to  steady  continuous  or  alter- 
nating impressed  electromotive  forces.  An  announce- 
ment of  the  full  lecture  course  which  Dr.  Kennelly  will 
present  appeared  in  our  issue  of  Sept.  28,  page  640.  In 
general  the  subjects  considered  will  be  the  same  as  those 
taken  up  in  a  similar  course  of  lectures  which  he  delivered 
at  the  LTniversity  of  London  in  igii. 

Owing  to  the  unexpectedly  large  attendance,  which  some- 
what taxed  the  capacity  of  the  lecture  room.  Prof.  Samuel 
Sheldon  announced  that  a  larger  meeting  place  might  be 
decided  upon,  but  in  that  event  it  was  arranged  that  a 
notice  of  the  change  should  appear  in  the  Electrical  World. 


ELEVENTH  JOVIAN  CONGRESS. 


The  Order  of  Rejuvenated  Sons  of  Jove  held  its  eleventh 
annual  congress  in  Pittsburgh  Oct.  14,  15  and  16,  amid 
great  enthusiasm.  Over  seven  hundred  members  of  the 
order  were  registered.  Among  the  business  matters  which 
came  up  for  consideration  were  important  changes  in  the 
constitution  and  by-laws,  intended  for  the  betterment  of  the 
order.  Tuesday  night  there  was  a  large  parade,  followed 
by  a  rejuvenation  at  which  117  candidates  were  initiated. 
In  the  casting  of  ballots  for  eleventh  Jupiter  a  spirited 
contest  developed  between  Mr.  W.  M.  Deming  and  Mr.  F.  E. 
Watts.  After  the  Ohio  ballot  was  cast  Mr.  Deming  grace- 
fully conceded  Mr.  Watts'  election  and  moved  that  it  be 
made  unanimous,  which  was  done.  The  following  incoming 
officers  of  the  eleventh  Jovian  congress  were  unanimously 
elected:  Neptune,  L.  M.  Cargo;  Pluto,  A.  W.  Woodville; 
Vulcan,  C.  L.  Martin;  Hercules,  H.  A.  Hart;  Avrenim, 
W.  H.  Vilett;  Mars,  W.  D.  Shaler;  Apollo,  L.  S.  Mont- 
gomery ;  Mercury,  E.  C.  Bennett.  More  than  three  hundred 
members  attended  the  banquet  given  on  the  evening  of 
Oct.  16.  Mr.  Hugh  T.  Wreaks,  of  the  National  Board  of 
Fire  Underwriters,  addressed  the  meeting,  suggesting  the 
great  help  the  Jovian  order  can  be  in  the  further  reduction 
of  fire  hazards.  The  congress  just  closed  carried  off  the 
honors  as  the  greatest  event  in  the  history  of  the  Jovian 
order.  The  1913  Jovian  congress  will  be  held  in  New  York 
City  on  Oct.  15  and  16  during  the  New  York  Electrical 
Show. 


PITTSBURGH  SECTION,  I.  E.  S. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Pittsburgh  Section  of  the  Illumi- 
nating Engineering  Society  held  on  Friday,  Oct.  11,  the 
following  papers  read  at  the  Milwaukee  convention  of  the 
Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers  were 
abstracted:  "Modern  Illumination  in  the  Iron  and  Steel 
Industry,"  by  Mr.  C.  E.  Clewell ;  "The  Incandescent  Lamp 
in  the  Steel  Industry,"  by  Mr.  Ward  Harrison,  and  "Curves 
and  Data  for  Illumination  Calculation."  by  Mr.  C.  J.  Mundo. 
The  following  papers  are  scheduled  for  presentation  at  the 
regular  monthly  meetings  of  the  Pittsburgh  Section:  No- 
vember, "The  Use  of  Lenses  in  Illumination,"  by  Prof. 
H.   S.  Hower;  December,   "Store   Illumination";   January, 


October  19,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


809 


"Street  Lighting,"  by  Mr.  C.  A.  Stephens;  February,  "Gas 
Illumination";  March,  "The  Incandescent  Lamp  in  the 
Central-Station  Business";  April,  "Some  Phases  of  Rail- 
road Illumination,"  by  Mr.  J.  L.  Minick;  May,  "Physio- 
logical Aspects  of  Illumination."  Arrangements  have  been 
made  for  a  joint  meeting  with  the  local  section  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  at  which  it  is 
probable  a  paper  on  "Street  Lighting"  will  be  presented  by 
Mr.  C.  E.  Stephens.  Preceding  the  regular  monthly  meet- 
ings lectures  of  about  twenty  minutes'  duration  on  the  ele- 
mentary phases  of  the  subject  of  illumination  are  to  be 
given  by  Prof.  H.  S.  Hower. 


A.  I.  E.  E.  AFFAIRS. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  in  New  York  on  Oct.  11, 
1912,  the  report  of  the  finance  committee  submitting  the 
budget  covering  the  proposed  expenditures  for  the  commg 
year,  amounting  to  $ii4,307-34,  for  the  various  activities  of 
the  Institute  during  the  appropriation  year  begmnmg  Oct. 
I,  1912,  was  adopted.  Upon  the  recommendation  of  the  sec- 
tions committee,  authority  was  granted  to  organize  branches 
of  the  Institute  at  Highland  Park  College,  Des  Moines,  la., 
and  the  University  of  Oklahoma,  Norman,  Okla. 

A  by-law  recommended  by  the  sections  committee  relatmg 
to  the  expenses  of  meetings  of  Institute  sections  was 
adopted.  This  by-law  provides  that  the  appropriation  of 
Institute  funds  during  any  fiscal  year  for  the  meeting 
expenses  of  any  section  shall  not  exceed  a  sum  determined 
as  follows:  (a)  Fifty  dollars  for  each  section  independently 
of  the  number  of  members  in  the  section,  (b)  One  dollar 
and  twenty-five  cents  for  each  Institute  member  residing 
within  the'  territory  of  the  section  at  the  beginning  of  the 
administrative  year,  Aug.  i. 

The  following  by-law  recommended  by  the  meetings  and 
papers  committee  was  adopted: 

"The  manuscripts  of  any  papers  to  be  presented  at  the 
Institute  meetings  or  conventions  after  the  date  of  Feb.  i, 
1913,  must  be  received  at  Institute  headquarters'  for  the 
consideration  of  the  meetings  and  papers  committee  not  less 
than  sixty  days  before  the  date  of  presentation,  and  no 
papers  shall  be  announced  for  presentation  at  any  specific 
meeting  of  the  Institute  until  after  the  paper  has  been 
accepted  for  presentation  by  that  committee. 

"The  executive  committee,  however,  shall  have  the  power 
to  waive  the  sixty-day  requirement  upon  the  request  of  the 
chairman  of  the  meetings  and  papers  committee." 

Upon  the  recommendation  of  the  meetings  and  papers 
committee,  it  was  resolved  that  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
meetings  and  papers  committee  of  any  one  year  to  arrange 
for  a  sufficient  number  of  papers  for  presentation  at  the 
first  two  meetings  of  the  year  succeeding  that  for  which 
the  committee  was  appointed  and  to  turn  over  such  papers 
for  the  use  of  the  succeeding  committee. 

Fifty-seven  associates  were  elected,  thirty-nine  students 
were  ordered  enrolled  and  three  associates  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  grade  of  member,  in  accordance  with  the 
recommendations  of  the  board  of  examiners. 

Fifty-one  applicants  were  transferred  from  the  grade  of 
associate  to  the  grade  of  member,  and  seventy-six  applicants 
were  transferred  from  the  grade  of  member  to  that  of 
fellow,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  special 
section  of  the  Institute  constitution  adopted  last  June. 

Upon  the  invitation  of  the  executive  committee  of  the 
American  Mining  Congress,  President  Mershon  was  author- 
ized to  appoint  two  delegates  to  represent  the  Institute  at 
the  fifteenth  annual  session  of  the  Congress  at  Spokane, 
Wash.,  Nov.  25  to  28,  1912. 

The  badge  committee,  which  had  been  appointed  to 
recommend  the  forms  of  badge  to  be  used  for  the  three 


grades  of  Institute  membership  which  were  established  last 
June  in  place  of  the  two  grades  formerly  existing,  reported 
and  recommended  that  the  present  forms  of  badges  for 
associates  and  members  remain  unchanged,  and  that  the 
form  of  badge  for  the  grade  of  fellow  shall  be  of  the  same 
size  and  shape  as  the  members'  badge  and  identical  in 
design,  including  the  lettering,  the  only  difference  being  that 
the  fellows'  badge  shall  be  the  reverse  of  the  members' 
badge  in  color— namely,  shall  be  blue  lettering  on  a  gold 
background.    The  recommendations  were  adopted. 

The  thanks  of  the  Institute  were  voted  to  Mr.  George  L. 
Colgate,  of  Rochester,  for  his  presentation  to  the  Institute, 
through  Mr.  John  C.  Parker,  of  interesting  historical  docu- 
ments relating  to  a  bill  introduced  in  the  Virginia  Legisla- 
ture in  1889  "for  the  prevention  of  danger  from  eiectric 
currents."  The  documents  include  a  lead-pencil  memoran- 
dum of  a  proposed  modification  of  the  bill  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison  and  signed  by  him. 


OCTOBER  MEETING  A.  I.  E.  E. 


Two  papers  were  presented  at  the  opening  fall  meeting 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  held  in 
New  York  on  Oct.  11.  The  first  of  these  was  one  by  Mr. 
W.  S.  Moody,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  entitled  "The  Use  of 
Reactance  in  Transformers,"  and  the  other  was  one  by 
Prof.  Malcolm  MacLaren,  of  Princeton,  entitled  "The 
Effect  of  Temperature  Upon  Hysteresis  Loss  in  Sheet 
Steel." 

In  the  paper  by  Mr.  Moody  it  was  stated  that,  contrary 
to  former  practice  in  transformer  design,  an  attempt  is 
frequently  made  at  the  present  day  to  obtain  increased 
rather  than  decreased  leakage  reactance.  Such  reactance 
is  desirable  where  a  variable  voltage  is  needed  for  use  with 
synchronous  converters  and  where  the  current  which  can 
be  produced  on  snort-circuits  must  be  limited.  It  has  re- 
cently become  customary  to  specify  that  transformers  must 
not  have  less  than  5  per  cent  reactance  for  the  protection 
of  transformers,  switches,  generators,  and  in  fact  all  parts 
of  the  system,  against  the  high  mechanical  stresses  at  ex- 
cessive currents.  "When  a  great  amount  of  reactance  is 
desired  for  flexibility  in  transformation  ratio,  as  for  use 
with  synchronous  converters,  the  result  can  be  obtained  by 
placing  a  laminated  iron  structure  between  the  primary  and 
secondary  windings  in  such  a  way  as  to  form  a  low  reluct- 
ance path  for  the  leakage  flux.  The  use  of  such  a  device 
does  not  extend  the  possibility  of  current-limiting  reactance, 
as  the  amount  of  iron  that  would  be  necessary  to  carry  the 
entire  flux  on  short-circuit  would  result  in  a  prohibitive 
amount  of  reactance  from  a  regulation  standpoint. 

Professor  MacLaren  described  the  results  of  tests  of 
hysteresis  loss  made  upon  two  samples  of  sheet-steel  stamp- 
ings at  temperatures  reaching  as  high  as  Tjy  deg.  C.  One 
of  the  samples  was  made  of  commercial  steel,  such  as  is 
used  for  pole  punchings.  The  other  sample  consisted  of 
high-percentage  silicon  transformer  steel.  It  was  found 
that  the  high-percentage  silicon  steel  becomes  non-magnetic 
at  a  lower  temperature  than  does  the  ordinary  steel,  and  also 
that  its  permeability  falls  with  increasing  temperature, 
while  the  permeability  of  the  ordinary  steel  first  rises  and 
then  decreases  with  increasing  temperature. 
Discussion. 

The  discussion  was  opened  by  Mr.  Philip  Torchio,  of  New 
York,  who  described  and  illustrated  reactors  connected  in 
series  with  transformers  for  increasing  the  series  reactance. 
The  reactors  described  possess  pancake  windings  and  are 
placed  in  inclosing  cases  supported  on  fireproof  and  in- 
sulating materials  throughout.  Mr.  Torchio  stated  that  the 
pancake  coil  can  be  designed  more  efficiently  and,  for  the 
same  floor  area,  of  considerably  less  height  than  can  an 
equivalent   drum-wound   reactor.     In  order  to   obtain   ap- 


8io 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


proximately  the  same  percentage  of  reactance  for  the  same 
floor  area,  a  drum-wound  coil  would  be  twice  as  high  as  an 
equivalent  pancake-wound  coil.  The  reactors  are  built  up 
of  horizontally  wound  spirals  insulated  by  porcelain  arms 
provided  with  suitable  recesses  for  the  windings.  The  arms 
are  assembled  radially  as  vertical  walls  between  a  center 
core  of  alberene  stone  and  an  outer  inclosing  wall  of 
special  porcelain  segments.  The  latter  is  supported  at  two 
ends  by  heavy  concrete  headers  fastened  to  the  wall  by  a 
series  of  glass  bolts  passing  through  the  headers  and  through 
the  special  porcelain  segments  from  top  to  bottom.  Con- 
structive details  were  given  for  a  set  of  reactors  used  with 
three  2o,ooo-kw,  66oo-volt,  25-cycle  generators  installed  by 
the  New  York  Edison  Company.  Each  reactor  has  4.2  per 
cent  reactance,  and  at  a  full-load  current  of  1750  amp  its 
copper  loss  is  6.236  kw. 

In  a  communication  from  Mr.  L.  W.  Chubb,  of  Pitts- 
burgh, read  by  Prof.  Charles  F.  Scott,  it  was  predicted  that 
the  study  of  the  effect  of  high  temperature  in  hysteresis 
loss  will  result  in  a  rapid  improvement  in  sheet  steel. 

Prof.  Comfort  A.  Adams,  of  Cambridge,  showed  from 
physical  reasonings  why  the  reactance  should  be  greater  in 
a  large  transformer  than  in  a  small  transformer,  other 
things  being  equal.  The  smaller  reactance  is  found  in  the 
larger  transformers  because  special  pains  are  taken  to 
minimize  the  reactance  in  the  larger  units. 

Mr.  D.  B.  Rushmore,  of  Schenectady,  remarked  that 
there  is  a  demand  at  the  present  time  for  a  reactor  which 
will  possess  little  reactance  under  normal  conditions  but  at 
excess  load  will  introduce  a  very  large  reactance.  The 
introduction  of  reactance  into  the  transformer  does  not 
protect  the  transformer  itself.  The  preferable  method 
seems  to  be  to  place  reactors  in  the  busbars  used  in  par- 
alleling the  generators  or  transformers. 

Mr.  H.  W.  Flashman  presented  a  written  discussion  for 
Mr.  William  H.  McConahey,  of  Pittsburgh,  in  which  it  was 
shown  that  changing  the  design  of  a  transformer  in  order 
to  increase  its  reactance  does  not  necessarily  reduce  the 
stresses  under  short-circuit  conditions.  The  elements  upon 
which  the  reactance  of  a  transformer  depends  determine 
also  the  short-circuit  stresses.  Mention  was  made  of  a 
recent  case  involving  the  design  of  certain  two-to-one  ratio 
transformers  for  railway  service,  the  short-circuit  stresses 
in  which  were  found  to  be  so  heavy  that  it  was  deemed 
advisable  to  reduce  them  by  mechanical  separation  of  the 
primary  and  secondary  parts  of  the  winding.  This  arrange- 
ment resulted  in  increased  cost  of  the  transformer,  but 
proved  to  be  cheaper  than  supplying  outside  reactors,  which 
in  this  particular  case  would  not  have  been  acceptable. 

Prof.  Charles  F.  Scott  called  attention  to  the  decrease  in 
series  reactance  under  short-circuit  conditions  when  a  mag- 
netic shunt  is  placed  between  the  coils,  on  account  of  satura- 
tion of  the  leakage  path.  In  order  to  avoid  saturation  it 
would  be  necessary  to  build  magnetic  shunts  with  a  cross- 
section  equal  to  the  cross-section  of  the  main  transformer 
core,  which  proportion  would  introduce  a  number  of  diffi- 
culties and  complications. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Hobart,  of  Schenectady,  expressed  the  opinion 
that,  rather  than  go  to  the  earlier  extreme  of  building  trans- 
formers with  a  minimum  of  reactance  or  follow  the  present 
tendency  to  increase  artificially  the  internal  reactance  of 
the  transformer,  it  would  be  preferable  to  build  trans- 
formers without  reference  to  reactance  and  then  employ 
series  reactors  if  the  internal  reactance  proved  insufficient. 
The  transformers  should  be  designed  from  the  standpoint 
of  heating  and  efficiency,  and  if  the  reactance  obtained  un- 
der these  conditions  is  not  sufficient,  external  reactors 
should  be  used. 

Mr.  M.  D.  Ayres  remarked  that  the  external  reactor  is 
undesirable,  not  only  on  account  of  the  space  it  occupies, 
but  even  more  so  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  it  can  be  placed 
only  in  certain  limited  positions  and  connections  to  it  must 
be  made  by  heavy  conductors. 


INSTITUTE   AFFAIRS. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  discussion  on  the  above-men- 
tioned papers.  President  Mershon  announced  that  a  mid- 
winter convention  will  be  held  in  New  York  during  Feb- 
ruary, 1913,  to  be  devoted  to  the  general  subject  of  "The 
Ratmg  and  Testing  of  Electrical  Machinery  and  Appa- 
ratus." Adjournment  was  taken  to  the  Institute  offices  on 
the  tenth  floor  of  the  Engineering  Societies  Building,  where 
a  smoker  was  held  and  light  refreshments  were  served. 
This  entertainment  feature  of  the  Institute's  activity  is 
provided  by  contributions  made  by  members  in  the  New 
York  territory,  and  its  continuance  is  assured  by  reason  of 
the  success  which  attended  similar  arrangements  made  last 
season. 


NEW  YORK  SECTION,  L  E.  8.,  MEETING. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  New  York  Section  of  the  Illuminating 
Engineering  Society  held  on  Oct.  10  two  of  the  Niagara 
Falls  convention  papers  were  presented  for  discussion. 
The  paper  by  Messrs.  Clarence  L.  Law  and  A.  L.  Powell 
on  "Present  Practice  in  Small  Store  Lighting  with 
Tungsten-Filament  Lamps"  was  read  by  Mr.  G.  H. 
Stickney.  A  brief  abstract  of  this  paper  was  given  in  our 
issue  dated  Sept.  28.  The  authors  reported  the  results  of 
an  investigation  of  over  800  small  stores  in  New  York  City, 
Newark  and  adjoining  towns.  Some  of  the  stores  were 
located  on  Broad  Street  or  Market  Street,  Newark,  others 
on  Fifth  Avenue,  Broadway  and  other  prominent  streets  in 
New  York,  the  idea  being  to  investigate  only  the  lighting 
installations  typical  of  the  small  stores  throughout  the 
country.  Note  was  made  of  the  size  of  the  storeroom,  the 
number  and  size  of  the  lamps  employed  and  the  character 
of  the  merchandise  sold.  The  results  were  expressed  in 
watts  per  square  foot,  the  values  of  which  ranged  from  0.25 
to  4.95,  with  the  following  averages  for  the  classes  of 
stores  noted:  Art  store,  i.oi ;  bakery,  0.82;  barber,  1.23; 
cigar,  1.4s;  clothing,  1.37;  confectionery,  0.97;  delicatessen' 
1. 11;  drug,  i.oi;  dry  goods,  1.26;  florist,  1.07;  grocery,  0.98; 
haberdashery,  1.43;  jewelry,  1.54;  meat  market,  0.91; 
millinery,  1.28;  music,  1.05;  restaurant,  1.08;  shoe,  0.98; 
stationery,  1.02;  wine  and  liquor,  1.20. 

In  opening  the  discussion  on  this  paper,  Mr.  G.  F.  Bar- 
rows claimed  that  the  paper  is  of  value  to  gas  salesmen  as 
well  as  electric  salesmen,  because  they  will  be  able  easily  to 
convert  the  value  in  watts  per  square  foot  into  cubic  feet  of 
gas  per  hour  per  square  foot. 

Mr.  J.  Hunter  said  that  account  should  have  been  taken 
of  the  height  of  the  walls  and  the  color  of  the  decorations, 
since  the  light  reaching  the  illuminated  plane  depends 
largely  upon  the  amount  absorbed  by  the  walls. 

Mr.  Norman  Macbeth  remarked  that  the  paper  possessed 
a  double  value  in  presenting  highly  desirable  information  in 
convenient  form,  without  the  use  of  technical  terms. 

In  closing  the  discussion,  Mr.  Stickney  stated  that 
changes  in  the  height  of  mounting  of  lamps  in  stores  pro- 
duces two  effects  which  tend  to  compensate  each  other. 
The  increase  in  height  tends  to  decrease  the  amount  of  illu- 
mination received  directly  from  the  lamps  but  to  increase 
the  amount  reflected  from  the  walls. 

HIGH-PRESSURE   GAS    LIGHTING. 

Mr.  G.  S.  Barrows  presented  for  the  authors,  Messrs, 
F.  W.  Goodenough,  Oscar  Klatte  and  R.  N.  Zeek,  papers 
relating  to  the  general  subject  of  high-pressure  gas  lighting, 
under  the  sub-titles  "High-Pressure  Gas  Lighting  in  Great 
Britain,  in  Germany  and  in  America."  High-pressure  gas 
lighting  has  been  employed  in  Germany  for  the  past  ten 
years  and  has  reached  a  high  stage  of  development.  The 
lamps  employed  have  from  one  to  five  mantles  and  vary  in 
candle-power  from  500  to  4000.  An  indication  of  the  growth 
of  this  kind  of  lighting  is  found  in  the  city  of  Berlin.'where 
up  to  1905  about  15  miles  of  street  were  lighted  with  electric 


October  19,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


811 


arc  lamps.  From  1905  to  191 1  a  mile  of  electric  lighting 
was  added.  In  1905  about  4  miles  were  lighted  with  high- 
pressure  gas,  but  during  the  period  from  ^905  to  191 1  32 
miles  of  high-pressure  gas  lighting  were  added,  and  a 
further  extension  of  42  miles  is  contemplated.  There  are 
several  high-pressure  gas-lighting  installations  in  America, 
but  thus  far  they  have  not  passed  beyond  the  experi- 
mental stage. 

Mr.  Norman  Macbeth  claimed  that  the  rapid  development 
of  gas  lighting  in  Europe  as  compared  with  America  repre- 
sents an  indictment  either  of  electric  men  abroad  or  of  the 
gas  men  here.  He  claimed  that  the  gas  manufacturers  in 
this  country  do  not  appreciate  the  opportunities  that  exist 
in  their  own  field. 

Mr.  H.  T.  Owens  called  attention  to  the  increasing  in- 
terest aroused  in  high-pressure  lighting,  which  doubles  the 
efficiency  as  compared  with  the  methods  in  common  use 
to-day. 

In  closing  the  discussion  Mr.  Barrows  remarked  that 
while  the  life  of  the  incandescent  mantles  as  first  used  for 
high-pressure  lighting  in  this  country  was  about  ten  days, 
improvements  in  mantles  have  caused  an  increase  in  life 
to  about  fifty  days. 

SOCIETY  ACTIVITIES. 

The  meeting  was  held  at  Keen's  Restaurant  on  Thirty- 
sixth  Street  and  was  preceded  by  an  informal  dinner.  This 
plan  proved  very  satisfactory  and  will  probably  be  con- 
tinued in  the  future.  Chairman  Stickney  announced  that 
preliminary  arrangements  have  been  made  for  practically 
all  of  the  meetings  during  the  season  now  beginning.  The 
next  meeting  will  be  held  on  Monday,  Nov.  18,  in  the 
auditorium  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company  on  Twenty- 
seventh  Street,  in  co-operation  with  the  New  York  Com- 
panies Section  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association. 
Mr.  Preston  S.  Millar  will  present  a  paper  with  demonstra- 
tion of  lighting  effects.  The  December  meeting  will  be  held 
in  conjunction  with  the  New  York  Committee  for  the  Pre- 
vention of  Blindness.  The  January  meeting  will  be  com- 
bined with  a  meeting  of  the  National  Commercial  Gas 
Association,  and  the  February  meeting  with  the  Municipal 
Art  Society.  The  March  meeting  will  be  held  jointly  with 
the  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers.  An  attempt  is  being 
made  to  arrange  a  joint  meeting  with  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers. 

Mr.  Preston  S.  Millar,  as  general  secretary  of  the  society, 
explained  the  movement  now  under  way  to  alter  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society  in  order 
to  admit  as  sustaining  members  persons,  or  representatives 
of  companies,  who  may  desire  to  express  their  appreciation 
of  the  work  accomplished  by  the  society  in  the  form  of  con- 
tributions for  its  running  expenses.  Another  proposed 
change  relates  to  the  shifting  of  the  beginning  of  the 
society's  year  from  January  to  midsummer,  in  order  to 
correspond  with  the  season  of  the  society's  activities. 


and  many  other  cities.  To  provide  the  necessary  telegraph 
capacity  the  press  box  was  enlarged  to  five  times  its  size 
earlier  in  the  season.  By  a  comprehensive  articulation  of 
main  and  branch  lines  practically  every  cross-roads  tele- 
graph office  in  the  country  and  every  corner  grocery  hous- 
ing a  telephone  were  kept  in  constant  touch  with  the  prog- 
ress of  the  games,  and  in  not  a  few  cities  electric  score- 
boards showing  every  play  and  connected  directly  with  the 
scene  of  combat  aroused  the  enthusiasm  of  thousands  of 
persons  many  hundreds  of  miles  from  the  field.  There  is 
something  stirring  in  the  idea  of  every  ball  pitched  being 
signaled  by  wire  and  wireless  throughout  a  continent,  and 
recent  improvements  in  scoreboard  design  which  show  the 
position  of  the  ball  and  the  actual  running  of  bases  at 
every  instant  following  the  play  represent  a  real  triumph 
in  electrical  methods. 

The  modern  scoreboard  as  used  in  this  series  possesses 
noteworthy  characteristics,  including  immediate  and  perma- 
nent indication,  fireproof  wiring,  illumination  on  a  scale 
comfortable  to  the  eye,  and  a  sectionalized  construction 
which  facilitates  assembly  and  dismantling  in  the  shortest 
available  time.  The  use  of  4-cp  red  and  yellow  lamps  at 
each  position  in  the  field  and  at  the  bat  to  show  the  team 
work,  combined  with  a  white  lamp  at  each  position  to  show 
the  location  of  the  ball  at  every  instant,  simplifies  the  prob- 
lem for  the  operator  and  spectator  alike.  A  string  of  alter- 
nate red  and  yellow  lamps  set  in  sockets  around  a  diamond 
about  4  ft.  square  and  connected  at  the  rear  with  hand 
rheostat  handles  solves  the  issue  of  base  running,  and  cor- 
responding lamps  grouped  under  appropriate  special  plays 
provide  for  showing  everything  done  on  the  field  with 
remarkable  celerity  and  effectiveness.  On  the  field  itself 
electricity  plays  a  vital  part  in  enabling  the  crowd  to  follow 
the  fine  points  of  the  game  through  the  indications  of  a 
local  scoreboard,  and  in  the  coming  winter  moving-picture 
machines  driven  by  small  motors  and  illuminated  by  arc 
lamps  will  continue  an  electrical  service  which  is  almost 
above  praise  in  its  flexibility  in  the  face  of  such  an 
enormous  peak-load  demand  for  information. 


ELECTRICITY  AND  THE  NATIONAL  GAME. 


ILLUMINATION    FOR    NAVAL    PAGEANT    IN   NEW 
YORK  HARBOR. 


During  the  past  week  the  greatest  assemblage  of  war- 
ships ever  seen  under  the  skies  of  the  western  world  was 
mobilized  in  New  York  Harbor.  In  the  notable  pageant  at 
New  York  last  year  there  was  a  total  of  ninety-nine  ships, 
tvventv-four  being  battleships,  while  in  the  mobilization  just 


The  debt  which  the  sporting  fraternity,  and  if  the  truth 
be  told,  a  large  percentage  of  the  red-blooded  citizenship 
of  North  America,  owes  to  electricity  in  connection  with 
the  reports  of  the  baseball  championship  series  just  con- 
cluded between  the  Boston  and  New  York  teams  is  one  not 
easily  exaggerated.  There  is  little  that  is  new  in  the  trans- 
mission of  news  of  this  kind  by  telegraph,  telephone  and 
wireless,  service,  but  the  scale  upon  which  the  work  has 
been  handled  in  this  instance  deserves  more  than  passing 
mention.  At  Fenway  Park,  for  example,  arrangements  were 
made  to  accommodate  representatives  of  no  less  than  26^ 
newspapers,  about  fifty  private  trunk  telegraph  lines  being 
in  service  directly  between  the  press  box  and  the  news- 
paper offices  in  New  York,  'Washington,  Chicago,  Buffalo 


Fig.   1 — Riverside   Drive   During   Naval   Pageant. 

ended  thirty-two  battle  ships  anchored  in  the  Hudson  and 
there  were  127  ships  of  all  classes  strung  along  the  river 
from  Twenty-third  Street  to  Spuyten  Duyvil.  While  dur- 
ing the  day  the  ships,  bedecked  with  gayly  waving  flags, 
presented  a  splendid  marine  spectacle,  with  the  fall  of  dark- 
ness the  masts  and  hulls  outlined  with  incandescent  lamps 
made  a  noteworthy  sight.     Riverside  Drive  was  especially 


8l2 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


illuminated  for  the  occasion,  and  the  mist  which  hung  over 
the  river  imparted  to  the  scene  a  fairylike  aspect.  Un- 
fortunately, the  great  distance  between  the  ships  and  the 
shore,  and  the  mist,  made  it  impossible  to  obtain  good 
photographs  of  the  illumination.  On  Monday  the  armada 
was  inspected  by  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy.  On  Tuesday  the  President's  yacht  anchored  near 
the  Statue  of  Liberty,  and  as  the  great  fleet  passed  out  to 
sea   each   ship   thundered    forth    its    presidential    salute    of 


treasurer  showed  that  the  disbursements  for  the  year  had 
been  about  $2,400,  leaving  a  balance  on  the  right  side  of  the 
ledger.  A  letter  extending  good  wishes  to  the  gathering 
was  read  from  Miss  Harriet  Billings,  assistant  secretary  of 
the  national  organizatioh. 

THE   EDUCATION    AND    WELFARE    OF   THE   EMPLOYEE. 

Mr.  Alfred  S.  Nichols,  of  the  Woonsocket  Electric  Ma- 
chine &  Power  Company,  Woonsocket,  R.  L,  then  read  a 


Fig.  2.— View  of  Illuminated  Warsiilps  at  Anclior  In   Hudson   River   Off  Riverside  Drive,   New  York. 


twenty-one  guns.  The  demonstration  was  the  greatest  ever 
held  in  American  waters.  The  presence  of  the  fleet  in 
the  Hudson  River,  the  illumination  of  Riverside  Drive  and 
the  warships  in  the  evening,  moreover,  caused  a  tremendous 
rush  of  business  on  the  local  railway  lines.  Up  to  Mon- 
day the  record  for  passenger  traffic  on  the  New  York  sub- 
way was  held  by  one  of  the  days  of  the  Hudson-Fulton  cele- 
bration, when  the  number  of  passengers  carried  was 
1. 179.512.  This  record,  however,  was  passed  on  Monday, 
Oct.  14,  when  1,199,747  passengers  were  carried  without 
confusion  or  delay. 


NEW  ENGLAND  SECTION,  N.  E.  L.  A.,  CONVENTION. 

The  fourth  annual  convention  of  the  New  England  Sec- 
tion of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  was  opened 
at  Paul  Revere  Hall,  Mechanics'  Building,  Boston,  Mass., 
on  Tuesday,  Oct.  15,  with  President  J.  S.  Whitaker,  of 
Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  in  the  chair.  Advance  registrations 
indicated  that  the  attendance  would  exceed  that  of  all  pre- 
vious conventions  of  the  section,  as  special  efforts  had  been 
made  to  invite  all  members  of  the  national  organization  to 
New  England  at  this  time.  As  was  the  case  with  the  con- 
vention last  week  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Association  of 
America,  the  meetings  were  assigned  to  the  building 
housing  the  Boston  1912  Electric  Show. 

ASSOCIATION    AFFAIRS. 

Mr.  Whitaker  in  his  presidential  address  explained  the 
new  method  of  reimbursing  geographical  sections  from 
membership  dues  authorized  at  the  Seattle  convention  of 
the  present  year,  and  stated  that  the  national  body  now  has 
a  total  roll  of  12,500  members,  representing  90  per  cent  of 
the  investment  in  central-station  properties  in  the  country. 
The  New  England  Section  now  has  860  members,  the  area 
of  the  territory  included  being  only  2  per  cent  of  the  total 
and  the  population  7  per  cent.  About  10  per  cent  of  the 
total  investment  in  central-station  properties  is  located  in 
New  England.  The  central-station  industry  represents  a 
total  investment  in  tliis  country  of  $2,500,000,000  and  an 
annual  gross  income  of  $340,000,000. 

The  report  of  the  secretary.  Miss  O.  A.  Bursiel,  Boston, 
was  read  by  Mr.  Welles  E.  Holmes,  Cambridge,  treasurer. 
Additions  to  the  membership  of  the  section  this  year  total 
160.  It  was  announced  that  the  Friday  "electrical 
luncheons"  in  Boston,  which  were  held  with  so  much  success 
last  spring  and  in  the  early  summer,  would  begin  on  Oct.  18. 
New  blue  and  white  button  insignia  have  been  designed 
for    lapel   use  by   section    members.     The    report  of    the 


paper  on  the  welfare  of  the  employee,  emphasizing  the 
present  tendencies  toward  better  relations  between  public 
and  private  corporations  and  their  rank  and  file,  and  urging 
the  importance  of  increasing  the  efficiency  and  prosperity 
of  the  individual  worker.  A  progressive  public  policy  de- 
mands that  every  central  station  should  stand  pre-eminent 
in  the  community  it  serves  in  all  that  concerns  a  happy 
condition  of  the  wage  earner.  The  work  of  the  Stone  & 
Webster  Employees'  Investment  Association  was  outlined. 
On  June  30  last  this  association  had  1693  depositors,  whose 
savings  amounted  to  $726,056,  an  average  of  $428  each. 
The  paper  concluded  with  a  description  of  the  Woonsocket 
Gas  &  Electric  Companies  Employees'  Club,  which  holds 
bi-monthly  meetings  at  which  addresses  are  given  upon 
engineering  and  operating  topics.  A  technical  library  of 
books  and  magazines  is  maintained  on  a  co-operative  basis, 
and  the  results  already  indicate  an  improved  esprit  de  corps 
in  the  organization. 

Discussion.  i 

Mr.  H.  T.  Sands,  Tenney  companies,  Boston,  pointed  out 
that  welfare  plans  carried  out  on  sentimental  lines  were 
bound  to  fail.  Employees  do  not  care  to  be  considered  as 
objects  of  charity,  and  another  rock  upon  which  such  enter- 
prises often  split  is  the  presentation  of  excessively  technical 
papers  which  are  above  the  heads  of  the  audience.  The 
education  of  employees  is  easier  in  larger  companies  on 
account  of  the  more  specialized  class  of  men  deah  with  in 
such  companies. 

The  welfare  work  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company  was 
then  outlined  by  Mr.  F.  C.  Henderschott,  who  described  the 
one-year  and  two-year  courses  conducted  for  the  benefit  of 
employees.  Thirty  per  cent  of  the  men  who  enrol  finish  the 
curriculum.  The  objects  are  improved  service  to  the  public 
and  increased  individual  efficiency,  and  it  is  found  that  the 
results  are  better  where  the  men  share  in  the  expense. 
Certificates  are  given  for  different  grades  of  work  done  in 
the  courses.  The  work  is  compulsory,  written  examinations 
being  given,  and  last  year  the  program  consumed  13,350 
employee-hours  taken  directly  from  business,  During  this 
time  the  number  of  meter  settings  increased  20.5  per  cent. 
Out  of  314  men  eligible  to  take  the  courses,  249  enrolled. 
Twenty-seven  men  failed  to  pass  at  a  grade  of  75  per  cent, 
the  unsuccessful  students  usually  being  record  clerks  and  1  j 
office  helpers  without  adequate  preliminary  education.  Inl 
the  courses  of  the  second  year  lectures  by  men  of  national 
reputation  are  features.  Mr.  Henderschott  said  that  much 
of  the  welfare  work  done  by  the  larger  companies  can  be 
applied  without  difficulty  to  smaller  organizations. 

Mr.  C.  W.  Stevens,  Lynn,  Mass..  and  Mr.  Mullin,  Harri- 
son, N.  J.,  both  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  spoke 


October  19,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


813 


briefly.  The  point  was  brought  out  that  a  chance  to  take 
the  course  over  again  is  appreciated  by  men  who  fail  to  pass 
the  first  time.  Mr.  MuUin  submitted  a  printed  syllabus 
describing  in  detail  the  educational  courses  carried  on  at 
the  Harrison  lamp  works,  outlining  the  scope  of  the  lec- 
tures, reading  and  laboratory  e.xperiments  given  under  the 
auspices  of  the  company.  Mr.  C.  R.  Price,  New  Bedford, 
Mass.,  asked  concerning  the  desirable  limits  of  co-operation 
on  the  part  of  the  central-station  organization  in  regard  to 
self-help.  Closing,  Mr.  Nichols  said  that  at  Woonsocket 
about  50  per  cent  of  the  men  attend  the  club  meetings,  and 
that  those  who  are  worth  while  are  bound  to  take  a  keen 
interest  in  the  proceedings.  It  was  his  opinion  that  the 
company  has  done  its  part  when  it  has  furnished  reading 
matter,  cliib  rooms  and  courses. 

ELECTRIC    PROTECTIVE    DEVICES. 

Mr.  C.  C.  Badeau,  Condit  Electrical  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Boston,  Mass.,  presented  a  paper  discussing  the  gen- 
eral principles  of  protection  by  circuit-breakers,  oil  switches 
and  relays,  emphasizing  the  point  that  all  protective  de- 
vices should  not  open  except  in  cases  of  dire  emergency, 
the  maintenance  of  continuous  service  being  vital  in  modern 
practice.  The  author  pointed  out  that  protective  apparatus 
must  be  selected  only  after  a  careful  study  of  the  equip- 
ment in  the  system.  Such  devices  must  be  designed  in 
reference  to  their  continuous  current-carrying  capacity, 
with  sufficiently  low  resistance  at  the  contacts  to  give  a  rise 
not  exceeding  30  deg.  C.  A  higher  rise  limits  the  overload 
capacity  of  the  switch  and  also  heats  the  oil  and  renders 
it  less  effective  in  quenching  arcs. 

Oil  should  not  be  depended  upon  to  handle  a  poor  con- 
tact. It  is  poor  policy  to  purchase  for  200-amp  service  a 
switch  which  would  be  rated  at  100  amp  in  air,  but  which 
when  put  in  oil  is  given  the  higher  rating  on  account  of  the 
radiating  surface  of  the  oil  can.  Purchasers  should  specify 
both  the  rise  at  contacts  and  the  rise  at  terminals,  so  that 
a  poor  or  .insufficient  contact  with  a  large  rise  cannot  be 
hidden  by  using  heavy  terminals.  For  alternating-current 
circuits  carbon-breakers  are  unsatisfactory,  even  on  low- 
voltage  installations.  The  oil  switch  is  in  most  cases 
cheaper  and  more  satisfactory,  and  it  breaks  the  arc  at  the 
zero  point  of  the  wave  as  well  as  out  of  the  air.  Mechanical 
strength  in  the  entire  oil-switch  structure  is  of  great  im- 
portance. Laboratory  short-circuit  tests  of  oil  switches 
seldom  equal  service  performance  as  an  index  of  switch 
quality,  since  the  power-factors  met  in  service  are  apt  to 
differ  widely  from  those  in  the  laboratory.  Nowhere  is 
economy  so  false  as  in  the  purchasing  of  protective  devices, 
whose  cost  is  insignificant  as  compared  with  that  of  the 
apparatus  protected.  In  the  purchase  of  relays,  the  damp- 
ing device  should  be  subjected  to  the  closest  scrutiny. 
Lantern  slides  of  various  protective  devices  of  recent  de- 
sign were  then  shown. 

Discussion. 
The  paper,  which  was  read  by  Mr.  G.  A.  Burnham, 
Boston,  was  discussed  by  Messrs.  T.  S.  Knight,  I,  M. 
Cushing  and  R.  S.  Twitchell.  The  first  speaker  questioned 
the  wisdom  of  installing  any  apparatus  which  might  not 
open  the  circuit  in  extreme  emergencies.  He  pointed  out 
the  usefulness  of  finger-type  contacts  as  well  as  laminated 
brush  designs,  and  emphasized  the  point  that  no  single 
system  will  take  care  of  all  the  requirements  of  operation. 
The  opinion  was  advanced  that  the  Merz-Price  system  is 
not  all  that  may  be  desired  on  the  score  of  simplicity. 
Mr.  Cushing  spoke  of  the  improvements  in  generator  design 
■which  enable  modern  alternators  to  withstand  even  severe 
temporary  short-circuits  without  permanent  injury.  He 
criticised  the  use  of  oil  switches  for  low-voltage  work  on 
account  of  the  tendency  to  obtain  poor  contacts.  A  larger 
contact  surface  is  needed  per  unit  of  power  carried  at  low 
as  compared  with  high  voltages,  Mr.  Twitchell  emphasized 
the  value  of  protracting  the  break   for  a  short  period  in 


order  to  reduce  the  amount  of  energy  at  the  switch  m  the 
act  of  rupturing  the  circuit.  He  pointed  out  the  need  of 
more  accurate  definitions  of  "capacity"  in  speaking  of 
switches  and  their  controlled  circuits  and  touched  upon  the 
severe  short-circuit  tests  imposed  upon  circuit-breaking 
apparatus  by  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  Chicago, 
and  the  Cliff  Electrical  Distributing  Company,  Niagara 
Falls,  N.  Y.,  within  the  past  year  with  the  object  of 
disclosing  all  the  weak  points  in  operation.  Such  work 
is  extremely  helpful  to  the  designer.  In  closing,  Mr. 
Burnham  reiterated  his  faith  in  the  laminated  brush  con- 
tact. He  held  that  the  finger  contact  is  excellent  for 
breaking  a  circuit  in  many  cases,  but  favored  the  laminated 
brush  on  account  of  its  space  economies.  Regarding  the 
Merz-Price  system,  he  could  see  no  objection  to  running 
three  or  four  pilot  wires  in  a  cable. 

ELECTRICAL  DEVELOPMENT  ASSOCIATION, 

Mr,  Zenas  W.  Carter,  Boston,  secretary  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Electrical  Development  Association,  delivered  a  terse 
address  describing  the  aims  of  the  organization,  outlined  in 
the  Electrical  World  of  Oct.  12,  page  755,  He  also  spoke 
at  length  upon  the  importance  of  advertising  and  explaining 
the  safety,  convenience  and  utility  of  electrical  apparatus 
to  the  general  public  and  showed  that  in  recent  practice  a 
serious  lack  of  knowledge  of  even  these  elementary  advan- 
tages exists.  Thus,  for  instance,  one  business  man  hesi- 
tated to  install  an  electric  flatiron  through  a  false  idea  of 
its  possible  danger  to  the  operator,  and  another  building  a 
twenty-thousand-dollar  house  had  no  realization  of  the  use- 
fulness of  baseboard  outlets.  Again,  the  public  is  more 
interested  in  learning  whether  electricity  at  a  stated  rate  is 
cheaper  than  gas  than  in  what  the  price  per  kilowatt-hour 
means  in  itself.  Touching  upon  the  need  of  more  thorough 
explanation  of  electrical  service  and  its  benefits,  the  speaker 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  are  now  483,906  gas 
meters  and  106,638  electric  meters  in  Massachusetts,  and 
said  that  until  the  public  is  better  educated  electrically,  this 
proportion  will  continue  to  be  maintained. 

One  entire  afternoon  session  was  occupied  by  a  lantern- 
slide  lecture  on  "Transmission  Line  Construction,"  by  Mr. 
R,  D.  Coombs,  of  the  N.  E,  L.  A.  committee  on  overhead- 
line  construction.  The  lecture  consisted  of  an  extensive 
review  of  modern  practice,  including  comments  upon  clear- 
ance, cradles,  spans,  loads,  details  of  construction  and  fea- 
tures of  faulty  design.  Among  the  points  brought  out  were 
the  importance  of  carrying  all  high-tension  lines  above  the 
maximum  height  of  a  released  trolley  pole,  adequate  spacing 
between  high-tension  and  low-tension  lines  carried  on  the 
same  poles,  better  clearance  and  protection  of  dangerous 
circuits  when  passing  buildings,  the  avoidance  of  creosoted 
cross-arms  on  account  of  their  tendency  to  drip,  the  disfavor 
into  which  protective  cradles  appear  to  be  falling,  the  econ- 
omy of  spending  money  liberally  for  suitable  insulators, 
and  the  avoidance  of  long  spans  on  highways.  The  speaker 
advocated  increasing  the  spans  now  customary  on  low- 
voltage  lines  and  pointed  out  that  the  use  of  steel  and  rein- 
forced-concrete  poles  is  not  economical  on  short  spans. 
Sleet  must  be  reckoned  in  calculating  lines  for  high-tension 
service  in  all  parts  of  the  country  except  the  Southwest. 
In  some  specifications  sleet  has  been  provided  for  as  a 
factor  of  the  diameter  of  the  wire,  but  this  is  not  borne  out 
by  the  facts.  One-half  inch  of  continuous  loading  of  ice 
around  the  wire  should  be  assumed.  Metal  cross-arms  will 
not  compete  with  wooden  arms  for  low-voltage  work  for 
some  time  to  come.  Cemented  pins  are  objectionable  as 
they  cannot  be  replaced,  and  if  a  thimble  is  used  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  secure  sufficient  strength  in  the  bolt.  Galvanized 
steel  towers  are  expensive  in  comparison  with  a  well-main- 
tained painted  tower.  The  size  of  bolt  used  in  line  con- 
struction should  exceed  Yi  in,,  as  a  bolt  of  this  size  is  some- 
times fractured  by  a  wrench  in  tightening  it.  Galvanized 
towers  are  not  economcal  in  seacoast  and  coke  regions. 


8i4 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


Special  reference  was  made  to  the  use  of  concrete  poles 
on  the  Pennsylvania  lines  West,  which  are  giving  satisfac- 
tion after  eight  years  of  service.  The  pole  steps  consist  of 
standard  steps  screwed  into  wooden  blocks  cast  in  the  con- 
crete, at  times  the  iron  step  being  cast  in  the  pole.  The 
usual  height  is  40  ft.  Gains  and  bolt  holes  are  cast  near  the 
pole  top,  and  the  poles  are  reinforced  by  vertical  rods  at  the 
corners  and  intermediate  rods  at  the  sides.  The  poles  are 
usually  set  by  a  derrick  car  from  the  track. 


CHICAGO  ELECTRIC-RAILWAY  CONVENTIONS. 


A  successful  group  of  electric-railway  conventions  was 
held  in  Chicago  last  week  under  the  direction  of  the 
American  Electric  Railway  Association  and  its  affiliated 
associations,  including  the  American  Electric  Railway 
Manufacturers'  Association,  which  had  charge  of  exhibits 
and  entertainments.  The  convention  headquarters  were  in 
the  International  Amphitheater  on  South  Halsted  Street 
near  West  Forty-second  Street,  and  the  meetings  of  the 
associations  were  held  in  the  nearby  Saddle  and  Sirloin 
Club.  The  attendance  was  large,  the  number  registered 
being  about  3500,  and  the  collection  of  exhibits  was  a  large 
and  excellent  one. 

President  Thomas  N.  McCarter,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  was 
unable  to  attend  owing  to  illness,  and  General  Harries,  of 
Chicago,  first  vice-president,  presided  over  the  deliberations 
of  the  parent  association.  In  his  presidential  address,  which 
was  read  by  \''ice-president  Allen,  Mr.  McCarter  advocated 
the  increase  of  the  company-sections  plan  and  praised  the 
association  bulletin,  known  as  Aera.  He  commended  also 
the  general  policy  of  publicity  and  said  that  the  association 
has  nothing  to  conceal.  The  appointment  of  a  permanent 
representative  of  the  association  to  be  located  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  was  recommended. 

Mr.  James  E.  Hewes,  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company, 
Chicago,  read  a  paper  on  "Water  Power  Development  and 
Its  Relation  to  Public  Utilities."  Among  other  papers  and 
committee  reports  presented  at  subsequent  sessions  were  the 
following:  "Education,"  Prof.  H.  H.  Norris;  "Insurance," 
Mr.  Henry  J.  Davies ;  "Publicity,"  Mr.  Arthur  Warren ; 
"Welfare  of  Employees,"  Mr.  J.  J.  Burleigh;  "Taxation," 
Mr.  C.  L.  S.  Tingley;  "Joint  Use  of  Poles,"  Mr.  W.  J. 
Harvie;  "Electric  Railway  Securities,"  Mr.  Morrill  W. 
Gaines;  "Automatic  Rate  Regulation,"  Mr.  Oscar  T. 
Crosby ;  "Public-Service  Corporation  Finance,"  Mr. 
Andrew  Cooke. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Calvert  Townley,  of  New  York,  the 
following  resolution  was  adopted :  "Resolved,  That  it  is  the 
sense  of  this  meeting  that  co-operation  between  this  associa- 
tion and  others  concerned  looking  to  a  reduction  in  the 
disputes  and  litigation  over  alleged  electrolytic  damage  is 
desirable."  The  incoming  executive  committee  of  the  asso- 
ciation will  take  action  on  this  matter. 

Officers  were  elected  as  follows :  President,  General 
George  H.  Harries,  Chicago;  first  vice-president,  Mr. 
Charles  N.  Black,  San  Francisco ;  second  vice-president, 
Mr.  C.  Loomis  Allen.  Syracuse;  third  vice-president,  Mr. 
C.  L.  Henry,  Indianapolis;  fourth  vice-president,  Mr.  John 
A.  Beeler,  Denver.  The  executive  committee  consists  of 
the  gentlemen  named  and  the  presidents  of  the  affiliated 
associations. 

ENGINEERING  AND  OTHER  AFFILIATED   ASSOCIATIONS. 

A  partial  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  American 
Electric  Railway  Engineering  .'Association  was  given  last 
week.  Among  the  subjects  discussed  were  block  signals, 
train  operation,  buildings  and  structures,  standards,  heavy 
electric  traction,  power  generation,  engineering  accounting, 
life  of  physical  property  and  equipment. 

Mr.  Martin  Schreiber,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  was  elected 
president  of  the  engineering  association,   and  Mr.   H.   C. 


Donecker,  who  is  the  secretary  of  the  parent  association, 
was  also   elected  secretary   of  the  engineering  association. 

The  American  Electric  Railway  Accountants'  Association 
discussed  a  carefully  prepared  program.  Among  other 
things  there  was  a  discussion  on  overhead  charges  and  an 
important  address  by  Mr.  William  J.  Hagenah,  of  Chicago, 
on  "Intangible  Values  of  Electric  Railways  and  Their 
Determination  from  Accounts."  There  was  an  interesting 
discussion  following  this  address.  Messrs.  W.  F.  Ham,  of 
Washington,  D.  C. ;  C.  L.  S.  Tingley,  of  Philadelphia; 
George  Weston,  of  Chicago;  J.  J.  Burleigh,  of  Newark, 
N.  J. ;  F.  E.  Smith,  of  Chicago,  and  others  took  part.  Mr. 
William  M.  Steuart,  of  the  United  States  Census  Bureau, 
addressed  the  association  on  "Preparations  for  the  Next 
Census."  A  committee  was  appointed  to  co-operate  with 
the  census  bureau  on  behalf  of  the  accountants'  association. 
Mr.  J.  H.  Neal,  of  Boston,  was  elected  president  of  the 
association. 

Among  the  subjects  discussed  by  the  American  Electric 
Railway  Transportation  and  Traffic  Association  were  rules 
of  operation,  express  and  freight  traffic,  statistical  units, 
etc.  Mr.  Dana  Stevens,  of  Cincinnati,  was  elected  president 
of  the  association. 

Sessions  were  also  held  by  the  American  Electric  Railway 
Claims  Association,  formerly  known  as  the  Claim  Agents' 
Association.  Mr.  C.  A.  Avant,  of  Birmingham,  Ala.,  was 
elected  president  of  this  association. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Electric  Railway 
Manufacturers'  Association  was  held  on  Oct.  9.  The  mem- 
bership has  now  reached  a  total  of  349.  This  association 
received,  as  did  also  the  parent  association,  an  invitation 
to  hold  the  1915  convention  in  San  Francisco.  Mem- 
bers of  the  executive  committee  were  elected  as  fol- 
lows: Messrs.  J.  L.  Replogle,  Cambria  Steel  Company; 
Cornell  S.  Hawley,  Laconia  Car  Company ;  C.  J.  Mayer, 
Electric  Service  Supplies  Company;  S.  K.  Colby,  Pierson, 
Roeding  &  Company,  San  Francisco ;  W.  L.  Conwell,  Trans- 
portation Utilities  Company;  Charles  C.  Peirce,  General 
Electric  Company;  D.  W.  Smith,  Peter  Smith  Heater  Com- 
pany; H.  C.  Evans,  Lorain  Steel  Company. 

Full  and  excellent  reports  of  the  proceedings  of  the  asso- 
ciations, with  descriptions  of  exhibits  and  the  general 
"story"  of  the  convention,  were  given  in  the  daily  edition 
of  the  Electric  Railway  Journal,  prepared  by  a  large  staff, 
among  whom  Messrs.  H.  W.  Blake,  D.  T.  Pierce,  J.  A. 
Kucera  and  L.  E.  Gould  were  prominent. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 

NEW  JERSEY  COMMISSION. 

The  Board  of  Public  Utility  Commissioners,  acting  under 
the  authority  conferred  upon  it  by  the  public  utility  laws, 
has  undertaken  to  prescribe  uniform  systems  of  accounts 
for  all  utilities  under  its  jurisdiction,  including  electric  light 
and  power,  gas,  water  and  electric  street  railway  companies. 
LTnder  date  of  Oct.  i  the  commissioners  addressed  to  the 
accounting  offices  of  all  such  companies  in  the  State  a 
circular  bulletin  setting  forth  a  tentative  uniform  system  of 
accounts.  The  general  classification  embraces  five  schedules, 
including  balance  sheet,  fixed  capital,  income,  operating 
revenue  and  operating  expense  accounts. 

Hearings  on  the  proposed  systems  of  uniform  accounting 
will  be  held  at  Trenton  as  follows :  Water  companies, 
Oct.  22;  gas  companies,  Oct.  23;  street-railway  companies, 
Oct.  29,  and  electric  light  companies,  Oct.  30. 

OHIO  COMMISSION. 

The  Hamilton  Home  Telephone  Company  has  brought 
suits  in  the  local  courts  at  Hamilton  against  the  Public 
Service  Commission,  the  American  District  Telephone  & 
Telegraph  Company  and  the  Cincinnati  &  Suburban  Bell 
Telephone  Company  in  an  efifort  to  compel  the  Bell  com- 


October  19,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


815 


panics  to  furnish  it  long-distance  service  into  Cincinnati. 
The  petition  asks  that  the  finding  of  the  Public  Service 
Commission  be  set  aside  and  a  decree  entered  that  the 
defendant  companies  must  maintain  for  the  plaintiff  a  con- 
tinuous service  into  Cincinnati.  This  is  a  continuation  of 
the  fight  that  was  begun  before  the  Public  Service  Com- 
mission months  ago  and  marks  a  final  effort  of  the  inde- 
pendents to  gain  an  entrance  into  Cincinnati,  a  city  which 
has  never  had  an  independent  service  and  apparently  has 
no  desire  for  it.  The  Cincinnati  &  Suburban  Bell  Tele- 
phone Company,  part  of  the  stock  in  which  is  held  by  the 
American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  has  for  many 
years   exclusively   served   the   Cincinnati   territory. 

WISCONSIN    COMMISSION. 

The  application  of  the  Platteville,  Rewey  &  EUenbury 
Telephone  Company  for  an  order  to  amend  a  previous  order 
of  the  commission  so  as  to  make  the  increased  rates  pro- 
vided for  therein  effective  for  an  individual  subscriber  as 
soon  as  his  line  circuit  was  made  full  metallic  was  not 
granted  by  the  commission.  According  to  the  original 
decision,  the  increased  rates  were  to  become  effective  as 
soon  as  the  entire  system  was  made  full  metallic.  The 
petitioner  alleged  that  it  would  take  considerable  time  to 
place  both  city  and  rural  lines  upon  a  full  metallic  basis 
and  that  meantime  the  revenues  under  the  old  rates  are 
insufficient.  As  a  compromise,  the  company  has  been 
authorized  to  place  in  effect  the  rates  ordered  in  the  original 
decision  for  city  patrons  at  such  time  as  all  city  lines  are 
made  full  metallic.  The  application  for  authority  to  impose 
a  penalty  for  lax  payment  of  bills  was  approved,  but  the 
commission  was  of  the  opinion  that  a  penalty  charge  of 
25  cents,  as  petitioned  for,  was  too  high  and  that  15  cents 
would  be  ample  for  the  purpose.  The  commission  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  certain  subscribers  have  been 
receiving  the  service  of  two  telephones  for  the  rental  price 
of  one,  as  a  result  of  an  early  competitive  campaign,  which 
is  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  public  utility  law. 
Henceforth  the  company  will  be  required  to  receive  rental 
for  every  telephone  on  its  system  in  accordance  with  its 
published  schedule  of  rates.  The  commission  refused  to 
consider  the  question  of  a  further  increase  in  rates  until  the 
company's  accounts  are  kept  in  the  manner  prescribed 
by  law. 

MASSACHUSETTS  COMMISSION. 

The  Massachusetts  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission 
has  opened  hearings  at  Northampton  upon  the  appeal  of 
Mayor  Feiker  for  a  reduction  in  the  prices  charged  for 
gas  and  electricity  by  the  Northampton  Gas  Light  Company 
and  the  Northampton  Electric  Light  Company,  subsidiaries 
of  the  Massachusetts  Lighting  Companies  of  Boston.  The 
board  will  hear  the  evidence  and  arguments  in  the  gas  case 
before  taking  up  the  electric  case.  A  supplementary  petition 
has  been  filed  with  the  board  requesting  the  latter  to  order 
the  price  of  street  lighting  reduced. 

FEDERAL  COURTS. 

In  the  United  States  Court  of  Appeals  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
late  last  week  Judge  Warrington  denied  the  motion  of  the 
Cumberland  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  for  a  con- 
tinuance of  the  restraining  order  against  the  city  of 
Memphis,  Tenn.,  the  Mayor,  commissioners  and  chief  of  po- 
lice, to  prevent  the  operation  of  a  telephone  rate  ordinance 
passed  by  the  City  Council  some  time  ago.  The  motion  of 
the  company  to  advance  the  appeal  for  argument  was  sus- 
tained and  the  case  will  be  heard  on  the  first  day  of  the 
November  session.  City  Solicitor  Charles  M.  Bryan,  of 
Memphis,  made  the  argument  against  the  motion  of  the 
company  for  the  restraining  order,  while  William  G.  Grand- 
berg  represented  the  company  and  presented  an  argument 
favoring  a  continuance  of  the  order.  As  a  result  the 
ordinance  regulating  rates  will  remain  in  effect  until  some 
disposition  is  made  of  the  appeal. 


Current  News  and  Notes 

Commission  Form  of  Government  in  Spokane. — It  is 
reported  that  the  majority  of  the  citizens  of  Spokane, 
Wash.,  are  dissatisfied  with  the  commission  form  of  gov- 
ernment, which  has  prevailed  there  for  about  two  years. 
An  election  has  been  ordered  to  pass  upon  an  amendment 
to  the  city  charter  changing  back  to  the  old  system  of 
mayor  and  aldermen. 

St.  Paul-Minneapolis  Tie  Line. — By  the  recent  com- 
pletion of  a  tie  line  between  the  main  station  of  the  Con- 
sumers' Power  Company  at  St.  Paul  and  the  Minneapolis 
General  Electric  Company's  transmission  line,  a  connection 
has  been  made  by  which  the  St.  Paul  company  now  receives 
energy   from    the    St.   Croix   hydroelectric   station   of   the 

Minneapolis  company. 

».     *     * 

Special  Denver  Illumination. — The  regular  lighting 
equipment  of  Denver  was  augmented  during  the  "Festival 
of  Mountain  and  Plain"  on  Oct.  15,  16  and  17  by  over 
20,000  streamer  lamps  along  Sixteenth  Street  buildings  in- 
stalled by  the  merchants.  Fifty  thousand  4-cp  lamps  were 
used  as  festoons  along  Fifteenth,  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth 
Streets,  the  arrangements  being  in  charge  of  the  com- 
mittee on  illumination. 

*  *     ♦ 

Organization  of  Public  Utility  Commissions. — The 
National  Civic  Federation,  i  Madison  Avenue,  New  York, 
has  just  distributed  preliminary  page  proofs  of  that  portion 
of  its  compilation  and  analysis  of  public  utility  regulation 
laws  relating  to  the  organization  of  railroad  and  public 
utility  commissions.  This  is  printed  and  distributed  to 
interested  persons,  subject  to  subsequent  additions,  deduc- 
tions and  alterations.  This  portion  of  the  compilation 
describes  the  organization  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission and  forty-three  state  commissions.  It  covers  such 
features  as  the  name  and  constitution  of  the  commission, 
quorum,  oath  of  office,  removal  or  suspension  of  members, 
filling  vacancies,  qualifications  for  membership,  duties,  office 
hours,  records,  funds  and  employees.  Mr.  John  H.  Gray  is 
director  of  investigation  of  the  federation. 

*  *     * 

Boston  Edison  Company  Adopts  New  Rates. — On  Oct. 
I  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Boston 
placed  in  effect  a  "miscellaneous  energy  rate"  for  storage- 
battery  charging,  cooking,  heating,  electroplating,  refrigera- 
tion, water  supply  and  irrigation,  as  follows:  The  first  20 
kw-hr.  per  month,  10  cents  per  kw-hr. ;  the  next  1980  kw-hr. 
per  month,  3  cents.  If  a  customer  agrees  to  pay  a  price  of 
10  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  all  energy  furnished  under  this 
agreement  and  used  in  certain  hours  specified  from  time  to 
time  by  the  company,  but  not  exceeding  500  hours  during 
the  year  and  not  exceeding  four  hours  during  any  one  day, 
this  amount  to  comprise  a  separate  charge  independent  of 
the  kw-hours  billed  at  the  short  rates,  a  further  discount 
will  be  allowed  as  follows:  Excess  over  2000  kw-hr.  of 
monthly  consumption,  2  cents.  The  customer  agrees  to  pay 
a  monthly  charge  of  $5  for  the  necessary  graphic  instru- 
ment if  bills  are  less  than  $100  per  month.  The  minimum 
charge  is  $12  per  meter  per  annum.  The  Boston  Edison 
Company  has  also  reduced  its  minimum  charge  for  break- 
down or  auxiliary  service  from  $3  per  kilowatt  to  $1  per 
kilowatt  per  month,  effective  on  Oct.  i.  This  charge  is 
based  on  the  setting  of  a  circuit-breaker,  so  that  if  the 
customer  exceeds  the  service  paid  for  his  service  is  auto- 
matically disconnected.  He  may  use  energy  at  any  of  the 
regular  rates  up  to  the  minimum  without  further  charge,  but 
in  case  he  exceeds  the  minimum  the  energy  will  be  billed  at 
the  regular  rate  applicable  in  each  case. 


8i6 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


Hungarian  Album  for  Edison. — In  expressing  his 
appreciation  of  an  album  presented  to  him  by  Hungarian 
friends,  through  Mr.  Etienne  de  Fodor,  director-general 
of  the  Budapest  General  Electric  Company,  Mr.  Thomas  A. 
Edison  stated  that:  "As  a  work  of  art  the  album  is  unique 
and  is  the  acme  of  perfection  to  the  minutest  detail.  I 
have  never  seen  anything  of  the  kind  more  beautiful."  An 
illustrated  description  of  the  album  appeared  on  page  1342 
of  our  issue  dated  June  22,  1912. 


Boston  Street-Lighting  Situation. — Mayor  Fitzgerald 
of  Boston  has  addressed  a  communication  to  the  City  Coun- 
cil in  which  he  sets  forth  at  some  length  his  views  upon  the 
street-lighting  situation  and  states  that  he  considers  the 
tungsten  lamp  better  than  the  Graetzin  gas  mantle  lamp  in 
view  of  the  proposition  of  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating 
Company.  The  latter  offers  to  make  a  ten-year  contract  at 
$18.33  for  6^ch  40-cp  lamp,  compared  with  $23.60  for  the 
gas  lamps.  For  6o-cp  tungsten  lamps  the  company's  price 
is  $21.14,  and  the  Mayor  points  out  that  this  would  mean  50 
per  cent  more  light  for  less  money  than  is  now  charged  for 
the  gas  illumination  of  streets.  The  Edison  company 
further  offers  to  furnish  the  entire  equipment,  thus  absolving 
the  city  from  any  investment,  whereas  about  $300,000  would 
have  to  be  appropriated  for  gas-lighting  equipment.  The 
secondary  and  minor  thoroughfares  of  the  city  are  chiefly 
involved,  the  principal  streets  and  squares  already  being 
lighted  by  6.6-amp  magnetite-arc  lamps  supplied  by  the 
Edison  company. 

*     "*     * 

Joint  Investigation  of  Electrolytic  Damage. — A  reso- 
lution favoring  a  plan  of  co-operation  "looking  to  a  reduc- 
tion in  the  disputes  and  litigation  over  alleged  electrolytic 
damage"  was  adopted  by  the  American  Electric  Railway 
Association  in  Chicago  on  Oct.  10.  It  was  offered  by  Mr. 
Calvert  Townley,  of  New  York,  who,  in  explaining  it.  said: 
"Many  of  us  have  had  electrolytic  disputes  in  some  loca- 
tions, and  those  of  us  who  have  not  had  them  are  doubtless 
interested  in  watching  their  progress.  It  has,  doubtless, 
been  impressed  upon  the  minds  of  many  that  there  is  a 
large  amount  of  unnecessary  disagreement  over  the 
elements  of  the  question,  over  which  there  should  be  no 
disagreement.  If  an  electric  railway  is  attacked  in  its 
locality  by  another  corporation  having  metallic  installations, 
the  first  thing  is  to  get  expert  advice  on  one  side  and  then 
on  another,  and  the  experts  will  have  different  points  of 
view,  often  having  disputes  among  themselves.  The  news- 
papers add  notoriety  to  it,  and  the  public  get  the  impression 
that  the  electric  companies  are  to  blame.  There  has  been 
an  informal  discussion  going  on,  started  in  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  with  a  view  to  getting  an 
expression  of  this  association,  the  electric  light  association, 
the  telephone  people  and  gas  and  water  companies  as  to 
the  appointment  of  some  sort  of  a  joint  committee  to  study 
the  question  and  see  whether  or  not  they  can  formulate 
some  basic  principles  of  procedure  to  eliminate  these  con- 
troversies." 


Lightning  in  Relation  to  Forest  Fires. — Bulletin  11 
issued  by  the  Forest  Service  of  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  is  entitled  "Lightning  in  Relation  to 
Forest  Fires"  and  contains  an  e-xtensive  study  of  the  sub- 
ject by  Mr.  Fred  G.  Plummer,  geographer  of  the  depart- 
ment. The  investigation  embraces  a  study  of  the  nature 
and  kinds  of  lightning,  the  effects  of  lightning  on  trees  and 
soil,  the  liability  of  trees  to  lightning  stroke  and  an  analysis 
of  the  statistics  gathered  by  the  Forest  Service  during  the 
past  five  years  regarding  the  kinds  of  trees  most  often 
struck,  the  fires  caused  by  lightning,  the  proportion  of  trees 
struck  which  ignite,  etc.  Observations  were  made  by 
nearly  3000  forest  officers,  covering  a  territory  of  nearly 


2,000,000  acres.     The  geographic  distribution  of  lightning 
was  also  considered.     In  the  summary  of  conclusions  it  is 
stated  that  trees  are  objects  most  often  struck  by  lightning, 
first,  because  they  are  the  most  numerous  of  all  objects;     1 
second,  because  they  extend  upward  from  the  ground  and     I 
shorten  the  distance  between  clouds  and  earth,  and,  third, 
because  their  spreading  branches  and  roots  present  an  ideal 
structure    for    dissipating    atmospheric    electrical    charges. 
Any  kind  of  a  tree  is  likely  to  be  struck  by  lightning,  and 
the  greatest  number  struck  in  any  given  locality  will  be  of     I 
the  dominant  species.     If  a  given  tree  is  taller  than  those     ' 
surrounding  it,   or  if  it  is  isolated   from  other  trees,  or, 
again,  if  it  stands  on  high  ground  or  is  deeply  rooted,  the 
likelihood  of  its  being  struck  is  increased.     Lightning  may 
cause  forest  fires  by  igniting  a  tree  which  is  struck  or  by 
igniting  the  humus  at  its  base,  and  most  of  the  forest  fires 
caused    by    lightning    probably    have    their    origin    in    the 
humus. 


SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Employees'  Association  at  Marshfield,  Ore. — Em- 
ployees of  the  Oregon  Power  Company  at  Marshfield,  Ore., 
have  formed  an  association  for  mutual  improvement.  Mr. 
H.  O'Mara,  superintendent,  was  elected  president  and  Mr. 
D.  Mclntire  secretary  of  the  new  association. 


Worcester  A.  I.  E.  E. — Mr.  C.  Eugene  Putnam,  engineer 
with  the  Worcester  (Mass.)  Electric  Light  Company,  was 
the  speaker  of  the  evening  at  the  October  meeting  of  the 
Worcester  Polytechnic  Institute  Branch  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  his  subject  being  "Engi- 
neering Problems  Connected  with  the  Electrification  of 
Industrial  Plants." 


Colorado  Electric  Club. — At  the  first  Colorado  Electric 
Club  luncheon  of  the  season  Mr.  H.  N.  Casson,  formerly 
Bell  Telephone  Company  advertising  manager  at  New 
York,  gave  a  very  interesting  exposition  on  "Efficiency  in 
Advertising."  The  luncheons  of  the  club  will  hereafter  be 
held  at  the  New  Rex,  Fifteenth  and  Curtin  Streets,  Denver, 
on  each  Thursday  at  12:15. 


The  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Society  of  New  Eng- 
land, Boston  Plant  Chapter. — The  eleventh  regular  meet- 
ing of  the  Boston  Plant  Chapter  of  the  Telephone  and  Tele- 
graph Society  of  New  England  will  be  held  on  Oct.  15  at 
8  o'clock  in  the  auditorium  of  the  Edison  Building.  On 
that  occasion  Mr.  J.  G.  Patterson,  of  the  plant  engineering 
department  of  the  New  England  Telephone  &  Telegraph 
Company,  will  address  the  chapter  on  the  subject  of  "Toll- 
Line  Studies."  Mr.  Gordon  S.  Wallace,  125  Milk  Street, 
Boston,  Mass.,  is  secretary  of  the  organization. 


Minnesota  Section,  A.  I.  E.  E. — The  first  meeting  of  the 
Minnesota  Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  after  the  summer  recess  was  held  on  the  evening 
of  Oct.  7  at  the  Ryan  Hotel  in  St.  Paul.  The  meeting 
was  preceded  by  the  usual  informal  dinner  at  6:30  p.  m. 
Mr.  Arthur  L.  Abbott,  the  newly  elected  chairman,  pre- 
sided. Mr.  Abbott  read  a  proposed  amendment  to  the 
by-laws  of  the  section  providing  for  standing  committees 
in  the  Minnesota  Section  covering  the  following  subjects: 
Power  transmission,  illumination,  power  plants,  telephony 
and  railway  engineering.  Mr.  D.  L.  Galusha,  of  the  Stone 
&  Webster  Engineering  Corporation,  then  gave  an  exceed- 
ingly interesting  and  instructive  lecture  on  the  Keokuk 
hydroelectric  development.  The  lecture  was  illustrated 
with  lantern  slides. 


THE  JORDAN  RIVER  POWER  DEVELOPMENT— II. 


Description    of    Hydraulic,    Generating    and    Transmission    Features    of    the 
Vancouver  Island  Power  Company's  Plant. 


Construction  of  Dams  and  Reservoirs,  Flume,   Pipe  Line  and   Power  House — Transmission  Line  Con- 
structed with  Cedar  Poles  Carrying  Steel  Cross-Arms — Aluminum  Cables 
Carried  on  Suspension   Insulators. 


THE  history  of  the  Jordan  River  development  and 
an  account  of  certain  construction  details  were 
contained  in  an  article  which  appeared  in  the  issue 
of  Oct.  12.  The  present  article  deals  with  other  features  of 
the  hydraulic  construction  work,  the  power  house  and  trans- 
mission  line. 

DIVERSION. 

Two  diverting  dams,  one  in  the  main  Jordan  River  and 
one  in  "Y"  Creek,  a  tributary  stream,  were  installed. 
Immediately  below  the  junction  of  "Y"  Creek  with  Jordan 
River  the  canyon  narrows  and  a  ridge  of  outcropping  bed- 
rock crosses  the  stream  and  extends  well  up  the  steep  slopes 
on  both  sides  of  the  canyon,  forming  a  site  well  adapted  for 
the  placing  of  a  concrete  or  masonry  dam.  It  was  originally 
planned  to  place  the  diverting  dam  at  this  point,  but  owing 
to  limited  time,  the  lack  of  a  supply  of  concrete  material 
nearer  than  the  beach,  and  further  in  view  of  the  possibility 
of  utilizing  the  site  for  the  construction  of  a  high  masonry 
dam,  which  would,  in  addition  to  diverting  the  stream  into 
the  flume,  form  a  large  impounding  reservoir  in  the  valleys 
above,  this  site  was  reserved  for  the  erection  of  the  more 
permanent  and  higher  structure  at  some  later  time,  and  a 
site  for,  the  main  initial  diversion  was  selected  2000  ft. 
further  up  the  stream. 

The  diverting  dam  on  "Y"  Creek  was  built  a  short  dis- 
tance above  its  junction  with  Jordan  River,  and  a  branch 


flume  was  installed  which  carries  the  water  down  the  west 
side  of  the  stream,  crosses  the  main  river  on  a  timber  truss 
60  ft.  long  and  discharges  directly  into  the  main  flume. 

The  main  Jordan  River  diverting  dam  is  a  log  crib  filled 
with  rock  resting  throughout  on  solid  rock.  Rock  from  the 
excavation  for  the  intake  basin  was  used  to  fill  the  cribs. 
Timber  cut  adjacent  to  the  site  was  used  in  the  construc- 
tion, the  logs  being  notched  and  drift-bolted  together  and 
thoroughly  pinned  to  the  underlying  bedrock.  The  top, 
upstream  and  downstream  faces  of  the  dam  are  sheathed 
with  a  double  thickness  of  2-in.  plank  laid  with  broken 
joints.    The  general  dimensions  of  the  dam  are: 

Length  of  crest,  ft 127 

Top  width,  ft 8 

Upstream  slope 1  to  1 

Downstream  s'ope 1  to  I 

Maximum  height,  ft 18 

Three  timber  headgates,  with  rack  and  pinion  operating 
gear,  are  provided  to  regulate  flow  of  water  into  the  intake 
basin,  which  is  also  formed  of  log  cribs,  back-filled  with 
rock  and  lined  with  plank  for  water-tightness.  At  the  lower 
end,  and  immediately  above  the  flume  entrance,  sand  gates 
are  provided,  depressed  2  ft.  below  the  flume  floor,  through 
which  silt  and  sand  collecting  in  the  bottom  of  the  intake 
basin  may  be  discharged. 


Fig. 


-Interior   of   Power    House,   Jordan    River    Development. 


8i8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


The  dam  has  withstood  the  floods  of  two  seasons,  nearly 
8  ft.  depth  of  water  having  passed  over  the  crest  at  the 
highest  stage,  and  at  low  water  the  observed  leakage  is 
practically  nothing.  The  "Y"  Creek  diverting  dam  is 
similar  in  type  to  the  main  dam  already  described,  the 
crest,  however,  being  only  90  ft.  in  length. 


Fig.    9 — Diversion    Dam. 

MAIN   FLUME. 

The  main  flume  follows  the  south  side  of  the  Jordan 
River  canyon  for  a  distance  of  about  syi  miles.  The  side 
of  the  canyon  is  precipitous  -at  points,  the  slope  being  fre- 
quently broken  with  dee;)  indentations.  The  formation,  as 
a  rule,  is  stable  and  favorable  for  flume  foundation,  con- 
sisting generally  of  hardpan  or  solid  rock  topped  with  a 
comparatively  thin  layer  of  soil. 

The  flume  traverses  a  heavy  belt  of  timber  along  the 
entire  route,  and  the  clearing  necessary  for  adequate  pro- 
tection of  the  structure  was  very  extensive.  A  wide  clear- 
ing was  made,  all  trees  being  taken  down  along  the  upper 
side  which  would  reach  the  flume  in  falling,  and  all  leaning 
and  dead  trees  were  cut  along  the  lower  side.  The  fallen 
timber  was  hand-logged  down  the  hill  from  the  zone  to  be 
occupied  by  the  flume  proper  and  the  flume  railway,  and 
the  loppings  and  branches,  as  far  as  the  season  would 
permit  without  danger,  were  piled  and  burned  as  the  work 
went  forward.  About  6,000,000  ft.,  board  measure  of 
timber,  were  cut  in  making  the  clearing. 

The  flume  box,  which  is  designed  for  an  ultimate  carrying 
capacity  of  175  cu.  ft.  per  second,  is  6  ft.  by  6  ft.  in  size 
and  has  a  grade  of  l  ft.  to  1000  ft.  It  is  supported  by  bents 
spaced  15  ft.  center  to  center,  set  upon  ample  footings. 
either  of  cedar  blocks  or  concrete,  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  underlying  material,  the  maximum  bearing  upon  a 
square  foot  of  the  supporting  ground  surface  being  not 
greater  than  l  ton.  The  number  and  the  dimensions  of  the 
various  members  of  the  flume  are  given  in  the  table  below. 

DIMENSIONS,  ETC.,  OF  FLUME  MEMBERS. 


Members. 

Wood. 

Dimensions, 
Inches. 

Remarks. 

2  bent  posts 

Cedar 

8x8 

Battened 

1   cap 

Fir 

8x8 

Gained 

2  stringers 

Fir 

6x  14 

Lapped 

6sms 

Fir 

4x8 

Gained 

12  box  posts 

Fir 

4x6 

6  yokes 

Fir 

4x6 

Gained 

The  box  is  of  fir  and  spruce  planking,  2  in.  thick,  12  in.  and 
18  in.  wide  and  surfaced  on  one  side,  with  flat  battens,  J4  in. 
5^  3/^  in-,  nailed  over  the  cracks. 

Side  planks  to  carry  75  cu.  ft.  of  water  per  second  have 


been  installed,  and  additional  planks  may  be  added  as 
greater  capacity  is  required,  at  which  time  intermediate 
bents,  or  at  least  supporting  posts,  will  be  installed  at  the 
middle  points  of  the  stringers,  reducing  the  span  to  7^  ft. 
In  the  construction  of  the  flume  3,500,000  board-ft.  of 
lumber  were  used,  to  supply  which  a  sawmill  was  erected  at 
the  lower  end  of  the  flume  and  adjacent  to  the  forebay 
reservoir.  The  capacity  of  the  mill  was  about  30.000 
board-ft.  per  day,  and  the  equipment  included  machinery 
tor  surfacing,  sizing,  gaining  and  trimming  the  flume  lumber 
for  erection  with  a  minimum  of  hand  labor. 

The  total  amount  of  lumber  cut  in  the  mill  for  the  entire 
construction  work  was  about  6,000,000  ft.,  board  measure. 
To  facilitate  the  construction  of  the  flume,  a  36-in.  gage 
railway,  with  20-lb.  rail,  was  built  parallel  to  the  flume  along 
its  entire  length  and  at  an  elevation  about  15  ft.  above  it. 
Lumber  and  other  material  for  the  flume,  as  well  as  for 
the  diverting  dams  and  storage  dam,  were  delivered  over 
this  track,  which  connects  directly  at  its  lower  end  with  an 
inclined  tramway  of  the  same  gage.  This  inclined  tramway 
begins  at  a  landing  wharf  on  the  shore,  is  2  miles  in  length 
and  after  overcoming  a  difference  of  elevation  of  1200  ft. 
connects  with  the  flume  railway  near  the  sawmill.  The 
operation  of  the  inclined  tramway  is  accomplished  by  means 
of  a  powerful  haulage  engine  placed  at  the  upper  end  of 
the  tramway  and  a  second  and  lighter  haulage  engine  near 
the  lower  end,  slight  grades  at  sections  preventing  the  cars 
from  any  liability  to  overhaul  the  cable  by  reason  of  their 
own  weight. 

In  building  the  flume  all  members  were  sized  and  cut  to 
true  length,  including  bent  posts,  and  all  daps  and  gains 
were  made  at  the  sawmill  by  machine.  The  footings  were 
accurately  located  and  placed  to  elevation  with  transit  and 
level,  somewhat  in  advance  of  the  erection.  The  length  of 
the  posts  required  for  each  bent  was  determined  and  the 
information  forwarded  to  the  framing  yard  at  the  sawmill 
where  the  various  parts  were  prepared.  In  this  way  con- 
fusion and  crowding  were  avoided  and  a  greater  rate  of 
progress  was  made  possible.  The  system  worked  out,  on 
the  whole,  quite  satisfactorily,  very  few  errors  occurring 
in  the  process. 

Five  combination  sand  and  waste  gates  are  provided  along 
the  length  of  the  flume  at  approximately  equal  intervals, 
and  a  standard  weir  was  built  at  the  lower  end,  where 
several  measurements  were  taken  to  determine  the  carrying 
capacity  with  different  depths  of  water.    The  result  of  these 


Fig.    1C 


*Y"   Creek   Flume   and    Main    Flume   Junction. 


tests  indicates  a  value  of  about  122  for  the  c  coefficient  in 
Chezy's  formula,  v  =  c  y/  rs. 

The  flume  has  been  in  continuous  operation  since  Novem- 
ber, 1910,  and  has  proved  tight,  safe  and  reliable  in  every 
respect,  only  one  short  interruption  having  occurred,  this 
having  been  due  to  the  loss  of  one  bent  destroyed  by  a  small 
landslide. 


I 


October  19,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


819 


FOREBAY  RESERVOIR. 

The  forebay  reservoir  site  consists  of  two  small,  gently 
sloping,  heavily  wooded  depressions  leading  in  opposite 
directions  from  a  low  saddle  or  ridge  lying  11 50  ft.  above 
sea  level.  Two  earth  dams  were  built  across  the  vaLeys, 
the  material  for  the  embankments  being  all  excavated  from 
the  higher  ground  between.  Each  embankment  is  about 
35  ft.  in  height  and  1000  ft.  in  length.  The  total  volume  of 
fill  in  the  two  dams  is  35,000  cu.  yd. 

The  material  available  for  the  embankments  was  semi- 
cemented  gravel  or  hardpan.  which  required  drilling  and 
blasting  to  loosen.  .A.  double-sheathed  timber  diaphragm  of 
cedar  planking,  connecting  with  a  concrete  cut-off  wall  sunk 
well  into  the  impervious  hardpan,  was  installed  in  each 
dam  to  insure  water-tightness,  the  material  from  which  the 
dams  had  to  be  built  not  being  sufficiently  impervious  to 
make  them  adequately  water-tight  .  without  the  use  of 
diaphragms. 

Dam  No.  i  was  built  with  wheelbarrows  and  heavy  sleds, 
hauled  with  a  donkey  engine  and  hoisted  and  dumped  from 
an  overhead  cable-way.  Dam  No.  2  was  built  under  con- 
tract, with  horses  and  carts.  No  particular  attempt  was 
made  on  either  embankment  to  puddle  or  compact  the 
material  during  construction,  except  that  a  limit  of  3  ft. 
was  placed  upon  the  layers  deposited  and  a  small  amount 
of  puddling  with  water  was  done  immediately  in  front  of 
the  timber  diaphragms. 

A  concrete  intake  structure,  surmounted  by  a  structural- 
steel  gate  tower,  from  which  are  operated  two  roller- 
bearing  54-in.  hydraulic  sluicegates,  was  erected  inside  the 
reservoir  at  the  head  of  the  pipe  line.  Two  44-in.  steel- 
riveted  pipes  are  installed  through  the  base  of  the  south 
dam.  From  the  intake  structure  to  the  core  wall  the  pipes 
are  embedded  in  a  reinforced-concrete  casing,  and  from  the 
core  wall  to  the  lower  toe  of  the  dam  two  open  culverts, 
with  common  center  wall  and  roofed  with  reinforced-con- 
crete slabs,  are  installed  around  the  pipes,  insuring  perfect 
drainage  and  allowing  access  for  inspection.  Two  6-in. 
standpipes  extending  up  to  the  floor  of  the  gate  tower  are 
installed  at  the  upper  end  of  the  pipes. 

The  reservoir  when  full  covers  an  area  of  about  12  acres, 
and  the  capacity  available — 4,800,000  cu.  ft. — is  sufficient  to 
operate  the  single  generating  unit  installed  for  a  period  of 
about  thirty  hours.  To  prevent  damage  to  the  slopes  from 
wave  action,  a  light  timber  boom  is  floated  about  4  ft.  from 
the  water's  edge  and  braced  at  intervals  from  the  bank.    An 


Fig.    11 — Pipe     Line    and     Incline    Tramway. 

emergency  spillway  with  flashboards  and  apron  is  built  in 
the  solid  ground  at  the  east  end  of  Dam  No.  2. 

The  function  of  this  forebay  reservoir  is  to  increase  the 
peak-load  capacity  of  the  power  plant  by  liberal  storage 
immediately  at  the  head  of  the  pipe  line,  and  also  to  furnish 
a  reserve  supply  of  water  to  run  the  plant  for  a  considerable 
period  in  event  of  accident  to  the  flume. 


PIPE  LINE. 

The  pipe  line  leading  from  the  forebay  reservoir  to  the 
power  station  is  9800  ft.  in  length  and  follows  a  gentle 
slope  for  the  greater  part  of  its  length,  the  lower  300  ft. 
descending  abruptly  to  the  power  house.  The  upper  third 
of  the  length  of  this  line  is  designed  to  deliver  water  for 


Fig.  12 — Intake  Tower,  Forebay  Reservoir. 

two  generating  units  of  4000  kw  each,  and  consists  of  one 
riveted  steel  pipe  44  in.  in  diameter,  j4-in-  to  J^-in.  plate. 
At  the  lower  end  of  this  section  a  cast-iron  "Y"  piece,  fitted 
with  two  36-in.  cast-steel  gate  valves,  is  installed,  providing 
for  the  extension  of  two  lines  to  the  power  house.  The 
lower  section  of  the  pipe  is  designed  to  deliver  water  for 
one  generating  unit  only,  and  the  single  line  installed  con- 
sists of  lap-welded  steel,  with  riveted  roundabout  joints,  in 
approximately  equal  lengths  of  36-in.,  34-in.,  32-in.  and 
30-in.  diameter,  and  varying  in  thickness  from  5/16  in.  at 
the  "Y"  end  to  9/16  in.  at  the  lower  end. 

The  pipe  line  was  designed  with  an  ample  factor  of  safety 
according  to  current  practice  in  the  extensive  use  of  lap- 
welded  pipe.  However,  owing  to  the  apprehension  aroused 
in  the  minds  of  the  officials  of  the  company  by  a  reported 
failure  of  a  similar  lap-welded  pipe  elsewhere,  the  lower  end 
of  the  pipe  line  for  a  distance  of  2200  ft.  was  reinforced  by 
i-in.  round  steel  bands,  after  the  manner  of  a  wood-stave 
pipe,  with  spacing  from  ^H  '"•  to  4  >"• 

Several  hours  after  first  filling  the  line  with  water  the 
36-in.  valve  on  the  dead  end  at  the  "Y"  burst  without 
warning  and  the  water  in  the  44-in.  pipe  above  was  suddenly 
discharged.  No  damage,  however,  resulted  to  the  pipe  line, 
ample  air  openings  having  been  provided  for  its  protection. 
The  valve  was  split  almost  centrally  through  the  body  and 
bonnet,  the  lower  half  being  blown  a  distance  of  20  ft. 
An  investigation  of  the  design  of  the  body  showed  that  an 
ample  section  of  metal  had  been  provided  throughout  for  a 
large  factor  of  safety  and  no  flaws  or  other  defects  were 
disclosed.  The  valve  had  been  ordered  tested  before  ship- 
ment, but  this  had  not  been  done.  The  accident  emphasizes 
the  unreliability  of  cast  iron  even  for  moderate  pressures. 
The  cast-iron  valve  bodies  were  then  discarded,  and  cast- 
steel  parts  were  installed  in  their  places,  and,  as  an  addi- 
tional precaution,  two  expansion  joints,  one  in  the  44-in. 
pipe  above  the  "Y"  and  one  in  the  36-in.  pipe  below,  were 
introduced  in  the  line  to  eliminate  any  strains  due  to 
expansion  or  contraction  to  which  the  cast-iron  parts  might 
be  subjected.  Eight  4-in.  air  valves  and  four  manholes  were 
installed  along  the  length  of  the  pipe,  and  immediately  back 
of  the  power  house  a  cluster  of  four  automatic  pressure 
relief  valves  were  mounted.  Concrete  anchor  blocks  and 
supporting  piers  were  erected  at  proper  intervals  along  the 
pipe  line. 

The  inclined  tramway  was  installed  parallel  to  the  line 
along  its  entire  length,  from  which  the  pipe  and  other 
materials  were  delivered.    The  entire  pipe-line  installation, 


820 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


including  the  furnishing  of  material  and  the  erection,  was 
done  under  contract  by  the  Jens  Orten  Boving  Company, 
Ltd.,  of  London,  England. 


POWER  STATION. 


The  power  station  faces  the  ocean  and  is  erected  on  low 
ground  at  the  foot  of  the  pipe-line  hill,  which  slopes  very 


Fig.    13 — Jordan    River    Power    House. 

abruptly  for  the  lower  300  ft.  of  its  length.  The  ground 
surface  is  elevated  only  slightly  above  extreme  high-tide 
elevation,  but  the  waterw'heel  nozzles  are  placed  5.5  ft.  above 
the  maximum  high-tide  level.  A  very  heavy  growth  of 
cedar,  spruce  and  hemlock  timber  was  removed  from  the 
site  in  preparation  for  the  construction  work. 

The  power-house  building  is  49  ft.  by  97  ft.,  sufficient 
space  being  provided  for  the  installation  of  two  complete 
generating  units,  with  exciters,  transformers,  switchboards, 
low-tension  and  high-tension  switches,  etc.  Concrete  and 
steel  were  used  exclusively  in  the  construction  of  the  build- 
ing, account  being  taken  in  making  the  location  for  its 
extension  to  contain  an  ultimate  installation  of  four 
generating  units. 

The  pipe  line  previously  described  enters  the  power  house 
at  the  back  and  is  connected  to  the  generating  units  through 
a  24-in.  gate  valve,  there  being  an  effective  head  of  iioo  ft. 
The  water  is  controlled  by  a  needle  regulating  nozzle  in 
conjunction  with  an  auxiliary  needle  nozzle,  the  needle  of 
which  is  mechanically  connected  to  the  main  needle  and  is 
so  arranged  that  it  opens  automatically  as  soon  as  the  main 
needle  closes  rapidly  or  beyond  a  certain  predetermined 
point.  In  this  way  the  auxiliary  nozzle  maintains  a  sufficient 
vent  to  avoid  a  dangerous  rise  of  pressure  in  the  pipe  line. 
The  auxiliary  nozzle  is  also  fitted  with  an  independent  slow- 
moving  adjustable  time-element  mechanism  which  gradually 
closes  the  nozzle  when  the  main  needle  stops  moving,  thus 
conserving  the  water  supply.  A  Lombard  Type  Q  oil- 
pressure  governor  is  used  for  speed  regulation  and  is 
directly  attached  to  the  main  nozzle  needle. 

The  main  generating  unit  consists  of  a  4000-kw  generator 
and  a  6000-hp  impulse  waterwheel.  This  unit  is  of  the  two- 
bearing  type,  having  the  revolving  field  of  the  generator 
mounted  on  the  shaft  between  the  bearings  and  the  water- 
wheel  overhung  at  one  end.  The  speed  is  400  r.p.m.  One 
exciter  is  installed  of  a  size  sufficient  to  supply  maximum 
field  current  for  two  generating  units.  The  extended  shaft 
carries  on  one  end  an  overhung  impulse  waterwheel  and  is 
connected  at  the  other  end  to  an  induction  motor,  which 
operates  at  the  generator  voltage  and  drives  the  exciter 
generator  continuously.  The  exciter  waterwheel  is  equipped 
for  hand  control  only,  as  the  motor  serves  as  a  speed 
regulator  and  no  governor  is  necessary.  A  four-panel 
marble  switchboard,  provided  with  a  complete  equipment  of 
instruments   and    controlling   devices,    including    a    Tirrill 


regulator,  is  mounted  on  the  switchboard  floor,  which  is 
elevated  about  6  ft.  above  the  generator  floor. 

The  energy  delivered  by  the  generator  at  2300  volts  is 
stepped  up  to  40,000  volts  by  means  of  three  1400-kva,  oil- 
insulated,  water-cooled  transformers,  which  are  installed  in 
fireproof  compartments  back  of  the  generator.  These  trans- 
formers are  now  operating  with  delta  connection,  delivering 
current  to  the  transmission  line  at  40.000  volts.  This  voltage 
will  be  raised  upon  the  installation  of  the  second  unit  to 
60,000  by  changing  the  delta  connection  to  star  connection 
with  grounded  neutral. 

The  waterwheel  equipment  was  furnished  by  the  John 
McDougall  Caledonian  Iron  Works,  Ltd.,  of  Montreal,  and 
manufactured  under  the  Doble  patents;  the  generator  and 
exciter  by  the  Allis-Chalmers  Bullock  Company,  Ltd.,  and 
the  transformers,  switchboards,  switches  and  lightning 
arresters  by  the  Canadian  General  Electric  Company,  Ltd. 

A  75, ooo-volt,  three-pole  oil  switch  with  disconnecting 
switches,  arranged  for  hand  operation  from  the  generator 
floor,  is  installed  in  the  high-tension  room.  A  complete 
equipment  of  aluminum-cell,  three-phase,  40,000-volt  light- 
ning arresters  has  been  provided  to  protect  each  end  of  the 
transmission  line. 

SUBSTATION. 

At  Victoria  the  substation  used  in  connection  with  the 
operation  of  the  transmission  line  from  the  old  Coldstream 
hydroelectric  station  has  been  utilized.  Extensive  altera- 
tions were  made  in  the  old  building,  including  the  erection 
of  transformer  stalls  for  two  banks  of  transformers  and  a 
high-tension  switchroom  of  reinforced  concrete,  space  being 
provided  for  bringing  two  transmission  circuits  into  the 
building. 

An  unfortunate  and  very  unusual  set  of  conditions  were 
encountered  in  the  power-station  foundations,  the  remedy- 
ing of  which  was  fortunately  taken  in  hand  in  time  to 
prevent  serious  delay  in  putting  the  plant  into  operation. 

In  the  construction  of  the  building  and  the  setting  of  the 
foundation  unusual  precautions  were  observed.  The  ex- 
cavations for  the  foundation  walls  and  the  machine  setting 
were  carried  to  a  depth  of  about  21  ft.  below  the  floor  level. 
Some  seams  of  peat  varying  in  thickness  from  2  in.  to  2  ft. 
were   encountered.     At   the  bottom  of  the   trench   a   fairly 


'^  I  4  Lag-screw^ 
Plan  and  Elevation  of  Cross  Arm  mounted  on  Pole. 


"/.e 


Standard  Washers 
for  H"Bolt 


-n 

Section  A-B 


Section  C-D 
Fig.    14 — Details   of   Cross-Arm. 

stiflf,  blue,  sandy  clay  was  found,  into  which  borings  were 
made  for  a  distance  of  12  ft.,  showing  the  same  class  of 
material  throughout  this  distance.  Tests  of  the  bearing 
power  of  the  ground  were  made,  which  showed  that  a  load 
of  5  tons  per  square  foot  would  not  cause  any  settlement. 
Having  taken  these  precautions  in  predetermining  the  bear- 
ing power  of  the  soil,  it  appeared  that  this  material  was 


OCTOBKR    19,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


821 


entirely  safe  for  foundation  purposes  with  the  load  to  be 
imposed. 

After  the  building  was  completed  observations  taken  in- 
dicated that  a  slight  settlement  was  taking  place.  These 
observations  were  continued  for  several  months  in  order  to 
establish  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  building  and  machinery 
foundations  were  actually  settling  and  to  determine  as 
nearly  as  possible  the  rate  of  settlement. 

In  June,  191 1,  a  series  of  test  holes  were  put  down  at 
points  around  the  building,  which  showed  that  a  soft  muck 
bed  from  5  ft.  to  15  ft.  in  thickness  lay  some  50  ft.  below 
the  floor  level  and  about  25  ft.  below  the  bottom  of  the 
foundations.  The  layer  of  clay  on  which  the  foundations 
were  set  had  been  stressed  beyond  its  supporting  power  and 
had  gradually  compressed  the  stratum  of  muck  and  peat 
beneath. 

This  most  extraordinary  condition  could  not  have  been 
found  .by  any  means  of  testing  other  than  sinking  deep 
drill  holes,  and  even  if  this  had  been  done  previous  to  the 
settling  of  the  building,  the  strength  of  the  clay  seam  could 
not  have  been  determined  by  any  test  except  the  application 
of  a  load  approximating  the  entire  weight  of  the  structure 
and  contents,  which  was,  of  course,  impracticable.     Only 


after  inserting  steel  reinforcing  bars,  were  filled  with  con- 
crete, forming  a  system  of  some  twenty-six  steel  and  con- 
crete piles.  Steel  I-beams  were  placed  on  top  of  the  piles 
supporting  the  concrete  foundation,  wedges  being  driven  as 
tightly  as  possible  between  the  tops  of  the  beams  and  the 
concrete  of  the  foundation,  and  the  whole  was  surrounded 
with  concrete.  No  settlement  has  been  observed  since  the 
completion  of  this  underpinning.  The  building  foundations 
proper  were  not  strengthened,  and  no  settlement  has  taken 
place  since  the  clay  stratum  was  relieved  of  the  weight 
taken  by  the  piles. 

TRANSMISSION    LINE. 

The  transmission  line  leading  from  the  power  station  to 
the  city  of  Victoria  traverses  the  rough,  heavily  timbered 
country  along  the  west  coast  of  the  island  for  a  distance  of 


f7;'l5  1b,  ,l-i!fiim,  114i,4loag 


PT! 


^^^;55g^g5?%«%???;?!»«i!^-^-''-''- 


such  a  weight  would  have  caused  the  bending  of  the  clay 
stratum  and  the  consequent  yielding  of  the  peat  seam. 

In  the  course  of  the  original  investigation  test  piles  45  ft. 
in  length  were  driven  adjacent  to  the  power  house,  the 
bearing  power  of  which,  computed  from  the  penetration  un- 
der the  hammer  blow,  was  from  12  tons  to  15  tons  per  pile. 
It  is  evident  that  if  a  pile  foundation  had  been  installed  with 
piles  driven  to  apparently  ample  depth  based  on  penetration 
the  condition  would  not  have  been  discovered  in  advance 
or  the  settlement  obviated. 

The  underpinning  of  the  machine  foundations  was  begun 
July  15,  1911,  and  carried  on  continuously  night  and  day 
until  Sept.  10,  when  the  plant  was  put  in  operation. 
Standard  pipe  or  casing  12  in.  in  diameter  was  sunk  with 
well  rigs  to  the  bedrock  beneath  the  peat  seam  around  the 
machine  foundation  and  pipe  line  immediately  behind  the 
power  house.     The  pipes  were  pumped  out,  cleaned  and, 


Fig.    15 — Cross-Section    of    Power    House. 


about  40  miles.  The  first  15  miles  of  its  course  is  located 
along  the  bluff  shore  line  of  the  Straits  of  Juan  de  Fuca, 
the  wires  in  some  places  overhanging  the  sea.  No  road  or 
trail  existed  along  this  section  at  the  time  the  line  was  built, 
and  the  materials,  except  poles,  which  were  cut  from  the 
adjacent  forest,  were  delivered  by  small  boats  along  the 
beach.  The  remaining  25  miles  of  the  line  follows  generally 
the  provincial  government  highway,  with  more  or  less 
diversion  to  avoid  acute  angles  and  to  shorten  the  distance. 
The  current  is  transmitted  at  40,000  volts,  three-phase, 
6o-cycIe. 

Cedar  poles  (with  a  minimum  diameter  at  the  top  of 
9  in.)  are  used  throughout,  50  ft.,  55  ft.  and  60  ft.  in  height 
and  spaced  from  300  ft.  to  400  ft.  apart.  Three  steel  gal- 
vanized cross-arms,  each  composed  of  two  i}^-in.  by  }i-in. 
angles  9  ft.  long  with  i^-in.  angle-iron  braces,  are  mounted 
on  each  pole,  all  bolts,  lagscrews  and  washers  being  gal- 


822 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


vanized.  The  initial  circuit  is  hung  on  one  side  of  the  pole, 
leaving  space  on  the  other  side  for  the  installation  of  a 
second  and  similar  circuit  at  some  future  time.  Brown- 
glazed  two-piece  suspension  insulators,  Locke  type  No.  275, 
are  used,  one  element  only  being  installed  for  ordinary  sus- 
pension. At  dead-end  angle  points  two  elements  are  used 
in  order  to  avoid  trouble  in  adding  the  second  element  when 
the  line  voltage  is  raised  to  60,000  volts  upon  the  completion 
of  the  second  unit.  Dead  ends  have  been  made  at  all  angles 
where  the  conductor  is  drawn  toward  the  pole.  Standard 
line  insulators  are  used  on  either  side  of  the  cross-arm,  and 
the  conductor  is  ta-ken  across  in  a  suspended  loop. 

The  conductor  is  seven-strand  aluminum  cable  No.  00 
B.  &  S.  gage  and  is  designed  to  transmit  the  output  of  one 
generator  at  40,000  volts  and  that  of  two  generators  at 
60,000  volts.  A  metallic-circuit  telephone  line  No.  9 
B.  W.  G.  galvanized-iron  wire  is  installed  on  a  short  wooden 
cross-arm  below  the  main  circuits. 

The  timber  growth  along  the  route  of  the  line  is  excep- 
tionally heavy,  and  a  very  extensive  clearing  was  necessary 
along  and  on  either  side  of  the  line  for  its  protection,  all 
trees  that  could  reach  the  wires  in  falling  being  cut  down. 
For  many  miles  a  zone  from  400  ft.  to  600  ft.  in  width  was 
cleared  through  the  finest  fir  belt  on  the  island,  and  an 
aggregate  of  approximately  20,000,000  ft.,  board  measure, 
of  merchantable  timber  was  paid  for  and  cut  down  in  the 
course  of  the  work.  Some  of  this  may  perhaps  be  put  to 
profitable  use  before  becoming  useless  by  decay  or  being 
destroyed  by  fire. 

TRANSPORTATION. 

One  of  the  most  formidable  problems  of  this  development 
was  that  of  transportation.  All  machinery,  cement,  pipe, 
provisions  and  other  supplies,- as  well  as  all  kinds  of  labor, 
had  to  be  transported  by  sea  from  Victoria  45  miles  down 
the  coast  to  the  mouth  of  the  Jordan  River.  The  Straits  of 
Juan  de  Fuca  at  this  point  are  exposed  to  the  sweep  of  the 
open  sea  from  the  west,  and  there  was  no  pier  and  no 
natural  or  artificial  protection  at  the  point  of  landing. 
Bulky  freight  was  loaded  on  scows  at  Victoria  and  towed  by 
a  small  tug  to  the  Jordan  River.  The  scows  on  arrival  at 
the  Jordan  River  landing  were  hauled  up  on  runways  laid 
on  the  flat  beach  until  they  were  out  of  reach  of  the  waves 
and  were  then  unloaded  by  derricks. 

Making  the  journey  to  and  from  Victoria  and  beaching 
the  loaded  scows  in  stormy  weather  were  precarious  in  the 
extreme,  requiring  a  high  degree  of  patience,  courage  and 
skill.  Passengers,  mail  and  light  freight  were  landed  on  the 
beach  in  dories. 

Although  much  trouble  and  some  minor  accidents 
occurred,  not  a  single  piece  of  the  6400  tons  of  material  and 
equipment  handled  nor  a  single  one  of  the  several  thousand 
passengers  carried  was  lost. 

From  an  engineering  standpoint  the  development  in  its 
present  initially  completed  state  perhaps  presents  by  itself 
no  very  unusual  features.  But  when  consideration  is  given 
to  all  the  elements  involved  in  carving  out  of  a  wild,  remote 
and  almost  impenetrable  and  trackless  wilderness  a  reliable 
and  highly  efificient  hydroelectric  system,  planned  for  large 
expansion  along  accurately  predetermined  lines,  this  de- 
velopment is  seen  to  have  very  unusual  interest.  Very  few 
hydroelectric  developments  have  presented  a  greater  aray  of 
formidable  obstacles,  many  closely  concealed,  and  few  have 
been  carried  through  to  successful  completion  on  lines  so 
closely  adhering  to  those  originally  planned,  despite  the 
meager  data  on  which  these  original  plans  were  based. 

The  entire  work  was  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Wynn 
Meredith,  of  Sanderson  &  Porter,  from  the  first  pioneering 
to  the  final  completion  of  the  initial  installation  of  the  first 
4000-kw  unit.  The  preliminary  reconnoissance  and  surveys 
were  under  the  immediate  charge  of  Mr.  A.  B.  Carey.  The 
final  location  surveys  and  all  construction  work  were  under 
the  immediate  charge  of  Mr.  E.  E.  Carpenter,  to  whom  we 
are  indebted  for  the  data  forming  the  basis  of  this  article. 


NEW  STREET  LIGHTING  IN  CHICAGO— II. 


Rehabilitation  of  Old  Lighting  System — Location  and 
Design  of  the  New  Substations — Conclusions. 


AS  mentioned  in  the  preceding  article,  the  electricity 
used  for  street  lighting  in  Chicago  is  generated  by 
the  Sanitary  District  at  its  hydroelectric  plant  at 
Lockport,  transmitted  30  miles  to  a  terminal  station  at 
Thirty-first  Street  and  Western  Avenue,  Chicago,  and  from 
there  distributed  underground  at  12,000  volts  to  a  number  of 
substations. 

The  old  lighting  system  operated  from  these  substations 
embraced  about  12,200  arc  lamps  of  more  than  twenty-six 
different  makes  and  styles.  The  oldest  of  the  stations  still 
in  use  operate  direct-current  arc  lamps  by  means  of  series 
arc  machines  belted  to  line  shafts  driven  by  1200-hp 
synchronous  motors.  The  plan  is  now  to  discard  all  the 
direct-current  equipment,  put  in  transformers  and  constant- 
current  regulators  and  rearrange  the  lamp  circuits  for 
seventy   lamps   instead    nf   the   present    140.      A   number   of 


Fig.  .8 — View    in    Substation,    Siiowing    Transformers    and    Switch- 
Board. 

small  substations  located  in  fire-engine  houses  will  be 
abandoned,  and  the  circuits  will  be  operated  from  new 
stations  of  larger  equipment.  The  station  equipment  which 
will  be  used  in  changing  the  old  stations  over  is  the  same 
as  that  in  the  new  stations  now  under  construction  and  will 
be  described  later. 

SUBSTATIONS  FOR  NEW  LIGHTING. 

In  addition  to  this  rehabilitation  of  the  old  electric  light- 
ing system,  work  is  now  in  progress  to  light  electrically 
large  sections  of  the  city  which  have  heretofore  been  lighted 
by  gas  or  gasoline.  Four  new  substations  have  been  built 
or  are  now  under  construction  to  take  care  of  these  new 
lamps.  The  locations  of  the  stations  and  the  boundaries  of 
the  territories  lighted  from  each  station  are  as  follows : 

IVabansia  Avenue  Substation. — Located  at  Hamlin  and 
Wabansia  Avenues,  supplying  energy  for  the  territory  north 
of  Madison  Street  between  California  Avenue  and  the 
western  limits  of  the  city. 

Twenty-second  Street  Substation. — Located  at  West 
Twenty-second  Street  and  Spaulding  Avenue,  supplying  the 
territory  bounded  by  the  west  fork  of  the  South  Branch  of 
the  Chicago  River,  Western  Avenue,  Madison  Street  and 
the  western  limits  of  the  city. 


October  19,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


823 


Thirty-ninth  Street  Substation. — Located  at  East  Thirty- 
ninth  Street  and  LaKe  Michigan,  serving  the  territory  from 
Sixteenth  Street  to  Sixty-third  Street  east  of  State  Street. 

Byron  Street  Substation. — Located  at  Byro'h  Street  and 
East  Ravenswood  Park,  serving  the  territory  from  Diversey 
Boulevard  to  the  northern  hmits  of  the  city  and  from  the 
river  to  the  lake. 

The  greater  part  of  these  territories  will  be  lighted  with 
flaming-arc  lamps,  but  in  some  of  the  residence  districts 
served  by  the  Thirty-ninth  Street  and  Byron  Street  stations, 
where  the  citizens  have  objected  to  high-candle-power  units 
and  to  overhead  distribution,  a  system  of  series  tungsten 
lamps  is  being  installed.  (See  preceding  article.)  The 
total  number  of  lamps  which  the  Sanitary  Dii.trict  so  far 
has  contracted  to  install  is  10,000  arc  lamps  (or  their  equiva- 
lent in  tungsten  lamps),  but  the  city  may  call  for  another 
10,000  or  20,000  lamps  if  the  present  demand  for  more 
lighting  persists. 

DESIGN   OF  SUBSTATIONS. 

Reproductions  are  given  here  of  three  photographs  taken 
in  the  Wabansia  Avenue  substation.  They  are  typical  of 
all  substations.  Fig.  8  shows  the  transformers  and  a  glimpse 
of  the  switchboard  above;  Fig.  9  is  a  view  in  the  regulator 
room,  with  the  cable  pit  for  outgoing  circuits  showing  in 
the  foreground,  and  Fig.  10  is  a  picture  taken  in  the  switch- 
board gallery,  with  the  oil-switch  compartments  on  the  right. 

Referring  to  the  drawings,  Fig.  13  is  a  plan  view  of  one- 
half  of  a  substation.  The  main  12,000-volt  bus  is  located 
on  the  balcony  near  the  side  wall  and  runs  the  whole  length 
of  the  building.  .  Remote-control  switches,  manufactured  by 
the  General  Electric  and  Westinghouse  companies,  are  here 
provided  for  incoming  and  outgoing  lines,  for  transformer 
banks  and  for  a  bus-tie. 

Figs.  12  and  15  show  details  of  brickwork.  The  trans- 
formers, manufactured  by  the  Pittsburgh  Transformer 
Company,  are  located  on  the  main  floor.  They  are  of  the 
single-phase,  oil-coo!ed,  core  type,  rated  at  250  kva,  with 


£S3CEF> 


Fig.  9 — View   in   Substation,  Sliowing   Regulators  and   Potheads  for 
Outgoing  Circuits. 

primary   voltages   of    12,000,    11,500,    11,000   or    10,500   and 
secondary  voltages  of  5050,  4650  or  4250. 

While  the  common  American  practice  in  installations  of 
this  character  is  to  keep  each  transformer  separate,  the  city 
of  Chicago  has  been  operating  for  a  number  of  years  with 
banked  transformers,  and  this  method  is  being  maintained 
for  the  new  stations.    The  connections  are  delta  on  the  high- 


tension   side  and   star   with   grounded  neutral   on  the  low- 
tension  side. 

SUBSTATION    WIRING. 

In  Fig.  II  an  end  elevation  of  a  substation  is  shown. 
From  the  primary  and  secondary  transformer  terminals 
heavily  insulated  leads  go  through  the  wall  supporting  the 
balcony  into   the   high-tension   room.     Here   the   delta   and 


Fig.    10 — Switchboard    Gallery   with    Oil-Switch    Compartments. 

Star  connections  are  made  up  by  auxiliary  buses  of  copper 
tubing  supported  in  the  usual  manner  on  pipe  racks.  Below 
these  buses  can  be  seen  the  main  arc-lamp  bus,  a  plan  view 
of  a  portion  of  which  is  also  shown  in  Fig.  14.  The  bus 
runs  along  the  inside  wall  of  the  high-tension  room,  crosses 
over  at  the  rear  end  of  the  building,  at  which  point  sec- 
tionalizing  knife  switches  are  installed,  and  doubles  back 
along  the  outside  wall.  The  arc  circuits  are  taken  off  from 
the  three  phases  in  regular  rotation.  Having  passed  the 
disconnecting  switch  and  an  oil  switch,  each  circuit  goes 


Electrical  World 

Fig.    11 — Cross-Section    of    Typical    Substation. 

through  a  constant-current  regulator  and  leaves  the  building 
underground  by  single-conductor  or  eight-conductor  cable. 

OIL-INSULATED  REGULATORS. 

The  regulators,  built  specially  for  the  Sanitary  District 
by  the  Fort  Wayne  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company, 
present   some   novel    features.     They   can   be  classified   as 


S24 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


-\  Switch    /'■ 


Future  Traus. 
Bank  No.  3 


g 
Q 

3 

b 

o 

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EUArieaX  Vowid 


Fig.   12 — Elevation   of    Bus   Structure   In   Substation. 


Transformer  Bank  No.4 
Commercial  Instalation  in  Future 

1      '   ;      !  !     .';   I.     '  1       •  '.     1 


Transformer  Bank  No.3 
Possible  Instalation  in  Future 


\  / «  .» 


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Arc  Panels 


Fig.   13— Plan  of  One-Half  of  Typical  Substation. 


ElMtrieal  Vfvrli 


Fig.  1<) — Plan  View  of  a  Portion  of  Low-Tension  Bus  In  Substation. 


October  19,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


82s 


single-winding,  60-cycle,  5000-volt,  lo-amp  regulators  and 
will  maintain  a  practically  constant  current  without  ex- 
cessive heating  on  a  full  short-circuit.  The  regulators  are 
incased  in  corrugated,  oil-filled  tanks  with  cast-iron  covers 
and  bases.  A  steering  rod,  which  comes  out  through  a  hole 
in  the  cover,  serves,  in  connection  with  a  lever  hinged  to  the 
case  and  a  hook,  for  fixing  the  regulator  in  the  starting 
position.  When  the  current  is  thrown  on,  the  regulator  is 
released  automatically.  As  the  regulator  leads  are  provided 
with  special  connectors  and  as  the  oil  tanks  stand  on  casters, 
a  defective  regulator  can  be  replaced  in  less  than  five 
minutes 

SWITCHBOARD. 

The  switchboard  is  placed  on  the  balcony  facing  the  trans- 
former banks  and  is  composed  of  the  following  panels : 

One  main  control  panel  with  one  horizontal  edgewise 
alternating-current  voltmeter,  scale  0-15,000  volts,  which, 
by  means  of  an  eight-point  potential  receptacle  and  a  triple- 
pole  double-throw  knife  switch,  can  be  connected  to  indicate 
the  pressure  in  any  phase  of  either  section  of  the  12,000-volt 
bus.  On  this  panel  are  located  five  pull-button 
control  switches  with  red  and  green  flush-board 
indicating  lamps  for  incoming  and  outgoing 
12,000-volt  line  switches  and  bus-tie  switch. 

One  station  service  panel  with  necessary  in- 
struments, switches  and  automatic  safety  devices 
for  controlling  a  loo-amp-hour  storage  battery 
and  a  3-kw  motor-generator  charging  set. 

Two  transformer  panels  each  equipped  with 
a  pull-button  control  switch  for  the  high-tension 
switch  of  the  banks,  with  red  and  green  flush- 
board    indicating    lamps,    a    triple-pole,    single- 


of  money,  the  appearance  of  the  building  is  neat  and 
attractive  and  in  entire  harmony  with  the  purpose  for 
which   it  was   constructed. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  rehabilitation  and  extension  of  Chicago's  electric 
street-lighting  system  is  probably  the  largest  work  of  the 
kind  ever  undertaken  at  one  time,  and  it  is  being  carried 
out  by  the  electrical  engineer  of  the  Sanitary  District, 
Mr.  E.  B.  Ellicott,  who  has  collaborated  with  the  former 
city  electrician,  Mr.  William  Carroll,  and  the  present  city 
electrician,  Mr.  Ray  Palmer.  By  aiding  the  development 
of  the  new  long-burning  flame-arc  lamp  and  by  other  new 
ideas  of  station  and  line  construction,  Mr.  Ellicott  has  con- 
tributed to  the  art  of  street  lighting. 

Mr.  Ellicott  was  assisted  in  the  work  by  Mr.  G.  S.  Brack, 
who  designed  the  electrical  part  of  all  the  substations;  by 
Mr.  F.  L.  Barrett,  who  designed  the  buildings,  and  by  Mr. 
H.  C.  Gilbert,  Jr.,  superintendent  of  construction,  who 
carried  out  all  the  underground  line  construction  with  Sani- 
tary District  labor  and  supervised  the  overhead-line  con- 

:■  r 


Plan  of  Oil  Switch  Cell 
Fig. 


15— Details    of   OM-Switch 


Elevation  of  Oil  Switch  Cell 
and    Transformer   Cells    In    Substatons 


Plan  of  Potential  Transformer  Cell 

Etixtrleat  Wurid 


throw,  hand-operated  automatic  oil  switch  for  the  low- 
tension  side  of  the  bank,  a  polyphase  printing  watt-hour 
meter  and  a  polyphase  curve-drawing  wattmeter,  both  of 
these  meters  being  energized  by  instrument  transformers, 
these  transformers  of  course  being  installed  on  the  high- 
tension  side  of  the  bank. 

Twenty-six  arc  circuit  panels  are  provided  for  the  control 
of  fifty-two  arc  circuits.  The  equipment  on  each  panel  con- 
sists of  two  single-pole,  single-throw,  hand-operated,  auto- 
matic Hartman  oil  switches,  two  Roller-Smith  round-pattern 
ammeters  and  two  series  transformers  with  ratio  3:1  for 
trips  and  ammeters. 

DETAILS  OF  SUBSTATION   BUILDINGS. 

The  building  is  a  fireproof  brick  structure,  30  ft.  by  125  ft. 
by  22  ft.  high,  with  Bedford  stone  trimming,  steel  frame 
and  concrete  floors  and  roof.  The  window  frames  and 
sashes  are  of  copper,  and  the  windows  are  polished  plate 
wire  glass.  The  building  is  finished  inside  with  white  and 
green  enameled  brick,  which  material  is  also  used  for  the 
bus  and  switch  compartments.  It  is  equipped  with  a  hot- 
water  heating  system.  Although  there  was  no  attempt  at 
elaboration  of  design   on  account   of  limited  appropriation 


struction  and  substation  construction,  which  was  performed 
by  outside  contractors. 


USE  OF  MIRROR  IN    WATCHING    STACK    SMOKE. 

St.  Louis  has  a  strict  smoke-prevention  ordinance,  and 
the  fireman  who  shovels  coal  carelessly,  with  consequent 
clouds  of  black  smut  from  the  stack,  is  likely  soon  to  find 
the  firing  aisle  blocked  by  a  couple  of  bluecoats  with  shining 
nickel-plated  stars.  The  ordinance  has  been  of  assistance 
to  the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  in  trans- 
ferring isolated  plants  to  its  care,  where  they  receive  scien- 
tific, intelligent  supervision.  For  instructing  its  firemen  in 
proper  coaling  methods  at  the  old  Imperial  district-heating 
plant.  Tenth  and  St.  Charles  Streets,  a  36-in.  by  36-in.  plate- 
glass  mirror  has  been  mounted  on  a  framework  in  the  yard 
outside  the  boiler  room,  so  that  the  top  of  the  smokestack 
can  be  seen  from  any  point  in  front  of  the  boilers.  Ringel- 
mann's  charts  of  smoke  density  are  posted  conveniently 
near,  and  the  fireman  can  take  observations  from  time  to 
time  without   leaving  his   station. 


826 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


STEEL  MILL  ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERING. 


AMONG  the  subjects  of  interest  discussed  at  the  recent 
Milwaukee  convention  of  the  Association  of  Iron 
and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers  were  motor  construc- 
tion and  characteristics,  welding  and  safety.  Abstracts  of 
papers  dealing  with  these  subjects  are  given  below.  A 
news  account  of  the  convention  and  abstracts  of  many  of 
the  papers  were  given  in  our  issues  dated  Oct.  5  and  12. 

WINDINGS  AND  INSULATION. 

Mr.  H.  C.  Specht's  paper,  "Windings  of  Electric 
Machines,"  read  by  Mr.  H.  L.  Barnholt,  contained  a  dis- 
cussion of  points  of  motor  construction  for  the  severe  duty 
of  industrial  operation.  Possibility  of  repair  is  always  an 
important  factor  to  mill  purchasers.  For  motors  running 
in  clean,  dry  places,  free  from  shock  or  vibration,  the  ques- 
tion of  repair  is  less  vital.  But  in  mills,  mines,  etc.,  where 
the  machines  are  subject  to  vibration,  shocks,  moisture,  dirt, 
etc.,  break-down  of  windings  occasionally  occurs,  and  every 
care  for  quick  repair  should  be  taken.  The  author  discussed 
diamond-shaped  and  concentric  coils,  rectangular  and  round 
conductors,  choice  of  wire  sizes,  etc.  Mr.  T.  E.  Tynes 
referred  to  the  possible  advantages  of  the  diamond-coil 
construction  for  mill  motors.  Mr.  G.  W.  Richardson  said 
his  experience  showed  break-downs  between  commutator 
bars  to  be  really  more  frequent  than  coil-insulation  failures. 

"Effect  of  Temperature  on  Insulation"  was  the  subject  of 
a  paper  by  Mr.  C.  E.  Skinner,  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  After  pointing 
out  the  dependence  of  machine  operation  on  temperature 
rise,  the  author  exhibited  deterioration  curves  for  insulating 
materials  heated  above  83-  to  90  deg.  C.  Most  of  the 
materials  which  successfully  withstand  higher  temperatures 
lack  insulating  properties.  As  examples  of  this  rule  he  cited 
asbestos,  mica,  etc.  Certain  synthetic  gums  lately  developed 
give  promise,  however,  of  meeting  both  electrical  and  tem- 
perature requirements.  Mr.  T.  E.  Tynes  and  others  spoke 
briefly  in  the  discussion. 

MOTOR    FIELD   COILS. 

"Direct-Current  Motor  Field  Coils"  was  the  subject  of  a 
paper  by  Mr.  R.  B.  Treat.  Crocker-Wheeler  Company,  Am- 
pere, N.  J.  The  author  described  in  detail  the  character- 
istics and  requirements  of  various  kinds  of  field  windings 
for  continuous,  uniform-load  and  reversing  operation.  A 
tabulation  was  added  showing  the  most  desirable  windings 
for  various  special  duties  about  steel  mills  and  blast-furnace 
plants.  In  the  discussion,  Mr.  F.  D.  Egan,  Midland,  Pa., 
spoke  of  the  advantages  of  employing  standard  motors, 
since  repairmen  cannot  be  relied  upon  to  use  the  exact  ratio 
of  shunt  and  series  windings  when  making  replacements. 
Mr.  C.  W.  Parkhurst  also  testified  that  where  a  heavy  series 
and  light  shunt  winding  is  theoretically  required,  the  prac- 
tical solution  is  a  straight  series  motor,  since  the  shunt  can- 
not be  relied  upon.  Mr.  M.  .X.  Whiting,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.. 
described  an  arrangement  of  bypassing  the  shunt  field  from 
the  armature  circuit.  In  reply  to  an  inquiry  from  Mr.  E.  C. 
Bedell,  Mr.  Treat  admitted  that  while  control  by  variation 
of  the  air-gap  might  afford  best  operating  characteristics, 
the  mechanical  disadvantages  of  this  method  give  preference 
to  the  scheme  of  weakening  the  field  electrically,  which  is 
simpler  and  permits  of  remote  control.  Mr.  T.  E.  Tynes 
lamented  the  manufacturers'  practice  of  giving  an  excess 
rating  to  motor  frames  when  equipped  with  connnutating 
poles. 

CONTROL  OF  FURNACE  TAPS. 

Mr.  A.  E.  Handy's  paper,  "Blast  Furnace  Tops,"  read  in 
his  absence  by  Mr.  E.  C.  Smith,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  described 
the  hoisting,  elevating  and  distributing  equipment,  with  auto- 
matic electric  control  features,  built  by  the  Otis  Elevator 
Company,  for  charging  blast  furnaces  with  coke,  ore  and 
limestone.  Mr.  T.  E.  Tynes,  Buffalo,  N.  Y..  sooke  of  the 
segregation  of  material  according  to  size  when  dumped  from 


one  point,  necessitating  rotation  of  the  furnace  top  to 
secure  distribution.  He  also  described  the  use  of  a  slack- 
cable  switch,  in  series  with  a  switch  at  the  bottom  of  the 
pit  which  the  operator  must  hold  closed  until  the  car 
passes  a  given  point  in  its  ascent.  Mr.  B.  W.  Gilson, 
Youngstown,  Ohio,  spoke  of  his  use  of  two  electric  tops 
which  have  recording  ammeters  in  the  motor  circuits,  indi- 
cating time  and  load  of  each  ascent.  Mr.  C.  Pirtle,  Cleve- 
land, described  the  controller  arrangement  in  use  at  the 
Edgar  Thomson  works,  Braddock,  Pa.,  which  rotates  the  top 
90  deg.  for  each  of  seven  skip  loads,  then  remains  sta- 
tionary for  seven  loads,  after  which  it  again  rotates.  Re- 
cording switches  and  lamps  show  position  of  the  top,  the 
distribution  being  under  manual  control  if  desired. 

ARC   AND   OXYACETYLENE    WELDING. 

Mr.  J.  F.  Lincoln  presented  a  paper  describing  the  electric 
welding  outfit  built  by  the  Lincoln  Electric  Company,  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  which  has  a  wave-wound  armature  on  which  is 
superimposed  a  series  field  on  interpoles  between  the  main 
poles.  The  field  which  generates  the  arc  current  is  thus 
weakened  by  the  current  in  the  series  coils.  Mr.  Frank 
Warren's  paper,  read  by  title  only,  described  the  equipment 
of  the  Toledo  Electric  Welder  Company,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
Jaws  hold  tlie  parts  to  be  welded  and  press  them  together, 
while  a  heavy  current  across  the  junction  heats  them  to  a 
fusing  temperature.  The  frame  of  the  machine  includes 
the  transformer,  the  secondary  pressure  of  which  is  only 
5  volts.  Mr.  M.  S.  Plumley's  paper  on  oxyacetylene  welding 
was  read  by  Mr.  J.  M.  Morehead,  Chicago,  who  explained 
the  numerous  and  varied  uses  of  the  intensely  hot  flame  for 
welding  and  cutting  metals.  In  the  joint  discussion,  Mr. 
R.  F.  Patterson.  McKee's  Rocks,  Pa.,  referred  to  the  use  of 
a  magnet  coil  for  holding  the  molten  metal  while  welding 
or  flowing  on  vertical  or  inverted  surfaces.  Mr.  B.  W. 
Gilson  pointed  out  that  hammering  a  weld  may  weaken  it 
unless  the  temperature  is  exactly  right.  Mr.  B.  Wiley 
referred  to  the  reconstructed  home-made  welding  machines 
found  in  many  repair  shops.  A  contribution  by  J.  A.  Seed 
pointed  out  the  freedom  of  arc  welding  from  dangers  of  fire, 
explosion  or  asphy.xiation.  The  carbon  present  in  acetylene, 
it  was  added,  sometimes  produces  very  hard  welds.  Mr. 
T.  E.  Tynes  found  electric  welding  of  compression  parts  a 
success,  but  had  experienced  trouble  in  joining  pieces 
exposed  to  alternate  stresses.  He  uses  from  500  to  600  amp 
at  from  70  to  80  volts.  Mr.  C.  Pirtle,  Cleveland,  suggested 
the  use  of  a  pinch  of  Thermit  in  making  heavy  welds.  The 
electric  arc  can  be  reversed  to  deposit  carbon  and  give  a 
hard  weld  if  desired,  he  declared.  Mr.  Wilfred  Sykes 
spoke  of  the  danger  to  workmen's  eyes  from  the  electric 
arc,  unless  properly  protected.  He  reconnnended  double 
ruby  glass.  Mr.  George  Hills,  Garwood,  N.  J.,  spoke  of 
the  early  history  of  electric  welding,  and  described 
apparatus  arranged  with  resistance  which  is  automatically 
inserted  in  the  arc  line  in  case  of  short-circuit.  He  showed 
how  preheating  should  be  done,  not  confining  it  alone  to  the 
region  of  the  weld. 

SPEED    REGULATION    FOR    FLYWHEEL    MOTORS. 

The  advantages  of  automatic  regulating  apparatus  for 
flywheel  motors  in  rolling  mills,  to  cut  in  and  out  the  slip 
resistance  at  various  parts  of  the  operating  cycle,  were  dis- 
cussed in  a  paper  by  Mr.  E.  J.  Cheney,  General  Electric 
Company,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  Such  automatic  regulation 
tends  to  reduce  even  further  the  peaks  of  the  rolling-mill 
load.  The  high  speed  of  operation  necessary  in  this  control 
apparatus  is  effected  by  a  combination  of  alternating-current 
contactors  direct  controlled  by  speed  relays,  the  number  of 
notching  points  being  reduced  to  the  minimum.  Mr.  Cheney 
exhibited  curves  showing  the  actual  operation  of  the  system, 
and  showed  circuits  of  the  apparatus  installed  with  two 
notching  points. 

Mr.  C.  S.  Lankton,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  advised  the  use  of 
slip  regulation  if  set  high  so  as  to  afford  protection  in  case 


OCTOBKR    ig,    19 1 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


827 


of  jam.  Mr.  C.  E.  Bedell,  Warwood,  Pa.,  said  that  a  200-hp 
motor  formerly  frequently  stalled  has  never  reached  full- 
load  rating  since  being  equipped  with  a  flywheel.  The  latter 
increased  its  friction  load  only  50  per  cent.  Mr.  B.  G.  Beck, 
Gary,  Ind.,  declared  that  refinements  of  control  sacrifice 
vital  simplicity.  When  peaks  are  large  and  follow  rapidly 
he  expressed  doubt  as  to  the  operation  of  complex  apparatus. 
Mr.  F.  P.-  Townsend,  Ampere,  N.  J.,  observed  that  the  ques- 
tionable advantage  between  the  alternating-current  slip-ring 
motor  and  the  direct-current  compound-field  motor  may,  in 
many  instances,  be  awarded  the  latter  on  account  of  its 
higher  efficiency.  Mr.  Wilfred  Sykes,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  called 
attention  to  the  liquid  type  of  regulator  extensively  applied 
abroad,  using  a  torque  motor  to  control  the  depth  of  elec- 
trodes in  a  soda  solution.  Mr.  E.  Friedlander,  Braddock, 
Pa.,  charged  that  considerable  loss  in  efficiency  results  from 
adding  flywheels,  citing  an  instance  where  manufacturing 
cost  mounted  5  to  15  per  cent  after  equipping  a  roll  motor 
with  a  flywheel  and  slip  resistance.  Mr.  F.  D.  Egan,  on  the 
other  hand,  declared  such  regulation  a  necessity,  illustrating 
by  a  case  where  4000-amp  peaks  were  reduced  to  1200  amp. 
Mr.  J.  Farrington,  Steubenville.  Ohio,  reported  that  after 
endless  trouble  in  a  certain  mill  flywheels  were  installed, 
reducing  2000-amp  peaks  to  1000  amp,  while  the  running 
current  was  meanwhile  increased  barely  20  amp.  The  power 
plant,  formerly  overloaded  with  one  mill,  now  carries  a 
duplicate  mill  without  additional  equipment.  Mr.  J.  H. 
Wilson,  Middletown,  Ohio,  spoke  of  the  heavy  restorative 
demand  taken  by  one  of  his  flyv\-heel  motors  after  the  peak 
had  passed,  making  it  impossible  for  the  Tirrill  regulator  to 
hold  its  voltage.  Mr.  C.  W.  Parkhurst.  Johnstown,  Pa.,  in 
discussing  the  energy  consumption  of  rolls,  stated  that  I  per 
cent  reduction  of  100  lb.  of  stock  had  been  found  to  require 
from  6000  to  30,000  ft. -lb.,  depending  on  section  and  tem- 
perature. Mr.  B.  R.  Shover  testified  that  carbon  content 
on  chemical  analysis  has  little  or  no  effect  on  the  power 
taken,  actual  temperature  being  the  critical  element  for  all 
materials. 

S.\FETV. 

On  Friday  morning  the  electrical  engineers  held  a  joint 
session  with  the  Co-operative  Safety  Congress.  Following 
several  non-electrical  papers  on  general  safety  subjects. 
President  Shover  introduced  Mr.  C.  S.  Dowler,  Cleveland. 
Ohio,  who  outlined  the  history  of  hoist  and  crane  limit- 
switch  development,  traced  from  the  early  open-circuit 
devices,  controller  reversers,  etc.,  down  to  present  methods 
of  dynamic  braking  in  which  the  armature  is  short-circuited 
through  a  resistor,  the  motor  field  being  meanwhile  main- 
tained. Mr.  C.  W.  Richardson  reported  his  own  early 
experiences  with  limit  switches  and  stop  devices,  many  of 
which,  he  said,  proved  unsatisfactory.  He  exhibited  a  two- 
bar  limit  switch  arranged  with  short-circuit  resistor,  carbon 
contacts  and  magnetic  blov^'-out.  Mr.  W.  F.  Detwiler, 
Tarentum,  Pa.,  described  the  use  of  stationary  and  movable 
contacts  on  the  trolley  structure  to  short-circuit  the  motor 
armature  and  open  the  brake  circuit.  Mr.  James  Farrington 
remarked  that  the  objection  raised  to  getting  out  full  ton- 
i;age  with  limit  switches  in  circuit  has  been  solved  by  the 
rule  of  immediately  discharging  an  employee  who  blocks  his 
limit  switch.  Operators  are  instructed  to  call  inspectors 
in  case  their  switches  open,  shutting  down  the  mill  for  a 
time  if  necessary.  Mr.  B.  R,  Shover  urged  that  more 
attention  be  paid  to  brake  construction. 

Mr.  R.  B.  Davenport's  paper  on  dynamic  braking  de- 
scribed the  apparatus  and  methods  of  applying  retardation 
by  regenerative  action  used  by  the  Electric  Controller  & 
Manufacturing  Company.  Circuits  were  reproduced  for 
dynamic  braking  controllers,  methods  of  readapting  drum- 
type  controllers  for  braking  operation,  reversing,  etc. 
Dynamic  braking  relieves  the  friction  brakes  of  much  of 
their  work,  since  the  retardation  is  chiefly  applied  elec- 
trically. The  maximum  lowering  -^peed  is  also  limited  and 
operation  rendered  safer. 


SAFETY  PRECAUTIONS  AROUND  ELECTRICAL 
APPARATUS. 


Elaborate  precautions  are  taken  by  the  Inland  Steel  Com- 
[lany  at  its  Indiana  Harbor  works,  near  Chicago,  to  prevent 
and  minimize  accidents  to  it^  emp.oyees.  Statistics  show 
that  at  least  60  per  cent  of  all  accidents  are  preventable, 
and  the  steel  company  keeps  constantly  before  its  employees 
the  maxim  that,  "while  each  man  is  hired  to  do  some  par- 
ticular work,  the  safety  of  himself  and  fellow  men  is  vastly 
more  important  than  that  work."  At  the  entrance  to  the 
mills  there  is  a  huge  sign,  20  ft.  liigh.  which  reads:  "Pro- 
mote Safety — This  is  your  first  duty  to  yourself  and  fellow 
workers."  The  lesson  is  accentuated  by  numerous  signs  and 
electric-lighted  bulletin  boards  throughout  the  plant. 

Special  attention  has  been  given  to  the  prevention  of 
accidents  around  electrical  machinery.  Whenever  work  is 
to  be  done  on  a  motor-driven  machine,  the  inspector  or 
foreman  is  instructed  to  hang  one  of  the  red  boards, 
"Danger,  Do  Not  Move,"  on  the  switch  or  controller  from 
which  the  machine  is  started,  writing  his, own  name  in  chalk 


Fig.  1 — "The  Story  of  an   Accident"  on   a   Bulletin   Board. 

nn  the  blackboard  section  below.  No  one  is  permitted  to 
remove  this  warning  board  except  the  man  who  placed  it  in 
position. 

A  photographic  series,  "The  Story  of  an  Accident,"  has 
been  used  with  effect  in  the  plant  bulletin  boards,  as  shown 
in  Fig.  I.  In  the  first  picture  the  instructor  is  shown  ex- 
plaining to  the  inspector  the  latter's  duty,  before  working 
on  a  machine,  to  hang  the  warning  signboard,  with  his 
name,  on  the  controlling  switch.  Picture  No.  2  shows  the 
inspector  opening  the  switch  of  a  motor-driven  punch,  but 
Irom  No.  3,  where  he  is  seen  working  on  the  motor,  it  is 
apparent  he  has  neglected  to  hang  up  the  protective  warn- 
ing sign  which  still  reposes  in  the  pocket  of  his  jacket. 
In  No.  4  the  regular  operator  conies  along  and,  suspecting 
nothing,  closes  the  starting  switch.  The  result  to  the  unfor- 
tunate inspector  can  be  surmised  from  the  fifth  and  last 
picture,  where  he  is  seen  leaving  the  emergency  hospital 
with  his  arm  in  a  sling.  Such  a  pictured  story  has  its  appeal 
to  even  the  most  unlettered  foreigner  employed  about  the 
works,  and  supplements  the  many  warning  signs  which  are 
printed  in  five  languages.  The  various  bulletin  boards  are 
lighted  by  miniature  electric  lamps  for  the  benefit  of  the 
night  shifts,  and  the  exhibits  contained  under  these  glass 
covers  are  changed  frequently  enough  to  stimulate  interest. 
The  subjects  covered  include  precautions  for  safety  from 
electrical  apparatus,  conveying  machinery,  hot  metal,  rail- 
road  trains,   etc. 


828 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


riie  principal  safety  rules  of  the  plant  are  contained  in  a 
succinct  statement,  designated  as  tte  "Ten  Commandments" 
and  posted  conspicuously  about  the  works.  Those  referring 
to  general  and  electrical  subjects  are  the  following: 

Get  the  safety  habit.  Don't  take  chances.  Learn  all  the 
rules.  Understand  your  work  thoroughly.  Study  the  dangers 
incident  thereto  and  avoid  them.     Think  before  you  act. 

Never  work  on  a  crane,  table,  or  other  machinery,  until 
you  have  notified  the  operator,  and  attached  a  sign,  "Danger, 
Do  Not  Move,"  bearing  your  name,  at  the  point  where  the 
power  is  turned  on.  No  man  except  the  man  who  placed 
it  should  ever  remove  such  sign. 

Do  not  turn  on  any  electricity,  gas,  steam,  air,  acid  or 
water,  or  set  in  motion  any  machinery,  or  throw  down  any 
material,  without  first  seeing  if  anyone  is  in  a  position  to 
be  injured,  and  all  safety  guards  are  in  their  proper  place. 

Do  not  go  onto  an  overhead-crane  runway  for  any  pur- 
pose without  permission  from  your  foreman,  and  then  not 
until  the  cranemen  have  been  notified  and  a  sign,  "Danger, 
-Men    on    Crane    Track."    hung    in    cage    before    cranemen. 


Fig.   2 — Wrong    Place   for    Danger   Signal. 

After  notifying  cranemen.  attach  bumping  block  to  crane 
rail  between  where  you  are  working  and  cranes. 

I'KECAUTIONS    .\GAINST    ELECTRICAL    INJURY. 

Every  employee,  while  on  duty,  is  required  to  carry  the 
sixty-four-page  book  of  rules  issued  by  the  company.  This 
book  must  be  receipted  for,  and  its  thorough  understanding 
by  the  employee  attested  to  within  ten  days  by  his  instructor 
and  foreman.  Under  the  heading  "Electrical  Department" 
the  following  rules  are  included: 

Power  feeders  above  250  volts  must  be  handled  with 
great  care,  as  carelessness  may  cause  a  fatal  accident.  Such 
systems  must  never  be  worked  upon  when  "alive"  outdoors 
during  rainy  or  damp  weather,  nor  otherwise  except  with 
approval  of  chief  electrician. 

The  250-volt  direct-current  power  circuit  under  ordinary 
circumstances  is  not  likely  to  cause  death  by  shock;  but  the 
same  precautions  should  be  observed  in  handling  it  as  those 
of  higher  voltage,  not  only  to  avoid  possible  injury  from 
shocks  and  burns,  but  to  form  habits  of  caution  in  handling 
wires.  Remember  that  it  is  possible  to  receive  a  fatal  shock 
from  a  125-voIt  circuit  under  certain  conditions. 

So  far  as  possible,  treat  all  circuits  as  though  they  were 
alive,  even  though  you  believe  them  to  be  dead. 


Never  handle  electric  wires  while  standing  or  sitting  in 
a  wet  place  without  extra  precaution  to  obtain  insulation 
from  the  ground. 

In  handling  any  circuit  known  to  be  alive,  use  only  one 
hand  when  possible.  It  is  best  to  keep  the  other  hand  behind 
the  back.  The  most  dangerous  shocks  are  those  from  hand 
to  hand. 

When  working  upon  live  circuits,  care  should  be  taken 
to  work  upon  only  one  wire  at  a  time  and  to  insulate  prop- 
erly all  parts  of  the  workman  from  the  ground  and  from 
other  parts  of  the  circuit.  Insulate  each  joint  as  it  is  made, 
before  starting  on  another  wire.  Be  sure  you  are  properly 
protected  from  falling  from  scaffold,  crane,  etc.,  in  case  of 
shock.  Careless  haste  in  working  on  "live"  circuits  is  the 
cause  of  most  accidents.  He  cautious  and  alert  at  all  times 
and   under  all   conditions. 

The  insulation  on  electric  wires  cannot  be  depended  upon 
to  protect  you  from  shock.  Avoid  working  upon  any  "live" 
circuits  as  much  as  possible. 

Never  close  a  switch  without  full  knowledge  concerning 
the  circuit  and  why  the  switch  was  opened.  (Special  em- 
phasis is  laid  on  this  rule.) 

When  a  lineman  or  other  electrical  worker  is  engaged  at 
pole  work  or  other  overhead  work  he  must  wear  belt  and 
safety  strap. 

You  are  advised  to  tape  the  handle  of  your  tools  to  assist 
in  preventing  short-circuits  across  them. 

If  you  see  any  electrical  equipment  in  unsafe  condition 
or  being  improperly  operated,  correct  the  conditions  or  re- 
port the  matter  to  the  proper  foreman. 

There  are  many  special  conditions  which  make  electrical 
work  dangerous.  Even  telephone  or  signal  wires  may  be- 
come crossed  with  high-tension  wires,  and  become  danger- 
ously charged.  It  is  not  possible  to  explain  in  detail  all 
such  possible  cases,  but  competent  workmen  are  always 
afraid. 

Never  look  at  an  intense  arc  without  adequate  protection, 
such  as  heavy  blue  or  black  glasses.  Intense  pain  results 
from  exposure  of  the  delicate  nerves  of  the  eyes  to  the 
intense  light  of  the  electrical  arc.  As  this  pain  does  not 
manifest  itself  until  several  hours  afterward,  you  should 
immediately  seek  the  advice  of  the  doctor,  if  you  have  so 
exposed  your  eyes,  to  avoid  suffering. 

When  you  complete  a  job  never  leave  tools  or  material 
overhead  and  always  replace  safeguards. 

RULES  FOR  ELECTRIC  CRANEMEN. 

For  the  use  of  its  electric  cranemen  the  Inland  company 
has  originated  a  code  of  signals  to  pr'^vent  misunderstand- 
ings and  accidents.  Bridge  and  trolley  movements  are  ob- 
tained by  pointing  the  direction  of  movement  desired,  other 
instructions  being  given  by  gestures  as  follows:  To  hoist, 
either  hand  raised  straight  up.  To  lower,  either  arm  low- 
ered and  moved  upward  and  downward.  Easy,  either  arm 
lowered  and  hand  moved  upward  and  downward.  Stop, 
either  arm  lowered  and  moved  back  and  forth  in  front  of 
the  body. 

Where  approved  by  department  superintendent,  the  fol- 
lowing whistle  signals  are  used :  Bridge  to  signalman's 
right,  one  short  blast;  to  left,  two  short  blasts.  Trolley 
racked  in  toward  cage,  three  short  blasts;  out  from  cage, 
four  short  blasts.  Hoist,  four  long  blasts.  Lower,  three 
long  blasts.     Easy,  two  long  blasts.     Stop,  one  long  blast. 

In  general,  employees  working  around  machinery  are 
cautioned  about  using  gloves  or  wearing  unsuitable  clothing, 
such  as  ragged  sleeves,  loose  coats,  ties  or  junipers,  since 
these  are  extremely  liable  to  be  caught  in  the  machinery. 
Warning  is  also  given  against  wearing  celluloid  eye  shields, 
cap  fronts,  collars,  etc.,  since  this  material  is  highly  in- 
flammable and  may  cause  serious  injury.  To  make  sure  that 
these  safety  regulations  are  carried  out,  the  Inland  Steel 
Company  maintains  a  denartment  of  inspection,  which  is  in 
charge  of  Mr.    ].  C.   Smith. 


October  19,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 

Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


829 


MINNEAPOLIS  COMPANY  TO  OPERATE  MUNICIPAL 
PLANT. 


During  the  month  of  September  the  Minneapolis  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company  broke  all  previous  records  in  gain- 
ing new  customers,  placing  919  meters.  A  contract  of 
particular  interest  has  been  closed  with  the  city  of  Sha- 
kopee,  Minn.,  to  operate  the  municipal  plant  in  that  city 
with  energy  supplied  from  the  Minneapolis  central-station 
system.  Negotiations  with  the  municipal  authorities  of 
Shakopee  have  been  pending  for  some  time.  The  city 
operates  a  small  municipal  plant,  but  finds  that  it  can  buy 
energy  from  the  Minneapolis  company  cheaper  than  it  can 
make  it.  A  contract  was  also  closed  with  the  Shakopee 
Stove  Works,  heretofore  a  customer  of  the  municipal 
plant,  for  250  hp. 


CONSIDERING  THE  WOMAN'S  POINT  OF  VIEW  IN 
A  HOUSE- WIRING  CAMPAIGN. 


It  is  frequently  not  the  cost  of  electric-light  service  itself 
that  deters  the  householder  from  having  his  house  wired. 
Analyzing  the  matter  from  a  psychological  standpoint,  the 
refusal  or  putting  off  will  many  times  be  found  in  the  aver- 
age woman's  horror  of  a  "mess"  such  as  she  believes  is  the 
inevitable  concomitant  of  wiring  an  old  house.  This  state 
of  mind  should  be  recognized  by  the  new-business  manager 
of  the  central  station,  and  in  educational  work  along  the 
line  of  house  wiring  the  initial  argument  presented  to 
the  fastidious  homemaker  ought  to  dwell  upon  the  ease  with 
which  such  wiring  can  be  done.  Stress  should  be  laid  upon 
the  fact  that  it  does  not  necessarily  involve  open  walls,  torn- 
up  floors,  all  through  the  house,  disfigured  wainscoting  and 
torn  wallpaper  that  cannot  be  properly  matched  afterward. 

In  a  twenty-four-page  pamphlet,  3^  in.  by  6j4  in.,  issued 
by  the  St.  Clair  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Belleville,  111.,  and 
entitled  "Information  for  Electric  Consumers,"  the  opening 
chapter  is  devoted  to  the  wiring  of  the  home,  explaining, 
in  a  way  which  cannot  fail  to  make  a  direct  appeal  to  the 
feminine  element  of  the  household,  how  neatly  such  work 
can  be  done.  Other  chapters  of  general  interest  to  con- 
sumers, present  and  prospective,  and  two  pages  giving  the 
conditions  of  the  contract  entered  into  after  the  wiring  is 
installed,  contribute  to  a  useful  little  publication. 


MOTOR  DRIVE  IN  A  CIDER  MILL. 


By  R.  B.  Mateer. 

A  typical  instance  of  the  use  of  motor  drives  in  a  cider 
and  vinegar  mill,  briefly  described,  may  be  of  service  to 
central-station  men  in  localities  where  apple  growing  is  an 
extensive  industry 

In  the  plant  in  question  apples  are  unloaded  by  the  car- 
load upon  a  conveyor  which  elevates  them  to  the  second 
floor  of  the  establishment,  and  there  they  are  fed  to  a  12-in. 
Boomer  &  Boschert  grater  operating  at  2200  r.p.m.  This 
grater  is  driven  by  a  440-volt,  60-cycle,  three-phase,  20-hp 
motor  and  handles  an  average  of  two  carloads,  of  80,000  lb., 
of  apples  during  each  day  of  ten  hours.  The  crushed  fruit 
is  then  conveyed  to  a  press  where  it  is  subjected  to  a 
pressure  of  120  tons  for  the  purpose  of  extracting  the 
juice.  The  press  is  operated  by  a  440-volt,  three-phase, 
lo-hp  motor. 

After  the  first  pressing  the  pulp  is  preserved  for  a  time 
and  allowed  to  ferment,  after  which  it  is  re-pressed  and 
produces  a  yield  of  liquor  equal  to  about  25  per  cent  of  the 


first  run.  Two  power  pumps,  each  with  a  capacity  of 
40  gal.  per  minute  and  driven  by  a  5-hp  motor,  raise  the 
liquor  to  a  roof  tank.  Thence  it  is  fed  to  a  series  of 
troughs  placed  over  huge  generators  and  permitted  to  drip 
over  birch  shavings  placed  within  the  generators,  where 
acetic  acid  is  produced  by  oxidation. 

The  product,  pure  apple-cider  vinegar,  is  finally  conveyed 
to  three  35,000-gal.  tanks  and  then  barreled  or  bottled  for 
delivery  to  the  wholesale  or  retail  dealer  respectively.  The 
maximum  capacity  is  three  cars,  or  120,000  lb.,  of  apples 
per  day.  It  is  said  that  Western  apples  produce  from  forty 
to  sixty  barrels  of  liquor  per  carload  during  the  first  press- 
ing. The  entire  motor  installation  consists  of  one  20-hp, 
one  lo-hp  and  two  S-hp  motors,  or  a  total  of  40  hp.  No 
steam  is  required  in  the  process  at  any  point. 


ELECTRIC  WINDOW-DISPLAY  DEVICES. 


To  give  point  to  the  printed  statement  near  by  that  his 
phonograph  records  are  "entertaining,"  a  St.  Louis  dealer 
in  talking  machines  has  a  window  exhibit  with  two  round- 
ended  cylindrical  record  boxes  which  follow  each  other  with 
a  succession  of  somersaults  around  the  inclined  table  top. 
This  odd  effect  is  accomplished  by  rotating  a  pair  of  mag- 
nets inside  the  table  beneath  the  path  of  the  capsule-shaped 
tumblers,  each  of  which  contains  a  small  iron  ball.  As  the 
balls  are  drawn  around  under  the  attraction  of  the  magnets 
the  capsules  advance  with  a  peculiar  somersaulting  action 
that  arouses  the  curiosity  of  every  passer-by. 

Another  curiosity-provoking  stunt  seen  in  a  local  drug- 
store window  is  a  "perpetual-motion"  machine  made  up  of 
four  widely  advertised  razors  stuck  into  a  large  cork,  the 
whole  rotating  on  a  nail  point  which  bears  on  an  inverted 


Etnotrieift  Warid 

Window- Display  Device. 

glass  tumbler.  Loiterers  in  front  of  the  window  offer  many 
wise  explanations  of  concealed  magnets,  commutating  de- 
vices, etc.,  but  the  secret  of  the  continued  motion  is  an  8-in. 
electric  fan  hidden  among  some  boxes  at  the  rear  of  the 
window. 

An  electrical  contractor  at  Billings,  Mont.,  has  varied  the 
usual  arrangement  of  the  "wireless"  incandescent  lamp 
burning  on  a  pane  of  heavy  glass  without  visible  electrical 
connection  by  suspending  the  glass  on  strings  between  two 
portable  fixtures.  Although  casually  set  in  the  window, 
these  fixtures  make  contact  with  live  studs,  and  the  white 
string  is  treated  with  a  coating  which  conducts  the  fraction 
of  an  ampere  necessary  to  energize  the  25-watt  lamp.  This 
lamp  is  mounted  at  the  center  of  the  top  edge  of  the  glass 
plate,  and  the  strings  are  tied  into  holes- near  the  corners, 
a  strip  of  tinfoil  being  pasted  along  the  edge  of  the  plate 
and  covered  with  green  paint  to  simulate  the  ordinary  ap- 
pearance of  the  thick  glass. 


8jo 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol..  60,  No.  16. 


MOTOR    SERVICE  IN  ARTIFICIAL-ICE  PLANT. 


The  Mutual  Manufactured  Ice  Company,  with  a  factory 
at  Kedzie  Avenue  and  Filhnore  Street,  Chicago,  has  con- 
tracted with  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  to  take 
electrical  energy  to  operate  about  400  hp  in  alternating- 
current  motors  to  drive  all  the  machinery  in  its  artificial- 
ice  plant.  The  central-station  engines  report  that  the 
Mutual  company  has  been  using  directly  coupled  oil  engines 
to  drive  two  compressors,  but  that  the  engines  in  use  proved 
unsatisfactory  for  the  service  desired.  They  are  to  be 
discarded  in  favor  of  electric  motors  and  central-station 
service.  The  plant  is  designed  to  produce  100  tons  of  ice 
daily. 

"FASHION  WEEK"  IN  OKLAHOMA  CITY. 


During  the  State  Fair  recently  held  in  Oklahoma  City,  the 
Retailers'  Association  instituted  what  it  termed  "Fashion 
Week"  and  offered  substantial  prizes  for  the  best  decorated 


mmi^M^ 


Fig.   1 — Winner  of   Prize   for   Best   Illumination. 

windows.  In  judging,  illumination  counted  for  a  large 
number  of  score  points.  In  addition  to  the  association  prize 
the  Oklahoma  Gas  &  Electric  Company  offered  a  prize  of 
$50  cash  to  the  exhibitor  of  the  best  illuminated  windows. 
The  prize  was  won  by  the  Kerr  Dry  Goods  Company,  w-hose 
exhibit  consisted  of  three  richly  clad  figures  standing  on  a 
floor  of  light  satin  and  before  a  white  and  gold  background. 
It  occupied  a  space  of  6  ft.  by  13  ft.  and  was  illuminated  by 


^ffHi^H 

■■■^■^■^■^^H 

^^^Hi 

HBmHHHH 

^Hflf-^^' 

n 

^^^Lf'^ !  .JImk'^p 

1^1 

Fig.    2 — Prize    Winner    in     Fashion- Weel<    Contest. 

sixteen   40-watt   lamps   placed    by    pairs    in    "poke   bonnet" 
reflectors  located  near  the  front  edge  of  the  window  so  as ' 
to  be  entirely  concealed  from  the  spectator.     Every  detail 
of  the  window  was  plain. 

About  150  merchants  took  part  in  the  contest  and  it  was 
declared  such  a  success  by  all  concerned  that  "Fashion 
Week"  will  be  made  an  annual  event.     Naturallv  the  Okla- 


homa Gas  Az  Electric  Company  was  well  pleased  with  the 
results,  for  anything  that  will  turn  the  attention  of  150  mer- 
chants to  the  illumination  of  their  windows  and  stores  is 
well  worth  while. 


STORE    ROOM,    GARAGE    AND    STABLE   METHODS 
AT  MILWAUKEE. 


In  the  equipnieiu  of  the  new  Cold  Spring  store  rooms, 
garage  and  stables  of  The  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  & 
Light  Company  unusual  care  has  been  exercised  to  insure 
efficiency. 

The  combined  garage  and  stable  has  accommodations  for 
two  3-ton,  two  2-ton,  two  1500-lb.,  four  looo-lb.  and  two 
750-lb.  electric  trucks  and  wagons,  besides  several  gasoline 
runabouts  and  twenty-eight  horses.  Energy  for  charging 
batteries  is  supplied  to  the  sixteen  wall  plugs  through  a 
Cutler-Hammer  panelboard  by  a  35-hp,  60-cycle  motor 
belted  to  a  220-volt  generator  and  by  two  General  Electric 
rectifier  sets.  Near  by  is  the  shop  where  general  repairs  are 
made.  For  the  comfort  of  the  men  who  have  to  work  on 
iheir  backs  beneath  machines  a  light  wood  framework,  4  ft. 
by  3  ft.,  with  cushioned  head  rest,  is  mounted  on  four 
casters.  At  each  side  of  the  body  are  channels  for  holding 
tools,  etc.  Lying  flat  on  one  of  these,  the  workman  can 
move  about  with  ease  beneath  a  car  body,  without  rubbing 
his  clothes  in  oil  and  dirt.  Similarly  roller-shod  boxes  for 
tool  allotments  are  to  be  issued  to  individual  workmen,  each 
man  being  held  responsible  for  his  own  tools. 

The  general  supplies  for  the  wire  department  are  classi- 
fied and  stored  on  the  floor  beneath  the  garage  and  stable. 
The  latter  connects  with  the  street  level,  while  the  store 
room  below  is  provided  with  two  spur  tracks  from  the  shop 
transfer  table.  Directly  opposite  the  elevated,  and  most 
accessible,  are  the  automobile  repair  parts.  Next  in  order 
come  the  line-material  supplies,  bolts,  washers,  steps, 
brackets,  wire,  etc.;  next,  the  trolley  department's  supplies, 
installation  department's  supplies  and  underground  depart- 
ment supplies.  The  last-named  is  at  the  end  of  the  store- 
room and  alongside  the  cable  yard.  Small  parts,  hardware, 
etc.,  are  stored  in  Durand  steel  bins  having  eight  shelves 
adjustable  at  3-in.  intervals.  The  entire  stable  and  store 
building  is  equally  fireproof,  being  constructed  with  a  steel 
frame,  brick  walls,  tile  partitions,  concrete  ceilings  and 
cedar-block  flooring  in  the  wagon  room.  Self-closing  steel 
doors  are  installed  throughout.  All  posts  carrying  fire 
extinguishers,  buckets,  hose,  etc.,  are  painted  with  a  broad 
red  band. 

The  stable  staff  comprises  one  general  stable  foreman, 
who  is  on  duty  nights  when  the  important  work  is  to  be 
done;  his  assistant,  who  takes  his  place  during  daylight 
hours;  one  blacksmith  (night  duty),  an  automobile 
mechanic  and  helper,  three  barn  men  and  two  store-room 
keepers.  .\11  wagons  are  stocked  up  and  orders  filled  at 
night,  so  that  everything  is  ready  for  an  early  start  when 
the  crew  arrives  in  the  morning.  Hand-drawn  trucks  are 
used  to  assemble  the  orders  in  the  ground-floor  store  room, 
each  truck  being  given  a  number  corresponding  to  a  wagon. 
\\'hen  the  order  is  comp'ete  the  hand-truck  is  wheeled  to 
the  elevator  and  raised  to  the  wagon  level.  Stock  returned 
from  wagons  to  be  credited  is  meanwhile  unloaded  onto 
another  truck  and  run  to  one  side  until  the  attendants  have 
time  to  check  oft'  the  items.  The  truck  system  thus  sim- 
filifies  loading  and  avoids  holding  up  a  wagon  while  orders 
are  being  charged  or  credited.  Transformers,  motors  and 
other  heavy  apparatus  can  be  unloaded  directly  onto  the 
elevator  from  either  track  which  is  not  in  use,  raised  to  the 
second-story  level,  lifted  off  by  means  of  the  Harrington 
irol'ey  hoist  and,  still  suspended,  pushed  along  the  mono- 
rail spur  to  be  loaded  on  to  wagons  or  transferred  to  the 
transformer  room  for  storage.  The  stairway  connecting 
the  two  floors  is  entirely  inclosed  in  a  brick  well,  as  a  pre- 


October  19.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


831 


caution  against  spreading  of  fire.  At  the  landing  level, 
however,  is  a  12-in.  by  24-in.  glass  window  commanding  a 
view  of  the  whole  store  room,  while  near  by  is  a  special 
switch  enabling  the  night  watchman  to  light  certain  lamps 
in  the  room  below,  so  that  the  room  and  its  contents  may  be 
inspected  without  the  necessity  of  actually  entering. 
Among   the    noteworthy    conveniences    provided    for    the 


jl| 

.   -       -^        Auto  Parts 

^5     0) 

Stores 

u  u 

!5-     0                   -^ 

Track 

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1    c'^ 

^         H        Line      r^ 
Material  1  ^ 

Elevator 

2  -2 

2  H 

Track                      -•' 

H 

1 

Store-Room,  Ground  Floor 

Stairs 


^i||B|| 

H"f  1  1  1 

Charging 
Set 

^  11                SvvliohLoarJ  f>n 

Shop          TT" 

B   1    { 

H4  1  1  1 

n^Elevator             ^ 

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0         0         0 

y          llonoltail 

Charging  Outlets 

<T-^           O           O           O 

o        n 

Transformer 
Koom 

Stables,  Street  Level  ^'"~'  "'""'' 

Fig.  1 — Plan  of  Cold  Spring  Store  Rooms  and  Stable. 

horses  should  be  mentioned  the  drinking-water  system. 
Each  horse  is  assured  an  ample  supply  of  fresh  water  at 
all  times  by  a  float-controlled  valve  which  admits  water  to 
the  common  level  of  the  various  drinking  basins.  This  level 
is  restored  as  fast  as  the  horses  drink  up  the  contents  of 
their  troughs.  From  the  rear  of  each  manger  is  hinged  a 
wicket  of  light  iron  bars.  While  being  filled  this  is  lifted 
up  and  the  hay  placed  underneath,  so  that  the  animals  are 
required  to  eat  the  hay  from  between  the  bars  of  the  grill, 
which  follows  dow  n  with  a  diminishing  pile.  With  this  grill 
in  place  the  horses  cannot  "nose"  the  hay  or  scatter  it,  to  be 
trampled  under  foot  and  wasted.  All  receptacles  for  oats, 
salt,   etc.,    are   removable   and   can   be   thoroughly   cleaned. 

An  interesting  system  has  been  developed  for  handling 
storeroom'  orders  and  supplies  at  the  new  Cold  Spring 
stables.  This  store  room  is  assigned  to  the  wiring  depart- 
ment, which  is  composed  of  the  railway,  electric-lighting 
and  power,  underground,  trouble,  telephone  and  installation 
divisions.  There  is  thus  combined  under  one  head  the  stable, 
horse-drawn  vehicles,  electric  trucks,  gasoline  trucks  and 
trouble  cars,  stores  and  supplies  and  the  pole  storage  yard. 
The  poles  are  shaved,  framed  and  painted  in  the  yard  before 
being  delivered  on  the  work. 

With  this  combination  of  the  different  divisions  under  one 
central  head  for  stores  and  supplies  it  will  be  evident  that 
the  "load  factor"  can  be  increased  materially.  At  the  same 
time  the  head  of  the  department  responsible  for  the  work 
is  in  closer  touch  with  the  materials  on  hand  and  is  enabled 
thereby  to  carry  on  more  efficient  work. 

The  scheme  of  securing  supplies  from  the  store  room  and 
keeping  record  of  them  is  as  follows: 

All  jobs  put  in  are  estimated  before  work  is  installed  by 
the  "line-slip  inspector."  The  gang  foreman  calls  the  office 
by  telephone  at  4:30  p.m.  daily  to  receive  his  orders  and 


Ball  Float 
/     Valve 


Stall  Drinking  Troughs 


i=r-=^ 


Fig.    2 — Float-Controlled     Drinking     Basins. 

instructions  for  the  following  day.  At  this  time  the  general 
foreman  of  the  department  gives  the  gang  boss  his  instruc- 
tions over  the  telephone,  reading  from  the  estimate  the 
material  the  foreman  will  require  the  following  day.  The 
gang  foreman  then  makes  out  a  duplicate  requisition  on  a 
form  previously  prepared.  These  are  taken  to  the  store 
room  by  the  driver,  who  turns  them  over  to  the  store-keeper. 


During  the  night  the  store-keeper  gets  out  all  new  items 
of  material  as  requested  by  this  requisition,  entering  these 
on  the  original  and  on  the  duplicate,  all  other  material 
having  previously  been  removed  from  the  wagon  to  be 
checked.  The  duplicate  goes  to  the  gang  foreman,  who 
immediately  reweighs  his  wire  and  checks  his  items  of 
material,  noting  any  discrepancy.  He  then  proceeds  with 
the  various  job  orders  for  the  day,  carefully  marking  down 
on  his  report  the  items  of  material  used  on  each  job,  as 
well  as  the  names  of  the  men  and  the  hours  which  they 
worked  on  each  job,  time  of  starting  and  completion,  etc. 
These  reports  are  collected  by  the  general  foreman,  together 
with  the  requisition  copies,  and  a  separate  wire  report  of 
wire,  solder  and  tape  received. 

The  general  foreman  then  countersigns  the  report,  certi- 
fying that  it  is  correct,  etc.  These  reports  and  requisition 
copies  are  next  turned  over  to  the  material  clerk,  who  is 
directly  under  the  superintendent  of  wire  and  is  not  respon- 
sible to  any  other  department  or  division.  This  clerk 
immediately  estimates  the  various  reports,  checking  the 
footings  of  all  reports  of  each  gang  against  the  requisition 
and  the  material  returned.  If  the  items  of  material  balance 
and  the  charges  are  correct  he  then  returns  to  the  general 
foreman  of  the  department  requisitions  made  out  for  each 
job  number  for  the  general  foreman  of  the  department  to 
countersign. 

These  requisitions  are  then  sent  to  the  store-keeper,  who 
in  turn  checks  the  material  with  an  inspector  of  the 
accounting  department,  charging  off  material  on  the  bin 
cards.  After  this  the  requisitions  are  certified  to  and  sent 
to  the  general  stores  department,  which  makes  the  neces- 
sary entries  on  the  general  stock  cards.  Thence  they  go  to 
the  accounting  department  for  its  disposal. 

Under  this  plan  it  can  be  readily  seen  that  each  trans- 
action checks  the  other  and  that  it  forces  the  men  to  make 
out  reports  carefully,  in  order  to  secure  payment  for  their 
time.  This  in  turn  benefits  the  record  department,  since  the 
reports  are  turned  in  with  correct  data. 


CAMERA  FOR  CENTRAL-STATION  USE. 


A  new  and  useful  adjunct  to  the  equipment  of  a  Middle 
West  central-station  office  is  a  graflex  camera  which  is  kept 
loaded  with  plates  at  all  times,  ready  to  be  used  for  photo- 
graphing accidents  or  other  incidents  of  which  a  pictorial 
record  is  desirable.  All  the  men  of  the  office  have  been 
instructed  in  the  method  of  using  the  camera,  which  has  a 
large  lens  and  can  take  snapshots  in  the  shade.  When  an 
accident  is  reported,  the  camera  is  dispatched  to  the  scene, 
and  pictures  are  taken  of  the  lines,  poles,  insulators  and  any 
other  objects  which  could  have  a  future  bearing  in  any 
inquiry  that  might  develop.  The  record  obtained  in  this 
way  is  valuable  testimony  in  case  of  possible  suit  and  also 
affords  a'  complete  report  of  the  entire  accident  for  the 
avoidance  of  future  trouble. 


FREE  REPAIRS  TO  ELECTRIC  FLATIRONS. 


The  Montrose  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  Mont- 
rose, Col.,  which  is  controlled  by  the  Federal  Light  & 
Traction  Company,  has  carried  on  an  aggressive  campaign 
for  the  introduction  of  electric  flatirons,  as  a  result  of 
which  there  are  now  425  irons  in  use  in  a  city  having  a 
population  of  3500,  or  practically  one  iron  for  every  eight 
inhabitants.  In  order  to  encourage  this  business  the  com- 
pany has  adopted  the  plan  of  making  free  repairs  to  electric 
irons  purchased  at  its  supply  store.  The  company  finds  that 
this  is  a  fruitful  expedient  to  keep  electric  irons  in  use  and 
tends  to  prevent  their  abandonment  when  defective  in  favor 
of  some  other  type  of  iron. 


«32 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

CURB  LIGHTING    POSTS    WITH    "HANGING 
GARDENS." 


Minneapolis'    downtown   streets   have   been    rendered   at- 
tractive during  daylight  hours  with  the  greenery  of  flower 

baskets  which  grace 
a  number  of  the  curb- 
Hghting  posts.  This 
ornamentation  of  the 
tungsten  standards  is 
the  sequence  of  a 
general  movement  en- 
couraged by  the  Min- 
neapolis Civic  and 
Commerce  Associa- 
tion to  decorate  the 
business  section  with 
"hanging  gardens," 
window  boxes,  flower 
baskets,  etc.  A  spe- 
cial container  is  ar- 
ranged to  fit  over  the 
top  of  the  five-lamp 
standards,  and  in  this 
flowers,  ferns  and 
trailing  vines  are 
planted,  producing  the 
charming  effect  seen 
in  the  illustration. 
The  cost  of  equipping 
such  a  post  the  first 
year  is  about  $6  and 
for  succeeding  years 
$4.50.  This  outlay 
lias  in  each  case  been 
defrayed  by  the  abut- 
ting property  owner 
or  tenant.  In  the  Minneapolis  instance  these  bits  of  green 
which  fleck  the  downtown  streets  have  given  to  the  city  the 
appropriate  title  "the  City  of  Hanging  Gardens"  and  have 
done  much  to  remove  the  false  impression  created  by  the 
old  annual  ice  palace  that  Minneapolis  is  in  the  Arctic  in- 
stead of  the  "banana"  zone. 


Minneapolis  Curb   Post  with 
Flower   Basket. 


TESTS  AND  DEFLECTIONS  OF  CONCRETE  POLES. 


A  paper  by  Mr.  R.  A.  Cummings,  read  before  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers  at  Mil- 
waukee, Oct.  4,  describe  methods  of  forming  concrete 
poles  and  reported  tests  and  deflections  of  the  finished 
structures.  The  author  recommended  a  mixture  of  one  part 
of  Portland  cement  to  six  parts  of  coarse  and  fine  aggre- 
gate, but  for  casting  the  poles  in  a  horizontal  position 
advised  against  too  liquid  a  mixture,  the  constituents  of 
which,  he  warned,  may  tend  to  separate  out.  reducing  the 
strength  of  the  pole.  Within  twenty-eight  days  poles 
should  be  able  to  withstand  a  test  load  of  2000  lb.  For 
wind-pressure  calculations  an  assumption  of  100  lb.  per 
square  foot,  equivalent  to  a  100-mile  gale,  is  usually  ample. 
He  reported  some  tests  performed  by  the  New  York 
Central  Railroad,  using  a  locomotive  and  dynamometer  car 
through  a  four-to-one  pulley  reduction,  in  which  two  24-ft. 
poles  designed  to  withstand  2000  lb.  with  a  safety-factor 
of  four  were  tested  to  destruction.  The  first  pole  withstood 
a  maximum  of  7810  lb.  and  was  deflected  2  ft.  i  in.,  while 
the  second  carried  8125  lb.  and  was  deflected  2  ft.  2.5  in. 
Comparing  the  cost  of  chestnut  and  concrete  poles  on  a 
basis  of  twenty-five  years'  service,  including  labor  of  renew- 


ing, etc.,  assuming  chestnut  to  have  a  life  of  twelve  and 
a  half  years,  the  author  gave  the  values  in  the  accompany- 
ing table  for  various  heights: 

25  ft.  30  ft.  35  ft.  40  ft. 

Chestnut  poles $60.45  $71.35  $84.81  $101.51 

Concrete  poles 35.50 

Saving  effected  in  per  cent.  .  40 


45.25 
37 


62.50 
26 


84.25 
17 


ORNAMENTAL    LIGHTING    OF    A    PARK    BRIDGE. 


The  accompanying  illustration  shows  the  ornamental 
treatment  accorded  a  steel  deck-girder  bridge  on  which  a 
railroad   crosses   one   of   the   drives   of    Forest    Park,    St. 


Ornamental    Lighting   of   a    St.    Louis   Pari<    Bridge. 

Louis,  the  former  site  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposi- 
tion. Ornamental  tungsten  fixtures,  similar  to  those  re- 
cently installed  about  the  new  City  Courts  and  City  Hall 
buildings  downtown,  have  been  used  to  mark  the  approaches 
to  this  concrete  structure,  each  post  carrying  four  40-watt 
lamps  and  one  60-watt  lamp  inclosed  in  milk  globes.  The 
standards  measure  8  ft.  in  height  and  are  mounted  on  con- 
crete pedestals  which  raise  their  bases  4  ft.  above  the 
ground. 


INDIRECT  ILLUMINATION  OF  A  DRAFTING  ROOM. 


The  drafting  room  of  the  Nordberg  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Milwaukee,  is  illuminated  by  forty-five  indirect  units 
of  severely  utilitarian  design,  each  containing  a  250-watt 
tungsten  lamp,  and  produces  an  average  intensity  of  about 
10  foot-candles  at  the  level  of  the  table  tops.  The  installa- 
tion was  designed  for  maximum  diffusion  and  high  illumina- 
tion and  is  largely  experimental  in  this  respect,  as  the 
capacity  of  the  units  is  adjustable.  Although  wholly  satis- 
factory at  present,  the  intensity  can  later  be  varied  if  de- 
sired. The  simple  fixtures  shown  were  developed  to  meet 
a  need  for  inexpensive  holders  for  the  silvered  glass  reflec- 
tors, and  were  cut  out  and  soldered  up  in  the  tin  shop. 
Since  this  initial  Nordberg  installation  similar  equipment 
has  been  used  in  several  other  Milwaukee  drafting  rooms. 

The  Nordberg  room  measures  65  ft.  x  75  ft.  From  one 
corner  of  it  an  area  22  ft.  x  30  ft.  is  partitioned  off  for 
locker  rooms  and  stairway.  The  main  room,  4215  sq.  ft.,  is 
lighted  by  forty-five  reflector  units,  each  containing  a  250- 
watt  lamp.  With  this  net  use  of  2.7  watts  per  square  foot, 
an  average  intensity  of  10  foot.candles  has  been  measured, 
as  already  explained.  The  bowls  are  truncated  cones  of 
heavy  galvanized  iron  painted  inside  and  out.  with  bases 
14  in.  and  5  in.  in  diameter.  The  bowls  measure  gyi  in.  in 
perpendicular  height.  Each  unit  is  suspended  by  three 
chains,  with  its  upper  lip  30  in.  from  the  12-ft.  ceiling.  A 
skeleton  framework  inside  the  bowl  supports  the  mirror  re- 
flector inclosing  the  250-watt  lamp.  The  Nordberg  private 
plant  is  a  220-volt  direct-current  installation  and  the  lamps 
used    are    no-volt    units,   the   fixtures   being   wired   two   in 


October  19.   1912. 


I',  l.l'.  CTR  ICAL     WORLD 


833 


series.  Control  is  centered  in  a  panelboard  which  contains  a 
switch  for  each  pair  of  fixtures,  so  that  in  the  event  of  a 
few  draftsmen  working  overtime  only  the  corresponding 
part  of  -the  installation  need  be  turned  on.  Numbers 
painted  on  the  bottoms  of  the  bowls  correspond  to  the 
switches  in  the  cabinet,  enabling  any  desired  group  of  lamps 
to  be  lighted  without  experimental   switching.     The  retlec- 


Fig.    1  —  Indirect    Illumination    of   a    iVIilwaukee    Drafting    Room. 

tors  in  this  installation  are  cleaned  once  a  week.  Cleaning 
is  facilitated  by  terminating  one  of  the  chains  in  a  hook 
which  is  readily  removable,  dropping  open  the  bowl.  The 
lamp  socket  is  attached  by  enough  slack  cord  to  enable  re- 
flectors and  all  to  be  lifted  clear  for  a  thorough  cleaning.  A 
light  cream  kalsomine  has  been  used  to  tint  the  ceiling,  a 
darker  shade  being  employed  on  the  side  walls  and  a  still 
darker  color  below  the  chair  rail  line.  The  draftsmen  here 
use  the  dull  side  of  the  tracing  cloth,  and  experiments  are 
in  progress  to  secure  improved  tints  of  drafting  paper,  etc. 
In    laving   out   the    installation,   the    fixtures   have   been   so 


have  been  used  throughout.  The  men  who  work  under  this 
illumination  seem  well  pleased  with  its  quality  and  intensity. 
Fig.  2  shows  a  late  modification  of  the  same  utilitarian  fix- 
ture used  in  another  local  drafting  room.  Hollow  brass 
tubes  replace  the  chains,  one  wire  being  brought  down  each 
of  two  tubes.  Hooks  and  surplus  cord  facilitate  cleaning 
as  in  the  Nordbeig  type.  The  canopy  shown  is  non-essen- 
tial to  the  design  and  is  sometimes  omitted  to  advantage, 
the  fixture  being  hung  directly  on  a  fixture-insulating  joint 
attached  directly  to  the  outlet  box.  Messrs.  Vaughn  & 
Meyer,  Milwaukee,  were  the  consulting  engineers  for  the 
Nordberg  and  other  installations  and  developed  the  special 
fixtures  used. 


ILLUMINATION     AT     THE     ELECTRIC     RAILWAY 
EXHIBITION  IN  CHICAGO. 


The  accompanying  picture  gives  a  general  view  of  the 
central  Arena  at  the  International  Amphitheater,  Chicago, 
during  the  exhibition  of  the  American  Electric  Railway 
Manufacturers'  Association  on  October  7-11-.  It  is  of  in- 
terest in  showing  the  general  arrangement  and  decorations 
of  a  portion  of  this  fine  collection  of  exhibits  and  also  in 
illustrating  the  method  of  lighting  and  the  decorative  illu- 
mination in  the  central  hall.  The  picture  was  taken  from 
the  gallery  near  the  main  entrance  on  South  Halsted  Street. 
In  the  foreground  is  shown  the  indoor  lawn  at  the  entrance 
consisting  of  grass  plots,  flowers  and  plants  and  concrete 
walks.  The  200  exhibits  were  shown  in  three  halls — the 
Arena,  which  is  illustrated ;  Machinery  Hall  to  the  south 
and  the  track  exhibit  on  the  north.  These  were  connected 
by  the  Straightaway,  also  lined  with  exhibits,  and  there 
was  a  large  outdoor  car  exhibit.  The  galleries  in  the 
.\rena  were  devoted  to  exhibits,  which  were  also  to  be 
found  in  about  every  other  available  space  under  galleries 
and  in  corridors.  Mr.  H.  G.  McConnaughy,  of  New  York, 
secretary   of   the    Manufacturers'    Association,    said   that    a 


Fig.  2 — Simple  Indirect 
Fixture  Developed  for 
Drafting- Room      Lighting. 


View    of    the    Electric    Railway    Exhibition,    Showing    Illumination. 


placed  that  the  predominating  direction  of  natural  light 
from  the  windows  is  largely  duplicated.  Especially  will  it  be 
noticed  that  the  units  are  not  merely  located  at  convenient 
symmetrical  divisions  of  the  ceiling  panels,  as  is  often  done 
in  laying  out  similar  installations.  Instead,  the  reflectors 
are  well  distributed  at  approximately  7-ft.  intervals  in  rows 
approximately   10   ft.   apart.     Conduit   and  condulet   outlets 


greater  amount  of  space  could  Have  been  sold  if  avail- 
able. Nearly  all  kinds  of  machinery  and  appliances  used 
in  electric-railway  operation  were  exhibited. 

For  the  main  lighting  of  the  Arena  were  provided  large 
"bowls"  or  "sunbursts"  suspended  from  the  ceiling.  There 
were  fifteen  of  these  in  the  Arena,  each  studded  with  160 
60-watt  tungsten  lamps.     These  2400  overhead  lamps  pro- 


834 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


vided  brilliant  illumination.  In  the  other  halls  the  same 
scheme  was  followed  out,  but  the  bowls  were  smaller.  The 
most  interesting  feature  of  the  illumination  of  the  Arena 
was  the  fifty  lighting  columns,  many  of  which  are  shown 
prominently  in  the  picture.  These  were  9  ft.  high,  of  a 
modified  Corinthian  order,  the  fluted  columns  being  10  in. 
in  diameter.  The  capital  was  surmounted  by  a  globe  16  in. 
in  diameter.  The  columns  were  of  a  new  white  translucent 
glass  known  as  Moonstone  glass,  and,  like  the  globe,  were 
lighted  from  within,  the  softly  glowing  shafts  of  white 
being  very  pleasing.  Each  column  was  supported  by  a 
vertical  interior  pipe  which  also  was  provided  with  brackets 
and  sockets  for  twenty-six  l6-cp  carbon  lamps,  half  burn- 
ing tip  upward  and  half  tip  downward.  The  surmounting 
ball  contained  a  40-watt  tungsten  lamp.  The  columns  were 
designed  for  the  exhibition,  and  it  is  said  that  this  was  the 
first  installation  of  interior-lighted  glass  columns  of  so 
large  a  size.  Electricity  was  obtained  from  the  large  private 
plant  of  the  Union  .Stock  Yard  &  Transit  Company. 


CONDUIT  VERSUS  OPEN  WORK  IN  PLACES  SUB- 
JECT TO  MOISTURE,  CORROSIVE 
FUMES,  STEAM,  ETC.— II. 

By  F.  G.  Waldenfei.s. 
In  the  previous  article  general  packing  house  conditions 
were  described  and  the  need  of  first-class  work  even  under 
most  favorable  circumstances  emphasized.  Older  forms  of 
open-work  wiring  were  discussed  and  in  the  present  article 
later  forms  of  open  work  are  taken  up  in  detail. 

SPLIT    KNOBS. 

In  the  past  two  years  the  No.  4j4  split  knob  has  become 
very  prominent ;  in  fact,  it  has  completely  replaced  the  solid 
knob  in  the  Chicago  territory.  It  has  advantages  over  the 
solid  knob  in  that  it  does  away  with  knots  and  eliminates  a 
great  deal  of  the  twisting  of  wires  around  knobs,  thus  pro- 
longing the  life  of  the  insulation.  Besides,  there  is  a  saving- 
in  labor  because  with  split  knobs  it  is  only  necessary  to 
fasten  the  two  ends  and  then  fill  in  the  intervening  space 
with  a  knob  every  43^^  ft.  With  the  solid  knob  it  is  neces- 
sary to  give  the  wire  a  turn  around  each  knob,  but  with  the 
split  knob  the  wire  goes  straight  through  the  knob.  Differ- 
ent sets  of  grooves  are  provided  for  sizes  of  wires  from 
No.  14  to  No.  8. 

Should  a  line  support  become  broken  or  knocked  loose, 
the  line  wire  remains  taut,  another  advantage  possessed  by 
the  split  knob  over  the  solid  knob.     On  the  ends  of  the  line 


for  line  supports  and  at  the  same  time  anchoring  the  drop 
from  the  line  wires.  This  is  a  very  good  scheme,  as  it 
enables  one  to  do  away  with  the  anchor  knob.  The  drop  is 
anchored  by  giving  the  drop  wire  a  few  turns  in  front  of 
the  knob  and  a  few  turns  in  back  of  the  knob  before  making 
the  joint.     There  is,  however,  one  objection  to  this  scheme 


Ua  16  Packinghouse 
^'~-  Cord 


Fig.  5— Inverted  "Tee"  Method         Fig.    6 — IVIethod    Used    for 
of   Supporting    Wires    with    Split    stalling  Split   Knobs  on   Running 
Knobs.  Boards. 

in  that  when  an  extension  is  attached  to  the  socket  all  the 
strain  comes  on  one  wire. 

INVERTED    "tee." 

Several  packing  plants  employ  the  inverted  "tee"  method 
of  wiring,  which  is  second  to  the  pin  and  insulator  for 
good  insulating  qualities.  In  this  method  use  is  generally 
made  of  the  No.  4>^  split  knobs  for  the  line  supports.  The 
wood  used  is  dressed  2-in.  x  4-in.  lumber  painted  with 
asphaltum.  The  knobs,  it  will  be  observed  from  Fig.  5,  are 
turned  upward  so  that  the  water  cannot  constantly  run 
down  them.  Weatherproof  sockets  are  anchored  from  split 
knobs  on  the  line  supports  in  the  usual  manner.  This 
scheme  of  wiring  is  more  expensive  than  the  ordinary  open 
work. 

KNOBS    ON    RUNNING    B0ARD.S. 

In  places  not  subject  to  excessive  moisture  split  knobs  or 
separable  knobs  on  running  boards  make  a  very  good 
installation.  When  passing  under  beams  or  other  obstruc- 
tions circular  loom  is  employed  between  the  supports.  If 
switch  legs  are  necessary,  they  may  be  run  down  the  wall 
or  column  in  conduit,  and  snap  switches  should  be  mounted 
in  a  condulet. 

The  running  boards  are  made  of  dressed  lumber,  I  in.  x 
6  in.,  and  painted  with  asphaltum  or  mineral  paint.  They 
afford  protection  from  mechanical  injury.  If  packing  house 
cord  is  used  for  the  drops,  it  is  anchored  with  a  pair  of 
single  wire  cleats,  but  if  stranded  No.  14  wire  is  used  it  is 
preferable  to  employ  No.  4>4  split  knobs  as  the  anchoring 
medium.     This  kind  of  construction  costs  about  as  much 


Fig.    3— IVIethod    of   Using    Split    Knobs 
for  Supporting  Line  Wires  and  Drops. 


-IVIethod    of 
from     Line 


Anchoring    Drops 
Supports. 


Fig.  7 — Inverted-Trough  Wiring,  Using 
Split    Knobs. 


some  electricians  prefer  to  use  two  solid  knobs  and  wrap 
the  wires  around  them  figure-eight  fashion,  ending  with  a 
few  turns  around  the  line  wire.  An  expert  electrician, 
however,  can  make  just  as  good  a  job  with  split  knobs. 
The  No.  14  stranded  wire  drops  are  also  anchored  from  a 
No.  43^2  split  knob,  doing  away  with  the  knobs  that  formerly 
had  to  be  used  in  the  case  of  a  solid  knob  installation. 
Fig.  3  illustrates  a  most  satisfactory  installation  of  knob 
work. 

Fig.  4  shows   another   method   of  employing  split  knobs 


as  conduit,   and,   that   being  the   case,   galvanized   conduit 
would  give  far  better  resuhs  if  properly  installed. 

TROUGH    WIRING. 

In  excessively  wet  places  and  hide  cellars  inverted 
wooden  troughs  (Fig.  7)  have  been  installed  with  good  re- 
sults. In  order  to  obtain  a  good  job  a  carpenter  should 
install  the  troughing,  especially  where  obstructions  are  en- 
countered, and  an  expert  electrician  should  do  the  wiring. 
Especial  pains  must  be  taken  to  get  a  tight  waterproof  joint. 


October  19,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


S35 


The  trough  affords  protection  from  mechanical  injury 
and  keeps  water  from  dropping  on  the  wires.  Supporting 
blocks  are  placed  every  43^  ft.  and  the  troughing  is  screwed 
to  them.  All  the  lumber  should  be  dressed  and  painted. 
The  supporting  blocks  should  be  2  in.  thick  by  9  in.  wide 
and  the  boards  i  in.  thick  by  6  in.  wide.    In  some  cases  the 


Fig.   8 — Method    of    Supporting    Line    Wire    witii    Separable    Knobs. 

trough  alone  costs  6  cents  a  linear  foot.  When  to  this  is 
added  the  cost  of  the  labor  of  carpenter  and  electrician  it 
will  be  evident  that  the  method  is  very  expensive  and  costs 
much  morq  than  a  good  conduit  installation.  A  small  V- 
shaped  block  is  screwed  to  the  under  side  of  the  trough  to 
hold  the  anchor  knobs.  No.  4j4  knobs  have  given  the  best 
satisfaction  for  line  supports  and  drop  anchors.  The  dis- 
advantages of  this  system  are  that  the  wood  rots  rapidly 
and  the  initial  expense  is  great.  In  one  case  of  which  the 
writer  has  knowledge  the  open  wiring  in  the  trough  had  to 
be  replaced  about  every  six  months.  Finally  the  chief  elec- 
trician became  tired  of  the  constant  rewiring  necessary,  and 
two  years  ago  he  replaced  the  open  wiring  with  galvanized 
conduit  and  cast-iron  condulets.  Xo  trouble  has  emanated 
from  the  conduit  installation  yet,  and  it  looks  as  if  it  would- 
last  a  few' more  years,  although  the  conduit  is  in  a  very  wet 
place  and  over  offal  tanks.  In  the  opinion  of  the  writer, 
trough  wiring  is  a  thing  of  the  past  and  can  very  easily  be 
replaced  with  better  results  by  properly  installing  the  right 
kind  of  conduit. 

GUARD   STRIPS. 

On  low  ceilings  where  wires  are  subject  to  mechanical 
injury  guard  strips  have  served  very  well  in  many  places. 
These  strips  are  i  J^  in  x  V/2  in.  square  and  are  placed  about 
iVz  in.  from  the  outside  of  each  wire. 

SEPARABLE  KNOBS. 

The  separable-knob  construction  (Fig.  8)   makes  an  ex- 


Fig.   9 — Method   of  Supporting   Line  Wires   and    Drops  with 
Separable     Knobs. 

cellent  job.  The  line  wires  are  fastened  at  the  ends  to  a 
pair  of  solid  knobs  (figure-eight  fashion)  ;  then  separable 
knobs  are  inserted  every  4J/2  ft.  When  the  cap  of  this  knob 
is  screwed  up  tight  it  takes  up  slack  in  the  wire,  an  advan- 
tage possessed  by  this  type  of  knob  over  other  types ;  but  the 
knob,  on  the  other  hand,  is  more  fragile  than  a  split  knob. 
All  sizes  of  wires  from  No.  14  to  No.  8  B.  &  S.  gage  can  be 
used  with  this  knob,  and  the  drop  is  generally  anchored 
from  a  No.  4]^  split  knob,  as  previously  described. 

Fig.  9  illustrates  another  method  of  installing  separable- 


knobs,  where  they  are  shown  used  as  supports  for  line  wires 
and  at  the  same  time  for  drops.  This  makes  a  serviceable 
installation  of  very  low  cost. 

SOLID  PORCELAIN   SUPPORT. 

A  support  that  has  been  used  almost  exclusively  in  one 
plant  for  open  work  in  wet  and  steamy  places,  and  which 
the  electrician  claims  has  given  satisfaction  in  the  four 
years  that  it  has  been  in  service,  is  made  of  solid  porce- 
lain so  thick  that  the  breakage  is  negligible.  It  costs  about 
four  times  as  much  as  a  split  knob  and  a  general  installation 
costs  nearly  as  much  as  a  conduit  job.  The  support  is  easily 
installed  with  a  J^-in.  x  5j4-in.  lag  screw.  The  insulator 
carries  the  two  line  wires  and  a  place  is  also  reserved  for 
the  drop,  which  can  be  anchored  from  the  line  supports  or 
from  the  individual  part  of  the  support  reserved  for  it.  As 
far  as  supporting  the  wires  is  concerned,  an  installation  of 
this  kmd  does  not  differ  much  from  the  old  solid  knobs 
which  require  a  twist  of  the  wire  around  each  knob.  But 
the  small  screws  have  been  eliminated  and  replaced  with 
one  large  one,  and  instead  of  two  or  three  knobs  they  are 
all  molded  into  one.  The  lag  screws  are  dipped  in  com- 
pound before  being  used,  and  are  thereby  protected  from 
corrosion. 

IRON  BRACKETS  FOR  GLASS  INSULATORS. 

The  original  wiring  of  one  packing  house  was  installed 
with  iron  brackets  and  glass  insulators  screwed  to  a  wooden 
pin,  but  this  proved  very  unsatisfactory.  In  places  subject 
to  moisture  and  corrosive  fumes  the  metal  arms  practically 


Fig.   10 — Single   Solid    Porcelain   Support  for    Both    Line   Wires   and 

Drop. 

vanished,  allowing  the  lines  to  fall;  the  wooden  pins  swelled 
and  cracked  the  glass  insulators;  the  iron  screws  holding  the 
brackets  to  the  woodwork  also  corroded  until  the  heads  fell 
off,  allowing  the  brackets  to  haiig  in  any  way.  As  fast  as 
the  circuits  in  this  installation  break  down  they  are  being 
replaced  with  circuits  wired  on  supports,  or  solid  porcelain 
No.  41/2  split  knobs,  and  lately  a  great  deal  of  the  best 
conduit  has  been  installed  in  the  very  worst  places  with 
good  results. 

JOINTS. 

The  joints  should  be  given  particular  attention  in  any 
installation;  but  unfortunately  they  are  very  often  poorly 
soldered  and  loosely  taped,  so  that  moisture  attacks  the 
copper  and  corrodes  it  until  it  becomes  so  small  that  it  either 
heats  up,  starting  a  fire,  or  breaks  off.  The  writer  has  seen 
joints  that  were  fairly  well  compounded  but  loosely  taped. 
The  water  consequently  leaked  in  and,  surprising  to  say, 
everything  in  the  compounded  tarry  shell  was  turned  into  a 
green  plastic  paste,  which  had  eaten  the  wire  entirely  away. 

Joints  should  be  made  as  follows;  When  cutting  the  in- 
sulation the  knife  should  be  drawn  slantingly  toward  the 
wire,  not  straight,  or  otherwise  the  wire  will  be  nicked. 
The  joint  should  at  first  be  so  spliced  as  to  be  both 
mechanically  and  electrically  secure.  Fig.  11  shows  how  a 
common  splice  should  be  made,  Fig.  12  the  way  to  make  a 
lap  to  a  line  wire,  and  Fig.  13  one  way  to  tap  for  heavy 
wires.  These  joints  are  standard  and  are  approved  by  all 
underwriters.  All  the  wires  for  the  joints  should  be  scraped 
perfectly  clean  and  free  from  insulation.  In  Fig.  11  the  two 
ends  are  given  several  complete  long  turns,  then  the  ends 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


are  given  four  cor.iplete  short  wraps.  In  Fig.  12  the  wire  is 
given  two  long  turns  for  play  room,  then  four  short  turns. 
In  Fig.  13  the  w^ires  are  bound  together  with  a  layer  of 
No.  12  or  No.  10  bare  copper  wire  closely  wrapped.  In  all 
cases  the  joints  should  be  cleaned  with  a  standard  soldering 
flux  (not  one  that  will  form  a  battery  couple  and  eat  out 
the  joint)  and  soldered  with  pure  half-and-half  solder. 


cjmpss&m-^^ 


Fig.   11 — Common   Splice. 


Fig.   12— Tapping   a   Line   Wire. 


For  wet  and  steamy  places  the  bare  joint  after  being 
soldered  should  be  thoroughly  covered  with  insulating  com- 
pound, which  acts  as  a  direct  protection  from  moisture 
should  water  leak  through  the  tape.  Then  rubber  tape 
should  cover  the  whole  joint,  followed  by  several  tight 
layers  of  friction  tape.  Then  for  a  good,  permanent  job  the 
whole  joint  should  be  waterproofed  by  completely  covering 
it  with  an  application  of  compound  or  insulating  paint. 

TIE  WIRES. 

There  are  certain  ways  to  fasten  tie  wires  properly  to 
hold  line  wires  to  insulators  or  knobs.  Fig.  14  shows  top 
and  side  views  of  an  insulator  to  which  the  line  is  attached 
by  the  well-known  single  tie.  made  by  bending  a  piece  of 
wire  about  12  in.  long  around  the  insulator  and  under  the 
line  wire  with  three  or  four  turns  on  each  side,  the  end.-^ 
being  cut  off  close.  Fig.  15  shows  a  back  tie.  A  piece  of 
wire  about  18  in.  long  is  bent  around  the  insulator  under  the 
line  wire  with  4  in.  of  tie  on  one  side  and  the  remainder  on 
the  other.  The  short  end  is  then  wrapped  three  times 
around  the  long  wire,  leaving  a  space  equal  to  the  diameter 
of  the  wire  between  each  of  the  wraps.  The  long  end  is 
wound  closely  around  the  line  wire  two  times,  brought  back 
around  the  insulator  and  wrapped  three  times  around  tlie 
line  wire  between  the  turns  of  the  short  end. 

WIRES. 

The  kind  of  wire  used  for  open  work  is  a  very  important 
feature  of  the  installation.  The  rubber  insulation  must,  to 
stand  the  severe  conditions  of  moisture,  salty  atmosphere 
and  corrosive  fumes,  be  of  very  good  quality ;  in  fact,  it 
should  be  extra  special.  Ordinary  single-braided  wire  with 
3/64-in.  rubber  insulation  would  soon  break  down,  but  wire 
with  3'32-in.  rubber  insulation  having  in  it  about  30  per 
cent  para  and  being  triple  braided,  gives  very  good  results 
if  the  wiring  is  not  subjected  to  mechanical  injury.  The 
cost  of  this  special  wire,  however,  is  about  $50  per  1000  ft., 
several  times  that  of  ordinary  No.  14  rubber-covered  wire, 
but  the  results  obtained  more  than  compensate  for  the 
higher  cost.  With  this  heavy  insulation  No.  12  wire  is 
generally  used  for  branches.  If  conduit  were  installed,  the 
ordinary  rubber-covered,  double-braided  duplex  No.  14  New- 
Code  wire  would  give  as  good  results,  and  the  wires  would 
always  be  in  a  safe  place. 

WIRES  FOR  DROPS. 

Best  results  have  been  obtained  by  using  a  pair  of 
stranded   No.    14   rubber-covered,   single-braided   wires    for 


'C':^ 


MD 


Fig.    13 — Tap    for    Large    Wires. 

drop  lamps.  Ordinary  commercial  cord  will  not  answer, 
and  No.  16  rubber-covered,  single-braided  solid  fixture 
wires  (twisted  pair)  have  been  used  most  extensively  in  one 
plant  in  connection  with  taped  and  painted  brass  T.  &  H. 
base-key  sockets,  with  satisfaction.  For  long  drops  packing- 
house cord  is  very  good,  but  it  should  be  anchored  with  a 
pair  of  single  wire  cleats,  otherwise  it  is  difficult  to  provide 


a  good  support.     Packing-house  cord,  however,  is  not  exten- 
sively used. 

Experiments  are  now  being  made  with  a  new  drop  cord 
said  to  be  flameproof.  It  is  made  of  No.  14  rubber-covered 
stranded  wire  having  a  slow-burning  braid  on  the  outside. 
Observations  made  at  an  installation  indicate  that  it  may 
give  very  good  results.  If  a  short-circuit  occurs  it  has  been 
demonstrated  that  the  cord  will  not  carry  the  flame ;  whereas 
with  ordinary  types  of  drop  cord  the  flames  from  a  short 
circuit  feed  on  the  insulation  and  set  fire  to  the  ceiling. 

LEAD-COVERED  WIRES. 

There  are  many  installations  employing  lead-covered 
wires  supported  on  knobs  and  others  where  the  lead-covered 
wires'  are  inclosed  in  conduit.  Each  wire  has  a  rubber  in- 
sulation over  which  is  a  lead  sheath.  The  lead  affords  a 
good  protection  from  salty  atmosphere,  acids  and  moisture. 
When  supported  on  knobs,  for  fear  of  grounds  collecting 
on  the  lead  sheath  which  would  make  it  alive,  short  strips 
of  the  lead  are  carefully  cut  from  the  wire,  the  spaces  being 
taped  and  painted  or  compounded  to  keep  the  moisture  from 
entering  between  the  lead  and  the  rubber.  In  some  fer- 
tilizer rooms  open  work  with  lead-covered  wire  on  knobs 
has  not  given  the  satisfaction  expected.  The  wires  were 
disturbed  and  broken  by  mechanical  injury,  making  the  in- 
stallation very  hard  to  repair;  but  on  the  other  hand  the 
lead  affords  a  very  good  protection  to  the  insulation  from 
the  peculiar  acid  and  inoisture  found  in  such  places.  Where 
taps  to  the  lead-covered  wires  are  made  for  the  drops  the 
joints  should  be  carefully  compounded,  taped  with  rubber 
and  friction  tape  and  then  compounded  again.  It  is  essential 
in  such  work  that  every  bit  of  the  surface  of  the  finished 
joints  be  covered  with  compound,  because  if  there  is  a  slight 


^^iffl^Qj^sss^  c^jMrQ^t 


Fig.     1.1 — Single-Tie     Method. 


Fig.    15— Back-Tie   Method. 


opening  water  and  acid  will  eat  through  the  tape  and  attack 
the  copper,  converting  it  into  copper  sulphate. 

Lead-covered  cables  have  also  been  employed  in  several 
buildings  as  risers.  In  some  cases  the  cable  is  inclosed  in  a 
length  of  conduit  which  extends  2  ft.  below  and  8  ft.  above 
the  floors  on  the  side  wall  as  a  protection  from  mechanical 
injury,  the  cable  for  the  rest  of  the  distance  to  the  ceiling 
being  supported  on  knobs.  In  other  cases  the  cable  is  closed 
in  continuous  conduit  throughout  all  the  risers.  As  a  whole 
an  open  lead-covered  installation  is  very  undesirable. 

Fittings  best  suited  for  the  severe  conditions  encountered 
in  packing  house  practice  will  be  given  consideration  in 
the  next  article. 


SMALL  STRUCTURAL    SECTIONS   IN  TRANS- 
MISSION TOWERS. 


I 


The  use  of  thin  metal  sections,  even  for  compression 
values  calculated  in  accordance  with  accepted  formulas, 
was  criticised  bv  Mr.  R.  Fleming  in  a  paper  on  "Steel  Poles 
and  Towers"  read  before  the  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel 
Electrical  Engineers  at  Milwaukee  on  Oct.  3.  It  is  not  yet 
possible  to  state  accurately  the  probable  life  of  a  steel 
tower,  said  the  author,  for  it  was  only  as  far  back  as  1903 
that  the  first  high-tension  transmission  line  was  built  in 
which  steel  towers  were  used  exclusively.  This  was  a  line 
in  Mexico  loi  miles  long,  with  towers  about  450  ft.  apart. 
The  present  practice  of  a  multiplicity  of  light  sections  will 
not  be  conducive  to  long  life.     Sections  '-s  in.  thick  are  very 


October  19,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


»3f 


common — more  of  this  thickness  than  of  any  other  are  used 
in  the  average  tower.  Towers  made  of  such  material,  gal- 
vanized at  the  shop,  bolted  together  in  the  field  and  then  left 
alone,  cannot  last  for  a  long  term  of  years. 

In  a  number  of  tower  tests  under  the  writer's  observa- 
tion the  failure  was  always  in  the  4-in.  x  4-in.  x  >4-'"- 
corner  angle  leg.  These  members  were  not  good  for  their 
calculated  value.  This  confirms  Talbot  and  Moore  in  "An 
Investigation  of  Built-Up  Columns  Under  Load,"  in  which 
they  write :  ''It  would  seem  quite  probable  that,  for  columns 
of  the  same  length  and  containing  the  same  amount  of 
metal,  one  which  is  of  stocky  form  and  in  which  the  metal 
is  distributed  so  as  to  resist  local  flexural  and  torsional 
action  will  be  much  stronger  and  more  satisfactory  than  a 
column  of  more  flimsy  form  which  has  its  metal  spread 
in  thinner  sections,  even  though  the  slenderness  ratio  l/r 
of  the  former  may  be  considerably  more  than  that  of  the 
latter." 

Important  changes  will  take  place  in  the  direction  of 
thicker  material  after  some  of  the  present  lines  fail.  The 
present  policy  of  purchasing  only  what  will  answer  for  the 
immediate  present  will  then  be  abandoned.  There  is  no 
reason  why  a  tower  properly  designed,  inspected  at  regular 
intervals  and  painted  when  necessary,  should  not  last  at 
least  fifty  years. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


REPEATER    CIRCUIT, 


A  patent  for  a  repeater  circuit  lias  been  granted  to  F.  J. 
Shubert,  of  Portland,  Ore.  This  circuit  is  designed  to 
eliminate  humming  and  depends  upon  balancing  the  re- 
peater coils  between  the  corresponding  line  section  and  an 


Repeater   Circuit. 

artificial  line.  The  reinforcing  coil  is  connected  to  the 
middle  of  the  receiving-coil  secondary.  The  operation  may 
be  readily  understood  with  the  aid  of  the  diagram. 

RINGING    SYSTEMS. 

Four  patents  have  been  granted  to  Mr.  A.  H.  Weiss,  of 
Wilmette,  111.,  tor  automatic  ringing  circuits.  These  de- 
scribe different  applications  of  automatic  ringing  to  oper- 
ators' cords.  The  patents  cover  not  only  the  system  wiierein 
the  ringing  must  be  initiated  by  the  operator,  by  pressing 
a  key,  but  also  where  the  ringing  commences  automatically 
with  the  insertion  of  the  calling  plug.  The  notable  feature 
of  these  systems  is  the  introduction  of  a  control  relay, 
which  operates  at  predetermined  intervals  to  cause  inter- 
mittent ringing.  This  is  distinct  from  the  usual  method 
of  introducing  the  "makes"  and  "breaks"  directly  in  the 
ringing  circuit.  In  one  of  the  patents,  however,  the  usual 
ringing-current  interrupter  is  resorted  to.  These  patents 
are  all  assigned  to  the  Kellogg  Switchboard  &  Supply  Com- 
pany. 

A  step-by-step  method  of  selective  signaling  is  described 


in  a  patent  granted  to  Mr.  J.  McFell,  of  Chicago.  He  pro- 
vides, at  some  convenient  point  in  the  line,  a  pole-changing 
station.  At  each  of  the  various  substations  a  sending  de- 
vice is  arranged.  The  system  is  planned  so  that  the  tens 
digit  may  be  sent  first,  followed  by  the  units  digit.  The  first 
operation  is  to  set  up  both  digits  on  the  sender,  at  which 
time  all  substations  and  the  pole-changing  station  are  nor- 
mal and  the  normal  terminal  of  the  battery  is  connected  to 
line.  When  the  sender  is  released  impulses  are  generated 
and  the  tens  side  of  the  connector  at  each  substation  steps 
up  one  notch  for  each  impulse.  At  the  completion  of  this 
series  a  short  delay  permits  the  pole-changing  station  to 
reverse  the  line  polarity,  whereupon  the  units  side  comes 
into  action  and  the  desired  units  digit  is  stepped  up.  Each 
station  corresponds  to  a  definite  angular  displacement  of 
both  units  and  tens. 

ATTACHMENTS. 

Mr.  H.  G.  Schwager,  of  Omaha,  has  also  patented  a 
receiver-supporting  arm.  A  small  angle  piece  is  secured 
beneath  the  transmitter  clamping  nut  of  the  desk  stand  and 
arranged  to  swing  about  the  transmitter  bolt  so  that  the 
free  end  may  be  either  horizontal  or  vertical.  This  end  of 
the  angle  carries  a  swinging  receiver-supporting  arm.  It 
will  be  understood  that  when  the  angle  is  turned  so  that  the 
plane  of  the  swinging  arm  is  horizontal  the  free  arm  of  the 
angle  will  rest  upon  the  top  of  the  transmitter  clamp,  in 
which  position  the  receiver  will  be  held  at  the  ear  of  the 
user.  When  not  in  use  the  angle  is  turned  through  90  deg., 
whereupon  the  pin  in  its  free  end  receives  a  horizontal  posi- 
tion, permitting  the  receiver-supporting  arm  to  fall  in  a 
vertical  plane,  simultaneously  with  which  a  hook  secured  to 
the  arm  engages  the  hook  switch  of  the  set  and  depresses  it. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 

TELEPHONE  PHENOMENA  INVESTIGATION. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — In  addition  to  the  remarks  made  in  the  editorial 
in  the  Sept.  14  number  of  the  Electrical  World  referring  to 
the  experiinents  of  Dr.  Kennelly  and  Prof.  Pierce,  there 
are  several  fields  in  which  investigations  may  be  directed 
with  profit  as  far  as  the  telephone  art  is  concerned.  There 
is  the  "molecular-theory"  telephone,  referred  to  by  Mr.  H.  R. 
Van  Deventer  on  page  58  of  his  able  book  on  "Telephonol- 
ogy,"  which  avoids  the  magnetic-circuit  principle.  Efforts 
have  also  been  made  to  utilize  static  electricity,  but  with 
little  success.  Another  feature  of  interest  not  often  con- 
sidered by  manufacturers  or  by  many  experimenters  is  the 
fact  that  the  best  results  are  not  obtained  by  using  the 
center  of  the  diaphragm  to  give  the  necessary  vibrations 
to  the  carbon  in  transmitters. 

The  great  tendency  of  inventors  to-day  is  to  keep  to  the 
same  principles  as  are  embodied  in  the  ordinary  type  of 
receivers  and  transmitters  and  improve  the  mechanical 
details,  and  hence  so  far  as  these  types  are  concerned  the 
telephone  art  is  very  highly  developed.  In  view  of  the 
development  of  wireless  and  submarine  telephony  and  the 
requirements  for  greater  talking  range  by  telephone,  there 
is  a  great  field  for  experiments  and  invention  with  sub- 
stantial inducements  ahead.  It  would  seem  advisable,  how- 
ever, to  branch  into  other  principles  than  those  of  the 
present  magnetic  telephone  and  the  carbon  transmitter, 
and  also  to  try  to  combine  both  the  transmitter  and  receiver 
in  one  instrument.  The  writer  has  always  found  his  ex- 
periments on  these  lines  interesting  and  valuable.  He 
advises  the  use  of  the  most  delicate  instruments  obtainable 
for  checking  the  results  of  all  experiments. 

Washington.  D.  C.  A.  P.  Connor. 


838 


ELECTRICAL     ^^■  O  R  L  D  . 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


Digest  of  Current  Electrical  Literature 

ABSTR.\CTS  OF  THE  IMPORT.\NT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Current  Rushes  on  the  Connection  of  Transformers  to  the 
Line.- — -T.  D.  Yensen. — When  a  transformer  is  connected 
10  the  line  there  is  a  sudden  current  rush,  and  this  may 
assume  dangerous  values,  especially  since  alloy-steel 
sheets  have  been  introduced  in  transformer  construction 
and  the  magnetic  density  has  been  increased.  The  author 
gives  the  mathematical  theory  of  these  current  rushes  and 
shows  that  the  theory  is  in  excellent  agreement  with  experi- 
mental oscillographs.  These  current  rushes  can  be  reduced 
so  as  to  be  harmless  if  in  connecting  the  transformer  to  the 
busbars  an  ohmic  resistance  or  an  ironless  inductance  is 
connected  in  series  with  the  primary.  This  resistance  needs 
to  be  connected  only  for  the  first  few  periods  and  is  then 
short-circuited.  A  very  simple  switch  for  this  purpose  is 
shown  in  Fig.  i.  It  is  seen  that  when  the  switch  is  being 
closed  the  resistance  R  is  for  a  moment  in  series  with 
ihe  primary  of  the  transformer,  but  when  it  is  completely 
closed  so  as  to  cross  A  B  the  resistance  R  is  short-circuited. 
This  resistance  or  inductance  must  fulfil  the  equation 
7?  =  CO  Z,  =  V2  normal  voltaee  at  the  terminals  divided  bv 


>? 


To    Busbars 


Transformer 


Fig.    1 — Diagram    of   Connections. 

full  load  current,  where  R  is  the  ohmic  resistance,  co  L  the 
inductive  reactance,  oj  being  2  it  times  the  frequency. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  Sept.  26,  1912. 

High-Frequency  Discharges  in  High-Tension  Trans- 
formers.— A.  J.  Makower. — Owing  to  the  capacity  of  the 
windings  of  high-tension  transformers  a  breakdown  of  the 
insulation  between  the  windings  and  the  case  is  liable  to  set 
up  high-frequency  oscillations  of  a  destructive  nature  in 
the  transformer.  The  author  has  made  some  measurements 
to  determine  their  value.  A  2-kva.  40-cycle,  oil-immersed 
transformer  with  a  ratio  of  100  to  4000  volts  was  connected 
to  the  supply  circuit  and  a  short  air-gap  connected  between 
one  end  of  the  high-tension  winding  and  the  case.  It  was 
found  that  continuous  sparking  was  set  up  across  the  gap 
when  its  length  was  reduced  to  about  i  mm,  and  that  the 
oscillation  frequency,  measured  by  a  tuning  circuit  con- 
taining a  variable  capacity,  an  inductance  and  a  thermo- 
galvanometer,  and  loosely  coupled  to  the  oscillating  circuit, 
was  4,130,000  cycles  a  second.  The  connections  are  shown 
in  Fig.  2,  in  which  ic  represents  the  high-tension  winding, 
c  the  case  and  j  the  spark-gap.  The  low-tension  winding  is 
not  shown.  G,  L  and  A'  are  the  galvanometer,  inductance 
and  variable  capacity  constituting  the  tuning  circuit,  which 
was  loosely  coupled  to  the  oscillating  circuit  by  means  of  a 
few  turns  of  wire.    When  the  transformer  was  excited  so  as 


VWs^^/WW       J 


^4^ 


Fig.   2 — Testing    Circuits   for    One   Transformer. 

to  give  a  secondary  emf  of  4000  volts  it  was  found  by  means 
of  an  electrostatic  voltmeter  that  the  potentials  between  the 
free  ends  of  the  high-tension  winding  and  the  case  were 
2250  and  1790  volts  respectively,  and  that  there  was  prac- 
tically no  voltage  between  the  middle  point  of  the  high- 
tension  winding  and  the  case.  Thus,  before  any  oscil'ations 
are  set  up.  the  full  potential  of  the  transformer  is  so  dis- 


tributed that  a  strain  of  about  half  the  full  voltage  of  the 
transformer  exists  between  the  ends  of  the  high-tension 
winding  and  the  case.  From  further  measurements  it  fol- 
lows that  the  emf  between  the  high-tension  and  low-tension 
windings  would  be  about  570  volts,  and  that  between  the 
low-tension  winding  and  the  case  about  1430  volts.  In 
extra-high-tension    transformers    it    must    therefore    be    of 


/Wv'^VVNA/V" 


-NAAAA/VvWV^^V 


do^oO 

Fig.  3 — Testing  CircLrits  for  Two  Transformers. 

great  importance  to  provide  very  good  insulation  not  only 
between  the  high-tension  windings  and  the  rest  of  the  trans- 
former, but  also  between  the  low-tension  windings  and  the 
rest  of  the  transformer.  It  must  be  supposed  that  the 
capacities  that  come  into  question  for  the  high-frequency 
currents  approach  the  values  given  above,  as  the  high- 
frequency  oscillations  are  not  able  to  penetrate  through  the 
whole  windings.  Some  special  experiments  made  by  the 
author  show  that  the  capacities  that  come  into  question  for 
the  high-frequency  currents  are  only  of  the  order  of  a 
hundredth  part  of  the  values  measured  by  the  ballistic 
galvanometer.  Oscillations  of  the  same  frequency  but  of 
greater  power  than  those  obtained  by  the  connections  shown 
in  Fig.  2  were  obtained  by  the  connections  shown  in  Fig.  3, 
which  represent  two  transformers  similar  to  the  one  pre- 
viously tested  connected  with  their  low-tension  windings  in 
parallel  on  the  mains  and  the  high-tension  windings  inter- 
connected at  one  point;  the  connection  between  the  high- 
tension  windings  is  such  that  the  voltage  between  the  free 
ends  of  the  two  high-tension  windings  is  the  sum,  and  not 
the  difference,  of  the  voltages  of  the  two  windings.  It  was 
then  found  that  sparks  of  more  than  a  millimeter  length 
could  be  taken  ofif  between  the  cases  of  the  two  trans- 
formers.— London  Elec.  Rez'iew,  Sept.  27,  1912. 

Frequency  Changers. — C.  Turn  hull. — The  author  dis- 
cusses the  various  difficulties  underlying  the  use  of  fre- 
quency changers  for  coupling  together  networks  of  different 
frequencies,  and  finally  describes  briefly  the  frequency 
changer  of  the  Lancashire  Dynamo  &  Motor  Company. 
This  machine  consists  of  a  rigidly  coupled  motor-generator 
with  the  number  of  poles  at  either  end  requisite  to  deal  with 
the  frequencies  concerned.  The  correction  for  small  varia- 
tions of  either  frequency  is  affected  by  rotating  one  of  the 
stators.  The  stator  in  question  is  mounted  on  bearings  and 
is  given  the  necessary  torque  by  means  of  a  small  motor 
geared  to  it.  The  result  of  this  arrangement  is  that  the 
stator  is  driven  by  the  motor  or  else  drives  the  motor  at  the 
speed  required  to  compensate  for  variations  in  the  speed 
of  the  prime  movers  which  supply  energy  to  the  two  systems 
coupled  through  the  frequency  changer,  and  it,  therefore, 
keeps  in  step  at  both  ends.  Suppose,  for  instance,  that  the 
changer,  running  at  600  r.p.m,,  couples  50  to  60  cycles 
nominally,  but  that  the  actual  periodicities  are  49  and  61, 
then  the  stator  will  rotate  at  22  r.p.m.  to  compensate  for  the 
difference.  There  will  be  no  trouble  in  paralle'ing  the  two 
ends,  for  the  stator  will  twist  itself  round  so  as  to  pull  into 
step  as  soon  as  the  second  switch  is  closed.  The  author  dis- 
cusses whether  such  a  changer  should  be  designed  as  a 
synchronous  or  an  induction  machine,  or  whether  one  end 
should  be  synchronous  and  the  other  asynchronous.  The 
synchronous  set  would  operate  with  a  good  power-factor, 
which  will  nearly  always  be  an  important  item ;  it  wi'l  often 
happen  that  the  receiving  side  will  be  able  to  accept  current 
only    at    something   like    unity    power-factor.      Yet    a    •^yn- 


October  19,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


839 


chronous  changer  may  have  troubles  of  its  own,  especially 
if  the  variations  in  frequency  on  the  two  systems  are  ex- 
cessive and  violent.  The  changer  may  have  to  deal  with 
sudden  changes  ot  frequency,  such  as  happen  when  a  large 
generator  is  switched  in  or  out  at  either  end,  or  when  sudden 
loads  are  put  on  to  the  mains,  such  .as  railway  trains, 
collieries,  etc.,  while  the  effect  of  short-circuits  on  the  mains 
may  cause  sudden  alterations  in  frequency,  which  may  pull 
a  synchronous  machine  out  of  step.  The  troubles  might  be 
greatly  aggravated  where  energy  was  delivered  to  a  com- 
paratively small  supply  which  had  a  large  proportion  of 
spasmodic  load  on  its  mains.  The  remedy  would  be  to  use 
an  induction  set  at  one  end,  compensated  for  power-factor 
by  an  arrangement  such  as  was  recently  described  by  Kapp. 
An  alternative  method  would  be  to  run  up  the  motor  as  an 
induction  machine  and  arrange  its  rotor  windings  so  that 
continuo.us  current  could  be  put  through  one  leg  when  it  was 
nearly  up  to  speed.  It  would  then  jump  into  step  and  run  as 
a  synchronous  machine.  The  other  windings  could  be  short- 
circuited  so  that  the  rotor  would  run  as  an  asynchronous 
set  if  it  came  out  of  phase,  while  at  the  same  time  it  would 
come  into  step  again  if  the  load  were  not  too  heavy. — 
London  Electrician,  Sept.  27,  1912. 

Temperature  Compensation  for  Motors. — A  note  on  a 
recent  British  patent  (3107,  Sept.  19,  1912)  of  Fried.  Krupp. 
A.  G.  In  order  to  render  the  working  of  a  motor  or  other 
electrical  machine  independent  of  the  effects  of  variation  of 
resistance  of  the  field-circuit  due  to  temperature  rise,  an 
auxiliary  resistance  with  a  positive  temperature-resistance 
coefficient  is  connected  up  in  parallel  with  the  field  winding 
and  a  further  resistance  is  placed  in  series.  The  resistance, 
temperature  coefficients  and  thermal  time-constant  of  the 
auxiliary  resistors  are  so  proportioned  that,  although  less 
current  flows  in  the  system  when  the  temperature  rises,  the 
proportion  between  the  field  winding  and  the  parallel 
resistor  is  altered  to  an  extent  which  insures  an  unaltered 
current  through  the  field  winding. — London  Elcc.  Eng'ing, 
Sept.  26,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Series  Incandescent  Lighting. — A  note  on  a  recent  British 
patent  (27,862,  Sept.  12,  1912)  of  E.  Booth  and  N.  R.  Booth. 
Edison  screw-cap  lamps  are  used.  The  end  of  the  screw 
collar  is  spun  over  to  form  a  flat  disk  having  a  central  hole 
to  allow  the  threaded  part  of  the  screw  to  pass  through  and 
yet  leave  a  clearance.  Inside  the  collar  is  a  flat  insulating 
washer,  with  a  smaller  central  hole  which  will  also  allow 
the  screw  to  pass  through.  Before  the  screw  is  put  through 
the  disk  and  washer,  three  washers  are  slipped  over  it.  The 
first  is  of  copper  and  bears  against  the  head  of  the  screw, 
the  second  is  of  lead  and  the  third  is  of  insulating  material. 
On  failure  of  the  lamp  the  insulation  is  broken  down. — 
London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Sept.  19,  1912. 

Mercury-Vapor  Lamp. — An  illustrated  article  on  the  de- 
velopment and  construction  of  the  quartz-tube  mercury- 
vapor  lamp. — London  Electrician,  Sept.  20,  1912.  An  Eng- 
lish translation  of  the  German  article  by  F.  Girard  on  the 
quartz-tube  mercury-vapor  lamp  for  alternating  currents  is 
given  in  London  Elcc.  Rcviczi'.  Sept.  20.  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Electric  U'inding  Plant. — An  illustrated  description  of  an 
electric  winding  plant  at  the  coal  mines  at  Kippax,  Yorks. 
Three-phase,  50-cycle  currents  are  delivered  to  the  sub- 
station at  10,000  volts  to  be  reduced  to  2000  volts  for  feeding 
the  fly-wheel  converter.  The  converter  includes  a  300-hp 
motor,  operating  on  the  2000-volt  three-phase  supply  circuit, 
within  speed  limits  of  730  and  640  r.p.m.,  allowing  a  slip  of 
12  per  cent ;  this  machine  is  coupled  on  one  side  to  an  inter- 
pole  generator,  giving  a  pressure  range  of  from  +  500  to 
—  500  volts,  and  a  9-ton  flywheel,  and  on  the  other  side  to 
a  small  exciter,  the  latter  being  sufficient  for  the  excitation 
of  the  generator,  and  of  the  two  winding  motors  with  a 
drop  in  speed  to  500  r.p.m.     With  this  drop  in  speed  a  full 


wind  could  be  performed  even  if  the  energy  supply  were 
cut  off.  The  flywheel  is  calculated  to  deliver  5580  hp- 
seconds  with  a  slip  of  12  per  cent.  The  winding  engine  has 
0  drum  II  ft.  in  diameter  and  6  ft.  8  in.  wide,  and  is  coupled 
to  an  interpole  winding  motor  on  either  side.  Either  motor 
can,  in  case  of  emergency,  continue  winding  operations  with 
reduced  loads.  The  normal  speed  is  71  r.p.m.  and  the  maxi- 
mum rope  speed  is  12.5  m  per  second,  the  motors  being  of 
the  interpole  type,  shunt-wound  and  arranged  for  reversing. 
The  slip  regulator  is  of  the  liquid  type,  the  electrodes  in 
the  tank  being  lifted  or  lowered  according  to  the  load  by 
means  of  a  small  series  induction  motor  mounted  on  the 
top,  which  is  operated  from  a  three-phase  series  transformer 
in  the  main  supply  circuit  to  the  converter  motor.  The 
transformer  has  three  terminals  for  each  phase  to  allow 
of  adjusting  the  current  at  which  the  slip  regulator  works, 
and  thus  regulating  the  ma.ximum  power  taken  from  the 
mains  in  conformity  with  the  required  output  of  the  wind- 
ing plant. — London  Elec.  Revieiv,  Sept.  27,  1912. 

Rolling  Mills. — A.  Reisset. — The  first  part  of  an  illus- 
trated paper  on  the  electric  driving  of  rolling  mills. — La 
Ltimicre  Elcc,  Sept.  21,  1912. 

Traction. 

Chicago. — Eighty  pages  of  text  and  forty-eight  plates  of 
beautiful  illustrations  on  transportation  conditions  in 
Chicago,  with  special  articles  on  the  operations  of  the  com- 
panies under  the  1907  ordinances,  on  track  and  overhead 
construction,  on  training  employees,  on  carhouse  design  and 
practice,  on  rolling  stock  standards,  on  power  generation 
for  electric  traction,  on  the  railway  power  consumption 
system  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  on  the 
duties  and  organization  of  the  Board  of  Supervising  En- 
gineers, on  a  study  of  electrification  of  railway  terminals, 
on  the  Chicago  freight  subway  and  on  electric  interurban 
lines  serving  the  city  of  Chicago. — Convention  Issue,  Elec- 
tric Railway  Journal,  Oct.  5,  191 2. 

British  Municipal  Trannvays  Association. — A  report  of 
the  eleventh  annual  conference  of  the  British  Municipal 
Tramways  Association  held  at  Westham.  The  presidential 
address  by  Mr.  H.  E.  Blain  dealt  with  the  corrugation  prob- 
lem, recent  British  legislation  on  tramways,  telephone  lines, 
rating  of  tramways,  and  onmibus  competition.  -\  paper  by 
Mr.  S.  C.  T.  Neumann  dealt  with  "trannvay  administration 
by  municipalities — a  retrospect  and  a  forecast,"  a  paper  by 
Mr.  William  J.  McCombe  with  "tramway  fares  and  their 
basis."  A  preliminary  report  was  presented  by  a  special 
committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  phenomena  of  cor- 
rugation of  tramway  rails  (abstract  will  appear  in  the 
Digest  in  a  subsequent  issue). — London  Electrician.  Sept. 
27.  1912. 

British  Tramway  Acconnt. — .\n  abstract  of  last  year's 
financial  statement  of  the  municipal  tramways  of  Lincoln, 
England.  For  the  first  time  since  these  tramways  were 
converted  to  electrical  working,  six  years  ago,  the  accounts 
of  the  undertaking  have  shown  a  profit.  The  "GB"  surface- 
contact  system  is  used.  There  has  been  a  material  decrease 
in  the  cost  of  repairs  to  the  "GB"  equipment,  but  the  total 
is  still  slightly  above  the  average  annual  amount  guaranteed 
by  the  installing  company.  Repairs  have  been  confined  to 
small  renewals  and  replacements  of  live  and  dead  studs, 
worn  studs  and  studs  broken  by  heavy  tractors.  The  traffic 
expenses  and  energy  expenses  per  car-mile  have  slightly 
increased;  the  general  expenses  have  been  decreased  by  0.16 
cent  per  car-mile,  the  total  repairs  and  maintenance  by  0.2 
cent  and  the  total  capital  charge  by  0.04  cent.  The  total 
expenses  per  car  mile  were  19.82  cents  (against  20.02  cents 
the  year  before).  The  total  revenue  was  20.24  cents 
(against  19.56  cents). — London  Electrician,  Sept.  27,  1912. 

Surface-Contact  System. — For  comparison  with  the  re- 
turns of  the  Lincoln  Municipal  Tramways,  where  the  "GB" 
system  is  used  (see  preceding  abstract),  an  account  is  given 
of  the   Wolverhampton   Corporation   Tramwajs,   in  which 


840 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


the  Lorain  surface-contact  system  has  been  in  operation  for 
eleven  years.  The  total  expenses  per  car  mile  last  year 
were  17.94  cents  against  17.72  cents  the  year  before.  The 
total  revenue  was  22.24  cents  against  21.30  cents  the  year 
before.  The  figures  of  Lincoln  and  Wolverhampton  are 
not  strictly  comparable,  since  the  weight  of  the  cars  in  the 
two  cases  is  not  the  same  and  the  Wolverhampton  under- 
taking is  much  larger,  so  that  certain  charges  are  distributed 
over  a  greater  mileage. — London  Electrician,  Sept.  27,  1912. 

Raillcss  Traction. — An  illustrated  article  on  railless  elec- 
tric traction  in  Dundee. — London  Electrici-an,  Sept.  27,  1912. 

Marine  Propulsion  by  Electric  Transmission. — Henry  A. 
Mavor. — An  illustrated  British  Association  paper  in  which 
the  author  after  describing  the  electric  propulsion  equip- 
ment of  the  United  States  collier  Jupiter  and  the  tests  he 
saw  carried  out  on  this  equipment  gives  particulars  of  the 
installation  that  is  being  constructed  for  the  Tynemount, 
an  electrically  propelled  vessel  for  service  on  the  Canadian 
lakes. — London  Electrician,  Sept.  27,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Electric  Industry  in  South  America. — L.  W.  Schmidt. — 
A  statistical  article  on  the  development  of  the  market  for 
electrical  products  in  South  America,  with  figures  on  the 
exports  from  the  United  States,  England  and  Germany  to 
Brazil. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Sept.  26,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Gcrnmn  Association  of  Electrical  Contractors. — An 
account  of  the  tenth  annual  convention  of  the  German 
Association  of  Electric  Wiring  Contractors  held  in  June  in 
Frankfort.  Hohnof  spoke  on  the  training  of  electric  wire 
men,  Nolzen  and  Baumann  dealt  with  the  regulations  of  the 
electricity  works.  The  secretary  reported  on  labor  ques- 
tions, and  new  proposals  concerning  ways  of  meeting  strikes 
were  adopted.  The  growth  of  transmission  systems  in  agri- 
cultural districts  and  the  question  of  an  electric  monopoly 
were  also  subjects  of  discussion.  Kuckuk  discussed  the 
possibility  of  uniform  prices  in  the  electric  wiring  industry. 
^Elek.  Zeit.,  Sept.  12,  1912. 

Fuses. — HuNDHAUSEN. — An  illustrated  article  giving  some 
new  proposals  for  a  system  of  non-interchangeable  fuses 
for  all  purposes. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Sept.  12,  1912. 

Electrophysics   and    Magnetism. 

Photo-Elcctric  Cells. — J.  W.  Woodrow. — A  note  on  a 
spontaneous  electromotive-force  in  cells  of  alkali  metals. 
In  working  with  photo-electric  cells  it  was  found  that  when 
the  cell  was  insulated  in  the  dark  the  alkali  metal  would 
develop  a  negative  charge.  From  the  results  given  in  the 
present  paper  it  seems  that  some  sort  of  positively  charged 
particles  are  given  off  by  the  alkali  metals  in  a  high  vacuum. 
— Phys.  Review,  September,  1912. 

Electrochemistry  and   Batteries. 

Electric  Precipitation  of  Suspended  Particles. — Linn 
Bradley. — A  paper  read  before  the  International  Congress 
of  Applied  Chemistry  on  recent  progress  made  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Cottrell  process,  with  special  reference  to 
the  precipitation  of  smoke  and  cinders,  the  application  in 
smelting  electrolytic  slime,  the  condensation  of  acid  mist. 
the  precipitation  of  smelter  fumes  and  the  purification  of 
illuminating  gas.- — Met.  and  Client.  Eng'ing,  October,  1912. 

Electric  Precipitation  of  Suspended  Matter  in  Gases. — 
W.  W.  Strong.— A  Franklin  Institute  paper  in  which  the 
author  reaches  the  following  conclusions:  The  effect  of 
the  polarization  of  suspended  particles  in  a  gas  results  in 
the  aggregation  of  the  particles  and  increases  the  ease  with 
which  the  suspended  matter  can  be  removed  from  the  gas 
by  settling  or  by  centrifugal  means.  Suspended  particles  in 
a  gas  can  be  ionized  and  may  then  be  removed  from  the  gas 
by  the  action  of  the  electric  field.  Examples  are  given  of 
the   ionization  of  particles  of   various  kinds  of  spray   and 


dust.  It  is  shown  how  various  kinds  of  smoke-deposit  pat- 
terns are  formed  by  electric  fields  that  are  not  intense 
enough  to  produce  secondary  ionization  and  ionic  streams. 
The  presence  of  suspended  particles  in  a  gas  increases  the 
rate  of  recombination  of  the  ions  in  the  gas.  Smoke  or 
fumes  thus  greatly  reduce  the  ionization  of  gases  coming 
from  furnaces,  and  this  reduces  the  ionic  current  between 
spark  electrodes  placed  in  the  gas.  This  property  of  smoke 
or  fumes  may  be  used  to  indicate  their  presence  in  a  gas. 
One  of  the  most  effective  actions  of  an  electrical  discharge 
in  precipitating  suspended  matter  from  a  gas  is  that  of  the 
force  acting  upon  the  suspended  particles  due  to  the  ionic 
currents  flowing  through  the  gas.  These  ionic  currents  are 
produced  by  the  action  of  the  electrical  field  upon  the  ions 
formed  by  secondary  ionization.  The  secondary  ionization 
may  be  produced  by  a  point  or  by  a  corona  discharge.  A 
brief  account  is  given  of  the  plants  that  have  been  built  for 
precipitating  the  fumes  from  copper  smelters  and  the  dust 
from  cement  plants.  An  account  is  also  given  of  the  ex- 
periments made  by  the  writer  upon  the  precipitation  of  car- 
bon  ?nioke. — .lour.  Franklin  Inst.,   September,   1912. 

Units,   Measurements  and   Instruments. 

Sciisitiz'c  Relay. — An  illustrated  description  of  the  "KK 
detector"  invented  by  von  Kramer  and  G.  Kapp,  which  is  a 
very  sensitive  relay  whereby  very  feeble  electrical  impulses 
can  be  magnified.  In  principle  the  KK  detector  (Figs.  4 
and  ;!  consists  of:  (a)  A  steel  reed,  securely  fixed  at  one 


Fjg.  A — Vibrating   Parts  of  Detector. 


Fig.    5 — T-Magnet 
System. 


end,  with  a  natural  frequency  corresponding  to  that  of  the 
alternating-current  circuit  on  which  the  instrument  has  to 
operate,  (b)  A  permanent-magnet  steel  frame,  of  which  the 
steel  reed  forms  one  polar  extension,  the  free  end  of  the 
reed  therefore  having  the  characteristics  of  one  pole  of  a 
permanent  magnet  of  the  same  polarity  as  the  limb  of  the 
magnet  to  which  it  is  fixed,  (c)  A  laminated  soft-iron  wire 
core  of  square  section  attached  to  the  other  end  of  the  steel 
frame  of  the  permanent  magnet  and  forming  the  other  polar 
extension  (Fig.  5).  The  two  ends  of  the  laminated  core  are 
of  the  same  polarity,  but  of  opposite  polarity  to  the  free  end 
of  the  reed,  only  a  small  air  gap  being  left  between  the  core 
extremities.  The  free  end  of  the  steel  reed  lies  in  the  center 
of  this  air  gap,  and  therefore  an  equal  attraction  exists 
between  the  reed  and  the  two  limbs  of  the  laminated  core. 
Provisions  are  made  whereby  the  total  air  gap  between  the 
two  limbs  of  the  core,  or  the  gap  between  either  limb  and 
the  steel  reed,  can  be  increased  or  decreased,  as  may  be 
necessary  to  meet  the  purposes  for  which  the  relay  is  em- 
ployed. .\  magnet  coil  is  mounted  on  each  limb  of  the 
laminated  core,  both  coils  being  so  connected  that  on  passing 
an  alternating  current  through  them  their  magnetism  is 
superposed  on  that  of  the  permanent  magnet  at  the  core 
extremities,  the  alternations  of  this  superposition  corre- 
sponding to  the  frequency  of  the  circuit;  for  example,  on  a 
loo-cycle  circuit  the  polarity  is  built  up  and  reversed  100 
times  per  second  at  each  extremity.  The  reed,  having  the 
same  periodic  time  as  the  vibrating  field  in  the  air  gap,  is 
attracted   by   the   one   and   repulsed   by   the  other  core   ex- 


October  ig,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


841 


tremity  when  even  the  most  feeble  current  is  passing  through 
the  coils.  This  vibrating  reed  is  thus  utilized  to  operate  a 
contact  device.  The  reed  does  not  directly  "make"  the  local 
circuit,  but  simply  actuates  a  mechanical  contact  "breaking" 
device,  which  consists  of  two  parallel  non-magnetic  flanking 
reeds  of  much  lower  periodic  time  than  the  steel  reed.  The 
ends  of  the  flanking  reeds  are  fixed  to  insulated  metal  sup- 
ports which  carry  terminals.  Each  flanking  reed  is  fitted 
with  a  platinum  block,  the  two  blocks  being  opposite  to  and 
pressing  against  each  other.  Between  the  two  reeds  an  in- 
sulated ivory  roller  is  placed.  The  steel  reed  is  suspended 
vertically  between  and  at  right  angles  to  the  free  ends  of 
the  horizontal  flanking  reeds.  At  the  end  of  each  flanking 
reed  an  insulated  ivory  point  is  fixed,  the  air  gap  between 
the  points  being  such  that  the  steel  reed  is  free  at  the  com- 
mencement of  its  excursion  to  attain  sufficient  momentum 
forcibly-  to  strike  against  the  ivory  points,  thus  separating 
the  platinum  blocks  and  keeping  them  apart  as  long  as  the 
reed  continues  to  vibrate.  This  ivory  roller  prevents  the 
delay  in  the  separation  of  the  platinum  blocks  which  would 
otherwise  result  from  the  spring  effect  in  the  reed  necessary 
to  maintain  the  contact  between  the  platinum  blocks.  The 
two  flanking  reeds  with  their  platinum  contact  blocks  form 
part  of  the  local  circuit  and  act  as  a  single-pole  switch.  On 
an  alternating  current  of  100  cycles  per  second  the  instru- 
ment will  respond  to  currents  of  2  X  lo"'  amperes  at  an  emf 
of  2  X  10"'  volts. — London  Electrician,  Sept.  20,  1912. 

Production  of  a  High  Potential  for  Electrometer  Work. — 
A.  H.  FoRMAN. — An  abstract  of  an  American  Physical 
Society  paper.  It  is  often  desirable  to  obtain  a  high 
potential  which  will  be  constant  enough  not  to  disturb  an 
electrometer,  as  when  one  wishes  to  hold  an  ionizing 
chamber  at  a  high  potential  and  measure  the  leakage  in 
this  chamber  with  a  Dolezalek  electrometer.  A  simple 
method  is  to  use  a  series  of  condensers  and  a  source  of  low 
emf  such  as  a  storage  battery.  The  condensers  are  per- 
manently connected  in  series  and  then  separately  charged 
in  succession  from  an  insulated  source  of  constant  emf. 
This  charging  in  succession  is  done  by  means  of  a  rotating 
contact  maker.  It  consists  of  a  drum  with  as  many  pairs 
of  contacts  as  there  are  condensers  in  series.  These  contact 
points  are  staggered  on  the  drum  so  that  only  one  pair  is 
connected  to  a  condenser  at  one  time,  but  each  pair  is 
always  connected  to  the  source  of  emf  through  slip  rings 
on  the  drum.  In  this  way  as  the  drum  is  rotated  it  connects 
each  condenser  in  succession  across  the  source  of  emf,  and 
the  faster  it  is  rotated  the  oftener  they  are  charged.  Since 
the  source  of  emf  is  insulated,  any  point  in  the  series  of 
condensers  can  be  made  to  have  zero  potential  by  grounding 
it.  This  will  then  give  any  other  point  in  the  series  a 
definite  absolute  potential.  And  the  total  difference  in 
potential  of  the  series  is  equal  to  the  number  of  condensers 
times  the  emf  of  the  course.  Also,  since  each  and  every 
condenser  is  charged  for  every  revolution  of  the  drum,  if 
the  speed  of  rotation  is  enough  the  condensers  are  kept 
fully  charged.  The  scheme  not  only  gives  a  steady  potential 
but  it  affords  a  means  of  calibrating  static  high-potential 
instruments,  the  ratio  of  transformation  in  this  case  being 
equal  to  the  number  of  condensers  employed,  since  they  are 
always  connected  in  series. — Physical  Review,  September, 
1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Tele  phone -Cable  Boxes  ziith  Constant  High  Insulation. — 
A.  Ebeling  and  R.  Deibel. — In  view  of  the  small  amounts 
of  energy  used  in  telegraph  and  telephone  transmission  it 
is  very  important  that  the  insulation  be  excellent.  It  is  not 
so  much  in  the  lines  themselves  that  insulation  difficulties 
appear,  since  with  cables  insulation  values  of  several  thou- 
sand megohms  per  km  (l  km  =  0.6  mile)  can  be  easily 
obtained,  but  the  trouble  is  with  the  cable  boxes,  which 
often  reduce  the  high  insulation  value  of  the  line  to  frac- 
tions of  a  megohm.  The  chief  object  must  be  to  make  the 
insulation  as  independent  as  possible  of  humidity  in  the  air 


and  of  temperature  variations.  Tests  made  by  the  authors 
show  that  the  solid  insulating  materials  so  far  employed 
in  telephone-cable  boxes  are  either  greatly  dependent  on  the 
weather  and  the  humidity  or  affected  by  variations  of  tem- 
perature. These  troubles  can  be  overcome  by  using  oil 
for  insulation.  It  would,  of  course,  be  practically  impossible 
to  make  all  the  connections  in  oil.  But  since  the  experi- 
ments of  the  authors  show  that  the  leakage  occurs  over  the 
surface  of  the  insulating  materials  where  the  conductors  pass 
through  it  is  sufficient  to  cover  this  surface  with  a  thin  film 
of  oil  while  the  cable  ends  are  several  centimeters  above 
the  level  of  the  oil.  Various  designs  of  cable  boxes,  etc., 
embodying  this  principle  are  described  and  illustrated.  The 
system  has  been  developed  by  Siemens  &  Halske. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  Sept.  26,  1912. 


Book  Reviews 

Primer  of  Scientific  Management.  By  Frank  B.  Gil- 
breth.  New  York:  D.  Van  Nostrand  Company.  103 
pages.     Price,  $1. 

A  very  interesting  and  entertaining  little  work  is  this 
primer.  The  author  is  well  known  as  an  advocate  and  ex- 
ponent of  the  Taylor  system  of  economizing  effort  in  in- 
dustry. He  is  also  a  contractor  and  man  of  affairs;  so  that 
he  is  eminently  capable  of  discussing  his  subject  from  both 
the  theoretical  and  practical  sides.  It  appears  that  after 
Dr.  Taylor  published  a  series  of  magazine  articles  on  "The 
Principles  of  Scientific  Management"  hundreds  of  letters 
came  to  the  publishers  from  the  readers,  asking  for  fur- 
tlicir  information  and  propounding  conundrums.  These 
were  all  handed  to  Mr.  Gilbreth,  who  here  publishes  them 
with  their  answers,  in  a  selected  order.  This  gives  to  the 
book  a  curious  question-and-answer  appearance,  calling  to 
mind  some  of  the  old-fashioned  scientific  primers.  Never- 
theless, this  peculiar  presentation  has  marked  advantages, 
especially  because  it  condenses  the  comments,  queries  and 
objections  into  a  very  brief  array. 

There  is  probably  no  question  of  great  national ,  and 
even  international  importance  so  pregnant  with  conse- 
quences to  the  average  citizen  as  that  of  the  management 
of  industrial  labor,  dealt  with  in  this  primer.  Perhaps 
the  whole  future  of  civilization  turns  upon  the  question  as 
to  whether  the  doctrines  here  expounded  shall  succeed  or 
fail.  The  book  will  interest  not  only  employers  and  the 
employees  of  large-scale  industry,  but  also  the  average 
voter,  the  householder  and  the  man  of  business. 


Les  Rayons  Ultra-Violets  et  Leurs  Applications. 
Paris:  Librairie  du  Mois  Scientifique  et  Industriel.  62 
pages,  44  illus.    Price,  2.75  francs. 

A  pamphlet  on  the  production  and  practical  applications 
of  ultra-violet  rays,  especially  in  relation  to  mercury-vapor 
lamps.  Ordinary  ultra-violet  rays  are  defined  as  those 
existing  in  sunlight,  in  the  rays  of  arc  lamps  protected  by 
glass  globes  and  by  the  mercury-vapor  lamps  in  glass. 
Medium  ultra-violet  rays  are  those  produced  by  the  naked 
carbon  arc  or  by  mercury-vapor  lamps  in  quartz  tubes. 
Extreme  ultra-violet  rays  are  those  produced  by  flaming 
arcs  between  iron  or  aluminum  electrodes  or  by  Geissler 
tubes  in  quartz. 

In  the  second  chapter  are  described  the  various  mercury- 
vapor  lamps  used  for  the  production  of  ultra-violet  rays. 
Chapter  III  describes  the  application  of  ultra-violet  rays 
to  the  sterilization  of  liquids.  Chapter  IV  deals  with  the 
therapeutic  applications  of  ultra-violet  rays.  Chapter  V 
finally  discusses  several  miscellaneous  applications.  The 
pamphlet  is  interesting  not  merely  for  its  clear  descriptions, 
but  also  for  its  systematic  arrangement  and  presentation. 


842 


ELECTRICAL     W'  O  R  L  D  . 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  i6. 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


REGULATOR  FOR  SMALL  ELECTRIC  APPARATUS. 


A  5-in.  regulator  electric  heating  device,  etc.,  for  use 
with  small  motors  has  been  placed  on  the  market  by  the 
Cutler-Hammer  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Milwaukee. 
It  is  provided  with  a  three-step  adjustment  and  an  "off" 
point  and  is  operated  by  a  small  lever  extending  from  the 
back  of  the  inclosing  case.  This  lever  is  so  arranged  that 
it  sits  squarely  over  the  contacts  which  are  mounted  on 
the  back  of  the  porcelain  base.  The  resistors  are  com- 
pletely covered  by  cement  and  a  black-japanned  metal  case 
incloses  and  protects  the  entire  unit.  It  has  a  dissipating 
capacity  of  60  watts  and  can  be  provided  with  a  total  re- 
sistance of   1200  ohms  maximum. 


SAFETY  FUSE  PULLER. 


The  Barry  non-shock  fuse  puller,  made  by  the  Electric 
Device  Manufacturing  Company,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  com- 
prises an  insulating  handle  with  an  adjustable  tong  grip, 
capable  of  holding  and  pulling  a  wide  range  of  cartridge- 
fuse  diameters.    The  puller  is  made  in  two  sizes,  for  i-amp 


IL 


■*-■ , — 

Safety  Fuse  Puller. 


>n 


"XJ 


to  60-amp  and  6o-amp  to  loo-amp  fuses  respectively.  With 
this  tool,  it  is  declared,  a  fuse  can  be  pulled  or  put  in  "hot" 
while  the  operator  is  standing  in  a  damp  or  conductive 
place,  with  as  great  ease  and  safety  as  if  a  glass-insulated 
platform  were  used.  The  movable  cross-piece  permits  a 
firm  grasp  to  be  taken  on  the  fuse  cylinder,  and  the  device 
gives  full  protection  against  burns  or  shocks. 


MOTOR-DRIVEN  GEARLESS   AIR    COMPRESSOR. 


A  triple-cylinder,  motor-driven,  gearless  air  compressor 
for  electric  railway  cars  has  been  placed  on  the  market  by 
the  Allis-Chalmers  Company.  It  weighs  390  lb.  complete 
and  has  a  capacity  of  18  cu.  ft.  of  free  air  per  minute  against 
a  pressure  of  90  lb.  per  square  inch.     The  600-volt,  four- 


y»^ 


Compressor. 


pole,  direct-curent,  inclosed  series  motor  is  designed  for  a 
speed  of  11 50  r.p.m.  and  its  armature  is  mounted  on  a  sleeve 
which  is  keyed  to  the  crankshaft  and  held  in  place  by  lock 
nuts.  An  armature  may  be  replaced  in  a  few  moments 
without  removing  the  compressor  from  the  car.  The  arma- 
ture coils  are  wound  with  comparatively  heavy  wire  and 
extra  allowance  has  been  provided  for  slot  insulation. 


Intake  valves  of  the  sleeve  type  are  mechanically  actuated 
by  means  of  eccentrics  on  the  crankshaft.  This  construc- 
tion, it  is  claimed,  allows  the  use  of  large  intake  ports  and 
high  speed ,  also  reducing  the  noise  of  operation  to  a  mini- 
mum. The  cylinder  heads  may  be  removed  independently 
without  disturbing  the  intake  or  discharge  piping.  Access 
to  the  crank  case  may  be  had  by  means  of  a  cover  plate  on 
the  side  opposite  the  cylinders.  The  crankshaft  is  made  of 
high-carbon,  heat-treated  steel,  and  the  steel  connecting  rods 
are  provided  with  phosphor-bronze  bushings.  Lubrication 
in  the  crank  case  is  effected  by  the  splash  system,  but  bar- 
riers are  provided  to  keep  the  oil  from  entering  the  motor. 
Only  two  bearings  are  required  to  support  the  shaft.  The 
makers  claim  that  exhaustive  tests  of  this  type  of  compres-. 
sor  show  exceptionally  high  volumetric  and  over-all  effi- 
ciencies. 


LAMP  CHEST  FOR  AUTOMOBILES. 


There  has  been  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Elux  Minia- 
ture Lamp  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  324 
Lafayette  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  an  automobile  lamp 
chest  containing  trays  in  which  a  full  complement  of  lamps 
for  the  automobile  is  stored.  The  set  comprises  bulbs  for 
two  head-lamps,  two  side-lamps,  tail-lamp  and  meter-lamp. 
The  advantage  of  this  arrangement  resides  in  the  impor- 
tance of  having  lamps  of  the  correct  voltage  for  the  system 
on  which  they  are  to  be  used.  The  chest  is  of  suitable  size 
and  shape  to  fit  into  an  ordinary  automobile  tool  box. 


DEMONSTRATION  OF   LOW-VOLTAGE  LIGHTNING 
ARRESTER. 


A  novel  and  ingenious  demonstration  of  the  need  of  light- 
ning-arrester protection  for  overhead  electrical  circuits  was 
made  at  the  recent  Chicago  convention  of  the  American 
Electric  Railway  Manufacturers'  Association  by  the  Electric 


Transparent    Painting    Showing    Lightning. 

Service  Supplies  Company,  of  Philadelphia.  The  central 
point  of  interest  in  the  exhibit  was  the  large  framed 
water-color  painting  illustrated  herewith.  This  represented 
a  typical  section  of  interurban  railway,  with  transmission 
line  and  feeders,  and  an  electric  car  in  the  foreground. 
-Alongside  this  painting,  mounted  on  a  pole,  was  a  50o-volt 
Gorton-Daniels  direct-current  lightning  arrester. 


October  ly,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


843 


Behind  the  picture  was  a  box  containing  high-candle- 
power  electric  lamps,  condensers,  etc.,  while  beneath  the  box 
suitable  sources  of  supply  for  5oc-volt  direct  current  and 
high-frequency  static  electricity  were  placed.  Both  sources 
of  energy  were  necessary — the  former  to  illustrate  the 
action  of  the  arrester  in  interrupting  the  flow  of  line  current 
to  ground  following  the  lightning  discharge,  and  the  latter 
to  superimpose  static  stresses  across  the  arrester  between 
line  and  ground. 

In  operation  a  spark  from  the  condensers  crossed  the  air 
gap  of  the  arrester,  establishing  the  dynamic  direct-current 
arc,  and  at  the  same  time  caused  a  bright  and  realistic  flash 
of  "lightning"  to  cross  the  picture.  This  flash  took  the 
form  of  a  heavy  direct  stroke,  striking  the  line  in  its  passage 
to  ground,  together  with  many  secondary  flashes  of  lesser 
brilliance  and  intensity. 

The  novelty  of  seeing  a  realistic  imitation  of  lightning  in 
conjunction  with  a  typical  electric  railway  scene,  and  at  the 
same  time  seeing  the  lightning  arrester  operate  simul- 
taneously with  the  flash,  attracted  much  favorable  comment 
and  proved  to  be  a  unique  method  of  demonstrating  this 
class  of  protective  apparatus. 


VERTICAL    CENTRIFUGAL  PUMP. 


ELECTRIC  ROADSTER. 


An  electric  roadster  built  along  lines  rather  different 
from  those  of  any  other  electric  vehicle  on  the  market  is 
shown  herewith.'  It  is  of  the  torpedo  type,  with  the  body 
placed  low  between  the  axles.  The  wheel  base  is  no  in. 
and  use  is  made  of  38-in.  by  4-in.  artillery  wheels.  The 
battery  is  composed  of  forty-cells  of  medium-thin  Exide 
plates,  housed  under  the  front  hood.  The  battery  contains 
forty  cells,  as  in  ordinary  direct-current  charging  that 
number  of  cells  has  proved  to  be  the  most  economical  for 
this  size  car.  The  battery  is  divided  into  halves  for  series- 
parallel  operation,  so  that  the  low  speeds  are  permanent 
running  speeds,  with  all  cells  drawn  upon  equally,  and 
no  energy,  is  wasted  in  resistors.  The  motor  is  of  the 
medium-speed,  four-pole  series  type  built  by  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company.  It  is  of  ample 
size  to  drive  the  car  under  any  road  conditions  in  summer 
or  winter.  The  motor  is  said  to  possess  high  efficiency 
during  overload  and  to  have  a  remarkably  low  energv  con- 


A  new  vertical-type  centrifugal  pump  has  been  added  to 
the  line  of  centrifugal  pumps  developed  by  the  Goulds 
Manufacturing  Company,  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y.  It  is  par- 
ticularly adapted  for  pumping  from  a  pit  and  it  can  be 
operated  submerged  when  desirable.  The  impeller  is  of 
the  inclosed  type  and  the  design  is  such  that  the  end  thrust 


Electric  Roadster. 

sumption.  The  roadster  is  said  to  be  capable  of  going  over 
100  miles  on  a  charge,  its  speed  being  25  miles  an  hour.  It 
is  equipped  with  such  devices  as  interlocking  foot-control, 
non-reversible  wheel-steering  apparatus,  bevel-geared  drive, 
double  internal-expanding  safety  brakes,  Krupp  silico- 
manganese  steel  springs  and  others.  It  is  manufactured  by 
the  Argo  Electric  Vehicle  Company,  Saginaw,  Mich. 


Vertical   Centrifugal    Pump. 

is  practically  negligible.  .\  ball  thrust  bearing  carries  the 
weight  of  the  impeller  and  shaft.  A  water-sealing  ring  is 
provided,  making  it  unnecessary  to  draw  the  gland  up  tight, 
insuring  low  friction  losses.  For  special  liquids  which  at- 
tack iron  this  pump  can  be  furnished  brass-fitted  or  made 
entirely  of  brass.  It  is  adapted  for  belt  drive  or  direct 
connection  to  electric  motors. 


A  CONVENIENT  SWITCH  BOX. 


A  switch  box  recently  developed  and  placed  on  the  market 
by  the  George  Cutter  Company,  403  Notre  Dame  Street, 
South  Bend,  Ind.,  is  so  constructed  that  its  installation 
necessitates  only  the  following  operations :  Drive  a  nail  in 
the  studding  where  the  box  is  to  be  located,  then  slip  the 
slotted  lug  over  the  nail.  Push  the  box  back  so  that  the 
front  lug  is  flat  against  the  studding,  drive  a  nail  through  it 
and  no  amount  of  rough  handling  can  put  it  out  of  shape. 


Method   of   Supporting   Switch    Box. 

Fig.  I  shows  a  front  view  of  the  box  and  Fig.  2  one 
method  of  supporting  it.  The  box  is  made  of  cast  iron 
with  a  slotted  lug  at  the  back  to  hold  it  rigid  and  true  per- 
pendicularly and  with  another  lug  at  one  side  of  the  front 
which  holds  it  firmly  in  place,  thus  eliminating  the  necessity 
of  cross-pieces,  etc.  The  knockouts  in  the  top  and  bottom 
are  made  for  either  loom  or  flexible  or  rigid  conduit. 


844 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


ARTISTIC  PORTABLE  LAMP. 


The  portable  lamp  here,  shown  is  made  entirely  of 
Veluria  glass  and  is  provided  with  a  small  lamp  wired  in 
series  in  the  base  so  that  the  entire  unit  glows  when  the 
lamp  is  in  service.  The  unit  is  of  pure  white  alabaster 
when   cold,   but   when   lighted   the   glass  .takes   on   a    faint 


Portable   Lamp. 

blush  or  "fire"  that  is  pleasing  and  altogether  unusual.  The 
decorations  on  the  base  and  shade  are  deeply  etched  and 
give  the  lamp  character  and  richness.  This  lamp  is  now 
being  offered  by  the  Nelite  Works  of  General  Electric 
Company  for  the  holiday  trade. 


ALTERNATING-CURRENT  NETWORK  PROTECTOR. 


prong  of  each  of  the  fuses  is  attached  to  the  third  and  heavy 
auxiliary  wmding  as  shown.  The  fuses  act  as  a  short- 
circuit  connection  on  these  auxiliary  secondary  coils,  and 
the  function  of  the  combination  is  such  that  under  normal 
conditions  the  currents  in  the  primary  and  in  the  secondary 
coils  of  the  protective  device  neutralize  each  other,  so  that 
there  is  no  mmf  circulating  in  the  core  of  the  series  trans- 


The  alternating-current  network  protector  herewith  illus- 
trated has  been  designed  to  disconnect  a  defective  trans- 
former instantaneously,  thus  protecting  the  secondary  net- 
work by  preventing  an  overload  on  the  remaining  trans- 
formers and  consequently  any  interruption  of  the  service. 
The  device  is  entirely  electrical,  being  free  from  moving 
parts,  and  requires  no  adjustment  or  attention.  In  principle 
it  is  a  series  transformer  possessing  three  windings — a 
primary  connected  in  series  with  the  primary  of  the  step- 
down  or  service  transformer,  a  secondary  connected  in 
series  with  the  secondary  of  the  service  transformer,  and  a 
tertiary  or  auxiliary  winding  consisting  of  a  few  turns  of 
heavy  wire  so  designed  that  the  ratio  of  current  that  will 
flow  in  them  during  short-circuits  is  high  as  compared  with 
the  current  in  the  other  coils.  The  primary  and  secondary 
windings  of  the  device  are  provided  with  the  same  ratio  of 
turns  as  the  primary  and  secondary  of  the  step-down  trans- 
former with  which  it  is  to  be  used.  The  protector  is  con- 
nected in  line  with  the  step-down  transformer,  so  that 
during  normal  operation  the  currents  in  its  primary  and 
secondary  windings  oppose  each  other  in  direction,  and  as 
the  ratio  of  the  windings  in  the  device  and  in  the  step- 
down  transformer  are  equal,  the  excitation  in  the  two 
windings  of  the  device  is  also  equal,  and,  the  latter  being 
connected  in  opposition,  no  current  is  produced  in  the  short- 
circuited  coil.  A  diagram  of  connections  for  a  three-wire 
secondary  main  is  shown  in  Fig.  2.  One  terminal  of  the 
primary  of  the  step-down  transformer  is  connected  in  series 
with  the  primary  winding  of  the  device.  The  terminals  of 
the  secondary  of  the  step-down  transformer  are  connected  to 
the  distribution  main  through  the  secondary  windings  of  the 
device,  as  shown.  In  the  engraving  it  will  be  noted  that  there 
are  two  V-shaped  fuses,  the  bottoms  of  which  are  connected 
to  the  outer  wires  of  the  three-wire  secondary  network.  One 
of  the  upper  prongs  of  each  of  the  fuses  is  connected  to 
the  end  of  its  respective  secondary  coil,  while  the  other 


CD:::, 


Fig.    1 — Alternating-Current    Network    Protector. 

former  to  energize  the  auxiliary  or  heavier  secondary 
winding.  This  balance  is  maintained  at  all  loads  and  is 
upset  only  by  a  reverse  current  from  the  secondary  network 
into  the  transformer,  such  as  is  occasioned  by  a  short-circuit 
in  the  latter.  This  condition  immediately  reverses  the  rela- 
tive polarity  of  the  secondary  coils,  thus  energizing  the  core 
and  causing  a  heavy  short-circuit  current  through  the 
heavier  or  auxiliary  secondary  winding  by  way  of  the  short- 
circuiting  fuses.  The  short-circuit  current  through  the 
fuses    immediately    ruptures    them    and    isolates    the    main 


Fig.  2 — Diagram   of   Connections. 

terminals  so  that  the  defective  transformer  is  instantly 
cut  out  and  disconnected  from  the  line,  thus  permitting  the 
remaining  transformers  connected  to  the  network  to  con- 
tinue their  function  of  taking  up  the  load  of  the  defective 
transformer,  without  any  resultant  interruption  to  the 
service.  The  device  is  made  by  the  Metropolitan  Engineer- 
ing Company,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


October  19,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


84s 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


SHORTAGE  of  labor  and  railroad  cars  and  the  ascend- 
ing tone  of  the  metal  markets  at  present  are  among 
the  signs  of  industrial  expansion.  Inquiry  for  iron 
and  steel  and  for  building  materials  of  all  kinds  is  broad- 
ening rapidly  and  new  construction  projects  are  exceed- 
ingly numerous.  Securities  of  public-utility  companies  are 
in  brisk  demand  despite  the  high  rates  for  call  money  that 
have  prevailed  in  recent  weeks.  New  issues  are  being  ab- 
sorbed rapidly  and  the  outlook  for  still  broader  purchasing 
of  these  issues  is  considered  to  be  very  favorable.  Among 
the  new  offerings  of  the  week  are  the  securities  of  the 
Utilities  Improvement  Company  and  those  of  the  Utah 
Securities  _Company,  the  formation  of  which  is  noted  below. 
That  an  excellent  volume  of  business  is  being  done  in  the 
electrical  industry  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  the  aggregate 
pay  roll  of  the  three  largest  American  electrical  manufac- 
turers is  now  running  close  to  $1,300,000  per  week,  which 
is  some  $250,000  larger  than  the  weekly  total  last  January 
and  compares  with  less  than  $1,000,000  per  week  during  the 
industrial  activity  of  1906. 


To  Finance  I>ublic  Utilities  in  the  West. — A  syndicate 
headed  by  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company  and  Hay- 
den,  Stone  &  Company  has  organized  the  Utah  Securities 
Corporation-  under  Virginia  laws  to  finance  water-power 
and  other  public,  utility  properties  in  Utah  and  elsewhere 
in  the  West.  As  was  forecast  in  these  columns  last  week, 
the  Utah  Securities  Corporation  has  acquired  practically  all 
the  outstanding  securities  of  the  Telluride  Power  Com- 
pany. It  has  also  acquired  the  Utah  Power  Company,  which 
has  taken  over  the  Knight  Consolidated  Power  Company, 
the  Davis  &  Weber  Counties  Canal  Company  and  the  se- 
curities of  several  other  companies  operating  electric  light- 
ing properties  in  Utah,  Colorado  and  southern  Idaho,  fol- 
lowing negotiations  referred  to  in  the  Ehctrical  World  July 
27  and  Aug.  17.  The  syndicate  has  underwritten  the  Utah 
Securities  Corporation's  present  proposed  issue  of  $25,000,- 
000  ten-ye&r  collateral  trust  notes  and  $27,500,000  stock. 
The  first  instalment  of  30  per  cent  on  notes  issued  has  al- 
ready been  called,  and  at  the  present  time  about  $9,000,000 
of  these  notes  have  been  issued  and  paid  for.  The  balance 
will  be  issued  as  additional  funds  are  required  by  the  cor- 
poration. The  voting  trustees  of  the  Securities  corpora- 
tion are:  S.  Z.  Mitchell,  president  Electric  Bond  &  Share 
Company;  Charles  Hayden,  Hayden,  Stone  &  Company; 
James  Campbell,  president  North  American  Company; 
R.  E.  Breed,  president  American  Gas  &  Electric  Company, 
and  J.  R.  Nutt,  president  Citizens'  Savings  &  Trust  Com- 
pany, Cleveland.  All  of  the  operating  properties  controlled 
by  the  corporation  are  being  merged  into  a  new  corporation 
to  be  known  as  the  Utah  Power  &  Light  Company,  and  the 
bonds  and  preferred  stocks  of  this  company  will  be  sold 
later.  The  proceeds  will  be  deposited  with  the  trustee  and 
will  be  used  from  time  to  time  for  the  retirement  of  the 
present  issue  of  the  Utah  Securities  Corporation's  notes. 
Earnings  of  the  operating  properties  for  the  year  ended 
June  30,  1912,  after  deduction  of  gross  charges,  are  given 
as  $1,094,692,  and  net  earnings  as  $633,035.  These  figures  do 
not  include  any  revenues  from  the  Davis  &  Weber  Counties 
Canal  Company. 

Going  Ahead  w^ith  Long  Acre  Company  Plans. — Control 
of  the  stock  of  the  Long  Acre  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company  of  New  York  has  been  transferred  from  John  C. 
Sheehan  and  allied  interests  known  as  the  Manhattan  Tran- 
sit Company  to  the  banking  houses  of  A.  B.  Leach  & 
Company  and  Harvey  Fisk  &  Sons,  and  new  officers  for 
the  electric  company  have  been  elected  as  follows:  Presi- 
dent, P.  G.  Gossler,  of  A.  B.  Leach  &  Company,  succeed- 
ing James  F.  Shaw;  vice-president,  H.  L.  Denny,  succeed- 
ing John  C.  Sheehan,  and  secretary  and  treasurer,  E.  W. 
Bell,  succeeding  O.  B.  Corbin.  New  directors  have  been 
chosen  as  follows:  Pliny  Fisk,  A.  B.  Leach,  P.  G.  Gossler, 
H.  L.  Denny.  G.  P.  Toby,  A.  A.  Tilney  and  E.  W.  Bell. 
This  reorganization  strengthens  the  statements  made  re- 
cently  by   interests   associated    with    the    Long   Acre    com- 


pany, to  which  reference  was  made  in  these  columns  Oct.  5, 
that  the  purchase  by  a  stockholder  of  the  Consolidated 
Gas  Company  of  a  majority  of  the  Long  Acre  company's 
first-mortgage  bonds,  the  interest  on  which  is  in  default, 
would  not  cause  any  changes  in  the  plans  that  had  been 
made  to  establish  the  Long  Acre  company  as  a  competitor 
of  the  New  York  Edison  Company.  A.  B.  Leach  is  quoted 
as  saying  that  the  new  bondholders  cannot  foreclose  if  the 
company  pays  its  debts,  and  that  it  is  going  to  pay  them. 
Pending  the  outcome  of  litigation  before  the  Appellate  Di- 
vision of  the  Supreme  Court,  in  which  the  New  York  Edi- 
son Company  is  opposing  the  action  of  the  Public  Service 
Commission  for  the  First  New  York  District  in  giving  au- 
thority to  the  Long  Acre  company  to  operate  in  the  city, 
details  of  the  financing  and  engineering  plans  are  withheld. 

Acquires  British  Canadian  Power  Company. — The  North- 
ern Ontario  Light  &  Power  Company,  Ltd.,  Toronto,  has 
taken  over  the  properties  and  assets  of  the  British  Canadian 
Power  Company.  Payment  for  the  property  is  to  be  made  by 
$2,000,000  first-mortgage  6  per  cent  twenty-year  gold  bonds  of 
the  Northern  Ontario  company,  dated  April  I,  191 1.  These 
bonds  have  been  underwritten  by  London  and  Montreal 
bankers  and  will  be  offered  shortly  for  public  subscription. 
The  Northern  Ontario  company  was  organized  in  February, 
191 1,  under  Ontario  laws,  and  acquired  the  Cobalt  Power 
Company,  Ltd.,  and  its  subsidiaries;  the  Cobalt  Hydraulic 
Power  Company,  Ltd.,  and  the  Cobalt  Light.  Power  & 
Water  Company,  Ltd.  Its  authorized  capital  stock  is 
$5,000,000  common  and  $2,500,000  6  per  cent  cumulative  pre- 
ferred. Of  this  $3,085,000  common  and  $1,800,000  preferred 
are  outstanding.  Generating  stations  owned  by  the  company 
include  a  4000-hp  hydroelectric  plant  at  Hound  Chute  Falls, 
on  the  Montreal  River,  near  Cobalt,  and  six  auxiliary  sta- 
tions with  an  aggregate  rating  of  6500  hp  at  High  Falls. 
Its  president  is  David  Fasken,  of  Toronto.  M.  A.  Viele,  of 
New  York,  is  vice-president,  and  these  two,  with  Alexander 
Fasken,  of  Toronto;  F.  W.  Stehr,  of  New  York,  and  Lionel 
Davis,  are  directors. 

La  Crosse  (Wis.)  Water  Power  Company  Sold. — The 
property  of  the  La  Crosse  (Wis.)  Water  Power  Company, 
which  controls  the  Winona  (Minn.)  Railway  &  Light  Com- 
pany, and  for  which  receivers  were  appointed  in  August, 
191 1,  following  financial  difficulties  due  to  small  rainfall  in 
Wisconsin  in  1910,  as  previously  noted  in  these  columns, 
has  been  sold  at  public  auction  to  Frederick  Vogel,  Jr., 
president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Milwaukee  and 
chairman  of  the  bondholders'  committee  of  the  La  Crosse 
company.  The  price  paid  for  the  property  is  given  as 
$500,000.  In  addition  to  its  inability  to  meet  bond  interest 
due  April  i,  191 1,  due  to  low  water,  as  mentioned  above, 
the  company  has  been  greatly  handicapped  since  its  dam 
at  Hatfield,  on  the  Black  River,  Wis.,  was  wrecked  in  the 
flood  of  Oct.  6,  191 1,  details  of  which  appeared  in  the 
Electrical  World  Oct.  14,  191 1,  page  924.  Repairs  have  been 
made,  and  the  company  is  now  in  a  position  to  continue 
its  affairs  as  soon  as  reorganization  is  completed. 

Chicago  Gas  and  Electric  Combination  Rumor  Denied. — 
Rumors  of  an  amalgamation  of  the  gas  and  electric-service 
interests  of  Chicago  have  appeared  at  intervals  for  several 
years.  A  story  of  this  kind  was  printed  in  great  detail  in 
a  Chicago  paper  on  Oct.  10,  in  which  the  Insull  interests 
were  reported  as  effecting  a  combination  along  the  lines 
si:ggested  above.  Samuel  Insull,  who  was  in  New  York  at 
the  time,  telegraphed  a  prompt  denial  to  his  secretary  in 
Chicago.  "The  story  is  entirely  without  foundation,"  he 
said.  "I  am  not  in  New  York  to  see  any  of  the  People's 
Gas  interests,  and  I  am  not  engaged,  directly  or  indirectly, 
•■n  any  negotiations  to  acquire  the  People's  Gas  Light  & 
Coke  Company."  It  is  also  stated  that  an  authorized  rep- 
resentative of  the  gas  company  has  affirmed  that  no  ne- 
gotiations of  the  kind  are  pending. 

Initial  Dividend  Declared. — The  Brazilian  Traction,  Light 
&  Power  Company,  Ltd.,  whose  formation  was  noted  in 
these  columns  June  29,  has  declared  an  initial  dividend  of 
1V2  per  cent  on  the  $104,500,000  stock,  for  the  quarter  ending 
Oct.  31. 


846 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  16. 


Utilities  Improvement  Company  Organized. — Details  of 
the  new  holding  corporation  for  gas  and  electric  properties 
that  Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company  have  been  forming  since 
last  summer,  to  which  reference  was  made  in  these  columns 
Aug.  10,  were  made  public  this  week.  The  new  concern  is 
known  as  the  Utilities  Improvement  Company.  It  has 
been  organized  under  Delaware  laws  and  has  an  authorized 
capitalization  of  $25,000,000  6  per  cent  cumulative  preferred 
stock  and  $15,000,000  common  stock,  and  $10,000,000 
of  each  class  is  to  be  issued  immediately.  The 
proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  preferred  and  common 
stocks  issued  and  sold  at  this  time  will  be  used  to  ac- 
quire the  following  properties  and  securities:  Toledo  Rail- 
ways &  Light  Company;  Danbury  (Conn.)  &  Bethel  Gas  & 
Electric  Light  Company;  Brantford  (Ont.)  Gas  Company; 
Woodstock  (Ont.)  Gas  Company,  Ltd.;  Athens  (Ga.)  Rail- 
way &  Electric  Company;  Coshocton  District  Gas  &  Fuel 
Company,  Ohio;  Bartlesville  (Okla.)  Gas,  Electric  &  Rail- 
way Company;  Empire  Gas  &  Fuel  Company,  Kansas.  Mis- 
souri and  Oklahoma;  $2,800,000  six-year  7  per  cent  notes  of 
the  Southwestern  Reserve  Gas  Company.  As  these  and 
other  properties  to  be  acquired  are  developed  they  will  be 
turned  over  to  the  Cities  Service  Company  or  to  the  Con- 
solidated Cities  Light,  Power  &  Traction  Conipanj'.  The 
Utilities  Improvement  Company  will  be  under  the  manage- 
ment and  operation  of  the  Doherty  Operating  Company. 
Its  officers  and  directors  will  be:  President.  Henry  L. 
Doherty;  vice-presidents,  Frank  W.  Frueauflf  and  Charles  T. 
Brown;  general  manager,  Holton  H.  Scott;  secretary,  Paul 
R.  Jones,  and  treasurer,  Louis  F.  Musil;  W.  F.  Hoffman, 
president  Commercial  National  Bank,  Columbus,  Ohio;  Les- 
lie M.  Shaw,  president  First  Mortgage  Guaranty  &  Trust 
Company,  Philadelphia;  James  Mitchell,  of  Sperling  &  Com- 
pany, London;  W.  W.  Foster,  New  York,  and  James  Satter- 
field,  Dover,  Del.  An  offering  of  stock  in  the  new  concern 
is  now  being  made  by  H.  L.  Doherty  &  Company. 

Toledo  Railways  &  Light  Reorganization  Plan. — The 
committees  representing  the  bond  and  stock  holders  of  the 
Toledo  Railways  &  Light  Company  have  agreed  upon  a 
plan  for  reorganizing  of  the  company.  The  new  company 
will  have  an  outstanding  capital  of  $22,000,000,  as  follows: 
First  lien  secured  notes,  $6,000,000;  second  lien  secured 
notes,  $1,200,000;  preferred  stock,  $6,800,000,  and  common 
stock,  $8,000,000.  The  par  value  of  the  securities  to  be 
taken  over  by  the  new  company  is  somewhat  in  excess  of 
$32,000,000.  In  addition  to  taking  over  the  Toledo  Rail- 
ways &  Light  Company,  the  new  company  will  also  take 
over  the  securities  of  the  Maumee  Valley  Railway  &  Light 
Company,  the  Toledo,  Ottawa  Beach  &  Northern  Railway 
Company,  the  Toledo  &  Western  Railway  Company,  and 
the  Adrian  Street  Railway  Company,  now  owned  by  the 
Toledo  Railways  &  Light  Company.  Stockholders  of  the 
latter  are  given  the  privilege  of  paying  $7.50  a  share,  for 
which  they  will  receive  $7.50  in  the  preferred  stock  and 
$43  in  common  stock  of  the  new  company.  In  case  they 
do  not  care  to  subscribe  to  the  new  plan  under  these  terms, 
they  will  receive  $13  in  the  common  stock  of  the  company 
for  each  $100  of  stock  in  the  old  company.  Henry  L. 
Dohert}'  &  Company  will  underwrite  the  subscriptions  ex- 
pected from  the  stockholders  and  will  assume  the  super- 
vision and  management  of  the  properties  for  five  years. 

Inquiry  for  Cleveland  Municipal  Lighting  Bonds. — James 
A.  Hutchinson,  bond  dealer  of  Boston,  has  written  City 
Auditor  Coughlin.  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  asking  whether  the 
$1,500,000  municipal  light  bonds  as  yet  unsold  can  be  pur- 
chased at  private  sale  and  whether  they  can  be  sold  below 
par.  Mr.  Coughlin  states  that  they  can  be  purchased  at 
private  sale,  but  the  city  must  realize  par  value  for  them. 
The  city  is  proceeding  with  the  construction  and  equip- 
ment of  the  plants  from  funds  received  from  the  sale  of 
$500,000  bonds  sold  to  the  city  sinking  fund  commission. 
Bids  recently  opened  for  the  three  turbines  to  be  installed 
in  the  new  municipal  electric-light  plant  were  as  follows: 
Allis-Chalmers  Company,  $149,700;  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, $154,000;  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing 
Company,  $165,526.  The  lowest  bid  on  the  six  looo-hp  boil- 
ers, $83,858,  was  made  by  the  Babcock  &  Wilcox  Company. 
Contracts  will  be  awarded  shortly. 

Plan  Extensive  Hydroelectric  Developments  at  Windsor 
Locks,  Conn. — Tlie  expenditure  of  about  $5,000,000  for 
hydroelectric  developments  at  Windsor  Locks.  Conn.;  navi- 


gation of  the  Connecticut  River  as  far  north  as  Holyoke. 
Mass.,  by  means  of  a  barge  canal  around  the  dam  which  is 
to  be  built  at  Windsor  Locks,  and  the  construction  of  an 
auxiliary  steam  station  to  supplement  the  hydroelectric  de- 
velopment mentioned  above,  are  among  the  plans  which  the 
Stone  &  Webster  interests  will  carry  out  in  New  England. 
The  Connecticut  River  Company  is  to  be  absorbed  by  the 
Northern  Connecticut  Power  Company,  which  is  to  be 
incorporated  in  Connecticut  with  a  capital  of  $7,000,000. 

Recent  Dominion  Power  &  Transmission  Company 
Changes. — The  board  of  directors  of  the  Dominion  Power 
&  Transmission  Company,  Flamilton,  Ont.,  Can.,  on  Oct.  g 
made  the  following  appointments:  Managing  director,  Wil- 
liam C.  Hawkins,  formerly  secretary  and  general  manager; 
general  manager,  Edward  P.  Coleman,  formerly  manager 
of  railways;  general  superintendent  of  light  and  power, 
William  G.  Angus,  formerly  electrical  engineer  of  the  rail- 
way division;  general  superintendent  of  railways,  George 
E.  Waller,  who  has  held  the  position  of  general  freight, 
passenger  and  claim  agent  of  the  Dominion  company's  rail- 
way department. 

Manhattan  Electrical  Supply  Company  Increases  Capital 
Stock. — Stockholders  of  the  Manhattan  Electrical  Supply 
Company,  17  Park  Place,  New  York,  have  authorized  an 
increase  in  the  capital  stock  of  the  company  from  $750,000 
to  $5,000,000.  The  directors  have  decided  upon  a  100  per 
cent  stock  dividend.  In  addition  to  this  they  have  made 
an  allotment  of  stock  to  be  sold  to  employees  at  not  less 
than  par.  The  increase  has  been  made  with  the  intention 
of  enlarging  both  the  manufacturing  and  distributing  fa- 
cilities of  the  compan3'.  .Announcement  of  the  date  on 
which  the  dividend  will  be  paid  and  of  closing  of  the 
books  will  be  made  hereafter. 

Merchants'  Heat  &  Light  Company  Bonds. — An  offering 
of  $2,255,000  refunding-mortgage  5  per  cent  ten-year  gold 
bonds  of  the  Merchants'  Heat  &  Light  Company,  of  Indian- 
apolis, is  being  made  by  Lee,  Higginson  &  Company  at 
07j4  and  interest,  to  yield  more  than  5.30  per  cent.  This 
company,  as  was  noted  in  these  columns  Sept.  28,  has  been 
reorganized,  and  controlling  interest  in  it  has  been  vested 
in  a  new  holding  concern,  the  Merchants'  Public  Utilities 
Company.  The  Merchants'  Heat  &  Light  continues  opera- 
tion as  a  separate  concern, 

Otis  Elevator  Business  Shows  Increase. — .Ml  of  the  plants 
of  the  Otis  Elevator  Company  in  this  country  are  under- 
stood to  be  operating  at  full  output,  and  that  in  Berlin  is 
also  operating  on  a  satisfactory  scale.  The  business  of  the 
company  this  year  is  at  a  much  larger  rate  than  that  in 
1911,  and  from  present  indications,  igi2  will  be  the  best 
year  in  the  history  of  the  company.  Contracts  recently 
closed  by  the  company  call  for  elevators  in  all  parts  of  this 
country  and  for  numerous  installations  abroad. 

New  England  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Bonds. — A  block 
of  $10,000,000  5  per  cent  twenty-year  gold  bonds  of  the  New 
England  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  was  offered  this 
week  by  Kidder,  Peabody  &  Company,  of  Boston  and  New 
York,  at  par  and  accrued  interest.  The  total  debt  of  the 
•company,  including  this  issue  of  bonds,  amounts  to  $12,- 
500.000,  and  the  present  capitalization  to  $43,061,600.  Net 
earnings  in  the  year  ended  Dec.  31,  1911,  was  $3,130,803. 

McCrum-Howell  Subscriptions  Large. — Subscription  pay- 
ments to  the  new  stock  of  the  McCrum-Howell  Company, 
in  accordance  with  the  reorganization  plan  recently  noted  in 
these  columns,  are  understood  to  be  coming  in  on  a  very 
liberal  scale.  Many  of  the  larger  stockholders  have  paid 
tiieir  share  or  have  signified  their  willingness  10  do  so 
before  the  time  to  participate  in  the  plan  expires. 

Evansville   (Ind.)   Public  Utilities  Merger  Approved. — .\ 

demurrer  of  the  Public  Utilities  Company  of  Evansville, 
Ind..  to  the  suit  seeking  dissolution  of  the  merger  of  the 
Evansville  and  Southern  Indiana  Traction  Company  and 
the  Evansville  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company  and  the 
Evansville  Public  Service  Company  has  been  sustained. 

Burlington  (Wis.)  Company  Reported  Sold. — It  is  re- 
ported that  the  Burlington  Light  &  Power  Company  of 
Burlington.  Wis.,  a  city  of  3500  inhabitants  about  35  miles 
.southwest  of  Milwaukee,  has  been  sold  to  the  recently  or- 
.ganized  Wisconsin  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  reference  to 
which  appeared  in  these  columns  Oct.  5  and  12. 


October  ig,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


847 


Reorganization  of  Piatt  Iron  Works  Company  Com- 
pleted.— On  June  22  there  appeared  in  these  columns  a 
statement  to  the  effect  that  ample  working  capital  and  ade- 
quate funds  for  future  development  had  been  provided  for 
the  Piatt  Iron  Works  Company  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  through 
a  reorganization  plan  that  would  be  adopted  by  a  majority 
of  the  creditors  of  the  company.  The  latter,  as  is  well 
known,  manufactures  air  compressors,  blowers,  feed-water 
heaters,  pumps,  etc.  The  reorganization  plan  referred  to 
above  has  now  been  declared  operative,  and  as  a  result  a  new 
company,  recently  incorporated  under  Maine  laws,  has 
taken  over  the  physical  assets,  inventory  and  other  prop- 
erties of  the  former  company  and  is  carrying  on  the  busi- 
ness under  the  same  name,  free  from  all  floating  indebted- 
ness and  with  a  working  capital  of  $700,000.  Its  president 
is  J.  B.  Reichmann,  and  the  other  officers  are:  E.  F.  Piatt, 
vice-president  and  treasurer;  J.  F.  Hartlieb,  vice-president, 
and  John  Sturgess,  secretary.  Waddill  Catchings,  presi- 
dent of. the  Central  Foundry  Company,  New  York,  is  chair- 
man of  the  board  of  directors.  The  capitalization  of  the 
new  company  consists  of  $1,100,000  non-cumulative  pre- 
ferred stock,  $1,000,000  common  stock  and  $700,000  6  per 
cent  twenty-year  gold  bonds.  The  entire  organization  of 
the  former  company,  including  the  engineering  force,  su- 
perintendents and  foremen  in  the  production  department, 
has  been  kept  intact.  Improvements  and  betterments  cost- 
ing about  $50,000  are  now  under  construction. 

Allis-Chalmers  Assessments. — The  second  instalment  of 
the  assessments  on  the  preferred  and  common  stocks  of  the 
Allis-Chalmers  Company  was  payable  on  Oct.  16.  After 
this  payment,  $7  on  the  common  and  $14  on  the  preferred 
will  be  forthcoming.  The  company's  orders  for  power 
transformers  in  the  past  four  weeks  were  the  largest  in  its 
history. 


INDUSTRIAL  SECURITIES. 


Security, 


Allis-Chalmers  t.  r.  1st  as- 

^  sess.  paid 

Allis-Chalmers  pf 

Allis-Chalmers  pf.  t.  r.  1st 

assess,  paid 

Amalgamated  Copper.  . ... 

American  Tel.  &  Tel 

Crocker- Wheeler,  c 

Crocker- Wheeler,  pf 

Electric  Storage  Battery ,c. 

General  Electric 

Mackay  Cos.,  c 

Mackay  Cos..  pf 

Western  Union  Tel 

Westinghouse  E.  &  M..  c. 
Westinghouse,  E.  &  M.,  pf 

*Last  price  quoted. 


Capital  Stock 
Listed. 


$17,125,800 
2,083,800 

13.966,200 

153,887,900 

334,303,300 

1,700.000 

500.000 

16,074,425 

77,726,700 

41,380,400 

50,000,000 

99,743.400 

31,685,300 

3,998,700 


Per  Cent.   Period. 


i 
i 

5 

i 

J 


Q 
Q 
0 
Q 

0 
Q 
Q 
0 
0 
Q 


QUOTATION, 


Oct.  9.     Oct.  16 


i* 

2i 

3i 
89} 

143i 
89* 

104* 
56i 

183i 
87* 
685* 
8li 
84} 

126* 


4 
2* 

89| 
1434 

88* 
105* 

56 
1824 

861* 

68i* 

79 

84i 
126* 


NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET  PRICES. 

, ;— Oct.  9— ,       , Oct.  15 , 

Copper:                                                          Bid.         Asked.  Bid.       Asked. 

Standard,  spot  17.25         17.20         

£       s     d  £       s     d 

London,  standard,  spot 77       2     6  75        7     6 

Prime  Lake    17.70  to  17.75  17.62i4  to  17.75 

Electrolytic     17.70  to  17.75  17.50      to  17.70 

Casting   17.50  17.37J^  to  17.30 

Copner  v.-ire,  base 19.00  19.00 

Lead" 5.10  5.10 

Nickel    45.00  45.00 

Sheet  zinc,  f.o.b.  smelter 9.00  9.00 

Spelter,  spot    7.65  7.60 

Tin.  spot    49.75  49.35 

.-\luminum: 

Prompt  delivery   25.50  to  26.50  26.00  to  27.00 

Future    25.00  to  26.00  25.50  to  26.50 

OLD  METALS. 

Heavy  copper  and  wire 17.00  16.25 

Brass,  heavy   10.25,  10.25 

Brass,  light   8.75  8.75 

Lead,  heavy 4.75  4.75 

Zinc,  scrap    6.25  6.25 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  OCTOBER. 

Total   tons,  week  ending Oct.  8,  6.452  Oct.  15,  12,301 


Personal 

Mr.  E.  A.  Wright  has  resigned  his  position  with  the  Allis- 
Chalmers  Company,  Norwood,  Ohio,  to  become  manager  of 
the  Manhattan  Ice,  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  Manhattan, 
Kan. 

Mr.  William  G.  Ang^s,  formerly  assistant  to  the  general 
manager  of  the  Dominion  Power  &  Transmission  Company, 
Hamilton,  Ont.,  has  been  appointed  general  superintendent 
of  the  lighting  department  of  that  company. 

Mr.  Frank  G.  Baum,  who  has  been  consulting  engineer  for 
the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  of  San  Francisco,  Cal., 
has  accepted  the  position  of  chief  engineer  of  construction 
for  that  company.  Mr.  Baum  will  carry  on  the  work 
projected  by  the  late  James  H.  Wise. 

Mr.  Francis  Waller  Harris,  until  recently  general  manager 
of  the  Consolidated  Light  &  Power  Company,  Ronceverte, 
W.  Va.,  has  been  appointed  general  manager  of  the  Beacon 
Light  Company,  Chester,  Pa.,  which  is  owned  and  controlled 
by  the   Philadelphia  Electric  Company. 

Mr.  F.  C.  Clark  has  been  appointed  chief  engineer  of  the 
Toronto  (Ont.)  Railway,  the  Toronto  Power  Company  and 
the  Electrical  Development  Company  of  Ontario,  to  suc- 
ceed Mr.  W.  H.  Fisher,  who  has  been  acting  temporarily 
since  Mr.  W.  B.  Boyd  resigned  a  short  time  ago. 

Dr.  William  Marconi,  who  met  with  an  automobile  acci- 
dent which  caused  an  injury  to  one  of  his  eyes',  the  condi- 
tion of  which  was  reported  as  improving,  as  noted  in  recent 
issues,  is  still  unable  to  see  with  the  injured  eye,  and  doubt 
is  being  expressed  as  to  the  recovery  of  sight. 

Mr.  G.  T.  Simpson  has  been  appointed  contract  agent  for 
the  Des  Moines  Electric  Company,  succeeding  Mr.  J.  L. 
Bradlield,  who  resigned  to  engage  in  commercial  work  in 
Seattle,  Wash.  Mr.  Simpson  was  formerly  specialties  en- 
gineer for  the  St.  Paul  (Minn.)  Gas  Light  Company. 

Mr.  F.  S.  Johnson  has  been  appointed  superintendent  of 
the  Rocky  Ford  (Col.)  division  of  the  Arkansas  Valley 
Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company.  This  division  com- 
prises Rocky  Ford,  Fowler,  Manzanola  and  vicinity.  Mr. 
Johnson  was  formerly  connected  with  the  new-business 
department  of  the  company. 

Prof.  O.  J.  Ferguson,  who  succeeds  Prof.  G.  H.  Moore  as 
head  of  the  department  of  electrical  engineering  at  the 
University  of  Nebraska,  Lincoln,  comes  from  the  faculty  of 
Union  College,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  He  is  a  1903  graduate 
of  Nebraska,  and  after  leaving  school  entered  the  appren- 
ticeship course  of  the  General  Electric  Company  at  Sche- 
nectady. Prof.  Moore  retires  to  do  private  professional 
work. 

Mr.  Frank  E.  Watts,  the  newly  elected  Jupiter  of  the 
Jovian  order,  was  born  in  Sunbury,  near  Columbus,  Ohio, 

thirty-four  years  ago  and 
was  educated  in  the  Colum- 
bus public  schools.  He  has 
been  connected  with  the  in- 
candescent-lamp business 
for  about  five  years  and  is 
now  manager  of  the  East- 
ern branch  of  the  Sunbeam 
lamp  department  of  the 
Western  Electric  Company, 
with  headquarters  at  New 
York.  Mr.  Watts  served 
as  statesman  for  New  York 
last  season  under  Tenth 
Jupiter  Jaynes.  He  organ- 
ized and  was  largely  re- 
sponsible for  the  marked 
success  of  the  Jovian 
Lunch  Club  in  New  York 
City.  Mr.  Watts  lives  at 
member  of  the  Essex  County 


FRANK   E.    WATTS. 


N. 


and  is  a 


West  Orange, 
Country  Club. 

Mr.  Wentworth  P.  Johnson  has  been  appointed  manager 
of  the  New  York  office  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company. 
For  the  last  nine  years  he  has  been  the  European  financial 


848 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  16. 


agent  of  the  International  Harvester  Company,  residing  in 
London.  He  is  an  old  friend  and  business  associate  of  Mr. 
Byllesby,  having  been  connected  with  the  old  Northwest 
General  Electric  Company,  of  St.  Paul.  Minn.,  a  number  of 
years  ago.     Mr.  Johnson  was  born  in  Norfolk,  Va.,  in  1859. 

Mr.  H.  T.  Edgar,  formerly  manager  of  the  Seattle  Divi- 
sion of  the  Puget  Sound  Traction,  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, has  been  appointed  district  manager  of  all  of  Stone  & 
Webster's  properties  in  the  Central  Western  States.  Mr. 
Edgar's  headquarters  will  be  in  Boston  and  he  will  have 
charge  of  the  properties  at  Houghton,  Mich.,  Paducah,  Ky., 
and  the  great  hydroelectric  plant  now  under  construction 
on  the  Mississippi  River  at  Keokuk,  Iowa.  Before  going 
to  Seattle  he  was  in  charge  of  Stone  &  Webster's  proper- 
ties at  Fort  Worth  and  El  Paso,  Tex.,  and  still  earlier  held 
a  similar  position  at  Lowell  and  Brockton,  Mass. 

Mr.  Karl  E.  Eriksson,  of  Stockholm,  Sweden,  has  arrived 
in  this  country  for  the  purpose  of  studying  American  prac- 
tice in  high-tension  engineering.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Royal  Technical  Institute  of  Stockholm,  and  was  engaged 
there  as  instructor  in  the  department  of  electrical  engineer- 
ing during  the  years  1908-1912.  During  the  last  two  years 
he  has  also  been  retained  by  the  Swedish  patent  office  as 
expert  on  electrical  matters.  He  has  conducted  research 
work  pertaining  to  high-tension  phenomena  and  has  written 
a  number  of  articles  on  corona  effects,  protection  of  high- 
tension  lines  and  other  matters  of  a  theoretical  character, 
all  of  which  have  been  published  in  the  organ  of  the  Swedish 
Technological  Society. 

Gen.  George  H.  Harries,  who  retired  last  month  as  presi- 
dent of  the  Association  of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies, 
was  elected  president  of  the  American  Electric  Railway 
Association  in  Chicago  on  Oct.  10.  He  is  a  man  of  many 
responsibilities,  being  president  of  the  Louisville  Gas  Com- 
pany, Arkansas  Valley  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company 
and  the  Fargo  &  Moorhead  Street  Railway  Company,  as 
well  as  vice-president  of  the  Northern  State  Power  Com- 
pany, Minneapolis  General  Electric  Company  and  the  Con- 
sumers' Power  Company  of  Minneapolis.  All  the  companies 
named  are  controlled  by  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company. 
General  Harries  is  also  a  member  of  the  public  policy  com- 
mittee of  the  National  Electric  Light  .Association  and  be- 
longs to  several  other  societies.  For  several  years  he  was 
a  public  service  operator  in  Washington,  D.  C,  and  in 
1910  he  was  president  of  the  Washington  Board  of  Trade. 

Mr.  Kern  Dodge,  who  has  recently  opened  an  office  in 
Philadelphia,  where  he  will  make  a  specialty  of  the  en- 
gineering and  financing  of  public-service  properties,  as  an- 
nounced in  our  issue  of 
Oct.  12,  was  born  in  Chi- 
cago, 111.,  on  July  20.  1880. 
His  education  was  acquired 
at  the  Germantown  (Pa.) 
Academy  and  the  Drexel 
Institute,  Philadelphia,  his 
family  having  moved  to  the 
latter  city  during  his  boy- 
hood. His  father,  Mr. 
James  Mapes  Dodge,  was 
president  of  the  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  En- 
gineers, 1904-1905.  Kern 
Dodge,  having  inherited  his 
father's  engineering  tastes, 
entered  the  course  in  me- 
chanical engineering  at 
Drexel  Institute,  and  soon 
after  his  graduation  became 

chief  electrician  of  the  Link  Belt  Engineering  Company. 
In  1902  he  became  associated  with  Mr.  Charles  Day  under 
the  firm  name  of  Dodge  &  Day,  consulting  engineers,  mak- 
ing a  specialty  of  construction  work  for  industrial  plants 
and  railroads.  Mr.  Dodge  is  a  member  of  the  Union 
League.  Engineers',  Automobile  and  Germantown  Cricket 
Clubs,  the  Franklin  Institute  of  Philadelphia,  the  American 
Institute  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  the  New  York  Electrical 
Society  and  the  Aero  Club  of  America. 

Mr.  Martin  Schreiber,  who  was  elected  president  of  the 
American  Electric  Railway  Engineering  Association  at  its 
convention    in    Chicago    last    week,    was    born    in    fronton. 


KERN     DODGE. 


Ohio.  He  obtained  his  early  education  in  civil  engineering 
by  association  with  his  father,  who  was  a  general  con- 
tractor. He  was  graduated  from  the  Ohio  State  University 
in  1899  with  the  degree  of  mechanical  engineer.  From 
that  time  until  1903  he  was  connected  with  the  Cleveland 
Electric  Railway  and  at  the  time  he  went  to  the  Public 
Service  Corporation  of  New  Jersey  he  was  engineer  of 
power-house  design  and  construction.  His  first  position 
with  the  Public  Service  Corporation  of  New  Jersey  was 
that  of  assistant  engineer,  and  in  1905  he  acted  as  engineer 
in  charge  of  the  design  and  construction  of  the  Plank  Road 
shops,  Newark,  N.  J.,  being  at  present  engineer  of  main- 
tenance of  way  to  the  Public  Service  Railway,  of  Newark, 
N.  J.  His  other  society  memberships  include  the  .American 
Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  the  American  Society  of  Testing  Mate- 
rials, the  National  Electric  Light  Association  and  the  New 
York  Railroad  Club. 

Mr.  C.  G.  M.  Thomas,  who  was  elected  president  of  the 
Empire  State  Gas  &  Electric  Association  at  its  meeting 
held  in  New  York  on   Oct.  9,  as  announced  in  last  week's 

issue,  was  born  in  New 
York  City  on  July  2,  1866, 
of  Welsh  parentage.  His 
education  was  acquired  in 
the  public  schools  of  the 
city  and  in  the  College  of 
the  City  of  New  York. 
From  1884  to  1888,  when 
he  entered  the  employ  of 
the  Standard  Gas  Light 
Company  of  New  York, 
he  was  engaged  in  the  fire 
insurance  business.  He 
continued  with  the  gas- 
light company  until  1901, 
during  which  period  he 
filled  various  posts,  being 
intrusted  with  the  man- 
agement of  the  company's 
offices  and  distribution  departments  in  the  territory  known 
as  the  Harlem  district,  the  Columbus  district  and  in  the 
Bronx  from  about  1893  up  to  the  time  he  severed  his  con- 
nection with  the  company.  While  with  the  gas  company  he 
was  also  president  of  the  New  Paltz  &  Wallkill  Valley  Rail- 
road, which  operated  a  trolley  from  Poughkeepsie  to  New 
Paltz.  He  was  also  vice-president  and  treasurer  of  the 
Middletown-Goshen  Traction  Company  in  Orange  County. 
Mr.  Thomas  was  elected  vice-president  and  general  man- 
ager of  the  Newtown-Flushing  Gas  Company  in  1901,  now 
known  as  the  New  York  &  Queens  Gas  Company.  Dur- 
ing this  same  period  he  was  vice-president  and  general  man- 
ager of  the  Williamsport  (Pa.)  Gas  Company  and  of  the 
Dallas  (Tex.)  Gas  Company.  Mr.  Thomas  gave  up  all  of 
these  interests  in  1907,  when  he  was  elected  vice-president 
and  general  manager  of  the  New  York  &  Queens  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company.  Long  Island  City.  N.  Y.,  which 
position  he  still  holds.  He  is  also  a  director  of  the  New 
York  &  Queens  Gas  Company  and  the  New  York  &  Queens 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  in  addition  to  being  con- 
nected with  a  number  of  financial  and  industrial  concerns 
in  Flushing,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Thomas  is  also  a  member  of  many 
fraternal  and  social  clubs.  In  the  public-utility  field  he  is  a 
member  of  the  American  Gas  Light  .Association,  the  Ohio 
Gas  Light  Association,  the  National  Electric  Light  Asso- 
ciation, the  Illuminati'ng  Engineering  Society  and  the  Em- 
pire State  Gas  and  Electric  Association. 


C.    G.    M.    THOMAS. 


Obituary 


Mr.  William  P.  Abbey,  formerly  president  of  the  Sunder- 
land (Mass.)  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  died  sud- 
denly at  his  home  in  North  Sunderland,  Mass.,  on  Oct.  5. 
He  had  been  ill  for  a  short  time  with  rheumatism,  but  heart 
trouble,  probably  induced  by  rheumatism,  caused  his  death. 
Mr.  Abbey  was  born  in  Sunderland  on  Aug.  i,  1876.  In 
addition  to  his  business  interests  Mr.  Abbey  was  active  in 
civic  and  church  affairs.  He  was  actively  interested  in  the 
electric  company  until  quite  recently. 


October  19,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


849 


Construction 


BIRMINGHAM,  ALA.— The  Birmingham  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  plan- 
ning to  build  a  substation  on  the  North  Birmingham  line.  The  cost  of  the 
equipment  is  estimated  at  about  $30,000. 

GADSDEN,  ALA. — Plans  have  been  prepared  by  the  Alabama  Pwr. 
Devel.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  10,000  kw  steam  plant  here.  A 
power  station  150  ft.  x  160  ft.,  of  concrete  and  brick,  costing  $300,000, 
will  be  erected.  The  work  will  be  done  by  the  company.  Sargent  & 
Lundy,   Railway   Exchange,   Chicago,    111.,   are   consulting   engineers. 

HUNTSVILLE,  ALA. — Extensive  improvements  will  be  made  to  the 
local  power  plant,  railway  and  equipment  of  the  Alabama  Interstate  Pwr. 
Co.,  involving  an  expenditure  of  about  $50,000. 

SPEIGNER.  ALA. — The  power  house  for  the  power  plant  at  the  prison 
cotton  mill  at  Speigner's  has  been  completed  and  machinery  will  be 
installed  as  soon  as  the  dam  is  completed.  The  proposed  plant  will  have 
an   output   of   about    160   hp. 

TUSCALOOSA,  ALA. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Birming- 
ham &  Gulf  Railway  &  Nav.  Co.,  for  equipping  its  tracks  in  this  city 
for  electrical  operation.  The  power  house  will  be  locaietl  at  Riverview, 
east  of  the  city. 

TUCSON,  ARIZ. — The  Tucson  Farms  Co.,  which  is  building  a  large 
irrigation  system  near  Tucson,  is  planning  to  install  three  power  plants 
at  the  head  of  the  ditch. 

WILLIAMS,  ARIZ.— The  Williams  Wtr.  &  EI.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
State  Corporation  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  bonds  to  the  amount 
of  $250,000  for  the  purpose  of  installing  a  new  electric-light  plant  and 
water-works  system.  The  Williams  Company  has  taken  over  the  property 
of  the  Grand  Canyon  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.   Co. 

ARKANSAS  CITY,  ARK. — A  committee  has  been  appointed  by  the  City 
Council  to  look  into  the  question  of  establishing  a  municipal  electric-light 
plant,  water-works  and  sewerage  systems. 

NEWPORT,  ARK.— The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  People's  Lt..  Wtr. 
&  Pwr.  Co.  have  been  purchased  by  the  Co-operative  El.  Co.,  which  was 
recently  granted  a  franchise  here.  The  consideration  is  said  to  be  about 
$25,000.     H.    B.  Crossland  is  interested  in  the  Co-operative  company. 

B.AKERSFIELD,  CAL. — Surveys  have  been  completed  for  the  trans- 
mission line  of  the  Pacific  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  from  its  No.  2  plant  in  Crane 
Valley  above  Fresno  to  Los  Angeles.  The  cost  of  the  plant  in  Crane  Val- 
ley and  transmission  line  is  estimated  at  about  $6,000,000.  The  Stone  He 
Webster    Engr.    Corp.,    Boston,    Mass.,    has    the   contract. 

BANNING,  CAL. — Investigations  are  being  made  by  W.  E.  Boden  and 
H.  S.  Williamson,  representing  Redlands  capitalists,  with  a  view  of  es- 
tablishing an   elect ric-hght   plant   here. 

BERKELEY,  CAL. — Four  ordinances  calling  for  bond  elections  have 
been  put  into  circulation  under  the  auspices  of  the  Municipal  League  of 
California,  one  of  which  calls  for  an  issue  of  $475,000  in  bonds  for  a 
municipal  electric-light  plant;  another  for  $800,000  for  a  municipal  deep- 
well   water  supply  to  be  operated  by  electrically  driven  machinery. 

CAMPTONVILLE,  CAL.— F.  S.  Labodie  is  contemplating  the  installa- 
tion of  a  small   lighting  plant  on  his  hotel   grounds  here. 

FRESNO,  CAL. — Preliminary  arrangements  are  being  made  and  the 
right-of-way  secured  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  from 
Fresno  to  Barstow  Colony  and  LaLhrup.  J.  B.  Rogers,  of  San  Francisco, 
is  interested. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — The  city  is  planning  to  install  a  larger  light- 
ing system  in   the   North   Broadway  tunnel. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  R.  H.  Manahan, 
city  electrician,  for  the  installation  of  ornamental  street  lamps  on  Sixth, 
Seventh,  Eight  and  Ninth  Streets  and  on  Hill  Street  and  San  Pedro 
Street.  Pedestals  similar  to  those  on  Spring  Street  will  be  used.  The 
total  length  of  the  new  lighting  system  will  be  over  8  miles. 

OROVILLE,  CAL. — The  Pacific  Gas  &  El.  Co.  is  planning  to  erect  a 
transmission  line  into  Oroville  and  to  install  a  transforming  station  and 
distributing  system  in  this  district. 

RIVERSIDE,  CAL. — The  City  Trustees  are  considering  the  purchase 
of  water  rights  of  Prof.  C.  G.  Baldwin  in  Mill  Creek. 

SAN  DIEGO,  CAL.— Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Nov.  1,  for  an  electric  passenger  elevator  in  the  United  States  post  oflfice 
and  court  house,  San  Diego,  in  accordance  with  drawings  and  specifica- 
tions, copies  of  which  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office.  Oscar  Wende- 
roth  is  supervising  architect. 

SAN  FRANCISCO.  CAL. — At  an  election  to  be  held  in  December  the 
proposition  to  issue  $6,000,000  in  bonds  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal 
telephone  system   will   be  submitted  to  a  vote. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. — The  contract  for  wiring  the  reinforced  con- 
crete hotel  building  being  erected  on  Mason  Street  by  William  F.  Wilson, 
of  135  Stevenson  Street.  San  Francisco,  has  been  awarded  to  the  Central 
Electrical   Plumbing  &  Heating  Co.  for  $4,450. 

SAN  FRANCISCO.  CAL.— The  United  Railroads  of  San  Francisco  has 
advised  the  Board  of  Supervisors  that  the  overhead  high-tension  wires  on 
Fillmore  Street  would  be  placed  in  conduits  in  Webster  Street  from  Turk 
Street  to  Broadway  by  July  1,  1913.     The  cost  is  estimated  at  $60,000. 

SAN  JOSE,  CAL. — The  Southern  Pacific  Co.  is  contemplating  equipping 


one  of  its  steam  roads  for  electrical  operation  between  San  Jose  and 
San  Francisco  or  building  a  complete  new  electric  system  between  these 
points. 

VALLEJO,  CAL.— The  Vallcjo  &  Northern  El.  R.  R.  Co.  has  been 
granted  permission  by  the  State  Railroad  Commission  to  issue  bonds  to 
the  amount  of  $5,500,000  for  extensions  of  its  line  from  a  point  near 
Vallejo  to  Sacramento,  a  distance  of  58  miles.  This  line  will  be  finished 
by  the  fall  of  1913.  It  is  proposed  to  build  several  branches,  bringing 
the  total  mileage  to   119  miles  on  the  northern   division. 

TRINIDAD,  COL. — Interests  connected  with  the  Central  Park  Amuse- 
ment Co.  are  contemplating  the  organization  of  a  company  to  build  a  large 
electric  plant,  to  cost  $60,000,  at  the  edge  of  Central  Park  and  to  operate 
an   electric  railway  in  Trinidad  and  to  the   surrounding  coal  camps. 

MERIDEN,  CONN. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  town  school  commit- 
tee, City  Hall,  Meriden,  until  Nov.  1,  for  erecting  complete  a  high  school 
building.  Bids  may  be  submitted  for  the  entire  work  or  separately  for  the 
following  items:  Heating  and  ventilating,  plumbing,  electric  work  and  gen- 
eral construction.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  seen  at  the  office  of 
the  committee  and  also  at  the  office  of  Guilbert  &  Betelle,  665  Broad 
Street,  Newark,  N.  J.  Copies  of  drawings  and  specifications  may  be 
secured  from  the  architects  upon  deposit  of  $50.  Denis  T.  O'Brien,  Jr., 
is  clerk  of  committee. 

WINDSOR  LOCKS,  CONN.— Negotiations  have  been  closed  whereby 
the  Coffin  interests  in  the  Connecticut  River  Co.  have  united  with  the 
Northern  Connecticut  Securities  Co.  in  the  formation  of  a  new  $7,000,- 
000  corporation  to  build  a  dam  and  new  locks  at  Windsor  Locks,  about 
4}/^  miles  below  the  present  Enfield  dam.  The  new  company  asks  for  a 
federal  charter  for  carrying  out  its  plans,  which  will  include  a  new  dam, 
to  develop  about  35.000  hp.  dredging  of  the  Connecticut  River  north 
of  Hartford  and  the  opening  of  navigation  with  Springfield  and  Holyoke. 
.\n  auxiliary  steam  plant  will  be  erected  on  the  tidewater  and  trans- 
mission  lines  will  be  erected  throughout  the  State  of  Connecticut. 

GAINESVILLE,  FLA. — The  City  Council  has  engaged  an  engineer  to 
prepare  plans  and  specifications,  estimates  of  costs,  etc.,  for  the  proposed 
electric-light  plant  for  which  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $35,000  have  been 
voted. 

JACKSONVILLE,  FLA.— The  Jacksonville  Interurban  Ry.  &  Tunnel 
Co.  is  planning  to  construct  tunnels  under  St.  James  River  from  Jackson- 
ville to  South  Jacksonville,  and  to  build  an  electric  railway  from  Jackson- 
ville to  Pablo  Beach  and  St.  Augustine,  a  distance  of  45  miles. 

NARCOOSSEE,  FLA.— The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  in 
the  Runnymede  Hotel  is  contemplated.     Jacob  Yung  is  manager. 

ATLANTA,  GA.— Bids  are  being  asked  by  the  Board  of  County  Com- 
missioners for  electric  wiring,  steam  heating  and  plumbing  for  the  Ful- 
ton  County  court  house. 

MEIGS,  GA. — The  City  Council  has  awarded  a  contract  for  the  instal- 
lation of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  here,  to  cost  about  $21,000. 

SAVANNAH,  GA. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
the  supervising  architect,  Treasury  Department,  Washington.  D.  C,  until 
Nov.  6  for  a  conduit  and  wiring  system,  gas  piping  and  lighting  fixtures  in 
the  United  States  custom  house,  etc.,  Savannah,  Ga.,  in  accordance  with 
drawings  and  specifications,  copies  of  which  may  be  obtained  at  the  above 
ofl^ce  or  at  the  office  of  the  custodian.  Savannah.  Oscar  Wenderoth  is 
supervising  architect. 

WAYCROSS.  GA. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  City  Council  by 
George    W.    Deen    for    an    electric-light    franchise. 

CARROLLTON,  ILL.— Bids  opened  by  the  City  Council  for  motor 
and  other  machinery  for  the  city  water-works  pumping  station  included 
an  offer  from  the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Co.  to  furnish  elec- 
tricity to  operate  the  pumping  station  at  2.96  cents  per  kw-hour  under  a 
10-year   contract. 

CHICAGO,  ILL. — -Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
business  manager  of  the  Board  of  Education,  730  Tribune  Building,  Chi- 
cago, until  Oct.  23,  for  electrical  work,  telephones  and  bells  for  the  Rav- 
ens wood  School.  Paulina  Street  and  Montrose  Avenue ;  also  for  electri- 
cal work  for  the  C.  A.  Thorpe  School,  West  Foster  Avenue,  near  Lincoln 
Avenue,  in  accordance  with  plans  and  specifications  prepared  by  A.  F. 
Hussander,  acting  architect  of  the  board,  and  N.  L.  Patterson,  acting 
chief  engineer,  which  may  be  seen  at  the  office  of  the  architect,  741 
Tribune    Bu'lding. 

CHICAGO,  ILL. — Plans  are  reported  to  be  under  way  for  an  entrance 
of  the  Illinois  Trac.  System  into  Chicago  by  the  way  of  Joliet,  Hinsdale. 
LaGrange  and  Berwynn,  forming  an  interurban  chain  between  St.  Louis 
and  Chicago.  To  carry  out  the  project  it  will  be  necessary  to  build  32 
miles  of  new   road. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect,  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Nov. 
4,  for  installation  complete  of  an  electric  passenger  elevator  in  the 
United  States  Marine  Hospital,  Chicago,  111.,  in  accordance  with  drawings 
and  specifications,  copies  of  which  can  be  obtained  at  the  above  office  or 
at  the  office  of  the  custodian,  Chicago.  Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising 
architect. 

DEKALB.  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  appropriated  $1,600  to  be  placed 
with  a  fund  of  $3,200  by  the  Commercial  Club  for  the  installation  of 
ornamental  lamps  on  Main  Street.  Arrangements  for  the  installation  of 
the  lamps  will  be  made  by  the  light  committee  of  the  Council  and  a 
committee   of  the   Commercial   Club. 


8so 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


GILMAN,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Union  Central 
El.  Co.  a  30-year  franchise  to  erect  and  maintain  an  electric-light  system 
in  Oilman.  A  contract  for  street  lighting  is  contemplated  and  incan- 
descent lamps  may  be  substituted   for  arc  lamps  now  in  use. 

HARVARD,  ILL. — The  North  Shore  El.  Co.,  of  Chicago,  has  pur- 
chased the  property  of  the  Harvard   Lt.   &  Pwr.  Co. 

IIILLSBORO,  ILL.— The  directors  of  the  Hillsboro  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  have  voted  to  increase  the  capital  stock  of  the  company  from  $100,- 
000  to  $500,000  and  to  change  the  name  of  the  company  to  the  Central 
Illinois  Utilities  Co.  Transmission  lines  will  be  erected  from  Hillsboro  to 
Greenville,  touching  Coffeen  and  Donnellson,  and  later  from  Greenville 
to  Gillespie,  and  another  line  to  Fillmore.  The  company  has  closed  a 
contract  with  the  Village  Board  at  Cofleen  to  furnish  electricity  for 
lighting   the   streets   of  the    village. 

HUNTLEY,  ILL.-^he  Village  Board  has  granted  the  Western  United 
Gas  &  El.   Co.,  of  Aurora,  a  50-year  franchise  to  operate  in  Huntley. 

IPAVA,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  granted  a  50-year  franchise  to  a 
company  said  to  represent  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Co.  For  the  pres- 
ent the  company  will  operate  the  local  plant,  but  on  Sept.  1,  1913,  it  will 
establish  a  24-hour  service.  Forty-seven  40-watt  tungsten  lamps  will  be 
installed. 

McLEAN,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  entered  into  a  contract  with 
the  Atlanta  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  village. 
The  company  will  also  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  here. 

MARSHALL,  ILL. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  an  ice  and  cold-storage  plant  here;  also  to  furnish  electricity  for 
lighting  the  city,  for  power  purposes  and  to  operate  the  water-works 
pumping  station.  C.  G.  Hallauer,  of  Areola,  is  interested  in  the  project. 
MORRISON,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  appointed  a  committee  to 
report  as  to  the  feasibility  of  establishing  an  electric-light  plant  in  con- 
nection with  the  water-works  station  to  supply  electricity  for  lighting 
the  streets  and  operating  the  pumping  station. 

MOUNT  STEELING,  ILL.— E.  V.  Graham,  representing  a  syndicate 
which  has  an  option  on  the  local  electric-light  plant,  has  applied  to  the 
City   Council    for   a   new   50-year   franchise. 

CHESTERTON,  IND. — Bids  are  being  asked  by  the  Chesterton  & 
Moore's  Hill  Tel.  Co.,  Chesterton,  for  material,  equipment  and  labor  for 
the  construction  of  a  telephone  system  in  Dearborn  County. 

COLUMBUS,  IND. — The  Citizens'  Tel.  Co.  will  soon  ask  for  bids  for 
furnishing  and  installing  a  new  switchboard  in  Columbus.  Other  tele- 
phone equipment  will  be  purchased. 

GOSHEN,  IND. — Plans  have  been  agreed  upon  for  the  complete  re- 
modeling of  the  municipal   electric-light  plant. 

GREENFIELD,  IND. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  County  Commis- 
sioners of  Hancock  until  Nov.  8  for  the  installation  of  pedestal  lamps 
around  the  Court  House  Square;  also  for  a  gasoline  lighting  system  at  the 
County   Poor  Asylum.      LawTence   Wood   is  county  auditor. 

DES  MOINES,  lA. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office 
of  the  Adjutant  General,  Des  Moines,  until  Oct.  25  for  furnishing  ma- 
terials and  constructing  an  electric  signal  and  telephone  system  at  the 
State  Rifle  Range,  near  Mid  River  Station,  about  12  miles  north  of  Iowa 
City.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  seen  at  the  above  oflfice  or  at 
the  office  of  Prof.  J.   B.   Hill,  Iowa  City,  engineer. 

MARSHALLTOWN,  lA.— J.  C.  Young,  of  the  Iowa  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co., 
has  submitted  a  plan  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting 
system   on    South  Third   Avenue,    to   cost   about   $2,000. 

OSKALOOSA,  lA.— The   Oskaloosa  Trac.   &  Lt.   Co.   has  increased   its 

capital   stock  from   $300,000   to   $500,000.      W.   W.    Williams   is  president. 

REDFIELD,   lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to  issue 

$15,000    for    the    installation    of    an    electric-light    plant    and    water-works 

system  was  carried. 

CORYDON,  KY. — The  Board  of  Aldermen  has  adopted  a  resolution 
to  submit  the  proposition  to  issue  bonds  for  the  construction  of  an 
electric-light  plant  on  Nov.  5. 

VERSAILLES,  KY.— The  Versailles  EI.  Lt.  Co.  is  planning  lo  est.ib- 
lish   a  24-hour  service  in  the  near  future. 

ALEXANDRIA,  LA. — The  committee  appointed  by  the  Council  to  look 
into  the  matter  of  furnishing  electricity  for  lighting  the  town  of  Pine- 
ville  has  reported  in  favor  of  the  project.  Two  plans  were  submitted, 
which    will   be   referred    to   the   Town    Council   of    Pineville. 

DON.ALDSONVILLE,  LA. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  improve- 
ments to  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system.  It  is 
proposed  to  substitute  gas  engines  for  the  steam  engines  now  in  use. 
Charles   Maurin   is   Mayor. 

DEXTER.  MAINE.— The  Street  Lighting  Commission  has  entered  into 
a  contract  with  the  Central  Maine  Pwr.  Co.  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the 
town  for  a  period  of  five  years,  under  which  the  company  agrees  to  fur- 
nish 100  lamps  at  $1,200  per  year.  The  street  lamps  now  in  use  will  be 
replaced  w-ith  tungsten  lamps. 

BALTIMORE,  MD.— Samuel  T.  Williams,  223  North  Calvert  Street, 
Baltimore,  it  is  reported,  would  like  to  receive  prices  on  a  100-kw  gen- 
erating unit  with  engine,  belted  or  direct-connected,  direct  or  alternating 
current,  110  to  120  volts. 

CENTERVILLE,  MD.— The  plant  of  the  Centerville  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  has  been  purchased  by  the  town  of  Centerville  to  be  owned  and 
operated  by  the  municipality.     The  price  paid  for  the  plant  was  $9,250. 


DEAL  ISLAND,  MD.— The  Eastern  Shore  Lt.  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
applied  to  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  $1,000,000 
in  capital  stock  and  general  mortgage  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $1,000,000. 
The  company  has  been  granted  a  charter  to  build  and  operate  an  electric 
railway  in  Somerset  and  Worcester  Counties  and  also  to  supply  electricity 
for  lighting  purposes.  Senator  Lewis  M.  Milbourne  is  president  of  the 
company. 

BOSTON,  MASS. — Mayor  Fitzgerald  will  soon  take  up  the  question  of 
improving  the  methods  of  lighting  the  principal  squares  of  the  city  with 
the   Edison  El.   Illg.    Co. 

BOSTON,  MASS.— The  New  England  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  has  sold  $10,- 
000,000  in  bonds,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  to  pay  off  the  present  floating 
indebtedness  and  to  provide  for  extensions  and  improvements  in  the  com- 
pany's service   during  the  year   1913. 

BOSTON,  MASS. — The  stockholders  of  the  Boston  &  Providence  R.  R. 
Co.  have  voted  to  equip  the  railroad  for  electrical  operation  between  Bos- 
ton and  Providence,  and  have  authorized  an  issue  of  bonds  not  exceeding 
$8,000,000  for  the  purpose  of  providing  funds  to  equip  the  main  line. 

DIGHTON,  MASS.— The  Selectmen  have  granted  the  Fall  River  El. 
Co.,  Fall  River,  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  Dighton. 

EAST  LONGMEADOW,  MASS.— The  Central  Massachusetts  El.  Co. 
has  purchased  a  site  here,  on  which  it  will  erect  a  substation. 

0'R.\NGE,  MASS. — The  towns  of  Orange  and  Athol  are  considering 
the  question  of  extending  the  lighting  system  along  the  entire  distance  of 
the  main  road  between  the  two  towns.  The  Orange  system  extends  nearly 
2  miles  along  the  road  and  from  Athol  it  extends  about  I'/z   miles. 

WEST  SPRINGFIELD,  MASS.— The  Boston  &  Albany  R.  R.  Co.  con- 
templates the  construction  of  an  addition  to  its  power  plant  here,  to  cost 
about   $30,000.      F.    B.    Freeman,   of   Boston,    is   engineer. 

BAY  CITY,  MICH.— The  Valley  Home  Tel.  Co.  has  asked  the  City 
Council  to  grant  certain  changes  in  its  franchise.  If  they  are  granted,  the 
company  agrees  to  erect  a  new  plant,  at  a  cost  of  about  $150,000. 

DETROIT,  MICH. — The  Palace  Model  Laundry  Co.  is  erecting  a 
power  plant  on  Pine  Street. 

DETROIT,  MICH. — Sealed  applications  will  be  received  at  the  U.  S. 
Lake  Survey  Office,  Old  Custom  House,  Detroit,  Mich.,  until  Oct.  31,  for 
permission  to  import  into  the  United  States  from  Canada  electrical  power 
generated  from  the  waters  of  Niagara  River.  Further  information  upon 
application  to  Lt.  Col.  Mason  M.  Patrick. 

FLINT,  MICH. — The  City  Council  has  granted  a  franchise  to  the  In- 
dependent Pwr.  Co.  for  an  electric  railway  from  Flint  to  Fenton. 

GRAND  RAPIDS,  MICH. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the 
Wyoming  Park  Improvement  Association  for  the  installation  of  an  elec- 
tric street-lighting  system  in  Wyoming  Park,  a  suburb  of  Grand  Rapids, 
electricity  to  be  furnished  by  the  Grand   Rapids-Muskegon  Pwr.   Co. 

HOLLY,  MICH. — Plans  have  been  approved  by  the  Michigan  State 
Tel.  Co.  for  improvements  to  the  long-distance  service  between  Grand 
Rapids  and   Holly,   involving  an  expenditure   of  about  $25,000. 

KALAMAZOO,  MICH.— The  Michigan  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  to  make 
improvements  and  extensions  to  its  local  system,  to  cost  about  $15,000. 

LANSING,  MICH. — The  Commonwealth  Pwr.  Co.  is  contemplating 
the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  between  Lansing  and  Grand  Rapids. 

LINDEN,  MICH.— The  Independent  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  contemplating 
the  installation   of  an   electric-light  system  here. 

MANISTEE,  MICH. — lEstimates  are  being  secured  by  the  city  of 
Manistee  for  the  installation  of  a  boulevard  lighting  system  in  the  busi- 
ness district. 

NEW  BALTIMORE,  MICH.— The  Detroit  United  Ry.  Co.  is  making 
extensive   improvements  to  its  plant  here. 

TECUMSEH.  MICH. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  installa- 
tion of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  business  district,  for 
which  $3,000  was  raised  among  the  merchants. 

MOORHEAD,  MINN.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Tri-State 
Teleg.  &  Tel.  Co.  permission  to  erect  wires  and  cables  along  certain 
streets  and  alleys  for  exclusive  long-distance  telephone  service. 

ROCHESTER,  MINN. — The  Zumbro  Pwr.  Co.  has  submitted  a  prop- 
osition to  the  City  Council  offering  to  build  a  hydroelectric  power  plant 
on  the  Zumbro  River  at  Zumbro  Falls  and  to  supply  electricity  to  operate 
the  municipal  electric-light  system  at  2  cents  per  kw-hour  for  the  first 
1,000,000  kw  and  !^  cents  for  all  above  that  amount;  the  company  also 
offers  to  give  the  city  $100,000  for  the  purchase  of  the  water  works  if  it 
accepts  the  contract.  Should  the  offer  be  accepted  the  electric-light  sta- 
tion, which  is  now  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  would  be  moved  to  the  site  of 
the  water-works  plant,  and  the  Zumbro  company  would  furnish  power  to 
operate  both  systems. 

BEVIER,  MO. — At  a  special  election  held  Oct.  8  the  proposition  to 
issue  $11,000  in  bonds  to  purchase  the  electric-light  plant  of  the  Bevier 
El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  was  defeated. 

KANS.-VS  CITY,  MO. — It  is  reported  that  plans  are  being  considered 
by  the  Mayor  to  issue  $2,000,000  in  bonds  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a 
distributing  system  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  this  city. 
Energy  for  operating  the  system  is  to  be  purchased  from  the  municipal 
electric-light  plant  in  Kansas  City,  Kan. 

NEVAD.-\.  MO. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $40,000  have  been  voted  to 
subscribe    to    the    construction    of    the    proposed    electric    railway    from 


I 


October  19,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


851 


Nevada  to  Lebanon,  which  is  to  be  built  by  Thompson  Brothers,  of  Kan- 
sas City,  Mo. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO. — The  Anheuser-Busch  Brewing  Association  is  plan- 
mug  to  build  a  power  house  at  1017-1019  Pestalozzi  Street,  St.  Louis,  to 
cost  about  $28,000. 

MISSOULA,  MONT. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office 
of  the  supervising  architect,  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C, 
until  Nov.  18  tor  installing  an  electric  passenger  elevator  in  the  United 
States  post  office,  Missoula,  in  accordance  with  drawings  and  specifica- 
tions, copies  of  which  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office  or  at  the  of- 
fice of  the  superintendent,  Missoula.  Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising 
architect. 

RED  LODGE,  MONT.— The  City  Council  has  awarded  the  contract 
for  installing  a  cluster  street-lighting  system  in  the  business  section  to 
W.  A.  Talmadge.  of  Red  Lodge,  for  $3,275.  The  contract  calls  for  32 
standards  carrying  five  lamps  each. 

BEATRICE,  NEB. — The  City  Council  is  planning  to  install  an  orna- 
mental street-lighting  system.  All  wires  will  be  placed  underground  in 
the  business  district. 

HARVARD,  NEB— The  Village  Council  has  granted  Elmer  L.  Jensen 
a  20-year  franchise  for  the  construction  of  an  electric-light  system  here. 
It  is  proposed  to  equip  the  plant  to  supply  a  24-hour  service.  The  cost  is 
estimated   at   about   $7,000. 

LINCOLN,  NEB. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
the  supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Nov.  29  for  extension,  remodeling,  etc.,  including  plumbing,  gas  piping, 
heating  apparatus,  electric  conduits  and  wiring  system,  interior  lighting 
fixtures  and  lifts  of  the  United  States  post  office  and  court  house  at  Lin- 
coln. Drawings  and  specifications  may  be  obtained  from  the  above  office 
or  from  the  custodian  at  Lincoln  after  Oct.  21.  Oscar  Wenderoth  is 
supervising  architect. 

FALLON,  NE  v.— Plans  are  being  considered  for  erecting  a  dis- 
tributing system  in  Fallon  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors 
and  also  for  street  lighting.  It  is  proposed  to  use  arc  lamps.  Electricity 
will  be  secured  from  the  government  dam  at  Lahonton,  a  transmission 
line  from  the  dam  having  already  been  erected. 

BELLEVILLE.  N.  J. — The  Council  has  instructed  the  lighting  com- 
mittee to  enter  into  a  contract  with  the  Public  Service  El.  Co.  for  the 
installation  of  arc  lamps  on  Washington  Avenue. 

HARRISON,  N.  J.— The  Council  has  granted  the  New  York  Tel.  Co. 
permission  to  construct  underground  conduits  on  Harrison  Avenue,  First, 
Second,   Third,   Seventh  and   Washington   Streets. 

NEW  BRUNSWICK,  N.  J.— The  Board  of  Freeholders  has  awarded 
the  contract  for  lighting  the  Albany  Street  bridge  to  the  Public  Service 
EI.  Co. 

PHILLIPSBURG,  N,  J.— The  special  committee  of  the  PhilHpsburg 
Board  of  Trade  in  charge  of  preliminary  plans  for  organizing  a  local 
electric  light,  heat  and  power  company,  has  appointed  a  sub-committee  to 
confer  with  Lehigh  Coal  &  Navigation  Co.  in  regard  to  entering  into  a 
contract  with  the  latter  to  supply  electricity  to  operate  the  proposed  plant. 
T.  F.   McPherson  is  a  member   of  the  sub-committee. 

CL.\VTON,  N.  Y.— The  Village  Board  has  granted  the  Watertown  Lt. 
&  Pwr.  Co.  a  perpetual  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and 
motors  here.     J.   B.  Taylor  is  treasurer, 

EAST  SCHODACK,  N.  Y.— The  Town  Board  has  been  authorized  to 
negotiate  with  the  Albany  Southern  R.  R.  Co.  to  install  and  maintain  a 
street-lighting  system  here  and  to  furnish  electricity  for  commercial  pur- 
poses. 

HOOSICK  FALLS,  N.  Y.— The  Village  Trustees  have  awarded  the  con- 
tract for  street  lighting  to  the  Twin  State  Gas  &  El  Co.  for  a  period  of 
five  years.  The  present  contract,  which  calls  for  66  arc  lamps  and  46  in- 
candescent lamps,  will  be  changed  to  about  36  arc  lamps,  91  tungsten 
lamps  of  32  cp  and  30  60-cp  tungsten  lamps. 

MIDDLETOWN,  N.  Y.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the 
State  Hospital  Commission,  Capitol,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  until  Oct.  30,  for 
power  house,  coal  pocket  and  conduit,  construction  and  plumbing  work 
at  the  Middletown  State  Homeopathic  Hospital,  Middletown.  Bids  are  to 
be  received  for  each  division  of  the  work  separately  and  no  combination 
of  bids  will  be  received.  Drawings  and  specifications  may  be  consulted 
and  blank  forms  of  proposals  obtained  at  the  Middletown  State  Homeo- 
pathic Hospital,  Middletown,  and  at  the  office  of  Herman  W.  Hoefer. 
Capitol,  Albany.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  obtained  upon  applica- 
tion to  the  state  architect.  T.  H.  McGarr  is  secretary  of  the  state  hospital 
commission. 

ONTARIO.  N.  Y. — A  petition  has  been  filed  with  the  town  clerk  asking 
for  the  establishment  of  an  electric  light  district  in  the  village  of  Ontario, 
extending  from  the  eastern  limits  of  the  village  to  a  point  west  of  Ontario 
Center,  the  contract  to  be  made  with  the  Sodus  Gas  &  El.  Co.  to  furnish 
the  service. 

OSWEGO.  N.  Y. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Retail  Mer- 
chants' Association  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting 
system  in  the  business  district  this  fall. 

RANDOLPH,  N.  Y.— The  Randolph  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  erecting  a 
new  power  house.  Two  new  150-hp  water-tube  boilers  have  been  installed 
and  other  improvements  are  under  way.  When  improvements  are  com- 
pleted a  24-hour  service  will  be  established  and  power  lines  extended  to  the 
mills  and   factories   in   the  village. 


ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. — The  retail  trade  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
has  adopted  a  resolution  recommending  the  chamber  to  use  its  influence 
with  the  City  Council  to  secure  the  adoption  of  the  magnetite  arc  lamps 
for    Main    Street. 

ROME,  N.  Y. — The  Rome  &  Oneida  El.  Ry.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
Public  Service  Commission  for  permission  to  build  an  electric  railway 
from  Rome  to  Westmoreland,  Verona  and  Oneida,  a  distance  of  about  13 
miles. 

NEWBERN,  N.  C— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen 
until  Oct.  22  for  rebuilding  and  remodeling  of  building  for  water  and 
light  plant.      F.   T.   Patterson  is  city  clerk. 

RANDLEMAN,  N.  C— The  Randleman  Pwr.  Co.  is  reported  to  be  in 
the  market  for  a  100-kw  direct-connected  generating  unit,  60  cycles,  2200 
volts,  three-phase;  four  valve  or  Corliss  engine  of  about  100-hp,  new  or 
second   hand. 

REYNOLDS,  N.  D.— The  proposition  to  issue  $5,000  in  bonds  for  the 
installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  will  be  submitted  to  the 
voters  on  Nov.  5. 

WILLISTON,  N.  D. — The  City  Council  has  entered  into  a  contract  with 
the  United  States  government  for  electricity  generated  at  the  irrigation 
plant.  Under  the  terms  of  the  contract  the  municipal  plan  will  be  held 
in  readiness  during  the  month  of  July  in  case  the  irrigation  plant  is  taxed 
to  its  capacity.  Electrically  driven  pumps,  switchboards  and  other  ma- 
chinery will  be  installed  at  the  power  house. 

CINCINNATI,  OHIO. — The  construction  of  a  six-story  power  plant  is 
contemplated  by  the  Graydon  estate.  The  proposed  plant  will  be  located 
at  Sixth  and  North  Streets  and  will  cost  about  $75,000.  Elzner  &  An- 
derson are  architects. 

CINCINNATI,  OHIO.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Lunken- 
heimer  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  new  power  plant  in  connection  with 
its  works  at  Main  and  Eighth  Streets.  Samuel  Moyer  is  vice-president 
and  general   manager, 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO. — ^The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted 
the  Arcade  Service  Co.,  of  Cleveland,  permission  to  purchase  the  power 
plant,  distributing  system,  etc.,  located  in  the  Cleveland  Arcade  and  ad- 
joining building,  owned  by  the  Cleveland  Arcade  Co. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO.— Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  East  Side  Citizens' 
Association  for  extending  the  cluster-lamp  street-lighting  system  on  East 
Main  Street,  from  Fifth  Street  to  Kelton  Avenue, 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO,— Proposals  will  be  received  by  S.  A,  Kinnear, 
director  of  puoac  service,  until  Oct.  23,  for  furnishing  meters  and  trans- 
formers that  will  be  required  by  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  until 
Jan.  1,  1913,  in  accordance  with  specifications  on  file  in  the  office  of  the 
director  of  public  service  and  the  superintendent  of  the  Department  of 
Lighting,   Dublin  Avenue,  from   whom  copies  may  be  obtained. 

DAYTON,  OHIO. — The  construction  of  an  electric  railway  in  East 
Highland,  a  suburb  of  Dayton,  is  under  consideration.  P,  E.  Sullivan 
and  Joseph  Green  are  interested, 

KINGSVILLE,  OHIO.— The  Conneaut,  Kingsville  &  Ashtabula  Ry. 
Co.  is  planning  to  build  an  electric  power  plant  to  supply  electricity  for 
operating  its  proposed  railway  and  for  lamps  and  motors  to  residents 
along  the  line.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $25,000.  The  incorpora- 
tors are:  William  E.  Hawley,  Raymond  C.  Thompson,  Julius  F.  Fox  and 
Charles  E,   Hawkins. 

.M.\RIETTA,  OHIO, — Plans  are  being  considered  for  equipping  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant  to  supply  electricity  for  commercial  pur- 
poses as  well  as  street-lighting. 

ROCKPORT,  OHIO.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  Fred  Feuchter, 
clerk,  until  Oct,  28  for  furnishing  electricity  for  lighting  the  following 
thoroughfares:  Lorain  Street,  from  Highland  Avenue  to  the  westerly 
limits  of  the  village:  Berea  Road,  from  Lorain  Street  to  Brook  Park 
Road;  Riverside  Avenue,  from  Lorain  Street  to  the  northerly  limits 
village. 

SPRINGFIELD,  OHIO.— Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installa- 
tion  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  business  section  of  the 
city. 

HINTON,  OKL.\. — The  town  of  Hinton  has  engaged  the  Benham  En- 
gineering Co.,  .'\merican  National  Bank  Bldg.,  Oklahoma  City,  Okla.,  to 
prepare  plans  and  specifications  for  construction  of  an  electric-light  plant 
and  water-works  system  and  to  act  as  consulting  and  supervising  engi- 
neers for  the  town.  An  election  will  be  called  to  vote  on  a  $30,000  bond 
issue  for  same. 

ASTORIA,  ORE. — Surveys  are  being  made  by  the  United  Railways  Co. 
for  a  proposed  extension  of  its  railway  from  Banks  through  the  Nehalem 
Valley  to  Astoria,  a  distance  of  about  55  miles. 

BANKS,  ORE, — Surveys  are  being  made  by  the  United  Railway  Co, 
for  an  extension  of  its  railway  from  Banks  to  Astoria,  Wash.,  passing 
through   the    Nehalem   Valley. 

CULVER,  ORE.— The  Cone  El.  Pwr.  Co.  is  installing  machinery  at  its 
power  plant  and  expects  to  have  its  system  ready  for  operation  in  about 
60  days.  The  company  will  supply  electricity  to  the  Opal  Springs  water 
works  and   to  the  various   flouring   mills  in  the   county, 

GRANTS  PASS..  ORE.— The  California-Oregon  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co..  of 
New  Pine  Creek,  has  entered  into  sufficient  contracts  with  the  residents 
of  Fruitdale  to  insure  the  erection  of  a  distributing  line  into  that  sec- 
tion.    Many  extensions  will  be  made  in  that  district. 

LA  PINE,  ORE.— The  Pringle  Falls  Pwr.  &  Wtr,  Co.,  of  Portland,  has 


852 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


entered  into  a  contract  with  the  La  Pine  Townsite  Co.,  whereby  the 
power  company  agrees  to  construct  and  maintain  an  electric  railway  into 
La  Fine  within  three  years.  'Die  company  also  agrees  to  erect  and  oper- 
ate a  transformer  station  here  in  connection  with  its  power  plant  it  pro- 
poses to  install  at  Fnngle  Falls,  6  miles  from  La  Pine,  where  from  10,000 
hp  to  12,000  hp  will  be  developed. 

MILTOK,  ORE. — Surveys  are  being  made  by  L.  E.  Coyle,  municipal 
engineer,  and  Geary  Kinibrell,  county  engineer,  for  the  purpose  of  secur- 
ing an  estimate  of  the  cost  of  constructing  a  barrel  flume  to  supply  water 
to  operate  a  light  and  water  plant. 

PORTLAND.  ORE. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  Northwest- 
ern El.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  substation,  to  cost  $300,000,  and  the 
erection  of  a  large  business  building  in  Portland,  involving  a  total  ex- 
penditure of  about  $1,000,000.  The  company  is  also  building  a  20,000-hp 
hydroelectric   plant  on  the  White   Salmon   River. 

EASTON,  P.\. — The  committee  appointed  by  the  City  Council  to  in- 
vestigate the  cost  of  installing  an  electric  plant  to  supply  electricity  for 
commercial  purposes  has  submitted  its  report.  The  cost  of  installing  a 
1000-kw  plant,  including  power  plant  equipment,  pole  lines,  meter  in- 
stallations, transformers  and  necessary  conduits,  is  estimated  at  $250,000. 
A  special  election  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  issue  bonds  for  the  pro- 
posed plant   is  recommended  by  the  committee. 

EGYPT,  PA. — The  electric  light  company,  recently  organized,  is  pre- 
paring to  install  an  electric  d'stributing  system  to  illuminate  the  town, 
which  has  been  without  electrical  service  since  the  American  Cement  Co. 
shut  down  its  plants. 

MEDIA,  PA. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Philadelphia  &  West 
Chester  Trac.  Co.  for  extending  its  railway  to  Media  and  Chester.  H.  S. 
Farquhar,   of   Upper   Darby,   is   general    manager. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  Depot  of 
Supplies,  U.  S.  Marine  Corps,  Quartermaster's  Department,  1100  South 
Broad  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  until  Oct.  21,  for  furnishing  5000  lb. 
hard-drawn,  triple-braided,  weatherproof  insulated  copper  wire  No.  14,  to 
be  funished  in  coils,  each  coil  to  contain  130  lb.  net  weight.  Lt.  Col. 
Cyrus  S.   Radford  is  assistant  quartermaster. 

PINE  GROVE,  PA. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  Pine  Grove 
Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  which  was  recently  granted  a  franchise  here  for  tnc 
installation  of  an  electric-light  system.  The  company  will  soon  apply  to 
the   State   Department  for  a  charter. 

READING,  PA. — The  Metropolitan  EI.  Co.  is  planning  to  build  an- 
other substation.  Walter  J.  Jones,  30  Church  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y., 
is  consulting  engineer. 

WILKESBARRE,  PA.— The  Wilkes-Barre  &  Wyoming  Valley  Trac. 
Co.  is  coniemplaLing  double-tracking  its  railway  from  Vaugh's  Corners 
to  Harvey's  Lake. 

TIVERTON,  R.  I.— The  Town  Council  has  granted  the  Tiverton  El.  Lt. 
Co.  permission  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric  transmission  line  as 
proposed  in  its  petition  filed  last  July. 

BARNWELL,  S.  C. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Commissioners  of 
Public  Works  of  Barnwell  until  Nov.  1  for  furnishing  all  material  and 
construction  of  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system,  plans  and 
specifications  for  which  may  be  seen  at  the  office  of  the  chairman  at 
BarnweH,  and  at  the  office  of  Edward  Hawes,  Jr.,  engineer,  Emaxcee 
Building,  Greenville,  S.  C.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  obtained 
from  the  chairman  upon  deposit  of  $10,  which  will  be  refunded  on  return 
of  plans.     J.  M.   Easterling  is  chairman. 

ARTESL^N,  S.  D. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $5,000  have  been  voted 
for   the  installation   of  an  electric-light   plant. 

ADAMS,  TENN. — Plans  have  been  prepared  by  S.  M.  McMurray.  of 
Nashville,  Tenn..  for  construction  of  concrete  dam  and  spillway  for  the 
Beech   Valley   Milling  Co.     An  electric  generating  pla.it  w-ill  be  installed. 

CHATTANOOGA,  TENN.— Work  has  begun  on  the  construction  of  the 
new  electric  railway  to  Chickamauga  Park  and  Fort  Oglethorpe  by  the 
Chattanooga  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  The  cost  of  the  line  is  estimated  at  about 
$150,000.     W.  E.  Boileau  is  general  manager. 

KNOXVILLE,  TENN. — The  Royal  Marble  Co.  will  soon  purchase  elec- 
trical equipment  for  a  derrick  of  60  tons  lifting  capacity,  preferably  of 
the  self-contained  type,  the  derrick  having  a  115-ft.  mast  and  100-ft.  boom. 

MEMPHIS,  TENN. — The  contract  for  electric  wiring  for  the  new 
Hotel  Chisca  to  be  erected  in  this  city  has  been  awarded  to  the  Lytle 
El.   Co.  for  $16,000. 

BAY  CITY,  TEX.— The  properties  of  the  Bay  City  Ice  &  Lt.  Co.  have 
been  purchased   by   Albert   Emanuel   Co.,   of   Dayton,   Ohio. 

CLEBURNE,  TEX. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  erection  of  a 
substation  for  the  Texas  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.  here.  The  station  will  be  located 
on  East  Buffalo  Creek  at  the  terminal  of  Royal  Street. 

CLEBURNE.  TEX.— Bids  will  be  received  by  B.  B.  Barnes,  county 
clerk,  until  Oct.  24  for  wiring  the  new  Johnson  County  court  house. 
Lang  &   Witchell,    Southwestern    Life    BIdg.,    Dallas,    Tex.,   are   architects. 

PORT  ARTHUR,  TEX. — The  Stone  &  Webster  Management  Associa- 
tion, Boston,  Mass.,  has  taken  over  the  lighting  system  of  the  Port  Arthur 
Wtr.  Co.  A  100-kw  turbine  is  being  installed  at  the  power  station  and  other 
improvements  will  follow.  Arrangements  have  been  made  whereby  the 
pumping  station  of  the  water-works  system  will  be  operated  by  electricity. 
The  new  company  will  be  known  as  the  Port  Arthur  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and 
will  be  capitalized  at  $600,000. 


SAN  BENITO,  TEX.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $10,000,000  have  been 
authorized  by  the  San  Benito  &  Rio  Grande  Valley  Ry.  Co.,  the  proceeds 
to  be  used  to  extend  its  railway  system  in  the  agriculture  districts.  The 
company  already  has  45  miles  in  operation  and  proposes  to  extend  it  to 
250  miles.  Interests  connected  with  the  Frisco  railroad  are  said  to  be 
back  of  the  project. 

TEMPLE,  TEX. — The  Southern  Trac.  Co.,  which  is  building  an  inter- 
urban  electric  railway  between  Dallas  and  Waco,  with  a  branch  line  to 
Corsicana,  contemplates  enlarging  its  plans  with  a  view  of  making  Temple 
the  southern-  terminus  of  the  main  line,  which  will  necessitate  the  con- 
struction  of  33    miles  additional. 

TERRELL,  TEX. — The  East  Texas  Trac.  Co.,  which  was  organized  to 
build  an  interurhan  electric  railway  between  Dallas  and  Terrell,  is 
negotiating  for  the  sale  of  its  surveys  and  other  holdings  to  the  Stone 
&  Webster  Engineering  Corpn.,  Boston,  Mass.  If  the  deal  is  consum- 
mated,  work  will   soon  begin   on   construction   of  the   railway. 

TEXARKANA.  TEX.— The  Southwestern  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  taken 
over  the  local  railway  system  and  electric  light  and  gas  plants  here.  The 
company,  which  was  incorporated  in  Wilmington,  Del.,  has  recently  been 
granted  a  permit  to  do  business  in  Texas. 

WICHITA  FALLS,  TEX.— The  proposition  to  issue  $10,000  in  bonds 
for  the  installation  of  additional  street  lamps  will  be  submitted  to  the 
voters  on  Nov.  5.  About  100  ornamental  lamps  will  be  placed  in  the 
business  district. 

OGDEN,  UTAH. — Arrangements  have  been  made  whereby  a  new  light- 
ing system  will  be  installed  in  the  business  district.  The  plans  call  for 
the  installation  of  ornamental  standards  carrying  arc  lamps.  14  to  each 
block,  on  Twenty-fifth  Street,  between  Wall  and  Washington  Avenues,  and 
on  Washington  Avenue,  between  Twenty-second  and  Twety-sixth  Streets. 
The  Ogden  Rapid  Transit  Co.  is  to  furnish  the  standards  and  the  Mer- 
chants' Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  will  furnish  current  to  maintain  the  lamps,  the  city 
to  pay  for  same. 

PROVO,  UTAH.— Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  Utah  &  Salt  Lake 
EI.  Ry.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  to  connect  Salt 
Lake   City,    Provo,   Payson   and   Springville. 

PRO\'0,  UTAH.— The  Telluride  Pwr.  Co.,  recently  acquired  by  the 
Electric  Bond  &  Share  Co.,  of  New  York,  is  to  take  over  the  Knight 
Consol.  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Provo,  and  the  Davis  &  Beaver  Canon  Pwr.  Co.,  of 
Utah.  A  new  corporation  with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000,000  and  $10,- 
000.000  in  bonds  will  be  organized.  The  company  is  planning  to  make 
extensive  improvements  and  extensions,  involving  an  expenditure  of  about 
$2,000,000.  Negotiations  are  under  way  whereby  the  company  will  equip 
the  Bingham  and  Garfield  railroad  for  electrical  operation  and  supply 
electricity  to   several   large   Utah   mining  properties. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH.— The  Utah  Lt.  &  Ry.  Co.  has  awarded  a 
contract  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  to  Black  Hawk  and 
Moreland   to   the   Utah   Constr.   Co.,   of   Ogden. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH.— Preliminary  engineering  work  has  been 
commenced  by  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Co.  on  the  Bear  Lake  hydro- 
electric project  by  which  80,000  kw  will  ultimately  be  generated  and 
transmitted  by  electricity  at  from  100,000  volts  to  150.000  volts  to  the 
Salt  Lake  City  region.  A  steel  tower  line  will  be  erected  into  Salt  Lake 
City  and  substations  will  be  built  near  Salt  Lake  City,  Garfield  and  else- 
where. Many  miles  of  30, 000- volt  lines  will  also  be  erected.  J.  R. 
McClelland,  chief  engineer,  is  now  in  this  district  looking  over  the 
situation. 

PITTSFORD,  VT. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  Rutland  Ry., 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  to  furnish  electricity  for  lighting  the  town.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  extend  the  transmission  line  from  the  power  house  in  Mendon. 

LYNCHBURG,  VA. — Contracts  have  been  awarded  by  the  Appalachian 
Pwr.  Co.,  to  Hancock  &  Sons,  of  Roanoke,  aggregating  $86,000,  for  work 
to  be  done  at   Saltville,    Byllesby,   Welch,   Lick   Branch  and   Bluefield. 

NEWPORT  NEWS.  VA.— Plans  have  been  completed  for  the  installa- 
tion of  a  new  street-lighting  system  here.  The  plan  provides  for  placing 
48  luminous  arc  lamps  on  Washington  Avenue  and  Jefferson  Avenue,  and 
replacing  the  old  open  arc  lamps  now  in  use  with  2S0-watt  Mazda  lamps 
and  erecting  50  100-watt  lamps  in  the  residential  sections.  The  cost  of 
the  proposed  system  is  estimated  at  $10,000.  The  street-lighting  service  is 
furnished  by  the  Citizens'  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co. 

TAZEWELL.  VA. — The  Continental  Devel.  &  Investment  Co.  is  re- 
ported to  have  secured  a  franchise  to  build  an  electric  railway  on  the  pub- 
lic road  between  Tazewell  and  Graham.  The  Appalachian  Pwr.  Co.,  of 
Graham,   is  said  to  be  interested  in  the   project. 

BREMERTON,  WASH. — The  city,  it  is  reported,  is  contemplating  the 
purchase  of  the  plant  of  the  Bremerton-Charleston  Lt.  &  Fuel  Co. 

CONCRETE.  WASH.— The  Skagit  River  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  to  ex- 
tend its  line  from  Rockport  to  Marblemount,  Wash.,  a  distance  of  10 
miles.     William  Jennings  is  president. 

LATAH,  WASH. — The  city  of  Latah  is  planning  to  issue  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  $11,000  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-lighting  system.  A 
water-works  system  will  be  installed, 

LEAVENWORTH,  WASH.— The  Washington  Steel  &  Iron  Co.  is 
contemplating  the  construction  of  a  large  dam  on  the  Wenatchee  River 
and  the  installation  of  a  hydroelectric  power  plant.  E.  H.  Rothert  is 
general   manager. 

NEPPEL,    WASH.— The    Grant    Realty    Co.    is    planning   to    extend    its 


October  ig,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


853 


I 


telephone  line  to  Ephrata  to  connect  with  the  Pacific  States  Tel.  Com- 
pany's line  there. 

RIVERSIDE.  WASH.— The  Tunk  Creek  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  to  erect 
a  telephone  line  from  Synarep  to  Anglin,  Wash.,  a  distance  of  10  miles. 
J.  H.   Green   is  president. 

SPOKANE,  WASH.— The  Washington  Wtr.  Pwr.  Co.  is  erecting  a 
high-tension  transmission  line  from  its  distributing  station  at  Wardner, 
Idaho,  to  Pine  Creek,  a  distance  of  2  miles,  from  which  point  branch 
lines  will  run  to  Lhe  Naob  mine,  1  mile,  and  to  the  Surprise  properties,  2 
miles.  The  purpose  of  this  line  is  to  furnish  electricity  to  the  mining 
properties  in  this  section. 

TACOMA,  WASH. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  City  Council  by 
P.  H.  Hebb,  of  Tacoma,  for  a  25-year  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for 
lamps  and  motors  here. 

BURLINGTON,  WIS.— Interests  allied  with  the  Milwaukee  El.  Lt.  & 
Ry.  Co.,  have  purchased  the  capital  stock  of  the  Burlington  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.,  Burlington,  for  $100,000.  The  Milwaukee  company  will  have  no 
direct  connection  with  the  Burlington  company  other  than  the  possible 
sale  of  electricity  to  operate  the  system. 

SHAWANO,  WIS. — The  contract  for  furnishing  and  installing  equip- 
ment for  an  electric  light  and  power  plant  for  the  Shawano  County  Asy- 
lum, Shawano,  has  been  awarded  to  the  Central  Construction  Co.,  of  Osh- 
kosh,  for  $6,254. 

SUPERIOR,  WIS.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Superior  Interur- 
ban  Trac.  Co.  a  30-year  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric 
railway   in   South   Superior. 

SUPERIOR,  WIS.— The  town  of  Superior  has  granted  the  Superior 
Steel  Plant  Trac.  Co.  a  franchise  for  an  electric  railway  from  South 
Superior  to  the   St.   Louis  River  bridge. 

WHITEWATER.  WIS.— Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  installa- 
tion   of    an    ornamental    street-lighting   system    here. 

LANDER,  WYO. — The  Louis  Lake  Conservation  Co.  is  contemplating 
the  installation  of  a  30,000-hp  hydroelectric  power  plant  in  connection  with 
its  irrigation  project  at  Lander,  plans  and  specifications  for  which  are 
now  being  prepared.  The  office  of  the  company  is  located  at  612  New 
York  Life  Building.  Kansas  City,  Mo.  Prof.  Schaad,  of  the  Kansas 
State   University,  Lawrence,  Kan.,  is  consulting  engineer. 

OAK  LAKE,  MAN.,  CAN. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  power 
plant  for  Leitch   Brothers'  Flour  Mills,  Ltd. 

RAPID  CITY.  MAN.,  CAN.— A  by-law  authorizing  the  installation  of 
an  electric-light  system  here  will  soon  be  submitted  to  the  ratepayers.  J. 
R.  Burland  is  Mayor. 

WINNIPEG,  MAN.,  CAN.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  allow  the 
Manitoba  Government  Telephone  Commissioners  permission  to  place  an 
underground  conduit  on  Salter  Street  for  telephone  wires. 

WINNIPEG.  MAN.,  CAN. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  municipal 
fire,  water  and  light  committee  for  enlarging  the  Point  du  Bois  power  plant. 
It  is  proposed  to  install  two  additional  generating  units,  to  cost  about 
$250,000. 

WINNIPEG,  MAN.,  CAN.— The  Light  and  Power  Department  will  re- 
fluire  transformers  this  fall  as  follows:  One  9000-kw  and  three  3000-kw, 
three-phase,  water-cooled  transformers  with  necessary  high-tension  switch 
gear  for  the  generating  station,  to  cost  about  $100,000;  two  extra  units, 
consisting  of  turbine  and  alternators,  to  cost  about  $150,000,  will  be  re- 
quired during  1913.     J.  G.  Glassco,  54  King  Street,  is  engineer. 

ST.  JOHN,  N.  B.,  CAN. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  extension  of 
power  plant  and  installation  of  new  machinery  to  the  Smythe  Street  power 
plant  of  the  St.  John  Street  Ry.  Co.,  to  cost  about  $50,000.  H.  M.  Hopper 
is  general  manager. 

AYR,  ONT.,  CAN. — The  ratepayers  have  voted  in  favor  of  the  by-law 
providing  for  the  purchase  of  the  local  electric-light  plant. 

HARRISTON,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  ratepayers  have  approved  the  by- 
law  appropriating   $11,000    for   the   installation    of    an   electric-light    plant. 

OTTAWA,  ONT..  CAN.— The  installation  of  16  new  arc  lamps  and  28 
tungsten  standards  at  once  will  be  recommended  by  the  Municipal  Board 
of  Control. 

STRATFORD,  ONT.,  CAN.— Sir  William  Mackenzie  has  decided  to 
build  a  street  railway  in  Stratford  and  has  instructed  Secretary  Moore 
and  Engineer  Rothery  to  proceed  at  once  with  preliminary  work.  The 
company  has  applied  for  a  25-year  franchise,  which  will  be  submitted  to 
the  ratepayers. 

TORONTO,  ONT.,  CAN.— It  is  proposed  to  supply  the  greater  part 
of  York  Township  with  hydroelectric  power  if  200  or  300  signed  contracts 
can  be  secured.  The  cost  of  the  installation  is  estimated  at  about  $40,000. 
Work  has  already  been  started  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  township  near 
Todmorden.  Pole  lines  will  be  erected  on  all  streets  south  of  Eglinton 
Avenue. 

WALKERVILLE.  ONT..  CAN.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to 
double  the  number  of  electric  street  lamps  now  in  use. 

WINDSOR,  ONT.,  CAN.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  lighting 
commission  for  installation  of  new  equipment  for  the  municipal  electric- 
light  plant,  to  cost  about  $20,000.  It  is  proposed  to  install  two  new 
generating  units,  consisting  of  generators  and  engines.  If  plans  are  ap- 
proved by  the  City  Council,  a  by-law  authorizing  the  expenditure  will  be 
submitted  to   the   ratepayers  at   the   next  municipal   election. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

J.  J.  AGUTTER  &  COMPANY,  of  Seattle,  Wash.,  has  been  incorpo- 
rated by  John  J.  Agutter  and  P.  E.  Ridings.  The  company  is  capitalized 
at   $10,000  and   proposes  to  do  a  general  electrical   business. 

THE  BINFORD  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Richmond,  Va.,  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  to  conduct  an  electrical 
jobbing  business.  The  officers  are :  Branch  Johnson,  president ;  C.  H. 
Reiley,    vice-president,    and    Hammond    Johnson,    secretary    and    treasurer. 

THE  CHARLOTTE  STORAGE  BATTERY  &  MANUFACTURING 
COMPANY,  of  Charlotte,  N.  C,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital 
stock  of  $100,000  by  Jesse  W.  Garrett,  Mrs.  B.  Garrett  and  Clyde  A. 
Duckworth. 

THE  C.  O.  BARTLETT  &  SNOW  COMPANY  OF  CANADA,  LTD., 
of  Montreal,  Que.,  Can.,  has  been  granted  a  Dominion  charter  to  deal  in, 
manufacture  and  install  elevating  and  conveying  machinery,  power  trans- 
mission machinery  engines,  boilers,  hoisting  machinery,  garbage  reduc- 
tion machinery,  paint  machinery,  grain  and  cereal  machinery  and  to  do 
general  engineering,  manufacturing  and  construction  work.  The  head 
office  of  the  company  will  be  located  at  232  St.  Catherine  Street, 
Montreal. 

THE    ELECTRIC    TIME    &    MANUFACTURING    COMPANY,     of 

Lafayette,  Ind.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000 
for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  an  improved  electric  clock  and  time- 
keeping device  invented  by  Thomas  R.  Moore,  an  instructor  of  Purdue 
University.  The  directors  are:  Albert  E.  Bradbury,  Charles  R.  Moore 
and  Horace  W.  Astire. 


New  Incorporations 

SHREVEPORT,  LA. — The  Texas-Louisiana  Trac.  Co.  has  been  organ- 
ized with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000  for  the  purpose  of  building  an 
electric  railway  between  Longview,  Tex.,  and  Shreveport,  La.,  via  Mar- 
shall and  Jefferson,  Tex.  The  proposed  railway  will  be  65  miles  long. 
The  officers  are:  J.  K.  Blevins,  president;  T.  C.  Morgan,  vice-president; 
W,    K.    Ackman,   secretary,   and  J.    S.    Hurst,   treasurer. 

RISING  SUN,  MD.— The  Rising  Sun  El.  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  has  filed 
articles  of  incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  of  $45,000  to  build  and 
operate  an  electric-light  plant  to  furnish  water  in  Rising  Sun.  The 
directors  are:    Calvin  R.  Green,  John  W.  Whittock  and  Lincoln  Harm. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— The  Municipal  Utilities  Corpn.  of  New  York  City 
has  filed  articles  of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware 
for  the  purpose  of  constructing,  operating  public  works,  plants,  railways, 
and  to  do  a  general  utilities  and  public  service  corporation  business.  The 
capital  stock  is  placed  at  $25,000,000.  Elmer  E.  Holmes  and  J.  M.  Sulli- 
van are  among  the  incorporators. 

MANCHESTER,  TENN.— The  Stone  Fort  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  organ- 
ized by  W.  G.  Cummings,  H.  T.  Brown,  Mrs.  F.  H.  Wooten  and  John 
Chumbley.  The  company  has  leased  sites  at  Big  Falls  and  Little  Falls,  a 
short  distance  from  Manchester,  where  hydroelectric  power  plants  are 
being  constructed.  The  Little  Falls  power  plant  will  be  completed  in 
about  three  months. 


Trade  Publications 


RESISTANCE  UNITS.— Bulletin  No.  4973  of  the  General  Electric 
Company  illustrates  and  describes  its  resistance  units  for  various  motor- 
starting   and  speed-controlling  rheostats. 

LIGHTING  SPECIALTIES.— Catalog  B-20  of  the  Benjamin  Electric 
Manufacturing  Company.  120  South  Sangamon  Street,  Chicago,  which  is 
just  off  the  press,  is  a  well-printed,  nicely  arranged,  eighty-page  illustrated 
publication.  It  gives  information  with  respect  to  the  essential  devices  listed 
in  previous  catalogs  and  bulletins  and  includes,  as  well,  illustrated  de- 
scriptive matter  on  new  articles  manufactured  by  the  Benjamin  company. 
Chief  among  the  latter  may  be  mentioned  single-unit  ceiling  fixtures,  street 
car  fixtures,  porcelain-lined  twin  sockets,  lever  and  pull  angle  sockets  and 
ceiling  and  pendent  lock  guards.  In  connection  with  the  lighting  system 
developed  by  this  company  there  is  manufactured  a  unique  line  of  in- 
dustrial devices,  many  of  which  are  described  in  this  new  catalog.  A 
divisional  index,  an  alphabetical  index,  and  a  key  to  catalog  numbers  for 
all  letters  make  reference  to  any  particular  device  especially  easy. 


Business  Notes 


THE  GOULDS  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY.— Mr.  C.  H.  War- 
field  has  resigned  his  position  as  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Goulds 
Manufacturing  Company,  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y.  Mr.  B.  R.  Wells  has 
been  appointed  treasurer  and  Mr.  H.  S.  Fredenburgh  secretary,  to  suc- 
ceed Mr.  Warfield. 


854 


ELECl'RICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i6. 


MESSRS.  WALKER  &  KEPLER,  electrical  contractors,  Philadelphia, 
have  been  appointed  agents  for  the  Columbia  Incandescent  Lamp  Works 
of  the  General  Electric  Company  for  Philadelphia  and  surrounding  terri- 
tory. 

MR.  FRANK  KOESTER  has  removed  his  office  from  115  Broadway 
to  the  Hudson  Terminal  Building,  50  Church  Street,  New  York,  for  the 
practice  of  consulting  engineering  in  steam  and  hydroelectric  power- 
plant  work,   electric   transmission  and   traction. 

GENERAL  VEHICLE  COMPANY.— President  P.  D.  Wagoner  has  an- 
nounced the  following  appointments  to  the  staff  of  the  General  Vehicle 
Company:  Mr.  C.  W.  Squires,  Jr.,  assistant  to  the  president,  is  made 
sales  manager;  Mr.  Irwin  W.  Howell  is  made  assistant  to  the  president; 
Mr.  G.  W.  Wesley,  vice-president,  vice  Mr.  R.  McA.  Lloyd,  resigned; 
Mr.  J.  R.  C.  Armstrong,  engineer  of  the  electric  division;  Mr.  H.  G.  Mc- 
Comb,  engineer  of  the  gasoline  division;  Mr.  L.  E.  Lentz,  superintendent 
of  the  electrical  division;  Mr.  A.  P.  Bourquardez,  district  manager  of 
New  York  sales  office.     Mr.   C.  V.   Riede,   of  the  general  sales  office,  has 


been   transferred    to    the    St.    Louis    office,    and    Mr.    George    D.    Smith    to 
Cincinnati. 

BROWN.  WILLIAMS,  BELL,  HANSON  &  BOETTCHER  will  here- 
after continue  the  practice  of  patent  and  trade-mark  law  formerly  car- 
ried on  by  the  firm  of  Brown  &  Williams.  The  members  of  the  recently 
enlarged  partnership  include  Charles  A.  Brown  and  Lynn  A.  Williams, 
of  the  original  firm,  and  Albert  C.  Bell,  Harvey  L.  Hanson  and  Arthur 
H.  Boettcher,  the  new  partners,  who  for  several  years  have  been  actively 
associated  with  Brown  &  Williams.  Mr.  Bell  is  a  graduate  of  Cornell 
University  and  was  for  several  years  in  charge  of  the  patent  depart- 
ment of  the  Stromberg-Carlson  Telephone  Manufacturing  Company.  Mr. 
Hanson  has  had  a  varied  experience  in  the  general  practice  of  law  and 
many  years'  association  with  Mr.  Brown  in  patent  and  trade-mark  mat- 
ters, Mr.  Boettcher,  who  received  his  training  in  the  engineering  de- 
partment of  the  L^niversity  of  Wisconsin,  has  made  a  specialty  of  patent 
and  trade-mark  law.  The  offices  of  the  new  company  will  be  at  1550 
MonadHOck  Block,   Chicago,   111. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED  STATES  PATENTS  ISSUED  OCT.  8,  1912. 

[Prepared  by  Robert  Starr  Allyn,   16  Exchange  Place,  New  York.] 

1,040,25/.     INTERLOCKING    TUBULAR    CONSTRUCTION;    F.    Barr, 

New    York,   N.   Y.      App.   Bled   Feb.    9.    1912.      For   socket-shell   joint, 

etc. 
1,040,292.     ELECTRIC    CONTROLLER;     A.     C.     Eastwood,     Cleveland, 

Ohio.     App.    filed    Sept.    24,    1910.     Series    of    individually    operated 

switches  in  sequence. 
1,040,309.     SWITCHING    DEVICE;    D.    D.    Gordon,    Chicago,    111.     App. 

filed    June    20,    1911.     Push-button    switch    with    ball    contact. 

1,040,315.  GRAPHITE  BRUSH;  \V.  H.  Hardman,  Schenectady.  N.  Y. 
App.  filed  May  31,  1912.  Contains  about  2  per  cent,  of  carborun- 
dum. 

1,040,331.  DETACHABLV  MOUNTING  A  FUSE  FORMED  WITH 
TERMINALS  OR  CONTACTS  OF  KNIFE-BLADE  TYPE;  B.  D. 
Horton,    Detroit.    Mich.     -'Vpp.    filed   June    25,    1912.     Adjustable   clip. 

1,040,333.  FILAMENT  SUPPOR.T;  T.  W.  Howell.  Newark,  N.  J. 
App.    filed   April   6,    1910.     Knife-edge   welded   joint. 

1,040,359.  ELECTRIC  CONTROLLER-  J.  A.  Latimer,  Youngstown, 
Ohio.  App.  filed  March  2,  1911.  ror  regulating  furnaces,  valves, 
switches    and    measuring    devices. 

1.040.366.  LAMP-LOCKING  DE\-ICE;  J.  C.  Manley,  T.  Thulin  and 
P.  J.  Smith,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed  Dec.  14,  1911.  Key  lock  for 
lamp  bulb.  ' 

1.040.367.  LAMP-LOCKING  DEVICE;  J.  C.  Manley,  J.  Thulin  and 
P.  J.  Smith,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed  Dec.  14,  1911.  Key  lock 
indents  the  socket  shell. 

1,040,370.  WASHING  MACHINE;  P.  McDorman,  Dayton,  Ohio.  App. 
filed  July  24,  1912.  Electrolytic  tank  with  revolvable  clothes  recep- 
tacle. 

1.040.378.  ELECTRIC  SIGALING  SYSTEM:  W.  L.  Miller,  Madison, 
Wis.     App.   filed  June   16,   1911.     For  machine-tool  control. 

1.040.379.  PROCESS  OF  TREATING  NITRIC  ACID  BY  ELECTROL- 
YSIS; M.  Moest  and  R.  Miiller  von  Berneck,  H6chst-on-the-Main. 
Germany.  App.  filed  July  26,  1911.  Nitric  acid  electrolyte  and 
carbon   cathode. 

1,040,381.  PANELBO.\RD  CONSTRUCTION;  E.  S.  Morrell,  Phila- 
delphia,  Pa.      App.   filed   Jan.    16,    1912.      Separable  switch-units. 

1,040,389.  ELECTRIC  SIGNALING  DEVICE;  R.  C.  Nevin,  Berkeley, 
Cal.     .^pp.   filed  Dec.   29,    1910.     For   desk  telephones. 

1,040,418.  METHOD  OF  JOINING  METALS.  A.  F.  Reitzel,  Lynn, 
Mass.     .■\pp.    filed    Oct.    2,    1906.     Electric    welding    for    sheet    metal. 

1.040.428.  DEVICE  FOR  AIDING  THE  HEARING;  E.  W.  Schneider, 
New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  May  18,  1908.  Socket  battery  con- 
nection. 

1.040.429.  DEVICE  FOR  AIDING  THE  HEARING;  E.  W.  Schneider, 
New  York,   N.  Y.     App.  filed  Feb.   11,  1910.     Cover  lock. 

1,040,440.     BREAKER    FOR    ELECTRIC    CIRCUITS;    F.    L.    Sessions. 

Columbus,    Ohio.     App.    filed    Oct.    29,    1903.     Magnetic   blow-outs. 
1,040,455.     ELECTRIC-SWITCH     CONTACT;     L.     Tatum,     Milwaukee, 

Wis.     App.   filed  .\ug.   27,   1907.     Rough  faces  for  oil-immersed  type. 
1,040,475.     ELECTRIC-LIGHT    DISPLAY    SYSTEM;    H.   E.   Way,   Eas- 

ton.    Pa.     App.    filed    April    29,    1911.     The    design    displayed    in    the 

lamps  is  also   displayed  in   the  switches. 
1,040,496.     SYSTEM  OF  ELECTRICAL  DISTRIBUTION;  W.  L.  Bliss, 

New    York,    N.    Y.     App.    filed    Aug.    4,    1904.     Storage-battery    gene- 
rator   train    lighting. 
1,040,526.     COIN  COLLECTOR;   A.  F.   Dixon,  New  York,  N.   Y.     App. 

filed   Jan.    7,    1909.     For   telephone    pay   stations. 
1,040,541.     COUPLING  FOR  NON-CLOSABLE  CIRCUIT-BREAKERS; 

K.     Hohn,     Schaffhausen.     Switzerland.       -App.    filed    Jan.     24,     1911. 

Automatic    releasing   device. 
1,040,546.      ELEVATOR    CONTROL;    J.    D.    Ihlder,    New    York,    N.    Y. 

App.    filed   Oct.    31,    1908.     Push-button   control. 
1,040,586.     AUTOMATIC    ELECTRIC    SPEED    REGULATOR;    M.    D. 

Selden  and  R.  L.   Graves,  Memphis,  Tenn.     App.  filed  Feb.  28,   1911. 

Glow-lamp  speed   indicator   with   audible   signal. 
1,040.595.     ELECTRICALLY     HEATED    UTENSIL;     A.     A.     Warner, 

New   Britain,   Conn.     App.    filed   Feb.    1,    1912.     Locking    the    heating 

unit. 
1,040,620.     INSULATOR    CLAMP;    W.     G.     Clark,    New    York.    X.    Y. 

App.    filed   Nov.   21,    1911.     For   holding   street   arc    lamp   cables,   etc. 

1.040.629.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  E.  R.  Corwin,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed    Feb.    3,    1908.     Automatic    ringing    and    supervisory   signals. 

1.040.630.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  E.  R.  Corwin,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed  Feb.  20,  1908.  Controlling  the  line  and  supervisory  signals 
and   the   operators'   circuit. 


1.040.631.  BUSY  TEST  FOR  TELEPHONE  SYSTEMS;  E.  R.  Cor- 
win. Chicago,  HI.  App.  filed  Feb.  20,  1908.  Automatic  control  for 
multiple  system. 

1.040.632.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  E.  R.  Corwin,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed    -Aug.    7,    1908.     Party-line    signal. 

1.040.633.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  E.  R,  Corwin,  Chicago,  111.  .•\pp. 
filed  Jan.    IS,    1909.     Multiple  jack  switch  exchange. 

1.040.634.  TELEPHONE-EXCHANGE  SYSTEM;  E.  R.  Corwin,  Chi- 
cago, 111.  -App.  filed  March  17,  1909.  Trunk-line  equipment  for 
substation   work. 

1.040.635.  TELEPHONY;  C.  A.  Bals.  Chicago,  III.  App.  filed  May 
22,    1911.     Switch   mechanism  for  automatic  selector. 

1.040.636.  TELEPHONY;  C.  A.  Bals,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed  May  22, 
1911.     Party-line  system. 

1.040.637.  TELEPHONE  TRANSMITTER:  R.  Royal,  Chicago,  111. 
App.   filed    .Aug.    11,    1911.     Granular   carbon   type. 

1,040,680.  TROLLEY  WHEEL;  H.  Holland,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  App. 
filed    Nov.    20,    1911.     Spring-pressed    contact    rings. 

1.040.704.  AUTOMATIC  ELECTRIC  REGULATOR;  H.  Leitner,  Ma- 
bury,  Woking,  England.  App.  filed  Feb.  26,  1910.  Lamp  regulation 
for  train  lighting,  etc. 

1.040.705.  INTERLOCKING  MECHANISM;  H.  E.  Leppert,  New 
Britain,  Conn.     App."  filed  March   14,    1911.     Multiple  plunger  switch. 

1,040,715.     CENTERING    DEVaCE;    H.    Mann,    Brooklyn,    N.    Y.      App. 

filed    Dec.    3,    1909.     Sensitive    electrical    device   for    machine   tools. 
1,040,760.     ELECTRIC    CHAIN-WFLDING    MACHINE;    A.    F.    RieUel 

and   G.    E.    Barstow,    Lynn.    Mass.     -App.    filed   May    II,    1907.      Auto- 
matic   device    with    re-heater    (191    claims). 
1,040.762.     PROTECTIVE   COVERING   FOR  ATTACHMENT  PLUGS; 

M.    R.   Rodrigues,   New  York,   N.   Y.     App.    filed   Dec.    7,    1911.      The 

plug   and   cap  are   inclosed   in   a   single   shell. 
1,040.771.     REAR    INDICATOR    FOR    VEHICLES:    W.    H.    Sammons, 

Philadelphia,    Pa.     -App.    filed    June    3,     1910.     To    indicate    contem- 
plated  turning. 
1,040.789.     TROLLEY;    H.    Shaffert,    East    Pittsburgh,    Pa.     App.    filed 

July    15,    1912.     Harp  with   guards   to   prevent   jumping. 
1,040.796.     TELEPHONE-RECEIVER    HOLDER;    S.    C.    Sladden,    New 

York,    N.    Y.     -App.   filed    May    16,    1912.     For    holding   a    receiver   in 

position  at  the  ear. 
1,040,800.     SAFETY    ATTACHMENT    FOR    BOILERS;    W.    P.    Smith, 

Locust   Grove,  Va.     .App.   filed  July   15,    1911.     Signaling  float. 
1,040,818.     ELECTRIC    FURNACE;    O.    Vogel,    Wilmersdorf,    Germany. 

-App.   filed   Feb.    11,    1910.     For  melting  quartz  and  glass. 
1,040,830.     SECTION.AL    ELECTRODE;     A.     M.    Williamson,     Niagara 

Falls,  N.   Y.     -App.  filed  March   4,   1912.     Stronger  graphite  joint. 

1,040.863.  OVERLOAD  CONTROL  FOR  METAL  ROLLS;  G.  H. 

Blaxter,    Beaver,    Pa.        App.    filed  Jan.    22,    1912.      For   motor-driven 

reducing    rolls. 
1,040.883.     CIRCUIT-CLOSER:   C.  A.   Castle,  Oldham,  S.  D.     App.  filed 

Dec.    19,    1911.     For  telegraph  lines. 
1,040.904.     TROLLEY   GU.\RD;    S.   C.    Distefano,   Baltimore.    Md.      App. 

filed  Feb.   8.    1912.     Spring-pressed   pivoted   guard   arms. 
1,040,923.       ELECTROPLATING    APPLIANCE:    J.    A.     Fraser.    Benton 

Harbor,   Mich.     App.   filed   -April  26,   1912.     Spring  jaws  for  support- 
ing  the  work. 
1,040,927.     ELECTRIC  SAFETY  DEVICE  FOR  THE  FLOWING  OUT 

OF    EXCESS    \'OLT.AGE;    G.    Giles,    Fribourg,     Switzerland.     App. 

filed    Aug.    12,    1908.     Resonance    phenomena    of    low-frequency    cable 

network. 
1,040,937.     COMBINATION     GAS    BURNER    AND    ELECTRIC    GAS 

IGNITER:    H.    D.    Grinnell.    Pittsfield,    Mass.     -App.    filed    June    6, 

1912.      For    automobile    acetylene    lights,    etc. 

1.040.940.  ART  OF  RAILWAY  SIGNALING;  W.  Grunow,  Jr.,  Water- 
bury,    Conn.     -App.    filed    May    10,    1911.     Automatic    block    system. 

1.040.941.  CIRCUIT-CLOSING  DEVICE  OR  SWITCH  FOR  USE 
IN  CONNECTION  WITH  ELECTRIC  OR  OTHER  RAILWAYS; 
W.  Grunow,  Jr.,  Waterbury,  Conn.  -App.  filed  May  10,  1911.  Fnc- 
tionally    retarded   inertia   device. 

1,040,971.     INSUL.ATING    JOINT;    C.    Wirt,    Philadelphia,    Pa.       App. 

filed   April   24,    1907.     Gas  and   electric  fixture. 
1,040,974.     .ALARM     BELL;    H.     P.     Christianson,    Oakland,    Cal.     App. 

filed    Dec.    27.    1911.     Portable    device. 
13,475     (reissue).     FITTING     FOR     ELECTRIC     CONDUITS:     W.     C. 

Robinson,   Pittsburgh,   Pa.     -App.   filed   March   30,    1911.     Lamp  socket 

and   coupling.    (Original    Patent   971,216,   dated   Sept.   27,    1910.) 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician, 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  OCTOBER  26,  1912. 


No.  17. 


PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  BY 

McGraw  Publishing  Company 

James  H.  McGraw,  Pres.  C.  E.  Whittlesey.  Sec'y  and  Treas. 

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Requests  for  changes  of  address  should  give  the  old  as  well  as  the  new 
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scription expires. 

Notice  to  Advertisers. 

Changes  in  advertisements  should  reach  the  New  York  office  ten  days  in 
advance  of  the  date  of  issue.  New  advertisements  are  received  up  to 
Wednesday  noon  of  the  week  of  issue. 

Copyright,   1912,  by  McGraw  Publishing  Companv. 
Entered  at  the  New  York  Post  Office  as  Second  Class  Mail  Matter. 


The  circulation  of  Electrical  World  for  1911  was  965,500. 
17,250  copies  are  printed. 


Of  this  issue 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  OCTOBER  26.  1912. 


CONTENTS. 

Editorials    855 

Convention  of  the  -Association  of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers 853 

Central-Station   Developments  at   Louisville,  Ky 858 

Electrical   Development   Society   Organization   Details 858 

Proposed  National  Commission  to  Solve  VVater-Power  Problems 859 

Annual  Report  of  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company 859 

Expansion  of  the  Narragansett  Electric  Lighting  Company 860 

Kansas    Utilities    Convention 861 

New    England   Section,   N.    E.    L.    .\.,    Convention 863 

The  Appraisal  of  Intangible  Values  in  Public  Utilities 866 

Public  Service  Commission  News 867 

Current  News  and  Notes 863 

Rock  River  Hydroelectric  Development 871 

Physical  Photometers.     By  J.  S.  Dow 873 

Recent  Tendencies  in  Foreign  Lighting  Practice.     By  Dr.  Louis  Bell..   875 

Electric-V"ehicle     Batteries 876 

Starting    Devices    for    Alternating-Current    Motors.      By    William    E. 

Kampf    877 

Replacing  Air  Lift  with  Deep- Well  Pump 879 

Short-Sighted  Appliance   Campaigns 379 

Cost  of  Operating  Electric  Sand  Pumps 379 

City   Advertising  by   Central    Stations 879 

Electric   Light   Companies  at   New   York   Electrical   Show 880 

Co-operative    Street    Lighting    in    Des    Moines 881 

Direct   Advertising   in    a    Sign    Campaign ggj 

Electric  Delivery   Wagon   for  Grocer ggj 

Low-Frequency  Flicker  Cured  by  Two-Phase  Wiring gS2 

Vancouver    Illumination    in    Honor    of    Visit    of    Governor-General    of 

Canada     gg2 

Proposed    "White    Way"    Lighting    in    Mobile 8g2 

Special    Illumination    at    Lebanon,    Pa gg3 

Joints  for  Tubular  Steel   Poles '   gg3 

Indirect  Lighting  in  a  Confectionery   Shop gg4 

Conduit  Versus  Open  Work  in  Places  Subject  to  Moisture,  Corrosive 

Fumes,  Steam.  Etc. — III,     By  F.  G.  Waldenfels gg4 

Recent    Telephone    Patents qqa 

Letter  to  the  Editors: 

The  Lighting  of  Cars.      By   Frank   T.   Leilich 886 

Digest   of    Current    Electrical    Literature '    ggj 

Book     Reviews ' ' '    ogn 

New    Apparatus    and    Appliances -. *  go. 

Industrial   and   Financial   News '    gg^ 

Weekly    Record    of    Electrical    Patents ]   9qj 


THE  CENTRAL  STATION  AND  THE  WIRING  CONTRACTOR. 

In  connection  with  tiie  present  movement  for  co-opera- 
tion among  the  central  stiitions,  manufacturers,  contractors 
and  jobbers,  it  may  be  remarked  of  young  industries  in 
general,  and  the  electrical  industry  in  particular,  that  the 
initial  or  formative  period  is  given  largely  to  perfecting 
the  product  and  finding  a  market  for  it,  without  much 
regard  for  the  methods  of  distribution.  Among  the  older 
industries,  however,  one  finds  that  distribution,  in  the 
economic  sense,  is  in  most  cases  highly  organized.  That 
is  to  say,  the  respective  positions  of  the  manufacturer,  the 
jobber,  the  wholesaler  and  the  retail  dealer  are  rather 
accurately  defined,  and  each  member  feels  bound  to  regard 
the  rights  of  the  others.  But  in  the  electrical  industry  this 
problem  of  distribution  is  only  now  beginning  to  receive 
adequate  attention.  There  are  in  this  industry  five  related 
interests  which  must  be  recognized,  to  wit:  The  central  sta- 
tion, or  producer  and  distributor  of  electrical  energy;  the 
manufacturer,  or  producer  of  electrical  machinery,  appa- 
atus  and  appliances;  the  jobber,  or  distributor  of  electrical 
apparatus  and  merchandise;  the  supply  dealer,  or  retailer 
who  sells  this  apparatus  and  merchandise  to  the  consumer, 
and  the  wiring  contractor,  who  wires  the  consumer's  prem- 
ises and  connects  the  central-station  mains  to  the  installa- 
tion to  be  served. 

At  the  recent  Boston  meeting  of  the  New  England  Sec- 
tion of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association,  the  con- 
cluding report  of  which  appears  elsewhere,  a  paper  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  E.  M.  Addis  on  the  proper  relation  of  the 
central  station  to  the  prospective  consumer  stirred  up  an 
important  discussion  which  centered  around  the  inter- 
relations of  the  central  station,  the  wiring  contractor, 
and  the  supply  dealer.  There  was  almost  unanimous 
agreement  that  the  central  station  should  co-operate 
with  the  contractor.  The  point  was  well  made  that  it  is 
fundamentally  unsound  for  a  central  station  to  undertake 
wiring  contracts  at  a  loss  in  order  to  secure  new  customers. 
Another  important  point  brought  out  during  the  dis- 
cussion was  the  strong  probability  that  many  central 
stations  do  not  include  a  fair  allowance  for  overhead 
expenses  in  preparing  their  estimates  for  wiring  installa- 
tions. If  a  proper  allowance  of  this  character  is  made, 
it  becomes  more  likely  that  the  contractor  can  compete 
successfully,  without  sacrificing  a  reasonable  profit  to  him- 
self. The  same  thing  is  broadly  true  of  the  central  station 
in  the  supply  dealer's  field,  and  in  both  instances  a  policy 
of  mutual  aid  and  co-operation  will  produce  better  perma- 
nent results  than  an  attitude  of  hostility  and  harmful 
competition.  This  conviction  is  the  moving  spirit  of  the 
co-operative  development  associations  now  coming  so  ac- 
tively to  the  fore  and  which  seem  likely  to  fill  an  important 
role  in  the  future  of  the  industry. 


8s6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


PHYSICAL  PHOTOMETRY. 

Mr.  J.  S.  Dow's  article  on  physical  photometers  in  this 
issue  is  a  well-considered  discussion  of  the  possibility  of 
avoiding  some  of  the  troublesome  errors  which  arise  from 
the  peculiarities  of  the  eye  in  observing  luminous  surfaces. 
To  substitute  for  the  judgments  of  the  eye  some  measurable 
physical  effect  independent  of  visual  idiosyncrasies  would 
certainly  be  a  very  desirable  end.  Thus  far,  however,  it  is 
unattained  by  any  instrument  yet  devised.  Three  distinct 
groups  of  methods  have  been  utilized  for  the  purpose  of 
physical  photometry.  The  first  of  these  is  the  photographic 
method,  the  second  the  radiometric  method,  and  the  third 
the  indirect  method  by  the  light-sensitive  cell  and  similar 
aevices. 

With  respect  to  the  photographic  method  trouble  arises 
from  the  fact  that  the  range  of  sensitiveness  of  photographic 
plates  and  papers  to  energy  of  different  wave-lengths  is 
extraordinarily  different  from  that  presented  by  the  eye. 
The  sensitiveness  of  the  eye  is  greatly  reduced  in  the  blue 
and  practically  terminates  with  the  end  of  the  violet. 
Photographic  emulsions  of  the  usual  kinds  begin  to  show 
eft'ect  in  the  blue-green  and  continue  it  into  the  extreme 
ultra-violet.  Some  of  them  are  so  enormously  sensitive  in 
this  latter  region  that  a  slip  of  paper  covered  in  part  by  a 
bit  of  clear  glass  and  exposed  to  a  source  rich  in  ultra- 
violet turns  black  in  the  unshielded  portion  before  the  part 
under  the  clear  glass  is  perceptibly  affected.  Other  emul- 
sions are  much  less  sensitive  to  the  extreme  ultra-violet, 
and  so  one  can  go  on  until  some  of  the  orthochromatic 
plates  show  a  good  degree  of  sensitiveness  even  to  deep  red. 
In  order  to  obtain  photometric  results  of  value  by  photo- 
graphic means  one  must  devise  an  orthochromatic  emulsion 
and  suitable  screens  so  that  the  curves  of  sensitiveness  of 
the  plate  will  coincide  with  the  sensitiveness  of  the  average 
eye,  and  even  then  differences  are  likely  to  be  introduced  by 
working  with  different  lengths  of  exposure  and  using  dif- 
ferent developers.  On  the  whole,  therefore,  the  method  is 
much  better  suited  for  comparative  than  for  absolute  work 
and  breaks  down  conspicuously  unless  used  under  very 
closely  standardized  conditions. 

The  second,  or  radiometric,  method  requires  the  correla- 
tion of  the  energy  in  the  spectrum  of  the  illuminant  to  the 
effect  produced  on  the  average  eye  by  the  corresponding 
light.  Consequently,  while  this  method  can  be  used  for 
purely  comparative  purposes  within  reasonable  limits,  it, 
too,  can  hardly  be  considered  as  a  substitute  for  ordinary 
photometry.  It  possesses,  however,  great  usefulness  in 
studying  illuminants  and  for  purposes  of  comparison. 
Of  the  light-sensitive  cells  selenium  may  be  taken  as  a 
type.  Recent  investigations  show  that  under  closely  con- 
trolled conditions  selenium  may  prove  a  very  useful  adjunct 
in  photometric  work.  Possibly  by  judicious  screening  its 
curve  of  sensitiveness  could  be  made  sufficiently  near  to  that 
of  the  average  eye  to  lead  to  valuable  results ;  but  this  pos- 
sibility has  not  been  demonstrated  under  ordinary  photomet- 
ric conditions.  The  selenium  cell  is,  however,  extremely 
sensitive  and  reliable  when  carefully  used  for  relative  inten- 
sities under  conditions  where  ordinary  photometry  is  some- 
what unsatisfactory.  For  example,  the  researches  of  Prof. 
Joel    Stebbins    on    stellar    photometry    by    means    of    the 


selenium  cell  have  resulted  in  astonishingly  accurate  evalua- 
tions of  the  light  of  variable  stars,  materially  better  than 
could  be  made  by  the  eye.  The  selenium  cell,  in  fact,  has 
added  very  much  to  our  knowledge  of  such  phenomena. 

Up  to  the  present  all  the  physical  methods  of  photometry 
have  shown  marked  limitations  and  must  be  regarded  as  of 
special  rather  than  general  applicability.  In  the  long  run 
each  of  them  must  be  correlated  to  the  physiological  char- 
acteristics of  the  average  eye,  and  this  constitutes  one  of 
the  chief  objections  to  their  use.  It  is  bad  enough  to  have 
to  deal  with  these  physiological  quantities  directly,  and  it 
seems  somewhat  doubtful  whether  an  indirect  use  of  them 
by  way  of  another  set  of  variables  can  lead  to  any  material 
simplification  of  the  general  problems  of  photometry. 


THE  PRIMER  OF  ILLUMINATION. 

The  Illuminating  Engineering  Society  is  to  be  congratu- 
lated on  an  important  piece  of  constructive  work  achieved 
in  publishing  its  primer  on  illumination,  which  is  now 
being  sent  to  all  possible  centers  of  distribution  to  the 
general  public.  The  primer,  which  had  its  first  publicity 
at  the  Niagara  Falls  convention  of  the  society,  as  men- 
tioned in  our  issue  of  Sept.  21,  is  precisely  what  its 
title  indicates,  a  simple  account  of  the  fundamentals  of 
illumination,  written  for  the  man  on  the  street  rather  than 
the  technician,  and  intended  rather  to  guide  him  toward  an 
appreciation  of  what  illumination  should  be  and  can  be 
than  to  give  any  cut-and-dried  directions  for  installing  this, 
that  or  the  other  illuminant.  It  cannot  fail  to  serve  a 
directly  useful  purpose,  because  the  difficulty  in  carrying 
out  a  general  program  of  good  illumination  is  that  the  very 
rudiments,  the  principles  on  which  good  illumination  should 
be  based,  are  far  from  being  as  widely  known  as  they 
should  be.  The  primer  should  render  valuable  service  in 
remedying  this  condition  and  making  the  ordinary  intelli- 
gent person  understand  why  certain  things  must  be,  and 
others  must  not  be,  done  if  artificial  light  is  to  be  put  to 
the  best  use.  The  illustrations  tell  the  story  almost  without 
the  text,  and  must  have  cost  much  trouble  to  secure. 

On  the  subject  matter  there  is  little  need  to  comment. 
It  covers  the  rather  wide  ground  of  a  somewhat  difficult 
subject  in  small  compass  and  so  plainly  that  there  is  nc 
room  for  misunderstanding  as  to  the  facts.  It  is  earnestly 
to  be  hoped  that  it  will  be  distributed  very  widely  as  an 
effective  tract  in  the  missionary  work  that  is  being  done  for 
good  illumination  and  circulated  thoroughly  among  con- 
sumers of  gas  and  electricity  to  aid  them  in  the  eft'ective 
use  of  these  illuminants.  We  understand  that  central  sta- 
tions and  gas  companies  have  taken  a  very  keen  interest  in 
the  production  of  the  primer  and  are  preparing  to  employ 
it  for  the  instruction  of  the  public.  It  has  been  prepared 
merely  as  a  primer,  yet  we  have  a  well-grounded  suspicion 
that  a  good  many  people  who  think  they  know  something 
about  the  principles  of  illumination  will  find  it  by  no  mean; 
profitless  reading.  In  bringing  forth  this  primer  the  Illumi- 
nating Engineering  Society  has  added  another  effective 
piece  of  work  to  its  efforts  at  furthering  the  cause  of  gooc 
lighting  and  bringing  the  art  of  illumination  to  its  propei 
place   in  the  appreciation   of  the  public. 


I 


October  26,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


857 


ELECTRICAL  MEASUREMENT  OF  WIND  VELOCITY. 

Among  the  papers  read  in  the  engineering  section  of  the 
recent  meeting  of  the  British  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science  at  Dundee  was  one  by  Prof.  J.  T.  Morris 
on  the  electrical  measurement  of  wind  velocity.  Wind 
velocities,  for  meteorological  purposes,  are  almost  invariably 
measured  by  some  form  of  Robinson  anemometer.  The 
usual  form  of  this  instrument  consists  of  four  metallic 
hemispherical .  cups  mounted  on  the  ends  of  four  radial 
arms  pivoted  jointly  about  a  vertical  axis.  The  cups  there- 
fore run  around  in  a  horizontal  plane  under  the  mechanical 
difference  of  wind  pressure  exerted  on  their  concave  and 
convex  sides.  The  speed  of  rotation  increases  with  the 
wind  velocity,  although  not  in  direct  proportion,  a  correction 
formula  being  used  when  precision  is  aimed  at.  The  instru- 
ment is  handy,  practical,  easily  self-recording  and  unlikely 
to  get  out  of  order.  However,  when  a  portable  wind-velocity 
device  is  required  the  Robinson  anemometer  is  unsuitable, 
and  for  very  low  wind  velocities  under  any  conditions  this 
anemometer  is  not  adapted. 

The  convection  of  heat  from  the  surface  of  an  electrically 
heated  wire  when  moved  through  the  air  offers  an  attractive 
method  of  measuring  wind  velocities  as  soon  as  the  laws 
connecting  the  wind  velocity  with  the  heat  dissipation  have 
been  reduced  to  scientific  and  also  to  practically  manageable 
form.  The  experimental  discovery  of  the  law  was  first 
published  in  the  1909  Transactions  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers  by  Messrs.  Kennelly,  Wright 
and  Van  Bylevelt.  They  found  that,  after  allowing  for  a 
small  constant  loss  of  power  in  the  stationary  wire  when 
the  wind  velocity  was  zero  and  also  for  a  small  but  usually 
negligible  radiation  loss,  the  power  convected  from  unit 
length  of  a  wire,  maintained  electrically  at  constant  tem- 
perature elevation,  was  proportional  to  the  square  root  of 
the  wind  velocity;  so  that  if  the  wind  velocity  quadrupled 
the  watts  per  centimeter  liberated  from  the  wire  at  constant 
temperature  would  be  doubled. 

Professor  Morris  described  various  electrical  arrange- 
ments for  measuring  the  power  dissipated  from  his  hot  test 
wire.  He  tried  wires  of  iron,  copper,  nickel,  tantalum, 
platinum  and  tungsten.  Platinum  was  finally  selected  be- 
cause of  its  constancy  of  surface  condition.  The  preferred 
arrangement  was  a  little  Wheatstone  bridge  of  four  short 
wires,  two  of  manganin  and  two  of  platinum,  all  exposed 
to  the  same  wind  velocity.  The  bridge  would  be  initially 
balanced  in  stationary  air  with  a  current  of  say  1.5  amp. 
When  exposed  to  the  wind,  the  two  fine  platinum  wires 
would  cool  off  and  change  in  resistance,  whereas  the  two 
manganin  wires  would  not  have  their  resistance  appreciably 
altered.  This  would  cause  a  galvanometer  in  the  bridge 
wire  to  show  current  and  call  for  a  readjustment  of  the 
balance.  The  current  supplied  to  the  bridge  would  have  to 
be  increased  until  the  balance  was  restored,  in  which  case 
the  platinum  wires  would  be  brought  back  to  their  original 
temperature  and  the  power  dissipated  from  them  would  be 
proportional  to  the  square  of  the  current.  The  square  of 
the  power  would  then  measure,  within  a  small  correction, 
the  wind  velocity. 

The  above  method  was  also  checked  by  the  Pitot-tube 
method,  and  the  results,  in  watts  per  linear  centimeter,  were 


in  conformity  with  those  presented  in  the  A.  I.  E.  E.  paper 
above  mentioned.  There  still  remains  a  good  deal  of  ex- 
perimental work  to  be  done  before  the  fundamental  mathe- 
matical formulas  derived  by  Boussinesq  in  1905  from 
hydrodynamical  considerations  can  be  submitted  to  full 
verification,  since  they  involve  various  hydrodynamical 
factors,  such  as  the  density,  thermal  conductivity  and 
specific  heat  of  the  surrounding  gas  the  velocity  of  which 
is  to  be  measured.  Professor  Morris  points  out  that  this 
method  is  capable  of  measuring  wind  velocities  with  con- 
siderable accuracy  over  a  range  from  well  under  i  mile 
per  hour  up  to  at  least  40  miles  per  hour,  with  a  con- 
veniently portable  set  of  apparatus.  The  practical  value 
of  such  a  hot-wire  velocity  gage,  however,  is  yet  to  be 
demonstrated,  because  of  the  rapidly  fluctuating  or  puffy 
character  of  winds  in  many  instances.  Each  change  in 
velocity  requires  a  new  setting  of  the  instrument,  thus 
rendering  it  somewhat  clumsy  to  follow  rapid  variations 
and  practically  impossible  to  measure  instantaneous  veloci- 
ties. A  certain  element  of  sluggishness  is  also  present,  due 
to  the  time  lag  between  changes  in  the  rate  of  heat  convec- 
tion from  the  wires  and  the  corresponding  changes  in 
temperature. 


MINIMIZING  MOMENTARY  LOAD  FLUaUATIONS  ON  FEEDERS. 

With  the  continued  increase  in  the  size  of  the  generating 
equipment  of  central  stations,  the  necessity  for  limiting  the 
load  fluctuations  on  the  station  has  become  of  less  impor- 
tance, and  at  the  present  date  little  discrimination  is  made 
in  rates  between  fluctuating  and  constant  loads,  except  as 
they  may  vary  in  load-factor  or  time  of  occurrence.  For 
example,  the  railway  load  which  was  formerly  considered 
undesirable  for  the  central  station  is  now  looked  upon  as 
highly  desirable  from  many  points  of  view.  On  the  other 
hand,  conditions  concerning  voltage  regulation  on  lighting 
feeders  have  not  changed,  and  it  is  just  as  essential  to-day 
as  it  ever  was  to  limit  the  amount  of  fluctuating  low- 
power-factor  load  on  alternating-current  lighting  circuits. 
With  the  extension  of  alternating-current  feeder  circuits 
to  outlying  districts,  which  is  one  of  the  very  prominent 
developments  of  the  present,  the  subject  of  load  fluctuation 
minimization  becomes  of  increasing  importance.  Of  the 
numerous  energy-consuming  devices  perhaps  the  chief 
offender  in  respect  to  undesirable  load  fluctuation  when 
uncontrolled  is  the  alternating-current  motor,  the  demand 
of  which  upon  starting,  even  without  load,  may  reach  many 
times  the  full-load  value.  The  excellent  normal  operating 
characteristics  of  the  standard  types  of  these  machines  are 
too  well  known  to  justify  extended  comment,  but  it  seems 
well  worth  while  to  outline  the  methods  employed  to  mini- 
mize their  inevitable  disadvantageous  starting  features,  as 
has  been  done  by  Mr.  William  E.  Kampf  on  page  877  of 
the  present  issue.  In  drawing  conclusions  from  the 
test  curves,  sight  should  not  be  lost  of  the  fact  that  the 
individual  motors  tested  were  not  selected  for  comparative 
purposes,  and  therefore  the  relative  performances  of  the 
different  types  cannot  properly  be  determined  by  compar- 
ing one  set  of  curves  with  another.  However,  the  curves 
serve  well  their  intended  purpose  of  showing  the  relative 
performance  of  each  type  of  machine  when  subjected  to 
various  methods  for  minimizing  the  starting  current. 


858 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  60,  No.  17. 


CONVENTION  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION  OF  RAILWAY 
ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERS. 


ELECTRICAL    DEVELOPMENT     SOCIETY   ORGANI- 
ZATION DETAILS. 


By  Telegraph. 

The  fiftli  annual  convention  of  iht  Association  of  Rail- 
way Electrical  Engineers  held  its  opening  session  on  Oct.  22 
in  Chicago,  the  attendance  being  about  200.  In  his  opening 
address  President  F.  R.  Frost  of  the  Sante  Fe  Railway 
said  that  the  recommendations  of  the  association  were 
being  generally  adopted,  citing  as  illustrations  the  6o-volt 
system  for  head-end  car  lighting  and  specifications  for  in- 
candescent car  lighting,  etc.  Secretary  J.  A.  Andreucetti, 
of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway,  reported  that 
the  total  membership  of  all  classes  at  present  is  489. 

Committee  reports  were  presented  at  both  the  morning 
and  the  afternoon  session.  The  report  on  the  wiring  of 
various  classes  of  railroad  buildings  was  presented  by  Mr. 
A.  J.  Farrelly,  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway. 
Mr.  E.  W.  Jansen,  of  the  Illinois  Central,  presented  a 
report  on  data  and  information;  Mr.  H.  C.  Meloy,  of  the 
Lake  Erie,  a  report  on  improvements,  and  Mr.  J.  R.  Sloan, 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  a  report  on  standard  ball 
bearings  for  axle  generators  used  in  lighting.  Following 
a  discussion  that  embraced  a  wide  range,  all  the  reports 
mentioned  were  adopted  as  read  except  that  on  ball  bear- 
ings, which  was  altered  to  include  roller  bearings  of  an- 
nular ball-bearing  sizes.  The  subjects  of  electric  drive  in 
machine  shops  and  round-house  lighting  received  con- 
siderable attention.  A  conspicuous  feature  of  the  con- 
vention was  a  display  of  electrical  appliances  made  by 
about  forty  exhibitors.  The  exhibits,  as  well  as  the  enter- 
tainment features,  were  in  charge  of  the  Railway  Electrical 
Supply  Manufacturers'  Association. 


CENTRAL-STATION  DEVELOPMENTS  AT  LOUIS- 
VILLE, KY. 


In  demurrers  filed  by  the  Kentucky  Electric  Company  of 
Louisville,  Ky.,  to  the  proceedings  instituted  in  Judge 
Samuel  Kirby's  court  by  the  city  of  Louisville,  seeking  to 
prevent  the  company  from  selling  or  attempting  to  sell  its 
plant  to  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company  of  Chicago,  who 
recently  purchased  the  Louisville  Gas  Company  and  the 
Louisville  Lighting  Company,  no  statement  was  made  to  the 
court  by  the  company  as  to  whether  it  has  sold  or  attempted 
to  sell  its  properties  to  the  Byllesby  interests.  The  de- 
murrers filed  took  exception  to  eight  references  to  com- 
petition in  the  sale  of  electricity,  as  stated  in  the  petition  of 
the  city. 

In  its  demurrers  the  Kentucky  Electric  Company  alleges 
that  the  petition  of  the  municipal  authorities  fails  to  state 
sufficient  facts  to  support  action  against  it.  The  city  has 
alleged  that  certain  provisions  of  the  company's  franchises 
make  it  unlawful  for  the  corporation  to  sell  out  to  outside 
interests.  In  an  amended  petition  the  city  made  the  Fidelity 
Trust  Company  and  the  Columbia  Trust  Company,  of  Louis- 
ville, co-defendants  in  the  action  instituted  against  the 
Kentucky  Electric  Company,  on  the  ground  that  these 
financial  institittions  held  the  stock  to  be  delivered  to  the 
Chicago  capitalists. 

It  developed  during  the  proceedings  in  court  that  Presi- 
dent Robert  E.  Hughes,  of  the  Kentucky  Electric  Company, 
is  in  receipt  of  a  letter  from  the  officers  of  the  Louisville 
Lighting  Company  making  plain  the  stand  of  that  company. 
The  letter  is  the  result  of  charges  published  a  short  time 
ago  by  the  Kentucky  Electric  Company  to  the  effect  that 
representatives  of  the  Louisville  Lighting  Company  were 
spreading  the  rumor  that  it.  the  Kentucky  company,  has 
sold  out  to  the  Byllesby  company  It  is  said  that  the  letter 
which  President  Hughes  has  received  is  not  to  be  made 
public. 


The  third  meeting  of  the  committee  which  was  appointed 
by  members  of  the  National  Electrical  Contractors'  Asso- 
ciation, the  Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Association  and  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association  and  representatives  of 
some  of  the  electrical  manufacturers  at  their  convention  at 
Association  Island,  Lake  Ontario,  on  Sept.  3,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  organizing  a  co-operative  society  or  association, 
with  the  object  of  developing  the  entire  electrical  industry 
and  improving  trade  conditions  within  it,  was  held  at  the 
Engineering  Societies  Building,  New  York,  on  Oct.  18. 

At  the  meeting  of  this  committee  on  Oct.  3  it  was  planned 
to  incorporate  the  new  association  under  New  York  laws 
with  the  name  "Society  for  Electrical  Development,"  and 
as  was  mentioned  in  the  Electrical  World  for  Oct.  12, 
papers  to  this  end  were  drawn  up  and  submitted  to  attor- 
neys for  examination  as  to  their  legality.  It  had  been  hoped 
that  the  incorporation  could  be  effected  prior  to  the  Oct.  18 
meeting.  This  was  not  accomplished,  however,  as  the  attor- 
neys called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  word  "company" 
or  "corporation"  or  "incorporated"  must  be  embodied  in 
the  name  of  a  corporation.  At  the  Oct.  18  meeting  the 
committee  decided,  therefore,  to  call  the  association  "The 
Society  for  Electrical  Development,  Inc.."  and  the  action  on 
this  point  completes  all  the  details  necessary  to  the  incorpo- 
ration. The  committee  expects  that  this  will  be  effected 
before  the  next  meeting,  which  is  scheduled  for  Nov.  18. 

One  of  the  most  important  results  of  the  Oct.  18  meeting 
affects  the  operating  control  of  the  policies  and  work  of 
the  society.  This  was  to  the  effect  that  the  board  of  direc- 
tors is  to  be  composed  of  twenty  members,  to  be  divided 
into  five  classes.  Four  of  the  directors  are  to  be  chosen 
from  the  central-station  interests,  four  from  the  contract- 
ing, four  from  the  manufacturing  and  four  from  the  job- 
bing interests,  and  four  directors  will  be  chosen  at  large. 
With  the  exception  of  the  last-named  four,  who  will  be 
chosen  by  the  membership  of  the  society  as  a  whole,  the 
directors  will  be  elected  by  the  membership  represented  in 
the  class  which  they  are  to  represent.  This  method,  the 
committee  believes,  will  assure  for  all  time  an  even  balance 
among  all  the  interests  in  the  electrical  industry  in  the 
operation  of  the  society  and  will  also  assure  fairness  and 
equality  to  each  interest. 

Approval  was  given  by  the  committee  to  the  by-laws  that 
had  been  drafted  by  a  sub-committee  in  charge  of  that  part 
of  the  work.  These  are  not  available  for  publication  at 
this  time,  but  some  details  of  the  financial  plan  provided  by 
them  have  been  learned.  This  plan,  through  which  the  funds 
to  advance  the  purposes  of  the  society  will  be  obtained, 
provides  for  subscriptions  by  the  various  members  on  the 
following  basis:  Central-station  and  manufacturing  mem- 
bers will  subscribe  respectively  at  the  rate  of  not  less  than 
one-fifteenth  of  I  per  cent  of  the  gross  amount  of  their 
respective  sales  up  to  and  including  $20,000,000,  and  at  the 
additional  rate  of  not  less  than  one-twentieth  of  I  per  cent 
on  the  gross  amount  of  such  sales  in  excess  of  $20,000,000. 
The  contracting,  dealing  and  jobbing  members  represented 
by  membership'^  in  the  society  are  to  subscribe  at  the  rate 
of  not  less  than  one-twentieth  of  I  per  cent  of  the  gross 
amount  of  their  respective  sales. 

In  figuring  out  the  foregoing  schedule,  the  committee 
found  that  the  interests  with  gross  sales  of  more  than 
$20,000,000  would  not  receive  added  benefit  from  the  work 
of  the  societv  in  proportion  to  the  excess  of  their  sales 
over  $20,000,000.  and  therefore  adopted  for  such  members 
the  scale  of  subscription  which  is  noted  above. 

The  committee  also  decided,  as  will  be  seen  from  the 
terms  of  the  schedule,  that  there  should  be  a  differential 
between  the  subscriptions  of  the  lighting  and  manufactur- 
ing interests  and  those  of  the  jobbing,  dealing  and  contract- 
ing interests.    This  decision  was  founded  chiefly  upon  the 


October  26.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


8S9 


fact  of  the  amount  of  local  advertising  and  activity  of  the 
last-named  interests  as  represented  by  co-operative  news- 
paper pages  and  similar  movements. 

Committees  were  appointed  to  prepare  plans  for  the  detail 
work  connected  with  the  financing,  the  policy  and  the  work 
to  be  done  by  the  society.  Approval  of  all  of  these  plans 
and  the  election  of  directors,  officers  and  an  executive  com- 
mittee at  the  next  meeting,  on  Nov.  18,  will  complete  the 
organization  details  of  the  society,  which  will  then  be  in  a 
position  to  go  ahead  with  its  work. 


PROPOSED    NATIONAL    COMMISSION     TO 
WATER-POWER  PROBLEMS. 


SOLVE 


At  the  recent  Chicago  convention  of  the  American 
Electric  Railway  Association  a  paper  was  read  by  Mr. 
James  E.  Hewes,  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  on 
"Advantages  to  Communities  Through  the  Development  of 
Water-Powers,"  in  which  the  concrete  suggestion  was  put 
forth  for  a  national  commission  of  experts  to  solve  water- 
way and  water-power  problems  on  a  broad  scale.  In 
reference  to  this  portion  of  his  subject  Mr.  Hewes  said: 

"Our  first  duty  in  this  matter  is  to  see  that  honest  busi- 
ness men  and  properly  qualified  engineers  form  a  commis- 
sion, properly  paid  for  its  services,  to  determine  a  broad 
plan  for  the  development  of  river  navigation  and  water- 
power,  wherever  power  can  be  developed  advantageously, 
and  where  a  dam  must  be  used  for  navigation. 

"A  dam  used  for  navigation  improvement  is  usually  not 
the  dam  best  adapted  for  power  purposes,  because  the  head 
is  low,  and  if  such  a  dam  were  used  in  power  development 
high  water  would  cause  great  fluctuations  in  capacity. 

"In  such  problems  the  commission  I  have  mentioned  could 
determine  if  it  is  feasible  to  build  a  high  dam  instead  of  a 
low  dam  ;  also  if  the  additional  expense  is  warranted  by  the 
government,  and  if  corporations  would  pay  the  additional 
expense  due  to  the  development  of  power. 

"Such  a  commission  would  solve  a  problem  that  no  one 
administration  has  yet  solved.  This  is  a  problem  that  ought 
not  to  be  an  administrative  problem.  It  is  unfair  to  put  the 
burden  on  an  administration,  but  the  administration  that 
creates  such  a  commission  as  I  have  outlined  will  have  done 
the  biggest  thing  yet  done  by  any  administration.  A  com- 
mission that  would  accomplish  the  control  of  floods  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley  and  its  tributaries  and  improve  the  navi- 
gation of  the  river  would  be  doing  a  bigger  thing  for 
posterity  than  the  digging  of  the  Panama  Canal  or  any- 
thing else  that  has  ever  been  done  by  any  single  government 
for  its  people." 

In  his  paper  Mr.  Hewes  pointed  out  the  enormous  loss  of 
life  and  property  in  the  United  States  due  to  floods,  and 
said  that  the  first  great  benefit  of  water-power  development 
I  is  the  prevention  of  floods.  The  present  government  policy, 
he  declared,  is  "saving  at  the  spigot  and  wasting  at  the 
i  bung-hole."  The  government  should  begin  down-stream 
and  work  up.  Continuing,  he  said:  "The  Mississippi  Val- 
'  ley  has  many  water-power  sites  where  development  would 
I  mean  prevention  of  floods,  cheap  navigation  and  fair  in- 
come to  corporations  that  could  be  induced  to  co-operate 
with  the  government  in  the  joint  development  of  water- 
power  and  the  improvement  of  navigation." 

Every  dam  not  used  for  the  development  of  electrical 
energy  means  just  so  much  loss  of  income  to  the  community. 
At  the  present  time  "it  is  almost  an  insurmountable 
proposition  to  obtain  government  consent  to  build  a  dam, 
unless  provision  is  made  for  navigation,  such  as  the  building 
of  locks  at  rapids  over  which  even  an  Indian  has  never 
paddled  his  canoe." 

The  economic  importance  of  water-power  development 
in  saving  coal  was  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Hewes.  Thanks  to 
high-potential    electrical    transmission,    "I    dare    say    it    is 


possible  to-day  to  cover  the  entire  area  of  the  United  States 
with  a  network  of  high-tension  lines  connecting  together, 
with  efficient  distribution,  all  of  the  water-powers  capable 
of  development  in  the  United  States." 

Navigable  waterways  mean  saving  in  transportation. 
"These  are  the  big  things  which  we  should  conserve  to  the 
people  and  hand  down  to  posterity — navigable  rivers, 
cheaper  transportation  and  developed  water-power,  the 
coal  remaining  to  heat  the  bodies  of  our  descendants."  The 
sun,  in  lifting  water,  is  the  greatest  pumping  plant  in  the 
universe,  and  the  author  believes  that  this  is  about  the  only 
way  in  which  its  rays  can  be  used  as  a  large  source  of 
power.     It  is  the  one  great  perpetual  motion. 


ANNUAL    REPORT    OF    WESTERN     UNION    TELE- 
GRAPH COMPANY. 


The  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  in  the  year 
ended  June  30,  1912,  made  substantial  gains  in  its  gross 
revenues,  as  compared  with  those  in  the  preceding  year. 
These  gains  were  due  largely  to  the  introduction  of  new 
forms  of  telegraph  and  cable  service,  resulting  in  a  wider 
utilization  of  its  facilities  in  what  had  been  comparatively 
idle  periods  in  the  past.  During  the  year,  moreover,  the 
regular  classes  of  service  showed  their  normal  increases, 
which  indicates  that  the  new  services  were  not  used  as 
substitutes  for  the  old.  The  statements  of  revenues  and 
expenses  for  the  past  two  years  compare  as  shown  in 
condensed  form  in  Table  I. 

President  Vail,  in  discussing  the  revenues,  called  atten- 
tion to  the  gratifying  increase  of  $6,182,637  in  the  tele- 
graph and  cable  earnings  over  those  in  the  previous  year 
and  to  an  increase  in  land  line  message  tolls  of  $4,357,373, 
or  15.57  per  cent.  There  was  also  a  large  increase  in  cable 
tolls,  due  in  part  to  natural  growth,  but  largely  to  the 
inclusion  of  the  revenues  of  the  Anglo-American  Tele- 
graph Company  and  the  Direct  United  States  Cable  Com- 
pany from  June  i,  1912.  Despite  the  gain  in  gross  rev- 
enues, there  was  a  decrease  in  net  profits  last  year,  as  was 
the  case  in  191 1.  This  amounted  in  the  year  ended  June  30, 
1912,  to  $181,386,  or  2.5  per  cent.  Commenting  further 
upon  the  income  account.  President  Vail  said  that  the 
salaries  and  wages  account  increased  over  that  of  the 
preceding  year  by  $2,697,318,  or  19.9  per  cent,  which 
includes  payments  to  cable  employees  taken  over  from  the 
-'\nglo-American  and  Direct  cable  companies.  He  added, 
however,  that  these  figures  were  not  out  of  proportion  to 
the  increase  in  gross  revenue.  There  was  also  a  decrease 
in  income  credits  during  the  year  as  compared  with  those 
in  191 1,  amounting  to  $344,000.  This  decrease  was  due  to 
a  reduction  in  the  amount  of  interest  received  from  the 
American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  and  to  the  fact 
that  the  Western  Union  received  a  stock  dividend  from  one 
of  its  affiliated  companies  in  the  preceding  year.  The 
charges  for  repairs  and  reconstruction  of  land  lines  were 
$558,788  larger  than  those  of  the  preceding  year,  owing  to 
the  policy  of  improving  the  plant  and  building  up  reserves 
for  this  purpose.  The  balance  sheet  as  of  June  30,  1912,  is 
given  in  condensed  form  in  Table  11.  In  discussing  this 
President  Vail  said  that  the  company's  plant,  exclusive  of 
ocean  cables  leased,  was  extended  during  the  year  by  1709 
miles  of  poles,  21,115  miles  of  copper  wire  and  4857  miles 
of  iron  wire,  making  a  total  addition  of  29.972  miles  of 
wire.  There  were  25,392  Western  Union  offices  on  June  30. 
During  the  year  the  executive  committee,  after  fu'l  con- 
sideration of  the  company's  requirements  for  office  space, 
authorized  the  construction  of  a  thirty-story  building  on  a 
plot  75  ft.  by  yj  ft.  at  14  Dey  Street,  New  York,  and  this 
building,  it  is  expected,  will  be  completed  before  Jan.  i, 
1914,  The  board  of  directors,  following  a  reference  made 
in  the  preceding  annual  report  to  the  desirability   of   pro- 


86o 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


viding  an  adequate  depreciation  fund  out  of  earnings  over 
and  above  the  dividend  then  paid,  until  such  time  as  the 
fund  would  admit  of  an  increase  in  the  dividend  rate,  voted 
to  appropriate  out  of  earnings  in  equal  quarterly  instalments 
during  the  year  commencing  with  Jan.  i,  1912,  the  sum  of 
$3,400,000  for  repairs  and  maintenance,  and  also  to 
appropriate  the  sum  of  $5,000,000  in  such  quarterly  instal- 
ments as  should  be  determined  upon  by  it  for  recon- 
struction and  depreciation  reserve. 

TABLE   I. — INCOME   ACCOUNT. 


Year  Ended—  June  30, 1912. 

Gross     telegraph     and     cable 

earnings   $40,857,768.91 

Miscellaneous     earnings 803,670.57 


June  30,  1911. 

$34,714,810.07 
763,982.81 

$35,478,792.88 


Total    earnings $41,661,439.48 

Deduct: 

Operating  ex- 
penses, in- 
cluding rent 
o  f  leased 
lines,  recon- 
s  t  r  u  c  tion, 
repairs,  mis- 
c  e 1  laneous 
interest,  etc.  $35,350,422.30  $29,153,631.63 

Taxes     713.413.80  900,000.00 

36,063.836.10    30,053,631.63 


Balance     $5,597,603.38 

Add: 

Income  from  loans  and  in- 
vestments, including  rent- 
als from   real   estate 1,326,367.67 


$5,425,161.25 


1,680,196.23 
$7,105,357.48 


Net     profits $6,923,971.05 

Deduct: 

Interest  on 
bonds  of 
Western 
Union  Tele- 
graph Com- 
pany          $1,670,416.79  $1,733,389.52 

*A  p  propria- 
tion  for  re- 
serves for 
repairs  and 
reconstruc  - 
tion  of  land 
lines    1,250,000.00  

Dividends    ..       2,991,823.50  2,991,304.50 

5,912,240.29    4,724,694.02 


Balance      transferred      to 

surplus    account $1,011,730.76 


$2,380,663.46 


*This  appropriation  is  in  addition  to  the  six  months'  appropriations  from 
Jan.   1  to  June  30,  1912. 


As  a  result  of  a  continuance  of  this  plan  the  possibility 
of  increase  in  the  dividend  rate  for  some  time  to  come  is,  of 
course,  precluded,  but,  as  stated  in  the  report,  the  property 
will  be  strengthened  through  this  policy  and  future  increases 
in  dividends  will  be  assured.  Jixtensive  comment  was  also 
made  upon  the  desirability  and  the  mutual  advantages  to 
both  the  public  and  the  company  of  utilizing  the  facilities 
of  the  company  during  periods  now  idle,  the  effect  of  which 
would  be  ihe  distribution  of  overhead  charges  through  in- 

TABLE  II. — ^BALANCE  SHEET  AS  OF  JUNE  30,   I912. 

Property    account $136,251,623.00 

Other   securities   owned 19,569,290.78 

Inventories  of  material  and  supplies 2,308,585.59 

Current    assets 9,359,492.87 

Total     $167,524,992.24 

Liabilities: 

Capital  stock  issued   (less  $30,341.04  held  in  treasury)..  $99,786,758.96 

Capital   stock  of  subsidiary  companies 3,893,375.00 

Funded     debt 32,602,000.00 

Current    liabilities 4,806,883.14 

Deferred     non-interest-bearing     liabilities 12,385,763.19 

Reserves    3,324,125.21 

Surplus     10,726,086.74 

Total     $167,524,992.24 


creased  service  and  ultimate  reduction  of  rates.  The  report 
also  discussed  the  necessity,  for  securing  the  best  service, 
of  both  physical  connection  and  operation  of  cable  and  land 
lines  under  one  central  control,  and  then  traced  the  history 
of  the  negotiations  through  which  the  Western  Union  Com- 
pany established  a  common  operating  control  for  its  lines 


and  those  of  the  Anglo-American  and  Direct  cable 
companies. 

There  are  six  companies  at  this  time  owning  transatlantic 
cables,  as  follows:  The  French  company,  with  two  cables, 
which  is  operated  independently;  the  Commercial  company, 
with  six  cables;  the  German  company,  with  two  cables,  all 
of  which  are  operated  by  the  Mackay  interests;  the  Anglo- 
American  company,  with  five  cables ;  the  Direct  United 
States  Company,  with  one  cable,  and  the  American  Tele- 
graph &  Cable  Company,  with  two  cables,  all  of  which  are 
operated  by  the  Western  Union  company. 

Considerable  space  was  devoted  in  the  report  to  the  rela- 
tions and  the  differences  between  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company  and  the  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph 
Company,  the  relations  being  based  primarily  upon  the 
complementary  character  of  the  two  services,  as  exemplified 
in  the  use  of  the  telephone  for  the  collection  and  delivery 
of  telegraph  messages,  the  opportunity  for  the  joint  use  of 
plant  and  the  avoidance  of  economic  waste,  while  the  dif- 
ferences are  in  the  characteristics  of  the  two  classes  of 
service  rendered,  one,  the  telephone,  requiring  immediate 
service  and  sufficient  equipment  and  organization  to  meet 
the  maximum  demand  at  all  times,  resulting  in  uneven  load 
upon  the  system  and  operators,  while  the  other,  the  tele- 
graph service,  inasmuch  as  messages  may  be  deferred,  re- 
quires equipment  and  organization  only  for  the  needs  of  the 
full-rate  messages  which  must  be  immediately  dispatched 
to  their  destination. 


EXPANSION    OF    THE    NARRAGANSETT   ELECTRIC 
LIGHTING  COMPANY. 


Rapid  expansion  is  taking  place  in  the  industrial  uses  for 
electrical  energy  in  the  district  served  by  the  Narragansett 
Electric  Lighting  Company,  which  includes  the  city  of 
Providence,  R.  L,  and  surrounding  territory.  The  com- 
pany is  now  installing  in  its  main  generating  station  at 
Providence  an  additional  9000-kw  turbo-generator  of  the 
horizontal  Westinghouse-Parsons  type,  for  6o-cycle,  three- 
phase,  11,000-volt  service.  The  system  load  for  the  week 
ending  Oct.  5  was  27  per  cent  larger  than  the  load  for  the 
corresponding  week  of  1911.  The  new  unit  will  probably 
be  placed  in  service  about  the  middle  of  November.  The 
Narragansett  company  has  recently  taken  over  the  Narra- 
gansett Pier  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  having  a 
capitalization  of  $100,000  and  an  outstanding  bond  issue  of 
$55,000.  The  latter  company  serves  Narragansett  Pier, 
Peacedale  and  Wakefield.  A  33,000-volt,  three-phase,  60- 
cycle  transmission  line  is  under  construction  from  Provi- 
dence to  Narragansett  Pier  and  Wakefield  over  private 
right-of-way,  the  total  distance  being  35  miles.  The  line 
will  carry  two  three-phase  circuits,  each  of  5000-kw  capac- 
ity. Both  line  and  station  equipment  is  being  installed  in 
complete  duplicate,  providing  a  high  degree  of  security 
from   service   interruptions. 

The  Narragansett  company  has  recently  closed  a  twenty- 
year  contract  with  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford 
Railroad  Company  to  furnish  electrical  energy  for  oper- 
ating the  trolley  system  from  Providence  to  Narragansett 
Pier,  a  distance  of  35  miles.  Under  this  contract  the  com- 
pany will  also  furnish  energy  for  operating  the  Kingston 
branch  of  the  New  Haven  road  after  the  work  of  electrifi- 
cation has  been  completed.  The  many  industries  situated 
in  Providence  and  vicinity  offer  an  unusual  opportunity, 
for  securing  large  motor-service  contracts,  and  the  com- 
pany is  conducting  a  very  successful  campaign  for  this  class 
of  business,  a  number  of  large  contracts  having  recently 
been  closed. 

Mr.  Arthur  B.  Lisle  is  the  general  manager  of  the 
Narragansett  Electric  Lighting  Company,  and  Mr.  E.  R. 
Davenport  is  the  sales  manager. 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


861 


KANSAS  UTILITIES  CONVENTION. 


Nearly  100  electrical  men  attended  the  fourteenth  annual 
convention  of  the  Kansas  Gas,  Water,  Electric  Light  & 
Street  Railway  Association  at  Manhattan,  Kan.,  Oct.  17 
and  18.  Opening  Thursday  afternoon's  session,  President 
B.  F.  Eyer  introduced  Mayor  S.  F.  Goheen  of  Manhattan, 
whose  welcome  was  responded  to  by  Mr.  L.  O.  Ripley, 
Wichita. 

Following  with  his  presidential  address.  Professor  Eyer 
spoke  of  the  recent  rapid  growth  of  the  industry  resulting 
from  the  pioneering  efforts  of  its  founders  and  inventors. 
As  an  advocate  of  centralized  energy  generation  and  dis- 
tribution, he  told'  of  the  struggle  for  existence  which  a 
multiplicity  of  small  competing  plants  will  surely  mean  for 
each.  Expenses  can  be  reduced,  he  said,  both  by  stopping 
wastes  and  increasing  output.  With  the  logical  limit  of 
the  first  approaching  attainment,  attention  must  now  be 
turned  to  getting  greater  volume  of  business.  The  "new- 
business  idea,"  while  comparatively  new  in  Kansas,  has 
already,  he  said,  proved  itself  a  good  investment  in  many 
small  plants  of  the  State.  In  closing,  the-  president  com- 
mended the  intelligent  and  just  regulation  of  utilities  by  a 
commission,  as  being  wholly  fair  to  both  corporations  and 
public. 

INTERURBANS    AND    COMMUNITY    DEVELOPMENT. 

"The  Relation  of  Interurbans  to  Community  Develop- 
ment," a  paper  by  Mr.  W.  A.  Scothorn,  Hutchinson,  Kan., 
pointed  out  the  benefits  conferred  upon  both  town  and 
country  by  frequent  and  rapid  interurban  service,  which 
through  its  convenience  and  cleanliness  had  now  become 
a  serious  competitor  of  steam-railroad  operation.  Subur- 
ban territories  are  developed  for  homes  of  town  and  city 
workers,  while  the  farmer  and  his  family  are  in  turn 
afforded  the  cultural  advantages  of  closely  populated  com- 
munities. Often  interurban  lines  also  make  available  elec- 
tric service  for  lighting  farmhouses  and  doing  much  of  the 
labor  of  the  farm.  With  rapid  delivery  service  the  pro- 
ducer is  aTjIe  to  distribute  his  products  to  better  advantage. 
By  adding  to  the  attractiveness  of  farm  life  and  reversing 
the  tide  from  country  to  city,  interurbans  will  increase  the 
producing  class,  predicted  Mr.  Scothorn,  and  thus  reduce 
the  cost  of  living.  He  recommended  the  use  of  best  stand- 
ard track  construction  or  private  rights-of-way,  and  urged 
that  the  Kansas  people  recognize  the  possibilities  in  develop- 
ing their  own  State  instead  of  purchasing,  from  sharp  land 
dealers  at  inflated  prices,  doubtful  farm  lands  in  distant 
sections  of  the  country.  In  all  rural  development,  he  added, 
the  presence  of  interurban  railways  always  enhances  values 
and  plays  a  most  important  part. 

Mr.  L.  O.  Ripley,  Wichita,  reported  the  rapid  suburban 
development  that  has  followed  construction  of  the  Wichita- 
Newton  interurban  railway,  which  is  now  lined  with  truck 
farms  and  suburban  tracts.  The  future  development  of  the 
State,  declared  this  speaker,  depends  largely  upon  the  de- 
velopment of  electric-railway  lines. 

BOILER-PLANT    PRACTICE. 

"Economic  Methods  of  Coal  Combustion"  were  discussed 
by  Dean  E.  B.  McCormick,  of  the  Kansas  State  Agricultural 
College,  Manhattan.  Hand-firing  furnace  efficiencies,  he 
said,  are  limited  by  the  skill  and  willingness  of  the  fireman, 
by  the  necessity  of  opening  doors,  admitting  drafts  which 
chill  the  fire,  and  by  those  furnace  dimensions  dependent 
upon  the  length  and  strength  of  the  human  arm.  Even  for 
hand-fired  boilers  the  dean  recommended  larger  clearances, 
approaching  those  used  in  mechanical  stoker  installations, 
thus  permitting  better  combustion.  He  cited  gains  of  10 
per  cent  in  economy  merely  by  raising  the  boilers  or  in- 
stalling baffles  to  redirect  the  gases.  In  another  case,  he 
said,  a  boiler's  rating  was  practically  doubled  by  installing 
a  mechanical  stoker.     Future  advances  in  steam-generating 


economy,  he  predicted,  will  come  from  furnace  rather  than 
boiler  improvements. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Sweezey,  Junction  City,  expressed  doubt 
whether  in  a  small  plant  the  gain  effected  by  stokers  might 
not  be  offset  by  the  power  required  to  operate  them.  Mr. 
Scothorn  reported  evaporating  7  lb.  of  water  per  lb.  of 
coal  without  economizers,  and  even  higher  rates  with  special 
equipment.  Superheated  steam,  he  declared,  renders  the 
lubrication  of  engines  difficult,  although,  of  course,  this 
objection  does  not  hold  for  turbine  operation.  Mr.  F.  N. 
Jewett,  St.  Louis,  testifying  from  his  own  operating  ex- 
perience, declared  that  in  small  plants  equipped  with  two 
or  three  boilers  the  expenses  of  maintenance  and  upkeep 
on  mechanical  stokers  will  often  go  far  to  offset  the  gains 
in  efficiency  attained.  It  pays,  however,  he  said,  to  hire 
skilful  firemen.  A  plant  test  with  identical  boilers,  coal, 
load,  etc.,  showed  that  one  fireman  was  burning  $5  worth 
of  coal  more  per  day  than  did  a  second  skilled  man  who 
received  $1  per  day  higher  wages.  Here  an  apparent  saving 
of  $1  per  day  was  really  entailing  a  loss  of  $4.  Mr.  W.  F. 
Fellows,  Leavenworth,  also  testified  that  mechanical  stoking 
is  likely  to  effect  little  or  no  saving  in  small  stations,  where 
upkeep  offsets  possible  economies  outright. 

CENTRAL-STATION     ENERGY    FOR    FACTORIES. 

Modern  industrial  processes  are  most  advantageously 
carried  on  by  specialized  producers,  said  Mr.  Gordon 
Weaver,  Kansas  City,  and  this  general  axiom  applies  point- 
edly to  central-station  service  compared  with  isolated-plant 
operation.  The  company  which  makes  a  business  of  power 
production  can  furnish  better  and  cheaper  service  than  can 
the  manufacturer  who  runs  his  plant  as  a  side  line.  Large 
motor  installations  have  correspondingly  low  billing  and 
customer  costs  per  kilowatt-hour,  a  factor  sometimes  over- 
looked when  figuring  motor-service  schedules.  If  the  aver- 
age manufacturer  will  apply  his  isolated-plant  investment 
to  increasing  his  own  special  manufacturing  facilities,  said 
Mr.  Weaver,  he  can  make  from  10  to  90  per  cent  more 
than  by  attempting  private-plant  operation.  The  usual 
"steam-heat"  argument  for  installing  a 'building  or  factory 
electric  plant  Mr.  Weaver  claimed  to  be  a  fallacy,  since  the 
demands  of  heating  and  electrical  systems  are  largely 
divergent.  In  closing,  the  speaker  recommended  careful 
study  of  the  prospective  customers'  private-plant  costs, 
which  are  usually  underestimated,  as  well  as  close  con- 
sideration of  the  company's  own  rates  in  order  that  they 
shall  be  profitable  for  such  large,  long-hour  business. 

PUMP    SLIPPAGE. 

"Pump  Slippage,"  a  paper  by  Mr.  J.  W.  Heck,  Arkansas 
City,  related  to  leakage  losses  around  valves  of  reciprocating 
units  employed  for  water-supply  purposes  and  described  an 
improved  poppet-valve  designed  to  minimize  this  slippage. 

WOOD    PRESERVATION. 

Mr.  W.  W.  Gerhart  spoke  of  the  germicide  action  neces- 
sary to  wood  preservation.  In  one  instance  he  quoted  ties 
treated  with  a  creosote  oil  at  20  cents  each  are  still  intact 
after  five  years,  while  the  untreated  ties  alongside  have  had 
to  be  replaced.  Preservation  is  here  saving  $1  per  mile  per 
day.  If  proper  temperature  control  is  maintained  and  rea- 
sonable care  taken,  heat  treatment  will  neither  kill  the  wood 
fiber  nor  decrease  the  holding  power  of  spikes.  Mr.  C.  L. 
Brown,  Abilene,  and  Mr.  H.  H.  Sparks,  Kansas  City,  also 
spoke  briefly. 

DEPRECIATION  IN  ELECTRICAL  PROPERTIES. 

Prof.  George  Shaad,  head  of  the  electrical  department 
of  the  University  of  Kansas,  Lawrence,  followed  with  a 
clear  exposition  of  the  principles  of  fixing  upon  deprecia- 
tion, or  the  lessened  physical  or  utility  value  of  equipment. 
The  speaker  pointed  out  that  there  can  be  no  depreciation 
below  scrap  or  second-hand  value,  explaining  also  that 
authorities  are  not  agreed  upon  the  length  of  life  of  various 
classes  of  utility  property.    A  straight-line  rate  of  deprecia- 


862 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


tion  is,  however,  found  by  dividing  known  service  value  by 
the  assumed  life.  The  Wisconsin  commission  has  allowed 
eighteen  to  twenty  years  as  the  composite  life  of  electric- 
light  plants.  In  street-car  systems,  where  equipment  is 
continuously  being  added  and  withdrawn  from  service,  the 
"present"  value  is  assumed  to  be  50  per  cent  of  the  total 
cost  value.  Rates  of  depreciation  allowed  by  authorities 
have  ranged  from  2  per  cent  on  underground  conduit  to 
12  per  cent  on  coal-handling  machinery.  Minimum  values 
permitted  of  equipment  in  service  range  from  poles  at  25 
per  cent  to  switchboard  meters  at  80  per  cent.  Rates  of 
depreciation  are,  after  all,  fixed  by  local  conditions  and  any 
abnormal  depreciation  factor  constitutes  an  inherent  risk 
and   should  be  compensated   for   accordingly. 

Mr.  L.  O.  Ripley,  Wichita,  advised  technical  men  to  de- 
vote closer  attention  to  the  financial  end  of  operating.  Mr. 
L.  K.  Greene,  Concordia,  quoted  the  Kansas  commission 
as  approving  a  10  per  cent  reduction  for  depreciation  in 
making  out  tax-report  valuations.  Mr.  Marsh,  Garden  City, 
urged  upon  the  association  the  injustice  done  by  the  state 
commission  in  allowing  his  plant  only  4  per  cent  on  its 
reproduction  value,  or  a  profit  of  less  than  l  per  cent. 
With  a  book  value  of  $61,000,  the  engineer's  appraisal  was 
fixed  at  $45,000  with  a  recommendation  for  6  per  cent. 
The  commission  disregarded  this  advice  and  itself  fixed 
4  per  cent.  It  has  also  limited  motor-service  rates  to  6.5 
and  4.5  cents,  making  no  allowance  for  horse-power  con- 
nected. Mr.  F.  F.  Rossman,  Kansas  City,  illustrated  with 
an  anecdote  the  plight  of  a  plant  in  which  all  the  original 
equipment  has  been  replaced  during  the  maintenance 
process. 

THERMAL    INSULATION. 

"Insulation  for  Heat  and  Cold"  was  the  topic  of  a  paper 
by  Mr.  H.  W.  Prentiss  describing  thermal  non-conducting 
coverings  manufactured  by  the  Pittsburgh  Cork  Company, 
Pittsburgh.  The  speaker  also  explained  methods  of  testing 
for  condensation  losses  and  calculated  the  wastes  involved. 

STORAGE  Batteries  for  small  plants. 

"Storage  Batteries  for  Small  Central  Stations,"  a  paper 
by  Mr.  H.  B.  Marshall,  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company, 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  outlined  the  advantages  of  direct-current 
generation  with  storage-battery  auxiliary  for  towns  of 
1000  or  less,  where  twenty-four-hour  service  is  desired. 
With  modern  internal-combustion  engines  and  high  effi- 
ciency lamps,  this  method  has  become  commercially  profit- 
able, said  Mr.  Marshall.  The  engine  set  is  run  a  few  hours 
daily  at  full  load  and  the  battery  charge  depended  upon  for 
the  rest  of  the  twenty-four.  Fifteen  such  plants  are  now 
in  use  in  Nebraska,  and  there  is  one  at  Perry,  Kan.  Battery 
renewals,  said  the  speaker,  can  be  fully  covered  by  a  6  per 
cent  maintenance  allowance.  In  reply  to  a  question,  Mr. 
Marshall  frankly  stated  such  auxiliary  use  of  a  battery  to 
be  out  of  the  question  on  an  alternating-current  system. 

President  H.  J.  Waters,  of  the  Kansas  State  Agricultural 
College,  opened  Friday  afternoon's  program  with  an  en- 
gaging discussion  of  present  high  cost  of  living,  tracing  it 
to  the  large  production  of  gold,  unbalancing  of  the  food- 
producing  and  consuming  classes,  too  many  middlemen, 
and  the  extensive  and  unnecessary  transportation  of  com- 
modities. 

STEAM    HEATING    FOR    CENTRAL    STATIONS. 

In  a  paper  on  "Steam  Heating  for  Central  Stations" 
Mr.  H.  C.  Kimbrough,  American  District  Steam  Company, 
Chicago,  111.,  declared  that  a  utility's  service  to  its  cus- 
tomers is  not  complete  unless  it  furnishes  heat  as  well  as 
energy  for  lamps  and  motors.  Steam  heating,  he  said,  is 
one  of  the  most  profitable  of  all  utilities.  Instances  when 
it  has  failed  to  pay  are  traceable  to  (l)  too  low  rate  for 
steam,  to  build  up  electric  load;  (2)  consumer's  regulation 
of  his  own  installation,  which  the  company  should  specify, 
or   (3)   poor  management. 


NEW     APPARATUS. 

Mr.  J.  L.  Buchanan,  General  Electric  Company,  Chicago, 
presented  an  illustrated  paper  on  new  types  of  transformers, 
lightning  arresters  and  ozonators. 

Mr.  L.  A.  S.  Wood,  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufac- 
turing Company,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  followed  with  a  discussion 
of  "Arc  Lamps  and  Their  Recent  Developments,"  describ- 
ing flame-arc  and  metallic-tlame  units. 

Mr.  S.  F.  Dibble,  General  Electric  Company,  Chicago, 
exhibited  a  number  of  lantern  slides  showing  motor  applica- 
tions. The  speaker  also  discussed  trade  relations  between 
manufacturer,  dealer  and  central  station,  advising  that 
prices  be  maintained  as  a  matter  of  justice  to  all.  Price 
cutting,  he  said,  always  brings  retaliation,  and  quality  soon 
suffers. 

Mr.  F.  N.  Jewett,  Wagner  Electric  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, St.  Louis,  Mo.,  described  some  new  alternating- 
current  devices  developed  by  his  company,  mentioning  par- 
ticularly the  unity  power-factor  motor,  60-cycle  rotary  con- 
verters in  i-kw  to  S-kw  sizes  for  vehicle  charging,  lantern 
operation.  X-ray  machines,  etc.,  and  mechanical  rectifiers 
for  ignition-battery  charging. 

OFFICE    ORGANIZATION. 

Mr.  I.  F.  Thomas,  Wichita,  Kan.,  in  his  paper  on  "Office 
Organization,"  recommended  proper  division  of  work  and 
responsibility  to  avoid  overtime  as  far  as  possible.  He 
also  advocated  the  English  system  of  periodical  inspections 
by  certified  public  accountants.  This  plan,  he  thinks,  en- 
courages the  employees  if  all  is  found  correct  and  in- 
variably pleases  the  stockholders.  The  speaker  urged  that 
more  time  be  given  to  checking,  since  by  calling  off  post- 
ings in  advance  time  in  hunting  errors  can  frequently  be 
saved  at  the  end  of  the  month.  A  weekly  or  occasional 
meeting  of  the  business  staff  at  which  suggestions  are 
invited,  to  be  tried  out  and  adopted  if  approved,  will  also 
stimulate  the  interest  of  the  rising  men.  In  closing,  Mr. 
Thomas  declared  that  no  system  of  accounts  is  a  good  one 
unless  two  different  individuals  can  be  held  responsible  for 
all  items. 

RURAL  TRANSMISSION   LINES. 

Mr.  L.  K.  Greene,  Concordia,  next  described  his  trans- 
mission system,  which  serves  a  group  of  small  towns  and 
the  included  rural  districts.  Twenty-four-hour  service  is 
given,  except  on  Sunday,  when  the  plant  runs  from  7  p.  m. 
to  5  a.  m.  In  hot  weather,  however,  the  plant  is  operated 
for  fan  use.  Mr.  Greene  does  not  favor  building  rural 
lines  unless  there  is  a  town  of  at  least  500  inhabitants  as  an 
objective.  He  recommends  furnishing  service  to  farmers 
in  groups  of  two  or  more  from  his  13,000-volt  transmission, 
the  farmers  prorating  the  cost  of  high-tension  transformers 
and  2300-volt  primary  distributions,  and  each  paying  for 
his  own  2300/1  lo-volt  transformer.  The  company  supplies 
the  meter  and  charges  $2  minimum  monthly  and  12  cents 
per  kw-hr.  The  latter  is  the  regular  town  schedule,  where 
the  minimum  is  $1.  Energy  is  wholesaled  to  local  dis- 
tribution companies  for  5  and  6  cents  per  kw-hr.  at  their 
own  switchboards,  the  purchaser  company  building  anc 
maintaining  10  miles  of  the  line.  Mr.  Greene  uses  30-ft 
poles  with  6-in.  tops,  set  forty  to  the  mile.  Six  miles  if 
of  No.  4  copper,  48  miles  of  No.  6,  and  i  mile  of  No.  ( 
iron  wire.     The  line  cost  $500  a  mile. 

In  the  discussion  which  followed  Mr.  L.  A.  Pettit,  Jr. 
Emporia,  observed  that  small  communities  usually  produce 
a  greater  revenue  per  capita  than  do  large  cities.  Mr. 
Greene  reported  Concordia,  with  6000  population,  to  have 
$4  25  income  per  capita.  Mr.  W.  A.  Scothorn,  Hutchinson, 
declared  that,  regardless  of  the  rate  used,  the  income  per 
capita  will  usually  be  found  to  remain  constant  at  about  $4- 
He  advocated  selling  large  quantities  of  cheap  energy.  Mr 
J.  F.  Vail,  Manhattan,  said  that  a  plant  not  producing  $6 
per  capita  he  deemed  "not  worked  up  at  all."     Mr.  W.  C: 


I 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


863 


Duncan,  Lawrence,  urged  that  "new-business"  methods  be 
applied  to  acquiring  load  in  Kansas  as  elsewhere.  "The 
sales  department,"  he  said,  "is  the  goose  that  lays  the 
golden  eggs." 

Mr.  F.  H.  Hanson,  engineer  for  the  Kansas  Public 
Utilities  Commission,  Topeka,  spoke  of  the  value  of  a 
complete  system  of  plant  records  and  the  necessity  of  main- 
taining entries.  It  is  the  prosperous  plants,  he  noticed, 
which  keep  records  carefully.  Usefulness,  of  course,  should 
always  determine  the  items  to  be  recorded,  the  smaller  plants 
requiring  simpler  systems.  Supervision  of  accounts  and 
regulation  of  properties  by  utility  commissions,  said  Mr. 
Hanson,  will  benefit  plant  owners,  operators,  customers  and 
the  public  in  general.  He  described  systems  of  pole  records, 
etc.,  used  in  Milwaukee.  Madison  and  Cleveland,  and  quoted 
from  the  Electrical  World  an  account  of  the  system  at 
Worcester,  Mass.  The  subject  was  discussed  briefly  by 
Messrs.    Sweezey,   Thomas   and    Scothorn. 

FIRELESS    COOKERS   AS   DAY-LOAD   BUILDERS. 

Mr.  W.  C.  Duncan,  Lawrence,  read  a  paper  on  "The 
Electric  Fireless  Cooker  as  a  Day-Load  Builder,"  in  which 
he  had  the  collaboration  of  Mr.  C.  A.  Bergen,  Emporia. 
After  a  historical  sketch,  the  authors  pointed  out  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  cooker  with  automatic  clock  cut-off,  insuring 
against  waste  or  burn-out.  Home  tests  preparing  dishes 
for  a  family  of  five  showed  the  watt-hour  consumption  of 
certain  foods  to  be  as  follows :  Roast  beef,  400 ;  cabbage, 
280;  ham,  250;  rice  pudding,  280;  oatmeal,  250.  The 
monthly  consumption  for  a  family  of  three  using  the  cooker 
exclusively  was  30  kw-hr ;  for  five.  40  kw-hr.,  and  for  two, 
using  cooker  and  toaster  stove,   30  kw-hr. 

NOTES    ON    OTHER    PAPERS. 

Mr.  R.  K.  McMasters,  Kansas  City,  read  a  paper  on  "Some 
Notes  on  the  Economical  Design  of  Distribution  Systems," 
showing  methods  for  calculating  the  primary  and  secondary 
drop  to  be  obtained  and  presenting  fornuilas  for  the  com- 
putation of  feeder-point  locations,  line  problems,  etc. 

ProL  P.  F.  Walker,  Kansas  University,  Lawrence,  dis- 
cussed "The  Natural  Gas  Situation"  and  "Gas-Meter 
Peculiarities." 

Mr.  F.  F.  Rossman,  Kansas  City,  read  a  paper  on  "Syn- 
chronous Motors   for  Power-Factor  Connection,"  prepared 


City,  delivered  an  illustrated  lecture  on  the  production  uf 
copper  cable  from  mine  to  finished  reel. 

ELECTION    OF   OFFICERS. 

On  motion  of  the  nominating  committee,  the  f(jllowing 
officers  were  elected  unanimously  :  President,  L.  O.  Ripley, 
Emporia ;  vice-presidents,  A.  L.  Newman,  Arkansas  City ; 
J.  H.  Rothert,  Junction  City,  and  A.  H.  Purdy,  Topeka; 
secretary-treasurer,  W.  H.  Fellows,  Leavenworth. 

Executive  committee — B.  F.  Eyer,  Manhattan;  W.  Patton, 
Topeka;  C.  L.  Brown,  Abilene;  J.  D.  Nicholson,  Newton; 
W.  E.  Sweezey,  Junction  City. 

Nominating  committee — W.  A.  Scothorn,  Hutchinson; 
M.  T.  Flynn,  Kansas  City;  William  Hands,  Kansas  City. 

Place  of  meeting — A.  W.  Newman,  Arkansas  City ; 
H.  W.  McGruder,  Liberal;  C.  L.  Brown,  Abilene. 

Auditing — C.  H.  Talmadge,  Kansas  City ;  C.  H.  Rothert, 
Junction  City;  C.  M.  Lewis,  Kansas  City. 

Resolutions — H.  S.  Sladen,  Wichita;  A.  H.  Purdy, 
Topeka ;  L.  K.  Greene,  Concordia. 

President-elect  Ripley  is  vice-president  and  general 
manager  of  the  Kansas  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  which 
serves   Wichita   and   Newton. 

On  Friday  morning  automobiles  took  the  delegates  on  a 
6-mile  ride  to  the  hydroelectric  plant  of  the  Rocky  Ford 
Power  Company,  where  they  were  the  guests  of  Dr.  C.  K. 
Raber,  president  of  the  company.  Returning,  they  visited 
and  inspected  the  grounds  of  the  Kansas  State  Agricul- 
tural College,  attended  chapel  exercises  and  were  served 
with  luncheon  by  the  young  women  of  the  advanced 
domestic-science  classes. 


by  Mr.  N.  Stahl,  of  the  VVestinghouse  Electric  &  Manu- 
facturing Company,  Pittsburgh.  Pa. 

Mr.  M.  B.  Cooper,  Cleveland,  presented  a  paper  by  Mr. 
R.  E.  Campbell,  National  Quality  Lamp  Division,  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  on  "The  Proper  Lamp  for  a  Circuit." 

Mr.    F.    B.    Uhrig,    Western    Electric    Company,    Kansas 


NEW  ENGLAND  SECTION,  N.  E.  L.  A.,  CONVENTION. 

The  fourth  annual  convention  of  the  New  England  Sec- 
tion of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  was  held 
at  Paul  Revere  Hall,  Mechanics'  Building,  Boston.  Mass., 
on  Oct.  15  to  Oct.  17.  An  account  of  the  opening  session 
was  given  on  page  812  of  last  week's  issue.  Certain  of  the 
papers  presented  during  Oct.  16  and  17,  together  with  the 
discussions,  are  outlined  below. 

THE  RELATION    OF  THE   CENTRAL   STATION    TO   THE   PROSPECTIVE 
CONSUMER. 

Under  the  above  title,  Mr.  E.  M.  Addis,  manager  of  the 
Twin  State  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Brattleboro,  Vt.,  pre- 
sented a  vigorous  criticism  of  the  policies  of  any  electric 
lighting  company  which  fails  to  appreciate  the  viewpoint 
of  its  customers  and  the  public  in  the  territory  served  by 
its  system.  The  author  pointed  out  that  the  policy  of  any 
company  is  a  direct  reflection  of  the  manager's  attitude 
toward  the  public,  and  illustrated  the  work  of  a  representa- 
tive forenoon  in  the  office  of  a  manager  indifferent  to  the 
welfare  of  his  patrons  and  failing  to  realize  the  importance 
of  protecting  customers  against  overcharges  and  insisting 
upon  straightforward  dealings  at  all  times.  By  granting 
every  customer  a  thorough  hearing,  making  full  investiga- 
tion and  adding  an  honest  explanation,  the  good  will  of  the 
patrons  may  be  easily  maintained.  Much  may  also  be 
accomplished  by  the  use  of  descriptive  literature,  adver- 
tising, solicitors  and  free  trials  of  energy-consuming  de- 
vices. Mr.  Addis  made  a  strong  plea  for  the  practice  of 
wiring  houses  and  mercantile  establishments  by  central 
stations  and  urged  that  the  prices  for  such  work  by  con- 
tractors might  be  reduced  if  the  latter  would  not  be  above 
putting  on  overalls  and  jumpers  on  occasion  and  pushing  a 
wiring  job  along  toward  quicker  completion. 
Discussion. 

Mr.  E.  R.  Davenport,  Providence,  R.  L,  took  issue  with 
the  author's  hypothesis  of  stating  in  advance  the  approxi- 
mate cost  of  a  wiring  installation  for  a  prospective  customer 
and  making  the  latter  think  that  a  given  price  would  not 


864 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


be  exceeded  where  the  work  is  done  by  a  contractor.  He 
asked  how  many  central  stations  had  ironclad  agreements 
with  contractors  in  their  territory  and  maintained  a  skeptical 
attitude  regarding  the  fear  of  the  latter  by  the  former. 
He  favored  co-operation  in  prices  between  the  central  sta- 
tion and  the  contractor  and  contended  that  the  tactless  type 
of  manager  assumed  by  the  author  represents  an  extreme 
case.  The  tendency  of  the  times  is  for  the  central  station 
to  co-operate  more  and  more  with  electrical  supply  dealers, 
and  the  speaker  said  that  in  his  opinion  the  time  would  come 
when  all  apparatus  would  be  purchased  outside  the  central 
station,  leaving  the  latter  to  specialize  exclusively  in  the 
sale  of  electrical  energy.  Mr.  Davenport  said  that,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  size  of  the  city,  the  Narragansett  Electric 
Lighting  Company,  of  Providence,  had  added  more  sockets 
to  its  system  in  the  past  year  than  the  New  York  Edison 
Company.  More  than  84  per  cent  of  the  buildings  in  the 
Providence  company's  territory  are  wired  for  electric  serv- 
ice. He  commended  the  organization  of  the  New  England 
Electric  Development  Association  as  an  illustration  of  a 
modern  co-operative  movement  between  central-station  and 
contracting  interests.  Closing,  he  said  that  far  more  than 
25  per  cent  of  the  prospective  customers  solicited  in  Provi- 
dence become  actual  customers. 

.  Mr.  Levin  J.  Chase,  Concord,  N.  H.,  pointed  out  some  of 
the  special  qualifications  of  the  successful  manager,  em- 
phasizing good  citizenship,  interest  in  human  affairs,  com- 
mon sense,  willingness  to  assist  the  customer  in  dealing 
with  difficult  problems  relative  to  the  use  of  electric  service 
under  his  particular  conditions,  and  the  value  of  good 
service  to  customer  and  company  alike.  The  ability  to  take 
the  customer's  point  of  view  and  to  stimulate  a  desire  for 
service,  without  undue  haste  or  pressure,  was  also  shown  to 
be  important.  Mr.  Chase  contended  that  electric  service 
would  sell  itself  if  the  customer  realized  even  half  its  ad- 
vantages. A  friendly  interest  in  the  customer  is  most 
desirable,  while  personal  attention  to  his  requirements 
counts  heavily  in  the  company's  favor.  Wrangling  over 
petty  details  makes  enemies.  The  manager  should  "get  out 
into  the  game"  and  take  a  live  interest  in  what  is  going  on 
in  the  community.  Even  a  speech  on  socialism  made  by  the 
speaker  on  the  previous  evening  at  a  stonecutters'  meeting 
resulted  in  the  securing  of  a  new  house-wiring  order.  In 
conclusion,  Mr.  Chase  called  attention  to  the  wisdom  of 
slightly  overestimating  the  cost  of  wiring  in  dealing  with  a 
prospective  customer,  who  is  thereby  pleased  when  the 
actual  bill  for  work  done  is  less  than  the  estimate. 

Mr.  H.  T.  Sands,  Boston,  Mass.,  disagreed  with  the 
author  in  regard  to  relations  with  wiring  contractors,  as 
advocated.  Like  the  man  in  the  prayer-meeting,  the  speaker 
had  "seen  a  light"  and  believed  that  the  central-station 
manager  should  be  able  to  take  "kicks"  and  still  continue 
to  smile.  This  is  easy  when  it  is  learned.  No  matter  how 
serious  the  breach  between  the  public  and  the  company  may 
have  been,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  progressive  manager  to  heal 
it.  The  author's  picture  of  a  saturated  field  marks  a 
Utopian  condition  which  is  seldom  realized.  Mr.  Sands 
made  a  vigorous  speech  in  behalf  of  the  policy  of  charging 
enough  for  wiring  and  apparatus  to  insure  a  fair  profit  to 
whoever  does  the  work  and  contended  that  co-operation 
with  local  contracting  interests  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
success.  In  many  cases  the  contractor  has  received  his 
training  largely  at  the  hands  of  the  central  station,  begin- 
ning as  a  wireman  on  inside  jobs  and  later  entering  business 
for  himself.  Any  policy  which  results  in  the  underbidding 
of  the  contractor  by  the  central  station  makes  it  necessary 
in  the  long  run  for  the  contractor  to  charge  higher  prices 
for  work  which  he  actually  secures.  The  speaker  argued 
that  overhead  charges  should  be  taken  strictly  into  account 
in  making  up  cost  estimates  on  wiring  jobs,  deprecating  the 
author's  criticism  that  too  much  weight  was  given  to  these 
by  contractors.  Citing  the  benefits  of  co-operation,  Mr. 
Sands  called   attention   to   the  case   of   a   company   which 


turned  the  agency  for  a  certain  make  of  motors  over  to  a 
local  contractor,  with  the  result  that  in  a  year  700  hp  of  new 
motor  drives  were  connected  to  the  system  through  the 
efforts  of  the  latter. 

Mr.  A.  S.  Nichols,  Woonsocket,  R.  I.,  recommended  the 
elimination  of  the  money  deposit  in  connection  with  requests 
for  new  service.  Only  0.5  per  cent  of  his  company's  gross 
earnings  are  lost  in  bad  bills.  The  deposit  system  causes 
unfriendly  feelings  on  the  part  of  the  customer  and  is  a 
relic  of  the  days  of  gas  lighting.  The  friendly  wiring  con- 
tractor is  an  unpaid  agent  for  the  extension  of  the  com- 
pany's service.  The  Woonsocket  company  considers  in- 
terior wiring  a  transaction  between  the  customer  and  the 
contractor,  but  it  closely  follows  such  work  when  under 
way  and  promptly  calls  a  halt  upon  any  tendency  toward 
excessive  charges.  In  case  these  are  continued,  the  result 
is  a  loss  of  work  to  the  contractor.  Local  relations  are  of 
the  best  in  this  field,  and  the  company  believes  that  the 
contractors  wire  installations  as  cheaply  as  would  be  possi- 
ble if  the  central  station  undertook  the  work.  At  Woon- 
socket customers  are  not  taken  because  they  happen  to  be 
friends  of  the  manager,  but  because  of  a  genuine  desire  for 
electric  service. 

Mr.  J.  A.  Fleet,  Portland,  Me.,  cited  the  friendly  rela- 
tions existing  in  his  territory  between  contractors  and  the 
central  station,  and  also  urged  the  importance  of  taking 
overhead  charges  into  account  in  estimates  of  wiring  prices. 
Daily  visits  of  contractors  to  the  company's  office  are  en- 
couraged and  looked  into  if  omitted.  A  local  agreement 
among  contractors  has  done  much  to  standardize  the  prices 
of  work  in  the  city. 

Mr.  W.  S.  Wyman,  Augusta,  Me.,  emphasized  the  need  of 
proper  treatment  of  old  customers  and  contended  that  the 
successful  manager  should  plan  for  satisfying  these  first, 
as  the  pleased  patron  is  the  best  advertisement.  The  object 
should  be  to  create  and  maintain  a  desire  for  electrical 
service  at  a  fair  price. 

Mr.  C.  R.  Hayes,  Fitchburg,  Mass.,  urged  charging  an 
adequate  price  for  wiring,  regardless  of  who  does  the  work. 
He  favored  the  extensive  use  of  advertising  in  appealing  to 
prospective  customers.  Mr.  Frederick  Prince,  Hartford, 
Conn.,  cited  successful  conferences  between  the  local  central 
station  and  contractors  in  relation  to  new  work.  An  in- 
spection department  is  maintained  by  the  company  to  follow 
the  work  of  contractors  and  insure  the  utmost  possible  co- 
operation, including  the  laying  out  of  switchboards,  selection 
of  motor  sizes  and  choice  of  meters.  , 

Mr.  Eugene  Carpenter,  Oak  Bluffs,  Mass.,  brought  out  I 
the  point  that  the  methods  emphasized  by  the  author  were 
unquestionably  correct  under  such  conditions  as  exist  in 
many  small  municipalities.  He  favored  handling  wiring  and 
apparatus  sales  at  a  reasonable  profit,  and  urged  co-opera- 
tion with  contractors,  notably  along  the  line  of  supplying 
them  with  lamps  at  lower  prices  than  might  otherwise  be 
obtained. 

CO-OPERATION    OF  CENTR.'^L  STATIONS  AND   MOTOR 
MANUFACTURERS. 

The  above  paper,  by  Mr.  J.  M.  Tomb,  Westinghouse  Elec- 
tric &  Manufacturing  Company,  Boston,  Mass.,  emphasized 
the  rapid  growth  of  industrial  electric  power  in  recent  years 
and  called  attention  to  the  national  publicity  campaigns  con- 
ducted by  motor  manufacturers  in  popular  periodicals.  The 
use  of  standard  motors  so  far  as  possible  was  recommended 
as  insuring  lower  cost  of  application  to  the  central  station. 
Twenty  per  cent  of  the  industrial  establishments  in  the 
country  are  electrically  operated,  and  the  future  is  filled 
with  opportunity  for  such  work.  The  author  favored  sub- 
mitting a  condensed  report  to  each  prospective  motor 
user,  stating  the  conditions  of  the  industry  in  question, 
labor  requirements,  connected  load,  maximum  demand,  en- 
ergy consumption  per  unit  of  product  and  other  details  in 
parallel  installations  which  will  help  the  customer  to  select 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


86s 


the  electric  drive.  He  stated  that  the  cost  of  electric  energy 
in  most  industries  is  but  1.5  to  3  per  cent  of  the  total  cost 
of  the  product,  while  the  cost  of  lighting  is  under  I  per 
cent.  If  through  suitable  "application"  engineering  the 
arrangement  of  machinery  and  the  routing  of  material,  or 
a  special  motor  application  to  a  loom,  spinning  frame,  paper 
or  rubber  calender,  should  produce  an  increased  output  of 
8  to  10  per  cent,  the  customer  could  well  afford  to  pay 
double  the  cost  of  producing  power  under  existing  condi- 
tions. Motor  service  engineers  have  done  much  to  reduce 
the  cost  of  production  of  many  lines  of  merchandise  through 
their  analytical  studies.  Co-operative  work  is  of  vital 
importance  in  this   field. 

Discussion. 

Mr.  S.  Fred  Smith,  Salem,  Mass.,  advocated  separating 
motor-service  solicitation  from  lighting  work  and  recom- 
mended visits  of  solicitors  to  motor  manufactories.  Such 
men  should  be  posted  on  every  plant  in  their  territory.  The 
electric-vehicle  field  is  a  valuable  one  for  development. 
Mr.  C.  B.  Burleigh,  Boston,  advocated  looking  beyond  the 
price  per  kilowatt-hour  in  taking  a  broad  view  of  motor- 
drive  economics  and  realizing  the  benefits  of  electricity  in 
forcing  production.  In  dealing  with  costly  products  a  slight 
gain  in  production  through  the  use  of  the  motor  drive  means 
large  financial  return. 

Mr.  St.  John  Morgan,  Boston,  called  attention  to  the 
opportunities  for  efficiency  engineers  in  connection  with 
electric  driving.  The  uniform  speed  insured  by  the  electric 
drive  is  of  great  value,  plants  with  mechanical  drive  some- 
times showing  speed  fluctuations  of  24  per  cent  instead  of  a 
constant  speed  as  required  under  the  conditions  of  manu- 
facture. Mr.  J.  A.  Fleet,  Portland,  Me. ;  Mr.  D.  S.  Boyden, 
Boston;  Mr.  J.  T.  Day,  Maiden,  Mass.,  and  Mr.  W.  R. 
Eaton,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  also  spoke  briefly.  The  point  was 
made  that  careful  motor-service  engineering  tends  to  de- 
crease the  sizes  needed  in  specific  installations.  Mr.  Eaton 
said  that  a  tabulation  of  motor  customers  whose  installations 
ranged  from  I  hp  to  2000  hp  in  rating  showed  that  out  of 
323  cases  78  per  cent  were  using  energy  for  less  than  two 
hours  per  day.  In  50  per  cent  of  these  instances  the  power- 
factor  was  too  low  on  account  of  the  underloading  of  motors 
installed  before  the  days  of  co-operation  between  motor 
manufacturers  and  the  central  station.  The  rate  of  pro- 
duction was  increased  in  a  printing  plant  by  sixty  impres- 
sions an  hour  by  a  change  from  isolated-plant  to  central- 
station  service.  In  another  case  a  gas-engine  maker  adopted 
the  electric  drive  in  his  manufacturing  establishment  in 
order  to  secure  the  improved  speed  regulation  associated 
with  electricity. 

A  paper  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Miles  on  'Application  of  Electricity 
in  Agriculture"  and  one  by  Mr.  Ralph  Beman  on  "Illumi- 
nating Engineering  for  Central-Station  Salesmen"  will  be 
abstracted  in  a  later  issue. 

BANQUET. 

The  final  event  of  the  convention  was  a  banquet  held  on 
Thursday  evening  at  the  new  Copley  Plaza  Hotel,  Boston, 
about  250  members  and  guests,  including  many  ladies,  being 
present.  The  gathering  took  place  in  the  ballroom  of  the 
hotel  and  music  by  a  twelve-piece  orchestra  with  popular 
songs  enlivened  the  courses.  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
dinner  President  Whitaker  introduced  President  Frank  M. 
Tait  of  the  national  organization,  who  delivered  an  address 
overflowing  with  enthusiasm  for  the  future  of  the  central- 
station  industry.  Mr.  Tait  paid  a  high  tribute  to  the  in- 
spiration furnished  by  women  in  the  development  of  cen- 
tral-station service  and  business  and  outlined  the  recent 
celebration  of  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  the  establish- 
ment of  service  by  the  New  York  Edison  Company,  speak- 
ing in  a  congratulatory  vein,  with  particular  reference  to 
the  reliability  record  of  that  organization.  The  speaker 
said  that  the  central-station  industry  as  yet  knows  no  such 
thing   as   a   saturated   field   of   electrical   applications,    the 


possibilities  of  the  future  being  enormous.  Anyone  can 
enter  this  field  and  go  as  far  as  his  personal  limitations 
permit.  The  industry  is  calling  loudly  for  the  man  of 
brilliant  attainments,  for  it  comprises  within  its  scope  the 
greatest  business  the  world  has  ever  seen.  Closing,  he 
spoke  enthusiastically  of  the  Boston  1912  Electric  Show 
and  highly  complimented  the  Boston  Edison  company  on  its 
energy,  alertness  and  resourcefulness,  which  had  made 
such  an  exhibition  a  reality.  The  fact  that  such  a  section 
convention  could  be  held  between  the  show  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  baseball  championship  series  on  the  other 
marked  in  a  telling  manner  the  loyalty  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Section's  following.  The  executive  committee  has 
decided  to  hold  the  1913  convention  of  the  national  organi- 
zation in  Chicago,  and  President  Tait  extended  a  cordial 
invitation  to  all  to  attend  this,  emphasizing  the  excellent 
committee  work  already  under  way  and  the  prospects  of 
unusually  important  and  interesting  reports  and  papers. 

Mr.  T.  Commerford  Martin,  executive  secretary  of  the 
association,  spoke  in  a  witty  vein,  touching  upon  the  debt 
of  the  industry  to  the  fair  sex  and  upon  the  transformation 
of  sedate  Boston  caused  by  the  baseball  triumph,  and  then, 
in  a  more  serious  mood,  he  paid  an  eloquent  tribute  to  New 
England's  electrical  pioneers,  sketching  in  bold  strokes  the 
influence  of  Franklin,  Bell,  Edison  and  Thomson  upon  the 
electrical  art.  He  called  attention  to  Boston's  great  part 
in  the  development  of  the  copper  industry  and  recalled 
some  humorous  early  reminiscences  of  the  Boston  Edison 
system.  Mr.  Martin  praised  the  Boston  1912  Electric 
Show  in  glowing  terms  and  paid  his  personal  respects  to 
President  Edgar  of  the  Boston  Edison  company  as  one  of 
the  great  leaders  of  the  industry.  "The  association  is  try- 
ing to  breed  such  men,"  said  the  speaker,  "and  in  the 
formation  and  conduct  of  company  sections  lies  a  wonder- 
ful educational  opportunity  which  is  yet  but  little  realized 
in  New  England."  Closing,  Mr.  Martin  pointed  out  that 
during  his  secretaryship  the  membership  of  the  association 
has  risen  from  3000  to  nearly  13,000  and  said  that  the 
organization  is  the  largest  aggregation  of  engineering 
talent  in  the  world,  whether  expressed  in  numbers,  in- 
fluence or  opportunities.  To  cite  a  single  instance  of  the 
association's  beneficent  activity,  he  said  that  the  resuscita- 
tion chart  and  booklet  issued  by  the  organization  have  been 
adopted  by  the  United  States  government  and  will  be  car- 
ried to  every  quarter  of  the  globe  on  naval  vessels. 

The  last  speaker,  Mr.  Levin  J.  Chase,  Concord,  N.  H., 
read  a  telling  paper  upon  the  human  side  of  central-station 
management,  under  the  title  "Readiness  to  Serve."  The 
author  pointed  out  that  electricity  is  rapidly  becoming  the 
mainspring  of  civilization  and  reviewed  in  straightforward 
fashion  the  value  of  courtesy,  good  temper,  diligence, 
charity  in  thought  and  action,  optimism,  fairness,  humility, 
willingness  to  learn  from  others  and  co-operation  with 
employees.  "The  man  with  a  pull  cannot  compete  with 
the  man  who  pulls,"  said  the  speaker.  Harmony  of  aims 
and  considerate  treatment  are  essential  to  permanent  suc- 
cess in  dealing  with  employees  and  the  public. 

OFFICERS  FOR  ENSUING  YEAR. 

These  oflScers  were  elected  for  the  coming  year :  President, 
Mr.  A.  F.  Townsend,  Woonsocket,  R.  I.;  vice-president,  Mr. 
C.  C.  Wells,  Middlebury,  Vt. ;  treasurer,  Mr.  R.  W.  Rollins, 
Worcester,  Mass. ;  secretary,  Miss  O.  A.  Bursiel,  Boston. 
Executive  committee— Messrs,  H.  B.  Ivers,  Portland,  Me.; 
L.  J.  Chase,  Concord,  N.  H. ;  L.  D.  Gibbs,  Boston;  E.  A. 
Barrows,  Providence,  R.  I. ;  B.  H.  Gardner,  Waterbury, 
Conn.,  and  J.  S.  Whitaker,  Portsmouth,  N.  H.  President- 
elect Townsend  is  manager  of  the  Woonsocket  Electric 
Machine  &  Power  Company.  Mr.  George  C.  Ewing  was 
chairman  of  the  hotel  committee  and  Mr.  R.  W.  Rollins  was 
chairman  of  the  entertainment  committee,  which  provided  a 
dancing  party,  theater  party  and  automobile  rides  for  ladies 
and  guests.    The  total  registration  was  650. 


866 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D . 


Vol.  fio.  No.  17. 


THE  APPRAISAL  OF  INTANGIBLE  VALUES  IN 
PUBLIC    UTILITIES. 


Few  questions  connected  with  the  valuation  of  public- 
service  corporations  are  receiving  more  attention  at  the 
moment  than  the  appraisal  of  the  so-called  intangible  ele- 
ments not  entering  into  physical  property,  such  as  fran- 
chises, development  costs,  discount  on  securities  and  going- 
concern  value.  At  the  annual  convention  of  the  North- 
west Electric  Light  and  Power  Association  held  last  month 
in  Portland,  Ore.,  Mr.  William  J.  Hagenah,  statistician, 
Chicago,  111.,  read  a  paper  on  this  subject  which  is  of  con- 
siderable interest.  This  was  briefly  referred  to  on  page  647 
of  our  issue  of  Sept.  28. 

After  reviewing  the  history  of  the  movement  for  regu- 
lation of  public  utilities  and  discussing  some  of  the  leading 
decisions  handed  down  by  our  courts  and  commissions,  the 
author  dwelt  at  some  length  on  the  evils  of  competition  in 
the  public-utility  industries,  which,  he  concluded,  not  only 
cause  a  great  increase  in  the  fixed  charges  through  the 
duplication  of  investment  but  greatly  interfere  with  sound 
regulation  by  public-utility  authorities  on  the  comprehen- 
sive scale  which  is  necessary  in  order  to  make  it  most  suc- 
cessful.   On  this  subject  Mr.  Hagenah  said: 

"An  analysis  of  the  construction  account  of  nearly  every 
large  electric  utility  company  further  shows  very  heavy 
losses  due  to  the  policy  of  cities  in  fostering  competition. 
Franchises  have  often  been  granted  to  separate  companies 
to  construct  competing  plants  in  cities  where  the  total  avail- 
able service  was  not  more  than  could  be  supplied  by  a  single 
plant.  Under  sucli  franchises  a  great  duplication  of  prop- 
erty has  occurred.  A  number  "of  cities  of  less  than  500.000 
population  have  had  as  many  as  five  or  six  independent  com- 
peting companies  at  one  time,  with  much  of  the  property 
duplicated,  all  in  opposition  to  the  factor  of  diversitv  which 
makes  central-station  service  profitable.  A  very  large  over- 
investment was  made  in  good  faith  during  this  transition 
period.  These  franchises  entirely  ignored  the  uncontro- 
vertible fact  that  utilities  are  natural  monopolies,  and  that 
to  authorize  additional  companies  for  the  purpose  of  creat- 
ing or  continuing  competition  only  creates  economic  waste. 
A  lighting  company  is  not  governed  by  the  laws  and  influ- 
ences which  apply  to  competing  industries  generallv.  Com- 
petition may  be  a  factor  in  the  development  and  regulation 
of  private  business,  but  it  is  an  undeniable  conclusion  of 
our  municipal  history  that  every  attempt  to  compel  com- 
petition in  public  service  has  terminated  in  open  or  secret 
combination.  InteUigent  regulation  of  public  utilities  is 
predicated  upon  the  well-established  economic  law  that  a 
regulated  monopoly  is  capable  of  more  economical  opera- 
tion, of  rendering  superior  service,  and  of  ultimately  exist- 
ing under  a  lower  schedule  of  rates,  than  is  possible  under 
a  condition  of  enforced  or  tolerated  competition  leading 
only  to  the  duplication  of  facilities  and  the  consequent 
•waste  of  capital.  An  electric  utility  existing  in  any  city 
under  highly  competitive  conditions  reflects  an  adherence 
to  an  erroneous  public  policy.  Where  consolidations  have 
occurred  they  have  necessitated  the  abandonment  of  some 
lines,  the  reconstruction  of  other  lines  and  a  genera!  im- 
provement of  the  service  through  the  co-operation  of  all 
portions  of  the  enlarged  system  with  a  diversified  load  and 
a  centralization  of  management.  In  the  organization  of 
such  a  single  company  distinct  public  benefits  are  accom- 
plished, the  duplication  of  investment  and  operating  ex- 
penditures is  discontinued,  lines  are  extended  under  a  uni- 
form policy  conforming  with  a  city's  growth,  but  the 
greatest  benefit  results  from  the  facility  for  comprehensive 
public  regulation  which  the  reorganization  presents. 

"It  is  impossible  to  study  the  construction  and  operat- 
ing accounts  of  a  lighting  system  during  the  years  of  com- 
petitive conditions  without  realizing  the  heavy  burden  of 
expense  created  by  this  policy.  As  a  matter  of  self- 
preservation  it  was  often  necessary  for  a  company  to  pur- 


chase the  property  of  a  rival,  and  in  doing  so  it  often 
acquired  equipment  for  which  there  was  no  real  demand. 
Even  in  cities  of  less  than  50,000  population  it  is  not 
unusual  to  find  to-day  as  many  as  four  complete  generating 
stations,  of  which  one  or  more  are  idle  because  of  con- 
solidation and  now  serve  only  as  reserve  property  of  a 
rapidly  declining  value.  In  all  such  instances  the  com- 
munities have  failed  to  secure  competition  and  have  suc- 
ceeded only  in  causing  heavy  increases  in  the  fixed  capital 
devoted  to  the  public  service.  The  error  of  granting  such 
franchises  is  now  generally  recognized,  but  the  result  of 
such  policy  still  disturbs  the  equilibrium  of  more  than  one 
utility  balance  sheet. 

"Unfortunately,  it  is  often  impossible  to  obtain  all  the 
records  involved  in  such  consolidation.  Frequently  the 
merger  has  been  the  means  of  personal  profit  through  the 
speculative  opportunities  which  it  afforded,  and  those  in- 
terested have  failed  to  transfer  the  old  company  records  or 
they  have  not  been  kept  in  the  manner  public  service  com- 
missions now  require.  Where,  however,  the  records  are 
available  and  an  analysis  can  be  made  of  the  charges  show- 
ing the  amount  of  duplication  of  property  resulting  after 
the  elimination  of  all  speculative  and  personal  profits,  such 
additions  to  the  plant  account  are  e.xpenditures  which 
should  be  considered  in  connection  with  the  development 
costs  which  enter  into  the  present  value  of  a  unified  system. 
The  granting  of  duplicate  franchises  was  an  act  of  the 
public  which  conformed  to  the  generally  entertained  senti- 
ment of  the  time  that  all  public  utilities  should  be  regulated 
by  competition.  It  would,  therefore,  seem  that,  in  a  period 
of  greater  appreciation  of  the  true  economic  character  of 
a  lighting  utility  and  the  creation  of  administrative  machin- 
ery for  the  protection  of  the  people  and  the  investor,  the 
public  which  to  a  large  extent  occasioned  these  burdens 
should  at  least  bear  a  reasonable  proportion  of  such  costs. 
An  appraisal  of  the  physical  property  alone  can  never  give 
the  measure  of  the  'fair  present  value'  unless  a  study  is 
also  made  of  the  balance  sheets  and  profit  and  loss  state- 
ments, together  with  the  detailed  accounts  from  which 
these  were  constructed." 

Mr.  Hagenah  also  argued  for  the  consideration  of  dis- 
counts on  bonds  as  one  of  the  cost  items  of  constructing  a 
utility.  Especially  should  discounts  be  regarded  as  costs 
where  the  community  is  desirous  of  securing  such  service 
but  the  conditions  surrounding  the  investment  raise  grave 
questions  as  to  its  early  success.  Since  the  industry  was 
established  in  response  to  public  demands,  but  funds  could 
not  be  secured  in  the  open  market  without  the  payment  of 
discounts  for  the  risks  involved,  these  discounts  should  be  I 
taken  into  consideration  by  regulating  bodies  since  mnnici-  " 
palities  could  not  establish  the  utility  without  also  incurring 
the  discount.    He  stated  in  part  as  follows: 

"Another  item  of  cost  which  the  analysis  of  a  construc- 
tion account  frequently  reveals  is  the  discount  on  bonds 
issued.  Such  discounts  are  incurred  not  only  on  the  origi- 
nal issue  of  bonds,  but  on  nearly  ever\'  subsequent  issue, 
although  to  a  gradually  diminishing  extent  as  the  business 
becomes  more  strongly  established.  Under  ordinary  con- 
ditions the  element  of  discount  is  inseparably  connected 
with  the  rate  of  interest  which  the  bonds  carry,  but  on  the 
organization  of  the  company  the  cause  of  the  discount  is 
not  so  much  a  question  of  the  rate  allowed  as  it  is  one  of 
security  for  the  principal,  making  the  discount  very  large, 
with  the  result  that  the  bonds,  instead  of  being  strictly  an 
investment  security,  become  in  fact  a  highly  speculative 
issue.  Not  to  pay  the  price  for  funds  as  indicated  by  the 
discount  required  at  that  time  frequently  results  in  deny- 
ing to  the  community  the  benefits  of  the  service  which  it  is 
sought  to  supply,  and  it  is  a  question  whether  the  value  of 
obtaining  the  service  at  the  time  should  not  be  considered 
in  connection  with  the  necessity  and  reasonableness  of  the 
discount  which  was  one  of  the  costs  of  securing  it.  Where 
a  utility  is  soon   able  to  show   favorable  net  earnings  the 


OCTOBIK  26,    1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


867 


problem  of  discount  on  bonds  is  a  simple  one.  It  is  where 
there  are  no  net  earnings  that  the  discount  must  be  con- 
sidered as  a  cost.  Regarded  in  this  light  it  is  a  compara- 
tively small  burden  to  the  future  users  of  the  property,  but 
to  make  an  early  amortization  of  the  discount  would  be  to 
throw  the  entire  burden  of  securing  a  permanent  industry 
still  in  the  speculative  stage  on  the  early  patrons  of  the 
property.  Aside  from  the  academic  rule  of  accounting 
that  the  discount  on  securities  should  be  amortized  over 
the  life  of  the  bonds,  the  situation  which  actually  confronts 
the  community  desiring  a  lighting  plant  is  a  specific  condi- 
tion and  not  a  theory.  To  the  old-estab'.ished  company 
whose  history  of  operation  has  been  one  of  gradually  in- 
creasing profits  and  with  a  long  sustained  dividend  re- 
cord the  question  of  discount  on  bonds  is  not  so  vital  in  the 
cost  of  property  as  it  is  with  the  newer  plant.  Neither  is 
the  present-day  discount  of  an  established  utility  conclu- 
sive as  to  the  method  to  be  used  in  disposing  of  such  costs. 
Present  discounts  represent  the  success  of  the  business  at 
this  time  as  managed  by  the  present  organization  in  the  com- 
munity as  it  exists  to-day.  The  discounts  incurred  in  the 
organization  and  construction  of  the  plant  are  a  gage  of 
the  cost  of  the  property  when  the  venture  was  undertaken 
and  of  the  confidence  with  which  the  community  then  re- 
garded it.  Here,  unlike  the  case  of  a  private  enterprise, 
the  city  probably  had  the  right  to  engage  in  the  business 
itself,  just  as  many  did  engage  in  the  construction  and  oper- 
ation of  water  and  lighting  plants.  The  city  may  have 
questioned  the  success  of  the  industry  or  its  abilitv  to  oper- 
ate it  efficiently  and  considered  the  risks  as  outweighing  the 
advantages  of  ownership.  Therefore,  after  having  stood 
by  while  others  have  incurred  the  risks  which  the  commu- 
nity refused  to  assume,  it  should  not  be  permitted  now  to 
ignore  the  costs  which  could  not  be  avoided  in  developing 
the  industry,  especially  if  the  city  itself  could  not  have  en- 
gaged in  the  enterprise  without  meeting  the  same  dis- 
counts unless  it  had  pledged  a  greater  security  than  was 
provided  by  the  property  of  the  company." 

Mr.  Hagenah  concluded  that  public  utilities  should  re- 
ceive credit  for  the  costs  incurred  in  developing  their 
business,  and  in  determining  such  costs  the  reasonable  and 
necessary  discounts  on  early  construction  bonds  and  the 
losses  due  to  enforced  competition  should  receive  proper 
weight  by  rate-regulating  bodies. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW  YORK  COMMISSION. 

The  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  District,  has 
ordered  the  New  York  Telephone  Company  to  furnish 
telephone  service  to  the  Metropolitan  Telegraph  &  Tele- 
phone Company  at  its  offices.  No.  135  East  Sixteenth  Street, 
upon  the  complainant  complying  with  all  the  reasonable 
rules  and  regulations  of  the  company  and  making  payment 
for  such  service  one  month  in  advance.  It  has  also  ordered 
the  New  York  company  to  place  the  name  of  the  com- 
plainant in  its  directory  of  subscribers  about  to  be  pub- 
lished, in  the  usual  manner.  The  resolution  of  the  commis- 
sion recites  that  the  complainant  is  a  corporation  incorpo- 
rated under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York  as  a  tele- 
graph and  telephone  company:  that  it  has  not  as  yet  secured 
a  certificate  of  public  convenience  and  necessity  from  this 
commission  entitling  it  to  construct  its  plant  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  but  that  it  has  opened  offices  in  New  York 
and  desires  telephone  service  from  the  New  York  Telephone 
Company,  which  is  the  sole  company  affording  telephone 
service  in  that  city.  It  further  undisputedly  appears  that 
the  New  York  Telephone  Company  has  refused  to  afford 
service,  although  the  complainant  is  ready  to  comply  with 
all  the  reasonable  rules  and  regulations  of  the  New  York 
Telephone  Company  and  pay  its  regular  schedule  of  rates 
and  charges  for  the  service  which  it  desires.     The  order 


further  recites  that  the  New  York  Telephone  Company  has 
not  presented  to  the  commission  any  satisfactory  or  reason- 
able reason  for  its  refusal  to  afford  service  to  the  com- 
plainant. At  the  hearing  it  appeared  by  admission  of  the 
complainant  that  it  had  unlawfully  issued  its  capital  stock 
to  the  amount  of  $lo,ooo  without  applying  to  the  commis- 
sion for  authorization  so  to  do;  but  pursuant  to  the  sugges- 
tion of  the  commission  it  has  since  caused  the  stock  to  be 
returned  to  the  company  and  canceled,  so  that  it  has  cor- 
rected this  violation  of  law  so  far  as  it  lies  within  its  power 
at  the  present  time. 

The  commission  has  dismissed  the  complaint  of  the  United 
States  Light  &  Heat  Company  against  the  Niagara  Falls 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  in  which  the  complainant  asked 
the  commission  to  require  the  Niagara  Falls  company  to 
furnish  gas  to  it  at  its  plant  in  Niagara  Falls,  a  distance 
of  3400  ft.  from  the  nearest  main  of  the  gas  company. 
The  company  made  a  proposition  to  construct  a  main  across 
a  6oo-ft.  bridge  on  the  route,  so  that  in  effect,  in  order  to 
supply  gas,  it  will  be  necessary  to  lay  an  additional  main 
2800  ft.  in  length.  This  main  would  have  to  be  laid  under 
an  asphalt  pavement,  the  cutting  and  restoration  of  which 
would  cost  the  sum  of  $2,500.  The  laying  of  the  additional 
main  would  cost  $4,460.  The  annual  return  upon  this  in- 
vestment at  6  per  cent  would  be  $267.60.  The  complainant 
alleged  that  it  was  ready  to  take  20,000  cu.  ft.  of  gas  per 
month,  which  would  return  the  company  but  $240  per  year, 
or  less  than  the  interest  charge  alone  upon  the  mains 
requisite  for  the  performance  of  the  service.  No  other 
customer  could  be  obtained  along  the  route  over  which 
the  main  would  have  to  be  extended.  The  resolution  recites 
that,  having  in  mind  the  cost  of  the  extension,  the  returns 
which  would  be  received  by  the  gas  company,  and  the 
further  fact  that  the  complainant  could  not  be  required  to 
take  gas  even  if  the  extension  were  made  and  makes  no 
proposition  to  take  gas  for  any  particular  length  of  time,  it 
does  not  seem  right  that  the  extension  should  be  ordered. 

NEW  JERSEY  COMMISSION. 

At  a  recent  conference  held  by  the  Board  of  Public 
Utility  Commissioners  with  representatives  of  telephone 
companies  it  was  decided  that  there  should  be  prepared  and 
submitted  to  the  companies  blank  forms  of  schedules  011 
which  they  are  to  report  the  extent  to  which  their  contracts 
\ary  from  standard. 

At  a  conference  held  on  Oct.  16  on  proposed  rules  and 
regulations  for  service  supplied  by  electric  light  companies, 
numerous  representatives  of  the  companies  appeared  before 
the  board,  and  the  proposed  regulations  were  taken  up  for 
discussion  seriatim.  Representatives  of  telephone,  electric- 
railway  and  telegraph  companies  operating  in  New  Jerscv 
were  also  present.  The  conference  will  be  resumed  at  an 
early  date  to  be  fixed  by  the  commissioners. 

The  board  has  filed  a  memorandum  withholding  its 
approval  of  an  ordinance  of  the  borough  of  Dunellen  grant- 
ing a  franchise  to  the  New  York  Telephone  Company.  It 
is  stated  that  approval  will  be  granted  if  the  ordinance  is 
amended  in  the  following  particulars:  (l)  The  provision 
reserving  the  power  of  the  board  should  be  broadened  so  as 
to  apply  to  any  commission  that  may  succeed  to  its  powers 
and  duties  and  so  as  to  include  both  overhead  and  under- 
ground systems;  (2)  the  ordinance  should  be  made 
applicable  in  its  terms  to  all  existing  and  future  local  rights 
of  the  company;  (3)  provision  should  be  made  for  the 
giving  of  notice  by  the  company  to  Dunellen  before  the 
beginning  of  any  work;  (4)  if  it  is  desired  to  retain  the 
section  as  to  the  readjustment  of  the  terms  of  the  grant  it 
should  be  reframed  so  as  to  make  it  clear  that  it  is  not  the 
intent  in  readjustment  to  confine  the  municipality  to  the 
amount  of  free  service  now  provided  for. 

INDIANA   COMMISSION. 

Representatives  of  Indiana  traction  and  central-station 
companies  have  complained  informally  to  the  Railroad  Coin- 


868 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


mission  that  they  are  in  danger  of  being  left  without  fuel 
owing  to  the  shortage  of  coal  cars.  The  commission 
directed  that  a  written  complaint  be  filed,  and  promised  to 
investigate  the  situation  and  take  every  action  within  its 
power  to  compel  the  coal-carrying  roads  to  furnish  the 
necessary  cars. 

WISCONSIN   COMMISSION. 

Judge  Stevens,  of  the  Circuit  Court,  has  sustained  the 
demurrer  of  the  Railroad  Commission  to  the  complaint  of 
The  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company  in  which 
it  was  contended  that  the  commission  had  no  authority  to 
order  the  sale  of  thirteen  tickets  for  50  cents,  as  provided 
for  in  the  commission's  recent  decision,  because  an 
ordinance  passed  by  the  Milwaukee  Common  Council  on 
Jan.  2,  1900,  conferred  upon  the  company  the  right  to 
collect  a  5-cent  cash  fare  during  the  life  of  the  franchise. 
The  court  held  that  "the  provision  under  consideration  is 
a  limitation  upon  the  rate  of  fare  that  may  be  charged  and 
not  a  contract  giving  the  plaintiff  the  right  to  charge  a 
5-cent  cash  fare.  It  follows  that  the  order  of  the  com- 
mission does  not  impair  the  obligation  of  any  contract  and 
that  the  complaint  does  not  state  a  cause  of  action."  The 
case  will  probably  be  carried  to  the  Supreme  Court. 

The  commission  has  issued  a  certificate  of  convenience 
and  necessity  authorizing  the  Badger  Railway  &  Light  Com- 
pany to  extend  its  line  of  interurbaa  railway  from  the  city 
of  Whitewater  to  the  city  of  Jefferson.  The  provisions  of 
the  certificate  do  not  cover  the  character  of  the  crossings  of 
the  proposed  line  with  existing  railroads  or  highways,  for 
the  commission  has  reserved  the  right  to  pass  upon  and 
approve  each  crossing,  etc.,  -at  such  time  as  the  applicant 
shall  make  application  to  the  commission  for  approval  of 
its  plans  and  specifications.  There  was  no  opposition  to 
the  granting  of  the  certificate. 

CALIFORNIA  COMMISSION. 

The  Railroad  Commission  has  made  an  amendment  to  an 
order  granting  the  Oro  Electric  Company  permission  to 
serve  certain  territory  in  San  Joaquin  County  outside  of 
the  city  of  Stockton.  Tlie  Western  States  Gas  &  Electric 
Company,  now  operating  in  Stockton,  has  received  permis- 
sion to  serve  certain  parts  just  outside  the  city  limits. 

The  commission  has  rendered  a  decision  allowing  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  to  put  into  effect  a 
change  of  rates,  with  modifications  applicable  to  a  certain 
class  of  press  associations.  The  general  effect  is  to 
reduce  rates. 

MICHIGAN   COMMISSION. 

The  Vermontville  Independent  Telephone  Company  has 
brought  suit  against  the  Michigan  Railroad  Commission  to 
secure  the  right  to  construct  and  operate  a  telephone  ex- 
change in  Eaton  and  Barry  Counties.  The  commission  on 
Jan.  31,  1912,  granted  the  company  a  franchise,  issued  by 
the  Secretary  of  State,  allowing  it  to  issue  stock  to  the 
amount  of  $25,000.  About  $10,000  worth  of  stock  was  sold 
and  on  Feb.  2.J  the  company  petitioned  the  Railroad  Com- 
mission for  a  certificate  of  public  convenience  and  necessity 
which  would  allow  it  to  operate  in  the  villages  of  Vermont- 
ville and  Sunfield  and  the  townships  of  Vermontville. 
Kalamo,  Sunfield  and  Chester,  ultimately  reaching  other 
territory  in  Eaton  and  Barry  Counties.  On  Aug.  29  the 
commission  denied  the  petition,  refusing  to  give  a  certificate 
as  requested,  the  reasons  being  that  other  telephone  com- 
panies were  already  operating  in  the  territory  and  that  the 
proposed  new  exchange  was  unnecessarv  and  would  injure 
the  business  of  the  established  companies. 

The  Vermontville  company,  it  is  reported,  will  claim  that 
the  reasons  given  by  the  Railroad  Commission  are  not  con- 
vincing, that  they  tend  to  create  a  monopoly  and  would 
destroy  and  remove  from  the  State  all  competition  in  tele- 
phonic service,  and  that  the  Legislature  of  the  State  has 
no  authority  under  the  constitution  to  delegate  to  any  body 
of  men  the  power  to  create  such  a  monopoly. 


Current   News  and  Notes 


Faribault-Zumbrota  Line  Completed.— The  high-ten- 
sion transmission  line  from  Faribault,  Minn.,  to  Zumbrota, 
Minn.,  has  been  completed  and  the  local  steam-driven 
electric-light  plant  at  Zumbrota  has  been  shut  down.  Users 
of  electricity  in  that  place  are  now  supplied  with  electrical 
energy  from  the  Cannon  Falls  hydroelectric  station  of  the 
Consumers'  Power  Company. 

*     *     * 

Municipal  Industrial  University. — The  town  of 
Lomax,  111.,  is  to  have  an  "Industrial  University,"  with  a 
board  of  control  composed  of  experts  in  mechanical  en- 
gineering, electricity,  chemistry,  advertising  and  business 
management,  with  other  branches  to  be  added  as  the  needs 
of  the  new  university  may  develop.  The  training  is  to  be 
given  without  cost,  the  object  being  to  secure  to  all  manu- 
facturing interests  located  at  Lomax  a  highly  trained  class 
of  employees. 

+     *     * 

Hydroelectric  Plant  at  Gatun  Dam. — Work  has  been 
begun  for  the  erection  of  the  permanent  hydroelectric  gen- 
erating station  at  the  spillway  of  Gatun  Dam  on  the  Panama 
Canal.  Excavation  for  the  turbine  pits  has  been  carried  to 
5.25  ft.  below  sea  level  over  an  area  of  100  ft.  by  30  ft. 
There  will  be  three  penstocks,  and  when  Gatun  Lake  is  at 
its  normal  level  the  effective  head  on  the  turbine  water- 
wheels  will  be  77  ft.  Specifications  for  350  tons  of  struc- 
tural steel  for  the  buildings  have  been  prepared. 

Use  of  Pulmotors. — Pulmotors  have  been  placed  or  are 
to  be  placed  in  twenty-three  of  the  public-service  properties 
controlled  by  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  of  Chicago.  The 
instrument  belonging  to  the  Louisville  Gas  &  Lighting  Com- 
pany, one  of  the  Byllesby  group,  was  used  with  good  effect 
recently  in  the  case  of  a  patient  who  was  supposed  to  be 
dying  in  a  hospital  from  the  effects  of  shock  following  an 
operation  for  appendicitis.  The  physician  in  charge 
thanked  the  company  for  the  prompt  and  efficient  work 
done  with  the  pulmotor.  He  said  that  the  patient  was 
improving  and  at  the  time  of  writing  thought  to  be  out  of 
danger. 

Why  Not  a  Commission  to  Regulate  Domestics? — The 
last  use  to  which  a  citizen  has  asked  the  New  York  Public 
Service  Commission,  Second  District,  to  bend  its  energies 
is  in  relation  to  securing  a  domestic  for  household  service. 
A  resident  of  Far  Rockaway  complained  to  the  commission 
that  "I  got  a  girl  for  general  housework  through  the  agency 

of ,  of .    She  collected  a  three-dollar  fee  from  me 

and  got  another  position  for  the  girl  inside  the  week.  Will 
you  kindly  take  this  matter  under  your  consideration?" 
The  worthy  housekeeper  was  advised  that  the  commission 
was  without  power  to  aid  her  in  securing  a  domestic  or 
compelling  the  agency  to  furnish  her  one. 

Overhead  Wires  Permitted  in  Chicago  Alleys. — On 
May  13  last  the  City  Council  of  Chicago  passed  an  order 
directing  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  and  the 
Chicago  Telephone  Company  to  remove  all  their  poles  and 
wires  in  the  alley  bounded  by  Blackhawk  Street,  North 
Ashland  Avenue,  Milwaukee  Avenue  and  Dickson  Street. 
This  locality  is  in  the  Sixteenth  W'ard,  where  aldermen  and 
citizens  have  conducted  a  campaign  against  overhead  wires. 
City  Electrician  Palmer  advised  the  Mayor,  however,  that 
neither  of  the  companies  has  been  compelled  to  place  its 
wires  underground  in  any  of  the  alleys  of  the  city,  and  that 
it  would  be  a  hardship  to  force  them  to  comply  with  the 
order.  Accordingly,  as  suggested  by  the  Mayor,  the  City 
Council  repealed  the  order  on  Oct.  7. 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     W"  O  R  L  D  . 


869 


N.  E.  L.  A.  Resuscitation  Booklet. — The  National 
Electric  Light  Association  is  distributing  in  booklet  form 
the  "Rules  for  Resuscitation  from  Electric  Shock"  with  the 
chart  prepared  under  its  auspices  and  issued  as  a  supple- 
ment to  the  Electrical  World  of  June  i,  1912.  The  booklet 
is  3.5  in.  by  5.5  in.  and  is  bound  in  board  covers.  The 
chart  is  so  prepared  that  it  can  be  mounted  upon  a  wall, 
while  the  booklet  itself  is  of  pocket  size. 
+     *     * 

Lighting  Company  Entertainment  foe  Baseball 
Players. — A  banquet  was  given  to  the  baseball  team  of  the 
Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  Balti- 
more, Md.,  by  the  Gas  and  Electric  Athletic  Association  at 
the  Hotel  Belvedere,  upon  the  closing  of  the  baseball  season. 
The  guests  of  honor  were  Manager  W.  H.  Cassell's  twelve 
players,  who  made  the  record  of  fifteen  games  won  and 
three  games  lost.  Air.  W.  J.  Casey  was  the  toastmaster, 
and  the  managers  of  all  the  competing  clubs  were  present. 

*     *     * 

Limitless  Energy'  from  One  Horse-power. — According 
to  the  Line-o'-Type  column  in  the  Chicago  Daily  Tribune,  a 
man  in  Waterloo,  la.,  received  the  following  letter:  "Dear 
Sir:  Would  you  be  interested  in  talking  with  one  of  the  best 
electrician  the  world  affords  ?  on  matters  far  beyond  any 
thing  as  yet  undertaken  by  the  electrical  science.  Would 
it  be  interesting  to  you  to  see  and  talk  with  a  man  who 
can  by  means  of  a  small  power,  for  an  elustration  we  will 
say  he  can  take  a  one  H.  P.  gas  angin  and  by  means  of 
attachments  develop  at  the  motor  pully  any  power  desired  ? 
wouldent  this  be  of  interest  to  you  as  an  electrician?  I 
will  go  one  step  further  and  say,  that  with  a  10  h.  p.  gas 
engin  hitched  to  our  invention  we  can  drive  the  largest 
vessil  afloat  across  the  Ocean  at  its  full  speed  and  at  a  cost 
of  practially  nothing,  this  of  course  will  seem  impossible 
to  you.  But  this  is  the  history  of  all  great  inventions,  they 
at  one  time  all  seemed  impossible,  but  are  today  living 
witnesses  of  the  invention  and  fact  that  it  WAS  possible,  am 

I  not  right?" 

*  *     * 

Boston  Edison  Credit  Union-. — Arrangements  are  being 
made  by  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of 
Boston,  Mass.,  for  the  incorporation  of  a  credit  union  for 
the  benefit  of  employees,  following  the  lines  of  work  car- 
ried out  by  the  Industrial  Credit  Union  of  Boston,  which 
numbers  Mr.  R.  S.  Hale,  of  the  company,  as  its  vice- 
president  and  Messrs.  J.  W.  Cowles  and  Francis  P.  Creden, 
also  Edison  men,  as  directors.  All  members  of  the  Indus- 
trial Credit  Union  who  are  employees  of  the  company  will 
be  allowed  to  join  the  new  Edison  organization  without  an 
initiation  charge.  Mr.  H.  W.  Moses,  head  of  the  Welfare 
Bureau,  is  looking  forward  to  a  large  increase  in  member- 
ship about  Jan.  i,  when  it  is  planned  to  inaugurate  the  work 
of  the  new  union.  The  object  of  the  union,  as  in  similar 
organizations  in  Germany,  Italy  and  India,  is  to  promote 
thrift  and  well-being  among  its  members,  to  establish  co- 
operative relations  within  its  organization,  and  to  enable 
loans  to  be  financed  on  a  strictly  business  basis  without 
excessive  interest. 

SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 
Boston  Electrical  Luncheon. — The  first  Friday 
luncheon  of  the  season  under  the  auspices  of  the  New 
England  Section  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association 
was  held  at  the  American  House  on  Oct.  18,  when  Repre- 
sentative John  W.  Weeks  addressed  about  ninety  electrical 
men  upon  "Postal  Legislation." 

*  *     * 

San  Francisco  Section,  A.  I.  E.  E. — A  meeting  of  the 
San  Francisco  Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  was  held  on  Oct.  25  in  the  Pacific  Tele- 
phone &  Telegraph  Company's  building  at  New  Mont- 
gomery and  Jesse  Streets.  Mr.  C.  R.  Wallis  presented  a 
paper  on  "Modern  Improvements  in  Electric  Street  Light- 


ing Units,"  which  was  illustrated  with  lantern  slides.  An 
informal  table  d'hote  dinner  was  served  at  Jules'  cafe  at 
6:15  p.  m.,  before  the  meeting. 

*  *     * 

Future  Meetings  of  Commonwealth  Edison  Section 
OF  N.  E.  L.  A.— On  Oct.  29  Mr.  John  M.  Ewen  will  address 
the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  Section  (Chicago)  of 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association  on  "Chicago's 
Harbor."  At  this  meeting,  which  will  probably  be  held  at 
Association  Hall,  it  is  expected  that  the  result  of  the  election 
of  officers  for  the  section  by  letter  ballot  will  be  announced. 
On  Nov.  7  the  annual  banquet  of  the  section,  which  has  now 
about  1700  members,  will  be  held  at  the  Hotel  Sherman.  At 
this  time  the  new  officers  will  be  installed. 

*  *     + 

Joint  Meeting  of  Boston  Engineers. — On  Oct.  16  the 
Boston  Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  held  a  meeting  jointly  with  the  American  So- 
ciety of  Mechanical  Engineers  and  the  Boston  Society  of 
Civil  Engineers.  Mr.  H.  L.  Cooper,  chief  engineer  of  the 
Mississippi  River  Power  Company,  presented  a  paper,  illus- 
trated by  lantern  slides,  on  the  construction  of  the  dam 
and  generating  station  of  the  company  at  Keokuk,  la.  Mr. 
D.  L.  Galusha,  of  the  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Cor- 
poration, followed  with  a  paper  on  the  electrical  equipment 
and  design  of  the  station.    About  400  members  were  present. 

*  *     * 

Meeting  of  Boston  Edison  Company  Section,  N.  E. 
L.  A. — The  annual  meeting  of  the  Boston  Edison  Company 
Section  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  was 
held  at  Paul  Revere  Hall,  Boston,  on  Oct.  16,  and  the 
following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year:  Presi- 
dent, Mr.  H.  W.  Moses;  vice-presidents,  Messrs.  J.  W. 
Cowles  and  C.  H.  Crockett;  secretary,  Mr.  S.  R.  Keyes; 
treasurer,  Mr.  C.  H.  Miles.  Messrs.  W.  H.  Cole  and  C.  S. 
Hadaway  were  elected  to  the  executive  committee.  Follow- 
ing the  business  meeting,  papers  illustrating  the  production 
of  electricity  from  coal  pile  to  meter  were  read  by  Messrs. 
C.  H.  Parker,  L.  L.  Elden  and  J.  W.  Cowles. 

*  *     * 

Philadelphia  Section,  I.  E.  S. — The  regular  monthly 
meeting  of  the  Philadelphia  Section  of  the  Illuminating 
Engineering  Society  was  held  at  the  Franklin  Institute  on 
Oct.  18.  Papers  were  presented  by  Dr.  W.  Zentmayer  on 
"Physiology  of  Vision  and  Causes  Other  than  Defective 
Illumination  for  Eye  Strain"  and  by  Dr.  C.  E.  Ferree  on 
"Tests  for  the  Efficiency  of  the  Eye  Under  Different  Sys- 
tems of  Illumination  and  a  Preliminary  Study  of  the 
Causes  of  Discomfort."  The  papers  were  discussed  by 
Messrs.  H.  Calvert,  Norman  Macbeth,  W.  J.  Serrill,  H.  E. 
Ives,  G.  B.  Regar,  C.  O.  Bond,  J.  S.  Ely,  J.  D.  Israel  and 
C.  W.  Hare.     Prof.  Arthur  J.  Rowland  presided. 

*  *     * 

Plans  of  Electric  Club  of  Chicago. — By  invitation  of 
the  trustees  of  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago  the  Electric 
Club  of  that  city  will  take  a  trip  down  the  Drainage  Canal 
to  the  hydroelectric  power  house  at  Lockport,  111.,  on  Satur- 
day, Nov.  2.  The  party  will  board  the  Sanitary  District's 
steamer  R.  R.  McCormick  at  the  State  Street  bridge  at 
10  a.  m.  Luncheon  will  be  served  on  the  boat  and  will  be 
provided  by  the  club.  Announcements  for  future  luncheon 
meetings  of  the  club  have  been  made  as  follows :  Nov.  7, 
"Electrical  Inspection,"  by  Mr.  Victor  H.  Tousley,  chief 
inspector  of  the  Department  of  Electricity  of  the  city  of 
Chicago;  Nov.  14,  "The  Quartz-Tube  Mercury-Vapor 
Lamp,"  by  Mr.  George  C.  Keech,  illuminating  engineer  of 
the  Cooper  Hewitt  Electric  Company. 

*  *     * 

Boston  Electric  Vehicle  Club  Officers. — At  a  regu- 
lar meeting  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Club  of  Boston  on 
Oct.  23  the  following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing 
year:  President.  Mr.  Day  Baker;  vice-president,  Mr.  E. 
S.   Mansfield;    secretary,    Mr.    H.    F.   Thomson;    treasurer. 


870 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


Mr.  J.  S.  Codman;  executive  committee,  the  foregoing  and 
Messrs.  F.  N.  Phelps,  M.  J.  Fitch  and  F.  J.  Stone ;  finance 
committee,  Messrs.  F.  M.  Kimball,  W.  H.  Blood,  Jr.,  and 
F.  J.  Stone;  meetings  committee,  Messrs.  L.  L.  Edgar, 
A.  F.  Neale  and  H.  L.  Converse;  advisory  committee, 
Messrs.  J.  W.  Bovi'man,  Albert  Weatherby,  H.  E.  Taylor. 
C.  D.  Daly,  D.  C.  Tiffany,  G.  W.  Holden,  J.  W.  Enierv, 
P.  E.  Whiting,  C.  A.  White,  J.  A.  White  and  L.  A.  Tirril'l. 
The  club   is   now   being   reorganized   on   a   self-supporting 

basis  and  has  about  seventy  members. 

*  *     + 

B.\LTiM0RE  Company  Section,  N.  E.  L.  A. — The  annual 
election  of  officers  and  e.xecutive  committee  of  the  Baltimore 
Consolidated  Section,  X.  E.  L.  A.,  for  the  ensuing  year  was 
held  on  Oct.  15  in  the  physical  laboratory  of  Johns  Hopkins 
University.  The  following  officers  were  elected:  Mr.  J.  T. 
Kelly,  Jr.,  president;  Mr.  L.  L.  Heyden,  vice-president; 
Mr.  D.  C.  Bruce,  secretary,  and  Mr.  R.  F.  Bonsall,  treasurer. 
Executive  committee:  Messrs.  R.  H.  Tillman,  A.  W.  Bull, 
E.  D.  Edmonston,  William  Schmidt,  R.  C.  Niles,  F.  M. 
Weller  and  W.  P.  Beyerle.  In  connection  with  the  lectures 
to  be  given  by  Prof.  J.  B.  Whitehead,  of  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  association  during  the 
coming  year  to  take  up  various  branches  of  elementary  work. 

*  *     * 

New  York  Electrical  Society.— The  three  hundred  and 
thirteenth  meeting  of  the  New  York  Electrical  Society  will 
be  held  Tuesday,  Oct.  29,  at  8  p.  m.,  in  the  Doremus  lecture 
room  of  the  Chemistry  Building  of  the  College  of  the  City 
of  New  York,  and  will  be  addressed  by  Dr.  Charles  Basker- 
\'ille,  F.  C.  S.,  professor  of  chemistry  and  director  of  the 
college  laboratory,  who  will  lecture  on  "Tungsten."  The 
lecture  will  be  illustrated  by  exhibits  of  minerals,  tungsten 
alloys  and  equipment  in  which  metallic  tungsten  is  em- 
ployed. Stereopticon  slides  will  also  be  shown.  Dr. 
Baskerville  will  describe  the  history,  occurrence,  extraction, 
properties  and  uses  of  tungsten,  its  compounds  and  alloys. 
Particular  attention  will  be  given  to  the  manufacture  of 
metallic  tungsten  filaments  for  incandescent  lamps.  The 
lecture  on  tungsten  will  be  followed  by  a  talk  by  Dr.  .Alfred 
N.  Goldsmith,  instructor  in  radio-engineering,  describing 
the  equipment  in  the  college  laboratory  for  experiments  in 
radio  transmission  and  a  brief  account  of  the  course  of 
instruction  offered  to  engineering  students  in  this  specialty. 
Those  present  will  afterward  be  taken  on  a  tour  of  inspec- 
tion  through    the   laboratory. 

*  *     * 

Seattle  Section.  A.  L  E.  E. — The  October  meeting  of 
the  Seattle  Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  was  held  on  Oct.  19  in  the  assembly  hall  of  the 
Central  Building.  Dr.  C.  E.  Magnusson,  of  the  University 
of  Washington,  who  has  spent  the  past  year  in  the  East  in 
special  research  work,  read  a  paper  on  "A  Western  En- 
gineer in  the  East,"  in  which  were  set  forth  recent  develop- 
ments and  methods  of  Eastern  practice.  The  chairmen  of 
the  recently  arranged  membership  groups  announced  their 
plans,  and  the  complete  year's  program  was  made  and 
passed  upon  by  the  section  at  this  meeting.  The  member- 
ship grouping  for  1912  was  as  follows:  Railway  group, 
Mr.  A.  A.  Miller,  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing 
Company,  chairman ;  transmission,  substations  and  distribu- 
tion, Mr-  Glen  Dunbar,  Municipal  Lighting  Plant,  chair- 
man ;  power  stations,  steam  and  hydraulic,  Mr.  J.  Haris- 
berger,  Puget  Sound  Traction,  Light  &  Power  Company, 
chairman;  telephone  and  telegraph  including  wireless 
telegraphy,  Mr,  L.  P.  Crim,  Pacific  Telephone  &  Telegraph 
Company,  chairman;  electrophysics.  Dr.  C.  E.  Magnusson, 
University  of  Washington,  chairman;  electric  ligTnting,  in- 
cluding interior  construction  and  illumination,  Mr.  E.  S. 
Code,  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
chairman,  and  industrial  power,  Mr.  W.  S.  Hoskins, 
Hoskins  Machine  Works,  chairman.  To  each  group  had 
been  assigned  one  meeting  during  the  coming  year,  including 


the  selection  of  the  subject  and  the  furnishing  of  the  paper. 
The  revised  set  of  by-laws,  prepared  by  the  e.xecutive  com- 
mittee, was  presented  and  a  report  thereon  submitted. 

*  *     * 

New  York  Jovian  Luncheon. — The  regular  New  York 
Jovian  luncheon  was  held  on  Oct.  23  at  the  Imperial  Hotel, 
on  which  occasion,  after  brief  introductory  remarks  by 
Secretary  T.  C.  Martin  of  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association,  the  newly  elected  Jupiter,  Mr.  Frank  E.  Watts, 
was  enthusiastically  received  and  made  a  short  address. 
Mr.  Watts  referred  to  the  change  in  name  of  the  order 
from  the  Rejuvenated  Sons  of  Jove  to  the  Jovian  Order. 
The  growth  of  the  organization  has  been  rapid  and  it  now 
numbers  S500  members.  He  referred  also  to  the  formula- 
tion of  plans  for  the  annual  convention  of  the  whole  order 
which  will  be  held  in  New  York  City  on  Oct.  14,  15  and  16, 
1913.  Mr.  Watts  referred  to  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  the 
affairs  of  the  order  and  the  intention  to  devote  its  energies 
to  some  serious  purpose.  In  this  connection  he  spoke  of  tlie 
electrical  co-operative  movement  which  is  now  being 
actively  promoted  by  many  interests  in  the  industry.  He 
closed  with  the  announcement  of  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Joseph  F.  Becker,  contract  agent  of  the  United  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company,  as  statesman  for  New  York  City. 
Mr-  Becker  made  a  few  remarks,  stating  that  the  luncheons 
will  continue  hereafter  on  alternate  Wednesdays  at  the 
Hotel  Imperial.  He  announced  also  that  a  rejuvenation 
will  be  held  in  New  York  City  in  December  and  that  thirty- 
five  or  forty  candidates  are  already  enrolled.  Brief  remarks 
were  made  also  by  Mr.  C.  L.  Eidlitz,  electrical  contractor, 
1168  Broadway,  and  Mr.  F.  W.  Smith,  vice-president  of  the 
United  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  both  of  whom 
urged  that  the  order  take  up  serious  work. 

*  *     * 

Annual  Convention  of  Railway  Signal  Association. 
—  The  seventeenth  annual  convention  of  the  Railway  Signal 
Association  was  held  at  Quebec,  Can.,  on  Oct.  8,  9  and  10, 
at  which  time  an  extended  program,  composed  mainly  of 
committee  reports,  was  taken  up  for  consideration.  Con- 
siderable interest  was  manifested  in  the  130-page  report  of 
the  connnittee  on  electric  railway  and  alternating-current 
signaling,  presented  by  Chairman  H.  S.  Balliet.  Much  in- 
formation was  submitted  in  reference  to  alternating-current 
signaling  in  Europe  and  America,  and  numerous  important 
installations  in  this  country  were  described.  The  report  of 
the  storage-battery  connnittee,  presented  by  Chairman  R.  B. 
Elsworth,  stated  that  its  recommendations  represented  con- 
clusions which  had  been  reached  after  reconciling  the 
divergent  views  of  manufacturers  and  others.  The  speci- 
fications submitted  were  asserted  to  represent  the  best 
existing  practice.  Chairman  W.  H.  Elliott,  of  the  com- 
mittee on  wires  and  cables,  presented  a  report  recommend- 
ing numerous  changes  in  the  standard  specifications.  There 
was  considerable  discussion  over  the  specifications  for  cop- 
per-clad steel  line  wire.  In  the  discussion  on  rubber  com- 
pounds there  were  objections  to  the  table  prescribing  the 
ingredients,  on  the  ground  that  these  represented  the 
practice  and  product  of  some  particular  manufacturer.  It 
was  replied  that  the  list  represented  the  consensus  of  promi- 
nent makers'  practice  at  present,  and  that  some  such 
standard  is  necessary  in  order  to  enable  signal  engineers  to 
secure  intelligible  records  and  data  for  comparison.  The 
following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year:  Presi- 
dent, Mr.  B.  H.  Mann,  Missouri  Pacific  Railway;  first  vice- 
president,  Mr.  F.  P.  Patenall,  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad; 
second  vice-president.  Mr.  Thomas  S.  Stevens,  Atchison. 
Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  Railroad  ;  secretary-treasurer.  Mr.  C.  C. 
Rosenberg.  Bethlehem,  Pa.  The  new  members  of  the  board 
of  directors,  to  serve  for  two  years,  are  as  follows:  Mr. 
y.  C.  Young,  Union  Pacific  Railroad ;  Mr.  H.  V.  Lewis, 
Lehigh  "Valley  Railroad ;  Mr.  R.  E.  Trout,  St.  Louis  &  San 
Francisco  Railroad,  and  Mr.  C.  A.  Dunham,  Great  Northern 
Railway. 


ROCK   RIVER  HYDROELECTRIC   DEVELOPMENT 


Low-Head  Station  at  Sears,  111.,  Characterized  by  Directly  Connected  Vertical 
Generators  and  Other  Noteworthy  Features. 

Present    Installation    Comprises    Six   300-kw  Units — Output  Sold    in    Bulk  for  Railway  and   Lighting 

Purposes — System  Privately  Owned  and  Managed. 


AT  Sears,  111.,  on  Rock  River,  ^y2  miles  above  the  junc- 
tion of  that  stream  with  the  Mississippi,  a  hydro- 
electric generating  station  has  been  installed  by 
Messrs.  T.  B.  and  S.  S.  Davis,  of  Rock  Island,  which 
involves  •  some  nnusual  features.  The  installation  is  of 
importance  not  only  because  it  is  one  of  the  first  low-head 
(13-ft.)  plants  wherein  each  vertical  generator  is  directly 
connected  to  its  own  watervi'heel  to  be  placed  in  operation 
in  the  United  States,  but  also  because  of  certain  novel 
methods  utilized  in  the  construction  of  the  station  building 
and  in  the  arrangement  and  installation  of  the  apparatus. 
The  power  house  is  situated  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  below 
Black  Hawk's  Watch  Tower,  an  eminence  commanding  an 
extensive  view  of  the  beautiful  Rock  River  Valley.  In  these 
days,  when  nearly  all  public  utilities  are  owned  by  corpora- 
tions, it  is  singular  that  the  plant  here  described  is  the 
property  of  the  two  Davis  brothers  and  that  it  was  built 
under  their  immediate  supervision.  All  the  energy  devel- 
oped is  sold  to  the  local  railway  and  lighting  company. 

The  present  equipment  of  the  station  consists  of  six 
Westinghouse  300-kw,  2400-volt,  three-phase,  6o-cycle, 
72-r.p.m.  vertical  generators,  each  driven  by  a  69-in.  turbine, 
and  the  apparatus  necessary  for  metering  and  controlling 
the  output  of  the  machines.  Provision  has  been  made  for 
the  installation  of  six  more  generators  of  the  same  char- 
acteristics, and  when  these  are  in  p'ace  the  station  will  have 
an  aggregate  rating  of  3600  kw. 

It  will.be  noted  that  the  topography  of  the  land  adjacent 
to  the  station   is   such   that   Carr's  Island  and    Vandrufif's 


Island  form  an  almost  perfect  natural  canal,  approximately 
l^  miles  in  length.  By  the  erection  of  dams  Nos.  I,  2  and 
3  a  head  of  13  ft.  is  obtained  at  dam  No.  3.  For  years  the 
power  on  both  branches  of  the  river  was  used  for  driving 
flour  and  straw-paper  mills,  but  changing  industrial  condi- 
tions rendered  the  locality  unsuitable  for  these  enterprises 
and  the  mills  ceased  business,  the  water-power  was  unused 


Fig.    2. — Map    Showing    the    Rock    River    Developments. 

and  the  hydraulic  improvements  were  allowed  to  go  to 
wreck.  In  1892  the  government  constructed  a  dam  across 
each  branch  of  the  river  at  the  head  of  Carr's  Island  for 
the  purposes  of  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Canal.  Recently 
the  Davis  brothers  purchased  the  water  rights  involved  and 
with  the  approval  of  the  United  States  government  re- 
arranged the  dam  system  and  built  new  dams.  The  dams 
built  by  the  Davis  brothers  do  not  interfere  in  any  way 
with  the  operation  of  the  cana'.     In  fact,  they  have  caused 


Fig.  1 — Generating   Room  of   Davis  Brothers'  Hydroelectric  Station  on  Rock  River  at  Sears,  III 


872 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


a  decided,  improvement,  because  the  present  structures  are 
of  solid  concrete  and  rest  on  solid  rock,  which  insures  the 
utmost  permanency,  while  the  old  ones  were  of  timber. 

No  wood  enters  into  the  construction  of  the  station  build- 
ing. Even  the  roof  is  of  concrete  tile,  and  the  concrete  used 
elsewhere  is  heavily  reinforced  with  steel.  In  general  the 
arrangement  is  typical  of  that  used  for  modern  high-class 


Fg.  3 — Geared  Waterwheel-Driven   Exciter, 

vertical  type  generators,  but  there  are  some  innovations 
worthy  of  notice.  One  is  the  provision  of  a  tunnel  or 
gallery  just  under  the  genecators.  Grooves  were  molded  in 
the  concrete  side  walls  of  the  tunnel,  and  in  these  grooves 
the  cables  from  the  generators  to  the  switchboard  are 
carried.  The  pressure  oil  piping  for  the  operation  of  the 
governors  is  also  supported  within  the  tunnel.  For  closing 
any  penstock  in  an  emergency  steel  gates  whicli  slide  down 
in  grooves  on  the  upstream  side  of  the  penstocks  have  been 


Fig.   4 — view  of  Station   and    Dam    No.   3, 

provided.  Removable  concrete  slabs  have  been  arranged  in 
the  floor  over  the  grooves,  and  any  set  of  slabs  can  be 
removed  and  the  steel  gates  lowered  to  position  with  the 
bridge  crane.  Valves  have  been  mounted  in  the  gates 
whereby  the  hydrostatic  pressure  can  be  equalized  when  a 
penstock  is  empty,  to  permit  the  ready  removal  of  the  gates. 
Pressed  brick  is  used  for  the  walls  both  inside  and  out,  and 


a  wainscot  of  a  darker  brick  is  carried  around  the  inside. 
Steel  frame  windows  of  generous  proportions  provide  an 
abundance  of  light. 

The  69-in.  turbines  that  drive  the  main  generators  are 
of  the  S.  Morgan  Smith  type.  Their  speed,  72  r.p.m.,  was 
based  on  a  9-ft.  head,  that  speed  being  the  most  economical 
at  that  head.     Woodward  governors  control  the  speeds  of 


Fig.     5 — Switchboard. 

the  wheels,  and  each  governor  is  provided  with  a  regulating 
motor  manipulated  from  the  switchboard,  so  that  the 
operator,  when  synchronizing,  can  change  the  speed  of  the 
unit  from  that  location. 

To  furnish  excitation  energy  a  Westinghouse  150-kw, 
125-volt,  260-r.p.m.  horizontal  generator  has  been  installed. 
It  is  driven  by  a  Si-in.  S.  Morgan  Smith  vertical  water- 
wheel  running  at  120  r.p.m.,  and  the  speed  reduction  neces- 
sarv  is  effected  through  bevel  gears.     An  auxiliary  West- 


Fig.    6 — Outgoing    Circuits    at    End    of    Station. 

inghouse  150-kw  motor-generator  set  is  also  provided  and 
is  located  near  the  switchboard.  The  motor  is  a  2300-volt, 
three-phase,  6o-cycle  synchronous  machine.  Space  has  been 
allowed  for  a  duplicate  waterwheel  exciter  set.  A  remotely 
control'ed,  electrically  operated  switch  gear,  mounted 
directly  on  the  station  floor  and  extending  back  into  a  bay 
provided  for  it,  controls  the  output  of  the  generating  equip- 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


873 


ment.  All  wiring  and  apparatus  is  mounted  on  a  pipe 
framework. 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  output  of  the  station  is 
delivered  at  2400  volts  to  a  feeder  line  of  that  pressure 
which  passes  the  station  and  which  belongs  to  the  local 
lighting  company.  However,  some  of  the  energy  will  be 
transmitted  at  33,000  volts  to  distant  substations,  and  for 
stepping  up  from  the  generated  pressure  of  2400  to  the 
the  transmission  pressure  of  33,000  two  200-kw  T-connected 
(three-phase  to  two-phase)  transformers  and  one  2000-kw 
three-phase  transformer  have  been  installed.  It  is  the  inten- 
tion to  install  another  2000-kw  transformer  later. 

There  are  two  33,000-volt,  three-phase  transmission  lines 
to  Rock  Island,  and  high-tension  switching  equipment  has 
been  provided  whereby  one  or  both  of  the  2000-kw  trans- 
formers (only  one  of  the  2000-kw  transformers  is  now 
installed)  can  be  connected  to  either  line.  Electrolytic 
lightning  arresters  protect  the  transmission  circuits. 


PHYSICAL  PHOTOMETERS. 


By  J.  S.  Dow. 

PROGRESS  in  the  design  of  small  and  convenient  in- 
struments for  measuring  illumination  has  really  been 
most  remarkable  during  the  last  few  years.  Both  in 
.^merica■and  in  Europe  a  number  of  types  have  been  intro- 
duced. The  intention  throughout  has  been  to  obtain  sim- 
plicity and  convenience  rather  than  extreme  accuracy.  On 
the  other  hand,  laboratory  methods  have  also  been  brought 
to  a  greater  stage  of  perfection.  Much  of  the  old  uncer- 
tainty on  the  subject  of  "personal  errors"  and  other  phases 
of  difficulty  has  been  removed.  Even  the  complexities  of 
color  photometry  are  now  mor^  fully  understood  and  appear 
less  formidable.  The  scientific  difficulties  are  certainly  very 
great ;  but  it  is  probable  that  the  inconvenience  of  such 
effects  in  industrial  photometry  is  not  so  great  as  was  at 
one  time  feared.  It  is  only  with  such  exceptional  sources 
of  light  as  the  mercury-vapor  lamp  and  at  very  low  illumi- 
nation that  serious  difficulty  is  experienced. 

There  is  one  possible  line  of  development  in  photometry 
which  does  not  seem  to  have  been  exploited  to  any  great 
extent  as  yet;  namely,  the  use  of  so-called  "physical"  meth- 
ods of  measurement.  By  this  term  is  understood  the  direct 
effect  of  light  on  some  substance  or  instrument  independent 
of  the  eye.  Some  suggestive  remarks  on  this  subject  were 
made  in  the  September,  1912,  issue  of  the  London  Illumi- 
nating Engineer.  Our  views  of  the  possibilities  of  such 
instruments  seem  to  be  passing  through  various  stages. 
Originally  the  design  of  a  photometer  based  on  such  prin- 
ciples as  the  chemical  effect  of  light  on  photographic  paper 
was  considered  by  many  as  quite  within  the  range  of 
possibility.  Indeed,  the  method  was  used  to  some  extent. 
But  with  increasing  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  radiation  and 
of  the  difference  in  the  distribution  of  light  in  the  spectra 
of  various  artificial  illuminants  the  inherent  difficulties  of 
such  apparatus  became  more  evident.  It  is  clearly  a 
supremely  difficult  task  to  find  a  physical  method  of  meas- 
uring light  which  can  produce  results  at  all  consistent  with 
those  derived  through  the  eye.  Yet  it  is  not  apparently 
impossible  and  perhaps  is  not  always  even  necessary.  In 
the  light  of  our  improved  knowledge  the  possibility  of 
using  such  methods  for  practical  measurements  does  not 
seem  quite  so  remote.  At  any  rate  there  is  now  a  better 
understanding  of  the  real  difficulties,  and  eventually  a 
method  of  circumventing  them  may  be  found. 

There  appear  to  be  two  distinct  classes  of  work  to  which 
physical  methods  can  be  applied.  First,  there  are  those  in 
which  purely  comparative  results  are  needed;  for  example, 
in  comparing  the  candle-power  of  the  same  source  in  dif- 
ferent directions,  the  supposition  being  that  the  quality  of 
radiation   is  the  same  and  that   only  the   intensity  alters. 


Similarly,  in  taking  measurements  of  the  illumination  of  a 
room,  the  variation  in  daylight,  the  effect  of  employing 
certain  shades  or  reflectors,  etc.,  we  are  usually  dealing 
only  with  comparative  results. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  it  is  desired  to  compare  entirely 
different  sources  which  do  not  radiate  the  same  kind  of 
energy,  and  which  emit  different  percentages  of  their  total 
radiation  in  the  form  of  visible  light,  a  much  more  difficult 
problem  is  encountered.  Physical  methods  of  measuring 
light,  in  order  to  give  consistent  results,  must  analyze  the 
light  received  in  exactly  the  same  manner  as  does  the  eye. 

The  use  of  physical  methods  for  obtaining  purely  com- 
parative results  is  hopeful,  and  serviceable  work  has  al- 
ready been  done  in  this  way.  Before  the  illumination  pho- 
tometer came  into  general  use  a  conception  of  the  distribu- 
tion of  light  in  a  room  was  sometimes  gained  by  distribut- 
ing strips  of  light-sensitive  paper  in  different  parts  of  the 
room  and  observing  whether,  in  a  given  period  of  time, 
they  had  darkened  to  the  same  extent.  By  this  method  one 
can  obtain  at  least  qualitative  results;  that  is  to  say,  one  can 
perceive  that  the  illumination  in  parts  of  the  room  where 
the  paper  does  not  darken  sufficiently  should  be  strength- 
ened. This  method  has  sometimes  been  applied  in  connec- 
tion with  ancient  light  cases;  for  example,  in  determining 
what  change  in  the  light  has  been  caused  by  the  erection  of 
some  adjacent  obstruction  outside  the  building.  It  is,  of 
course,  used  in  the  actinometer  employed  in  photography, 
for  which  it  is  clearly  adapted,  since  the  chemical  effect 
of  the  light  rays  is  the  thing  we  are  mainly  interested  in. 
The  actinometer,  in  short,  discriminates  between  a  source 
which  is  rich  in  ultra-violet  rays  and  one  which  is  weak 
in  this  kind  of  energy  in  very  much  the  same  way  as  an 
ordinary  photographic  plate  will  do.  In  the  case  of  plates 
that  are  specially  sensitized  to  the  visible  rays  its  rigorous 
application  seems  less  certain. 

At  various  times  photometers  have  been  developed  utiliz- 
ing the  effect  of  light  on  photographic  paper.  It  seems 
evident,  however,  that  the  method  can  never  compete  for 
convenience  and  accuracy  with  the  illumination  photometer 
proper.  Its  sole  advantage  is  the  fact  that  no  portable 
standard  of  light  is  required.  There  are,  however,  one  or 
two  special  cases  in  which  it  may  be  of  service.  For  ex- 
ample, it  has  been  used  as  a  means  of  estimating  the  dis- 
tribution of  brightness  in  the  spectra  of  various  illuminants. 
Granted  that  one  can  secure  a  plate  which  is  sensitive  to 
the  various  colors  in  exactly  the  same  manner  as  the  eye, 
and  that  certain  requirements  as  regards  exposure  and 
developments  are  complied  with,  it  is  justifiable  to  assume 
that  the  density  of  the  image  on  the  plate  is  proportional  to 
the  visible  light  received.  This  method  was  used  with  good 
results  by  Ives  and  Coblentz  in  their  researches  on  the 
firefly  spectrum,  the  luminosity  of  which  is  so  weak  as 
almost  to  defy  ordinary  photometric  methods.  More  re- 
cently Ives  has  applied  the  photometric  method  to  the  de- 
termination of  polar  candle-power  curves  of  light  distribu- 
tion. A  strip  of  light-sensitive  paper  is  wound  in  the  form 
of  a  cylinder  and  arranged  with  the  source  of  light  to  be 
tested  at  its  center.  Under  suitable  conditions  as  regards 
exposure  and  development,  the  darkening  of  the  paper  will 
then  be  proportional  to  the  intensity  of  the  light  striking  it 
at  that  point. 

One  advantage  claimed  for  this  ingenious  method  is  that 
it  can  be  applied  with  special  success  to  irregular  flickering 
sources.  For  it  acts  as  a  "ballistic  photometer"  and  auto- 
matically records  the  average  light  during  a  given  period. 

Photography  and  photometry  work  very  well  hand  in 
hand  in  the  study  of  lighting  installations.  A  photometric 
measurement  of  the  surface  brightness  of  the  objects  photo- 
graphed has  been  found  to  be  an  excellent  guide  to  the 
exposure  necessary,  especially  in  the  case  of  artificial  light. 

This  is  the  converse  process  to  what  has  previously  been 
discussed;  that  is,  the  use  of  photometry  as  an  aid  to  photog- 
raphy.    When,  on  the  other  hand,  we  use  photographs  to 


874 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ir. 


show  how  the  illumination  in  a  room  is  distributed  con- 
siderable care  is  necessary  to  secure  a  faithful  result.  Com- 
parisons of  various  installations  made  on  this  basis  may 
easily  prove  misleading  unless  the  conditions  regarding  the 
nature  of  plate  used,  exposure,  development  and  other  points 
are  absolutely  identical  in  the  various  cases. 

Tiiere  is  anotlier  possible  form  of  physical  photometer, 
the  thermopile.  A  thermopile  with  a  blackened  surface 
measures  the  total  energy  radiated  from  a  source  and  does 
not  discriminate  between  the  luminous  and  the  invisible 
energy. 

It  cannot,  therefore,  be  readily  used  to  compare  dif- 
ferent types  of  illuminants.  Some  observers  have  attempted 
to  do  so  by  using  special  screens  calculated  to  transmit  only 
the  visible  energy.  Measurements  obtained  by  this  means 
appear  somewhat  uncertain,  although  the  extent  of  error 
may  perhaps  be  reduced. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  thermopile  lends  itself  better  to 
purely  comparative  measurement.  Voege'  has  used  it  with 
advantage  in  order  to  obtain  polar  curves  of  light  distribu- 
tion, and  experiments  in  the  same  direction  have  been  car- 
ried out  by  Felton  and  Brady  in  the  United  States,  as  re- 
corded in  a  paper  read  at  the  annual  convention  of  the 
Illuminating  Engineering  Society,  1910.  In  order  to 
be  accurate,  this  presupposes  that  the  kind  of  radiation 
given  out  is  the  same  in  all  directions.  In  the  case  of 
electric  incandescent  lamps  this  may  be  substantially  cor- 
rect, although  even  here  conduction  and  convection  currents 
may  play  some  part.  But  in  the  case  of  gas  lamps  the 
amount  of  heat  is  more  likely  to  vary  in  different  directions, 
according  to  whether  or  not  the  rays  have  to  pass  through 
a  glass  envelope,  and  this  would  distort  the  form  of  the 
polar  candle-power  curve. 

Another  purpose  for  which  this  method  has  possibilities 
is  for  recording  the  fluctuations  in  light  of  an  unsteady 
source  of  light.  Voege  has  found  the  thermopile  to  be  a 
useful  means  of  registering  the  steadiness  of  arc  lamps, 
and  there  certainly  seems  a  need  for  some  standard  method 
of  obtaining  such  data. 

One  can  also  imagine  that  a  highly  sensitive  thermopile 
might  be  used  to  detect  very  small  changes  in  light — for 
example,  to  study  the  effect  of  slight  alterations  in  the 
conditions  of  working  of  such  sources  as  the  Harcourt 
pentane  lo-cp  lamp.  Minute  and  suggestive  differences 
such  as  can  readily  be  observed  by  ordinary  photometric 
methods  might  conceivably  be  detected  in  this  way. 

Another  form  of  physical  photometer  that  will  readily 
suggest  itself  is  the  selenium  cell.  This  metal,  it  is  well 
known,  changes  in  electrical  resistance  when  exposed  to 
the  action  of  light.  The  cells  have  commonly  been  used  in 
the  past  in  somewhat  the  same  way  as  a  photometer  on  an 
ordinary  bench.  That  is  to  say,  a  source  of  light  is  sta- 
tioned at  a  certain  distance  and  the  resultant  deflection  of 
the  galvanometer  noted,  and  then  the  second  source  is 
brought  up  until  the  deflection  is  the  same.  The  intensities 
are  then  assumed  to  be  proportional  to  the  squares  of  the 
distances.  This  method,  it  will  be  observed,  overcomes  any 
difficulty  that  may  arise  as  to  the  relation  between  the 
intensity  of  the  light  and  the  reading  of  the  galvanom- 
eter. 

The  ideal  type  of  selenium  photometer  would  take  the 
form  of  a  small  box  to  be  presented  toward  the  source  of 
light,  the  indications  of  a  pointer  being  noted.  This,  of 
course,  assumes  that  the  connection  between  the  light  stimu- 
lus and  the  deflection  is  accurately  known,  that  it  will  not 
vary  with  time  or  be  much  affected  by  the  inertia  of  the 
cell  after  exposure  to  light.  The  difficulties  caused  by  the 
inertia  effect  mav  be  considerable,  although  it  is  stated  that 
with  the  latest  forms  of  cells  the  inertia  is  appreciable  on'y 
when  the  light  stimulus  is  very  great. 

There  is.  however,  another  and  even  greater  difficulty; 
namely,  the  sensitiveness  of  the  cell  throughout  the  spec- 

^Eleclrotechnischc  Zeitschrift,  Jan.    16,    1908. 


truni  is  distinctly  different  from  that  of  the  eye.  Pfund' 
has  recently  published  some  curves  showing  the  distribution 
of  sensitiveness  of  se  enium  cells  throughout  the  spectrum 
of  the  Nernst  lamp.  The  maxiuumi  is  in  the  red  range 
near  0.7  jt.  The  maximum  sensitiveness  of  the  eye,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  situated  in  the  yellow-green.  However,  the 
selenium  maximum  is  at  least  within  the  visible  spectrum, 
and,  all  things  considered,  this  fact  is  one  of  an  encourag- 
ing nature. 

One  very  curious  fact  has  been  related  by  Pfund,  who 
observed  that  the  maximum  shifts  toward  the  red  with 
increasing  stimulus.  At  low  illuminations  it  is  actually  in 
the  yellow.  Professor  Ruhmer  makes  two  forms  of  cells, 
termed  respectively  "hard"  and  "soft."  The  former  are 
highh'  sensitive  to  very  intense  light  and  comparatively 
insensitive  to  faint  light,  while  the  "soft"  cells  behave  in  an 
exactly  contrary  manner.  Moreover,  maximum  sensitive- 
ness of  the  "hard"  cells  lies  in  the  red,  while  the  maximum 
of  the  "soft"  cells  is  located  in  the  green. 

The  interesting  thing  about  this  phenomenon  is  its  re- 
markable resemblance  to  the  Purkinje  effect  experienced 
by  the  eye.  At  high  illuminations,  it  is  well  known,  red 
objects  tend  to  appear  unduly  bright.  At  weak  illuminations 
the  red  appears  almost  dead  black,  while  the  green  shines 
out  in  a  most  peculiar  manner.  This  effect  has  been  ex- 
plained by  Lummer  and  others  on  the  supposition  that  two 
sets  of  small  organs  on  the  retina  of  the  eye,  the  rods  and 
the  cones,  struggle  for  predominance  according  to  the  in- 
tensity of  the  illumination.  The  theory  has  received  much 
attention  from  those  interested  in  photometry,  and  the 
author  has  found  that  it  explained  some  known  effects  re-; 
markably  well.  Yet  some  authorities  seem  now  to  dis- 
believe it.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  Purkinje  effect  is 
merely  a  phenomenon  characteristic  of  all  photochemical 
changes  and  therefore  experienced  by  the  photochemical 
pigment  in  the  eye. 

In  any  case  it  is  most  interesting  to  observe  the  apparent 
existence  of  a  Purkinje  effect  for  the  selenium  cell.  See- 
ing that  the  sensitiveness  to  color  of  selenium  cells  is  now 
getting  under  control,  it  seems  conceivable  that  one  might 
ultimately  reproduce  the  luminosity  curve  for  the  normal 
eye  exactly.  In  these  circumstances  the  selenium  cell  should 
see  just  what  the  eye  does.  On  the  other  hand,  it  does  not 
appear  possible  at  present  to  imitate  other  ocular  actions 
to  reproduce,  for  example,  the  adaptation  to  light  and  dark- 
ness and  the  varying  sensitiveness  at  different  points  on 
the  retina  which  give  rise  to  what  is  known  as  the  "yellow 
spot  effect." 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  relative  brightness  of  different 
colors  depends  both  on  the  state  of  adaptation  of  the  eye  to 
light  and  darkness  and  on  the  region  of  the  retina  on  which 
the  luminous  image  is  received,  it  is  evident  that  the  exact 
shape  of  the  luminosity  curve  for  the  eye  is  somewhat  un- 
certain, though  its  general  nature  is  known.  This  is  a 
great  difficulty  in  the  way  of  standardization  of  color  . 
photometrv  and  shows  that  too  great  exactitude  in  this 
respect  cannot  reasonably  be  expected  of  any  physical 
photometer. 

These  researches  on  the  selenium  cell,  in  short,  provide 
an  interesting  illustration  of  what  was  said  at  the  com- 
mencement of  this  article.  They  show  that  the  complexities 
connected  with  the  use  of  such  cells  are  gradually  being 
unraveled,  and  it  is  conceivable  that  a  time  may  come 
when  their  use  in  practical  photometry  may  become  an 
accomp'ished  fact.  For  purely  comparative  measurements 
(records  of  variation  in  daylight,  etc.)  they  have  alreadv 
been  experimented  with  and  apparently  with  promising  re- 
sults. But  we  mav  feel  sure  that  whatever  form  of  physical 
photometer  is  ultimately  developed  it  will  always  be  neces- 
sary to  calibrate  it  from  the  eve.  by  which  our  impressions 
of  the  appearance  of  il'uniinated  objects  of  every  kind  are 
received. 

-FItysical  Review.    Vol.   X.X.XIV,    May,    1912. 


October  26,  191 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


87s 


RECENT    TENDENCIES     IN     FOREIGN     LIGHTING 
PRACTICE. 


By  Dr.  Louis  Bell. 

THE  last  three  or  four  years  have  made  much  differ- 
ence in  the  relative  standing  of  American  and  Euro- 
pean work  in  electric  lighting.  In  the  early  days  of 
the  metallic-filament  lamp  and  of  the  flame  arc  we  were 
decidedly  behind  the  game.  The  metal. ic-filament  lamp 
was  looked  on  h^re  with  eyes  not  altogether  friendly,  and 
the  flame  arc,  breaking  in  as  it  did  on  the  beautiful  sym- 
metry of  inclosed-arc  lighting,  was  held  as  a  dangerous 
interloper.  In  fact,  both  these  illuminants  were,  so  to 
speak,  greeted  at  the  wharf  with  suspicion,  as  if  they  were 
anarchists  with  bombs  in  their  pockets.  This  stage  of  the 
game  p&ssed  very  rapidly  away,  to  be  succeeded  by  an 
aggressive  campaign  of  improvement,  as  so  often  happens. 
At  the  present  moment  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
the  American-made  nietaliic-filament  lamp  is  at  least  as 
good  as  the  best  product  manufactured  abroad  and  prob- 
ably somewhat  more  uniform.  The  attack  of  the  flame  arc 
on  our  equanimity  was  likewise  fruitful  of  good  results. 
It  immediately  brought  about  the  high  development  of  the 
magnetite  arc  with  its  long  life  and  beautiful  quality  of  light. 

In  similar  fashion,  the  true  long-burning  flame  arc,  just 
beginning  to  appear  in  European  practice  three  or  four 
years  ago,  showed  such  promising  qualities  that  the  work 
of  development  was  taken  up  here  with  the  result  of  pro- 
ducing lamps  of  this  type  for  both  yellow  and  white  flame, 
direct  and  alternating  current,  apparently  quite  up  to  any- 
thing which  has  been  produced  abroad.  We  may,  there- 
fore, congratulate  ourselves  on  having  kept  up  well  with 
the  procession  in  these  important  particulars.  Meanwhile, 
what  has  the  vanguard  on  the  Continent  been  doing  and  in 
what  ways  has  the  trend  of  practice  moved  forward  or 
changed  in  the  last  few  years? 

In  the  development  of  metallic-filament  lamps  consider- 
able has  been  doing  abroad,  especially  in  the  way  of  small 
units  and  lamps  for  high  voltage.  The  appearance  of  the 
15-watt  tungsten  lamp  for  no  volts  or  thereabouts  abroad 
was  shortly  followed  by  a  similar  development  here.  But 
these  little  lamps  have  apparently  come  into  much  larger 
use  under  Continental  conditions  than  the  similar  sizes  here. 
Lamps  of  approximately  this  size  for  even  220  volts  are 
produced  abroad,  not  in  any  great  quantity,  however.  The 
latest  foreign  development  is  a  wire-drawn  tungsten  lamp 
for  voltages  from  90  to  120,  consuming  only  7  watts  and 
giving  5  cp.  Whether  such  a  lamp,  which  costs  substantially 
the  same  as  the  more  ordinary  sizes  of  tungsten  lamp,  will 
find  a  large  market  abroad  or  would  find  one  here  may 
perhaps  be  open  to  question.  It  certainly  has  a  field  for 
usefulness  on  a  modest  scale,  although  American  lighting 
practice  has  never  used  small  units  to  anything  like  the 
extent  to  which  they  are  used  abroad.  Even  the  8-cp  or 
lo-cp  lamps,  always  easily  obtained  and  at  times  extremely 
useful,  have  never  been  employed  except  for  sign  lighting 
on  any  considerable  scale  in  this  country;  and  one  may 
doubt  whether  the  very  small  sizes  of  tungsten  lamp  would 
here  find  large  use.  Neverthe'ess,  the  appearance  of  the 
7-watt  wire-drawn  tungsten  lamp  as  a  regular  commercial 
article  abroad  is  interesting  proof  of  the  advance  which 
was  made  possible  when  the  wire-drawn  filament  came  to 
the  front. 

A  good  deal  has  been  written  of  late  regarding  the 
efficiency  at  which  wire-drawn  lamps  can  be  operated. 
The  tendency  abroad  has  been  to  push  them  rather  harder 
than  is  usually  thought  advisable  here,  and  figures  of  0,8 
watt  and  0.9  watt  per  hefner  candle  are  frequently  quoted. 
It  seems  rather  doubtful  whether  these  results  fairly  repre- 
sent the  ordinary  trend  of  commercial  practice  on  the 
Continent.  The  latest  reports  seem  to  show  that  when  one 
gets  down  to  the  vicinity  of  i  watt  per  candle  a  difference 
of  o.l  watt  per  candle  may  easily  cut  the  life  of  the  lamp 


in  half.  With  the  larger  lamps,  from  100  watts  up,  the 
chance  of  working  at  increased  efficiency  seems  much 
better  than  with  the  sizes  more  commonly  used,  to  judge 
from  the  German  reports,  but  how  far  beyond  our  ordinary 
practice  in  this  country  efficiencies  can  be  increased  without 
a  real  economic  loss  in  the  long  run,  owing  to  shortened 
life,  has  not  yet  been  made  clear.  We  have  been  through 
this  high-efficiency  and  short-life  proposition  years  ago  with 
respect  to  the  carbon-filament  lamps,  and  while  it  was  easy 
to  show  on  paper  a  great  economy  in  burning  filaments  at 
very  high  efficiency  and  then  throwing  the  lamps  away,  the 
proposition  never  seemed  to  work  out  successfully  in 
practice,  and  one  must  not,  therefore,  jump  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  foreign  reports  of  high  working  efficiency  mean 
that  our  foreign  confreres  are  really  ahead  of  the  game, 
They  may  be  only  learning  at  some  cost  the  lesson  long 
ago  enforced  in  similar  trials  with  carbon  lamps. 

With  respect  to  arc-lamp  practice  the  foreign  situation 
is  more  interesting.  There,  as  here,  the  long-burning 
flames  are  making  progress,  but  the  short-burning  flame 
lamp,  not  popular  here,  seems  there  still  to  hold  a  very 
important  place.  One  type  of  short-burning  flame,  not 
known  to  any  considerable  extent  here,  seems  to  have  a  con- 
siderable usage  in  foreign  practice;  that  is,  the  flame  lamp  at 
low  wattage,  say  300  or  less,  and  working  at  a  voltage  that 
permits  a  pair  of  lamps  to  be  worked  in  series  on  the 
ordinary  low-tension  circuit.  The  difference  here  is  exactly 
such  as  was  found  in  the  case  of  the  old  open-arc  lamps, 
where  two  or  even  three  were  worked  in  series  abroad  in 
cases  where  we  were  using  here  an  inclosed-arc  lamp  of 
much  less  efficiency  and  wasting  a  good  deal  of  energy  in 
the  accompanying  rheostat.  The  relatively  high  cost  of 
carbons  and  trimming  in  this  country  must  be  charged  with 
the  difference  in  practice  in  both  cases.  Many  of  the  dif- 
ferences which  exist  in  arc  lighting  and  render  recent 
European  practice  radically  different  from  our  own  also 
turn  on  the  fact  that  for  street  work  we  depend  almost 
wholly  on  series  lamps,  which  are  preferably  worked  on  a 
rather  small  current,  while  the  pure-flame  arcs  work  best 
with  a  fairly  high  current,  like  the  open  carbon  arcs,  and 
consequently  lend  themselves  very  readily  to  the  multiple 
connection  in  almost  universal  use  on  the  Continent.  This 
same  difference  of  engineering  practice  has  made  itself  felt 
in  the  matter  of  the  quartz-mercury  arc,  which  has  in  the 
last  few  years  made  a  good  deal  of  headway  abroad.  Being 
admirably  fitted  for  work  on  220-volt  circuits,  it  lends  itself 
with  great  readiness  both  to  commercial  use  and  street 
lighting  in  Continental  practice,  while  here  the  fact  that 
there  are  no  series  lamps  available  as  yet  has  tended  to  keep 
it  out  of  street-lighting  work. 

Mention  here  should  be  made  of  the  cadmium  amalgam 
quartz  arc  which  has  recently  been  developed,  at  least  in  the 
experimental  stage,  abroad.  In  this  lamp,  which  works  very- 
much  after  the  manner  of  the  ordinary  quartz  arc,  metallic 
cadmium  held  vaporized  by  the  arc  is  the  chief  source  of 
light,  just  enough  mercury  being  added  to  bring  the  color,, 
which  with  pure  cadmium  would  be  reddish,  up  to  a  pretty 
good  white.  It  is  altogether  too  early  to  predict  the  place 
of  this  theoretically  very  interesting  lamp  in  the  art,  but  a 
quartz  vapor  lamp  giving  practically  white  light  certainly 
sounds  attractive. 

Altogether  the  most  interesting  lamp  of  foreign  origin, 
however,  is  the  neon  tube,  a  development  in  principle  from 
the  Moore  light  of  this  country,  but  utilizing  neon  as  the 
illuminescent  gas.  The  color  of  the  light  is  a  beautiful  deep 
orange,  altogether  pleasant  in  tone  and  giving  an  efficiency 
considerably  better  than  that  of  any  other  gas  hitherto  tried, 
as  low,  it  is  claimed,  for  a  tube  about  20  ft.  long  as  0.8  watt 
per  mean  spherical  candle-power. 

Some  other  very  interesting  developments  in  vapor  lamps 
are  rumored  from  foreign  sources,  and  it  looks  very  much 
as  though  one  would  have  to  reckon  with  the  vapor  lamp 
in  practical  illumination  during  the  next  few  years  to  an 


876 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


extent  that  has  hitherto  been  little  suspected.  The  idea  of 
obtaining  light  from  metallic  vapor  or  gas  which  remains 
unconsumed  and  works  steadily  along  for  the  long  life  of 
the  containing  tube  is,  of  course,  a  very  alluring  one. 

In  conclusion,  one  must  remember  as  a  general  cause  of 
foreign  activity  in  improving  electrical  illuminants  the 
sharp  competition  due  to  the  increasing  use  of  high-pressure 
gas  in  illumination  both  indoors  and  out.  It  is  unquestion- 
ably making  a  good  deal  of  headway  abroad,  and  while  it 
may  be  temporarily  unpleasant  to  the  electrical  fraternity, 
the  inevitable  result  is  going  to  be  improvement  in  electrical 
illuminants.  Being  kicked  upstairs  is  not  altogether 
pleasant  but  is  sometimes  beneficial. 


ELECTRIC-VEHICLE  BATTERIES. 


At  the  recent  Boston  convention  of  the  Electric  Vehicle 
Association  of  America  considerable  attention  was  paid  to 
storage  batteries  for  electric-vehicle  propulsion,  papers  on 
lead  and  nickel-iron  cells  and  on  battery-charging  appa- 
ratus bemg  presented  for  discussion. 

LEAD-BATTERY    DEVELOPMENTS. 

In  a  paper  on  developments  in  vehicle  batteries  Mr. 
Bruce  Ford  discussed  the  improvements  which  have  been 
effected  in  the  "Ironclad  Exide"  lead  cell  in  the  two  years 
which  have  elapsed  since  it  was  placed  on  the  market.  Ex- 
perience shows  that  the  "Ironclad"  construction  is  pro- 
longing the  life  of  positive  plates  to  about  three  times 
that  of  the  standard  flat  plate  positive.  No  renewals  have 
been  made  because  of  any  inherent  weakness  in  the  plates. 
The  conductivity  of  the  pillar  strap  connector  has  been  im- 
proved by  integrally  welding  the  copper  and  alloy  together. 
The  grain  of  the  wood  used  in  the  construction  of  sepa- 
rators has  been  made  horizontal  instead  of  vertical,  thus 
eliminating  the  splitting  which  formerly  occurred,  and  an 
investigation  of  dififerent  kinds  of  wood  has  resulted  in  the 
preparation  of  separators  having  greatly  increased  powers 
of  resisting  the  action  of  the  electrolyte.  The  formation 
of  moss-growth  around  the  edges  of  separators  across  the 
tops  and  bottoms  of  plates  has  been  overcome  by  incasing 
the  top  and  bottom  frames  of  the  positive  plates  in  a  rubber 
sheath  which  is  then  vulcanized  in  position  directly  to  the 
tubes  of  which  the  main  body  of  the  plate  consists.  The 
outside  tubes  of  the  positive  plates  are  now  equipped  with 
an  unslotted  tip  of  rubber,  to  prevent  breakage  at  this 
point.  Every  improvement  in  the  battery  becomes  a  cor- 
responding improvement  in  the  vehicle  as  a  whole  and  in 
the  service  derived  therefrom. 

THE  EDISON   STORAGE  BATTERY   IN   SERVICE. 

Under  the  above  title  Mr.  Harold  H.  Smith  reviewed  the 
history  of  Edison  battery  development,  emphasizing  the 
pains  taken  to  secure  a  thoroughly  reliable  and  satisfactory 
product  before  permitting  it  to  remain  upon  the  market  and 
describing  the  construction,  types  and  electrical  character- 
istics of  the  latest  equipment.  The  author  emphasized  the 
point  that  the  Edison  battery  of  the  present  type  has  now 
been  in  service  about  four  years,  during  which  an  absolutely 
clean  slate  has  been  maintained  in  all  cases  where  reason- 
able care  has  been  accorded.  Based  on  performances  given 
in  curves  accompanying  the  paper,  it  was  stated  that  the 
battery  has  been  conservatively  guaranteed  to  deliver  full 
rated  service  after  four  years'  use,  and  that  instances  have 
arisen  where  consumers  are  estimating  depreciation  on  the 
basis  of  five  and  six  years'  life. 

The  public  is  demanding  a  battery  which  may  be  charged 
in  so  short  a  time  as  to  limit  in  no  way  the  service  required, 
but  this  ideal  has  not  been  attained  in  the  present  state  of 
the  art.  In  certain  fields,  however,  it  may  be  closely 
approximated  by  boosting  at  high  rates,  and  the  Edison  bat- 
tery is  well  adapted  to  such  use  because  it  will  withstand  a 
•comparatively  high  temperature  and  also  because  vigorous 


gassing  will  not  precipitate  active  material  from  the  plates. 
This  feature  has  been  taken  advantage  of  in  street  and 
interurban  railway  service  operated  by  storage  batteries, 
where  boosting  during  the  layovers  at  the  ends  of  the  route 
has  been  found  highly  effective.  A  storage-battery  line  in 
Washington  is  now  in  operation  in  which  the  battery  is 
seldom  regularly  charged.  The  line  is  4  miles  long  and  with 
the  exception  of  about  400  ft.  is  composed  of  grades,  the 
maximum  being  9  per  cent.  The  car  has  a  five-minute  lay- 
over at  each  end  of  the  route,  and  during  this  time  the  bat- 
tery is  boosted  at  five  times  its  normal  rate.  In  this  way 
a  car  averages  between  210  and  220  miles  per  day  and 
practically  no  time  is  lost  in  storing  energy.  This  installa- 
tion has  been  so  successful  that  additional  equipment  has 
been  ordered  and  the  length  of  the  line  is  to  be  doubled. 
On  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad  a  storage-battery  car  is 
operated  an  average  of  286  miles  per  day,  the  battery  being 
charged  five  hours  each  night  and  boosted  from  time  to  time 
during  the  daylight  hours. 

In  conclusion,  the  paper  reviewed  noteworthy  results 
secured  by  the  battery  in  laboratory  short-circuiting  tests 
after  accidental  immersion  in  sea  water  and  under  condi- 
tions of  extreme  high  and  low  temperature.  About  fifty 
electric  trucks  are  now  in  operation  in  the  Philippine 
Islands  under  adverse  climatic  conditions,  and  instances 
were  cited  of  continuous  battery  operation  with  satisfactory 
service  at  from  35  to  40  deg.  below  zero  Fahr.  at  Winnipeg, 
Man.  The  cold  weather  question  has  become  one  of  the 
easiest  with  which  the  battery  user  has  to  contend,  and  its 
answer  is  now  a  simple  matter  of  design.  Recent  runs  on 
the  road  of  vehicles  equipped  with  such  batteries  indicate 
that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  with  frequently  spaced 
charging  stations  cross-country  touring  within  a  consider- 
able radius  will  become  highly  popular. 

In  response  to  a  question  the  author  stated  that  the  elec- 
trolyte will  freeze  at  from  20  deg.  Fahr.  to  25  deg.  Fahr. 
below  zero. 

BATTERY-CHARGING    APPARATUS. 

Mr.  Robert  E.  Russell,  of  the  General  Electric  Company, 
read  a  twenty-four-page  paper  illustrating  the  various  types 
of  charging  equipment  now  on  the  market,  and  outlined 
the  application  of  these  to  the  service  of  private  and  pub- 
lic garages  of  various  sizes.  Much  suggestive  information 
was  given  in  connection  with  specific  recommendations  for 
actual  service,  with  advice  upon  the  selection  of  rheostats, 
choice  of  panels,  motor-generator  sets  or  rectifiers,  and 
the  relative  advantages  of  each  under  different  conditions.' 
High  efficiency,  low  first  cost  and  minimum  occupancy  of 
floor  space  are  important.  In  conclusion  emphasis  was 
laid  upon  the  vital  importance  of  supplying  the  manufac- 
turer with  adequate  information  in  seeking  specific  recom- 
mendations. 

Discussion. 

Messrs.  E.  S.  Mansfield,  Boston;  W.  E.  Holland,  Boston, 
and  R.  L.  Lloyd,  Philadelphia,  spoke  briefly.  The  Boston 
Edison  Company's  practice  favors  the  use  of  the  rectifier 
instead  of  the  motor-generator  set,  on  account  of  its  . 
efficiency  at  varied  loads  and  its  lower  cost.  Mr.  Lloyd 
spoke  highly  of  the  efficiency  of  a  battery-charging  con- 
verter lately  placed  on  the  market.  In  response  to  inquiries, 
the  author  stated  that  where  alternating  and  direct  current 
are  supplied  at  the  same  price,  for  charging,  say,  thirty 
cells,  a  battery-charging  rheostat  and  panel  for  direct-cur- 
rent service  would  be  advised.  The  largest  rectifier  made 
is  rated  at  50  amp.  In  the  great  majority  of  cases  the  tube 
life  is  satisfactory,  a  guarantee  of  at  least  600  hours  being 
given,  while  in  many  cases  a  life  of  2000  hours  has  been 
obtained.  A  study  is  being  made  at  the  factory  of  the 
possibility  of  mounting  tubes  in  multiple  on  a  single  panel. 
A  rectifier  is  now  available  which  gives  a  constant  current 
for  Edison  battery  service.  Pulsating  currents  should  be 
measured  by  the  permanent-magnet  type  of  instruments. 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


877 


STARTING  DEVICES  FOR  ALTERNATING-CURRENT 
MOTORS. 


Methods  Employed  in  Minimizing  the  Starting  Current 
and  Voltage  Fluctuation  in  the  Supply  System. 


By  William  E.  Kampf. 

WITH  the  present  practice  of  distributing  alternating- 
current  energy  from  transformer  to  common  sec- 
ondary to  supply  a  group  of  nearby  customers, 
particularly  a  mixed  lighting  and  motor  load,  it  is  important 
that  the  voltage  1  egulation  at  the  secondary  be  as  good  as 
possible  in  order  to  avoid  any  fluctuation  at  the  lamps.  In 
addition  to  installing  wires  of  sufficient  size  to  meet  present 
and  future  demands,  attention  must  be  given  to  the  starting 
current  of  the  motors  in  use.  One  of  the  many  ways  of 
guarding  against  abnormal  inrushes  of  current  is  the  in- 
stallation of  the  proper  type  of  motor  to  drive  the  apparatus, 
particular  attention  being  paid  to  the  starting  torque. 
Another  important  factor  is  the  type  of  starting  device 
employed.  It  should  be  of  such  a  design  as  to  limit  the 
starting  current  taken  by  the  motor  to  a  low  value.  The 
latter  requirement,  the  writer  believes,  has  not  had  sufficient 
attention. 

AUTO-TRANSFORMER    STARTERS. 

Two-phase  and  three-phase  motors  of  the  squirrel-cage 
type  are  frequently  started  by  means  of  an  auto-trans- 
former which  resembles  an  ordinary  core-type  transformer 
except  that  there  is  only  one  winding.  Two-phase  auto- 
transformers  are  provided  with  two  coils,  one  for  each  phase, 
to  give  balanced  starting  current.  For  three-phase  starters 
only  two  coils  are  used,  the  unbalanced  current  being  of  no 
importance.  From  the  winding  of  each  coil  a  number  of 
taps  are  taken  off  to  give  a  reduced  potential  at  motor 
terminals.  Provision  is  made  for  a  double-throw  switch  so 
arranged  as  to  increase  the  starting  voltage  at  the  motor  to 
the  full  line  potential  and  simultaneously  disconnect  the 
auto-transformer. 

The  older  type  of  auto-starters  consisted  of  an  auto- 
transformer  inclosed  in  an  iron  case  with  the  double-throw 
switch  mounted  on  its   face.     The  double-throw  switch   in 


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Fig.    1 — Variation    of    Motor-Starting    Current    with    Impressed 
Voltage. 

more  recent  types  is  immersed  in  oil  and  is  equipped  with 
sliding  self-wiping  contacts  and  spring-return  attachments 
to  prevent  the  auto-transformer  being  left  in  the  starting 
position,  since  it  is  designed  for  starting  duty  only.  Means 
are  provided  for  compelling  the  operator  to  use  first  the 
starting  position  and  then  the  running  position. 

Taps    are    provided    on    auto-transformers    to    deliver    a 


certain  percentage  of  the  line  potential  at  the  motor  ter- 
minals. The  use  of  a  lowered  emf  is  desirable  to  provide 
sufficient  voltage  to  accelerate  the  motor.  The  accompany- 
ing table  illustrates  the  effect  of  reducing  the  voltage  on 
the  torque  and  starting  current.  From  this  it  is  evident 
that  full-load  starting  torque  will  be  developed  in  the  motor 
with  70  per  cent  of  line  potential,  which  on  a  220-volt  motor 


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2 — starting     Current    with     Series     Resistors. 


would  be  154  volts.  The  range  of  taps  for  motors  up  to 
25  hp  should  be  from  10  to  15  per  cent  above  and  below 
70  per  cent  voltage;  for  large  sizes,  in  order  to  avoid  a 
large  inrush  current,  the  lowest  tap  should  be  30  per  cent 
below  70  per  cent  voltage  with  other  taps  in  between. 

A  test  was  made  on  a  5-hp,  two-phase,  squirrel-cage  motor 
by  means  of  a  recording  ammeter  to  determine  the  starting 
current  required  when  the  motor  was  connected  directly  to 
the  line  and  when  various  auto-transformer  taps  were  used. 
The  motor  was  located  in  a  machine  shop,  driving  about 

EFFECT     ON     TORQUE     AND     STARTING     CURRENT     OF     REDUCING 
VOLTAGE. 


Per  Cent  of 
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at  Motor. 

Motor-Starting 

Current  in 

Per  Cent  of 

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Running 

Torque. 

Starting  Line 

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200 

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75  ft.  of  l-in.  line  shafting  belted  to  a  number  of  small 
machine  lathes  and  drill  presses.  Normally  the  shafting 
alone  would  be  started,  after  which  the  load  would  be 
operated.  Referring  to  Fig.  i,  curve  A  shows  starting  cur- 
rent taken  with  no  load  on  motor,  thrown  directly  across 
the  line;  curve  B,  with  shafting  load  and  auto-transformer 
on  80  per  cent  tap;  curve  C,  shafting  load  and  65  per  cent 
tap;  curve  D,  shafting  load  and  50  per  cent  tap.  The  odd 
shape  of  the  last  curve  is  the  result  of  the  voltage  not  being 
sufficient  to  start  the  load.  These  curves  serve  to  illustrate 
the  large  current  taken  when  the  motor  is  used  without  an 
auto-transformer,  the  value  being  from  five  to  seven  times 
full-load  current,  and  to  demonstrate  the  advantage  of 
reducing  the  starting  current  by  the  use  of  an  auto-trans- 
former. 

Some  makes  of  induction  motors  are  equipped  with  addi- 
tional turns  connected  in  series  with  the  primary  winding. 
In  starting  the  motor  use  is  made  of  a  double-throw  switch 
so  arranged  as  to  disconnect  the  extra  starting  winding 
when  the  motor  has  attained  full  speed.  The  starting  cur- 
rent can  be  reduced  to  175  per  cent  of  the  full-load  value 
by  adding  a  sufficient  number  of  turns. 

RESISTOR     STARTERS. 

Squirrel-cage  alternating-current  motors  can  be  started 
by  the  use  of  resistance,  as  is  common  practice  with  direct- 


878 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i; 


current  motors.  Wire-type  resistor  starters  have  been 
developed  in  which  resistance  is  inserted  in  each  phase  and 
gradually  cut  out  to  accelerate  the  motor.  An  improvement 
over  the  wire  resistor  starters  is  the  graphite  resistor,  which 
consists  of  graphite  disks  inclosed  within  a  heat-resisting 
porcelain-lined  iron  tube.  As  the  disks  are  compressed,  the 
resistance  of  a  pile  of  these  disks  is  decreased,  thus  causing 


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Fig.   3 — Starting   Current   of   Split-Phase    Motors. 


10        11       12 

EliEtricat  Witrid 


the  motor  voltage  to  rise  gradually  until  the  motor  has 
reached  full  speed,  when  the  resistor  is  short-circuited.  One 
advantage  of  this  starter  is  the  absence  of  arcing  contacts. 

In  Fig.  2  are  plotted  the  results  of  a  test  on  a  5-hp  two- 
phase  motor.  Curve  E  shows  the  current  inrush  with  wire- 
resistor  starters.  The  load  started  was  nearly  the  same  as 
in  the  previous  test,  with  the  exception  that  instead  of  75  ft. 
of  shafting  there  was  50  •  ft.  Curve  F  represents  the 
inrush  of  current  with  graphite  resistor  starter.  This 
test  here  illustrated  was  made  by  removing  the  auto-trans- 
former and  substituting  the  graphite  resistor.  Evidently 
more  power  is  required  to  start  the  same  load  with  a 
resistor  than  with  an  auto-transformer. 

Slip-ring  or  wound-rotor  motors  are  always  started  by 
inserting  resistance  in  the  secondary  circuit.  The  resistors 
may  be  mounted  on  the  rotor  or  external  to  it,  depending 
upon  whether  the  duty  is  intermittent  or  continuous.  Slip- 
ring  motors  are  particularly  adapted  to  starting  heavy  loads 
with  a  minimum  amount  of  current. 

Among  the  many  factors  entering  into  the  question  of 
minimum  starting  current  the  most  important  is  the  selection 
of  the  proper  type  of  motor  to  drive  the  load.  For  heavy 
loads  and  variable  speed  use  should  be  made  of  slip-ring 
motors.  Where  the  line  shafting  is  equipped  with  a  friction 
clutch  or  loose  pulley  use  can  be  made  of  squirrel-cage 
motors  provided  with  an  efficient  motor  starter.  In  cases 
where  the  motor  is  started  frequently  the  auto-transformer 
is  more  reliable  than  the  resistor  starter  because  the  inrush 
current  can  be  limited  by  selecting  the  proper  tap  connection 
on  the  auto-transformer,  whereas  with  the  resistor  starter 
the  current  is  not  limited,  and  if  the  handle  of  the  starting 
box  is  moved  directly  to  the  line  contact  before  the  motor 
reaches  full  speed  the  current  may  reach  as  high  as  seven 
times  the  full-load  value.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  handle 
is  pulled  over  too  slowly  the  resistor  becomes  very  hot  and 
may  burn  out.  With  the  graphite  resistor  starter  the  motor 
can  be  accelerated  more  slowly  because  of  the  high-heat 
storage  capacity  of  the  graphite  disks.  This  fact,  however, 
is  offset  by  the  rapidity  with  which  the  compression  lever 
or  switch  can  be  operated  to  start  the  motor.  The  proper 
service  for  resistor  starters  is  in  starting  very  light  loads 
infrequently. 

SPLIT-PHASE    STARTERS. 

In  central-station  work  economy  of  service  occasionally 
demands  the  use  of  single-phase  motors,  particularly  when 
the  motor  installation  is  at  a  considerable  distance  from 
two-phase  primary  or  secondary  supply.  With  the  motor 
load  considerable  lighting  load  will  invariably  be  found,  and 
hence  close  voltage   regulation   is   required.     Single-phase 


motors  can  be  classified  conveniently  according  to  the 
method  of  starting.  To  start  single-phase  induction  motors, 
currents  differing  in  time-phase  must  be  obtained  to  produce 
a  rotating  field.  This  result  is  accomplished  by  providing 
two  windings  on  the  stator,  separated  sufficiently  in  electrical 
space  position  and  having  different  ratios  of  resistance  to 
reactance.  The  stator  can  be  equipped  with  two  similar 
windings,  and  difference  in  resistance  and  reactance  may  be 
obtained  by  external  means.  In  any  event  an  automatic 
centrifugal  device  disconnects  the  starting  circuits,  and  the 
motor  runs  as  a  single-phase  induction  machine.  For 
mechanically  smooth  starting  the  rotor  is  equipped  with  a 
clutch  pulley  which  accelerates  the  load  from  rest  to  full 
speed.  In  Fig.  3  are  shown  the  results  of  tests  made  on  two 
5-hp  motors  of  the  above  types.  Curve  G  represents  the  cur- 
rent inrush  with  an  external  split-phase  starter,  and  curve  H 
the  inrush  with  an  internal  split-phase  starting  device.  The 
second  peak  in  curve  G  occurs  at  the  moment  the  clutch 
pulley  begins  to  accelerate  the  load.  The  high  peak  in 
curve  H  is  the  current  taken  at  the  instant  the  starting 
winding  is  disconnected  and  the  clutch  pulley  starts  the  load. 

COMMUTATOR    STARTERS. 

Mention  should  also  be  made  of  the  repulsion  type  of 
single-phase  motor  which  resembles  a  direct-current 
machine.  During  the  starting  period  carbon  brushes  cross- 
connected  temporarily  short-circuit  the  armature  in  one 
direction,  these  producing  a  magnetic  field  in  the  rotor  at 
an  angle  with  the  primary  field  in  the  stator,  a  high  starting 
torque  being  developed  by  the  repulsion  between  the  two 
magnetic  fields.  When  the  motor  has  reached  full  speed 
the  commutator  segments  are  short-circuited  by  means  of 
an  automatic  centrifugal  switch  which  converts  the  machine 
to  an  induction  motor.  When  used  with  a  repulsion  motor 
a  starting  resistor  serves  to  smooth  out  the  high  current 
peaks.  Curve  I  of  Fig.  4  shows  the  starting  current  of  a 
1 5-hp  repulsion  motor  without  a  starting  resistor,  while 
curve  J  indicates  the  current  demanded  with  a  resistor. 
The  brushes  are  short-circuited  at  the  second  peaks.  At  the 
top  of  the  illustration  are  shown  the  corresponding  voltage 
curves,  which  indicate  the  service  voltage  regulation. 

The  operating  characteristics  of  starting  devices  and 
motors  bear  a  definite  relation  to  the  quality  of  service 
rendered,  and  in  view  of  the  present-day  policy  of  pleasing 
the   public  they   should  command   the  attention   of   electric 


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10       11        12 

EUetrital  WorU 


lighting  companies.  The  writer  is  of  the  opinion  that  some 
sort  of  supervision  should  be  exercised  over  the  motor  in- 
stallations rated  at  5  hp  and  above.  The  use  of  current- 
limiting  devices  should  be  encouraged  on  small  motor  in- 
stallation. Only  such  starting  devices  as  effectively  limit 
the  starting  currents  and  are  foolproof  and  reliable  should 
be  accepted. 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


879 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


REPLACING  AER  LIFT  WITH   DEEP- WELL  PUMP. 


For  supplying  the  water  used  in  a  large  Western  manu- 
facturing plant  a  200-hp  compressor  set  was  formerly  re- 
quired to  operate  the  air  lifts  in  the  wells.  Since  central- 
station  service  has  entered  the  plant  this  compressor  has 
been  replaced  by  a  25-hp  motor-driven  deep-well  propeller 
pump,  which  now  furnishes  as  much  water  as  did  the  larger 
air  equipment.  In  addition  to  the  superior  efficiency  of  the 
deep-well  pump,  the  former  lift  was  saddled  with  befouled 
screens,'  which  reduced  its  output.  Accurate  knowledge  of 
what  motor  drive  could  do,  however,  enabled  the  central 
station  to  close  the  business.  The  new  propeller  pump  lifts 
450  gal.  per  minute  from  a  pumping  level  of  80  ft.  Other 
pumps  then  deliver  this  output  to  the  reservoir  against  a 
filter  head  of  170  ft,  or  250  ft.  in  all.  The  consumption  has 
averaged  about  2  kw-hr.  for  each  looo  gal.  handled. 


SHORT-SIGHTED  APPLIANCE  CAMPAIGNS. 


One  of  the  pioneers  in  the  electric-heating-appliance  busi- 
ness, in  discussing  the  growing  use  of  electric  heating 
appliances,  recently  said  that  sales  of  appliances  have  shown 
a  wonderful  increase  this  year.  Of  the  many  varieties  of 
appliance  handled  by  the  concern  with  which  he  is  asso- 
ciated the  toaster  seems  to  be  in  greatest  demand.  He 
attributes  this  to  his  belief  that  the  toaster  is  a  self-adver- 
tising device,  as  it  constantly  attracts  the  notice  of  visitors 
to  a  household  and  its  merits  thus  become  a  topic  of  con- 
versation even  after  its  novelty  has  ceased  for  the  owner 
and  the  latter  has  tired  of  calling  attention  to  it,  as  is  done 
so  often  when  it  is  first  placed  in  use.  The  electric  iron,  on 
the  contrary,  being  kept  in  the  kitchen,  escapes  notice,  is 
disregarded  in  a  short  time  and  comes  in  for  attention  only 
when  it  gets  out  of  order.  He  believes  that  the  central 
stations  will  ultimately  recognize  the  greater  advantages  of 
the  toaster  as  a  publicity  agent  and  will  promote  it  to  a 
much  greater  extent  than  they  will  the  iron. 

Many  of  the  central-station  companies,  he  feels,  are  short- 
sighted in  their  attitude  toward  the  sale  of  appliances.  Sales 
managers  of  central-station  companies,  of  course,  realize 
that  the  primary  object  of  handling  appliances  is  to  increase 
the  amount  of  revenue  from  the  sale  of  energy,  but  he  finds 
that  many  of  those  in  charge  of  appliance  departments  are 
not  so  careful  as  they  should  be  to  recommend  high-grade 
appliances  that  will  give  satisfaction  to  the  user,  hold  and 
stimulate  his  interest  and  will  thus  continue  to  be  a  source 
of  additional  revenue  to  the  central-station  company.  In 
other  words,  it  should  be  impressed  upon  the  appliance 
salesman  that  the  company  is  not  handling  the  appliance  for 
the  small  profit  from  the  sale  of  the  appliance  itself. 

Central-station  companies  should  pay  more  attention  to 
following  up  appliances  after  they  are  sold,  to  see  that  they 
are  kept  in  repair  and  in  operation,  for  the  owner  fre- 
quently gets  discouraged  when  the  appliance  fails  to  work, 
neglects  to  have  it  attended  to,  discards  it,  and  the  primary 
object  of  the  sale,  from  the  central-station  viewpoint — the 
use  of  energy — is  defeated.  When  a  customer  brings  an 
appliance  in  for  repairs  he  should  receive  every  possib'e 
attention,  since  he  shows  by  this  act  that  he  is  interested  in 
the  appliance  and  wants  to  continue  using  it. 

Too  many  central-station  companies  undersell  the  local 
dealers  to  make  harmonious  relations  possible.  Unless  more 
careful  thought  is  given  to  the  matter  of  providing  fair 
profits  for  everyone,  neither  the  central-station  company. 
the  manufacturer  nor  the  dealer  is  going  to  enjoy  a'l  the 


benefits  that  are  offered  in  this  field.  Price-cutting,  this 
manufacturer  says,  is  the  greatest  drawback  in  the  advance- 
ment of  the  appliance  industry  at  present,  and  he  feels  that 
there  is  urgent  necessity  for  jobbers,  contractors,  dealers, 
manufacturers  and  central-station  companies  to  get  together 
and  agree  upon  a  fair  basis  for  handling  electric  heating 
appliances. 

COST    OF    OPERATING   ELECTRIC    SAND    PUMPS. 


A  profitable  long-hour  use  for  motors  is  the  operation  of 
sand  pumps  dredging  river  bars  and  loading  the  sand  and 
gravel  into  railroad  cars.  This  method  of  handling  the 
material  is  simple  and  economical  for  the  customer  and  by 
its  steady  character  contributes  to  improving  the  central- 
station's  load-factor.  The  Topeka  (Kan.)  Sand  Company 
operates  an  8o-hp,  600-volt  direct-current  motor  driving  an 
8-in.  centrifugal  pump  which  handles  a  mixture  of  sand 
and  water,  transferring  it  150  ft.  horizontally  with  a  vertical 
lift  of  40  ft.  Service  is  furnished  by  the  Topeka  Edison 
Company  under  an  optional  rate  of  5  cents  per  kw-hr. 
without  riiinimum  charge,  or  3  cents  per  kw-hr.  with  a 
minimum  of  $1.50  per  hp  per  month.  In  a  recent  test  of 
this  equipment  twenty  cars  were  loaded  with  915  tons  of 
sand,  each  car  averaging  45.75  tons.  A  total  of  530  kw-hr. 
was  consumed,  which  is  equivalent  to  an  expenditure  of 
580  watts  for  each  ton  of  material  handled. 


CITY  ADVERTISING  BY  CENTRAL  STATION. 


A  large  "slogan"  sign  containing  more  than  5000  5-watt 
tungsten  lamps  has  recently  been  erected  in  the  city  of 
Galveston,  Tex.  It  is  of  steel  framework,  75  ft.  high  and 
50  ft.  wide,  placed  on  a  foundation  of  ornamental  concrete, 
the  latter  being  30  ft.  high.  The  sign,  which  is  built  on  the 
seawall,    facing   the   main    thoroughfare,    is   a   gift   of   the 


"Slogan"    Sign    of   the    City    of    Galveston. 

Brush  Electric  Company  to  the  city  of  Galveston  and 
forms  part  of  the  lighting  campaign  inaugurated  a  few 
months  ago  to  make  Galveston  "the  best  lighted  city  in  the 
world."  The  cost  of  the  sign  is  $10,000,  and  it  will  be 
maintained  and  operated  by  the  central-station  company 
without  cost  to  the  city. 

Crowning   the    sign    at    each    upper   corner    is    a    ship's 


88o 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


capstan  8  ft.  high  and  5  ft.  wide  at  the  base.  At  each 
lower  corner  is  a  ship's  anchor,  the  anchor  shaft  being  11  ft. 
long  and  the  spread  from  tip  to  tip  being  8  ft.  The  entire 
sign  is  surrounded  by  two  cables,  each  i  ft.  in  diameter. 
The  two  capstans  are  studded  with  red  and  green  lamps, 
the  ropes  outlining  the  sign  with  amber-colored  lamps  and 
the  anchors  with  brilliant  red  lamps.  The  accompanying 
illustration  shows  the  wording  of  the  sign,  the  lower  por- 
tion "Growing  Greater,  Grander"  being  replaced  inter- 
mittently by  "Port  and  Playground."  The  letters  vary  in 
sizes  from  5  ft.  to  10  ft.  The  sign  was  built  by  the  Valen- 
tine Electric  Sign  Company  of  Atlantic  City,  N.  J, 

In  the  last  six  months  more  than  150  electric  signs  and 
outlines  of  buildings,  containing  from  100  to  1000  lamps, 
have  been  erected  at  Galveston.  Mr.  A.  K.  Young  is  the 
commercial  manager  of  the  Brush  Electric  Company,  which 
is  owned  by  Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company,  of  New  York 


ELECTRIC  LIGHT  COMPANIES  AT  NEW  YORK 
ELECTRICAL  SHOW. 

In  the  New  York  Electrical  Exposition  and  Automobile 
Show,  held  in  the  New  Grand  Central  Palace,  Oct.  9-19, 


Fig.    1  — Exhibit    of    the    Brooklyn    Edison    Company. 

six  of  the  electric  light  companies  in  the  vicinity  of  New 
York  were   represented. 

The  New  York  Edison  Company's  booths  were  scattered 
about  the  building.  By  means  of  photographs,  models, 
charts  and  diagrams  an  attempt  was  made  to  convey 
some  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the  work  that  the  company 
carries  on.  Forty  or  more  charts  showed  the  growth  of  the 
company  during  the  past  thirty  years.  Another  exhibit 
showed  how  complaints  are  handled  and  explained  some  of 
the  factors  that  cause  fluctuations  in  lighting  bills.  The  ad- 
vertising methods  of  the  company  were  shown  in  part 
through  the  issue  of  a  daily  newspaper,  a  complete  printing 
plant  for  which  had  been  instaled  on  the  mezzanine  floor  and 
was  employed  by  the  company  to  demonstrate  the  use  of 
electricity  in  a  print  shop.  Night  views  taken  by  the  photo- 
graphic bureau  were  shown,  and  the  illuminating  engineer- 
ing bureau  had  an  interesting  exhibit  of  fixtures  and  shades. 
There  were  also  a  reception  room,  an  electric  tea  room  and 
an  electric  laundry,  together  with  an  exhibit  of  the  work  of 
the  Edison  school,  which  was  established  last  year  for  the 
technical  education  of  the  employees  of  the  company.  A 
booth  was  also  given  over  to  a  display  of  samples  of  the  ad- 
vertising literature  of  the  company.  On  the  ground  floor, 
near  the  entrance,  one  of  the  old  Jumbo  machines  used  in 
the  Pearl  Street  station,  thirty  years  ago,  was  shown  side  by 


side  with  a  model  of  one  of  the  new  20,000-kw  units  now 
operating  in  the  Waterside  station. 

The  United  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company's  booth  was 
split  up  into  four  sections,  arranged  about  a  large  center 
reception  space.  The  four  sections  were  employed  to  illus- 
trate the  use  of  electricity  in  the  factory,  in  the  store  and 
in   the    home.      By   means   of   colored   photographic   plates 


Fig.   2 — Exhibit   of   the   United    Electric    Light   &    Power   Company. 

mounted  on  partition  walls,  and  suitably  lighted  from  be- 
hind, many  lighting  and  motor  installations  were  shown.  In 
the  factory  section  there  was  an  exhibition  of  electric  drive 
and  colored  transparencies  showing  motor  installations.  In 
the  store-lighting  section  colored  transparencies  showed  sev- 
eral installations  made  by  the  company  in  retail  shops, 
the  installations  being  made  under  special  agreement  with 
the  company  whereby  the  cost  is  met  in  monthly  payments. 
In  one  of  the  two  sections  devoted  to  the  use  of  electricity 
in  the  home  were  shown  transparencies  illustrating  the 
method  of  wiring  already  built  houses  without  defacing  the 
walls,  floors  or  ceilings. 


Fig.    3 — Exhibit    of    the    Advertising     Bureau    of    the     New     York 
Edison     Company. 

'I'he  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn 
featured  in  its  exhibit  the  industrial  advantages  of  Brook- 
lyn. For  this  purpose  the  greater  part  of  its  section,  which 
occupied  one  side  of  the  main  floor,  was  given  over  to  a 
panorama,  100  ft.  or  so  in  length,  of  the  waterfront  of 
Brooklyn.  All  of  the  enterprises  on  or  near  the  waterfront 
were  reproduced  in  miniature,  and  the  streets,  homes  ami 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


public  buildings  were  shown  in  the  background.  The  color 
and  lighting  effects  added  to  the  attraction  of  the  picture. 
Large  concerns  in  the  borough  using  the  service  of  the 
Brooklyn  Edison  company  were  named  by  placards  fast- 
ened to  the  front  of  the  panorama,  and  in  other  sections  of 
the  space  devoted  to  reception  purposes  there  were  drawings 
of  proposed  improvements  near  the  great  bridges.  These 
studies  were  submitted  to  the  municipality  some  years  ago 
as  part  of  a  great  plan  for  the  beautification  of  the  bor- 
ough's approaches  and  civic  centers. 

The  Yonkers  Electric  Light  Company  showed  a  map  of 
the  city  which  uses  its  service,  on  which  were  depicted  its 
circuits.  Photographs  of  Yonkers  homes  and  factories, 
night  views  of  the  streets  of  the  city  and  curves  showing 
the  growth  of  the  electric  service  were  also  displayed. 

The  Westchester  Lighting  Company  maintained  a  com- 
fortable reception  room  for  visitors  from  the  towns  of 
Westchester  County.  An  interesting  display  was  made  of 
photographs  of  electrical  installations,  and  in  the  back- 
ground of  the  both  was  a  huge  star,  at  the  points  of  which 
were  the  names  of  the  various  communities  in  the  298  square 
miles  of  territory  served  by  the  company. 

The  New  York  &  Queens  Electric  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany's purpose  had  been  to  "boost  Queens,"  and  to  this 
end  maps,  photographs  and  stereopticon  slides  were  shown 
in  the  reception  space  maintained  by  the  company.  Among 
the  views  were  a  number  of  factories,  some  of  the  fine  resi- 
dences and.  some  of  the  home-site  developrrjents  with  which 
the  borough  of  Queens  abounds.  A  map-of  the  city  ar- 
ranged to  show  the  relative  size  of  Queens  compared  to  that 
of  the  other  boroughs  served  to  emphasize  the  close  prox- 
imity of  all  parts  of  the  borough  of  Queens  to  the  hub 
of  Greater  New  York. 


CO-OPERATIVE  STREET  LIGHTING  IN  DES  MOINES. 


An  interesting  arrangement  has  been  entered  into  in 
Des  Moines  by  which  the  city  agrees  to  pay  for  the  opera- 
tion of  the  top  lamps  on  curb-lighting  posts  from  dusk  until 
midnight,  the  energy  used  between  midnight  and  dawn  by 
the  same  lamp  being  donated  by  the  Des  Moines  Electric 
Company.  During  the  last  four  years  the  electric-service 
company,  assisted  by  ''booster"  organizations,  has  put  in 
position  in  Des  Moines  440  curb-lighting  posts  supporting 
five  loo-watt  tungsten  lamps  in  translucent  white-glass 
globes.  One  of  these  globes  surmounts  the  post  and  four 
are  suspended  from  brackets.  The  original  arrangement 
was  that  merchants  or  abutting  property  owners  should 
pay  the  electric-service  company  for  posts  and  equipment 
at  the  rate  of  $60  for  each  post,  with  an  operating  and 
maintenance  charge  of  $5.80  a  month  per  post.  In  the 
event  of  failure  to  pay  the  monthly  charge  the  electricity 
was  cut  off,  and  the  number  of  posts  supporting  burning 
lamps  on  Oct.  i  last  was  reported  to  be  342. 

In  July  last  the  retail  merchants  started  a  movement 
designed  to  cause  the  city  to  take  over  the  440  electroliers 
and  pay  for  their  operation  and  maintenance  as  street  light- 
ing. They  were  not  successful  in  securing  all  they  asked 
for,  but  they  did  obtain  a  substantial  reduction  as  the 
result  of  an  agreement  by  which  the  merchants,  the  city  and 
the  company  agree  to  share  the  burden.  The  initial  cost 
of  the  installation  of  new  posts,  $60,  remains  as  before. 
However,  the  city  agrees  to  pay  $12  a  year  for  the  lighting 
and  maintenance  of  each  top  lamp  from  dusk  until  midnight. 
The  cost  of  this  service  from  midnight  until  dawn  is 
assumed  by  the  company.  The  merchants  agree  to  pay 
$43.68  a  year,  or  $3.64  a  month,  for  the  operation  and 
maintenance  of  the  four  other  lamps  from  dusk  until  mid- 
night. The  posts  are  spaced  44  ft.  apart,  so  that  the  cost 
to  each  merchant  having  22  ft.  frontage,  is  only  $1.82  a 
month.     The  electric-service  company's  total  revenue  from 


each  post,  operating  the  lamps  as  related,  is  $55.68  a  year. 
In  order  to  get  revenue  to  pay  for  the  top  lamps  on  the 
curb-lighting  posts,  the  city  will  discontinue  entirely  the 
ordinary  street-lighting  arc  lamps  at  street  intersections  in 
the  districts  affected.  After  midnight  the  street  lighting 
will  be  confined  entirely  to  these  top  lamps,  which  are 
thought  to  afford  sufficient  light  for  the  purpose. 


DIRECT  ADVERTISING  IN  A  SIGN  CAMPAIGN. 


During  an  October  "home-coming  week"  in  a  Kansas 
town,  while  everyone  was  busiest,  the  central-station  com- 
pany created  some  excitement  and  valuable  publicity  for 
itself  by  dispatching  uniformed  messenger  boys  with  imita- 
tion telegrams  to  all  the  local  business  men.  The  messen- 
gers carried  regular  receipt  books  and  solemnly  required 
each  addressee  to  sign  for  his  sealed  envelope,  so  that 
receipt  and  perusal  were  in  each  case  assured.  The  "mes- 
sage" explained  the  company's  plan  for  brightening  up  the 
main  street  with  ornamental  lighting  and  electric  signs: 
"Light  and  sales  go  hand  in  hand,"  it  read.  "Light  holds 
the  public's  attention  and  means  sales,  and  sales  mean 
profits.  If  between  dusk  and  midnight  one  person  per 
minute  passes  your  store  the  total  number  will  reach  131,400 
in  a  year.    We  are  going  to  call  on  you  and  go  into  details." 


ELECTRIC   DELIVERY  "WAGON  FOR  GROCER. 


In  all  of  the  large  cities  of  the  country  the  electric 
delivery  wagon  has  thus  far  been  used  chiefly  by  large 
department  stores  and  express  companies,  and  it  has  been 
somewhat  difficult  for  electric-light  companies  to  convince 
other  users  of  horse-drawn  vehicles,  especially  the  corner 
grocer,  that  it  is  just  as  advantageous  and  economical  to 
use  one,  two  or  three  wagons  as  it  is  to  use  fifty  or  100 
wagons.  In  either  case  the  electric  vehicle  will  cover  at 
least  double  the  ground  of  the  horse-drawn  wagon,  will 
carry  heavier  loads,  is  much  cleaner  and  easier  to  care  for, 
and  is  far  more  independent  of  weather  conditions.  In 
addition,  there  is  a  distinct  advertising  value  to  an  electric 
delivery  service.  The  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Com- 
pany of  Brooklyn  has  on  its  circuits  one  grocer  who  realizes 


Light    Electric    Delivery    Wagon. 

and  takes  advantage  of  these  facts.  Some  months  ago  this 
merchant  purchased  the  electric  delivery  wagon  shown 
in  the  illustration.  It  is  kept  in  his  garage  at  the  rear  of 
the  store,  where  a  50-amp  outfit  is  installed  for  charging 
purposes.  The  grocer  is  said  to  be  more  than  satisfied  with 
the  results  obtained  and  to  consider  his  electric  wagon  not 
only  an  attractive  feature  of  his  business  but  an  investment. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

LOW-FREQUENCY  FLICKER  CURED  BY  TWO- 
PHASE  WIRING. 


In  a  large  manufacturing  establishment  near  Pittsburgh 
the  shop  offices  are  lighted  from  the  25-cycle  plant  lines. 
At  this  low  frequency  the  40-\vatt  tungsten  lamps  used  gave 
considerable  annoyance  from  flickering.  The  units  were 
hung  low,  and  at  the  high  intensities  on  the  working  surfaces 
this   flicker   became    very    objectionable.     The   trouble    has 


Method   of  Wiring   to   Avoid    Flickering. 

now  been  practically  cured,  however,  by  connecting  half  of 
the  twenty  lamps  to  the  second  phase  of  the  two-phase  sup- 
ply system.  The  individual  flicker  of  each  group  is  thus 
neutralized  by  the  coincident  "peak"  of  the  other  lamps,  and 
the  total  illumination  on  any  lighted  surface  is  practically 
uniform.  On  examination,  of  course,  the  flicker  of  the  indi- 
vidual lamps  can  still  be  detected.  The  second  phase  was, 
in  the  case  cited,  easily  accessible,  and  the  division  of  the 
load,  besides  curing  the  flicker,  has  resulted  in  a  better 
balance. 


VANCOUVER  ILLUMINATION  IN  HONOR  OF  VISIT 
OF  GOVERNOR-GENERAL  OF  CANADA. 


The  visit  of  His  Royal  Highness  the  Duke  of  Connaught, 
Governor-General  of  Canada,  and  his  party  to  Vancouver, 
B.  C,  Sept.  17  to  21,  was  the  occasion  of  a  public  celebration 


the  outline  stringers  4-cp  lamps  were  used,  and  the  effective- 
ness of  the  display  was  greatly  increased  by  a  row  of 
40-watt  tungsten  lamps  located  on  the  coping  of  the  cornice 
of  the  upper  story,  these  forming  a  part  of  the  permanent 
wiring  of  the  building.  On  the  ground  floor  the  building 
was  surrounded  by  a  row  of  twelve  regenerative-flame  arc 
lamps,  which  were  placed  between  each  of  the  arches  on 


Fig.   1  —  Niglit    View   of    Hastings   Street,    Vancouver,    During    Gov- 
ernor-General's    Visit. 

which  evidenced  the  loyalty  of  the  citizens  of  the  metropolis 
of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Coast.  Electrical  illuminations 
played  a  prominent  part  in  this  celebration,  which  continued 
over  the  five  days.  The  most  prominent  single  installation 
was  that  at  the  new  office  bui'ding  of  the  British  Columbia 
Electric  Railway  Company  on  Hastings  Street,  in  the  center 
of  the  city,  to  outline  which  required  over  5000  lamps.     For 


Fig. 


2 — lliumlnation    of    British    Columbia    Electric    Railway    Com- 
pany's   Building    for    Governor-General's    Visit. 


the  Street  frontages.  On  the  Hastings  Street  side  of  the 
building  a  crown  in  which  200  lamps  were  used,  some  being 
in  color,  and  "God  Save  the  King"  in  letters  2  ft.  high,  made 
an  effective  addition  to  the  display. 

In  the  business  section  of  the  city  twelve  triumphal 
arches  were  erected  by  various  public  organizations,  most 
of  which  were  illuminated  at  night,  the  British  Columbia 
Electric  Railway  Company  furnishing  energy  free  for  that 
purpose.  A  view  of  the  illuminations  on  Hastings  Street 
from  Granville  Street  is  shown  in  connection  with  this 
article.  The  illuminated  arch  shown  in  the  lower  right- 
hand  corner  was  located  on  Granville  Street  at  the  head  of 
the  incline  leading  from  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway 
station  and  docks.  It  was  the  welcome  arch  of  the  city. 
The  large  building  in  the  left  foreground  is  that  of  the 
Canadian  Bank  of  Commerce,  and  the  arch  on  Hastings 
Street  in  the  center  of  the  picture  is  that  of  the  Canadian 
Northern  Railway,  through  which  may  be  seen  the  lamps 
on  the  largest  of  the  arches,  that  erected  by  the  Italian 
residents  of  Vancouver.  The  Hastings  Street  view  gives 
some  idea  of  the  illumination  prevailing  in  Vancouver 
during  the  nights  of  the  Governor-General's  stay. 


PROPOSED  "WHITE  WAY"  LIGHTING  IN  MOBILE. 


It  is  planned  to  provide  ornamental  curb  lighting  for  a 
distance  of  about  2  miles  on  Government  Street  in  Mobile. 
Ala.  This  is  the  principal  residence  street  of  the  city,  and 
the  idea  is  to  have  the  new  "white  way"  lighting  extend 
from  Conception  to  Catherine  Street.  It  is  proposed  also 
to  extend  the  ornamental  curb  lighting  into  the  downtown 
district.  Both  of  these  systems  will  be  an  elaboration  of 
the  "white  way"  lighting  in  Bienville  Square,  which  was 
installed  some  time  ago  through  the  efforts  of  the  Mobile 
Electric  Company.  Tentative  plans  for  the  curb  lighting  of 
Government  Street  require  the  installation  of  170  five-lamp 
posts,  to  be  133  ft.  apart,  with  four  standards  at  each  street 
intersection.  The  estimated  cost  of  the  new  lighting  on 
Government  Street  is  $30,000. 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


883 


JOINTS  FOR  TUBULAR  STEEL  POLES. 

Considerable  information  on  tubular  steel  poles  was  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  W.  T.  Snyder,  electrical  engineer  for  the 
National  Tube  Company,  McKeesport,  Pa.,  in  a  paper  read 
before  the  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  En- 
gineers at  Milwaukee  on  Oct.  3.  Referring  to  the  practice 
of  jointing  poles,  Mr.  Snyder  said  that  from  the  manufac- 
turer's point  of  view  the  length  of  sections  employed  in 
any  pole  is  immaterial,  provided  the  pole  is  composed  of 
some  combination  of  the  standard  section  lengths.  These 
lengths  have  been  selected  to  give  light-weight  poles  for 
the  strength  and  stififness  required,  without  unnecessarily 
increasing  the  cost  of  manufacture.  Poles  made  up  of 
other  section  lengths  are  "special,"  usually  entailing  con- 
.  siderable  scrap  and  materially  increasing  the  cost. 

Joints. between  sections  are  made  by  inserting  the  smaller 
pipe  18  in.  into  the  larger  pipe  while  the  latter  is  at  a  red 
heat,  swaging  down  the  heated  portion  and  then  allowing 
the  joint  to  cool  and  shrink.  The  swaging  to  reduce  the 
diameter  is  done  either  in  a  hydraulic  press  or  under  a 
hammer.  This  joint,  usually  assembled  in  the  manufac- 
turer's shop,  is  called  a  shop  joint,  and  is  shown  in  Fig.  I. 

For  shipment  of  poles  over  40  ft.  long  two  railroad  cars 
are  generally  required,  so  that  at  times  it  is  economical  to 
make  the  poles  in  two  parts,  with  one  joint  fashioned  for 
the  customer  to  assemble  at  the  point  of  erection.  Such  a 
field  joint  is  shown  in  Fig.  2.     This  joint  is  slightly  tapered 


be    used    for    the    safety    of    men    working    on    live    lines, 
enabling  them  to  insulate  themselves  from  ground. 


:1 


_L 


Fig.  1 — Shop  Joint.         Fig.   2 — Field   Joint, 

to  allow  easy  insertion  when  assembling  in  the  field.  For 
this  it  is  only  necessary  to  have  the  two  parts  accurately  in 
alignment,  the  lighter  one  being  on  rollers,  so  placed  that 
it  may  be  moved  endwise  without  disturbing  the  alignment. 
The  outside  end  is  then  heated  for  l8  in.  to  a  red  heat  and 
the  smaller  pipe  inserted  and  allowed  to  cool. 

To  determine  the  mechanical  resistance  of  the  swaged 
joints  a  number  were  cut  from  poles  of  medium-sized  pipes 
and  subjected  to  endwise  pressure  to  determine  the  force 
that  would  start  telescoping.  A  load  of  from  30  tons  to  40 
tons  would  often  fail  to  start  the  joints.  This  is  twice  the 
load  the  pipes  would  be  expected  to  support  as  a  column 
without  joints. 

Experiments  also  show  that  the  telescope  joints  have  no 
effect  on  lateral  strength,  stififness  or  set  of  poles,  provided 
the  joints  are  made  with  sufficient  insertion.  These  experi- 
ments were  made  by  testing  simple  pipes  of  various  sizes 
and  lengths  up  to  40  ft.  On  comparing  the  results  with 
those  of  jointed  poles,  it  was  found  that  deflection  measures 
gave  about  the  same  average  value  of  the  modulus  of 
elasticity  with  and  without  joints,  also  that  deflections  com- 
puted, a'lowing  for  the  double  thickness  at  joints,  did  not 
check  as  well  with  test  results  as  when  the  sections  were 
each  considered  uniform  from  point  of  emergence.  Crip- 
pling never  occurred  in  the  joints,  but  always  in  the  pipe 
where  strain  was  greatest. 

It  is  advisable  to  put  caps  on  the  tops  of  tubular  poles  to 
keep  rain  from  filling  them  with  water.     Wood  arms  should 


SPECIAL  ILLUMINATION  AT  LEBANON,  PA. 


At  a  recent  convention  held  in  Lebanon,  Pa.,  by  the  Penn- 
sylvania State  Firemen's  Association  the  general  committee, 
as  well  as  the  citizens  of  the  city,  spent  considerable  money 


Fig.   1 — Court  of   Honor  on    Ninth   Street,    Lebanon. 

in  producing  appropriate  decorations  for  the  occasion.  The 
electrical  illuminations  were  especially  elaborate  in  the  busi- 
ness section  of  the  city,  where  there  was  a  connected  load 
of  about  250  kw.  The  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Com- 
pany sold  the  energy  at  a  rate  of  6  cents  per  kw-hr.,  but 
made  no  charge  for  the  loan  of  the  lamps.  However,  it 
supplied  the  various  fire  companies  of  the  city  with  lamps 
and  energy  gratis.  When  it  is  remembered  that  Lebanon  is 
a  city  of  about  20,000  inhabitants,  the  display  was  certainly 
a  creditable  one.     Views  of  the  Court  of  Honor  on  Ninth 


Fig.  2 — Cumberland  Street,   Lebanon,   During   Firemen's  Festival. 

Street,  where  1200  lamps  were  installed,  and  also  of  Cum- 
berland Street,  are  shown  herewith.  The  latter  thorough- 
fare contains  the  office  of  the  electric  light  company,  which 
was  appropriately  decorated  during  the  week.  Mr.  Douglass 
Ford  is  in  charge  of  the  commercial  department  of  the  com- 
pany and  Mr.  H.  G.  Louser  is  superintendent  of  the  Edison 
company  at  Lebanon. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


INDIRECT  LIGHTING  IN  A  CONFECTIONERY  SHOP. 


The  photograph  reproduced  herewith  is  the  result  of  a 
forty-five-minute  exposure  made  with  the  indirect-Hghting 
installation  in  Fulsom's  bakery,  confectionery  and  restaurant 
at  Lincoln,  Neb.  This  room,  approximately  45  ft.  by  75  ft., 
is  lighted  by  ten  20-in.  bowl   fixtures,   each  containing  a 


Indirect    Lighting    in    a    Confectionery    Shop. 

250-watt  tungsten  lamp.  The  bowls  are  suspended  30  in. 
below  the  12-ft.  ceiling;,  which  is  tinted  a  very  pale  blue. 
Except  for  the  ornamental  art-glass  fixtures  on  the  soda 
fountain,  the  indirect  lighting  is  relied  upon  entirely  for 
the  illumination  of  the  room. 


CONDUIT  VERSUS  OPEN  WORK   IN  PLACES  SUB- 
JECT TO  MOISTURE,  CORROSIVE 
FUMES,  STEAM,  ETC.— III. 


By  F.  G.  Waldenfels. 
In  previous  articles  were  described  the  general  conditions 
relating  to  electrical  installations  in  packing  houses,  brew- 
eries, tanneries  and  other  places  subject  to  the  influence  of 
moisture,  corrosive  fumes,  heat,  salty  atmosphere,  steam, 
etc.  Certain  details  regarding  wiring  of  such  places  were 
also  described.  Other  phases  of  the  subject  are  treated  in 
the  present  instalment. 

SOCKETS. 

The  choice  of  sockets  is  more  or  less  a  gamble.  Porce'ain 
weatherproof  sockets  are  fragile  and  cannot  stand  rough 
usage,  for  reasons  too  numerous  to  mention.  iVIany  porce- 
lain sockets  can  be  found  broken  six  months  after  they  have 
been  installed,  because  moisture  runs  down  the  wires  into 


COMPOSITION  AND   MICA  SOCKETS. 

For  high  ceilings  in  wet  places,  where  the  drop  lamps  are 
out  of  reach,  composition  and  mica  sockets  have  lasted  very 
well.  There  is  no  sulphur  used  in  these  sockets  for  sealing 
purposes,  and  therefore  they  do  not  crack  open  easily;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  excessive  heat  will  melt  them.  On  low 
ceilings,  however,  pigtail  sockets  should  not  be  used,  because 
of  the  twisting  of  the  joints  due  to  the  practice  of  switching 
the  lamp  on  and  off  by  turning  it  in  the  socket.  The  hard- 
rubber  molded  or  mica  sockets,  however,  are  best  and 
cheapest  for  use  on  reasonably  high  ceilings  in  wet  places. 
They  will  not  crack  like  porcelain  sockets,  can  withstand 
extra  hard  usage  and  are  constructed  even  better  than  the 
vaporproof  socket  by  having  a  solid  body  of  composition 
supporting  the  shell.  In  extremely  hot  places  porcelain 
sockets  are  preferable,  however,  for(  the  reason  stated  be- 
fore. 

VAPORPROOF  SOCKETS. 

\'aporproof  sockets  give  fair  results  if  the  outer  globe  is 
always  on  and  if  they  are  not  exposed  to  mechanical  injury. 
They  cannot  withstand  any  hard  usage,  however,  and  this 
is  a  requirement  which  generally  must  be  fulfilled  in  steamy 
places.  The  main  trouble  is  that  the  screw  shell  is  not 
properly  surrounded  with  a  porcelain  body,  and  the  bare 
shell  is  too  weak  for  ordinary  use. 

CONDUIT   BOX   SOCKETS. 

Rigid  weatherproof  sockets  when  installed  in  outlet  boxes 
give  satisfaction,  especially  on  low  ceilings  where  the  em- 
ployees habitually  extinguish  the  lights  by  turning  the  lamps 
in  the  sockets.    The  porcelain  part  of  the  socket  should  be 


Fig.   21 — Conduit    Box    Socket    and    Outlet. 

notched  and  fitted  into  a  notched  metal  cover  to  prevent  the 
socket  from  turning.  Of  course,  where  the  ceilings  are 
high  and  the  lamps  controlled  by  switches  are  out  of  reach 
the  drops  are  not  so  objectionable. 

On  very  low  ceilings,  where  rigidly  supported  lamp  and 
receptacle  are  impracticable  on  account  of  liability  to 
mechanical  injury,  it  is  advisable  to  install  conduit  with 
porcelain  covers,  which  permit  the  use  of  short  pigtail 
weatherproof  sockets,  without  joints  between  the  lamp  and 
the  porcelain  cover.  Pressed-steel  condulets  give  excellent 
results  because  they  do  not  break  at  the  shoulder  if  there 
should  happen  to  be  a  side  strain  on  the  conduit,  although 


Figs.    16-20 — Weatherproof    and   Vaporproof   Soci<ets. 

the  top  of  the  socket  and  with  the  assistance  of  heat  finally 
cracks  it.  On  many  types  of  porcelain  sockets  formerly 
used  a  sulphur  compound  was  used  for  sealing  purposes,  and 
this  when  moistened  caused  the  socket  to  crack  as  soon  as 
there  was  a  change  of  temperature.  The  newer  sockets 
have  a  more  durable  filling  compound  which  will  not  crack 
the  socket  when  subject  to  moisture  and  heat. 


Fig.    22 — Weatherproof    Ceiling    Cluster. 

they  frequently  crack  in  the  seams.  For  protection  against 
moisture  and  corrosive  fumes,  however,  the  cast-iron  outlet 
box  or  condulet  has  not  been  excelled.  There  is,  however, 
a  sherardized  steel  condulet  and  outlet  box  on  the  market 
that  has  given  good  results  in  such  places.  When  lamp 
sockets  are  empty  it  is  wise  to  plug  them  with  a  tight-fitting 
cork  to  keep  them  from  corroding. 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


88s 


CLUSTERS. 

During  the  last  few  years  waterproof  clusters  have  been 
employed  to  great  advantage  where  the  ceilings  are  at  least 
of  medium  height.  Clusters  that  have  given  the  best  results 
have  been  equipped  with  an  enameled  shade.  They  are  made 
up  with  a  ■/2-in.  pipe  stem  about  12  in.  long  and  are  fitted 
with  a  porcelain  body  for  the  lamp  receptacles,  or  with  in- 
dividual sockets  protected  by  a  white  enameled  shield,  which 
permits  the  sockets  to  project  through  it  about  34  in- 
Extensions  can  be  attached  to  these  clusters  without  harm. 
The  clusters  are  generally  hung  from  a  hook  in  a  swinging 
position — a  very  favorable  feature.  Where  corrosive 
vapors  abound,  however,  it  has  been  found  that  the  ordinary 
iron  hook  corrodes,  and  in  such  places  it  is  advisable  to  sus- 
pend the  clusters  from  malleable-iron  or  cast-iron  hooks. 

Another  method  of  hanging  a  cluster  so  as  to  allow  it  to 
swing  in  two  directions  only  is  shown  in  Fig.  23.  Here  two 
pieces  of  pipe  fastened  to  a  T-condulet  are  strapped  to  two 
floor  joists  and  the  pipe  stem  of  the  cluster  is  screwed  into 
the  condulet. 

INCANDESCENT  LAMPS. 

The  type  of  incandescent  lamp  in  general  use  has  an 
Edison,  or  screw,  base,  but  the  T-H,  or  bayonet,  base  lamp 
has  given  the  least  trouble.  As  a  protection  to  life  the  T-H- 
base  lamp  is  the  safest  to  use  in  wet  places,  because  there  is 
no  live  screw  shell  to  come  in  contact  with  as  in  the  case  of 
an  Edison-base  lamp,  in  which  the  shell  is  continued  from 


Fig.  23 — Method  of  Hang- 
ing  Lamp  Cluster. 


Fig.     24 — Vapor  -  proof 
Incandescent     Lamp, 


the  socket  to  the  lamp  and  very  often  projects  beyond  the 
socket  about  "4  in-  The  projecting  shell  is  fraught  with 
danger  to  employees,  especially  where  220-volt  alternating- 
current  circuits  are  used  for  lighting.  It  is  unfortunate  that 
tlie  manufacturers  of  the  T-H  base  lamps  have  discouraged 
their  use  by  raising  the  price  in  their  determination  to  force 
the  use  of  the  Edison-base  lamp  for  all  purposes.  Rather 
than  pay  the  extra  3  cents  per  lamp  several  packing  plants 
have  switched  over  to  the  Edison  base  by  using  adapters  or 
have  replaced  the  T-H  socket  entirely  with  a  weatherproof 
Edison  base  socket. 

ADAPTERS. 

Edison-base  adapters  have  recently  been  employed  where 
a  change  has  been  made  from  the  T-H  base  lamp  with  poor 
results.  There  are  many  contributory  reasons  for  this:  In 
the  first  place  the  lining  of  the  adapter  absorbs  moisture  like 
a  sponge,  causing  short-circuits  in  the  sockets;  second,  if  a 
lamp  is  unscrewed  with  the  circuit  alive  the  arc  holds  and 
burns  the  thin  contact  ring  in  the  base  of  the  adapter;  third, 
if  in  a  brass  taped  and  painted  key  socket  equipped  with  an 
adapter  the  circuit  to  the  lamp  is  interrupted  by  means  of 
the  key,  the  arc  will  invariably  hold  on  220  volts  and  burn 
off  the  metal  ring  in  the  base  of  the  adapter. 

CUT-OUTS  AND  SNAP  SWITCHES. 

On  lio-volt  circuits  the  Edison-plug  cutouts  are  very 
satisfactory,  provided  the  cut-out  bases  are  mounted  on 
J/2-in.  porcelain  knobs,  cleats  or  hard-rubber  tubing.  Not  to 
mount  them  would  be  folly  and  cause  no  end  of  trouble  due 
to  the  film  of  moisture  which  forms  between  the  terminals 


and  the  material  of  the  wet  cabinet  and  readily  affords  a 
path  for  the  passage  of  electricity. 

CAkTRIUGE-PLUG  FUSES. 

Some  electricians  prefer  the  inclosed  cartridge-plug  fuse, 
claiming  that  its  use  limits  to  quite  an  extent  any  chance  of 
employees  getting  a  shock  when  the  fuses  are  backed  out  of 


Figs.   26,  27  and  28— Cartridge-Plug    Fuse   and   Cut-Outs. 

the  receptacle,  because  of  the  large  porcelain  cap  which  fits 
over  the  plug.  Until  recently  these  fuses  were  approved  for 
use  on  220-volt  circuits.  They  were  a  great  deal  safer  to 
handle  in  wet  places  than  the  ordinary  cartridge  fuse  of 
to-day,  but  one  great  disadvantage  is  that  an  inspector  can- 
not tell  the  size  of  the  fuse  in  them. 

CARTRIDGE    FUSES. 

For  220-volt  lighting  circuits   in  damp  places  cartridge 
fuses    and    porcelain    bases    are    required    by    the    Chicago 


Figs.  29,  30  and  31 — Fuse  Cut-Outs. 

underwriters.  The  bases  should  also  be  mounted  on  J^-in. 
porcelain  knobs,  cleats  or  hard  rubber.  Pains  must  be  taken 
to  see  that  the  ferrule  contacts  fit  tightly  around  the  fuse. 
In  this  case  the  inspector  must  again  guess  at  the  size  of 
the  fuse  in  the  cartridge.  If  the  cut-out  cabinet  is  tight  and 
well  constructed  the  underwriters  would  under  most  cir- 
cumstances prefer  link  fuses  with  copper  tips,  provided 
there  was  a  barrier  between  each  set  to  keep  the  hot  metal 
from  the  fused  one  from  reaching  an  adjacent  fuse.  Par- 
ticular pains  should  be  taken  to  fasten  wires  under  all  ter- 
minals properly,  because  a  loose  contact  causes  heat  and 
very  often  melts  the  fuse. 

CARTRIDGE  FUSES  FOR   MOTORS. 

Up  to  60  amp,  250  to  600  volts,  the  ferrule-contact  cart- 
ridge  fuse   may  be   used   for   motors,   provided  the   proper 


Figs.    32   and    33 — Cartridge    Fuses   w:th    Cut-Out    Bases. 

spacings  are  kept  for  the  different  currents  and  voltages, 
and  from  60  amp  to  600  amp,  250  volts,  and  to  400  amp,  600 
volts,  the  knife-blade  contact  must  be  used,  provided  the 
proper  spacings  as  specified  in  the  National  E'ectrical  Code 
are  followed.  These  fuses  render  good  service  for  the 
motors,  but  from  an  inspection  standpoint  it  is  difficult  to 
tell  what  size  of  fuse  wire  is  in  a  cut-out  that  has  been 


886 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


refilled  without  removing  it  from  the  base,  thereby  necessi- 
tating the  stopping  of  the  machinery  to  examine  it.  Con- 
cealed fuses  create  a  doubtful  feeling  in  the  inspector,  and 
many  inspectors  would  prefer  good  link  fuses  to  refilled 
cartridge  fuses,  provided  the  cabinets  are  tight. 

On  heavy  circuits  it  is  imperative  to  note  that  all  the 
strands  of  the  cable  have  been  soldered  into  the  lugs  which 
are  connected  to  fuse  bases,  as  it  has  been  found  that 
electricians  very  frequently  cut  off  the  outer  strands  of  a 
cable  to  make  the  latter  fit  a  certain  lug.  It  is  also  important 
to  see  whether  cables  have  been  properly  sweated  into  lugs 
during  the  soldering  process  by  vigorously  shaking  the 
cable  near  the  lug.  The  defects  mentioned  cause  excessive 
heating  or  arcing  and  are  liable  to  cause  fire. 

If  a  heavy  fuse  blows  and  another  is  not  at  hand  it  not 
infrequently  happens  that  the  emp'oyee  places  almost  any 
kind  of  metal  across  the  fuse  gap  and  then  replaces  the 
blown  fuse  over  the  makeshift,  never  thinking  that  the 
loose  contact  will  cause  excessive  heating  and  probably  a  fire. 

LINK   FUSES. 

Link  fuses  for  lamp  and  motor  circuits,  if  installed  in 
good,  tight  cabinets,  are  the  safest  and  most  satisfactory 
protection  that  can  be  employed  in  packing  houses.  It  is 
also  a  very  easy  matter  in  such  installations  for  the  elec- 
trician or  the  inspector  to  assure  himself  that  a  wire  is  not 


Sh-fe 


Fig.    34 — Link    Fuses. 

over-fused  and  that  the  motors  and  devices  on  those  circuits 
are  therefore  well  protected  from  overloads.  Slate  or 
marble  bases  must  be  employed  for  link  fuses,  and  it  is 
advisable  to  have  a  barrier  across  the  base  between  the 
breaking  gap.  All  link  fuses  should  be  provided  with 
copper  tips,  otherwise  a  good  contact  is  not  made  under  the 
screw  terminal.  With  large  link  fuses  it  is  advisable  to 
note  that  the  proper  breaking  distance  has  been  maintained 
across  the  gap,  otherwise  if  the  fuse  blows  the  metal  will 
crystallize  across  the  gap,  permitting  leakage  of  current. 
In  subsequent  issues  consideration  will  be  given  to  certain 
other  wiring  and  lighting  fixtures,  motors,  cabinets,  con- 
duits, elimination  of  condensation  in  conduits,  corrosion  and 
other   subjects. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


RINGING    SYSTEM. 

Mr.  W.  W.  Hawkins,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  has  invented 
a  new  harmonic  system  employing  unidirectional  impulse 
currents.  This  permits  the  use  of  two  selective  ringers  for 
each  frequency.  The  usual  tuned  vibrating  system  is  em- 
ployed, but  the  operating  coil  is  mounted  on  one  leg  of  the 
permanent  magnet.  The  vibrating  armature  is  also  polar- 
ized permanently.  Where  the  effect  of  the  coil  is  such  as  to 
increase  the  normal  magnetization  of  the  polarizing  magnet 
no  action  results,  but  where  the  impulses  oppose  the  normal 
ringing  is  set  up. 

INSTRUMENTS    AND    ATTACHMENTS. 

Rather  a  novel  form  of  receiver  has  been  patented  by 
Mr.  W.  P.  Stuntz,  of  Lansdowne,  Md.  The  novelty  lies 
in  a  diaphragm  which  is  not  clamped  at  its  periphery  but 
lies  upon  a  circular  seat  and  is  held  in  place  by  pressure 
from  a  stud  applied  at  its  center.  This  stud  is  fastened 
to  the  end  of  a  rocking  lever,  the  outboard  end  of  which 


carries  the  armature  upon  which  the  receiving  coil  acts. 
The  deflection  of  the  diaphragm  depends  upon  the  pull  of  the 
permanent  magnet,  which  in  turn  is  affected  by  the  oper- 
ating coil   mounted  upon   its   pole  piece. 

Another  patent  granted  to  Mr.  Stuntz  relates  to  a  cooling 
device  for  a  high-power  transmitter.  This  comprises  a 
hollow  mounting  block  for  the  stationary  electrode  of  the 
transmitter,  within  which  cooling  fluid  may  be  conducted 
by  inlet  and  outlet  pipes.  This  will  serve  to  maintain  the 
temperature  within  the  granule  chamber  practically  con- 
stant. 

The  patent  granted  to  Mr.  H.  W.  Schussler,  of  Philadel- 
phia, describes  a  receiver-supporting  arm  and  special  base 
for  desk  stands.  A  hollow,  heavy  auxiliary  base  plate  is 
arranged  with  hinges  to  clamp  around  the  base  of  a  desk 
stand.  Rising  from  this  auxiliary  base  plate  is  a  receiver- 
supporting  arm  for  holding  the  receiver  at  the  user's  ear. 
A  spring-actuated  toggle  bar  is  mounted  at  a  proper  height 
to  engage  and  depress  the  hook  switch.  When  it  is  desired 
to  release  the  hook  switch  the  toggle  arm  is  thrown  up- 
ward, where  it  is  maintained  in  a  vertical  position  by  its 
spring. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


THE  LIGHTING  OF  CARS. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs  : — In  connection  with  the  car-lighting  tests  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  referred  to  in  your  issue  dated  Sept.  28,  1912, 
the  statement  is  made  that  the  tests  of  illumination  con- 
firmed Mr.  J.  R.  Cravath's  conclusions,  which,  briefly  stated, 
are  that  less  illumination  is  required  from  a  reflector  acting 
by  diffusion  than  with  one  depending  on  regular  reflection. 

The  writer,  who  was  one  of  the  test  subjects,  can  state 
that  the  first  series  of  tests  did  show  the  aluminized  reflector 
to  be  superior  to  others  and  to  require  considerably  less 
illumination  for  reading  than  the  mirrored  reflectors.  In 
a  second  series  of  tests  with  the  same  reflectors  and  the 
same  test  subjects  the  difference  in  light  required  decreased 
greatly  and  the  results  of  the  individual  observers  varied  so 
widely  that  the  apparent  superiority  of  aluminized  over 
mirrored  glass  did  not  exist.  In  a  third  test  made  at  night 
(with  the  car  attached  to  a  regular  train)  with  the  same 
observers  the  tests  showed  the  mirrored  reflector  to  be 
superior  to  all  others  in  point  of  amount  of  illumination 
required  for  reading.  Unfortunately  the  writer  is  not  in  a 
position  to  publish  the  actual  figures  of  these  tests  but  can 
say  that  in  the  last  test  made,  for  i'lumination  just  sufficient 
for  comfortable  reading,  the  average  of  the  foot-candles 
required  with  the  mirrored  reflector  was  10.7  per  cent  less 
than  that  for  the  aluminized  reflector.  For  ample  illumina- 
tion that  for  the  mirrored  was  y.j  per  cent  less  than  that 
for  the  aluminized.  Clearly  no  intelligent  conclusions  can  1 
be  drawn  where  results  show  such  wide  variation  as  in  the  I 
above  three  series  of  tests. 

Another  point  worthy  of  note  is  that  the  first  two  tests 
of  all  reflectors  were  made  in  the  daytime  with  the  car  sta- 
tionary. Contrary  to  expectations  the  last  series  of  tests 
made  at  night  with  the  car  in  motion  showed  that  for  opal, 
aluminized  and  mirrored  reflectors  less  illumination  was 
required  than  with  the  car  stationary.  This  seems  to  indi- 
cate a  sort  of  time-lag  in  the  accommodation  of  the  eye,  a 
phenomenon  that  was  apparently  overlooked  and  was  not 
compensated  for  in  the  short  time  allowed  for  a  subject  to 
make  his  observation  after  coming  from  broad  daylight  into 
a  darkened  car.  This  still  further  precludes  the  possibility 
of  drawing  conclusions  from  the  results  obtained,  as  it  is 
almost  axiomatic  that  more  light  should  be  required  on  a 
moving  car  than  on  one  that  is  stationary. 

Pittsburgh,  Pa.  Frank  T.  Leilich. 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


887 


Digest  of  Current   Electrical   Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Three-Phase  Commutator  Motors. — M.  Schenkel. — An 
illustrated  English  translation  of  his  German  paper  recently 
abstracted  in  the  Digest,  which  contains  a  general  descrip- 
tion of  the  theory,  construction  and  method  of  working  of 
the  three-phase  series  commutator  motor.  After  discussing 
the  limitations  associated  with  the  ordinary  three-phase 
series  motor  with  a  single  set  of  brushes,  the  author  passes 
on  to  show  how  the  Siemens-Schuckert  company  has  over- 
come these  difficulties  by  using  a  double  set  of  brushes — the 
one  fixed. and  the  other  removable — made  by  splitting  up 
the  single  set  into  two  equal  parts.  Lastly,  numerous 
examples  are  given  showing  the  uses  to  which  these  motors 
can  be  put. — London  Electrician,  Oct.  4,  1912. 

Cascade  Motor.  —  J.  S.  Heather.  —  A  simple  and 
elementary  explanation  of  the  principles  of  construction  and 
operation  of  the  Hunt  cascade  motor  illustrated  by 
diagrams. — London  Electrician,  Oct.  4,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Safety  Lamp. — F.  Faerber. — A  detailed  illustrated  de- 
scription of.  the  author's  new  electric  safety  lamp  for  mines. 
This  lamp  received  the  first  prize  in  a  recent  British  com- 
petition.— Elek.  Zeit.,  Oct.  3,  1912. 

Vapor  Lamp  unth  White  Light. — An  English  translation 
of  the  German  paper  recently  abstracted  in  the  Digest  on 
the  cadmium-mercury  vapor  lamp  giving  white  light. — 
London  Elec.  Revieiv,  Oct.  4,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Transmission  of  Heat. — C.  H.  Lander  and  J.  E.  Petavel. 
— A  British  Association  paper  giving  an  account  of  an 
experimental  investigation  of  the  transmission  of  heat  from 
heated  metal  cylinders  to  the  surrounding  air,  which  has  a 
direct  bearing  on  the  lagging  of  steam  pipes.  The  results 
for  bare  steam  pipes  of  dififerent  diameters  are  given  in  a 
table.  The  most  interesting  result  is  that  from  bare  steam 
pipes  the  loss  of  heat  is  mainly  due  to  convection.  In  the 
case  of  a  pipe,  for  example,  i  in.  in  diameter,  containing 
steam  at  atmospheric  pressure,  the  loss  by  radiation  is  15 
per  cent  and  by  conduction  4  per  cent,  so  that  81  per  cent 
is  dissipated  by  convection.  At  100  lb.  per  square  inch  the 
loss  by  convection  would  be  about  80  per  cent.  If  the  sur- 
face of  the  metal  were  machined  the  loss  by  radiation  would 
be  halved,  and  if  it  were  polished  the  loss  would  be  reduced 
to  one-quarter.     As   all   lagging  materials   are   better   heat 


WEIGHT     PER     CUBIC     FOOT 

Fig.   1 — Effect  of   Density  of  Covering   on    Heat   Loss. 

conductors  than  air,  they  increase  the  loss  due  to  conduc- 
tion. It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  arrange  them  loosely, 
so  as  to  subdivide  the  air  space  surrounding  the  pipe  as  per- 
fectly as  possible  with  the  least  amount  of  solid  material 
The  lagging  can,  however,  be  too  loosely  packed,  as  will  be 
seen  in  Fig.  I,  which  shows  the  effect  of  slag  wool  under 
various  conditions  as  regards  density  of  packing.     The  best 


result  was  obtained  when  the  solid  material  occupied  one- 
fourteenth  of  the  total  space.  The  conduction  loss  was 
then  increased  from  0.13  to  0.40,  but  (assuming  radiation 
to  be  zero)  the  convection  loss  was  reduced  from  3.2  to  0.14, 
the  total  loss  being  one-seventh  of  that  observed  with  the 
bare  pipe. — London  Elec.  Rcviezv,  Oct.  4,  19 12. 

Gas  Engines. — The  fifth  report  of  the  British  Association 
committee  on  gaseous  explosions  (Sir  W.  H.  Preece,  chair- 
man), giving  a  concise  review  of  the  present  state  of 
knowledge  with  regard  to  the  heat  flow  from  the  working 
substance  of  a  gas  engine  into  the  cylinder  walls.  The 
following  factors  of  heat  flow  are  discussed:  The  state  of 
the  walls,  radiation  from  the  gas,  the  efliect  of  cylinder 
dimensions  on  heat  flow,  the  elYect  of  density,  and  tur- 
bulence.— London  Electrician,  Oct.  4,  1912. 

Gas  Engines. — A.  E.  L.  Chorlton. — A  British  Iron  and 
Steel  Institute  paper  in  which,  after  discussing  the  limita- 
tions which  have  prevented  the  progress  of  the  large  gas 
engine  in  England,  the  author  describes  a  new  type  of 
engine  (vertical  duplex  type)  which  is  without  many  of  the 
defects  of  previous  designs  and  which  is  giving  satisfactory 
results. — London  Electrician,  Oct.  4,  1912. 

Load  Factors. — S.  A.  Fletcher. — An  article  giving  char- 
acteristic curves  of  typical  loads  of  central  stations  and 
discussing  the  method  of  calculating  the  cost  of  generating 
energy  on  the  basis  of  such  load  curves. — Electric  Journal, 
September,  1912. 

Traction. 

Corrugation. — A  preliminary  report  presented  by  a  special 
committee  of  the  British  Municipal  Tramways  Association 
appointed  to  inquire  into  the  phenomena  of  corrugation  on 
tramway  rails.  The  committee  has  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  corrugation  occurs  very  widely  with  electrically  pro- 
pelled rolling  stock,  the  construction  of  which  necessitates 
a  relatively  low  center  of  gravity ;  also  on  cable  systems 
and  to  a  small  extent  on  steam  railways.  The  guard-rail 
is  not  a  necessary  factor  in  corrugation,  and  the  bulk  of 
corrugation  is  not  due  to  any  action  of  the  brakes,  nor  is 
its  occurrence  dependent  on  the  number  of  cars  passing  over 
the  rails.  It  is  not  necessary  that  the  track,  rolling  stock  or 
wheels  should  be  in  a  worn  condition.  Corrugation  appears 
independently  of  whether  wheels  are  actively  driven  by  the 
motors  or  not.  It  may  be  produced  by  one  set  of  cars  and 
removed  by  another,  or  caused  and  removed  by  the  same 
set  of  cars  under  apparently  the  same  conditions.  The 
pitch  of  the  corrugations  is  independent  of  the  speed  of  the 
cars  producing  it.  Corrugation  does  not  exist  on  tramway 
rails  as  received  from  the  rolling  mills.  It  has  been  pro- 
duced by  every  known  type  of  electric  car,  and  the  pitch 
and  characteristics  are  independent  of  the  type  of  car.  It 
is  suggested  that  the  brightness  of  the  crests,  as  compared 
with  the  dullness  of  the  hollows,  is  due  to  a  purely  rolling 
action  under  increased  pressure  over  the  crests.  Although 
the  committee  considers  that  corrugation  is  due  to  causes 
external  to  the  rail,  it  is  of  opinion  that  steel  for  rails 
can  be  obtained  which  is  more  durable  and  less  liable  to 
corrugation  than  ordinary  varieties  of  steel  at  present  in 
use.  Rail  steel  with  merely  an  increased  carbon  content  is 
not  sufficiently  durable.  It  is  necessary  that  the  rail  should 
be  both  hard  and  tough.  The  steel  should  be  relatively  high 
in  manganese,  carbon  and  silicon,  and  should  be  capable  of 
passing  certain  tests. — London  Electrician,   Sept.  27,   1912. 

Interpole  Motors  for  Traction. — An  abstract  of  the 
reports  of  Eisig  and  Bacqueyrisse  to  the  International 
Street  Railway  Congress  in  Christiania.  The  latter's  report, 
based  on  theoretical  considerations,  concludes  from  the 
answers  received  from  forty-five  tramway  companies  that 


888 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


the  interpole  motor  has  proved  its  complete  superiority. 
On  the  other  hand,  Eisig  thinks  that  nothing  new  can  be 
added  at  present  to  the  old  report  of  Lehrmann  and  that 
several  points  need  further  elucidation.  The  reports  agree 
that  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  commutator  and  of  the  carbon 
brushes  and  the  formation  of  sparks,  especially  during 
braking,  are  less  than  with  ordinary  motors.  Moreover, 
interpole  motors  can  be  operated  at  higher  voltages  and 
with  a  larger  number  of  economical  speeds.  In  most  cases 
the  use  of  interpole  motors  has  resulted  in  a  saving  of 
energy  of  from  5  to  15  per  cent,  but  this  is  true  more  for 
lines  without  grades  than  for  those  with  grades.  When 
braking  with  a  v,-eakened  field  the  interpole  motors  are  not 
excited  quickly  enough;  nevertheless,  Bacqueyrisse  recom- 
mends using  the  electric  brake  as  the  service  brake.  The 
same  reporter  finds  that  the  weight  of  interpole  motors  for 
the  same  rating  is  smaller  and  the  first  cost  is  only  slightly 
higher  than  that  of  ordinary  motors.  Eisig,  on  the  other 
hand,  reaches  the  opposite  conclusions.  He  also  thinks  the 
question  is  still  open  whether  the  interpole  motor  should 
have  its  normal  rating  when  fully  excited  or  with  the  field 
weakened.  The  former  conditions  may  be  preferable  when 
the  electric  brake  is  used  as  the  service  brake,  while  the 
latter  condition  is  more  advisable  on  lines  with  small  grades 
and  long  distances  between  stops. — Elck.  Zeit.,  Oct.  3,  1912. 
Upper  Silesia. — An  illustrated  article  on  energy  supply 
to  the  network  of  trolley  lines  in  upper  Silesia.  The  total 
length  of  track  is  115  km  (69  miles).  The  trains  follow 
generally  at  intervals  of  thirty  minutes.  The  network  was 
originally  supplied  with  direct  current  at  600  volts  from 
three  power  plants  and  one  substation.  This  system  was 
later  changed  to  a  three-wire  system.  Now  three-phase 
energy  is  supplied  in  bulk  at  6000  volts  from  the  Upper 
Silesia  electric  works  and  delivered  as  6oo-volt  direct  cur- 
rent in  nine  rotary-converter  substations. — Elek.  Zeit., 
Oct.  3,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Automatic  Motor  Starters. — H.  L.  Beach. — An  illus- 
trated article  on  automatic  motor  starters  and  controllers 
for  direct-current  motors,  for  the  case  of  loads  having  small 
inertia,  such  as  centrifugal  pumps  and  centrifugal  fans.— 
Electric  Journal,  September,  1912. 

Electrophysics  and   Magnetism. 

Beta  and  Gamma  Rays  from  Radioactive  Substances. — 
E.  Rutherford. — A  paper  on  the  origin  of  beta  and  gamma 
rays.  The  author  outlines  the  following  general  views: 
The  atom  consists  of  a  positively  charged  nucleus  of  very 
small  dimensions,  surrounded  by  a  distribution  of  electrons 
in  rapid  motion,  possibly  of  rings  of  electrons  rotating  in 
one  plane.  The  instability  of  the  atom  which  leads  to  its 
disintegration  may  be  conveniently  considered  to  be  due  to 
two  causes,  although  these  are  not  mutually  independent; 
namely,  the  instability  of  the  central  nucleus  and  the  in- 
stability of  the  electronic  distribution.  The  former  type  of 
instability  leads  to  the  expulsion  of  an  alpha  particle,  the 
latter  to  the  appearance  of  beta  and  gamma  rays.  The  in- 
stability which  leads  to  the  expulsion  of  a  beta  ray  may  be 
mainly  confined  to  one  of  the  rings  of  concentric  electrons 
and  leads  to  the  escape  of  a  beta  particle  from  this  ring 
with  great  velocity.  The  beta  particle  in  escaping  from  the 
atom  passes  through  the  electronic  distribution  external  to 
it,  and  in  traversing  each  ring  may  lose  part  of  its  energy 
in  exciting  one  or  more  gamma  rays  which  have  a  definite 
energy  which  is  characteristic  for  each  ring.  At  present 
we  have  no  definite  information  of  the  mode  in  which  the 
transformation  of  a  beta  into  a  gamma  ray  or  a  gamma  ray 
into  a  beta  ray  takes  place,  but  it  is  no  doubt  connected  with 
the  structure  of  the  ring  of  electrons,  and  possibly  with  its 
period  of  free  vibration.  The  general  evidence  indicates 
strongly  that  the  transformation  of  energy  from  the 
gamma-ray  form  to  the  beta-ray  form  or  the  reverse  takes 
place  in  definite  units  which  are  characteristic  for  a  given 


ring  of  electrons  but  vary  from  one  to  the  other. — Phil. 
Mag.,  October,  1912. 

Photoelectric  Action. — A  mathematical  paper  by  O.  W. 
Richardson  on  a  theory  of  photoelectric  phenomena  based 
on  thermodynamic  and  statistical  principles,  and  another 
paper  by  O.  W.  Richardson  and  K.  T.  Compton  on  the 
photoelectric  effect.  The  authors  show  that  there  is  a  much 
greater  unity  in  the  relations  between  different  metals  and 
wave-lengths  than  has  hitherto  been  supposed.  It  is  shown 
that  the  important  features  of  the  photoelectric  behavior  of 
any  metal  are  determined  by  a  single  parameter  character- 
istic of  the  metal.  The  parameter  has  the  dimensions  of  a 
frequency.  The  first  part  of  the  paper  is  a  discussion  of  the 
experimental  data.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  paper  the 
results  are  applied  to  test  the  theories  of  these  effects 
which  have  been  developed  by  Einstein  and  by  Richardson. 
— Phil.  Mag.,  October,  191 2. 

Emission  of  Electrons  by  Metals  Under  Influence  of 
Alpha  Rays. — H.  A.  Bumstead  and  A.  G.  McGougan. — An 
account  of  an  experimental  investigation.  Some  of  the 
results  are  as  follows :  The  number  of  delta  electrons 
emitted  by  a  metal  when  struck  by  alpha  rays  varies  with 
the  speed  of  the  alpha  rays  in  the  same  manner  as  does  the 
number  of  ions  produced  in  a  gas.  Curves  which  represent 
this  variation  are  similar  in  form  to  the  Bragg  ionization 
curve.  Such  curves  have  been  determined  for  aluminum, 
copper,  gold,  lead  and  platinum.  Within  the  limits  of 
accuracy  of  the  experiments  they  have  the  same  form  for 
all  these  metals.  This  agreement  is  in  contrast  with  the 
fact  that  ionization  curves  for  different  gases  and  vapors 
show  marked  differences  in  form. — Phil.  Mag.,  Octo- 
ber, 1912. 

Detection  of  Combustible  Gases  in  Air. — L.  J.  Steele. — 
A  communication  to  the  (British)  Institution  of  Electrical 
Engineers  on  the  Philip  and  Steele  portable  catalytic  detector 
of  combustible  gases  in  air.  The  instrument  gives  an  in- 
dication when  inflammable  gases  are  present  in  the  air  to  as 
low  a  value  as  0.025  of  the  amount  necessary  to  render  the 
mixture  just  combustible,  though  it  is  more  usual  to  adjust 
the  instrument  to  work  at  ten  times  this  amount.  In  series 
with  each  of  two  similar  platinum  spirals  C^  and  C,  in 
Fig.  2,  connected  in  parallel,  is  one  coil  of  a  differential 
relay  G,  G„.  The  spirals  C,  C,  are  inclosed  in  glass  tubes, 
through  one  of  which  a  current  of  the  air  to  be  tested  is 
passed  by  means  of  a  small  air  pump  when  an  observation 
is  desired.  The  complete  instrument  consists  of  the  detector 
described  mounted  on  a  tripod,  the  hand  pump  in  one  box 
and  the  relay  with  annunciators  and  indicating  lamps  in 
another.  The  annunciator  coils  are  shown  at  A,  A^.  and 
when  the  main  switch  is  closed  they  indicate  whether  on 


Fig.   2 — Connections    of    De- 
tector Circuits. 


Fig.   3 — Connections   of    Relay 
Circuits. 


not  the  current  is  passing  through  C,  and  C^,  so  that  any 
breakage  is  immediately  detected.  The  relay  circuits  are 
shown  in  Fig.  3,  which  is  self-explanatory,  R  and  11'  being 
red  and  white  signal  lamps,  one  or  other  of  which  is  short- 
circuited  by  the  relay  according  to  the  position  of  the 
tongue  T,  the  bias  of  which  is  adjusted  so  as  to  obtain  dif- 
ferent sensibilities.  In  parallel  with  the  red  lamp  7?  is  a 
valve  coil  V  (a  single-stroke  bell  may  also  be  included), 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


889 


whose  function  is  to  cut  of¥  the  supply  of  gas  and  to  admit 
pure  air  to  the  platinum  spiral  instead  of  the  test  gases  as 
soon  as  its  temperature  has  risen  sufficiently  to  cause  the 
relay  to  act.  The  spiral  then  cools,  the  relay  tongue  swings 
back,  re-establishing  the  circuit  through  the  lamp  W  and 
short-circuiting  the  lamp  R,  when  the  cycle  is  repeated.  A 
special  feature  is  a  rotary  contact  breaker  B  in  the  main 
circuit  actuated  by  the  pump  handle.  This  contact  breaker 
periodically  short-circuits  an  incandescent  carbon-filament 
lamp  CL,  of  low  resistance,  which  causes  the  pressure  on 
the  instrument  momentarily  to  fall  in  value  about  once 
every  two  seconds.  By  this  device  hysteresis  effects  in  the 
magnetized  iron  of  the  relay  coils  are  minimized. — London 
Elec.  Eng'ing,  Oct.  3,  igi2. 

Changes  in  the  Dielectric  Constant  Produced  by  Strain. — 
E.  P.  Adams  and  C.  W.  Heaps. — An  account  of  an  experi- 
mental investigation  which  shows  that  for  solid  dielectrics 
as  well  as  for  fluid  dielectrics  the  change  of  the  specific 
inductive  capacity  for  unit  strain  along  the  lines  of  force 
and  the  change  for  unit  strain  perpendicular  to  the  lines  of 
force  are  practically  equal. — Phil.  Mag.,  October,  1912. 

De  La  Rive  Tube. — -D.  N.  Mallik. — A  mathematical 
paper  giving  the  theory  of  electric  discharge  in  a  De  La 
Rive  tube. — Phil.  Mag.,  October,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instrumeirts. 

Practical  Standards  for  Electrical  Measurements. — A  re- 
port of  a  sub-committee  of  the  British  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  (Lord  Ray leigh  being  the  chair- 
man and  R.  T.  Glazebrook  the  secretary  of  the  committee). 
The  report  holds  that  so  far  as  the  absolute  measurement  of 
current  is  concerned  an  accuracy  within  at  least  five  parts 
in  100,000  can  be  guaranteed.  The  Lorenz  apparatus  at 
the  National  Physical  Laboratory  and  other  apparatus  now 
being  constructed  at  Berlin  and  Washington  will  place 
measurements  of  resistance  in  a  position  equally  satisfactory 
with  those  of  current.  The  Lorenz  apparatus  is  now  being 
employed  for  the  measurement  of  resistance,  and  it  is 
believed  that  the  probable  error  will  not  exceed  two  parts 
in  100,000.  Measurements  of  resistance,  of  current  and  of 
emf  are  now  made  on  the  same  basis  in  practically  all 
:ivilized  countries. — London  Electrician  and  Elec.  Review, 
Oct.  4,  1912. 

Bridge  Methods  for  Resistance  Measurements  of  High 
Precision  in  Platinum  Thermometry. — F.  E.  Smith. — An 
account  of  an  investigation  carried  out  in  the  (British) 
National  Physical  Laboratory.  The  author  describes  in 
detail  new  methods  for  measuring  the  resistance  of  a 
platinum  thermometer,  all  of  which  practically  eliminate  the 
effects  of  small  changes  in  the  relative  resistance  of  the 
leads  and  have  several  advantages  over  methods  hitherto 
jsed.  The  first  of  these  four  methods  is  as  follows:  The 
resistance  scheme  is  that  of  a  simple  Wheatstone  bridge,  as 


Fig.  4 — Simple   Wheatstone   Bridge  Arrangement. 

will  be  seen  from  the  connections  shown  in  Fig.  4.  P  is  the 
platinum  thermometer  with  current  leads  L,  and  L^  and 
potential  leads  L,  and  L.^.  Q  and  5"  are  the  ratio  arms  and 
R  is  the  adjustable  resistance.  There  will  be  no  current 
;hrough  the  galvanometer  when 

■P  +  ^.-G(^  +  A)A  (I) 

when  this  balance  has  been  made  the  potential  lead  L,  is 
1-sconnected  from  R  and  joined  to  Q ;  L,  is  joined  to  R  and 


the  battery  lead  is  disconnected  from  L,  and  joined  to  L,. 
The  new  balancing  condition  is 

p+L,  =  e(/?'-fL3)A  (2) 

Rf  being  the  new  value  of  R.     From  (i)  and  (2)  we  have 
2P  =  e(i?  +  /?')/5-+(L,  +  L.)  (GA-i)       (3) 
If  Q/S  =  I,  then  P  =  (i?  -f  R')/2. 
However,  it  is  not  well  to  impose  on  a  bridge  the  condi- 


Fig.    5 — IVIodified    Wheatstone    Bridge    Arrangement. 


tion  that  the  ratio  coils  shall  be  exactly  equal.  If  we 
suppose  Q/S  is  equal  to  (i  -f  a)  where  a  is  small,  a  slightly 
different  procedure  must  be  adopted.  At  the  same  time  as 
the  leads  L,  and  L.  are  reversed  in  position,  the  arms  P  and 
R  are  interchanged  (Fig.  5).  If  this  is  done,  we  have  as 
the  first  balancing  condition  (Fig.  4) 

P  +  L3=(i-f  o)  (i?  +  L,)  (4) 

and  for  the  second  (Fig.  6) 

P-t-L,=  (7?'  +  L3)/(i+a)  (s) 

Combining  (4)  and  (5),  we  have 

^         R  +  R'         a   i  ■) 

P=    ^^ J     a(;?  +  LJ  +  (L,-L,)| 


If  Q  is  equal  to  5"  within  2  parts  in  10,000,  then  a  =  0.0002 
and  P  is  equal  to  {R-\-R')/2  within  2  parts  in  100,000,000. 
This  is  on  the  assumption  that  L,  =  L^.  If  L,  and  L,  each 
have  a  resistance  of  about  o.i  ohm  but  differ  in  resistance 
by  10  per  cent,  then  the  error  introduced  by  neglecting  a 
and  taking  the  equation 

P=  (R  +  R')/2 
as  an  exact  one  is  equivalent  to  about  o.oooi  deg.  C.  The 
want  of  equality  of  the  leads  and  the  want  of  equality  of 
the  ratio-coils  may,  therefore,  be  easily  eliminated  as  sources 
of  error.  The  reversals  which  have  been  indicated  are  con- 
veniently made  by  means  of  a  six-pole  switch  with  connec- 
tions as  shown  in  Fig.  6.  It  is,  of  course,  easy  to  arrange 
for  the  change  in  position  of  the  battery  lead  to  be  made 
simultaneously.  If  the  link  a  always  forms  a  part  of  L„ 
then  b  will  always  be  in  series  with  L,  and  c  with  R. 
Equality  of  the  resistance  of  the  links  a,  b,  c  is  then  of  no 
importance.  Mercury  contacts  are  employed.  A  resistance 
capable   of   being  changed    in   steps   varying   from   o.ooooi 


Fig.   6 — Six-Pole   Switch   Arrangement. 

ohm     to    several    ohms    is    also    described. — Phil.    Mag., 
October,  1912. 

Electric  Measurement  of  Wind  Velocity. — J.  T.  Morris. 
— A  British  Association  paper  in  which  the  author  describes 
a  method  of  measuring  wind  velocity  in  which  an  elec- 
trically heated  wire  is  kept  at  a  constant  temperature  when 
exposed  to  a  current  of  air.  The  square  of  the  power 
required    to    keep    the    temperature    elevation    constant    is 


890 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


nearly  proportional  to  the  velocity  of  the  air  current. 
Experiments  carried  out  on  this  subject  are  described  and 
some  results  are  given.  The  author  concludes  that  the 
constant-temperature  bridge  method  of  determining  wind 
velocities  is  capable  of  considerable  accuracy  over  a  range 
well  under  i  mile  per  hour  up  to  at  least  40  miles  per  hour. 
It  has  the  advantage  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  the  observer 
to  be  constantly  watching  the  relative  position  of  a  meniscus 
of  water  and  a  "hair-line"  in  a  telescope,  as  in  the  Pitot 
tube  method,  for  the  eye  can  be  utilized  to  assist  in  making 
other  observations  while  glancing  at  intervals  at  large-sized 
movements  on  a  switchboard  instrument. — London  Elec- 
trician, Oct.  4,  1912. 

Water^Coolcd  Brake  Drum. — H.  H.  Broughton. — An 
illustrated  article  in  which  a  new  form  of  anti-splash  brake 
drum  is  described,  and  it  is  suggested  that  the  arrangement 
might  be  useful  in  cases  where  overheating  is  liable  to 
occur  owing  to  the  severity  of  the  service. — London  Elec- 
trician, Oct.  4,  1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Loaded  Telephone  Lines  in  Europe. — In  continental 
Europe  there  are  now  more  than  10,000  km  (6000  miles)  of 
telephone  lines  loaded  with  Pupin  coils.  The  longest  over- 
head loaded  lines  are  from  Berlin  to  Aix-la-Chapelle  (700 
kw,  or  420  miles)  and  from  Berlin  to  Frankfort  (580  km, 
or  350  miles).  Still  longer  will  be  the  line  from  Berlin  in 
Germany  to  Milan  in  Italy  now  under  construction  (1400 
km,  or  840  miles),  which  is  to  be  extended  later  to  the 
city  of  Rome  (total  length  2000  km,  or  1200  miles).  This, 
however,  is  still  below  the  longest  American  loaded  line, 
from  New  York  to  Denver  (1900  miles).  There  are  also 
a  number  of  underground  cables  and  the  following  sub- 
marine cables  loaded  with  Pupin  coils :  From  Freidrichs- 
hafen  to  Romanshorn  (12  km,  or  7  miles)  ;  from  .Dover  to 
Calais  (40  km,  or  24  miles)  ;  from  St.  Margaret's  Bay  in 
England  to  La  Panne  in  Belgium  (88  km,  or  53  miles). — 
EUk.  Zeit.,  Oct.  3,  1912. 

Submarine  Telegraph  Relays. — A  note  on  a  recent  British 
patent  (No.  19,779,  Sept.  26,  1912)  of  S.  G.  Brown.  Two 
thermo-electric  couples  (usually  of  platinum  and  platinum- 
rhodium)  are  mounted  on  the  end  of  a  light,  rigid,  swinging 
arm,  controlled  by  the  currents  in  the  cable  circuit.  The 
couples  may  be  heated  by  two  small  burners  with  fine 
vertical  and  transverse  adjustments  and  normally  lie 
symmetrically  just  outside  and  between  them,  so  that  they 
are  both  at  the  same  temperature.  A  small  movement  of 
the  couple  plunges  one  junction  into  the  outer  portion  of 
its  flame,  so  that  a  large  temperature  difference  is  pro- 
duced. The  recorder  coil  is  preferably  of  low  resistance. — 
London  Elec.  Ending,  Oct.  3,  1912. 

Spark-Gaps  in  Running  Liquids. — W.  H.  Eccles  and  A. 
J.  M.\KOWER. — A  British  .Association  paper  in  which  ex- 
periments are  described  in  which  spark-gaps  immersed  in 
running  liquid  were  used  for  the  production  of  electrical 
oscillations.  The  voltage  required  is  lower  than  in  air. 
The  efficiency  depends  on  the  rate  of  flow  of  the  liquid  and 
on  the  voltage  applied,  but  not  greatly  on  the  length  of  the 
gap.  Water  may  be  used  for  the  purpose,  but  it  has  been 
found  that  oil  has  better  quenching  properties. — -London 
Electrician,  Sept.  13,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

South  America. — L.  W.  Schmidt. — The  conclusion  of 
his  statistical  article  on  the  development  of  the  market  for 
electric  products  in  South  America.  The  United  States, 
England  and  Germany  are  the  chief  exporters  of  electric 
products  to  South  America,  and  the  United  States  shows 
t-he  largest  increase  in  percentage  of  the  exports. — Elek. 
Zcit.,  Oct.  3,  1912. 

Training  of  Electrical  Engineers. — W.  Reichel. — A  con- 
tinuation of  his  long  German  paper.  The  author  gives  an 
outline    of    suitable    courses    during    the    first    three   years. 


The  paper  is  to  be  concluded  in  a  subsequent  issue. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  Oct.  3,  1912. 

French  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science. — A 
note  on  the  recent  convention  of  the  French  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science  held  at  Nimes  under  the  presi- 
dency of  Lallemond.  Among  the  papers  presented  and 
partly  given  in  this  issue  is  one  by  Fery  on  his  new  bomb 
calorimeter,  one  by  Leduc  on  the  cycle  of  the  steam  engine, 
three  papers  by  Turpain  on  vertical  and  horizontal  antennas 
for  wireless  telegraphy,  on  the  possibility  of  recording  tele- 
grams received  by  wireless  telegraph  and  on  a  new  micro- 
ammeter  for  the  recording  of  electric  waves ;  a  paper  by 
Salomon  on  chemical  reactions  in  the  electric  arc,  and  a 
paper  by  Turpain  on  light  pressure. — La  Revue  Elec,  Sept. 
13,  1912. 


Book  Reviews 


Human  Factor  in  Works  Management.  By  James  Hart- 
ness.  New  York:  McGraw-Hill  Book  Company.  159 
pages.  Price,  $1.50. 
A  short  treatise  on  the  human  element  in  industrial 
efficiency.  The  author  lays  special  emphasis  on  the  proper 
use  of  the  mind  and  the  value  of  correctly  formed  habits. 
Of  the  six  chapters  which  make  up  this  volume,  so  full  of 
human  interest,  the  first  four  comprise  Part  I,  which  is 
devoted  to  the  value  of  habit.  Our  much-talked-of  business 
systems,  the  author  points  out,  are  a  means  instead  of  an 
end,  and  success  depends  more  on  the  man  than  the  plan. 
Part  II  comprises  some  non-technical  phases  of  machine 
design  bearing  on  the  natural  fitness  of  the  individual  for 
his  work  and  the  relation  of  physical  condition  to  efficiency. 
Part  III  is  devoted  to  machine  building  for  profit,  dealing 
with  such  topics  as  the  effect  of  environment,  trivial  details, 
specialization,  ambition  mania  and  business  confidence. 
This  interesting  volume,  while  not  going  deeply  into  its 
subject  at  any  point,  is  written  in  a  breezy,  refreshing  style 
which  is  certain  to  benefit  the  industrial  manager  or  em- 
ployee who  has  unconsciously  fallen  into  a  rut  or  "gone 
stale"  at  his  work. 


CosTRUziONi  Eleitromeccaniche.  By  E.  Morelli.  Torino: 
Unione  Tip.-Editrice  Torinese.  Vol.  I,  pages  481  to 
640.     Price,  4  lire. 

This  is  Section  4  of  Volume  I  of  an  excellent  textbook 
on  direct-current  dynamo-electric  construction  and  design. 
The  book  is  being  issued  in  sections  of  160  pages  each, 
which  brings  regularity  and  uniformity  into  the  printing, 
publishing  and  distributing  offices,  but  leaves  the  text  in  a 
discontinuous  and  heterogeneous  arrangement  among  the 
sections.  This  section  includes  part  of  Chapter  III — on 
the  electrical  elements  of  a  dynamo  armature;  all  of 
Chapter  IV — on  the  magnetic  elements  of  a  dynamo  arma- 
ture; all  of  Chapter  V — on  the  electrical  elements  of  a 
dynamo  field  magnet,  and  a  portion  of  Chapter  VI — on  the 
mechanical  elements  of  a  dynamo  field  magnet.  j 

The  book  is  well  and  amply  illustrated,  especially  on  the 
mechanical  side  of  the  subjects  treated.  The  design  and 
construction  of  direct-current  machines  are  discussed  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  engineer  for  presentation  to  electrical- 
engineering  students. 

One  of  the  first  questions  discussed  in  this  section  is  the 
mechanical  balancing  of  dynamo  armatures  to  minimize 
their  vibration  at  full-speed  rotation.  The  theory  of  the 
subject  is  only  outlined,  but  the  practical  procedure  recom- 
mended  is  excellent. 

The  treatise  will  be  of  interest  to  all  students  of  direct- 
current  dynamo  machinery  in  general,  and  particularly  to 
those  who  can  read  Italian  and  are  interested  in  Italian 
construction. 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


891 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


EDISON  ALTERNATING-CURRENT  RECTIFIER. 


An  electro-mechanical  rectifier  has  recently  been  u'^- 
veloped  by  Thomas  A.  Edison,  Inc.,  and  placed  on  the 
market  by  the  Edison  Storage  Battery  Company  of  Orange, 
N.  J.,  the  apparatus  being  specially  adapted  to  the  charging 


from  the  rectifier  is  the  same  as  when  charging  from  an 
ordinary  direct-current  circuit.  It  is  said  that  these  recti- 
fiers have  been  operated  at  continuous  load  for  over  3000 
hours  without  stop  for  cleaning  or  adjustment  and  at  the 
end  of  the  run  were  found  in  perfect  condition.  This  is 
equal  to  several  years'  duty  in  ordinary  charging  service. 


Fig.  1 — Rectifier  Charging  Storage  Battery. 


Fig.   2 — Interior   of   Rectifier. 


Fig.   3 — Rectifier    Unit. 


of  sparking  batteries  from  an  ordinary  iio-volt  alternating- 
current  circuit.  The  rectifier  has  no  revolving  armature, 
cominutator,  or  any  wearing  part  requiring  lubrication, 
and  it  uses  no  vacuum  tube  or  high-tension  discharge 
method.  The  apparatus  is  arranged  so  that  the  circuit  to 
the  battery  is  closed  on  the  positive  wave  and  opened  on 
the  negative  wave  by  the  vibratory  action  of  several  arma- 
tures. Current  is  brought  to  the  rectifier  at  from  12  volts 
to  14  volts,  and  the  equipment  is  designed  to  give  a  maxi- 
mum output  of  8  amp  in  the  "B2"  size  and  16  amp  in  the 
"B4"  size.  Variations  in  the  current  values  are  obtained 
by  the  use  of  a  controlling  resistance  connected  with  the 
rectifier. 

In  operation  the  line  current  is  brought  to  a  small  trans- 
former which  cuts  down  the  voltage  as  stated  The  circuit 
carrying  the  rectified  current  goes  through  the  secondary 
winding  of  the  transformer,  through  the  vibrating  contacts 
into  the  battery  and  back  to  the  transformer.  The  vibrating 
armatures  are  kept  in  motion  by  the  surrounding  magnet 
coils,  connected  in  series,  and  the  moving  parts  are  operated 
in  synchronism,  the  movement  being  timed  to  compensate 
for  the  lag  in  the  rectified  circuit  by  a  condenser  in  the  coil 
circuit.  An  automatic  switch  opens  the  circuit  to  the 
battery  when  the  line  voltage  fails  and  closes  it  when  the 
pressure  is  re-established.  The  wiring  is  exceedingly  sim- 
ple, consisting  of  the  usual  connecting  cord  and  plug  and  a 
charging  lead  running  from  the  positive  side  of  the  charg- 
ing terminals  on  the  rectifier  to  the  positive  pole  of  the 
battery  and  another  lead  connecting  the  negative  terminals. 
All  rectifiers  are  provided  with  terminals  for  connecting  a 
rheostat  into  the  charging  circuit,  the  instruments  being 
furnished  separately  or  combined  on  one  panel  as  desired. 

The  rectifier  is  placed  in  operation  by  connecting  the 
flexible  cord  vith  the  attachment  plug  to  the  source  of 
supply,  the  battery  terminals  being  properly  connected  to 
those  of  the  rectifier.  Turning  a  double-pole  snap  switch 
on  the  front  of  the  rectifier  completes  both  the  line  and 
battery  circuits.  With  the  use  of  the  controlling  rheostats 
the  current  can  be  reduced  to  that  necessary  to  charge  the 
smallest  storage  cells  on  the  market.  The  energy  con- 
sumption of  the  "B2"  rectifier  is  160  watts  and  of  the 
"B4"  300  watts.  The  efficiency  ranges  from  48  to  53  per 
cent,  and  the  length  of  time  necessary  to  charge  batteries 


The  manufacturer  states  that  so  far  no  renewal  of  parts 
subject  to  wear  has  been  found  necessary,  but  when  repairs 
are  needed  the  expense  of  renewals  is  slight  and  no  special 
skill  is  required  to  readjust  the  apparatus.  A  complete 
line  in  sizes  up  to  :oo-amp  capacity  is  under  construction. 


GASOLINE-ELECTRIC  GENERATING  SET. 


The  gasoline-electric  generating  set  has  proved  to  be 
an  economical  and  reliable  source  of  energy  supply  for  con- 
sumers not  located  within  the  distribution  network  of  a 
central  station.  The  sets  illustrated  herewith  are  manu- 
factured by  the  B.  F.  Sturtevant  Company,  Hyde  Park, 
Boston.  Mass.,  and  it  is  claimed  that  these  sets  have  given 


Fig.    1 — 10-kw   Gasoiine-Eteclric   Generating   Set. 

perfect  satisfaction  in  operation  under  the  most  trying  con- 
ditions. At  present  sets  of  S  kw,  10  kw  and  15  kw  are  being 
built.  These  sets  consist  of  a  4-cycle,  vertical,  water-cooled 
gasoline  engine  with  four  or  six  cylinders,  according  to  size. 
The  cylinder  of  the  5-kw  set  is  cast  in  one  piece  with 
L-shaped  heads,  and  the  larger  sizes  are  cast  in  pairs  with 
T-shaped    heads.      All    sizes    have    integral    water    jackets. 


892 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No. 


Bearings  and  bushings  are  of  Parsons  white  brass,  con- 
necting rods  of  dropped  forged  steel  and  crank  shaft  of 
nickel  steel.  The  cam  shafts  with  integral  cams  are  gear- 
driven  from  the  main  shaft.  The  5-kw  set  has  one  cam 
shaft,  while  the  other  sizes  have  two  each.  The  base  is  a 
casting  of  iron  in  two  sections  split  on  the  center  line  of 
the    engine.      The    lower    part    of    the    base    contains    the 


Fig.  2 — 5-kw   Gasoline-Electric  Generating  Set. 

lubricating  oil.  A  separate  sub-base  holding  both  engine 
and  generator  is  furnished  with  the  two  larger  sizes,  while 
with  the  smallest  set  the  generator  is  overhung  on  the 
engine  base. 

The  sets  are  throttle-controlled  by  means  of  a  governor 
of  the  centrifugal,  vertical  type.  It  is  claimed  that  there 
is  noticeable  fluctuation  in  voltage  from  no-load  to  full-load 
or  from  sudden  variations  Of  load. 

The  lubrication  is  positive  and  forced,  oil  being  supplied 
by  a  pump  to  all  the  bearings.  A  filter  in  connection  with 
the  pump  insures  a  supply  of  clean  oil.  Arrangement  is 
made  for  cleaning  this  filter  without  drawing  off  the  oil. 
A  pump  which  circulates  cooling  water  through  the  jackets 
is  gear-driven  from  the  crank  shaft.  Ignition  is  furnished 
by  a  Bosch  high-tension  magneto  driven  by  gears  from  the 
crank  shaft.  No  battery  is  necessary  for  starting.  A 
Sturtevant  constant-level  carburetor  is  used  in  connection 
with  a  plunger  fuel  pump. 

The  generator  is  of  the  Sturtevant  direct-current  type. 
Both  engine  and  generator  are  capable  of  maintaining  an 
overload  of  25  per  cent  for  two  hours. 


ELECTRIC  RANGE  FOR  THOMPSON'S  SPA,  BOSTON. 


The  successful  use  of  many  small  electric  heating  devices 
at  Thompson's  Spa,  Boston,  Mass.,  during  the  past  few 
years  has  resulted  in  the  purchase  by  the  management  of 

ELECTRIC  RANGE,  THOMPSON'S  SPA,  BOSTON. 


Equipment. 

High  Heat, 
Watts. 

Lowest  Heat, 
Watts. 

4,800 
1,700 
3.675 
1,760 

1.600 

550 

8-in.  disk  stoves,  five,  total 

1,250 
600 

that  noted  luncheon  establishment  of  a  special  electric  range 
illustrated  herewith.  The  range  is  the  largest  electric 
equipment  of  its  kind  in  use  in  Boston  and  is  9  ft.  long,  3  ft. 
wide  and  about  2.5  ft.  high  at  the  front,  the  rear  height  being 
about  5  ft.  to  enable  two  shelves  to  be  utilized  at  the  top  of 
the  outfit.  The  range  is  operated  as  a  day  load  on  Boston 
Edison  service  and  consists  of  two  ovens,  19.5  in.  by  27  in. 
by  13.5  in.  in  dimensions  and  one  lo-in.  by  12-in.  toaster, 
one  8-in.   deep   fat   fryer   for  doughnuts  or  French   fried 


potato  service  and  four  6-in.  and  five  8-in.  disk  stoves. 
Each  oven  can  cook  sixteen  chickens  or  64  lb.  of  beef  and 
could  have  been  made  larger  if  necessary  in  the  frame 
used.  The  frame  is  of  Russia  iron  with  polished  steel 
trimmings,   and  each  heating  element  is  provided  with  an 


Electric    Range   for   Thompson's   Spa,    Boston. 

independent  four-point  switch  controlling  high,  medium  and 
low  heats  in  each  case.  Since  the  installation  of  the  range 
the  switches  have  been  mounted  on  a  slate  panel  at  the  top 
of  the  frame,  fuses  and  terminal  blocks  being  located  in  a 
cut-out  cabinet  in  the  middle  of  the  lower  section.  The 
heating  devices  are  connected  on  a  balanced  direct-current 
three-wire  circuit,  the  range  of  wattage  on  maximum  and 
minimum  being  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  table. 


COUNTERBALANCE  FOR  DROP  LAMPS. 


The  simple  and  inexpensive  device  for  vertically  adjust- 
ing  incandescent   drop   lamps   shown   herewith   and   manu- 


Drop    Lamp    Arranged    with    Counterbalance. 

factured  by  the  Sachs  Laboratories,  Inc.,  Hartford,  Conn., 
operates  on  the  counterbalance  principle,  without  springs, 
latches  or  similar  contrivances.  It  consists  of  a  two-part 
insulating  clamp  attached  at  a  suitable  distance  from  the 
socket  to  the  flexible  drop  and  to  a  suspending  cord  passing 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


893 


upward  over  a  swivel  to  a  fixed  pulley  on  the  ceiling  and  a 
counterbalance  weight.  The  lamp  hangs  suspended  from 
the  clamp  as  it  would  from  any  rosette,  without  entangling 
and  undesirable  cords.  The  device  is  furnished  with  a 
counterbalance  weight  adapted  to  the  ordinary  socket,  lamp 
and  shade,  although  larger  or  smaller  weights  are  obtain- 
able. The  clamping  channel  is  proportioned  to  grip  "New 
Code"  reinforced  flexible  cord. 


LIFTING  MAGNETS. 


A  24-in.  circular-type  lifting  magnet  has  been  added  to 
its  line  of  standard  sizes  by  the  Cutler-Hammer  Clutch 
Company,    Milwaukee.      It    is    a    development    of    a    type 


24-ln.    Lifting   Magnet. 


recently  made  for  submarine  service  and  previously  de- 
scribed in  these  columns.  The  magnet  illustrated  herewith 
was  provided  with  a  special  pole  shoe  for  handling  24-in. 
and  36-in.  skull-cracker  balls.  The  net  weight  of  this 
magnet  is  750  lb.  and  it  can  lift  ten  times  its  own  weight. 


Below  there  is  given  a  brief  description  of  the  various 
molded  insulating  compounds  for  electrical  work  as  manu- 
factured by  the  Johns-Pratt  Company,  Hartford,  Conn., 
for  which  the  H.  \V.  Johns-Manviile  Company,  New  York, 
is  the  selling  agent. 

"Fine  black  mica"  is  a  shellac  compound  possessing  high 
dielectric  strength,  together  with  good  mechanical  strength. 
It  is  composed  of  finely  divided  filling  material  and  has  for 
a  binding  material  the  best  shellac  obtainable,  which  makes 
it  non-hygroscopic  and,  therefore,  weatherproof.  Owing 
to  the  finely  divided  material  used  and  the  fact  that  it  flows 
easily  in  the  mold,  it  readily  lends  itself  for  use  in  making 
complicated  molded  pieces  that  are  to  be  used  on  electrical 
appliances  where  the  piece  must  have  a  good  appearance 
and  also  be  exposed  to  weather  conditions.  Although  this 
material  softens  at  quite  a  low  temperature,  yet  it  with- 
stands a  sufficient  amount  of  heat  to  make  it  serviceable 
on  all  classes  of  electrical  machinery  that  are  subject  to 
temperatures  common  in  factories  and  other  places  where 
proper  ventilation  is  secured. 

"Xite"  is  a  molded  compound  used  quite  extensively  in 
the  manufacture  of  overhead-line  material.  This  com- 
pound possesses  good  dielectric  and  mechanical  strength, 
but  does  not  take  a  high  finish.  Like  all  the  shellac  com- 
pounds, it  is  not  to  be  included  among  the  heat-resisting 
materials,  it  being  serviceable  only  in  places  where  normal 
atmospheric   temperatures   prevail. 

"Molded  mica"  is  another  compound  used  principally  in 
the  manufacture  of  over-line  material.  It  excels  "'xite" 
in  durability,  dielectric  strength,  mechanical  strength  and 
heat  resistance.  The  weatherproof  qualities  of  this  com- 
pound are  of  the  best  and  it  has  a  better  appearance  than 
"xite,"  thus  making  it  a  suitable  material  for  special  in- 
sulating pieces  where  the  heat  requirements  do  not  exceed 
150  deg.  Fahr. 

"Brown  mica"  has  been  manufactured  for  the  past  twenty- 
five  years,  and  is  the  material  best  adapted  for  special  in- 
sulated pieces  where  great  mechanical  strength  and  tough- 
ness are  of  prime  importance.  It  takes  a  good  finish  and 
withstands  temperatures  up  to  150  deg.  Fahr.  The  nature 
of  the  material  makes  it  possible  to  mold  it  very  accurately 
into  intricate  pieces.  It  flows  readily  in  the  mold,  thus 
reducing  the  tendency  to  unduly  strain  the  mold,  as  is  the 


MOLDED  INSULATING  COMPOUNDS. 


By  R.   B.   Lattin. 

The  efficiency  of  the  insulating  parts  of  all  electrical 
apparatus  is  so  important  a  matter  that  great  care  should 
be  exercised  by  every  manufacturer  to  obtain  the  insulating 
material  best  suited  to  his  special  purpose. 

That  the  best  insulating  material  for  one  purpose  is  not 
necessarily  the  best  for  all  purposes  is  illustrated,  for 
instance,  bv  glass,  a  high  grade  of  which  is  an  excellent 
insulator,  so  far  as  its  dielectric  strength  is  concerned, 
but  is  entirely  too  fragile  for  use  in  connection  with  elec- 
trical   machinery. 

Many  insulating  compounds  have  been  invented  in  an 
effort  to  combine  as  far  as  possible  ^11  of  the  elements 
necessary  in  an  insulating  material  suitable  for  general 
use  in  the  electrical  field,  but  these  have  failed  to  give 
satisfaction.  In  other  insulating  compounds  some  prop- 
erty has  been  developed  to  a  high  degree,  but  this  is 
nearly  always  done  at  the  sacrifice  of  other  properties. 
For  instance,  compounds  that  possess  a  high  resistance  to 
heat  are  usually  weak  electrically  and  are  seldom  capable 
of  withstanding  moisture  without  absorption. 

The  uses  for  molded  insulation  are  so  many  and  differ 
so  widely  in  their  requirements  that  special  materials  have 
to  be  developed  to  meet  the  different  classes  of  work.  These 
special  materials  are  molded  together  into  insulating  com- 
pounds that  sacrifice  nothing  in  the  way  of  insulating 
strength    for   the   purposes    for   which   they   are   designed. 


Fig. 


1 — Parts    for    Electrical     Devices    Made    of    Insulating 
Compounds. 


case   with    some    of    the    more    fibrous    high-heat-resisting 
compounds. 

"Gray  monarch"  is  a  compound  which  has  been  employed 
extensively  for  molded  insulating  pieces  to  be  used  in  con- 
nection with  commercial  machinery  where  the  temperature 
rises  somewhat  above  the  normal  atmospheric  average.  It 
is  a  very  fibrous  compound  and  consequently  possesses  a 
high  mechanical  strength,  but  it  does  not  take  a  high  finish. 
It  is  recommended  for  use  only  in  making  up  pieces  where 


894 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


appearance  is  not  of  prime  importance.  It  is  quite  hygro- 
scopic, making  it  unfit  for  use  in  very  damp  places  or  ex- 
posed to  the  weather.  This  compound  does  not  possess  a 
high  dielectric  strength  and  cannot  withstand  voltages 
above  the  normal  tension  in  trolley  and  lighting  circuits. 

"Vulcabeston    No.   30"    possesses    a    fair   dielectric    and 
mechanical  strength,  but  is  somewhat  hygroscopic  owing 


Fig.    2 — Parts    for    Electrical    Devices    Made    of    Insulating 
Compounds. 

to  its  very  fibrous  nature.  Its  main  characteristic  is  its 
ability  to  withstand  temperatures  up  to  400  deg.  Fahr.  It 
is  used  only  for  insulating  pieces  and  is  especially  well 
adapted  for  making  boxes  and  linings  for  arc  deflectors. 
Owing  to  its  dull  gray  appearance  it  is  unsuitable  for 
places  where  a  high  finish  is  of  importance,  but  it  is  well 
adapted  for  insulating  bushings,  etc.,  used  in  connection 
with  motors  and  generators,  provided  it  does  not  come  in 
contact  with  an  excessive  amount  of  oil  and  is  not  exposed 
to  dampness  or  the  weather. 

One  form  of  "vulcabeston"  which  is  used  quite  exten- 
sively is  made  up  in  sheets  of  various  thicknesses.  The 
stock  from  which  it  is  made  dififers  from  the  regular 
material  in  that  it  has  much  longer  asbestos  fibers,  thus 
giving  it  greater  mechanical  strength  and  more  elasticity 
but  slightly  decreasing  its  dielectric  strength.  This  class  of 
material  is  serviceable  in  places  where  a  few  thin  insu- 
lating pieces  are  desired  and  the  quantity  is  insufficient  to 
make  it  practicable  to  manufacture  molds. 

"Vulcabeston  No.  201"  is  the  latest  development  in  this 
class  of  materials.  Its  composition  does  not  materially 
dififer  from  the  regular  grades,  but  owing  to  special  treat- 
ment it  produces  a  finished  insulating  material  which  pos- 
sesses greater  dielectric  strength  and  also  greater  me- 
chanical strength  than  No.  30.  It  withstands  temperatures 
up  to  600  deg.  Fahr.  without  disintegrating.  One  of  its 
most  valuable  characteristics  is  its  non-absorptive  qualities. 
Oil  has  no  effect  upon  this  material  and  therefore  it  is 
suitable  for  bushings,  etc.,  on  commercial  machinery  where 
there  is  an  excessive  amount  of  oil.  It  is  well  adapted  for 
making  up  insulating  handles  and  plugs  for  cooking  uten- 
sils and  other  devices  which  require  a  good  heat-resisting 
compound.  Although  quite  strong,  it  is  inelastic  and  there- 
fore cannot  be  used  in  places  where  it  has  to  change  its 
shape  when  subjected  to  pressure  nor  where  a  drive  fit  is 
necessary   in  assembling  it   into  a  machine. 

••J-P  bakelite"'  is  especially  adapted  for  the  molding  of 
complicated  insulated  pieces  where  a  high  mechanical  and 
dielectric  strength  is  required  in  connection  with  good  heat- 
resisting  qualities  and  good  appearance.  It  is  very  strong, 
resists  heat  up  to  400  deg.  Fahr.,  has  dielectric  strength  to 
withstand  250  volts  per  mil  and  is  also  non-absorptive  and 
unaffected  by  acids  or  alkalies.  When  formed  in  a  highly 
polished  mold  the  pieces  present  a  very  fine  appearance, 
and  it  is  applicable  to  the  making  of  insulating  pieces  in 
place  of  hard  rubber.  The  high  finish  does  not  deteriorate 
with  age.  being  absolutely  permanent  under  ordinary  atmos- 
pheric conditions. 
All  the  above  materials  except  "vulcabeston  No.  30"  are 


well  adapted  for  making  insulated  pieces  into  which  metal 
inserts  are  to  be  molded.  There  arc  many  instances  where 
a  manufacturer  of  electrical  machinery  assembles  metal 
parts  into  the  molded  blocks  when  he  could  without  added 
cost  obtain  these  pieces  with  the  metal  parts  molded  in, 
thus  saving  the  expense  of  assembling.  In  general,  it  is 
just  as  cheap  to  mold  the  insert  in  place  as  it  is  to  mold  a 
hole  into  which  to  assemble  it. 

In  the  majority  of  cases  it  is  quite  impracticable  to  ma- 
chine molded  insulation,  because  most  compounds  contain 
a  mineral  filler  which  rapidly  takes  the  edge  from  a  tool, 
thus  preventing  it  from  making  a  true  surface.  It  is  much 
more  satisfactory  to  mold  the  piece  into  the  desired  shape 
than  to  attempt  machining   it. 


APPLICATION    OF  SMALL  ROTARY  CONVERTERS. 


A  line  of  rotary  converters  ranging  from  i  kw  to  100  kw 
has  been  developed  by  the  Pan  Electric  Manufacturing 
Company,  731  South  Fourth  Street,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  A 
number  of  installations  have  been  made  of  various  sizes. 
The  sets  are  recommended  for  use  in  garages,  printing 
establishments,  and  in  general  where  it  is  desired  to  trans- 
form two-phase  or  three-phase  alternating  current  to  direct 
current.  With  some  modification  in  the  field  construction, 
they  can  also  be  used  as  inverted  converters. 

One  installation  of  the  latter  kind  was  a  20-kw  inverted 
converter  for  supplying  energy  for  a  sign  containing  8000 
2.5-watt  incandescent  lamps.  The  load  on  this  machine 
was  later  on  raised  to  nearly  12,000  lamps,  which  was  car- 
ried satisfactorily.  In  another  instance  a  S-kw.  two-phase 
rotary  converter  was  installed  to  operate  an  electric  sign 
in  conjunction  with  tungsten  lamps  in  place  of  carbon 
lamps,  which  arrangement  reduced  the  consumer's  monthly 
bill  from  an  average  of  $130  to  an  average  of  $44,  while 
giving  improved  illumination.  This  installation  helped  in 
securing  other  contracts  for  the  sign  company  and  central 
station,  so  that  the  central  station's  loss  in  business  was 
made  up  several  times  by  new  customers. 

In  one  case  three-phase  current  was  available  and  iio- 
volt  direct  current  was  desired  for  electrolytic  purposes. 
A  20-kw,  900-r.p.m.  rotary  converter  for  twenty-four-hour 
service  was  installed  after  a  series   of  tests  had  demon- 


Sniall    Rotary   Converter. 

strated  to  the  purchaser's  satisfaction  that  the  over-all 
efficiency  of  the  machine  and  the  transformers  was  more 
than  90  per  cent.  One  hundred  per  cent  overload  was 
maintained  for  four  hours  with  a  rise  in  temperature  of 
38  deg.  C.  on  the  commutator.  It  is  stated  that  a  number 
of  other  installations  with  equally  good  results  have  been 
made. 


October  26,  1912.  ELECTRICAL     WORLD 

HOLLOW  REINFORCED-CONCRETE  POLES. 


895 


The  accompanying  illustrations  show  parts  of  hollow 
rein  forced-concrete  poles  manufactured  by  the  R.  M.  Jones 
process.  The  pole  is  shaped  by  rolling  it  in  a  belt,  no  ex- 
terior forms  being  employed.     The  rolling  process  in  com- 


from  No.  6  to  No.  10  steel  wire,  as  required  for  producing 
desired  strengths.  The  woven  reinforcement  is  held  cen- 
trally between  the  inner  core  and  the  outer  circle  by  pole 
step  sockets  woven  between  two  bars  of  the  reinforcement. 
Distance  pieces  are  also  provided  for  centralizing  the  rein- 
forcement at  other  positions  around  the  pole.  The  process 
of   forming   poles   by   rolling  them    in   a   belt   and   passing 


Fig.    1 — Experimental    l\flachine   of   Compression-Roii    Type. 

pression  is  said  to  cause  better  tamping  effects  than  can 
be  accomplished  in  any  other  manner.  The  mixture  is 
made  quite  dry,  but  the  compression  is  such  as  to  bring  the 
water  to  the  surface.  The  mandrel,  which  is  covered  with 
sheet  steel,  made  in  two  parts,  remains  in  the  pole  until  the 
concrete  sets,  when  the  mandrel  and  the  sheet-steel  cover- 
ing which  form  the  core  are  removed.  The  ratio  of  taper 
adopted  is  I  in.  diameter  for  each  6  ft.  in  length.  The 
concrete  wall  is  1.5  in.  thick,  and  its  application  to  a  36- ft. 
pole  results  in  a  product  with  an  outside  diameter  of  12  in. 
and  an  inside  diameter  of  9  in.  at  the  butt  and  an  outside 
diameter  of  6  in.  and  an  inside  diameter  of  3  in.  at  the  top. 
The  reinforcement,  which  is  centrally  located  in  the  con- 
crete wall,  is  composed  of  five  sizes  of  square-twist  steel 
reinforced  bars,  ranging  from  0.25  in.  to  0.5  in.,  woven  with 
steel  wire  warp  at  6-in.  intervals.     The  reinforcement  con- 


Fig.   3 — Hollow   Reinforced    Concrete    Poles. 

them  between  compressor  rolls  is  claimed  to  produce 
stronger,  straighter,  smoother  and  less  expensive  poles  than 
any  other  process.  The  system  as  a  whole  is  marketed  by 
R.  M.  Jones  &  Company,  Denver,  Col. 


OIL  SWITCH  FOR  SWITCHBOARD  MOUNTING. 


The  accompanying  illustrations  show  the  smallest  oil 
switch  manufactured  by  the  General  Electric  Company  for 
switchboard  mounting.  It  was  developed  particularly  for 
use  in  isolated  and  small  plants  and  will  provide  adequate 
protection  on  alternating-current  circuits  up  to  200  amp 
and  3300  volts. 

The  entire  mechanism  and  oil  tank,  except  the  operating 


Fig.    2 — A    Joint    Complete    Except    for    Filling    with    Concrete. 

sists  of,  ten  bars  of  any  selected  size  the  entire  length, 
eighteen  bars  two-thirds  of  the  length  and  twenty-six  bars 
one-third  the  length  of  the  poles.  This  is  woven  on  a 
tapered  mandrel  in  a  specially  prepared  loom,  which  is 
afterward  placed  upon  the  mandrel,  and  the  warp  which 
forms  the  circumferential  reinforcement  is  united  by  twist- 
ing one  around  the  other.     The  warp  may  be  varied  in  size 


Small     Oil     Switch     Mounted     on     Switchboard. 

handle  on  the  front  of  the  board,  are  suspended  from  a 
single  frame.  The  oil  vessel  is  of  heavy  sheet  metal  lined 
with  an  insulating  material  and  provided  with  barriers, 
between  poles.  The  contacts  provide  two  breakers  in  each 
phase  and  open  by  gravity.  This  switch  is  made  in  double- 
pole,  triple-pole  and  four-pole  type,  both  non-automatic 
and  automatic   for  hand  operation. 


896 


ELECTRICAL     \VORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


Industrial  and  Financial  NeAvs 


THE  impetus  that  was  given  to  commercial  and  indus- 
trial operations  when  the  movement  of  the  crops 
began  to  assume  large  proportions  has  resulted  in 
imparting  a  high  degree  of  business  activity  all  over  the 
country.  Each  week  is  showing  improvement  in  the  situa- 
tion. Transportation  facilities  are  experiencing  a  very 
heavy  demand,  the  leading  industries  are  expanding  rap- 
idly, and  the  demand  for  early  delivery  of  materials  is  very 
pronounced.  Shortage  of  labor  and  of  railroad  equipment 
is  restricting  delivery  in  many  instances.  Bank  clearings 
last  week  showed  an  increase  of  three-tenths  of  i  per  cent 
over  those  of  the  week  preceding  and  of  4.2  per  cent  over 
those  in  the  corresponding  week  of  1911.  Money  is  in 
active  demand  and  rates  continue  firm.  Collections  are  im- 
proving and  business  failures  are  smaller  in  number  than 
they  have  been  in  recent  weeks  or  in  the  corresponding 
weeks  in  the  past  few  years.  Substantial  gains  are  shown 
in  the  earnings  of  many  of  the  electrical  manufacturing 
and  public-utility  companies.  A  good  demand  exists  for 
electric-heating  appliances  and  for  wire,  and  both  of  these 
branches  of  the  industry  show  much  expansion  as  com- 
pared with  last  year's  business. 


Water-Power  Developments  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Com- 
pany.— In  a  general  paper  on  the  subject  of  "Water-Power 
Development  and  Its  Relation  to  Public  Utilities,"  read 
before  the  American  Electric  Railway  Association  in  Chi- 
cago on  Oct.  8,  James  E.  Hewes  gave  some  interesting 
specific  information  in  relation  to  the  hydroelectric  devel- 
opments of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company  in  operation  or 
about  to  be  made.  In  the  watershed  of  the  Mississippi  ten 
or  twelve  water-power  developments  are  owned  and  oper- 
ated by  this  company.  These  are  located  in  or  near  Min- 
neapolis and  St.  Paul,  at  Cannon  Falls  and  Mankato,  Minn.; 
also  on  Apple  River,  Wis.  Mr.  Hewes  said  in  part:  "On 
the  New  River  in  West  Virginia  we  have  developed  two 
water-powers,  and  there  are  two  other  water-powers  which 
will  be  developed  in  the  near  future.  This  installation  on 
the  New  River  is  unique  in  that  almost  one-half  of  the 
entire  market  for  the  power  developed  is  to  supply  elec- 
trical energy  to  coal  mines.  Now  we  have  often  been  led 
to  believe  that  the  further  away  a  water-power  development 
was  from  cheap  coal  the  more  profitable  it  would  be,  but 
I  can  assure  you  that  while  these  developments  on  the 
New  River  have  just  been  put  in  operation,  and  we  cannot 
tell  you  from  the  actual  operation  of  the  plants  what  the 
profit  will  be,  yet  the  signed  contracts  for  service  in  the 
Pocahontas  coal  field  will  show  a  return  on  the  investment 
greater  than  my  company  dared  to  predict  in  its  pros- 
pectus. We  are  about  to  develop  a  large  installation  on 
the  Caney  Fork  River  in  the  near  future  to  supply  Nash- 
ville, Chattanooga  and  Knoxville.  Tenn.,  with  energy.  In 
conjunction  with  E.  W.  Clark  &  Company,  we  have  devel- 
oped on  the  Ocoee  River,  in  Tennessee,  20,000  hp  and  are 
now  building  an  additional  development  of  15,000  hp.  We 
are  building  a  150-mile,  125,000-volt  transmission  line  be- 
tween Chattanooga  and  Nashville  for  the  distribution  of 
this  energy  to  these  two  cities,  and  we  have  just  completed 
a  transmission  line  into  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  and  Rome,  Ga. 
By  the  time  this  project  has  reached  its  full  development 
stage  we  shall  be  able  to  supply  electrical  energy  to  every 
town  and  city  in  three-fourths  of  the  State  of  Tennessee. 
The  eflfect  of  this  development  alone  upon  the  community 
has  been  to  cause  an  enormous  interest  in  the  natural  re- 
sources of  the  country,  and  it  is  already  causing  large 
manufacturing  industries,  dependent  upon  a  large  supply  of 
energy  and  cheap  labor,  to  open  negotiations  for  the  pur- 
chase of  such  energy."  Details  of  this  project  of  the  Ten- 
nessee Railway,  Power  &  Light  Company  appeared  in 
these  columns  April  13,  1912. 

Manhattan  Electrical  Supply  Company's  New  Stock. — As 

was  noted  in  these  columns  last  week,  the  stockholders  of 
the  Manhattan  Electrical  Supply  Company,  17  Park  Place, 
New  York,  have  authorized  an  increase  in  capitalization 
from  $750,000  to  $5,000,000,  the  directors  have  authorized  a 


100  per  cent  stock  dividend  on  the  common  stock  and  plans 
have  been  made  for  selling  an  allotment  of  the  new  stock 
at  par  to  employees.  Further  details  now  available  show 
that  the  present  $150,000  preferred  stock  will  be  increased 
to  $500,000  and  that  the  common  stock  will  be  made 
$4,500,000  instead  of  $600,000.  The  profit-sharing  plan 
through  which  employees  may  purchase  stock  in  the  com- 
panj'  provides  for  offering  to  them  as  par  an  amount  of 
stock  equal  to  25  per  cent  of  their  yearly  salaries  and  allow- 
ing them  five  years  in  which  to  pay  for  it.  Present  stock- 
holders will  have  the  opportunity  to  subscribe  for  the  new 
stock  at  par  to  the  amount  of  their  present  holdings.  It  is 
planned  to  bring  in  about  $500,000  additional  working  capi- 
tal at  this  time  to  be  used  for  extension  purposes.  All  of 
this  not  subscribed  for  by  employees  or  by  present  stock- 
holders will  be  offered  to  the  public.  Of  the  $5,000,000 
comprising  the  total  authorized  issue  $1,850,000  is  to  become 
outstanding  at  this  time.  This  will  be  made  up  of  $1,200,000 
common,  $150,000  preferred  and  $500,000  of  either  preferred 
or  common.  The  company  has  only  twenty-two  stockhold- 
ers. Its  new  manufacturing  plants,  which  are  situated  at 
Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  and  Ravenna,  Ohio,  are  rapidly 
approaching  completion. 

Sanitary  District  Awards. — Recent  contracts  for  electri- 
cal material  have  been  awarded  by  the  board  of  trustees  of 
the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago  as  follows:  Single-con- 
ductor armored  cable,  Standard  Underground  Cable  Com- 
pany, 20.4  cents  a  foot;  series  inclosed  alternating-current 
arc  lamps,  General  Electric  Company,  $27.50  each  (less  $3 
for  each  old  arc  lamp  taken  in  exchange) ;  single-conductor 
lead-covered  cable.  Standard  Underground  Cable  Company, 
12,1  cents  a  foot;  auto  transformers.  Delta  Star 
Electric  Company,  $620  each.  The  auto  transformers  men- 
tioned will  be  used  to  reduce  the  voltage  of  a  12,000-volt 
circuit  to  supply  11,000-volt,  three-phase,  6o-cycle,  I200-hp 
synchronous  motors  which  at  times  will  be  over-excited  and 
act  as  rotary  condensers.  These  motors  will  be  used  in  con- 
nection with  the  execution  of  the  Sanitary  District's  street- 
lighting  contract  with  the  city  of  Chicago.  Not  less  than 
three  nor  more  than  si-x  will  be  required.  Orders  have  been 
placed  recently  with  the  Chicago  Insulated  Wire  &  Manu- 
facturing Company  for  50  miles  of  No.  6  weather-proof 
copper  wire,  delivered  at  17.85  cents  a  pound  and  also  with 
the  John  A.  Roebling's  Sons  Company  for  50  miles  of  No.  6 
weather-proof  copper  wire  for  17.86  cents  a  pound. 

Dayton  (Ohio)  Power  &  Light  Company  Enlarges  Its 
Holdings. — Frank  M.  Tait,  president  and  general  man- 
ager of  the  Dayton  (Ohio)  Power  &  Light  Company,  act- 
ing for  that  company,  has  taken  over  the  Miami  Light, 
Heat  &  Power  Company  of  Piqua,  Ohio,  a  city  of  over 
14,000  inhabitants,  about  25  miles  northwest  of  Dayton. 
The  purchasers  will  extend  a  pole  line  from  Dayton  to 
Piqua  and  inaugurate  a  vigorous  new-business  campaign 
in  Piqua  as  soon  as  application  for  approval  of  the  pur- 
chase has  been  made  to  the  Ohio  Public  Service  Commis- 
sion, and  the  latter  has  given  this  approval.  The  Miami 
company  has  $300,000  stock  outstanding  and  $167,500  of 
bonds.  In  addition  to  its  commercial  business,  it  has  a 
city  lighting  contract  and  also  furnishes  steam  heating. 
The  gross  earnings  of  the  Dayton  company  for  the  nine 
months  ended  Sept.  30  were  $488,362,  which  compares  with 
$446,000  in  the  corresponding  period  of  191 1.  Net  income, 
after  all  deductions,  was  $107,413,  as  compared  with  $63,089 
in  the   nine   months  ended   Sept.  30,   191 1. 

General  Electric's  Business  Expanding. — During  the  nine 
and  one-half  months  since  Jan.  i  gross  sales  of  the  General 
Electric  Company  have  been  at  a  rate  closely  approaching 
$83,000,000  per  annum,  which  compares  with  $69,851,275  in 
the  twelve  months  ended  Dec.  31,  191 1.  This  represents  an 
increase  in  gross  of  more  than  $13,000,000  per  annum,  or 
18  per  cent.  The  business  of  the  past  two  months  has 
shown  a  decided  increase.  With  continuance  of  the  gains 
made,  it  is  possible  that  the  year's  business  will  reach 
$95,000,000.  Whether  or  not  higher  prices  will  result  if  the 
present  volume  of  new  business  continues  remains  to  be 
seen. 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


897 


Proposed  Unification  of  Street- Railway  Systems  in  Chi- 
cago.— The  matter  of  combining  the  surface  street-railway 
interests  in  Chicago  was  discussed  at  a  meeting  of  the 
local  transportation  committee  of  the  City  Council  on  Oct. 
17.  Leonard  A.  Busby,  president  of  the  Chicago  City  Rail- 
way Company;  Williston  Fish  and  W.  W.  Gurley,  respec- 
tively first  vice-president  and  general  counsel  of  the  Chi- 
cago Railways  Company,  were  present.  The  street-railway 
men  said  that  they  did  not  see  any  insuperable  objection  to 
unification  of  all  the  surface  street-railway  interests  in  Chi- 
cago. It  might  be  advisable  to  retain  separate  corporations, 
united,  however,  under  an  operating  agreement  whereby  all 
receipts  and  expenditures  would  be  common  funds,  the  net 
receipts  to  be  apportioned  to  each  company  by  some  agree- 
ment. For  purposes  of  operation  this  plan  would  enable 
the  various  lines  to  be  considered  as  one  property.  A  com- 
plete consolidation  of  the  companies  might  follow  this  plan, 
but  it  would  take  some  time  to  effect  it,  whereas  unified 
operation  could  be  put  into  effect  without  great  delay.  As 
to  the  general  merger  of  all  the  elevated  and  surface  rail- 
ways, which  has  been  proposed,  Mr.  Busby  explained-  that 
that  would  require  a  statutory  enactment,  as  the  elevated- 
railway  companies  are  incorporated  under  the  railway  law, 
while  the  surface  street-railway  companies  are  incorporated 
under  the  general  corporations  act.  However,  the  neces- 
sary legislation  might  be  procured  in  time.  Mr.  Gurley 
explained  in  addition  that  the  fact  that,  though  there  was 
a  valuation  of  the  surface  properties,  the  city  and  the  ele- 
vated companies  had  not  been  able  to  reach  an  agreement 
as  to  valuation,  added  a  serious  complication  to  the  prospect 
of  a  general  merger  of  all  the  transportation  companies  at 
the  present  time.  A  sub-committee  of  five  aldermen  was 
appointed  to  consider  the  subject  of  unification  of  street- 
railway  interests. 

General  Vehicle  Head  Deplores  Lack  of  Capable  Sales- 
men.— President  P.  D.  Wagoner,  of  the  General  Vehicle 
Company,  in  discussing  the  motor-truck  situation  and  com- 
menting upon  the  changes  in  the  staff  of  his  company,  to 
which  reference  was  made  in  the  Electrical  World  last  week, 
said  recently:  "The  industry  is  just  beginning  to  appreciate 
the  dearth  of  capable  motor-truck  salesmen — men  who  can 
produce  business  under  a  policy  which  insures  satisfaction 
to  the  buyer  and  justice  to  the  trucks.  At  first  glance  one 
might  think  that  the  marketing  of  electric  trucks  was  a 
harder  problem  than  selling  gas  trucks,  but  experience  in- 
dicates there  is  little  difference  in  selling  either  kind  when 
they  are  sold  right.  In  other  words,  certain  standards  of 
salesmanship  must  be  maintained  if  we  would  secure  re- 
order business,  as  that,  with  a  constant  supply  of  new  cus- 
tomers, is  what  builds  up  confidence  in  a  product.  I  think 
until  recently  too  much  thought  has  been  given  to  getting 
distribution  quickly,  oftentimes  at  the  expense  of  things 
more  essential.  We  all  have  our  problems,  but  with  ex- 
perience comes  the  knowledge  to  surmount  them." 

Pacific  Light  &  Power  Buys  Equipment. — The  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  has  received  an 
order  from  the  Pacific  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  Los 
Angeles,  Cal.,  for  electrical  apparatus  totaling  $350,000  in 
value.  The  order  includes  two  17,500-kw,  6600-volt,  three- 
phase  waterwheel-type  generators;  one  200-kw  motor-gen- 
erator set,  one  66oo-kw,  6600-volt  synchronous  condenser, 
together  with  a  quantity  of  auxiliary  apparatus.  The  ap- 
paratus is  for  use  in  a  water-power  plant  near  Fresno,  Cal., 
and  the  energy  generated  will  be  transmitted  at  the  poten- 
tial of  150,000  volts  to  two  substations  located  135  miles  and 
275  miles  respectively  from  the  plant.  The  energy  is  to  be 
used  in  and  around  Los  Angeles.  The  Pacific  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric Company,  also  of  California,  has  placed  an  order  with 
the  Westinghouse  company  for  four  waterwheel-type  gen- 
erators of  large  voltage  to  be  used  in  the  San  Francisco 
district. 

Work  on  Cheat  River  Dam  Delayed. — Through  a  deci- 
sion that  has  just  been  handed  down  by  Judge  J.  W.  Ma- 
son of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Monongalia  County,  W.  Va., 
in  which  it  is  held  that  the  Cheat  River  between  the  Penn- 
sylvania and  West  Virginia  State  boundaries  and  at  sev- 
eral places  up  the  river  is  a  navigable  stream  of  the  second 
class  and  that  neither  the  Mountain  Park  Land  Company 
nor  its  successor,  the  West  Virginia  Development  Com- 
pany, has  the  right  to  build  a  dam,  as  has  been  planned, 
the  plans  of  J.   S.  &  W.  S.   Kuhn,  Inc.,  of  Pittsburgh,  for 


constructing  a  hydroelectric  development  on  this  river  have 
been  held  up.  A  contract  for  the  construction  of  a  dam 
and  power  house  on  the  river  near  the  Pennsylvania  line 
was  awarded  by  the  Kuhn  interests  to  a  Pittsburgh  con- 
cern several  months  ago,  as  was  noted  in  these  columns 
July  27. 

Wisconsin  Gas  &  Electric  Bonds. — The  incorporation  of 
the  Wisconsin  Gas  &  Electric  Company  as  the  successor 
of  the  Kenosha  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  the  Kenosha 
Electric  Railway  Company  and  the  Racine  Gas  Light  Com- 
pany was  noted  in  these  columns  Oct.  5,  and  the  names 
of  some  of  its  officers  appeared  in  the  issue  of  Oct.  12.  The 
company  has  recently  sold  to  Harris,  Forbes  &  Company 
and  Spencer  Trask  &  Company  $2,000,000  first-mortgage  5 
per  cent  forty-year  bonds,  dated  June  i,  1912,  covering  all 
its  properties  in  Kenosha  and  Racine,  Wis.  In  addition  to 
its  bonds,  the  company  has  $1,000,000  common  and  $200,000 
preferred  stock  outstanding.  Its  properties  consist  of  121 
miles  of  gas  mains  in  these  two  cities  and  vicinity,  8  miles 
of  electric  railway  track  in  Kenosha  and  a  2200-hp  gener- 
ating station.  Gross  earnings  of  the  properties  in  the 
twelve  months  ended  Aug.  31,  1912,  were  $614,587  and  net 
earnings  were  $197,236.  Bond  interest  amounted  to  $I00,- 
000,  leaving  a  surplus  of  $97,236  available  for  dividends. 

Low  Rates  Brought  Business  to  Canadian  Company. — 
The  utilities  commission  of  London,  Ontario,  has  pre- 
sented a  report  of  its  hydroelectric  department  which  shows 
that  the  gross  surplus  for  the  first  ten  months  of  this  year 
was  over  $31,000.  The  figures  were  made  known  at  the 
regular  meeting  of  the  board  and  were  in  brief  as  follows: 
For  ten  months  ended  Sept.  30,  receipts  from  customers, 
$79,161;  receipts  from  the  city  street  lighting  and  water- 
works, $31,174;  total  receipts,  $110,335;  total  expenditure, 
$78,551.  The  gross  surplus,  as  above,  was  $31,784,  and 
deduction  of  interest  and  sinking  fund  to  Sept.  30,  amount- 
ing to  $16,737,  left  a  net  surplus  of  $15,046.  A  large  pro- 
portion of  the  surplus  was  derived  from  residence  and 
commercial  lighting,  showing  that  the  company's  4;^-cent 
rate  per  kw-hr.,  combined  with  flat-rate  lighting  at  even 
less  than  4^  cents,  was  a  paying  proposition. 

Control  of  Ohio  Public  Utility  Changes  Hands. — The 
Northwestern  Ohio  Railway  &  Power  Company,  which  is  a 
subsidiary  of  the  General  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  whose 
formation  by  W.  S.  Barstow  &  Company,  50  Pine  Street, 
New  York,  was  noted  in  these  columns  July  6,  has  pur- 
chased the  properties  of  the  Port  Clinton  (Ohio)  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company.  Energy  will  be  furnished  to  the 
system  from  the  Northwestern  company's  1500-kw  station 
at  Port  Clinton,  which  is  to  be  enlarged  by  the  installation 
of  a  1700-kva  General  Electric  turbine  unit,  two  300-hp. 
Stirling  boilers,  a  Le  Blanc  condenser  and  Jones  auto-feed 
stokers,  as  was   noted   in   the   Electrical   World,  Aug.   24. 

To     Reorganize    Central    Colorado    Power    Company. — ■ 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Central  Colorado  Power  Com- 
pany of  Denver,  Col.,  is  not  earning  the  S  per  cent  interest 
on  its  $12,500,000  bonded  indebtedness,  as  was  noted  in-  a 
reference  to  its  annual  report  in  these  columns  on  Aug.  10, 
a  reorganization  of  the  company  will  be  effected  in  the 
early  part  of  next  year.  New  York  interests  affiliated  with 
the  company  say  that  no  definite  details  of  the  reorganiza- 
tion plan  have  been  perfected  as  yet.  The  company  has 
recently  closed  a  contract  to  supply  the  Denver  City  Tram- 
way Company  with  about  2000  kw. 

Abilene  (Tex.)  Utilities  Sold.— The  New  York  banking 
house  of  N.  W.  Halsey  &  Company  has  acquired  the  gas, 
electric,  water  and  ice  properties  in  Abilene,  Tex.,  formerly 
operated  by  the  Abilene  Light  &  Water  Company,  the  Abi- 
lene Gas,  Light,  Fuel  &  Power  Company  and  the  Abilene 
Ice  Company.  About  $100,000  is  to  be  spent  upon  improve- 
ments. Part  of  this  will  be  for  gas  mains  and  part  for  an 
additional  generating  unit  for  the  electric  company,  but  its 
size  is  not  available  at  this  time. 

Nelite  Works  of  General  Electric  Company  Acquires 
Permel  Lighting  System. — The  Permel  system  of  specific 
lighting  units,  whose  function  is  to  give  a  high  intensity 
over  small  areas  as  is  required  in  many  of  the  operations 
in  shoe  manufacturing  and  similar  industries,  has  been  ac- 
quired by  the  Nelite  Works  of  General  Electric  Company, 
and  will  be  marketed  by  the  latter  in  the  future. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Nu.  17. 


Suspicion  Not  Ground  for  Removal  of  Receiver. — Some 
of  the  minority  stockliolders  of  the  Chicago  &  Oak  Park 
Elevated  Railroad  Company  recently  asked  the  federal 
court  in  Chicago  for  leave  to  file  a  petition  asking  that 
Samuel  Insull  be  removed  as  receiver  of  the  company.  It 
was  alleged  that  the  interests  of  the  minority  stockholders 
would  be  jeopardized  by  the  proposed  reorganization  of 
the  company  and  its  reported  amalgamation  with  the  other 
elevated-railway  companies.  Judge  Kohlsaat  held  that  no 
circumstances  of  emergency  were  shown  warranting  the 
removal  of  the  receiver.  "The  charges  are  principally  in- 
nuendo and  suspicion,"  said  the  court,  "and  there  is  no  need 
for  the  filing  of  the  petition,  which  is  denied."  However, 
the  judge  made  an  order  permitting  complainant's  counsel 
to  have  access  to  the  books  and  records  of  the  company, 
it  being  alleged  that  some  of  the  claims  presented  against 
the  company  are  excessive  and  unjust. 

Bonds  of  Burlington  (la.)  Company  Offered. — First- 
mortgage  5  per  cent  sinking-fund  gold  bonds  of  the  Burling- 
ton Railway  &  Light  Company,  of  Burlington,  la.,  to  the 
amount  of  $1,400,000,  are  being  offered  to  investors  at  96^. 
The  bonds  are  dated  March  i,  1912,  and  are  due  March  i, 
1932.  The  authorized  issue  is  $7,500,000.  The  company  does 
the  electric-service  business  of  Burlington,  operates  a  sys- 
tem of  street  railways  in  that  city  and  also  conducts  a  gas 
plant  and  a  steam-heating  plant.  The  $1,400,000  of  bonds 
now  offered  are  all  that  are  outstanding.  Additional  bonds 
can  be  issued  for  80  per  cent  of  improvements  when  net 
earnings  for  twelve  months  preceding  are  double  the  inter- 
est charges  on  bonds  outstanding  and  those  proposed  to  be 
issued.     The  net  income  for  191 1  was  $151,768. 


INDUSTRIALSECURI  TIES. 


Security. 


AUis-Chalmers  t.  r.  1st  as- 
sess, paid 

Allis-Chalmers  t.  r.  2d  as- 
sess, paid 

AUis-Chalmers  pf 

AUis-Chalmers  pf.  t.  r.  1st 
assess,  paid 

Allis-Chalmers  pf.  2d  as- 
sess, paid 

Amalgamated  Copper 

American  Tel.  &  Tel 

Crocker- Wheeler,  c 

Crocker-Wheeler,  pf 

Electric  Storage  Battery ,c 

General  Electric 

Mackay  Cos.,  c ".  . 

Mackay  Cos.,  pf 

Western  Union  Tel 

Westinghsuse,  E.  &  M..  c. 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M.,  pf. 


Capital  Stock 
Listed. 


DIVIDEND. 


$17,125,800 


2,083,800 
13.966,200 


153.887,900 

334,303,300 

1,700,000 

500,000 

16,074,425 

77,726.700 

41.380,400 

50.000,000 

99,743,400 

31,685,300 

3,998,700 


Per  Cent.  I  Period, 


1 
2 


2 

a 
1 

1 


Q 
0 
Q 
Q 

0 
0 
Q 
0 
0 
Q 


Oct.  16.  Oct.  23 


3i* 


143i 
88* 

105* 
56 

I82i 
86i* 
681* 
79 
84i 

126* 


2i* 

1* 

3i* 

8i* 
86J 

143 
87* 

104* 
55} 

180i 
86}* 
68* 
79| 
82} 

126* 


*Last  price  quoted. 


NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET   PRICES. 

. Oct.   15 , 

Copper:  Bid.         Asked. 

Standard,    spot     17.20          

£       s     d 

London,  standard,  spot    75       7     6 

Prime  Lake    17. 62^^  to  17.75 

Electrolytic      17.50      to  17.70 

Casting    17.37'/;  to  17.50 

Copper    wire,    base    19.00 

Lead S.IO 

Nickel     45.00 

Sheet   zinc,   f.o.b.   smelter    9.00 

Spelter,    spot     7.60 

Tin,   spot    , 49.35 

Aluminum; 

Prompt    delivery 26.00  to  27.00 

Future     25.50  to  26.50 

CLD  METALS. 

Heavy  copper  and   wire   16.25 

Brass,    heavy     10.25 

Brass,    lifht     8.75 

Lead,   heavy    4.75 

Zinc,    scrap    6.25 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN   OCTOBER. 
Total  ions,  week  ending Oct.    IS,   12,301 


, Oct.    22 

Bid.       Asked. 

17.20        

£     s     d 

75     5     0 

17.60  to  17.80 

17.50  to  17.70 

17.35  to  17.45 

19.00 

5.10 

45.00 

9.00 

7.60 

50.00 

26.50  to  27.50 
26.00  to  27.00 


16.00 
10.00 

8.50 

4.75 

6,12^ 


Oct.   22.  13,896 


Personal 

Mr.  Benedict  F.  Raber  has  been  appointed  assistant  pro- 
fessor of  mechanical  engineering  at  the  University  of  Ne- 
braska, Lincoln. 

Mr.  D.  C.  Greene,  manager  for  the  Oregon  Power  Com- 
pany at  Marshfield,  Ore.,  has  been  elected  president  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  that  city. 

Mr.  Robert  Reid,  until  recently  with  the  Pacific  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  is  returning  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
to  become  superintendent  in  a  hydroelectric  plant. 

Mr.  Otto  Frlck,  inventor  of  the  induction  furnace  bearing 
his  name,  is  visiting  this  country  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
troducing his  furnace  in  the  iron  and  steel  industry. 

Mr.  William  C.  Hawkins,  formerly  general  manager  of 
the  Dominion  Power  &  Transmission  Company,  Hamilton, 
Ont.,  has  been  elected  managing  director  of  the   company. 

Mr.  Morgan  W.  Maghee  has  been  appointed  superin- 
tendent of  the  Consolidated  Power  &  Light  Company, 
with  headquarters  at  Lead,  S.  D.,  succeeding  Mr.  C.  W. 
Hough. 

Mr.  A.  B.  Hitzel  has  been  appointed  contract  agent  for 
the  Elmira  (N.  Y.)  Water,  Light  &  Railway  Company,  suc- 
ceeding Mr.  T.  B.  Rhodes,  who  has  removed  to  New 
Orleans. 

Mr.  J.  G.  Elliott,  owner  of  the  Versailles  (111.)  Electric 
Company,  has  sold  his  plant  to  the  Western  Utility  Com- 
pany, of  Chicago,  and  will  become  manager  of  the  latter 
company. 

Mr.  Pearson  Macintosh,  assistant  superintendent  of  the 
Newburyport  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  has  recently  ac- 
cepted a  position  with  the  Plymouth  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany,  Plymouth.  Mass. 

Mr.  Herbert  Markle,  who  for  the  past  three  years  has 
been  connected  with  the  Consumers'  Power  Company  at 
Stillwater,  Minn.,  will  enter  a  larger  field  of  work  at  Ever- 
ett, Wash.,  about  Nov.  i. 

Mr.  Edward  P.  Coleman,  formerly  manager  of  railways 
of  the  Dominion  Power  &  Transmission  Company,  Hamil- 
ton, Ont.,  has  been  appointed  to  the  position  of  general 
manager  to  succeed  Mr.  William  C.  Hawkins. 

Mr.  Frank  W.  Linebaugh,  formerly  manager  and  super- 
intendent of  the  Municipal  Electric  Light  Plant  at  Ames, 
Iowa,  has  been  appointed  manager  of  the  Boone  Electric 
Company,  succeeding  Mr.  Frank  K.  Shuff,  resigned. 

Mr.    Albert    R.    Granger,    vice-president    of    the    Beacon 

Light  Company,  Chester,  Pa.,  retains  his  position  as  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  company,  not  having  been  replaced 
by  Mr.  F.  W.  Harris  as  intimated  in  our  issue  dated 
Oct.  ig. 

Mr.  C.  B.  Rhodes  has  been  appointed  power  sales  man- 
ager for  the  Kansas  City  Electric  Light  Company,  succeed- 
ing Mr.  Harry  G.  Glass,  who  resigned  Oct.  i.  Mr.  Rhodes 
was  formerly  with  the  Empire  District  Electric  Company 
at  Joplin,   Mo. 

Mr.  E.  H.  Witcraft,  who  was  formerly  electrical  inspec- 
tor for  the  Underwriters'  Association  of  the  Middle  De- 
partment, has  become  general  manager  of  the  Fayette 
Electrical  Engineering  Company,  Connellsville,  Pa.,  which 
was  recently  incorporated. 

Mr.  H.  C.  Cummins,  who  was  formerly  manager  of  the 
Consumers  Power  Company  at  Northfield  and  later  at 
Faribault,  Minn.,  has  been  assigned  by  H.  M.  Byllesby  & 
Company,  the  owners  of  the  Consumers'  Power  Company, 
to  their  plant  at  Stillwater. 

Mr.   Clinton   Wallace   Hough,   formerly   general   manager 

of  the  Consolidated  Power  &  Light  Company  of  Deadwood, 
S.  D.,  has  resigned  his  position  to  act  as  agent  abroad  for 
the  J.  C.  Clarke  Company  of  New  York  and  will  take  up 
his  permanent   residence  in   Europe. 

Mr.  Andrew  N.  Fox,  vice-president  of  the  Chicago  Ad- 
vertising Association  and  advertising  manager  of  the  Ben- 
jamin Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  is  delivering  a 
course  of  advertising  lectures  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Chicago  Y.  M.  C.  A.  evening  schools. 


October  26,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


899 


Mr.  William  Burnett  has  been  appointed  superintendent 
of  elecrical  distribution  of  the  Urbana  &  Champaign  Rail- 
way, Gas  &  Electric  Company,  with  headquarters  at  Cham- 
paign, 111.  Mr.  Burnett  succeeds  Mr.  J.  D.  McKee,  who  has 
become  associated  with  the  Ideal  Electric  Company. 

Mr.  E.  B.  Bumsted,  who  was  formerly  connected  with 
the  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corporation  and  the 
Stone  &  Webster  Construction  Company,  has  been  ap- 
pointed vice-president  of  the  Oro  Electric  Corporation 
and  will  have  charge  of  the  departments  of  operation  and 
construction. 

Mr.  Louis  H.  Egan,  general  manager  of  the  Kansas  City 
Electric  Light  Company,  is  absent  on  a  two  months'  honey- 
moon trip,  touring  Italy  and  cruising  on  the  Mediterranean. 
He  was  married  Oct.  2  to  Miss  Fanny  James,  a  young 
woman  of  social  prominence  in  Kansas  City,  and  with  his 
bride  departed  at  once  on  his  European  trip. 

Mr.  Philip  L.  Spalding,  vice-president  of  the  Bell  Tele- 
phone Company  of  Pennsylvania,  has  been  elected  president 
of  the  New  England  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company, 
succeeding  Mr.  J.  N.  Keller.  Mr.  Spalding  has  been  in  tele- 
phone work  for  eighteen  years,  having  steadily  advanced 
from  the  position  of  inspector  to  his  present  duties,  and  is 
prominent  in  Bell  circles. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Fellows,  the  newly  elected  secretary-treasurer 
of  the  Kansas  Public  Utilities  Association,  is  vice-president 
and  manager  of  the  Leavenworth  Light,  Heat  &  Power 
Company,  Leavenworth,  Kan.  Prior  to  the  death  of  his 
predecessor,  two  years  ago,  Mr.  Fellows  was  chief  engineer 
of  the  local  plant,  having  served  in  this  capacity  for  eight 
years.     He  was  formerly  stationed  at  Springfield,  Mo. 

Mr.  C.  C.  Burns,  of  the  Watertown  (N.  Y.)  Light  & 
Power  Company,  has  been  elected  president  of  the  Carthage 
(N.  Y.)  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  succeeding  Mr. 
S.  M.  Strickland,  resigned.  Mr.  J.  B.  Taylor  has  been 
elected  treasurer  to  succeed  Mr.  John  L.  Strickland,  re- 
signed, and  Mr.  F.  A.  Rogers  has  been  elected  secretary 
and  assistant  treasurer.  Messrs.  Taylor  and  Rogers  are 
both  officers  of  the  Watertown  (N.  Y.)  Light  &  Power 
Company. 

Mr.  John  Balch,  treasurer  of  the  Western  Telephone 
Company,  with  headquarters  at  Boston,  Mass.,  has  been 
elected  assistant  treasurer  of  the  New  England  Telephone  & 
Telegraph  Company.  Mr.  Balch  was  formerly  associated 
with  the  engineering  department  of  the  Boston  Elevated 
Railway  Company  as  advisory  electrical  expert  in  connec- 
tion with  the  building  of  the  original  elevated  system  at 
Boston,  but  for  the  past  few  years  has  been  occupied  ex- 
vlusively  in  telephone  work. 

Mr.  Jasper  N.  Keller,  president  of  the  New  England  Tele- 
phone &  Telegraph  Company,  Boston,  Mass.,  has  resigned 
after  twenty-seven  years  of  service  with  the  organization. 
Mr.  Keller  is  one  of  the  best  known  managers  in  the  tele- 
phone field,  having  coine  to  New  England  in  1884  after  a 
successful  experience  in  telephony  in  Texas  and  the  far 
West.  During  his  connection  with  the  company  its  business 
has  grown  from  16,000  to  450,000  subscribers,  and  the  secur- 
ities have  been  transformed  from  a  non-paying  proposition 
to  one  of  the  soundest  investments  in  the  market.  He  will 
remain  upon  the  board  of  directors. 

Mr.  G.  L.  Enfors  has  resigned  as  superintendent  of  motive 
power  of  the  Fitchburg  &  Leominster  Street  Railway, 
Fitchburg,  Mass..  to  become  chief  engineer  of  the  Porto 
Rico  Railway  Light  &  Power  Company,  Ponce,  P.  R.  Mr. 
Enfors  has  been  connected  with  the  Fitchburg  &  Leomin- 
ster Street  Railway  for  thirteen  years.  He  was  chief  en- 
gineer of  the  company  for  five  years  and  superintendent  of 
motive  power  in  charge  of  the  power  station  and  repair 
shop  for  the  last  eight  years.  Before  becoming  connected 
with  the  Fitchburg  &  Leominster  Street  Railway  Mr. 
Enfors  was  with  the  Boston  (Mass.)  Elevated  Railway. 

Mr.  F.  H.  Hanson,  who  has  been  appointed  electrical  engi- 
neer for  the  Kansas  Public  Service  Commission,  Topeka. 
comes  from  the  stafi  of  the  Wisconsin  commission,  with 
which  he  has  served  since  its  creation  by  legislative  enact- 
ment in  IQ07.  Mr.  Hanson  was  graduated  from  the  Univer- 
sity of  Wisconsin  in  igo4  and  afterward  entered  the  appren- 
ticeship course  of  the  General  Electric  Company  at  Schenec- 


tady, N.  Y.  Later  he  was  employed  by  the  Arnold  Com- 
pany, being  detailed  on  the  St.  Clair  Tunnel  electrification 
and  other  work.  During  last  summer  he  received  a  leave  of 
absence  from  the  Wisconsin  commission  to  assist  Mr.  W.  J. 
Hagenah  in  a  valuation  study  of  the  Cleveland  (Ohio)  Elec- 
tric Illuminating  Company's  steam  and  electric  plant. 

Mr.  R.  Norsa,  whose  resignation  from  H.  M.  Byllesby  & 
Company  was  noted  last  week,  and  who  will  soon  sail  for 
Italy,  was  graduated  from  the  Polytechnic  Institute  of 
Milan,  Italy,  in  1904.  He  was  for  several  years  in  the 
employ  of  the  Thomson-Houston  Electric  Manufacturing 
Company  in  that  country  in  the  design  and  construction  of 
electric  plants.  During  the  two  years  that  Mr.  Norsa  has 
been  in  America  he  has  been  associated  with  the  New  York 
Edison  Company  and  with  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company  in 
Chicago.  On  his  return  to  Milan  Mr.  Norsa  will  engage  in 
private  practice  as  consulting  engineer.  He  is  an  associate 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and  a 
member  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association. 

Mr.  Frank  L.  Dame,  vice-president  of  the  Electric  Bond 
&  Share  Company,  in  charge  of  its  operating  department 
since   1909,  has  tendered  his  resignation  to  take  effect  Jan. 

1,  1913.  Mr.  Dame  is  also  resigning  from  the  following 
companies  in  which  he  is  an  officer  and  director:  American 
Power  &  Light  Company,  Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company, 
Kansas  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  San  Juan  (Col.)  Water 
&  Power  Company,  Durango  (Col.)  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany, Carolina  Power  &  Light  Company,  Yadkin  River 
Power  Company.  Asheville  Power  &  Light  Company  and 
the  Southwestern  Utilities  Corporation.  Mr.  Dame  will 
take  a  two  or  three  months'  vacation  before  entering  upon 
new  duties.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the  Massachusetts  In- 
stitute of  Technology.  His  early  business  affiliations  were 
with  the  General  Electric  interests  in  the  Pacific  North- 
west. He  then  became  general  manager  of  the  Union 
Electric  Company,  of  Dubuque,  la.,  after  which  he  was  ap- 
pointed engineer  for  the  Electrical  Securities  Corporation, 
of  New  York,  shortly  after  its  formation  in  1904.  He  con- 
tinued in  this  position  until  the  fall  of  1909,  when  he  be- 
came a  vice-president  of  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Com- 
pany. 

Sir  William  Ramsay,  who  will  deliver  a  course  of  lectures 
at  the  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  as  an- 
nounced  last   week,   was   born   at    Glasgow,    Scotland,    Oct. 

2,  1852.  He  received  his  university  education  at  Glasgow 
and  Tiibingen.  He  was  assistant  in  the  chemical  labora- 
tories of  Glasgow  University  from  1872  to  1880.  In  the 
latter  year  he  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  chemistry  at 
University  College,  Bristol,  becoming  principal  in  the  fol- 
lowing year.  He  served  as  president  of  the  Society  of 
Chemical  Industry  in  1894,  the  year  in  which,  in  associa- 
tion with  Lord  Rayleigh,  he  discovered  the  element  argon. 
In  1895  he  found  in  certain  rare  materials  such  as  clevite 
the  gas  helium  which  till  that  time  had  only  been  known 
on  spectroscopic  evidence  as  e-xisting  in  the  sun.  Three 
years  later,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Morris  William  Travers, 
he  discovered  the  existence  in  the  atmosphere  of  three  new 
gases,  neon,  krypton  and  xenon,  which  form  the  subject  of 
one  of  the  lectures  to  be  given.  Sir  William  has  been  a 
prolific  author,  his  publications  comprising  many  valuable 
scientific  contributions  to  literature,  among  some  of  which 
may  be  mentioned  "A  System  of  Chemistry,"  "The  Gases 
of  the  Atinosphere,"  "The  Molecular  Surface  Energy  of 
Liquids,"  "The  Element  Argon,"  "Helium,  a  Constituent 
of  Certain  Minera's,"  "Neon,  Krypton  and  Xenon,  Three 
New  Elements  of  Air,"  and  "The  Transmutation  of  Radium 
Into  Helium."  In  addition  to  this  he  has  edited  a  series  of 
textbooks  on  chemistry,  to  which  he  contributed  three  vol- 
umes. Learned  societies  and  scientific  bodies,  as  well  as 
numerous  countries,  have  honored  Sir  William  Ramsay. 
He  is  an  honorary  member  of  the  Institute  of  France,  of 
the  Royal  Academies  of  Berlin,  St.  Petersburg,  Vienna, 
Holland,  Bohemia,  Roumania,  Ireland,  Turin,  Norway  and  • 
Sweden;  of  the  Academies  of  Geneva,  Frankfort  and  Mex- 
ico; of  the  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and 
of  the  Philosophical  Societies  of  Manchester,  Rotterdam 
and  Philadelphia.  The  order  of  K.  C.  B.  was  conferred 
upon  him  by  King  Edward  in  1902.  He  is  also  Com- 
mander of  the  Crown  of  Italy  and  Officier  de  Legion 
d'Honneur. 


900 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


Construction 


BIRMINGHAM,  ALA. — Plans  for  extensions  to  the  North  Birming- 
ham municipal  lighting  system,  which  have  been  submitted  to  the  City 
Commission  by  Engineer  Martin  J.  Lide,  embody  a  scheme  for  furnish- 
ing electricity  for  all  street  lamps  in  the  territory  north  of  Tenth  Ave- 
nue in  North  Highlands.  The  initial  cost  of  such  a  system  is  estimated 
at   $7,500. 

MOBILE,  ALA. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Mobile  Chamber 
of  Commerce  and  the  Business  League  for  the  installation  of  an  orna- 
mental street-lighting  system  on  Government  Street  from  Catherine  Street 
to  Conception  Street,  a  distance  of  nearly  2  miles.  The  cost  of  the 
lamp  standards  complete   is   estimated   at  $30,000. 

ALHAMCRA,  CAL. — The  Conservative  Investment  Co.  is  planning 
to  install  ornamental  street  lamps  to  be  maintained  by  underground 
wires  on  Hildalgo   Street  in  the  company's  new  tract  just  opening  up. 

CARPINTERIA,  CAL. — Work  has  commenced  on  the  construction 
of  an   electric-light  plant  at  Carpinteria. 

LOMITA,  CAL. — The  Narbonne  Ranch  Wtr.  Co.  No.  4  contemplates 
■sing  electricity  for  operating  its  pumps  instead  of  gasoline  engines.  The 
Southern  California  Edison  Co.  has  offered  to  supply  electricity  to  the 
above  company  and  three  other  mutual  companies  operating  under  the 
same  name.  The  company  proposes  to  develop  about  500  in.  of  water 
and  to  irrigate  about   1600   acres. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — The  City  Council  is  considering  an  ordinance 
requiring  reinforced-concrete  poles  for  trolley  wire  supports  to  be 
adopted  within  the  tire  limits  of  the  city. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — Several  improvements  are  being  made  by  the 
Pacific  El.  Ry.  Co.  on  its  lines  in  Pomona,  among  which  will  be  the 
erection  of  a  new  substation  at  Ganesha  Junction,  where  the  Pacific  Elec- 
tric Railway  connects   with  the   Southern   Pacific    Railway. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  Pacific  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Los  Angeles, 
has  awarded  the  contract  for  the  so-called  Big  Creek  pipe  line  for  its 
new  power  plant,  which  will  consist  of  four  units  and  develop  60,000  hp 
under  heads  of  1920  ft.  and  1680  ft.,  to  S.  T.  Henry,  of  San  Francisco. 
The  total  length  of  the  pipe  line  will  be   14,000  ft. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— A  petition  has  been  filed  with  the  city  clerk 
by  the  property  owners  on  Main  Street  asking  for  the  installation  of  an 
ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Main  Street  from  Pico  Street  to 
Moneta  Avenue.  The  petitioners  also  ask  for  an  underground-conduit 
system  large  enough  to  carry  all  wires  now  carried  on  poles  in  the  street. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — Letters  have  been  sent  to  the  various  power 
companies  in  the  city  by  the  special  Council  committee,  consisting  of 
President  George  William  and  Councilmen  Bethouski  and  Whiff  en, 
making  inquiries  as  to  whether  the  companies  care  to  consider  proposi- 
tions allowing  the  city  to  acquire  portions  or  all  of  their  plants  for  the 
proposed  municipal  distributing  system. 

NORDHOFF,  CAL.— The  Ojai  Pwr.  Co.  will  begin  immediately  work 
on  construction  of  a  power  plant  here.  The  company  is  capitalized  at 
$50,000. 

OAKLAND,  CAL.— Th«  C.  A.  Lumber  Co.  has  closed  a  deal  for  a 
lease  of  12  acres  of  water-front  property  owned  by  the  Western  Pacific 
Railroad  at  the  foot  of  Kirkham  Street.  The  1000-ft.  wharves  will  be 
equipped  with  electrically  driven  cranes  for  handling  lumber. 

PATTERSON,  CAL.— J.  H.  Evans  has  applied  to  the  Railroad  Com- 
mission for  permission  to  construct  and  operate  a  telephone  system  in 
and  around  Patterson. 

REDLANDS,  CAL. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  residents  here  to  raise 
a  bonus  as  an  inducement  to  the  Pacific  El.  Ry.  Co.  to  extend  its  rail- 
way  to   the   university   grounds. 

SAN  DIEGO,  CAL.— The  San  Diego  Consol.  Gas  &  EI.  Co.,  will  soon 
begin  work  on  extensions  to  its  electric  conduit  system,  for  which  fran- 
chises have  been  granted.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at 
$105,000. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.— The  State  Railroad  Commission  has 
granted  the  Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  permission  lo  operate  in  Suisin, 
Fairfield  and  Dixon.  The  company  will  erect  transmission  lines  into 
these  three  districts  and  distribute  electricity  for   lamps   and   motors. 

SAN  JOSE,  CAL.— The  Southern  Pacific  Co.  -  .  planning  to  build  an 
electric  railway  between  San  Jose  and  the  California  Redwood  Park,  a 
Qistance  of  25  miies. 

STOCKTON,  CAL.— The  San  Joaquin  Valley  El.  Ry.  Co.  is  construct- 
ing a  new  substation  in  Stockton.  Plans  have  been  completed  and  work 
will  begin  at  once  on  construction  of  its  railway  from  Stockton  to 
Modesto. 

FLORENCE,  COL.— The  City  Council  is  contemplating  the  installation 
of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant.  The  Arkansas  \'alley  El.  Co.  now 
furnishes  electrical  service  here. 

NEW  HAVEN.  CONN.— Capital  stock  to  the  amount  of  $300,000  has 
recently  been  issued  by  the  United  Illg.  Co.,  the  proceeds  of  which  will 
be  used  for  improvements  to  its  plants  and  extensions  of  service  to  near- 
by towns.  Transmission  lines  are  now  being  erected  to  Woodmen t  in 
the  town  of  Milford. 

SIMSBURY,  CONN. — Arrangements  have  been  made  whereby  the 
Hartford  EI.  Lt.   Co.,  Hartford,  will  take  over  the  lighting  system  of  the 


Simsbury  El.  Co.  in  Simsbury,  Weatogue  and  vicinity  Jan.  1,  1913.  The 
Hartford  company  is  preparing  to  extend  its  transmission  line  to  this 
place. 

THOMPSONVILLE,  CONN.— The  citizens  have  voted  to  extend  the 
street-lighting  service  from  Hazardville  to  OUn  S.  Olmstead's  corner  in 
Wallop. 

WATERBURY,  CONN.— Work  will  begin  at  once  by  the  Waterbury 
&  Milldale  Tramway  Co.  on  the  construction  of  its  proposed  line  from 
the  easterly  part  of  Waterbury  through  Mill  Plain  suburb  and  by  sum- 
mer resorts  at  Lake  Hitchcock,  through  Marion  and  Milldale.  Charles 
H.   Clark,  of  Milldale,  is  president. 

WASHINGTON.  D.  C— Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
Commissioners  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Nov.  1  for  furnishing  and  installing  electric  wiring,  switches,  wall  plugs, 
lamps,  reflectors,  etc.,  in  the  Eastern  High  School,  Washington.  Speci- 
fications and  forms  of  proposals  may  be  obtained  from  the  purchasing 
oflficer. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau  of  Sup- 
plies and  Accounts,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Nov.  4 
for  furnishing  at  the  navy  yards  and  naval  stations  supplies  as  follows: 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Schedule  4889 — 100,000  ft.  flexible  insulated  double 
conductor;  Newport,  R.  I.,  Schedule  4892 — 15,840  ft.  electric  cable,  6000 
ft.  single-conductor  cable,  12  mine  transformers.  Applications  for  pro- 
posals  should  designate   the  schedules   desired   by  number. 

LARGO,  FLA. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $10,000  have  been  voted  for 
the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system. 

MIAMI,  FLA. — 'The  Greater  New  York  Mining  &  Development  Co.» 
Miami,    Okla.,  would   like  to   receive   prices   on   electric-light  equipment. 

MIAMI,  FLA.— A  company  has  been  organized  by  M.  A.  Marshall,  of 
Fort  Laudersdale,  Fla. ;  J.  C.  Rudsill  and  L.  O.  Hooper,  of  Georgia,  and 
others  for  the  purpose  of  developing  property  on  land  south  of  the  gov- 
ernment cut  to  the  Norris  cut.  Electric-light  plant,  water-works  and  sew- 
erage system  will   be  installed. 

OCALA,  FLA. — The  Ocala  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  to  rebuild  its  entire 
system.  It  is  proposed  to  install  the  "drop"  system  and  all  wires  are  to 
be  incased  in  lead  cables  and  a  new  switchboard  will  be  installed.  Con- 
tract has  already  been  awarded  for  the  new  building. 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  FLA.— The  St.  Petersburg  &  Gulf  Ry.  Co.  is  plan- 
ning to  enlarge  its  power  house  next  spring. 

ATLANTA,  GA. — Separate  sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the 
Commission  of  Roads  and  Revenues  of  Fulton  County,  Atlanta,  until 
Nov.  9  for  furnishing  material  and  labor  for  plumbing,  heating  and 
wiring  required  in  the  Fulton  County  court  house  as  follows:  (a) 
Plumbing,  consisting  of  piping,  fittings  and  fixtures;  (b)  heating,  consist- 
ing of  piping,  fittings,  fixtures  and  ventilating  system;  (c)  wiring,  con- 
sisting of  conduit,  wiring  and  equipment.  The  building  covers  an  area 
of  approximately  130  ft.  x  220  ft.,  consisting  of  sub-basement  and  nine 
stories.  Copies  of  drawings  and  specifications  may  be  obtained  from  the 
architects,  A.  Ten  Eyck  Brown  and  Morgan  &  Dillon,  607-610  Forsyth 
Building,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  upon  deposit  of  $20  for  each  set,  which  will  be 
refunded  upon  their  return.  Clifford  L.  Anderson  is  chairman  of  the 
Commission  of  Roads  and  Revenues. 

AUGUSTA,  GA.— Proposals  will  be  received  by  Dr.  J.  M.  Caldwell, 
chairman,  until  Oct.  28  for  furnishing  material  and  erecting  power  plant, 
laundry  and  kitchen  building  for  the  city  of  Augusta.  Plans  and  specifi- 
cations may  be  obtained  from  G.  Lloyd  Preacher,  of  Augusta,  architect 
and   engineer. 

DECATUR,  GA. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Georgia  Ry.  & 
El.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  from  College  Street  in 
Decatur  extending  easterly  to  a  point  near  Clarkston. 

CALDWELL,  IDAHO.— The  Idaho-Oregon  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning 
to  erect  a  high-tension  transmission  line  from  Caldwell  to  Parma,  a 
distance  of  about  20  miles. 

PARMA,  IDAHO.— The  Idaho-Oregon  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to 
build  an  electric  railway  between  Caldwell  and  Weiser,  via  Parma,  a 
distance  of  about  SO  miles. 

BETHANY,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  of  Mattoon,  is 
securing  frontage  permits  for  a  transmission  line  to  be  erected  from 
Mattoon  to  this  village. 

CARROLLTON,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  is  plan- 
ning to  rebuild  its  plant  in  this  city.  The  work  will  Include  the  in- 
stallation of  new  boilers,  new  machinery  and  rebuilding  transmission 
lines.  Transmission  lines  will  be  erected  south  through  Kane  to  Jer- 
seyville,  north  to  Roodhouse  and  west  to  Eldred.  The  company  is  re- 
ported to  have  secured  contracts  to  supply  power  for  the  drainage  dis- 
trict on  the  Illinois  River. 

CHAMPAIGN,  ILL. — The  residents  of  West  University  Avenue  have 
taken  steps  toward  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  sys- 
tem. A  committee  consisting  of  R.  D.  Eurnhani,  WillTam  Lewis  and 
D.   C.  Morrissey  has  been  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  matter. 

CHATHAM,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  awarded  the  contract  for 
lighting  the  streets  of  the  village  to   the   Union  Tel.   Co. 

CHICAGO,  ILL. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Commonwealth 
Edison  Co.  for  the  installation  of  a  substation  in  the  basement  of  the 
Insurance  Exchange  Building  at  1046  Sherman  Street,  to  cost  about 
$21,000.     W.  L.  Abbott  is  chief  engineer. 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


901 


CHICAGO,  ILL.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
the  supervising  architect,  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C, 
until  Nov.  25  for  new  engines,  generators,  etc.,  in  the  United  States 
post  office,  court  house,  etc.,  Chicago,  111.,  in  accordance  with  specifica- 
tions and  drawings,  copies  of  which  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office. 
Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising  architect. 

CHRISMAN,  ILL.— The  City  Council  has  entered  into  a  10-year  con- 
tract with  the  Georgetown  El.  Co.,  Georgetown,  to  light  the  streets  of 
the  city.     The  contract  calls  for  37  street  lamps  at  a  cost  of  $1,300. 

CO.AL  VALLEY,  ILL.— The  Village  Board  has  granted  a  25year 
franchise  to  E.  C.  Walsh,  Jr.,  L.  Livingston  and  Paul  Wagner,  of  Rock 
Island,  to  operate  an  electric-light  plant   here. 

DOWNS,  ILL.— The  Le  Roy  EI.  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Htg.  Co.  is  planning 
to  erect  a  transmission  line  to   Downs. 

EAST  ST.  LOUIS,  ILL.— The  Southern  Trac.  Co.  of  Illinois  has 
applied  for  a  franchise  to  lay  tracks  on  several  streets  in  this  city. 

FILLMORE,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Sei.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  50-year  franchise  by  the  Village  Board  to  operate  an  electric- 
light  plant  here. 

GIBSON  CITY,  ILL. — Arrangements  have  been  made  by  James  Hood 
and  E.  L.  Allsbury  with  H.  L.  Clarke,  of  Chicago,  to  erect  a  transmission 
line  from  Gibson  City  to  Paxton  to  furnish  electricity  in  the  latter  city. 
GIRARD,  ILL. — Bids  will  be  received  until  Dec.  3  for  the  sale  of 
the  municipal  electric-light  plant,  including  engines,  dynamos  and  other 
property. 

HARRISBURG,  ILL.— The  property  of  the  People's  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co. 
has  been  purchased  by  Chicago  capitalists,  represented  by  R.  W.  Waite, 
of  that  city. 

HINDSBORO,  ILL.— The  Milage  Board  has  granted  to  Marshall  E. 
Sampsell,  of  Chicago,  a  50-year  franchise  for  the  Central  Illinois  Pub. 
Ser.  Co.  here.  A  contract  has  also  been  awarded  for  lighting  the  streets 
of  the  village  under  which  the  company  will  supply  17  100-watt  tungsten 
lamps  and  .eight  60-watt  tungsten  lamps.  At  first  electricity  for  operat- 
ing the  system   will   be  supplied   from   Areola  and  later    from   Mattoon. 

HUMBOLDT,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  granted  a  50-year  fran- 
chise to  the  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  of  Mattoon.  The  company 
has  also  a  contract  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  village  for  a  period 
of  five  years. 

KEWANEE,  ILL.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Kewanee  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  into  the  recently 
annexed  territory  on  the  east,  north  and  west  sides. 

LE  ROY,  ILL.— The  Le  Roy  El.  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Htg.  Co.  is  contemplat- 
ing extending  its  transmission  lines  to  the  Obe  Dooley  farm,  if  sufficient 
business   is  guaranteed  to   warrant  the   expenditure. 

METCALF,  ILL.— The  Village  Board  has  closed  a  contract  with  the 
Central  Union  Utilities  Co.  to  light  the  village  streets.  Transmission 
lines  will  'be  extended   from  the  plant  at   Paris  to   Metcalf. 

MOUNT  STERLING,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  of 
Mattoon,  is  reported  to  have  purchased  the  plant  of  the  Mount  Sterling 
El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  $24,000. 

OTTAWA,  ILL. — Steps  have  been  taken  toward  the  Installation  of 
an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  business  section  of  the  city. 
A.    F.    Schock,   of  the   National    City    Bank,    is   interested. 

PARIS,  ILL. — ^The  City  Council  has  entered  into  a  contract  with  the 
Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  whereby  the  latter  will  furnish  energy 
for  street  lighting  and  pumping  water  at  the  rate  of  2^2  cents  per 
kw-hr.  for  the  first  20,000  kw-hr.  and  2  cents  for  all  additional  energy. 
The  city  will  furnish  buildings  and  install  new  pumps. 

PEORIA,  ILL. — ^Work  has  begun  on  the  preliminary  survey  for  the 
Peoria  &  Galesburg  Ry.  Co.  by  C.  H.  Dunn,  park  engineer,  and  C.  S. 
Coffeen,  of  Chicago.  The  proposed  route  touches  Canton,  Galesburg, 
Farmington  and  Lewistown.  The  companj  contemplates  securing  elec- 
tricity from  the  plant  of  the  Mississippi  River  Pwr.  Co.,  at  Keokuk,  la. 
Horace   Clark,   of  Peoria,  and  associates  are   interested. 

QUINCY,  ILL.— The  Central  Union  Tel.  Co.  has  purchased  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Home  Tel.  Co.  here.  The  Central  company  has  been  granted 
a  35-year  franchise. 

ST.  ANNE,  ILL.— The  plant  of  the  St.  Anne  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  is  re- 
ported to  have  been  purchased  by  the  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  of  Northern  Illinois. 
The  plant  will  remain  under  the  present  management  until  next  spring, 
when  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  from  Kankakee  Is  contemplated. 
SALEM,  ILL. — The  Central  Union  Tel.  Co.  has  announced  that  it 
will  seek  a  franchise  ni  Salem. 

SANDWICH,  ILL.— The  Northern  Illinois  Utilities  Co.  has  purchased 
the   municipal  electric-light  plant  here. 

STOCKTON,  ILL.— The  property  of  the  Stockton  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  been 
purchased  by  Harrison  Smith,  of  Monroe,  Wis. 

SYCAMORE,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  voted  to  install  orna- 
mental street  lamps  on  the  business  portion  of  California  and  Elm 
Streets.  Property  owners  on  Somonauk  Street  have  presented  a  peti- 
tion to  the  Council  asking  for  lamps  there. 

VERSAILLES,  ILL.— The  local  electric-light  plant,  owned  by  John  G. 
Elliott,  has  been  purchased  by  the  Western  Utility  Co.,  of  Chicago. 
Mr.   Elliott  has  been  made  manager  of  the  company. 

WATSEKA,    ILL.— The    City    Council   has   granted   the    Union    Central 


El.  Co.  a  30year  franchise  to  operate  an  electric-light  plant.  The  com- 
pany agrees  to  contribute  $100  per  block  toward  the  cost  of  the  installa- 
tion of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  when  the  business  men 
provide  for  cables  and  poles.  It  also  agrees  to  install  the  cable  free 
of  charge. 

WINDSOR,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  granted  the  Central  Illinois 
Pub.  Ser.  Co.  a  50-year  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electrical 
distributing  system  here.  Electricity  for  the  system  will  be  supplied 
by  a  transmission  line  from   Mattoon. 

ANDERSON,  IND. — Arrangements  are  being  made  to  extend  the  trans- 
mission lines  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  to  North  Anderson  to 
supply  electricity  to  operate  the  factory  of  the  Ames  Shovel  Co.  there. 
The  Ames  company   will   use   125   hp. 

GARRETT,  IND. — The  Kokomo  El.  Const.  Co.  has  Been  awarded 
the  contract  for  the  installation   of  a  new  lighting  system  here. 

KENDALLVILLE,  IND. — Contracts  have  been  awarded  by  the  City 
Council  for  equipment  for  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  to  cost 
$29,762  as  follows:  To  the  Fort  Wayne  El.  Works,  for  electrical  ma- 
chinery; to  the  Allis-Chalmers  Co.,  for  engines,  and  to  the  Alberger 
Condenser  Co.,  for  condensers.  Piping  will  be  done  by  the  National 
Valve  &  Packing  Co. 

BLANCHARD,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
grant  the  Lee  El.  Lt.  Co.,  of  Clarinda,  a  franchise  to  install  an  electric- 
light  system  was  carried. 

CEDAR  RAPIDS,  lA.— The  Iowa  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.,  which  is  a  reorgani- 
zation of  the  Cedar  Rapids  &  Iowa  City  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.,  has  purchased  the 
property  of  the  Marshalltown  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Ry.  Co.,  Marshalltown;  the 
Boone  El.  Co.,  Boone;  the  Marion  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Marion;  the 
Perry  El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Perry;  and  the  Tama  &  Toledo  El.  Ry. 
&  Lt.  Co.,  Toledo.  The  Iowa  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  is  capitalized  at  $6,000,000. 
CENTRAL  CITY,  lA.^An  agreement  has  been  entered  into  between 
F.  J.  Cross,  of  Central  City,  and  the  Cedar  Rapids  &  Iowa  City  Ry.  & 
Lt.  Co.,  whereby  the  latter  will  supply  electricity  in  Central  City,  Center 
Point,  Walker  and  probably  Urbana.  Mr.  Cross  will  supply  the  towns 
with  energy  secured  from  the  plant  at  the  dam  across  the  Wapsie  River 
at  Central  City.  All  surplus  power  that  he  cannot  supply  will  be  fur- 
nished by  the  Cedar  Rapids  &  Iowa  City  Co.  The  high-tension  lines  of 
the  company  running  between  Cedar  Rapids  and  Stone  City  will  be 
tapped  east  of  Marion  for  this  purpose.  The  company  will  also  build  a 
high-tension  line  from  Marshalltown  to  Tama  and  Toledo  next  spring. 
Eventually  the  company  will  extend  its  transmission  line  from  Mount 
Vernon  to  Marshalltown  and  to  Boone  and  Perry. 

COLLEGE  SPRINGS,  lA. — The  citizens  have  voted  to  grant  the  Lee 
El.   Lt.  Co.  a  franchise  to  install  an  electric-light  system  here. 

DALLAS  CENTER,  lA.— The  Adel  Mill  Co.,  of  Adel,  has  submitted 
a  proposition  to  supply  electricity  to  light  the  town.  The  proposition  to 
grant  the  franchise   will  be  submitted  to  the  voters   on  Nov.   5. 

GLIDDEN,  I.^. — Arrangements  are  being  made  to  organize  a  com- 
pany to  be  known  as  the  Scranton-Glidden  El.  Co.  It  is  proposed  to  erect 
a  transmission  line  from  Glidden  to  Scranton  and  to  secure  electricity 
from  the  municipal  electric  plant  in  Glidden.  A  temporary  organization 
has  been  formed  with  .■\.  Moorhead,  president;  Lee  Davis,  vice-president; 
Dr.  Kline,  secretary;  W.  W.  Anderson,  treasurer,  and  S.  C.  Johnston,  ■ 
manager. 

HUDSON,  lA. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Town  Council  for 
the  installation  of  a  street-lighting  system   here. 

M.^NLY,  lA. — Contracts  have  been  awarded  by  the  Rock  Island  Rail- 
road for  construction  of  buildings  in  Manly,  which  is  to  be  made  a  divi- 
sion point  on  its  north  and  south  line.  The  improvements  will  include 
ten-track  freight  yard,  roundhouse,  turntable,  machine  shops,  power  house, 
water  plant,  coal  chute,  etc.  The  project  will  involve  an  expenditure  of 
about  $500,000. 

M.-\RCUS,  lA. — The  Village  Board  has  abandoned  the  plan  to  call 
an  election  to  vote  upon  a  bond  issue  for  the  construction  of  a  municipal 
electric-light  plant  and,  it  is  said,  will  grant  a  franchise  to  a  private 
concern. 

OGDEN,  lA. — The  Minneapolis  &  St.  Louis  R.  R.  Co.,  it  is  reported, 
is  contemplating  equipping  its  line  between  Ogden  and  Frazer  for  elec- 
trical operation. 

BELLE  PLAINS,  KAN. — At  an  election  held  Oct.  15  the  proposition 
to  issue  $35,000  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water- 
works  system   was  carried. 

HIGHLAND,  KAN.— The  Home  Tel.  &  El.  Co.,  which  recently  sold 
its  telephone  exchange  to  the  Northeast  Tel.  Co.,  has  given  the  city  an 
option  on  its  electric-light  plant.  A  Council  committee  is  making  an  ap- 
praisal of  the  equipment.  If  the  report  is  favorable,  an  election  will  be 
called  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  issue  bonds  to  purchase  the  plant. 

DANVILLE,  KY. — The  Danville  Lt,  &  Pwr.  Co.,  which  was  recently 
taken  over  by  Chicago  capitalists,  is  planning  to  extend  Its  service  to 
Perryville  and  Junction  City,  Ky.,  and  also  the  construction  of  an 
electric  railway  to  those  places.  F.  M.  Wilkes  is  special  representative 
of  the  new  owners  at  Danville. 

IRVINE,  KY. — Clyde  Gaines  has  installed  electric  generating  equip- 
ment in  his  theater  and  is  supplying  electricity  to  private  consumers. 
It  is  expected  that  a  street-lighting  system  will  be  installed. 

WINCHESTER,  KY. — The  East  Tennessee  Tel.  Co.  has  commenced 
work  upon  a  division  from  Clay  City   to  Jackson  in   Breathitt  County. 


902 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


FR.\NKLINTON.  LA.— The  electric  plant  of  the  Franklinton  El.  Lt. 
&  Coal  Co..  operated  by  M.  M.  Magee,  was  recently  destroyed  by  fire, 
causing  a  loss  of  about  $3,000. 

S?iREV'EPO'RT,  LA. — Improvements  are  contemplated  by  the  Shreve- 
port  Home  Tel.  Co.  to  its  system,  including  an  automatic  branch  exchange 
in   West  Shreveport. 

VILLE  PLATTE,  LA.— The  Ville  Platte  El.  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.  is  erecting 
an  electric-light  and  ice  plant  here  to  cost  about  $30,000.  Orders  for 
macliinery   have  been  placed. 

BANGOR,  MAINE. — The  question  of  placing  overhead  wires  under- 
ground in   the  business  district  is  under  consideration. 

ERYEBURG,  MAINE.— The  Fryeburg,  Stowe  &  Lovell  Street  Rail- 
road (horse-car  line)  has  been  purchased  by  interests  represented  by 
James  J.  O'Brien,  of  Boston,  who  proposes  to  extend  it  to  Norway  and 
thence  to  Bethel  and  Rumford,  and  from  Fryeburg  to  Rumford.  It  is 
expected  that  the  motive  power  will  be  electricity. 

BALTIMORE,  MD. — Mayor  Preston  has  signed  the  ordinance  provid- 
ing for  submitting  the  $2,000,000  conduit  extension  loan  to  the  voters  at 
the  election   next   month. 

RISING  SUN,  MD. — The  Town  Commissioners  are  contemplating  the 
installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water- works  system  to  cost 
about  $5,000. 

GLOUCESTER,  MASS.— The  Municipal  Council  has  requested  the 
Gloucester  El.  Co.  to  submit  a  new  contract  for  street-lighting  for  the 
next  five  years,  beginning  Dec.  1,  1912,  when  the  present  contract  ex- 
pires. Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental 
lighting  system  in  the  business  district.  The  company  has  erected  four 
new  arc  lamps  on   Main   Street   for  experimental   purposes. 

HAMPDEN,  MASS.— The  Central  Massachusetts  El.  Co..  of  Palmer, 
is  contemplating  extending  its  transmission  lines  to  this  town  to  fur- 
nish electrical  service  here. 

LEICESTER,  MASS. — Arrangements  are  being  made  to  equip  the 
Chapel  and  Shepard  mills  in  Cherry  Valley  for  electrical  operation.  Elec- 
tricity for  operating  the  mills  will  be  supplied  by  the  Worcester  El.  Lt. 
Co.     The  mills  are  now  operated  by  steam  power. 

LUDLOW,  MASS. — The  Warren  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  select- 
men for  a  franchise  to  erect  transmission  lines  within  the  boundaries 
of  the  town. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ^L•\SS. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  installa- 
tion of  ornamental  lamps  on  Court  Square.  The  plans  provide  for  the 
erection  of  33  lamp  standards  carrying  five-lamp  clusters. 

STERLING,  MASS. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  extending  the 
commercial  lines  of  the  municipal  electric-light  system  to  different  parts 
of  the  town,   involving  an   expenditure   of  about   $1,800. 

WARE,  MASS.— The  Central  Massachusetts  EI.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
selectmen  for  permission  to  change  the  street-lighting  system  here.  It 
proposes  to  substitute  incandescent  lamps  for  the  arc  lamps  now  in  use. 

WEST  SPRINGFIELD,  MASS.— The  Amherst  Pwr.  Co.,  which  is 
seeking  a  franchise  to  install  an  electric  distributing  system  here,  is 
negotiating  with  the  Boston  &  Albany  R.  R.  Co.  to  furnish  electricity  to  op- 
erate the  machinery,  etc.,  in  the  car  shops  in  Merrick. 

BATTLE  CREEK,  MICH. — Plans  are  being  considered  to  extend  the 
ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Jefferson  Avenue  to  Fountain 
Street,  several  hundred  feet.  A  movement  has  also  been  started  to  ex- 
tend the  lamps  on  East  Main  Street  through  to  the  Grand  Trunk  station. 

BAY  CITY,  MICH.— The  Michigan  State  Tel.  Co..  will  soon  begin 
the  erection  of  additional  toll  lines  between  Bay  City  and  Standish  and 
Tawas   City..     The   cost   of  the   work  is  estimated   at   $12,500. 

CHARLOTTE.  MICH.— The  Commonwealth  Pwr.  Co.  is  securing 
right-of-way  for  a  high-tension  transmission  line  between  Charlotte  and 
Eaton  Rapids.  Arrangements  have  been  made  by  the  company  to  supply 
electricity  to  the  Herner  Brothers'  woolen  mills. 

MANISTEE,  MICH. — The  City  Council  is  negotiating  with  the  Man- 
istee Lt..  &  Trac.  Co.  for  all-night  street-lighting  service.  As  soon  as 
the  contract  is  awarded  the  company  will  install  150  new  arc  lamps 
which  it  is  understood  have  already  been  purchased. 

ROMEO,  MICH. — The  construction  of  an  electric  railway  from 
Romeo  to  Lexington,  a  distance  of  about  55  miles,  is  under  considera- 
tion. The  road  will  be  built  over  a  route  for  wliich  franchises  have 
already  been  secured.  David  Oppenheim,  of  Detroit,  is  said  to  be  in- 
terested. 

SAULT  STE.  MARIE,  MICH.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  until 
Nov.  19  at  the  office  of  the  United  States  Engineer,  337  Federal  Build- 
ing, Detroit,  Mich.,  for  an  arc-lamp  lighting  system  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie, 
Further  information  may  be  obtained  on  application  to  Mason  M.  Patrick, 
lieutenant-colonel  engineers. 

THREE  RIVERS,  MICH. — Preliminary  estimates  are  being  received 
by  Charles  Lendick,  superintendent  of  water- works,  for  a  new  street- 
lighting  system.  The  city  is  contemplating  establishing  a  municipal 
electric-light  plant  at  a  cost  of  about  $75,000  and  to  have  the  plant  ready 
for  service  when  the  present  contract  with  the  Constantine  Hydraulic 
Co.  expires  in  1913. 

DULUTH,  MINN.— The  Duluth  Street  Ry.  Co.  has  purchased  a  site 
on  Thirty-fourth  Avenue  East  and  Fourth  Street,  on  v>hich  it  will  erect 
a  new  substation. 


MONTGOMERY,  MINN. — The  contract  for  construction  of  an  elec- 
tric-light plant  here  has  been  awarded  to  the  Northern  Construction  Co., 
St.  Paul.  The  cost  of  the  plant  is  estimated  at  $25,000.  James  P.  Por- 
teus,  of  Petersburg,  Ind.,  is  interested  in  the  project. 

PEQUOT,  MINN.— The  Pine  River  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  submitted 
a  proposition  to  furnish  electricity  to  light  the  village  of  Pequot. 

ROCHESTER,  MINN. — The  Rochester  Milling  Co.  is  making  arrange- 
ments to  operate  its  mill  with  electrically  driven  machinery.  The  com- 
pany will  generate  its  own  power.  Orders  have  already  been  placed  for 
the   machinery. 

SHAKOFEE,  MINN. — Tlie  city  engineer  has  been  authorized  to  draw 
up  a  form  of  contract  with  the  Minneapolis  Genera!  El.  Co.  to  furnish 
electricity  to  operate  the  municipal  electric-light  system  and  water-works 
pumping  station,  the  contract  to  be  submitted  to  the  voters  at  the  general 
election  to  be  held  Nov.   5. 

VIRGINIA,  MINN.^The  Mesaba  Ry.  Co.  is  erecting  a  large  power 
liouse  in  Virginia  on  the  property  of  the  Virginia  &  Rainy  Lake  Co.,  north 
of  the  large  mill.  This  station  will  be  equipped  with  boilers,  engines  and 
electric  generating  machinery  with  sufficient  output  to  operate  the  entire 
line  from  Hibbing  to  Gilbert,  a  distance  of  35  miles.  Arrangements  have 
been  made  whereby  the  waste  from  the  mill  cuttings  will  be  used  as  fuel 
for  the  power  plant. 

CAPE  GIRARDEAL'.  MO. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  propo- 
sition to  issue  $250,000  in  bonds  for  the  construction  of  a  combined  water 
and  light  plant  was  defeated.     George  E.  Chappell  is  city  clerk. 

CLAYTON,  MO. — Paul  D.  Cable,  formerly  connected  with  the  North 
American  interests,  is  reported  to  be  interested  in  a  company  which  will 
soon  apply  to  the  County  Court  at  Clayton  for  franchises  to  supply  elec- 
tricity in  the  western  part  of  St.  Louis  County,  the  eastern  part  of 
Franklin  County  and  the  northern  part  of  Jefferson  County.  Fred  R. 
Mott,  formerly  general  manager  of  the  Bell  Telephone  Co.,  is  also  inter- 
ested in  the  company. 

KANSAS  CITY,  MO.— The  Council  has  appropriated  $4,000  for  the 
installation   of   additional   lamps  in   the   suburban   wards. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO.— The  Western  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  applied  for  a 
franchise  for  the  purpose  of  doing  business  in  St.  Louis  County.  The 
company  proposes  to  establish  and  maintain  electric-light  and  power 
plants,  telephone  service,  etc.,  and  to  engage  in  a  cold-storage  business. 

DARBY,  MONT. — The  Clark  interests  have  promised  to  install  an 
electric-light  and  water  plant  in  Darby,  to  cost  about  $25,000,  as  soon  as 
the  town  is  incorporated  as  a  city.  Steps  have  been  taken  to  have  the 
town   incorporated. 

-MOCCASIN,  MONT.— The  Great  Falls  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Great  Falls,  has 
purchased  a  site  for  its  substation  here.  Work  on  construction  of  the 
station  will  begin  at  once.  The  transmission  lines  of  the  company  have 
already  been  erected  to  Dover.  As  soon  as  the  station  is  completed 
transmission  lines  will  be  erected  to  small  towns  in  this  vicinity.  S.  E. 
Peel   is  constructing    engineer. 

THOMPSON,  MONT.— Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  Northwestern 
Development  Co.  for  a  40.000-hp  development.  Work  will  not  begin  on 
the  proposed  plant  until  next  year.  The  offices  of  the  company  are  lo- 
cated in  the  Electrical   Building,   Butte,  Mont. 

BEATRICE,  NEB. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  installation 
of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  business  district.  The 
plans  provide  for  the  erection  of  95  lamps  to  be  maintained  by  under- 
ground wires.  The  lamp  standards  have  not  yet  been  purchased.  Energy 
for  maintaining  the  lamps  will  be  furnished  by  the  municipal  electric- 
light   plant. 

DONIPHAN,  NEB.— Charles  F.  Iloldrcge.  of  Holdrege,  Neb.,  has 
been  engaged  as  engineer  to  take  charge  of  construction  of  the  pro- 
posed municipal  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system.  The  cost 
of   the   work  is  estimated  at  about   $18,000. 

JENSEN,  NEB. — 'Arrangements  are  being  made  for  the  installation 
of  an  electric-light  plant  here  to  cost  about  $7,000.  The  equipment  will 
include  a  30-hp  oil  engine,  20-kw  direct-current  generator  and  storage 
battery.     Elmer  L.  Jensen,   of  Harvard,  Neb.,  is  engineer. 

FALLON,  NEV.— Proposals  will  be  received  until  Nov.  21  at  the  office 
of  the  United  States  Reclamation  Service,  Fallon,  for  furnishing  gates, 
valves,  operating  machinery  and  appurtenances  for  Lahontan  Dam, 
Truckee-Carson  Project,  Nevada.  For  particulars  address  United  States 
Reclamation  Service,  Fallon,  Nev.,  Portland,  Ore.,  or  Washington, 
D.  C.     A.  P.  Davis  is  acting  director. 

RENO,  NEV.— The  Sierra  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
County  Commissioners  for  permission  to  erect  and  operate  a  telephone 
system   in   Washoe   County. 

CONCORD,  N.  H.— The  Board  of  Public  Works  is  contemplating  the 
installation  of  a  new  street-lighting  system.  Tungsten  lamps  will  prob- 
ably be  used. 

PORTSMOUTH,  N.  H.--Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the 
Bureau  of  Yards  and  Docks,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Nov.  2  for  additional  power-plant  appurtenances,  including  one  closed 
heater,  one  oil  separator,  one  automatically  controlled  pump  with  receiver 
and  necessary  valves  and  piping,  all  to  be  installed  at  the  nary  yard, 
Portsmouth,  N.  H.  The  cost  is  estimated  at  $5,000.  Plans  and  specifica- 
tions can  be  obtained  on  application  to  the  above  bureau  or  to  the  com- 
mandant of  the  navy  yard  named.     H.  R.  Stanford  is  chief  of  bureau. 


October  26,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


903 


BOGOTA,  N.  J.— The  Board  of  Public  Utility  Commissioners  has  ap- 
proved the  ordinance  passed  by  the  town  granting  the  Public  Service  Ry. 
Co.  a  franchise  to  operate  an  electric  railway  in  Queen  Anne  Road. 

MAY'S  LANDING,  N.  J. — At  a  mass  meeting  held  recently  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  make  investigations  and  secure  estimates  of  the 
cost  of  installing  a  municipal  electric-light  plant.  The  Atlantic  County 
EI.   Co.,  of  Egg  Harbor,   now  furnishes  electrical  service  here. 

MILLVILLE,  N.  J.— The  Council  has  been  notified  that  the  order  re- 
straining the  city  from  proceeding  with  the  erection  of  a  municipal  elec- 
tric-light plant  has  been  modified  by  the  Supreme  Court  and  that  it  may 
now  build  the  plant.  An  ordinance  providing  for  the  installation  of  a 
municipal  electric-light  plant  was  introduced  at  a  special  meeting  of  the 
City  Council  held  recently.  Plans  and  specifications  for  the  proposed 
plant  have  been  completed. 

MOGOLLON,  N.  M.— The  Mogollon  Gold  &  Copper  Co.  is  planning 
to  install  an  electric  hoist  at  its  mine  in   Mogollon. 

MECHANICSVILLE,  N.  Y.— The  Duffney  Brick  Co.  is  contemplat- 
ing equipping  its  plant  with  electrically  driven  machinery  to  replace  the 
present  steam  plant. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— bealed  bids  will  be  received  by  C.  B.  J.  Snyder, 
superintendent  of  school  buildings,  Department  of  Education,  corner  Park 
Avenue  and  Fifty-ninth  Street,  New  York,  until  Nov.  4  for  installing 
electric  equipment  in  the  additions  to  and  alterations  in  Public  School  39, 
on  Longwood  Avenue,  between  Kelly  and  Beck  Streets.  Blank  forms, 
plans  and  specifications  may  be  seen  at  the  above  office. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.— Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Rochester  Ry.  & 
Lt.  Co.  for  the  installation  of  electric  lamps  in  Long  Meadow,  a  sub- 
division just  outside  of  the  city  limits  on  Monroe  Avenue.  There  are 
about  2  miles  of  streets  in  the  tract,  which  will  require   100  lamps. 

CLAYTON,  N.  C — Proposals  will  be  received  by  D.  L.  Barbour,  town 
clerk,  until  Nov.  1,  for  $60,000  in  bonds,  of  which  the  proceeds  of  $15,000 
will  be  used  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  and  $45,000  for 
water- works   and   sewerage   system. 

WILKESBORO.  .N.  C.—J.  F.  Humphries,  who  has  been  granted  a 
franchise  to  install  an  electric-light  system  here,  owns  the  Moravian  Falls 
water-power  and   is  planning  to  develop   it. 

COGSWELL,  N.  D. — An  electric-Hght  plant  is  being  installed  here  by 
Dr.  Blakeslee,  who  was  recently  granted  a  franchise  by  the  City  Council. 

DAWSON,  N.  D. — Arrangements  have  been  made  whereby  an  electric- 
light  plant  and  water-works  system  will  be  installed  here.  A  dynamo 
and  storage  battery  will  be  installed  in  the  mill  owned  by  J.  S.  Werner. 
Both  dynamo  and  pump  will  be  operated  by  power  from  the  engine  in 
the  mill. 

DEVIL'S  LAKE,  N.  D. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Western 
Utilities  Corpn.  for  the  erection  of  a  new  power  plant  here.  Charles  L. 
Pillsbury,  Metropolitan  Life   Building,   Minneapolis,   Minn.,   is  engineer. 

GLEN  ULLIN,  N.  D.— The  Harmes  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to  erect 
an  electric-light  plant  here.     Albert  Harmes  is  engineer. 

STARKWEATHER,  N.  D.— Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  business 
men  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  here. 

TIOGA,  N.  D. — lA  company  has  been  incorporated  in  Tioga  for  the 
purpose  of  supplying  electrical  service  in  this  town. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO. — Revised  plans  for  the  combined  high-pressure 
pumping  station  and  lighting  department  substation  to  be  erected  by  the 
city  on  Lakeside  Avenue  N.  E.,  east  of  East  Ninth  Street,  estimate  the 
cost  of  the  building  at  $100,000.  Four  high-pressure  pumps  will  be  installed 
next  spring. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  S.  A.  Kin- 
near,  director  of  public  service,  Columbus,  until  Oct.  29  for  furnishing 
one  steam-driven  wet-vacuum  pump  and  one  condensate  lift  pump  for  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant  in  accordance  with  specifications  on  file  in 
the  office  of  the  director  of  public  service  and  the  superintendent  of  the 
Department  of  Lighting,  Dublin  Avenue,  from  whom  copies  may  be  ob- 
obtained. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  S.  A. 
Kinnear,  director  of  public  service,  Columbus,  until  Nov.  6  for  furnish- 
ing two  600-kva  and  two  400-kva  single-phase  oil-insulated,  water-cooled 
transformers,  6600  primary  and  2200  secondary  voltage,  in  accordance  with 
plans  and  specifications  on  file  in  office  of  the  director  of  public  service 
and  the  superintendent  of  Lighting  Department,  Dublin  Avenue,  from 
whom  copies  may  be  obtained. 

LAKEWOOD,  OHIO.— The  Cleveland  Ry.  Co.  is  planning  to  erect  a 
new  substation  on  Constant  Street  in  Lake  wood.  L.  P.  Crecelius,  of 
Cleveland  is  superintendent  of  power  and  electrical  engineer, 

PAINESVILLE,  OHIO.— The  City  Council  has  authorized  the  Mayor 
to  appoint  a  committee  to  investigate  the  condition  of  the  municipal  elec- 
tric-light plant  and  to  interview  the  Cleveland,  Painesville  &  Eastern  R. 
R.  Co.  in  regard  to  furnishing  electricity  to  operate  the  municipal  electric- 
Hght  system. 

WiARRENSVILLE,  OHIO.— Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office 
nf  the  director  of  public  safety,  room  109,  City  Hall,  until  Oct.  31  for 
furnishing  and  installing  two  electrically  driven  pumps  for  Cooley  Farms, 
Infirmary  Division,  Warrensville.  Specifications  may  be  obtained  at  the 
above   office.     Charles  W.   State  is  director   of  public  safety. 

FOREST  GROVE,  ORE.— The  Washington-Oregon  Corpn.,  Hillsboro, 
has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  City  Council   offering  to  take  over  the 


municipal  electric-light  plant  and  furnish  electricity  here.  The  prooosi- 
lion  will  probably  be  submitted  to  the  voters. 

HOOD  RIVER,  ORE.— Work  has  begun  on  the  electric  plant  of  the 
Hood  River  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  which  will  be  enlarged  and  new  machinery 
installed,  including  a  300-kw  generator  and  several  additional  trans- 
formers.    The  dam  on  Hood  River  will  practically  be  rebuilt. 

KLAMATH  FALLS,  ORE.— The  Pacific  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  is  plan- 
ning to  install  a  central  energy  system  here.  The  overiieud  wires  in 
the   business  district  will   be   placed   underground. 

LA  GRANDE,  ORE. — Surveys  have  been  completed  by  the  Boise 
Trac.  Co.,  Boise,  for  an  electric  railway  belting  La  Grande  with  Cove, 
Alicel   and   Imbler,   Ore.,   a   distance   of   30   miles. 

PORTLAND,  ORE. — The  contract  for  power,  light  and  telephone 
equipment  for  the  new  10-story  building  for  the  Multnomah  Security 
Co.,  Portland,  has  been  awarded  to  LePage-McKenny  &  Co.,  of  Seattle, 
Wash. 

CHAMBERSBURG,  PA.— A  proposition  has  been  submitted  to  the 
City  Council  by  Robert  Bridges,  of  Philadelphia,  to  purchase  the  munic- 
ipal electric-light  plant.  He  has  offered  the  city  $160,000  for  the  plant 
and  promised  to  enter  into  an  agreement  to  spend  $100,000  in  repairs  and 
improvements  to  the  system  next  year. 

HARRISBURG,  PA. — Notice  has  been  filed  that  applications  will  be 
made  for  charter  for  four  electric-light  companies  to  be  known  as  the 
Aspinwall,  Sharpsburg,  Etna  and  Millvale  Electric  Light  Companies.  The 
incorporators  are:  George  B.  Fehr,  James  G.  Marks,  Albert  K.  Little, 
James   Milholland   and   Lyman  C    Shreve. 

HARRISBURG,  PA.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Board  of 
Public  Works  and  the  Park  Commission  for  the  installation  of  electric 
lamps  along  the  water  front  the  entire  length  of  the  city.  Removable 
standards  w^ill  be  used  and  cable  conduit  will  carry  wires  to  maintain  the 
lamps  the  entire  distance.  The  lighting  scheme  will  be  in  the  hands  of 
the  Park  Commission. 

HERNDON,  PA. — (Notice  has  been  filed  that  application  will  be  made 
by  F.  Q.  Hartman,  F.  P.  Edwards,  H.  Ballantyne  and  R.  E.  Hartman 
on  Nov.  15  for  a  charter  for  the  Valley  El.  Ser.  Co.  for  the  purpose  of 
supplying  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and  motors  in  the  borough  of 
Herndon. 

PINE  GROVE,  PA. — Notice  has  been  filed  that  application  will  be  made 
lor  a  charter  for  the  Pine  Grove  El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Power  Co.  by  E.  J. 
Thomas,  Wallace  Drumheller  and  H.  L.  Troxell.  The  company  proposes 
to  supply  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and  motors  in  Pine  Grove. 

CHARLESTON,  S.  C. — Negotiations  have  been  closed  whereby  James 
Sottile  has  purchased  the  entire  shore  division  of  the  Charleston  Consol. 
Ry.  &  Ltg.  Co.,  including  all  wharf  properties,  ferryboats  and  railway  line 
from  Mount  Pleasant  to  the  Isle  of  Palms,  together  with  its  equipment 
and  power  house  on  Sullivan's  Island,  for  about  $500,000.  Mr.  Sottile 
is  planning  to  build  a  railway  from  Mount  Pleasant  to  McClellanville, 
operating  storage-battery  cars  over  this  line  for  both  passengers  and 
freight. 

RAPID  CITY,  S.  D. — Contracts  have  been  signed  by  the  Dakota  Pwr. 
Co.  and  the  Consol.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Dead  wood,  whereby  the  former 
will  supply  to  the  latter  electricity  generated  at  the  Big  Bend  plant.  The 
contract  will  amount  to  about  $25,000  per  year,  and  under  the  terms 
should  anything  happen  to  the  plant  of  the  Dakota  company  the  Con- 
solidated company  agrees  to  furnish  power  for  lighting  Rapid  City  from 
its  Pluma  plants.  The  Dakota  Pwr.  Co.  will  begin  at  once  plans  for 
erecting  a  second  unit  in  its  plant  and  extending  its  transmission  lines 
down  Rapid  Valley  to  supply  electricity  to  12  plants  which  are  being 
installed   for   irrigation    purposes. 

ARANSAS  PASS,  TEX.— The  Council  has  engaged  Charles  J.  Stanzel. 
engineer,  to  take  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  proposed  electric-light 
plant.     The   cost  is  estimated  at   $8,000. 

BRADY,  TEX.— The  City  Council  has  called  an  election  to  be  held 
Nov.  16  to  submit  the  proposition  of  the  Council  entering  into  a  condi- 
tional contract  for  the  purchase  of  the  properties  of  the  Brady  Wtr,  & 
Lt.  Co.  to  the  voters. 

FALFURRIAS,  TEX.— The  property  of  the  Falfurrias  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  sold  to  E.  C.   Lassater,  of  Falfurrias,  for  $15,000. 

HEARNE,  TEX. — The  Council  has  awarded  the  contract  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant,  to  cost  about  $8,000,  to  the 
Randell-Lovegrove-Wyman  Co.,  electrical  engineer  and  contractor,  of 
Houston.  Arc  lamps  will  be  installed  in  the  business  district  and  60-cp 
incandescent  lamps  in  the  residential  sections. 

NACOGDOCHES,  TEX.— The  Mayor  has  been  authorized  to  secure 
plans  and  specifications  for  the  Lvectlon  of  an  electric-light  plant  for  the 
city. 

PLAINVIEW,  TEX.— Dr.  i".  S.  Pearson,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  and 
associates  kave  purchased  60,000  acres  of  land  near  Plainview  and  are 
preparing  plans  for  placing  same  under  irrigation.  It  Is  proposed  to. 
install  a  large  electric  power  plant  to  operate  the  pumps.  Water  will  be 
secured  from  deep-driven  wells. 

SHERMAN,  TEX. — Preliminary  steps  have  been  taken  toward  the  con- 
struction of  an  interurban  electric  railway  between  Sherman  and  Gaines- 
ville,  via   Whitesboro.     The   Fred   A.   Jones   Co.,   of    Dallas,   Is   interesiec. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH.— The  Utah  Lt.  &  Ry.  Co.  is  contemplat- 
ing the  extension  of  its  Holliday  line  to  the  mouth  of  Big  Cottonwood 
Canyon,  a  distance  of  5  miles. 


904 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH.— The  Utah  Pwr.  Co.  has  closed  a  deal 
for  the  jmrchase  of  the  Bamberger  plant  at  Lagoon,  which  now  furnishes 
electricity  for  the  Salt  Lake  &  Ogdcn  Railroad.  The  price  paid  for  the 
plant  is  said   to  be  about  $150,000. 

ALEXANDRIA,  VA. — A  resolution  has  been  introduced  to  the  Coun- 
cil asking  for  an  appropriation  of  $1,500  for  the  installation  of  32  elec- 
tric lamps  on  Washington  Street. 

MORTON,  WASH.— The  Morton  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
Board  of  County  Commissioners  of  Lewis  County  for  a  franchise  to 
supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  the  town  of   Morton. 

OLVMPIA,  WASH. — Application  has  been  made  by  Wilbur  11. 
Foshay,  representing  the  Washington-Oregon  Corpn.,  of  Portland,  for  a 
franchise   to   supply   electricity    for   lamps   and   motors   in    Olympia. 

SEATTLE,    WASH.— The    Puget    Sound    Trac.,    Lt.    &    Pwr.    Co.    has 

submitted  a  proposition  to  the  City  Council  offering  to  furnish  electricity 
for  street  lamps  at  1  cent  per  kw-hr.,  or  a  total  of  $46,110  annually,  or 
at  3^  cents  per  kw-hr.,  including  operation  and  maintenance  of  street 
lamps  as  the  lighting  system  is  now  operated.  The  company  agrees  to 
pay  the  city  $40,000  annually  for  the  use  of  its  system.  This  would 
bring  the  charges  for  street  lighting  to  $86,802  annually  against  $213,000 
now  charged  by  the  city  at  a  rate  of  4^   cents  per  kw-hr. 

SPOKANE,  WASH. — The  Washington  Pwr.  Co.  is  contemplating  ex- 
tending its  transmission  line  from  its  power  plant  on  the  Spokane  River 
to  Republic  to  furnish  service  to  the  mines  and  mills  of  the  camp,  Tlie 
proposed  line  would  be  110  miles  in  length,  taking  in  the  mines  of  the 
Chewelah  district,  thence  up  the  Columbia  River,  crossing  at  Kettle  Falls 
and  going  over  the  divide  of  the  Sherman  range  to  Republic. 

BLACK  RIVER  FALLS,  WIS.— The  property  of  the  La  Crosse  Wir. 
Pwr.  Co.,  which  controls  the  Hatfield  power  and  the  Winona  electric 
light  and  street  railway  properties  and  supplies  electricity  to  the  La 
Crosse  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  was  sold  at  auction  to  Fred  Vogel,  of  Milwaukee, 
representing  the  bondholders'  protective  committee  and  Chicago  and  Mil- 
waukee trust  companies  and  banks,  for  $500,000.  The  property  has 
been  in  hands  of  receivers  since  the  Hatfield  flood  in  October,  191L  Re- 
pairs have  just  been  completed  and  the  company  is  to  resume  opera- 
tions under  the  reorganization. 

EDGERTON.  WIS.— The  Edgerton  Tel.  Co.  has  increased  its  capital 
stock  from  $18,000  to  $25,000.     F."W.  Coon  is  president. 

CARMANGAY,  ALTA.,  CAN. — The  ratepayers  have  voted  in  favor  of 
appropriating  $10,000  for  the  purpose  of  installing  an  electric-light  plant 
and   water-works  system   here. 

EDMONTON,  ALTA,  CAN.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Ed- 
monton Interurban  Ry.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  300  miles  of  elec- 
tric railways  connecting  Edmonton  with  numerous  towns,  coal  mines, 
manufacturing  plants,  etc.,  in  central  AJberta.  The  first  unit  of  the 
system,  upon  which  grading  work  is  in  progress,  will  extend  from  the 
city  limits  of  Edmonton  to  St.  Albert,  a  distance  of  6  miles.  The  power 
house  will  be  erected  at  St.  Albert  and  will  have  sufficient  output  to 
operate  28  miles  of  road.  Other  lines  contemplated  are:  to  Beaver 
Lake  and  Tofield,  40  miles;  Edmonton  to  Vegreville,  60  miles;  Edmon- 
ton to  Lac  Ste.  Anne,  56  miles;  Edmonton  to  Namayo,  12  miles;  Ed- 
monton to  Mcwassin,  45  miles;  Edmonton  to  Pigeon  Lake,  40  miles;  Ed- 
monton to  Morinville,  via  St.  Albert,  28  miles.  M.  Kimpe,  managing 
director,   has  charge  of  the  work. 

NEW  WESTMINSTER,  B.  C,  CAN.— Work  has  been  started  by  the 
British  Columbia  Tel.  Co.  on  its  underground  cable  system  here,  to  cost 
about  $24,000. 

VANCOUVER,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  British  Columbia  El.  Ry.  Co.,  Ltd., 
has  awarded  a  contract  to  the  Puget  Sound  Bridge  &  Dredging  Co., 
Seattle,  Wash.,  for  the  construction  of  a  large  dam  on  the  Jordan  River, 
which  will  form  part  of  the  hydroelectric  system  that  the  company  is 
developing.  The  dam  will  be  800  ft.  x  115  ft.  The  contract  calls  for  an 
expenditure   of   approximately   $500,000. 

ST.  BONIFACE,  MAN.,  CAN.— Tenders  will  be  received  by  J.  B. 
Cote,  city  clerk,  until  Not.  8  for  furnishing  and  erecting  a  variable-speed 
motor  and  a  motor-driven  pump  capable  of  delivering  either  1,000,000 
or  1,500.000  imperial  gal.  per  24  hours.  The  pump  must  be  capable  of 
delivering  either  of  these  quantities  against  a  pressure  of  65  lb.  (domestic 
pressure)  and  100  lb.  (fire  pressure).  The  current  supply  in  power  house 
is  550  volts,  three-phase,  alternating  current.  Plans  showing  layout  and 
available  space  may  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  the  city  engineer. 

WINNIPEG,  MAN..  CAN. — Tenders  will  be  received  by  the  chairman 

of  Board  of  Control  at  the  office  of  M.  Peterson,  secretary,  until  Nov.  15 
for  furnishing  labor  and  material  in  connection  with  extensions  of  the 
artesian  well-water  supply  of  tlie  city  of  Winnipeg  as  follows:  Section  B 
— erection  of  17  pump  houses;  C — furnishing  and  erecting  deep-well  tur- 
bine pumps  and  motors;  D — supply  and  installation  of  necessary  voltage 
transformers  at  the  individual  pumping  stations;  E— material  for  power 
line  construction  and  erection  of  same;  F — furnishing,  delivery  and  laying 
approximately  61,000  ft.  of  steel  pipe  line  with  valves  and  specials.  Bids 
will  be  received  separately  and  in  bulk  for  the  above  sections.  Plans  and 
specifications  and  form  of  tender  may  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  the 
city  engineer,   223  James  Avenue,   Winnipeg. 

BROOKE,  ONT.,  CAN. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  extensions  to 
the  Brooke  Municipal  Telephone  Co.'s  system.  New  equipment  will  fce 
required. 

LONDON.    ONT..    CAN. — The    Water    Commissioners    are    planning    i« 


place  new  electric  lamps  on  every  pole  on  Dundas  Street  between  Well- 
ington Street  and  the  Fair  Grounds.     H.  J.  Glaubitz  is  engineer. 

PARKVILLE,  OKT.,  CAN.— The  municipalities  of  Parkville  and  Lucan 
contemplate  taking  up  the  matter  of  erecting  a  transmission  line  from 
St.  Mary's  through  Granton  and  Lucan  to  Parkville  with  the  Hydro- 
Electric  Commission,     J.   H.   Laughton  is  clerk. 

ST.  CATHARINES,  ONT.,  CAN.— A  petition  has  been  presented  to 
the  City  Council  asking  that  estimates  of  the  cost  of  hyilroelectric  power 
in   St.   Catharines  be  secured   from  the   Hydro-Electric   Company. 

ST.  THOMAS.  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Canadian  Iron  Corp.  contemplates 
the  installation  of  three  transformers  for  transforming  13,200  volts,  three- 
phase,  25-cycle  current  to  550  volts,  and  also  a  number  of  small  motors. 
Specifications  may  be  seen  at  the  office  of  the  company,  where  tenders  will 
be   received. 

TORONTO,  ONT.,  CAN. — ^The  municipal  fire  and  light  committee  has 
requested  an  appropriation  of  $25,000  for  extensions  to  the  lighting  sys- 
tem of  this  city. 

WINCHESTER.  ONT.,  CAN.— The  by-law  authorizing  the  town  to 
enter  into  a  contract  with  the  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission  for 
hydroelectric  power  has  been  passed. 

YARMOUTH,  ONT.,  CAN. — Seven  hundred  farmers  of  Yarmouth 
Townsliip  have  petitioned  the  Hydro-Electric  Commission  for  Niagara 
puwer. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  AUTOMATIC  TRAIN  STOP  COMPANY,  of  Oakland,  Cal..  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  by  W.  A.  Stock,  J.  F. 
Murphy  and  William  T.  Hubbart.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $25,000 
and  proposes  to  deal  in  an  electrical  device  which  it  Is  said  will  stop 
the  danger  of  train  collision. 

THE  ECCO  ENGINEERING  COMPANY,  of  Springfield,  111.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  John  J.  Murphy, 
C.eorge  E.  Conrod  and  C.  E.  Harrison.  The  company  proposes  to  do 
a  general  contracting  and  electrical  business. 

THE  FAYETTE  ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERING  COMPANY,  of  Con- 
nellsville.  Pa.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  E.  T 
Lynne,  C.  M.  Maxwell  and  H.  A.  Porter,  of  Connellsville. 

THE  GOLLOS  RAILWAY  SIGNAL  COMPANY  OF  AMERICA,  of 
Portland,  Maine,  has  been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000  to 
manufacture,  sell  and  install  devices  for  railway  signals,  switches,  etc. 
T.  L.  Croteau  is  president  and  A.  A,  Richards,  treasurer,  both  of  Port- 
land,  Maine. 

THE  HYDRAULIC  STEERING  APPARATUS  COMPANY,  of 
I-ockport,  N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  by  A,  C.  Buell,  of  Buff.ilo; 
L.  S.  Wolff  and  D.  F.  Carmer,  of  Lockport,  N.  Y.  The  company  is 
capitalized  at  $150,000  and  proposes  to  manufacture  and  deal  in  hy- 
draulic   steering    apparatus,    engines,    boilers,    etc. 

THE  LYONS  ATLAS  COMPANY,  of  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  to  manufacture  and  sell 
engines,  boilers,  dynamos,  automobile  engines  and  machinery  of  all 
kinds.  The  directors  are:  James  W.,  William  F.  and  George  W.  Lyons. 
This  company   recently  purchased  the  Atlas  engine  plant  in  Indianapolis. 

THE  E.  W.  MANTER  COMPANY,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  has  filed  articles 
of  incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  for  the  purpose  of  dealing 
in  lighting  machinery.  The  incorporators  are;  Everett  W.  Manter  and 
Tohn  B.  Sullivan,  Jr. 


New  Incorporations 

LESLIE,  ARK. — The  Leslie  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  organized  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  E.  Moys,  W.  C.  Leonard,  E.  W.  Montrize, 
H.  L.  Leonard  and  Joseph  C.  Miller.  The  company  proposes  to  take  over 
the  local  electric  plant  and  remodel  the  same.  New  machinery  will  be 
installed. 

SPRING  VALLEY,  ILL.— The  De  Pue  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  Constant  Brown,  Charles  H.  Brown. 
I\oy  W.   Brown  and  Harry  E.   Brown. 

KIRKSVILLE,  KY.— The  Home  Tel.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  J.  T.  Long,  Marion  Coy,  W.  K.  Price  and 
Rufus    Blakeman. 

FARMINGD,\LE,  N.  J. — The  Farmingdale  Ltg.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated by  William  B.  Reed,  R.  S.  M.  Boyce  and  Frederic  C.  Arnold. 
The  company  is  capitalized  at  $50,000  and  proposes  to  generate  and  sell 
electricity. 

PHILLIPSBURG.  N.  J.— The  Phillipsburg  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $12,500  to  generate  and 
supply  electricity  in  Phillipsburg.  The  incorporators  are:  James  I.. 
Lemerson,  Thomas   Newman   and   Henry   Anner. 

MADRID,  N.  Y. — The  Madrid  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $6,800  by  Abner  D,  Whitney.  Lucy  M.  Whitney  and 
Frederick  J.   Merriman,   of    Madrid. 


OCTOBKR    26,    I9I2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


905 


Trade  Publications 

TURBINES. — The  Kerr  Turbine  Company,  Wellsville,  N.  Y.,  has  jusi 
issued  its  Bulletin  No.  26.  Photographs  of  recent  installations  are  shown, 
size   comparisons  made  and   steam   consumption   curves  given. 

ROTARY  CONVERTERS.— Leaflet  2457,  recently  issued  by  the  West- 
inghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  refers  to  commutating-pole 
rotary    converters,    which   are    illustrated   and   described   in   detail. 

ELECTRICAL  SUPPLIES.— A  six-page  oblong  folder  is  being  sent  out 
by  the  Alpha  Electrical  Supply  Company,  130  West  Thirty-second  Street, 
New  York,  the  subject  of  which  is  "The  Audabird  and  How  to  Catch 
Him/' 

GUY  CLAMPS  AND  GUY  ANCHORS.— Two  small  four-page  folders 
have  been  issued  lately  by  W.  N.  Matthews  &  Brother,  3722  Forest  Park 
Boulevard,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  one  devoted  to  Matthews  boltless  guy  clamps 
and  the  other  to  the  Matthews  guy  anchor, 

FRICTION  TAPE. — "A  Tape  for  Every  Requirement"  is  the  title  of  a 
small  four-page  folder  issued  recently  by  the  Western  Electric  Com- 
pany, in  which  information  is  given  relative  to  "Victor"  and  "Amazon" 
friction  tape  and   "Victor"  and  "Amazon"   splicing  compound. 

MILL  MOTORS.— The  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany has  recently  issued  Leaflet  3506,  referring  to  its  motors  for  puip- 
mill  service.  Illustrations  of  motors  in  operation  are  shown  and  interest- 
ing data  are  given  as  to  the  use  of  electric  motors  in  the  paper  industry. 

WIRING  SUPPLIES.— "Paistery,"  which  is  published  at  intervals  by 
the  H.  T.  Paiste  Company,  Philadelphia,  has  for  the  subject  of  its  recent 
issue,  No.  84,  the  company's  new  2-in.  pipe  taplets,  type  LB  pipe  taplets 
and  Fielding  receptacles,  3  page  being  devoted  to  each  one  of  these 
specialties. 

DEMAND  INDICATOR.— Bulletin  A4002,  recently  issued  by  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company,  describes  its  polyphase  maximum-watt  demand 
indicator,  type  W.  The  instrument  is  suitable  for  recording  the  maxi- 
mum load  of  alternating-current  circuits  irrespective  of  power-factor  and 
voltage   fluctuations. 

MOTOR  CONTROL.— The  General  Electric  Company's  Bulletin  No. 
4977  describes  its  Type  MK  control  apparatus,  which  is  designed  for  use 
where  single-car  operation  predominates  and  where  a  uniform  acceleration 
is  of  less  importance  than  extreme  simplicity.  This  bulletin  supersedes, 
in  part,  Bulletin  No.  4761. 

HOISTING  SETS. — Leaflet  2444,  recently  issued  by  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  covers  the  equalizer  flywheel  hoist- 
ing sets  used  in  conjunction  with  electric  hoists.  A  complete  hoisting  set 
with  motor  is  shown,  and  also  a  diagram  of  connections,  bringing  oui 
the  liquid  rheostat  feature. 

DRAFTSMEN'S  LETTERING  SHEETS  AND  FLEXIBLE  RULER.— 
Kolesch  &  Company,  manufacturers  of  surveying  instruments  and  drawing 
materials,  138  Fulton  Street,  New  York,  have  sent  out  cards  briefly 
describing  their  "allstyles"  lettering  sheets  for  draftsmen  and  their  parallel 
flexible  ruler  and  scale  protractor. 

MACHINE-TOOL  MOTORS.— "Rules  for  the  Seleciion  of  Machine- 
Tool  Motors"  is  the  title  of  Leaflet  No.  2480,  just  issued  by  the  Westing- 
liouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company.  Some  valuable  condensed 
information  is  given  relative  to  the  selection  of  a  motor  with  the  propc. 
characteristics  for  the  desired   duty. 

OIL  SWITCHES.— Bulletin  No.  A4001,  recently  published  by  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company,  describes  its  oil  switches,  which  are  intended 
primarily  for  use  in  small  and  isolated  alternating-current  plants  of  volt- 
ages not  greater  than  3300.  The  bulletin  contains  connection  and  dimen- 
sion diagrams  and  also  useful  formulas. 

TUNGSTEN  LAMPS.—A  four-page  folder,  some  two-page  leaflets  and 
a  blotter,  all  of  regular  envelope  size,  are  being  distributed  by  the  Eastern 
Electric  Lamp  Company,  141  Milk  Street,  Boston,  Mass.,  and  refer  to  the 
Eastern  tungsten-filament  lamps.  The  folders  and  leaflet  contain  prices 
and  brief  mention  of  the  company's  product, 

FURNACES.— Catalog  No.  15  of  the  W.  S.  Rockwell  Company.  30 
Church  Street,  New  York,  has  recently  been  published.  It  is  devoted  to 
the  Rockwell  rotary  furnaces  for  annealing,  hardening,  tempering,  bluing 
or  other  heat  treatment  of  small  pieces  in  either  brass,  copper  or  steel. 
Annealing  furnaces  for  electrical  work  are  also  made  by  this  company. 

CLAY  PRODUCTS.— Facts  regarding  the  Laclede-Christy  products  are 
succinctly  set  forth  in  a  large  four-page  folder,  printed  on  heavy  paper 
in  two  colors.  The  back  cover  gives  an  imposing  list  of  brick,  hollow 
and  glazed  ware  and  some  special  products  manufactured  by  the  Laclede- 
Christy  Clay  Products  Company,  Manchester  and  Sulphur  ATenues,  St. 
Louis,   Mo. 

COPPER-CI^D  WIRE.— The  Duplex  Metals  Company,  Chester,  Pa.. 
has  recently  distributed  another  of  its  periodical  leaflets  referring  to 
copper-clad  wire,  in  which  a  comparison  is  made  of  copper  wire  and 
coppcr-clad  wire.  The  statement  is  made  of  copper-clad  wire  that 
"it  does  *come  back'  and  its  cost  per  mile  is  but  one-half  that  of  the 
No.    10  copper,*' 

MAGNETIC  SEPARATORS.— Bulletin  No.  13.000  of  the  Cutler-Ham- 
mer Clutch  Company,  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  is  devoted  to  magnetic  separator 
pulleys  for  use  in  cement  mills,  paper  pulp  mills,  terra-cotta  plants,  or 
wherever  it  is  desired  to  remove  continuously  the  magnetic  contents  from 
non-magnetic  hulk  material.  The  bulletin  contains  two  illustrations,  rtia 
trams  and  list  prices. 


DIRECT-CURRENT  MOTORS.— Type  SK  direct-current,  commutat- 
ing-pole motors,  built  by  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, are  described  in  Leaflet  2359-A.  The  inclosed,  back-geared  and  ver- 
tical types  of  this  apparatus,  as  well  as  the  standard  types  of  motors,  are 
considered  in  the  illustrated  text  of  this  leaflet.  Brief  mention  is  also  made 
of  some  of  the  detail  parts. 

LAMP  CHANGER.— W.  N.  Matthews  &  Brother,  St.  Louis.  Mo.,  call 
attention  to  their  "easy  lamp  changer"  in  a  four-page  folder  recently 
distributed.  Burned-out  lamps  in  high  places  are  frequently  not  promptly 
renewed,  owing  to  their  not  being  easily  accessible,  and  this  device, 
because  of  the  case  with  which  such  lamps  can  be  handled,  reduces  the 
losses  caused  by  failure  to  replace  old  lamps  with  new. 

RAILWAY  MOTOR  CARS.— Booklet  No.  119,  an  August  publication 
of  the  Chicago  Pneumatic  Tool  Company,  Chicago  Heights,  111.,  gives 
practical  information  on  the  "Operation  and  Upkeep  of  Rockford  Motor 
Cars."  A  good  deal  of  information  of  a  general  character  is  compressed 
in  these  twenty-two  pages,  which  also  contain  a  few  small  illustrations  and 
several  full-page  diagrams.  The  last  chapter,  "Pertinent  Points,"  will  be 
of  special  value  to  all  users  of  these  cars. 

ELECTRIC  LOCOMOTIVES.— Circular  1516,  on  electric  locomotives, 
has  just  been  issued  by  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing 
Company.  The  locomotives  which  are  built  by  this  company  jointly  with 
the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Company  of  Philadelphia  are  described  and  illus- 
trated in  detail.  This  publication  discusses  the  field  of  application  01 
electric  locomotives  to  both  steam  and  electric  railways  and  shows  nu- 
merous examples  on   roads  throughout  the  country. 

A  NEW  HOUSE  ORGAN.— TAe  Otto  Cycle  made  its  initial  bow  to 
the  public  in  June  of  this  year.  It  is  published  monthly  and  is  devoted 
to  a  discussion  of  internal  combustion  engines  in  general  and  the  affairs 
of  the  Otto  Gas  Engine  Works  product  and  sales  organization  in  par- 
ticular. As  gas  engines  are  used  for  so  many  purposes,  the  contents 
of  this  little  monthly  will  appeal  to  a  wide  variety  of  readers.  Pub- 
lished in  Philadelphia  by  the  Otto  Gas  Engine  Works. 

SMALL  MOTORS. — Folder  4230-  issued  by  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
&  Manufacturing  Company,  entitled  "How  Westinghouse  Small  Motors 
Can  Help  You,"  is  an  attractive  twelve-page  publication  describing  some 
of  the  manifold  uses  of  small  electric  motors.  The  illustrations  show 
actual  installations  of  small  motors  in  the  home  and  in  the  shop.  The 
publication  is  intended  for  dealers  and  central  stations,  space  being  left 
on  the  back  for  the  name  of  the  distributing  company. 

ELECTRICAL  SPECIALTIES.— A  new  twenty-page  catalog  is  being 
sent  out  by  the  Machen  &  Mayer  Electrical  Manufacturing  Company. 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  describing  and  illustrating,  its  lock  switches,  flush  recei-- 
tacles,  shallow  steel  wallcases  and  other  electrical  devices.  In  the  opening 
announcement  the  company  states  that  in  a  recent  test  of  several  switches 
selected  at  random  the  M.  &  M.  switches  withstood  more  than  1,000,000 
makes  and  breaks  and  endured  the  test  longer  than  some  switches  of  other 
make. 

FIXTURES  FOR  THE  "EYE  COMFORT"  SYSTEM.— Some  recent 
loose-leaf  literature  to  be  included  with  other  material  on  the  "Eye  Com- 
fort" system  has  recently  been  distributed  and  deals  with  numerous 
styles  and  types  of  fixtures  used  with  this  system  of  indirect  illumination. 
A  number  of  artistic  designs  are  shown,  several  of  which  are  made  of  a 
new  material  which  is  called  "compone."  These  sheets  are  published  by 
the  National  X-Ray  Reflector  Company,  235  West  Jackson  Boulevard. 
Chicago,  111. 

EXHAUST  FANS. — Among  recent  bulletins  of  the  American  Blower 
Company,  Detroit,  Mich.,  which  supersede  others  on  the  same  subject, 
may  be  mentioned  No.  324,  devoted  to  type  P  "A  B  C"  high-pressure  ex- 
haust fans,  and  No.  344,  relating  to  type  V  Universal  '*A  B  C"  cast-iron 
blowers  and  exhaust  fans.  Bulletin  No.  347,  also  recently  issued,  de- 
scribes this  company's  unit  heaters.  All  of  these  publications  contain 
brief,  illustrated  matter,  with  the  dimensions  and  capacities  of  the  ap- 
paratus described. 

BLOWERS.— Albert  J.  Kelting,  459  Carroll  Street.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.. 
is  distributing  his  new  catalog  on  positive  pressure  blowers.  The  open- 
ing pages  give  comparisons  of  various  methods  of  moving  air  against 
high,  low  and  intermediate  pressures,  following  which  is  a  complete,  il- 
lustrated description  of  the  Kelting  positive  pressure  blower.  The  blow- 
er operates  at  moderate  speed,  no  gears  are  necessary,  and  it  is  claimed 
that  it  gives  a  steady,  non-pulsating  blast  owing  to  the  absence  of  un 
balanced  moving  parts. 

ELECTRICAL  SUPPLIES.— The  Bryant  Electric  Company  and  the 
Perkins  Electric  Switch  Manufacturing  Company,  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  have 
recently  published  a  128-page  catalog  on  their  wiring  devices.  It  is  an 
excellently  arranged,  well-printed  publication  and  contains  over  300 
devices  not  previously  listed  in  the  catalogs  of  these  companies.  A  good 
illustration  of  at  least  one  type  of  each  device  accompanies  the  specification. 
An  index  to  catalog  numbers  and  a  general  index  make  it  easy  to  locate 
a  particular  wiring  specialty. 

ROCK  DRILLS. — The  Chicago  Pneumatic  Tool  Company,  Chicago,  III., 
in  its  recently  distributed  bulletin  No.  118  deals  with  its  auxiliary  valve- 
type  giant  rock  drills.  This  type  is  recommended  for  use  where  iiit 
material  to  be  drilled  is  unusually  hard  and  unyielding  and  the  service 
severe.  A  brief  description  with  many  illustrations  of  the  rock  drills 
make  up  the  eight  pages  of  this  bulletin.  It  is  accompanied  by  Bulletin 
No.  120,  which  contains  instructions  for  setting  up  and  •perating  Chicae* 
giant  rock  drills,  and  also  for  their  care. 


9o6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  17. 


Business  Notes 


MR.  R.  M.  CAMPBELL  is  now  associated  with  the  National  India 
Rubber  Company.  30  Church  Street,  New  York,  and  will  devote  his  at- 
tention to  the  sale  of  bare  and  insulated  wires  and  cables  for  every  elec- 
trical   requirement. 

THE  OVEN  EQUIPMENT  &  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY  of 
New  Haven,  Conn.,  which  manufactures  -Scntiner'  gas  soldering-iron  heat- 
ers and  "Sentinel"  gas-torch  foot  valves,  has  opened  a  branch  office  in  Chi- 
cago, at  106  South  Jefferson  Street,  where  a  full  line  of  its  devices  are 
on  exhibit  and  for  sale. 

NATIONAL  METAL  STAMPING  &  MANUFACTURING  COM- 
PANY.—The  Tea  Tray  Company,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  has  changed  its 
name  to  the  National  Metal  Stamping  &  Manufacturing  Company  in 
order  to  signify  more  nearly  the  nature  of  the  business  now  earned  on, 
which  includes  the  manufacture  of  electric  lamps,  reflectors  and  street- 
lighting  fixtures. 

THE  UNITED  ELECTRIC  SUPPLY  COMPANY,  Bush  Terminal 
Building,  241  Thirty-seventh  Street,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  has  recently  en- 
tered the  electrical  field.  The  officers  of  the  company  are:  President. 
Mr  William  D.  Ligon;  vice-president,  Mr.  William  C.  Williams,  Jr.,  and 
secretary-treasurer,  Mr.  John  A.  Thake.  The  executive  offices  w.ll  be  in 
New  York  at  34  Nassau  Street. 


THE  AMERICAN  CROSS-ARM  COMPANY,  McCormick  Building,  Chi- 
cago, 111.,  is  distributing  a  paper  weight  in  the  shape  of  a  miniature  four- 
pin  cross-arm,  10  in.  in  length  and  1  iu.  by  1J4  in.  in  section,  bearing  an 
artistic  name-plate  which  indicates  the  company's  products.  Any  user 
of  cross-arms  who  desires  one  of  these  paper  weights  may  obtain  it  by 
addressing  the  sales  manager  of  the  company. 

THE  WAGNER  ELECTRIC  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY  has 
just  completed  a  commodious  two-story  100- ft.  by  400.ft.  shop  building 
at  its  St.  Louis  manufacturing  plant.  The  new  structure  Is  now  being 
equipped  with  machine  tools.  Following  close  upon  the  completion  of 
this  work,  the  company  is  already  beginning  excavation  for  another  new 
shop  building,  this  one-story  structure  to  be  80  ft.  by  350  ft. 

ROSENBAUM  &  STOCKBRIDGE,  attorneys  in  patent  cases,  41  Park 
Row,  New  York,  have  announced  that  Mr.  James  B.  L.  Orme  is  now 
associated  with  the  firm.  Mr.  Orme  is  a  graduate  of  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology  and  had  several  years  of  practical  experience  as 
engineer  and  chemist  before  entering  the  practice  of  patent  law,  in 
which  profession  he  has  been  engaged  for  a  number  of  years. 

CHICAGO  ELECTRIC  CAR  COMPANY.— The  recently  formed  Chi- 
cago Electric  Car  Company  has  opened  handsome  salesrooms  at  2700 
Michigan  Avenue,  Chicago.  Frederick  J.  Newman,  formerly  of  the 
Woods  Motor  Vehicle  Company,  is  president  and  general  manager  of  this 
company,  which  manufactures  electric  pleasure  automobiles.  A  garage 
and  charging  station  occupy  a  considerable  portion  of  the  building,  but 
the    factory   is  located   elsewhere. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED   STATES  PATENTS   ISSUED   OCT.    15,    1912. 
[Prepared  by   Robert   Starr   Allyn,    16   Exchange   Place,   New   York.] 

1041009.  ELECTRIC  MOTOR;  E.  Bretch,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  -^pp.  filed 
July    31,    1908.      Self-starting,    single-phase    induction    motor. 

1041061.  INDICATING  MECHANISM;  A.  Frisch,  Zurich,  Switzer- 
land App.  filed  April  1,  1912.-  An  indicator  card  outline  is  traced 
by  electric  sparks. 

1041066  CONNECTING  DEVICE:  D.  D.  Gordon,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed   Sept.    14,   1911.      Lamp  socket   plug. 

1041072  PRODUCTION  OF  ALLOYS;  C.  A.  Hansen,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.  App.  filed  Aug.  6,  1909.  Oxides  of  boron  and  iron  are  heated 
with  a  carbonizable  binder.  .,,,„,,. 

1041,076.  VAPOR  RECTIFIER  AND  METHOD  OF  MANUFAC. 
TURK-  T  Le  R  Hayden,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  April  16, 
1907.      The    envelope    has    a    gas-absorbing    coating    of    carbonaceous 

1  04lT9r'  STEAM  BOILER  WORKING  AS   -AN   ELECTRIC  TRANS- 
FORMER;   J.    Bally,    Grenoble,    France.      App.    filed   July    5,    1912. 
Liquid  is  heated  by  induction. 
1  041  100      TUBULAR  INCANDESCENT  LAMP;   E.   R.   Knowles,  New 
York,    N.    Y.      App.    filed    July    1,    1909.      The    leading-in    wires    are 
sealed  axially  at  the  ends  of  the   tube. 
1  041  103      POWER    TRANSMISSION     SYSTEM;    C.    Kramer,    Berlin, 
Germany      App.  filed  May  15,  1912.     For  driving  an  anchor  capstan, 
steering    rudder,    etc. 
1041137.     MOTOR-CONTROL   SYSTEM:   R.   H.   McLain,    Schenectady, 
NY.      App.    filed    Aug.    21,    1911.      For    drivmg    three    high    plate- 
rolling  mills,  etc. 
1  041  161       AUTOMATIC    CIRCUIT-BREAKER:    E.    L.   Raney,    Colum- 
bus,  Ohio.     App.   filed  Jan.   29,    1912.      Branched  circuits.      (Improve- 
ment on  patent  No.  1,005,575.) 
1041174      ELECTRIC    SIGN;    G.    Von    Saalfeld,    Seattle,    Wash.      App. 
'      filed  July   1,   1911.     Indicating  switchboard. 

1  041  197      ARC    L.\MP;    E.    Thomson,    Swampscott,    Mass.       App.    filed 
'      Dec      1,    1909.      Dash-pot,    feed-checking    device. 

1  041  2^0      OUTLET-BOX    CONSTRUCTION;    J.    H.    Wyatt   and   H.    C 
■      tampion,  Jr.    Philadelphia,  Pa.     App.  filed  Aug.  23,  1911.     Sectional 

box  connections. 
1  041  241      ELECTRICALLY  HEATED  SADIRON;  R.  E.   Clisby,  Well- 
ington,   Ohio.      App.    filed    May    13,    1912.      Non-conducting    heating 
elements,    with   serrated   edges. 
1041258      SELF-SCORING  TARGET;   M.   St.  C.  Ellis,  U.  S.  N.     App. 
'      filed,   Jan.    19,    1911.      Electro-mechanical   type   with   indicator. 
1  n4i  ?■;<)'      CONTACT-MAKING      SHUTTLE      FOR      SELF-SCORING 
•     TARGETS;    M     St     C.    Ellis,    U.    S.    N.      App.    filed   July    17,    1911. 

Impact-operated  plunger. 

1041^61     ANODE    FOR   USE    BY    ELECTROLYSIS    OF    ALKALINE 

SOLUTIONS-    A     T.    K.    Estelle,    Stockholm,    Sweden.      .\pp.    filed 

March  6,  191l'.     The  iron  anode  consists  of  a  solid  plate  with  a  layer 

of  pieces  resting  on  it. 

1  041  262      PLASTIC     MASS     FOR     METALLIC     FILAMENTS;      K. 

''Farkas.    New    York,    N.    Y.      App.    filed    Aug.    10     1909       Chromous 

oxide   powder,  sulphate  of  molybdenum  and  a  rubber  solution. 
1  O'l  281       METHOD  OF  MAKING  HOMOGENEOUS  MECHANICAL 
fuNCTURES;    A.    B.    Herrick,    Ridgewood,    N.    J.      App.    filed    Nov. 
'25,   1904.     Copper  bond  and  steel  rail. 
1041294      CIRCUIT-CONTROLLING      APPARATUS;      J.      F.      Kelly, 
Pittsiield,    Mass.      App.    filed    Aug.    27,    1910.      Electrically    operated 
piano,   etc. 
1  041  300.     CABLE  CLAMP;  J.  H.  Kliegel,  New  York,  N.  Y.     App.  hied 
'      March    15,    1911.      For   plug  switches,   etc.      (Improvement   on   patent 

No.  963,733.) 
1041.322.  HEATING  AND  VENTILATING  APPARATUS:  F.  P 
Mies,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed  May  16,  1910.  A  fan  blower  with 
heating  element. 
1,041,340.  APPARATUS  FOR  PRODUCING  A  GASEOUS  REAC- 
TION; F.  W.  Peek,  Jr.,  Schenectady,  N.  Y,  .Spp.  filed  June  23. 
I'll!.    '  Silent   discharge    for    producing    ozone. 


1,041.349.     TROLLEY   RETRIEVER;   J.   R.   Ricketts,   Los  Angeles.   Cal. 

App.    filed    Oct.    16.    1911.      Reel    device.       (Improvement    on    patent 

No.    974,920.) 
1,041,354.     SELECTIVE   SIGNALING;   H.   O.    Rugh  and   C.    S.   Rhoads, 

Jr.,   Sandwich,  111.     App.  filed  Aug.   18,   1910.     Telephone  system  with 

a  central  station  and  two  groups  of  substations. 

1.041.393.  AUDIBLE  SIGNAL;  H.  C.  Williams  and  S.  R.  Payne,  Utica 
and  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  May  11,  1911.  Railroad  danger 
alarm. 

1.041.394.  ELECTRICAL  BONDING  DEVICE;  H.  C.  Williams,  Utica, 
N.  Y.  App.  filed  May  20,  1911.  Cuts  into  the  head  and  foot  of 
the  rail. 

1.041.395.  ELECTROTHERMOSTATIC  LINING  FOR  VAULTS, 
SAFES,  ETC.  J.  P.  Williams  and  H.  Huhn,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
App.  filed  Dec.  8,  1910.     Laminated  structure;  burglar  and  fire  alarm. 

1,041,398.     ELECTRIC-METER    AND    PANELBOARD    CABINET;    W. 

Wurdack,    St.    Louis,    Mo.       App.    filed    Oct.    Is,     1910.       Main    and 

auxiliary  fuses  and  switches. 
1,041,421.     PROCESS    FOR   OZONIFYING;    C.    S.    Bradley,   New   York, 

N.   Y.     App.   filed  Oct.   29,    1906.     Electric  discharge  in  a  gas  below 

atmospheric  pressure. 
1,041  437.     TROLLEY    GUARD;    W.    R.    Gaggett,    Seattle,    Wash.      App. 

filed   Aug.    10,    1910.      Lateral   guide   fuse. 
1.041,456.     S.'VFETY  ALARM;  J.   Gesualdo  and  F.   Baldassarre,  Newark, 

N.  J.     App.   filed   Sept.   6,    1911.     For  gas  burners. 
1,041,473.     TERMIN.AL    BOX;    P.    Hogan,    Brooklyn,    N.    Y.      App.    filed 

Jan.     28,     1911.       Two-compartment    box    for     distributing     telephone 

cables,   etc. 
1,041,482.     VOLTAGE        COMPENSATING        AND        REGULATING 

MEANS;   P.   O.    Keilholtz   and   F.   E.   Ricketts,   Baltimore,  Md.     App. 

filed  Dec.  26,  1908.     Controlling  relay  with  a  small  time  element. 
1,041,514.     ELECTRIC-ALARM       .ATTACHMENT       FOR       JOURNAL 

BEARINGS;   J.   E.    Rogers,    Beloit,   Kan.      App.    filed  Aug.   28,    1911. 

Thermal    alarm. 
1,041.525.     ELECTRIC     DEPOSITION     OF     METALS;     A.     P.     Stroh- 

menger,    Westminster,   London,    England.     App.    filed   April    11,    1912. 

Arc  welding. 
1,041,545.     SECONDARY  MOUTHPIECE  FOR  TELEPHONE  TRANS- 
MITTERS;  S.    S.   Williamson,   Philadelphia,   Pa.     App.   filed   Feb.    19, 

1912.      One-piece   structure   surrounds   the   usual   transmitter. 
1,041,570.     SWITCH  OR  CIRCUIT  OPENER  FOR  HIGH-POTENTIAL 
■   CIRCUITS;  C.   C.   Badeau,   Swissvale,  Pa.     App.  filed  June   16,   1906. 

A   movable  terminal   in   the  form   of  a  multi-part  chamber  containing 
insulating  liquid. 
1.041  594.     CIRCUIT    MAKE-AND-BREAK    DEVICE:    A.    E.    Claudon, 
Denver,   Col.      App.   filed  Jan.    25,    1911.      For   illuminating  car  steps. 

1.041.641.  BRAKE-MAGNET  PROTECTIVE  AND  DEMAGNETIZING 
DEVICE;  D.  L.  Lindquist,  Yonkers,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  March  10,  1909. 
For  protecting  an  alternating-current  magnet,  as  in  elevators. 

1.041.642.  BRAKE  APPARATUS;  D.  L.  Lindquist,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 
App.  filed  April  5,  1911.  Elevator  control.  (Improvement  on  pat- 
ent  No.    814,669.) 

1,041,673.     ELECTRIC      METAL-WORKING      APPARATUS:      A.      F. 

Rietzel    and    G.    E.    Barstow,    Charlestown,    R.    I.,    and    Lynn,    Mass. 

.■\pp.    filed    May    11,    1907.      Double   connection   to   the    work-engaging 

contact,   as   in   chain   welding. 
1,041.683.     LINE    CARRIER:    L.    D.    Shaffer,   Paint    Borough,    Pa.      -App. 

filed    Aug.    21,    1911.      For   stringing  wires.      (Improvement   on   patent 

No.    850,798.) 
1,041686.     BLACK    SIGNAL    SYSTEM;    G.    H.    Smith.    Dayton,    Ohio. 

.■\pp.    filed   Dec.    7,    1910.      Duplicate   visible   and   audible   railroad   cab 

signal. 
1,041,689.     ELECTRODE  HOLDER;   F.  T.   Snyder,   Oak  Park,  111.     App. 

filed  April   17,    1911.      Water-cooled  holder  for  electric  furnaces. 
1,041.716.     SELECTIVE   TIME-LIMIT-CONTROLLING    DEVICE    FOR 

ELECTRIC    SWITCHES:     G.    A.     Burnham,     Saugus,    Mass.       App. 

filed  July  17,   1911.     Selective  device  operative  on  overload. 
13,480    (reissue).     ELECTRICAL  WATER  HEATER;    M.   H.   Shoenberg, 

San    Francisco,    Cal.      .App.    filed    Jan    19,    1912.      Safety    attachment. 

I  Original  patent  No.    1,005.754,  dated  Oct.   10,   1911.) 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


rP 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  NOVEMBER  2,  1912. 


No.  18. 


PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  BY 

McGraw  Publishing  Company 

James  H.  McGraw,  Pres.  C.  E.  Whittlesey,  Sec'y  and  Treas. 

239  West  39th  Street,  New  York. 

Telephone  Call:  4700  Bryant.     Cable  Address:  Electrical,  New  York. 

Chicago  Office Old  Colony  Building 

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Canada,  $4.50;  elsewhere,  $6.  Foreign  subscriptions  may  be  sent  to  the 
London  office.  . 

Requests  for  changes  of  address  should  give  the  old  as  well  as  the  new 
address.  Date  on  wrapper  indicates  the  month  at  the  end  of  which  sub- 
scription expires. 

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Changes  in  advertisements  should  reach  the  New  York  office  ten  days  in 
advance  of  the  date  of  issue.  New  advertisements  are  received  up  to 
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Copyright,  1912,  by  McGraw  Publishing  Company. 
■Entered  at  the  New  York  Post  Office  as  Second  Class  Mail  Matter. 

The  circulation  of  Electrical  World  for  1911  was  965,500.     Of  this  issut 

21,500  copies  are  printed. 

NEW  YORK.  SATURDAY,  NOVEMBER  2,  1912. 


CONTENTS. 

Editorials    907 

November  Meeting  A.  I.  E.  E 910 

Arlington  Wireless   Station  Tested 910 

Electric-Vehicle    Progress 910 

Hydroelectric  Projects  on  the  Rio  Alameda,  Mexico 910 

Steinmetz  on  the  Future  of  the  Electrical  Industry 911 

Convention  of  Illinois  Electric  Association 913 

Decision  in  Maiden  Street-Lighting  Case 916 

Decision   of  Massachusetts  Commission   in   Natick  Rate  Case 917 

Public  Service  Commission  News 917 

Current  News  and  Notes 919 

Electric  Service  in   Coal   Regions 921 

Practical   Installation   of  Rclavs  on  Alternating-Current  Circuits.     By 

C.  E.  Freeman 924 

The  Use   of   Depreciation   Data   in   Rate-Making  and   Appraisal    Prob- 
lems.    By  Halbert  P.  Gillette 927 

Distribution  of  Conserved  Resources  Through  Existing  Public  Utility 

Enterprises  931 

Storage-Battery    Regulation    of    Low-Head    Water-Power    Plant 932 

The  Four-Terminal  Conductor  and  the  Thomson  Bridge 933 

Relation  of  the   Horse-Power   to  the   Kilowatt 934 

Storage  of  Coal  and  Spontaneous  Combustion 934 

Application    of    Electricity   in    Agriculture 933 

Electric  Cooking  in  the  United   States   Navy 936 

A   Unit   Schedule   for   Solicitors'    Salaries 940 

Preserving  Poles  with  Water-Gas  Tar 941 

Bonus    Award    for    Coal-per-Kilowatt-Hour    Record 942 

lUum'nating    Engineering    for    the    Central-Station    Salesman 943 

Pole-Height    Estimator 944 

Rural  Transmission  Line  with  Iron-Cable  Conductors 945 

Some  Reflections  on  Interior-Wiring  Construction 945 

Street   Lighting  in  Alameda,    Cal 946 

A  Kansas  Concrete-Pole  Transmission   Line 948 

Increasing  Power  Requirements  of  Moving  Picture  Arcs 948 

Letter  to  the  Editors. 

Wood  Preservation.      By   William   C.   Thayer 948 

Digest  of  Current  Electrical  Literature 949 

Book  Reviews 952 

New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 953 

Industrial  and  Financial   News 960 

Directory  of  Electrical  Societies  and  Associations 971 

Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 972 


ENERGY  DISTRIBUTION  IN  THE  COAL  FIELD. 

The  description  of  the  plant  of  the  Luzerne  County  Gas 
&  Electric  Company  in  this  issue  is  particularly  instructive 
from  the  standpoint  of  economics.  It  presents  the  very 
unusual  condition  of  an  electrical  system,  covering  some  30 
square  miles  of  territory  right  in  the  heart  of  a  coal-mining 
region,  selling  a  great  deal  of  electrical  energy  to  the  mines 
and  buying  coal  locally  at  current  prices.  In  other  words,  it 
is  in  effect  hauling  coal  from  the  mines  and  delivering  back 
electric  energy  to  the  mines  cheaper  than  it  can  be  generated 
at  the  mine  mouth.  A  somewhat  singular  set  of  circum- 
stances led  to  the  unusual  results  noted  in  the  article.  To 
begin  with,  the  coal  costs  from  $1.10  to  $1.30  per  ton,  deliv- 
ered— a  price  which  forms  a  very  forceful  comment  on  the 
distribution  of  costs  as  shown  in  the  fuel  doled  out  by  the 
coal  roads  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  Of  course,  the  refuse 
and  screenings  available  at  the  mouth  of  the  mine  would  be 
cheaper  than  the  buckwheat  used,  yet  it  appears  that,  on 
investigating  the  relative  economies,  the  saving  by  using  the 
cheaper  coal  is  found  to  be  not  so  great  at  might  be  antici- 
pated. In  some  instances  this  result  has  been  due  to  the 
scarcity  of  water  supply  at  the  mouth  of  the  ordinary  mine, 
and  it  is  probably  still  more  frequently  chargeable  to  the 
difficulty  of  utilizing  very  cheap  fuel  on  a  relatively  small 
scale.  The  economical  burning  of  culm  and  similar  fuel 
requires  conveying  apparatus  on  a  pretty  large  scale  and 
can  be  best  carried  out  in  a  plant  much  larger  than  the 
ordinary  mine  would  require.  Hence  it  is  that  the  plant 
described  can  afford  to  utilize  cheap  coal  hauled  from  nearby 
mines  and  then  distribute  electrical  energy  back  to  the 
mines  at  a  profit  to  both  parties.  The  coal  is  actually  hauled 
to  the  station  in  carts  and  dumped  into  a  large  concrete  coal 
bin,  from  which  a  motor-driven  conveyor  distributes  it  to 
the  boiler  room.  It  is  not  even  burned  on  automatic 
stokers,  nor  are  the  ashes  disposed  of  automatically, 
although  an  ash-conveying  system  is  about  to  be  installed. 
The  operating  conditions  make  the  success  of  the  plant  in 
energy  distribution  all  the  more  remarkable.  It  is  at  least 
an  open  question  whether,  even  with  this  cheap  fuel,  the 
energy  costs  are  not  needlessly  high,  considering  the  size  of 
the  plant,  by  reason  of  its  design,  yet  the  cost  of  fuel  per 
ton  is  so  low  that  any  difference  secured  by  'a  considerably 
more  expensive  plant  would  be  so  moderate  as  to  make  the 
economy  a  questionable  one  until  the  plant  had  to  carry  a 
much  greater  load.  The  requirements  found  necessary  with 
coal  selling  at  $3  or  $4  may  prove  to  be  uneconomical  with 
coal  at  $1.25. 

The  generating  equipment  of  the  system  shows  the 
progress  of  evolution.  The  first  equipment  consisted  of 
three  500-hp,  60-cycle,  two-phase  units  directly  connected 
to  Corliss  engines.  Up  to  two  years  ago  the  units  were 
operated  non-condensing.     Then  an  i8oo-kva  low-pressure 


9o8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


turbine  receiving  the  exhaust  from  the  engine  was  installed, 
and  this  year  a  3000-kva  high-pressure  turbine  was  added  to 
the  equipment,  with  still  another  of  equal  size  in  immediate 
prospect.  The  station  is  one  of  the  comparatively  few  large 
two-phase  plants  still  in  operation.  The  transmission  sys- 
tem presents  no  extraordinary  features.  It  covers  a  dis- 
tance of  26  miles  north  and  south  in  the  Wyoming  valley, 
with  various  branches.  The  transmission  voltage  is  6600, 
and  substations  are  located  where  necessary,  the  largest  of 
them  being  of  looo-kw  rating.  This  station  at  Kingston, 
Pa.,  is  equipped  with  a  400-kw  synchronous  motor  used  as  a 
condenser  for  the  correction  of  the  power-factor,  a  pre- 
caution rendered  needful  by  the  large  induction  motor  load 
carried  in  connection  with  the  mining  work.  Motor  service 
is  charged  for  on  a  maximum-demand  basis,  which  makes 
its  cost  low  for  the  large  and  steady  users.  There  is,  also, 
a  considerable  lighting  load  and  a  growing  business  in 
various  heating  devices. 

The  system  represents  an  excellent  example  of  the  possi- 
bilities of  energy  distribution  with  cheap  fuel  in  a  territory 
supplied  with  fuel  at  a  cost  which  a  few  years  ago  would 
have  seemed  to  render  electric  motor  service  an  economic 
impossibility.  The  fact  is  that  people  are  beginning  to 
learn  something  about  the  cost  of  energy  generation  on  a 
small  scale  and  have  come  to  realize  the  important  part 
played  by  incidental  expenses  under  such  circumstances. 
As  this  lesson  is  thoroughly  taken  to  heart  the  advantage  of 
motor  drive  become  more  and  more  apparent,  and  to-day 
motor  service  is  really  being  extended  all  over  the  country 
in  cases  in  which  at  first  glance  it  seems  uneconomical. 


SOME  PECULIARITIES  OF  WATER-POWER. 

In  spite  of  the  very  great  importance  of  water-power  and 
the  thoroughness  with  which  it  has  been  studied  on  certain 
streams,  few  engineers  have  any  adequate  grasp  of  some  of 
its  idiosyncrasies  or  of  the  importance  of  these  in  organizing 
a  hydroelectric  system.  Of  course,  the  variations  of  rain- 
fall at  a  given  point  are  somewhat  familiar.  One  knows, 
for  example,  that  the  wettest  year  of  a  long  series  may  have 
twice  as  much  rainfall  as  the  driest  year,  and  that  no  law 
of  averages  can  be  trusted  unless  established  over  a  very 
considerable  period.  Attempts  to  find  periodicity  in  rainfall 
have,  on  the  whole,  failed,  although  much  study  has  been 
spent  on  this  problem.  So  far  as  the  general  indications  go, 
the  amount  of  water  available  for  hydraulic  purposes 
through  the  year  seems,  then,  to  be  an  indeterminate 
variable.  Two  extremely  low  years  may  lie  a  quarter  of  a 
century  apart  in  the  records,  or  two  such  years  may  succeed 
each  other  immediately.  And  what  is  true  of  the  rainfall  of 
the  year  is  in  large  measure  true  of  its  distribution  through 
the  months.  Ordinarily,  for  instance,  August  is  the  extreme 
low-water  month  on  streams  in  the  eastern  United  States, 
but  the  autumnal  minimum  may  be  delayed  until  September 
or  even  October.  The  June  flow,  customarily  assumed  as  a 
rough  average  flow,  may  on  the  same  stream  and  in  years  of 
equal  total  flow  vary  by  100  per  cent. 

The  thing  which  deserves  more  investigation  than  has 
usually  been  accorded  it  is  the  variation  of  rainfall  and 
run-off   in   different   parts   of   the    same   watershed    or   on 


adjacent  watersheds.     The  time  has  come  when  water  is 
growing    increasingly    valuable,   and  the   problem    before 
the  hydraulic  engineer  is  to  secure  for  use  the  largest  pos- 
sible proportion  of  the  rainfall  in  the  territory  in  which  he 
is  working.     To  do  this  it  is  necessary  to  investigate  thor-  ■ 
oughly  the  probable  variations  not  only  of  the  whole  but  of  | 
the  component  parts,  with  a  view  to  conserving  all  the  water 
possible.     It  is  often  found,  for  example,  that  the  actual 
average  rainfall  over  a  considerable  term  of  years  varies 
not  a  little  at  points  on  the  same  watershed  or  even  on  the 
same  stream  not  many  miles  apart.    To  get  the  most  out  of 
the  stream,  storage  space  should,  if  possible,  be  arranged  so 
as  to  take  advantage  of  the  points  of  maximum  rainfall  and 
presumably  maximum  run-ol¥.    If  a  point  of  excess  rainfall 
can  be  isolated  and  the  water  stored,  that  water  can  be  made 
to  contribute  to  the  steadiness  of  the  general  flow,  and  in 
utilizing  a  given  watershed,  as  is  often  done  for  a  group  of 
allied  transmission  plants,  great  advantage  can  be  taken  of 
local   variation.     In   some  instances   this   is   already   done 
with  admirable  effect,  although  as  a  rule  insufficient  care  is 
exercised  in  investigating  the  question.     Study  may  show 
that  it  is  advisable  to  utilize  the  flow  which  accumulates  in 
a  given  stream  not  at  the  obvious  point  in  a  single  plant  but 
at  two  or  three  points  so  chosen  that  the  waste  flow  may  be 
a  minimum. 

In  some  of  the  large  transmission  networks  which  have 
been  developed  the  steadying  effect  of  distributed  generating 
stations  is  very  clearly  shown,  even  though  the  stations 
themselves  have  not  been  planned  directly  with  reference 
to  conjoined  operation.  Only  a  beginning,  however,  has 
been  made  in  work  along  this  line,  and  it  is  quite  possible  to 
carry  it  so  far  as  to  reduce  the  waste  water,  except  in  brief 
periods  of  extraordinary  flood,  to  a  very  modest  amount. 
To  gain  the  fullest  advantage  provision  must  be  made  for 
feeding  energy  to  the  network  mainly  from  one  or  another 
of  its  generating  stations  according  to  the  hydraulic  situa- 
tion. What  is  true  of  plants  operating  on  a  single  water- 
shed is  doubly  true  of  plants  operated  on  separate  water- 
sheds, in  which  the  flow  may  differ  very  widely.  In  either 
case  it  may  readily  happen  that  two  streams  of  very  dif- 
ferent hydraulic  quality  can  be  united  to  their  great  and 
mutual  advantage,  as,  for  example,  when  one  stream  is  fed 
largely  by  springs  and  diffuse  drainage  and  another  by 
melting  snow.  Every  plant  in  the  system  should  be  kept 
thoroughly  in  touch  with  the  other  plants,  and  all  should  be 
operated  as  a  whole,  shifting  the  load  wherever  it  will  save 
water.  If  a  large  amount  of  otherwise  waste  water  can  be 
saved  for  a  month  or  two  each  year  by  a  combination  of 
storage  and  excess  equipment  at  that  point,  the  economic 
gain  may  be  considerable,  and  so  far  as  the  whole  network  is 
concerned  it  makes  little  difference  how  the  spare  machines, 
always  needed  to  a  certain  extent,  are  distributed,  provided 
there  is  behind  them  a  reasonable  amount  of  storage  to 
help  out  during  brief  emergencies.  The  whole  story  is  that 
while  a  number  of  splendid  networks  for  the  transmission 
of  electrical  energy  have  been  developed  they  have  mostly 
grown  up  as  the  result  of  individual  efforts.  To  be  of  the 
most  use  when  united,  they  should  be  reorganized  after  a 
study  of  the  hydraulic  situation  as  a  whole,  and  the  bigger 
the  system  the  greater  are  the  opportunities  for  efficient 
utilization  of  the  whole  run-off. 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


909 


DEPRECIATION. 

In  view  of  the  rapidly  increasing  interest  in  questions 
that  belong  in  the  realms  of  both  engineering  and 
economics,  typified  by  many  of  the  problems  which  arise 
in  the  regulation  of  public-service  companies,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising to  find  renewed  discussion  of  topics  that  have  long 
received  consideration  among  comparatively  limited  circles 
of  engineers,  accountants  and  economists.  Such  subjects 
as  going-concern  value  and  depreciation  are  foremost 
among  these,  particularly  in  respect  to  appraisals  of  public- 
utility  plants.  Elsewhere  in  this  issue  there  is  an  article 
by  Mr.  Halbert  P.  Gillette  on  the  use  of  depreciation  data 
in  rate-making  and  appraisal  work  which  is  well  worth  the 
careful  study  of  all  engineers  and  managers  who  deal  with 
public-utility  problems.  It  is  universally  admitted  that 
plants  depreciate  or  shrink  in  value  through  the  ravages 
of  physical  and  economic  forces  and  that  no  part  of  any 
plant  can  escape  the  ultimate  day  of  its  abandonment  and 
renewals.  If  useful  life  of  a  plant  unit  is  known  with 
tolerable  accuracy,  it  becomes  a  simple  matter  to  distribute 
the  cost  of  renewal  over  the  years  of  service  in  order  to 
make  a  uniform  annual  charge  against  the  earnings.  But 
when  it  becomes  necessary  to  subtract  accrued  deprecia- 
tion from  cost  new,  in  the  process  of  arriving  at  present 
value,  as  in  appraisals,  a  deep  significance  attaches  itself 
to  the  particular  theory  of  depreciation  held  by  the  ap- 
praisers. Thus  two  different  appraisers,  holding  unlike 
views  as  to  the  rate  at  which  dereciation  creeps  forward 
from  year  to  year  within  a  given  span  of  life,  may  arrive 
at  considerably  divergent  estimates  of  the  present  value  of 
the  same  plant. 

Two  different  theories  as  to  the  rate  at  which  property 
depreciates  from  year  to  year  within  a  given  lifetime  have 
been  widely  held,  the  straight-line  theory  and  the  sinking- 
fund-curve  theory.  Both  of  these  methods  have  been  de- 
fended by  eminent  authorities.  Now  comes  a  proposal  for 
still  another  method,  based  on  a  new  statement  of  economic 
principle  involved,  for  which  Mr.  Gillette  stands  sponsor. 
In  examining  it  one  is  impressed  by  the  fact  that  the  cost 
of  producing  the  plant  output  or  product  enters  funda- 
mentally into  the  conception  of  the  proposed  method  or 
theory.  As  a  calculation  to  determine  the  most  that  a  sec- 
ond-hand machine  would  be  worth  to  a  given  purchaser, 
the  method  seems  flawless,  but  to  say  that  such  a  calcula- 
tion fixes  in  every  case  the  present  or  depreciated  value 
of  a  plant  or  machine  is  a  proposition  which  is  hardly 
proved  by  the  presentment  of  the  case.  Clearly  the  method 
requires  modification  when  it  results  in  a  negative  present 
value,  or  a  value  less  than  the  scrap  or  salvage  value,  as  it 
may  do.  Notwithstanding  these  defects,  and  others  which 
arise  from  disregarding  financial,  legal  and  physical  factors 
in  depreciation,  the  method  is  decidedly  interesting. 

The  author's  remarks  in  reference  to  the  prevalent  con- 
fusion of  maintenance  and  depreciation  in  the  accounting 
practice  of  public-service  corporations  are  much  to  the 
point.  The  tendency  now  is  to  confine  depreciation,  in 
a  bookkeeping  sense,  to  replacements  of  a  major  character, 
such  as  an  entire  machine  or  generating  unit,  but  it  seems 
evident  that  a  more  careful  study  of  this  phase  of  the  prob- 
lem would  be  decidedly  profitable. 


UTILIZATION  OF  CONSERVED  RESOURCES. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  on  the  conservation  of 
natural  resources,  and  of  late  great  stress  has  been  laid 
upon  the  statement  that  water  is  the  chief  resource  to  be 
conserved.  Indeed,  the  national  government  has  spent  mil- 
lions during  the  past  few  years  on  a  systematic  investigation 
for  determining  the  water  supply  of  the  country.  This 
work  has  involved  the  gaging  of  streams,  the  investigation 
of  underground  currents  and  artesian  wells  and  the  prepara- 
tion of  reports  on  the  best  methods  of  utilizing  the  water 
resources.  In  addition,  several  of  the  states  have  expended 
large  sums  for  similar  investigations  on  their  watercourses. 
The  importance  of  data  on  water-powers  is  generally  recog- 
nized, and  it  is  well  that  the  most  accurate  information  in 
regard  to  water  supply  and  water-powers  be  made  available 
by  the  government.  To  be  sure,  the  general  statements  so 
commonly  made  of  the  vastness  of  the  water-powers  are 
misleading  and  disguise  the  fact  that  many  of  the  sites  are 
worthless  judged  from  present  economic  standards  of  de- 
velopment. But  if  the  government  be  the  owner  of  the 
water-powers  it  is  important  that  it  possess  all  the  facts 
bearing  on  them.  Politicians  and  conservation  enthusiasts 
may  have  hysteria  over  distorted  facts ;  but  it  is  fortunate 
that  few  of  the  citizens  of  the  country  are  of  violent,  emo- 
tional blend,  so  that  dependence  can  be  placed  on  the 
optimism  and  sober  sense  of  the  country  as  a  whole.  The 
average  man  sees  nothing  in  a  power  site.  To  him  it  is  a 
plunging  stream,  pleasant  to  look  upon  but  dangerous  to  life 
and  therefore  to  be  avoided.  It  is  a  matter  of  indifference 
to  him  what  disposition  is  made  of  the  site,  and  if  efficient 
use  is  made  of  it  and  its  powers  are  developed  for  the 
benefit  of  the  community,  he  believes  that  conservation  in 
its  broadest  and  best  sense  has  been  attained,  and  water- 
power  thus  utilized  for  the  community  is  certainly  in  a  sense 
conserved. 

Amid  all  the  bickering  and  strife  occasioned  by  the  ques- 
tion of  conservation  few  have  stopped  to  consider  how  best 
to  utilize  the  forces  thus  conserved.  To  this  phase  of  the 
subject  attention  was  recently  given  in  an  address  before 
the  New  York  State  Waterways  Association,  an  abstract 
of  which  appears  elsewhere  in  this  issue.  Bias  can  doubt- 
less be  charged  against  the  speaker,  schooled  as  he  has  been 
in  the  central-station  art ;  but  who  can  gainsay  the  logic 
of  his  argument  that  the  results  of  conservation  can  be 
more  advantageously  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  people 
through  the  highly  developed  public  utilities  than  through 
any  other  agency?  The  possibilities  of  a  water-power 
placed  in  such  hands  are  well  emphasized,  and  the  scheme 
as  it  unravels  reads  not  unlike  the  parable  of  the  talents, 
for  the  speaker  shows  wherein  5000  hp  committed  to  the 
charge  of  a  central  station  can  be  made  to  serve  a  maximum 
demand  of  22,500  hp  and  even  more  if  the  diversity  factor 
of  the  system  is  large  enough.  No  other  enterprise  is  better 
situated  to  utilize  natural  resources  in  such  a  way  that  they 
will  be  truly  conserved,  and  none  can  more  readily  place 
them  at  the  disposal  of  the  rightful  beneficiaries.  Certainly 
the  scheme  proposed  is  a  happy  solution  of  a  vexed  question 
and  it  should  be  driven  home  with  force.  If  the  people  at 
large  are  to  reap  the  benefits  of  conservation,  the  modern 
well  organized  and  developed  public-utility  companies 
should  be  the  channel  through  which  these  benefits  flow. 


•gio 


ELECTRICAL 


WORLD. 


Voc.  So)  No.  i8;. 


NOVEMBER   MEETING  A.  1.  E.  E. 


A  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  will  be  held  in  the  Engineering  Societies  Build- 
ing New  York,  Nov.  8,  under  the  auspices  of  the  industria 
power  committee.  The  general  subject  of  the  evening  wi 
be  "The  Electrification  of  Steel  Mills."  Two  papers  will 
be  presented  as  follows:  "Power  Requirements  of  Rolling 
Mills  "  bv  Mr.  Wilfred  Sykes,  and  "The  Economical  Speed 
Control  of  Induction  Motors  for  Rolling  Mills,"  by  Messrs. 
F.  W.  Meyer  and  Wilfred  Sykes,  of  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company.  At  the  close  of  the 
technical  session  the  meeting  will  adjourn  to  the  Institute 
offices  on  the  tenth  floor,  where  the  usual  smoker  will 
be  held. 

ARLINGTON  WIRELESS  STATION  TESTED. 

The  wireless  station  erected  by  the  United  States  Navy 
Department  at  Fort   Meyer.  Arlington,  Va.,   which  when 
•completed  will  represent  an  investment  of  over  $1,000,000, 
^was  tested  on  the  night  of  Oct.  28,  when  messages  were 
^ent  to  the  Key  West  and  Colon  stations.     It  is  expected 
that  the  station  will  establish  a  sending  radius  of  3000  miles 
under  ordinary  weather  conditions.     Its  most  striking  fea- 
ture is  the  three  steel  towers,  connected  at  their  tops  by  a 
series  of  twenty-three  wires,  from  which  the  messages  will 
be  radiated  and  received.    The  towers  are  arranged  400  tt. 
apart   at  the  corners   of   a  triangle   foundation   around   a 
central  receiving  and  sending  station.    The  westernmost  of 
these  towers  is  600  ft.  high  arid  150  ft.  square  at  the  base 
while  the  two  other  towers  are  45°  ft-  high  and   120  tt. 
square  at  the  base.    The  wireless  equipment  m  the  station, 
although  built  especially  for  the  navy,  is  not  entirely  new, 
having  been  in  use  at  the  Fessenden  station  at  Brant  Rock, 
~  Mass     in  1910,  where  it  was  subjected  to  exhaustive  tests 
for  a 'period  of  over  eight  months.     The  equipment  com- 
prises  a   loo-kw   motor-generator  set,  energy   for  driving 
which  is  purchased  from  the  Potomac  Electric  Power  Com- 
pany   of  Washington.     At  the  end  of  the  motor-generator 
shaft  is  a  synchronous  rotating  spark-gap.     The  principle 
of  the  Fessenden  system  as  built  for  the  navy,  as  well  as  a 
diagram  of  the  connections,  was  published  in  the  Electrical 
World  March  31,  1910. 


room  for  all.    One  thing  thait  is  wanted  is-  nuoce'  liiraiined  meni 
in  the  selling  of  the  electric  vehicle. 

Mr.  Edwin  E.  Witherbee,  of  the  General  Vehicle  Com- 
pany,  brought  up  the  question  of  the  speed  of  the  electric 
truck  and  said  that  manufacturers  should  adiiere  to  a* 
definite  standard.  Mr.  Ernest  Lunn,  of  the  Walker  Vehicla: 
Company,  agreed  that  a  standard  of  speed  was  desirable,, 
although  'exceptions  might  be  made  La  unusual  cases.  Mr.. 
E.  L.  Callahan,  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  spoke  of  the 
need  for  co-operation  by  central-station  companies.  Mr. 
H.  Farrington,  editor  of  The  Pozver  Wagon,  advocated: 
co-operation  between  the  makers  of  electric  and  gas  trucks, 
stating  that  gas-truck  competition  must  not  be  underratetL 


1 


VEHICLE-CHARGING  STATION  IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 

The  Electric  Vehicle  Club  oi  Boston  has  issued  a.  booklet 
dated  Nov.  l  giving  the  names  and  addresses  of  the  principal 
electric  charging  stations  in  Massachusetts,  some  seventy 
municipalities  being  covered  by  the  list,  which  Lmcludes  105 
charging  points,  76  establishments  where  batteries-  may  be 
charged  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night  amd.  15  places 
criving   emergency   charging   service   only.     The   available 
service  ranges   from   Pittsfield  and  North  Adanos  on  the 
west  to  Provincetown  and  Oak  Bluffs  on  the  east  and  south. 
Twelve  main  charging  points  are  located  m  B.o&ton  proper, 
and  the  suburban  district  of  Greater  Boston  includes  about, 
twenty-five   other   stations    for   this   purpose.     Mr.    H.    F,. 
Thomson,  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  Bostoat, 
is  secretary  of  the  club. 


ELECTRIC-VEHICLE  PROGRESS. 

At  the  luncheon  of  the  Chicago  Section  of  the  Electric 
Vehicle  Association  held  on  Oct.  22  reports  were  received 
from  the  recent  Boston  convention  of  the  parent  association. 
Mr    Putt    of  the  General  Electric  Company,  spoke  of  the 
interest  shown  in  the  standardizing  of  charging  plugs  and 
garage  signs.    Mr.  George  H.  Jones,  of  the  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company,  who  presided,  pointed  out  the  advantages 
of  individual  rates  for  charging  electric  vehicles  m  garages. 
By  this  means  the  garage  man  charges  the  vehicle  owner 
for  the  actual  amount  of  energy  used  on  a  measured  basis. 
This  is  an  advantage  to  the  garage  owner  in  taking  on 
electric  trucks,  as  he  is  often  doubtful  in  making  a  flat  rate 
for  vehicles  of  this  class.    Mr.  C.  B.  Frayer,  of  the  Edison 
Storage  Battery  Company,  abstracted  some  of  the  ^papers 
presented  at  the  recent  convention.    Mr.  Julian  G.  Kirsten, 
of  Kansas   City,   representing  the  Anderson  Electric   Car 
Company,  spoke  of  the  advantages  of  electric  automobiles 
in  the  warm  climate  of  the  Southern  States.     There  is  a 
great  field  in  this  part  of  the  country,  particularly  in  Texas, 
which  is  now  in  a  very  prosperous  position.     The  garage 
proposition  is  the  most  serious,  for  cars  need  proper  atten- 
tion after  they  are  sold.     The  speaker  advocated  a  policy 
of  educating  garage  owners  as  well  as  individual  owners  in 
caring  for  electric  cars.    The  field  is  so  large  that  there  is 


HYDROELECTRIC    PROJECTS    ON    THE  RIO  ALA- 
MEDA, MEXICO. 

The  water-power  rights  of  the  Alameda  River   located 
within  the  State  of  Morelo,  Mexico,  were  recently  acquired 
by  the  Cia  Hidro-Electrica  del  Rio  de  la  Alameda,  S.  A., 
which  company  is  owned  largely  by  French  investors.     For 
the  purpose  of  utilizing  the  energy  at  these  falls  it  has  been 
decided  to  build  three  central  stations  with  an  aggregate 
generating  rating  of  25,000  hp.    The  construction  work  has 
commenced  on  one  station,  which  will  have  an  initial  instal- 
ment of  two  4000-hp  Escher  Wyss  turbines  and  later  a  third 
turbine  of  the  same  rating  for  reserve.    The  station  will  be 
located  2  miles  from  the  intake  and  will  be  connected  by  a 
double    pipe    line    furnished    by    the    Aktien    Gesellschaft 
Ferrum.     The   generators  will  be   wound   for   6000   volts, 
so  cycles,  and  will  have  directly  connected  exciters.     One 
reserve  exciter  and  a  150-hp  turbine  will  also  be  installed. 
From  the  power  plant  the  energy  will  be  transmitted  by 
a  44-mile  double  transmission  line  to  La  Piedad  substation, 
near  the  city  of  Mexico,  whence  it  will  be  carried  under- 
oround  into  the  city.     At  the  power  station  the  emf  will 
be  stepped  up  to  60,000  volts  by  means  of  groups  of  single- 
phase    oil-insulated,  water-cooled  transformers,  and  at  the 
substation  the  same  kind  of  transformers  will  be  provided 
for  stepping  down  the  voltage  to  3300.    For  the  transmis- 
sion line  use  will  probably  be  made  of  steel  towers  and 
suspension  insulators  built  by  the  Porzellan-Fabrik  Herms- 
dorf      There  will  be  three  switching  stations  on  the  line, 
each     equipped     with     the     proper     lightning     protective 
apparatus.     A  double  telephone  line  will  also  be  provided. 
At  switching  station  No.  3  a  branch  line  is  taken  off  to 
Tizapan  substation,  a  distance  of  4  miles.     At  this   sub- 
station will  be  installed  a  reserve  equipment  consisting  of 
two    1500-hp    Diesel-engine    generating   units,    which    will 
later  be  increased  to  five  units.    These  Diesel  engines,  which 
are  to  be  made  by  the  Maschinen-fabrik  Augsburg-Nurn- 
berg    are    said   to   be    the   largest   of   their   kind    on   the 
American  continent.     The  project  involves  the  installation 


November  -2,  119112. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


on 


later  at  Xizapaii  of  four  2250-lkva  transformers,  from  which 
to  supply  energy  for  the  surrounding  manufacturing  district 
for  motor  service.  The  Siem^ns-Schuckertvverke,  Mexico, 
are  making  all  the  electrical  installations  now  in  progress. 
Two  other  power  stations  are  to  be  built  later  and  will  be 
(Operated  in  parallel  with  the  one  now  under  construction. 


RECENT  PATENT  DECISIONS. 


'In  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  the  Rown- 
itree  patent.  No.  666,699,  for  a  signal  system  for  electric 
iclevators,  was  held  valid  and  infringed,  in  the  action  known 
as  Standard  Plunger  Elevator  Company  versus  Burdett- 
•Rowntree.  In  the  case  of  the  Electric  Storage  Battery 
Company  versus  the  Gould  Storage  Battery  Company  the 
United  States  District  Court  held  the  Madden  patent.  No. 
570,224,  for  a  machine  for  making  grids  for  secondary  bat- 
teries, not  infringed  by  the  machine  of  patent  No.  572,363, 
issued  to  the  same  inventor. 

The  United  States  District  Court,  in  the  case  of  the 
Bryant  Electric  Company  versus  David  Killoch  Company, 
■held  the  Seeley  reissue  patent,  No.  12,757,  ^or  an  incan- 
■descent  lamp  socket  valid  and  infringed. 


STEINMETZ  ON  THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  ELECTRICAL 
INDUSTRY. 


Taking  as  his  subject  "Some  Problems  in  Electrical  En- 
gineering,"' Dr.  C.  P.  Steinmetz  devoted  his  annual  lecture 
in  Chicago  on  Oct.  28  to  an  estimate  of  the  future  develop- 
ment of  the  electrical  industry.  The  address  was  delivered, 
as  in  former  years,  at  a  joint  meeting  of  the  Electrical 
Section  of  the  Western  Society  of  Engineers  and  the 
Chicago  Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  and  does  not  differ  in  substance  from  the  address 
made  by  the  same  speaker  at  the  recent  convention  of  the 
Association  of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies  at  Hot 
Springs,  Va.  Mr.  W.  C.  Armstrong,  president  of  the  West- 
ern Society  of  Engineers,  presided.  The  speaker  remarked 
in  beginning  that  an  endeavor  to  forecast  the  future  devel- 
opment of  the  industry  must,  of  course,  be  a  matter  more  of 
guesswork  than  of  exact  determination.  Nevertheless, 
there  are  some  marked  tendencies  to  be  observed.  These 
result  from  the  development  of  industrial  laws,  and  by  fol- 
lowing them  out  an  estimate  of  future  development  may  be- 
made  with  a  moderate  degree  of  confidence. 

CONCENTRATION  OF  SUPPLY. 

There  is  a  marked  tendency  in  generation  toward  the 
concentration  of  the  supply  of  electrical  energy  for  all  uses 
for  a  large  territory  from  one  system.  The  large  system 
has  economical  advantages  over  numerous  small  ones.  One 
of  its  most  conspicuous  advantages  is  the  possibility  of 
utilization  of  the  diversity-factor.  The  price  of  producing 
electrical  energy  depends  to  a  large  extent  on  the  load- 
factor.  The  station  must  be  such  as  required  by  maximum 
demand,  but  the  income  depends  on  the  average  demand. 
The  load-factors  of  most  users  of  electrical  energy  are 
relatively  poor.  Even  the  factory  operating  continuously 
for  eight  hours  creates  a  demand  during  only  one-third  of 
a  twenty-four-hour  day.  However,  if  a  number  of  users 
of  electrical  energy  are  supplied  from  the  same  generating 
system  a  better  average  will  result,  owing  to  the  diversity- 
factor  of  the  different  loads.  Therefore,  the  more  different 
tises  there  are  for  the  energy  the  less  will  be  the  cost. 

THE  DIVERSITY-FACTOR  OF  INTELLIGENCE. 

Beyond  the  advantage  of  this  diversity-factor,  which  is 
now  obvious,  there  is  another  diversity-factor,  which  is  of 
perhaps  even  greater  advantage,  though  not  so  apparent  to 
casual   inspection.     That  is  the  diversity-factor  of  intelli- 


gence. New  problems  arise  with  the  development  of  the 
large  system.  A  central-station  system  in  a  city  of  mod- 
erate size  may  have  one  or  two  first-class  engineers,  but  in 
the  large  systems,  where  new  electrical  problems  arise,  and 
also  mechanical  problems  and  problems  of  administration 
and  finance,  no  man  can  be  an  expert  in  all  the  varied 
activities  of  the  company.  And  so  there  will  be  found 
attached  to  the  system  the  highest  authorities  in  the  various 
branches  required  for  the  most  efficient  operation  of  the 
system.  The  men  in  charge  of  such  a  concentrated  system 
of  production  should  not  be  merely  up  to  date,  but  should 
be,  in  fact,  ahead  of  date.  That  is,  they  should  solve  in 
advance  the  problems  which  will  arise.  Here  is  an  advan- 
tage of  the  greater  system  probably  much  more  important 
than  that  of  better  load-factor.  It  may  be  called  the 
diversity-factor  of  intelligence. 

PRIVATE  PLANT  VERSUS  CENTRAL  STATION. 

When  electrical  energy  was  first  applied  to  the  operation 
of  machinery  it  was  generated  at  the  mill  or  factory  where 
it  was  used.  However,  the  factory  is  specialized  for  its 
purposes  as  a  factory.  Its  management  is  efficient  in  cotton 
spinning,  say,  but  not  in  the  operation  of  an  electric  plant, 
and  unless  the  circumstances  are  exceptional  cannot  be  so 
efficient  in  the  specialized  detail  of  producing  energy  for 
use  in  its  own  work.  That  accounts  for  the  fact  that  it  is 
usually  found  more  economical  for  the  cotton  mill  to 
purchase  electrical  energy  from  institutions  which  are 
specialized  for  the  purpose  of  producing  it.  In  general,  it 
is  not  economical  to  attempt  to  carry  on  simultaneously  the 
manufacture  of  cast-iron  pulleys,  say,  and  the  production  of 
electrical  energy  by  the  same  organization. 

THE   ELECTRICAL    NETWORK   OF  THE   FUTURE. 

As  the  generation  of  electrical  energy  is  being  concen- 
trated in  larger  system  units  at  the  present  time,  what  will 
be  the  future  of  the  industry?  Evidently  the  territories 
served  will  increase  in  size.  Some  may  be  counties,  some 
parts  of  states  and  some  small  states,  and  so  on.  Big  cities, 
have  an  advantage  in  this  respect,  of  course,  because  they 
have  as  a  nucleus  their  own  large  demand.  The  outcome 
must  be  the  replacement  of  village  and  small-city  generating 
plants  by  the  substations  of  big  systems.  Old  machinery 
will  thus  be  replaced  by  modern  types.  These  big  gen- 
erating sy-stems  will  tend  to  approach  one  another;  then  will 
come,  no  doubt,  an  era  of  co-operation,  and  it  is  not  too 
much  to  expect  a  network  of  energy-transmission  wires 
covering  the  country,  just  as  the  railroads  do  to-day. 
Energy  will  be  transmitted  in  the  one  case  as  freight  is 
transported  in  the  other.  The  right  of  condemnation  which 
is  given  to  railroads  should  be  given  to  the  owners  of  the 
great  transmission  lines  also,  and  a  recalcitrant  village  or 
small  city  should  not  stand  in  the  way  of  a  great  sectional 
or  even  national  development.  But  before  this  privilege  of 
condemning  right-of-way  is  given  to  the  great  power-trans- 
mission companies  there  may  be  on  the  statute  books  some 
laws  in  relation  to  co-operation  and  the  regulation  of 
utilities  corresponding  with  the  spirit  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury, instead  of  the  present  statutory  mi.xture  inherited,  in 
some  respects,  from  the  time  of  Alfred  the  Great.  Responsi- 
bility must  go  with  authority  in  the  case  of  the  transmission 
systems.  ■  The  latter  should  have  power  given  to  them,  but 
should  not  be  allowed  to  abuse  this  power. 

PHYSICAL   CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  FUTURE   SYSTEM. 

It  may  be  possible,  said  Dr.  Steinmetz,  to  go  a  little 
further  and  estimate  how  such  a  development  will  take 
place.  The  local  distribution  system  will  remain  the  same 
probably  as  now;  that  is,  a  three-wire  system  for  either 
direct  current  or  alternating  current.  This  system  of  dis- 
tribution has  stood  the  test  of  over  a  quarter  of  a  century 
and  will  probably  remain.  The  distributing  substations  will 
probably  be  supplied  over  2200-volt  alternating-current 
feeders,  the  energy  being  transformed  to  600-volt  direct 
current  for  railway  operation  or  220-volt  direct  current  or 


912 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


alternating  current  for  various  forms  of  commercial  service. 
Beyond  this  will  probably  be  an  intermediate  system  of 
feeders  around  lo.ooo  volts  which  may  be  styled  trans- 
mission feeders.  These,  like  the  2200-volt  distribution,  will 
be  laid  underground  in  cities  and  carried  as  overhead  lines 
in  the  country.  For  greater  distances  20,000-volt  or  30,000- 
volt  distribution  lines  will  be  supplied,  and  these,  too,  will  be 
underground  in  city  districts.  In  this  class  of  transmission 
in  overhead  work  in  the  country  it  is  probable  that  the 
highest  voltage  will  be  adopted  which  does  not  require 
special  precautions  in  installation,  say,  about  30,000  volts. 
But  there  will  be  flexibility  in  these  transmission  feeders, 
and  some  will  operate  at  as  high  as  60,000  volts.  In  addi- 
tion to  these  there  must  be  great  trunk  lines  for  the  trans- 
mission of  electrical  energy  radiating  from  the  big  gen- 
erating centers  and  comparable  to  the  trunk  lines  of  rail- 
ways. These  will  be  built  for  the  highest  practicable 
operating  emf — probably  between  150,000  volts  and  200,000 
volts — or,  in  othtr  words,  at  the  limit  imposed  by  the  dissi- 
pation of  energy  into  the  atmosphere  through  the  corona 
effect. 

EFFICIENCY  OF  A   NATION-WIDE  SYSTEM. 

Considering  this  whole  great  system  of  generation,  trans- 
mission and  distribution,  it  may  be  interesting  to  speculate 
on  its  efficiency  as  a  whole.  There  will  be  at  least  two 
transformations  of  energy  and,  figuring  on  these  and  the 
line  losses,  it  is  probable  that  the  average  loss  between  the 
generator  terminals  and  the  customers'  meters,  possibly 
100  miles  away,  will  be  less  than  10  per  cent.  The  excep- 
tionally high-voltage  transmission  lines  spoken  of  will  prob- 
ably not  carry  large  amounts  of  energy.  They  will  rather 
be  tie  lines  between  two  great  city  systems,  and  in  general 
only  a  moderate  degree  of  energy  will  flow  through  them. 
They  will  be  for  emergency  connections  between  two  great 
systems  and  for  use  in  helping  out  in  cases  of  peak-load, 
contributing  to  the  reliability  of  operation  and  serving  as  a 
sort  of  insurance. 

INDUSTRIES   FITTED   TO   POWER    RATHER   THAN    POWER    TO 
INDUSTRIES. 

At  present  the  industries  demand  energy  usually  for  eight 
hours  a  day.  If  industries  could  be  developed  to  utilize 
energy  in  the  other  sixteen  hours  the  problem  would  be 
solved,  and  that,  in  fact,  is  the  great  problem  of  the  elec- 
trical engineers  of  the  future.  Old  industries  cannot  of 
themselves  be  expected  to  change  a  great  deal,  although 
something  can  be  done.  It  may  appear  rather  far-fetched 
to  expect  industries  to  adapt  their  conditions  to  entirely 
different  hours  to  avail  themselves  of  cheap  energ)'.  Still, 
some  large  industries  have  adapted  themselves  to  such  an 
arrangement.  'The  steam  engine,  for  instance,  has  en- 
couraged a  uniform  load  in  factory  production.  If  one 
looks  around  without  prejudice  he  will  be  astonished  to  find 
how  many  industries  are  affected  vitally  by  the  character- 
istics of  the  motor  service  available.  Our  methods  are 
really  the  result  of  the  characteristics  of  the  tools  we  use. 

The  steam  locomotive,  for  example,  has  impressed  itself 
to  so  great  a  degree  on  railroading  that  it  is  hard  to  con- 
sider it  only  as  an  incident.  The  coach  horse  dominated 
transportation  in  the  earlier  days ;  the  electric  motor  has 
still  different  characteristics,  but  the  steam  locomotive  has 
so  dominated  the  railroads  that  it  is  difficult  for  railroad 
men  to  think  of  transportation  in  units  best  adapted  to 
utilizing  the  advantages  of  the  electric  motor. 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  that  new  forms  of  motor 
service  need  not  be  adapted  to  old  industrial  methods,  but 
rather  that  the  industrial  methods  should  be  rearranged  to 
use  the  service  to  best  advantage.  An  industry  utilizing 
electricity-  from  a  big  national  interconnected  system  must 
be  adapted  to  the  new  conditions  to  get  maximum  economy. 

PART   PLAYED   BY   WATER-POWER   DEVELOPMENT. 

At  the  close  of  his  remarks  Dr.  Steinmetz  spoke  briefly 
about  the  utilization  of  water-powers  and  their  relation  to 


the  unified  system  of  generation,  transmission  and  distribu- 
tion which  he  had  assumed.  Water-power  is  cheap  but  not 
very  reliable,  he  said.  Some  uses  of  energy  require  absolute 
reliability,  as  in  the,  central-station  service  of  a  big  city. 
Here  the  use  of  water-power  is  out  of  the  question, 
ordinarily,  without  a  continuous  steam  reserve.  But  in 
some  cases  the  interruptions  to  service  are  not  so  serious. 
The  speaker  analyzed  momentary  and  anticipated  interrup- 
tions to  service,  with  their  effect  on  various  industries.  As 
an  illustration  he  took  the  case  of  an  electrochemical  or 
clectrometallurgical  industry  taking  100,000  kw.  Here, 
where  the  use  of  power  is  very  large  and  the  number  of 
men  employed  comparatively  small,  it  might  be  profitable  to 
shut  down  the  entire  plant,  even  with  a  large  investment,  for 
two  months  in  the  summer,  giving  workmen  a  vacation  with 
full  pay,  by  reason  of  the  economies  effected  in  even  a  very 
slight  reduction  in  the  cost  of  each  unit  of  electrical 
energy  purchased.  In  this  case  the  use  of  water-power, 
even  with  a  long  interruption  (where  the  interruption  might 
be  anticipated  and  provided  for),  is  decidedly  advantageous. 

The  whole  problem  of  utilizing  water-power  requires  very 
careful  consideration,  and  that  is  true  of  all  the  relations 
of  the  production  of  energy  and  its  utilization  by  industries. 
The  specialist  of  the  electrical  industry  is  a  great  inter- 
mediary in  this  matter  of  energy  production  and  utilization. 
He  must  go  into  the  other  industries  and  reorganize  them 
to  adapt  themselves  to  the  motive-power  characteristics 
of  the  future  day.  The  great  problem  is  to  reorganize  the 
industries  to  use  advantageously  the  energy  made  available 
by  electricity.  That  problem,  said  Dr.  Steinmetz  in  closing, 
is  still  before  us. 

Disciusion. 

In  answer  to  a  question  as  to  how  the  central  station 
could  compete  with  the  factory  owner  in  providing  motive 
service  for  the  latter,  inasmuch  as  the  electric-service  com- 
pany has  to  allow  for  a  profit.  Dr.  Steinmetz  said  that  the 
private-plant  owner  must  make  a  profit  on  his  investment 
in  plant  also,  and  the  small  plant  cannot  avail  itself  of  the 
economies  that  the  large  system  can  realize. 

Referring  to  the  question  of  generating  electricity  at  the 
pit's  mouth  by  burning  the  coal  there  rather  than  by  trans- 
porting it  by  rail  to  the  point  of  consumption,  the  electricity 
to  be  transported  instead.  Dr.  Steinmetz  said  that  since  so 
many  factors  enter  into  the  question,  each  proposition  of 
this  kind  must  be  studied  out  by  itself.  Generally,  where 
freight  is  high  and  the  grade  of  coal  poor  it  ought  to  pay 
to  use  the  coal  to  make  electricity  at  the  coal  mine,  the 
energy  then  being  transmitted  electrically.  However,  where 
the  coal  is  of  high  grade  and,  say,  water  transportation  is 
available,  it  will  undoubtedly  be  found  cheaper  to  ship  the 
actual  coal.  At  the  present  time  it  would  probably  be 
economical  to  convert  inferior  fuel,  say  the  culm  pile  at 
coal  mines,  into  electricity.  If  this  was  done  to  take  care 
of  fuel  now  thrown  out  altogether  it  would  be  possible  later 
on  to  figure  out  the  economies  in  utilizing  the  entire  output 
of  the  mine.  However,  as  in  water-power  transmission, 
the  factor  of  reliability  of  service  over  long  transmission 
lines  must  be  taken  into  account. 


LECTURE  ON  TUNGSTEN. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  New  York  Electrical  Society  held  on 
Oct.  29  at  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York  Dr.  Charles 
Baskerville  gave  an  interesting  lecture  on  "Tungsten."  The 
history  of  the  metal  was  recounted  from  the  time  of  its 
discovery  by  Scheele  in  1781,  when  it  was  called  tungstein. 
The  most  important  historical  dates  and  the  scientists  con- 
nected with  them  are  given  herewith. 

Tungsten  occurs  in  nature  as  tungstates.  The  principal 
one  is  the  iron  salt,  known  as  wolframite,  represented  by 
the  formula  FeWO,.  Calcium  tungstate.  CaWo^,  or  scheel- 
ite,  and  lead  tungstate,  PhWO,,  or  stolzite,  are  also  found 


November  2,  igii 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


913 


in  nature  but  in  smaller  quantity  than  wolframite.  Tung- 
sten may  be  prepared  from  wolfram  by  heating  the  pow- 
dered ore  with  sodium  carbonate,  extracting  the  sodium 
carbonate  with  water,  filtering  and  adding  an  acid  to  pre- 
cipitate tungsten  acid,  H,WO,.  This  is  washed  and  dried 
and  the  o.xide  thus  obtained  is  then  reduced  to  the  metal 
by  heating  with  carbon  to  a  high  temperature.  Tungsten 
is  also  obtained  by  heating  the  oxide  with  carbon  in  an 
electric  furnace,  in  which  case  the  product  is  porous  and 
can  be  welded  like  iron. 

Reference  was  made  to  the  various  uses  of  tungsten  and 
its  alloys.     Particular  attention  was  given  to  the  tungsten 

DATES   IN  THE   HISTORY   OF  TUNGSTEN. 


1781.     Tungstein    discovered Scheele 

1783.     Wolfram   containing   tungsten De   Elhuyer 

1815.     Alloy  with  iron Hassenfratz 

1826.     Atomic     weight Berzelius 

1836.     Yellow  to   blue   oxide Malaguti 

1868.  Five  per  cent  tungsten  steel  rails. 

1882.     Tungsten  shot Mieg    and    Bishoff 

1887.     First    lilament Bottome 

1903.     Filament Just    and    Hanaman 

1905.     Filament    Kuzel 

1905.     Filament    Auer  von   Welsbach 

1907.  Filament    Siemens   &   Halske 

1908.  Filament     Westinghouse 

1910.     Filament    General  Electric   Company 


filament  as  being  the  application  of  most  interest  to  the 
electrical  engineers.  The  speaker  told  of  the  difficulties 
encountered  in  removing  from  the  metal  impurities  such  as 
sulphur,  arsenic,  antimony  and  phosphor,  which  was  very 
essential  in  order  to  obtain  a  sufficiently  strong  and  uniform 
filament.  Besides  this,  the  carbon  which  is  used  in  pro- 
ducing the  tungsten  must  be  removed,  which  caused  con- 
siderable difficulty.  The  honor  of  the  development  of 
tungsten,  the  speaker  said,  has  wrongly  been  claimed  by 
and  given  to  Austria,  when,  in  fact,  it  belongs  to  America. 
Credit  should  be  given  particularly  to  Dr.  W.  R.  Whitney, 
of  the  General  Electric  Company,  for  bringing  the  tungsten 
filament  to  its  present  state. 


CONVENTION  OF  ILLINOIS  ELECTRIC  ASSOCIATION. 


More  than  200  members  attended  the  convention  of  the 
Illinois  State  Electric  Association  at  Peoria,  Oct.  22  to  24, 
which,  in  point  of  program  and  numbers,  was  generally 
declared  one  of  the  best  meetings  ever  held  by  the  organiza- 
tion. 

With  President  H.  A.  Foster,  of  Fairbury,  in  the  chair, 
Tuesday's  session  was  opened  with  a  paper  on  central-sta- 
tion accounting,  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Scott,  Chicago.  Pointing  out 
the  desirability  of  uniform  methods  even  in  small  stations, 
the  author  presented  the  schedules  for  classifying  expenses, 
investment  and  income  in  plants  of  various  sizes  recom- 
mended by  the  National  Electric  Light  Association.  Messrs. 
H.  E.  Chubbuck,  Ottawa;  John  Maury,  Rossville,  and  F.  M. 
Sinsabaugh,  Mount  Vernon,  spoke  briefly. 

ELECTRIC    ICE    MAKING. 

In  his  paper,  'Tee  Making  with  Electric  Power,"  Mr.  J. 
R.  Cravath,  consulting  engineer,  Chicago,  discussed  motor- 
driven  compressor  plants  using  distilled,  raw  and  re-evapo- 
rated water.  The  increasing  number  of  transmission  sys- 
tems and  the  consequent  discontinuance  of  many  local 
steam-power  plants  with  ice  auxiliaries  makes  this  subject 
one  of  present  great  importance.  Raw-water  ice  plants 
are  in  operation  at  Chicago,  Joplin,  Mo.,  and  Columbus, 
Ohio.  From  40  kw-hr.  to  60  kw-hr.  is  required  to  make  a 
ton  of  ice.  The  air  compressors  for  agitating  raw-water 
plants  demand  about  %  hp  per  ton  of  daily  capacity.  From 
I  gal.  to  4  gal.  of  cooling  water,  at  50  deg.  to  85  deg.  Fahr., 
is  the  usual  requirement  for  each  ton  daily  output. 


Mr.  J.  G.  Learned,  Chicago,  reported  that  the  Common- 
wealth Edison  Company  now  has  2000  kw  connected  in  ice- 
making  load.  Local  ice  manufacturers,  he  said,  declare 
they  can  make  ice  electrically  at  a  lower  cost  per  ton  than 
the  freight  charges  on  natural  ice  brought  from  the  Wis- 
consin lakes.  One  Chicago  ice  factory  has  an  electrical  load 
factor  of  85  to  90  per  cent  and  turns  out  its  product  at 
48  to  52  cents  per  ton,  in  competition  with  lake  ice  costing 
55  to  60  cents  per  ton.  Mr.  Learned  urged  central  stations 
to  encourage  raw-water  ice  making  since  it  is  usually  im- 
possible, he  said,  to  sell  electric  service  to  distilled-water 
plants.  Mr.  J.  J.  Frey,  Hillsboro,  declared  that  he  knew  of 
no  system  of  raw-water  ice  making  which  can  be  operated 
profitably.  His  manufacturing  cost,  he  said,  is  80  cents  per 
ton.  Mr.  E.  H.  Negley,  Canton,  suggested  the  advantages 
of  central  stations  selling  their  distilled  water  condensate  to 
ice  plants  in  addition  to  energy  for  motor  service.  Mr. 
E.  W.  Smith,  Kewanee,  referred  to  the  high  maintenance 
costs  on  re-evaporating  and  distilling  apparatus.  Mr.  C.  W. 
Pen  Dell,  Chicago,  declared  that  ordinary  drinking  water 
should  be  good  enough  for  ice  making,  an  argument  useful 
to  refute  customers  who  object  to  raw-water  ice.  With  a 
little  effort,  he  said,  central  stations  should  be  able  to  get 
all  future  ice  plants  as  customers  on  an  off-peak  schedule. 
Mr.  Cravath  insisted  it  would  be  out  of  the  question  to 
expect  ice  plants  to  shut  down  for  even  an  hour  or  two 
during  summer  peak  periods,  but  added  that  the  summer 
peak  usually  falls  so  far  below  the  winter  load  that  no 
difficulty  should  be  experienced  in  carrying  the  ice  plant 
continuously.  Messrs.  L.  E.  Marshall,  Dixon;  H.  E.  Chub- 
buck,  Ottawa;  H.  A.  Foster,  Fairbury,  and  A.  S.  Scott, 
Chicago,  a'so  took  part  in  the  discussion. 

SERIES    STREET    LIGHTING. 

Mr.  H.  G.  Hoke,  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing 
Company,  Chicago,  followed  with  a  paper  on  "Series  Tung- 
sten Lamps  for  Street-Lighting  Purposes."  The  author  out- 
lined appropriate  installations  for  business  and  residence 
streets,  parks  and  boulevards  and  described  the  operation 
of  the  adjuster-socket  and  regulator  systems  of  series  con- 
trol. Mr.  E.  H.  Negley  spoke  of  lightning  troubles  on  his 
street-lighting  system  at  Canton,  where  the  loss  of  many 
lamps  has  been  suffered  during  each  storm.  Mr.  C.  F. 
Snyder,  Bloomington,  said  that  with  lightning  arresters 
placed  on  every  long  run  of  his  4-anip  series  system  not  a 
dozen  lamps  are  lost  a  year,  although  many  film  cut-outs  are 
punctured.  Mr.  W.  J.  Day,  Bemcnt,  uses  arresters  each 
third  of  a  mile  and  has  had  no  lightning  troubles.  Mr. 
Hiatt,  Chicago  Heights,  said  that  his  former  mixed  series 
operation  of  arc  and  tungsten  lamps  gave  trouble  during 
storms  or  when  the  transformers  were  "pumping"  badly, 
destroying  so  many  tungsten  lamps  that  he  was  forced  to 
give  up  their  use  in  this  way.  Mr.  E.  W.  Smith,  Kewanee, 
cited,  on  the  other  hand,  his  own  eight  years'  successful 
experience  with  similar  mixed  series  operation. 

ELECTRIC  VEHICLES. 

"The  Electric  Vehicle  as  Central  Stations  Should  View  It" 
was  the  title  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  G.  H.  Jones,  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company,  Chicago.  He  emphasized  the  value  of 
electric  truck  and  pleasure-car  charging  as  an  off-peak  load, 
improving  plant  load-factor  and  reducing  operating  costs. 
Curves  which  he  presented  showed  the  practical  value  of  the 
vehicle  load  on  the  Chicago  system.  In  closing  the  author 
advised  electric  companies  to  use  electric  vehicles  in  their 
own  business,  to  take  an  automobile  agency  and  start  a 
garage  if  there  is  no  active  vehicle  representative  in  town, 
to  establish  reasonable  rates  for  charging  service,  to  appoint 
one  man  in  the  company  as  its  vehicle  specialist,  and  to 
advertise  and  co-operate  with  the  publicity  campaign  of  the 
Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America.  Mr.  Jones  ex- 
hibited slides  showing  sample  advertisements  used  in  this 
campaign. 

Mr.  F.  W.  Reimers,   Rock   Island,   advocated  the  use  of 


914 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  Ko.  i8. 


electric  vehicles  exclusively  by  central  stations.  Mr.  J.  R. 
Cravath,  Chicago,  spoke  of  electric-roadster  development 
In  reply  to  inquiries  Mr.  Jones  gave  3-amp-hr.  per  mile 
at  25  miles  per  hour  as  a  fair  consumption  for  pleasure  cars. 
Contrasting  maintenance  costs,  he  told  of  a  visit  to  the  shop 
of  a  New  York  department  store  which  besides  its  electric 
cars  has  thirteen  gasoline  cars,  seven  of  which  were  at  the 
time  undergoing  repairs.  Of  the  seventy-five  electric 
vehicles  in  the  same  service,  three  were  in  the  shop.  In  the 
large  sizes  electric  and  gasoline  trucks  average  the  same, 
weight  for  weight,  he  said,  although  the  smaller  electric 
trucks  are  slightly  heavier  than  the  gasoline  cars.  I\Ir.  H. 
W.  Young,  Chicago,  urged  central  stations  which  undertake 
vehicle  service  to  provide  an  experienced  troubleman. 
Nine-tenths  of  the  troubles  reported,  he  said,  are  found  to  be 
due  to  low  acid  in  the  cells  or  to  some  other  simple  cause. 
Mr.  J.  H.  Delaney  cited  the  testimony  of  a  prominent  manu- 
facturer who  has  reduced  his  costs  40  per  cent  by  replacing 
gasoline  cars  with  electric  cars.  Messrs.  Edgar  Switzer, 
Chicago;  E.  H.  Negley,  Canton;  J.  J.  Frey,  Hillsboro,  and 
T.  W.  Gregory,  East  St.  Louis,  also  spoke  in  the  discussion. 
The  new  "'primer"  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering  So- 
ciety, 'Light,  Its  Use  and  Abuse,"  was  next  exhibited  to  the 
convention  by  Mr.  J.  R.  Cravath,  who  explained  the  aims  of 
the  society  in  compiling  it.    The  booklet  is  sold  at  cost. 

WINDOW  LIGHTING. 

"Window  Lighting,"  a  paper  by  Mr.  C.  F.  Snyder,  Bloom- 
ington,  outlined  the  principles  of  good  display  illumination 
using  concealed  lamps  and  reflectors.  A  window,  15  ft.  by 
12  ft.  by  6  ft.,  he  said,  can  be  well  lighted  by  six  loo-watt 
tungsten  lamps  in  reflectors.  High  window  intensities  at- 
tract passers-by  and  increase  business.  Ornamental  street 
lighting,  declared  Mr.  Snyder,  acts  to  increase  window  in- 
tensities as  soon  as  the  merchant  finds  his  displays  appear 
dark  by  contrast.  When  inaugurating  a  window-lighting 
campaign,  the  author  advised  concentrating  first  attention  on 
a  progressive  merchant,  getting  this  initial  installation  com- 
plete, after  which  other  local  firms  will  follow  easily,  he 
said. 

Mr.  T.  W.  Gregory,  East  St.  Louis,  employs  a  flat  rate  of 
0.8  cent  per  watt  connected  for  window  lamps  burning  from 
dusk  to  II  p.  m.,  the  customer  making  his  own  renewals. 
Mr.  L.  E.  Jackson,  Dixon,  recommended  i  cent  per  watt 
per  month  as  easy  to  figure,  the  company  furnishing  re- 
newals. He  recommended  using  a  40-watt  lamp  for  each 
12  in.  of  window  frontage.  Mr.  E.  H.  Negley,  Canton,  said 
many  of  his  customers  use  fans  in  their  windows  all  w-inter 
to  free  the  glass  of  frost. 

SUBURBAN    AND  RURAL   DISTRIBUTION. 

Mr.  H.  B.  Gear's  paper,  "High-Tension  Distribution  in 
Northern  Illinois,"  was  read  by  Mr.  O.  O.  Rider.  The 
33.000-volt,  6o-cycle  transmission,  with  4600/8000-volt  four- 
wire  subsidiary  lines,  was  described  in  detail.  Generating 
stations  are  25  to  50  miles  apart,  but  the  voltage  has  been 
chosen  low  enough  to  permit  tapping  lines  for  even  25-kw 
transformers  for  small-town  substations.  Outdoor  33,000- 
volt  transformers  can  be  used,  saving  building  entries  in 
sizes  below  75  kw..  Using  the  four-wire  subsidiary  lines, 
part  of  the  substations  can  be  eliminated  by  installing  in  an 
existing  substation  the  regulators  which  are  needed.  For 
future  agricultural  demands  this  four-wire  construction  will 
also  prove  very  adaptable. 

Mr.  E.  L.  Brown,  Elmwood,  described  his  interconnected 
system  serving  seventy-five  farm  customers.  The  demand 
of  this  class  is  unusually  uniform,  he  said.  The  farmer 
needs  service  for  various  purposes  all  day  long  and  is, 
especially,  a  pleased  user  of  household  labor-saving  devices. 
Small  motors  drive  his  pumps,  churns,  cream  separators, 
etc.  Rural  users  are  extremely  appreciative.  One  farmer's 
wife  remarked  after  a  week's  experience  with  her  electrical 
conveniences  that  she  "feared  it  was  all  too  good  to  last."  Mr. 


C.  W.  Pen  Dell,  Chicago,  explained  that  the  Public  Service 
Company  has  limited  single-phase  motor  sizes  to  10  hp, 
although  this  value  may  be  exceeded  with  the  new  unity- 
power-factor  motors.  Mr.  T.  Bass,  Farmington,  reported 
serving  eleven  farm  customers  over  3  miles  of  2200-volt 
iron-wire  line.  Mr.  E.  H.  Negley,  Canton,  reported  trans- 
ferring a  telephone  circuit  onto  the  power-line  poles  at  a 
uniform  distance,  to  prevent  noise.  Vertical  ground  wires 
are  run  down  each  pole  as  lightning  protection.  Mr.  H.  W. 
Young,  Chicago,  spoke  of  the  development  of  a  self-con- 
tained 33,000-volt  air-break  switch,  horn-gap  lightning  ar- 
rester and  fuse  for  the  Public  Service  lines.  The  switch  can 
be  tripped  by  hand,  remote-control  or  overload  release,  butt- 
joint  contacts  preventing  any  possibility  of  freezing.  Mr. 
L.  Owen,  Peoria,  recommended  ground  wires  down  each 
pole,  as  affording  the  best  protection.  Mr.  Bass  described 
his  use  of  kick-coils,  consisting  of  twenty  turns  of  wire 
around  a  4-in.  pipe,  to  protect  transformers.  The  latter  are 
never  installed  at  the  ends  or  corners  of  lines.  By  laying 
out  several  proposed  lines  through  a  rural  district,  competi- 
tion is  aroused,  so  that  the  farmers  often  offer  inducements 
to  get  the  right-of-way.  For  $1  nominal  consideration  legal 
permission  can  usually  be  obtained  for  setting  poles  inside 
the  fence  lines.  President  Foster,  Fairbury,  cited  a  case 
in  which  after  ten  years'  free  occupancy  of  such  pole  space 
the  company  was  sued  for  rental,  but  by  advice  of  com- 
plainant's counsel  this  suit  was  later  dropped.  Mr.  Foster 
also  quoted  authority  to  show  that  an  electric  company  can 
condemn  rights-of-way  for  its  lines.  In  building  its  farmers' 
extensions  the  Elmwood  company,  said  Mr.  Brown,  charges 
the  customer  $1  per  pole,  requiring  him  to  haul  and  set  the 
poles  and  board  the  construction  crew  during  the  work. 
Permission  for  the  line  is  obtained  from  the  county  super- 
visors, a  quitclaim  form  being  used. 

ORNAMENTAL   CURB  LIGHTING. 

Mr.  W.  F.  Hansgen,  Rock  Island,  III.,  opened  the  Thurs- 
day afternoon  session  with  a  paper  on  "Ornamental  Post 
Lighting,"  describing  tungsten  "white-way"  installations. 
Although  the  methods  of  payment  for  this  service  have  to 
be  determined  by  local  conditions,  the  author  recommended 
securing  a  city  contract  if  possible.  Mr.  J.  G.  Learned, 
Chicago,  in  discussion,  urged  that  cities  develop  their  civic 
pride  in  lighting  matters,  without  depending  too  largely  upon 
individual  merchants  and  advertisers.  Too  high  sidewalk 
intensity  requires  higher  window  intensity  or  incurs  dis- 
appointment. Window  lighting,  he  said,  is  easier  to  get  than 
"white-way"  lighting,  and  should  be  attacked  first.  Post 
lighting,  he  added,  too  often  promotes  the  demand  for  under- 
ground construction.  Mr.  T.  W.  Gregory  described  his 
magnetite  lighting  in  East  St.  Louis,  one  lamp  per  100  ft. 
for  a  distance  of  2  miles,  the  cost  being  met  by  the  city. 
Mr.  H.  W.  Young  described  the  new  Chicago  tungsten 
lighting,  recently  detailed  in  the  Electrical  World,  convert- 
ing gas  posts  to  tungsten  standards  at  a  cost  of  $6.25  per 
post.  The  cable  was  laid  bare  in  a  trench  alongside  the 
curb,  2500  ft.  being  placed  in  two  days.  Mr.  J.  H.  Delaney, 
Chicago,  cited  an  instance  where  property  near  the  stock- 
yards, Chicago,  rose  25  to  27  per  cent  in  sale  and  rental 
value  following  an  ornamental  lighting  installation.  Messrs. 
H.  A.  Foster,  Fairbury;  E.  L.  Brown,  Elmwood;  C.  A. 
Tatman,  Monticello;  L.  E.  Jackson,  Dixon,  and  E.  Mac- 
Donald,  Lincoln,  also  spoke. 

HOUSE-WIRING   CAMPAIGNS. 

"House  Wiring"  was  the  title  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  H.  C. 
McMillan,  Rockford,  in  which  the  writer  advocated  news- 
paper and  personal  advertising  and  personal  solicitation  as 
aids  to  a  successful  campaign  for  residence  service.  The 
value  of  the  residence  business  is  too  often  depreciated,  he 
thought,  by  starting  the  new  solicitor  on  this  work  with  the 
knowledge  that  his  promotion  will  be  to  the  commercial 
sales  department.    Instead,  special  residence  men  should  be 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


91S 


developed  and  maintained  as  a  regular  staff.  In  Rockford, 
by  co-operation  with  contractors,  a  six-room  house  can  be 
wired  for  ^^2,  payable  also  in  instalments  of  $5  down  and 
$2.25  a  month. 

Mr.  M.  Hart,  Chicago,  referred  to  the  delay  that  so  often 
results  on  contractors'  wiring  jobs.  Mr.  J.  G.  Learned  said 
that  residences  have  a  maximum  demand  of  only  25  per  cent 
of  their  connected  load  and  merit  more  attention  from  the 
commercial  department.  Mr.  R.  S.  Wallace,  Peoria,  urged 
the  use  of  the  terms  ''sales  department"  and  "salesman," 
instead  of  "new-business  department"  and  "solicitor." 
Mr.  F.  M.  Sinsabaugh,  Mount  Vernon,  also  recommended 
"customer"  instead  of  "consumer."  Mr.  Theodore  Bass, 
Farmington,  spoke  of  the  advantages  of  direct  and  news- 
paper advertising.  Mr.  H.  J.  Pepper,  Champaign,  admitted 
that  such  advertising  prepares  the  way  for  sales  work  but 
insisted  that  only  personal  solicitation  by  a  salesman  can 
secure' the  business.  Mr.  C.  W.  Pen  Dell,  Chicago,  pointed 
out  that  salesmen  are  relatively  expensive  and  that  much  of 
their  time  is  wasted  in  fruitless  calls.  They  can  visit  only 
a  few  customers,  while  a  newspaper  "ad"  reaches  all.  The 
speaker  advocated  detailing  one  man  to  write  all  adver- 
tising copy.  Mr.  Johnson,  Dixon,  said  that  only  a  fraction 
of  the  readers  see  the  average  "ad."  Mr.  G.  R.  Jones, 
Chicago,  spoke  of  the  value  of  cultivating  the  newspapers' 
friendship.  Mr.  Hiatt,  Chicago  Heights,  said  that  sales- 
men need  more  instruction  and  enthusiasm  in  their  work. 
Mr.  C.  A.  Tatman,  Monticello,  while  admitting  the  value 
of  advertising  in  larger  places,  insisted  that  newspaper 
publicity  is  Wasted  in  communities  of  less  than  2500.  Presi- 
dent Foster,  Fairbury,  referred  to  the  difficulty  of  getting 
proper  wiring  construction  done  where  no  inspection  is 
provided.  One  curbstone  wireman  was  found  using  in- 
sulated iron  wire  for  interior  work.  Mr.  F.  J.  Baker, 
Chicago,  said  that  on  one  occasion,  when  suspicious  of  a 
contractor's  intentions,  the  company  got  the  architect  to 
place  an  inspector  on  the  job,  the  company  paying  his 
salary.  Mr.  T.  J.  Wolf,  Sterling,  advised  securing  the 
passage  of  a  town  ordinance  making  the  National  Code  the 
local  standard.  Mr.  E.  MacDonald,  Lincoln,  said  that 
where  wiring  is  improperly  done  payment  can  be  held  up. 

ELECTRIC    SIGNS. 

"Electric  Signs"  was  the  subject  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  G.  E. 
Fuller,  Federal  Sign  System,  Chicago.  The  author  sub- 
mitted figures  to  prove  that  the  average  household  at  $2 
per  month,  using  fifteen  outlets,  gives  a  yearly  station  in- 
come of  only  $40  per  kw,  while  a  forty-eight-lamp  sign 
using  5-watt  units,  will,  at  3  cents  per  kw-hr.,  return  $55 
per  station  kw.  He  urged  that  service  and  maintenance  be 
furnished  in  addition  to  energy,  on  a  flat  rate,  in  order  to 
keep  the  customer's  sign  useful  and  attractive  to  its  owner. 

Mr.  T.  W.  Gregory,  East  St.  Louis,  pointed  out  that  as 
sign  loads  come  almost  wholly  on  the  peak  they  are  less 
desirable  than  equivalent  residence  business.  Mr.  R.  S. 
Wallace,  Peoria,  suggested  analysis  by  comparing  sign 
rates,  on  a  basis  of  1800  hours  per  year,  with  the  average 
station  income  obtained  by  dividing  the  station  peak  by  the 
gross  revenue.  Mr.  E.  W.  Smith,  Kewanee,  showed  that 
at  I  cent  per  connected  watt  an  income  of  $120  per  kw  is 
obtained.  With  flat-rate  service  he  finds  that  the  customer 
maintains  his  displays  readily  enough. 

INCREASING    THE    DAY    LOAD. 

Mr.  C.  L.  Owen,  Springfield,  followed  with  his  paper 
on  "Merchandise  Sales."  In  this  he  urged  co-operation 
between  all  divisions  of  the  same  company  and  close  per- 
sonal contact  between  the  sales,  collection  and  complaint 
departments.  An  electric-iron  campaign,  placing  200  irons 
at  $20  sales  profit,  will,  he  showed,  result  in  $4,160  in- 
creased yearly  income.  In  closing,  he  made  a  plea  for 
more  attractive  show-window  displays.  Messrs.  C.  F. 
Snyder,    Bloomington ;   T.    W.    Gregory,    East    St.    Louis ; 


J.  G.  Learned,  Chicago,  and  G.  R.  Jones,  Chicago,  took 
part  in  the  discussion. 

Mr.  D.  Davis,  Litchfield,  took  up  the  problem  of  increas- 
ing the  motor  load  of  the  small  company  and  advocated, 
when  possible,  employing  a  motor  specialist  familiar  with 
isolated  plants  and  their  cost — a  man  able  to  interest  pros- 
pective customers  and  capable  of  fully  protecting  his  em- 
ployer in  a  profitable  contract.  In  small  plants  the  manager 
must  fit  himself  to  perform  this  work.  By  spare-time 
attention,  declared  the  author,  he  can  gradually  acquire  an 
increased  motor  load  without  spectacular  methods  or  special 
help. 

A  paper  on  "Street  Lighting  and  Pumping  for  Villages 
and  Cities,"  prepared  by  Mr.  L.  H.  Haynes,  East  St.  Louis, 
was  abstracted  by  Mr.  T.  W.  Gregory.  The  history  of 
electrical  illuminants  was  first  traced,  down  to  the  modern 
flaming-arc,  metallic-flame  and  tungsten  lamps,  with  dis- 
tribution curves,  data,  etc.  Turning  to  water-supply  sub- 
jects, the  writer  discussed  various  types  of  pumps  and 
showed  how  electric  motors  might  supplant  steam  opera- 
tion to  the  advantage  of  both  water  and  electric  systems. 
Drainage  and  sewage  lifting  afiford  other  pumping  loads. 
The  author  recommended  contracting  on  a  kilowatt-hour 
rather  than  a  gallons-pumped  basis. 

HOT-WATER  DISTRICT  HEATING. 

A  paper  on  "The  Practicability  of  Central-Station  Heat- 
ing," by  Mr.  H.  J.  Frith,  Watseka,  was  read  by  title  at  the 
opening  of  Friday's  session.  Mr.  Frith  discussed  hot-water 
heating  in  particular  and  recommended  that  customers  in- 
stall ample  radiation  at  the  outset.  He  discussed  in  detail 
arrangements  for  condensing  exhaust  steam,  heating  water, 
etc.  During  1911  the  Watseka  heating  system  in  seven 
months  paid  72  per  cent  of  the  total  annual  plant  coal  bill, 
and  it  will  this  year  pay  90  or  100  per  cent.  Messrs.  H.  J. 
Pepper,  Champaign;  F.  J.  Baker,  Chicago;  E.  H.  Negley, 
Canton,  and  H.  A.  Foster,  Fairbury,  spoke  briefly  on  steam- 
heating  subjects. 

LIGHTNING    PROTECTION. 

"Lightning  Protection  of  Buildings"  was  the  subject 
chosen  for  his  address  by  Prof.  E.  J.  Berg,  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Illinois,  Urbana.  Owing  to  the  highly  oscillatory 
character  of  the  discharges,  said  the  speaker,  the  conductor 
required  for  lightning  rods  is  now  to  be  regarded  as  quite 
independent  of  size,  section  or  material,  except  for 
mechanical  considerations.  A  good  ground,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  of  the  highest  importance.  Assuming  a  portion  of 
charged  cloud,  100  ft.  square,  1000  ft.  above  a  building  of 
similar  size,  a  condenser  of  o.ooooi  microfarad  is  formed, 
whose  energy  at  discharge  will  probably  equal  11,200  kw- 
seconds,  or  about  that  of  a  pound  of  dynamite.  Professor 
Berg  also  exhibited  a  table  showing  the  drop  per  foot  of 
length  to  be  expected  in  a  lightning  conductor  for  various 
discharge  frequencies.  These  figures,  reproduced  herewith, 
reveal  good  reasons  for  the  "side-strokes"  observed. 

POTENTIAL    DROP    IN    LIGHTNING    CONDUCTOR   FOR    VARIOUS 
DISCHARGE   FREQUENCIES. 


Cycles. 

Impedance, 
Ohms. 

Amperes. 

Drop  per  Foot, 

100,000 

0.1 

15,000 

1,500 

300,000 

O.S 

75,000 

37,000 

1,000,000 

1.0 

150,000 

150,000 

sxio" 

25.0 

750,000 

1,800,000 

For  the  protection  of  plant  chimneys  Professor  Berg  recom- 
mended a  crown  of  discharge  points  grounded  by  several 
conductors,  with  bars  crossing  the  opening  through  which 
the  ionized  and  conducting  gases  pass. 

"Recent  Developments  in  Electric  Meters,"  by  Mr.  H.  W. 


9i6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


Young,  Sangamo  Electric  Company,  Chicago,  described 
single  and  polyphase  watt-hour  meters,  large-capacity 
direct-current  meters,  electric  garage  meters,  electro- 
plating meters,  vehicle  ampere-hour  meters,  distant  dial 
meters,  compensating  meters  for  lead  batteries,  variable 
resistor  meters,  testing  meters,  graphic  recording  instru- 
ments, distant  pressure  recorders  and  meters  used  with 
electric  weighing  machines. 

ELECTION   OF  OFFICERS. 

In  the  executive  session  at  the  close  of  the  technical 
session  officers  were  elected  as  follows:  President,  Mr.  J.J. 
Frey,   Hillsboro;   vice-presidents,   Messrs.    F.   H.    Golding, 


DECISION  IN    MALDEN    STREET-LIGHTING    CASE. 


Rockford ;  E.  MacDonald,  Lincoln ;  F.  W.  Reimers,  Rock 
Island,  and  E.  H.  Negley,  Canton ;  treasurer,  Mr.  C.  \V. 
King,  Levviston ;  secretary,  Mr.  H.  E.  Chubbuck,  Peoria ; 
assistant  secretary,  Mr.  C.  A.  Willoughby,  Peoria ;  executive 
committee,  Messrs.  W.  B.  McKinley,  Champaign;  F.  J. 
Baker,  Chicago ;  R.  S.  Wallace,  Peoria ;  E.  W.  Smith, 
Kewanee,  and  H.  A.  Foster,  Fairbury. 

Mr.  J.  J.  Frey,  the  newly  elected  president  of  the  Illinois 
Electrical  Association,  is  president  and  general  manager  of 
the  Hillsboro  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  Hillsboro, 
III.  Mr.  Frey  entered  the  electrical  field  eighteen  years 
ago  and  eight  years  later  organized  the  Hillsboro  company 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000.  One  of  the  pioneers  in 
transmission  work,  especially  in  its  methods  of  connecting 
up  small  towns,  this  companv  now  operates  60  miles  of 
16,500-volt  circuits,  serving  sixteen  towns  and  25,000  popu- 
lation. The  system  represents  an  investment  of  $800,000 
and  has  a  2000-kw  turbine  plant,  does  exhaust-steam  heat- 
ing and  operates  a  3a-ton  ice  plant.  Mr.  Frey  is  also  presi- 
dent of  the  Collinsville  (111.)  Electric  Company  and  is  a 
member  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association.  Mr. 
Frey  was  born  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  in  1S67,  and  moved  to 
Hillsboro  at  the  age  of  twelve  years.  In  1889  he  entered 
the  real-estate  business  in  Hillsboro.  He  has  maintained 
his  interest  in  real  estate  to  the  present  date  and  is  promi- 
nently identified  with  several  of  the  locally  owned  enter- 
prises. 

In  addition  to  special  entertainment  features  for  the 
ladies,  the  entire  convention  enjoyed  a  banquet  at  the  Hotel 
Jefferson  Wednesday  evening.  Mr.  C.  W.  King  presided  as 
toastmaster,  and  the  Hon.  P.  G.  Rennick  was  the  speaker  of 
the  evening.  On  Thursday  night  several  excellent  profes- 
sional vaudeville  numbers  were  followed  by  a  minstrel  show 
given  by  some  of  the  associate  members  present,  Mr.  C.  W. 
Wilkins  officiating  as  interlocutor. 


Upon  the  petition  of  the  Mayor  of  Maiden,  the  Massa- 
chusetts Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission  has  investi- 
gated the  rates  for  street  lighting  charged  by  the  Maiden 
Electric  Company  and  has  recommended  reductions  as 
stated  below.  The  contract  between  the  city  and  the  com- 
pany expired  in  June,  191 1,  and  the  rates  in  effect  before 
the  finding  of  the  board  were  $96  per  year  per  6.6-amp, 
430-watt  alternating-current  inclosed-arc  lamp ;  $20.80  for 
each  50-watt  tungsten  lamp  operated  all  night  and  every 
night,  and  $18.30  for  each  similar  incandescent  lamp  run 
on  a  dark-hour  schedule  of  about  3100  hours  per  year.  The 
installation  consists  of  123.5  ^^c  lamps  (one  lamp  being  on 
the  city  boundary),  twenty-three  all-night  tungsten  lamps 
and  1 172  dark-hour  incandescent  lamps.  The  arrangement 
covered  by  the  contract  has  continued  in  force  since  expira- 
tion, but  the  company  offered,  prior  to  the  filing  of  the 
petition,  to  make  a  ten-year  contract  for  the  foregoing 
types  of  lamps  in  all-night  and  every-night  service  at  a 
price  of  $86.40  per  arc  lamp  and  $18.72  per  incandescent 
lamp  per  year,  provided  the  equipment  then  in  use  was  not 
curtailed.  This  proposed  price  was  reached  by  deducting 
I  per  cent  from  the  base  prices  of  $96  and  $20.80  for  each 
year  that  the  contract  might  run. 

In  the  course  of  the  investigation  the  city  authorities 
requested  that  if  the  board  should  find  present  prices  too 
high  it  would  determine  what  the  city  ought  to  pay  for  a 
310-watt  magnetite-arc  lamp  run  upon  an  all-night  and 
every-night  schedule.  The  board  ruled  that  it  has  authority 
under  the  complaint  and  the  statute  applicable  thereto  to 
reduce  an  existing  price,  but  not  to  determine  the  type  of 
lamp  which  the  city  should  use  nor  to  establish  a  rate  for  a 
distinctly  new  and  non-existent  service  for  which  no  rate 
had  been  made  by  the  company.  No  attempt  was  made  by 
either  party  to  demonstrate  the  fair  price  of  street  lighting 
on  the  basis  of  the  cost  of  the  particular  service,  and,  as  in 
the  recent  Worcester  street-lighting  decision,  abstracted  in 
our  issue  of  July  27,  page  190,  it  appears  to  the  board  neither 
practicable  nor  desirable  in  the  present  development  of  the 
company's  business  to  undertake  a  determination  admittedly 
theoretical  of  the  cost  of  supplying  the  street  lamps  apart 
from  the  other  costs  of  the  company's  business. 

The  board  says,  how'ever,  that  "consideration  may  be 
given  to  the  fact  that  certain  lines,  lamps  and  fixtures  are 
used  and  that  certain  operating  expenses  are  incurred  exclu- 
sively in  the  street-lighting  service,  and  that  there  are 
elements  of  investment  and  maintenance  cost  per  unit  which 
are  peculiar  to  this  system  as  distinguished  from  the  strictly 
commercial  business  of  the  company.  At  the  same  time,  the 
street-lighting  svstem  has  perhaps  the  best  load-factor  of  all 
the  customers,  and  if  differentials  from  the  maximum  price 
to  private  customers  are  to  be  made  because  of  differences 
in  load-factor,  the  street-'ighting  may  reasonably  be  entitled 
lo  the  same  kind  of  consideration.  The  board  is  of  the 
opinion  furthermore  that  the  street  lighting  is  so  intimately 
associated  with  the  other  parts  of  the  company's  business 
that  prices  for  street  lamps  should  not  be  fixed  without  some 
consideration  of  the  conditions  surrounding  the  entire  busi- 
ness of  the  company,  and  that  in  this  case  the  city  should 
not  be  charged  more  for  the  electricity  required  to  operate 
its  incandescent  street  lamps  than  the  maximum  net  price 
charged  private  customers." 

The  company  supplies  four  residential  suburbs  of  Boston, 
but  a  considerable  industrial  activity  obtains  in  its  field. 
The  book  value  of  the  plant  on  June  30  last  was  $1,289,057, 
with  other  assets  of  $174,815,  against  which  the  company 
had  outstanding  stock  of  $525,000,  bonds  of  $100,000,  notes 
and  other  debts  amounting  to  $463,022.  In  the  past  five 
years  the  annual  net  earnings  from  operation  available  for 
interest,  dividends  and  depreciation  have  increased  from 
$84,611  to  $125,439,  and  an  extra  dividend  was  declared  in 
1912,  although  the  depreciation  charges  rose  from  $4,952  to 


November  2,  1912 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


917 


$17,752  in  the  period  covered.  During  this  time  the  price 
for  street  hghting  remained  unchanged,  while  the  company 
reduced  its  maximum  net  rate  from  15  cents  to  11  cents 
per  kw-hr.  The  commission  finds  that  these  reductions 
have  caused  the  company  no  embarrassment,  and  states  that 
while  the  company  is  entitled  to  a  fair  return  upon  the 
property  actively  and  necessarily  used  for  the  public  con- 
venience, the  income  from  its  entire  business  is  ample  to 
justify  the  extension  to  the  street-lighting  rates  of  the  same 
policy  of  price  reduction  that  it  has  applied  to  its  com- 
mercial output. 


DISCUSSION  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  COMMISSION  IN 
NATICK  RATE  CASE. 


Upon' complaint  of  customers  of  the  Natick  Gas  Light 
Company,  the  Massachusetts  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Com- 
mission has  issued  an  order  reducing  the  price  of  gas  to 
$1.50  per  1000  cu.  ft.,  as  of  Dec.  i,  1912.  The  company  serves 
a  municipality  of  about  10,000  inhabitants  lying  18  miles 
west  of  Boston  and  competes  with  the  Boston  Edison  com- 
pany in  the  lighting  field.  For  many  years  prior  to  1900 
the  company  maintained  a  difTerential  rate  for  the  larger 
consumers  only  slightly  below  the  maximum  net  rate.  In 
that  year,  with  a  maximum  net  rate  of  $1.90  for  gas  for 
lighting,  a  special  net  rate  of  $1.50  was  made  for  power 
and  cooking  purposes.  As  a  result  of  this  policy  the  sales 
increased  frorh  1,500,000  cu.  ft.  to  7,500,000  cu.  ft.,  prac- 
tically all  the  gain  being  in  gas  sold  at  the  $1.50  rate. 
Following  a  suggestion  of  the  board  in  1908  the  company 
reduced  the  maximum  net  price  to  $1.70,  and  in  1910  to 
$1.65.  At  the  same  time  the  annual  dividends  rose  to  6.5 
per  cent.  The  policy  of  decreasing  the  maximum  net  price 
until  a  uniform  price  for  all  purposes  should  be  reached 
was  being  steadily  pursued  and  proved  a  recognized  benefit 
to  the  company  and  the  public.  Considerable  dissatisfac- 
tion, however,  arose  from  the  use  of  a  differential  favoring 
the  use  'of  gas  for  stoves. 

In  191 1  the  company  passed  into  the  hands  of  new 
owners,  and  in  pursuing  the  policies  of  the  latter  the  oper- 
ating costs  were  increased.  As  a  reduction  of  the  maxi- 
mum net  price  for  lighting  purposes  seemed  to  the  manage- 
ment to  give  no  reliable  promise  of  the  additional  income 
desired,  the  rate  for  gas-stove  use  was  advanced  to  the 
maximum  net  price,  although  the  rate  for  manufacturing 
purposes  was  not  disturbed.  This  action  led  to  the  com- 
plaint. 

The  board  said:  "Evidently  this  advance  in  price  has 
failed  to  provide  the  income  sought  to  meet  the  changed 
conditions  in  the  company.  In  the  two  years  ended  June  30, 
1912,  while  meter  sales  for  all  purposes  increased  by  only 
about  300,000  cu.  ft.  and  the  receipts  therefrom  less  than 
$1,000,  the  operating  profits  decreased  nearly  50  per  cent. 
It  has  become  evident  that  if  the  reasons  for  the  first  ad- 
vance were  sound  another  advance  may  now  with  equally 
good  reason  be  demanded. 

"Even  if  it  be  within  the  board's  province,  it  is  unnec- 
essary to  discuss  at  this  time  the  expediency  of  the  par- 
ticular changes  in  method  to  which  the  additional  costs  un- 
der the  present  management  are  attributable.  .  .  . 
That  a  profit  reasonably  satisfactory  to  the  former  man- 
agement was  possible  at  the  rates  then  existing  has  been 
amply  demonstrated,  nor  is  it  likely  that  these  profits  would 
have  been  seriously  or  permanently  disturbed  by  further 
reductions  of  the  maximum  net  rate  in  harmnnv  with  the 
suggestions  of  the  board.  ...  It  was  probably  due  to 
the  expectation  of  an  early  attainment  of  a  uniform  price 
that  the  discriminatory  conditions  which  have  been  de- 
scribed were  allowed  to  develop.  It  is  not  unlikely  that 
these  conditions  had  become  sufiiciently  fixed  so  that  they 
could  be  cured  in  no  other  way. 


"In   considering  the  purchase  of  the  company  and  the 
introduction   of   the   new-business  methods,   the   foregoing 
considerations  ought  not  to  have  been  overlooked  by  the 
new   owners.      It   was  their  privilege  to   assume  the   risks 
incident  to  the  course  pursued,  but  an  attempt  arbitrarily 
to  impose  the  unfortunate  results  upon  the  public  would 
probalsly  not  have  been  made  except  for  the  possession  of  a 
monopoly.     Operating  as  well  as  investment  expenditures 
should  be  directly  related  to  the  needs  and  conditions  ex- 
isting  in   the   community.       Unnecessary    expenditure    in 
either  direction  must  be  at  the  risk  of  the  owner.     He  is 
bound  to  have  due  regard  to  the  needs  and  reasonable  de- 
mands of  the  community  to  be  supplied  when  deciding  upon 
the  necessity  or  advisability  of  expenditures  proposed.     A 
reasonable   return   presupposes   reasonable   costs,   and   rea- 
sonable costs  are  determined  by  a  consideration  of  all  the 
conditions    surrounding    the    business.      If     a    company's 
methods  and  general  policy  be  unreasonably  costly  or  so 
obviously  unwise  as  to  decrease  its  earning  power  or  check 
the   growth  of  its  business,  these  things  may  be  of  great 
importance  in  determining  the  amount  of  a  reasonable  re- 
turn.   -Some  of  the  recent  increases  in  operating  costs  are 
probably  temporary  only  and  may  not  again  occur.     The 
reasons    for   increasing   the    expenses   were    insufficient    to 
justify   them   if   thereby   it   became   necessary   to   advance 
the   price.     .      .      .     The   price    which    is   named   is   suffi- 
cient to  yield  a  reasonable  return  upon  the  property  actually 
and   necessarily  employed." 


PUBLIC  SERVICE    COMMISSION   NEWS. 


NEW    YORK    COMMISSION. 

The  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  First  District 
on  Oct.  26  started  work  on  the  extension  of  the  Fourth 
Avenue  subway  in  Brooklyn,  contracts  for  which  were  re- 
cently let  to  the  Degnon  Contracting  Company.  Ground 
was  broken  in  Fourth  Avenue  near  Bay  Ridge  Avenue,  ancj 
the  people  of  South  Brooklyn  celebrated  the  event  with  a 
parade  and  formal  ceremonies,  during  which  Chairman 
William  R.  Willcox  of  the  commission.  Borough  President 
George  McAneny  of  Manhattan,  Borough  President  A.  E. 
Steers  of  Brooklyn  and  others  made  addresses.  The  new 
work  is  in  great  part  a  four-track  subway,  extending  from 
the  present  terminus  of  the  Fourth  Avenue  subway  at 
Forty-third  Street  and  Fourth  Avenue  down  the  latter  thor- 
oughfare to  Eighty-ninth  Street.  It  will  cost  upward  of 
$3,000,000.  The  completion  of  this  work  will  do  much  to 
develop  territory  which  has  lacked  adequate  transportation 
facilities. 

MASSACHUSETTS    COMMISSION. 

A  petition  has  been  addressed  to  the  Gas  and  Electric 
Light  Commission  by  Mayor  Barry  of  Cambridge  asking 
for  an  investigation  of  the  prices  charged  for  electricity  by 
the  Cambridge  Electric  Light  Company. 

The  board  has  handed  down  a  decision  reducing  the  price 
of  street  lighting  in  the  city  of  Maiden  from  $96  to  $85 
per  6.6-amp  arc  lamp  per  year;  from  $20.80  to  $18  per 
50-watt  incandescent  lamp  burning  all  night  and  every 
night,  and  from  $18.30  to  $15.50  per  50-watt  tungsten  lamp 
burning  not  less  than  3100  hours  per  year,  dating  from 
Nov.  I,  1912.  An  abstract  of  the  board's  decision  appears 
in  another  column. 

A  decision  has  also  been  issued  by  the  commission  re- 
ducing the  price  of  gas  in  the  territory  of  the  Natick  Gas 
Light  Company  to  a  maximum  of  $1.50  per  1000  cu.  ft.  The 
case  involved  the  consideration  of  a  differential  in  the  rates 
for  lighting,  domestic  heating  and  industrial  service,  and 
the  relation  between  changes  in  rates,  the  income  and  re- 
sponsibility for  financial  risks  in  a  public  utility.  A  digest 
of  the  board's  finding  is  given  elsewhere. 


9i8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


MARYLAND    COMMISSION. 

The  Maryland  Public  Service  Commission  last  week  ruled 
that  the  Chesapeake  &  Potomac  Telephone  Company  must 
adopt  the  word  "Postal"  as  a  call  word  for  the  Postal  Tele- 
graph and  Cable  Company  and  the  words  "Western  Union" 
as  a  call  word  for  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company. 
This  action  was  taken  as  a  result  of  a  complaint  filed  by 
the  Postal  company  against  the  telephone  company,  alleg- 
ing that  the  use  of  the  word  "Telegram"  as  a  call  for  the 
Western  Union  Company  and  the  word  "Postal"  for  the 
Postal  company  had  resulted  in  the  diversion  of  Postal 
calls  to  its  competitor  by  the  telephone  company,  the  parent 
company  of  which  controls  the  Western  Union  company. 
A  similar  case  before  the  New  York  commission  some 
months  ago  was  likewise  decided  in  favor  of  the  Postal 
company.  The  hearings  in  the  case  before  the  Maryland 
commission  were  marked  by  intense  feeling  between  the 
representatives  of  the  two  companies. 

A  report  recently  submitted  to  the  Maryland  commission 
b}'  Chief  Engineer  Charles  E.  Phelps  is  said  to  show  that 
the  saving  to  telephone  subscribers  of  the  Chesapeake  & 
Potomac  Telephone  Company  by  reason  of  the  new  rate 
order  by  the  commission  is  more  than  20  per  cent.  The 
actual  saving  to  subscribers  is  estimated  to  be  $109,945  for 
the  period  from  Jan.  I  to  Oct.  I. 

OHIO    COMMISSIOX. 

Permission  has  been  denied  the  Union  Gas  &  Electric 
Compan}-  of  Cincinnati  to  issue  $500,000  additional  stock 
with  which  to  make  good  a  shrinkage  in  the  securities  de- 
posited under  the  terms  of  its  lease  of  the  properties  of 
the  Cincinnati  Gas  &  Electric  Company.  City  Solicitor 
Bettman  opposed  the  increase  on  the  ground  that  the  capi- 
tal obligation  would  be  augmented  without  any  addition 
to  the  value  of  the  property.  When  the  lease  was  executed 
the  Union  Gas  &  Electric  Company  agreed  to  secure  its 
contract  by  the  deposit  of  $3,300,000  in  securities.  Bonds 
of  the  Columbia  Gas  &  Electric  Conipan\'.  a  holding  cor- 
poration, were  deposited,  and  it  is  claimed  that  they  have 
declined  in  value  until  they  are  now  worth  only  $2,700,000. 
The  proposed  stock  issue  was  to  be  exchanged  for  addi- 
tional bonds  to  cover  the  difference. 

The  commission  has  notified  the  Canton  Electric  Com- 
pany, Canton,  to  have  its  representatives  appear  on  Nov. 
14  to  explain  how  it  is  able  to  allow  discounts  of  from  '20 
to  50  per  cent  on  bills  paid  within  ten  days  from  date.  The 
commission  has  been  furnished  with  a  schedule  of  rates 
and  discounts  as  follows:  More  than  $1  and  less  than  two 
hours'  daily  average  use,  10  per  cent;  more  than  $2  and 
less  than  two  hours'  daily  average  use,  20  per  cent;  $3  and 
less  than  three  hours'  daily  average  use,  30  per  cent;  $4 
and  less  than  four  hours'  daily  average  use,  40  per  cent ; 
$5  and  less  than  five  hours'  daily  average  use,  50  per  cent. 
These  rates,  members  of  the  commission  say,  are  made  to 
encourage  prompt  payment  of  bills,  but  the  difference  is  too 
great  when  the  amount  is  doubled  if  the  payment  is  late. 

Authority  to  make  a  new  issue  of  $200,000  of  old  bonds 
was  denied  to  the  Defiance  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  De- 
fiance, on  the  plea  that  the  mortgage  securing  the  issue  is 
faulty.  The  company  had  in  addition  asked  that  $90,000 
additional  bonds,  to  be  sold  at  80,  and  $90,000  stock,  to  be 
sold  at  60,  be  authorized.  The  commission  found  that  the 
mortgage  was  not  faulty  and  that  the  sale  price  of  the  bonds 
and  stocks  fixed  in  the  petition  was  too  low. 

WISCONSIN    COMMISSION. 

The  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission,  in  accordance  vi'ith 
its  policy  of  preventing  destructive  competition  between 
utilities,  has  denied  the  application  for  a  certificate  of  con- 
venience and  necessity  petitioned  for  by  the  Interstate  Light 
&  Power  Company.  The  petitioner  maintains  a  central  sta- 
tion at  Galena,  111.,  and  supplies  electrical  energy  to  certain 
sections   of   Illinois   and   southern   Wisconsin   through   the 


medium  of  its  high-tension  transmission  system.  It  sought 
permission  to  invade  a  territory  which  is  without  electric 
service  at  the  present  time,  but  which  is  claimed  by  the 
Mineral  Point  Electric  Light  Company  as  its  exclusive  ter- 
ritory by  right  of  a  permit  received  from  the  Town  Board. 
It  appears  that  the  latter  company,  a  reorganized  one,  had  1 
received  authority  to  extend  its  service  into  the  disputed  ■ 
territory  and  was  at  the  time  of  the  hearing  engaged  in 
the  preliminary  work  incident  to  such  extension  and  to  the 
necessary  rehabilitation  of  its  plant.  The  petitioner  alleged 
that  it  had  contracted  to  supply  energy  to  certain  mines  1 
operating  in  the  district  desiring  electric  service  immedi-  f 
ately  and  was  in  a  position  to  do  so  upon  the  granting  of 
the  certificate.  It  was  averred  that  the  complainant  could 
not  claim  the  territory  inasmuch  as  it  was  not  operating 
therein,  and  that,  furthermore,  the  Mineral  Point  company 
did  not  have  the  necessary  station  capacity  to  take  care  of 
the  added  load  and  did  not  have  a  bona  fide  intention  of 
extending  its  service  as  claimed,  but  only  intended  to  se- 
cure permits  to  prevent  the  petitioner  from  extending  its 
operations.  The  commission  held  that  a  company  must 
secure  a  permit  to  do  business  before  it  can  engage  upon 
the  construction  of  its  system  and  that  therefore  the  pro- 
tection of  the  law  must  necessarily  extend  to  cover  a  con- 
templated construction.  After  an  investigation  by  the  en- 
gineering department,  the  commission  held  that  both  com- 
panies were  in  position  to  furnish  service  within  a  com- 
paratively short  length  of  time;  that  there  was  not  suf- 
ficient business  in  the  district  to  justify  the  existence  of 
two  utilities;  that,  inasmuch  as  the  local  company  was  car- 
rying out  its  plans  of  extension  and  rehabilitation  as  rap- 
idly as  could  reasonably  be  expected,  it  was  entitled  to  the 
protection  provided  by  law,  since  public  convenience  did  not 
require  the  service  of  more  than  one  utility. 

The  commission  has  ordered  a  physical  connection  to  be 
made  between  the  exchanges  of  the  Clinton  Telephone 
Company  and  the  Bergen  Telephone  Company,  with  a  ten- 
tative arrangement  for  compensation.  It  appears  that  the 
two  utilities  had  exchanged  free  service  up  to  April,  when, 
on  account  of  the  inability  of  the  companies  to  make  a 
further  agreement  for  exchange  of  service,  the  lines  were 
disconnected.  The  Clinton  Telephone  Company  objected 
to  a  free  exchange  of  service  on  the  ground  that  it  has 
about  six  times  as  many  subscribers  as  the  Bergen  company 
and  that  in  exchanging  free  service  it  would  be  giving 
much  more  than  it  received.  From  a  test  made  upon  the 
systems  before  the  disconnection  it  appeared  that  the  num- 
ber of  calls  each  way  was  about  the  same,  so  that  as  far 
as  the  amount  of  business  was  concerned  the  exchange 
would  be  of  no  more  benefit  to  one  than  to  the  other.  Even 
if  the  number  of  calls  each  way  had  not  been  the  same,  the 
service  would  not  necessarily  be  of  more  value  to  one  ex- 
change than  to  the  other,  in  the  commission's  opinion,  inas- 
much as  the  service  has  a  value  to  the  party  called  as  well 
as  to  the  party  calling.  The  commission  did,  however,  lay 
down  the  principle  that  if  it  cost  one  company  more  than 
it  did  the  other  to  furnish  the  interchange  of  service  it 
would  not  be  reasonable  to  require  the  interchange  on 
equal  terms,  but  that  rates  should  be  charged  which  were 
based  upon  the  cost  of  such  service.  In  the  present  case 
there  were  no  facts  available  to  indicate  that  the  cost 
would  be  greater  to  one  company  than  to  the  other,  nor  was 
there  any  way  to  determine  to  what  the  cost  to  each  would 
amount.  To  determine  an  equitable  toll  rate  it  will  be 
necessary  to  make  a  study  of  the  actual  operating  condi- 
tions with  toll  rates  in  force.  The  commission,  therefore, 
ordered  a  physical  connection  to  be  made,  with  a  tentative 
toll  charge  of  2  cents  per  completed  call,  and  with  total 
toll  revenues  divided  equally  between  the  two  exchanges. 
The  order  was  issued  with  the  understanding  that  if  experi- 
ence shall  show  that  the  toll  rates  as  fixed,  or  the  division 
of  revenue,  needs  revision,  the  matter  may  be  reopened. 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


919 


Current   News  and  Notes 

Long  Range  for  Electric  Automobile. — A  noteworthy 
trip  of  an  electric  automobile  was  that  from  Detroit  to 
New  Orleans,  a  distance  of  1700  miles,  as  pathfinder  for  the 
1912  "Glidden  Tour,"  made  by  a  four-passenger  Flanders 
coupe  equipped  with  a  Willard  battery.  The  successful 
run  of  this  car  according  to  a  previously  arranged  sched- 
ule, should  do  much  to  establish  confidence  in  the  possibili- 
ties of  the  electric  vehicle  for  touring. 

*  *     * 

Ontario  Hydro-Electric  Commission  Wants  Control 
OF  Streams  and  Canals. — At  a  meeting  at  Belmont  on 
Oct.  23  the  Hon.  Adam  Beck,  chairman  of  the  Ontario 
Hydro-Electric  Commission,  stated  that  a  friendly  suit  will 
be  started  against  the  Dominion  government  in  an  endeavor 
to  secure  for  the  commission  control  of  all  rivers  in  the 
Province  of  Ontario  and  the  surplus  water  in  the  canals. 
This,  he  said,  was  part  of  the  Hydro-Electric  scheme. 

*  *     * 

Mississippi  River  Power  Development. — The  Missis- 
sippi River  Power  Company's  complete  development  at 
Keokuk,  la.,  is  shown  in  a  fine  lithograph  38  in.  wide  by 
I4j4  in.  long  recently  published  by  the  company.  This 
hydroelectric  plant  of  200,000  electrical  hp  will  be  com- 
pleted, it  is  estimated,  in  July  of  1913.  The  picture  will 
appeal  to  all  who  have  been  interested  in  this  very  impor- 
tant installation,  to  which  frequent  references  have  been 
made  in  these  columns. 


"Meterman's  Handbook." — Secretary  T.  C.  Martin,  of 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association,  reports  that  the 
"Meterman's  Handbook,"  published  by  the  association  for 
its  members  in  June  of  the  present  year,  has  already  gone 
through  two  editions.  The  first  edition  of  1000  was  almost 
immediately  disposed  of  and  a  second  edition  of  1500  copies 
went  very  rapidly.  An  order  has  just  been  placed  for  a 
third  edition  of  2500  copies.  The  value  and  popularity  of 
this  important  work  are  thus  clearly  demonstrated. 
*     *     * 

Extensions  of  Ontario  Hydro-Electric  System 
Wanted. — Because  of  the  fact  that  a  gas-producer  plant 
installed  by  the  municipality  some  time  ago  has  not  proved 
satisfactory,  the  village  of  Glencoe,  Ontario,  30  miles  west 
of  London,  has  arranged  through  an  industrial  committee 
with  the  Hon.  Adam  Beck,  chairman  of  the  Ontario  Hydro- 
Electric  Commission,  for  a  conference  concerning  the  pos- 
sible use  of  electrical  energy  from  Niagara.  The  lines  of 
the  Ontario  Hydro-Electric  system  at  present  extend  only 
as  far  as  London,  but  many  other  places  to  the  west  are 
anxious  to  have  the  service. 

Resuscitation  Chart. — Grit,  a  well-known  weekly  pub- 
lished at  Williamsport,  Pa.,  is  now  planning,  so  it  is 
reported,  to  make  a  novel  and  practical  use  of  the  resuscita- 
tion chart  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association.  Local 
physicians  will  be  asked  for  expressions  of  opinion  on  the 
best  means  of  using  the  resuscitation  chart  for  the  benefit 
of  the  general  public  and  how  best  to  educate  laymen 
generally  in  this  method  of  resuscitating  victims  of  electric 
shock.  These  opinions  will  be  published  and  will  have  as 
much  publicity  as  possible.  Grit  is  reported  to  have  a 
circulation  of  upward  of  300,000. 

+  *  * 
Kentucky  Public  Utilities  Bill. — Central-station  men 
in  Kentucky  are  much  interested  in  the  movement  which 
has  been  started  to  secure  a  special  legislative  session  in 
the  Bluegrass  State  for  the  purpose  of  considering  a  public 
utilities   bill.     This   measure   has  been   considered    in   the 


commonwealth  for  some  time,  with  a  view  toward  the 
establishment  of  a  commission  to  have  jurisdiction  over  the 
public  service  corporations  of  Kentucky.  Various  members 
of  the  State  administration  are  urging  upon  Governor 
James  B.  McCreary  at  Frankfort  the  necessity  of  a  special 
session  of  the  Assembly  to  dispose  of  this  and  other 
measures. 

+     *     * 

Payment  for  Street  Lighting. — Electric-service  com- 
panies complain  sometimes  that  municipalities  are  slow  in 
paying  for  street  lighting.  It  seems  that  the  same  complaint 
may  arise  where  one  municipal  corporation  serves  another. 
The  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago  cares  for  the  street  light- 
ing of  the  city  of  Chicago  under  contract,  and  it  has  been 
proposed  that  the  city  double  the  requirement  for  new  arc 
lamps,  taking  20,000  instead  of  10,000,  as  at  present  under 
contract.  But  the  District  trustees  ask  where  the  money  is 
coming  from.  According  to  newspaper  report.  Trustee 
Sullivan  explained  that  on  Oct.  22  the  city  owed  the  District 
$84,000.  He  said  that  the  city  should  show  its  ability  to  pay 
for  additional  lamps  before  a  new  contract  is  signed. 

*  *     * 

Boston  Electric  Show.— The  Boston  1912  Electric  Show 
closed  its  doors  on  the  evening  of  Oct.  26  after  a  highly 
successful  run  of  four  weeks.  About  500,000  persons  visited 
the  exhibits,  many  making  the  journey  from  across  the 
continent,  while  visitors  from  the  other  side  of  the  ocean 
included  the  display  in  their  trip  to  the  country.  Numerous 
special  excursions  were  run  to  Boston  from  all  parts  of 
New  England,  and  central-station  men  returning  homeward 
bear  evidence  to  a  striking  increase  in  popular  interest  in 
electrical  applications.  The  electric  vehicle  exhibit,  in  par- 
ticular, made  a  profound  impression  upon  the  general 
public,  for  more  and  better  machines  of  this  type  were  dis- 
played in  a  compact  area  than  at  any  previous  show.  The 
latest  developments  in  electric  lighting  and  in  commercial 
electric  heating  also  aroused  great  enthusiasm. 

*  *     * 

Investigation  of  London  (Ont.)  Street  Lighting. — 
Mr.  Harry  Angus,  of  the  School  of  Practical  Science,  of 
Toronto,  Ont.,  has  been  engaged  by  the  special  committee 
of  the  London  (Ont.)  City  Council  which  has  been  dele- 
gated to  investigate  the  cost  of  street  lighting  in  London. 
Mr.  Angus  will  prepare  a  detailed  report.  A  controversy 
arose,  it  is  reported,  when  Alderman  J.  G.  Richter  claimed 
that  the  Hydro-Electric  Commission  is  charging  the  City 
Council  an  excessive  rate  and  that  the  scale  is  out  of  all 
proportion  to  domestic  lighting.  Chairman  Philip  Pocock 
and  the  Water  and  Light  Commission  left  the  matter  with 
the  Ontario  Hydro-Electric  Department'  to  decide,  and  a 
decision  favorable  to  the  body  of  which  Mr.  Pocock  is  head 
was  presented.  Alderman  Richter  was  still  dissatisfied, 
however,  and  will  now  obtain  an  independent  report. 

*  *     * 

Seattle  Lighting  Rates.— In  a  letter  to  the  Journal  of 
Electricity.  Power  and  Gas,  Mr.  W.  J.  Grambs,  superin- 
tendent of  light  and  power  of  the  Puget  Sound  Traction, 
Light  &  Power  Company,  questions  the  correctness  of  pub- 
lished statements  regarding  the  rates  of  the  Seattle 
municipal  plant.  In  these  statements,  Mr.  Grambs  says,  it 
is  made  to  appear  that  when  the  city  plant  first  began  to 
operate  in  1904  the  competing  company  had  a  rate  of  20 
cents  per  kw-hr.,  and  that  this  rate  was  later  reduced  to 
i2'<  cents  per  kw-hr.,  based  on  the  connected  load.  "The 
rate."  Mr.  Grambs  says,  "was  only  20  cents  per  kw-hr.  for 
the  first  thirty  hours'  burning  of  the  maximum  demand, 
after  which  the  rate  dropped  to  5  cents  per  kw-hr.,  with  a 
discount  of  10  per  cent.  Likewise,  this  company  never  had 
a  rate  of  12^  cents — the  rate  was  12  cents  for  the  first 
sixty  hours'  burning  of  the  maximum  demand  and  3  cents 
for  all  excess,  with  a  discount  of  10  per  cent." 


920 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


Opposition  to  Louisville  Central  Station  Consolida- 
tion.—Briefs  are  to  be  filed  at  once  in  the  Chancery  Court 
in  Louisville,  Ky.,  in  the  case  of  the  municipality  versus  the 
Kentucky  Electric  Company.  The  city  seeks  to  enjoin  the 
Kentucky  company  from  disposing  of  its  stock  to  outside 
interests,  such  as  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  on  the  ground 
that  such  action  would  constitute  a  violation  of  the  com- 
pany's franchise.  Attorneys  for  the  Kentucky  Electric 
Company  recently  appeared  before  Judge  Samuel  Kirby  in 
the  Chancery  Court,  arguing  the  demurrers  to  the  injunc- 
tion suit. 

*     *     * 

Railway  Electric  Supply  Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion.— During  the  convention  of  the  Association  of  Ameri- 
can Railway  Electrical  Engineers  in  Chicago  on  Oct.  24 
the  allied  Railway  Electric  Supply  Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion elected  officers  as  follows:  President,  Mr.  Godfrey  H. 
Atkin,  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company,  Chicago;  vice- 
president,  East,  Mr.  C.  W.  Bender,  National  Electric  Lamp 
Association,  Cleveland;  vice-president.  West,  Mr.  W.  F. 
Bauer,  United  States  Light  &  Heating  Company,  Chicago; 
treasurer,  Mr.  Edward  Wray,  Chicago;  executive  com- 
mittee, Messrs.  R.  M.  Newbold,  Adams  &  Westlake  Com- 
pany; J.  M.  Lorenz,  Central  Electric  Company;  Otis  B. 
Duncan,  George  Cutter  Company;  W.  E.  Ballatine,  Wil- 
lard  Storage  Battery  Company;  J.  G.  Van  Wink'e,  Safety 
Car  Heating  &  Lighting  Company;  B.  L.  Winchell.  Jr., 
Kerite  Insulated  Wire  &  Cable  Company;  George  H. 
Porter,  Western  Electric  Company;  L.  J.  Kennedy,  Con- 
solidated Railway  Electric  Lighting  &  Equipment  Company. 

*  •  *     * 

Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  Seeks  to  Retain 
Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad  Right-of-Way. — The 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  in  Kentucky  won  a 
preliminary  victory  a  few  days  ago  in  the  federal  court  in 
Louisville,  presided  over  by  Judge  Walter  Evans,  in  tht 
first  of  a  series  of  legal  skirmishes  between  the  telegraph 
company  and  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad  Company. 
The  railroad  company,  after  using  Western  Union  tele- 
graphic service  for  many  years,  decided  upon  the  termina- 
tion of  its  contract  on  Aug.  17  last  and  determined  to  equip 
and  operate  a  private  system  for  train  dispatching  and 
general  commercial  service  in  the  South.  The  Western 
Union  company  has  fought  this  action,  seeking  to  establish 
its  right  to  the  use  of  the  railroad's  right-of-way.  A 
petition  was  filed  in  the  federal  court  asking  that  this  right 
be  allowed  and,  in  preliminary  proceedings.  Judge  Evans 
overruled  demurrers  as  to  jurisdiction  and  to  the  petition 
generally    which    had    been     filed    by    the    railroad    legal 

department. 

*  *     * 

Fuel  Briquetting. — The  subject  of  fuel  briquetting  is 
treated  in  a  short  pamphlet  recently  issued  by  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  Department  of  the  Literior.  This 
bulletin  is  an  advance  chapter  from  "Mineral  Resources  of 
the  United  States,  1911,"  prepared  by  Mr.  Edward  W. 
Parker,  and  contains  an  account  of  the  progress  made  in 
the  LTnited  States  in  the  manufacture  of  fuel  briquettes. 
Although  some  progress  was  made  in  the  development 
of  fuel  briquetting  in  the  United  States  during  1910  and 
191 1,  this  country  still  lags  far  behind  several  of  the 
European  countries,  particularly  Germany.  In  1911  there 
were  twenty-one  plants  in  the  United  States  which  manu- 
factured compressed  fuel,  an  increase  of  five  over  1909. 
Four  of  these  plants  were  operated  only  for  experimental 
purposes.  Of  those  which  operated  on  a  commercial  basis 
eight  employed  anthracite  as  the  raw  material,  two  used 
bituminous  coal,  two  utilized  semi-anthracite,  one  employed 
refuse  from  oil-gas  works,  one  utilized  peat  and  three  used 
mixed  materials.  The  production  of  briquettes  in  the 
United  States  during  the  year  191 1  was  218,443  short  tons, 
having  a  value  of  $808,721.  The  pamphlet  concludes  with 
a  list  of  the  plants  operating  in  the  United  States. 


Commercial    Creosotes. — Creosotes    may    be    produced 
from  a  variety  of  tars,  among  the  more  important  of  which 
are  coal  tar.  oil  tar  and  wood  tar.     The  important  coal  tars 
are  derived  from  the  destructive  distillation  of  bituminous 
coal  at  high  temperature,  as  in  the  manufacture  of  coal  gas, 
and    from    the    combined    distillation    and    combustion    of 
bituminous  coal  at  comparatively  low  temperatures,  as  in 
gas  producers.     The  most  important  source  of  oil  tar  is 
found  in  the  manufacture   of  carbureted  water  gas,   from 
which  the  so-called  "water-gas"  tar  is  obtained  as  a  by- 
product.    Oil  tar  is  also  produced  by  the  destructive  dis- 
tillation of  crude  petroleum  in  the  manufacture  of  oil  gas. 
Wood   tar   is   produced   in   a   manner   somewhat   similar  tO' 
that  in  which  coal-gas  tar  is  obtained,  where  wood  is  de- 
structively distilled  in  air-tight  retorts  for  the  production 
of  charcoal  and  by-products.     Creosotes  may  be  produced 
from  any  of  the  foregoing  tars  by  the  same  general  process, 
which   consists  of  distillation   in   a   metallic  retort  or  still. 
Those  distillates  which  are  heavier  than  water  form  the 
true  creosotes  used  in  wood  preservation.     Creosotes  are 
generally  obtained  at  distillation  temperatures  lying  between 
200  deg.  and  360  deg.  C.    The  value  of  any  creosote  as  a 
preservative  against  decay  depends  upon  its  ability  to  pre- 
vent   the    development    of    wood-destroying    fungi.      This 
prevention  may  be  secured  either  by  introducing  a  material 
sufficiently  poisonous  to  prevent  the  development  of  fungi 
or  by  introducing  sufficient  material  to  exclude  moisture  or 
air  to  a  degree  below  that  required  for  the  development  of 
fungi.     Circular  206,  lately  issued  by  the  Forest  Service  of 
the    United    States    Department    of    Agriculture,    entitled 
"Commercial    Creosotes — with    Special   Reference   to   Pro- 
tection of  Wood  from  Decay,"  by  Mr.  Carlile  P.  Winslow,. 
describes  the  composition  and  properties  of  creosotes  and 
also  contains  notes  on  its  prices  and  consumption  in  the 
United  States.    In  1910  the  total  consumption  was  63,000,000 
gal.,   in  round  numbers,  of  which  45,000,000  gal.   was   im- 
ported from  abroad  and  18,000,000  gal.  produced  by  manu- 
facturers in  this  country. 

*  ♦     * 
SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Weekly  Luncheons  of  Electric- Vehicle  Men  in 
Chicago. — The  Chicago  Section  of  the  Electric  Vehicle- 
Association  of  America  will  meet  informally  at  luncheon 
every  Tuesday  in  the  Delft  Room,  College  Inn,  Hotel 
Sherman,  from  12:30  to  2  p.  m.  The  first  of  these  luncheons 
was  held  on  Oct.  29.  Mr.  W.  J.  ^^IcDowell,  of  the  Chicago- 
office  of  the  General  Vehicle  Company,  is  the  secretary  of 

the  section. 

*  *     * 

American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers. — On 
Tuesday  evening,  Nov.  12,  at  8:15,  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  will  hold  its  regular  monthly  meeting, 
on  which  occasion  a  paper  entitled  "Measuring  Efficiency 
in  Manufacturing"  vA]\  be  presented  by  Mr.  Edward  B. 
Passano,  of  Baltimore.  This  paper  will  set  forth  a  number- 
of  novel  ideas  in  connection  with  this  important  branch  of 
economics.  According  to  the  published  announcement  an 
informal  dinner  will  precede  the  meeting. 

*  *     * 

Joint  Meetings  in   Chicago. — The  next  joint  meeting 
of  the  Chicago  Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  and  the  Electrical  Section  of  the  Western 
Society  of  Engineeis  will  be  held  at  the  rooms  of  the  latter- 
on  Nov.  25.    Two  papers  relating  to  storage  batteries  and 
their  uses  will  be  presented — one  by  Mr.  J.  L.  Woodbridge, 
chief  engineer  of  the  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company, 
and  the  other  by  Mr.  H.  H.  Smith,  of  the  Edison  Storage- 
Battery   Company.     At  the   December  joint   meeting   Mr. 
W.  L.  Abbott,  chief  operating  engineer  of  the  Common- 
wealth Edison   Company,  will   present   a   paper   descriptive- 
of  the  new  Northwest  station  of  the  Commonwealth  Edisoni 
Company  of  Chicago. 


ELECTRIC  SERVICE  IN  COAL  REGIONS. 

Description  of  the  Features  Characterizing  the  System  ot  the  Luzerne  County 

Gas  &  Electric  Company  of  Kingston,  Pa. 

Electrical    Energy    Transmitted    to    Fourteen    Boroughs    in    the  Wyoming  Valley    from    Steam-Driven 
Station   at  Plymouth — Territory  Free  from  Municipal   Plants — Large    Connected    Load 

Among  Anthracite  Mines  in  the  Vicinity. 


THE  Luzerne  County  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  of 
Kingston,  Pa.,  as  at  present  constituted  is  a  con- 
solidation of  a  former  company  of  the  same  name 
with  the  Wyoming  Valley  Gas  &  Electric  Company.  The 
two  properties  were  combined  in  1908  by  the  American 
Gas  Company,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  which  company  still 
manages  and  controls  the  system.  Gas  and  electric  en- 
ergy are  distributed  in  the  boroughs  of  Plymouth,  Nanti- 
coke,  Kingston,  Edwardsville,  Dorranceton,  Luzerne,  Court- 
dale,  Forty  Fort,  Wyoming,  West  Wyoming,  Swoyerville, 
Shickshinny,  Dallas  and  Larksville.  Gas  is  distributed  also 
in  the  boroughs  of  Hazleton  and  West  Hazleton,  where  an 
isolated  property  is  owned  and  managed  from  the  main 
office  at  Kingston.  The  electrical  distribution  circuits  of 
the  company  extend  into  the  townships  of  Newport, 
Plymouth,  Hanover,  Kingston,  Jackson,  Hunlocks  and 
Union,  and  the  population  served  aggregates  150,000.  This 
territory  for  a  number  of  years  abounded  with  small 
municipal  plants,  the  last  three  of  which — those  at  Forty 
Fort,  Wyoming  and  Shickshinny — have  been  displaced 
within  the  past  few  years,  so  that  at  the  present  time  there 
are  no  municipal  lighting  plants  in  the  30  square  miles 
served  by  the  company. 

A  feature  of  the  load  connected  to  the  Luzerne  County 


Gas  &  Electric  Company's  system  is  the  large  number  of 
mining  installations  fed  with  central-station  energy.  The 
connected  mming  load  is  approximately  one-third  of  the 
total  load  on  the  system.  This  business  is  obtained  chiefly 
from  mine  operators  with  smaller  holdings  who  find  opera- 
tion with  central-station  service  more  advantageous  than  by 
isolated  plants  with  cheap  fuel  but  heavier  investment  cost. 
While  the  hoisting  load  incidental  to  coal  mining  is  not 
altogether  desirab.e  from  a  central-station  viewpoint  because 
of  its  great  peak  demand  and  intermittent  character,  the 
service  required  for  operating  the  major  part  of  the 
machinery  in  the  breakers  and  also  for  operating  the  pumps, 
and  fans  is  steady  in  demand,  and  the  latter,  moreover,  is 
generally  of  twenty-four  hours'  duration,  so  that  the  load- 
factor  of  the  installation  is  high,  while  that  of  the  gen- 
erating system  is  materially  improved. 

Coal  throughout  the  region  is  comparatively  cheap,  sell- 
ing for  steam-raising  purposes  at  from  $1.10  to  $1.30  per 
ton  delivered.  Coal-mining  companies  usually  burn  refuse 
and  screenings,  the  cost  of  which  is  almost  nil,  and  it  has 
been  seriously  proposed  on  more  than  one  occasion  to  erect 
huge  generating  stations  at  the  mouth  of  coal  mines  and 
transmit  the  electrical  energy  to  neighboring  cities,  thereby 
eliminating   coal    haulage.     Usually   the   scarcity   of   water 


Fig.   1 — Exhaust   Steam-Turbine   and   Reciprocating-Engine   Units    In  Station    of   Luzerne  County   Gas  &   Electric  Company. 


922 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


for  steam-raising  purposes  has  proved  an  obstacle  to  such 
development,  yet  in  some  localities  possessing  abundant 
water  supply  the  scheme  after  investigation  has  not  disclosed 
the  large  savings  anticipated.  The  Luzerne  County  Gas  & 
Electric  Company's  system  serves  as  an  example  in  which 
the  scheme  has  been  reversed,  the  company  purchasing  fuel 
at  market  prices  from  nearby  mines,  converting  its  heat 
energy  into  electrical  energy,  and  then  disposing  of  the 
energy  to  the  mining  operators  to  the  mutual  advantage 
of  both. 

STEAM   EQUIPMENT. 

The  generating  station  is  located  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Susquehanna  River  at  Plymouth,  Pa.,  where  ample  water 
supply  is  always  available  for  condensing  purposes.  The 
site  is  in  the  heart  of  the  coal-mining  region,  so  that 
abundant  fuel  is  readily  obtainable  at  a  very  low  rate. 
Within  the  past  two  years  the  station  has  undergone  a 
process  of  reconstruction  to  meet  the  growing  needs  of  a 
progressive  community.  The  steam  equipment  at  present 
installed  comprises  tvifo  500-hp,  two  250-hp  Keeler  boilers 
and  six  Vulcan  boilers  rated  at  100  hp.  Buckwheat  coal. 
No.  3,  is  burned  in  the  boiler  furnaces  on  shaking  grates,  the 
boilers  being  connected  to  a  balanced-draft  system  installed 
by  the  Combustion  Engineering  Company  of  New  York. 
The  coal  is  brought  to  the  station  in  carts  and  stored  in  a 
concrete  inclosure  running  parallel  to  the  boiler  room  and 


Fig.    2 — Power    House,    Showing    Nearby    Culm    Banks    and    Coal- 
Storage   Bins. 

having  a  capacity  of  4000  tons.  A  motor-driven  conveyor 
delivers  the  coal  to  the  boiler  room.  The  conveyor  system 
traverses  the  entire  length  of  the  coal  pile  at  a  height  of 
about  8  ft.  above  the  boiler-room  floor  and  deposits  its  load 
in  hoppers  outside  the  station  wall,  which  discharge  the  con- 
tents through  openings  onto  the  boiler-room  floor. 

At  the  present  time  the  ashes  are  removed  from  under  the 
boiler  by  hand  and  carted  away.  The  company  has  under 
contemplation  the  erection  of  an  ash-handling  system 
whereby  the  ashes  will  be  deposited  in  a  pipe  line  and 
blown  into  a  receiving  tank  outside  the  station  by  means  of 
a  steam  jet.  From  this  tank  the  ashes  will  be  removed  by 
means  of  a  motor-driven  truck  and  used  for  fiUing-in  pur- 
poses. Water  for  boiler-feed  purposes  is  taken  from  the 
city  water  mains. 

Fig.  3  is  a  view  of  the  boiler  room,  showing  the  methml 
of  depositing  coal  on  the  floor  and  also  a  50-hp  motor- 
driven  fan  employed  in  the  balanced-draft  system.  There 
are  eight  radial  steel  stacks  connected  by  breeching  to  the 
ten  boilers.  Steam  for  the  generating  equipment  is  supplied 
through  a  header  loop  made  up  of  i6-in.  steel  pipe,  the 
connections  to  the  header  being  made  through  6-in.  and 
8-in.  valves. 

GENERATING  EQUIPMENT. 

The  generating  equipment  consists  at  the  present  time  of 


three  500-kw,  2300-volt,  two-phase,  6o-cycIe  Westinghouse 
and  Allis-Chalmers  units.  These  are  directly  connected  by 
Hamilton-Corliss  engines  built  by  the  Hooven-Owens 
Rentchler  Company,  of  Hamilton,  Ohio.  The  units  were 
operated  non-condensing  up  to  about  two  years  ago,  when 
an  i8oo-kva  Westinghouse  low-pressure  turbine  was  in- 
stalled. This  latter  unit  receives  the  exhaust  steam  from 
the  three  engines.    The  generator  is  wound  for  two-phase, 


Fig.    3 — View   of    Boiler    Room. 

60-cycle,  6600-volt  service.  Last  January  a  3000-kva  West- 
inghouse high-pressure  turbo-generator  wound  for  two- 
phase,  6600-volt,  60-cycle  service  was  installed,  and  the 
company  has  now  on  order  another  3000-kva  unit,  which  it 
is  expected  will  be  in  operation  before  the  first  of  the  year. 
Both  the  low-pressure  and  the  high-pressure  turbine  are 
equipped  with  Westinghouse  Le  Blanc  condensers  mounted 
on  a  concrete  base  beneath  the  turbine  floor.  One  of  the 
pump  units,  comprising  a  circulating  pump  and  a  special 
dry  vacuum  pump  mounted  on  the  same  shaft,  is  driven  by 
a  125-hp  \\'estinghouse  polyphase  motor,  and  the  other  unit 
is  driven  by  a  125-hp  Westinghouse  steam  turbine.  Excita- 
tion energy  for  the  generator  equipment  is  supplied  by  two 
40-kw  Bullock  engine-driven  sets  and  one  40-kw  Westing- 


Fig.   4 — Reciprocatlng-Engine-Driven    Units    In    Plymoutli    Station. 

house  motor-driven  set.  At  the  present  time  all  of  the  load 
is  carried  by  the  high-pressure  turbine  unit,  the  reciprocat- 
ing engine-driven  sets  being  held  in  reserve. 

Water  for  condensing  equipment  is  taken  from  the  Sus- 
quehanna River  by  means  of  a  vertical  motor-driven 
centrifugal  pump  located  on  the  bank  of  the  river  about 
200  ft.  from  the  station.  The  motor  driving  the  centrifugal 
pump  is  rated  at  50  hp. 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


923 


CONTROL. 

All  of  the  main  6600-volt  and  2300-volt  switches  are 
electrically  operated  from  the  switchboard,  which  is  made 
up  of  twelve  standard  panels.  Each  generator  is  controlled 
through  a  General  Electric  oil  switch  and  a  circuit-breaker, 
and  a  second  set  of  breakers  controls  the  connections  to  the 
transformer  buses.  Two  6oo-kw  transformer  banks  and  one 
250-kw  transformer  bank  step  up  the  potential   from  2300 


Fig. 


-Interior  of  Pump  House,  Showing  50-hp  Motor  Attached  to 
Centrifugal    Pump. 


volts  to  6600  volts  for  transmission.  Of  course,  with  the 
high-pressure  unit  in  operation  the  step-up  transformers 
are  not  in  service.  The  two  outgoing  lines  are  protected 
by  electrolytic  lightning  arresters. 

TRANSMISSION  LINES. 

Transmission  lines  at  6600  volts  run  north  and  south  in 
the  Wyoming  Valley  from  the  station  for  distances  of  12 
miles  an^J  14  miles  respectively.  The  lines  are  carried  on 
chestnut  poles  spaced  150  ft.  apart,  standard  35- ft.  poles 
with  8-in.  tops  being  employed.  A  view  of  the  transmission 
■.ine  running  along  the  bank  of  the  Susquehanna  River  is 


'si. 


■■■PllWiP^W|P|ff^- 


of  electrolytic  lightning  arresters.  The  substations  at 
Nanticoke,  Forty  Fort,  Wyoming  and  Shickshinny  are 
merely  transformer  stations  which  step  down  from  6600 
volts  to  440-220  volts  for  local  distribution.  The  largest 
substation  on  the  system  is  located  at  Kingston  and  has  a 
maximum  rating  of  1000  kw.  The  equipment  comprises  two 
300-kw  step-down  transformers,  three  loo-lamp,  one 
seventy-five  lamp  and  two  fifty-lamp  constant-current  trans- 
formers and  a  400-kw  synchronous  motor  floating  on  the 
system  for  power-factor  corrective  purposes. 

Electrical  energy  for  industrial  service  is  distributed  and 
sold  at  2300,  440  and  220  volts.  In  the  territory  served 
there  are  several  large  industrial  plants  in  addition  to 
the  coal-mining  installations  previously  mentioned.  These 
include  silk  and  hosiery  mills,  planing  mills,  pumping 
plants,  etc. 

The  company  has  enjoyed  a  steady  increase  in  its  resi- 
dential and  other  commercial  lighting  business,  particularly 
in  the  Kingston  district,  which  place  is  now  one  of  the 
principal  residential  sections  of  the  Wyoming  Valley.  A 
recent  canvass  on  heating  devices  disclosed  the  fact  that 
there  are  few  homes  which  are  not  now  using  an  electric 
iron  or  other  heating  device. 

The  regular  rates  for  motor  service  are  based  on  the 
maximum-demand  system,  with  a  substantial  discount  which 
permits  the  long-hour  user  to  obtain  a  very  attractive- rate. 
For  lighting  the  rate  is  10  cents  per  kw-hr.,  with  discounts 


Fig.   6 — Synchronous   Motor  and   Transformers   in    Kingston   Sub- 
station. 

shown  in  Fig.  7.    From  this  line  a  number  of  the  coal  mines 
en  route  are  supplied  with  electrical  energy. 

SUBSTATIONS. 

Substations  are  located  at  Kingston,  Nanticoke,  Forty 
Fort,  Wyoming  and  Shickshinny.  The  standard  high-ten- 
sion equipment  consists  of  oil  switches  for  opening  the  main 
line,  oil  switches  for  leads  on  the  transmission  and  a  set 


Fig.    7 — Line    Construction. 

of  from  10  per  cent  to  25  per  cent  on  amounts  of  from  $1 
to  $15.  The  minimum  charge  for  motor  service  is  $1  per 
hp  per  month,  and  for  lighting  50  cents  per  meter. 

The  following  officers  compose  the  personnel  of  the  com- 
pany:  Mr.  William  C.  Anderson,  manager;  Mr.  A.  J. 
Llewellyn,  superintendent;  Mr.  T.  E.  Spence,  contract 
agent,  and  Mr.  L.  C.  Bradbury,  accountant. 


TRANSFORMERS   FOR  DREDGING^^OPERATIONS. 


In  connection  with  the  transformer  barge  which  supplies 
energy  for  the  dredging  operations  in  the  Mississippi  River 
at  East  St.  Louis,  as  described  in  our  article  of  Oct.  5,  one 
of  the  engineers  who  designed  the  installation  has  since 
suggested  the  ballasting  advantage  of  dividing  this  equip- 
ment into  two  sets,  each  of  one-half  the  total  rating,  in 
order  to  secure  better  stability  of  the  float.  When  mounting 
heavy  machinery  on  barges  this  practical  feature  of  loading 
and  ballasting  becomes  important.  Three  Maloney  400-kva 
transformers  step  down  from  13,200  volts  to  2300  volts  for 
the  25-cycle  primary  motors  with  which  the  dredge  is 
equipped. 


924 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol..  60,  Xo.  18. 


PRACTICAL    INSTALLATION    OF    RELAYS    ON 
ALTERNATING-CURRENT  CIRCUITS. 


By  C.  E.  Freeman. 

AS  overload  relays  are  used  on  practically  all  alter- 
nating-current circuits,  a  few  suggestions  as  to  their 
installation  and  adjustment  may  be  of  interest  to  a 
large  number  of  electricians  who  have  not  had  practical 
experience  in  adjusting  relays.  On  account  of  the  troubles 
on  feeder  circuits  on  transmission  lines  due  to  such  causes 
as  lightning,  short-circuits,  grounds,  etc.,  it  is  necessary  to 
install  some  device  that  will  open  the  circuit  in  case  of 
trouble  and  relieve  the  system  without  interfering  with  the 
supply  of  energy  to  other  lines.  It  is  usually  not  desirable 
to  open  a  circuit  for  a  momentary  overload  not  severe 
enough  to  injure  apparatus;  but  on  the  other  hand  if  the 
trouble  is  serious  the  circuit  should  be  opened  promptly. 
This  result  is  readily  accomplished  by  the  use  of  an  over- 
load relay  with  a  time-limit  attachment.  If  the  circuit  is  not 
important  enough  to  justify  the  additional  expense  entailed 
in  the  installation  of  a  time-limit  relay,  a  simple  instanta- 
neous relay  may  be  used. 

There  are  a  large  number  of  different  types  of  relays, 
but  only  a  few  of  the  types  in  ordinary  use  will  be  con- 
sidered; that  is,  open  or  closed-circuit  relays,  either  of 
which  may  be  instantaneous  or  have  a  time  limit  in  its 
action,  and  types  suitable  for  single-phase,  two-phase  or 
three-phase  circuits.  The  relay  is  operated  by  a  series 
transformer  having  its  primary  winding  in  series  with  one 
leg  of  the  circuit  to  be  protected.  For  a  two-phase  circuit 
two  series  transformers  arid  two  single-phase  relays  or  a 
double-pole  relay,  the  latter  being  two  relays  in  one  case, 
are  required.  Usually  for  a  three-phase  circuit  only  two 
transformers  and  two  single-phase  relays  or  one  double-pole 
relay  are  necessary;  but  in  some  cases  three  series  trans- 
formers are  required  to  protect  the  circuit. 

The  relay  is  always  operated  by  alternating  current  and 
consists  of  a  winding  with  a  movable  core  or  plunger  made 
of  a  bundle  of  fine  soft-iron  wire.  The  position  of  the 
plunger  is  adjustable,  and  when  the  winding  is  energized 
the  plunger  is  sucked  up  and  held  in  a  central  position.  In 
Fig.  I  is  shown  a  winding  with  a  core  free  to  move.  When 
a  sufficient  amount  of  current  is  passed  through  the  wind- 
ing the  core  is  pulled  up  into  the  position  shown  at  the 
right;  the  lower  the  position  of  the  core  the  more  current 
is  required  to  start  it  and  pull  it  into  a  central  position. 
By  adjusting  the  position  of  the  core  it  may  be  set  to  take 
anv  predetermined  strength  of  current  within  the  range  of 
the  coil. 

OPEN-CIRCUIT    RELAY. 

In  another  type  the  strength  of  current  required  to  raise 
the  core  is  varied  by  adding  small  weights  to  the  core, 
without  changing  its  position.     In  either  case  if  the  core  is 


^yinr^ 


b 


oa — 1 


Relay 


n 


Trip 
Coil 


Fig.  1— Solenoid  with 
Free  Core. 


ElMtrieat   W^rU 

Fig.   2 — Single-Pole    Relay  with 
Trip    Coll    (Series    Type). 


left  free  to  move  its  action  will  be  practically  instantaneous. 
The  switch  is  usually  opened  by  a  trip  coil,  although  in  some 
cases  the  switch  latch  can  be  tripped  by  the  relay  core  if 
instantaneous  action  is  desired;  but  since  the  current  in  the 
relay  increases  gradually,  for  instance  in  case  of  an  over- 
load, the  action  of  the  core  may  not  be  quick  enough  to  give 
the  latch  the  quick  blow  necessary  to  open  the  switch.     For 


that  reason  it  is  customary  to  use  a  separate  trip  coil  to 
trip  the  switch  latch.  The  trip  coil  may  be  operated  by 
either  alternating  or  direct  current.  Its  core  in  being 
drawn  up  strikes  a  latch  and  releases  the  switch.  When 
the  core  in  the  relay  reaches  its  highest  position  it  closes 
the  trip-coil  circuit  and  the  switch  is  then  opened.  This 
type    of    instrument    is    known    as    an    open-circuit    relay 


Relay 


C 
Core  ,' 


'.^ 


Trip 
Coil 


Ei^etriMl  WorUi 


Fig.   3 — Single-Pole   Relay  with  Trip  Coil   (Open  Circuit  Type). 

(Fig.  3)  and  requires  the  current  from  the  secondary  of 
the  series  transformer  to  operate  the  relay  and  current 
from  another  source  (usually  alternating  or  direct  current 
at  125  volts)  to  operate  the  trip  coil. 

CLOSED-CIRCUIT  RELAY. 

The  closed  circuit  or  series  trip  type  of  relay  is  shown 
diagrammatically  in  Fig.  2.  A  threaded  stem  passes 
through  the  core  of  the  relay,  allowing  the  core  to  be 
adjusted  on  this  stem,  and  a  collar  a  pinned  to  the  stem 
limits  its  downward  movement.  When  the  core  is  drawn 
up  the  collar  lifts  the  contact  block  b,  which  is  loose  on  the 
stem.  These  three  contact  blocks  form  a  low-resistance 
shunt  across  the  terminals  of  the  trip  coil  so  that  any 
current  passing  through  the  relay  from  terminal  d  of  the 
series  transformer  has  two  return  paths — a  low-resistance 
path  through  the  contact  blocks  or  a  comparatively  high- 
resistance  path  through  the  trip-coil  winding.  When  the 
current  reaches  such  a  value  that  it  lifts  the  core  and  by 
it  the  middle  contact  block  the  low-resistance  path  is 
opened  and  the  current  has  then  only  one  path — that 
through  the  trip  coil,  which  then  operates  and  opens  the 
main  switch.  Usually  the  trip-coil  core  is  also  adjustable 
so  as  to  require  a  certain  current  strength  to  operate  it. 

Unless  the  contact  blocks  are  of  such  construction  as  to 
be  easily  cleaned  this  type  of  relay  causes  trouble  on  ac- 
count of  the  corrosion  of  the  contact  blocks.  As  the  con- 
tact is  maintained  by  the  weight  of  the  block,  and  as  it 
carries  current  all  the  time,  if  the  circuit  carries  a  normal 
load  constantly,  the  contact  surface  will  in  time  become 
corroded.  If  the  relay  is  subject  to  vibration  pitting  of 
contacts  results.  This  induces  heating  which  may  in- 
crease the  resistance  to  such  an  extent  that  most  of  the 
current  will  flow  through  the  trip  coil.  There  is  conse- 
quently danger  of  opening  the  circuit  needlessly,  so  that  in 
actual  practice  the  open-circuit  type  is  much  to  be  pre- 
ferred. However,  one  advantage  possessed  by  the  closed- 
circuit  or  series  type  is  that  it  requires  no  other  current 
than  that  furnished  by  the  series  transformer. 

TIME  CO.NTTROL. 

To  control  the  time  required  to  close  the  trip-coil  circuit, 
an  arrangement  similar  to  a  dashpot  is  employed.  This 
usually  takes  the  form  of  a  small  bellows  of  light  leather 
having  a  small  aperture  to  allow  the  air  to  escape  slowly. 
One  side  is  attached  to  the  frame  of  the  relay  and  the  other 
to  the  stem  which  carries  the  core,  and  as  the  core  raises 
the  stem  it  expels  the  air.  By  changing  the  size  of  the 
aperture  the  air  may  be  allowed  to  escape  rapidly  or  slowly, 
according  to  whether  a  rapid  or  slow  time  limit  is  desired, 
and  as  a  rule  the  time  limit  will  be  in  inverse  proportion  to 
the  current  tending  to  operate  the  relay.  That  is,  the 
greater  the  current  the  more  rapid  the  action  of  the  relay. 


November  2,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Q-'S 


hence  the  name  "inverse-tinie-limit"  relay.  In  other  words, 
if  the  relay  be  set  to  open  on  an  overload  in  five  seconds, 
for  a  heavy  short-circuit  it  would  open  in  one  second, 
or  less. 

CIRCUIT  CONNECTIONS   OF  RELAYS. 

In  Fig.  3  are  shown  the  connections  for  an  open-circuit 
relay   on   a   single-phase   circuit.     It   is   immaterial   which 


busbars  and  interrupt  all  service  supplied  from  this  par- 
ticular set  of  busbars  instead  of  opening  the  particular 
feeders  that  are  in  trouble.  But  if  the  series  transformers 
are  installed  on  leads  c  and  a  of  all  feeders  the  circuits 
would  be  fully  protected,  for  grounding  two  different  leads 
of  different  feeders  would  always  include  at  least  one 
series  transformer  in  the  circuit. 

If  the  voltage  is  not  too  high,  a  feeder  may  be  operated 
with  one  lead  grounded,  but  as  the  voltage  increases  it  be- 
comes  more   difficult   to   keep   the   circuit   in    service.      For 


Eleetrieat  IKuriJ 


Trip  Coil 


Electrical  World 


Fig.    4 — Double-Pole    Relay    on    Three-Wire    or    Four-Wire,    Two- 
Phase   Circuit   or   Three-Wire,    Three-Phase    Circuit. 


Fig.  6 — Double-Pole  Relay  on  a  Three-Wire,  Two-Phase  or  Three- 
Phase   Circuit. 


terminal  of  the  series  transformer  is  connected  to  any 
particular  terminal  of  the  relay  winding,  as  a  or  c.  More- 
over, the  circuit  supplying  the  trip  coil  may  be  either 
alternating  or  direct  but  must  have  a  voltage  suited  to  the 
trip-coil  winding.  For  a  two-phase  circuit  use  may  be 
made  of  a  double-pole  relay  or  two  single-pole  relays  con- 
nected as  shown  in  Fig.  4.  Wire  c  in  the  latter  case  is  the 
common  return  for  both  series  transformers,  and  if  the 
system  is  two-phase,  three-wire,  lead  No.  i  would  be 
omitted  and  lead  No.  3  would  be  the  common  return. 

Usually  there  are  two  switches  for  every  important 
feeder  to  enable  it  to  be  connected  to  either  one  of  duplicate 
sets  of  busbars.  This  would  -require  two  trip  coils  and  the 
series  transformers  would  be  installed  on  the  line  side  of 
the  switches,  so  that  only  two  series  transformers  are 
necessary,  as  will  be  readily  seen  by  inspection  of  Fig.  4. 
The  two  trip-coil  circuits  would  be  connected  in  parallel. 
If  it  is  desired  that  only  the  trip  coil  shall  operate  when 
the  switch  is  closed,  a  small  switch  may  be  inserted  in  the 
trip-coil  circuit  as  at  a  and  b,  Fig.  4,  so  that  when  switch 
No.  I  is  open  it  automatically  opens  the  small  switch  a. 
The  same  is  true  for  switch  No.  2,  which  would  control  the 
small  switch  b.  The  wiring  diagram  applies  as  well  to  a 
three-wire,  three-phase  circuit. 

If  properly  installed  on  a  delta-connected  system,  only  two 
series  transformers  and  a  double-pole  relay  or  two  single- 
pole  relays  are  necessary  to  protect  the  circuit.  Suppose 
there  are  a  number  of  local  feeders  fed  by  a  set  of  busbars 
(F'g-  5)-  If  there  should  be  a  dead  ground  on  lead  c  of 
circuit  No.  I  and  another  dead  ground  on  lead  6  of  circuit 


c  ba         c  b  a 

No.  1  No.  2 


c  b  a 

No.  3 


c  b  a 

No.  4 


EUctrieal  World 


Fig. 


-Incorrect   installation   of  Series  Transformers  on   Feeder. 


No.  2,  there  would  be  a  dead  short-circuit  on  phase  b-c  of 
the  busbars.  If  the  series  transformers  on  feeder  No.  i 
should  be  installed  on  leads  b  and  a,  and  on  leads  c  and  a 
of  feeder  No.  2,  then  the  path  of  the  short-circuiting  cur- 
rent would  not  include  a  series  transformer;  hence  neither 
switch  would  open.  The  trouble  would  then  cause  the 
opening  of  a  circuit-breaker,  which  would  disconnect  the 


instance,  if  a  high-tension  line  is  in  good  condition  and 
dry  it  would  be  possible  to  use  the  circuit  in  case  of  neces- 
sity with  one  lead  grounded  for  voltages  as  high  as  11,000 
or  over;  but  if  the  circuit  is  not  well  insulated  there  would 
be  danger  of  a  breakdown  at  some  weak  point  and  it  might 
be  impossible  to  keep  the  switch  in  on  feeders  of  much 
lower  potential.  However,  a  feeder  of  lower  potential, 
say  2200  or  3300,  may  be  kept  in  service  until  repairs  can 
be  made. 

A  closed  circuit  or  series-type  relay  is  connected  as 
shown  in  Fig.  6  for  a  three-wire,  two-phase  or  three-phase 
feeder.  If  there  are  two  switches,  the  two  trip  coils  may 
be  connected  in  series  or  in  parallel.  If  it  is  desired  to 
have  the  coils  inoperative  when  the  switch  is  open,  the  small 
switch  controlled  by  the  opening  or  closing  of  the  main 
switch  should  be  so  arranged  that  it  will  close  when  the 
main  switch  opens.  It  can  then  be  connected  to  short-cir- 
cuit the  trip  coil;  that  is,  as  soon  as  the  main  switch  opens 
it  short-circuits  its  trip  coil.  As  shown  in  Fig.  7,  the 
auxiliary  switches  a  and  b  open  when  the  corresponding 
main  switches  are  closed.  Another  type  of  relay  is  shown 
in  Fig.  8.  By  tracing  out  the  connections  it  will  be  found 
to  be  the  same  as  that  shown  in  Fig.  6  except  that  the 
latter  possesses  only  one  trip  coil. 

For  small  installations  usually  one  set  of  busbars  and 
one  switch  for  each  feeder  are  installed,  and  hence  the 
relay  need  operate  only  one  trip  coil.  But  in  larger  plants 
the  busbars  are  in  duplicate  and  each  feeder  will  have  two 


EUctrieat  World 


Fig.   7 — Two   Trip   Coils   for    Double-Pole   Relay    (Series   Type). 

switches  and  require  two  trip  coils.  Sometimes  the  switches 
are  made  interlocking  so  that  only  one  may  be  closed  at  a 
time.  For  duplicate  busbars  the  interlocking  device  should 
be  removed  so  that  the  feeder  may  be  transferred  from  one 
bus  to  another  without  opening  the  circuit;  that  is,  both 
switches  would  have  to  be  closed  when  making  the  transfer. 
Of  course,  the  busbars  would  have  to  be  parallel  first,  and 


926 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


each  switch  should  control  its  own  trip-coil  circuit.  If  for 
any  reason  the  switches  should  be  operated  in  parallel, 
this  method  would  open  both  switches  simultaneously  in 
case  of  trouble. 

Trip  coils  operated  by  alternating  or  direct  current  at 
constant  voltage  must  not  be  short-circuited,  but  the  circuit 
must  be  opened  as  in  Fig.  4  at  o  or  b.    Trip  coils  operated 


a    b  c 


£!ectrieal  Worid 


Fig.   8 — Connections   for   Two   Trip    Coils   for    Double-Pole    Relay 
(Series   Type). 

by  current  from  a  series  transformer  must  not  be  open- 
circuited  but  must  be  short-circuited  as  in  Fig.  i  at  a  or  b. 
To  open  the  trip-coil  circuit  otherwise  would  open  the 
secondary  of  the  series  transformer  at  the  very  worst  time; 
that  is,  when  the  current  in  the  primary  is  at  a  maximum. 
When  it  is  desirable  to  open  two  main  switches  simulta- 
neously by  trip  coils  operated  with  current  from  the  second- 
ary of  series  transformers  (series  type)  it  is  better  to 
connect  the  trip  coils  either  in  series  or  in  multiple  and 
not  attempt  to  make  them  inoperative  when  either  main 
switch  is  open;  because  if  one  is  short-circuited  the  current 
in  the  other  will  be  of  a  different  value  for  the  same  over- 
load current  in  the  main  circuit  owing  to  the  change  of 
impedance  of  the  secondary  due  to  short-circuiting  one  coil. 

The  connection  shown  in  Fig.  9  should  not  be  used  be- 
cause relays  so  connected  would  not  protect  the  circuit 
for  a  short-circuit  on  one  phase.  If  leads  a  and  c  should 
become  short-circuited  it  would  result  in  their  becoming 
for  the  instant  a  single-phase  circuit,  current  going  out  on 
one  lead  and  returning  on  the  other.  The  current  flow  in 
the  secondaries  would  then  be  in  the  direction  shown  by  the 
arrows  and  would  not  pass  through  the  relay  winding  at  all. 
The  proper  connection  is  shown  in  Fig.  4. 

There  are,  of  course,  many  different  connections  that 
can  be  used  in  special  cases,  but  the  ones  given  are  in 
general  use.  For  instance,  each  relay  coil  could  consist  of 
two  distinct  coils,  one  in  each  side  being  connected  in 
series,  as  in  Fig.  10,  which  would  result  in  lifting  both 
plungers  for  trouble  on  any  phase  of  the  feeder.  The  trip 
coils  can  be  similarly  arranged,  so  that  either  plunger  will 
operate  both  trip  coils. 

ADJUSTMENT  OF  RELAYS. 

To  adjust  the  relay  to  open  for  a  certain  overload,  a 
temporary  circuit  of  alternating  current  of  low  voltage 
should  be  run  to  the  relays  (125  volts  or  lower  will  do). 
Usually  the  full-load  current  in  the  secondary  of  the  series 
transformers  is  3  amp  or  5  amp,  and  the  relay  windings 
should  of  course  be  suitably  wound.  The  first  step  is  to  find 
a        h        c 


Electrical  World 

Fig.   9 — Incorrect    Method    of   Connecting   Series   Transformers. 

the  maximum  current  at  which  it  is  desired  to  open  the 
feeder,  and  this,  of  course,  depends  on  the  load.  Allowance 
must  be  made  for  excess  current  used  in  starting  large 
motors,  etc.  The  importance  of  the  feeder  circuit  should 
also  be  considered,  as  it  may  carry  a  load  that  it  is  neces- 
sary to  keep  in  constant  service.  If  the  feeder  is  fully 
loaded   it   will   be   necessary    to   set   the   relay   higher   than 


would  be  the  case  where  the  usual  load  is  much  below  the 
current-carrying  capacity  of  the  feeder.  For  instance,  if 
the  feeder  is  75  per  cent  loaded  the  relay  could  be  set  to 
trip  at,  say,  100  per  cent  or  150  per  cent  above  full  load. 
With  a  time  limit  of  three  or  four  seconds  this  would  give 
the  fuses  on  a  service  a  chance  to  blow,  thus  confining  the 
trouble  to   one  consumer  and  not  interfering  with  other 


=^ 


Trip  Coils  ; 


Eltetrical  World 


Fig.   10 — Connections  for  Simultaneous   Action   of   Relays  and   Trip 

Coils. 

service.  If  the  load  is  light,  100  per  cent  more  than  the 
actual  load  could  be  the  limit  used.  Instantaneous  relays 
could  also  be  set  at  somewhat  higher  value  than  the  time- 
limit  type. 

To  measure  the  current  applied  to  the  relay  a  low  reading 
ammeter  (15  amp  or  20  amp)  will  be  very  convenient,  or 
in  case  there  is  none  to  be  had  a  bank  of  ordinary  i6-cp 
lamps  taking  about  yi  amp  each  and  connected  in  multiple 
could  be  employed.  However,  an  ammeter  gives  more  ac- 
curate results. 

A  simple  rheostat  for  use  in  connection  with  an  ammeter 
consists  of  an  ordinary  galvanized  iron  bucket,  partly  filled 
with  water  in  which  a  small  quantity  of  salt  has  been  dis- 
solved, connected  as  shown  in  Fig.  11.  One  side  of  the 
circuit  is  connected  to  the  bucket  and  the  other  side  to  one 
terminal  of  the  ammeter.  The  other  ammeter  terminal  is 
fastened  to  one  side  of  the  relay  winding.  A  strip  of  copper 
or  any  other  metal  is  fastened  to  a  piece  of  board,  so  that 
it  will  not  come  in  contact  with  the  bucket  when  it  is 
lowered  in  the  water,  and  a  wire  connected  to  this  strip  is 
attached  to  the  other  terminal  of  the  relay.  A  single-pole 
switch  is  then  connected  so  as  to  short-circuit  the  relay 
winding. 

Assume  that  the  instrument  to  be  set  is  a  double-pole 
time-limit  relay  on  a  three-wire,  three-phase  feeder  capable 
of  carrying  300  amp  per  lead;  that  the  maximum  load  is 
200  amp,  and  that  it  is  desired  to  have  the  switch  open  on 


To  Trip  Coils 


A.C.  Circuit 
125  Volts 


Elticlrical   WarU 

Fig.    11 — Test    Connections    for    Relay    Adjustment. 

an  overload  of  100  per  cent  in  four  seconds.  The  relay 
should  then  operate  at  400  amp.  Suppose  the  series  trans- 
former ratio  to  be  60  to  i.  The  full-load  current  in  the 
secondary  would  be  300  h-  60  =  5  amp,  and  when  there  is 
400  amp  in  the  primary  the  secondary  current  would  be 
400  -f-  60  =  6J^  amp. 

The  adjustment  can  be  made  more  conveniently  when 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


927 


the  feeder  is  ready  for  service  but  before  any  load  is  put 
on  it.  The  leads  to  the  relay  should  be  disconnected  at 
the  series  transformers  and  the  main  switch  closed,  connec- 
tions being  made  as  in  Fig.  11  for  testing  side  /  of  the 
relay.  As  the  load  builds  up  in  the  water  rheostat  circuit, 
the  short-circuiting  switch  g  should  be  closed  and  the  load 
h  gradually  lowered  into  the  water  until  the  ammeter  in- 
dicates GYi  amp.  The  board  may  be  suspended  in  this 
position  and  the  switch  g  suddenly  opened.  The  current 
will  then  flow  through  the  relay  winding,  and  it  will  be 
found  that  if  the  ammeter  reads  exactly  6J^  amp  before 
switch  g  is  opened  the  current  will  decrease  slightly  after 
this  switch  is  opened,  owing  to  the  extra  resistance  of  the 
relay  winding.  The  board  must  be  lowered  in  the  bucket 
slightly  and  the  current  flow  increased  so  that  when  the 
switch  g  is  opened  the  ammeter  will  indicate  6J^  amp.  In 
the  case  of  an  instantaneous  relay,  opening  the  switch  g 
would  cause  the  core  to  rise  promptly,  close  the  trip  coil 
circuit  and  trip  out  the  main  switch.  ,  The  operator  should 
lower  or  weight  the  core  so  that  it  will  not  lift,  then  adjust 
it  gradually  until  it  lifts  promptly  and  trips  the  main 
switch.     The  core  may  be  locked  in  this  position. 

A  time-limit  relay  requires  different  adjustments.  A 
stop  watch  is  very  convenient  for  setting  this  type  of  relay, 
the  watch  being  started  as  the  switch  g  is  opened  and 
stopped  as  the  main  switch  trips  out.  The  core  in  this  case 
is  adjusted  to  rise  slowly  when  65^  amp  is  passed  through 
the  relay  wihding.  Then  the  adjustment  is  changed  on  the 
aperture  of  the  bellows,  so  as  to  bring  the  time  required 
for  the  core  to  rise  nearer  to  the  time  desired.  Further 
adjustment  of  the  position  of  the  core  may  have  to  be 
made  when  the  adjustment  at  the  bellows  is  changed  until 


-No.  1 
_No.  2 


THE     USE    OF    DEPRECIATION     DATA    EN    RATE- 
MAKING  AND  APPRAISAL  PROBLEMS. 


Elwtrieal  Wi  rid 


-Ig.  12 — Z-Connection  for  Three-Phase  Grounded   Neutral  or  Four- 
Wire    Circuit. 

:he  time  and  current  values  are  correct.  The  other  side 
Df  the  relay  may  then  be  adjusted  in  a  similar  manner. 

To  regulate  the  series  or  closed-circuit  type  of  relay  the 
same  rheostat  nia>  be  used  and  the  adjustment  made  in  a 
similar  manner,  except  that  the  trip-coil  core  must  come  up 
ivith  sufficient  force  to  trip  the  latch  on  the  main  switch. 
[f  the  feeder  is  in  service,  it  is  inconvenient  to  adjust  the 
'elays  without  interrupting  the  service;  but  arrangements 
:an  be  made  to  make  the  adjustments  on  a  Sunday  or  holi- 
day when  there  is  no  load  on  the  feeder.  When  this  is 
mpossible  and  it  is  not  desirable  to  interrupt  the  service  the 
nain  switch  should  be  blocked  in  such  a  way  that  the  usual 
strain  will  be  on  the  latch ;  that  is,  the  switch  should  not 
36  held  in  tight,  but  held  in  by  the  latch  in  such  a  way  that 
when  the  latch  is  tripped  the  switch  will  just  start  to  open, 
rhis  method  will  leave  the  usual  strain  on  the  latch,  so 
;hat  the  trip-coil  core  can  be  adjusted  to  strike  the  latch 
lard  enough  to  trip  the  switch. 

Before  disconnecting  the  leads  from  the  secondary  side 
)f  the  series  transformer  they  must  be  short-circuited  if 
;here  is  any  load  on  the  feeder.  When  the  relay  adjust- 
Tients  need  only  be  appro.ximate,  or  in  case  a  low  reading 
immeter  cannot  be  obtained,  a  bank  of  lamps  may  be  used 
n  place  of  the  water  rheostat.  The  lamps  should  be  con- 
nected so  as  to  get  the  proper  current.  For  circuits  with 
grounded  neutral,  such  as  a  three-wire  Y-connected  system 
3r  a  four-wire,  three-phase  system,  three  series  transform- 
ers are  required,  one  in  each  main  lead.  The  instrument 
niay  be  double  pole  or  comprise  two  single-pole  relays,  but 
the  transformers  must  be  connected  as  shown  in  Fig.  12, 
lead  No.  2  being  used  as  the  common  return. 


By  Halbert  P.  Gillette. 

A  GREAT  deal  recently  has  been  written  on  the  sub- 
ject of  depreciation,  particularly  with  reference 
to  the  use  of  depreciation  rates  in  calculating  the 
depreciated  values  of  public  utilities,  but  very  little  on  the 
use  of  depreciation  data  in  rate-making  problems.  The 
latter  use  is  of  far  more  importance  to  public  service 
companies  than  the  former  wherever  the  rates  of  such 
companies  are  the  subject  of  action  by  rate-making  com- 
missions or  courts.  In  the  following  discussion  of  the 
subject  the  writer  has  attempted  to  distinguish  between 
"actual  accrued  depreciation"  and  "estimated  prospective 
depreciation."  The  writer  has  also  indicated  what  he  be- 
lieves to  be  correct  methods  of  analyzing  annual  main- 
tenance expenses  into  "repairs"  and  "renewals."  The  im- 
portance of  so  doing  has  apparently  not  been  recognized 
by  many  public  service  companies  or  by  many  public 
service  commissions.     Yet  this  is  often  a  vital  matter. 

Because  of  its  simplicity  the  straight-line  depreciation 
formula  has  been  most  commonly  used  by  appraisers,  but 
it  frequently  gives  results  that  are  believed  to  be  demon- 
strably erroneous,  as  will  be  shown.  The  advocates  of  the 
sinking-fund  depreciation  formula  have  persisted  in  using 
fallacious  arguments  in  support  of  its  supposed  general 
applicability,  yet  the  formula  is  properly  applicable  in  many 
cases,  although  it  fails  in  certain  cases  because  it  lacks 
generality.  It  is,  indeed,  only  a  special  case  of  a  general 
formula  that  the  writer  calls  the  "unit-cost  depreciation 
formula." 

Many  appraisers  have  failed  to  recognize  the  funda- 
mental difference  between  "natural  depreciation"  and 
"functional  depreciation,"  in  consequence  of  which  an  ac- 
crued "functional  depreciation"  has  often  been  assigned  to 
plant  units  where  none  existed  at  all.  Because  of  common 
errors  and  because  his  assistants  needed  written  guidance 
at  times,  the  writer  has  taken  the  trouble  to  prepare  dis- 
cussions of  depreciation  and  maintenance  problems  at  some 
length.  These  discussions  have  been  used  by  the  writer 
as  a  part  of  his  various  appraisal  and  rate-making  reports 
on  properties  managed  by  Stone  &  Webster,  and  extracts 
from  them  may  prove  of  assistance  to  others  who  are 
interested  in  appraisals  and  in  rate-making  problems. 

DEPRECIATION. 

Depreciation  may  be  defined  as  the  loss  of  value  result- 
ing from  loss  of  useful  life  of  a  plant  unit,  or  from  a  drop 
in  unit  prices.  Here  the  term  plant  unit  implies  any  unit 
to  which  a  unit  cost  is  assigned.  Since  the  cost  of  a 
machine  may  be  split  up  into  many  units  to  each  of  which 
a  unit  cost  may  be  assigned,  it  follows  that  appraisers  may 
differ  greatly  as  to  what  they  call  a  plant  unit.  The  author 
prefers  to  call  a  whole  machine — such  as  a  generator — a 
plant  unit,  and  to  treat  the  depreciation  of  the  machine  as 
a  whole.  The  cost  of  replacing  parts  of  the  machine  the 
writer  prefers  to  classify  under  the  term  repairs,  which  will 
be  discussed  later. 

Natural  depreciation  is  loss  of  value  due  to  physical  or 
chemical  changes  in  plant  units.  Decay,  rust,  electrolysis, 
wear  and  tear  are  common  causes  of  natural  depreciation. 
Past  natural  depreciation  can  be  calculated  either  by  in- 
specting the  plant  units  or  by  the  use  of  plant  mortality 
tables  which  are  applied  to  the  known  ages  of  the  plant 
units.  The  weighted  age  of  each  c'ass  of  plant  units 
should  be  calculated  as  described  later. 

Functional  depreciation  is  loss  of  value  due  to  (a)  obsoles- 
cence or  (b)  inadequacy.  Obsolescence  arises  wholly  from 
"improvements  in  the  art" — inventions.  Inadequacy  arises 
from  increased  demands  upon  plant  units  rendering  them 
economically  too  small  or  too  light  for  the  increased  service 
required. 


928 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


Estimating  Depreciation  Due  to  Obsolescence. — If  a  new 
invention  has  resulted  in  the  production  of  a  machine  that 
will  perform  a  given  service  at  a  less  cost  than  an  existing 
old  machine,  the  obsolescence  depreciation  of  the  old  ma- 
chine is  calculated  thus :  From  the  total  capitalized  cost  of 
production  with  the  old  machine  deduct  the  total  capitalized 
cost  of  production  with  the  new  machine,  and  the  remain- 
ing sum  is  the  obsolescence  depreciation  of  the  old  machine. 

For  example,  assume  that  the  first  cost  of  the  old  ma- 
chine is  $35,000  and  that  its  annual  operating  expense 
(including  natural  depreciation  and  taxes)  is  $6,000.  Then, 
if  the  interest  rate  is  6  per  cent,  we  have: 

Old  machine : 

First    cost $35,000 

Capitalized  operating  expense,  $6,000    ~   0.06 100,000 

Total    capitalized    cost $135,000 

If  an  improved  new  machine  has  a  first  cost  of  $45,000 
for  the  same  output  as  the  old  machine  and  an  annual 
operating  expense  (including  natural  depreciation  and 
taxes)  of  $4,200,  we  have: 

New  machine : 

First     cost $45,000 

Capitalized  operating  expense,  $4,200  -^  0.06 70,000 

Total    capitalized    cost $115,000 

The  obsolescence  depreciation  of  the  old  machine  is, 
therefore,  $135,000  minus  $115,000,  or  $20,000.  Hence  the 
depreciation  value  of  the  old  machine  is  $35,000  minus 
$20,000,   or  $15,000. 

Occasionally  a  calculation  of  this  sort  vvill  disclose  the 
fact  that  an  old  machine  is  not  only  valueless  but  worse 
than  valueless,  or  has  a  minus  value  because  it  is  so  hope- 
lessly out  of  date.  It  cannot  be  appraised  at  a  minus  value, 
however,  for  it  can  be  replaced  by  a  new  machine  and 
thus  wipe  out  the  annual  loss  from  its  use.  Moreover,  it 
may  have  some  scrap  value. 

Estimating  Depreciation  Due  to  Inadequacy. — If  a  ma- 
chine has  become  too  small  to  perform  its  function  eco- 
nomically, its  depreciation  due  to  inadequacy  may  be  calcu- 
lated in  the  manner  just  outlined  for  calculating  deprecia- 
tion due  to  obsolescence.  Since  inadequacy  usually  implies 
that  more  than  one  old  machine  is  needed  to  perform  the 
work  of  a  new  (adequate)  machine,  it  is  preferable  to 
solve  the  problem  of  depreciation  thus: 

Ascertain  the  total  cost  per  unit  of  product  (or  service) 
that  the  old  machine  yields,  and  deduct  therefrom  the  cor- 
responding total  unit  cost  of  product  that  the  new  machine 
yields.  Multiply  this  saving  in  unit  cost  by  the  number  of 
units  annually  produced  by  the  old  machine  and  capitalize 
this  total  annual  saving  by  dividing  by  the  interest  per- 
centage. The  quotient  is  the  inadequacy  depreciation  of 
the  old  machine. 

Accident  depreciation  is  the  loss  of  plant  value  due  to 
accidents.  Destruction  of  property  by  flood,  fire,  tornado 
and  earthquake  comes  under  this  head.  So  also  does  prop- 
erty loss  due  to  failure  of  structures  through  errors  or 
carelessness  in  design  or  operation.  Accident  depreciation 
should  be  provided  for  in  one  of  three  ways  or  by  a  com- 
bination thereof:  (l)  insurance.  (2)  accident  reserve  or 
surplus,  or  (3)  increase  in  the  rate  of  "fair  return"  on  the 
investment. 

Dcnwnd  Depreciation. — If  a  plant  is  provided  to  serve 
a  mine  or  mining  community,  the  demand  for  its  service 
may  decrease  gradually  or  may  suddenly  cease  entirely. 
So,  too,  may  the  demand  for  a  railway  serving  a  timbered 
district  fall  off  or  cease.  Demand  depreciation,  then,  is 
loss  of  plant  value  due  to  decrease  in  demand  for  the  use 
of  the  plant.  It  should  be  provided  for,  wherever  it  is 
likely  to  occur,  by  (i)  an  amortization  fund.  (2)  accumu- 
lation of  a  surplus,  or  (3)  an  increase  in  "fair  return." 
Price  depreciation  is  loss  of  value  resulting  from  a  drop 


in  unit  prices.  It  often  happens  that  unit  prices  during  the 
actual  construction  of  a  plant  were  higher  than  they  are 
at  the  time  of  a  subsequent  appraisal.  This  may  be  due  to 
several  causes,  such  as  (i)  a  period  of  relative  financial 
depression  at  the  time  of  the  appraisal;  (2)  improvements 
in  the  art  of  manufacture,  transportation  or  distribution 
that  lower  unit  costs;  (3)  the  fact  that  piecemeal  construc- 
tion prices  exceed  the  unit  prices  used  by  an  appraiser  who 
estimates  costs  on  a  basis  of  wholesale  prices.  Whatever 
the  cause  of  this  unit  price  depreciation,  the  appraiser 
should  allow  for  it  in  calculating  development  cost,  for  it 
is  a  deficit  incurred  in  the  development  of  the  business  of 
the  utility  company  and  one  that  cannot  be  controlled  by 
the  company. 

Of  course,  if  the  appraiser  uses  the  historical  method  of 
appraisal  there  will  ordinarily  be  much  less  price  deprecia- 
tion than  if  the  appraiser  uses  the  replacement  method.  If 
price  depreciation  is  not  provided  for  in  the  development 
cost,  it  should  have  consideration  by  allowing  a  higher  rate 
of  fair  return  on  the  investment  than  would  otherwise  be 
permitted. 

Two  Distinct  Uses  of  Depreciation  Data. — Actual  ac- 
crued depreciation  must  be  deducted  from  cost  new  to  get 
depreciated  value.  This  is  the  only  use  to  which  deprecia- 
tion data  should  be  put  in  an  appraisal.  But  in  a  rate- 
making  problem  the  factor  of  probable  future  depreciation 
enters,  and  then  both  the  probable  functional  depreciation 
and  probable  natural  depreciation  must  be  considered.  De- 
preciation, for  appraisal  purposes,  is  related  to  the  past 
and  to  what  is  actual.  Depreciation  for  rate-making  pur- 
poses relates  to  the  future  and  to  what  is  probable.  This 
distinction  is  vital. 

Resultant  Depreciation. — In  calculating  the  probable 
future  annual  depreciation  of  a  plant  it  is  necessary  to  con- 
sider both  the  natural  depreciation  and  the  functional  depre- 
ciation, to  ascertain  the  resultant  annual  depreciation.  If 
any  class  of  plant  units,  like  engines,  suffers  more  rapid 
functional  depreciation  than  natural  depreciation,  then  the 
natural  depreciation  can  be  ignored,  for  the  engines  will  be 
renewed  because  of  functional  depreciation  at  an  earlier 
date  than  would  be  the  case  if  only  natural  depreciation 
were  acting.  On  the  other  hand,  if  natural  depreciation  is 
greater  than  functional  depreciation,  as  usually  is  the  case 
with  the  wooden  poles  of  a  transmission  line,  then  func- 
tional depreciation  must  be  ignored. 

The  sum  of  all  the  resultant  annual  depreciations  of  the 
dift'erent  classes  of  plant  units  gives  the  total  resultant  an- 
nual depreciation  of  the  plant,  and  it  is  this  total  which 
must  be  provided  for  in  one  or  more  of  the  following  ways : 
(i)  current  renewals  charged  to  maintenance,  (2)  depre- 
ciation fund  or  renewal  reserve,  (3)  surplus,  (4)  high 
enough  "fair  return"  distributed  to  the  owners  of  the  plant 
to   recoup  them   for  probable  depreciation. 

Bond  Sinking  Fund  Not  to  Be  Confused  zvith  Deprecia- 
tion Fund. — A  bond  sinking  fund  is  merely  a  sum  of  money 
accumulated  to  pay  off  a  debt.  If  it  happens  that  the  debt 
matures  at  the  same  time  that  the  plant  reaches  the  end  of 
its  useful  life,  the  bond  sinking  fund  may  be  a  true  deprecia- 
tion fund,  provided  the  par  value  of  the  bonds  equals  the 
full  value  of  the  plant.  This,  however,  is  seldom  the  case. 
There  is.  therefore,  no  necessary  relation  between  a  bond 
sinking  fund  and  a  depreciation  fund.  However,  it  is 
clear  that  a  public  service  company  should  not  be  permitted 
to  deduct  both  the  annuity  for  a  bond  sinking  fund  and  the 
annuitv  for  a  depreciation  fund  from  its  earnings  in  calcu- 
lating the  net  earnings  which  are  to  be  its  "fair  return," 
for  such  a  procedure  would  result  in  a  duplication  of  the 
amortization   of   plant   values. 

WEIGHTED   AVER.'\GE   AGE   OF   PLANT   UNITS. 

The  average  age  of  any  group  of  plant  units  of  equal 
value  is  calculated  thus:  Multiply  the  total  number  of 
plant  units  of  the  same  age  by  the  number  of  years  that 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


929 


they  have  been  in  use;  add  together  all  such  products  for 
the  given  class  of  units,  and  divide  the  sum  by  the  total 
number  of  plant  units.  The  quotient  is  the  average  age 
of  the  given  class  of  plant  units. 

If  the  plant  units  of  a  given  class  vary  in  first  cost,  then 
the  weighted  average  age  is  found  thus :  Multiply  the 
money  expended  each  year  in  the  construction  of  the  plant 
units  now  in  existence  by  the  age  in  years ;  add  these 
products  together,  and  divide  by  the  total  cost.  The 
quotient  is  the  weighted  average  age  of  the  given  class  of 
plant  units. 

In  applying  this  last  rule  care  must  be  taken  to  make 
adjustments  needed  to  provide  for  fluctuations  in  unit 
prices,  so  that  standard  unit  prices  may  be  applied  to  all. 
Care  must  also  be  taken  to  ascertain  whether  any  plant 
units  as  originally  built  have  been  renewed;  and  to  this 
end  both  the  original  construction  accounts  and  the  main- 
tenance and  renewal  reserve  accounts  should  be  investi- 
gated. 

WEARING    V.^LUE. 

The  wearing  value  of  a  plant  unit  is  the  difference  be- 
tween its  cost  new  and  its  scrap  value.  To  the  great 
majority  of  plant  units  it  is  practically  useless  to  assign 
any  scrap  value,  for  the  scrap  value  is  usually  so  insignifi- 
cant a  part  of  the  cost  new  that  it  gives  an  appearance  of 
great  accuracy  to  the  depreciation  calculations  where  no 
great  accuracy  can  exist  in  most  cases.  When  the  life  of 
most  plant  units  is  itself  a  matter  of  rough  approximation, 
no  greater  accuracy  is  attained  by  assigning  any  scrap 
value  to  most  classes  of  plant  units.  Copper  wire  is  the 
only  class  of  plant  unit  to  which  the  writer  has  assigned  a 
scrap  value  in  many  of  his  appraisals.  Depreciation  per- 
centages may  be  expressed  either  in  terms  of  the  cost  new 
or  of  the  wearing  value. 

ANALYSIS    OF     MAINTENANCE    ACCOUNTS    AND    UPKEEP    COSTS. 

Before  the  true  net  earnings  of  a  plant  can  be  accurately 
ascertained  it  is  necessary  to  analyze  the  maintenance  ac- 
counts, for  it  will  usually  be  found  that  the  actual  ex- 
penditures for  upkeep  in  any  given  year  are  less  than  the 
average  expenditures  for  upkeep  will  be  in  the  years  to 
come.  Simply  because  a  plant  is  old  it  must  not  be  assumed 
that  its  upkeep  expenditures  have  reached  a  normal  or 
average  condition.    Yet  this  assumption  has  often  been  made. 

Upkeep  cost  is  the  actual  expenditure  for  current  repairs 
and  current  renewals  (maintenance)  plus  the  annual  depre- 
ciation not  provided  for  in  the  actual  expenditure  in  re- 
newals. 

Current  maintenance,  or  maintenance  as  the  term  is  com- 
monly used  by  accountants,  is  the  actual  expenditure  for 
current  repairs  and  current  renewals. 

Repairs  is  the  term  applied  to  the  current  expenditures 
for  keeping  the  parts  of  plant  units  in  serviceable  condition. 

Reneivals,  as  used  in  this  connection,  are  the  current  ex- 
penditures for  the  renewal  of  whole  plant  units. 

Annual  depreciation,  as  used  here,  is  the  estimated  an- 
nual loss  of  value  from  all  causes,  including  natural  and 
functional.  Annual  depreciation  usually  exceeds  annual 
renewals  in  plants  that  are  not  very  old.  Hence  the  ex- 
treme importance  of  not  assuming  that  annual  renewals  are 
probably  sufficient  to  cover  annual  depreciation.  Annual 
renewals  are  usually  only  a  part  of  annual  depreciation, 
and  annual  depreciation  is,  in  turn,  only  a  part  of  annual 
upkeep  cost,  for  annual  depreciation  does  not  include  annual 
repairs.  Great  confusion  still  exists  in  the  minds  of  many 
people  as  to  these  terms,  partly  because  they  are  not  used 
in  the  same  sense  by  all  engineers.  Serious  errors  have 
occurred,  both  on  the  part  of  public  service  companies  and 
public  service  commissions,  in  estimating  the  probable  an- 
nual upkeep  cost.  Sometimes  in  such  estimates  annual 
repairs  have  been  omitted,  but  more  often  the  error  has 
arisen  because  actual  annual  renewals  of  the  previous  year 
were  assumed  to  cover  all  probable  annual  depreciation. 


METHOD    OF    ESTIMATING    ANNUAL    UPKEEP    COST. 

As  at  present  conducted,  no  public  utility  company  keeps 
its  accounts  in  such  a  manner  as  to  segregate  maintenance 
expenses  into  repairs  and  renewals,  using  these  terms  as 
above  defined.  Yet,  if  we  are  to  make  proper  estimates 
for  depreciation  funds,  or  if  we  are  to  ascertain  the  true 
operating  expense,  it  becomes  essential  to  separate  main- 
tenance into  repairs  and   renewals. 

If  the  weighted  age  of  any  given  set  of  plant  units  is 
less  than  half  the  total  life  of  units  of  that  class,  the  ex- 
penditures for  renewals  of  the  plant  units  are  below  what 
they  must  ultimately  be.  Thus,  if  the  life  of  railway  cross- 
ties  is  ten  years  and  if  the  weighted  age  of  a  given  lot  of 
ties  is  three  years,  it  is  evident  that  tie  renewals  are  still 
below  normal.  When,  however,  the  weighted  age  becomes 
five  years  (that  is,  half  the  life)  it  is  evident  that  tie 
renewals  have  reached  a  normal  stage,  for  there  will  then 
be  ties  of  all  gradations  of  age,  from  those  just  put  in  the 
track  to  those  just  ready  to  be  taken  out. 

When  the  weighted  age  of  most  classes  of  plant  units  has 
not  yet  reached  half  the  total  life,  it  becomes  exceedingly 
important  to  analyze  the  maintenance  accounts.  Other- 
wise, if  the  present  maintenance  expenditures  were  re- 
garded as  being  normal,  no  adequate  allowance  would  be 
made  for  depreciation  that  is  now  going  on  but  is  not  yet 
.  being  paid  for. 

In  the  same  manner  current  repairs  increase  with  in- 
creasing age  of  the  plant  units.  Hence  neither  repairs  nor 
renewals  can  be  properly  judged  until  an  analysis  is  made 
of  the  maintenance  accounts  and  until  the  weighted  age  of 
each  class  of  plant  units  is  determined. 

Maintenance,  as  before  stated,  is  the  cost  of  repairs  plus 
the  cost  of  renewals  of  such  plant  units  as  have  been 
charged  to  the  operating  account.  When  a  plant  is  young 
repairs  are  usually  inexpensive  and  there  may  be  few  or 
no  renewals  of  plant  units  at  all.  Hence,  unless  a  renewal 
reserve  account  is  provided,  there  may  be  little  or  no  charge 
for  annual  plant  depreciation  shown  on  the  books,  although 
depreciation  is  actually  occurring.  When  a  large  plant 
becomes  old  there  are  heavy  repair  expenses  which  are 
quite  uniform,  but  the  actual  renewals  of  many  classes  of 
plant  units  fluctuate  from  year  to  year.  In  other  words, 
the  annual  expenditures  to  replace  plant  units — the  year's 
depreciation— are  apt  to  fluctuate,  and  the  fewer  the  num- 
ber of  plant  units  the  greater  the  fluctuation. 

Having  analyzed  the  annual  maintenance  expenses  of  a 
plant  so  as  to  show  what  has  been  expended  for  renewals 
and  what  for  repairs,  the  next  step  is  to  compare  the  actual 
expenditure  for  renewals  with  the  estimated  annual  depre- 
ciation. In  the  case  of  most  plants  it  almost  invariably 
happens  that  the  actual  renewal  expenditures  fall  below 
the  estimated  annual  depreciation. 

The  true  total  upkeep  expense  is  the  sum  of  two  items, 
(i)  repairs  and  (2)  depreciation;  while  the  actual  main- 
tenance expense  is  the  sum  of  two  items,  (i)  repairs  and 
(2)  renewals.  Since  depreciation  usually  exceeds  renewals, 
and  always  exceeds  it  in  the  case  of  a  new  plant,  it  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  that  the  excess  be  accurately  ascertained 
before  passing  upon  the  question  of  rates  charged  for 
service. 

Suppose,  for  example,  that  the  estimated  depreciation  of 
cross-ties  is  8  per  cent  per  annum,  and  that  the  total  cost 
of  the  ties  is  $20,000 ;  then  the  annual  depreciation  is 
$1,600.  If  the  actual  tie  renewals  for  a  given  year  show 
a  cost  of  $600,  it  is  evident  that  tie  renewal  costs  for  that 
year  are  $1,000  below  normal. 

Where  the  number  of  plant  units  of  any  given  class  is 
large,  and  where  they  are  of  varying  ages,  a  normal  con- 
dition of  renewals  is  not  reached  until  the  weighted  age  of 
all  plant  units  of  that  class  is  half  the  total  life  of  a  plant 
unit  of  that  class.  Keeping  this  fact  in  mind,  it  is  possible 
to  tell  roughly  whether  or  not  the  renewals  of  a  given 
class  of  plant  units  have  been  normal  during  a  given  year, 


930 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


provided  only  that  we  know  the  weighted  age  of  the  plant 
units.  But  the  more  precise  method  to  use  is  the  one  above 
outlined,  which  may  be  summed  up  thus: 

Segregate  the  actual  annual  maintenance  expenses  into 
repairs  and  renewals.  Deduct  all  the  renewals  and  add 
the  estimated  annual  dt-preciation.  The  resulting  sum  will 
be  the  total  true  annual  upkeep  cost. 

When  nothing  but  the  ordinary  accounting  records  are 
available  the  segregating  of  renewals  from  repairs  often 
seems  like  an  impossible  task  in  the  case  of  certain  classes 
of  expense  items,  but  usually  a  way  can  be  found  that  will 
enable  a  sufficiently  close  approximation  to  be  made.  A 
study  of  the  "stock  slips,"  for  example,  will  disclose  the 
purposes  for  which  given  amounts  of  materials  were  used. 
Having  ascertained  the  amount  of  materials  used  for  re- 
newals, the  labor  required  to  put  the  given  material  in  place 
may  be  estimated.  Some  maintenance  accounts,  like  those 
for  ties  and  rails,  contain  only  the  cost  of  materials  used 
for  renewals.  In  such  cases,  also,  the  labor  of  placing 
these  materials  in  the  plant  can  be  estimated  and  then  added 
to  the  cost  of  the  materials.  The  "requisitions"  also  show 
all  the  purchases  of  equipment,  and  a  study  of  the  equip- 
ment and  accounting  records  discloses  whether  a  given 
purchase  was  for  renewals  or  for  extensions  to  plant. 

DEPRECIATION    FORMULAS. 

There  are  three  formulas  by  which  accrued  depreciation 
has  been  calculated  by  appraisers:  (i)  straight-line  for- 
mula, (2)  sinking-fund  formula,  and  (3)  unit-cost  depre- 
ciation formula.  In  addition  to  these,  what  may  be  termed 
a  "progressive  diminution  formula"  is  sometimes  used.  It 
involves  reducing  the  value  of  a  plant  each  year  by  sub- 
tracting from  its  last  year's  value  a  percentage  thereof. 
This  method  is  rarely  used  in  appraisals. 

Straight-Line  Formula. — According  to  what  is  called  the 
straight-line  formula,  accrued  depreciation  is  calculated 
thus:  Multiply  the  age  in  years  of  a  given  plant  unit  by 
the  percentage  of  life  that  it  loses  annually,  and  the 
product  is  the  accrued  depreciation.  Thus,  if  poles  have  a 
life  of  twenty  years,  the  annual  loss  of  life  is  5  per  cent; 
hence  a  pole  eight  years  old  has  depreciated  8X5  per 
cent  =  40  per  cent,  and  its  "present  value"  is  60  per  cent, 
according  to  the  straight-line  formula.  This  formula  is 
the  simplest  of  all  and  has  been  most  used  in  appraisals. 

Siiiking-Fund  Formula. — According  to  the  sinking-fund 
method  of  calculating  depreciation,  it  is  assumed  that  the 
accrued  depreciation  of  a  plant  unit  is  the  amount  already 
accumulated  in  a  sinking  fund  that  was  begun  when  the 
plant  unit  was  first  put  into  service  and  whose  annuities 
are  such  that,  at  compound  interest,  the  amount  at  the 
end  of  the  life  of  the  plant  unit  will  equal  the  first  cost  of 
the  unit. 

The  argument  upon  which  the  sinking-fund  depreciation 
formula  was  originally  advocated  is  this:  The  purchaser 
of  a  depreciated  plant  should  be  willing  to  take  the  plant 
at  its  first  cost,  provided  he  also  were  to  receive  an  accumu- 
lated sinking  fund  that  would  eventually  (at  the  end  of  the 
life  of  the  plant)  equal  the  first  cost  of  the  plant.  Hence, 
if  the  purchaser  takes  only  the  depreciated  plant,  he  should 
take  it  at  its  cost  new  less  the  accumulated  sinking  fund. 
This  argument  appears  to  be  sound,  provided  the  plant  unit 
is  of  a  kind  whose  operating  expenses,  current  repairs  and 
service  performed  remain  constant  throughout  the  life  of 
the  plant  unit.  But  the  argument  is  unsound  when  oper- 
ating expense  and  repairs  increase,  or  when  the  service  or 
output  decreases,  as  the  plant  unit  grows  older.  In  brief, 
the  sinking-fund  depreciation  formula  applies  only  to 
special  cases,  although  they  occur  with  some  frequency. 
The  author  regards  the  next  method  as  the  economically 
exact  and  most  general  one. 

Unit-Cost  Depreciation  Formula. — This  depreciation 
formula  is  predicated  upon  the  broad  economic  principle 
that  decrease  in  economic  value  of  plant  unit  is  determined 


by  the  increased  unit  cost  of  its  product  or  service.  This 
increased  unit  cost  of  the  product  or  service  is,  of  course, 
relative,  and  if  the  standard  of  comparison  is  an  improved 
or  larger  machine,  then  we  deduce  the  economic  deprecia- 
tion as  already  described  under  the  headings  relating  to 
calculation  of  obsolescence  and  inadequacy  depreciation. 
But  increased  unit  cost  of  production  may  occur  not  only 
because  an  old  machine  requires  greater  repairs  than  a  new 
one  but  because  it  annually  turns  out  fewer  units  of 
product,  owing  to  being  shut  down  more  often  for  repairs. 
It  is  this  loss  of  economy  in  production  with  an  old  ma- 
chine as  contrasted  with  a  new  machine  that  often  causes 
depreciation  in  addition  to  that  calculated  by  the  sinking- 
fund  formula.  To  calculate  true  economic  depreciation  due 
to  the  aging  of  a  machine  we  must  have  a  more  general 
formula  than  the  sinking-fund  depreciation  formula.  The 
unit-cost  depreciation  formula  is  predicated  upon  the  fol- 
lowing principle  of  equity:  The  purchaser  of  a  second- 
hand machine  is  entitled  to  purchase  it  at  such  a  price  that 
during  its  remaining  life  he  may  produce  each  unit  of 
service  or  output  at  the  same  average  unit  cost  as  would  be 
entailed  during  the  entire  life  of  the  machine.  For  the  term 
"machine"  may  be  substituted  "plant  unit"  or  "structure." 
This  fundamental  proposition,  in  the  writer's  opinion,  needs 
no  argument  in  its  support.  The  equitable  second-hand 
price  to  be  determined  by  this  criterion  is  the  true  de- 
preciated value. 

Let 
C  =  first  cost  of  new  plant  unit. 
c  =  depreciated  value  of  old  plant  unit. 
F  =  sinking-fund  annuity  to  amortize  C  in  its  life  of  N 

years. 
/  =  sinking-fund  annuity  to  amortize  c  in  its  remaining 

life  of  n  years. 
A''  =  number  of  years  of  life  of  new  plant  unit, 
n  =  number  of  years  of  remaining  life  of  old  plant  unit. 
Q  =  average   annual   operating   expense,   exclusive   of   re- 
pairs, but  including  taxes,  during  N  years. 
q  =  average   annual   operating   expense,    exclusive   of    re- 
pairs, but  including  taxes,  during  remaining  n  years. 
P  =  annuity   to   provide   for   repairs  to  parts  of  the  new 

plan  unit  during  its  life  of  N  years. 
p  =  annuity  to  provide  for  repairs  to  parts  of  the  old  plant 

unit  during  n  years. 
r  =  rate  of  interest,  expressed  as  a  decimal. 
U  =  average  unit  cost  of  the  product  or  service  of  the  new 

plant  unit  during  A''  years. 
u  =  average  unit  cost  of  the  product  or  service  of  the  old 

plant  unit  during  its  remaining  life  of  n  years. 
y  =  average   annual   number   of   units  of   product   during 

entire  life  of  A'^  years. 
y  =  average  annual  number  of  units  of  product  during  re- 
maining life  of  n  years. 
Then 

Q^P-^F-^rC 


U 


(0 
(2) 


q  +  P+f  +  rc 

y 

But,  to  secure  the  same  economy  of  production  during 
the  remaining  life  as  during  the  entire  life,  U  must  equal  u. 
Hence 

Q^P  +  F  +  rC   _q  +  p-]-f  +  rc 

Y  y 

The  sinking  fund  annuity  which  will  accumulate  to  $1 
in  A''  years  is  given  by  the  formula: 

r 


D 


(i-f  r)*'— I 


Likewise  for  n  years  we  have 

r 


(i  +  O"— I 


(4) 


(5) 


November  2,  1012. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


931 


The  annuity  for  the  redemption  of  C  dollars  is 

The  annuity  for  the  redemption  of  c  dollars  is 
f  =  dc  = 


(6) 


(7) 


(i+r)"— I 

Substituting   these   values   of   F   and   /   in    equation    (3) 
we  have 

Q+P  +  DC  +  rC   _g  +  /.  +  dc  +  rc 


(8) 


?  +  />' 


(9) 


Y  y 

Solving  (8)  for  c  we  have 

_      y       /Q  +  P  +  DC  +  rC 

'^     d  +  ry         Y  y  , 

Equation  (9)  is  the  general  form  of  the  unit-cost 
depreciation  formula.  The  values  of  D  and  d  may  be  cal- 
culated by  equations  (4)  and  (5),  or  they  may  be  obtained 
from  sinking-fund  tables. 

It  frequently  happens  that  Y  =  y,  as  in  the  case  of  fixed 
plant  units,  like  buildings,  railway  ties,  etc.,  that  perform  an 
unvarying  service  throughout  their  life.  Then  if  Y  =  y, 
equation  (9)  becomes 

{Q+P-q~P)  +  {D-^r)  C 


c  = 


d  +  r 


(10) 


In  the  case  of  many  sorts  of  plant  units,  particularly  fixed 
structures,  {Q -\- P  —  q  —  p)  is  zero  or  infinitesimal;  then 
(10)  becomes 


c  = 

c 


d  +  r 

D  +  r 
d  +  r 


(II) 


(12) 


Equation  (12)  gives  identically  the  same  results  as  the 
sinking-fund  depreciation  formula,  and  it  may  be  easily 
proved  to  be  only  a  different  form  of  that  formula  as  it  is 
usually  given.  In  the  usual  form  of  the  sinking-fund 
formula  d  is  calculated  by  equation  (5),  in  which  n  is  the 
total  life' of  the  plant  unit,  whereas  in  equation  (12)  d  is 
calculated  by  equation  (5),  in  which  n  is  the  remaining  life 
of  the  plant  unit. 

Summing  up,  it  appears  that  the  unit-cost  depreciation 
formula  (equation  9)  is  the  correct  general  formula  for 
ascertaining  the  economic  depreciation  due  merely  to  age. 
We  also  see  that  in  the  case  of  practically  all  plant  units 
that  are  fixed  structures  equation  (9)  reduces  to  the  simple 
form  of  equation  (12)  and  that  this  is  only  another  form 
of  the  well-known  sinking-fund  depreciation  formula. 


DISTRIBUTION      OF      CONSERVED      RESOURCES 

THROUGH  EXISTING  PUBLIC-UTILITY 

ENTERPRISES. 


SO  much  attention  has  been  riveted  on  the  general 
question  of  the  conservation  of  natural  resources 
that  the  problem  of  the  utilization  of  the  resources 
thus  conserved  has  received  little  consideration.  On  the 
assumption  that  each  citizen  shall  to  the  largest  possible 
degree  share  the  benefits  of  conservation,  Mr.  J.  C.  Parker, 
of  the  Rochester  Railway  &  Light  Company,  proposed  a 
plan  calculated  to  secure  this  result  before  a  recent  meeting 
of  the  New  York  State  Waterways  Association  at  Water- 
town,  N.  Y.  He  contends  at  the  outset  that  no  true  con- 
servation is  possible  if  hydraulic  developments  are  taxed 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  prevent  them  from  becoming  com- 
mercially feasible  in  competition  with  the  more  flexible  and 
untaxed  coal  power  developments.  The  very  essence  of 
conservation  will  be  satisfied,  he  maintains,  if  there  is  at 
hand  a  thoroughly  organized  agency  for  "passing  conserva- 
tion around."     This,  he  said,  already  exists  in  the  highly 


developed  public-service  enterprises  which  now  cover  every 
city,  town  and  village  of  appreciable  size  in  the  country. 
The  burden  of  his  speech  was  to  show  that  the  results  of 
conservation  may  be  disposed  of  through  such  enterprises 
with  advantage  to  the  people  at  large,  and  that  therefore 
it  is  the  part  of  sanity  to  use  them,  rather  than  to  resort 
to  a  more  expensive  process  of  duplication  of  effort  in  an 
endeavor  to  secure  another,  and  presumably  less  well- 
organized,  agency  for  the  distribution  of  the  benefits.  Mr. 
Parker  showed  that  there  is  practically  no  interest  in  the 
community  which  the  public-service  enterprise  does  not  or 
cannot  serve,  and  that  this  service  is  rendered  in  many 
states  subject  to  a  very  close  control  by  the  ultimate  bene- 
ficiaries, through   public-service   commissions. 

The  two  elements  which  most  perfectly  serve  to  make 
these  central-station  enterprises  efficient  and  equitable 
agents  for  the  distribution  of  the  benefits  of  conservation 
to  all  the  people  alike  are,  first,  enlightened  selfishness,  and, 
second,  control  by  commissions  intrusted  with  broad  powers. 
Public-service  corporations  have  come  to  learn,  through 
their  own  broadened  experience  and  through  the  develop- 
ment of  public  sentiment,  that  they  have  a  trust  imposed 
upon  them  by  the  people  who  have  given  them  franchises, 
and  that  only  by  the  most  faithful  execution  of  this  trust 
can  they  best  serve  the  other  group  to  which  they  owe  an 
obligation — their  stockholders.  Self-interest  dictates  that 
absolute  fairness  and  absence  of  discrimination  shall  govern 
the  rendering  of  the  most  approved  type  of  service  at  the 
lowest  price  consistent  with  a  fair  return  to  the  large 
number  of  people  who  have  undertaken,  as  stockholders, 
the  expense  of  developing  these  agencies  for  the  distribu- 
tion of  comfort  and  economic  benefits.  The  central-station 
service  to  be  maintained  must  be  pre-eminently  good  and 
the  margin  of  competitive  difference  must  be  increased, 
since  a  few  per  cent  increase  makes  possible  a  vast  in- 
crease in  the  volume  of  business  done  with  the  same  over- 
head expense,  and  therefore  results  in  benefits  to  the 
customer  and  to  the  stockholder  alike.  To  this  enlightened 
selfishness  must  be  added  the  work  of  the  public-service 
commissions,  which  guard  against  the  exploitation  of  the 
public  by  service  corporations  in  any  possible  manner. 

Contrasting  the  benefits  of  distributing  conserved  re- 
sources through  existing  public  utilities,  Mr.  Parker  noted 
large  economic  advantages  as  against  any  other  form  of 
distribution.  The  foremost  of  these  has  to  do  with  the 
diversity  factor,  so  that,  in  addition  to  the  conservation  of 
the  original  power,  the  public-service  utility  possesses  a 
conservation  of  utilization.  In  other  words,  the  central 
station  can  multiply  the  effective  capacity  of  the  hydro- 
electric system  above  its  theoretical  maximum  by  the 
amount  of  this  diversity  factor.  In  the  opinion  of  the 
speaker,  it  cannot  be  thought  that  in  any  sense  conservation 
ceases  with  the  production  of  the  maximum  energy  output 
from  a  given  watershed.  Conservation,  broadly  understood, 
must  mean  the  maximum  of  utility  and  the  maximum  of 
useful  service  with  satisfaction  from  a  given  natural  re- 
source. If  a  central  station  can  increase  the  output  from 
5000  hp  with  an  uncorrelated  and  unconserved  group  of 
natural  resources  to  7500  hp  with  adequate  storage  and 
other  works,  it  has  truly  made  a  50  per  cent  increase  in 
the  usefulness  of  that  particular  natural  resource,  but  if,  in 
addition,  it  has  a  diversity  factor  of  three,  this  7500  hp 
will  serve  22,500  hp  of  maximum  demand,  so  that  in  this 
ofie  factor  it  has  further  conserved  the  already  augmented 
water-power  at  least  twofold  and  has  multiplied  the  initial 
power  by  four  and  one-half. 

If,  moreover,  the  waste  of  energy  in  industries  can  be 
eliminated  a  still  further  conservation  results.  Many  large 
plants  with  mechanical  distribution  show  energy  losses  run- 
ning from  50  to  80  per  cent  which  might  be  reduced  to 
10  or  20  per  cent  by  proper  engineering  in  conjunction  with 
electrical  distribution.  Public-service  corporations  have 
also  recently  introduced  new  illuminants  which  have  served 


932 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


to  cut  down  the  energy  consumption  of  lamps  by  nearly  70 
per  cent,  and  by  the  proper  adaptation  of  illuminating  engi- 
neermg  principles  have  made  still  further  and  marked 
economies  in  the  utilization  of  energy  in  that  period  of  the 
day  when  it  is  the  greatest,  namely,  the  peak  hour.  Assum- 
ing that  adequate  utilization  will  cut  out  a  waste  of  at 
least  one-half  the  energy  in  those  communities  where  work 
has  not  as  yet  been  prosecuted,  the  22,500  "diversity"  hp 
can  be  made  to  do  the  work  now  being  done  by  45,000 
"uneconomic"  hp,  and  there  is  no  method  of  weighing  the 
economic  benefits  handed  around  through  energy  stored  in 
the  finished  product. 

Public-service  corporations  to-day  are  very  efficient 
agencies  for  promoting  the  economic  utilization  of  the  bene- 
fits of  conserved  water-powers,  since  in  the  efforts  to 
secure  business  and  make  their  service  of  the  greatest  ad- 
vantage to  their  consumers  many  of  them  maintain  depart- 
ments of  engineers  to  study  how  the  power  requirements  in 
the  industries  served  may  be  reduced  to  a  minimum.  These 
economies  of  utilization  which  are  possible  in  a  scheme  of 
public-service  distribution  are  often  economically  impossible 
with  the  local  utilization  of  a  water-power  by  a  single  in- 
dustry. If  the  latter  is  not  utilizing  all  the  power  avail- 
able, there  is  no  motive  for  economy  until  the  time  when 
uneconomic  use  means  deficiency  in  production.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  industry  requires  more  power  than  that 
naturally  available,  a  steam  reserve  has  to  be  carried  and 
the  economic  advantages  of  more  efficient  utilization  are 
quite  remote. 

Though  foreign  to  the  economy  of  utilization,  Mr.  Parker 
pointed  out  two  economies  of  operation  possible  to  public- 
service  corporations  but  seldom  possible  under  any  other 
scheme  of  utilization  of  conserved  water-powers.  These 
have  reference  to  the  necessity  for  carrying  a  certain 
amount  of  steam  capacity  or  pondage  in  connection  with 
hydraulic  developments,  and  to  the  necessity  for  carrying 
spare  units  to  replace  any  regular  working  units  that  may 
be  out  of  commission  at  any  time  for  repairs,  etc.  Re- 
garding the  first,  the  public-utility  company  is  enabled  to 
utilize  the  conserved  water-powers  much  more  flexibly  than 
can  any  individual  industry  which  might  rent  or  purchase 
them.  It  is  in  a  position  to  use  water-power  transmitted 
from  a  distance  and  carry  a  steady  twenty-four-hour  load, 
for  which  hydraulic  generation  particularly  well  adapts 
itself,  and  at  the  same  time  to  carry  a  short  peak  load  by 
steam  generation.  Mr.  Parker  also  showed  that  a  central 
station  could  more  easily  withdraw  units  from  service  and 
substitute  therefor  spare  units  than  a  small  plant  where  it  is 
economically  impossible  to  subdivide  the  development  into 
more  than  two  or  three  units  without  making  unjustifiable 
sacrifices  in  first  cost  and  efficiency. 

It  may  be  remarked,  said  the  speaker,  that  these  economic 
advantages  in  distribution  of  conserved  resources  through 
public-utility  enterprises  are  merely  the  result  of  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  nature  of  the  business,  and  the  question  might 
naturally  arise  as  to  why  the  state,  if  it  takes  any  part  in 
the  development  of  these  resources,  should  not  go  the  whole 
way  and  distribute  them,  rather  than  use  the  present  half 
public  and  half  private  enterprise  for  this  purpose.  It  is 
the  speaker's  opinion  that  the  legitimate  function  of  the 
government  is  to  enter  into  those  enterprises  which  require 
the  power  of  the  state  for  their  consummation,  among  these 
being  enterprises  of  such  magnitude  that  private  capital 
cannot  undertake  them,  such  as  a  canal ;  those  which  are 
necessary  to  public  health  and  well  being,  such  as  schools 
and  sanitary  systems,  and  those  which  require  the  use  of 
the  right  of  eminent  domain.  To  duplicate  an  already 
existing  enterprise  would  be  the  reverse  of  conservation, 
and  there  are  grave  reasons  why  this  should  not  be  done. 
The  whole  prosperity  of  modern  civilization  has  been  built 
up  on  the  inducement  to  private  enterprise  offered  by  the 
hope  of  honest  gain.  Under  a  system  of  state  management 
the  element  of  initiative  would  be  withdrawn  from  the  per- 


formance of  most  of  the  men  engaged  in  the  prosecution  of 
such  an  enterprise.  It  requires  many  years  to  build  up  a 
staff  for  the  operation  of  such  a  work  and  to  develop  a 
wise,  far-reaching  policy  of  management  and  technique, 
while  under  a  system  of  public  control  rotation  in  office 
would  involve  changes  in  personnel  long  before  the  con- 
sunnnation  of  plans  made  at  the  beginning  of  an  adminis- 
tration. It  cannot  be  thought  that  any  governmental  bureau 
would  place  so  aggressively  before  the  people  the  facilities 
of  the  service  as  do  the  present  public-utility  enterprises. 
Moreover,  in  the  making  of  plans,  receiving  of  bids,  con- 
struction, inspection,  etc.,  rigid  inflexibility  is  demanded  by 
the  government  as  insurance  against  favoritism  or  corrup- 
tion, while  in  a  private  enterprise  a  large  amount  of  in- 
dividual discrimination  may  be  left  with  every  man  in  the 
concern.  For  the  former  condition  the  people  pay  heavily, 
since  the  growth  in  experience  and  special  knowledge  as 
the  work  progresses  cannot  often  be  made  available  on  the 
work  at  any  time  in  hand,  and  since  in  the  relations  between 
the  engineer  and  the  contractor  expedients  which  may  sim- 
plify, improve  or  cheapen  the  work  cannot  readily  be  made 
available. 

Mr.  Parker  believes  that  in  this  great  work  the  law- 
making bodies  will  recognize  the  wisdom  of  utilizing  the 
agency  already  at  hand,  and  that  they  will  recognize  that 
any  disposition  of  conserved  resources  must  not  be  merely 
to  get  temporary  protection  by  the  people  of  the  state,  but 
that  it  should  be  such  a  transaction  as  will  in  the  long  run 
give  the  greatest  value  to  the  greatest  number  of  people 
from  the  fundamental  wealth  with  which  the  country  has 
been  endowed. 


STORAGE-BATTERY  REGULATION  OF  LOW-HEAD 
WATER-POWER  PLANT. 


A  storage  battery  is  used  to  regulate  pressure  variations 
and  aid  in  the  peak  output  in  the  interconnected  600-volt 
direct-current  and  2300-volt  and  440-volt  alternating-cur- 
rent systems  of  the  water-power  plant  supplying  central- 
station,  street-railway  and  flouring-mill  loads  at  Lawrence, 
Kan.  The  low  head  here  developed,  12  ft.,  makes  for 
extremely  heavy  hydraulic  equijjment  with  consequent 
sluggish  speed  control.  With  sudden  load  changes  the  bat- 
tery  therefore   becomes   useful    in   instantly   adjusting   and 


Fig.    1 — 12-ft.    Water-Power    Plant,    Lawrence,    Kan. 

absorbing  the  load  impulses,  giving  the  waterwheel  gov- 
ernors time  to  adjust  their  gate  openings  to  meet  the  new 
load  conditions.  While  the  battery  floats  on  the  railway 
600-volt  system,  its  regulation  effect  is  applied,  through  the 
transforming  apparatus,  to  the  2300-volt  and  440-volt  alter- 
nating-current systems  as  well.  For  standby  operation  in 
the  event  of  machine  breakdown  the  battery  energy  is  also 


I 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


933 


available  for  any  of  the  three  systems,  although  principally 
useful  for  the  central-station  lighting  lines. 

In  the  sketch  are  shown  the  2300-volt  and  440-volt  buses, 
interconnected  by  500  kw  in  tie  transformers.  A  400-kw, 
2300-volt  General  Electric  alternator,  driven  by  Leffel 
wheels  with  a  Lombard  oil  governor,  feeds  directly  into  the 
2300-volt   bus    from   which   are   led   off   the   central-station 


400-Kw. 
Waterwheel 
Set 


Fig.  2 — Diagram  of  Connections. 

feeders.  A  45o-k\v,  440-volt  Bullock  alternator,  rope-driven 
by  Leffel  wheels  equipped  with  a  Woodward  mechanical 
governor,  supplies  directly  the  mill  bus,  which  is  also 
arranged  for  connection  to  the  750-kw,  440-volt  General 
Electric  turbine-alternator  that  has  been  installed  as  a  steam 
reserve  in  case  of  high  or  low  water.  This  440-volt,  6o-cycle 
bus  is  linked  to  the  600-volt  trolley  system  by  a  pair  of 
200-kw  synchronous  motor-generator  sets.  The  400-amp- 
hour,  6oo-vo!t  storage  battery  on  the  trolley  system  is  con- 
trolled by  an  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company's  carbon- 
pile  regulator,  which  acts  on  the  booster  set  through  field 
control  of  a  small  high-speed  motor-generator  unit.  Its 
regulative  transformer  is  cut  in  series  with  the  440-volt  bus 
at  a  point  such  as  to  protect  the  lighting  system  from  heavy 
demands  on  the  trolley  or  mill  lines.  As  the  motors  on  the 
central-station  lines  are  small,  little  protection  of  the  kind 
is  needed  there  besides  the  Tirrill  regulation  of  the  gen- 
erators. The  mill  440-volt  system  comprises,  however, 
about  1200  hp  in  motors,  several  of  them  200-hp  units  which 
can  cause  considerable  shock  on  starting.  Reproduced  here- 
with is  a  recording  voltmeter  curve,  showing  the  pressure 
regulation  obtained  with  the  aid  of  the  battery. 

In  the  case  of  shut-down  of  the  generator  units  the  bat- 
tery can  carry  the  lighting  load  for  twenty  minutes,  the  mil! 
motors  and  railway  system  being  meanwhile  pulled  off  to 
conserve  the  cell  charge.  At  all  times  when  it  is  likely  to 
be  needed  the  turbine  is  kept  warmed  up  and  held  ready  to 
start  in  a  few  minutes.  Alongside  the  generator  room  are 
four  150-hp  boilers,  equipped  to  burn  coal,  oil  or  natural 
gas.     There  is  also  large  storage  capacity  for  oil  and  coal. 


THE     FOUR-TERMraAL     CONDUCTOR     AND    THE 
THOMSON  BRIDGE. 

In  measuring  large  currents  or  large  amounts  of  elec- 
trical power  it  becomes  unfeasible  to  conduct  the  entire 
current  through  the  measuring  instrument,  and  an  external 
shunt  of  known  resistance  must  be  employed  in  the  familiar 
manner.  Such  a  shunt  may  be  termed  a  four-terminal  con- 
ductor, inasmuch  as  it  has  two  main  terminals  and  two 
instrument  terminals.  The  increasing  demand  for  the 
accurate  measurement  of  electrical  power  has  necessitated 
the  consideration  of  low-resistance  standards  of  this  type, 
capable  of  carrying  very  large  currents.  In  a  bulletin  of  the 
Bureau  of  Standards  bearing  the  above  title.  Dr.  Frank 
Wenner,  assistant  physicist,  has  discussed  the  theory  and 
design  of  such  four-terminal  conductors  and  the  use  of  the 
Thomson  bridge  method. 

Owing  to  the  large  currents  to  be  handled,  the  terminals 
must  have  ample  surface  contact  to  avoid  heating.  Using 
different  current  leads,  or  making  the  connections  under 
different  conditions,  necessarily  produce*  some  variation  in 
the  current  distribution  in  the  main  terminals,  which  some- 
times extends  to  parts  of  the  conductor  between  the  potential 
terminals.  As  a  result,  the  resistance  frequently  depends 
to  some  extent  on  the  manner  in  which  the  current  leads 
are  attached.  In  order  to  be  reliable,  however,  the  standard 
must  have  a  definite  value  of  resistance,  which  must  be 
determined  in  terms  of  the  values  of  other  standards.  When 
alternating  currents  are  used  it  is  necessary  also  to  know 
the  inductance,  or  else  that  the  phase  angle  between  the 
current  and  the  potential  drop  is  negligible.  Various  meth- 
ods have  been  proposed  or  employed  in  the  comparison  of 
the  resistance  of  four-terminal  conductors.  The  Thomson 
bridge  method  has  been  in  use  for  over  half  a  century,  but 
has  not  been  employed  up  to  this  time  as  extensively  as  its 
merits  justify. 

The  bulletin  points  out  the  conditions  which  must  neces- 
sarily be  fulfilled  in  order  that  the  resistance  of  a  four- 
terminal  conductor  shall  be  definite,  and  the  additional  con- 
ditions which  must  be  observed  in  order  that  the  inductance 
shall  be  definite.  It  is  shown  that  on  using  the  four  termi- 
nals in  different  combinations  three,  and  only  three,  values 
for  the  resistance  are  obtained,  and  that  one  of  these  must 
be  equal  to  the  sum  of  the  other  two.  It  is  pointed  out  that 
a  symmetrical  arrangement  of  the  current  and  potential 
connectors,  together  with  the  use  of  branched  potential  con- 
nectors, makes  the  resistance  sufficiently  definite  for  the 
most  precise  measurements.  The  theory  of  the  Thomson 
bridge,  using  both  linear  and  non-linear  four-terminal  con- 
ductors, is  discussed  at  length,  dwelling  on  different  meth- 
ods of  determining  or  eliminating  the  correction  terms. 
The  design  of  a  resistance  standard  to  carry  a  fairly  large 
alternating  current,  which  embodies  some  of  the  ideas  dis- 
cussed, is  presented  in  the  bulletin,  and  it  is  stated  that,  if 


olio 


!P.M. 


9  P.M.  10  P-M. 

Fig.    3 — Recording    Voltmeter    Curve. 


11  P.M. 


The  Bowersock  Mill  &  Power  Company  owns  this  interest- 
ing power  plant  and  sells  energy  to  the  Lawrence  Railway 
&  Light  Company  by  meter  on  its  2300-volt  and  600-volt 
lines.  The  Bowersock  company  operates  its  own  and 
adjoining  mills  with  440-volt  energy.  Mr.  J.  T.  Skinner 
is  manager  of  the  Lawrence  company  and  laid  out  the 
installation  above  described. 


certain  of  the  mutual  inductances  can  be  neglected,  there 
are  definite  relations  between  the  resistance  and  inductance 
of  the  main  ratio  coils  and  the  four-terminal  conductors, 
and  the  frequency.  When  the  time  constants  of  all  four 
of  these  conductors  are  small,  it  is  shown  that  the  relation 
between  the  resistance  and  the  inductance  is  practically 
independent  of  the  frequency. 


934 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


RELATION    OF   THE   HORSE-POWER  JO  THE  STORAGE    OF    COAL    AND    SPONTANEOUS     COM- 

KILOWATT.  BUSTION. 


Before  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  in 
191 1,  adopted  the  value  of  746  watts  as  the  exact  equivalent 
of  I  hp,  there  was  no  generally  accepted  or  authoritative 
equivalent,  and  different  values  could  be  found  in  various 
reference  books.  According  to  the  A.  L  E.  E.  definition  the 
horse-power  is  the  rate  of  work  expressed  by  550  ft.-lb.  per 
second  at  50  deg.  latitude  and  sea  level,  which  is  approxi- 
mately the  location  of  London,  where  the  original  experi- 
ments were  conducted  by  James  Watt.  The  number  of 
foot-pounds  per  second  in  a  horse-power  accordingly  varies 
with  latitude  and  altitude. 

In  Circular  No.  34,  lately  issued  by  the  Bureau  of  Stand- 
ards and  entitled  "The  Relation  of  the  Horse-Power  to  the 
Kilowatt,"  it  is  announced  that  the  equivalent  of  746  watts 
will  in  the  future  be  used  by  the  bureau  as  the  exact  equiva- 
lent of  the  English  and  American  horse-power.  The  horse- 
power tables  in  the  bureau  s  tables  of  equivalents  formerly 
assumed  that  550  ft.-lb.  per  second  is  the  correct  equivalent 
at  45  deg.  latitude,  which  gave  the  rather  inconvenient  rela- 
tion that  I  hp  was  equal  to  745.6494  watts.  The  Continental 
horse-power,  which  is  employed  in  Europe,  is  likewise  most 
conveniently  defined  as  736  watts,  the  equivalent  of  75 
kilogram-meters  per  second  at  a  latitude  of  52  deg.  30  min., 
or  that  of  Berlin. 

Part  one  of  the  bulletin  cites  a  number  of  values  of  the 
watt-equivalent  of  the  horse-power  taken  from  standard 
reference  books,  and  discusses  the  reasons  for  the  discrep- 
ancies. The  original  experiments  of  James  Watt,  who  de- 
fined I  hp  as  550  ft.-lb.  per  second,  are  described  in  part 
two.  Part  three  takes  up  the  equivalents  of  the  English 
and  American  horse-power,  and  part  four  the  equivalents 
of  the  Continental  horse-power.  In  part  five  it  is  pointed 
out  that  if  the  horse-power  is  to  represent  the  same  amount 
of  power  at  different  places,  its  relation  to  the  watt  must 
be  a  constant  number,  and  the  equivalent  number  of  foot- 
pounds or  kilogram-meters  per  second  must  vary  from  place 
to  place,  as  shown  in  some  of  the  tables  in  the  bulletin. 
Primarily  the  watt  and  kilowatt  are  defined  in  purely  me- 
chanical terms  instead  of  electrical,  and  the  fact  that  these 
units  have  been  employed  so  extensively  in  electrotechnical 
work  is  due  merely  to  the  fact  that  they  are  metric  units 
and  hence  conform  naturally  with  the  system  of  units  in 
which  electrical  quantities  are  universally  expressed.  Any 
kind  of  power  may  properly  be  measured  in  kilowatts  in- 

VALUE    OF    THE    ENGLISH    AND    AMERICAN     HORSE-POWER     (746 
watts)    AT  VARIOUS   LATITUDES  AND  ALTITUDES. 


Altitude. 

Lat.  0 

Deg. 

(Equator). 

Lat. 

30 

Deg. 

Lat. 

45 

Deg. 

Lat. 

60 

Deg. 

Lat   90 

Deg, 

(Pole). 

Sea  level 

551.75 
SSI. 92 
SS2.08 

SSI. 01 
551.18 
SSI. 34 

550.28 
SS0.4S 
550.61 

549. SS 
549.71 
549.88 

548.82 
548.98 

10.000  ft 

549.15 

stead  of  horse-power.  The  watt  is  defined  directly  in  terms 
of  fundamental  units  of  mass,  length  and  time,  and  is  the 
power  developed  when  a  velocity  of  I  m  per  second  is 
produced  by  a  force  which  is  capable  of  imparting  in  one 
second  to  a  mass  of  I  kg  an  acceleration  of  I  m  per  second. 
Modern  practice  is  tending  toward  the  use  of  the  kilowatt 
instead  of  the  horse-power,  and  this  practice  the  bureau 
recommends.  The  bureau  also  expresses  the  hope  that  en- 
gineering societies  and  other  interests  concerned  will  recog- 
nize the  value  of  the  English  and  American  horse-power  as 
746  watts,  or  550  ft.-lb.  per  second  at  50  deg.  latitude  and 
sea  level,  employing  the  table  given  above  to  obtain  the  value 
in  foot-pounds  per  second  at  other  places. 


Coal  stored  in  large  quantities  for  long  periods  deteriorates 
in  quality,  and  it  is  of  importance  to  determine  whether  the 
percentage  of  loss  of  heat  value  is  great  enough  to  make  thf 
aggregate  loss  in  a  large  stock  a  serious  matter.  In  a 
paper  recently  presented  before  the  Pittsburgh  Section  of 
the  American  Chemical  Society  Mr.  Horace  C.  Porter  gave 
a  large  number  of  interesting  data  obtained  from  coal  con- 
sumers who  store  coal  in  quantities  up  to  500,000  tons  in  one 
pile.  The  principal  object  of  the  investigation  was  to 
determine  whether  the  loss  in  heat  units  in  coal  stored  a 
certain  period  of  time  means  a  loss  of  money  sufficient  to 
justify  the  cost  of  under-water  storage  or  other  protective 
equipment  or  arrangements. 

A  few  instances  of  commercial  trials  in  the  United  States 
of  submerged  storage  are  known,  but  the  practice  has  not 
become  general  by  any  means.  The  Western  Electric  Com- 
pany, at  Hawthorne,  111.,  installed  in  1907  a  submerged 
storage  plant  of  concrete  construction  for  10,000  tons.  After 
two  years'  storage  it  was  found  that  the  submerged  coal  had 
a  heating  value  about  2  per  cent  greater  than  that  of  a 
similar  coal  which  had  weathered  two  years.  This  dif- 
ference hardly  justified  the  expenditure  of  $70,000  for  the 
construction  of  the  plant  and  7  cents  per  ton  for  hauling, 
but  the  insurance  against  all  risk  of  spontaneous  fire  in  the 
stock  may  be  considered  to  have  been  in  itself  sufficient 
justification. 

The  Bureau  of  Mines  has  recently  concluded  a  number  of 
tests  extending  over  a  period  of  two  years  to  determine  the 
amount  of  deterioration  caused  by  weathering  four  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  coal — New  River  coal  from  the  Sun  mine, 
Fayette  County,  W.  Va.,  a  smokeless  coal  containing  about 
20  per  cent  volatile  matter;  Pocahontas  coal,  a  type  similar 
to  New  River  coal ;  Pittsburgh  gas  coal,  which  was  examined 
in  order  to  study  its  deterioration  in  gas-making  qualities, 
and  Sheridan  (Wyo.)  sub-bituminous  coal,  or  black  lignite. 
With  the  New  River  coal  stored  two  years  the  loss  varied 
between  1.8  per  cent  and  0.9  per  cent  for  weathered  coal, 
while  there  was  practically  no  loss  in  under-water  storage. 
Pocahontas  coal  lost  0.4  per  cent  and  Pittsburgh  gas  coal 
lost  practically  nothing  in  one  year's  weathering.  The 
Wyoming  coal  lost  in  one  case  2.5  per  cent  in  the  first  three 
months  and  over  5  per  cent  in  two  and  three-quarter  years' 
weathering.  It  had  slacked  badly  on  the  surface,  but  the 
slacking  did  not  penetrate  more  than  18  in.  With  New 
River  and  Pocahontas  coal  there  was  no  apparent  slacking 
of  lumps  or  physical  deterioration  in  the  run-of-mine.  In 
all  cases  the  ^-in.  crushed  coal  exposed  to  the  weather 
deteriorated  in  heat  value  more  than  did  the  run-of-mine, 
and  deterioration  was  greater  in  warm  climates. 

Reports  of  other  tests  seem  to  corroborate  in  some  degree 
the  results  of  those  mentioned  above.  Pocahontas  coal  kept 
under  cover  for  four  years  at  Sitka,  Alaska,  by  the  Navy 
Department  showed  a  loss  of  0.7  per  cent.  The  coal  re- 
covered from  the  battleship  Maine,  sunk  in  Havana  harbor 
for  fourteen  years,  lost  only  1.9  per  cent.  The  origin  of 
this  coal  has  not  been  fully  established,  but  there  are  good 
grounds  for  supposing  that  it  came  from  a  mine  in  the  New 
River  district.  West  Virginia. 

Spontaneous  combustion,  according  to  the  author,  no 
doubt  results  from  an  accumulation  in  a  combustible 
material  of  the  heat  produced  by  oxidation  or  the  heat  of 
other  chemical  reactions,  of  fermentation,  or  of  bacterial 
action.  Tests  have  shown  clearly  that  coal  exposed  to  air 
undergoes  oxidation  and  that  some  kinds  are  more  rapidly 
affected  than  others.  However,  some  coals  which  in  these 
tests  showed  little  or  no  heat  development  have  in  practice 
proved  to  be  dangerous  to  store,  which  condition  has  led  to 
a  consideration  of  factors  other  than  ease  of  oxidation;  that 
is,  the  effect  of  physical  conditions  of  storage  on  accumula- 


November  j,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


935 


tion  or  dissipation  of  heat.  A  committee  of  the  Railway 
Maintenance  of  Way  Association  recently  reported  that  in 
its  opinion  the  presence  of  dust  in  a  coal  stock  was  the 
prime  cause  of  spontaneous  combustion.  Other  authorities 
have  expressed  similar  warnings.  An  instructive  instance 
from  commercial  practice  is  furnished  by  the  Calumet  & 
Hecla  Mining  Company.  At  the  Tamarack  coal  dock  near 
Houghton,  Mich.,  a  stock  of  100,000  tons  of  Pittsburgh  run- 
of-mine  coal  was  continually  giving  trouble  with  spon- 
taneous fires  until  some  time  ago,  when  provision  was  made 
for  screening  the  coal  before  storing.  The  fine  coal  was 
used  immediately  and  the  lumps  were  stored.  Practically  no 
trouble  with  fires  has  been  encountered  since  this  system 
was  employed.  It  is  often  noticed  that  after  a  heavy  rain 
or  alternate  wetting  and  drying  an  open  coal  pile  becomes 
heated  spontaneously.  This  is  possibly  due  to  the  washing 
qi  dust -down  into  a  compact  layer  2  ft.  or  3  ft.  below  the 
Surface;  where  its  under  portions  start  to  heat  and  are  pro- 
tected from  cooling  air  currents. 

In  conclusion  the  author  states  that  some  kinds  of  coal 
are  more  liable  than  others  to  heating  or  spontaneous  com- 
bustion. Bituminous  coals  of  all  sorts  are  more  liable  to 
be  affected  than  other  kinds.  Storage  piles  over  15  ft.  deep 
are  dangerous.  A  mixture  of  fine  coal  with  a  small  quantity 
of  lump,  which  provides,  access  for  a  limited  amount  of  air, 
affords  great  opportunity  for  heating.  Freshly  mined  or 
freshly  crushed  coal  heats  most  easily.  By  rehandling  after 
two  months'  storage  risk  of  spontaneous  fires  can  probably 
be  avoided. 


APPLICATION  OF  ELECTRICITY  IN  AGRICULTURE. 


The  utilization  of  electrical  energy  in  agricultural  service 
was  the  subject  of  a  paper  that  was  presented  at  the 
recent  convention  of  the  New  England  Section  of  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association.  The  author,  Mr. 
C.  H.  Miles,  of  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Com- 
pany, Boston,  Mass.,  emphasized  the  increasing  interest 
in  agriculture  and  the  great  opportunities  for  elec- 
tricity in  farm  service  which  will  in  time  tend  to  offset 
the  high  cost  of  living.  Consumption  of  energy  for  farm 
service  is  nearly  all  off-peak  demand  on  the  station  and 
is  economical  for  the  farm.  The  author  reviewed  the  work 
done  by  the  Electric  Farming  Tent  Exhibit  of  the  Boston 
Edison  Company,  which  has  already  been  visited  by  10,000 
people  in  the  outlying  suburbs  of  Greater  Boston.  It  is 
estimated  that  by  irrigation  land  in  New  England  can  be 
made  to  yield  from  50  to  100  per  cent  more  in  crops  than  by 
depending  solely  upon  natural  water  supplies.  Growers  in 
the  market-gardening  town  of  Arlington,  less  than  10  miles 
from  Boston,  are  using  land  worth  $1,000  per  acre,  and  the 
Edison  company  has  recently  replaced  a  steam  pumping 
installation  in  this  town  with  a  25-hp  motor  driving  a 
De  Laval  centrifugal  pump  at  3600  r.p.m.  and  pumping 
about  200  gal.  of  water  per  minute  against  90  lb.  pressure. 
The  cost  of  this  energy  is  but  little  more  than  was  formerly 
paid  for  attendance  on  the  steam  pump,  and  about  30  per 
cent  more  water  is  delivered  at  a  moment's  notice.  The 
water  in  this  installation  is  used  through  open  hose  and  a 
series  of  small  nozzles  placed  horizontally  in  a  supply  pipe 
fixed  about  2  ft.  above  the  ground,  the  application  of  water 
resembling  natural  rainfall.  During  the  dry  period  in  June 
and  July  of  the  present  year  the  plant  was  in  constant  opera- 
tion and  the  cost  of  energy  was  only  about  $4  per  month  per 
acre.  The  former  engineer  of  the  steam  plant  has  been 
set  at  work  on  the  farm.  Authorities  have  estimated  that 
animal  horse-power  costs  8  cents  per  hour,  and  manual 
labor,  ys  hp,  a  minimum  of  11  cents  per  hour,  so  that 
wherever  it  is  possible  to  supplant  these  two  sources  of 
power  by  electricity  marked  economy  will  result. 

The  rest  of  the  paper  was  devoted  to  a  review  of  the 
applications   of   electricity   on   the    farm   which    have   been 


found  advantageous.  At  present  there  are  many  items  of 
waste  on  the  farm  which  can  profitably  be  utilized  by  the 
application  of  power,  one  of  the  most  important  being  the 
shredding  of  cornstalks  for  cattle  feed.  The  motor-driven 
oat  crusher  works  along  similar  lines,  and  it  is  estimated 
that  a  horse  receiving  12  quarts  of  oats  per  day  will  thrive 
equally  well  upon  9  quarts  of  this  high-cost  feed  when 
crushed.  Tests  of  this  work  show  that  the  grain  can  be 
crushed  finely  for  an  expenditure  of  less  than  }i  kw-hr. 
per  bushel.  Tests  show  that  in  milking  cows  by  electrically 
driven  equipment  the  energy  consumed  is  approximately 
I  kw-hr.  for  each  fifty  animals.  Many  opportunities  exist 
for  the  use  of  electricity  on  the  farm,  including  electric- 
vehicle  deliveries  of  milk,  the  operation  of  pumps,  separa- 
tors, churns,  cider  mills,  grindstones,  domestic  motors  and 
lighting  equipment. 

In  the  discussion  which  followed  the  reading  of  the 
paper  Mr.  H.  D.  Larrabee,  Montpelier,  Vt.,  emphasized  the 
advantageous  conditions  of  his  territory  for  application  of 
electric  energy  in  farming,  and  stated  that  advertising 
matter  sent  to  prospective  customers  along  rural  lines  had 
met  with  a  very  favorable  reception.  He  expressed  the 
opinion  that  such  matter  obtains  more  consideration  from 
country  dwellers  than  from  persons  living  in  or  near  towns. 
In  outlining  the  rural  applications  in  the  Montpelier  district 
the  speaker  said  that  in  one  case  a  2300-volt  line  was 
extended  3.5  miles,  forty  customers  being  supplied  with 
energy  chiefly  for  lighting.  Thirty-one  electric  flatirons 
were  sold  in  two  months.  In  other  instances,  where  motors 
of  from  i-hp  to  3-hp  rating  were  installed  for  farm 
service,  a  2.5-kw  pole-type  transformer  and  a  20-amp  meter 
were  installed  at  each  place.  A  high-tension  transformer 
costs  more  than  a  low-tension  outfit,  so  that  where  farm 
service  is  rendered  from  high-voltage  lines  the  need  of  a 
separate  transformer  at  each  installation  makes  it  desirable 
to  secure  an  adequate  return  from  the  investment.  On  a 
line  distributing  energy  at,  say,  from  6600  volts  to  13,000 
volts,  the  speaker  suggested  that  the  revenue  from  a  given 
extension  should  be  in  the  vicinity  of  three  times  that 
obtained  from  a  corresponding  2300-volt  lead,  in  order  to 
insure  a  reasonable  profit.  In  a  specific  instance  where  a 
farmer  desired  service  to  operate  an  ensilage  cutter,  cream 
separator  and  other  small  apparatus  it  was  found  that  a 
necessary  thirty-five-pole   extension  would  be  unprofitable. 

Mr.  R.  S.  Hale,  Boston,  said  that  unless  the  average 
farmhand  has  had  experience  he  is  afraid  of  the  electric 
motor,  and  a  campaign  of  education  is  therefore  important. 
The  situation  is  analogous  to  the  development  of  the  gas 
range,  the  early  days  of  which  were  clouded  by  a  skeptical 
attitude  on  the  part  of  cooks.  It  is  plainly  the  duty  of  the 
central  station  to  induce  the  farmer  to  give  electrical 
apparatus  a  trial  and  to  become  a  devotee  of  its  use.  The 
companies  should  purchase  oat  crushers  and  place  them  in 
service  on  trial,  showing  the  farmer  their  actual  economies 
under  the  conditions  of  regular  use.  If  the  installation  does 
not  pay,  the  central  station  should  take  back  the  equipment 
and  the  farmer  should  not  be  required  to  pay  for  it.  After 
installation  the  company  should  lose  no  opportunity  to 
follow  up  the  working  of  the  equipment  in  service,  keeping 
the  farmer  posted  in  regard  to  its  efficient  use  and  seeing 
to  it  that  proper  repairs  are  made.  Where  a  company  sends 
out  apparatus  to  farmers  for  such  a  free  trial  there  is  no 
discrimination.  Solicitors  should  find  locations  where  such 
equipment  will  pay  and  induce  the  farmer  to  let  the  com- 
pany place  it  in  service  on  trial. 

Mr.  Eugene  Carpenter,  Oak  Blufifs,  Mass.,  referred  to  an 
educational  campaign  conducted  by  the  Vineyard  Lighting 
Company  to  induce  more  people  in  its  territ6ry  to  take  up 
agricultural  pursuits,  and  he  emphasized  the  point  that 
electricity  is  eliminating  farm  drudgery.  The  central  station 
should  co-operate  in  educational  movements  for  the  better- 
ment of  the  farmer.  At  Martha's  Vineyard  courses  on 
farming  have  been  added  to  the  high-school  curriculum  as 


936 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


a  result  of  the  company's  efforts.  The  central  station  should 
take  an  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  grammar-school  boys, 
98  per  cent  of  whom  do  not  go  to  college.  Mr.  Carpenter 
suggested  the  possibility  of  encouraging  the  farmer  to 
establish  some  sort  of  electrically  driven  shop  at  home  for 
winter  service.  Referring  to  the  benefits  of  electric  irriga- 
tion under  New  England  conditions,  the  speaker  cited  the 
opportunity  to  increase  the  local  output  of  market-garden 
products  by  the  employment  of  central-station  service.  In 
a  representative  plant  in  his  territory  a  motor-driven  pump 
is  operated  between  midnight  and  dawn  on  alternate  sec- 
tions of  the  farm,  giving  an  artificial  shower  every  fifth 
night.  Such  service  fills  in  the  central-station  valley  and 
also  enables  liquid  insecticides  and  fertilizers  to  be  sprayed 
as  required.  The  treatment  of  milk  by  electrical  methods  in 
the  dairy  offers  another  useful  service  whose  object  is  the 
prolongation  of  good  conditions. 

Secretary  T.  Commerford  Martin,  of  the  national  organ- 
ization, said  that  efforts  are  being  made  to  establish  a 
division  of  farm  power  in  the  Bureau  of  Irrigation  at 
Washington,  and  he  suggested  that  low  rates  are  essential 
for  the  success  of  this  kind  of  service.  Mr.  Taylor,  Pough- 
keepsie,  N.  Y.,  cited  the  extension  of  a  central-station 
2500- volt  feeder  1.5  miles  to  serve  thirty-five  farmers, 
resulting  in  the  shutting  down  of  six  windmills,  the  installa- 
tion of  three  electric  fireless  cookers,  several  washing 
m.achines,  an  electric  incubator  and  a  flatiron  in  each  case. 
On  a  model  dairy  farm  having  fifty  cows  a  2-hp  motor- 
driven  milking  outfit  is  in  service,  four  cows  being  milked 
simultaneously.  A  9-cent  power  rate  is  in  force.  Mr.  J.  A. 
Fleet,  Portland,  Me.,  suggested  the  possibilities  of  co-opera- 
tion among  farmers  in  building  pole  lines,  and  said  that  at 
least  20  per  cent  should  be  realized  on  tlie  investment  in 
rural  distribution. 


ELECTRIC    COOKING     IN     THE    UNITED    STATES 
NAVY. 


This,  together  with  the  asbestos  heat  insulation,  greatly 
reduces  stray  radiations,  rendering  the  galley  and  surround- 
ing compartments  more  habitable.  The  large  power  de- 
mands are  for  short  periods  only  and  can  readily  be  met  by 
the  ship's  dynamos. 

The    exact    temperatures    desired    for    cooking    may    be 
promptly  obtained   and  nicely   regulated.     No  smoke  pipes 


According  to  the  plans  of  the  United  States  Navy,  elec- 
tric energy  will  be  largely  employed  in  the  future  for  cook- 
ing and  for  operating  the  galley  labor-saving  machines  on 


Fig.   2 — Bakery    with    Electrically    Driven    Dough    Mixer. 

are  required,  thus  permitting  greater  latitude  in  location 
and  arrangement  of  ranges  and  ovens.  No  attention  to  fires 
is  required  and  no  galley  coal  is  needed;  on  oil-burning 
ships  this  would  otherwise  have  to  be  specially  provided  for. 
Much  saving  of  labor,  which  can  be  otherwise  employed, 
results  from  the  use  of  machinery  for  preparing  foods. 

The  entire  complement  of  over  900  officers  and  men  on  a 
modern  battleship  is  served  by  a  commissary  branch  of 
approximately  sixteen  men.  Such  a  vessel  would  have  an 
officers'  galley  with  four  sections  of  range,  a  crew's  galley 
with   eight   sections   of   range    besides   other  miscellaneous 


^^^H 

^■I^^^^VSflBI^^^^' 

1 

^"              Mil.  "'  ^^ 

■m 

m 

m 
<-- 

Fig.   1 — View  Through   Starboard    Door,   Showing    Electric    Ranges. 

board  the  battleships  because  of  its  cleanliness,  efficiency 
and  convenience.  By  adopting  electricity  for  cooking,  coal, 
ashes  and  coal  gases  will  be  eliminated  and  preparation  of 
the  food,  such  as  the  peeling  of  vegetables,  mixing  of  dough, 
etc.,  will  be  performed  by  machinery  instead  of  by  hand. 
In  electric  cooking  the  heat  is  produced  locally,  only  when 
desired,    and    is    instantly    turned    off    when    not    required. 


Fig.   2 — View   of  the   Pantry   with    Electric    Dish   Washer. 

appliances  to  be  noted  later,  a  bakery,  a  general  mess  pantry 
where  dishes  and  cutlery  are  washed  and  stored,  besides  a 
butcher  shop  and  a  cold-storage  plant. 

A  typical  electric  galley  equipment  operating  at  120  volts, 
direct  current,  was  recently  installed  on  the  U.  S.  S. 
Wyoiniiig,  recently  placed  in  commission,  and  is  illustrated 
and  described  herewith. 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


!'37 


The  galley  equipment  includes  electric  ranges,  an  egg 
and  cake  machine,  meat  grinder  or  food  chopper,  meat 
slicer  and  vegetable  peeler.  Each  section  of  electric  range 
contains  an  oven,  a  broiler,  four  hot  plates  and  a  switch 
cabinet  above.  The  ovens  are  capable  of  reaching  a  tem- 
perature of  500  deg.  Fahr.  within  forty  minutes ;  the  broilers 
will  attain  a  bright  red  heat  within  three  minutes  and  the 
hot  plates  will  reach  750  deg.  Fahr.  within  eighteen  minutes. 
When  all  heater  units  are  in  full  operation,  the  maximum 
power  required  per  section  is  31  kw.  A  l-hp  motor  is  em- 
ployed to  drive  the  egg  and  cake  machine. 

The  meat  grinder  is  driven  by  a  ^-hp  motor  and  has  a 
capacity  of  300  lb.  of  raw  beef  or  700  lb.  of  raw  pork  per 
hour.  In  place  of  the  meat  grinder  a  meat  and  food 
chopper,  capable  of  mincing  all  sorts  of  food  and  requiring 
a  3-hp  motor,  is  sometimes  supplied.  The  meat  slicer  is 
also  motor-driven.  The  electrically  driven  vegetable  peeler 
is  capable  of  peeling  1000  lb.  of  potatoes  per  hour,  and 
requires  a  i-hp  motor. 

The  bakery  equipment  consists  of  electric  ovens  and  a 
motor-driven  dough  mixer.  Size  No.  i  of  electric  oven  has 
a  capacity  of  eighty-four  24-oz.  loaves  of  bread  per  hour, 
while  size  No.  2  has  a  capacity  of  fifty-six  loaves  per  hour. 
In  the  neighborhood  of  one  hour  is  required  for  a  No.  I 
oven  to  reach  a  temperature  of  500  deg.  Fahr.  This  size  of 
oven  uses  15  kw  on  high  heat  and  half  this  power  on  low 
heat,  with  an  output  of  12  lb.  of  baked  bread  per  kw-hr. 

The  general  mess  pantry  is  equipped  with  an  electric 
dish  washer,  which  has  a  capacity  of  6000  pieces  washed 
and  rinsed  per  hour.  Power  is  supplied  by  a  i-hp 
motor.  Motor-driven  ice-cream  freezers  are  also  being  sup- 
plied for  the  larger  vessels.  These  freezers  have  a  capacity 
of  200  quarts  in  two  hours  and  require  a  3^-hp  motor. 


FURNACE  ARRANGEMENT  FOR  BURNING  OIL. 


The  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  San  Francisco,  Cal., 
possesses  eleven  hydroelectric  stations,  situated  at  an  aver- 
age distance  of  200  miles  from  San  Francisco,  and  floating 
on  the  line  with  these  stations  are  three  steam-turbine  sta- 


lo.i 


dropped  as  low  as  150  lb.  pressure  from  200  lb.,  but  was 
brought  up  to  normal  again  in  from  ten  to  fifteen  minutes. 
In  relieving  the  hydroelectric  stations  of  from  10  to  20  per 
cent  of  their  load  instantly,  it  has  been  found  that  most 
emergencies  can  be  taken  care  of  and  that  no  serious  out- 
ages occur.  By  this  means  of  operation  a  very  flexible  sys- 
tem  is   evolved,  whereby  a  duplicate  source  of   supply   is 


Fig.  3 — Plan   of  Oil- Burning   Grate  for  520-hp   V^ater-Tube   Boiler. 

available  in  all  districts,  and  fuel  is  not  used  except  at  such 
times  as  the  hydroelectric  power  is  unavailable. 

It  is  the  aim  of  the  operating  department  to  run  the  hydro- 
electric stations  at  as  nearly  100  per  cent  load-factor  as 
possible  and  to  carry  the  peaks  with  the  steam  electric  sta- 
tion. It  is  not  unusual  to  work  boilers  at  80  per  cent  effi- 
ciency on  regular  commercial  operation,  while  under  like 
conditions  with  coal  70  per  cent  boiler  efficiency  would  be 
considered  good.  The  heavy-gravity  California  oils  show 
better  economy  in  operation,  since  they  contain  a  greater 
number  of  heat  iinits  per  42-gal.  barrel.  The  furnace  ar- 
rangement for  oil  burning  is  all  important,  and  it  is  possi- 
ble so  to  equip  a  furnace  that  for  the  average  load  on  the 
boiler  proper  combustion  can  be  had  without  regard  to  the 
firemen.  Thus,  in  one  of  the  plants  of  the  Pacific  Gas  & 
Electric    Company,    which    is    equipped   with   twenty-seven 


i'O'lCi^n^tht^ 


i'p.f,,    Ai     7j'  lory 


Figs.   1    and   2 — Representative    Inside   and   Outside   IVllxture   Types    of     Burners    for    Steam     Boilers. 


tions.  The  latter  act  as  line  regulators  at  very  small  cost 
for  fuel,  and  by  means  of  oil  fires  it  is  possible  for  the 
operating  department  to  pick  up  load  to  the  maximum  rating 
of  the  turbines  without  any  notice  and  without  any  drop  in 
the  voltage.  This  condition  has  occurred  a  number  of  times 
and  has  been  handled  without  inconvenience  to  the  com- 
pany's customers.     On  these  occasions  the  steam  pressure 


boilers  having  a  total  heating  surface  of  156,300  sq.  ft.,  two 
or  three  boilers  are  used  for  regulation  and  the  other  boilers 
are  set  for  economical  conditions  and  are  not  disturbed  ex- 
cept on  extreme  fluctuations  of  load,  when  they  are  cut  in 
and  cut  out  one  at  a  time  by  turning  the  oil  valve  and  han- 
dling the  dampers. 

Mr.  F.  H.  Varney  gave  some  information  on  the  arrange- 


938 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


merit  of  the  oil-boiler  furnaces  of  the  company  at  the 
recent  convention  of  the  Edison  association.  In  arranging 
the  oil  burners  and  furnaces  for  boilers  having  vertical 
baffles  and  inclined  tubes  it  has  been  found  that  best  results 
are  attained  by  using  "back-shot"  burners.  The  oil  pipes 
are  run  through  the  ash  pit  under  the  furnace  floor  to  the 


pump  is  much  more  satisfactory  than  the  reciprocating  type 
of  pump  so  largely  used.  As  there  are  no  reciprocating 
parts,  the  question  of  lubrication  is  not  serious.  The  oil  is 
fed  automatically  to  the  bearings  by  means  of  rings  and  it 
is  only  necessary  to  fill  the  oil  wells  occasionally. 

The  maintenance  of  a  centrifugal  pump  is  very  low.     It 
might  be  said  that  the  only  trouble  so  far  developed  lies  in 


Fig.   4 — Plan    of   Oil-Burner    Grate    for   680-hp    Water-Tube    Boiler 

bridge  wall  and  turn  up  into  the  furnace  with  the  flame 
toward  the  boiler  front.  The  floor  of  the  furnace  consists 
of  loose  firebrick  laid  on  the  grate  bars  or  other  supports, 
with  suitable  openings  in  the  brickwork  for  the  admission 
of  air.  The  air  inlet  is  made  to  conform  to  the  shape  of  the 
flame,  which  is  naturally  V-shaped.  The  air  spaces  are 
readily  determined  and  easily  formed  with  the  loose  brick, 
and  in  this  way  the  fireman  can  be  instructed  regarding 
the  oil  and  atomizing  steam  pressure  to  the  burners  for  a 
given  load,  so  that 'no  damper  adjustment  is  necessary,  the 
air  supply  being  fixed  by  the  amount  of  space  openings  on 
the  furnace  floor. 

The  arrangement  of  the  furnace  and  flame  is  such  as  to 
provide  uniform  distribution  of  heat  over  the  entire  furnace, 
localized  heat  impinging  on  a  small  area  of  the  tube  being 
avoided.  The  furnace  for  a  6oo-hp  boiler  should  be  not  less 
than  10  ft.  deep,  with  an  air  inlet  extending  4  ft.  from  the 
burner,  and  should  be  from  6  ft.  to  8  ft.  high  at  the  front  end. 
There  are  two  distinct  types  of  burners  used,  known  as  the 
inside-mixture  and  the  outside-mixture  burners,  depending 
on  whether  the  steam  used  for  atomization  is  mixed  with 
the  oil  before  it  leaves  the  burner  or  after.  Figs.  l  and 
2  show  the  two  types  and  indicate  representative  burn- 
ers in  use  at  the  present  time.  According  to  Mr.  Varney. 
best  burner  efficiency  is  obtained  when  the  tip  is  of  the 
proper  size  and  shape  to  suit  the  individual  furnace. 


CENTRIFUGAL  BOILER-FEED  PUMPS. 


According  to  the   committee   on   steam  turbines  of   the 
Association  of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies,  the  multi- 


Fig.    1 — Double-Suction    Boiler-Feed    Pump. 

Stage  centrifugal  pump  is  rapidly  becoming  the  standard 
type  of  boiler-feed  pump,  at  least  in  large  generating  sta- 
tions. The  pump  is  well  adapted  to  boiler-feed  work,  since 
it  supplies  a  steady,  continuous  flow  of  water.  There  is 
therefore  no  danger  of  shock  or  water  hammer. 

Regarding    the    lubrication    necessary,    the    centrifugal 


Three-Stage  Centrifugal   Pump. 


the  corrosion  of  the  pump  casing  and  diffusion  blades 
caused  by  the  presence  of  salt  in  the  feed  water  due  to  con- 
denser tube  leakage  in  those  cities  employing  salt  water  for 
condensing  purposes.  Condenser  tubes  are  readily  replaced, 
but  corrosion  of  the  pump  casing  and  diffusion  blades  con- 
stitutes a  serious  trouble.  One  large  central  station  has  in- 
stalled boiler-feed  pumps  with  bronze  casings  in  order  to 
eliminate  the  corrosive  effects. 

Very  little  attention  is  required  by  centrifugal  boiler  feed 


Fig. 


hree-Stage     Double-Suction     Pump. 


pumps  since  the  machines  operate  automatically  and  gener- 
ally require  merely  to  be  started  and  stopped  when  needed. 
A  majority  of  the  manufacturers  have  decided  on  two- 
stage  or  three-stage  pumps  for  their  standard  types  with 
speeds  varying  from  2000  r.p.m.  to  3000  r.p.m.  The  com- 
mittee has  not  yet  decided  whether  the  double-suction  im- 
peller type  gives  more  satisfaction  in  operation  than  the 
single-suction  pump.  Likewise  the  subject  of  diffusion 
vanes  is  one  on   which   the  manufacturers   are  not  yet   in 


A — Two-Stage    Boiler-Feed    Pump. 


agreement.  The  omission  of  the  vanes  eliminates  any  ne- 
cessity for  replacing  them  when  worn,  but  their  omission 
entails  a  sacrifice  in  efficiency.  Whether  the  advantages  of 
the  vanes  counteract  the  disadvantages  is  still  a  mooted 
question.  Sections  of  some  of  the  principal  boiler-feed 
pumps  now  on  the  market  are  reproduced  herewith. 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


539 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


BATTERY  SEARCH-LANTERN  FOR  LINEMEN. 


The  overhead-line  trouble  department  of  the  Topeka 
(Kan.)  Edison  Company  makes  good  use  of  a  battery- 
operated  search-lantern  when  required  to  do  night  repair 
work.  A  regular  12-in.  automobile  search-lantern  is  em- 
ployed with  a  i2-cp,  6-volt  tungsten  lamp,  the  largest  made. 
The  lantern  is  pivoted  in  the  socket  of  the  3-ft.  iron  tripod 
which  was  built  in  a  local  blacksmith  shop.  With  its  double 
trunnions,,  the  lantern  can  be  turned  and  held  in  any  posi- 
tion. A  60-amp-hour  ignition-type  storage  battery  supplies 
energy  through  an  8-ft.  length  of  flexible  cord.  This  battery 
needs  to  be  charged  only  two  or  three  times  a  month  and  is 
always  kept  ready  to  be  placed  in  the  trouble  wagon  with 
the  lantern  for  emergency  use. 


DEMAND    CONTROLLER  AS  ACCESSORY^^TO 
METERED  SERVICE. 


The  Beatrice  (Neb.)  Electric  Company  makes  a  rate  of 
13.5  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  the  first  thirty  hours'  use  of  the 
customer's  connected  load,  beyond  which  the  schedule  re- 
duces to  6  cents  per  kw-hr.  One  dollar  is  the  monthly 
minimum,  in  addition  to  a  25-cent  meter  charge,  the  latter 
being  added  to  all  bills  regardless  of  consumption.  In  the 
case  of  several  customers  who  desired  to  have  a  large  num- 
ber of  outlets  available,  although  the  full  number  is  seldom 
used,  the  company  has  furnished,  for  $8,  a  flat-rate  con- 
troller to  be  connected  in  circuit  behind  the  meter,  thus 
limiting  the  demand  to  the  value  set  by  the  overload  coil. 
This  limit  then  becomes  the  maximum  charged  for  by  the 
company,  and  the  customer  reaches  the  "turning  point"  in 
his  rate  at  a  lower  consumption  than  with  the  full  number 
of  lamps.  The  flat-rate  controllers  used  have  been  of  the 
hot-wire  type,  and  are  sold  outright  to  the  customers  for 
$8  each.  By  such  an  investment,  one  customer  who  had 
fifty  lamps,  not  more  than  fifteen  of  which  were  used  at 
one  time,  reduced  his  minimum  bill  from  $10.37  to  $3.29  per 
month.  And  for  90  kw-hr.  consumed  by  fifteen  50-watt 
lamps  operated  four  hours  daily  he  paid  $7.34  instead  of  the 
$11.27  it  would  have  cost  him  under  the  full  schedule. 

For  long-hour  users,  such  as  saloons,  poolrooms,  drug- 
stores, etc.,  the  Beatrice  company  has  an  optional  rate  of 
$3  per  connected  kilowatt  per  month,  plus  4  cents  per  kw-hr. 
for  energy  used.  This  long-hour  rate  is  also  susceptible  of 
the  controlled-demand  limitation,  so  that  for  certain  classes 
of  business  the  rate  is  a  most  desirable  one  for  the  customer 
as  well  as  the  central  station. 


BAITING  FOR  THE  UNWARY/ PROSPECTIVE 
CUSTOMER. 


also  calls  up  and  goes  through  the  same  form  of  inquiry. 
A  few  days  after  the  second  call,  allowing  time  for  the 
house  owner  to  reflect  on  the  situation,  he  receives  a 
casual  visit  from  the  solicitor,  who  usually  finds  much  of 
his  way  for  closing  the  contract  smoothed  in  advance. 

This  same  central  station  serves  a  college  town.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  last  school  term  two  students  were  em- 
ployed at  $1.50  per  day  to  call  on  105  unwired  rooming- 
house  addresses,  "look  at"  the  rooms  for  rent,  ask  the 
price,  etc.,  but  finally  depart  unsatisfied  after  calling  atten- 
tion to  the  absence  of  electricity  for  lighting.  One  student 
could  reach  about  thirty  houses  per  day,  and  the  lists  were 
exchanged  so  that  each  man  called  on  the  entire  105  ad- 
dresses. A  few  days  later  a  solicitor  paid  the  landladies  a 
visit  and  found  some  of  them  so  interested  that  eighteen 
house-wiring  contracts  were  closed  as  a  direct  result  of 
this  stunt. 


LIGHTNING  DETECTOR   FOR    250-FT.    CONCRETE 
STACK. 


.\  2So-ft.  concrete  stack  has  just  been  completed  at  the 
plant  of  the  Topeka  Edison  Company.  This  tall  monolithic 
structure,  as  high  as  the  Kansas  State 
Capitol  near  by,  is  24  ft.  in  diameter  at 
the  base,  where  its  walls  are  2  ft.  thick, 
and  it  tapers  upward  to  16  ft.  in  diameter 
at  the  top  with  8-in.  walls.  Its  founda- 
tions measure  34  ft.  square  and  16  ft. 
deep.  The  stack  was  built  by  the  General 
Concreting  Company  and  for  lightning 
protection  is  provided  with  a  corona  of 
six  discharge  points  grounded  by  two 
j4-in.  copper  cables.  In  one  of  these  con- 
ductors is  inserted  a  lightning  detector, 
made  by  Carl  Bajohr,  St.  Louis.  Bridged 
around  a  shunt  resistance  which  it  con- 
tains is  the  trip  coil  which  releases  the 
pointer.  When  set,  the  arrow  is  pointed 
upward,  but  upon  being  released  by  a 
lightning  discharge  it  rotates  180  deg.  and 
points  toward  the  ground,   reporting  the 


Lightning  Discharge 
Indicator. 


passage  of  the  lightning  discharge. 


ELECTROLYTIC    MANUFACTURE   OF   HYDROGEN 
AND  OXYGEN  AT  OMAHA. 


A  keen-witted  new-business  manager  who  keeps  on  tiptoe 
for  prospective  customers  in  his  town  of  12,000  goes 
through  the  "want  ad"  columns  in  the  local  newspapers 
each  day  and  locates  the  telephone  addresses  of  those 
advertising  houses  and  rooms  for  rent.  This  list  is  turned 
over  to  the  woman  office  assistant,  who  in  odd  moments 
calls  up  the  numbers  and,  after  preliminary  inquiries  about 
the  condition  of  the  premises,  price,  etc.,  asks  if  the  house 
is  lighted  by  electricity,  closing  the  conversation  with  the 
remark  that  she  "could  not  think  of  being  without  electric 
light."    The  same  list  is  then  passed  on  to  a  solicitor,  who 


Increasing  use  of  the  oxy-hydrogen  and  oxy-acetylene 
flames  for  welding  and  cutting  metals  has  developed  much 
interest  in  commercial  methods  of  generating  hydrogen 
and  oxygen  electrically  by  disassociation  of  water.  For 
several  years  hydrogen  for  balloon  purposes  has  been  manu- 
factured electrically  on  a  large  scale  at  the  government  fort 
near  Omaha,  Neb.  Only  the  hydrogen  is  there  utilized,  the 
oxygen  by-product  being  wasted.  Electrolytic  hydrogen 
has  also  been  made  for  inflating  test  ballonets  sent  up  by  the 
weather  bureau. 

The  Balbach  Chemical  Company,  at  Omaha,  is  now  re- 
placing its  former  chemical  equipment  for  the  manufacture 
of  hydrogen  and  oxygen  by  electrolytic  tanks  which  will 
have  an  output  of  2700  cu.  ft.  of  hydrogen  and  1350  cu.  ft. 
of  oxygen  per  day,  measured  at  atmospheric  pressure. 
David  Bournenville  &  Company,  515  Laflin  Street,  Chicago, 
are  the  manufacturers  of  this  electrolytic  equipment.  A 
^o-kw  motor-generator  set  will  produce  7-volt  direct  cur- 


94C 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  18. 


rent  for  electrolyzing  the  twenty  cells,  which  will  be  oper- 
ated continuously  twenty-four  hours  per  day,  making  the 
load  a  desirable  central-station  acquisition.  The  Omaha 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  which  has  the  contract, 
expects  to  supply  about  25,000  kw-hr.  per  month  to  this 
plant,  its  rate  being  3  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  the  first  5000 
kw-hr.  and  2  cents  for  all  in  excess  of  this.  The  central 
station  secured  the  contract  in  competition  with  an  oil-en- 
gine isolated  plant.  Besides  the  main  50-kw  motor-gen- 
erator set,  there  is  a  5-hp  pump  motor  for  compressing  the 
gases  to  200  lb.  per  square  inch  for  shipment.  At  2  cents 
per  kw-hr.  for  energy,  the  cost  of  manufacturing  hydrogen 
is  understood  to  be  0.3  cent  per  cubic  foot,  and  oxygen  0.5 
cent.  The  output  of  the  Balbach  company  is  cliiefly  used 
locally  for  welding  and  cutting  purposes,  in  connecticm  with 
oxy-acetylene  and  oxy-hydrogen  blowpipes. 


BATTERY-DRIVEN  TOWER  WAGONS  REPLACE 
GASOLINE    TRUCKS. 


A  number  of  novel  details,  devised  locally,  distinguish 
the  two  new  2-ton  battery-driven  Trenton  tower  trucks 
recently  put  in  service  by  the  line  department  of  The 
Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company.  These 
electric  trucks  replace  the  gasoline  engine-driven  tower 
wagons  which  have  been  used  in  Milwaukee  for  several 
years.  Contrasted  with  the  former  gasoline  cars,  the  elec- 
tric trucks  are  rendering  dependable  twenty-four-hour 
service  for  twelve  days  at  a  time,  at  tiie  end  of  which  period 
they  receive  a  general  overhauling.  The  gasoline  wagons, 
on  the  other  hand,  had  proved  unreliable,  were  constantlv 
in  need  of  slight  but  vital  repairs  and  could  never  be  de- 
pended upon  for  heavy  service.  With  their  nuiltitude  of 
small  but  essential  parts,  the  mechanism  was  constantly 
being  racked  to  pieces  by  the  shock  of  travel,  so  that  the 
cars  were  "down"  a  distressing  portion  of  the  time. 

The  new  Milwaukee  electric  wagons  comprise  standard 
Trenton  towers  on  General  Vehicle  2-ton  trucks  and  are 
capable  of  speeds  up  to  15  miles  per  hour,  which  is  found 
sufficient  for  all  city  work.  Instead  of  being  tumbled  into 
the  body  of  the  truck  in  the  usual   manner,  the   iacks  are 


Electric  Tower  Wagon,   Milwaukee. 

arranged  to  slide  into  shoes  on  the  sides  of  the  rear  step. 
These  shoes  hold  the  jacks  upright  and  in  an  accessible 
position.  Each  jack  base  is  drilled  to  receive  a  pin  which 
also  goes  through  the  step,  preventing  the  jacks  from  slid- 
ing out  of  their  shoes  and  being  lost.  Each  wagon  has  a 
9-ft.  by  3-in.  by  4-in.  wrecking  bar.  reinforced  with  iron 
plates.    The  sides  of  ilic  bar  are  cut  into  a  series  of  steps 


so  as  to  carry  axles  or  jack-heads  securely.  By  means  of 
coupling-pin  holes  in  the  bar  and  in  the  channel-iron  butfer 
which  protects  the  front  of  the  truck,  the  bar  can  also  be 
used  as  a  push  rod  for  pushing  aside  traffic  obstructions. 
The  wrecking  bar  is  carried  upright  in  a  special  socket 
alongside  the  tower.  The  ladders  are  also  locked  in  place 
on  the  side  of  the  tower,  and  there  are  pockets  for  hose 
cross-overs.  Trolley  wire  is  wound  on  the  outer  4-ft.  spool 
of  the  reel-within-a-reel,  the  inner  3-ft.  wheel  being  occu- 
pied with  span  wire.  Beneath  the  seats  in  the  wagon  body 
are  the  tools,  arranged  in  trays,  each  tool  fitting  the  socket 
it  occupies.  Four  of  these  electric  tower  wagons  will  be 
used  in  Milwaukee,  two  others  being  on  order. 


A  UNIT  SCHEDULE  FOR  SOLICITORS'  SALARIES. 


By  the  plan  of  compensating  salesmen  in  use  at  Law- 
rence, Kan.,  the  solicitor  virtually  fixes  his  own  monthly 
salary,  which  is  determined  by  the  effort  he  puts  forth  and 
the  results  accomplished.     The  scheme  is  based  on  a  mini- 

SOLICITORS*  SALARY  SCHEDULE,  LAWRENCE,  KAN. 

No.    Points. 

Kach  meter  gained    S 

Wiring  residence  on  lines,  minimum  200  watts  connected  load 12 

Wiring  residence,  one  extension,  minimum  200  watts  connected  load  6 

\Viring  residence,  one  extension,  minimum  500  watts  connected  load  12 

Wiring  residence  on  lines,  minimum  500  watts  connected  load 25 

Installing  new   work  in   commercial   houses,  lamps  of   ISO   watts  and 

over,    per    lamp    5 

Wiring  commercial  houses,  closing  at  6  p.  m 10 

Wiring  commercial  houses,  not  closing  at  7.30  p.  m 25 

Dead    service,    six    months    15 

Increased  consumption   in   residences  per   100  watts 2 

Increased   consumption    in    business    houses   closing   at    6    p.    m.,    per 

100     watts 2 

Increased    consumption    in    biismess    houses    closing    after    8    p.    m., 

per    100    watts    5 

Klectric  signs   where  sale   is   made  by   representative 40 

Klectric    irons   sold    IC 

Klectric    toasters    sold    10 

Heating    pads    5 

Hisli   stoves    7 

Chafing    dishes    15 

Coffee    percolators    IS 

Cigar  lighters 10 

Electric    fans,    8-in S 

Klectric  fans,    12-in 6 

Electric     fans,     16-in 7 

Ceiling    fans    8 

Electric    radiators    10 

Electric    ranges     20 

Sewing-machine   motors    10 

Motors,    per    hp IS 

Washing    machines    30 

*  )utlining,    per   200   watts 5 

Baseboard    receptacles     3 

l'.ixcess  of  five  switches  on  one  residence  wiring,  per  switch 3 

Meters   obtained   in   houses   already    wired    where   no   extensions    are 

necessary    5 

Street  lights  on  flat-rate  circuit  paying  $2  per  month 10 

(..utting  out  gas  for  lighting,  which  means  fixing  gas  outlets  so  they 

cannot  be  used,  and  where  electric  light  bill  is  over  $2  per  month.  20 
Canvassing   territories,   first    twenty   calls   on   one  street   where   there 
are  twenty  houses,  to  be  turned  in  daily  with  date  and  claim  for 

points   accompanying  them    5 

For  collecting  bad  accounts,  per  dollar ., 2 

Eor    increasing    minimum    bills    50    cents    per    month    or    more    over 

same  month  last  year,  taken  from  list  prepared  for  that  purpose.  .  5 

mum  wage  of  $12.50  per  half-month,  to  earn  which  the 
solicitor  must  make  250  points,  as  specified  by  the  following 
schedule,  each  fifteen  days.  For  each  additional  loo  points 
earned  he  receives  $5.  This  business  must  be  obtained  per- 
sonally by  the  salesman ;  accounts  received  at  the  ofiice  will 
not  be  credited  unless  it  can  be  proved  they  had  the  repre- 
sentative's efforts  fifteen  days  previously.  Commissions  are 
charged  back  and  deducted  if  the  installation  fails  to  stay 
in  sixty  days.  Points  are  allowed  only  on  executed  orders 
and  bona  fide  orders  to  be  executed  within  ten  days. 

Each  employee  at  the  close  of  the  day  makes  out  a  state- 


November  2,  191 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


941 


ment  of  his  claim  for  points  obtained  during  the  day. 
This  claim  is  filed  with  the  new-business  manager,  who 
scrutinizes  the  items  and  passes  them  to  the  semi-monthly 
total,  if  correct.  According  to  Mr.  W.  C.  Duncan,  manager 
of  the  commercial  department,  who  devised  this  plan  of 
remuneration,  the  minimum  salary  earned  by  any  solicitor 
under  the  schedule  has  been  $80  a  month,  and  one  man  made 
$159  during  a  recent  thirty-day  period.  The  plan  has  been 
in  use  in  Lawrence  six  months. 


ADVERTISING    OF    ELECTRIC    VEHICLES    BY 
CENTRAL  STATIONS. 


In  its  constant  endeavor  to  encourage  the  use  of  electric 
vehicles  •  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  of  Chicago 
has  entered  on  a  iHllboard  campaign  in  addition  to  news- 
paper and  other  methods  of  advertising.  Signs  advocating 
the  use  of  electric  vehicles  have  been  placed  on  thirty-five 


The  fluid  is  drawn  off  from  the  seals  of  the  water-gas 
generators  and  resembles  in  appearance  the  black,  viscid 
quality  of  coal  tar.  Cross-arms  are  treated  by  dipping  in 
an  open  tank.  Poles  receive  two  coats  with  a  brush,  the 
butts  being  thoroughly  coated  for  a  distance  about  1  ft. 
above  the  ground  line.  Owing  to  the  penetrative  action  of 
the  petrosote,  it  is  found  to  permeate  the  wood  fiber  to  a 
depth  of  }i  in.  to  J4  '"•  One  gallon  is  enough  to  cover 
eight  pole  butts  with  two  coats.  As  the  preparation  is  an 
insecticide,  insects  are  prevented  from  entering  the  fiber. 
The  Lincoln  electric-light  company  also  uses  the  same  oil- 
tar  product  as  a  paint  for  its  wagons,  buildings  and  steel 
work.  By  adding  I  gal.  of  Portland  cement  to  5  gal.  of  the 
tar  a  paint  is  formed  which  will  adhere  firmly  to  galvanized 
iron  or  steel  and  serves  as  a  permanent  protective  coating. 
The  ingredients  are  mixed  just  before  using  and  kept  well 
stirred  while  being  brushed  on.  The  tarry  fluid  also  has 
applications  as  a  disinfectant  and  insect  destroyer. 


mmm 


Electric  TRUCK 

Sa^e  JO'?'o  to  «S96 


Coramonweaith  Edison  Coinpani| 

Billboard  Advertising  of  Electric  Vehicles. 


billboards  located  at  vantage  points  about  the  city.  One  of 
these  is  illustrated  herewith.  The  boards  are  illuminated 
by  electric  lamps  at  night  and  are  about  25  ft.  wide.  The 
legends  are  changed  from  time  to  time  by  the  advertising 
department  of  the  Commonwealth  company  operating 
through  the  Thomas  Cusack  Company,  sign  maker.  The 
entire  expense  is  borne  by  the  electric-service  company. 


SELLING  IRONS  TO  MmiMUM-BILL   CUSTOMERS. 


Taking  the  records  of  his  residence  consumers,  Mr.  C.  A. 
Bergen,  contract  agent  at  Emporia,  Kan.,  recently  selected 
fifty-six  customers  having  minimum  bills  and  wrote  them  a 
circular  letter  explaining  that  they  were  losing  money  by 
not  making  use  of  all  the  electricity  they  paid  for.  The 
letter  suggested  an  electric  iron  as  a  convenience  and  com- 
fort which  could  be  operated  within  the  surplus  minimum 
limit  of  the  monthly  bill.  The  Emporia  Railway  &  Light 
Company  offered  a  standard  electric  iron  for  $4  cash,  or 
$4.50  on  distributed  payments  of  90  cents  monthly.  A  free 
fifteen-day  trial  was  also  proposed.  Of  the  fifty-six  cus- 
tomers thus  addressed,  forty-six  ordered  and  purchased 
irons. 


PRESERVING  POLES  WITH  WATER-GAS  TAR. 


The  tarry  fluid  obtained  from  fuel  oil  during  the  process 
of  generating  water  gas  is  utilized  by  the  Lincoln  (Neb.) 
Gas  &  Electric  Company  for  preserving  its  poles,  cross- 
arms,  etc.,  the  results  after  five  years'  experience  indicating 
that  this  home-made  "petrosote"  compares  favorably  with 
several  of  the  well-known  preserving  fluids  on  the  market. 
Following  the  success  obtained  in  thus  protecting  the  com- 
pany's line  structures,  the  by-product  oil  tar  is  now  being 
marketed  locally,  for  general  wood-preserving  use,  at  10 
cents  a  gallon  under  the  descriptive  trade  name  above 
mentioned. 


"  PAY  US  FROM  WHAT  YOU  SAVE." 


Mr.  W.  C.  Duncan  contract  agent  Lawrence  Railway  & 
Light  Company,  Lawrence,  Kan.,  finds  it  easy  to  sell  electric 
washing  machines  by  using  the  argument:  "Pay  us  out  of 
what  you  save  by  using  this  machine."  The  washers  are 
listed  at  $55  and  are  paid  for  $5  down  and  $5  a  month. 

The  ordinary  cost  of  doing  a  household's  washing  by 
hand  he  estimates  at  about  $2  a  week.  The  washer  will 
perform  this  work  in  three  hours  at  a  cost  of  2  cents  per 
hour,  or  6  cents  per  week.  Hence  there  is  a  net  saving  to 
the  housewife  of  $1.94  a  week,  or  $7.76  a  month,  leaving 
her  several  dollars  "|)in  money"  each  month. 


VOLTMETER  TEST  BOXES   AT  DISTRIBUTION 
POINTS. 


At   each   of   the   thirty   distributing,  centers   of   its   alter- 
nating-current system  the  Kansas  City  Electric  Light  Coin- 

pany  has  made  provi- 
sion for  getting  graphic 
records  of  the  voltage 
regulation  obtained. 
Special  i-kw  trans- 
formers at  each  of 
these  distinguishing- 
point  poles  have  their 
secondaries  wired  down 
to  connection  clips  in  a 
permanent  instrument 
box  mounted  on  the 
pole  6  ft.  above  the 
ground.  The  interiors 
of  these  boxes  are  ar- 
ranged with  rests  to 
hold  standard  portable 
curve  -  drawing  volt- 
meters, which  can  be 
connected  up  and  thus 
left  in  position  to  draw 
their        own        records 

...      =  .,  o  ♦     »i,i        twenty-four    or    forty- 

Recording  Meter  Box  and  Potential  .'  .    •' 

Transformer    on    Cross-Arm.  eight    hours    at    a    time. 

The  boxes  are  covered 
with  sheet  metal  and  are  provided  with  stout  padlocks  to 
protect  them  against  tampering.  They  are  also  well  up 
and  out  of  the  way  of  pedestrians,  but  can  easily  be  reached 
by  the  instrument  man  with  the  aid  of  a  chair  or  box. 
With  the  aid  of  the  station  instruments  corresponding  to  the 
same  feeds,  a  close  check  is  obtained  on  the  compensation 
necessarv  for  each  feeder's  regulntinii. 


942 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  18. 


CONTRACTORS'  MOTOR-DRIVEN  CONCRETE  MIXER. 


The  motor-driven  concrete  mixer  illustrated  is  one  of 
several  used  by  Lincoln  (Neb.)  building  contractors  which 
have  proved  good  day  loads  for  the  local  central  station. 
The  mixer  shown  is  a  }i-yd.  Link-belt  outfit,  and  is  driven 
through  a  belt  and  chain  gearing  by  an  8-hp,  sso-volt 
direct-current  motor,  the  whole  being  mounted  on  wheels 


BONUS  AWARD  FOR  COAL-PER-KILO WATT-HOUR 
RECORD. 


Contractors'   Motor. Driven  Concrete   Mixer. 

to  be  portable.  The  contractor,"  Mr.  W.  Campbell,  .pays  the 
Lincoln  Gas  &  Electric  Company  5  cents  per  kw-hr.  and 
has  abandoned  the  use  of  a  gasoline  engine  set  which  was 
formerly  employed  for  mixing  concrete.  Jobs  on  which 
the  mixer  is  used  last  from  one  to  four  months,  and  the 
electric  company  makes  the  necessary  service  runs  and 
extensions  free  of  charge.  On  one  job  where  the  mixer 
above  shown  was  used  three  months  the  customer's  bills 
were  respectively  $16,  $25  and  $13  per  month.  Several 
Lincoln  contractors  also  use  motor-driven  hoists  for  ele- 
vating brick  and  materials  on  office  buildings,  apartments, 
etc.  The  income  from  these  little  outfits,  usuallv  of  ,3-hp 
rating,  averages  $5  to  $6  a  month. 


TWENTY-FOUR-HOUR    SERVICE    IN    A  TOWN    OF 

300. 


Perry,  Kan.,  a  town  with  300  population,  recently  com- 
pleted the  installation  of  a  17-kw  oil-engine  plant  with 
battery  auxiliary  making  twenty-four-hour  service  avail- 
able to  its  forty  customers.  As  the  maximum  transmission 
distance  is  but  1300  ft.,  a  125-volt  two-wire  direct-current 
system  was  chosen  for  distribution.  Its  30-hp  Alamo  engine 
is  at  present  using  kerosene  as  fuel  and  drives  a  17-kw 
generator.  Counter-cell  control  is  used  for  the  E-9  chloride 
storage  battery.  Nightly,  spanning  the  peak-load  period. 
the  engine  set  is  run  for  about  five  hours,  full  load  being 
maintained  on  the  unit  by  charging  the  battery.  During  the 
rest  of  the  twenty-four  hours  the  storage  cells  are  drawn 
upon  for  service.  Energy  is  furnished  for  forty  custom- 
ers, a  moving-picture  show  and  twenty-nine  street  lamps. 
The  commercial  and  residence  rate  is  10  cents  per  kw-hr., 
with  $1  minimum.  A  special  circuit  feeds  the  picture 
show  so  that  it  can  take  energy  only  wliile  the  engine  set 
is  running.  During  the  six  weeks  the  plant  has  been  run- 
ning, a  rate  of  growth  wholly  unexpected  has  been  recorded. 
Installed,  the  plant  witii  equipment  has  cost  between  $5,000 
and  $6,000. 


Each  employee  in  the  fire  room  of  the  Des  Moines 
Electric  Company's  plant  receives  a  bonus  award  of  i  per 
cent  of  his  monthly  wages  for  each  one-tenth  of  a  pound 
reduction  in  the  plant's  record  of  quantity  of  coal  burned 
per  kilowatt-hour  below  the  limit  fixed  for  that  month  by 
the  chief  engineer.  This  prize  money  is  extended  to  all 
boiler-room  employees,  including  ashmen,  boiler  washers, 
craneman,  etc.,  in  order  to  stimulate  every  man  to  his  best 
efforts  toward  increasing  efficiency. 

Firemen,  of  course,  can  contribute  to  improved  combus- 
tion efficiency  by  preventing  holes  in  the  fires,  keeping  the 
draft  low,  giving  attention  to  the  water  levels  and  holding 
steam  pressure  constant. 

Flue-blowers  can  help  by  their  diligence  in  keeping  the 
flues  in  service  and  by  giving  notice  of  and  repairing  cracks 
or  openings  in  the  baffles  or  boiler  settings. 

The  boiler  washers  aid  the  cause  by  keeping  their  tubes 
clean  and  free  from  scale  and  by  reporting  imperfections  in 
time  to  prevent  waste  of  steam. 

Ashmen  can  help,  too,  by  taking  pains  to  inform  the  fire- 
men each  time  before  opening  ash-pit  doors,  giving  the  men 
above  an  opportunity  to  slack  up  on  the  boiler,  checking  its 
draft  and  transferring  the  load  to  other  units.  The-.boiler- 
room  foreman  can  render  important  aid  by  giving  attention 
to  the  number  of  boilers  in  service,  observing  that  each  kind 
of  coal  gets  the  proper  amount  of  wetting,  inspecting  non- 
return valves  and  headers,  watching  feed-water  tempera- 
ture and  controlling  its  supply  so  as  to  be  uniform.  By 
proper  mixing  of  the  coal  as  he  delivers  it  to  the  bunkers, 
even  the  man  handling  the  bucket  crane  earns  his  share  of 
the  prize  money. 

The  Iowa  coal  used  at  the  Des  Moines  plant  has  a  fuel 
value  of  9500  to  10,000  heat  units  and  an  ash  content 
ranging  from  25  to  30  per  cent,  so  that  the  records  of  com- 
bustion obtained  are  largely  comparative  and  of  only  local 
significance.  During  the  light-load  summer  months,  June, 
Julv  and  August,  5.9  lb.  of  coal  per  kilowatt-hour  is  fixed 
as  the  maximum.     For  the  rest  of  the  vear,  when  the  load- 


Arrangement  for  Handling  Coal  and  Ashes  at  Des  Moines  Plant. 

factor  is  higher,  5.7  lb.  must  not  be  exceeded  in  order  to 
earn  prize  money.  For  each  one-tenth  of  a  pound  reduction 
below  these  limits  every  fireman  employee  has  l  per  cent 
added  to  his  monthly  wages.  Last  month  the  record  was 
5.7  lb.  at  the  5.9  lb.  summer  schedule,  and  2  per  cent  bonus 
was  given.  A  fireman  earning  $70  per  month,  therefore, 
received  $71.40. 


November  2,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


943 


The  sketch  shows  the  method  of  handling  coal  to  the  four 
400-hp  Stirling  boilers  and  chain-grate  stokers.  The  loaded 
freight  cars  can  be  discharged  directly  into  the  concrete- 
lined  pit,  from  which  the  movable  hoppers  are  filled  by 
means  of  the  i-ton  Sprague  crane,  or  the  bucket  can  be 
filled  directly  from  the  cars  and  discharged  into  the  hop- 
pers. Each  hopper  holds  12  tons  of  coal,  or  14  tons  when 
heaped.  At  one  end  of  the  firing  aisle  is  the  ash  pit, 
partitioned  off  from  the  main  coal  container.  The  same 
crane  bucket  is  used  to  load  cars  with  ashes  from  this  ash 
pit.  One  man  on  the  crane  is  able  to  handle  the  90  tons  of 
coal  burned  per  day  by  the  plant,  besides  the  20  to  30  per 
cent  of  ashes  removed  from  the  pits. 


ILLUMINATING  ENGINEERING  FOR  THE  CENTRAL- 
STATION  SALESMAN. 


At  the  recent  convention  of  the  New  England  Section  of 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association  Mr.  Ralph  Beman 
of  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Association,  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
presented  a  paper  entitled  "Illuminating  Engineering  for 
the  Central-Station  Salesman."  The  author  pointed  out 
that  a  sketch  and  estimate  made  on  the  ground  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  prospective  customer  incline  the  latter  toward 
the  immediate  signing  of  a  contract  for  equipment  and  ser- 
vice, while  delay  often  furnishes  an  excuse  for  him  to  change 
his  mind  and  cancel  his  plans  for  an  installation.  Time  is 
saved  and  errors  are  less  probable,  while  the  installation 
tends  to  conform  more  closely  to  the  customer's  wishes 
when  the  central-station  salesman  handles  illuminating  engi- 
neering work  in  the  field.  Data  on  illuminants,  accessories 
and  illumination  design  should  be  assembled  by  the  salesman 
from  every  reliable  source. 

The  paper  contained  the  following  tables  of  data  for  the 
use  of  central-station  men,  the  first  giving  foot-candle  in- 
tensities for  various  classes  of  service  and  the  second  utiliza- 
tion factors,  a  diagram  also  being  included  for  approximate 
field  work  in  the  selection  and  placing  of  equipment. 

Having  decided  the  average  intensity,  which  in  turn 
determines  the  total  light  flux  on  the  plane  considered,  the 
next  step  is  to  find  what  the  total  flux  generated  by  the 
lamps  must  be.     This  depends  upon  the  efficiency  of  the 


Assume  a  store  requiring  an  illumination  of  3  foot-candles 
and  that  prismatic  glass  reflectors  are  to  be  used.  With 
medium  walls  take  the  utilization  efficiency  as  50  per  cent. 
Using  the  left-hand  portion  of  the  drawing,  find  the  vertical 

TAIiI.E    I. TABLE   OF   FOOT-CANDLE   INTENSITIES   RECOMMENDED 

FOR  VARIOUS  CLASSES  OF  SERVICE. 


Art  Gallery  (walls) . . 

Automobile. 

Showrooms 

Billboard 

Bowling  Alley. 

AUey , 

Pins 

Runway  and  seats 

Card  Room  (tables) 

Courts. 

Tennis , 

Drafting  Room 

Factory. 

General  lighting  (where  individual  drop  lights  are  provided) 

General  lighting  (where  no  individual  lights  are  provided) .  -  , 

Local  bench  illumination 

Gymnasium 

Hotels. 

Bedroom 

Corridor 

Dining  room 

Lobby , 

Writing  room 

Library. 

Stack  room 

Reading  room  (with  no  local  illumination  supplied) 

Reading  room  (with  local  illumination  supplied) 

Office. 

Desk 

General  (no  drop  lights) 

General  (with  drop  lights) 

Show  Window. 

Dark  goods 

Light  goods 

Store. 

Clothing 

Furniture 

Grocery ... 

Hardware 

Shoes 

Warehouse 


5.0 

5.0 
8.0 

1.0 
4.0 
I>5 

3.0 

7.0 

s.o 

1.5 
4.0 
4.0 

2.5 

2.0 
1.0 
2.0 
2.0 

3.0 

1.5 

3;S 

to 

4.0 
4.0 
1.5 

20  0 
12.0 

6.0 
3.5 
4.0 

3.5 
4.0 
1.0 


line  corresponding  to  50  per  cent  efficiency  and  follow  it 
upward  till  it  intersects  the  oblique  line  marked  3  foot- 
candles.  If  one  follows  the  horizontal  line  passing  through 
this  intersection  over  to  the  other  portion  of  the  drawing, 
it  will  be  found  that  it  intersects  the  curves  representing 
the  several  units  in  as  many  points. 

The  abscissas  of  each  of  these  points  give  the  spacing 
necessary  to  obtain  the  given  intensity  with  each  unit.     In 


Height!  Focusing 
above -j  Intensive 
floor  (  Kxteusive 

li 

20 

2:, 

30 

3o 

40 

13 

.JC 

5.-. 

00 

8      JU     12     »     IG     13     20     22     21     26     28     30     32     31     30     .B 

6           S           10          12          U         16          IS         20          22          21 

~1  /    T~' 

/  ' 

\ 

JTi 

, 

/ 

\ 

h^( 

f 

\ 

\ 

\.% 

/ 

\ 

\ 

N 

i 

— 

1^1 

k 

^^/ 

\ 

\ 

y 

\ 

h/  . 

^/ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

/A 

07 

\\ 

'' 

\ 

/ 

"a 

L/ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

t 

^. 

A 

/ 

0 

\ 

\^ 

\ 

sy- 

st 

<f' 

/, 

<* 

y 

\ 

\ 

V^ 

-\',. 

s 

't 

\ 

1^ 

> 

\>^'.> 

\ 

\ 

\ 

v. 

k 

•v. 

^ 

/ 

,c 

&»^ 

\ 

m. 

<. 

\. 

\ 

•^ 

.^ 

\l 

K 

&v 

\ 

^ 

--J 

— 

, 

"^ 

k~. 

-.. 

"-- 

~ 

— 

— 

'~ 

~~ 

~ 

TABLE  II. UTILIZATION    FACTORS. 


60^04310  33    30     236  8 

Utilizatioa  Efficiency 

Percent 


20         24         28         32         36         10         14 
Average  Spacing  in  Feet        £,„„!„,  „„,a 


Chart  for  Approximate  Calculations   of   illuminating    Equipment. 

system  or  the  ratio  of  lumens  effective  to  lumens  generated. 
Utilization  efficiencies  for  different  systems  of  light  may  be 
considered  approximately  as  given  in  Table  II.  These 
tables  have  been  compiled  with  the  idea  of  being  representa- 
tive of  results  which  may  be  obtained  with  new  reflectors 
and  lamps  operating  at  rated  efficiencies. 

The  use  of  the  chart  may  be  illustrated  by  an  example. 


Light. 


Prismatic  glass 

Opal  or  milk  glass 

Decorative  or  art  glass. 
Semi-indirect 


60 

50 
30 
40 


SO 
42 
25 
35 


Dark. 


40 
33 
20 
30 


Indirect..      , .                    ■*'" 

eiage  value  30 

Steel* J    

1 

Wide            Narrow 

Angle           Angle. 

58                  SO 

♦Values  for  steel  will  vary  10  per  cent  either  way,  depending  upon  condi- 
tions. They  hold  only  when  ratio  of  mounting  height  to  smallest  dimension 
of  room  is  not  greater  than  1:2. 

the  case  in  hand  40-watt  lamps  should  be  spaced  at  intervals 
of  yj/z  ft.,  loo-watt  units  at  12  ft.,  500-watt  units  at  28  ft. 
The  size  of  unit  will  be  determined  by  the  size  of  room  and 
diffusion  desired.  The  proper  height  above  working  plane 
can  be  read  from  the  upper  scales.  Types  of  distribution 
will  be  chosen  according  to  the  ceiling  height. 

The  use  of  the  two  tables  and  the  chart  enables  a  sales- 
man to  specify  size,  spacing,  height  of  suspension  and  light 
distribution  from  the  unit,  which  in  cases  of  uniform  illu- 
mination is  usually  sufficient. 


944 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o.  No.  i8. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

BRONZE  LAMP-POSTS  GIFT  OF    COLLEGE    CLASS. 


It  is  the  custom  for  college  classes  upon  graduating  to 
present   their   a'aua   mater   with   a   class   gift,   usually   some 

campus  ornament, 
such  as  a  stone  seat, 
fountain,  e  n  tr  a  n  c  e 
gate,  etc.  The  novel 
and  excellent  choice 
of  present  made  by 
the  1912  class  of  the 
Kansas  State  Agricul- 
tural College,  Man- 
hattan, deserves  to  be 
brought  to  the  atten- 
tion of  undergradu- 
ates in  other  institu- 
tions. This  Kansas 
class  appropriated 
$565  for  the  four 
handsome  bronze  lamp 
standards  erected  in 
front  of  the  assembly 
building,  where  they 
have  proved  both  use- 

„    ^      „  ^^  ,  ful     and     ornamental. 

Bronze    Lamp-Posts,    Kansas    State  _,         .  ,,      • 

Cgiiegg  ihe    installation    was 

made  by  the   schooTs 

electrical   engineering   department,   of   which    Prof.    B.    F. 

Eyer  is  the  head. 


The  line  department  of  The  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway 
&  Light  Company  is  making  use  of  a  pole-heiglit  estimator, 
a  pocket  device  originated  by  Mr.  S.  B.  Way  and  Mr.  J.  L. 
Fay,  of  the  company,  with  which  an  ordinary  lineman  can 
sight  over  the  object  to  be  crossed  and  read  directly  on  a 
scale  the  pole  required  to  give  5-ft.  clearance  when  set  in 
the  ground  to  the  proper  depth.     The  estimator  is  similar 


Fig.  2 — Pole- Height  Estimator. 

in  optical  principle  to  the  mariner's  device  for  reading  star 
ascensions,  although  simplified  and  arranged  with  scale 
calibrated  directly  in  pole  heights.  To  use  the  estimator, 
the  lineman  measures  with  tape  or  by  pacing  a  distance  of 
50  ft.  from  the  point  beneath  the  tree  or  obstacle,  and  then, 
from  this  distance,  sights  through  the  estimator  tube  at 
the  tree-top  or  obstructing  line.  Turning  a  knurled  thumb- 
screw at  the  side  rotates  a  level  until  its  bubble,  seen  in  a 
45-deg.  mirror,  appears  alongside  the  center  of  the  tube. 
After  bubble  and  object  have  been  sighted  together  in  the 
tube,  the  pointer  shows  on  the  calibrated  scale  the  e.xact 
height  of  the  pole,  including  clearance  and  setting  allow- 
ances. Twenty-five-foot  poles  are  provided  to  be  set  4.5  ft. 
in  the  ground,  45-ft.  poles  6  ft.,  and  75-ft.  poles  7.5  ft.,  with 
proportionate  amounts  for  intermediate  heights.  The  esti- 
mators as  built  for  the  Milwaukee  company  weigh  only  a 
few  ounces  and  can  be  carried  in  the  vest  pocket. 


POLE-HEIGHT  ESTIMATOR. 


ADAPTING  MANHOLE  TO    NEW    STREET    GRADE. 


WTien  a  tree,  telephone  line  or  other  obstruction  is  to  be 
crossed,  the  usual  practice  is  to  send  an  experienced  line- 
man to  judge  the  height  of  pole  needed.  This  man  esti- 
mates the  height  of  the  object  above  the  ground,  adds  what 
he  thinks  is  the  necessary  amount  of  clearance  and  the 
distance  which  the  butt  is  to  be  set  into  the  ground,  and 
turns  in  his  report  of  the  length  of  pole  required.  But 
when  the  pole  is  delivered  to  the  site  it  is  too  often  found 
that  the  estimator  has  allowed  too  much  margin  in  order  to 


Fig.    1 — Lineman    Using    Pole-Height   Estimator. 

be  on  the  safe  side,  and  that,  say,  a  35-ft.  pole  has  been 
ordered  where  a  30-ft.  stick  would  have  served.  Or — a 
more  serious  matter — the  height  may  have  been  under- 
estimated, so  that  the  wires  will  not  clear  the  obstruction. 
.\nother  pole  must  then  be  hauled  out  and  the  first  pole 
returned.  Such  errors  on  either  side  of  the  actual  require- 
ments mean  waste  of  material,  time  and  labor. 


It  often  happens  that  after  manholes  have  been  installed 
to  the  existing  grade  level  in  an  unpaved  street  the  grade 
is  changed  or  lowered  when  the  street  is  paved,  necessitating 
the  adaptation  of  the  manhole  top  to  the  new  level.  In  some 
places  the  practice  has  been  to  wreck  the  old  concrete  cap, 
constructing  a  new  one  to  conform  to  the  new  conditions. 
This  expense  and  trouble  was  recently  avoided,  however, 
by  Mr.  Richard  Krohn,  foreman  of  the  Milwaukee  com- 
pany's underground  department,  who  employed  a  couple  of 
powerful  jacks  to  lift  off  the  concrete  cap  so  that  a  course 
or  two  of  bricks  could  be  removed,  after  which  the  cap 
was  dropped  back  into  place  in  its  new  position.     As  shown 


0i'isiu;il  L'tiii:LveJ. 


New  Paved- 
Street  Grade 


Adapting    Manhole   to    New   Street   Grade. 

in  the  sketch,  the  8-ft.  by  8-ft.  by  7-in.  concrete  cap,  weigh- 
ing 2  tons,  was  handled  by  a  pair  of  2-ton  screw  jacks 
blocked  up  to  the  proper  height.  The  internal  height  of  the 
manhole,  6  ft.,  left  ample  room  after  subtracting  the  width 
of  two  courses  of  bricks.  A  similar  scheme  might  also  be 
used  to  raise  the  cap  to  a  higher  grade.  Three  men,  at  20 
cents  per  hour,  made  the  change  in  cover  position  in  three 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


945 


hours.  To  have  wrecked  and  rebuilt  the  concrete  cover 
cap  would  have  cost  at  least  $30  for  labor  and  materials, 
besides  requiring  several  days'  time. 


SOME  REFLECTIONS   ON  INTERIOR-WIRING  CON- 
STRUCTION. 


GROUNDING  OF  BATHROOM  FIXTURES,  ETC. 

All  fixtures  installed  over  or  near  damp  grounds,  earth 
floors,  metal  steps,  radiators,  bathtubs,  wash-basins,  etc.,  are 
now  required  by  the  Omaha  city  electrical  inspection  depart- 


Eteetrieal   World 

Method    of    Grounding    Bathroom    Fixtures. 

nient  to  be  securely  grounded.  City  Electrician  Michaelsen 
also  recommends  generally  that  porcelain  receptacles  be 
used  in  these  places  unless  such  sockets  detract  seriously 
from  the  appearance  of  the  installation,  in  which  case  the 
porcelain  proviso  is  waived.  A  number  of  mysterious  deaths 
have  occurred  in  various  cities  from  apparently  slight 
shocks  given  while  the  victim  was  making  good  contact 
with  bathtub  and  pipe  grounds.  As  a  protection  against 
any  part  of  bathroom  fixtures  becoming  charged  this 
grounding  ordinance  is  now  being  rigidly  enforced  in 
Omaha  wherever  fixtures,  sockets,  etc.,  are  near  enough  to 
be  reache'd  or  touched  while  making  contact  with  grounded 
conductors. 


RURAL  TRANSMISSION   LINE   WITH  IRON-CABLE 
CONDUCTORS. 


A  Nebraska  operator  whose  system  connects  a  number  of 
small  towns  is  building  a  25-mile  22,000-volt  transmission 
line,  the  conductors  of  which  are  ^-in.  iron  cable  carried  on 
35-ft.  poles  set  twenty  to  the  mile.  The  problem  of  the 
rural  transmission  line,  with  its  light  loading,  is  chiefly  one 
of  mechanical  strength  rather  than  electrical  carrying 
capacity,  and  since  the  conductivity  of  the  iron  cable  is 
about  one-sixth  that  of  copper,  this  J^-in.  conductor  used 
will  about  equal  No.  6  copper  wire.  Laid  down  along  the 
right-of-way  the  material  for  this  line  is  costing  about  $300 
per  mile,  and  it  is  estimated  another  $100  will  be  required 
for  erection,  making  the  total  cost  of  construction  $400  per 
mile.  Data  on  the  resistance,  reactance,  regulation,  etc.,  of 
the  25-mile  line  will  be  available  within  sixty  days,  or  as 
soon  as  the  line  has  been  put  into  service  and  tested. 


INDORSEMENT  OF  CODE  STANDARDS. 


Official  electricians  in  over  fifty  cities  and  towns  of 
Colorado.  Wyoming  and  New  Mexico  have  issued  bulletins 
requiring  the  exclusive  use  of  191 1  National  Electric  Code 
specification  rubber-covered  wire,  flexible  cord,  armored 
cable  and  fixture  wire  in  all  installations  made  on  or  after 
Nov.  I,  1912.  This  action  accords  with  earlier  recom- 
mendations of  the  Rocky  Mountain  Fire  Underwriters' 
Association. 


Some  of  tliL'  paradoxes  of  interior  electrical  construction 
— unnoticed,  perhaps,  because  so  familiar — were  pointed  out 
by  Mr.  Waldemar  Michaelsen,  city  electrician  of  Omaha,  in 
an  address  before  the  Omaha  Electric  Club  on  Oct.  9. 

"It  is  the  weakest  link  that  determines  the  strength  of 
the  chain,  and  all  extra  material  in  other  links  is,  in  a  sense, 
wasted."  This  statement  cannot  be  classed  as  a  news  item, 
said  the  speaker,  except  as  applied  to  electrical  construction 
work  for  inside  wiring.  Such  work  may  be  imagined  as  a 
chain  with  many  links,  whose  main  purpose  is  safety  of  life 
and  property.  It  is  important,  therefore,  that  a  good,  sound 
and  well-proportioned  chain  be  provided,  in  which  every 
link  is  sufficiently  strong  to  carry  its  share,  and  without  any 
being  so  strong  as  to  bungle  matters  without  accomplishing 
adequate  results. 

The  191 1  code  standard  rubber-covered  wire  is  a  great 
improvement  over  the  material  it  supersedes  and  will  un- 
doubtedly prove  satisfactory  to  users  as  well  as  manufac- 
turers. It  is  safe  to  say  that  this  link  of  the  chain  is 
now  heavy  enough  for  all  present  and  immediate  future 
requirements. 

The  introduction  of  iron  or  steel  conduit  was  a  great  step 
;ihead.  At  first  all  conduit  had  to  be  heavily  enameled,  not 
so  much  for  insulation  as  to  protect  against  deterioration. 
Then,  this  method  not  proving  altogether  satisfactory  under 
certain  (rather  rare)  conditions,  it  was  thought  better  to 
galvanize  the  conduit.  Further  activities  led  to  sherardizing, 
and  more  recently  to  "hot"  galvanized  conduit.  The  real  point 
aimed  at,  however,  will  probably  never  be  reached,  said  the 
speaker,  until  all  pipe  is  covered  within  and  without  with  a 
heavy  coating  of  pure  gold.  But  even  if  this  were  really 
desirable  for  a  few  special  locations,  where  fumes  or  acids 
exist,  would  such  an  expensive  product  be  justified  every- 
where else  ?  Plumbers  and  steam  and  gas-fitters  have  been 
contented  for  years  with  materials  inferior  to  ours,  which 
are  used  as  conductors  for  liquids  and  gases  under  high 
temperatures  and  pressures.  On  the  other  hand,  for  elec- 
trical work  these  pipes  serve  only  as  a  raceway  through 
which  to  pull  wires. 

Connections  to  conduit  fittings  by  means  of  bushings  and 
lock-nuts  the  speaker  believed  to  be  poor  practice,  declaring 
them  unworkmanlike,  both  electrically  and  mechanically. 
No  connections  on  conduit  should  be  made,  he  declared, 
except  by  screw-threads,  even  if  a  suitab'e  fitting  must  be 
found  to  take  the  place  of  the  steam-fitter's  "union."  Con- 
sider, too,  for  example,  he  urged,  the  use  of  tapered  pipe- 
threads  on  conduit  to  be  screwed  into  straight  machine- 
threaded  couplings.  Do  enameled  boxes,  fittings  or  cabinets 
make  for  preservation  of  electrical  continuity  in  conduit 
systems  ? 

But,  while  these  points  have  been  overlooked,  other  links 
in  the  chain,  insisted  Mr.  Michaelsen,  have  been  so  neglected 
that  they  are  almost  past  the  danger  line.  One  of  these  is 
the  use  of  knife  switches.  Conductors  throughout  their 
entire  run,  no  matter  how  inaccessib'e,  are  carefully  in- 
sulated to  prevent  leakage  and  accidental  contact.  Knife 
switches,  however,  are  generally  placed  where  they  may  not 
onlv  be  touched  but  where  they  are  intended  to  be  handled, 
not  by  experts,  but  by  people  who  know  nothing  about  elec- 
tricity. Here  all  protection  and  all  insulation  is  removed, 
and  opposite  polarities  are  placed  in  close  proximity,  with 
its  consequent  dangers.  The  practice  was  bad  enough  in  the 
old  days,  when  circuits  were  religiously  kept  clear  from 
grounds,  but  it  is  many  times  worse  now  when  secondary 
circuits  are  either  grounded  or  harbor  the  still  greater 
danger  of  crosses  with  high-potential  wires.  Whether  such 
switches  shou'd  be  insulated  throughout,  placed  in  self- 
closing  boxes  or  entirely  remodeled,  the  author  offered  to 
submit  to  the  judgment  of  others,  but  this  link,  in  his  judg- 
ment, is  very  badly  in  need  of  "fixing." 


946 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  18. 


The  same  reasoning,  he  said,  applies  to  a  great  extent  to 
Hghting  fixtures.  These,  meant  to  be  handled  by  laymen,  are 
the  flimsiest  parts  of  most  installations.  In  the  construction 
of  fixtures  the  designer's  dream  seems  always  to  be  given 
the  right-of-way  over  the  electrician's  necessities,  and 
thought  of  safety  is  secondary. 

Present  practice  in  installing  watt-hour  meters  is  also 
worthy  of  consideration.  The  wires  leading  to  and  from 
the  meter,  even  if  out  of  reach,  are  carefully  inclosed  in 
conduit.  But  where  they  enter  the  meter,  generally  within 
easy  reach  from  the  floor,  they  are  stripped  of  their  armor 
and  in  unprotected  and  dangling  loops  are  brought  into  and 
out  of  the  case.  Meters  could  easily  be  made  so  the  conduit 
might  directly  enter  the  casing  on  both  sides,  avoiding  the 
appearance  of  unfinished  work  and  the  test  of  the  honesty 
of  the  consumer. 

Power  lines  and  connections  to  motors,  after  being  care- 
fully guarded  throughout  their  entire  run,  are  at  the  machine 
stripped  of  all  protection,  save  the  rubber  insulation,  and 
connected  by  coils  or  loops  to  the  lead  wires  of  the  motor, 
often  exposing  bare  terminals.  Here  more  than  any  place 
else  is  where  the  wires  are  subject  to  interference  by  the 
floor  sweeper  and  the  motor  attendant,  and  here  is  where 
they  are  left  without  protection  against  mechanical  injury  or 
accidental  contacts.  The  old  argument  that  this  is  necessary 
"in  order  to  permit  the  motor  to  be  shifted  for  belt-tighten- 
ing" used  to  be  partly  correct,  but  the  majority  of  motors 
installed  nowadays  are  never  moved  at  all.  Those  that  are 
to  be  moved  might  have  their  conductors  protected  by 
flexible  steel  conduit.  Motors  could  well  be  made  with  a 
connection  box  similar  in  detail  to  an  ordinary  outlet  box, 
and  fitted  with  covers  permitting  direct  entrance  of  conduit 
or  with  bushings  for  open  work.  In  such  a  box  the  leads 
from  the  motor  should  terminate,  and  within  the  box  all 
joints  between  line  wires  and  lead  wires  should  be  made  by 
soldering,  just  as  for  all  other  outlets. 

As  a  rule,  nine  wires  are  led  into  alternating-current  com- 
pensators and  starters  for  three-phase  motors.  Immediately 
above  such  starters  there  is  generally  located  a  fuse  block 
for  the  running  load.  It  is  utterly  impossible  to  make  a 
mechanically  finished  and  electrically  safe  job  of  these 
installations  without  inclosing  the  entire  starter  and  fuse  in 
a  steel  cabinet,  which  makes  a  very  clumsy  appearance. 
Better  construction  might  result  if  these  starters  were  re- 
quired to  contain  the  fuse  in  a  box,  made  part  of  the  starter 
housing,  as  was  done  on  the  old-time  transformers  which 
had  a  box  with  primary  fuses  at  the  top  and  one  for 
secondary  fuses  at  the  bottom.  It  would  then  be  possible  to 
let  one  conduit  enter  this  box  for  the  three  incoming  wires 
and  another  for  the  three  wires  to  the  motor,  while  the  last 
three  connections  would  be  made  right  in  the  box. 

Again,  in  the  case  of  starting  rheostats  and  speed  con- 
trollers for  direct-current  motors,  one  meets  open  and  abso- 
lutely unprotected  contacts  within  reach  of  operators  and 
the  public,  and  very  often  mounted  above  grounded  floors. 
There  is,  as  a  rule,  only  about  J4  in.  between  the  position  of 
safety  on  the  handle  and  danger  on  the  contact  points.  The 
face-plates  of  such  rheostats  generally  carry  three  or  more 
binding  posts  with  screw  connections,  presenting  an  alluring 
temptation  for  meddling,  as  well  as  the  unavoidable  dangers 
of  screw  contacts.  This  construction  evidently  had  its 
origin  at  the  time  when  it  was  always  a  question  whether  a 
given  starting  box  would  be  all  right  for  this  or  that  pur- 
pose. It  also  made  provision  for  quick  removal  when  the 
rheostat  burned  out.  But  all  these  conditions  have  changed 
long  ago.  Could  not  such  starting  boxes  be  made  with  all 
contacts  on  the  back  of  the  face-plate?  It  would  be  easy 
enough  to  see  when  they  spark  and  need  cleaning,  as  the 
sparking  would  readily  show  through  the  housing  of  the 
rheostat.  It  would  also  be  easy  to  clean  the  contacts  if  the 
face  plate  were  mounted  with  hinges  so  that  it  might  be 
opened  for  inspection  and  repairs.  As  for  the  binding  posts, 
the  author  recommended  that   they   be   entirely   eliminated 


and  the  terminals  connected  to  the  line  wires  by  soldered 
joints  in  an  outlet  box,  as  described  for  motors. 

In  conclusion,  said  Mr.  Michaelsen,  there  is  no  excuse  for 
the  electrical  profession  to  provide  an  over-measure  of 
safety  in  certain  parts  of  installations  and  permit  absolute 
danger  to  exist  elsewhere.  By  construction  of  the  kind  out- 
lined above,  he  declared  that  all  interests  would  be  better 
served.  The  consumer  and  user  would  secure  safety  and 
less  deterioration;  the  manufacturers  and  contractors  could 
produce  installations  they  could  be  proud  of,  and  inspectors 
would  neither  need  to  be  ashamed  to  pass  such  work  nor 
live  in  constant  fear  of  a  penitentiary  term  for  approving 
work  which  any  man  with  ever  so  little  experience  should 
see,  and  ought  to  know,  is  dangerous. 


STREET  LIGHTING   IN  ALAMEDA,  CAL. 


The  street-lighting  problem  in  Alameda,  Cal.,  has  ap- 
parently been  solved  in  a  very  satisfactory  manner,  as  to 
costs  of  installation,  maintenance  and  service.  Alameda  is 
a  suburban  residence  city  on  the  east  side  of  San  Fran- 
cisco Bay,  south  of  Oakland,  and  is  particularly  noted  for 
the  abundance  of  beautiful  trees  along  its  streets  and 
boulevards,  which,  as  in  many  Western  cities  of  30,000 
population,  are  well  paved,  even  in  the  more  thinly  settled 
portions. 

Street-lighting  experience  in  Alameda  commenced  with 
arc  lamps  grouped  on  a  few  high  towers.  Later  series  direct- 
current  arc  lamps  at  rather  infrequent  intervals  on  street 
corners  were  installed,  these  being  in  turn  replaced  by 
alternating-current  arc  lamps  supplemented  by  some  series 
incandescent  carbon-filament  lamps.  Owing  to  the  dense 
and  ever-green  foliage  very  little  of  the  light  was  efifective 
on  the  streets. 

The  advent  of  the  tungsten  lamp  seemed  to  ofifer  an  op- 


3'P.fia 


CONCHETC     BA5t 
MOULDEO     -N     PLACE 


Figs.    1    and   2 — Standard    Adopted    at   Alameda,    Cal. 

portunity  for  providing  eflScient  lamps  below  the  foliage  and 
at  the  same  time  a  good  distribution  of  light.  As  property 
values  are  comparatively  low,  averaging  from  $30  to  $100 
per  front  foot,  the  question  of  cost  was  an  important  fea- 
ture. It  was  evidently  impracticable  to  run  overhead  wires 
to  feed  energy  to  electroliers  of  ordinary  height,  and  the 


November  a,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


947 


cost  of  Mnderground  wiring  appeared  at  first  sight  to  be 
prohibitive. 

Considerable  experimenting  was  done  to  obtain  a  base  and 
system  of  wiring  best  adapted  to  meet  the  conditions,  and 
in  the  Alameda  post,  which,  though  not  particularly  orna- 
mental, is  pleasing  in  appearance,  the  necessary  massiveness 
and  rigidity  are  obtained  by  means  of  a  concrete  base  with 


Fig.  3 — Typical  Street  View  at  Alameda.  Cal. 

an  upper  portion  consisting  of  two  sizes  of  ordinary  gas- 
pipe  with  a  cast-iron  globe  holder,  located  8  ft.  above  the 
curb.    The  city  ordinance  requires  trees  to  be  trimmed  9  ft. 

AVERAGE  COST  OF  LIGHTING  INSTALLATION  IN  ALAMEDA. 


Material. 


Cost  per 
Post. 


Cost  per 

Assessed 

Foot. 


Lamp-post til.  7  700 

Conduit. . ..- 6.4560 

Junction  boxes 0.2124 

No.  10  duplex  wire i  3  .6610 

Extras i  0.9149 

Labor I  4.7561 


- 


$27.7704 


SO. 0873 
0.0473 
0.0016 
0.0301 
0.0068 
0.0353 


assessment  charges  were  25  cents  per  front  foot  of  prop- 
erty. The  actual  cost  has  been  somewhat  less  than  this 
and  it  is  probable  that  a  small  refund  will  be  made.  There 
are  at  present  some  3000  electroliers  installed  and  there  will 
be  about  4000  when  the  work  of  lighting  the  entire  city  is 
completed. 

The  average  cost  of  the  first  six  districts,  including  1952 
lamp-posts,  with  an  assessed  street  frontage  of  263,507  ft., 
is  shown  in  the  table  in  the  first  column  of  this  page. 

Owing  to  the  location  of  two  lamps  at  intersecting  street 
corners,  the  average  distance  for  electroliers  between  lamps 
on  one  side  of  the  street  is  about  135  ft. 

ITEMIZED  COST  OF  ALAMEDA  POSTS. 


JUNCTION  BOX. 

Casting $0.30        |       Bushings $0,084 

Drilling  and  tapping O.OS  Scjews i.0.016 

Gasket 0.03        I       Compound 0.02 

CONDUIT  PER  FOOT. 

Conduit,  5  in $0.0493  Dipping $0.0024 

LAMP-POST. 


Cast-iron  top $1 ,00 

Cast-iron  box 0.30 

Pipe,  7  ft.  of  3.5  in 1.66 

Pipe,  4  ft.  of  3  in 0.72 

Nipple,  J  in.  by  3  in 0.02 

,Reducer,  3 .5  in.  by  3  in 0 .  46 

Concrete  base 3.75 

Globe,  12  in.  by  6  in 1.00 

Tungsten  lamp,  60-watt 56 


Socket $0.08 

Cut-out 0.11 

Fuse  plugs 0  .06 

Screws 0  .04 

Bushings 0 .  06 

Wire,  No.  10  duplex 0.29 

Labor 0.36 

Painting 0 .  25 


Condulets 
Solder 
Gasoline 
Caps 


EXTRAS. 

Paste  Paint 

Brushes  Lamps 

Screws  Couplings 

Straps  Tape 

Depreciation  of  Tools 


Globes 
Nipples 
Oil    ''1 

Fuses 


$0.2084 


This  appears  to  be  a  remarkably  low  cost  for  an  elec- 
trolier system  with  underground  wiring. 

Exception  may  be  taken  to  the  character  of  conduit  and  to 
the  method  used  for  the  underground  distribution  from 
the  pole  transformer  to  the  electroliers,  but,  as  some  of  this 
work  has  been  in  use  for  more  than  two  years  and  has 
given  no  trouble  whatever,  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any 
justification  for  a  more  expensive  system  of  conduit,  at  least 
where  similar  climatic  and  other  conditions  prevail.  The 
accompanying  illustrations  show  fully  the  details  of  con- 
struction and  the  general  appearance  of  the  electrolier  as 
used  in  Alameda.  The  consulting  engineer  for  the  entire 
installation  was  Mr.  Wynn  Meredith,  of  the  firm  of  Sander- 
son &  Porter,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


above  the  curb,  and  this  height  permits  the  unobstructed 
lighting  of  the  road  surface  and  sidewalks.  The  posts  are 
placed  about  75  ft.  apart  on  opposite  sides  of  the  streets, 
making  the  spacing  on  each  side  150  ft.  At  the  intersection 
of  streets  a  post  is  placed  on  each  diagonal  corner. 

Use  is  made  of  ordinary  iio-volt,  60-watt  tungsten  lamps 
operated  in  parallel  and  fed  with  energy  from  a  pole  trans- 
former connected  to  a  special  2300-volt,  constant-potential 
street-lighting  circuit.  Each  transformer  supplies  energy 
for  the  lamps  on  two  and  a  half  blocks  of  streets  each  way. 
The  iio-volt  circuit  is  carried  down  the  pole  and  distribution 
to  the  lamp-posts  is  made  under  ground  with  ordinary  gal- 
vanized-iron  conduit  buried  a  few  inches  below  the  sod 
in  the  parking  between  the  curb  and  the  sidewalk.  A  cast- 
iron  outlet  box  with  cover  is  embedded  in  the  concrete  base 
of  each  pole  to  facilitate  the  drawing  in  of  wires,  and  this 
houses  a  double-pole  fuse  block.  The  lamp  is  protected  by 
a  i2-in.  opalescent  globe  and  all  e.xposed  metal  and  cement 
surfaces  are  painted  dark  green. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  feature  in  connection  with 
the  installation  is  its  low  cost  and  the  satisfactory  life  of 
standard  iio-volt  tungsten  lamps  when  carried  on  a  post 
of  this  construction,  which,  owing  to  the  heavy  cement  base, 
is  particularly  free  from  vibration. 

The  money  required  for  the  installation  was  provided  by 
district  assessment,  based  upon  street  improvement.     The 


RE-WmmG   POWER  PLANT,  CAR    BARN  AND 
AUXILIARY  BUILDINGS. 


At  Pueblo,  Col.,  the  Arkansas  Valley  Railway,  Light  & 
Power  Company,  controlled  by  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company, 
of  Chicago,  has  recently  completed  the  re-wiring  of  all  light- 
ing and  motor  circuits  in  its  power  plant,  car  barn  and 
auxiliary  buildings,  the  main  features  of  which  are  de- 
scribed in  what  follows: 

All  wiring  in  the  engine  room  and  basement,  auxiliary 
room,  office,  transformer  substation,  machine  shop,  black- 
smith shop,  storeroom,  laboratory  building  and  paint  shop 
is  in  conduit,  with  condulet  fittings  and  steel  cut-out  cabinets. 
The  wiring  in  the  boiler  house  was  installed  with  slow- 
burning  insulated  wire,  carried  in  iron  conduit  suspended  a 
few  feet  from  the  boilers,  at  front  and  rear,  with  condulet 
receptacles  and  locked  guards.  In  the  engine  room  the  arc 
lamps  formerly  used  have  been  replaced  with  three-lamp 
brackets,  each  outlet  containing  a  loo-watt  tungsten  filament 
lamp.  The  car  barn  is  equipped  with  sprinklers,  and 
standard  knob  construction  is  employed  except  in  the  pits 
and  on  the  side  walls,  where  conduit  is  utilized.  All  station 
transformers  for  the  synchronous  converters  and  oil- 
immersed  reactances  are  located  in  separate  compartments. 


94^ 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


witli  IS-in.  brick  containing  walls  and  reinforced  concrete 
ceiling  slabs,  having  ventilation  to  the  outside  of  the  build- 
ing, sewer  drain  connection,  standard  automatic  fire  doors 
and  concrete  raised  sills.  All  station  wiring  for  2300  volts 
or  less  is  also  in  conduit,  except  the  immediate  connections 
to  the  switchboard  buses.  The  total  cost  of  these  improve- 
ments was  about  $12,000. 


KANSAS  CONCRETE-POLE  TRANSMISSION  LINE. 


The  8oo-k\v  water-power  plant  of  the  Rocky  Ford  Power 
Company  is  connected  to  the  Manhattan  (Kan.)  Ice,  Light 
&  Power  Company's  plant  by  a  6-mile  transmission  line 
using  concrete  poles.  These  35-ft.  structures  are  rectangular 
in  section,  with  4S-deg.  corners  to  prevent  cracking,  and 
measure  15  in.  at  the  base  and  7  in.  at  the  top.  They  are 
set  at  260-ft.  intervals.  The  solid  concrete  is  reinforced 
by    four    34-in.    steel    rods.      Four-by-fonr-inch    galvanized 


35-ft.    Concrete    Pole;   Steel-Angle    Cross-Arms. 

3/'i6-in.  angle-arms  are  used,  carrying  cast-iron  pins 
through-bolted  in  place.  The  braces  are  formed  of  single, 
specially  bent  angles  of  smaller  section.  Built  in  a  central 
yard  after  some  experimentation,  these  120  poles  cost  $22 
each.  They  were  hauled  to  their  sites  and  erected  with  gin 
poles  at  a  cost  of  $5  additional  per  pole,  considerable  un- 
foreseen difficulty  having  been  experienced  in  transporting 
the  heavy  structures  through  the  soft  marsh  land  which 
the  line  traverses.  After  three  years'  service  the  line  gives 
every  evidence  of  complete  durability  and  satisfaction. 


INCREASING  POWER  REQUIREMENTS  OF  MOVING- 
PICTURE  ARCS. 


Managers  of  moving-picture  shows  are  beginning  to 
accede  to  the  public's  demands  for  at  least  a  "twilight" 
quality  of  illumination  in  the  room  during  presentation  of 
the  films,  so  that  persons  coming  in  late  can  find  seats  with- 
out groping  their  way  in  the  Stygean  darkness  which  for- 
merly prevailed.  Several  cities  have,  indeed,  made  this  the 
subject  of  ordinances,  chiefly  for  reasons  of  moral  protection 
to  the  young  people  who  frequent  the  exhibitions.  Mil- 
waukee, for  example,  has  a  law  fixing  the  minimum  lamp 
wattage  per  square  foot  of.  floor  area  to  be  kept  burning 
during  exhibitions.    In  other  places  attentive  managers  have 


observed  and  profited  by  the  fact  that  the  most  popular 
show  houses  are  those  which  are  best  lighted  during  the 
pictures. 

This  higher  illumination  in  the  auditorium  has  called  for 
rapidly  increasing  powers  of  the  projecting  arcs,  in  order  to 
produce  good  "conlrasty"  pictures,  A  manufacturer  of  1 
6G-cycle  rotary  converters  for  supplying  direct-current  to  f 
picture  machines  lately  reports  being  forced  to  bring  out 
new  ratings  of  much  larger  ampere  rating  than  the  original 
stock  built  under  the  requirements  of  even  a  year  ago,  A 
30-amp  direct-current  arc  used  to  be  considered  of  good 
size,  but  machines  are  now  in  use  employing  i-in,  carbon 
electrodes  and  demanding  65  amp.  The  next  step  seems 
likely  to  be  loo-amp  lamps  for  the  larger  houses.  Direct 
current,  of  course,  provides  a  better  and  more  efficient  arc, 
but  the  fact  that  four-fifths  of  the  centra!  stations  in  this 
country  distribute  only  alternating  current  makes  some 
form  of  converter  apparatus  necessary. 

In  another  direction  the  central-station  man,  who  is  often 
the  sole  local  exponent  of  good-lighting  principles,  can  do 
much  to  conserve  the  eyesight  and  comfort  of  his  com- 
munity by  urging  nickel-show  managers  to  remove  or  shield 
all  lamp  filaments  from  the  vision  of  the  audience.  All  too 
frequently  the  visitor  finds  low  side-lamps  with  reflectors 
pointed  directly  at  the  chairs,  exposed  orchestra  or  piano- 
score  fixtures,  or  even  some  such  surface  as  a  c'ock-face  or 
program  sign  with  unnecessarily  high  illumination,  the  in- 
tensity of  which,  compared  with  the  picture,  forms  an 
annoving  source  of  glare  all  during  the  performance. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


WOOD  PRESERVATION. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs  : — In  view  of  the  discussion  nowadays  regarding  the 
preservation  of  wooden  poles,  it  is  believed  that  an  outline 
of  the  method  adopted  by  the  Tyler  (Tex.)  City  Light  & 
Railway  Company  should  prove  of  interest. 

When  the  building  of  the  street-car  system  in  Tyler  was 
undertaken  the  agents  of  several  wood-preserving  com- 
panies put  in  an  appearance,  each  one  claiming  to  have  not 
only  the  best  but  the  surest  way  of  saving  the  pole.  After 
making  a  very  careful  study  of  the  matter,  together  with 
the  character  of  the  soil,  the  writer  arrived  at  the  conclu- 
sion that  to  treat  a  pole  with  the  preservers  that  are  on  the 
market  to-day  would  not  be  best,  for  the  following  reason: 
Dipping  or  painting  the  butt  of  a  pole  with  asphaltum  prep- 
arations not  only  prevents  the  moisture  from  getting  in 
the  pole  but  also  forms  a  hard  coating  or  shell  on  all  the 
pole  surface  below  the  ground,  which  tends  to  hold  any 
moisture  that  may  get  into  the  po'e  over  the  top  of  the 
shell.  The  moisture  thus  confined  has  every  chance  to 
carry  on  the  rotting  and  decaying  process  undisturbed.  In 
order  to  eliminate  this  trouble,  the  Tyler  City  Light  & 
Raihvav  Company  treats  or  paints  its  poles  to  about  6  in. 
above  the  ground  with  a  heavy  oil  such  as  is  used  on  railway 
curves.  This  oil  is  very  high  in  asphalt  content  and  creates 
a  greasy  condition  of  the  fibers  at  the  butt  end  of  the  pole. 
It  is  believed  that  they  will  remain  greasy  for  several  years 
and  that  no  moisture  can  enter  the  pole.  Hence  the  pole 
wi'l  not  be  rotted  from  that  cause.  From  the  ground  up 
the  poles  are  painted  with  white  lead  mixed  in  high-grade 
oil.  This  is  made  high  in  oil  for  the  first  coat,  and  the  entire 
surface  is  covered  with  it.  For  the  second  coat  the  poles 
are  covered  7  ft.  above  the  ground  with  black  graphite  paint, 
and  from  this  line  to  the  top  they  receive  a  second  coat  of 
high-grade  white-lead  paint. 

Tyler.  Tex.  William  C,  Thayek. 


-November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


949 


Digest  of  Current   Electrical   Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Single-Ph-ase  Induction  Motors. — R.  Moser. — The  first 
part  of  a  mathematical  paper  on  the  theory  of  the  single- 
phase  induction  motor.  There  are  two  usual  theories,  one 
based  on  the  resolution  of  the  single-phase  alternating  flux 
into  two  rotary  fluxes  revolving  in  opposite  directions  and 
the  other,  the  "cross-flux  theory,"  based  on  the  fact  that 
the  voltages  induced  in  the  rotor  windings  can  be  resolved 
into  two  components  with  special  properties.  The  author 
endeavors  to  give  a  theory  of  the  single-phase  induction 
motor  without  making  use  of  any  auxiliary  conceptions. 
In  the  present  instalment  he  gives  formulas  for  single- 
phase  stator  windings,  the  stator  emf,  the  application  of 
stray-flux  coefficients  to  single-phase  machines,  the  current 
of  a  single-phase  motor  when  loaded  and  the  emf  induced 
by  a  single-phase  flux  in  a  rotating  winding. — Elek.  u. 
Masch.  (Vienna),  Oct.  13,  1912. 

Three-Phase  Commutator  Motors. — M.  Schenkel. — The 
conclusion  of  the  English  translation  of  his  recent  Ger- 
man paper  on  the  Siemens-Schuckert  three-phase  com- 
mutator motor.  After  a  discussion,  with  the  aid  of  dia- 
grams, of  the  operation  of  a  three-phase  series  motor  with 
a  single  set  of  brushes  he  takes  up  the  discussion  of  the 
operation  with  a  double  set  of  brushes,  as  used  by  the 
Siemens-Schuckert  company.  These  motors  are  now  used 
for  pumps  and  fans,  in  textile  factories  and  for  mine  hoists, 
and  are  also  to  be  applied  to  rolling-mill  work. — London 
Electrician,  Oct.  11,  1912. 

Braking  Polyphase  Series  Commutator  Motors. — ^F. 
NiETHAMMER  AND  E.  SiEGEL. — An  illustrated  mathematical 
article  in  which  the  author  shows  that  it  is  possib'e  to 
brake  the  polyphase  series  commutator  motor  in  such  a 
way  as  to  return  energy  into  the  network  so  that  it  be- 
haves almost  exactly  like  a  single-phase  repulsion  motor. 
In  order  to  suppress  the  self-excitation  "braking  resist- 
ances" are  inserted  in  the  different  phases.  These  may  be 
the  smaller  the  higher  the  magnetic  reluctance  offered  to 
the  rotor  flux  in  the  motor  (for  instance,  due  to  the  use 
of  high  iron  induction  and  large  air-gaps)  or  the  higher 
the  magnetic  reluctance  of  the  transformers  which  are 
connected  to  the  motor. — Elek.  n.  Masch.  (Vienna).  Sept. 
29,   19 1 2. 

Converter. — J.  H.  Jacobsen. — An  illustated  article  on  the 
"auto-converter  C.  M.  B."  of  MacFarlane  and  Burge,  which 
transforms  the  voltage  of  a  direct-current  distribution  sys- 
tem to  any  voltage  between  zero  and  double  the  voltage  of 
supply.  The  author  discusses  the  practical  uses  of  this 
machine,  which  is  being  introduced  in  France.  The  char- 
acteristic features  of  this  converter  are  that  it  has  only 
one  armature  winding  and  a  single  commutator  and  that 
the  magnetic  circuit  is  independent  of  the  cast  frame  of 
the  machine.  For  this  reason  it  is  much  lighter  and  smaller 
than  motor-generators  of  the  same  capacity.  The  arrange- 
ment of  the  windings  is  carried  out  in  two  different  ways 
according  to  whether  the  secondary  is  to  furnish  a  con- 
stant voltage  or  a  constant  current.  The  author  gives  the 
characteristic  curves  of  two  such  machines,  one  being  for 
supply  of  arc  lamps  without  resistances  and  the  other  for 
the  purpose  of  electric  welding. — La  Lnniiere  Elcc,  Oct.  5, 
1912. 

Reactance  Voltage. — J.  Liska. — An  article  on  the  calcu- 
lation and  experimental  determination  of  the  "mean  react- 
ance voltage"  in  direct-current  machines.  The  results  of 
the  various  experiments  show  that  Arnold's  method  of  cal- 
culating the  mean  reactance  voltage  and  the  commutation 
poles  gives  results  which  are  sufficiently  accurate  for  prac- 
tical use. — Elek.  «.  Masch.  (Vienna),  Oct.  6,  1912. 


Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Arc-Lamp  Feeding  Mechanism. — A  note  on  a  recent 
British  patent  (No.  1755,  Oct.  3,  1912)  of  F.  Steinhert.  A 
ratchet  gear  exerts  alternately  a  supporting  and  a  releas- 
ing action  on  the  electrodes.  The  electrodes  are  inclined, 
one  having  teeth  formed  on  it.  The  feeding  gear  takes  the 
form  of  a  reciprocating  double  pawl  engaging  with  its 
upper  end  beneath  one  of  the  teeth  of  the  electrode,  and 
by  pivoting  outward  is  removed  from  the  tooth  so  that  the 
carbon  falls  one  tooth,  while  its  other  end,  resting  against 
the  lowest  tooth,  is  drawn  nearer  to  the  electrode.  Alter- 
natively, the  feeding  gear  may  consist  of  a  clock-work- 
driven  spindle  on  which  is  a  worm  parallel  to  the  electrode 
engaging  a  rotary  support  beneath  one  of  the  teeth.  The 
gear  is  controlled  by  a  brake,  which  bears  against  the  lower 
end  of  the  electrode  until  the  lowest  tooth  is  burned  away 
so  much  as  to  permit  it  to  lose  its  support. — London  Elec. 
Eng'jng,  Oct.  10,  1912. 

Fittings  for  Metallic-Filament  Lamps. — L.  Bloch.— The 
author  describes  various  special  reflectors  and  fittings  for 
interior  lighting  with  metallic-filament  lamps. — Elek.  u. 
Masch.  (Vienna),  Oct.  13,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Water-Power  Plant  in  Brasil. — F.  Frederick. — Santos, 
in  the  republic  of  Brazil,  is  one  of  the  great  coffee-ship- 
ping ports  of  the  world  and  for  the  development  of  its 
waterfront  has  required  an  elaborate  system  of  quays. 
These  have  been  developed  by  the  Santos  Dock  Company, 
which  holds  a  concession  for  the  whole  waterfront.  The 
company,  needing  electric  power  for  its  own  use,  has  de- 
veloped an  electric  distribution  system  deriving  its  power 
from  a  point  about  30  miles  from  the  city,  where  a  small 
stream  plunges  down  the  seacoast  from  the  mountain  range 
that  runs  beside  it.  Eventually  100,000  hp  can  be  obtained 
from  this  source,  but  the  present  capacity  of  the  plant  is 
only  15,000  kva.  The  system  and  the  equipment  exhibit 
no  radical  departures  from  current  .\merican  practice. — 
Gen.  Elec.  Review,  October,  1912. 

Traction. 

Single-Phase  Traction  in  Nonwiy. — F.  Marguerre. — The 
first  part  of  an  illustrated  paper  on  the  Rjukanfos  single- 
phase  railway  in  Norway.  The  present  instalment  gives  a 
general  outline  of  the  conditions  of  the  road  and  of  the 
reasons  which  led  to  the  choice  of  the  electric  system. — 
La  Lumicre  Elec.  Sept.  28,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

High-Tension  Substation  Design. — C.  M.  Rhoades. — An 
article  illustrated  by  numerous  diagrams  in  which  the 
author  gives  some  comparative  designs  for  a  particular 
problem  in  high-tension  substation  design  with  reference  to 
the  advantages  of  outdoor,  semi-outdoor  and  indoor  stations. 
As  is  pointed  out  in  a  separate  editorial  by  A.  H.  Kruesi, 
the  results  of  this  study  do  not  show  any  marked  advantage 
for  the  outdoor  design,  although  this  advantage  may  become 
more  marked  as  apparatus  becomes  more  highly  developed 
and  lower  in  cost.  All  investigations  so  far  point  to  the 
fact  that  for  stations  of  importance  and  considerable  size 
the  advantage  of  the  outdoor  construction  is  very  small. 
Its  field  for  some  time  to  come  will  probably  be  limited  to 
small  transformer  stations  and  transfer  or  switching 
stations.  As  a  general  rule,  the  semi-outdoor  type  repre- 
sents the  preferable  practice  as  compared  with  the  outdoor 
type,  and  its  advantages  over  the  outdoor  construction 
warrant  its  present  use. — Gen.  Elec.  Review,  October,  1912. 

Glasgow. — An    abstract   of    the    financial    report    of   the 


950 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vou  6a,  No.  1 8. 


municipal  electric  station  in  Glasgow  for  1911-12.  The 
total  output  was  44,492,630  kw-hr.  sold.  Over  16,000,000 
kw-hr.  were  for  private  lighting,  and  of  these  8,244,166 
were  sold  at  7  cents,  1,839,004  at  6  cents,  389,872  at  4  cents, 
1,625,411  at  3  cents,  193  at  2  cents  and  4,195,999  at  1.5  cents. 
Over  26,000,000  kw-hr.  were  sold  for  private  power  and 
415,000  for  heating  and  cooking  to  domestic  consumers. 
The  motor-service  and  heating  supply  was  sold  as  follows : 
6,416,416  kw-hr.  at  3  cents,  2,033,586  at  2  cents,  8,296,422  at 
1.5  cents  and  9,680,280  at  i  cent.  During  the  last  year  the 
scheme  whereby  domestic  consumers  can  obtain  a  supply 
of  energy  for  cooking,  heating,  etc.,  at  2  cents  per  kw-hr. 
without  separate  wiring  has  continued  to  give  favorable  re- 
sults, the  number  of  consumers  now  taking  advantage  of 
this  scheme,  which  was  started  only  in  October,  1910,  being 
560.  During  the  last  year  3.258  lb.  of  coal  was  consumed 
per  kilowatt-hour  generated,  compared  with  3.478  the  year 
before.  This  represents  a  total  yearly  saving  equivalent  to 
5200  tons.  The  use  that  has  been  made  in  the  generating 
stations  of  recording  water  meters  and  other  apparatus  for 
insuring  efficient  and  economical  combustion  of  fuel  has 
largely  contributed  to  this  result.  The  total  connected  load 
amounted  to  61,097  kw. — London  Electrician,  Oct.  11,  1912. 
Storage  Battery  Sivitch. — ^C.  Kjar. — The  author  first 
compares  the  voltage  regulation  of  storage  batteries  in 
lighting  systems  by  means  of  special  switches  with  acces- 


to  reach  the  position  in  Fig.  2,  while  simultaneously  and 
automatically  the  auxiliary  cell  switch  H  is  turned  to  the 
right.  In  this  way  the  battery  group  E^,  which  consists  of 
four  cells,  has  been  added,  but  at  the  same  time  the  two 
auxiliary  cells  E  have  been  connected  in  opposition  so  that 
the  voltage  has  been  raised  only  by  the  emf  of  two  cells. 
In  order  to  increase  the  voltage  still  further  the  brushes 
K^  and  K^  are  again  moved  one-half  part  of  the  graduated 
scale,  whereby  at  the  same  time  the  auxiliary  cell  switch  H 
is  returned  into  its  original  position,  as  shown  in  Fig.  3. 
Now,  the  two  auxiliary  cells  which  were  in  opposition  have 
been  disconnected  and  the  voltage  has  been  increased  again 
by  that  of  two  cells.  In  this  way  the  auxiliary  cells  are 
never  discharged;  they  do  not  need  to  have  any  capacity, 
and  their  electrodes  may  consist  of  simple  lead  plates.  A 
further  modification  of  this  method  is  also  described. — 
Elec.  Zeit.,  Oct.  10,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Calculating  Networks. — H.  Frohmann. — A  mathematical 
article  describing  various  practical  applications  of  the  fol- 
lowing principles:  The  calculation  of  a  network  may  be 
based  on  the  determination  of  the  balancing  currents. 
These  balancing  currents  are  caused  by  the  differences  in 
the  voltage  drops  to  different  points  of  the  network,  due 
to    the    loads    of   the    consumers.      With    respect    to    the 


,f,  5, 


d^    S, 


+  I  +  -<-  I 

Figs.  1,  2  and  3 — Method  of  Voltage  Regulation  of  Storage  Batteries 


sory  Storage  cells  and  regulation  by  means  of  boosters,  fa- 
voring the  former  method.  In  order  to  reduce  the  rather 
high  cost  of  the  switch  installation  for  large  batteries  it  is 
important  to  reduce  the  number  of  switch  connections. 
In  order  to  reduce  them  to  one-half  of  the  number  in  the 
original  arrangement  each  switch  group  (number  of  cells 
between  the  switch  contacts)  is  doubled,  but  in  order  to 
enable  one  to  get  the  same  exactness  of  regulation  a  spe- 
cial group  of  cells  (the  auxiliary  cells),  which  has  one- 
half  as  many  cells  as  a  regular  switch  group,  is  periodically 
connected  to  the  system.  This  is  done  by  the  battery  switch. 
The  author  first  describes  the  pioneer  system  of  Erlacher 
and  Besso  and  a  later  system  of  the  Siemens-Schuckert 
company.  He  finally  describes  two  new  systems  which 
have  various  practical  advantages.  The  special  feature 
of  the  first  is  that  the  auxiliary  cells  are  used  exclusively 
as  polarization  cells  (being  connected  in  opposition).  In 
Fig.  I,  which  shows  the  first  position,  £j,  E^,  E^,  £„  £„  are 
the  battery  groups  and  E  the  auxiliary  cells.  In  the  position 
of  Fig.  I  the  auxiliary  cells  E  are  not  active.  If  it  is 
intended  to  raise  the  voltage  the  brushes  AT,  and  K,  are 
moved  upward  by  half  a  step  on  the  graduated  scale  so  as 


balancing  currents,  a  loaded  network  with  feeding  points 
of  equal  potential  may  be  replaced  by  an  unloaded  network 
of  the  same  configuration  with  feeding  points  of  fixed 
unequal  potentials,  since  the  production  of  the  balancing 
currents  is  determined  solely  by  the  voltage  differences,  no 
matter  how  they  are  caused.  It  is  shown  that  this  prin- 
ciple greatly  simplifies  various  calculations. — Elek.  m. 
Masch.  (Vienna),  Sept.  29,  1912. 

Duralumin. — Duralumin  is  an  aluminum  alloy  containing 
90  per  cent  aluminum.  The  author  gives  various  details  as 
to  its  mechanical  properties  and  resistance  against  chemical 
influences.  He  then  discusses  the  application  of  duralumin 
to  electric  line  construction. — Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna), 
Sept.  29  and  Oct.  6,  1912. 

Electrochemistry  and   Batteries. 

Theory  of  Relativity. — R.  D.  Carmichael. — A  theoretical 
paper  giving  a  careful  analysis  of  the  postulates  of  the 
theory  of  relativity.  The  object  is  to  establish  some  of  the 
most  fundamental  and  most  readily  accessible  conclusions 
of  the  theory  on  the  smallest  possible  foundation  from  the 
postulates. — Phys.  Rezneu;  September,  1912. 


NOVEMBEB  2,    I9I2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


951 


Effect  of  Vibration  on  the  Resistance  of  Metals. — H.  L. 
Brakel. — The  effect  of  tension,  torsion  and  hydrostatic 
pressure  on  the  resistance  of  metals  has  been  the  subject  of 
numerous  investigations.  The  work  of  the  present  author 
is  a  study  of  the  effect  of  vibration  on  the  resistance  of 
metals.  For  this  purpose  a  method  was  derived  by  which 
metals,  in  the  form  of  wires,  could  be  vibrated  with  a 
constant  amplitude.  This  method  also  permits  the  ampli- 
tude to  change  through  a  wide  range.  The  method  is 
described  in  detail  and  the  results  obtained  with  different 
kinds  of  wires  are  given  in  form  of  diagrams.  One  of  the 
interesting  results  is  that  in  all  cases  the  change  in  resist- 
ance due  to  vibrations  could  be  removed  by  annealing  the 
wires  at  bright  red  heat. — Phys.  Rev.,  September,  1912. 

Reflection  of  Beta  Rays  by  Thin  Metal  Plates. — W.  B. 
Huff. — An  account  of  an  experimental  investigation,  the 
results  of  which  are  as  follows:  The  thinnest  obtainable 
metal  plate  may  reflect  a  measurable  amount  of  the  incident 
beta  radiation.  As  measured  by  its  ionization  in  a  small 
chamber,  the  increase  of  reflected  beta  radiation  is  initially 
closely  proportional  to  the  thickness  of  reflector.  The 
quality  of  the  reflected  beta  radiation  is  dependent  on  thick- 
ness of  reflector.  The  particles  reflected  from  a  thin  re- 
flector are  absorbed  linearly  by  thin  sheets  of  a  metal  of 
low  atomic  weight.  The  absorption  appears  to  approach 
linearity  when  both  reflector  and  absorber  are  of  high 
atomic  weight  but  extremely  thin.  The  difference  in  quality 
shown  by  beta  radiation  from  thin  and  from  thick  reflectors 
of  the  same  metal  may  be  regarded  as  evidence  of  loss  of 
speed  due  to  parsing  through  matter. — Phys.  Reiiezv.  Sep- 
tember, 1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

International  Electrotechnical  Commission. — C.  Le 
Maistre. — A  portrait  of  all  the  members  of  the  Interna- 
tional Electrotechnical  Commission  and  an  account  of  the 
work  which  has  been  done  so  far  and  the  results  accom- 
plished.— Elek.  Zeit.,  Oct.  10,  1912. 

Frog-Muscle  Recorder  for  Electric  Waves. — An  illus- 
trated description  of  an  arrangement  used  by  Lefeuvre  in 
Rennes  for  recording  the  relay  signals  emitted  from  the 
wireless  telegraph  station  of  the  Eiffel  Tower.  In  Fig.  4 
A  is  the  antenna,  T  the  earth,  E  a  battery  of  three  cells  con- 
nected to  a  potentiometer  P.  In  R  there  are  two  telephone 
receivers,  one  connected  to  the  potentiometer  P  and  the 
other  to  the  electrolytic  detector  D.     Finally  M  is  a   frog 


Ffg.  4 — Arrangement  of  Frog-Mtiscle  Recorder  for  Electric  Waves. 

muscle  which  operates  a  recording  lever  L,  the  metallic 
wire  JV  making  connection  to  the  two  terminals  of  the 
double  telephone  receiver/?.  Under  these  conditions  the  ex- 
citation of  the  frog  muscle  is  produced  by  the  self-induction 
currents  in  the  telephone  coils.  The  method  of  recording 
is  very  exact.  Examples  of  records  are  reproduced. — La 
Revue  Elec,  Sept.  13.  1912. 


Alternating  Load  Tests. — B.  P.  Haigh. — A  British  Asso- 
ciation paper  in  which  the  author  describes  a  machine  for 
testing  materials  under  repeated  stress.  Use  is  made  of  an 
alternating  magnetic  flux  applied  to  a  wire  specimen.  The 
lower  end  of  the  specimen,  W,  is  attached  to  the  armature 
^  (Fig-  5)-  This  is  a  laminated  block  of  iron,  supported 
on   flat  springs  giving   freedom   for  vertical   motion   in   a 


_rl  Attached  to 
""LL.  Specimen 


V 


Fig.    5 — Device    for    Testing    IVIaterial    Under    Repeated    Stress. 

small  range,  directly  over  the  pole  P^  of  the  magnet.  A 
magnetic  flux  (indicated  by  chain  lines)  is  produced  by  the 
large  coil  C,  and  passes  across  from  the  armature  to  the 
main  pole  Pj,  then  back  to  the  subsidiary  poles  F,  and  F,  by 
means  of  the  laminated  yoke.  The  total  air-gap  in  the 
circuit  is  made  small,  so  that  a  coil  of  moderate  size  is  suf- 
ficient to  produce  a  very  strong  flux  in  the  air-gap,  thereby 
developing  a  strong  pull  between  the  pole-face  and  the 
armature.  The  magnetic  pull  is  therefore  proportional  to 
the  square  of  the  ratio  of  volts  to  cycles,  a  relation  which 
holds  good  so  long,  as  a  constant  proportion  of  the  total 
magnetic  flux  passes  across  the  gap — that  is,  so  long  as  the 
leakage  flux  which  passes  between  the  sides  of  the  arma- 
ture and  the  pole  F,  is  a  constant  proportion  of  the  whole. 
The  precautions  necessary  to  insure  this  are  discussed. 
The  method  of  standardizing  the  machine  consists  essen- 
tially in  determining  the  mean  value  of  the  pull  of  the 
magnet.  When  this  is  known,  together  with  the  wave-shape 
of  the  magnetic  flux,  the  maximum  value  of  the  pull  is 
readily  deduced. — London  Electrician,  Oct.  4,  1912. 

Instrument  to  Measure  Capacity  and  Self-induction. — A 
note  on  a  recent  British  patent  (No.  7657,  Oct.  3,  1912) 
of  W.  P.  Thompson.  The  instrument  consists  of  two 
systems  and  is  quite  independent  of  frequency.  The 
movable  parts  are  coupled  together  and  have  no  other  con- 
trolling force.  One  is  an  electrometer  and  the  other  is  also 
an  electrometer  or  else  a  dynamometer.  Each  is  connected 
to  two  different  fixed  or  adjustable  impedances  traversed 
by  the  same  current.  Each  system  has  a  different  law  con- 
necting torque  with  angular  displacement,  so  that  the  ratio 
between  the  effective  potential  differences  impressed  on  the 
two  systems  may  be  measured. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Oct. 
10,  1912. 

Improvement  of  the  Efficiency  of  Microphones. — A  note 
stating  that  Petersen  has  improved  the  efficiency  of  tele- 
phonic transmission  by  heating  the  transmitter  so  as  to 
dilute  the  air  in  it.  In  the  Danish  experimental  station 
Hannover  has  confirmed  experimentally  the  effectiveness 
of  this  method.  It  is  added  that  the  idea  is  not  new,  since 
more  than  ten  years  ago  in  Paris  Germain  built  telephones 
which  could  be  heated  and  by  means  of  which  a  very 
effective  transmission  was  obtained. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Oct. 
10,  1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Wireless  Telegraph  on  Board  Ship. — H.  Thurn. — The 
first  part  of  a  statistical  article  on  the  use  of  wireless 
telegraphy  on  board  the  merchant  marines  of  the  different 


952 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


countries.  The  total  uuinber  of  commercial  wireless-tele- 
graph stations  in  the  world  is  now  about  3000,  of  which 
2500  are  on  board  ship.  In  the  year  191 1  the  German  wire- 
less telegraph  stations  on  land  received  and  transmitted 
13,206  wireless  telegrams.  The  English  public  stations  on 
land  transmitted  5640  telegrams  to  snips  and  received  from 
ships  34,161  telegrams.  The  German  steamers  trans- 
mitted in  191 1  on  about  780  trips  127,000  wireless  tele- 
grams; that  is,  163  telegrams  per  trip.  A  single  steamer 
on  its  trip  from  Hamburg  to  New  York  and  return  received 
and  transmitted  526  telegrams  with  6664  words.  To  send 
wireless  telegrams  from  shipboard  to  the  land  is  now  very 
popular,  but  much  less  use  is  made  of  the  possibility  of 
transmitting  telegrams  from  land  to  ship.  The  author 
begins  to  discuss  the  technical  details  of  the  wireless  stations 
in  commercial  operation.  The  article  is  to  be  concluded. — 
Elek.  Zett.,  Oct.  3,  1912. 

Condensers  for  Wireless  Telegraphy. — W.  Torikata  and 
E.  YoKOYAMA.— After  a  brief  il.ustrated  description  of  the 
Saiki  glass  plate  condenser  filled  with  wax,  the  authors 
describe  their  own  condenser  in  which  part  or  all  of  the 
surface  of  the  condenser  is  enameled.  The  dielectric 
strength  of  the  enamel  compound  is  high  and  it  is  quite  free 
from  trouble  by  moisture.  The  enamel  sticks  hard  on  the 
surface  of  the  condenser  and  is  quite  elastic,  so  that  it  does 
not  split.  There  are  various  kinds  of  enamel  compound, 
and  its  composition  has  a  great  effect  on  the  efficiency  of 
the  condenser.  From  their  tests  of  the  efficiency  of  various 
types  of  condensers  the  authors  deduce  the  following 
general  conclusions:  The  surface  as  well  as  the  edges  of 
the  metal  coating  of  the  condensers  must  be  very  smooth; 
the  smoothness  is  far  more  important  than  the  nature  of 
the  metal  itself  in  decreasing  the  total  losses  of  the  con- 
denser; the  total  length  of  the  edges  of  the  metal  coating 
must  be  as  short  as  possible  (from  this  point  of  view  it  is 
concluded  that  the  Leyden  jar  type  of  condenser  is  better 
than  the  plate  type)  ;  the  enamel  process  is  very  efficient 
and  practically  annuls  brush  discharges ;  also  it  shows  no 
difference  between  the  various  types  of  condensers  in  regard 
to  brush  discharge. — London  Electrician,  Oct.  4,  1912. 

Propagation  of  Wireless  Telegraph-  Waves. — W.  H. 
EccLEs. — A  British  Association  paper  on  certain  phenomena 
accompanying  the  propagation  of  electric  waves  over  the 
surface  of  the  globe.  This  paper  describes  some  of  the  out- 
standing phenomena  encountered  in  the  transmission  of 
electric  waves,  artificial  and  natural,  over  great  distances, 
and  shows  how  far  they  may  be  explained  on  the  hypothesis 
of  refraction  or  reflection  of  electric  waves  by  masses  of 
ionized  air. — London  Electrician.  Sept.  27,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

Training  of  Electrical  Engineers. — \V.  Reichel. — The 
conclusion  of  his  long  paper  read  before  the  German  Asso- 
ciation of  Electrical  Engineers.  An  electrical  engineer 
should  be  trained  in  three  directions — first,  in  the  theoretical 
foundations  of  electrical  engineering ;  second,  in  the  design 
and  construction  of  electrical  machines,  and,  third,  in  the 
design  and  operation  of  electrical  power  plants  and  rail- 
ways. But  besides  his  specifically  electrical  training  he 
should  not  neglect. in  any  way  the  study  of  general  mechan- 
ical engineering.  The  author  thinks  that  the  number  of 
hours  of  training  in  electrical  engineering  compared  to  the 
hours  of  training  in  general  mechanical  engineering  should 
have  the  ratio  of  83  to  87  or  about  unity. — Elek.  Zeit..  Oct. 
10,  1912. 

Mica  Insulation. — A.  P.  M.  Fleming  and  R.  Johnson. — 
An  article  on  the  use  of  mica  in  the  insulation  of  electrical 
apparatus.  The  authors  first  give  the  different  properties 
of  mica  and  give  an  outline  of  different  forms  of  com- 
mercial mica  products,  dealing  in  greater  detail  with  the 
use  of  mica  for  commutator  insulation  and  for  other  in- 
sulating purposes  in  electrical  engineering. — London  Elec. 
Review.  Sept.  20  and  27.   1912. 


Book  Reviews 

The  Electric  Circuit.  By  V.  Karapetoff.  New  York: 
McGraw-Hill  Book  Company.  218  pages,  55  illus. 
Price,  $2.  Second  and  enlarged  edition. 
A  very  practical  text-book  of  electric  circuit  laws  and 
phenomena  for  the  use  of  electrical  engineering  students.^ 
The  treatment  combines  graphic  with  analytic  methods  and 
reveals  considerable  origina.ity.  Complex  quantities  are 
applied  forcefully  to  the  discussion  of  alternating-current 
phenomena.  A  considerable  number  of  practical  problems 
are  appended,  with  their  answers,  to  each  group  of  proposi- 
tions. The  book  contains  eighteen  chapters.  The  first  three 
relate  to  the  direct-current  circuit,  the  next  four  to  alter- 
nating-current circuits.  Nos.  8  and  9  relate  to  complex 
quantities.  No.  10  deals  with  polyphase  systems.  The 
transformer  is  dealt  with  in  No.  11.  Then  follow  discus- 
sions of  the  induction  motor,  the  dielectric  circuit,  single- 
phase  cables  and  transmission  lines.  The  book  will  be  very 
useful  to  classes  of  electrical  engineering  students  in  tech- 
nical col.eges  and  also  to  the  individual  student  of  alter- 
nating; currents. 


Engineering   as    a    Vocation.      By    Ernest    McCullough. 

New  York:    David  Williams  Company.     201  pages,  4 

illus.  Price,  $1. 
.\  very  entertaining  book  written  by  an  engineer  for 
would-be  engineers.  The  style  is  genial  and  free  as  the  air 
of  the  Western  plains.  The  principles  laid  down  are  sound 
and  earnest.  The  deductions  drawn  are  those  from  ex- 
perience and  from  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  engineer- 
ing men.  The  great  generalization  to  be  drawn  from  ex- 
istence is  that  no  land,  climate,  occupation  or  mode  of  life 
has  all  the  advantages  and  none  of  the  disadvantages  in 
the  list  of  qualities.  Otherwise  that  favored  climate  and 
occupation  would  receive  all  the  prospectors.  Each  profes- 
sion has  its  advantages  and  its  drawbacks.  If  he  be  a 
candidate  for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States  a  man. 
must  expect  occasionally  to  be  shot  at.  Consequently  no- 
nian  should  select  a  profession  unless  he  feels  distinctly 
drawn  toward  it  for  its  interest  to  him  or  his  abilities  in  it. 
Engineering  is  a  profession  that  is  capable  of  richly  re-  , 
warding  the  young  man  who  with  health,  energy  and  per-  I 
severance  has  talents  for  directing  men  and  applying  mathe- 
matics. It  is  capable  of  ill-treating  less  favored  rivals. 
The  book  tells  the  storv  in  no  uncertain  manner. 


Berechnung    von     Wechselstro.m-Fernleitungen.       By    I 
Dr.   C.   Breitfeld.     Braunschweig,   Germany:     Verlag  " 
von  Friedr.  \'ieweg  &  Sohn.     89  pages,  15  illus.     Price, 
4.60  marks.  , 

This  interesting  and  carefully  prepared  little  volume  I 
bears  nearly  the  same  title  as  a  book  on  long-distance 
alternating-current  conduction  by  Dr.  G.  Roessler  pub- 
lished in  1905.  It  forms,  in  fact,  a  sequel  to  that  book 
and  maintains  a  close  relation  thereto.  Dr.  Roessler's 
method  of  dealing  with  long  alternating-current  lines  was 
thorough  and  elaborate,  but  was  difficult  to  follow  and  em- 
ployed complicated  formulas.  Dr.  Breitfeld.  in  the  present 
volume,  has  simplified  the  work  considerably  and  has  made 
it  more  accessible  to  the  general  reader  by  approximating 
more  closely  to  hyperbolic  methods.  Nevertheless,  valu- 
able and  he'pful  as  is  the  treatment  Dr.  Breitfeld  here  pre- 
sents, it  is  still  far  too  obscure  and  involved,  by  compari- 
son with  the  modern  method  of  treating  alternating-current 
lines  by  hyperbolic  functions.  One  has  onlv  to  compare 
the  formulas  of  Roessler,  as  simplified  by  Breitfeld,  with 
hyperbolic  formulas  to  see  the  great  economy  of  time  and 
labor  which  the  latter  provide.  The  book  will  be  of  great 
service  to  all  students  of  alternating-current  engineering, 
as  ofTering  a  useful  contrast  between  the  lengthv  exponen- 
tial and  the  brief  hyperbolic  mode  of  analysis. 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


953 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


ELECTRIC  TOWER  WAGON. 


An  electric  tower  wagon  for  emergency  and  repair  work 
on  its  overhead  trolley  system  has  recently  been  purchased 
by  the  Nashville  Railway  &  Light  Company,  Nashville, 
Tenn.  This  truck,  which  is  capable  of  an  average  speed 
of  18  miles  an  hour,  will  replace  two  horse-drawn  emer- 
gency wagons,  and  it  is  said  that  it  will  effect  a  substantial 
saving  in  the  operation  of  the  line  department.  Since  tower 
wagons  must  always  be  kept  in  readiness  for  emergencies, 
it  has  hitherto  been  necessary  to  have  an  equipment  of 
horses  available  for  immediate  action  both  day  and  night. 
The  new  electric  truck,  of  course,  obviates  this,  as  it  is 
always  ready  for  instant  service. 

The  truck  is  being  supplied  by  the  General  Motors  Truck 
Company,  Pontiac,  Mich.  It  is  reported  that  the  Nashville 
Company  expects  to  replace  all  of  its  horse-drawn  vehicles 
with  electric  tower  wagons  and  will  purchase  two  more 
electric  trucks  for  the  line  construction  department  in  the 


Electric     Tower     Wagon, 

near  future.  The  manufacturers  report  that  electric  trucks 
are  being  adopted  in  large  numbers  by  public-utility  com- 
panies for  use  in  city  and  suburban  zones. 


ELECTRIC  SPOT   WELDER. 


Several  newly  designed  models  of  electric  welding 
machines  have  been  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Toledo 
Electric  Welder  Company,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  As  shown 
in  the  illustrations,  special  attention  has  been  given  in  the 
new  models  to  the  problem  of  handling  work  conveniently 
from  the  mechanical  viewpoint.  Fig.  i  illustrates  the  com- 
pany's No.  150  stove  welder,  and  Fig.  2  shows  the  No.  124 
automatic  welder  for  lighter  service.  Both  machines  operate 
on  the  principle  that  in  "spot"  welding  pieces  of  sheet  steel 
can  be  fused  together  between  the  points  of  two  water- 
cooled  dies  carrying  a  current  of  high  amperage,  requiring 
only  a  fraction  of  a  second  where  the  stock  is  light.  The 
stock  offers  so  much  resistance  at  the  points  of  contact  with 
the  dies  that  its  temperature  rises  to  the  melting  point  prac- 
tically as  soon  as  the  switch  is  closed,  and  a  slight  pressure 
on  a  lever  handle  forces  the  molecules  of  molten  metal 
together  in  a  permanent  weld  without  more  than  a  nominal 


rise  in  temperature  in  the  stock  surrounding  the  points  of 
contact. 

The  new  stove  welder  occupies  a  floor  space  of  only  25  in. 
by  29  in.,  the  height  to  the  center  of  the  dies  being  42  in. 
The   machine   is   provided   with   a  ball-bearing  table  which 


Fig.   1 — stove  Welder. 

can  be  raised  and  lowered  by  a  hand-wheel  and  locked  in 
position  at  any  desired  height,  and  the  dies  are  water- 
cooled  to  increase  their  life.  The  head  is  of  the  swivel  type 
and  is  controlled  by  either  a  hand  or  a  foot  lever,  a  counter- 
weight being  provided  to  return  the  upper  die  to  the  stop 
position  when  not  in  use.  The  machine  has  a  capacity  for 
welding  sheet  steel  of  from  No.  10  to  No.  30  gage,  and  the 
maximum  power  consumption  is  20  kw.  The  welder  con- 
tains a  transformer  reducing  the  ordinary  no-volt  to 
440-volt  current,  according  to  specifications  and  winding,  to 
about  5  volts,  the  full-load  secondary  current  being  approxi- 
mately 4000  amp. 

The  No.   124  welder  has  a  maxinuun  capacity  of   10  kw 


Fig.   2 — Automatic    Welder. 

and  welds  stock  of  from  No.  18  to  No.  30  gage  sheet  steel. 
It  occupies  a  floor  space  of  31  in.  by  44  in.  and  is  equipped 
with  round  upper  and  lower  horns  2  in.  in  diameter.  Its 
capacity  ranges  from  80  to  150  welds  per  minute,  and  it  is 
easier  to  operate  than  a  punch  press.  At  the  moment  when 
the  dies  apply  the  final  pressure  to  force  the  molten  metals 
together  the  switch  is  automatically  opened,  making  it  im- 
possible to  draw  an  arc  or  tn  burn  the  stock  when  the  die 


954 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o^  No.  i8. 


points  are  drawn  apart.  Each  welder  described  above  is 
equipped  with  a  regulator  switch  cutting  in  or  out  various 
transformer  coils  to  provide  the  necessary  current  for  vary- 
ing thickness  of  stock.  The  smaller  welder  is  frequently 
driven  by  a  2/3-hp  variable  speed  -motor  and  is  built  for 
operation  on  single-phase  alternating  current  of  from  no 
volts  to  440  volts,  as  specified. 

Striking  economies  are  being  secured  by  the  use  of 
electric  spot  welders  in  shops  where  riveting  was  formerly 
the  standard  practice.  Gas  ranges,  pans,  stove  runners, 
coffee  pots,  wire  frames,  lockers,  pails,  small  tanks  and 
many  other  utensils  are  being  handled  by  these  machines  at 
a  lower  cost  than  when  riveted.  With  energy  at  5  cents  per 
kw-hr.,  sheet  steel  of  No.  28  gage,  1/64  in.  thick,  can  be 
welded  in  three-tenths  of  a  second  at  a  cost  of  2.25  cents 
per  1000  welds,  and  No.  3  gage  sheet  steel,  yi  in.  thick,  can 
be  welded  in  seven  seconds  at  a  cost  of  3.4  cents  per  1000 
welds.  In  welding  3/16-in.  barrel  hoops,  an  operator  with 
a  little  experience  can  easily  weld  1000  per  hour.  In  the 
case  of  one  stove  manufacturer,  655  ranges  and  582  closets 
were  welded  electrically  in  one  month  at  a  total  labor  cost 
of  $87  and  an  energy  cost,  at  6  cents  per  kw-hr.,  of  $5.75, 
or  a  total  of  $92.75.  Before  installing  the  welder  the  manu- 
facturer paid  35  cents  each  for  riveting  ranges,  so  that  655 
ranges  cost  $229.55  for  riveting  and  $8.75  for  rivets,  or  a 
total  of  $238.30  under  the  old  method.  The  saving  by  the 
use  of  electric  welding  w-as  approximately  $150  per  month. 
One  workman  can  weld  electrically  from  150  to  160  high 
closets  in  nine  hours,  and  one  worker  can  weld  from  thirty 
to  forty  ranges  in  the  same  period.  In  another  case  a  manu- 
facturer paid  $4.50  per  hundred  for  the  riveting  of  stove 
runners  used  to  support  the  wire  shelves  of  stove  ovens. 
After  installing  an  electric  spot  welder  the  cost  per  100  was 
reduced  to  75  cents. 


AUTOMATIC    ELECTRIC    RANGE    AND    FIRELESS 
COOKER. 


ELECTRIC  SPEED  INDICATOR. 


llie  electric  speed  indicator  illustrated  herewith  consists 
of  a  magneto-generator  and  a  direct-current  measuring  in- 
strument. The  magneto  is  attached  to  a  pulley  or  shaft  of 
the  apparatus  the  speed  of  which  is  to  be  measured,  and 
since  the  voltage  of  the  magneto-generator  is  proportional 
to  its  speed  the  voltmeter  being  properly  calibrated  indi- 
cates the  speed  directly  at  any  time.  When  operating  at 
1000  r.p.m.  the  apparatus  generates  25  volts  so  that  the  me- 
ter may  be  calibrated  for  any  unit,  such  as  revolutions  per 
minute,  cycles  per  second,  percentage  fast  or  slow,  or  feet 
per  minute. 

The  meter  may  be  niountoil  at  a  distance  from  the  indi- 


Magne  to -Generator. 

cator  so  that  it  is  possible  to  place  a  number  of  the  meters 
in  one  place,  making  it  convenient  for  those  in  charge  to 
note  the  performance  of  a  number  of  machines  at  any  time. 
The  magneto-generator  is  manufactured  by  the  Holtzer- 
Cabot  Electric  Company,  Brookline,  Mass.,  and  has  been 
especially  designed  for  use  with  meters  manufactured  by 
the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company. 


The  Copeman  Electric  Stove  Company,  Flint,  Mich.,  has 
recently  placed  on  the  market  a  line  of  electric  ranges  in 
which  automatic  operation  in  combination  with  the  fireless 
cooker    principle    is    a    noteworthy    characteristic.      These 


Automatic    Electric    Range   and    Fireless    Cooker. 

Stoves  are  made  in  three  sizes,  to  serve  from  two  to  twenty 
persons,  and  on  account  of  their  automatic  features  are 
colloquially  known  as  "silent  servants."  They  are  built 
with  from  one  to  three  compartments  and  in  each  installa- 
tion are  equipped  wnth  a  special  type  of  alarm-clock  move- 
ment which  switches  energ\'  into  circuit  at  a  predetermined 
time  and  an  adjustable  thermostat  which  cuts  off  the  supply 
of  energy  after  the  temperature  of  the  cooking  compart- 
ments has  risen  to  the  point  for  which  the  thermostat  has 
been  set  by  the  cook.  The  edibles  then  continue  to  cook 
by  the  retained  heat  of  the  ovens,  the  latter  being  inclosed 
by  insulation  which  enables  the  food  to  be  kept  hot  for 
hours  without  the  consumption  of  additional  energy. 

In  the  two-compartment  stove,  which  is  representative 
of  the  line,  separate  baking  and  boiling  sections  are  sup- 
plied, which  can  be  operated  independently  or  jointly. 
Both  ovens  are  controlled  through  the  circuit-breaker  by 
means  of  the  clock,  or  they  can  be  set  and  operated 
manually.  The  dimensions  of  the  boiling  compartment  are 
13.5  in.  by  10.5  in.  by  10.25  in.,  the  baking  compartment 
being  13.5  in.  by  18.75  '"•  '''y  '^  '"•  The  standard  equipment 
for  this  stove  is  one  8-in.  heater  for  the  boiler,  one  bar 
heater  in  the  oven,  one  heat  shield  and  distributor,  two 
wire  oven  racks,  two  receptacles  on  top  to  receive  the 
heaters  when  external  cooking  or  heating  is  required,  and 
two  snap  switches  for  operating  the  top  heaters.  These 
extra  heating  units  make  it  unnecessary  to  remove  the 
heaters  from  the  compartments  except  for  cleaning  pur- 
poses. The  connected  load  is  1815  watts  at  no  volts,  the 
stove  operating  upon  a  circuit  of  No.  10  rubber-covered 
wire.  The  largest  stove  of  this  type  has  a  connected  load 
of  3960  watts,  and  the  smallest  size  requires  a  maximum  of 
1485  watts,  assuming  all  units  in  full  operation.  Either 
alternating-current  or  direct-current  supplies  may  be 
utilized.  On  account  of  its  economical  characteristics  the 
Copeman  stove  is  not  designed  for  high-speed  cooking,  as 
in  a  gas  range,  but  the  makers  contend  that  the  saving  of  a 
small  amount  of  time  is  of  less  importance  than  the 
economical  consumption  of  energy  and  the  improved  quality 
of  cooking  when  the  process  is  not  hurried.  The  Copeman 
clock,  which  has  been  specially  built  for  stove  operation, 
resembles  an  ordinary  alarm  clock  with  the  exception  of 
the  increased  strength  in  the  spring  drive.  The  stove 
enables  meals  to  be  prepared  and  left  to  cook  with  a  freedom 
impossible  in  a  coal  or  gas  range.  The  makers  state  that  it 
will  compete  in  economy  with  gas  at  $1  per  1000  cu.  ft. 
where  electricity  is  utilized  at  10  cents  per  kw-hr.  or  less. 


November  2,  1912 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


95S 


CONTINUOUS   CHART    RECORDING    PYROMETER. 


The  Brown  Instrument  Company  of  Philadelphia  and 
its  associate  company,  the  Keystone  Electrical  Instrument 
Company,  have  recently  brought  out  a  continuous  chart 
recording  instrument,  particularly  designed  for  use  as  a 
pyrometer,  but  which  can  also  be  used  for  recording  volt- 


Continuous   Chart    Recording   Pyrometer, 

age,  current,  revolutions  per  minute,  mechanical  opera- 
tions, etc.,  where  a  small  current  of  electricity  is  required 
to  operate  a  recording  instrument. 

This  instrument  is  of  the  frictionless  type,  the  pen  mak- 
ing a  single  dot  of  ink  momentarily  on  the  paper  at  short 
intervals,  every  ten  seconds  or  every  minute  as  desired, 
these  dots  practically  forming  a  continuous  line.  The  in- 
strument carries  a  six  months'  supply  of  recording  paper, 
traveling  a  little  over  an  inch  an  hour,  which  does  away 
with  the  necessity  of  changing  the  charts  daily,  and  for 
many  operations  the  continuous  chart  is  preferable.  The 
record  can  either  be  torn  off  as  desired  every  day  or  once 
a  week  or  it  can  be  allowed  to  roll  up  continuously. 

The  instrument  is  handsome  in  appearance,  and  is  pro- 
vided with  a  plate-glass  case,  as  shown  in  the  illustration. 


FIXTURE  FOR  INTENSE  SPOT  ILLUMINATION. 


The  so-called  Permel  lighting  system  is  said  to  offer  a 
solution  of  the  problem  which  has  been  encountered  in 
certain    industrial    shops.      Such    operations    as    stitching. 


Machine   Equipped   with    Fixture  for  Spot    illumination. 

skiving,  eyeletting,  vamping,  embossing  and  buttonholing 
require  a  very  high  intensity  of  illumination  over  a  very 
small  area.  It  has  been  desired  to  secure  the  necessary 
light  without  waste  and  without  handicapping  the  operator 
with  an  excessive  amount  of  glare,  and  this  has  met  with 
considerable  difficulty. 

The  essential  part  of  the  Permel  fixture  is  a  reflector 


socket  only  2ys  in.  in  diameter,  accommodating  a  special 
tungsten  lamp.  This  reflector  socket  is  welded  to  a  sub- 
stantial brass  tube  which  carries  the  wires  to  the  lamp. 
This  brass  tube  is  so  bent  as  to  fit  closely  the  body  of  the 
machine  for  which  it  is  designed  and  to  which  it  is  securely 
fastened  by  metal  straps,  so  that  the  entire  unit  practically 
becomes  a  part  of  the  machine. 

The  lamp  used  with  the  Permel  unit  is  a  6-volt,  5.5-watt 
tungsten-filament  lamp  rated  at  4  cp.  A  bayonet-type 
candelabra  base  effectually  prevents  the  lamp  from  jarring 
loose  from  its  socket.  The  design  of  the  reflector  is  such 
that  this  lamp  gives  8.7  cp  directly  under  the  unit,  this  being 
equivalent  to  the  illumination  given  by  six  60-watt  carbon 
lamps  equipped  with  good  reflectors  and  hung  3  ft.  above 
the  table. 

The  Permel  fixtures  are  manufactured  by  the  Holophane 
Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  Cleveland. 


COLLAPSIBLE  ELECTRIC  BATH. 


The  private  electric  bath  cabinet,  a  convenience  hereto- 
fore beyond  the  reach  of  many  of  moderate  means,  bids 
fair  to  become  extensively  popularized  through  a  type 
lately  put  on  the  market  by  the  Metropolitan  Engineering 
Company,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  The  inventor,  Mr.  Thomas  E. 
Murray,  vice-president  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company, 


Collapsible   Electric   Bath. 

has  succeeded  in  producing  a  cabinet  which,  while  moderate 
in  price,  incorporates  the  most  desirable  features  of  the 
electric  bath.  Built  of  copper,  nickel-plated,  it  is  com- 
posed of  four  walls  or  leaves  each  of  which  in  turn  can  be 
folded  again  and  the  whole  accommodated  in  a  space  only 
5  in.  in  thickness.  Inside  these  walls,  which  obtrude 
slightly  on  the  exterior  in  flat  panels,  are  dead-air  chambers 
designed  to  prevent  the  escape  "of  the  heat  generated  by  the 
bath.  The  heat  is  supplied  by  thirty-six  electric  lamps 
ranged  in  lamp  chambers  or  pillars  mounting  along  the 
seams,  requiring  the  expenditure  of  1.5  kw.  The  surround- 
ing walls,  which  rise  to  a  height  of  a  little  over  4  ft.,  to- 
gether with  the  top  through  which  the  bather's  head  ap- 
pears, are  lined  with  highly  polished  nickel  to  facilitate  the 
reflection  of  the  light  rays.  The  inclosed  space  covers  an 
area  of  9  sq.  ft.  At  the  rate  of  10  cents  a  kw-hr.  the  cost 
of  operating  the  cabinet  for  an  hour  would  be  15  cents,  or 
5  cents  for  the  average  bathing  period  of  twenty  minutes. 
The  contrast  with  expenditure  of  $2  or  $3  necessitated  by 
an  electric  bath  in  a  well-appointed  institution  is  augmented 
by  the  convenience  of  having  such  a  cabinet  in  one's  own 
bathroom  or  bedroom. 


956 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  i8. 


AUTOMATIC  VOLTAGE  REGULATOR  FOR  HOUSE 
LIGHTING. 


EXHIBITS  AT  RAILWAY  ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERS' 
CONVENTION. 


In  connection  with  the  recent  development  of  a  system 
of  house  lighting  for  country  places  remote  from  central- 
station  service,  Thomas  A.  Edison,  Inc.,  has  brought  out 
an  automatic  regulator  of  the  motor-operated  type  which 
responds  to  the  cutting  in  or  out  of  a  single  25-watt  lamp. 
The  regulator  consists  of  a  rheostat,  the  arm  of  which  is 
driven  through  a  worm  gearing  by  a  30-volt  motor  installed 
on  a  horizontal  shaft  in  a  polished-metal  case  of  dust- 
proof  design,  and  a  solenoid  with  carbon  contacts  con- 
trolling the  positive  and  negative  rotation  of  the  motor. 
The  solenoid  is  connected  permanently  across  the  line  and 
is  responsive  to  small  or  large  changes  in  voltage  due  to  the 
variation  of  the  number  of  lamps  in  circuit.  Resistance  is 
cut  in  or  out  in  the  circuit  between  the  battery  and  the 
lamps  as  required.  The  rheostat  arm  is  equipped  with  a 
pigtail  contact  lead  to  supplement  the  conductivity  of  the 
arm  proper.  The  device  is  marketed  by  the  Edison  Storage 
Battery  Company,  Orange,  N.  J. 


A  MINIATURE  ELECTRIC  RANGE. 


Among  the  exhibits  of  the  Simplex  Electric  Heating  Com- 
pany, of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  at  the  Boston  Electric  Show, 
an  electric  range  of  miniature  design  has  attracted  much 
attention.  The  range  is  illustrated  in  the  accompanying 
photograph.  It  consists  of  an  ii-in.  by  10.5-in.  by  10.5-in. 
oven  inclosed  in  a  Russia  iron  frame  and  lined  with  asbestos 
and  a  top  or  stove  section  carrying  three  disks  elevated 
above  the  surface  and  designed  to  heat  a  saucepan,  tea- 
kettle and  double  boiler,  or  any  other  small  utensils  from 
4.5  to  6  in.  in  diameter.  Each  heating  element  is  designed 
for  three  temperatures  and  is  provided  with  a  three-way 
independent  switch  mounted  on  a  slate  panel  at  the  front  of 
the  range.     The  maximum  heat  service  of  the  oven  requires 


MiniatLire   Electric   Range. 

the  e.xpenditure  of  752  watts,  the  other  elements  consuming 
about  920  watts  total  at  full  heat.  The  oven  has  double 
walls  packed  with  asbestos  and  is  built  so  that  no  draft  can 
enter  or  leave  it.  The  elevation  of  the  disk  stoves  above  the 
surface  of  the  range  leaves  an  air  space  between  the  two 
which  economizes  the  use  of  heat.  The  outfit  operates  at 
no  volts  and  is  used  for  light  service. 


.■\n  attractive  collection  of  exhibits  was  shown  by  the 
Railway  Electric  Supply  Manufacturers'  Association  at  the 
recent  Chicago  convention  of  the  Association  of  Railway 
Electrical  Engineers.  Manufacturers  of  lamps,  batteries 
and  various  forms  of  electrical  supplies  presented  well- 
arranged  displays.  Much  attention  was  attracted  by  the 
new  ball  bearings  for  axle-light  generators  for  car  lighting. 
The  number  of  exhibitors  was  about  forty,  and  among  them 
were  the  Adams-Bagnall  Electric  Company,  Adams  &  West- 
lake  Company,  Appleton  Electric  Company,  Benjamin  Elec- 
tric Manufacturing  Company,  Central  Electric  Company, 
Crouse-Hinds  Company,  Cuttei-  Electrical  &  Manufacturing 
Company,  George  Cutter  Company,  Economy  Fuse  &  Manu- 
facturing Company,  Edison  Storage  Battery  Company,  Elec- 
tric Storage  Battery  Company,  Electrical  Testing  Labora- 
tories, Esterline  Company,  General  Electric  Company, 
Gould  Coupler  Company,  H.  W.  Johns-Manville  Company, 
Kerite  Insulated  Wire  &  Cable  Company,  National  Metal 
Molding  Company,  National  Electric  Lamp  Association, 
Nelite  Works  of  General  Electric  Company,  Pass  &  Sey- 
mour, Sangamo  Electric  Company,  Safety  Car  Heating  & 
Lighting  Company,  Thompson  Electric  Company,  United 
States  Light  &  Heating  Company,  Western  Electric  Com- 
pany, Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company 
and  \\'illard  Storage  Battery  Company. 


A  NEW  TYPE  OF  ELECTRIC  SIGN. 


.A.  distinctive  design  of  electric  sign  has  recently  been 
placed  on  the  market  by  the  American  Sign  Company  of 
New  England,  Portland,  ^le.,  the  special  feature  of  inter- 
est being  the  use  of  a  powerful  meniscus  lens  at  short 
intervals  in  the  sign  case,  as  illustrated  in  the  accompanying 
photograph  of  a  vertical  equipment  used  outside  a  bowling 
alley.  The  signs  are  made  entirely  of  metal,  a  framework 
of  angle  steel  being  used  in  large  sizes,  and  the  apparatus 


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Fig.    1 — Electric   Sign   with    Special    Lenses. 

is  water-tight  and  dust-proof,  requiring  no  cleaning.  The 
illumination  comes  entirely  from  the  interior,  the  light  rays 
being  transmitted  through  the  special  lenses  which  outline 
the  wording  or  design  required.  Any  one  of  three  styles 
of  incandescent  lamps  may  be  used — ordinary  carbon-fila- 
ment lamps  of  any  desired  candle-power  or  tungsten-fila- 
ment lamps  in  25-watt  or  5-watt  sizes.     The  latter  are  of 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


957 


low  voltage  and  when  used  are  wired  in  series,  the  makers 
furnishing  a  suitable  traiftformer. 

The  lens  is  patented  and,  as  shown  in  the  accompanying 
drawing,  is  provided  with  a  screw  thread  by  which  it  is 
attached  to  the  iron  plate  of  the  sign  box,  there  being  no 
glue  to  become  loose  or  spring  fasteners  to  grow  weak 
and  allow  the  lens  to  fall  to  the  sidewalk. 
On  account  of  the  equal  distribution  of  light 
in  the  interior  the  general  effect  is  not 
changed  and  the  outline  of  the  letters  is  not 
marred  in  case  one  or  two  of  the  lamps  inside 
become  extinguished.  The  interior  finish  is 
reflector  white,  and  the  makers  contend  that 
the  energy  consumption,  on  the  basis  of  one 
25-watt  lamp  for  every  2  sq.  ft.  of  sign  area, 
is  80  per  cent  less  than  that  of  the  ordinary 
all-lamp  electric  sign.  The  company  manu- 
factures lenses  from  J^  in.  to  334  hi.  diam- 
eter and  supplies  the  former  in  both  clear  and  colored  glass 
as  desired.  The  electrical  construction  conforms  to  the 
requirements  of  the  Underwriters'  National  Electrical 
Association. 


Fig.  2 — Cross 
Section  of 
Lens. 


HEATING  APPARATUS  FOR  SHOE  INDUSTRY. 


Apparatus  recently  brought  out  by  the  Boston  Last  Com- 
pany marks  a  new  development  in  the  application  of  electric 
heating  to  shoe  machinery  and  manufacturing  processes 
bearing  upon  the  production  of  high-class  footwear.  This 
equipment  includes  an  electrically  heated  cork  filler,  an 
electric  wax  pot  for  Goodyear  stitching  and  welting  service 
and  a  sole  dryer  operated  by  plate  heaters. 

The  cork  filler  consists  of  a  copper  basin,  an  8-in. 
diameter  flat  heating  element,  a  galvanized-iron  cylindrical 
container  and  a  frame  carrying  these,  and  also  a  combined 
knife  heater  and  burnisher.  The  contents  of  the  basin  are 
heated    separately    from    the    knife    holder    and    burnisher. 


has  been  installed  slightly  above  the  concentric  with  the 
8-in.  heater  to  provide  an  improved  distribution  of  air  cur- 
rents around  the  copper  basin.  The  knife  heater  has  a 
capacity  of  two  knives  and  with  the  burnisher  consumes 
100  watts,  one  heat  only  being  required.  The  heating 
elements  are  of  Simplex  make  and  are  of  the  non-inductive 
type,  designed  for  both  alternating-current  and  direct-cur- 
rent service  at  no  volts.  In  operation  the  basin  is  run  for 
ten  minutes  at  the  full  heat,  and  then  the  low  heat  serves 
for  the  rest  of  the  working  period.  The  apparatus  elimi- 
nates all  the  defects  encountered  in  steam-jacket  heating. 

The  wax  pot  is  attached  to  the  stitcher  and  welter  inde- 
pendently from  the  usual  steam  service  by  a  bracket  and 
the  device  has  also  a  tension  wheel  and  a  guide  wheel 
heated  independently  from  the  wax  pot.  The  power  con- 
sumption of  the  wax  pot  varies  from  176  to  70  watts, 
according  to  the  amount  of  external  resistance  in  circuit, 
and  the  tension  and  guide  wheels  consume  together  from  60 
to  100  watts.  The  wax  pot  is  provided  with  a  spout  at  the 
top  which  feeds  any  wax  which  may  boil  over  back  into  a 
reservoir  connected  with  the  pot  at  the  bottom,  so  that 
practically  no  wax  is  lost  in  case  of  overheating.  Two 
spindles  are  cast  on  the  frame  carrying  the  tension  and 
guide  wheels,  and  these  have  a  total  capacity  of  six  spools 
of  waxed  thread.  The  capacity  of  the  wax  reservoir  is 
six  cakes.  The  tension  wheel  is  adjustable  by  a  knob  and 
spring  to  give  the  required  take-up  and  is  also  used  on  the 
bobbin  winder  employed  in  stitching  work.  In  practice  the 
stitcher  is  equipped  with  electric  shuttle  heating  and  the 
take-up  device  has  a  heater  attachment.  The  total  maximum 
power  consumption  of  a  standard  stitcher,  with  the  above 
wax  pot  and  auxiliary  equipment,  is  450  watts  for  heating 
service,  all  external  resistance  being  cut  out  of  circuit.  A 
i/2-hp  motor  is  required  to  operate  the  machine.  The  wax 
pot  and  wheel-heating  elements  are  of  Simplex  make  and 
are  designed  for  no-volt  or  220-volt  alternating-current  or 
direct-current  service,  as  desired. 

The  sole  dryer  is  built  in  a  unit  section  45  in.  long  and 
18  in.  wide.    It  consists  of  four  plate  heaters  carried  below 


Fig.    1 — Electrically   Operated   Stitcher. 


Fig.   2 — Electric   Sole   Heater  or   Drier. 


Fig.    3 — Electric    Filling    Heater. 


The  basin  can  be  heated  from  a  cold  state  to  a  temperature 
of  about  300  deg.  Fahr.  in  twenty  minutes,  and  the  heating 
element  is  provided  with  three  heats  controlled  by  an  ex- 
ternal switch.  The  cork  filling  is  kept  at  the  required  tem- 
perature with  an  expenditure  of  about  275  watts,  the  initial 
heating  requiring  800  watts  maximum.  The  basin  carrying 
the  filling  is  15  in.  in  diameter  and  8  in.  deep.    A  6-in.  disk 


a  wire  screen  in  an  adjustable  frame,  the  soles  being  set 
upon  the  screen  and  a  suitable  rest  bar  running  parallel  to 
its  length  on  either  side.  Three  degrees  of  heat  are  pro- 
vided, the  range  of  consumption  being  770  watts  to  2200 
watts.  The  capacity  of  the  dryer  is  thirty-six  soles,  and 
it  is  portable  in  character.  Simplex  Electric  Heating  Com- 
pany's elements  being  employed. 


9S8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


ISOLATED   PLANTS   IN   MANUAL-TRAINING   HIGH 
SCHOOLS  AT  GRAND  RAPIDS. 


The  motor  installations  in  the  Central  and  Union  High 
Schools  of  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  are  exceptional  examples 
of  electric  drive  for  manual-training  purposes.  These  in- 
stallations are  interesting  in  that  each  school  has  its  own 
generating  plant   for  the  manual-training  load. 


built  by  the  Ball  Engine  Company,  Erie,  Pa.  The  generator 
is  of  the  comiuutating-pole  type,  rated  at  75  kw,  125/250 
volts,  300  amp,  at  275  r.p.m.  In  connection  with  the  three- 
wire  system,  two  Westinghouse  1.33-kva,  13.5-cycle,  177/88- 
volt  balance  coils  are  used.  These  coils  take  care  of  any 
unbalancing  that  might  occur  in  the  system.  They  are 
placed  behind  the  switchboard  as  shown  in  Fig.  4.  The 
switchboard,    which    is    mounted    on    an    angle-iron    frame. 


Fig.    1 — Engine    Room,   Central    High   School. 

In  Fig.  3  is  shown  the  wood-turning  room  of  the  Central 
High  School.  Here  the  wood-turning  lathes  are  driven  by 
one  motor  from  a  line  shaft  and  all  other  machines  have 
individual  motors  arranged  for  belt  drive.  Other  manual- 
training  rooms  at  this  school  are  the  bench  room  and  the 
preparation  room.  The  motor  equipment  installed  in  the 
Central  High  School  is  distributed  as  follows :  Bench 
room,  four  machines,  directly  driven,  1 1  hp ;  wood-turning 
room,  six  machines,  19  hp ;  preparation  room,  one  machine, 
3  hp.  From  this  it  may  be  noted  that  there  are  eleven 
motor-driven  machines  aggregating  33  hp.     There  is  also  a 


Fig.  3 — Wood-Turning   Room,  Central   High   School. 

consists  of  four  panels.  The  generator  panel  on  the  ex- 
treme left  is  equipped  with  two  Westinghouse  500-anip 
direct-current  ammeters,  one  Westinghouse  300-volt  direct- 
current  voltmeter,  a  field  circuit  rheostat,  two  generator 
switches  and  an  equalizer  switch.  Two  generators  can  be 
handled  by  this  one  panel,  but  at  present  it  is  handling  only 
one.  Panels  No.  2  and  No.  3  receive  energy  from  the 
municipal  plant  for  lighting  the  school  building.  Lamps 
aggregating  70  kw  in  rating  are  installed  in  this  building. 
The  fourth  panel  is  connected  to  the  mains  of  the  Grand 
Rapids-Muskegon  Power  Company  and  controls  a  sump 
motor  in  the  boiler  room  and  also  a  motor  for  ventilating 


Fig.  2 — Boiici    nuuiri.   Central    High   School. 

group-drive  arrangement  aggregating  20  hp.     These  shops 
can  accommodate  160  pupils  per  day. 

Energy  for  the  manual-training  department  is  generated 
in  an  isolated  plant  which  is  located  in  the  basement  in  the 
rear  of  the  building.  The  engine  room,  shown  in  Fig.  I, 
contains  a  Westinghouse  direct-current,  three-wire  gen- 
erator  directly   connected   to   an    automatic   cut-off    engine 


Fig.   4 — Switchboard,   Central    High   School.     . 

purposes.     An   emergency   connection   is   arranged   so   that* 
energy  for  lighting  may  be  supplied  from  this  panel.     All 
wiring  in  this  building  is  in  conduit. 

The  boiler-room  equipment  consists  of  three  Wicks 
horizontal  water-tube  225-hp  boilers  with  Roney  stokers,  a 
Cochrane  feed-water  heater,  a  feed  pump  and  a  pressure- 
raising  pump.     Very  exacting  conditions  are  imposed  upon 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


959 


these  Roney  stokers.  The  scliool  is  located  in  one  of  the 
best  residential  sections  of  the  city  and  smoke  from  the 
plant  is  not  permissible.  The  coal  used  is  a  poor  slack,  thus 
making  it  all  the  more  important ,  that  it  be  consumed  on 
the  stokers  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent  smoking  as  much 
as  possible. 

Another  installation  similar  to  that  at  the  Central  High 
School  is  to  be  found  in  the  Union  High  School,  at  the 
corner  of  Turner  Avenue  and  Fourth  Street,  in  the  same 
city.  The  shops  at  this  school  are  more  extensive  than 
those  referred  to  above  and  consist  of  bench,  wood-turning, 
preparation,  machine  and  forge  shops.  There  are  a  large 
number  of  motors  installed  in  this  school,  reaching  a  total 
rating  of  101.5  hp  and  distributed  as  follows:  Bench  room, 
six  motor-driven  machines,  17  hp ;  wood-turning  room, 
seven  machines,  23  hp;  preparation  room,  three  machines, 
II  hp;  machine  shop,  five  machines,  12.5  hp ;  forge  shop, 
four  mac'hines.  20.5  hp.  There  are  in  all  twenty-six  ma- 
chines equipped  with  individual  motors,  aggregating  84  hp, 
and  group-driven  machinery  with  a  total  motor  rating  of 
17.5  hp.  These  shops  can  accommodate  320  pupils  per  day. 
Energy  for  the  motor  service  is  supplied  by  a  Westing- 
house  75-kw,  125/250-volt,  three-wire  generator  directly 
connected  to  an  i8-in.  by  14-in.  Ball  engine.  The  stoker, 
boiler  and  switchboard  equipments  are  similar  to  those  in 
the  Central  High  School,  the  electrical  equipment  of  which 
has  just  been  described. 


HORIZONTAL  CRUDE-OIL  ENGINE. 


A  horizontal  internal-combustion  engine  of  the  Diesel 
type,  operating  on  the  four-stroke  cycle,  has  lately  been 
placed  on  the  American  market.  This  engine  is  designed 
for  operation  with  the  heavy  crude  or  residual  oils  obtained 
in  refining  mineral  oils,  available  at  prices  ranging  from 
2j^  cents  to  4  cents  per  gallon.  It  is  a  complete  unit  within 
itself  and  requires  no  auxiliaries.  Compressed  air  is  em- 
ployed for  starting,  so  that  a  single  attendant  can  place  one 
of  these   engines,  of  any   size,   in   operation  without   extra 


valve.  On  the  return  stroke  this  air  is  compressed  until  its 
temperature  is  more  than  sufficient  to  ignite  the  fuel.  The 
latter  is  injected  into  the  heated  air  at  the  end  of  the  com- 
pression stroke  and  ignited  spontaneously.  The  combustion 
continues  steadily  for  a  portion  of  the  third  or  expansion 
stroke.  On  the  fourth  stroke  the  spent  gases  are  expelled 
through  the  exhaust  valve  and  port.  The  quantity  of  fuel 
injected  by  the  oil  pump  is  automatically  regulated  by  the 
governor  to  conform  with  the  load  on  the  engine.  This  is 
accomplished  by  control  of  the  by-pass  valve  on  the  over- 
flow chamber. 

The  engine  is  started  by  means  of  compressed  air  at  low 
pressure,  supplied  from  a  reservoir  which  is  filled  from  the 
compressor  on  the  engine.  The  admission  of  air  into  the 
cylinder  is  controlled  by  a  mechanically  operated  starting 
valve.  A  low-pressure  safety  valve  set  at  220  lb.  is  placed 
on  the  compressor,  and  a  high-pressure  safety  valve  set 
at  1200  lb.  is  provided  on  the  fuel-injection  valve.  An- 
other safety  valve  set  also  at  220  lb.  is  attached  to  the 
compressed-air  reservoir.  These  engines,  according  to  the 
manufacturers'  claim,  will  develop  a  brake-hp-hour  on  about 
1/15  gal.  of  fuel.  When  using  fuel  oil  of  average  heating 
value,  about  18,000  heat  units  per  pound,  the  consumption 
per  brake-hp-hour  is  given  by  the  manufacturers  as  fol- 
lows: At  full  load,  0.50  lb.;  at  three-quarter  load,  0.56  lb.; 
at  one-half  load,  0.62  lb. ;  at  one-quarter  load,  0.74  lb.  The 
speed  regulation,  it  is  claimed,  is  ordinarily  within  4  per 
cent,  but  on  special  engines  designed  for  electric  service 
the  size  and  weight  of  the  flywheel  are  so  proportioned  as 
to  keep  the  regulation  within  3  per  cent  above  or  below  the 
mean  rated  speed,  under  such  gradual  change  of  load  as  is 
experienced  in  common  practice. 

This  type  of  engine  has  been  built  at  the  Otto  works  at 
Cologne  for  many  years  and  is  being  placed  on  the  market 
in  this  country  by  the  Otto  Gas  Engine  Works,  Philadel- 
phia, Pa.  Every  advantage  has  been  taken  of  the  twelve 
years  of  practical  experience  in  the  German  works.  Among 
the  severe  tests  which  it  is  reported  that  one  of  these 
engines  successfully  withstood  was  a  long  run  on  heavy 
oil  containing  6  per  cent  of  asphaltum.  This  oil  is  so  thick 
that   a   larger   fuel  pipe   was  necessary  to   convey   it   from 


Horizontal  Crude-Oil   Engine. 


assistance.  No  ignition  apparatus  is  required  with  engines 
of  the  Diesel  type.  The  manufacturers  claim  that  any 
kind  of  low-grade  liquid  fuel  may  be  employed,  such  as 
gas  oil,  solar  oil,  tar  oil  and  similar  products,  besides  the 
crude  oil  before  mentioned. 

During  the  first  outward  stroke  of  the  piston  a  charge 
of  pure  air  is  admitted  into  the  cylinder  through  the  inlet 


the  tank  to  the  engine.  The  same  horse-power  was  devel- 
oped with  this  grade  of  oil  as  with  lighter  oils,  and  the 
engine,  it  is  said,  showed  almost  complete  combustion.  The 
manufacturers  claim  that  they  are  the  first  to  introduce  the 
horizontal  type  of  Diesel  engine  in  the  industrial  establish- 
ments of  this  country.  Details  of  the  valve  mechanism  and 
a  side  view  of  the  engine  are  reproduced  herewith. 


96o 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


Industrial  and  Financial  Ncavs 


EXPANSION  is  still  the  keynote  of  the  business  situ- 
ation, and,  judging  from  the  present  outlook,  will 
continue  to  be  so  for  the  remainder  of  the  year. 
Approach  of  the  presidential  election  is  apparently  having 
little  retarding  effect  upon  the  trade  movement.  The 
harvesting  sections  are,  naturally,  showing  the  greatest 
activity  at  this  time,  but  the  wave  of  good  business  origi- 
nating in  these  localities  is  sweeping  rapidly  all  over  the 
country.  Manufacturers  in  many  instances  are  sold  far 
ahead  and  are  working  day  and  night  in  order  to  meet  the 
demand  for  their  products.  This  is  the  case  with  many  of 
the  cable  manufacturers,  who  are  working  double  turns 
and  are  three  months  behind  on  their  orders.  Similar 
conditions  are  reported  by  one  of  the  pioneer  manufac- 
turers of  electric-heating  appliances,  as  noted  below.  The 
high  rate  of  activity  that  has  prevailed  for  the  past  six 
months  at  the  works  of  the  Crocker- Wheeler  Company 
shows  no  signs  of  diminution.  That  a  decidedly  prosperous 
condition  exists  in  the  central-station  industry  is  shown  in 
the  many  increases  in  earnings  and  also  in  the  remarks  of  a 
member  of  a  leading  conduit  engineering  firm,  cited  be- 
low, calling  attention  to  the  vast  amount  of  underground 
construction  that  is  being  done  by  small  central-station 
companies  that  were  financially  unable  to  have  such  work 
done  a  few  years  ago.  The  United  Railways  &  Electric 
Company  of  Baltimore  is  in  the  midst  of  its  most  pros- 
perous year,  and  recently  increased  the  wages  of  all  its 
employees. 


Conduit  Engineers  Are  Having  a  Record  Year. — Evidence 
that  prosperity  and  excellent  prospects  for  new  business 
prevail  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  central-station 
industry  is  shown  in  the  remarks  of  a  member  of  one  of  the 
foremost  conduit  engineering  and  contracting  concerns  in 
the  country,  who  said  in  part  this  week:  "We  are  doing 
more  business  this  year  than  ever  before  in  our  history, 
and  as  activity  in  our  field  varies  in  direct  proportion  with 
that  of  the  central-station  industry,  it  may  be  inferred  that 
the  majority  of  central-station  companies  are  improving 
in  financial  strength,  are  doing  an  excellent  business  and 
have  a  large  amount  of  new  load  in  sight  to  justify  the 
extensive  additions  we  are  making  to  their  underground 
systems.  One  significant  feature  of  our  work  is  the  large 
amount  of  conduit  that  we  are  placing  for  small  central- 
station  companies,  by  which  I  mean  companies  in  cities  of 
from  30,000  to  40,000  population,  that  were  financially  un- 
able to  have  such  work  done  four  or  five  years  ago.  Much 
of  the  increase  in  our  business  is  due  to  natural  growth  of 
the  lighting  industry,  and  some  has  resulted  from  move- 
ments for  replacing  overhead  by  underground  systems, 
originating  from  a  desire  to  beautify  city  streets,  etc.  Thus 
far  this  year  we  have  been  doing  extensive  work  in  about 
fifteen  states  in  the  Union  and  have  been  very  busy  in 
Canada.  We  are  doing  a  great  deal  of  work  in  the  Domin- 
ion at  present.  Ordinarily  at  this  time  of  the  year  we 
begin  calling  in  our  Canadian  crews,  but  we  now  have  over 
1000  men  at  work  in  the  Dominion  from  coast  to  coast 
and  have  plenty  to  keep  them  occupied  for  some  time  to 
come." 

Electric-Heating  Appliances  in  Demand. — "We  have  been 
working  at  our  maximum  limit,  including  night  work,  since 
April,"  says  the  manager  of  one  of  the  oldest  and  best 
known  concerns  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  electric- 
heating  appliances.  "Our  business  thus  far  in  1912  shows 
a  very  material  increase  over  that  in  iQii,"  he  continues, 
"and  this  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  broader  public  interest 
taken  in  electrical  development  as  well  as  to  the  natural 
growth  that  our  business  has  shown  for  many  years."  One 
of  the  noteworthy  features  of  this  concern's  business  is  that 
the  demand  for  its  products  spreads  over  the  entire  line  and 
is  coming  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  a  condition  which 
indicates  the  high  degree  of  general  interest  taken  in  heat- 
ing appliances.  There  have  been  no  noteworthy  changes 
in  prices  for  appliances  in  the  last  year  or  so,  according  to 
this  company,  nor  does  it  look  for  any  material  changes  in 
prices  in  the  near  future.    While  cost  of  production  is  higher 


than  it  has  been  in  the  past  and  shows  an  ascending  trend, 
increased  activity  and  larger  output  are  expected  to  offset 
this  and  keep  prices  about  the  same.  The  greatest  draw- 
back to  expansion  in  the  electric-heating  field,  this  concern 
feels,  is  the  inability  to  keep  abreast  of  the  demand  for  new 
applications  and  for  broader  development  of  appliances 
already  on  the  market. 

Going  Ahead  with  Cheat  River  Project. — It  is  learned 
that  the  decision  recently  handed  down  by  Judge  Mason, 
of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Monongalia  County,  W.  Va.,  does 
not  prohibit  the  building  of  a  dam  across  the  Cheat  River 
for  hydroelectric  purposes,  as  was  noted  in  these  columns 
last  week.  The  decision  handed  down  by  Judge  Mason 
was  to  the  effect  that  while  the  West  Virginia  Development 
Company,  a  Kuhn  enterprise,  has  the  right  of  eminent 
domain  to  build  a  dam  at  the  site  planned,  certain  changes 
in  the  plans  to  better  meet  the  needs  of  such  logging  as  is 
carried  on  along  the  Cheat  River  must  be  made  before  the 
condemnation  of  properties  needed  in  completing  the  dam 
project  will  be  allowed.  The  work  on  the  development  is 
in  no  way  held  up.  Unless  Judge  Mason's  decision  is  re- 
versed, the  West  Virginia  Development  Company  will 
make  the  required  changes  in  plans.  These  changes  in- 
volve only  alterations  in  the  log  chutes.  Logging  as  an 
industry  is  practically  extinct  on  the  Cheat  River,  but  the 
decision  of  the  court  that  the  latter  is  a  navigable  stream 
of  the  second  class,  under  West  Virginia  law,  means  that  it 
is  a  floatable  stream  and  that  proper  provision  must  be 
made  for  logging. 

Activity  Continues  at  Crocker-Wheeler  Works. — There 
has  been  no  diminution  of  the  high  rate  of  activity  that  has 
prevailed  at  the  works  of  the  Crocker-Wheeler  Company, 
Ampere,  N.  J.,  for  the  past  half  year.  Extensive  comment 
by  Dr.  Schuyler  S.  Wheeler,  president  of  the  company, 
upon  the  business  situation  and  outlook  in  the  electrical 
industry  appeared  in  these  columns  on  Sept.  14.  Thus  far 
in  the  current  month  business  has  been  very  brisk.  In  addi- 
tion to  heavy  sales  of  motors,  there  has  been  an  unusual 
number  of  orders  for  engine-type  generators,  transformers 
and  motor-generator  sets.  The  company  has  also  received 
many  orders  for  three-wire  generators,  synchronous  motors 
and  alternating-current  generators.  Demand  for  all  of  the 
company's  products,  in  fact,  is  extremely  active  and  the 
factories  in  consequence  are  working  day  and  night.  Offi-  , 
cials  of  the  company  attribute  the  activity  to  general  im- 
provement  in    trade   conditions. 

Proposed  Merger  of  Surface  Street  Railways  in  Chicago. 

— The  local  transportation  committee  of  the  City  Council 
of  Chicago  is  endeavoring  to  bring  about  a  merger  of  the 
two  surface  street-railway  companies  in  Chicago  in  order 
to  secure  a  universal  transfer  system  and  better  routing. 
L.  A.  Busby,  president  of  the  Chicago  City  Railway  Com- 
pany, has  told  the  committee  that  the  unification  can  be 
brought  about  if  the  city  of  Chicago  will  guarantee  that 
the  net  earnings  of  the  Chicago  City  Railway  Company 
and  the  Chicago  Railways  Company  shall  not  fall  below 
7  per  cent.  If  this  proposition  should  be  adopted,  the  city 
would  make  up  any  deficit  in  the  companies'  net  earnings 
from  its  55  per  cent  of  the  "net  receipts."  Mr.  Busby  said 
that  he  did  not  think  that  the  earnings  would  fall  below  the  ' 
desired  return  of  7  per  cent,  but  the  companies  do  not 
intend  to  take  any  chances. 

Lyons-Atlas  Company  to  Make  Oil  and  Gasoline  Engines. 

— It  is  reported  that  Mr.  J.  W.  Lyons,  of  the  Lyons  Boiler 
Works  of  De  Pere,  Wis.,  has  purchased  the  Atlas  Engine 
Works  of  Indianapolis  from  the  receivers  at  judicial  sale, 
and  that  the  Lyons-Atlas  Company  of  Indianapolis  has 
been  formed  to  manufacture  "Silent  Knight"  gasoline 
automobile  engines  and  oil  engines  of  the  Diesel  type. 

United  Metals  Selling  Company  to  Sell  Lead. — An- 
nouncement has  been  made  by  the  United  Metals  Selling 
Company  that  it  will  shortly  enter  the  lead  market  as 
agent  for  the  International  Smelting  &  Refining  Company. 
It  will  become  a  competitor  of  the  American  Smelting  & 
Refining  Company  in  its  new  field. 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


961 


Will  Meet  Long  Acre  Bond  Interest. — Announcement 
that  the  Long  Acre  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  of 
New  York,  is  in  no  danger  of  being  absorbed  or  eliminated 
from  the  central-station  field  by  the  New  York  Edison 
Company,  following  the  recent  sale  to  interests  identified 
with  the  latter  of  a  majority  of  the  Long  Aare  company's 
$500,000  4  per  cent  bonds,  on  which  the  interest  has  been 
long  in  default,  as  was  noted  in  these  columns  Sept.  28 
and  Oct.  5,  was  made  this  week  by  John  C.  Sheehan,  until 
recently  a  vice-president  of  the  last-named  company.  While 
it  was  expected  that  the  purchasers  of  the  bonds  by  begin- 
ning foreclosure  proceedings  on  the  basis  of  the  defaulted 
interest  would  obtain  possession  of  the  company  and  its 
franchises,  and  thus  eliminate  possible  competition  with  the 
New  York  Edison  Company,  Mr.  Sheehan  states  that  the 
Long  Acre  company  is  now  in  a  position  to  meet  all  of  its 
obligations  and  will  do  so.  As  was  noted  on  Oct.  19,  con- 
trol of  the  stock  of  the  company  was  transferred  last 
month  to.  the  banking  houses  of  A.  B.  Leach  &  Company 
and  Harvey  Fisk  &  Sons,  and  new  officers  for  the  public- 
utility  company  were  elected.  Mr.  Leach  said  at  that  time 
that  the  Long  Acre  company  was  going  to  pay  its  debts. 
He  said  this  week  concerning  litigation  to  prove  the  fran- 
chise of  the  Long  Acre  company  invalid:  "We  expect  that 
the  Court  of  Appeals  will  hand  down  a  decision  favorable 
to  our  company  any  day  now  in  the  suit  appealed  by  the 
New  York  Edison  Company  to  the  highest  court  in  the 
State.  Pending  that  decision  the  matter  of  payment  of 
coupons  on  the  $500,000  4  per  cent  bonds  of  the  Long  Acre 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  will  remain  in  abeyance. 
Should  the  decision  prove  favorable  to  the  Long  Acre  com- 
pany, which  would  confirm  the  decision  of  the  Appellate 
Division  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  coupons  for  the  past 
six  years  would  be  paid  as  presented.  There  is  no  use 
doing  anything  in  the  matter  until  the  case  is  settled  once 
for  all  by  the  Court  of  Appeals." 

Earnings  of  Great  Western  Power  Increasing  Rapidly. 
— Mortimer  Fleischhacker,  president  of  tlie  Great  Western 
Power  Company,  said  recently:  "Our  company  is  enjoying 
a  period  of  great  prosperity,  its  output  for  the  present 
month  being  far  greater  than  at  any  time  before  in  the 
history  of  the  enterprise.  New  contracts  amounting  to 
over  $250,000  per  annum  have  recently  been  made  with 
various  consumers  of  light  and  power,  and  all  this  addi- 
tional business  will  be  connected  up  within  the  next  few 
months.  Through  the  great  development  of  electric  energy 
and  the  immense  storage  of  water  to  be  used  in  the  irriga- 
tion of  farming  lands,  I  consider  our  enterprise  will  be  one 
of  the  greatest  factors  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  State  of 
California."  Mr.  Fleischhacker  has  denied  rumors  that 
have  been  in  circulation  to  the  effect  that  signs  of  weak- 
ness have  developed  in  the  huge  concrete  dam  which  his 
company  is  building  in  connection  with  the  enlargement 
of  its  hydroelectric  plant  on  the  Feather  River  in  Cali- 
fornia. In  a  statement  issued  recently  he  says  that  he  has 
made  an  inspection  of  the  properties  of  the  company,  in- 
cluding the  Feather  River  development,  and  found  every- 
thing in  satisfactory  condition.  The  company  has  had  600 
men  constantly  employed  at  Feather  River  Canyon  in 
constructing  the  dam  that  will  create  the  huge  reservoir 
at  Big  Meadows,  a  description  of  which  appeared  on  page 
184  of  the  Electrical  Jl'orld  of  July  27,  1912.  With  approach 
of  winter,  this  force  is  being  reduced,  but  1000  men  will 
be  employed  next  year.  It  is  expected  that  the  dam  will 
be  completed  in  the  summer  of  1913. 

May  Extend  Washington  Water  Power's  Lines  to  Re- 
public Mining  District. — Officials  of  the  Washington  Water 
Power  Company  are  considering  the  advisability  of  build- 
ing a  60,000-volt,  6o-cycle,  three-phase  line,  no  miles  long, 
from  the  Spokane  River  plant  to  serve  Republic,  Wash., 
and  the  adjacent  mining  district.  A  trip  to  the  mining 
camps  for  the  purpose  of  looking  over  the  prospects  for 
additional  motor-service  load  and  finding  out  whether  the 
prospective  revenue  from  this  source  would  justify  the 
building  of  the  line  was  made  recently  by  the  following, 
identified  with  the  Washington  Water  Power  Company: 
D.  L.  Huntington,  president;  C.  S.  McCalla,  general  man- 
ager; M.  C.  Osborn,  commercial  agent;  Harold  T.  White, 
14  Rector  Street,  New  York,  a  large  stockholder,  and 
Benjamin  B.  Lawrence,  a  director.  J.  C.  Harper,  general 
manager    of   the    Republic    Mines    Corporation    and    of   the 


North  Washington  Power  &  Reduction  Company,  of  Re- 
public, showed  the  party  about  the  mines.  In  case  the  line 
is  built  it  will  follow  the  water-power  company's  right-of- 
way  in  Stevens  County,  taking  in  the  mines  in  the  Chewelah 
district,  after  which  it  will  go  up  the  Columbia  River,  croSs 
it  at  Kettle  Falls,  and  will  then  go  over  the  Sherman  range 
to  Republic.  Many  prominent  mining  men  feel  that  the 
revenue  to  be  derived  from  the  mining  operations,  as  well 
as  that  from  the  new  industries  which  will  be  attracted  to 
the  region  by  the  low  rates  for  electric  service,  will  justify 
the  company  in  going  ahead  with  the  plan. 

Progressing  with  Appalachian  Power  Company's  Devel- 
opment.— Reports  made  recently  to  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Com- 
pany indicate  that  the  large  electric-service  development  of 
the  Appalachian  Power  Company,  to  which  reference  ap- 
peared in  these  columns  Oct.  7,  1911,  June  5  and  Sept.  4, 
1912,  is  proceeding  satisfactorily.  The  Pulaski  (Va.)  sub- 
station has  been  completed  and  placed  in  service.  The  line 
between  Coalwood  and  Switchback  will  be  finished  within 
a  few  days,  after  which  time  the  Welch  load  will  be  car- 
ried by  the  Switchback  substation.  The  13,000-volt  line 
to  Galax  will  be  completed  within  a  week  and  the  Galax 
substation  started.  The  Pocahontas  low-tension  service 
lines  have  been  completed.  A  45/2-mile  extension  will  be 
made  from  Coalwood  to  supply  the  Flannagan  Coal  &  Coke 
Company  and  the  Vaughn  Coal  Company.  The  sale  of 
energy  for  the  electrical  operation  of  coal  mines  will  be  one 
of  the   important   sources   of  revenue   for  the   company. 

Holding  Corporation  for  Electric  Bond  &  Share's  Texas 
Properties. — The  Southwestern  Utilities  Corporation,  a 
new  holding  corporation  in  which  the  Electric  Bond  & 
Share  Company  is  interested,  controls  the  Southwestern 
Power  &  Light  Company,  which  in  turn  controls  the  Texas 
Power  &  Light  Company  operating  in  twelve  cities  and 
towns  in  the  "black-land  belt"  and  in  six  other  cities  in  the 
State  of  Texas.  The  last-named  company  was  formed  by 
the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company  last  June,  as  noted 
in  these  columns  at  the  time,  and  took  over  a  number  of 
the  public  utilities  that  had  been  purchased  from  the 
American  Railways  &  Lighting  Company  by  the  Electric 
Bond  &  Share.  The  Southwestern  Utilities  Corporation 
has  an  authorized  capital  stock  of  $15,000,000,  and  au- 
thorized an  issue  of  $15,000,000  five-year  6  per  cent  notes. 

Boston  Edison's  Stockholders. — .-\ttention  was  called  re- 
cently to  the  fact  that  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating 
Company  of  Boston  has  about  3800  stockholders,  whose 
average  holdings  are  forty-one  shares.  There  are  thirty- 
two  stockholders  owning  500  shares  or  more,  the  aggre- 
gate of  whose  holdings  is  nearly  27,500  shares,  or  17  per 
cent  of  the  156,037  shares  now  outstanding.  It  is  stated 
that  the  estate  of  George  Peabody  is  the  largest  stock- 
holder, having  1863  shares.  Up  to  four  years  ago  J.  P. 
Morgan  was  the  largest  stockholder,  with  3410  shares. 
These  were  disposed  of  in  the  summer  of  1908. 

UtiHties  Improvement  OfTering  Oversubscribed. — The 
offering  made  last  week  by  H.  L.  Doherty  &  Company  of 
$5,000,000  6  per  cent  preferred  stock  of  the  Utilities  Irn- 
provement  Company,  whose  organization  was  noted  in 
these  columns  Oct.  19,  and  whose  holdings  are  described 
elsewhere  in  this  issue,  was  found  to  be  more  than  $10,000,- 
000  oversubscribed  when  the  subscription  list  closed  on 
Oct.  26.  The  closing  of  subscriptions  to  these  securities 
marked  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  the  entrance  of  the 
Doherty  company  into  the  public-utility  field. 

Milwaukee  Heating  Company  to  Change  Hands. — To  en- 
able The  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company 
to  acquire  the  property  of  the  Central  Heating  Company  of 
Milwaukee,  the  Wisconsin  Public  Service  Commission  has 
authorized  the  former  to  issue  $850,000  par  value  of  com- 
mon stock,  $750,000  of  which  is  to  be  exchanged  for  the 
bonds  and  mortgage  of  the  Central  Heating  Company  and 
$100,000  for  its  common  stock. 

Kentucky  Securities  Corporation  Preferred  Stock  Listed.— 
The  preferred  stock  of  the  Kentucky  Securities  Corporation, 
of  Lexington,  Ky.,  has  been  placed  on  the  market  in  Cmcm- 
nati,  Ohio,  and  Louisville,  Ky.  The  Kentucky  Securities 
Corporation  is  capitalized  at  $5,000,000.  It  controls  the  Lex- 
ington Utilities  Company  and  the  Kentucky  Traction  &  Ter- 
minal Company,  both  of  Lexington. 


962 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  18. 


Holdings  of  Utilities  Improvement  Company. — A  note  in 
these  columns  Oct.  19  concerning  the  new  Utilities  Improve- 
ment Company,  recentlj-  formed  by  H.  L.  Doherty  &  Com- 
pany as  a  holding  corporation  for  gas  and  electric  prop- 
erties, gave  the  capitalization  of  the  new  concern,  its 
officers  and  directors  and  a  list  of  the  properties  it  will 
acquire.  A  few  data  concerning  the  electric  properties,  given 
below,  may  be  of  interest:  The  Danbury  &  Bethel  Electric 
Light  Company  of  Danbury,  Conn.,  serves  a  population  of 
over  24.000  in  that  city  and  Bethel,  Conn.  The  electric 
department  has  1091  customers  in  Danbury  and  120  in 
Bethel,  while  the  gas  department  has  3973  customers  in 
Danbury  and  642  in  Bethel,  and  33  miles  of  mains.  Its  terri- 
tory contains  forty-seven  factories  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  hats  or  of  materials  used  in  their  manufacture, 
together  with  a  large  amount  of  other  industries  which  are 
desirable  prospective  customers  for  motor  service.  The 
Athens  (Ga.)  Railway  &  Electric  Company  serves  a  popula- 
tion of  over  15,000  from  its  own  steam  and  hydroelectric 
stations,  whose  aggregate  rated  output  is  3100  kw,  and  from 
a  hydroelectric  station  rated  at  3000  kw,  which  it  has  leased 
for  a  term  of  ninety-nine  years.  The  territory  is  a  prom- 
ising one  from  the  standpoint  of  motor  load  and  is  expand- 
ing rapidly.  The  Bartlesville  Gas,  Electric  &  Railway 
Company  of  Bartlesville,  Okla.,  serves  a  district  rich  in  nat- 
ural resources,  located  some  80  miles  southwest  of  Joplin, 
Mo.  Zinc  smelters,  cement  works,  machine  shops  and 
trades  allied  with  the  gas  and  oil  fields  of  which  Bartles- 
ville is  a  center,  and  the  rapidity  with  which  new  industrial 
enterprises  are  coming  in,  afford  excellent  prospects  for 
supplying  large  amounts  of  energy  for  motor  service,  in 
addition  to  the  electric-lighting  and  gas  service  furnished 
by  the  compan}^  The  Toledo  Railways  &  Light  Com- 
pany, which  is  the  largest  of  the  electric  companies  taken 
over  by  the  new  concern,  serves   a   population   of  200.000. 


ELECTRIC  SECURITIES 


NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET   PRICES. 

, Oct.  22 , 

Copper:  Bid.         Asked. 

Standard,  spot    17.20         

£       s     d 

London,  standard,  spot 75       5     0 

Prime  Lake    17.60  to  17.80 

Electrolytic     17.50  to  17.70 

Casting    17.35  to  17.45 

Copper  wire,  base 19.00 

Lead    5.10 

>iickel    45.00 

Sheet  zinc,  f.o.b.  smelter 9.00 

Spelter,  spot    7.60 

Tin,   spot    50.00 

Aluminum: 

Prompt  delivery  26.50  to  27.50 

Future     26.00  to  27.00 

OLD  METALS. 

Heavy  copper  and  wire 16.00 

Brass,  heavy    10.00 

Brass,  light    8.50 

Lead,   heavy    4.75 

Zinc,  scrap   6. 1 2  54 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN   OCTOBER. 
Total  tons,  week  ending Oct.  22,  13,896 


, Oct.  29 

Bid.       Asked. 

16.75       

£       s     d 

75       5     0 

17.50  to  17.60 

17.30  to  17.40 

17.20  to  17.30 

19.00 

5.10 

45.00 

9.00 

7.55 

50.20 

27.00  to  28.00 
26.00  to  27.00 


16.50 
9.75 
8.50 
4.75 
6.12H 


Oct.  29,  21,453 


INDUSTRIAL  SECURITIES 


Security. 


AUis-Chalmeis,  pf 

Allis-Chalmers,  2d  assess. 
paid 

AUis-Chalmers.  pf.,  2d  as- 
sess, paid 

Amalgamated  Copper 

American  Tel.  &  Tel 

Crocker- Wheeler,  c 

Crocker- Wheeler,  pf 

Electric  Storage  Battery ,c. 

General  Electric 

Mackay  Cos.,  c 

Mackay  Cos.,  pf 

M^estem  Union  Tel 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M..  c. 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M.,  pf. 

*Last  price  quoted. 


Capital  Stock 
Listed. 


$2,083,800 

17,151,100 

14,034,700 

153,887,900 

334.712.300 

1,700,000 

500,000 

16,074,425 

77,726,700 

41,380,400 

50,000,000 

79,943,400 

31,685,300 

3,998,700 


DIVIDEND. 


QUOTATION. 


>  I 

PerCent.    Period., Oct.  23. 'Oct.  30 


...... 

2 

Q 

li 

Q 

li 

.  ".. 

2 

li 

1 

f 
1 

13 


Q 
Q 
Q 
0 
0 
0 


2i 

8{* 
86i 

143 
87* 

104* 
5Si 

180i 
86J* 
68* 
79} 
821 

126* 


2* 

83i* 

142i 
86* 

105* 
55 

180 
80 
67* 
79J 
82i 

125 


Q— Quarterly.         M— Monthly.              S— Semi-annually. 

A — Annually 

-r) — rrrr: :: — rm r 

h                  llj       r 

1 

.  ,  - 

>l 

DIVIDEND. 

LAST     QUO- 
TATION. 

Security. 

Outstanding 

Per  Cent 

'  Period. 

1 

Bid. 

Asked 

Adirondack  Electric'Power.  c. 
Adirondack  Elec.  Power,  pf . . 

$9,500,000 
2,500,000 

24i 
67i 

25 
68i 

Amer.  Gas  &  Electric  ($50),  c. 
Amer.  Gas  &  Electric  (S50),pf. 

2.500,000 
1.537,500 

li 
14 

s 

89 
48 

91 
SO 

Amer.  Light  &  Traction,  c. . . 
Amer.  Light  &  Traction,  pf . , 

10,395,400 
14,236,200 

n 

0 
Q 

432 
109 

435 
llOi 

Amer.  Power  &  Light,  c 

Amer.  Pwr.  &  Lt.,  6%  cum  pf. 

Amer.  Pwr.  &  Lt.,  opt.  warr.  . 

Amer.  Pwr.  &  Lt.,  6%  notes, 

'21            

5,631,400 
3,106,800 
1,604,000 

2,199,100 

"ii" 

3 

"o  ■ 
s 

69 

85j 
13 

971 

25i 
74i 

70 
86 
IS 

991 

26 

75i 

Appalachian  Power,  c 

Appalachian  Power,  pf 

6,000,000 
2,180,000 

3,000,000 
850,000 

1,100,000 

2i 

s 

10 
50 

93 

Arizona  Power,  pf 

55 

Asheville  Light  &  Power,   1st 
s.  f.  5s,  '42 

96 

Augusta-Aiken     Railway     & 

Electric,  s.  f.  5s,  '35 

Augusta-Aiken  Ry.  &  Elec,  c. 
Augusta-Aiken  Ry.  &  Elec.,pf. 

2,588,000 
2,250,000 
1,500,000 

n 

s 

90 
25 

75 

95 
35 

85 

Augusta  Railway  &  Electric, 
1st  5s,  '40 

967,000 

4,037,000 
1,000,000 
4,283,000 

5 

IJ 

11 

A 

100 

175 
83 
95 

Butte  Electric  &  Power,  c... 
Butte" Electric  &  Power,  pf... 
Butte  Elec.  &  Pwr.,  1st  5s, '51. 

176 
85 

97i 

Central  Maine  Power;  1st  5s.. 

1,923,000 

5 

,  A 

97 

99 

5.499,430 
10,195,360 

i 

i 

M 
M 

122 
89 

122 

Cities^Service,  pf 

91 

Columbus     Railway     Gas     & 

Electric,  1st  Ss,  '36 

Columbus  Ry.  G.  &  Elec.,  c. . 
Columbus  Ry.  G.  f-  Elec,  pf. 

2,454,000 

2,000,000 

840,000 

2i 

■'ii" 

8 

"o" 

94 
60 
85 

95 
"95" 

Commonwealth    Edison,  can. 
stock .' . 

32,964,800 
11.564,000 

7 
2i 

A 
S 

144 
88i 

146 

Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  & 
Power  (Baltimore),  4Js. ,  .  . 

881 

Consum.  Pwr.  (Mich.),  5s,  '36 

8,407,0001 

2i 

S 

96 

98 

Consumers  Power  (Minn.),  1st 
5s,  '29       

9  539  500 

2i 

S 

89i 
95 

92 

DaUas  Elec.  Corp.,  5s,  '22 

3,659,000 

2i 

S 

98 

Denver  Gas  &  El.  Lt.,  c 

Denver  Gas  &  El.  Lt.,  gen.  5s, 

7,001,300 
6,000,300 

2 

M 

S 

220 
95 

'97" 

Empire  District  Electric,  5s. , 

1,925,000 

2i 

s 

87 

88 

Edison  El.  111.  of  Boston,  cap. 
stock 

15.603,700 

4,750,000 
2,500,000 

2i 

"ii" 

0 
■q" 

273i 

37 
84 

Federal  Light  &  Traction,  c. . 
Federal  Light  &  Traction,  pf . 

37i 
85 

Kings  County  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr. 

10,000,000 

2 

0 

130 

132 

Niagara  Falls  Power,  5s,  "32 . 

10,000,000 

2i 

s 

lOli 

102 

Northern    Ohio    Railway    & 
Light.  4is,  '35 

17,544,000 

21 

S 

86 

87i 

Northern  States  Power,  c. .  .  . 
Northern  States  Power,  pf .  .  . 

5,975,000 
8.386.700 

"ij" 

o' 

29 

88 

30 
90 

Pacific  Gas  &  Electric,  c 

Pacific   Gas  &   Electric,   gen. 
and  ref.   5s.  '42 

31,908,750 

20,000,000 
10,000,000 

Q 

s 
0 

641 

91 
93 

64t 
91 

Pacific  Gas  &  Electric,  pf 

94 

Philadelphia  Electric  ($25).. . 

24,987,750 

H 

Q 

23 

23i 

Portland  General  Electric,  5s. 

8,000,000 

2i 

s 

lOOi 

1021 

Republic  Railway  &  Light,  c. 
Republic  Railway  &  Light,  pf. 

5,200,000 
6,360,000 

'ii' 

o" 

27 
82i 

28 
821 

St.  Joseph's  R.,  L.  H.  &  P.,  Ss. 

4,637,000 

2i 

s 

99 

100 

Seattle  Electric  Co.,  con.  Ss,'29 

7.417,000 

2i 

8 

98 

100 

Southern  Calif.  Edison,  5s,'.^9 

9,975,000 

2J 

S 

96 

98 

Southern  Power,  Ss 

4,000,000 

2i 

S 

100 

101 

Standard  Gas  &  Elec.  ($50),  c 
Standard  G.  &  Elec.  ($50),  pf. 

9,343,150 
10,977,950 

"i" 

■q" 

$23 
$50i 

$24. 
$51 

Tennessee  R..  L.  &  Pwr.,  c 

Tennessee  R..  L.  &  Pwr.,  pf. . 

20,000,000 
10,250,000 

' '  li  ■ 

•  o" 

24J 

78i 

24? 

79 

Tri-City  Railway  &  Light,  c. . 
Tri-City  Railway  &  Light,  pf. 
Tri-City  Ry.  &  Lt.,  5s,  '23 . . 

9,000.000 
2,826,200 
8,207,000 

"it" 

"o  ■ 

8 

57 
93 
97  J 

60 
95 

14,670,000 
6,000,000 

"e" 

26  i 
561 

28i 

Western  Power,  6%  cum.  pf . . 

1 

59 

November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


963 


Personal 

Mr.  R.  B.  Candage  has  been  appointed  auditor  of  the 
Western  States  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Stockton,  Cal., 
to  succeed  Mr.  B.   F.  Wellington,  resigned. 

Mr.  Frank  Hildreth  has  been  appointed  manager  of  the 
new-business  department  of  the  Northern  Idaho  &  Montana 
Power  Company  at  Kalispell,  Mont.,  succeeding  Mr.  A.  P. 
Tills. 

Mr.  Thomas  Clark  has  resigned  from  the  Green  Bay 
(Wis.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company  and  joined  the  forces  of 
the  Lake  Shore  Consolidated  Gas  Company  at  Highland 
Park,  111. 

Mr.  J.  L.  Herbst,  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  will  on  Nov.  15  assume 
the  position  of  superintendent  of  the  Municipal  Electric 
Light  &  Water  Works,  of  Butler,  Ind.,  succeeding  Mr.  J.  S. 
Norford. 

Mr.  R.  M.  Searle,  third  vice-president  of  the  Rochester 
(N.  Y.)  Railway  &  Light  Company,  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Council  of  the  American  Gas  Institute  at  its  recent 
annual  meeting. 

Mr.  E.  K.  Hall,  legislative  counsel  of  the  New  England 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  Boston,  Mass.,  has  been 
elected  vice-president,  to  perform  such  duties  as  may  be  as- 
signed to  him  by  tlie  president. 

Mr.  W.  C.  Duncan,  contract  agent  for  the  Lawrence 
(Kan.)  Railway  &  Light  Company,  addressed  the  Kansas 
State  University  Branch,  A.  I.  E.  E.,  Oct.  16,  on  the  subject 
of  "Comnjercialisni  in  Engineering." 

Mr.  Anson  W.  Burchard,  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, is  at  present  in  London,  England,  on  business  in  con- 
nection with  the  company.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  Mr.  Bur- 
chard will  be  abroad  for  over  a  month. 

Mr.  B.  F.  Wellington,  who  for  twenty-four  years  has 
been  associated  with  the  gas  and  electric  interests  of  Stock- 
ton, Cal.,  has  resigned  from  the  Western  Gas  &  Electric 
Company  and  is  retiring  from  active  business  life. 

Mr.  Clare  N.  Stannard,  secretary  and  contract  agent  of 
the  Denver  (Col.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  was  elected 
second  vice-president  of  the  American  Gas  Institute  at  its 
seventh  annual  meeting  in  Atlantic  City,  N.  J.,  on  Oct.  17. 

Mr.  Emil  Rathenau,  founder  of  the  German  Edison  com- 
pany and  general  manager  of  the  AUgemeine  Elektricitats 
Gesellschaft,  Berlin,  who  had  suffered  for  a  considerable 
time  with  a  diseased  leg,  has  been  compelled  to  have  the  leg 
amputated. 

Mr.  E.  B.  Smith  has  been  appointed  general  manager  of 
the  American  Orr  Concrete  Pole  Company,  Anaheim,  Cal., 
by  the  board  of  directors  of  that  company.  Mr.  Smith  was 
formerly  connected  with  the  Bell  Telephone  Company  in 
Los  Angeles. 

Mr.  Ray  Flanders  has  been  appointed  contract  agent  for 
the  Bristol  Gas  &  Electric  Company  of  Bristol,  Tenn.  Mr. 
Flanders  comes  to  Bristol  from  the  sales  staff  of  the 
Lincoln  (Neb.)  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company,  another 
of  the  Doherty  interests. 

Mr.  T.  B.  Rhodes  has  been  appointed  commercial  man- 
ager for  the  Consumers'  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company, 
New  Orleans,  La.,  succeeding  Mr.  J.  J.  Flautt.  Mr.  Rhodes 
served  in  a  similar  capacity  with  the  Elmira  (N.  Y.)  Water, 
Light  &  Railway  Company. 

Mr.  James  Riley,  formerly  electrical  and  mechanical  en- 
gineer of  the  Choctaw  Railway  &  Lighting  Company,  Mc- 
Alester,  Okla.,  has  become  associated  with  the  Missouri, 
Kansas  &  Texas  Railway  as  system  electrical  engineer,  with 
headquarters  at  Parsons,  Kan. 

Mr.  George  Decker,  for  many  years  foreman  of  shops 
of  the  Southern  California  Edison  Company,  Los  Angeles, 
Cal,  has  been  promoted  to  the  position  of  assistant  super- 
intendent of  transmission.  In  his  new  office  Mr.  Decker 
will  have  charge  of  all  substations. 

Mr.  A.  P.  Tills,  formerly  contract  agent  of  the  Northern 
Idaho  &  Montana  Power  Company  at  Kalispell,  ;\Iont., 
has  been  transferred  to  Eugene,  Ore.,  where  he  will  be  as- 
sistant to  Mr.  R.  M.  Jennings,  manager  of  the  Oregon 
Power  Company,  at  the  latter  place. 


Mr.  R.  J.  Graf,  of  Chicago,  has  been  appointed  secretary 
of  the  Louisville  Lighting  Company  and  the  Louisville  Gas 
Company,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  two  companies  controlled  by 
H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  Chicago.  Mr.  M.  A.  Morrison 
will  become  assistant  secretary  of  these  companies. 

Mr.  Frank  P.  Woy,  who  for  the  past  ten  months  has  been 
general  manager  of  the  Trinidad  Electric  Transmission, 
Railway  &  Gas  Company,  Trinidad,  Col.,  has  recently  re- 
signed from  that  company  and  will  go  to  Albuquerque, 
N.  M.,  to  take  a  rest  before  returning  to  business  again. 

Mr.  Herbert  Lutz,  who  for  the  past  twenty  years  has  been 
in  charge  of  the  meter  department  of  the  Dominion  Power 
&  Transmission  Company,  Hamilton,  Ont.,  has  been  ap- 
pointed to  the  government  position  of  inspector  of  gas 
and  electricity,  until  recently  occupied  by  Mr.  Donald 
McPhie. 

Mr.  F.  P.  Wood,  who  at  one  time  was  connected  with 
the  Black  Hills  Traction  Company,  Deadwood,  S.  D.,  and 
later  with  the  Southern  Colorado  Railway,  Light  &  Power 
Company,  has  succeeded  Mr.  F.  P.  Woy  as  manager  of  the 
Trinidad  Electric  Transmission,  Railway  &  Gas  Company, 
Trinidad,   Col. 

Mr.  C.  O.  Mailloux,  consulting  engineer  of  New  York, 
has  been  appointed  assistant  to  President  W.  H.  Nichols, 
of  the  Granby  Consolidated  Mining,  Smelting  &  Power 
Company,  Ltd.  This  company  owns  immense  tracts  of 
mining  lands  in  British  Columbia  and  is  one  of  the  largest 
copper  producers  in  the  country. 

Mr.  W.  N.  Warburton,  of  the  Toronto,  Hamilton  &  Buf- 
falo Railway,  Hamilton,  Ont..  Can.,  has  been  appointed  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  Lake  Erie  Railway  &  Transportation 
Company,  London,  Ont.,  to  succeed  Mr.  S.  W.  Mower. 
Mr.  Warburton  was  at  one  time  connected  with  the 
Chatham,  Wallaceburg  &  Lake  Erie  Railway. 

Mr.  Herbert  C.  Goodwin,  engineer  of  the  power  station 
of  the  Willimantic  (Conn.)  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company, 
has  recently  become  assistant  superintendent  of  the  New 
Britain  Gas  Company.  When  he  left  he  was  presented 
with  a  gift  of  money  from  the  Willimantic  company  and 
a  handsome  memorial  from  his  fellow  employees. 

Mr.  Alton  W.  Leonard  has  been  appointed  district  man- 
ager of  the  Stone  &  Webster  properties  in  the  Puget  Sound 
district,  to  succeed  the  late  Richard  T.  Laffin.  Mr.  Leonard 
has  had  charge  of  Stone  &  Webster  properties  in  Brockton, 
Mass.;  Houghton,  Mich.,  and  Minneapolis,  Minn.  Until  re- 
cently he  was  district  manager  of  the  properties  of  the 
Stone  &  Webster  Management  Association  in  the  Middle 
West. 

Mr.  Henry  L.  Doherty  has  now  been  connected  with  the 
gas  industry  thirty  years,  and  in  order  to  commemorate  the 
thirtieth  anniversary  of  his  employment  as  an  office  boy  by 
the  Columbus  (Ohio)  Gas  Light  Company  his  associates 
surprised  him  at  the  regular  weekly  dinner  and  business 
discussion  held  at  Fraunces'  Tavern,  New  York  City,  Oct. 
21,  by  departing  from  routine  business  in  order  to  celebrate 
the   event   appropriately. 

Mr.  John  Sanders,  who  has  been  appointed  general  man- 
ager of  the  Danbury  &  Bethel  Street  Railway,  Danbury, 
Conn.,  and  has  also  been  elected  a  director  of  the  company, 
was  formerly  connected  with  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany at  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  and  until  recently  was  in  charge 
of  the  work  of  improving  the  generating  plant  of  the  com- 
pany with  which  he  is  now  associated.  During  its  construc- 
tion he  was  also  connected  with  the  Shore  Line  Electric 
Railway  of  New  Haven,  Conn. 

Mr.  Godfrey  H.  Atkin,  the  newly  elected  president  of  the 
Railway  Electric  Supply  Manufacturers'  Association,  has 
been  connected  with  electrical  business  in  the  West  since 
1890,  when  he  joined  the  Chicago  office  of  the  Thomson- 
Houston  Electric  Company,  afterward  merged  into  the 
General  Electric  Company.  He  has  been  identified  with 
the  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company  since  1902  and  is 
manager  of  the  Chicago  office  of  that  company.  He  is  vice- 
chairman  of  the  Chicago  Section  of  the  Electric  Vehicle 
Association  and  a  member  of  the  following  clubs:  Mid- 
day, South  Shore  Country,  Chicago  Athletic,  Evanston 
Yacht,  Chicago  Yacht,  and  Royal  Canadian  Yacht  Club  of 
Toronto,  Can.     Mr.  Atkin's  favorite  pastime  is  yachting  and 


964 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  60,  No.  18. 


THOMAS    E.    MURRAY. 


he  is  the  owner  and  skipper  of  the  schooner  Nomad.     He  is 
one  of  the  best  known  of  the  electrical  men  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  F.  C.  Kaulback  is  resident  chief  engineer  of  construc- 
tion of  the  hydroelectric  plants  of  the  Appalachian  Power 
Company,  with  headquarters  at  Bluefield,  \V.  Va.  The  gen- 
eral superintendent  of  construction,  in  full  charge  of  work 
on  the  spillway  dams,  retaining  dams,  power  houses,  trans- 
former stations,  etc.,  is  Mr.  A.  L.  Felio.  Mr.  H.  E.  Shedd 
is  superintendent  of  power,  having  charge  of  the  operation 
of  the  nearly  completed  developments.  In  our  issue  of 
Oct.  12  it  was  erroneously  stated  that  Mr.  D.  E.  Clough 
was  in  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  two  stations  and 
that  Mr.  Shedd  was  general  superintendent. 

Mr.  Thomas  E.  Murray,  second  vice-president  and  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company,  to  whom 
was  recently  issued  a  patent  on  a  portalile  electric  bath, 
has  the  distinction  of 
having  had  more  than  155 
patents  granted  to  him, 
about  150  of  which  relate 
to  electrical  apparatus 
and  appliances.  His  work 
has  by  no  means  been 
confined  to  inventions, 
however,  and  he  is  prob- 
ably best  known  as  one  of 
the  leaders  in  the  electric- 
lighting  industry,  with 
which  he  has  been  long 
connected.  Born  at 
Albany,  N.  Y..  Oct.  21. 
i860,  he  grew  up  in  that 
city  and  very  early  in  life 
manifested  a  leaning  to 
mechanical  pursuits.  His 
first  responsible  position  was  that  of  engineer  of  the  Albany 
Water  Works.  Shortly  afterward  (twenty-six  years  ago) 
lie  was  made  chief  engineer  of  the  Electric  Illuminating 
■Company  of  Albany.  His  superiors,  recognizing  his 
worth,  made  him  general  manager  of  the  company  and  also 
permitted  him  to  act  in  a  consulting  capacity  for  the  rail- 
way and  lighting  properties  of  Albany  and  Troy.  Mr. 
A.  N.  Brady  then  brought  him  to  New  York  to  effect  the 
physical  merger  of  the  electric-lighting  systems  of  Brook- 
lyn, and  about  fifteen  years  ago  Mr.  Murray  took  up  his 
permanent  residence  in  New  York  City.  To  him  the  Brady 
interests  also  intrusted  the  task  of  the  physical  consolida- 
tion of  the  electric-lighting  properties  in  Manhattan.  In 
■this  work,  and  in  fact  in  all  work  on  properties  in  which 
Mr.  Brady  was  interested,  Mr.  Murray's  engineering  judg- 
ment was  in  demand.  The  steam  plants  in  .Albany,  Troy, 
■Rochester  and  Utica  were  designed  under  his  supervision, 
and  the  Waterside  stations  of  the  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany, the  newer  stations  of  the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit 
Company  and  the  Gold  Street  station  of  the  Kings  County 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  are  monuments  of  his 
skill  as  a  designing  engineer.  Mr.  Murray  is  at  present  en- 
gaged in  work  on  the  new  steam-turbine  station  of  the 
United  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  on  201st  Street, 
New  York  City,  and  on  the  hydroelectric  station  of  the 
■Chattanooga  &  Tennessee  River  Power  Company  at  Hales 
Bar,  18  miles  from  Chattanooga,  Tenn.  Besides  his  con- 
nection with  the  New  York  Edison  Company,  Mr.  Murray 
is  a  director  in  the  Broolyn  Edison  company,  vice-presi- 
dent and  director  of  the  United  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company,  president  and  director  of  the  Yonkers  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company,  director  in  the  Louisville  Light- 
ing Company,  director  in  the  Westchester  Lighting  Com- 
pany, vice-president  and  director  of  the  Consolidated  Tele- 
graph &  Electrical  Subway  Company  and  connected  with 
other  public  utilities.  He  is  also  the  leading  spirit  in  the 
Metropolitan  Engineering  Company,  of  Brooklyn.  It  is 
almost  impossible  for  friends  of  Mr.  Murray  to  think  of 
him  without  recalling  his  happy  family  life,  for  he  is  the 
proud  father  of  four  boys  and  four  girls.  His  chief  recrea- 
tion is  music,  of  which  he  is  passionately  fond.  Mr.  Murray 
is  a  member  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E.,  the  A.  S.  M.  E.,  the  N.  E. 
L.  A.  and  of  the  Association  of  Edison  Illuminating  Com- 
panies, of  which  body  he  has  twice  been  elected  as  presi- 
dent. 


Mr.  Raymond  H.  Smith  has  been  appointed  manager  of 
the  Jackson  (Miss.)  Light  &  Traction  Company,  one  of  the 
American  Public  Utility  Company's  properties.  Mr.  Smith 
from  1897  to  1900  occupied  various  positions  with  the 
Waterbury  (Conn.)  Traction  Company.  During  the  latter 
year,  when  the  Waterbury  company  was  absorbed  by  the 
Connecticut  Railway  &  Lighting  Company,  he  was  trans- 
ferred from  the  transportation  department  of  the  Water- 
bury company  to  the  headquarters  of  the  Connecticut  Rail- 
way &  Lighting  Company  at  Bridgeport,  as  purchasing 
agent  and  secretary  to  the  general  manager.  In  1903,  after 
occupying  the  position  of  superintendent  of  transportation, 
he  was  appointed  superintendent  with  jurisdiction  extend- 
ing to  the  repair  shops  and  power  plants.  In  .-August,  1907, 
he  became  general  manager  of  the  Albany  &  Hudson  Rail- 
road, which  operated  the  high-speed,  third-rail  system  from 
.■\lbany  to  Hudson  as  well  as  the  local  trolley  service  in  the 
latter  place  and  furnished  electrical  energy  for  lighting  at 
Rensselaer,  Hudson  and  intermediate  towns.  In  July,  1909, 
he  became  receiver  of  the  Albany  &  Hudson  Railroad  com- 
pany, and  a  few  months  later  was  appointed  general  man- 
ager of  this  company's  successor,  the  Albany  Southern 
Railroad  Company. 


Obituary 


Mr.  John  W.  Killian,  who  may  be  remembered  by  older 
electrical  men  as  foreman  of  the  arc-lamp  and  fan-motor 
manufacturing  departments  of  the  Western  Electric  Com- 
pany in  Chicago  some  years  ago,  died  in  the  Henrotin 
Memorial  Hospital  in  Chicago  on  Oct.  24,  aged  seventy-one 
years.  He  was  born  in  Germany,  but  came  to  this  country 
as  a  boy  and  served  as  a  soldier  in  the  United  States  Army 
during  the  civil  war.  For  a  long  term  of  years  Mr.  Killian 
was  employed  by  the  Western  Electric  Company,  but  he 
retired  in  1897.     He  was  a  member  of  the  G.  A.  R. 

Mr.  Charles  Gushing  Badeau,  who  for  many  years  had 
been  connected  with  the  electrical  industry  as  an  engineer 
in  the  manufacture  of  circuit-breakers,  oil  switches  and 
switchboards,  died  Oct. 
16  at  his  home  in  Win- 
throp,  Mass.  At  the  time 
of  his  death  Mr.  Badeau 
was  thirty-seven  years 
old.  he  havi^ng  been  born 
in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Nov. 
16,  1875.  Mr.  Badeau 
started  with  Mr.  C.  S. 
Van  Nuis  in  1892,  design- 
ing and  manufacturing 
circuit-breakers,  switch- 
boards, etc.  Later  he  was 
connected  with  the  Gen 
eral  Electric  Company  in 
the  drafting  department 
and  as  a  designer  of 
switching  apparatus, 
superintending  the  instal- 
lation of  many  large  equipments,  .-^bout  1901  he  left  the 
General  Electric  Company  and  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Wagner  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  of  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  where  he  had  charge  of  the  alternating-current  switch- 
board department.  For  a  while  Mr.  Badeau  was  also  asso- 
ciated with  the  Cutler-Hammer  Manufacturing  Company 
in  the  design,  construction,  installation  and  operation  of 
circuit-breaking  devices.  At  the  time  of  his  death  Mr. 
Badeau  was  chief  engineer  for  the  Condit  Electrical  Manii- 
facturing  Company,  of  Boston,  having  charge  of  its  engi- 
neering work  including  the  design  of  circuit-breakers,  oil 
switches  and  switchboard  apparatus  of  all  kinds.  He  was 
also  the  electrical  expert  of  the  company's  patent  depart- 
ment. Mr.  Badeau,  who  was  a  Jovian  and  an  associate  of 
the  A.  I.  E.  E.,  was  the  author  of  several  papers  on  sub- 
jects pertaining  to  his  specialty  and  at  the  recent  conven- 
tion of  the  New  England  Branch  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  sub- 
mitted a  paper  on  "Eectric  Protective  Devices."  He  was 
regarded  as  a  man  of  unusually  high  character  and  ability 
and  his  loss  is  keenly  felt  by  his  friends  and  business  asso- 
ciates. 


CHARLFS    C.    BADEAU. 


November  2,  191:; 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


965 


Construction 


MARIANNA,  ARK. — E.  C.  and  J.  S.  Horner,  of  Memphis,  Tenn.,  have 
purchased  the  property  of  the  Marianna  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  The  new  owners 
contemplate  improvements  to  the  plants  and  also  the  construction  of  an 
electric  railway  to  connect  Marianna  with  the  North  Arkansas  Railroad 
and  which  may  possibly  be  extended  to  Memphis. 

BAIRDSTOWN,  CAL. — The  citizens  of  Bairdstown  have  voted  to  in- 
stall an  ornamental  street-lighting  system,  including  Huntington  Drive. 
The  latter  will  form  part  of  the  "lighted  way"  which  is  to  connect  all 
the  municipalities  in  the  San  Gabriel  Valley. 

BEAUMONT,  CAL. — The  Southern  California  Edison  Co.  is  planning 
to  erect  a  transmission  line  from  Redlands  to  Beaumont,  a  distance  of 
about  15  miles,  to  distribute  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors. 

CRESCENT  CITY,  CAL.— The  Mountain  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
Railroad  Commission  for  a  certificate  of  public  convenience  and  necessity 
to  construct  an  electric  plant  in  Cresent  City  and  to  operate  in  Del  Norte 
County. 

DUNSMUIR,  CAL. — The  citizens  are  planning  to  install  an  ornamental 
street-lighting  system  on  several  of  the  streets  here. 

ESCONDIDO,  CAL.— The  Mutual  Water  Co.  is  planning  to  install  a 
power  plant  to  use  the  water  from  its  impounding  reservoir,  7  miles  from 
Escondido.  The  installation  of  a  2000-hp  plant  is  contemplated  and  a 
steam  auxiliary  plant  may  be  installed  later. 

LONG  BEACH,  CAL. — The  utilities  committee  appointed  by  the  Coun- 
cil to  formulate  a  plan  to  bond  the  city  for  needed  improvements  has 
adopted  a  resolution  recommending  a  total  outlay  of  $1,200,000,  of  which 
$100,000  is  recommended  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light 
plant. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — The  Los  Angeles  Ry.  Corpn.  has  purchased 
franchises  on  Dayton  Avenue  and   South   Main   Street  in  Los  Angeles. 

MARVSVILLE,  CAL,— The  Marysville  &  Nevada  Pwr.  Co.  is  asking 
bids  for  the  •  construction  of  a  tunnel  just  below  Goodyear  Bar,  near 
Downieville,  in  connection  with  its  power  plant  and  irrigation  project. 
It  is  expected  to  have  the  tunnel  completed  by  spring,  when  a  diversion 
dam  will  be  constructed  as  well  as  a  small  amount  of  flume  and  ditch 
to  carry  the  water  to  the  power-house  site.  The  water  is  to  be  used 
for  irrigation  purposes.  James  O'Brien,  of  Sniartsville;  Jason  Meek  and 
J.   E.    Ellert,   of  Marysville,  are  interested. 

REDDING,  CAL.— The  Mount  Shasta  Pwr.  Co.  is  installing  a  small 
power  plant  in  the  Big  Bend  of  Pitt  River,  to  operate  compressors  in 
connection  with  air  drills  in  the  tunnels  now  started.  One  tunnel  is 
to   be   7   miles   long. 

RIVERSIDE,  CAL. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  granted  the 
Southern  Pacific  Co.  permission  to  purchase  the  street-railway  franchises 
in  the  city  of  Richmond  held  by  John  H.  Nicholl  and  H.  C.  Cutting. 
These  franchises  will  be  used  in  the  interurban  system  contemplated  by 
the  Southern  Pacific  Co.  to  connect  Richmond  with  Berkeley,  Oakland 
and  Alameda. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.— The  Stone  &  WVbster  Engineering  Corpn., 
of  Boston,  Mass.,  it  is  reported,  is  planning  to  install  a  power  plant, 
using  the  overflow  of  Lake  Tahoe  for  the  prime  mover.  The  name  of 
the  operating  company  is  withheld. 

SANTA  MONICA,  CAL.— The  city  of  Santa  Monica  is  planning  to 
install  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  several  streets. 

TROPICO,  CAL.— The  Sute  Railroad  Commission  has  granted  the 
Pacific  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Corpn.,  of  Los  Angeles,  permission  to  purchase  the 
distributing  system  of  the  Glendale  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  in  Tropico  for  $5,200. 

TULARE,  CAL. — Capitalists  of  Lindsay  and  Tulare  are  planning  to 
connect  Tulare,  Lindsay  and  Porterville  in  the  near  future  by  an  elec- 
tric railway  25  miles  long. 

VENTURA,  CAL.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  J.  B.  Mc- 
Closkey,  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Ventura  County,  Ventura,  until 
Nov.  7  for  the  installation  of  electric  fixtures  and  of  vault  door  and 
lining  in  the  proposed  court  house  to  be  erected  on  Poli  Street  in  the 
city  of  San  Buenaventura.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  seen  at  the  above 
office  and  the  office  of  Albert  C.  Martin,  430  Higgins  Building,  Los 
Angeles,  copies  of  which  may  be  obtained  at  the  oflice  of  the  architect 
upon  deposit  of  $10,  which  will  be  refunded  upon  return  of  same. 

DENVER,  COL. — Contracts  have  been  signed  between  the  Central 
Colorado  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  Denver  City  Tramway  Co.  whereby  the  former 
will  supply  electricity  from  its  hydroelectric  plants  to  the  Denver  Tram- 
way Co.  about  Jan.  1.  Generators  and  other  machinery  to  cost  approxi- 
mately $50,000  will  "he  installed  either  at  the  power  house  of  the  tramway 
company  or  at  the  substation  on  the  Denver  &  Intermountain  R.  R.  Co. 
to  transform  the  energy  from  alternating  current  to  direct  current  for 
use  by  the  tramway  company.  Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  Cen- 
tral Colorado  Pwr.  Co,  for  doubling  the  generating  capacity  of  its 
Shoshone  plant  and  the  erection  of  additional  transmission  lines  to 
Colorado   Springs  and  other  towns. 

DALTON,  GA. — A  contract  has  been  entered  into  between  the  City 
Council  and  the  Georgia  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.  whereby  the  latter  will  supply 
power  to  the  city.  The  company  will  be  granted  a  franchise  immediately 
to  extend  its  lines  into  Dalton. 

GRANTVILLE,  GA.— The  City  Council  has  awarded  the  J.  B.  McCrary 


Co.,  of  Atlanta,  the  contract  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  sys- 
tem   here. 

EASTPORT,  IDAHO.— Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  installation  of 
an  electric-light  plant  for  the  Copper  Falls  Mining  Co.  here.  The 
proposed  plant  will  supply  electricity  for  lighting  the  town.  J.  W. 
McBride,  mining  expert,   has  charge. 

IDAHO  FALLS,  IDAHO.— The  proposition  to  issue  $35,000  in  bonds 
to  complete  the  hydroelectric  plant  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote  on  Nov.  19. 

BETHANY,  ILL.— The  Village  Board  has  granted  the  Central  Illinois 
Pub.  Service  Co.,  of  Mattoon,  a  50-year  fianchise  to  install  and  operate 
an  electrical  distributing  system  in  this  village.  A  contract  for  lighting 
the  streets  for  a  period  of  five  years  has  been  closed,  A  transmission 
line  will  be  erected  from  Mattoon,  a  distance  of  23  miles. 

CAMP  POINT,  ILL.— The  property  of  the  Camp  Point  El.  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  has  been  purchased  by  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Co.,  of  Chi- 
cago, for  $12,000. 

CARLINVILLE,  ILL.— The  Macoupin  County  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  to 
place  its  wires  underground   in  the  business  district. 

CHICAGO,  ILL, — Proposals  will  be  received  by  the  city  of  Chicago 
until  Nov.  7,  Room  406,  City  Hall,  Chicago,  III.,  for  furnishing  and 
erecting  one  electrically  operated  15-ton  Gantry  crane  at  the  Fourteenth 
Street  pumping  station,  1352  Indiana  Avenue,  Chicago.  The  crane  run- 
ways will  be  furnished  by  the  city.  The  crane  is  to  be  operated  by 
220-volt  direct  current.  Plans  and  specifications  are  on  file  at  the  office 
of  the  Department  of  Public  Wlorks,  Room  406,  City  Hall.  L.  E.  Mc- 
Gann  is  commissioner  of  public  works. 

DECATUR,  ILL. — A  contract  has  been  closed  between  the  Wabash 
R.  R.  Co.  and  the  Decatur  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  whereby  the  latter  will  furnish 
energy  to  operate  the  machinery  in  the  new  railroad  shops  of  the  com- 
pany. 

GALESBURG,  ILL.— The  Rock  Island  Southern  R.  R.  Co.  has  ap- 
plied to  the  City  Council  for  permission  to  build  an  electric  railway  on 
several    streets   in    Galesburg. 

GALESBURG,  ILL. — .Application  has  been  made  to  the  City  Council 
by  Weinberg  Brothers  for  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  and  steam 
and  hot- water  heat  on  certain  streets  of  the  city.  The  power  will  be 
supplied  from  their  cold-storage  plant. 

HILLSBORO,  ILL.— The  City  Council  has  awarded  the  Hillsboro  El. 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  a  contract  to  supply  electricity  for  the  municipal  water- 
pumping  station. 

HILLSBORO,  ILL.— The  Chicago,  Cleveland,  Cincinnati  &  St.  Louis 
R.  R.  Co.  has  closed  a  contract  with  the  Hillsboro  EI.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co. 
whereby  the  latter  will  supply  the  railroad  company  with  electricity  for 
the  coal  docks  and  roundhouses  to  operate  turntables,  for  driving  ma- 
chinery in  machine  shops,  for  lighting  switch  lamps  and  for  illuminating 
the  yards,  which  are  2  miles  long. 

MATHERSVILLE,  ILL. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  in- 
stallation of  an  electric-light  system  here.  Electricity  for  operating  the 
system  will  be  supplied  by  the  Rock  Island  Southern  Ry.  Co.,  of  Rock 
Island. 

MORRISONVILLE,  ILL.— The  property  of  the  Morrisonville  EI.  Co. 
has  been  purchased  by  the  Hillsboro  EI.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  It  is  proposed 
to  extend  the  transmission  line  from  Harvel  to  supply  the  service  here. 

PARIS,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Serv.  Co.,  it  is  reported,  is 
planning  to  build  a  large  power  plant  here,  to  cost  about  $200,000.  Elec- 
tricity for  lamps  and  motors  will  be  supplied  to  towns  in  the  vicinity  of 
Paris. 

RAYMOND,  ILL. — The  Town  Board  is  contemplating  the  installation 
of  a  new  street-lighting  system  when  the  present  contract  expires  next 
year.     The  Hillsboro    El.    Lt.    &' Pwr.    Co.   holds   the   present  contract. 

SANDWICH,  ILL. — The  municipal  electric-light  plant  has  been  pur- 
chased by  the  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Co.  for  $18,000.  The  Council 
has  granted  the  company  a  50-year  franchise.  The  pole  lines  will  be 
entirely  rebuilt.  For  the  present  electricity  for  operating  the  system  will 
be  supplied  from  the  Mendota  plant,  but  ultimately  from  the  Lockport, 
Dixon  and  Oregon  stations.  The  present  arc-lamp  street-lighting  system 
will  be  changed  to  40-watt  tungsten  lamps,  with  three  and  four-lamp  clus- 
ters for  the  business  district.  The  city  has  contracted  with  the  company 
for   power   for   pumping   the   city   water. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.— Isaac  A.  Smith,  of  the  Springfield  &  Central 
Illinois  Interurban  Co.  has  notified  the  city  commission  that  he  will  ask 
for  an  independent  franchise  to  the  city  for  an  interurban  line  to  be 
built  from  St.  Louis  to  Springfield,  via  Hillsboro  and  Pawnee. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of 
Administration,  Springfield,  until  Nov.  11,  for  equipment  necessary  to 
change  power  for  the  factory  from  steam  to  electrically  driven  ma- 
chinery, to  be  installed  at  the  Illinois  Industrial  Home  for  the  Blind, 
Marshall  Boulevard  and  Nineteenth  Street,  Chicago.  Plans  and  specifi- 
cations may  be  obtained  upon  application  to  Frank  D.  Whipp,  fiscal 
supervisor,  Springfield. 

STERLING.  ILL.— The  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Co.,  of  Chicago, 
is  contemplating  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  between  Sterling 
and   Prophetstown.   which  will   also  supply   electricity   to  rural   districts, 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.— The  Board  of  Public  Works  has  instructed 
the  Indianapolis  Lt.  &  Ht.  Co.  to  install  electric  lamps  on  a  large  number 
of  streets  which  heretofore  have  been  lighted  with  gas  lamps. 


966 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


LA  PORTE,  IND.— The  Northern  Indiana  Trac.  Co.  is  said  to  be 
contemplating  the  construction  of  an  interurban  railway  from  La  Porte 
to  Knox  by  way  of  Bass  Lake. 

MONTPELIER.  IND.— The  Town  Board  is  reported  to  be  negotiat- 
ing with  the  Muncie  El.  Lt.  Co.,  Muncie,  to  extend  its  transmission  lines 
to  Montpelier.  The  locaJ  plant,  now  in  litigation,  does  not  give  satis- 
factory   service. 

MOORESVILLE,  IND.— The  Mooresville  Utilities  Co.  has  acquired 
the  properties  of  the  Mooresville  Wtr.,  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  the  Public 
Service  Co.  and  the  Arctic  Ice  Co.  The  new  company  proposes  to  change 
the  equipment  from  direct  current  to  alternating  current  and  is  in  the 
market  for  generators,  transformers,  meters,  poles,  wire,  etc.  C.  C.  Cor- 
don is  manager. 

ROCHESTER,  IND.— The  City  Council  has  instructed  C.  A.  Davis, 
superintendent,  and  J.  C.  Parker,  chief  engineer,  to  purchase  a  new 
engine   and   other  equipment   for   the   municipal   light   and  power   plant. 

SOUTH  BEND,  IND.— The  Board  of  Public  Works  is  asking  for  bids 
for  lighting  the  city  with  electricity.  The  present  contract,  which  cost 
about  $50,000  per  year,  will  expire  in  two  years.  This  is  deemed  ex- 
cessive, and  it  is  estimated  that  the  service  can  be  furnished  at  a  much 
lower  cost  by  a  municipal   plant. 

ALTOONA,  lA. — The  Council  has  granted  George  T.  Gibson  a  franchise 
to  install  an  electric-light  plant  here. 

CEDAR  FALLS,  lA.— The  City  Council  has  asked  the  Citizens'  Gas 
&  EI.  Co.  to  place  a  price  on  its  property  and  to  make  an  estimate  of 
cost  of  operating  the  system.  The  company  has  also  been  asked  to  sub- 
mit a  proposal  for  contract  for  lighting  .the  streets  for  a  terra  of  years. 
The  Council  has  recently  secured  estimates  on  the  cost  of  installing  and 
operating  a   municipal   electric-light   plant. 

FREDERICKSBURG,  lA.— The  proposition  to  issue  $4,500  in  bonds 
for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  will  soon  be  submitted  to  a 
vote. 

GREENFIELD.  lA.^At  an  election  held  Oct.  21  the  proposition  to 
issue  $9,000  in  bonds  for  improvements  to  the  municipal  electric-light  plant 
was  carried.  It  is  proposed  to  change  the  system  from  direct  to  alternat- 
ing current.     M.  G.  McCreight  is  town  clerk. 

HEDRICK.  lA. — At  a  special  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
grant  the  New  Sigourney  El.  Lt.  .&  Pwr.  Co.,  Sigourney,  a  franchise  to 
extend   its   transmission   lines   to   Hedrick  was   carried. 

INWOOD,  lA. — The  proposition  to  grant  a  franchise  to  the  Sioux 
Valley  Pwr.  Co.  to  supply  electricity  in  Inwood  will  be  submitted  to  the 
voters  on  Nov.   5. 

MANSON,  lA. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  remodeling  the  local 
electric-light  plant.      For  further  information  address  R.   R.   Healey. 

SCRANTON,  lA. — The  proposition  to  grant  an  electric-light  franchise 
to  A.  Moorhouse  and  others  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote  on  Nov.  5. 

SHELDAHL,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to  grant 
the  Boone  El.  Co.  a  franchise  in  Sheldahl  was  carried. 

SIOUX  RAPIDS,  lA.— The  controlling  interest  in  the  Sioux  Rapids 
Flour  &  El.  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  purchased  by  W.  H.  Grover,  of  Ames, 
la,,  and  G.  Lundgren,  of  Cherokee,  la.  The  new  owners  propose  to 
improve  the  dam  in  order  to  secure  more  power  for  the  plant. 

WINTHROP,  lA. — Herman  Jaeger,  of  Dyersville,  la.,  has  submitted 
a  proposition  to  the  town  offering  to  install  an  electric-light  plant  in 
connection  with  the  water-works. 

PRATT,  KAN. — The  contract  for  installing  power  and  heating  plant 
and  water  supply  on  the  grounds  of  the  Fish  and  Game  Hatchery  has 
been  awarded  to  the  Salina  Plumbing  Co.,  Salina,  for  $6,719. 

CL.\Y,  KY. — The  Public  Service  Co.  is  planning  to  erect  an  electric- 
light  plant  in  Clay. 

HENDERSON,  KY. — Leslie  P.  Hite,  superintendent  of  the  municipal 
electric-light  plant,  states  that  improvements  involving  an  expenditure  of 
about  $25,000  are  necessary  to  put  the  plant  in  shape  to  meet  the  demands 
made   upon    it. 

LOUISVILLE,  KV. — The  Louisville  Ltg.  Co.  contemplates  extending 
its  transmission  lines  to  St.  Helen's,  several  miles  south  on  the  Eighteenth 
Street    road. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY. — A  movement  has  been  started  to  erect  and  main- 
tain ornamental  street  lamps  on  Main  Street  from  First  to  Eighth 
Sti-eet.  Jacob  Greenberg,  proprietor  of  the  Gait  House,  Louisville,  is  in 
charge  of  the  project. 

NEWPORT,  KY. — The  city  is  planning  the  installation  of  boulevard 
lamps  mounted  on  ornamental  bronze  standards  along  the  York  Street 
Boulevard. 

OWENSBORO,  KY. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  installation  of 
ornamental   bronze  lamp   standards  on   Main   and   Fredericka    Streets. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  LA. — The  Louisiana  Interstate  Mineral  Co.  has  been 
organized  here  by  Northern  capitalists  to  work  and  develop  their  holdings 
in  Smith  and  Jasper  Counties,  Mississippi.  The  company  is  capitalized 
at  $3,000,000  and  holds  over  15,000  acres  of  timber  land,  rich  in  mineral 
deposits,  near  Laurel,  Miss.  Several  factories  will  be  erected  at  once; 
also  3  fertilizer  plant  capable  of  producing  5000  tons  per  day.  A  large 
dam  will  be  constructed  and  a  power  plant  installed  capable  of  developing 
10,000  hp,  which  will  furnish  electricity  for  the  entire  project  and  to  sur- 
rounding   towns.      C.    F.    Peterson,    formerly    of    New    York,    N.    Y.,    is 


president;  A.  F.  Peterson,  of  Rew,  Pa.,  is  vice-president;  Clarence  L. 
Foretich,  of  Mobile,  Ala.,  secretary,  and  T.  Bernard  Burke,  of  Eau 
Claire,  Wis.,  treasurer. 

MOUNT  WASHINGTON,  MD.— The  Baltimore  County  Commissioners 
have  purchased  the  disposal  plant  of  the  Baltimore  Suburban  Sewerage 
Co.  at  Mount  Washington,  with  land,  appurtenances,  etc.,  for  $600,000. 
The  disposal  plant  is  to  be  used  as  the  nucleus  of  a  sewerage  system  for 
the  Jones  Falls  Valley,  which  is  to  be  drained  through  the  aid  of  an  elec- 
trically driven  pump. 

CORUNNA,  MICH. — The  proposition  to  grant  the  Consumers*  Pwr. 
Co.,  of  Corunna,  a  30-year  franchise  will  be  submitted  to  the  voters  on 
Nov.  5.  Under  the  terms  of  the  franchise  the  company  agrees  to  re- 
build its  entire  system  in  Corunna,  the  work  to  be  completed  within 
eight  months. 

DETROIT,  MICH. — ^The  public  lighting  commission  has  begun  work 
on  the  installation  of  approximately  1200  arc  lamps,  which  will  double 
the  number  of  lamps  now  used  in  the  main  thoroughfares  of  the  city. 
The  commission  hopes  to  get  an  appropriation  to  extend  the  improved 
lighting  system  to  the  city  limits  on  Woodward  Avenue  next  year. 

FLINT,  MICH. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  Board  of  County 
Supervisors  for  an  appropriation  of  funds  to  provide  electricity  for  lamps 
and  motors  at  the  county  farm.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at 
from  $1,500  to  $2,000.  The  Flint  El.  Co.  has  offered  to  extend  its  lines 
from  Seventh  Street  to  the  county  farm. 

FRANKFORT,  MICH.— The  Betsey  River  Pwr.  Co.  contemplates 
building  a  dam  giving  a  26-ft.  head  and  developing  1200  hp  from  a  res- 
ervoir covering  about  250  acres  of  back-water  land  already  owned  by 
the  company.  Eugene  Zimmerman,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  is  said  to  be 
interested   in   the   company. 

HOLLAND,  MICH. — The  Holland  Merchants*  Association  has  in- 
dorsed the  boulevard  lighting  system,  which  will  extend  from  the  Pere 
Marquette  depot  to  the  city  hall. 

IRON  RIVER,  MICH. — Work  has  begun  on  the  substation  of  the 
Menominee   Range  Pwr.   &  Devel.   Co.   in   Iron  River. 

KALAMAZOO,  MICH. — The  city  is  planning  to  install  an  ornamental 
street-lighting  system.  Eight  ornamental  standards  are  now  being  erected 
on  Main   Street  for  experimental  purposes. 

LEXINGTON,  MICH.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  call  an  elec- 
tion soon  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  grant  franchises  to  install  an 
electric  light  and  power  plant  and  street-railway  system  in  Lexington. 
David   Oppenheim,   of  Detroit,   is  interested. 

MONROE.  MICH. — Arrangements  have  been  made  for  the  installation 
of  a  new  lighting  system  on  Monroe  Street,  to  be  maintained  by  under- 
ground wires.  Jacob  Martin  is  chairman  of  the  committee  in  charge  of 
the  work. 

MUSKEGON.  MICH.— The  Brunswick-Balke-Collender  Co.  is  rebuild- 
ing its  power  plant,  plans  for  which  were  prepared  by  Robinson  &  Cam- 
pau,  of  Grand   Rapids. 

PINCONNING,  MICH.— The  installation  of  a  new  street-lighting 
system  is  under  consideration,  electricity  for  the  same  to  be  supplied  by 
the  Jennings  stave  mill. 

SEBEWAING,  MICH. — A  special  election  will  soon  be  held  to  vote 
on  tlie  proposition  to  issue  $5,000  in  bonds  for  improvements  to  the 
municipal   electric-light  plant. 

BRAINERD,  MINN.— The  Minneapolis  Steel  &  Machinery  Co.,  Minne- 
apolis, it  is  reported,  has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  Council  offering 
to  take  over  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  install  new  machinery. 

HIBBING,  MINN. — The  new  suburb  of  Kittzville  is  contemplating 
the  installation  of  an  electric-light  system  and  would  like  to  secure  elec- 
trical  service  from  the  municipal  electric  plant  in   Hibbing. 

HUTCHINSON,  MINN.— The  Hutchinson  Ltg.  &  Mfg.  Co.  has  sub- 
mitted a  proposition  to  the  Council  for  the  installation  of  cluster-lamp 
system  on  Main  Street. 

PRINCETON,  MINN.— The  Blue  Hill  Rural  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  to 
build  a  telephone  system  in  Millelacs  and  Sherburne  Counties.  About 
25   miles  of  line  will  be  erected. 

ROYALTON,  MINN. — A  deal  has  been  closed  between  the  Royatton 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  Little  Falls  Wtr.  Pwr.  Co.,  Little  Falls,  whereby 
the  latter  will  supply  energy  to  operate  the  system  of  the  Royalton  com- 
pany. Work  will  begin  on  construction  of  the  transmission  line  at  once. 
As  soon  as  the  line  is  completed  a  24-hour  service  will  be  established. 

ST.  PETER,  MINN. — The  City  Council  contemplates  the  installation 
of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Minnesota  Avenue;  also 
erecting  new  wire  for  the  municipal  street-lighting  system. 

TONKA  BAY,  MINN. — A  franchise  has  been  granted  to  the  Northern 
Pwr.   Co.  to  establish  an  electric-light  plant  here. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO.— The  Century  El.  Co.  has  purchased  a  site  at  the 
corner  of  Nineteenth  and  Pine  Streets,  on  which  it  proposes  to  erect  a 
seven-story  fireproof  building  at  a  cost  of  $150,000. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO. — 'Plans  have  been  perfected  by  the  Suburban  El.  Lt. 
&  Pwr.  Co.  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  through  St.  Louis  County, 
northwest  and  south  from  St.  Louis.  Poles  have  been  erected  at  Flor- 
issant, which  will  receive  electrical  service  in  a  short  time,  as  well  as 
Merimec  Highlands,  Manchester,  Eureka,  Ballwin,  Valley  Park,  Sher- 
man, Glencoe,  Ponds,  Allentown  and  towns  farther  west.  These  exten- 
sions will  involve  an  expenditure  of  several  hundred  thousand  dollars. 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


967 


UNION,  MO.— The  electric  plant  of  the  American  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co., 
Union,  has  been  purchased  by  Charles  S.  Ruffner,  general  manager  of 
the  Mississippi   River  Distributing  Co. 

OMAHA,  NEB.— The  Omaha  &  Council  Bluffs  St.  Ry.  Co.  contem- 
plates extending  its  railway  to  Benson. 

SPARKS,  NEV.— Bids  are  being  asked  by  William  M,  Leffingwcll, 
superintendent  of  the  Nevada  Pwr.  &  Trans.  Co.,  for  the  construction 
of  dam,  flume  and  power  house  in  connection  with  the  proposed  power 
plant  to  be  located  below  Sparks. 

CAMDEN,  N.  J. — Plans  for  the  proposed  municipal  electric-light  plant 
have  been  submitted  to  the  special  committee  of  the  Council  by  Runyon  & 
Carey,  of  Newark,  consulting  engineers.  The  plans  provide  for  a  power 
house  80  ft.  X  80  ft.,  the  equipment  to  consist  of  three  500-kw  turbine 
generators  and  water-tube  boilers  equipped  with  automatic  stokers,  and 
the  installation  of  1200  arc  lamps  for  street  lighting  to  be  maintained  by 
underground  wires.  About  24,500  ft.  of  wire  will  be  placed  underground. 
Plans  have  also  been  outlined  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street- 
lighting  system  in  the  business  district.  The  cost  of  the  plant  is  estimated 
at  about  $300,000.  It  is  expected  that  bids  for  construction  of  the  plant 
will  be  called  before  the  first  of  the  year.  James  E.  Hewitt  is  president 
of  the   City   Council. 

MORRIS  PLAINS,  N.  J.— The  contract  for  electric  wiring  of  the 
State  Hospital  at  Morris  Plains,  N.  J.,  has  been  awarded  to  the  Beaver 
Engineering  Co.,  Newark,  at  $20,500. 

NEWARK,  N.  J. — The  Board  of  Public  Utility  Commissioners  has  ap- 
proved of  an  issue  of  $2,750,000  in  bonds  by  the  Public  Service  El.  Co., 
the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  extensions  to  its  plant. 

NEWARK,  N.  J. — The  Ironbound  Improvement  Association  is  con- 
sidering the  installation  of  an  ornamental  lighting  system  in  the  Iron- 
bound  section.  An  effort  will  be  made  to  continue  the  Market  Street 
lamps  from  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  to  Hamburg  Place. 

GALLUP,'  N.  M. — T.  A.  Fabro  and  J.  M.  Mase  are  contemplating  the 
installation  of  an  .electric-light  plant  here. 

GALLUP,  N.  M. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  Gallup  El.  Lt. 
Co.  for  the  installation  of  new  equipment  in  its  plant,  consisting  of  a 
450-hp  Corliss  engine  connected  to  a  225-kw,  three-phase,  25-cycle  alter- 
nator, a  new  heater,  a  Sterling  water-tube  heater  and  necessary  feed- 
water  pumps.  The  company  is  planning  to  establish  a  24-hour  service 
and  to  furnish  power  to  Santa  Fe  railroad.  R.  B.  Ellis,  of  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.,   is   consulting  engineer. 

ROSWELL,  N.  M.— The  Roswell  Retailers  and  Business  Men's  Asso- 
ciation has  made  application  to  the  City  Council  to  change  the  arc-lamp 
lighting  system  on  Main  Street  to  boulevard  lamps  to  be  erected  on  both 
sides  of  the  street.  The  property  owners  have  agreed  to  pay  the  cost  of 
erecting  the  lamp-posts. 

ROSWELL,  N.  M. — Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect,  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Nov.  26,  for  the  installation  of  an  electric  passenger  elevator  in  the 
United  States  post  office  and  court  house,  Roswell,  in  accordance  with 
plans  and  specifications,  copies  of  which  may  be  obtained  at  the  above 
office.     Oscar  VV'enderoth  is  supervising  architect. 

ALTON,  N.  Y. — A  petition  is  being  circulated  among  property  owners 
asking  for  the  creation  of  a  lighting  district  for  the  village,  the  service 
to  be  furnished  by  the  Northern  Wayne  Pwr.  Co.  It  is  proposed  to 
contract  for  20  lamps  at  $20  each  per  year. 

AUBURN,  N.  Y. — A  contract  has  been  closed  whereby  the  Empire 
Gas  &  El.  Co.  will  supply  electricity  to  operate  the  machinery  in  the 
Auburn  Button  Works  and  in  the  new  Robinson-Bynom  shoe  factory. 
The  steam-power  plant  will  be  discarded  and  15  Westinghouse  motors  of 
10  hp  will  be  installed. 

BROOKLYN.  N.Y.— Sealed  bids"  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of 
Health,  Department  of  Health,  corner  of  Centre  and  Walker  Streets, 
New  York,  until  Nov.  8,  for  furnishing  and  installing  electrically  operated 
pumps,  with  automatic  controllers  and  necessary  alterations  and  other 
work  incidental  thereto,  in  the  sewer  tanks  on  the  grounds  of  the 
Kingston  Avenue  Hospital,  borough  of  Brooklyn,  Blank  forms  and 
plans  for  the  above  work  and  further  information  may  be  obtained  at 
the  office  of  the  chief  clerk  of  the  Department  of  Health.  Ernst  J. 
Lederle,  Ph.D.,  is  president  of  the  board. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y.— The  Cataract  Pwr.  &  Conduit  Co.  is  planning  to 
build  an  addition  to  its  power  plant  and  transformer  station  at  Babcock 
and  Hanna  Streets,  Buffalo.     Additional  equipment  will  be  installed. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y. — A  movement  has  been  started  by  the  business  men 
of  Broadway  to  have  the  system  of  lighting  recently  installed  on  the 
streets  between  Washington  and  Jefferson  Streets  extended  to  the  Belt 
Line. 

COOPERSTOWN,  N.  Y.— The  Board  of  \'illage  Trustees  has  adopted 
a  resolution  to  enter  into  a  contract  with  the  Clinton  Mills  Pwr.  Co.  for 
street-lighting  for  a  period  of  five  years.  The  company  agrees  to  change 
the  arc  lamps  now  in  use  for  incandescent  tungsten  lamps.  It  is  ex- 
pected that  the  substation  now  being  constructed  will  be  completed  by 
Jan.    1. 

DOLGEVILLE,  N.  Y.— Preliminary  steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Village 
Board  for  installing  a  new  street-lighting  system.  It  is  proposed  to  sub- 
stitute 100- watt  tungsten  lamps  for  the  Id  cluster  lamps  now  in  use. 
The  Utica   Gas   &   El.   Co.,   of  Utica,   which   holds   the   street-lighting  con- 


tract, has  offered  to  bear  the  expense  of  changing  the  system,  which  is 
estimated    at   about    $7,000. 

JAMESVILLE,  N.  Y.— The  Business  Men's  Association  of  Jamesville 
is  considering  the  question  of  installing  an  electric  street-lighting  system. 

NATURAL  BRIDGE,  N.  Y.— Negotiations  are  under  way  between  the 
Watertown  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Watcrtown,  and  the  St.  Lawrence  Talc 
&  Asbestos  Co.,  Natural  Bridge,  whereby  the  former  will  supply  about 
600  hp  to  operate  the  plant  of  the  latter  in  Natural  Bridge.  Energy 
will  be  transmitted  from  the  plant  at  Carthage,  recently  purchased  by 
the  Watertown  company. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted  the 
Dry  Dock,  East  Broadway  &  Battery  R.  R.  Co.  permission  to  equip  its 
street  railway  in  Canal  Street  between  the  east  side  of  the  Bowery  and 
Centre   Street  for  electrical  operation. 

NIAGARA,  N.  Y. — The  Business  Men's  Association  has  adopted  a 
resolution  to  engage  a  hydroelectric  engineer  to  prepare  plans  and  esti- 
mates of  the  cost  of  the  installation   of  a  municipal  electric  plant. 

OSWEGO,  N.  Y.— The  People's  Gas  &  El.  Co.  is  planning  exten- 
sions to  its  plant  involving  an  expenditure  of  about  $30,000.  The  plans 
provide  for  an  addition  to  boiler  house,  installation  of  a  500-hp  boiler 
and  1000-hp  steam  turbine  and  additional  generating  machinery.  R.  F. 
Whitney   is  manager. 

WHITE  PLAINS,  N.  Y.— The  Westchester  &  Northern  R.  R.  Co.  has 
decided  to  construct  its  railway  through  Westchester  County  at  a  cost  of 
about  from  $6,000,000  to  $7,000,000.  The  electric  railway  will  run  from 
White  Plains  north,  through  the  towns  of  Harrison,  North  Castle,  Bed- 
ford, Roundridge  and  Lewisboro  in  Westchester  County  and  through  the 
towns  of  Greenwich,   Ridgefield  and   Danbury,   Conn. 

WASHINGTON,  N.  C— Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Nov.  23,  for  the  installation  complete  of  an  electric  passenger  elevator 
in  the  United  States  post  office  and  court  house,  Washington,  N.  C,  in 
accordance  with  drawings  and  specifications,  copies  of  which  may  be 
obtained  at  the  above  office  or  at  the  office  of  the  superintendent  of  con- 
struction.    Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising  architect. 

LA  MOURE,  N.  D. — A  proposition  has  been  submitted  to  the  Council 
by  S.  C.  Page,  of  Sherburne,  Minn.,  for  the  installation  of  an  electric- 
light  plant  here. 

NEW  ROCKFORD,  N.  D.— The  Council  has  appointed  a  committee  to 
secure  estimates  of  cost  of  installation  and  maintenance  of  a  municipal 
electric-light   plant. 

CIRCLEVILLE,  OHIO.— The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted 
the  Circleville  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  permission  to  issue  $75,000  in  bonds,  of 
which  the  proceeds  of  $46,000  will  be  used  for  improvements  to  the  plant. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO.— Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  East  Side  Citi- 
zens' Association  toward  the  extension  of  the  ornamental  street-lighting 
system. 

LORAIN,  OHIO.— The  Cleveland,  Southwestern  &  Columbus  Ry.  Co. 
has  offered  to  furnish  electricity  to  the  city.  The  company  has  made  no 
definite  proposition  as  yet.  The  new  power  house  of  the  company,  located 
on  the  outskirts  of  Elyria,  will  be  completed  about  the   first  of  the  year. 

MAUMEE,  OHIO.— The  Valley  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  recently  incorporated, 
will  take  over  the  plants  of  the  Maumee  Valley  El.  Co.  and  the  Suburban 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  in  Maumee.  The  plants  will  be  remodeled  and  energy 
for  operating  them  will  be  secured  from  the  Auglaize  River  power  plant 
at  Defiance.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $200,000.  W.  P.  Wallace, 
general  manager  of  the  Defiance  Gas  &  EI.  Co.,  Defiance,  is  interested 
in  the  Valley  company. 

MOUNT  CORY,  OHIO.— Steps  have  been  taken  for  the  installation  o£ 
an  electric-light  system  here,   to  cost  about  $1,500. 

PIQUA,  OHIO.— The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  Miami  Lt.,  Ht.  & 
Pwr.  Co.,  Piqua,  have  been  purchased  by  the  Dayton  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co., 
Dayton.  It  is  understood  that  the  Dayton  company  will  extend  its 
transmission  lines  to  connect  with  the  local  plant.  F.  M.  Tait,  of  Dayton, 
is  president  of  the  Dayton  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co. 

PORT  CLINTON,  OHIO.— The  Northwestern  Ohio  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co. 
has  acquired  the  properties  of  the  Port  Clinton  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and 
will  consolidate  it  with  its  other  holdings.  Electricity  for  operating  the 
Port  Clinton  system  will  be  furnished  from  the  central  station  of  the 
Northwestern  company,  just  east  of  the  city. 

SANDUSKY,  OHIO.— Owing  to  the  City  Council  having  awarded  the 
Sandusky  Gas  &  EI.  Co.  a  contract  for  street  lighting,  plans  for  sub- 
mitting the  proposition  to  issue  $150,000  in  bonds  for  the  erection  of  a 
municipal   electric-Hght   plant   have  been   abandoned. 

TOLEDO,  OHIO.^Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of 
Park  Commissioners  until  Nov.  8  for  furnishing,  installing  and  connect- 
ing up  an  electric-light  cable  at  Bay  \'iew  Park,  according  to  plans  and 
specifications  now  on  file  at  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Park  Commis- 
sioners.    F.  B.    Respess  is  secretary. 

TOLEDO,  OHIO.— The  Northwestern  Ohio  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  which 
recently  purchased  the  property  of  the  Toledo,  Port  Clinton  &  Lakeside 
Ry.  Co.,  has  been  granted  permission  by  the  Public  Service  Commission 
to  issue  $193,000  in  bonds,  to  be  sold  at  not  less  than  85,  the  proceeds  to 
be  used  for  improvements  to  the  property. 

MIAMI,  OKLA. — The  Greater  New  York  Mining  &  Development  Co., 
Miami,  would  like  to  receive  prices  on  electric-light  equipment.  Through 
error  this  was  published  under  Miami,  Fla.,  in  the  issue  of  Oct.  Id. 


968 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


AURORA,  ORE.— The  Southern  Pacific  Co.  is  planning  tu  build  an 
electric  railway  in  this  valley  this  spring. 

BURNS,  ORE. — The  local  electric-light  plant  has  been  taken  over  by 
A.  Welch,  of  Portland.  The  City  Council  has  granted  Mr.  Welch  a  25- 
year  franchise. 

CENTRAL  POINT,  ORE.— The  California-Oregon  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is 
planning  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  from  Jacksonville  into  the 
Applegate    Valley, 

SP.^RT-'\,  ORE. — ^Preparations  are  being  made  to  rehabilitate  the  old 
Gem  Mine,  near  Sparta.  Electrically  driven  machinery  will  be  used  and 
pumping  machinery  purchased.     E.   and    Frank  Geiser   are   owners. 

PAN.^M.^. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
general  purchasing  officer.  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C, 
until  Nov.  14  for  furnishing  tubular  boiler,  switch  stands,  steel,  iron  and 
wire  rope,  chain,  steel  and  iron  pipe,  etc.  Copies  of  this  circular  (No. 
741)  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office  or  the  offices  of  the  assistant 
purchasing  agents,  24  State  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y. ;  614  Whitney-Central 
Building,  New  Orleans,  La.,  and  1086  North  Point  Street,  San  Francisco, 
Cal.     Major  F.  C.  Boggs  is  genera!  purchasing  officer. 

BETHLEHEM,  PA.— Notice  has  been  filed  that  application  will  be 
filed  for  a  charter  for  the  East  Bethlehem  Township  EI.  Co.  for  the 
purpose  of  generating  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and  motors  in  this 
township.  The  incorporators  are:  W.  B.  Crawford,  L.  B.  Custer  and 
A.   J.    .Armstrong. 

CHESTER,  PA. — The  Edgmont  Avenue  Business  Men's  Association  is 
agitating  the  question  of  providing  a  better  lighting  system  on  Edgmont 
Avenue. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA.— The  Philadelphia  Rapid  Transit  Co.  has  au- 
thorized the  purchase  of  150  near-side  surface  cars  and  50  cars  for  the 
Market  Street  subway-elevated  service,  delivery  to  begin  May,   1913. 

PHILADELPHL'V,  PA. — Specifications  covering  the  arc-lamp  system 
of  the  city  streets  for  the  next  year  with  request  for  proposals  have  been 
issued  by  Chief  Pike  of  the  Electrical  Bureau.  Proposals  for  a  more 
modern  type  of  arc  lamp  are  desired  and  also  for  tungsten  incandescent 
lamps.  It  is  proposed  to  recommend  the  use  of  incandensent  lamps  in 
the  residential  districts. 

POTTSVILLE,  P.^.— The  Philadelphia  &  Reading  Coal  &  Iron  Co.,  it 
is  reported,  contepjplates  the  construction  of  a  power  dam  in  the  Tumbling 
Run   Valley,   near   Pottsville,   plans   for   which   have   been   prepared. 

C.'\NTON.  S.  D. — ^The  local  electric-light  plant  has  been  taken  over 
by  the  Siou.x  Valley  Pwr.  Co.,  which  will  remodel  same.  The  company 
will  construct  a  dam  ne.xt  spring  to  furnish  power  for  the  plant. 

C.\STLEWOOD,  S.  D. — The  contract  for  the  construction  of  power 
house  for  the  electric  light  company  has  been  awarded  to  the  Lytle 
Constr.  Co.,  of  Sioux  Falls,   la. 

P.\RKER,  S.  D.— Charles  H.  Stanfield  has  applied  to  the  Council  for 
a  franchise  to  install  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant  here. 
^  CH.\TTANOOGA,  TENN.— Plans  have  been  prepared  for  the  installa- 
tion of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  Chattanooga.  Specifica- 
tions provide  for  114  inverted  lamps,  maintained  by  underground  wires. 
The  Retail  Merchants'  Association  of  the  Lookout  City  will  have  charge 
of  the  work. 

CHUCKEY,  TENN. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  second  hydroelectric  plant  on  the  Nolachuckey  River,  in  Greene 
County,  options  have  been  taken  on  all  the  land  needed  for  the  plant, 
also  for  the  land  to  be  overflowed.  Victor  M.  Weaver,  James  L.  Stewart, 
Noah  T.  Halsey  and  Samuel  K.  Varner,  all  of  Harrisburg,  Pa„  and  J.  F. 
Arnold,  of  Limestone,  Tenn.,  are  interested. 

GAINESVILLE,  TENN.— The  Republic  Surety,  Fidelity  &  Trust  Co., 
of  Dallas,  is  reported  to  have  taken  over  the  proposition  for  the  con- 
struction of  an  interurban  electric  railway  between  Gainesville  and 
Sherman.  This  railway  was  started  several  years  ago  and  partly  built,  13 
miles  having  been  graded  out  of  Gainesville.  The  new  owners,  it  is 
stated,  will  push  the  road  to  early  completion.  C.  L.  Wakefield,  of 
Dallas,   will   have  charge   of  the  project. 

ABILENE,  TEX. — The  gas,  electric  and  water  systems  and  ice  plant 
owned  and  operated  by  the  .-Vbilene  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.,  the  Abilene  Gas  Lt.. 
Fuel  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  Abilene  Ice  Co.  have  been  acquired  by  N.  W. 
Halsey  &  Co.,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  for  $600,000.  Improvements  involving 
an  expenditure  of  about  $100,000  are  contemplated  by  the  new  owners. 

CORPUS  CHRISTI,  TEX.— The  Corpus  Christi  Ice  &  EI.  Co.  is  plan- 
ning to  double  the  output  of  its  electric  light  and  power  plant  and  will 
also  install  additional  machinery  in  its  ice  plant. 

EAGLE  PASS,  TEX.— The  electric  plant  of  the  Texas-Mexican  El. 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  here  has  been  purchased  by  J.  F.  Strickland,  of  Dallas, 
and  associates.  The  new  owners  propose  to  build  an  electric  railway 
system  in  Eagle  Pass  and  Piedras  Negras,  situated  in  Mexico,  just  across 
the  Rio  Grande  from  Eagle  Pass,  and  to  extend  the  electric-lighting 
system  to  both  cities. 

GEORGETOWN,  TEX.- The  Citizens'  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  franchise  to  erect  a  transmission  line  from  Taylor  to  Circleville 
on  San  Gabriel  River,  a  distance  of  6  miles. 

HALLETTSVILLE,  TEX.— The  City  Council  has  authorized  the  city 
secretary  to  secure  estimates  on  the  cost  of  a  dynamo  of  sufficient  output 
to  maintain  2500  or  3000  lamps. 

HOUSTON,  TEX.— The  Houston  El.  Co.  has  increased  its  capital 
stock  from  $3,000,000  to  $4,000,000,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  addi- 
tional  improvements. 


HOUSTON,  TEX.— The  City  Council  has  granted  L.  A.  &  C.  L.  Ander- 
son a  franchise  to  erect  and  operate  a  transmission  line  from  the  city 
limits  to  a  point  beyond  Bray's  Bayou  on  the  Main  Street  road. 

LOCKH.ART,  TEX. — ^The  County  Commissioners  and  the  City  Council 
have  granted  W.  B.  Dunlap,  of  Beaumont;  J.  W.  Crawford  and  F.  W. 
Brown,  of  Orange;  J.  M.  Abbott,  of  Seguin,  and  J.  W.  Maxey,  ol 
Houston,  representing  the  promoters  of  an  interurban  railway  from 
Houston  to  Lockhart,  Seguin,  New  Braunfels  and  San  Antonio,  a  fran- 
chise through  Caldwell  County  and  Lockhart.  Work  will  begin  at  once 
on  construction  of  the  road.  Power  for  operating  the  proposed  railway 
will  be  supplied  by  two  hydroelectric  plants  to  be  erected  on  the  Guada- 
lupe River  between  Seguin  and  New  Braunfels,  at  a  cost  of  about  $600,000. 

WACO,  TEX.— The  Texas  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  purchased  a  site  of  10 
acres  in  Waco,  on  which  it  will  erect  a  central  power  plant  to  cost  about 
$600,000.  This  plant  will  supply  electricity  for  operating  the  interurban 
railway  of  the  Southern  Trac.   Co. 

CLIFTON  FORGE,  VA.— The  Clifton  Forge  Pub.  Ser.  Corpn.  has 
changed  its  name  to  the  Virginia- Western  El.  Co.  The  company  has 
recently  acquired  the  property  of  the  Rockbridge  Pwr.  Corpn.  and  the 
Buena  Vista  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  both  of  Buena  Vista,  consisting  of  two 
hydroelectric  plants  on  North  River  and  supplying  electricity  for  lamps 
and  motors  in  Lexington  and  Buena  Vista.  Surveys  have  been  completed 
and  details  planned  for  proposed  hydroelectric  development.  Work  on 
the  proposed  project  will  not  begin  before  next  spring.  W.  G.  Matthews 
is  president  and  .\.  C.  Ford  secretary  and  treasurer,  both  of  Clifton 
Forge. 

RICHMOND.  V.^. — The  electric  committee  has  voted  to  recommend  to 
the  Council  better  illumination  for  the  parks  and  streets;  also  that  it 
supply  all  electricity  needed  at  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  which  will  be 
used  in  the  manual  training  department.  It  is  proposed  to  place  boule- 
vard lamps  in  all  ihe  parks  and  in  Eighth  Street  from  Broad  to  Byrd 
Street. 

POTLATCH,  WASH.— The  West  Coast  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to  build 
a  300-hp  hydroelectric  plant  here.  J.  E.  Wickstrom,  Epler  Block,  Seattle, 
Wash.,   is  engineer. 

SEATTLE,  WASH. — The  proposition  to  install  a  municipal  telephone 
system  here  will  soon  be  submitted  to  the  voters.  Plans  for  the  pro- 
jiosed  telephone  system  will  be  prepared  by  A.  L.  Valentine,  superin- 
tendent of  public  utilities. 

SEATTLE,  WASH.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  E.  M.  Mills  and 
prominent  residents  of  Ranier  Valley,  near  Seattle,  for  the  construc- 
tion of  an  electric  railway,  6  miles  long,  which  will  connect  with  the 
Seattle,   Renton  &  Southern  Railway. 

T.\COMA,  WASH. — Arvid  Rydstrom,  engaged  by  the  city  to  make 
investigations  in  connection  with  the  municipal  hydroelectric  plant  on 
the  Nisqually  River,  has  submitted  his  report  to  the  Council.  Mr.  Ryd- 
strom advocates  the  construction  of  an  auxiliary  power  plant  on  the 
Green  River  water-system  pipe  line  at  McMillin,  where  waste  water  can 
be  utilized  to  develop  1000  hp  or  more.  The  cost  of  the  plant  is  esti- 
mated at  $75,000.  It  is  also  suggested  as  another  solution  that  the  city 
build  a  steam  plant  in  the  city  having  an  output  of  about  5000  hp.  This 
plant  would  furnish  steam  for  heating  purposes  to  be  sold  in  the  down- 
town district.  The  cost  of  the  steam  plant  is  estimated  at  between 
$200,000    and    $250,000. 

VANCOUVER,  WASH.— The  proposition  to  issue  $10,000  in  bonds 
for  the  installation  of  a  fire-alarm  system  will  be  submitted  to  the  voters 
on  Nov.   5. 

WENATCHEE,  WASH.— An  election  will  soon  be  held  to  vote  on  the 
proposition  to  issue  $6,000  in  bonds  for  the  installation  of  a  cluster- 
lamp  lighting  system,  $4,500  for  installing  a  fire-alarm  system  and  $5,000 
for  automobile  fire  apparatus. 

CH.ARLESTON,  W.  VA.— The  Virginia  Pwr.  Co.,  which  was  recently 
organized  to  acquire  lands,  water  rights,  etc.,  owned  or  controlled  by  the 
West  Virginia  Pwr.  Co.,  Dominion  Pwr.  Co.  of  West  Virginia,  and 
Dominion  Pwr.  Co.  of  Virginia,  and  for  acquisition  of  other  public 
utilities  in  West  Virginia,  has  commenced  work  on  constructon  of  a 
15,000-kw  auxiliary  steam  power  station  on  Great  Kanawha  River  at 
Cabin  Creek,  12  miles  from  Charleston.  The  plans  provide  for  the  erec- 
tion of  about  200  miles  of  transmission  lines  penetrating  Kanawha  and 
New  River  district  coal  fields.  The  company  also  owns  four  water- 
power  sites  on  New  River  as  follows;  Bull  Shoal,  where  it  is  estimated 
that  100.000  kw  can  be  developed;  Bluestone,  125,000  kw;  Richmond 
Falls,  15,000  kw.,  and  Gauley  Junction,  30,000  kw.  Work  has  com- 
menced on  construction  of  dam  at  Bull  Shoal,  125  ft.  high,  with  crest 
length  of  about  1400  ft.  Charles  O.  Lenz,  71  Broadway,  New  York,  is 
chief  engineer. 

W.^RWOOD,  W.  VA.— The  Town  Council  has  granted  the  Brooke 
EI.  Co.  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  here.  The  company,  it  is  said, 
is  owned  by  interests  connected  with  the  Pan-Handle  Trac.  Co.,  Wheel- 
ing, W.  Va.     G.  O.  Nagle  and  E.   Wright,  of  Wheeling,  are  interested. 

DELAVAN,  WIS.— The  United  Ht.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Delavan,  is  con- 
templating extending  its  transmission  lines  to  Clinton  and  expects  to  be 
ready  to  furnish  electrical  service  by  Jan.  1,  1913. 

EAU  CLAIRE,  WIS.— The  Chippewa  County  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  to 
install  a  complete  automatic  system  in  both  Eau  Claire  and  Chippewa 
Falls.      The  capital  stock  of  the  company  has  been  increased  to  $150,000. 

LA   CROSSE,  WIS. — Sealed   proposals  will   be   received  by   the    Board 


November  2,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


969 


of  Public  Works  of  the  city  of  La  Crosse  until  Nov.  22  for  furniishing 
and  instalJing  materials  and  appliances  in  connection  with  certain  addi- 
tions to  the  city  water-works  system  as  follows:  No.  3  (f) — furnishing 
and  erecting  upon  its  foundation  one  8,000,000-g,al.  cross-compound  pump- 
ing engine;  (g) — furnishing  and  erecting  two  125-kva  turbo-generators 
and  condensers;  (h) — furnishing  and  erecting  in  the  substations  hve 
centrifugal  pumps  and  motors,  vertical-shaft  type;  (i) — furnishing  ma- 
terial and  erecting  about  5100  ft.  of  electric  transmission  line,  also 
switchboard  and  all  electrical  connections;  (j) — furnishing  one  open 
feed-water  heater;  (k) — furnishing  and  erecting  one  15-ton  traveling 
crane;  (o) — furnishing  material  and  equipping  three  internally  fired 
boilers  with  furnaces  and  miscellaneous  attachments.  Plans  and  specifi- 
cations may  be  examined  at  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works, 
La  Crosse;  office  of  Alvord  &  Burdick,  engineers,  1417  Hartford  Build- 
ing, Chicago,  III.,  and  Builders'  Exchange,  St.  Paul,  Minn.  Copies  of 
specifications  may  be  obtained  from  the  Board  of  Public  Works  upon  de- 
posit of  $5   per  set,  which   will  be   refunded  upon   return  of  same. 

NELSON,  B.  C,  CAN. — The  federal  government  is  planning  to  con- 
struct a  telephone  line  between  Nelson  and  Waneta,  a  distance  of  al)0ut 
35  miles. 

VANCOUVER.  B.  C,  CAN.— The  British  Columbia  Tel.  Co.  is  plan- 
ning extensive  improvements  to  its  system  in  British  Columbia,  involving 
an  expenditure  of  about  $1,000,000.  The  proposed  work  includes  the 
erection  of  a  building  for  a  plant,  a  six-story  combination  and  ware- 
bouse  building,  two  or  three  exchange  buildings  in  Vancouver  and  two 
in  Victoria.     George  H.   Halse  is  secretary  of  the  company. 

VANCOUVER,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  Fort  George  Pwr.  Co.  has  filed  ap- 
plication for  permission  to  store  121,600  acre  ft.  of  water  from  Willow 
Creek  in  reservoirs  to  be  constructed  at  Stony  Lake,  Round  Lake, 
Stephens  Lake  and  connecting  waterways;  92,000  acre  ft.  of  water  to  be 
stored  in  reservoirs  to  be  built  at  Petonie;  89,600  acre  ft.  at  St.  Mary's 
Lake,  Fraces  Lake,  St.  Joseph  Lake  and  connecting  waterways;  also  for 
storing  14,400  acre.  ft.  of  water  at  Jack  of  Clubs'  Lake  and  52,000  acre 
ft.    at  Narrow  Lake.     The  water  will  be  used   for   power  purposes. 

HANLEY,  MAN.,  CAN. — The  ratepayers  have  voted  in  favor  of  the 
by-law  authorizing  the  Council  to  make  an  appropriation  for  the  con- 
struction and  equipment  pf  an  electric-Hght  plant.     A  Holm  is  clerk. 

WINNIPEG,  MAN.,  CAN.— The  City  Council  contemplates  erecting 
ornamental  street  lamps  on  Donald  and  Edmonton  Streets,  to  cost  about 
$6,000.     C.   J.    Brown   is   clerk. 

WINNIPEG,  MAN.,  CAN.— The  Canadian  Domestic  Engineering  Co. 
has  been  engaged  as  consulting  engineer  in  connection  with  the  installa- 
tion of  heating,  plumbing,  ventilating,  electric  works  and  central  power 
plant  and  equipment  of  the  new  parliament  buildings,  Wininpeg.  The 
cost  of  the  buildings  is  estimated  at  about  $5,000,000  and  the  engineering 
work  at  $800,000. 

GLENCOE,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Council  contemplates  extensive  repairs 
to  the  municipal  electric-light  plant.  Considerable  new  equipment  will  be 
required.     George  Wilson  is  clerk. 

INGERSOLL,  ONT.,  CAN.— Extensions  are  contemplated  to  the  mu- 
nicipal street-lighting  system.  It  is  proposed  to  install  a  large  number  of 
lamps.     For  further  information  address  Mayor  Coleridge. 

ROSETOWN,  SASK.,  CAN.— Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  in- 
stallation of  an  electric-light  system  here.  S.  B.  Robinson  is  secretary 
and    treasurer. 

WADENA,  SASK.,  CAN.— The  contract  for  the  installation  of  a 
municipal  electric-light  plant  here  has  been  awarded  to  Mr.  Cable,  of 
the  British- American  Engineering  Co.,  of  Winnipeg.  A  by-law  appro- 
priating $20,000  for  the  installation  of  the  proposed  plant  was  recently 
passed. 


Uietz,  of  New  York.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $25,000  and  pro- 
poses to  deal  in  engineering  equipment. 

THE  ORSWELL  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  Israel  C.  Orswell,  Annie 
E.  Orswell  and  Joseph  R.  Fuller. 

JAMES  W.  POOLE,  INC.,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  has  been  incorporated  by 
James  W.  Poole,  Mary  E.  Poole,  Benjamin  F.  Haines  and  William  J. 
Miller.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $50,000  and  proposes  to  manufac- 
ture and  deal  in  electrical  supplies. 

THE  POWER  DEVELOPMENT  COMPANY,  LTD.,  of  New  York, 
N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to  do  a 
general    contracting    and    engineering    business.      The    incorporators    are: 

D.  O.  Elder,  C.  A.  Freud  and  Harrison  H.  Boyce,  of  New  York,  N.  Y. 
THE   ROBERTSON   ELECTRIC   COMPANY,   of  Owensboro,  Ky.,  has 

been  organized  by  G.  U.  Robertson  to  deal  in  electrical  supplies  and  to 
do  a  general  electrical  business.     P.   F.   E.   Lee  is  superintendent. 

THE  STANDARD  AUTOMATIC  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY,  of 
Augusta,  Maine,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500,000 
to  manufacture  and  deal  in  sound-recording  and  sound-producing  machines. 

E.  M.   Leavitt,   of  Augusta,   Maine,  is  president  and  treasurer. 

THE  TRI-UNIT  ELECTRICAL  COMPANY,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  to  do  a  general  auto- 
mobile business.  The  incorporators  are:  J.  B.  Stobaeus,  Jr.,  B.  W. 
Matthews  and  W.  C.  Stobaeus,  of  Newark,  N.  J. 

THE  VIGLIANO  SIGNAL  CORPORATION,  of  New  York,  N.  Y., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to  manufacture 
patented  articles,  specialties,  etc.  The  incorporators  are:  L.  Culler,  J. 
Vigliano  and  J.   Reiss,  of  New   York,   N.   Y. 

THE  WESTERN  ELECTRIC  TESTING  COMPANY,  of  Indianap- 
olis, Ind.,  has  been  incorporated  by  Charles  Weiland,  Albert  A..  Bowvy 
and  Frank  Starky.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $25,000  and  proposes 
to  manufacture  and  sell  magneto  and  electrical  ignition  apparatus  testers; 
also  electrical   appliances,   apparatus   and   supplies,   etc. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  AIR  ELECTRIC  ENGINE  &  DEVELOPMENT  COMPANY  has 
filed  articles  of  incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  under  the 
laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware.  The  incorporators  are:  G.  T.  Thompson, 
F.  J.   Seydel  and  A.   L.   Spence,   of  Philadelphia,   Pa. 

THE  W.  W.  CLARKE  COMPANY,  of  Brooklyn.  N.  Y.,  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  William  W.  Clarke,  Marion 
M.  Clarke  and  William  A.  Flanigan,  all  of  26  Court  Street.  Brooklyn. 
I'he  company  proposes  to  deal  in  vacuum  cleaning  machines,  etc. 

THE  DUNLAP-DIPPOID  COMPANY,  of  Edwardsville,  111.,  has  been 
incorporated  by  Orie  T.  Dunlap,  John  Dippoid  and  Clara  B.  Dunlap. 
The  company  is  capitalized  at  $20,000  and  proposes  to  construct  rail- 
ways, power  plants,  etc. 

THE  ELECTRIC  MOTOR  CHAIR  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  111.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  to  manufacture  and 
deal  in  motor-operated  and  manually-propelled  wheel  chairs,  etc.  The 
incorporators  are:   C.   B.   Chrysler,   C.    G.   Traver  and   J.   G.    Bennett. 

THE  M.  &  0.  AUTOMATIC  SWITCH  COMPANY,  of  Michigan  City, 
Ind.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $30,000  to  manufacture 
devices  to  control  electricity,  etc.  The  incorporators  are:  Walter  H. 
Meller,  Cornelius  E.   Orth  and  Fred  M.   Smith. 

THE  MERCHANT  ENGINEERS'  CORPORATION,  of  New  York, 
N.    Y.,    has    been    incorporated    by    J.    Sattora,    J.    J.    Phelan    and    E.    D. 


New  Incorporations 

CHICAGO,  ILL.— The  CiiUral  Oregon  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  to  supply  power,  water,  light  and  heat. 
The  incorporators  are:  Harvey  L.  Hamsen,  Albert  C.  Ball  and  Arthur 
H.   Boettcher. 

LIBERTY,  N.  Y. — The  Liberty  &  Calicoon  R.  R.  Corpn.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000  to  operate  an  electric  or 
steam  railway  in  Sullivan  County  from  Liberty  through  White  Sulphur 
Springs  and  Youngsville  to  Jcffersonville,  a  distance  of  14  miles.  The 
directors  include:  Lowell  H.  Brown.  Archer  Brown,  of  New  York;  Stan- 
ley F.  Crocker,  of  Brooklyn;  Charles  B.  Ward  and  Frank  E.  Bridges,  of 
Liberty. 

SCHODACK  LANDING,  N.  Y.— The  Schodack  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Corpn.  of 
Rensselaer  County  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000 
by  O.  D.  Woodford,  Charles  Van  Buren  and  William  I.  Gardenier,  of 
Schodack  Landing.  The  company  proposes  to  supply  electricity  in  Rens- 
selaer County. 

KINGSVILLE,  OHIO.— The  Conneaut,  Kingsville  &  Ashtabula  Ry.  Co. 
has  been  incorporated  by  William  E.  Hawley,  Raymond  C.  Thompson 
and  Charles  E.  Hawkins.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $25,000  to  build 
an  electric  railway  between  Conneaut  and  Ashtabula  and  to  furnish  elec- 
tricity  for  lamps   and  motors   in    both   towns. 

TOLEDO,  OHIO.— The  Valley  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  chartered 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and 
motors.  The  incorporators  are:  E.  Rheinfrank,  W.  P.  Wallace,  A.  M. 
Hoover,   F.   W.   Crabbs  and   F.   M.   Mark. 

HARRISBURG,  PA. — Charters  have  been  granted  by  the  Secretary  of 
State  as  follows:  Beaver  County  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Beaver  Falls,  with  a  cap- 
ital stock  of  $5,000;  Clairton  &  Blair  Street  Ry.  Co.,  of  Clairton,  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $6,000;  Beaverdale  El.  Lt.,  HI.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Stoys- 
town,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000. 

JOHNSTOWN,  PA.— Charters  have  been  granted  to  the  Ryder,  St. 
Clair  and  Fairfield  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Cos.  to  operate  In  townships  of 
Westmoreland  County.     Each  company  is  capitalized  at  $5,000. 

CHARLESTON,  S.  C— The  Charleston  &  Summerville  Interurban  Ry. 
Co.  has  been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  to  build  an  elec- 
tric railway  between  Charleston  and  Summerville,  a  distance  of  20  miles, 
and  several  miles  of  track  in  Charleston.  The  officers  are:  J.  L.  David, 
president;   E.  W.   Hughes,  secretary,   and   M.   M.   David,  treasurer. 

GREENVILLE,  S.  C— The  Cedar  Falls  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  to  carry  on  a  general 
light  and  power  business.  The  officers  are:  B.  E.  Greer,  president  and 
treasurer;   D.   D.   Davenport,  vice-president,  and  J.   M.  Greer,  secretary. 

SELMER,  TENN. — The  Selmer  El.  Lt.  &  Gin  Co.  has  been  organized 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  and  the  following  named  officers:  C.  B. 
Steadraan,  president;  F.  F.  Hendri.x,  vice-president;  Albert  Gillespie,  sec- 
retary and  treasurer,  all  of  Bethel  Springs;  W.  M.  Brown,  of  Selmer, 
general  manager,  and  D.  G.  Robinson,  manager  of  light  plant. 


970 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i8. 


CONROE,  TEX.— The  Conroe  Gin,  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.  has  been  organized 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000  by  J.  Wahrenberger,  C.  P.  McDade,  Mrs. 
M.  E.  Uzzell  and  others. 

OGDEN,  UTAH.— The  EI.  Service  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $10,000.  The  officers  are:  George  W.  Barlow,  president 
and  treasurer;  Charles  Hartley,  vice-president,  and  Joseph  W.  Barlow, 
secretary. 

LAHORE,  VA.— The  Pamunkey  Mutual  Tel.  Co.  has  been  chartered 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  The  officers  are:  W.  N.  Green,  of  Lahore, 
president;  M.  S.  Johnson,  Monrovia,  secretary,  treasurer  and  general 
manager. 

SEATTLE,  WASH.— The  Northwest  EI.  &  Wtr.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  by  Clark  M.  Burkheinier  and 
John   E.   Eurkheimer. 

BARABOO,  WIS.— The  Midwestern  EI.  Mfg.  Co.  has  been  incorpo- 
rated with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  by  Michael  Debrey,  R.  A.  Schurr 
and  C.  F.   Kinschi. 

MADISON,  WIS. — The  Wisconsin  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,200,000  for  the  purpose  of  becoming  a  holding 
company  for  the  public  utility  properties  in  this  State.  The  company,  it  is 
understood,  will  take  over  the  public  utilities  in  Kenosha  and  Racine,  in- 
cluding the  plants  of  the  Kenosha  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  the  Kenosha  El.  Ry.  Co. 
and  the  Racine  Gas  Lt.  Co. 


Trade  Publications 

BRIDGES. — "Steel  Transmission  Structures  and  Catenary  Bridges"  is 
the  title  of  a  brochure  issued  recently  by  the  Archbold-Brady  Company, 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  engineer  and  contractor.  Brief  descriptions  with  illus- 
trations of  typical  installations  are  given.  The  illustrations  were  selected 
from  a  large  number  of  structures  designed,  fabricated  or  erected  by  tne 
Archbold-Brady  Company,  and  represent  the  successful  solution  of  a 
variety  of  problems.  The  constantly  increasing  use  of  steel  structures  for 
supporting  and  anchoring  electric  transmission  lines  and  overhead  systems 
of  electric  railways  makes  this  booklet  of  timely  interest. 

WIRING  SPECIALTIES.— In  Catalog  No.  20,  recently  brought  out  by 
Pass  &  Seymour,  Inc.,  Solvay,  N.  Y.,  "Passmour,"  "Fluto"  and  "Shur- 
lock"  wiring  devices  are  listed  in  detail  and  to  each  specialty  is  given  a 
brief  illustrated  description.  The  new  catalog  contains  information  with 
respect  to  various  new  appliances  not  previously  catalogued,  and  will 
therefore  be  of  fresh  interest  to  dealers,  contractors  and  others  having 
use  for  cleats,  insulators,  receptacles,  sockets  and  other  wiring  devices. 
It  contains  eighty  pages,  inclusive  of  complete  numerical  and  alphabetical 
indexes,  and  is  strongly  bound  with  red  pasteboard  covers. 

CARELS-DIESEL  ENGINES.— The  foreign  firm  of  Carels  Brothers, 
whose  large  works  at  Ghent,  Belgium,  are  now  being  devoted  exclusively 
to  the  manufacture  of  Diesel  engines,  has  distributed  an  attractive  il- 
lustrated catalog  describing  the  construction  and  general  features  of 
these  prime  movers.  Illustrations  are  given  showing  Diesel  installations 
for  the  Midland  Railway  Company,  England;  the  Calcutta  Tramways  Com- 
pany, Ltd.,  India;  the  power  plant  of  the  Daimler  Motor  Company,  Ltd.. 
Coventry,  England;  the  Caracas  Tramways,  Venezuela,  and  the  power 
plant  of  Messrs.  Sassoon  &  Company,  cotton  manufacturers,  of  Bombay, 
India. 

VACUUM  CLEANl^NG. — \  olume  II  on  "Vacuum  Cleaning,"  a  copy- 
righted publication  of  the  United  Electric  Company,  Canton,  Ohio,  has 
recently  been  issued.  The  rapid  growth  and  development  of  the  vacuum- 
cleaning  industry  has  created  a  demand  for  definite  information  on 
which  architects  and  engineers  might  base  their  calculations,  which  this 
little  volume  is  designed  to  meet.  Tables  on  velocity  and  vacuum  loss 
based  on  standard  sizes  of  wrought  iron  or  steel  pipe  are  given,  and  also 
other  tables  frequently  needed  in  designing  vacuum  cleaning  installa- 
tions. The  booklet  will  be  found  of  special  value  to  engineers  and 
architects. 

WATER  STRAINERS.— Lagonda  multiple  water  strainers  are  the  sub- 
ject of  a  recent  bulletin — R-1 — which  has  been  issued  by  the  Lagonda 
Manufacturing  Company,  Springfield,  Oliio.  The  necessity  for  a  strainer 
and  the  loss  of  power  in  plants  due  to  decreasing  the  vacuum  by  restrict- 
ing the  flow  of  condenser  circulation  water  are  considered,  and  the  various 
sizes  and  types  of  strainers  are  illustrated  and  briefly  described.  Two 
photographs  are  given,  one  before  and  one  after  the  strainers  have  been 
put  in,  showing  that  available  floor  space  is  not  decreased,  as  these 
strainers  may  be  buried  under  the  floors  with  only  the  hand-wheel  pro- 
jecting above  the  surface. 

ENGINEERING  AND  CONSTRUCTION.— The  H.  A.  Strauss  Com- 
pany, Stock  Exchange  Building,  Chicago,  successor  to  the  Falkenau  Elec- 
trical Construction  Company,  has  issued  a  booklet  telling  what  work  it 
IS  prepared  to  do  and  illustrating  and  describing,  briefly,  some  of  its 
undertakings,  including  electrical  work  for  the  United  States  Steel  Cor- 
poration at  Gary,  Ind. ;  Pittsburgh  Plate  Glass  Company,  Crystal  City, 
Mo.;  International  Harvester  Company,  Chicago;  Merchants*  Light  &  Pow- 
er Company,  Ogden,  Utah;  United  States  Crushed  Stone  Company,  near 
Chicago,  and  Davis  &  Weber  Counties  Canal  Company,  Utah.  Mr.  H.  A. 
Strauss  is  president  and  chief  engineer  of  the  company. 

THE  ELECTRIC  TRUCK.— The  General  Motors  Truck  Company,  De- 
troit, Mich.,  has  recently  issued  a   forty-eight-page  booklet  on  its  *"GMC" 


electric  trucks.  The  text  contains  short  chapters  devoted  to  the  field 
of  the  electric  truck,  a  few  facts  not  generally  known,  the  development 
of  the  electric  truck,  and  other  information  of  interest  and  value  to  the 
up-to-date  men  whose  business  calls  for  much  truck  service  and  to  the 
power  salesmen  of  the  electric  light  companies.  The  booklet  tells  a  great 
deal  about  the  construction  of  these  trucks,  and  the  central  double- 
page  is  devoted  to  an  illustration  showing  the  operating  advantages  which 
are  exclusive  with  the  "GMC"  electric  trucks,  the  whole  making  a  prac- 
tical little  manual. 

LIFTING  MAGNETS.— The  September,  1912,  bulletin  of  the  Cutler- 
Hammer  Clutch  Company,  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  No.  12,000,  is  devoted  to  its 
direct-current  circular-type  lifting  magnets.  Since  the  introduction  of 
magnets  the  cost  of  handling  iron  and  steel  has  been  greatly  reduced. 
The  catalog  gives  considerable  practical,  illustrated  information  on  the  lift- 
ing capacity  of  these  magnets,  their  construction,  method  of  control  and 
use  on  direct-current  circuits,  besides  a  numerical  list  of  eighteen  structural 
features  indicated  in  the  diagram  of  a  Cutler-Hammer  magnet.  It  shows 
the  use  of  this  class  of  apparatus  for  a  great  variety  of  purposes.  The 
log  sheet  of  the  dock  superintendent  of  the  Inland  Steel  Company,  showing 
the  record  made  by  two  Cutler-Hammer  62-in.  magnets  unloading  4,000,000 
lb.  of  pig-iron  in  ten  and  a  half  hours  from  the  steamer  Erzvin  L.  Fisher, 
is  reproduced  in  this  bulletin. 

DETECTOR. — The  "KK"  detector,  manufactured  by  the  International 
Railophones,  Ltd.,  Prudential  Buildings,  Corporation  Street,  Birmingham, 
England,  is  the  subject  of  Bulletin  No.  3,  recently  issued  by  this  com- 
pany. In  the  preface  Mr.  H.  Von  Kramer,  managing  director  of  the 
Railophones,  says  that  in  his  research  work  he  found  it  desirable  to  obtain 
some  form  ot  "calling-up"  relay  in  order  to  obviate  the  necessity  of  con- 
stant attendance  on  the  part  of  the  operator.  It  was  necessary  that  the 
instrument  should  be  able  to  respond  to  currents  of  the  order  of  0.0002 
amp,  flowing  under  an  emf  of  about  0.02  volt  at  a  frequency  of  100 
cycles  per  second;  also  that  it  should  not  be  affected  by  mechanical  shocks. 
In  collaboration  with  Dr.  Gisbert  Kapp,  Mr.  Kramer  succeeded  in  con- 
structing a  delicate  alternating-current  relay  which  may  be  employed  not 
only  for  "calling  up,"  but  for  any  other  purpose  for  which  the  ordinary 
telegraphic  relays  requiring  far  heavier  currents  are  usually  employed. 
The  bulletin  contains  an  illustrated  description  of  this  relay  and  a  diagram 
of  connections. 


Business  Notes 


THE  CORTLANDT  ENGINEERING  COMPANY  moved  on  Oct- 
26  from  39  Cortlandt  Street  to  146  Liberty  Street,  New  York  City,  where 
it  will  continue  to  carry  on  a  general  electrical  contracting  and  engineering 
business.     The  president  of  the  company  is  Mr.  L.  F.  Duke. 

THE  CRYPTO  ELECTRICAL  COMPANY,  London,  has  purchased  a 
tract  of  land  at  Acton  Lane,  Willesden,  on  the  outskirts  of  London,  on 
which  it  has  erected  a  new  factory,  which  will  be  an  auxiliary  to  its  fac- 
tory in  Bermondsey  Street.  The  latter  will  continue  as  heretofore  with- 
out any  alteration. 

EVANS,  ALMIRALL  &  COMPANY,  contracting  engineers,  Dominick 
&  Clarke  Streets,  New  York,  announce  that  Mr.  P.  A.  Hoffman  has  be- 
come associated  with  their  company  in  the  engineering  sales  department. 
Mr.  Hoff^man  was  formerly  sales  manager  of  the  New  York  branch  of  the 
B.    F.   Sturtevant   Company. 

THE  W^HEELER  CONDENSER  &  ENGINEERING  COMPANY, 
Carteret,  N.  J.,  manufacturer  of  high-vacuum  surface  and  jet  condensers 
and  general  condensing  machinery,  has  opened  an  office  in  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  at  1325  Citizens'  Building,  which  will  be  under  the  management 
of  Mr.   Walter  G.    Stephan. 

MR.  JOSEPH  T.  FEWKES  has  severed  his  connection  with  the  Fewkes- 
Whalen  Company  and  is  now  located  at  124  North  Twelfth  Street,  Phila- 
delphia, under  the  firm  name  of  Joseph  T.  Fewkes  &  Company,  electrical 
and  steam  engineers.  The  company  deals  in  new  and  second-hand  ma- 
chinery and  also  does  repairing. 

WERN  MACHINERY  &  ENGINEERING  COMPANY.— The  "Syn- 
chrone"  artilicial  respiration  apparatus,  which  was  described  in  our  issue 
of  Dec.  23,  1911,  is  now  manufactured  in  this  country  by  the  Wern 
Machinery  &  Engineering  Company,  30  Church  Street,  New  York.  The 
device  was  awarded  a  "diploma  of  honor"  at  the  ninth  International 
Red  Cross  Conference,  recently  held  at  Washington,  D.   C. 

STUART-HOWLAND  COMPANY.  Boston,  Mass.,  distributor  of  elec- 
trical supplies  and  apparatus,  has  enlarged  its  sales  force  by  the  addition 
of  Messrs.  W.  C.  Drouet  and  George  H.  Boucher.  Mr.  Drouet  was  for- 
merly a  member  of  the  firm  of  Ward,  Drouet  &  Foster,  electrical  jobbers, 
Boston,  and  Mr.  Boucher  was  formerly  with  the  Royal  Eastern  Electric 
Supply  Company,  Albany,  N.  Y.  The  latter  will  hereafter  represent  the 
Stuart-Howland  Company  in  the  district  between  Poughkeepsie  and  Glens 
Falls,  N.  Y. 

THE  LACLEDE-CHRISTY  CLAY  PRODUCTS  COMPANY,  of  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  has  appointed  Mr.  T.  E.  Gannett  representative  in  charge  of 
its  Chicago  office,  1366  People's  Gas  Building.  Mr.  Gannett  succeeds 
Mr.  F.  L.  Bunton,  resigned.  He  will  take  care  of  all  matters  pertain- 
ing to  the  chain-grate  stoker  department  of  the  Laclede-Cliristy  com- 
pany in  the  Chicago  territory,  in  addition  to  which  he  will  attend  to  all 
business  relating  to  general  sales  in  the  glass  mdustry  and  gas-engineer- 
ing departments. 


"JOVEMBER   2,    I9I2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


971 


Directory  of  Electrical  Associ- 
ations, Societies,  Etc. 

AuKBAMA  Light  &  Traction  Association.  Secretary-treasurer,  Geo. 
Z.  Eracry,  11  N.  Royal  St.,  Mobile,  Ala.  Annual  convention,  Birming- 
lam.  November  14  and  15,  1912. 

AuERiCAN  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  Secretary. 
'j.  O.  Howard,  Smithsonian   Institution,  Washington,   D.   C. 

American  Electric  Railway  Accountants'  Association.  Secretary- 
reasurcr,  Matthew  R.   Boylan,  Public  Service  Railway  Co.,  Newark,  N.  J. 

American  Electric  Railway  Association.  Secretary,  H.  C.  Donecker, 
19   West  39th   St.,   New   York. 

American  Electric  Railway  Engineering  Association,  Secretary, 
^.   C.    Donecker,   29   West  39th    St.,   New  York. 

American  Electrochemical  Society.  Secretary,  Prof.  J.  W.  Richards, 
.ehigh   University,   South    Bethlehem,   Pa. 

American  Plectro-Therapeutic  Association.  Secretary,  Dr.  J.  Wil- 
ard  Travell,  27  E.   11th  St.,  New  York. 

American  Institute  of  Consulting  Engineers.  Secretary-treasurer. 
i;ugene  W.  Stern,  103  Park  Ave.,  New  York  City.  The  Council  meets 
he  first  Friday  of  every  month. 

American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary,  F.  L. 
Jutchinson,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York.  Meeting,  second  Friday  ot 
ach  month,  October-May. 

American  Physical  Society.  Secretary,  Ernest  Merritt,  Cornell  Uni- 
ersity,  Ithaca,  N.  Y.  Annual  meeting,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  jointly  with 
he  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  December, 
,912. 

American  Water  Works  Association.  Secretary,  J.  M.  Diven,  271 
?iver  St.,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Arkansas  Association  Public  Utility  Operators.  Secretary,  W.  J. 
Pharp,  Little  Rock,  Ark. 

Association  of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies.  Secretary,  H.  T. 
idgar,  Stone  &  Webster,  Boston,  Mass. 

Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary, 
ames  Farrington,  Steubenville,  Ohio. 

Association  of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary-treasurer, 
OS.  A.  Andreucetti,  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway,  Chicago. 

Association  op  Railway  Telegraph  Superintendents.  Secretary,  P. 
Y.  Drew,  112  West  Adams  St.,  Chicago.  Annual  meeting,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
»Iay  20,   1913. 

Colorado  Electric  Club.  Secretary,  C.  F.  Oehlmann.  Meets  every 
rhursday   at   Albany   Hotel.    Denver,   Col. 

Colorado  Electric  Light,  Power  &  Railway  Association.  Secretary, 
Thomas  F.   Kennedy,  900    15th   St.,   Denver,   Col. 

Electric  Club  of  Chicago.  Secretary,  W.  M.  Connelly,  1417  Monad- 
lock  Bloc'k,  Chicago.     Meets  every  Thursday  noon  at  Hotel   Sherman. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  New  York  State.  Secre- 
Iry,  Geo.  W.  Russell,  Jr.,  25  West  42d  St.,  New  York.  Annual  meeting, 
yracuse,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  21,  1913. 

\  Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  State  of  Missouri.  Secre- 
|ry,  Ernest  S.  Cowie,  1613  Grand  Ave.,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

I  Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  Wisconsin.  Secretary,  Albert 
•jetermann,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 

Electrical  Credit  Association  of  Chicago.  Secretary,  Frederick  P. 
tfose,  Marquette  Building,  Chicago. 

I  Electrical  Credit  .Association  of  Philadelphia.  Secretary-treasurer. 
"6hn  W.  Crum,  1324  Land  Title  Building,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  Executive 
Committee  meets  second  and  fourth  Thursday  of  each  month. 

I  Electrical  Salesmen's  Association.  Secretary,  Francis  Raymond,  125 
itichigan    Ave.,    Chicago.      Annual    meeting,    Chicago,   January   each    year. 

Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Association.  Secretary,  Franklin  Over- 
)»gh,  411  South  Clinton  St..  Chicago,  III.  Next  quarterly  meeting,  Hot 
frings,  Va.,  November   13-15,    1912. 

Electrical  Trades  Association  of  Canada.  Secretary,  William  R. 
5tave!y,    Royal   Insurance   Building,   Montreal,   Can. 

Electrical  Trades  Association  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  Secretary, 
\lbcrt  H.  Elliot,  Harding  Building,  34  EUis  St.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
Meeting,  San  Francisco,  second  Thursday  of  each  month. 

Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America.  Secretary,  Harvey  Robin- 
en,  124  West  42d  Street,  New  York.  Meeting,  fourth  Tuesday  of  each 
nonth. 

Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America,  New  England  Section. 
secretary,  W.  E.  Holmes,  46  Blackstone  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Meetings 
nonthly   upon    notice. 

Empire  State  Gas  &  Electric  Association.  Secretary,  Charles  H. 
1.  Chapin,   Engineering  Societies   Building,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York. 


Florida  Electric  Light  &  Power  Association.  Secretary,  H.  C. 
Adams,   West   Palm   Beach,    Fla. 

Gas,  Electric  &  Street  Railway  Association  of  Oklahoma.  Secre- 
tary-treasurer,   Prof.    H.   V.    BozcU,   Norman,    Okla. 

Illinois  State  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  H.  E.  Chubbuck, 
Peoria,  111. 

Illuminating  Engineering  Society.  General  Secretary,  P.  S.  Millar, 
Engineering  Societies  Building,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York.  Sections 
in   New   York,   New   England,   Philadelphia,   Chicago  and   Pittsburgh. 

Independent  Electrical  Contractors*  Association  of  Greater  New 
York.  Secretary,  A.  Newburger,  1153  Myrtle  Ave.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Meetings   second  and   fourth  Wednesdays,   New   Grand   Hotel,   New   York. 

Indiana  Electric  Light  Association.  Secretary,  J.  V.  Zartman,  120 
So.    Meridian   St.,    Indianapolis,    Ind.      Annual    meeting,    Indianapolis. 

Institute  of  Radio  Engineers.  Secretary,  E.  J.  Simon,  81  New  St., 
New  York.     Meeting,   first  Monday  of  each   month. 

International  Association  for  Testing  Materials.  Secretary,  H.  J. 
F.  Porter,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York. 

International  Association  of  Municipal  Electricians.  Secretary. 
C.  R.  George,  Houston,  Tex. 

International  Combustion  Engineers*  Association.  President, 
Charles  Kratsch,  416  W.  Indiana  St.,  Chicago.  Meeting,  second  Friday 
of  each  month  at  Lewis  Institute. 

International  Electrical  Congress.  Secretary,  J.  A.  Barus,  Expo- 
sition  Bldg.,   San   Francisco,   Cal.      San   Francisco,    1915. 

International  Electrotechnical  Commission  (international  body 
representing  various  national  electrical  engineering  societies  contributing 
to  its  support).  General  secretary,  C.  le  Maistre,  28  Victoria  St.,  West- 
minster,  London,   S.   W.,   England.      Next  meeting  at  Berlin  in   1913. 

Iowa  Electrical  Association.  Affiliated  with  N.  E.  L.  A.  Annual 
convention,  Waterloo,  April  23-24,  1913.  Secretary,  A.  W.  Zahm,  Masoo 
City,  la. 

Iowa  Street  &  Interurban  Railway  Association.  Secretary,  H.  E. 
Weeks,  Davenport,  la.     Annual  meeting,   April,   1913,   Waterloo,   la. 

Jovian  Order.  Jupiter  (president),  F.  E.  Watts,  Western  Electric  Co., 
New  York;   Mercury   (secretary),  E.  C.   Bennett,   St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Kansas  Gas,  Water,  Electric  Light  &  Street  Railway  Association. 
Secretary-treasurer,    W.   H,   Fellows,   Leavenworth,   Kan. 

Louisiana  Electrical  Contractors'  Association.  Secretary,  W.  H. 
Bower  Spangenberg,  625  Poydras  St.,  New  Orleans,  La.  Meets  second 
Thursday  of  each  month. 

Maine  Electric  Association.  Secretary,  Walter  S.  Wyman,  Water- 
ville,  Maine. 

Minnesota  Electrical  Association.  Secretary  E.  F.  Strong,  Cbaska. 
Minn.     Sixth  annual  convention,  March    15-22,   1913. 

Missouri  Electric,  Gas,  Street  Railway  &  Water  Works  Associa- 
tion. Secretary-treasurer,  P.  W.  Markhara,  Brookfield,  Mo.  Next 
convention  at  Mexico,  Mo.,   1913. 

National  Arm,  Pin  &  Bracket  Association.  Secretary,  J.  B.  Magers, 
Madison,   Ind. 

National  Association  of  Electrical  Inspectors.  Secretary-treasurer, 
VVni.   L.   Smith,   Concord,   Mass. 

National  District  Heating  Association.  Secretary,  D.  L.  Gaskill, 
Greenville,   Ohio. 

National  Electrical  Contractors*  Association  of  the  United  States. 
Secretary,   W.    H.   Morton,   41    Martin    Building,    Utica,    N.   Y. 

National  Electric  Light  Association.  Executive  secretary,  T.  C. 
Martin,  Engineering  Societies  Building,  33  West  39th  St.,  New  York.  An- 
nual  meeting,   Chicago,   May,    1913. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Canadian  Section.  Secre- 
tary. T.   S.   Young,   220   King  St.   West,   Toronto,   Can. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Commercial  Section.  Secre- 
tary. E.  L.  Callahan,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Eastern  New  York  Section. 
Secretary,   R.   H.  Carlton,  General   Electric  Company,   Schenectady,  N.   V. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Georgia  Section.  Secretary- 
treasurer,   M.   H.  Hendle,   Augusta,  Ga. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Michigan  Section.  Secretary 
Herbert   Silvester,   18  Washington   Boulevard,    Detroit,  Mich. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Mississippi  Section.  Secre- 
tary, A.  H.  Jones,  McComb  City,  Miss. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Nebraska  Section.  Secre- 
tary-treasurer,  S.   J.    Bell,   David   City,  Neb. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  New  England  Section.  Sec- 
retary, Miss  O.  A.  Bursiel,   149  Tremont  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Northwest  Section.  Secre- 
tary, N.  W.  Brockett,  Pioneer  Building,  Seattle,  Wash. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Hydroelectric  and  Power 
Transmission  Section.  Secretary,  Farley  Osgood,  Public  Service  Electric 
Company,  Newark,  N.  J- 


I 


972 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  i 


National  Electric  Credit  Association.  Secretary,  Frederic  P.  Vose, 
1343  Marquette   Building,   Chicago. 

National    Fire    PfiorECTios    Association.       Secretary-treasurer,    Frank 
lin   H.    Wentworth,    87    Milk    St.,    Boston,    Mass.      Next    annual    meeting. 
New  York,  May   13-15,   1913. 

National  Independent  Telephone  Association.  Secretary-treasurer, 
Richard   Valentine,  Janesville,  Wis. 

New  England  Electrical  Credit  Association.  Secretary,  Alton  F. 
Tupper,  60  State  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Directors  meet  first  Wednesday  of 
each  month. 

New  England  Electric  Development  Association.  Secretary,  Zenas 
W.    Carter,    55    State    St.,    Boston,    Mass. 

New  England  Street  Railway  Club.  Secretary,  John  J.  Lane,  12 
Pearl   St.,   Boston,   Mass.     Meets  last  Thursday  of  each   month. 

New  Orleans  Electrical  Contractors'  Association.  Secretary,  S.  J. 
Stewart,  312  Carondelet  St.,  New  Orleans,  La.  Meetings,  second  and 
fourth  Tuesday  of  each  month. 

New  York  Electrical  Credit  Association  (affiliated  with  the  National 
Electrical  Credit  Association).  Secretary,  Franz  Neilson,  80  Wall  St., 
New   York.      Board  of   Directors  meets  second   Thursday   of  each   month. 

New  York  Electrical  Society.  Secretary,  G-  H.  Guy,  Engineering 
Societies  Building.   33   West   39th  St.,   New   York. 

New  York  Electric  Railway  Association.  Secretary,  Charles  C 
Dietz,   United  Traction   Company,  Albany,   N.   Y. 

Ohio  Electric  Light  Association.  Secretary,  D.  L.  Gaskill,  Green- 
ville,  Ohio. 


Ohio  Society  of  Mechanical,  Electrical  and  Steam  Engineers.  Se 
retary,  Prof.  F.  E.  Sanborn,  Ohio  State  University.  Columbus,  Ohi 
Annual  meeting,  Akron,  Ohio,  Nov.  21  and  22,   1912. 

Pennsylvania  Electric  Association  (State  Section  N.  E.  L.  A. 
Secretary-treasurer,  Walter  E.   Long,   1000  Chestnut  St.,  Philadelphia, 

Pittsburgh    Electrical    Booster    Club.      Recording   Watt,    George 
Criss,    1806    Union    Bank    Building,    Pittsburgh,    Pa.      Meeting,    first   Mo 
day  each   month. 

Railway  Signal  Association.  Secretary,  C.  E.  Rosenberg,  Bethlehei 
Pa. 

Society  for  Electrical  Development,  Inc.  Secretary,  Philip  S.  Dod 
29   West  39th   Street,  New  York. 

Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education.  Secretax 
Prof.  H.   H.   Norris,  Cornell   University,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

Southwestern     Electrical    &    Gas    Association.       Secretary,    H 
Cooper,  405   Slaughter   Building,   Dallas,  Texas. 

Vermont  Electrical  Association.  Secretary-treasurer,  A.  B.  Ma 
den,  Manchester,   Vt. 

Western    Association    of    Electrical    Inspectors.      Secretary,    W. 
Boyd,    76    West    Monroe    St.,    Chicago,    111.      Convention,    St.    Louis,    M 
Tan.  28-30,  1913. 

Western  Society  of  Engineers.  Electrical  Section.  Secretary,  J 
Warder,  1737  Monadnock  Block,  Chicago.  Regular  meeting,  foui 
Monday  of  each  month,  except  January,  July  and  August.  Anni 
meeting,   Tuesday   after  Jan.    1   each  year. 

Wisconsin  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  George  Allison,  S 
phcnson    Building,    Milwaukee,    Wif. 


eoe«^ 


3     H 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED    STATES    PATENTS    ISSUED    OCT.    22,    1912. 
[Prepared  by   Robert  Star?  -Allyn,   16   Exchange  Place,  New  York.] 

1,041,718.  TELEGRAl'HIC  RELAY;  H.  J.  Archer,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
hied  Feb.  8,    1912.      Direct-reading  signal. 

1,041720.  AUTOMATIC  FLATIRON;  H.  P.  Ball,  Pittsfield,  Mass. 
App.  filed  Sept.   27,   1909.     Automatic  handle  switch. 

1,041,728.  .MEANS  FOR  PREVENTING  THEFT  OF  CURRENT  FROM 
ELECTRIC  .METERS;  C.  F.  Bertig,  Winsted,  Conn.  App.  filed 
March    11,   1912.      (.ircuit  wire  is  ancliored  to  the  casing. 

1,041,752.  ARC-LIGHT  ELECTRODE;  John  T.  H.  Dempster,  Sche- 
nectady, N.  Y.  --^pp.  filed  March  26,  1903.  Method  of  making 
electrodes  for  luminous  arcs. 

1,041.771.  ELECTRIC  CLOCK;  H.  T.  Gay,  Baltimore,  Md.  App.  filed 
NIarch    14.    1912.      Electrical   magnetic  escapement. 

1,041,778.  WELDING  APPARATUS;  J.  H.  Gravell,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
App.   filed   Oct.   31,    1911.      For  welding  large   sheets,   etc. 

1,041,782.  ELECTRIC  MOTOR  OR  GENERATOR;  E.  .A.  Halbleib, 
Rochester.  N.  Y.     App.  filed  Dec.  16,  1910.     Commutator  and  brushes. 


1,041,720. — Automatic  Flatiron. 

1,041,790.  PROCESS  FOR  ELECTROLYTIC  CLEANSING;  A.  Herr- 
mann, Leipzig,  Germany.  App.  filed  April  8,  1912.  For  preparing 
metal  for  plating, 

1,041,817.  METALLIC-FILAMENT  LAMP;  O.  Krause,  Berlin,  Ger- 
many.    App.  filed  Oct.   16,  1909.     Elastic  carrier  support. 

1.041.845.  MOTOR-CONTROL  SYSTEM;  E.  J.  Murphy  and  J.  Eaton, 
.Schenectady.  N.  Y.  App.  filed  May  4,  1912.  Reversible  motor,  for 
planers,   printing  presses,  etc. 

1.041.846.  ELECTRIC  CUT-OUT;  T.  E.  Murray,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
App.   filed   May  20,    1912.     Plug  and  fuse  strip. 

1.041.847.  ELECTRIC  CUT-OUT:  T.  E.  Murray,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
.•\pp.  filed  May  31,   1912.     Gang  fuse  plug. 

1,041,859.  MOTOR-CONTROLLING  DEVICE;  T.  W.  Nowell,  Sche- 
nectady, N.  Y.  .App.  filed  May  19,  1911.  Split-phase  starting;  uni- 
directional movement. 

1,041.868.  AI  TERNATING-CURRENT-MOTOR  CONTB^;  W.  B. 
Potter,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  April  2,  l$l^j|r  Compensated 
series-type   automatic   circuit   changing. 

1,041,873.  ELECTRIC-LAMP  SOCKET;  W.  A.  Richardson,  Chicago, 
111.  App.  filed  May  16,  1912.  Bridging  circuit  for  detecting  defective 
lamps. 


1,041,888.     OUTLET-BOX    BUSHING;    P.    C.    Schorr,    St.    Paul,    Mil 

-App.    filed    Sept.    27,    1911.      Removable   conduit   closure. 
1,041,929.     TROLLEY-SWITCH  MECHANISM;  O.  G.  West,  Gary,  It 

App.  filed  Jan.  26.   1911.     Track  and  pole  switch. 
1,041937.     INSULATOR    BRACKET;     D.    W.    Wyche,    Marquez,    Ti 

.■\pp.   filed  April    16,    1912.      Multi-part  insulator. 
1,041.943.     ELECTRIC    BELL    OR    RINGER;    C.    R.    Albertus,    Chicai 

111.      App.   filed   Jan.    17,    1908.      Adjustable   telephone   gong. 

1.041.965.  PARTY-LINE  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  H.  P.  Clausen,  C 
cago.   111.      App.   filed   March  27,   1907.      Local  magneto  call. 

1.041.966.  CIRCUIT  MAKE-AND-BREAK  DEVICE  FOR  RAILW.' 
SIGNALING  SYSTEMS;  W.  J.  Cook.  Denver,  Col.  App.  filed  J: 
10,  1911.     Car-operated  switch. 

1,041.982.     CURRENT    CONTROLLER;    G.    B.    Dusinberre,    Clevelai 

Ohio.     App.  filed   May  8,    1911.     Compressible  resistance  medium. 
1,042,019.     INSULATING    JOINT;    L.    McCarthy,    Boston,    Mass.      A 

filed  Jan.    13,    1912.     Connected  insulated  screw  sockets- 
1,042,028.     RAILWAY    SIGNALING    DEVICE;    J.    W.    Page,    Quitmi 

.Ark.     -App.  filed  April   1,  1912.     Clear  and  danger  signal  operated 

the  engineer. 
1,042,103.     SWITCH-LOCKING   MECHANISM;   T.  M.   Freeble,  Roch 

ter.  Pa.     -App.   filed   Oct.    12,   1910.     Railway  safety  appliance. 

1,042,111.  METHOD  FOR  PRODUCING  SO-CALLED  POROl 
MET.ALS;  H.  I.  Hannover,  Copenhagen,  Denmark.  App.  filed  D 
2,   1911.     -An  alloy  is  heated  and  one  element  driven  out. 

1,042.130.  ELECTRIC  CONTROLLING  DEVICE;  H.  W.  Leona 
Bronxville,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  May  13,  1905.  Rheostatic-controlli 
means  provided   with   automatic   protective  devices. 

1,042,153.  TROLLEY  CATCHER  AND  REPLACER;  W.  J.  Scrimsha 
Chicago,  111.     App.  filed  Feb.   14,  1910.     Movable  lateral  guards. 

1,042,156.  HEATER  FOR  STEERING  DEXTCES  FOR  MOTO 
DRIVEN  VEHICLES;  E.  D.  Shannon,  Alpena,  Mich.  App.  fil 
July  8.   1912.     Electric  lamp  in  the  handle. 

1,042,162.  TROLLEY;  F.  Slonowski,  Marianna,  Pa.  App.  filed  Ap 
17,    1912.     Self-adjusting. 

1,042,179.  PROCESS  AND  FURNACE  FOR  PRODUCING  GAS  B 
ACTIONS^  O.  H.  and  K.  Weber,  Griesheim,  Germany.  App.  fil 
June   7,    1912.     The  electrode  charge  is  fed   upwardly. 

1,042,183;  POLARIZING  RELAY;  J.  L.  Woodbridge,  Philadelphia,  1 
App."  filed  March  21,  1910.  Reducing  the  size  of  the  polarizing  c 
when  the  current  varies. 

1,042,186.  CIRl'UIT-nREAKER;  C.  Ambruster,  Chicago,  III.  App.  fil 
Nov.  9,    1909.      .Adjustable  setting 

1,042,188,  ADJUSTABLE  .TELEPHONE  -  INSTRUMENT  -  LOCKII 
DEVICE;  C.  H.  Bard,  Mount  Vernon,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Oct.  : 
1911.      -A  clamp  for   locking   receiver   hook. 

1,042,199.  WIRE  CLAMP;  H.  L.  Carroll,  Gassaway,  W.  Va.  A] 
tiled  April   6,   1912.      For   fastening  a  wire  to  a  pole  insulator. 

1,042,228.     PLUG  SWITCH;   C.  Horn,  Millbourne,  Pa.     -App.  filed  At 

21.   1911.      Insulated  chambers  aiid  terminals. 

1,042,244.     ALARM;    A.    L.    Macklin,    Bryant,    Ind.     App.   filed  Jan. 
1911.      For  indicating  temperature  drop. 

1,042,304.  ELECTRIC  AL  BONDING  DEVICE;  H.  C.  Williams.  Uti. 
N.   \.     App.   filed  Jan.   20,    1910.     Rail-bond  plate. 

1,042,348.     ELECTRIC  ATTACHMENT  PLUG;  M.  Herskovitz,  Chicai 

111,     App.  filed  June   14,   1912.     Separable  body  and  sleeve. 
1,042,372.     SPLIT   INSULATOR:   J.   R.    Harris,   Chartiers  Township,  . 

legheny  County,  Pa.  App.  filed  April  8,  1912.     Cylindrical  wiring  Icn 
1,042,375.      ELECTRIC-ARC  LAMP;  W.  Riihiing,  Berlin,  Germany.     Al 

tiled    Nov.    15,    1909.      Heat-resisting    non-conductor    between    paral 

electrodes    to    extinguish    arc    automatically. 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation   of   Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American   Electrician. 


fiJ' 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  NOVEMBER  9,  1912. 


No.  19. 


PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  BY 

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NEW  YORK.  SATURDAY,  NOVEMBER  9, 1912. 


CONTENTS. 

iditorials     973 

^   Mammoth    .\ppraisal    976 

leport  of  the  A.S.M.E.  Committee  on  Patent  Laws 976 

teorganization  of  the  International  Photometric  Commission 976 

teport   on   Chicago  Telephone   Rates 976 

ndiana    Electric    Light    -Association 977 

Vnnual  Convention  of  -Association  of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers.  .  980 

IJectric    Locomotives   Under    Service   Conditions 982 

idnie  Recent   Electrical   Patent  Cases  in  England.      By  .A  Briton ....  984 

'ttblic    Service    Commission    News 986 

Current   News   and    Notes 987 

British    Steam   Turbo-Generator    Station 989 

nductance   of  -Aerial    Split  Conductors.      By   Louis   Cohen 994 

Commercial   Efficiency   of   Small   Steam  Turbines 995 

Automatic    Voltage    Regulation    of    .Alternating-Current    Generators. 

By    Lester    McKenney 996 

'urbines   to   Heat   Hot-Water   System 997 

Ucord   Month   for   House  Wiring  at   Wichita,    Kan 998 

'alue    of    Off-Peak    Load 998 

Kentucky    Electric    Company's    Building 998 

louse-Wiring  and  Electric-Iron  Campaigns  at  Lawrence,   Kan 999 

^U.Niliary   Service  to  Telegraph    Companies 999 

■*o   .Men,   Eight  Days,   354    Irons 999 

'OBt  of  Heating  Water  from  Steam  Mains 999 

'omniissions  for  Non-Commercial  Employees  Who  .Aid  Sales 999 

-ouisville    Lighting    Company's    Publicity 1000 

*"ew  Residential   Rates  at   Harrisburg,   Pa 1000 

leaching    the    Rented    Houses 1000 

mproving    Department-Store    Illumination 1000 

onduit  Versus  Open  Work  in  Places  Subject  to  Moisture.  Corrosive 

Fumes,    Steam,     Etc. — IV 1 00 1 

Irnamental  Street  Lighting  with  Bronze  Posts  at  Pasadena,  Cal .  . .  .  1003 

actory     Lighting     1004 

lecent   Telephone    Patents    1004 

-ETTER    TO    THE    EDITORS: 

Reactance  in  Transformers.      By   Walter   S.   Moody 1004 

'igest   of  Current   Electrical   Literature 1005 

iook    Reviews    1008 

lew  Apparatus  and  Appliances   1009 

ndustrial  and   Financial   News    1013 

Veekly   Record   of    Electrical    Patents 1022 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  MUNICIPAL  STATION. 

The  electric  supply  system  of  Bradford,  England, 
described  elsewhere  in  our  columns,  furnishes  a  lesson  in 
the  evolution  of  lighting.  It  shows  both  the  changes  in 
generating  apparatus  and  those  in  systems  of  distribution. 
Beginning  as  a  two-wire  direct-current  plant  at  115  volts,  it 
was  later  transformed  to  a  three-wire  system  with  230 
volts  across  the  outside  wires,  and  it  went  through  an 
evolutionary  period  of  growth  in  this  form.  Still  later,  in 
1897,  the  voltage  on  the  three-wire  system  was  doubled,  a 
plan  followed  in  not  a  few  foreign  stations.  After  ten 
years  more  the  steady  development  of  the  load  and  particu- 
larly the  increase  of  motor  service  in  the  outlying  districts 
compelled  still  another  change,  this  time  the  adoption  of  a 
three-phase  high-tension  system  for  the  more  remote  work. 
The  later  growth  has  taken  place  along  modern  lines,  and 
the  three-phase  network  has  not  only  surrounded  the  earlier 
system  but  is  gradually  encroaching  upon  it,  so  that  the 
direct-current  lines  cover  a  radius  of  about  a  mile  and  a 
half  and  the  three-phase  system  now  takes  care  of  the  rest. 

There  have  been  considerable  changes,  too,  in  the 
arrangement  of  the  generating  stations,  of  which  there  are 
now  three.  One  of  these  contains  some  of  the  old  two-pole 
generators  belonging  to  the  first  three-wire  system  and  also 
a  later  group  of  \\'illins  engine-generators  taking  care  of 
part  of  the  present  three-wire  load.  Here  also  are  the 
main  switchboards  controlling  the  whole  of  the  general 
load,  and  motor  generators  as  a  linkage  between  the  direct- 
current  and  the  alternating-current  supply  systems,  together 
with  ample  workshops.  Another  small  station,  installed 
chiefly  for  railway  service,  is  worth  mentioning  on  account 
of  the  fact  that  a  refuse  destructor  is  utilized  to  furnish  part 
of  the  steam.  The  third  and  latest  station  has  a  combination 
equipment  consisting  of  four  low-speed  looo-kw  recipro- 
cating engine  sets  furnishing  direct  current  for  lighting  and 
tramway  service  and  two  3000-kw  and  one  4500-kw  Curtis 
turbo-generator.  These  machines  are  6600-volt,  three- 
phase  units,  and  all  three  are  of  the  familiar  vertical  type. 

The  latest  combined  station  takes  care  of  the  bulk  of  the 
load  on  both  the  direct-current  and  the  alternating-current 
networks.  In  fact,  the  boilers  in  the  older  main  station  are 
put  into  service  for  only  about  four  months  in  the  year, 
whatever  steam  is  needed  for  subsidiary  service  during  the 
remainder  of  the  year  being  furnished  from  the  boilers  in 
the  new  station  to  the  adjacent  older  one.  The  older 
station,  however,  contains  a  switchboard  for  both,  which 
involves  the  use  of  extended  leads,  in  some  cases  600  ft. 
long,  from  the  new  generators  to  the  working  switchboard. 
The  plant  is  operated  for  condensation  from  a  huge  cooling 
tower  designed  to  take  care  of  365,000  gal.  of  water  an  hour. 
A  second  tower  of  about  two-thirds  this  size  is  being 
erected    in    addition.      The    plant    is    equipped    with    some 


974 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


interesting  accessories,  among  them  being  a  smoke  recorder 
to  enable  the  operating  staff  to  know  what  the  chinmey  is 
doing  and  a  distance  thermometer  by  which  it  is  possible 
to  ascertain  the  working  temperatures  of  almost  any  part 
of  the  steam  generating  system.  The  Bradford  plant,  like 
not  a  few  British  plants,  is  owned  and  operated  by  the 
municipality,  and  it  has  now  been  in  operation  for  more 
than  a  score  of  years.  It  has  passed  through  the  vicissitudes 
of  changes  in  the  art  until  now  it  appears  as  a  typical 
modern  station.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  despite  time  and 
changes  some  of  the  original  lead-covered  cables  laid 
directly  in  earth  are  still  in  use  after  more  than  twenty 
years  of  service. 


INDUCTANCE  OF  AERIAL  SPLIT  CONDUCTORS. 

In  long  overhead  transmission  lines  the  relatively  opposite 
influences  of  line-wire  inductance  and  electrostatic  capacity 
may  call  for  mutual  adjustment  in  the  design  and  construc- 
tion of  the  system.  One  method  of  making  this  adjust- 
ment is  by  the  use  of  either  extra  choking  coils  or  con- 
densers in  the  line;  that  is,  by  applying  reactive  loads  to  the 
line.  Another  method  is  to  alter  the  geometrical  disposition 
of  the  line  wires.  Since  high-pressure  line  conductors  must 
be  separated  to  a  considerable  distance,  the  range  in 
inductance  or  capacity  obtainable  by  altering  the  distance 
between  the  wires,  within  practical  limits,  is  relatively  small. 
A  greater  range  is  obtainable  by  subdividing  the  conductor. 
If,  in  an  aerial  three-phase  power  transmission  line,  three 
groups  of  wires  are  used  instead  of  three  main  cables,  the 
wires  of  each  group  being,  say,  ten  diameters  apart,  the 
inductance  of  the  system  will  be  distinctly  diminished  and 
the  capacity  correspondingly  increased.  This  subdivision 
of  the  line  conductors,  as  a  device  for  modifying  the  ratio 
of  the  inductive  and  capacity  reactances  of  a  line,  was 
discussed  in  a  paper  read  before  the  A.  I.  E.  E.  by  Mr. 
Percy  H.  Thomas  about  three  years  ago. 

In  the  above-mentioned  paper  the  effect  of  conductor 
subdivision  upon  the  inductance  was  calculated  approxi- 
mately for  the  cases  of  both  dual  and  triple  subdivisions. 
That  is,  approximate  formulas  were  presented  for  com- 
puting the  inductances  of  three  pairs,  and  also  for  three 
triplet  groups,  of  three-phase  aerial  conductors.  In  this 
issue  Mr.  Louis  Cohen  presents  an  alternative  formula,  of 
a  fundamental  nature,  for  deriving  the  inductances  of  sub- 
divided lines.  This  formula,  also,  is  only  approximate, 
although  the  degree  of  approximation  is  probably  sufficient 
for  most  engineering  purposes.  It  assumes  that  the  mutual 
inductance  of  two  symmetrical  groups  of  parallel  wires  is 
the  same  as  if  each  group  were  concentrated  into  a  single 
wire  at  the  arithmetic  mean  position,  or  "center  of  gravity," 
of  the  group.  It  also  assumes  that  the  mutual  inductance 
of  a  pair  of  parallel  conductors  interaxially  distant  a  few 
diameters  follows  the  same  formula  as  when  they  are  inter- 
axially distant  many  diameters.  The  geometric  mean  dis- 
tance is,  however,  the  equivalent  distance  between  the  com- 
ponent elements,  as  was  shown  by  Maxwell,  Gauss  and 
Weber.  For  mean  distances  of  2  m  or  3  m,  however,  the 
geometrical  mean  is  only  very  slightly  greater  than  the 
arithmetical  mean.. 


The  results  obtained  by  the  new  formulas  are  appreciably 
different  from  those  in  the  paper  of  1909  before  mentioned, 
although  in  a  number  of  practical  cases  the  differences 
might  be  immaterial.  For  purposes  of  accuracy,  however, 
more  cumbersome  formulas  may  have  to  be  developed. 
The  corresponding  problem  can  also  be  solved  from  the 
electrostatic  point  of  view.  Subdividing  three-phase  line 
conductors  into  three  equal  groups,  each  of  three  wires, 
must  inevitably  increase  the  electrostatic  capacity  of  the 
system,  the  surfaces  of  the  conductors  opposed  to  one 
another  having  been  increased.  Furthermore,  the  mean 
separation  is  slightly  altered.  But  if  the  components  of 
each  triplet  are  only  a  few  diameters  apart,  the  surface 
distribution  of  charge  on  each  wire  is  materially  disturbed 
b)'  the  presence  of  the  neighboring  components.  Neverthe- 
less, for  most  practical  purposes  a  satisfactory  approxima- 
tion may  be  reached  by  treating  each  component  as  an 
independent  charged  conductor  opposed  to  the  distant 
groups. 


THE  FIGHT  AGAINST  GLARE. 

A  notable  tendency  of  recent  discussions  of  illuminating 
engineering  matters  has  been  the  stress  laid  upon  the 
abolition  of  glare,  particularly  reflected  glare  from  paper 
and  objects  upon  which  work  is  being  done.  In  the  "primer" 
recently  issued  by  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society  use 
is  made  of  a  grade  of  paper  which  to  a  very  large  extent 
eliminates  the  specular  reflection  that  often  proves  so 
troublesome  in  books  illustrated  with  halftone  engravings. 
In  this  case  the  halftones  are  admirably  printed  and  present 
on  the  whole  an  even  better  appearance  than  if  they  had 
been  upon  the  ordinary  highly  calendered  stock.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that  halftones  suffer  greatly  as  to  clearness  of 
detail  from  being  printed  on  a  too  highly  polished  surface, 
for  the  element  of  glare  enters  here  as  it  does  in  the 
legibility  of  print,  and  the  cuts  in  the  primer  seem  to  demon- 
strate the  truth  of  this  suggestion. 

While  one  should  work  consistently  for  better  diffusion  of 
light  a  great  deal  remains  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  elimi- 
nating the  direct  sources  of  glare.  It  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  while  diffusion  is  an  admirable  thing  the  absence  of 
diffusion  does  not  necessarily  mean  bad  lighting,  since  to 
produce  glare  light  must  come  from  an  improper  direction 
as  well  as  from  a  somewhat  concentrated  source. 

With  an  abnormal  quantity  of  light  even  considerable  dif- 
fusion will  not  eliminate  glare.  In  order  to  get  thoroughly 
good  illumination  attention  nnist,  therefore,  be  directed  not 
only  to  the  kind  of  source,  but  to  its  position  and  to  the 
things  observed.  Even  bare  lamps,  objectionable  as  they 
are  from  most  standpoints,  may  be  of  such  size  and  so 
placed  as  to  be  practically  inoffensive.  The  paper  of  Dr. 
C.  E.  F^rree  at  the  recent  Illuminating  Engineering  Society 
convention  gave  a  very  vivid  idea  of  the  eye  fatigue  which 
can  be  produced  by  the  light  from  glaring  and  badly  placed 
lamps  as  compared  with  daylight.  It  would  have  added 
much  to  our  information  on  this  subject,  however,  if  a 
similar  experiment  could  have  been  tried  with  even  the  same 
highly  objectionable  fixtures  well  placed  with  reference  to 
the  work  in,  for  example,  a  small  room. 


November  9,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


975 


Illuminating  engineers  have  with  good  cause  conducted  a 
winning  fight  for  proper  diffusion,  but  at  times  they  are 
apt  to  treat  the  subject  as  if  diffusion  were  the  only  thing 
necessary  to  good  illumination,  instead  of  being  merely  an 
important  factor.  A  recent  paper  before  the  British  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science  laid  stress  on  the 
matter  of  size  of  printer's  type  as  very  important  to  ocular 
hygiene,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  younger  children  in 
the  schools — a  thing  perhaps  as  important  as  having  the 
type  well  illuminated.  Here  is  a  chance  for  the  American 
Association  for  the  Conservation  of  Vision  and  various 
educational  and  metrical  societies  to  get  together  and 
support  the  illuminating  engineer  in  his  fight  for  good 
vision. 


PROPOSED  REORGANIZATION  OF  PHOTOMETRIC  COMMISSION. 

To  the  International  Photometric  Commission  created 
by  the  International  Congress  of  Gas  Industries  held  in 
Paris  in  1900  were  assigned  certain  functions,  the  principal 
one  of  which  was  the  study  of  the  photometry  of  the  in- 
candescent gas  mantle.  Although  the  commission  in  its 
various  sessions  at  Zurich  undertook  seriously  the  study 
of  this  question,  it  soon  enlarged  the  scope  of  its  work 
and,  with  the  assistance  of  representatives  of  the  national 
laboratories  of  England,  Germany  and  France,  began  the 
inter-comparison  of  the  flame  standards  of  these  three 
countries.  The  International  Photometric  Commission  has 
received  the  recognition  due  it  on  account  of  both  its  char- 
acter and  its  work,  but  it  has  been  a  matter  of  regret  that 
the  commission  has  been  representative  only  of  the  gas 
industries  and  responsible  only  to  the  national  gas  associa- 
tions. It  is  therefore  very  gratifying  to  note  in  the  an- 
nouncement elsewhere  in  this  issue  that  steps  are  being 
taken  to  bring  about  a  reorganization  of  the  Photometric 
Commission  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  be  representative  of 
all  the  lighting  interests,  both  gas  and  electric,  and  also  of 
the  illuminating  engineering  societies,  the  physical  societies 
and  the  national  standardizing  laboratories  of  the  various 
countries.  Such  an  international,  thoroughly  representative 
commission  should  accomplish  excellent  results  not  only 
in  the  standardization  of  photometric  nomenclature  and 
units  but  also  in  the  development  of  a  broader  conception 
of  all  questions  of  lighting  and  illumination. 

It  is  particularly  gratifying  to  note  in  the  recent  report 
of  the  American  Gas  Institute  committee  of  representatives 
to  the  International  Photometric  Commission  that  the 
initiative  in  proposing  a  reorganization  of  the  commission 
was  taken  by  the  American  Gas  Institute,  and  that  the 
Illuminating  Engineering  Society  was  quite  willing  to 
abandon  its  own  project  of  calling  an  international,  repre- 
sentative conference  on  photometric  nomenclature  and 
standards  in  favor  of  the  Zurich  commission,  provided  the 
satisfactory  reorganization  of  that  commission  could  be 
accomplished.  It  is  yet  too  early  to  predict  the  final  out- 
come of  the  negotiations  in  progress,  but  the  character  of 
the  sub-commission,  composed  almost  entirely  of  prominent 
representatives  of  the  various  governmental  laboratories, 
assures  the  serious  consideration  of  the  matter  in  an  en- 
tirely neutral  manner,  and  augurs  well  for  the  ultimate 
success  of  the  plan. 


MOLECULAR  AIR  PUMPS. 

The  high-vacuum  air  pump  is  a  very  well  known, 
standardized  and  effective  device.  In  practically  every 
case  it  consists  of  a  system  of  glass  tubes  connected  with 
the  chamber  to  be  evacuated  and  so  arranged  that  portions 
of  the  gas  in  that  chamber  are  entrained  and  carried  off  by 
mercury  under  the  protection  of  temporary  mercury  seals. 
That  is,  some  of  the  gas  is  led  off,  under  its  own  expansive 
force,  into  a  glass  tube.  A  door  of  mercury  is  then  shut 
behind  the  outgoing  mass,  which  is  forthwith  led  away  and 
discharged  into  the  atmosphere.  A  limitation  to  the 
evacuating  powers  of  such  a  pump  is  fixed  by  the  fact  that 
mercury  vapor  is  disengaged  from  the  surface  of  the  work- 
ing mercury  and  the  remnants  of  this  mercury  vapor  cannot 
be  eliminated  entirely,  even  at  very  low  temperatures. 

As  noted  in  the  Digest,  Professor  Gaede  has  recently 
developed  a  type  of  high-vacuum  pump  devoid  of  mercury 
and  therefore  of  mercury-vapor  remnants.  The  device  is 
ingenious  and  extremely  simple.  It  depends  upon  the  fact 
that  at  very  low  gaseous  pressures  the  friction  of  gas  in 
narrow  pipes  becomes  very  large,  so  that  if  a  surface  in 
such  a  pipe  travels  at  a  speed  that  is  comparable  with  the 
speed  of  the  free  gas  molecules,  these  become  carried  along, 
or  loosely  entrained,  by  the  surface  and  are  unable  to  find 
their  way  back,  although  the  passage  is  never  closed.  The 
action  somewhat  resembles  that  of  the  rope  pump  for  lifting 
water  by  friction,  as  distinguished  from  the  ordinary  valve 
pump.  Unlike  the  rope  water  pump,  however,  the  molecular 
pump  must  start  at  a  fairly  low  vacuum,  of  about  i/ioo  mm 
of  mercury.  The  open-door  principle  in  high-vacuum 
pumps  seems  to  be  as  effective  as  it  is  new,  the  new 
molecular  pumps  being  apparently  capable  of  working  very 
rapidly  and  of  reaching  vacua  hitherto  unattainable,  and 
without  the  use  of  drying  or  cooling  agents.  The  device 
consists  merely  of  a  series  of  circular  grooves,  in  which  a 
shaft  rotates  at  a  high  peripheral  speed,  so  as  to  carry 
molecules  of  gas  from  the  vacuum  chamber  to  the  inter- 
mediate pump.  The  bearings  of  the  rotating  shaft  are  care- 
fully protected  so  as  to  exclude  the  entrance  of  air,  and 
several  of  these  grooves  around  the  shaft  are  connected  in 
series.  In  order  to  produce  a  vacuum,  therefore,  the  inter- 
mediate air  pump  has  to  be  started  and  operated  until  the 
pressure  in  the  exhaust  chamber  has  fallen  to  the  required 
value.  Then  the  shaft  of  the  molecular  pump  is  brought 
into  rotation,  at  a  speed  of,  say,  8000  r.p.m.  The  shaft 
touches  nothing  except  the  oil  in  its  bearings,  but  it  hurries 
along  the  remaining  gas  molecules  in  a  lively  procession 
away  from  the  exhausted  chamber  to  the  suction  pipe  of  the 
intermediate  pump,  which  then  carries  them  off  into  the  air. 

According  to  the  description  of  the  apparatus  published 
in  the  Electrician,  a  degree  of  vacuum  as  low  as  2  X  10"' 
mm  has  been  reached  with  its  aid,  or  about  2.7  X  10'"  of 
normal  atmospheric  pressure — a  residue  of  one  part  in  about 
4,000,000,000.  Whatever  practical  advantage  may  be 
derivable  from  the  new  molecular  air  pump,  it  should  be 
of  great  assistance  in  physical  investigations.  There  are 
many  phenomena  of  the  incandescent  lamp  which  have 
baffled  inquiry  in  the  past,  owing  to  the  limitations  to 
further  evacuation  set  by  existing  mercury  air  pumps.  A 
new  impetus  should  now  be  given  to  these  investigations. 


976 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


A  MAMMOTH  APPRAISAL. 


H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company  and  The  Arnold  Company,  of 
Chicago,  have  recently  completed  a  detailed  appraisal  of  the 
physical  property  of  the  Chicago  Telephone  Company.  The 
complete  report  comprises  an  edition  of  twenty-two  copies 
of  ten  typewritten  volumes,  having  a  total  of  4107  pages 
transcribed  on  the  hectograph.  The  fee  received  for  this 
work  is  probably  the  largest  ever  received  for  the  appraisal 
of  a  single  company,  being  appro.ximately  $250,000.  To 
complete  the  report  a  force  averaging  160  men  worked  for 
a  year,  and  then  about  sixty  men  worked  two  months  longer. 
The  Arnold  Company  appraised  the  real  estate,  buildings 
and  central-office  equipment,  the  Byllesby  department  of 
examination  and  reports,  in  charge  of  Mr.  Harold  Almert, 
doing  all  the  rest.  To  illustrate  the  magnitude  of  the  task 
it  may  be  mentioned  that  eighty  separate  items  were  in- 
ventoried on  every  telephone  pole.  The  inventoried  prop- 
erty serves  a  total  of  316,674  telephone  subscribers.  251,741 
of  whom  are  located  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  There  are 
thirty-three  exchanges  in  the  city  and  ninety-five  in  the 
outlying  territory  of  tlie  company,  making  a  total  of   128. 


REPORT    OF    THE     A.  S.  M.  E.     COMMITTEE    ON 
PATENT  LAWS. 


received  in  technical  circles  both  in  Europe  and  America. 
President  Vautier  of  the  International  Photometric  Com- 
mission has  requested  the  sub-commission  on  photometric 
units  and  standards  to  formulate  a  plan  of  reorganization. 
This  sub-commission  was  originally  appointed  at  the  191 1 
session  of  the  International  Photometric  Commission  to 
consider  the  recommendations  of  the  Illuminating  Engineer- 
ing Society  (U.  S.)  regarding  photometric  nomenclature 
and  standards.  The  sub-commission  at  present  is  composed 
of  the  following  members:  Dr.  Brodhun,  Dr.  Kusminsky, 
M.  F.  Laporte,  Mr.  C.  C.  Paterson  (secretary),  M.  Th. 
\'autier  (ex  officio)  and  a  representative  of  the  United 
States  soon  to  be  appointed.  The  personnel  of  the  sub- 
commission,  composed  of  representatives  of  the  various 
national  laboratories,  is  peculiarly  qualified  to  undertake 
the  duty  of  fornuilating  plans  of  reorganization.  It  is 
hoped  that  as  the  outcome  of  the  efforts  of  the  sub- 
commission,  with  the  indorsement  of  the  various  national 
technical  gas  societies  to  which  the  International  Photom- 
etric Commission  in  the  past  has  been  responsible,  an 
essentially  new  commission  will  be  formed  which  will  be 
equally  representative  of  and  responsible  to  all  national 
technical  gas,  electric  and  illuminating  engineering  and 
otlier   societies   interested   in   photometry   and   illumination. 


The  November  issue  of  the  Journal  of  the  American 
Society  of  Meclianical  Engineers  contains  the  first  report 
of  the  committee  on  patent  laws,  which,  in  view  of  its 
general  interest,  is  given  below  in  full.  The  committee 
consists  of  Messrs.  \V.  H.  Blauvelt  and  B.  F.  Wood. 

"Pursuant  to  our  appointment  on  April  9,  1912,  by  the 
council  as  a  committee  on  patent  laws,  we  have  con- 
tinued to  study  the  patent  situation  in  Washington  and 
the  course  of  legislation  which  has  been  introduced  in  the 
House  on  the  subject  of  patents,  amounting  to  more  than 
fifty  bills,  most  of  which  appear  to  be  not  in  the  interest  of 
inventors    and    patentees. 

'Tn  the  early  part  of  May  the  President  sent  a  message 
to  Congress  recommending  the  appointment  of  a  competent 
mixed  commission  to  make  a  thorough  study  of  the  patent 
law  and  patent  practice  and  to  report  its  findings  to  Con- 
gress  as    a    basis    of    legislation. 

"Your  committee  believes  that  the  recommendations  of 
the  President,  as  embodied  in  his  message,  are  most  wise, 
that  there  is  great  danger  in  any  patent  legislation  that  is 
not  based  on  carefully  compiled  information,  that  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  commission  is  the  only  safe  procedure,  and 
that  the  President's  recommendations  should  have  the 
earnest  support  of  all  engineers,  patentees  and  others  who 
are  interested  in  the  preservation  and  improvement  of  our 
patent   system." 

REORGANIZATION  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL 
PHOTOMETRIC   COMMISSION. 


The  International  Photometric  Commission,  commonly 
known  as  the  "'Zurich  commission,"  was  created  by  the  In- 
ternational Congress  of  Gas  Industries  which  convened  in 
Paris  in  1900.  This  commission,  composed  of  representa- 
tives from  the  various  national  technical  gas  societies, 
with  the  co-operation  of  certain  of  the  national  laboratories, 
has  been  concerned  with  general  questions  of  photometry 
in  addition  to  its  more  specific  functions  in  connection  with 
the  photometry  of  the  incandescent  mantle. 

Inasmuch  as  there  has  developed  a  widespread  apprecia- 
tion of  the  need  of  an  international,  thoroughly  represen- 
tative commission  to  deal  with  general  questions  of  photom- 
etry, and  possibly  also  of  illumination,  it  has  been  pro- 
posed that  the  International  Photometric  Commission  be 
reorganized  to  fill  these  requirements  in  a  way  acceptable 
to  all  photometric  interests.     This  movement  is  being  well 


BEMIS    REPORT    ON     TELEPHONE     RATES     AND 
SERVICE  IN  CHICAGO. 


The  long-expected  report  of  !Mr.  Edward  W.  Bemis  on 
the  investigation  of  the  Chicago  Telephone  Company  in 
relation  to  a  proposed  revision  in  rates  has  been  submitted 
to  the  committee  on  gas,  oil  and  electric  light  of  the  Chicago 
City  Council  and  was  made  public  on  Oct.  31.  Three  pre- 
vious investigations  of  the  Chicago  Telephone  Company 
have  been  made.  The  first  was  by  Messrs.  D.  C.  Jackson, 
W.  H.  Crumb  and  G.  W.  Wilder,  and  was  preliminary  to 
the  adoption  of  the  ordinance  of  Nov.  6,  1907,  under  which 
the  company  is  now  operating.  The  second  investigation, 
concluded  May  9,  1910,  was  made  by  Messrs.  D.  C.  and 
W.  B.  Jackson,  engineers,  and  Messrs.  Young  &  Company, 
accountants.  The  fact  that  the  accountants  employed  by 
the  city  were  also  accountants  for  the  company  led  the  gas, 
oil  and  electric  light  committee  to  vote  on  June  2,  1910, 
that  other  experts  be  employed  to  go  over  the  report.  A 
few  days  later  Mr.  W.  J.  Hagenah,  public  utility  expert, 
was  engaged  to  do  this  work.  Mr.  Hagenah's  final  report 
was  dated  May  2,  191 1,  and  estimated  that  the  company, 
after  paying  bond  interest  and  8  per  cent  return  on  its 
depreciated  investment  within  the  city  limits,  would  have 
had  a  surplus  of  about  $300,000  in  1909.  The  committee 
was  not  satisfied  with  this  report,  however,  and  on  July 
17,  191 1,  engaged  Mr.  Bemis  to  take  up  the  investigation. 
The  Bemis  report  is  dated  Oct.  25,  1912. 

The  appraisal  of  the  physical  property  of  the  Chicago 
Telephone  Company,  as  of  Aug.  I,  191 1,  was  prepared 
jointly  by  The  Arnold  Company  and  H.  M.  Byllesby  & 
Company.  This  appraisal  gave  a  total  reproduction  value 
of  the  property  within  the  city  of  Chicago  amounting  to 
$34,325,894.  not  including  any  development  expenses  or 
any  allowance  for  going  concern  value.  Mr.  Bemis  made 
a  critical  examination  of  this  appraisal  and  concluded  that 
items  amounting  to  $2,065,947  should  be  rejected,  leaving 
a  net  reproduction  value  of  $32,259,947.  After  deducting 
depreciation,  he  estimated  the  present  value  of  the  physical 
property  in  the  city  as  $25,495,036. 

A  rate  of  return  on  the  investment  amounting  to  from 
6J4  to  7  per  cent  was  advocated  as  reasonable  under  the 
circumstances.  After  examining  the  revenues  and  expendi- 
tures in  detail,  Mr.  Bemis  concluded  that  a  reduction  in  the 
telephone  rates  which  would  diminish  the  company's 
revenues  about  $700,000  annually  can  be  fairly  made.     It 


November  g,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


977 


was  suggested  that  part  of  the  proposed  reduction  could  be 
attained  by  taking  $475,000  from  the  annual  depreciation 
reserve  and  the  remaining  $225,000  by  reducing  the  dividend 
from  8  per  cent  to  7.1  per  cent  on  the  whole  property,  or  to 
6^  per  cent  on  the  city  portion  of  the  property.  It  was 
also  suggested  that  the  annual  rentals  paid  to  the  parent 
company,  the  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company, 
which  will  amount  to  some  $475,000  or  more  in  1912,  could 
be  reduced  $200,000  annually  and  still  leave  the  parent 
company  a  reasonable  return. 

The  report  further  states  that  an  annual  reduction  of 
$700,000  in  the  company's  revenue,  due  to  reductions  in 
rate  schedules,  may  reasonably  be  expected  to  stimulate 
the  growth  of  the  company's  business.  While  operating 
expenses  per  telephone  are  increasing,  the  investment  per 
telephone  is  decreasing,  and  the  business  is  growing  rapidly. 
No  recommendation  has  been  submitted  by  Mr.  Bemis  in 
reference  to  the  rate  schedule,  which  he  points  out  would 
be  unwise  until  the  Council  committee  has  acted  upon  his 
present  report.  He  commended  the  telephone  company  for 
adopting  an  unusually  frank  and  open  policy  with  respect  to 
its  books  and  its  operating  methods,  and  also  for  the  large 
amount  of  assistance  gratuitously  offered  in  collecting  data 
for  the  preparation  of  the  127-page  report,  which  goes  over 
the  economic  and  financial  questions  involved  in  a  very 
exhaustive  manner. 


PATENT  NOTES. 


The  United  States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  has  held, 
in  the  case  of  the  Sundh  Electric  Company  versus  the  In- 
terborough  Rapid  Transit  Company,  that  the  Sundh  patent. 
No.  733,564,  for  an  electric  controller  is  void,  on  the  ground 
that  the  patentee  was  not  the  first  and  original  inventor. 

The  Lindquist  patents,  Nos.  744,773  and  764,608,  for 
alternating-current  magnets,  were  held  infringed,  in  the 
decision  of  the  United  States  District  Court  in  the  case 
of  the  Sundh  Electric  Company  versus  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company. 


A.  I.  E.  E.    HIGH-TENSION   MEETING. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  to  be  held  in  New  York  on  Dec.  13  two  papers 
will  be  presented  on  the  general  subject  "High-Tension 
Insulators;  Tests  and  Specifications,"  the  authors  being 
Messrs.  L.  E.  Imlay  and  Percy  H.  Thomas  and  Mr.  P.  \V. 
Sothnian. 


INDIANA  ELECTRIC  LIGHT  ASSOCIATION. 


Nearly  150  persons  attended  the  fourth  annual  conven- 
tion of  the  Indiana  Electric  Light  Association  at  Indian- 
apolis Oct.  30  and  31,  making  this  meeting  the  largest  as 
well  as  one  of  the  best  ever  held  by  the  central-station 
men  of  the  Hoosier  State.  It  seems  likely  that  the  next 
Indiana  Legislature  will  extend  the  powers  of  the  present 
State  Railroad  Commission  to  include  all  public  utilities, 
and  the  topic  of  impending  commission  legislation  occupied 
several  of  the  open  and  executive  sessions  of  the  conven- 
tion. The  general  sentiment  among  the  Indiana  operators 
apparently  welcomed  such  commission  regulation,  provided, 
of  course,  that  a  just  and  efficient  statute  be  passed,  to  be 
enforced  by  sound  and  experienced  men  as  commissioners. 

president's  address. 
In  his  presidential  address  Mr.  F.  A.  Bryan,  South  Bend, 
urged  closer  co-operation  in  the  industry  between  central 
station,  contractor,  jobber  and  manufacturer.  He  also 
pointed  out  the  increasing  interest  in  commercial  subjects 
among  central-station  men.  Utility  officers,  he  declared, 
are  virtually  semi-public  officials,  whose  duties  are  to  satisfy 


public  and  customers,  while  earning  a  fair  return  for  the 
stockholders.  Few  laymen,  however,  understand  the  pecu- 
liar requirements  of  the  electrical  business,  whose  prepara- 
tions, for  example,  must  be  kept  a  year  in  advance  of  the 
customers'  demands.  Enormous  investments  are  made 
solely  to  insure  continuity  of  service.  Wires  are  put  un- 
derground without  increase  in  rates.  A  business  subjected 
to  such  hazards  as  the  central-station  industry  is,  in  Presi- 
dent Bryan's  judgment,  entitled  to  higher  rates  of  return 
than  real-estate  and  other  like  investments.  Not  only  is 
the  public  generally  ignorant  of  the  tremendous  investment 
and  equipment  necessary,  but  many  company  employees 
themselves  need  instruction  concerning  central-station 
problems.  The  speaker  recommended  sending  employees 
to  attend  conventions  and  urged  that  they  participate  in  the 
work  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association,  develop- 
ing their  natural  abilities  to  the  advantage  of  themselves 
and  the  company.  The  utility,  he  insisted,  is  genuinely  use- 
ful to  the  community  and  seldom  deserves  the  charges 
brought    against    it. 

Referring  to  matters  of  commission  legislation  to  be  con- 
sidered by  the  next  Legislature,  President  Bryan  observed 
that  such  regulation  will  probably  meet  with  no  opposition 
from  the  companies,  if  administered  fairly  and  justly  as 
the  people  intend.  A  danger,  however,  lies  in  the  fact,  as 
he  pointed  out,  that  ambitious  politicians  may  seize  upon 
the  commission  idea  for  personal  capital.  He  urged  that 
in  the  selection  of  the  commission's  personnel  the  Governor 
appoint  broad-minded  and  able  business  men  of  experience. 
With  such  a  commission,  he  insisted,  utility  corporations 
have  nothing  to   fear. 

central-station    heating. 

Mr.  A.  G.  Rogers,  Toledo  Railway  &  Light  Company, 
Toledo,  Ohio,  opened  Wednesday  afternoon's  session  with 
a  paper  on  "Central-Station  Heating."  Dividing  steam- 
heating  systems  into  return  and  non-return  types,  and  hot- 
water  systems  into  single-pipe  series  and  double-pipe 
multiple  systems,  the  speaker  defined  the  special  conditions 
favoring  each.  In  a  business  building,  for  example,  where 
the  rooms  are  cooled  at  night,  warmed  quickly  about 
7:30  a.  m.  before  the  tenants  arrive,  and  then  returned  to 
50  deg.  Fahr.  again  after  the  tenants  vacate  at  5  130  p.  m., 
steam  heating  will  be  preferable  on  account  of  its  flexibility 
and  quickness.  For  residence  sections,  however,  where 
more  nearly  uniform  temperature  is  desired  throughout, the 
twenty-four  hours,  hot-water  operation  is  advisable. 

In  the  ordinary  steam  plant,  declared  Mr.  Rogers,  al- 
though hardly  10  per  cent  of  the  heat  energy  is  utilized  by 
the  engine,  much  of  this  waste  is  applicable  to  heating  use. 
It  is  the  ultimate  commercial  value  of  this  heat  which  should 
be  considered,  and  not  alone  the  technical  limitations  im- 
posed. The  financial  return  available  from  such  service  is, 
of  course,  not  all  velvet,  for  considerable  distributing 
investment  is  required  and  there  are  engineering  and  com- 
mercial problems  to  be  solved.  B.iif  such"  heating  service  is 
usually  in  great  demand,  and  practically  all  district-heating 
companies  have  waiting  lists. 

Supposing,  said  the  speaker,  an  engine's  steam  rate  of 
23  lb.  per  kw-hr.  is  doubled  to  46  lb.  by  the  addition  of 
heating  service  back-pressure.  This  consumption  means  an 
increase  in  fuel  only,  the  oil,  labor  and  other  charges 
remaining  practically  constant.  Of  this  46  lb.,  dropping  6  lb. 
for  radiation,  40  lb.  can  be  sold  for  2  cents,  if  at  the  rate  of 
50  cents  per  1000  lb.  The  cost  of  producing  a  kilowatt-hour 
has  been  increased  from  0.75  cent  to  1.25  cents,  but  this 
the  2-cent  gain  offsets,  leaving  1.25  cents  net  saving  per 
kw-hr.  Even  allowing  0.5  cent  per  kw-hr.  to  cover  heating- 
system  overhead  charges,  distribution  outlay,  etc.,  the  gain 
is  still  desirable. 

Do  not  go  into  district  heating  blindly,  advised  Mr. 
Rogers,  without  study  of  the  local  problems.  Heat  units 
cannot  be  conserved,  he  added,  without  engineering 
experience  and  judgment.     As  coal  increases  in  value  and 


978 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


deliveries  become  less  sure,  an  increasing  number  of  cus- 
tomers, he  declared,  will  demand  both  heating  service  and 
electricity. 

STEAM-HEATING  DATA. 

Mr.  H.  A.  W'oodworth,  Merchants'  Heat  &  Light  Com- 
pany, Indianapolis,  followed  with  a  discussion  on  the  same 
general  subject,  supplemented  by  some  interesting  cost 
figures.  District  heating  is  thoroughly  practical  to-day,  such 
failures  as  heating  plants  have  suffered  in  the  past  being 
due,  he  said,  to  mismanagement,  poorly  proportioned  fiat 
rates,  improper  construction,  etc.  Flat-rate  systems  are  now 
being  replaced  by  meters  which  make  the  customer  study 
the  regulation  of  his  system  and  insure  efficient  construc- 
tion and  adjustment.  Although  meters  have  the  disadvan- 
tage of  higher  cost,  they  are  even  then  less  expensive  than 
the  rigid  system  of  inspection  necessary  under  a  fiat-rate 
schedule. 

From  records  taken  by  Mr.  Woodworth  of  metered  and 
flat-rate  customers  at  Evansville,  the  average  condensation 
per  hour  for  the  210-day  heating  season  was  0.103  lb.  for 
the  metered  services.  This  is  equivalent  to  515  lb.  of  steam 
per  square  foot  of  radiation  per  5000-hour  season.  With  a 
meter  rate  of  60  cents  per  1000  lb.  of  condensation,  this 
averages  30  cents  per  square  foot  per  season.  For  the 
flat-rate  users  the  average  consumption  was  775  lb.  per 
square  foot,  indicating  55  per  cent  more  steam  consumption 
than  the  metered  customers,  despite  the  rigid  inspection 
in  force. 

At  another  plant  last  season,  said  the  speaker,  tests  for 
line  loss  were  made  on  three  types  of  underground  con- 
struction operated  under  '  identical  conditions,  with  the 
direct  and  calculated  comparisons  shown  in  the  accompanv- 
ing  table.    Such  figures  show  that  the  plant  employing  cheap 

C0MPAR.\TIVE  TESTS  OF   LINE   LOSS. 


Line  loss  in  lb.  steam  per  sq.  ft.  of 
radiation  per  hour 

Season  loss  on  system  with  50.000  sq. 
ft.  of  underground  surface;  steam 
at  25  cents  per  1000  lb 

Season  loss  on  a  large  plant  having  13 
miles  of  mains 


0.04 

S2.500 

su.soo 


0.07 

S4.375 
$21,875 


C. 


$8,750 
$43 , 750 


materials  and  construction  can  lose  enough  money  in  line 
condensation  during  ten  years  to  have  paid  for  a  new 
system  of  the  most  efficient  type.  First  cost  cheapness 
may  prove  the  most  expensive  in  time.  In  concluding  Mr. 
Woodworth  urged:  (i)  Installation  of  best  materials  under 
ground;  (2)  the  metering  of  all  customers  and  their  in- 
struction in  economical  operation;  (3)  the  encouragement 
of  economy,  and  (4)  the  institution  of  regular  inspections, 
especially  in  the  case  of  fiat-rate  users. 

Discussion. 

In  opening  the  discussion,  Mr.  B.  T.  Gifford,  American 
District  Steam  Company,  Chicago,  spoke  of  the  valuable 
results  to  be  obtained  by  the  balancing  of  heating  and  elec- 
trical loads.  As  heating  service  is  always  in  demand,  the 
amount  of  steam  furnished  can  be  limited  to  the  equivalent 
of  the  electrical  output,  and  the  service  thus  confined  to  the 
most  desirable  business.  Hot-water  plants,  he  observed, 
must  of  necessity  use  a  flat-rate  schedule,  since  no  satis- 
factory meter  has  been  developed.  As  evidence  of  the  life 
of  underground  steam-main  construction,  Mr.  Gifford  cited 
Cheyenne,  Wyo.,  where  lines  have  been  in  service  twenty- 
three  years. 

Mr.  T.  C.  McReynolds,  Kokomo,  drew  attention  to  the 
popular  quality  of  heating  service  and  the  value  of  con- 
ducting such  a  department  even  if  to  keep  out  other  heating 
plants.  These,  he  declared,  are  almost  sure  to  be  incorpo- 
rated in  towns  above  5000  not  served  and  may  ultimately 
develop   into   competitive    electric    plants.      He   questioned 


whether  heating  plants  can  always  be  operated  at  a  profit 
and  advised  their  use  chiefly  where  old  and  non-condensing 
equipment  has  been  installed,  but  not  for  high-efficiency 
condensing  plants.  Primarily,  he  said,  the  station  should 
be  developed  as  an  electric  plant,  adding  heating  service  to 
secure  a  balance. 

Mr.    Thomas   Donahue,    Lafayette,    related   that   of    115 
inquiries    sent    out    to    district-heating    companies    by    the  . 
National  Electric  Light  Association,  seventy-seven  answered  ( 
distinctly  "profitable."     Many  reported  that  their  heating 
service  had  increased  their  electrical  business.    The  speaker 
declared  his  own  heating  income  paj-s  85  per  cent  of  his 
operating  expenses.    Mr.  N.  M.  Argabrite,  Elwood,  insisted 
that  a  plant  with  a  load-factor  so  poor  that  it  cannot  afford  1 
to  do  heating  is  badly  in  need  of  load  improvement  from  the 
electrical   standpoint  alone.     Mr.  Argabrite  said  his   own  j 
plant  was  reported  in  previous  years  to  have  paid  100  per 
cent  of  the  coal  bill   from   heating  revenues.     He  advised 
sharp  attention  and  close  figuring,  however,  when  preparing 
to  install  a  plant,  pointing  to  rates  of  underground  deprecia-  '• 
tion  so  high  that  complete  reconstruction  has  been  required  • 
in  ten  years.     Mr.  C.  E.  Layton,  Lebanon,  added  that  the 
steam  plant  must  earn  on  its  investment  in  eight  months  or 
less,  and  he  called  attention  to  the  indefiniteness  surround- 
ing the  expected  life  of  the  plant  and  the  future  price  of 
coal.    In  closing  the  discussion  the  author,  Mr.  McReynolds, 
pointed  out  that,  since  heating  service  decreases  the  cost  of 
electricity,  it  popularizes  and  extends  the  use  of  the  latter 
service.  ; 

PUBLIC   SERVICE   COMMISSION    LAWS. 

Mr.  D.  L.  Gaskill,  president  of  the  Greenville  (Ohio) 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  was  called  from  a  com- 
mittee meeting  of  the  National  District  Heating  Associa- 
tion which  was  being  held  in  the  hotel  at  the  time  to  address 
the  Indiana  convention  on  the  subject  of  utility-commis- 
sion laws. 

Commission  regulation,  said  Mr.  Gaskill,  is  becoming 
popular  with  politicians,  and  in  states  contemplating  such 
legislation  it  is  important  that  statutes  be  secured  fair  and 
equitable  to  both  central  stations  and  public.  Mystery  in 
the  operation  of  utilities,  he  continued,  belongs  to  a  bygone 
era;  the  progressive  attitude  is  one  of  publicity  and  educa- 
tion of  the  public  in  the  problems  confronting  the  utility. 
Unfortunately  and  most  unwisely,  many  state  commission 
laws  disqualify  as  commissioners  any  man  who  has  had 
practical  experience'  or  knows  anything  of  the  subjects  on 
which  he  must  pass  judgment.  In  framing  future  laws  the 
speaker  urged  the  omission  of  all  such  limitations  and 
recommended  adequate  compensation — at  least  $5,000  to 
$7,500  a  year — to  attract  capable  men.  In  Ohio  the  expenses 
of  the  commission,  $75,000  a  year,  are  borne  by  propor- 
tional assessment  of  the  utilities,  which  must  pay  in  addition 
a  1.2  per  cent  excise  tax. 

Commission  regulation,  said  the  speaker,  has  been  of 
positive  business  advantage  to  the  companies  in  meeting 
demands  for  special  rates,  consideration,  etc.,  for  the  law 
prescribes  $5,000  penalty  for  any  deviation  from  the 
standard  schedule.  A  just  utility  law,  he  continued,  must 
recognize  factors  of  overhead  charges,  depreciation  and  all 
costs  contingent  to  the  business.  Provision  should  be  made 
for  appeal  to  the  courts  from  the  commission's  decision, 
although  it  is  not  likely  that  this  right  will  be  frequently 
taken  advantage  of.  A  reasonable  rate  of  profit  to  the 
stockholders  will  not  be  denied  by  sane  men.  In  fact,  said 
Mr.  Gaskill,  were  the  utility  men  charged  with  framing 
an  equitable  statute  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  rights  of  the 
public  would  be  better  protected  than  by  politician-framed 
laws.  Power  should  be  given  the  commission  to  control 
central-station  rates  and  service  and  to  require  improve- 
ments if  the  demands  of  the  consumers  make  these  neces- 
sary. No  franchise  should  be  granted  to  a  competing  com- 
pany seeking  to  enter  a  community  already  adequately 
served   without   a   permit    from   the   commission,   and   such 


November  g,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


979 


permit  should  be  denied  unless  justified.  Such  a  clause  is 
only  a  just  protection  to  the  public,  said  the  speaker,  since 
in  the  end.  it  is  the  people  who  must  bear  the  cost  of  the 
duplicate  plants,  etc.  Municipal  plants  rightly  come  under 
the  commission's  jurisdiction,  and  such  plants  should  not 
be  permitted  to  furnish  service  at  less  than  cost.  Mr. 
Gaskill  even  advocated  giving  the  commission  control  of 
stock  issues,  capitalization,  etc.,  in  this  way  eliminating 
"water"  and  greatly  enhancing  the  stock's  value  through 
commission  authorization.  In  closing,  the  speaker  expressed 
his  belief  that  every  state  should  have  a  commission  as  a 
bulwark  between  companies  and  customers,  and  he  advo- 
cated copying  the  wise  measures  of  the  Wisconsin  statute. 

Discussion. 

Mr.  C.  C.  Perry,  Indianapolis,  said  that  the  indeterminate 
franchise  feature,  so  useful  in  Wisconsin,  cannot  be  granted 
under  the  Indiana  constitution.  A  proper  utility  law  he 
favored  as  beneficial  to  both  companies  and  the  public,  and 
he  expressed  confidence  that  a  commission  would  not  reduce 
rates  but  would  eliminate  competition.  Mr.  Perry  urged 
due  allowances  for  going  value,  organization,  costs,  etc., 
without  protection  for  watered  values. 

Mr.  F.  W.  Sweezy,  Marion,  said  that  at  present  any 
Indiana  town  council  can  grant  as 
many  local  franchises  as  it  sees 
fit.  Mr.  E.  J.  Condon,  Argola,  de- 
scribed the  method  of  obtaining  a 
franchise  through  permits  of  con- 
venience and  necessity.  By  reason 
of  its  twenty-seven  years  of  actual 
use,  he  pointed  to  the  Massachu- 
setts law  as  the  best  statute  to  be 
patterned  after.  In  one  instance 
which  he  related  a  private  com- 
pany and  a  municipal  plant  in 
neighboring  towns  were  competing 
for  business  in  a  village  midway 
between.  The  municipal  plant  cut 
its  rates'35  per  cent  below  the  pri- 
vate company's  schedule,  claiming 
that  as  its  own  bonds  were  all  paid 
off  it  needed  to  charge  no  interest. 
The  state  commission,  however, 
ruled  against  the  city  plant,  showed 
that  its  rates  meant  doing  business 
at  a  loss,  and  raised  these  rates. 
Regulation,  said  Mr.  T.  C.  Mc- 
Reynolds,  Kokomo,  is  a  question 
which  strikes  at  the  very  basis  of 
the  central-station  situation.  Pro- 
tection is  in  no  sense  wanted  by  the  companies,  but  fairness. 
Mr.  B.  W.  Bissell,  Connersville,  and  Mr.  J.  W.  Robb, 
Clinton,  also  spoke  briefly. 

ACCOUNTING. 

Thursday's  program  was  opened  with  a  paper  on  "Cen- 
tral-Station Accounting,"  prepared  by  Mr.  E.  J.  Cady, 
Baker- Vawter  Company,  Chicago,  and  read  in  the  author's 
absence  by  Secretary  Zartman.  Mr.  Cady  divided  his  sub- 
ject under  these  four  heads:  Production  and  distribution; 
purchase  and  sale,  distribution  of  merchandise,  materials 
and  supplies;  charges  for  service  and  merchandise,  and  cash 
receipts  and  disbursements.  The  system  of  vouchers  and 
records  which  the  author  described  is  in  use  by  a  municipal 
gas  plant  and  by  a  large  electric  company  in  Indiana. 

Mr.  F.  L.  Dennis,  South  Bend,  testified  to  the  convenience 
of  the  system  outlined  in  handling  10,000  accounts  with 
two  clerks,  although  six  were  required  with  the  former 
accounting  system.  States  without  commission  regulation 
are  in  bad  need  of  some  uniform  plan  of  central-station 
accounting,  said  Mr.  Dennis.  Such  uniformity  aids  in  in- 
vestigations and   reports. 


PRESIDENT-ELECT    J.    W.    ROBB 


STREET   LIGHTING. 

Mr.  D.  M.  Diggs,  General  Electric  Company,  Schenec- 
tady, N.  Y.,  followed  with  a  paper  on  the  "Future  Possi- 
bilities of  Street  Lighting,"  in  which,  after  sketching  the 
history  of  public  illumination,  he  referred  to  modern  illu- 
minants,  especially  the  magnetite  and  flame-arc  lamps. 
Systems  were  outlined  for  business-section,  side-street  and 
residence-district  lighting.  Among  other  interesting 
observations  on  the  value  of  silhouette  vision  in  ordinary 
street  seeing  by  artificial  light,  the  speaker  pointed  out  that 
a  light  brick  street  surface  may  require  less  illumination 
than  a  macadamized  roadway.  Although  heretofore  the 
effort  has  been  to  secure  an  evenly  distributed  intensity  on 
the  street,  recognition  must  now  be  given  to  the  superior 
silhouette  vision  possible  with  alternating  bright  splotches 
and  dark  intervals.  To  illustrate  this  point  Mr.  Diggs  cited 
some  experiments  he  made  near  Boston.  On  a  street  in 
Beverly,  which  is  very  uniformly  lighted  by  units  close 
together,  three  observers  watched  an  automobile  drive  off, 
noting  the  distance  at  which  it  was  lost  to  view.  This 
proved  to  be  at  from  100  ft.  to  150  ft.,  and  even  for  part  of 
this  distance  the  glare  of  the  retreating  car's  headlamps 
aided  definition.  An  identical  test  was  then  repeated  on 
Marblehead  Bridge,  which  is  equipped  with  fewer  mag- 
netite arc  lamps  on  i8-ft.  posts. 
Here  the  car  remained  visible  at 
from  1000  ft.  to  1500  ft.,  or  until 
the  roadway  was  lost  in  a  turn.  A 
similar  experiment  was  also  car- 
ried out  with  toy  lamps,  autos,  etc., 
indicating  the  same  results.  Mr. 
Diggs  utilized  these  illustrations 
to  point  out  the  accident-preven- 
tion value  of  spacing  large  units 
at  intervals,  thus  securing  silhou- 
ette vision  of  approaching  traffic. 
Mr.  J.  W.  Robb,  Clinton,  Ind., 
said  that  at  Clinton  abutting 
property  owners  are  assessed  for 
posts  and  wiring  for  the  orna- 
mental street-lighting  system,  just 
as  for  any  other  public  improve- 
ment. Mr.  W.  D.  Ray,  Hammond, 
said  that  when  difficulty  is  ex- 
perienced in  obtaining  the  co- 
operation of  merchants  in  Indiana 
towns  the  State  law  known  as  the 
"street-sweeping  act"  can  be  taken 
advantage  of  to  compel  payment 
for  lighting  improvements.  Mr. 
F.  A.  Bryan,  South  Bend,  ex- 
pressed fear  that  such  mandatory  tactics  might  react  against 
the  central  station,  resulting  in  retaliatory  installation  of 
isolated  plants.  Mr.  T.  F.  English,  Muncie,  described  the 
Baltimore  system  of  inverted-magnetite  post-lamps,  which 
cost  $1.40  per  front  foot  to  install,  inclusive  of  all  labor, 
materials,  station  apparatus,  etc.,  except  the  cables. 

Mr.  English's  paper,  "The  Proper  Lamp  for  a  Circuit," 
referred  principally  to  the  commercial  aspects  of  tungsten- 
lamp  sales,  maintenance  of  prices,  effect  on  energy  con- 
sumption, etc.  In  one  station  which,  changing  hands,  fell 
to  a  management  that  encouraged  tungsten  sales,  the  busi- 
ness enjoyed  a  30  per  cent  increase  in  customers  connected 
the  first  year,  although  the  total  kilowatt-hours  gain  was 
only  5   per  cent. 

ELECTION   OF  OFFICERS. 

At  the  close  of  the  session  the  following  officers  were 
elected  unanimously:  President,  Mr.  J.  W.  Robb,  Clinton; 
vice-president,  Mr.  A.  C.  Blinn,  Evansville;  secretary- 
treasurer,  Mr.  J.  V.  Zartman,  Indianapolis.  Executive 
committee — Messrs.  T.  F.  English,  Muncie,  chairman;  T.  F. 
Grover,    Terre    Haute;    W.    D.    Ray,    Hammond;    Thomas 


gSo 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ig. 


Donahue,  Lafayette.  Advisory  committee — Messrs.  C.  C. 
Perry,  Indianapolis;  T.  C.  McReynolds,  Kokomo;  F.  A. 
Bryan,  South  Bend.  Finance  committee — Messrs.  N.  M. 
Argabrite,  Elwood;  T.  A.  Greist,  Knox;  J.  W.  Moncrieff, 
Bloomington. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Robb,  president-elect  of  the  Indiana  Electric 
Light  Association,  is  secretary  and  general  manager  of  the 
Clinton  (Ind.)  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  and  secre- 
tary-treasurer of  the  Sullivan  County  Electric  Company, 
Sullivan,  Ind.  Mr.  Robb  organized  the  first  electric  com- 
pany in  Clinton  in  1891,  and  later  withdrew  from  active 
association  until  about  eight  years  ago,  when  he  again  took 
up  managerial  duties.     He  is  a  member  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A. 

ENTERTAINMENT. 

Besides  trips  about  Indianapolis  for  the  ladies  the  enter- 
tainment features  included  a  convention  banquet  at  the 
Claypool  Hotel  Wednesday  evening.  President  Bryan,  as 
toastmaster,  called  upon  Messrs.  C.  C.  Perry,  Indianapolis ; 
P.  R.  Boole,  Chicago ;  E.  W.  Kearns,  Chicago ;  T.  C. 
McReynolds,  Kokomo ;  W.  R.  Pinckard,  Chicago ;  D.  L. 
Gaskill,  Greenville,  Ohio,  and  N.  M.  Argabrite,  Elwood. 
for  short  addresses. 


ANNUAL    CONVENTION    OF    ASSOCIATION    OF 
RAILWAY  ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERS. 


ART  OF  INDUSTRIAL  MANAGEMENT. 


Efficiency  engineers  will  be  interested  in  the  report  of  the 
sub-committee  on  administration  of  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers,  presented  in  the  November  issue  of 
the  Journal  of  the  society  under  the  title  "The  Present 
State  of  the  Art  of  Industrial  ^Management."  The  report 
is  signed  by  Mr.  J.  M.  Dodge,  chairman,  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  sub-committee,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  H. 
H.  Vaughan,  who  has  submitted  a  minority  report  which 
is  also  presented  in  the  Joitrnal. 

The  majority  report  sketches  the  rapid  growth  of  in- 
terest in  methods  of  improving  industrial  efficiency,  and 
the  increasing  amount  of  attention  now  being  given  to 
the  worker.  An  early  evidence  was  the  development  of 
profit-sharing,  premium  and  bonus  systems  to  reward  in- 
creased effort  and  output;  then  followed  welfare  work,  in- 
dustrial betterment  movements,  the  adoption  of  safe- 
guards and  regulations  to  minimize  industrial  accidents, 
the  substitution  of  the  principle  of  accident  compensa- 
tion for  employer's  liability  and  the  improvement  in 
the  physical  surroundings  and  conditions  in  factories. 
Still  another  tendency  has  had  for  its  object  the  im- 
provement of  personal  relations  between  employer  and 
employee,  but  the  most  important  change  of  all  is  in  the 
mental  attitude  toward  the  problems  of  production,  mark- 
ing the  introduction  of  scientific  methods  in  the  study  and 
investigation  of  production  and  output  problems. 

Efficient  management  is  an  art  rather  than  a  science, 
but  involves  the  knowledge  and  use  of  scientific  methods. 
The  committee  gives  three  regulative  principles,  which  sum 
up  the  whole  plan  of  improving  industrial  efficiency:  (i) 
The  systematic  use  of  experience;  (2)  the  economic  con- 
trol of  effort;  and  (3)  the  promotion  of  personal  effective- 
ness. These  principles  are  elaborated  upon  in  the  report, 
and  means  of  applying  them  are  discussed  at  some  length. 
In  those  cases  where  the  use  of  labor-saving  management 
can  be  considered  successful,  the  results  have  been  (i)  a 
reduced  cost  of  product;  (2)  greater  promptness  in  de- 
livery, with  the  ability  to  set  and  meet  dates  of  shipment ; 
(3)  a  greater  output  per  worker  per  day  with  increased 
wages;  and  (4)  an  improvement  in  the  contentment  of 
the  workers.  These  results  indicate  certain  advantages  to 
both  employer  and  etnployee,  but  it  has  been  charged  that 
the  movement  has  not  yet  entirely  justified  itself,  because 
it  has  not  reduced  the  cost  of  the  product  to  the  consumer. 
Labor-saving  management,  where  properly  administered,  is 
conserving  labor  and  thus  contributing  to  the  good  of  so- 
ciety at  large. 


Several  important  committee  reports  and  papers  were 
presented  at  the  fifth  annual  convention  of  the  Association 
of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers  at  the  Auditorium  Hotel, 
Chicago,  on  Oct.  21  to  25.  President  F.  R.  Frost,  of  Topeka, 
electrical  engineer  of  the  Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fei 
Railway,  was  in  the  chair,  and  the  attendance  of  all  classes; 
at  the  convention  was  about  350.  Reference  was  made  in 
the  issue  of  Oct,  26  to  the  presentation  of  the  committee  re- 
ports on  the  installation  of  wiring  for  electric  service  in 
railway  buildings,  on  data  and  information,  and  on  the 
standardizing  of  ball  bearings  for  axle  generators. 

IMPROVEMENTS   IN    MACHINERY  AND  APPARATUS.  | 

Mr.  H.  C.  Meloy,  of  the  Lake  Shore  road,  presented  the 
report  of  the  committee  on  improvements.  This  report  was 
a  review  of  improvements  made  in  electrical  equipment 
during  the  year  which  would  be  of  interest  to  members  of 
tlie  association,  embracing  new  apparatus  for  car  lighting, 
storage  batteries,  lamps,  fixtures,  fans,  wire  and  wiring 
devices,  headlights,  motors  and  power  equipment,  etc. 
There  was  also  some  discussion  of  the  use  of  ampere-hour 
meters  in  connection  with  axle  lighting.  The  new  Sangarao 
instrument  for  this  purpose  was  described  briefly. 

PURCHASE  OF  ELECTRICITY  FOR  RAILROAD  SHOPS. 

Mr.  George  W.  Cravens,  of  Chicago,  presented  the  report 
of  the  committee  on  shop  practice,  dealing  with  the  motor 
and  lighting  equipment  of  railroad  repair  shops.  One 
interesting  fact  brought  out  in  the  discussion,  by  Mr.  L.  S. 
Billau,  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad,  was  the  present 
tendency  of  railroads  to  purchase  electrical  energy,  rather 
than  generate  it  themselves,  for  the  operation  of  their  shops. 
He  remarked  that,  with  this  tendency  in  view,  it  would  be, 
better  to  install  alternating-current  motors  rather  than ' 
direct-current  motors.  Frequently  in  old  shops  it  is  found 
economical  to  shut  down  the  power  plants  and  buy  energy 
from  electric-service  companies,  Mr.  D.  J.  Cartwright,  of 
the  Lehigh  Valley  road,  commented  on  this  tendency  also. 
In  answer  to  a  question,  Mr.  Cartwright  said  that  electrical 
energy  could  usually  be  purchased  with  advantage  for  a 
500-hp  railroad  shop  if  it  could  be  obtained  at  a  rate  of  2 
cents  per  kw-hr.  or  less.  Mr.  Cravens  remarked  that  the 
question  of  purchasing  electrical  energy  depends  on  local 
conditions.  Usually  the  railroads  are  enabled  to  get  their 
coal  very  cheaply,  and  often  also  they  use  steam  from  the 
power  plants  for  heating  purposes.  Mr.  Willard  Doud,  of 
the  Illinois  Central  system,  said  that  his  company  purchased 
electricity  for  shop  operation  in  Champaign,  111,,  and 
Waterloo,  la.,  where  flat  measured  rates  are  obtained.  This 
speaker  favors  the  purchase  of  electricity  if  a  reasonable 
rate  can  be  obtained.  However,  he  said  that  the  railroad 
companies  should  insist  on  a  flat  rate  per  unit  and  not  allow 
the  electric-service  companies  to  delude  them  with  any 
"maximum-demand  bunk." 

COMMERCIAL  EFFICIENCY  OF  SMALL  STEAM   TURBINES. 

Mr.  Ashley  P,  Peck  read  a  paper  on  "Small  Steam  Tur- 
bines," prepared  by  Mr.  W.  J.  A.  London  and  himself,  both 
of  the  Terry  Steam  Turbine  Company.  He  said  that  there 
is  no  reason  why  small  turbines  cannot  be  built  to  approach 
a  high  thermal  efficiency,  but  there  is  no  demand  for  such 
machines  at  present  owing  to  the  great  first  cost.  High 
efficiency  requires  large  wheels,  and  the  cost  of  small 
machines  follows  closely  the  square  of  the  diameter.  Mr. 
Peck  enumerated  the  advantages  of  small  steam  turbines 
giving  sustained  efficiency,  very  small  maintenance  cost  and 
almost  absolute  reliability. 

The  discussion  related  largely  to  the  use  of  exhaust-steam 
turbines.  Mr.  Doud,  for  instance,  said  that  by  the  use  of 
low-pressure  turbines  at  the  Burnside  shops  of  the  Illinois 


November  9,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


98 1 


Central  it  had  been  found  possible  to  do  the  work  with 
eight  boilers,  whereas  eleven  had  been  necessary  formerly. 
Mr.  Peck  said  that  exhaust-steam  turbines  were  not  a 
panacea  for  the  ills  of  old  power  plants.  Their  applicability 
depends  on  the  daily  log  of  operations.  Mr.  Douglas,  of 
the  General  Electric  Company,  agreed  with  Mr.  Peck  in 
this  conclusion.  Mr.  Quinn,  of  the  Norfolk  &  Western 
Railroad,  spoke  highly  of  both  high-pressure  and  exhaust- 
steam  turbines. 

INDUSTRIAL  LIGHTING. 

Mr.  B.  F.  Fisher,  Jr.,  of  Bloomfield,  N.  J.,  commercial 
engineer  of  the  Westinghouse  Lamp  Company,  read  a  prac- 
tical and  instructive  paper  on  "Industrial  Lighting."  He 
made  a  plea  for  sufficient  illumination  in  industrial  estab- 
lishments owing  to  its  beneficial  effect  on  workmen.  Work- 
ing plants  for  the  illumination  of  railroad  shops  should  be 
made  in  advance  of  the  actual  construction.  In  making 
calculations  the  utilization  factor  of  light  sources  should 
be  taken  into  account.  The  lamps  used  should  be  the 
largest  possible  to  obtain  desirable  results.  It  may  be  neces- 
sary to  make  several  demonstrations  or  practical  tests  in 
large  establishments  before  deciding  on  the  system  to  be 
finally  adopted. 

WIRE  SPECIFICATIONS. 

Mr.  W.  A.  Del  Mar,  assistant  engineer  of  the  New  York 
Central  lines,  presented  specifications  for  bare  and  insulated 
wire  for  potentials  up  to  750  volts.  Mr.  Sloan  pointed  out 
that  the  specifications  do  not  include  rubber-covered  wire 
not  having  a  riiineral  admixture.  The  specifications,  he  said, 
were  to  be  considered  as  a  guide,  but  could  be  simplified  by 
individual  railroads.  There  was  considerable  discussion  in 
relation  to  this  subject.  Among  those  taking  part  were 
Mr.  F.  J.  White,  of  New  York,  of  the  Okonite  Company ; 
Mr.  Del  Mar  and  others.  In  the  case  of  this  report  also  the 
specifications  were  accepted  and  sent  to  a  letter  ballot  with 
the  understanding  that  the  committee  should  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  amend  them  if  it  wished  to  do  so  in  view  of  sug- 
gestions made  during  the  discussion. 

BELTING  FOR   AXLE  GENERATORS. 

A  sub-committee  of  the  committee  on  specifications  pre- 
sented specifications  for  belting  for  axle  generators.  It  is 
of  some  interest  to  note  that  this  is  the  first  report  that  has 
been  made  on  this  subject.  The  specifications,  which  were 
presented  by  Mr.  Sloan,  were  not  adopted,  but  will  be  taken 
up  at  a  subsequent  convention. 

REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON   STANDARDS. 

Mr.  Cartwright  presented  the  report  of  the  committee  on 
Standards.  This  report  set  forth  the  results  of  conferences 
between  the  committee  and  the  train-lighting  committee  of 
the  Master  Car  Builders'  Association.  In  most  cases  the 
recommendations  of  the  railway  electrical  engineers  were 
adopted,  but  in  a  few  cases  changes  were  suggested  by  the 
master  car  builders.  The  relation  of  the  two  associations 
was  discussed,  and  arrangements  were  made  for  further 
conferences.  It  was  suggested  that  the  committee  on 
standards  make  an  effort  to  standardize  the  relation  of 
lamps  and  reflectors. 

HEAVY  ELECTRIC  TRACTION. 

Mr.  N.  W.  Storer,  of  Pittsburgh,  engineer  for  the  West- 
inghouse Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  read  an  in- 
structive paper  on  "Heavy  Electric  Traction,"  an  abstract 
of  which  is  given  on  page  982. 

ILLUMINATION   OF  MAIL   CARS. 

On  the  concluding  day  of  the  convention  Mr.  Arthur  J. 
Sweet,  of  the  Holophane  works  of  the  General  Electric 
Company,  read  a  paper  on  "Postal  Car  Illumination."  He 
said   that   this   exacting  service   requires   high   illuminating 


efficiency  and  is  of  prime  importance.  Diffusion  should  be 
as  great  as  practicable  and  the  intensity  of  illumination 
should  be  generous,  say  from  2.25  to  3.5  ft.-candles.  For 
general  illumination  of  mail  cars  Mr.  Sweet  recommended 
50-watt  tungsten  lamps  with  aluminized  deep-bowl  metal 
reflectors  suspended  in  a  line  down  the  center  of  the  car. 
The  chairman  of  the  standard  car  committee  of  the  United 
States  Railway  Mail  Service  was  invited  to  address  the 
association,  and  he  spoke  of  the  importance  of  artificial 
lighting  in  postal  cars.  Failure  of  the  light  supply  means 
stoppage  of  work  of  nuich  importance.  The  traveling 
mail  clerks  have  rather  favored  gas,  the  impression  being 
that  electric  lighting  of  mail  cars  has  not  been  maintained 
reliably  and  efficiently.  The  lighting  should  give  99.33  per 
cent  continuous  service.  If  it  falls  below  that  some  form 
of  emergency  or  auxiliary  lighting  other  than  candles  must 
be  provided.  The  government  committee  will  prepare  a 
detailed  specification  for  postal-car  lighting.  Probably  it 
will  require  storage  batteries  on  individual  cars,  even  in 
the  case  of  head-end  systems.  The  committee  will  express 
no  preference  between  gas  and  electricity  in  the  standard 
specification  to  be  prepared.  There  was  quite  a  general  dis- 
cussion on  this  subject,  and  it  was  evident  that  the  post 
office  officials  are  prepared  to  insist  on  a  high  standard  of 
lighting  for  mail  cars. 

THE  PRIMER  OF   ILLUMINATION. 

By  invitation  Mr.  P.  S.  Millar,  of  the  Illuminating  En- 
gineering Society,  spoke  a  few  words  about  the  primer  of 
illumination  prepared  by  a  committee  of  the  society,  con- 
sisting of  Dr.  Louis  Bell,  Mr.  L.  B.  Marks  and  Mr.  J.  R. 
Cravath.  This  pamphlet,  entitled  "Light,  Its  Use  and  Mis- 
use," was  distributed  at  the  convention.  Mr.  Millar  said 
that  it  was  intended  for  popular  education.  The  first  edition 
was  7500  copies,  and  it  is  hoped  that  millions  of  copies  will 
be  distributed  and  that  the  primer  will  be  translated  into 
foreign  languages.  The  primer  is  copyrighted  by  the  Illu- 
minating Engineering  Society,  but  will  be  furnished  at  cost. 

SPECIFICATIONS      FOR      INCANDESCENT      LAMPS      FOR      RAILROAD 

WORK. 

A  committee  of  which  Mr.  J.  R.  Sloan,  engineer  of  elec- 
tric car  lighting  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  was  chair- 
man presented  standard  specifications  for  the  purchase  of 
incandescent  lamps  for  railroad  work  at  the  recent  Chicago 
convention  of  the  association  named.  In  relation  to  what 
is  known  as  the  "excess-voltage  test"  the  committee  re- 
ported that  improvements  in  the  several  modern  types  of 
lamps  have  been  made  so  rapidly  that  reliable  data  on  which 
to  base  an  accurate  excess-voltage  test  are  not  available. 
For  the  present,  therefore,  excess-voltage-test  results  may 
be  taken  only  as  an  indication  of  quality,  and  not  as  a 
measure  of  what  the  lamps  will  do  under  normal  conditions 
of  operation. 

Among  other  things,  the  specifications  provide  that  from 
each  lot  of  lamps  which  have  passed  inspection  for  physical 
defects  and  tests  for  initial  rating  2  per  cent,  comprising 
those  which  approximate  most  closely  to  the  normal  rating 
of  the  lamps  as  to  total  watts  and  candle-power,  may  be 
selected  for  use  in  the  determination  of  the  life  and  candle- 
power  performance  and  shipped  to  the  point  designated  by 
the  purchaser. 

For  the  determination  of  the  life  and  candle-power  main- 
tenance of  any  lot  of  lamps  no  less  than  four  lamps  shall  be 
selected  for  test.  They  will  be  photometered  and  the 
voltage  determined  which  will  give  the  watts  per  candle 
specified  in  the  several  schedules.  The  lamps  will  be  oper- 
ated at  this  voltage  throughout  the  test.  During  the  test 
variations  in  voltage  shall  not  exceed  0.5  per  cent  above 
or  0.5  per  cent  below  the  normal  voltage.  Candle-power 
readings  shall  be  taken  when  the  lamps  shall  have  been  in 
service  approximately  fifty  hours,  and  at  least  every  loo 
hours    thereafter,    until    the    candle-power    shall    have    de- 


982 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol,  6o,  No.  ig. 


creased  to  less  than  80  per  cent  of  its  initial  value.  The 
number  of  hours  each  lamp  operates  until  the  candle-power 
has  decreased  to  80  per  cent  of  its  initial  value  or  until  the 
lamp  fails,  if  within  that  period,  is  known  as  the  test  life. 
In  computing  the  results  of  life  test  of  any  lot  of  lamps,  the 
average  hours'  life  shall  be  the  arithmetical  mean  of  the 
values  for  the  individual  lamps.  Lamps  which  are  broken 
but  not  burned  out  during  test  shall  not  be  counted  to 
diminish  the  average  performance.  If  the  average  test 
life  of  any  lot  of  lamps  is  less  than  90  per  cent  of  the  test 
life  values  specified  in  the  several  schedules,  the  lot  of 
lamps  represented  by  the  test  samples  will  be  rejected. 

In  the  discussion  Mr.  B.  F.  Fisher,  Jr.,  of  the  Westing- 
house  Lamp  Company,  among  other  things  remarked  that 
the  excess-voltage  test  is  not  a  true  indication  of  quality; 
it  indicates  a  trend  of  quality  and  should  be  used  with  great 
care. 

Mr.  J.  L.  Minick,  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  said  that 
this  road  has  had  serious  complaints  of  changes  in  the 
location  of  filaments  in  tungsten  lamps.  Manufacturers 
should  not  make  radical  changes  of  this  nature  without 
first  consulting  the  consumers.  Mr.  D.  J-  Cartwright,  of 
the  Lehigh  Valley,  also  spoke  of  the  need  of  a  standard 
position  of  the  filament  in  the  bulb. 

The  standard  specifications  are  quite  elaborate.  They 
are  divided  into  two  parts  and  Part  I  is  divided  into  six 
sections  as  follows:  General  requirements;  definitions  and 
standards ;  method  of  inspection  and  test ;  physical  charac- 
teristics; electrical  characteristics;  schedules.  Part  II  is 
intended  to  specify  what  lamps  can  be  ordered  and  to  state 
clearly  the  information  it  is  necessary  to  give  on  requisi- 
tions so  that  orders  may  be.  filled  promptly  by  the  manu- 
facturer. The  specifications  were  accepted  by  the  associa- 
tion and  referrred  to  a  letter  ballot  for  final  adoption. 

DATA   ON    ELECTRIC   CAR   LIGHTING. 

Included  in  the  report  presented  by  the  committee  on 
data  and  information  was  the  statement  that  the  number  of 
cars  lighted  by  electricity  on  American  trunk-line  railroads 
is  13.736,  while  29,075  cars  are  lighted  by  other  means. 
These  figures,  however,  are  not  complete  or  accurate,  ac- 
cording to  Mr.  E.  W.  Jansen,  of  the  Illinois  Central,  who 
presented  the  report.  There  was  some  comment  on  the 
fact  that  there  seems  to  be  a  decrease  in  the  use  of  head- 
end train-lighting  systems ;  also  a  decrease  in  the  number 
of  storage-battery  cells  in  use — that  is,  a  proportionate  de- 
crease compared  with  the  number  of  lamps  in  service — • 
owing  to  the  introduction  of  tungsten  lamps  and  the  lower- 
ing of  car-lighting  voltages.  Another  rather  interesting 
fact  brought  out  was  that  75  per  cent  of  the  belts  used  in 
axle  lighting  are  lost  and  only  25  per  cent  worn  out  in 
service. 

The  report  of  the  committee  on  train-lighting  practice 
was  presented  by  Mr.  F.  E.  Hutchison,  of  the  Rock  Island. 
In  the  discussion  Mr.  C.  R.  Oilman,  of  the  Milwaukee  & 
St.  Paul,  described  an  improvement  in  head-end  train  light- 
ing by  which  the  batteries  can  be  charged  and  the  train 
lamps  operated  at  the  same  time  by  rearranging  the  wiring 
and  operating  the  batteries  in  parallel  with  the  lamp  cir- 
cuit, doing  away  with  the  loop  system  of  wiring.  Such  a 
plan  is  useful  where  there  are  long  runs  of  electric-lighted 
trains  having  head-end  systems.  With  a  ten-car  train  the 
drop  in  voltage  at  the  end  of  the  train  is  2  or  3  per  cent. 
With  such  a  train  the  load  seldom  exceeds  200  amp. 

One  feature  of  the  discussion  related  to  rough  methods 
of  determining  the  amount  of  charge  in  the  Edison  storage 
battery.  It  was  declared  that  the  only  accurate  way  is  the 
ampere-hour  method,  but  the  voltage  indication  was  also 
said  to  be  fairly  satisfactory.  The  latter  method  is  used  by 
thousands  of  automobile  owners.  As  to  the  kind  of  wood 
for  battery  trays  used  in  train  lighting,  Mr.  F.  R.  Frost,  of 
Topeka,  suggested  the  use  of  yellow  pine  dipped  in  hot 
paraffin  and  later  coated  with  beeswax. 


CONCLUDING  BUSINESS. 

It  was  voted  that  the  annual  convention  of  1913  be  held 
in  Chicago,  the  date  to  be  fixed  by  the  executive  committee. 
Next  summer's  semi-annual  convention  will  be  held  at 
Atlantic  City  about  the  time  of  the  Master  Car  Builders' 
convention. 

A  vote  of  thanks  was  extended  to  the  Railway  Electric 
Supply  Manufacturers'  Association  for  providing  entertain- 
ment features  and  exhibits. 

Ofiicers  were  elected  as  follows :  President,  Mr.  D.  J. 
Cartwright.  Phillipsburg,  N.  J.,  electrical  engineer  Lehigh 
Valley  Railroad ;  first  vice-president,  Mr.  C.  R.  Oilman, 
Milwaukee,  chief  electrician  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul 
Railway ;  second  vice-president,  Mr.  H.  C.  Meloy,  Cleveland, 
chief  electrician  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  Railway; 
secretary  and  treasurer,  Mr.  Joseph  A.  Andreucetti, 
Chicago,  general  foreman  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Rail- 
road; executive  committee,  Messrs.  L.  S.  Billau,  Baltimore 
&  Ohio;  E.  W.  Jansen,  Illinois  Central;  F.  E.  Hutchison, 
Rock  Island ;  C.  J.  Causland.  Pennsylvania  Lines ;  W.  A. 
Del  Mar,  New  York  Central ;  Willard  Doud,  Illinois  Central. 

The  entertainment  features  included  an  informal  recep- 
tion and  dance  on  the  evening  of  Oct.  21.  an  automobile 
tour  for  the  ladies,  and  the  annual  banquet  held  on  Oct.  24. 
."Kt  this  banquet  Mr.  F.  P.  Vose  was  toastmasler  and  there 
was  an  attendance  of  about  480  ladies  and  gentlemen.  On 
the  afternoon  of  Oct.  25  the  convention  delegates  and 
visitors  were  taken  on  a  visit  to  the  Burnside  shops  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad,  which  provided  a  special  train 
for  the  party. 


I 


ELECTRIC  LOCOMOTIVES  UNDER  SERVICE 
CONDITIONS. 


One  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  the  recent  Chicago 
convention  of  the  Association  of  Railway  Electrical 
Engineers  was  an  address  delivered  on  Oct.  24  by  Mr. 
Norman  W.  Storer,  of  Pittsburgh,  engineer  of  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  in  relation  to 
the  present  status  of  heavy  electric  traction. 

Mr.  Storer  began  by  saying  that  the  existence  of  the 
electric  locomotive  was  responsible,  to  some  extent,  for  the 
improvements  in  the  steam  locomotive  which  have  been 
made  during  the  last  ten  years.  While  the  speaker  was 
confident  that  the  electrification  of  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  railways  of  the  world  is  sure  to  be  accomplished  at 
some  time,  still  the  improved  steam  locomotives  have  made 
it  possible  to  postpone  this  tremendous  change  and  study 
the  problem  with  the  utmost  care.  It  was  pointed  out  that 
electrification  is  usually  accompanied  by  other  changes  and 
improvements  which  ought  not  to  be  charged  up  to  it  as  a 
part  of  the  capital  expense.  In  the  case  of  Chicago,  where 
electrification  of  trunk-line  terminals  is  a  live  subject  for 
discussion,  Mr.  Storer  said  that  the  city  would  be  ahead  in 
the  end  if  it  waited  until  the  railroad  companies  got  together 
and  found  out  what  they  could  do  under  conditions  of  actual 
operating  practice. 

One  thing  that  has  been  discovered  in  the  use  of  electric 
locomotives  is  that  the  low  center  of  gravity  of  the  early 
types  is  a  decided  disadvantage.  The  great  problem  is 
therefore  the  transmission  of  the  torque  of  the  motors  to 
the  driving  wheels.  This  may  seem  to  be  simple,  but  it  is 
not  so  by  any  means.  The  entire  problem  of  railroading 
should  be  studied  to  design  a  proper  electric  locomotive.  It 
is  now  generally  believed  to  be  poor  practice  to  gear  loco- 
motive motors  directly  to  the  axles  of  the  drivers  except  for 
slow-speed  work.  Locomotives  of  thjs  type  are  limited  to  a 
speed  of  about  30  miles  per  hour.  In  the  design  of  high- 
speed locomotives  the  problems  presented  are  many  and 
difficult. 

The  lecturer  then  proceeded  to  discuss  six  types  of 
electric  locomotives,  illustrating  them  with  illuminated  pic- 


November  g,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


983 


tures  displayed  by  the  stereomotorgraph.  These  were  the 
New  York  Central  "6000"  direct-current  gearless  type;  the 
original  machines  for  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hart- 
ford; the  latest  machines  for  tlie  same  railroad;  the  power- 
ful high-speed  electric  locomotives  for  the  Pennsylvania 
terminal  tunnel  in  New  York ;  the  modern  three-phase  loco- 
motives for  the  Italian  State  Railways,  and  the  alternating- 
current  locomotives  for  the  Loetschberg  tunnel  in  Switzer- 
land. These  types  are  characterized  by  different  methods 
of  transmitting  the  power  to  the  drivers,  and  on  these 
variations  Mr.  Storer  dwelt  at  some  length.  H*e  also  illus- 
trated and  described  other  types  of  single-phase,  three- 
phase,  and  600-volt,  1200-volt  and  1500-volt  direct-current 
locomotives  designed  for  varying  conditions  of  service  and 
for  moderate  speed  or  high  speed. 

Of  these  Mr.  Storer  said  that  the  first  type  was  an  ex- 
ample of  a  locomotive  built  around  one  idea,  namely,  that 
of  mounting  the  armature  of  the  motor  directly  on  the  axle 
and  building  the  motor  field  into  the  truck  frame  so  as  to 
do  away  with  all  motor  bearings.  It  was  a  scheme  ideal 
in  its  simplicity  and  it  was  not  surprising  that  the  New 
York  Central  desired  to  use  it.  However,  it  was  well 
known  that  these  locomotives  had  never  been  considered  as 
successful  high-speed  machines  on  account  of  their  tendency 
to  nose,  which  strains  the  track.  This  type  of  electric 
locomotive  had  an  extremely  low  center  of  gravity  so  that 
it  was  quick  to  feel  the  irregularities  in  the  track  and 
synchronous  vibrations  were  very  easily  set  up.  A  great 
deal  had  been  done  to  eliminate  this  defect,  but  the  efforts 
had  been  only  partly  successful. 

The  second  type  mentioned,  that  having  the  motor 
mounted  on  a  quill  surrounding  the  axles  and  connected 
through  springs,  was  open  to  some  of  the  same  objections 
as  the  first  type.  This  also  had  a  low  center  of  gravity, 
although  considerably  higher  than  the  first  type,  but  all 
weight  was  spring-supported  so  that  the  track  did  not  get 
a  direct  blow.  The  original  New  Haven  locomotives  nosed 
badly  at  high  speeds  but  were  entirely  cured  by  the  addition 
of  an  idle  axle  at  each  end  of  the  locomotive  and  a  toothed- 
cam  centering  device  between  the  cab  and  the  trucks.  These 
locomotives  at  present  exhibited  absolutely  no  tendency  to 
nose  even  at  the  highest  speeds — 75  to  80  miles  per  hour — 
where  formerly  they  nosed  at  50  to  60  miles  per  hour. 
However,  even  with  the  motors  carried  by  springs,  the  track 
is  liable  to  damage  unless  it  is  kept  in  good  surface. 

The  third  type,  having  motors  mounted  above  and  geared 
to  quills  surrounding  the  axles,  is  one  of  the  latest  develop- 
ments, and  the  New  Haven  locomotives  of  this  type  are 
the  easiest  riding  electric  locomotives  that  have  ever  been 
built.  Mounting  the  motors  rigidly  on  the  trucks  above 
the  axles  and  gearing  down  to  the  quills  of  course  raised 
the  center  of  gravity  very  considerably.  Then  the  long 
helical  springs  connecting  the  quills  to  the  driving  wheels 
permitted  the  axles  and  journal  boxes  to  move  a  total 
vertical  distance  of  3  in.  in  the  pedestal  jaws  without  the 
quills  touching  the  axles.  Thus  the  wheels  were  free  to 
follow  the  inequalities  of  the  track  without  disturbing  the 
mass  of  the  locomotive  and  consequently  caused  the  least 
possible  damage  to  the  track.  The  arrangement  of  wheels, 
combined  with  the  distribution  of  weight  and  the  drive, 
entirely  prevented  nosing,  and  the  secondary  springs  trans- 
mitting the  weight  of  the  cab  to  the  trucks  through  the  large 
surface  plates  prevented  the  transmission  of  vibration  from 
the  truck  frame  to  the  cab.  This  type  of  locomotive  has 
been  built  both  with  a  single  motor  per  axle  and  with  twin 
motors  of  the  same  total  capacity  per  axle.  After  building 
a  number  of  the  former  type  with  motors  so  large  as  to 
require  double  gears,  it  was  found  that  the  same  output 
could  be  obtained  with  less  weight  and  less  cost  by  sub- 
stituting two  motors  for  the  one  large  one.  This  arrange- 
ment has  the  advantages  that  only  one  gear  was  required, 
as  both  motors  drive  through  the  same  gear,  and  that  the 
two  motors  were  lighter  and  easier  to  handle  and  cheaper 


to  maintain  than  the  large  one,  being  also  interchangeable, 
except  for  field  castings,  with  the  motors  used  on  the  New 
Haven  multiple-unit  cars.  The  two  motors,  being  con- 
nected permanently  in  series,  gave  in  effect  one  motor  of 
double  voltage  and  consequently  half  current,  thus  reducing 
the  carrying  requirements  of  cables  and  switches  and 
making  a  substantial  saving  in  the  cost  of  control  equipment. 

Mr.  Storer  said  that  the  gears  on  these  locomotives  had 
never  given  a  moment's  trouble.  The  spring  drive  had 
removed  the  bad  effects  of  the  impact  of  the  teeth  when 
operating  at  a  high  speed,  so  that  it  was  anticipated  that  the 
gear  speed  could  be  much  higher  than  that  of  the  ordinary 
gears  mounted  directly  on  the  axles,  and  that  by  avoiding 
direct  impact  between  the  teeth  the  life  would  be  greatly 
increased.  The  efficiency  of  such  a  gear  drive  was  stated 
to  be  very  high. 

While  these  locomotives  were  built  for  single-phase 
operation,  they  would  have  practically  the  same  advantages 
on  direct  current.  The  twin-motor  scheme  could  be  satis- 
factorily adapted  to  high-voltage  direct-current  operation. 

The  fourth  type  of  locomotive,  that  with  motors  mounted 
high  up  in  cab  and  connected  to  drive  wheels  through 
cranks,  parallel  rods  and  a  jackshaft,  was  the  type  adojjted 
by  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  for  the  New  York  terminal. 
This  type  has  a  very  high  center  of  gravity,  and  although 
the  weight  on  driving  axle  is  about  56,000  lb.  and  the 
springs  are  consequently  stiff,  the  locomotive  has  excellent 
riding  qualities,  corresponding  to  the  best  steam  locomo- 
tives. There  is  absolutely  no  tendency  to  nosing  and  no 
bad  effect  on  the  track.  These  are  the  most  powerful 
electric  locomotives  ever  built  and  have  shown  themselves 
to  be  wonderfully  reliable,  having  a  record  of  only  thirteen 
train  minutes'  delay  for  the  first  year  with  thirty-three 
locomotives  in  service.  They  have  actually  developed  over 
75,000  lb.  drawbar  pull,  corresponding  to  a  crank  pin  pres- 
sure of  over  100,000  lb.  This  was  found  to  impose  strains 
on  the  jackshaft  bearings  which  were  worse  than  in  recipro- 
cating engines.  There  was  scarcely  any  neutral  zone  be- 
cause of  the  combined  action  of  the  motor  rods  and  driving- 
wheel  rods  set  at  an  angle  of  about  45  deg.  from  each  other. 
This  angle,  however,  was  much  to  be  preferred  to  the 
vertical  motor  rods  adopted  for  the  first  locomotives  built 
for  the  German  State  Railways,  which  were  practically 
failures.  Locomotives  of  this  type  require  very  careful 
adjustment  to  maintain  the  shafts  parallel  and  properly 
centered.  Nevertheless,  it  is  the  type  preferred  by  many 
railway  men  for  high-speed  work  and  will  probably  be 
used  a  great  deal  on  account  of  the  similarity  to  the  steam 
locomotive  both  in  design  and  performance. 

Tlie  fifth  type  of  locomotive,  that  employing  the  Scotch 
yoke  for  transmitting  the  power  from  the  motors  to  the 
driving  axles,  has  been  used  exclusively  for  the  three-phase 
locomotives  on  the  Italian  State  Railways.  The  first  ones 
have  been  in  service  some  ten  or  twelve  years  on  the  Val- 
tellina  line  and  have  given  excellent  results.  The  later  ones, 
some  thirty-five  in  number,  have  been  in  use  about  two 
years  on  the  Giovi  line  near  Genoa.  These  machines 
possess  some  excellent  qualities — light  weight,  powerful 
motors  and  motor  weight  entirely  spring-supported.  They 
have,  however,  been  employed  only  in  slow  and  moderate 
speed  service,  so  that  their  performance  at  high  speeds 
remains  to  be  proved.  These  locomotives  also  require  very 
accurate  adjustment,  although  not  so  close  as  the  Pennsyl- 
vania type,  as  the"  Scotch  yoke  drives  one  axle  through  a 
sliding  islock  and  the  others  through  parallel  rods  connected 
to  the  yoke  by  knuckle  pins.  Spherical  crank  and  knuckle 
pins  are  largely  used  with  this  type  of  drive. 

The  sixth  and  last  type  mentioned  was  the  one  driving 
the  locomotives  through  a  combination  of  gears  and  side 
rods  or  gears  and  Scotch  yokes.  A  number  of  such  loco- 
motives have  been  built,  the  most  notable  being  the  ones 
built  for  the  Loetschberg  Tunnel  in  Switzerland  and  for 
the  Midi  Railway  in  France.    The  former  has  two  looo-hp 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol-.  60,  No.  19. 


motors,  each  connected  b}'  a  helical  tooth  gear  to  a  jack- 
shaft,  which  is  slightly  above  the  driving  axles,  and  thence 
by  parallel  rods  to  three  pairs  of  driving  wheels.  Although 
the  motor  speed  is  extremely  high,  the  gears  operate  prac- 
tically noiselessly  and  with  high  efficiency.  The  duty  on  the 
jackshaft  bearings  is  much  easier  than  when  side  rods 
only  are  used,  since  the  reciprocating  pressures  are  prac- 
tically all  in  a  horizontal  direction  and  can  therefore  be 
cared  for  much  more  easily.  The  Midi  locomotive,  built  by 
the  Societe  Anonyme  Westinghouse,  has  two  motors,  each 
geared  to  a  jackshaft  through  gears  located  outside  the 
plate  frames  of  the  locomotive.  The  jackshafts  are  con- 
nected to  the  drive  wheels  through  Scotch  yokes  like  the 
Italian  locomotive.  Both  of  these  types  have  a  fairly  high 
center  of  gravity  and  they  are  therefore  susceptible  to  a 
design  that  should  have  excellent  riding  qualities.  The 
motors  and  gears  are  located  above  the  springs,  and  the 
duty  on  the  gears  is  less  severe  than  if  they  were  mounted 
on  the  axles.  The  jackshafts  for  side-rod  drive,  the  author 
said,  should  be  located  in  the  same  horizontal  plane  as  the 
driving  axles.  In  some  respects  this  design  is  superior  to 
either  straight  geared  or  straight  side-rod  types,  and  it  is 
probable  that  a  good  many  locomotives  with  gears  and  side 
rods  will  be  built.  Twin  motors  might  be  used,  thus 
reducing  the  gears  to  the  lowest  number  or  to  the  least 
width  of  face. 

In  conclusion,  the  speaker  said  that  all  of  the  electric 
locomotives  described,  except  those  of  the  New  York 
Central,  which  require  direct  current,  could  be  operated 
with  either  direct  current  or  single-phase  or  three-phase 
alternating  current.  In  Europe  the  general  belief  is  that 
alternating  current  should'  be  used  for  hea^'y  railroad 
practice,  although  in  England  there  are  some  direct-current 
and  some  alternating-current  installations.  The  choice, 
however,  is  determined  by  the  amount  of  energy  that  can 
be  taken  from  an  overhead  trolley.  Perhaps  200  amp  to  300 
amp  can  be  continuously  collected  in  this  manner. 

In  the  discussion  which  followed  the  question  was  raised 
as  to  frequency,  and  Mr.  Storer  said  that  the  practice  in 
this  country  is  to  use  25-cycle  operation,  except  in  the  case 
of  the  Visalia  (Cal.)  line,  where  15-cycle  electric  locomo- 
tives are  in  use.  In  Europe  the  frequency  is  usually  15 
cycles  or  165^  cycles. 

Mr.  W.  A.  Del  Mar,  assistant  engineer  New  York  Central 
&  Hudson  River  Railroad,  said  that  the  New  York  Central 
had  not  been  backward  in  appreciating  the  advantages  of 
the  single-phase  system  but  had  fully  considered  it  in 
numerous  estimates.  These  estimates  showed  that  on  short 
hauls  where  the  traffic  density  is  great  the  direct-current 
system  is  almost  invariably  cheaper,  while  on  long  hauls 
where  the  traffic  density  is  slight  the  single-phase  system  is 
often  cheaper. 

Mr.  C.  H.  Ouinn,  assistant  engineer  Norfolk  &  Western, 
remarked  that  as  the  steam  locomotive  and  the  electric 
locomotive  approached  each  other  in  size  the  first  costs  of 
the  two  types  tended  to  approach  also.  The  cost  of  main- 
taining steam  locomotives,  he  said,  is  about  twice  that  of 
maintaining  electric  locomotives. 


SOME    RECENT    ELECTRICAL    PATENT    CASES    IN 
ENGLAND. 


By  a  Briton. 


FUEL  OILS  FOR  INTERNAL  COMBUSTION  ENGINES. 


An  investigation  on  the  use  of  kerosene  oil  for  internal 
combustion  engines  is  being  conducted  at  the  Pennsylvania 
State  College  by  Prof.  J.  A.  Moyer,  of  the  mechanical 
engineering  department.  With  the  increase  in  the  price  of 
gasoline  has  come  the  demand  for  some  cheaper  fuel  that 
will  give  as  good  resuUs.  Kerosene  will  meet  the  demands 
if  a  satisfactory  carbureter  can  be  designed,  and  it  is  with 
a  view  of  determining  the  merits  and  defects  of  various 
types  of  carbureters  that  the  investigation  is  being  car- 
ried on. 


A  large  part  of  the  time  of  the  judges  who  try  patent 
cases  in  England' is  occupied  by  the  consideration  of  e.ec- 
trical  patents.  These  cases  seem  to  be  the  most  profitable 
from  the  attorneys'  viewpoint — at  any  rate  experience  shows 
that  patent  litigation  in  England  is  certainly  expensive. 
For  instance,  in  a  case  recently  heard  in  relation  to  Osram 
lamps  the  costs  of  a  ten  days'  trial  are  said  to  have  amounted 
to  $65,000.  As  in  England  the  unsuccessful  party  has  to 
pay  the  costs,  American  readers  who  have  or  will  have 
patent  interests  there  will  perhaps  like  to  follow  the  trend 
of  some  of  the  recent  English  decisions. 

The  case  of  Holmes  versus  the  Associated  Newspapers, 
Ltd.,*  illustrates  the  way  in  which  the  rights  of  an  English 
patentee  may  be  forestalled  by  a  prior  publication  in 
America.  It  appeared  that  in  1898  a  patent  was  granted  for 
"an  improved  system  and  means  for  driving  newspaper 
printing  or  like  machines  at  variable  speeds  by  electric 
motors."  The  claim  was  for  "a  system  or  method  of  elec- 
trically driving  a  newspaper  printing  machine  or  the  like 
at  very  diverse  speeds,  consisting  in  the  use  of  an  au.xiliary 
motor,  in  addition  to  and  driving  by  power  gear  through  the 
shaft  of  a  main  motor,  both  for  the  purpose  of  driving  the 
printing  machine  at  a  slow  and  steady  rate  when  required 
and  for  starting  the  machine  from  rest,  to  enable  the  main 
motor  to  gather  up  power  and  drive  without  shock  or  ex- 
cessive current,  substantially  as  described."  Claim  2  was 
as  follows :  "In  an  electrical  driving  device  a  main  motor 
coupled  or  geared  direct  to  the  shaft  of  the  main  motor, 
and  a  self-releasing  clutch  between  auxiliary  motor  and 
main  motor  shaft,  disengaging  and  cutting  out  auxiliary 
motor  so  soon  as  the  main  motor  overruns  the  latter,  sub- 
stantially as  described."  In  an  action  for  infringement  the 
defendants  alleged  that  shortly  before  the  date  of  the  patent 
there  had  been  published  two  accounts  of  an  installation  in 
the  United  States  in  which  an  auxiliary  motor  had  been 
used  with  a  main  motor  for  driving  a  printing  press.  The 
motors  were  geared  to  the  press  in  parallel,  not,  as  in  the 
plaintiff's  system,  in  series.  It  was  held  at  the  trial  that 
the  first  claim  was  not  confined  to  the  use  of  an  auxiliary 
motor,  in  addition  to  and  driving  by  power  gear  through 
the  shaft  of  a  main  motor,  for  the  purposes  mentioned  in 
the  claim  in  connection  with  the  plaintiff's  controlling  de- 
vice alone,  but  in  connection  with  any  suitable  electrical 
device  for  operating  the  motors ;  that  the  fact  that  the 
motors  were  arranged  in  series  in  the  one  case  and  in 
parallel  in  the  other  was  immaterial,  and  that  there  had 
been  a  prior  publication  rendering  the  patent  invalid.  The 
action  was  dismissed  with  costs. 

The  case  of  the  British  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manu- 
facturing Company  versus  Braulik  f  raised  an  interesting 
question  with  regard  to  an  arc  lamp,  the  advantage  of  this 
type  of  lamp  being  that  the  arc  between  the  two  carbons  was 
practically  horizontal,  eliminating  the  downward  shadow.  It 
appeared  that  a  patent  was  granted  in  1902  for  "improve- 
ments in  electric  arc  lamps,"  relating  to  lamps  of  the  class 
known  as  flame-arc  lamps.  The  claim  was  for  "an  arc 
lamp  having  downwardly  pointing  electrodes  and  provided 
with  both  downward  and  horizontal  feed  mechanism,  so 
arranged  that  a  certain  amount  of  operation  of  the  hori- 
zontal feed  takes  place  before  the  downward-feed  mechan- 
ism is  permitted  to  operate,  subject  to  the  disclaiming  note." 
The  disclaiming  note  was  as  follows :  "The  lamps  to  which 
this  my  invention  applies  are  of  the  type  in  which  the  cur- 
rent is  supplied  to  the  electrodes  through  electrode  holders 
in  which  the  upper  ends  of  the  electrodes  are  firmly  clipped, 
and   which    are   capable   of  being  lowered   simultaneously 

•27  Patent  Office  Reports,   136. 
t27  R.   P.   C,  290. 


November  9.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


985 


through  the  same  distance,  and  about  one  of  whicli  the 
corresponding  electrode  can  swing  under  the  action  of  a 
device  near  its  lower  end,  and  I  limit  my  claim  to  lamps 
of  this  description."  In  an  action  for  infringement  of  the 
patent  it  was  alleged  by  the  defendant  that  the  patent  was 
invalid  on  various  grounds,  including  disconformity  and 
prior  grant,  but  the  only  objections  seriously  contested  were 
novelty  and  subject  matter,  and  in  support  of  these  several 
specifications  were  alleged  as  prior  publication. 

It  was  held  by  the  Court  of  Appeal  that  the  patent  was 
valid  and  had  been  infringed.  The  appeal  was  allowed, 
with  costs.  The  whole  point  of  the  case  is  thus  tersely 
summed  up  in  the  judgment  of  Lord  Justice  Fletcher 
Moulton,  who  is  regarded  as  the  leading  authority  on  Eng- 
lish patent  law.  Dealing  with  carbon  electrodes,  he  said : 
"Formerly  it  was  the  aim  to  make  them  of  the  very  purest 
carbon,  so  that  they  would  be  consumed  evenly  and  present 
no  irregularities  of  constitution  which  would  affect  the 
steadiness  of  the  arc.  But  it  has  been  known  for  several 
years  past  that  the  presence  of  other  elements  in  the  arc — 
especiallv  fluorine  and  chlorine — greatly  increases  its  illumi- 
nating power.  They  permit  it  to  be  considerably  longer 
than  when  carbon  alone  is  used.  In  spite  of  all  the  care 
with  which  electrodes  are  made,  these  composite  electrodes 
present  greater  irregularities  than  those  of  pure  carbon, 
and  this,  combined  with  the  extra  length  of  the  arc,  renders 
it  at  once  more  difficult  and  more  important  to  have  a 
mechanism  in  the  lamp  capable  of  instantaneously  adjust- 
ing the  electrodes  so  as  to  compensate  for  these  irregulari- 
ties and  keep  the  light  steady.  The  patentee  claims  that  the 
mechanism  shown  and  claimed  in  the  specification  has  been 
the  solution  of  this  problem,  inasmuch  as  his  lamp  promptly 
adjusts  itself  to  the  changes  of  resistance  in  the  arc  which 
accompany  these  fluctuations,  and  that  it  is  by  the  use  of 
this  invention  that  'horizontal-flame'  lamps — as  such  lamps 
are  called — have  come  into  practical  use  in  this  country. 
I  am  of  opinion  that  this  contention  of  the  plaintiffs  is 
justified  by  the  evidence." 

Another  interesting  case,  the  ,'Z"  Electric  Lamp  Manu- 
facturing Company,  Ltd..  versus  Marples,]:  related  to  an  im- 
portant improvement  in  the  manufacture  of  metallic-fila- 
ment lamps  which  have  come  into  very  general  use  in  Eng- 
land. In  that  case  the  owners  of  letters  patent  for  "improve- 
ments in  the  manufacture  of  filaments  for  incandescent 
electric  lamps"  having  brought  an  action  for  infringement, 
the  defendants  pleaded  that  the  specification  was  misleading 
and  insufficient  and  the  invention  not  useful,  and  denied 
infringement.  The  invention  related  to  metallic  filaments, 
and  the  specification  stated  that  it  provided  means  for  re- 
m.cving  even  the  last  traces  of  carbon  from  the  filaments, 
and  that  it  consisted  in  affecting  the  decarbonization  of  the 
filaments  by  means  of  gases  produced  in  vacuo  by  heating 
phosphorus  compounds  containing  hydrogen  and  nitrogen, 
and  also  optionally  containing  oxygen  or  sulphur,  such  for 
example  as  phospham  and  phosphoramide,  with  the  addition 
of  phosphorus,  if  necessary.  The  specification  stated  that 
phospham  was  specially  suited  because  not  only  was  the 
nitrogen  contained  therein  released  in  vacuo  from  its  com- 
bination even  at  a  comparatively  low  temperature  and  when 
set  free  formed  with  the  carbon  or  other  similar,  or  oxi- 
dized, carbon  compounds,  but  also  the  phosphorus  which  was 
set  free  was  capable  of  performing  certain  functions  therein 
mentioned.  The  defendants  alleged  that  phospham  and 
phosphoramide  and  the  other  compounds  named  in  the 
specifications  did  not  act  on  the  carbon  in  the  filaments  in 
the  manner  therein  alleged,  and  that  phospham  was  not 
capable  of  removing  carbon  from  a  tungsten  filament  in 
any  of  the  ways  described,  and  they  gave  particulars  of  the 
insufficiency  of  directions  alleged.  In  the  defendants' 
process  of  manufacture  the  filaments  which  were  made  of 
tungsten,  and  in  the  earlier  stage  of  manufacture  contained 
carbon,  were  flashed  or  "sintered"  in  the  presence  of  am- 


monia, and  the  defendants  alleged  that  thereby  practically 
all  carbon  was  removed  from  their  filaments,  and  that, 
although  they  introduced  a  mixture  of  phospham  and  red 
phosphorus  into  the  bulb  of  the  lamp,  yet  they  did  this  for 
a  dift'erent  purpose,  and  that  in  tact  no  caroon  was  removed, 
and  that  as  to  the  claim  alleged  to  be  infringed  it  was 
limited  to  the  words  "for  the  removal  of  carbon."  It  ap- 
peared at  the  trial  that  the  presence  of  carbon  was  dis- 
advantageous in  filaments  for  several  reasons,  and  that  at 
the  date  of  the  patent  the  blackening  of  the  glass  bulb  was 
commonly  thought  to  be  deposited  carbon ;  subsequent  knowl- 
edge proved,  however,  that  it  was  not  carbon,  but  that  the 
blackening  was  in  some  way  due  to  the  presence  of  carbon, 
and  that  the  use  of  phospham  did  in  fact  prevent  blackening. 
A  great  deal  of  evidence  at  the  trial  was  directed  to  the 
meaning  of  phospham,  which  had  been  the  subject  of  scien- 
tific papers,  and  was  at  the  date  of  the  patent  included  in 
the  catalog  of  a  German  firm  of  manufacturing  chemists. 
It  appeared  from  the  evidence  that  the  invention  would 
work  using  phospham  which  had  been  exposed  to  moisture, 
but  that  ammonia,  not  nitrogen  by  itself,  was  released  and 
formed  a  compound  with  the  carbon.  The  defendants  al- 
leged that  phospham  had  the  formula  PN,H,  and  that  with 
this  composition  the  reaction  stated  in  the  specification 
could  not  be  obtained. 

It  was  held  that  the  specification  was  addressed  to  the 
manufacturer  of  incandescent  lamps  and  not  to  the  chemist, 
and  that  if  it  contained  errors  in  chemistry  they  were  un- 
important except  to  the  extent  to  which  they  might  mislead 
the  lamp  manufacturer:  that  phospham  if  it  were  allowed  to 
absorb  moisture  would  produce  phosphamide  and  would 
en  heating  give  oft'  ammonia;  that  it  was  impossible  to  get 
pure  phospham  PN.H,  and  that  under  these  circumstances 
the  specification  was  not  misleading ;  also  that  the  direc- 
tions were  not  insufficient,  that  the  invention  was  useful, 
that  the  patent  was  valid,  and  that  the  defendants  had  used 
the  process  on  filaments  containing  carbon ;  that  the  process 
normally  operated  to  remove  carbon,  and  that  the  defend- 
ants had  infringed.  An  injunction  was  granted,  and  an 
irquiry  as  to  damages,  with  delivery  up  of  infringing 
articles. 

The  next  case  which  will  be  cited  illustrates  a  well-known 
principle  of  English  patent  law — namely,  that  while  a  patent 
may  be  obtained  for  a  combination  of  old  ideas,  there  must 
be  some  novelty  in  the  combination,  otherwise  the  patent  is 
invalid.  In  the  case  of  Doimersmarckhutte  Oberschlesische 
Eisen  und  Kohlenwerke  Actien  Gesellschaft  versus  Electric 
Construction  Company,  Ltd.,**  it  appeared  that  a  patent  was 
granted  for  "improvements  in  means  for  the  control  of 
electrically  driven  reversible  rolling  mills."  The  claim  was 
for  the  arrangement  described  in  the  specification  for  regu- 
lating the  velocity  of  the  mills  without  the  use  of  switched- 
in  resistance,  and  for  effecting  a  gradual  demand  for  cur- 
rent from  the  main  source.  It  consisted  of  a  mill  motor 
driven  bv  energy  from  a  motor-generator  in  turn  driven 
directly  from  the  main  source  and  provided  with  flying 
masses,  the  emf  transmitted  to  the  mill  motor  being  regu- 
lated by  alteration  of  the  field-magnet  excitation  of  the 
generator.  In  an  action  for  infringement  of  the  patent  it 
was  proved  that  in  1891  Leonard  had  published  descriptions 
of  a  method  by  which  a  motor  subject  to  a  variable  load 
could  be  controlled  and  the  demand  on  the  source  of  the 
supply  kept  constant.  Also,  in  1895,  a  description  had  been 
published  in  the  specification  of  Ferranti  for  a  means  of 
working  tramways  and  elevators,  consisting  in  the  use  of 
an  intermediate  motor  and  generator  with  a  flywheel  on 
their  common  shaft,  the  motor  being  of  a  type  that  would 
slow  down  with  an  increase  of  load.  The  defendants  con- 
tended that  the  patentee  had  merely  put  together  the  systems 
of  Leonard  and  Ferranti  without  invention,  or  had  adapted 
the  system  of  Leonard  with  the  addition  of  the  common 
expedient   of   a   flywheel.     The   alleged   infringement    con- 


R.   P.    C,  30S. 


•♦27  R.  P.   C,  321. 


986 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


sisted  of  the  system  of  Leonard  with  a  flywheel  on  the  inter- 
mediate generator,  but  the  speed  drop  of  the  intermediate 
motor  was  secured,  not  as  in  the  plaintiff's  system  by  its 
winding,  but  by  means  of  an  automatic  regulator  in  its  field 
circuit. 

Mr.  Justice  Parker  held  that  if  the  patent  was  valid  the 
defendants  had  infringed,  but  that  the  patentee  had  made  a 
combination  of  old  elements,  that  each  member  of  the  com- 
bination gave  its  own  result,  and  there  was  no  result  that 
flowed  from  the  combination  itself  and  furthermore  that 
the  patent  was  invalid  for  want  of  subject  matter.  The 
action  for  infringement  was  dismissed  with  costs. 

In  the  case  of  Marconi  versus  British  Radio-Telegraph 
&  Telephone  Company,tt  where  validity  of  Mr.  Marconi's 
world-famous  discovery  was  considered,  Mr.  Justice  Parker 
laid  down  the  following  important  principle:  "No  one  who 
borrows  the  substance  of  a  patented  invention  can  escape 
the  consequences  of  infringement  by  making  immaterial 
variations.  The  question  always  is  whether  the  infringing 
apparatus  is  substantially  the  same  as  the  apparatus  said 
to  have  been  infringed.  Where  a  patent  is  for  a  combina- 
tion of  parts  or  a  process  and  the  combination  or  process, 
besides  being  itself  new,  produces  new  and  useful  results, 
everyone  who  produces  the  same  results  by  using  the  essen- 
tial parts  of  the  combination  or  process  is  an  infringer, 
even  though  he  has  in  fact  altered  the  combination  or 
process  by  omitting  some  unessential  part  or  step  and  sub- 
stituting another  part  or  step  which  is  in  fact  equivalent  to 
the  part  or  step  he  has  omitted.  To  ascertain  the  essential 
feature  of  an  invention,  the  specification  must  be  read  and 
interpreted  by  the  light  of  what  was  generally  known  at  the 
date  of  the  patent." 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NE'WS. 


NEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    FIRST    DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  First  District 
has  granted  the  New  York  Ralways  Company  permission 
to  issue  bonds  to  the  extent  of  $640,000,  the  proceeds  of 
which  are  to  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  175  of  the  new 
stepless  cars,  for  use  on  the  principal  surface  lines  of  the 
company's  system.  It  is  estimated  that  these  cars  will  cost 
$6,000  each,  and  the  company  had  applied  for  a  bond  issue 
of  $1,050,000  to  cover  the  whole  cost.  It  w-as  the  plan  to 
retire  175  of  the  cars  now  in  use  when  the  new  cars  were 
placed  in  service.  The  commission,  acting  on  the  opinion 
by  Commissioner  Milo  R.  Maltbie,  refused  to  allow  the 
company  to  capitalize  this  replacement  in  its  entirety,  as 
both  the  law  and  the  orders  of  the  commission  forbid  the 
issue  of  bonds  for  replacements,  which  should  be  paid  out 
of  earnings.  Inasmuch,  however,  as  the  old  cars  had  cost 
the  company  about  $3,200  each  and  the  new  cars  were  to 
cost  $2,800  in  excess  of  that,  the  commission  allowed  the 
company  to  capitalize  the  difference  between  the  old  cost 
and  the  new.  Allowing  for  the  sale  value  of  the  old  cars 
at  about  $800  each,  the  total  amount  permissible  for  capi- 
talization was  about  $500,000.  The  commission  accord- 
ingly approved  a  bond  issue  sufficient  to  produce  this 
amount  in  cash.  As  the  bonds  are  to  be  issued  under  the 
first  real  estate  and  refunding  mortgage  and  will  bear  4 
per  cent  interest,  the  commission  orders  that  they  shall  be 
sold  at  not  less  than  78,  and  for  the  discount  and  expense 
of  sale  allows  a  margin  of  $140,800,  making  the  total  issue 
$640,000.  The  order  also  provides  for  the  amortization  of 
this  $140,800  by  the  annual  payment  into  a  sinking  fund 
of  $2,700. 

The  company,  in  the  same  application,  asked  for  a  bond 
issue  of  $550,000  to  pay  for  additions  to  be  made  to  its  car 
barn  at  Fifty-fourth  Street  and  Ninth  Avenue.  As  the 
company  is  contemplating  the  sale  of  another  car  barn  at 

tt28E.  P.  C,  181. 


Thirty-second  Street  and  Lexington  Avenue,  and  the  pro- 
posed additions  to  the  Fifty-fourth  Street  barn  are  in  the 
nature  of  replacement  for  the  Thirty-second  Street  barn, 
the  commission,  applying  the  same  principles  as  it  did  in 
the  case  of  the  cars,  refused  to  allow  the  capitalization  of 
this  expenditure,  and  pointed  out  that  if  the  sale  of  the 
Thirty-second  Street  barn  is  effected  the  company  will  de- 
rive more  than  sufficient  funds  from  that  source  to  pay  for 
the  contemplated  improvements  in  the  Fifty-fourth  Street 
barn. 

NEW  YORK  COMMISSION,  SECOND  DISTRICT.  ] 

The  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  village  of  Kenmore  has  . 
complained  to  the  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  Dis-  I 
trict,  against  the  Niagara  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company, 
of  Tonawanda,  as  to  artificial  gas  furnished  for  lighting 
purposes,  stating  that  the  pressure  is  very  uneven  and  at 
times  the  flow  of  gas  becomes  exhausted  entirely,  allow- 
ing the  light  to  go  out.  It  was  further  alleged  that  on  Oct. 
24  the  light  went  out,  and  the  gas  again  being  turned  on, 
life  and  property  were  seriously  endangered.  The  commis- 
sion has  served  the  complaint  upon  the  company  and  re- 
quired an  answer  within  twenty  days. 

MASSACHUSETTS    COMMISSION. 

The  Massachusetts  Railroad  Commission  recently  gave 
a  hearing  upon  the  petition  of  Representative  Murray,  of 
Hyde  Park,  for  the  establishment  of  a  5-cent  fare  on  the 
street  railway  lines  connecting  Hyde  Park  with  the  center 
of  Boston,  the  reduction  from  the  present  lo-cent  rate  be- 
ing asked  on  the  ground  that  inasmuch  as  Hyde  Park  has 
lately  become  a  part  of  the  city  of  Boston,  it  should  there- 
fore be  entitled  to  the  same  transportation  privileges  as 
all  other  parts  of  the  metropolitan  area  served  by  the  Bos- 
ton Elevated  Railway  Company.  As  the  charter  of  the  lat- 
ter entitles  it  to  receive  a  5-cent  fare  for  every  passenger 
carried  in  the  same  general  direction  on  its  system,  the 
petitioners  urged  that  the  Bay  State  Street  Railway  Com- 
pany, now  operating  in  Hyde  Park  and  collecting  a  5-cent 
fare  for  each  passenger  riding  on  its  lines,  should  lease  a 
portion  of  its  trackage  to  the  Boston  company,  thus  vir- 
tually extending  the  Boston  system  to  cover  the  latest 
annexation  to  the  municipality.  The  petition  was  opposed 
on  the  grounds  that  the  political  limits  of  Boston  proper 
have  no  relation  to  a  reasonable  distance  of  passenger  haul- 
age on  street  railways  operating  within  the  city  limits; 
that  the  distance  of  Hyde  Park,  9  miles,  from  the  urban 
center  is  beyond  the  profitable  5-cent  limit ;  that  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  reduced  fare  would  tend  to  increase  long- 
hanl  riding  and  lessen  the  amount  of  profitable  short-haul 
traffic  ;  and  that  a  similar  treatment  of  the  problem  in  the 
West    Roxbury   district  had   been   unsuccessful. 

MARYLAND    COMMISSION. 

As  a  result  of  a  joint  petition  by  the  Chesapeake  & 
Potomac  Telephone  Company  and  the  Protective  Telephone 
Association  of  Maryland,  an  order  was  issued  last  week  by 
the  Maryland  Public  Service  Commission  authorizing  the 
extension  of  all  flat  rates  for  a  period  of  three  months 
from  Oct.  I,  and  an  additional  period  of  three  months  is 
given  the  Protective  association  in  which  to  prepare  its 
case,  the  date  of  presentation  being  postponed  from  Jan. 
I  to  April  I.  This  postponement  will  allow  both  parties 
opportunity  to  gather  further  data  on  the  effects  of  meas- 
ured service  on  the  entire  business  district.  The  Protec- 
tive association  has  also  been  definitely  assured  by  the 
telephone  company  that  in  any  change  of  rates  or  service 
occurring  voluntarily,  or  by  order  of  court  or  commission, 
the  benefits  of  all  such  changes  will  be  granted  to  all  sub- 
scribers, regardless  of  their  having  signed  yearly  contracts 
on  other  terms. 

OHIO    COMMISSION. 

The  Dayton  Power  &  Light  Company,  of  Dayton,  has 
made  application  to  the  Public  Service  Commission  for 
authority   to    purchase    the    Miami    Light,    Heat    &    Power 


November  9,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


987 


Company,  of  Piqua.  The  plan  contemplates  the  exchange 
of  1500  shares  of  stock  of  the  Dayton  company  for  an 
equal  number  of  shares  of  preferred  stock  of  the  Piqua 
company  and  the  purchase  of  1500  shares  of  the  outstand- 
ing common  stock  at  $30  per  share. 

NEW  JERSEY  COMMISSION. 

The  Board  of  Public  Utility  Commissioners  has  received 
a  complaint  from  the  Trenton  Chamber  of  Commerce  pro- 
testing against  a  proposed  increase  by  the  Delaware  & 
Atlantic  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  in  the  rate  for 
one-party  residence  service  from  $30  to  $36  per  annum. 
Copy  of  this  complaint  has  been  served  on  the  company 
and  hearing  will  be  held  at  an  early  date. 

CALIFORNIA     COMMISSION. 

The  Railroad  Commission  has  rendered  a  decision  pro- 
viding for  a  reduction  in  the  wholesale  rate  on  electric 
energy  sold  by  the  Snow  Mountain  Water  &  Power  Com- 
pany to  the  Napa  Valley  Electric  Company.  The  order 
puts  into  effect  a  reduction  from  an  average  of  1.81  cents 
per  kilowatt-hour  to  a  rate  varying  from  I  cent  to  1.25 
cents  per  kilowatt-hour,  and  the  commission  states  that  it 
expects  the  Napa  Valley  Electric  Company  to  reflect  this 
decrease  in  lower  rates  to  its  consumers. 

Decision  has  been  rendered  in  the  case  of  the  city  of 
Pasadena  vs.  the  Southern  California  Edison  Company,  in 
which  the  former  complained  that  the  latter  had  reduced 
its  rate  in  Pasadena  to  a  point  which  made  impossible  the 
profitable  operation  of  the  municipal  lighting  plant  of  Pasa- 
dena. The  city  of  Pasadena  charged  discrimination  and 
asked  that  the  Southern  California  Edison  Company  be 
compelled  to  raise  its  rates  in  Pasadena.  In  its  decision 
the  commission  sustained  the  objection  raised  by  the  Edi- 
son company  that  the  city  of  Pasadena  itself  has  the  power 
to  fix  rates  within  its  limits  and  such  power  does  not  rest 
with  the  commission.  The  commission  suggests  that  the 
issue  may  be  presented  by  a  complaint  from  the  unincorpo- 
rated territory  charging  discrimination. 

The  commission  is  preparing  a  uniform  system  of  ac- 
counts and  classifications  for  gas  companies  and  for  elec- 
tric companies,  which  will  be  printed  as  soon  as  possible 
and  distributed  to  those  interested. 


Current  News  and  Notes 


Second  Kennelly  Lecture  on  Hyperbolic  Functions. 
— The  second  lecture  of  the  Brooklyn  Institute  series  by 
Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly  on  the  elements  of  hyperbolic  functions 
and  their  applications  to  electrical  engineering  will  be 
given  on  Nov.  14  at  the  Polytechnic  Institute,  99  Livings- 
ton Street,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

*     *     * 

Fire  at  Kentucky  State  University.- — Fire  broke  out 
recently  in  Mechanical  Hall.  Kentucky  State  University, 
Lexington,  entailing  a  loss  to  Prof.  F.  Paul  Anderson,  dean 
of  engineering,  of  his  office  equipment,  records  and  en- 
gineering library.  A  thousand  technical  volumes  and  the 
complete  alumni  files  of  the  department  were  destroyed. 
The  damage  to  the  building  is  estimated  at  $3,000. 
«     *     « 

Electric  Development  Association  Activity. — As  a 
result  of  a  guessing  contest  held  by  the  Electric  Develop- 
ment Association  during  the  Boston  Electric  Show  many 
sales  have  been  made  by  electrical  supply  dealers  to  per- 
sons who  entered  the  contest.  Of  the  9261  persons  who 
attempted  to  guess  the  number  of  coins  in  a  globe,  it  is' 
estimated  that  7000  were  prospective  customers  for  the 
478  different  dealers  and  contractors  to  whom  1648  contest 
slips  were  returned. 


Electric  Club  Excursion  on  the  Chicigo  Drainage 
C.\nal. — About  eighty  members  of  the  Electric  Club  of 
Chicago  enjoyed  an  all-day  excursion  on  the  Chicago 
Drainage  Canal  on  Nov.  2.  The  trip  was  made  on  the 
steamer  R.  R.  McCormick,  and  the  controlling  works  and 
generating  plant  of  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago,  near 
Lockport,  ill.,  were  inspected.  Luncheon  was  served  on 
board  the  steamer  and  the  party  returned  by  train  from 
Lockport. 

*  *     * 

Controlling  the  Mississippi. — According  ,to  Mr. 
Marshall  O.  Leighton,  chief  hydrographer  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  none  of  the  plans  advanced  thus 
far  for  controlling  the  Mississippi  River's  flood  is  practi- 
cable. The  water  itself,  he  said,  is  of  more  value  to  the 
nation  as  an  avenue  of  commerce  than  are  tlie  lands  sub- 
merged; but  a  national  campaign  under  the  direction  of 
government  engineers  might  attack  the  problem  advantage- 
ously by  harnessing  the  river  in  sections  for  power  pur- 
poses. 

*  *     * 

Aldermen  Order  Investigation  of  Board  of  Super- 
vising Engineers,  Chicago  Traction. — The  Board  of 
Supervising  Engineers,  Chicago  Traction,  was  organized, 
under  the  "traction  settlement  ordinances,"  in  May,  1907. 
The  work  of  rehabilitating  the  surface  street  railways  of 
Chicago  has  been  carried  out  under  its  direction,  the  board 
consisting  of  Mr.  Bion  J.  Arnold,  chairman;  Mr.  George 
Weston,  representing  the  city,  and  Messrs.  Harvey  B. 
Fleming,  John  Z.  Murphy  and  A.  L.  Drum,  representing 
the  Chicago  City  Railway  Company,  the  Chicago  Railways 
Company  and  the  Calumet  &  South  Chicago  Railway  Com- 
pany respectively.  The  railway  companies  have  but  one 
vote  in  the  board,  the  chairman  and  the  city's  representative 
each  having  one.  There  has  been  some  criticism  of  the 
board  by  "practical  politicians"  in  the  City  Hall  during 
previous  administrations  and  the  present  administration  of 
Mayor  Harrison.  However,  the  board  has  gone  on  with 
its  important  work  serenely.  The  latest  onslaught  is  of  a 
more  direct  nature  and  arises  in  the  form  of  an  investiga- 
tion ordered  by  the  City  Council  on  Nov.  4  on  motion  of 
Alderman  Block,  chairman  of  the  local  transportation  com- 
mittee, which  committee  is  to  make  the  investigation.  The 
alderman  complains  that  when  information  was  wanted  by 
his  committee  Mr.  Weston  informed  it  that  the  practice  of 
the  board  was  to  give  out  information  only  upon  the  re- 
quest of  its  principals,  who  are  said  to  be  the  Mayor  of 
the  city  and  the  president  of  the  company  interested.  The 
committee  says  that  it  is  just  as  much  entitled  to  informa- 
tion as  is  any  executive  department. 


New  York  Jovian  Activity. — At  a  meeting  of  the  Jovian 
Order,  following  a  luncheon  held  at  the  Hotel  Imperial, 
New  York,  Nov.  6,  Mr.  Joseph  F.  Becker,  statesman  of  the 
order  from  New  York,  introduced  the  recently  elected 
Jupiter,  Mr.  F.  E.  Watts,  who  delivered  an  address  on 
"Prospects  for  the  Future."  Mr.  Watts  stated  that  the 
activities  and  importance  of  the  Jovian  Order  will  be 
appreciated  from  the  fact  that  750  members  attended  the  re- 
cent convention  in  Pittsburgh  and  the  total  membership  now 
numbers  about  8500.  In  the  past  year  4000  new  names 
were  added  to  the  membership  list.  During  the  present 
year  an  attempt  will  be  made  to  increase  the  membership, 
and  particular  attention  will  be  paid  to  quality  as  well  as 
to  quantity.  The  order  includes  in  its  membership  persons 
engaged  in  all  branches  of  electrical  work  and  is  controlled 
by  no  one  interest  or  group  of  interests.  It  has  been  built 
up  as  the  result  of  the  three  features  of  friendship,  harmony 
and  co-operation,  its  object  being  to  aid  all  electrical  in- 
terests and  injure  none.  A  special  effort  will  be  made  to 
insure  thorough  organization  of  the  order  in  the  different 


988 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


localities,  co-operation  being  the  keynote  in  each  case. 
Statesman  Becker  appointed  committees  on  membership, 
speakers  and  luncheon,  with  Messrs.  W.  C.  Andrews, 
G.  W.  Elliott  and  J.  B.  Olson  as  the  respective  chairmen. 

Electric  Vehicles  and  the  Rules  of  the  Road. — A 
committee  of  the  Chicago  City  Council  of  which  Alderman 
Capitain  is  chairman  is  about  to  revise  the  rules  for 
vehicular  traffic  in  Chicago  and  to  confer  with  the  police 
■department  to  secure  a  more  strict  enforcement  of  the 
rules,  in  view  of  the  alarming  number  of  automobile  acci- 
dents. Nearly  all  of  the  accidents  are  due  to  gasoline 
machines,  and  in  order  that  the  electric-vehicle  interests 
may  be  represented  before  the  committee  the  Chicago 
Section  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Association  has  delegated 
Mr.  Louis  E.  Burr,  president  of  the  Woods  Motor  Vehicle 
Company,  and  Mr.  S.  H.  Peterson,  of  the  Anderson  Car- 
riage Company,  to  appear  before  the  committee  on  its 
behalf. 

Sa.\  Francisco  Electrical  Congress. — The  executive 
committee  of  the  International  Electrical  Congress  is  com- 
pleting preliminary  arrangements  for  holding  the  congress 
in  conjunction  with  the  Panama-Pacific  Exposition  in  San 
Francisco  during  the  week  beginning  Sept.  13,  1915. 
Arrangements  are  also  being  effected  for  a  meeting  of  the 
International  Electrotechnical  Commission  to  be  held  at  the 
same  place  during  the  week  beginning  Sept.  6,  1915.  The 
meetings  will  take  place  in  the  new  million-dollar  Audi- 
torium, which  will  be  completed  in  ample  time  for  the 
congresses  and  conventions.  -The  exposition  will  open  on 
Feb.  20,  1915.  Mr.  James  A.  Barr,  as  secretary  for  the 
convention  and  societies,  is  looking  after  the  arrangements 
to  insure  proper  facilities  for  the  various  societies  and 
avoid  conflicts  in  convention  dates. 

Subway  Discussion  in  Chicago. — Answering  numerous 
criticisms  of  its  report  on  "A  Comprehensive  System  of 
Passenger  Subways  for  the  City  of  Chicago,"  dated  Sept. 
10  last,  the  Harbor  and  Subway  Commission  of  Chicago 
presented  a  supplemental  report  at  the  meeting  of  the 
local  transportation  committee  of  the  City  Council  on 
Oct.  30.  Mr.  John  Ericson,  city  engineer  and  chairman  of 
the  commission,  read  the  report,  which  is  a  long  and  care- 
fully prepared  document.  Referring  to  the  proposed  plan 
for  a  comprehensive  system  of  passenger  subways  in 
Chicago  to  cost  $131,000,000,  the  commission  declares,  in 
answer  to  financial  objections,  that  only  about  one-third  of 
the  possible  traffic  in  the  subway  zone,  as  laid  out  for 
1918,  would  be  necessary  to  meet  the  operating  expenses 
and  fixed  charges  of  the  subway  system.  The  commission 
estimates  that  40  per  cent  of  the  gross  receipts  will  be 
necessary  for  operating  expenses.  The  experience  of  New 
York  in  subway  matters  was  cited,  and  the  commission  made 
a  vigorous  plea  for  "real  rapid  transit"  in  Chicago.  In  the 
brief  discussion  that  followed  the  reading  of  the  supple- 
mental report  Mr.  Ericson  said  that  67  per  cent  of  the 
population  of  Chicago  would  live  within  half  a  mile  of  a 
subway  if  the  proposed  comprehensive  system  is  carried 
out.  If  one-third  of  this  population  uses  the  subways,  the 
system  will  be  self-sustaining,  he  said. 

*  *     * 

SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

District  Heating  Convention  at  Indianapolis  in 
May,  1913. — At  a  meeting  of  the  executive  committee  and 
officers  of  the  National  District  Heating  Association  at 
Indianapolis  on  Oct.  31  it  was  decided  to  hold  the  next 
convention  of  the  association  at  Indianapolis,  May  2J,  28 
and  29,  1913. 

*  *     * 

Lewis  Institute  Branch,  A.  I.  E.  E. — Mr.  Charles  P. 
Madsen,    electric   heating   engineer,    will    deliver   an    illus- 


trated lecture  before  the  Lewis  Institute  Branch  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  in  Chicago  in 
the  auditorium  of  the  college  at  8:30  p.  m.  on  Nov.  13. 
Mr.  Madsen's  subject  will  be  "The  Physics  of  Electrical 
Conductors  at  High  Temperatures,"  and  as  he  is  an  author- 
ity  on   this   subject   an    instructive   address   is   anticipated. 


Ohio  Engineers'  Convention. — At  the  eleventh  annual 
meeting  of  the  Ohio  Society  of  Mechanical,  Electrical  and 
Steam  Engineers  at  Akron,  on  Nov.  21,  22  and  23,  the  fol- 
lowing papers  will  be  presented:  "A  System  of  Gas  Engine 
Governing,"  by  Mr.  George  S.  Cooper,  Salem,  Ohio;  "The 
Lentz  System  Applied  to  Steam  Engines,"  by  Mr.  Sieg- 
fried Rosenzweig,  Erie,  Pa.,  and  "The  Manufacture  of  Tin 
Plate,"  by  Mr.  Edward  W.  Patton,  Follansbee,  W.  Va.  The  ? 
technical  sessions  will  be  held  in  the  Hotel  Portage.  The 
secretary  of  the  society  is  Prof.  F.  E.  Sanborn,  Ohio  State 
L'niversity,    Columbus,    Ohio. 


Germany  Meeting  of  A.  S.  M.  E. — Arrangements  have 
been  made  for  a  combined  meeting  of  the  American  So- 
ciety of  Mechanical  Engineers  and  the  Verein  Deutscher  In- 
genieure  in  Leipzig,  Germany,  on  June  22,  23  and  24,  1913. 
Following  an  informal  gathering  on  June  22  will  be  the 
formal  opening  on  June  23,  when  the  visitors  will  be  wel- 
comed by  the  King  of  Saxony  and  the  municipal  authori- 
ties of  Leipzig.  The  meeting  will  commemorate  the  one 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Leipzig.  Details 
of  the  trip  are  being  arranged  through  Mr.  Conrad  Mal- 
schoss,  docent  of  the  Royal  Polytechnic  High  School  of 
Berlin,  as  representative  of  the  Verein  Deutscher  In- 
genieure. 

*  *     * 

Commonwealth  Edison  Section,  N.  E.  L.  A. — At  a 
meeting  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  Section 
of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  in  Chicago  on 
Oct.  29  the  result  of  the  election  of  officers  was  announced 
a?  follows :  President,  Mr.  W.  L.  Abbott,  chief  operating 
engineer  of  the  company;  vice-president,  Mr.  Charles  A. 
Lind,  fuel  agent;  treasurer,  Mr.  William  A.  Fox,  treasurer 
of  the  company;  secretary,  Mr.  Milton  Rich,  of  the  engi- 
neering department.  The  constitution  of  the  section  was 
so  altered  that  associate  membership  in  it  is  now  opened  to 
employees  of  the  company  who  are  not  members  of  the 
N.  E.  L.  A.  Such  associates  are  eligible  to  participate  in 
all  of  the  purely  local  activities  of  the  section  but  have  no 
right  to  vote  and  are  not  eligible  as  delegates  to  the  national 
conventions.  The  dues  of  associates  are  fixed  at  $2  a  year, 
members  paying  $5  a  year. 

*  *     * 

Old-Time  Telegraphers'  Annual  Reunion. — The  Old- 
Time  Telegraphers  and  Historical  Association  held  its 
thirty-first  annual  reunion  at  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  on  Oct.  22, 
23  and  24.  The  members  were  royally  entertained  by  the 
president,  Hon.  W.  S.  Jordan,  Mayor  of  Jacksonville,  and 
other  citizens  of  Jacksonville.  At  the  banquet  on  the  eve- 
ning of  Oct.  24  the  members  were  addressed  by  the  two 
United  States  Senators  from  Florida,  Hon.  D.  U.  Fletcher 
and  Hon.  N.  P.  Bryan,  as  well  as  by  Congressman  Frank 
Clark,  of  Florida.  The  party  also  visited  St.  Augustine, 
the  oldest  city  in  the  United  States.  The  New  York  delega- 
tion traveled  by  sea  to  and  from  the  South.  On  their  return 
the  members  stopped  off  at  Savannah  for  an  automobile  trip 
around  the  city  and  to  the  famous  Thunderbolt  Restaurant, 
where  luncheon  was  served.  The  reunion  next  year  will 
take  place  at  Detroit,  Mich.,  during  the  last  week  in  August. 
The  officers  elected  are:  President,  Mr.  H.  J.  Kinnucan, 
Detroit,  Mich.;  vice-presidents,  Messrs.  W.  A.  Jackson 
and  A.  L.  Lafferty ;  secretary  and  treasurer,  Mr.  F.  J. 
Scherrer,  New  York. 


BRITISH  STEAM  TURBO-GENERATOR  STATION. 


Original   and   Present  Equipment  of    the  First  Municipal    Electricity    Supply 

Station  Established  in  England. 


History  of  the   Bradford  Stations — Comparison   Between  Old   Reciprocating  Engines  and  New  Turbo- 
Generators — Boilers   Equipped  with  New  Type  of  Grate — Cooling  Towers 
Said   to   Be  Largest  Ever  Constructed. 


BRITISH  and  American  practices  in  the  construction 
and  operation  of  electric  generating  stations  differ 
in  a  number  of  respects,  so  that  what  may  be  con- 
sidered advisable  in  England  may  not  be  so  considered  in 
the  United  States,  and  the  reverse  is  equally  true.  How- 
ever, the  same  fundamental  laws  of  nature  are  in  force 
everywhere,  and  much  can  be  learned  on  each  side  of  the 
Atlantic  by  studying  what  is  proving  successful  or  unsuc- 
cessful on  the  other  side.  It  is  believed,  therefore,  that  our 
readers  everywhere  will  be  interested  in  a  description  of  the 
former  and  present  equipments  of  and  methods  employed 
in  the  central  stations  of  the  city  of  Bradford,  England. 
Originally  energy  for  Bradford  was  supplied  from  what 
was  known  as  the  Bolton  Road  station,  on  the  two-wire 
direct-current  system,  at  a  pressure  of  115  volts.  The 
system  was  changed  later  to  a  three-wire  at  230  volts  and 
115  volts.  This  is  now  used  only  for  balancing  and  to  store 
main.s,  etc.  The  system  was  at  a  later  date  changed  to 
230-460  volts,  three-wire  supply,  when  a  second  station 
(Valley  Road)   was  installed,  in  1897.     A  third  station  was 


erected  later  on  an  adjacent  site,  while  a  fourth  station 
(Sunbridge  Road)  was  completed  in  1904  in  connection 
with  the  supply  of  electrical  energy  to  the  railways. 

About  five  years  ago,  owing  to  the  development  of  the 
load  and  the  necessity  of  supplying  energy  to  large  motor 
users  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  works,  a  three- 
phase  high-tension  system  was  installed.  At  the  present 
time  most  large  consumers  receive  energy  from  three- 
phase  mains,  and  the  three-phase  network  is  not  only 
encircling  the  direct-current  network,  which  is  mainly  con- 
fined to  the  center  of  the  city,  but  it  is  also  gradually 
replacing  the  direct-current  supply  at  all  distances  beyond 
iy2  miles  from  the  generating  stations.  This  distance  has, 
in  fact,  been  fixed  upon  as  the  economical  limit  for  direct- 
current  supply  in  Bradford;  and  as  the  load  in  the  center 
of  the  city  increases,  instead  of  laying  new  direct-current 
feeders,  the  extent  of  the  direct-current  network  will  be 
curtailed  and  part  of  the  load  taken  up  by  the  three-phase 
plant.  The  process  of  changing  over  can,  of  course,  be 
done   only   gradually,   owing  to   the   necessity   of  changing 


Ffg.   1 — View   Showing   3000-kw   Turbo-Alternator   and   1000-kw   Recrprocating   Set. 


990 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


meters,  motors,  etc.,  whenever  a  main  is  disconnected  from 
the  direct-current  network  and  added  to  the  three-phase 
system. 

No.  2  generating  station,  at  Valley  Road,  contains  many 
examples  of  old  230-volt  two-pole  generators,  equipment 
which  was  at  one  time  connected  across  the  "outers"  of  the 
three-wire  system  and  is  now  employed  only  for  balancing 


Fig. 


VALLEY  ROAD 

2 — Plan   of  Stations   No.   2   and    No.  3  at   Valley    Road. 


between  the  middle  wire  and  either  outer  conductor  having 
been  transferred  from  Bolton  Road.  None  of  the  original 
generating  equipment,  however,  is  now  in  service.  The  old 
wooden  switchboard  characteristic  of  the  early  days  has 
also  disappeared,  but  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  long 
lengths  of  the  mains  laid  twenty-three  and  twenty-four 
years  ago  are  still  doing  3-eoman  service.  This  is  the  more 
remarkable  owing  to  the  fact  that  these  old  cables  are 
merely  covered  with  lead,  having  been  laid  directly  in  the 
ground  without  any  armoring. 

At  the  present  time  Bradford  possesses  three  power 
stations,  known  respectively  as  Valley  Road  No.  2,  Valley 
Road  No.  3,  and  Sunbridge  Road.  The  last-mentioned 
station  may  here  be  dismissed  in  a  few  words.  It  was 
installed  some  eight  years  ago  to  supply  energy  to  a  section 
of  the  railways,  and  its  main  feature  of  interest  is  that  it  is 
run  in  conjunction  with  a  refuse  destructor,  the  steam  for 
its  300-kw  Williams-Phoenix  set  being  purchased  by  the 
electricity  department.  Trunk  mains  allow  an  interchange 
of  energy  between  Valley  Road  and  Sunbridge  Road 
stations  in  case  of  emergency. 

Part  of  the  equipment  at  the  old  Bolton  Road  station  has 
been  removed  to  No.  2  station,  Valley  Road,  and  the  process 
of  evolution  is  in  turn  taking  place  at  the  latter  station. 
This  contains  twelve  Willans  sets  and  the  switchboards 
controlling  the  whole  of  the  general  supply  (including  the 
plant  in  Valley  Road  No.  3),  also  three  motor  generators 
(forming  a  link  between  the  direct-current  and  alternating- 
current  sides  of  the  supply)  and  the  workshops  in  which  a 
large  part  of  the  switchboard  and  electrical  equipment  has 
been  constructed.  The  boilers  in  this  station  are  brought 
into  service  for  only  about  four  months  during  the  winter, 
steam  being  supplied  during  the  rest  of  the  year  from 
boilers  in  station  No.  3  to  the  engines  in  station  No.  2. 

As  will  be  noted  from  Fig.  2,  station  No.  3  lies  at  right 


angles  from  station  Xo.  2.  The  former  station  contains 
all  the  newer  equipment,  comprising  four  looo-kw  low-speed 
reciprocating  sets  and  three  turbo-alternators.  The  en- 
gines of  the  low-speed  sets  are  of  the  cross-compound  ver- 
tical type,  two  having  been  built  by  Messrs.  Cole,  Mar- 
chent  &  Morley  and  two  by  Messrs.  John  Musgrave  & 
Sons.  The  four  low-speed  generators,  which  are  fixed  at 
the  center  of  the  crank  shaft,  were  constructed  by  the 
British  Westinghouse  Company  and  supply  direct-current 
at  from  460  to  570  volts  for  lighting,  motor  service  and 
traction. 

The  space  available  after  the  installation  of  the  recipro- 
cating sets  was  sufficient  to  allow  only  one  more  low-speed 
lOOO-kw    set   of   similar   type   to   be    installed.     This   space 

COMPARISON  OF   NEW  AND  OLD  EQUIPMENTS. 


New  Turbo- 
Alternator. 


Low- 
Speed  Set. 


Output  in  kilowatts 4.500                      1,000 

Speed,  r.p.m 1.500                         85 

Floor  area  occupied,  sq.  ft 5  7                           683 

(bucket  wheel)         (flywheel) 

Diameter  of  largest  rotating  portion 6  ft.  4  in.                  20  ft. 

Weight  of  rotating  parts IS  tons                  103  tons 

Weight  of  each  unit 60  tons                  1 93  tons 

Weight  of  steam  used  per  hour 72.000  1b.  '       20,000  1b. 

Weight  of  steam  per  kw-hr.  generated.  ...  16  lb.  I           20  lb. 

has  been  used  to  excellent  advantage  for  containing  two 
3000-kw  and  one  4500-kw  Curtis  turbo-alternator  set. 
The  enormous  difference  between  the  sizes  of  the  respec- 
tive plants  is  strikingly  shown  in  Fig.  i,  where  one  of  the 
3000-kw  turbo-alternators  is  seen  near  a  looo-kw  low- 
speed  set.     The  comparisons  in  the  accompanying  table  of 


Fig.    3 — Three    Curtis-Type    Turbo-Alternators. 

the  new  4500-kw  turbo-alternator  and  the  older  low-speed 
sets  will  also  doubtless  prove  of  interest 

The  new  Curtis  turbo-alternator  has  been  designed  to 
give  4500  kw  continuously  (5000  kva  at  0.9  power-factor) 
at  6600  volts,  three-phase,  50  cycles,  when  running  at  1500 
r.p.m.,  and  is  said  to  be  the  largest  vertical  turbo-alternator 
built  in  the  United  Kingdom.  This  unit  was  first  placed  in 
service  in  October,   1912.     Each  of  the  two  earlier  verti- 


November  9,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


991 


cal  units  was  designed  to  carry  continuously  3000  kw,  or 
4500  kw  for  a  limited  period.  The  third  unit,  which  is 
designed  to  carry  4500  kw  continuously,  is  mounted  simi- 
larly to  the  earlier  sets  on  a  sub-base  condenser,  and  the 
turbine  is  as  nearly  as  possible  similar  to  the  previous  sets, 
the  revolving-field  structure  of  the  generators  being  inter- 
changeable. The  sub-base  condensing  equipment  is  of  the 
Worthington  surface  type,  and  when  supplied  with  cooling 
water  at  80  deg.  Fahr.  and  dealing  with  70,200  lb.  of  steam 
per  hour  can  maintain  a  27-in.  vacuum.  When  handling 
60,000  lb.  of  steam  per  hour  it  can  maintain  a  27J/2-in. 
vacuum,  and  with  49,500  lb.  of  steam  per  hour  it  can 
maintain  a  27.^-in.  vacuum.  The  cooling  surface  of  the 
sub-base  condenser  is  8200  sq.  ft. 

The  circulating  pump  is  of  the  twin  type,  capable  of  de- 
livering. 8000  gal.  of  water  per  minute  against  a  head  of 
60  ft.  It  is  separately  driven  by  a  200-hp  Curtis  steam 
turbine  running  at  1700  r.p.m.     This  auxiliary  turbine  ex- 


Viere  supplied  by  the  British  Thomson- Houston  Company 
and  the  Worthington  Pump  Company.  The  arrangement 
of  the  plant  is  shown  in  Fig.  4. 

The  two  earlier  turbo  sets  were  provided  with  electrically 
driven  circulating  pumps,  instead  of  the  steam  turbine 
drive  mentioned  above.  These  two  pumps  can  provide 
sufficient  condensing  water  to  run  the  reciprocating  sets. 

A  noteworthy  feature  of  No.  3  station  is  that  the  whole 
of  the  electrical  equipment  is  controlled  from  the  switch- 
boards of  No.  2  station.  In  the  case  of  the  turbo-alter- 
nators this  has  involved  the  use  of  leads  some  600  ft.  long 
from  the  generators  to  the  switchboard. 

BOILER    EQUIPMENT. 

Before  dealing  with  the  control  of  these  generators  and 
the  various  switchboards,  it  will  be  well  here  to  refer  to 
the  steam-raising  plant.  It  was  mentioned  above  that  the 
boilers  in  station  No.  2  are  now  brought  into  service  only 


(0)  JfR  ^   (fp 


Elevation    of   Turbine    Plant    In    Station    No. 


hausts  into  a  feed-water  heater.  The  air  required  for 
ventilating  the  three  turbo-generators  is  drawn  through  a 
filter  consisting  of  forty-two  removable  box  sections,  each 
fitted  with  special  filter  cloth.  These  filter  sections  are 
supported  in  a  suitable  framework  and  are  individually  re- 
movable for  the  purpose  of  cleaning,  two  spare  sections 
being  provided  for  this  purpose.  The  air  thus  filtered  is 
passed  along  through  ducts  to  the  alternators.  The  air 
flue  will  be  noticed  in  Figs.  I  and  3.  The  air  filter  is 
capable  of  dealing  with  60,000  cu.  ft.  per  minute.  It  is 
interesting  to  notice  that  no  separate  blower  fans  are  pro- 
vided for  circulating  the  air,  the  alternator  rotors  being 
so  designed  as  to  propel  the  necessary  air  supply  by  their 
own  action. 

The  whole  of  the  rotating  portion  of  the  new  turbo-gen- 
erator is  supported  vertically  by  a  step  bearing,  the  total 
weight  of  15  tons  being  carried  by  a  film  of  water  supplied 
at  a  pressure  of  nearly  500  lb.  to  the  square  inch  by  a 
three-throw  pump. 

The  three  turbo-alternators,  auxiliary  plant  and  air  filter 


for  meeting  the  heavy  loads  during  the  dark  months ;  as  a 
matter  of  fact  some  boilers  were  removed  a  number  of 
years  ago  in  connection  with  alterations  to  the  station. 
The  remainder,  as  will  be  noticed  in  Fig.  2,  comprise  five 
Babcock  &  Wilcox  boilers  equipped  with  chain  grate 
stokers,  each  capable  of  evaporating  15,000  lb.  of  water 
per  hour. 

In  station  No.  3  are  ten  B.  &  W.  boilers  of  a  similar 
type  but  capable  of  evaporating  18,000  lb.  per  hour  at  a 
pressure  of  180  lb.  per  square  inch  and  two  B.  &  W. 
boilers,  each  of  25,000  lb.  per  hour  rating,  equipped  with 
superheaters  for  raising  the  temperature  of  the  steam  by 
200  deg.  Fahr.  The  chief  features  of  these  two  boilers,  which 
have  recently  been  installed,  are  the  sheet-steel  casing  and 
the  new  type  of  grate  that  has  been  fitted.  This  grate  pos- 
sesses points  of  considerable  interest  for  engineers.  It  is 
claimed  that  it  allows  smaller  coal  to  be  used  and  that  it 
admits  about  40  per  cent  more  air  than  the  standard  type. 
Fig.  5  herewith  illustrates  one  of  these  new  grates  as  fitted 
at   Bradford.     It   will  be   noticed   that   it   is  the   full  width 


992 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


of  the  boiler,  instead  of  only  one-half  the  width,  as  in  the 
existing  type.  Moreover,  in  the  case  of  any  link  requiring 
removal,  due  to  breakage,  etc.,  such  link  can  be  cut  out 
with  a  chisel,  the  remaining  links  being  pushed  along  the 
spindle  to  fill  the  gap  and  the  new  fire-bar  slipped  on  at 
the  end. 

A  motor-driven  coal  and  ash  conveyor  is  installed.     The 


IS::! 


Fig.  5 — Details  of   Lini<  Grate. 

whole  of  the  coal  has  to  be  brought  a  short  distance  in 
carts  and  tipped  into  a  large  bunker.  The  buckets  of  the 
continuous  elevator  then  raise  the  coal  above  the  boiler- 
house  roof,  convey  it  the  whole  length  of  the  latter,  tipping 
into  coal  bunkers  where  required,  descend  empty  at  the  far 
side  of  the  boiler  house  and  return  underneath  the  floor. 
The  coal  is  automatically  weighed  in  passing  to  the  boiler 
hoppers.  The  overhead  coal  bunkers  are  designed  for 
3000  tons.  About  4000  tons  of  coal  are  kept  for  emer- 
gency on  the  ground  between  station  No.  I,  and  the  cooling 
pond  is  shown  in  Fig.  2. 

CONDENSING    WATER. 

In  the  design  of  the  circulating-water  system  particular 
attention  has  been  paid  to  the  avoidance  of  anything  in  the 
nature  of  an  air-trap.  With  this  object  in  view,  the  pipes 
are  fixed  at  a  uniform  gradient  all  the  way  from  the  con- 
densers to  the  cooling  towers.     There  pipes  are  capable  of 


Fig.    6 — Cooiing    Towers. 

dealing  with  appro.ximately  1,500,000  gal.  of  waste  per  hour. 
The  cooling  tower  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  largest  ever 
constructed,  being  designed  to  reduce  the  temperature  of 
365,000  gal.  of  water  per  hour  from  105  deg.  to  80  deg. 
Fahr.  A  second  cooling  tower  designed  to  handle  243,000 
gal.  is  being  erected.  The  two  towers  were  built  by  the 
Davenport    Engineering    Company,   the   piers   having   been 


erected  by  the  electrical  department  of  the  city   of   Brad- 
ford. 

SWITCHBOARDS. 

The  direct-current  switch  mechanism  is  arranged  in 
three  galleries,  while  the  switchboards  for  the  three-phase 
equipments  and  feeders  are  adjacent  to  the  motor-genera- 
tors in  the  newer  portion  of  the  engine  room. 

Considering  just  the  direct-current  side  of  the  system, 
the  switchboard  at  the  level  of  the  engine-room  floor  com- 
prises at  one  end  twelve  panels  containing  the  circuit- 
breakers  for  twelve  traction  feeders  and  the  traction  total 
load  panel,  and  at  the  other  end  the  panels  controlling  the 
six  460-volt  machines  and  six  balancers  in  station  No.  2. 
The  remote-control  desk  for  the  direct-current  equipment 
in  station  No.  3  is  also  located  on  this  platform. 

The  switchboard  gallery  on  the  first  floor  supports  the 
panels  for  twenty-four  direct-current  feeders,  with  their 
recording  instruments,  and  the  change-over  switches  for 
the  main  generators  in  station  No.  3,  while  the  switch 
equipment  on  the  top  gallery  comprises  the  circuit-breakers 
for  this  plant,  these  being  controlled  from  the  desk  just 
mentioned.  The  arrangement  of  the  main  switchboard  is 
on  the  usual  lines,  the  positive  and  negative  sections  being 
separated  as  far  as  possible.  As  regards  the  feeders,  two 
Peard    fuses    are    used    in    parallel    on    each    pole    of    each 


Fig.  7 — l=!ear  View  of  Direct-Current  Switchboard. 

feeder,  one  of  these  fuses  being  disconnected  during  the 
hours  of  light  load  so  as  to  reduce  as  far  as  possible  the 
necessity  for  cutting  out  a  feeder  on  which  a  fault  may 
develop.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  noted  that  not  only 
is  each  distributor  fed  through  fuses  at  the  feeder  pillars, 
but  fuses  are  also  extensively  used  in  the  distributing  net- 
work, so  that  the  disturbance  in  case  of  a  fault  on  any 
main  is  confined  to  a  small  number  of  consumers. 

Each  feeder  has  a  twin  "recorder,"  giving  a  chart  of  the 
current  and  pressure  at  the  feeding  point.  These  recorders 
are  driven  by  an  electric  clock  on  the  main  gallery. 

Particularly  noticeable  is  the  neat  method  of  wiring  used 
for  connections  behind  the  switchboards.  All  the  main 
connections  are  made  by  copper  bars,  as  will  be  seen  in 
Fig.  7.  while  for  the  small  connections,  etc.,  rubber-insu- 
lated, asbestos-covered  conductors  are  now  being  employed. 
The  use  of  a  stifl:'  single  wire,  instead  of  a  stranded  con- 
ductor, adds  materially  to  the  neat  appearance  of  the  con- 
nections. 

The  same  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  fixing  of  the 
feeders,  generator  leads,  connections,  etc.,  underneath  the 
switchboards.  A  typical  view  is  given  in  Fig.  9.  This 
shows  some  of  the  feeders  with  their  sealing  boxes  and  the 
connections  to  the  switchboards.  Each  of  the  feeders  in 
question  contains  six  cores,  three  cores  being  the  main 
conductors  of  the  three-wire  system  and  the  other  three 
pilot    wires    from    the    corresponding    feeding    point.     The 


November  9.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


993 


whole  of  the  connections  shown,  where  not  bare  conduc- 
tors, are  asbestos-covered  conductors.  Shields  are  fixed 
to  prevent  any  spanners,  etc.,  being  dropped  on  to  bare  con- 
ductors run  horizontally. 

A  slate  diaphragm  has  been  erected  behind  the  switch- 
boards to  the  height  of  the  engine  room  and  the  full  length 
of  the  boards.     Behind  this  diaphragm  the  feeder  connec- 


Fig.  8 — Remote-Control   Desk  for  Direct-Current  Plant. 

tions,  in  the  form  of  bare  conductors,  run  to  the  feeder 
switches  on  the  middle  gallery,  and  also  the  leads  from  the 
generators  in  station  No.  3  to  the  main  switches  on  the 
top  floor.. 

Most  interest  centers,  of  course,  in  the  remote-control 
desk.  A  view  of  this  desk  is  given  in  Fig.  8.  The  main 
leads  from  each  looo-kw  generator  in  No.  3  station  are  run 
to  a  small  panel  (known  as  the  change-over  panel)  adja- 
cent to  each  machine  and  from  there  by  means  of  a  i.6-sq. 
in.  concentric  main  to  the  main  switches  on  the  top  switch- 
board gallery  in  station  No.  2.  These  switches  are  of  the 
Westinghouse  type,  are  operated  from  the  remote-control 
desk  and  are  fitted  with  overload  and  reverse-current  re- 
lays. 

The  push-buttons  noticed  at  the  bottom  of  the  control 
desk  operate  signals  directing  the  engine-room  staff  to 
start  or  shut  down  the  machines.  When  a 
machine  has  been  run  up  to  speed  the 
switchboard  attendant  signals  to  the  engine- 
man  whether  the  equalizer  switch  for  the 
machine  is  to  be  closed  for  "traction"  or 
"lighting."  Until  the  call  has  received  at- 
tention the  push-button  remains  down,  and 
the  correct  closing  of  the  equalizer  switch 
is  shown  on  the  control  desk  by  the  lighting 
up  of  a  lamp  bearing  the  letter  "L"  or  "T." 
Having  thus  ascertained  that  the  generator 
is  correctly  coupled  up,  the  attendant  pre- 
pares to  parallel  it  with  the  busbars.  The 
regulation  of  the  voltage  by  varying  the 
field  is  performed  from  the  control  desk 
by  means  of  the  small  motor  seen  at  the  top 
of  the  engine-room  panel  in  Fig.  10.  In  this 
figure  the  switch  is  shown  closed  for  "trac- 
tion," the  "lighting"  contacts  at  the  bottom 
being  covered  with  a  wooden  shield.  The 
voltage  of  the  incoming  machine  having 
been  correctly  adjusted  by  a  zero  voltmeter, 
the  attendant  turns  the  small  control  lever 
to  "close."  the  relays  operate  and  the  main 
switch  on  the  top  gallery  connects  the  ma- 
chine to  the  bars. 

As  regards  the  high-tension  switchboards,  the  greater 
portion  of  these  have  been  constructed  in  the  workshops  of 
the  city's  electrical  department,  the  switches,  transformers, 
etc.,  being  purchased.  This  arrangement  allows  the  use 
of  apparatus  of  any  maker. 

Two  0.25-sq.  in.  three-core,  paper-insulated,  lead-cov- 
ered  cables   are   run    in   parallel    from   each   of   the   turbo- 


alternators  in  station  No.  3  to  the  switchgear  in  station 
No.  2.  In  view  of  the  length  of  these  leads  the  Merz- 
Price  protective  system  is  applied  to  them,  the  arrangement 
being  shown  diagrammatically  in  Fig.  11. 

Push-buttons  are  provided  for  signaling  to  No.  3  engine- 
room,  the  push  remaining  down  until  a  reply  is  received. 
Practically  the  whole  control  of  the  plant,  however,  re- 
mains with  the  switchboard  attendant,  who,  by  means  of  a 
motor  operating  upon  the  governor  gear  of  the  turbine,  can 
adjust  the  speed  of  the  latter  during  the  process  of  synchro- 
nizing. 

An  emergency  battery,  to  float  on  the  station  busbars,  is 
being  installed  as  a  standby  for  the  excitation  of  the  alter- 
nators and  also  to  provide  energy  for  the  works  in  the  case 
of  a  breakdown  on  the  main  supply.  This  battery  is  being 
supplied  by  the  Sandycroft  Foundry  Company. 

The  high-tension  feeder  panels  are  on  a  separate  gallery 
from  the  main  gallery,  and  have  been  fitted  up  by  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company  with  oil  switches  and  Ferranti  time- 
limit  relays.  Thirteen  high-tension  feeders  have  been  laid, 
twelve  of  these  being  0.05-sq.  in.  three-core  cables  and  one 
a  o.i-sq.  in.  three-core  cable. 

The  three  500-kw  Westinghouse  motor-generators  form- 
ing a  link  between  the  three-phase  and  the  direct-current 
systems  are  installed  in  front  of  the  high-tension  switch- 
boards (Fig.  2).  An  exciter  is  fixed  at  one  end  of  the 
shaft  of  each  machine  and  a  booster  at  the  other  end.  The 
booster  is  used  for  raising  the  pressure  from  460  volts  to 
570  volts  for  traction  purposes.  The  booster  is  manually 
controlled,  but  compensating  coils  provide  automatic  over- 
compounding.  In  the  near  future  a  1 500-kw  Westinghouse 
rotary  converter  will  be  installed  to  deliver  direct  current 
at  any  pressure  between  460  volts  and  570  volts, 

ACCESSORIES. 

.-Vn  interesting  accessory  in  the  engine  room  of  station 
No.  3  is  a  Leskole  distance  thermometer.  By  merely  in- 
serting a  plug  in  the  corresponding  socket  it  is  possible  to 
ascertain  in  only  a  few  seconds  the  condensers,  the  air- 
pump  discharge,  water  entering  the  cooling  tower,  feed 
water,  etc. 


Fig.   9 — Sealing    Boxes   and    Connections   from    Feeders. 

.\nother  useful  accessory  is  a  Hamler-Eddv  smoke  re- 
corder, which  gives  graphically  on  a  chart  every  few  sec- 
onds the  relative  amount  of  smoke  being  produced.  A 
small  electrically  driven  pump  injects  at  every  stroke  3 
sample  of  the  hot  gases  passing  up  the  chimney.  The 
amount  of  smoke  is  shown  by  the  density  of  the  black 
record  on  the  paper  chart. 


994 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


Although  not  strictly  an  accessory,  mention  should  be 
made  of  the  electric  oven  in  the  messroom,  where  sixty 
employees  sit  down  every  day  to  a  hot  meal  electrically 
cooked.  A  large  number  also  obtain  breakfast  and  tea  in 
this  room.  The  chef,  after  two  years'  experience  with  a 
gas  oven  and  two  months'  with  an  electric  oven,  is  a  strong 
advocate  of  the  merits  of  the  latter.     The  oven  in  question 


INDUCTANCE    OF    AERIAL    SPLIT    CONDUCTORS. 


Fig.  10— Change-Over  Panel 
for  Reciprocating   Set. 


Fig.     11 — Arrangement    of    Connec- 
tions   for     Merz-Price    Gear. 


has  been  constructed  in  the  workshops  of  the  department 
and  is  capable  of  cooking  joints  up  to  20  lb.  in  weight.  The 
excellent  flavor  of  the  electrically  cooked  meat  is  now  tes- 
tified to  by  the  large  number  of  employees  who  take  part  in 
the  midday  meal,  while  the  chef  is  enthusiastic  about  the 
economy  resulting  from  the  small  shrinkage  that  the  joints 
undergo  during  their  electric  treatment  in  the  oven. 

ELECTRIC   SERVICE. 

A  three-phase  supply  "in  bulk"  is  given  to  all  consumers 
requiring  over  100  kvv.  In  such  cases  the  charge  is  irre- 
spective of  what  use  is  to  be  made  of  the  energy.  As 
showing  the  progress  made  during  the  past  twelve  months, 
since  Oct.  i,  1911,  nine  transformer  chambers  have  been  in- 
stalled on  consumers'  premises  for  giving  supply  in  bulk. 
The  consumers  in  question  include  wire  mills,  woolen  mills 
and  the  corporation  sewage  works  situated  some  5  miles 
from  the  power  station.  The  Bradford  Dyers'  Association 
arc  large  customers  of  the  corporation's  electricity  supply. 

Mr.  T.  Roles  is  the  city  electrical  engineer  of  Bradford 
and  Mr.  J.  H.  Schnauber  is  the  deputy  electrical  engineer. 


SULPHUR  CONTENT  OF  FUEL. 


Sulphur  acids  in  fuels  which  are  consumed  under  steam 
boilers  or  in  internal  combustion  engines  have  a  strong 
corrosive  action.  The  effects  of  such  action  are  well 
evidenced  by  the  pittings,  scales  and  roughened  spots 
on  metal  surfaces  that  have  been  exposed  to  the  products 
of  combustion  of  fuels  rich  in  sulphur.  Therefore  it  is 
desirable  to  have  an  exact  knowledge  of  the  sulphur  content 
of  fuels  in  use.  Technical  Paper  26,  issued  by  the  Bureau 
of  Mines,  Department  of  the  Interior,  on  "Methods  of  De- 
termining the  Sulphur  Content  of  Fuels,  Especially  Petro- 
leum Products,"  by  Messrs.  Irving  C.  Allen  and  I.  W. 
Robertson,  describes  eight  methods  of  determining  the  sul- 
phur content  and  discusses  their  relative  merits.  This 
eleven-page  pamphlet  is  issued  as  part  of  a  report  on 
petroleum  technology. 


By  Louis  Cohen. 

IN  a  very  interesting  paper  on  "Calculation  of  the  High- 
Tension  Line,"  Mr.  Percy  H.  Thomas  *  proposed  the 
use  of  split  conductors  for  long-distance  transmission 
lines  in  order  to  reduce  the  inductance  and  at  the  same 
time  increase  the  capacity.  In  the  same  paper  he  also 
derived  expressions  for  the  inductance  of  conductors  split 
into  two  or  three  parts.  The  method,  however,  adopted  in 
the  derivation  of  the  formulas  is  somewhat  involved  and 
laborious.  The  writer  believes  the  same  result  can  be 
obtained  in  a  much  simpler  and  more  direct  manner,  which 


-D- 


I 
d 


o  0-1-- 

Flg.  1  —  Looped  Conductor  Split  Into  Two   Parts. 

will  be  discussed  in  this  paper.  It  will  also  be  obvious  from 
what  follows  that  the  method  outlined  here  can  be  applied 
with  equal  facility  for  the  derivation  of  formulas  for  the 
inductance  of  conductors  split  into  any  number  of  parts. 

Consider  first  the  case  of  a  looped  conductor  split 
into  two  parts,  the  two  parts  of  each  conductor  being 
placed  symmetrically  with  respect  to  each  other  as  shown 
in  Fig.  I.  The  inductance  of  one  side  of  a  looped  conductor 
is  L  —  M  where  L  is  the  self-inductance  of  either  con- 
ductor and  M  is  the  mutual  inductance.  Now,  it  is  obvious 
that  M  will  not  be  affected  appreciably  by  the  splitting  of 
the  conductors,  hence  it  is  only  necessary  to  consider  the 
change  in  L  due  to  the  splitting  of  the  conductors.  Let  Lo 
denote  the  self-inductance  of  each  part  of  the  split  con- 
ductor and  Mo  the  mutual  inductance  between  the  two  parts. 
For  two  conductors  in  parallel  where  there  is  mutual  in- 
ductance between  them  the  total  inductance  is 


L  =  ^-°: 


■Mo 


and  the  inductance  of  one  side  of  a  looped  conductor  split 
into  two  parts  is  therefore 

,        L„  -I-  Mo 


■M 


(I) 


If  the  current  to  be  transmitted  were  such  as  to  require  a 
conductor  of  radius  a,  then  in  order  to  have  the  same  sec- 
tional area  in  the  split  conductor  the  radius  of  each  will  be 

— ^^.     We  shall  also  designate  bv  d  the  distance  between 

V2 

the  two  parts  of  the  split  conductor  and  by  D  the  distance 

between  the  centers  of  gravity  of  the  two  groups  of  split 

conductors.     With  these  notations,  we  have, 


Lo  =  2  /  J  lo 


2  V  2  / 


Mo  =  2 /  J  I 


M  =  2l 


2/ 
iog.^ 

log,.^ 


'I 

J 


-i) 


(2) 


r    _  ;    f  ,          2  V2/ 
=  I   \  loge +  loge 


->!  2/  ] 

logc-^ 1—2  loge-^    +  2   } 


Introducing  these  values  in   (i),  we  obtain, 

2/ 
1 

In   each  case   /  is  the  length   of  conductor   m   centimeters. 

•Percy  H.   Thomas,  Proceedings  A.    I.    E.   E.,   Vol.   28,   page   641,  June. 
1909. 


D       , 

-r  +  ("-597 


(3) 


November  9,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


The   formula  given  by  Mr.  Thomas   for  this  case,  reduced 
to  our  notation,  is, 


,  D  D 

L  =  I  \  logc h  logc  -j- 

a  a 


-0.3 


(4) 


Formula  (4)  differs  from  (3)  by  a  numerical  constant,  but 
the  derivation  of  formula  (4)  was  not  given,  and  possibly 
there  is  a  misprint  or  an  error  in  its  derivation. 

CONDUCTORS   SPLIT  IN   THREE  PARTS. 

Let  the  three  parts  of  each  conductor  be  arranged  sym- 
metrically at  the  vertices  of  an  equilateral  triangle  as 
shown  in  Fig.  2.  As  in  the  case  of  the  two-part  split  con- 
ductor, we  may  consider  that  the  mutual  inductance  between 
the  to-and-fro  conductors  is  not  affected  by  the  splitting 
of  the  conductors;  hence  it  is  only  necessary  to  consider  the 
change  in  the  self-inductance  of  each  conductor  due  to  the 
splitting.'  The  self-inductance  of  three  conductors  in 
parallel  when  there  is  mutual  inductance  between  the  vari- 
ous conductors  is 

^^Lo±^  (5) 

hence  the  self-inductance  of  either  side  of  the  looped  con- 
ductor is 

Z.0  +  2  Mo 


L  = 


■M 


(6) 


If  a  were  the  radius  of  a  solid  conductor,  then  to  have  the 
same  sectional  area  the  radius  of  each  part  of  the  split 
a 


conductor  will  be 


V3 
Lo  =  2I  ]  logc 


We  have,  therefore, 
2^  3I        3 


Mo  =  2I  \  loge -^  —  I  I 


2/ 

~d 

2/ 

M  =  21   \  loge-jy—  I 


(7) 


Substituting  these  values  in  (6), 
a  2 

^  .  2l 

3 


-If 


loge 


4  2I 

--loge  -r 

3  d 


2  loge -^j-  +2 


f  2  Da  D 

=  I   \ loge \ loge  -7-  +  0.53 

13  a  3  d 


(8) 


The  formula  given  by  Mr.  Thomas  for  this  case  appears  in 
the  following  form : 

D 


L  =  ^/{(i-f/0(^log     ^ 

K  =    ^ — -z approx. 

1  d         I 

loge 1 

a  4 


^('°^4+f)+''°^"4} 


(9) 


«^- 


-D' 


y 


^-   / 

\    / 

Elearieal  World 


Fig.  2. — Conductors  Split   in  Three   Parts. 

One  or   two   examples   will    show   that    (8)    and    (9)    give 
approximately  the  same  result. 

Example  ( i )  : 

Let  a  =  0.23  in.,  Z?  =  72  in.,  d  =  10  a  =  2.3  in. 
D  .         D 


loge—  =  575, 


loge 


3-44 


K  = 


.o..(.  +  i||) 


=  o.on 


loge  10  -f 


By  formula   (8) 


L  =  / 


■0-53  I  = 


8.96 1  cm. 


—  X  5.75  +  ^x344  + 

3  3 

By  formula   (9) 

L  =  —I  I  1.018X6  +  6.89   i  =  8.66  Z  cm. 

Example  (2)  : 

Same  constants  as  above   except  d  =  5  o  =  1.15  in. 


loge =  5.7s,      loge  -f- 

a  a 


4.14,     iv  =  0.013 


By  formula  (8) 

L  =  l  |y  X  5-75+ YX4.14  + 0.53  \  =  9-88  i  cm. 

By  formula   (9) 
2 


L  = 


-I  J  1.013  X  6 -f  2X4-14  [  =9.57 /cm. 


If  the  conductors  were  solid,  we  should  have 

L  =  Z  I  2  loge-j-f  7  [   =  2  X  575  +  0.5  =  12  I  cm. 

Splitting  up  the  conductor  into  three  parts  and  separating 
the  parts  by  a  distance  equal  to  ten  times  the  radius  of  the 
wire  reduces  the  inductance  about  25  per  cent,  while  a 
separation  of  the  parts  equal  to  five  times  the  radius  reduces 
the  inductance  about  18  per  cent. 


COMMERCIAL  EFFICIENCY  OF  SMALL  STEAM 
TURBINES. 


In  a  paper  read  before  the  recent  Chicago  convention  of 
the  Association  of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers  by  Mr. 
Ashley  P.  Peck,  of  Chicago,  district  sales  manager  for  the 
Terry  Steam  Turbine  Company,  and  prepared  jointly  by 
Mr.  W.  J.  A.  London,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  chief  engineer 
of  the  same  company,  and  Mr.  Peck,  the  authors  contended 
that  what  was  demanded  of  small  steam  turbines  is  abso- 
lute reliability  and  that  efficiency  must  not  be  considered  at 
the  expense  of  reliability  and  first  cost.  The  average 
thermal  efficiency  of  small  turbines  is  now  from  40  to  45 
per  cent,  but  there  is  no  reason  why  small  machines  cannot 
be  built  to  approach  the  thermal  efficiency  of  larger  ma- 
chines ;  that  is,  from  65  to  70  per  cent.  At  the  present  time, 
however,  this  efficiency  has  not  been  demanded  nor  has  the 
customer  been  willing  to  pay  for  it. 

Efficiency  in  steam  turbines  is  determined  by  peripheral 
speed  and  the  number  of  stages  of  passes  of  the  steam 
through  the  buckets  of  the  rotor.  A  single-stage  machine 
running  non-condensing  with  a  wheel  2  ft.  in  diameter, 
running  at  2500  r.p.m.,  employing  three  or  four  reversals, 
will  have  an  efficiency  of  40  per  cent.  To  give  an  efficiency 
of,  say,  60  per  cent,  the  same  turbine  would  require  a 
wheel  4.5  ft.  in  diameter.  Experience  has  shown  that  the 
cost  of  small  turbines  follows  very  closely  the  square  of 
the  diameter.  In  other  words,  a  loo-hp  machine  designed 
for  40  per  cent  efficiency  would  sell  for  approximately  one- 
fifth  of  the  price  of  a  turbine  of  the  same  horse-power 
developing  60  per  cent  thermal  efficiency. 

Another  thing  to  consider  is  the  fact  that  in  the  highly 
efficient  turbine  the  wheel  stresses  alone  will  be  five  times 
those  in  the  commercial  type  of  machine.  In  a  multi-stage 
machine  a  turbine  of  the  characteristics  mentioned  and 
having  a  thermal  efficiency  of  40  per  cent  would  have  about 
five  stages.    To  obtain  the  60  per  cent  efficiency  twenty-five 


996 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o.  N'o.  19. 


stages  would  be  required.  The  difference  in  cost  would  be 
practically  the  same  as  in  the  case  where  greater  efficiency 
IS  obtained  by  increasing  the  diameter  of  the  wheel  of  the 
single-stage   machine. 

The  authors  mentioned  the  fact  that  several  modern  sta- 
tions are  now  equipped  with  small  turbines  operating  at  no 
higher  speed  than  1000  r.p.m.  In  one  instance  a  turbine  is 
installed  for  pump  work  at  as  low  a  speed  as  550  r.p.m. 
Turbines  of  this  character  are  installed  because  of  their 
absolute  reliability,  and  for  that  reason  only.  The  abuse 
the  small  turbine  will  withstand  is  great  enough  to  surprise 
even  the  designer.  In  one  of  the  large  power  houses  of 
the  country  a  hot-well  turbine  pump  was  placed  in  a  small 
pit  below  the  base  of  the  floor.  This  pit  was  flooded  up  to 
the  top,  the  turbine  and  pump  being  entirely  immersed. 
The  machine '  ran  along  as  if  nothing  had  happened  and 
attention  was  drawn  to  the  fact  that  there  was  a  machine 
underneath  the  level  of  the  water  only  by  the  surging  action 
of  the  water  on  the  surface. 

As  to  steam  consumption,  in  some  cases  a  small  recipro- 
cating engine  is  better  than  the  turbine,  but  the  depreciation 
of  a  reciprocating  engine  is  much  larger  than  that  of  a 
steam  turbine.  The  authors  declare  that  the  greater 
economy  in  steam  in  the  case  of  the  engine  is  attained  with 
a  greater  investment,  more  attention,  more  floor  area,  higher 
maintenance  cost  and  less  reliability  when  compared  with 
the  steam  turbine. 


AUTOMATIC   VOLTAGE    REGULATION   OF  ALTER- 
NATING-CURRENT GENERATORS. 


By  Lester  McKenney. 

ALTHOUGH  the  automatic  generator  voltage  regu- 
lator has  been  in  use  for  several  years  and  plants 
of  20,000  kw  rating  are  being  handled  satisfactorily 
by  a  single  regulator,  very  little  has  been  published  on  this 
subject.  The  importance  of  good  voltage  regulation  on 
lighting  circuits  has  been  recognized  for  some  time.  Good 
voltage  regulation  is  also  of  importance  in  motor  service. 
especially  where  the  motors  are  carefully  selected  with 
regard  to  load-factor.  The  effect  of  decreased  voltage  on  the 
performance  of  polyphase  induction  motors  is  to  reduce  the 
starting  and  maximum  torques,  which  vary  as  the  square  of 
the  impressed  voltage ;  to  increase  the  running  current,  heat- 
ing and  slip,  and  to  reduce  the  efficiency  and  overload  range. 
Motors  having  heavy  starting  loads  may,  therefore,  fail  to 
start  at  reduced  voltage,  and  motors  having  overloads 
allowable  at  normal  voltage  may  give  trouble  due  to  the 
operation  of  their  automatic  protective  devices.  The  auto- 
matic regulation  of  the  generator  voltage  is,  therefore, 
desirable  in  motor  as  well  as  lighting  service. 

Considerable  confusion  exists  regarding  the  possibilities 
and  limitations  of  the  automatic  regulator,  and  it  seems 
desirable,  in  view  of  the  importance  of  good  voltage  regula- 
tion, that  the  relation  of  this  device  to  the  apparatus  to  be 
controlled  be  clearly  defined  and  proper  consideration  given 
to  matters  affecting  its  operation. 

It  has  been  customary  in  making  specifications  on  gen- 
erating equipment  to  require  generators  having  close  in- 
herent regulation  at  low  power-factors.  Such  generators 
are  usually  designed  with  low  armature  magnetomotive 
force,  large  air-gaps  and  strong  saturated  fields,  and  there- 
fore are  expensive.  Owing  to  the  high  flux  density  in  the 
fields,  the  excitation  must  be  varied  through  a  wide  range  to 
maintain  constant  voltage  from  no-load  to  full-load.  For 
this  reason,  where  automatic  regulators  are  adapted  to 
existing  plants  inferior  results  must  be  expected. 

The  best  results  are  obtained  where  the  generating  equip- 
ment is  designed  with  automatic  voltage  regulation  in  view 
and  advantage  is  taken  of  everything  that  will  reduce  the 
time  constant.    The  generators  may  be  designed  with  higher 


armature  reaction  and  shorter  air-gaps.  The  flux  density 
should  be  low,  a  point  of  great  importance  in  automatic 
voltage  regulation.  Generators  thus  designed  will  have 
poor  inherent  regulation  at  low  power-factors  and  are  less 
expensive.  The  use  of  automatic  regulators,  therefore,  per- 
mits the  employment  of  cheaper  generators,  or  for  the  same 
first  cost  generators  of  higher  efficiency.  In  the  smaller 
plants,  subject  to  unbalanced  loads,  the  generators  should 
have  fairly  good  inherent  regulation  so  that  the  difference 
between  the  voltages  of  the  different  phases  with  the  loads 
unbalanced  will  not  be  excessive. 

Generators  having  low  flux  densities  are  most  desirable  in 
automatic  voltage  regulation  in  that  they  require  smaller 
changes  in  field  current  and  exciter  voltage  for  a  given 
change  in  flux  than  do  generators  having  high  flux  density. 
Owing  to  the  self-inductance  of  the  generator  and  exciter 
field  windings  the  field  currents  cannot  be  changed  instantly 
from  one  value  to  another,  considerable  time  being  required 
for  any  appreciable  change.  In  throwing  loads  upon  gen- 
erators the  drop  at  the  generator  terminals,  due  to  the  | 
armature  resistance  and  reactance,  takes  place  in  a  fraction  ; 
of  a  half  wave — that  is,  practically  instantaneously.  The 
drop  due  to  armature  reaction  takes  place  much  more  s'owly. 

It  will  be  evident  from  the  foregoing  that  the  generator  . 
voltage  cannot  respond  promptly  to  variations  in  the  resist-  ' 
ance  of  the  exciter  field  circuit  and  that  voltage  disturbances 
during  sudden  load  and  speed  changes  cannot  be  prevented. 
The  time  element  introduced  by  self-inductance  is  the 
greatest  obstacle  to  perfect  automatic  voltage  regulation, 
and  it  is  not  unusual  to  find  generators  and  exciters  that  in 
combination  require  two  seconds  for  varying  the  generator 
field  current  over  the  working  range. 

The  design  of  the  exciter  deserves  special  consideration. 
As  in  the  case  of  the  generator,  the  best  results  are  obtained 
where  the  exciters  are  designed  with  automatic  voltage  , 
regulation  in  view.  It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  standard 
exciters  in  sizes  up  to  300  kw  are  being  satisfactorily  con- 
trolled by  the  vibrating  contact  type  of  regulator  and  that 
this  ma)-  be  exceeded  with  exciters  of  special  design.  High- 
speed interpole  exciters  with  "strong  armatures"  and  "weak 
fields"  are  in  general  most  satisfactory  for  this  purpose. 
The  flux  density  should  be  low  for  the  same  reason  as 
applies  to  generators.  The  field  current  should  be  small  so 
that  the  duty  of  the  current-carrying  parts  of  the  regulator 
will  be  as  light  as  possible.  The  exciters  should  have  suf- 
ficient stability  so  that  excessive  manipulation  of  the  hand 
rheostats  will  not  be  required  to  maintain  constant  generator 
voltage  if  the  regulator  should  be  out  of  service  for  any 
reason.  They  should  also  have  sufficient  voltage  range  to 
produce  an  emf,  for  exciters  rated  at  125  volts,  of  from 
10  volts  to  15  volts  in  excess  of  that  required  to  maintain 
the  generator  of  normal  voltage  at  the  maximum  load  and 
temperature  and  minimum  power-factor  at  which  voltage 
regulation  is  required.  This  margin  of  exciter  voltage 
insures  that  the  regulator  will  have  control  of  the  voltage 
under  the  worst  operating  conditions.  The  working  range 
of  a  plant  troubled  with  limited  exciter  voltage  can  often  be 
materially  increased  by  shimming  both  the  generator  and 
exciter  pole  pieces,  so  as  to  decrease  the  air-gaps. 

While   the   parallel   operation   of   exciters   controlled   by  ., 
automatic  regulators  is  possible  and  many  plants  are  thus 
operated,  it  will  usually  be  found  best  to  make  the  exciters-,, 
of  such  sizes  that  each  one  will  be  capable  of  exciting  all 
the  alternators  which  may  be  operating  in  parallel  at  any 
one  time,  on  account  of  the  greater  simplicity  of  operation. 

Where  parallel  operation  of  the  exciters  is  necessary,  in 
addition  to  the  usual  requirements  for  parallel  operation, 
the  exciters  should  have  approximately  the  same  maximum 
voltage  at  full  load;  otherwise  the  exciter  having  the 
greatest  voltage  range  may  be  unduly  overloaded  when  the 
maximum  excitation  is  called  for.  They  should  also  require 
approximately  the  same  percentage  variation  in  the  resist- 
ance of  the  shunt-field  circuit  for  the  same  change  of  volt- 


s 


November  9,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


997 


age,  and  changes  of  load  in  proportion  to  their  size,  so  that 
proper  division  of  the  load  may  be  maintained  throughout 
the  range  of  operation. 

The  characteristics  of  exciters,  even  of  the  same  design, 
usually  differ  to  a  considerable  extent,  and  equalizer 
rheostats  in  the  shunt-field  circuits  are  required  in  order  to 
obtain  these  results.  The  equalizer  rheostat  does  not,  how- 
ever, give  complete  correction  in  all  cases,  as  one  e.xciter 
may  require  a  greater  percentage  variation  in  resistance 
than  another  for  the  same  change  of  voltage,  and  a  smaller 
percentage  variation  of  resistance  for  changes  of  load, 
proportional  to  the  capacity  of  the  exciters. 

The  vibrating  contact  type  of  regulator  previously  re- 
ferred to  is  the  most  successful  and  most  widely  used  of  all 
the  types  which  have  thus  far  been  brought  out.  In  order 
to  insure  the  proper  operation  of  this  type  of  regulator 
special  attention  should  be  given  to  the  proper  adjustment 
of  the  generator,  e.xciter  and  equalizer  rheostats.  The 
exciters,  if  compound-wound,  should  be  flat-compounded  at 
a  voltage  considerably  below  normal,  so  that  shunt  field 
rheostats  of  excessive  resistance  will  not  be  required  to 
reduce  the  voltage  to  the  required  minimum.  All  the  adjust- 
ments of  the  regulator  itself  are  made  by  measurement,  and 
alterations  should  be  attempted  only  by  those  who  have  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  effects  that  may  be  produced. 
The  most  careful  consideration  should  be  given  to  the 
selection  of  a  regulator  of  proper  size,  as  upon  this  depends 
the  performance  of  vibrating  contacts.  The  condenser 
capacity  per  set  of  contacts  and  the  distance  of  the  con- 
densers from  the  contacts  also  materially  affect  their 
performance. 

Regulation  of  the  generator  voltage  is  obtained  with  this 
type  of  regulator  by  varying  the  exciter  voltage  to  meet  the 
excitation  requirements,  the  exciter  voltage  being  controlled 
by  means  of  vibrating  relay  contacts  which  alternately 
short-circuit  and  cut  in  the  exciter  field  rheostat.  Owing  to 
the  inductance  of  the  exciter  field  winding  the  field  current 
cannot  drop  immediately,  when  the  relay  contacts  open,  to 
the  value  corresponding  to  the  resistance  of  the  exciter  field 
circuit 'and  the  exciter  voltage,  the  current  continuing  to 
flow  as  a  transient,  with  an  initial  value  nearly  equal  to  the 
normal,  through  the  exciter  field  rheostat  or  through  the 
arc  at  the  relay  contacts.  The  resistance  used  in  the 
exciter  field  rheostat  in  automatic  voltage  regulation  is 
many  times  that  used  in  hand  control.  Condensers  are, 
therefore,  required  to  prevent  excessive  voltage  and  arcing 
at  the  relay  contacts.  It  might  appear  at  first  sight  that 
exciters  of  the  largest  possible  size  could  be  controlled  by 
a  single  pair  of  contacts,  provided  that  a  condenser  of 
sufficient  capacity  were  used.  Such,  however,  is  not  the 
case,  as  the  heavy  discharge  current,  due  to  the  large 
amount  of  energy  which  would  be  stored  in  the  condenser, 
would  cause  the  contacts  to  weld  together  upon  closing. 

It  is  often  desirable  to  compound  the  generator  voltage 
to  compensate  for  line  drop  and  thus  maintain  constant 
voltage  on  a  certain  feeder  at  the  center  of  distribution. 
Provision  is  made  for  this,  on  the  vibrating  contact  type  of 
regulator,  by  placing  a  series  winding  on  the  alternating- 
current  control  magnet  in  addition  to  the  shunt  winding. 
The  series  winding  is  connected  to  a  series  transformer 
located  in  the  feeder  to  be  compounded,  and  in  such  a 
manner  that  the  magnetomotive  force  of  the  series  winding 
is  approximately  in  opposition  to  that  of  the  shunt  winding. 
On  three-phase  systems,  owing  to  the  efifect  of  phase 
rotation  upon  the  phase  displacement  between  the  line  cur- 
rent and  the  voltage  between  phases,  the  series  transformer 
must  be  located  in  the  proper  one  of  the  two  lines  to  which 
the  shunt  winding  of  the  alternating-current  control  magnet 
is  connected.  When  located  in  the  proper  line  the  ma.ximum 
compounding  effect  will  be  obtained  at  86  per  cent  power- 
factor  lagging  and  when  located  in  the  other  line  at  86  per 
cent  power-factor  leading.  The  efifect  of  phase  rotation 
upon  this  method  of  compounding  has  not  been  generally 


recognized.  Even  when  properly  connected  this  system 
gives  correct  results  only  at  the  power-factor  at  which  it  is 
adjusted. 

Where  accurate  compounding  is  required  on  a  feeder 
carrying  a  load  at  variable  power-factor  use  should  be  made 
of  a  line-drop  compensator,  the  connections  to  the  series 
winding  on  the  alternating-current  control  magnet  being 
omitted.  The  line-drop  compensator  consists  of  a  resistor 
and  reactor  connected  in  series,  to  which  the  series  trans- 
formers located  in  the  feeder  to  be  compounded  are  con- 
nected. Numerous  taps  are  brought  out  from  both  the 
resistor  and  reactor,  to  which  the  shunt  winding  of  the 
alternating-current  control  magnet  is  connected  by  means 
of  suitable  dial  switches  mounted  on  the  compensator. 

The  line  drop  compensator  when  properly  adjusted  pro- 
duces an  impedance  drop  proportional  to  and  in  time-phase 
with  the  impedance  drop  in  the  line,  the  voltage  impressed 
upon  the  alternating-current  control  magnet  being  propor- 
tional to  the  voltage  at  the  center  of  distribution,  regardless 
of  the  load  and  power-factor.  The  voltage  impressed  upon 
the  alternating-current  control  magnet  is  maintained  as  a 
constant  value  by  the  regulator  and  the  generator  voltage  is 
varied  as  required. 

With  either  method  of  compounding,  the  voltage  of  all 
feeders  connected  to  the  busbar  upon  which  the  regulator 
is  working  is,  of  course,  increased  to  the  same  e.xtent  as 
that  of  the  compounded  feeder.  Lightly  loaded  feeders 
may,  therefore,  deliver  excessive  voltage  when  the  com- 
pounded feeder  is  carrying  an  exceptionally  heavy  load.  In 
central-station  work  the  series  transformers  used  in  con- 
nection with  the  compounding  device  should  not  be  located 
in  a  feeder  carrying  a  rapidly  fluctuating  load,  such  as  a 
railway  feeder  or  a  feeder  supplying  energy  to  large  motors 
which  are  started  frequently,  as  the  rapid  variation  of  the 
current  through  the  compensator  would  cause  a  correspond- 
ing variation  of  the  busbar  voltage  which  would  be  evident 
throughout  the  entire  system. 

Compounding  devices  in  connection  with  generator  volt- 
age regulators  are  used  to  the  best  advantage  where  there  is 
only  a  single  feeder  circuit  running  out  from  the  station. 
In  stations  doing  a  general  central-station  business  it  is 
considered  better  practice  to  maintain  a  constant  busbar 
voltage,  omitting  the  compounding  feature  from  the  gen- 
erator voltage  regulator,  and  to  equip  each  feeder  circuit 
upon  which  it  is  desired  to  maintain  a  constant  voltage  at 
the  center  of  distribution  with  an  automatic  feeder  regu- 
lator the  compounding  device  of  which  may  be  adjusted  to 
meet  the  needs  of  that  particular  feeder. 

The  time-constant  of  the  vibrating  contact  type  of  regu- 
lator is  materially  shorter  than  that  of  the  most  favorable 
generating  and  e.xciting  equipment.  The  generating  and 
exciting  equipment  must,  therefore,  be  looked  to  for  future 
improvements  in  automatic  voltage  regulation.  The  failure 
to  secure  satisfactory  results  usually  leads  to  an  investiga- 
tion of  the  performance  of  this  equipment. 


TURBINES  TO  HEAT  HOT- WATER  SYSTEM. 


Two  500-kw  Westinghouse  steam  turbines  in  the  plant 
of  the  Elwood  Electric  Light  Company  at  Elwood,  Ind.. 
are  to  be  operated  condensing  during  the  coming  winter, 
exhausting  into  Alberger  surface  condensers  whose  cir- 
culating supply  will  be  the  return  from  the  local  district 
hot-water-heating  system.  In  this  way  the  hot  water  for 
the  heating  system  will  be  provided  by  heat  units  reclaimed 
from  the  turbine  exhaust.  The  special  Alberger  condensers 
to  be  used  have  a  surface  area  of  10  sq.  ft.  per  kilowatt  of 
turbine  rating  and  .with  their  aid  it  is  expected  to  hold 
vacuum  pressures  of  15  in.  to  16  in.  of  mercury,  while  run- 
ning on  the  heating-system  circulation.  Mr.  N.  M.  Arga- 
brite  is  manager  of  the  Elwood  Electric  Light  Company. 


998 


ELECTRICAL     \V  O  R  L  D 


Vol..  60,  No.  19. 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


RECORD  MONTH  FOR  HOUSE  WIRING  AT 
WICHITA,  KAN. 

During  the  last  twelve  months  the  Kansas  Gas  &  Electric 
Company,  which  operates  in  Wichita  and  Newton,  has  added 
an  average  of  100  "old"  houses  to  its  lines  as  the  result  of 
an  aggressive  wiring  campaign  conducted  by  its  new-busi- 
ness department.  In  September,  however,  even  former 
records  were  outdistanced  by  the  closing  of  208  contracts, 
and  this  in  turn  has  since  been  eclipsed  by  securing  215 
contracts  during  the  first  fifteen  days  of  October.  Wichita's 
population  is  55,000,  and  the  Kansas  company  now  has  6500 
electric-lighting  customers. 

Mr.  Malcolm  A.  Smith,  contract  agent,  has  relied  chiefly 
upon  newspaper  and  direct  advertising  to  accomplish  these 
results.  Only  two  solicitors  are  employed,  besides  a  man 
in  charge  of  the  display  room.  At  frequent  intervals  cir- 
cular letters  are  delivered  by  messengers  to  all  prospective 
customers,  and  the  advantages  of  electric  lighting  are  thus 
kept  constantly  before  non-users. 


VALUE  OF  OFF-PEAK  LOAD. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  commercial  division  of  the  Com- 
monwealth Edison  Company  Section  of  the  National  Elec- 
tric Light  Association  held  in  Chicago  on  Oct.  24  Mr.  A.  D. 
Bailey,  assistant  engineer  of  the  Fisk  and  Quarry  Street 
stations,  read  an  interesting  paper  entitled  "The  Value  of 
Off-Peak  Load  to  the  Central  Station."  The  principal  loss 
due  to  poor  load-factor  is  the  idle  investment  charge,  of 
course.  Thus,  even  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company, 
which  is  estimated  to  have  the  comparatively  excellent  an- 
nual load-factor  of  41  per  cent,  based  on  the  maximum  load, 
has  to  take  into  account  an  interest  charge  every  twenty- 
four  hours  on  from  60  to  65  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  its 
generating  equipment  for  idle  machinery,  this  being  about 
the  difference  between  the  total  rated  capacity  and  the  rated 
capacity  actually  in  use  during  the  twenty-four-hour  period, 
as  shown  by  the  load  curve. 

But  there  are  some  other,  if  smaller,  losses  which  can  be 
traced  directly  to  poor  load-factor.  Mr.  Bailey  showed  curves 
of  output  from  boilers  in  service  at  the  Fisk  and  Quarry 
Street  stations  at  all  times  during  a  typical  twenty-four- 
hour  day.  He  pointed  out  that  the  labor  cost  of  generating 
energy  increases  proportionately  with  the  decrease  of  load. 
During  the  off-peak  period  the  amount  of  labor  necessary 
to  operate  the  stations  is  proportionately  much  greater  than 
at  the  time  of  maximum  demand.  Furthermore,  there  are 
some  losses  in  starting  and  stopping  machinery,  w-hile  it  is 
also  true  that  steam  turbines  and  boilers  are  most  efficient 
when  operated  at  full  load.  It  takes  three  or  four  hours  to 
get  a  boiler  into  service  after  it  has  been  allowed  to  cool 
off;  therefore,  it  is  necessary  to  keep  a  reserve  of  boilers 
with  fires  banked.  It  takes  3700  lb.  of  coal  to  fire  up  a 
cold  boiler  at  the  Fisk  Street  station,  while  a  banked  boiler 
requires  an  hourly  fuel  consumption  of  iSo  lb. 

Mr.  E.  W.  Grover,  a  substation  operator,  pointed  out 
that  the  effect  of  poor  load-factor  was  felt  not  only  in  the 
generating  stations  but  in  the  substations,  although  in  a 
somewhat  different  manner.  He  spoke  about  the  off-peak 
rates  of  charging  adopted  by  the  company  and  said  that 
possibly  in  the  cases  of  some  substations  these  rates  might 
attract  business  that  would  cause  some  overlapping  with 
the  peak  during  the  winter. 

This  gave  an  opportunity  to  Mr.  E.  W.  Lloyd,  general 
•contract  agent  of  the  company,  to  present  a  lucid  explana- 


tion of  the  philosophy  of  the  off-peak  or  limited-term 
schedule  of  rates  and  also  of  the  Hopkinson  method  of 
charging.  He  pointed  out,  among  other  things,  that  the 
taking  on  of  off-peak  load  to  supply  ice-making  plants  was 
particularly  advantageous,  as  the  conditions  of  the  artificial- 
ice  business  are  such  that  these  plants  are  necessarily  scat- 
tered about,  so  that  it  will  usually  be  found  that  each  ice 
plant  can  be  handled  through  a  separate  substation.  Mr. 
Oliver  R.  Hogue  presided  at  the  meeting. 


KENTUCKY  ELECTRIC  COMPANY'S  BUILDING. 


"Tlie  Electric  Building"  is  the  name  of  the  new  home  of 
the  Kentucky  Electric  Company,  of  Louisville,  Ky.  The 
christening  was  participated  in  directly  by  nearly  a  hundred 
persons,  nineteen  of  whom  suggested  the  above  name  in 
the  novel  contest  conducted  by  the  company  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  the  most  appropriate  name  for  its  new  head- 
quarters. In  view  of  the  fact  that  nineteen  persons  hit 
upon  the  same  name,  the  company  split  the  $50  capital  prize 
which  was  offered,  and  each  winner  received  $5   in  gold. 

Three  other  appellations,  "The  Light  House,"  "The 
Koh-I-Noor"  and  "Dyna-Lux,"  were  approved  by  the  com- 
pany for  use  in  its  advertising,  and  their  originators  drew 
lots  for  the  second,  third  and  fourth  prizes,  consisting  of 
electrical  devices  for  the  home.  The  three-story  structure 
occupied  by  the  demonstration  rooms  and  business  offices  of 


New    Building  of   Kentucky    Electric   Company. 

the  Kentucky  Electric  Company  is  one  of  the  handsomest  of 
its  kind,  and  on  the  roof  there  will  be  placed  the  second 
largest  electric  sign  in  the  country.  Elaborate  electrical 
ornamentation  is  one  of  the  features  of  the  structure,  and 
its  interior  equipment  for  the  demonstration  of  electricity 
in  industrial  and  domestic  service  is  said  to  be  second 
to  none. 


November  9,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


999 


HOUSE-WIRING  AND  ELECTRIC-IRON  CAMPAIGNS 
AT  LAWRENCE,  KAN. 

Since  the  inauguration  of  a  house-wiring  campaign  in 
May,  1912,  250  old  houses  have  been  wired  for  electricity 
at  Lawrence,  Kan.,  which  has  a  population  of  15,000.  Two 
to  three  solicitors  have  been  employed  at  a  time,  and  exten- 
sive use  has  been  made  of  newspaper  advertising,  half  and 
quarter  pages  being  used  from  time  to  time.  The  houses 
wired  to  date  have  been  equipped  at  an  average  cost  of 
about  $40  each,  including  all  material,  labor,  etc.  To  secure 
this  business  the  Lawrence  Railway  &  Light  Company  has 
been  at  an  expense  of  about  $12  per  customer,  this  figure 
including  office  overhead  charges,  advertising,  salaries,  etc. 
In  return  for  this  'Outlay  there  has  been  performed,  of 
course,  considerable  additional  valuable  missionary  work, 
bringing'  in  information  concerning  prospective  customers, 
etc. 

An  electric-iron  sales  campaign  was  recently  carried  out 
in  Lawrence,  145  irons  being  placed.  A  colored  laundress 
using  an  electric  iron  was  transported  slowly  through  the 
residence  streets  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  housewives, 
and  following,  one  to  each  side  of  the  street,  came  two 
solicitors,  who  visited  every  house,  offering  an  electric  iron 
if  the  place  was  already  wired,  or,  if  not,  urging  the  house- 
wiring  proposition.  During  the  day  forty-four  irons  were 
put  out  by  two  men.  The  devices  were  left  on  ten  days'  free 
trial,  the  period  being  so  chosen  as  to  include  two  ironing 
days.  In  arranging  his  advertising,  Mr.  W.  C.  Duncan, 
new-business  manager  of  the  Lawrence  company,  has 
adopted  as  a  "slogan"  "The  electric  way  is  better !" 


AUXILIARY  SERVICE  TO  TELEGRAPH  COMPANIES. 


Kansas  City,  Mo.,  is  a  relay  point  for  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal telegraph  companies,  and  any  interruption  to  its  cen- 
tral-station energy  supply  would  consequently  affect  the 
entire  Western  wire  system,  even  as  far  as  the  Pacific  Coast. 
To  insure  continuity  of  this  service  in  spite  of  any  un- 
foreseen accident  to  plants  or  lines,  special  emergency  feed- 
ers have  been  run  from  the  Kansas  City  Electric  Light 
Company's  battery  substation  at  Sixth  and  Wall  Streets  to 
the  telegraph  offices.     This  150-cell,  220-volt  Exide  storage 


Interior   of   Wall    Street    Battery   Substation,    Kansas    City. 

battery  has  a  capacity  of  9000  amp  for  twenty  minutes  and 
is  provided  with  duplicate  end-cell  switches.  When  on 
.charge  one  end-cell  switch  is  run  out  to  its  highest  position 
while  the  other  is  moved  to  give  minimum  pressure.  To 
the  latter  are  connected  the  auxiliary  station  lighting  and 
the  special  telegraph-service  feeder.  Although  the  pressure 
obtained    even    with    the    "low"    end-cell    switch    would    be 


about  300  volts  were  the  feeder  switch  closed  under  these 
charging  conditions,  the  heavy  demand  coming  onto  the 
battery  from  the  rest  of  the  system  is  depended  upon  to 
pull  down  this  pressure  to  some  value  more  nearly  the 
regular  service  potential,  220  volts. 


TWO   MEN,  EIGHT  DAYS,  354  IRONS. 


In  a  house-to-house  iron  campaign  in  Kankakee,  Dwight, 
Odell  and  other  northern  Illinois  towns  two  commercial 
agents  of  the  local  central-station  company  recently  placed 
354  electric  irons  in  as  many  households  in  eight  days. 
The  irons  were  sold  at  $3  each,  payable  in  monthly  instal- 
ments of  $1  if  preferred,  and  thirty  days'  trial  was  per- 
mitted. One  of  the  representatives  took  the  right-hand 
side  of  the  streets  and  the  other  one  the  left-hand  side,  and 
they  called  at  every  house  reached  by  service  wires.  The 
supply  of  irons  followed  in  a  buggy. 


COST  OF  HEATING  WATER  FROM  STEAM  MAINS. 


Many  companies  doing  a  district-heating  business  make 
a  nominal  charge  of  $1  a  month  or  $12  a  year  for  heating 
the  household  hot-water  supply  of  customers.  Too  often 
this  estimate  is  reached  without  any  accurate  consideration 
of  the  actual  demands  of  such  a  tank  steam  coil.  In  dis- 
cussing this  question  at  the  Illinois  convention  at  Peoria 
recently  several  speakers  reported  the  results  of  meter 
tests  applied  to  such  services,  some  of  which  showed  that  a 
charge  of  $5  a  month  would  be  more  nearly  in  accordance 
with  the  steam  consumption  measured,  figuring  the  steam 
at  55  cents  per  1000  lb.  Mr.  F.  J.  Baker,  Chicago,  declared 
that  his  company  prefers  to  avoid  furnishing  household 
hot-water  service  to  customers  wherever  possible.  Mr. 
E.  H.  Negley,  Canton,  reported  tests  on  a  30-gal.  range 
boiler,  in  which  the  steam  required  averaged  about  $1 
worth  a  week,  or  $4  a  month.  Where  hot-water  service  is 
required  by  the  consumer  the  Canton  company  insists  on 
installing  a  condensation  meter,  charging  the  customer  on 
a  sliding  schedule,  from  50  cents  to  75  cents  per  looo  lb. 


COMMISSIONS  FOR  NON-COMMERCIAL  EM- 
PLOYEES WHO  AID  SALES. 


Notices  have  been  posted  in  the  power  house,  carhouses 
and  wherever  employees  of  the  Emporia  (Kan.)  Railway 
&  Light  Company  work  explaining  that  the  company  stands 
ready  to  reward  with  cash  commissions  those  who  offer 
"tips"  on  prospective  customers  or  otherwise  contribute  to 
the  sale  of  household  appliances,  motor  installations,  etc. 
Solicitors,  of  course,  are  not  permitted  to  share  in  these 
awards,  but  the  employees  in  the  mechanical  and  non- 
commercial departments  are  thus  urged  to  co-operate,  al- 
though outside  their  own  work,  in  this  new-business  devel- 
opment of  the  company.  Following  is  the  schedule  of  com- 
missions offered:  Electric  iron  (6-lb.),  50  cents;  toaster, 
25  cents;  toaster-stove,  75  cents;  signs,  $1 ;  disk  stove,  4  in., 
35  cents ;  disk  stove,  6  in.  or  over,  50  cents ;  coffee  percola- 
tor, 50  cents;  cigar  lighter,  25  cents;  radiator,  $1.50;  sewing 
machine,  $1.50;  motors,  per  hp,  50  cents;  washing  machine, 
$1,  and  new  connections,  50  cents.  When  two  employees 
report  on  the  same  prospective  customer  the  one  giving 
notice  first  is  credited  with  the  bonus  when  the  sale  is  made. 
Commissions  are  paid  promptly  to  those  earning  them.  The 
amount  allowed  has  in  each  case  been  estimated  to  cover  the 
central-station's  ordinary  selling  profit  and  the  freight  paid 
on  the  apparatus.  In  this  way  the  devices  are  disposed  of 
by  the  company  virtually  at  cost. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


LOUISVILLE  LIGHTING  COMPANY'S  PUBLICITY. 


That  a  publication  coming  under  the  general  head  of 
house  organs  may  be  popularized  to  such  an  extent  that  it 
commands  sale  at  the  news-stands  has  been  proved  by  the 
Louisville  Lighting  Company,  of  Louisville,  Ky.  Under  the 
direction  of  the  sales  manager,  Mr.  A.  T.  Macdonald, 
formerly  managing  editor  of  the  Louisville  Herald  and  a 
talented  newspaper  man,  the  Gateway  City  company  pub- 
lishes Chained  Lighttiing,  a  monthly  magazine  which  tells 
of  the  progress  of  electricity  locally  and  in  the  world  at 
large.  Photographs  and  stories  of  local  interest  are  used 
liberally,  and  accounts  of  interesting  electrical  developments 
throughout  America  and  foreign  countries  are  included. 
During  a  comparatively  short  existence  the  paper  has  gained 
circulation  in  5000  homes,  chiefly  those  of  patrons  or  pos- 
sible customers  of  the  company.  Chained  Lightning  has 
now  been  placed  on  sale  at  Louisville  news-stands,  and  its 
breezy  make-up  is  such  that  many  hundred  copies  are  sold 
monthly  at  5  cents  apiece. 


In  a  booklet  describing  the  new  residential  meter  rates 
the  company  points  out  that  a  larger  percentage  of  reduc- 
tion is  obtained  as  the  consumer  makes  a  greater  use  of 
energy  for  lighting  and  other  purposes  not  limited  by  the 
requirements  of  the  active  rooms.  The  new  rate  is  based 
on  the  principle  that  after  the  company  makes  the  nec- 
essary investment  to  place  itself  in  readiness  to  serve  the 
consumer  and  receives  at  the  primary  rate  an  amount  suf- 
ficient to  take  care  of  its  fixed  or  "getting  ready"  costs  it 
can  then  make  a  material  reduction  in  the  rate  covered  un- 
der the  secondary  charge.  The  use  of  many  heating  and 
small-power  devices  is  therefore  specially  encouraged, 
bringing  within  the  reach  of  every  householder  electric 
conveniences  that  under  the  new  schedule  cease  to  be  lux- 
uries. Under  the  secondary  portion  of  this  schedule,  for 
example,  a  fan  used  120  hours  per  month  and  consuming 
33  watts  costs  but  20  cents  per  month ;  a  500-watt  flatiron 
used  twelve  hours  per  month  costs  30  cents,  and  a  washing 
machine  used  eight  hours  per  month  costs  but  8  cents. 
Mr.  George  B.  Tripp  is  general  manager  of  the  company. 


NEW  RESIDENTLAL  RATES  AT  HARRISBURG,  PA. 

The  Harrisburg  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  Harris- 
burg,  Pa.,  inaugurated  a  new  schedule  of  residential  rates 
en  Oct.  I  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  a  special 
city  ordinance  agreed  upon  by  the  municipality  and  the 
company.  The  rate  applies  to  lighting,  miscellaneous  serv- 
ice and  small  motors  for  domestic  work  up  to  and  including 
J4  hp  in  individual  motors  as  used  on  the  premises.  One 
schedule  applies  to  meter  rates  and  another  to  flat  rates 
based  on  the  use  of  an  excess  indicator.  The  former  con- 
sists of  a  primary  rate  of  10.5  cents  per  kw-hr.  per  month, 
up  to  4  kw-hr.  per  "active"'  room,  and  a  secondary  charge 
of  5.5  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  all  energy  used  in  excess  of 
4  kw-hr.  per  "active"  room,  with  a  discount  of  10  per  cent 
for  prompt  payment  and  a  minimum  monthly  charge  of  $1 
net  when  the  energ)'  consumed  during  the  month  amounts 
to  less  than  the  latter  sum.  Under  "active"  rooms  are  in- 
cluded alcove,  ballroom,  billiard  room,  bedrooms  in  excess 
of  three,  conservatory,  den,  dining  room,  drawing  room, 
dressing  room,  garage,  gymnasium,  kitchen,  library,  living 
room,  music  room,  observatory,  parlor,  plaza,  reception 
room  and  hall,  stable,  studio  and  all  rooms  occupied  by 
servants,  even  if  located  in  adjacent  buildings,  if  connected 
to  the  residence  meter.  "Inactive"  rooms  include  attic, 
bathroom,  three  bedrooms,  cellar,  closets,  coal  shed,  cor- 
ridor, garret,  hallway,  hothouse,  laundry,  pantry,  piazzas, 
playhouse,  porch,  portico,  sewing  room,  sun  parlor,  stor- 
age sheds,  toilet  rooms,  tower  rooms  and  unfinished  rooms. 
"Appliances"  also  come  under  the  head  of  "inactive." 

The  new  meter  rate  gives  a  substantial  discount  to  the 
householder  in  comparison  with  former  prices  for  service. 
Thus  an  eight-room  residence  consisting  of  a  reception 
hall,  parlor,  dining  room,  kitchen,  four  bedrooms,  bath- 
room, attic,  cellar  and  closets  uses,  say,  30  kw-hr.  in  a 
month.  Under  the  old  rate  the  householder  would  have 
had  to  pay  12  cents  per  kw-hr.,  or  $3.60  less  10  per  cent 
discount  for  prompt  payment  of  the  bill,  giving  a  net  bill 
of  $3.24,  or  10.8  cents  per  kw-hr.  Under  the  new  rate  the 
bill  is  submitted  on  the  basis  of  five  active  rooms  using  4 
kw-hr.  each,  or  20  kw-hr.,  at  the  rate  of  10.5  cents  per 
unit,  totaling  $2.10.  The  balance  shown  by  the  meter,  10 
kw-hr.,  is  billed  at  5.5  cents  each,  or  55  cents  total,  mak- 
ing the  gross  bill  $2.65  and  the  net,  with  10  per  cent  dis- 
count, $2.39,  or  8  cents  per  unit.  This  is  a  reduction  of  26 
per  cent  in  favor  of  the  new  rates. 

The  excess-indicator  flat  rate  is  based  on  a  one-year  con- 
tract and  consists  of  a  charge  of  1.25  cents  per  watt  of 
demand  per  calendar  month,  with  a  20  per  cent  discount  for 
prompt  payment.  The  consumer  is  required  to  use  tung- 
sten lamps  and  renew  them  at  his  own  expense. 


REACHING  THE   RENTED    HOUSES. 


To  each  tenant  of  a  rented  house  who  induces  his  land- 
lord to  wire  the  house  for  electricity  the  Emporia  (Kan.) 
Railway  &  Light  Company  offers  a  credit  memorandum  for 
$2,  applicable  on  the  purchase  of  lamps  or  other  electrical 
devices.  This  coupon  form  is  reproduced  herewith  and 
has  helped  greatly  in  stimulating  the  tenants'  interest.     To 


$2.00 


$2.00 


RENTER'S  COUPON 


CI.  -iu^^xz^ 


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trira/  merc^atK^dAe,  J^t  /U  i^dueti  in  corUif/erat4on  o^  AiA 
tt&ina  ouK  deifviee  an*/ fn^/ttrtft^  tfie  /and/or*/ to  inAta// elee- 
ttcfca/aervire. 

^Ae  ^Bmpoieia  ^ai/tra^  a.n^S£f^i  ^^<fmft€»n^ 


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Tenant's   Credit   Memorandum. 

the  landlord  who  wires  the  house  for  his  tenant  the  com- 
pany also  allows  a  discount  of  10  per  cent  of  the  amount  of 
the  wiring  contract.  To  residents  owning  their  own  homes 
the  company  offers,  free  of  all  charge,  a  6-lb.  electric  iron. 
It  is  the  aim  to  have  every  person  in  Emporia  use  electric 
service,  and  to  this  end  these  liberal  offers  are  being  made 
in  addition  to  the  special  house-wiring  campaign  prices  now 
in-  force. 


IMPROVING  DEPARTMENT-STORE  ILLUMINATION. 


The  Peck  dry-goods  company's  store,  Kansas  City,  was 
formerly  lighted  by  fourteen  5-amp  inclosed-arc  lamps  and 
by  a  number  of  i6-cp  and  32-cp  incandescent  units,  aggre- 
gating a  peak  demand  of  120  kw  for  the  lighting  load  alone. 
When  the  service  was  converted  to  central-station  supply  ^ 
from  the  lines  of  the  Kansas  City  Electric  Light  Company 
the  latter's  engineers  were  called  in  to  make  a  study  of  the 
problem  of  improving  the  efficiency  of  the  store's  equip- 
ment. For  the  arc  lamps  250-watt  tungsten  units  were 
substituted.  The  hydraulic  elevators  formerly  operated  by 
steam  pumps  were  replaced  by  four  35-hp  electric  elevators, 
and  as  a  result  the  peak  demand  of  the  entire  installation, 
both  lighting  and  motors,  has  not  exceeded  105  kw — barely 
87  per  cent  of  the  former  lighting  demand. 


November  9,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

CONDUIT  VERSUS  OPEN  WORK  IN  PLACES  SUB- 
JECT TO  MOISTURE,  CORROSIVE 
FUMES,  STEAM,  ETC.— IV. 

By  F.  G.  :  Waldenfels. 
In  the  last  previous  article  attention  was  given  to  certain 
fittings  suitable  for  installation  in  packing  houses,  sockets, 
lamps  and  cut-outs  being  described.  Other  fittings  and 
apparatus  are  given  consideration  in  the  present  instalment, 
it  being  understood  that  this  series  is  restricted  to  such 
apparatus  and  fittings  as  are  used  in  wet  places. 

SNAP  SWITCHES. 

For  lamp  circuits  snap  switches  are  safest  and  fulfil  tiie 
requirements.  Small  knife  switches  are  too  dangerous  in 
damp  places,  especially  where  foreign  laborers  are  employed. 
The  greatest  trouble  experienced  with  the  ordinarv  snap 
switches  is  due  to  the  paper  lining  under  tiie  metal   shell. 


Fig.    35— Snap    Switch. 

This  absorbs  moisture,  swells  and  causes  short-circuits 
between  the  screw  terminals  inside  and  the  outside  metal 
shell.  To  prevent  corrosion,  the  metal  cover  should  be 
treated  with  a  coat  of  asphaltum  or  lacquer.  All  snap 
switches  should  be  mounted  on  J/2-in.  porcelain  knobs,  cleats 
or  hard-rubber  tubing.  Snap  switches  with  porcelain  shells 
have  not  proved  satisfactory  in  packing  houses  on  account 
of  the  rough  usage  to  which  they  are  subjected.  It  is 
advantageous  to  have  the  key  work  on  a  socket  so  made  that 
it  cannot  be  unscrewed.  There  is,  however,  a  snap  switch 
for  wet  places  on  the  market  that  has  a  composition  hard- 
rubber  cap  '/i  in.  thick,  and  the  writer  understands  that 
I  covers  to   fit  different   switches   can   be   bought   separately. 

KNIFE  SWITCHES. 

On  an  ordinary  knife  switch  several  defects  can  be  found 
that  cause  excessive  heating.  A  large  switch  that  is  fre- 
quently opened  and  closed  will  loosen  up  at  the  hinges : 
the  nuts  also  work  loose,  releasing  the  spring  washers,  and 
very  often  the  lugs  or  wires  are  not  screwed  down  tight  at 
the  terminals.    All  these  defects  lead  to  heating. 

Electricians  frequently  use  a  heavy  pair  of  pliers  to  screw 
a  small  nut  down  on  a  wire.    If  too  much  force  is  used  the 


Fig.   36 — Fused    Knife   Switches. 

threads  are  stripped  and  the  terminal  is  generally  left  in  that 
state,  because  to  remedy  the  defect  would  necessitate  taking 
down  the  whole  switch  base  to  replace  the  stripped  screw. 
It  might  be  well  also  to  call  attention  to  the  cartridge-fused 
knife  switch,  in  which  the  jaws  of  the  switch  are  at  the 
same  height  as  the  ferrule  or  knife-blade  contact  of  the 
fuses.     When  the  switch  is  opened  and  thrown  against  the 


fuses  the  switch  handle  and  blades  act  as  a  lever  and  wedge 
against  the  fuses,  enlarging  the  clips  and  causing  the  con- 
tacts to  heat  when  in  circuit  because  of  the  loose  connection. 
When  purchasing  switches  it  is  desirable  to  choose  those 
of  heavy  construction.  The  terminal  screws  should  be 
heavy  enough  and  of  sufficient  length  to  fasten  the  wire  or 
lug  with  two  heavy  nuts,  one  of  which  acts  as  a  lock  nut. 
To  protect  switches  from  corroding  in  damp  places  the  metal 
parts  should  be  painted  with  lacquer  or  vaseline. 

EXTENSIONS. 

In  running  an  extension  in  wet  places  packing-house  cord 
or  elevator  cable  should  be  used.  It  should  be  equipped  with 
a  weatherproof  socket  inclosed  in  a  substantial  wooden 
handle  having  a  strong  brass,  galvanized  or  bronze  guard, 
with  the  end  open  so  the  lamp  can  be  replaced  if  necessary. 
At  the  other  end  there  should  be  provided  an  approved  com- 
position or  hard-rubber,  separable-cap  attachment  plug,  each 
part  to  be  inclosed  in  a  brass  shell.  Where  the  cord  enters 
the  handle  and  cap  of  the  attachment  plug  is  should  be 
taped  and  compounded.  In  plants  operated  with  220  volts, 
alternating  current  for  lighting,  special  outlets  should  be 
provided  for  extensions  and  the  pressure  reduced  through 
transformers  to  55  volts. 

LAMP   GUARDS, 

Metal  guards  for  lamps  are  very  important,  inasmuch  as 
they  protect  the  lamps  from  breakage  and  from  coming  in 
contact  with  combustible  material,  and  a  great  number  are 
so  constructed  as  to  protect  the  lamp  from  theft.  One  type 
is  locked  to  the  socket  with  a  key,  and  a  great  number  are 
in  use  in  the  Chicago  district  on  that  account.  For  protec- 
tion against  corrosion  the  metal  should  be  hot  galvanized 
iron  or  brass.  For  outside  use  where  exposed  to  the  ele- 
ments, copper-plated  lamp  guards  have  given,  the  best  re- 
sults, especially  around  cattle  pens.  .,, 

SCREWS.  .      -ii>q 

Screws  form  another  very  important  detail,  more  so,  in 
fact,  than  any  other  part  of  a  wiring  installation.  Just  as  a 
chain  is  only  as  strong  as  its  weakest  link,  so  wires  likewise 
stay  up  only  about  as  long  as  the  screws  last.  Several 
schemes  of  treating  ordinary  steel  wood  screws  have  been 
tried.  Hot  galvanizing  has  given  good  results  except  that 
threads  cannot  be  cleaned  very  well.  Another  method  for 
protecting  them  is  to  dip  the  screws  in  hot  compound  or 
insulating  paint.  Brass  screws  are  best  provided  the  heads 
are  not  broken  by  hammering  them  too  hard.  They  last 
about  seven  times  as  long  as  an  ordinary  untreated  wood 
screw. 

MOTORS. 

In  packing  houses  motors  of  both  the  alternating-current 
and  direct-current  types  have  been  operated  with  voltages 
up  to  500.  The  brushes  and  commutators  of  direct-current 
motors  cause  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  and  the  sliding  contacts 
on  rheostats  also  become  rough  and  burnt.  There  are  also 
places  where  the  insulation  of  the  motor  windings  breaks 
down  inside  of  two  months.  There  was,  however,  a  certain 
motor  with  especially  treated  windings  that  lasted  seven 
months  in  the  place  mentioned.  The  motors  had  to  be 
replaced  so  often  that  a  more  conservative  scheme  was 
resorted  to,  and  that  was  mounting  the  motor  on  very 
strong  brackets  on  the  exterior  of  the  building  wall.  A 
housing  of  hot  galvanized  metal  large  enough  to  allow  a  man 
to  pass  all  around  it  was  constructed  around  the  motor  and 
a  line  shaft  or  belt  run  through  the  wall  to  operate  the 
machinery  inside  the  building.  This  motor  has  now  been 
running  about  a  year  and  is  still  in  excellent  condition. 

In  fertilizer  buildings  direct-current  motors  seem  to  oper- 
ate well,  except  when  they  heat  up  from  an  overload.  Then 
it  seems  the  heat  assists  the  fertilizer  powder  in  some 
mysterious  way  to  break  down  the  insulation  of  the  wind- 
ings. For  wet  places  the  alternating-current,  squirrel-cage- 
type  motor  and  compensator  have  a  decided  advantage  over 


1002 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


the    direct-current    equipment    because    of    the    absence    of 
shding  contacts. 

CABINETS. 

Wooden  cut-out  cabinets  in  the  past  have  had  the  prefer- 
ence in  the  majority  of  packing  plants.  The  wood  is  mostly 
%-in.  pine,  and  the  inside  width  of  the  cabinet  is  generally 
6  in.,  the  height  13  in.  and   15  in.  when  a  pitched  roof  is 


»lfW 


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T 


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-Jc   4_i. 


Kind 

X 

3  Cutouts 

If 

Main 

Branch 

S 

i-s^i- 

6 

?-?' 

7 

r-4'4 

8 

i-f 

.9 

?-iiy; 

10 

5-,5' 

Fig.   37 — Standard   Wood   Cut-Out   Box. 


used,  and  the  length  varies  with  the  number  of  cut-outs.  In 
older  boxes  the  inside  is  lined  with  y%-m.  or  Y^-m.  asbestos, 
fastened  with  ^-in.  tacks  and  well  painted  with  asphaltum 
or  insulating  paint.  In  wet  places  the  top  is  made  slanting. 
Other  boxes  are  constructed  with  the  bottom  two  or  three 
inches  wider  than  the  top,  so  that  the  door  will  always  have 
a  tendency  to  swing  shut. 

Other  wooden  cabinets  have  the  top  and  bottom  of  the 
same  width  and  are  equipped  with  a  glass  door  which  is 
raised  like  a  window.  The  window  allows  the  switches  and 
cut-outs  to  be  visible  all  the  time,  a  great  convenience, 
especially  when  a  lamp  is  kept  burning  inside  the  cabinet. 
This  light  acts  as  a  pilot  and  shows  the  way  to  the  cabinet 
for  the  employees,  when  they  enter  the  place  in  the  dark  to 
throw  on  the  circuits. 

All  cabinets  should  be  mounted  at  least  2  in.  from  the  wall 
on  large  flat  porcelain  knobs.  This  spacing  allows  plenty  of 
ventilation,  a  great  advantage  and  necessity  in  wet  places. 
Small  and  medium-size  cabinets  should  always  be  equipped 
with  doors  so  mounted  that  gravity  will  tend  to  close  them. 
Catches  of  all  description  have  been  tried,  both  wooden  and 
metal,  to  keep  the  doors  closed,  but  none  as  yet  has  been 
found  satisfactory.  The  wooden  ones  are  broken  off  in  a 
short  time  and  the  metal  ones  corrode  off.  The  best  method 
is  to  make  the  bottom  of  the  door  heavier  than  the  top  by 
fastening  a  metal  strip  along  the  outside  edge,  or  provide 
a  round  metal  weight,  allowing  it  to  act  at  the  same  time  for 
a  knob  with  which  to  raise  the  door.  These  simple  ideas 
will  be  found  very  satisfactory.  All  kinds  of  hinges  have 
been  tried,  such  as  spring  hinges  and  leather  hinges  hav- 
ing a  nail  through  a  metal  strip,  steel,  galvanized,  etc.. 
but  the  hot  galvanized  iron  or  brass  hinge  is  best  in  packing- 
house work. 

To  protect  employees  from  live  contacts,  some  companies 
provide  an  asbestos-lined  board  shield  in  front  of  the  knife 
switches  and  fuses,  mounted  on  two  wooden  pins  which  fit 


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in  holes  in  the  bottom  of  the  cabinet.  This  shield  may  be 
lifted  out  of  its  place  when  access  to  the  fuses  is  necessary. 
In  Fig.  38  it  will  be  observed  that  the  main  door  is  divided 
into  two  parts.  On  the  upper  door  there  is  a  barrier  pro- 
jecting at  right  angles  into  the  cabinet.  This  is  only  another 
means  of  protecting  employees  from  coming  in  contact  with 
fuses  when  operating  snap  switches.     The  upper  compart- 


ment is  for  the  main  cut-out  and  all  the  fuses,  the  lower  one 
is  for  snap  switches  only.  The  upper  half  of  the  door  is 
screwed  tight,  while  the  lower  one  may  be  opened  any  time. 
All  wooden  cabinets  are  now  lined  with  J^-in.  asbestos 
board,  because  ordinary  asbestos  absorbs  too  nmch  moisture, 
no  matter  how  well  it  is  painted. 

Wires  should  enter  wooden  cabinets  preferably  at  the 
bottom  through  porcelain  tubes  properly  taped  and  com- 
pounded. In  many  places  conduit  is  used  for  risers  and 
branch  circuits,  in  connection  with  wooden  cabinets.  The 
conduit  for  the  branches  reaches  to  the  ceiling  only,  then  the 
circuit  is  continued  as  openwork.  In  cases  where  water  is 
apt  to  run  down  the  outside  of  the  pipe  into  the  cabinet 
flooring  pitch  should  be  poured  around  the  conduit  where  it 
enters  the  cabinet. 

ASBESTOS-WOOD   CABINETS. 

It  is  essential  that  a  cut-out  cabinet  be  fireproof,  and  in 
places  where  metal  cabinets  are  not  favored  a  cabinet  made 
entirely  of  asbestos  wood  could  be  employed  to  advantage. 
Asbestos  wood  is  unaffected  by  flames  or  intense  heat  of  any 
form.  This  material  will  not  warp  even  when  in  a  highly 
heated  condition  water  is  thrown  on  it,  and  in  addition  to 
being  fireproof  it  is  also  moisture-proof.  It  is  excellent  for 
cabinets,  and  in  one  large  plant  several  have  been  made  as 
an  experiment  and  installed  in  a  tank  house.  The  construc- 
tion of  the  cabinets  is  interesting.  At  first  an  angle-iron 
frame  was  made  from  i-in.  by  i-in.  by  J^-in.  metal  and 
fastened  with  copper  rivets.  The  thickness  of  asbestos  wood 
used  was  ^  in.  and  ^s  in.,  the  ^-in.  stuff  being  used  for  the 


39 — Switch    and    Fuse 
Cabinet. 


Fig. 


40 — Hot- Galvanized 
Steel   Cabinet. 


top  and  doors.  Heavy  brass  hinges  were  employed  and  all 
fastenings  were  made  with  copper  rivets.  The  asbestos 
wood  running  lengthwise  overlapped  the  sides.  Bushings 
were  used  where  the  wires  entered  the  bottom  of  the  cabinet. 
The  cabinet,  which  was  constructed  with  double  compart- 
ments, cost  $6  to  make. 

STEEL  AND  CAST-IRON   CABINETS. 

Enameled-steel  cabinets  are  not  satisfactory  fo:r.-  damp 
places,  being  susceptible  to  corrosion.  A  good  hot  galvan^ 
ized-steel  cabinet  of  No.  12  U.  S.  metal  gage,  however,  has 
proved  very  serviceable,  having  been  tried  in  one  of  the 
worst  places — a  glue  house.  In  this  place  a  steel  cabinet  was 
installed  and  it  fell  to  pieces  in  four  months.  Then  a  hot 
galvanized  cabinet  replaced  it  over  a  year  ago,  and  with  the 
exception  of  turning  perfectly  white,  the  cabinet  looks  as 
good  as  the  day  it  was  installed.  The  steel  hinges,  however, 
corroded  away  and  had  to  be  replaced  with  brass  ones.  The 
door  of  a  steel  cabinet,  if  not  too  large,  should  close  by 
gravity.  The  four  edges  of  the  door  should  be  turned  at 
right  angles  ^  in.  and  close  against  a  rabbet  all  around  the 
box.  A  metal  stop  should  be  fastened  on  top  of  the  cabinet, 
so  that  the  door  cannot  be  raised  too  high  and  left  in  an  open 
position.  A  metal  strip  should  also  be  fastened  on  the 
bottom  part  of  the  door  to  act  as  a  weight.  One  can  rest 
assured  that  this  kind  of  door  will  always  be  found  in  a 
closed  position,  because  it  cannot  be  left  open  unless  held 
up  by  a  stick.  Such  a  cabinet  will  be  found  moisture-proof 
and  dust-tight. 

The  cast-iron  cabinet  is  on  a  par  with  the  hot  galvanized 
steel  cabinet,  as  far  as  service  is  concerned.  It  will  not 
corrode,  but  it  costs  more  and  will  break  easily.     With  con- 


November  9,  igii 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


100.^ 


duit  installations  the  cast  iron  has  to  be  drilled  for  each  pipe 
where  with  the  steel  cabinet  the  knock-outs  are  depended 
upon  to  insert  the  conduit. 

Thus  far  the  writer  has  described  at  some  length  the 
various  methods  of  wiring  which  are  common  in  packing 
houses  and  other  places  subject  to  dampness,  corrosive 
fumes,  etc.,  pointing  out  the  weaknesses  of  certain  systems 
and  apparatus  as  revealed  in  every-day  practice.  The  object 
has  been  to  show  that  suitable  conduit  if  properly  installed 
is  both  economical  and  serviceable  and  that  from  an  engi- 
neering viewpoint  a  conduit  system  of  wiring  is  best.  In 
the  concluding  article  this  fact  will  be  further  accentuated. 


ORNAMENTAL  STREET  LIGHTING  WITH  BRONZE 
POSTS  AT  PASADENA,  CAL. 

One   of   the   prettiest   installations   of   ornamental    street 
lighting  in  the  country  is  located  on  Orange  Grove  Avenue, 


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91.4  per  cent  copper,  1.6  per  cent  tin,  5.6  per  cent  zinc  and 
1.4  per  cent  lead.  The  cost  of  the  posts,  without  wiring  or 
globes,  was  approximately  $85  apiece. 

The  work  of  installing  the  171  standards  approximately 
60  ft.  apart  on  each  side  of  the  street,  and  staggered  for  a 
distance  of  7900  ft.,  cost  complete,  including  cables,  trans- 
formers, underground  wires,  laterals  to  posts,  globes,  lamps. 


Fig.  1 — Details  of  Bronze  Standard. 

Pasadena,  Cal.  The  street  itself  is  a  magnificent  thorough- 
fare lined  with  stately  mansions,  and  the  air  of  richness 
extends  even  to  the  ornamental  posts,  which  are  made  of 
bronze.  Exactly  171  of  these  posts  are  in  use,  the  design 
being  copyrighted  by  Mr.  F.  E.  Wilcox,  one  of  the  residents 
of  Orange  Grove  Avenue.  The  Los  Angeles  Brass  Works 
cast  the  standards,  which  have  by  weight  a  composition  of 


Fig.  2 — Bronze  Standards  on  Orange  Grove  Avenue,  Pasadena,  Cal. 

setting  posts  in  position,  etc.,  $30,400.  This  does  not  include 
the  cost  of  the  conduit,  the  conduit  system  for  this  street 
entailing  an  expenditure  of  approximately  32  cents  per  duct 
foot.  The  standards  are  equipped  with  i8-in.  by  6-in.  Alba 
globes,  although  Mr.  C.  W.  Koiner,  general  manager  of  the 
municipal  lighting  department,  feels  that  an  i8-in.  by  8-in. 
globe  would  be  preferable  in  other  locations.  Pasadena  is 
not  subject  to  high  winds,  so  that  a  6-in.  base  suffices,  but 
in  other  localities,  where  winds  prevail,  the  globe  would  be 
subject  to  breakage  from  wind  pressure  and  therefore 
should  have  a  base  at  least  2  in.  wider  at  the  holders. 
Details  of  the  post  are  given  in  Fig.  i.  The  standard 
itself  is  8  ft.  8.75  in.  high  and  rests  on  a  base  of  concrete 


Fig.    3 — Bronze    Standards    on    Pasadena    Street. 

2  ft.  square  at  the  bottom  and  20  in.  high.  Inside  the  bronze 
shell  of  the  standard  is  a  2-in.  wrought-iron  pipe  set  over 
the  0.75-in.  conduit  passing  under  the  curb  and  containing 
the  feed  wires.  The  2-in.  pipe  is  embedded  in  the  concrete 
for  about  10  in.  at  the  base  and  serves  as  a  guiding  support 
to  the  bronze  shell.  The  standards  are  set  about  i  ft.  inside 
the  curb. 


1004 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


FACTORY  LIGHTING. 


Mr.  M.  H.  Flexner,  illuminating  engineer  of  the  contract 
department  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  read  a 
paper  on  "Factory  Lighting"  before  the  commercial  division 
of  the  company  section  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Asso- 
ciation in  Chicago  on  Oct.  24.  One  of  the  points  made  by 
the  speaker  was  the  actual  advantage  to  the  manufacturer, 
in  dollars  and  cents,  of  good  lighting  compared  with  poor 
lighting.  Taking  a  typical  factory,  with  the  average  poor 
lighting  conditions,  Mr.  Flexner  showed  that  a  carefully 
designed  electric-lighting  system  would  pay  for  itself  in  one 
year  by  the  profit  shown  on  increased  output  due  to  im- 
proved illumination,  figuring  the  improvement  in  the 
efficiency  of  the  workmen  during  artificial-lighting  hours 
at  only  5  per  cent.  The  speaker  dwelt  on  the  importance 
of  electric-service  companies  irganizing  illuminating  en- 
gineering departments  and  giving  expert  and  honest  advice 
to  customers  and  prospective  customers  without  making  a 
fee  for  this  service.  In  the  discussion  Mr.  George  Harvey 
Jones  commended  the  primer  of  illumination  entitled  "Light, 
Its  Use  and  Misuse,"  issued  under  the  direction  of  the 
Illuminating  Engineering  Societv  and  prepared  by  a  com- 
mittee consisting  of  Dr.  Louis  Bell,  of  Boston;  Mr.  L.  B. 
Marks,  of  New  York,  and  Mr.  J.  R.  Cravath,  of  Chicago. 
He  commended  this  pamphlet  highly  and  said  he  thought 
that  central-station  companies  could  distribute  it  to  advan- 
tage among  the  public. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


NEW    CABLE    TERMINAL. 

The  multiple-terminal  system  of  distribution  using  lead- 
covered  aerial  cables  requires  a  large  number  of  cable 
terminal  boxes,  and  while  many  attempts  have  been  made 
to  devise  some  sort  of  a  mechanical  attachment  by  which 
the  tapping  of  a  cable  can  be  effected  without  a  wiped  joint, 
still  in  practice  the  branch  cable  has  been  found  most  satis- 
factory.    As  an  intermediate  method  between  these  two, 


Cable    Terminal     Box    for    Telephone    System. 

Mr.  T.  B.  Farmer,  of  Baltimore,  has  designed  a  terminal 
with  a  nipple  arranged  for  soldering  directly  to  the  cable 
sheath.  The  nipple  has  a  flared  end  which  is  inserted 
through  the  side  of  a  sleeve  of  diameter  larger  than  the 
cable.  The  sleeve  is  then  wiped  to  the  nipple  and  affords 
a  covering  for  the  splice.  The  cable  terminal  is  made 
double,    the   two    parts   being   separated    by   the    insulating 


terminal  plate  through  which  the  wire  terminals  pass.  The 
front  compartment  is  closed  by  a  hinged  door  and  the  rear 
compartment  is  closed  permanently  but  is  provided  with  a 
plug  through  which  insulating  compound  may  be  poured 
to  seal  the  terminal.  A  special  channel  of  circular  section 
leads  through  the  rear  compartment  of  the  terminal  so  that 
the  terminal  plate  and  rear  compartment  are  really  annular. 
This  channel  terminates  in  a  downwardly  extending  pipe 
so  that  the  bridle  wires  may  be  carried  through  this  passage- 
way.    The  illustration  shows  this  terminal  in  section. 

TELEPHONE    RECEIVER. 

A  multi-pole  receiver  forms  the  subject  of  a  patent  issued 
to  Mr.  C.  N.  Church,  of  Camden,  N.  J.  The  usual 
diaphragm  is  augmented  by  an  auxiliary  diaphragm,  the 
two  being  connected  by  a  central  stud.  The  main  diaphragm 
is  mounted  in  the  usual  manner  while  the  auxiliary 
diaphragm  of  smaller  diameter  lies  in  proximity  to  the  poles  I 
of  the  various  magnets.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  auxiliary  ' 
diaphragm  maintains  its  plane  irrespective  of  the  degree  of 
deflection  of  the  main  diaphragm.  The  pole  structure  of 
the  receiver  is  also  novel,  as  the  permanent  magnet  consists 
of  a  circular  piece  cut  on  its  top  surface  by  deep  concentric 
grooves.  The  various  rings  left  projecting  are  magnetized 
with  alternately  opposite  poles,  and  thus  numerous  polar 
extensions  may  be  mounted,  properly  polarized  according 
to  the  particular  one  of  the  concentric  rings  to  which  each 
is  attached. 

RECEIVER    HOLDER. 

A  receiver  holder  adapted  to  hold  receivers  to  both  ears 
of  the  user  has  been  patented  by  Mr.  H.  F.  Goss,  of  Cora- 
opolis,  Pa.  The  receivers  are  so  arranged  that  the  pressure 
of  the  forehead  upon  a  band  forces  them  against  the  ears 
and  at  the  same  time  switches  the  electrical  circuits. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


REACTANCE    IN  TRANSFORMERS. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World  : 

Sirs: — In  your  issue  of  Oct.  19  you  comment  editorially 
on  my  recent  paper  before  the  A.  I.  E.  E.  on  the  use  of 
reactance  in  transformers.  Allow  me  to  correct  a  mis- 
understanding which  the  last  paragraph  of  the  editorial 
implies. 

You  speak  of  the  variable  permeability  of  the  iron  used 
for  magnetic  shunts  as  being  objectionable,  in  that  it  would 
give  too  high  reactance  at  light  or  normal  load  and  fall  off 
under  short-circuit  conditions  just  where  it  was  most 
needed.  This  is  quite  true,  and  for  this  reason  we  do  not 
use  magnetic  shunts  for  current-limiting  purposes  but  only 
to  obtain  high  reactance  at  normal  load  for  regulating  pur- 
poses. The  reactance  for  current-limiting  purposes, 
whether  obtained  by  the  design  of  the  transformer's  wind- 
ing or  by  external  devices,  is  always  produced  by  a  flux 
in  an  air  circuit. 

I  thought  I  made  this  clear  in  my  paper,  but  as  your 
interpretation  would  seem  to  indicate  that  this  was  not  so, 
I  should  be  glad  to  have  you  publish  the  further  explanation 
above  given. 

Schenectady,  N.  Y.  Walter  S.  Moody. 

[The  paragraph  to  which  our  correspondent  refers  is  as 
follows:  "It  would  seem  that  magnetic  saturation  must 
play  an  important  and  undesirable  part  in  the  characteristics 
of  the  leakage  flux  paths.  If  the  Qbject  in  providing  extra 
leakage  is  not  to  increase  the  series  reactance  in  normal 
service  but  rather  to  minimize  the  short-circuit  current;  this 
object  is  largely  defeated  by  the  unavoidable  presence  of 
high  series  reactance  at  light  and  normal  load  and  a  marked 
reduction  in  reactance  at  overload  and  short-circuit." — Eds.] 


November  9,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


loos 


Digest  of  Current  Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

I  Compensation  of  the  Phase  Difference  of  Induction 
Motors. — A.  ScHERBius. — The  author  first  discusses  the 
advantages  of  compensating  the  phase  differences  in  alter- 
nating-current networks.    This  is  not  only  advantageous  for 


Fig. 


Phase    Compensator. 


the  power  plant,  but  for  the  motors  as  well,  since  if  low- 
speed  induction  motors  are  designed  simply  with  respect  to 
efficiency  and  without  regard  to  wattless  currents  (the  latter 
being  compensated  from  the  outside)  they  can  be  built  at  a 
saving  of  from  10  to  30  per  cent  in  weight  and  cost.  The 
author  describes  the  phase  compensator  of  Brown,  Boveri 
&  Company,  the  chief  features  of  which  are  simplicity, 
reliability  and  high  utilization  of  the  materials.  As  shown 
in  Fig.  I  the  armature  consists  of  a  closed  iron  ring  r  in  the 
slots  n  of  which  the  armature  winding  is  embedded  which  is 
connected  to  the  commutator.  On  the  commutator  are 
brushes,  the  number  of  which  depends  upon  the  number  of 
phases.  In  Fig.  i  the  arrangement  is  shown  for  a  two-phase 
system,  there  being  four  brushes.  The  brushes  are  sta- 
tionary in  the  space  and  the  commutator  and  armature  are 
revolving.  If  we  assume  for  a  moment  that  direct  current 
is  passed  through  b^  and  fc„  it  produces  a  flux,  the  lines  of 
flux  k  being  shown  in  the  diagram.  When  the  armature 
revolves  in  this  field,  which  is  stationary  in  space,  an  emf  is 


Fig.  2 — Phase  Compensator  Connected  to  Motor  Siip  Rings. 

produced  between  the  brushes  &/  and  fo/.  If  it  be  assumed 
that  the  brushes  are  connected  to  the  sliprings  of  a  two- 
phase  induction  motor  (Fig.  2),  the  conditions  of  Fig.  I 
would  correspond  to  the  instant  in  which  t\  is  a  maximum 
while  the  current  i,  is  zero.  In  this  instant  the  emf  between 
the  brushes  &/  and  b,'  is  a  maximum,  since  the  flu.x  gen- 
erated by  tj  is  a  maximum.     On  the  other  hand,  the  emf 


between  6,  and  b,  is  zero.  The  general  conditions  are 
not  changed,  ignoring  the  direct-current  condition  and 
assuming  low  frequency.  While  the  maximum  of  the  cur- 
rent changes  gradually  from  i^  to  i..,  the  voltage  maximum 
is  gradually  transferred  from  6/fc/  to  bfi^.  The  maximum 
of  the  emf  is  always  between  brushes  in  which  the  current 
is  maximum.  This  means  that  emf  and  current  are  displaced 
by  90  deg.  in  phase  and  according  to  the  direction  of  rota- 
tion either  the  current  or  the  emf  can  be  made  to  lead. 
The  operation  of  this  phase  compensator  in  connection  with 
motors  is  described  and  illustrated  by  means  of  vector 
diagrams.  The  conditions  of  good  commutation  require  a 
certain  emf  for  which  the  machine  can  be  built  econom- 
ically, and  it  happens  that  these  are  just  the  voltages 
required  in  practice. — Elek.  Zcit.,  Oct.  17,  igi2. 

Self-Regulating  Constant-Voltage  Generator. — An  illus- 
trated description  of  a  new  self-regulating  constant-voltage 
direct-current  generator  of  simple  construction  (Fig.  3). 
The  armature  and  brush  gear  is  built  up  on  a  sleeve  which 
is  mounted  on  the  shaft  and  driven  by  balls  which  engage 
in  spiral  grooves  cut  in  the  shaft;  the  armature  is  held  in 
position  between  the  pole  magnets  by  a  coil  spring,  which  is 
partly  recessed  in  the  sleeve,  the  tension  of  which  is  adjusted 
by  a  nut.  When  the  generator  has  attained  a  speed  stif- 
ficient  to  give  the  required  output,  the  reaction  between  the 


Fig.     3 — Self-Regulating     Constant- Voltage     Generator. 

armature  and  the  field  magnets  will  cause  the  armature  to 
wind  along  the  shaft  and  partly  compress  the  spring,  leaving 
its  normal  position  and  moving  to  a  region  where  it  is 
traversed  by  a  smaller  magnetic  flux,  thus  automatically 
taking  up  a  position  compensating  for  the  increase  of  speed. 
The  same  action  takes  place  on  reduction  of  speed,  but  in 
the  opposite  direction.  It  is  claimed  that  the  voltage 
remains  constant  from  800  to  3800  r.p.m.,  and  the  machine 
is  specially  suitable  for  the  lighting  of  motor-vehicles;  it 
can  be  constructed  for  either  a  forward  or  a  reverse  drive. 
— London  Elec.  Review,  Oct.  18,  1912. 

Single-Phase  Induction  Motor. — R.  Moser. — The  conclu- 
sion of  his  highly  mathematical  paper  on  the  theory  of 
the  single-phase  induction  motor.  The  author  gives  the 
formulas  for  the  currents  in  a  polyphase  short-circuited 
winding  revolving  in  a  single-phase  alternating  flux,  the 
ampere-turns  due  to  the  currents  in  the  short-circuited 
winding,  the  losses  in  the  short-circuited  winding,  the  torque 
between  the  alternating  single-phase  flux  and  the  short- 
circuited  winding,  and  finally  shows  the  circular  diagram  of 
the  motor. — Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  Oct.  20,  1912. 

Cast-iron  Magnets. — J.  W.  Burleigh. — With  reference 
to  a  recent  criticism  the  author  denies  that  the  weight  of 


ioo6 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


direct-current  motors  with  cast-iron  magnets  is  relatively 
high  for  large  outputs.  Some  figures  from  designs  of  the 
writer  of  direct-current  motors  with  cast-iron  magnets  are 
given. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Oct.  17,  1912. 

High-Frcquency  Generators. — A  letter  by  W.  Tschudy 
referring  to  the  success  of  E.  F.  Alexanderson,  who  doubled 
the  frequency  from  200,000  to  400,000  cycles  by  means  of 
the  mercury-vapor  rectifier.  This  is  the  first  time  that  the 
mercury-vapor  rectifier  has  been  operated  at  such  a  high 
frequency.  In  the  author's  own  investigation  of  the  mer- 
cury-vapor rectifier  the  efficiency  was  found  to  decrease 
rapidly  with  increasing  frequency ;  while  the  efficiency  was 
75  per  cent  at  40  cycles  it  was  67  per  cent  at  no  cycles. 
In  his  reply  Alexanderson  confirms  the  low  efficiency  of  the 
mercury-vapor  rectifier  at  high  frequencies,  but  for  the 
purposes  in  question  the  efliciency  as  ordinarily  defined  is 
of  small  importance. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Oct.  17,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Standard  Voltages  for  Incandescent  Lamps. — F.  W. 
WiLLCox. — The  author  gives  two  diagrams  illustrating  the 
relative  demand  in  Great  Britain  for  carbon  lamps  for 
from  100  to  130  volts  and  for  tungsten  lamps  for  from  200 
to  260  volts.  The  diagram  for  the  tungsten  lamp  shows  the 
relative  demand  (in  per  cent)  by  voltages  for  tungsten 
lamps  of  the  20o-to-26o-volt  range  in  Great  Britain.  It 
shows  heavy  peaks  of  demand  at  several  points  such  as  200 
and  220  and  230  and,  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  lamp  manu- 
facturer, the  need  for  stopping  the  increase  at  such  over- 
crowded points  by  adopting  intermediate  voltages  such  as 
205,  210,  215,  225,  235,  etc.-  The  diagram  for  the  carbon 
lamps  shows  large  demand  peaks  at  three  points,  100.  105 
and  no,  and  the  need  for  relieving  this  too  large  concen- 
tration at  these  points  by  extending  the  adoption  of  other 
voltages,  such  as  102-3-4,  160-7-8,  112-13-14,  115-18-20, 
etc.  It  is  very  desirable  in  the  interest  of  securing  uniform 
and  well-selected  lamps  that  an  endeavor  be  made  to  avoid 
increasing  the  demand  for  the  already  overcrowded  points, 
such  as  100  and  200  volts.  The  demand  at  these  points 
should  be  relieved  by  changing  over  the  declared  pressures 
of  a  number  of  stations  from  200  to  205,  and  from  100  to 
102  and  104,  or  107  and  108  volts.  Similarly  other  peak 
points  should  be  relieved,  and  an  endeavor  made  to  avoid 
establishing  any  more  voltages  at  these  peak  points,  but  at 
new  points,  such  as  205,  215,  225,  235  and  245,  which  should 
be  adopted  for  new  supply  pressures  in  the  200-volt  range, 
and  in  like  manner  in  the  loo-volt  range  the  demand  should 
be  extended  to  102,  103,  107,  108,  112,  115,  117,  118  and  120. 
Voltages  out  of  the  ranges  100  to  130  and  200  to  260  volts, 
such  as,  for  instance,  140,  150  and  180  volts,  are  very  un- 
desirable. An  attempt  should  also  be  made  to  avoid  the 
adoption  of  voltages  at  the  extreme  ends  of  each  range, 
such  as  100  and  200,  130  and  260.  Such  extreme  end  volt- 
ages render  it  difficult  to  give  as  uniform  rating  as  at  in- 
termediate points,  and  the  demand  should  be  confined  to 
intermediate  points  and  limited  at  either  end  of  the  range. 
• — London  Electrician,  Oct.  18,  1912. 

Osram  and  Carbon  Lamps. — A.  Sauquet. — An  account 
of  an  experimental  investigation  of  the  change  of  lumi- 
nous intensity  for  certain  wave-lengths  with  the  current  or 
the  energy  supplied  to  carbon  and  osram  lamps.  The  re- 
sults are  given  in  a  series  of  diagrams  and  are  then  used 
for  the  derivation  of  formulas  for  comparison  of  the  two 
types  of  lamps. — La  Revue  Elec,  Oct.  n,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Niagara  Falls  Power. — Louis  Bell. — With  reference  to 
a  recent  editorial  on  "two  aspects  of  conservation"'  and 
the  Niagara  power  situation,  the  author  agrees  that  from 
an  industrial  viewpoint  every  cubic  foot  of  water  running 
over  the  falls  is  a  continuing  waste  of  natural  resources. 
Niagara  as  a  majestic  spectacle  has  never  belonged  to  the 
present  generation.     It  was  given  up  to  noisy   and  offen- 


sive exploitation  long  before  the  first  dynamo  was  set 
spinning  at  its  brink.  "Saving  Niagara,  from  the  esthetic 
standpoint,  is  a  sorry  joke,  like  saving  forests  by  selling  the 
charred  slashings  to  the  government  after  every  stick 
worth  cutting  has  been  carried  away."  But  when  the  falls 
are  properly  developed  they  can  "teach  humanity  something 
of  the  beauty  of  labor."  The  author  looks  forward  to  the 
distribution  of  energy  from  the  falls  over  wide  districts 
whereby  communities  now  moribund  will  spring  into  active 
life  again.  "If  there  are  those  who  from  motives  of  curi- 
osity would  wish  to  see  what  Niagara  was  like  when  it  was 
going  to  waste,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  arrange  on,  say, 
the  fourth  of  July  and  Dominion  Day,  joint  local  holidays, 
of  which  we  have  none  too  many,  on  which  the  great  stream 
could  be  turned  into  its  former  channels  for  the  sake  of 
Auld  Lang  Syne." — Metall.  and  Client.  Eng'ing,  Novem- 
ber, 1912. 

Utilizing  Energy  of  the  Tides. — E.  F.  G.  Pein. — The 
first  part  of  a  complete  illustrated  reprint  of  his  recent 
paper  presented  before  the  German  Association  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  on  the  projected  power  plant  at  Husum 
on  the  German  North  Sea  in  which  the  energy  of  the  tides 
is  to  be  utilized.  In  the  present  instalment  the  author  dis- 
cusses the  general  conditions  and  the  best  arrangement  of 
the  storage  reservoir.  The  paper  is  to  be  concluded.— 
Elek.  Zeit.,  Oct.  17,  1912. 

Traction. 

Single-Phase  Locomotive. — R.  Van  Cauwenberghe. — To 
make  extended  trials  in  single-phase  traction  on  trunk  rail- 
roads the  French  Southern  Railway  Company  has  equipped 
a  section  of  16  km  (10  miles)  near  Villefranche  with  a 
single-phase  system  at  12,000  volts  and  a  frequency  of  i6j4- 
Six  firms  supplied  single-phase  locomotives.  In  the  present 
article  the  locomotive  of  the  Jeumont  company  is  de- 
scribed and  illustrated.  The  motors  are  compensated 
series  machines  and  can  be  operated  at  starting  as  repul- 
sion motors  without  weakening  of  the  field.  The  speed 
regulation  is  accomplished  by  variation  of  the  voltages  by 
means  of  the  induction  regulator.  The  methods  of  auto- 
matic suppression  of  the  sparks  ki  the  commutators  and 
automatic  recuperation  of  energy  while  running  down 
grades  are  described. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Oct.  17,  1912. 

Single-Phase  Traction  in  Norway. — F.  Marguerre. — A 
continuation  of  his  illustrated  article  on  the  single-phase 
electric  traction  system  at  Rjukanfos.  Norway.  The  au- 
thor describes  the  converter  stations  in  which  the  three- 
phase  currents  at  from  10,000  to  11,000  volts  and  50  cycles 
are  transformed  into  single-phase  current  of  from  15  to  16 
cycles  and  from  10,000  to  11,000  volts.  He  then  describes 
the  overhead  construction. — La  Lumiere  Elec.,  Oct.  12,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

British  Central  Station  Account. — An  abstract  of  last 
year's  financial  results  of  the  municipal  station  of  Brad- 
ford. The  total  output  was  22,000,000  kw-hr.  against 
20,000,000  the  year  before.  The  generating  expenses  per 
kw-hour  sold  were  0.64  cent,  the  distribution  expenses  o.io 
cent,  the  management  expense  0.14  cent.  The  total  cost 
exclusive  of  capital  charges  was  1.06  cents  and  inclusive  of 
capital  charges  2.24  cents ;  the  total  revenue  was  2.46  cents. 
— London  Electrician,  Oct.  18,  1912.  A  description  of  this 
station  is  given  in  this  issue  of  the  Electrical  JVorld. 

Electrochemistry  and   Batteries. 

Fixation  of  Nitrogen  by  Alumina  and  Carbon. — S.  A. 
Tucker  and  H.  L.  Read. — An  American  Electrochemical 
Society  paper  describing  experiments  from  which  the 
authors  conclude  that,  given  suitable  conditions,  there 
should  be  no  difficulty  in  producing  a  grade  of  aluminum- 
nitride  containing  30  per  cent  and  more  nitrogen.  With 
respect  to  the  fixation  of  nitrogen,  this  should  give  the 
product  an  advantage  over  calcium  cyanamide,  which  on 


November  9,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1007 


the  average  runs  from  17  per  cent  to  20  per  cent  fixed 
nitrogen. — Metall.  and  Cheni.  Ending,  November,  1912. 

Bleaching  Liquor — F.  Charles. — A  long  illustrated  arti- 
cle on  tile  electrolytic  production  of  hypochlorite  solutions 
for  bleaching  and  disinfecting  purposes  with  a  description 
of  various  systems  in  commercial  use.- — La  Houille  Blanche, 
September,  1912. 

Chlorate  and  Perchlorate. — An  illustrated  article  on  a 
new  electrolytic  chlorate  and  perchlorate  in  France. — 
Metall.  and  Chem.  Ending,  November,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Direct-Current  Electromagnets. — F.  Kraus. — A  mathe- 
matical article  on  the  calculation  of  direct-current  mag- 
nets. The  author  first  gives  some  fundamental  formulas 
for  the  'following  three  cases:  First,  excitation  without 
movement  of  the  armature  and  determination  of  the  mag- 
netic energy.  Second,  constant  number  of  lines  of  flux  and 
movement  of  armature,  with  a  determination  of  the  me- 
chanical tractive  force.  Third,  the  condition  of  constant 
ampere  turns  and  movement  of  the  armature.  The  formu- 
las derived  are  applied  to  the  design  of  direct-current 
electromagnets  with  a  discussion  of  the  choice  of  the  di- 
mensions, of  the  form  of  the  poles  and  of  the  dimensions 
of  the  coil. — Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  Oct.  20,  1912. 

Resistance  Material. — A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent 
(28,869,  Oct.  10,  1912)  on  the  British  Thomson-Houston 
Company,  Ltd.,  and  the  General  Electric  Company  of  this 
country.  This  material  has  a  negative  temperature-resist- 
ance coefficient,  and  is  made  by  introducing  commercial 
rutile,  which  consists  principally  of  titanic  oxide  with  2  or 
3  per  cent  of  iron  oxide,  into  fused  cryolite  in  the  proportion 
of  about  one  to  four.  The  cryolite  is  first  heated  to  about 
900  deg.  C,  the  rutile  added,  and  the  heating  continued  for 
half  an  hour.  When  cold  the  mass  is  pulverized  and  heated 
electrically  in  a  graphite  crucible  to  render  it  homogeneous. 
Afterward  it  is  cut  into  slabs  of  the  required  dimensions. 
From  room  temperature  to  300  deg.  C.  the  conductivity 
about  doubles. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Oct.  17,  1912. 

Molecular  Air  Pump. — W.  Gaede. — An  illustrated  paper 
on  a  new  vacuum  pump  which  is  called  the  molecular  air 
pump  as  its  principle  is  based  on  the  theory  of  the  move- 
ment of  gas  molecules.  In  the  case  of  all  hitherto  known 
pump  systems  for  the  production  of  high  vacua,  such  as  the 
piston,  rotating,  oil  or  mercury  types,  the  idea  of  Guericke 
is  followed  of  segregating,  by  means  of  a  column  of  solid 
or  liquid  material,  a  certain  quantity  of  gas  and  cutting  it 
off  from  the  vessel  to  be  exhausted,  the  gas  being  then  de- 
livered to  the  pre-vacuum  or  atmosphere  as  a  result  of  the 
piston's  motion.  The  chief  requisite  is  as  complete  a  seal- 
ing off  of  the  vessel  as  is  possible,  because  the  pressures 
would  otherwise  equalize  themselves  after  each  stroke  and 
a  high  vacuum  could  not  be  produced.  In  the  new  molec- 
ular air  pump,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  piston,  and 
the  vessel  to  be  exhausted  is  permanently  connected  with 
the  pre-vacuum  by  the  grooves  in  the  casing  or  rotating 
cylinder,  and  at  no  time  is  even  partially  cut  off.  Through 
the  rotation  of  the  cylinder  the  velocity  of  the  gas  mole- 
cules in  the  groove  is  influenced  in  such  a  way  that  at  the 
suction  nozzle  an  impoverishment  of  the  gas  molecules — a 
vacuum — is  produced.  This  new  principle  is  especially 
valuable  for  high-vacuum  pumps,  in  that  the  molecular 
pump  has  the  advantage  over  the  hitherto  known  pumps 
of  not  only  exhausting  more  rapidly  and  giving  higher 
vacua,  but  of  producing  a  vapor-free  vacuum.  In  Fig.  4 
A  is  a  cylinder  rotatable  about  the  axis  a  and  inclosed 
within  a  casing  B.  In  the  casing  there  is  milled  out  a 
groove  extending  from  n  to  m  and  of  depth  h.  li  A  ro- 
tates in  a  clockwise  direction,  the  air  in  the  groove  will, 
owing  to  gas  friction,  be  carried  from  n  to  m.  When  the 
apertures  n  and  m  are  connected  to  a  manometer,  a  pres- 
sure difference  between  m  and  n  is  observable,  such  differ- 
ence being  proportional  to  the  speed  of  rotation  of  A  and 


to  the  viscosity  of  the  gas.  On  exhausting  the  casing,  the 
pressure  difference  between  m  and  n  remains  constant  in 
spite  of  the  resulting  gas  rarefaction,  because  the  viscosity 
is  independent  of  the  pressure.  If,  for  instance,  the  pres- 
sure difference  is  10  mm  of  mercury,  then  at  atmospheric 
pressure  the  pressure  at  tn  is  760  mm,  and  at  n  750  mm. 
On  exhausting  the  air  in  the  casing,  we  obtain,  for  exam- 


Fig. 


-Molecular    Air    Pump. 


pie,  at  ni  200  mm  and  at  n  190  mm,  or  at  m  50  mm  and  at 
n  40  mm.  On  reducing  the  pressure  still  further  the  law 
changes.  While  at  high  pressure  the  pressure  difference 
remains  constant,  at  the  lowest  pressures  the  ratio  of  the 
pressures  at  ni  and  n  is  independent  of  the  degree  of  ex- 
haustion. At  the  lowest  pressures,  below  o.ooi  mm,  the 
gas  molecules  are  diffusely  reflected  from  the  surfaces  in- 
dependently of  the  angle  of  incidence,  and  fly  from  one  wall 
to  the  other,  without  colliding  with  other  gas  molecules. 
One  can  picture  to  himself  the  reflection  of  the  molecules 
as  taking  place  in  such  a  way  as  if  the  surface  of  the 
cylinder  were  covered  with  a  large  number  of  small  can- 
nons from  which  the  molecules  were  shot  out  in  all  possible 
directions  with  a  certain  velocity,  namely,  the  molecular 
velocity.  When  the  cylinder  surface  moves  with  a  velocity 
greater  than  the  molecular  velocity,  then  in  the  groove  the 
molecules  shot  off  from  the  cylinder  tangentially  in  the 
direction  n  to  m  will  have  a  velocity  greater  than  twice  the 
molecular  velocity,  while  no  molecules  at  all  can  arrive  in 
the  backward  direction  from  the  cylinder  to  n.  As  a  re- 
sult, there  will  be  at  «  a  region  impoverished  of  gas  mole- 
cules— that  is,  a  vacuum.  One  can  see  from  this  that  the 
above  contrivance,  which  at  atmospheric  pressure  is  value- 
less as  an  air  pump,  must  give  very  good  results  when  used 
in  conjunction  with  an  auxiliary  pump  at  lower  pressures. 
The  construction  of  the  actual  pump,  which  is  slightly  mod- 
ified, is  described  in  detail. — London  Electrician,  Oct.  18, 
1912. 

Insulation  Meter. — An  illustrated  description  of  the 
"omega,"  made  by  a  British  company,  a  new  portable  self- 
contained  insulation  meter,  comprising,  in  one  case,  a  gen- 
erator and  a  moving-coil  ohmmeter  of  novel  construction. 
The  usual  moving-coil  construction  in  true  ohmmeters  com- 
prises two  narrow-limbed  coils,  similar  to  those  used  in 
moving-coil  voltmeters  and  ammeters,  mounted  on  a  com- 
mon spindle  at  an  angle  to  each  other  and  pivoted  in  an 
uneven  magnetic  field.  This  general  arrangement  is  shown 
m  the  section  diagram  (Fig.  5),  where  CC  are  the  limbs  of 
the  control  coil,  IDD  the  limbs  of  the  deflecting  coil,  A  the 


Figs.    5   and    6 — Portable    Selt-Contained    Insulation    Motor. 

iron  core,  and  PP  the  magnet  pole  pieces.  On  the  passage 
of  a  current  through  C  the  system  takes  up  the  position 
shown.  If  now  a  current  passes  through  D  the  whole  sys- 
tem will  rotate,  D  moving  into  a  weaker  part  of  the  field 
and  carrying  C  into  a  stronger  part,  until  the  torques  bal- 
ance. Since  the  current  in  C  is  arranged  solely  to  depend 
upon  the  testing  pressure,  and  that  in  D  upon  the  current 


ioo8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol,  6o,  No.  19. 


through  the  resistor  under  test,  the  position  for  balance 
torque,  depending  as  it  does  upon  the  relative  strength  of 
these  currents,  is  a  measure  of  the  value  of  the  resistance 
and  is  independent  of  change  in  testing  pressure,  since  both 
currents  will  vary  in  the  same  proportion  with  this  pres- 
sure. Consequently  the  scale  can  be  marked  off  in  values 
of  resistance.  The  "omega"  system  differs  from  this  in 
that  use  is  made  of  coils  with  wide-angle  limbs  working  in 
a  substantially  even  and  concentrated  field,  convolutions  in 
one  winding  moving  out  of  the  field  while  convolutions  in 
the  other  move  into  it  as  the  moving  system  rotates,  until 
the  balance  of  torques  is  reached.  Fig.  6  shows  a  horizontal 
section  through  an  "omega"  movement,  with  core  and  pole 
pieces.  The  control  coil  CC  and  the  deflecting  coil  DD  are 
wound  at  right  angles  to  each  other  on  a  single  hollow 
cylindrical  former,  the  coil  limbs  each  subtending  an  angle 
of  90  deg.  The  windings  thus  cover  the  whole  surface  of 
the  former.  The  fixed  iron  core  A  is  supported  on  a  stem 
passing  through  an  aperture  in  the  bottom  of  the  former, 
which  is  pivoted  on  an  axle  concentric  therewith.  The 
ends  of  the  former  are  dome-shaped,  making  a  strong  and 
light  construction.  As  before,  on  the  passage  of  a  current 
through  the  winding  C,  the  system  will  take  up  the  position 
bhown.  If  a  current  now  passes  through  D  the  whole  sys- 
tem will  rotate,  coil-turns  in  D  passing  from  under  the  pole 
faces  and  bringing  coil-turns  in  C  under  their  influence 
until  a  balance  of  torque  is  reached.  Some  advantages  of 
this  construction  are  pointed  out. — London  Electrician,  Oct. 
18,   1912. 

Induction  Meter. — An  illustrated  announcement  of  the 
Reichsanstalt  by  which  the  single-phase  inductior  meter  of 
the  German  Westinghouse  Company  is  admitted  for  cali- 
bration. The  construction  and  operation  of  the  meter  is 
described  and  illustrated. — Elec.  Zeit.,  Oct.   17,  1912, 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Artificial  Telegraph  Lines. — ^A  note  on  a  recent  British 
patent  (21,000,  Oct.  10,  1912)  of  S.  G.  Brown.  To  in- 
crease the  speed  and  accuracy  of  adjustment  of  the  arti- 
ficial lines  used  for  balancing  purposes  in  duplex  working, 
this  line  is  made  up  of  two  lines  in  parallel,  one  having 
large  capacities  and  low  resistances,  and  the  other  small 
capacities  and  high  resistances ;  inductances  may  also  be 
included  in  this  line. — London  Elec.  Ending,  Oct.  17,  1912. 

Telephonic  'Compensator. — A  note  on  a  recent  British 
patent  (21,069,  Oct.  10,  1912)  of  S.  G.  Brown.  To  pre- 
vent sounds  entering  the  transmitter  from  appreciably 
affecting  the  receiver  at  the  same  end  of  the  line,  the 
transmitter  is  shunted  with  a  high  resistance  coil,  arranged 
in  opposition  to  the  primary  coil  of  the  adjacent  receiver, 
relay  or  primary  of  the  transformer  used  in  connection 
with  it,  whereby  the  inductive  effect  of  the  primary  for 
current  changes  due  to  the  transmitter  is  annulled.  Ad- 
justable resistance  and  capacity  may  also  be  added  when 
necessary.  Telephonic  relays  may  be  arranged  to  work  in 
the  middle  of  a  line  with  little  loss  in  eflficiency  by  con- 
necting the  primary  of  the  receiving  transformer  in  series 
with  the  secondary  of  the  sending-on  transformer  and  com- 
pensating the  effect  of  the  former  on  the  latter  by  means  of 
the  compensating  coil. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Oct.  17, 
1912. 

Design  of  a  Radio-Tele  graph  Station — Shunkichi 
KiMURA. — The  first  part  of  a  mathematical  paper  giving 
formulas  and  extended  tables  of  figures  on  the  external 
design  of  a  wireless  telegraph  station,  a  determination  of 
the  constants,  the  design  formula^  the  choice  of  wave- 
lengths, the  proportion  of  the  aerial  and  internal  design. 
The  article  is  to  be  continued. — London  Electrician,  Oct. 
18,  1912. 

Wireless  Telegraphy. — H.  Bredow. — The  first  part  of  an 
illustrated  article  on  recent  developments  in  wireless  teleg- 
raphy with  special  reference  to  ship  installations.  The 
author  discusses  the  progress  made  in  the  range  of  working 


and  gives  diagrams  illustrating  the  extraordinary  differ- 
ence between  the  night  and  day  transmission  ranges  under 
otherwise  identical  conditions.  He  then  gives  statistical 
data  on  existing  and  prospective  stations  in  dift'erent  coun- 
tries and  discusses  various  types  of  stations.  The  article  is 
to  be  continued. — London  Elec.  Revia^',  Oct.  18,  1912. 

Wireless  Telegraphy — H.  Thurn.— A  continuation  of  his 
illustrated  article  on  wireless  telegraphy  on  board  of  mer- 
chant marine  shipis.  The  author  describes  various  typical 
apparatus  for  receiving  and  transmitting  messages  on  board 
ship  and  discusses  the  work  of  the  attendant  when  putting 
the  station  in  operation. £/c^.  Zeit.,  Oct.  10,  1912. 


Book  Reviews 

Der  Elektrizitatszahler.  By  R.  Ziegenberg.  Berlin: 
Hermann  Meusser.  352  pages,  213  illus.  Price,  10 
marks. 
A  treatise  on  the  principles,  construction,  installation  and 
testing  of  electric  meters  as  used  on  customers'  premises.  It 
is  intended  not  only  for  electrical  engineering  students  but 
also  for  all  technically  trained  men  who  desire  information 
upon  electric  current  and  energy  meters.  Consequently,  the 
introductory  chapters  are  very  full  and  elementary.  Com- 
paratively little  mathematics  appears  in  the  book ;  on  the 
other  hand,  there  are  abundant  illustrations  and  diagrams. 
The  sections  into  which  the  book  is  divided  are:  Introduc- 
tion; the  electric  current  and  its  measurement;  electric  watt- 
hour  meters;  various  tariff  systems  and  their  meters;  in- 
stallation and  testing  of  meters;  legal  and  general  aspects 
of  meters;  electric  meters  in  practical  use.  The  book  will 
be  of  interest  to  those  who  seek  information  on  electric 
meters  and  metering,  particularly  as  applied  in  German 
practice. 


Theorie  der  Elektrizitat.  By  M.  Abraham  and  A.  Foppl. 
Leipzig:  B.  G.  Teubner.  408  pages.  Price,  11  marks. 
A  carefully  prepared  textbook  on  the  mathematical  theory 
of  electricity,  along  the  lines  developed  by  Maxwell,  and  em- 
ploying vectors.  The  work  is  divided  into  four  sections. 
The  first  deals  with  the  operations  of  three-dimensional 
vectors,  following  Heaviside  and  Gibb.  The  second  deals 
with  the  electric  field  in  space.  The  third  treats  of  the 
general  magnetic  field  and  of  electromagnetic  waves,  in- 
cluding a  brief  application  to  wireless  telegraphy.  The 
fourth  discusses  a  few  special  cases  such  as  ferromagnetic 
substances.  The  book  is  more  likely  to  be  appreciated  by 
the  physicist  than  by  the  electrical  engineer.  The  treatment 
is,  however,  fairly  direct  as  such  treatises  ordinarily  go,  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  much  which  is  discussed  as  pure 
theory  in  these  chapters  will  ultimately  take  form  in  the 
practically  applied  theory  of  radio-telegraphy. 


Wireless    Telegraphy    and    Wireless    Telephony.      By 
Charles  G.  Ashley  and  Charles  B.  Hayward.    Chicago : 
American   School  of  Correspondence.      134  pages,  93 
illus.    Price,  $1. 
One  of  the  volumes  on  electrotechnics  published  by  the 
American   School   of   Correspondence.     The   book   is  well 
illustrated  and  clearly  printed.    It  does  not  venture  into  any 
extended  discussion  of  the  principles   involved  in  wireless 
telegraphy,  but  confines  itself  to  a  clear  description  of  the 
systems  and  apparatus  employed.    The  history  of  the  subject 
is  also  briefly  presented.     There  is  a  very  good  chapter  on 
wireless  telegraphy  in  aeronautics.    This  subject  is  but  little 
known,  and  very  little  is  to  be  found  on  it  in  other  wireless- 
telegraph  treatises.     The  book  is  well  adapted  for  general 
public  use  and  also  for  the  information  of  practical  men 
desirous  of  becoming  acquainted  with  the  various  devices 
employed  in  radio-telegraphy. 


November  g,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1009 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


ANGLE  PULL  SOCKETS. 


An  angle  pull  socket  with  several  new  features  is  being 
placed  upon  the  market  by  the  Benjamin  Electric  Manu- 
facturing Company  of  Chicago.  It  fol- 
lows the  line  of  standard  angle  sockets 
made  by  this  company  in  the  matter  of 
general  structure.  The  supporting 
bushing  is  attached  to  the  main  shell, 
thus  relieving  the  cap  connection  of 
any  attendant  stress.  A  new  feature 
is  supplied  in  an  added  pull  member 
consisting  of  a  chain  and  a  short  length 
of  metal  ribbon  passing  between  re- 
flector and  lamp.  This  permits  an 
almost  straight  downward  pull  regard- 
less of  the  size  and  form  of  the  reflector. 
}i-in.,  %-m.  and  Ys-m.  sizes. 


Angle  Pull  Socket. 


It  is  made  in 


ADVERTISING  SIGNS. 


Some  new  forms  of  advertising  signs  are  now  being  put 
on  the  market  by  the  Foster  Engineering  Company,  Ltd.,  of 
Wimbledon,  London,  S.  W.  Fig.  i  shows  the  so-called 
"Zenith"  arc-lamp  sign.  Unlike  most  other  signs,  this  one 
does  not  use  any  direct  light  for  illuminating  the  screen.    A 


FOSTER 

*        ARC  LAMP     *■ 

SIGNS. 


V 


Figs.    1    and    2 — Advertising    Signs. 


mirror  catches  the  upward  rays  of  the  lamp  and  reflects 
them  to  the  back  of  the  transparent  sign.  By  this  means 
no  useful  light  is  taken  from  the  lamp.  The  sign  is  placed 
above,  not  in  front  of  it,  and  does  not  screen  it  in  any  way. 
The  face-plate  slides  in  a  groove,  and  hence  can  be  changed 
quickly  when  desired.  The  method  of  attaching  the  sign 
is  very  simple;  it  can  be  used  in  conjunction  with  nearly 
every  make  of  arc  lamp,  gas  fixture  or  lamp  cluster.  Fig.  2 
shows  the  so-called  'Aero"  lamp  sign,  which  is  an  applica- 
tion of  the  same  type  of  sign  to  a  single  incandescent  lamp. 


A  "MIDGET"  SPEED  REGULATOR. 


The  Independent  Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  of 
Milwaukee,  has  developed  a  device  termed  the  "Midget" 
speed  regulator,  which  is  about  4.5  in.  square  and  is  in- 
tended for  the  speed  regulation  of  small  motors  such  as  are 
commonly  used  on  jewelers'  lathes,  dentists'  drills  and 
lathes,  washing  machines,  adding  machines,  etc.,  and  is 
also  employed  as  a  small  field  regulator,  heating  regulator 


and  for  other  uses  where  a  small  rheostat  is  necessary.  The 
front  consists  of  a  slate  panel  on  which  are  mounted  the 
contacts,  operating  lever  and  two  terminal  posts.  The 
operating  lever,  which  is  of  steel,  is  equipped  with  a  handle 
and  fitted  with  a  brush  held  tightly  against  the  contacts 
by  means  of  a  strong  spring.  The  casing  is  of  cast  iron 
and    is    dust-proof    and    moisture-proof.      It    contains    the 


Speed    Regulator   for    Small    Motors. 


resistance  unit,  which  consists  of  high-grade  wire  wound 
upon  a  slate  core  covered  with  cement  and  baked.  The 
resistor  unit  is  mounted  on  the  back  of  the  regulator  front, 
so  that  the  removal  of  the  front  carries  the  resistor  with 
it  from  the  casing,  allowing  it  to  be  replaced  easily  when- 
ever necessary  without  the  necessity  of  replacing  any  other 
part  of  the  rheostat.  This  regulator  is  built  to  operate 
motors  of  from  1/20  hp  to  1/6  hp. 


SMALL  REFLECTORS  WITH  WIDE  CANDLE-POWER 
DISTRIBUTION. 


About  two  years  ago  the  National  X-Ray  Reflector  Com- 
pany of  Chicago  designed  a  reflector  for  the  Patten  Gymna- 
sium of  the  Northwestern  University,  Chicago.  This  re- 
flector, which  was  built  for  lamps  up  to  250  watts,  has  since 


Reflector  with  Wide  Distribution. 

found  extensive  application  for  large,  high  rooms.  The 
company  recently  placed  on  the  market  two  reflectors  of 
the  same  type,  one  of  which  is  suitable  for  6o-watt  and 
loo-watt  lamps  and  one  for  25-watt  and  40-watt  lamps. 
These  reflectors  are  made  of  glass  in  one  piece  and  are 
comparatively  small,  the  60-watt-lamp  reflector  being  7.5  in. 
high  and  7.25  in.  in  diameter. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


COLORED  LAMP  HOODS  FOR  SIGN  WORK. 


A  comparatively  new  development  in  electric-sign  work 
is  the  u.se  of  colored  lamp  hoods  for  electric  signs,  displays 
and  decorative  lighting.  These  hoods  are  of  colored  glass 
and  are  made  to  slip  over  the  lamp  bulb,  being  held  in  place 
by  a  strong,  flexible,  non-corrosive  phosphor-bronze  spring. 

They  can  be  removed 
quickly  to  renew  the  lamp 
and  can  be  used  repeat- 
edly. They  are  made  in 
bright  colors,  as  ruby, 
green,  amber  and  blue, 
and  are  also  supplied  in 
opal,  frosted  and  clear 
glass.  The  standard  size 
is  made  to  fit  any  lamp 
having  a  bulb  i->4  in.  in 
diameter,  including  2-cp 
carbon,  4-cp  carbon,  2.5- 
watt  and  s-watt  tungsten 
lamps  for  10  volts  to  13 
volts  and  lo-watt  tungsten 
lamps  for  no  volts.  By 
using  colored-glass  lamp  hoods  (which  are  not  stained  or 
dipped)  an  economy  is  said  to  be  effected,  as  the  renewals 
can  be  made  with  clear-glass  lamps.  The  Reynolds  Electric 
Flasher  Manufacturing  Company,  617-631  West  Jackson 
Boulevard.  Chicago,  is  marketing  this  lamp  hood. 


Lamp    Hood. 


PORTABLE  DRILLS. 


Recently  some  tests  were  performed  in  England  to  ascer- 
tain the  relative  merits  of  various  kinds  of  portable  electric 
drilling  machines.  The  test  involved  the  boring  of  holes 
1)4  in.  in  diameter  and  2}i  in.  deep  in  an  iron  casting.  The 
machines  were  operated  on  a  220-volt  direct-current  circuit. 
A  certain  American  machine  drilled  thirty-two  holes  in  an 
average  time  of  one  minute  and  forty-five  seconds,  with  a 
current  consumption  of  6  amp.  A  German  machine  drilled 
twenty-three  holes  in  three  minutes  per  hole,  with  a  current 
consumption  of  4.2  amp.  An  English  machine,  made  by 
the  Witton-Kramer  Electric  Tool  &  Hoist  Company,  Witton, 
Birmingham,  drilled  thirty-eight  holes  in  an  average  time 
of  one  minute  and  thirty-five  seconds,  with  a  current  con- 
sumption  of  4.5   amp.     The   fastest   time   for   the   German 


The  General  Electric  Company,  Ltd.,  67  Queen  Victoria 
Street,  London,  E.  C,  is  the  selling  agent  of  the  Witton- 
Kramer  Electric  Tool  &  Hoist  Company. 


LIFTING  MAGNETS. 


Among  the  various  applications  of  lifting  magnets  there 
is  perhaps  none  more  interesting  than  the  recovery  of  pig- 
iron  and  scrap  metal  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea  and  rivers. 
The    recoverv    of    such    a    cargo    bv    mechanical    means    is 


Lifting    IVIagnet    Recovering    Scrap   from    Bottom    of    River. 

practically  impossible.  Recently  a  firm  of  scrap-iron 
dealers  on  the  Thames  decided  to  use  a  lifting  mag- 
net for  the  purpose  of  recovering  scrap  metal  which 
has  from  time  to  time  dropped  overboard  when  load- 
ing and  unloading  barges.  The  illustrations  show  the 
application  of  the  lifting  magnet  used  in  this  work.  Its 
diameter  is  36  in.;  it  weighs  1600  lb.,  and  it  consumes 
3  kw.  It  was  operated  by  a  steam  crane  placed  on  a  barge, 
and  it  recovered  90  tons  of  scrap  metal  in  the  first  few  days. 
This  magnet  was  furnished  by  the  Witton-Kramer  Electric 
Tool  &  Hoist  Company,  Witton,  Birmingham,  through  the 
agency  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  Ltd.,  67  Queen 
Victoria  Street,  London,  E.  C,  and  was  erected  under  the 
supervision  of  Mr.  H.  Preece,  consulting  engineer. 


ELECTRIC  RADIATORS. 


.'\  large  variety  of  electric  radiators  are  manufactured 
by   the   Simplex   Conduit   Limited,    Birmingham,   England. 


Portable    Electric    Drills, 


machine  was  two  minutes,  for  the  American  machine  one 
and  one-half  minutes  and  for  the  English  machine  sixty-five 
seconds,  and  of  the  three  machines  the  last  one  had  the  least 
temperature  rise.  The  accompanying  illustration  shows  four 
of  these  drilling  machines  in  operation  on  a  large  casting. 


Connections   for    Electric    Heater. 


The  most  interesting  feature  of  these  radiators  is  the  ar- 
rangement for  connections.  The  internal  wiring  of  the 
radiators  is  brought  to  two  substantial  screw  terminals 
mounted  on  a  special  bridge  piece  fixed  to  the  inside  of  the 
casing,   so  placed   that   it  cannot  be  touched  accidentally. 


November  9,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     \VORLD. 


Armored  cord  is  provided  for  connection  to  the  wall  plug. 
This  wire  armoring  is  applied  by  a  special  process,  which 
is  said  to  give  great  flexibility.  The  standard  form  of 
armoring  is  of  galvanized  and  double-tinned  steel  wire,  but 
brass  or  copper  wire  armoring  can  also  be  obtained.  A 
special  wall  socket  has  been  designed  which  allows  the 
armoring  completely  to  enter  the  plug,  where  it  is  separately 
gripped,  the  terminal  being  thus  relieved  of  the  strain. 
Where  armored  cord  is  used  the  terminal  bridge  piece 
previously  referred  to  is  fitted  with  a  metal  grip  for  ground- 
ing the  heater  which  is  required  in  some  localities. 


SINGLE-PHASE    MOTOR. 


The  demand  of  power  users  for  alternating-current  mo- 
tors of.  rugged  design  and  high  efficiency  in  operation, 
coupled  with  simple  external  control,  has  led  to  the  pro- 
duction of  a  new  line  of  single-phase  induction  motors  by 
the  Bell  Electric  Motor  Company,  of  Garwood,  N.  J. 
These  motors  are  built  in  sizes  of  J/,  hp  to  15  hp,  no  com- 


-iiP 


Fig,    1 — Single-Phase    (Viotor. 

pensators  or  clutch  pulleys  being  required  in  any  size.  The 
starting  current  is  thrown  directly  upon  the  stator  winding 
of  the  motor  by  the  closing  of  a  knife  switch.  The  arma- 
ture is  wound  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  employed  in 
direct-current  motors,  and  a  commutator  and  brushes  are 
provided,  these  being  short-circuited  on  themselves. 

The  motor  starts  as  a  repulsion  machine,  and  when  the 
armature  has  attained  nearly  full  speed  the  commutator 
segments  are  entirely  short-circuited  by  a  copper  ring  actu- 
ated by  a  centrifugal  governor  on  the  end  of  the  shaft. 
The  motor  then  runs  as  a  squirrel-cage  induction  machine. 
When  the  motor  is  stopped  the  copper  short-circuiting  ring 


Bell  Single  Phase  Motor,  220  Volts,  5  H.P. 

90,'5 

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7  H.P 
EUitrieal  World 

Fig.    2 — Characteristic    Curves    of    5-hp,    1800-r.p.m.,    220-Volt,    60- 
Cycle,    Single-Phase    Motor. 

is  automatically  pushed  away  from  the  segments  by  a  steel 
spring  as  the  machine  comes  to  rest,  leaving  it  again  in  the 
starting  position. 

These   motors   are   wound    for   interchangeable   voltage, 
either  104  or  208,  no  or  220  volts.     The  s-hp  size  has  a 


power-factor  of  84  per  cent  and  an  efficiency  of  85  per  cent 
at  full  load.  The  manufacturers  claim  that  with  a  given 
load  the  starting  current  of  these  machines,  operating  for 
a  short  period  as  repulsion  motors,  is  less  than  the  starting 
current  in  each-  phase  of  a  polyphase  induction  motor  of 
equal  rating.  With  this  type  of  motor  the  absence  of  a 
compensator  enables  the  machine  to  start  automatically  and 
without  disturbance  in  case  the  power  supply  is  momen- 
tarily interrupted. 

The  stators  are  supported  by  a  light  cast-iron  frame 
carrying  the  feet  of  the  motor,  and  the  magnetic  circuits 
of  the  stators  are  constructed  of  laminated  sheet  iron,  thor- 
oughly annealed.  The  self-oiling  bearings  are  made  of  the 
best  phosphor  bronze,  while  the  shafts  are  of  high-carbon 
steel  and,  being  of  large  diameter,  will  carry  overloads 
without  damage.  All  shafts  have  oil  slings  for  returning 
oil  to  the  reservoirs,  and  the  motors  are  designed  to  be 
mounted  on  side  walls  or  ceiling,  by  turning  the  end  plates 
90  deg.  or  180  deg. 

The  company  is  also  bringing  out  a  line  of  two-phase  and 
three-phase  motors  designed  to  start  upon  about  twice  full- 
load  current,  in  sizes  ranging  from  J4  hp  to  25  hp.  The 
full-load  efficiency  of  the  lo-hp  size  is  85  per  cent  and  the 
power-factor  86  per  cent.  These  motors  are  designed  with 
a  double-wound  rotor,  the  main  portion  of  which  is  not  in 
use  until  it  has  attained  nearly  full  speed.  As  the  machine 
speeds  up,  an  automatic  centrifugal  device  virtually  intro- 
duces a  squirrel-cage  winding  of  low  resistance  into  the 
rotor  structure.  These  motors,  like  the  company's  single- 
phase  machines,  are  started  without  compensators. 


SIMPLIFIED    CONDUIT  FITTINGS. 


Two  new  conduit  terminals  or  end  fittings  have  recently 
been  added  to  the  line  of  conduit  fittings  manufactured  by 
the    Bonnell    Manufacturing    Company,    Cleveland,    Ohio. 


Fig.    1— Ell    Fitting. 

They  are  used  as  conduit  terminals  at  motors,  switchboards 
and  starting  rheostats  or  for  branching  to  or  from  open 
wiring  to  conduit,  and  can  be  used  on  flexible  metal  conduit 
when  assembled  with  a  clamp  lug  instead  of  the  threaded 
lug.  One  type  of  fitting,  known  as  "Adaptibox  No.  4100," 
can  be  used  as  either  a  right-hand  or  a  left-hand  ell  with 
interchangeable  countersunk  plates  on  both  sides  and 
bottom.  The  lugs  of  this  unit  may  be  so  inserted  as  to 
make  either  a  "straight  through"  or  a  U-shaped  fitting  for 
working  around  beams. 


Fig.  2 — Connector  Lug. 


Angle  Lug. 


In  cases  where  several  conduit  boxes  are  required  close 
together  a  connector  lug  is  provided.  A  cover  plate  is 
made  for  a  4-in.  box  to  give  the  same  range  of  standard 
receptacles,  sockets  and  surface  snap  switches  as  a  smaller 
box  provides. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


ELECTRIC    FIRELESS    COOKER. 


In  response  to  an  increasing  demand  for  apparatus  de- 
signed to  facilitate  simplified  and  economical  cooking,  the 
A.  L.  Sykes  Manufacturing  Company,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  has 
developed  the  "Quad"'  electric  stove  and  fireless  cooker 
illustrated  herevi-ith.     The  apparatus  is  made  in  two  sizes 


the  heats  of  the  latter.  The  oven  fits  tightly  over  the 
heating  surface  and  has  insulated  walls  and  a  glass  door, 
through  which  the  cooking  may  be  watched  without  ex- 
posing the  food  to  drafts.  The  use  of  the  equipment  tends 
to  cut  down  food  and  fuel  bills,  and  it  is  successfully  com- 
peting with  gas   ranges   supplied   from   commercial   mains. 


MOTOR-DRIVEN    CENTRIFUGAL    FIRE  PUMP. 


Fig.   1  —  Fireless  Cooker. 

with  either  blue-steel  or  nickel-steel  finish,  and  it  consists 
essentially  of  a  circular  base  in  which  is  contained  a  heating 
element,  cooking  utensils  fitting  the  top  of  the  stove,  and  a 
fireless  cooker  hood  to  surround  the  two  closely  and  con- 
serve the  heat  generated. 

The  stove  is  provided  with  a  three-heat  switch  in  the 
base,  the  heating  sections  being  so  divided  in  the  interior 
that  no  outside  resistance  is  needed  in  the  operation  of  the 
equipment.  The  lining  of  the  cooker  cover  is  pure  alumi- 
num, and  the  cooking  vessels  are  made  of  this  material. 
The  inclosure  of  the  heating  element  frees  it  from  dust  or 
dirt,  steam  or  moisture,  and  the  user  cannot  obtain  a  shock 
from  the  stove.     The  heating  element  is  of  Westinghouse 


The  accompanying  illustration  shows  a  recent  design  of 
motor-driven  centrifugal  fire  pump  just  placed  on  the 
market  by  the  Goulds  Manufacturing  Company,  Seneca 
Falls,  N.  Y.  Each  of  these  direct-connected  units  is  com- 
plete with  pump  and  electric  motor  or  steam  turbine 
mounted  on  a  single  bedplate  and  is  equipped  with  all 
fittings  required  by  the  fire  insurance  companies.  These 
pumps  are  furnished  in  four  sizes,  with  capacities  of  500, 
750,  1000  and  1500  gal.  per  minute,  being  respectively 
sufficient  for  two,  three,  four  and  six  effective  fire  streams. 
In  the  design  of  this  equipment  ruggedness  and  strength, 
with  waterways  of  liberal  size  and  readily  accessible  parts, 
have  been  aimed  at,  together  with  simplicity  and  relia- 
bility. All  working  parts  are  made  of  bronze  in  order  to 
resist  corrosive  action  from  the  water. 

The   pump   shown   in   the   illustration   has   a   capacity   of 


Fig.  2 — Fireless  Oven   and  Cooker. 

manufacture,  and  there  are  no  parts  in  the  equipment  to 
get  out  of  order  or  corrode. 

Special  emphasis  is  laid  by  the  designers  of  the  cooker 
upon  the  ease  with  which  it  can  be  cleaned.  The  wiring 
requires  only  a  lamp  cord  plugged  into  an  outlet  of  2500 
watts  maximum  capacity.  The  stove  is  built  for  125-volt 
or  250-volt  service  as  specified.  The  company  also  builds 
a  light,  portable  oven  for  use  on  the  stove  top  at  any  of 


Motor-Driven  Centrifugal   Fire  Pump. 

500  gal.  per  minute,  which  will  take  care  of  two  firt 
streams.  The  manufacturer  states  that  with  250-ft.  leads 
of  smooth  hose  and  l}i-in.  nozzles  it  is  possible  to  main- 
tain a  nozzle  pressure  of  50  lb.  per  square  inch,  which  is 
sufficient  to  throw  an  effective  stream  in  a  moderate  wind 
to  a  vertical  height  of  70  ft.  at  a  horizontal  distance  of 
63  ft.  The  motor  for  this  unit  is  rated  at  50  hp,  at  1700 
r.p.m.  The  over-all  dimensions  are  9  ft.  7  in.  in  length, 
6  ft.  3  in.  in  width  and  4  ft.  9  in.  in  height.  The  maker 
states  that  these  motor-driven  units  have  been  approved  by 
the  Association  of  Mutual  Factory  Fire  Insurance  Com- 
panies. 


ELECTRIC  RANGE  FOR  THOMPSON'S  SPA,  BOSTON. 


On  account  of  slight  changes  in  the  location  of  the 
switches  on  the  front  of  the  electric  range  after  it  was 
placed  in  service  at  Thompson's  Spa,  Boston,  Mass.,  the 
photograph  reproduced  on  page  892  of  our  issue  dated 
Oct.  26,  1912,  which  was  taken  before  the  switches  were  re- 
located, does  not  correspond  accurately  with  the  descriptive 
article  accompanying  it.  Except  for  the  altered  appearance, 
the  changes  made  were  of  minor  importance;  however,  they 
served  to  render  the  range  more  satisfactory  in  operation. 
This  range  was  built  by  the  Simplex  Electric  Heating  Com- 
pany, Cambridge,  Mass. 


November  g,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1013 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


THAT  a  widespread  degree  of  confidence  prevails  with 
regard  to  the  business  future  may  be  inferred  from 
the  substantial  increases  that  are  being  made  in  the 
number  of  new  concerns  which  are  seeking  charters  in  the 
various  states.  The  record  for  October,  referred  to  else- 
where in  these  columns,  showed  a  remarkable  increase  as 
compared  with  that  in  the  month  preceding.  Among  the 
new  companies  on  the  list  were  several  public-utility  con- 
cerns of  considerable  magnitude.  Attention  is  directed  to 
the  huge  amount  of  capital  that  has  been  absorbed  in  pub- 
lic-utility investments  since  January,  1910,  as  shown  in  an 
article  on  the  following  page.  Increases  in  the  earnings 
of  the  Standard  Gas  &  Electric  Company  and  the  West 
Penn  Traction  &  Water  Power  Company  are  noted  this 
week.  Details  concerning  the  Peerless  Insulated  Wire  & 
Cable  Company,  which  has  just  entered  the  wire  manufac- 
turing field,  appear  at  length  below.  The  grouping  of  sev- 
eral of  the  companies  associated  with  the  Alberger  interests 
into  one  company  known  as  the  Alberger  Pump  &  Con- 
denser  Company   is   also   noted. 


Condit  Sales  Conference. — On  Oct.  22  and  23  the  Condit 
Electrical  Manufacturing  Company  held  a  notable  sales 
conference  at  Boston,  which  was  attended  by  representa- 
tives of  most  of  the  district  offices  of  the  company.  This 
was  the  first  meeting  of  its  kind  held  by  the  company,  and 
its  success  was  such  that  it  is  planned  to  have  similar 
gatherings  annually.  The  first  day  of  the  conference  was 
occupied  by  a  trip  through  the  factory,  where  opportunity 
was  afforded  to  become  familiar  with  improvements  in  the 
company's  apparatus.  Of  especial  interest  were  the 
switches  of  large  capacity  and  high  voltage  which  are  being 
built  for  an  important  lighting  company.  At  other  sessions 
of  the  conference  details  of  oil  and  carbon  break  switches 
and  other  protective  devices  were  shown  by  means  of  lan- 
tern slides  in  connection  with  a  lecture  by  George  A.  Burn- 
ham,  electrical  engineer  of  the  company.  Another  illus- 
trated lecture,  describing  the  construction  of  Shawmut 
fuses,  was  delivered  by  Franklin  N.  Conant,  electrical  en- 
gineer of  the  Chase-Shawmut  company.  The  organization 
of  such  a  meeting  shows  the  high  development  that  the 
sales  conference  has  reached  among  progressive  manu- 
facturing concerns  whose  sales  force  to  be  most  efficient 
must  be  thoroughly  well  informed  and  imbued  with  the 
spirit  and  aims  of  the  parent  organization.  The  "get- 
together"  and  social  side  of  such  gatherings  is  important, 
but  their  greatest  value  is  their  educational  effect. 

Greater  Responsibility  Is  Needed  Among  Contractors. — 
According  to  one  of  the  most  important  electrical  contrac- 
tors in  New  York,  greater  responsibility  is  needed  among 
men  in  that  line  of  work.  There  is  too  much  looseness,  he 
says,  in  giving  credit  to  people  who  are  not  entitled  to  it 
and  who  are  so  enabled  to  occupy  a  position  that  works  out 
detrimentally  to  the  responsible  contractor  and  the  industry 
in  general.  This  authority  would  not  go  so  far  as  to  say 
that  a  preferred  contractors'  list  should  be  maintained,  but 
he  said  that  some  understanding  was  necessary  to  secure 
to  the  financially  responsible  contractor  who  maintains  a 
high  standard  of  workmanship  the  advantage  he  has  earned. 
As  it  is,  the  irresponsible  contractor  often  enjoys  advan- 
tage over  those  who  have  a  credit  and  a  reputation  to  main- 
tain. From  another  source  the  suggestion  has  been  made 
that  higher  standards  in  the  contracting  business  would 
have  the  effect  of  making  it  easier  for  the  manufacturer  to 
maintain  similarly  high  standards  for  electrical  supplies. 
The  use  of  relatively  inferior  materials  at  low  prices  would 
be  discouraged,  it  is  pointed  out;  the  danger  of  poor  con- 
struction being  slipped  past  the  inspectors  would  be  re- 
duced to  the  vanishing  point;  a  premium  would  be  placed 
on  good  work  with  good  materials,  and  the  responsible 
contractor  would  not  feel  that  he  must  guard  against  irre- 
sponsible competition. 

Alberger  Pump  &  Condenser  Company's  Personnel. — The 
three  affiliated  companies,  the  Alberger  Condenser  Com- 
pany, the  Alberger  Pump  Company  and  the  Newburgh  (N. 
Y.)    Ice   Machine   &   Engine   Company,  have  been   grouped 


into  one  organization  called  the  .A.lberger  Pump  &  Condenser 
Company,  whose  officers  are  George  Q.  Palmer,  president; 
William  S.  Doran  and  D.  H.  Chester,  vice-presidents,  and 
William  R.  Billings,  secretary  and  treasurer.  Owing  to  the 
large  amount  of  condenser  and  centrifugal  pump  orders 
that  are  being  received,  it  has  been  found  necessary  to 
make  extensive  additions  to  the  company's  works  and 
equipment  at  Newburgh,  N.  Y.  As  is  well  known,  the  com- 
pany manufactures  surface,  jet  and  barometric  condensers, 
cooling  towers,  a  wide  variety  of  volute  and  turbine  type 
centrifugal  pumps,  steam  turbines,  feed-water  heaters,  ex- 
pansion joints  and  hot-water-service  heaters.  Important 
work  that  it  has  on  hand  at  present  includes  orders  from 
the  United  States  War  Department,  the  United  States 
Navy  Department,  the  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  the 
Public  Service  Corporation  of  New  Jersey,  the  American 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  the  Robins  Dry  Dock  &  Repair 
Company,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  the  Cleveland  Electric 
Illuminating  Company.  The  main  offices  of  the  Alberger 
company  are  at  140  Cedar  Street,  New  York. 

Barcelona  Project  Still  in  Engineer  Stage. — Aside  from 
the  drilling  of  test  holes  with  a  view  to  determining  the 
most  satisfactory  site  for  the  dam,  practically  no  field 
work  has  been  done  upon  the  hydroelectric  plant  which  is 
to  be  built  by  the  Barcelona  Traction,  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, Ltd.,  near  the  Spanish  city  of  that  name.  As  was 
noted  in  these  colunms  Nov.  4,  191 1,  this  company  was 
organized  about  a  year  ago  under  Canadian  laws  with  a 
capitalization  of  $25,000,000  to  construct  and  operate  hydro- 
electric plants  and  traction  systems  in  and  near  Barcelona, 
Spain,  Dr.  F.  S.  Pearson,  115  Broadway,  New  York,  is  the 
guiding  spirit  of  the  enterprise.  One  of  the  traction  lines 
in  the  Spanish  city  was  acquired  in  1911,  and  one  of  the 
lighting  companies  has  been  taken  over  this  year.  The 
initial  hydroelectric  development  will  be  about  60,000  hp 
and  this  will  be  increased  later  on.  No  equipment  has 
been  purchased,  and  no  data  as  to  the  design  features  of 
the  plant  or  the  transmission  system,  or  of  the  class  and 
amount  of  load  in  sight,  are  available  for  publication.  Full 
details,  it  is  expected,  will  be  ready  within  a  few  months. 
W.  E.  Davidson,  Manning  Arcade,  Toronto,  Can.,  is  secre- 
tary of  the  company. 

West  Penn  Traction  &  Water  Power's  Good  Year. — The 

report  of  the  West  Penn  Traction  &  Water  Power  Com- 
pany for  the  year  ended  Sept.  30,  1912,  shows  an  increase 
in  gross  earnings  of  nearly  $800,000,  or  37.6  per  cent,  over 
those  in  the  preceding  year.  Net  earnings  also  showed  a 
large  increase,  being  $1,363,524  as  compared  with  $1,148,005 
in  191 1.  After  all  charges,  including  a  6  per  cent  dividend 
on  the  $1,625,000  6  per  cent  cumulative  preferred  stock  of 
the  company,  there  was  left  a  balance  of  $43,451  for  the 
year  as  compared  with  $34,938  in  191 1.  Business  conditions 
in  the  territory  covered  by  the  West  Penn  system  are  very 
favorable,  with  an  unusual  demand  for  coke  and  coal.  The 
ovens  and  mines  in  the  territory  served  are  in  many  in- 
stances running  double  turn,  and  new  factories  are  being 
built  in  many  of  the  towns  served  by  the  company.  The 
latter  is  rapidly  extending  its  high-tension  transmission 
lines  to  serve  new  motor-service  customers.  The  system 
was  extended  over  100  miles  this  year  and  now  totals  about 
270  miles. 

Maryland  Utility  Financed  in  London. — In  a  brief  note 
in  these  columns  Sept.  28  we  quoted  Colonel  John  Bogart, 
141  Broadway,  New  York,  consulting  engineer  and  chief  en- 
gineer of  the  Youghiogheny  Water  &  Electric  Power  Com- 
pany, as  saying  that  the  plans  for  that  company's  $750,000 
hydroelectric  plant  on  the  Youghiogheny  River  in  Western 
Maryland,  near  the  town  of  Friendville,  would  not  be  com- 
pleted until  the  close  of  negotiations  for  financing  the  com- 
pany that  were  being  conducted  in  London  at  that  time  by 
its  president.  The  latter,  C.  L.  Pullen,  has  returned  to 
New  York,  having  secured  more  than  two-thirds  of  the 
necessary  funds.  Colonel  Bogart  states  that  preliminary 
work  is  now  being  carried  on  actively  and  that  full  infor- 
mation concerning  the  project  will  be  available  in  a  few 
weeks. 


I0I4 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


Public  Utility  Financing  Since  January,  1910. — Among  re- 
cent  financial    developments   which    have   not   attracted    so 
much    attention    as   they    deserve    is    the    large    amount    of 
capital  going  into  what  are  known  as  public-utility  under- 
takings, particularly  those  in  which  electricity  is  employed, 
such    as    electric    lighting    and    electric    railways,    says    the 
Financial  Chronicle.     In  commenting  on   the  extent  of  new 
financing   by  public-utility  companies   since   Jan.   I,    1910,  it 
says  in  part:     "We  find  that  there  is  now  outstanding  under 
bond    issues    made    during    the    last   two    and    three-quarter 
years  a  total  of  new  bonds  in  the  aggregate  amounting  to 
$565,115,800.     In   a   number   of   cases   the   new   bonds   have 
gone  in  part  to   refund  existing  issues  and  in  one  or  two 
instances  they  have  been   issued  entirely  for  that  purpose. 
The  exact  amount  used  to  take  up  existing  bonds  has  often 
been  difficult  to  determine.     We  have,  however,  gone  care- 
fully into  this  phase  of  the  matter  and  our  analysis  shows 
that  out  of  the  grand  total  of  $565,115,800  the  sum  of  $76,- 
000,000  went  apparently  to  retire  old  and  earlier  issues  of 
bonds.     But,   even  with  this  eliminated,  there   still  remains 
$489,115,800    of    light,    power    and    electric    railway    issues 
representing  new  investment.     Some  $30,000,000  to  $40,000,- 
000   more    might   be    deducted    to    represent    cases   like   the 
American   Cities'   collateral   trust   issue   for   $10,000,000   and 
the  Chicago  City  and  Connecting  Railways"  collateral  trust 
mortgage  for  $22,000,000,  where  the  bonds  went,  not  to  take 
up  outstanding  bond  issues,  but  to  purchase  the  stocks  of 
existing  companies.     We  retain  these,  however,  as  part  of 
our  total,  since  the   change  from   a  stock  issue  to  a  bond 
issue   means   a   change  in   the   character  of  the  investment, 
and  the   fact   that   this   change   has   been   found   feasible   is 
itself   the   best   evidence   of   the   growth   in   stability  of   the 
public-utility  field  as  an  attraction  for  investors.     In  addi- 
tion  to   the   bonds   put   out   under   mortgages   bearing   date 
1910,    191 1   and    1912,   considerable   amounts   of   new   bonds 
have  been  issued  under  mortgages  of  earlier  date.     These 
latter    show    a   grand    aggregate    of   $182,846,065    of    bonds 
issued  under  these   earlier  mortgages,  of  which  $18,858,000 
was   used    for   refunding,    leaving   $163,988,065    representing 
new  capital.     If  to  this  last  we  add  the  $489,115,800  of  bonds 
outstanding  under  the  mortgages  covered  by  the  compila- 
tion given  above,  we  get  a  total  of  $653,103,865  of  new  cap- 
ital that  has  gone  into  bonds  of  public-utility  concerns   of 
one  kind  or  another  since  the  beginning  of  1910.     But  even 
this  does  not  represent  the   entire  new   capital   investment 
in    enterprises   of   that   kind.     Our   inquiry   is   confined    en- 
tirely  to   bonds.     In   addition    many   companies    have   been 
getting  supplies   of   new   capital   through   the   issue   of  pre- 
ferred stock.     A  rough  computation  we  have   made   shows 
that  since  Jan.  I,  1910,  about  $99,300,000  of  capital  has  been 
raised   by  light,  power  and   railway   concerns   in   that  way. 
Adding  this  to  the  $653,103,865  representing  the  new  bond 
investments   (less  amounts  used   for  refunding"),  the  grand 
total    of    new    capital    investment    is    brought    up    to    $752,- 
403,865." 

Many  Large  Public  Utilities  Incorporated  Last  Month. — 

An  indication  of  the  business  activity  that  now  exists 
throughout  the  country  is  furnished  by  the  record  of  new 
charters  filed  for  all  forms  of  commercial  enterprises  during 
the  month  of  October.  According  to  a  compilation  by  the 
Journal  of  Commerce,  New  York,  papers  filed  in  the  Eastern 
States  in  October  for  companies  with  an  authorized  capital 
of  $1,000,000  and  over  represented  $174,495,000,  which  is 
an  increase  of  $29,445,000  over  the  total  in  September  and 
of  $50,275,000  as  compared  with  the  figures  in  October,  191 1. 
Charters  taken  out  during  the  month  by  other  companies 
with  an  individual  capital  of  $100,000  or  more,  but  under 
$1,000,000,  including  papers  filed  in  states  other  than  those 
in  the  East,  brought  the  grand  total  for  the  month  up  to 
$332,765,000,  against  $224,165,000  in  September  and  $137.- 
178,500  in  October  a  year  ago.  Among  the  large  incor- 
porations of  the  month  were  $40,000,000  Utilities  Improve- 
ment Company,  the  $25,000,000  Municipal  Utilities  Corpo- 
ration and  the  $52,000,000  Utah  Securities  Corporation. 
Other  incorporations  on  the  October  list  were  the  $4,500,000 
Walpole  Tire  &  Rubber  Company,  the  $1,000,000  Automatic 
Telephone  Company,  Maine;  the  $100,000  Ferro-Flex  Con- 
duit Company,  the  $100,000  Allied  Gas  &  Electric  Company 
and  the  $200,000  Valley  Light  &  Power  Company,  all  under 
Ohio  laws;  the  $3,500,000  Montana  Power  Company,  New 
Jersey;    the    $100,000    American    Public    Service    Company, 


Delaware;  the  $125,000  Phillipsburg  Light,  Heat  &  Power 
Company  and  the  $100,000  Tri-Unit  Electrical  Company, 
both  of  New  Jersey,  and  the  $400,000  Utilities  Securities 
Company,  of  Maine. 

Views  on  the  Investment  Market. — Commenting  upon 
the  present  market  tendencies  of  certain  public-utility  se- 
curities, Williams,  McConnell  &  Coleman,  60  Wall  Street, 
New  York,  say  that  both  the  common  and  the  preferred  is- 
sues of  the  American  Gas  &  Electric  Company  are  dull  at  this 
time,  that  a  new  record  in  American  Light  &  Traction  com- 
mon will  be  seen  before  Feb.  i,  and  that  very  little  activity 
is  shown  in  American  Public  Utilities,  but  the  preferred  is 
being  absorbed  quietly,  which  would  mean  higher  prices. 
Of  Butte  Electric,  they  say  that  the  common  stock  has 
advanced  over  70  points  on  rumors  of  a  stock  dividend  and 
that  the  earnings  warrant  something  very  good.  Common- 
wealth Power,  Railway  &  Light  common  is  also  strong  on 
rumors  of  a  dividend,  and  these  rumors,  they  say,  have 
been  practically  confirmed  by  officers  of  the  company. 
Both  issues  of  Federal  Light  &  Traction,  they  continue, 
have  been  weak  recently  with  practically  no  bid.  Much 
better  buying  than  selling  has  been  the  case  with  securities 
of  the  Ozark  Power  &  Water  Company.  The  latter  is 
pushing  construction  work  and  is  ahead  of  its  estimate. 
Good  buying  has  appeared  in  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric,  and 
with  the  distribution  of  a  large  block  that  has  been  liqui- 
dated during  the  past  two  months,  these  brokers  look  for 
higher  prices.  They  are  continuing  to  advise  the  purchase 
of  United  Light  &  Railways  common  and  both  the  first 
and  second  preferred.  They  predict  a  good  advance  in 
both  stocks  of  the  Utilities  Improvement  Company,  the 
new  Doherty  property,  particularly  the  preferred.  Amer- 
ican Power  &  Light,  Commonwealth  Power,  Federal  Light 
&  Traction,  Federal  Utilities,  Electric  Bond  Deposit,  North- 
ern States  Power,  Lincoln  Gas  &  Electric  and  Standard 
Gas  &  Electric,  they  say,  were  inactive  last  month.. 

Standard  Gas  &  Electric  Company's  Earnings. — The 
Standard  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  which  is  the  largest 
Iiolding  company  of  the  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company  inter- 
ests, has  issued  a  statement  of  earnings  for  the  year  ended 
Sept.  30,  1912.  The  statement  shows  gross  earnings  for 
the  period  of  $2,190,257  and  net  earnings  of  $2,154,938. 
After  the  payment  of  bond  interest  and  dividends  on  the 
preferred  stock  at  the  rate  of  8  per  cent,  a  surplus  of  $788,- 
163  for  the  year  remained.  This  is  equal  to  more  than  8 
per  cent  on  the  common  stock  outstanding.  The  Standard 
company  on  Sept.  30  had  outstanding  the  following:  Com- 
mon stock,  $9,343,150;  preferred  stock,  $10,977,950;  bonds, 
$10,300,000.  As  is  well  known,  the  Standard  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric Company  was  incorporated  in  Delaware  in  1910  with 
authority  to  own  securities  in  public-service  corporations 
and  it  has  to  date  acquired  stock,  bonds  and  other  securities 
in  the  following  companies:  Arkansas  Valley  Railway, 
Light  &  Power,  Consumers'  Power,  Enid  Electric  &  Gas, 
Everett  Gas,  Fort  Smith  Light  &  Traction,  Mississippi  Val- 
ley Gas  &  Electric,  Mobile  Electric,  Muskogee  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric, Northern  Idaho  &  Montana  Power,  Northern  States 
Power,  Oklahoma  Gas  &  Electric,  Olympia  Gas,  Ottumwa 
Railway  &  Light,  San  Diego  Consolidated  Gas  &  Electric, 
Southwestern  General  Gas,  Tacoma  Gas  and  Western 
States  Gas  &  Electric  Company.  The  local  operating  com- 
panies in  which  the  Standard  is  interested  serve  a  total 
population  estimated  to  be  in  excess  of  1,526,000.  On  July 
31  gas  customers  were  served  to  the  number  of  105,232  and 
electric  customers  to  the  number  of  104,372. 

Seek  Receiver  for  Long  Acre  Company. — Through  the 
filing  of  a  suit  in  the  New  York  Supreme  Court  on  Nov.  2 
asking  for  the  appointment  of  a  receiver  for  the  Long  Acre 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  and  also  for  foreclosure 
of  that  company's  $500,000  bond  issue,  based  on  non-pay- 
ment of  interest  since  1908,  it  became  known  that  the  recent 
purchaser  of  a  majority  of  the  Long  Acre  bonds  was  An- 
thony N.  Brady,  president  of  the  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany. That  the  purchase  was  made  in  the  interest  of  the 
latter  company  was  denied  by  its  officials  a  few  weeks  ago. 
Until  the  Court  of  Appeals  renders  its  decision  in  the  case 
now  before  it,  in  which  the  New  York  Edison  Company  is 
seeking  to  prove  the  Long  Acre  franchise  invalid,  discussion 
as  to  the  future  of  the  Long  Acre  company  is  useless.  It 
is  expected  that  the  decision  of  the  court  will  be  handed 
down  very  shortly. 


November  9,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


lois 


Peerless  Insulated  Wire  &  Cable's  Organization  and 
Personnel. — In  the  Electrical  World  of  Aug.  24,  on  page  430, 
there  appeared  a  note  calling  attention  to  the  incorporation 
of  the  Peerless  Insulated  Wire  &  Cable  Company  under 
Delaware  laws,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000.  Further 
data  concerning  the  plans  of  the  company,  its  officers  and 
directors  and  its  process  for  making  weather-proof  wire 
are  now  at  hand.  Its  specialty  is  to  be  weather-proof  wire, 
but  other  classes  will  be  made  when  desired.  The  capital 
stock,  $1,000,000,  as  above,  is  divided  into  $750,000  common 
and  $250,000  7  per  cent  cumulative  preferred,  the  par  value 
of  the  shares  being  $10.  The  preferred  is  not  only  cumu- 
lative and  preferred  as  to  dividends,  but  has  also  a  first 
lien  on  all  of  the  company's  property  in  case  of  distribution 
of  assets.  The  officers  of  the  Peerless  company  are: 
William  E.  Cook,  18  Broadway,  New  York,  president;  W. 
J.  Leddell,  30  Church  Street,  New  York,  vice-president,  and 
I.  V.  Weisbrod,  71  Broadway,  New  York,  secretary  and 
treasurer.  These,  with  Franklin  S.  Randall,  of  Pennington, 
N.  J.,  arid  H.  W.  Davis,  of  Wilmington,  Del.,  are  also  the 
directors.  The  offices  of  the  company  are  at  18  Broadway, 
New  York,  and  the  factory  is  at  Pennington,  N.  J.,  where 
the  company  has  some  30,000  sq.  ft.  of  floor  area  and  about 
ten  acres  of  land.  The  method  which  the  company  will  use 
in  manufacturing  weather-proof  wire  is  as  follows:  "The 
conductor  (or  wire)  copper  or  iron  is  first  run  through  a 
solution  of  hot  wax  and  then  covered  with  a  strip  or  strips 
of  unspun  cotton  put  on  spirally,  combed  down  and  then 
saturated  again  with  wax.  This  secures  a  heavy  body  of 
wax,  next  to  the  conductor,  which  is  never  affected  by 
atmospheric  action.  This  method  of  production  is  seven 
times  as  rapid  as  the  method  of  braiding  with  cotton  thread. 
The  wire  can  then  be  finished  with  a  braid,  if  so  desired,  or 
can  be  polished  without  the  braid.  In  this  method  all 
possibility  of  moisture  reaching  the  wire  is  removed,  and 
its  ability  to  withstand  abrasion  is  also  much  greater  than 
that  of  the  ordinary  braided  weather-proof  wire."  Orders 
have  been  placed  by  the  Peerless  company  with  the  Watson 
Machine  Company,  of  Paterson,  N.  J.,  for  an  initial  equip- 
ment of  seven  Randall  machines  which  are  used  in  the 
process  just  outlined.  One  of  these  machines  is  completed 
and  work  has  been  started  upon  the  others.  The  size  of 
the  plant  is  to  be  increased  as  fast  as  machines  can  be  built, 
and  it  is  .expected  that  thirty  of  them,  capable  of  producing 
180  miles  of  wire  per  week,  will  be  in  operation  within  nine 
months.  The  company  expects  to  be  in  a  position  to  begin 
deliveries    by   the    first    of   January,    1913 

Connecticut  Utility  Sold. — The  Middletown  (Conn.) 
Electric  Light  Company  has  been  purchased  by  Stone  & 
Webster,  of  Boston,  who  are  to  pay  $225  per  share  for 
the  stock  of  the  company.  The  latter  was  incorporated  in 
1884  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000.  Several  increases  in 
the  capitalization  have  been  made  since  incorporation,  and 
at  present  there  is  $150,000  outstanding.  It  is  believed 
that  the  modern  station  of  the  Middletown  company,  built 
a  few  years  ago  to  replace  the  original  plant,  which  had 
been  outgrown,  will  be  discontinued  when  the  plans  of 
Stone  &  Webster  to  generate  energy  at  Windsor  Locks, 
Conn.,  as  was  noted  Oct.  19,  are  consummated,  and  that 
energy  from  the  hydroelectric  plant  to  be  erected  at  the 
last-named  place  will  be  furnished  in  the  territory  now 
served  by  the  Middletown  plant  at  rates  much  lower  than 
those  now  in  eflfect. 

New  Southern  Jobbing  House. — Julian  Binford,  Jr.,  for- 
merly secretary  of  the  Tower-Binford  Electric  &  Manu- 
facturing Company,  of  Richmond,  Va.,  has  formed  a  new 
concern,  the  Binford  Electric  Company,  with  a  capital  of 
$50,000,  to  enter  the  jobbing  business  with  headquarters 
at  Richmond  and  covering  Virginia.  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  Kentucky,  Georgia  and  part  of  Tennessee.  A 
general  line  of  supplies  will  be  carried,  and  connections 
have  been  made  with  some  of  the  most  important  manu- 
facturing concerns  in  the  country  to  handle  their  lines  in 
the  territory  stated.  The  company  will  not  enter  the  retail 
trade  but  will  confine  itself  to  jobbing  exclusively,  maintain- 
ing a  capable  sales  force  of  experienced  men.  The  com- 
pany will  be  ready  for  business   Nov.   15. 

Washington  (D.  C.)  Utilities  Merger. — Stockholders  of 
the  Maryland-Virginia  Railway  Company  will  vote  on  Nov. 
10  (i)  on  changing  the  name  of  the  company  to  the  Wash- 
ington Utilities  Company,  (2)  on  increasing  the  authorized 


stock  from  $30,000,000  to  $50,000,000,  and  (3)  on  authorizing 
an  issue  of  not  more  than  $100,000,000  bonds,  which  are  to 
be  secured  on  property  now  or  hereafter  owned.  This 
proposition,  according  to  statements  credited  to  officials 
of  the  Maryland-Virginia  company,  is  merely  a  financing 
movement  of  the  Washington  Railway  &  Electric  Com- 
pany. They  have  added  that  an  enterprise  of  these  pro- 
portions would  be  large  enough  to  take  in  other  utilities  if 
desired.  The  Maryland-Virginia  company  is  not  an  oper- 
ating company  as  yet. 

General  Gas  &  Electric  Bonds  Offered. — The  unsold  por- 
tion of  the  present  issue  of  $1,300,000  first-lien  s  per  cent 
convertible  gold  bonds  of  the  General  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany of  Maine  were  offered  this  week  at  94  and  interest, 
to  yield  SV2  per  cent,  by  Redmond  &  Company  and  the 
Equitable  Trust  Company,  of  New  York.  The  bonds  are 
dated  July  I,  1912,  and  are  due  June  i,  1932,  but  are  redeem- 
able at  105  and  interest  on  any  semi-annual  interest  date 
on  thirty  days'  notice.  Details  of  the  formation  of  the 
General  Gas  &  Electric  Company  by  W.  S.  Barstow  & 
Company,  50  Pine  Street,  and  of  the  properties  it  acquired, 
appeared  in  these  columns  July  6. 

New  Station  for  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Company. 
— A  contract  for  building  a  power  station  200  ft.  long  by 
110  ft.  wide,  to  be  ready  for  occupancy  in  the  spring,  has 
been  awarded  to  Andrew  W.  Woodward,  of  Chicago,  by 
the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Company.  The  new 
station  is  to  be  erected  at  Kincaid,  111.,  as  was  noted  in 
these  columns  Sept.  14,  and  is  to  cost  $115,000  exclusive  of 
equipment.  Energy  from  the  Kincaid  plant  will  be  dis- 
tributed in  the  many  central  Illinois  towns  in  which 
franchises  were  recently  acquired  by  the  Public  Service 
company. 

Public  Service  Corporation  (N.  J.)  Issues  New  Stock. — 
The  New  Jersey  Public  Utilities  Commission  has  granted 
permission  to  the  Public  Service  Electric  Company,  of  New 
Jersey,  to  issue  $2,750,000  stock,  the  proceeds  of  which  are 
to  be  used  for  extension  and  improvements.  The  stock 
is  to  be  sold  to  the  Public  Service  Corporation  of  New 
Jersey  and  pledged  under  that  company's  general  mortgage. 

Allis-Chalmers  Demurrers  Sustained. — United  States 
Judge  Geiger,  in  the  United  States  District  Court  at  Mil- 
waukee, has  sustained  the  demurrer  to  the  petition  of 
Eastern  stockholders  and  bondholders  opposing  the  reor- 
ganization plan.  With  this  intervening  petition  denied,  the 
way  is  cleared  for  speedy  rejuvenation  of  the  company's 
affairs. 

Oskaloosa  (la.)  Traction  &  Light  Financing. — The  Oska- 
loosa  (la.)  Traction  &  Light  Company  has  increased  its 
authorized  stock  from  $300,000  to  $500,000.  None  of  the 
new  stock,  it  is  understood,  has  been  issued.  The  amount 
of  the  company's  outstanding  first-mortgage  bonds  has 
been   increased  from  $200,000  to  $268,000. 

Cedar  Rapids  Manufacturing  &  Power  Company  May  In- 
crease Stock. — Stockholders  of  the  Cedar  Rapids  Manufac- 
turing &  Power  Company,  Montreal,  will  vote  shortly  on 
increasing  the  capital  stock  from  $10,000,000  to  $15,000,000 
and  on  changing  the  head  office  of  the  company  from  St. 
Joseph  de  Soulanges  to  Montreal. 


INDUSTRIAL  SECURITIES 


Security. 


k 


Allis-Chalmers.  2d  assess, 
paid 

Allis-Chalmers.  pf.,  2d  as- 
sess, paid 

Amalgamated  Copper 

American  Tel.  &  Tel 

Crocker- Wheeler,  c 

Crocker-Wheeler,  pf 

Electric  Storage  Battery ,c, 

General  Electric 

Mackay  Cos..  c 

Mackay  Cos..  pf 

Western  Union  Tel 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M,,  c 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M.,  pf. 

*Last  price  quoted. 


CapiUl  Stock 
Listed. 


$17,151,100 

14,034,700 

153,887.900 

334,712,300 

1,700,000 

500,000 

16,074,425 

77,726,700 

41,380,400 

50,000,000 

79,943,400 

31,685.300 

3,998.700 


Per  Cent.  Period 


1 
2 

li 
13 

'2' ' 

u 

1 

i 

1 
13 


Q 
Q 
Q 
Q 

Q 
0 
Q 
0 
0 
Q 


Oct.  30.  Nov.  6 


2i 

83f* 

142| 
86* 

105* 
55 

180 
80 
67i 
79J 
82  i 

125 


2}* 

9} 

86i 
143 

86* 
105* 

55 
182i 

80* 

6&i 

79 

84 
124i* 


ioi6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


Personal 

Mr.  A.  J.  Short  succeeds  Mr.  Frank  Austin  as  local 
manager  of  the  Frankfort  plant  of  the  Kentucky  Utilities 
Company. 

Mr.  James  M.  Kelley  has  recently  been  appointed  district 
sales  manager  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  for  the  Electric  Products 
Company  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Mr.  Frank  Austin,  manager  and  chief  engineer  of  the 
Kentucky  Utilities  Company's  plant  at  Frankfort,  has 
been  appointed  general  auditor  of  the  company. 

Mr.  B.  W.  Bissell,  formerly  superintendent  at  Portland, 
Ind.,  has  been  appomted  superintendent  for  the  Conners- 
ville  (Ind.)  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company,  succeeding  Mr. 
George  E.  Brett. 

Mr.  Herbert  Hickling,  superintendent  of  the  Jamesburg 
(N.  J.)  Electric  Company,  has  resigned  to  become  super- 
intendent of  the  motor  department  of  the  Baldwin  Loco- 
motive  Works  at  Eddystone,   Pa. 

Mr.  J.  Preston  Lyons  has  been  appointed  district  sales 
manager  for  the  Chicago  district  of  the  Electric  Products 
Company  of  Cleveland,  Ohio.  Mr.  Lyons  succeeds  Mr. 
Sidney  L.  Rich,  who  recently  resigned  to  enter  another  line 
of  business. 

Mr.  Claude  Warrington  has  resigned  as  Southern  repre- 
sentative for  the  Macbeth-Evans  Company  and  has  become 
special  representative  of  the  Haskins  Glass  Company,  of 
Wheeling,  W.  Va..  in  his  old  territory,  with  headquarters 
at  New  Orleans,  La. 

Mr.  Arthur  Thomas  has  succeeded  Mr.  T.  Blinn  as  su- 
perintendent of  the  Lincoln  Railway  &  Power  Company, 
Lincoln,  111.  Mr.  Blinn  will  become  manager  for  the  Cen- 
tral Illinois  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  with  head- 
quarters at  Pine  Bluflf,  Ark. 

Mr.  W.  C.  Duncan,  formerly  new-business  manager  of 
the  Lawrence  (Kan.)  Railway  &  Light  Company,  has  been 
appointed  general  manager  of  the  Bay  City  Ice  &  Light 
Company,  Bay  City,  Tex.,  whose  control  recently  passed 
to  the  Emanuel  syndicate  of  Dayton,  Ohio. 

Mr.  Charles  A.  Hobein  has  resigned  as  superintendent  of 
power  stations  for  the  United  Railways  Company,  of  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  and  has  become  associated  with  the  bond  house 
of  John  Nickerson,  Jr.,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  as  electrical  and 
mechanical  engineering  adviser  and  inspector. 

Mr.  Herbert  Markle,  formerly  manager  for  the  Consum- 
ers' Power  Company  at  Stillwater,  Minn.,  has  not  been 
transferred  to  Everett,  Wash.,  as  stated  in  this  column  on 
Oct.  26.  Mr.  Markle  will  receive  a  promotion,  but  his  new 
position  has  not  been  announced.  Mr.  M.  D.  Spencer  is 
manager  of  the  Everett  Gas  Company,  which,  like  the  Con- 
sumers' Power  Company,  is  a  Byllesby  property. 

Mr.  George  A.  McKinlock,  president  of  the  Central  Elec- 
tric Company,  and  Mr.  William  H.  McKinlock,  president  of 
the  Metropolitan  Electrical  Supply  Company,  both  of  Chi- 
cago, are  receiving  the  sincere  sympathy  of  their  friends 
on  the  death  of  their  father.  Captain  John  McKinlock, 
which  occurred  at  his  home  in  that  city  on  Oct.  28.  Captain 
McKinlock  was  born  in  New  York  City  seventy-nine  years 
ago  and  made  a  distinguished  record  as  an  officer  in  the 
United  States  Volunteers  during  the  Civil  War. 

Captain  Asher  Carter  Baker,  U.  S.  N.,  retired,  has  been 
selected  for  the  important  position  of  director  of  exhibits 
of  the  Panama-Pacific  International  Exposition,  at  San 
Francisco,  Cal.,  1915.  President  Charles  C.  Moore  and  the 
board  of  directors  have  unanimously  approved  the  choice. 
Captain  Baker  was  connected  with  the  Chicago  Exposition 
in  1893,  the  Paris  Exposition  in  1900  and  the  St.  Louis  Ex- 
position in  1904.  He  was  vice-president  of  the  class  jury 
and  also  of  the  group  jury  and  was  a  member  of  the 
superior  jury  at  the  Paris  Exposition. 

Mr.  Mortimer  D.  Gould  has  been  appointed  industrial 
engineer  of  the  Livingston-Niagara  Power  Company  at 
Avon,  N.  Y.  This  company  is  engaged  in  the  distribution 
of  Niagara  energy,  which  it  receives  from  the  main  trans- 
mission lines  of  the  Niagara.  Lockport  &  Ontario  Power 
Company,  its  territory  including  the  southern  section  of 
Monroe  County  and  the  northern  section  of  Livingston 
County,  N.  Y.     Mr.  Gould  has  been  connected  at  times  with 


the  Niagara  interests,  the  Rochester  (N.  Y.)  Railway  & 
Light  Company,  the  Eastern  Pennsylvania  Power  Com- 
pany, Easton,  Pa.,  and  more  recently  with  public  utilities 
in  North  Carolina. 

Mr.  H.  D.  Currier,  who  has  recently  joined  the  forces  of 
the  Kellogg  Switchboard  &  Supply  Company,  Chicago,  has 
had  a  long  and  varied  experience  in  the  telephone  field. 
Previous  to  his  connection  with  the  Western  Electric  Com- 
pany, from  which  company  he  went  to  the  Kellogg  com- 
pany, he  was  associated  with  the  Chicago  Telephone  Com- 
pany, the  Duplex  Metals  Company,  the  Maryland  Telephone 
&  Telegraph  Company  and  the  Century  Telephone  Con- 
struction Company.  While  connected  with  the  Western 
Electric  Company  Mr.  Currier  had  charge  of  experimental 
work  for  a  considerable  time,  later  entering  the  sales 
organization.  He  also  became  very  familiar  with  the 
products  of  the  Duplex  Metals  Company  while  associated 
with  that  organization  in  a  sales  engineering  capacity.  Mr. 
Currier  has  contributed  a  number  of  articles  on  telephony 
to  the  technical  press. 

Mr.  William  L.  Abbott,  chief  operating  engineer  of  the 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  was  elected  president  of 
the  company  section  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Asso- 
ciation on  Oct.  29.  The 
section,  which  has  1700 
members,  is  the  largest 
individual  company  sec- 
tion in  the  association,  so 
that  the  position  of  presi- 
dent is  one  of  some  re- 
sponsibility. Mr.  Abbott 
has  been  the  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  enter- 
tainment, and  as  he  is  one 
of  the  most  popular  men 
in  the  company,  the  se- 
lection meets  general  ap- 
proval. He  was  borr. 
in  Whiteside  County,  Illi- 
nois, in  1861  and  was 
graduated  from  the 
mechanical  engineering 
course  of  the  University  of  Illinois  in  1884.  Later  his 
alma  mater  conferred  upon  him  a  master's  degree  in  me- 
chanical engineering.  Still  later  Mr.  Abbott  was  elected 
by  vote  of  the  people  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of 
the  University  of  Illinois,  which  is  a  state  institution.  He 
became  a  member  of  the  board  in  1905  and  has  served  as 
its  president  since  1907.  He  is  a  stanch  friend  of  technical 
education,  in  which  he  takes  an  unselfish  interest.  After 
graduation  Mr.  Abbott  came  to  Chicago  and  was  employed 
as  a  machmist  or  draftsman  by  various  manufacturing  con- 
cerns, inchuhng  the  old  Van  Depoele  Electric  Company. 
He  was  early  attracted  by  the  possibilities  for  electric 
central-statiiiii  service  and  helped  to  organize  one  of  the 
first  arc-lighting  companies  in  Chicago.  This  was  later 
ab^or'jcd  by  the  Chicago  Arc  Light  &  Power  Company, 
which  was  in  turn  merged  into  the  predecessor  of  the 
present  Commonwealth  Edison  Company.  From  1887  to 
1894  Mr.  Abbott  was  president  of  the  National  Electric 
Construction  Company,  which,  in  addition  to  doing  con- 
struction work,  owned  a  small  central-station  plant  in  the 
downtown  district  of  Chicago.  This  company  was  bought 
by  the  Chicago  Edison  Company  in  1894.  A  year  later  the 
company  went  out  of  existence,  and  Mr.  Abbott  was  ap- 
pointed chief  engineer  of  the  Harrison  Street  station  of 
the  Chicago  Edison  Company.  In  1899  he  was  made  chief 
operating  engineer  of  the  company,  of  which  the  Common- 
wealth Edison  Company  is  successor,  and  he  has  held  that 
position  ever  since.  Mr.  Abbott  has  done  effective  com- 
mittee work  for  the  National  Electric  Light  Association, 
being  chairman  of  the  committee  on  underground  con- 
struction which  reported  at  the  Seattle  convention.  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  committee  on  prime  movers,  and 
he  holds  both  of  these  positions  for  the  year  1912-1913.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers, American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  and 
Western  Society  of  Engineers,  of  which  last  he  was  presi- 
dent in  1907,  and  has  written  several  papers  on  engineering 
subjects.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago,  Chicago  Ath- 
letic, Engineers'  and  University  Clubs  of  Chicago. 


WILLIAM   L.   ABBOTT. 


November  g.  1912, 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1017 


Construction 


MARSHALL,  ARK.— The  Town  Council  has  granted  a  franchise  to 
Redman,  Stephens  &  Co.  to  install  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant 
here   for   a  period   of  25    years. 

BESSEMER,  ALA.— The  Birmingham  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  franchise  by  the  town  of  Brighton  to  erect  a  street-railway 
line  along  certain  streets  to  the  Woodward  furnaces  of  the  Woodward 
Iron  Co.  It  is  expected  that  the  line  will  be  extended  to  the  coal  mines 
at    Dolomite. 

KINGMAN,  ARIZ. — Investigations  have  been  made  by  M.  W.  Mus- 
grove,  of  Kingman,  and  several  New  York  men  in  regard  to  the 
feasibility  of  constructing  a  dam  at  the  mouth  of  the  Grand  Canyon 
in  connection  with  a  hydroelectric  project.  It  is  claimed  that  sufficient 
power  could  be  developed  to  operate  pumps  to  irrigate  the  entire  Wallopai 
Valley. 

BAKERSFIELD,  CAL. — Surveys  have  been  completed  by  the  San 
Joaquin  Lt."  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  a  ditch  and  flume  line.  4  milei  long,  near 
North  Foric,  preliminary  to  the  construction  of  a  third  plant  and  trans- 
mission  line   on   the    San   Joaquin    River. 

BURBANK,  CAL. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  granted  to  the 
Burbank  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  permission  to  exercise  its  franchise  to  fur- 
nish electricity  in  Burbank,  and  also  to  issue  $200,000  in  capital  stock 
to  finance   construction   of   plant. 

FRESNO,  CAL.— The  San  Joaquin  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  entered  into 
An  agreement  to  erect  a  transmission  line  from  Chowchilla,  on  the 
Southern  Pacific  Railroad,  to  a  large  tract  of  the  United  States  Farm 
f-.and  Co.,  which  will  be  opened  for  settlement.  The  proposed  line  will 
he    10    miles   long   and    will    supply   power    for   pumping   purposes. 

HALF  MOON,  CAL.— The  Half  Moon  Bay  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  ap- 
plied to  the  County  Commissioners  for  permission  to  erect  transmission 
lines  on  the  'county  road  between  Purissima  and  the  southern  boundary 
of   the   county.      J.  .J,    Gomez  is   president. 

HEMET,  CAL. — The  Southern  Sierras  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to  extend 
its  transmission  lines  on  all  the   principal  streets   in   Hemet. 

LONG  BEACH,  CAL.— The  Southern  California  Edison  Co.  is  con- 
templating the  installation  of  an  lS,000-kw  unit  at  its  steam  generating 
plant   in   Long   Beach. 

PASADENA,  CAL.— The  Pasadena  Home  Tel.  Co.  has  purchased  a 
site  on  Mission  Street,  on  which  it  will  erect  a  substation. 

OROVILLE,  CAL. — Notice  of  appropriation  of  60,000  miners'  inches 
of  water  in  Fall  River,  a  tributary  of  the  Feather  River,  35  miles  from 
Oroville,  has  been  filed  by  F.  G.  Ebey,  of  Oakland;  F.  H.  Whisner,  of 
San  Francisco,  and  L.  F.  Breuner,  of  Sacramento.  It  is  stated  that  the 
water  is  to  -be  used  in  connection  with  an  electrical  power  plant,  costing 
about    $360,000. 

PLACERVILLE,  CAL.— The  Western  States  Gas  &  El.  Co.  will  soon 
complete  its  transmission  line  to  Camino.  The  Danaher  Pine  Co.  will 
substitute  electricity  for  steam  power  to  operate  its  planing  mill  and  also 
for  lighting  purposes.  Electrical  service  will  also  be  furnished  to 
farmers  along  the  line.  As  soon  as  the  Camino  line  is  finished  the  com- 
pany expects  to  extend  its  service  to  the  towns  of  Diamond  Springs  and 
El    Dorado,    supplying   service   to    the    farmers   along   the    route. 

RED  BLUFF,  CAL. — The  residents  of  the  Cottonwood  Creek  section 
are  planning  to  erect  a  mutual  telephone  system.  About  20  miles  of 
wire  will  be  erected. 

RIO  VISTA,  CAL.^Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of  Trustees 
until  Dec.  12  for  the  sale  of  a  franchise  for  which  application  has  been 
made  by  the  Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  to  erect  and  operate  an  electric 
transmission    line    in    Rio    Vista. 

SACRAMENTO,  CAL. — Work  will  soon  begin  on  the  installation  of 
the  new  electrolier  street-lighting  system,  which  will  be  maintained  by 
underground  wires. 

SUNLAND,  CAL.— The  Tejunga  Wtr.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
State  Railroad  Commission  for  authority  to  issue  $300,000  of  the  pro- 
posed $1,000,000  issue,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  immediate  improve- 
ments to  its  water  system.  It  is  proposed  to  start  work  at  once  on 
construction  of  a  dam  in  the  Big  Tejunga  with  a  storage  capacity  of 
1500  miners'  inches  of  continuous  flow.  With  the  remaining  $700,000  the 
company  proposes  to  construct  two  more  dams  to  furnish  water  for  irri- 
gation of  30,000  additional  acres  of  land  and  to  construct  a  6000-hp  gen- 
erating plant  at  Sunland;  the  building  of  a  conduit  for  water  and  power 
from  the  Tejunga  dam  to  Sunland  is  contemplated.  T.  M.  Dack,  of 
Los   Angeles,    is    president    of   the  company. 

SUSANVILLE,  CAL. — Isaac  Knoch,  proprietor  of  the  Branham  dam 
and  electric-light  plant,  has  decided  to  raise  the  dam  4  ft.  and  to  install 
additional    machinery   in   the    power    plant. 

TROPICO,  CAL. — Arrangements  have  been  made  between  the  city 
officials  and  the  Pacific  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Corpn.  for  the  installation  of  120 
street  lamps,  work  on  which  will  soon  begin. 

ORDWAY,  COL.— The  Ordway  El.  Lt.  &  Power  Co.  has  entered  into 
a  contract  with  the  Arkansas  Valley  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  of  Pueblo  for 
electricity  from  its  lines  down  the  valley.  It  is  proposed  to  tap  the 
line  at  Rocky  Ford,  the  chief  substation  in  the  valley.  Application  has 
been   made   to    the   County    Commissioners   for   right-of-way    for    transmis- 


sion lines  through  the  county  with  anotlier  substation  in  Ordway,  which 
will  be  tlie  chief  distributing  point  for  the  entire  territory  north  and 
east  within  a  radius  of  70  miles.  Work  will  begin  on  the  erection  of  the 
transmission  line  as  soon  as  the  petition  is  granted. 

ROCKY  HILL,  CONN.— The  citizens  have  voted  to  authorize  the  Select- 
men to  enter  into  a  contract  with  the  Hartford  El.  Lt.  Co.  for  street  light- 
ing for  a  period  of  one  year.  The  contract  calls  for  60  incandescent  lamps 
to  cost  $1,080  per  year.     A  substation  will  be  erected  here. 

WATERBURY,  CONN.— Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  Connecticut 
Co.  for  an  addition  to  its  power  plant  on  West  Main  Street,  Waterbury. 
D.    S.   Miller,   of  New  Haven,   is  electrical  engineer. 

INvtRNESS,  FLA.— The  Inverness  Pwr.  Co.  has  published  a  notice 
that  it  will  apply  for  a  franchise  to  install  an  electric-light  plant  and 
water-works  system. 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  FLA.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  City 
Council  for  the  installation  of  a  new  street-lighting  system.  The  St. 
Petersburg   Investment   Co.   has   the  contract   for   lighting   the  city. 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  FLA.— The  St.  Petersburg  Investment  Co.  is 
planning  to  build  a  new  power  plant,  car  barns,  repair  shops,  etc.,  for 
which  a  site  has  been  purchased.  Thomas  K.  Bell  is  general  superin- 
tendent. 

CAMILLA,  GA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to  issue 
$27,500  in  bonds  was  carried,  of  which  $10,000  will  be  used  for  im- 
provements to   the  municipal   electric-light  plant  and   water-works   system. 

POCATELLO,  IDAHO.— Application  has  been  made  to  the  City 
Council  by  James  H.  Brady,  of  Pocatello,  and  others,  for  an  electric 
street    railway    franchise. 

AUBURN,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  which  recently 
purchased  the  property  of  the  Auburn  El.  Lt.  Co.,  has  applied  for  a 
new  franchise  for   a  period  of  50  years. 

BRYANT,  ILL. — The  Canton  Gas  &  El.  Co.  is  planning  to  extend  its 
transmission  line  to  furnish  energy  for  the  substation  of  the  Illinois 
Central  El.   Ry.     Electricity  will  be  supplied  for  lamps  and  motors. 

CARRIER'S  MILLS,  ILL. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  City 
Council  by  the  Schott  syndicate  for  a  franchise  to  install  and  operate 
an    electric-light    system    here. 

DECATLIR,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  passed  an  ordinance  granting 
the  Central  Union  Tel.  Co.  a  franchise  here.  The  franchise  will  have 
to   be   submitted  to   the  voters. 

DIXON,  ILL. — The  project  to  install  an  ornamental  street-lighting  sys- 
tem on  First  Street  and  Galena  Avenue  has  been  revived.  George  J. 
Downing  is  interested. 

ELDRED,  ILL.— The  Village  Board  has  granted  the  Central  Illinois 
Pub.  Service  Co.,  of  Mattoon,  permission  to  supply  electricity  here  for 
a  period  of  50  years.  A  transmission  line  will  be  erected  from  Car- 
roll ton    to    furnish    the   service. 

FLAT  ROCK,  ILL. — The  franchise  permitting  Marshall  E.  Sampsell 
and  associates  to  operate  an  electric-lighting  plant  in  Flat  Rock  has  been 
held  in  abeyance  pending  the  fixing  of  a  maximum  rate  to  private  con- 
sumers. 

GRI'IEN VILLE,  ILL. — The  City  Council,  it  is  reported,  is  contem- 
plating the  installation  of  a  new  street-lighting  system,  substituting  three 
tungsten  lamps  for  each  arc  lamp  now  in  use.  The  Greenville  El.  Gas 
&  Pwr.   Co.  has  the  contract  for  street  lighting. 

KINCAID,  ILL. — Andrew  W.  Woodson,  of  Chicago,  is  reported  to  have 
secured  the  contraci  for  th6  construction  of  an  electric-Hght  station  at 
Kincaid  for  the  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  and  the  Francis  Pcabody 
interests,  to  cost  without  equipment  about  $115,000.  The  building  will  be 
200  ft.   long  and  110  ft.   wide. 

MACON,  ILL. — The  Moweaque  El.  Co.,  which  holds  the  street-lighting 
contract  here,  contemplates  substituting  the  tungsten-lamp  clusters  for 
arc  lamps.  The  company  offers  to  install  40  arc  lamps,  to  cost  $  1 ,000 
per   year. 

MATTOON,  ILL.— The  Decatur,  Sullivan  &  Mattoon  Transit  Co.  has 
notified  the  City  Council  that  it  will  ask  for  a  franchise  to  operate  its 
cars  over  certain  streets  in  Mattoon. 

MORRIS,  ILL. — The  Public  Service  Co.  of  Northern  Illinois  is  testing 
new  lamps  with  a  view  of  changing  the  system  to  cluster  lamps. 

NORMAL,  ILL. — The  Board  of  Education  has  awarded  the  contract 
for  an  electric-clock  system  in  the  new  public-school  building  to  the 
James  Gray  Co.,  of  Bloomington.  111.  An  intercommunicating  telephone 
system  and  a  vacuum-cleaning  system   will  be  installed. 

OREGON,  ILL. — The  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting 
system   here   is  under  consideration. 

OWANECO,  ILL.— The  Village  Board  has  entered  into  a  contract 
with  the  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the 
village.  Thirty-six  lamps  will  be  installed.  Electricity  for  operating 
the  system  will  probably  be.  secured  from  the  proposed  new  plant  at 
Kincaid. 

SUMMIT,  ILL. — Bids  will  be  received  until  Nov.  18  by  James  Johnston 
for  the  installation  of  a  complete  street-lighting  system,  consisting  of 
poles,  wire  and  235  street  lamps  and  one  transformer,  to  distribute 
electricity  to  be  furnished  by  the   Sanitary   District  of  Chicago. 

MONTICELLO,  IND.— The  Northern  Indiana  Utilities  Co.,  recently 
organized,  has  taken  over  the  property  of  the  Tippecanoe  EI.  &  Pwr.   Co, 


ioi8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


the  Hawkeye  *Lt.  iv 
25-year  franchise  to 
special    election    will 


in  Monticello,  and  also  the  interests  of  this  company  in  Fowler,  Kentland 
and  Goodland.  The  new  company  is  developing  the  Wilson  power  dam 
in  Monticello  and  will  install  a  steam  auxiliary  plant  at  Fowler.  Trans- 
mission lines  to  surrounding  towns  and  villages  will  be  erected,  includ- 
ing Brook,  Morocco,  Sheldon,  Idaville,  Burnettsville,  Reynolds,  Rem- 
ington and  Wolcott.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $1,075,000.  Theodore 
and  Charles  Monroe,  of  the  Monroe  National  Bank,  Chicago,  111.,  are 
interested. 

ANKENY,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to  grant 
the  Central  Iowa  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  was 
carried. 

BURLINGTON,  I.-X. — Homer  Wise,  representing 
Pwr.  Co.,  has  applied  to  the  City  Council  for  a 
supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  here.  A 
be  called  to  submit  the  proposition  to  the  voters. 

CEDAR  FALLS,  lA. — The  Citizens'  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  submitted  a 
proposition  to  the  City  Council  offering  to  operate  40-cp  tungsten  lamps, 
burning  3850  hours  per  year,  at  $1  each  per  month;  60-cp  tungsten  lamps, 
burning  3850  hours  per  year,  at  $1.25  each  per  year,  and  to  furnish 
electricity  for  the  proposed  boulevard  lighting  system  at  5  cents  per  kw-hr. 
CHELSEA,  lA. — At  an  election  to  be  held  Nov.  12  the  proposition  to 
grant  a  franchise  to  William  G.  Dows  and  associates  to  install  and 
operate  an  electric  light  and  power  plant  here  will  be  submitted  to  the 
voters. 

CLARINDA,  lA.— The  Lee  EI.  Co.,  of  Clarinda,  on  Sept.  28  was 
granted  25-year  franchises  in  the  towns  of  Blanchard  and  College  Springs 
and  received  a  10-year  contract  for  street  lighting  in  both  towns.  In 
Blanchard  a  contract  for  pumping  the  city  water  for  a  period  of  10  years 
was  also  awarded  to  the  company.  The  street-lighting  contracts  are  for 
30  ICO-watt  series  Mazda  lamps,  with  midnight  service,  at  $18  each  per 
year.  Contracts  for  material  will  probably  be  placed  about  Feb.  1.  The 
company  has  completed  the  extension  of  the  Gravity-Corning  transmission 
line  and  expects  to  make  connection  with  the  town  of  Corning  about  Nov. 
10,  after  which  time  the  station  equipment  there  will  be  dismantled  and 
sold.  The  power  house  in  Corning  will  be  converted  into  a  substation 
and  the  installation  of  an  electrically  driven  ice  plant  is  contemplated 
which  will  supply  the  town  of  Corning  and  other  nearby  towns  with  ar- 
tificial ice.  The  Lee  El.  Co.  also  contemplates  extending  its  transmission 
lines  to  the  towns  of  Lenox,  Sharpsburg,  Conway,  Clearfield,  Diagonal, 
Prescott,  Brooks,  Mount  Ayr,  and  also  Hopkins,  Mo.  It  is  also  proposed 
to  erect  a  transmission  line  .south  to  Shambaugh,  Braddyville,  Clermont 
and  Burlington  Junction',  Mo.,  and  thence  across  to  Elmo,  Mo.  The 
company  has  just  completed  extensive  improvements  to  the  Clarinda 
power  plant,  which  include  the  installation  of  a  SOO-kw  AUis-Chalmers 
steam  turbine,  three  150-hp  boilers,  150-ft.  brick  stack,  one  250-ton  over- 
head coal  bunker  and  coal-handling  equipment,  three  additional  Jones 
under-feed  stokers,  and  the  erection  of  18  miles  of  three-phase  transmis- 
sion  line.      Rufus   E.   Lee   is  manager. 

IOWA  FALLS,  lA,— E.  H.  Lundy,  of  Eldora,  la.,  is  reported  to  be 
negotiating  with  Oscar  F.  Petersen,  of  Des  Moines,  owner  of  the  local 
electric-light  plant,  for  the  purchase  of  the  property.  Mr.  Lundy  recently 
purchased  the  gas  plant  here. 

LYONS,  lA. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of  an 
ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Main  Street. 

TIPTON,  lA. — The  proposition  to  grant  the  Davenport,  Iowa  City  & 
Western  Trac  Co.,  Pierre,  S.  D.,  a  franchise  to  construct  and  operate 
an  electric  railway  and  an  electrical  distributing  system  in  Tipton  will 
be   submitted   to   the   voters   on    Nov.    5. 

BELLE  PLAINE,  K.'VN. — The  proposed  municipal  electric-light  plant 
and  water-works  system,  for  which  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $35,000  were 
recently  voted,  will  be  built  this  winter.  Rollins  &  Westover,  Kansas 
City,    Mo.,    are   engineers. 

KINGMAN,  KAN. — The  city  commissioners  have  decided  to  purchase 
the  local  electric  plant  and  rebuild  the  same.  An  election  has  been 
called  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  issue  $25,000  in  bonds  for  the 
project. 

CLAY,  KY. — The  Clay  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.  is  installing  an  electric-light  plant 
here,  the  equipment  to  include  one  horizontal  tube  boiler,  one  automatic 
Ball  engine  and  one  75-kva  Fort  Wayne  generator,  which  have  already 
been  purchased.  The  company  also  proposes  to  install  a  10-ton  ice  plant 
to  be  operation  by  May  1.  Orders  have  not  yet  been  placed  for  the  ice 
machinery.  The  company  is  also  in  the  market  for  overhead  line  ma- 
terial and   inside  fixtures,  etc.      C.   R.   Clark   is  general  manager. 

COVINGTON,  KY. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  city  com- 
missioners of  Covington  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street- 
lighting  system  along  the  York  Street  boulevard. 

LEXINGTON,  KY. — Work  will  soon  begin  on  the  installation  of  an 
electric-arc  lighting  system  on  the  grounds  of  the  Kentucky  State  Uni- 
versity.    Judge   Henry  Barker  is  president  of  the  university. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY. — Work  has  commenced  on  the  construction  of 
the  new  shops  for  the  Louisville  Ry.  Co.  at  Twenty-ninth  Street  and 
Garland  Avenue,  consisting  of  three  buildings  and  costing  about  $150,000. 
One  building  will  be  used  for  an  electric  repair  shop. 

RICHMOND,  KY. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Dix  River 
Pwr.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  hydroelectric  power  plant  on  the 
Dix  River,  near  Richmond,  for  which  bids  will  be  called  for.  L.  B. 
Herrington  is  president.  Brown  &  Clarkson,  Washington,  D.  C,  are 
engineers. 


SOMERSET,  KY. — L.  F.  Hubble,  of  Somerset,  has  completed  negotia- 
tions for  the  sale  of  the  Sublimity  Springs  property,  suitable  for  a  hydro- 
electric power  plant,  near  Somerset.  The  identity  of  the  purchasers  is 
not  revealed  at  present,  but  it  is  stated  that  an  electric  light  and  power 
plant  is  to  be  erected  on  the  property  adjacent  to  the  falls  of  the  Cum- 
berland River. 

MORGAN  CITY,  LA. — The  contract  for  construction  of  the  proposed 
municipal  electric-light  plant  has  been  awarded  to  J.  W.  Taylor,  of  New 
Iberia,    for   $9,700. 

ROCKVILLE,  MD.— The  Potomac  El.  Pwr.  Co.,  Washington,  D.  C,  is 
planning  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  from  Rockville  to  Gaithersburg, 
and  also  to  erect  branch  lines  to  Derwood,  Washington  Grove  and  Oak- 
mont  to  supply  electrical  service  in  these  places.  About  12  miles  of 
pole    lines   will   be   erected. 

CHERRY  VALLEY,  MASS.— The  contracts  for  electrical  equipment 
for  the  Shepard  and  Chapel  Mills  have  been  awarded  as  follows:  To  the 
Genera]  El.  Co.  of  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  for  motors  and  the  Libbey  El. 
Co.,  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  for  wiring.  Electricity  for  operating  the  mills 
will  be  furnished  by  the  Worcester  El.  Co.  Channing  Smith  is  treasurer. 
NEW  BEDFORD,  MASS.— Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  erection 
of  115  75-watt  lamps  on  Acushnet  Avenue  from  Balls  Corner  to  the 
New  Bedford-Freetown  line  to  replace  the  gas  lamps  now  in  use.  The 
service  is  to  be  furnished  by  the  New  Bedford  Gas  &  El.  Co. 

PRINCETON,  MASS.— The  town  of  Princeton  is  negotiating  with  the 
Gardner  Elec.  Co.  to  supply  electrical  energy  to  operate  the  pro- 
posed municipal  electric-light  plant.  If  the  deal  is  consummated,  the 
transmission  tine  will  be  extended  from  Hubbardston  to  Princeton.  The 
town  recently  appropriated  $15,000  for  the  installation  of  a  plant.  J.  D. 
Whittemore,    of   Princeton,    is   superintendent. 

WARE,  MASS. — The  Otis  Co.  has  begun  work  on  a  new  power  plant 
ou  the  bank  of  the  Ware  River.  It  is  proposed  to  build  a  central  plant 
to   furnish   power   to   its    several   mills. 

WAVERLY,  MASS.— The  Hood  Rubber  Co.  is  contemplating  the  con- 
struction   of    a    new    power    plant    in    connection    with    its    works. 

DETROIT,  MICH.— The  St.  Claire  Hotel,  which  has  a  250-hp  electric 
plant,  is  planning  to  furnish  electricity  for  lamps  to  several  business 
houses  in  this  vicinity.     Fred  Hayes  is  engineer. 

ESC^NABA,  MICH. — Extensive  improvements  are  contemplated  by 
the  Michigan  State  Tel.  Co.  in  the  upper  peninsula  early  next  year, 
including  the  exchanges  in  Iron  Mountain,  Ironwood,  Sault  Ste.  Marie, 
Houghton,  Calumet  and  Lake  Linden.  At  Iron  River  a  200-line  switch- 
hoard  will  be  installed.  The  upper  peninsula  toll-line  circuits  will  be 
extended  and  new  long-distance  line  between  Crystal  Falls  and  Iron 
River  will  be  erected.  New  lines  will  be  erected  between  Houghton 
and  Ironwood,  Escanaba  and  Menominee,  and  Iron  River  and  Republic, 
and  also  a  new  line  between  Escanaba  and  Manistique. 

FRANKENMUTH,  MICH.— At  a  special  election  held  Oct.  28  the 
citizens  voted  to  grant  the  Frankenmuth  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to 
install  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant  and  also  a  contract  for  street 
lighting.  The  plant  will  be  located  in  the  mill  of  the  Frankenmuth  Mill- 
ing Co.  For  street  lighting  100-cp  tungsten  lamps  will  be  used.  Franz 
Ranke  is  president  of  the  company. 

GR.AND  R,\PIDS,  MICH. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  business  men 
to  extend  the  boulevard  lighting  system  on  Ionia  Avenue  from  .Fountain 
Street    to   the  Union    Station. 

GRAND  R.\PIDS,  MICH.— H.  M.  Byllesby,  of  Chicago,  111.,  is  reported 
to  have  been  engaged  to  make  investigations  of  the  water-power  in  Grand 
River,  the  probable  cost  of  acquirement  and  cost  of  development. 

HARTFORD,  MICH.— The  Benton  Harbor-St.  Joe  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co., 
Benton  Harbor,  is  contemplating  extending  the  Benton  Harbor  and  Paw 
Paw  Interurban  Railway  from  Coloma  through  WatervHet  to  Hartford. 
KALAMAZOO,  MICH. — The  Board  of  Lighting  Commissioners 
have  engaged  Woodmansee,  Davidson  &  Sessions,  38  South  Dearborn 
Street,  Chicago,  111.,  to  prepare  plans  for  reconstructing  the  municpal 
electric-light  plant  at  a  cost  of  about  $150,000.  The  Board  of  Public 
Works  is  contemplating  the  installation  of  luminous-arc  lamps  on  the  new 
Fulton  Street  Bridge. 

MUSKEGON,  MICH.— The  City  Council  has  awarded  a  contract  to  the 
Grand  Rapids-Muskegon  Pwr.  Co.  to  light  the  North  Muskegon  road 
with  electricity.     Thirty  lamps  will  be  erected. 

OLIVET,  MICH. — The  Commonwealth  Pwr.  Co.  is  erecting  a  substa- 
tion   in    Olivet    and   will    soon    furnish    electrical   service    here. 

CROOKSTON.  MiNN.— The  Red  River  Farm  S:  Land  Co.  has  secured 
title  to  nearly  3000  acres  of  land  abutting  the  Red  River  Lake,  on  which 
it  proposes  to  build  a  dam  which  will  develop  5000  hp.  The  cost  of  the 
work  is  estimated  at  $200,000.  W.  J.  Murphy,  of  Minneapolis;  A.  D. 
Stephens,  of  Crookston,  and  others  are  interested. 

ECHO,  MINN.— The  proposition  to  issue  $2,000  in  bonds  for  the  in- 
stallation of  an  electric-light  system  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote. 

MARSH.^LL,  MINN.— Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  construction 
of  an  electric  railway  to  connect  Marshall  and  Minneapolis,  passing 
through  Hutchinson,  Olivia,  Redwood  Falls  and  Vesta.  J.  H.  Thomas, 
of   Minneapolis,    is   interested. 

OWATONNA,  MINN.— The  proposition  to  issue  $10,000  in  bonds  for 
lamp  standards,  conduits,  wire,  etc.,  for  the  installation  of  a  new  street- 
lighting  system  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote  on  Nov.  S.  The  contract 
for  cable  has  been  awarded  to  the  Northwestern  El.  Equipment  €o.,  of 
St.    Paul,    Minn. 


November  9,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1019 


PIPESTONE,  MINN. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Com- 
missioner of  Indian  Affairs,  Department  of  the  Interior,  Washington, 
D.  C,  until  Nov.  20,  for  furnishing  material  and  installing  an  electric- 
lighting  system  at  the  Pipestone  Indian  School,  Pipestone,  Minn.,  in 
accordance  with  plans  and  specitications  which  may  be  obtained  at  the 
above  office,  the  office  of  the  supervisor  of  construction,  Denver,  Col.; 
the  United  States  Indian  Warehouses,  Chicago,  111.,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and 
Omaha,  Neb.,  and  at  the  school.  For  further  information  apply  to  the 
superintendent  of  the  school.     F.  H.  Abbott  is  acting  commissioner. 

WAITE  PARK,  MINN. — The  village  has  granted  the  Union  Pwr.  Co. 
a  25-year  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant  and 
distributing  system  in  Waite  Park.  The  Council  has  also  contracted 
with  the  company  for  street-lighting,  the  service  to  be  furnished  at  not 
more   than   $80  per  arc  lamp  per   year. 

PICKENS,  MISS.— The  question  of  issuing  $1,500  in  bonds  for  the 
installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  system  is  under  consideration. 
W.    S.    Pierce    is    Mayor. 

DE  BORGIA,  MONT. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant. 

ANSLEy,  NEB. — The  power  house  of  the  municipal  hydroelectric 
plant  was  undermined  by  water  on  Oct.  26.  The  machinery  was  saved. 
CLARKS,  NEB. — All  proposals  submitted  on  Oct.  28  for  construction 
of  municipal  electric-light  plant  have  been  rejected.  New  bids  will  be 
received  until  Nov.  22.  The  second  plans  call  for  a  storage  battery. 
W.  E.  Donner,  of  Grand  Island,  is  engineer. 

DONIPHAN,  NEB. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Village  Trustees,  until  Nov.  12,  for  furnishing  material  and 
constructing  water-works  and  an  electric-light  plant.  The  cost  is  esti- 
mated at  $17,900.      Charles  F.   Sturtevant,  of  Holdrege,  is  engineer. 

STELLA,  NEB.— The  State  Railway  Commission  has  granted  the 
Nemaha  Valley  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Stella,  authority  to  issue  $30,000  in 
capital  stock  and  $10,000  in  bonds.  The  company  proposes  to  make  im- 
provements to  its  plant  and  to  erect  transmission  lines  to  Dawson  and 
Nemaha  City  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  to  those  towns. 
SPARKS,  NEV.— The  Sierra  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  City 
Council   for  a   franchise   to   operate   in    Sparks. 

HOBOKEN,  N.  J. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Mayor 
and  Council  until  Nov.  13  for  furnishing  and  installing  lighting  fixtures 
for  the  city  hall,  according  to  plans  and  specifications  prepared  by 
Schneider  &  Dieffenbach,  architects,  now  on  file  at  the  office  of  tlie 
city   clerk.      James    H.    Londrigan    is   city    clerk. 

SPRING  LAKE,  N.  J. — Estimates  have  been  submitted  to  the  Borough 
Council  of  the  cost  of  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant 
in  conjunction  with  the  new  water-works  at  Monmouth  and  Railroad 
Avenues  by  the  Fort  Wayne  El.  \\'orks.  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  and  Chapman 
&  Whittakes.  The  Fort  Wayne  company  estimates  the  cost  of  a  plant 
to  cover  l6  miles  of  the  borough  at  $20,000  and  maintenance  at  $6,000 
per  year.  For  construction  of  10  miles  of  underground  conduits,  the  cost 
is  estimated  at  $55,000.  Chapman  &  Whittaker  placed  the  cost  at  $20,000. 
with  maintenance  at  $8,600.  The  latter  plan  provides  for  a  more  ex- 
tensive  system   than   is   now   installed. 

TRENTON,  N.  J. — Extensive  improvements  will  be  made  by  the  Penn- 
sylvania R.  R.  Co.  to  its  system  here,  among  which  is  the  construction  of 
a  concrete  power  house  on  East  Street  and  the  installation  of  a  com- 
plete electric  plant  for  use  in  connection  with  the  operation  of  the  canal 
bridge. 

ADDISON,    N.    Y.— The   Addison   El.    Lt.    &   Pwr.    Co.   is  planning  to 
make    improvements    to    the    street-lighting    system.       It    is    proposed    to 
substitute  new  lamps  for  those   now  in   use.     L.   P.   Zimmer  is  manager. 
BALLSTON  SP.^,   N.  Y.— The  Village  Board  is  considering  the  ques- 
tion   of    establishing   a    municipal    electric-light   plant    here. 

BAYSHORE,  N.  Y.— The  Suffolk  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
Public  Service  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  $150,000  in  bonds, 
to  be  sold  at  87,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  improvements  to  its  plant 
and  distributing  system  in  the  village  of  Bay  Shore  and  to  construct 
gas  mains  from  here  to  connect  with  the  mains  of  the  South  Shore  Gas 
Co.,  of  Babylon.  The  company  also  proposes  to  erect  necessary  dis- 
tributing systems  in  the  unincorporated  villages  of  Sayville  and  Bayport. 
BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted  the 
Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  interests  permission  to  merge  and  consolidate 
the  capital  stock,  franchises  and  property  of  the  Brooklyn  Union  Ele- 
vated R.  R.  Co.,  the  Sea  Beach  Ry.  Co.  and  the  Canarsie  R.  R.  Co. 
The  new  company  will  be  known  as  the  New  York  Consolidated  R.  R.  Co. 
and  will  have  capital  stock  equal  to  the  aggregate  stock  of  the  merged 
companies,  amouting  to  $18,900,000.  The  consolidation  is  made  to 
facilitate  the  carrying  out  of  the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Company's  part 
of   the  dual  system   of  rapid  transit. 

CADOSIA,  N.  Y. — The  Town  Board  has  entered  into  a  contract  with 
the  Deposit  El.  Co.  to  light  the  streets  of  the  town  for  a  period  of  five 
years.  The  company  is  extending  its  transmission  lines  from  Hancock 
to  Cadosia. 

CARTHAGE,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  authorized 
the  Northwestern  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.,  which  operates  in  and  around 
Carthage,  to  issue  $11,000  in  bonds,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  the 
installation  of  a  new  switchboard,  cables,  new  toll  circuit  between 
Carthage  and  Black  River  and  from  Benson  Mines  to  Harrisville  and 
for    refunding    purposes. 


COPIAGUE,  N.  Y.— The  Town  Board  of  Babylon  has  entered  into  a 
contract  with  the  Long  Island  Ltg.  Co.  for  lighting  the  streets  of 
Copiague    for   a   period    of    five    years    from   Jan.    1,    1913. 

EARLVILLE,  N.  Y.— The  Earlville  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  consummated  a 
deal  whereby  it  leases  from  the  J.  B.  Hard  estate  the  electric  plant, 
power  rights,  franchises,  etc.,  of  its  property  in  Eaton  and  Morrisville 
for  a  period  of  six  years.  The  Earlville  company  proposes  to  use  the 
Eaton  property  as  the  central  plant  and  to  extend  its  transmission  line 
from  Earlville  to  that  village  at  once,  for  which  a  franchise  has  already 
been  secured.  Electrical  service  will  be  supplied  to  farmers  along  the 
line  between  here  and  Eaton.  The  company  contemplates  extending  its 
lines  to  Smyrna  and  Poolville  another  season.  John  R.  Parsons,  of 
ICarlville,    is   president    of   the   company. 

FULTON,  N.  Y. — The  American  Woolen  Co.  is  installing  an  electric 
power  plant  to  operate  its  works.  The  plant  will  generate  more  power 
than  the  works  require,  and  it  is  understood  that  the  company  will 
submit  a  bid  to  furnish  electricity  for  the  proposed  ornamental  street- 
lighting  system.      John    Stevenson    is   agent    for   the    company. 

LE  ROY,  N.  Y.— The  Le  Roy  Hydraulic  El.  Gas  Co.  has  been  granted 
permission  by  the  Public  Service  Commission  to  exercise  a  franchise 
to    furnish  electricity   in  the  town   of   Le   Roy. 

LONG  ISLAND  CITY,  N.  Y.— The  MacArthur  Brothers  Co.,  con- 
tractors, 11  Pine  Street,  New  York,  have  taken  over  the  franchise  of  the 
Manhattan  &  Jamaica  Ry.  Co.  and  will  build  the  proposed  railway  from 
Queensboro  Bridge  to  Jamaica.  The  new  company  will  be  known  as 
the  Manhattan  &  Queens  Trac.  Co.  Work  will  begin  on  the  proposed 
railway  at  once. 

NEW  YORK.  N.  Y. — The  New  York  Rys.  Co.,  it  is  reported,  is  plan- 
ning to  bid  in  the  property  of  the  Central  Park,  North  and  East  River 
R.  R.  Co.,  which  owns  the  Fifty-ninth  Street  line  and  the  East  and 
West  Side  belt  lines,  at  the  foreclosure  sale  to  be  held  Nov.  14.  Plans 
are  being  outlined  for  improvements  to  the  property,  involving  an  ex- 
penditure of  $200,000,  most  of  which  will  be  used  to  equip  the  two 
belt    lines    with    storage-battery    cars. 

TROY,  N.  Y. — .Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  for  the  immediate  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting 
system  in  the  business  district.  The  plans  call  for  the  erection  of  180 
lamp  standards  each  carrying  a  five-lamp  cluster.  The  cost  of  installing 
and  maintaining  the  system  is  to  be  assumed  by  the  merchants  and 
property    owners. 

WATERTOWN,  N.  Y. — The  Watertown  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to 
erect  a  transmission  line  from  the  present  terminal  at  Brownville  to 
Chaumont,  thence  to  Depauville,  from  there  to  Clayton  Center  and  on 
to  Clayton.  From  Clayton  it  will  extend  to  Alexandria  Bay,  through  all 
the  Thousand  Island  resorts,  including  Thousand  Island  Park.  From 
the  bay  the  line  will  extend  to  Theresa  and  Redwood  and  thence  back 
to   Carthage. 

GASTONL'\,  N.  C. — .'^t  an  election  to  be  held  Nov.  30  the  proposition 
to  issue  $2,500  in  bonds  for  improvements  to  the  municipal  electric- 
light   system   will   be   submitted   to   the  voters. 

WAHPETON,  N.  D. — A  committee,  consisting  of  O.  O.  Swank,  A.  G. 
Divet  and  C.  A  Donaldson,  has  been  appointed  by  the  Booster  Club  to 
promote  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the 
business  district  here. 

DELPHOS,  OHIO. — ^Extensive  improvements  are  being  made  to  the 
plant  of  the  Delphos  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  here.  The  equipment  will  include 
an  800-hp  turbine  engine  and  generator  with  condenser,  a  200-hp  boiler, 
etc.  The  company  is  planning  to  extend  its  service  to  Middle  Point. 
The  company  has  recently  entered  into  contracts  with  the  Delphos  Mfg. 
Co.  and  the  Aaron  Fisher  stone-crushing  plant,  which  will  require  250  hp. 
Wallace  P.   Mercer  is  general  manager. 

EAST  LIVERPOOL,  OHIO.— The  Tri-State  Ry.  &  El.  Co.,  it  is 
stated,  will  soon  begin  work  on  the  construction  of  its  proposed  new 
power  house,  near  Island  Run  Mines,  East  End,  East  Liverpool,  to  cost 
$2,000,000. 

L.-XNCASTER,  OHIO. — Improvements  are  contemplated  by  the  new 
management  of  the  Lancaster  El.  Lt..  Co.  involving  an  expenditure  of 
about  $200,000.  The  plans  include  the  installation  of  an  ornamental 
street-lighting  system.  Several  lamp  standards  carrying  five-lamp  clusters 
will  be  erected  by  the  company  for  experimental  purposes.  Philip  Arndt, 
of  Newark,  engineer,  will  have  charge  of  the  work. 

MINERAL  RIDGE,  OHIO. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant 
in    Mineral    Ridge   is   under   consideration. 

ORRVILLE,  OHIO. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted 
the  Massillon  El.  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  Massillon,  permission  to  purchase  the 
property  of  the  Orrville  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Orrville.  The  Masillon 
company  proposes  to  consolidate  the  two  plants  and  supply  energy  from 
the   Massillon   plant   to   operate  the  local   service. 

ROGERS,  O'HIO. — A  movement  is  on  foot  to  have  the  streets  of  the 
village  lighted  by  electricity  to  be  secured  from  the  electric  plant  now 
being  installed  at  the  Quaker  Valley  mines.  The  mining  company  will 
install   the   system,   provided   sufficient   patronage   is   guaranteed. 

MUSKOGEE,  OKLA. — The  proposition  to  grant  a  new  franchise  to 
the  Muskogee  Gas  &  El.  Co.  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric  gen- 
erating plant  and  distributing  system,  consisting  of  overhead  wires, 
underground  conduits,  cables,  etc.,  will  be  submitted  to  the  voters  at  an 
election  to  be  held  Nov.   18. 


1020 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o.  No.  19. 


TULSA,  OKLA. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  City  Council  by  the 
Union  Trac  Co.  for  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and 
motors. 

TULSA,  OKLA. — The  Sand  Springs  Interurban  Rv.  Co.  has  applied 
to  the  City  Council  for  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and 
motors    here. 

VVAUKOMIS,  OKLA. — The  city  of  Waukomis  is  negotiating  for  the 
electric  plant  of  the  Waukomis  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  If  the  deal  goes 
through,  the  city  proposes  to  operate  it  in  connection  with  the  water- 
works system  and  to  use  the  surplus  steam   power  to  operate  the  pumps. 

ELGIN,  ORE. — The  Oregon  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  purchased  the  property 
of  the  Elgin  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  here,  and  as  soon  as  its  line  is  completed 
into   Elgin  a  24-hour  service  will  be  established. 

GLADSTONE,  ORE.— The  City  Council  has  granted  franchises  for  25 
years  to  the  Portland  Ky..  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co..  to  furnish  electricity  to  the 
Home  Tel.  Co.  and  the  Pacific  States  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  The  companies 
have  agreed  to  use  the  same  poles.  The  Portland  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co. 
agrees  to  furnish  15  street  lamps  free  of  charge  for  the  first  five  years, 
25  lamps  the  second  five  years  and  30  lamps  for  the  remainder  of  the 
term    of    the    franchise. 

GRANT  PASS,  ORE.— The  California-Oregon  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Medford, 
has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  City  Council  offering  to  furnish  elec- 
tricity to  the  city,  and  also  offers  to  sell  its  distributing  system  and  other 
appliances  to  the  city.  H.  C.  Stoddard,  of  Medford,  is  superintendent 
of  the  company.  Another  proposition  has  been  submitted  to  the  Council 
by  Mr.  Sanders  to  furnish  electrical  service  here.  He  proposes  to  erect 
a  plant  at  the  Golden  Drift  Dam  and  to  furnish  electricity  to  the  city 
at  the  rate  of  2  cents  per  kw-hr.,  the  city  to  own  and  operate  the  dis- 
tributing  system. 

PORTLAND,  ORE.— The  Portland  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  wilj  soon 
begin  work  on  the  erection  of  an  electric  line  into  the  peninsula,  a 
distance   of   1 J^    miles. 

CRESSON,  PA.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  Samuel  Dixon, 
M.  D.,  commissioner  of  health,  199  Race  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  until 
Nov.  11,  for  construction  of  outside  wiring,  ducts,  transformers,  poles, 
ground  lighting,  etc.,  for  an  electric  plant  for  the  State  Sanatorium 
for  Tuberculosis,  near  Cresson,  Pa.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be 
obtained  at  the  Philadelphia  or  Harrisburg  office  of  the  commissioner  of 
health  or  the  Pennsylvania  Department  of  Health  upon  deposit  of  $25, 
which  will   he  refunded  upon   return  of  same. 

NANTICOKE,  PA.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Nanticoke 
Consumers*  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.   Co.   a  franchise  in  Nanticoke. 

ROUSEVILLE,  PA. — ^The  Borough  Council  is  contemplating  changing 
the  street-lighting  system  from  arc  to  incandescent  lamps.  The  service 
is  furnished  by  the   Citizens'  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,   of  Oil   City. 

BOWDLE,  S.  D. — Plans  have  been  prepared  for  the  installation  of 
an  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system,  to  cost  $22,500.  The 
electric   plant  will   be  installed  at  once. 

DIMOCK,  S.  D. — The  installation  of  a  street-lighting  system  here  is 
under   consideration. 

GRAHAM,  TEX.— The  Graham  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  contemplating  the 
installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  to  cost  about  $10,000. 

PADUCAH,  TEX.— The  Council  has  granted  L.  Gresham,  of  Dallas, 
a  franchise  to  install  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant  here.  The  plant 
is    to    have   sufficient   output   to    maintain    1000   lamps. 

TAYLOR,  TEX.— The  property  of  the  Citizens'  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  purchased  by  the  Texas  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Dallas.  The  price  paid 
for  the  plant  is  said  to  be  about  $100,000.  J.  F.  Strickland,  of  Dallas,  is 
president    of   the    Texas    Lt.    &    Pwr.    Co. 

MONROE,  UTAH.— The  town  has  purchased  the  local  electric  light 
and   power  plant,  owned  by  James  Jeppensen   &  Co. 

ABERDEEN,  WASH. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  cluster  lamps  on  K  Street.  The  plans  provide  for  16  ornamental  stand- 
ards to  be  furnished  by  the  property  owners. 

MONROE,  WASH.— The  Kirkland-Redmond  Ry..  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
applied  to  the  Council  for  a  franchise  to  operate  an  electric  railway  on 
Ferry  and  Fremont  Streets  in  Monroe. 

OLVMPIA,  WASH.— The  Olympia  Terminal  Ry.  Co.,  recently  orpan- 
ized,  proposes  to  operate  an  electric  railway  between  Olympia  and  Che- 
halis,  a  distance  of  about  28  miles. 

SEATTLE,  WASH.— The  residents  of  Columbia,  a  suburb  of  Seattle, 
have  applied  to  the  City  Council   for  street  lamps. 

SEATTLE,  WASH. — The  City  Council  has  recommended  the  adoption 
of  an  ordinance  calling  an  election  in  March  to  vote  on  a  bond  issue 
for  the  construction  of  an  auxiliary  hydroelectric  plant  at  Lake  Union, 
to   cost   $425,000. 

SPOKANE,  WASH. — The  Supreme  Court  has  handed  down  its  decision 
confirming  the  water  rights  of  Ham.  Yearsley  &  Ryrie  on  the  Klickitat 
River.  The  water  rights  are  capable  of  developing  28,000  hp  and  will 
be  taken  over  by  the  Northwestern  EI.  Co.,  of  Portland,  Ore.,  which  has 
recently  secured  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors 
in  Portland.  The  company  proposes  to  begin  work  soon  on  this  develop- 
ment, which  will  involve  an  expenditure  of  about  $3,000,000.  Electricity 
generated  at  this  plant  will  be  transmitted  up  the  Columbia  River  several 
miles  to  be  used  for  the  irrigation  of  a  tract  of  6000  acres  on  the  north 
side   of   the   Columbia    River. 


NEWELL,  W.  VA.— The  Edwin  M.  Knowles  China  Co.,  of  East  Liver- 
pool, Ohio,  and  Chester,  Pa.,  is  erecting  a  china  pottery  in  Newell,  which 
will  be  equipped  with  electrically  driven  machinery.  A  two-phase  alter- 
nating-current generator  will  be  installed. 

MILWAUKEE,  WIS.— The  Milwaukee  Western  EI.  Ry.  Co.  is  plan- 
ning  to   build   74   miles   of   track   during    1913, 

NEENAH,  WIS. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  construction  of  a 
power  house,  60  ft.  by  88  ft.,  one  story  high,  for  the  Bergston  Paper 
Mills  at  Neenah.  D.  J.  Albertson,  305  East  Main  Street,  Kalamazoo,  is 
architect. 

EDMONTON,  ALTA.,  CAN.— Municipal  expenditures  for  1913  amount- 
ing to  approximately  $25,000,000  have  been  decided  upon  by  the  City 
Council  for  municipal  improvements.  The  work  involves  10  miles  of 
street  railway  extensions,  electric  lighting,  natural-gas  distributing  sys- 
tem, sewers,  water-works,  paving,  parks  and  boulevard  improvements  and 
a  city   hall   to   cost   $250,000. 

KAMLOOPS,  B.  C,  CAN.— Bids  will  be  received  until  Nov.  14  by 
J.  J.  Carment,  city  clerk,  for  the  construction  of  an  intake  dam  and 
flume  in  connection  with  the  building  of  the  municipal  hydroelectric 
power  plant.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at  $500,000.  Du  Cane, 
Dutcher  &  Co.,  Rogers  Building.  Vancouver,   B.   C,  are  engineers. 

GLACE  BAY,  N,  S.,  CAN. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  improve- 
ments to  the  municipal  electric-light  plant.  Two  'new  boilers  are  to  be 
installed  at  once.  Plans  are  also  being  considered  to  establish  a  24-hour 
service  in  the  near  future. 

BRANTFORD,  ONT.,  CAN.— At  an  election  held  Oct.  25  the  rate- 
payers voted  in  favor  of  the  by-law  authorizing  $115,000  in  bonds  for  the 
installation  of  a  system  to  utilize  power  to  be  supplied  by  the  Hydro- 
Electric   Power    Commission. 

GALT,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Gait  Robe  Co.  is  planning  to  rebuild  its  fac- 
tory, recently  destroyed  by  fire.  The  new  factory  will  be  twice  the  size  of 
the  old  one  and  will  be  equipped  with  electrically  driven  machinery. 
Hydroelectric  power  will  be  used. 

PELEE,  ONT.,  CAN.— Sealed  tenders  will  be  received  by  James  E. 
Quick,  reeve  of  Pelee,  Scudder  P.  O.,  Ont.,  until  Nov.  16,  for  the 
erection  of  24  miles  of  municipal  telephone  line  on  Pelee  Island.  Plans 
and  specifications  may  be  seen  at  the  office  of  William  Stewart,  town- 
ship clerk,   Pelee. 

WINDSOR,  ONT.,  CAN. — Plans  are  being  prepared  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  three-story  power  building,  71  ft.  by  271  ft.,  for  the  Windsor 
Pwr.  Bldg.  Co.,  to  cost  about  $100,000.  G.  A.  Niehus,  Dayton,  Ohio, 
is   architect. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  ALLINO  SWITCH  BOX  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY,  of 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  has  been  incorporated  by  W.  F.  Peters.  J.  F.  Brinkmeyer 
and  C.  C.  Maison.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $6,000  and  proposes 
to  manufacture  and  deal  in  electrical  appliances,  switches,  tools,  dies  and 
electrical  machinery. 

THE  ECONOMY  ELECTRIC  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY,  of 
San  Francisco,  Cal.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$50,000  by  C.   A.  Morgahan,  J.   B.   Couric  and  R.    W.   Cantrill. 

THE  ELECTRIC  SUPPLY  SALES  COMPANY,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  to  deal  in 
electric  and  gas  supplies.  The  directors  are:  Howard  Van  Demark, 
Willis    R.    Van    Demark   and   F.    E.    Burns,    of   Rochester, 

THE  EXPERT  SALES  CORPORATION,  of  New  Yoric,  N.  Y.,  has 
been  incorporated  by  Theodore  M.  Hill,  Elizabeth  M.  Rooney  and 
Bradford  Darrach,  Jr.,  90  West  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.  The  com- 
pany  is   capitalized   at   $10,000  and   proposes   to   sell   electrical   appliances. 

THE  HYDROWAVE  POWER  COMPANY,  of  San  Francisco,  Ca\., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000,000  by  C.  F.  Kapp, 
M.  Duvall,  A.   Heukendorff  and  G.   Witmer. 

THE  R.  L.  JONES  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Cincinnati.  Ohio,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  A.  A.  Anthony, 
R.  M.  Pwitz,  W.  G.  Caldwell,  R.  R.  Caldwell  and  E.  J.  Tracy.  The 
company  proposes  to  do  a  general  illuminating  engineering  business  and 
deal    in    electrical    specialties. 

THE  JOSEPH  L.  SKELDON  ENGINEERING  COMPANY,  of  Toledo, 
Ohio,  has  been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  for  the  purpose 
of  building  power  plants,  water-works  systems,  heating  and  lighting 
systems.  The  incorporators  are:  Joseph  L.  Skeldon,  David  F.  Skeldon, 
E.  C.  Griffin,  Alma  Haynes  and  Claud  Rogers. 


New  Incorporations 

WILMINGTON,  DEL.^The  Allied  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  filed  articles 
of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware  with  a  capital 
stock  of  $100,000.  The  incorporators  are:  E.  E.  McWhincy,  W.  J. 
Maloney   and    N.    P.    Coffin,    of   Wilmington. 

JACKSONVILLE,  FLA.— The  Home  Tel.  Co.  has  been  chartered  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $1,325,000  for  the  purpose  of  building  and  operating  an 


November  9,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


automatic  tekphone  system  here  and  throughout  the  State,  giving  both 
local  and  long-distance  service.  The  officers  are:  Ctiarles  Blum,  presi- 
dent; John  J.  Ahern,  vice-president;  A.  S.  Matzner,  secretary,  and  J.  W. 
Ingrahain,   treasurer. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  LA. — The  Electrical  Development  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  sIoc'k  of  $10,000.  The  officers  are:  Lyman  C. 
Reed,  president;  D.  H.  Holmes,  vice-president,  and  C.  B.  Murphy,  secre- 
tary  and   treasurer. 

ST.  PAUL,  MINN.— The  South  St.  Paul  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  been 
chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000.  The  directors  are:  A.  P. 
Lathrop.  of  New  York,  N.  Y. ;  William  Magivny,  Paul  Doty,  Kenneth 
Clark,    Elbert    A.    Y'oung,    George    H.    Prince    and   John    P.    Crowley. 

CAMDEN,  N.  J. — The  Milford  Hydro-Electric  Co.  has  been  incorpo- 
rated with  a  capital  stock  of  $125,000  by  S.  B.  Gill,  William  B.  Linn 
and  George  H.  B.  Martin.  The  company  proposes  to  operate  electric 
plants. 

CAMDEN,  N.  J. — The  Bushkill  Hydro-EIectrlc  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
charter  to  operate  electric  plants.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $125,000 
and  the  incorporators  are:  J.  F.  Shrader,  J.  Rech  Guicks  and  George 
H.    B.    Martin. 

CAMDEN,  N.  J. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  for  the 
Delaware  Hydro-Electric  Co.  by  Frank  R.  Hensell,  J.  A.  McPeak  and 
George  H.  B.  Martin.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $125,000  and  pro- 
poses to  operate  electric-Hght  plants. 

JERSEY  CITY,  N.  J. — The  EI.  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a 
capital  stock  to  operate  an  electric-light  plant.  The  incorporators  are: 
Edward  N.  Abbey,  Charles  A.   Bruce  and  Thomas   Roberts,  Jr. 

JERSEY  CITY,  N.  J.— The  Montana  Pwr.  Co.  has  filed  articles  of 
incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  of  $3,500,000  to  operate  power  and 
light  plants.  The  incorporators  arc:  H.  F.  Kroyer,  of  New  York,  N.  Y. ; 
G.  H.   Burt,   of  Roselle,  and   C.  N.   Fay,   of  Chicago,   111. 

TRENTON,  N.  J.— The  Somerset  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  filed  articles  of 
incorporation  with  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
structing four  dams  on  the  Delaware  River  and  to  build  power  plants 
near  Lambertville,  Washington's  Crossing,  Byram  and  Milford.  The 
company  is  capitalized  at  $5,000.  The  incorporators  are:  William  K. 
Dupre,  Jr.,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.;  Mabel  V.  Warner,  of  Elizabeth,  N.  J., 
and    Frank    R.    Carver,    of    Wheeling,    W.    Va. 

H.AMBURG,  N.  Y. — The  Inter-Village  El.  Corpn.  has  been  incorpo- 
rated by  C.  M.  Baldy,  G.  U.  Harmon,  of  Buffalo,  and  C.  H.  Taylor,  of 
Williamsville.  The  company  proposes  to  supply  electricity  for  power 
purposes,    etc. 

JOHNSTOWN,  PA. — Charters  have  been  granted  by  the  Secretary  of 
Stale  to  the  Ryder,  Fairfield  and  St.  Clair  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Cos.,  of  Johns- 
town, to  operate  in  Derry,  Fairfield  and  St.  Clair  Townships  in  West- 
moreland County.  Each  company  is  capitalized  at  $5,000,  and  the  in- 
corporators are  J.  W.  Blough,  R.  C.  Saylor  and  H.  E.  Thompson,  all  of 
Johnstown. 

PENDLETON,  S.  C— The  Pendleton  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  The  incorporators  are:  E.  N. 
Sitton,    L.    E.    Sitton   and   C.    S.    Chreitzberg. 

CHUCKEY,  TENN.— The  Chuckey  River  Hydro-Electric  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
structing a  hydroelectric  plant  on  the  Nolachuckey  River  in  Greene 
County.  The  incorporators  are:  V.  M.  Weaver,  James  L.  Stewart,  Noah 
T.  Heisey,  Samuel  K.  Varnes,  all  of  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  and  Dr.  J.  F. 
Arnold,    of   Greene    County. 

PORT  ARTHUR,  TEX.— The  Port  Arthur  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  l)een 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $600,000  to  take  over  the  light  and 
power  plant  of  the  Port  Arthur  Trac.  Co.  The  incorporators  are:  Ed- 
win J.  Emerson,  of  Beaumont;  Walter  N.  Monroe,  of  Port  Arthur; 
Charles  W.  Kellogg,  Jr.,  of  Dallas. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH.— The  Utah  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Maine  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$1,000,  by  Geoffrey  Konta,  of  New  York.  N.  Y. ;  E.  M.  Leavitt,  of  Win- 
throp,  Maine;  Joseph  Williamson,  E.  M.  Hussey  and  Ernest  L.  McLean,  of 
Augusta,  Maine.  The  company  proposes  to  engage  in  a  general  heating, 
lighting  and  power  business.  G.  A.  Marr  is  the  Utah  representative  of  the 
company. 

LEXINGTON,  VA.— The  Goshen  Pwr.  Co.  has  filed  articles  of  in- 
corporation with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  The  officers  are:  E.  McD. 
Moore,  of  Lexington,  \'a.,  president;  J.  A.  Clark,  vice-president;  H.  J. 
Douds,  treasurer,  and  G.  Weiss,  secretary,  all  of  New  York,  N.  Y. 

SEATTLE,  WASH.— The  Northwest  El.  &  Wtr.  Wks.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  by  J.  E.  Burkhimer,  C. 
Shepherd    and   others. 

CHARLESTON,  W.  V.^.— The  New  River  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000  by  J.  N.  Miller,  Wilbur  Tuscu. 
Joseph  O'Brien,  Dawson  C.  Oliver  and  W.  L.  Nossaman,  all  of  New 
York,  N.  Y.  The  company  proposes  to  generate  and  distribute  electricity 
in  Fayette,  Raleigh,  Summers  and  other  counties. 

LANCASTER,  WIS.— The  Lancaster  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500  by  John  G.  Harsberger,  George 
P.   Angus  and  R.   Meyer,  Jr. 

WAUSAU,  WIS. — The  Farmers'  Eastern  Tel.  Co.  has  been  incorpo- 
rated with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  W.  W.  Albers,  Nathan  Heime- 
mann,  James  Montgomery  and   E.   B.  Thayer. 


Trade  Publications 

CARBON  BRUSHES. — A  miniature  folder  has  been  issued  recently  by 
the  Pure  Carbon  Company,  Wellsville,  N.  Y.,  setting  forth  the  merits  of 
its   tungsten   carbon   brushes   in   short,   terse   sentences. 

RADIATORS. — Simplex  Conduits,  Limited,  Birmingham,  England,  has 
issued  a  twenty-four-page  booklet  dealing  with  electric  heaters  and  con- 
verters. This  booklet  is  an  abridgment  of  the  company's  large  catalog 
and  contains  all  the  latest  designs.  Some  fifty  different  patterns  are 
shown. 

SELECTION  OF  ^LACHINE  TOOL  MOTORS.— Descriptive  Leaflet 
2480,  recently  issued  by  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing 
Company,  covers  rules  for  the  selection  of  machine-tool  motors  and  gives 
some  valuable  information  relative  to  this  subject  and  illustrations  show- 
ing the  various  applications   of  machine   tools. 

STEAM  TURBINES.— "Terry  Turbines  Handle  Peak  Loads"  is  the 
title  of  a  handsome  booklet  just  issued  by  the  Terry  Steam  Turbine  Com- 
pany, 90  West  Street,  New  York.  On  the  flyleaf  cover  there  appears  a 
color  print  of  the  famous  mountain  of  Japan,  Fujiyama.  This  booklet 
tells  what   Terry  turbines  mean   to  central   stations. 

CATALOG  OF  GENERAL  SUPPLIES.— The  Foster  Engineering 
Company,  Wimbledon,  London,  S.  W.,  England,  is  distributing  its  catalog 
of  arc  lamps,  metal  lamps,  transformers,  electric  bells  and  other  spe- 
cialties. The  various  devices  are  illustrated  and  described,  special  atten- 
tion being  given  to  the  Foster  transformers,  to  which  the  company  has 
devoted  a  great  deal  of  effort. 

MACHINE  TOOL  MOTOR  APPLICATIONS.— Descriptive  Leaflet 
3516,  lately  issued  by  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, deals  with  machine-tool  motor  applications,  giving  ratings  and  class- 
es of  motors  which  are  suitable  for  the  various  types  of  machine  tools.  A 
diagram  is  also  given  which  shows  the  relation  between  the  cutting 
speed  in  feet  per  minute  and  the  area  of  cut  in  square  inches,  also  the 
cubic   inches  of   cut   per   minute. 

SPIRAL  PIPE.— The  Standard  Spiral  Pipe  Works.  25  North  Dearborn 
Street,  Chicago,  111.,  has  recently  issued  an  eight-page  leaflet  giving  illus- 
trations and  price  list  of  its  reinforced  spiral  pipe.  These  pipes  have  a 
continuous  interlocking  seam,  no  rivets  and  a  smooth  interior,  being  es- 
pecially adapted  for  the  conveyance  of  any  liquid  or  other  substance  which 
it  is  desired  to  handle  economically. 

OIL-BURNING  SYSTEM.— The  September  Bulletin,  No.  4.  of  Tac- 
chella  &  Krieger,  916  Victoria  Building,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  deals  with  the 
Tacchella  oil-burning  device.  The  manufacturers  claim  that  this  device 
"has  solved  the  problem  of  making  oil  fuel  independent  of  any  outside 
medium  for  pressure  and  has  brought  it  to  the  sphere  of  heating  dwell- 
ings, baking  ovens,  street  and  railway  cars  and  other  isolated  industrial 
heating  apparatus."  A  general  description  of  this  device  and  a  diagram 
showing  the  operating  characteristics,  with  specifications  and  two  illus- 
trations,  make    up   the   contents   of  the   bulletin. 


Business  Notes 


MR.  FORD  W.  HARRIS,  who  for  the  past  eight  years  has  been  de- 
signer on  switches,  fuses,  circuit-breakers  and  arc  lamps  for  the  Westing- 
house Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  has  opened  an  oflice  at  615 
Delta  BuiMing,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  Mr.  Harris  is  developing  for  the  mar- 
ket some  special  types  of  apparatus  along  the  lines  on  which  he  has  spe- 
cialized. 

THE  FEWKES-WHALEN  COMP.^NY,  140  North  Eleventh  Street, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  announces  a  change  in  the  executive  officers  of  the  com- 
pany, ow-'ng  to  the  recent  resignation  of  Mr.  Joseph  T.  Fewkes.  The 
new  officers  are:  President,  Mr.  Thomas  W.  Whalen;  vice-president  and 
general  manager,  Mr.  Joseph  G.  Crosby.  The  company  will  continue  to 
carry  on  its  business  of  electrical  and  steam  engineering,  armature  wind- 
ing and  repair  work, 

THE  MAXIM  SILENCER  COMPANY,  Hartford,  Conn.,  which  was 
recently  organized  for  the  manufacture  of  silencers  under  the  patents  of 
Mr.  Hiram  Percy  Maxim  and  the  Maxim  Silent  Firearms  Company,  has 
planned  to  undertake  all  noise-reduction  problems,  including  silencing 
large  gas-engine  units  and  reducing  general  industrial  noises.  The  of- 
ficers of  the  company  are:  President,  Mr.  E.  Kent  Hubbard.  Jr.,  of  Mid- 
dletown,  Conn.;  treasurer,  Mr.  Arthur  L,  Shipman,  of  Hartford,  Conn.; 
mechanical  engineer,   Mr.   Hiram   Percy   Maxim. 

HOLOPHANE  WORKS  OF  GENERAL  ELECTRIC  COMPANY.— 
Owing  to  certain  legal  complications  attending  the  absorption  by  the 
General  Electric  Company  of  the  Holophane  sales  department,  the 
name  "Nelite"  was  employed  to  distinguish  the  joint  organization  of 
the  Holophane  and  Fostoria  companies.  Hereafter  the  full  name  of 
the  organization  will  be  "Holophane  Works  of  General  Electric  Com- 
pany," instead  of  "Nelite  Works  of  General  Electric  Company."  This 
change  will  not  affect  the  different  brands  or  trade  names  which  the 
organization  controls,  such  as  Fostoria  products.  Iris  glassware,  Veluria, 
Holophane  reflectors,  HoIophane-D'Olier  steel  reflectors,  etc.,  which  will 
be    retail  cd. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  19. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED   ST.\TES   PATENTS   ISSUED   OCT.   29,   1912. 

[Prepared  by  Robert  Starr  Allyn,   16  Exchange   Place,   New  York.] 

1  042,383.  LOCKING  DEVICE  FOR  LAMP  SOCKET  SHELLS;  F 
Barr,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Jan.  17,  1911.  Longitudinal  and 
rotatable   interlock. 

1.042.388.  FUSE  PLUG;  D.  E.  Bown,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  App.  filed  June 
17,    1911.     Screw    socket    type. 

1.042.389.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  C.  C.  Bradbury,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed    .'\pril    22,    1907.     Cord-circuit    control. 

1  042,406.     SIGN    RECEPTACLE;    J.    S.    Crossley    and    V.    R.    Despard, 

Syracuse,  N.   Y.     App.    filed  Nov.    1,    1910.     Screw-ring  clamp. 
1  04'  408      DYNAMO-ELECTRIC    MACHINE;    R.    J.    Dearborn,    Edge- 
'      wcod   Park,    Pa.      App.    filed    Oct.    7,    1908.      Magnetizable   core   mem- 
ber  with  coil  containing  slots. 
1042  414.     ELECTRIC   SWITCH;  J.   C.    Dunfee,   Cleveland,   Ohio.      App. 

'      filed    March   2,    1912.     For   electric   drill   handle,   etc. 
I  042  432.     ELECTRIC-HE.-XTING  DEVICE  AND  PROCESS   OF  CON- 
'      STRUCTING  THE   SAME;    W.    S.    Hadaway,   Jr.,    East   Orange,   N. 
J.     App.    Feb.    25,    1909.     For   immersion   in   liquid. 

1042  433.  ELECTRICALLY  HEATED  LAUNDRY  ROLL;  W  S. 
Hadaway,  Jr.,  East  Orange,  N.  J.  App.  filed  March  1,  1911.  Indi- 
vidual   heater    units    compressed    into    a    tube. 

1042  434  INCLOSED  FUSE;  F.  W.  Harris,  Wilkinsburg,  Pa.  App. 
'  filed  Oct.  5,  1907.  Gas-tight  concentric  tubes  for  railroad  motor 
circuits. 

1042  440.  ELECTROSTATIC  VOLTMETER;  J.  C.  Hubbard,  Worces- 
ter, Mass.  .App.  filed  Oct.  13,  1911.  An  indicator  and  movable 
casing. 

1,042,444.      CONTROLLER;    H.    D.    James,    Pittsburgh,  Pa.      App.    filed 

March  2,  1910.  For  regulating  the  direction  and  value  of  poten- 
tial  drop. 

1,042,446.  APPARATUS   FOR   TRANSFORMING  CONTINUOUS 

(Currents  into  alternating  currents;  e.  l.  Joseph, 

London,    England.     App.   filed    Nov.    24,    1911.     Rotating   commutator. 

1042  451.     APPAR.\TUS   FOR   MANUFACTURING   INCANDESCENT 

LAMPS;    A.    S.    Knight,    Newark,    N.    J.     App.    filed    Nov.    3,    1909. 

Applying  tension  to   tungsten   filaments   while   mounting. 
1,042,457.     ELECTRIC   TELEGRAPHIC    APPARATUS;    H.    G.    Martin, 

East    Rutherford.    N.    J.      App.    filed   July    1,    1911.      Key    transmitter 

to    reduce   manual   effort. 

1.042.466.  TRAVELING  ELECTRIC  WELDING  APPARATUS;  J.  A. 
Osborn,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  .App.  filed  March  18,  1911.  The  trans- 
former  is   carried   by   a   traveling   crane. 

1.042.467.  ELECTRIC-WELDING  TONGS;  J.  A.  Osborn,  St.  Louis, 
Mo.  -App.  filed  March  18,  1911.  For  welding  the  parts  of  a  metallic 
windowsill,   etc. 

1.042.468.  ELECTRIC-WELDING  TONGS;  J.  A.  Osborn,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
App.  filed  March  18,  1911.  For  welding  the  parts  of  metallic  mold- 
ing,  etc. 

1.042.482.  SIGNALING  SYSTEM;  H.  O.  Rugh,  Sandwich,  111.  App. 
filed   Feb.    15,    1909.     Telephone  signal   sending  and   return   receiving. 

1.042.483.  BOND  SPRING  FOR  RAIL  JOINTS;  W.  M.  Rush.  Greens- 
burg,    Pa.     -App.    filed   June   25,    1912.     S[)ring-contact    take-up. 

1,042,490.  SAFETY  DEVICE  FOR  ELECTRIC-HEATER  SADIRONS; 
C.  E.  Skinner,  Wilkinsburg,  Pa.  App.  filed  Jan.  11,  1908.  Com- 
bination  of   handle   switch   and  stand   switch. 

1,042,510.  ELECTRIC  BOX  CONNECTION;  F.  H.  Ward.  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.     -App.  filed  Nov.  2,  1910.     "Knockout"  outlet  covers. 

1,042,533.  METHOD  OF  ELECTROPLATING;  L.  Daft,  Rutherford, 
N.  J.  App.  filed  Jan.  28,  1911.  For  plating  with  antimony  and 
another  metal,   etc. 

1,042,539.  TEMPERATURE  ALARM;  W.  C.  Elsacer,  Grand  Rapids, 
Mich.     App.   filed   Aug.    29,    1911.     Mercury   expansion. 

1,042,554.  CORED  CARBON  ELECTRODE  FOR  ARC  LAMPS;  R.  R. 
Herbst,  Freeland,  Pa.  .-\pp.  filed  Jan.  27,  1911.  Lateral  groove  and 
soft    carbon    core. 

1,042,565.  VAPOR  ELECTRIC  DEVICE;  F.  A.  Kroner,  Lynn,  Mass. 
App.  filed  .Aug.  12,  1911.  Outer  glass  envelope  and  inner  quartz 
envelope. 

1,042,587.  VACUUM-TUBE  LIGHTING;  D.  McF.  Moore,  Newark, 
N.  J.  App.  filed  Feb.  26,  1907.  Mechanical  joint  between  sec- 
tions. 

1,042,605.  MANUFACTURE  OF  HYPOPHOSPHORIC  ACID  AND 
OF  ITS  SALTS;  A.  Rosenheim,  Berlin,  Germany.  App.  filed  June 
21,   1911.     Electrolytically  oxidizing  metal-phosphide  anodes. 

1,042,608.  ELECTRIC  WIRING  FOR  RAILWAY  CARS;  M.  M. 
Schneider,  Chicago,  111.  App,  filed  Sept.  2,  1910.  Conduits  formed 
in   the   car  body. 

1,042,613.  ELECTRIC  FURNACE;  J.  A.  Seede,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
App.  filed  Dec.  2,  1909.  -Automatically  and  intermittently  opening 
and  closing  the  motor   circuit  for  moving  the  electrodes. 

1,042,615.  OVERHEAD  TROLLEY  SWITCH  AND  CROSSO\'ER;  W. 
M.  Simpson,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed  Aug.  20,  1909.  Detachable  con- 
tact   face. 

1,042,624.  RECTAL  DYNAMO;  J.  B.  Wagoner,  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 
App.   filed   May  20,   1912.     Galvanic  action. 

1,042,666.  AIR  BRAKE;  F.  Goft,  Camden,  N.  J.  '.App.  filed  June  26, 
1911.     Pneumatic   and    electric    control    for    brakes   and    signals. 

1,042,677.  INSULATING  CLEAT;  R.  D.  Hilty,  Carey,  Ohio.  App.  filed 
April    5,    1912.     Two   L-shaped   pieces. 


1.042.691.  ELECTROMAGNET  CONTROLLING  DEVICE;  H.  K. 
Kouyoumjian,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  App.  filed  Jan.  29,  1910.  For  clothes- 
pressing  machines,  etc. 

1.042.692.  MOTOR-CONTROL  SYSTEM;  C.  Kramer,  Berlin,  Germany. 
App.  filed  June  3,  1912.  Remote  control  for  rudders,  searchlights, 
etc. 

1.042.693.  MOTOR-CONTROL  SYSTEM;  C.  Kramer,  Berlin,  Ger- 
many. .App.  filed  June  3,  1912.  Remote  control  with  few  con- 
ductors. 

1,042,698.  ELECTRICALLY  PROPELLED  VEHICLE;  H.  W.  Leonard, 
Bronxville,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  March  2,  1903.  Gasoline  motor- 
driven    dynamo-electric   machine    control. 

1,042.700.  SIGNAL  BOX;  A.  D.  T.  Libby,  Elyria,  Ohio.  App.  filed 
Aug.  28,   1909.     Police  telephone  and  light  box. 

1.042,723.  PROCESS  OF  MAKING  NITROGEN  COMPOUNDS,  IN- 
CLUDING NITRIDES  .AND  .AMMONIA;  ,A.  Sinding-Larsen, 
Christiania,  Norway.  App.  filed  March  26,  1910.  Reduction  of 
vaporized  mineral. 

1,042,747.  BINDING  POST;  A.  A.  Ziegler,  Boston,  Mass.  App.  filed 
Sept.    14,    1908.     Insulating  construction  and   support. 

1,042.770.  ELECTRIC  REGULATION-  J.  L.  Creveling,  New  York, 
N.  Y.  App.  filed  Sept.  16.  1910.  Electromagnetic  control  for  stor- 
age-battery-generator   car-lighting    system. 

1.042,772.  CARBON-GRAIN  CELLS  OF  TELEPHONE  TRANS- 
MITTERS; C.  E.  Egner  and  J.  G.  Holmstrom,  Saltsjo-Storangen, 
Sweden.  -App.  filed  Nov.  2,  1910.  Plurality  of  electrodes  with  a 
common    diaphragm. 

1,042,791.  STARTING  DEVICE;  C.  T.  Henderson,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 
App.   filed   March    14,    1907.     Solenoid-operated   motor   control. 

1,042.811.  TELEPHONE-RECEIVER  HOLDER;  W.  D.  Miller,  Butler, 
Pa.  .App.  filed  May  4,  1912.  Bracket  for  holding  the  receiver 
when   in   use. 

1.042.847.  ELECTRIC  METER;  M.  E.  Turner,  Cleveland  Heights, 
Ohio.  -App.  filed  -April  6,  1908.  Maximum  indicator  attachment 
for   integiating  wattmeters,  etc. 

1,042,855.  INTERFERENCE  PREVENTER  FOR  WIRELESS  TELE- 
GRAPH CIRCUITS:  W.  L.  Walker,  Boston,  Mass.  App.  filed  Jan. 
27,    1910.     Tuning-instrument    and   inductance-coil    details. 

1,042,865.  FLAMEPROOF  SWITCH;  W.  R.  Youmans,  Columbus,  Ohio. 
.App.  filed  Feb.  26,   19.10.     For  mine  switches,  etc. 

1,042.878.  COMPOSITION  OF  ABRASIVE  MATTER;  A.  F.  Blouin, 
Springfield  Township,  Pa.  App.  filed  July  20,  1910.  Aluminum 
oxide,    silicon,   boron   chromium   and   carbon. 

1,042,885.  PROCESS  OF  WELDING;  E.  G.  Budd  and  J.  H.  Bravell, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.  App.  filed  May  3,  1910.  For  welding  sheet-metal 
frames,   doors,   partitions,   etc. 

1,042,897.  CONNECTING  DEVICE  FOR  ELECTRIC  CONDUCTORS; 
R.  R.  Dunlop,  Columbus,  Ohio.  App.  filed  Feb.  23,  1910.  Inclosed 
telescoping   device   for   mine   circuits,   etc. 

1,042,902.  INSULATOR;  J.  N.  Foutz,  Anaheim,  Cal.  App.  filed  Dec. 
21,    1911.     Threaded    shank   and   screw   socket. 

1,042,920.  THERMOTIC  SWITCH;  G.  F.  Humphreys,  Devil's  Lake, 
N.    D.     App.   filed   March   8,    1912.     Mercury   and   screw  contacts. 

1,042,944.  SIGNAL  SYSTEM;  C.  B.  and  J.  F.  McLeer,  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.  App.  filed  Jan.  26,  1912.  Automatic  railroad  block-indi- 
cating system. 

1,042,954.  SELECTIVE  RINGING  KEY;  C.  H.  North,  Cleveland, 
Ohio.  App.  filed  May  4,  1907.  Telephone  switchboard  with  indi- 
cator. 

1,042,986.  INDUCTION  FURNACE;  C.  P.  Steinmeta,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.  .App.  filed  July  26,  1911.  The  furnace  crucible  is  the  pri- 
mary  winding   and    has  an   insulating  lining. 

1.043.001.  EMERGENCY  MEANS  FOR  ELECTRICAL  DISTRIBU- 
TION SYSTEMS;  J.  H.  Crosier,  Philadelphia.  Pa.  App.  filed 
.April   12,   1911.     Main  and  auxiliary  sw-itch;  remote  control. 

1.043.002.  BRAKE-ACTUATED  MOTOR  CONTROL;  H.  P.  Dodge, 
Toledo,  Ohio.  App.  filed  Dec.  1,  1911.  Application  of  the  brake 
automatically    opens    the    motor    circuit. 

1.043.014.  CIRCUIT-CONTROLLING  APPAR.ATUS;  R.  P.  Jackson, 
\\'ilkinsburg.  Pa.  App.  filed  Oct.  8,  1904.  .Arc  extinguished  by  air 
blast.      (Fifty    claims.) 

1,043,023.  TROLLEY;  W.  T.  Miller,  Winston-Salem,  N.  C.  App.  filed 
Jan.    17,    1912.     Swiveled   harp. 

1.043.028.  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE;  T.  E.  Noeggerath, 
Schenectady,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  .April  21,  1910.  Unipolar  field 
structure. 

1.043.029.  ELECTRIC-HEATING  UNIT;  L.  F.  Parkhurst,  Bingham- 
ton,   N.    Y.     .App.   filed   Feb.    15,    1911.     Cigar  lighter. 

1.043.030.  STATIC  ELECTRIC  MACHINE:  1  H.  Patee  (deceased). 
Indianapolis,  Ind.  App.  filed  Jan.  31,  1908.  Inclosed  mechanism 
with   drying   device    and    attachments. 

1.043,036.  CONTROLLING  SYSTEM  FOR  ELECTRIC  HOISTS;  F. 
I.  Smith.  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  App.  filed  April  5,  1911.  For  blast-fur- 
nace  systems. 

1.043,047.  ROTOR  FOR  ELECTRIC  MACHINES:  R.  Goldschmidt, 
Darmstadt,  Germany.  App.  filed  June  4,  1912.  The  annular  portion 
is   subdivided  into   segments   independently  supported. 

1,043,054.  MOLDING  SOCKET  AND  PLUG;  G.  Brooke,  New  York, 
N.  Y.  App.  filed  June  11,  1910.  Two-part  construction  with  de- 
tachable  plug. 

13,483  (reissue).  MOTOR-CONTROL  SYSTEM;  K.  F.  Kingwell, 
Rugby,  England.  App.  filed  Sept.  25,  1912.  Original  patent  No. 
1,022,029,  dated  April  2,  1912,  for  pumps,  compressors  and  other 
storage  systems. 


I 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


(»-'' 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  NOVEMBER  i6,  1912. 


No.  20. 


PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  BY 

McGraw  Publishing  Company 

James  H.  McGraw,  Pres.  C.  E.  Whittlesey,  Sec'y  and  Treas. 

239  West  39th  Street,  New  York. 

Telephone  Call:  4700  Bryant.    Cable  Address:  Electrical,  New  York. 

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Canada,  $4,50;  elsewhere,  $6.  Foreign  subscriptions  may  be  sent  to  the 
London   office. 

Requests  for  changes  of  address  should  give  the  old  as  well  as  the  new 
address.  Date  on  wrapper  indicates  the  month  at  the  end  of  which  sub- 
scription expires. 

Notice  to  Advertisers. 

Changes  in  advertisements  should  reach  the  New  York  office  ten  days  in 
advance  of-  the  date  of  issue.  New  advertisements  are  received  up  to 
Wednesday   noon   of  the  week  of  issue. 

Copyright,  1912,  by  McGraw  Publishing  Company. 
Entered  at  the  New  York  Post  Office  as  Second  Class  Mail  Matter. 

The  circulation  of  Electrical  World  for   1911   was  96S,i00.      Of  this  issue 
17,250  copies  are  printed. 

NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  NOVEMBER  16,  1912. 

CONTENTS. 

Editorials    1023 

Incorporation  of  Society  for  Electrical  Development 1026 

Co-operative  Movements  in  Chicago 1026 

Activities  of  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company 1026 

A.  I.   E.  E.  Affairs 1026 

Meeting   of    Electrical    Manufacturers    and    Supply    Jobbers    at    Hot 

Springs,    Va 1027 

Steel-Mill     Electrification 1027 

American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company's  Pension  System 1028 

Municipal  Electrical  Inspection  in  Chicago 1029 

Central-Station    Labor    Costs 103 1 

New  Oregon  Public  Service  Commission 1032 

Public    Service    Commission    News ; 1032 

Current    News    and    Notes 1033 

New  Turbine  Plant  at  Lexington,  Ky 1035 

Investigation  of  Diffusing  Glassware.     By  M.  Luckiesh 1040 

Chart  for   Sag  Calculations.      By  Percy  H.  Thomas 1042 

Rate    Systems    from    the    Central-Station    Solicitor's    Viewpoint.      By 

J.  E.  Bullard 1042 

Direct  Current  Versus  Alternating  Current  in  Rolling  Mills 1045 

Remote-Control   Switches  for  Flat-Rate  Signs 1046 

Load  Curves  of  a  Public  Garage 1046 

Theft   of   Electricity 1047 

Direct  and  Indirect  Profits  of  an  Appliance  Sales  Campaign 1047 

Testing     Switchboard     of    Alternating-Current     and     Direct-Current 

Meters     1048 

Conduit  Versus  Open  Work  in  Places  Subject  to  Moisture,  Corrosive 

Fumes.  Steam,  Etc.— V.     By  F.  G.  Waldenfels 1049 

Tungsten  Post  for  Kansas  City's  "White  Way"  Lighting 1051 

Licensing  Journeymen  Wiremen  at   Omaha 1051 

Recent  Telephone   Patents 1052 

Letter  to  the  Editors: 

The  Edison  Label.     By  Frank  Koester 1053 

Digest    of    Current    Electrical    Literature 1054 

Book   Reviews ]057 

New   Apparatus   and   Appliances 105g 

Industrial  and  Financial  News 1063 

Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 1074 


COMBINATION  STATION  AT  LEXINGTON.  KY. 

A  most  interesting  station  is  that  of  the  Kentucky  Trac- 
tion &  Terminal  Company,  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  described 
elsewhere  in  this  issue,  combining  as  it  does  the  functions 
of  a  central  station  and  of  an  ice-making  plant.  More- 
over, it  furnishes  an  excellent  example  of  the  modern 
tendency  toward  centralization  in  power  production  and 
from  this  point  of  view  is  worthy  of  close  study,  aside  from 
the  fact  that  the  equipment  is  mo'dern  and  that  advantage 
has  been  taken  of  every  means  conducive  to  economical 
production.  As  a  combination  railway  and  light  property, 
feeding  in  addition  a  transmission  system  reaching  out 
some  30  miles  in  all  directions,  an  excellent  load-factor 
ought  to  prevail,  and  it  would  appear  that  as  a  central  sta- 
tion it  had  no  new  fields  to  conquer.  But  Lexington  is  in 
the  South.  The  exhaust  steam  which  in  a  colder  climate 
might  be  used  for  heating  purposes  may  in  Kentucky  be 
used  for  making  ice,  and  to  this  profitable  use  the  exhaust 
of  the  auxiliaries  is  turned.  The  main  units  themselves 
operate  condensing,  and  owing  to  scarcity  of  water  a  cool- 
ing pond  is  employed  to  reduce  the  temperature  of  the 
circulating  water.  The  condensate  from  the  surface  con- 
densers is  collected,  re-boiled  and  filtered  for  use  in  making 
artificial  ice,  so  that  maximum  economy  is  obtained  in  the 
use  of  water. 

The  equipment  of  the  5000-kw  station  and  its  general 
arrangement  call  for  some  comment.  There  is  a  mini- 
mum investment  in  coal-handling  equipment,  labor  is  re- 
duced, and  the  heavy  construction  necessitated  by  over- 
head bunkers  is  avoided.  The  boilers  are  equipped  with 
Dutch  ovens,  mechanical  stokers  and  superheaters.  Motor- 
generators  are  used  for  supplying  energy  to  the  railway, 
and  oil-insulated,  water-cooled  transformers  step  up  the 
potential  to  30,000  volts  for  transmission.  The  auxiliary 
apparatus  is  either  motor-driven  or  steam-turbine-driven, 
so  that  taken  all  in  all  the  station  should  be  able  to  produce 
a  kilowatt-hour  of  electrical  energy  as  cheaply  as  a  station 
many  times  as  large. 


THE  TELEPHONE  PENSION  PLAN. 

The  announcement  early  this  week  that  the  American 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  has  set  aside  a  ten-million- 
dollar  relief  fund  to  provide  for  employees  of  the  Bell 
system  in  their  old  age  or  disablement  is  entitled  to  recog- 
nition as  a  voluntary  measure  of  financial  and  social  justice 
on  a  great  scale.  It  is  an  exceedingly  hopeful  sign  of  the 
times  that  so  comprehensive  a  plan  reaches  fruition  well  in 
advance  of  the  compulsory  adoption  of  similar  measures 
under  state  or  national  laws,  as  exemplified  in  a  restricted 
sense  by  the  employers'  liability  acts  already  adopted  in  a 
few  states.    It  would  be  improper  to  regard  this  plan  in  the 


1024 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  20. 


light  of  a  great  charity  or  as  benevolent  in  any  sense.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  distinctly  a  measure  for  justice  to  the 
worker,  making  a  tangible  return  for  long  and  faithful 
service,  besides  promoting  contentment  and  efficiency. 
Equally  it  is  a  recognition  that  the  great  problems  of  our 
day  are  social  and  economic,  demanding  in  their  solution  an 
even  distribution  of  social  justice  and  a  readjustment  of  the 
relations  between  worker  and  employer. 

Under  the  modern  methods  of  transacting  business,  with 
large  corporations  playing  such  important  roles,  it  is  in- 
evitable that  thousands  of  workers  must  take  their  places 
in  these  organizations  and  give  the  best  portion  of  their 
lives  to  routine  service.  There  are  very  many  con- 
scientious toilers  in  the  ranks  who  find  themselves  growing 
old  and  unable,  for  one  seeming  good  reason  or  another, 
to  accumulate  enough  to  insure  the  necessities  of  life  when 
their  productiveness  shall  cease.  Particularly  is  this  true 
under  present  economic  conditions.  The  uneasiness  and 
discontent  thus  aroused  will  finally,  if  unchecked,  crystallize 
into  a  public  demand  for  relief  through  legislation,  with  the 
ever-present  danger  that  unsafe  and  radical  remedies  will 
prevail.  How  much  better  it  is  to  anticipate  the  situation,  as 
exemplified  in  the  telephone  pension  scheme,  and  insure  the 
worker  and  his  family  at  the  expense  of  the  consumer  of 
service.  The  additional  burden  is  comparatively  insignifi- 
cant, as  shown  in  the  present  instance  by  the  fact  that  the 
relief  fund  amounts  to  less  than  2  per  cent  of  the  capital 
obligations  of  the  whole  Bell  system.  The  indirect  savings 
which  result  from  such  a  plan,  through  the  lessening  of 
private  and  public  charity  and  the  fact  that  the  aged 
worker  is  no  longer  dependent  upon  the  younger  workers 
of  his  own  family,  should  also  be  taken  into  the  reckoning, 
along  with  the  resultant  tendencies  to  increase  the  em- 
ployee's term  of  service  and  stimulate  his  efficiency. 


LABOR  COSTS  IN  CENTRAL-STATION  OPERATION. 

The  central-station  manager  who  exercises  a  close  super- 
vision over  his  production  costs  is  oftentimes  perplexed 
in  fixing  a  proper  standard  for  the  unit  labor  cost  and  then 
attaining  it  in  regular  service.  The  fact  is  that  so  many 
elements  afifect  a  determination  of  the  reasonable  unit  cost 
of  labor,  such  as  the  size  and  character  of  the  plant,  num- 
ber and  type  of  generating  units  and  auxiliaries,  use  of 
labor-saving  machinery  for  handling  fuel  and  ashes,  load- 
factor,  and  total  output,  that  a  hard  and  fast  rule  is  very 
difficult  if  not  impossible  to  formulate.  Where  standards 
are  so  hard  to  establish,  the  average  manager  turns  in- 
stinctively to  the  results  obtained  in  other  plants.  Else- 
where in  this  issue  we  present  an  analysis  of  labor  costs  in 
six  central  stations  ranging  from  1000  kw  to  5000  kw  in 
total  rating.  As  one  might  expect,  the  results  exhibit 
relatively  large  differences  among  themselves.  If  the  tabu- 
lar summary  is  rearranged,  however,  in  the  descending 
order  of  station  rating,  the  unit  labor  costs,  with  a 
single  exception,  will  be  observed  to  ascend  progressively. 
The  exception  is  Plant  D,  which  was  handicapped  by  a 
multiplicity  of  engine-room  units  and  a  relatively  low 
annual  output.  In  plants  of  medium  size  where  labor  costs 
are  to  some  degree  flexible — that  is  to  say,  where  the  force 


on  each  watch  is  considerable — the  problem  is  complicated 
by  the  fact  that  the  prompt  handling  of  emergencies  ordi- 
narily requires  more  men  than  the  usual  routine  will  keep 
fully  occupied.  In  other  words,  the  reliability  of  service 
depends  to  a  considerable  degree  on  the  sufficiency  of  the 
labor  force,  and  while  this  force  may  be  reduced  in  num- 
bers until  it  can  no  more  than  cope  with  routine  duties, 
emergencies  cannot  always  be  handled  with  such  dispatch 
as  to  prevent  service  interruptions,  and  therefore  a  reason- 
ably liberal  estimate  of  labor  requirements  seems  almost 
imperative  in  these  days  of  high  service  standards.  Possi- 
ble differences  of  policy  in  this  respect  should  therefore 
be  kept  in  mind  in  comparing  the  labor  costs  in  central 
stations  which  bear  a  great  similarity  to  each  other  in  a 
physical   sense. 

A  study  of  operating  labor  costs  is  also  of  interest  to  the 
designing  engineer,  because  the   most   successful   plant   is    I 
the   one   which    turns    out   the    cheapest   product   per   unit, 
under  service  conditions,  when  all  fixed  charges  and  oper- 
ating costs  are  taken  into  account.     The  criterion  by  which    I 
the   economy   of   labor-saving   machinery   or   apparatus   is 
determined  is  the  difference  between  the  sum  of  the  total 
annual  charges  on  the  equipment  in  question  and  the  annual    I 
cost  of  the  labor  displaced.     Central-station  design  is  re-    ' 
plete  with  economic  problems  of  this  character.     Compara- 
tive analyses  of  labor  costs,  when  intended  to  bring  out  the 
relative    merits    of    different    central-station    designs,    are 
therefore  of  little  value  unless  the  layout  and  equipment  of 
each  plant  are  carefully  considered  therewith. 


A  CHART  FOR  SAG  CALCULATIONS. 

The  problem  of  determining  the  stress  which  will  develop 
in  a  metallic  rope,  at  any  given  temperature,  after  being 
suspended  between  two  rigid  supports  at  another  stress  and 
temperature  is  one  which  civil  engineers  have  dealt  with 
for  many  years.  With  the  introduction  of  very  high-tension 
transmission  lines,  supported  in  long  spans  from  tall  towers, 
the  problem  has  of  late  years  come  into  prominence  in  con- 
nection with  electrical  engineering.  In  the  electrical  en- 
gineering case  the  problem  is  presented  in  a  form  somewhat 
modified  from  that  dealt  with  in  civil  engineering  practice, 
namely,  in  respect  to  the  occasional  extra  stresses  due  to 
sleet  and  wind  storms. 

A  number  of  formulas,  charts  and  modes  of  computation 
have  been  worked  out  and  published  by  different  engineers     . 
for  dealing  with  these  stress  and  sag  computations   in   a    | 
practical  way.    A  particular  set  of  charts  of  a  simple  nature,    I 
based  on  the  catenary  curve,  were  presented  by  Mr.  Percy     ' 
H.   Thomas   at   the    Chicago   convention   of   the   American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  in  June,  1911.     The  chart 
is  reproduced  in  this  issue,  together  with  adequate  descrip- 
tive matter.     It  has  the  advantage  of  giving  the  desired     1 
results    partly    from    inspection    and    partly    from    simple     I 
auxiliary   slide-rule   computations.      In   the   use   of   such   a 
chart    the    engineer    must    determine    what    thickness    of     ; 
sleet    coating    and    what    accompanying    wind    velocity    to     | 
assume.     There  is  still  some  difference  of  opinion  on  these 
points.    If  the  sleet  thickness  accepted  be  the  greatest  that 
has    ever   been    observed,    and    if    the    accompanying    wind 


November  i6,  iqu 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1025 


velocity  accepted  is  also  to  be  the  greatest  that  has  ever  been 
known,  the  results  deduced  as  to  the  required  conditions  for 
erection  may  come  out  ridiculous  by  any  proper  mode  of 
computation.  It  is  surely  unreasonable  to  assume  all  of 
these  worst  conditions  simultaneously.  If  the  thickness  of 
ice  on  the  conductor  should  happen  to  be  as  great  as  had 
ever  been  observed,  it  is  very  unlikely  that  the  component  of 
wind  velocity  transverse  to  the  conductor  would  also  be 
the  greatest  wind  velocity  ever  observed,  and  reciprocally. 
Some  allowance  should  surely  be  made  for  the  reason- 
ableness of  chance,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  applied 
mathematical  probability.  Of  course,  if  an  earthquake  of 
maximum  recorded  severity  occurred  at  any  time,  the  whole 
line  might  be  expected  to  collapse.  There  is  no  infallible 
human  construction. 


THE  DIFFUSION  OF  LIGHT  PASSING  THROUGH  GLASS  FLATES. 

In  order  to  reduce  the  brilliancy  of  the  modern  light 
sources  to  moderate  values  when  they  have  to  be  supported 
in  full  view  it  becomes  very  desirable  to  place  the  sources 
behind  relatively  large  diffusing  surfaces,  whereby  the 
latter  become  the  apparent  light  sources  and  thus  supply 
the  light  at  a  greatly  reduced  surface  brightness.  The  eye 
can  then  view  these  large  light-diffusing  surfaces  without 
inconvenience  or  distress.     The  properties  of  light  diffusion 

(in.  glassware  thus  become  important  to  the  illuminating 
engineer.  Mr.  M.  Luckiesh  details  in  this  issue  a  series  of 
measurements  on  the  diffusion  of  light  passing  through 
glass  plates.  These  measurements  support  some  very, 
interesting  deductions. 

W'heil  a  parallel  beam  of  light  falls  perpendicularly  upon 
a  glass  plate  we  know  that  some  of  the  light  is  reflected 
from  the  surface  and  does  not  penetrate  to  any  appreciable 
distance.  The  remainder  goes  on  through  the  substance  of 
the  glass.  During  its  passage  it  is  partly  absorbed,  since  no 
glass  can  b,e  completely  transparent.  A  little  of  the  light 
is  also  reflected  back  as  the  beam  goes  on.  A  further 
reflection  occurs  at  the  surface  of  emergence.  Manifestly, 
the  light  transmitted  through  the  glass  and  into  the  air 
beyond  is  distinctly  less  than  that  which  falls  on  the  glass 
in  the  incident  beam.  The  ratio  of  the  transmitted  light  to 
the  incident  light  is  conmioiily  called  the  coefficient  of  trans- 
mission of  the  plate.  It  depends  not  only  on  the  quality  of 
the  light  in  spectral  distribution  and  the  thickness  and 
quality  of  the  glass  but  also  upon  the  condition  of  the  glass 
surfaces  in  regard  to  cleanliness  and  regularity. 

The  distribution  of  the  light  rays  is  not  confined  to  the 
perpendicular  direction  of  incidence.  Some  of  the  light 
becomes  scattered  in  the  process.  At  the  surfaces  irregu- 
larities of  form  produce  scattering,  by  refraction  and  reflec- 
tion. Within  the  substance  of  the  glass,  particles  become 
secondarily  illuminated  and  scatter  light  in  all  directions. 
Consequently  the  beam  of  light,  which  was  parallel  just 
before  incidence,  is  diffused  more  or  less  at  emergence.  If 
one  or  both  surfaces  are  made  specially  irregular  in  form, 
by  etching  or  frosting,  and  if  the  number  of  secondary 
illuminant  particles  suspended  within  the  substance  of  the 
glass  be  sufficiently  increased,  the  plate  of  glass,  instead  of 
being  a  mere  transmitter  of  light,  may  become  more  nearly 


a  complete  diffuser  of  light,  so  that,  considered  as  a 
secondary  light  source,  its  brightness  in  all  directions  may 
be  nearly  equal.  The  coefficient  of  diffusion  of  the  plate  is, 
however,  not  so  easy  to  define  as  is  the  coefficient  of  trans- 
mission. With  good  plate  glass  having  polished  surfaces  the 
diffusion  of  the  light  passing  through  perpendicularly  will 
be  small  and  very  hard  to  measure.  With  carefully  .frosted 
or  opalescent  glass  plates  the  diffusion  will  be  very 
appreciable  and  easier  to  measure;  but  even  then  it  is 
difficult  to  define  in  a  measurable  way.  It  might  be  defined 
as  the  ratio  of  the  emergent  scattered  light  to  the  total 
emergent  light.  The  numerator  of  this  fraction  would  be 
equal  to  the  total  emergent  light  minus  the  light  emergent 
undiffused  in  a  perpendicular  beam.  But  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  decide  experimentally  upon  just  how  much  light 
emerged  in  a  truly  perpendicular  beam.  A  small  numerical 
error  might  affect  the  coefficient  greatly. 

In  order  to  arrive,  therefore,  at  practically  measurable 
results,  Mr.  Luckiesh  proposes  what  is  virtually  a  zonal 
definition  of  the  diffusion  coefficient.  Thus,  at  an  angle  of 
60  deg.  with  the  emergent  perpendicular,  if  the  observed 
brightness  of  the  plate  is,  say,  half  the  observed  perpen- 
dicular brightness  of  the  plate,  then  the  diffusion  coefficient 
of  the  plate  at  this  6o-deg.  zone  would  be  50  per  cent. 
Theoretically,  if  a  complete  zonal  distribution  of  the  diffu- 
sion coefficient  could  be  mapped  out  in  this  way,  the  mean 
hemispherical,  or  total,  diffusion  coefficient  of  the  plate  could 
be  computed.  Practically,  as  Mr.  Luckiesh  shows,  it  is 
difficult  to  measure  the  brightness  of  such  a  plate  at  large 
angles,  because  the  brightness  becomes  so  small  and  the 
apparent  surface  of  the  plate  is  small  likewise. 

As  the  article  points  out,  there  is  a  marked  distinction  to 
be  drawn  between  the  transmission  or  diffusion  of  a  plate 
and  the  transmission  or  diffusion  of  a  globe.  Thus,  if  an 
incandescent  lamp  is  inclosed  in  a  globe  of  opalescent  glass 
whose  transmission  coefficient  is  say  70  per  cent,  it  is  not 
to  be  inferred  that  only  70  per  cent  of  the  light  emitted 
by  the  lamp  can  pass  usefully  through  the  globe.  This  is 
for  the  reason  that  some  of  the  light  which  is  reflected 
from  the  inner  surface  of  the  globe,  at  first  incidence,  is 
able  to.  fall  back  on  some  other  parts  of  the  globe  and  find 
its  way  out  usefully.  The  apparent  coefficient  of  transmis- 
sion of  the  globe,  as  a  whole,  including  the  effects  of  such 
internal  reflections,  may  thus  be,  say,  85  per  cent.  It  is 
not  easy  to  predict  the  apparent  coefficient  of  transmission 
of  a  globe  from  the  observed  coefficients  of  transmission 
and  reflection  of  the  glass  composing  its  walls,  because  the 
size,  shape  and  transparency  of  the  lamp  inside  the  globe 
enter  into  the  problem  in  a  way  that  greatly  complicates  it. 
The  diffusion  of  light  from  the  globe  is  again  a  matter  very 
different  from  the  diffusion  of  light  from  the  plate.  It 
should  be  possible,  however,  to  measure  the  brightness  ratio 
of  any  single  surface  element  of  the  globe  to  that  of  the  . 
maximum,  and  so  to  arrive,  by  observation,  at  zonal  dif- 
fusion coefficients  for  the  actual  globe  and  contained  lamp. 
The  apparent  coefficients  for  the  lamp  and  globe  may  not 
be  capable  of  exact  determination  from  the  coeflicients  of 
the  glass  in  the  globe  presented  in  plate  form,  but.  a 
knowledge  of  the  latter  cannot  fail  to  help  illumiuating 
engineers  to  arrive  at  satisfactory  values  for  actual  lamps. 


1026 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  20. 


INCORPORATION    OF   SOCIETY   FOR   ELECTRICAL 
DEVELOPMENT. 


The  Society  for  Electrical  Development,  Inc.,  with  prin- 
cipal office  in  New  York  City,  was  incorporated  on  Nov.  13 
under  the  laws  of  New  York  State  to  establish  co-operative 
relations  among  the  difTerent  electrical  interests  in  the 
United  States,  Canada  and  Mexico,  with  a  view  to  increas- 
ing the  use  of  electrical  energy  by  the  public. 

The  directors  are  Messrs.  Henry  L.  Doherty,  New  York; 
W.  A.  Layman,  Webster  Groves,  Mo. ;  L.  A.  Osborne, 
Pittsburgh;  A.  C.  Einstein,  St.  Louis;  J.  E.  Montague, 
Niagara  Falls ;  F.  C.  Price,  Salem,  Mass. ;  Roger  Scudder, 
Kirkwood,  Mo.;  W.  E.  Robertson,  Buffalo;  J.  R.  Crouse, 
Cleveland;  Walter  H.  Johnson,  Philadelphia;  Gerard 
Swope,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J. ;  B.  M.  Downs,  East 
Orange,  N.  J.;  A.  W.  Burchard,  Schenectady;  G.  H.  San- 
born, Indianapolis;  J.  R.  Strong,  Short  Hills,  N.  J.;  F.  N. 
Thorpe.  Paterson,  N.  J.;  Ernest  McCleary.  Detroit;  Ernest 
Freeman,  W.  W.  Lowe  and  John  F.  Gilchrist,  Chicago. 


CO-OPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  IN  CHICAGO. 


It  is  announced  that  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company 
has  invited  about  one  hundred  of  the  electrical  contractors 
of  Chicago,  representing  the  two  local  societies,  to  be  its 
guests  at  a  "get  together"  dinner  at  which  the  prevailing 
sentiment  will  be  "co-operation"  between  the  central-station 
interests  and  electrical  contractors.  Arrangements  for  the 
dinner  have  been  made  by  Mr.  E.  W.  Lloyd,  general  contract 
agent  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company, and  Mr.  Ernest 
Freeman,  president  of  the  National  Electrical  Contractors' 
Association.  Unusual  interest  is  displayed  in  this  event  in 
view  of  the  recently  inaugurated  co-operative  movement, 
accounts  of  which  have  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  these 
columns.  According  to  the  present  plans,  the  dinner  will  be 
held  on  Nov.  22  or  23.  The  formation  of  the  Society  for 
Electrical  Development,  Inc.,  was  noted  in  the  Electrical 
World  of  Oct.  26,  page  858.  Mr.  Philip  S.  Dodd,  29  West 
Thirty-ninth  Street,  New  York,  is  secretary  of  the 
organization. 


ACTIVITIES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  GAS  &  ELECTRIC 
COMPANY. 


Mr.  John  A.  Britton,  vice-president  and  general  manager 
of  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  delivered  an  inter- 
esting illustrated  lecture,  covering  the  activities  of  his  com- 
pany in  all  its  branches  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  before  the 
national  and  local  electrical  engineering  societies  in  the 
Engineering  Societies  Building,  New  York,  on  Nov.  14. 
As  is  well  known^  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company  is 
the  leading  factor  on  the  Coast  in  the  generation  and  dis- 
tribution of  hydroelectric  energy.  The  company  has  now 
under  construction  at  Spalding,  on  the  Bear  River,  a  station 
which  will  have  an  output  of  53,000  hp.  This  plant  will  be 
known  as  the  Drum  power  house,  in  compliment  to  Mr. 
F.  G.  Drum,  president  of  the  company,  and  contracts  >have 
been  let  with  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing 
Company  for  four  io,ooo-kva  generators;  with  the  Pelton 
Water  Wheel  Company,  San  Francisco,  for  eight  i6,ooo-hp 
Pelton-Doble-type  waterwheels,  and  with  Milliken  Brothers, 
New  York,  and  the  United  States  Steel  Products  Company, 
for  transmission  towers.  Copper  conductors  will  be  used 
in  the  snow  belt  and  in  the  fog  belt,  and  aluminum  in  the 
valleys.  The  transmission  tension  will  be  115,000  volts,  and 
suspension-type  insulators,  manufactured  by  the  Ohio  Brass 
Company,  Mansfield,  Ohio,  will  be  installed.  A  private 
right-of-way  from  the  power  house  to  Cordelia,  the  center 
of  load  of  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company's  system,  has 
been  purchased,  and  a  double  tower  line,  approximately  118 


miles  long,  each  tower  carrying  a  single  circuit,  will  trans- 
mit the  115,000-volt  energy  to  the  substation  at  Cordelia, 
where  the  tension  will  be  reduced  to  60,000  volts,  at  which 
pressure  energy  will  be  fed  into  the  company's  existing  dis- 
tribution system.  About  one-half  of  the  work  on  the  Drum 
station  has  been  completed,  and  it  is  the  expectation  of  the 
company  to  finish  another  station  in  1914,  and  a  third  sta- 
tion in  1915,  so  that  the  aggregate  development  now  under 
way  approximates  135,000  hp.  Illustrations  showing  the 
progress  of  the  work  up  to  the  present  time  were  displayed 
by  Mr.  Britton,  as  well  as  pictures  of  the  other  parts  of 
the  company's  immense  system.  The  speaker  outlined  the 
aims  and  ambitions  of  his  company  and  gave  physical 
data  on  its  system.  As  indicative  of  the  rapidity  with  which 
the  load  on  the  system  is  increasing,  it  might  be  mentioned 
that  from  the  first  of  year  up  to  Oct.  l  the  company  had 
acquired  a  connected  load  of  61,000  hp.  When  the  work 
now  under  contemplation  is  complete,  the  Pacific  Gas  & 
Electric  Company's  hydroelectric  system  alone  will  aggre- 
gate 225,000  hp. 


A.  L  E.  E.  AFFAIRS. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  on  Nov.  8,  1912,  authority 
was  given  for  organizing  an  A.  I.  E.  E.  branch  at  the 
Clemson  Agricultural  College,  Clemson  College,  S.  C,  in 
accordance  with  a  petition  received  from  the  president  of 
the  college. 

A  communication  was  read  from  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association  transmitting  copies  of  the  booklet  and 
chart  containing  rules  for  the  resuscitation  of  persons 
shocked  by  electricity  which  were  prepared  by  the  com- 
mission organized  under  the  auspices  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A., 
under  the  guidance  of  the  American  Medical  Association, 
and  upon  which  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers w-as  also  represented.  The  board  adopted  a  resolu- 
tion directing  the  secretary  to  publish  the  rules  and  chart 
in  the  Institute  Proceedings  and  to  promulgate  these  docu- 
ments in  every  way  within  the  scope  of  the  secretary's 
duties. 

The  board  approved  the  proposed  plan  for  a  joint  re- 
ception to  be  given  by  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers,  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers 
and  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  in  the 
Engineering  Societies  Building,  New  York,  on  the  even- 
ing of  Dec.  5,  1912,  on  the  occasion  of  the  presentation  of 
the  John  Fritz  medal  to  Mr.  Robert  W.  Hunt,  and  appointed 
President  Ralph  D.  Mershon  of  the  Institute  and  the  four 
representatives  of  the  Institute  on  the  John  Fritz  medal 
board  of  award  to  represent  the  Institute  upon  the  reception 
committee. 

The  president  was  authorized  to  appoint  a  committee  on 
the  use  of  electricity  in  mines,  similar  in  scope  to  the  other 
technical  committees  of  the  Institute. 

The  public  policy  committee  reported  upon  the  matters 
submitted  to  it  at  the  last  meeting  of  the  board  in  regard 
to  the  patent  situation.  The  committee  submitted  for  pas- 
sage by  the  board  certain  resolutions  addressed  to  Congress 
relating  to  the  American  patent  situation.  These  resolu- 
tions, which  were  adopted  by  the  board  subject  to  the  ap- 
proval of  a  majority  of  both  the  public  policy  and  the 
patent  committees,  urge  suspension  of  action  on  all  patent 
bills  now  pending  and  the  appointment  of  a  commission 
made  up  of  unbiased,  independent,  non-partisan  men  of 
national  standing  to  investigate  the  American  patent  situa- 
tion and  to  recommend  to  Congress  such  action  as  may 
appear  expedient. 

The  public  policy  committee  also  reported  upon  certain 
communications  and  Senate  bills  relating  to  the  regulation 
of  water-powers,  transmitted  to  the  committee  by  President 
Mershon  for  suggestions  as  to  the  attitude  of  the  Institute 


November  i6,  1912 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1027 


toward  the  proposed  legislation  and  the  advisability  of  the 
Institute's  participation  in  hearings  on  bills  of  this  nature. 
The  following  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  board,  based 
upon  the  recommendations  made  by  the  committee : 

"Resolved,  That  when  it  appears  to  the  president  and  a 
majority  of  the  members  of  the  public  policy  committee  that 
the  question  at  issue  in  connection  with  a  bill  before  Con- 
gress is  one  purely  of  engineering,  the  board  of  directors 
would  approve  his  appointing  a  committee  or  delegation  to 
confer  with  the  committee  of  Congress  before  which  the 
bill  is  pending  with  reference  to  the  engineering  questions 
involved." 


STEEL-MILL  ELECTRIFICATION. 


MEETING  OF  ELECTRICAL  MANUFACTURERS  AND 
SUPPLY  JOBBERS  AT  HOT  SPRINGS,  VA. 


By  Telegraph. 


Hot  Springs  last  week  was  again  the  scene  of  the  semi- 
annual gathering  of  the  Electrical  Manufacturers'  Club, 
many  members  of  which  remained  to  foregather  with 
the  supply  jobbers,  whose  meetings  at  the  Virginia  resort 
began  on  Sept.  13.  In  the  last  year  of  President  B.  M. 
Downs'  administration  the  club's  membership  has  increased 
15  per  cent,  and  about  100  members  attended.  Those  who 
addressed  the  club  at  this  meeting  included  Dr.  Charles 
W.  Eliot,  president  emeritus  of  Harvard  University,  whose 
subject  was  "The  Fortunate  or  Happy  Conditions  for  a 
Life  of  Labor";  Mr.  J.  Robert  Crouse,  who  spoke  on  the 
co-operative  electrical  development  idea;  Mr.  W.  W.  Mer- 
rill, who  on  behalf  of  the  Underwriters  made  a  plea  for 
high  standards  for  electrical  material,  and  Mr.  Frank  E. 
Watts,  who  spoke  for  the  Jovian  Order.  Dr.  Eliot's  address 
was  reserved  for  later  publication  and  distribution.  The 
club  will  conduct  a  continuing  campaign  among  its  mem- 
bers with  a  view  to  improving  conditions  of  employment 
where  possible.  After  serving  the  club  in  various  capac- 
ities for  six  years,  President  Downs  was  succeeded  by  Mr. 
S.*  O.  Richardson,  Jr.,  of  the  Libby  Glass  Company.  Mr. 
J.  E.  Way,  of  R.  'Thomas  &  Sons'  Company,  was  elected 
vice-president;  Mr.  Walter  Cary,  of  the  Westinghouse 
Lamp  Company,  secretary,  and  Mr.  Herbert  Sinclair,  of  the 
Star  Porcelain  Company,  treasurer.  Mr.  Charles  I.  Hills, 
the  able  commissary  and  master  of  transportation  of  the 
club,  was  retained  in  office  and  received  an  individual  vote 
of  thanks  for  his  successful  efforts  to  make  the  club  meet- 
ings free  from  care.  Aside  from  routine  business,  the  club 
received  the  report  of  the  committee  on  patent  law,  of 
which  Mr.  A.  D.  Beresford,  of  the  Cutler-Hammer  Manu- 
facturing Company,  is  chairman.  The  report  reflected  the 
active  and  thorough  work  of  the  committee  during  the  past 
session  of  Congress.  The  committee  was  continued,  with 
instructions  to  urge  upon  the  attention  of  Congress  the 
views  of  the  manufacturers  with  reference  to  proposed  pat- 
ent legislation.  First  prize  in  the  manufacturers'  golf  tour- 
nament on  the  Homestead  links  was  won  by  Mr.  J.  W. 
Perry,  of  the  H.  W.  Johns-Manville  Company,  the  second 
prize  going  to  Mr.  E.  S.  Hatch,  Johns-Pratt  Company. 

On  Wednesday  morning,  Sept.  13,  100  members  of  the 
Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Association  joined  the  advance 
guard  already  at  Hot  Springs  for  the  three  days'  sessions 
beginning  on  that  day.  In  all  about  200  members  were  on 
hand,  and  during  the  day  most  of  them  sought  the  golf 
links.  One  of  the  matters  that  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
early  session  was  the  report  on  co-operative  electrical  de- 
velopment. A  majority  of  those  present  at  Hot  Springs 
were  in  favor  of  the  plan  to  make  the  next  meeting  of  the 
association  a  trip  to  Panama.  A  large  assortment  of  golf, 
pool,  billiard  and  riding  prizes  were  contested  for  this  week, 
and  the  few  opponents  of  the  February  sea  voyage  have 
been  assured  that  there  will  be  no  dearth  of  sport  if  the 
visit  to  the  canal  site  is  made  next  Februarv. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  held  in  New  York  on  Nov.  8  two  papers  were 
presented  on  steel-mill  electrification.  The  first,  by  Mr. 
Wilfred  Sykes,  was  a  discussion  of  "Power  Requirements 
of  Rolling  Mills,"  and  the  second,  by.  Dr.  F.  W.  Meyer  and 
Mr.  Wilfred  Sykes,  was  on  "The  Economical  Speed  Con- 
trol of  Alternating-Current  Motors  Driving  Rolling  Mills." 

In  the  first  paper  attention  was  called  to  the  fact  that 
one  of  the  most  difficult  features  of  the  rolling-tnill  elec- 
trification problem  is  the  determination  of  the  conditions  on 
which  to  design  the  equipment,  as  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
obtain  accurate  data  from  the  men  responsible  for  the 
operation  on  account  of  the  changes  that  occur  in  practice 
after  the  mill  has  been  installed.  The  fundamental  basis 
on  which  the  size  of  the  motor  must  be  determined  is  the 
character  of  the  product  of  the  mill  and  the  tonnage  rolled. 
Other  factors,  in  the  order  of  their  importance,  are  the 
volume  of  metal  displaced,  method  of  displacement,  tem- 
perature of  the  metal,  class  of  material,  rate  of  displace- 
ment, and  size  of  the  roll.  This  order  is  not  fixed,  and  the 
factors  will  vary  with  the  practice  of  the  particular  mill  in 
question. 

The  great  majority  of  rolling  mills  are  of  the  type  running 
continuously  in  one  direction,  and  to  equalize  the  input  to 
the  motor  flywheels  are  used.  It  is  important  that  the  cor- 
rect size  of  flywheel  be  selected,  as  it  is  only  by  considering 
the  motor  and  the  flywheel  as  a  unit  that  a  satisfactory 
installation  can  be  made.  With  the  ideal  flywheel  a  motor 
sufficiently  large  to  carry  the  average  load  would  be  the 
right  size  to  use,  as  all  of  the  peaks  would  be  taken  by  the 
flywheel,  and  during  the  intervals  between  them  energy 
would  be  stored  up  in  it.  In  practice  it  is  not  possible  to 
use  such  flywheels,  as  they  would  be  excessively  large. 
Rolling-mill  motors  are  usually  designed  so  that  they  can 
carry  25  per  cent  overload  continuously  with  a  50-deg.  C. 
rise  and  50  per  cent  for  an  hour  with  a  60-deg.  C.  rise. 

In  the  paper  by  Dr.  F.  W.  Meyer  and  Mr.  Wilfred  Sykes 
mention  was  made  of  the  great  diversity  of  opinion  among 
mill  operators  as  to  what  speed  regulation  is  necessary  when 
rolling  various  sizes  of  material  and  classes  of  work.  The 
authors  stated  that  speed  adjustment  may  be  required  on 
account  of  the  large  range  of  material  required,  or  to 
enable  a  mill  to  run  in  tandem  with  another  mill  which  has 
a  fixed  speed  and  which  rolls  a  variety  of  product,  or  to 
make  it  possible  to  obtain  certain  qualities,  finish  and 
accuracy  of  section  for  different  products.  Several  means 
of  varying  the  speed  of  induction  motors  present  them- 
selves. Of  these  the  most  simple  is  the  rheostatic  control, 
which,  although  inefficient,  is  frequently  the  most  economical 
to  use  under  operating  conditions.  With  multi-speed  motors 
the  number  of  speeds  is  limited  to  four,  and  even  this  range 
requires  extremely  complicated  control;  but  it  has  the 
advantage  of  high  efficiency  and  power-factor.  With 
motors  in  cascade  it  is  possible  to  obtain  practically  any 
number  of  speeds,  but  actually  the  number  is  limited  by  the 
cost  of  equipment  and  the  complication  of  control.  This 
arrangement  also  has  the  disadvantage  of  low  power-factor. 

The  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the  use  of  induc- 
tion  motors    in    connection    with    three-phase    commutator 
regulating  machines  and  the  use  of  three-phase  commutator 
motors  were  discussed  at  some  length. 
Discussion. 

In  a  written  communication  Mr.  J.  H.  Wilson  pointed  out 
that  allowing  the  flywheel  to  do  the  work  meant  a  necessary 
slowing  down  of  the  mill  and  hence  decreased  production, 
and  he  favored  a  larger  motor,  even  at  an  increased  first 
cost,  stating  that  this  would  probably  be  offset  by  the 
savings  effected  from  the  elimination  df  the  evils  of  the 
flywheel. 

Mr.  Selby  Haar  commended  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Sykes  and 
commented  on  the  wide  variance  of  results  previously  pub- 


1028 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  20. 


lished  along  this  line  of  work.  He  stated  that  it  is  more 
convenient  to  deal  with  the  elongation  of  the  piece  rather 
than   the  change  in  cross-section  in  determining  the  load. 

Mr.  Edward  J.  Cheney  discussed  the  hapliazard  methods 
ear.ier  in  use  for  determining  adequate  sizes  of  prime 
movers  and  showed  how  the  modern  mill  superintendent 
checks  up  the  daily  consumption  of  energy  by  simply 
watching  the  meters  which  record  the  input  to  the  motors. 

Mr.  Bayse  N.  Westcott  called  attention  to  the  difficulties 
in  testing  steam-driven  mills  and  commented  at  some  length 
on  the  character  of  the  instruments  used  in  steel-mill 
testing. 

Mr.  Fred  Bickford  Crosby  gave  a  summary  of  the  tests 
being  conducted  by  the  General  Electric  Company  on  the 
commutator-type  alternating-current  motor  with  compen- 
sating windings  and  on  a  special  rotary  converter  which 
receives  its  power  from  the  rotor  of  the  main  motor.  He 
remarked  that  these  machines  are  especially  well  adapted  to 
rolling-mill  work. 

Mr.  L.  T.  Robinson  discussed  the  spark  method  of  record- 
ing and  pointed  out  several  disadvantages  of  that  svstem. 
He  suggested  the  use  of  a  pen  and  ink  system  which  he 
described    briefly. 

In  a  written  connnunication  Mr.  G.  E.  Stoltz  expressed 
the  opinion  that  an  engineer  familiar  with  rolling  mills 
ought  to  be  able  to  judge  output  very  closely.  He  said  that 
the  great  advantage  of  automatic  speed  control  is  that  the 
losses  in  the  external  resistance  of  a  motor  are  reduced  to 
a  minimum,  because  during  light-load  periods  the  secondary 
resistance  is  automatically  short-circuited,  thereby  reducing 
the  external  losses  to  zero. 

In  a  written  communication  'Mr.  H.  L.  Barnhoklt  noted 
the  increased  facilities  of  the  designer  and  manufacturer 
for  determining  motor  sizes  and  stated  that  the  accuracy 
with  which  the  electric  energy  consumption  can  be  deter- 
mined has  done  a  great  deal  to  place  the  subject  of  rolling- 
mill  practice  on  a  more  scientific  basis. 


PROGRESS    OF    THE    PATENT    OFFICE    INVESTI- 
GATION. 


it  will  be  recalled  by  our  readers  that  Congress  passed  a 
joint  resolution  on  Aug.  21  authorizing  President  Taft  to 
have  an  investigation  made  of  the  Patent  Office  by  the  Com- 
mission on  Economy  and  Efficiency.  This  commission  has 
taken  up  its  work,  and  under  date  of  Oct.  31  addressed  a 
circular  of  inquiry  to  attorneys  and  agents  practising  before 
the  United  States  Patent  Office  and  to  inventors,  soliciting 
critifcisms  and  suggestions  for  improvement  of  the  Patent 
Office  methods  and  personnel  and  any  changes  in  law  neces- 
sary to  enable  the  office  to  discharge  its  functions  more 
efficiently  and  economically.  The  commission  declares  that 
its  purpose  is  to  afford  an  opportunity  to  members  of  the 
bar  to  render  assistance  in  the  investigation.  It  calls  atten- 
tion, however,  to  the  fact  that  the  investigation  does  not 
relate  to  the  general  patent  law,  but  is  confined  wholly  to 
the  law  governing  the  administration  and  procedure  of  the 
Patent  Office. 

Each  of  the  circulars  above  referred  to  was  accompanied 
by  a  blank  containing  twenty-four  questions  relating  to 
Patent  Office  procedure,  personnel,  publications,  fees,  trade- 
marks, prints  and  labels,  and  also,  although  outside  of  the 
scope  of  the  investigation,  to  the  proposed  Court  of  Patent 
Appeals.  Under  the  subject  of  procedure,  the  questions 
relate  to  the  matter  of  abolishing  one  appeal  within  the 
office  and  the  manner  in  which  this  should  be  accomplished ; 
the  desirability  of  changes  in  procedure  in  interference 
cases;  the  proposal  to  limit  the  life  of  a  patent  to  nineteen 
years  from  the  date  of  filing  application,  and  less  important 
matters,  such  as  legalizing  the  issuance  of  circulars  of  cor- 
rection, filing  photographic  copies  of  drawings,  etc.     Under 


the  heading  of  personnel,  questions  are  asked  as  to  whether 
the  salaries  paid  to  the  higher  officials  of  the  Patent  Office 
and  to  the  examining  force  siiould  be  increased  and  whether 
the  number  of  examiners  should  be  increased,  the  latter 
question  having  particular  reference  to  the  work  of  reclassi- 
fying patents.  A  question  is  also  asked  as  to  what  changes, 
if  any,  should  be  made  in  the  fees.  The  commission  states 
that  it  will  receive  comments  in  reference  to  the  bill  pend- 
ing in  Congress  for  the  creation  of  a  Court  of  Patent 
Appeals,  to  have  the  jurisdiction  in  patent  causes  now  exer- 
cised by  the  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals. 

The  commission  requests  a  prompt  answer  to  its  circulars, 
inasmuch  as  the  time  for  completing  the  investigation  and 
preparing  the  report  is  limited.  It  is  not  expected  that  the 
replies  will  be  published,  but  it  is  the  intention  to  present 
in  summary  form,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  views  of 
inventors  and  of  attorneys  and  others  practising  before  the 
Patent  Office  upon  the  several  questions  on  which  the  com- 
mission has  been  instructed  to  report.  No  information  will 
be  given  out  by  the  commission  in  advance  of  its  report  to 
President  Taft.  The  complete  report  will  ultimately  be 
transmitted   to   Congress   after   it   reconvenes   next   month 


AMERICAN     TELEPHONE     &    TELEGRAPH 
PANY'S  PENSION  SYSTEM. 


COM- 


Announcement  has  just  been  made  public  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  ten-million-dollar  fund  by  the  American 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  for  pensions,  sick  benefits 
and  life  insurance  for  the  175,000  employees  of  the  Bell 
system.  This  fund  will  be  available  on  Jan.  i,  1913,  and 
payments  from  it  will  be  made  good  from  year  to  year  by 
annual  appropriations  on  the  part  of  the  American  Tele- 
phone &  Telegraph  Company  and  its  subsidiaries  and  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  and  the  Western 
Electric  Company,  which  it  also  controls. 

The  provisions  of  the  new  pension  system  stipulate  that 
male  employees  who  have  reached  the  age  of  sixty  years 
and  have  been  twenty  years  or  more  in  the  service  may 
retire  on  a  pension.  They  may  be  retired  at  the  option  of 
the  company  when  they  have  reached  the  age  of  fifty-five 
years  and  have  been  twenty-five  years  or  mor€  in  the 
service.  The  pension  age  of  all  female  employees  is  in 
each  case  five  years  younger  than  that  of  male  employees. 
Any  employee  who  has  been  thirty  years  in  the  service, 
regardless  of  age,  may  be  pensioned  on  the  approval  of  the 
president  of  the  company. 

The  amount  of  the  pension  will  be  determined  auto- 
matically by  the  years  of  service  and  the  amount  of  pay 
and  will  be  I  per  cent  of  the  average  annual  pay  for  ten 
years,  multiplied  by  the  number  of  years  of  service.  There- 
fore a  male  employee  who  has  been  thirty  years  in  the 
service  would  receive  as  a  pension  30  per  cent  of  his  average 
salary  for  the  last  ten  years  of  service.  No  pension,  how- 
ever, will  be  less  than  $20  a  month. 

In  the  case  of  accidents  occurring  in  and  due  to  the 
performance  of  work  for  the  company,  an  employee  will 
receive,  for  total  disability,  full  pav  for  thirteen  weeks  and 
half  pay  for  the  remaining  time  of  disability  up  to  six  years. 
Employees  who  are  disabled  by  sickness  or  accident  outside 
of  the  regular  course  of  duty,  after  ten  years  or  more  of 
service,  will  receive  full  pay  for  thirteen  weeks  and  half 
pay  for  thirty-nine  weeks;  if  from  five  to  ten  years  in  the 
service,  full  pay  for  thirteen  weeks  and  half  pay  for  thirteen 
weeks;  if  from  two  to  five  years  in  the  service,  full  pay  for 
four  weeks  and  half  pay  for  nine  weeks.  The  heads  of 
departments  will  be  permitted  to  exercise  the  same  dis- 
cretion as  heretofore  in  the  cases  of  employees  who  have 
not  been  two  years  in  the  service. 

In  the  case  of  death  resulting  from  accident  in  and  due 
to   performance   of   work    for   the   company,    an    insurance 


November  i6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1029 


aniuuiiting  to  three  years'  pay  will  be  paid  to  the  dependents 
of  the  employee,  subject  to  a  maximum  restriction  of  $5,000. 
In  the  case  of  death  resulting  from  sickness  or  accident 
outside  of  the  business  the  payment  will  be  one  year's  pay 
for  employees  who  have  been  in  the  service  for  ten  years 
or  more  and  one-half  of  one  year's  pay  for  employees  who 
have  been  from  five  to  ten  years  in  the  service,  the  maxi- 
mum payment  being  $2,000. 

If  the  statutes  of  any  state  provide  for  more  liberal  com- 
pensation than  is  announced  under  this  plan,  the  statutory 
provisions,  of  course,  will  prevail.  Where  the  employees 
have  legal  rights,  as  in  some  accident  cases,  they  will  have 
the  option  of  exercising  such  rights  or  accepting  the  com- 
pany's benefits. 

The  parent  or  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Com- 
pany has  set  aside  from  the  surplus  a  fund  which  provides 
for  tho'se  whom  it  directly  employs  and  also  provides  a 
reserve  upon  which,  under  certain  conditions,  the  subsidiary 
companies  may  draw.  Each  subsidiary  company  also  con- 
tributes to  the  fund,  and  the  total  appropriations  will 
amount,  it  is  said,  to  somewhat  more  than  $10,000,000.  It  is 
estimated  that  the  benefits  will  cost  annually  about 
$1,000,000  more  than  the  present  payments  on  this  account. 

The  administration  of  the  fund  will  be  in  the  hands  of 
employees'  benefit  committees  of  five,  to  be  appointed  by 
the  board  of  directors  of  each  company.  The  committee  of 
each  company  will  have  jurisdiction  over  the  benefits  for 
employees  of  that  company.  The  committee  for  the  parent 
company  will  have  general  jurisdiction  over  the  plan  for  the 
entire  Bell  system  and  specific  authority  as  to  the  benefits 
for  the  parent  company's  employees.  The  application  of 
these  benefits  will  be  on  a  strictly  democratic  plan,  for  all 
employees  of  every  rank.  The  plan  will  also  provide  for 
free  change  of  employment  from  one  company  to  another 
with  full  credit  for  combined  terms  of  service.  The  entire 
Bell  system  and  its  associated  interests  employ  about  175,000 
people,  and  the  annual  payroll  amounts  to  approximately 
$115,000,000.  Out  of  this  total  130,000  are  employees  of 
the  Bell  companies  alone,  receiving  something  over 
$80,000,000  in  annual  wages. 


MITNICIPAL  ELECTRICAL  INSPECTION  IN  CHICAGO. 


the  electrical  industry.  In  1883  the  bureau  comprised  one 
employee;  in  1912  the  number  is  forty-five.  The  fees 
collected  in  1883  were  $1,336;  in  1911,  $124,000.  The  in- 
candescent lamps  in  use  in  1883  were  1185,  the  correspond- 
ing number  in  191 1  being  5,140,456,  of  which  1,803,739  were 
inspected  in  1911.     In  1885  there  were  fifty-three  electric 


Mr.  'Victor  H.  Tousley,  chief  electrical  inspector  of  the 
city  of  Chicago,  gave  an  interesting  and  instructive  address 
before  the  Electric  Club  of  Chicago  on  Nov.  7,  his  subject 
being  ''Electrical  Inspection."  Mr.  J.  R.  Cravath  presided 
at  the  meeting,  which  was  well  attended.  The  speaker 
gave  a  brief  outline  of  the  work  of  the  electrical  inspection 
bureau  of  the  Department  of  Electricity  of  the  city  of 
Chicago.  Electrical  inspection  in  a  definite  way  was  first 
brought  about  in  Chicago  by  an  ordinance  of  the  City 
Council  passed  on  Dec.  10,  1883.  At  the  time  of  its  origin 
the  bureau  was  placed  under  the  supervision  of  the  super- 
intendent of  fire-alarm  telegraphs.  In  the  year  1884,  ac- 
cording to  the  first  annual  report  of  the  bureau,  553  arc 
lamps  were  installed.  The  report  fails  to  mention  any  in- 
candescent lamps,  although  the  total  number  installed  at  the 
time  amounted  to  1185.  Electric  motors  were  not  men- 
tioned at  all  in  the  report.  The  first  inspector,  later  chief 
inspector,  was  Mr.  C.  C.  Haskins,  now  deceased,  and  Mr. 
Tousley  paid  a  tribute  to  the  high  character  of  Mr.  Haskins' 
work. 

To  show  the  crudity  of  the  early  ideas  in  relation  to 
electric  wiring,  the  speaker  quoted  from  the  ordinance  of 
1883  as  follows:  "AH  wires  used  in  connecting  lamps, 
generators  and  other  necessary  appliances  must  have  a 
conductivity  equal  to  a  No.  6  copper  wire.  American  gage, 
except  branch  wires  leading  to  incandescents,  which  may 
have  one-tenth  the  conductivity." 

Figures  showing  the  growth  of  electrical  inspection  in 
Chicago  are  significant  of  a  corresponding  development  in 


120,000 

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Fig.  1 — Growth  of  the   Bureau   (Receipts  and   Expenses  in   Dollars). 

motors  in  Chicago,  while  21,752  motors,  rated  at  170,087  hp, 
were  inspected  in  1911. 

In  1898  the  present  Department  of  Electricity  was  created. 
The  ofiice  of  city  electrician  was  also  established,  the  chief 
electrical  inspector  being  made  the  bureau  chief  under  the 
city  electrician,  the  present  incumbent  of  the  latter  office 
being  Mr.  Ray  Palmer.  The  present  ordinance  requires  that 
before  any  electrical  work  is  done  a  permit  must  be  obtained, 
and,  later,  the  installation  must  be  inspected  and  approved 
before  being  used.  During  the  present  year  there  will  be 
taken  out  appro.ximately  50,000  permits. 

Thirty  inspectors  are  in  the  field,  the  office  force  and 
special  inspectors  consisting  of  fifteen  additional  men.  The 
city  is  divided  into  twenty-three  districts,  and  an  inspector 
is  assigned  to  each.  A  special  inspector  is  assigned  to  new 
electric  signs  and  there  is  another  inspector  for  the  reinspec- 
tion  of  electric  signs.  All  electric  signs  are  reinspected  once 
a  year,  special  attention  being  given  to  the  supports.  An- 
other special  inspector  is  assigned  to  the  reinspection  of 
theaters,  each  one  of  the  larger  theaters  being  reinspected 
at  least  once  a  year,  and  some  of  them  much  oftener.  This 
man  also  inspects  the  moving-picture  installations. 

An  interesting  feature  of  the  work  is  the  electrical 
laboratory,  which  has  been  established  in  the  basement  of 
the  city  hall  in  connection  with  the  bureau  of  electrical  in- 
spection. This  has  been  in  existence  only  about  a  year  but 
has  demonstrated  its  usefulness.  It  is  in  charge  of  one 
of  the  inspectors.  Another  inspector  is  assigned  to  the 
office  as  assistant  to  the  chief  inspector. 

Fees  are  determined  by  city  ordinance  and  are  based  on 
the  amount  of  apparatus  inspected.     A  charge  of  10  cents 


24 


1,200,000 


20  a  10,000    .^1,000,000 

£  16  ^  8  000  g  800,000 
112  S  6.000  t    600,000 

a  o  =>  «  nnn  <!      400,000 

200.000 


4000 
4  S  2,000 


Year  Qjiij«22'^^SS2^3252«2S3S23SSSS 

"*'~"^"*       -^-"^  £icc£»-icui   World 

Fig.  2 — increase  in  Number  of  Empioyees  and  inspection  of  Lamps. 

is  made  for  an  incandescent  lamp,  $1  for  an  arc  lamp  and 
$1  per  horse-power  for  motors.  The  fees  are  arranged  on 
a  sliding  scale  so  that  the  greater  the  amount  of  apparatus 
inspected  the  lower  the  fee  proportionately.  The  inspection 
fees  for  the  year  191 1  amounted  to  $124,000,  while  the  ex- 
penses of  the  bureau  for  the  same  period  were  $52,000. 


1030 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  20. 


Rules  and  regulations  of  the  department  of  electricity  are 
embodied  in  a  book,  the  1912  edition  of  which  consists  of 
207  pages.  These  provide  for  the  installation  of  electrical 
wires  and  apparatus  as  well  as  the  mechanical  construction 
and  installation  of  electric  signs.  These  rules  are  based  on 
the  National  Electrical  Code  with  some  slight  changes  due 
to  local  conditions.    Mr.  Tousley  related  the  history  of  the 


80  000 

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Year  iS„__„^_^___ 

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Fig.   3 — Number   and    Rating    of    IVlotors    Inspected. 

code  and  showed  how  it  is  made  up  by  representatives  of 
practically  all  branches  of  the  electrical  industry  co-operat- 
ing with  the  insurance  men.  Regular  meetings  of  the  city 
electrical  inspectors  are  held  to  study  the  book  of  rules  so 
that  the  interpretation  may  be  uniform. 

The  speaker  advocated  the  licensing  of  electrical  con- 
tractors and  wiremen  and  also  a  general  improvement  in 
the  standards  of  the  smaller  electrical  contractors.  He 
said  that  some  men  get  their  training  as  contractors  simply 
by  profiting  from  the  mistakes  in  their  work  which  the  in- 
spector points  out  when  he  looks  over  each  job. 

As  far  as  possible  the  bureau  has  standarized  the  work 
of  electrical  contractors,  but  when  it  comes  to  apparatus  and 
fittings  the  same  statement  cannot  be  made.  While  the 
greater  percentage  of  electric  material  used  is  standard, 
there  is  a  considerable  proportion  which  is  not  standard. 
The  bureau  is  going  to  make  an  effort  to  make  this  propor- 
tion still  less.  The  laboratory  of  the  bureau  is  fairly  well 
equipped  to  make  tests  and  a  systematic  effort  will  be  made 
to  increase  the  percentage  of  standard  material  used.  It  is 
not  fair  to  handicap  the  honest  manufacturer  who  makes 
only  standard  materials.  The  idea  has  been  advanced  of 
organizing  a  committee  representing  various  interests  to 
co-operate   in  raising  the  standard  of  electrical   materials. 

In  conclusion  Mr.  Tousley  exhibited  a  number  of  curves, 
some  of  which  are  reproduced  herewith.  He  also  showed 
pictures  of  a  number  of  curious  old-time  fittings  and  re- 
marked that  one  thing  still  to  be  done  is  to  protect  wires 
between  the  central-station  company's  transformers  and 
the  customer's  service  switch. 

Fig.  I  shows  the  receipts  and  expenses  of  the  bureau  in 
dollars  and  the  number  of  inspections  and  permits  from 
1897  to  191 1.     Fig.  2  indicates  the  number  of  employees  of 


2  W  £ 

20,000 

2  32   1 

16.000 

0  24  >J 

12.000 

=  16^ 

8,000 

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Fig.     4 — Central     Station     Statistics. 

the  bureau  compared  with  the  number  of  lamps  inspected, 
the  record  going  back  to  1884,  the  interesting  point  being 
that  the  increase  in  number  of  incandescent  lamps  inspected 
is  very  much  greater  than  in  the  case  of  arc  lamps.  The 
figures  are  totals  covering  central-station  and  isolated  plants. 
Fig.  3  shows  graphically  the  increase  in  the  actual  number 
of  electric  motors   inspected   and  their  rated   horse-power. 


One  interesting  thing  revealed  by  this  curve  is  that,  whereas 
in  1892  the  average  rating  of  electric  motors  in  Chicago  was 
about  3  hp,  this  figure  has  increased  to  about  9  hp  at  the 
present  time. 

Central-station  statistics  are  plotted  in  Fig.  4,  the  informa- 
tion relating  to  the  number  of  generating  stations  (twenty 


2000   5.000.000 

1800  „ 

IGOO  £  4,000.000 

1400  J 

1200  ^  3.000.000 

1000  % 

SOO  \    2.000.000 

600  3 

400  °  1.000.000 

200 
0        0 


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Incandescent 

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£    No.  of  Fires 

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Fig. 


EUetrUal  World 

-Number  of   Fires   Investigated   Due  to   Electrical   Faults. 


in  191 1),  number  of  arc  lamps  inspected  and  number  of 
incandescent  lamps.  Here  the  decrease  in  arc  lamps  is 
shown  more  plainly.  Another  interesting  thing  about  this 
curve  is  the  decrease  in  number  of  generating  stations  from 
sixty  in  1903  and  1904  to  twenty,  which  is  given  as  the 
present  number. 

The  bureau  of  electrical  inspection  in  Chicago  investi- 
gates fires  alleged  to  have  been  caused  by  electrical  defects 
and  prepares  statistics  in  relation  to  them.  Fig.  5  is  an  in- 
teresting curve  showing  the  number  of  fires  caused  by  elec- 
trical faults  from  1894  to  1911.  This  number  is  very  small 
compared  w<th  the  total  number  of  fires  in  Chicago.  A 
significant  feature  of  this  curve  is  that  the  number  of  such 
fires  has  not  increased  in  comparison  with  the  number  of 
incandescent  lamps  in  use.  This  is  a  gratifying  fact  and 
shows  the  great  improvement  in  the  character  of  electrical 
fittings  and  methods  of  electrical  inspection.  The  curve  in 
Fig.  5  showing  the  number  of  fires  investigated  is  interest- 
ing, when  compared  with  the  actual  number  due  to  electrical 
causes,  as  giving  an  indication  of  how  many  of  the  so-called 
"electric  fires"  are  due  to  other  causes.  Fig.  6  shows  the 
property  loss  due  to  fires  started  by  electrical  faults.  The 
fire  in  the  Carpenter  Building  in  1900  and  the  appalling 
Iroquois  Theater  fire  of  1903.  as  well  as  a  fire  due  to  light- 
ning a  yeai  later,  are  graphically  represented  by  the  peaks 
of  the  curve.  It  may  be  recalle,d  that  while  the  Iroquois 
Theater  fire  was  traced  to  a  spot-light  electric  lamp,  it  was 
due  to  no  fault  in  electrical  inspection  but  to  carelessness 
in  operation.  In  the  years  1908  and  1909  the  electric  fire 
loss  in  Chicago,  as  tabulated,  was  so  smaH  as  to  he  almost 
negligible,  but  it  has  been  mounting  up  since  then.    This  is 


$80,000 
70.000 
60,000 
50,000 


30,000 
20.000 


10,000 


.Iroquo  s  Theat 

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Fig.   6 — Fire    Loss    Due   to    Electrical   Causes. 

accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  formerly  losses  under  $25 
were  disregarded,  whereas  it  is  the  present  practice  to 
include  every  loss,  however  insignificant,  that  can  be  traced 
to  an  electrical  origin. 

In  conclusion  Mr.  Tousley  made  the  pleasing  statement 
that  the  Chicago  municipal  bureau  of  electrical  inspection  is 
under  strict  civil-service  rules. 


November  i6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD* 


1031 


SUMMARY    OF    LABOR    COSTS. 


CENTRAL-STATION  LABOR  COSTS.  rent,  fed  from  the  central  installation.    The  gradual  intro- 
duction  of  turbo  units  and  the  use  of  motor-operated  valves 

The  labor  cost  in  the  modern  central  station  of  moderate  are  tending  to  facilitate  the  handling  of  the  steam  end  of 

capacity  is  second  only  in  importance  to  the  expense  for  the  plant  with  fewer  men.    The  station  has  been  in  service 

fuel,  and  the  relation  between  the  "plant  composition"  and  from  ten  to  fifteen  years,  and  if  a  new  plant  of  the  same 

the  demands   of   the   yearly   payroll   is   always   of   interest.  size  were  to  be  built  to-day  on  the  same  site,  there  is  little 

In  large  turbine  stations,  where  units  of  many  thousands  question  that  it  could  be  greatly  simplified,  with  substantial 

of  kilowatts  rating  are  used,  the  labor  cost  will  easily  run  reductions  in  the  force  required  to  man  the  machinery, 

down  into  the  fractions  of  a  mill  per  unit  of  output;  but  in  Plant  D,  which  has  recently  been  turned  into  a  substation 

plants  of  from  1000  kw  to  5000  kw  rating,  or  even  larger,  following  the  supply  of  energy  from  a  new  installation,  illus- 

the  cost  of  manning  the  installation  on  the  year-through  trates  to  a  marked  degree  the  tendency  which  diversified 

basis  often  runs  from  2  to  4  mills  per  kw-hr,  delivered  at  equipment  of   moderate  size  has   to   multiply   labor  costs, 

the  switchboard.    In  the  following  notes  a  few  recent  costs  This  station  contained  twelve  hand-fired  horizontal  return 

of  this  kind  are  criven:  tubular  boilers  and  no  less  than  five  electric  generating  units 

In  Plant  A,  serving  a  New  England  manufacturing  city,  of  the  steam-driven  type,  besides  several  motor-generators 

the  station  output  at  the  switchboard  in  191 1  was  2,418,000  and   a  number   of   units   belt-driven   from   a   basement   line 

kw-hr.   and  the  labor  cost   for  the  entire  year  $11,265,   or  shaft.     The  approximate  rating  was  4500  kw,  and  the  pay- 

0.46  cent  per  unit.     The  payroll  covered   four  engineers,  roll  called  for  twenty-one  men.    The  boiler-room  work  was 

three  oilers,  three  firemen  and  two  helpers,  or  twelve  men  liandled  by  five  firemen  in  spite  of  the  absence  of  mechanical 

in  all,  the  generating  plant  consisting  of  three  alternators  stokers,  but  on  the  prime-mover  and  generator  side  of  the 

of   20oo-kw   combined    rating,    each    directly   driven   by   a  station   four  engineers  and  twelve  other  attendants  were 

vertical  cross-compound  engine.     The  units  were  rated  at  required.     The  cost  of  labor  for  the  year  was  $19,571,  or 

400  kw,  600  kw  and   1000  kw,  and  steam  was  supplied  by  0-34  cent  per  kw-hr.  at  the  bus,  the  output  for  the  year  being 

five  Stirling  boilers  rated  at  1250  hp  total.     The  ratio  be-  5.754,ooo  kw-hr.    An  analysis  of  the  operating  conditions  in 

tween   station   rating   and   labor   requirements   was   166  kw  the  station  showed  that  the  boilers  and  engines  were  well 

per  man.    The  use  of  vertical  engines,  comparatively  small-  handled  but  that  the   multiplied   labor   requirements  were 

powered  units  and  hand  firing  tended  to  increase  the  labor  largely  due  to  the  use  of  line  shafting  for  driving  small 

expense..  In  this  plant  1,494,000  kw-hr.  were  purchased  generators  in  addition  to  the  main  alternators,  to  the  ifee 
during  the  year  from  an  outside  hydraulic  transmission 
company  at  a  cost  of  $8,434.  It  appears  probable  that  if 
this  plant  were  to  be  rebuilt  in  a  similar  situation,  the  labor 
cost  could  be  cut  materially  by  the  installation  of  either  a 
20oo-kw  turbine  or  two  turbo  units  of  possibly  '1500-kw  and 
500-kw  rating  in  place  of  the  vertical  engines.  The  plant 
is  not  hampered  by  high  real-estate  costs.  At  the  time  it 
was  erected  the  possibility  of  purchasing  energy  at  a  later 
date  was  not  known,  and  consequently  three  sizes  of  engines 
were  installed  to  enable  the  owners  to  operate  the  equip- 
ment economically  under  widely  varying  loads. 

Another  plant.  Station  B,  rated  at  4000  kw  and  serving 
a  population  of  about  60,000,  produced  electricity  last  yeai 
at  the  low  labor  cost  of  0.17  cent  per  kw-hr.  In  this  station 
the  payroll  covered  four  engineers,  three  oilers,  one  elec- 
trician, five  firemen  and  two  repair  men,  their  wages  total-  of  small  arc-lighting  dynamos  and  to  the  distribution  of  an 
ing  $16,197  foi"  the  year.  The  labor  ratio  was  210  kw  per  extensive  direct-current  service  for  motor  operation.  The 
man,  and  mechanical  stokers  were  used  in  the  boiler  plant,  station  building  was  so  large  that  the  small  machines  in 
The  latter  consisted  of  four  525-hp  water-tube  units.  A  service  were  greatly  scattered,  and  the  area  of  the  plant 
critical  study  of  this  installation  indicates  that  the  large  militated  against  economical  labor  service.  The  ratio  per 
output  of  the  plant,  9,400,000  kw-hr.,  is  chiefly  responsible  man  was  214  kw. 

for  the  low  unit  labor  cost,  although  the  station  design  is  Small  output  handicaps  a  station  even  where  its  general 

favorable  to  operation  on  a  somewhat  reduced  payroll.    The  design  favors  economical  work  by  its  operating  shifts.     A 

equipment  in  the  plant  is  rather  crowded,  and  this  tends  to  typical  case  is  afforded  by  Station  E,  which  is  equipped  with 

increase  the  labor  requirements  on  account  of  the  greater  three  engine-driven  alternators  of  150-kw,  300-kw  and  800- 

difficulties  of  inspection  and  repairs  as  compared  with  a  kw  rating.     The  boiler  plant  consists  of  four  water-tube 

station  having  more  generous  floor  space.  units  of  looo-hp  combined  rating,  with  hand  firing.     The 

The   importance   of   large   outputs   in    securing   low   unit  station  is   simple   in   lay-out,  with   short  distances  between 

costs  is  well  illustrated  in  Plant  C,  which  produced  elec-  apparatus  units,  direct  lines  of  piping  and  a  moderate-cost 

tricity  during  a  recent  year  at  a  labor  cost  of  0.16  cent,  switchboard.     Four  engineers,  four  firemen  and  one  helper 

The  installation  is  a  tidewater  plant,  with  mechanical  fuel-  are  required,  the  ratio  per  employee  being  139  kw.     In  a 

handling  and  stoking  systems,  and  the  output  for  the  twelve  recent  year  the  plant  output  was  1,602,000  kw-hr.,  the  labor 

months  was  14,453,000  kw-hr.    The  equipment  was  six  520-  cost  being  $7,759,  or  0.48  cent  per  kw-hr. 

hp  water-tube  boilers,  two  500-kw  turbo  units,  one  200-kw,  Another  small  station  with  a  more  complicated  equipment 

two  looo-kw  and  one  2000-kw  engine-driven  set.  The  sta.tion  had  a  relatively  high  labor  cost.    This  plant,  Station  F,  had 

rating  was  therefore  5200  kw,  or  192  kw  per  employee  on  on  its  payroll  seven  men,  consisting  of  three  engineers,  one 

the   payroll.     There   were    twenty-seven    station    men,    in-  electrical  operator,  one  generator  attendant  and  two  firemen, 

eluding  four  engineers,  four  firemen,  two  helpers,  two  water  and  was  equipped  with   four  water-tube  boilers  of  678-hp 

tenders,  two  switchboard  men,  two  repair  men.  five  oilers,  combined  rating,  two  horizontal  cross-compound  condensing 

one  cleaner,  one  conveyor  man,  three  coal  handlers  and  one  engines,   a   500-kw   turbine   and   three   arc   machines.     The 

clerk.    This  station  supplies  energy  for  lighting,  motor  and  station  rating  was  1082  kw,  or  155  kw  per  employee.    The 

railway  service  over  a   large  number  of  towns   within   a  labor  cost  for  the  year  was  $8,972,  or  0.61  cent  per  kw-hr., 

radius  of  60  miles  of  the  plant,  and  the  labor  requirements  the  total  output  being  1,466,000  kw-hr.     In  this  station  the 

are  unquestionably  increased  by  the  variety  of  circuits  and  piping  and  auxiliaries  were  unusually  complicated   in  ar- 

voltages,  including  both  direct  current  and  alternating  cur-  rangement,  the  floor  levels  were  not  welh  planned,  and  ex- 


Plant, 

Total 

Rating  of 

Station 

in  Kw. 

Annual 
Output 

in 
Kw-hr, 

Number  of 
Central 
Station 

Employees. 

Kw  Rating 

per 
Employee. 

Labor 

Cost  in 

Cents  per 

Kw-hr, 

A 

2000 

2,418,000 

12 

167 

0,46 

B 

4000 

9,400,000 

IS 

210 

0.17 

C 

5200 
4S00 

14,453,000 
5.754,000 

27 
21 

192 

214 

0,  16 

U 

0,34 

E 

1250 

1  ,fi02,000 

9 

139 

0,48 

F 

1082 

1,466,000 

7 

155 

0.61 

1032 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  20. 


treme  crowding  characterized  tiie  equipment  in  the  engine 
room.  The  labor  cost  in  this  plant  was  unduly  high,  and  a 
betterment  study  would  probably  result  in  a  reduction  of  the 
force  by  about  28  per  cent.  In  so  small  a  station  there  are 
great  disadvantages  in  maintaining  attendants  for  purely 
electrical  duties  in  addition  to  those  required  to  operate 
engine  and  turbine  equipment  and  look  after  the  general 
condition  of  the  au.xiliaries. 

Data  of  the  above  character  drawn  from  actual  practice 
show  some  of  the  reasons  why  the  large  turbine  plant  with 
individual  units  of  high  power  is  making  such  inroads  into 
the  field  formerly  occupied  exclusively  by  stations  composed 
of  generating  and  auxiliary  apparatus  of  diversified  char- 
acter and  low  individual  output.  Apart  from  the  questions 
of  fuel  economy  which  bulk  so  large  in  plant  design  and 
the  selection  of  machinery  for  production,  it  is  coming  to 
be  realized  that  enormous  increases  in  output  can  be  handled 
W'ithout  additions  to  the  number  of  men  required  to  operate 
the  installation,  if  the  problem  is  viewed  in  a  broad  way. 
Frequently  the  capacity  of  a  moderate-sized  plant  can  be 
practically  doubled  by  this  means  with  little  or  no  addition 
to  the  force  of  employees.  Repeated  analyses  of  production 
costs  in  stations  rated  at  from  3000  kw  to  7000  kw,  under 
favorable  conditions  of  machinery  arrangement,  indicate 
that  with  the  natural  development  of  business  a  labor  cost 
of  0.1  cent  to  0.15  cent  per  kw-hr.  should  be  attained  in 
regular  practice,  although  two  or  three  times  that  unit  e.x- 
pense  at  present  is  a  common  figure. 


NEW  OREGON  PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION. 


DISCUSSION  OF   REGULATION    BY   LOS   ANGELES 
SECTION,  A.  I.  E.  E. 


A  very  interesting  meeting  of  the  Los  Angeles  Section 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  was  held 
on  the  evening  of  Oct.  29,  1912,  in  the  banquet  room  of  the 
Hollenbeck  Hotel.  An  informal  dinner  preceded  the  meeting. 
The  technical  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Chairman 
George  A.  Damon,  and  the  minutes  of  the  last  meeting  were 
read  by  Secretary  E.  R.  Northmore. 

The  paper  for  the  evening's  consideration  was  "Legisla- 
tion Versus  Control  by  Regulation,"  presented  by  Mr.  T.  E. 
Macdonald,  secretary  of  the  local  joint-pole  committee. 
The  paper  dealt  with  the  effect  of  the  recently  enacted  state 
law  upon  joint-pole  construction  in  southern  California. 
The  author  stated  that  practically  all  the  good  results 
obtained  in  clearing  the  sky  line  of  an  over  supply  of  poles 
are  about  to  be  nullified  by  the  action  of  the  State  Legisla- 
ture in  passing  a  law  requiring  an  absurd  method  of  pole 
construction.  Some  of  the  items  covered  by  the  law  were 
commended,  while  others  were  stigmatized  as  both  am- 
biguous and  ridiculous.  Mr.  Macdonald  presented  slides  to 
illustrate  his  point. 

The  discussion  which  followed  the  presentation  of  the 
paper  was  entered  into  with  spirit  by  Messrs.  E.  R.  North- 
more,  R.  E.  Cunningham,  H.  A.  Barre,  E.  E.  Scattergood, 
R.  H.  Manahan,  H.  B.  Lynch,  E.  Y.  Porter  and  T.  A. 
Panter.  Mr.  Macdonald  closed  the  discussion  by  pointing 
out  the  urgent  need  of  placing  the  control  of  overhead 
construction  in  the  hands  of  the  railroad  commission,  a 
body  of  engineers  which  controls  practically  every  move 
made  by  public-utility  companies  in  California  except  that 
of  overhead  construction.  He  suggested  further  that  the 
engineers  should  formulate  resolutions  to  be  forwarded  to 
the  next  Legislature  asking  that  this  phase  of  electrical 
distribution  be  placed  under  the  control  of  the  State  Rail- 
road Commission. 

The  speaker  for  the  next  meeting  was  announced  as 
being  Prof.  Harris  J.  Ryan,  of  Stanford  University. 
Professor  Ryan  is  now  designing  the  lighting  for  the 
Panama-Pacific  Exposition  to  be  held  in  San  Francisco 
in  1915. 


.\t  tlie  election  held  on  Nov.  5  the  State  of  Oregon 
adopted  a  bill  extending  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Railroad 
Commission  of  Oregon  over  all  public  utilities  in  the  State. 
This  bill  was  before  the  people  for  popular  approval  and 
was  carried  by  a  majority  estimated  at  about  6000.  It  was 
passed  by  the  State  Legislature  at  its  regular  session  in  the 
spring  of  191 1  and  is  modeled  very  largely  after  the  Wis- 
consin public  utilities  act.  There  was  no  particular  objec- 
tion to  the  bill  in  the  Legislature,  although  certain  repre- 
sentatives and  state  senators  from  Portland  said  that  some 
of  the  desirable  features  in  the  Wisconsin  law  had  been 
eliminated  in  the  Oregon  law.  These  objections  were  over- 
come, and  the  bill  was  finally  passed  and  declared  a  law. 

Shortly  afterward,  however,  considerable  opposition  was 
manifested  in  Portland  against  this  bill,  and  certain  local 
persons  interested  in  "'home  rule"  regulation  undertook, 
through  the  initiative,  to  pass  a  law  providing  for  a  local 
municipal  public  service  commission  for  the  city  of  Port- 
land. At  the  same  time  a  referendum  was  invoked  upon 
the  state-wide  commission  bill,  which  had  the  efifect  of 
postponing  the  date  on  which  this  bill  should  become  effec- 
tive and  referred  it  to  the  people  for  final  approval  or 
disapproval  in  November,  1912.  In  the  meantime  the 
petitions  for  the  Portland  public  service  commission  bill 
received  the  required  number  of  signatures,  it  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  people  at  the  city  election  in  June,  191 1,  and 
defeated  by  a  very  small  vote,  which  left  the  State  and  the 
city  with  no  regulation  for  a  period  of  a  year  and  a  half. 

During  the  summer  of  1912  the  same  persons  who  endeav- 
ored to  secure  the  passage  of  the  Portland  public  service 
commission  bill  in  191 1  prepared  new  petitions  and  had  a 
new  bill  put  on  the  ballot  at  the  city  election  held  Nov.  5, 
but  this  bill  was  overwhelmingly  defeated,  for  it  had  by 
this  time  become  almost  certain  that  the  state-wide  bill 
would  pass  and  the  local  bill  was  not  considered  to  be  a 
feasible  plan  by  the  majority  of  voters  in  Portland. 

Tlie  new  bill  vests  in  the  Railroad  Commission  of  Oregon 
the  power  of  supervising  and  regulating  every  public  utility. 
It  requires  adequate  service  and  reasonable  rates,  joint 
use  of  certain  facilities  and  compensation  therefor,  valua- 
tion of  properties,  uniform  accounting  and  reports.  All 
tariffs  must  be  filed  with  the  commission,  and  the  rates, 
tolls  and  charges  shown  on  the  schedules  shall  not  exceed 
tlie  rates,  tolls  and  charges  in  force  on  Jan.  i,  1911.  The 
commission  is  to  have  power  to  conduct  investigations,  hold 
hearings,  etc.,  similar  to  that  given  to  other  state  commis- 
sions, and  appeals  can  be  made  to  the  various  state  circuit 
courts  and  from  the  circuit  courts  to  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Oregon.  The  commission  also  received  authority  to 
investigate  accidents.  The  Railroad  Commission  of  Oregon 
has  been  in  existence  for  several  years.  Its  present  mem- 
bers are  Mr.  C.  B.  Aitchison,  chairman ;  Mr.  Thomas  K. 
Campbell  and  Mr.  Frank  J.  Miller,  and  its  offices  are  at 
Salem.  Ore.     The  new  law  will  go  into  effect  immediatelv. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW  YORK  COMMISSION,  SECOND  DISTRICT 

The  reports  of  consumers'  electric  meters  tested  during 
the  -month  of  September  submitted  to  the  Public  Service 
Commission  for  the  Second  District  shows  that,  out  of  a 
total  of  7633  meters,  (^J^yj,  or  83.5  per  cent,  were  accurate 
within  the  limits  prescribed  by  law;  242,  or  3  per  cent,  were 
fast,  and  1014,  or  13.5  per  cent,  were  slow.  The  number  of 
meters  tested  at  the  consumers'  premises  was  5142,  while 
2491  were  tested  at  the  plant.  The  number  of  meters  tested 
on  complaint  was  170  and  the  number  of  meters  not  regis- 
tering was  sixty-nine.  Oue  of  a  total  of  240  companies 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  commission  sixty-eight  made 
no  tests  and  did  not  report. 


l^OVEMBER    l6,    1912 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1033 


OHIO    COMMISSION. 

The  application  of  the  Cleveland  Electric  Illuminating 
Company  of  Cleveland  for  permission  to  use  $210,000  of  a 
bond  issue  of  $3,000,000  to  purchase  stock  in  another  cor- 
poration formed  to  build  an  office  building  for  the  use  of 
the  company  has  been  denied,  but  the  commission  stated  that 
it  is  willing  to  grant  a  hearing  on  the  subject.  Whfn  the 
company  received  authority  to  issue  the  bonds  it  obtained 
permission  to  use  $210,000  of  this  to  purchase  property  and 
■erect  a  substation  and  office  building,  but  it  was  understood 
that  this  was  to  be  done  directly  by  the  company.  In  the 
new  plan  the  commission  sees  a  way  in  which  the  company 
■would  own  the  stock  of  the  building  company  an4  at  the 
;same  time  be  compelled  to  pay  rent  for  its  offices.  In  this 
•way  the  maintenance  charge  would  be  increased  and  the 
foundation  laid  for  higher  rates.  The  company  has  plans 
for  an  office  building  on  the  Wick  property  on  the  Public 
Square,  with  a  substation  on  the  rear.  The  commission 
took  the  ground  that  it  has  no  authoritv  to  grant  such  a 
request,  but  said  that  it  was  willing  to  hear  testimony  and 
arguments. 

KANSAS   COMMISSION. 

The  Public  Utilities  Commission  on  Nov.  8  ordered  that 
the  application  for  restoration  of  service  made  by  three 
subscribers  of  the  Oskaloosa  Telephone  Company  whose 
telephones  were  removed  because  they  employed  obscene 
and  profane  language  when  using  them  be  denied  until 
such  time  as  the. company  becomes  satisfied  that  the  offence 
will  not  be  repeated. 


Current   News  and  Notes 


Smallest  Central  Station  in  United  States. — The 
town  of  Sacramento,  Neb.,  has  a  grand  total  population  of 
a  dozen  inhabitants.  However,  Sacramento  is  progressive, 
as  evidenc?ed  by  the  fact  that  it  already  has  a  central  sta- 
tion. Mr.  E.  G.  Anderson,  proprietor  of  this  embryo  light- 
ing company,  operates  a  3-hp  Fairbanks-Morse  coal-oil 
engine.  The  total  connected  load  consists  of  thirty  tantalum 
lamps. 

*     *     * 

Patent  Laws  of  the  United  States,  with  Annota- 
tions.— Under  date  of  Aug.  i  the  Government  Printing 
Office,  Washington,  D.  C,  struck  off  an  edition  of  the  patent 
laws  of  the  United  States,  with  annotations  and  an  index. 
The  contents  of  the  fifty-five  page  pamphlet  include 
organization  of  the  Patent  Office,  courts,  patent  designs, 
fees,  patent  rights  in  bankruptcy,  and  appropriations.  This 
pamphlet  will  be  of  use  to  those  who  are  interested  in  the 
present  movement  for  reforming  the  existing  patent  laws 
of  the  United  States. 


Northern  Illinois  N.  E.  L.  A.  Officers. — Officers  have 
been  elected  by  the  company  section  of  the  National  Elec- 
tric Light  Association  for  the  Public  Service  Company  of 
Northern  Illinois,  of  Chicago,  as  follows:  Chairman,  Mr. 
A.  B.  Fitzgerald;  vice-chairman,  Mr.  G.  E.  Chapman; 
secretary.  Mr.  T.  A.  Remington ;  treasurer,  Mr.  E.  D. 
Alexander.  The  new  members  of  the  board  of  control  are 
as  follows:  Northern  division  and  District  E,  Mr.  S.  J. 
Wendt :  western  division,  Mr.  H.  L.  Judd ;  southern  di- 
vision, Mr.  Edward  Curry;  eastern  division  and  general 
office,  Mr.  J.  C.   Gapen. 

*     *     * 

Reception  to  Professor  Sweet. — The  eightieth  birthday 
anniversary  of  Prof.  John  E.  Sweet,  honorary  member  and 
past-president  of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers, will  be  celebrated  by  a  reception  ancf  dinner,  in  recog- 


nition of  Professor  Sweet's  services  to  the  engineering  pro- 
fession, in  which  the  members  of  the  society  and  friends  of 
Professor  Sweet  will  participate.  The  reception  will  be 
held  on  Wednesday  evening,  Dec.  4,  in  the  Engineering 
Societies  Building,  New  York.  The  committee  of  arrange- 
ments, of  which  Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey  is  chairman,  consists 
of  Messrs.  E.  J.  Armstrong,  F.  A.  Halsey,  Robert  W.  Hunt, 
William  Kent,  E.  D.  Leavitt,  Charles  H.  Richards,  Albert 
W.  Smith,  E.  N.  Trump,  Worcester  R.  Warner,  W.  H. 
Wiley  and  F.  G.  Tallman.  Mr.  Tallman  is  also  chairman  of 
the  dinner  committee. 

*  *     + 

Exhibit  of  Wiring  Devices  at  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology. — Space  has  been  set  apart  in 
the  electrical  engineering  department  at  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology  for  a  permanent  exhibit  of  wiring 
devices.  Panelboards  showing  various  devices  and  equip- 
ment are  arranged  about  the  walls  of  the  exhibit  space,  and 
in  the  center  stands  a  single  room  of  frame-house  con- 
struction, which  is  equipped  in  accordance  with  the  ap- 
proved methods  of  open  and  concealed  wiring,  illustrating 
the  regulations  of  the  National  Electrical  Code.  Many 
manufacturers  have  contributed  sample  boards  and  litera- 
ture to  this  exhibit,  which  is  likely  to  become  one  of  the 
most  comprehensive  of  its  kind  in  the  country.  The  model 
room  and  samples  of  electrical  devices  are  made  use  of  in 
connection  with  a  course  of  lectures  on  "Electrical  Wiring 
of  Buildings''  by  Mr.  Ralph  G.  Hudson,  of  the  electrical 
engineering   department. 

*  *     * 

Automobile  Electric  Fire  Puimps  for  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
— Director  of  Public  Safety  Stage  and  City  Electrician 
Maurice  Sarbinsky  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  have  worked  out 
plans  which  may  result  in  the  substitution  of  electric 
motors  for  the  boilers  and  engines  on  the  city's  portable 
fire-fighting  apparatus.  In  connection!  with  the  new 
municipal  light  and  power  plant,  now  under  construction, 
they  propose  to  place  an  outlet  at  each  fire  hydrant  in  the 
city,  these  outlets  to  be  connected  with  the  lighting  system. 
The  motor-driven  pumps  are  to  be  mounted  on  automobile 
trucks  and  equipped  with  suitable  connections.  Manufac- 
turers estimate  that  these  automobile  fire  pumps  can  be 
made  for  about  $2,000  each  and  they  will  weigh  about 
3  tons.  The  capacity  will  be  in  the  neighborhood  of  1000 
gal.  per  minute.  It  is  said  that  the  only  other  city  in  the 
world  to  adopt  the  motor-driven  pump  for  fire-fighting 
purposes  is  Berlin,  and  the  Cleveland  officials  have  asked 
for  data  from  the  German  city  to  assist  them  in  carrying 
out  the  plans  they  have  under  consideration. 

*  +     * 

1912  Nobel  Prize  in  Physics. — It  has  been  reported  that 
the  Nobel  prize  in  physics  has  been  awarded  to  Mr.  Gustaf 
Dalen  at  Stockholm,  Sweden,  for  his  invention  of  the  so- 
called  Agaklipp  light,  which  is  an  arrangement  for  auto- 
matically placing  in  service  an  artificial  light  source  when 
the  natural  light  is  subdued  to  a  certain  extent  and  to 
extinguish  the  artificial  light  as  the  natural  light  returns. 
This  invention  has  proved  exceedingly  important  in  connec- 
tion with  the  operation  of  lighthouses  and  is  said  to  be  in 
use  for  such  purposes  all  over  the  world.  Mr.  Dalen  was 
born  in  1869  and  was  graduated  from  the  Chalmer  Tech- 
nical Institute  at  Gothenburg.  After  some  years  spent  in 
study  abroad  he  returned  to  Sweden  and  was  subsequently 
connected  with  the  De  Laval  Steam  Turbine  Company  and 
the  Swedish  Carbide  &  Acetylene  Company.  Since  1909  he 
has  been  president  of  the  Gas  Accumulator  Company,  which 
concern  manufactures  a  number  of  his  inventions.  On 
Sept.  27  this  year  Mr.  Dalen  was  the  victim  of  an  accident, 
the  outcome  of  which  is  reported  still  to  be  in  doubt.  While 
engaged  in  some  experiments  a  reservoir  containing  acety- 
lene exploded,  seriously  burning  Mr.  Dalen  on  the  face  and 
body.  It  is  possible  that  he  will  become  totally  blind  as  a 
result  of  his  injuries. 


1034 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  20. 


SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Boston  N.  E.  L.  A.  Club. — A  regular  Friday  meeting  of 
the  Luncheon  Club  Branch  of  the  New  England  Section  of 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association  was  held  at  the 
American  House,  Boston,  on  Nov.  8,  about  150  being  pres- 
ent. The  feature  of  the  meeting  was  a  talk  on  the  Panama 
Canal  by  Mr.  Louis  K.  Rourke,  director  of  the  Boston 
Department  of  Public  Works,  and  a  former  engineer  in 
charge  of  division  work  on  the  Isthmus. 

*  *     * 

Meeting  of  the  New  York  Companies'  Section  of  the 
N.  E.  L.  A. — The  New  York  Companies'  Section  of  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association  will  hold  a  meeting  in 
conjunction  with  the  New  York  Section  of  the  Illuminating 
Engineering  Society  on  Nov.  18  at  the  Edison  Auditorium, 
44  West  Twenty-seventh  Street,  New  York.  Mr.  Preston 
S.  Millar  will  talk  on  "Illumination."  A  three-room  model 
house  built  on  the  platform  of  the  Auditorium  will  be 
used  to  demonstrate  the  results  of  different  systems  of 
illumination. 

*  *     * 

Annual  Banquet  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Com- 
pany Section,  N.  E.  L.  A. — The  annual  banquet  of  the 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company  Section  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  was  held  at  the  Hotel  Sherman, 
Chicago,  on  Nov.  7.  The  present  membership  of  the  section 
is  over  1600.  Mr.  R.  F.  Schuchardt,  the  retiring  president 
of  the  section;  Mr.  W.  L.  Abbott,  the  incoming  president, 
and  Mr.  Samuel  Insull  made  addresses,  Mr.  Insull  speaking 
on  the  importance  of  thrift.  After  the  banquet  an  e.xcellent 
vaudeville  entertainment  was  given,  and  during  the  evening 

the  Commonwealth   Edison   orchestra   rendered   selections. 

*  *     * 

November  Meetisg  A.  S.  M.  E. — At  the  regular  monthly 
meeting  of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers 
held  in  the  Engineering  Societies  Building  in  New  York  on 
Nov.  12  Mr.  Edward  B.  Passano  presented  the  paper  of  the 
evening,  "Measuring  Efficiency  in  Manufacturing  on  a 
Basis  of  Profit."  The  speaker  advanced  the  theory  that  all 
profit  should  be  treated  as  an  item  of  expense.  A  loss 
through  inefficiency  is  a  potential  or  a  positive  profit.  A 
reduction  in  expense  of  business  increases  the  actual  profit 
and  increases  the  efficiency.  This  method  keeps  constantly 
before  the  management  the  actual  value  of  each  unit  cf 
production  to  the  organization  and  the  loss  through  in- 
efficiency. The  paper  was  discussed  by  Messrs.  H.  M.  Roe, 
J.  M.  Foster,  Edward  L.  Suflfern,  Charles  B.  Going,  Wil- 
liam Kent,  Howard  F.  Turril,  F.  A.  Waldeon,  F.  W.^Miller. 
H.  L.  Garett,  C.  B.  Vaux,  H.  B.  Gilbreth,  H.  H.  Church  and 
H.  R.  Brand. 

*  *     * 

Brooklyn  Company  Section,  N.  E.  L.  A. — Over  300 
members  of  the  Brooklyn  Company  Section,  N.  E.  L.  A., 
were  present  to  help  inaugurate  the  active  work  of  the 
1912-13  season  when  the  second  meeting  of  the  year  was 
called  to  order  on  Nov.  11  by  Chairman  M.  H.  Bennett. 
Mr.  Alden  W.  Welch,  of  the  Brooklyn  Edison  company's 
engineering  department,  read  a  paper  on  "Radiation."  treat- 
ing of  the  prevalence,  characteristics  and  efifects  of  radiant 
energy.  Mr.  L.  T.  Robinson,  head  of  the  standardizing 
bureau  of  the  General  Electric  Company's  consulting 
engineering  department,  gave  a  comprehensive  review  of  the 
development  of  precision  instruments  used  in  electrical 
measurement  work.  He  traced  the  history  of  galvanometers 
from  the  time  of  their  introduction  by  Ampere,  d'Arsonval 
and  Lord  Kelvin  to  the  present  time,  supplementing  his 
remarks  by  blackboard  sketches  and  diagrams  and  speaking 
of  the  development  of  units  of  resistance  and  the  effect  of 
these  and  of  Ohm's  law  upon  the  instrument  field.  He  also 
described  the  construction  and  principles  of  both  direct- 
current  and  alternating-current  instruments,  their  applica- 
tion   and   the   high   degree    of   precision    obtainable    from 


present-day   devices.     Music,   vaudeville   and   refreshments 
followed. 

*  *     * 

National  Association  of  Railway  Commissioners. — 
The  twenty-fourth  annual  convention  of  the  National 
Association  of  Railway  Commissioners  will  meet  in  the 
hearing  room  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  in 
Washington,  D.  C,  on  Nov.  19,  1912,  at  11  a.m.  At  the 
suggestion  of  the  executive  conmiittee,  the  program  will 
provide  in  the  order  of  business  for  a  special  topic,  namely, 
"Methods  and  Practices  of  Commissions  in  the  Handling 
of  the  Various  Questions  Which  Come  Before  Them  and 
Disposing  of  Matters  and  Cases.  Not  What  They  Have 
Done,  but  How  They  Do  It."  Each  commission  represented 
at  the  meeting  is  requested  to  have  one  of  its  members  pre- 
pared to  treat  the  subject  concisely  and  briefly.  The  com- 
mittees are  to  report  as  follows:  (i)  Executive;  (2)  car 
service  and  demurrage;  (3)  delays  attendant  upon  enforcing 
orders  of  railway  commissions;  (4)  grade  crossings  and 
trespassing  on  railroads;  (5)  legislation;  (6)  railroad  taxes 
and  plans  for  ascertaining  fair  valuation  of  railroad  prop- 
erty I  (7)  rates  and  rate  making;  (8)  railway  capitaliza- 
tion; (9)  statistics  and  accounts;  (10)  safety  appliances; 
(11)  telephone  and  telegraph  rates  and  service;  (12) 
uniform  classification  and  simplification  of  tariffs;  (13) 
accounts  and  statistics  of  electric  railways;  (14)  amend- 
ment of  act  to  regulate  commerce;  (15)  express  rates  and 
express  service;  (16)  power,  duties  and  work  of  state 
railway  commissions;  (17)  railway  service  and  accommo- 
dations; (18)  shippers'  claims;  (19)  rails  and  equipment. 
Mr.  William  H.  Connolly,  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Association,  Washington,  D.  C,  is  secretary  of  the 
association. 

*  *     * 

Annual  Meeting  of  the  A.  S.  M.  E. — The  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  will 
be  held  in  New  York  City,  from  Dec.  3  to  Dec.  6.  Ten 
sessions  are  contemplated  with  papers  grouped  to  form 
symposiums  upon  various  subjects.  An  entire  session  will 
be  devoted  to  reports  of  technical  committees,  one  ex- 
haustive document  in  particular  being  the  report  of  the 
power  tests  committee.  When  finally  revised  this  will 
supersede  earlier  reports  on  methods  for  conducting  tests 
of  pumping  engines,  locomotives,  steam  boilers  and  steam 
engines,  besides  tests  of  other  apparatus  such  as  gas  en- 
gines, oil  engines,  waterwheels,  compressors,  blowers  and 
fans.  The  general  arrangement  of  the  sessions  will  be  sub- 
stantially as  follows :  Tuesday  evening,  Dec.  3,  address  of 
president,  followed  by  reception  to  president-elect  and  re- 
tiring president.  Wednesday  morning,  Dec.  4,  business 
meeting,  followed  by  simultaneous  sessions  under  the  di- 
rection of  the  gas-power  section  and  the  sub-committees  on 
machine-shop  practice  and  textiles.  Wednesday  afternoon, 
reports  of  committees,  power  tests,  symbols,  etc.  Wednes- 
day evening,  dinner  to  Prof.  J.  E.  Sweet  in  recognition  of 
his  services  to  the  engineering  profession  and  in  commemo- 
ration of  his  eightieth  birthday.  Thursday  morning,  Dec. 
5.  simultaneous  session  under  the  direction  of  sub-commit- 
tees on  railroads,  iron  and  steel,  and  cement  manufacture. 
Thursday  afternoon,  session  on  the  power  plant  and  on  hy- 
draulic and  pneumatic  apparatus  including  centrifugal 
pumps,  blowers  and  the  measurement  of  flow  of  fluids. 
Thursday  evening,  reunion  and  dance,  with  collation.  Fri- 
day morning,  Dec.  6,  session  of  sub-committee  on  admin- 
istration, review  of  the  present  state  of  the  art  of  manage- 
ment. The  papers  for  the  machine-shop  session  include 
some  giving  results  of  tests  and  investigations  as  well  as 
some  on  machine-shop  operation.  At  the  textile  session  the 
valuation  of  propertv  and  the  special  requirements  of  power 
plants  for  textile  mills  are  the  subjects  for  discussion.  The 
sub-committee  on  railroads  has  arranged  for  papers  on 
train  lighting,  electric  locomotive  and  the  locomotive 
problem. 


NEW  TURBINE  PLANT  AT  LEXINGTON,  KY. 

Modern  Station  Producing  Energy  for  Lighting,  Motor  Service,  Traction  and 

Ice  Making  for  the  Blue  Grass  Region. 


5000-kw  Generating,  Transmission  and  Distributing  System  of   the    Kentucky    Traction    &    Terminal 
Company — Features  of  Construction  and   Equipment — Exhaust-Steam 

Absorption  Ice  Plant. 


THE  famous  Blue  Grass  region  of  Kentucky — that 
district  of  unparalleled  resources  which  centers 
'about  Lexington  and  Fayette  County — is  the  latest 
scene  of  the  modern  central-station  idea  as  applied  to  the 
centralized  production  of  energy  for  lighting,  motor  and 
traction  Service  and  ice  making  in  an  urban  and  suburban 
community  spreading  30  miles  in  every  direction  from  the 
little  central  Kentucky  metropolis  celebrated  as  the  home 
of  Breckinridge  and  Clay. 

Besides  providing  electric-light,  motor  and  street-railway 
service  for  Lexington,  a  city  of  35,000  population,  energy 
is  transmitted  to  light  a  number  of  outlying  towns,  and  the 
whole  surrounding  community  is  knitted  to  the  Blue  Grass 
capital  by  swift  electric  cars  whose  motive  power  comes 
from  the  same  common  bus.  Exhaust  steam  from  the  plant 
auxiliaries  is  also  converted  into  ice  at  good  economy,  the 
frozen  product  being  distributed  by  special  electric  ice  cars 
to  the  surrounding  towns  reached  by  the  rails  of  the  inter- 
urban  system. 


Besides  supplying  the  local  Lexington  utilities  through 
two  4000/2300-volt,  four-wire  lighting  feeders,  a  similar 
three-phase  motor  feeder  and  nine  800-amp,  6oo-volt  rail- 
way feeders,  the  new  5000-kw  turbine  station  transmits 
33,000-vQlt,  6o-cycle  energy  to  railway  substations  at  Paris, 
Frankfort  and  Nicholasville,  and  to  combination  railway 
and  lighting  substations  at  Versailles  and  Georgetown. 
Sixty  tons  to  75  tons  of  ice  is  turned  out  daily  at  the  central 
power  house,  to  be  sold  directly  to  retail  dealers  or  held  in 
storage  against  the  heavy  summer  demand. 

COAL-HANDLING-  EQUIPMENT. 

The  new  station  is  a  steel-frame  structure,  with  concrete 
foundations,  floors  and  roof,  and  walls  of  red  brick.  The' 
boiler  room  measures  74  ft.  by  82  ft.  in  plan,  one  entire  side 
being  occupied  by  the  700-ton  coal-storage  pit,  which  is  64 
ft.  long,  24  ft.  wide  and  21  ft.  deep.  A  spur  railroad  track 
is  carried  over  the  pit  opening  on  steel  I-beams,  enabling 
coal  from  dump-bottom  cars  to  be  discharged  directly  into 


Fig.    1  —  Interior   of   Turbine-Generator   Room.    Plant   of    Kentucky   Traction    i   Terminal    Company. 


1036 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o.  No.  20. 


the  pit.  Ordinary  gondola  cars  can  be  unloaded  by  means 
of  a  5-tQn  Toledo  crane  bucket,  the  coal  being  discharged, 
as  desired,  either  into  the  pit,  into  the  crusher  or  directly 
to  the  hoppers  of  the  Murphy  mechanical  stokers.  In  case 
of  any  accident  to  the  crane  the  fuel  can  easily  be  shoveled 


Fig.    2 — Interior,     Showing     Railway     IVIotor-Generators     and     Ice- 
IVIaking    Equipment. 

across  from  the  cars  to  the  stoker  hoppers.  The  pit,  from 
which  the  crane  bucket  ordinarily  picks  its  supply  for  the 
furnaces,  has  been  made  watertight,  to  gain  the  advantage 
of  under-water  coal  storage  if  desired.  The  Orten  &  Stein- 
brenner  coal  crusher  installed  is  of  the  movable  double-roll 
type  and  is  driven  by  a  direct-current  20-hp,  600-volt  motor. 
Under  ordinary  operating  conditions  the  present  stoker 
hoppers  hold  enough  coal  to  last  the  furnaces  three  to  four 
hours.  It  takes  about  twenty  minutes  of  an  attendant's  time 
on  the  crane  to  refill  all  the  hoppers.  This  small  labor 
charge,  coupled  with  the  minimum  investment  in  coal- 
handling  equipment  (about  $5,000  for  the  Lexington  sta- 
tion), makes  the  crane-bucket  method  of  coaling,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  designing  engineers,  one  of  the  cheapest 
obtainable  for  a  small  plant  of  this  kind.  Heavy  supporting 
trusses,  necessarv  with  overhead  bunkers,  are  avoided,  and 
the  equipment  is  equally  useful  for  hoisting  ashes  from  the 
ash  pit  at  one  end  of  the  boiler  room  and  loading  them  on 
board  cars  or  into  a  wagon  dump  outside  the  station.  With- 
out hand  trimming  the  crane  operator  can  unload  a  car  of 
coal,  leaving  virtually  none  of  the  contents,  in  twenty 
minutes,  taking  alternate  grabs  first  at  the  ends  of  the  car. 
then  at  the  center,  and  then  at  the  piles  left  between. 

BOILERS  AND  STACKS. 

There  are  now  installed  four  500-hp  Murphy  Iron  Works 
boilers  equipped  with  Dutch-oven  furnaces  and  mechanical 
stokers  operable  either  by  a  small  steam  engine  or  by  a  10- 
hp,  600-volt  motor.  These  boilers  generate  steam  at  190 
lb.  pressure  and  125  deg.  Fahr.  superheat,  and  are  con- 
nected bv  lo-in.  headers,  with  8-in.  lines  leading  to  the 
turbines. 

A  concrete  stack  214  ft.  high  and  12  ft.  in  inside  diame- 
ter carries  aloft  the  products  of  combustion.  This  stack  is 
23  ft.  in  outer  diameter  at  its  base  and  14  ft.  at  the  top,  its 
proportions  being  such  that  its  center  of  gravity  is  nearly  a 
third  of  the  way  below  its  midpoint,  so  that  its  stability  is 
well  assured.  Above  the  breeching  entry  the  stack  wall  is 
double,  with  an  annular  2-in.  air  space  separating  the  8-in. 
brick  lining  from  the  i6-in.  concrete  shell.  Solid  bedrock 
supports  the  structure  through  a  concrete  foundation  24  ft. 
square  and  4  ft.  thick,  reinforced  with  50-lb.  steel.  A  huge 
steel  breeching  15  ft.  wide  by  9  ft.  high,  lined  with  brick, 
extends  across  the  boiler-room  roof  and  collects  the  flue 
gases  from  the  four  boilers,  with  provision  for  serving  an- 
other future  group  of  four. 


A  useful  adjunct  to  boiler  operation  in  this  plant  is  a 
pair  of  indicating  wattmeters  mounted  midway  in  the  firing 
aisle,  showing  the  firemen  at  all  times  the  load  in  kilowatts 
carried  by  each  turbine  unit  in  the  main  generating  room. 
Special  notice  must  also  be  directed  to  the  lighting  of  this 
boiler  room,  which  is  effected  by  twelve  500-watt  tungsten 
lamps,  two  in  each  of  the  six  bays,  an  expenditure  of  about 
I  watt  per  square  foot  of  area. 

TURBINE  GENERATORS. 

Two  2500-kw  turbo-alternators  make  up  the  prime-mover 
equipment  of  the  main  engine  room,  measuring  loi  ft.  by 
43  ft.  These  are  horizontal  six-stage  Curtis  turbines,  run- 
ning at  1800  r.p.m.  and  driving  General  Electric  4000/2300- 
volt,  delta-connected,  three-phase,  60-cycle  generators. 

Beneath  the  turbines  are  mounted  the  Wheeler  surface 
condensers,  which  are  guaranteed  to  hold  a  vacuum  of  27.1 
in.  with  85-deg.  cooling  water.  During  the  past  summer 
season  these  condensers  were  operated  on  circulating  water 
as  hot  as  100  deg.  Fahr.  and  developed  28.9  in.  vacuum  at 
full  load.  A  cooling  pond  1000  ft.  distant,  a  part  of  the 
old  plant  equipment,  cools  the  water  for  the  condensers  by 
atmospheric  evaporation.  Lexington  is  imderlaid  by  no 
water-bearing  strata,  and  surface  water  collected  in  a 
reservoir  is  depended  upon  for  the  city  supply 

Condensing  water  flows  by  gravity  for  the  1000  ft.  from 
the  cooling  pond  to  the  plant  through  a  33-in.  concrete 
tunnel.  From  the  intake  well  it  is  circulated  through  the 
condensers  and  thence  back  through  a  30-in.  iron  pipe  to  the 
cooling-pond  nozzle  sprays,  by  a  pair  of  50-hp  Terry  tur- 
liines  driving  Wheeler  i6-in.  centrifugal  pumps,  one  pump 
unit  for  each  turbine  set.  These  pumps  develop  about  20 
lb.  pressure,  10  lb.  of  which  is  available  at  the  nozzles. 
There  are  ninety-one  of  these  3-in.  Schutte  &  Koerting 
nozzles,  mounted  on  lo-in.  pipes  and  so  arranged  that  they 
can  be  operated  in  groups  proportional  to  the  load. 

A  lo-in.  turbine-driven  pump  was  also  installed  for  pro- 
viding reduced  condensed  circulation  at  light  loads.  Since, 
however,  the  temperature  of  the  cooling  pond  rises  during 
the  heavy-load  period  of  the  first  part  of  the  night,  it  has 
been  found  the  best  practice  to  continue  running  one  of 
the  larger  pumps  during  the  early-morning  light  loads  as 
well,  in  order  to  cool  down  the  pond.  The  condensers  are  . 
provided  with  a  weir,  so  that  the  water  flowing  can  be 
measured.     Their  condensate  is  collected,  reboiled  and  fil- 


Fig.  3 — Interior  of  Boiler  Room,  Siiowing   Murphy  Stoker   Hoppers. 

tered,  and  finally  delivered  to  the  neighboring  tank  house, 
to  be  frozen  into  distilled- water  ice.  The  exhaust  steam 
to  operate  this  Carbondale  absorption  system  is  taken  from 
either  one  of  the  50-hp  circulating-pump  turbines.  These 
units  otherwise  operate  non-condensing  like  the  other, 
auxiliaries,  exhausting  into  the  feed-water  heater. 


November  i6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1037 


PRIME    MOVER    AUXILIARIES. 

For  excitation  there  are  two  75-k\v,  125-volt  direct-cur- 
rent sets,  one  driven  at  3600  r.p.m  by  a  Curtis  steam  turbine, 
and  the  other  at  1200  r.p.m.  by  a  General  Electric  induction 
motor.     Like  all  copper  conductors  in  the  station,  the  ex- 


Wanted,"  "O.   K."     To  signal,  the  switchboard  attendant 

pushes  his  button  lighting  the  corresponding  lamps,  and  the 
operator  then  acknowledges  receipt  of  the  signal  by  closing 
his  switch,  e.xtinguishing  the  lamps. 

Installfd  on  the  main  engine-room  floor  are  two  750-kw 


Fig.   4 — Sectional    Elevation    of    New   Turbine    Station,    Lexington,     Ky. 


citer  lines  to  the  switchboard  are  extra  large,  125,000-circ.  General     Electric     railway     motor-generator     sets.      Their 

mil  cables  being  used   for  this  purpose.  synchronou.s-motor  elements  are  designed   for  90  per  cent 

Gage    boards    installed   near    each    turbine    set    indicate  power-factor   and  are   excited   to   take  a   leading  current, 

header,    first-stage    and   exhaust    pressures.     In   the   same  thus  helping  to  keep  the  station  power-factor  at   exactly 

group  are  also  mounted  an  indicating  wattmeter  showing  unity.     These  units  run  at  514  r.p.m.  and  have  interpole 


Fig.    5 — Rear    of    Switchboard    Panels    for 
Motor-Generator   Sets. 


Fig.  6 — Brick  Bus  Structure  and  Oil- 
Switch  Compartments  for  4000/2300-Volt 
Equipment. 


Fig.  7 — Operating  Solenoids  for  Oil 
Switches  Mounted  on  Rear  of  Bus  Struc- 
ture. 


the  machine  load  and  a  frequency  meter  calibrated  to  read 
in  machine  r.p.m. 

A  complete  signal  system  connects  the  turbine  operating 
positions  with  the  switchboard.  At  each  end  is  a  pair  of 
two-way  switches  controlling  lamps  opposite  the  legends 
"Start,"    "Stop,"    "Load    On,"    "Load    Off,"    "Assistance 


600-volt  generators.  Provision  is  made  for  starting  these 
sets  from  either  the  direct-current  or  the  alternating-cur- 
rent end.  Mounted  on  the  end  of  its  shaft,  each  motor- 
generator  set  has  its  individual  exciter.  By  an  arrange- 
ment of  interlocked  knife  switches  on  the  main  board, 
either  motor-generator  set   can   be   excited   from   its  own 


!o;,8 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D 


Vol.  6o,  No.  20. 


exciter  or  from  the  main  excitation  bus,  but  connection  of 
the  small  separate  exciters  to  the  main  bus  in  any  way  is 
rendered  impossible.  The  switches  themselves  are  mounted 
back  of  the  board,  to  avoid  danger  of  burning  the  operator, 
who  controls  their  movements  through  pull-handles  from 
the   front.     In   making   transfer   connections   the   field   ter- 


Fig.    8 — Breeching    on     Roof    of    Boiler    House. 

minals  are   arranged  so   as   first   to   wipe   across   discharge 
contacts. 

The  engine  room  is  served  by  a  35-ton,  600-volt  motor- 
operated  Toledo  crane.  It.  is  lighted  by  twelve  500-watt 
tungsten  ceiling  lamps  besides  a  number  of  three-lamp 
bracket  fixtures  on  the  side  walls. 

SWITCHBOARD   APPARATUS. 

The  black-slate  switchboard,  on  the  main  engine-room 
floor  level,  comprises  panels  controlling  the  various  prime 
movers,  exciters,  motor-generator  sets,  railway  direct-cur- 
rent feeders,  6o-cycle  motor  and  lighting  feeders  and  the 
33,000-volt  transmission-line  switches. 

A  large-scale  indicating  wattmeter  mounted  on  a  swing- 
ing bracket  at  one  end  of  the  board  is  equipped  with  a  sup- 
plementarv   contact   switch.     This   by   making  certain   con- 


Fig.   9 — Main   Switchboard. 

nections  converts  the  instrument  into  a  power- factor  meter, 
with  which  the  unity  value  of  the  station's  load  can  be 
observed.  On  the  4000-volt  grounded-neutral  motor-circuit 
panel  only  a  single  ammeter  is  provided,  but  a  three-point 
switch  is  arranged  so  that  this  meter  can  be  connected  to 
any  of  the  three-phase  series  transformers.     For  the   un- 


grounded 33,000-volt  line  one  ammeter  similarly  serves  to 
read  the  current  in  either  of  two  of  the  phases. 

Besides  the  usual  complement  of  ammeters,  voltmeters, 
wattmeters,  etc.,  the  switchboard  is  equipped  with  a  Frahm 
reed-type  frequency  indicator,  a  General  Electric  synchro- 
scope, curve-drawing  voltmeters  and  ammeters,  etc.  The 
energv  output  of  each  circuit  is  measured  by  watthour 
meters  behind  the  switchboard. 

4OOO/23OO-VOLT  BUS  STRUCTURE. 

Although  the  motor-generator  neutral  points  are  solidly 
grounded,  the  turbo-alternator  windings  are  earthed  through 
remotely  controlled  oil  switches.  A  series  transformer  in 
the  main  ground  circuit  enables  the  unbalanced  current  to 
be  read  on  a  meter  on  the  switchboard.  The  4000/2300- 
volt  neutral  ground  is  joined  to  the  negative  trolley  feeder, 
which,  besides  connection  to  the  track  rails,  is  further 
earthed  by  driving  twenty-five  ly^-m.  pipes  10  ft.  into  the 
ground  and  surrounding  them  with  salt,  etc.,  to  insure 
moisture. 

On  the  basement  level,  directly  beneath  the  switchboard, 
is  the  4000/2300-volt  brick  bus  structure.  The  solenoid- 
operating  mechanisms  of  the  oil  switches  are  mounted  at 
the  rear  of  the  brick  structure,  pull  rods  extending  through 
openings  to  the  12-in.  by  5-ft.  switch  chambers  in  the  front. 


Fig.   10 — view  of   Bus  Structure  In   Basement. 

The  bus  itself  is  divided  into  tw'o  halves,  each  with  a  tur- 
bine, a  motor-generator,  feeders,  etc.  Knife-type  switches 
connect  the  two  sections,  ta  one  of  which  is  tapped  an 
aluminum-cell  bus  arrester,  with  discharge  alarm,  etc.  The 
oil  switches  in  the  bus  structure  are  all  plainly  labeled  so 
that  the  identity  of  each  is  clear.  The  125-volt  direct- 
current  operating  bus  for  the  oil-switch  solenoids  is  ener- 
gized from  a  small  Electric  Storage  Battery  60-cell  equip- 
ment, which  is  also  available  for  station  emergency  light- 
ing. This  battery  is  installed  in  a  ventilated  cabinet  on  the 
upper  floor  and  is  charged  with  a  5-kw  motor-generator  set. 
Extensive  use  of  conduit  was  made  in  providing  for  the 
many  main  and  control  circuits  required  for  this  station,  a 
total  of  5  miles  of  duct  having  been  employed.  For  single 
6o-cycle  conductors  fiber  conduit  is  used. 

HIGH-TENSION    TRANSFORMERS. 

A  delta-connected  group  of  three  500-kw,  4000/33,000- 
volt  General  Electric  oil-insulated  water-cooled  transform- 
ers supply  energy  to  the  two  outgoing  transmission  circuits, 
one  to  Versailles,  Nicholasville  and  Frankfort,  and  the  other 
to  Paris  and  Georgetown.  The  transformer  room  is  a 
concrete  chamber,  with  Kinnear  self-closing  steel  doors.  It 
adjoins  the  bus  compartment.  By  an  arrangement  of  doors 
and  hatches  tlic  transformers  can  be  handled  by  the  tur- 
bine-room crane.     A  unit  is  kept  in  reserve.     The  cooling 


November  i6,   iqij. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1039 


water  for  these  transformer  units  is  taken  directly  from 
the  city  mains  and  forms  the  make-up  supply  for  the  cool- 
ing pond,  being  discharged  into  the  condenser  intake  line  as 
it  leaves  the  transformers.  The  discharge  pipes  are  brought 
up  to  the  main  turbine-floor  level  where  the  flow  can  be 
inspected  and  regulated  without  entering  the  transformer 
chamber. 

Above  the  transformer  room  on  the  main-floor  level  are 
the  General  Electric  solenoid-operated  oil  switches  for  the 
33,000-volt  lines.  There  are  two  separate  high-tension 
line  switches  besides  the  main  transformer  switch,  and  all 
are  equipped  with  overload  and  no-voltage-release  relays. 
The  aluminum-cell  lightning  arresters  for  these  lines  are 
installed  on  the  gallery  level  above.  The  lay-out  here  is 
rather  unusual  in  that  only  a  single  set  of  entry  bushings 
is  used,  admitting  the  line  conductors — the  horn-gaps  and 
arrester  taps  being  all  inside  the  room  itself.  Copper  tub- 
ing ;)4  in.  in  diameter  is  used  for  the  high-tension  busbars, 
choke  c'-^ils.  etc. 

30,000-VOLT   LINES   AND   SUBST.'\TIONS. 

Sixty-thousand-volt  standard  construction  is  employed 
on   the   transmission   lines   radiating   from   the   Lexington 


has  been  installed  in  a  3S-ton  steel  car.  Although  not  pro- 
vided with  propelling  motors,  this  car  is  completely  equipped 
with  air  brakes  for  control  in  descending  the  steep  grades 
on  the  lines.  A  multigap  arrester  is  installed  for  lighting 
protection.  One  set  of  disconnect  switches  at  this  entry 
lead  to   the  arrester,  the  other  group  to  the  transformers. 


Fig.    11 — 33,000-Volt   Oil    Switches   for  Transmission    Lines. 


Fig.    12 — High. Tension    Exit    with    indoor    iVIounting    of    Arresters 
and    Horn-Gaps. 

ABSORPTION -TYPE   ICE-MAKING    EQUIPMENT. 

Exhaust  steam  taken  from  either  of  the  50-hp  circulating- 
pump  Terry  non-condensing  turbines  operates  the  "gen- 
erator" of  the  absorption-type  ice-making  equipment  in- 
stalled by  the  Carbondale  Machine  Company,  which  has  a 
rated  daily  output  of  75  tons  of  distilled-water  ice.  The 
generator,  its  steam-driven  weak-aqua  pumps  and  the  aqua 
tank  are  in  the  engine  room.  The  absorber  and  atmospheric- 
type  ammonia  condenser  are  on  the  boiler-room  roof.  The 
former  60-ton  freezing-tank  house,  500  ft.  from  the  plant,  is 
still  utilized  with  the  new  absorption  equipment.  Condensate 
collected  from  the  turbine  surface  condensers  is  reboiled, 
purified  in  an  International  filter  and  then  delivered  to  the 
distant  can  room  by  a  5-hp  motor-driven  pump.  Cooling 
water  for  the  ice  plant  condenser  is  taken  from  and  returned 


station,  although  these  now  operate  at  33,000  volts.  Poles 
from  30  ft.  to  70  ft.  in  height  adapt  the  grade  of  the  line 
to  the  hilly  country.  Ohio  Brass  Company  60,000-volt 
insulators  carry  the  line  conductors,  in  additioin  to  which 
there  is  a  ground  cable  of  ^-in.  galvanized  stranded  steel. 
The  poles  are  set  at  200-ft.  intervals,  and  at  every  fourth 
pole  the  steel  cable  is  earthed  by  a  copper-clad  steel  wire 
ground  connection. 

The  Frankfort-Versailles  circuit  is  tapped  by  pole-top 
disconnect  switches,  at  a  point  about  6  miles  from  the 
station,  for  a  line  serving  Nicholasville  to  the  south.  A 
similar  pole-top-switch  top  delivers  energy  to  the  George- 
town substation  from  the  Paris  transmission  line. 

For  each  of  the  three  railway  substations  at  Paris,  Frank- 
fort and  Nicholasville  the  standard  equipment  comprises 
three  loo-kw,  33,000/370-volt  transformers  and  a  300-kw, 
6o-cycle  rotary  converter  set,  all  of  General  Electric  manu- 
facture. The  combination  lighting  substation  at  Versailles 
has  in  addition  three  75-kw,  2300-volt  lighting  transformers 
and  a  mercury-arc  rectifier  set.  Westinghouse  lightning- 
arrester  and  transformer  equipment  is  used  at  Georgetown, 
with  a  150-kw  Allis-Chalmers  motor-generator  set  to  pro- 
vide 600-volt  trolley  service.  This  substation  also  delivers 
energy  for  the  city  lighting  and  for  the  induction-motor- 
driven  water-works  pumps. 

For  flexibility  in  following  temporary  traction  loads,  such 
as   local    fairs,    etc.,    a    300-kw    rotary-converter   substation 


Fig.   13 — Switchboard  for  Station   Lighting  and   IVIotors. 

to  the  main  condenser  inlet  wall.  For  this  the  equipment,  in 
duplicate,  comprises  a  25-hp  motor  driving  a  6oo-gal.  cen- 
trifugal pump  and  a  35-hp  motor  driving  a  looo-gal.  pump. 
Normally  producing  from  60  tons  to  75  tons  of  ice  daily 
with  i2-lb.  back  pressure  and  85-deg.  cooling  water,  the 
refrigerating  equiiiment  has  never  failed  to  develop  its  full 


I04O 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  20. 


output  even  when  using  loo-deg.  water,  although  the  back 
pressure  was  under  these  conditions  raised  to  25  lb.  Part 
of  the  ice  made  is  sold  locally  at  wholesale  and  retail, 
through  the  company's  delivery  system,  and  part  is  loaded 
into  interurban  ice  cars  which  deliver  ice  to  the  sur- 
rounding  towns.     This    outlying   demand   enables   the    ice 


INVESTIGATION  OF  DIFFUSING    GLASSWARE. 


Fig.   ^4 — 33.000-Volt   Entry   of   Portable  Substation   Car. 

plant  to  be  run  at  nearly  rated  output  all  winter.  When 
the  demand  is  slack,  how^ever,  ice  can  be  piled  away  in  the 
2000-ton  storage  house,  which  is  specially  insulated  with 
cork  and  concrete. 

STATION    LIGHTING. 

Proper  station  lighting,  so  often  overlooked,  has  received 
special  attention  in  the  new  Lexington  plant.  Engine  and 
boiler  rooms  are  each  lighted  by  twelve  soo-watt  tungsten 
ceiling  units,  besides  numerous  three-lamp  bracket  groups. 
Throughout  the  various  rooms  and  apparatus  chambers,  on 
the  machines,  etc.,  are  extension-cord  outlets  connected  to 
a  separate  circuit,  and  the  attendant  is  saved  the  necessity 
of  climbing  to  a  lighting  fixture  and  removing  the  lamp  to 
attach  his  inspection  cord.  All  chambers  and  rooms  entered 
from  two  or  more  doors  are  lighted  with  two-way  switch 
circuits,  so  that  all  lamps  can  be  turned  on  or  off  from 
either  door. 

The  station-lighting  and  motor-service  switchboard  ad- 
joins the  main  board  and  controls  the  iio-volt  alternating- 
current  and  direct-current  circuits,  600-volt  crane-motor 
lines,  etc.  A  no-voltage  relay  on  the  alternating-current 
system  automatically  transfers  part  of  the  station  lighting 
onto  the  operating  battery  in  case  of  shutdown  from  any 
cause.  Drainage  is  removed  from  the  plant  sump  by  a 
Yeomans  automatic  bilge  pump  with  duplicate  5-hp  General 
Electric  motors. 

CONSTRUCTION  AND  ADMINISTRATION. 

Work  was  started  on  the  new  Lexington  station  on  Sept. 
9,    191 1,   and  the  first  machine      ,^=^==,,^^^,,^^^^ 
began    operation    on    Aug.     12,  ^^c 

1912.      In    these   eleven    months  W 

there  were   fifty-four   full  days  - 

of  rain,  cold  and  snow  when  no  work  could  be  done, 
so  that  the  plant  was  virtually  erected  in  nine  months. 
Sargent  &  Lundy,  Chicago,  were  the  consulting  engineers, 
their  resident  representative  on  the  work  being  Mr.  H.  G. 
Armstrong.  Mr.  G.  C.  Hyde  had  charge  of  electrical  con- 
struction. 

Mr.  F.  W.  Bacon  is  vice-president  and  general  executive 
of  the  Kentucky  Traction  &  Terminal  Company,  among 
whose  subsidiaries  is  the  Lexington  Utilities  Company. 
Mr.  G.  McLeod  is  chief  engineer  of  the  company,  Mr. 
J.  P.  Pope  is  electrical  engineer,  and  Mr.  A.  A.  Robertson 
is  superintendent  of  production  in  charge  of  the  power 
and  ice  plant.  Mr.  Eugene  Creed  is  the  general  sales  agent 
of  the  company. 


By   M.   Luckiesh. 

PI'J<HAPS  no  subject  is  attracting  the  attention  of  the 
illuminating  engineer  more  than  the  diffusion  of 
light.  All  are  agreed  that  dift'used  light  is  necessary 
in  a  proper  installation,  but  the  desired  amount  is  a  matter 
on  which  the  adherents  of  the  various  systems  of  light  are 
nut  agreed.  In  any  case  diffusing  glassware  is  necessary 
to  decrease  the  intrinsic  brilliancy  of  the  light  source.  The 
use  of  diffusing  glassware  results  in  a  decrease  of  glare 
from  the  unit  and  of  specular  reflection  from  the  many 
glazed  or  polished  surfaces  which  are  found  in  the  field  of 
view.  Here  as  in  every  line  of  endeavor  high  efficiency  is 
desirable,  and  consequently  glassware  of  highly  diffusing 
properties  combined  with  low  absorption  of  light  is  eagerly 
sought  for. 

In  this  article  is  described  a  method  for  obtaining  curves 
to  show  the  diffusing  properties  of  various  samples  of 
commercial  glassware,  and  some  applications  of  the  data 
obtained  are  pointed  out.  Only  a  limited  number  of  samples 
were  examined,  the  object  of  the  work  being  to  develop  a 
simple  method  for  obtaining  the  diffusion  curves.  The 
method  requires  flat  specimens  of  the  glass  from  i  in.  to 
2  in.  square.  No  difficulty  would  be  experienced  by  the 
manufacturer  in  obtaining  such  samples. 

A  plan  view  of  the  apparatus  used  is  shown  diagram- 
matically  in  Fig.  I.  The  sample  of  glass  G  is  placed  in 
front  of  the  small  opening  O.  This  sample  receives  a 
circular  beam  of  parallel  light  from  the  high-power  incan- 
descent lamp  E,  which  illuminates  the  opal  glass  /.  The 
beam  is  rendered  para'lel  by  the  diaphragms  /^^,  h,  and  h,. 
The  box  F  is  tightly  inclosed  and  painted  dead  black  on 
the  inside.  This  box  is  made  to  revolve  about  a  vertical 
axis  through  the  edge  of  glass  G.  On  scale  5,  the  angle 
of  displacement  of  the  box  from  its  normal  position  is 
indicated.  In  addition,  by  means  of  scale  S^,  the  angular 
displacement  of  the  glass  from  a  position  normal  to  the 
beam  of  parallel  light  is  noted.  Measurements  of  bright- 
ness were  made  on  the  luminous  spot  on  G  because  this 
did  not  necessitate  as  great  a  range  in  the  photometric 
apparatus  as  direct  measurements  of  luminous  intensity 
would  demand.  The  brightness  values  obtained  were  mul- 
tiplied by  the  cosine  of  the  angle  of  displacement  of  the 
box  F  from  its  normal  position.  Measurements  of  bright- 
ness were  easily  made  owing  to  the  magnitude  of  the  bright- 
ness of  the  photometric  field;  however,  measurements  of 
candle-power  would  be  practically  impossible  owing  to  the 
low  illumination  of  the  photometric  field.     A  comparison 


I 


m 


L 


Fig.    1 — Arrangement   of   Apparatus. 


ElMtrvial  World 


standard  of  brightness  was  obtained  by  placing  a  piece  of 
opal  glass  K  in  front  of  an  inclosed  photometer  bench. 
The  brightness  of  K  could  be  varied  by  moving  the  lamp  C. 
Two  prisms  P  were  arranged  with  silvered  half-surfaces 
so  that  in  the  photometric  field  the  observer  saw  the  images 


November  i6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


1 041 


of  K  and  G  in  juxtaposition.  A  brightness  match  was 
obtained  by  the  use  of  a  Brodhun  section  B.  Measurements 
of  brightness  of  the  bright  spot  on  G  were  made  at  various 
angles,  the  glass  specimen  remaining  in  the  same  position 
relative  to  the  box  F.  The  direct  light  from  the  opal 
glass  /  was  shut  off  from  the  photometric  field  at  F  by  a 


Fig 


Brightness     Distribution     Curvei 


very  slight  rotation  of   the  box  F  about  the  vertical   axis 
under  G-. 

A  number  of  curves  are  shown  in  Figs.  2  and  3  and  data 
referring  to  them  are  shown  in  the  table.  In  Fig.  2  are 
shown  the  brightness-distribution  curves  as  directly  ob- 
tained, while  in  Fig.  3  are  plotted  the  candle-power-dis- 
tribution curves  calculated  by  multiplying  the  values  in 
Fig.  2  by  the  cosine  of  the  angle. 

All  of  the  curves  are  plotted  with  the  same  maximum 
value.  In  the  third  colunm  of  the  table  are  shown  the 
values  of  relative  normal  brightness  for  the  same  constant 
illumination  of  the  various  samples.  For  instance,  the 
scale  on  which  No.  2  is  plotted  is  about  ten  times  as  large 
as  that  for  No.  5.  It  is  of  interest  to  compare  with  the 
actual  samples  an  ideal  diffusing  glass  with  transmission 
and  diffusion  coefficients  of  100  per  cent.  This  ideal  glass 
would  perfectly  diffuse  the  light  and  transmit  all  the  light 
incident  upon  it.  While  this  ideal  is  not  attainable,  yet  it 
represents  the  goal  toward  which  to  strive.  The  flashed- 
opal  sample  consisted  of  a  very 
thin  coating  (about  1/32  in. 
thick)  on  a  clear  sheet  of  glass. 
It  was  found  that  solid  opal 
glasses  1/16  in.  and  Ys  in.  thick 
showed  about  the  same  diffusion 
curves  as  the  flashed-opal  glass. 
From  a  practical  standpoint  a 
very  thin  milk-opal  glass  has  the 
advantage  of  less  absorption 
than  have  the  thicker  specimens, 
with  practically  the  same  diffus- 
ing property.  The  Alba  glass 
shows  a  tendency  to  diffuse  per- 
fectly some  of  the  light  while 
directly  tra;ismitting  the  re- 
mainder. It  is  interesting  to 
note  the  change  when  this  sam- 
ple is  frosted.  The  tendency  is 
for  the  candle-power  distribu- 
tion (Fig.  3)  to  become  more 
elliptical.  This  is  consistent  with  the  fact  that  all  the 
ground  or  etched  glasses  which  diffused  light  only  by 
virtue  of  the  character  of  one  surface  exhibited  elliptical 
diffusion  curves.  Lucida  glass  No.  6  apparently  exhibited 
an  elliptical  curve,  which  upon  close  examination  indicates 
a  tendency  toward  the  .same  type  of  curve  as  the  Alba,  being. 


however,  far  less  pronounced.  Of  course,  due  weight  must 
be  given  the  fact  that  sample  No.  2  had  twice  the  thickness 
of  No.  6.  In  order  to  test  this  point  further  two  specimens 
of  Lucida  glass  each  Y^  in.  thick  were  cemented  together 
by  means  of  Canada  balsam.  The  diffusion  curve  obtained 
was  quite  elliptical,  coinciding  closely  with  curve   No.   3. 

All  the  above  data  were  ob- 
tained with  light  of  zero  angle 
of  incidence  on  the  sample  of 
glass.  Various  measurements 
were  made  with  light  at  other 
incident  angles,  but  as  yet  noth- 
ing has  developed  of  sufficient 
interest  to  justify  presenting 
any  of  the  data.  The  frosted 
Alba  sample  was  carefully  ex- 
amined with  the  frosted  side 
both  toward  the  light  and  re- 
.  versed,  with  practically  the 
same  results. 

The  transmission  coefficients 
of  different  kinds  of  glassware 
are  the  next  point  of  inter- 
est. After  obtaining  the  curves 
shown  in  Fig.  2  a  simple  method 
of  obtaining  the  transmission 
coefficients  presents  itself.  The 
curves  as  shown  are  in  reality  candle-power-distribution 
curves  of  the  circular  luminous  spot  on  the  sample  of  glass. 
By  means  of  the  Rousseau  diagram  the  total  lumens  emitted 
by  the  bright  spot  on  the  sample  of  glass  can  be  calculated.  A 
circular  spot  was  used  so  that  the  candle-power-distribution 
curve  in  any  plane  normal  to  the  glass  would  represent  the 
mean.  By  direct  measurement  the  light  flux  entering  the 
hole  at  O  can  be  determined  and  by  dividing  the  former 
by  the  latter  value  the  transmission  coefficient  of  the  sample 
is  obtained.  Only  a  few  determinations  were  made,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  method  is  not  very  reliable  for  glass- 
ware showing  little  diffusion.  Of  course,  for  curves  of 
relatively  small  area  such  as  No.  7  the  apparatus  must  be 
as  refined  as  possible  and  great  care  must  be  taken  in  order 
that  the  error  in  the  determination  of  this  coefficient  be 
not  too  great. 

The  reader  is  cautioned  to  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  all 
the  results  here  given  were  obtained  with  flat  samples  of 
glassware.       Obviously     the     transmission     coefficients     of 


Eloatnaal  World 


3 — Candle. Power    Distribution    Curves. 


spheres  would  dift'er  greatly  from  those  of  flat  specimens 
of  the  same  glass.  In  all  cases  the  transmission  coefficients 
of  the  spheres  would  likely  be  much  greater.  In  fact,  the 
transmission  of  the  flat  specimen  of  Alba  glass  was  52  per 
cent,  while  the  transmission  of  a  sphere  of  the  same  material 
is  often  as  high  as  85  per  cent.    The  same  fact  is  illustrated 


1042 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  20. 


with  the  frosted  tungsten  lamp.  The  diffusion  coefficient 
of  a  sphere  is  likely  to  differ  somewhat  from  that  of  a  flat 
sample.  The  object  of  the  experiments  herein  reported  was 
to  compare  different  types  of  glassware  under  the  same 
conditions. 

There  has  been  expressed  a  desire  for  some  method  of 
rating  glassware  according  to  its  diffusing  property.  Lately 
it  has  been  suggested  by  Mr.  E.  L.  Elliott,  in  a  paper  read 
before  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society,  that  a  bright- 
ness survey  be  made  of  a  diffusing  sphere  of  the  glassware 
just  as  it  is  used  in  practice  and  the  ratio  of  its  minimum 
to  its  maximum  brightness  be  taken  as  an  empirical  factor 
in  expressing  its  diffusion  coefficient.  The  method  has  the 
advantage  of  measuring  the  desired  factor  under  actual 
working  conditions.  With  that  method  types  of  glassware 
would  not  be  rated.  Instead  actual  fixtures  would  be  rated 
according  to  their  diffusing  property.    As  in  most  empirical 

DATA    FOR    CURVES    SHOWN    IN    FIGS.    2    AND   3. 


CHART  FOR  SAG  CALCULATIONS. 


Relative 
Normal 

Trans- 

BriEhtness 

Diffusion 

mission 

for  Con- 

Coeffici- 

Coeffici- 

No. of  Curve. 

Kind  ol  (^dass 

stant  Il- 

ent, 

ent, 

lumination 

per 

per 

of 

Cent 

Cent 

Specimen. 

Perfect 

Ideal  diffuser 

1.00 

100.0 

100 

diffusion 

0-1 

Flashed  opal 

O.Jl 

S8.0 

.!/ 

2 

Alba,  i  in.  thick 

1.40 

24.0 

.^2 

2,  frosted 

Alba,  frosted 

0.62 

47..'; 

47 

3 

Etched  white 

6.90 

2.7 

4 

Incandescent  lamp, 
frosted 

10.60 

1  .0 

71 

S 

Rough-pressed  lime 

13.90 

0.2 

6 

Lucida,  J  in.  thick 

31.70 

0.4 

6,  frosted 

Lucida,  frosted 

6.80 

3.0 

7 

Pressed  lime 

464.00 

84 

(Not  shown) 

Lucida,  i  in.  thick 

2.30 

3.9 

.      1 

methods  many  objections  can  be  raised.  The  diffusion  co- 
efficient as  obtained  in  this  manner  will  vary  with  the  kind 
of  light  source  used  inside  and  the  diameter  of  the  sphere. 
Moreover,  when  the  minimum  is  taken  at  an  angle  of 
grazing  emergence  the  ratio  becomes  zero.  Of  course  in 
practice  some  other  angle  than  that  of  grazing  emergence 
must  be  selected.  This  would  be  done  automatically  owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  photometric  field  must  be  of  considerable 
size,  and  consequently  the  spot  which  is  viewed  would  be  so 
large  that  the  very  edge  of  the  glass  would  not  be  measured. 
The  method  used  by  the  writer  might  be  applied  for  this 
purpose  and  the  "diffusion  coefficient"  be  considered  as  the 
ratio  of  the  brightness  at  a  certain  angle  to  the  maximum 
brightness.  Some  of  these  values  are  shown  in  the  table. 
The  minimum  brightness  used  in  this  ratio  was  determined 
at  60  deg.  from  the  normal.  Of  course,  the  brightness  de- 
creases with  the  increase  of  the  angle  from  the  normal, 
but  in  order  to  compare  several  it  was  necessary  in  this  case 
to  choose  an  angle  of  about  60  deg.  from  the  normal  owing 
to  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  satisfactory  data  at  much 
greater  angles.  This  method  would  require  flat  samples  of 
glass,  but  of  course  the  other  method  requires  spheres. 
The  diffusion  curves  would  be  obtained  at  the  same  time 
that  the  diffusion  coefficients  were  determined,  and  by  the 
method  outlined  the  transmission  coefficients  could  also  be 
obtained.  This  method  would  have  the  advantage  of  testing 
all  glassware  under  uniform  conditions  and  would  really 
rate  different  kinds  of  glass  rather  than  an  infinite  number 
of  diffusing  spheres.  With  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
diffusion  coefficients,  transmission  coefficients  and  diffusion 
curves  of  various  kinds  of  glassware  at  various  thicknesses 
it  seems  that  the  illuminating  engineer  would  be  equipped 
with  data  which  would  be  sufficient  to  meet  his  needs  in  any 
particular  case. 

The  writer  acknowledges  the  helpful  assistance  of  Mr. 
Leonard  Krill  in  obtaining  the  data  which  are  presented  in 
this  article. 


By  Percy  H.  Thomas. 

The  making  of  sag  calculations  for  transmission-line  con- 
ductors and  for  other  cases  is  a  laborious  and  tedious  pro- 
cess, especially  where  changes  in  temperature  and  in  load- 
ing are  to  be  considered.  It  is  possible  to  facilitate  such 
computations  by  the  use  of  curves  and  charts,  a  number  of 
which  have  already  been  published  in  the  Electrical  World 
and  elsewhere.  A  particularly  simple  and  satisfactory 
chart  was  described  by  the  present  writer  before  the  Amer- 
ican Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  in  June,  191 1,  in  a 
paper  entitled  "Sag  Calculations  for  Suspended  Wires." 
The  method  is  partly  graphical  and  partly  computation 
adapted  for  slide-rule  manipulation.  In  some  ways  this 
method  is  more  convenient  than  most  of  the  others.  The 
chart  employed  may  be  used  as  a  permanent  record  of  the 
sags  and  stresses  on  the  conductor  by  drawing  one  line  for 
each  temperature  and  separate  loading.  The  actual  labor 
of  computation  is  at  least  as  low  as  with  any  method  thus 
far  proposed. 

For  the  most  advantageous  utilization  of  this  chart  it  is 
desirable  to  use  a  separate  copy  for  each  typical  span,  upon 
which  copy  may  be  drawn  the  several  temperature-sag 
lines.  It  is  believed  that  the  form  of  the  chart  now  pre- 
sented by  the  Electrical  World  will  prove  of  much  con- 
venience to  a  considerable  number  of  transmission  engi- 
neers. Directions  as  to  the  use  of  the  chart  are  printed  on 
the  back  of  each  copy,  so  that  once  the  method  has  been 
understood  no  further  reference  to  any  other  descriptive 
matter  is  necessary.  Doubtless  those  who  may  use  this 
method  of  sag  calculations  will  be  glad  to  know  that  the 
Electrical  World  has  arranged  to  keep  copies  of  the  chart 
on  hand. 


RATE  SYSTEMS     FROM     THE     CENTRAL-STATION 
SOLICITOR'S   VIEWPOINT. 


By  J.  E.   BULLARD. 

ALTHOUGH  a  great  deal  of  attention  has  been  given 
to  the  rate  question,  little  thought  has  been  devoted 
to  the  problem  of  demonstrating  to  the  central- 
station  solicitor  the  psychological  effect  of  different  types  of 
rate  schedule  on  the  consumer.  The  purpose  of  this  article 
is  to  discuss  the  latter  question  and  to  point  out  some  of  the 


340 

320 

300 

280 

260 

240 
3220  S 
?  200.3 
:i80| 
-160  S 
3 140  J 
5  120  I 

100 

80 

60 

40 

20 


0         600     1200     1300     2400    3000     3C00    4200     4S00   5400     GOOO    6600 
Kilowattliotirs  Etaetruul  ll'oWi 

Fig.   1 — CLirves   Mlustrating    Defective   Rate   Schedule. 

preferable  methods  of  explaining  rate  schedules  to  pros- 
pective customers.  Even  the  best  possible  form  of  rate 
schedule  seems  to  possess  disadvantages  of  some  sort  from 
the  consumer's  point  of  view,  and  the  solicitor's  problem  is 
how  to  present  a   rate  schedule  in  the  most  advantageous 


1 

^ 

b 

' 

/ 

1^- 

y 

/• 

" 

/ 

'' 

/ 

y 

b' 

/ 

c. 

— 

-i- 

'1 

/ 

/ 

' 

10 

/ 

/ 

"'/ 

/ 

8 
7 
6 

4 
3 
2 

1 

f 

/ 

c' 

A 

b 

/ 

a 

/ 

/ 

, 

/ 

; 

1 

R 

/ 

r 

/ 

-/ 

/ 

f 

/ 

NOVKMIIKK    16,    igi^ 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


1043 


light  and  bring  the  customer  to  see  its  advantages  before  he 
becomes  prejudiced  by  its  possible  disadvantages.  Several 
different  types  of  schedule  have  been  selected  for  discussion 
and  are  illustrated  in  the  accompanying  diagrams.  The 
schedules  illustrated  are  in  actual  use  and  were  chosen  as 


78 
70 

60 


050 


I        3.8 

;   4.7 

30  J  6 

i-  5 

0) 

20S 
10       1 


^  ^^■'' 

J^J^ 

X-jt.r 

T .' 

V^^' 

-/^           4i 

4Z 

vi^^                -t 

\    ^^ 

-S^^^ 

■■^^ 

^         S.                                        -1 

\\\  \\m\\  1  1    I 

-/            --"-*• 

t 

t 

0        200       400       600 
Fig.   2 — Comparison   of   Two    Different   Schedules. 


800       1000      1200     1400 
Kilowatt-hours 


1600     ISOO      2000 

Electrical  \V<trld 


representative  types  without  thought  of  criticising  the 
schedules  in  use  by  any  particular  company. 

The  rate  schedule  illustrated  in  Fig.  i  may  be  stated  as 
follows:  For  a  monthly  consumption  of  1500  kw-hr.  or  less 
the  rate  is  10  cents  per  kw-hr.;  if  the  consumption  is 
between  1500  kw-hr.  and  3000  kw-hr.,  the  rate  for  the  entire 
consumption  is  8  cents  per  kw-hr. ;  between  3000  and  5000 
kw-hr.  the  rate  for  the  entire  consumption  is  6  cents,  and  if 
the  consumption  is  in  excess  of  5000  kw-hr..  the  rate  is  5 
cents  per  kw-hr. 

Curve  R  in  Fig.  i  shows  the  rate,  and  curve  C  shows  the 
total  amount  of  the  monthly  bill  for  varying  amounts  of 
energy  up  to  6000  kw-hr.  or  more  per  month.  While  this 
schedule  at  first  sight  may  appear  very  simple  and  easily 
understood  from  the  consumer's  point  of  view,  it  neverthe- 
less possesses  one  very  serious  drawback  which  is  probably 
not  familiar  to  all  central-station  men.  By  reference  to 
Fig.  I  there  will  be  seen  three  triangles :  ah  c,  a'  h'  c' , 
and  a"  h"  c" .  Whenever  the  monthly  consumption  falls  at  a 
point  along  the  line  C  which  lies  within  the  confines  of  one 
of  these  triangles  there  is  likely  to  be  dissatisfaction  on  the 
part  of  the  consumer  unless  some  adjustment  is  made.  For 
example,  the  consumer  who  uses  1500  kw-hr.  pays  the  same 
total  bill  as  a  consumer  who  uses  1200  kw-hr.,  and  a  con- 
sumer who  uses  1874  kw-hr.  pays  the  same  total  amount  as 
a  consumer  who  uses  1499  kw-hr.  A  1500-kw-hr.  consumer 
pays  a  total  bill  of  $120,  while  the  1499-kw-hr.  consumer 
pays  $149.90. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  any  consumer  who  finds  as  the  end 
of  the  month  approaches  that  his  monthly  consumption  is 
likely  to  fall  somewhere  between  points  a  and  h  can  reduce 
the  total  amount  of  his  bill  by  consuming  a  little  more 
energy  so  as  to  increase  the  total  consumption  to  slightly 
more  than  1500  kw-hr.  Obviously,  these  facts,  if  not 
appreciated  by  consumers  at  the  outset,  will  sooner  or  later 
be  discovered  and  cause  dissatisfaction.  The  same  difficul- 
ties arise  when  the  monthly  consumption  falls  between  points 
a'  and  h'  or  a"  and  h" .  In  some  cases  the  difficulties  have 
been  overcome  by  substituting  the  dotted  lines  a  c,  a'  c'  and 
o"  c"  for  the  full  lines  ab  c.  a'  b'  c'  and  a"  b"  c",  respectively, 
after  determining  the  total  amount  of  each  customer's 
monthly  bill,  thus  avoiding  the  obvious  discrimination  in 
charging,  for  example,  $149.90  for  1499  kw-hr.  and  but  $120 
for  1500  kw-hr.  Under  the  modified  plan  any  monthly  con- 
sumption between,  for  example,  1200  kw-hr.  and  1500  kw-hr. 


would  bear  the  same  total  charge,  or  $120.  This  expedient, 
while  it  overcomes  the  worst  feature  of  the  difficulties  here 
described,  is  in  reality  simply  a  makeshift  and  is  still 
discriminatory. 

A  similar  case  is  illustrated  in  Fig.  2,  which  presents  a 
rate  applicable  to  motor  service.  In  this  instance  there  is  a 
minimum  charge  of  $1  per  month  per  connected  horse- 
power. The  net  rate  for  energy  is  10  cents  per  kw-hr. 
subject  to  a  sliding  scale  of  quantity  discounts.  The  curves 
in  Fig.  2  are  plotted  for  the  specific  case  of  a  lo-hp  motor 
on  which  the  quantity  discounts  are  as  shown  in  Table  I. 

TARLE   I. QUANTITY   DISCOUNTS   FOR   MOTOR   SERVICE. 


Consumption. 
Kw-hr. 

Discount, 
per  Cent. 

Consumption, 
Kw-hr. 

Discount, 
per  Cent. 

,i37 
375 
415 
450 
525 
600 

10 
15 
20 
25 
30 
35 

675 

825 

975 

1200 

1650 

40 

45 
SO 
55 
60 

i 

While  the  form  of  this  schedule  is  not  identical  with  the 
one  first  described,  nevertheless  the  same  general  objections 
arise.  The  abrupt  drops  in  the  rate  shown  by  curve  R  and 
the  corresponding  drops  in  the  line  C,  which  shows  the  total 
monthly  bill,  are  generally  similar  to  the  characteristics  of 
the  curves  shown  in  Fig.  i. 

In  order  to  illustrate  the  advantages  of  a  different  type 
of  schedule,  the  curves  corresponding  to  the  following  rates 
have  also  been  plotted  in  Fig.  2.  For  the  first  forty-five 
hours'  use  per  month  of  the  maximum  demand  the  charge 
is  10  cents  per  kw-hr.  and  for  all  consumption  in  excess  of 
this  amount  the  charge  is  2j4  cents  per  kw-hr.  The  rate  is 
shown  by  the  curve  R'  and  the  monthly  bill  is  shown  by  the 
curve  C.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  curve  R'  is  practically 
the  equivalent  of  R  with  the  abrupt  drops  or  steps  smoothed 
out,  and  that  C  is  likewise  a  substantially  fair  average  of 
the  points  on  the  line  C. 

In  order  to  show  that  the  solicitor  can  make  the  last  type 
of  rate  schedule  appeal  more  strongly  than  the  others  to  a 
prospective   customer,   an    example   taken   from   actual   ex- 


250    5 


§2005:4 


100    2 


/ 

c/ 

^— 

~~~y 

K 

/ 

^ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

0  1000  2000  3000  4000  5000 

Kilowatt-hours   ' 

Fig.   3 — Curves    Illustrating    Maximum-Demand    Form   of   Schedule. 


6000  7000 

Euatrval  Wi/rtd 


perience  will  be  cited.  A  central-station  solicitor  had  a 
customer  who  was  already  using  an  electric  elevator  and 
who  operated  a  refrigerating  plant  which  the  central  station 
desired  to  secure  as  a  motor  load.  The  solicitor  upon 
approaching  the  customer   to   broach   the  question   of   in- 


1044 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  20. 


stalling  a  motor  drive  in  the  refrigerating  plant  was  unable 
to  quote  a  lower  rate  than  4  cents  per  kw-hr.  under  the 
motor-service  schedule  illustrated  in  Fig.  2.  To  this  the 
customer  objected,  saying  that  in  a  nearby  town  a  central 
station  had  offered  the  schedule  typified  in  the  curve  R', 
with  a  minimum  rate  of  2^  cents  per  kw-hr.  The  solicitor 
offering  the  maximum  demand  rate  explained  to  the  cus- 
tomer that,  although  the  base  rate  is  10  cents  per  kw-hr., 
the  greater  part  of  the  lo-cent  energy  will  be  used  to  operate 
the  elevator,  while  the  energy  consumed  by  the  refrigerating 
^plant  will  practically  cost  only  2>2  cents  per  kw-hr.  He 
also  showed  the  customer  that  720  hours'  use  per  month  of 
the  maximum  demand  would  bring  the  total  net  rate  down 
to  less  than  3  cents  per  kw-hr.  This  form  of  argument  is 
frequently  successful  in  securing  the  business.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  however,  the  rate  R'  is  not  materially  lower  than 
the  rate  R,  but  the  maximum-demand  schedule  possesses  a 
number  of  excellent  talking  points  in  soliciting  business 
under  these  circumstances. 

Many  central-station  companies,  of  course,  object  to 
changing  their  rate  schedules  on  the  ground  that  it  is  likely 
to  reduce  revenue,  but  the  two  rate  schedules  shown  in 
Fig.  2  illustrate  how  readily  a  change  may  be  made  in  some 
instances  without  causing  any  loss  of  revenue  and  at  the 
same  time  introducing  a  more  equitable  system  of  charging. 
For  the  first  forty-five  hours'  use  per  month  of  the  maximum 
demand  the  bill,  of  course,  remains  the  same  for  both  rates. 
When,  however,  in  the  case  of  the  lo-hp  motor  mentioned 
above,  the  monthlv  consumption  exceeds  500  kw-hr.  there 
is  an  appreciable  difference  between  the  two  schedules,  as 
shown  in  Table  IL 

TABLE   II. DIFFERENCE   BETWEEN    OLD   AND   N^W    SATES. 


Kw-hr. 

Used  per 
Month. 


520 

590 

670 

820 

970 

1190 

1640 

2200 


Monthlv  Bill 
Old  Rate.    (R) 


$39.00 
41.30 
43.55 
49.20 
53.35 
59.50 
73.80 
88.00 


>•     .1,1     T)ii      '        Difference 

Monthly  Bill  ;„  p^^o^  „f 

New  Rate.  {R  )       New.  Rate  (K'l. 


$38.28 
40.03 
42.03 
45.78 
49.53 
55.03 
66.28 
75.28 


$0.72 
1.27 
1.52 
3.42 
3.82 
4.47 
7.52 

12.72 


This  illustrates  the  possibility  of  changing  an  imperfect 
form  of  rate  schedule  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  be  very 
much  easier  for  the  solicitor  to  obtain  business  without  at 


600 

560 

500 

^450 

a  400 
o 
S  350 

=  300 

£  250 

=  200 

«  150 

100 

50 


12 

11 
10 

I  ^ 

■i   7 
u   G 

34 

°  3 

2 

1 


c. 

^ 

1 

^ 

^ 

\ 

^ 

^ 

\ 

^ 

^ 

\ 

^ 

^ 

\ 

r 

s^ 

l^ 

-^ 

^ 

^~~. 

— 

. 

._ 

1 

R 

0     12    3    4    5    6    7    8     9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22 
Hour^  u^e  o[  .Muximum  Demaad  per  Day  26  Days  per  Mouth 

EUctruat   WarU 

Fig.   4 — Curves    Illustrating   Readiness-to-Serve   Form   of  Schedule. 

the  same  time  sacrificing  revenue.  It  is  very  desirable  to 
avoid  any  form  of  schedule  which  produces  such  irregular 
curves  as  those  shown  by  C  and  R  in  Figs,  i  and  2.  Another 
schedule  is  shown  in  Fig.  3,  based  upon  the  following:  For 
the  first  2500  kw-hr.  per  month  6  cents  per  kw-hr. ;  for  the 
next  2500  kw-hr.  5  cents,  and  for  all  consumption  in  excess 
oi  5000  kw-hr.  4  cents.    The  minimum  bill  is  $10  per  month. 


For  a  monthly  consumption  between  5000  and  7500  kw-hr. 
the  rate  is  higher  than  the  rate  shown  in  Fig.  i.  The  net 
rate,  of  course,  never  reaches  the  lowest  limit  of  4  cents  per 
kw-hr.,  but  may  approach  it  when  the  consumption  is  very 
large.  Wherever  two  or  more  rate  schedules  are  in  use 
the  solicitor  must  be  very  careful  to  ascertain  a  prospective 
customer's  exact  requirements  before  he  recommends  any 
particular  rate  as  the  cheapest  one  under  the  circumstances. 
Special  care  is  needed  in  such  cases  to  convince  the  cus- 
tomer that  he  is  securing  the  best  proposition  and  is  not 
being  discriminated  against. 

All  of  the  schedules  thus  far  dwelt  upon,  although  in 
common  use  and  often  considered  satisfactory,  are  not 
without  their  respective  disadvantages.  These  disadvan- 
tages multiply  as  the  number  of  special  rates  is  increased. 
Of  course,  there  will  unavoidably  be  some  discrimination, 
and  situations  of  this  nature  frequently  give  rise  to  com- 
plaints to  the  public  service  commissions.  It  seems  likely 
that  a  time  will  arrive  when  any  given  central  station  will 
not  be  permitted  to  sell  energy  under  more  than  one  rate. 
The  only  form  of  rate  schedule  thus  far  proposed  to  meet 
all  conditions  is  the  so-called  Hopkinson  or  Doherty  rate 
or  some  modification  of  that  method  of  charging.  This 
system  embraces  three  separate  charges  which  make  up  the 
total  rate.  These  include  a  customer  charge,  a  readiness- 
to-serve  charge  and  an  energy  charge.  It  would  seem  that 
these  three  elements  could  be  so  adjusted  as  to  make  one 
rate  applicable  to  all  consumers.  The  long-hour  customer 
using  a  large  amount  of  energy  should  obtain  a  very  low 
rate,  while  a  short-hour  user  consuming  little  energy  should 

TABLE    III. SHOWING    CENTS    PER    KW-HR.    AND    DOLLARS    PER 

MONTH  PER  KWOF  MAXIMUM  DEMAND. 


HOURS  USK  OP  THE 

MAXIMUM  DEMAND. 

Dollars 

per 

Days 

Cents 
per 

Month 

per 

per 

Month. 

Hours 

Hours 

Hours 

Hours 

Kw-hr. 

Kw.  of 

per 

per 

per 

per 

Maximum 

Day. 

Week. 

Month. 

Year. 

Demand. 

26 

1 

6 

26 

312 

11.50 

$2.89 

2 

12 

52 

624 

6.32 

3.28 

3 

18 

78 

936 

4.73 

3.67 

4 

24 

104 

1248 

3.90 

4.06 

S 

30 

130 

1560 

3.48 

4.45 

6 

36 

156 

1872 

3.10 

4.84 

7 

42 

182 

2184 

2.88 

5.23 

8 

48 

208 

2496 

2.70 

5.62 

9 

54 

234 

2808 

2.57 

6.01 

10 

60 

260 

3120 

2.46 

6.40 

11 

66 

286 

3432 

2.37 

6.79 

12 

72 

312 

3  744 

2.30 

7.18 

l30J 

12 

84 

364 

4368 

2.18 

7.96 

26 

13 

78 

338 

4056 

2.24 

7.57 

14 

84 

364 

4368 

2.18 

7.96 

IS 

90 

390 

4680 

2.14 

9.35 

16 

96 

416 

4992 

2.10 

8.74 

17 

102 

442 

5304 

2.06 

9.13 

18 

108 

468 

5616 

2.03 

9.52 

19 

114 

494 

5928 

1.99 

9.91 

20 

120 

520 

6240 

1.98 

10.30 

21 

126 

546 

6552 

1.96 

10.69 

22 

132 

S72 

6864 

1.94 

11.08 

23 

138 

598 

7176 

1.92 

11.47 

24 

144 

624 

7488 

1.90 

11.86 

30i 

24 

168 

728 

8736 

1.84 

13.42 

pay  a  comparatively  high  rate,  all  of  which  would  take  care 
of  itself  automatically  under  this  type  of  rate  schedule. 
The  curves  shown  in  Fig.  4  are  plotted  for  a  50-kw 
demand  under  the  following  rate:  A  readiness-to-serve 
charge  of  $2.50  per  month  per  kilowatt  of  demand  and  an 
energy  charge  of  lyi  cents  per  kw-hr.  consumed.  The 
curve  R  shows  the  net  rate  per  kw-hr.  and  the  curve  C 
shows  the  total  bill.  These  curves  are  continuous  smooth 
lines  with  no  abrupt  change  or  breaks,  and  a  rate  of  this 
sort  works  out  very  satisfactorily  for  both  the  company 
and  the  consumer.  Some  central-station  solicitors,  however, 
fail  to  present  such  a  rate  in  the  proper  light  to  a  pros- 


November  i6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


1045 


■  pective  customer.  The  author  has  found  from  his  own  ex- 
perience that  it  is  helpful  to  make  use  of  curves  in  ex- 
plaining the  matter  to  the  customer,  but  a  table  like  that 
printed  as  Table  III  is  even  more  satisfactory.  This  shows, 
for  example,  that  energy  may  be  purchased  for  a  net  rate 
as  low  as  1.84  cents  per  kw-hr.  It  is  a  good  plan  to  leave 
data  of  this  character  with  the  customer  for  his  perusal 
at  leisure  and  make  a  second  call  upon  him  after  he  has 
grasped  its  significance.  Many  solicitors  make  the  mistake 
of  over-emphasizing  the  readiness-to-serve  charge  which 
must  be  paid  whether  or  not  any  energy  is  used.  It  is 
likely  to  prejudice  the  customer  and  increase  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  his  business.  If,  however,  the  salesman  talks 
to  the  customer  from  the  standpoint  of  the  net  equivalent 
rate,  he  is  much  more  likely  to  make  a  good  impression. 
When  it  has  been  shown  how  easily  this  form  of  schedule 

.  adjusts,  itself  automatically  to  the  consumer's  needs,  the 
details  of  it  can  be  explained  with  some  care. 


DIRECT   CURRENT   VERSUS   ALTERNATING 
CURRENT  IN  ROLLING  MILLS. 


The  first  rolling  mill  in  the  world  to  be  equipped  for 
operation  by  electric  motors  was  in  Boxholm's  Ironworks 
in  Sweden.  This  was  completed  about  1890.  Since  then 
a  large  number  of  the  Swedish  rolling  mills  have  installed 
electrical  equipments,  most  of  them  using  alternating  cur- 
rent. The  first  direct-current  equipment  was  installed  in 
the  mill  at  Nykroppa  in  1903,  since  which  date  several 
similar  installations  have  been  placed  in  service.  Much 
study  has  been  given  to  the  relative  merits  of  direct  current 
and  alternating  current  for  this  kind  of  service,  and  as  a 
consequence  it  seems  now  to  be  well  defined  where  the 
direct-current  motor  is  more  suitable  than  the  alternating- 
current  motor  and  vice  versa. 

An  installation  which  is  of  rather  more  than  ordinary 
interest  is  that  at  Fagersta,  Sweden,  which  was  recently 
equipped  electrically.  Alternating  current  is  furnished  to 
this  mill  from  three  hydro- 
electric stations,  and  in  the 
main  alternating-current  mo- 
tors, about  100  in  all,  are  used, 
varying  in  size  from  i  hp  to 
600  hp.  For  certain  mills,  how- 
ever, it  was  found  to  be  far 
more  satisfactory  to  use  direct 
current. 

For  this  purpose  and  for  the 
purpose  of  providing  auxiliary 
means  for  handling  the  load 
fluctuations  on  the  alternating- 
current  line  it  was  decided  to 
install  a  storage  battery  in  con- 
nection with  a  motor-generator 
set.  This  equipment  consists  of 
a  735-hp,  1900-voIt,  500  r.p.ni., 
three-phase  synchronous  motor 
directly  connected  to  a  440-volt, 
1300-amp  direct-current  genera- 
tor and  to  a  160-volt  booster;  a 
26-hp,  I2o-volt  exciter  operated 
by  an  asynchronous  three-phase 
motor,  and  a  storage  battery  of 
212  cells  rated  at  1406  amp-hr. 

Through  the  booster,  which  is  controlled  by  a  Thury 
regulator,  the  battery  is  charged  or  discharged,  the  motor- 
generator  set  at  the  same  time  either  taking  energy  from  or 
supplying  it  to  the  alternating-current  line  and  in  this  way 
keeping  the  load  on  the  power  station  constant.  A  novel 
feature  in  this  arrangement  is  that  the  Thury  regulator 
directly  controls  the  exciting  current  of  the  booster,  when, 


as  a  rule,  the  regulator  controls  the  shunt  of  an  exciter 
which  in  turn  furnishes  the  exciting  current  for  the  booster. 

This  equipment  was  intended  to  take  up  load  variations  of 
1000  hp  for  fifteen  seconds  w'ithout  varying  the  load  on 
the  power  station  by  more  than  75  hp.  Owing  to  the  fact 
that  sheet  mills  with  exceedingly  severe  load  fluctuations 
occurring  at  very  short  intervals  were  operated  by  alter- 
nating-current motors  the  equipment  did  not  quite  fulfil 
the  requirement.  The  experience  gained  at  this  and  other 
Swedish  mills  indicates  that  the  best  method  for  taking  up 
load  variations  under  such  conditions  is  by  means  of  fly- 
wheels. On  the  other  hand,  where  the  variations  are  less 
frequent  and  of  longer  duration  the  storage  battery  has 
proved  to  be   superior. 

A  case  where  the  direct-current  motor  proved  to  be  more 
satisfactory  is  illustrated  at  the  same  works.  In  a  wire  mill 
use  is  made  of  a  motor  connected  to  each  end  of  the  train, 
the  motors  operating  at  synchronous  speed.  The  speed 
variation  of  this  mill  is  at  the  ratio  of  I  :2.5.  Provision 
must  be  made  for  a  slight  variation  in  speed  of  each  motor 
to  allow  for  uneven  wear  of  the  rolls.  For  this  purpose 
two  direct-current  motors  of  700-hp  and  6oo-hp  rating 
respectively  were  installed.  The  former  operates  at  a  speed 
of  from  200  r.p.m.  to  500  r.p.m.  and  can  be  subjected  to 
25  per  cent  overload  for  two  hours  and  momentary  over- 
loads of  100  per  cent.  The  6oo-hp  motor  is  operated  at 
from  260  r.p.m.  to  650  r.p.m.  and  can  carry  25  per  cent 
overload  for  two  hours.  These  motors  are  connected  to  the 
direct-current  busbar  receiving  energy  from  the  battery 
and  the  motor-generator  set  as  the  case  may  be.  These 
motors,  which  were  made  by  the  Luth  &  Rosens  Elektriska 
Aktiebolag,  Stockholm,  have  proved  very  satisfactory,  run- 
ning without  sparking  even  under  the  heaviest  overload. 
The  motors  are  of  the  commutating-pole  type  with  com- 
pensation and  compound  winding.  The  compound  winding 
is  manipulated  in  a  number  of  ways  through  five  knife 
switches  mounted  on  a  panelboard  near  the  motor.  The 
speed  regulation  is  accomplished  through  shunt  rheostats 
which  can  be  operated  singly  or  together,  which  makes  it 
possible  to  change  the  speed  of  the  mill  during  the  run. 


Arrangement   of    Direct-Current   Auxiliary    Equipment   in    Rolling  Mill. 

For  starting  use  is  made  of  an  oil-insulated,  water-cooled 
rheostat.  The  efficiency  of  each  motor  is  92.5  per  cent  at 
normal  speed  and  slightly  less  at  high  speeds.  Motors  and 
instruments  are  inclosed  in  rooms,  into  which  fresh  air  is 
forced  by  means  of  fans.  The  air  in  rolling  mills  contains 
gases  which  have  a  corrosive  influence  on  certain  metal 
parts  of  the  motors  and  instruments. 


1046 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  20. 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


A  "  LIVE  "  WINDOW  DISPLAY. 


Crowds  were  attracted  in  front  of  the  Emporia  (Kan.) 
Railway  &  Light  Company's  office  recently  by  the  spectacle 
of  a  wild  squirrel  besporting  himself  among  the  autumn 
leaves  and  branches  with  which  the  window  was  decorated. 
Near  by  was  a  placard  bearing  the  legend :  "The  squirrel 
is  after  the  man  who  won't  have  his  house  wired  for  elec- 
tricity"— leaving  to  the  public's  imagination  and  its  ac- 
quaintance with  slang  all  further  explanation  of  the  small 
rodent's  interest  in  such  an  unfortunate  member  of  the 
human  family.  Another  card  read:  "The  fall  season  is 
here,  so  is  our  fall  house-wiring  campaign."  This  simple 
"live"  display  aroused  even  greater  curiosity  and  interest 
than  many  more  elaborate  window  dressings,  according  to 
Mr.  C.  A.  Bergen,  contract  agent,  although  it  must  be 
added  that  the  squirrel  nibbled  the  corners  off  of  most  of 
the  accessible  woodwork  in  the  front  of  the  office. 


REMOTE-CONTROL 


SWITCHES 

SIGNS. 


FOR    FLAT-RATE 


The  Topeka  (Kan.)  Edison  Company  operates  a  number 
of  flat-rate  signs,  turning  these  on  at  dusk  and  off  at  10 
o'clock,  except  Saturday  night,  when  they  are  burned  until 
II  :30  p.  m.  When  controlled  and  switched  by  hand,  as  for- 
merly, the  company  received  the  usual  complaints  because 
one  sign  was  turned  on  before  another  or  off  before  some 
one  else's,  as  the  patrolman  progressed  on  his  rounds.  This 
unavoidable  dissatisfaction  is  now  ended  and  the  salary 
of  the  patrolman,  $20  per  month,  is  saved  by  switching  all 
the  signs  from  a  central  point  by  means  of  electromagnet 
contactors. 

Shell-type  electromagnets  are  used  in  the  switches,  the 
outer  dimensions  of  the  magnetic-return  casing  being  4  in. 
long  by  3  in.  in  diameter.  The  plunger  has  I -in.  travel  in 
the  i-in.  brass  tube  in  which  it  slides.  Two  and  one-third 
pounds  of  No.  25  black  enameled  magnet  wire  are  used  in 
each  coil.  A  brass  rod  connects  the  plunger  with  the  leaf- 
spring  contactors,  which  are  supplemented  by  carbon  blocks 
to  take  any  arcs  that  form  on  breaking  the  circuit.  Mr. 
J.  E.  Gossett,  electrical  foreman,  who  laid  out  the  scheme. 


Sigg 


000000 


I    O    O    O    O    C    i 


1 


Carbun  Ureuk 

lOO-.Vmp.Leat 
Spring  Coutractor    ^ 


Shell-Type 
Electro  M:isnet 

2h--lb.  N0.25- 

Euanicletl  Wirei 

UO  Ohma, 


— 3- 


Uat-net  ^ 
Snitch  -^ 


Oontrolliog^ 
Sw  itch 


_plr(ia  Plunger 


Pilot. Wire.  N0.IO  Iron 


EUetrical  WorU 


Controlling    Flat-Rate   Signs   with    iVlagnet   Switches. 

estimates  the   cost   of   these   magnet   switches   to   be   about 
$6  each. 

Extending  through  the  business  district  is  a  No.  6  iron 
pressure  wire  which  is  used  as  the  pilot  circuit  and  tapped 
in  multiple  to  the  magnet  windings.  Each  coil  has  a  resist- 
ance of  about  no  ohms  and  at  no  volts  takes  i  amp,  which 
closes  the  contact  vigorously.  A  smaller  current  will  hold 
the  plunger  in  the  closed  position  so  that  the  control  point 


is  provided  with  a  predetermined  resistance  which  can  be 
inserted  in  the  pilot  circuit  after  the  switches  have  been 
closed,  reducing  the  current  per  coil  to  0.5  amp.  This  is 
ample  to  hold  the  contacts  in  position.  As  shown  in  the 
sketch,  to  light  the  signs  the  controlling  switch  is  closed,  the 
resistance  switch  having  already  been  closed.  The  latter 
is  then  opened,  inserting  resistance  to  cut  the  holding  cur- 
rent down  to  normal  value  so  that  the  magnets  will  not  heat. 
A  master  clock  switch  is  now  being  arranged  to  control  the 
sign  circuits,  avoiding  all  hand  manipulation.  Fifteen  large 
signs  are  now  operated  by  the  Topeka  pilot-wire  circuit, 
which  is  nearly  a  mile  in  length. 


RESULT  OF  A  GRILL    CAMPAIGN. 


Recently  twenty-two  of  the  smaller  Byllesby  properties 
held  a  campaign  of  one  week's  duration  to  place  electric 
grills.  Reports  received  show  that  174  grills  were  placed 
during  the  period,  the  greater  part  of  which  were  sold 
directly  tiirough  the  newspaper  advertising  employed,  al- 
though in  some  few  cases  personal  solicitation  which  fol- 
lowed newspaper  advertising  was  responsible  for  sales. 
The  plan  followed  was  a  coupon  scheme,  making  it  neces- 
sary for  the  purchaser  to  present  a  coupon  clipped  from  one 
of  the  advertisements  in  order  to  secure  the  reduced  price 
on  the  grill.  Besides  the  grills  sold,  about  150  inquiries 
were  received,  and  since  the  campaign  twenty  grills  have 
been  sold,  some  of  the  sales  being  directly  traceable  to  the 
newspaper  campaign.  The  San  Diego  Consolidated  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  San  Diego,  Cal.,  and  the  Oklahoma  Gas 
&  Electric  Company,  Oklahoma  City,  each  disposed  of 
thirty-two  grills. 


LOAD  CURVES  OF  A  PUBLIC  GARAGE. 


The  accompanying  load  curve  (Fig.  i)  shows  the  demand 
characteristics  of  a  prosperous  Chicago  garage  stabling 
seventy-five  electric  pleasure  vehicles.  This  record  is  for 
August,  1912,  during  which  month  the  garage  consumed  a 


80 


20 


\. 

/ 

\ 

J 

X- 

rJ- 

_^ 

-1 

12 

2 

J           6 

8 

10       12 

2         4          (i         K         !>;       12 

M. 

A.M. 

N. 

P.M.            EUctr^t^tt  IJ'oWJ 

Fig. 

1— Dally 

Load 

Curve, 

Seventy-five-Car    Garage. 

total  of  13,864  kw-hr.,  with  a  maximum  demand  of  62  kw. 
This  peak,  it  will  be  observed,  occurred  shortly  after  mid- 
night and  the  rest  of  the  charging  load  is  almost  wholly 
of  an  ofif-peak  character.  For  the  month  the  load-factor 
was  30  per  cent.  The  garage  referred  to,  said  Mr.  George 
H.  Jones,  Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  Chicago,  be- 
fore the  Illinois  Electrical  Association  at  Peoria,  Oct.  22, 
is   supplied    with   central-station    energy   under   a   "limited- 


November  i6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1047 


hour"  contract  which  permits  charging  to  be  done  any  time 
of  the  day  during  the  summer  months,  but  in  winter  Hmits 
the  use  to  the  off-peak  hours  between  8  p.  ni.  and  4  p.  m. 

For  "boosting"  truck  and  vehicle  batteries  during  the 
noon  hour,  giving  them  a  freshening  charge  to  continue  the 
day's    work,    a    considerable    12-to-i-o'clock    load    can    be 


20,000 

19,000 

18.000 

17,000 

K    16,000 

Ui     15,000 

14,000 

13,000 

12.000 

11,000 

10.000 

Fig.  2— 


10,895 

10 

905 

16, 

288 

15, 

,92 

14, 

184 

13.864 

12, 

240 

ii.keo 

■ 

Jan 

1912 

F 

ib. 

iVl'ar. 

A 

pr. 

IV 

ay 

Jv 

ne 

J 

ily 

Aug 

.1512 

lilecnteal  t*-'l  t 

Monthly  Variation  in  Consumption  by  Public  Garage. 


developed,  continued  Mr.  Jones,  useful  to  fill  in  the  lunch- 
hour  depression  in  the  central-station's  load  curve. 

Fig.  2  shows  the  variation  in  monthly  consumption  of 
the  garage  in  Fig.  I,  taken  from  January  to  September, 
1912.  The  effect  of  bad  weather  in  March  is  very  apparent 
on  the  consumption  for  that  month.  August,  again,  shows 
a  marked  depression,  probably  due  to  the  absence  of  owners 
of  vehicles  on  their  vacations. 


THEFT  OF  ELECTRICITY. 


Two  convictions  were  obtained  recently  of  persons 
charged  with  steahng  electricity  from  the  Union  Electric 
Light  8f  Power  Company  of  St.  Louis.  Louis  Boulter,  a 
shoemaker,  was  one  of  the  defendants,  and  John  C.  Hoefer, 
who  conducts  a  lunch  room  at  1231  Nortli  Nineteenth 
Street,  was  the  other. 

On  April  23,  1912,  it  was  discovered  by  special  inspector.^ 
for  the  company  that  Boulter  was  using  tliree  i6-cp  in- 
candescent lamps  in  his  store,  connection  being  made  to  the 
wires  of  the  company  in  the  basement  without  the  knowl- 
edge or  consent  of  the  company.  Boulter  was  arrested  by 
two  police  detectives  on  April  25,  the  charge  being  violation 
of  the  Missouri  statute  relating  to  theft  of  electrical  energy. 

Boulter  employed  attorneys  to  defend  him  in  this  case. 
He  testified  that  the  lamps  were  not  connected  to  the  wires 
of  the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  but  to  the 
wires  of  the  Laclede  Gas  Company,  and  that  the  lamps 
were  not  used  for  illuminating  his  store  but  for  testing  his 
motor.  However,  a  jury  of  twelve  business  men,  after 
hearing  the  testimony,  returned  a  verdict  of  "guilty"  against 
the  defendant  and  assessed  a  fine  of  $50  and  costs,  the  whole 
amounting  to  $71.35,  which  was  paid  Oct.  26.  The  de- 
fendant tried  hard  to  have  the  court  grant  him  a  new  trial, 
but  this  motion  was  overruled  by  Judge  Victor  Falken- 
hainer.  Division  No.  2,  Court  of  Criminal  Correction,  who 
heard  the  case. 

The  other  defendant,  John  C.  Hoefer.  was  arrested  on 
Sept.  5,  1912,  by  Detectives  Boyle  and  McLaughlin,  of 
Police  Headquarters,  for  stealing  electricity  by  connecting 
two  small  wires  or  jumpers  around  his  meter.  When 
Hoefer's  case  was  called  before  Judge  Calvin  Miller,  Court 
of  Criminal  Correction,  the  defendant  said  that  on  the 
evening  of  Sept.  5,  when  the  two  detectives  and  an  in- 
spector for  the  company  called  at  his  restaurant  and  ordered 
a  sandwich  each,  he  thought  that  he  was  being  visited  by 
three  bandits.     Becoming  frightened,   he   declared  that   he 


(lid  not  know  what  he  was  doing  when  he  stepped  upon  a 
chair  and  removed  the  jumpers.  Judge  Miller,  after  listen- 
ing to  his  story  and  to  the  story  of  the  witnesses,  saw  fit  to 
sentence  Hoefer  to  serve  ten  days  in  the  city  jail  and  also 
to  pay  a  fine  of  $50  and  costs. 


SALE  OF   SHOPWORN  ENERGY-CONSUMING 
DEVICES. 


.\  novel  sale  of  household  electrical  devices  has  been  in- 
stituted by  the  Louisville  Lighting  Company,  of  Louisville, 
Ky.,  in  the  course  of  a  campaign  for  increasing  the  domestic 
consumption  of  energy  in  the  Falls  City.  In  rearranging 
and  restocking  the  gas  and  electric  display  rooms  at  the 
headquarters  of  the  company,  311  West  Chestnut  Street,  a 
quantity  of  shelf-worn  supplies  was  assembled,  including 
extensive  assortments  of  electric  stoves,  irons,  lamps, 
toasters  and  other  utensils.  The  company  determined  to 
dispose  of  this  stock  and  inaugurated  a  big  bargain  sale, 
doing  some  newspaper  advertising  which  would  be  a  credit 
to  the  most  progressive  department  store.  As  the  result, 
most  of  the  shopworn  surplus  has  been  disposed  of,  and 
every  customer  is  presumably  using  just  so  much  more 
electrical  energy. 


DIRECT    AND    INDIRECT    PROFITS    OF    AN 
APPLIANCE  SALES  CAMPAIGN. 


To  be  successful,  the  sales  department  must  create  a 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  central  station's  customers  to  pur- 
chase and  use  electrical  appliances  of  all  kinds.  A  good 
way  to  do  this,  said  Mr.  C.  L.  Owen,  Springfield,  111.,  in  a 
paper  before  the  recent  Illinois  convention,  is  to  specialize 
on  some  one  device  each  month  during  the  discount  or  pay- 
ing period.  Take  everything  else  out  of  the  window,  he 
advised,  and  arrange  the  display  in  such  a  way  as  to  let  the 
public  know  something  out  of  the  ordinary  is  being  done. 
Reduce  the  price  of  the  "special"  for  the  sale  period;  run 
i:ne  or  two  advertisements  in  the  daily  papers  and  attach 
stickers  to  the  monthly  bills  or  have  some  printed  in  con- 
nection with  the  bills,  calling  the  consumer's  attention  to 
the  appliance  and  price. 

The  best  method  of  selling  electrical  appliances  is  the 
campaign  method.  Specialize  on  one  appliance,  for  ex- 
ample, flatirons.  Get  together  enough  solicitors  to  cover 
customers'  residences  in  about  thirty  days.  Get  solicitors 
from  the  home  city ;  don't  get  professionals  unless  they  are 
direct  from  a  large  manufacturing  house.  Have  them  meet 
in  the  company's  office.  Give  them  a  good  friendly  talk. 
Treat  them  as  friends. 

The  question  arises:  Is  it  better  to  pay  the  solicitors  a 
certain  amount  per  day  and  commission,  or  straight  com- 
mission? From  his  own  experience,  Mr.  Owen  is  con- 
vinced that  the  straight-commission  basis  is  the  best  plan. 
Assume  that  the  local  community  has  15,000  population, 
or  say  30,000.  Assume  also  there  are  1500  consumers,  or 
say  3000.  Two  hundred  irons  are  sold  during  the  cam- 
paign. The  original  price  was  $4.50,  but  they  are  sold  for 
$4  during  the  campaign.  The  solicitors  are  paid  50  cents 
per  iron.  That  leaves  $3.50.  Printing,  advertising  and 
other  incidentals  cost  50  cents  per  iron,  which  leaves  $3. 
The  irons  laid  down  cost,  say,  $2.90.  The  profit  on  the 
campaign  is  $20.     This  is  not  very  much. 

But  now  look  at  the  estimated  results.  The  iron  will  be 
used  at  least  once  a  week  for  fifty-two  weeks.  Assume  the 
average  ironing  hours  are  eight  per  week.  Taking  10  cents 
as  the  average  rate  per  kilowatt-hour,  200  irons  each  con- 
suming 500  watt-hours  eight  hours  per  week,  fifty-two 
weeks  per  year,  there  results  200  X  500  X  8  X  5^  X  10 
cents  =  $4,160. 


1048 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  60,  No.  20. 


TESTING  SWITCHBOARD  OF  ALTERNATING-CUR-     AN  ELECTRIC  POPCORN  WAGON  AND  AN  ALCOHOL 
RENT  AND  DIRECT-CURRENT  METERS.  ACCIDENT. 


For  testing  its  alternating  and  direct-current  meters  the 
Topeka  Edison  Company  makes  use  of  a  special  switchboard 
novel  in  several  respects.  The  five  marble  panels  carry 
the  indicating  instruments  and  switch  connections,  while 
beneath,  pivoted  from  the  supporting  frame,  are  two  swing- 
brackets  of  i^-in.  iron  pipe,  one  carrying  a  tool  drawer 
and  the  other  a  meter  rest  for  each  tester's  position. 
Standard  pipe  fittings  have  been  used,  reamed  smooth  to 
give  bearing  surfaces.  The  meter-rest  arm  is  not  only 
pivoted  at  its  support,  but  has  its  perpendicular  mounting 
board  also  swiveled,  so  that  the  meter  can  be  moved  about 
to  any  position.  One  side  of  the  hard-wood  board  is  ar- 
ranged with  adjustable  slides  adapted  to  receive  any  width 
of  meter,  which  has  only  to  be  dropped  into  place.  The 
reverse  side  is  fitted  with  a  supporting  screw  for  hanging 
other  types  of  meters.  The  movable  drawer  can  be  swung 
to  either  side  of  the  meter  arm  and  is  useful  as  a  resting 
place  for  test  apparatus,  besides  its  purpose  as  a  container 
for   small   tools   and   parts. 

Although  rotating  standards  are  used  in  testing,  whenever 
possible,  for  making  comparisons  with  indicating  instru- 
ments the  hand-wheel  rheostats  shown  have  been  found 
extremely  convenient,  permitting  close  control  of  both 
voltage  and  current,  which  can  be  fixed  at  the  exact  values 
for  which  the  meter  is  to  be  compared.  The  larger  rheostats 
are  inserted  in  the  current-carrying  circuit.  Direct-current 
pressure  is  taken  from  taps  around  a  series  group  of 
lamps  connected  across  the  6oo-voIt  storage  battery.  With 
the  aid  of  the  rheostat,  the  pressure  at  the  instrument 
terminals  can  be  adjusted  to  a  nicety,  saving  numerical 
calculations  and  corrections  and  making  the  test  results 
direct  reading. 

In  addition   to  this   the  Topeka   Edison   Company   has   a 


An  enterprising  street  merchant  of  Manhattan,  Kan.,  has 
an  attractive  popcorn  wagon  lighted  with  eight  8-cp  lamps 
instead  of  the  usual  flaring  gasoline  torches.  Even  the 
customary  miniature  engine  for  the  corn  popper  is  replaced 
by  a  ^-hp  motor.  The  local  electric  company  at  present 
has  a  plug  drop  to  the  main  switch,  fuse  panel  and  meter. 


Electric    Light   and    Power   on    a    Popcorn    Wagon. 

which  are  mounted  inside  the  cab.  Later  a  conduit  run  is 
to  be  installed  beneath  the  sidewalk,  ending  in  a  receptacle 
in  the  curb.  Lighted  from  dusk  until  midnight,  this  wagon 
consumes  about  20  kw-hr.  per  month. 

Wood  alcohol  has  been  used  for  heating  the  corn  popper, 
but  because  of  a  recent  serious  accident  which  nearly  caused 
the  death  of  the  popcorn  man  a  safer  means  of  heating  will 
probably  be  sought.  A  leak  started  in  the  alcohol  tank, 
and  the  fumes  soon  filled  the  tiny  cab,  overcoming  the  oper- 


Meter-Testlng    Board,    Topeka    Edison    Company. 


Llectrieat  fVortd 


large  rotating  test  meter,  available  for  5  amp  to  100  amp 
at  no,  220  or  600  volts.  With  the  indicating  instruments 
in  the  central  panel,  tests  can  be  carried  up  to  1200  amp 
at  600  volts.  Local  meters  are  tested  at  intervals  inversely 
proportional  to  the  magnitude  of  the  customers'  consump- 
tions. Thus  a  large  office  building  or  factory  whose  meter 
registration  affects  a  comparatively  large  revenue  logically 
receives  more  frequent  checking  than  that  of  a  small 
residence  customer  whose  minimum  is  seldom  or  never 
exceeded. 


ator.  No  one  knows  how  long  he  lay  on  the  floor  until  a 
customer  discovered  his  plight  and  broke  in  the  snap-locked 
door  to  release  him.  After  forty-five  minutes  of  vigorous 
resuscitation  he  was  brought  to  life,  but  he  spent  several 
weeks  in  the  hospital  in  a  serious  condition.  So  thoroughly 
has  the  poison  of  the  wood  alcohol  entered  his  system  that 
his  physicians  doubt  whether  he  can  ever  completely  re- 
cover. The  accident  has  thus  cost  in  money  value  hundreds 
of  times  the  small  expense  for  a  safe,  simple  electric 
popper. 


November  i6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1049 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

CONDUIT  VERSUS  OPEN  WORK  IN  PLACES  SUB- 
JECT TO  MOISTURE,   CORROSIVE    ' 
FUMES,  STEAM,  ETC.— V. 


By  F.  G.  VValdenfels. 

The  shortcomings  of  the  various  systems  of  wiring 
applicable  to  places  subject  to  dampness  have  been  pointed 
out  in  previous  articles  in  this  series,  as  well  as  their 
advantages.  In  the  concluding  article  of  the  series  it  has 
been  thought  best  to  accentuate  the  advantages  of  conduit 
for  such  work  and  to  draw  attention  to  methods  for  avoid- 
ing condensation.  Some  notes  on  conduit  installations 
which  ha\e  given  good  service  are  also  appended. 

CONDUIT. 

Up  to  the  present  time  ordinary  conduit  has  been  charged 
with  two  deficiencies,  corrosion  and  condensation,  that  could 
not  be  very  readily  overcome  with  the  grade  of  conduit  on 
the  market.  Whenever  ordinary  conduit  was  installed  in 
places  subject  to  moisture  and  corrosive  fumes  it  invariably 
corroded  and  scaled  off  very  readily,  leaving  only  the  shell 
of  the  conduit  hanging  on  the  wire.  In  this  state  the  insula- 
tion of  the  wire  also  soon  broke  down,  making  the  installa- 
tion hazardous. 

Experiments  with  all  kinds  of  conduit  have  been  carried 
on  for  three  years  in  a  place  where  conditions  are  severest. 
With  the  different  kinds  of  conduit  a  piece  of  hot  galvanized 
water  pipe  was  also  installed,  after  being  closely  examined 
for  burrs  inside  the  pipe.  Strange  to  say,  all  the  conduit  was 
attacked  and  a  great  deal  of  it  was  completely  eaten  away, 
but  the  hot  galvanized  water  pipe  turned  white  and  is  still 
doing  service  for  a  motor,  having  three  alternating-current 
feeders  in  it,  and  it  looks  as  good  to-day  as  when  it  was 
installed.  Four  months  ago  50  ft.  of  lead-covered  flexible 
steel-armored  conductor  was  tried  in  the  same  place,  with 
water-tight  fittings,  and  a  recent  examination  showed  it  was 
corroded,  even  the  lead  straps  holding  the  cable  in  places 
being  pitted. 

The  success  attending  the  use  of  hot  galvanized  water 
pipe  caused  the  writer  to  visit  some  of  the  conduit  manu- 
facturers, with  a  view  to  encouraging  them  to  manufacture 
a  hot  galvanized  conduit.  One  company,  however,  had  been 
experimenting  for  the  last  four  years  trying  to  put  a  hot 
galvanized  conduit  on  the  market  at  the  same  price  as  the 
other  conduit.  In  this  it  was  evidently  successful  and  pro- 
duced a  hot  galvanized  pipe  that  could  withstand  seven  to 
ten  one-minute  dips  in  a  standard  solution  of  copper  sulphate 
at  a  temperature  of  65  deg.  Fahr.  Other  types  of  conduit 
do  well  if  they  can  withstand  five  one-minute  dips.  Last 
March  a  sample  of  the  hot  galvanized  conduit  was  nailed  to 
a  joint  in  the  glue  house  mentioned,  and  it  has  already 
turned  white,  which  is  a  sign  of  long  life,  no  corrosion 
being  visible  upon  a  recent  examination. 

CORROSION. 

Ordinary  conduit  has  given  fairly  good  results  in  many 
places  where  the  worst  conditions  of  moisture,  etc.,  prevail; 
but  some  locations  are  more  severe  on  conduit  than  others. 
In  several  places  where  the  conditions  were  very  severe, 
the  conduit  being  subjected  to  steam,  ammonia  and  sulphur 
fumes,  about  every  fifth  piece  of  conduit  was  slightly  cor- 
roded and  about  every  tenth  piece  of  length  was  corroded 
completely  through.  The  rest  of  the  conduit  turned  com- 
pletely white  and  showed  no  signs  whatever  of  corrosion. 
This  shows  that  all  conduit  is  not  uniformly  treated  during 
the  process  of  manufacture,  because  then  none  of  it  would 
have  corroded.  It  also  shows  that  if  the  manufacturers 
exercised  more  care  they  could  turn  out  a  better  grade  that 
would  withstand  even  the  severe  conditions.     To  ward  ofT 


corrosion  and  make  the  ordinary  conduit  last  longer,  several 
electricians  have  painted  the  conduit  before  installing  it. 
Best  results  have  been  obtained  by  using  a  silicate  graphite 
paint.  Others  tried  insulating  paint  or  asphaltum  and  also 
obtained  good  results,  especially  where  the  conduit  was  ex- 
posed to  the  steam  from  the  hog.    Still  others  have  painted 


Fig, 


41 — Condensation   in  Conduit  Over   Boilers. 


the  conduit  with  aluminum  paint  and  find  it  very  satisfactory 
in  a  place  where  ordinary  conduit  lasted  only  two  months. 

Despite  the  inequalities  of  ordinary  conduit  it  has  served 
fairly  well.  Of  course,  one  must  not  expect  too  much  from 
an  ordinary  soft-steel  pipe,  especially  in  places  where  condi- 
tions are  very  severe.  Hot  galvanized  pipe,  however,  has 
persisted  in  places  where  the  ordinary  conduit  cannot  stand 
up  and  is  therefore  to  be  commended  for  packing-house 
work. 

CONDENSATION. 

Condensation  can  be  eliminated  in  a  conduit  installation 
in  two  ways — one  by  draining  the  conduit  between  outlets 


Fig.  42 — Intercepting  Air  Passages  In  Conduit. 

by  gravity  and  the  other  by  plugging  up  or  by  interrupting 
the  air  passages  in  the  conduit  at  positions  where  different 
temperatures  are  encountered. 

Where  steam  and  alternating  temperatures  prevail  con- 
densation is  sure  to  exist,  and  in  such  a  case  the  conduit 
should  be  drained  between  the  outlets  by  installing  another 
outlet  with  one  or  two  holes  in  the  porcelain  cover  to  let 
the  water  out.  Referring  to  Fig.  43,  it  will  be  observed  that 
there  is  a  drain  outlet  between  the  two  lamp  outlets,  and 
also  that  the  conduit  has  a  drop  toward  the  drain  outlet  so 
the  water  can  run  out  by  gravity.     If  switch  legs  are  in- 


Fig.  43 — Provision  for  Draining  Conduit 


Stalled  on  the  walls  or  columns,  a  hole  should  be  left  open 
in  the  bottom  of  the  box. 

Fig.  45  shows  the  same  method  of  draining,  when  the 
conduit  extends  from  a  room  with  a  temperature  of  75  deg. 
Fahr.  to  a  room  having  a  temperature  of  34  deg.  Fahr. 
Fig.  42  shows  another  method  whereby  condensation  can 
be  eliminated.     If  the  conduit  is  plugged  in  the  outlet  at  the 


1050 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  20. 


partitions,  as  shown,  then  there  will  be  no  condensation. 
Otherwise,  if  the  air  passage  were  not  interrupted,  the  hot 
and  cold  air  would  come  together  and  condensation  take 
place.  At  the  partition  an  outlet  bo.x  is  installed  in  the 
conduit  system  and  the  pipe  is  plugged  up  and  carefully 
sealed  with  insulating  compound.  This  work  should  be 
very  carefully  done,  otherwise  if  there  is  only  a  small  air 
passage  condensation  will  take  place.  Fig.  44  shows  CQfiduit 
risers  for  branch  circuits  from  a  passageway  with  a  tem- 
perature of  75  deg.  Fahr.  to  coolers  of  34  deg.  Fahr. 

Another  method  of  interrupting  the  system  is  to  end  with 
outlet  boxes  at  the  partition  and  piece  the  partitions  with 
open  wiring  through  porcelain  tubes.  This  method  is  not. 
however,  to  be  encouraged,  because  equal  results  are  ob- 
tained with  the  former  methods,  and  of  the  three  draining  is 
preferable. 

CAST-IRON    OUTLET    BOXES. 

Cast-iron  outlet  boxes  should  be  installed  in  wet  places, 
because  a  steel  box  corrodes  too  readily.  The  conduit 
should  be  white-leaded  before  being  screwed  to  the  outlet 
boxes  or  jointed.  It  is  also  a  good  idea  to  provide  a  gasket 
between  the  cover  and  the  boxes,  so  as  to  keep  the  water 
from  the  joints  as  much  as  possible. 

LEAD-COVERED    FLEXIBLE    STEEL-ARMORED    CABLE. 

Of  the  two  places  where  50  ft.  of  lead-covered  flexible 
armored  cable  was  installed,  one  was  in  a  large  pickling 
establishment,  where  salt  water  condenses  on  the  ceilings 
and  walls.  The  cable  has  been  in  use  now  over  thirty 
months,  and  not  the  slightest  sign  of  corrosion  is  visible. 
The  other  50  ft.  of  cab'e  was  installed  in  a  glue  house,  antl 
after  three  months'  use  was  corroded,  especially  that  por- 
tion of  it  over  the  liquid  tanks.  In  a  glue  room  everything 
is  covered  with  an  acidulous  paste,  which  readily  attacks 
iron  and  steel,  but  galvanized  metal  withstands  the  sulphur 
and  ammonia  well.  Lead-covered,  steel-armored  cable, 
however,  has  been  very  serviceable  in  a  great  many  other 
places. 

CONDUIT  VERSUS   OPEN    WIRING. 

As  compared  with  regular  open  wiring,  such  as  two- 
piece  knobs  and  ordinary  code  wire,  conduit  is  ordinarily 
about  twice  as  expensive. 
As  compared  with  the 
higher  class  of  open  wir- 
ing, such  as  the  inverted 
"tee"  or  the  pin  and  insu- 
lator system  using  3-32- 
in.  rubber-covered  wire,  a 
conduit  installation  is 
cheaper,  the  pin  and  in- 
sulator system  costing 
almost  twice  as  much. 
Comparing  conduit  work 
with  a  job  using  split 
knobs  on  running  boards, 
the  cost  would  be  about 
the  same.  Considering 
all  the  good  points  of  the 
best  open  wiring  and  not 
mentioning  the  hazardous 
ones,  from  an  under- 
writer's viewpoint  a  hot 
galvanized  conduit  instal- 
lation, properly  installed, 
is  at  least  100  per  cent 
better. 


Fig.  44 — Method  of  Avoiding 
Condensation. 


Op  Nofe  Opening' 


Fig.  45 — IVIethod  of   Draining   CondMit. 


INST.\NCES   OF  CONDENSATION    IN    CONDUIT. 

In  order  to  show  the  effect  of  condensation  in  conduit,  it 
may  be  advisable  to  cite  a  few  cases  that  have  actually 
caused  trouble  to  packing-house  installations  in  practice. 
In  these  cases  the  water  was  trapped  in  the  conduit  at  its 
lowest  point  and  in  time  the  insulation  on  the  conductors 


rotted  and  broke  down,  resulting  in  a  short-circuit  or  a 
ground  which  burned  a  hole  in  the  conduit.  The  worst  cases 
have  happened  at  service  entrances.  At  these  points  the 
conductors  enter  the  building  in  conduit,  there  being  no 
fuse  between  the  transformer  and  the  fused  service  switch. 
If  a  short-circuit  or  a  ground  occurred  between  these  two 
devices,  it  would  have  to  burn  itself  clear  either  by  melting 

the  wires  or  by 
puncturing  the  con- 
duit. On  the  other 
hand,  if  water  col- 
lects in  a  conduit 
where  the  circuits 
are  equipped  with 
fuses,  the  fuses  pro- 
vide the  protection 
desired,  in  case  the 
regular  fuse  has  not 
been  replaced  with 
a  strip  of  metal  or 
copper  wire. 

In  one  case  of 
condensation  which 
happened  in  a  base- 
ment ceiling  over  some  boilers,  the  service  wires  in  conduit 
entered  the  building  at  the  ceiling  of  the  first  floor  and 
passed  to  a  fairly  tight  cabinet  in  a  cold  room  on  the  wall 
about  5  ft.  above  the  first  floor,  where  was  installed  the 
fused  service  switch.  The  conduit  ran  from  the  cabinet 
through  the  basement  ceiling  and  along  the  ceiling  over  some 
boilers  to  a  distributing  cabinet.  When  cold  weather  came 
the  fuses  in  the  service  cabinet  blew  continually.  Investiga- 
tion showed  that  some  of  the  conduit  over  the  boilers  was 
full  of  water.  This  was  due  entirely  to  condensation, 
Cold  air  entered  at  the  service  pipe  and  traveled  down 
through  the  service  cabinet,  then  continued  until  it  en- 
countered the  hot  air  in  the  conduit  above  the  boilers.  The 
temperature  in  the  basement  was  very  high  and  on  the  first 
rioor  it  was  very  low,  and  the  consequence  was  that  con- 
densation took  place  when  the  hot  and  cold  air  met.  The 
trouble  was  eliminated  by  providing  an  outlet  box  with  a 
'/2-in.  hole  in  the  cover,  directly  where  the  conduit  entered 
the  ceiling  of  the  basement.     (See  Fig.  41.) 

In  another  case  the  service  wires  entered  a  room  that 
was  very  hot  and  steamy.  The  circuits  for  the  lamps  in  this 
room  were  wired  in  conduit  which  came  from  the  cut-outs 
in  the  main  or  service  cabinet.  The  result  was  that  the  cold 
air  entered  the  service  conduit  from  the  outside  and  trav- 
eled along  until  it  entered  the  cabinet,  and  here  it  dif- 
fused itself  into  all  the  warm  conduits  in  the  room,  the 
condensation  gathering  at  the  lowest  part  of  the  pipe  sys- 
tem. The  trouble  was  remedied  by  providing  an  outlet 
box  at  the  point  where  the  conduit  entered  the  inside  of  the 
room  and  plugging  the  entering  pipe  with  compound.     (See 

Fig-  42.) 

If  conduit  is  bent  around  the  beams  of  a  room  that  is 
steamy  and  is  subjected  to  alternating  temperatures,  con- 
densation is  sure  to  take  place,  and  the  water  will  be  trapped 
at  the  bends.  The  best  remedy  is  to  provide  a  "tee"  con- 
dulet  or  outlet  box  at  the  bend,  to  act  as  a  drain. 

To  drain  conduit  some  electricians  may  attempt  to  drill 
holes  in  the  pipe  at  the  lowest  point  in  the  line.  This  should 
not  be  allowed,  because  a  hole  drilled  through  the  shell  of 
the  conduit  will  expose  the  plain  steel,  which  is  not  gal- 
vanized, and  in  a  very  short  time  the  hole  will  be  corroded 
shut,  thereby  ending  its  usefulness,  and  at  the  same  time 
damaging  the  conduit. 

INSTALLATION   OF   CONDUIT. 

In  the  past  ordinary  conduit  has  been  used  exclusively, 
with  very  good  results,  for  all  signal  wiring  in  the  Chicago 
territory.  It  is  also  understood  that  the  managements  of 
several  large  packing  plants  in  a  Western  city  allow  only 


November  i6,  1912. 


El.  ECTRICAJ.     WORLD 


1051 


conduit  to  be  installed  in  their  plants.  In  New  York  it  is 
claimed  that  exposed  conduit  lasts  from  five  to  seven  years. 
and  if  the  proper  kind  of  conduit  is  used  and  is  properly 
installed  it  should  last  just  as  long  elsewhere.  The  follow- 
ing are  names  of  places  where  conduit  has  been  installed, 
with  remarks  as  to  the  life  and  condition  of  the  conduit: 

Cold-Storage  Warehouse. — Enameled  conduit  was  in- 
stalled seven  years  ago  as  an  experiment.  Some  of  the  con- 
duit was  run  continuously  from  the  cabinet  in  the  passage- 
way where  the  temperature  was  about  68  deg.  Fahr.  to  the 
cold-storage  rooms  having  a  temperature  10  deg.  below 
zero.  Some  of  the  conduit  was  plugged  shut  at  the  parti- 
tion in  the  passageway.  All  the  conduit  is  in  good  condi- 
tion ;  in  fact  it  all  looks  like  new,  and  there  is  no  condensa- 
tion or  corrosion  in  either  case.  This  is  probably  due  to 
the  extreme  cold  condition. 

Cooler  or  Hanging  Rooms. — This  is  a  room  where  the 
cattle  hqng  and  steam  after  being  killed.  Sherardized  con- 
duit is  plugged  at  the  partitions  as  shown  in  Fig.  42.  In 
three  years  no  condensation  or  corrosion  is  visible. 

Tank  Rooms. — In  these  places  the  offal  of  the  plant  is 
boiled  over  into  fertilizer  by  a  process  in  which  sulphur  and 
ammonia  are  used.  The  steam  readily  attacks  metals.  The 
particular  building  in  question  is  constructed  of  reinforced 
concrete.  Exposed  sherardized  and  galvanized  conduit  was 
used  for  wiring  and  was  installed  two  and  one-half  years 
ago.  Ninety  per  cent  of  both  types  approximately  turned 
white  and  are  doing  good  service ;  the  other  10  per  cent  of 
both  types  of  conduit  was  practically  eaten  away.  This 
installation  was  made  in  the  usual  way  and  was  not 
drained  or  plugged.  It  might  be  well  to  bring  out  the 
fact  that  the  90  per  cent  is  holding  out  pretty  well  and  that 
a  long  life  is  assured  after  the  metal  turns  white.  The 
other  ID  per  cent  was  very  easily  replaced  with  little  cost. 

Glue  House. — Thus  far  no  kind  of  conduit,  except  some 
hot  galvanized  water  pipe,  used  as  an  experiment,  has  been 
able  to  withstand  the  attacks  of  fumes  in  this  place.  Every 
kind  of  conduit  on  the  market  was  tried  but  all  corroded 
rapidly.  A  section  of  hot  galvanized  water  pipe  has  been 
in  service  three  years,  and  since  it  has  turned  white  it  will 
probably'last  many  more  years.  This  experiment  has  dem- 
onstrated that  hot  galvanized  pipe  is  what  must  be  installed 
to  withstand  successfully  the  severest  conditions  encoun- 
tered in  packing-house  work. 

Borax  Mill. — About  three  years  ago  a  room  in  which 
borax  liquid  is  allowed  to  steam  and  crystallize  was  wired 
in  enameled  conduit.  The  installation  is  still  in  excellent 
condition  and  no  corrosion  whatever  is  visible. 

Canning  Department. — A  canning  department  was  wired 
with  enameled  conduit  and  cast-iron  boxes  seven  years  ago. 
Very  recent  inspection  revealed  that  the  conduit  was  only 
slightly  attacked  over  the  boiling  tanks.  The  rest  was  in 
excellent  condition. 

Pickling  Department. — In  this  place  salt  water  is  con- 
tinually condensed  on  the  ceilings  and  walls.  Enameled 
conduit  and  galvanized  conduit  have  been  installed  fifteen 
months  and  drained  as  shown  in  Fig.  43.  Both  are  in 
excellent  condition,  and  no  grounds  have  occurred  yet.  In 
another  instance  lead-sheathed,  flexible-steel  armored  con- 
ductors have  been  in  use  over  thirty  months  and  are  still  in 
very  good  condition. 

Fertilizer  Rooms. — Several  are  wired  in  conduit  but  not 
in  damp  or  wet  places.  Any  first-grade  conduit  should  give 
good  satisfaction.  Wet  fertilizer  attacks  all  conduits  very 
readily. 

Hair  House. — Conduit  has  given  good  results  with  cast- 
iron  boxes,  except  in  dyeing  rooms  or  in  damp  places.  With 
hot  galvanized  conduit,  properly  drained,  it  should  be  feasi- 
ble to  wire  every  part  of  a  hair  house  in  conduit. 

Olco  and  Oil  Houses. — Conduit  gives  excellent  results 
wherever  there  is  plenty  of  grease.  Over  the  scrap  kettles 
steam  had  caused  some  trouble,  but  if  the  proper  conduit  is 
employed  and  drained  no  trouble  should  ensue. 


TUNGSTEN    POST    FOR    KANSAS    CITY'S 
WAY"    LIGHTING. 


"WHITE 


Seven  miles  of  Kansas  City's  downtown  streets  are  at 
present  lighted  by  1500  trolley-post  brackets,  each  carrying 
three  150-watt  tungsten  lamps  in  a  single  clear-glass  inclos- 
ing globe,  besides  one  i6-cp  carbon 
unit  pointed  upward.  For  several 
years  a  more  ornamental  fixture  has 
been  sought  by  leading  citizens,  and 
as  the  result  of  recent  competitive 
exhibits  an  official  design  has  now 
Ijeen  selected.  To  this  pattern  all 
future  installations  will  be  required 
to  conform  in  order  to  receive  a  city 
permit.  The  approved  design  is  il- 
lustrated herewith,  and  was  submit- 
ted by  the  Tilk  Ornamental  Iron 
Works  Company,  Kansas  City. 
Messrs.  Wilde  &  Wight,  architects, 
designed  the  post.  The  patterns 
have,  however,  been  acquired  by  the 
city  so  that  the  manufacture  of  the 
posts  will  be  thrown  open  to  all. 
While,  of  course,  local  property 
owners  can  in  no  way  be  forced  to 
substitute  for  their  present  fixtures 
posts  of  the  new  design,  it  is  the 
plan  that,  as  from  time  to  time  new 
installations  are  erected  or  old  ones 
replaced,  these  approved  patterns 
shall  be  employed,  resulting  ulti- 
mately in  a  uniform  ornamental 
lighting  system  for  the  entire  city. 

The  designs  accepted  from  the 
competitive  exhibits  submitted  in- 
clude both  complete  five-lamp  stand- 
ards and  bracket  arms  for  trolley 
posts.  The  standards,  to  be  used  on 
struts  without  trolley  lines,  are  of 
slender  and  graceful  proportions  and 
carry  five  upturned  loo-watt  lamps 
13  ft.  above  the  sidewalk.  The 
base  is  13  in.  in  diameter,  and  the  distance  measured 
across  the  pairs  of  smaller  lo-in.  globes  is  2  ft.  10  in. 
Delivered  at  the  curb  and  completely  equipped  these  five- 
lamp  standards  will  cost  $50  each.  This  outlay  is  met 
by  the  abutting  property  owners.  The  Kansas  City  Electric 
Light  Company  will  make  the  installations  and  will  be  paid 
by  the  city  $32.50  per  post  per  year  as  at  present. 

The  selection  of  the  Kansas  City  "white-way"  designs 
was  made  by  a  committee  representing  local  improvement 
associations,  the  Municipal  Art  League  and  city  officials. 
After  a  comparison  of  upturned  and  down-pointed  lamps 
the  committee  chose  the  inverted  units  as  shown. 


Tungsten  Standard  for 
Kansas  City. 


LICENSING  JOURNEYMEN   WIREMEN  AT  OMAHA. 


For  a  number  of  years  all  electrical  contractors  doing 
business  in  Omaha,  Neb.,  have  been  required  by  the  city 
electrical  department  to  submit  to  examination  as  to  their 
competency  before  receiving  the  license  which  is  demanded 
of  those  doing  electrical  work.  The  same  plan  of  licensing 
has  during  the  present  year  been  extended  to  journeymen, 
who  are  now  required  to  pass  an  examination  consisting  of 
oral  questions  propounded  by  members  of  an  examining 
board.  This  board  is  made  up  of  a  contractor,  a  journey- 
man and  the  city  electrician,  Mr.  Waldemar  Michaelsen. 
An  applicant  for  a  journeyman's  license  must  first  give 
evidence  of  three  years'  practical  experience  as  a  wire- 
man's  helper.     The   fee  for  examination  and  permit  is  $1, 


1052 


ELECTRICAL     W'ORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  20. 


renewals  of  an  existing  permit  being  made  for  50  cents 
from  year  to  year  without  furtlier  examination.  In  case 
an  applicant  fails  on  examination  he  can  appear  again 
after  six  months  for  re-examination.  The  board  meets  once 
a  month,  and  its  inquiries  are  chietly  of  a  practical  nature 
designed  to  ascertain  whether  the  applicant  knows  the 
essentials  of  the  wiring  craft.  The  city  ordinance  pre- 
scribes a  fine  of  $10  for  any  journeyman  doing  electrical 
work  without  a  license. 


COMBINED  LIGHTING  AND  POWER  DISTRIBUTION 
WITH  LIGHTING  VOLTAGE  REGULATION. 


By  using  open-delta  transformer  groupings  for  supplying 
its  motor  customers  and  at  the  same  time  regulating  one  of 
these  phases  for  lighting  distribution,  the  Lawrence  (Kan.) 
Railway  &  Light  Company  makes  a  pair  of  transformers  do 
the   work,   which   usually   requires    four   or   more.     As   the 


VIADUCT  LIGHTING  AT  DES  MOINES. 


Hardly  a  bridge,  viaduct  or  other  roadway  structure  is 
now  designed  or  built  w-ithout  being  completely  equipped 
with  tungsten  lighting  posts  at  every  convenient  pillar  or 
balustrade.  The  effect  is  beautiful  both  by  day  and  by 
night  and  contributes 
also  to  a  higher  stand- 
ard of  illumination  that 
was  much  needed  on 
older  structures  of  the 
kind.  The  new  Seventh 
Street  viaduct  crossing 
the  railroad  yards  at 
Des  Moines,  la.,  is  of 
reinforced  concrete, 
nearly  1500  ft.  long 
and  40  ft.  high.  At 
intervals  of  75  ft.  along 
the  massive  balustrade 
are  mounted  6  -  ft. 
pressed  -  steel  lamp 
standards,  each  carry- 
ing a  single  lamp  in- 
closed in  a  i6-in.  frost- 
ed ball.  Altogether 
there  are  thirty-eight 
of  these  single-lamp  posts,  while  eight  four-lamp  posts 
mark  the  limits  of  the  inclined  approaches,  two  being  placed 
at  the  upper  and  lower  ends  of  the  ascents. 


Seventh  Street  Viaduct  at  Des  Moines 


ST.  LOUIS  "WHITE  WAY"  LAMP. 


On  Oct.  I  the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company 
of  St.  Louis  began  a  campaign  for  the  introduction  of  a 
tungsten  lamp  fixture  of  its  own  design  which  it  styles  the 
"St.    Louis    White    Way    lamp,"    and    which    is    illustrated 


St.    Lou:s   "White   Way"    Lamp. 

herewith.  The  lamp  used  is  of  250,  400  or  500-watt  size. 
The  outfit  is  put  out  on  a  maintenance  basis  of  $1.50  a 
month,  without  charge  for  installation,  the  customer  paying 
also  for  the  energy  consumed.  The  fixture  is  also  sold 
outright,  installed  and  connected  to  existing  wiring.  The 
fixture  is  particularly  effective  in  displacing  the  so-called 
"gas  arcs"  for  both  outside  and  inside  service. 


Hunil-  f  r 
Operated  J  J 
Kceulator--<K<iJ 


West  Circiliit  Ei 

Open-Delta 

Tr-aDsform- 

*Wv/4'W\/<_/     ers      x^kw/iWkft 


/^A^/W^^/^/^ 


220-7011  Three- 
Phase  Motor 
Sen-ice 


110  110 


220-Volt  Three- 

Pha-^e  Motor 

Service 


EUietrieal  W,trLi 


Combined   Lighting  and   Power   Distribution   with   Regulated 
Lighting. 

motor  loads  carried  are  small,  the  lighting-feeder  regula- 
tion obtained  is  thoroughly  satisfactory  and  the  lighting 
phases  are  so  rotated  as  to  balance  the  system.  The  east 
and  west  circuits  shown  in  the  sketch  are  brought  up  alleys 
in  their  respective  sides  of  town,  the  third  line  being  a  long 
feeder  which  delivers  bus  voltage  to  North  Lawrence, 
Northwest  Lawrence  and  Haskell,  outlying  districts. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


INTERCOMMUNICATING   SYSTE.MS. 

Two  patents  for  intercommunicating  systems  have  been 
granted  to  Mr.  E.  R.  Corwin,  of  Chicago,  the  patents  being 
assigned  to  the  Corwin  Telephone  IManufacturing  Com- 
pany. In  both  of  these  systems  a  relay  is  introduced  at  each 
station  to  prevent  the  connection  of  any  calling  station  with 
a  busy  terminal.  In  one  case  the  relay  controls  by  switching 
the  electrical  connections,  and  in  the  other  it  controls 
through  a  mechanical  engagement  of  its  armature  with  the 
switching  keys  to  block  their  action. 

PARTY-LINE  DETECTOR. 

Party-line  subscribers  are  annoyed  at  times  because  of 
undesired  stations  coming  in  on  the  connections.  It  is  the 
object  of  the  device  patented  by  Mr.  M.  M.  Wentworth,  of 
Last  Denmark,  Maine,  to  notify  those  using  a  party  line 
when  persons  at  other  stations  listen  to  the  conversation  and 
to  display  a  signal  indicating  just  what  station  has  cut  in. 
This  is  accomplished  by  causing  the  rising  switch-hook  to 
operate  a  signal  bell  at  its  own  station.  The  bell  hammer  is 
driven  by  a  slow-moving  sector,  the  projections  on  the  sector 
being  arranged  so  that  a  code  signal  is  given.  The  signal  is 
picked  up  and  impressed  on  the  line  by  the  transmitter  at  its 
own  station. 

TRANSMITTERS   AND   RECEIVERS. 

There  have  been  many  transmitters  designed  with  a  link- 
age between  the  diaphragm  and  the  microphone  button.  In 
the  transmitter  designed  by  Mr.  G.  R.  Morris,  of  Buffalo, 
the  linkage  consists  of  a  spring  formed  into  a  square  frame- 
work. One  corner  of  this  framework  is  attached  to  the 
middle  of  the  diaphragm,  an  opposite  corner  being  attached 
to  the  rear  or  bridge  piece.  To  the  two  remaining  corners 
two  inwardly  projecting  studs  are  attached  which  are  se- 
cured to  the  two  electrodes  of  the  microphone  button.    The 


November  i6,  1912, 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1053 


plane  of  the  microphoiie  is  vertical  and  at  right  angles  to 
the  diaphragm.  When  the  diaphragm  is  deflected  the  dis- 
tortion of  the  spring  frame  causes  the  microphone  electrodes 
to  approach  or  recede  from  each  other  as  the  case  may  be. 
An  advantage  claimed  for  this  type  of  transmitter  is  that 
the  efficiency  is  not  affected  by  raising  or  lowering  the 
transmitter  arm. 

Mr.  S.  S.  Sonneborn,  of  Brooklyn,  has  obtained  a  patent 
for  a  special  mouthpiece  for  transmitters  designed  to  im- 
prove the  sanitary  conditions.  The  mouthpiece  is  very  flat 
and  is  arranged  to  screw  into  the  face  of  the  transmitter  in 
the  usual  manner.  The  opening  in  the  mouthpiece  is  a  flat 
cone  with  the  apex  terminating  in  a  small  hole.  A  second 
conical-shaped  opening  is  formed  in  the  rear  of  the  mouth- 
piece so  that  its  apex  will  register  with  that  of  the  front 
opening.  It  is  claimed  by  the  inventor  that  with  this  ar- 
rangement there  is  very  little  restriction  of  the  sound  in 
passing  through  the  very  short  length  of  small  bore.  Fur- 
ther, the  transmitter  mouthpiece  is  so  flat  that  it  may  be 
wiped  off  without  any  difficulty. 

The  receiver  patented  by  IMr.  C.  T.  Mason,  of  Sumter, 
S.  C,  is  of  the  metal-shell  hand-telephone  type.  The  novelty 
lies  in  mounting  the  working  parts  upon  a  cup  of  insulating 
material  which  becomes  secured  within  the  cap  end  of  the 
shell  when  the  cap  is  screwed  on.  The  small  end  of  the 
shell  through  which  the  cords  pass  terminates  in  a  small 
block  of  insulating  material.  The  block  is  shaped  to  proper 
contour  and  is  so  massive  as  to  be  free  from  liability  of 
breakage.  By  this  construction  the  metal  casing  is  kept 
clear  of  contact  with  the  electrical  circuits  and  parts.  This 
patent  is  assigned  to  the  Sumter  Telephone  Manufacturing 
Company. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


THE  EDISON  LABEL. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — The  article  "Generating  Energy  at  Coal  Mines" 
in  your,  issue  of  Sept.  28  is  of  interest  in  a  number  of  ways, 
not  the  least  of  which  is  its  contribution  to  what  may  be 
termed  the  "Edison  tradition" ;  that  is,  the  rapidly  grow- 
ing custom  to  ascribe  all  important  inventions  and  improve- 
ments to  Edison  however  they  may  originate. 

In  the  above-mentioned  article  the  idea  of  utilizing  at 
the  mine  pit  for  the  generation  of  electric  power  in  a  plant 
having  two  750-hp  cross-compound  engines  the  coal  which 
is  ordinarily  wasted  is  credited  to  Edison,  and  the  pilgrim- 
age of  a  Canadian  senator  and  an  ex-member  of  the 
Canadian  Parliament  to  the  New  Jersey  Mecca  is  described. 
The  result  was  the  beginning  of  service,  in  the  presence  of 
many  distinguished  guests,  July  31,  1907,  the  ceremonies 
being  suitably  honored  by  a  telegram  from  the  "great  in- 
ventor," a  blessing  as  it  were  from  a  cardinal  of  industry. 

It  is  of  particular  interest  to  note  that  date,  July  31,  1907. 
Two  years  earlier  the  writer  described  in  the  technical 
press  the  installation  of  a  io,ooo-hp  steam  turbine,  the 
largest  steam  turbine  built  up  to  that  time,  in  an  electric 
power  plant  at  Essen,  Germany,  erected  for  the  utilization 
of  waste  coal.  This  turbine  was  installed  as  an  additional 
unit,  the  plant  already  containing  several  reciprocating  en- 
gines which  had  been  utilizing  steam  from  waste  coal  for 
the  generation  of  electric  energy  for  a  number  of.  years, 
or  long  before  the  tentacles  of  the  "Edison  tradition"  had 
grown  up  around  the  idea. 

This  was  by  no  means  the  only  plant  in  the  mining  dis- 
trict in  which  it  was  located  built  for  the  purpose  of 
utilizing  run-of-mine  coal.  Such  utilization  dates  back,  in 
fact,  io  about  1891,  when  the  first  high-tension  transmission 
system  was  erected  between  the  Rheinfalls  and  Frankfort- 
on-the-Main  for  the  exhibition  at  Frankfort.  This  system 
was   the   model    for   subsequent    high-tension    transmission 


systems  all  over  the  world.    Possibly,  however,  the  Edison 
label  will  soon  be  attached  to  this  invention  also. 

The  mine  power  plants  in  the  Rhenish-Westphalian  in- 
dustrial district  run  in  parallel  with  gas-engine  plants  utiliz- 
ing the  waste  gases  of  cupola  ovens  and  other  furnaces,  an 
idea  which,  when  it  is  finally  adopted  in  America,  will, 
judging  from  previous  performances,  no  doubt  receive,  very 
impartially,  the  "Edison"  hallmark. 

A  conspicuous  example  of  the  pervasive  qualities  of  the 
"Edison  tradition"  is  seen  in  the  name  being  given  to  the 
tungsten  lamp,  a  foreign  invention,  as  is  well  known  to  the 
engineering  profession,  but  not  as  well  known  to  the  gen- 
eral public.  For  reasons  that  are  not  well  known,  the  name 
tungsten,  which  is  that  of  the  principal  element  of  the 
filament,  has  been  more  or  less  side-tracked,  as  far  as  it 
has  been  within  the  abilities  of  those  interested  to  change 
a  great  public  recognition  of  an  important  invention  by 
attempting  to  dislodge  a  word  that  the  public  has  universally 
adopted  and  which  has  become  embedded  in  the  language, 
and  the  arbitrary  word  "Mazda"  has  been  substituted  as  the 
first  step  away  from  tungsten,  while  the  "Edison-Mazda" 
is  beginning  to  appear.  No  doubt  finally  both  "Mazda"  and 
tungsten  will  be  dropped  and  the  "Edison  tradition"  will 
be  restored  to  its  time-honored  position  in  regard  to  lamps. 
The  later  tungsten  lamp  will  probably  become  the  new 
Edison  lamp,  while  the  present  will  be  known  as  the  old 
Edison  lamp. 

In  the  immediate  past  the  curtain  has  suddenly  risen  on 
a  well-set  rural  scene,  the  "Edison"  farm.  It  has  been 
discussed  before  engineering  societies  and  in  the  public 
prints,  and  the  latter  report  that  Edison  is  equipping  his 
country  house  with  all  kinds  of  electrical  devices.  '  Evi- 
dently electric  farming  in  the  United  States  is  marked  out 
for  the  "Edison"  label.  Yet  on  page  489  of  your  issue  of 
Sept.  16,  1905,  some  seven  years  ago,  under  the  heading  of 
"Electricity  in  Agriculture,"  Mr.  E.  W.  Baker,  of  Barry, 
111.,  directed  attention  to  the  slow  progress  in  the  United 
States  in  the  adaptation  of  electricity  to  agriculture,  while 
in  other  countries,  notably  Germany,  rapid  advances  have 
been  made.  Mr.  Baker  stated  that  from  1893  to  1901  he  had 
searched  the  index  of  the  Electrical  World  and  Engineer 
for  notices  of  electric  plowing  and  found  many  references, 
but  all  to  "trials  made  in  Germany,"  and  concluded:  "I 
think  it  high  time  that  this  odious  German  label  should  be 
removed  in  a  branch  of  applied  science  where  otherwise 
we  Americans  stand  first." 

Since  that  time  (1905)  I  have  endeavored  in  a  modest 
way  to  arouse  interest  in  electric  farming  in  this  country 
by  means  of  articles  in  the  technical  and  general  press  and 
in  other  ways,  by  reporting  progress  and  results  under 
practical  working  conditions  abroad  where  electric  farming 
is  carried  on  to  a  large  extent  as  it  has  been  carried  on  for 
nearly  twenty  years.  Nevertheless,  the  first  electric  plow 
has  yet  to  turn  a  furrow  in  the  United  States,  though  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  acres  have  been  plowed  by  electricity 
abroad. 

If,  however,  any  small  efiforts  of  mine  have  been  the  cause 
of  attracting  the  attention  of  the  "Edison  tradition"  to 
electric  farming — for  a  long  while  I  was  practically  alone 
in  calling  attention  to  the  subject — I  shall  feel  honored  in 
having  made  tliat  contribution  to  an  ever  increasing  con- 
vention. I  shall  gladly  join  the  ranks  of  those  whose  ideas 
have  gone  to  build  up  the  marvelous  figure  of  the  inventive 
superman. 

New  York.  Frank  Koester. 


[An  examination  of  Patent  Office  records  will  show  that 
the  reputation  of  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison  as  an  indefatigable 
inventor  of'  devices  for  improving  the  condition  of  man- 
kind is  based  on  facts  and  not  fiction.  The  records  furnish, 
if  not  a  justification,  at  least  an  explanation  of  the  tendencv 
on  the  part  of  the  general  public  to  consider  the  word 
"Edison"  as  synonymous  with  electrical  invention. — Eds.] 


IOS4 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  20. 


Digest  of  Current  Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

The  Conversion  of  Three-Phase  Into  Single-Phase  Cur- 
rents of  Triple  Frequency.- — F.  Spinelli. — An  illustrated 
description  of  a  stationary  transformer  which  fulfils  simul- 
taneously three  functions:  transformation  of  the  voltage, 
transformation  of  three-phase  into  single-phase  currents, 
and  tripling  of  the  frequency.  If  the  secondaries  of  three 
single-phase  transformers  are  joined  in  series  (Fig.  l)  and 
their  primaries  are  respectively  excited  by  the  three  current^ 

Three-phase 
Frequency's  n 


Single-phase 
Frequeiicy=3n 


Fig.    1  —  Diagram   of  Connections. 


of  a  three-phase  system,  and  if  tlie  cores  of  the  trans- 
formers are  not  supersaturated  and  the  primary  currents 
are  rigorously  sinusoidal,  no  potential  difference  will  appear 
at  the  terminals  of  the  series  of  those  secondaries.  The 
three  emfs  neutralize  themselves  at  each  instant.  But  if 
the  iron  is  strongly  supersaturated  those  terminals  show  a 
potential  difference  of  triple  the  frequency  of  the  primary 
three-phase  currents.  Fig.  2  gives  a  diagram  of  the  three- 
phase  current  waves  when  the  magnetic  core  is  strongly 
saturated  and  their  summation  in  form  of  the  shaded  area. 
Since  in  the  secondary  circuit,  constituted  by  three  distinct 
coils,  there  are  always  two  concordant  emfs  and  one  in 
opposition,  there  results  a  notable  fall  of  voltage  as  soon 
as  the  secondary  is  closed  through  an  external  work  circuit. 
To  get  rid  of  this  defect  the  transformer  must  be  so  de- 
signed as  to  have  a  single  magnetic  mass,  comprising,  for 
instance,  four  cores,  three  of  which  serve  as  primaries  and 
the  fourth  as  a  secondary.  Thus,  instead  "of  adding  up  the 
emfs  of  three  distinct  secondary  circuits,  we  shall  add  up 
the  fluxes  of  three  magnetic  circuits,  obtaining  a  resultant 
flux  of  thrice  the  frequency  of  the  single  component  fluxes. 
The  result  will  be  a  single  emf  proportional  to  that  resultant 
magnetic  flux,  linked  with  the  turns  of  the  secondary.  Such 
a  special  transformer  offers  no  constructional  difficulties, 
for  it  consists  substantially  of  the  union  of  three  single-phase 
transformers  with  a  core  split  up  into  three  by  cuts  at 
120  deg.,  as  indicated  in  Fig.  3.  The  apparatus  is  useful 
for  three-phase  traction  systems  in  which  a  frequency  of 
15  cycles  is  used,  and  single-phase  current  at  45  cycles  is 
employed  for  lighting  the  railwav  stations.    Another  advan- 


Fig.  2 — Three-Phase-Current  Waves  with   IMagnetic   Core   Strongly 
Saturated. 

tage  is  easily  obtained  with  the  new  type  of  machine  in 
electric-lighting  plants.  This  is  a  constant  potential  differ- 
ence at  the  terminals  of  the  secondary,  even  in  those  prac- 
tically frequent  cases  where  the  effective  primary  three- 
phase  potential  difference  is  subject  to  considerable  fluctua- 
tions. This  result  depends  upon  the  same  principle  as  that 
on    which    the    transformer    is    based,    namely,    the    super- 


saturation  of  the  magnetic  core. — London  Electrician,  Oct. 
25.   1912. 

Single-Phase    Induction     Motor. — Robert     Moser. — The 
conclusion  of  his  mathematical  paper  illustrated  by  diagrams 


sformer  of 
and  Frequency 


Fig.    3 — Diagram    Showing    Special    Transformer. 

on  the  theory  of  the  single-phase  induction  motor.  The 
author  deals  with  the  graphical  determination  of  the  me- 
chanical power  and  the  rotor  losses,  the  changes  of  energy 
in  the  motor,  and  then  discusses  some  specially  characteristic 
points  of  the  circular  diagram.  After  some  notes  on  the 
graphical  determination  of  speed  and  torque,  he  finally  deals  - 
with  the  practical  application  of  the  circular  diagram. — 
Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  Oct.  27,  1912. 

Small  Split-Phase  Induction  Motors. — B.  Lester. — An 
article  giving  a  diagram  for  determining  the  relative  char- 
acteristics of  small  split-phase  induction  motors  and  de- 
scribing the  application  of  this  diagram  for  solving  the  fol- 
lowing problems:  From  horse-power  and  speed  at  full-load 
to  determine  full-load  torque;  from  the  speed  to  determine 
the  horse-power  at  maximum  torque ;  from  horse-power  and 
efficiency  to  find  the  true  watts ;  from  the  true-watts  input, 
the  power-factor  and  the  voltage  to  find  the  current  per 
phase  lead. — Elec.  Journal,  November,  1912. 

Cascade  Motor. — J.  R.  Catterson-Smith. — An  article 
illustrated  by  vector  diagrams  on  the  principle  of  operation 
of  the  Hunt  cascade  motor. — London  Electrician.  Oct.  25, 
1912. 

Commutation. — Karl  Pichelmever. — The  first  part  of  a 
mathematical  paper  on  certain  points  in  the  theory  of  com- 
mutation and  the  agreement  between  the  formulas  used  and 
experimental  facts. — Elek.  Zcit.,  Oct.  24,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Tungsten  Fil<iments  on  Alternating  Current. — Lancelot 
W.  Wild. — \n  account  of  experiments  made  with  a  strobo- 
photometer  to  determine  how  the  light  emitted  from  in- 
candescent filaments  on  alternating  current  follows  the  cur- 
rent and  voltage  waves.  In  the  photometer  the  lamp  under 
test  is  maintained  in  a  fixed  position,  while  about  J^  in. 
from  it  is  a  stationary  Bunsen  disk,  the  boundary  between 
the  opaque  and  translucent  portions  being  a  vertical  line, 
which  is  viewed  at  45  deg.,  but  on  one  side  only.  Between 
the  Bunsen  disk  and  the  lamp  is  a  cardboard  disk,  driven 
synchronously  by  a  two-pole  motor  with  H  armature  and 
commutator,  which  has  two  diametrically  opposite  sector- 
shaped  gaps  covering  an  arc  of  about  5  deg.  The  motor 
will  run  non-synchronously  if  desired,  so  that  the  average 
instantaneous  value  of  the  candle-power  is  measured  when 
the  comparison  lamp  is  brought  up  to  the  position  of  balance 
in  the  usual  wav.     When  svnchronism  is  obtained,  however. 


November  i6,  igi2. 


ET.  ECTRICAL     WORLD 


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the  motor  has  a  marked  tendency  to  remain  in  step.  A 
number  of  lamps  of  different  voltage  and  candle-power  were 
selected  and  calibrated  at  1.3  watts  per  cp.  The  current 
and  the  maximum,  minimum  and  mean  instantaneous  values 
of  the  candle-power  at  25  cycles  were  measured.  It  was 
found  that  for  a  range  of  from  o.i  amp  to  0.65  amp  the 
maximum  instantaneous  candle-power  was  1.58  times  the 
mean  for  tlie  finest  filament  and  1. 1 1  for  the  stoutest.     The 


J)  le 

I 


Fig.    4 — Curve    Showing    Fluctuation    of    Candle-Powep   Over    a 
Complete  Cycle. 

minimum  ranged  from  0.44  to  0.90.  The  finest  filament  was 
tested  at  50  cycles,  when  the  fluctuation  was  practically 
half  that  at  25  cycles.  The  curve  in  Fig.  4  is  for  the  same 
lamp  taken  through  a  complete  cycle,  and  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  the  height  of  the  peak  is  greater  than  the  depth  of  the 
valley,  to  make  up  for  which  the  width  of  the  valley  is 
greater.  The  curve  shows  that  the  mean  value  of  the  candle- 
power  can  hardly  be  expected  to  be  independent  of  the 
frequency.  The  lamp  was  found  to  give  an  increase  in 
horizontal  candle-power  of  0.7  per  cent  at  50  cycles  and 
2.5  per  cent  at  25  cycles  over  that  obtained  with  direct 
current.  No  change  to  within  one  part  in  1000  in  the  watts 
was  observed.  A  thicker  filament  gave  similar  variations. 
Owing  to  the  changes  in  temperature  there  follow  changes 
in  resistance,  so  that  a  difference  between  the  current  and 
pressure  waves  would  be  expected.  On  testing  for  this  it 
was  found  that  the  pressure  wave  had  an  amplitude  factor 
of  1.435  3nd  the  current  wave  one  of  1.430.  The  two 
waves  were  coincident  at  zero,  but  the  current  was  led  by 
4  deg.  at  the  higher  values,  the  average  lead  being  about 
2  deg.  and  the  eft'ective  lead  about  3  deg.  The  lamp  was 
then  connected  in  series  with  a  wattmeter  whose  shunt  coil 
was  energized  by  a  quadrature  winding  in  the  alternator. 
A  Eureka  resistance  taking  exactly  the  same  current  was 
substituted  for  the  lamp,  and  the  change  in  the  wattmeter 
reading  was  found  to  be  equivalent  to  a  phase  angle  of 
just  2  deg.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  tungsten  lamps 
take  what  practically  amounts  to  a  leading  current,  while 
carbon  lamps,  having  a  negative  temperature-resistance  co- 
efficient, should  take  a  slightly  lagging  current. — Journal  of 
{British)  Inst.  Elcc.  Eng.,  abstracted  in  London  Elec. 
Eng'ing,  Oct.  24,  19 1 2. 

Temperature  of  Sources  of  Light. — H.  Buisson  and  C. 
Fabry.— The  question  whether  high  temperature  alone  is 
capable  of  producing  luminosity  of  a  gas  has  been  answered 
differently  by  different  authors.  The  authors  argue  that  a 
study  of  the  length  of  the  rays  emitted  furnishes  indica- 
tions, if  not  of  the  origin  of  radiation,  yet  at  least  of  the 
real  temperature  of  luminous  gases.  Thus  in  the  Geissler 
tube  luminous  gas  is  at  the  same  temperature  as  the  outside 
and  its  radiation  caYinot  be  considered  to  be  of  thermic 
origin.  Some  further  notes  on  the  wave-lengths  and  the 
temperatures  in  Cooper  Hewitt  lamps  and  in  arcs  between 
iron  electrodes  are  added. — Comptes  Rendus,  May  20;  La 
Lumicre  Elec,  Oct.  19,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Balanced  Electric  Power  Distribution  System. — With  all 
electrical  systems  of  power  generation  and  transmission 
using  current  generated  at  a  constant  voltage  considerable 
losses  take   place  where   electric   motors   have  to   be   fre- 


quently started,  stopped  and  run  at  various  speeds.  The 
"paragon"  balanced-power  system  is  described  and  certain 
advantages  are  claimed  for  it.  In  this  system  the  con- 
tinuous current  is  generated  and  distributed  at  various 
voltages.  By  means  of  a  controller  the  motor  armatures 
receive  at  starting  a  low  voltage,  and  during  the  time  of 
acceleration  up  to  full  speed  the  pressure  is  changed  across 
the  motor  armature  until  the  motor  is  receiving  its  full 
voltage  and  is  running  at  its  full  speed.  The  fields  of  both 
the  generating  system  and  the  motors  are  separately  ex- 
cited, and  the  whole  control  is  carried  out  by  varying  the 
voltage  across  the  armature.  Further,  regeneration  is  pro- 
vided for,  since  when  loads  are  being  lowered  or  when  the 
machines  or  motors  are  being  stopped  the  kinetic  energy 
in  the  moving  masses  of  both  motor  and  load  or  machinery 
is  recuperated  in  the  form  of  electrical  energy  and  returned 
to  the  busbars  to  be  used  by  any  motors  that  are  in  use  at 
the  time.  In  the  particular  lay-out  shown  in  Fig.  5  the 
system  comprises  several  machines  coupled  mechanically 
together  and  driven  by  the  prime  mover  at  constant  speed. 
They  are  also  electrically  coupled  together,  as  shown  in  the 
diagram  of  electrical  connections.  The  prime-generator  is 
marked  D,  and  the  other  machines,  or  booster-transformers, 
are  marked  E,  F  and  G.  There  are  in  this  case  seven  com- 
mutators, marked  i,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6  and  7,  and  the  fields  of 
the  generating  system  are  separately  excited  by  means  of 
shunt  coils  marked  5".  This  shunt  is  only  sufficient  to  keep 
the  field  stable,  or  reasonably  so.  The  various  armatures 
are  marked  A,  and  the  series  field  coils  C.  A  floating  bat- 
tery of  accumulators  is  across  the  motor-field  supply,  and 
also  the  armature  of  the  prime-generator  D,  thereby  main- 
taining constant  field  strength  for  the  motors.  There  are 
eight  distributing  cables  or  busbars,  consisting  of  one  com- 
mon negative  and  seven  positive  conductors  at  seven  differ- 
ent voltages.  Assuming  that  the  installation  has  been 
arranged  for  the  full  power  and  speed  of  the  motors  to  be 
at,  say,  350  volts,  the  four  machines  contribute  to  this 
voltage.  From  the  negative  end  the  prime  generator  D 
gives  50  volts;  to  this  the  booster-transformer  E  adds  50 
volts  from  each  of  the  commutators  2  and  3.  so  that  a 
pressure  of  either  100  or  150  volts  is  available.  The  booster- 
transformers  F  and  G  similarly  add  50  volts  from  each  of 
the  commutators,  so  that  additional  pressures  of  350,  300, 
250  and  200  volts  are  available,  as  well  as  the  100  and  150 
volts  just  mentioned.  The  whole  combination,  therefore, 
can  supply  through  the  various  cables  direct  to  the  motor 
armatures  either  50,  100,  150,  200,  250,  300  or  350  volts, 
and  by  means  of  the  hand  controllers  seven  speeds,  forward 
or  reverse,  are  available  for  each  motor.  Only  the  armature 
current  is  handled  by  the  controllers,  the  field  currents  of 
both  generators  and  motors  being  supplied  from  the  cells. 
These  cells  need  be  of  only  small  output.    The  greater  part 


Fig.  5 — D.agratn   Showing   Balanced   Distribution  System. 

of  the  field  current  comes  from  the  armature  of  the  prime 
generator  D. — London  Electrician,  Oct.  25,  1912. 

Utilication  of  the  Po.^er  of  the  Tides. — E.  F.  G.  Pein. — 
The  conclusion  of  his  illustrated  paper  read  before  the 
German  Association  of  Electrical  Engineers  on  the  pro- 
posed power  plant  at  Husum  for  the  utilization  of  the  power 
of  the  tides  in  the  German  North  Sea.  The  plant  is  to  have 
a  minimum  rating  of  6000  hp,  and  if  the  power  is  to  be  used 


1056 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  Xo.  20. 


for  less  than  twenty-four  hours  a  day  more  than  8500  hp 
will  be  available.  A  comparison  of  the  plant  with  a  modern 
steam-turbine  plant  shows  that  the  water-power  plant  mak- 
ing use  of  the  tides  is  more  expensive  than  the  steam- 
turbine  plant  if  the  power  is  used  for  less  than  2700  hours 
a  year,  but  gives  cheaper  power  if  used  for  more  than  2700 
hours. — Elck.  Zcit.,  Oct.  24,  1912. 

Alternating-Current  Distributing  System. — A  note  on  a 
recent  British  patent  (Xo.  12,682,  Oct.  17,  1912)  of  S.  D. 
Sprong  and  W.  E.  McCoy.  Secondary  mains  supplied  with 
energy  through  few  and  large  transformers  are  provided. 
The  objection  to  this  method  as  it  stands  is  that  should  one 
transformer  burn  out  or  be  short-circuited  energy  would 
be  fed  to  the  fault  by  the  other  transformers  until  the  pro- 
tecting fuses  blow.  To  overcome  this,  two  transformers. 
one  the  ordinary  step-down  and  the  other  with  three  coils. 
are  connected  between  the  primary  and  secondary  mains. 
Two  of  the  coils  of  the  latter  mutually  neutralize  one  an- 
other and  are  connected  respectively  in  series  with  the 
primary  and  secondary  coils  of  the  other  transformer.  A 
fuse  is  connected  at  one  end  of  the  secondary  coil,  at  an 
intermediate  point  to  a  secondary  terminal  of  the  other 
transformer  and  between  both  terminals  of  the  third  coil, 
thus  short-circuiting  the  third  coil  and  having  a  portion  ot 
its  length  between  the  terminals  of  the  third  coil  included 
in  the  secondary  circuit. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Oct.  24, 
1912.    (See  also  Electrical  World,  Oct.  5  and  Oct.  19.) 

Sources  of  Energy  Available  for  Pozver. — H.  S.  Hele- 
Shaw. — His  presidential  address  before  the  British  Asso- 
ciation of  Engineers  in  Charge.  The  author  deals  with  the 
various  sources  of  energy  available  for  power  generation, 
particularly  the  coal  supply,  mineral  oils,  water  and  wind 
power,  and  heat  derived  from  the  earth  itself.  He  points 
out  that  of  these  the  coal  supply  is  the  one  on  which  main 
reliance  must  be  placed  and  puts  forward  a  plea  for  the 
cessation  of  the  present  recklessness  in  its  employment. — 
London  Electrician,  Oct.  25,  19 12. 

Distribution  System  in  France. — The  first  part  of  a  long 
illustrated  description  of  the  development  of  energy  trans- 
mission and  distribution  systems  in  the  Departement  du 
Card,  especially  around  the  city  of  Nimes. — La  Houillc 
Blanche,  August,  1912. 

Traction. 

Budapest. — J.  Fischer  de  Tovaros. — In  a  continuation  of 
a  fully  illustrated  article  on  the  Budapest  street  and  subur- 
ban railways,  a  description  is  given  of  the  equipment  of 
the  Cinkota  steam-turbine  power  station  and  some  sub- 
stations.— La  Lumicre  Elec,  Oct.  19,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Tariffs  for  Electricity. — Carl  Richter. — The  first  part 
of  a  mathematical  paper  illustrated  by  diagrams  on  the 
theory  of  tariffs  for  electrical  energy.  The  subject  is 
treated  by  both  analytical  and  graphical  methods. — Elck.  u. 
Masch.   (V'ienna),  Oct.  27,  1912. 

Feeder-Voltage  Regulation. — E.  E.  Lehr. — .\  long,  illus- 
trated paper  describing  various  modern  types  of  feeder- 
voltage  regulators  and  discussing  the  commercial  impor- 
tance of  close  voltage  regulation. — Elec.  Journal,  Novem- 
ber, 1912. 

Speed  Control  of  Fans. — W.  E.  Thaw. — .\n  article  illus- 
trated by  diagrams  on  the  comparative  costs  of  three  meth- 
ods of  speed  control  of  fans  and  blowers.  The  first  is  by 
means  of  field  control,  the  second  by  armature  control,  and 
the  third  by  combined  field  and  armature  control. — Elec. 
Journal,  October,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Thirty-Thousand-Volt,  Three-Phasc  Cable. — W.  Pfann- 
KUCH. — A  careful  calculation  of  several  large  recent 
projects  has  shown  that  transmission  by  underground  cables, 
in  spite  of  the  relatively  higher  first  cost,  is  economical  on 
account  of  the  very  low  maintenance  cost.  The  author 
describes  the  cable  transmission  svstem  of  the  Berlin  Elec- 


tricity Works,  supplying  energy  to  numerous  suburban 
cities  to  the  north  and  south  of  Berlin.  The  cable  system 
consists  of  two  loops,  the  northern  loops  of  90  km  (54 
miles)  length  and  the  southern  loop  of  86  km  (52  miles) 
length.  A  supply  emf  of  30,000  volts  was  chosen  and  a 
conductor  cross-section  of  3  by  50  sq.  mm.  The  cross- 
section  of  the  cable  is  shown  m  Fig.  6.  It  is  a  paper- 
insulated  three-phase  cable  with  lead  sheath,  wrapped  with 
steel  tape.  The  copper  conductor  consists  of  nineteen  wires 
of  1.84  mm  (5/64  in.)  diameter.  The  total  diameter  of 
the  cable  is  89  mm  (33^  in.).  Before  it  was  laid  in  the 
ground  every  section  of  the  cable  was  placed  for  twenty- 
four  hours  as  a  bare  lead  cable  in  water  and  tested  for  half 
an  hour  with  three-phase  currents  at  75,000  volts  and  for 
the  same  length  of  time  at  the  same  voltage  with  single- 
phase  current  between  the  three  conductors  and  the  lead. 
By  careful  measurement  of  the  insulation  resistance  before 
and  after  the  tests  it  was  ascertained  in  each  case  whether 
the  dielectric  had  remained  unchanged.  Short-time  tests 
of  shorter  lengths  showed  that  the  cable  did  not  break  down 
at  250,000  volts.  The  electric  properties  of  the  cable  at 
15  deg.  C.  for  each  phase  were:  Copper  resistance,  0.350 
ohm  per  km;  three-phase  capacity,  0.13  microfarad  per 
km;  self-induction,  0.36  millihenry  per  km,  and  insulation 
resistance,  700  to  1000  megohms  per  km.  After  the  cables 
had  been  placed  in  the  ground  they  were  tested  for  half 
an  hour  at  50,000  volts.  After  that  they  were  subjected  to 
a  short-circuit  test,  a  no-load  test,  a  number  of  switching 
tests  and  a  temperature  test.     The  author  begins  to  describe 


Fig.    6 — Cross-Section    of    30.000-Volt    Cable. 

the  instruments  and  arrangement  used  in  these  tests.    The 
paper  is  to  be  concluded. — Elck.  Zcit.,  Oct.  24,  igi2. 
Electrophysics   and    Magnetism. 

Radiological  Institute. — The  second  official  report  of  the 
Radiological  Institute  of  the  University  of  Heidelberg,  made 
by  P.  Lenard  and  C.  Ramsauer.  The  report  relates  to  the 
work  done  from  August,  1910,  to  August,  1912.  The  radio- 
logical-physical investigations  related  to  cathode  rays  (ab- 
sorption, secondary  radiation,  etc.),  photoelectric  action, 
conduction  of  electricity  into  gases  and  in  flames,  phos- 
phorescence and  radioactivity.  A  number  of  other  investi- 
gations related  to  the  use  of  radiological  methods  in  medi- 
cine. A  list  is  given  of  the  different  papers  which  emanated 
from  the  Institute. — Elck.  Zeit.,  Oct.  24,  1912. 
Electrochemistry  and   Batteries. 

Electric  Zinc  Furnace. — F.  Louvrier. — The  author  dis- 
cusses the  difficulties  which  have  been  experienced  in  elec- 
tric-furnace processes  for  treating  zinc  ores,  especially  the 
formation  of  blue  powder.  He  concludes  that  the  chief 
difficulties  are  due  to  the  presence  of  carbon  dioxide  in 
large  quantities  in  electric  furnaces.  This  is  due,  at  least 
in  its  greatest  part,  to  the  rapidity  with  which  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  zinc  ores  takes  place,  which  creates  a  too  active 
production  of  carbon  dioxide  in  a  limited  space,  thus  pre- 
venting this  gas  from  coming  into  contact  with  the  carbon 
reducer  during  the  time  required  for  its  reduction.  The 
rapidity  is  caused  by  the  too  high  temperature  which  re- 
sults from  the  smallness  of  the  zone  in  which  the  effects  of 
the  electric  current  are  directlv  felt.     Some  conclusions  are 


.\0\E.\IUHk    iC,    igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1 057 


drawn  as  lo  the  proper  design  of  electric-zinc  furnace  to 
overcome  diiSculties. — Mctall.  and  Chem.  Eng'ing,  Novem- 
ber, 1912. 

Chemical  Action  Produced  by  Alpha  Particles. — S.  C. 
LiND. — A  long  paper  on  the  nature  of  the  chemical  action 
produced  by  alpha  particles  and  the  probable  role  played 
by  ions.  The  chief  conclusions  of  the  author  are  as  follows: 
In  all  of  the  gas  reactions  that  have  been  reported  by 
various  authorities  the  chemical  effect  produced  by  the 
alpha  particles  is  determined  by  the  number  of  gaseous 
ions  formed.  Hence  in  considering  the  efficiency  of  emana- 
tion in  these  systems  it  is  necessary  to  take  into  account  all 
the  conditions  regarding  pressure,  length  of  path,  etc., 
which  govern  the  formation  of  ions.  A  method  is  proposed 
for  the  calculation  of  the  average  path  of  alpha  particles 
in  small  spherical  and  cylindrical  volumes  which  enables 
one  to  estimate  the  consequent  ionization  of  a  gas  by  emana- 
tion in-  such  volumes.  The  close  equivalence  between  the 
number  of  ions  formed  and  the  number  of  molecules  that 
react  chemically  may  be  regarded  as  being  at  least  indica- 
tive that  it  is  the  ions  which  constitute  the  primary  agents 
of  reaction,  though  other  possibilities  are  recognized.  Thus 
it  becomes  possible  in  many  cases  to  predict  the  order  of 
magnitude  of  reaction  produced  in  a  given  system  by  radio- 
active agencies.  The  action  of  the  alpha  particles  is  in  no 
sense  to  be  regarded  as  a  catalytic  one.  The  same  prin- 
ciple is  found  to  hold  for  reactions  proceeding  with  the 
chemical  free  energy  as  for  those  opposed  to  it. — Journal  of 
Phys.  Chemistry,  October,   1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Rcmotc-Spccd  Indicator. — A  note  on  a  recent  British 
patent  (No.  6977,  Oct.  17,  1912)  of  Siemens  Brothers  & 
Company,  Ltd.  (Siemens  &  Halske  Aktien  Gesellschaft). 
A  small  multiphase  generator  with  a  constant  magnetic 
field  is  coupled  to  the  revolving  body  and  supplies  current 
to  a  moving-coil  instrument  whose  magnetic  flux  passes 
mainly  through  iron.  The  field  coil  is  connected  to  one 
phase  and  the  moving  coil  in  series  with  a  non-inductive 
resistance  to  another  phase  or  combination  of  phases  of 
the  generator. — London  Elcc.  Eng'ing,  Oct.  24,  1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Wireless  Telegraphy  on  Board  Ship. — H.  Thuk.v. — The 
conclusion  of  his  paper  illustrated  by  numerous  diagrams 
describing  the  wireless-telegraph  equipment  on  board  ships 
of  the  German  merchant  marine  using  the  telefunken  sys- 
tem.— Eleh.  Zeit.,  Oct.  17,  1912. 

Wireless-Telegraphy  Station. — S.  Kimura. — A  continua- 
tion of  his  mathematical  article,  illustrated  by  numerous 
diagrams,  on  the  design  of  a  radio-telegraph  station.  In 
the  present  instalment  the  author  discusses  the  choice  of 
wave-lengths  and  of  the  proportions  of  the  aerial. — T.,ondon 
Electrician,  Oct.  25,  1912. 

Wireless  Telegraphy. — A  continuation  of  the  long,  illus- 
trated paper  on  recent  developments  in  wireless  telegraphy 
with  special  reference  to  ship  installations.  After  some 
notes  on  the  location  of  ship  stations,  various  ways  of 
arrangement  of  the  aerial  and  various  types  of  insulators 
are  described  and  illustrated. — London  Elec.  Review.  Oct. 
25,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

South  America — L.  W.  Schmidt. — An  English  transla- 
tion in  abstract  of  his  recent  German  paper  on  the  electri- 
cal market  in  South  America. — London  Electrical  Reznezv. 
Oct.  18,  1912. 

Norzvay. — A  review  of  present  electrical  develoi)nients 
in  Norway  with  special  reference  to  water-power  legis'ation 
and  the  electrification  of  the  state  railways. — Elec.  Zeit., 
Oct.  24,   1912. 

Classification  of  Price  Lists. — An  article  describing  a 
simple  classification  scheme  for  catalogs  and  price  lists  in 
libraries  and  engineering  offices. — London  Elec.  Revieiv, 
Oct.  25,   1912. 


Book  Reviews 


Questions  and  Answers  on  the  National  Electrical 
Code.  By  T.  S.  McLoughlin.  1912.  New  York: 
McGraw-Hill  Book  Company.  232  pages,  5  illus. 
Price,  $1  net. 
A  pocket-size  key  and  index  to  the  National  Electrical 
Code,  for  wiremen,  contractors,  architects  and  engineers. 
It  answers  in  simple  but  positive  language  the  every-day 
questions  which  arise  in  the  practical  use  of  the  code.  The 
book  is  divided  into  nine  sections,  or  chapters,  dealing  with 
the  following  topics :  Generators  in  general,  transformers, 
outside  work,  signaling  systems,  arc  lamps  and  series  sys- 
tems, inside  work,  electric  railway  systems,  marine  work, 
and  National  Electrical  Code  requirements  on  wire  and 
material.  By  way  of  introduction  there  are  a  short  chapter 
on  the  origin  of  the  code  and  the  authority  behind  it  and  a 
few  pertinent  remarks  on  the  life  hazard.  The  latest 
N.  E.  L.  A.  rules  for  resuscitation  from  electric  shock  are 
also  included.  The  questions  are  consecutively  numbered, 
and  each  answer  is  followed  by  the  number  of  the  corre- 
sponding code  rule  which  lends  it  authority.  This  practical 
little  catechism  on  the  National  Electrical  Code  should  have 
a  wide  appeal. 


Growing  Crops  and  Plants  by  Electricity.  By  E.  C. 
Dudgeon.  London :  S.  Rentell  &  Company,  Ltd.  36 
pages,  12  illus.    Price,  i  shilling  net. 

A  narrative  account,  written  for  the  general  reader, 
market  gardener  and  farmer,  of  some  experiments  in  the 
stimulation  of  crops  by  means  of  electrical  discharges  arti- 
ficially produced  in  the  atmosphere  and  by  means  of  arti- 
ficial light  from  incandescent  filament  and  mercury-vapor 
lamps.  The  author  points  out  that  the  problem  of  food 
supply  is  one  of  much  importance  to  Great  Britain,  and  then 
emphasizes  the  necessity  of  increasing  the  soil  production 
in  every  possible  way.  Among  the  experiments  of  agri- 
culturists in  electro-culture  mentioned  by  the  author  are 
those  of  the  late  Prof.  Lemstrom,  of  Sweden,  dating  from 
1885;  those  of  J.  E.  Newman,  of  Gloucester,  England,  and 
the  experiments  conducted  at  Lincluden.  Dumfries.  Scot- 
land, by  the  author. 

The  conclusion  drawn  that  crops  of  many  different  kinds 
have  been  appreciably  stimulated  by  the  influence  of  elec- 
trical discharges  appears  to  be  incontrovertible,  but,  unfor- 
tunately, the  value  of  the  author's  presentation  is  impaired 
by  the  lack  of  data  on  the  system  of  electrification  employed. 
The  results  show  that  crops  of  strawberries,  potatoes,  car- 
rots, peas,  turnips,  oats,  barley,  rye  and  wheat  have  been 
substantially  increased,  by  percentages  ranging  all  the  way 
from  10  per  cent  to  40  or  50  per  cent,  and  in  a  few  cases  to 
ICO  per  cent  or  over.  The  author  concludes  that  the  experi- 
ments described  all  show  that  the  application  of  electricity, 
whether  in  the  form  of  a  silent  discharge  from  overhead 
wires  or  in  the  form  of  light  from  electric  lamps,  has  a 
decidedly  beneficial  effect  upon  plant  growth.  In  the  last 
chapter  are  set  forth  a  few  speculations  on  the  real  nature 
of  the  phenomena  which  apparently  take  place  in  electrical 
crop  stimulation.  Analyses  of  soil  samples  taken  from 
ground  beneath  a  network  of  electric  discharge  wires  reveal, 
so  the  author  states,  more  nitrogen  than  was  found  in  soil 
taken  from  an  unelectrified  area.  The  author  has  rendered 
a  service  in  collecting  authentic  data  on  this  highly  interest- 
ing subject  and  also  deserves  credit  for  carrying  out  a 
careful  series  of  original  experiments. 

This  little  book  on  the  use  of  electricity  in  agriculture 
is  of  value  in  adding  to  the  meager  literature  on  an  im- 
portant subject,  and  furthermore  in  drawing  attention  to  a 
question  which  will  become  of  increasing  importance  in  the 
future  and  needs  to  be  made  the  subject  of  careful  scientific 
research  by  competent  investigators  interested  in  market 
gardening  and  farming. 


1058 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o.  \'o.  20. 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


LOCKING  DEVICE  FOR  DISCONNECTING  SWITCHES. 


Frequently  disconnecting  switches  are  thrown  open  or 
partly  open  and  destroyed  by  the  effect  of  a  heavy  short- 
circuit  on  the  Hne.  The 
General  Electric  Company 
has  lately  introduced  a  de- 
vice to  safeguard  discon- 
necting switches  from  open- 
ing except  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  operator.  This 
device  is  simple  in  con- 
struction and  is  applied  by 
clamping  it  between  the  clip 
block  and  the  insulator  cap. 
It  is  made  in  sizes  to  fit 
300,  600,  800  and  i2oo-amp 
switches.  To  open  the  dis- 
connecting switch  the  fin- 
gers of  the  safety  catch  are 
pushed  to  one  side  by  the 
switch  hook  and  the  switch 
is  opened  in  the  ordinary 
way.  The  device  imme- 
diately resets  itself  after 
the  switch  blade  has  been  pulled  out  of  the  contact  clips, 
and  it  adjusts  itself  autQiiiatically  when  the  switch  is 
closed. 


Disconnecting    Switch    with 
Locking    Device. 


PRECISION  PHOTOMETER. 


A  new  photometer  has  been  added  to  the  line  of  instru- 
ments manufactured  by  the  Leeds  &  Northrup  Company, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.  This  instrument,  which  is  called  the 
"Reichsanstalt  precision  photometer,"  is  shown  in  the 
accompanying  illustration.  The  tracks  are  of  cold-rolled- 
steel  shafting  i  5/16  in.  in  diameter  and  are  placed  11.5  in. 
above  the  table  on  rigid  supports.  The  scale  is  cut  upon  a 
brass  strip  fastened  on  the  top  of  one  rail.  Delicate  vertical 
adjustment  of  the  lamp  or  observing  screen  is  made  by 
means  of  a  slow-motion  screw,  and  rough  adjustment  is 
made  by  sliding  the  standard  supporting  the  lamp  or  screen 
within  the  sleeve  used  for  the  finer  adjustment.  A  small 
incandescent  lamp  for  reading  the  scale  is  provided  on  the 
observing  carriage. 

A  complete  system  of  velvet-covered  screens  has  been 
provided   which   enables    the    photometer   to   be   used    in   a 


Precision   Photometer. 

room  with  medium  light.  In  order  to  measure  accurately 
the  candle-power  of  any  lamp  when  it  is  quite  different 
from  that  of  the  standard,  the  use  of  a  rotating  sector  is 
recommended.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  illustration  that 
such    an    instrument    is    included    in    the    equipment.      The 


instrument  proper  consists  of  four  accurately  perforated 
disks  and  a  iio-volt  direct-current  or  alternating-current 
motor  supported  upon  a  base,  which  may  be  clamped  in  any 
position  on  the  track.  One  or  two  of  the  four  disks  are 
clamped  upon  the  shaft  of  the  motor,  the  number  depending 
upon  the  proportion  of  light  it  is  desired  to  intercept. 


LAMP  RECEPTACLE. 


The  principal  feature  of  the  receptacle  shown  herewith  is 
the  arrangement  of  terminals  to  permit  the  use  of  a  sealing 
compound  poured  over  the  contacts  after  the  connection  is 
made.     It  carries  the  wires   i   in.  from  the  supporting  sur- 


Lamp     Receptacle. 

face  and  it  is  designed  for  outdoor  decorative  work  and 
some  forms  of  sign  construction.  It  is  manufactured  by 
Pass  &  Seymour,  Inc..  Solvay,  N.  Y. 


PORTABLE  VACUUM  CLEANER. 


The  Eclipse  Machine  Company,  Sidney,  Ohio,  has  lately 
placed  upon  the  market  a  portable  vacuum  cleaner,  illus- 
trated herewith,  two  .-special  features  being  oilless  bearings 
and  a  double  nozzle. 
The  former  have  the 
advantage  of  causing 
no  soiled  hands  or 
clothing  and  of  pre- 
venting grease  spots  on 
fine  rugs,  carpets  and 
floors.  The  nozzle  is 
provided  with  a  stiff 
bristle  brush,  in  the 
front  section  opening, 
which  picks  up  lint, 
thread,  hairs,  paper, 
dirt,  etc.,  and  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  second  pow- 
erful suction  opening, 
which  is  claimed  to  be 
practically  equivalent 
to  twice  covering  the 
ground.  With  no  un- 
necessary angles  in  the 
construction  to  obstruct 
operation,  the  full 
force  of  a  powerful 
one-piece  fan  is  com- 
municated directly  to 
the  nozzle  mouth,  giv- 
ing the  machine  an 
unusually  strong  suc- 
tion.     A    light    bag    is 

attached  to  the  handle  of  the  cleaner,  and  the  whole  rides 
evenly  on  two  roller  wheels  which  facilitate  easy  operation 
and  reduce  wear  upon  the  rug  or  carpet.  The  makers  state 
that  the  cleaner  may  be  supplied  from  an  ordinary  lamp 
socket. 


Portable    Vacuum    Cleaner. 


November  i6,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


10S9 


ELECTRIC  GARAGE    OF    MURPHY   POWER 
COMPANY,  DETROIT,  MICH. 


The  garage  of  the  Murphy  Power  Company,  of  Detroit, 
Mich.,  comprises  ten  floors  with  an  area  of  65,000  sq.  ft. 
and  will  house  300  cars.  The  machines  are  conveyed  to 
any  of  these  floors  by  means  of  two  5-ton  Otis  elevators. 
The  first  floor  is  used  for  charging  licavy  electric  vehicles 


receiver  at  the  switchboard,  so  that  the  switchboard  operator 
can  take  orders  from  any  floor  while  adjusting  the  rheostats. 
A  Sangamo  watt-hour  meter  with  specially  large  dial  is 
also  provided,  which  may  be  cut  in  circuit  with  any  plug  to 
check  the  ampere-hour  meter  on  the  cars  or  to  establish  a 
basis  for  billing  transients.  The  switchboard  is  also  pro- 
vided with  permanent  Sangamo  watt-hour  meters  which 
give  a  ready  check  on  the  output  and  enable  accurate 
records  of  cost  and  upkeep  to  be  obtained.  Time  stamp 
records  are  kept  of  each  car,  together  with  mileage,  tire 
trouble  and  other  repairs. 

The  Murphy  Power  Company  has  contracts  to  maintain 
the  cars  of  most  of  Detroit's  large  business  houses.  The 
company's  garage  manager,  Mr.  Burns,  has  devised  a 
method  of  handling  cars  which  has  given  the  company  a 
country-wide    reputation    for    efficiency    and    good    service. 


Switchboard    of    the    Murphy    Electric    Power    Company's    Garage.       COMPRESSION  RESISTORS  FOR  LARGE  RHEOSTATS. 

and  for  "rush"  transient  charges.  The  heavy  cars  are  also 
washed  on  this  floor.  On  the  fifth  floor  are  other  wash  bays 
where  lighter  cars  are  washed  to  relieve  congestion  on  the 
first  floor.  There  are  five  wash  bays,  capable  of  handling 
176  cars  in  twenty-four  hours.  The  first,  third  and  sixth 
floors  are  equipped  for  charging  electric  vehicles,  stations 
or  plugs  being  so  distributed  as  to  allow  cars  to  be  charged 
where  they  stand.  All  stations  are  regulated  by  3000-watt 
rheostats  so  as  to  be  able  to  charge  any  size  of  battery 
without  running  the  car  to  a  plug  of  the  proper  current- 
carrying  capacity,  thereby  saving  labor  of  attendants  and 
risk  of  moving  cars.  The  tenth  floor  is  fitted  with  facilities 
for  repairing  batteries  and  gasoline  cars.  The  electricity  is 
furnished  by  an  Edison  three-wire  system  supplied  from 
the  5000-kw  power  plant  installed  in  another  part  of  the 
building. 

There  are  sixty  charging  circuits  now  controlled  from 
one  switchboard  located  on  the  third  floor.  The  board  con- 
sists of  one  feeder  panel  equipped  with  a  three-pole  "I-T-E" 
1250-anip  "reversite"  circuit-breaker,  to  protect  the  batteries 
from  accidental  discharge  on  the  line,  and  six  rheostat 
panels  of  ten  circuits  each.  Provision  has  been  made  to 
double  this  equipment  so  that  when  completed  there  will 
be  120  charging  circuits.  Allen-Bradley  graphite  com- 
pression rheostats  with  the  improved  "zero  temperature 
coefficient"  feature  are  used.  These  are  made  by  the  Allen- 
Bradley  Company,  Milwaukee,  Wis.  They  were  selected 
because  of  their  ruggedness  and  the  fact  that  they  could  be 
mounted  directly  on  the  back  of  the  switchboard,  occupying 
but  little  space  and  not  interfering  with  the  switches  and 
busbars,  and  also  because  with  them  it  is  possible  to  charge 
at  any  desired  rate  and  raise  and  lower  the  current  exactly 
as  required,  regardless  of  the  size,  type  or  number  of  cells 
in  the  battery.  Each  charging  circuit  is  provided  with  its 
own  rheostat,  voltmeter,  plug  and  fuses  and  is  controlled  by 
a  single-pole,  double-throw  knife  switch  arrangjed  to  connect 
the  ammeter  in  circuit  when  closed  in  one  direction  so  as 
to  indicate  the  charging  current.  The  neutral  wire  is  con- 
nected to  one  side  of  each  circuit  through  a  switching 
arrangement  which  permits  of  the  changing  of  the  polarity 
of  any  plug  to  accommodate  special  cars  or  to  balance  the 
three-wire   circuits. 

The  board  and  distribution  systems  were  designed  by 
Mr.  Burns,  the  garage  manager,  and  Mr.  White,  electrical 
engineer  of  the  Murphy  Power  Company,  and  embody  sim- 
plicity, compactness  and  serviceability.  All  the  charging 
circuits  are  run  in  conduit  and  terminate  in  a  conduit  fitting 
over  each  station.  Wires  coming  out  of  the  conduits  are 
connected  to  a  specially  designed  clip,  which  releases  the 
cable  in  case  a  car  happens  to  be  started  with  the  charging 
plug  in. 

The  garage  is  equipped  with  Western  Electric  interphones 
on  every  floor  and  with  a  special  portable  set  with  head 


The  Allen-Bradley  Company,  of  Milwaukee,  has  devel- 
oped a  new  form  of  graphite  compression  resistor  for  use 
in  large  motor  starters  of  200-hp  rating  and  above.  In- 
stead of  small  disks,  large  prepared  graphite  plates  6  in. 
in  diameter  and  0.25  in.  thick  are  used.  These  are  sus- 
pended face  to  face  with  asbestos  cords  from  a  rod,  form- 
ing a  horizontal  column,  as  shown  in  the  illustration.  By 
this  means  the  disks  are  relieved  of  their  own  weight, 
which  makes  it  possible  to  get  a  wider  range  of  resistance. 
It  is  said  that  a  ratio  of  i  to  100  is  obtained  between  units 
of  resistance  under  no  pressure  and  the  same  units  under 
maximum  pressure.  The  large  plates  have  a  great  capacity 
for  absorbing  heat  and  the  horizontal  construction  assures 
an  equal  dissipation  of  the  absorbed  energy.  The  number 
of  plates  used  depends  upon  the  emf  of  the  circuit  and  the 
resistance  required.  In  service  that  is  likely  to  tax  even 
this  resistor,  or  where  the  atmosphere  is  very  dusty,  an  air- 
tight casing  is  provided  which  prevents  combustion  and 
the  possibility  of  any  particles  of  dust  falling  between  the 
disks. 

The  accompanying  picture  shows  a  200-hp,  220-volt  motor 
starter  designed  for  two-minute  starting  duty.  Raising 
the  lever  at  the  left  operates  the  first  contactor,  which  is 
suitably  fastened  to  the  same  shaft,  as  the  lever,  and  closes 
the  circuit  to  the  motor.  A  further  movement  of  the  lever 
exerts  pressure  on  the  resistor  column,  which  reduces  its 
resistance  and  starts  :he  motor.     When  the  maximum  pres- 


Hand-Operated    IVIotor  Starter  for  Two-Minute   Starting    Duty. 

sure  is  exerted  on  the  resistor  and  its  resistance  is  mini- 
mum, the  second  contactor  closes  and  shunts  it  entirely  out 
of  the  circuit.  The  starting  lever  is  held  in  the  running 
position  by  a  retaining  magnet  connected  in  series  with', 
the  field  circuit  of  the  motor. 


io6o 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol..  60,  Xo.  20. 


LAMP-POST  FOR  ORNAMENTAL  LIGHTING. 


Tlie  ornamental  lamp-post  illustrated  herewith  is  of  at- 
tractive but  dignified  design  and  is  supplied  by  the  Central 
Electric  Company  of  Chicago.  It 
supports  five  incandescent  lamps, 
four  supported  on  "brackets  with 
one  central  lamp  above.  All  lamps 
are  preferably  inclosed  in  opal- 
glass  globes.  The  unit  is  especially 
designed  for  boulevards,  parks  or 
curb  lighting  and  consists  of  three 
parts — a  base,  a  hexagonal  column 
and  a  head  to  which  the  brackets 
and  lamps  are  attached.  The  three 
parts  are  held  together  by  three 
interior  rods  which  form  a  rigid 
structure.  In  the  base  there  is  an 
(i;)ening  provided  with  a  door  to 
give  access  to  the  connections  and 
operating  switch.  The  over-all 
height  of  the  fixture  is  13  ft.  3  in. 
The  upper  globe  is  16  in.  in  diam- 
eter and  the  four  side  globes  are 
12  in.  in  diameter.  The  post  is 
sold  complete  with  globe-holders 
only.  All  of  the  fittings,  such  as 
sockets,  globes,  bolts,  washers, 
wire,  lamps  and  switch,  are  extra. 
The  lamp-post  described  adds 
one  more  to  the  handsome  struc- 
tures of  this  kind  that  the  growing 
desire  for  ornamental  lighting  in 
led   manufacturers   to   place    on   the 


STORAGE-BATTERY     MULTIPLE-UNIT    TRACTION 
SYSTEM. 


Lamp-Post  for  Orna- 
mental   Lighting. 


Vnierican    cities 
market. 


has 


PORTABLE  TELEPHONE-TESTING  SET. 


.\  new  portable  telephone-testing  set  for  linemen  has 
just  been  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Holtzer-Cabot  Electric 
Company,  Brookline,  Mass.  The  chief  features  of  this  set 
are  its  light  weight  and  compactness.  Its  size  is  5  in.  by 
5  in.  by  5.5  in.,  and  it  weighs  only  6.5  lb.  The  crank  folds 
up  flush  with  the  case,  and  the  transmitter  and  the  switch 
are  practically  flush.  With  the  receiver  in  the  holder  the 
generator  rings  through  the  buzzer.  With  the  receiver  out 
of  the  holder  it  rings  directlv  on  the  line,  the  receiver  at 


Portable   Telephone-Testing   Set. 

the  same  time  being  shunted  away  from  the  generator. 
When  the  switch  is  in  the  "off"  position  the  battery  and 
transmitter  circuit  is  open,  and  when  in  the  "on"  position 
the  transmitter  is  connected  for  talking.  It  contains  a 
generator  wound  to  give  45  volts  and  also  a  three-cell  tung- 
sten battery.  The  set  is  provided  with  5-ft.  cords  equipped 
with  Williams  test  clips  protected  by  rubber  guards. 


By  a  combination  of  specially  designed  direct-current 
motors,  Edison  storage  batteries  and  a  novel  system  of 
multiple-unit  control  the  Federal  Storage  Battery  Car 
Company,  Silver  Lake.  N.  J.,  has  recently  evolved  a  com- 
plete   car    equipment    for    storage-battery    train    operation. 


Fig.     1 — Train     Equipped     with     Storage- Battery     Multiple-Unit 
Control. 

The  type  of  car  recently  built  for  a  three-car  train  equip- 
ment for  the  "Unidos  Habana"  of  Cuba  is  equipped  with 
end  vestibules,  measures  38  ft.  5  in.  in  over-all  length  and 
is  provided  with  four  double  seats  and  four  end  seats, 
accommodating  a  total  of  forty  passengers.  The  four-wheel 
trucks  under  either  end  of  the  car  are  each  equipped  with 

R.\TI.XGS    FOR    SERIES-WOUND    MOTORS. 


Type. 

Hp. 

NOR.MAL 

CURRENT. 

R.P.M. 

EfficiencN 

100  Volts. 

,     200  Volts. 

I 

per 
Cent. 

K-6 

5 
10 
15 
20 

40  amp. 

75  amp. 
1 12  amp. 
150  amp. 

20  amp. 
37.5  amp. 
56  amp. 
75  amp. 

800 
800 
800 
950 

85.5 

K-6 

86  0 

K-8 

87.  1 

K-10 

88.7 

two  lo-hp  motors,  or  four  motors  per  car.  The  axles  are 
fixed  and  the  wheels  rotate  on  roller  bearings,  being  driven 
by  spur  gears  engaged  in  an  extra  hub  bolted  to  the 
skeleton  spokes  of  the  light  steel  wheels. 

The  motors  used  on  this  equipment  were  furnished  by  the 
Oielil    Manufacturing  Company.    I'.lizabethport.    X.   J-,   and 


Fig.   2 — Truck   for   Storage- Battery   Car   with   One   Motor   In    Place. 

are  of  the  K-6  type.  The  Diehl  company  has  developed 
four  sizes  of  series-wound  motors  of  this  general  type  for 
storage-battery  traction  service  the  ratings  of  which  are 
given  in  the  accompanying  table. 

The  manufacturer  states  that  at  100  per  cent  overload 
these  motors  will  develop  70  per  cent  of  normal  speed,  and 
that  at  200  per  cent  overloaiJ  they  will  develop  62i/4  per  cent 


NoVEMIiER    l6,    IQ12. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1061 


of  normal  speed.  Their  weight  varies  from  350  lb.  in  the 
smallest  size  to  1190  lb.  in  the  largest.  The  maximum  tem- 
perature rise  under  one-hour  normal  load,  floor  test,  is 
given  as  45  deg.  C,  while  the  standard  railroad  guarantee 
provides  a  latitude  as  high  as  75  deg.  C. 

The  energy  for  operating  the  motors  is  derived  from  a 
200-cell  storage  battery  of  the  Edison  A-6  type,  located 
under  the  seats  of  the  car.  The  cells  were  furnished  by 
the  Edison  Storage  Battery  Company,  Orange,  N.  J.  The 
multiple-unit  control  system  was  designed  and  built  by  the 
Cutler-Hammer  Manufacturing  Company,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 

On  a  trial  trip  of  this  three-car  train  from  the  Pennsyl- 
vania station  in  New  York  City  to  Long  Beach,  L.  L,  a 
distance  of  25.6  miles  each  way,  the  running  time  was  fifty- 
six  minutes  in  one  direction  and  fiftv-two  minutes  in  the 
other.  The  maximum  speed  attained  was  35  miles  per  hour. 
On  the. heavy  grade  at  the  eastern  portal  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania tunnel,  rising  to  the  surface  level  at  Long  Island  City, 
the  motors  were  subjected  to  a  duty  of  about  100  per  cent 
more  than  normal  load  rating.  The  multiple-unit  control 
operated  very  satisfactorily  and  produced  a  uniform, 
gradual  acceleration,  with  a  total  absence  of  starting  jerk. 
This  trial  run  is  said  to  be  the  first  operation  of  a  complete 
railroad  train  by  storage-battery  power  under  the  multiple- 
unit  control  of  a  single  operator.  About  140  railroad  men 
and  guests  made  up  the  party  which  took  the  trip. 


FITTINGS  FOR  METALLIC  CONDUITS. 


The  Fancleve  Specialty  Company,  Jamaica  Plain,  Mass., 
has  recently  introduced  a  new  line  of  switch  boxes  and  ex- 
tension elbows  designed  to  simplify  the  mechanical  details 
of  interior  wiring.  Fig.  i  shows  a  semi-concealed  switch 
box  for  cable  or  conduit  service,  threaded  bosses  being  pro- 
vided to  eliminate  the  use  of  bushings  and  lock  nuts.  These 
boxes  are  intended  for  flush  switches  or  receptacles  with 
exposed  rigid  or  flexible  metallic  conduits.  The  front  flat 
surface  is  large  enough  to  seat  any  standard  plate  and 
from  the  plate  is  beveled  off  to  an  area  sufficient  to  cover 


Fig.    1 — Semi-Concealed 
Switch    Box. 


Fig.  2 — Switch    Box   for   Base- 
board   Receptacles. 


any  breakage  of  plaster  or  brickwork  necessary  to  cut  the 
rear  portion  of  the  box  into  the  wall,  so  that  the  box 
projects  from  the  wall  only  enough  to  admit  the  conduits 
placed  against  the  surface.  The  boxes  are  made  in  various 
styles  from  single  units  to  four  gangs.  That  shown  is 
arranged  to  take  Fancleve  blank  or  universal  lids  when  it  is 
desirable  to  use  the  box  as  a  junction  only,  or  as  a  mount 


for  any  surface  fittings  as  well  as  for  service  as  a  junction. 
The  beveled  edges  may  be  cut  to  admit  wooden  moldings 
entering  at  a  different  angle  and  on  the  same  plane  as 
conduits.  The  threads  are  cut  with  a  bottoming  tap  and  are 
easily  connected.  Any  unused  conduit  pocket  can  be  sealed 
with  an  ordinary  0.5-in.  socket  or  nut  plug.  Galvanized  or 
black  enamel  finish  is  supplied. 

Fig.  2  shows  a  box  designed  by  the  company   for  base- 


Fig.    3 — External    Elbow. 


Fig. 


Internal     Elbow. 


board  or  mopboard  receptacles.  In  the  past  it  has  been  the 
custom  to  use  an  ordinary  switch  box  for  baseboard  outlets, 
with  the  result  that  very  long  machine  screws  were  re- 
quired, with  a  congress  of  washers  to  bring  the  receptacle 
out  to  the  face  of  the  baseboard,  leaving  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  receptacle  without  box  inclosure.  The  lugs 
on  the  box  shown  in  the  sketch  are  set  i^  in.  back  from  the 
face,  so  that  room  for  J4  in.  of  lath  and  plaster  and  ]4  in. 
of  baseboard  or  mopboard  is  left  ahead  of  the  lugs,  and  the 
box  is  flush  with  the  baseboard  or  mopboard.  In  installing, 
the  practice  recommended  is  to  nail  pieces  of  furring  flush 
with  the  studding  and  to  screw  on  the  lugs  of  the  box.  The 
box  is  deep  enough  and  has  surface  enough  behind  the 
strapping  or  furring  to  drill  for  whatever  kind  of  conduit 
or  cable  may  be  used  without  cutting  away  the  supporting 
strips  to  let  them  pass.  The  boxes  are  made  in  various 
arrangements  from  single-gang  to  three-gang. 

The  new  elbow  for  exterior  and  interior  service,  shown 
in  the  accompanying  cuts,  is  designed  of  cast  iron,  gal- 
\anized,  and  is  planned  to  carry  metal  moldings  around  a 
corner  or  a  beam  at  low  e.xpense.  The  devices  may  be  used 
to  carry  molding  along  a  ceiling  and  down  a  wall,  and  the 
general  arrangement  consists  of  a  right-angled  tongue  about 
1.75  in.  long  on  each  size,  which  is  fastened  with  wood 
screws  to  the  beam  or  corner,  the  metal  molding  being 
grounded  to  this  backing  and  held  in  place  by  a  cap  %  in. 
thick,  which  is  attached  to  the  backing  by  a  stove  bolt  and 
small  square  nut. 


ELECTRIC  HOT  PLATE. 


The  illustration  presented  herewith  shows  an  electric  hot 
plate  put  on  the  market  by  the  Vulcan  Electric  Heating 
Company,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.     The  top  of  this  plate  is  7  in.  in 


Electric    Hot    Plate. 

diameter  and  is  made  of  cast  iron  with  a  gun-metal  finish. 
The  legs  and  base  are  nickel-plated.  It  has  been  the  aim  of 
the  designer  to  make  this  plate  a  handy  instrument  for 
kitchen  use  and  at  the  same  time  have  it  sufficiently  neat  in 
appearance  to  be  used  as  a  chafing-dish  accessory.  It  is 
stated  that  the  cost  of  operation  is  approximately  4  cents 
per  hour. 


io62 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  \o.  20. 


CLEANSER  FOR  ELECTRIC  GLASSWARE. 


It  is  now  very  generally  appreciated  that  the  dirt  which 
adheres  to  incandescent  lamps  and  which  collects  on  re- 
flectors and  glassware  has  a  detrimental  effect  on  the 
efficiency  of  the  unit  as  a  whole.  This  is  also  true  of  the 
deposit  within  the  globes  of  arc  lamps.  In  removing  this 
dirt  or  deposit  it  is  important  not  to  scratch  the  glassware 
and  not  to  leave  a  film  which  will  hold  any  dirt  collecting 
on  the  glassware  and  thus  increase  the  necessity  for  clean- 
ing. The  Myrlite  Company  of  America,  of  Pownal,  Vt., 
manufactures  a  cleanser  which  is  claimed  to  be  free  from 
material  which  will  scratch  the  glass.  It  is  put  up  in  tubes 
with  screw  cap  and  according  to  the  manufacturer  is  an 
insoluble,  neutral  carbonate  free  from  silicon,  acid,  alkali 
or  soap  compounds.  It  is  said  to  be  rapid  and  thorough  in 
action  and  to  impart  to  the  object  cleaned  a  crystal  bright- 
ness free  from  any  dirt-collecting  film. 


VENTILATION  OF  A  LARGE  HOTEL. 


In  the  annex  to  the  Ritz-Carlton  Hotel,  New  York,  now 
being  erected,  there  will  be  a  ventilating  system  connected 
with  the  heating  and  cooling  systems  operated  by  electric 
motors.  Because  of  the  arrangement  of  the  building  the 
system  is  installed  in  four  separate  divisions,  providing 
respectively  for  ventilation  of  the  banquet  hall  and  ball- 
room, service  floors,  private  dining  room,  and  toilet  rooms. 
The  first  mentioned  is  the  largest,  handling  50,000  cu.  ft.  of 
air  per  minute.  The  air  is  drawn  in  by  a  fan.  It  passes 
first  over  a  tempering  coil,  which  warms  it  above  the  freez- 
ing point  of  water,  and  then  through  a  washer,  which 
purifies  it.  It  is  then  heated  to  the  proper  temperature  by 
passing  through  a  reheater  and  is  sent  through  the  ducts 
by  which  it  is  distributed.  The  tempering  coils  and  reheater 
consist  of  radiator  sections  heated  by  steam  controlled  by  a 
thermostat,  so  that  the  temperature  of  the  air  is  always 
constant  and  of  the  proper  degree. 

In  summer  the  air  is  cooled  by  means  of  direct-e.xpansion 
cooling  coils  placed  in  the  spray  chamber  of  the  air  washer. 
Frost  is  prevented  from  forming  on  the  outside  of  the  pipes 
by  a  constant  spray  of  water  flowing  over  the  coils. 

The  ventilation  is  effected  by  heating  the  room  registers 
at  both  the  floor  and  ceiling  levels.  In  the  winter  when 
warm  air  is  brought  in  it  enters  through  the  ceiling  and 
exhausts  through  the  floor  registers.     In   the   summer  the 


Motor- Driven    Blowers. 

order  is  reversed  and  the  cold  air  is  brought  in  through  the 
floor  and  exhausted  through  the  ceiling  registers. 

The  efficiency  of  this  arrangement  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  heated  air  introduced  is  at  a  higher  temperature  than 
that  of  the  room  and  on  entering  its  temperature  is  re- 
duced, so  that  the  flow  of  air  is  downward  and  the  proper 
flace  to  remove  the  foul  air  is  at  the  floor  level.     On  the 


other  hand,  when  cold  air  is  introduced  at  a  lower  tempera- 
ture it  is  heated  on  entering,  which  produces  an  upward 
flow,  and  the  foul  air  goes  out  at  the  top.  The  reversal 
flow  is  obtained  by  means  of  a  reversing  damper.  The 
system  is  designed  to  change  the  air  in  each  toilet  room 
once  every  four  minutes  and  in  the  other  rooms  once  in 
every  six  minutes. 

The  illustration  shows  a  battery  of  blowers  mounted 
on  the  twelfth  floor  of  the  annex  and  furnishing  the 
ventilation  for  the  kitchen  and  toilet  rooms.  The  blowers 
throughout  the  building  were  furnished  by  the  B.  F.  Sturte- 
vant  Company,  Hyde  Park,  Mass.,  and  the  motors  by  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  East 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

The  motors  are  designed  for  operation  on  240-volt  direct 
current  and  are  arranged  for  speed  adjustment.  Two  of 
the  motors  shown  in  the  illustrations  are  rated  at  10  hp, 
with  a  speed  of  from  236  r.p.m.  to  260  r.p.m.,  and  the 
other  one  at  12.5  hp,  with  a  speed  of  from  336  r.p.m.  to 
360  r.p.m. 


HUGE    DIRECT-CURRENT    WATT-HOUR    METER. 


A  direct-current  watt-hour  meter  capable  of  measuring 
60,000  amp  at  650  volts,  or  nearly  50,000  hp,  with  50  per 
cent  continuous  overload  range,  will  shortly  be  installed  in 
the  plant  of  the  Hydraulic  Power  Company,  Niagara  Falls, 
N.  Y.,  to  measure  the  large  direct-current  outputs  used 
in  the  reduction  of  aluminum  from  bauxite.  This  meter, 
the  largest  of  the  kind  ever  constructed,  is  now  being  built 
in  the  factory  of  the  Sangamo  Electric  Company,  Spring- 
field, 111.,  and  is  of  the  mercury  type. 

Some  interesting  problems  were  encountered  in  the  design 
of  this  very  large  shunt.  With  a  drop  of  but  50  millivolts 
the  loss  at  full  load  is  3  kw.  To  dissipate  this  energy  the 
entire  shunt  will  be  mounted  in  a  corrugated  sheet-steel 
tank  and  immersed  in  oil.  Copper  pipes  for  cooling  water 
are  placed  in  the  upper  layer  of  the  oil  above  the  shunt,  so 
that  under  heavy  overloads  additional  capacity  can  be 
gained  by  passing  water  through  the  pipes. 

A  difficult  feature  in  the  design  of  the  shunt  was  the 
arrangement  of  connections  between  the  copper  end  blocks 
of  the  shunt  and  the  set  of  112.5-in.  by  }i-in.  aluminum 
busbars  to  which  the  shunt  will  be  connected.  Aluminum 
has  a  very  high  contact  resistance  against  copper  and  other 
metals,  owing  to  the  rapidity  with  which  the  surface  of 
aluminum  oxidizes,  so  it  was  necessary  to  provide  a  contact 
area  of  about  25,000  sq.  in.  between  the  copper  blades  from 
the  end  blocks  of  the  shunt  and  the  aluminum  busbars,  thus 
keeping  the  current  density  in  the  contact  down  to  approxi- 
mately 2.6  amp  per  square  inch  instead  of  60  amp  to  80  amp. 
the  allowance  usually  made  for  copper  to  copper. 

The  entire  weight  of  the  shunt,  without  the  tank  or  oil, 
is  approximately  1600  lb.  A  number  of  terminals  are 
brought  from  the  end  blocks  of  the  shunt  to  a  point  above 
the  oil,  from  which  the  connection  is  taken  for  the  meter 
circuit,  the  arrangement  of  these  terminals  giving  a  uniform 
or  average  of  potential  drop  between  the  ends  of  the  shunt. 
The  end  blocks  are  built  in  sections  bolted  together  with 
heavy  copper  rods  so  that  the  coefficient  of  expansion  of 
the  entire  mass  is  the  same  throughout  and  the  drop  of 
the  shunt  under  all  conditions  will  be  uniformly  maintained. 

Two  switchboard  watt-hour  meters  will  be  operated  from 
this  shunt,  one  as  a  check  against  the  other.  One  of  these 
meters  will  also  operate  a  distant-dial  mechanism  located 
about  one-half  mile  away  from  the  shunt  and  meter.  The 
mercury-motor  type  of  meter,  owing  to  its  freedom  from 
the  effects  of  external  magnetic  fields,  is  particularly  well 
suited  for  this  heavy  load,  as  there  is  an  enormous  stray 
field  created  by  the  conductor  carrying  60,000  amp,  which 
would  seriously  afifect  the  registration  of  a  meter  susceptible 
to  strav-ficld  efTects. 


November  i6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1063 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


ORDERS  on  the  books  of  the  majority  of  industrial 
companies  are  now  in  sufficient  volume  to  insure 
a  continuation  of  activity  for  some  time  to  come. 
There  has  been  no  appreciable  change  as  yet  in  trade  senti- 
ment as  a  result  of  the  presidential  election.  Demand  for 
iron,  steel  and  coal  is  exceedingly  broad  and  transporta- 
tion facilities  are  being  heavily  taxed  in  carrying  the  ton- 
nages. A  good  volume  of  business  is  reported  from  all 
over  the  countr}-,  and  in  nearly  all  sections  confidence  is 
expressed  in  the  probability  that  still  greater  expansion  is 
yet  to  come.  Such  indicators  of  trade  conditions  as  bank 
clearings,  money  rates,  collections  and  the  trend  of  the 
metal  markets  seem  to  fully  substantiate  such  a  belief  at 
this  time.  October  bank  clearings  were  31  per  cent  larger 
than  t-hose  in  September,  and  increases  were  shown  in  all 
parts  of  the  country.  Earnings  of  public-utility  companies 
are  showing  decided  improvement.  September  returns  of 
the  Stone  &  Webster  properties  were  much  larger  than 
those  in  September  a  year  ago,  and  similar  improvement 
was  made  by  the  properties  operated  by  E.  W.  Clark  & 
Company,  the  Federal  Light  &  Traction  Company  and 
many  others.  A  considerable  volume  of  new  securities  is 
being  issued  bj'  the  central-station  companies  for  providing 
funds  for  improvements  and  extensions.  All  of  the  leading 
electrical  manufacturers  are  operating  at  record  levels  and 
many  are  experiencing  difficulty  in  making  deliveries  as 
early  as  desired. 


Virginia  Railway  &  Power's  Gains. — During  the  year 
ended  June  30,  191.2,  the  Virginia  Railway  &  Power  Com- 
pany earned  a  surplus  over  all  charges  and  preferred- 
stock  dividends  of  2.88  per  cent  on  its  outstanding  common 
stock,  as  compared  with  2.17  per  cent  in  the  preceding 
year.  The  results  of  the  year's  operations  showed  an 
increase  of  $101,891  in  passenger  revenues,  of  $110,170  in 
total  railway  revenues,  a  gain  of  $151,621  in  sales  of  electric 
energy  and  gas,  and  an  increase  of  $221,988  in  total  operat- 
ing revenues.  Total  operating  expenses  of  the  railway 
department  showed  an  increase  of  $51,086  and  consumed 
slightly  more  than  61  per  cent  of  the  gross  earnings  of  that 
department.  Total  operating  expenses  of  the  light,  power 
and  gas  department  increased  $43,954  and  consumed  40.03 
per  cent  of  the  revenue  of  that  department.  Expenses  of 
ferry  operation  decreased  $13,812  and  required  79.56  per 
cent  of  the  revenues  obtained  from  that  source.  Total 
operating  expenses  showed  an  increase  of  $81,227  and 
consumed  S3.15  per  cent  of  the  gross  operating  revenues. 
Net  earnings  from  operation  were  $140,760  larger  than  in 
1911  and  were  equal  to  46.85  per  cent  of  the  gross  returns. 
The  revenues  of  the  light  and  power  department  in  Rich- 
mond were  affected  to  some  extent  by  the  fact  that  the  city 
of  Richmond  constructed  its  own  plant  for  street  and 
municipal  lighting.  This  plant  was  placed  in  operation  on 
Dec.  20,  1910,  and  the  street  lighting  furnished  by  the  Vir- 
ginia Railway  &  Power  Company  in  Richmond  was  en- 
tirely discontinued  on  Dec.  S,  igii.  During  the  past  year 
the  company  generated  a  total  of  79,747,803  kw-hr.  of  elec- 
trical energy,  of  which  41,676,818  kw-hr.  were  used  by  the 
railways  and  38.070.985  kw-hr.  were  used  for  commercial 
purposes.    The  total  generated  in  19H  was  73,990.877  kw-hr. 

Northwestern  Electric  Company  (Ore.)  Files  Mortgage. 
— The  Northwestern  Electric  Company,  of  Portland,  Ore., 
which  is  erecting  a  20,000-hp  hydroelectric  plant  on  the 
White  Salmon  River,  about  40  miles  east  of  Portland,  has 
filed  a  mortgage  for  $10,000,000.  The  company  was  organ- 
ized in  191 1  with  a  capital  stock  said  to  be  $10,000,000,  with 
Mortimer  Fleishhacker,  of  San  Francisco,  as  president. 
Other  San  Francisco  men  said  to  be  affiliated  with  it  are: 
Herbert  Fleishhacker,  R.  M.  Hotaling,  William  H.  Crocker, 
A.  Borel,  W.  H.  Metson,  C.  F.  Leege  and  T.  To.gnazzini. 
Its  20,ooo-hp  station,  referred  to  above,  will  be  completed 
by  Jan.  I,  1913,  as  was  noted  in  these  columns  Aug.  31.  In 
addition  to  this  plant  the  company  is  building  an  auxiliary 
steam  plant  in  Portland,  said  to  have  a  rating  of  10,000  hp, 
and  has  under  consideration  the  erection  of  other  plants 
on  the  Klickitat  and   Lewis  Rivers,  as  part  of  a   loo.ooo-hp 


system  from  which  energy  will  be  distributed  over  a  large 
area.  On  Sept.  25  the  City  Council  of  Portland  voted 
unanimously  to  give  the  company  a  twenty-five-year  fran- 
chise to  furnish  electrical  energy,  and  at  an  election  on 
Nov.  2  this  franchise  was  ratified  by  a  large  vote.  Rates 
for  service,  as  provided  in  an  ordinance  presented  earlier 
in  the  year,  are  to  be  as  follows:  A  maximum  rate  of 
9  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  retail  service,  2  cents  per  kw-hr. 
for  arc  and  other  municipal  service,  and  a  sliding  scale  for 
motor-service  purposes,  varying  from  i  cent  to  S  cents 
per  kw-hr.  This  ordinance  also  provided  for  payment  to 
the  city  of  3  per  cent  of  the  gross  income. 

Washington  Utilities  Merger. — Stockholders  of  the  Mary- 
land-Virginia Company  voted  on  Nov.  6  to  change  the  name 
of  the  company  to  the  Washington  Utilities  Company  and 
to  increase  the  authorized  capital  stock  from  $30,000,000  to 
$50,000,000.  In  this  connection  the  Washington  Star  said 
recently:  "Following  the  action  of  the  stockholders,  pro- 
moters of  the  scheme  announced  that  the  next  step  will  be 
to  bring  about  a  consolidation  of  the  corporation  and  the 
Washington-Virginia  Railway,  which  operates  an  electric 
railway  between  Washington,  Mount  Vernon,  Fairfa.x  and 
other  Virginia  points.  According  to  W.  B.  Hibbs,  who 
has  been  active  in  the  organization  of  the  holding  company, 
no  effort  will  be  made,  for  the  present  at  least,  to  have 
Washington  utilities  affiliated  with  the  concern." 

German  Lamp  Patents. — The  Allgemeine  Elektricitats- 
Gesellschaft,  Siemens  &  Halske,  A.  G.,  and  the  Auer  Gas- 
gluhlicht-Gesellschaft,  the  three  largest  makers  of  drawn- 
wire  lamps  in  Germany,  entered  into  an  agreement  last 
year,  as  may  be  recalled,  relating  to  the  exchange  of  lamp 
patents  and  manufacturing  processes.  It  is  now  stated  that 
the  Bergmann  Electricity  Works  Company  is  carrying  on 
experiments  looking  toward  the  introduction  of  a  new 
lamp  manufacturing  process  and  is  conducting  negotia- 
tions with  the  foregoing  companies  with  a  view  to  arriv- 
ing at  an  agreement  with  them  through  which  it  can  under- 
take the  manufacture  of  drawn-wire  lamps  without  infring- 
ing upon  the  patents  held  by  these  concerns. 

Have  6400  More  on  Pay  Rolls  Than  in  1911. — The  West- 
inghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  the  Union 
Switch  &  Signal  Company,  the  Westinghouse  Machine 
Company  and  the  Westinghouse  Air  Brake  Company  are 
now  employing  nearly  24,000  men,  as  compared  with  17,600 
on  the  rolls  at  this  time  last  year.  Recent  statistics  show 
that  the  Air  Brake  company  is  employing  4500  now  as  com- 
pared with  3000  last  year;  that  the  Union  Switch  &  Signal 
has  1680  as  against  117s;  that  the  Machine  company  has 
3000  as  against  2000,  and  that  the  Electric  Company  is 
employing  14,700  as  compared  with  11,500  in  191 1.  Busi- 
ness with  all  of  these  companies  is  close  to  record  levels. 

Increase  in  Copper  Production. — The  output  of  several 
of  the  leading  copper  producers  in  the  ten  months  ended 
Oct.  31,  1912,  compares  with  that  in  the  corresponding 
period  of  191 1  as  follows:  Smelter  output  of  Amalgamated 
Copper  Company's  Anaconda  plant,  251,650,000  lb.,  against 
215,702,100  lb.;  production  of  the  Copper  Queen,  Detroit  and 
Moctezuma  mines,  owned  by  Phelps,  Dodge  &  Co.,  113,- 
735.017  lb.,  as  compared  with  100,898,958  lb.;  estimated  out- 
put of  the  Calumet  &  Hecla  Mining  Company  and  its  sub- 
sidiaries, 109,057,445  lb.,  as  compared  with  110,573,019  lb. 
The  October  output  of  these  properties  was  25,250,000  lb., 
12.238.241   II).  and   11.089,012  lb.  respectively. 

Canadian  Utility  Company  Expanding. — The  Saraguay 
Electric  &  Water  Company,  of  Montreal,  Que.,  which 
operates  in  Bordeaux,  Cartierville,  Ahuntsic,  Notre  Dame 
de  Grace,  Point  Viau,  St.  Laurent  and  neighboring  locali- 
ties, has  filed  a  petition  with  the  provincial  government 
seeking  authority  to  increase  its  capital  to  $5,000,000  and 
to  change  its  name  to  the  Montreal  Public  Service  Corpo- 
ration. It  has  also  asked  for  permission  to  manufacture 
and  sell  gas  and  to  acquire  other  public-utility  companies. 
The  company  is  a  subsidiary  of  the  Canadian  Light  & 
Power  Company.  W.  M.  Ramsay,  of  Montreal,  is  its 
president. 


1064 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  20. 


Stone  &  Webster's  Texas  Properties  Show  Gains  in  Earn- 
ings.— Practically  all  of  the  important  public-utility  com- 
panies managed  by  Stone  &  Webster  showed  decided  im- 
provement in  earnings  in  September  over  those  in  the  cor- 
responding month  last  year.  Operating  residts  of  the  Texas 
properties  were  especially  favorable.  Much  of  the  increase 
is  ascribed  to  the  excellent  business  conditions  now  prevail- 
ing in  that  State.  September  gross  earnings  of  the  Gal- 
veston-Houston Electric  Company  were  $54,200  larger  than 
those  in  September  a  j'ear  ago  and  the  surplus  after  charges 
showed  a  gain  of  nearly  $20,000.  In  the  twelve  months 
ended  Sept.  30  there  was  a  gain  in  gross  earnings  of  nearly 
$500,000  and  in  surplus  over  charges  of  close  to  $102,000. 
In  the  gross  earnings  of  the  Northern  Texas  Electric  Com- 
pany there  was  an  increase  of  about  $24,200  in  September 
and  in  surplus  over  charges  in  September  of  $15,100  as  com- 
pared with  September,  191 1.  In  the  twelve  months  ended 
Sept.  30  there  was  a  gain  of  $114,700  in  gross  and  of  $58,161 
in  surplus.  September  gross  earnings  of  the  Dallas  Electric 
Company  were  over  $16,200  in  excess  of  those  in  September 
a  year  ago  and  the  surplus  earnings  were  $14,000  more  than 
they  were  a  year  ago.  The  twelve  months'  gross  showed  a 
gain  of  over  $179,000  and  the  surplus  one  of  $101,200,  '  There 
was  an  improvement  of  about  $13,500  in  the  September 
earnings  of  the  El  Paso  Electric  Company  and  an  increase 
of  $12,900  in  the  surplus  over  charges.  The  showing  for 
the  twelve  months  ended  Sept.  30  exhibited  a  gain  in  gross 
of  $90,500  and  of  $80,200  in  net  surplus.  Business  condi- 
tions in  the  Northwest  section  of  the  country  where  prop- 
erties are  operated  by  Stone  &  Webster  are  very  favorable 
at  this  time  and  expansion  is  also  shown  in  general  business 
conditions  in  Florida.  Earnings  of  the  Jacksonville  Electric 
Company  in  September  were  3.1  per  cent  larger  than  in 
September  a   year  ago. 

New  Holding  Company  for  North  American's  Wisconsin 
Properties. — The  North  Amei-ican  Company,  which  owns 
public  utilities  in  St.  Louis  and  Detroit  and  in  several  Wis- 
consin towns  and  cities,  has  incorporated  the  Wisconsin 
Edison  Company  under  New  York  laws,  to  take  over  its 
holdings  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin.  The  following  state- 
ment was  made  by  the  company:  "The  company  starts 
out  with  an  authorized  issue  of  $10,000,000  6  per  cent 
cumulative  preferred  stock  with  shares  of  $100  par  value 
and  200,000  shares  of  common  stock  without  nominal  or 
par  value.  The  company  was  organized  to  take  over  the 
holdings  of  the  North  .-American  Company  and  the  public 
utilities  which  it  controls  within  the  State  of  Wisconsin. 
The  new  company  will  own  the  capital  stock  of  The  Mil- 
waukee Light,  Heat  &  Traction  Company,  which  in  turn 
controls  the  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light  Com- 
pany; the  Wisconsin  Gas  &  Electric  Company — a  consoli- 
dation of  the  Racine  Gas  Light  Company — the  Kenosha 
Electric  Railway  Company  and  the  Kenosha  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric Company,  the  Watertown  Gas-Electric  Company,  the 
North  Milwaukee  Light  &  Power  Company,  the  Burlington 
Light  &  Power  Company  and  the  common  stock  of  the 
Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company,  which  was 
issued  for  the  acquisition  of  the  property  of  the  Milwaukee 
Central  Heating  Company.  Of  the  authorized  capital  stock 
$1,000,000  of  the  preferred  and  200,000  shares  of  the  common 
stock  will  be  issued  immediately."  This  is  the  first  large 
company  incorporated  under  the  statute  passed  by  the  last 
New  York  State  Legislature  providing  that  corporation 
stock  may  be  issued  without  par  value. 

Middle  West  Company  Absorbs  Illinois  Northern. — The 
Middle  West  Utilities  Company,  of  Chicago,  has  made  an 
arrangement  to  purchase  practically  all  nf  the  outstanding 
common  stock  of  the  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Company. 
The  amount  of  outstanding  common  stock  of  the  latter 
company  is  $4,650,000.  The  terms  of  the  purchase  provide 
for  $15  in  preferred  stock  and  $18.33  1/3  in  common  stock 
of  the  Middle  West  company  for  each  share  of  common  in 
the  Illinois  Northern  company.  This  means  that  the  pur- 
chasing company  will  issue  $1,550,000  of  new  stock,  this 
amount  being  divided  into  $697,500  preferred  and  $852,500 
common.  The  Middle  West  company  has  in  its  trAsury 
about  $1,000,000  of  each  class  of  stock,  against  which  it  will 
draw  to  meet  the  terms  of  the  agreement.  The  Illinois 
Northern  Utilities  Company  was  organized  in  April,  1912, 
and  it  has  acquired  and  now  owns  and  operates  the  public- 
utility  properties  of  twenty-one  separate  companies  in   the 


northwestern  part  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  its  territory  ad- 
joining that  of  the  Public  Service  Company  of  Northern 
Illinois  on  the  north  and  west.  The  capital  of  the  Illinois 
Northern  consists  of  $4,650,000  in  common  and  $2,000,000 
in  preferred  stock.  It  has  outstanding  $2,000,000  in  bonds, 
and  underlying  bonds  on  the  absorbed  properties  to  the 
amount  of  $468,600  are  also  outstanding.  It  is  reported  that 
the  present  earnings  are  at  the  rate  of  $650,000  gross  and 
$180,000  net  annually. 

Assessment  on  Portland  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Stock. 

• — Directors  of  the  Portland  (Ore.)  Railway,  Light  &  Power 
Company  have  adopted  resolutions  calling  for  an  assess- 
ment of  5  per  cent,  or  $5  a  share,  on  the  stock  of  the  com- 
pany from  stockholders  of  record  Nov.  16.  The  assessment 
is  to  be  paid  Dec.  2.  A  resolution  was  also  adopted  pro- 
viding for  a  special  dividend  of  $5  a  share.  This  is  not  to 
be  paid  in  cash,  but  is  to  be  credited  to  stockholders  at  the 
time  of  the  payment  of  the  5  per  cent  cash  assessment  on 
Dec.  2  as  an  additional  payment  on  account  of  the 
amount  remaining  unpaid  on  their  stock,  making  it  75  per 
cent  paid.  The  assessment  will  provide  $1,250,000  for  ex- 
tensions and  improvements.  The  company  has  also  de- 
clared a  quarterly  dividend  of  $1.25  on  its  stock,  payable 
Dec.  2  to  holders  of  record  Nov.  16.  This  is  an  increase 
of  25  cents  per  share  over  the  previous  quarterly  dividend. 

Virginia  Public  Utility  Changes. — The  Clifton  Forge 
(Va.)  Public  Service  Company  has  changed  its  name  to  the 
Virginia-Western  Electric  Company.  It  has  taken  over 
the  Rockbridge  Power  Corporation,  of  Buena  Vista,  Va., 
which  owns  two  hydroelectric  plants  on  the  James  River, 
and  has  also  acquired  the  Buena  Vista  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany. Energy  from  the  plants  of  the  Rockbridge  company 
is  furnished  to  Lexington  and  Buena  Vista.  Further  hydro- 
electric developments  will  be  started  by  the  new  company 
in  the  spring  of  1913.  The  Covington  Electric  Company  is 
now  being  supplied  with  energy  from  Clifton  Forge  by 
means  of  a  recently  erected  transmission  line. 

San  Joaquin  Light  &  Power  Earnings  Show  Big  Increase. 

— According  to  the  statement  of  the  San  Joaquin  Light  & 
Power  Corporation,  Fresno,  Cal.,  for  the  month  of  Septem- 
ber and  the  first  nine  months  of  1912,  decided  improvement 
was  made  in  the  earnings  of  the  company  in  these  periods 
over  those  in  the  corresponding  periods  last  year.  Septem- 
ber surplus  showed  the  remarkable  .gain  of  236.34  per  cent 
and  the  surplus  for  the  nine  months  represented  an  in- 
crease of  31.04  per  cent.  The  surplus  for  the  nine  months 
ended  Sept.  30  was  $295,537.  The  preferred  dividend  re- 
quirements call  for  $292,500. 

Toledo  Railways  &  Light  Transfer  Completed. — With 
the  affixing  of  the  signature  of  F.  H.  Gofif,  of  Cleveland, 
acting  for  Henry  A.  Everett,  the  last  important  stockholder 
to  accept  the  terms  to  the  contract  between  the  bondholders 
and  stockholders'  committee  of  the  Toledo  Railways  & 
Light  Company  and  representatives  of  H.  L.  Doherty  & 
Company,  the  transfer  of  the  Toledo  company  to  the 
Utilities  Improvement  Company,  recently  formed  by  the 
Doherty  interests,  was  formally  completed  this  week.  The 
Doherty  interests  will  take  charge  of  the  prnperty  on 
Jan.  I. 

Gas  Producer  Plant  for  Alpha  Portland  Cement  Com- 
pany.— The  Mesta  Machine  Company,  Pittsburgh,  has  re- 
ceived an  order  from  the  Alpha  Portland  Cement  Company 
for  three  gas  engines  directly  connected  to  6oo-kw  alter- 
nating-current generators.  The  engines  are  to  operate  on 
producer  gas  and  will  be  installed  in  the  plant  at  Cementon, 
N.  Y.  The  new  installation  will  practically  double  the  rated 
output  of  the  present  plant. 

Initial  Dividend  Declared. — The  Illuminating  &  Power 
Securities  Corporation  has  declared  an  initial  quarterly  divi- 
dend of  iJ4  P^r  cent  on  its  preferred  stock.  The  company 
was  organized  under  Virginia  laws  early  last  summer,  as 
noted  in  these  columns  June  29,  to  deal  in  securities  of 
public-utility  corporations.  It  has  $1,250,000  preferred  and 
$5,000,000  common  stock  outstanding. 

Ottawa    Companies    Will    Increase    Capital    Stock. — The 

Ottawa  (Can.)  Electric  Company  is  planning  to  increase 
its  capital  stock  from  $1,500,000  to  $3,000,000,  and  the  Ot- 
tawa Gas  Company  is  seeking  authority  to  increase  its 
stock  from  $500,000  to  $2,000,000. 


November  i6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1065 


September  Earnings  of  E.  W.  Clark  &  Company's  Prop- 
erties.— September  returns  of  the  majority  of  central-station 
properties  operated  by  E.  W.  Clark  &  Company  showed 
considerable  improvement  over  those  in  the  same  month  of 
the  preceding  year.  Gross  earnings  of  the  Bangor  (Maine) 
Railway  &  Electric  Company  showed  an  increase  of  14. i 
per  cent  and  the  surplus  for  the  month  showed  a  gain  of 
6.1  per  cent  over  returns  in  September,  191 1.  In  the  three 
months  ended  Sept.  30  the  gross  earnings  of  the  company 
were  15.6  per  cent  larger  than  those  in  the  corresponding 
period  of  191 1  and  the  surplus  was  larger  by  10.8  per  cent. 
The  showing  made  by  the  Chattanooga  (Tenn.)  Railway  & 
Light  Company  in  September  was  somewhat  better,  for 
while  gross  returns  were  14.1  per  cent  larger  than  in  Sep- 
tember, 191 1,  the  surplus  for  the  month  was  13.7  per  cent 
in  excess  of  that  a  year  ago.  The  gross  returns  for  the  nine 
months  ended  Sept.  30  showed  a  gain  of  12.2  per  cent  and 
the  surplus  a  gain  of  6.6  per  cent.  Gross  earnings  of  the 
Commonwealth  Power,  Railway  &  Light  Company,  Jack- 
son. Mich.,  showed  a  gain  of  15.8  per  cent  in  September 
and  of  15. 1  per  cent  in  the  nine  months  ended  Sept.  30, 
while  the  surplus  showed  gains  of  6.3  per  cent  and  6.7  re- 
spectively in  these  periods.  While  September  gross  returns 
of  the  Portland  (Ore.)  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company 
showed  an  increase  of  4.7  per  cent  over  those  in  September 
a  year  ago,  the  surplus  fell  of?  5.6  per  cent.  In  the  nine 
months  ended  Sept.  30  gross  returns  improved  by  4.7  per 
cent  and  the  surplus  decreased  by  ii.S  per  cent.  The  Sep- 
tember gross  earnings  of  the  St.  Joseph  (Mo.)  Railway, 
Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company  were  0.3  per  cent  under  those 
in  September,  191 1,  but  the  surplus  was  70.4  per  cent  larger. 
There  was  a  gain  of  6.4  per  cent  in  the  gross  and  45.7  per 
cent  in  the  surplus  earnings  of  this  company  in  the  nine- 
month  period.  In  the  case  of  the  Union  Railway,  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  of  Evansville,  Ind.,  Peoria,  Rockford 
and  Springfield,  111.,  the  September  gross  increased  34.5  per 
cent  and  the  surplus  for  the  month  increased  7.6  per  cent. 
A  gain  of  21.9  per  cent  in  the  gross  earnings  in  the  nine 
months  ended  Sept.  30,  1912,  and  of  lo.l  per  cent  in  surplus 
was  shown  as  compared  with  the  returns  in  the  correspond- 
ing period  last  year. 

■  Peerless  Insulated  Wire  &  Cable's  Staff. — Among  those 
associated  with  the  management  of  the  Peerless  Insulated 
Wire  &  Cable  Company,  18  Broadway,  New  York,  details 
concerning  which  appeared  in  these  columns  last  week,  are 
several  men  formerly  connected  with  the  insulated  wire 
and  engineering  fields.  One  of  these,  H.  G.  Madden,  was 
at  one  time  general  sales  agent  of  the  Kerite  Insulated  Wire 
&  Cable  Company.  W.  V.  B.  Marquette,  also  associated 
with  the  management,  was  the  superintendent  of  the  Safety 
Insulated  Wire  &  Cable  Company  for  many  years.  W.  E. 
Cook,  who  has  been  actively  engaged  along  engineering  and 
manufacturing  lines  and  who  at  one  time  was  consulting 
engineer  to  the  Diamond  Match  Company  of  Chicago,  is 
also  affiliated  with  the  management  of  the  Peerless  com- 
pany. Mr.  Randall,  inventor  of  the  process,  was  associated 
with  the  Safety  Insulated  Wire  &  Cable  Company  for  many 
years. 

Federal  Light  &  Traction's  Showing. — The  consolidated 
statement  of  earnings  of  suljsidiaries  of  the  Federal  Light 
&  Traction  Company  for  the  month  of  September  showed 
gross  returns  of  $146,622  as  compared  with  $126,888  in  Sep- 
tember a  year  ago,  an  increase  of  15.6  per  cent.  Operating 
expenses  and  taxes  were  $82,490  as  against  $75,621,  an  in- 
crease of  9.1  per  cent.  Net  earnings  were  $64,132  as  com- 
pared with  $51,267,  representing  a  gain  of  25.1  per  cent. 
For  the  nine  months  ended  Sept.  30,  1912,  the  gross  earn- 
ings were  $1,232,429,  compared  with  $1,070,406,  representing 
a  gain  of  15. 1  per  cent.  Operating  expenses  and  taxes  in- 
creased from  $649,258  to  $730,333,  which  is  a  difference  of 
12.5  per  cent.  The  net  earnings  rose  from  $421,148  to 
$502,096,  an  increase  of  19.2  per  cent.  These  figures  do  not 
include  the  earnings  of  the  Deming  Ice  &  Electric  Com- 
pany. 

Kings  County  Electric  Light  &  Power  to  Issue  Bonds. — 
A  special  meeting  of  the  stockholders  of  the  Kings  County 
(N.  Y.)  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  will  be  held  at 
the  office  of  the  company,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  on  Nov.  26  to  act 
upon  a  proposition  recommended  by  the  board  of  direc- 
tors to  issue  $5,000,000  convertible  debenture  bonds,  bear- 
ing interest  at  6  per  cent. 


Gas  &  Electric  Securities  Dividend. — Directors  of  the  Gas 
&  Electric  Securities  Company,  which  is  controlled  by  H. 
L.  Doherty  &  Company,  have  announced  that  dividends  at 
the  rate  of  one-half  of  i  per  cent  per  month  will  be  paid  on 
the  company's  $i,ooo,ono  common  stock  on  and  after  Feb. 
I,  1913.  Regular  dividends  at  the  rate  of  seven-twelfths  of 
I  per  cent  per  month  are  being  paid  on  the  $1,000,000  pre- 
ferred stock  outstanding. 

Cleveland-Galion  Motor  Truck  Increases  Its  Capital. — .\t 
a  recent  meeting,  the  stocklmlders  of  the  Cleveland-Galion 
Motor  Truck  Company,  lOio  Euclid  Avenue,  Cleveland, 
manufacturers  of  electric  trucks,  voted  to  increase  the 
preferred  stock  of  the  company  to  $1,500,000  and  the  com- 
mon to  $500,000. 

Cedar  Rapids  Manufacturing  &  Power  Company  Votes 
Stock  Increase. — Stockholders  of  the  Cedar  Rapids  Manu- 
facturing &  Power  Company  have  voted  to  increase  the 
capital  stock  from  $10,000,000  to  $15,000,000  and  to  change 
the  head  office  from  St.  Joseph  de  Soulanges  to  Montreal. 


OCTOBER   STATEMENT  OF   COPPER   PRODUCERS' 
ASSOCIATION. 

The  October  statement  of  the  Copper  Producers'  Asso- 
ciation, published  Nov.  8.  compares  with  the  September 
statement  as   follows: 

,■ October,   pounds ^     ,.— .September,    pounds^v 

Stocks    on     band    in    the 

United    States    on    first 

of  monlb    6.1,065. S87  46,701,374 

Production     145,405,453  140,089,819 

208,471,040  186,791,193 

Domestic     deliveries 84.104,734  63,460,810 

Export     deliveries 47,621.342  60,264,796 

Total     deliveries 131,726,076  123.725,606 

.Stocks  on  hand  at  end  of 

month     76,744,964  63,065,587 

NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET  PRICES. 

Nov.  12 , 

Copper:  Rid.       Asked. 

Standard,    spot    17.00       

£        s     d 

London,   standard,    spot    76       7     6 

Prime   Lake    17.50  to  17.65 

Electrolytic 17.37^:5 

Casting    17.20  to  17.30 

Copper    wire,    base 19.00 

Lead 4.75 

Nickel    45.00 

Sheet  zinc,  f.o.b.   smelter 9.00 

Spelter,    spot    7.50 

Tin,    spot     49.60 

Aluminum ; 

Prompt    dcliverv     27.00  to  28.00 

Future     26.00  to  26.50 

OLD  METALS. 

Heavy  copper   and    wire 16.00 

Brass,    heavy    10.00 

Brass,    light    8.75 

Lead,   heavy    4.40 

Zinc,  scrap    6.125^ 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  NOVEMBER. 

Tolal  tons,  week  ending Nov.   12  4,789 


INDUSTRIAL  SECURITIES. 


Security. 


Capital  Stock 
Listed. 


Allis-Chalmers,   2d   assess.' 

paid   I  SI  7  , 

Allis-Chalmers,  pf.,  2d  as- 
sess, paid I  14  , 

Amalgamated  Copper,  .   . .  :  153, 

American  Tel.  &  Tel «4, 

Crocker- Wheeler,  e  1  , 

Crocker- Wheeler,  pf 

Electric  Storage  Battery ,c.  ^  16 

General  Electric j  7  7, 

Mackay  Cos.,  c 41 

Mackay  Cos.,  pf 1  50 

Western  Union  Tel |  79 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M.,  c.l  31 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M . ,  pf . ;  3 

*Last  price  quoted. 


151 ,100 


DIVIDENI>. 


QUOTATION. 


Per  Cent.    Period.!  Nov.  6.  Nov.  13 


2i* 


034,700 



9i 

10* 

887.900 

1 

0 

86i 

84i 

712.  M)() 

2 

0 

143 

143i 

700.000 

li 

0 

86* 

85* 

.^00,(K)0 

1!  , 

0 

105* 

105*' 

074,425 

55 

54* 
180|* 

726,700 

2 

0 

182i 

380,400 

IJ 

0 

80* 

85» 

000 , 000 

1 

0 

■  68J 

681* 

943,400 

■,' 

0 

79 

77i 

685,300 

1 

0 

84 

805 

998,700 

li 

0 

124i* 

123* 

io66 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D 


Vol.  6o,  No.  20. 


Personal 

Mr.  John  T.  Fitzsimmons  will  represent  the  Electric 
Products  Company  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  as  district  sales 
manager  for  the  Cincinnati  territory. 

Mr.  J.  S.  Avery,  for  many  years  manager  of  the  Rockland 
Light  &■  Power  Company,  Nyack,  N.  Y.,  has  resigned  to 
engage  in  private  business  in  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  George  C.  Rule,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Citi- 
zens' Gas,  Electric  &  Power  Company,  Nantucket,  Mass., 
has  resigned  in  order  to  engage  in  the  banking  business. 

Mr.  A.  H.  Sikes,  of  the  Central  Hudson  Gas  &  Electric 
Company,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  has  resigned  and  accepted 
the  post  of  sales  manager  of  the  Athens  (Ga.)  Railway  & 
Electric  Company. 

Mr.  Charles  W.  Kendall,  who  was  for  six  years  connected 
with  the  sales  department  of  the  Des  Moines  (la.)  Electric 
Company,  has  resigned  to  accept  a  similar  position  with  the 
Utah  Power  Company,  Ogden,  Utah. 

Mr.  H.  A.  Strauss,  consulting  engineer,  Chicago,  sails 
from  New  York  on  Nov.  28  for  Naples,  Italy.  Mr.  Strauss 
will  also  visit  Germany,  France  and  England  on  business 
before  returning  to  America  in  January. 

Mr.  E.  D.  Alexander  has  been  appointed  assistant  to  Mr. 
Frank  J.  Baker,  of  the  Public  Service  Company  of  Northern 
Illinois,  with  office  in  Chicago.  Mr.  Baker  is  the  vice-presi- 
dent in  charge  of  stations  and  construction  work. 

Mr.  F.  H.  Tidnam,  second  vice-president  of  the  Oklahoma 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  addressed  the  engineering  stu- 
dents of  the  University  of  Oklahoma  at  Norman,  Okla.,  on 
Oct.  27,  his  subject  being  '"Electrical  Engineering  as  a 
Profession." 

Mr.  William  T.  Maddix,  superintendent  of  the  southern 
division  of  the  Pacific  Electric  Railway  Company,  Los 
Angeles,  Cal.,  has  resigned  to  accept  an  appointment  as 
assistant  general  manager  of  the  Utah  Light  &  Railway 
Company.  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 

Mr.  E.  C.  Peebles,  manager  of  the  Chicopee  (Mass.)  Gas 
Light  Company,  has  resigned  that  post  to  take  an  executive 
position  in  the  Rockland  Light  &  Power  Company,  Nyack, 
N.  Y.,  which  company,  like  the  one  in  Chicopee,  is  con- 
trolled by  the  Tenney  Syndicate. 

Mr.  Lynn  A.  Scipio  has  departed  for  Constantinople, 
Turkey,  to  take  up  his  new  duties  as  professor  of  mechan- 
ical engineering  at  Roberts  College.  He  was  formerly  as- 
sistant professor  in  the  same  subject  at  the  University  of 
Nebraska,  Lincoln.  He  is  a  1908  graduate  of  Purdue  Uni- 
versity. 

Mr.  H.  T.  Keyes,  until  recently  superintendent  of  the 
Leominster  (Mass.)  Gas  Light  Company,  has  become  asso- 
ciated with  the  St.  Clair  County  Gas  &  Electric  Company. 
of  Illinois,  as  manager  of  the  new-business  department  of 
one  of  the  companies  operated  by  the  St.  Clair  County 
company. 

Mr.  F.  G.  Baum,  consulting  engineer,  San  Francisco,  Cal., 
has  been  appointed  assistant  general  manager  of  the  Pacific 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  in  charge  of  the  hydroelectric  de- 
velopments now  under  construction.  Mr.  Baum  succeeds 
Mr.  James  H.  Wise,  whose  lamentable  death  was  noted  in 
these  columns   Sept.   28. 

Mr.  J.  L.  Crider,  who  has  been  general  superintendent 
of  construction  with  J.  G.  White  &  Company  for  the  Oak- 
land &  Antioch  Railway  work,  is  now  in  general  charge 
of  the  construction  on  the  Oakland,  Antioch  &  Eastern 
Railway  in  addition  to  the  above-mentioned  road.  He  is 
being  assisted  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Quimby. 

Mr.  V.  Ford  Greaves,  who  has  been  connected  with  the 
research  department  of  the  Jefferson  Physical  Laboratory 
of  Harvard  University  for  the  past  five  years,  has  accepted 
appointment  as  radio  inspector  in  the  Bureau  of  Navigation, 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor.  Mr.  Greaves  will 
make  his  headquarters  in  Washington,  D.  C. 

Mr.  W.  R.  Addicks,  vice-president  of  the  Consolidated 
Gas  Company  of  New  York,  which  owns  the  New  York 
Edison  Company  and  controls  the  entire  gas  and  electric- 
lighting  interests  of  the  borough  of  Manhattan,  New  York 
City,  was  elected  president  of  the  American  Gas  Institute 
at  its  seventh  annual  meeting,  held  in  Atlantic  City,  N.  J., 
on  Oct.  17. 


Mr.  Palmer  York,  formerly  treasurer  of  the  Fitchburg 
(Mass.)  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company  and  at  present  in 
charge  of  the  publicity  work  for  the  Tenney  Syndicate,  of 
Boston,  will  hereafter  also  look  out  for  the  publicity  work 
of  the  company's  investment  department. 

Mr.  Eugene  Creed,  sales  manager  of  the  Morris  Iron 
Company,  New  York  City,  has  been  appointed  sales  man- 
ager of  the  Kentucky  Traction  &  Terminal  Company,  Lex- 
ington, Ky.  Mr.  Creed  was  formerly  connected  with  the 
sales  and  publicity  departments  of  the  Toronto  (Ont.)  Elec- 
tric Light  Company  and  the  .Auburn  (N.  Y.)  Light,  Heat  & 
Power   Company. 

Mr.  John  W.  Mabbs,  formerly  chief  engineer  of  the  Board 
of  Trade  Building  of  Chicago,  has  been  made  chief  engineer 
of  the  Congress  Hotel  Company  of  the  same  city.  This 
company  operates  one  of  the  largest  isolated  electric  plants 
in  Chicago,  supplying  energy  for  light,  heat  and  motor 
service  for  the  Congress  Hotel  and  the  Auditorium  Theater 
anil  office  building. 

Mr.  Samuel  Kahn  has  been  appointed  assistant  to  Mr. 
Elmer  Dover  in  the  operation  of  the  Western  properties  of 
H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company.  This  group  includes  the 
Oregon  Power  Company,  the  Northern  Idaho  &  Montana 
Power  Company,  the  Tacoma  Gas  Company,  the  Everett 
Gas  Company  and  the  Western  States  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany. Mr.  Kahn  was  formerly  connected  with  the  operating 
department  at  Chicago. 

Mr.  Harry  B.  Sewall,  wlio  lias  been  general  manager  of 
the  Paducah  Light  &  Power  Company  and  the  Paducah 
Traction  Company,  of  Paducah,  Ky.,  for  three  years  past, 
has  become  general  manager  of  the  Dallas  Light  &  Power 
Company,  of  Dallas,  Tex.  Mr.  W.  L.  Weston,  formerly  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  Dallas  properties,  has  succeeded  Air. 
Sewall  in  Paducah.  Both  the  Kentucky  and  the  Texas 
utility  are  owned  by  Stone  &  Webster. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Gillette,  general  manager  of  the  Fort  Smith 
(.•\rk.)  Light  &  Traction  Company,  has  been  appointed 
.Arkansas  representative  of  the  American  Automobile  As- 
sociation. Arkansas  has  not  up  to  the  present  time  ap- 
peared in  the  association's  "Blue  Book,"  and  it  is  Mr.  Gil- 
lette's plan  to  complete  as  soon  as  possible  the  state  organi- 
zation and  make  arrangements  for  automobile  trips  and  for 
till-   improvement   of  highways   in  the   State. 

Mr.  Gerald  Deakin  recently  sailed  for  Europe,  where 
he  expects  to  reside  for  the  next  few  years.  While  there 
he  will  take  up  the  development  of  automatic  telephone 
apparatus  for  the  Bell  Telephone  Manufacturing  Company, 
of  Antwerp,  Belgium.  Mr.  Deakin  was  formerly  chief 
engineer  of  the  Bay  Cities  Home  Telephone  Company,  of 
San  Francisco,  and  recently  had  charge  of  the  automatic 
telephone  plant  of  the  Pacific  Telephone  &  Telegraph 
Company. 

Mr.  Leonard  H.  Kinnard,  general  commercial  superin- 
toiulent  of  the  Bell  Telephone  Company  of  Pennsylvania, 
has  been  elected  second  vice-president  and  general  man- 
ager of  the  company,  with  offices  at  Philadelphia,  succeed- 
ing Mr.  Philip  L.  Spaulding,  yho  was  recently  elected 
president  of  the  New  England  Telephone  &  Telegraph 
Company.  Mr.  J.  Heron  Crosman,  Jr.,  division  manager 
of  the  company  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  succeeds  Mr.  Kinnard 
as   general   commercial   superintendent. 

Mr.  H.  T.  Edgar,  who,  as  was  announced  in  our  issue  of 
Oct.  19,  has  been  appointed  district  manager  of  all  of  the 
Stone  &  Webster  properties  in  the  Central  Western  States, 
was  presented  with  a  silver  service  at  a  dinner  given  by 
Mr.  Jacob  Firth,  president  of  the  Puget  Sound  Traction, 
Light  &  Power  Company,  Seattle,  Wash.,  on  Oct.  29.  Formal 
announcement  was  made  at  the  dinner  that  Mr.  A.  L. 
Kempster  would  succeed  Mr.  Edgar  as  manager  of  the  Se- 
attle division  of  the  Puget  Sound  Traction.  Light  &  Power 
Company. 

Mr.  C.  Arthur  Spaulding,  of  Buffalo,  has  been  made  head 
of  tlie  commercial  department  of  the  Western  division  of 
the  New  Y'ork  Telephone  Company.  After  leaving  college 
Mr.  Spaulding  was  for  a  few  years  associate  editor  of  the 
U'cslcnt  Electrician  in  Chicago,  but  since  1894  he  has  been 
employed  bj-  the  Bel!  Telephone  Company  of  Buffalo,  and 
his  advancement  with  that  company  and  its  successor  has 
been  steady.  Mr.  Spaulding  attended  the  Univrsity  of 
Rochester  and  is  well  known  in  both  Buffalo  and  Rochester. 


XoVEMBliR    l6,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL     VV  (J  R  L  D  . 


1067 


Mr.  Curtis  N.  Douglas  has  been  named  by  Governor  Dix 
of  New  York  as  a  member  of  the  Public  Service  Commis- 
sion of  the  Second  District  to  succeed  Mr.  W.  A.  Huppuch, 
resigned.  The  appointment  is  for  a  term  which  expires 
Feb.  I,  1916,  and  must  be  confirmed  by  the  incoming  Sen- 
ate. Mr.  Douglas,  who  has  been  prominent  for  some  time 
in  public  life,  was  born  May  28,  1856,  at  Watertown,  N.  Y. 
After  graduating  from  college  in  1873  he  engaged  in  the 
lumber  trade  in  Jefferson  County  and  in  1881  established  a 
classical  school  in  New  York. 

Mr.  Clarence  P.  Fowler,  who  for  some  time  past  has  been 
specializing  on  examinations  and  reports  upon  public-serv- 
ice properties  for  financing  purposes,  has  recently  returned 
East  from  Ohio,  where  he  has  been  acting  for  a  New  York 
banking  syndicate  as  general  manager  of  a  number  of 
public-service  undertakings  in  that  State.  During  his  stay 
there  Mr.  Fowler  gave  expert  testimony  at  a  hearing  before 
the  Ohio  Public  Service  Commission  in  connection  with 
the  issuance  of  securities  of  public-utility  enterprises  which 
he  served  in  a  managerial  capacity.  Mr.  Fowler  has  re- 
cently resumed  his  duties  in  connection  with  public-service 
reporting  work. 

Mr.  P.  D.  Kline  has  tendered  his  resignation  as  general 
superintendent  of  construction  of  the  Falkenau  Electrical 
Construction  Company  and  the  H.  A.  Strauss  Company, 
Chicago,  111.,  to  take  effect  Jan.  i,  1913.  Mr.  Kline  has 
had  charge  of  the  field  engineering  and  construction  in  con- 
nection with  the  installation  of  power  stations,  electric 
railways  and  general  contracting  work  undertaken  by  these 
companies  since  Jan.  i,  1905.  Prior  to  that  time  he  was 
connected  with  the  contracting  department  of  the  AUis- 
Chalmers  Company  for  two  years  and  still  earlier  was 
superintendent  of  transportation  of  the  Sheboygan  (Wis.) 
Light,   Power  &   Railway  Company  for  four  years. 

Mr.  Harold  W.  Clapp,  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  has  been  ap- 
pointed general  superintendent  of  the  Columbus  (Ohio) 
Railway  &  Light  Company,  succeeding  Mr.  L.  G.  White, 
whose  resignation  from  the  company  to  become  connected 
with  the  Public  Service  Commission  of  Ohio  was  noted  in 
the  Electrical  World  of  June  15,  1912.  Mr.  Clapp  has  lately 
been  assistant  electrical  engineer  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
Company,  under  Mr.  A.  H.  Babcock.  Up  to  T907  Mr.  Clapp 
was  connected  with  the  General  Electric  Company  as 
special  representative  of  its  railway  engineering  and  con- 
struction departments.  Before  coming  to  America  Mr. 
Clapp  was  superintendent  of  motive  power  of  the  Brisbane 
(Australia)   tramways. 

Mr.  A.  W.  Zahtn,  general  manager  of  the  People's  Gas 
&  Electric  Company  of  Mason  City,  la.,  has  resigned  to 
become  general  manager  of  the  Minneapolis  Electric  Equip- 
ment Company.  Mr.  Zahm  has  been  prominently  identified 
with  the  electrical  industry  in  the  State  of  Iowa,  having 
served  as  president  of  the  Iowa  Electrical  Association  and 
for  the  last  two  years  acting  as  secretary  of  that  associa- 
tion, now  a  geographical  section  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association.  Mr.  Zahm's  resignation  will  become 
effective  on  Jan.  i,  1913.  His  successor  had  not  been  named 
when  this  was  written.  Mason  City  has  16,000  inhabitants 
and  a  modern  electric-service  system,  gas  plant  and  hot- 
water   central-station-heating  equipment. 

Mr.  Charles  H.  Bigelow  has  accepted  the  position  of 
chief  mechanical  engineer  of  the  Millville  Manufacturing 
Company,  Millville,  N.  J.,  which  company,  in  addition  to 
owning  cotton  mills,  dye  houses,  bleacheries.  etc.,  controls 
the  Millville  Traction  Company.  Mr.  Bigelow  resigned  from 
the  department  of  motive  power  and  machinery  of  the 
Boston  (Mass.)  Elevated  Railway  a  few  years  ago  to  build 
power  houses  and  factories  at  Dallas,  Tex.,  and  other  parts 
of  the  United  States  and  in  Canada.  For  the  last  two  years 
he  has  been  assistant  superintendent  of  power  and  plant  for 
the  Yale  &  Towne  Manufacturing  Company,  Stamford, 
Conn.,  in  which  capacity  he  had  charge  of  the  construction 
of  the  factory  erected  at  St.  Catharines,  Ont.,  to  take  care 
of  the  Canadian  business  of  that  company. 

Prof.  B.  F.  Eyer,  who  founded  the  department  of  elec- 
trical engineering  in  the  Kansas  State  Agricultural  College 
in  1900,  has  resigned  and  will  enter  commercial  life  in 
January  of  next  year.  Previous  to  his  connection  with  the 
Kansas    State    College    Professor    Eyer   was    a    teacher    of 


physics  and  chemistry  in  the  Topeka  High  School  for  five 
years,  and  later  he  was  vice-principal.  He  has  also  been 
associated  with  the  Hiawatha  (Kan.)  Academy  as  head  of 
its  physics  department.  Professor  Eyer  is  an  associate 
member  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
and  the  National  Electric  Light  Association,  and  he  is  a 
member  and  past-president  of  the  Kansas  Gas,  Water, 
Electric  Light  &  Street  Railway  Association.  The  degree 
of  E.E.  was  conferred  upon  Professor  Eyer  in  1908. 

Mr.  L.  O.  Veser,  who  for  the  past  three  and  a  half  years 
has  been  in  charge  of  the  construction  work  of  the 
Mahoning  &  Shenango  Railway  &  Light  Company,  of 
Youngstown,  Ohio,  has  been  promoted  to  the  position  of 
chief  engineer,  succeeding  Mr.  G.  N.  Lemmon,  resigned. 
Mr.  Veser  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  the  State  of 
Washington  and  Cornell  University.  Mr.  W.  H.  Acker, 
who  was  formerly  superintendent  of  transmission  lines  of 
this  company,  has  been  appointed  electrical  engineer  of  the 
Mahoning  and  its  subsidiary  companies  and  will  assist  Mr. 
Veser  on  electrical  engineering  matters.  Mr.  Acker  is  a 
graduate  of  the  Georgia  School  of  Technology.  Mr.  W.  A. 
Butler,  who  for  a  number  of  years  has  had  charge  of  the 
power  house  at  Youngstown,  has  been  appointed  engineer 
of  power  houses  of  the  parent  and  subsidiary  companies. 

Mr.  Walter  Howard  Johnson,  first  vice-president  of  the 
Philadelphia  Electric  Company,  was  tendered  a  surprise 
luncheon  by  twenty-one  of  his  associates  on  Nov.  7,  in  com- 
memoration of  his  completion  of  twenty-five  years  of  service 
in  the  electric-lighting  industry.  Mr.  Johnson  entered  the 
employ  of  the  Edison  Electric  Light  Company  of  Philadel- 
phia when  that  company  was  formed,  in  1887,  Mr.  William 
D.  Marks  being  president  at  that  time,  and  has  been  associ- 
ated with  it  and  its  successors  ever  since.  All  of  the  men 
present  at  the  luncheon  were  either  officials  or  heads  of  de- 
partments of  the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company,  and  all  had 
been  in  active  service  with  the  company  and  its  subsidiary 
companies  for  periods  of  twenty  years  and  upward.  Many 
personal  reminiscences  relating  to  the  early  history  of  the 
Philadelphia  central  station  were  recounted  by  those  pres- 
ent, and  as  a  token  of  esteem  Mr.  Johnson  was  presented 
with  a  loving  cup. 

Mr.  A.  L.  Kempster  has  been  appointed  manager  of  the 
Seattle  division  of  the  Puget  Sound  Traction,  Light  & 
Power  Company  to  succeed  Mr.  H.  T.  Edgar,  who  has  been 
appointed  district  manager  for  Stone  &  Webster  in  the 
Central  Western  States.  Mr.  Kempster  was  born  in  Can- 
field,  111.,  Sept.  17,  1872.  He  removed  to  Victoria,  B.  C,  with 
his  parents  in  1885,  where  he  remained  two  years.  In  1891 
he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Seattle  Consolidated  Railway 
as  clerk  and  subsequently  became  bookkeeper  and  auditor 
of  the  company.  With  the  reorganization  of  the  Seattle 
Consolidated  Railway  as  the  Seattle  Traction  Company,  Mr. 
Kempster  was  made  secretary  and  auditor,  which  positions 
he  retained  when  the  Seattle  Traction  Company  became  a 
part  of  the  Seattle  Electric  Company's  system.  He  was 
next  appointed  trainmaster  of  the  Seattle  Electric  Company, 
and  in  1902  was  advanced  to  the  position  of  superintendent 
of  transportation.  On  Dec.  i,  1910,  he  received  the  title  of 
superintendent  of  the  railway  department. 

Mr.  Ralph  U.  Fitting,  formerly  with  the  engineering  de- 
partment of  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company  for  four 
and  a  half  years,  has  been  engaged  by  Harris,  Forbes  & 
Company,  New  York,  bankers,  as  engineer.  At  the  time  of 
his  resignation  he  was  assistant  chief  engineer  and  had 
charge  of  all  the  gas  construction  work  done  by  the  first- 
named  company.  Prior  to  graduation  from  Stanford  Uni- 
versity in  1906  he  was  connected  with  the  gas  department 
of  the  Independent  Gas  &  Electric  Company  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, the  engineering  department  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railway  Company  at  Tacoma,  Wash.;  the  transmission-line 
construction  of  the  Puget  Sound  Power  Company  on  the 
Electron  development,  the  Tacoma  substation  construction 
for  the  Tacoma  Railway  &  Power  Company,  and  the  draft- 
ing department  of  the  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company  in 
San  Francisco.  After  graduation  Mr.  Fitting  became 
identified  with  the  gas  business  again  and  accepted  a  posi- 
tion as  draftsman  with  the  Portland  Gas  Company  of  Port- 
land. Ore.,  and  later  held  the  position  of  superintendent  of 
distribution  before  coming  to  New  York  to  join  the  Electric 
Bond  &  Share  Company. 


io68 


ELECTRICAL     W  ( J  R  L  D , 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  20. 


Construction 


HARDY,  ARK.— R.  C.  Huston  &  Co.,  Exchange  Building,  Memphis, 
Tfiin.,  have  been  engaged  as  consulting  engineers  for  the  Camp  Hardy 
hydroelectric  development.  Tlie  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at  about 
$100,000.  R.  C.  Huston  is  president  and  chief  engineer  of  R.  C.  Huston 
&   Co. 

FRESNO,  CAL.— The  San  Joaquin  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to 
enlarge  the  Crane  Valley  reservoir,  which  will  quadruple  the  capacity 
of  power  house  No.  1  in  this  district.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated 
at  about  $25,000. 

LINDEN,  CAL.— The  Oro  El.  Co.,  of  Oroville.  has  secured  a  site  on 
Witherby  Place  for  a  power  plant.  Work  will  begin  on  construction  of 
the    buildings   at    once. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  Californa  Main  Line  Railroad  Co.,  which 
was  incorporated  February,  1912.  under  the  name  of  the  California  Air 
Line  R.  R.  Co.,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000,000,  has  filed  with  the 
City  Council  an  offer  to  construct  and  operate  tlie  municipal  railway 
to   the  harbor   for  the  city.      Glen   Rehymer  is  attorney. 

SACRAMENTO,  CAL.— The  Great  Western  Pwr.  Co.  has  taken  over 
the  property  of  the  North  Sacramento  Pwr.  Co.,  which  was  organized  to 
furnish  electricity  in  North  Sacramento  and  the  new  towns  in  the 
Haggin  grant. 

SAN  FRANCISCO.  CAL.— The  Board  of  Works  has  approved  the 
recommendation  of  City  Engineer  O'Shauglinessy  for  the  installation  of 
a  new  fire  and  police  signal  system,  to  cost  $750,000.  Of  this  amount 
$670,000  is  to  be  devoted  to  equipment  and  $80,000  to  the  acquisition 
of  land  for  a  central  station.  The  plans  provide  for  the  installation  of 
950  fire-alarm  boxes  wtth  circuits  for  250  more,  600  police  signal  boxes, 
a  complete  telephone  service  and  200  flashlight  signal  stations  for  calling 
policemen  off  their  beats.  City  Engineer  O'Shaughnessy  suggests  a  cen- 
tral station,  55  ft.  by  65  ft.,  a  single  room  for  switchboard,  batteries  and 
apparatus.  In  two  adjoining  buildings  would  be  located  a  heating  plant, 
gas  engines  and  dynamos. 

SAN  JOSE.  CAL. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  granted  the 
San  Jose  Terminal  Ry.  Co.  permission  to  issue  $400,000  in  bonds,  the 
proceeds  to  be  used  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  between 
San  Jose  and  Alviso  and  to  establish  .a  ferry  service  between  Alviso  and 
San  Francisco. 

DENVER.  COL.— The  Rocky  Mountain  Fuel  Co.  has  entered  into  a 
contract  with  the  Northern  Colorado  Pwr.  Co.  for  electrical  energy 
amounting  to  32,000  hp  per  month  for  its  12  mines  in  Boulder  and 
Weld  Counties.  The  steam-power  plants  will  be  discarded  and  elec- 
trically driven  machinery  substituted  in  the  coal  mines  as  rapidly  as 
possible.  H.  U.  Wallace  is  vice-president  of  the  power  company  and 
David    W.    Brown    is   vice-president    of    the    fuel   company. 

WINDSOR  LOCKS,  CONN.— The  Northern  Connecticut  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  has  leased  the  property  of  the  Housatonic  Pwr.  Co..  which  furnishes 
electrical  service  in  Suffield,  West  Suffield,  Agawam  and  Feeding  Hills, 
Mass.,  for  a  period  of  99  years.  At  present  electricity  for  operating 
the  system  is  supplied  from  high-tension  wires  from  Springfteld.  Mass., 
to  the  substation  in  Suffield,  where  it  is  transformed  for  distribution.  The 
Northern  Connecticut  company  has  a  large  generating  plant  in  Windsor 
Locks,  and  now  controls  the  electric  and  power  companies  between 
Hartford  and  Springfield  along  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut  River. 
Walter    P.    Schwabe    is    general    manager. 

ALBANY,  GA.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Albany  Transit  Co.,  Al- 
bany, until  Nov.  20  for  material  and  equipment  for  a  street-railway  sys- 
tem as  follows:  One  150-kw  direct-current  generator;  1200-hp  four-valve 
engine;  approximately  4  miles  of  trolley  material;  approximately  375 
tons  of  60-lb  steel  T-rail  and  45  tons  70-lb  high  7-in  steel  T-rail.  Speci- 
fications can  be  obtained  upon  application.  For  further  information  ad- 
dress  J.    C.    Fulford,   secretary  and   treasurer. 

ATLANTA,  GA. — Separate  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Com- 
mission of  Roads  and  Revenues  of  Fulton  County,  Atlanta,  until  Dec.  2 
(extension  of  date  from  Nov,  9)  for  furnishing  material  and  labor  for 
plumbing,  heating  and  wiring  required  in  the  Fulton  County  court  house. 
Copies  of  drawings  and  specifications  may  be  obtained  from  A.  Ten 
Eyck  Brown  and  Morgan  &  Dillon,  607-10  Forsyth  Building,  Atlanta, 
upon  a  deposit  of  $20,  which  will  be  refunded  upon  return  of  plans. 
Oifford   L.   Anderson,  chairman   of  commissioners   roads  and   revenues. 

ALPHA,  ILL.— The  Tri-County  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Alpha,  has  in- 
creased  its  capital   stock  from  $30,000  to   $1,000,000. 

ARCOLA,  ILL.—The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Areola  Tel.  Co.  a 
20-year  franchise  in  Areola. 

FAIRFIELD,  ILL. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  ofiice  of 
G.  W.  Lewis,  city  clerk,  Fairfield,  until  Nov.  29,  for  furnishing  materia! 
and  installing  water-works  and  electrical  improvements  as  follows:  Ad- 
dition to  municipal  power  house,  one  150-hp  return  tubular,  150-lb-pres- 
sure  steam  boiler,  with  stack  and  all  connections;  one  150-kva,  three- 
phase,  60-cycIe,  2300-volt,  alternating-current  belt-driven  generator  with 
belted  exciter;  one  two-panel  marble  switchboard  with  all  necessary 
meters,  switches,  etc.;  one  15-kw,  60-cycle,  2300-volt  tungsten  series 
street  light  regulator;  one  60,000-gal.  steel  tank  on  100-ft.  steel  tower; 
one  450-gal.  per  minute,  motor-driven  turbine  pump;  one  steam-driven 
air  compressor  with  capacity  of  125  cu.  ft.  of  free  air  displacement  per 
minute;  one  air  receiver,  3  ft.  x  6  ft.;  one  20,000-gal.  concrete  reser- 
voir;  all  piping   for  connecting  air  receiver  to   wells,  wells  to  reservoir, 


reservoir  to  pump,  pump  to  elevated  tank  and  tank  to  distributing  sys- 
tem; 53  three-lamp  tungsten  street  lamp  hoods,  with  porcelain  enamel 
reflectors  22  in.  in  diameter;  60  100-cp  and  100  60-cp,  5.5-amp  series 
tungsten  lamps.  Plans  and  specifications  are  on  file  in  the  office  of  the 
city  clerk,  Fairfield,  and  in  the  office  of  the  FuUer-Coult  Co.,  engineer. 
Chemical    Building.    St.    Louis,    Mo.      J.    D.    Harlan   is   Mayor. 

MORRISON,  ILL.— The  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Co.,  of  Chicago, 
has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  City  Council  offering  to  furnish  the 
city  with  135  incandescent  street  lamps  of  32  cp  for  the  residential 
district  at  $17  each  per  year  and  four  tungsten-lamp  clusters  in  the  busi- 
ness district  at  $54  per  cluster  per  year.  The  company  also  offers  to 
supply  electricity  for  pumping  water,  with  a  minimum  of  200,000  gal. 
per  day,  at  2]4  cents  per  1000  gal. 

MOUNT  CARMEL,  ILL.— The  Oil  Belt  R.  R.  Co.,  which  is  operating 
an  electric  railway  between  Oblong  and  Martinsville,  a  distance  of  9 
miles,  is  planning  to  extend  the  railway  to  Bridgeport  and  from  there 
to  Mount  Carniel  within  the  next  few  months.    W.  E.  FinJey  is  promoter. 

NEWMAN,  ILL. — The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co..  of  Mattoon,  has 
purchased  the  property  of  the  Newman  EU.  Lt.  Co.,  of  Newman. 

RAYMOND,  ILL.— The  Hillsboro  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Hillsboro,  has 
applied  to  the  Village  Board  for  a  50-year  franchise  to  supply  electricity 
here. 

ROCHELLE,  ILL. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  business  men 
for  the   installation   of  an   ornamental   street-light  system   in   Rochelle. 

PETERSBURG,  IND. — 'The  city  authorities  have  awarded  a  contract 
to  the  McCaskey  Co.,  of  Lansing,  Mich.,  for  the  installation  of  a  new 
electric-light  system  here. 

ST.  JOE.  INC.— The  Hicksville  El.  Lt.  Co.,  HicksviUe,  Ohio,  has  been 
granted  a  10-year  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lighting  the  town. 
A  contract  for  street  lighting  has  been  given  the  company.  Work  will 
begin  at  once  on  the  erection  of  the  transmission  line  from  HicksviUe  to 
St.   Joe, 

SULLIVAN,  IND. — Bids  are  being  asked  by  the  directors  of  the 
Utilities  Coal  Co.,  recently  incorporated,  for  the  sinking  of  the  two  coal- 
mining shafts  to  be  operated  by  electrically  driven  machinery.  Tele- 
phones   will   also  be   installed   at   the   new   mines. 

ALTOONA,  lA. — ^The  Council  has  granted  George  T.  Gibson  a  con- 
tract for  street  lighting  instead  of  a  franchise  as  published  in  the  issue 
of   Nov.    2.      Material    for   the   system    has   been    purchased. 

DECORAH,  lA. — 'The  Upper  Iowa  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  granted  a  fran- 
chise   to    erect    transmission    lines    throughout    the    county. 

INWOOD,  lA. — At  the  election  held  Nov.  5  the  propostion  to  grant 
the  Sioux  Valley  Pwr.  Co.,  Fairview,  S.  D.,  a  franchise  to  supply  elec- 
tricity here  was  carried. 

MARBLE  ROCK,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
install  an  electric-light  plant  was  carried.  Engineers  have  been  engaged 
to  prepare  plans  for  the  system. 

MARCUS,  lA. — The  proposition  to  grant  a  franchise  to  K.  C.  Gaynor, 
United  Bank  Building,  Sioux  City,  la.,  to  install  and  operate  an  electric- 
light  plant  here   will  be  submitted   to   the  voters  on   Nov.    19. 

MARSHALLTOWN,  lA.— The  City  Council  has  agreed  to  maintain 
the  standards  and  lamps  and  pay  for  electricity  for  the  electrolier  light- 
ing system  on  South  Third  Avenue,  provided  the  plans  for  the  lighting- 
system   are   submitted   to   the   Council   and   approved   by   it. 

MERRILL,  lA. — ^At  an  election  held  recently  the  citizens  voted  to- 
install  a  municipal  electric-light  plant.  Plans  and  specifications  have- 
been    prepared   for   the   proposed   plant. 

MILO,  lA. — The  contract  for  brickwork  for  the  power  station  for  the 
electric-light  plant  has  been  awarded  to  Mr.   Enslow,   of   Chariton. 

MILTON,  lA. — 'At  an  election  to  be  held  Nov.  26  the  proposition  to- 
grant  L.  R.  Sherrill  an  electric-light  franchise  will  be  submitted  to  a 
vote. 

NEW  PROVIDENCE,  lA.^At  an  election  held  recently  the  town 
voted  to  grant  the  Iowa  River  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Eldora,  la.,  a  fran- 
chise  to    supply    electricity    here. 

OSSIAN,  lA. — The  Upper  Iowa  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Decorah,  is  contemplating 
extending  its  transmission  lines  to  Ossian  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps- 
and    motors. 

WEST  BURLINGTON,  lA.— At  a  special  election  held  Oct.  29  the 
proposition  to  grant  the  Burlington  Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to  erect  its- 
main   transmission   line   through  this   town   was  carried. 

ARCADIA.  KAN. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  E.  T.  Archer  &  Co.. 
New  England  Building,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  engineers,  for  electric-light 
plant   and   water-works   system   in   Arcadia   to   cost   about   $25,000. 

ARGONIA,  KAN. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system  here  in  the  spring,  tO' 
cost  about  $25,000.  Rollins  &  Westover,  Midland  Building,  Kansas  City,. 
Mo.,  are  consulting  engineers.     J.   S.   Robins   is  Mayor. 

MILTONVALE,  KAN.— Plans  are  being  prepared  by  E.  T.  Archer 
&  Co.,  New  England  Building,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  for  the  installation 
of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system  here,  to  cost  about 
$35,000. 

MULBERRY,  KAN.— The  Council  has  engaged  E.  T.  Archer  &  Co.,. 
New  England  Building,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  to  prepare  plans  for  the  pro- 
posed municipal  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system,  to  cosr 
about    $45,000. 


November  i6.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


io6g 


TESCOTT,  KAN.— The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water- 
works  system,  to  cost  about  $25,000,  is  under  consideration.  It  is  ex- 
pected that  bids  will  be  asked  for  the  work  in  the  spring.  Rollins  & 
Westover,  Midland  Building,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  are  engineers.  J.  W. 
Simpson    is   Mayor. 

CORVDON,  KY. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $8,000  have  been  authorized 
for  the  installation  of  an  electric  light  and  power  plant  here. 

FRANKFORT,  KY.— The  Kentucky  Public  Service  Co.,  of  Frankfort, 
is  planning  to  install  a  new  street-lighting  system  on  Main  and  St.  Clair 
Streets  in    Frankfort. 

HARDIN,  KY. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of  a 
5-kw  generator,  etc.,  and  street-lighting  equipment.  For  further  infor- 
mation address  the  Mayor. 

HORSE  CA\  E,  KY. — The  municipal  authorities  of  Horse  Cave  have 
entered  into  a  contract  with  Dickinson  Brothers,  of  Glasgow,  to  install 
and  operate  an  electric  light  and  power  plant  here.  The  plant  is  to  be 
completed  by  Jan.   1,   1913. 

PARIS,  KY. — The  Light  &  Development  Co.,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  has 
purchased  the  property  of  the  Paris  Gas  &  El.  Co.  C.  L.  Steenbergen, 
general  superintendent,  will  be  retained  by  the  new  company.  H. 
Wurdatk,  of  St.   Louis,  Mq.,  is  president  of  the  Lt.  &  Devel.   Co. 

PEMBROKE.  KY.— The  Pembroke  Wtr..  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  recently 
purchased  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  separate  franchises  for  operating  an 
electric  light  and  power  plant  and  water-works  system. 

SHELBYX'ILLE,  KY. — The  America  Tobacco  Co.  is  planning  to 
install  electrically  driven  presses  and  other  electrical  devices  for  handling 
tobacco  in  its  warehouses  in  Shelbyville.  For  further  information  address 
J.  E.  Johnson,  of  Farmville,  Ky.,  Shelbyville  representative  of  the 
company. 

ST.  BERNARD,  LA.— The  New  Orleans  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co..  of  New 
Orleans,  has  applied  for  a  franchise  to  supply  electrical  and  gas  service 
here. 

SHREVEPORT,  LA.— The  Southwestern  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  of  Delaware, 
is  reported  to  have  purchased  the  property  of  the  Shreveport  Gas,  El. 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  Caddo  Gas  &  Oil  Co.  The  Southwestern  Co.,  it 
is  said,  has  acquired  the  property  of  the  Texarkana  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  of 
Texarkana,  Ark.,  and  will  hereafter  manage  the  three  properties,  in- 
cluding the  lighting  and  heating  systems  of  Shreveport  and  Texarkana. 
The  Southwestern  Gas  &  El.  Company,  it  is  stated,  will  issue  $3,000,000 
in  bonds  to  retire  outstanding  bonds  and  indebtedness  and  to  make 
extensions.  W.  L.  Wood  is  manager  of  the  Texarkana  plant  and  A.  G. 
Curtis  is   manager   of   the    Shreveport    property. 

BALTIMORE.  MD.— At  the  election  held  Nov.  5  the  $2,000,000  con- 
duit extension  loan  was  carried.  Plans  are  being  prepared  by  Raleigh  C. 
Thomas,  electrical  engineer,  for  extension  of  the  municipal  subway  next 
year,    involving   an    expenditure    of   $500,000. 

NEW  BEDFORD,  MASS.— The  Padanaram  Improvement  Association 
is  considering  the  question  of  substituting  electric  lamps  for  the  oil 
lamps  now  in  use  in  the  village  of  Padanaram.  A  committee,  consisting 
of  Richard  Almy,  chairman,  Charles  W.  Rowland  and  William  S. 
Anthony,  has  been  appointed  to  negotiate  with  the  New  Bedford  Gas 
&  Edison  Lt.  Co.  to  furnish  the  service.  It  is  proposed  to  install 
75-watt  lamps. 

PALMER,  MASS.— The  Warren  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to  the  Board 
of  Selectmen  for  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  Palmer.  The  com- 
pany proposes  to  develop  the  property  of  John  T.  F.  McDonald  at  West 
Warren.  The  project  includes  the  construction  of  a  large  dam  on  th* 
Quaboag  River,  below  West  Warren;  also  construction  of  power  house 
and    other   buildings    in    Palmer. 

PRINCETON,  MASS.— The  special  light  committee,  consisting  of 
Prentice  C.  Doolittle,  Harry  C.  Buck  and  Henry  C.  Delano,  has  awarded 
the  contract  for  installing  an  electric-light  system  in  Princeton  to  the 
Bruce   &   Hibbard    El.    Co.,   of   Fitchburg,    for    $l/,900. 

SPENCER,  MASS.— The  Connecticut  Pwr.  Co.,  it  is  understood,  is 
contemplating  extending  its  transmission  lines  from  North  Brookfield  to 
Spencer.  It  is  reported  that  the  company  will  supply  electricity  to  the 
plants  of  the  Spencer  Wire  Co.  at  Sugdenville  and  Proutyville.  The 
power  will  be  distributed  through  the  Spencer  Gas  Co.,  which  holds 
the   franchise   here. 

STERLING,  MASS. — At  a  special  town  meeting  the  citizens  voted  to 
extend  the  commercial  electric-lighting  service  to  the  Redstone  district 
and  $1,000  was  appropriated  for  the  work.  George  F.  Herbert  is  chair- 
man  of   board    of   selectmen. 

ALPENA,  MICH.— The  Fletcher  Paper  Co.  is  installing  a  new  600-kw 
generator  and  making  other  improvements  to  its  plant. 

BESSEMER,  MICK.— The  Gogebic  &  Iron  Counties  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co. 
has  commenced  work  on  the  extensions  of  its  electric  transmission  line 
to  Ramsay. 

GREENVILLE,  MICH.— The  merchants  along  Lafayette  Street  are 
advocating  the  installation  of  a  boulevard  ornamental  street-lighting 
system.  If  the  boulevard  system  is  too  expensive  it  is  proposed  to  add 
at   least   10  additional    arc   lamps. 

KALAMAZOO,  MICH. — The  City  Council  has  appropriated  $100  to 
be  used  by  the  lighting  commission  in  securing  an  option  on  a  more 
desirable  site  on  which  it  is  planned  to  erect  a  new  lighting  plant. 

PETOSKEY.  MICH.— The  Bear  River  Paper  &  Bag  Co.  is  making 
extensions  to  its  power  plant. 


RIVER  ROUGE,  MICH.— At  a  special  election  held  recently  the 
proposition  to  issue  $15,000  in  bonds  for  improvements  to  the  municipal 
electric-light  plant  was  carried.  It  is  proposed  to  install  a  new  engine 
and  two  generators  and  reconstruct  the  distributing  system.  When  im- 
provements   are   completed    a    24-hour    service    will    be    established. 

BIW.MUK,  MINN. — The  contract  covering  the  electrical  work  for  the 
new  high  school  in  Biwabik  has  been  awarded  to  the  Duluth  Electrical 
Co.,    Duluth.      J.    W.    Day   is    manager   of   the   electrical    company. 

BOYD,  MINN. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  Earle  D.  Jackson,  of 
St.    Paul,   engineer,    for   the    proposed   municipal    electric-ligbt   plant. 

CROOKSTON,  MINN.— Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Red 
River  Farm  &  Land  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  hydroelectric  power 
plant  on  Red  Lake  River,  about  4  miles  above  Crookston.  The  pro- 
posed plant  will  develop  about  5000  hp  and  will  cost  about  $200,000. 
It  is  proposed  to  supply  electricity  in  Crookston  and  to  the  farmers  in 
surrounding  districts.  Work  has  already  begun  on  construction  of  the 
dam.  The  company  owns  sites  between  Hilaire  and  Thief  River  Fails 
on  the  Red  Lake  River,  capable  of  developing  15,000  hp,  which  will 
be  developed  later.  W.  J.  Murphy,  of  Minneapolis,  and  A.  D.  Stephens, 
of  Crookston,   are  interested. 

GOODHUE,  MINN. — The  Village  Council  has  appointed  a  committee 
to  enter  into  negotiations  with  the  Consumers'  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Cannon 
Falls,  to  extend  its  transmission  lines  to  Goodhue  to  supply  electrical 
service   here. 

LAKE  CITY,  MINN.— The  Council  has  engaged  Prof.  J.  B.  Hill,  of 
Iowa  City,  la.,  to  prepare  plans  for  the  proposed  municipal  electric-light 
plant. 

PEQUOT,  MINN.— The  Pine  River  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Pine 
River,  has  been  awarded  a  contract  to  supply  electricity  here.  Work 
has    begun    on    the    erection    of    the    transmission    line    to    Pequot. 

ST.  CLOUD,  MINN.— The  Public  Service  Co.  has  awarded  the  con- 
tract for  installing  a  cluster  lighting  system  to  the  Grosse-Langstadt  El. 
Co.,     of    Minneapolis. 

SPRINGFIELD,  MINN.— The  installation  of  additional  machinery 
in  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  is  under  consideration  by  the  t^ouncil. 

SPRINGFIELD,  MINN.— The  \^'herland  El.  Lt.  Co.,  of  Redwood 
Falls,  is  seeking  a  franchise  to  furnish  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors 
in    Springfield. 

CARTHAGE,  MO. — Plans  have  been  completed  for  the  proposed  orra- 
mental  street-lighting  system  on  the  public  square.  Stone  standards 
carrying  five-lamp  clusters  will  be  used.  The  Business  Men's  League 
is   interested    in    the   project. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO. — The  Kingston  Investment  Co.  has  been  grante,]  a 
permit  for  the  erection  of  a  building  at  614-616  St.  Charles  Street  for 
the  warehouse  and  power  plant  for  the  Railway  Exchange  Building,  to 
cost   about   $35,000. 

SPRINGFIELD,  MO.— The  Ozark  Pwr.  &  Wtr.  Co.  is  building  a 
substation  in  Springfield,  to  cost  between  $150,000  and  $200,000,  which 
will  be  used  to  transform  energy  from  the  high-tension  transmission 
lines  from  Joplin  and  from  the  hydroelectric  power  plant  on  White 
River,  in  Caney  County,  that  will  be  supplied  to  the  Springfield  Gas 
&  El.  Co.  Substations  will  also  be  erected  at  Republic,  Marion ville, 
Aurora,  Monett.  Pierce  City,  Wentworth  and  Diamond.  Locations  for 
the    other    station    have    not    yet    been    decided    upon. 

EASSETT,  NEB. — New  bids  will  soon  be  asked  for  the  installation 
of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water- works  system,  to  cost  $16,000.  in 
Bassett.  The  Alamo  Engine  &  Supply  Co.,  1122  Farnum  Street,  Omaha. 
Neb.,    has   charge   of   the    engineering   work. 

ASBU^RY  PARK,  N.  J. — The  Common  Council  is  planning  to  iujitall 
an  underground  conduit  system  for  electric-light  wires  on  Kingsbury 
Street  and  Oak  Bluff  Avenue.  It  is  proposed  to  replace  the  present 
swinging    arc-lamp    system    with    lamps    erected    on    ornamental    standards. 

CAMDEN,  N.  J.— The  Delaware  &  Atlantic  Teleg.  &  Tel.  Co.  is  plan- 
ning to  make  extensions  to  its  underground-conduit  system  in  the  City 
Line  and  Crest mont  sections  to  cost  about  $10,000.  T.  B.  McClain  is 
district  manager. 

ELIZABETH,  N.  J.— The  Public  Service  Ry.  Co.  has  commenced  pre- 
liminary engineering  work  in  connection  with  the  proposed  extension  of 
its  Trenton   Short  Line  to  Elizabeth. 

NEWARK,  N.  J. — The  Public  Service  Ry.  Co.  has  applied  for  a 
franchise  for  a  single-track  line  on  North  Twelfth  Street  and  Berkeley 
Street. 

NEWARK.  N.  J. — Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  Board  of 
Education  until  Nov.  26  for  the  construction  of  the  South  Side  High  School. 
Bids  may  be  submitted  for  the  whole  or  one  or  more  items  as  follows: 
Masonry,  carpentry,  steel  and  iron  roofing  and  sheet  metal,  painting, 
plumbing,  electric  work,  heating  and  ventilating,  lighting  fixtures,  elec- 
tric elevator  and  vacuum-cleaning  system.  Blank  proposals  may  be 
obtained  at  the  construction  department  of  the  board,  fourth  floor,  city 
hall,  where  drawings  and  specifications  may  be  examined.  R.  D.  Argue 
is  secretary. 

TRENTON,  N.  J. — Improvements  have  been  decided  upon  by  City 
Commissioner  Burk  and  residents  of  the  Cadwalader  section  in  that  dis- 
trict which  include  an  underground-conduit  system  for  police  telephone 
and  telegraph  wires  and  the  erection  of  ornamental  lamp  standards  at 
the  junctions  of  Parkside,  Carteret  and  Edgewood  Avenues  with  Berkeley 
Avenue. 


1070 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  20. 


ARTESIA,  N.  M.— The  Artesia  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  erecting  a  trans- 
mission line  from  its  power  plant  in  Artesia  to  a  tract  of  land  about 
5  miles  from  here,  which  is  to  be  irrigated  by  water  pumped  from  wells. 
About    five    electrically    operated    pumping    plants    will    be    installed. 

ANTWERP,  N.  Y.— The  Northern  Pwr.  Co.  has  secured  right-of-way 
for  the  erection  of  its  transmission  line  along  the  highways  from 
Antwerp  to  Rossie.  The  company  will  soon  apply  to  the  Public  Service 
Commission    for   approval    of   the    franchise. 

FREEPORT,  N.  Y.— The  Board  of  Village  Trustees  has  engaged 
Francis  Broadnax,  of  New  York,  engineer,  to  prepare  new  plans  and 
specifications  for  extensions  to  the  water  and  light  system,  for  which 
$20,000  was  appropriated  at  the  last  special  election.  All  bids  sub- 
mitted   under    previous   plans    were    rejected. 

GRANVILLE,  N.  Y. — Plans  are  under  way  for  the  erection  of  a 
high-tension  transmission  line  from  the  power  station  at  Kane's  Falls, 
Fort  Ann,  across  the  county  to  Granville  to  supply  electricity  to  the 
Granville  Gas  &  El.  Co.  The  Granville  company  now  operates  a  steam 
plant. 

HARTWICK,  N.  Y.— The  Otsego  &  Herkimer  R.  R.  Co.  has  applied 
to  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  permission  to  execute  a  mortgage 
for  $1,500,000  and  to  issue  thereunder  $1,200,000  in  bonds.  The  com- 
pany wishes  to  take  over  the  property  of  the  Hartwick  Pwr.  Co.  and 
consolidate  the  two  companies. 

NASSAU,  N.  Y. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  here  is 
under  consideration.  Plans  have  been  drawn  to  utilize  the  water-power 
from  Nassau  Lake  to  generate  electricity.  At  present  the  streets  are 
lighted    by    kerosene    lamps. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— Bids  will  be  received  until  Nov.  22  by  Cyrus  C. 
Miller,  borough  president,  Municipal  Building,  177th  Street  and  Third 
Avenue,  New  York,  for  electrical  work  for  the  Bronx  Borough  court 
house  at  the  Public  Square,  bounded  by  Brook  Avenue,  Third  Avenue 
and  161st  Street,  Bronx  Borough.  All  conduit  must  be  installed  imme- 
diately after  execution  of  the  contract  and  be  completed  within  30  days. 
Blank  forms  can  be  obtained  upon  application  at  the  above  office,  where 
plans  and  specifications  may  be  seen. 

ONTARIO,  N.  Y. — The  Town  Board  has  closed  a  contract  with  the 
Sodus  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  of  Sodus,  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  village. 
The  contract  calls  for  39  lamps  to  be.  placed  along  the  Ridge  Road,  which 
is  the  principal  street  both  in  Ontario  and  Ontario  Center.  Both  vil- 
lages are  included  in  the  contract, 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.— The  petition  for  lighting  the  West  Side  Boule- 
vard, it  is  expected,  will  soon  be  submitted  to  the  Rochester  Ry.  & 
Lt.    Co. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. — Proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of 
Education,  Municipal  Building,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  until  Nov.  18  for 
electric  work  for  a  three-story  public  school  to  be  erected  on  Colvin 
Street,  according  to  plans  and  specifications  prepared  by  Edwin  S. 
Gordon,    architect.      J.    S.    Mullan    is   secretary    of    board. 

TROY,  N.  Y.— The  Troy  Gas  Co.  has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  offering  to  install  the  proposed  new  ornamental 
street-lighting  system  in  the  business  district  if  granted  a  five-year  con- 
tract. For  the  proposed  district  274  lamp  standards,  each  carrying  a 
five-lamp  cluster,  would  be  required.  The  merchants  are  to  bear  the 
cost  of  maintaining  the  lamps.  The  cost  of  installing  the  system  is 
estimated  at  from  $40,000  to  $50,000.  The  lamps  will  be  fed  by  under- 
ground   wires. 

WOLCOTT,  N.  Y.— The  Northern  Wayne  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  con- 
templating extensions  to  its  electrical  service  through  Wayne  and  Cayuga 
Counties.      O.   M.   Curtis  is  general   manager, 

RALEIGH,  N.  C. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
the  supervising  architect,  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Dec.  4  for  the  relocation,  etc.,  of  the  electric  passenger  elevator  in  con- 
nection with  the  extension  to  the  United  States  post  oflice  and  court 
house,  Raleigh,  N.  C,  in  accordance  with  drawings  and  specifications 
copies  of  which  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office. 

STATESVILLE,  N.  C— The  contract  for  the  erection  of  a  12S-ft. 
addition  to  the  Paola  Cotton  Mill  has  been  awarded  to  W.  L.  Harbin, 
of  Lexington.  The  addition  will  provide  space  for  the  installation  of 
from  5000  to  6000  spindles.  The  factory  is  equipped  with  electrically 
driven   machinery. 

MAN  DAN,  X.  D. — The  City  Commission  is  contemplating  the  instal- 
lation of  an  electric-light  plant  in  connection  with  the  municipal 
water-works, 

MAYVILLE,  N.  D.— The  City  Council  has  decided  not  to  build  a 
new  power  house  and  install  new  equipment  this  fall,  but  to  install  a 
new    boiler    to    meet    the    requirements    until    next    spring. 

REYNOLDS,  N.  D. — At  the  election  held  Nov.  5  the  proposition  to 
issue  $5,000  in  bonds  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  was 
carried.      M.    N.    Brathhorde   is   city   auditor. 

CINCINNATI,  OHIO. — Contracts  have  been  awarded  for  the  mechan- 
ical equipment  for  the  new  General  Hospital  as  follows:  Steam  engines 
to  the  Hooven,  Owens-Rentschler  Co.,  of  Hamilton,  at  $15,158;  gen- 
erators and  switchboard  to  the  Fort  Wayne  El.  Works,  of  Fort  Wayne, 
Ind.,  at  $15,057;  main  feeders,  electric  wiring  and  ground  lighting  to 
the  William  A.  Corroa  El.  Co.,  of  St.  Louis.  Mo.,  at  $38,830.  Bids  for 
the  direct-lift  plunger  elevator  have  been  rejected.  Samuel  Hannaford 
&    Sons,    of   Cincinnati,   are   architects. 


CLEX'ELAXn,  OHIO.— The  Board  of  Control  has  awarded  a  contract 
for  equipping  the  Collinwood  municipal  electric  system  with  improved  arc 
lamps  to  the   Fort  Wayne  El.  Works,  Fort  Wayne,   Ind.,   for  $14,027. 

CLYDE.  OHIO. — Preparations  are  being  made  to  rebuild  and  extend 
the  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system,  for  which 
bonds    to   the    amount    of    $30,000    have   been   sold. 

COLLTMBUS,  OHIO. — It  is  reported  that  practically  all  interests  in- 
volved in  the  reorganization  plans  of  the  Columbus  Railway  &  Light 
Company  have  approved  the  proposal  for  the  construction  and  equip- 
ment of  a  large  industrial  power  station.  Definite  plans  as  to  the 
capacity  of  the  proposed  plant,  its  cost  or  location,  it  is  said,  are  not 
ready    for    announcement. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  B.  L. 
Eargar,  director  of  public  safety,  City  Hall,  Columbus,  Ohio,  until  Dec 
2,  for  a  two-position,  common-battery  telephone  switchboard  for  the 
division  of  police.  Department  of  Public  Safety,  Columbus,  in  accordance 
with  drawings  and  specifications  copies  of  which  are  on  file  in  the  office 
of  the  director.  Bids  above  $1,500  for  complete  switchboard  cannot  be 
accepted. 

EAST  LIVERPOOL.  OHIO.— The  Tri-State  Ry.  &  EI.  Co.  informs  us 
that  it  is  not  about  to  build  a  new  power  plant.  An  item  was  published 
in  these  columns  in  the  issue  of  Nov.  9  stating  that  the  company  would 
soon  begin  work  on  the  construction  of  a  new  power  plant. 

ZANESVILLE,  OHIO.— The  City  Council  has  adopted  a  resolution 
authorizing  plans  prepared  for  a  new  pumping  station  and  power  plant. 
P.   A.    Carr   is   president   of   Councils. 

DEWEY,  OKLA.— At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
grant  E.  B.  Jennings,  of  Dewey,  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for 
lighting  the  city  was  carried.  Work  will  begin  at  once  on  installation 
of    the    system. 

INGERSOLL,  OKLA. — An  election  has  been  called  to  submit  the 
proposition  to  issue  bonds  for  the  installation  of  a  new  electric-lighting 
system  in  Ingersoll.  One  of  the  plans  under  consideration  is  to  erect  a 
transmi=sion  line  from  Cherokee  to  secure  electrical  energy  to  operate 
the   proposed    system. 

ALTOONA,  PA. — Contracts  have  been  signed  by  the  Penn  Central  Lt. 
&  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Altoona,  to  furnish  electrical  power  to  two  coal  com- 
panies and  a  light  and  power  company  at  Portage,  two  coal  companies 
at  Benscreek  and  Hastings,  and  to  the  new  South  Fork  and  Portage 
electric  railway,  which  is  now  under  construction. 

BRADFORD,  PA. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of   a   municipal   electric-light  plant   here. 

GREENVILLE,  PA. — The  Town  Council  has  awarded  the  Mercer 
County  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  a  contract  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the 
town  for  a  period  of  five  years. 

HANOVER,  PA.— The  capital  stock  of  the  Hanover  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.   has  been  increased  from  $5,000  to  $50,000. 

HARRISBURG,  PA. — Notice  has  been  filed  that  application  will  be 
made  to  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  on  Nov.  18  by 
William  C.  Allan,  Joseph  O.  Main  and  Joseph  P.  Lord  for  charters  for 
the  following  companies:  The  Progressive  El.  Co.,  of  West  Pittston,  for 
the  purpose  of  supplying  electricity  for  light,  heat  and  power  in  the 
borough  of  West  Pittston;  the  Progressive  El.  Co.,  of  Exeter,  to  furnish 
electricity  for  light,  heat  and  power  in  the  borough  of  Exeter;  the 
Progressive  EI.  Co.,  of  Pittston,  to  supply  electricity  for  light,  heat  and 
power  in  the  city  of  Hughestown,  and  the  Progressive  EI.  Co.,  of 
Hughestown,  to  furnish  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and  motors  in  the 
borough  of  Pittston.     J.  P.  Lord  is  solicitor. 

HELLERTOWN,  PA. — ^The  Town  Council  has  contracted  with  the 
Bethlehem  El.  Lt.  Co.  to  light  the  streets  of  the  town  for  a  period  of 
10  years.  The  contract  calls  for  60-watt  lamps  at  $20  each  per  year. 
Work  will  begin  at  once  on  the  installation  of  the  system.  A.  H.  S. 
Catlin    is    manager    of    the    company. 

KREIDERSVILLE  (R.  F.  D.  SIEGFRIED).  PA.— The  Orchard  El. 
Co.  has  purchased  a  site  here  on  which  it  will  erect  a  large  power  house. 
The  transmission  line  will  extend  from  Scranton  to  the  plant  of  the 
Atlas   Cement   Co.   and   thence   to    Easton. 

MONONGAHELA,  PA.— Notice  has  been  filed  that  an  application 
will  be  made  for  a  charter  for  the  Monongahela  Township  EI.  Co.  by 
H.  L.  Simmons,  J.  S,  Monroe  and  L.  C.  Lamb.  The  company  proposes 
to  generate  and  distribute   electricity  in  the   township   of  Monongahela. 

OIL  CITY,  PA. — Arrangements  have  been  made  by  the  County  Com- 
missioners for  installing  cluster  lamps  on  the  Petroleum  Bridge.  The 
Citizens'  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  will  install  the  lighting  system,  consisting  of 
24   lamp   standards,   each    carrying   three    60-cp    lamps. 

SENECA,  S.  C— The  Seneca  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  recently  organized,  is 
building  a  dam  across  the  Coneross  Creek  at  the  Fitzgerald  Shoals,  near 
Seneca.  The  company  proposes  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors 
in    Seneca   and    possibly    nearby    towns. 

CANOVA,  S.  D. — Arrangements  have  been  made  with  the  Miner 
County  Milling  &  Ltg.  Co.  whereby  the  company  will  extend  its  trans- 
mission line  from  Howard  to  Canova  to  supply  electricity  for  lighting 
the    town. 

RAPID  CITY,  S.  D.— The  Rapid  Valley  Pwr.,  Lt.  &  Htg.  Co.  is  con- 
templating an  extensive  development. 


November  i6,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1071 


RAPID  CITY,  S.  D. — The  Victoria  Waterway  Co.  is  contemplating  a 
hydroelectric  development  on  Rapid  Creek,  consisting  of  a  dam,  stor- 
age  lake  and   tunnel. 

AUSTIN,  TEX. — ^The  city  commission  has  called  a  special  election 
to  be  held  Nov.  27  to  vote  on  the  proposition  of  granting  to  J.  C.  Maxcy, 
of  Houston,  and  associates  a  franchise  to  build  an  electric  railway  on 
several  streets  here.  The  local  system  is  to  form  a  part  of  the  interurban 
railway  which  Mr.  Maxcy  and  associates  propose  to  construct  between 
Austin  and  San  Angelo. 

DALLAS,  TEX.— The  Eastern  Texas  Trac.  Co.  has  awarded  the  con- 
tract for  the  construction  of  its  interurban  electric  railway  between 
Dallas  and  Greenville,  which  includes  grading,  concrete  construction  and 
bridge  work,  to  Karner  Brothers,  of  Dallas,  for  $400,000.  Alex.  Oben- 
chain  is  chief  engineer  of  the  traction  company. 

DALLAS,  TEX.— The  Republic  Trust  Co.  has  acquired  13  miles  of 
right-of-way,  which  has  been  graded,  of  the  proposed  electric  railway 
which  is  to  run  between  Gainesville  and  Sherman  and  has  contracted  for 
practically  the  entire  right-of-way  between  the  two  towns,  a  distance  of 
38  miles.  The  company,  it  is  stated,  will  finance  the  construction  of  the 
propose4  railway. 

EL  PASO,  TEX.— The  Texas  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Dallas,  has  purchased 
the  property  and  holdings  of  the  El  Paso  Gas  &  El.  Co.  The  new  owners 
will  extend  the  lighting  system  and  enlarge  the  plant.  The  Texas  com- 
pany recently  filed  in  a  number  of  Texas  counties  a  chattel  mortgage  to 
the  Bankers'  Trust  Company,  of  New  York,  as  trustee  for  $30,000,000, 
under  which  the  company  will  issue  bonds  as  may  be  necessary  for 
extensions  and  improvements  to  be  made  to  the  large  number  of  electrical 
plants  it  has  recently  purchased  in  different  towns  in  Texas.  The  com- 
pany is  erecting  a  large  central  power  plant  in  Waco,  as  well  as  con- 
structing a  steel-tower  transmission  line  from  Waco  to  Fort  Worth  and 
Dallas.  Work  will  soon  begin  by  the  company  on  the  construction  of 
another  power  plant  at  some  point  on  the  Red  River.  Electricity  gen- 
erated at  the  Waco  and  Red  River  power  stations  will  be  distributed  on 
steel-tower  lines  through  a  large  portion  of  the  State.  The  cost  of  the 
work  already  under  way  is  estimated  at  about  $1,000,000.  J.  F. 
Strickland,   of   Dallas,  is  president. 

FORT  WORTH,  TEX. — 'Plans  are  being  considered  by  Commissioner 
Duringer  for  the  installation  of  a  power  plant  in  the  basement  of  the 
court  house  to  supply  electricity  for  lighting  and  pumping  water  for  the 
court  house  and  county  jail. 

GREENVILLE,  TEX. — J.  L.  White,  of  Dallas,  and  associates  are 
contemplating  the  construction  of  an  electric  interurban  railway  between 
Greenville  and   Anna,  a   distance   of  about  20   miles. 

MARBLE  FALLS,  TEX.— E.  C.  Alexander,  who  is  building  a  large 
reinforced-concrete  dam  across  the  Colorado  River  at  Marble  Falls,  for 
the  purpose  of  operating  a  large  hydroelectric  plant,  is  promoting  the 
construction  of  another  dam  across  the  Colorado  River,  at  what  is  known 
as  Lohman  Narrows,  about  25  miles  above  Austin.  The  latter  dam  will 
be  150  ft.  high  and  1820  ft.  long.  The  dam  will  form  .1  reservoir  that 
will  extend  up  the  river  for  47  miles.  It  is  estimated  that  about  100,000 
hp  can  be  developed.  Transmission  lines  will  be  erected  from  the  plant 
to  cities  and  towns  within  a  radius  of  150  miles.  The  project  has  been 
financed  and  surveys  are  now  being  made.  The  cost  of  the  proposed  dam 
and  power  plant  is  estimated  at  more  than  $1,500,000. 

SAN  ANTONIO,  TEX.—Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  con- 
struction of  an  electric  railway  to  extend  from  San  Angelo  and  Cristoval. 
The  promoters  propose  to  make  extensive  improvements  at  Cristoval  with 
a  view  of  establishing  a  health  resort  there. 

SNYDER,  TEX.— E.  W.  Clark  has  purchased  the  property  of  the 
Snyder  Ice,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  will  make  improvements  to  the  light  and 
power  plant. 

OGDEN,  UTAH.— The  Blacksmith  Fork  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  filed 
application  with  the  Secretary  of  State  asking  for  permission  to  increase 
its  capital  stock  from  $100,00  to  $500,000  to  provide  funds  with  which 
to  complete  the  construction  of  a  hydroelectric  power  plant  in  BlacK- 
smith  Fork  Canyon  near  Logan.  The  proposed  plant  will  generate 
4000  hp  and  when  completed  will  supply  electricity  to  operate  the  street- 
car systems  of  the  Ogden  Rapid  Transit  Co.  and  the  Logan  Rapid 
Transit  Co.  and  the  proposed  interurban  electric  railway  between  the 
two  cities.  The  company  has  changed  its  place  of  business  from  Salt 
Lake  City  to  Ogden.  M.  S.  BrownJn?,  of  Ogdt-n,  is  president  and 
Joseph   Scowcroft   is   secretary   of  the  company. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH.— We  are  informed  that  the  Utah  Ry.  Co.. 
a  subsidiary  of  the  United  States  Smelting,  Refining  &  Mining  Co.,  has 
awarded  contract  for  the  construction  of  the  first  section  of  a  steam 
railroad  from  its  mines  at  Mohrland,  Black  Hawk  and  Hiawatha.  In 
the  issue  of  Oct.  19  an  item  was  published  in  the?e  columns  stating 
that  the  Utah  Lt.  &  Ry.  Co.  had  awarded  a  contract  for  the  construc- 
tion   of   an   electric   railway   to    Black   Hawk  and   Mohrland. 

MONTESANO,  WASH. — ^Application  has  been  made  to  the  Board  of 
County  Commissioners  by  the  Northwest  EI.  &  Wtr.  Wks.  Co.  for  per- 
mission to  erect  an  electric  transmission  line   from  Montesano  to   Satsop. 

NEWELL,  W.  VA. — Thomas  B.  Anderson,-  secretary  of  the  Edwin  M. 
Knowles  China  Co..  writes  that  the  potteries  of  the  company  in  Newell 
will  not  be  equipped  with  electrically  driven  m;ii:hinery  as  first  con- 
templated. The  new  plant  of  the  Homer  Laughlin  China  Co.  will  use 
electricity  to  operate  its  plant,  using  two-phase  alternating  current.  A 
total  of  about  60  kw.   in   motors  will   be  required.      For   further   informa- 


tion concerning  this  equipment  address  F.  B.  Lawrence,  care  of  the 
North  American   Mfg.   Co.,   Newell. 

FALL  RIVER,  WIS.— Steps  have  been  taken  to  secure  an  electric- 
light  plant  for  Fall  River.  The  matter  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the 
Railway    Rate    Commission. 

JUNEAU.  WIS. — 'Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of 
an  electric-light  plant  in  Juneau.  Several  propositions  have  been  sub- 
mitted to  the  Council.  The  Beaver  Dam  Lt.  &  Pwr,  Co,  has  made  a 
])roposition   for  a   franchise  to  furnish  electrical   service  here. 

TOMAHAWK,  WIS.— The  Tomahawk  El,  Lt.  Co.  is  installing  a  new 
135-hp  engine  and  generator  in  its  new  plant.  A  250-hp  generating  unit 
will    be    installed    later. 

ESQUIMALT,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  Municipal  Council  is  contemplating 
the  installation  of  an  electric-lighting  system,  tenders  for  which  will  be 
called    for. 

SALMON  ARM,  B.  C,  CAN.^The  contract  for  the  erection  of  trans- 
mission line  and  equipment  for  the  proposed  electric-light  system  has 
been  awarded  to  F.  Buchanan.  The  power  house  will  be  erected  on  Front 
Street  East. 

VICTORIA,  B,  C,  CAN.— The  Vancouver  Island  El.  Ry.  Co.  has 
applied  to  the  British  Columbia  government  for  permission  to  store  or 
pen  back  water  on  the  Sprout  and  Campbell  Rivers  and  to  take  and 
utilize  water  from  the  Campbell  and  Stamp  Rivers  and  Qualicum  Creek 
to  generate  electricity  for  railway  and  power  purposes.  The  company 
proposes  to  erect  a  transmission  line  to  Nanaimo,  B.  C.,  and  to  construct 
electric  railways,     E.   Bottoraley  is  agent  for  the  company, 

RAPID  CITY,  MAN..  CAN.— The  British  Canadian  Engineering  & 
Supply  Co.,  Phoenix  Bldg..  Winnipeg,  has  been  awarded  a  contract  for 
the  installation  of  an  electric-light  system  here,  to  cost  about  $12,000. 
C.  G.   Murray  is  clerk, 

ERANTFORD,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  city  of  Brantford  has  signed  a 
contract  with  the  Hydro-Electric  Commission  for  Niagara  power.  The 
city  has  agreed  to  take  1200  hp  at  the  rate  of  $19.50  per  hp  per  year. 
The  municipalities  of  Simcoe,  Waterford  and  Burford  are  now  negotiat- 
ing with  the  commission  and  engineers  representing  the  latter  are  ascer- 
taining the  amount  of  power  required  in  these  places.  The  transmission 
line  to  supply  the  smaller  towns  will  be  extended  from  Brantford, 

CANNINGTON,  ONT.,  CAN.— Plans  are  being  considered  by  the 
citizens  of  Cannington  and  district  of  North  Ontario  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  light  and  power  system  in  conjunction  with  the  Hydro- 
Electric  Power  Commission  of  Ontario.  A  power  plant  may  be  erected 
on  the   Severn   River,   near  Orillia. 

LONDON,  ONT.,  CAN.— Hon,  Adam  Beck  has  presented  to  the  City 
Council  a  report  of  the  estimated  cost  of  equipping  the  London  &  Port 
Stanley  Railway  for  electrical  operation.  The  cost,  including  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  roadbed,  double-tracking  the  road  to  St.  Thomas  and  adequate 
rolling  stock,  is  estimated  at  $890,000-  The  total  cost  is  made  up  as 
follows:  Reconstruction  of  present  track  and  new  track,  $442,573; 
overhead  construction  and  binding,  $129,000;  passenger  cars  and  loco- 
motives, $235,000,  and  substation  and  feeder  equipment,  $84,000.  The 
Lake  Erie  Coal  Co.,  which  controls  the  London  and  Port  Stanley  Ry. 
Co.,  made  an  offer  early  in  the  year  to  equip  the  road  for  electrical 
operat-on,  without  double-tracking,  at  a  cost  of  about  $400,000  in  return 
for  a  25-year  lease. 

PETERBORO.  ONT.,  CAN. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  sub- 
mitting a  by-law  to  the  ratepayers  in  January  calling  for  an  expenditure 
of  $118,000  for  the  installation  of  a  distributing  system  to  utilize  hydro- 
electric  power. 

WELLAND,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Town  Council  has  authorized  the 
Mayor  and  clerk  to  enter  into  a  contract  with  the  Ontario  Hydro- 
Electric  Commission  for  the  installation  of  an  entire  new  electric-lighting 
system. 

HUMBOLDT,  SASK.,  CAN.— Tenders  will  be  received  by  W.  H. 
Stiles,  secretary  and  treasurer,  until  Nov.  21  as  follows;  Contract  (b) — 
power  house ;  (h) — two  return  tubular  boilers ;  (j ) — high-speed  steam 
engine:  (k) — electric-lighting  system.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be 
seen  at  the  office  of  Chipman  &  Power,  engineers,  at  Winnipeg  and 
Toronto,    and   at   the   town    hall,   Humboldt. 

REGINA.  SASK.,  CAN.^.A  by-law  will  be  submitted  to  the  ratepayers 
for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  busi- 
ness section,   to  cost  about   $80,000.      A.    E,   Chivers  is  city   clerk. 

REGINA.  SASK.,  CAN. — Extensions  and  improvements  are  contem- 
plated to  the  municipal  electric-light  system,  involving  an  expenditure 
of  about  $115,000  during  1913.  They  include  poles  and  wires  for  light- 
ing system,  to  cost  $75,000;  street  lamps,  $20,000,  and  meters,  $20,000. 
Provision  is  made  for  the  erection  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting 
system  in  the  business  district,  to  cost  $80,000.  A  considerable  pro- 
portion of  the  cost  of  the  ornamental  lamps  will  be  paid  by  the  property 
holders.     E.   W.    Bull   is   manager  of  the  plant. 

REGINA.  SASK..  CAN.— -The  fire,  light  and  power  committee  has 
recommended  to  the  city  commissioners  the  construction  of  a  new 
municipal  electric  power  plant,  to  cost  $385,000,  including  the  construc- 
tion of  a  power  house,  at  $175,000;  site.  $20,000;  1500-kw  generating 
unit,  $40,000;  3000-hp  boilers.  $90,000;  economizer.  $12,000;  stacks  and 
fans,  $12,000:  steam  piping.  $9,000;  coal  conveyors  and  bunkers,  $20,000; 
circulating  pipes,  $12,000;  circulating  pumps,  $7,000;  exciter  units, 
$10,000;   switchboard.  $12,000.  and  crane.  $5,000. 


I072 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  20. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  AMERICAN  RADIUM  COMPANY,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  to  manufacture  radium 
apparatus,  etc.  The  incorporators  are:  A.  J.  Haile,  F.  Butler,  M.  Kluger, 
M,   L.    Bernstein  and   E.    L.    Geisman. 

THE  AUTOMATIC  ELECTRIC  SIGlS^  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  111., 
has  been  incorporated  by  M.  M.  Franey,  Harry  P.  Munns  and  Albert 
Miller.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $20,000  and  proposes  to  do  a 
general   printing  and  advertising  business. 

THE  BLAND  ELECTRIC  GARAGE  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  III.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,500  to  manufacture  and  deal 
in  automobiles,  electric  machinery,  etc.  The  incorporators  are:  Robert 
Bland,  F.   B.   McClaughry  and  L.   B.  Norton. 

THE  BUFFALO  &  NIAGARA  FALLS  ELECTRIC  SHOE-SHINING 
MACHINE  COMPANY  has  filed  articles  of  incorporation  under  the  laws 
of  the  State  of  Delaware  with  a  capital  stock  of  $150,000.  The  incorpo- 
rators are:  E.  J.  Bailey,  of  Brocton,  N.  Y.;  M.  G.  Walker  and  F.  A. 
Pierson,  of  Buffalo. 

THE  DETECTA  PHONE  COMPANY  OF  AMERICA,  IXC,  of  New 
York,  N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $250,000  by 
William  F.  C.  Kloepfer,  John  H.  Smith  and  Guenther  R.  Pruesse,  162 
St.  Ann's  Avenue,   Bronx. 

THE  MANNESINANN  LIGHT  COMPANY  OF  AMERICA.  INC., 
of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$10,000  to  manufacture  gas  and  electric-lighting  apparatus.  The  incorpo- 
rators are:  Otto  Schaefer.  of  Cologne,  Germany;  Paul  Puttmann,  William 
Dominick  and  Warner  Coenen,  55  John  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

THE  NATIONAL  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  111.,  has  been 
chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500  to  manufacture  and  deal  in 
electrical  devices.  The  incorporators  are:  C.  Russell  Clapp,  John  E. 
Lake  and  Ralph  E.  Church. 

THE  NATIONAL  ELECTRIC  UTILITIES  CORPORATION,  of 
New  York,  N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000 
by  W.  B.  Wise,  of  New  Rochelle;  A.  J.  Fletcher,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  and 
G.  F.  Barney,  New  York.  The  company  proposes  to  manufacture  elec- 
trical apparatus. 

THE  QUINCY  ELECTRIC  SUPPLY  COMPANY,  of  Quincy,  111.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $6,000  by  F.  L.  Havermale, 
Frank  J.  Penic  and  J.  M.  Winters.  The  company  proposes  to  do  a 
general  electric  supply  business, 

THE  SIDEWALK  LIGHT  COMPANY  OF  AMERICA  has  filed  articles 
of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware  with  a  capital 
stock  of  $50,000.  The  incorporators  are:  E.  E.  McWhiney,  W.  J. 
Maloney   and  N.   P.   Coffin,   of  Wilmington,  Del. 


State  of  Delaware.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $3,000,000  and  pro- 
poses to  do  a  general  public-service  utility  business,  including  construc- 
tion of  railways,  telephone  and  telegraph  lines  and  water-power  plants. 
The  incorporators  are:  Raphael  Brill,  Simon  Gross  and  Byron  H.  Hooper, 
of  New  York. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— The  Utilities  Improvement  Co.  has  filed  articles 
of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York  with  a  capital 
stock  of  $40,000,000.  The  company  proposes  to  purchase,  lease  and 
operate  systems  and  plants  for  generating  and  distributing  both  natural 
and  artificial  gas,  and  also  to  construct  railroads,  tramways  and  other 
means  of  transportation  operated  by  steam  or  electricity.  The  incorpo- 
rators are:    Arthur  J.   Kingsbury  and  Walter  P.   Carron,  of   Dover,   Del. 

LEXINGTON,  OHIO.— The  Lexington  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  George  R.  Trout,  Thomas 
Cureton,   E.   M.   Chatterton,   L.  C.  Hopkins  and  W.    F.   Smith. 

PORTLAND,  ORE. — The  Ewbank  Electrical  Transmission  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500,000  by  Max  Smith,  Marion 
F.  Dolph  and  Willis  McGuire.  The  company  proposes  to  deal  in  elec- 
trical appliances,  transmission  of  power  and  electrical  railways  and 
franchises. 

ETNA,  PA. — The  Etna  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  been  granted  a  charter  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $5,000.  The  incorporators  are;  G.  B.  Fehr,  of  O'Hara 
Township;  J.  G.  Marks,  of  Aspinwall;  Albert  K.  Little  and  James  Mil- 
Iiolland,    of    Pittsburgh,    and    Lyman    C.    Shreve,    of    Erie. 

MILLVALE,  PA.— The  Millvale  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  G.  B.  Fehr,  of  O'Hara  Township;  J.  G. 
Marks,  of  Aspinwall;  Albert  K.  Little,  James  MilhoUand,  of  Pittsburgh, 
and  Lyman   C.    Shreve,   of  Erie. 

PUNXSUTAWNEY,  PA.— The  Jefferson  El.  Co.  has  been  chartered 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  The  incorporators  are:  W.  R.  Nicol, 
W.  M.  Hill,  F.  J-  Jones,  William  C.  Williams  and  D.  G.  Williams,  all 
of   Scranton. 

KINGSTREE,  S.  C— The  Kingstree  El.  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $15,000.  The  officers  are:  P.  G. 
G'ourdin,  president ;  T.  M .  Kellahan,  vice-president,  and  D.  E.  Scott, 
secretary   and    treasurer. 

POTEET,  TEX.— The  Poteet  Ice,  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000.  The  incorporators  are:  J.  L.  Burd,  C. 
T.  Ernest  and  \'an  H.  Howard,  all  of  San  Antonio. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH.— The  Utah  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Maine  with  a  capital  stock  of  $6,000,000  to 
engage  in  a  general  heating,  lighting  and  power  business  and  also  to 
operate  ice  and  refrigerating  plants.  W.  J.  Barrette,  of  Salt  Lake  City,  is 
the  Utah  representative  of  the  company. 


New  Incorporations 

PARKER,  ARIZ.— The  Parker  Improvement  Co.  has  been  incorpo- 
rated with  a  capital  stock  of  $250,000  by  A.  J.  Head,  H.  C.  Coykendall 
and  C.  F.  Hogstett.  The  company  proposes  to  supply  electricity  for 
lamps,   heat   and   motors. 

DAYTONA,  FLA. — The  Daytona  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  has  been  chartered  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $300,000  to  build  an  electric  railway  in  Daytona.  The 
officers  are:  F.  N.  Conrad,  president,  and  T.  E.  Fitzgerald,  secretary 
and    treasurer. 

HINESVILLE,  GA.— The  Flemington.  HinesviUe  &  Western  R.  R. 
Co.  has  been  incorporated  by  J.  R.  Ryan,  T.  S.  Layton,  J.  B.  Eraser 
and  others  of  HinesviUe.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $25,000  and 
proposes  to  build  a  25-miIe  interurban  railway  to  connect  Fleraington, 
HinesviUe   and   Glenville.     J.    B.   Way  is  president. 

WYOMING,  ILL.— The  Stark  County  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000  by  Edward  B.  Hillman,  Adele  D.  Hillman 
and  Edgar  P.  Reeder.  The  company  proposes  to  generate  and  sell  elec- 
tricity and  also  steam  for  heating  purposes. 

AUGUSTA,  MAINE.— The  Columbia  Ry.,  Gas  &  Electric  Securities 
Corpn.  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $300,000  to  do  a 
general  railway  and  lighting  business.  I.  S.  Kearney,  of  Augusta,  is 
president   and  treasurer. 

CAMDEN,  N.  J. — The  Alpha  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $125,000  by  G.  H.  Stein,  G.  H.  Colket,  of  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  and  G.  H.  B.  Martin,  of  Camden.  The  company  proposes  to  operate 
electric    and  power   plants. 

PASSAIC,  N.  J.— The  Water  Gap  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  by 
R.  Sherman,  of  Mount  Vernon,  N.  Y. ;  R.  E.  Lent,  of  Passaic,  and  B. 
D.  Whedon,  of  Jamaica,  N.  Y.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $25,000 
and   proposes    to   operate   light    and   power   plants. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — The  Manhattan  &  Queens  Trac.  Corpn.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000  by  F.  W.  Drury,  E.  I. 
Carr  and  C.  A.  Frueauff.  of  New  York.  N.  Y.  The  company  proposes 
to   build   street   railways. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  for 
the    Idaho    Consol.    Pwr.    &    Utilities    Co.,    Ltd.,    under    the    laws    of    the 


Trade  Publications 


ELECTRIC  SIGNS. — "Silent  Salesmen"  is  the  suggestive  title  of  a 
six-page  leaflet  recently  issued  by  the  Foster  Engineering  Company. 
Ltd.,  Wimbledon.  London,  S.  W.,  England,  referring  to  its  electric  signs. 
It  tells  of  the  advertising  possibilities  in  the  use  of  its  "Zenith"  signs  for 
arc  lamps  and  "Aero"  signs  for  incandescent  lamps.  Illustrations  showing 
the  method  of  attaching  these  signs  and  the  construction  of  the  signs 
themselves,    together    with    brief    descriptions,    are    given. 

ELECTRICAL  INSTRUMENTS.— James  G.  Biddle.  1211  Arch  Street, 
Philadelphia,  has  just  issued  Catalog  No.  771,  descriptive  of  precision 
voltmeters,  ammeters  and  wattmeters,  made  by  Siemens  &  Halske,  A.  G. 
These  instruments  are  of  portable  and  laboratory  types,  for  both  alter- 
nating and  direct  currents,  and  are  suitable  for  use  as  secondary  standards 
with  which  to  check  commercial  types,  or  they  can  be  used  directly  for 
tests  that  require  high  accuracy.  The  catalog  contains  forty-eight  pages 
and  is  handsomely  illustrated   with  halftones. 

REFLECTORS. — High-efficiency  reflectors  form  the  subject  of  Catalog 
No.  16,  recently  issued  by  Gillinder  &  Sons,  Inc.,  135  Oxford  Street, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.  Its  eighteen  pages  are  devoted  to  the  various  types  of 
Franklin  and  Magi'an  reflectors,  of  which  many  illustrations  are  given, 
followed  by  price  lists.  The  glass  of  the  Franklin  reflectors  is  of  a 
high  refracting,  as  well  as  reflecting,  quality,  while  the  Magian  re- 
flectors are  for  use  where  the  very  highest  efficiency  is  not  so  essential 
as   beauty    in    combination    with    good    lighting. 

AUTOMATIC  TIME  SWITCHES— The  Albert  &  J.  M.  Anderson  Man- 
ufacturing Company,  289  A  Street,  Boston,  Mass.,  in  its  Bulletin  No.  22, 
recently  published,  gives  detailed,  illustrated  information  relating  to  its 
automatic  time  switch.  Chapters  are  devoted  to  time  switches  and  their 
application,  the  object  of  a  time  switch,  propelling  mechanism,  adapta- 
tion and  other  useful  information.  The  various  types  of  time  switches 
are  clearly  illustrated  and  fully  described.  The  bulletin  has  an  attrac- 
tive cover  and  a  frontispiece  printed  in  colors  showing  the  plant  of  this 
company. 

COMMUTATOR  GRINDER.— The  Phillips  automatic  commutator 
grinder  is  the  subject  of  a  large  four-page  circular  recently  distributed  by 
the  Ph!ll'"ps  Manufacturing  Company,  60  Wall  Street,  New  York.  The 
company  claims  for  this  device  that  it  is  a  perfect  piece  of  tool-making,  is 
quickly  and  easily  attached,  simple  in  operation,  trues  commutators  in 
position    while   rtinniny  at   normal   speed,  and   is  driven   by  the  commutator 


November  i6,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


'07.1 


itself.  It  is  made  in  three  models,  the  A-1  model  in  npL-iJuion  on  a 
ISOOkw  rotary  converter  being  illustrated  on  the  first  page.  Four  other 
good  illustrations  are  given,  and  a  diagram  of  the  universal  mount,  show- 
ing hovkf  the  truing  device  may  be  attached  to  any  unit  of  outboard 
bearing   construction. 

CARTRIDGE  FUSE  SHELLS.— The  A.  F.  Daura  Company,  319  East 
Reliance  Street,  N.  S.,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  has  recently  published  a  catalog 
on  the  Daum  refiUable  cartridge  fuse  shells  for  electric  light  and  motor 
circuits.  In  the  opening  pages  the  manufacturers  state  that  the  Daum 
fuse  shells  were  invented  by  a  practical  electrician  in  order  to  effect  a 
saving  in  fuse  expense  and  to  give  enginers  and  electricians  a  fuse  that 
they  can  easily  refill  themselves,  with  an  indestructible  casing  and  acces- 
sible for  inspection  at  any  time.  Illustrations  and  specifications  of  these 
fuse  shells,  a  wiring  table,  the  current  in  amperes  required  by  motors  of 
different  sizes  and  other  general  information  on  the  subject  matter  make 
up  the   contents   of  this   twenty-four-page  pamphlet. 

STEAM  TURBINES.— The  De  Laval  Steam  Turbine  Company,  Trenton, 
N.  J.,  has  recently  brought  out  a  well-printed,  finely  illustrated  120- 
page  catalog  devoted  to  the  multi-stage  type  of  the  De  Laval  steatn 
turbine.  It  is  very  comprehensive  in  its  scope  and  partakes  rather  of 
the  character  of  a  general  treatise  on  the  subject  of  steam  turbines  than 
that  of. the  usual  trade  catalog.  The  work  is  divided  into  five  sections, 
devoted  to  the  many  phases  of  the  subject,  among  which  are  the  field  of 
the  single-stage  turbine,  the  necessity  for  multi-stage  construction  for 
large  turbines,  advantages  of  speed  reduction  by  gears,  relation  between 
rotative  speed  and  number  of  stages,  alternator  speeds,  direct-current  gen- 
erator speeds   and   other  information   of   interest  and  value. 

PLUGS  AND  RECEPTACLES.— Bulletin  No.  29,  recently  issued  by 
the  Albert  &  J.  M.  Anderson  Manufacturing  Company,  Boston,  Mass.,  has 
for  its  subject  Anderson  charging  plugs  and  receptacles.  Thirty-two  pages 
are  given  to  illustrating  and  describing  these  devices.  An  experience 
of  over  ten  years  in  the  manufacture  of  plugs  and  receptacles  has  en- 
abled the  Anderson  company  to  develop  a  trustworthy  line,  which  it 
states  has  been  adopted  as  a  standard  bv  nearly  all  of  the  larger  rail- 
way systems  using  these  devices,  as  well  as  by  electric-vehicle  manufac- 
turers throughout  the  United  States.  The  insulation  in  these  plugs  and 
receptacles  is  6f  the  Aetna  compound,  ahicli  has  been  used  in  very 
large  quantities  for  electric  railway  insulation  all  over  the  world. 

CARBON  BRUSHES— The  Pure  Carbon  Company,  Wellsville,  N.  Y.. 
has  issued  a  number  of  publications,  among  which  is  a  twenty-four-page 
pamphlet  entitled  "A  Standardized  Product,"  which  deals  with  tungsten 
carbon  brushes  for  motors  and  generators.  Specifications  and  price  lists 
are  given.  Another  publication  is  a  six-page  folder  with  a  front  cover 
cut  and  printed  to  imitate  a  carbon  brush,  size  3J4  in*  by  5  in.,  which  is 
devoted  to  "The  Perfect  Brush,"  with  brief  information  on  the  subject. 
A  leaflet  has  also  been  distributed  recently  bearing  this  company's  im- 
print, which  deals  with  "A  New  and  Standard  Classification  of  Carbon 
Brushes  for  Traction  Motors."  The  company  claims  to  be  the  only 
carbon-brush  manufacturer  that  classifies  brushes  on  a  systematic  and 
scientific   basis. 

HOUSEHOLD  APPLIANCES.— An  exceedingly  attractive  thirty-six- 
page  booklet  has  recently  been  issued  by  the  VVestinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company,  East  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  bearing  the  title  "West- 
inghouse  Electric  Ware,"  with  a  sub-title  "A  Book  of  Modern  Electric 
Devices  for  Home  Comfort  and  Convenience."  A  little  talk  on  how  to 
get  the  most  out  of  electricity  at  home  takes  up  the  first  three  pages 
of  reading  matter.  It  is  clearly  written  and  easily  understood.  The 
full-page  illustrations  of  the  various  devices,  embracing  a  very  large 
variety,  are  unusually  fine.  Opposite  each  full  page  is  a  short  descrip- 
tion of  the  appliance,  giving  style  number,  volts,  watts  and  price.  Taken 
altogether,  this  brochure  is  a  very  creditable  production  and  will  not 
fail  to  interest  those  who  are  still  unacquainted  with  the  convenience  and 
utility    of    electrical    devices    in    the    home. 

AUTOMATIC  STOKERS.— The  Taylor  stoker,  which  is  built  by  the 
American  Engineering  Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  is  the  subject  of  an 
unusually  fine  trade  publication,  with  the  title  "The  Trail  of  a  Pioneer." 
In  size  it  is  7  in.  by  11^  in.  and  it  contains  thirty-two  pages.  The  dark- 
brown  heavy  paper  cover  makes  a  harmonious  setting  for  the  semi- 
detached color  print,  size  5  in.  by  7f4  in-»  surrounded  by  a  gold  border. 
which  adorns  the  front  cover.  The  color  work  is  excellent.  The  reading 
pages  are  devoted  to  brief  descriptions  of  fourteen  representative  plants 
that  have  been  equipped  with  Taylor  stokers,  the  right-hand  pages  con- 
taining two  halftone  illustrations  of  the  exterior  and  interior  of  each 
plant.  This  brochure  is  copyrighted  and  only  a  limited  edition  has  been 
printed.  It  represents  an  exceptionally  high  class  of  trade  publication 
and   is  an   artistic  and  typographic  achievement. 

STEEL  REFLECTORS.— Bulletin  No.  103,  covering  all  lines  of  Holo- 
phane-D'Olier  metal  reflectors,  has  recently  been  issued  by  the  Holophane 
Works  of  General  Electric  Company.  It  will  prove  valuable  to  anyone 
connected  with  the  installation  of  industrial  lighting  equipment.  The 
Holophane  engineers,  finding  that  the  large  number  of  special  lighting 
conditions  met  in  any  considerable  plant  calls  for  a  wide  variety  of  equip- 
ment, have  developed  lines  consisting  of  more  than  500  distinct  sizes, 
types  and  finishes  of  metal  reflectors.  The  new  Holophane-D'Olier  bulle- 
tin contains  a  comprehensive  summary  of  indiastrial  lighting  requirements 
under  the  title  of  "A  Reflector  for  Every  Condition."  which  is  the  ex- 
perience of  what  is  said  to  be  the  largest  and  best  known  group  of 
industrial  lighting  experts  in  the  country,  briefly  expressed.  To  those 
who    are    not    thoroughly    familiar    with    factory    lighting    condition's    this 


liullelin    will    be   of   much   assistance  in    the    laying   out    of    satisfactory   in- 
stallations. 

BOOKLET  ON  HAMILTON,  ONT..  CAN.— A  very  attractive  booklet 
telling  of  the  beauties  and  advantages  of  Hamilton,  "the  city  of  400 
varied  interests,"  has  just  been  published  by  the  Industrial  Department  of 
the  Hamilton  municipality.  It  is  well  written  and  artistically  arranged, 
and  the  facilities  to  be  found  in  this  wide-awake  community  are  con- 
vincingly set  forth.  It  is  often  spoken  of  as  the  "Electric  City  of  Can- 
ada," and  it  has  a  practically  unlimited  supply  of  electric  energy  from 
large  power  companies  which  are  economically  generating  it  at  Decew 
Falls,  35  miles,  and  Niagara  Falls,  42  miles  distant.  Large  users  of 
electric  energy  claim  that  the  Dominion  Power  &  Transportation  Com- 
pany, a  public- service  corporation,  supplies  the  cheapest  energy  in 
Canada.  An  excellent  map  accompanies  the  booklet.  The  publication  of 
this  booklet  shows  a  worthy  civic  pride.  Anyone  interested  may  secure 
a  copy  of  the  booklet  by  addressing  Mr.  H.  M.  Marsh,  Commissioner  of 
Industries,  Hamilton,  Ontario,  Can. 

COAL. — Under  the  simple  but  comprehensive  title  "Coal"  the  Under- 
feed Stoker  Company  of  America,  with  general  offices  in  the  Harris 
Trust  Building,  Chicago,  has  issued  a  valuable  pamphlet  giving  practical 
information  useful  to  power-house  consumers  of  bituminous  coal.  Tables 
are  given  to  show  the  percentage  of  volatile  combustible,  fixed  carbon, 
moisture,  ash,  and  pound- Fahrenheit  thermal  units  as  fired,  for  various 
coals  coming  from  Arkansas,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Kansas,  Kentucky,  Mary- 
land, Ohio.  Pennsylvania,  Tennessee  and  West  Virginia.  In  addition, 
there  are  a  coal  curve  for  determining  heat  value  from  proximate  anal- 
ysis, an  efBciency  table  based  on  evaporation  from  and  at  212  deg.  Fahr. 
"and  considerable  data  about  the  manner  of  using  the  Jones  stoker.  There 
is  also  an  interesting  tabulation  to  show  results  obtained  by  using  Jones 
stokers  with  fuel  classed  as  "excellent  coal,"  others  as  "good  coal"  and 
some  as  "poor  coal."  In  all  cases  the  percentage  of  efficiency  given  ranges 
from  70  to  79.  The  pamphlet  is  copyrighted,  but  will  no  doubt  be  sent 
to   any   power-house   manager   on   application. 

COCHRANE  ENGINEERING  LEAFLET.— "Experiments  Upon  the 
Flow  of  Water  Over  Triangular  Notches"  is  the  title  of  Engineering 
Leaflet  No.  13,  of  which  James  Barr,  B.  Sc,  is  the  author,  issued  by 
the  Harrison  Safety  Boiler  Works,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  This  paper  is  the 
result  of  an  extended  series  of  experiments  upon  the  triangular  notched 
weir  which  were  conducted  with  great  care  by  Mr.  Barr,  who  is  the 
Carnegie  research  scholar  at  the  James  Watt  Engineering  Laboratories. 
Glasgow  University,  and  were  originally  presented  in  Engineering  of 
London.  The  Harrison  Safety  Boiler  Works  in  the  prologue  to  this 
leaflet  state  that  Mr.  Barr's  tests  prove  that,  when  the  head  of  a 
triangular  notched  weir  is  known  the  flow  may  be  calculated  accurately 
to  fhe  third  decimal  place,  or  in  general  to  within  one-third  of  1  per 
cent.  The  great  accuracy  of  the  V-notch  weir  furnishes  therefore  an 
absolutely  reliable  basis  upon  which  to  devise  a  convenient  and  accurate 
feed-water  measuring  apparatus.  The  particulars  and  illustrations  of 
such  apparatus  are   given   on  the  last   two  pages  of  the  pamphlet. 

LIGHTING  FIXTURES.— The  F.  W.  Wakefield  Brass  Company,  Ver- 
milion, Ohio,  has  recently  published  a  comprehensive  illustrated  catalog 
dealing  with  its  lighting  fixtures.  In  the  first  few  pages  are  illustrated 
and  described  for  the  first  time  in  catalog  form  the  popular  line  of  Wake- 
field shower  fixtures  or  ceiling  efi'ects.  In  those  new  designs  the  square 
plate  is  made  of  four  like  parts  so  formed  that  when  joined  together  the 
point. of  junction  of  each  forms  a  rib  inside  the  plate,  making  four  rein- 
forcing ribs  in  each  plate,  insuring  absolute  rigidity.  The  "star"  effect 
has  a  regular  cast  body  to  which  special  arms  are  attachable.  Both  de- 
signs are  attachable  to  a  ceiling  by  a  special  patented  method  which  per- 
mits placing  fixtures  permanently  in  position  without  turning  them.  These 
fixtures,  too,  are  interchangeable.  Many  pleasing  and  practical  ceiling 
efTects  are  also  made  up  from  the  smaller  canopies,  with  arms,  chains  and 
terminals  which  are  illustrated  throughout  this  publication.  Other  types 
of  Wakefield  fixtures  are  also  given.  The  company  claims  that  more 
than  3000  distinctive  designs  are  possible  with  the  assortment  listed,  to 
meet  almost  every  requirement. 


Business  Notes 


THE  QUEEN-SRAY  COMPANY,  618  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  of  which  Mr.  J.  G.  Gray  is  president,  has  purchased  the  business 
of  Queen  &  Company,  Inc.,  including  the  name,  good  will,  patents,  ma- 
chinery, stock  in  trade  and  assets  in  general.  The  new  company  will 
continue  the  business  of  the  older  company  in  the  manufacture  of  en- 
gineering,   electrical    and    scientific   instruments. 

NEILER.  RICH  &  COMPANY.— Mr.  Samuel  G.  Neiler  and  Mr.  Ed- 
ward P.  Rich,  heretofore  conducting  a  general  consulting  engineering  of- 
fice in  Chicago  under  the  corporate  name  of  Pierce,  Richardson  &  Neiler, 
have  changed  the  name  of  the  organization  to  that  of  Neiler,  Rich  &- 
Company.  Mr.  Neiler  has  been  prominent  in  the  engineering  professioi 
in  Chicago  for  twenty  years,  and  his  work  has  been  characterized  by  un- 
usual originality.  He  is  a  member  of  the  .\merican  Institute  of  Electri- 
cal Engineers,  (British)  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers.  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  and  several  other  professional  societies. 
Mr.  Rich's  connection  with  the  company  is  of  seven  years'  duration,  and 
he  is  an  engineer  of  ability.  The  office  of  Neiler,  Rich  &  Company  is  in 
the   Manhattan    Building,   Chicago. 


1074 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  20. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED  STATES  PATENTS  ISSUED  NOV.  5,  1912. 

[Prepared  by  Robert  Starr  Allyn,   16  Exchange  Place,  New  York.] 

1,043,090.  MANUFACTURE  OF  STEEL;  P.  Girod,  Ugines,  France. 
App.  filed  June  13,  1911.  JJeoxidation  of  cast  iron  in  an  electric 
furnace. 

1,043,096.  ELECTROLYTIC  APPARATUS;  W.  E.  Greenawalt,  Denver, 
Col.  App.  filed  May  24,  1909.  Electrolysis  of  copper  sulphate  solu- 
tion with  a  lead  anode  and   revolving  cathode. 

1.043.103.  TROLLEY  WHEEL;  G.  E.  Henry,  Vincennes,  Ind.  App. 
filed  Nov.  17,  1911.  Anti-friction  bearing.  Improvement  on  patent 
No.  797,355. 

1.043.104.  METHOD  OF  .  ELECTRICAL  DISTRIBUTION;  P.  C. 
Hewitt,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  July  30,  1904.  High-frequency 
alternating-current   wireless   signaling  system.      (Forty-six   claims.) 

1,043,150.  POTENTIAL  INDICATING  AND  MEASURING  DEVICE; 
E.  O.  Schweitzer,  Chicago,  HI.  App.  filed  Nov.  12,  1908.  Portable 
case  with  pencil  resistance  elements. 

1,043,154.  ELECTROLYTIC  PRODUCTION  OF  LIGHT  METALS; 
G.  O.  Seward,  F.  Von  Kugelgen  and  F.  Von  Bidder,  East  Orange, 
N.  J.,  and  Holcombs  Rock,  Va.  Apo.  filed  May  10,  1909.  The 
separated   metal   is   confined   by  a  cooled   salt-incrusted  curtain. 

1.043.164.  CONDUIT  FOR  HIGH-POTENTIAL  CONDUCTORS;  S.  D. 
Sprong  and  W.  E.  McCoy,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Oct.  16, 
1911.      Circulating  liquid  dielectric. 

1.043.165.  CONDUIT  FOR  HIGH-POTENTIAL  CONDUCTORS;  S.  D. 
Sprong  and  W.  E.  McCoy,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Oct.  16, 
1911.     A  series  of  traps  for  a  liquid  dielectric. 

1,043,170.  SIGNALING  SYSTEM  FOR  RAILWAYS;  L.  H.  Thullen, 
Edgewood,  Pa.  App.  filed  July  5,  1906.  Insulated-block  track  sec- 
tions. .\lternating-current  power  and  different  alternating-current 
signal. 

1,043,179.  PLURAL  LAMP  SOCKET;  N.  Weeks,  New  York,  N.  Y.  .•\pp. 
filed  Oct.  12,  1904.  The  terminals  and  connectors  are  embedded  in 
a  plastic  material  in  a  casing. 


1,043,321. — Combined   Insulator  and    Current   Distributor. 

1,043,207.  AUTOMATIC  SELF-STARTER  FOR  MOTORS;  H.  H. 
Cutler,  Milwaukee,  Wis.  App.  filed  April  9,  1904.  Supplemental 
electromagnetic  means  for  retaining  the  contact  arm  in  the  "on" 
position. 

1,043,217.  RAILWAY-SWITCH  CONTACT;  E.  J.  Dunne,  Newark, 
N.  J.  App.  filed  Aug.  6,  1910.  Trolley  contact  made  in  the  wheel 
groove. 

1,043,268.  ELECTRIC-LAMP  CONTROLLER;  A.  C.  Stanbrough  and  E. 
Johnson,  Newburg,  Ore.  App.  filed  .April  18,  1912.  Rotation  of  the 
lamp  Lo  dim  the  light. 

1,043.272.  TUNING  DEVICE  FOR  WIRELESS  TELEGRAPHY  AND 
TELEPHONY;  W.  E.  D.  Stokes,  Jr.,  and  G.  W.  Davis,  New  York, 
N.  Y.,  and  Galilee,  N.  J.  App.  filed  Oct.  9,  1908.  Adjustment  of 
the   inductance. 

1,043  274.  ATTACHMENT  FOR  SPARK  COILS:  C.  H.  Thordarson, 
Chicago,  III.     App.  filed  June  29,    190S.      Readily  detachable  vibrator. 

1.043.299.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  H.  P.  Clausen,  Chicago,  III.  App. 
filed  Sept.  16,  1901.  Central  energy  metal  circuit.  (Ninety-eight 
claims.) 

1.043.300.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  H.  P.  Clausen,  Chicago,  III.  App. 
filed  March  11,  1903.  Supervisory  and  line  signals  and  impedance 
coils. 

1.043.301.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  H.  P.  Clausen,  Chicago,  III.  App. 
filed  Jan.  13,  1904.     Trunking  between  two  common-battery  exchanges. 

1.043.306.  TRUNKING  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  A.  H.  Dyson,  Chicago, 
III.  App.  filed  July  18,  1903.  Operative  combination  of  two  switch 
braids  of  different  types. 

1.043.307.  SWITCHING  KEY;  E.  G.  Eidam,  Rochester,  N.  Y.  .App.  filed 
June  13,  1910.     Telephone  listening  and  ringing  key. 

1,043,314.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  C.  L.  Goodrum,  Atlantic  City,  N.  J. 
.■\p]p.  filed  March  IS,  1902.  Line  signal  operation.  (Sixty-nine 
claims.) 


1.043.320.  RECIPROCATING  MOTOR;  W.  H.  Keller  and  S.  D.  Sibley. 
ConnellsviKe,  Pa.  App.  filed  June  17,  1908.  Impact  tool  driven  by 
solenoid  and   rotating  motor. 

1.043.321.  COMBINED  INSULATOR  AND  CURRENT  DIS- 
TRIBUTOR; E.  H.  Knutz,  Areata,  Cal.  App.  filed  Nov.  20,  1909. 
Double-petticoat  type   with  radiating  arms. 

1,043,325.  VARIABLE-SPEED  ELECTRIC  MOTOR;  J.  C.  Lincoln,  East 
Cleveland,  Ohio.  App.  filed  March  14,  1906.  Traveling  brushes;  no 
starting  resistances. 

1,043,328.  ELECTROLYTE;  W.  H.  Lowe,  Brondesbury,  England.  Apj). 
filed  May  10,  1912.  Anhydrous  bichromate  of  soda,  sulphuric  acid 
and  salt. 

1,043,340.  ELECTRIC  CONTROLLER;  J.  A.  Moore,  Chicago,  III.  App. 
filed  April  10,  1912.     Gravity-actuated  element  for  elevators,  etc. 

1,043,380.  LAMP  SOCKET;  H.  C.  Wirt  and  F.  W.  Sanford,  Plymouth, 
Mass.     App.  filed  June  22,  1908.     Shell-interlocking  catches. 

1.043,382.  THERMOSTAT;  L.  W.  Zettler,  Louisville,  Ky.  App.  filed 
Jan.  8,   1912.     Diaphragm  and  contact  device. 

1,043,449.  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPHIC  APPARATUS;  H.  G.  Martin. 
East  Rutherford,  N.  J.     App.  filed  Oct.  27,  1911.     Sending  mechanism. 

1,043,467.  BOOTLEG  FOR  TRACK  CIRCUITS;  F.  W.  Rutledge  and 
E.  E.  Ireland,  Elk  River,  Minn.  App.  filed  April  22,  1911.  Conduit 
connection. 

1,043,471.  RAILWAY  SIGNAL;  J.  A.  Shaw,  Rinimersburg,  Pa.  App. 
filed   Feb.    11,    1911.     Signal  valve. 

1,043,481.  METHOD  AND  APPARATUS  FOR  PRODUCING  AND 
FEEDING  FURNACE  ELECTRODES;  E.  R.  Taylor,  Penn  Yan, 
N.  Y.  App.  filed  Jan.  7,  1911.  Horizontal  electrode  built  up  and 
extended  piece  by  piece. 

1,043,487.  ELECTRICALLY  HEATED  UTENSIL;  A.  A.  Warner,  Hart- 
ford, Conn.  App.  filed  Feb.  1,  1912.  The  heating  unit  is  secured 
within  a  base  flange  of  a  water  heater,  etc. 

1,043,526.  TELEPHONE;  R.  H.  Lindal,  Gloucester  City,  N.  J.  App. 
filed  April  22,   1908.     Tow-line  circuit. 

1,043,528.  BRAKE-MAGNET  PROTECTIVE  AND  DEMAGNETIZING 
DEVICE;  D.  L.  Lindquist,  VouKcrs,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  March  27, 
1909.      Fuseless  device  tor  elevator  service,  etc. 

1,043,535.     SECONDARY    STORAGE    BATTERY;    O.    Oldham,    Denton, 

tngland.     App.    hied    March    29,     1912.     The    gas    outlet    is    at    the 

bottom. 
1,043,561.     TEST-TUBE  HEATER;  J.   I.  Ayer,  Canftridge,  Mass.     App. 

filed   Aug.    12,    1912.     Inclined    heating   rack   against   which   the    test 

tubes  are  laid. 

1,043,565.  CURRENT  CONTROLLER;  L.  Bradley,  Muskegon,  Mich. 
App.  filed  F'eb.  8,   1909.     Compressible  resistance  medium. 

1.043.573.  RECIPROCATING  MOTOR;  VV.  H.  Keller  and  S.  D.  Sibley, 
Eccles,  W.  Va.  App.  filed  July  8,  1908.  Electric  hammer  with 
solenoid  and  rotating  motor. 

1.043.574.  RAILWAY  VEHICLE  WITH  ELECTROMAGNETIC  AD- 
HERENCE AND  SHIFTABLE  AXLES;  A.  Ehrlich,  Budapest, 
Austria-Hungary.  App.  filed  Sept.  11,  1911.  The  wheels  become 
electromagnets. 

1.043.615.  SWITCHBOARD;  W.  J.  Magee,  New  Orleans,  La.  .\pp.  filed 
Feb.    14,   1912.     Sectional  insulated  busbar. 

1.043.616.  -AUTOMATIC  DRAFT  MODIFIER;  C.  O.  Mailloux.  and  H. 
J.  Westover,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Dec.  7,  1909.  Timing 
device   with   automatic   controller. 

1,043,637.  CIRCUIT-BREAKER;  H.  L.  Smith,  Clinton,  Mass.  App. 
filed  Sept.  9,  1907.  For  electric-welding  wire-fabric  machine  such 
as  patent  No.  830,018. 

1,043,655.  ACTUATING  DEVICE  FOR  CIRCUIT-CLOSERSj  G.  D. 
Young,  Hereford,  Texas.  App.  filed  March  29,  1912.  Telegraph 
instrument. 

1,043,663.  ELECTRICALLY  DRIVEN  CLOCK;  P.  A.  Bentley,  Burton- 
upon-Trent,  England.  App.  filed  June  22,  1911.  Electroniagnetically 
actuated  pendulum. 

1,043,703.  SIGNALING  HORN,  ETC.;  M.  R.  Hutchinson,  Bronxville, 
N.   Y.     App.  filed  Dec.   13,   1905.     Double-tone  vibrator. 

1,043,713.  WIRE  HANGER;  J.  Meute,  Jr.,  Moon  Run.  Pa.  App.  filed 
Oct.   24,^910.     Mine-railway  trolley  support. 

1.043.718.  ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  J.  G.  Peterson,  Hartford,  Conn.  App 
filed   .Vpril  22,   1912.     Key-operated  wall  switch. 

1.043.719.  ELECTRIC  IGNITION  DEVICE  FOR  SMALL-ARMS;  G. 
Peuble,  St.  Etienne.  France.  App.  filed  Jan.  9,  1912.  Mechanically 
driven  contact-firing  pin. 

1,043,751.  AUTOMATIC  REGULATOR;  R.  S.  Blair,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
App.  filed  March  28,  1905.  For  regulating  the  speed  of  vehicles. 
(Eighty-three  claims.) 

1,043,755.  CIRCUIT-CLOSER;  H.  P.  Christianson,  Oakland,  Cal.  App. 
filed  Jan.  3,  1912.  Device  held  in  the  teeth  to  operate  automatically 
on   relaxation. 

1,043,759.  CONNECTING  DEVICE  FOR  ELECTRIC  CONDUCTORS; 
D.  T.  Fisher,  Columbus,  Ohio.  App.  filed  Feb.  24,  1910.  Inclosed 
contacts;   for  mine  use,  etc. 

1,043,766.  SYSTEM  OF  ELECTRICAL  DISTRIBUTION;  P.  C. 
Hewitt,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  July  30,  1904.  Plurality  of 
oscillatory  circuits  are  charged  and  discharged  successively. 

1.043.777.  MEANS  FOR  CONTROL  OF  ELECTRIC  ENERGY;  H.  W. 
Leonard,  P.ronxville,  N.  Y.  .App.  filed  Dec.  7,  1905.  Remote  and 
multiple-unit   control    of   electric   motors.      (Seventy-nine   claims.) 

1.043.778.  ELECTRIC  CONTROL  SYSTEM;  H.  W.  Leonard,  Bronx- 
ville, N.  Y-  App.  filed  Oct.  2,  1909.  Electrically  propelled  vehicles 
with   a    plurality    of    motors   and  automatic    switches. 

1,043,783.  SOUND  CONCENTRATOR;  VV.  M.  Loriiner  and  A.  T. 
Ziegler,  New  Wilmington  and  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  .App.  filed  March  1, 
1911.     Conical   wave  deflector. 


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Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


h%^' 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  NOVEMBER  23,  1912. 


No.  21. 


I 


PUBLLSHED  A\'EEKLY  BY 

McGraw  Publishing  Company 

James  H.  McGraw,  Pies.  ('.  K  Whittlesky,  Secy  and  Treas. 

239  West  39th  Street,  New  York. 

Telephone  Call:  4700  Bryant.    Cable  Address:  Electrical,  New  York. 

Chicago   Office Old  Colony   Building 

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Cleveland  Office Schofield   Building 

London  Office Hastings  House,  Norfolk  St.,  Strand 

Terms  of  Sttbscription. 

Subscription .  price  in  United  States,  Cuba  and  Mexico,  $3  per  year. 
Canada,  $4.50;  elsewhere,  $6.  Foreign  subscriptions  may  be  sent  to  the 
London    office. 

Requests  for  changes  of  address  should  give  the  old  as  well  as  the  new 
address.  Date  on  wrapper  indicates  the  month  at  the  end  of  which  sub- 
scription expires. 

Notice  to  Advertisers. 

Changes  in  advertisements  should  reacli  the  New  York  office  ten  days  in 
advance  of  the  date  of  issue.  New  advertisements  are  received  up  to 
Wednesday   noon   of  the  week  of  issue. 

Copyright,   1912,  by  McGraw  Publishing  Company. 
Entered  at  the  New  York  Post  Office  as  Second  Class  Mail  Matter. 

The  circulation  of  Electrical  World  for  1911   was  965.500.     Of  this  issue 
17,250  copies  are  printed. 

NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  NOVEMBER,  23,  1912. 


CONTENTS. 

Editorials      1075 

Supreme  Court  Decision   in   tiic   "Bathtub"   Case 1078 

Denver  &  Rio  Grande  Electritication 1078 

Midwinter  Convention  of  the  A.I.E.E 1078 

Reserve    Steam    Station    for    Niagara,    Lockport    &    Ontario    Power 

Company     1078 

Extensions  to  Generating  Stations  at  Niagara  Falk 1079 

Movement  for  Municipal   Railways  in   Ontario 1079 

Graduation   from   Electrical   Courses  in   the   United   States 1079 

Organization  of  Boston  Electric  Motor  Car  Club 1080 

First  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Oregon  Electrical  Contractors*  Associa- 
tion      .^ 1080 

Annual    Meeting   of   the    National    A.^sociation    of    Railway    Commis- 
sioners         lOSO 

Patent  Reform  Discussed  at  New   York  Jovian   Luncheon 1081 

Electric  Appliance  Demonstration  for  Qubwomen 1082 

Hodenpyl-Hardy  Men  in  Convention 1082 

Court  Decision  in  San  Francisco  Telephone  Merger  Case 1084 

Alleged  Sherman  Act  Violation  by  the  American  Telephone  &  Tele- 
graph    Company 1084 

Public    Service    Commission    News 1085 

Current   News  and   Notes 1087 

Central-Station   Practice  at  Halifax,  N.   S 1089 

The  Thury   System  of  Power  Transmission  by   Continuous  Current^ 

By    Alfred    Still IO93 

High-Tension    Distribution    in    Northern    Illinois 1095 

Unification   in   Northern   Illinois 1096 

Central-Station     Design IO97 

Carrying  Capacities  of  Resistor  Wires  at  High  Temperatures 1098 

Fuel  Tests  on  Internal-Combustion   Engines 1098 

Fuel-Oil   Production  and   Consumption  in   the   United  States 1098 

Transmission    Lines   in    the    San    Diego    District '    1099 

Leased  Private  Operation  of  a  Municipal  Plant ]    iQgg 

Classified    Comparison    of    Rates ."!!.*'      noo 

Central-Station    Activity    in    Kansas    City 1 !.'!.'!!'."' '    noo 

Importance   of   the    Small-Residence    Customer noi 

Kentucky    Electric    Company's    Demonstrations    of    Domestic    AnDli' 

ances     ^^       j 

Wiring  for   Railroad    Buildings '*"    ,,«., 

Recent    Telephone    Patents '.'.'.'.V.V.'.W.'.V.V    1105 

Letter  to  the  Editor: 

Electric  Spot  Welders.     By  H.  J.  Glaubitz.. ,,0- 

Digest  of  Curr^-nt   Electrical   Literature Jln^ 

Book     Reviews ^^^^ 

New   Apparatus    and    Appliances .'.     }},?, 

Industrial  and  Financial  News. . .    .  Ya 

Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents V. ]]l^ 

II do 


THE  HALIFAX  CENTRAL  STATION. 

In  another  column  will  be  found  an  account  of  the  present 
development  and  the  evolution  of  the  electric  supply  station 
m    Halifax,    which    is    a    combined    railway,    lighting    and 
motor-service  plant  with  a  small  gas  equipment  in  addition. 
Like  most  plants  of  its  kind,  it  is  the  result  of  consolidations 
of  various  organizations,  in  this  case  formed  some  twenty 
years  ago.    The  main  plant  is  fortunately  situated  on  tide- 
water and  includes  a  combined  engine  and  turbine  equip- 
ment, the  generators  being  three-phase,  6o-cycle  machines. 
Use  is  made  of  Cape  Breton  coal,  and  service  tests  of  this 
fuel   are  not  without   interest.     The  boiler  equipment  in- 
cludes seven  water-tube  units  delivering  steam  at   150  lb. 
pressure  and  100  deg.  super-temperature.     The  boilers  are 
equipped  with  underfeed  automatic  stokers.     A  competitive 
test    of   these   with    the    hand    firing   previously    employed 
showed  that  with  hand  firing  the  evaporation  from  and  at 
212  deg.  was  barely  over  7  lb.  of  water  per  lb.  of  coal  as 
taken  from  the  pile.     With  the  automatic  stokers  operated 
alongside,  the  evaporation  rose  to  8.5  lb.    After  making  all 
corrections   for   steam    used    for   auxiliary   purposes   there 
proved  to  be  a  saving  of  a  little  over  14  per  cent  in  favor  of 
the  mechanical  stokers.     It  is  to  be  noted  in  addition  that 
the  cost  of  spare  parts  in  the  stokers  per  year  was  found 
to  be  about  one-half  the  cost  of  grate  bars  for  hand  firing. 
Results  such  as  these  for  Cape  Breton  culm*  costing  $1.40 
a  ton  are  decidedly  satisfactory  and  speak  well  for  the  use- 
fulness of  the  automatic  stokers  in  dealing  with  rather  low- 
grade  fuel. 

Although  all  the  energy  is  generated  in  three-phase  alter- 
nators, yet  the  plant  must  carry  the  city  railway  load  and  do 
a  certain  amount  of  direct-current  motor  work.     For  this 
purpose    three    induction    motor-generators    deliver    direct 
current  for  the  railways  and  a  synchronous  motor-generator 
set  takes  care  of  the  direct-current  motor  load.     The  arc 
lighting  is  done  by  the  series  transformer  system,  five  100- 
lamp   sets  being  in  use   for  city  work   and  an   additional 
So-lamp  set  for  commercial  service.     The  city  arc  lamps 
are  of  the  7.5-amp  alternating-current  type  and  are  operated 
on  an  all-night  and  every-night  schedule  at  the  very  modest 
price  of  $62.50  per  lamp  per  year.     This  is   the  natural 
result  of  cheap  fuel,  although  the  extremely  cheap   culm 
already  referred  to  is  not  systematically  used  and  the  coal 
purchased  ordinarily  costs  about  $2.75  per  ton.     The  busi- 
ness of  the  company  has  never  been  aggressively  pushed, 
but  has  grown  steadily  and  rather  rapidly  until  it  repre- 
sented  last   year   more   than   $500,000,   an    extremely   good 
showing   for   a   city   of   50,000   inhabitants.     That   lighting 
forms  a  relatively  small  part  of  the  total  load  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  even  during  December  with  a  maximum  load 
only  slightly  in  excess  of  2000  kw  the  non-peak  load  aver- 
ages about  1000  kw,  the  daily  load-factor  being  very  high. 


1076 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  Xo.  21. 


TESTS  OF  fflGH-TENSION  THREE-FHASE  TRANSMISSION  CABLE. 

In  the  Morth  American  continent  there  exists  a  greater 
display  of  high-tension  aerial  transmission  lines  than  is  to 
be  found  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  The  working  emf 
rises  to  150  kilovolts  between  conductors  and  the  distances 
to  hundreds  of  miles.  The  greatest  development  of  these 
lines  has  been  attained  in  the  West,  where  the  lines  pass 
through  sparsely  settled  districts.  In  the  more  densely  popu- 
lated regions  of  the  Eastern  States  there  has  not  been  the 
same  opportunity  for  long  and  very  high-tension  transmis- 
sion systems.  Again,  in  the  yet  more  densely  populated 
European  countries  it  is  not  practicable  to  install  such 
transmission  lines.  The  social,  legal  and  municipal  condi- 
tions are  such  that  all  high-tension  lines  must  go  under- 
ground.    This  necessitates  the  use  of  high-tension  cables. 

It  is  not  only  commercially  impossible  at  the  present  time 
to  construct  cables  to  withstand  such  working  pressures  as 
150  kilovolts,  but  it  is  also  expensive  to  use  lead-covered 
cable  as  a  substitute  for  the  free  air  of  out-of-doors,  even 
allowing  for  the  cost  of  towers  and  insulators.  Neverthe- 
less, great  progress  has  been  made  in  the  construction  of 
high-tension  cable  during  recent  years.  Three  substances 
compete  for  use  in  the  insulation  of  such  cables,  namely, 
rubber,  paper  and  varnished  cambric.  An  article  noticed  in 
the  Digest  has  recently  been  published  by  Mr.  W.  Pfann- 
kuch,  in  the  Elektrotechnische  Zeitschrift,  describing  a 
series  of  tests  on  more  than  200  km  of  armored  and  lead- 
covered  paper-insulated  three-phase  cable,  operating  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Berlin,  at  a  working  pressure,  between 
wires,  of  30  kilovolts  and  at  a  frequency  of  50  cycles  per 
second. 

It  is  shown  that  the  skin  effect  of  the  50-cycle  current 
increases  the  •linear  conductor  resistance  about  5  per  cent 
above  the  normal  0.35  ohm  per  wire  km,  as  measured  by 
direct  current,  at  15  deg.  C.  Detailed  measurements  of 
the  power  expended  in  60  km  of  the  cable  indicate  that 
while  the  charging  current  of  such  a  length  is  a  considerable 
percentage  of  the  rated  load  current,  yet  the  dielectric  loss 
is  relatively  very  small,  the  power-factor  of  the  charging 
current  being  only  about  2  per  cent,  and  that  this  represents 
nearly  all  PR  loss.  The  dielectric-loss  power-factor  is 
given  as  only  0.3  per  cent. 

Some  interesting  oscillograms  are  appended  to  the  article 
to  show  the  effects  of  svi'itching  on  the  make-or-break  values 
of  voltage  and  current,  both  with  and  without  the  use  of  an 
auxiliary  contact.  The  auxiliary  contact  in  such  a  switch 
introduces  a  carborundum  resistor  of  about  4000  ohms  re- 
sistance into  the  circuit,  just  before  closing  or  just  before 
opening,  at  the  main  blades.  This  auxiliary  contact  greatly 
reduces  the  amount  of  electric  splash  or  disturbance  at  dis- 
continuity. Thus,  without  the  aid  of  the  auxiliary  contact. 
the  closing  of  the  switch  on  60  km  of  cable  at  no  load  from 
30-kilovolt  busbars,  at  the  instant  of  peak  voltage,  gave 
rise  to  a  surge  of  current  in  the  next  half-wave  of  about 
150  per  cent  excess;  while  surges  in  the  voltage  of  lesser 
and  dwindling  magnitudes  can  be  detected  in  the  oscillogram 
for  several  cycles  of  about  200  cycles  per  second  natural 
frequency.  This  big  splash  of  current  would  of  course  be 
greatly   reduced   if  the   switch   happened   to   close   near   an 


instant  of  zero  potential.     The  use  of  the  auxiliary  contact 
is  shown  to  reduce  the  splash  very  markedly. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  generator  used  in  the  series  of 
experiments  developed  very  noteworthy  harmonic  ripples, 
so  that  the  arithmetical  analysis  of  the  phenomenon  is  ob- 
scured by  the  effects  of  the  harmonic  currents  thereby 
produced.  Thus  the  charging  current  observed  is  con- 
siderably increased  above  what  a  pure  sine  fundamental 
wave  of  the  emf  might  be  expected  to  produce,  but  the 
results  obtained  in  the  tests  promise  very  well  for  the  life 
of  the   cable  in  practical   service. 


INTERCONNECTED  DISTRIBUTING  SYSTEMS. 

The  account  of  the  widespread  transmission  and  dis- 
tribution of  energy  in  northern  Illinois  printed  elsewhere  in 
our  columns  shows  an  existence  of  a  situation  until  now 
rather  unusual  but  tending  to  become  more  common.  The 
system  here  described,  like  a  German  system  noted  in  our 
Digest  this  week,  is  notably  different  from  the  ordinary 
energy  transmission  system  or  the  ordinary  distributing 
system  found  in  cities  and  towns  of  moderate  size.  If  one 
imagines  a  plant  in  a  little  rural  town  looked  at  through 
magic  spectacles  that  would  convert  every  farmhouse  into 
a  village  and  magnify  distances,  loads  and  voltages  in  a 
correspondingly  fantastic  ratio,  he  gets  a  very  good  idea  of 
what  plants  like  the  one  before  us  are  actually  accomplish- 
ing. They  are  distributing  energy,  not  to  scattered  custom- 
ers, but  to  scattered  towns  and  groups  of  customers,  all 
relatively  small  considering  the  total  load  on  the  system, 
distributed  with  some  rough  uniformity,  as  single  customers 
in  a  town  would  be. 

The  transmission  voltages,  owing  to  the  distances  covered, 
must  be  considerably  greater  than  in  an  ordinary  distribut- 
ing system.  The  problems  of  voltage  regulation  are  corre- 
spondingly more  troublesome,  although  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  in  a  general  way,  considering  the  longer  trans- 
mission lines,  the  individual  community  loads  are  relatively 
so  small  that  they  act  almost  as  a  uniformly  distributed  load 
on  the  line.  For  the  longer  lines  the  comfortable  and 
conservative  emf  of  33,000  volts  is  employed,  with  sub- 
stantial wooden-pole  construction  and  insulators  of  the  sim- 
ple character  usual  with  such  a  voltage.  A  good  deal  of 
branch-line  work,  however,  is  carried  out  on  the  four-wire, 
three-phase  system,  using  2300  or  4600  volts  between  neutral 
and  phase  wires.  This  star-connected  primary  distribution 
arrangement  is  an  exceedingly  useful  one  for  fairly  great 
distances,  being  very  economical  of  copper  and  requiring 
the  use  of  nothing  more  elaborate  than  ordinary  distribution 
transformers.  Although  wherever  used  this  system  has 
proved  extremely  convenient,  yet  for  some  strange  reason 
its  advantages  have  been  rather  generally  overlooked.  In 
fact,  one  may  go  further  and  say  it  is  somewhat  rare  to  find 
the  very  advantages  of  the  three-phase  system  which  were 
the  strongest  arguments  in  its  favor  in  its  early  days  made 
use  of  in  every-day  practice.  Most  so-called  three-phase 
distribution  systems  consist  of  groupings  of  single-phase 
loops,  to  the  considerable  detriment  of  the  regulation. 

The  systems  as  laid  out  now  are  somewhat  heterogeneous 
in  character,  having  resulted  from  the  combination  of  small 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1077 


plants,  but  they  will  ultimately  be  developed  into  closed  net- 
works giving  far  better  security  against  break-down  than  any 
system  not  interconnected  can  possibly  do.  It  has  proved 
necessary  to  take  considerable  pains  with  the  voltage  regu- 
lation, and  in  all  the  larger  communities  automatic  regu- 
lators are  installed  in  the  substations  where  such  exist. 
Some  trial  is  being  made  of  small  automatic  regulators 
installed  out  of  doors  for  yet  lighter  loads.  As  is  pointed 
out  in  the  article,  the  first  cost  of  a  system  of  this  kind  is 
necessarily  somewhat  high,  but  the  consolidation  of  the 
generating  stations  tends  to  keep  down  running  expense. 
The  diversity-factor  is  probably  large,  and  as  the  load  builds 
up  the  business  should  become  profitable. 


ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERING  COLLEGE  TRAINING. 

In  the  early  days  of  mechanical  engineering  it  was  cus- 
tomary for  a  youth  aspiring  to  enter  the  profession  to  be 
apprenticed  to  an  engineer  or  to  an  engineering  firm  for  a 
term  of  several  years.  In  this  period  of  indenture  he  was 
supposed  to  receive  instruction  in  engineering  work  by 
contact  and  service  with  a  practitioner.  A  similar  procedure 
applied  in  the  professions  of  law  and  medicine.  In  those 
days  the-  range  and  depth  of  professional  knowledge  were 
much  more  limited  than  at  present,  so  that  a  practitioner  by 
training  one  or  more  assistants  to  his  practice  was  able  to 
fit  them  for  their  subsequent  careers  in  a  particularly  suit- 
able and  efficient  manner. 

The  habit  of  acquiring  a  professional  training  by  inden- 
ture has  fallen  into  desuetude,  the  change  commencing 
about  a  hundred  years  ago  and  taking  place  more  rapidly  in 
some  professions  than  in  others.  Relics  of  the  old  system 
are  still-in  existence  under  various  names.  The  change  was 
largely  rendered  necessary  by  the  increasing  depth  and  tech- 
nicality of  professional  occupation  and  knowledge,  so  that 
a  youth  entering  the  professional  arena  fresh  from  the 
regular  school  or  college  was  not  fitted  to  receive  the 
specialized  instruction.  The  practitioner  to  whom  he  was 
bound  rarely  had  the  patience  or  spare  time  for  drilling 
the  newcomer  in  the  studies  preliminary  to  the  technical 
work,  so  that  the  assistant  might  work  perfunctorily  in  the 
practitioner's  business  for  many  months  without  properly 
understanding  the  purport  of  his  duties.  Mutual  dissatis- 
faction resulted,  and  technical  schools  began  to  form,  in 
response  to  the  need  for  special  technical  training,  between 
the  regular  schools  and  the  professional  man's  office  or 
factory. 

In  all  engineering  the  period  and  extent  of  special  tech- 
nical training  have  steadily  extended  during  the  last  twenty 
years,  and  the  specialization  still  continues.  The  number  of 
engineering  schools  has  also  steadily  increased  until  at  the 
present  time  there  are  a  few  more  than  100  technical  schools 
or  colleges  in  the  United  States  alone  granting  degrees  in 
electrical  engineering.  Not  all  of  the  men  who  rise  to  promi- 
nence in  electrical  engineering  pass  through  these  schools. 
There  always  have  been,  and  there  probably  always  will  be, 
men  who  rise  in  a  profession  by  their  own  unaided  efforts 
outside  of  the  regular  channels  of  training;  but  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  the  great  bulk  of  the  men  who  will  lead  in 
the  electrical  engineering  of  the  future,   industrially,  com- 


mercially and  professionally,  will  have  been  graduates  from 

our  electrical  engineering  scliools. 

We  present  in  this  issue  our  annual  census  of  electrical 
engineering  students  in  the  United  States.  It  will  be  noted 
that  with  the  exception  of  post-graduate  students  there  has 
been  a  slight  decrease  in  the  attendance  in  every  division 
and  class,  including  the  highly  organized  technical  schools 
as  well  as  the  vocational  schools.  This  tendency  may  be 
attributed  in  part  to  two  noteworthy  facts,  namely,  stand- 
ardization in  manufacture  and  increasing  interest  in  agri- 
culture. Service  in  the  large  manufacturing  corporations  is 
not  now  so  inviting  as  in  former  years,  while  college  train- 
ing in  agriculture  promises  independence  in  a  few  years.  It 
is  not  too  much  to  expect  later  an  increase  in  the  number 
of  students  in  engineering  courses,  in  view  of  the  growing 
appreciation  of  the  value  of  technical  education  for  all 
kinds  of  business  careers,  both  technical  and  non-technical. 


SUPREME  COURT  DECISION  IN  THE  "BATHTUB"  CASE. 

Although  the  full  text  of  the  Supreme  Court  decision  last 
Monday  in  the  so-called  "Bathtub  Trust"  case  is  not  yet 
at  hand,  portions  of  the  opinion  which  have  been  reported 
are  sufficient  to  indicate  the  probable  trend  of  its  effect  on 
the  patent  situation.  In  brief,  the  decision  of  the  lower 
branch  of  the  federal  court  in  Maryland  was  upheld  and  the 
defendants  were  found  to  be  violating  the  Sherman  act. 
The  enameled-ironware  trade  was  practically  controlled 
from  producer  to  consumer  through  license  agreements 
mvolving  85  per  cent  of  the  manufacturers  and  90  per  cent 
of  the  jobbers.  The  patent  under  which  the  licenses  were 
executed  covered  a  tool  or  dredger  employed  to  sprinkle 
enamel  over  the  hot  ironware,  in  the  process  of  manu- 
facture, but  the  restrictions  under  the  licenses  related  as 
well  to  the  final  product  and  the  terms  and  conditions  of 
sale.  Main  reliance  was  placed  by  the  joint  defendants 
on  the  patent  laws,  and  in  particular  upon  the  interpretation 
of  law  in  the  Dick  case.  It  will  be  recalled  that  the  license 
restrictions  in  reference  to  the  mimeograph  stipulated  the 
kind  of  unpatended  materials  or  supplies  to  be  used  there- 
with, whereas  in  the  present  case  the  restrictions  had  to  do 
with  the  unpatented  product,  and  the  use  or  disposal  of  the 
product  did  not  affect  the  operation  or  eflSciency  of  the 
patented   tool. 

The  "bathtub"  case  is  therefore  sharply  distinguished 
from  the  Dick  case,  both  in  the  sense  just  defined  and  in 
the  further  respect  that  the  co-defendants  had  created  a 
live  substantial  monopoly,  which  was  in  flourishing  condi- 
tion. The  decision  says  in  effect  that  the  patent  laws  carry 
no  immunity  from  the  provisions  of  the  Sherman  act,  but 
nevertheless  the  reports  state  that  in  the  unanimous  opinion 
of  the  court  there  is  nothing  in  the  present  decision  which 
is  inconsistent  with  the  Dick  case.  This  sets  at  nought  the 
premature  conclusions  already  circulated  in  certain  of  the 
daily  newspapers  that  the  patent  laws  are  satisfactory 
m  their  present  form  and  need  no  revision.  It  cannot 
be  too  sharply  emphasized  that  the  situation  created  by  the 
interpretation  of  law  in  the  Dick  case  needs  attention  as 
much  as  it  ever  did,  and  the  efforts  to  obtain  a  thorough 
investigation  by  a  commission  should  not  be  suspended. 


1078 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21. 


SUPREME  COURT    DECISION  IN  THE  "BATHTUB" 
CASE. 


On  Nov.  18  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  handed 
down  the  long-expected  decision  in  the  so-called  "bathtub 
case,"  upholding  the  opinion  of  the  United  States  District 
Court  of  Maryland.  Mr.  Justice  McKenna  read  the 
unanimous  opinion  of  the  court,  which  holds  as  invalid  the 
license  agreements  under  which  numerous  manufacturers 
of  sanitary  enameled  ironware  entered  into  a  combination 
to  control  the  industry  and  declares  that  the  combination 
was  in  restraint  of  trade  and  in  violation  of  the  Sherman 
anti-trust  law.  The  defense  that  the  combination  was 
lawful  in  view  of  the  license  restrictions  imposed  in  con- 
nection with  a  patent  owned  by  one  of  the  defendants  on  a 
tool  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  enameled  ware  was 
rejected  by  the  higher  court.  This  case  has  important 
features  which  distinguish  it  from  the  Dick  case,  decided 
last  spring,  particularly  in  the  respect  that  an  established 
monopoly  of  90  per  cent  of  the  trade  was  admittedly  in  ex- 
istence, and  in  the  further  respect  that  the  license  agree- 
ments related,  not  to  the  enameled-ware  product,  but  to  a 
tool  or  device  employed  in  the  process  of  manufacture. 
Inasmuch  as  the  full  text  of  this  most  important  decision 
will  not  be  available  until  after  this  issue  goes  to  press,  we 
shall  reserve  a  fuller  account  of  the  case  until  next  week. 


DENVER  &  RIO  GRANDE  ELECTRIFICATION. 


Following  numerous  conferences  between  representatives 
of  the  General  Electric  and  the  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  Rail- 
road companies,  the  latter  will  shortly  undertake  the  equip- 
ment of  its  mountain  division  between  Helper,  Utah,  and 
Salt  Lake  City,  a  distance  of  115  miles,  for  electrical  opera- 
tion with  direct  current.  Contracts  are  to  be  let  shortly 
by  the  railroad  company  for  the  construction  of  a  15-mile 
detour  between  Tucker  and  Soldier  Summit,  Utah,  on  this 
division,  which  will  then  have  a  maximum  grade  of  only 
2  per  cent,  as  compared  with  the  4  per  cent  grade  of  the 
present  7-mile  line  between  these  points.  Work  on  the  new 
project  is  to  be  completed  early  in  the  summer  of  1913. 
Energy  for  the  operation  of  the  electrified  portion  of  the 
system  will  be  furnished  by  the  recently  organized  Utah 
Securities  Corporation,  through  its  operating  subsidiary, 
the  Utah  Power  &  Light  Company.  A  large  part  of  the 
energy  will  be  furnished  by  the  Telluride  Power  Company, 
which  is  now  a  part  of  the  Utah  consolidation. 

A  steam  auxiliary  station,  to  have  a  rated  output  of 
between  30,000  kw  and  40,000  kw,  will  probably  be  built 
near  Soldier  Summit  for  the  Utah  Power  &  Light  Company, 
to  insure  a  continuous  supply  of  energy.  About  $4,000,000 
is  to  be  spent  by  the  central-station  interests  on  extensions 
and  enlargements  in  connection  with  the  project,  and  about 
$6,000,000  will  be  spent  by  the  railroad  company.  If  the 
initial  electrification  plan  proves  to  be  successful  the  rail- 
road company  will  equip  its  lines  to  the  eastward  of  Helper 
for  electrical  operation.  When  the  plan  was  first  considered 
the  electrification  of  only  a  small  portion  of  the  division 
between  Helper  and  Salt  Lake  City  was  contemplated,  but 
when  the  additional  economies  and  advantages  to  be  derived 
from  the  operation  of  the  entire  division  by  electricity 
were  demonstrated  the  railroad  company  decided  to  extend 
the  electric  service  over  the  entire  115  miles  of  this  division. 
Among  other  factors  that  influenced  the  road  in  its  de- 
cision were  the  location  of  the  division  in  the  heart  of  the 
Utah  coal  and  coke  field,  with  its  attractive  tonnages, 
the  large  increases  in  passenger  traffic  anticipated  in  view 
of  the  Panama-Pacific  Exhibition  at  San  Francisco,  and 
the  increased  freight  business  that  will  follow  the  opening 
of  the  Panama  Canal. 

Mr.  E.  L.  Brown,  vice-president  of  the  Denver  &  Rio 


Grande  Railroad  Company,  speaking  of  the  electrification 
plan,  stated  that  it  is  what  all  the  railroads  of  the  country 
are  coming  to.  "We  are  only  abreast  of  the  times,  taking 
the  country  as  a  whole,  and  somewhat  ahead  of  them  in 
the  West.  A  large  corps  of  electrical  engineers  will  be  in 
the  field  in  a  few  days  to  examine  into  the  details.  In 
addition  to  the  $6,000,000  we  will  spend,  the  power  com- 
panies will  have  to  spend  about  $4,000,000  to  supply  the 
electric  power.  We  feel  confident  that  the  first  electrically 
operated  trunk  line  in  this  part  of  the  mountain  West  will 
be  the  Rio  Grande  and  that  its  trains  will  be  in  daily  move- 
ment with  this  power  by  July  i  of  next  year." 


MIDWINTER  CONVENTION  OF  THE  A.  I.  E.  E. 


Under  the  auspices  of  the  standards  committee,  a  mid- 
winter convention  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  will  be  held  at  the  New  York  headquarters 
Feb.  26  to  28.  This  meeting  will  be  devoted  to  the  gen- 
eral subject  of  the  rating  and  testing  of  electrical  ma- 
chinery and  apparatus.  Members  have  been  invited  to 
contribute  papers  dealing  with  the  following  subjects:  (l) 
Methods  of  determining  temperature  of  apparatus,  of 
room  temperature,  and  correction  of  temperature  rise  for 
room  temperature,  humidity,  barometric  pressure,  etc.;  (2) 
methods  of  determining  losses  in  apparatus,  including: 
load  losses,  their  determination  and  approximation ;  com- 
mutation or  brush  losses,  their  determination,  approxima- 
tion or  calculation;  (3)  methods  of  testing  apparatus 
under  conditions  equivalent  to  specified  performance;  (4) 
guarantees  and  permissible  variations  therefrom,  and  (5) 
miscellaneous  subjects  connected  with  rating  and  testing, 
such  as  insulation  tests,  high-potential  test  and  spark-gap 
standard,  permissible  variation  of  wave  shape  of  alterna- 
tors, and  control  apparatus,  rheostats,  heating  devices  and 
sundry  other  subjects.  It  is  the  wish  that  these  papers 
shall  contain  data  and  constructive  criticism,  with  definite 
recommendations  for  the  guidance  of  the  standards  com- 
mittee in  the  revision  of  the  "Standardization  Rules,"  but 
shall  avoid  general  theoretical  investigation.  The  secre- 
tary asks  that  all  who  desire  to  contribute  papers  for  this 
convention  notify  the  chairman  of  the  standards  com- 
mittee at  once,  and  states  also  that  all  manuscripts  must 
be  received  at  the  Institute  headquarters  on  or  before  Jan. 
I.  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly,  of  Harvard  University,  is  chairman 
of  the  standards  committee. 


RESERVE  STEAM  STATION  FOR  NIAGARA,  LOCK- 
PORT  &  ONTARIO  POWER  COMPANY. 


The  Beebe  Syndicate,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  has  closed  a  con- 
tract with  the  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Power  Com- 
pany whereby  the  latter  will  take  over  the  6500-kw  steam- 
turbine  station  of  the  Rochester,  Syracuse  &  Eastern 
Railroad  at  Lyons,  N.  Y.,  for  $600,000  and  the  1300-kw 
power  plant  of  the  Auburn  &  Syracuse  Electric  Railroad 
at  Auburn.  N.  Y.,  for  $226,000.  The  Beebe  Syndicate  has 
also  entered  into  a  long-term  contract  with  the  transmis- 
sion company  for  energy  for  the  various  railway  proper- 
ties controlled  by  it.  One  of  the  stipulations  of  the  con- 
tract is  that  the  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Power 
Company  shall  keep  both  the  Lyons  and  the  Auburn  sta- 
tions in  operation  until  the  Salmon  River  development 
owned  by  the  transmission  company  has  been  started.  As 
is  well  known,  Syracuse  receives  energy  transmitted  from 
Niagara  Falls  over  the  lines  of  the  Niagara,  Lockport  & 
Ontario  Power  Company.  The  interruptions  to  this  ser- 
vice, although  less  frequent  than  in  former  years,  have 
caused  the  utilities  in  Syracuse  some  concern,  with  the 
result  that  the  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Power  Com- 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1079 


pany  has  bought  the  capital  stock  of  the  Salmon  River 
Povv'er  Company,  as  noted  in  our  issue  of  Oct.  12,  and  by 
this  means  secured  the  15,000-hp  hydroelectric  develop- 
ment on  the  Salmon  River  now  under  construction  some 
40  miles  north  of  Syracuse.  Moreover,  the  business  around 
Syracuse  is  such  as  to  warrant  either  another  line  from 
Niagara  Falls  or  the  erection  of  a  station  near  the  Salt 
City,  and  the  latter  alternative  has  been  chosen.  The  rail- 
way company,  one  of  whose  lines  is  already  supplied  with 
energy  by  the  transmission  company,  is  naturally  solicitous 
about  its  service ;  hence  the  stipulation  about  the  operation 
of  the  steam  stations  until  a  duplicate  source  of  energ}'  is 
available.  The  contract  becomes  effective  Dec.  i  on  the 
approval  of  the  Public  Service  Commission  of  the  Second 
District  of  New  York. 


GRADUATION    FROM   ELECTRICAL    COURSES    IN 
THE  UNITED  STATES. 


EXTENSIONS      TO      GENERATING 
NIAGARA  FALLS. 


STATIONS    AT 


All  of  the  large  generating  companies  on  the  Canadian 
side  of  Niagara  Falls  are  at  present  engaged  in  building 
extensions  to  their  systems  with  a  view  to  utilizing  all  the 
water  available  for  power  purposes  under  the  existing 
treaty.  The  Toronto  Power  Company  has  a  number  of  new 
units  already  in  place  and  early  next  year  will  complete  its 
station,  which  will  have  equipment  aggregating  125,000  hp. 
A  new  line  fitted  with  pin  insulators  and  operated  at  85,000 
volts  will  also  be  in  operation  between  Niagara  Falls  and 
Toronto.  The  Canadian  Niagara  Power  Company  is  com- 
pleting its  station  building  and  installing  additional  units. 
It  will  expend  $1,250,000  in  the  next  two  years  in  enlarging 
the  forebay  so  as  to  be  able  to  get  enough  water  to  generate 
all  the  electricity  that  it  can  dispose  of  under  the  treaty. 
The  station  of  the  Ontario  Power  Company  has  been 
doubled  in  size  and  will  shortly  be  completed.  With  the 
installation  of  two  12,000-kw  units  now  on  order  the  com- 
pany will  be  using  almost  all  of  the  water  granted  to  it  by 
the  D'ominion  government.  The  stations  on  the  American 
side  of  Niagara  Falls  are  now  using  all  the  water  allotted 
to  them  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  while  the  granting 
of  additional  water  up  to  the  amount  at  the  disposal  of  the 
United  States  under  the  treaty  is  optional  with  the  Sec- 
retary of  War,  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  inclination 
on  the  part  of  the  Washington  officials  to  release  any  of 
this  water  for  power  purposes.  For  the  present,  therefore, 
and  probably  for  some  time  to  come,  the  stations  on  the 
American  side  have  reached  their  maximum  development, 
and  no  further  development  will  be  possible  on  either  side 
of  the  falls  after  191 5,  for  by  that  time  all  the  available 
water  will  be  used. 


MOVEMENT   FOR   MUNICIPAL    RAILWAYS   IN 
ONTARIO. 


The  Ontario  Municipal  Electric  Association  at  a  meet- 
ing held  in  Toronto  Nov.  14  petitioned  the  provincial  gov- 
ernment to  extend  its  public  owner.-ihip  policy  by  empower- 
ing the  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission  of  Ontario  to 
construct  electric  railways  throughout  the  province.  At 
the  meeting  some  thirty  municipalities  were  represented 
and  the  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission  was  requested 
to  look  into  the  advisability  and  practicability  of  construct- 
ing such  a  system.  It  was  requested  to  report  on  the  cost 
of  construction  and  operation  of  roads  following  the  trans- 
mission lines  of  the  commission  in  the  Niagara  power  zone 
and  extending  throughout  western  Ontario  and  the  High- 
land district.  An  estimate  of  the  probable  revenue  was 
also  asked  for  bv  the  association. 


During  the  past  six  years  the  Electrical  World  has  pub- 
lished statistics  relating  to  the  students  in  and  graduates 
from   schools   in  the  United   States  conducting  systematic 

TABLE    I. ELECTRICAL    ENGINEERING    STUDENTS    AND 

GRADUATES. 


Number  of 
Schools. 

Students 
1911-12. 

Graduates 
1912. 

Total 

Graduates 

to  June. 

1912. 

Class  I 

Class  II   

25 
70 
18 

3433 
4079 
1409 

617 
607 
272 

9,333 
6,211 

Class  III 

2,7  74 

Totals 

113 

8921 

1496 

18.318 

courses  in  electrical  engineering.  The  earlier  compilations 
appeared  in  our  issues  dated  July  27,  1907;  Dec.  26,  1908; 
Feb.  10,  1910;  Dec.  22,  1910,  and  Nov.  11,  191 1.  Below 
are  given  the  data  compiled  from  our  sixth  annual  census 
of  these  schools,  together  with  certain  data  from  the  fifth 
census  presented  herewith  for  comparative  purposes. 

As  indicated  in  Table  I,  the  schools  have  been  grouped 
into  three  separate  classes.     Class  I  includes  the  schools  of 


TABLE    II. 


COMPARISON    OF    STATISTICS   FOR   SIX    YEARS. 


Year: 

1907. 

1908. 

1909. 

1910. 

1911. 

1912. 

Number     of      stu- 
dents   

Number  of  gradu- 
ates  

8929 
1358 

9651 
1501 

8670 

1 

i      147.! 

9041 
1545 

9515 
1614 

8921 
1496 

highest  standing,  the  degrees  from  which  confer  more  or 
less  prestige  on  the  graduate.  Class  III  includes  those 
schools  in  which  the  instruction  is  quite  elementary  but 
which  have  regularly  organized  courses  in  electrical 
engineering.  All  other  recognized  schools  giving  complete 
courses  of  instruction  in  electrical  engineering  are  included 
in  Class  II.  During  the  past  year  there  has  been  no  change 
in  the  number  of  schools  listed  in  Class  I ;  there  has  been  an 
addition  of  one  to  Class  II  and  of  three  to  Class  III. 

TABLE   III. STATISTICS   OF   POST-GRADUATE   AND   UNDER- 

GR-J^DUATE  STUDENTS    IN    I9II    AND    I9I2. 


Year. 

Class. 

men. 

i 

.2 

t 
0 

i 

if 

0) 

5  3 

1 

.§ 

c 

q 

i^ 

(^■^ 

■3 

H^ 

fe 

eg 

of 

0 

0 

1911 

First 

1174 

912 

853 

670 

112 

3721 

633 

8717 

Second 

1552 

1105 

832 

743 

40 

4272 

682 

5604 

Third 
totals  .. 

524 

405 

327 

252 

14 

1522 

299 

2502 

Grand 

3250 

2422 

2012 

1665 

166 

9515 

1614 

16823 

1912 

First 

1113 

866 

728 

604 

122 

3433 

616 

9333 

Second 

1538 

1034 

775 

685 

47 

4079 

607 

6211 

Third 
totals. . 

522 

378 

267 

221 

21 

1409 

272 

2774 

Grand 

3173 

2278 

1770 

1510 

190 

8921 

1495 

18318 

The  total  number  of  students  recorded  includes  not  only 
those  taking  the  regular  four-year  course,  but  also  short- 
course  men  and  certain  others  taking  post-graduate  work. 
The  fifth  census  showed  i66  post-graduate  students  candi- 
dates for  an  engineering,  master's  or  doctor's  degree;  the 
present  census  shows  a  total  of  190  in  this  group.  A  com- 
parison of  the  statistics  for  1912  with  those  for  191 1  will 
show  only  a  slight  change  in  numbers  of  students  of  the 
several  classes,  the  change  in  each  case  representing  a 
decrease.     It  is  to  be  noted  that  a  similar  and  even  more 


io8o 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  21. 


marked  decrease  took  place  between  the  years  1908  and 
1909.  It  is  rather  remarkable  that  from  1907  to  1912  the 
number  of  students  has  been  practically  constant  at  about 
9000,  with  an  average  of  about  1506  graduates  per  year. 

An  examination  of  statistics  obtained  from  a  large  num- 
ber of  sources  indicates  that  approximately  one-half  of  the 
students  who  enter  the  freshman  class  become  graduates 
of  the  four-year  engineering  courses.  With  a  total  of 
18,318  graduates  to  date,  it  is  probable  that  about  37,000 
students  entered  the  freshman  class  and  received  instruc- 
tion for  from  one  to  three  years.  These  men  have  profited 
by  their  training  at  least  in  proportion  to  the  time  spent  in 
study,  and  many  of  them  have  become  prominent  in  the 
industry. 

A  large  portion  of  the  engineering  graduates  undertake 
what  is  to  them  post-graduate  work  along  practical  lines  by 
becoming  apprentices  in  electrical  manufacturing  establish- 
ments. For  this  training  the  manufacturers  select  only 
those  graduates  who  give  promise  of  future  usefulness  to- 
the  establishments.  Not  all  technical  graduates  continue  in 
strictly  engineering  work,  many  entering  business  life,  in 
which  their  technical  training  proves  particularly  useful. 
This  fact  was  well  brought  out  in  an  address  before  the 
engineering  classes  of  Washington  University  by  Mr.  W.  A. 
Layman,  president  and  general  manager  of  the  Wagner 
Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  who  said:  "Technically 
trained  men  are  coming  rapidly  into  executive  positions 
because  they  have  been  trained  to  mental  processes  which 
are  clear-cut,  free  from  sentimental  bias  and  directed 
toward  strictly  truthful  results.  They  have  also  an  accurate 
knowledge  of  fundamental  scientific  and  physical  facts  and 
a  capacity  for  both  synthesis-  and  analysis." 


FIRST  ANNUAL  MEETING  OF  THE  OREGON  ELEC-      | 
TRICAL  CONTRACTORS'  ASSOCIATION.  ' 


ORGANIZATION    OF    BOSTON    ELECTRIC    MOTOR 
CAR  CLUB. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Club  of  Boston 
on  Nov.  14  a  reorganization  was  effected  under  the  name 
of  the  Electric  Motor  Car  Club  of  Boston.  President  Day 
Baker  occupied  the  chair,  and  the  formal  business  in- 
cluded the  adoption  of  a  constitution  and  by-laws  govern- 
ing the  new  association  of  electric  automobile  and  cen- 
tral-station interests  whose  work  under  the  old  name  has 
been  a  conspicuous  feature  of  the  electric  truck  and  pleas- 
ure car  campaign  in  eastern  New  England  during  the 
past  eighteen  months.  The  club  is  now  on  a  self-support- 
ing basis,  and  according  to  present  plans  meetings  will  be 
held  fortnightly  to  further  the  co-operative  development 
of  the  New  England  field  from  the  standpoint  of  the  elec- 
tric automobile.  The  annual  membership  dues  are  $10  for 
electric-vehicle  dealers  and  others  profiting  directly  from 
the  sale  of  storage-battery  trucks  and  pleasure  cars,  and 
$2  for  owners  of  machines  of  the  electric  type  who  may 
be  interested  in  the  work  of  the  organization.  The  annual 
meeting  and  election  of  officers  will  be  held  in  October. 

A  feature  of  the  meeting  was  a  general  discussion  of  the 
electric  automobile  situation  at  Boston.  Mr.  W.  H.  At- 
kins, general  superintendent  of  the  Boston  Edison  com- 
pany, touched  upon  plans  for  popular  lectures  to  be  given 
under  its  auspices  during  the  coming  winter,  stating  that 
these  will  probably  include  illustrated  talks  upon  the  elec- 
tric truck  and  pleasure  car.  Efforts  will  be  made  at 
some  of  the  lectures  to  mobilize  representative  electric 
vehicles  on  the  spot,  in  order  still  further  to  popularize 
the  subject.  The  lectures  will  be  given  before  local  boards 
of  trade,  church  and  social  organizations.  Mr.  P.  E. 
Whiting  announced  that  a  new  charging  station  capable 
of  handling  the  largest  machines  is  about  to  be  installed 
by  the  Cambridge  Electric  Light  Company  near  Harvard 
Square.  The  meeting  closed  with  a  short  talk  by  Mr. 
John  A.  Voodry,  Boston,  on  "Salesmanship  as  Applied  to 
Electric  Automobiles." 


The  first  annual  convention  of  the  Oregon  Electrical  lij 
Contractors'  Association  will  be  held  at  Portland  on  Dec. 
17  and  18,  with  headquarters  at  Moose  Hall,  Seventh  and 
Morrison  Streets.  Following  the  address  of  welcome, 
which  will  be  responded  to  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Ralston,  of  Al- 
bany, the  president  of  the  association,  on  Tuesday,  Dec. 
17,  the  following  papers  will  be  presented :  "The  Relation 
of  the  Oregon  Contractor  to  the  Underwriters'  Inspection 
Work  in  Oregon,"  by  Mr.  F.  D.  Weber,  inspector  of  the 
Underwriters'  Equitable  Rating  Bureau ;  "The  Relation 
of  the  Electrical  Jobber  to  the  Electrical  Contractor,"  by 
Mr.  F.  N.  Averill,  manager  of  the  Fobes  Supply  Com- 
pany, Portland;  "What  the  National  Electrical  Contrac- 
tors' Association  Is  Doing  for  the  Electrical  Contractor," 
by  Mr.  George  H.  Duffield,  special  representative  of  the 
N.  E.  C.  A. ;  "Some  Practical  Statements  from  a  Central- 
Station  Expert,"  by  Mr.  O.  B.  Coldwell,  general  superin- 
tendent of  the  light  and  power  department  of  the  Pprt- 
land  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company ;  "Municipal  In- 
spection," by  Mr.  Howard  Joslyn,  city  electrician,  Seattle, 
Wash.;  "Credit,  Its  Utility  in  the  Modern  Commercial 
World.''  by  Mr.  L.  B.  Smith,  manager  credit  department 
Fleischner-Mayer  Company,  Portland,  and  "Costs  and 
Efficiency,"  by  Mr.  P.  L.  Proctor,  manager  Pacific  Audit 
Company.  After  luncheon  visits  will  be  made  to  the 
various  jobbing  houses  of  Portland,  and  in  the  evening 
the  members  and  guests  will  attend  the  theater.  For 
Wednesday  morning,  Dec.  18,  a  trip  is  planned  to  the 
Portland  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company's  plant  at 
Cazadero,  and  luncheon  will  be  served  at  the  Estacada 
Hotel.  An  entertainment  and  banquet  during  the  even- 
ing of  Dec.  18,  at  the  Multnomah  Hotel,  will  conclude  the 
program. 

The  officers  of  the  association  are:  President,  Mr.  Jo- 
seph H.  Ralston,  Albany;  vice-president,  Mr.  W.  O. 
Fouch,  Portland;  secretary,  Mr.  J.  E.  Kilkenny,  St.  John's; 
treasurer,  Mr.  John  R.  Tomlinson,  Portland.  This  is. 
the  first  event  of  its  kind  to  take  place  in  Oregon,  and  it 
has  met  with  considerable  interest  and  enthusiasm  on  the 
part  of  electrical  contractors  and  others  connected  with 
electrical  affairs.  The  Oregon  association  is  affiliated 
with  the  National  Electrical  Contractors'  Association. 


ANNUAL  MEETING  OF  THE    NATIONAL    ASSOCIA- 
TION OF  RAILWAY  COMMISSIONERS. 


On  Nov.  19  the  National  Association  of  Railway  Com- 
missioners opened  its  twenty-fourth  annual  convention  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  at  which  forty-three  states  were  repre- 
sented. The  sessions  will  continue  for  four  days.  Chair- 
man Charles  A.  Prouty,  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission, delivered  the  opening  address,  dealing  with  the 
responsibility  of  those  who  have  to  do  with  the  regulation 
of  railroads  and  other  common  carriers. 

The  address  of  President  C.  F.  Staples,  a  member  of 
the  Railroad  and  Warehouse  Commission  of  Minnesota, 
covered  many  phases  of  the  regulation  of  common  carriers 
and  public  utilities.  He  dwelt,  among  other  points,  upon 
the  great  importance  of  co-operation  in  committee  work 
and  urged  the  commissioners  to  look  upon  committee  duties 
with  a  sense  of  responsibility.  Among  the  special  topics 
considered  by  the  speaker  were  the  weighing  of  freight,  car 
supply,  safety  of  operation  and  the  rearrangement  of  com- 
mittees. Consideration  was  also  asked  of  the  proposal  to 
change  the  name  of  the  association,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  so  many  of  the  commissions  have  jurisdiction  over 
public  utilities  in  addition  to  steam  railroads.  The  need  of 
revising  the  constitution  was  also  brought  to  the  attention 


I 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1081 


of  the  members,  and  the  suggestion  was  presented  to  extend 
the  membership  so  as  to  embrace  assistant  secretaries, 
statisticians  and  engineers  of  state  commissions,  who  are 
capable  of  doing  very  effective  committee  work. 

A  further  account  of  the  meeting,  including  abstracts  of 
some  of  the  papers  and  discussions,  will  be  presented  in  a 
later  issue. 


FAILURE  OF  OLYMPIC  POWER  COMPANY'S 
PLANT. 


SELLERS  OF  GAS  AND   ELECTRIC   VEHICLES 
URGED  TO  CO-OPERATE. 


Mr.  Henry  Farrington,  editor  of  The  Power  Wagon, 
presented  an  outspoken  paper,  entitled  "Let  Us  All  Co- 
operate to  Compete  Against  the  Horse,"  at  the  meeting  of 
the  Chicago  Section  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Association  on 
Nov.  -19.  The  writer  commented  on  the  lack  of  co-opera- 
tion among  the  motor-truck  salesmen  and  said  that  the 
question  of  type  should  not  enter  into  the  early  negotiations 
with  the  customer.  He  said  that  the  time  to  quarrel  over 
engineering  may  come  when  the  horse  is  no  longer  in  the 
ascendency.  In  the  opinion  of  the  author  it  is  absurd  for 
electric  men  to  invite  a  class  war  with  gas-machine  men,  as 
the  latter  have  the  superiority  in  number,  money  and  re- 
sources. Co-operation  with  the  Chicago  Automobile  Trades 
Association  was  urged,  and  it  was  suggested  that  the  efforts 
of  the  electric  men  be  directed  against  the  horse  and  not 
against  the  gas  wagon. 

Mr.  Farrington  also  made  the  interesting  suggestion  that 
electric  commercial  vehicles  should  be  sold  without  batteries 
and  that  there  should  be  large  operating  establishments  for 
delivery  wagons  and  trucks  where  the  battery  will  be  placed 
in  the  vehicle  and  maintained  on  some  monthly  charge,  say 
on  a  mileage  basis. 

In  the  discussion  Mr.  W.  J.  McDowell,  of  the  General 
Vehicle  Company,  advocated  co-operation  with  the  motor- 
truck section  of  the  Chicago  Automobile  Trades  Associa- 
tion, and  also  co-operation  in  publicity. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Metcalf,  of  Philadelphia,  told  of  the  'ex- 
periences of  the  automobile  trade  association  in  that  city. 
The  total  membership  is  187  and  there  is  a  special  "truck 
lunch"  held  every  Wednesday.  Prominent  buyers  are  in- 
vited to  address  these  noonday  meetings.  There  is  prob- 
ably less  "knocking"  and  price  cutting  in  the  motor-vehicle 
business  in  Philadelphia  than  in  any  other  large  city. 

Mr.  George  Harvey  Jones,  chairman  of  the  Chicago 
Section,  commented  on  the  fact  that  in  the  national  adver- 
tising campaign  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Association  of 
America  there  is  not  a  line  directed  against  the  gasoline 
machine.  This  is  also  the  case  with  the  advertising  of  the 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company.  The  speaker  said  that  he 
believed  there  is  room  for  each  type  of  truck. 

Several  speakers  referred  to  Mr.  Farrington's  idea  of 
selling  commercial  electric  vehicles  without  batteries. 
Nearly  all  agreed  that  the  idea  was  a  good  one  and  would 
prolong  the  life  of  the  battery.  However,  the  industry  may 
not  be  ready  for  this  change  at  the  present  time.  Mr.  H.  J. 
Murphy,  a  garage  man,  pointed  out  that  a  large  amount  of 
capital  would  be  required  for  such  an  electric-viehicle 
operating  establishment  and  that  the  proposition  was  too 
big  for  the  average  garage.  Mr.  Ernest  Lunn,  of  the 
Walker  Vehicle  Company,  thought  that  the  transfer  of  the 
battery  from  one  rig  to  another  might  cause  some  con- 
fusion. An  equitable  rate  for  charging  should  be  based 
rather  on  ampere-hours  than  on  miles  traveled.  Mr.  Jones 
said  that  the  plan  of  selling  vehicles  without  batteries  did 
not  necessarily  imply  that,  in  service,  batteries  were  to  be 
transferred  from  one  vehicle  to  another.  The  essence  of 
the  idea  is  simply  to  take  the  price  of  the  battery  out  of  the 
investment  cost  for  electric  vehicles  and  put  it  into  the 
maintenance  cost.  Others  taking  part  in  the  discussion 
were  Messrs.  A.  A.  Gray,  of  Chicago;  C.  I.  Weaver,  of 
Detroit,  and  D.  C.  Arlington,  of  Chicago. 


According  to  newspaper  reports,  the  dam  of  the  Olympic 
Power  Company  in  the  Etwha  River,  about  7  miles  from 
Port  Angeles,  Wash.,  failed  to  the  extent  of  allowing  the 
river  to  pass  under  it  about  Oct.  31.  The  dam,  which  is 
said  to  be  intact,  is  of  peculiar  construction,  being  fastened 
into  the  rock  at  the  sides  of  a  narrow  gorge  and  supported 
like  a  bridge.  It  appears  that  the  water  washed  beneath  it, 
but  authentic  information  as  to  the  exact  cause  of  the 
accident  is  difficult  to  obtain.  The  dam  was  about  100  ft. 
high  and  of  equal  width  at  the  crest,  narrowing  to  a  lesser 
width  at  the  base.  The  nearby  power  station  is  equipped 
with  two  3000-kva  generators,  and  the  company  plans  to 
deliver  electricity  to  Port  Angeles,  Port  Townsend  and  the 
Bremerton  Navy  Yard,  the  system  embracing  a  transmission 
at  66,000  volts  for  a  distance  of  nearly  100  miles. 


PATENT    REFORM    DISCUSSED    AT  NEW   YORK 
JOVIAN   LUNCHEON. 

At  the  regular  bi-weekly  Jovian  luncheon  held  in  New 
York  on  Nov.  20,  at  the  Hotel  Imperial,  with  an  attendance 
of  107,  the  speaker  of  the  day  was  Mr.  Ralph  D.  Mershon, 
president  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
and  the  Inventors'  Guild.  Mr.  Mershon's  subject  was 
"Patent  Reform,"  and  he  placed  particular  emphasis  upon 
the  desirability  of  securing  a  national  commission  to  investi- 
gate the  question  thoroughly.  He  expressed  the  hope  that 
the  Jovian  Order  would  interest  itself  in  this  subject  and 
lend  support  to  the  commission  movement.  The  definition 
of  a  patent  was  carefully  considered  by  the  speaker,  who 
declared  that  it  is  virtually  a  contract  between  an  inventor 
and  the  people  of  the  United  States,  which  stipulates,  in 
substance,  that  in  return  for  creating  something  new  and 
making  a  public  disclosure  thereof  the  inventor  may  enjoy 
the  exclusive  right  to  his  invention  for  a  term  of  seventeen 
years.  He  also  pointed  out,  however,  that  in  case  an 
inventor  keeps  his  discovery  a  secret  some  one  else  who 
subsequently  invents  the  same  thing  may  obtain  a  patent  on 
it  and  enjoin  the  original  inventor  from  its  use. 

Patents,  said  Mr.  Mershon,  affect  us  all  in  some  way, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  and  have  been  largely  respon- 
sible for  our  unparalleled  industrial  development.  Because 
of  the  defects  and  abuses  of  the  present  system  it  is 
unfortunately  impossible  for  an  inventor  to  obtain  the 
privileges  and  protection  which  the  framers  of  the  patent 
statute  originally  intended.  There  are  to-day,  said  the 
speaker,  some  things  which  are  and  long  have  been  the 
property  of  the  public  but  are  not  e.xploited  because  they 
cannot  be  patented  and  adequately  protected  so  as  to  insure 
the  promoters  a  final  profit.  Mr.  Mershon  said  that  in  his 
dwn  case  he  had  expended  more  in  obtaining  and  protecting 
patents  for  his  inventions  than  he  had  derived  from  them. 

There  had  been  much  criticism  of  our  present  patent 
system,  some  but  not  all  of  which,  in  the  speaker's  estima- 
tion, was  warranted.  Few  persons,  he  said,  agree  on  what 
specific  remedies  are  needed.  Some  agree  that  the  organic 
law  needs  no  revision,  but  a  good  many  others  Iiold  the 
opposing  view.  What  is  most  needed,  continued  Mr. 
Mershon,  is  the  appointment  of  a  national  commission  of 
mixed  character  and  highest  standing  to  make  a  thorough 
and  exhaustive  investigation  of  the  entire  patent  system, 
including  the  fundamental  law,  the  administration  of  the 
law  in  the  courts,  practice  before  the  Patent  Office  and  the 
general  administration  of  the  office. 

The  speaker  quoted  at  length  from  his  letter  of  May  24, 
addressed  to  Mr.  Robert  L.  Jaynes,  past-Jupiter  of  the 
Jovian  Order,  in  reference  to  patent  reform.  Therein  he 
recommended  that  the  order  encourage  the  plan  for  a  com- 


I082 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21. 


mission  and  called  attention  to  some  of  the  more  prominent 
defects  in  the  present  system,  as  follows :  Numerous  abuses 
arise  from  the  fact  that  there  are  nine  federal  circuits 
having  jurisdiction  in  as  many  sections  of  the  country.  It 
is  possible  for  an  infringer  who  is  enjoined  from  making  a 
certain  patented  article  by  the  court  in  any  particular  circuit 
to  move  his  business  to  some  point  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  another  circuit  and  there  compel  the  patentee  to  have 
the  action  for  infringement  completely  retried,  and  this 
performance  may  be  repeated  nine  times,  to  the  obvious 
detriment  of  the  rightful  inventor's  interests  and  his  purse. 
After  winning  an  infringement  case,  moreover,  the  patentee 
has  difficulty  in  recovering  anything  more  than  the  royalties 
to  which  he  was  rightfully  entitled,  and  must  commence  a 
separate  civil  action  to  obtain  damages.  Still  other  diffi- 
culties arise  from  the  inadequate  search  sometimes  made 
through  the  Patent  Office  files  in  connection  with  new 
applications,  and  consequently  the  issue  of  invalid  patents 
is  not  an  impossibility.  After  some  particular  invention  has 
been  patented  and  a  profitable  business  established  thereon, 
it  is  possible,  in  case  another  claimant  for  the  invention 
makes  an  appearance  and  proves  that  he  was  the  original 
inventor,  to  wipe  out  entirely  the  established  business  of 
the  first  patentee.  The  valuable  contents  of  the  Patent 
Office  are,  furthermore,  in  constant  likelihood  of  destruc- 
tion by  fire,  owing  to  the  inflammable  character  of  the 
buildings  which  contain  the  records.  Notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  the  patent  system  has  accumulated  a  net  surplus 
of  more  than  $7,000,000,  Congress  has  failed  to  make  any 
adequate  provision  for  fireproof  buildings. 

In  the  closing  portion  of  his  remarks  the  speaker  referred 
to  the  complex  nature  of  the  situation  and  the  need  for  an 
exhaustive  study.  The  Inventors'  Guild,  he  stated,  is 
unanimous  on  only  one  proposition,  namely,  the  appointment 
of  a  national  commission  of  diversified  character  and  high 
standing  to  report  to  Congress  on  needed  legislation.  He 
declared  that  President  Taft's  message  to  Congress  recom- 
mending such  a  commission  was  in  part  the  result  of  the 
agitation  of  the  subject  by  the  Guild.  He  made  it  particu- 
larly clear  that  all  central-station  companies  are  interested 
in  this  question,  because  of  the  fact  that  so  much  central- 
station  energy  is  sold  to  industrial  and  manufacturing  con- 
cerns, whose  prosperity  has  been  fostered  in  a  great  degree 
by  the  existing  patent  system,  and  any  attack  upon  the 
system  of  an  ill-advised  nature  or  by  persons  not  competent 
to  pass  upon  the  problems  at  issue  would  unquestionably 
react  upon  the  central-station  industry  in  a  harmful  manner. 
Mr.  Mershon  referred  briefly  to  some  of  the  features  of 
the  Dick  case  and  urged  the  members  of  the  Jovian  Order 
to  consider  most  seriously  the  matter  of  lending  their  sup- 
port to  the  movement  for  the  appointment  of  a  commission. 

Statesman  Joseph  F.  Becker,  who  presided  at  the  meeting, 
announced  that  after  the  members  of  the  order  had  taken 
sufficient  time  to  reflect  upon  the  substance  of  Mr. 
Mershon's  address  he  would  consider  the  appointment  of  a 
committee  to  take  some  definite  action  along  the  general 
lines  proposed,  if  that  should  prove  to  be  the  wish  of  the 
majority. 

Mr.  T.  I.  Jones  spoke  briefly  and  emphasized  the  point 
that  the  Jovian  Order  has  reached  a  stage  where  it  can  be 
a  real  force  in  the  industry  and  the  community.  He 
suggested  specifically  the  appointment  of  a  committee  on 
legislation. 

After  a  vote  of  thanks  was  tendered  to  the  speaker  of 
the  day  it  was  announced  that  the  next  luncheon  would  be 
held  on  Dec.  4  at  the  same  place  and  that  the  speaker 
would  be  Mr.  William  H.  Merrill,  manager  of  the  Under- 
writers' Laboratories,  Chicago,  who  will  address  the  gather- 
ing on  the  subject  of  "Fire  Inspection  and  Fire  Hazard." 
A  rejuvenation  will  be  held  on  Dec,  16  at  Healy's 
Restaurant,  Sixty-sixth  Street  and  Columbus  Avenue,  New 
York  City,  and  about  thirty  candidates  have  already  filed 
their  applications. 


ELECTRIC     APPLIANCE     DEMONSTRATION     FOR 
CLUBWOMEN. 


A  somewhat  unique  and  elaborate  demonstration  of  the 
many  uses  and  merits  of  electric  appliances  for  household 
use  was  given  by  the  Public  Service  Electric  Company  of 
New  Jersey  in  the  auditorium  of  its  new  Jersey  City 
headquarters  on  the  afternoon  of  Nov,  18.  The  members 
of  the  Jersey  City  Women's  Club  were  the  guests  of  the 
company  on  the  occasion.  The  latter  indicated  the  prac- 
tical co-operation  that  is  possible  between  an  electric 
company  and  the  public.  The  club,  in  the  course  of  its 
study  of  household  economics  this  winter,  had  asked  the 
company  to  make  a  demonstration,  and  as  a  result  of  the 
great  attention  that  had  been  given  in  the  preparation  of  the 
program  and  all  details  the  affair  was  exceedingly  enjoy- 
able and  educational. 

After  a  few  piano  selections  had  been  rendered  Mr.  F. 
W.  Schmidt,  manager  of  the  electric  company's  Hudson 
division,  made  a  short  address  of  welcome,  which  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  moving-picture  film,  "The  Education  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Thrifty,"  that  was  shown  on  some  of  the  special 
trains  on  the  way  to  the  Seattle  Convention  of  the  Na- 
tional Electric  Light  Association  last  June.  This  portrayed 
the  trying  experiences  of  a  young  couple  with  hand-operated 
household  appliances  and  contrasted  these  inconveniences 
with  the  ease  and  comfort  won  by  the  housewife  through 
the  use  of  electrically  operated  appliances. 

Mr.  T.  F.  Bludworth,  Jr.,  general  agent  of  the  new- 
business  department  of  the  Hudson  division,  then  read  a 
paper  that  covered  in  a  simple,  non-technical,  yet  highly 
interesting  way  the  history  of  electric  lighting  and  electric 
appliances,  the  principles  and  advantages  of  various 
kinds  of  lamps  and  appliances,  and  also  the  simplicity 
of  wiring  houses  for  electric  service.  During  these  re- 
marks the  company's  appliance  demonstrator  prepared  with 
electric  appliances  in  one  corner  of  the  room,  in  view 
of  all  present,  a  six-course  dinner  sufficient  for  four  people. 
The  use  of  the  electric  stove  for  cooking  joints,  vegetables, 
etc.,  and  of  the  chafing  dish,  percolator,  etc.,  formed  part 
of  this  practical  demonstration. 

Another  film,  "Every  Husband's  Opportunity,"  followed 
Mr.  Bludworth's  paper,  and  showed  various  applications 
of  electrically  operated  utensils.  After  refreshments  had 
been  served  the  guests  were  taken  on  an  inspection  tour  of 
the  building,  the  greater  part  of  which  is  given  over  to  a 
most  elaborate  and  comprehensive  display  of  gas  and  elec- 
tric appliances  for  all  household  and  industrial  uses. 


H0DENP"5fL-HARDY  MEN  IN  CONVENTION. 

About  100  of  the  operating  officers  of  the  subsidiary 
companies  of  the  Commonwealth  Power,  Railway  &  Light 
Company,  of  Jackson,  Mich.,  and  the  Union  Railway,  Gas 
&  Electric  Company,  of  New  York,  and  other  properties 
managed  by  Hodenpyl,  Hardy  &  Company,  of  New  York, 
gathered  in  the  annual  Hodenpyl-Hardy  convention, 
which  was  held  at  the  Hotel  Sherman,  Chicago,  on  Nov. 
18-21.  Mr.  Robert  Davey.  secretary  of  the  Commonwealth 
Power  Company,  of  Jackson,  Mich.,  acted  as  chairman 
and  Mr.  S.  E.  Wolff,  of  Hodenpyl,  Hardy  &  Company, 
New  York,  as  secretary.  A  number  of  papers  were  read 
and  committee  reports  presented  relating  to  a  wide  range 
of  subjects  having  to  do  with  managerial  policies  and  the 
conditions  and  methods  of  operation  encountered  in  the 
aggregation  of  public-utility  companies  represented.  A 
dinner  was  given  at  the  hotel  on  the  evening  of  Nov.  20. 

The  list  of  operating  companies  represented  at  the  con- 
vention is  as  follows:  Jackson  (^Mich.)  Gas  Company, 
Kalamazoo  (Mich.)  Gas  Company,  Pontiac  (Mich.) 
Light  Company,  Saginaw  (Mich.)  City  Gas  Company, 
Flint  (Mich.)  Gas  Company,  Bay  City  (Mich.)   Gas  Com- 


November  23.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1083 


pany,  Evansville  (Ind.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Spring- 
field (111.)  Gas  Light  Company,  Peoria  (111.)  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric Company,  Pekin  (111.)  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company, 
Commonwealth  Power  Company,  Jackson,  Mich.;  Con- 
sumers' Power  Company  of  Michigan,  Owosso,  Mich.; 
Grand  Rapids-Muskegon  (Mich.)  Power  Company,  Flint 
(Mich.)  Electric  Company,  Cadillac  (Mich.)  Water  & 
Light  Company,  Saginaw  (Mich.)  Power  Company,  Bay 
City  (Mich.)  Power  Company,  Pontiac  (Mich.)  Power 
Company,  Springfield  (111.)  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Com- 
pany, Springfield  (Ohio)  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company, 
Citizens'  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Pekin,  III;  DeKallj- 
Sycamore  (111.)  Electric  Company,  Washington  (111.) 
Light  &  Power  Company,  Rockford  &  Interurban  Rail- 
way Company,  Rockford,  111.;  Rockford  City  Traction 
Company,  Rockford,  111.;  Janesville  (Wis.)  Traction 
Company,  DeKalb-Sycamore  &  Interurban  Railway  Com- 
pany, DeKalb,  111.;  Springfield  (111.)  Consolidated  Rail- 
way Company,  Public  Utilities  Company,  Evansville,  Ind. ; 
Saginaw-Bay  City  (Mich.)  Railway  Company,  Saginaw 
&  Flint  (Mich.)  Railway,  Grand  Rapids  (Mich.)  Street 
Railway  Company,  Michigan  Central  Traction  Company, 
Jackson,  Mich. 


DEMONSTRATION  OF  LIGHTING  EFFECTS. 


At  the  joint  meeting  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering 
Society  and  the  New  York  Companies'  Section  of  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association  held  in  the  Edison 
Auditorium  on  Nov.  18  a  paper  was  presented  by  Mr. 
Preston  S.  Millar  dealing  with  the  characteristics  of  the 
various  types  of  lighting  units.  For  the  purpose  of  demon- 
strating the  effects  described  use  was  made  of  a  three-room 
house  in  miniature,  each  room  being  about  4  ft.  square  and 
3.5  ft.  high,  the  intention  being  to  represent  an  average-size 
living  room  to  about  one-third  scale.  The  rooms  were 
provided  with  various  colors  of  walls  and  ceilings  and 
equipped  with  different  systems  of  lighting,  such  as  direct, 
semi-'direct  and  indirect.  With  an  effectiveness  which  words 
alone  could  not  possibly  produce,  the  author  demonstrated 
the  bad  effect  of  glare  and  the  desirable  results  obtained 
from  proper  lighting  distribution  and  direction.  One  of  the 
most  striking  illustrations  was  that  relating  to  glare  from 
glazed  paper,  which  was  compared  with  paper  having  a 
matte  surface. 

Discussion. 

In  opening  the  discussion.  Dr.  H.  E.  Ives  called  attention 
to  the  value  of  the  demonstration  from  the  point  of  view 
of  education  in  good  lighting  principles.  He  stated  his 
belief  that  it  would  be  preferable  to  obtain  light  from  the 
side  rather  than  from  overhead  on  account  of  the  fact  that 
davlight  is  usuallv  received  from  the  former  direction. 


reflectors.  These  shades  would  act  as  a  secondary  source 
of  light,  the  direction  of  the  light  rays  being  the  same  as 
during  the  daytime. 

Mr.  L.  B.  Marks  stated  that  the  fact  that  our  buildings 
must  be  so  constructed  that  light  during  the  daytime  is 
received  from  the  side  should  not  be  used  as  a  conclusive 
argument  in  favor  of  this  method  of  lighting.  In  fact,  it  is 
much  better  to  have  the  light  come  from  overhead  than 
along  the  sides,  and  much  more  pleasing  effects  from  a 
decorative  point  of  view  can  be  obtained  when  the  light  is 
from  this  direction. 

Mr.  D.  McFarland  Moore  claimed  that  the  prime  requisite 
is  low  brilliancy  of  the  lighting  source,  thus  involving  a 
large  surface  such  as  can  easily  be  obtained  with  tube 
lamps. 

Dr.  A.  S.  McAllister  called  attention  to  the  undesirable 
presence  of  light  sources  in  the  field  of  view  when  the  light 
is  received  from  the  side,  and  agreed  with  Mr.  Marks  as  to 
the  advantages  of  light  received  from  above. 

Mr.  C.  A.  Littlefield  remarked  that  the  demonstration 
made  by  Mr.  Millar  should  be  presented  before  the  general 
public  as  well  as  before  those  familiar  with  lighting  prin- 
ciples. 

Mr.  Norman  Macbeth  claimed  that  the  Society  for  Elec- 
trical Development  could  not  undertake  a  more  important 
work  than  that  of  paying  the  expense  of  presenting  such  a 
demonstration  to  the  general  public  throughout  the  country. 

Mr.  F.  F.  Fowle  urged  that  the  members  assembled  give 
expression  to  their  belief  that  the  demonstration  by  Mr. 
Millar  should  be  seen  by  the  largest  possible  number  of 
persons  for  the  educational  effect  upon  the  general  public. 


POST-OFFICE  MAIL-CASE  LIGHTING. 


Demonstration  of  Lighting   Effects. 

Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp  described  a  system  of  lighting  in  accord- 
ance with  which  artificial  light  would  be  received  at  night 
from  the  same  direction  as  in  the  daiytime.  A  row  of  lamps 
in  trough  reflectors  would  surround  the  window  frame,  the 
reflectors  being  placed  so  as  to  throw  the  light  outward. 
At  night  white  shades  would  be  drawn  across  the  windows 
to  reflect  into  the  room  the  light  directed  upon  them  by  the 


At  the  meeting  of  the  Chicago  Section,  Illuminating  En- 
gineering Society,  on  Nov.  13,  a  paper  on  "Post-Office 
Mail-Case  Lighting,"  prepared  by  Mr.  W.  A.  Richardson, 
chief  electrician  of  the  Federal  Building,  Chicago,  was  read 
in  the  author's  absence  by  Mr.  E.  B.  Gray,  of  the  Holophane 
Works,  General  Electric  Company. 

The  Chicago  Post  Office  building,  according  to  the  au- 
thor, furnishes  offices  and  workrooms  for  over  5000  em- 
ployees and  has  a  working  floor  space  of  800,000  sq.  ft. 
It  was  originally  wired  for  20,000  i6-cp  lamps,  but  owing 
to  alterations  and  improvements  the  number  has  been  re- 
duced to  14,000  units.  All  electricity  used  is  purchased 
from  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company.  Despite  the 
twenty-four-hour  service  furnished  in  the  workrooms  the 
lighting  of  the  building  consumes  only  1.13  kw-hr.  per 
square  foot  of  floor  area  per  year,  about  one-fifth  the  con- 
sumption in  other  government  buildings  of  a  similar  kind. 

In  large  part  this  record  of  econ- 
omy is  attributed  by  Mr.  Richard- 
son to  the  use  of  5-watt  series 
tungsten  lamps  on  all  mail  and 
distribution  cases,  many  of  which 
are  in  service  twenty-four  hours 
per  day. 

Ten  5-watt  series  tungsten 
lamps  spaced  at  24-in  centers  are 
mounted  in  rigid  fixtures  screwed 
to  the  cases  and  adjusted  to  keep 
all  light  out  of  the  line  of  vision 
of  employees  at  the  front.  The 
special  "burned-out-lamp-finding"  sockets  used  are  fitted 
with  Holophane  D'Olier  steel  reflectors,  giving  4  to  6 
ft.-candles  on  the  working  plane,  depending  on  the  height 
of  case,  spacing,  etc.  The  average  life  of  these  5-watt 
lamps  has  been  found  to  be  2200  hours,  although  many 
lamps  give  serviceable  life  up  to  8000  hours.  All 
mail  cases  are  joined  by  separable  trailer  connections,   so 


lO&if 


ELECTRICAL     \\'  O  R  L  D  . 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21. 


that  at  short  notice  all  cases,  except  the  master  case  which 
conveys  the  feeders  from  the  floor,  can  be  moved  or 
shifted  about  the  building.  The  Post  Office  Department 
moves  all  furniture  and  cases  about  once  in  six  months,  so 
that  the  case  connections  are  important  labor-saving  de- 
vices. 

In  order  to  avoid  unsightly  drop  cords  and  feed  wires 
hanging  from  overhead,  only  units  for  general  illumination 
are  placed  on  the  ceiling,  all  feeders,  case  lamps,  etc.,  being 
supplied  from  floor  outlets.  As  all  floors  are  of  cement,  cov- 
ered with  hard  wood,  it  was  found  a  difficult  task  to  rip  up 
floors  and  channel  the  cement  when  a  new  feed  was  de- 
sired and  no  floor  box  was  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  By 
the  use  of  a  specially  devised  electric  floor-grooving  ma- 
chine, a  -ys-in.  groove  is  now  cut  in  the  hard-wood  floor,  a 
lead  cable  laid  therein  and  an  oak  strip  glued  and  toe- 
nailed into  place,  connecting  the  new  outlet  to  the  nearest 
floor  box  by  a  special  soldered  water-tight  fitting.  This 
method  of  running  branch  circuits  from  floor  feeder  boxes 
already  in  place  in  a  cement  floor  has  saved  many  dollars  in 
labor. 

Postal  distributers  must  perform  their  work  with  accur- 
acy and  rapidity  and  good  light  is  a  necessity.  The  illumi- 
nation for  cases  described  has  been  found  ideal  from  both 


COURT  DECISION  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO  TELEPHONE 
MERGER  CASE. 


Distributing    Racl<s    in    Chicago    Post   Office,    Showing    Contrast    in 
Lighting    by   Series   Tungsten    and   by   Carbon    Lamps. 

the  economical  and  the  illuminating  standpoints,  for  a 
series  of  ten  5-watt  lamps  consuming  50  watts  usually  dis- 
placed old  fixtures  requiring  from  100  to  300  watts,  at  the 
same  time  increasing  the  effective  illumination  100  per  cent. 
With  the  new  method  of  illuminating  mail  cases  eye  strain 
is  eliminated  to  a  very  great  extent.  Moreover,  with  the 
better  system  of  illumination  afforded  the  efficiency  of  the 
employees  has  been  materially  increased. 

All  newspaper  cases  are  now  fitted  with  racks  made  of 
conduit  and  condulets,  four  1 5-watt  lamps  being  arranged 
on  a  three-man  case.  These  cases  are  crescent  in  shape 
and  the  lamps  and  reflectors  are  placed  2  ft.  apart.  By  the 
use  of  a  i5-deg.-angle  Holophane  D'Olier  reflector  the  light 
is  shaded  from  the  distributers'  eyes  and  is  thrown  on  the 
mail  bags  attached  to  the  cases.  These  cases  are  now  con- 
suming 60  watts  each,  whereas  formerly  they  used  four  60- 
watt  carbon  lamps,  or  240  watts. 

General  illumination  is  finished  by  loo-watt  single-con- 
trolled units  equally  distributed  throughout  the  workrooms. 
The  lamps  are  fitted  with  i8-in.  white  enamel  reflectors  and 
are  suspended  15  ft.  from  the  floor  by  window  cord,  with 
canopy,  etc.,  so  that  they  closely  resemble  fixtures  in  ap- 
pearance. 

Among  those  who  took  part  in  the  discussion  of  the  paper 
were  Messrs.  S.  E.  Church,  F.  G.  Vaughn,  M.  G.  Lloyd, 
J.  W.  Foster  and  H.  H.  Magdsick. 


The  Superior  Court  in  San  Francisco  has  decided  against 
the  city  and  county  of  San  Francisco  in  the  suit  brought  to 
set  aside  the  sale  of  the  Home  Telephone  Company  to  the 
Pacific  (Bell)  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  Judge 
Ellison  held  that  the  provision  in  the  Home  company's 
franchise  forbidding  sale  or  transfer  of  the  property  is 
null  and  upheld  the  company's  demurrer.  His  opinion  is 
given  here  in  part : 

"I  find  nothing  in  the  provisions  of  the  charter  of  the 
city  or  county  of  San  Francisco  that  either  expressly  or 
by  inference  confers  upon  the  city  the  power  to  place  in 
the  franchise  the  provision  that  the  grantee  thereof  should 
not  sell  or  dispose  of  its  property.  No  law  of  the  State 
conferred  such  power  and  the  condition  is  clearly  against 
the  policy  of  the  State,  as  expressed  in  its  statutes  granting 
to  telephone  companies  the  power  to  sell  their  property. 

"If  A  should  make  a  valid  contract  on  good  considera- 
tion with  B  that  he  would  not  sell  his  mercantile  business 
to  any  one  but  B  or  with  his  consent,  and  A  should,  not- 
withstanding said  contract,  sell  his  mercantile  business 
to  C,  I  apprehend  no  court  would  hold  that  B  could  follow 
the  property  into  the  possession  of  C  and  ask  of  the  court 
that  it  retransfer  the  same  to  B.  He  might  have  some 
kind  of  an  action  against  A,  who  had  broken  his  contract, 
but  the  contract  would  certainly  not  follow  the  property 
in  the  hands  of  the  vendee,  or  affect  the  validity  of  the 
sale." 

This  decision  is  of  wide  purport  as  many  California  cor- 
porations hold  franchises  containing  similar  clauses  pro- 
hibiting sale  of  the  franchises. 


ALLEGED  SHERMAN  ACT  VIOLATION  BY  AMERI- 
CAN TELEPHONE   &  TELEGRAPH  COMPANY. 


Three  months  ago  reports  were  current  m  the  daily  press 
throughout  the  country  that  the  federal  Department  of 
Justice  would  institute  proceedings  against  the  American 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  under  the  Sherman  anti- 
trust law  to  compel  its  dissolution,  as  in  the  oil  and  tobacco 
cases.  These  rumors  were  promptly  denied  by  President 
Theodore  N.  Vail,  who  stated  in  substance  that  he  did  not 
believe  any  such  suit  would  be  filed  and  that  the  company 
had  made  it  a  point  to  keep  within  the  law  to  the  very  best 
of  its  ability.  He  furthermore  pointed  out  that  in  the 
matter  of  acquiring  independent  companies  the  approval 
of  the  state  authorities  having  jurisdiction  had  been 
obtained  in  each  case,  and  that  if  any  ground  whatever 
existed  for  suit  by  the  government  it  was  due  to  mistaken 
interpretation  of  the  law,  under  the  best  advice,  and  not  to 
any  intent  or  desire  to  circumvent  it.  Mr.  Vail  also  said 
that  the  Department  of  Justice  had  not  communicated  with 
the  company  in  reference  to  the  matter,  as  might  be 
expected  if  the  reports  were  true. 

Attorney  General  Wickersham  stated  to  a  representative 
of  the  Electrical  World  this  week  that  he  had  notified  coun- 
sel for  the  telephone  company  that  in  his  judgment  certain 
of  its  policies  and  methods  of  doing  business  are  in  violation 
of  the  anti-trust  law  and  that  unless  changes  are  made  so  as 
to  conform  its  business  with  that  law  he  would  find  it 
necessary  to  bring  suit  for  dissolution  under  the  Sherman 
act.  According  to  information  obtained  from  reliable 
sources  Mr.  Wickersham  has  had  conferences  with  repre- 
sentatives of  the  company,  and  they  have  agreed  to  make 
the  changes  suggested.  Therefore  he  regards  it  as  unlikely 
that  any  necessity  for  bringing  suit  will  arise.  The  depart- 
ment undoubtedly  desires  to  give  every  reasonable  protec- 
tion to  the  independent  telephone  companies  which  they 
can  ask,  but  at  the  same  time  Mr.  Wickersham  hopes  to 


NoVEMBiiR   2i.    19 1 2, 


ELECTRICAL     W  (J  R  L  D 


1085 


have  his  order  complied  with  and  the  necessity  of  a  prosecu- 
tion thus   avoided. 

No  details  of  the  order  are  obtainable  at  this  time,  either 
from  the  company  or  the  Department  of  Justice,  and  it  is 
not  likely  that  anything  will  be  made  public  immediately. 
It  may  be  recalled,  in  this  connection,  that  the  American 
company  is  both  a  holding  and  an  operating  organization. 
The  local  Bell  service  is  in  the  hands  of  various  subsidiary 
operating  companies  covering  the  LTnited  States  and 
Canada,  nearly  all  of  which  are  controlled  by  the  parent 
company.  These  companies  also  furnish  toll  service  within 
their  territories  and  afford  terminal  service  to  the  long- 
distance system.  The  latter  is  retained  and  operated  by 
the  parent  organization,  representing  the  extent  to  which 
it  is  an  operating  company.  The  American  company's  prin- 
cipal investment,  by  large  part,  is  in  the  securities  of  its 
subsidiary  companies.  There  was  considerable  reason  for 
believing,  about  a  year  or  more  ago,  that  the  long-distance 
system  would  be  subdivided  and  distributed  among  the 
several  groups  of  local  operating  companies,  in  the  interests 
of  economy.  This  plan  would  have  left  the  parent  organiza- 
tion a  pure  holding  company,  a  fact  which  may  or  may  not 
have  caused  the  idea  to  be  abandoned,  but  for  the  present, 
1        at  least,  it  seem.s  to  have  been  given  up. 

As  a  whole  the  Bell  companies  have  been  rapidly  absorb- 
ing the  independent  companies,  or  establishing  physical  con- 
nections under  one  or  another  form  of  traffic  agreement. 
In  some  instances  the  Bell  interests  have  taken  over  inde- 
pendent plants  in  their  entirety,  while  in  others  the  inde- 
pendent company  has  taken  over  the  local  Bell  plant  and 
■  made  a  traffic  agreement  for  the  interchange  of  business 
across  territorial  boundaries.  Arrangements  of  the  latter 
sort  have  been  more  prevalent  in  rural  districts  than  large 
urban  communities.  Bell  control  and  direction  of  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  leaving  but  a  single 
large  rival  in  the  communication  field — the  Mackay  interests 
controlling  the  Postal  Telegraph  and  Commercial  Cable 
systems — has  undoubtedly  some  bearing  also  on  the  present 
status  of  the  case.  Future  developments  in  this  unusual 
situatnon  will  be  awaited  with  special  interest,  for  it  seems 
unlikely  that  the  Department  of  Justice  will  not  eventually 
take  the  public  into  its  confidence  in  so  important  a  matter, 
even  if  the  order  is  amicably  complied  with,  as  now  seems 
probable. 


PUBLIC   SERVICE    COMMISSION    NEWS. 


NEW     YORK     COMMISSION,    FIRST    DISTRICT. 

The  Appellate  Division  of  the  Supreme  Court,  First 
Department,  in  a  decision  handed  down  Nov.  15  up- 
holds the  order  of  the  Public  .Service  Commission  for  the 
First  District  directing  the  Bridge  Operating  Company 
to  reduce  the  local  car  fares  over  the  Williamsburg 
Bridge  from  3  cents  to  2  cents  for  one-way  trips,  or 
from  two  tickets  for  5  cents  to  three  trickets  for  5  cents. 
The  judges  of  the  Appellate  Division  were  unanimous  in 
their  decision  which  dismissed  the  writ  of  certiorari  ob- 
tained by  the  company  for  a  review  of  the  commission's 
action.  Unless  further  appeal  is  taken  this  will  bring 
about  the  reduction  of  the  bridge  fares,  and  will  result  in 
a  saving  of  from  $80,000  to  $90,000  a  year  to  the  travel- 
ing public  using  the  Williamsburg  Bridge  cars. 

Commissioner  Maltbie  of  the  Public  Service  Commis- 
sion found  that  the  company  was  making  a  profit  of  more 
than  100  per  cent  upon  its  authorized  capital,  or  more 
than  200  per  cent  upon  the  present  value  of  the  property. 

The  total  number  of  revenue  passengers  carried  by  the 
Bridge  Operating  Company  is  between  9,000,000  and 
10,000,000  a  year,  and  the  average  fare  per  passenger 
during  the  year  ended  June  30,  191 1,  was  2.53  cents. 

At  the  instance  of  Commissioner  J.  Sergeant  Cram,  the 
commission  has  instructed  its  counsel   to  draft  a  bill   for 


presentation  to  the  next  Legislature  amending  the  Public 
Service  Commissions  law  by  including  within  the  First 
District  all  that  portion  of  Long  Island  lying  outside  the 
city  of  New  York  and  comprising  Nassau  and  Suffolk 
Counties.  At  present  this  part  of  Long  Island  is  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Commission  for  the  Second  Dis- 
trict, with  headquarters  at  Albany,  while  the  western  part 
of  Long  Island,  embraced  with  the  New  York  City  limits, 
is  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  First  District  Commission. 
Reports  of  gas  and  electric  meter  tests  for  October  show 
that  37,949  gas  meters  were  tested  during  the  month.  Of 
this  number  266  were  tested  on  complaint,  and  of  these  97, 
or  36.5  per  cent,  were  found  fast ;  52,  or  19.6  per  cent, 
slow,  and  117,  or  43.9  per  cent,  within  the  limits  of  ac- 
curacy as  defined  by  law.  Thirty  electric  meters  were 
tested  on  complaint,  of  which  4,  or  13.3  per  cent,  were 
found  fast,  none  was  found  slow,  and  26  were  within  the 
limits  of  accuracy  as  defined  by  law. 

NEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    SECOND    DISTRICT. 

The  Salmon  River  Power  Company,  which  recently  came 
under  the  control  of  the  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario 
Power  Company,  has  filed  ten  petitions  with  the  commis- 
sion. Three  of  these  request  authority  to  acquire  and  ex- 
ercise franchises  which  the  Pulaski  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany holds  for  electrical  distribution  in  the  towns  of  Rich- 
land, Orwell  and  Albion,  Oswego  County.  This  company 
also  asks  for  the  approval  of  exercise  of  franchises  for 
electrical  distribution  in  the  towns  of  Parish  and  Hast- 
ings and  villages  of  Altmar  and  Central  Square,  Oswego 
County,  and  in  the  towns  of  Cicero,  Clay  and  Salina.  Onon- 
daga County.  It  is  stated  that  the  Salmon  River  company 
is  now  engaged  in  the  construction  of  a  hydroelectric  plant 
on  Salmon  River  in  the  town  of  Orwell,  with  transmission 
lines  from  its  power  house  to  the  village  of  Solvay,  Onon- 
daga County,  where  they  will  connect  with  transmission 
lines  of  the  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Power  Com- 
pany. This  company  is  the  successor  of  the  Oswego 
County  Light  &  Power  Company,  and  some  of  the  fran- 
chises sought  to  be  exercised  were  issued  to  its  predecessor. 

MASSACHUSETTS     COMMISSION. 

Hearings  were  concluded  at  Boston  on  Nov.  16  by  the 
Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission  upon  the  legislative 
resolve  requiring  the  board  to  investigate  and  report  upon 
the  desirability  of  codifying  laws  relating  to  electric  serv- 
ice companies.  The  principal  issue  raised  before  the  board 
in  the  hearings  was  the  extension  of  regulation  by  the 
cotnmission  to  companies  transmitting  electrical  energy 
from  hydroelectric  plants  to  consumers  distributed  over 
considerable  areas.  President  Henry  I.  Harriman,  of  the 
Connecticut  River  Transmission  Company,  Boston,  Mass., 
which  covers  many  counties  in  central  New  England  with 
its  high-tension  system,  stated  that  he  saw  no  real  need 
for  such  regulation  at  present,  as  no  abuses  have  been 
shown  to  exist  in  connection  with  the  operation  of  this 
important  system,  which  in  his  opinion  does  not  fall  within 
the  definition  of  a  public  service  corporation.  The  com- 
pany supplies  energy  mainly  for  motor  service  on  a  very 
large  scale;  its  lines  are  carried  for  about  90  per  cent  of 
their  routes  on  private  rights-of-way,  and  the  whole  char- 
acter of  the  service  is  wholesale  in  its  nature.  By  deci- 
sions of  the  commission,  the  company  has  been  limited  to 
supplying  consumers  of  300-hp  connected  load  or  over  in 
the  cities  of  Fitchburg  and  Worcester.  Mr.  Harriman 
contended  that  the  public  duties  and  responsibilities  of 
such  an  organization  are  widely  different  from  those  of 
a  central  station,  which  is  required  to  serve  everyone  in 
its  field  and  which  occupies  the  public  highways  to  a  large 
degree. 

Mr.  S.  H.  Pillsbury,  counsel  for  the  company,  stated 
that  when  it  entered  the  New  England  field  only  six  large 
electric  power  contracts  were  held  by  Massachusetts  cen- 
tral stations.     The  company  is  now  selling  more  energy  to 


io86 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21. 


iis  comparatively  limited  number  of  consumers  than  the 
total  production  of  all  the  central  stations  of  the  State  with 
the  exception  of  the  Boston  Edison  company.  Unusual  risks 
attend  the  establishment  of  a  successful  hydroelectric  un- 
dertaking, and  these  should  be  allowed  to  govern  the  rate 
of  return  permitted.  Chairman  Barker  emphasized  the 
point  that  the  financing  of  public  utility  undertakings  is 
frequently  rendered  easier  by  the  fact  that  the  enterprise 
is  under  state  regulation,  and  stated  that  the  question  of 
risk  is  taken  into  account  by  the  board  in  every  central 
station  or  gas  rate  case  which  comes  before  it.  Mr.  E.  W. 
Burdett,  of  Boston,  counsel  for  the  Massachusetts  Electric 
Lighting  Association,  favored  placing  hydroelectric  com- 
panies under  state  regulation,  arguing  that  to  a  large  de- 
gree their  business  parallels  that  of  the  central-station 
companies.  Mr.  Alton  D.  Adams,  of  Worcester,  Mass., 
appeared  at  an  earlier  hearing  in  the  interest  of  small 
power  consumers  and  urged  that  the  benefits  of  high- 
tension  transmission  and  distribution  from  hydroelectric 
plants  be  accorded  the  "little  fellow"  as  well  as  the  big 
manufacturer.  In  response  to  this,  Mr.  Harriman  said 
that  his  company  was  desirous  of  handling  this  class  of 
liusiness,  but  that  the  restrictions  now  in  force  confined 
it  in  large  measure  to  wholesale  consumers  of  energy. 
The  hearing  was  closed,  and  a  report  will  be  made  by  the 
board  to  the  next  Legislature  in  January. 

M.\RYLAND     COMMISSION. 

The  Maryland  Public  Service  Commission  has  received 
from  the  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany and  from  Albert  C.  Ritchie,  the  people's  counsel, 
their  briefs  setting  forth  the  contentions  of  both  sides 
on  the  question  of  whether  or  not  the  company  shall  sell 
electricity  to  its  consumers  at  cheaper  rates  than  it  is  now 
charging.  Beginning  next  week  the  commission  will  hear 
the  arguments  on  both  sides  and  a  decision  will  follow 
v.'hich  will  either  reduce  the  rates,  change  their  applica- 
tion or  permit  them  to  remain  as  they  now  are.  Con- 
sumers in  Baltiinore  are  now  paying  10  cents  per  kw-hr 
for  electric  energy  and  90  cents  per  1000  cu.  ft.  for 
gas.  Mr.  Ritchie  declares  that  the  price  should  be  7 
cents  for  electric  energy  and  70  cents  for  gas.  The 
brief  of  the  Consolidated  company  is  several  hundred 
pages  in  length.  One  of  its  most  important  claims  is  as 
follows :  "We  feel  confident  that  this  commission  will 
most  cheerfullv  confirm  our  statement  that  the  attitude 
of  this  company  has  been  entirely  in  accordance  with  the 
policy  advised  by  Justice  Moody.  This  company  has  made 
frank  disclosure  of  all  of  the  facts  and  circumstances  to 
this  commission  affecting  this  case,  and  all  of  the  infor- 
mation asked  for  has  been  freely  furnished  to  the  commis- 
sion and  the  people's  counsel,  even  at  a  very  considerable 
trouble  and  expense  to  the  company.  The  policy  of  the 
company  in  the  past  has  been  to  make  voluntary  reduc- 
tions in  the  rates  as  fast  as  possible.  Its  policy  for  the 
future  is  the  same.  The  best  method  of  carrying  this  out 
is  through  the  sliding  scale,  authority  for  which  is  ex- 
pressly given  in  the  Maryland  law.  The  full  investiga- 
tion in  this  case  has  demonstrated  the  reasonableness  of 
the  existing  rates  for  electricity  and  gas  under  the  exist- 
ing conditions,  but  the  company  is  willing  to  confer  with 
the  comrnission  on  the  details  of  the  adoption  of  the  sliding 
scale  for  the  future,  based  on  present  rates  for  electricity 
and  gas  and  present  rates  of  stock  dividends  at  the  start- 
ing point,  with  a  division  of  surplus  earnings  in  the  fu- 
ture between  the  public  and  the  company." 

OHIO    COMMISSION. 

Governor-elect  Cox  has  asked  Commissioner  Hughes 
and  Mr.  W.  L.  Finley  to  make  a  study  of  the  Wisconsin 
public  utility  laws  with  a  view  to  recommending  a  revision 
of  the  law  in  this  State  in  such  a  manner  that  the  com- 
mission will  have  more  real  power.  The  Ohio  law  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  patterned  after  that  of  Wisconsin,  but 


changes  were  made  before  it  was  put  to  a  vote  to  suit 
certain  persons  who  would  not  support  it  otherwise.  It 
is  said  that  public  utility  men  have  indorsed  the  Wiscon- 
•sin  law  and  feel  that  the  Ohio  statute  is  not  so  well  suited 
to  its  purpose.  Mr.  Cox  has  given  considerable  attention 
to  this  matter  and  among  his  first  acts  after  entering  office 
will  be  an  attempt  to  have  the  law  remodeled. 

WISCONSIN    COMMISSION. 

The  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission  has  issued  a  de- 
cision ordering  the  Duluth  Street  Railway  Company  to 
establish  a  rate  of  six  tickets  for  25  cents  on  its  lines 
in  the  city  of  Superior,  in  addition  to  the  5-cent  cash 
fare  now  in  force.  The  petition  for  lower  rates  was 
presented  to  the  commission  about  two  years  ago  by  the 
Commercial  Club  of  Superior.  The  respondent  defended 
its  present  practice  on  the  grounds  that  the  rate  of  return 
upon  the  alleged  valuation  of  the  property  was  not  ex- 
cessive and  that,  furthermore,  the  5-cent  fare  was  the 
usual  rate  on  traction  lines.  In  regard  to  the  latter  con- 
tention, the  commission  pointed  out  that  more  than  one- 
third  of  all  the  operating  companies  in  the  United  States 
offer  fares  of  less  than  5  cents  to  all  patrons  and  that  25 
per  cent  offer  fares  of  slightly  more  than  4  cents.  The 
sale  of  six  tickets  for  25  cents  was  shown  to  be  common 
practice  in  Michigan,  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Wisconsin.  The 
rates  filed  with  the  commission  by  the  urban  companies  in 
Wisconsin  show  that  out  of  eighteen  companies  operating 
in  the  large  cities  of  the  State  fifteen,  or  83  per  cent,  have 
rates  below  5  cents. 

After  an  investigation  on  its  own  motion  of  the  rules, 
regulations  and  practices  of  the  Chippewa  Valley  Railway, 
Light  &  Power  Company  in  force  in  the  city  of  Eau  Claire, 
the  commission  has  ordered  the  company  to  abolish  its 
present  rates  for  incandescent  lighting  and  to  substitute 
therefor  two  optional  schedules  as  devised  by  the  com- 
m.ission.  The  investigation  was  carried  out  by  the  com- 
mission in  response  to  numerous  complaints  alleging  that 
the  company  had  made  it  a  practice  to  discriminate  be- 
tween its  consumers  in  the  classification  of  lamps  and 
thereby  in  the  rates  charged.  It  appears  that  there  is 
active  competition  in  the  city  of  Eau  Claire  between  the 
gas  and  electric  companies,  and  that  it  has  been  the  custom 
of  the  defendant  to  discriminate  in  the  matter  of  active 
lamps  between  those  of  its  consumers  who  i;se  electricity 
exclusively  and  those  who  use  both  gas  and  electricity 
The  company  was  ordered  to  establish  a  readiness  to  serve 
charge  of  15  cents  per  month  per  active  lamp  of  50-watt 
capacity  and  an  energy  charge  of  3  cents  per  kw-hr.  For 
window  or  sign  lighting  one-third  of  the  readiness  to  serve 
charge  was  to  be  levied.  As  to  the  classification  of  active 
lamps,  two  optional  schedules  were  provided  for,  one 
based  upon  the  classification  of  consumers  into  classes 
A,  B.  C,  D  and  E,  and  the  other  upon  the  classification 
of  rooms  into  active  and  non-active  rooms.  In  the  former 
classification,  Class  A  will  consist  of  residences  in  which 
60  per  cent  of  the  connected  load  up  to  500  watts  and  33.3 
per  cent  of  the  excess  will  be  considered  active ;  Class  B, 
of  stores,  banks,  merchandise  establishments,  etc.,  in  which 
70  per  cent  will  be  considered  active ;  Class  C,  of  hotels, 
federal,  state  and  county  buildings,  schools,  small  fac- 
tories, etc.,  in  which  55  per  cent  will  be  considered  active; 
Class  D,  of  opera  houses,  churches,  etc..  in  which  40  per 
cent  will  be  active;  Class  E,  signs  100  per  cent  active. 

At  the  hearing  the  competing  gas  company  objected  to 
the  practice  of  the  Chippewa  Valley  company  in  refunding 
25  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  equipment  when  motor  service 
was  contracted  for,  for  a  three-year  period.  The  com- 
mission was  of  the  opinion  that  a  utility  in  competition 
with  another  is  entitled  to  use  whatever  method  it  chooses 
in  obtaining  new  business  provided  it  does  not  offer  rates 
or  inducements  which  would  result  in  the  furnishing  of 
energy  at  less  than  cost. 


NOVEMDKK   23,    I912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1087 


Current   News  and  Notes 

Data  on  Electric  Fan. — Some  one  has  taken  the  trou- 
ble to  count  the  number  of  pieces  in  an  electric  fan  and 
to  measure  the  length  of  wire  used  in  the  coils.  An  ordi- 
nary i6-in.  fan  is  said  to  contain  1372  ft.  of  wire  and  to 
possess  more  than  750  pieces  of  material. 

Peoria  Electrical  Show.— Encouraged  by  the  success 
of  the  1912  electrical  show  in  Peoria,  the  promoters  of  the 
enterprise,  headed  by  Mr.  Leroy  A.  Mills,  of  the  Mills 
Electric  Company,  will  give  a  second  show  beginning  on 
Jan.  18  and  ending  on  Jan.  25,  1913.  The  exhibition  will 
be  given  in  the  Coliseum  at  Peoria,  111.,  and  it  is  promised 
that  it  will  be  on  a  more  elaborate  scale  than  that  of  this 
year. 

*  *     * 

I  Transmission  Towers  for  Engineering  School. — The 

electrical  engineering  department  of  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology  has  been  presented  with  two  steel 
towers  for  transmission-line  service  by  the  Stone  &  Webster 
Engineering  Corporation  of  Boston,  Mass.,  and  these  will 
I  be  erected  in  the  near  future  in  Cambridge  to  provide  a 
500-ft.  span  suitable  for  thesis  investigations.  The  towers 
are  equipped  with  suspension  insulators  designed  to  carry 
a  150,000-volt  circuit.  A  study  of  dielectric  hysteresis  losses 
will  be  undertaken  in  connection  with  the  towers. 

*  *     * 

.  Tungsten-Lamp  Prices  to  Central-Station  Customers. 
— Some  of  the  large  central-station  companies,  including 
those  in  New  York  and  Chicago,  have  announced  the  fol- 
lowing schedule  of  tungsten-lamp  prices :  Ten-watt,  32 
cents;  15-watt,  26  cents;  20-watt,  26  cents;  25-watt,  26 
cents;  40-watt,  26  cents;  40-watt  (large  bulb),  36  cents; 
60- watt,  33  cents;  loo-watt,  38  cents;  150-watt,  57  cents; 
250-watt,  $1.07;  400-watt,  $2;  500- watt,  $2.  These  prices 
are  for  plain  bulbs  and  apply  only  to  customers  entitled  to 
free  renewals  of  standard  carbon-filament  lamps. 

*  +     + 

Adjudicated  Patents. — The  Fessenden  patent,  No.  706,- 
736,  for  apparatus  for  wireless  telegraphy,  has  been  held 
by  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  not  to  be 
infringed  in  the  case  of  the  United  Wireless  Telegraph 
Company  versus  the  National  Signaling  Company  (see  198 
Federal  Reporter,  386).  The  Dodge  patent.  No.  894,487, 
for  a  battery,  has  been  held  by  the  United  States  District 
Court  valid  and  infringed  in  the  case  of  the  Edison  Manu- 
facturing Company  versus  the  Banks  Electric  &  Manu- 
facturing Company  (see  198  Federal  Reporter,  495). 

*  *     * 

Investigation  of  Board  of  Supervising  Engineers. — 
The  committee  on  local  transportation  of  the  city  of  Chicago 
has  appointed  a  sub-committee,  of  which  Alderman  Eugene 
Block  is  chairman,  to  make  the  investigation  of  the  Board 
of  Supervising  Engineers,  Chicago  Traction,  ordered  by 
the  City  Council.  Irregularities  and  favoritism  are  not 
alleged,  but  the  aldermen  who  have  brought  about  the 
investigation  wish  to  have  the  board  show  greater  deference 
to  the  legislative  branch  of  the  city  government.  Mr. 
George  Weston,  the  city's  representative  on  the  board,  has 
written  a  letter  welcoming  the  investigation. 


Investigation  of  San  Francisco  Traction  Conditions. 
— Preliminary  Report  No.  6,  submitted  to  the  San  Francisco 
Board  of  Supervisors,  under  date  of  Oct.  30,  by  Mr.  Bion 
J.  Arnold,  consulting  engineer,  in  connection  with  the 
investigation  of  traction  conditions  in  that  city,  is  devoted 
to  means  of  relieving  the  traffic  congestion  on  lower  Market 
Street.     The  report  is  confined  to  a  study  of  the  physical 


conditions  and  the  operative  problems  only,  dealing  with 
traffic  regulation,  car  distribution,  sources  of  delay,  street 
capacity,  loading,  speed,  arrangement  of  tracks,  assignment 
of  stops,  etc.  The  present  report  has  no  bearing  whatever 
upon  any  question  of  franchises  or  litigation. 

*  *     * 

Proposed  Public  Service  Commission  in  Illinois. — 
Mr.  Edward  F.  Dunne,  Governor-elect  of  Illinois,  is  re- 
ported to  be  in  favor  of  the  creation  of  a  public-service 
commission  or  commissions  for  the  State  of  Illinois.  Gov- 
ernor Deneen,  who  will  retire  on  Jan.  i  next,  has  also  ex- 
pressed himself  as  favoring  the  regulation  of  public  utilities 
by  state  commission.  The  subject  is  under  advisement  by 
the  joint  legislative  committee  known  as  the  Illinois  Legis- 
lative Public  Utilities  Commission  (see  Electrical  World 
of  Jan.  20,  1912,  page  133),  which  will  undoubtedly  report 
at  the  session  of  the  Legislature  to  begin  in  January  ne.xt. 
Senator  John  Dailey,  of  Peoria,  chairman  of  the  joint  com- 
mittee,  failed  of  re-election  at  the  recent  contest. 

*  *     * 

Prize  Winners  at  Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Asso- 
ciation Meeting. — The  following  is  a  list  of  the  names  of 
winners  of  prizes  for  the  various  contests  at  the  meeting 
of  the  Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Association  at  Hot 
Springs,  Va.,  last  week:  Jobbers'  golf,  Messrs.  Milnor, 
Philo,  Little,  Oberland  and  Havens ;  kickers'  handicap,  Mr. 
Seabury;  manufacturers'  golf,  Messrs.  Despard  and  Corey; 
kickers'  handicap,  Mr.  Anschutz ;  ladies'  putting  contest, 
Mmes.  Downs,  Price  and  Rockafellow;  pool  tournament, 
Mr.  McCullough ;  tennis  tournament,  Mr.  Berry;  billiard 
tournament,  Mr.  FuUerton;  ladies'  "500"  contest,  Mmes. 
Ward,  Tonkin,  Anschutz  and  Lillie;  raffle,  Mrs.  Tonkin; 
ladies'  bridge,  Mmes.  Low,  Adams,  Rockafellow  and  Burton. 

*  *     * 

Progress  of  Electrification  Study  in  Chicago. — At  a 
recent  meeting  of  the  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce 
committee  of  investigation  on  smoke  abatement  and  elec- 
trification of  railway  terminals  it  was  reported  that  the 
average  steam-railroad  locomotive  in  the  city  of  Chicago 
is  making  smoke  of  a  density  computed  to  be  14.92  per  cent, 
the  emission  of  dense  black  smoke  all  the  time  being  taken 
as  100  per  cent.  This  is  compared  with  an  average  density 
of  23.3  per  cent  when  the  city  smoke  inspector  made  an 
exhaustive  investigation  less  than  two  years  ago.  (See 
Electrical  JVorld,  Feb.  23,  191 1,  page  469.)  The  engineers 
of  the  committee  also  discussed  phases  of  the  study  of 
electrifying  Chicago  railroad  terminals,  in  the  light  of  very 
complete  information  on  the  progress  of  electrification  in 
New  York  and  other  cities. 

Confidence  Men  Working  Central  Stations. — The  N. 
E.  L.  A.  is  advised  by  the  Valdosta  Lighting  Company, 
Valdosta,  Ga.,  that  a  gang  of  crooks  has  been  successfully 
working  central  stations  in  various  parts  of  the  country 
by  the  following  method:  A  foreigner  dressed  in  the 
height  of  fashion,  with  a  signet  ring,  gold-headed  cane, 
etc.,  drives  up  in  a  carriage  and  informs  the  manager  that 
he  is  representing  his  father,  who  is  a  large  iron  manu- 
facturer in  France  or  Germany,  as  the  case  may  be.  He 
explains  that  they  have  discovered  a  process  of  manufac- 
turing tool  steel  by  electricity  and  contemplate  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  plant  in  this  country  to  use  electric  power 
and  would  like  to  figure  on  rates.  After  interesting  the 
central  station  in  this  way  he  suggests  that  the  manager 
order  a  few  sainple  bars  of  their  tool  steel  at  55  cents 
per  pound,  f.  o.  b.  point  of  delivery.  After  the  order  has 
been  placed,  ordinary  tool  steel,  or  such  material  as  it  may 
happen  to  be,  will  be  shipped  from  the  nearest  jobber,  sub- 
ject to  sight  draft  on  a  bill  of  lading  which  has  been  ne- 
gotiated and  is  now  held  by  a  holder  for  value.  Tool  steel 
in  bars  of  18  ft.  at  55  cents  a  pound  offers  a  large  profit  to 
the  promoter  of  this  scheme. 


io88 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol,  6o,  No.  21. 


SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America. — The  regu- 
lar monthly  meeting  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Association  of 
America  will  be  held  in  the  Engineering  Societies  Building, 
New  York,  Nov.  26.  What  has  been  called  a  "smoke  talk" 
has  been  arranged  and  the  papers  presented  at  the  recent 
convention  in  Boston  will  be  discussed. 

*  *     * 

November  Meeting  of  New  York  Electrical  Society. — 
At  a  meeting  of  the  New  York  Electrical  Society  to  be 
held  in  the  Engineering  Societies  Building  on  Monday 
evening,  Nov.  25,  Mr.  Horatio  A.  Foster  will  deliver  an 
address  entit^d  "Reminiscences  of  an  Electrical  Engineer," 
which  will  cover  twenty-five  years  of  electrical  develop- 
ment. 

*  *     * 

Chicago  Section  of  Electric  Vehicle  Association. — 
.•\t  the  meeting  of  the  Chicago  Section  of  the  Electric 
Vehicle  Association  on  Nov.  19  Mr.  Henry  Farrington 
presented  a  paper  entitled  "Let  Us  All  Co-operate  to  Com- 
pete Against  the  Horse."  On  Dec.  10  Mr.  H.  J.  Murphy, 
a  garage  man,  will  address  the  section  on  the  electric- 
vehicle  garage  facilities  of  Chicago. 

Industrial  Education  Convention. — The  sixth  annual 
convention  ot  the  National  Society  for  the  Promotion  of 
Industrial  Education  will  be  held  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  on 
Dec.  5.  6  and  7.  The  headquarters  of  the  society  will  be 
at  the  Hotel  Walton,  and  all  sessions  of  the  society  will  be 
held  there  except  that  of  Friday,  Dec.  6,  which  will  be  in 
the  auditorium  of  the  William  Penn  High  School.  The 
first  two  sessions  will  be  occupied  with  the  questions  of 
vocational  education  and  the  training  of  teachers.  On 
the  evening  of  Dec.  5  the  annual  banquet  will  be  given  at 
the  Hotel  Walton.  At  the  meetings  on  Dec.  6  and  7  the 
questions  of  vocational  education  will  be  discussed. 

*  *     * 

Philadelphia  Section,  A.  I.  E.  E. — A  "municipal  night" 
will  be  held  Dec.  9  by  the  Philadelphia  Section,  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  at  the  Engineers'  Club, 
1317  Spruce  Street,  Philadelphia.  The  subject  for  dis- 
cussion will  be  "Electrical  Methods  Used  by  Fire  and  Police 
Departments  in  Municipalities."  The  discussion  will  be 
opened  with  a  paper  by  Mr.  John  W.  Kelly,  Jr.,  president 
of  the  International  Association  of  Municipal  Electricians. 
An  informal  meeting  of  the  International  Association  of 
Municipal  Electricians  will  be  held  the  same  day  at  10  a.  m. 
at  the  Electrical  Bureau,  City  Hall,  Philadelphia,  to  discuss 
plans  for  the  advancement  of  tlie  interests  of  the  associa- 
tion. 

*  *     * 

National  Fire  Protection  Association. — The  elec- 
trical committee  of  the  National  Fire  Protection  Associa- 
tion will  hold  its  regular  biennial  meeting  some  time  during 
March,  1913,  in  New  York  City.  The  time  and  place  of 
the  meeting  will  be  announced  later.  The  provisions  of  the 
National  Electrical  Code  as  they  now  exist  will  be  the 
principal  matter  for  consideration,  and  the  committee  re- 
quests that  any  desired  change  in  or  addition  to  the  code, 
including  reports  of  sub-committees,  be  forwarded  to  Mr. 
Ralph  Sweetland,  secretary  of  the  committee.  141  Milk 
Street,  Boston,  Mass.,  on  or  before  Jan.  15,  in  order  that 
they  may  be  printed  in  the  Bulletin.  As  heretofore,  the 
meeting  will  be  open  to  all  interested,  and  such  persons 
will  not  only  be  welcome  but  are  urged  to  be  present  and 
give    the    committee    the    advantage    of    their    advice    and 

experience. 

*  *     * 

Telephone  Pioneers  of  America. — More  than  600  mem- 
bers of  the  Telephone  Pioneers  of  America  gathered  at  the 
Hotel  Astor,  New  York  City,  on  Nov.   14  for  their  second 


annual  gathering,  which  lasted  two  days.  Mr.  Thomas  A. 
Watson,  one  of  the  associates  of  Dr.  Alexander  Graham 
Bell  in  the  early  exploitation  of  the  telephone,  made  a 
reminiscent  address  telling  of  the  pioneer  efforts  to  interest 
the  public  in  its  practical  use.  Other  speakers  were  Mr. 
J.  J.  Carty,  chief  engineer  of  the  American  Telephone  & 
Telegraph  Company;  Mr.  U.  N.  Bethell,  president  of  the 
New  York  Telephone  Company;  Mr.  Emil  Berlinger,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. ;  Mr.  Samuel  G.  McMeen,  consulting  engineer, 
Chicago,  and  Mr.  J.  E.  Kingsbcrry,  London.  In  the  evening 
the  Pioneers  and  their  guests  were  entertained  with  a 
cabaret  and  vaudeville  performance.  On  the  second  day 
the  entire  gathering  motored  to  Briarcliff  Manor,  N.  Y., 
for  luncheon,  golf,  tennis  and  other  sports.  The  convention 
closed  in  the  evening  with  the  annual  banquet,  which  was 
held  at  the  Hotel  Astor.  At  the  business  meeting  the 
following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year :  Presi- 
dent, Mr.  Theodore  N.  Vail;  secretary  and  treasurer,  Mr. 
H.  W.  Pope;  vice-presidents,  Messrs.  F.  H.  Bethell,  W.  T. 
Gentry,  B.  E.  Sunny  and  E.  B.  Field.  The  organization 
now  numbers  more  than   1000  members. 

Program  Planned  by  Chicago  Section,  I.  E.  S. — For 
the  monthly  meetings  of  the  Chicago  Section  of  the  Illumi- 
nating Engineering  Society  during  the  1912-13  season,  sub- 
jects and  authors  have  been  planned  as  follows:  December: 
"Industrial  Lighting,"  Mr.  \\'ard  Harrison,  engineering  de- 
partment National  Quality  Division,  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, Cleveland,  Ohio.  January:  "Indirect  Illumination  as 
Applied  to  General  Offices,"  Air.  T.  H.  Aldrich,  National 
X-Ray  Reflector  Company,  Chicago,  111.  February:  "The 
Influence  of  Colored  Surroundings  Upon  the  Color  of  Use- 
ful Light,"  Mr.  M.  Luckiesh,  physical  laboratory  National 
Quality  Division,  General  Electric  Company,  Cleveland, 
Ohio;  "Some  Applications  of  Illuminating  Engineering  to 
the  Conservation  of  Eyesight,"  Mr.  F.  A.  Vaughn,  consulting 
engineer,  and  Dr.  Nelson  M.  Black,  ophthalmologist.  Mil- 
waukee, Wis.  (this  meeting  is  to  be  held  at  Milwaukee,  in 
conjunction  with  the  Milwaukee  Electrical  Show).  March: 
"Hospital  Lighting,"  Mr.  Meyer  J.  Sturn,  architect,  Chi- 
cago, 111.  April :  "Ligjit,  Shade  and  Color  in  Architectural 
Effects,"  Mr.  Bassett  Jones,  Jr.,  consulting  engineer.  New 
York.  May :  "Up-to-Date  Gas  Illumination,"  author  not 
selected.  June:  "Some  Phases  of  Illumination  and  Eye 
Strain,"  Mr.  Arthur  J.  Sweet,  commercial  engineer,  Holo- 
phane  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  Newark. 

Ohio. 

*     +     * 

Efficiency  Society. — The  November  Bulletin  of  the 
Efficiency  Society,  now  being  distributed,  announces  that  a 
Chicago  meeting  has  been  planned  for  Nov.  25.  A  dinner 
will  precede  the  meeting,  which  is  in  charge  of  a  committee 
composed  of  Messrs.  W.  H.  Hodge,  of  the  H.  M.  Byllesby 
Company;  F.  M.  Feiker,  editor  of  Factory,  and  William  J. 
Norton,  secretary  of  the  rate  research  committee  of  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association.  The  dinner  will  be 
formal  and  the  tickets  will  be  $5  each.  It  is  planned  at  this 
meeting  to  form  a  Chicago  branch  of  the  society.  The 
dinner  will  be  given  in  either  the  Sherman  House  or  the 
Congress  Hotel.  A  meeting  of  the  society  will  also  be  held 
in  New  York  on  Nov.  29,  at  which  the  subject  for  con- 
sideration will  be  "Organizing  an  Industry."  It  is  an- 
nounced that  Mr.  Louis  D.  Brandeis,  if  possible,  will  take 
part  in  this  conference.  Another  meeting  will  be  held  at 
Boston  on  Dec.  30,  concurrently  with  the  meeting  of  the 
American  Economic  Association,  at  which  the  topic  will  be 
the  education  of  young  men  for  business.  The  November 
number  of  the  Bulletin  contains  an  extended  bibliography 
of  general  works  on  efficiency,  dealing  somewhat  specifically 
with  efficiency  in  shop  management.  In  time  the  society 
will  probably  issue  bibliographies  dealing  with  efficiency  in 
other  special  lines  of  work.  The  society  headquarters  are 
29  W'est  Thirty-ninth  Street. 


CENTRAL-STATION  PRACTICE  AT  HALIFAX, N.S. 

Generating  Station  of  the  Halifax  Electric  Tramway  Company,  Ltd.,  Which 
Supplies  Energy  for  Railway,  Lighting  and  Industrial  Service. 

Description  of  Steam  Equipment  with  Tests  of  Hand-Fired  and  Stoker-Fired   Boilers   Burning  Culm — 

Outline  of  Service  Conditions  and   Details  of  System  Operation — Effect     of  Tungsten 

Lamp  on   Station   Peak — Growth  of  Load  Unaided  by  Solicitors. 


ELECTRICAL  service  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  is  a 
conspicuous  feature  of  the  industrial  and  domestic 
life  of  the  Acadian  capital,  which  has  for  many 
years'attracted  the  tourist  on  account  of  its  historic  interest 
and  distinctly  English  characteristics.  The  development  of 
electrical  applications  in  the  community  has  been  rapid 
within  the  past  few  years,  and  although  the  field  is  a  some- 
what peculiar  one  in  view  of  the  predominance  of  govern- 
mental and  residential  interests  in  the  city,  comparatively 
little  manufacturing  being  done,  the  growth  of  the  income 
of  the  Halifax  Electric  Tramway  Company,  Ltd.,  from  1900 
to  191 1  inclusive  is  impressive.  In  the  former  year  the 
company's  revenue  was  $232,767;  in  1911  it  totaled  $502,399, 
and  this  gain  was  made  in  the  face  of  substantial  rate  reduc- 
tions and  without  the  use  of  professional  new-business 
solicitors.  The  connected  lighting  load  of  the  company 
approximates  one  and  a  half  50-watt  incandescent  lamps 
per  capita. 

The  present  company  represents  the  consolidation  of  a 
number  of  smaller  organizations  which  supplied  electrical 
service  to  the  city  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  years  ago, 
including  the  plant  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany on  Black  Wharf,  built  in  1888;  the  Chandler  Electric 
Light  Company,  started  the  year  before  on  the  Northwest 


Arm,  by  Mr.  B.  F.  Pearson  and  associates;  the  Halifax 
Electric  Light  Company,  and  the  Halifax  Illuminating  & 
Motor  Company.  These  organizations  were  purchased  in 
189s  by  the  Halifax  Electric  Tramway  Company,  Ltd.,  and 
in  the  following  year  electric  traction  was  introduced  upon 
the  streets  of  the  city.  All  the  railway,  lighting  and  in- 
dustrial service  of  the  city,  including  a  small  gas  business,  is 
now  supplied  by  the  company  under  the  management  of 
Mr.  J.  W.  Crosby,  a  well-known  American  central-station 
and  railway  executive.  Canadian  financial  interests  are  in 
control  of  the  property,  and  the  population  served  is  about 
50,000. 

GENERATING  STATION. 

The  generating  plant  of  the  company  is  located  on  tide- 
water at  a  point  about  half  a  mile  east  of  the  center  of  the 
city  and  facing  the  harbor.  The  station  is  a  brick  and  steel 
structure  with  concrete  foundations  carried  on  piles  driven 
in  made  land,  and  the  building  is  120  ft.  long  by  no  ft.  in 
width.  The  piles  were  driven  two  abreast  under  the  station 
walls.  The  engine  foundations  were  carried  to  a  depth  of 
15  ft.  below  the  floor,  130  piles  being  driven  below  each, 
while  135  piles  were  driven  in  the  construction  of  the 
foundation  of  the  chimney,  which  has  an  inside  diameter  of 
9  ft.  and  a  height  of  90  ft.  above  the  grate  bars.     The  stack 


Fig.  1 — Interior  of  Generating  Station  at  Hailfax. 


lOQO 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o.  Xo,  21. 


is  of  Custodis  construction  and  is  connected  with  the  boiler 
flues  by  a  reinforced-concrete  breeching  passing  between  the 
base  of  the  chimney  and  the  building. 

BOILER  PLANT. 

The  steam  generating  plant  contains  seven  300-hp  Bab- 
cock  &  Wilcox  boilers,  which  deliver  steam  at  150  lb.  pres- 
sure and  100  deg.  Fahr.  superheat.  Each  boiler  is  equipped 
with  two  Jones  underfeed  stokers  which  are  fed  manually 
from  fuel  piles  in  front  of  the  furnaces.  The  boilers  are 
installed  in  a  single  row  facing  a  wide  firing  aisle,  in  front 
of  which  are  doors  leading  to  a  coal  storage  and  receiving 
yard  bordering  on  the  harbor,  so  that  shipments  of  fuel  can 
readily  be  taken  from  barges  for  the  service  of  the  plant. 
The  draft  for  the  stokers  is  supplied  by  two  92-in.  by  24-ui. 
fans  of  Sturtevant  make  driven  by  single-cylinder  engines, 
the  stoker  mechanism  also  being  operated  from  the  shaft  of 
the  blower  engines.  A  Foster  regulator  controlling  the 
steam  pressure  within  5  lb.  is  used  on  the  steam  main 
supplying  the  fan  engines.  When  the  steam  pressure  falls 
the  regulator  admits  more  steam  and  speeds  up  the  fan  and 
stoker  equipment.  The  maximum  draft  is  about  1.5  in.,  and 
the  regulator  is  provided  with  a  dashpot  to  reduce  fluctua- 
tion in  its  operation. 

Two  outside-packed  boiler-feed  pumps  are  in  service, 
water  being  taken  from  the  city  mains.  Induction  heaters  in 
the  exhaust  piping  of  each  engine  and  a  Cochrane  open 
heater  raise  the  feed-water  temperature  to  about  212  deg. 
as  it  enters  the  boilers.  The  exhausts  from  the  feed  pumps 
and  stoker  engines  and  the  drips  from  the  local  carhouse 
and  office  heating  system  also  discharge  into  the  open  heater. 
The  average  temperature  of  the  water  received  from  the 
induction  heaters  is  90  deg.  Fahr.  Two  6-in.  connections 
are  made  with  the  city  mains. 

CARE  OF  BOILERS. 

In  the  maintenance  of  the  boilers  each  unit  is  shut  down 
once  in  five  weeks.  When  a  boiler  is  taken  off  the  line  for 
cleaning  or  overhauling  it  is  pumped  or  injected  full  of 
water  in  which  about  20  lb,  of  sal-soda  has  been  dissolved 
while  it  is  still  under  pressure  and  the  stop  valve  closed. 
After  it  is  allowed  to  remain  forty-eight  hours  the  blow-oft' 
is  opened  and  the  boiler  is  emptied,  thorough  cleaning  being 
secured  by  opening  the  feed  valve  and  allowing  water  to 


Fig.    2 — The    Generating    Station    at    Halifax,    N.    S. 

flow  slowly  through  the  boiler.  Special  pains  are  taken  at 
the  time  of  filling  the  boiler  with  the  sal-soda  solution  to 
insure  that  the  feed  valves  are  closed  in  order  to  protect 
brass  fittings  from  the  action  of  the  sal-soda.  The  company 
makes  a  practice  of  overhauling  pumps  once  a  week  in  order 
to  detect  any  faults.  Special  care  is  given  to  water  plungers 
and  valves.    Brass  valves  are  used  in  the  feed  pumps  of  the 


Halifax  station.  Fire  protection  is  insured  by  an  l8-in.  by 
lo-in.  by  12-in.  Underwriters'  pump  having  a  capacity  of 
1000  gal.  per  minute  with  a  9-ft.  lift.  An  emergency  storage 
tank  of  40,000  gal.  capacity  is  located  under  a  storeroom  at 
one  side  of  the  station,  and  this  is  connected  with  the  city 
water  mains  and  the  fire  pump,  a  suction  pipe  also  being 
connected  from  the  latter  to  the  harbor,  so  that  the  local 


Fig.    3 — Boiler    Room,    Halifax    Station. 

fire  protection  system  may  be  fed  either  from  the  city  mains 
or  the  harbor.  The  city  water  pressure  is  60  lb.,  and  in 
emergencies  the  fire  pump  at  the  station  can  be  used  to 
pump  salt  water  into  the  city  mains.  The  feed-water  piping 
is  equipped  with  a  thermostatic  regulator,  controlling  the 
amount  of  steam  admitted  to  the  open  heater  from  the 
station  auxiliaries,  and  an  automatic  valve  which  starts 
and  stops  the  feed  pumping  equipment  according  to  whether 
the  heater  is  partially  or  completely  filled  with  water. 

ENGINES  AND  TURBINE  EQUIPMENT. 

The  engine  room,  which  is  built  above  the  boiler-room 
level  and  separated  from  the  latter  by  a  fire  wall  of  brick, 
contains  the  main  generating  units,  the  switchboard  and 
various  electrical  auxiliaries,  with  a  glass-partitioned  office 
at  one  end  for  the  use  of  the  chief  engineer.  Three  Rice  & 
Sargent  engines  are  in  regular  service,  each  being  an  i8-in. 
by  36-in.  by  32-in.  horizontal,  cross-compound  condensing 
outfit  running  150  r.p.m.  and  directly  connected  to  a  6oo-kw, 
2300-volt,  three-phase,  revolving-field  Canadian  General 
Electric  Company  alternator  delivering  6o-cycle  energy  to 
the  busbars.  These  engine  units  are  provided  with  jet  con- 
densers, salt  water  from  the  harbor  being  used  for  injection 
purposes.  Very  recently  there  has  been  installed  in  the 
station  a  2000-kw  horizontal  Curtis-General  Electric  turbo- 
alternator  wound  for  2300  volts,  three-phase  service,  and 
operating  at  3600  r.p.m.  This  unit  occupies  a  floor  space 
of  only  19.5  ft.  and  has  been  installed  on  a  reinforced- 
concrete  foundation  at  one  end  of  the  engine  room,  no 
enlargement  of  the  latter  being  required  to  house  it.  The 
new  unit  is  equipped  with  a  4800-sq.  ft.  Worthington  sur- 
face condenser,  capable  of  condensing  35,000  lb.  of  exhaust 
steam  per  hour  and  maintaining  within  its  interior  2  in.  of 
absolute  pressure  when  supplied  with  not  less  than  3500  gal. 
of  circulating  water  per  minute  at  not  over  65  deg.  Fahr., 
free  of  air,  the  initial  steam  pressure  being  145  lb.  and  the 
superheat  64  deg.  Fahr.  A  35-kw,  125-volt,  compound- 
wound  turbo-exciter  was  also  furnished  with  this  unit.  The 
other  auxiliaries,  which  are  located  in  the  basement,  include 
a  12-in.  horizontal  volute  centrifugal  circulating  pump 
directly  driven  by  an  8-in.  by  7-in.  Blake  vertical  engine;  a 
lo-in.  by  i8-in.  by  lo-in.  horizontal,  center-crank,  steam- 
driven  rotative  dry-vacuum  pump,  and  a  2.5-in.  two-stage 
hot-well  pump  driven  by  a  7-hp  Terry  steam  turbine. 


November  23,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1091 


OILING   SYSTEM. 

An  extensive  oiling  system  is  in  use  in  the  station, 
requiring  one  receiving  tank,  a  200-gal.  Cross  oil  filter  and 
two  pressure  tanks  of  galvanized  iron.  Used  oil  and  water 
associated  with  it  flow  from  the  engine  room  into  a  receiving 
tank  in  the  basement,  the  latter  being  piped  so  that  the 
water  flows  into  the  city  sewer,  while  the  oil  passes  through 


p 

^^^ 

i 

^ 

L4 

^H     ■ 

^BBfc^^P*    Ml  K,     v'^'''W''-':'' '^^S^^^BHb 

%.   ^ 

Fig.    A — Oil-Filtering    Plant    In    Basement. 

an  overflow  pipe  into  the  filter.  On  the  bottom  of  the  two 
pressure  tanks  a  city  water  pipe  is  connected  and  arranged 
to  give  about  35  lb.  pressure  on  the  oiling  systeni.  From 
each  jet  condenser  a  l-in.  pipe  main  is  connected  to  the 
pressure  tanks.  To  operate,  the  city  water  supply  is  closed 
and  the  valves  on  the  filter  or  barrel  are  opened,  that  on 
the  condenser  suction  line  also  being  opened.  The  vacuum 
takes  the  water  out  of  the  tank  and  the  oil  takes  the  place 
of  the  water  in  the  pressure  tank  at  no  cost  for  power.  On 
the  engine-room  floor  there  are  two  oil-waste  presses  made 
of  l2-in.  pipe,  these  being  about  24  in.  long  with  ij^-i"- 
screws,  five  threads  to  the  i.-'ch,  and  equipped  with  12-in 
levers.  In  the  company's  old  plant  waste  was  pressed  by 
hand  to  extract  the  oil.  Since  purchasing  the  waste  press 
the  consumption  of  waste  has  been  reduced  from  5  lb.  to 
I  lb.  per  day.  The  oil  is  piped  to  the  bearings  of  the 
machinery  in  the  engine  room  in  the  usual  manner. 

SWITCHBOARD. 

The  auxiliary  electrical  equipment  of  the  station  consists 
of  three  330-hp  induction  motors  directly  connected  in  each 
case  to  a  225-kw,  575-voU  direct-current  generator  designed 
for  railway  service  and  a  300-kw  synchronous  motor-gen- 
erator set  for  575-volt  direct-current  motor  service.  Tvi-o 
induction  motor-driven  sets  and  one  engine-driven  exciter 
set  complete  the  equipment,  with  the  exception  of  five 
IOC-light  series-arc  tub  transformers  in  the  ba=ement,  which 
supply  the  local  street  lighting  at  7.5  amp,  with  a  fifty-lamp 
6.5-amp  transformer  for  commercial  arc-lighting  service. 
The  main  switchboard  is  on  the  floor  of  the  engine  room 
and  contains  twenty  panels  equipped  with  the  usual  con- 
trolling and  measuring  devices.  Watt-hour  meters  are 
installed  on  all  lighting  circuits,  in  the  leads  of  each  gen- 
erator and  in  the  synchronous  and  induction  motor  leads. 
The  various  sections  of  the  switchboard  handle  the  street- 
lighting,  commercial  incandescent  lighting,  industrial  and 
railway  service  station  auxiliaries.  Bristol  recording  volt- 
meters are  used  on  the  busbars  and  in  connection  with 
pressure  wires  brought  back  to  the  station  from  important 
centers  of  distribution.  The  railway  service  is  fed  through 
a  single  feeder  panel  on  a  south  and  north  separation  of 
the  city  lines,  and  three  street-lighting  and  three  incandes- 
cent-lighting and  motor  panels  are  installed.     The  normal 


electric  railway  schedule  of  the  city  requires  the  operation 
of  twenty  cars. 

DISTRIBUTION. 

The  service  of  the  station  is  handled  by  2300-volt  lines 
carried  overhead  on  poles  of  from  30-ft.  to  40-ft.  length, 
all  feeders  being  of  No.  o  copper  and  all  series  arc  lines 
being  of  No.  6  wire.  Hard  pine  poles  are  used  in  the  center 
of  the  city,  chestnut  poles  being  generally  employed  in  the 
suburban  districts.  Five  three-phase  and  two  single-phase 
circuits  handle  the  commercial  2300-volt  service.  The  usual 
span  between  feeder  poles  is  120  ft.  Nine  arc  circuits  are 
in  operation.  Elevator  motors  rated  at  about  100  kw  are 
connected  to  the  575-volt  direct-current  circuit  of  the 
company,  these  being  supplied  from  a  separate  feeder  con- 
nected at  the  station  switchboard  with  the  synchronous 
motor-generator  set  above  referred  to.  The  station  is 
equipped  with  General  Electric  type  regulators  on  each 
feeder.  The  city  is  lighted  by  about  400  inclosed  alter- 
nating-current arc  lamps,  and  the  commercial  arc  service 
includes  about  150  lamps  of  the  6.5-amp  size.  About  70,000 
i6-cp  equivalents  are  now  in  service  on  the  company's 
system  of  incandescent  lighting  mains.  The  connected 
motor  load,  mainly  in  small  units,  aggregates  about  ii5ohp. 
The  municipal  arcs  are  supplied  with  energy  on  an  all-night 
and  every-night  schedule  at  a  price  of  $62.50  per  lamp  a 
year.  The  cost  of  coal  at  the  generating  plant  is  about 
$2.75  per  long  ton.  No  wire  smaller  than  No.  8  is  used  in 
leads  to  consumers'  residences.  Three-wire  secondaries 
are  extensively  used  by  the  company,  the  neutrals  being  of 
No.  o  section,  and  grounded  on  water  pipes.  No.  00  wire 
is  generally  used  in  the  outers  in  the  secondary  distribution. 
The  largest  transformer  in  service  is  rated  at  50  kw.  All 
meters  are  tested  by  a  Westinghouse  rotating  standard, 
those  in  service  being  checked  once  a  year. 

No  flat-rate  service  is  in  use  at  Halifax,  and  the  electric 
vehicle  has  not  made  an  appearance  in  the  city.  Battery 
charging  for  the  Nova  Scotia  Telephone  Company  and  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  is  regularly  done  by 
the  company,  and  its  industrial  load  is  obtained  from  news- 
paper plants,  ice-cream  plants,  clothing  factories,  machine 
shops,  etc.  A  variety  of  service  is  also  obtained  in  the 
government  shipyards.  British  warships  placed  in  the  local 
drydock    are    regularly   supplied   with    electricity    from    the 


Fig. 


-Main    Switchboard. 


company's  mains  during  the  period  of  their  stay,  and  at  the 
recent  visit  of  the  cruiser  Niobe  a  continuous  load 
averaging  85  kw  was  fed  in  this  way.  The  Halifax  and 
Queen  Hotels,  the  new  Anglican  cathedral,  St.  Paul's 
Church  and  many  other  noted  houses  of  worship,  hostelries 
and  military  establishments  are  on  the  company's  circuits. 
A  description  of  the  use  of  tungsten  lamps  in  the  lighting 


1092 


El.ECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21. 


of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Halifax,  was  given  in  the  Electrical 
World  of  Sept.  21  last,  page  616,  this  being  one  of  the  most 
noted  examples  of  modern  illumination  in  the  Maritime 
Provinces. 

The  company  has  a  total  of  about  3300  customers  on  its 
books.  It  is  noteworthy  that  when  the  tungsten  lamp  came 
into  service  the  station  peak  was  cut  so  much  that  no  addi- 
tional equipment  was  required  for  two  years  in  the  gen- 
erating system.  The  company  does  not  renew  lamps,  exhibit 
energy-consuming  appliances  or  maintain  solicitors.  Despite 
this  policy  the  demand  for  its  service  has  increased  steadily. 
Table  I  shows  some  of  the  features  of  the  company's  growth 
in  the  past  decade. 


TABLE  I.- 


-STATISTICS  OF  HALIFAX  COMPANY  S  GROWTH   IN 
TEN  YEAKS. 


Total  earnings 

Operating  expenses 

Net  earnings 

Electrical  earnings 

Surplus 

Ratio  operating  expenses  to  earnings,  per  cent. 

Passengers  carried 

Incandescent  lamps  connected 


1901. 


$251,644 
$142,412 

$79,232 
$113,927 

$39,232 

56.84 
3,037,268 
23.343 


1911. 


$502,399 
$256,874 
$215,525 
$211,161 
$103,525 

51.97 
5,212,257 
63,718 


The  rate  for  electrical  service  except  motors  is  15  cents 
per  kw-hr.,  with  a  minimum  monthly  charge  of  $1.33  in 
lighting  installations.  On  bills  of  from  $1.33  to  $9.99  a 
25  per  cent  discount  is  given  for  prompt  payment,  and  on 
larger  bills  the  discount  increases  up  to  a  maximum  of  45 
per  cent  for  a  monthly  bill  of  $100  or  over.    A  straight  rate 


2000 

i»150O 

S 

WlOOO 
.500 


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4    6    6    7 
A.M. 


9  10  11121234    667    89  10  1112 

P.  M .      Elwitrwii  WorU 

Fig.    6 — Typical    Load    Curves. 


of  10  cents  per  kw-hr.  is  charged  for  electric  motor  service, 
coupled  with  a  minimum  monthly  charge  of  $2.22,  which 
also  applies  in  arc-lighting  installations.  The  company  runs 
its  wires  to  the  outside  of  the  building,  and  in  cases  where 
the  mains  do  not  pass  a  building  the  customer  pays  a  pro- 
portion of  the  cost  of  reaching  him.  All  inside  wiring, 
fixtures,  lamps,  motors,  etc.,  are  installed  at  the  expense  of 
the  consumer.  The  company,  however,  does  not  undertake 
inside  wiring.  In  case  the  supply  is  used  for  less  than 
twelve  months  the  consumer  is  required  to  pay  the  company 
the  cost  of  the  labor  of  making  the  connection  and  of 
discontinuing  it. 

LOAD  CtJRVES. 

Representative  station  load  curves  are  shown  in  the 
accompanying  drawing.  The  load  on  a  typical  summer  day 
ranges  from  a  minimum  of  about  240  kw  to  a  maximum  of 
1240  kw,  occurring  in  the  late  evening.  The  long  twilights 
of  a  northern  latitude  noticeably  affect  the  time  of  the  peak 
in  the  month  of  June.  A  typical  winter  load  curve  shows  a 
range  of  from  about  750  kw  minimum  to  about  2200  kw 
maximum,  the  latter  occurring  at  about  6  p.  m.  on  a 
December  day.     The  average  load  on  the  station  for  the 


year  1911  was  850  kw,  the  maximum  being  2300  kw,  and  the 
load-factor  for  the  year  was  37  per  cent.  At  present  the 
peak  load  on  the  lighting  service  totals  about  1400  kw,  and 
that  of  the  railway  service  600  kw.  The  maximum  motor 
load  is  about  220  kw. 

The  following  statement  gives  the  arrangement  of  work- 
ing shifts  in  the  plant:  Engine  room — 12  midnight  to 
10  a.m.,  one  engineer,  one  oiler;  7  a.m.  to  6  p.m.,  one 
engineer  and  electrician,  one  oiler;  2  p.m.  to  12  midnight, 
one  engineer,  two  oilers.  Boiler  room — 6  p.  m.  to  4  a.  m., 
one  fireman;  10  p.m.  to  8  a.m.,  one  fireman;  8  a.m.  to 
6  p.m.,  one  fireman;  12  noon  to  10  p.m.,  one  fireman  and 
coal  trimmer;  7  a.  m.  to  6  p.  m.,  one  head  fireman. 

The  arrangement  of  day  and  night  runs  is  changed  about 
every  two  weeks  in  the  engine  room  and  every  week  in  the 
boiler  house.  The  operating  payroll  also  includes  one 
machinist,  one  steam  fitter  and  one  helper,  the  last-named 
being  used  on  outside  repair  work.  There  has  been  no 
change  in  the  personnel  of  the  station  for  five  years,  and 
all  the  engineers  in  the  plant  have  been  in  its  service  for 
the  past  seventeen  years. 

BOILER   TEST   WITH    HAND  AND  STOKER   FIRING. 

In  Table  II  are  given  the  principal  details  of  a  test  of  one 
of  the  boilers  in  the  plant  under  hand  firing  and  with 
mechanical  stokers.  'The  test  lasted  practically  twelve 
hours.  The  boiler  had  56  sq.  ft.  of  grate  surface  and  2789 
sq.  ft.  of  heating  surface,  the  ratio  of  the  latter  to  the 
former  being  49.8  to  i.  Cape  Breton  culm  was  burned,  this 
having  3.1  per  cent  moisture  by  a  representative  analysis. 

TABLE  II. BOILER  TEST  DATA. 


Hand  Firing. 


Stokers. 


Steam  pressure  by  gage,  lb 

Absolute  steam  pressure,  lb 

Draft  in  flue,  inches  of  water 

Temperature  external  air,  deg.  Fahr. 
Temperature  fire  room,  deg.  Fahr. . . . 


126.3 

129.3 

141 

144 

0.23 

0.23 

33.5 

30.3 

58.6 

56.6 

Feed-water  temperature,  deg.  Fahr 

Total  amount  of  coal  from  pile,  lb 

Percentage  of  ashes  and  clinkers 

Total  water  pumped  into  boiler  in  cu.  ft. 
Total  water  as  above,  lb 


Water  from  feed  temperature  evaporation  per 
hour,  lb [ 

Water  evaporated  per  pound  of  coal  from  pile, 
lb 

Equivalent  evaporation  from  and  at  212  deg. 
Fahr.  per  pound  of  coal  from  pile,  lb 

Above,  per  pound  of  dry  coal,  lb 

Above,  per  pound  of  combustible,  lb 


149.5 

15,262 

5.3 

1597.7 

97,747 


8207.1 
6.4 


Percentage  of  exhausts  of  steam  engine  and 
stoker  to  total  water ._ . 

Percentage  of  total  water  evaporated  used  in 
steam  jet 

Coal  per  square  foot  grate  surface  per  hour,  lb. 

Dry  coal  from  pile,  as  above,  lb 

Combustible  per  hour,  as  above 

Cost  of  coal  per  ton,  as  used 

Average  hp.  developed 


7.09 
7.30 

7.74 


149.5 
12,639.5 

5.1 
1585 
96,970 


8080.8 
7.67 


2.S 
22.58 
22.17 

20.98 
$1.40 
263.7 


8.51 
8.77 
9.2 


5.6 


18.66 
18.20 

17.26 
$1.40 
259.9 


The  test  was  made  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Philip  A. 
Freeman,  superintendent  and  chief  engineer  of  the  com- 
pany, and  shows  that  the  relative  economies  of  hand  firing 
and  mechanical  stoking  are  as  100  to  119.8,  neglecting  steam 
used  in  the  jet  in  connection  with  the  former  and  that 
consumed  in  the  stoker-engine  equipment  in  the  latter;  or, 
after  deducting  the  steam  used  in  the  stokers  and  engines, 
there  is  a  saving  of  14.2  per  cent  in  the  use  of  mechanical 
stokers.  In  one  year's  actual  operation  with  stokers  as 
against  hand  firing  the  plant  showed  a  gain  of  11  per  cent 
in  fuel  for  the  stokers.  The  automatic  feed  attachment 
described  above  for  supplying  the  stokers  with  fuel  and 
air  according  to  the  status  of  the  steam  pressure  saved  an 
additional  10  per  cent  in  fuel.  With  hand-fired  practice 
the  company  had  to  rebrick  the  boiler  walls  four  times  each 
year.  With  stokers  this  has  to  be  done  only  about  once  in 
nine  months.  The  cost  for  spare  parts  for  stokers  for  one 
year  is  about  half  the  former  cost  of  grate  bars  under 
hand  firing. 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1093 


THE  THURY  SYSTEM  OF  POWER   TRANSMISSION 
BY  CONTINUOUS  CURRENTS. 


By  Alfred  Still. 

IN  the  Thury  system  of  electric  power  transmission  by 
continuous  currents  the  current  is  constant  in  value  and 
the  pressure  is  made  to  vary  with  the  load.  All  the 
generators  and  all  the  motors  are  connected  in  series  on  the 
one  wire,  which  may  be  in  the  form  of  a  closed  loop  serving 
a  wide  area,  or  it  may  consist  merely  of  the  outgoing  and 
returning  wires  between  a  power  station  containing  all  the 
generators  and  one  or  more  substations,  with  motors,  at  the 
end  of  a  direct  transmission.  It  is  the  latter  arrangement 
(direct  long-distance  transmission)  for  which  the  Thury 
system  is  specially  adapted.  The  cut  shows  a  typical  arrange- 
ment of  machines  for  a  small  installation  on  this  system. 
There  are  four  generators  at  one  end  of  the  line  and  seven 
motors  of  various  capacities  at  the  other  end  of  the  line, 
all  the  machines  being  connected  in  series  and  provided  with 
short-circuiting  switches.     The  connections  are,   however. 


Four  300  KW  Generators,  each  3000  Vo/ts 


Ao^ 


Machine  Voltmeters 
Short  Circuiting 
Switches 


Lightning  Arresters 


Tronsm/ssion 

Line 

/6Miles 

Circuit  •32'i/i/es 


TtvoMotors         Motor    TwoMotors        TwoMo/ors 
JOOHIV,        f^      300HW      SOHW.^^,     300HiV.        . 

Direct-Current    Power-Transmission    Installation. 

SO  simple  that  the  diagram  is  self-explanatory.  The  voltage 
at  the  terminals  of  any  one  dynamo  is  limited,  as  the  neces- 
sity for  a  commutator  renders  it  impossible  to  wind  a  con- 
tinuous-current machine  for  a  pressure  as  high  as  may  be 
obtained  from  alternating-current  machines.  The  limiting 
pressure  per  commutator  on  the  existing  Thury  systems  is 
3660  volts,  this  being  on  the  Moutiers-Lyons  transmission; 
the  lowest  is  1300,  on  a  small  two-generator  plant  in  Russia. 

In  order  to  obtain  the  high  pressures  required  for  eco- 
nomical transmission  over  long  distances,  it  is  necessary  to 
connect  many  generator  units  in  series,  the  difficulty  of 
insulation  between  machines  and  ground  being  overcome  by 
mounting  the  dynamos  and  motors  on  insulators  and  pro- 
viding an  insulated  coupling  between  the  electric  generators 
and  the  prime  movers,  as  well  as  an  insulating  floor. 

When  a  machine,  whether  generator  or  motor,  is  not  in 
use,  it  is  short-circuited  through  a  switch  provided  for  this 
purpose.  As  the  motor  load  varies,  generators  are  switched 
in  or  out  of  circuit,  thus  varying  the  total  voltage.  When 
it  is  required  to  switch  in  an  additional  generator,  the 
machine  is  brought  up  to  speed  and  its  field  excitation  ad- 
justed   until    it    gives    the   proper   line    current    before    the 


short-circuiting  switch  is  opened  to  throw  the  machine  in 
series  with  the  line.  To  start  up  a  motor,  the  short-circuit- 
ing switch  is  opened  when  the  brushes  are  in  the  neutral 
position.  The  brush  rocker  is  then  gradually  moved  round, 
and  the  motor,  starting  from  rest,  increases  in  speed  until 
the  brushes  are  in  the  required  position,  the  actual  speed 
for  any  particular  position  of  the  brushes  being  dependent 
upon  the  load. 

The  motors  may  be  distributed  anywhere  along  the  line, 
either  on  the  premises  of  private  users  of  power,  where 
they  may  be  directly  coupled  to  the  machinery  to  be  driven, 
or  in  substations,  coupled  to  constant-pressure  electric  gen- 
erators giving  a  secondary  supply  for  lighting  and  power 
purposes.  In  most  of  the  Thury  undertakings  in  Europe 
this  secondary  supply  is  three-phase  alternating  current. 

A  series-wound  dynamo  machine,  with  a  current  of  con- 
stant value  passing  through  field-magnet  and  armature  wind- 
ings, is  essentially  a  constant  torque  machine.  In  the  case 
of  a  motor,  if  the  load  is  decreased,  the  motor  will  increase 
in  speed  and  tend  to  "run  away";  with  increase  of  load, 
the  motor  will  slow  down  and  in  time  come  to  a  standstill. 
In  regard  to  the  generators,  the  ideal  prime  mover  is  one 
which  will  give  a  constant  torque,  such  as  a  steam  engine 
with  fixed  cut-off  and  constant  steam  pressure,  and  a 
single  generator  so  driven  would  be  practically  self-regu- 
lating and  maintain  constant  current  regardless  of  load,  as 
the  speed — and  therefore  the  pressure  at  terminals — would 
adjust  itself  to  suit  the  motor  load.  The  generators  are, 
however,  usually  driven  by  prime  movers  which  are  far 
from  fulfilling  the  ideal  conditions.  Most  of  the  Thury 
stations  are  driven  by  water  turbines,  which  are  most 
efficient  as  constant-speed  machines,  while  the  maximum 
torque  at  low  speeds  is  generally  about  twice  the  torque 
under  conditions  of  highest  efficiency  at  normal  speed. 

Just  as  various  devices  are  provided,  when  working  on 
the  parallel  system,  to  maintain  constant  pressure  of  sup- 
ply, so  in  the  series  system  it  is  necessary  to  provide  regu- 
lating devices  to  maintain  a  constant  current.  Regulators 
controlled  by  the  main  current,  or  by  a  definite  fraction  of 
the  main  current,  passing  through  a  solenoid,  can  be  made 
to  act  on  mechanisms  designed  to  vary  the  speed  of  the 
prime  movers.  This  method  is  quite  practicable,  but  where 
the  type  of  engine — such  as  a  waterwheel  under  constant 
head — is  not  suited  to  variable-speed  running,  the  ma- 
chines may  be  run  at  constant  speed  and  the  automatic 
device  made  to  alter  the  resultant  magnetic  field  cut  by  the 
armature  conductors,  this  being  the  only  alternative  means 
of  varying  the  voltage  generated.  The  alteration  of  the 
effective  magnetic  flux  may  be  effected: 

(1)  By  shunting  a  portion  of  the  main  current  so  that 
it  shall  not  all  pass  through  the  field  winding,  and 

(2)  By  shifting  the  position  of  the  brushes  on  the 
commutator. 

A  combination  of  both  methods  appears  to  give  satis- 
factory results.  The  first  method  alone  is  liable  to  lead  to 
sparking  troubles  because  of  the  relatively  greater  arma- 
ture reaction  due  to  the  weakening  of  the  field,  and  in 
practice  it  is  found  inadvisable  to  shunt  more  than  one- 
third  of  the  total  current.  It  is,  of  course,  understood  that 
the  large  variations  of  voltage  are  obtained  by  connecting 
more  or  fewer  generators  in  series  on  the  line. 

The  motors,  whether  connected  directly  to  the  machinery 
of  mills  or  factories  or  used  for  driving  sub-generators  of 
the  constant-pressure  type,  are  usually  required  to  run 
at  constant  speed.  Their  regulation  is  effected  by  a  small 
centrifugal  governor  which  rocks  the  brushes  by  acting  on 
intermediate  mechanism  driven  by  the  motor  itself.  The 
braking  or  reversal  of  a  motor  is  most  simply  effected  by 
shifting  the  brushes  around,  through  the  neutral  position, 
until  the  current  reverses  in  the  armature  coils. 

A  short-circuit  on  a  motor  merely  removes  that  portion 
of  the  total  load  from  the  system,  and  the  regulators  on  the 
generators   will   readjust   the   pressure   accordingly.      If   a 


1094 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21 


short-circuit  occurs  on  a  generator,  the  prime  mover  may 
be  protected  from  the  shock  by  a  slipping  coupUng,  which 
is  commonly  provided.  If,  owing  to  the  failure  of  a  prime 
mover,  a  generator  tends  to  reverse  and  be  driven  as  a 
motor,  it  may  be  short-circuited  by  a  switch  that  can  very 
easily  be  made  to  operate  automatically  on  reversal  of 
rotation. 

With  regard  to  the  motors,  the  only  safety  device  re- 
quired, when  a  constant-speed  governor  is  provided,  is  a 
simple  attachment  which  will  automatically  close  the  short- 
circuiting  switch  in  the  event  that  the  voltage  across  termi- 
nals becomes  excessive,  such  as  would  be  the  case  on  a 
heavy  overload. 

Electrical  engineers  on  the  American  continent  are  rather 
inclined  to  the  belief  that  when  power  has  to  be  transmitted 
from  one  place  to  another  the  one  and  only  course  open  to 
them  is  to  adopt  the  three-phase  alternating-current  system. 
It  is  not  suggested  that  at  the  present  time  this  may  not, 
in  the  majority  of  cases,  be  the  best  system  available;  but 
undoubtedly  there  are  conditions  under  which  the  continu- 
ous-current   series    system    would    prove   more    economical. 

ADVANTAGES    OF    THE    DIRECT-CURRENT    SERIES    SYSTEM. 

( 1 )  The  power-factor  is  unity — a  fact  which  alone  ac- 
counts for  considerable  reduction  of  transmission  losses. 

(2)  Higher  pressures  can  be  used  than  with  alternating 
current,  the  conditions,  as  shown  by  actual  tests,  being  more 
favorable  to  direct-current  transmission  than  is  generally 
supposed.  Without  any  alteration  to  insulation  or  spacing 
of  wires,  approximately  double  the  working  pressure  can 
be  used  if  direct  current  is  substituted  for  alternating  cur- 
rent. Moreover,  the  insulation  is  subjected  to  the  maxi- 
mum pressure  only  at  times  of  full  load,  whereas  on  the 
parallel  system  the  insulation  is  subject  to  the  full  elec- 
trical stress  at  all  times. 

(3)  There  is  no  loss  of  power  through  "dielectric  hyste- 
resis" in  the  body  of  insulating  materials. 

(4)  The  necessity  for  two  wires  only,  in  place  of  three, 
effects  a  saving  in  the  number  of  insulators  required  and 
allows  cheaper  line  construction. 

(5)  Where  it  is  necessary  to  transmit  power  by  under- 
ground cables  continuous  currents  have  advantages  over 
alternating  current.  Single-core  cables  can  be  made  to 
work  with  continuous  currents  at  60,000  volts.  By  using 
two  such  cables  and  grounding  the  middle  point  of  the 
system  it  is,  therefore,  quite  feasible  to  transmit  under- 
ground at  120,000  volts. 

(6)  The  practicable  distance  of  transmission,  especially 
when  the  whole  or  a  part  is  underground,  is  greater  than 
with  alternating  currents. 

(7)  There  are  no  induction  or  capacity  troubles  and  no 
surges  or  abnormal  pressure  rises  due  to  resonance  and 
similar  causes,  such  as  have  been  experienced  with  alter- 
nating currents.  This  virtually  makes  the  factor  of  safety 
on  insulation  greater  than  on  alternating-current  circuits, 
even  when  the  working  pressure  is  doubled. 

(8)  A  number  of  generating  stations  can  easily  be  oper- 
ated in  series,  and  when  the  demand  for  power  increases  a 
new  generating  station  can  be  put  up  on  any  part  of  the 
line  if  it  is  inconvenient  to  enlarge  the  original  power 
station. 

(9)  The  simplicity  and  relatively  low  cost  of  the  switch 
gear  is  remarkable.  A  switch  pillar  with  ammeter,  volt- 
meter, and  four-point  switch  is  all  the  necessary  equipment 
for  a  generator.  The  switch  pillar  for  a  motor  includes, 
in  addition,  an  automatic  "by-pass"  which  bridges  the  motor 
terminals  in  the  event  of  an  excessive  pressure  rise.  This 
compares  very  favorably  with  the  ever-increasing — though 
in  some  cases  unnecessary — complication  and  high  cost  of 
the  switching  arrangements  in  high-tension  power  stations 
on  the  parallel  system. 

(10)  With  the  Thury  system  any  class  of  supply  can  be 
given,  and  the  motors  can  be  made  to  drive  sub-generators 


capable  of  running  in  parallel  with  any  local  electric  gen- 
erating plant. 

(11)  In  hydraulic  generating  statior.s  where  the  varia- 
tions of  head  are  considerable,  as  would  generally  be  the 
case  if  there  is  no  storage  reservoir,  a  greater  all-round 
efficiency  can  be  obtained  than  if  the  machines  had  to  be 
driven  at  constant  speed. 

(12)  For  any  industrial  operation  requiring  a  variable- 
speed  drive  at  constant  torque,  the  Thury  motor,  without 
constant-speed  regulator,  is  admirably  adapted.  It  might 
have  a  useful  application  in  the  driving  of  generators  sup- 
plying constant  current  to  electric  furnaces  in  which  the 
voltage  across  electrodes  is  continually  varying. 

DISADVANTAGES  OF  THE  DIRECT-CURRENT  SERIES  SYSTEM. 

(i)  The  necessity  of  providing  insulating  floors  and 
mounting  all  current-carrying  machines  and  apparatus  on 
insulators.  The  highly  insulated  coupling  required  to  trans- 
mit, mechanically,  large  amounts  of  power  between  prime 
mover   and  electric   generator   is   also   objectionable. 

(2)  The  smallness  of  the  generators,  the  output  of  each 
generator  being  limited  by  the  line  current  and  the  per- 
missible voltage  between  the  collecting  brushes  on  the  com- 
mutator. One  prime  mover  is  usually  coupled  to  two  or 
more  direct-current  generator  units.  This,  however,  is 
necessarily  more  costly  than  if  larger  electric  generators 
could  be  used;  moreover,  it  practically  limits  the  choice  of 
hydraulic  turbines  to  the  horizontal  type,  since  the  coupling 
of  several  generators  on  the  shaft  of  a  vertical  waterwheel 
would  be  difficult  and  unsatisfactory. 

(3)  With  constant  current  on  the  line,  the  line  losses  are 
the  same  at  all  loads,  and  the  percentage  power  loss  in  con- 
ductors is  inversely  proportional  to  the  load.  This  is  ex- 
actly the  reverse  of  what  occurs  on  the  alternating-current 
parallel  system,  in  which  the  percentage  line  loss  is  directly 
proportional  to  the  load.  It  should,  however,  be  mentioned 
that  on  the  Thury  system  the  line  current  may  be  reduced 
about  30  per  cent  at  times  of  light  load,  except  when  the 
circuit  feeds  motors  of  industrial  undertakings  requiring 
constant  current  day  and  night.  It  must  not  be  overlooked 
that  large  percentage  losses  at  times  of  light  load  are  of 
serious  moment  only  where  steam  engines  are  used  or 
where  storage  reservoirs  are  provided  for  water-power 
generating  stations.  In  the  case  of  water-power  schemes 
without  storage  the  fact  of  the  full-load  line  losses  con- 
tinuing during  times  of  light  load  is  not  objectionable. 

(4)  The  series  system  is  less  suitable  than  the  parallel 
system  for  distribution  of  power  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
generating  station. 

(5)  The  water  turbine  working  under  constant  head  is 
not  the  ideal  engine  for  driving  constant-current  machines. 

(6)  The  necessity  of  special  regulating  devices  to  main- 
tain constant  speed  on  the  motors. 

(7)  The  impossibility  of  overloading  the  motor,  even 
for  short  periods.  This  would  be  a  very  serious  objection  to 
the  use  of  these  motors  in  connection  with  electric  traction 
systems. 

(8)  Greater  liability  to  damage  and  interruption  from 
the  effects  of  lightning.  It  may  be  said  that  an  overhead 
line,  whether  for  alternating  or  direct  current,  is  always 
liable  to  damage  by  lightning;  but  with  the  high-tension 
alternating-current  system  the  transformers  and  automatic 
oil  switches  will  usually  protect  the  generators  themselves 
from  serious  damage,  while  with  the  Thury  system  there 
is  always  a  path  for  lightning  discharges  through  the  gen- 
erators and  motors,  and  the  damage  done  may  be  very  great. 
This  simply  means  that  particular  attention  should  be  given 
to  the  question  of  lightning  protection  on  direct-current 
overhead  lines,  and  the  ease  with  which  highly  inductive 
choke  coils  can  be  introduced  on  a  direct-current  system, 
without  opposing  any  obstacle  (except  ohmic  resistance)  to 
the  passage  of  the  line  current,  tends  toward  the  attainment 
of  increased  safety. 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1095 


HIGH-TENSION  DISTRIBUTION  IN   NORTHERN 
ILLINOIS. 


Some  interesting  data  concerning  the  operation  of  the 
recently  formed  Public  Service  Company  of  Northern 
Illinois  and  the  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Company,  both 
managed  from  Chicago  and  serving  a  large  number  of  com- 
munities, were  given  in  a  paper  read  by  Mr.  H.  B.  Gear 
at  the  recent  Peoria  convention  of  the  Illinois  State  Electric 
Association.     What  follows  is  taken  from  the  paper. 

The  southern  transmission  system  of  the  Public  Service 
Company  is  operated  chiefly  at  33,000  volts,  60  cycles.  The 
northern  system  is  operated  at  20,000  volts  with  subsidiary 
lines  on  the  four-wire  system  at  4600/8000  volts.  The  use 
of  33,000  volts  will  be  made  standard  throughout  the  system 
ultimately.  The  main  generating  stations  are  from  25  to  50 
miles  apart,  and  this  voltage  is  therefore  sufficiently  high 
for  the  average  distances  of  transmission.  It  is  low  enough 
to  permit  transformers  as  small  as  25  kw  to  be  used  in  the 
supply  of  substations  in  small  towns,  and  it  is  well  within 
economical  limits  in  the  construction  of  pole  lines.  With 
towns  10  to  15  miles  apart,  having  loads  of  50  kw  to  150  kw, 
the  line  drop  is  so  small  that  little  pressure  regulation  is 
needed  at  substations. 

The  main  transmission  system  must  necessarily  be  carried 
over  routes  which  will  touch  as  many  towns  as  possible  and 
therefore  naturally  follow  the  general  direction  of  railroads. 
This  results  in  a  system  of  radial  lines  which  will  ultimately 
be  tied  together  by  cross-country  lines  so  placed  as  to  form 
ring  systems  which  will  provide  reserve  supply  for  the  more 
important  towns,  some  of  which  are  at  present  operated 
without  a  reserve  supply.  At  important  junction  points 
switching  facilities  are  provided  to  permit  of  ready  change 
of  connections  in  case  of  emergency  and  for  other  operating 
conditions.  Some  of  these  are  outdoor  air-break  switches, 
and  others  are  in  substation  buildings.  The  lines  are  main- 
tained between  the  generating  stations  at  Joliet  and  Blue 
Island,  and  between  Blue  Island  and  Maywood,  so  that 
surplus  capacity  in  any  of  these  stations  is  available. 

Main  lines  thus  far  constructed  are  of  No.  2  B.  &  S. 
copper.  These  lines  will  distribute  from  3000  kw  to  4000 
kw  at  various  points  in  the  district  within  a  radius  of  30 
miles  from  the  generating  stations,  with  not  over  10  per 
cent  drop  to  any  point.  Branch  lines  of  No.  4  wire  are 
used  in  a  few  cases. 

Three  types  of  construction  have  been  standardized  for 
transmission  lines,  which  have  been  designated  as  Class  A, 
Class  B  and  Class  C.  In  Class  A  construction  poles  are 
designed  to  carry  one  or  two  lines,  as  shown  in  Fig.  i.  The 
illustration  shows  the  pole  as  equipped  for  one  line  with 
space  reserved  for  a  second  arm  and  three  additional  wires 
when  needed.  The  spacing  between  wires  in  the  final 
arrangement  is  3  ft.  Poles  are  set  approximately  forty-four 
to  the  mile,  and  no  poles  less  than  30  ft.  long  with  7-in.  tops 
are  used.  A  ground  wire  is  carried  on  an  angle-iron  fixture 
extending  above  the  top  of  the  pole,  and  space  is  provided 
for  a  private  telephone  line  on  a  lower  arm.  This  type  of 
construction  is  used  on  all  main  lines  between  generating 
stations. 

Poles  erected  under  Class  B  construction  are  framed  with 
two  arms  carrying  two  pins  each.  One  end  of  the  top  arm 
carries  a  fourth  wire  which  acts  as  a  ground  wire.  This 
construction  is  similar  in  other  respects  to  Class  A  and  is 
used  on  important  lines  where  it  is  not  expected  that  more 
than  one  set  of  wires  will  be  required  for  some  years 
to  come. 

Class  C  construction  (Fig.  2)  is  designed  for  use  on 
branch  lines  which  will  not  become  part  of  a  main  line  and 
where  the  amount  of  business  served  does  not  justify  the 
expense  of  Class  A  construction.  Where  branch  lines  are 
likely  to  become  a  part  of  a  33,000-volt  line  later,  the  use  of 
Class  B  construction  permits  the  branch  line  to  be  operated 
as  a  four-wire,  three-phase  line  at  2300-4000  or  4600-8000 


volts,  using  the  ground  wire  as  the  neutral,  until  such  time 
as  the  line  is  needed  as  a  part  of  the  33,000-volt  system. 
Copper-clad  steel  wire  may  be  used  as  neutral  conductor  if 
necessary  in  cases  where  the  load  is  more  than  the  stranded 
steel  cable  which  will  be  used  for  ground  wire  is  equal  to 
carrying. 

The  advantage  of  using  4600-8000-volt  lines  in  this  way 
consists  chiefly  in  the  ability  to  eliminate  a  substation  by 
placing  the  regulators  at  a  point  where  a  substation  is 
already  established.  In  some  cases  4600-volt  distribution 
transformers  are  used  for  the  larger  consumers,  but  where 
there  is  a  2300-volt  distributing  system  two  to  one  step- 
down  transformers  must  be  used  at  the  far  end.  Several 
towns  and  communities  are  supplied  by  four- wire,  4600- 
8000-volt  feeders  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Public  Service 
Company's  system. 

In  the  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Company's  system  the 
present  lines  are  being  operated  chiefly  at  13,200  volts,  but 
all  new  construction  is  based  upon  the  use  of  33,000  volts, 
and  existing  lines  will  be  changed  to  the  higher  pressure  as 
rapidly  as  conditions  will  permit.     The  local  distribution  is 


7—1^ 

f HfiU- 


Bare  Ground  Wire 
same  Size  as  Line  Wire 
to  be  Installed  on  every 
Fifth  Pole 


"/i.-^] 


1  Wood  Molding 


Ground 
Oylinder 


^v^^*vjj/^HII/J*iH 


EUetnoal  irvrld 


Figs. 


SUetrieal  TTorU^ 

1    and   2 — Standard    Types   of    Poles. 


effected  by  single-phase,  2200-volt  lines  in  the  smaller  towns 
where  there  is  no  considerable  demand  for  motor  service 
and  the  load  does  not  exceed  50  kw  to,  75  kw.  Three-phase, 
2200-volt,  three-wire  distribution  is  used  in  cities  where  it 
is  required  for  motor  service,  and  its  use  will  probably  be 
extended  to  other  towns  whenever  a  demand  for  three-phase 
motor  service  may  arise.  The  three-wire  system  is  prefer- 
able to  four-wire  distribution  where  the  distances  do  not 
e.xceed  2  to  3  miles  and  where  the  load  is  less  than  500  kw. 
Four-wire,  2300-4000-volt  distribution  is  used  in  and  near 
Chicago  where  small  communities  are  located  within. 3  to  5 
miles  of  the  main  centers  of  distribution  and  where  large 
industrial  concerns  requiring  100  to  500  kw  are  often  located 
at  some  out-of-the-way  railway  junction,  necessitating  long 
extensions  of  distributing  lines  which  would  be  much  more 
difficult  to  manage  at  2300  volts,  three-wire,  than  they  are  at 
4000  volts.  Four-wire  distribution  will  probably  also  be 
found  useful  in  some  of  the  better  agricultural  districts 
where  a  demand  for  motor  service  and  lighting  for  farm 
purposes  is  developed.  The  scattered  nature  of  such  service 
will  necessitate  the  use  of  higher  voltages  than  2200  in 
many  cases. 


1096 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  21. 


It  is  evident  to  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  size  of  the 
towns  and  cities  in  this  territory  that  the  amounts  of  energy 
delivered  are  comparatively  small,  and  that  the  engineering 
problem  resolves  itself  into  one  of  distribution  by  means  of 
a  higher  voltage  than  is  usually  employed  for  distribution 
purposes.  The  problem  is  therefore  quite  different  from  the 
ordinary  transmission  system  where  the  load  is  delivered  at 
one  point  in  bulk  and  where  the  questions  of  branch  lines, 
fuses,  lightning  protection,  pressure  regulation  and  outdoor 
substations  are  not  involved. 

In  2200-volt  distribution  a  transformer  is  installed  for  a 
group  of  consumers  who  are  served  from  a  secondary  main. 
The  transformer,  if  installed  out  of  doors,  is  protected  by 
fuses,  and  the  pressure  supplied  to  it  is  within  a  very  small 
percentage  the  same  as  that  supplied  to  neighboring  trans- 
formers. In  distributing  by  33,000-volt  lines  the  trans- 
former supplies  the  primary  mains  of  an  entire  town,  with 
a  second  transformation  down  to  the  lamp  voltage.  The 
pressure  supplied  is  nearly  the  same  as  that  in  adjoining 
towns,  but  the  difference  in  drop  in  the  primary  distributing 
system  of  the  two  towns  is  quite  likely  to  be  so  much  that 
an  additional  element  must  be  introduced,  viz.,  the  potential 
regulator.  In  locations  where  there  is  a  substation  building 
the  use  of  automatic  regulators  takes  care  of  the  situation 
very  satisfactorily.  Where  there  is  not  over  150  kw  lighting 
load  the  lighting  may  all  be  put  on  one  phase,  thus  requiring 
but  a  single  regulator.  With  outdoor  installations  the 
problem  is  not  so  simple,  as  the  location  of  an  automatic 
regulator  on  a  pole  platform  makes  it  rather  inaccessible 
for  inspection  and  repairs  and  the  exposure  to  the  outdoor 
air,  even  though  it  is  well  housed,  is  likely  to  cause  the 
adjustments  'o  vary  and  get  out  of  order.  However,  a 
weather-proof  type  of  regulator  made  in  small  sizes  and 
suitable  for  erection  in  the  open  air  has  recently  appeared, 
which  it  is  hoped  will  be  found  sufficiently  reliable  to  meet 
the  needs  of  towns  requiring  outdoor  regulators  of  7.5  kw 
to  lo-kw  capacity. 

In  these  earlier  stages  of  development  there  are  some 
cases  where  33.000-volt  lines  are  less  than  25  miles  long, 
and  where  the  total  load  on  the  lines  is  not  over  1000  kw. 
Regulation  may  be  satisfactorily  accomplished  in  these  cases 
directly  from  the  generator,  as  the  line  drops  are  not  over 
3  to  4  per  cent  and  the  towns  are  so  small  that  the  drop 
in  the  local  systems  is  approximately  the  same.  The  33,000- 
volt  transformer  may  be  installed  out  of  doors  where  no 
building  is  available  for  it.  In  sizes  up  to  75  kw  it  is 
desirable  to  put  them  out  of  doors  in  any  event,  to  avoid 
bringing  the  high-tension  lines  inside  the  substation 
building.  The  protection  of  33,000-volt  transformers  by 
fuses  is  a  problem  which  is  as  yet  not  wholly  solved.  A 
few  installations  of  25  kw  to  50  kw  have  been  made  which 
are  protected  by  the  S.  &  C.  type  of  fuses.  The  experience 
which  has  been  had  with  this  fuse  thus  far  seems  to  indicate 
that  it  will  be  satisfactory  for  outdoor  use  up  to  150-kw 
units.  Larger  sizes  of  transformers  are  usually  in  a  sub- 
station where  circuit-breakers  provide  necessary  protection. 

The  problem  of  lightning  protection  has  not  been  so  easily 
met,  as  the  cost  of  the  average  33,000-volt  arrester  equip- 
ment is  nearly  as  much  as  for  a  50-kw  transformer.  In  the 
larger  substations  where  room  is  available  the  aluminum 
cell  arrester  is  justifiable,  but  in  the  outdoor  substations  the 
one  thing  permissible  is  a  horn-gap  with  resistance  in  series. 

The  first  cost  of  a  general  transmission-distribution  system 
is  naturally  rather  high  per  kilowatt  of  maximum  demand  in 
the  early  years.  What  is  saved  in  the  investment  in  gen- 
erating equipment  by  concentrating  the  capacity  in  a  few 
large  stations  is  expended  in  the  erection  of  the  confiecting 
lines.  But  as  the  load  of  new  towns  along  the  route  is 
added,  and  as  the  development  of  industrial  power  proceeds 
and  the  use  of  electricity  becomes  more  general  for  heating 
and  cooking  purposes,  the  diversity  of  uses  will  increase 
the  load-factor  and  the  load  to  a  point  where  the  investment 
per  kilowatt  will  not  be  above  normal. 


imiFICATION  IN  NORTHERN  ILLINOIS. 


As  an  introduction  to  his  paper  on  "High-Tension  Dis- 
tribution in  Northern  Illinois,"  read  at  the  recent  Peoria 
convention  of  the  Illinois  State  Electric  Association,  an 
abstract  of  which  is  printed  in  another  column  of  this 
issue,  Mr.  H.  B.  Gear  made  some  interesting  general 
observations  on  the  tendency  toward  the  consolidation 
of  electric-service  properties,  particularly  as  exemplified 
in  northern  Illinois.  He  remarked  that  this  tendency  is 
the  natural  outcome  of  the  modern  trend  toward  the  con- 
solidation of  physical  properties  and  unification  of  man- 
agement. Properties  which  remained  undeveloped  because 
of  lack  of  capital  and  other  facilities  for  aggressive 
extension  work  while  under  local  control  have  become  im- 
portant parts  of  large  organizations  when  placed  under  a 
management  with  ample  capital  and  a  live  new-business 
department.  Scientifically  adjusted  rates  which  attract 
large  long-hour  users  and  moderate  retail  charges  which 
make  electric  lighting  popular  with  all  classes  of  people 
have  been  combined  with  active  selling  campaigns  to  pro- 
duce business  for  the  central  stations  in  these  cities,  much 
of  which  was  not  in  existence  under  individual  manage- 
ment.    Thus  the  increased  volume  of  business,  combined 


w        I        s 

J0D.\,\1ESS|      STEPHENSON    I 


O  N  S 


Transmission    Lines   of   the    Public   Service    Company   of    Northern 
Illinois  and  the  Illinois  Utilities  Company,  Operating  Conjointly. 

with  various  economies  of  operation,  administration  and 
purchase  of  materials,  has  made  a  successful  whole  out  of 
what  was  a  heterogeneous  lot  of  properties  of  more  or  less 
doubtful  value.  This  has  even  been  done  in  cases  where  the 
properties  were  so  widely  scattered  as  to  forbid  physical 
consolidation  through  a  transmission  system. 

In  the  groups  of  towns  clustered  about  the  larger  cities 
the  economies  of  unified  administration  have  been  gen- 
erally supplemented  by  savings  effected  through  the  con- 
solidation of  power  supply.  The  smaller  and  less  efficient 
power  stations  have  been  discontinued  or  held  in  reserve 
for  peak  loads  only  and  the  main  power  supply  has  been 
derived  from  stations  containing  large  and  efficient  units 
permitting  material  savings  in  operating  costs.  The  former 
stations  become  substations  receiving  power  from  the  trans- 
mission system  and  delivering  it  through  transformers  to 
the  local  distributing  system. 

In  this  way,  for  example,  most  of  the  suburban  towns 
within  a  radius  of  30  or  40  miles  of  the  city  of  Boston  are 
being  served  from  a  common  transmission  system.  The 
towns  within  a  similar  radius  of  New  York  are  being  served 
by  the  New  York  and  Brooklyn  companies  and  by  the 
Public  Service  Company  of  New  Jersey.  The  Pacific  Gas 
&  Electric  Company  has  a  transmission  network  larger  than 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1097 


any  of  these,  serving  towns  in  California  within  a  radius 
of  100  miles  of  San  Francisco.  Various  other  cities  where 
similar  developments  have  been  made  might  be  instanced. 

In  the  territory  adjacent  to  Chicago  and  in  northern 
Illinois  the  physical  consolidation  of  properties  has  been  in 
progress  for  some  years  on  a  very  extensive  scale.  Trans- 
mission lines  have  been  extended  in  a  northwesterly  direc- 
tion for  a  distance  of  40  to  50  miles,  reaching  approximately 
to  the  Wisconsin  state  line.  In  a  southwesterly  direction 
the  various  towns  and  cities  are  interconnected  by  a  trans- 
mission system  extending  through  Joliet  and  Streator  for  a 
distance  of  over  100  miles.  This  system  will  reach,  when 
lines  now  under  construction  have  been  completed,  to 
Lacon,  a  distance  of  about  125  miles  from  Chicago. 

In  the  section  of  the  State  north  and  west  of  the  Illinois 
River  there  are  several  groups  of  properties  which  have 
beep  or  are  now  being  interconnected  by  transmission 
lines  as  indicated  in  the  accompanying  map.  This  develop- 
ment is  quite  recent  and  some  of  the  generating  stations 
which  are  shown  will  doubtless  be  converted  into  substa- 
tions as  the  system  is  extended.  Other  connecting  lines 
will  be  provided  as  the  loads  increase,  and  it  requires  but 
a  little  effort  of  the  imagination  to  see  northern  Illinois 
covered  by  a  network  of  transmission  lines,  giving  electric 
service  not  only  in  towns  which  now  enjoy  it  but  in  many 
others  which  have  not  heretofore  been  so  favored. 


CENTRAL-STATION  DESIGN. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  mechanical  engineering  society  of 
the  Worcester  (Mass.)  Polytechnic  Institute  on  Nov.  8  Mr. 
I.  E.  Moultrop,  mechanical  engineer  of  the  Edison  Electric 
Illuminating  Company,  Boston,  gave  an  illustrated  lecture 
upon  the  design  of  large  central  stations.  Mr.  Moultrop 
emphasized  the  important  features  of  the  Edison  company's 
South  Boston  plant  in  relation  to  the  trend  of  the  latest 
designing  practice  and  laid  down  the  principles  of  desirable 
arrangement  and  construction  for  stations  of  30,000-kw 
rating  and  over.  In  the  order  of  their  importance  he  con- 
sidered the  problems  of  fuel  supply,  circulating-water 
supply,  cost  of  real  estate,  fuel-storage  space,  boiler-feed 
supply  and  transmission-line  routes  as  affecting  the  station 
location,  and  then  discussed  the  details  of  building  con- 
struction, coal  handling,  prime  movers  and  electrical 
equipment. 

In  the  design  of  a  large  station  wharf  privileges  having 
a  channel  of  ample  depth  for  coal  carriers  of  large  size  and 
the  avoidance  of  drawbridge  tolls  are  important  factors, 
and  inland  plants  should  as  far  as  possible  not  be  dependent 
upon  a  single  railroad  supply  of  coal.  The  coal-storage 
facilities  should  permit  the  hold  of  at  least  a  month's  fuel 
supply  at  all  times  and  three  months'  supply  in  winter  to 
guard  against  interruptions.  The  supply  of  circulating 
water  should  be  almost  unlimited  in  a  plant  of  great  size. 
At  the  South  Boston  plant  with  seven  units  in  operation 
10,000,000  gal.  of  circulating  water  per  hour  is  required 
to  maintain  the  vacuum.  The  practice  of  drawing  such 
water  from  a  channel  rather  than  from  shallow  places  in 
a  harbor  is  highly  desirable.  Although  the  cost  of  land  is 
not  the  factor  it  used  to  be  in  connection  with  large  stations 
on  account  of  the  tendency  to  locate  such  plants  outside  the 
centers  of  cities,  the  burden  of  fixed  charges  carried  by 
the  real-estate  investment  in  plants  of  very  high  capacity  is 
a  factor  to  be  considered  with  some  care.  Although  it  is 
always  possible  to  build  a  plant  in  a  new  location  when  the 
demand  for  service  necessitates  it,  it  is  more  desirable  to 
extend  a  well-located  existing  station,  as  this  does  not 
require  a  new  operating  organization  or  new  coal-storage 
and  wharfing  facilities. 

Water-tube  boilers  are  the  only  kind  suitable  for  large 
stations,  and  Mr.  Moultrop  held  that  units  of  from  500-hp 
to  7S0-hp  rating  are  as  large  as  is  desirable.    Engineers  are 


not  agreed  at  present  regarding  the  desirability  of  very 
high-powered  boiler  units,  although  these  have  made  excel- 
lent records  in  the  Delray  station  of  the  Detroit  Edison 
Company  and  in  European  plants.  Large  boilers  complicate 
the  question  of  spare  equipment  and  are  liable  to  the  same 
troubles  as  smaller  units,  so  that  a  larger  percentage  of  the 
total  steaming  capacity  is  taken  from  service  in  case  of 
trouble  with  a  boiler  of  large  size.  The  speaker  compared 
a  2365-hp  boiler  with  one  of  S50-hp  rating,  quoting  from 
the  report  of  the  prime  movers  committee  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  as  presented  at  Seattle  last  June, 
and  affirmed  the  belief  that  the  greater  flexibility  of  the 
smaller  units  will  maintain  them  in  favor  for  some  time. 

Discussing  coal  handling,  Mr.  Moultrop  advised  con- 
structing bunkers  above  the  boilers  capable  of  carrying 
from  one  and  a  half  to  two  days'  supply  of  fuel,  recom- 
mending the  storage  of  the  main  body  of  fuel  outside  the 
station  building.  Sole  dependence  should  not  be  placed 
upon  a  single  conveyor  in  feeding  a  station  of  great  size. 
The  bunkers  should  be  designed  to  empty  automatically  and 
should  be  entirely  dust-proof  to  protect  other  parts  of  the 
station.  Rehandling  facilities  and  sufficient  equipment  to 
enable  vessels  to  be  unloaded  promptly  are  important.  Ash 
hoppers  should  have  a  capacity  of  at  least  one  and  a  half 
to  two  days'  accumulations  and  should  be  built  of  fire- 
resistant  material.  Boilers  should  be  placed  above  a  high 
basement  to  facilitate  handling  ashes  without  recourse  to 
manual  labor.  Provision  should  be  made  for  the  rapid 
removal  of  fuel  from  the  bunkers  in  case  it  should  become 
ignited.  The  best  possible  material  in  boiler  settings  and 
the  highest  class  of  workmanship  are  essential  to  economical 
operation,  including  liberal  chimney  and  flue  areas  and  the 
avoidance  of  long  horizontal  flues  and  connections.  The 
ideal  mechanical  stoker  has  a  good  overload  capacity, 
positive  air  control,  operates  economically,  has  few  working 
parts,  produces  no  smoke,  and  besides  having  low  main- 
tenance costs  requires  practically  no  manual  labor  in  its 
operation.  Too  often  stokers  are  cramped  into  the  com- 
bustion-chamber area.  Boiler-feed  pumps  should  not  be 
installed  in  the  boiler  house  but  should  be  in  the  care  of 
engine-room  or  turbine-room  attendants,  and  in  large  plants 
two  or  more  city  watermains  should  be  supplied. 

Except  at  the  yearly  peak,  a  spare  turbine  unit  should  be 
ready  at  all  times  for  service,  and  the  station  should  not  be 
crippled  by  the  shut-down  of  the  largest  single  turbine  set 
in  its  equipment.  The  unit  system  of  piping  and  auxiliary 
arrangement  was  commended,  with  the  installation  of  main 
and  minor  piping  in  a  room  beneath  the  boilers,  where  even 
temperatures  can  be  maintained  without  expansion  strains. 
Short  piping  runs  between  boilers  and  turbines  are  neces- 
sary to  avoid  serious  temperature  drops  in  handling  super- 
heated steam. 

The  turbine  room  should  be  a  one-story  affair,  with  all  ap- 
paratus possible  on  the  floor,  and  great  care  needs  to  be  taken 
to  provide  for  convenient  access  to  all  parts  of  the  equip- 
ment, reducing  stair  climbing  to  the  minimum.  In  laying  out 
piping,  flanges  must  not  be  crowded  and  all  valves  and  joints 
must  be  easily  reached.  It  should  be  possible  to  isolate  and 
draw  off  the  oil  in  the  lubrication  system  in  case  of  fire,  and 
every  feature  of  the  station  building  should  be  of  fireproof 
construction,  with  due  regard  to  the  external  hazard.  Ample 
ventilation  and  natural  light,  combined  with  space  enough  in 
the  turbine  room  to  permit  the  later  installation  of  larger 
units  without  increasing  the  size  of  the  building,  are 
important  points.  The  provision  of  a  separate  operating 
room  with  remote-control  and  locked  rooms  containing  oil 
switches  and  busbar  compartments  was  recommended.  In 
closing,  Mr.  Moultrop  emphasized  the  great  importance  of 
not  being  bound  by  first  cost  in  the  selection  of  apparatus 
and  urged  the  preparation  of  as  many  preliminary  station 
designs  as  possible,  with  the  co-operation  and  criticism  of 
the  operating  department.  In  a  recent  case  twenty-five 
designs    were    made,   but   the   results    justified   the   effort. 


I  ops 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21. 


CARRYING  CAPACITIES   OF  RESISTOR  WIRES  AT 
HIGH  TEMPERATURES. 


In  a  talk  before  the  Lewis  Institute  Branch,  A.  I.  E.  E., 
Chicago,  Nov.  13,  Mr.  Charles  P.  Madsen,  consulting  engi- 
neer, Chicago,  discussed  methods  used  and  results  obtained 
by  him  in  securing  data  for  the  tables  of  carrying  capacity 
of  round  and  flat  sections-  of  Nichrome  resistor  wire  re- 
cently published  by  the  Driver-Harris  Company,  Newark, 
N.  J. 

The  work  thus  accomplished  represents  quantitative  pio- 
neering in  an  important  field,  for,  in  the  absence  of  knowl- 
edge concerning  the  laws  of  conduction  and  carrying 
capacity  at  high  temperatures,  many  of  the  earlier  data 
that  appeared,  said  the  speaker,  were  based  only  on  esti- 
mates and  improper  assumptions,  resulting  in  most  cases 
in  wide  divergence  from  the  actual  facts.  Errors  of  50  per 
cent  were  common,  and  temperatures  were  incorrectly 
stated  by  100  deg.  or  more. 

After  considering  various  methods  of  measuring  the  hot- 
wire temperatures  for  the  recent  experiments,  including  the 
use  of  electrical  pyrometers,  thermo-electric  couples,  method 
of  resistance  change  with  temperature,  etc.,  an  optical 
pyrometer  was  finally  arranged,  the  temperature  of  the 
wire  being  compared  with  that  of  a  standard  lamp  filament 
calibrated  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Standards. 

The  heat  energy  developed  in  a  wire  is  dissipated  as 
emissive  radiation  and  by  convection.  The  emissivity  of 
a  heated  wire  is  an  exponential  function  of  its  absolute 
temperature.  Convection,  however,  is  almost  independent 
of  size  or  shape  of  conductor.  The  total  carrying  capacity 
does  not  depend  upon  the  cross-section  alone,  but  upon  the 
shape  and  the  surface  area  per  unit  of  cross-section,  so 
that  round  and  flat  wires  of  identical  cross-sectional  area 
have  different  carrying  capacities.  The  unit  intensity  at 
which  smaller  wires  can  be  worked  is  much  higher  than 
that  possible  with  larger  sections.  Unit-carrying  capacity 
is  thus  a  variable  for  various  sizes  of  wire,  but  may  be 
expressed  as  a  function  of  temperature,  surface  ratio  and 
radius  of  curvature.  Although  theoretically  the  carrying 
capacity  of  a  given  wire  has  no  limits,  the  practical  quantity 
depends  upon  the  conductor's  energy-transfer  power,  as 
well  as  upon  the  upper  limit  of  temperature  which  the 
material  can  withstand.  Mr.  Madsen  exhibited  tables  and 
curves  comparing  the  carrying  capacity  of  round  and  flat 
sections  for  various  cross-sectional  areas.  These  showed 
that  the  ribbon  sections  dissipate  the  heat  produced  faster 
than  the  ordinary  round  wires,  although  the  termini  of  the 
curves  revealed  that  the  ribbon  sections  ultimately  failed 
by  "dropping"  at  lower  temperatures  than  the  round  sec- 
tions. 


FUEL  TESTS  ON  INTERNAL-COMBUSTION  ENGINES. 


Over  2000  tests  were  conducted  by  the  Technologic 
Branch  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  at 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  during  1907  and  1908,  to  determine  the 
comparative  value  of  gasoline  and  alcohol  as  fuel  for  in- 
ternal-combustion engines.  The  results  of  these  tests  are 
now  presented  in  a  thirty-seven-page  pamphlet  issued  by 
the  Bureau  of  Mines,  Department  of  the  Interior,  prepared 
by  Mr.  Robert  M.  Strong.  The  author  considered  the  sub- 
ject from  the  standpoints  of  differences  in  engines,  effects 
of  fuel  quality,  influence  of  different  operating  conditions 
and  other  factors  affecting  fuel  consumption.  A  synopsis 
of  the  results  is  presented  in  a  series  of  twelve  conclusions, 
a  few  of  which  are  herewith  stated.  The  low  heating 
value  of  completely  denatured  alcohol  will  average  12,500 
heat  imits  per  pound,  or  71,900  heat  units  per  gallon.  In 
comparison  with  this  the  low  heating  value  of  gasoline, 
having  a  specific  gravity  from  0.71  to  0.73,  will  average 
19,200   heat   units   per   pound,   or    115,800   heat    units    per 


gallon.  Thus  the  low  heating  value  of  a  pound  of  alcohol 
is  approximately  six-tenths  of  the  low  heating  value  of  a 
pound  of  gasoline,  and  a  given  weight  of  gasoline  requires 
approximately  twice  the  weight  of  air  for  complete  com- 
bustion as  the  same  weight  of  alcohol.  Explosive  mixtures 
of  alcoholic  vapor  and  air  can  be  compressed  at  much 
higher  pressures  in  an  engine  cylinder  without  pre-igniting 
tlian  mi.xtures  of  gasoline  vapor  and  air.  A  gasoline  engine 
which  has  a  compression  pressure  of  70  lb.  but  is  otherwise 
as  well  suited  to  the  economic  use  of  denatured  alcohol  as 
gasoline  will  give  about  10  per  cent  more  available  horse- 
power when  using  alcohol.  Gasoline  and  alcohol  engines  of 
similar  construction  and  having  degrees  of  compression  best 
suited  to  the  fuel  employed  will  require  as  a  rule  equal 
volumes  of  gasoline  and  denatured  alcohol  respectively  per 
brake  hp-hr.  Gasoline  engines  of  the  usual  4-cycIe 
stationary  type  will  ordinarily  consume  about  I  lb.  of  gaso- 
line per  brake  hp-hr.  at  or  near  the  rated  load  and  with  a 
reasonably  favorable  adjustment  of  the  mixture  quality  and 
the  time  of  ignition.  The  relative  fire  hazard  involved  in 
the  storage  and  use  of  denatured  alcohol  appears  from 
statistics  to  be  very  much  less  than  the  hazard  from  gasoline 
and  possibly  less  than  that  from  kerosene.  Progress  in  the 
United  States  in  developing  alcohol  engines  has  been  slow. 


FUEL-OIL   PRODUCTION    AND    CONSUMPTION 
THE  UNITED  STATES. 


IN 


The  statistics  compiled  by  the  United  States  Census  Bu- 
reau on  the  production  and  consumption  of  oil,  published 
in  the  report  of  the  thirteenth  census,  are  of  considerable 
interest  to  users  of  internal  combustion  engines.  Crude 
petroleum  is  the  common  source  from  which  naphtha,  gas- 
oline, kerosene  and  the  heavier  oils  are  obtained,  by  the 
process  of  fractional  distillation. 

During  the  past  decade  the  crude  petroleum  used  has  in- 
creased in  quantity  from  52,011,005  barrels  of  42  gal.  each 

n.\T.\   ON    PETROLECM    and   its   PRODtJCTS,    1899-I9O9. 


1909. 

1904. 

1899. 

Crude  petroleum  used* 

Barrels  (42  gal.) 

Cost 

Price  per  gallon 

OBs— 
Illuminating: 

Barrels  (SO  gal.) 

Value     

120,775,439 

$152,307,040 

3.01  cents 

33,495.798 
894,547,010 

66,982,862 
$107,487,091 
3.85  cents 

27,135,094 
$91,366,434 

52,011,005 

$80,424,207 

3.70  cents 

25,171.289 
$74,694,297 

Price  per  gallon 

5.70  cents             6.73  cents 

5.92  cents 

Fuel  (including  gas  oils) : 

Barrels 

Value 

Price  per  gallon 


Lubricating: 

Barrels 

Value 

Price  per  gallon. 


Naphtha  and   gasoline   (in- 
culding  gas  naphtha) : 

Barrels 

Value 

Price  per  gallon 


34,034,577 
$36,462,883 
2.11  cents 


10,745,885 
$38,884,236 
7.42  cents 


10,806,550 
$39,771,959 
7.36  cents 


7,209,428 
$9,205,391 
2.5  7  cents 


6,298,251 
$23,553,091 
7.46  cents 


5,811,289 
$21,314,837 
7.34  cents 


6,095,224 
$7,550,664 
2.48  cents 


3,408,918 
$10,897,214 
6.45  cents 


5,615,554 
$15,991,742 
5.71  cents 


in  1899  to  120,775,439  barrels  in  1909,  or  132.2  per  cent, 
and  the  refined-oil  products  aggregated  40,290,985  barrels 
of  50  gal.  each  in  1899,  46,454,062  barrels  in  1904,  and  89.- 
082,810  barrels  in  1909,  an  increase  for  the  decade  of 
136.2  per  cent. 

The  largest  gain  was  that  in  the  output  of  fuel  oils, 
which  increased  from  7,209,428  barrels  in  1904  to  34,034,- 
'^j'j  barrels  in  1909  as  the  result  of  the  increase  in  the  re- 
fining of  low-grade  crude  oils.  The  accompanying  table, 
taken  from  the  report  above  mentioned,  shows  the  in- 
crease in  production  and  the  variation  in  price  of  the 
four  most  common   petroleum  products  during  ten  years. 


November  23,  1912 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


lopo 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


ELECTRICAL   PAGE  AT  TWIN  FALLS,  IDAHO. 

The  commercial  department  of  the  Great  Shoshone  & 
Twin  Falls  Water  Power  Company,  Twin  Falls,  Idaho,  once 
a  month  publishes  an  electrical  page  in  the  Twin  Falls 
Times.  The  material  is  very  similar  to  that  in  the  electrical 
pages  published  in  the  larger  cities  in  the  East,  the  page 
being  devoted  entirely  to  electrical  advertising  and  reading 
matter.  The  issues  in  which  the  page  appears  are  mailed 
to  all  consumers  and  prospective  customers  of  the  company 
in  the.  eighteen  different  towns  and  cities  reached  by  its 
circuits.  The  return  from  the  sale  of  advertising  is  sufficient 
to  pay  the  cost  of  printing  the  page,  and  contracts  for 
certain  specified  amounts  of  space  are  made  with  eacli 
advertiser  on  a  yearly  basis.  The  results  thus  far  have 
greatly  exceeded  the  expectations  of  the  company,  and, 
judging  from  the  general  interest  displayed,  this  form  of 
advertising  has  been  most  profitable.  The  electrical  page 
published  by  the  Great  Shoshone  &  Twin  Falls  Water 
Power  Company  is  the  first  of  its  kind  to  be  started  in  the 
inter-mountain  region,  if  not  the  first  west  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  To  Mr.  E.  A.  Wilcox,  the  commercial  agent  of 
the  company,  this  innovation  is  due. 


TRANSMISSION  LINES    IN  THE    SAN   DIEGO 
DISTRICT. 


Illustrating  the  growth  of  an  up-to-date  electric-service 
company,  the  accompanying  map  of  the  ii,oco-volt  lines  of 
the  San  Diego  Consolidated  Gas  &  Electric  Company  of 
San  Diego,  Cal.,  is  interesting.  The  city  is  growing  rapidly, 
and  the  company,  which  is  controlled  by  H.  M.  Byllesby  & 


£Uetrieiil  ii'urli 

Map    Showing    11,000-Volt    Lines    of    the    San    Diego    Consolidated 
Gas    &    Electric    Company. 

Company,  is  growing  with  it.  The  suburbs  are  keeping 
pace  with  the  city.  To  serve  the  field,  the  company  has 
constructed  many  miles  of  11,000-volt  electric  transmission 
lines  and  high-pressure  gas  mains.  Shown  on  the  map  are 
loi  miles  of  ii,ooo-volt  electric  transmission  line  serving 
communities  from  Delmar,  20  miles  north  of  San  Diego,  to 
Tia  Juana,  just  this  side  of  the  Mexican  border,   16  miles 


on    the   south,   and   to   Lakeview   and   Lakeside,    22   miles 
northeast. 

The  map  shows  only  the  high-tension  electric  extensions. 
At  the  present  time  the  San  Diego  Consolidated  Gas  & 
Electric  Company  owns  a  total  of  343.9  miles  of  gas  mains, 
which  include  the  high-pressure  extensions,  and  1530  miles 
of  electric  lines,  which  include  the  high-tension  electric 
extensions  to  the  suburbs  and  surrounding  towns.  Exten- 
sions are  under  way  at  the  present  time  to  a  number  of 
other  communities,  and  the  company  does  not  lose  time  in 
securing  possible  business.  The  population  of  the  city  of 
San  Diego  as  given  by  the  1910  federal  census  is  39,578. 
The  total  population  served  by  the  San  Diego  company  at 
the  present  time  is  approximately  64,500.  As  an  indication 
of  the  company's  increased  business,  the  electric  output  for 
the  week  ended  Oct.  18  was  301,440  kw-hr.,  which  shows  a 
gain  of  45  per  cent  over  the  corresponding  week  of  last 
year. 


LEASED    PRIVATE    OPERATION  OF  A  MUNICIPAL 
PLANT. 


The  electric-lighting  system  of  Emporia,  Kan.,  at  one  time 
owned  by  the  local  combination  gas  company,  was  purchased 
by  the  city  nearly  fifteen  years  ago.  For  thirteen  and  one- 
half  years  it  was  then  operated  as  a  municipal  plant,  follow- 
ing which,  in  April,  191 1,  it  was  leased  by  a  private 
syndicate  which  now  operates  it.  During  the  period  of  its 
service  as  a  city  undertaking  the  property  was  managed  by 
the  same  man  who  has  since  been  in  charge  for  private 
capital,  so  that  an  excellent  opportunity  is  here  afforded  to 
compare  the  limitations  and  advantages  of  municipal  and 
corporate  operation,  assuming  the  important  factor  of 
managerial  skill  and  acumen  to  have  remained  practically 
constant  throughout  both  periods.  In  fact,  the  former 
Emporia  situation  was  an  example  of  the  best  conditions  of 
municipal  operation,  wherein  a  capable  manager  was  re- 
tained in  his  position  throughout  the  terms  of  three  different 
political  parties  and  the  operating  force  did  not  fluctuate 
with  varying  political  fortunes. 

The  Emanuel  syndicate  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  now  leases  the 
Emporia  power  plant  and  distribution  system  for  a  yearly 
rental  of  $3,400,  which  is  5  per  cent  of  its  appraised  value, 
$68,000,  at  the  time  it  was  taken  over,  April  11,  igii.  This 
inventory  was  made  by  a  board  composed  of  Prof.  B.  F. 
Eyer,  of  Manhattan.  Kan.,  and  Mr.  M.  Dunsworth,  manager 
of  the  Emporia  property  for  the  past  fifteen  years.  The 
valuation  applies  only  to  the  power  plant  and  the  existing 
distributing  system.  The  lease  is  for  twenty  years,  at  the 
end  of  which  time  the  company  agrees  to  turn  back  to  the 
city  an  equal  valuation  in  modern  up-to-date  equipment,  the 
likelihood  being,  of  course,  that  in  the  meantime  all  the 
present  apparatus  will  have  become  obsolete  and  have  been 
replaced.  The  question  of  renting  the  plant  and  abolishing 
municipal  service  was  voted  upon  by  the  people  of  Emporia 
and  the  proposition  thoroughly  approved  before  action  was 
taken. 

Since  taking  over  the  property  the  tenant  company  has 
expended  $55,000  in  improvements  at  the  generating  station, 
including  the  installation  of  a  500-kw  steam  turbine.  The 
existing  municipal  equipment  comprised  one  150-kw  and  one 
360-kw  engine-driven  alternator  and  four  150-hp  boilers. 
The  larger  engine  set  is  now  being  operated  regularly  with 
the  turbine.  Extending  the  distribution  system  by  more 
than  100  per  cent  of  its  former  scope,  many  new  lines  have 
been  opened  up  to  outlying  territory  and  new  customer? 
taken  on  who  have  long  clamored  for  service. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21. 


Emporia,  a  city  of  10,000,  had  700  users  of  electricity 
when  the  municipal  plant  closed  shop.  Now,  eighteen 
months  later,  there  are  1300  customers.  Power  business  has 
also  been  added  and  a  good  day  load  secured.  At  the 
present  time,  according  to  Mr.  C.  A.  Bergen,  contract  agent, 
the  Emporia  plant  has  a  larger  output  per  capita  than  any 
other  station  in  Kansas. 

Such  extensions  as  were  made  in  the  days  of  municipal 
ownership  had  to  be  met  out  of  the  electric-lighting  fund 
and  were  consequently  few  and  small,  despite  the  fact  that 
no  depreciation  or  interest  was  ever  charged  against  the 
equipment  investment.  Money  was  always  hard  to  get,  and 
even  after  funds  had  been  appropriated,  action  and  author- 
ization from  the  various  citizens'  committees  were  slow  and 
tedious  to  obtain.  A  bond  issue  of  $30,000  was  floated  in 
the  early  days  of  city  working,  and  this  was  used  to  defray 
cost  of  some  new  engine  sets,  etc. 

For  its  municipal  plant  the  city  was  never,  of  course,  able 
to  solicit  new  business,  so  that  it  was  inevitable  that  local 
electrical  development  stagnated.  Now  an  attractive  down- 
town office  is  maintained,  an  aggressive  new-business  man- 
ager is  employed  and  the  company  advertises  extensively  by 
newspapers,  billboards  and  direct  appeal.  A  six-car  street- 
railway  service  has  been  inaugurated,  and  the  principal 
streets  are  lighted  with  a  "white  way"  formed  by  bracket 
lamps  attached  to  the  trolley  posts.  Under  its  contract  with 
the  city  the  rate  for  lighting  service  remains  the  same  as 
under  municipal  operation,  10  cents  per  kw-hr.,  with  $1 
minimum  per  customer. 

Summing  up,  twice  as  many  customers  are  now  being 
reached  with  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  electric 
light;  new  industries  are  being  encouraged  to  locate  and 
buy  energy;  the  municipality  is  receiving  an  assured  5  per 
cent  return  on  its  investment  instead  of  floating  bond  issues, 
and  since  the  stimulus  of  progressive  private  operation  has 
been  applied  the  little  city  made  famous  by  William  Allen 
White  has  altogether  become  a  brighter  and  more  attractive 
place  to  live. 

CLASSIFIED  COMPARISON  OF  RATES. 


CENTRAL-STATION    ACTIVITY    IN    KANSAS    CITY. 


The  Grand  Rapids-Muskegon  Power  Company  has  made 
a  comparison  of  the  rates  charged  for  central-station  service 
in  thirty  different  cities,  from  the  data  prepared  by  the 
companies  in  each  city,  for  certain  classes  of  installations. 
The  method  of  making  the  comparison  was  similar  to  that 
followed  by  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  rate  research  committee  in 
191 1  for  certain  classes  of  installations  in  the  thirty-six 
largest  cities  in  the  United  States.  The  average  rates 
found  in  the  present  instance  are  presented  in  the  accom- 
panying table. 

AVERAGE     RATES     FOR     CENTRAL-STATION     SERVICE     IN     THIRTY 

CITIES. 


Monthly 

Average 

Connected 

Maximum 

Consump- 

Rate per 

Installation. 

Load, 

Demand. 

tion, 

Kw-hr., 

Kw. 

Kw. 

Kw-hr. 

Cents. 

3.0 
0.6 

2.2 

o.s 

127 
27 

9.1 

Residence,  small 

9.4 

Retail  store,  large. . 

7.0 

7.0 

1126 

6.3 

Retail  store,  small. . 

0.5 

0.5 

67 

8.1 

1.5 

1.5 

200 

7.4 

Saloon 

1.5 

1.5 

377 

6.35 

Church 

5.0 

5.0 

156 

8.7 

Industrial,- one  motor 

1.49 

2.0 

109 

6.6 

Industrial,  two  motors 

3.7 

5.0 

286 

6.0 

Industrial,  three  motors 

10.3 

10. 0 

244 

6.7 

Industrial,  eight  motors 

18.7 

25.0 

3318 

3.2 

Industrial,  twenty  motors.  .  . 

59.7 

50.0 

4180 

3.5 

Out  of  the  total  of  thirty  cities,  there  was  one  having  a 
population  of  less  than  25,000,  nine  with  populations  be- 
tween 25,000  and  50,000,  eight  between  50,000  and  100,000, 
seven  between  100,000  and  200,000,  four  between  200,000 
and  500,000,  and  one  in  excess  of  1,000,000  population. 


New  customers  are  now  being  added  to  the  Kansas  City 
Electric  Light  Company's  lines  at  the  rate  of  a  thousand 
or  more  a  month,  the  meter  settings  having  recently  run  as 
high  as  1500  in  thirty  days.  Fears  for  the  failure  of  the 
natural-gas  supply  are  held  to  be  in  part  responsible  for 
the  present  landslide  toward  electric  service.  A  similar 
effect  is  felt  in  the  industrial  field,  where  about  20,000  kw  in 
motors  is  awaiting  connection  to  the  company's  lines.  T( 
the  interruption  of  the  industrial  natural-gas  supply  is 
added  the  effect  of  the  action  that  has  been  taken  by  the 
oil  dealers  in  refusing  to  furnish  any  more  fuel  oil  for  local 
isolated  plants. 

Advantage  of  the  present  apprehension  about  the  gas- 
lighting  supply  has  been  taken  by  the  Kansas  City  Electric 


There's  Plenty  Electric  Light  for  Everybody! 


h  cost!  very  little  to  have  your  house  wired  under  our  Special  House  Wiring  Offer 
We  have  WIRED  1200  homes  at  an  average  COST  of  $45.14  per  house,  paid 
in  monthly  installments  of  $3.76,  WITHOUT  INTEREST 
LET  US  WIRE  YOUR  HOME 

KANSAS  CITY  ELECTRIC  UGHT  CO. 


HOUSE  WIRING  DEPARTMENT 


PHONE.)  ssi,  50  %\T 


15th  Street  and  Grand  Avenue 


1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 


I  I  I  I  I  It  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  H  I  I  I  IMII  I  II  I  M  I  I 


Poster  Used   in    Kansas  City   Lighting  Campaign. 

Light  Company  to  do  some  clever  advertising,  an  example  of 
which  is  reproduced  herewith.  These  pictures  have  been 
used  on  cards  mailed  to  local  gas  users  and  posted  in  display 
windows,  and  their  humorous  quality  has  created  much 
amusement. 

Since  April  i,  191 1,  the  old-house  wiring  campaign 
already  referred  to  in  these  columns  has  been  progressing 
rapidly,  1350  houses  having  been  wired  in  about  eighteen 
months.  For  this  entire  number,  according  to  Mr.  C.  F. 
Farley,  contract  agent,  only  sixty-seven  extensions  were  re- 
quired. Six  solicitors  are  employed  and  contracts  are  now 
averaging  fifty  a  week,  although  recently  in  one  week  a 
record  of  sixty-nine  was  attained.  Half  of  the  contracts 
closed  during  the  entire  campaign  have  been  taken  in  the 
last  six  months.  The  average  cost  per  house  has  been 
$45.14,  the  contracts  providing  that  this  sum  shall  be  paid 
in  monthly  instalments  of  $3.76. 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


IIOI 


MOTOR-DRIVEN  SHOE  CLEANER  AS  WINDOW 
ATTRACTION. 


An  up-to-date  cleaning  establishment  in  Peoria,  111.,  has 
a  rotary  shoebrush  installed  out  on  the  sidewalk  just  be- 
neath its  display  window,  so  that  pedestrians  can  flick  the 
wayside  dust  from  their  footgear  while  they  look  into  the 
window.  This  shoebrush  has  become  very  popular  and  is 
in  use  almost  continuously,  many  people  walking  around 
this  way,  a  block  off  the  main  street,  to  have  their  shoes 
dusted  in  a  twinkling  by  machinery.  As  the  i/6-hp  motor 
which  drives  the  duster  runs  daily  from  6  a.  m.  to  10  p.  m.. 


Sewing-.Machine  ^^^^^^         ,-~-^ 

Pullov         ^'/^      \\~-/_         -t^ 

I  ?-N  \  Motor 
V  ,'-'  I  '«.H.P. 
CJ> — <_j 


Sidewalk 

Electrical  World 

Motor- Driven   Shoe    Duster  for   Public's   Use. 

it  provides  a  desirable  long-hour  load  for  the  central-station 
company,  which  also  operates  all  the  machinery  of  the 
establishment. 

The  rotary  brush  used  is  one  of  the  kind  employed  on 
electric  shoe-repairing  machines.  It  is  driven  through  a 
14-in.  pulley  taken  from  a  sewing  machine  beltej  to  the 
motor,  which  runs  at  3400  r.p.m.  The  Ideal  Laundiy  Com- 
pany, which  has  the  installation,  considers  the  duster  a 
valuable  advertisement  for  its  general  cleaning  business. 


tribute  to  the  suspicion   felt  by  those  in  medium  circum- 
stances that  electricity  is  an  expensive  luxury. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  wealthy  woman  who  sees  electric 
service  installed  in  the  house  of  a  poorer  neighbor  is  at 
once  convinced  that  she  can  afford  electric  light  if  her  less 
prosperous  acquaintance  can.  As  a  result  the  large  houses 
come  easily  into  the  electric  fold,  and  the  central  station 
thus  gets  all  the  business.  It  is  to  the  small  customers, 
therefore,  that  attention  and  effort  should  be  directed.  This 
class  requires  more  of  the  salesman's  time,  for  indirectly  the 
results  obtained  are  of  double  value. 


KENTUCKY  ELECTRIC   COMPANY'S   DEMONSTRA- 
TIONS OF  DOMESTIC  APPLIANCES. 


Since  the  opening  of  the  Kentucky  Electric  Company's 
new  building,  noted  on  page  998  of  our  issue  of  Nov.  9,  a 
specialty  has  been  made  of  the  demonstration  of  household 
appliances,  the  entire  first  floor  being  given  over  to  this 
feature.  Small  rooms  furnished  in  the  most  approved  style 
and  separated  from  each  other  by  Mission  railings  are  used 
to  simulate  the  modern  home,  and  in  each  room  from 
parlor  to  kitchen  are  installed  electrical  appliances  of  every 
nature.  The  visitor  is  welcomed  and  conducted  through 
the  entire  house,  a  demonstration  being  made  of  as  many 
of  the  appliances  as  practicable.  The  president  of  the 
company,  Mr.  Robert  E.  Hughes,  recently  gave  a  series  of 
"electric  luncheons"  to  the  stockholders  of  the  company  and 
other  invited  guests,  at  which  all  of  the  viands  were  pre- 
pared in  the  electrically  equipped  kitchen.  In  the  near 
future  the  company  plans  to  give  a  series  of  lectures,  illus- 
trated with  motion  pictures,  in  the  assembly  hall  of  the 
building  to  demonstrate  to  classes  of  business  men  the 
commercial  and  industrial  uses  of  electrical  energy. 


ELECTRICITY  VS.    GASOLINE  IN  WOOD   SAWING. 


STORING  FANS  FOR  THE  WINTER. 


Something  more  than  a  year  ago  the  Red  River  Power 
Company,  Grand  Forks,  N.  D.,  succeeded  in  inducing  the 
Fairchild  Fuel  Company  to  install  an  electric  motor  for  the 
operation  of  a  saw,  displacing  a  gasoline  engine.  Recently 
the  electric-service  company  received  a  letter  from  the  fuel 
concern  comparing  the  cost  of  operation  by  electricity  with 
the  cost  of  operation  by  gasoline.  The  letter  contained  the 
following  figures: 

The  cost  of  gasoline  from  Sept.  5,  1910,  to  Sept.  5,  191 1, 
was  $57.48  and  repairs  and  batteries  cost  $60.65,  a  total  of 
$118.13.  The  average  cost  of  the  gasoline  was  15  cents  a 
gallon.  The  amount  of  wood  sawed  was  905  cords  at  a  cost 
of  13  cents  a  cord.  Electricity  was  used  from  Sept.  5,  191 1, 
to  Sept.  5,  1912,  at  a  cost  of  $88.25.  Repairs,  fuses  and 
brushes  cost  $9.46,  a  total  of  $97.71.  In  this  case  the 
amount  of  wood  sawed  was  1178  cords,  the  average  cost 
being  8.4  cents  a  cord.  The  comparison  shows  that  the 
fuel  company  was  able  to  saw  30  per  cent  more  wood  and 
at  the  same  time  was  able  to  effect  a  reduction  of  35  per 
cent  in  unit  cost. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  SMALL-RESIDENCE 
CUSTOMER. 


A  new-business  manager  who  has  been  directing  special 
attention  to  getting  house-wiring  contracts  from  the  humbler 
homes  in  his  community  points  out  the  exemplary  advantage 
of  first  securing  this  class  of  customers  rather  than  the 
wealthier  residents.  While  the  more  pretentious  dwellings 
insure  a  greater  income,  they  fail  as  examples  in  getting 
other   residence   business   because,   if   anything,   they   con- 


For  the  dust-proof  storage  of  his  rental  fans  during  the 
winter  months,  Mr.  J.  T.  Skinner,  manager  of  the  Lawrence 
(Kan.)  Railway  &  Light  Company,  has  had  one  end  knocked 
out  of  each  of  a  number  of  the  shipping  boxes  in  which  the 
fans  were  received.  The  open  boxes  are  then  assembled 
in  piles,  like  sectional  bookcases,  and  fastened  together  by 
nailing  plasterers'  laths  across  their  backs.  A  piece  of 
wood  planking  forms  the  top  of  the  group  as  shown.  The 
covers  are  meanwhile  prepared  by  nailing  lengthwise  on 
each  a  piece  of  lath  cut  just  long  enough  to  be  tacked  onto 
the  box  sides,  to  hold  the  cover  in  place.  Arranged  in  this 
way,  any  cover  of  the  lot  can  be  removed  easily  to  inspect 
the  fan  within. 

Accompanying  the  box  storage  shelves  a  card  index  has 


Plauli  Top 


1 

2 

3 

-, 

0 

4 

•at 

10 

s 

5 

11 

6 

12 

=1 

I 

11 

8 

15 

13 

IT 

IS 

£ad  Kaocked 

/  Out 


Kailed 


i^ttLU  „ t -771 


Eltietruitt  lYiirU 


Shipping     Boxes    Arranged    for    Winter     Fan     Storage. 

been  prepared  locating  each  fan  by  the  number  of  its  con- 
tainer, and  giving  details  of  the  fan's  nameplate,  location 
where  last  used,  when  returned,  when  wanted  again,  parts 
missing,  condition,  repairs  necessary,  etc.  Referring  to  this 
index,  parts  can  be  ordered  in  advance,  and  during  bad 
winter  weather  the  outside  men's  time  will  be  utilized  in 
making  the  fans  ready  for  the  coming  season. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o.  No   21. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

BYLLESBY  COMPANIES  ADOPT  UNIFORM  METHOD 
OF  GROUNDING. 


All  managers  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company  properties 
engaged  in  the  production  and  distribution  of  electricity  who 
have  not  already  made  a  practice  of  grounding  the  second- 
ary circuits  of  transformers  were  requested  recently  to 
make  proper  and  workmanlike  ground  connections  on  sec- 
ondary circuits  where  the  potential  of  such  circuits  does 
not  exceed  250  volts.  According  to  the  circular  letter  of 
instructions  sent  out,  all  ground  connections  must  be  made 
at  the  poles  where  the  transformers  are  installed  and  not 
within  the  building  of  the  customer,  nor  shall  the  service 
switch  either  on  the  customer's  side  or  on  the  service  side 
be  connected  to  ground.  Secondary  circuits  over  1000  ft. , 
long  must  be  grounded  every  1000  ft.  The  ground  connec- 
tion is  made  by  driving  a  J^-in-  galvanized  iron  pipe  at  least 
5  ft.  into  the  ground  at  the  base  of  the  pole,  and  more  than 
5  ft.  if  permanent  moisture  is  not  obtained  at  that  depth. 
To  the  top  of  this  pipe  is  secured,  by  means  of  Babbitt  metal 
poured  into  the  pipe  and  extending  therein  8  in.,  a  piece  of 
No.  6  gage  BE  puddled  iron  wire.  This  connection  is  ex- 
tended up  the  pole,  the  wire  being  secured  by  staples  at  in- 
tervals of  3  ft.  For  a  distance  of  7  ft.  from  the  ground  the 
ground  wire  is  protected  by  a  piece  of  heavy  molding.  All 
single-phase,  two-wire  secondary  circuits  are  required  to  be 
connected  to  ground  on  one  side  of  the  circuit,  and  all 
secondary  three-wire  circuits,  are  to  be  grounded  at  the 
neutral  wire.  All  multiphase  secondary  circuits  must  be 
grounded  from  the  neutral  point  of  the  phase  connections. 


REMOTE-CONTROLLED  SWITCHING  SUBSTATION. 


Across  the  Illinois  River  from  its  Peoria  generating  sta- 
tion, the  Peoria  (111.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company  is  building 
a  switching  and  transformer  substation  which  will  be  con- 
trolled entirely  through  a  submarine  cable  from  the  oper- 
ating switchboard  in  the  main  plant.  A  single  13,000-volt, 
three-phase  transmission  circuit,  already  built,  crosses  the 
river  on  a  railroad  bridge,  and  from  this  it  was  desired  to 
feed  three  separate  circuits  on  the  far  side.  No  space  was 
available  for  additional  lines  on  the  bridge,  and  submarine 
cables  were  objected  to,  so  that  the  only  remaining  course 
was  to  locate  the  switching  station  across  the  stream,  ex- 
tending its  control  circuits  back  to  the  main  switchboard. 

An  ingenious  circuit  arrangement  has  been  devised  in  the 


Overload 
Relay 
Trip  Coj],     CJ 


t-'lictrical  Wt,rtil 

Circuit  for  Controlling  Through  Oil   Switches  Over  Five  Wires. 

factory  of  the  manufacturer  of  the  switches,  the  Westing- 
house  company,  by  which  all  three  oil  switches  can  be  indi- 
vidually opened  and  closed  and  have  their  positions  re- 
ported at  all  times,  using  only  five  wires  in  the  control 
cable.  In  the  accompanying  sketch  are  shown  the  operating 
circuits  of  a  single  switch.  The  oil-switch  arm  is  provided 
with   telltale   contacts   which   report   its   position,   whether 


open  or  closed,  by  lighting  lamps  at  the  main  control  board. 
Energy  for  these  lamps  is  fed  through  the  coils  or  relay 
windings,  but  the  current  taken  by  the  lamps  is,  of  course, 
not  sufficient  to  operate  the  coils.  To  open  or  close  the  oil 
switch,  the  proper  actuating  contact  is  c'osed  only  mo- 
mentarily. The  "closing  "  position  first  operates  the  relay, 
which  completes  the  circuit  to  the  closing  coil.  The  "open- 
ing" position  directly  completes  the  trip-coil  circuit.  The 
latter  is  also  connected  to  the  overload  relays  associated 
with  the  series  transformers,  so  that  in  case  of  overload 
the  switches  open  automatically.  The  oil  switches  are  of 
the  Westinghouse  toggle  solenoid-operated  type  and  are 
rated  at  100  amp,  13,200  volts. 


WIRING  FOR  RAILROAD  BUILDINGS. 


A  committee  of  which  Mr.  A.  J.  Farrelly,  of  the  Chicago 
&  Northwestern  Railway,  was  chairman  presented  a  report 
on  the  installation  of  wiring  for  electric  service  in  railway 
buildings  at  the  recent  convention  of  the  Association  of 
Railway  Electrical  Engineers.  Some  general  recommen- 
dations and  suggestions  were  offered  in  relation  to  the 
wiring  of  eight  classes  of  railway  buildings  as  follows: 
First,  roundhouses ;  second,  machine  shops,  boiler  rooms 
and  engine  rooms;  third,  storerooms,  oil  rooms  and  oil- 
storage  rooms;  fourth,  coal  sheds  and  coal  chutes;  fifth, 
cinder  and  ash  pits;  sixth,  passenger  stations;  seventh, 
passenger-station  platforms;  eighth,  freight  stations. 

In  the  case  of  roundhouses  it  was  recommended  that  all 
wiring  be  installed  in  conduit  to  be  carried  either  upon 
the  outside  or  inside  of  the  outer  wall.  For  general  illumi- 
nation in  roundhouses  it  was  recommended  that  use  be 
made  of  some  type  of  head-lamp  reflectors,  placed  upon 
the  outer  wall  in  the  locomotive  stalls  and  approximately 
8  ft.  to  12  ft.  above  the  floor. 

For  machine  shops  complete  conduit  construction  for 
both  lighting  and  motor-service  wiring  was  recommended. 
Wiring  for  motors  should  be  run  in  conduits  under  the 
floor,  and  a  separate  circuit  should  be  run  from  the  panel 
box  to  each  tool.  All  motors  of  over  5  hp  should  be  pro- 
vided with  starting  apparatus  having  overload  and  no- 
voltage  attachments.  In  no  case  should  two  or  more 
motors  be  controlled  by  the  same  fuse.  It  was  also  rec- 
ommended that  the  rating  of  all  fuses  and  panel  boxes 
on  motor  circuits  be  25  per  cent  more  than  that  at  which 
the  overload  switch  at  the  motor  is  normally  set. 

Brief  recommendations  were  made  in  the  cases  of  the 
other  classes  of  structures  enumerated,  and  a  form  of  esti- 
mate sheet  was  given,  with  a  typical  list  of  materials,  to 
be  used  in  installing  the  wiring  in  any  ordinary  railway 
building.  Mr.  Farrelly  explained  that  this  estimate  sheet 
was  obtained  from  Mr.  W.  J.  Eck,  electrical  engineer  of 
the    Southern    Pacific   Railway. 

In  the  discussion  a  number  of  practical  points  were 
brought  out.  Mr.  Farrelly  favored  the  use  of  receptacles 
on  machine  tools  for  attaching  plugs  for  portable  lamps, 
doing  away  with  drop  cords.  Another  delegate  recom- 
mended the  use  of  single-pole  circuit-breakers  for  each 
machine  tool,  doing  away  with  fuses.  There  was  some 
discussion  as  to  the  best  method  to  be  adopted  to  provide 
for  changes  in  the  position  of  machines.  Mr.  Pastorius 
thought  it  better  to  provide  several  centers  of  distribution 
for  one  shop  of  considerable  size  rather  than  one  panel- 
board.  This  provides  more  flexibility  in  making  changes 
in  wiring  and  in  moving  tools  and  adding  new  tools.  He 
also  said  that  he  thought  open  wiring  was  all  right. 

Mr.  Andreucetti,  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern,  objected 
to  open  wiring  in  any  railroad  shop.  He  advocated  one 
center  of  distribution,  with  a  steel  cabinet  and  provision 
for  sufficient  circuits  to  care  for  extensions.  One  objection 
to  open  wiring,  he  said,  was  that  the  average  electrician  or 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


1 103 


handy  man  does  not  usually  make  a  good  job  of  electrical 
connections.  With  conduit  a  skilled  electrician  is  required. 
Mr.  Pastorius  explained  that  he  didn't  believe  in  open  wiring 
himself  as  a  rule,  but  the  main  feeders  should  be  accessible 
with  ease  in  making  changes.  Under  shop  management  the 
work  can  be  done  in  a  competent  manner.  Mr.  Collett  sug- 
gested a  loop  system  of  wiring  running  around  the  whole 
shop,  all  the  wiring  to  be  in  conduits,  no  individual  panel- 
boards  being  provided.  Another  delegate  advocated  the  use 
of  distributing  panels  for  groups  of  motors. 

Mr.  C.  R.  Oilman,  of  Milwaukee,  brought  up  the  subject 
of  accumulation  of  water  from  condensation  or  otherwise 
in  vertical  conduit  pipes  used  in  roundhouse  wiring.  Others 
had  had  some  trouble  from  this  cause,  and  as  a  preventive 
it  was  suggested  that  holes  be  drilled  in  pipes  for  drain- 
age or  else  that  the  conduit  be  embedded  in  concrete  or  at- 
tached to  wooden  posts. 

In  roundhouse  lighting,  also,  it  was  pointed  out  that  there 
i")  objection  to  the  use  of  conduits  on  the  roof,  as  there  are 
apt  to  be  leaks  where  the  taps  go  through  the  roof.  One 
gentleman  said  that  the  life  of  conduit  in  roundhouses  is 
from  three  to  five  years,  and  he  therefore  advocated  open 
wiring  for  this  class  of  work.  Others  said  that  if  the  con- 
duit was  placed  carefully  to  avoid  as  far  as  possible  fumes 
from  locomotive  stacks  and  if  it  was  painted  occasionally  it 
would  last  indefinitely. 

Another  assertion  made  was  that  arc  lamps  are  not  prac- 
ticable for  roundhouse  lighting,  as  the  fumes  attack  the 
mechanism  of  the  lamps.  However,  this  view  was  opposed 
by  other  engineers,  who  say  they  use  nothing  but  arc  lamps 
in  roundhouse  lighting  and  believe  that  the  flame  arc,  in 
particular,  is  the  solution  of  the  problem. 

In  relation  to  machine-shop  lighting  several  speakers 
noted  with  approval  a  tendency  to  do  away  with  localized 
lamps.  There  is  a  temptation  to  use  a  portable  lamp  un- 
necessarily if  it  is  available.  Others,  however,  disagreed 
with  the  idea  that  portables  on  each  machine  tend  to  en- 
courage unnecessary  use  of  electricity  for  lighting.  Mr. 
Farrelly  said  that  the  plug,  cord  and  lamp  of  a  portable  set 
should  be  kept  in  the  tool  room  and  used  only  on  requisition, 
being  returned  to  the  tool   room  when  nr>  longer  needed. 


OPERATION  OF  TUB-TRANSFORMER  SECONDARIES 
m  SERIES. 


At  one  of  the  Omaha  company's  substations  it  happened 
that  there  was  a  long  and  heavily  loaded  6.6-amp  inclosed- 
arc  circuit,  and  near  by  another  similar  circuit  very  much 
underloaded.  From  the  position  of  the  lines  and  the  streets 
they  served,  it  would  have  been  ine.xpedient  to  transfer 
lamps  from  the  heavily  loaded  circuit  onto  the  shorter  one. 
The  simplest  connection,  therefore,  seemed  that  of  plug- 
ging the  two  circuits  in  series  at  the  board  and  feeding 
the  pair   from  their  30-kw  constant-current  transformers 


Free  to 
Regulate 

AAAV\ 

Tub 
No.l 


£l»etru:ai  Warli   ■ 

Operation  of  Constant-Current  Transformers  In   Series. 

similarly  connected  in  series.  After  some  misgivings,  this 
was  successfully  accomplished,  and  the  two  tub  trans- 
formers now  pull  along  together  without  any  signs  of 
trouble.  In  connecting  up  these  transformers  with  their 
primaries  in  parallel  and  their  secondaries  in  series  it  was 
quickly  found  that  identical  polarity  arrangements  must  be 
preserved  throughout.    With  the  two  tubs  free  to  regulate 


separately,  objectionable  hunting  occurred.  A  slight  change 
in  the  external  circuit  would  cause  unequal  compensation 
in  the  two  units,  and  tht-n  both  would  oscillate  in  supple- 
mental fashion,  giving  poor  regulation.  This  "hunting" 
was  finally  avoided  by  tying  the  floating-coil  system  of  one 
firmly  in  full-load  position,  depending  on  the  regulation  of 
the  other  to  control  the  circuit.  A  similar  scheme  has 
since  been  applied  to  the  test  transformers  in  the  company's 
lamp-test  department,  when  heavy  series  loads  are  to  be 
carried. 


PROPOSED  STANDARDIZATION  OF  STREET-LIGHT- 
ING FIXTURES  IN  CHICAGO. 


A  select  committee  of  the  Chicago  City  Council  presented 
a  report  recently  recommending  the  adoption  of  an 
ordinance  providing  for  a  uniform  design  of  posts  and 
fixtures  for  electric  street  lighting  in  Chicago.  The  pro- 
posed ordinance  would  include  posts  for  commercial  incan- 
descent street  lighting  as  well  as  for  arc  lighting,  the  posts 
for  the  latter  to  be  of  different  designs  in  the  "downtown" 
and  outlying  districts.  The  posts  for  commercial  incandes- 
cent street  lighting,  as  proposed,  would  be  such  that  the 
center  of  the  lowest  globe  would  be  16  ft.  above  the  level 
of  the  curb.  This  is  considerably  higher  than  the  present 
practice  in  Chicago  in  relation  to  curb  lighting.  However, 
before  the  Mayor  signed  the  ordinance,  the  vote  by  which 
it  was  passed  was  reconsidered,  and  the  matter  has  been 
referred  back  to  the  committee  to  include  both  gas  and 
electric-light  street  lamp-posts;  and  whi'e  the  connnittee  is 
considering  the  whole  subject  it  is  possible  the  proposed 
design   for  curb-lighting  posts  may  be  altered. 


COMBINATION     "WHITE-WAY"     AND    TROLLEY 
POLES  AT  LINCOLN,  NEB. 


One  of  the  first  installations  of  combination  trolley  poles 
and  "white-way"  fixtures  made  was  at  Lincoln,  Neb.,  where 
150  such  posts  are  now  in  use  in  the  business  district.  The 
20-ft.  tubular  steel  poles  are  equipped  with  ornamental  base 


Combination    Trolley   and    Lamp    Posts   of    Lincoln,    Neb. 

sleeves  over  their  lower  8-in.  sections  and  have  four  2.5-ft. 
arms  bolted  onto  the  6-in.  upper  standards,  at  a  height  of 
10  ft.  above  the  curb.  Each  30-in.  scroll-supported  arm 
carries  a  6o-watt  tungsten  lamp,  the  arms  making  4S-deg. 
angles  with  the  curb,  so  that  the  four  lamps  of  each  post 
form  squares  parallel  to  the  building  line.  The  trolley  poles 
are  set  without  rake,  and  the  lamp  arms  have  been  care- 


IIQ4 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21. 


fully  leveled,  so  that  the  effect  is  very  attractive.  The 
underground  system  was  installed,  however,  using  rubber- 
covered  wire  pulled  through  duct  to  8-in.  square  outlet 
boxes  at  the  foot  of  the  poles — an  effort  at  economy  which 
has  since  given  much  trouble,  necessitating  reconstruction 
of  some  sections.  Completely  equipped  the  installation  cost 
$84  per  post,  the  expense  of  the  trolley  poles  being  met  by 
the  Lincoln  Traction  Company,  whose  spans  they  support. 
Heavy  breakage  of  lamp  filaments  has  been  suffered  with 
this  Lincoln  installation,  but  such  results  are  probably  trace- 
able to  other  causes  in  addition  to  the  vibration  caused  by 
trolley-pole  impacts,  etc.  This  cluster  system  is  operated 
from  the  Lincoln  municipal  electric-light  plant. 


INDIRECT  LIGHTING  OF  A  SMALL  CITY  CHURCH. 


IRON-PIPE  ALLEY  CONSTRUCTION. 


Extensive  use  of  iron  pipe  for  cross-arras  and  other  pole- 
line  structures  is  made  by  the  Muncie  and  Marion  (Ind.) 
properties  of  the  American  Gas  &  Electric  Company.     An 


Cemented    Iron-Pipe    Arms    In    Alleys. 

account  of  this  construction  with  illustrations  was  given 
in  the  Electrical  World  of  June  15,  page  1316.  The  accom- 
panying illustration  shows  the  neat  and  economical  iron- 
pipe  alley  construction  used  about  the  public  square  at 
Hartford  City,  Ind.  Second-hand  3-in.  gas  pipe  is  cut  to 
length,  painted  inside  and  out  by  dipping  and  cemented  into 
the  brick  walls  of  the  opposite  buildings,  at  a  height  of 
18  ft.  to  20  ft.  above  the  ground.  Two  such  supports  per 
block  suffice  to  carry  the  three  No.  o  wires  with  the  No.  2 
neutral,  giving  spans  of  150  ft.  to  175  ft.  The  insulators 
are  fixed  to  the  pipe  with  wagon-bale  clamp  pins  as  de- 
scribed in  the  foregoing  article.  Where  there  are  no  brick 
buildings,  temporary  wooden  poles  can  be  erected  to  carry 
one  or  both  ends  of  the  pipe.  Adjoining  property  owners 
have  generally  expressed  preference  for  the  concreted  pipe 
construction  rather  than  having  poles  set  in  the  alley,  and 
they  gladly  grant  permission  for  the  necessary  holes  in  their 
brick  walls.  If  permission  is  withheld,  however,  a  pole  is 
set.  The  pipe  installation  is  also  considerably  cheaper,  since 
a  single  lineman  or  troubleman  can  complete  a  job  in  a 
few  hours  without  outside  help. 


For  the  improved  lighting  conditions  which  are  beginning 
to  be  noticed  and  encouraged  in  church  edifices  throughout 
the  land  the  general  religious  body  is  largely  indebted  to 
certain  enterprising  denominations  whose  places  of  worship 
have  been  characterized  bv  all  that  is  most  modern  in  con- 


Fig.    1— 1200-Watt    Indirect   Celling    Fixture    In    Main    Auditorium. 

struction  and  equipment.  A  faith  of  good  cheer  and  happi- 
ness should  certainly  have  in  its  temple  a  high  degree  of 
cheerful  illumination.  Furthermore,  the  comfort  of  a  con- 
gregation can  be  augmented  by  careful  application  of  those 
illuminating-engineering  principles  which  contribute  to  the 
protection  and  conservation  of  vision. 

A  complete  scheme  of  indirect  lighting  has  been  used 
throughout  the  new  hundred-thousand-dollar  structure  of 
the  First  Church  of  Christ,  Scientist,  at  Lincoln,  Neb.,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  bracket  fixtures  which  mark  stair- 
ways, etc.  The  main  auditorium  measures  80  ft.  by  100  ft., 
its  central  section  being  a  vaulted  arch  50  ft.  wide  and 
40  ft.  high,  from  the  crown  of  which  are  suspended  four 


f 

.  ■  .■ 

V 
8i. 

■^'^H 

Fig.    2 — Indirect    Lighting    of   Churcli    Foyer. 

elaborate  ivory-bowl  indirect  fixtures,  each  containing  eight 
i5o-\vatt  tungsten  lamps  in  X-ray  reflectors.  The  links  of 
the  chains  which  suspend  these  4-ft.  fixtures  10  ft.  below 
the  ceiling  are  also  dull,  ivory-finished  like  the  bowls,  re- 
ducing high  lights  and  sources  of  glare  to  a  minimum.  All 
ceiling  surfaces  throughout  the  building  are  of  dull  white, 
diffusinsj  the  reflected  light.     Side  walls  and  trimmings  are 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1 105 


tinted  an  appropriate  buff  yellow.  The  pew  furniture  is  of 
walnut,  and  the  heavy  pile  of  the  carpet  is  deep  brown  in 
tone.  The  central  arched  ceiling  is  borne  on  eight  buff 
Corinthian  columns  which  mark  off  the  side  ceiling  panels, 
at  the  center  of  each  of  which  is  a  36-in.  ivory  fixture 
similarly  ornamented  to  correspond  to  the  central  units. 
Each  side  fixture  contains  three  loo-watt  tungsten  lamps. 

Exits  at  each  of  the  four  corners  of  the  main  auditorium 
and  at  the  center  of  the  room  lead  down  to  the  entrance 
corridors  and  foyer  on  the  mezzanine  floor.  Severely  plain 
30-in.  indirect  fixtures,  devoid  of  all  ornamentation,  light 
these  loo-ft.  by  15-ft.  corridors.  Each  fixture  contains 
three  6o-watt  tungsten  units  in  E-60  reflectors,  and  the 
bowls  are  suspended  30  in.  below  the  12-ft.  ceiling,  which 
is  cream  in  color.  There  are  six  fixtures  to  each  loo-ft. 
corridor,  while  each  of  the  panels  of  the  connecting  foyer 
has  a  similar  indirect  unit.  Both  the  women's  and  the  men's 
retiring  rooms  just  off  the  foyer  are  also  lighted  by  the 
indirect  system.  Beneath  the  main  auditorium  is  the  Sun- 
day-school room,  a  few  steps  below  the  entry  mezzanine 
level.  This  classroom  contains  nine  indirect  fixtures,  each 
equipped  with  a  single  150-watt  lamp. 

Flanking  each  of  the  two  entrance  doorways  is  a  pair 
of  6- ft.  white  molded  concrete  lamp-posts  carrying  loo-watt 
lamps  in  i6-in.  frost- 
ed balls.  The  posts 
weigh  700  lb.  each, 
and  their  classic  de- 
sign harmonizes  well 
with  the  stately  row 
of  columns  ornament- 
ing the  front  of  the 
building.  In  the  door- 
ways semi-indirect  in- 
verted dome  units  are 
employed,  each  con- 
taining one  60-watt 
lamp.  After  the  in- 
direct corridor  instal- 
lation had  been  made, 
it  was  (discovered  that 
persons  passing  down 
two  of  the  stairways 
could  look  over  and 
into  several  of  the 
bowl  fixtures.  As  this 
arrangement  was  quite  unavoidable,  protection  has  since 
been  secured  by  covering  each  bowl  with  a  ground-glass 
cover  which  diffuses  the  direct  rays  of  the  filaments. 

Control  of  the  main  auditorium  lighting  is  centered  in  a 
Crouse-Hinds  twelve-circuit  panelboard  at  the  left  and  rear 
of  the  reader's  rostrum.  There  is  one  switch  to  each  1500- 
watt  arch  fixture  and  to  each  pair  of  side  units.  The 
corridor  lighting  is  controlled  from  a  six-circuit  box  in 
the  foyer.  Besides  the  use  of  electricity  for  illumination  of 
the  church,  the  organ  blower  is  to  be  motor-driven  and 
there  is  a  2-hp  motor  for  the  ventilating  and  heating  sys- 
tems and  a  j4-hp  vacuum-cleaner  motor.  Mr.  W.  C. 
Howard,  of  Lincoln,  installed  the  electrical  equipment. 


Fig. 


-Molded  Concrete   Entrance 
Standards. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


REPEATERS. 


Among  the  many  attempts  to  solve  the  telephone  repeater 
problem  is  the  mechanically  driven  twin  generator.  This 
idea  has  been  developed  along  many  different  lines,  but 
usually  takes  the  form  of  two  synchronously  driven  gen- 
erators, the  output  of  which  is  made  to  vary  in  proportion 
to  the  received  telephone  current.  Such  is  the  repeater  of 
Mr.  L.  W.  Southgate,  of  Worcester,  Mass.  He  uses  two 
polyphase    generators    with    stationary    windings    and    syn- 


chronously driven  inductors.  One  of  the  field  windings,  so 
to  speak,  of  each  generator  is  connected  to  the  correspond- 
ing branch  of  the  through  telephone  line.  The  exciting 
coils  of  the  two  generators  are  fed  with  a  constant  current 
and  are  so  arranged  that  when  the  magnetization  remains 
constant  there  is  no  output  to  the  telephone  line  from  the 
generator.  When,  however,  the  field  of  either  generator  is 
disturbed  by  an  incoming  telephone  current  the  magnetic 
balance  is  upset  and  the  corresponding  generator  produces 
a  current  like  that  from  the  telephone  line,  but  amplified. 

Another  repeater  patent  is  that  granted  to  Mr.  C.  B. 
Morris,  of  Washington,  D.  C.  This  repeater  is  of  the 
micro-telephone  type.  It  has  for  its  main  feature  the 
lining  of  the  repeater  casing  with  a  conducting  metal  shell 
to  prevent  effects  from  extraneous  magnetic  fields. 

IMPROVED  TELEPHONE   INSTRUMENTS. 

The  metal-shell  receiver  has  had  a  good  deal  of  attention 
of  late,  most  of  the  patents  issued  relating  to  details  of 
construction.  Such  is  the  patent  granted  to  Mr.  J.  Halldon, 
Elyria,  Ohio.  This  patent  deals  chiefly  with  the  method  of 
securing  the  thin  sheet-metal  ear-cap  piece  to  the  thin 
sheet-metal  body  piece.  According  to  this  invention,  a 
loose  ring  externally  threaded  is  adapted  to  slip  over  the 
small  end  of  the  body  piece,  an  internal  lip  engaging  the 
curved  body  piece  so  as  to  limit  the  forward  motion  of  the 
ring.  A  flanged  clamping  ring,  internally  threaded,  passes 
over  the  raised  portion  of  the  ear  cap,  the  flange  engaging 
the  flange  of  the  ear  cap  and  the  threaded  portion  engaging 
the  threads  of  the  body  ring.  Neither  ring  is  secured 
save  by  engagement  with  the  other. 

Mr.  F.  O.  Richey,  of  Elyria,  Ohio,  has  adopted  another 
method  of  securing  the  ear  cap.  The  edge  of  the  body 
piece  is  bent  back  on  the  outside  so  that  there  is  a  double 
thickness  at  this  edge.  Similarly  the  edge  of  the  cap  piece 
is  bent  inward.  Both  these  folds  are  made  to  adhere  to 
the  foundation  layer.  This  gives  a  double  thickness  of 
metal  where  the  threads  are  required.  Both  these  patents 
are  assigned  to  the  Dean  Electric  Company. 

CENTRAL-OFFICE  CIRCUIT  SYSTEM. 

At  times  difficulty  is  experienced  from  induction  and  leak- 
age in  keyboard  forms,  when  ringing  or  other  vibratory 
current  is  constantly  applied  to  bus  wires  included  in  the 
keyboard  form.  To  overcome  such  a  difficulty,  Mr.  A.  H. 
Weiss,  of  Chicago,  has  obtained  a  patent  for  a  special 
method  of  wiring  such  forms.  The  keys  are  so  arranged 
that  the  power  wires  may  be  straight  straps  passing  at 
right  angles  across  the  key  bank  and  tapping  all  keys. 
Relays  are  then  arranged  so  that  ringing  power  of  any 
particular  sort  is  applied  to  its  corresponding  bus  wire  only 
when  demanded  by  the  operation  of  one  of  the  correspond- 
ing ringing  keys.  Mr.  Weiss  has  assigned  his  patent  to  the 
Kellogg  Switchboard  &  Supply  Company. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


ELECTRIC  SPOT  WELDERS. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — In  the  article  on  electric  spot  welders  in  yout 
issue  of  Nov.  2  large  economies  are  shown  by  use  of  these 
machines  as  compared  with  riveting  with  energy  at  5  cents 
and  6  cents  per  kw-hr.  As  the  duration  of  the  weld  with 
this  type  of  welder  is  short  the  consumption  cannot  be 
accurately  measured  owing  to  the  lag  of  the  meter.  Again, 
admitting  that  all  energy  consumed  is  measured,  the  return 
from  this  method  of  charging  does  not  seem  adequate  to 
cover  fixed  charges  on  the  large  equipment  necessary  to 
supply  energy  for  these  machines.  I  should  be  glad  to  hear 
of  a  more  equitable  tariff  for  these  welders. 

London,  Ont.  H.  J.  Glaubitz. 


iio6 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21. 


Digest  of  Current  Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Tripling  the  Frequency. — A.  M.  Taylor. — With  refer- 
ence to  the  paper  of  Spinelli  abstracted  in  the  Digest  last 
week  the  author  describes  a  modification  of  Spinelli's  ar- 
rangement which  he  thinks  is  much  cheaper  and  more 
efficient.  In  Spinelli's  arrangement  (Fig.  3  of  the  Digest 
last  week)  each  of  the  three  phases  of  supply  acts  on  one 
of  the  outer  limbs  and  saturates  these  limbs.  The  three 
inner  limbs  of  the  three  transformers  are  surrounded  by 
a  common  secondary  winding.  Unless,  however,  the  fluxes 
reaching  these  central  limbs  contain  third  or  other  har- 
monics, the  resultant  flux  will  be  zero  and  the  emf  in  the 
secondary  winding  will  also  be  zero.  Moreover,  if  the  emfs 
applied  to  the  three  outer  windings  contain  no  third  or 
other  harmonics,  the  fluxes  will  tend  to  be  pure  sine  curves, 
the  principal  effect  of  running  the  saturation  up  so  higli 
being  to  cause  the  currents  in  these  primary  windings  to 
contain  a  very  sharp  peak.  The  present  author's  arrange- 
ment is  shown  in  Fig.  i.     It  is  the  certain  and  great  rush 


z 


Compensating  Coils 
to  Boost  up  the 
Voltage  on  Load 


Fig.   1 — Connections   for   Tripiing   the   Frequency. 

of  current  which  he  utilizes,  taking  it  to  a  separate  and  un- 
saturated transformer,  where  every  ampere  of  it  is  free  to 
produce  its  proper  efifect  upon  the  common  secondary  cir- 
cuit. The  author  thinks  there  is  an  opening  for  such  trans- 
formers on  all  systems  of  distribution  which  employ  25 
cycles.  If,  for  instance,  such  transformers  could  be  used 
in  kiosks  in  sparsely  populated  districts,  to  feed  local  low- 
tension  mains  for  domestic  lighting  purposes,  a  great  field 
would  be  opened  in  the  way  of  "prospecting"  a  new  district 
long  before  it  would  pay  to  put  down  a  rotary  converter 
substation.  Then  there  are  large  numbers  of  factories 
which  take  energy  for  alternating-current  motors  where 
lighting  would  be  welcomed  but  for  the  slight  difiiculty 
about  the  frequency.  Then,  there  is  the  great  advantage 
that  the  transformer  also  changes  the  voltage. — London 
Electrician,  Nov.  i,  1912. 

Balancers. — A.  C.  Lanier. — A  mathematical  article  illus- 
trated by  diagrams  on  direct-current  balancer  sets.  After 
discussing  the  operation  of  a  two-wire  generator  with 
auxiliary  balancing  apparatus,  the  author  discusses  in  some 
detail  shunt-wound  balancers  and  compound-wound  bal- 
ancers, the  efficiency  of  balancer  sets,  commutation,  sta- 
bility and  compounding,  starting  and  parallel  operation, 
and  protection. — Elec.  Journal,  Noveinber,   1912. 


Commutation. — Karl  Pichelmayer. — The  conclusion  of 
his  highly  mathematical  article  on  the  theory  of  commuta- 
tion. The  article  refers  especially  to  several  constants  in 
the  formulas  for  calculating  commutation  voltage. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  Oct.  31,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Gas  Versus  Electricity  in  Street  Lighting. — An  article  on 
street  lighting  at  Manchester  by  gas  or  electricity,  based 
on  the  reports  of  Haydn  T.  Harrison  and  Jacques  Abady 
upon  the  flame-arc  lighting  in  Portland  Street  and  the  high- 
pressure  gas  lighting  in  Princess  Street.  The  two  authors 
did  not  agree  on  every  point,  and  some  of  the  tests  were 
made  along  somewhat  different  lines,  but  they  agree  on  the 
following  conclusions :  That  for  all  practical  purposes  the 
degree  of  illumination  in  Portland  Street  and  Princess 
Street  is  approximately  equal.  That,  based  upon  the  figure 
of  costs  of  electricity  and  gas,  etc.,  given  by  the  respective 
departments,  the  arc  lamps  used  in  Portland  Street  are 
provided  at  an  annual  cost  less  than  that  of  the  gas  lamps 
used  in  Princess  Street.  That,  as  a  comparison  between 
the  possibilities  of  arc  lighting  and  high-pressure  gas  light- 
ing, the  results  are  vitiated  by  the  fact  that  the  high-pressure 
gas  lamps  are  giving  an  efficiency  very  much  below  similar 
lamps  when  properly  installed  and  adjusted.- — London  Elec- 
trician, Nov.  I,  1912. 

Photometry  of  Lights  of  Different  Colors. — H.  E.  Ives. — 
The  third  paper  in  his  serial  on  the  photometry  of  lights  of 
different  colors.  The  author  discusses  the  distortions  in 
spectral  luminosity  curves  produced  by  variations  in  the 
character  of  the  comparison  standard  and  of  the  surround- 
ings of  the  photometric  field.  His  chief  results  are  as 
follows :  With  the  equality-of-brightness  method  the  efifect 
of  changing  the  color  of  the  comparison  field  and  of  sub- 
stituting light  for  dark  surroundings  for  the  photometric 
field  is  to  introduce  irregular  and  unsystematic  shifts  and 
distortions  of  the  spectral  luminosity  curves.  With  the 
flicker  method,  the  corresponding  changes  produce  no  alter- 
ations in  the  luminosity  curves.  The  equality-of-brightness 
spectral  luminosity  curve  obtained  by  taking  small  steps  of 
slight  hu.e  difference  agrees,  at  high  illuminations,  for  a 
small  field,  with  the  curve  given  by  the  flicker  photometer. 
It  is  concluded  that  the  flicker  photometer  gives,  under  the 
specified  conditions,  the  true  brightness. — Philos.  Magazine, 
November,    1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

Oil  Fuel. — C.  E.  Stromeyei;. — In  his  report  to  the  Man- 
chester Steam  Users'  Association  the  author  refers  to  the 
attention  which  has  been  paid  to  the  use  of  oil  as  fuel 
during  the  recent  coal  strike  in  England.  He  thinks,  how- 
ever, that  oil  cannot  come  into  general  use  because  its 
price  would  rise  rapidly.  Two  very  important  advantages 
of  oil  firing  are  the  ease  with  which  it  can  be  regulated  and 
the  absence  of  ashes  and  clinker.  On  the  other  hand,  how- 
ever, oil  must  be  burned  in  brick-lined  combustion  cham- 
bers, which  suffer  severely  from  the  intense  heat  and  have 
to  be  frequently  repaired  and  renewed.  The  modern  steam 
engine  requires  1.6  lb.  to  1.7  lb.  of  coal  per  brake-hp  per 
hour  during  a  week's  work  of  fifty-five  hours.  The  oil 
engine  requires  0.5  lb.  of  oil  in  the  same  time.  With  pres- 
ent prices  it  would  cost  just  about  as  much  to  use  a  Diesel 
oil  engine  as  a  steam  engine,  but  in  remote  districts  the 
Diesel  engine  would  probably  show  to  advantage. — London 
Electrician,  Nov.  I,  1912. 

Corrosion  of  Boilers. — C.  E.  Stromeyer. — In  his  recent 
report  to  the  Manchester  Steam  Users'  Association  the 
author    reviews    important    recent    research    work    on    the 


November  23,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1 107 


corrosion  of  iron  and  steel,  and  especially  of  boilers,  with 
particular  reference  to  the  researches  of  Heyn  and  Bauer. 
Two  conclusions  which  are  confirmed  by  practical  ex- 
perience are  that  most  ammonia  salts  are  powerful  cor- 
roders  of  iron,  which  accounts  for  the  serious  corrosion 
sometimes  encountered  in  boilers  fed  with  water  that  is 
contaminated  with  waste  liquors  from  gas  works,  and, 
second,  that  when  carbonate  of  soda  is  added  to  brackish 
water  (water  containing  common  salt)  then  severe  pitting 
occurs,  although  the  average  corrosion  may  not  be  exten- 
sive. The  protective  action  of  oxidizing  acids  requires 
confirmation,  if  this  be  possible,  by  tests  on  boilers,  and 
the  well-known  beneficial  influences  of  deoxidizing  agents 
require  further  scientific  investigation.  Reference  is  made 
to  the  use  of  certain  salts  which  have  recently  been  pro- 
posed to  count  ;ract  corrosive  influences. — London  Elec- 
trician, Nov.  I,  1912. 

Traction. 

Single-Phase  Traction. — J.  Simey. — A  fully  illustrated 
description  of  the  Westinghouse  locomotive  for  the  single- 
phase  traction  experiments  of  the  railway  .company  du 
Midi  in  France. — La  Lumiere  Elec,  Oct.  26,  1912. 

Budapest. — J.  Fischer  de  Tovaros. — The  conclusion  of 
his  illustrated  article  on  the  electrification  of  the  suburban 
railways  of  Budapest.  The  present  instalment  deals  with 
the  line  construction,  telephone  and  lighting  service,  rolling 
stock  and  the  electric  equipment  of  the  cars.  All  the 
motors .  are  interpole  machines  wound  for  1000  volts. — 
La  Lumiere  Elec,  Oct.  26,  191 2. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Transmission  System  in  an  Agricultural  District. — H. 
BuGGELN. — An  account  of  the  financial  results  obtained  by 
the  electric  transmission  system  of  the  Herrenberg  district 
in  Wiirtemberg,  Germany.  This  is  one  of  the  first  trans- 
mission systems  in  an  agricultural  district  on  a  partnership 
basis  in  Germany.  At  the  end  of  191 1  there  were  con- 
nected sixty-six  villages  and  five  farms  with  a  total  of 
74,830  inhabitants.  There  are  2474  partners,  and  their 
liability  is  $309,250  (that  of  each  partner  being  $125). 
The  energj'  has  been  bought  in  the  past  from  two  outside 
stations,  but  increased  demand  has  made  it  necessary  to 
buy  one  of  these  stations  and  enlarge  it  by  the  erection  of 
a  looo-hp  steam  turbine.  The  energy  bought  from  the 
stations  in  191 1  was  24.7  kw-hr.  per  inhabitant;  the  energy 
sold  was  15.6  kw-hr.  per  inhabitant.  Energy  was  sold  in 
the  past  only  to  partners  at  5  cents  per  kw-hr.  during  the 
day  and  at  10  cents  per  kw-hr.  after  darkf  The  energy 
was  measured  by  double-rate  meters.  A  dividend  of  4.5 
per  cent  was  declared,  the  same  as  last  year.  Since  the 
cost  of  the  energy  is  expected  to  increase,  it  is  necessary  to 
increase  the  consumption.  This  will  be  done  in  two  ways. 
First,  energy  will  be  sold  also  to  non-partners  who  will 
have  to  pay  a  rate  10  per  cent  higher  than  the  partners. 
Second,  a  flat  rate  will  be  introduced  tentatively  for  agri- 
cultural motors,  as  this  has  given  good  results  in  other 
distribution  systems  in  agricultural  districts. — Elek.  Zeit.. 
Oct.  24,  1912. 

Rate  Making. — K.  MARKAU.^An  article  on  what  is 
called  in  Germany  the  "Potsdam  tariff,"  as  it  was  first  in- 
troduced in  Germany  in  the  city  of  Potsdam  and  shortly 
afterward  in  the  city  of  Hanover.  The  fundamental  idea 
is  that  a  certain  fixed  readiness-to-serve  charge  is  made  per 
month  according  to  the  size  of  the  residence  and  besides 
this  a  rather  small  rate  is  charged  per  kilowatt-hour  con- 
sumed. The  essential  point  is  that  this  latter  charge  for 
the  kilowatt  hours  is  the  same  whether  the  energy  is  used 
for  lighting,  heating,  motor  or  other  purposes.  The  author 
thinks  that  this  rate  has  the  very  great  advantage  that  it 
];ermits  all  possible  kinds  of  variations  so  as  to  suit  every 
locality.  For  instance,  in  Hanover  different  readiness-to- 
serve  charges  are  made  for  the  summer  and  winter  months, 
while   in   Potsdam   the   same   readiness-to-serve   charge   is 


made  for  the  whole  year.  As  to  the  additional  charge 
made  per  kilowatt-hour,  this  is  based  in  Potsdam  on  the 
number  of  rooms  and  in  Hanover  on  the  electrical  con- 
nections. The  additional  charge  per  kilowatt-hour  is  2.5 
cents  in  Potsdam  and  5  cents  in  Hanover;  but  the  prin- 
cipal character  of  the  tariff  is  the  same  in  both  cities. 
This  tariff-  can  also  be  modified  so  as  to  make  use  of  a 
double  tariff  for  different  hours  of  the  day,  etc.  The  paper 
is  commented  on  by  E.  Wikander,  who  thinks  that  the 
flat  rate  is  the  best  tariff  for  very  small  residences  but 
recognizes  the  advantages  of  the  Potsdam  tariff,  which  is 
a  combined  flat  and  meter  tariff,  for  larger  residences.  He 
thinks  that  the  system  used  in  Potsdam,  where  about  three- 
quarters  of  the  bill  is  paid  as  flat  rate  and  one-quarter  as 
additional  charge  according  to  the  meter,  is  more  effective 
than  the  tariff  in  Hanover,  where  about  one-half  is  flat 
rate  and  one-half  is  paid  per  meter.  A  great  advantage  of 
the  Potsdam  tariff  is  that  the  present  meters  can  be  used 
without  any  charge  whatever. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Oct.  31,   1912. 

Energy  Rates. — Carl  Richter. — A  conclusion  of  his 
mathematical  paper  illustrated  by  diagrams  on  graphical 
methods  of  representing  and  investigating  different  meth- 
ods for  charging  for  electricity.  In  the  present  instalment 
the  author  presents  various  diagrams  illustrating  the  dif- 
ferent types  of  tariffs  now  in  practical  use. — Elec.  11.  Masch. 
(Vienna),  Nov.  3,  1912. 

London  Central-Station  Account. — An  abstract  of  last 
year's  financial  reports  of  the  St.  Marylebone  (London) 
electric  supply  station.  The  total  output  was  13,500,000 
kw-hr.  and  the  total  connections  22,500  kw.  The  generat- 
ing expense  per  kilowatt-hour  sold  was  0.90  cent,  the  dis- 
tribution expense  0.26  cent,  the  management  expense  0.32 
cent.  The  total  cost,  excluding  capital  charges,  was  2.02 
cents  and  including  capital  charges  6.10  cents,  while  the 
total  revenue  per  kilowatt-hour  sold  was  6.40  cents. — Lon- 
don Electrician,  Nov.  i,  1912. 

Gas  Versus  Electricity  for  Domestic  Purposes. — G. 
Dettmar. — The  first  part  of  a  long  article  illustrated  by 
diagrams  giving  in  detail  the  results  obtained  by  the  author 
in  his  household  with  lighting,  cooking,  etc.,  by  gas  ex- 
clusively and  afterward  by  electricity  exclusively,  the  rec- 
ords extending  in  each  case  over  several  years.  The' 
results  will  be  given  when  the  article  is  finished. — Elek. 
Zeit.,  Oct.  31,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Impregnation  of  Wooden  Poles. — E.  F.  Petritsch. — The 
first  part  of  an  illustrated  article  on  recent  progress  in 
impregnating  wooden  poles.  The  author  thinks  that  at 
present  wooden  poles  which  are  not  impregnated  should 
not  be  used  at  all.  After  describing  the  old  Bethell  process 
for  impregnating  wooden  poles  completely  with  creosote 
oil  he  describes  various  processes  which  permit  a  consider- 
able reduction  of  the  amount  of  creosote  oil  required  since 
only  the  outside  layers  of  the  poles  need  be  impregnated. 
These  are  the  Ruping  process,  employing  high  pressure, 
and  the  Rutgers  processes,  in  which  uniform  distribution 
of  the  creosote  oil  within  the  wood  is  accomplished  by 
treatment  with  hot  steam  or  hot  air.  The  great  disadvan- 
tage of  these  processes  is  that  they  can  be  used  only  for 
pine  wood  and  not  for  fir  wood.  For  the  latter  and  for 
other  kinds  of  wood  which  can  be  impregnated  only  with 
great  difficulty  Hattenberger  and  Berdnich  have  devised 
a  process  in  which  only  the  lower  part  of  the  pole  buried 
in  the  ground  is  impregnated  thoroughly,  the  rest  of  the 
surface  receiving  a  slight  treatment.  For  this  purpose  the 
bottom  part  of  the  pole  is  perforated  by  means  of  little 
needles  so  as  to  permit  the  entrance  of  the  creosote  oil. 
The  paper  is  to  be  concluded. — Elek.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna). 
Nov.  3,   1912. 

High-Tension  Cable. — W.  Pfannkuch. — The  conclusion 
of  his  illustrated  paper  on  the  30.000-volt,  three-phase 
cable    used    on    the    suburban    transmission    system    of    the 


iioS 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol-.  60,  No.  21. 


Berlin  Electricity  Works.  The  present  instalment  gives  in 
detail  the  results  of  the  tests  of  the  cable.  Diagrams  are 
given  for  the  no-load  loss  as  a  function  of  the  voltage  and 
of  the  frequency  and  also  for  the  behavior  of  the  cable  in 
switching  in  and  out.  The  author  concludes  that  the  ex- 
pectations which  the  designers  had  in  constructing  this 
large  cable  system  have  been  more  than  fulfilled.  No 
difficulties  have  resulted  which  could  not  be  overcome  by 
present  engineering  methods.  The  final  conclusion  is  that 
the  installation  of  a  very  high  voltage  cable  network  is 
perfectly  possible  and  safe. — Elek.  Zcit.,  Oct.  31,  1912. 
Electrophysics  and   Magnetism. 

Oscillating  Spark. — S.  R.  Milner.— An  account  of  an 
experimental  determination  of  the  current-potential  curves 
of  the  oscillating  spark.  The  method  of  obtaining  the 
curves  is  to  employ  the  simultaneous  electric  and  magnetic 
deflections  at  right  angles  of  a  beam  of  cathode  rays,  the 
electric  deflection  being  produced  by  the  potential  difference 
of  the  spark  and  the  magnetic  deflection  by  the  spark 
current.  The  results  are  applied  to  a  discussion  of  the 
mechanism  of  spark  conduction.  There  are  three  charac- 
teristic potential  differences  which  occur  in  the  condensed 
spark,  namely,  the  initial  sparking  potential  difference  of 
some  thousands  of  volts,  the  glow  potential  difference 
(300  volts)  between  the  oscillations,  and  the  arc  potential 
difference  (35  volts),  which  lasts  throughout  the  greater 
part  of  each  oscillating  discharge.  The  initial  high  spark- 
ing potential  performs  the  function  of  ionizing  the  air  in 
the  gap  and  of  causing  the  necessary  rise  of  temperature 
of  the  cathode.  The  arc  potential  difference  is  partly 
accounted  for  by  a  drop  at  the  cathode  sufficient  to  keep 
up  the  temperature  to  the  right  value  and  partly  by  the  field 
throughout  the  gap  necessary  to  make  the  ions  carry  the 
current.  The  comparatively  low  temperature  of  the  in- 
stantaneous anode  in  the  spark  forms  a  characteristic 
difference  between  it  and  the  arc  discharge.  This  low 
temperature  explains  the  occurrence  of  the  glow  potential 
difference  between  the  oscillations.  If  the  temperature 
of  the  anode  were  the  same  as  that  of  the  cathode,  there  is 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  on  the  reversal  of  the  current  the 
arc  character  of  the  discharge  should  not  remain  un- 
changed, for  the  air  in  the  gap  must  still  be  strongly  ionized. 
But  on  the  reversal  of  the  current  at  the  first  instant  what 
is  now  the  cathode  is  comparatively  cool  and  it  cannot 
supply  the  necessary  corpuscles  at  a  sufficient  rate.  Since 
the  air  in  the  gap  is  already  ionized,  we  have  now  the 
exact  conditions  necessary  for  the  glow  of  discharge.  The 
author  finally  considers  the  following  features  of  the 
spark:  the  core  and  sheath,  spectra  of  core  and  sheath, 
and  the  nature  of  the  streamers. — Philos.  Magasine,  No- 
vember, 1912. 

Dust  Figures  Produced  by  Electrical  Sparks. — E.  H. 
Barton  and  W.  B.  Kilby. — An  account  of  an  experimental 
investigation  which  shows  that  dust  figures  may  be  ob- 
tained corresponding  in  their  chief  features  to  the  ordinary 
optical  phenomena  of  reflection,  refraction,  interference 
and  diffraction,  but  that,  in  addition,  the  air  currents  some- 
times acquire  circulatory  or  vortex  motions  and  thus  intro- 
duce into  the  dust  figures  features  not  present  in  the  optical 
cases  to  which  they  were  expected  to  be  analogous. — Philos. 
Magazine,   November,    1912. 

Bending  of  Electric  Waves.—].  W.  Nicholson.— The 
fifth  paper  of  his  highly  mathematical  series  on  the  bend- 
ing of  electric  waves  around  a  large  sphere.  In  the  present 
instalment  the  author  investigates  the  points  near  the  axis 
in  the  region  of  brightness  and  gives  a  general  investiga- 
tion of  the  shadow. — Philos.  Magazine,  November,  1912. 
Electrochemistry  and   Batteries. 

Ozone. — W.  H.  Thompson. — An  illustrated  article  de- 
scribing the  characteristic  properties  of  ozone  and  various 
types  of  apparatus  for  the  production  of  ozone  by  silent 
discharges.     After  noting  two  methods  for  measuring  the 


amount  of  ozone  in  air  the  author  deals  with  the  physio- 
logical action  of  ozone  in  the  treatment  of  various  diseases 
and  with  commercial  uses  of  ozone  for  the  sterilization  of 
air  and  water,  etc. — Elec.  Journal,  November,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Rectangular  Galvanometer. — A.  Ferguson. — In  all  abso- 
lute instruments  the  cylindrical  type  is  chosen  on  account 
of  the  relative  ease  with  which  a  cylindrical  surface  may 
be  turned.  But  if  the  use  of  metallic  materials  is  vetoed 
on  account  of  the  possible  presence  of  traces  of  magnetic 
substance,  the  construction  of  a  wooden  bobbin  which  shall 
reduce  the  danger  of  warping  to  a  minimum  is  a  matter  of 
some  difficulty.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  fairly  easy  to 
construct  a  strong  wooden  rectangle  so  that  the  irregulari- 
ties in  its  surface  shall  be  small  compared  with  the  un- 
avoidable experimental  errors  introduced  in  reading  the 
deflections  of  the  magnetometer,  etc.  The  author  describes 
a  rectangular  coil  galvanometer  and  gives  a  complete  theory 
and  data  as  to  constants.  His  instrument  shows  roughly 
the  same  order  of  accuracy  as  the  standard  cylindrical 
coil.  It  is  simple  in  construction  and  use  and  reliable  in 
results,  while  it  possesses  two  main  outstanding  advantages ; 
For  a  given  length  of  winding  it  is  more  sensitive  than  the 
circular  form-,  and  any  departure  from  trueness  in  form 
can  be  readily  and  exactly  allowed  for. — Philos.  Magazine, 
November,  1912. 

Connections  for  Interrupter. — Electromagnetic  inter- 
rupters of  the  ordinary  kind  can  be  built  only  for  a  tension 
of  a  few  volts.  In  order  to  operate  them  from  a  network  at 
from  no  volts  to  440  volts  the  connections  shown  in  Fig.  2 


v-mmmr^ 


Fig.    2 — Connections    of    Electromagnetic    Interrupter. 

may  be  used,  in  which  u  is  the  interrupter,  iv  a  high  series 
resistance  and  c  a  condenser  of  about  i  mfd  capacity.  The 
contact  k  is  first  closed,  while  the  switch  t  is  open  so  that 
the  condenser  c  is  charged  from  the  supply  voltage  vv. 
When  the  switch  t  is  closed  the  condenser  discharges 
through  the  magnet  coil  in  form  of  a  damped  oscillation. 
The  armature  is  attracted  and  the  contact  k  Is  opened  so 
that  the  condenser  is  charged  again,  and  so  on.  The  con- 
tact k  interrupts  only  the  small  non-inductive  current  which 
passes  through  the  series  resistance,  while  the  condenser 
helps  to  suppress  the  formation  of  sparks.     For  the  opera- 


■vAM/W; 


Fig.  3 — Connections  of  Interrupter  Operated  by   Induction  Coil. 


tion  of  induction  coils  the  arrangement  shown  in  Fig.  3 
may  be  used,  the  induction  coil,  together  with  a  special  con- 
denser, being  connected  in  parallel  with  the  interrupter. — 
Elek.  Zeit..  Oct.  24,  1912. 

Photometric  Pressure  Recorders. — A  note  on  a  recent 
British  patent  (No.  23,931,  Oct.  24,  1912)  of  S.  J.  Dow.  A 
photometric  screen  is  placed  in  a  box  of  suitable  construc- 
tion impervious  to  light,  with  an  observation  window.  On 
one  side  of  the  screen  is  a  carbon-fi'ament  lamp  and  on  the 
other  a  metallic-filament  lamp  of  about  equal  power,  in 
parallel  with  the  first.  Adjustment  is  made  so  that  the  two 
sides  of  the  screen  are  equally  illuminated.  Any  variation 
of  pressure  affects  the  lamps  unevenly,  so  that  the  screen 
is  not  equally  bright. — London  Elcc.  Enging,  Oct.  31,  1912. 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


ijog 


Frequency  Indicator. — A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent 
(No.  628,  Oct.  24,  1912,  British  Thomson-Houston  Com- 
pany, Ltd.,  and  the  General  Electric  Company  of  this 
country).  A  frequency  indicator  which  is  highly  sensitive 
over  a  small  range  is  obtained  by  providing  one  of  the  two 
relatively  movable  elements  with  two  windings  which  exert 
opposing  forces  on  the  other  element,  and  the  circuit  of 
each  winding  is  tuned  for  a  different  frequency,  above  and 
below  the  average  frequency  to  be  indicated,  by  means  of 
an  adjustable  resistance  and  condenser,  connected  in  series 
with  each  of  the  coils. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Oct.  31,  1912. 

Measuring  Instruments  for  Central  Stations. — R.  O. 
Heinrich. — A  paper  read  before  the  Dresden  Electrical 
Society  on  direct-reading  instruments  for  central  stations. 
After  some  general  remarks  on  the  best  length  of  scale  and 
length  of  the  needle  and  the  general  construction  of 
indicating  switchboard  instruments  the  author,  who  is  the 
director  of  the  German  Weston  Instrument  Company, 
describes  a  great  number  of  Weston  instruments,  dis- 
tinguished as  electrodynamic  and  electromagnetic  instru- 
ments. Among  the  former  he  describes  the  Weston  watt- 
meter, synchroscope  and  power-factor  indicator,  and  among 
the  latter  the  Weston  frequency  meter. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Oct. 
24  and  31,  1912. 

Meter. — An  official  communication  by  the  Reichsanstalt 
admitting  for  calibration  an  Aron  meter  with  double- 
counting  mechanism  for  double  rates. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Oct. 
31.  1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Wireless  Telegraphy. — Mosler.-— An  illustrated  article 
on  an  investigation  which  extended  over  the  course  of  a 
year  on  atmospheric  disturbances  in  wireless  telegraphy  and 
the  distribution  of  the  maxima  and  minima  during  the 
summer  and  winter.  The  disturbances  depend  greatly  on 
purely  local  conditions  due  to  variations  of  the  electric 
potential  of  the  atmosphere.  Disturbances  due  to  lightning 
discharges  do  not  exert  any  effect  on  receiving  stations  at 
a  great  distance.  Near  mountains  the  disturbances  occur 
oftener  than  in  flat  country.  Hail  and  snow  increase  the 
number  of  atmospheric  disturbances. — Elek  Zeit.,  Oct.  31, 
1912. 

Wireless  Telegraphy. — S.  Kimura. — A  conclusion  of  his 
long  mathematical  article  on  the  design  of  a  radio-telegraph 
station.  In  the  present  instalment  the  author  discusses  the 
internal  design  and  in  an  appendix  he  gives  references  to 
literature  and  various  notes,  chiefly  of  a  mathematical 
character. — London  Electrician,  Nov.  i,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

The  Ignition  of  Coal  Gas  and  Methane  by  Momentary 
Electric  Arcs. — W.  M.  Thornton. — An  illustrated  paper 
read  before  the  (British)  Institution  of  Mining  Engineers. 
The  results  obtained  by  the  author  may  be  arranged  in  three 
groups,  the  first  dealing  with  the  influence  of  direct-current 
break  sparks  on  ignition ;  the  second  with  the  change  in  the 
least  igniting  current  produced  by  altering  the  proportions 
of  gas  and  air;  the  third  with  ignitions  by  alternating  cur- 
rent and  the  influence  of  frequency.  Direct  currents  are 
very  approximately  proportional  to  the  reciprocal  of  the 
voltage.  Methane  is  not  so  readily  ignited  as  coal  gas  in 
mixtures  of  the  same  percentage,  but  in  the  most  explosive 
mixtures  the  difference  is  small.  The  igniting  currents  are 
found  to  be  rising  linear  functions  of  the  diameter  of  the 
rods,  the  rate  of  change  with  diameter  being  the  same  in 
each  case.  The  energy  of  the  least  spark  to  ignite  gas  is 
found  to  be  about  o.i  joule.  The  time  of  duration  of  the 
spark  at  first  increases,  then  decreases,  and  rises  again  with 
the  voltage.  The  influence  of  varying  the  proportions  of 
the  gas  and  air  is  very  marked.  The  igniting  currents  for 
coal  gas  and  methane  have  in  each  case  the  same  type  of 
transition,  which  can  be  accounted  for  by  regarding  the 
result  as  the  combined  effect  of  the  "time  of  explosion"  and 
the  dilution   of  the  explosive  mixture  by  excess  of  either 


constituent.  There  is  a  great  difference  between  alternat- 
ing and  direct-igniting  currents,  the  former  having  much 
higher  values  and  a  remarkable  curve  of  variation  with 
voltage.  This  is  shown  to  depend  upon  the  frequency, 
period  of  induction,  and  voltage,  ignition  being  much  more 
difficult  at  the  higher  frequencies  used.  It  follows  that  the 
use  of  low-voltage  alternating  currents  for  signaling  pur- 
poses gives  a  much  greater  margin  of  safety  than  is  possi- 
ble in  direct-current  working. — London  Electrician,  Oct. 
18,   1912. 

Scientific  Shop  Management. — G.  C.  Allingham. — A 
paper  read  before  the  Junior  Institution  of  Engineers  in 
London.  The  author  describes  the  system  of  motion  study 
introduced  by  F.  W.  Taylor,  whereby  the  minimum  amount 
of  labor  required  for  any  piece  of  work  can  be  ascertained. 
By  systematic  study  of  the  various  movements  performed 
in  carrying  out  any  work  the  output  of  the  work  may  be 
tripled,  or  even  quadrupled,  while  the  physical  effort  ex- 
pended may  be  reduced.  The  author  says  that  the  United 
States  is  rapidly  adopting  the  new  system  and  it  is 
important  that  Great  Britain  should  do  the  same  if  it  is 
not  to  be  left  behind. — London  Electrician.  Nov.    i.    1912. 


Book  Reviews 

Commercial    Engineering    for    Central    Stations.      By 
Arthur  Williams  and  Edmund  F.  Tweedy.    New  York: 
McGraw-Hill    Book    Company.      142    pages,    27    illus. 
Price,  $2.50  net. 
A  useful  manual  for  central-station  sales  engineers  pre- 
senting data  which  will  be  of  assistance  in  estimating  the 
cost  of  central-station  service  in  office  and  loft  buildings, 
department  stores,  refrigeration  plants  and  similar  estab- 
lishments.   Two  excellent  chapters  are  included  on  the  cost 
of  generating  electrical  energy  in  central  stations  of  small 
and  medium  size,  giving  the  actual  results  obtained  in  a 
large  number  of  plants.     Other  chapters  have  been  added 
on  ozone  and  sewage  purification.    While  the  subject  matter 
of  the  book  is  not  entirely  consecutive  or  continuous  and  no 
index  has  been  supplied  by  the  authors,  the  data  presented 
are  valuable,  and  commercial  engineers  in  the  central-station 
field  will  find  it  exceedingly  helpful. 


Der  Torsionsindikator.  By.  Dr.-Ing.  Paul  Nettmann. 
Berlin :  M.  Krayn.  78  pages,  34  illus.  Price,  4  marks. 
A  pamphlet  devoted  to  electrical  methods  of  measuring 
the  twist  of  a  shaft  when  in  operative  rotation.  The  prob- 
lem of  determining  the  amount  of  torsional  displacement 
or  twist  in  a  rotating  propeller  shaft  is  of  considerable 
interest  to  marine  engineers.  A  number  of  electrical  meth- 
ods have  been  either  used,  attempted  or  proposed  for  deter- 
mining such  twists.  These  are  explained  in  considerable 
detail.  The  pamphlet  will  be  of  interest  to  marine  engi- 
neers and  to  mechanical  engineers  dealing  with  shaft  drives. 


La  Tiieorie  des  Ions  et  l'Slectrolyse.     By  A.  Hollard. 

Paris:     Gauthier-Villars.     220  pages.   16  illus.     Price, 

5  francs. 
A  treatise  on  the  electronic  theory  of  electrolysis  and  of 
electrolytic  solutions  from  the  chemical  standpoint.  It  con- 
stitutes a  textbook  on  the  elementary  theory  of  ions  from 
the  analytical  chemist's  point  of  view.  It  is,  therefore,  a 
useful  supplement  to  the  physical  theory  of  the  same  sub- 
ject. The  work  is  divided  into  four  sections,  each  contain- 
ing two  or  more  chapters.  Section  i  discusses  the  constitu- 
tion of  electrolytes.  Section  2  the  conductivity  of  electrolytes, 
Section  3  the  voltage  necessary  for  electrolysis,  and  Sec- 
tion 4  electrical  energy  in  electrolysis.  The  book  will  com- 
mend itself  to  students  of  chemistry  specializing  in  electro- 
chemistry.   It  is  well  up  to  date. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol   6o.   N'o   21. 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


ELECTRIC  TIMING  MECHANISM. 


The  Electric  Time  &  Manufacturing  Company,  of  West 
Lafayette,  Ind.,  has  recently  placed  on  the  market  the  Moore 
electric  clock,  one  form  of  which  is  illustrated  herewith. 
The  time-measuring  device  consists  of  a  simple  pendulum 
actuated  by  an  electromagnet,  the 
arrangement  being  such  that  the 
forces  acting  are  independent  of 
battery  strength.  The  registering 
device,  of  which  there  may  be  one 
or  many,  is  also  electromagnetic  in 
character  and  so  designed  that  the 
energy  consumption  is  a  minimum. 
This  simplicity  of  arrangement, 
apparent  from  the  illustration,  in- 
sures long  life  and  reliable  opera- 
tion. Obviously,  since  the  regis- 
tering mechanism  is  quite  inde- 
pendent of  the  time-measuring  ap- 
paratus, the  register  may  be  used 
to  open  and  close  an  external  elec- 
tric circuit  at  any  time  or  at  any 
desired  time  interval.  One  of  the 
features  of  the  clock  is  its  low 
energy  consumption,  the  current 
required  for  the  pendulum  being 
^1  ^■iHi^^H  but  a.milliamperes  and  that  for  the 

4,^Bfl^^^|  registering  devices  4  milliamperes 

j|i^^^^^^^^  each.    The  electrical  pressure  used 

is  that  of  a  single  dry  cell,  or  about 
1.25  volts.  Accuracy  is  easily  ob- 
tained in  this  timing  mechanism, 
the  rate  being  adjusted  in  the  usual 
manner  by  changing  the  length  of  the  pendulum.  One  of 
these  clocks,  by  a  service  test  of  almost  two  years,  it  is 
claimed,  has  proved  the  reliability,  durability  and  accuracy 
of  the  mechanism. 


Electric  Clock. 


Carbon  Terminal 
i  Terminal 


SEALED  PRIMARY  BATTERY. 

The  Bum-Boston  Battery  &  Manufacturing  Company, 
Boston,  Mass.,  has  recently  brought  out  a  form  of  dry  cell 
known  to  the  trade  as  the  "Noloss"  battery.  The  general 
design  resembles  that  of  the  company's  standard  carbon, 
zinc   and  sal-ammoniac 

,.        T      •  r  (Jaroon  lermmai  nronner- 

cell.     It  is  waterproof  uropper 

and  moistureproof  and 
is  built  in  two  sizes 
having  capacities  of  30 
amp-hr.  and  50  amp-hr. 
The  manufacturer  con- 
tends that  this  cell  will 
last  from  five  to  seven 
times  as  long  as  ordi- 
nary dry  cells  at  a  little 
more  than  double  the 
first  cost  of  the  latter, 
and  that  this  propor- 
tion is  increased  in 
case  the  dry  cells  de- 
preciate while  stand- 
ing. This  cell  is  recom- 
mended  by   the   maker 

for  service  where  batteries  alone  are  depended  upon  for 
ignition,  without  storage  cells  or  a  magneto,  on  two- 
cylinder  and  four-cylinder  automobile  engines,  with  ordi- 
nary vibrating  coils.  On  motorboats  it  is  usual  to  ignite 
one-cvlinder     2-cycle      and     two-cylinder     4-cycle     engines 


Liquid 


(  Salt  Space  before  Filling. 
I  Air  Space  after  Filling. 

Cross-Section   of   Battery, 


E^eetrieal  IFot-W 


for  one  season  without  attention,  when  used  for  pleasure 
purposes,  on  six  cells  of  this  type  under  fairly  dry  condi- 
tions. The  battery  is  designed  with  a  zinc  connection  com- 
posed of  a  flexible  wire  permanently  soldered  under  the 
sealed  top,  and  the  carbon  terminal  is  provided  with  a  lock- 
nut  washer.  As  shown  in  the  accompanying  cross-section, 
the  cell  is  compact  and  can  be  easily  filled  by  a  medicine 
dropper. 

This  type  is  also  specially  designed  for  use  in  connection 
with  bells,  telephones,  electric  clocks,  automobile  tail  and 
side  lights,  railway  signaling,  electric  gas  lighting,  medical 
coils,  miniature  motors,  fire-alarm  systems-and  similar  elec- 
trically operated  appliances. 


METER-SEAL  WITH  RENEWABLE  PARTS. 


Many  central-station  companies  are  looking  for  a  better 
method  of  securing  their  meters  against  tampering  than 
the  old-fashioned  lead  seal.  With  a  little  patience  almost 
any  ordinary  lead  seal  can  be  "worked"  so  as  to  remove  and 


Fig.   1 — Meter   Provided   with   Metal   Seal 


replace  the  seal  wires  without  giving  evidence  of  tamper- 
ing. A  new  strap  seal  developed  by  the  Security  Seal  Com- 
pany, 2^  Stevenson  Building,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  and  illus- 
trated herewith,  affords  greater  protection  to  the  meter, 
and,  after  being  equipped,  such  meter-seal  renewals  will 
cost  less  than  lead  seals.  The  device  consists  of  three 
units—a  pair  of  straps  which  take  the  place  of  the  sealing 
wire  on  the  front  of  the  meter,  a  locking  unit  and  a  renew- 
able plunger.  Where  straps  cannot  be  used  a  cap  is  fur- 
nished for  sealing  with  wire.  All  parts  with  the  exception 
of  the  plunger  are  permanent  and  will  last  as  long  as  the 
meter.  The  plungers  as  now  furnished  are  made  of  white 
metal  and  bear  the  company's  and  installer's  initials.  As 
a  die-cast  process  is  used,  these  plungers  cannot  be  dupli- 
cated without  special  equipment  and  at  prohibitive  expense. 
If  desired,  gutta-percha,  glass  or  aluminum  plungers  can  be 
furnished.  Porcelain  plungers  can  be  marked  and  dated 
bv   the   man   making   the    setting.      The   locking   unit    is    a 


Fig.   2— Details   of   Meter   Seal. 

small  double  washer  with  internal  spring  teeth  which  grip 
the  plunger.  To  open  the  seal  the  plunger  head  must  be 
severed  from  the  shank,  after  which  it  can  be  pushed  on 
through,  but  it  cannot  be  withdrawn  without  giving  evidence 
of  tampering. 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


mi 


MANUALLY  OPERATED  FIRE-PUMP  STARTERS. 


The  accompanying  illustration  shows  a  duplex  panel  for 
manually  starting  two  125-hp,  220-volt  fire-pump  motors. 
When  installed  the   entire  panel   is   inclosed   in   a   splash- 


starting   Panel  fop  Fire- Pump   Motor. 

proof  ventilated  case  with  doors  and  a  removable  back. 
The  bottom  of  the  panel  must  be  at  least  2  ft.  above  the 
floor.  No  fuses  are  placed  in  the  operating  circuits,  al- 
though automatic  release  and  overload  release  are  pro- 
vided. No  fiber  parts  are  used,  there  are  no  iron-to-iron 
bearings,  and  all  iron  or  steel  parts  are  copper-plated  or 
enameled.  Starting  is  accomplished  through  a  single  lever 
with  ','butt"  accelerating  contacts,  seven  on  these  panels. 
A  pilot  lamp  is  placed  where  the  meter  indicating  the 
voltage  of  the  line  supply  will  be  located.  The  resistance 
is  mounted  on  the  backs  of  the  panels  and  is  inclosed.  This 
panel  was  made  by  the  Cutler-Hammer  Manufacturing 
Company,  Milwaukee,  \Vis. 


ELECTRIC-HEATED     BLANKET    FOR    FRESH- AIR 
SLEEPERS. 


Several  novel  features  distinguish  the  new  electrically 
heated  blanket  recently  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Na- 
tional Electric  Company,  506  South  Fifth  Avenue,  Chicago. 
This  blanket  is  intended  for  continuous  operation  and  con- 
sumes but  50  watts,  simply  replacing  electrically  the  heat 
normally  radiated  by  the  human  body.  It  thus  takes  the 
place  of  an  exhaustive  thickness  of  heavy  bed  clothing, 
maintaining  the  body  warm  and  comfortable  throughout 
the  night,  without  possibility  of  overheating.  A  fine, 
enameled  wire  is  used  as  the  resistor  element,  and  this  con- 
ductor is  carefully  sewn  into  the  cloth  of  the  blanket.  As 
the  wire  is  insulated,  possibility  of  shock  is  removed  even 
should  the  covering  become  moist.  The  toughness  of  the 
improved  resistor  material  employed  prevents  kinking  or 
breaking  of  the  wire.  The  fabric  used  is  of  the  best  quality 
and  will  outwear  any  ordinary  comforter.  A  covering  of 
the  best  sateen  is  furnished,  red,  old-rose  or  delft  blue  in 
color,  as  desired,  and  the  whole  electric  blanket  is  soft  and 
flexible  and  can  be  folded  into  a  neat,  compact  form  when 
not  in  use.  Two  sizes  are  available,  36  in.  by  72  in.  and 
54  in.  by  72   in. 

This  blanket  is   especially   intended   for  persons  sleeping 


outdoors  or  with  windows  open  to  the  winter  air,  a  health 
measure  which  has  recently  become  deservedly  popular. 
Without  excessive  covering  a  comfortable  warmth  is  im- 
parted to  the  sleeper,  and  as  the  energy  consumption  is 
low,  50  watts,  there  is  no  possibility  of  the  device  over- 


k^ 

w^ 

Bed   with    Electrically   Heated    Blanket. 

heating.  The  bed  may  be  warmed  in  advance  by  turning  the 
current  on  the  blanket  thirty  minutes  before  the  occupant 
retires.  When  in  use  the  electric  blanket  should  be  covered 
with  another  light  blanket  to  "hold  in"  the  heat  generated. 


THE   ELECTRICAL  EQUIPMENT  OF  A  BREWERY. 

By  V.  V.  Newell. 

The  plant  of  the  Acme  Brewing  Company  at  Macon,  Ga., 
has  during  the  past  year  been  equipped  throughout  with 
induction  motors  for  driving  its  machinery,  and  some  in- 
teresting problems  were  encountered  during  the  work  of 
making  the  changes.  The  brewery  was  enlarged  several 
years  ago  and  the  old  plant  remodeled,  bringing  it  up  to 
date  and  making  it  a  model  in  every  respect  for  the  purpose 
it  was  designed  to  serve.  Its  producing  capacity  was  more 
than  doubled,  a  350-barrel  kettle  being  provided,  with  all 
other  equipment  in  proportion. 

The  generating 'equipment  which  was  installed  at  that 
lime,  with  the  exception  of  the  ammonia  compressors,  con- 
sisted of  two  7S-kw,  220-volt  direct-current  generators 
driven  by  reciprocating  engines,  the  one  belted  and  the  other 
directly  connected.  A  major  part  of  the  machinery  was 
equipped  with  individual  motors.  This  installation  was 
quite  satisfactory  in  so  far  as  its  reliability  was  concerned, 
but  proved  rather  expensive  in  the  amount  of  energy  con- 
sumed. When,  therefore,  the  Central  Georgia  Power  Com- 
pany proposed  to  furnish  energy  at  a  rate  which  seemed 
very  satisfactory  in  comparison  with  the  cost  of  the  isolated 
plant,  the  proposal  was  accepted.  Three-phase  alternating 
current  was  to  be  transmitted  at  6600  volts  and  60  cycles  to 
the  brewery,  the  emf  being  there  stepped  down  to  550  volts. 

In  order  to  make  use  of  the  old  direct-current  motor 
equipment,  which  was  giving  good  service,  one  7S-kw  direct- 
current  generator  was  directly  connected  to  a  loo-hp  induc- 
tion motor  and  this  motor-generator  set  furnished  direct 
current  for  motor  service  and  lighting.  However,  after  a 
comparatively  short  time  of  service  the  expense  was  found 
to  be  much  larger  than  was  expected,  while  the  cost  of 
coal,  oil,  etc.,  was  not  decreased  correspondingly.  Upon 
investigation  it  was  found  that  most  of  the  motors  were 
from  one-third  to  two-thirds  larger  than  was  required  to 
handle  the  maxinnuTi  loads  placed  upon  them,  and  also  that 
the  motor-generator  set  during  most  of  the  day  was  loaded 
to  only  about  one-third  of  its  rating.  At  night,  when  the 
entire  load  comprised  only  a  few  pumps  and  the  necessary 
lamps,  the  load  was  from  one-fourth  to  one-sixth  of  the 
normal  rating  of  the  generator.  From  the  results  of  actual 
operating  tests  it  was  estimated  that  a  reduction  of  one- 
third  in  the  energy  consumption  could  be  made  by  elimi- 
nating the  motor-generator  set  and  installing  induction 
motors    of    proper    rating    in    place    of    the    direct-current 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  N'o.  21. 


individual  motors.  A  further  saving  could  be  assured 
owing  to  the  decrease  in  expense  for  repairs  and  attention 
because  of  the  simplicity  of  the  induction  motor. 

It  was  decided  to  use  550  volts  for  motor  service  and  no 
volts  for  lighting  throughout  the  plant.  Some  doubt  at 
first  was  entertained  as  to  the  advisability  of  using  550 
volts  in  the  cellar  on  account  of  the  excessive  moisture  with 


through  a  speed-reducing  mechanism,  were  also  readily 
changed  over  to  alternating-current  drive.  It  was  decided 
to  use  one  motor  in  each  cellar,  driving  the  pumps  by  shaft- 
ing and  belts.  The  direct-current  motor  on  each  pump  was 
therefore  replaced  by  a  suitable  pulley  and  bearings,  and 
the  two  pairs  of  pumps  are  driven  by  two  5-hp  motors 
through   moisture-proof  belts.     These   twin  drives  provide 


Fig.   1 — 2-hp   Motor  Connected  Through   Gear   Box  to   Mash    Pump. 

the  accompanying  danger  of  insulation  troubles.  Up  to  the 
present  time,  however,  not  the  least  trouble  has  been  ex- 
perienced in  this  respect,  and  this  is  partly  explained  by  the 
care  that  was  taken  in  wiring  the  place.  This  wiring  had 
formerly  been  run  in  conduit,  but  it  was  found  that  trouble 
was  experienced  from  moisture  getting  into  the  junction 
boxes.  The  wiring  for  both  lighting  and  motors  was,  there- 
fore, changed  to  lead-covered  open  wiring  in  the  cellar  and 
other  damp  places,  and  the  remainder  of  the  circuits  were 
carried  in  conduit. 

Among  the  problems  which  presented  themselves  was  that 
of  a  4000-lb.  freight  elevator.  This  elevator  had  always 
worked  very  smoothly  with  the  220-volt  direct-current  motor 
and  gave  little  trouble.  In  order  to  operate  this  equipment 
from  the  alternating-current  circuits  a  15-hp  induction 
motor  was  provided  with  wound  rotor  and  a  set  of  external 
resistances    for  purpose   of  acceleration.     The   old   magnet 


Fig.    3 — Automatic    Oii    Switch    and    Starting    Compensator. 

ample  flexibihty  and  at  the  same  time  reduce  the  total  power 
required. 

Another  instance  that  illustrates  the  value  of  an  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  power  required  for  the  various  machines 
is  seen  in  the  grinding  room.  The  rolls  for  grinding  malt 
were  formerly  driven  by  a  20-hp  direct-current  motor,  but 
it  was  found  upon  careful  tests  that  a  7.5-hp  motor  was 
sufficient  for  the  work.  An  induction  motor  of  this  rating 
was  therefore  provided,  geared  directly  to  the  rolls  of  the 
grinder.  This  outfit  is  designed  to  clean  and  grind  100 
bushels  of  malt  per  hour. 

In  the  bottling  works  it  was  also  found  that  the  power 
required  was  much  less  than  the  normal  rating  of  the 
15-hp  direct-current  motor  which  was  belted  to  the  main 
shaft.  The  power  actually  consumed  did  not  exceed  7.5  hp, 
and  an  induction  motor  of  this  rating  was  consequently 
installed. 


Fig.     2 — 7.5-hp     Motor     Operating     Automatic     Bottle- Washing 
Machine. 

for  the  brake  was  replaced  by  a  solenoid  suitably  attached  to 
the  brake  lever  to  provide  electric  control  similar  to  that 
obtained  with  the  magnet.  This  outfit  provides  a  very  satis- 
factory substitute  for  the  original  drive,  the  former 
mechanical  features  being  retained. 

The  four  beer  pumps,  all  of  which  were  of  the  slow-speed 
rotary  type,  each  with  an  individual  motor  connected  to  it 


Fig.     A — 1 


5-hp     Motor     Directly     Connected 
Elevator. 


to    2-Ton     Electric 


An  air  compressor  in  the  brewery  had  been  purchased 
at  the  time  when  air  was  used  for  hoisting  ice  as  well  as 
for  other  purposes  in  the  brewery  and  bottling  house. 
Later  on  when  the  old  air  hoist  had  been  discarded  and 
replaced  by  an  electric  hoist  the  compressor  was  much  larger 
than  was  required  for  use  in  the  brewery  and  bottling  house 
alone.     In  order  to  maintain  the  desired  air  pressure  in  the 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL 


receiver  a  15-lip  motor  was  provided  with  an  automatic 
pressure  regulator  designed  to  maintain  air  pressure  be- 
tween 40  lb.  and  50  lb.  per  square  inch.  As  soon  as  the 
pressure  reaches  the  predetermined  maximum  the  com- 
pressor motor  is  automatically  cut  out  until  the  pressure 
again  falls  to  the  lower  limit. 

The  new  installations  comprise  a  total  of  twenty-six 
motors  with  an  aggregate  rating  of  199  hp.  Of  these 
motors  eight  were  connected  to  groups  of  machines  through 
belt  drive  and  eighteen  were  connected  for  individual  drive, 
seven  of  these  being  directly  connected,  four  being  geared 
and  seven  being  belt-connected  to  their  respective  machines. 
All  of  the  motors  were  furnished  by  the  General  Electric 
Company. 

With  these  new  arrangements  the  cost  of  motive  power 
has  been  reduced  by  about  50  per  cent  and  the  energy  con- 
sumption about  60  per  cent.  The  "ready-to-serve"  clause  in 
the  contract  with  the  central-station  company  makes  up  the 
difference  between  percentage  saved  in  money  and  that 
saved  in  energy. 


WORLD. 

VEHICLE   CALL   SYSTEM. 


1113 


Edwards  &  Company,  Inc.,  of  140th  and  Exterior  Streets, 
New  York,  have  recently  put  upon  the  market  an  electric 
system  for  calling  vehicles.  This  plan  has  embodied  in  it 
several  ideas  which  are  advanced  to  overcome  the  annoy- 
ing and   disagreeable    features   of   the   methods    now    com- 


OIL-ENGINE-GENERATOR  SET. 


The  oil  engine  is  an  extremely  simple  and  efficient  prime 
mover  for  electric  generating  units  and  is  particularly  well 
suited  for  small  central  stations  and  isolated  plants.  The 
set  illustrated  herewith,  consisting  of  a  30-hp  oil  engine  and 
a  15-kw  generator,  is  manufactured  by  the  Remington  Oil 
Engine  Company,  120  Broad  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.  It 
utilizes  kerosene,  gas  oil,  distillate  or  any  other  low-grade 
fuel.  The  engine  and  generator  are  mounted  on  a  common 
base  and  connected  with  a  flexible  coupling.  The  set  occu- 
pies a  floor  area  of  3  ft.  x  8  ft.  4  in.,  is  5  ft.  4  in.  high  and 
weighs  6700  lb.  It  is  claimed  that  the  fuel  consumption  is 
less  than  i  pint  per  brake-hp-hour.  The  engines  are  made 
in  sizes  from  6  brake-hp  to  60  brake-hp  with  one,  two  and 
four  cylinders.  The  generators  are  rated  at  from  3.5  kw  to 
40  kw. 

The  ignition  in  these  engines  is  accomplished  by  com- 
pressing the  air  in  the  combustion  chamber  until  the  tem- 
perature has  risen  to  a  point  high  enough  to  vaporize  the 
fuel,  when  it  is  injected.  A  centrifugal  governor  on  the 
flywheel  controls  the  length  of  stroke  of  the  fuel  pump, 
increasing  or  diminishing  the  quantity  of  fuel  injected  into 


Fig.    1  — Installation    of    Vehicle    Call    System. 

monly  used  for  summoning  the  drivers  of  public  and  private 
conveyances.  The  criticism  made  of  the  old  method  is 
that  it  is  less  orderly,  convenient,  dignified  and  efficient 
than  the  new  system. 

The  necessary  apparatus  for  operating  this  vehicle  call 
system  include  a  i/16-hp  motor  geared  to  a  shaft  which 
causes  to  revolve  the  three  number-bearing  cylinders 
illustrated  in  Fig.  i  and  a  switchboard  control  for  starting 
the  motor  from  the  vestibule  of  the  building  on  which  it  is 
placed,  as  shown  in  Fig.  2.  In  addition  to  these  there  are, 
of  course,  the  necessary  wiring  and  lighting  appliances. 
The  annunciator  is  manufactured  in  three  types  with  two. 


30-hp  Oil-Engine  Electric  Generating  Set. 

the  combustion  chamber  as  the   load  on   the  engine   is  in- 
creased or  decreased. 

These  engines  are  said  to  be  equally  economical  and  re- 
liable when  used  for  pumping,  hoisting,  operation  of  re- 
frigerators, air  compressors  and  in  other  industrial  services. 
Other  engines  built  on  the  same  principles  are  specially 
designed  for  marine  service. 


Fig.    2— Control     Board    for    Vehicle    Call     System. 


three  and  four  revolving  cylinders,  which  give  25,  125  and 
625  calls  respectively. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  way  in  which  the  new  plan 
operates,  a  specific  instance  may  be  given  as  follows:  An 
automobile  draws  up  to  the  curb  and  stops.  An  attendant 
is  at  hand  to  open  the  door  and  assist  the  passengers  to 
alight,  at  the  same  time  presenting  to  them  a  card  bearing 


III4 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21. 


a  number,  a  duplicate' bf  which  is  given  to  the  chauffeur, 
who  then  drives  away  to  await  the  appearance  on  the  an- 
nunciator of  the  number  which  he  holds.  When  the  pas- 
sengerf.  return  to  the  door  and  present  their  number  card 
to  the  attendant  that  number  is  immediately  displayed  on 
the  annunciator  and  a  bell  or  whistle  is  sounded  to  attract 
the  attention  of  the  drivers.  The  operation  of  the  bell  or 
whistle  is  the  only  noise  which  is  occasioned  in  summon- 
ing vehicles  by  this  method,  the  repeated  shouting  necessary 
under  the  old  method  being  done  away  with. 

It  is  claimed  that  no  special  skill  or  training  is  required 
on  the  part  of  the  attendant,  as  his  only  duty  consists  of 
setting  the  hands  of  the  dial  at  the  proper  figures.  The  new 
device  automatically  "does  the  rest." 


"The  protection  of  33,000-volt  transformers  and  fuses  is 
a  problem  which  is  as  yet  not  wholly  solved.  A  few  instal- 
lations of  25  kw  to  50  kw  have  been  made,  which  are  pro- 
tected by  the  S.  &  C.  type  of  fuses.  This  consists  of  a 
fuse  supported  in  a  glass  tube  under  the  tension  of  spiral 
springs,  the  tubes  being  filled  with  carbon-tetrachloride  and 
securely  sealed.     Such  an  installation  is  shown  in  Fig.  2, 


ELEVATOR  MOTOR. 


The  accompanying  illustration  shows  one  of  a  complete 
line  of  Watson  direct-current  motors  for  elevator  service. 
Although  the  standard  line  of  Watson  direct-current  motors 
is  made  in  sizes  up  to  and  including  15  hp,  the  elevator  line 


Elevator  Motor. 

which  has  been  under  development  for  some  time  includes 
sizes  up  to  20  hp.  Smooth,  quiet-running,  good  commuta- 
tion and  good  torque  at  starting  are  the  principal  points  of 
advantage  claimed. 

In  this  motor,  as  in  other  Watson  motors,  the  bear- 
ings, shaft  and  other  mechanical  features  are  ruggedly 
and  compactly  built.  This  line  is  especially  adapted  for 
moderate-speed  passenger  and  freight  service.  The  maker 
of  the  elevator  motor  is  the  Mechanical  Appliance  Company. 
Milwaukee,  Wis. 


HIGH-POTENTIAL  FUSES  UNDER  SERVICE 
CONDITIONS. 


In  a  paper  on  "High-Tension  Distribution  in  Northern 
Illinois"  read  at  the  recent  Peoria  convention  of  the  Illinois 
State  Electric  Association  and  written  by  Mr.  H.  B.  Gear, 
engineeer  of  distribution  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison 
Company  of  Chicago,  an  interesting  reference  was  made  to 
the  use  of  new  high-potential  fuses.  Mr.  Gear  said,  speak- 
ing of  the  jointly  operated  systems  of  the  Public  Service 
Company  of  Northern  Illinois  and  the  Illinois  Northern 
Utilities  Company : 


Fig.    1 — Mounting    of    New-Type    High-Potential    Fuse. 

the  transformer  being  25  kw  in  this  case.  The  experience 
which  has  been  had  with  this  fuse  thus  far  seems  to  indi- 
cate that  it  will  be  satisfactory  for  outdoor  use  up  to 
150-kw  units.  Larger  sizes  of  transformers  are  usually  in 
a  substation,  where  circuit-breakers  provide  necessary  pro- 
tection." 

The  S.  &  C.  high-tension  fuses  referred  to  are  made  by 
Schweitzer  &  Conrad,  of  Chicago,  with  mountings  designed 


Fig.    2 — New-Type    High. Potential    Fuse    for    33,000-Volt    Outdoor 
Transformer. 

by  the  Delta  Star  Electric  Company  of  Chicago.  They  are 
designed  both  for  station  use  and  for  the  protection  of  out- 
door electric  construction.  Fig.  i  shows  the  fuse  and 
method  of  mounting,  the  type  illustrated  being  the  same  as 
shown  installed  in  Fig.  2.  In  this  fuse  the  glass  tube  is 
filled  with  a  non-inflammable  liquid  described  as  having 
extremely  high  dielectric  strength,  with  none  of  the  objec- 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


ins 


tionable  characteristics  of  oil.  The  liquid  extinguishes  the 
arc  and  interrupts  the  current  flow,  this  action  being  still 
further  accelerated  by  the  contraction  of  the  spiral  spring 
simultaneously  with  the  melting  of  the  fuse  wire,  thus  intro- 
ducing a  very  large  gap.  The  dielectric  strength  of  the 
liquid  is  spoken  of  as  being  about  250,000  volts  per  inch, 
and  therefore  the  gap  between  the  top  ferrule  and  the  top 
end  of  the  submerged  spring  gives  a  factor  of  safety  equiva- 
lent to  several  hundred  thousand  volts.  Numerous  test? 
have  been  made,  submitting  the  fuse  to  severe  conditions 
of  short-circuit,  and  the  results  obtained  have  been  so 
marked  as  to  excite  the  favorable  comment  of  both  foreign 
and  American  engineers. 

Another  interesting  statement  made  in  relation  to  this 
fuse  has  to  do  with  the  heavy  current  handled  during  the 
moment,  of  short-circuit  without  any  destructive  results  to 
the  fus?.  Eighteen-anipere  (continuous  rating)  fuses  are 
said  to  have  operated  successfully  with  instantaneous 
maxima  of  1220  amp  and  1250  amp.  The  i-amp  or  shunt- 
transformer  fuses  operated  successfully  with  instantaneous 
maximum-current  values  ranging  from  160  amp  to  1170 
amp,  the  instantaneous-current  values  depending  obviously 
upon  the  point  of  the  emf  wave  at  which  the  short-circuit 
was  made. 


SMALL  ELECTRIC  DELIVERY  WAGON. 


The  Baker  Motor  Vehicle  Company  has  added  a  delivery 
runabout  of  500-lb.  carrying  capacity  to  its  line  of  electric 
commercial  vehicles.  This  car,  which  is  fitted  with  bevel 
gear,  shaft  drive  and  pneumatic   tires,   has  a  speed  of  20 


TIME  RECORDER. 


The  Industrial  Instrument  Company,  Foxboro,  Mass.,  has 
just  added  to  its  line  of  recording  instruments  a  mechanical 
time  recorder,  illustrated  in  Fig.  i.  The  instrument  is 
mounted  in  a  round  case  of  the  same  size  and  design  as 
those  used  with  other  recorders.  The  pen  arm  is  attached  to 
and  supported  by  the  shaft  or  axle.  An  arm  attached  to 
the  shaft  passes  through  the  case  and  an  extension  with 
adjustable  clamps  serves  to  facilitate  the  adjustment  of  the 
pen  on  the  chart.  Clock  movements  are  supplied  to  revolve 
the  charts  in  fifteen  or  thirty  minutes,  one,  two,  three,  four, 
six,  twelve  and  twenty-four  hours  and  seven  days  as  de- 
sired. The  purpose  of  the  mechanical  time  recorder  is  the 
recording  of  frequency,  duration  and  extent  of  any  me- 
chanical motion,  such  as  opening  and  closing  of  gates, 
valves,  doors  or  similar  operations. 

Fig.  2  illustrates  an  electrical  time  recorder  just  placed 
on  the  market  by  the  same  company.  This  instrument,  in- 
stead of  being  operated  by  mechanical  motion,  is  operated 
by  electric  contact  and  consequently  is  adapted  for  use  in 
places  where  the  recorder  itself  is  to  be  located  at  a  dis- 


Small    Electric     Delivery    Wagon 


miles  per  hour  and  will  travel  from  60  to   100  miles  on  a 
single  charge. 

The  body  is  made  open  or  inclosed,  the  former  having  a 
loading  space  of  30  in.  by  30  in.,  while  the  panel  body,  which 
is  fitted  with  rear  doors,  has  a  loading  space  32  in.  long 
and  36  in.  wide,  measured  at  the  seat  level.  The  motor  is 
of  the  same  design  and  construction  as  those  used  in  large 
trucks  manufactured  by  this  company. 


TELEPHONE  MOUTHPIECE. 


A  telephone  mouthpiece  of  distinctive  design  has  re- 
cently been  placed  on  the  market  by  the  Electrose  Manufac- 
turing Company,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  The  particular  im- 
provements claimed  for  this  style  of  attachment  over  the 
type  now  in  use  are  that  it  is  more  sanitary  and  more 
substantial.  The  bell  of  the  mouthpiece  is  made  shallower 
and  more  flaring  than  the  mouthpiece  now  in  general  use, 
so  that  it  lends  itself  more  readily  to  the  application  of  the 
dust  cloth.  The  shell  is  made  thicker  than  on  the  older 
design,  and   this,  combined  with  the  reduced  depth  of  the 


Figs.    1    and   2 — Mechanical    and    Electrical   Time    Recorders. 


Telephone    Mouthpiece. 


tance  from  the  source  of  motion  or  operation.     When  con-  shell,  makes  it  able  to  withstand  rough  usage.     Instead  of 

tact  is  made  the  current  actuates  an  armature  to  which  the  containing    several    perforations    for   admitting    the    sound 

pen  arm   is  attached  and  the  chart   records   the   frequency  waves,  one  large  circular  aperture  is  used,  which  is  nearly 

and  duration  of  contact.     The  illustration  shows  four  pens  large    enough    to    admit    an    ordinary    lead    pencil.      These 

for  recording  four  independent  operations  simultaneously  mouthpieces  are  manufactured  to  fit  the  face  plate  of  any 

on  the   same  chart.     These   recorders   are  built  with   any  standard  transmitter.     It  is  claimed  that  the  volume  and 

number  of  pens  up  to  six.  quality  of  transmission  are  as  good  as  with  any  other  type. 


iii6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o.  No.  21. 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


REPORTS  from  all  sections  of  the  country  show  tliat 
the  trade  activity  of  recent  weeks  is  not  only  sus- 
tained but  is  expanding  rapidly.  Buying  for  future 
requirements  on  much  broader  lines  than  in  the  past  few 
months  is  one  of  the  most  distinctive  tendencies  of  the 
present  situation.  Another  very  noticeable  change  in  trade 
conditions  is  that  many  remote  parts  of  the  country  are 
now  beginning  to  respond  to  the  activity  at  the  large  trade 
centers.  Bank  clearings  were  13  per  cent  larger  last  week 
than  in  the  week  preceding,  and  were  9  per  cent  greater 
than  in  the  corresponding  week  of  igii.  Prompt  delivery 
is  being  sought  for  all  classes  of  material.  All  branches  of 
the  electrical  industry  show  that  progress  is  being  made. 
Items  elsewhere  in  these  columns  show  substantial  increase 
in  the  volume  of  sales  made  by  the  General  Electric  and 
Western  Electric  companies.  Representatives  of  the  Allis- 
Chalmers  Company  state  that  business  is  improving  with 
that  concern  and  that  contracts  aggregating  68,500  kw  were 
closed  by  it  in  October.  Many  of  the  electric-vehicle 
manufacturers  report  gains  over  last  year's  business.  In 
addition  to  the  electrification  plan  of  the  Denver  &  Rio 
Grande  Railroad  Company,  referred  to  elsewhere  in  this 
issue,  it  is  understood  that  details  of  another  project  of 
similar  nature  will  be  available  for  publication  within  a  few 
weeks. 


J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Inc.,  Form  Two  Subsidiaries. — 

Announcement  was  made  this  week  by  J.  G.  White  &  Com- 
pany, Inc..  43  Exchange  Place,  New  York  City,  of  a  plan 
for  segregating  their  engineering  and  operating  departments 
through  the  formation  of  two  new  corporations,  one  to  be 
known  as  The  T.  G.  White  Engineering  Corporation  and  the 
other  to  be  known  as  The  J.  G.  White  Management  Corpor- 
ation. The  former  will  take  over  the  engineering-construc- 
tion department  of  the  present  company,  and  the  latter  will 
take  over  the  present  operating  or  managing  department. 
J.  G.  White,  president  of  the  company,  says  in  his  announce- 
ment of  the  plan  that  for  some  years  past  it  has  been  the 
opinion  of  a  number  of  the  officers  and  directors  of  the 
company  that  the  latter's  various  activities  could  be  con- 
ducted with  greater  efiiciency  and  profit  if  separately  incor- 
porated and  that  with  the  increasing  volume  of  engineering 
and  construction  work  the  company  is  now  carrying  on  ad- 
ditional capital  could  be  used  advantageously  if  the  two  de- 
partments were  separate  entities.  The  total  authorized  capi- 
tal stock  of  The  J.  G.  White  Engineering  Corporation  is  to 
be  $2,000,000,  of  which  $1,000,000  is  to  be  common  stock  and 
$1,000,000  is  to  be  7  per  cent  cumulative  preferred.  All  of 
the  common  stock  will  be  owned  by  J.  G.  White  &  Company, 
Inc.,  in  return  for  all  of  the  assets  of  the  latter's  engineering 
department,  which  will  be  transferred  shortly  to  the  new 
engineering  corporation.  J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Inc.  will 
subscribe  presently  for  $500,000  of  the  preferred  stock  at 
par,  leaving  $500,000  unissued  for  future  requirements.  Of 
the  $500,000  subscribed  for  by  J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Inc.. 
$350,000  will  be  oflfered  to  present  stockholders  of  the  latter 
at  par.  Each  stockholder  is  to  have  the  right  to  take  pre- 
ferred stock  in  the  new  engineering  corporation  to  the  ex- 
tent of  10  per  cent  of  the  par  value  of  his  present  holdings 
of  preferred  and  common.  A  bonus  of  common  stock  of 
J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Inc.,  will  be  given  with  the  pre- 
ferred stock,  amounting  to  10  per  cent  of  the  latter  sub- 
scribed for.  The  balance  of  the  $500,000  subscribed  for  by 
J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Inc.,  but  not  taken  by  the  stock- 
holders will  be  offered  to  directors  of  the  new  corporation. 
The  J.  G.  White  Management  Corporation  will  have  an 
authorized  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000.  divided  into  $500,000 
common  and  $500,000  7  per  cent  cumulative  preferred  stock. 
All  of  the  common  stock  will  be  issued  to  J.  G.  White  & 
Company,  Inc.,  and  all  of  the  assets  of  the  latter's  present 
operating  department  will  be  turned  over  to  the  new  man- 
agement concern.  Of  the  preferred,  $350,000  will  be  sub- 
scribed for  by  J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Inc.,  at  par,  and  this 
will  be  offered  to  the  present  stockholders  upon  the  same 
terms,  including  the  bonus,  as  the  offering  to  them  of  the 
stock  of  the  management  corporation,  described  above,  will 


be  made,  and  the  balance  not  subscribed  for  by  stockholders  ■ 
will  be  oftered  to  directors  of  the  new  corporation.  The 
$150,000  unissued  will  be  used  for  future  requirements.  A 
meetings  of  the  stockholders  of  J.  G.  White  &  Company, 
Inc.,  will  be  held  on  Dec.  10,  to  approve  the  segregation 
plan.  The  balance  sheet  of  J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Inc., 
as  of  Sept.  30,  1912,  shows  total  assets  and  liabilities  of 
$4,820,927,  as  follows:  Assets — Good  will,  plant,  tools,  in- 
struments, etc.,  $1,499,037;  deferred  charges  and  plant,  less 
depreciation,  $78,846;  securities  owned  and  syndicate  partici- 
pations, $2,330,513;  bills  receivable,  $109,513;  accounts  re- 
ceivable, $500,997;  interest  and  dividend  accrued,  $25,211; 
cash  on  hand  and  in  banks,  $258,363;  working  capital  and 
cash  in  branch  offices,  $18,447;  total  assets,  $4,820,927.  Lia- 
bilities— Capital  stock  issued,  common  $1,500,000,  preferred 
$2,000,000;  bills  payable,  $34,396;  accounts  payable,  $23,407; 
surplus,  Feb.  29,  1912,  $605,522;  profit  for  seven  months 
ended  Sept.  30,  1912,  $687,602;  total  surplus,  less  preferred 
dividend  No.  37,  of  $30,000,  $1,263,124:  total  liabilities, 
$4,820,927. 

Scope  of  1912  Work  Done  by  J.  G.  White  &  Company, 
Inc. — Construction  work  done  by  the  engineering  depart- 
ment of  J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Inc.,  thus  far  in  the  cur- 
rent year  has  aggregated  $28,000,000  in  cost  and  has  been 
distributed  throughout  thirty  different  states  and  Canada. 
Among  the  work  accomplished  were  the  complete  rehabili- 
tation of  several  existing  public  service  properties,  the  con- 
struction and  equipment  of  two  high-speed  interurban  elec- 
tric railways. the  engineeringfor  the  drainage  of  118,000  acres 
in  Florida  and  the  design  and  construction  of  a  124-mile,  12- 
in.  natural-gas  pipe  line  from  Bakersfield  to  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.,  in  w-hich  the  operating  pressure  will  be  450  lb.  per 
square  inch.  Among  the  hydroelectric  developments  con- 
structed by  the  company's  engineering  department  are 
those  of  the  New  England  Power  Company  on  the  Deer- 
field  River  near  Shelburne  Falls,  Mass.;  the  stations  for  the 
Georgia-Carolina  Power  Company  on  the  Savannah  River, 
near  Augusta,  Ga.;  the  station  for  the  Columbia  (S.  C.) 
Railway,  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  on  the  Broad  River  at 
Parr  Shoals;  the  developments  of  the  Eastern  Tennessee 
Power  Company,  on  the  Ocoee  River,  at  Parkville,  Tenn.; 
the  development  for  the  San  Joaquin  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany in  California  and  hydroelectric  work  on  the  Beauhar- 
nois  Canal  in  Canada.  The  aggregate  rating  of  these  water- 
power  sites  is  250.000  hp.  In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  the 
company  has  made  appraisals  and  reports  during  the  year 
upon  properties  aggregating  in  value  more  than  $400,000,000 
in  all  parts  of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  The  various 
activities  of  the  company's  management  department  include 
the  operation  of  a  number  of  public  utilities  such  as  the 
electric  railway  and  lighting  properties  at  Manila,  P.  I.; 
electric  light  and  traction  properties  at  Augusta,  Ga.,  and 
public  utilities  at  Helena,  Mont.  The  department  also  acts 
as  operating  manager  for  the  Associated  Gas  &  Electric 
Company,  which  controls  several  gas  and  electric  properties 
in  the  States  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  and  also 
acts  as  consulting  operating  manager  of  the  United  Light 
&  Railways  Company  of  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  and  of 
numerous  other  public  utility  properties. 

Western  Electric's  October  Business. — In  the  ten  months 
of  the  current  year  ended  Oct.  31  the  Western  Electric 
Company  billed  5  per  cent  more  goods  than  in  the  same 
period  of  191 1.  From  present  indications,  the  record  of 
the  year  as  a  whole  will  show  a  total  of  goods  billed  slightly 
more  than  the  estimate  of  $67,000,000  that  was  made  at  the 
beginning  of  1912.  The  business  of  the  company  last  year 
totaled  $66,000,000,  which  is  within  $3,000,000  of  the  best 
year  of  its  history,  so  that  if  the  present  rate  of  business  is 
maintained  the  1912  total  will  be  only  about  $2,000,000  un- 
der the  best  showing  made  in  the  past.  In  some  localities  in 
the  East  and  in  a  greater  number  in  the  West  the  October 
business  of  the  company  was  not  so  good  as  it  was  in  the 
corresponding  months  last  year.  Incoming  business  was 
not  so  large  as  the  billing,  which  x:cnsequently  reduced  the 
amount  of  orders  on  hand.  The  company  now  has  about 
22,000  employees  on  its  payrolls.     No  notable  increases  in 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1117 


business  are  expected  by  the  officers  of  the  company  in  the 
remaining  two  months  of  the  fiscal  and  calendar  year. 

Tennessee  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Outlook. — F.  C.  Wal- 
cott,  of  William  P.  lionbright  &  Company,  14  Wall  Street, 
New  York,  accompanied  by  C.  M.  Clark,  of  E.  W.  Clark  & 
Company,  and  two  engineers,  recently  made  an  inspection 
of  the  properties  of  the  Tennessee  Railway,  Light  &  Power 
Company,  and  of  the  territory  which  its  lines  will  traverse, 
and  found  that  the  situation  as  a  whole  was  fully  as  prom- 
ising as  it  appeared  to  be  when  rhe  company  was  organ- 
ized. The  prospects  for  supplying  a  large  amount  of  en- 
ergy in  Nashville  to  the  many  industrial  plants  of  that  city 
and  vicinity  the  party  found  to  be  exceedingly  bright.  An 
increase  in  gross  revenue  from  motor-service  customers 
amounting  to  about  $445,000  appeared  to  be  in  sight.  Mr. 
Walcott  estimates  that  30  per  cent  of  this  new  business 
will  be  secured  in  1913.  Full  benefits  of  the  Nashville  mar- 
ket have  not  been  realized  by  the  company  as  yet,  since  the 
business  already  in  hand  has  absorbed  all  of  the  energy 
now  available  for  motor-service  purposes;  but  an  adequate 
supply  of  energy  for  industrial  purposes  will  probably  be 
available  by  next  June,  and  much  of  the  additional  load 
now  in  sight  will  tlien  be  placed  upon  the  system.  Inspec- 
tion of  the  territory  between  Nashville  and  Chattanooga 
showed  good  prospects  for  new  business  in  the  outlying 
districts.  Business  conditions  and  prospects  for  a  large 
motor-service  load  in  Chattanooga  were  found  to  be  excel- 
lent. The  low  rates  at  which  the  company's  service  is  now 
available  in  that  city  and  the  spirit  of  progressiveness  and 
prosperity  that  the  inspection  party  found  on  all  sides  as- 
sure the  development  of  a  large  industrial  load  in  this  part 
of  the  company's  territory.  The  hydroelectric  develop- 
ments on  the  Ocoee  River  were  found  to  be  progressing 
satisfactorily.  Site  No.  i  is  now  carrying  a  peak  load  of 
10,500  hp,  and  an  additional  5000  hp  will  be  ready  for  in- 
stallation by  January,  from  present  indications.  The  site 
has  20,000  hp  available.  A  contract  has  been  made  with  the 
Aluminum  Company  of  America  calling  for  the  delivery 
of  20,000  hp  in  electrical  energy,  which  insures  an  imme- 
diate market  for  the  output  from  development  No.  2.  This 
development  is  now  about  one-half  completed  and  will 
probably  be  placed  in  operation  by  next  July.  From  the 
contracts  already  made  and  the  new  business  in  sight,  it  is 
possible  that  the  third  development,  which  will  provide 
30,000  hp,  will  be  needed  sooner  than  had  been  expected. 
The  transmission  line  between  Chattanooga  and  Nashville 
by  way  of  Great  Falls  will  be  completed  about  April  i. 
Knoxville  and  Cleveland,  Tenn.,  and  Rome,  Ga.,  are  being 
served  with  energy  from  the  Ocoee  River  development. 

Montana  Public  Utilities  Consolidated. — Subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  stockholders  at  a  meeting  to  be  held  on 
Dec.  12,  the  directors  of  the  Butte  (Mont.)  Electric  & 
Power  Company  have  agreed  upon  the  consolidation  of  that 
company  with  the  Missouri  River  Electric  &  Power  Com- 
pany, the  Madison  River  Power  Company  and  the  Billings 
&  Eastern  Montana  Power  Company,  and  with  the  Mon- 
tana Power  Company.  All  the  capital  stock  of  these  cor- 
porations, with  the  exception  of  that  of  the  last-named, 
is  owned  by  the  Butte  company.  The  Montana  Power 
Company  was  incorporated  under  New  Jersey  laws  in  Octo- 
ber, 1912,  as  noted  in  these  columns  Nov.  9.  It  has  an 
authorized  capital  stock  of  $3,900,000.  The  consolidated 
corporation  will  be  called  The  Montana  Power  Company 
and  will  have  an  authorized  capital  stock  of  $100,000,000. 
Of  this,  $25,000,000  will  be  7  per  cent  cumulative  preferred 
and  $75,000,000  will  be  common  stock.  The  Montana  Power 
Company  will  be  controlled  by  the  same  interests  which 
have  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  Butte  Electric  &  Power 
Company  in  the  past.  These  include  John  D.  Ryan,  John 
G.  Morony,  Max  Hebgen.  C.  F.  Kelly  and  Marcus  Daly,  of 
Montana;  C.  W.  Wetmore,  C.  H.  Sabin,  C.  A.  Coffin,  S.  Z. 
Mitchell  and  Seligman  &  Company,  of  New  York;  G.  M. 
Lane,  of  Boston;  J.  G.  Schmidlapp,  of  Cincinnati,  and 
Robert  Flenning,  Son  &  McLeod,  of  London.  C.  W.  Wet- 
more  is  to  be  president  and  Max  Hebgen,  of  Butte,  vice- 
president  and  general  manager.  Extensive  hydroelectric 
developments  to  cost  over  $12,000,000  are  under  considera- 
tion. 

Telluride  Power  Company  Sold  at  Auction. — On  Nov.  18 
the  property  of  the  Telluride  Power  Company  was  sold  at 
Telluride.  Col.,  to  Niel  A.  Weathers,  in  the  interest  of  the 


recently  organized  Utah  Securities  Corporation,  for  $6,460,- 
000,  and  will  be  transferred  to  the  Utah  Power  &  Light 
Company,  a  subsidiary  of  the  Utah  Securities  Corporation. 
L.  L.  Nunn,  former  president  and  general  manager  of  the 
Telluride  company,  obtained  a  temporary  injunction  in  the 
federal  courts  in  Denver,  on  Nov.  16,  against  the  sale  of 
the  company,  charging,  it  is  said,  conspiracy  and  attempts 
to  defraud  and  claiming  that  the  property  was  worth  at 
least  $10,000,000.  Mr.  Nunn,  however,  failed  to  put  up  ade- 
quate bond  in  accordance  with  the  order  of  the  court,  and 
the  sale  went  forward  on  Nov.  18  as  above.  When  the 
Telluride  company  was  reorganized  a  few  months  ago,  as 
noted  in  these  columns  Aug.  3  and  21,.  control  of  the  prop- 
erty passed  to  J.  R.  Nutt,  of  the  Citizens'  Savings  &  Trust 
Company,  Cleveland,  and  to  interests  associated  with  the 
North  .\merican  and  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share  companies. 
Following  this  change  and  the  election  of  new  directors 
and  officers  for  the  Telluride  company,  Mr.  Nunn  resigned. 
It  is  stated  that  he  held  only  a  small  amount  of  stock. 

New  York  Central  May  Sell  Its  Gas  and  Electric  Prop- 
erties.— It  is  understood  that  an  Eastern  banking  syndicate 
has  secured  an  option  at  $125  a  share  on  a  majority  of  the 
holdings  of  the  New  York  Central  &  Hudson  River  Rail- 
road Company  in  the  Mohawk  Valley  Company,  amounting 
to  $5,114,300  of  the  $7,500,000  outstanding  common  stock. 
In  addition  to  the  Rochester  (N.  Y.)  Railway  &  Light 
Company,  the  Mohawk  Valley  Company  controls  a  number 
of  other  public-utility  concerns  in  the  upper  part  of  New 
York  State.  The  Mohawk  Valley  Company  was  incorpo- 
rated in  1905  by  the  New  York  Central-Andrews  syndicate 
as  a  holding  company  and  took  over  control  of  practically 
all  the  electric  railway  and  lighting  properties  which  had 
been  acquired  by  the  New  York  Central  &  Hudson  River 
Railroad  Company.  When  the  New  York  State  Railways 
Company  was  incorporated  in  1909  the  control  of  the 
traction  properties  was  transferred  to  it.  so  that  the  Mo- 
hawk company  now  controls  only  the  lighting  properties. 
These  are  the  Canandaigua  Gas  Light  Company,  the 
Despatch  Heat,  Light  &  Power  Company,  the  Eastern 
Monroe  Electric  Light  &  Gas  Company  and  the  Rochester 
Railway  &  Light  Company.  It  is  stated  that  the  New 
York  Central  does  not  care  to  operate  lighting  properties 
any  longer.  Mr.  Andrews  would  not  make  any  statement 
this  week  relative  to  the  above. 

Electric  Investment  Corporation  Organized. — The  Elec- 
tric Investment  Corporation  has  just  been  organized  under 
Virginia  laws  with  an  authorized  capital  stock  of  $1,500,000, 
of  which  $1,000,000  is  preferred  and  $500,000  is  common, 
for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  and  dealing  in  securities  of 
all  kinds,  and  particularly  those  of  public-service  corpora- 
tions. Under  its  charter  it  may  also  engage  in  the  develop- 
ment and  operation  of  hydroelectric  and  other  public- 
utilty  properties.  The  officers  of  the  company  are:  Presi- 
dent, George  A.  Galliver,  president  of  the  Central  States 
Electric  Corporation,  60  Broadway,  New  York;  vice-presi- 
dent, E.  P.  Chalfant,  president  of  the  Springfield  Railway 
&  Light  Company,  and  treasurer,  A.  Keshishian.  These. 
with  the  following,  are  directors  of  the  Electric  Investment 
Corporation:  R.  E.  Breed,  president  of  the  American  Gas 
&  Electric  Company;  Anson  W.  Burchard,  of  the  General 
Electric  Company;  Alfred  Gregory,  of  Hawkins,  Delafield 
&  Longfellow,  attorneys,  New  York;  W.  L.  McKee,  vice- 
president  of  the  Central  States  Electric  Corporation;  Oren 
Root,  president  of  the  Republic  Railway  &  Light  Com- 
pany, and  Harrison  Williams,  prominently  identified  with 
the  public  utility  field. 

Baker   Motor   Vehicle's   Business   Is   Increasing. — In   the 

month  of  October  last  the  sales  made  by  the  pleasure  car 
department  of  the  Baker  Motor  Vehicle  Company,  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  showed  a  net  increase  over  those  made  in  Oc- 
tober, 191 1,  of  123  per  cent.  This  is  36^  per  cent  in  ex- 
cess of  the  total  sales  in  April,  191 1,  which  heretofore 
made  the  largest  monthly  total  in  the  history  of  the  Baker 
company.  The  latter  is  now  going  ahead  with  building 
plans  and  operations  which  will  increase  the  size  of  its  fac- 
tory by  about  30  per  cent.  The  greater  part  of  the  new 
buildings  will  be  occupied  by  the  truck  department.  The 
Baker  company  has  just  delivered  twenty  i-ton  trucks  to 
the  St.  Paul  Bread  Company  and  six  trucks  to  Woodward 
&  Lothrop's  department  store,  Washington,  D.  C. 


iii8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21. 


Southwestern  Gas  &  Electric  Bonds. — In  connection  with 
an  offering  of  first  and  refunding  mortgage  twenty-year  S 
per  cent  sinking-fund  gold  bonds  of  the  Southwestern  Gas 
&  Electric  Company,  Henry  M.  Dawes,  president  of  the 
company,  gives  some  data  which  may  be  of  interest.  He 
states  that  the  company  does  the  entire  gas  and  electric 
lighting  business  in  the  city  of  Shreveport,  La.,  and  its 
suburbs  and  the  entire  gas,  electric-iighting  and  street-rail- 
way business  in  Texarkana,  Tex.,  and  Texarkana,  Ark.  It 
also  owns  valuable  natural-gas  properties  and  is  furnishing 
natural  gas  in  Shreveport  and  Texarkana.  The  company 
has  an  authorized  common  stock  of  $3,000,000,  of  which 
$2,242,000  is  outstanding,  and  $2,500,000  preferred  stock,  of 
which  $1,174,000  is  outstanding.  It  has  an  authorized  issue 
of  $7,500,000  first  and  refunding-mortgage  sinking-fund  5's, 
of  which  $3,000,000  are  outstanding.  Of  the  latter,  $867,000 
are  reserved  with  the  trustees  for  the  purpose  of  retiring 
$423,500  Shreveport  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company's 
5's,  due  Oct.  I,  1922,  and  $443,500  Texarkana  Gas  &  Electric 
Company's  5's,  due  July  i,  1930.  The  remaining  $4,500,000 
are  reserved  in  escrow  with  the  trustees  to  be  issued  from 
time  to  time  for  not  exceeding  80  per  cent  of  the  actual  and 
reasonable  cost  of  permanent  extensions  and  enlargements. 

Upper  New  York  State  Company  to  Enlarge. — The  Sal- 
mon River  Power  Company  has  asked  autliority  from  the 
Public  Service  Commission  of  the  Second  New  York  Dis- 
trict to  acquire  and  exercise  franchises  now  held  by  the 
Pulaski  Electric  Light  Company  for  electrical  distribution 
in  Richland,  Orwell  and  Albion,  Oswego  County.  The 
company  also  asked  approval  to  exercise  similar  franchises 
in  the  towns  of  Parish  and  Hastings  and  the  villages  of 
Altmar  and  Central  Square,  Oswego  County,  and  in  the 
towns  of  Cicero,  Clay  and  Salina,  Onondaga  County.  It 
is  stated  that  the  Salmon  River  company  is  constructing 
a  power  plant  in  the  town  of  Orwell  with  transmission 
lines  to  the  village  of  Solvay,  where  they  will  connect 
with  the  transmission  lines  of  the  Niagara,  Lockport  & 
Ontario  Power  Company,  which  company  recently  acquired 
control  of  the  Salmon   River  Power  Company. 

Great  Western  Power  Financing. — Relative  to  an  inquiry 
as  to  whether  the  Great  Western  Power  Company  would 
issue  additional  bonds  shortly,  Mortimer  Flieshhacker,  pres- 
ident of  the  company,  was  quoted  this  week  as  follows; 
"We  have  ample  funds  on  hand  to  carry  along  all  the  de- 
velopment work  that  can  be  done  until  the  first  of  the  year 
and  perhaps  for  some  time  afterward.  We  are  not  selling 
any  bonds  now  for  the  reason  that  there  is  no  need  to  do  so. 
To  complete  the  plans  of  Great  Western  Power  in  projects 
on  hand  and  under  consideration  will  require  much  money. 
This  money  we  get  largely  from  the  East  and  we  prefer  to 
have  our  securities  go  into  non-speculative  hands.  A  good 
many  millions  of  dollars  will  go  into  Great  Western  Power 
before  it  is  shaped  up." 

Montpelier  Properties  Consolidated. — Announcement  has 
been  made  at  Boston  that  the  Tenney  interests,  now  con- 
trolling important  central-station  properties  at  Holden, 
Fitchburg,  Haverhill  and  Salem,  Mass.,  and  other  points  in 
New  England  and  the  East,  have  organized  under  Massa- 
chusetts laws  the  Montpelier  &  Barre  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, to  supersede  the  Vermont  Power  &  Lighting  Company 
and  the  Consolidated  Lighting  Company,  now  operating  in 
the  Montpelier-Barre  district.  The  authorized  capital  is 
$2,100,000,  covered  in  11,000  shares  of  6  per  cent  cumulative 
preferred  stock  and  10,000  share  of  common  stock.  The 
properties  include  several  hydroelectric  and  steam  plants, 
high-tension  transmission  lines  and  distribution  circuits  sup- 
plying energy  to  the  famous  Barre  quarr}'ing  establishments. 

General  Electric  Sales  Ahead  of  Last  Year's. — Sales  of 
the  General  Electric  Company  are  maintaining  the  increase 
which  began  some  three  months  ago.  Orders  at  this  time 
are  about  20  per  cent  larger  than  those  in  the  corresponding 
period  of  191 1.  It  is  now  expected  that  this  year's  sales 
will  total  between  $94,000,000  and  $95,000,000.  It  is  be- 
lieved, however,  that  while  gross  earnings  will  show  a  con- 
siderable increase  over  those  of  191 1,  the  net  earnings  will 
not  show  a  proportionate  gain,  owing  to  the  inability  to 
get  prices  in  keeping  with  the  ascending  trend  of  raw  ma- 
terial cost. 

Files  $30,000,000  Mortgage  in  Texas. — The  Texas  Power 
&    Light    Company,    of    Dallas,    formed    last    June    by    the 


Electric  Bond  &  Share  Company,  of  Broadway,  New  York, 
has  purchased  the  El  Paso  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  and 
will  enlarge  the  plants  and  distributing  system.  The  Texas 
Power  &  Light  Company  has  filed  a  mortgage  with  the 
Bankers'  Trust  Company  of  New  York  for  $30,000,000  to 
permit  the  issuance  of  such  bonds  as  may  be  required  to 
furnish  capital  for  the  improvements  and  extensions  to  be 
made  at  its  various  properties. 

Springfield  (Ohio)  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company  Sold. — 
Interests  represented  by  Hodenpyl,  Hardy  &  Company,  7 
Wall  Street,  New  York,  have  taken  over  the  Springfield 
(Ohio)  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company.  Reference  to  the 
option  which  the  purchasers  secured  on  the  stock  of  this 
company  appeared  in  these  columns  on  Oct.  5. 

To  Hasten  Allis-Chalmers  Reorganization. — Judge  Geiger 
in  the  United  States  District  Court  at  Milwaukee  issued  an 
order  on  Nov.  18,  in  response  to  a  petition  by  Otto  H.  Falk, 
receiver  for  the  Allis-Chalmers  Company,  directing  that  the 
claims  of  all  creditors  of  the  company  shall  be  filed  on  or 
before  Feb.  15,  1913. 

Illinois  Public  Utilities  Sold. — It  is  reported  that  the  Cen- 
tral Illinois  Public  Service  Company,  of  Mattoon,  111.,  has 
purchased  the  Marion  (111.)  Light,  Water  &  Power  Com- 
pany and  also  the  central-station  properties  at  Johnson  City, 
Carterville,  Herrin,  Harrisburg,  Carbondale  and  Anna,  111. 

Seeks  to  Purchase  Ohio  Utility.— The  Valley  Light  & 
Power  Company  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  has  asked  the  Ohio 
Public  Service  Commission  to  give  it  authority  to  purchase 
the  property  of  the  Suburban  Light  &  Power  Company,  of 
Maumee.      The   purchase   price   is   given   as   $161,200. 

Western  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Dissolution. — The  West- 
ern Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  has  been  formally 
dissolved  and  its  property  has  been  sold  to  the  American 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  which  has  assumed  its 
obligations. 


NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET  PRICES. 

, Nov.  12 >      , 

Copper:  Bid.         Asked. 

Standard,  spot   17.00         

£       s     d 

London,    standard,    spot 76       7     6 

Prime  Lake    17. SO  to  17.65 

Electrolytic     17.3714 

Casting      17.20  to  17.30 

Copper  wire,   base 19.00 

Lead    4.75 

Nickel     45.00 

Sheet   zinc,   t'.o.b.   smelter 9.00 

Spelter,   spot    7.50 

Tin,   spot    49.60 

.Aluminum: 

Prompt  delivery   27.00  to  28.00 

Future     26.00  to  26.50 

OLD  METALS. 

Heavy  copper  and  wire   16.00 

iirass,  heavy    10.00 

Brass,   light    8.75 

Lead,    heavy    4.40 

Zinc,    scrap    6.12J/^ 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  NOVEMBER. 

Total  tons,  week  ending Nov.   12,  4,789 


Nov.  19 

Bid.   Asked. 
17.20    17.50 
£   s  d 
77  18  9 
17.75 
17.62 1^ 
17.45 
19.00 
4.75 
45.00 
9.00 
7.50 
49.625^ 

26.00  to  26.50 
26.00 


16.75 
10.00 

8.75 

4.40 

6.1254 


Nov.  19.  8,657 


INDUSTRIAL  SECURITIES. 


Security. 


CapitarStock 
Listed. 


Per  Cent. I  Period, 


Nov.  13  Sov.  20 


Allis-Chalmers,  2d  assess, 
paid 

Allis-Chalmers,  pf.,  2d  as- 
sess, paid 

Amalgamated  Copper 

American  Tel   &  Tel 

Crocker- Wheeler,  c 

Crocker-Wheeler,  pf 

Electric  Storage  Battery ,c. 

General  tlectric 

Mackay  Cos.,  c 

Mackay  Cos.,  pf 

Western  Union  Tel 

Wcninghouse,  E.  &  M.,  c. 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M.,  pf. 

♦Last  price  quoted. 


$17,151,100 

14,034,700 

153,887,900 

334,712,300 

1,700,000 

500,000 

16,074,425 

77,726,700 

41,380,400 

50,000,000 

79.943,400 

31.685,300 

3,998,700 


2i* 


'      10* 

10* 

1 

Q 

i     84i 
i  143| 

85 

2 

0 

142J 

!i 

0 

!  85* 

86* 

H 

0 

105* 

105» 

■ -j' • • 

54i 
180}* 

5*i 

182* 

U 

Q 

85i( 

»H 

1 

Q 

68  * 

68 

3 

Q 

77- 

78* 

1 

Q 

80 

80i 

11 

123* 

123* 

November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1119 


Personal 

Mr.  L.  W.  Layman,  of  the  Rochester  (N.  Y.)  Railway  & 
Light  Company,  has  been  appointed  head  of  the  company's 
trouble  department. 

Mr.  G.  F.  Taylor,  well-known  electrical  inspector  of  Mem- 
phis, Tenn.,  will  deliver  a  number  of  addresses  on  electrical 
subjects  before  the  Fire  Insurance  Club  of  Memphis  during 
the  coming  winter. 

Mr.  F.  R.  Slater,  recently  of  the  firm  of  Messrs.  Latey  & 
Slater,  engineers,  New  York  City,  has  been  appointed  gen- 
eral superintendent  of  the  Te.xas  Power  &  Light  Company, 
with   headquarters   at   Dallas,   Tex. 

Mr.  W.  M.  Case,  for  many  years  superintendent  of  the 
Clarksville  (Tenn.)  Railway  &  Light  Company,  has  be- 
come associated  with  the  Americus  (Ga.)  Gas  &  Electric 
Company,  succeeding  Mr.  J.  H.  Hagerty. 

Mr.  W.  S.  Burch,  formerly  connected  with  the  General 
Electric  Company  in  its  steam-turbine-testing  department, 
has  joined  the  industrial  engineering  staff  of  the  Rochester 
Railway  &  Light  Company,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  John  W.  Cooke,  chief  operating  engineer  of  the 
Electric  Storage  Battery  Company  in  New  England,  gave 
a  lecture  on  storage  batteries  from  the  engineering  stand- 
point at  the  Franklin  Union,  Boston,  on  Nov.  18. 

Mr.  D.  L.  Evans,  superintendent  of  construction  of  the 
Monongahela  Valley  Traction  Company,  Fairmont,  W.  Va., 
has  resigned  to  accept  a  position  as  manager  of  the  new 
Martinsville    (W.   Va.)    Electric   Light   &   Power   Company. 

Mr.  R.  F.  Schuchardt,  electrical  engineer  of  the  Common- 
wealth Edison  Company.  Chicago,  delivered  an  illustrated 
address  on  the  Panama  Canal  before  the  Chicago  Tau  Beta 
Pi  Association  at  its  annual  banquet,  Hotel  Stratford,  Chi- 
cago,  Nov.   12. 

Mr.  B.  E.  Sunny,  president  of  the  Chicago  Telephone 
Company,  is  a  director  of  the  recently  organized  National 
Citizens'  League,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  carry  on  a 
campaign  of  education  for  an  improved  banking  system  for 
the  United  States. 

Mr.  Oren  Root,  formerly  general  manager  of  the  Metro- 
politan Street  Railway,  New  York,  has  been  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  Republic  Railway  &  Light  Company,  in  place  of 
Mr.  James  Parmelee,  resigned.  Mr.  Root's  headquarters  will 
be  in  New  York. 

Mr.  A.  B.  Carey,  resident  engineer  of  the  Vancouver 
Island  Power  Company,  Victoria,  B.  C,  was  presented  with 
a  silver  tea-set  by  the  members  of  the  staff  engaged  on  the 
Jordan  River  power  development  on  the  occasion  of  his 
leaving  the  service. 

Mr.  J.  H.  Cochran,  formerly  manager  of  the  George  G. 
Fetter  Lighting  &  Heating  Compan)',  a  Louisville  com- 
pany recently  bought  in  by  Messrs.  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Com- 
pany, has  been  appointed  superintendent  and  chief  engineer 
of  the  acquired  property. 

Mr.  H.  P.  Rust,  honor  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Toronto,  and  son  of  Mr.  C.  E.  Rust,  formerly  city  engineer 
of  Toronto,  Out.,  has  been  appointed  engineer  in  charge  of 
one  of  the  developments  of  the  Great  Western  Power  Com- 
pany, San   Francisco,  Cal. 

Mr.  William  H.  Hulswit,  who  has  been  temporarily  acting 
as  manager  of  the  Iowa  City  (la.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company, 
has  been  appointed  assistant  to  the  president  of  the  United 
Light  &  Railways  Company,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.  Mr. 
Hulswit  will  establish  his  office  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Fred  R.  Lufkin,  formerly  an  instructor  in  electrical 
engineering  at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. 
Boston,  and  late  assistant  superintendent  of  lighting  and 
wires  at  Brooklinc,  Mass.,  has  joined  the  staff  of  Mr. 
Walter   B.   Snow,   publicity  expert  of  Boston. 

Mr.  Marshall  B.  Downing,  district  manager  of  the  New 
York  Telephone  Company  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  has  accepted  a 
position  as  superintendent  of  traffic  of  the  Missouri  Bell 
Telephone  Company  at  St.  Louis.  Mr.  J.  W.  Hubbell, 
Brooklyn,   N.  Y.,  has  been  appointed  to  succeed   him. 

Mr.  H.  N.  Latey,  at  one  time  a  member  of  the  engineering 
department  of  the  Interborough  Rapid  Transit  Company. 
New  York,  and  more  recently  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Messrs.    Latey    &   Slater,    has    entered    the    employ    of    the 


General   Electric   Company,  which   has  assigned   him   to  its 
railway  department. 

Mr.  Glenn  C.  Webster,  formerly  manager  of  the  engi- 
neering department  of  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Associa- 
tion, Cleveland,  Ohio,  has  been  appointed  general  manager 
of  the  Tungstolier  Works  of  the  Genera!  Electric  Company, 
Conneaut,  Ohio.  Mr.  Webster  succeeds  Mr.  E.  J.  Kulas, 
who  has  resigned  to  take  up  other  work. 

Mr.  John  J.  Carty,  chief  engineer  of  the  American  Tele- 
phone &  Telegraph  Company,  has  been  created  a  member 
of  the  Order  of  the  Sacred  Treasure  by  the  Emperor  of 
Japan.  Mr.  Carty  already  wears  the  decoration  of  the 
Order  of  the  Rising  Sun,  conferred  by  the  late  Emperor 
after  the  close  of  the  war  between  Japan  and  Russia. 

Mr.  Andrew  N.  Fox,  advertising  manager  of  the  Benja- 
min Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  Chicago,  was  re- 
cently elected  a  director  of  the  Chicago  Advertising  Asso- 
ciation, which  is  erecting  a  new  twelve-story  office  building 
on  West  Madison  Street,  known  as  the  Advertising  Build- 
ing and  said  to  be  the  first  bulding  in  the  word  to  be  de- 
voted exclusively  to  advertising  interests. 

Mr.  P.  W.  Sothman,  formerly  chief  engineer  of  the  Hydro- 
Electric  Power  Commission  of  Ontario,  has  been  engaged 
by  Canadian  capitalists  to  report  on  the  construction  of  a 
iio.ooo-volt  transmission  line  for  a  Mexican  power  com- 
pany. Mr.  Sothman  will  be  engaged  in  this  work  for  a 
period  of  six  weeks  and  will  return  from  Mexico  by  way  of 
Utah  to  report  on  a  130,000-volt  line  to  be  built  in  the  latter 
State. 

Mr.  W.  B.  Tuttle,  vice-president  and  general  manager  of 
the  San  Antonio  (Tex.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  .American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers 
to  represent  the  society  at  the  recent  dedication  exercises 
of  the  Rice  Technical  Institute,  Houston,  Tex.  Mr.  Tuttle 
is  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  Southwestern  Gas  and  Electric 
.Association,  which  he  served  in  1909  as  vice-president  and  in 
lOio  as  president. 

Mr.  Roger  N.  Kimball,  Kenosha  manager  for  the  Wis- 
consin Gas  &  Electric  Company,  has  resigned  from  that 
company  to  engage  in  mercantile  business.  Mr.  Kimball 
was  vice-president  and  manager  of  the  Kenosha  (Wis.) 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  which  was  absorbed  by  the 
Wisconsin  Gas  &  Electric  Company.  He  has  been  active 
in  the  afl^airs  of  the  Wisconsin  Electrical  -Association,  of 
which   he   is  vice-president. 

Mr.  C.  O.  Mailloux,  president  of  the  United  States  com- 
mittee of  the  International  Electrotechnical  Commission, 
will  leave  for  Europe  shortly  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the 
commission  at  Zurich,  Switzerland,  on  Jan.  13.  While 
abroad  Mr.  Maillou.x,  as  vice-president  on  international  ar- 
rangements for  the  International  Electrical  Congress  at 
San  Francisco  in  1915,  will  also  extend  invitations  to  foreign 
scientific  and  technical  societies  to  attend  the  congress. 

Mr.  Charles  F.  Howe,  formerly  engineer  of  the  Central 
Georgia  Power  Company  and  its  allied  interests,  has  started 
consulting  engineering  practice  in  ?'lacon,  Ga.  Mr.  Howe 
has  been  actively  engaged  in  the  investigation  and  develop- 
ment of  water-powers  in  the  South,  particularly  in  Georgia 
and  Alabama,  for  the  past  ten  or  twelve  years.  He  had 
much  to  do  with  the  development  of  the  Central  Georgia 
Power  Company,  the  Macon  Rail\\ay  &  Light  Company, 
the  Central  Georgia  Transmission  Company  and  the  Flint 
River  Power  Company,  for  all  of  which  companies  he  has 
been  retained  as  consulting  enginoer. 


Obituary 


Mr.  William  N.  Hobart,  president  of  the  Triumph  Elec- 
tric Company,  Cincinnati.  Ohio,  died  on  Nov.  15  in  his 
seventy-sixth  year.  Although  Mr.  Hobart  had  not  taken 
a  very  active  part  in  the  management  of  the  company  dur- 
ing the  past  few  years,  his  loss  as  a  counselor  and  friend 
will  be  keenly  felt.  Mr.  Hobart  had  always  been  an  inde- 
fatigable worker  and  has  been  identified  with  the  direc- 
torate of  several  of  the  most  important  business  houses  in 
Cincinnati.  He  was  also  interested  in  the  promotion  of 
music  and  art  and  for  ten  years  was  president  of  the  May 
Festival    Association. 


ELECTRICAL     \\'ORLD 


Vol,  6o.  Xo.  21. 


Construction 


FLORENCE,  ALA. — Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Dec.  12,  for  the  installation  complete  of  an  electric  elevator  in  the  United 
States  post  office  in  Florence,  Ala.,  in  accordance  with  plans  and  specifi- 
cations copies  of  which  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office  or  at  the 
office  of  the  custodian.     Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising  architect. 

ROOSEVELT,  ARIZ. — Surveys  have  been  completed  by  Mr.  Farish. 
of  Mesa,  for  the  installation  of  a  power  plant,  about  8  miles  west  of  the 
Roosevelt   dam. 

McGEHEE,  ARK. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  the  Commissioners 
of  Water  and  Light  Improvement  District  until  Dec.  16  for  furnishing 
all  materials,  equipment  and  labor  for  the  construction  of  a  water-supply 
and  electric-light  system  for  the  town  of  McGehee.  Plans  and  specifica- 
tions are  on  file  in  the  office  of  G.  B.  Ewing,  secretary  board  of  commis- 
sioners, and  at  the  office  of  the  Missouri  Valley  Engineering  Co.,  Mitch- 
ell, S.  D.  Copies  of  plans  and  specifications  may  be  secured  on  ap- 
plication to  the  engineers  upon  deposit  of  $15,  which  will  be  refunded 
upon  return  of  plans.  Scott  McGehee  is  chairman  of  board  of  commis- 
sioners. 

BALBOA,  CAL. — The  recent  issue  of  bonds  for  a  municipal  electric- 
light  and  power  plant  having  been  declared  invalid  as  issued,  a  second 
issue  is  now  being  made  for  the  same  purpose. 

CHICO,  CAL. — Preliminary  engineering  work  is  being  done  for  the 
proposed  hydroelectric  plant  on  Deer  Creek,  35  miles  northeast  of  Chico. 
Dennis  Murphy,   of  Chico,    owns  the  water   rights  of  this  project. 

KELSEYVILLE,  CAL.— The  Mount  Konocti  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co..  of 
Lakeport,  has  extended  its  transmission  lines  to  Kelseyville  and  is  now 
supplying  electricity  here.  The  company  hopes  to  complete  its  system 
here  in  time  to  get  a  good  start  on  its  proposed  line  to  Upper  Lake  and 
Scott's  Valley  this   season. 

LODI,  CAL. — Electroliers  will  be  erected  on  the  principal  streets  in 
Lodi    in    the    near    future. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  Pacific  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Corpn.  has  applied  to 
the  State  Railroad  Commission  for .  permission  to  extend  its  electrical 
system  in  the  city  of   Eagle  Rock. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — The  City  Council  has  given  its  approval  to  the 
plan  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Main 
Street  from  Pico  to  Moneta  Avenue.  The  work  will  be  done  on  the 
assessment    district    plan. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — Work  will  begin  at  once  on  the  installation 
of  the  lighting  system  on  the  boulevard,  known  as  the  Sherman  W^ay, 
which  will  extend  from  the  east  end  of  the  boulevard  at  Encino  Avenue 
to  the  Ventura  Road,  a  distance  of  16^4  miles.  About  400  standards 
carrying  cluster  lamps  will  be  required.  The  style  and  character  of 
standards  and  lamps  have  not  yet  been  decided  upon.  An  appropriation 
of  $75,000  has  been  made  to  install  the  system. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  Board  of  Public  Works  has  given  its 
approval  to  the  contract  whereby  the  Aqueduct  Power  Bureau  is  to  con- 
struct a  power  distrbuting  line  to  the  plant  of  the  Saline  Valley  Salt  Co., 
in  the  Saline  Valley,  easterly  from  Owens  Valley.  The  company  is  to 
advance  $5,000  for  this  work  and  the  line  is  to  be  its  property  but  is 
to  be  used  exclusively  for  the  transmission  of  aqueduct  power  for  its 
own  use  and  to  supply  other  concerns  along  the  route  which  may  wish 
to  use  aqueduct  power. 

POMONA,  CAL.— The  directors  of  the  Pomona  Valley  Tel.  &  Teleg. 
Co.  have  voted  to  issue  $200,000  in  bonds  for  extensions  and  improve- 
ments to  its  system.  The  bond  issue  will  be  submitted  to  the  State 
Railroad   Commission   for  approval. 

RIVERSIDE,  CAL.— N.  A.  Ross  and  A.  F.  Stearns,  of  Los  Angeles, 
have  acquired  a  tract  of  eight  acres  east  of  Riverside  near  Box  Springs 
and  will  install  several  electrically  operated  pumping  plants  on  the 
property. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. — Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Jan.  6,  1913,  for  construclion  of  the  United  States  Sub-Trea>ury  building 
including  plumbing,  gas  piping,  heating  apparatus,  electric  conduits  and 
wiring,  vacuum-cleaning  system  and  lift,  in  San  Francisco.  Drawings 
and  specifications  may  be  obtained  from  T.  Milton  I>>'er,  architect,  Cuya- 
hoga Buidling,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  from  J.  W.  Roberts,  supervising 
superintendent  of  construction.  403  Post  Office  and  Court  House  Building, 
San   Francisco.     Oscar  Wenderoth   is  supervisng  architect. 

DENVER,  COL. — Plans  for  immediate  improvements,  involving  a 
total  expenditure  of  $9,000,000  by  the  railroad  and  $4,000,000  by  electric 
power  companies,  have  been  authorized  by  President  B.  F.  Bush  and 
Vice-President  E.  L.  Brown  of  the  Denver  &-  Rio  Grande  R.  R.  Co.  Con- 
tracts will  be  awarded  within  the  next  15  days  for  the  construction  of 
the  double-track  detour  line  over  Soldier  Summit,  15  miles  in  length. 
This  improvement  will  cost  about  $3,000,000.  Work  will  begin  on  equip- 
ping the  Salt  Lake  division,  from  Helper  to  Salt  Lake,  115  miles,  for 
electrical  operation  as  soon  as  the  cut-off  over  Soldier  Summit  is  com- 
pleted. The  next  unit  to  be  equipped  for  electrical  operation  will  be  the 
main  line  between  Minturn  and  Salida,  crossing  the  Tennessee  Pass.  If 
justified  by  results,  the  work  will  continue  until  the  entire  mountain 
district  is  operated  by  electrical  power. 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C— The  bid  of  the  Ridgway  Dynamo  &  Engine 
Co.,  Ridgway,  Pa.,  for  furnishing  switchboard  and  generator  sets  for 
laundry  plant  at  Schofield  Barracks,  Hawaii,  has  been  accepted  by  the 
depot    quartermaster,    U.    S.   A.,    Washington,    D.    C. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office 
of  the  cnief  signal  officer.  War  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Nov.  29  for  furnishing  the  signal  corps  with  one  telephone  switchboard, 
common  battery,  100  heat  coils,  100  pairs  carbon,  100  micas,  one  dis- 
tributing and  protecting  frame,  three  switchboards  and  distributing 
frame,  one  2-kw  radio  station  equipment  and  one  1-kw  radio  station 
equipment.  Specifications  and  further  information  may  be  obtained  for 
above  proposals  (Nos.  621  and  622)  by  addressing  chief  signal  officer 
of    U.    S.    A. 

BRADENTOWN.  FLA.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $75,000  have  been 
voted  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant,  extensions  to  water- 
works,   sewerage    and    drainage    systems,    etc. 

GREEN  COVE  SPRINGS.  FLA.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $5,000  have 
been  voted  for  improvements  to  the  light  and  water  plant. 

DECATUR,  GA. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Georgia  Ry  & 
El.  Co.  to  construct  a  substation  on  College  Avenue.  Decatur,  50  ft.  x 
150   ft.,  two  stories  high. 

EATONTON,  GA.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  call  an  election 
to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  issue  bonds  for  the  erection  of  a  municipal 
electric  light  and  power  plant,  plans  for  which  were  prepared  by  the 
Solomon-Norcross  Co.,  engineer,  Atlanta,  Ga.  L.  M.  Pennington  is 
Mayor. 

LAVONIA,  GA.— The  J.  E.  McCrary  Co.,  of  Atlanta,  has  been  granted 
a  franchise  by  the  Town  Council  to  install  an  electric-light  system  here. 

ALEDO,  ILL. — 'The  cluster  light  committee  of  the  Retail  Merchants* 
Association  has  awarded  the  contract  for  54  ornamental  lamp  standards 
to  the  Murray  Iron  Works,  of  Burlington,  la.  The  contract  for  install- 
ing and  equipping  the  posts  has  been  awarded  to  the  Aledo  El.  Lt.  Co. 
Each  standard  will  carry  four  40-watt  lamps  and  one  60-watt  lamp.  The 
City  Council  has  agreed  to  furnish  electricity  to  maintain  the  lamps. 

ALVIN,  ILL.- — The  Village  Board  contemplates  the  use  of  electricity 
for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  village.  Electrical  energy  for  the  system 
may  be  secured   from  Hoopeston   or   Potomac,   Ind. 

BATAVIA,  ILL.— The  Aurora,  Elgin  &  Chicago  R.  R.  Co.  has  sub- 
mitted a  proportion  to  the  City  Council  offering  to  light  the  streets  of 
the  city  and  also  asking  for  a  franchise  to  sell  electricity  for  commercial 
purposes  in  Batavia.  Edwin  C.  Faber,  of  Wheaton,  111.,  is  general 
manager. 

BRACEVILLE,  ILL.— The  Public  Service  of  Northern  Illinois,  of 
Chicago,   is  seeking  a  contract  to  light  the  streets  of  this  village. 

CARTHAGE,  ILL.— The  Middle  West  Utilities  Co.  of  Illinois,  of 
Chicago,  has  purchased  the  electric  plant  of  the  Carthage  El.  Lt.  & 
Htg.    Co. 

CHATSWORTH,  ILL.— The  Village  Council  has  granted  the  Centra! 
Illinois  Utilities  Co.  a  franchise  to  operate  an  electric-light  system  here 
for   a   period   of   30  years. 

CHICAGO;  ILL.— The  Middle  West  Utilities  Co.  of  Chicago  has 
changed  its  name  to  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Co.  of  Illinois. 

DECATUR,  ILL.— John  D.  Barnhart  and  Dr.  W.  H.  Bell  are  interested 
in  a  project  to  install  ornamental  street  lamps  on  North  Water   Street. 

EARLVILLE,  ILL. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  W.  H.  Zimmerman 
Co.,  engineers,  903  First  National  Bank  Bldg.,  Chicago,  until  Nov.  29,  for 
furnishing  and  installing  one  electrically  operated  deep-well  pump  and  one 
electrically  operated  fire  pump,  including  foundations,  piping,  etc.,  in 
the  city  water-works  plant  at  Earlville.  Bids  will  be  opened  at  a  meeting 
of  the  City  Council  at  Earlville  on  Dec.  2.  Specifications  may  be  obtained 
at  the  office  of  the  W.  H.  Zimmerman  Co. 

FREEPORT,  ILL.— The  capital  stock  of  the  Stephenson  County  Tel. 
Co..    has   been    increased    from    $150,000   to    $450,000- 

FREEPORT,  ILL.— The  Freeport  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  signed  an  agree- 
ment with  the  Park  Board  to  the  effect  that  it  will  extend  the  street 
railway  line  to   Krape  Park  as  soon  as  the  city  acquires  the  property. 

MOLINE,  ILL. — The  voters  of  the  city  have  approved  the  proposition 
to  allow  the  Tri-City  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.,  of  Davenport,  la.,  to  change  the 
course  of  the  interurban  railway  in  this  city  and  to  construct  a  new  line 
on   Seventh  Street. 

PERU,  ILL. — 'The  City  Council  has  rejected  the  proposal  of  the 
Northern  Illinois  Ll.  &  Trac.  Co.,  of  Ottawa,  to  furnish  electricity  for 
street  lighting  here.  The  defeat  of  this  proposition  is  said  to  mean  that 
the  municipal  electric-light  plant  will  be  enlarged  and  new  equipment 
installed  so  as  to  extend  the  street-lighting  system  to  the  outlying  dis- 
tricts of  the  city. 

ROCK  ISL.XND.  ILL. — The  city  commission  is  experimenting  with 
100-watt  lamps,  which  may  be  substituted  for  the  2000-cp  arc  lamps  in  the 
residential    district. 

ROSEVILLE,  ILL. — The  local  electric-light  plant,  owned  by  Messrs. 
Carr  &  Lee,  has  been  purchased  by  the  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co., 
of   Mattoon. 

SHELBVVILLE.  ILL.— The  City  Council  has  instructed  H.  M. 
Brown,  manager  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant,  to  purchase  material 
for  extension  of  the  ornamental  street-lighting  system  seven  blocks  on 
Main   Street, 


November  23,  191 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1 121 


SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.— The  McKinley  Interurban  syndicate  has  filed 
notice  of  increase  in  the  capital  stock  of  a  number  of  utility  properties 
belonging  to  it  as  follows:  The  Urban  &  Champaign  Ry.,  Gas  &  El.  Co., 
from  $500,000  to  $750,000;  the  Urbana  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  from 
$100,000  to  $150,000;  the  Decatur  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.,  from  $1,300,000  to 
$1,375,000;  the  Peoria  Ry.  Co.,  from  $1,000,000  to  $1,010,000;  the  Madi- 
son  County   Lt.   &   Pwr.    Co.,   Edwardsville,    from    $100,000   to   $135,000. 

BLUFFTON,  IND. — The  question  of  retaining  or  selling  the  municipal 
electric-light  plant  will  be  submitted  to  the  voters  on  Nov.  29.  If  it  is 
decided  to  hold  the  plant,  extensive  improvements  will  be  necessary  to 
enable  it  to  meet  the  demand  upon  it. 

CONNERSVILLE,  IND. — Extensive  improvements  are  to  be  made  to 
the  plant  of  the  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  which  will  involve  an  expenditure 
of  at  least  $125,000.  The  work  will  include  the  installation  of  a  750-hp 
turbine,  which  has  been  purchased;  new  boilers,  a  complete  automatic 
stoking  apparatus  and   other  changes. 

CROWN  POINT,  IND.— The  Calumet  El.  Co.  has  filed  notice  with 
the  Secretary  of  State  of  increase  in  capital  stock  from  $10,000  to 
$200,000.  The  company  is  preparing  to  make  extensions  and  improve- 
ments  to  its  plant.      Considerable   new   machinery   will   be   installed. 

EIKHART,  IND.— W.  A.  Stanton  has  been  appointed  by  the  Retail 
Merchants'  Association  to  investigate  ornamental  lighting  systems  in  use  in 
various  cities  and  to   report  at  the   December  meeting  of  the  association. 

MORRISTOWN,  IND.— The  Town  Board  is  preparing  to  ask  for  bids 
for   lighting    the    town    by   electricity. 

SHERIDAN,  IND.— The  Sheridan  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Wtr.  Co.  has  issued 
$25,000  in  capital  stock,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  improvements  and 
extensions  to  its  plant.     New  machinery  will  be  installed. 

UNION  CITY,  IND.— The  Union  Lt.,  Ht.  St  Pwr.  Co.  has  increased  its 
capital  stock  from  $50,000  to  $200,000,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  im- 
provements, extensions  and  installation  of  new  machinery  in  its  plant. 
George    W.    Pitchell   is   president   and   W.    W.    Goodrich    secretary. 

WEST  LEBANON,  IND.— Bids  will  be  received  until  Dec.  3  for  the 
construction  of  an  electric-light  plant,  to  cost  about  $5,000.  John  James 
is  town  clerk" 

ADEL,  I  A. — The  County  Commissioners  have  granted  the  Adel  Mill 
Go.  permission  to  erect  transmission  lines  along  the  county  roads. 

FREDERICKSBURG,  lA.— At  the  election  held  Nov.  4  the  proposi- 
tion to  issue  $4,500  in  bonds  for  the  construction  of  a  municipal  electric- 
light  plant   was  carried.      H.   S.   Kersner  is  clerk. 

MOUNT  VERNON,  lA.— The  Iowa  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.,  of  Cedar  Rapids, 
will  install  a  substation  here  for  its  Mount  Vernon  extension.  Elec- 
tricity will  be  transmitted  from  the  generating  station  at  the  Cedar 
Falls   station   at    16,500   volts. 

PERRY,  lA.— The  Hawkeye  Tel.  Co.  has  decided  to  install  a  com- 
plete new  local  system,  to  cost  from  $20,000  to  $25,000.  The  central 
energy  system  will  be  used. 

CHENEY,  KAN. — An  election  will  be  held  this  month  to  submit  the 
proposition  to  issue  $30,000  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant 
and  water- works  system  to  the  voters.  Rollins  &  Westover,  Midland 
Building,    Kansas    City,    are    engineers. 

WHITEWATER,  KAN.— The  Whitewater  Milling  &  Elevator  Company 
is  planning  to  install  an  electric  plant.  The  Council  will  grant  the 
company  a  franchise  and  contract  for  30  street  lamps.  R.  H.  Farr  is 
manager. 

HENDERSON,  KY. — Extensions  will  be  made  to  the  municipal  electric- 
light  plant,  including  the  installation  of  an  additional  750-kw  turbine. 
Plans  also  provide  for  the  erection  of  a  chimney,  250  ft.  x  126  in.,  during 
the  coming  year.  L.  P.  Hite,  superintendent,  will  have  charge  of  the 
work. 

OAK  BLUFF.  MASS.— The  Oak  Bluff  St.  Ry.  Co.  expects  to  purchase 
a  500-hp  condenser  before  Dec.  15.     C.   H.  Carpenter  is  superintendent. 

SPRINGFIELD.  MASS.— Contracts  have  been  awarded  by  the  Munici- 
pal Building  Commission  for  lighting  fixtures  for  the  municipal  group, 
amounting  to  $48,228,  as  follows:  Exterior  and  interior  fixtures  for  the 
auditorium,  office  building,  tower,  sidewalks  and  court,  awarded  to 
Edward  F.  Caldwell  Co.,  36  West  Thirty-seventh  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.. 
for  $36,180;  general  fixtures  for  auditorium  and  office  building,  to  the 
Sterling  Bronze  Co..  16  East  Fortieth  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  for  $8,448; 
fixtures  for  the  office  building,  main  stairs,  the  entrance  hall  and  Mayor's 
suite,  to  the  Mitchell  Vance  Co.,  836  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  for 
$3,600.  The  commission  has  decided  to  ask  for  further  designs  for  the 
principal  exterior  fixtures  to  be  located  on  each  side  of  the  steps. 

BIG  RAPIDS,  MICH.— Bids  will  be  received  until  Nov.  29  for  the 
erection  of  the  substructure  of  a  power  plant  for  the  municipal  water- 
works. Gardner  S.  Williams,  of  Ann  Arbor,  is  consulting  engineer. 
H,   J.   Ward  is  president  of  board  of  public  works. 

KALAMAZOO.  MICH. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  city  of  Kala- 
mazoo until  Nov.  25  for  equipment  for  the  proposed  new  municipal 
electric-light  plant.  Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $115,000  have  been  author- 
ized for  the  plant.  Woodmansee,  Davidson  &  Sessions,  38  South  Dear- 
born Street,  Chicago,  111.,  are  consulting  and  supervising  engineers.  C.  L. 
Miller   is   city   clerk. 

MILLINGTON,  MICH.— Oliver  B.  Whipple,  owner  of  the  local  electric- 
light  plant,  is  securing  estimates  on  cost  of  new  power  equipment  for  his 
plant.  Steam,  gas  and  oil  apparatus  are  being  considered,  and  complete 
new  equipment  will  probably  be  installed  next  spring. 


BROWNTON,  MINN.— The  village  has  voted  to  issue  $2,500  addi- 
tional bonds  to  complete  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  village  hall. 

DULLITH,  MINN. — Arrangements  are  being  made  for  the  installation 
of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  West  Superior  Street  next 
spring  by  the  West  End  Commercial  Club.  The  plans  provide  for  the 
installation  of  10  ornamental  lamp  standards  to  each  block  between 
Eighteenth  and  Twenty-second  Avenues.  A.  B.  Anderson  is  chairman 
of    the   connnittee. 

EDEN  VALLEY,  MINN. — The  Lethert  Co.  has  commenced  work  on 
the  construction  of  its  power  station.  It  is  e-xpected  to  have  the  electric- 
light  plant  completed  in  April,    1913. 

HIBBING,  MINN.— The  Hibbing  Water  and  Light  Commission,  it  is 
reported,  has  acquired  the  distributing  system  of  the  Brooklyn  electric 
plant  from  A.  P.  Silliman  for  $17,795.  Brooklyn  is  within  the  limits 
of  the  village  of  Hibbing,  and  Mr.  Silliman  has  been  furnishing 
electrical  service  to  that  suburb,  power  for  which  has  been  secured  from 
the  Hibbing  plant. 

MONTICELLO,  MINN. — Arrangements  are  being  made  to  organize 
a  company  under  the  name  of  the  Monticello  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  to  in- 
stall an  electric-light  plant  here.  The  Village  Council  has  passed  an 
ordinance  granting  the  company  a  25-year  franchise  to  build  and  operate 
an  electric  plant  and  a  five-year  contract  for  street  lighting.  The  con- 
tract provides  for  12  lamp  standards  each  carrying  a  three-lamp  cluster, 
one  100-watt  tungsten  lamp,  one  75-watt  tungsten  lamp  and  28  overhead 
lamps,  for  $1,000  per  year.  J.  T.  Hatman,  F.  O.  Godfrey  and  E.  M. 
Ruede,  of  Kansas  City,  are  interested  in  the  company.  Work  is  to  begin 
on  the  plant  within  30  days. 

VIRGINIA,  MINN.— The  Virginia  EI.  Pwr.  &  Wtr.  Co.  has  accepted 
the  proposition  of  the  city  of  Virginia  to  purchase  the  property  for  a 
consideration  of  $493,000  and  special  allowance  for  recent  improvements, 
which  will  amount  to  an  additional  $50,000.  A  special  election  will  be 
held   to  vote   on  a  bond   issue   to   pay  for   the  plant. 

BUTTE,  MONT. — Announcement  has  been  made  that  the  Butte  El.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  and  its  affiliated  corporations  owning  reservoirs  and  operating 
plants  on  the  Jeflferson,  Madison,  Missouri  and  Yellowstone  Rivers  are 
to  be  consolidated  under  the  name  of  the  Montana  Pwr.  Co.  The  new 
company  will  be  controlled  hy  the  same  interests  as  the  Butte  El.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  It  is  stated  that  the  Montana  Pwr.  Co.  contemplates  an  early  ex- 
penditure of  from  $12,000,000  to  $15,000,000.  C.  W.  Wetmore.  of  New 
York,  N.  Y.,  will  be  president  and  Max  Hebgen,  of  Butte,  vice-president 
and   general   manager. 

KEARNEY,  NEB. — The  City  Council  has  formulated  petitions  for  cir- 
culation calling  a  special  election  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  install 
a  municipal  electric-light  plant  to  supjily  electricity  for  lighting  the  streets 
and  for  commercial  purposes.  The  Council  proposes  to  fight  an  injunc- 
tion suit  against  an  issue  of  $40,000  now  in  the  courts  and  add  the  new 
bonds  if  the  proposition  is  carried. 

GOLDFIELD,  NEV.— The  Goldfield  Ore  Mining  Co.  will  install  elec- 
trically operated  apparatus,  including  hoist,  compressor,  sinking  pump  and 
miscellaneous  machinery. 

TONOPAH,  NEV.— The  substation  of  the  Nevada-California  Pwr.  Co. 
at  Tonopah  was  destroyed  by  fire  recently,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $50,000. 
.\   new   station  will   be  erected  immediately. 

SOUTH  ORANGE,  N.  J.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the 
water  committee  of  the  Village  Board  of  Trustees  of  South  Orange  until 
Nov.  25  for  electric  wiring  and  steel  smoke  connections.  Plans  and 
specifications  may  be  obtained  by  applying  to  John  J.  Boyd,  consulting 
engineer,  11  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y.  M.  A.  Fjtzsimmons  is  city 
clerk. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  until  Dec.  2  by 
Henry  S.  Thompson,  commissioner  of  the  department  of  water  supply, 
gas  and  electricity,  13  to  21  Park  Row,  New  York,  for  furnishing,  in- 
stalling, maintaining  and  reserving  for  use  of  the  high-pressure  fire 
service  all  apparatus  and  equipment  necessary  for  generating  and  trans- 
mitting 1830  kw  of  three-phase,  6600-volt,  25-eycle  electric  power  and 
furnishing  and  delivering  this  power  under  terms  of  this  contract  from 
Jan.  1,  1913,  to  Dec.  31,  1913,  both  inclusive,  at  each  of  the  high-pressure 
fire-service  pumping  stations  located  in  the  borough  of  Brooklyn,  at 
Furman  and  Joralemon  Streets  and  at  Willoughby  and  St.  Edward's 
Streets  respectively.  Blank  forms  may  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  the 
department,    Room    2339,    Park    Row    Building. 

CHARLOTTE,  N.  Y. — At  a  special  election  held  Nov.  11  the  proposi- 
tion to  grant  the  Rochester  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity 
and  gas  in  Charlotte  was  carried.  The  second  proposition  to  sell  the 
company  the  distributing  system,  transformers  and  other  equipment, 
outside  of  the  electric  plant,  for  $4,500  was  also  carried.  The  village  has 
operated  a  municipal  plant  for  ten  years  which  has  proved  a  failure. 

DOLGEVILLE,  N.  Y. — The  Village  Board  has  authorized  a  change  in 
the  street-lighting  system  from  incandescent  cluster  lamps  to  100-watt 
tungsten  lamps.  Four  arc  lamps  were  also  authorized  to  be  installed  on 
Main  Street.  The  change  will  be  made  at  the  expense  of  the  Utica  Gas 
&  El.  Co.,  of  Utica,   which  holds  the  street-lighting  contract. 

LYONS,  N.  Y. — A  deal  has  been  closed  whereby  the  Niagara,  Lockport  & 
Ontario  Pwr.  Co..  of  Buffalo,  has  purchased  the  steam  generating  plant 
of  the  Rochester,  Syracuse  &  Eastern  R.  R.  Co.  in  Lyons  and  the  generat- 
ing station  of  the  Auburn  &  Syracuse  El.  R.  R.  Co.  at  Auburn.  The 
price  paid  for  the  Lyons  plant  was  $600,000  and  that  for  the  Auburn 
plant  $226,000.     The  plants  will  be  taken   over  by  the   Niagara,   Lockport 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21. 


&  Ontario  Co.  on  Dec.  1.  Contracts  have  been  executed  between  the  Ni- 
agara, Lockport  &  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  Beebe  electric  railway  sys- 
tem whereby  the  lormci  will  furnish  power  for  all  the  railways  of  the 
Beebe  system,  except  the  Buffalo,  Lockport  &  Rochester  and  the  Newark 
and  Marion  railroads,  which  already  have  a  contract  with  the  power  com- 
pany, for  a  period  of  20  years.  Both  the  Lyons  and  Auburn  plants  will  be 
operated  until  the  Salmon  Kiver  hydroelectric  plant  is  completed. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— The  J.  G.  White  &  Co.,  Inc.,  is  to  divide  into 
two  companies,  one  to  be  known  as  the  J.  G.  White  Engineering  Corpn.. 
to  look  after  all  the  engineering  and  construction  work,  and  the  other, 
under  the  name  of  the  J.  G.  White  Management  Corpn.,  to  take  over 
the  organization  work  of  the  present  company.  The  new  engineering  com- 
pany will  be  capitalized  at  $2,000,000.  The  capital  stock  of  the  man- 
agement company    will    be   placed   at   $1,000,000. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  until  Dec.  2  by 
Henry  S.  Thompson,  commissioner  of  water  supply,  gas  and  electricity, 
Room  1904,  13  to  21  Park  Row,  New  York,  for  furnishing,  installing, 
maintaining  and  preserving  for  the  use  of  the  high-pressure  fire  service 
all  apparatus  and  equipment  necessary  for  generating  and  transmitting 
3250  kw  of  three-phase,  6600-volt,  25-cycle  electric  power  and  furnishing 
and  delivering  this  power  under  the  terms  of  this  contract  from  Jan.  1, 
1913,  to  Dec.  31,  1913,  both  inclusive,  at  each  of  the  high-pressure  fire- 
service  pumping  stations  located  in  the  borough  of  Manhattan,  at  Oliver 
and  South  Streets  and  at  Gansevoort  and  West  Streets  respectively. 
Blank  forms  may  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  the  department,  Room  2339, 
Park   Row    Building. 

ORWELL,  N.  Y. — The  Salmon  River  Pwr.  Co.,  which  is  controlled  by 
the  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.,  Buffalo,  has  filed  ten  petitions 
with  the  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  District.  Three  of  these 
ask  for  authority  to  acquire  and  exercise  franchises  which  the  Pulaski 
EI.  Lt.  Co.,  of  Pulaski,  holds  for  electrical  distribution  in  the  towns  of 
Richland,  Orwell  and  Albion.  This  company  also  asks  for  approval  oi 
franchises  for  distributing  electricity  in  the  towns  of  Parish  and  Hastings 
and  villages  of  Altmar  and  Central  Square,  Oswego  County,  and  towns 
of  Cicero,  Clay  and  Salina,  Onondaga  County.  The  Salmon  River  com- 
pany, it  is  stated,  is  now  constructing  a  hydroelectric  plant  on  Salmon 
River  in  the  town  of  Orwell,  with  transmission  lines  from  its  power 
house  to  the  village  of  Solvay,  where_  they  will  connect  with  the  trans- 
mission lines  of  the  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.  This  company 
is  the  successor  of  the  Oswego  County  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  some  of  the 
franchises  sought  to  be  exercised  were  issued  to  its  predecessor. 

OXFORD,  N.  Y. — Proposals  will  be  received  by  Mrs.  Georgiana  Grif- 
fith, president  of  the  board  of  managers  of  the  New  York  State  Woman's 
Relief  Corps  Home,  Oxford,  until  Dec.  2,  for  installing  one  35-kw  direct- 
current  dyramo  and  engine,  directly  connected,  at  the  home.  Drawings  and 
specifications  may  be  consulted  and  blank  form  of  proposal  obtained  at  the 
New  York  State  Woman's  Relief  Corps  Home,  Oxford,  and  at  the  office  of 
Herman  W.  Hoefer,  Capitol,  Albany. 

YONKERS,  N.  Y. — The  contract  for  furnishing  lamp  standards  for 
the  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  business  section  of  the  city 
has  been  awarded  to  the  Morris  Iron  Co.  The  plans  provide  for  150 
standards. 

FARGO,  N.  D. — Bids  will  be  received  by  A.  R.  Watkins,  city  auditor, 
until  Nov.  25.  for  the  installation  of  a  cluster-lamp  system  in  the  White 
Way  district    No.    1    and   also   for  district   No.  2. 

LA  MOURE,  N.  D. — The  Council  has  rejected  the  proposition  sub- 
mitted by  S.  C.  Page,  of  Sherburne,  Minn.,  to  install  an  electric  plant 
here. 

BROADWELL.  OHIO.— The  power  plant  of  the  Big  Four  Coal  Mine 
at  Broadwell  was  recently  destroyed  by  fire,  causing  a  loss  of  about 
$2,000.  The  equipment,  including  dynamo,  engine  and  hoisting  ma- 
chinery,  was   entirely   destroyed. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO. — The  contract  for  six  water-tube  boilers  for  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant  has  been  awarded  to  the  Babcock  &  Wilcox 
Co.,  Cleveland,    for  $104,683. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO.— Superintendent  H.  E.  Eichhorn  of  the  municipal 
electric-light  plant  has  estimated  the  total  cost  of  installing  the  cluster 
lamp  system  for  street-lighting  as  recommended  recently  by  the  gas  and 
electricity   committee   of   the   Council   to   be   about   $83,000. 

NEW  KXOXVILLE,  OHIO.— The  New  Knoxville  El.  Co.  has  been 
granted  permission  by  the  Public  Service  Commission  to  issue  $8,000 
in  capital  stock,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  the  purchase  of  equipment 
and  apparatus  for  the  erection  of  an  electric  transmission  line  from 
Moulton  to  New  Knoxville,  Ohio,  and  for  the  erection  of  an  electric 
light   and    power    distributing   system    in    New    Knoxville. 

TOLEDO,  OHIO. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
J.  R.  Cowell,  director  of  public  service,  Toledo,  until  Nov.  27,  to  furnish 
and  erect  an  electrically  operated  traveling  crane  of  25  tons'  capacity 
with  a  span  of  63  ft.  from  center  to  center  of  crane  rail  in  the  high- 
service  pumping  station.  Copies  of  specifications,  proposal  forms,  etc., 
may  be  seen  at  the  office  of  the  chief  engineer  of  the  Department  of 
Public   Service,   \'alentine   Building,  Toledo, 

WELLSVILLE,  OHIO. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition 
to  issue  $60,000  in  bonds  for  the  construction  of  a  municipal  electric- 
light  plant  was  carried. 

HINTON,  OKLA. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $30,000  have  been  voted 
for    the    installation    of    a    municipal    electric-light    plant    and    water-works 


system  in  Hinton.  The  Benham  Engineering  Co.,  American  National 
Bank  Building,  Oklahoma  City,  has  charge  of  the  engineering  work. 

ALBANY,  ORE. — ■Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Corvallis  & 
Eastern  R.  R.  Co.  to  equip  its  railroad  between  Albany  and  Corvallis,  a 
distance  of  about   10  miles,   for  electrical   operation. 

PORTLAND,  ORE.— The  Pacific  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  has  been  granted 
a  permit  by  the  city  authorities  to  construct  a  14-story  office  and  plant 
building,    at    Park    and    Oak    Streets. 

S.ALEM,  ORE. — An  electric  line  is  to  be  built  from  the  Lake  Labish  dis- 
trict to  connect  with  the  Oregon  El.  Ry.  and  the  Southern  Pacific  Rail- 
road,  work  on  which  will  begin  in   the  spring. 

THE  DALLES,  ORE.— The  Grandalles  Orchard  Tracts  Co.  has  en- 
tered into  a  contract  with  the  Pacific  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.,  of  The  Dalles, 
whereby  the  latter  will  erect  a  transmission  line  across  the  Columbia 
River  to  Crates  Point  to  supply  electricity  to  operate  the  irrigating  pumps. 

ALLENTOWN,  PA.— The  Citizens'  El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  in- 
creased its  capital  stock  from  $40,000  to  $250,000. 

ALLENTOWN,  PA. — Notice  of  increase  of  capital  stock  from  $5,000 
to  $50,000  has  been  filed  with  the  Secretary  of  State  by  the  Salisbury, 
Emaus  and  Hanover  El.   Lt.  &  Pwr.  Cos.,  all  of  AUentown. 

ALTOONA,  PA. — Another  large  department  unit  is  to  be  added  to  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad's  plant  in  this  city.  A  new  engine  house  is  to  be 
erected,  and  machine  and  blacksmith  shops  will  be  built  equipped  with  an 
electric  traveling  crane.  A  mechanically  operated  coaling  station  will 
be  installed,  two  50.000-gal.  tubs  will  supply  water,  and  a  power  plant 
will  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  and  operate  air  compressors 
and  pumps.     G.  W.  Creighton,  of  Altoona,  is  general  superintendent. 

APOLLO,  PA.— The  West  Penn  Trac.  &  Wtr.  Co.,  Pittsburgh,  has 
recently  closed  a  contract  with  the  Apollo  Steel  Co.,  of  Apollo,  to 
furnish  electricity  to  operate  its  large  mills  here.  The  first  motor  in- 
stalment, consisting  of  a  1500-hp  General  Electric  alternating-current 
motor,  is  now  under  way.  The  West  Penn  Trac.  &  Wtr.  Co.  is  already 
furnishing  either  partial  or  entire  equipment  for  a  number  of  steel 
mills  similar  to  the  Apollo  mills  in  the  Pittsburgh  district,  and  negotia- 
tions are  under  way  with  several  more  plants. 

ASPIXWALL,  PA. — Sea'ed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  borough 
of  Aspinwall  until  Nov.  25  for  furnishing  said  borough  with  electric 
•  current  delivered  at  switchboard  in  borough  pumping  station.  S.  R. 
Chase   is  borough  clerk. 

GOLDSBORO  (ETTERS  P.  O.),  PA.— At  the  election  held  Nov.  5 
the  proposition  to  appropriate  $3,000  for  the  purpose  of  securing  elec- 
tricity for  the  borough  was  carried.  The  Council  will  proceed  at  once 
to  make  arrangements  to  secure  electrical  energy.  It  is  proposed  to 
furnish  electricity  to  private  consumers  as  well  as  to  light  the  streets 
and  public   places. 

NEW  WILMINGTON,  PA. — At  the  election  held  recently  the  propo- 
sition to  issue  $3,000  in  bonds  to  purchase  additional  machinery  for  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant  was  carried. 

PHIL.-\DELPHIA,  PA.— The  Counties  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  filed  notice 
of   increase   of  capital   stock  from   $2,000,000  to  $7,500,000. 

PITTSBURGH,  PA.— The  merger  of  the  Ohio  Valley  El.  Co.  into  the 
Southern  Ht.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  approved  by  Governor  Tener. 
The  company  is  capitalized  at  $300,000.  J.  D.  Galley,  of  Pittsburgh,  is 
president. 

CAMDEN,  S.  C. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Public  Works  until  Dec.  19  for  construction  of  an  electric- 
light  plant  and  water-works  system.  The  work  will  consist  of  auxiliary 
and  main  pumping  station,  steam  and  electrically  operated  pumps,  300-hp 
1  oiler  plant,  1,000,000-gal.  filter  plant,  reservoir,  generator,  complete 
lit'hting  system  and  about  3  miles  of  10-in.  and  12-in.  pipe  line.  Plans 
and  specifications  are  on  file  at  the  office  of  J.  J.  Goodale,  secretary, 
Camden,  and  at  the  office  of  Gilbert  C.  Wliite,  Charlotte,  N.  C,  engineer. 
Specifications,  bidding  sheets,  etc.,  can  be  secured  by  application  to  the  en- 
gineer. A  complete  set  of  plans  will  be  mailed  on  payment  of  $5  to 
cover    cost. 

KINGSTREE,  S.  C— The  Kingstree  El.  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.  is  planning  to 
erect  a  power  plant  and  install  a  75-kw  electric  generating  unit  and  a 
15-ton  ice  plant.     P.  G.  Gourdin  is  president  of  the  company. 

DIMOCK,  S.  D. — We  are  informed  that  the  installation  of  an  electric- 
lighting  system  in  Dimock  is  not  contemplated,  as  stated  in  these  columns 
in  the  issue  of  Nov.  9. 

CHATTANOOGA,  TENK. — .All  bids  opened  by  the  committee  of  the 
Chattanooga  Merchants'  Association  on  Nov.  7  for  ornamental  street 
lamps  were  rejected.  New  specifications  will  be  prepared  and  new  bids 
asked  for.     O.  K.  Le  Bron  is  chairman  of  committee. 

CLINTON,  TENN.— The  engine  house  of  the  Clinton  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  was  destroyed  by  fire  recently,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $5,000.  The 
engine  and  dynamos  are  a  total  wreck.  W.  E.  Hemphill  is  interested  in 
the    company. 

DUFFAU  (R.  F.  D..  HICO),  TEX.— The  Duffau  Mineral  Wells  Co. 
is  interested  in  a  project  to  install  an  electric-light  plant.  T.  W.  Elldns 
is  president. 

JACKSBORO,  TEX. — The  local  electric-light  plant,  owned  by  Hensley 
Brothers,  has  been  acquired  by  the  Jacksboro  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.,  recently 
organized  by  J.  G.  Brown,  of  Gibtown,  and  others.  The  new  owners 
wmU  install  new  machinery. 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


1 123 


NACOGDOCHES,  TEX.— The  Scott  Engineering  Co.,  of  Dallas,  Tex., 
has  been  engaged  to  prepare  plans  for  an  electric-Hght  plant,  to  cost  about 
$20,000.  It  is  understood  that  the  city  will  soon  ask  for  bids  for  con- 
struction of  the  plant.     J.  R.  McKennan  is  secretary. 

PLAINVIEW,  TEX.— The  Malone  Lt.  &  Ice.  Co.  has  executed  a  deed 
of  trust  to  the  Commonwealth  Trust  Co.,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  to  secure 
$60,000  in  bonds.  The  proceeds  will  be  used  for  extensions  and  im- 
provements to  its  plant. 

WICHITA  FALLS.  TEX.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $10,000  have  been 
voted  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system.  The 
plans  provide  for  200  lamp  standards  carrying  cluster  lamps,  maintained 
by  underground   wires.      L.    C.   Hinckley  is  city  engineer. 

BERKLEY  SPRINGS,  VA.— The  Great  Cacapon  Fruit  Farm  &  De- 
velopment Co.,  recently  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000 
for  the  purpose  of  operating  in  the  Cacapon  district  in  Morgan  County, 
proposes  to  deal  in  real  estate,  generate  and  distribute  electricity,  build 
and  operate  a  hotel  and  deal  in  wood  products.  J.  F.  W.  Crontmeyer, 
of  McKeesport,  Pa.;  A.  L.  Wilson  and  G.  W.  Newell,  of  Berkley  Springs, 
and  E.  L.   Crontmeyer,  of  Weirton,  W.  Va.,  are  incorporators. 

RICHMOND,  VA.— The  Monroe  Terrace  Corpn.,  412  Mutual  Bldg., 
Richmond,  will  purchase  equipment  for  power  plant,  including  boilers, 
engines,   pumps   and   a   quantity    of  electrical   apparatus. 

BREMERTON.  WASH.— The  Olympic  Pwr.  Co.  has  awarded  the  con- 
tract for  the  construction  of  a  concrete  power  house  on  Pacific  Avenue 
to   Joseph    Stangler   &   Co.,   of   Bremerton. 

BREMERTON,  WASH.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  establish  a 
municipal  lighting  plant  and  will  either  purchase  the  plant  of  the  Bremer- 
ton-Charleston Lt.  &   Fuel   Co.   or  install  a  new  plant. 

TACOMA,  WASH.— P.  H.  Hebb,  owner  of  a  power  site  on  the  White 
River,  has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  city  of  Tacoma  offering  to  sell 
the  city  the  first  15,000  hp  from  his  new  plant  at  the  rate  of  $20  per 
hp  per  year.  Mr.  Hebb  expects  to  have  the  plant  in  operation  in  about 
18   months. 

NEENAH,  WIS- — The  Mayor  has  appointed  a  committee  to  secure 
estimates  of  the  cost  of  erecting  power  house  and  installing  equipment 
for   a    municipal    electric-light    plant    here. 

.  SPRING  VALLEY.  WIS.— The  property  of  the  Spring  Valley  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  has  been  purchased  by  the  Chippewa  Valley  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.,  of  Eau  Claire,  which,  it  is  said,  .will  make  a  number  of  improve- 
ments. The  Chippewa  company,  it  is  understood,  will  build  a  new  dam 
here,  to  be  7  ft.  higher  than  the  present  dam. 

WORLAND,  WYO. — The  Wyoming  El.  Devel.  Co.,  which  was  recently 
granted  a  franchise  here,  will  install  an  electric-light  plant  and  also  an 
ice    factory. 

VANCOUVER.  B.  C,  CAN.— The  British  Codlumbia  El.  Ry.  Co.  is 
planning  to  double  the  output  of  its  power  plant  on  Jordan  River,  at  a 
cost  of  about  $1,500,000.  The  generating  capacity  of  the  plant  is  now 
12,000  hp. 

HANLEY,  MAN.,  CAN. — ^The  contract  for  the  installation  of  the 
municipal  electric-light  system  complete  has  been  awarded  to  the  British- 
Canadian  Engineering  &  Supply  Co.,  of  Winnipeg.  A.  Holm  is  city 
secretary  and  treasurer. 

WINNIPEG,  MAN.,  CAN.— Sealed  tenders  will  be  received  by  the 
chairman  of  the  board  of  control  until  Nov.  29  for  furnishing  and  install- 
ing turbine  pumps  and  motors  required  for  the  extension  of  the  artesian 
well-water-supply  system  of  the  city  of  Winnipeg.  Specifications  and  form 
of  tender,  together  with  conditions  governing  tenders,  may  be  obtained 
at  the  office  of  the  city  engineer,  223  James  Avenue.  M.  Petersen  is 
secretary  of  the  board  of  control. 

GEORGETOWN,  ONT.,  CAN.— At  the  election  held  Nov.  11  the  rate- 
payers voted  in  favor  of  the  by-law  to  contract  with  the  Hydro-Electric 
Commission  for   hydroelectric  power. 

GUELPH,  ONT..  C.\N.— The  Light  and  Heat  Commission  has  decided 
to  supply  electricity  to  the  Dominion  Linen  Mills  and  other  factories 
outside  of  the  city  limits  at  the  same  price  as  is  charged  to  the  citizens 
of  Guelph,  with  the  exception  that  the  companies  will  supply  their  own 
motors.  The  commission  has  also  made  an  offer  to  supply  electricity  in 
Wellington  Place,  a  new  residential  suburb,  provided  that  the  residents 
and  the  Guelph  Country  Club  will  erect  the  transmission  line  from  the 
present  terminus,  near  the  city  limits,  to  the  suburb. 

HAGERSVILLE,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Council  has  passed  a  by-law  au- 
thorizing the  reeve  and  clerk  to  sign  a  contract  with  the  Hydro-Electric 
Commission  for  electricity  to  the  amount  of  150  hp.  An  effort  will  be 
made  to  have  the   plant   installed  before  the   new  year. 

HAMILTON,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission 
has  issued  an  order  requiring  all  wires  to  be  placed  underground  in  the 
downtown  district  of  this  city.  This  order  will  affect  the  Cataract  Pwr. 
Co.  and  the  Hamilton  Hydro-Electric  service.  Provision  is  also  to  be 
made  for  telephone  and  telegraph  wires.  The  conduit  will  be  built  by 
the  city   of  Hamilton. 

LONDON,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  London  St.  Ry.  Co.  has  rejected  the 
proposition  to  operate  its  system  by  power  from  the  Hydro- Electric 
Commission  and  will  increase  the  output  of  its  steam  generating  plant,  at 
a  cost  of  about  $10,000.  The  company  is  now  installing  an  additional 
engine. 

NIAGARA  FALLS.  ONT..  CAN.— The  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to 
install  two  12,000-hp  units  at  its  plant  in  Niagara  Falls. 


PARIS,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  City  Council  has  entered  into  a  contract 
with  the  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission  for  hydroelectric  power  to 
the  amount  of  600  hp,  at  the  rate  of  $21  per  hp.  The  contract  for  the 
erection  of  a  substation  between  Paris  and  Brantford  has  been  awarded. 
Paris  will  not  be  connected  with  the  Hydro-Electric  system  until  next 
summer. 

WELLAND,  ONT.,  CAN. — Arrangements  are  being  made  for  the  instal- 
lation of  a  municipal  electric-light  system,  for  which  $45,000  was  voted 
some  time  ago.     Power   for  operating  the  system  will  be  purchased. 

MONTREAL,  QUE.,  CAN.— The  National  Hydro-Electric  Co..  which 
has  petitioned  the  Legislature  for  authority  to  do  business  in  Montreal 
and  vicinity,  has  acquired  a  water-power  at  Carillon  Falls  which,  it  is 
estimated,  will  develop  about  160,000  hp.  The  cost  of  the  development 
is  estimated  at  about  $10,000,000. 

MONTREAL,  QUE.,  CAN.— The  Saraguay  El.  &  Wtr.  Co.  has  applied 
to  the  Quebec  Legislature  for  authority  to  change  its  name  to  the  Light  & 
Power  Co.  of  Montreal  and  to  increase  its  capital  stock  to  $45,000,000. 
The  company  also  asks  for  authority  to  ratify  the  agreements,  contracts 
and  arrangements  with  the  Dominion  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  the  St.  Paul 
El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  the  Canadian  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  Central  Lt., 
Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  Nothing  definite  will  be  done  toward  reorganizing  the 
Saraguay  company  until  the  first  of  the  year.  H.  R.  Mallison  is  general 
manager. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  AMERICAN  TELEP?IONE  FIRE  ALARM  COMPANY,  of 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000,- 
000  by  David  G.  Dee,  of  Rochester:  William  S.  Haring  and  Fred  H. 
Smith,  of  Chicago,  111.  The  company  proposes  to  manufacture  all  kinds 
of  fire-alarm,  telephone  and  telegraph  apparatus,  fire-detection  and  fire- 
extinguishing  apparatus  and  to  install  fire-alarm,  burglar  and  watch- 
service  systems. 

THE  ANDERSON  ELECTRIC  CAR  COMPANY,  of  Boston,  Mass., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  Albert  Weatherby, 
Frank  R.   Keith  and   others. 

THE  COHN  &  ROTH  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Hartford,  Conn., 
has  been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  for  the  purpose  of 
manufacturing  all  kinds  of  gas  and  electrical  supplies.  The  incorporators 
are;     A.   Conn,  J.   Fred  Roth  and  William  L.   Meyer. 

THE  GENERAL  \'EHICLE  COMPANY,  INC.,  of  Rotterdam,  N.  Y., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000,000  by  J.  F.  ZoUer, 
S.  L.  Whitestone  and  .-\.  M.  Jackson,  of  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  and  J.  P. 
Eaton,  of  Albany.  The  company  proposes  to  do  a  general  mechanical 
and  electrical  engineering  business  and  to  deal  in  mechanical  and  elec- 
trical appliances. 

THE  HALE-CHRISTY  COMPANY,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $3,000  to  manufacture  and  deal  in 
electrical   and   mechanical   devices.     W.   B.   Hale   is   interested. 

NIMIS  &  NIMIS.  INC.,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to  manufacture  machinery,  dynamos  and 
electrical  and  mechanical  appliances.  The  incorporators  are:  Albert  A. 
Nimis,  Joseph  P.  Smith  and  Wendell  P.  Barker,  839  West  End  Avenue, 
New  York. 

THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  LIGHT  &  POWER  COMPANY,  of 
Springfield,  111.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $4,900  by 
.■\.  E.  Simonson,  H.  C.  Kinkhead  and  A.  Mottar.  The  company  proposes 
to   manufacture    and    install    electric   light   and   power    plants. 

THE  WEGNER  CONTROL  SYSTEM,  INC.,  of  Kittery,  Maine,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000  to  manufacture  and 
deal  in  electrical  devices.  A.  H.  Wegner  is  president  and  S.  P.  Harmon 
treasurer,    both   of    Portsmouth,    N.    H. 

THE  WIRELESS  ELECTRIC  LAMP  COMPANY,  of  Elizabeth,  N.  J., 
has  been  incorporated  by  James  C.  Sharpe,  Frederick  P.  Hall  and  Charles 
.\.  Trimble.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $50,000  and  proposes  to  manu- 
facture  electric   signs. 


New  Incorporations 

MARIANNA,  ARK. — The  Marianna  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $35,000  to  supply  electricity  in  Marianna.  The 
officers  are:  E.  C.  Horner,  president,  and  A.  P.  Horner,  secretary  and 
treasurer,   both   of   Helena. 

LIVINGSTON,  ILL. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  for  the 
Twin  City  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500  to  furnish 
light,  heat  and  power.  The  incorporators  are:  D.  E.  Aylward,  Samuel 
M.    Westwood    and   J.    D.    Mullen. 

NOCLESVILLE,  IND.— The  Indiana  Gas  Lt.  Co.  has  been  incorpo- 
rated with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000  for  the  purpose  of  generating  and 
distributing  gas  and  electricity  in  Hamilton,  Tipton  and  Hancock.  The 
company  will  also  supply  natural  gas.  The  company  will  acquire  the 
gas  plants  in  Noblesville  and  Tipton  and  erect  a  large  gas  plant  in  Tipton. 
The  directors  are:  Paul  E.  Neuifer,  H.  A.  Philliis  and  Charles  J.  Horn, 
all    of   Chicago,    111. 


1 124 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol..  60.  Xo    21. 


BOSTON,  MASS.— The  Andrew  G.  Paul  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $300,000  to  build  and  operate  power  systems  and 
plants.  The  directors  are:  H.  W.  Sprague,  president;  Van  Courtland 
Lawrence,  649  Tremont  Building,   Boston,  treasurer,  and  D.   E.   Manning. 

FITCHBURG,  MASS.— The  Fitchburg  Phoenix  Ltg.  Co.  has  been  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000  by  Robert  M.  Sherman,  Maud 
V.   Sherman  and   Frederick  H.   Lane. 

CHISHOLM,  MINN.— The  Chisholm  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  by  William  A.  Koon,  of  Minneapolis; 
Clark  Hempstead  and  John  H.  Ray,  Jr.,  of  Chicago,  111.  The  company 
will  take  over  the  property  of  the  Range  Pwr.  Co.  Improvements  and 
extensions  will  be  made  to  the  system. 

WESTFIELn,  N.  J.— The  North  Jersey  El.  Co.  has  filed  articles  of 
incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
structing dams  in  rivers  and  streams  of  New  Jersey  for  the  purpose  of 
generating  electricity.  The  incorporators  are:  Richard  Bennett,  Jr., 
of  Brooklyn;  William  Hay  ward,  of  New  York,  and  Fred  E.  Sturgis  of 
Westfield. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— The  Wisconsin  Edison  Co.  has  been  incorpo- 
rated with  a  capital  stock  of  $12,000,000  by  Henry  H.  Pierce,  Frederick 
H.  P.  Fiske,  .Tames  D.  Mortimer,  Edward  H.  Green,  John  Foster  Dulles 
and  Thomas  H.  Ryan,  of  New  York.  The  company  will  take  over  the 
holdings  of  the  North  American  Co.  and  the  public  utilities  which  it 
controls  within  the  State  of  Wisconsin.  It  will  own  the  capital  stock  of 
the  Milwaukee  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Trac.  Co.,  which  in  turn  owns  the  Milwaukee 
El.  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.,  the  Wisconsin  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  the  Watertown  Gas  & 
El.  Co.,  the  North  Milwaukee  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  the  Burlington  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  and  the  common  stock  of  the  Milwaukee  El.  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.,  which 
was  issued  for  the  acquisition  of  the  property  of  the  Milwaukee  Central 
Heating   Co. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO.— The  Continental  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  filed  articles 
of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware  with  a  capital 
stock  of  $7,500,000.  W.  H.  Abbott,  of  the  firm  of  Abbott  &  Eaton,  1000 
Schofield  Building,  Cleveland,  is  interested  in  the  company.  The  head- 
quarters of  the  company  will  be  located  at  1000  Schofield  Building, 
Cleveland. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO.— The  Metropolitan  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.,  of  Cleve- 
land, has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  W.  E. 
Hawley,  J.  W.  Larish,  L.  B.  Stanley,  John  B.  Chapman  and  N.  L 
Phelps.  This  is  a  subsidiary  of  the  Metropolitan  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  of 
New  York,  which  is  building  a  16-wire  line  between  New  York  and 
Chicago.  The  local  company  has  applied  to  the  City  Council  for  a 
franchise  and  has  established  offices  in  the  New  England  Building, 
Cleveland.     W.   E.   Hawley  and   W.   G.   Cline  are  in  charge. 

CROWDER,  OKLA.— The  Guardian  Ltg.  &  Industrial  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $15,000  by  A.  E.  Barrow.  H.  E.  Row- 
ton   and   E.   G.   Narrow. 

TULSA,  OKL.^. — The  Consol.  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  to  build 
an  interurban  railway  from  Tulsa  to  Sapulpa,  a  distance  of  15  miles. 
The  company  will  also  take  over  the  system  of  the  Union  Trac  Co  in 
Tulsa, 

ST.  HELEN,  ORE. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  for 
the  St.  Helen  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  E.  Jf. 
Meyers,   C.  R.  and  H.   F.   McCormick. 

BLOOMSBURG.  PA.— The  Columbia  &  Montour  El.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  to  furnish  electricity  for 
lamps  and  motors  here.  E.  R.  Sponsler,  of  Harrisburg,  is  one  of  the  in- 
corporators. 

HARRISBURG,  PA.— Charters  have  been  granted  by  the  State  De- 
partment to  the  Marietta,  Conestoga,  Elizabethtown,  Martic  Township, 
Pequea,  Providence  Township  and  Strasburg  Electric  Companies,  of 
Lancaster  County.  Each  company  is  capitalized  at  $5,000  and  will  do 
business  in  the  locality  for  which  it  is  named.  Congressman  W.  W. 
Greist  is  the  principal  stockholder. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA.— The  Upper  Providence  EI.  Lt.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  T.  W.  Morris,  38  Sum- 
mit  Street,   Philadelphia,   is  interested  in  the  company. 

PINE  GROVE,  PA.— The  Pine  Grove  EI.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $15,000.  Preparations  will  be 
made  to  begin  work  at  once  on  construction  of  an  electric  plant  here. 
The  incorporators  are:  E.  J.  Thomas,  Wallace  Drumheller  and  H.  L. 
Troxell. 

STOYESTOWN,  PA.— Charters  have  been  granted  to  the  Jenners  El. 
Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  to  operate  in  Jenners  Township,  and  the  Listie 
El.  Lt,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  to  operate  in  Listie  Township.  Both  companies 
are  capitalized  at  $10,000  and  the  incorporators  are:  G.  J.  Long,  A.  J. 
Weimer  and  G.  .\.  Noon,  of  Freidens.  The  offices  of  the  company  are 
located    in    Stoyestown. 

EAGLE  PASS,  TEX. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  by 
the  International  El.  Co.  with  a  capital  stock  of  $160,000  by  W.  H. 
Painter,  Charles  H.  Hubbell,  D.  G.  Fisher  and  others.  The  company  pro- 
poses to  generate  and  distribute  gas  and  electricity  for  lamps,  heat  and 
motors. 

RIVIERA,  TEX. — The  Riviera  Beach  &  Western  R.  R.  Co.  has  been 
organized  to  construct  an  interurban  railway  between  Riviera  Beach  and 
Falfurrias  via  Riviera,  a  distance  of  35  miles.  The  portion  between 
here   and    Riviera    Beach,    10    miles,    is   nearly    finished    and    will    soon    be 


placed  in  operation.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $35,000.  '  The  incorpo- 
rators are:  Theodore  F.  Koch,  Carl  C.  Henry,  Samuel  Lilligren,  of 
Houston;  Richard  M.  Kleberg,  of  Kingsville,  and  Marcos  Phillips,  of 
Riviera. 

TEXAS  CITY,  TEX.— The  Texas  City  St.  Ry.  Co.  has  been  organized 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $60,000  to  construct  an  electric  interurban  rail- 
way between  Texas  City  and  Texas  City  Junction.  It  will  also  build  a 
street  railway  system  in  Texas  City.  The  incorporators  are:  H.  B. 
Moore,  J.   R.   Goodson  and  F.   N.  Danforth,  all  of  Texas  City. 

MONTPELIER,  VT.— The  Montpelier  &  Barre  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  Massachusetts  with  a  capital  stock 
of  $2,100,000  by  Albert  B.  Tenney,  A.  E.  Bradley,  H.  .\.  Gidney  and 
D.  W.  Leavitt.  It  is  understood  that  the  company  will  take  over  the 
Vermont  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.  and  the  Consolidated  Ltg.  Co.,  Torry,  Deavitt  & 
Frost,  and  the  Barre  &  Montpelier  Trac.   Co.,  all  of  Montpelier. 

SEATTLE,  WASH.— The  Pacific  Coast  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Ry.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000,  by  .Mbert  M.,  I.  N.  and 
K.    E.    Robinson,    D.   L.   Chipman    and   F.    E.    Briglitman. 

MARTINSBURG.  W.  VA.— The  Hedgesville  Lt.  &  Ht.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000  by  W.  E.  Gordon,  R.  C.  Miller, 
J.  E.  Wyndhara  and  others. 


Trade  Publications 


ELECTRIC  SIGNS.— Bulletin  No.  167  of  the  Federal  Sign  System 
( Electric) .  Chicago,  III.,  is  devoted  to  Us  miniature-lainp-letter  electric 
signals  and  fixtures  and   frames  for  alphabet-lamp-letter  electric  signs. 

MOTOR-GENERATOR  SETS.— The  Crocker-Wheeler  Company.  Am- 
pere, N.  J.,  has  issued  recently  Bulletin  No.  156,  which  takes  the  place  of 
No.  116,  previously  published.  It  describes  and  fully  illustrates  motor- 
generator  sets  for  all  purposes. 

BALL  BEARINGS.— The  Hess-Bright  Manufacturing  Company,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.,  is  sending  out  some  further  additions  to  its  loose-leaf  litera- 
ture referring  to  ball  bearings.  A  numerical  and  a  classified  index  to 
data  sheets  previously  issued   are   included   with   this  latest  matter. 

THE  KEOKUK  PROJECT.— The  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Cor- 
poration, of  Boston,  has  recently  jssued  a  sixteen-page  booklet  on  the  St. 
Louis- Keokuk  transmission  line,  which  tcl's  briefly  the  story  of  this  in- 
teresting and  important  installation.  Some  miniature  illustrations  brighten 
the  text,  and  a  map  is  also  shown. 

CORD  ADJUSTER.— An  eight-page  leaflet  is  being  distributed  by  the 
Sachs  Laboratories,  Inc.,  103  AUyn  Street,  Hartford,  Conn.,  referring  to 
the  Sachs  magna  adjuster.  Descriptive  matter  and  an  illustration  of  the 
adjuster  in  use,  a  diagram  showing  its  operation  and  a  cut  of  the  parts 
unassembled  make  up  the  contents. 

TROLLEY  WIRE.— The  Bridgeport  Brass  Company,  Bridgeport,  Conn., 
is  sending  out  a  cardboard  folder  asking  the  recipients  to  make  a  test  of 
"Phono-Electric"  wire  where  there  has  been  trouble,  and  to  watch  the 
results  and  make  comparisons,  by  which  they  will  learn  why  "Phono- 
Electric"   is  a  most  economical  wire  to  use. 

HIGH-VOLTAGE  FUSES.— The  Delta-Star  Electric  Company,  617 
West  Jackson  Boulevard,  Chicago,  111.,  is  distributing  a  very  complete 
bulletin  on  S.  &  C.  fuses  and  weatherproof  mountings  for  use  on  all 
potentials  up  to  and  including  66,000  volts.  In  it  special  attention  is 
called  to  the  type  of  fuse  mounting  used  in  protecting  outdoor  substations. 
INSULATED  WIRE.— The  New  York  Insulated  Wire  Company.  114 
Liberty  Street,  New  York,  is  sending  out  practical  reminders  of  the  merits 
of  its  products  in  the  form  of  blotters.  One  blotter  contains  a  little  talk 
on  Grimshaw  and  Competition  tapes  and  a  calendar  for  November  in  the 
lower  corner,  and  the  other  blotter  refers  to  its  wires.  Raven  Core  and 
(irimshaw. 

SECOND-HAND  MACHINERY.— A  catalog  of  electrical  and  steam 
machinery,  cars,  car  equipments,  etc. — used  machinery — has  just  been 
issued  by  MacGovern  li:  Company,  Inc.,  114  Liberty  Street,  New  York. 
This  machinery,  while  it  has  been  in  service,  is  available  because  of 
changes  in  type  or  capacity  that  have  rendered  it  expedient  to  install 
other  apparatus  in  its  place. 

RAILWAY  TYPE  FANS.— A  four-page  circular  is  being  sent  out  by 
the  Diehl  Manufacturing  Company,  Elizabethport,  N.  J.,  referring  to 
its  railway-type  fans.  The  company  states  in  this  bulletin  (No.  504) 
that  these  fans  are  the  result  of  a  gradual  development  to  meet  the  con- 
ditions of  change  in  construction,  style  and  general  service  of  the  railroad 
car  now   demanded   by   the  traveling   public. 

REFLECTORS. — Veluria  reflectors  of  the  commercial  type  are  made 
the  subject  of  a  recently  published  booklet  printed,  by  the  Holophane 
Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company.  Veluria  is  a  thin,  opal  glass,  wtih 
a  small  percentage  of  absorption,  and  is  designed  to  distribute  the  light 
rays  in  the  proper  directions.  They  are  especially  recommended  by  the 
makers  where  a  soft,   mellow  light   is  desired. 

LOCOMOTIVE  CRANES.— Supplement  5  of  the  Browning  Engineer- 
ing Company,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  is  a  large,  four-page  leaflet,  containing  six 
photographs  of  actual  installations  of  the  Brown  locomotive  crane  in  vari- 
ous industries.  One  of  the  photographs  shows  the  Browning  electric 
locomotive  crane  and  clamshell  bucket  in  use  at  the  plant  of  the  Mer- 
chants'  Heat   &   Light   Company   of   Indianapolis. 


November  23,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORL-D 


1 125 


PHOTOMETERS. — The  Reichsanstalt  precision  photometer  and  ac- 
cessories form  the  text  for  a  catalog  (No.  60)  which  bears  the  imprint 
of  the  Leeds  &  Northrup  Company,  manufacturer  of  electrical  measur- 
ing instruments.  4901  Stenton  .\venue,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  The  apparatus 
described  in  this  publication  is  the  result  of  a  thorough  reconsideration 
of  every  detail  of  the  company's   photometric  instruments. 

CLEANSER  FOR  ELECTRIC  GLASSWARE.— The  Myrlite  Company 
of  America,  Pownal,  Vt.,  has  issued  a  bulletin  relating  to  its  cleansing  ma- 
terial for  globes,  bulbs  and  reflectors.  The  merits  of  the  cleanser  are  out- 
lined in  the  bulletin,  which  also  contains  numerous  testimonials  from  cen- 
tral-station companies  and  manufacturers.  Curves  showing  the  loss  in 
luminous  efficiency  due  to  dirty  glassware  and  lamps  form  part  of  the 
bulletin. 

STORAGE  BATTERIES. — "Some  Recent  Developments  in  the  Lead 
Battery  for  Electric  V'ehicles"  is  the  subject  of  a  four-page  folder — Bulletin 
No.  137 — recently  issued  by  the  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.  It  is  a  reprint  of  a  paper  read  by  Mr.  Bruce  Ford  at  the 
third  annual  convention  of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America 
held  in  Boston  last  month.  A  number  of  small  illustrations  accompany 
the  text. 

CHANGE  IN  LAMP  PRICES.— The  Eastern  Electric  Company,  141 
Milk  Street,  Boston,  Mass.,  is  making  announcement  of  the  reduction  in 
price  of  "Eastern"  drawn-wire  tungsten-filament  lamps  which  became 
effective  Oct.  1.  The  company  is  also  sending  out  periodically  small 
blotters,  on  one  side  of  which  is  a  little  talk  on  "Eastern"  incandescent 
lamps,  and  some  cards  of  small  envelope  size  containing  the  monthly 
calendar. 

POLES  AND  TIES.— The  Naugle  Pole  &  Tie  Company,  5  South  Wa- 
bash Avenue,  Chicago,  111.,  is  sending  out  a  folder,  11  in.  by  14^  in. 
when  opened  for  reading,  which  gives  an  illustration  of  one  of  its  three 
pole  alleys  and  a  short  talk  on  its  products.  For  convenience  in  writing 
for  estimates  on  poles  two  postal  cards  which  form  part  of  the  folder 
may  be  easily  detached  and  sent  to  the  company,  giving  the  requirements 
of  the  prospective   purchaser. 

INNER. GLOBES.— The  Holophane  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, Cleveland.  Ohio,  has  published  a  little  data  book  on  inner  globes, 
which  describes  -the  "Noblac"  product.  It  is  stated  that  the  low  main- 
tenance cost  makes  the  "Noblac"  inner  globes  most  economical  in  service 
and  economical  in  the  use  of  carbons,  as  well  as  in  the  longer  life  of  the 
globes  themselves.  Central-station  men,  contractors  and  supply  dealers 
will  find  this  booklet  of  interest. 

PUMPS. — The  Alberger  Pump  &  Condenser  Company,  140  Cedar 
Street,  New  York,  has  recently  published  a  twelve-page  booklet  which 
deals  with  Alberger  boiler-feed  pumps.  By  brief  descriptive  matter  It 
is  aimed  to  show  why  leading  engineers  install  turbine  boiler-feed  pumps 
in  modern  power  stations  in  preference  to  reciprocating  pumps.  There 
are  a  number  of  illustrations,  a  diagram  of  an  outline  elevation  of  the 
Alberger  pump  and  a  table  of  approximate  dimensions. 

CURRENT-LIMITING  REACTANCES.— Bulletin  No.  4974,  issued  by 
the  General  Electric  Company,  illustrates  and  describes  in  considerable  de- 
tail a  device  known  as  a  current-limiting  reactance,  for  the  protection  of 
apparatus  from  mechanical  stress  due  to  heavy  current  overloads.  It  is 
designed  to  be  placed  in  series  with  generators  or  transformers  and  to 
limit  the  flow  of  current  under  short-circuit  conditions  to  values  which  can 
be  safely  withstood  by  both  the  generator  and  transformer. 

GEARS. — The  Earle  Gear  &  Machine  Company,  Stenton  &  Wyoming 
.\venues,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  has  recently  distributed  an  illustrated  twelve- 
page  pamphlet  referring  to  herringbone  gears.  It  contains  information 
as  to  the  relative  values  of  the  "herringbone"  gears  as  compared  with 
the  ordinary  spur  gearing.  It  is  claimed  for  the  former  that  by  their 
use  it  is  possible  to  deliver  greater  power  with  minimum  friction  and 
noise  and  that  they  are  particularly  adapted  to  high  speeds. 

VARIABLE-SPEED  ENGINES.— The  -American  Engine  Company, 
Bound  Brook,  N.  J.,  in  a  twelve-page  booklet  prints  an  imposing  list  of 
users  of  its  variable-speed  engines  in  the  paper-mill  industry,  indicating 
the  equipment  installed  in  each  instance.  These  variable-speed  paper-mill 
engines  cover  a  range  of  eight  to  one  and  may  be  directly  connected  to 
paper  machines,  eliminating  all  intermediate  gearing.  The  highest  effi- 
ciency and  reliability  are  also  claimed  for  the  constant-speed  type. 

INDUCTION  MOTORS.— Bulletin  No.  155,  recently  issued  by  the 
Crocker-Wheeler  Company,  Ampere,  N.  J.,  which  supersedes  Bulletin 
No.  146,  refers  to  form  "Q"  induction  motors  for  operating  on  60-cycle 
polyphase  alternating-current  circuits.  This  form  of  motor  can  be  ap- 
plied to  a  wide  range  of  machines  and  industries,  and  where  alternating 
current  is  available  may  be  employed  to  drive  every  kind  of  machinery 
from  blowers  to  boring  mills  and  from  sewing  machines  to  steel  mills. 

PORCELAIN  INSULATORS.— The  Insulator  Book  for  1912,  issued 
by  the  Locke  Insulator  Manufacturing  Company,  Victor,  N.  Y.,  gives 
considerable  practical  data  relating  to  pole  and  tower  line  construction, 
wire,  line  protective  devices,  etc.,  which  appear  under  the  simple  title  of 
"Notes."  The  illustrations  of  representative  types  of  modern  towers  and 
line  construction  lend  additional  interest.  The  catalog  contains,  as  well, 
illustrations  and  specifications  of  the  company's  products.  It  is  9  in. 
wide  by  6  in.   long  and  is  arranged  in  loose-leaf  form. 

HIGH-TENSION  AIR  SWITCHES  AND  FUSES.— The  Railway  & 
Industrial  Engineering  Company,  702  People's  Bank  Building,  Pittsburgh, 
Pa.,  in  its  September  bulletin.  No.  8,  illustrates  and  describes  the  con- 
struction, operation  and  erection  of  its  Burke  high-voltage  airbreak 
switches,    improved    horn-type    lightning    arresters    and    fuses.       Outdoor 


substations  and  portable  substations  are  also  considered.  A  diagram 
showing  a  switch  mounting  for  15,000  volts,  300  amp,  is  given,  and  also 
a   list   of   some   of   the  users  of   this  company's   apparatus. 

MEASURING  INSTRUMENTS.— Bulletin  No.  11  of  the  Hoskins 
Manufacturing  Company,  453  Lawton  Avenue,  Detroit,  Mich.,  deals  with 
its  "International"  ammeters  and  voltmeters  for  alternating-current  and 
direct-current  circuits  and  makes  brief  references  to  the  Hoskins  electric 
furnaces,  thermo-electric  pyrometers  and  electric  hot  plates.  The  con- 
structive features  of  the  portable  and  switchboard  meters  for  alternating 
currents  and  direct  currents  are  given,  with  illustrations  showing  various 
types  of  these  instruments  and  diagrams  and  specifications  of  the  same. 

USES  OF  STORAGE  B.\TTERIES.— The  Electric  Storage  Battery 
Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  is  distributing  an  eighteen-page  booklet  deal- 
ing with  some  interesting  facts  about  the  various  uses  of  storage  batteries. 
Many  persons  are  not  familiar  with  the  numerous  uses  of  storage  bat- 
teries and  the  great  number  of  them  in  operation.  This  little  book  will 
serve  to  show  how  widely  and  diversely  storage  batteries  are  used.  Fif- 
teen miniature  illustrations,  accompanied  by  brief  descriptions,  showing 
fifteen  purposes  for  which  storage  batteries  are  employed,  are  presented 
and  serve  to  increase  general  knowledge  on  this  important  subject. 

REFLECTORS.— Catalog  No.  17,  recently  issued  by  Gillinder  &  Sons, 
135  Oxford  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  treats  of  Melilite  reflectors.  These 
reflectors  are  made  of  an  entirely  new  material  which  it  is  claimed 
covers  many  of  the  detects  of  numerous  glass  globes  on  the  market. 
Melilite  possesses  a  peculiar  translucency  which  produces  an  attractive 
efl;ect  when  lighted  within.  This  catalog  illustrates  the  bowl  and  flared 
types  and  presents  charts  showing  the  relative  distribution  of  light 
cast  by  a  tungsten  lamp  with  and  without  these  types  of  globes.  Melilite 
balls,  ceiling  bowls  and  bowls  for  indirect  lighting  are  also  considered  in 
this   publication. 

BOILER-TUBE  CLEANERS.— The  Roto  Company,  Hartford,  Conn.,  in 
its  Catalog  No.  57,  which  consists  of  thirty-two  pages,  tells  about  its  tube 
cleaners  and  economy  of  steam  boilers.  The  rotor  appliances  made  by  this 
company  include  air-driven,  steam-driven  and  water-driven  tube  cleaners 
for  cleaning  all  types  of  boilers,  condensers,  heaters,  evaporators,  etc., 
with  either  straight  or  bent  tubes.  As  the  economy,  safety  and  durability 
of  steam  boilers  depend  on  keeping  the  tubes  clean  and  free  from  boiler 
scale,  the  subject  of  tube  cleaners  will  interest  all  users  of  boilers. 
The  catalog  is  illustrated  with  half-tones  showing  the  exterior  and  in- 
terior of  these  rotors  and  of  individual  parts. 

LAMPS  AND  ACCESSORIES.— The  1912-1913  catalog  of  the  Deutsche 
GasgUihIicht  Aktiengesellschaft  (.Auergesellschaft)  of  Berlin.  Germany,  has 
recently  been  distributed.  It  is  entitled  "Armaturen  und  Installationsma- 
terial  fur  Osram-Drahtlampen."  Each  of  the  five  sections  into  which  it 
is  divided  is  easily  referred  to,  owing  to  the  thumb-index  arrangement. 
One  section  is  devoted  to  the  construction  of  the  lamp,  another  to  globes, 
a  third  to  fittings,  while  another  gives  illustrations  and  specifications  of  va- 
rious sockets,  reflectors  and  other  devices.  A  subject  index  in  the  be- 
ginning and  a  numerical  index  at  the  end  are  also  included  in  this  catalog, 
which   has  an  attractive   cover  in   colors  and  is  well  made. 

WIRE. — The  Standard  Underground  Cable  Company,  Ltd.,  Hamilton, 
Ont.,  Can.,  which  was  established  in  order  that  the  rapidly  increasing 
Canadian  business  of  the  Standard  Underground  Cable  Company,  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  could  be  better  handled,  has  issued  a  neat  booklet  of  sixteen 
pages  which  discourses  on  the  cost  of  poor  wire,  the  safe  way  to  buy 
wire,  the  mark  of  good  wire,  proof  of  quality  and  other  "wire"  matters, 
referring  specifically  to  Sterling  rubber-insulated  wire.  Miniature  illus- 
trations of  buildings  in  which  this  wire  is  used,  a  view  of  the  Hamilton 
plant  and  one  of  the  Perth  Amboy  plant  and  a  list  of  "Standard"  prod- 
ucts make  up  the  contents  of  this  little  pamphlet,  which  is  printed  in 
three  colors. 

PUMPS. .\dditions    to    the   trade   literature    issued    periodically   by    the 

Deane  Steam  Pump  Company,  Holyoke,  Mass.  (International  Steam 
Pump  Company.  115  Broadway,  N.  Y.,  successor),  include  pamphlets  on 
a  hydraulic  air-charging  device,  horizontal  duplex  piston  pumps  operated 
by  direct-connected  vertical  gasoline  engines,  duplex  horizontal  double- 
acting  power  pumps,  portable  mine  pumps,  sand  riddlers,  deep-well 
pumping  machinery,  duplex  steam  pumps,  piston  pattern;  horizontal 
double-acting  single-cylinder  power  pumps,  automatic  pumps  and  receivers, 
and  modern  water-works  for  town  and  city  supply.  These  publications 
contain  fully  illustrated  descriptive  material  and  will  be  of  interest  to  all 
who  have  pumping  problems  to  consider. 

CENTRIFLIGAL  PUMPS. — .\  comprehensive,  well-arranged,  practical 
catalog  of  fifty-six  pages,  known  as  Bulletin  627-A,  devoted  to  the  Piatt 
centrifugal  Dumps  is  being  distributed  by  the  Piatt  Iron  Works  Company, 
Dayton,  Ohio.  It  contains  just  the  sort  of  information  that  prospective 
users  of  centrifugal  pumps  desire.  Illustrated  descriptions  of  various  types 
of  Piatt  pumps,  with  characteristic  curves,  are  given.  A  fine  illustration  of 
Shore  power  station  of  the  Cleveland  Electric  Illuminating  Company  is  in- 
cluded. These  pumps  have  a  capacity  each  of  650  gal.  per  minute  against 
300  lb.  pressure,  at  2100  r.p.m.  Various  tables  on  friction  loss  and  fire 
streams,  a  table  of  equivalents  of  various  measures  and  weights,  besides 
other  data,  lend  additional  value  to  the  publication. 

ELECTRIC  VEHICLES. — The  Waverley  Company,  Indianapolis,  Ind., 
in  the  publication  of  its  1912  year  book,  devoted  to  "Silent  Waverley" 
electric  vehicles,  has  set  a  high  standard  in  catalog  making.  The  char- 
acter of  literature  that  would  make  a  definite  appeal  to  the  prospective 
user,  the  quality  of  woik  that  would  create  the  best  impression  on  the 
future  buyer  and  the  kind  of  publication  that  the  recipient  will  not  lightly 


1 126 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  I-  D 


Vol.  6o,  No.  21. 


turn  aside  have  evidently  been  carefully  considered.  The  result  is  an 
exceptionally  fine  piece  of  work,  artistic  tn  coloring,  beautiful  in  make- 
up and  compelling  in  interest.  The  outside  cover  page  of  gray  paper 
has  an  opening  simulating  the  upper  glass  panel  of  a  carriage  door,  which 
forms  a  frame  for  the  heavily  embossed  photograph  on  the  second  inside 
front  cover  page,  showing  the  interior  of  a  vehicle  with  the  two  seats 
occupied  by  women.  The  top  piece  that  extends- across  the  entire  width 
of  each  page,  depicting  the  four  seasons,  is  a  remarkably  fine  piece  of 
color  work.  Four  types  of  vehicles  are  printed  in  colors  with  appropri- 
ate seasonal  setting  in  the  foreground,  also  in  delicate  colors.  Each  month 
in  the  year  has  its  calendar,  the  zodiacal  sign,  a  list  of  celebrities'  birth- 
days falling  in  that  month,  the  green  trees  and  shrubs  or  flowers,  and 
the  resident  birds.  As  many  of  the  technical  features  of  a  car  as  will  be 
understood  by  the  average  user  of  electrical  vehicles  are  described.  The 
year  book  is  a  distinctive  addition  to  catalog  literature  and  cannot  fail 
to  make  a  direct  appeal  to  those  for  whom  it  was  intended,  the  women 
as    well    as   the   men    buyers   and    users   of   electric    pleasure   vehicles. 


Business  Notes 


GENERAL  VEHICLE  COMPANY.— The  Manila  agent  of  the  General 
Vehicle  Company  has  »ecured  orders  for  eight  light  wagons  and  one  2- 
ton  truck.  With  these  orders,  the  total  of  commercial  cars  of  General 
\*ehicle  make  in  use  in  or  on  order  for  the  Philippines  is  brought  up 
to    thirty-two. 

THE  WARREN  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  electrical  contractor  and 
dealer  in  electrical  supplies,  Trinidad,  Col.,  was  recently  reorganized,  and 
the  following  officers  were  elected:  President,  Mr.  J.  A.  Dalby;  man- 
ager, Mr,  H.  W.  Reaume;  secretary  and  treasurer,  Mr.  W.  D.  Warren. 
Mr.  Reaume  will  have  charge  of  the  electrical  department,  while  the 
office  affairs  and  purchasing  will  be  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Warren,  who 
was  with  the  old  firm  for  ten  years  and  has  had  considerable  experience 
in    the    general    electrical    construction    and    supply    business. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED    STATES   PATENTS   ISSUED   NOV.    12,    1912. 
[Prepared  by   Robert   Starr  Allyn,    16   Exchange   Place,   New   York.] 

1,043,799.  MOTOR-CONTROL  SYSTEM;  J.  E.  Brobst,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.  .-\pp.  filed  April  24,  1912.  Reversible  motors  for  starting  and 
stopping    of    planers,    printing    presses,    etc. 

1,043,802.  FUSE  ATTACHMENT;  C.  Carson,  Dayton,  Ohio.  App. 
filed  Oct.   5,   1910.     Swivel  attachment  for  lamp  sockets. 

1.043,810.  JACK;  A.  F,  Dixon  and  W.  E.  Freeman,  East  Orange,  N.  J. 
App.  filed  April  5,  1911.  Mounting  plate  for  springs,  fuses  and 
protectors. 

1,043,818.  NON-INTERFERENCE  SIGNAL  BOX;  G.  L.  Foote,  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.     -^pp.  filed  Feb.   1,   1911.     Automatic  lock-out  and  release. 

1,043,821.  ELECTRIC  LIGHT;  A.  W.  Gast,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed 
March  16.  1911.  A  sign  light  with  a  number  of  small  filaments 
in  an  exhausted  tube. 

1,043,823.     PLUG;   D.  D.   Gordon,  Chicago,  111.     App.  filed  April   1,   1911. 

Segmental    screw    threads   and    clamps   for    socket    connection. 
1,043,859.     ELECTRIC     SWITCH;     J.     W.     Morway,     Plainville,     Conn. 

App.  filed  June  9,   1911.     Block  type  of  rotary  snap  switch. 

1.043.864.  ELECTRICALLY  HEATED  SADIRON;  E.  L.  Pollard  (de- 
ceased), Dobbs  Ferry,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Oct.  26,  1911.  Hinged 
cover  and   feeder;   cable   clamp. 

1.043.865.  TELEGRAPH  APPAR.^TUS;  E.  Pope,  Quebec,  Canada. 
-App.   filed  June  25,    1910.     Printing  apparatus.     (Sixty-two   claims.) 

1,043,879.  TROLLEY;  E.  A.  Sullivan,  Toronto,  Canada.  App.  filed 
May    1,    1909.      Pivotally    mounted    bead. 


1,044,409. — Power  Installation. 


1,043.887.  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE:  J.  B.  Wiard,  Lynn, 
Mass.  App.  filed  Dec.  6,  1905.  Self-ventilating  fan  blades  on  the 
conductor    bars. 

1,043,906.  POLE  CHANGER;  W.  \V.  Dean.  Elyria,  Ohio.  App.  filed 
Dec.   27,    1910.        Harmonic   party-line   signaling. 

1.043.916.  INSULATOR;  F.  M.  Farwell.  Kansas  City,  Mo.  .App.  filed 
Oct.    17,   1911.     Two-party  line  wire  insulator. 

1.043.917.  ELECTRIC  CLOCK;  C.  Fery.  Paris,  France.  App.  filed 
Feb.    25,    1911.      Electromagnetic    pendulum    impulse. 

1,043.923.  STRENGTHENING  ELECTRIC  ALTERN.JiTING  CUR- 
RENTS; R.  Goldschmidt.  Darmstadt.  Germany.  App.  filed  April  6, 
1911.     Long-distance  telephone  and  telegraph. 

1,043,937.  ANODE  AND  PROCESS  OF  MANUFACTURING  THE 
S.AME;  M.  Huth,  Charlottenburg,  Germany.  App.  filed  Nov.  22. 
1910.  Crystalline  peroxide  of  manganese  with  embedded  lead  perox- 
ide. 

1,043,942.  NO-VOLTAGE  RELEASE  MECHANISM;  A.  Kimble,  Chi- 
cago, 111.  App.  filed  March  18,  1912.  Detent  shoulders  and  guard 
members. 

1.043.961.  TROLLEY  AVHEEL;  G.  F.  Murch,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App. 
filed    Dec.    7,    1910.      Anti-friction   bearings. 

1,043,963.     SOLDERING   IRON;   J.    L.   Nillson,   Chicago,   111.      App,    filed 

June   6,    1910.     Interchangeable   resistance  coils. 
1,043.975.     FIRE-ALARM  SIGNALING  .\PP.\RATUS;  J.  V.   Shier,  Sr., 

.ind  J.   La  Vergne,  Sr.,   Charleston.   S.   C.     .App.   filed  April   12.   1912. 

Visual   and   audible  signal   attachment. 

1,043,994.  TROLLEY-WHEEL  GUARD;  C.  G.  and  V.  E.  Wittmann. 
Independence,  Mo.     App.  filed  Feb.   27,   1911.     Jointed  pole  head. 


1,044,021.     ELECTRIC  INDICATING  DEVICE  FOR  SIGNALS;   G.  A. 

C;iingwald,  Edison,  Cal.     App.  filed  April  14,  1910.     Pointer-controlled 

indicator. 
1,044,088.     ELECTRIC   FURNACE;   T.    P.    Sharts,   North   Adams,   Mass. 

.■\pp.   filed   March    14,    1912.     A  stationary  electrode   and  laterally   ad- 
justable  inclined   electrodes. 
1,044.099.     DOOR-BOLT-ACTU.ATED  CIRCUIT-CLOSER;  G.  A.  Spring, 

(Tolumbus,  Ohio.     App.   filed  April  6,   1910.     Emergency  exit  lock. 
1,044,108.     CONDUIT  FOR  HIGH-TENSION  ELECTRIC  CURRENTS; 

W.   A.   Warren,   Hurley,  N.  Y.     App.  filed  April  19,  1905.     The  wire 

is   immersed   in   oil    in   the  conduit. 
1,044,117.     TELEPHONE      RECEIVER;      C.      Adams-Randall,      Boston, 

Mass.     App.  filed  Feb.  28,  1912.     Adjustable  permanent  magnet. 
1,044,148.     TROLLEY  B.\SE;  C.  O.  Dawson  and  R.  Gooding,  Rochester, 

Mich.     App.  filed  Oct.  20,   1910.     .Automatic  pole  latch. 
1,044,151.     CONTROLLING    APPAR.\TUS     FOR    CAB    STANDS;    T. 

Drost,    Hamburg,    Germany.      App.    filed    Jan.    19,    1912.     Check-con- 
trolled   indicating   mechanism. 
1,044,156.     CEMENT  FOR  METALLIC   FILAMENTS;   K.   Farkas,  New 

York,  N.  Y.     App.  filed  Aug.   11,   1909.     Powdered  tungstens,  oxides, 

metallic  aluminum  and  sodium  silicate. 
1,044,158.     TROLLEY  WHEEL;  A.   H.  Fetzer,  Galion,   Ohio.     App.   filed 

Jan.  27,   1911.     Anti-friction  bearing  and  universal  joint. 
1,044,189.     CABLE    TELEGRAPHY;    I.    Kitsie,    Philadelphia,    Pa.      App. 

filed  Nov.    14,    1907.      .\  relay  having  a  zero   position. 
1,044.192.     PLUG  OR  LAMP  RECEPTACLE;   H.  F.  Krantz,  New  York, 

N.   Y.     -App-   filed  July  22,   1911.      Terminal   connections. 
1,044,201.     PROCESS  OF  PRESERVING;  J.  C.  Lincoln,  Cleveland,  Ohio, 

App.  filed   Sept.  27,   1909.     Electric  curing  in  a  magnetic  field. 
1,044,212.     CONTROLLER   REGULATOR;   F.  J.    Maize,   Portland,   Ore. 

App.    filed  June   3,    1912.      For   railway  cars;   controller  arm,   delayed 

action. 

1.044.217.  SQUIRREL-CAGE  ROTOR;  B.  McCollum,  Washington, 
D.  C.  -App.  filed  Dec.  6,  1911.  .A  resistance  element  of  small  cross- 
section  and  positive  temperature  coefficient  is  inserted  in  each  of  the 
conductor   bars. 

1.044.218.  ELECTRICAL  SIGNAL  TRANSMITTER;  J.  McFell,  Chi- 
cago,  111.      .App.    filed   .April   9,    1910.      For   transmitting   code  signals. 

1.044.228.  SAFETY  CHEST;  L.  Myers,  Newark,  N.  J.  App.  filed  Dec. 
11,   1907.     Burglar  alarm  tor  jewel  casket. 

1.044.229.  AUTOMATIC  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  E.  Neuhold,  Friede- 
nau,  Germany.  App.  filed  Oct.  8,  1910.  Speaking  connections  are 
released   by    hanging   up   the   receiver. 

1,044,249.  WIRE  COUPLING;  J.  P.  R.  Ronfet,  Paris,  France.  -App. 
filed   May  2,    1912.     Slotted  block   with    wedge. 

1.044.269.  ELECTRICAL  HEATING  UNIT;  C.  A.  Shaler,  Waupun, 
Wis.  -App.  filed  Feb.  28,  1910.  The  flow  of  current  is  automatically 
controlled. 

1.044.270.  ELECTRICAL  HEATING  PAD;  C.  A.  Shaler,  Waupun. 
Wis.  App.  filed  Feb.  28,  1910.  .Automatic  heat  control  within  limits 
established    by   manual    regulation. 

1,044,284.     HEATING    DEVICE;    W.    Stanley,    Great    Barrington,    Mass. 

-App.    filed   April   29,    1912.     Heat-storage   device    for   cooking,   etc. 
1,044,291.     ELECTRIC   LIGHTING;    F.    L.   Temple,   Cedar   Grove,   N.   J. 

App.   filed  Aug.  28,    1911.     Socket  switch   control. 
~1,044,293.     TROLLEY   WHEEL;    L.    T.    Tetlow,    West   Springfield,   Mass. 

App.  filed  .Aug.    16,   1911.     Malleable  iron  with  brass  running  face. 

1.044.295.  PROCESS  OF  PRODUCING  SILICON  CARBIDE:  F.  J. 
Tone,  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  June  14,  1907.  Solid  carbon 
core. 

1.044.296.  METHOD  OF  MANUFACTURING  CRYSTALLINE 
.ALUMINA;    F.   J.   Tone,   Niagara   Falls,   N.   Y.      .App.   filed  Aug.    30. 

1911.  Pure    amorphous    alumina     is     melted    with     easily     reducible 
metalliferous   oxides. 

1,044,298.     TROLLEY;   A.   Trible,  Wilmerding,  Pa.     App.   filed  Feb.  23, 

1912.  Shifting   mechanism. 

1,044,378.     REVOLVING    CONTACT    S\\ITCH:     E.     J.     Guay,     Lynn, 

.\lass.     App.  filed  July  20,  1910.     Periodic  rotation. 
1,044,399.     IGNITION     SYSTEM;     S.    L.     Lebby,    James    Island,    S.     C. 

.App.  filed  Feb.  27,   1911.     Combined  ignition   and  lighting  system  for 

motorboats   and   vehicles. 
1,044,409.     POWER  INST.ALLATION;   W.   Morrison,  Chicago,  111.     -App. 

filed  Feb.   3,   1908.     For  propelling  motor  vehicles;  gas  engine  drives 

a  motor  generator. 
1.044,411.     SIGNALING  APPAR.ATUS;  C.   P.  Nachod,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

App.   filed  Oct.    13,   1908.     Railway-block  visual  signal. 


//2^ 


&- 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


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Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  NOVEMBER  30,  1912. 


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Of  this  issue 


NEW  YORK.  SATURDAY,  NOVEMBER,  30,  1912. 


CONTENTS 

Editorial      1119 

American    Institute    of    Consulting    Engineers 1126 

Decision    for    Condit    Company    in    Circuit-Breaker    Suit 1126 

Conference    on    Water-Fower    Regulation 1126 

New  York  Electric   Vehicle   .Vssociation    Progress 1126 

Railway  Wage  Regulation 1126 

Electric  Ship  Propulsion    1127 

Causes  of  Washout  at  Olympic   Power   Company's  Dam 1129 

Flectrical   Credit  Association    of   Chicago 1 1 29 

Supreme  Court  Decision  in  the  "Bathtub  Trust**  Case 1130 

Chicago  Telephone  Company's  .Answer  to  the  Bemis  Report 1132 

Opposition   to  Proposed    Illinois  Public    Service   Commission 1133 

New  York  Edison  Company*s  Answer  to  Rate  Discrimination  Charge  1134 

Public  Service  Commission   News 1135 

Current   News  and  Notes 1137 

Hydroelectric  Energy  for  Coal   Fields 1141 

The  Thury  Continuous-Current  Series  System  with  Special  Reference 

to   Long-Distance  Transmission.     By   Alfred    Still 1144 

Stroboscopic    Effects   Obtainable   with    Incandescent    Filaments   as    II- 

luminants.     By  C.   F.   Lorenz 1146 

Results  of  Life  Tests  on  Treated  and  Untreated  Chestnut  Poles 1 148 

Private-Garage    Charging    Rates    Under    Residence    Contract    in    St. 

Louis     1 1  .SO 

Station    Gage    Recording    Heating    Pressure    at    Distant    Customers' 

Premises    1152 

Quartz  Tube  Mercury- Vapor  Lamps  for  Power-House  Lighting 1153 

Distribution-Main  Voltage  Drops  in   Kansas  City 1154 

Remote-Control   Operation    of  Peoria's   Ornamental   Lighting 1154 

Cluster  Lighting  Replaces  Arches  in  Columbus.   Ohio 1155 

Letter  to  the  Editors; 

Skin-Effect   Coefficients.      By  H.    S.   Wallau  .  . .  : 1156 

Digest   of   Current   Electrical    Literature 1157 

Book  Reviews   1 160 

New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 1161 

Industrial   and   Financial  News 1164 

Wfeklv   Record   of   Electrical    Patents n .....„.:..'...  1174 


THE  SYSTEM  OF  THE  APPALACHIAN  POWER  COMPANY. 

As  our  readers  know,  the  Southern  Appalachian  country 
is  rich  in  water-powers  and  the  development  of  these  has 
already  had  a  notable  influence  in  the  industrial  regenera- 
tion of  the  South.  From  the  hydraulic  standpoint  the  situa- 
tion all  through  this  region  is  somewhat  peculiar.  The 
rainfall  in  the  mountains  is  rather  heavy,  but  the  streams 
traverse  a  long  stretch  of  somewhat  hilly  country  presenting 
only  moderate  slopes  for  a  long  time  after  leaving  the 
mountains.  The  mountain  sources  themselves  are  usually 
rather  small  and  numerous  and  the  whole  Appalachian 
territory  is  characterized  by  the  almost  complete  absence  oi 
natural  lakes,  although  here  and  there  are  admirable  oppor- 
tunities for  storage.  The  developments  along  these  streams 
are  therefore  on  the  whole  rather  low-head  propositions 
with  a  good  volume  of  water  requiring  the  help  of  artificial 
storage  if  it  is  to  be  used  at  anything  like  its  full  value. 
Nevertheless,  the  sites  are  many  and  valuable.  The  com- 
mon situation  is  very  characteristically  shown  in  the  initial 
plants  of  the  Appalachian  Power  Company  described  in  this 
issue.  The  developments  are  on  the  New  River  in  the  south- 
western corner  of  Virginia,  less  than  20  miles  from  the 
North  Carolina  line  and  not  much  further  from  the  West 
Virginia  line.  Within  a  stretch  of  25  or  30  miles  lie  five 
separate  hydroelectric  sites  taking  the  full  volume  of  the 
river  and  having  an  aggregate  fall  of  about  225  ft.,  the  total 
normal  development  rating  being  about  75,000  hp. 

Of  these  sites,  those  known  as  Nos.  2  and  4  have  been 
already  developed  to  a  total  of  about  29,000  hp,  the  chief 
market  being  found  in  the  mining  region  of  Virginia  and 
West  Virginia,  including  the  famous  Pocahontas  coal  fields 
The  enterprise,  therefore,  furnishes  an  excellent  example 
of  hydraulic  power  actually  displacing  steam  power  in  a 
coal-mining  industry.  The  electric-service  systems  of  seven 
towns  have  been  already  acquired  by  the  Appalachian  Power 
Company  and  88,000-volt  transmission  lines  have  already 
been  built  to  other  markets,  including  the  Pocahontas 
coal  field.  The  first  plant  to  be  completed  was  Plant  No.  4. 
containing  three  3000-hp  units.  This  plant  takes  advantage 
of  an  island  in  the  river,  and  by  constructing  a  spillwav 
dam  about  1000  ft.  long  the  water  is  turned  into  a  natural 
headrace  on  the  north  side  of  the  island  terminated  by  the 
retaining  dam  of  the  power  house.  The  clearing  out  of  a 
deep  tailrace  for  about  1800  ft.  below  this  point  gives  an 
available  head  of  about  38  ft.  The  plant  is  built  in  solid 
concrete,  e.xcept  for  the  power  house  proper,  which  is  of 
brick  and  steel.  The  turbine  units  are  a  little  unusual  in 
character  in  that  they  are  all  vertical-shaft  machines  with 
single-runner  Francis  turbines  working  at  97  r.p.m.  Each 
turbine  has  its  own  inlet  passage  molded  in  the  concrete 
foundations  of  the  plant.  Two  exciters,  also  on  vertical 
shafts,  are  installed  in  addition.     The  arenerators  are  60- 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  22. 


cycle,  three-phase  machines,  wound  for  13,200  vohs,  in 
accordance  with  a  policy  involving  the  whole  handling  of 
the  development. 

Plant  No.  2  is  much  larger  than  Plant  No.  4.  The  avail- 
able head  is  about  50  ft.  and  the  power-house  bulkhead  wall 
forms  part  of  the  main  dam,  which  has  a  total  length  of 
about  750  ft.  An  auxiliary  spillway  made  by  cutting 
through  a  ridge  into  a  natural  gulley  furnishes  a  safe  outlet 
for  high  water.  This  plant,  like  No.  4,  is  equipped  with 
single-runner  vertical-shaft  turbines,  in  this  case  of  5000-hp 
rating  and  operating  at  116  r.p.m.  The  generators  are 
similar  to  those  in  Plant  No.  4,  and  two  exciters  are  also 
installed  here.  The  most  striking  peculiarity  of  the  system 
is  the  fact  that  for  both  these  stations,  and  for  the  proposed 
later  additions  as  well,  a  single  transformer  house  is  pro- 
vided. This  is  located  near  the  site  of  the  power  house 
of  Plant  No.  2,  about  midway  of  the  total  length  of  the 
proposed  developments,  and  the  13,200-volt  generators  en- 
able the  lines  to  be  brought  into  a  central  transformer 
house  without  much  loss  of  energy.  All  the  transforming 
and  regulating  apparatus  is  therefore  placed  at  one  point, 
leaving  the  generating  stations  themselves  exceptionally 
easy  to  operate. 

According  to  present  arrangements  the  transformer  house 
contains  four  6ooo-kw  water-cooled  three-phase  units,  rais- 
ing the  emf  from  13,200  volts  to  88,000  volts.  The  trans- 
mission circuits  already  erected  aggregate  nearly  200  miles 
in  various  directions.  They  are  of  very  simple  construction, 
using  45-ft.  wooden  poles  with  the  "wishbone"  type  of 
cross-arm  construction,  formed  in  this  case  of  two  6-in.  by 
4-in.  oak  timbers.  A  steel  bayonet  grounded  at  each  pole 
carries  a  ground  cable  2  ft.  above  the  pole  top.  The  insu- 
lators are  of  the  four-disk  suspension  type.  All  secondary 
transmission  circuits  are  operated  at  13,200  volts.  Contracts 
tor  the  supply  of  energy  have  been  made  with  a  considerable 
number  of  mining  companies  and  several  railway  and  light- 
ing systems.  As  is  not  unusual  in  recent  transmission  sys- 
tems, some  existing  steam  plants  have,  under  contract  with 
their  owners,  been  utilized  as  relay  stations  for  auxiliary 
service.  One  of  these  is  the  7500-kw  steam-turbine  plant 
belonging  to  the  Pocahontas  interests,  so  that  without  build- 
ing reserve  plants  a  large  amount  of  reserve  steam  power 
is  practically  at  the  disposal  of  the  service  company.  Alto- 
gether the  system  is  an  important  addition  to  the  resources 
of  the  South  and  an  excellent  example  of  modern  trans- 
mission practice. 


ENERGY  TRANSMISSION  AT  CONSTANT  CURRENT. 

Considering  the  fact  that  twenty  years  ago,  in  its  begin- 
nings, the  three-phase  transmission  system  was  looked  upon 
with  grave  suspicion  by  engineers  chiefly  familiar  with 
direct-current  systems,  it  is  rather  remarkable  that  America 
presents  no  examples  of  direct-current  transmission,  while 
the  Thury  system  cannot  be  left  out  of  the  reckoning  in 
European  practice.  Since  about  1890  fifteen  of  these  con- 
stant-current Thury  plants  have  been  installed  and  con- 
tinued in  regular  and  successful  operation.  The  most 
notable  of  them  is  the  Moutiers-Lyons  plant.  112  miles 
straight-away, '  with  a  maximum  working  emf  of  57,600 
volts,  a  value  which  it  is  proposed  later  to  double. 


The  chief  objection  to  the  system  from  a  constructural 
standpoint  is  the  relatively  small  size  in  which  the  units 
must  be  built,  owing  to  the  difficulties  of  commutation. 
Designers  have  learned  from  experience  and  are  now  able 
to  produce  direct-current  machines  for  constant  current  for 
voltages  rising  to  4000  or  5000,  an  output  of  probably  1000 
kw  or  even  2000  kw.  By  driving  two  machines  by  a  single 
prime  mover,  units  of,  say,  from  2000  kw  to  4000  kw  there- 
fore become  available,  giving  8000  volts  or  10,000  volts  at 
full  load.  The  constructural  features  of  a  Thury  station 
are  therefore  no  longer  forbidding.  With  five  or  six  units 
one  could  reach  50,000  volts  transmission  emf,  at  15,000  kw 
or  20,000  kw  output,  a  size  adequate  for  the  vast  majority 
of  transmission  enterprises. 

The  constructural  inconvenience,  on  account  of  the  neces- 
sity of  insulating  the  generators  from  earth  and  from  the 
prime  mover,  seems  to  have  found  a  successful  solution,  as 
might  be  expected  from  our  present  knowledge  of  insulating 
materials.  From  the  standpoint  of  general  energy  distribu- 
tion the  system  is  a  peculiar  one.  It  is  unquestionably 
capable  of  beautiful  results  in  delivering  power  in  a  single 
block.  It  also  presents  no  difficulties  in  the  way  of  taking 
oflf  moderate  amounts  of  power  along  the  line,  there  being 
no  troublesome  transformer  at  extreme  voltage  to  install. 
Yet,  on  the  whole,  it  is  much  less  convenient  in  general 
distribution  than  is  a  constant-potential  system.  To  make 
up  for  the  relatively  small  output  and  considerable  cost  of 
the  individual  generators  the  cost  of  switchboard  appliances, 
no  inconsiderable  item  in  a  modern  three-phase  station, 
becomes  almost  negligible.  The  generators  are  disconnected 
by  short-circuiting  them  and  connected  in  by  opening  the 
short-circuiting  switch.  The  whole  complex  and  bulky 
switching  system  ordinarily  in  use,  therefore,  disappears, 
and  it  is  at  least  a  question  whether  the  abolition  of  this 
serious  cause  of  trouble  and  expense  does  not  fully  make 
up  for  the  extra  cost  of  the  generators  themselves. 

When  it  comes  to  line  construction  the  series  direct- 
current  system  has  some  important  points  in  its  favor. 
Inductive  troubles  on  the  line  all  disappear.  There  are  only 
two  wires  instead  of  three  to  insulate,  and  a  g^ven  insulator 
will  withstand  a  much  higher  pressure  if  it  is  direct  than  if 
it  is  alternating.  Some  time  ago  Thury  carried  out  a  series 
of  experiments  on  high  alternating  and  unidirectional  volt- 
ages, with  the  result  of  showing  that  on  the  average  the 
direct  voltage  necessary  to  flash  over  a  given  distance  is 
double  the  alternating  voltage  required  for  the  same  dis- 
tance. In  other  words,  if  a  given  system  of  insulators  is 
adapted  for  an  alternating  emf  of,  say,  50,000  volts,  it  would 
carry  a  much  higher  unidirectional  voltage,  Thury's  experi- 
ments indicating  practically  100,000  volts. 

Of  two  transmission  systems  operating  over  the  same  dis- 
tance with  the  same  amount  of  power,  the  same  energy  loss 
in  the  conductors  and  the  same  insulation,  it  appears  from  • 
the  article  by  Mr.  Alfred  Still  in  this  issue  that  the  direct-  |j 
current  system  has,  owing  to  its  much  greater  available 
voltage  for  the  same  factors  of  safety,  a  considerable 
advantage  in  cost  of  line  over  the  three-phase  system.  This 
advantage  differs  under  various  assumptions,  the  probable 
power-factor,  shape  of  the  alternating  wave,  etc.,  but  the 
figures  derived  for  the  cost  of  the  three-phase  line  are  from 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


I12I 


two  and  one-half  to  six  times  that  necessary  for  the  direct- 
current  line.  In  addition,  it  is  entirely  feasible  in  case  of 
emergency  to  ground  a  high-tension  direct-current  con- 
ductor and  work  such  part  of  the  circuit  as  is  available  on 
the  earth  return.  It  is  also  unquestionably  easier  to  work 
underground  with  direct  current  than  with  alternating- 
current  cables  at  the  high  voltages  demanded  in  transmis- 
sion circuits,  and  Thury's  proposition  a  few  years  since  for 
a  great  transmission  system  from  the  upper  Rhone  to  Paris 
was  based  on  underground  circuits.  These  facts  do  not 
prove,  of  course,  that  the  series  direct-current  system  will 
come  into  large  use  in  transmission  work,  but  the  system 
has  undeniably  proved  satisfactory  in  a  number  of  important 
instances,  and  it  possesses  many  features  of  interest  to  the 
engineer  and  constructor,  especially  when  the  problem 
before  him  is  merely  the  transmission  of  a  large  block  of 
power  over  a  considerable  distance.  The  series  system  is 
neither  moribund  nor  unsuccessful.  Any  engineer  who 
wanders  through  one  of  the  large  Thury  stations  and  then 
calls  to  mind  the  usual  long  concrete  catacombs  bristling 
with  high-tension  insulators  and  filled  with  dozens  of  oil 
switches,  scores  of  disconnecting  switches,  webbed  with 
hundreds  of  feet  of  high-tension  leads  and  spattered  with 
automatic  cut-outs,  will  stop  and  think  a  bit  before  he  com- 
placently sniffs  at  high-tension  direct-current  transmission. 


THE  SUFREME  COURT  DECISION. 

Elsewhere  will  be  found  an  abstract  of  the  Supreme 
Court  decision  handed  down  last  week  in  the  "bathtub" 
case,  to  which  we  made  some  editorial  reference  in  our 
previous  issue.  A  comparison  of  the  present  unanimous 
decision  with  the  majority  and  dissenting  opinions  of  the 
same  court  in  the  famous  Dick  case,  handed  down  last 
March,  indicates  that  the  strong  arm  of  public  opinion  has 
been  actively  at  work.  In  the  Dick  case,  it  will  be  recalled, 
the  majority  held  that  it  was  lawful  for  a  patentee  to 
stipulate  or  impose  restrictions  upon  the  use  of  his  patented 
invention,  even  to  the  extent  of  restricting  the  kind  of 
unpatented  materials  or  supplies  used  therewith,  as  in  a 
mimeograph  machine.  This  was  upheld  on  the  ground  that 
the  patent  grant  to  an  inventor  conveys  to  him  no  title  to 
his  invention  which  he  did  not  possess  before,  but  expressly 
gives  him  the  right  to  exclude  all  other  persons  from  the 
right  to  make,  use  or  vend  his  invention  or  discovery  for 
the  term  of  the  grant.  Since  the  right  to  exclude  others 
from  using  his  invention  is  absolute  and  complete,  it  is 
subject  to  no  limitations,  and  any  form  of  restricted  use  is 
thus  justified.  The  unlimited  extension  and  application  of 
this  principle  embodies  obvious  dangers,  as  Chief  Justice 
White  pointed  out  in  his  dissenting  opinion.  His  view  of 
the  case  was  strongly  supported  by  public  sentiment,  and 
Congress  was  stirred  to  action.  Subsequent  events  are  well 
known,  but  the  great  diversity  of  individual  opinions  as  to 
the  proper  remedies,  brought  out  in  the  hearings  before  the 
House  committee  on  patents,  combined  with  the  effects  of 
a  powerful  and  aggressive  lobby  directed  against  any  re- 
form in  the  law  whatever,  sufficed  to  postpone  decisive 
action  at  the  last  session  of  Congress. 

The  opponents  of  any  change  in  the  fundamental  patent 
law  now  point  to  the  decision  in  the  "bathtub"  case  to  prove 


that  no  unlawful  restraint  or  monopoly  of  trade  in  violation 
of  the  Sherman  act  can  find  shelter  under  the  patent 
statutes.  Superficially  this  would  seem  to  be  true,  for  the 
court  said  specifically:  "There  is  nothing  in  Henry  versus 
Dick  which  contravenes  the  views  herein  expressed."  But 
furthermore  the  court  said  in  reference  to  the  licenses  on 
Arrott's  patented  device  for  applying  enamel  to  ironware: 
"The  agreements  clearly,  therefore,  transcended  what  was 
necessary  to  protect  the  use  of  the  patent  or  the  monopoly 
which  the  law  conferred  upon  it.  They  passed  to  the 
purpose  and  accomplished  a  restraint  of  trade  condemned 
by  the  Sherman  law."  That  is  to  say,  the  agreements  in 
relation  to  the  sale  of  such  enameled  ware  and  the  control 
of  the  trade  therein  were  held  to  be,  first,  unrelated  to  the 
use  of  the  patent  in  any  way  and,  second,  in  violation  of 
the  anti-trust  law.  Now  the  question  arises,  how  would 
the  case  have  been  affected  if  the  enamel-ware  products 
themselves  had  been  patented,  in  addition  to  one  of  the 
devices  or  processes  employed  in  their  manufacture?  This 
appears  to  be  the  serious  question  at  issue,  and  the  decision 
fails  to  answer  it,  for  if  the  license  restrictions  on  a 
patented  article  itself  are  upheld  by  the  Dick  decision,  and 
trade  in  the  article  is  undisputedly  monopolized  and  re- 
strained by  means  of  such  licenses,  the  patent  laws  and 
the  Sherman  act  still  appear  to  be  in  contravention  of  one 
another.  It  will  require  not  one  but  many  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Court  to  clear  the  situation,  if,  indeed,  it  can  be 
cleared  at  all  in  such  manner,  whereas  amendment  of  the 
law  after  a  thorough  investigation  by  commission,  as  we 
have  frequently  pointed  out,  will  settle  the  issues  quickly 
and  definitely. 

STROBOSCOPIC  EFFECTS  OBTAINABLE  WITH  INCANDESCENT  HLAMENTS 
AS  ILLUMINANTS. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  electric-lighting  frequency  of 
60  cycles  per  second  dominant  in  the  United  States  was 
adopted  with  principal  reference  to  the  flicker-perceiving 
properties  of  the  normal  human  eye.  Researches  in  the 
laboratory  have  shown  that  at  or  near  the  luminous  fre- 
quency of  66  cycles  of  flicker  per  second  the  stationary 
eye  directed  upon  a  stationary  target  is  unable  to  perceive 
flicker,  no  matter  how  violent  or  intense  the  illumination  or 
the  flickering  may  be.  As  the  illumination  is  reduced,  or 
the  range  of  flicker,  or  both,  the  limiting  frequency  at 
which  stationary  flicker  can  be  perceived  is  reduced,  until 
at  two  or  three  flicker  cycles  per  second  the  eye  is  ap- 
parently most  sensitive  to  feeble  flickering  illuminations, 
or  to  feeble  ranges  of  flicker  superposed  on  steady  illumina- 
tions. In  the  case  of  the  incandescent  lamp,  which  neces- 
sarily emits  two  cycles  of  flicker  for  each  cycle  of  alter- 
nating-current supply,  the  stationary  eye  looking  straight 
at  the  filament  could  not  perceive  flickering  on  a  circuit  of 
33  electric  cycles  per  second,  even  though  the  filament 
became  black  at  each  current  zero.  With  as  few  as  25 
electric  cycles  per  second  or  50  flicker  cycles  per  second, 
the  stationary  eye  looking  at  an  incandescing  filament 
would  certainly  perceive  flicker  if  the  filament  became 
black  at  the  current  zeros.  With  the  ordinary  range  of 
flicker,  however,  occurring  in  actual  filaments,  it  is  rarely 
that  the  stationary  eye  can  perceive  flicker  in  lamps  or  in 
illumination  on  circuits  of  25  current   cycles   per   second. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


With  moving  flicker — that  is,  with  a  stationary  eye  and 
moving  target,  or  with  a  moving  eyeball  and  stationary 
target,  or  with  both  eyeball  and  target  in  motion — the  sensa- 
tion of  flickering  can  be  produced  at  relatively  enormous 
flicker  frequencies,  so  that  when  flickering  is  perceived 
with  incandescent  lighting  on  25-cycle-per-second  currents 
it  is  ordinarily  to  be  attributed  to  movements  of  the  eye- 
ball— that  is,  to  occasional  moving  flicker  effects.  In  the 
case  of  the  alternating-current  arc  lamp,  however,  where 
the  electrodes  are  alternately  anode  and  cathode  and  where 
the  anode  and  cathode  are  not  equally  hot,  there  will  be  a 
flicker  frequency  from  the  electrodes  of  the  same  fre- 
quency as  the  current,  together  with  a  flicker  frequency 
from  the  arc  flame  of  twice  the  current  frequency.  Con- 
sequently, an  alternating-current  arc  lamp  on  ^^  electric 
cycles  per  second  flickers  most  objectionably,  unless  the 
electrodes  are  concealed  from  view,  so  that  all  the  light 
shall  come  from  the  arc  flame.  Not  until  66  electric  cycles 
per  second  is  reached  does  the  direct  visual  image  of  a 
naked  arc  lamp  cease  to  flicker,  when  the  electrodes  are 
in  full  view.  At  60  electric  cycles  per  second  stationary 
flicker  usually  disappears,  unless  the  observer  imprudently 
gazes  right  at  the  electrodes.  Even  at  50  electric  cycles 
per  second,  stationary  flicker  is  seldom  seen  on  arc-lighted 
walls  or  targets,  unless  the  illumination  is  very  intense. 

Mr.  C.  F.  Lorenz  contributes  an  interesting  article  in 
this  number  on  the  stationary  flicker  due  to  incandescent 
lamps  from  the  opposite  viewpoint — that  is,  under  condi- 
tions productive  of  the  maximum  flicker  stimulus,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  conditions  under  which  the  flickering 
shall  be  unnoticeable.  Stroboscopic  pictures  are  peculiar,  in 
that  they  commonly  combine  both  stationary  and  moving 
flicker,  but  there  is  considerable  advantage  to  the  observer 
of  rapidly  varying  or  transient  phenomena  if  the  flickering 
light  they  cause  can  be  controlled  and  utilized  for  recording 
purposes.  It  is  noteworthy  that  when  it  is  desired  to  in- 
crease the  flicker  range  of  an  incandescing  filament  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  gas  is  introduced  with  advantage  into  the 
lamp  chamber,  so  as  to  increase  the  rate  of  heat  dissipation. 


COMMISSIONS  TO  FIX  WAGES  ? 

Not  only  the  railways  but  all  employers  in  industries 
"affected  with  a  public  use"  are  vitally  interested  in  the 
major  propositions  of  the  award  of  the  board  of  arbitra- 
tion in  the  matter  of  compensation  for  locomotive  engi- 
neers, made  public  this  week.  One  of  these  propositions  is 
in  substance  that  if  public  utilities  are  placed  under  regu- 
lation as  to  their  rates  of  charges  for  service  they  are 
entitled  to  regulative  protection  in  the  matter  of  the  wages 
they  shall  be  obliged  to  pay.  Or,  in  the  language  of  the 
award,  "if  the  increase  in  wages  places  the  public  utilities 
in  a  position  that  does  not  enable  them  to  secure  a  fair 
return  upon  capital  invested  and  maintain  a  proper  re- 
serve, they  should  be  allowed  to  increase  their  rates  until 
they  are  in  that  position."  While  avoiding  a  direct  ruling 
on  the  question  as  to  whether  or  not  the  carriers  are  able 
upon  the  present  basis  of  earnings  to  pay  higher  wages, 
the  award  rather  significantly  states  that  "if  they  are  not 
able  to  pay  such   [increased]   compensation  with  existing 


rates,  there  is  just  cause  for  them  to  open  again  the  ques- 
tion of  an  increase  of  rates  with  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Conmiission." 

To  carry  out  the  suggestion  made  by  the  board  it  is 
pointed  out  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  create  national 
and  state  wage  commissions  which  would  have  powers  re- 
garding labor  employed  by  public  utilities  comparable  with 
those  now  exercised  with  regard  to  capital  by  existing 
public  service  conunissions.  In  another  part  of  the  award 
it  is  stated  that  there  seems  to  be  no  way  to  obtain  justice 
for  the  employer,  the  employed  and  the  public  "except 
to  have  a  permanent  board  which  shall  have  the  problem 
of  adjustment  and  maintenance  of  justice  for  the  three 
parties  continually  before  them." 

We  have  already  gone  so  far  in  committing  our  fates 
to  commissions  that  the  shock  such  propositions  as  these 
would  have  given  us  a  few  years  ago  is  greatly  minimized. 
The  employer's  right  of  freedom  of  contract  has  been 
limited  in  many  important  particulars.  Now  it  is  the  em- 
ployee's turn  to  be  regulated.  But  the  labor  member  of 
the  arbitration  board  has  been  quick  to  observe  this  and 
to  dissent  from  a  proposal  for  industrial  peace  "which 
would  shackle  the  rights  of  a  large  group  of  our  citizens." 
In  other  words,  regulation  is  all  very  well  for  the  capital- 
istic goose,  but  will  not  do  at  all  for  the  labor  gander. 
This  objection  was  to  be  expected.  There  is  another,  which 
the  board  does  not  meet  by  its  statement  that,  in  addition 
to  the  reliance  placed  upon  the  restraining  power  of  public 
opinion,  it  may  be  necessary  to  qualify  the  principle  of  free 
contract  in  the  service  of  public  utilities.  The  proposed 
commissions  might  fix  the  wages  that  a  given  group  of 
workers  should  acce|;t  if  they  worked  at  all,  but  how  could 
the  workers  be  con  pelled  to  abide  by  wage  awards  to  the 
same  extent  that  ccjrporations  are  obliged  to  conform  to 
rate  rulings  and  commission  orders?  This  question  must 
be  answered  before  the  arbitration  board's  recommenda- 
tions can  be  accepted  as  a  way  out  of  the  difficulties  of 
wage  adjustments. 

No  way  has  yet  been  found  to  control  unincorporated 
labor  unions  or  to  make  court  decrees  effective  against 
them.  And,  fully  aware  of  this  fact,  refusal  to  incorporate 
is  almost  a  principle  of  organized  labor  in  the  United 
States.  In  the  Australian  Commonwealth  it  was  supposed 
that  a  panacea  for  labor  troubles  had  been  discovered  when 
the  compulsory  arbitration  laws  were  passed  in  several  of 
the  states.  We  were  so  told  in  this  country,  but  later  in- 
formation is  to  the  effect  that  repeated  strikes  have  followed 
awards  unsatisfactory  to  workers  in  various  industries  and 
the  courts  have  been  unable  to  make  arbitration  awards 
effective  for  the  simple  reason  that  there  are  not  enough 
jails  in  the  country  to  hold  the  men  that  it  would  have  been 
necessary  to  sentence  for  contempt  or  for  failure  to  comply 
with  the  terms  of  an  award  if  it  was  to  be  made  operative. 
Evidently  it  is  an  extremely  jug-handled  arrangement  that 
in  its  nature  can  be  enforced  against  one  party  but  not 
against  his  antagonist. 

Our  employers,  however,  may  view  with  considerable 
satisfaction  the  announcement  from  so  responsible  a  body 
that  there  should  be  some  consideration  of  where  the  cor- 


November  30,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1X2% 


pcration  is  to  get  the  money  to  pay  the  higher  wages  con- 
stantly demanded.  The  board's  program  is  entirely  con- 
sistent. Commission  regulation  is  founded  upon  the  propo- 
sition that  public  interests  are  higher  than  those  of  groups 
of  individuals.  The  principle  applies  as  well  to  wages  as  to 
charges.  Having  assumed  to  regulate  the  latter,  the  public, 
claiming  protection  from  the  disasters  of  labor  disputes, 
is  now  told  that  it  must  assume  the  burden  of  fixing  wages 
on  a  just  scale — and  also  its  share  of  such  increased  charges 
as  may  be  a  result  of  increased  wages. 


practicable  in  large  sizes,  would  be  better  than  the  converter 
in  substations  in  the  matter  of  size,  weight  and  first  cost. 
That  it  would  be  so  likewise  in  the  matter  of  efficiency  is 
not  so  obvious.  At  high  voltages  the  efficiency  of  the  vapor 
rectifier  tends  to  be  very  high,  since  it  charges  only  a  few 
volts,  by  way  of  commission.  But  at  230  volts  or  less  the 
same  actual  drop  in  voltage  does  not  lead  to  a  very  high 
efficiency,  whereas  the  synchronous  converter  is  one  of 
the  most  highly  efficient  machines  we  possess,  especially 
when   operated   six-phase. 


MERCURY-VAFOR  RECTinER  FOR  LARGE  OUTPUT. 

The  properties  of  gases  are  wonderful  and  manifold. 
Mercury  vapor  is  no  exception  to  the  rule.  It  is  now  about 
ten  years  since  the  rectifying  properties  of  mercury  vapor 
were  first  utilized.  It  is  a  very  wonderful  fact  that  when 
a  glass  chamber  containing  electrodes  and  some  liquid 
mercury  is  evacuated  to  a  suitably  high  degree  of  vacuum 
electricity  will  pass  through  the  chamber  to  the  mercury 
as  cathode,  with  only  a  few  volts  drop  of  potential ;  where- 
as, in  the  opposite  direction,  or  from  the  mercury  as  anode, 
electricity  can  only  pass  with  a  drop  of  potential  of  hun- 
dreds, or  even  thousands,  of  volts.  This  is  the  basic  prin- 
ciple of  the  mercury-vapor  rectifier,  by  means  of  which 
storage  batteries  are  now  very  generally  charged  from 
alternating-current  mains,  with  little  supervision,  and  with- 
out any  rotating  mechanism,  unless,  indeed,  we  regard 
gaseous  atoms  of  mercury  as  mechanism  on  an  ultra- 
microscopic  scale. 

The  ordinary  mercury-vapor  rectifier,  with  its  glass 
vacuum  tube,  has  a  limited  current  output,  owing  to  the 
relatively  low  temperature  range  within  which  the  appa- 
ratus can  operate  safely.  It  has  been  evident  for  some  time 
that  if  the  current-carrying  capacity  of  the  device  is  to  be 
increased,  the  glass  walls  of  the  chamber  must  be  replaced 
by  metal,  and  valuable  work  along  this  line  has  been  done 
by  Dr.  Peter  Cooper  Hewitt  in  this  country.  As  this  week's 
Digest  mentions,  an  article  has  lately  appeared  in  the 
Elektrotechnische  Zeitschrift,  by  Mr.  Bela  B.  Schaefer, 
describing  some  recent  mercury-vapor  rectifiers  of  loo-kw 
rating  and  higher.  These  devices  are  stated  to  weigh  about 
II  lb.  per  kilowatt  of  output,  or  belong  to  the  same  order 
of  weight  as  ordinary  transformers.  They  are  constructed 
of  steel  and  apparently  require  to  be  excited  electromag- 
netically  in  order  to  make  the  mercury-vapor  arc  rotate 
uniformly  within  the  chamber  so  as  to  distribute  the  heat- 
ing regularly.  Similar  large  metallic-case  mercury  recti- 
fiers have  been  on  trial  in  the  United  States  for  a  con- 
siderable period,  a  description  of  the  experimental  Cooper 
Hewitt  rectifier  of  this  type  having  been  given  in  our  issue 
dated   March  23,    1912. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  well  within  the  scope  of  possi- 
bilities that  the  synchronous  converter  and  its  rotating 
congeners  may  disappear  from  service  in  the  not  remote 
future  and  be  replaced  by  noiseless  mercury-vapor  rectifiers 
of  large  output.  It  would  be  curious  if  a  type  of  machinery 
so  generally  used  and  so  well  established  as  the  synchronous 
converter  were  relegated  to  the  historical  machinery 
museum.     No  doubt,  the  mercury-vapor  rectifier,  if  made 


THE  TRADE  OUTLOOK. 

In  our  department  of  industrial  and  financial  news  this 
week  will  be  found  the  first  instalment  of  a  comprehensive 
review  of  electrical  trade  conditions,  compiled  from  a  gen- 
eral canvass  of  the  field.  The  almost  invariable  note  of 
optimism  sounded  by  manufacturers  in  all  branches  of  the 
industry  is  very  striking.  Substantial  increases  in  the 
volume  of  business  are  the  general  rule  and  the  future  out- 
look seems  to  be  regarded  on  the  whole  as  excellent.  Per- 
haps the  most  notable  gain  reported  is  in  the  output  of 
electric  vehicles.  This  is  attributable  in  large  measure  to 
the  aggressive  educational  campaign,  which  has  stimulated 
public  appreciation  of  the  economic  merits  of  electric 
vehicles.  The  decadence  of  the  reciprocating  steam  engine 
for  central-station  service  on  a  large  scale  has  been  going 
on  for  some  years,  and  is  simply  one  of  those  changes 
due  to  advances  in  the  steam-motor  art  to  which  the  in- 
dustry as  a  whole  must  adjust  itself.  Engine  manufacturers 
in  many  cases  have,  as  a  natural  consequence,  contem- 
plated or  actually  entered  the  turbine  field.  It  is  also  inter- 
esting to  notice  that  engineering  advice  or  assistance  from 
the  manufacturer  to  the  customer  is  becoming  more  and 
more  a  factor  in  successful  salesmanship.  The  day  of  the 
engineering  salesman  in  many  lines  has  definitely  arrived. 

The  complaint  of  one  of  the  motor  manufacturers  that  the 
monopolistic  tendencies  of  some  of  the  larger  companies  are 
the  greatest  drawback  in  its  field  is  worthy  of  comment. 
Such  tendencies  undoubtedly  impose  hardships  on  the  small 
independent  manufacturer.  On  this  score  the  probable 
trend  of  anti-trust  legislation  under  the  new  administration 
offers  at  least  a  cheering  prospect.  Another  complaint 
comes  from  electric  appliance  manufacturers  whose  busi- 
ness is  injured  by  those  central-station  companies  which  sell 
energy-consuming  devices  at  cost  or  below,  thereby  setting 
up  unfair  competition  with  independent  dealers.  Promise 
of  relief  in  this  direction  comes  from  the  recently  inaugu- 
rated co-operative  movement,  which  is  apparently  gaining 
headway  in  various  sections  of  the  country.  The  great 
strides  in  the  electric-vehicle  industry  have  had  a  natural 
effect  on  the  storage-battery  business  and  the  output  has 
increased  to  a  very  notable  extent.  Wire  manufacturers 
send  in  favorable  reports,  and  the  outlook  appears  to  be 
good  aside  from  the  possibility  of  tariff  reductions.  Pole 
dealers  report  the  practical  exhaustion  of  the  Michigan 
cedar  supply  and  are  turning  to  Western  timber.  The 
predominant  notes  of  uncertainty  over  the  future  relate  to 
tariff  revision  in  the  next  Congress  and  the  probable  course 
of  anti-trust  legislation. 


1 124 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


AMERICAN   INSTITUTE  OF  CONSULTING 
ENGINEERS. 


CONFERENCE  ON    WATER-POWER   REGULATION. 


A  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Consulting  Engi- 
neers for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  subject  of  "Pro- 
fessional Relations"  will  be  held  at  the  Engineers'  Club, 
32  West  Fortieth  Street,  New  York  City,  on  Thursday 
evening,  Dec.  12,  at  6:30  o'clock.  It  is  the  intention  to 
have  this  a  dinner  meeting,  and  the  members  have  been 
especially  urged — in  view  of  the  importance  of  the  topic 
for  discussion — to  attend.  Three  vacancies  will  occur  in 
the  council  in  January,  and  a  special  nominating  committee, 
consisting  of  Messrs.  Lindenthal,  Feldman  and  Hutchinson, 
appointed  at  the  last  meeting  of  the  council,  has  submitted 
the  following  nominations :  Messrs.  Henry  Holgate,  IMont- 
real;  Daniel  Moran,  New  York,  and  Charles  Sooysmith, 
New  York.  The  newly  elected  members  of  the  council  will 
serve  until  January',  1916.-  Mr.  Eugene  W.  Stern  is  secre- 
tary of  the  institute,  with  headquarters  at  103  Park  Avenue, 
New  York  City. 


DECISION    FOR    CONDIT   COMPANY    IN    CIRCUIT- 
BREAKER  SUIT. 


On  appeal  from  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States 
for  Massachusetts,  the  United  States  Court  of  Appeals. 
First  Circuit,  has  reversed  the  ruling  below  and  handed 
down  a  decision  favorable  to  the  Condit  Electrical  Manu- 
facturing Company  in  the  suit  brought  by  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  for  alleged  infringe- 
ment of  the  Wurts  patent  for  a  circuit-interrupting  device. 
The  appeal  to  the  higher  court  related  to  claims  3  and  4 
of  the  Wurts  patent.  No.  570.416,  issued  Oct.  27,  1896, 
which  are : 

"3.  The  combination  with  a  plurality  of  systems  of  elec- 
trical distribution  provided  with  circuit-interrupting  de- 
vices, controlling  magnets  and  normally  open  local  circuits 
therefor  fed  by  an  independent  source  of  current,  of  means 
actuated  by  an  excessive  current  in  any  one  of  the  main 
circuits  for  closing  the  corresponding  local  circuit,  and  a 
plurality  of  circuit-closing  devices  located  at  a  distant  point 
and  each  operated  at  will  to  close  the  corresponding  local 
circuit. 

"4.  The  combination  with  a  plurality  of  systems  of  multi- 
phase electrical  distribution  provided  with  circuit-interrupt- 
ing devices,  one  for  all  of  the  phases  of  each  system,  and 
controlling  magnets  therefor,  of  a  local  circuit  for  each 
of  said  magnets,  means  actuated  by  an  excessive  current 
of  any  phase  to  close  the  corresponding  local  circuit,  and 
a  plurality  of  switches  independently  operated  at  will  to 
close  any  one  of  said  local  circuits." 

In  the  Westinghouse  brief,  which  is  quoted  by  the  court, 
it  is  stated  that  "the  novelty  (of  the  patent  in  suit)  lies  not 
in  a  specific  mechanism,  but  in  the  mode  of  operation  or 
result  brought  about  by  a  new  combination  of  devices  which 
separately  were  entirely  familiar  to  the  electrical  art." 

The  complainant's  contentions  are  rejected  by  the  court 
as  being  open  to  these  two  objections: 

"First,  that  the  claims  are  not  for  true  combinations. 
but  for  a  mere  multiplication  of  similar  and  independent 
devices — for  aggregations  and  not  for  combinations;  sec- 
ond, that  the  features  of  each  system,  even  if  novel,  do  not 
involve  patentable  invention ;  in  other  words,  that  no  in- 
vention is  involved  either  in  the  single  device  or  in  a  pair 
of  such  devices." 

The  present  suit  is  one  of  a  number  of  related  cases,  two 
of  which  were  filed  by  the  Westinghouse  company  and 
two  by  the  General  Electric  Company  on  the  same  date. 
All  of  these  cases  have,  so  far  as  they  have  been  carried, 
been  decided  in  favor  of  the  Condit  company  except  the 
one  involving  the  first  Wright  and  Aalborg  patent. 


An  informal  conference  on  water-power  regulation  was 
held  by  Secretary  of  the  Interior  Fisher,  in  Washington, 
D.  C,  on  Nov.  18  and  19,  at  which  there  were  present 
representatives  of  the  State  of  California,  Pacific  Coast 
power  companies  and  others  interested  in  the  subject.  The 
concerns  represented  included  J.  G.  White  &  Company, 
Stone  &  Webster,  E.  H.  Rollins  &  Sons,  California-Nevada 
Power  Company,  Great  Western  Power  Company,  Southern 
California  Edison  Company,  Mount  Whitney  Power  Com- 
pany, Northwestern  Electric  Company  of  Oregon,  Wash- 
ington Water  Power  Company,  Great  Falls  Power  Company, 
Northern  California  Power  Company,  Twin  Falls  Land  & 
Water  Company  and  the  Central  Colorado  Power  Company. 
Among  the  prominent  individuals  who  took  part  in  the  dis- 
cussion were  Messrs.  Oscar  T.  Crosby,  Washington,  D.  C. ; 
Richard  M.  Saltonstall,  Boston;  Josiah  Newcomb,  New 
York ;  H.  H.  Trowbridge,  Los  Angeles ;  Guy  C.  Earle,  San 
Francisco ;  D.  L.  Huntingdon,  Spokane ;  C.  F.  Kelley,  New 
York  and  Butte,  and  W.  P.  Lay,  Gadsden,  Ala.  Several 
officials  of  the  federal  and  state  governments  also  took 
part  in  the  discussion,  including  Secretary  Fisher  in  person. 
Commissioner  John  M.  Eshleman,  of  the  California  Rail- 
road Commission,  and  Prof.  Charles  D.  Marx,  of  the  State 
Water  Commission. 

The  conference  occupied  two  full  days,  with  a  discussion 
of  the  general  principles  which  should  govern  federal 
water-power  legislation  and  administration  and  specific 
criticism  of  the  regulations  issued  last  August.  It  is  not 
quite  five  years  since  a  similar  conference  was  held,  at 
which  Secretary  Garfield  and  other  federal  officers  dis- 
cussed the  same  fundamental  issues.  The  representatives 
of  the  power  companies  then  asked  for  perpetual  grants 
at  merely  nominal  acreage  charges  and  free  from  any 
obligation  to  pay  rental  or  submit  to  governmental  super- 
vision. That  conference  failed  to  reach  an  agreement  on 
this  point,  and  the  respective  factions  then  centered  their 
efforts  at  having  legislation  enacted  which  would  put  their 
policies  in  force. 

The  State  of  California  has  created,  in  addition  to  its 
Railroad  Commission,  which  has  jurisdiction  over  public 
utilities,  a  Conservation  Commission,  the  chairman  of  which 
is  former  Governor  Pardee,  who  was  also  a  member  of  the 
National  Conservation  Commission.  There  has  also  been 
created  a  State  Water  Commission,  which  now  has  for  its 
chairman  Prof.  Charles  D.  Marx  of  Stanford  University, 
a  hydraulic  engineer  of  distinction.  These  state  officials 
suggested  the  present  conference.  In  California,  as  in 
other  Pacific  Coast  states,  the  water-power  sites  are  largely 
under  federal  ownership,  while  the  disposal  of  the  water 
rights  is  by  federal  statutes  and  regulations,  governed  also- 
by  the  procedure  established  by  state  laws.  The  developer 
of  water-power  must,  therefore,  deal  with  two  sovereign- 
ties, and  the  new  policy  of  effective  state  control  requires 
action  in  harmony  with  that  of  the  federal  government. 
Before  the  conference  was  held,  however,  the  Interior  ,, 
Department  issued  new  water-power  regulations,  wherein  I 
for  the  first  time  it  attempted  such  comprehensive  control  as 
is  possible  under  the  existing,  but  admittedly  inadequate, 
law  of  1901.  These  regulations  were  in  general  harmony 
with  but  somewhat  more  severe  than  the  regulations  of  the 
Forest  Service,  and  Secretary  Fisher  desired  the  criticisms 
and  suggestions  of  practical  water-power  men  with  a  view 
to  such  amendments  by  both  departments  as  might  appear 
to  be  necessary.  General  invitations  were  sent  to  the  prin- 
cipal power  companies  operating  in  the  West  and  to  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association,  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  the  National  Conservation  Associa- 
tion and  others  interested.  The  N.  E.  L.  A.  and  the 
A.  I.  E.  E.  did  not,  however,  have  representatives  in  attend- 
ance. It  was  expected  that  Mr.  John  A.  Britton,  of  San 
Francisco,  would  speak  in  behalf  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.,  but 


November  30,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


111.C 


owing  to  the  postponement  of  consideration  of  some  of  the 
questions  that  were  to  come  up  for  discussion  he  did  not 
attend. 

State  rights  arguments  on  which  the  opponents  of  pubHc 
control  vested  their  case  some  years  ago  were  presented 
anew  by  Mr.  Lay,  and  the  policy  of  local  rather  than  federal 
control  was  also  urged  with  much  force  by  Messrs.  Crosby, 
Trowbridge  and  Earle.  Secretary  Fisher  analyzed  their 
arguments  and  took  up  separately  the  problem  of  rentals 
and  the  control  of  rates  and  service.  He  made  it  clear  that 
his  policy  was  based  upon  the  principle  of  insuring  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  benefits  of  natural  resources  to  the  ultimate 
consumers  in  the  form  of  lower  rates  and  better  service. 
He  recognized  that  where  steam  competition  is  not  present 
and  competition  between  water-power  sites  is  practically 
abolished  by  single  ownership  or  control,  effective  regula- 
tion of  the  resulting  monopoly  is  quite  possible,  but,  in  his 
opinion,  the  power  to  charge  rentals  should  be  preserved 
to  the  federal  government  for  the  further  reason  that 
defective  state  laws  or  lax  administration  on  the  part  of 
the  State  may  fail  to  protect  the  public  from  extortion. 
In  the  last  event,  he  claims,  the  power  to  adjust  rentals 
every  ten  years,  as  contemplated  by  the  new  regulations, 
will  be  a  strong  stimulant  to  the  reduction  of  rates,  and. 
failing  that,  will  at  least  transfer  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  undue  profits  to  the  public  treasury  as  further  contribu- 
tions toward  the  conservation  expenses. 

Rentals  prescribed  by  the  new  regulations  were  the  object 
of  some  criticism.  Mr.  Earle  and  Mr.  Huntingdon  con- 
sidered that  the  ordinary  rental  of  $1  per  hp,  which  is  to  be 
reached  by  successive  increments  throughout  the  first  ten 
years,  creates  a  heavy  burden  on  the  enterprise  and  might 
amount  to  as  much  as  4  per  cent  on  the  gross  receipts. 
Chief  Engineer  O.  C.  Merrill,  of  the  Forest  Service,  replied 
that  a  tax  based  on  the  hydraulic  horse-power  developed 
and  another  on  the  horse-power  demand  of  the  power 
company's  load  were  two  distinctly  different  things,  and 
declared  that  the  actual  rental  would  amount  to  only  i  per 
cent  of  the  gross  receipts.  Secretary  Fisher  stated  that  the 
minimum  rental  prescribed  by  the  regulations  to  be  paid  the 
tenth  year  is  10  cents  and  not  $1,  and  that  the  regulations 
empower  the  department  to  adjust  the  rental  as  may  be 
warranted  by  individual  circumstances. 

The  new  regulations  insure  state  control  of  rates  and 
service  by  a  provision  that  failure  to  obey  reasonable 
requirements  made  by  state  authorities  shall  be  deemed 
adequate  cause  for  revocation  of  the  federal  permit.  This 
provision  was  vigorously  objected  to  by  Messrs.  Trowbridge 
and  Crosby.  Opinions  differed  as  to  whether  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior,  having  reached  the  same  conclusion  as  the 
state  authorities,  could  revoke  a  permit  without  awaiting 
the  action  of  the  federal  courts,  it  being  argued  that  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment  of  the  Constitution  could  be 
invoked  in  such  a  case  to  insure  the  investor  against  con- 
fiscation of  his  property.  Secretary  Fisher  insisted  that 
there  is  great  necessity  for  terminating  frivolous  litigation 
in  the  federal  courts  whereby  the  powers  of  state  com- 
missions are  nullified  through  needless  delay,  and  declared 
that  a  power  company  should  put  its  whole  case  before  the 
state  commission  and,  in  the  event  of  defeat  there  and  in 
the  higher  state  court,  should  appeal  directly  to  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  under  the  Fourteenth  Amendment. 

There  was  some  criticism  of  the  details  of  the  regulation 
which  binds  the  permittee  to  sell  at  a  fair  valuation  to  the 
state  or  any  municipality  desiring  to  purchase,  but  the 
correctness  of  the  general  principle  was  admitted.  The 
desirability  of  some  impartial  and  effective  method  of 
determining  valuation  in  such  cases  was  conceded  by  the 
federal  officials.  Secretary  Fisher  said  that  his  department 
approves  of  the  general  provisions  of  the  pending  Burton 
bill  to  regulate  water-power  development  on  sites  owned 
by  the  federal  government  and  considers  them  consistent 
with  the  regulations  under  discussion  and  in  accord  with 


the  views  generally  expressed  at  the  conference.  He  also 
requested  specific  criticism  of  the  measure  before  the 
Interior  Department  responds  to  the  formal  request  from 
the  Senate  committee  on  commerce  for  report  thereon.  It 
is  believed  that  one  outcome  of  the  conference  is  likely  to 
be  simplified  procedure,  whereby  state  and  federal  officers 
will  act  in  harmony  and  with  dispatch. 


CO-OPERATION   OF  CENTRAL-STATION  MEN   AND 
ELECTRICAL  CONTRACTORS  IN  CHICAGO. 


The  good-fellowship  dinner  given  by  the  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company  to  leading  electrical  contractors  of  Chi- 
cago on  the  evening  of  Nov.  23  was  a  gratifying  success. 
It  was  served  in  the  beautiful  Italian  room  of  the  Hotel 
Sherman,  the  total  attendance  being  115,  of  whom  seventy- 
five  were  contractors  and  forty  Edison  men.  Small  tables 
were  used,  and  three  central-station  men  and  five  con- 
tractors were  seated  at  nearly  all  of  these.  The  dinner  was 
high  class  in  all  its  appointments,  and  at  its  conclusion  a 
number  of  speeches  were  made,  Mr.  John  F.  Gilchrist,  of 
the  Edison  company,  acting  as  toastmaster.  Others  who 
spoke  were  Messrs.  Ernest  Freeman,  president  of  the  Na- 
tional Electrical  Contractors'  Association;  J.  P.  Kearns, 
president  of  the  Faraday  Electrical  Association  (composed 
of  the  outlying  contractors)  ;  C.  R.  Kreider,  president  of  the 
Chicago  Electrical  Contractors'  Association;  G.  A.  Edward 
Kohler,  of  Kohler  Brothers;  A.  S.  Schulman,  contractor; 
Peter  Junkersfeld,  of  the  Edison  company;  E.  W.  Koyd, 
of  the  Edison  company;  William  McGuineas,  contractor, 
and  J.  N.  Pierce,  contractor.  The  speeches  were  all 
couched  in  the  happiest  vein  of  "Here's  to  our  better  ac- 
quaintance," and  the  meeting  was  most  harmonious 
throughout,  forming  an  auspicious  beginning  to  an  era  of 
better  understanding  between  the  electric-service  interests 
and  the  electrical  contractors  in  Chicago.  During  the  eve- 
ning the  Edison  Quartet  sang  several  songs,  and  the  party 
lingered  late  for  an  informal  talk  on  co-operation. 


SECOND  KENNELLY  LECTURE  ON  HYPERBOLIC 
FUNCTIONS. 


On  Nov.  14  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly  delivered  before  a  large 
audience  his  second  lecture  at  the  Brooklyn  Polytechnic 
Institute  on  the  application  of  hyperbolic  functions  to  elec- 
trical engineering.  The  subject  announced  for  the  evening 
was  "The  Behavior  of  Direct-Current  Lines  of  Uniform 
Linear  Conductor  Resistance,"  consideration  of  which  had 
been  prepared  for  by  the  discussion  of  the  properties  of 
hyperbolic  functions  in  general  at  the  first  lecture,  given  on 
Oct.  10.  While  the  most  important  application  of  these 
functions  is  in  the  case  of  alternating-current  transmission 
lines,  Dr.  Kennelly  explained  that  the  consideration  of 
direct-current  lines  in  the  steady  state  forms  a  natural  and 
easy  introduction  to  the  more  difficult  alternating-current 
case,  and,  moreover,  the  formulas  in  the  first  instance  apply 
at  once  to  the  latter  case  if  interpreted  vectorially.  As 
before,  the  lecturer  delivered  his  discourse  almost  entirely 
from  lantern  slides,  illustrating  the  properties  of  both  uni- 
form and  non-uniform  lines  possessing  linear  resistance  and 
leakance,  in  the  steady  state. 

Commencing  with  the  simple  case  of  perfectly  insulated 
lines,  the  speaker  exhibited  curves  showing  the  potential 
characteristics  under  different  conditions  at  the  distant  or 
receiving  end.  He  then  passed  to  the  case  when  leakance 
is  included  and  showed  how  the  straight-line  characteristics 
of  the  first  case  change  to  curves  which  conform  with  the 
law  of  the  catenary.  The  hyperbolic  formulas  for  the 
solution  of  problems  relating  to  such  uniform  lines  were 


1 1. '6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o.  \o.  22. 


then  presented  and  explained.  Dr.  Kennelly  next  took  up 
the  subject  of  equivalent  circuits  of  uniform  lines  in  the 
steady  state,  or  artificial  lines,  as  they  are  more  commonly 
known.  There  are  two  general  types,  termed  respectively  a 
"T"  line  and  a  "n"  line,  according  as  the  leakage  arm  of 
each  section  is  grouped  in  a  single  resistor  and  connected 
to  the  center  of  the  line  section,  or  divided  into  two  equal 
parts,  one  at  each  end  of  the  line  section.  The  speaker 
then  presented  hyperbolic  formulas  for  computing  the  re- 
sistance and  leakance  of  an  artificial  line  to  give  the  same 
over-all  characteristics  as  a  real  or  uniform  line,  and 
showed  graphically  how  closely  the  two  resemble  each 
other  at  all  points.  Finally  the  lecturer  compared  the 
hyperbolic  method  of  calculation  with  the  trigonometric 
method  presented  by  a  well-known  engineer  several  years 
ago  in  a  paper  before  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  to  illustrate  the  comparative  brevity  and  sim- 
plicity of  the  former  method  in  handling  numerical  work. 
The  only  obstacle,  said  Dr.  Kennelly,  to  a  general  use  of  the 
hyperbolic  method  is  the  lack  of  a  table  of  the  hyperbolic 
functions  of  complex  angles,  but  these  are  now  in  the 
course  of  preparation  and  it  is  hoped  to  have  them  ready 
for  publication  within  a  year. 


NEW    YORK    ELECTRIC    VEHICLE    ASSOCIATION 
PROGRESS. 


At  the  November  meeting  of  the  directors  of  the  New 
York  Electric  Vehicle  Association,  details  of  the  formation 
and  purposes  of  which  were  given  in  these  columns  Sept. 
21,  1912,  Mr.  Harvey  Robinson,  of  the  New  York  Edison 
Company,  was  made  treasurer  of  the  association  and 
Messrs.  Henry  C.  Fling  and  Arthur  H.  Miller,  of  the  same 
company,  were  appointed  secretary  and  publicity  repre- 
sentative respectively. 

As  noted  in  earlier  accounts,  the  president  of  the  associa- 
tion is  Mr.  Arthur  Williams,  of  the  New  York  Edison 
Company,  and  the  vice-president  is  Mr.  William  P.  Ken- 
nedy, of  the  Baker  Motor  Vehicle  Company.  Those  present 
at  the  November  meeting  were  Messrs.  Williams,  Kennedy 
and  Robinson;  Nathaniel  Piatt.  Baker  Motor  Vehicle  Com- 
pany ;  C.  Y.  Kenworthy,  Rauch  &  Lang  Carriage  Company ; 
J.  H.  Kennard,  Couple-Gear:  S.  W.  Menefee,  .\nderson 
Electric  Car  Company ;  C.  A.  Ward.  Ward  Motor  Vehicle 
Company ;  E.  W.  Curtis,  Jr.,  General  Vehicle  Company. 
;md  J.  H.  Cafferty,  General  Motors  Truck  Company. 

President  Williams  called  attention  to  the  lack  of  good 
electric  vehicle  garage  facilities  in  New  York  City  and  to 
the  many  benefits  to  be  derived  from  closer  co-operation 
among  dealers  in  conducting  sales  campaigns. 

In  keeping  with  the  plans  of  the  association  for  obtaining 
a  building  which  will  be  used  as  a  co-operative  garage,  show- 
room and  offices  for  the  association  and  for  the  various 
companies  in  it,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  consider 
available  buildings  for  this  purpose.  This  committee  is  com- 
posed of  the  following :  Messrs.  Kennedy.  Piatt,  Ken- 
worthy,  Cafferty  and  Menefee;  M.  L.  Case,  of  the  Lansden 
Company,  and  A.  B.  Roeder.  of  the  International  Fritchle 
Company. 

After  extensive  discussion  as  to  the  best  lines  along  which 
the  association  can  direct  its  eflforts  for  helping  the  electric- 
vehicle  industry  in  New  York,  the  following  committees 
were  appointed : 

Committee  on  Advertising  and  Publicity — Messrs.  E.  W. 
Curtis,  Jr.,  J.  H.  Kennard,  S.  W.  Menefee,  George  H. 
Phelps,  Studebaker  Automobile  Company ;  V.  A.  Villar. 
Champion  Electric  Vehicle  Company,  and  W.  R.  Chandler. 
Holt-Chandler  Company. 

Committee  on  Charging  Stations — Messrs.  W.  P.  Ken- 
nedy. Nathaniel  Piatt,  C.  Y.  Kenworthy.  C.  A.  Ward,  Har- 
vev  Robinson;   T-   I-   Wiltse,  Edison   Electric   Illuniinatino; 


Company  of  Brooklyn;  S.  G.  Thompson,  Public  Service 
Corporation  of  New  Jersey;  J.  E.  Phillips,  Richmond  Rail- 
way &  Light  Company,  Staten  Island,  N.  Y. ;  W.  E.  McCoy, 
United  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  New  York,  and 
W.  L.  Secord,  Westchester  Lighting  Company,  Mount 
Vernon,  N.  Y.  This  committee  is  to  see  to  the  establish- 
ment of  charging  stations  in  proper  locations,  to  the  prepa- 
ration of  lists  of  such  stations  and  of  road  maps,  and  to 
the  erection  of  garage  signs. 

Committee  on  Operating  Costs — Messrs.  W.  P.  Kennedy, 
E.  W.  Curtis,  Jr.,  Charles  .\.  Ward,  J.  H.  Kennard  and 
Nathaniel  Piatt.  This  committee  is  to  investigate,  compile 
and  make  ready  for  public  distribution  tables  showing  the 
relative  costs  of  horse,  gasoline  and  electric  operation. 

Committee  on  Traffic  and  Sen-ice  Runs — Messrs.  E.  W. 
Curtis,  Jr.,  J.  H.  Kennard,  J.  H.  Cafferty,  S.  W.  Menefee, 
C.  Y.  Kenworthy,  Nathaniel  Piatt;  J.  P.  Fitzsimmons,  of 
John  Wanamaker,  New  York,  and  R.  G.  MacDonald,  Hupp- 
Yeats  Electric  Car  Company.  This  committee  is  to  arrange 
and  direct  public  exhibitions  and  test  runs  and  to  establish 
parking  spaces  in  shopping,  hotel  and  theater  districts. 

Committee  on  Membership — Messrs.  J.  H.  Cafferty,  C.  A. 
Ward,  S.  W.  Menefee  and  C.  Y.  Kenworthy.  This  com- 
mittee is  to  solicit  new  members,  whose  qualifications  will 
be  passed  upon  by  the  board  of  directors. 

Following  the  appointment  of  these  committees  the  presi- 
dent presented  for  consideration  a  list  of  people  who  had 
applied  for  tickets  for  admission  to  view  the  automobile 
exhibits  at  the  recent  New  York  Electrical  Show,  as  a 
result  of  the  association's  newspaper  advertising  at  that 
time.  The  acting  secretary  was  directed  to  have  copies  of 
this  list  prepared  and  sent  to  all  vehicle  dealers. 


RAILWAY  WAGE  REGULATION. 


The  findings  of  the  Board  of  Arbitration  between  the 
steam  railways  east  of  Chicago  and  their  locomotive  engi- 
neers, while  not  of  specific  interest  to  the  electrical  indus- 
try generally,  are  nevertheless  important  because  of  the 
fundamental  principles  involved  and  some  of  the  points 
brought  out  by  the  board.  Leaving  aside  the  question  of 
the  wage  scale  in  its  details,  there  is  much  interest  in  the 
broad  principle  that  a  wage  burden  on  the  railways  which 
impairs  the  earnings  of  a  fair  return  on  the  investment 
should  be  recouped  by  such  increase  in  the  charges  for 
freight  or  passenger  service  as  may  be  necessary  and 
warranted.  The  board  appears  to  take  the  broad  view 
that  the  public  interest  in  this  question  is  superior  to  the 
selfish  demands  of  either  capital  or  labor,  and  that  the 
continuity  of  service  which  is  so  essential  to  the  public 
welfare  imposes  obligations  on  both  the  investor  and  the 
worker. 

Aside  from  the  broad  principles  involved  and  far-reach- 
ing effect  of  the  decision  on  transportation  service  in  gen- 
eral, the  decision  contains  but  little  which  refers  specif- 
ically in  any  way  to  the  electrical  industry.  In  a  few  cases, 
however,  and  to  a  somewhat  limited  extent,  a  labor  prob- 
lem has  arisen  in  connection  with  the  electrification  of 
steam  trunk  lines,  relating  to  the  precedence  of  locomotive 
engineers  for  positions  as  drivers  or  motormen  on  electric 
locomotives  and  multiple-unit  trains.  In  this  connection 
the  award  of  the  Board  of  Arbitration  provides  as  follows: 

"Whenever  electric  service  is  installed  as  a  substitute  for 
sleam,  or  is  now  in  operation  on  any  of  the  railroads  par- 
ties to  this  arbitration,  or  on  any  of  the  tracks  operated  or 
controlled  by  any  of  them  as  part  of  their  system,  the  loco- 
motive engineers  shall  have  the  preference  for  the  positions 
of  engineers  or  motormen  on  electric  locomotives  or  mul- 
tiple-unit trains;  but  this  right  of  the  engineers  shall  not 
operate  to  displace  any  man  operating  electric  power  on 
any  of  the  railroads  parties  to  the  agreement  on  Mav  I. 
1912." 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1 127 


ELECTRIC  SHIP  PROPULSION. 


At  the  twentieth  general  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Naval 
Architects  and  Marine  Engineers,  held  in  New  York  City 
Nov.  21  and  22,  Messrs.  William  T.  Donnelly  and  George  A. 
Orrok,  members  of  the  society,  presented  a  paper  entitled 
"An  Electrically  Propelled  Fireproof  Passenger  Steamer." 
This  paper  is  copyrighted  by  the  society,  and  with  its  per- 
mission we  are  presenting  an  extended  abstract  of  it  in 
what  follows: 

The  authors  in  their  introduction  sketch  the  remarkable 
advances  in  the  art  of  marine  transportation  from  the  days 
of  the  Clermont  in  1807,  which  was  a  vessel  150  ft.  long 
with  13-ft.  be.im,  propelled  by  side  paddlewheels  with  an 
expenditure  of  about  25  hp,  to  the  most  modern  passenger 
boats  navigating  the  same  historic  river  from  New  York 
to  Albany,  which  are  384  ft.  in  lengii,  and  use  approxi- 
mately 6000  hp  each.  These  boats,  which  represent  the  very 
last  word  and  the  highest  skill  in  naval  architecture,  make 
the  140-mile  run  in  nine  hours  and  have  a  capacity  of  5500 
passengers,  which  is  the  greatest  number  that  can  be  carried 
by  any  vessel  in  the  world. 

Soon  after  the  period  of  the  Clermont  the  American  type 
of  low-pressure  walking-beam  engine  was  developed,  which, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  has  persisted  practically  without 


Seven  watertight  bulkheads  carried  up  to  the  deck,  without 
bulkhead  doors,  are  provided  for.  It  is  also  planned  to 
provide  coal-bunker  space  on  each  side  of  the  boilers  with 
semi-watertight  doors. 

The  most  interesting  feature  in  the  design  to  electrical 
engineers  is  the  use  of  steam  turbo-generators  and  electric 
motors  for  propulsion.  Regarding  this  method  of  driving 
ships,  the  authors  say  it  is  very  apparent  that  this  marks 
the  beginning  of  the  broadest  application  of  electricity  to 
marine  transportation.  They  remark  that  it  took  from 
1765,  when  James  Watt  perfected  the  steam  engine,  until 
1807  to  adapt  it  to  ship  propulsion,  and  declare  it  not  sur- 
prising that  it  has  taken  from  1876,  or  about  the  period  of 
the  first  transmission  of  electric  energy  for  driving  distant 
electric  motors,  until  1912  to  realize  the  possibilities  of 
electric  energy  in  marine  propulsion.  The  authors  propose 
to  revolutionize  the  methods  of  controlling  a  ship's  power 
by  adopting  electric  propulsion  and  controlling  the  motors 
directly  from  the  pilot-house,  doing  away  with  the  cumber- 
some method  of  transmitting  signals  from  pilot-house  to 
engine  room.  They  argue  that  this  will  lessen  the  division 
of  responsibility  for  control  of  the  ship,  and  in  the  course  of 
substantiating  their  statement  they  refer  to  the  satisfactory 
and  safe  operation  of  long  electric  trains  by  the  multiple- 
unit  system,  under  complete  control   from  a  single  point. 


Pom  Steam 
Turbine  Generator- 


Eloetrieal  World 


Cross-Section    and    Plan    of    Electrically    Propelled    Ship. 


modification  to  the  present  day  for  one  particular  class  of 
service.  The  authors  refer  here  to  the  steamers  used  during 
the  short  summer  season  exclusively  for  carrying  pas- 
sengers. At  the  present  time  there  are  twelve  or  fifteen 
steamers  of  this  class  in  New  York  harbor  which  are  from 
thirty-five  to  fifty  years  old.  The  oldest  and  most  repre- 
sentative vessel  of  this  class — the  steamer  Grand  Republic — ■ 
was  built  in  1878,  but  the  engine  in  use  in  this  boat  was  then 
taken  from  another  vessel  and  is  believed  to  be  from  fifty 
to  sixty  years  old.  It  has  a  72-in.  cylinder,  12-ft.  stroke, 
and  at  16  to  17  r.p.m.,  with  30  lb.  initial  steam  pressure  and 
a  26-in.  vacuum,  develops  approximately  1400  hp. 

The  authors  dwelt  at  some  length  upon  the  characteristic 
features  of  these  vessels  as  a  class,  particularly  from  the 
ship-construction  side,  and  emphasized  their  general  lack  of 
such  safeguards  as  double  bottoms,  bulkheads  and  fireproof 
superstructures.  The  authors  stated  that  their  object  is  not 
only  to  bring  these  conditions  to  attention  but  to  point  out 
how  this  class  of  vessels  can  and  should  be  brought  up  to 
the  standards  of  present  engineering  practice. 

They  then  presented  plans  for  a  vessel  of  approximately 
the  same  over-all  dimensions  and  passenger  capacity  as  the 
Grand  Republic.  The  hull  is  275  ft.  long  over  all,  260  ft.  on 
the  water  line,  with  an  extreme  beam  of  68  ft.  and  a  molded 
breadth  at  the  water  line  of  45  ft.  8  in.,  and  is  designed  to 
have  a  displacement  of  1714  tons,  with  a  lo-ft.  draft.  The 
hull  is  designed  to  have  a  double  bottom  for  a  length  of 
188  ft.  and  double  sides  carried  up  to  the  deck  for  109  ft. 


Plans  for  the  engine  room  contemplate  two  horizontal 
turbo-generator  sets,  each  having  a  capacity  of  1500  kw,  at 
80  per  cent  power  factor.  Each  of  these  alternating-current 
generating  units  will  have  an  exciter  directly  connected  to 
the  main  shaft.  The  exciter  regulation  will  be  automatic  in 
its  character,  requiring  attention  only  during  the  starting 
and  stopping  of  the  unit.  One  25-kw  independent  turbo- 
e-xciter  will  be  provided  for  emergency  use  and  also  for 
supplying  energy  for  electric  lighting  at  times  when  the 
main  units  are  not  in  service.  Directly  beneath  each  turbine 
will  be  a  surface  condenser  with  3000  sq.  ft.  of  cooling 
surface.  The  necessary  auxiliaries,  including  feed  pumps, 
bilge  and  fire  pumps,  etc.,  will  also  be  placed  below  the 
turbines.  The  condensers  are  designed  to  maintain  a  28-in. 
vacuum,  with  70-deg.  cooling  water.  Under  normal  condi- 
tions the  turbine-driven  circulating  pumps  will  deliver  5000 
gal.  per  minute  through  the  condensers.  Hot-well  pumps, 
having  a  capacity  of  150  gal.  per  minute  against  a  50-ft. 
head,  will  be  mounted  on  the  same  shaft  as  the  circulating 
pumps,  both  being  of  the  centrifugal  type.  Air  pumps  will 
be  installed  in  the  wings  on  either  side  of  the  condensers. 
Two  turbine-driven  centrifugal  feed  pumps,  with  a  capacity 
of  200  gal.  per  minute  against  a  700-ft.  head,  will  be  pro- 
vided, and  also  bilge  and  fire  pumps  and  a  fresh-water  tank 
pump  for  the  make-up  feed.  Above  the  feed  pumps  are  two 
open  heaters,  each  having  a  capacity  of  50,000  lb.  of  water 
per  hour,  heated  with  exhaust  steam  from  the  auxiliaries. 
The  turbine-driven  auxiliaries  have  been  proportioned  to 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22, 


furnish  about  90  per  cent  of  the  steam  required  to  heat  the 
feed  water  to  208  deg.  Fahr. 

Each  of  the  two  fire  rooms  is  planned  to  contain  four 
water-tube  boilers  in  two  batteries,  located  forward  of  the 
machinery  space.  Each  boiler  is  designed  with  1635  sq.  ft. 
of  heating  surface  and  44  sq.  ft.  of  grate  surface.  The 
steam  pressure  will  be  250  lb.  and  a  moderate  degree  of 
superheat  is  provided  for.  The  coal  bunkers  are  in  the 
wings  on  either  side  of  the  batteries.  The  boilers  are  served 
by  three  stacks,  one  for  the  forward  pair,  a  large  one  for 
the  middle  four  boilers  and  one  for  the  after  pair.  These 
stacks  are  6  ft.  6  in.  and  8  ft.  in  diameter,  and  rise  72  ft. 
above  the  grates.  The  steam  main  is  in  duplicate  with 
cross-connections  similar  to  the  feed-water  main.  The 
steam  piping  is  of  steel  pipe  with  Van  Stone  joints,  steel 
flanges,  fittings  and  valves.  All  boiler  connections  have 
two  valves  between  the  boiler  and  the  pressure  main,  and 
automatic  stop-check  valves  are  included. 

Immediately  astern  of  the  condensers  are  three  looo-hp 
induction  motors  and  the  thrust  bearings.  The  motors  have 
twenty-four  poles  each  and  a  normal  speed  of  300  r.p.m. 
Collector  rings  are  provided  for  controlling  the  speed  by 
means  of  external  secondary  resistance.  The  motors  and 
generators  are  so  designed  that  the  short-circuit  current 
will  not  exceed  two  and  one-half  times  the  full-load  current. 
The  controllers  for  the  motors  are  placed  in  the  pilot-house 
and  are  fitted  with  interlocking  devices  as  well  as  an  auto- 
matic timing  device.  All  the  motors  may  be  started,  brought 
to  any  speed  within  the  full-speed  range,  reversed  or  stopped 
by  the  manipulation  of  the  three  controller  handles,  one  for 
each  motor.  Signaling  devices  in  addition  are  provided  in 
both  engine  room  and  boiler  rooms,  besides  the  usual  bell 
and  speaking  tubes.  The  authors  give  the  following 
recapitulation  of  machinery : 

LIST  OF  MACHINERY. 


Weight 
Eight  water-tube  boilers:  in  tons. 

Grate  surface,  44  sq.  ft.;  352  sq.  ft.  total 1 

Heating  surface,  163S  sq.  ft.  each;  13,080  sq.  ft.  total !•  105.0 

Pressure,    250    lb I 

Main  generating  units; 

Two    three-phase,    60-cycle,    1500-lav.    maximum    twenty-four-hour 
rating,    35    deg.    C.    rise,    3600    r.p.m.,    2200-volt,    80    per   cent 

power-factor    57.5 

Three  1000-hp  induction  motors,  24-pole,  300  r.p.m 33.5 

Three  sets  of  switches  and  controllers 20.5 

Two  condensers,  3000  sq.  ft.  cooling  surface  each |  . 

Two  combination  turbine-driven  centrifugal   pumps ( 

Two  independent  exciter  sets 3.0 

Two  turbine-driven  centrifugal   feed  pumps,   200  gal.  each 2.0 

Two  bilge  and  fire  pumps,   150  gal ^ 

Two  tank  pumps,  50  gal | 

Two   air   compressors   for   10-lb.    pressure 4.0 

Steam  and  other  piping 5.0 

Two  open  heaters,   50,000  lb.   per  hour 2.0 

Three    propeller   shafts 11.5 

Three  propellers 3.0 

Steel   foundation  for  supporting  machinery 25.0 

Total   weight  of   machinery 298.5 


All  auxiliary  machinery  is  in  duplicate  and  turbine-driven 
units  are  used  as  far  as  possible.  The  total  weight  of  the 
machinery,  including  propeller,  sliafting,  auxiliaries,  switch- 
board, boilers,  piping,  etc..  will  probably  not  exceed  300 
tons,  or  approximately  200  lb.  per  motor  horse-power.  The 
saving  in  deck  space  due  to  the  substitution  of  screw  pro- 
pulsion for  paddlewheels  will  be  about  4000  sq.  ft.,  while 
the  saving  in  weight  over  the  vertical  beam  engine  with 
return-tubular  boilers  is  even  more  marked,  as  the  average 
of  a  number  of  these  boats  gives  for  the  machinery  weights 
a  figure  of  0.20  ton  to  0.25  ton  per  indicated  horse-power. 
The  coal  consumption  on  vessels  of  the  Grand  Republic 
type  is  not  far  from  3.25  lb.  per  indicated  hp-hour  under 
test  conditions  and  somewhat  in  excess  of  this  figure  in 
ordinary  operation.     The  vessel  described  by  the   author 


should  give  test  results  approaching  1.5  lb.  of  coal  per 
indicated  hp-hour.  Taking  a  basis  of  ten  hours  per  day  at 
full  power  for  100  days  per  year,  corresponding  to  the 
summer  excursion  season,  the  saving  in  coal  would  amount 
to  3000  tons,  which,  at  $3  per  ton,  would  save  $9,000.  This 
amount,  capitalized  at  10  per  cent,  would  warrant  an  addi- 
tional investment  of  $90,000,  which  the  authors  state  would 
more  than  cover  the  difference  between  the  cost  of  the 
present  type  of  boat  and  the  one  they  propose.  Besides  the 
fuel  saving  there  will  be  further  economy  in  the  matter  of 
oil  and  general  maintenance  charges  incidental  to  operating 
marine  engines.  Inasmuch  as  these  vessels  are  not  cargo 
boats  the  savings  which  would  result  from  diminished 
machinery  space  and  increased  cargo  room  do  not  figure  in 
the  comparison.  Among  other  advantages  of  vessels  of  the 
proposed  type  is  the  great  facility  with  which  the  turbo- 
.yenerator  units  may  be  utilized  while  the  vessel  is  tied  up  at 
dock,  supplying  electric  energy  for  driving  motors  on  board 
or  delivering  energy  ashore  for  any  desired  purpose.  It 
would  be  possible  in  this  way  to  make  use  of  the  ship's 
machinery  during  the  idle  season  of  eight  months  and  thus 
keep  part  of  the  investment  active  throughout  the  entire 
vear. 


ANTHRACITE  COAL  SITUATION. 


The  Merchants'  Association  of  New  York  has  just  com- 
pleted an  investigation  into  the  anthracite  coal  supply  which 
indicates  strongly  the  fictitious  nature  of  the  "scare"  that 
has  been  raised  over  the  possibility  of  an  anthracite  coal 
famine.  Investigations  in  the  coal  regions  have  revealed 
the  fact  that  about  86  per  cent  of  the  entire  production  of 
anthracite  coal  is  controlled  by  the  so-called  railroad  coal 
companies  and  that  no  advance  has  been  made  nor  will  be 
made  in  the  official  price  affecting  86  per  cent  of  the  supply. 
The  remaining  14  per  cent  is  controlled  by  the  so-called 
independent  operators  and  it  is  this  independent  product 
which  is  the  subject  of  speculation.  In  general  the  output 
of  the  anthracite  mines  for  some  months  past  has  been 
greater  than  ever  before  and  the  large  deficit  caused  by 
closing  the  mines  in  April  and  May  has  already  been  cov- 
ered. During  the  next  three  months  the  aggregate  produc- 
tion will  reach  normal,  in  which  case  there  will  be  sufficient 
coal  on  hand  to  meet  every  reasonable  demand.  It  might 
be  pointed  out  in  this  connection  that  owing  to  the  growing 
scarcity  of  the  buckwheat  sizes  of  anthracite,  the  price  has 
naturally  increased  from  time  to  time  so  that  many  central- 
station  companies  in  the  East  now  use  bituminous  coal  ex- 
clusively. 


DEARBORN  STREET  LIGHTING  Df  CHICAGO. 


After  extended  negotiations  between  the  city  of  Chicago, 
tlie  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago  the  committee  on  down- 
town streets  of  the  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce  and 
the  Dearborn  Street  Improvement  Association,  an  arrange- 
ment has  been  concluded,  apparently,  by  which  a  number  of 
additional  arc  lamps  will  be  installed  for  the  lighting  of 
Dearborn  Street  between  Polk  Street  and  Lake  Street  in 
Chicago.  It  is  proposed  to  install  107  lamps  in  this  "down- 
town" portion  of  the  street,  which  is  about  a  mile  long. 
The  city's  general  plan  for  street  lighting  provides  for 
twenty-nine  arc  street  lamps  in  this  portion  of  the  street. 
It  has  been  agreed,  however,  that  the  city  shall  furnish  to 
the  Dearborn  Street  Improvement  Association  the  extra 
seventy-eight  lamps,  billing  that  association  monthly  for  the 
actual  cost  of  maintaining  and  operating  these  extra  lamps. 
The  city  is  effecting  a  saving,  because,  while  it  furnishes 
107  lamps  instead  of  twenty-nine,  the  association  under- 
takes to  furnish  the  standards  for  the  107  lamps,  so  that  the 
net  cost  to  the  city  will  be  less  than  under  the  original  plan. 


November  30,  1912, 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


1129 


CAUSES  OF  WASHOUT  AT   OLYMPIC   POWER 
COMPANY'S  DAM. 


Additional  data  are  now  at  hand  concerning  the  causes 
contributing  to  the  failure  of  the  dam  on  the  Elwha  River 
near  Port  Angeles,  Wash.,  of  which  mention  was  made  in 
the  Electrical  World  for  Nov.  23.  The  dam  was  con- 
structed to  store  water  for  use  in  a  hydroelectric  plant  and 
the  site  is  at  a  narrow  gorge  about  40  ft.  wide  at  the  bottom. 
The  sides  of  this  gorge  ascend  very  steeply  from  the  water 
level  and  then  flatten  out  to  moderate  slopes.  The  normal 
flow  of  the  Elwha  River  is  about  1500  second-ft.,  although 
a  maximum  flood  flow  of  about  23,800  second-ft.  was 
recorded  in  1901.  The  stream  bed  at  the  site  is  at  an  eleva- 
tion of  60  ft.  and  the  water  level  generally  at  an  elevation 
between  80  ft.  and  84  ft. 

The  upper  part  of  the  structure  was  uninjured  and  was 
left  like  an  arch,  spanning  the  narrow  stream,  while  the 


Cross  Section  of  Dam. 


-i,.j..z:^ 


■  Caisson 


Plan  neor  Bose 
Cross-Section    and    Plan    of    Dam. 

water  of  the  river  flowed  underneath  through  the  breach, 
about  40  ft.  wide.  The  washout  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  cut-off  wall  had  not  been  carried  down  to  a  firm  founda- 
tion through  the  sand  and  grave!  of  the  stream  bed,  so  that 
water  found  its  way  underneath  and  through  the  base  of 
the  dam  and  carried  the  foundation  material  away,  leaving 
no  support  for  the  structure  on  the  bed  of  the  stream. 

The  dam  is  of  solid  concrete  masonry  with  spillways  at 
either  side  and  four  large  gates  over  the  deep  channel  for 
reducing  the  level  of  the  reservoir.  The  dam  extends  across 
the  narrowest  part  of  the  stream,  and  both  the  plan  and 
front  elevation  have  a  shape  like  an  hourglass,  so  that  as 
long  as  the  material  forming  the  abutments  remains  in  place 
the  concrete  structure  is  firmly  wedged  in.  The  original 
bed  of  the  stream  was  at  an  elevation  of  about  60  ft.  and 
the  top  of  the  dam  at  an  elevation  of  190  ft.,  giving  a  height, 
therefore,  of  about  130  ft.  The  ultimate  design  for  the 
structure,  however,  contemplated  carrying  the  height  up  an 
additional  18  ft.  to  an  elevation  of  208  ft.  The  top  width 
of  the  transverse  section  at  an  elevation  of  190  ft.  is  14  ft. ; 


at  the  base,  at  an  elevation  of  6  ft.,  it  is  slightly  less  than 
100  ft.  as  designed.  The  upstream  face  is  almost  vertical 
while  the  downstream  side  slopes,  as  shown  in  the  accom- 
panying drawing.  At  an  elevation  of  112  ft.  are  the  four 
S-ft.  by  lo-ft.  relief  gates  above  referred  to.  The  dam  was 
designed  of  gravity  section,  but  it  was  thought  there  was  no 
possibility  of  its  sliding  or  overturning  because  it  was 
wedged  in  between  the  canyon  walls. 

In  the  base  of  the  dam,  shown  in  the  illustration,  the 
portion  indicated  as  "poor  concrete''  had  been  removed  and 
a  caisson  24  ft.  3  in.  by  9  ft.  6  in.  had  been  sunk  in  an 
attempt  to  stop  a  leak  on  the  downstream  face.  The  ex- 
cavation of  the  caisson  disclosed  the  character  of  the 
masonry  at  the  center  of  the  structure,  and  it  is  said  to  have 
been  possible  to  scoop  out  handfuls  of  the  original  con- 
crete mixture  from  which  the  cement  had  been  washed  out. 
Compressed  air  at  about  15  lb.  per  sq.  in.  was  used  in 
sinking  the  caisson,  and  as  the  excavation  progressed  down- 
ward the  soft  concrete  was  removed  and  the  space  filled  in 
again  with  stronger  material  down  to  level  of  the  bed  of  the 
stream.  In  this  manner,  working  under  compressed  air,  the 
excavation  was  carried  down  below  an  elevation  of  52  ft. 
It  was  apparent  that  the  material  in  the  base  of  the  dam, 
instead  of  being  concrete,  was  more  nearly  a  mixture  of 
sand  and  gravel.  When  the  cut-off  trench  had  been  car- 
ried down  to  what  was  thought  to  be  a  sufficient  depth  an 
attempt  was  made  to  seal  it,  but  as  soon  as  the  air  pressure 
was  taken  off  the  water  within  the  caisson  rose  rapidly, 
giving  proof  that  the  leakage  had  not  been  checked  entirely. 
Nevertheless,  the  concreting  was  continued. 

The  dam  was  inspected'  in  June,  1912,  and  again  in 
August  in  behalf  of  the  owners,  and  after  each  inspection 
they  refused  to  accept  the  work  as  it  then  stood.  Two 
months  after  the  second  examination  had  been  made,  dur- 
ing which  time  the  cut-off  wall  was  carried  down  further, 
the  washout  occurred.  A  large  hole  was  made  in  the 
stream  bed  by  the  rapidly  moving  current  of  water,  and  the 
power  house  and  its  equipment  at  one  side  below  the  dam 
were  damaged  considerably.  The  torrent  carried  away  a 
bridge  on  one  of  the  main  county  roads  two  miles  below 
the  plant,  but  there  was  no  loss  of  life.  The  main  structure 
remained  intact,  bridging  the  stream,  but  there  is  a  hole 
under  the  dam  over  60  ft.  in  depth. 


ELECTRICAL  CREDIT  ASSOCIATION  OF  CHICAGO. 


.\early  150  representatives  of  electrical  manufacturers 
and  jobbers  in  Chicago  and  other  cities  attended  the  seven- 
teenth annual  meeting  of  the  Electrical  Credit  Association 
of  Chicago,  held  in  the  clubrooms  of  the  Chicago  Athletic 
Association  Nov.  21.  In  his  presidential  address  Mr.  S.  E. 
Kennedy  pointed  out  that,  while  it  is  beyond  the  function 
of  the  association  to  obligate  its  members  not  to  sell  goods 
to  purchasers  found  delinquent  in  previous  dealings  with 
other  members,  common  business  prudence  on  the  part  of 
these  firms  will  serve  the  same  end  by  dictating  the  with- 
drawal of  credit  from  those  who  have  abused  it  in  the  past. 
The  speaker  also  warned  against  the  irresponsible  class  of 
small  tradesmen  whose  business  abilities  and  methods  fit 
them  for  the  workbench  rather  than  for  recognition  as  . 
business  men.  In  closing,  President  Kennedy  expressed 
confidence  that  the  credit  association  is  fulfilling  the  pur- 
poses for  which  it  was  organized. 

Mr.  James  Wolff,  representative  to  the  national  asso- 
ciation, urged  against  affiliation  with  the  jobbers'  associa- 
tion. The  report  of  the  secretary-treasurer,  Mr.  Frederick 
P.  Vose,  Chicago,  showed  a  present  membership  of  210  and 
collections  through  the  association  averaging  $1,100  per 
member.  Nearly  7000  names  appear  on  the  delinquent  list 
furnisched  to  members.  After  a  report  from  Mr.  Henry 
Schwab,  of  the  committee  on  membership,  the  recommen- 


II30 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  22. 


dations  of  the  nominating  '■ommittee,  presented  by  Mr. 
J.  N.  Macalister,  Chicago,  were  unanimously  accepted,  the 
former  officers  being  re-elected  as  follows:  President,  S.  E. 
Kennedy,  Central  Electric  Company,  Chicago ;  vice-presi- 
dent, A.  O.  Kuehmstead,  Gregory  Electric  Company,  Chi- 
cago ;  national  representative,  James  Wolff ;  additions  to 
executive  committee,  T.  I.  Stacey,  Electric  Appliance  Com- 
pany, and  A.  O.  Kuehmstead,  Gregory  Electric  Company, 
Chicago. 

"The  Relation  of  the  Credit  to  the  Sales  Department 
from  the  Viewpoint  of  the  Credit  Manager,"  a  paper  by 
Mr.  S.  H.  Anderson,  VVestinghouse  Electric  &  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  was  read  in  the  author's 
absence  by  Mr.  R.  M.  McConnell.  A  policy  of  over-conser- 
vatism, said  the  writer,  results  only  in  the  loss  of  the  profit 
on  the  sale  turned  down.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  too  liberal 
a  view  of  credits  may  cause  the  loss  of  goods,  profit,  sales 
effort  and  all.  Although  most  credit  managers  are  con- 
servative by  nature,  they  spend  on  the  average  much  more 
time  considering  the  cases  they  turn  down  than  the  ones 
they  pass.  The  salesman  is  always  an  optimist  as  long  as 
the  possibility  of  a  sale  is  in  sight,  but  on  the  credit  man 
rests  the  responsibility  of  finding  out  whether  the  customer 
has  funds  to  liquidate. 

Discussing  the  same  subject  from  the  point  of  a  sales 
manager,  Mr.  T.  G.  Ringgold,  Central  Electric  Company, 
Chicago,  said  that  few  credit  managers  know  the  difficulties 
of  the  salesman  and  the  brains  and  energy  he  expends  in 
winning  first  the  customer's  friendship  and  later  his  order. 
The  speaker  urged  credit  managers  to  get  out  into  the  field 
and  meet  the  man  on  whose  credit  they  pass. 

Mr.  H.  Larsen,  Illinois  Electric  Company,  Chicago,  fol- 
lowed with  a  discussion  of  the  bad  habit  of  extending 
credit  and  terms  beyond  reasonable  limits,  especially  to  the 
contracting  trade.  Contractors,  he  said,  often  lack  the 
tangible  security  which  would  be  demanded  in  similar  tran- 
sactions measured  by  the  standards  of  other  trades.  The 
method  of  making  80  per  cent  payments  as  the  work  is 
completed  often  results  in  delaying  the  contractor's  profit 
and  causes  embarrassment  all  along  the  line.  Mr.  Larsen 
spoke  in  favor  of  a  properly  organized  credit  bureau  in 
the  electrical  trades,  urging  upon  his  hearers  the  value  of 
such  a  clearing  house  of  credit  and  ledger  information. 

"Terms  of  Sale"  was  the  title  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  Gordon 
E.  Varney,  Varney  Electrical  Supply  Company,  Indian- 
apolis, Ind.,  in  which  he  emphasized  the  point  that  no 
profit  can  be  realized  until  the  account  is  collected.  Too 
often,  he  said,  the  sales  department  loses  sight  of  every- 
thing else  except  the  taking  of  orders.  Terms  accepted 
as  basis  for  credit  should  be  insisted  on  as  rigidly  as  the 
terms  imposed  by  banks  in  making  loans. 

The  use  and  effect  of  the  revised  forms  prepared  by  the 
association  were  discussed  in  a  series  of  communications 
submitted  and  read  before  the  meeting  by  Messrs.  H.  L. 
Walker,  Detroit,  Mich. ;  G.  C.  Besold,  Gregory  Electric 
Company,  Chicago ;  T.  J.  Whearty,  National  Carbon  Com- 
pany, Cleveland,  Ohio ;  M.  A.  Curran,  Western  Electric 
Company,  Minneapolis,  Minn. ;  Edward  Pfleger,  Julius 
Andrae  &  Sons  Company,  Milwaukee,  Wis. ;  B.  B.  Downs, 
St.  Paul  Electric  Company,  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  and  Clyde 
Minor,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Mr.  E.  E.  Ingles,  B-R  Electric  &  Telephone  Company, 
Kansas  City,  Mo.,  followed  with  an  account  of  trade  con- 
ditions in  Oklahoma  and  their  bearing  on  electrical  credit 
matters. 

At  the  dinner  in  the  evening  with  Secretary  Vose  acting 
as  toastmaster,  the  following  addresses  were  made :  "Public 
Utilities  and  Public  Relations,"  by  Mr.  Harold  Almert, 
H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  Chicago;  "The  Law  and  the 
Profits,"  by  Mr.  William  C.  Sprague,  Detroit,  Mich.; 
"Capital,  Capacity,  Character,"  by  Dr.  Emil  G.  Hirsch, 
Chicago,  and  "The  Whirligig  of  Time,"  by  Colonel  W.  L. 
Visscher,  Louisville,  Ky. 


SUPREME    COURT   OPINION   IN   THE    "BATHTUB 
TRUST"  CASE. 


Brief  mention  was  made  in  our  issue  last  week  of  the 
recent  opinion  handed  down  by  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  in  the  so-called  "Bathtub  Trust"  case,  which  is  of 
great  interest  in  connection  with  the  patent  situation.  The 
case  is  more  properly  known  as  the  United  States  versus 
the  Standard  Sanitary  Manufacturing  Company  et  al.,  ap- 
pealed by  the  defendants  from  the  decision  of  the  United 
States  District  Court  for  the  district  of  Maryland,  given 
in  favor  of  the  government.  The  original  action  charged 
the  appellants  with  violation  of  the  act  of  July  2,  1890, 
commonly  known  as  the  Sherman  anti-trust  act.  There 
were  sixteen  corporate  and  thirty-four  individual  de- 
fendants, the  latter,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  E.  L.  Way- 
man,  being  the  officers,  presidents  or  secretaries,  of  the 
companies.  The  corporate  defendants  were  alleged  to  be 
manufacturers  of  enameled  ironware  in  various  parts  of 
the  country,  making  85  per  cent  of  such  ware  and  engaged 
in  interstate  and  foreign  trade  therein,  in  competition 
among  themselves  and  with  certain  manufacturers  of  such 
ware.  It  was  further  charged  that  in  1909  or  1910  they 
entered  into  a  combination  and  conspiracy  to  restrain  this 
trade.  The  defendants  denied  the  charges,  Wayman  doing 
so  in  a  separate  answer  and  the  Colwell  Lead  Company 
declaring  that  it  was  not  engaged  in  interstate  commerce. 
The   Supreme  Court  reviewed  the  case  as  follows: 

"A  great  deal  of  testimony  was  taken  and  the  case  quite 
elaborately  argued,  but  in  the  view  we  take  of  it  it  is  in 
comparatively  narrow  compass,  depending  upon  the  appli- 
cation of  well-settled  principles.  The  corporate  defendants 
are  manufacturers  of  sanitary  enameled  ironware,  such  as 
bathtubs,  washbowls,  drinking  fountains,  sinks,  closets,  etc. 
The  enameling  consists  in  applying  opaque  white  glass  to 
iron  utensils,  first  in  the  condition  of  a  liquid  and,  second, 
in  the  form  of  a  powder.  The  process  consists  in  heating 
the  utensil  to  a  red  heat  and  then  sifting  upon  it  the  enamel- 
ing powder.  The  powder  is  fused  by  the  high  temperature 
and  forms  on  the  utensils  a  hard,  impenetrable,  insoluble, 
smooth  and  glossy  surface. 

"Prior  to  the  invention  of  James  W.  Arrott,  Jr.,  covered 
by  letters  patent  issued  Sept.  26,  1899,  the  enameling  pow- 
der was  applied  by  a  sieve  attached  to  a  long  handle  which 
was  held  by  the  workman  with  one  hand  and  the  sieve 
made  to  vibrate  by  the  workman  striking  the  handle  with 
liis  other  hand,  thereby  sifting  the  powder  over  the  surface 
of  the  ironware.  The  implement  was  an  imperfect  one,  not 
easily  handled,  and  by  its  use  the  workmen  were  subjected 
to  intense  heat  and  physical  strain.  The  flow  of  the  pow- 
der, besides,  was  not  continuous;  it  was  cast  upon  the  metal 
in  intermittent  puffs,  causing  in  many  instances  an  un- 
equal distribution  of  the  powder  and  producing  defective 
articles  which  either  had  to  be  thrown  away  or  sold  as 
'seconds.'  With  Arrott's  invention  these  evil  results  are 
lessened  or  disappear.  The  sieve  is  mechanically  vibrated 
very  rapidly,  causing,  instead  of  an  intermittent  flow  of 
the  powder  as  in  the  hand  process,  a  practically  continuous 
flow.  Both  hands  of  the  workman  may  be  used  to  guide 
and  direct  the  sieve.  The  advantages  of  the  instrument 
over  the  hand  process  are  decided.  It  is  more  efficient  and 
more  economical.  It  makes  a  better  article  and  in  less 
time.  There  is  no  waste  in  defects  or  'seconds.'  The  work- 
man is  relieved  to  some  extent  from  'fierce  heat  conditions,' 
to  quote  from  the  answers. 

"At  the  time  of  the  contracts  which  are  attacked  by  the 
government  the  Standard  Sanitary  Manufacturing  Company 
was  the  owner  of  the  patent  and  manufacturer  of  50  per 
cent  of  the  ware  and  used  in  its  production  the  patented 
device.  Some  of  the  other  manufacturers  were  infringing 
and  controversies  existed.  Some  yielded  to  its  validity, 
others  contested  it.  It  was  sustained  by  the  courts  in 
several  cases." 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1 131 


The  details  of  Wayman's  connection  with  the  manu- 
facturing end  of  the  business  and  the  history  of  his  efforts 
to  obtain  control  of  the  Arrott  patent,  with  final  success, 
are  presented  in  the  opinion  at  some  length.  Referring  to 
the  summary  of  the  situation  by  defendants'  counsel,  the 
opinion  says : 

"  'Wayman's  motive,'  it  is  asserted,  'was  to  make  money 
for  himself,  not  as  a  manufacturer  but  as  the  owner  of  a 
patent,  receiving  royalties  from  those  whom  he  licensed  to 
use  his  patented  invention.'  The  form  of  his  license,  it  is 
further  asserted,  followed  the  precedents  and  was  based  on 
that  principle  of  the  patent  law  which  gives  to  the  owner 
of  an  invention  the  power  to  grant  to  others  its  use  or  to 
withhold  it,  or  to  grant  it  upon  such  terms  as  he  may  choose 
to  impose.  Such  being  his  motive  and  such  being  his  right, 
he,  it  is  contended,  negotiated  with  and  contracted  with  the 
manufacturers  of  enameled  ware;  and  their  motives  also 
are  attempted  to  be  justified,  though  the  necessity  for  doing 
so  is  disclaimed. 

"Wayman's  right,  it  seems  to  be  contended,  is  all-sufficient, 
and  that  the  manufacturers  only  paid  the  price  that  he 
could  legally  demand.  As  the  demand  was  legal,  it  is 
argued,  the  payment  of  the  price  could  not  be  illegal.  But 
the  government  asserts  subterfuge,  illegal  purpose  liveried 
in  legal  forms  to  give  color  of  right  to  illegal  practices. 

"The  charge  challenges  consideration  of  the  relation  be- 
tw-een  that  which  the  manufacturers  engaged  to  do  and  the 
protection  of  the  exclusive  right  attached  to  the  invention. 
Upon  such  consideration  how  far  the  licenses  transcend 
such  right  and  violate  the  Sherman  law  we  can  then  deter- 
mine. And  we  shall  keep  in  mind  and  apply  the  principle 
expressed  in  Bement  versus  the  National  Harrow  Company 
(186  U.  S.,  70,  92)  that  the  Sherman  law  'clearly  does  not 
refer  to  that  kind  of  restraint  of  interstate  commerce  which 
may  arise  from  reasonable  and  legal  conditions  imposed 
upon  the  assignee  or  licensee  of  a  patent  by  the  owner 
thereof,  restricting  the  terms  upon  which  the  article  may  be 
used  and  the  price  to  be  demanded  therefor.  Such  a  con- 
struction of  the  act  no  doubt  was  never  contemplated  by  its 
framefs.' 

"In  our  inquiry  we  shall  accept  arguendo  the  statement  of 
defendants  of  their  inducements  and  purpose.  We  say 
'arguendo'  because  the  asserted  inducement  and  purpose  are 
denied  by  the  government,  it  contending,  as  we  have  seen, 
that  the  Arrott  patent  was  but  a  pretense  and  that  the 
agreements  were  put  in  the  form  of  licenses  of  it  to  at  once 
accomplish  and  palliate  evasions  of  the  law.  The  fact  being 
in  controversy,  we  place  our  consideration  and  decision  on 
other  elements.  In  other  words,  we  will  consider  the  case 
from  the  standpoint  of  defendants'  view  of  the  situation, 
with  comments  as  we  proceed  as  to  what  they  did  to  meet 
it  and  how  far  what  they  did  accorded  with  or  transgressed 
the  law. 

"The  contention  of  the  defendants  then  is  that  the  Stand- 
ard company's  position  and  power  as  owner  of  the  patent 
and  Wayman's  were  identical.  What  it  could  have  done, 
it  is  contended,  he  could  do,  and  its  relation  to  the  trade  and 
the  relation  of  other  manufacturers  to  the  trade  clearly 
demonstrate,  it  is  further  contended,  that  as  that  company 
could  have  made  the  contracts,  Wayman  could  do  so. 

"To  support  the  contention  defendants  represent  the 
Standard  as  the  dominant  (it  produced  50  per  cent  of  the 
articles)  and  the  only  honest  manufacturer,  pointing  out  to 
other  manufacturers  the  worthlessness  of  their  output,  they 
not  having  the  Arrott  patent ;  also  the  dishonesty  of  their 
output,  they  putting  out  'seconds.'  the  inferiority  of  which 
was  'discernible  only  by  experts' — thereby  defrauding  the 
public,  'discrediting  the  ware  and  demoralizing  the  market 
and  business.'  To  avert  these  evil  results,  it  is  represented 
that  the  Standard  was  willing  to  forego  the  advantages 
which  its  ownership  of  the  Arrott  patent  gave  it  and  confer 
them  upon  the  other  manufacturers.  But  upon  terms. 
'First  and  foremost'  it  was  to  be  agreed  that  no  'seconds' 


should  be  marketed.  In  the  second  place,  a  standard  price 
must  be  agreed  to  so  that  henceforth  rivalry  should  be  'in 
the  quality  of  the  ware  turned  out  at  a  uniform  price  or 
in  any  other  collateral  inducement  to  the  purchaser'  that 
would  not  'affect  the  quality  of  the  ware.'  Wayman's 
agency  and  office,  it  is  represented,  was  that  of  'watching 
all  parties  and  insuring  their  fidelity  to  the  agreement  by 
the  payment  of  a  royalty  for  the  use  of  the  invention.' 
And  this,  it  is  said,  is  'all  there  is  in  substance  or  principle 
to  the  case  at  bar,  except  that  Mr.  Wayman,  instead  of 
the  Standard  company,  was  the  originator  of  the  scheme 
and  that  he  persuaded  his  co-defendants  to  enter  into  it/ 

"But  the  scheme  has  other  features  and  efifects  which 
counsel  overlook  or  ignore.  It  is  immediately  open  to  the 
criticism  that  its  parts  have  no  natural  or  necessary  rela- 
tion. What  relation  has  the  fixing  of  a  price  of  the  ware 
to  the  production  of  'seconds?'  If  the  articles  were  made 
perfect  their  price  in  compensation  of  them  and  by  un- 
fettered competition  would  adjust  itself.  To  say  otherwise 
would  be  in  defiance  of  the  examples  of  the  trading  and 
industrial  world.  Nor  was  a  combination  of  manufacturers 
necessary  to  the  perfection  of  manufacture  and  to  rivalry 
in  its  quality.  And  it  may  be  asked,  if  such  perfection  and 
its  protecting  influence  against  deception  and  the  ruinous 
depression  of  prices  were  so  desirable  and  potent  as  it  is 
contended  that  they  were,  why  were  they  not  extended  to 
'baths,'  the  most  important  of  the  articles  in  the  trade? 
It  is  not  an  adequate  answer  to  say  that  there  was  a 
time  guarantee  of  them  even  though  it  was  given  to  all  of 
them,  as  it  was  not.  The  justification  of  defendants  is 
based  not  on  the  responsibility  of  manufacturers  but  on  the 
integrity  of  the  articles  assured  by  the  use  of  the  Arrott 
device. 

"It  is  the  foundation  of  defendants'  argument  that  to 
make  the  use  of  that  device  universal  was  the  prompting  of 
Wayman's  energies  to  unite  the  manufacturers  and  to  re- 
move the  evils  which  beset  the  trade  and  which  were  'dis- 
crediting the  ware  and  demoralizing  the  market  and  busi- 
ness.' It  was  the  representation  of  the  advantage,  we  are 
told,  of  such  results  that  broke  down  the  resolution  of  the 
Standard  company  not  to  share  the  use  of  the  device  with 
other  manufacturers.  But,  granting  that  there  was  pro- 
vision of  security  against  the  production  of  'seconds'  in  all 
of  the  articles,  it  seems  from  what  we  have  said  above  that 
all  of  the  substantial  good  which  is  asserted  to  have  been 
the  object  of  the  agreements  could  have  been  attained  by 
a  simple  sale  of  the  right  to  use  the  Arrott  patent,  con- 
ceding to  it  the  dominant  effect  which  is  attributed  to  it. 
Nor  is  the  justification  of  defendants  made  more  adequate 
by  the  representation  that  'Wayman's  motive  was  to  make 
money  for  himself,  not  as  a  manufacturer  but  as  the 
owner  of  the  patent,  receiving  royalties  from  those  whom 
he  licensed  to  use  his  patented  invention.'  Wayman  testi- 
fied to  another  motive.  By  fixing  prices  'he  hoped,'  he  said, 
'as  one  of  the  features  of  the  license  agreements,  to  enable 
the  companies  to  abolish  ruinous  competition'  and  to  get  a 
"revenue  for  each  of  the  companies  to  enable  them  to  make 
a   reasonable  profit.' " 

After  referring  to  the  preliminaries  in  negotiating  the 
agreements,  the  opinion  continues : 

"The  license  agreement  was  subsequently  executed.  It 
granted  to  the  licensee  the  right  to  use  in  the  manufacture 
of  enameled  ware  the  Arrott  patent,  also  a  patent  to  E. 
Dithridge  for  a  pneumatic  sieve  and  a  patent  to  William 
Lindsay  for  an  'enameling  powder  distributor."  It  released 
the  claims  for  past  infringement  so  long  as  the  licensees 
operated  under  the  license.  It  fixed  royalties  of  $5  per  day 
for  each  furnace,  subject  to  a  diminution  of  like  amount  for 
furnaces  shut  down  for  more  than  six  consecutive  working 
days.  It  fixed  preferential  discounts  from  the  regular  sell- 
ing prices,  confining  them  only  to  sales  by  the  manufactur- 
ers to  jobbers;  and  it  was  provided  that  no  goods  manu- 
factured under  the  license  should  be  sold  unless  they  bore 


I  132 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


a  registered  label  (except  where  otherwise  specified)  owned 
by  the  licensee  and  in  addition  thereto  a  license  tag  or  label 
approved  by  the  licensor  placed  in  a  visible  position 
thereon." 

There  were  numerous  stipulations  in  reference  to  the 
fixing  of  prices,  and  it  was  furthermore  provided  that  80 
per  cent  of  the  royalties  paid  would  be  returned  if  the 
agreement  should  be  complied  with  but  forfeited  if  the  pro- 
visions were  violated  in  any  particular.  Moreover,  there 
was  a  jobber's  license  agreement  providing  for  certain 
discounts,  resale  prices  and  other  restrictions,  which  bore 
the  statement  that  it  must  be  executed  by  the  purchaser  in 
order  to  purchase  licensed  sanitary  enameled  ware.  In 
reference  to  the  general  statement  of  defendants'  side  of  the 
case,  the  opinion  goes  on  as  follows : 

"In  this  statement  certain  things  are  prominent.  Before 
the  agreements  the  manufacturers  of  enameled  ware  were 
independent  and  competitive.  By  the  agreements  they  were 
combined,  subjected  themselves  to  certain  rules  and  regu- 
lations, among  others  not  to  sell  their  product  to  the  job- 
bers except  at  a  price  fixed  not  by  trade  and  competitive 
conditions  but  by  the  decision  of  the  committee  of  six  of 
their  number,  and  zones  of  sales  were  created;  and  the 
jobbers  were  brought  into  the  combination  and  made  its 
subjection  complete  and  its  purpose  successful.  Unless 
they  entered  the  combination  they  could  obtain  no  enameled 
ware  from  any  manufacturer  who  was  in  the  combination, 
and  the  condition  of  entry  was  not  to  resell  to  plumbers 
except  at  the  prices  determined  by  the  manufacturers.  The 
trade  was,  therefore,  practically  controlled  from  producer 
to  consumer  and  the  potency  of  the  scheme  was  established 
by  the  co-operation  of  85  per  cent  of  the  manufacturers, 
and  their  fidelity  to  it  was  secured  not  only  by  trade  advan- 
tages but  by  what  was  practically  a  pecuniary  penalty,  not 
inaptly  termed  in  the  argument  'cash  bail.'  The  royalty 
for  each  furnace  was  $5,  80  per  cent  of  which  was  to  be 
returned  if  the  agreement  was  faithfully  observed;  it  was 
to  be  'forfeited  as  a  penalty'  if  the  agreement  was  violated. 
And  for  the  faithful  observance  of  their  engagements  the 
j.obbers,  too,  were  entitled  to  rebates  from  their  purchases. 
It  is  testified  that  90  per  cent  of  the  jobbers  in  number  and 
more  than  90  per  cent  in  purchasing  power  joined  the 
combination." 

The  most  significant  portions  of  the  decision  now  follow 
and  bring  out  the  essential  principles  established  in  this 
case: 

"The  agreements  clearly,  therefore,  transcended  what  was 
necessary  to  protect  the  use  of  the  patent  or  the  monopoly 
which  the  law  conferred  upon  it.  They  passed  to  the  pur- 
pose and  accomplished  a  restraint  of  trade  condemned  by 
the  Sherman  law.  It  had,  therefore,  a  purpose  and  accom- 
plished a  result  not  shown  in  the  Bement  case.  There  was 
a  contention  in  that  case  that  the  contract  of  the  National 
Harrow  Company  with  Bement  &  Sons  was  part  of  a  con- 
tract and  combination  with  many  other  companies  and 
constituted  a  violation  of  the  Sherman  law,  but  the  fact  was 
not  established  and  the  case  was  treated  as  one  between  the 
particular  parties,  the  one  granting  and  the  other  receiv- 
ing a  right  to  use  a  patented  article  with  conditions  suitable 
to  protect  such  use  and  secure  its  benefits.  And  there  is 
nothing  in  Henry  versus  A.  B.  Dick  Company  (224  U.  -S.,  i) 
which  contravenes  the  views  herein  expressed. 

''The  agreements  in  the  case  at  bar  combined  tlie  manu- 
facturers and  jobbers  of  enameled  ware  very  much  to  the 
same  purpose  and  results  as  the  association  of  manufac- 
turers and  dealers  in  tiles  combined  them  in  Montague  & 
Company  versus  Lowry  (193  U.  S.,  38),  which  combination 
was  condemned  by  this  court  as  offending  the  Sherman  law. 
The  added  element  of  the  patent  in  the  case  at  bar  cannot 
confer  immunity  from  a  like  condemnation,  for  the  reasons 
we  have  stated.  And  this  we  say  without  entering  into  the 
consideration  of  the  distinction  of  rights  for  which  the 
government    contends    between    a    patented    article    and    a 


patented  tool  used  in  the  manufacture  of  an  unpatented 
article.  Rights  conferred  by  patents  are  indeed  very  definite 
and  extensive,  but  they  do  not  give  any  more  than  other 
rights  a  universal  license  against  positive  prohibitions.  The 
Sherman  law  is  a  limitation  of  rights,  rights  which  may  be 
pushed  to  evil  consequences  and  therefore  restrained. 

"This  court  has  had  occasion  in  a  number  of  cases  to 
declare  its  principle.  Two  of  those  cases  we  have  cited. 
The  others  it  is  not  necessary  to  review  or  to  quote  from 
except  to  say  that  in  the  very  latest  of  them  the  compre- 
hensive and  thorough  character  of  the  law  is  demonstrated 
and  its  sufiiciency  to  prevent  evasions  of  its  policy  'by 
resort  to  any  disguise  or  subterfuge  of  form,'  or  the  escape 
of  its  prohibitions  'by  any  indirection.'  (United  States 
versus  American  Tobacco  Company,  221  U.  S.,  106,  181.) 
Xor  can  they  be  evaded  by  good  motives.  The  law  is  its 
own  measure  of  right  and  wrong,  of  what  it  permits  or 
forbids,  and  the  judgment  of  the  courts  cannot  be  set  up 
against  it  in  a  supposed  accommodation  of  its  policy  with 
the  good  intention  of  parties,  and,  it  may  be,  of  some  good 
results.  (United  States  versus  Freight  Association,  166 
U.  S.,  290;  Armour  Packing  Company  versus  United 
States,  209  U.  S.,  56,  62.)" 

In  reference  to  the  contentions  advanced  in  behalf  of  the 
Colwell  company,  the  opinion  holds  that  it  was  a  party  to 
the  general  conspiracy,  as  follows: 

''It  is  manifest  that  the  Colwell  company  was  a  party  to 
the  combination  and  was  also  engaged  in  interstate  com- 
merce. The  fact  that  its  trade  was  less  general  than  that 
of  the  other  manufacturers  and  jobbers  does  not  take  from 
it  the  character  of  an  interstate  trader.  The  fact  that  it 
was  restricted  in  less  degree  than  the  other  jobbers,  given 
a  certain  freedom  of  competition  to  meet  local  conditions  in 
New  York,  diminishes  only  the  degree  of  culpability  but 
does  not  entirely  remove  it.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that 
such  freedom  does  not  even  diminish  culpability.  It  is  a 
concession  which  may  be  made  a  means  of  crushing  com- 
petition where  it  is  most  formidable." 

The  decree  of  the  lower  court,  given  in  favor  of  the 
government,  was  upheld. 


CHICAGO    TELEPHONE    COMPANY'S   ANSWER    TO 
THE  BEMIS  REPORT. 


Responding  to  the  arguments  presented  in  the  report  of 
Mr.  Edward  W.  Bemis  on  an  investigation  made  at  the 
request  of  the  City  Council  of  Chicago  to  assist  in  deter- 
mining new  telephone  rates,  the  Chicago  Telephone  Com- 
pany presented  an  ans\ver  to  Mr.  Bemis  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Council  committee  on  gas,  oil  and  electric  light  on 
■Nov.  21.  Mr.  B.  E.  Sunny,  president  of  the  company,  read 
the  company's  answer,  which  was  in  the  form  of  a  printed 
pamphlet  of  thirty-one  pages.  The  essential  finding  in  the 
Bemis  report  was  the  conclusion  that  a  reduction  in  tele- 
phone rates  amounting  to  about  $700,000  in  the  company's 
revenues  is  justified.  In  its  answer  the  company  under- 
takes to  show  that  the  alleged  surplus  of  $700,000  pointed 
to  by  Mr.  Bemis  is  purely  fictitious  and  is  the  result  of 
wholly  unwarranted  and  inconsistent  assumptions.  The 
company  goes  on  to  say : 

'"These  assumptions  relate  largely  to  the  matter  of  depre- 
ciation, where  the  interests  of  the  public  and  of  the  com- 
pany are  identical.  The  interest  of  the  company  in  pre- 
serving its  investment  as  nearly  unimpaired  as  may  be  is 
no  more  direct  than  is  the  interest  of  the  public  in  this 
tame  factor,  from  the  standpoint  of  adequate  facilities  and 
unimpaired  efficient  service.  A  sufficient  depreciation 
allowance  is  as  essential  to  unimpaired  service  as  it  is  to 
unimpaired  investment.  We  believe  that  when  the  radical 
and  manifest  errors  and  omissions  of  the  report  of  Pro- 
fessor Bemis  are  corrected  its  effect  is  simply  to  corrobo- 


November  30.  igii 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


"33 


rate  the  conclusions  of  his  predecessors  and  to  sustain  the 
contention  of  the  company  that  the  present  rates  are  unrea- 
sonably low  and  that  any  revision  of  them  should  be  not 
downward  but  upward." 

The  company  criticised  many  of  the  findings  of  Mr. 
Beniis  as  erroneous  and  devoted  much  of  its  answer  to  the 
subject  of  depreciation.  In  his  oral  reply  Mr.  Bemis  said, 
addressing  the  committee,  that  the  essential  differences 
between  himself  and  the  company  related  to  only  two  or 
three  points,  the  most  important  being  the  matter  of  depre- 
ciation. He  contended  that,  inasmuch  as  the  company  has 
practically  no  competition,  it  would  be  fair  to  allow  it 
only  such  a  rate  of  return  as  would  enable  it  to  market  its 
securities. 

Mr.  N.  T.  Guernsey,  associate  counsel  of  the  American 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  addressed  the  committee 
briefly  on  behalf  of  the  company.  He  pointed  out  that  in 
its  answer  the  company  had  made  no  allowance  for  going 
value,  which  he  defined  as  the  difference  between  the 
physical  property  without  any  revenue  and  the  same  prop- 
erty characterized  by  a  developed  business  or  a  created 
income.  It  would  seem  to  be  self-evident,  he  said,  that  a 
property  with  a  developed  business  is  worth  more  than  one 
without.  This  component  is  different  from  franchise  value 
and  it  is  not  "good  will."  Going  value,  he  said,  is  an  in- 
herent characteristic  of  physical  property,  but  he  admitted 
that  it  is  difficult  to  measure  such  value. 


OPPOSITION  TO  PROPOSED  ILLINOIS  PUBLIC 
SERVICE  COMMISSION. 


Hearings  in  relation  to  the  proposed  establishment  of  a 
public-service  commission  or  commissions  in  the  State  of 
Illinois  were  held  in  Chicago  last  week  by  the  Illinois  Legis- 
lative Public  Utilities  Commission,  which  is  the  official  name- 
of  the  joint  committee  of  the  Illinois  Legislature  instructed 
to  investigate  the  subject  and  report  next  January.  State 
Senator  John  Dailey,  of  Peoria,  is  chairman  of  the  legisla- 
tive commission.  The  statement  in  our  issue  of  Nov.  23, 
page  1087,  that  Senator  Dailey  was  defeated  for  re-elec- 
tion on  Nov.  5,  is  found  to  be  in  error,  as  the  final  canvass 
shows  that  he  was  returned  by  a  plurality  of  forty-four 
votes. 

In  opening  the  public  hearing  in  Chicago  on  Nov.  21 
Senator  Dailey  explained  the  purposes  of  the  commission. 
He  remarked  that  all  of  the  three  principal  political  parties 
in  Illinois  have  indorsed  the  idea  of  State  regulation  of 
public  utilities  by  platform  utterances.  The  commission  has 
been  at  work  intermittently  since  July,  191 1.  It  has  vis- 
ited several  other  states,  and  Mr.  Dailey  remarked  that  the 
public-service  commissions  in  states  which  have  tried  out 
the  idea  longest  may  be  divided  into  three  classes.  The 
first  is  typified  by  the  Wisconsin  law,  providing  for  one 
state-wide  commission  covering  practically  all  forms  of 
utilities.  The  second  may  be  represented  by  the  plan  in 
New  York,  where  there  are  two  commissions  with  almost 
identical  powers,  but  with  geographical  limitations,  each 
commission  covering  a  certain  portion  of  the  State.  One 
commission  takes  care  of  the  city  of  New  York  and  the 
other  of  the  remainder  of  the  State.  Mr.  Dailey  said  that 
the  great  importance  of  the  transportation  question  in  New 
York  City  dictated  this  dual  arrangement.  A  third  plan 
may  be  typified  by  the  arrangement  in  Massachusetts,  where 
there  are  several  commissions,  each  one  devoted  to  certain 
classes  of  utilities,  there  being  a  railroad  commission,  a 
gas,  water  and  electricity  commission  and  a  highway  com- 
mission, the  last  named  having  jurisdiction  over  telephone 
and  telegraph  companies.  In  general,  the  Illinois  legislators 
ha-e  found  that  the  people  of  the  various  States  where 
such  commissions  exist  have  a  real  respect  for  them,  plac- 
ing them  on  a  par  with  courts  of  justice. 


Senator  Dailey  analyzed  the  Wisconsin  law  and  said 
that  it  appeared  to  be  very  satisfactory  to  the  people.  Some- 
thing over  a  year  ago,  when  the  Illinois  committee  was  in 
Madison,  the  Wisconsin  commission  had  handled  over  100 
rate-making  cases  and  there  had  not  been  a  smgle  appeal, 
although  the  law  provides  for  an  appeal  to  the  courts. 
Speaking  for  himself  personally,  the  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee declared  himself  in  favor  of  the  enactment  of  a 
law  providing  for  a  public-service  commission  or  commis- 
sions in  the  State  of  Illinois.  He  enumerated  some  of  the 
advantages  of  the  commission  idea,  such  as  the  removal  of 
public  utilities  from  the  domain  of  politics,  doing  away 
with  feuds,  making  the  securities  of  the  companies  stable, 
permitting  the  scientific  investigation  of  rates,  abolishing 
free  or  reduced-rate  service  and  also  abolishing  discrimina- 
tion between  customers  served  under  like  conditions. 

There  was  but  little  discussion  at  the  hearing  on  the 
opening  day.  Mr.  John  T.  McGrath,  representing  the  As- 
sociation of  Stationary  Engineers,  favored  the  formation 
of  a  commission  and  urged  the  making  of  rates  without  dis- 
crimination. His  association,  he  said,  favored  one  state- 
wide commission,  following  the  plan  in  Wisconsin.  A  pub- 
lic accountant  spoke  in  favor  of  uniform  accounting. 

At  the  second  public  hearing  on.  Nov.  22  Mr.  William  H. 
Sexton,  corporation  counsel  of  Chicago,  was  present  to 
represent  the  Mayor  of  that  city.  Invitations  had  been  ex- 
tended to  the  principal  public-utility  companies  of  Chicago 
and  the  time  was  mostly  taken  up  by  an  examination  of  Mr. 
L.  G.  Richardson,  a  lawyer  representing  the  Chicago  Tele- 
phone Company.  Mr.  Richardson  appeared  before  the  com- 
mittee at  a  time  when  his  company  was  under  investigation 
by  a  committee  of  the  Chicago  City  Council  for  the  pur- 
pose of  revising  rates,  and  therefore  he  was  rather  guarded 
in  what  he  had  to  say  on  the  subject  of  state  versus  munici- 
pal regulation  of  public  utilities.  He  said  that  the  com- 
pany had  progressed  very  well  under  local  control  in  Chi- 
cago, and  he  could  see  no  great  necessity  for  making  a 
change.  There  is  no  reason,  in  his  opinion,  to  suppose  that 
a  utility  will  not  receive  as  good  treatment  from  a  commit- 
tee of  a  city  council  as  from  any  other  body  of  men.  The 
speaker  declared  that  the  creation  of  a  state  public-service 
commission  is  a  serious  proposition;  if  such  a  commission 
is  recommended,  the  recommendation  should  embody  pro- 
tection of  the  utilities  against  competition  as  a  cardinal 
feature. 

Mr.  Richardson's  general  position  was  not  one  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  proposal  in  a  broad  sense,  but  he  was  inclined 
to  think  that  the  creation  of  a  state  commission  was  hardly 
necessary.  However,  he  was  bound  to  admit  that  Mr. 
Theodore  N.  Vail,  president  of  the  American  Telephone  & 
Telegraph  Company,  in  a  recent  annual  report,  had  con- 
ceded that  public-service  commissions  have  come  to  stay 
and  had  recognized  their  advantages.  A  number  of  ques- 
tions were  put  to  the  speaker  by  Chairman  Dailey  and  other 
members  of  the  joint  committee.  Senator  R.  J.  Barr  spoke 
of  the  existence  of  two  competing  telephone  companies  in 
the  city  of  Joliet  and  asked  if  the  existence  of  a  state  com- 
mission would  prevent  such  a  situation.  Mr.  Richardson 
thought  that  it  would  and  was  also  perfectly  free  to  say 
that  the  Wisconsin  law  had  worked  very  well.  However, 
he  pointed  out  the  existence  of  a  strong  local  feeling  in 
many  communities  in  reference  to  "home  rule"  in  the  con- 
trol of  local  utilities.  The  attorney  was  asked  if  munici- 
pal control  was  not  unfavorably  affected  by  politics,  and  he 
answered  bv  saving  that  after  election  the  sobering  effect 
of  responsibility  had  a  restraining  effect  on  municipal  offi- 
cers. At  another  period  in  the  discussion  Mr.  Richardson 
expressed  himself  as  opposed  to  the  theory  of  a  state 
public  service  commission,  but  admitted  that  such  a  body 
might  work  out  very  well  in  practice  and,  in  fact,  had  done 
so  in  Massachusetts  and  Wisconsin.  He  agreed  with  Sena- 
tor Dailey  that,  speaking  generally,  the  people  of  Wis- 
consin have  as  nnich  confidence  in  the  Railroad   Commis- 


1 134 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


sion  of  Wisconsin  as  they  have  in  the  Supreme  Court  of 
that  State. 

Several  aldermen  and  other  city  officials  attended  the 
hearing  of  Nov.  2^.  All  w-ere  emphatic  in  asserting  their 
adherence  to  the  principle  of  "home  rule"  in  regulating 
utilities.  Alderman  E.  F.  Cullerton,  the  first  speaker, 
doubted  if  the  Illinois  Legislature  would  pass  a  bill  for 
state  control.  Unless  the  Legislature  goes  out  of  politics, 
the  centralization  of  the  control  of  public  utilities  would  be 
a  bad  thing,  he  declared.  The  great  moneyed  interests  own 
the  public  utility  companies,  and  control  of  these  enterprises 
should  remain  as  close  to  the  people  as  possible.  There 
should  be  more  checks  on  private  combinations  of  capital 
than  a  state  commission  could  promise.  In  answer  to  ques- 
tions, the  alderman  said  he  thought  a  political  campaign  on 
the  issue  of  70-cent  gas,  such  as  has  been  witnessed  in  Chi- 
cago, was  proper. 

.•\lderman  John  A.  Richert,  chairman  of  the  finance  com- 
mittee of  the  City  Council,  said  that  he  believed  all  the 
aldermen  favored  the  control  of  local  utilities  by  local 
governments.  He  described  the  method  of  regulating  utili- 
ties in  Chicago  by  committees  of  the  City  Council.  He  was 
questioned  closely  on  this  point  by  Chairman  Dailey,  who 
appeared  to  think  that  the  employment  of  two  experts — 
Messrs.  Hagenah  and  Bemis — in  the  local  gas  and  tele- 
phone investigations,  as  the  result  of  a  change  of  adminis- 
tration, indicated  a  weakness  in  municipal  control.  Sena- 
tor Dailey  brought  out  the  fact  that  the  experts  were  not 
employed  conjointly,  but  that  one  followed  the  other  as  the 
result,  apparently,  of  a  change  in  the  political  complexion 
of  the  City  Council. 

.Alderman  Eugene  Block,  chairman  of  the  local  trans- 
portation committee,  declared  that  the  experienc.e  of  the 
city  with  the  State  Railroad  and  Warehouse  Commission 
in  the  matter  of  track  elevation  in  Chicago  had  not  given 
it  confidence  in  state  commission  control.  He  also  asserted 
that  political  lines  have  been  practically  obliterated  in  Chi- 
cago in  dealing  with  public-utility  problems.  Speaking  of 
transportation,  he  said  that  the  service  given  by  the  Chi- 
cago companies  had  been  excellent  on  the  whole,  but  that 
Chicago  is  growing  rapidly  and  needs  additional  transpor- 
tation facilities.  But  the  local  authorities  can  handle  the 
situation  better  than  a  state  commission  could. 

Alderman  Mayer  was  vehement  in  his  argument  for 
"home  rule."  The  idea  of  centralizing  the  control  of  pub- 
lic utilities  in  the  hands  of  a  few  men  is  absolutely  wrong, 
he  said.  A  few  men  can  be  controlled  by  "interests"  where 
a  large  body,  like  the  seventy  Chicago  aldermen,  cannot. 
This  speaker  could  see  benefit  only  to  the  public-service 
corporations,  and  not  to  the  people  of  Chicago,  by  a  state 
public-utility  commission.  In  the  course  of  his  harangue 
he  intimated  that  improper  motives  were  back  of  the  legis- 
lative commission's  inquiry,  but  Senator  Dailey,  by  gentle 
insistence,  induced  him  to  withdraw  this  charge. 


NEW  YORK  EDISON  COMPANY'S  ANSWER  TO  RATE 
DISCRIMINATION    CHARGE. 


.-^s  may  be  recalled,  notes  have  appeared  in  these  col- 
umns from  time  to  time  referring  to  the  hearings  that 
have  been  going  on  since  October,  191 1,  before  Commis- 
sioner Maltbie,  of  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  the 
First  New  York  District,  as  a  result  of  a  petition  that  was 
filed  with  the  commission  early  in  the  summer  of  191 1  by 
certain  local  organizations  of  stationary  engineers,  who 
alleged  that  the  rates  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company 
discriminated  unduly  in  favor  of  large  users  of  energy  and 
that  the  rates  charged  to  retail  users  were  excessive  and 
not  in  proportion  to  the  cost  of  production. 

Shortly  after  the  hearings  were  begun  in  this  matter 
another   petition    embodying   practically   the   same   charges 


and  signed  by  a  number  of  retail  customers  of  the  company 
was  filed  with  the  commission  by  an  isolated-plant  pub- 
lishing firm.  After  the  complainant  who  presented  the 
first  petition  had  been  heard,  during  hearings  that  extended 
over  six  or  eight  months,  it  was  decided,  as  the  reply  of 
the  New  York  Edison  Company  in  both  cases  would  be 
virtually  the  same,  to  let  the  complainants  in  the  second 
case  present  their  case  before  the  lighting  company  gave 
its  side  of  the  matter. 

Much  time  was  given  by  the  complainants  during  the 
hearings  to  examination  of  officials  of  the  company  upon 
the  principles  underlying  the  company's  rate  schedules, 
upon  the  cost  of  supplying  service  to  various  classes  of 
customers,  upon  the  company's  revenue  and  upon  its  cap- 
italization. After  the  complainants  had  introduced  all  of 
their  evidence  the  company  submitted  a  very  lengthy  reply, 
which  was  an  admirable  justification  of  central-station 
rates  as  a  whole.  A  summary  of  this  reply  appeared  in 
the  Electrical  World  for  Aug.  17,  1912.  At  the  instance 
of  the  presiding  commissioner  the  company  subsequently 
filed  further  data  amplifying  its  first  statement  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  and  also  going  into  greater  detail  in  regard 
to  the  growth  in  the  number  of  its  customers,  the  increases 
in  its  connected  load,  the  cost  of  supplying  service  to  all 
classes  of  consumers,  together  with  the  revenues  received 
from  the  various  sources. 

Examination  of  Mr.  John  W.  Lieb,  Jr.,  third  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  New  York  Edison  Company,  by  counsel  for  the 
latter  and  by  Commissioner  Maltbie,  brought  forth  a  vast 
amount  of  data  on  central-station  practice,  which  our  lim- 
ited space  prevents  us  from  reproducing  as  a  whole.  Some 
of  it,  however,  as  it  appears  below,  may  be  of  interest. 

In  the  course  of  the  examination  the  witness  stated  that 
the  average  lo-cent  or  retail  customer,  the  customer  who 
never  uses  in  excess  of  250  kw-hr.  monthly,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  class  which  as  a  whole  represents  nearly  80  per 
cent  of  all  the  commercial  customers  on  the  company's 
books,  is  being  served  below  the  average  cost  for  render- 
ing this  particular  service  and  at  a  direct  loss  to  the  com- 
pany. As  a  result  of  the  rate  reductions  placed  into  effect 
by  the  company  on  July  i,  191 1,  there  was  a  total  decrease 
in  revenue  from  all  sources  in  the  twelve  months  ended 
July  31,  1912,  of  appro.ximately  $1,250,000,  of  which  $850,- 
000,  or  about  70  per  cent,  was  to  the  benefit  of  the  small 
lighting  customer.  Investigation  by  the  company  showed 
that  there  was  no  appreciable  stimulation  in  new  business 
a.s  a  result  of  the  new  rates,  which  confirmed  its  past  ex- 
perience as  to  the  futility  of  relying  upon  any  considerable 
increase  in  new  business  and  revenue  over  the  usual  nat- 
ural growth  to  offset  the  direct  loss  of  revenue  attendant 
upon  the  introduction  of  lower  rates. 

Under  the  new  schedule  the  average  return  has  been  re- 
duced from  7.39  cents  per  kw-hr.  to  6.87  cents  per  kw-hr., 
or  approximately  7.03  per  cent  on  all  the  regular  com- 
mercial business  of  the  company. 

The  average  cost  of  serving  all  customers  of  the  com- 
pany per  kilowatt-hour  sold,  based  on  the  year  1910,  is 
shown  in  Table  I.  These  figures  do  not  include  any  return 
on  the  company's  investment,  any  fixed  charge  or  allow- 
ance for  profit. 

In  partial  justification  of  the  general  policy  of  giving  a 
lower  rate  per  kilowatt-hour  to  the  motor-service  cus- 
tomers than  to  the  retail  lighting  customers,  the  witness 
drew  attention  to  the  relative  costs  of  supplying  these 
classes  of  service.  In  the  case  of  the  New  York  Edison 
Company,  he  stated  that  the  service  connection  for  the 
smaller  consumer  represents  an  investment  of  over  $65, 
or  more  than  $542  per  kilowatt,  while  a  connection  to  a 
larger  consumer  represents  a  figure  which  decreases  with 
increase  in  the  size  of  the  installation  until,  with  an  in- 
stallation of  500  kw  and  over,  the  cost  of  service  connec- 
tions become  insignificant  and  the  burden  of  fixed  charges 
on  this  feature  of  the  investment  is  a  minimum. 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1135 


He  also  spoke  of  the  wide  diversity-factor  found  in  in- 
dustrial service,  the  improvements  in  the  company's  load- 
factor  and  the  resultant  improvement  in  the  general  eco- 
nomic conditions  under  which  the  company's  service  is 
furnished  to  all  consumers  at  reduced  prices  as  a  result  of 
supplying  energy  to  the  large  consumer.  He  called  atten- 
tion to  the  longer  average  use  which  the  large  customer 

TABLE    I. — THE   NEW   YORK    EDISON    COMPANY;   AVERAGE   OPER- 
ATING COST  OF  SERVING  ALL  CLASSES  OF  CUSTOMERS.* 


Cents,  per 

Kw-hr. 

Sold. 

Production  expenses 0 .  748 

Transmission  expenses 0, 194 

Electric  storage  expenses 0 .  00  7 

Distribution  expenses 0.594        , 

Utilization  expenses. 0.284 

Commercial  expenses 0.275 

Genecal  and  miscellaneous  expenses  (exclusive  of  general  amor- 
tization and  taxes) 0.  .138 

General  amortization 0 .  826 

Taxes 0.412 

Total 3.678 

♦Exclusive  of  fixed  charges,  dividends,  etc. 

makes  of  his  installation  than  does  the  ordinary  retail  con- 
sumer, and  also  to  the  more  uniform  use  which  the  former 
makes  of  the  service.  The  597  customers  of  the  company 
in  its  special  wholesale  class  contribute  70  per  cent  as  much 
revenue,  he  said,  as  that  received  from  the  84,435  customers 
in  the'  lo-cent  class.  That  the  general  commercial  principle 
of  charging  a  less  price  for  the  larger  quantity  is  gener- 
ally recognized  and  approved  was  another  point  made  by 
the  company  in  justification  of  lower  rates  to  the  larger 
user  of  its  energy. 

Summarized,  the  defense  of  the  practice,  in  addition  to 
the  foregoing,  was  that  the  wholesale  customer  is  entitled 
to  consideration  in  the  making  of  a  rate  to  fit  his  con- 
ditions of  service,  and  to  credit  for  the  reduced  cost  of 
serving  him,  by  reason  of  the  proportionately  less  cost  to 
him  than  to  the  small  customer  for  plant  equipment,  gen- 
eral .expenses  such  as  management  and  clerical  expenses, 
better  credit,  less  accounting,  less  meter  reading  expenses, 
etc.,  smaller  distribution  expenses  necessary  in  serving  him 
and  better  inherent  load-factor  and  larger  output  required, 
on  which  the  cost  of  giving  electric  service  so  largely  de- 
pends. 

If  the  company  did  not  have  the  large  wholesale  and 
motor-service  customers  which  it  is  able  to  secure  at  the 
lower  rates  of  its  schedule,  it  was  pointed  out,  its  output 
would  be  enormously  reduced  and  it  would  then  become 
necessary  to  charge  the  smaller  classes  of  customers  a 
much  higher  rate  than  at  present.  It  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary, the  witness  stated,  to  maintain  reasonable  and  proper 


tion  rate,  the  company  stated  that  this  predicates  a  long- 
hour  use  of  the  installation  much  greater  than  that  of  the 
average  customer  under  its  general  rates,  and  that  the  rate 
is  still  largely  experimental  and  intended  to  develop  busi- 
ness. Its  application  thus  far  has  been  chiefly  in  the 
charging  of  commercial  electric  vehicles.  Coming  as  it 
does  chiefly  late  at  night  and  in  the  early  morning  hours, 
the  charging  is  done  with  spare  or  lightly  utilized  generat- 
ing equipment,  the  utilization  of  which  serves  the  interests 
of  the  consumers  as  a  whole,  inasmuch  as  it  improves  the 
load-factor  of  the  system.  During  the  past  twelve  months 
only  forty-six  customers  were  served  under  this  rate,  with 
a  total  income  of  $80,624. 

The  matter  of  the  rights  of  the  company  to  supply  energy 
at  wholesale  rates  to  a  landlord  for  re-sale  to  his  tenants, 
a  matter  upon  which  much  time  was  spent  by  the  com- 
plainants, was  discussed  at  length  by  the  witness,  who 
pointed  out  that  the  owner  or  the  lessee  of  a  building  con- 
trols the  installation  of  service  throughout  and  is  at  liberty 
to  make  such  arrangements  as  he  desires  to  supply  his 
tenants  with  light  and  motor  service.  The  rate  at  which 
he  re-sells  it  is  not  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  company. 
Such  matters  as  furnishing  meters  for  each  tenant  to  a 
landlord  who  makes  a  wholesale  contract  with  the  com- 
pany and  assumes  all  the  obligations  thereunder,  including 
a  guarantee  that  he  will  use  only  the  service  furnished  by 
the  company,  were  declared  to  be  supported  by  sound  com- 
mercial considerations. 

A  general  statement  of  considerable  length,  made  to 
show  what  "Edison  service"  stands  for,  discussed,  among 
other  things,  the  many  bureaus  which  the  company  main- 
tains for  the  convenience  and  benefit  of  its  patrons  and  the 
services  of  which  are  furnished  free  of  charge  to  them. 

Another  point  to  which  considerable  attention  was  given 
by  the  complainants  centered  upon  the  practice  of  the  com- 
pany in  two  instances  of  maintaining  substations  on  the 
premises  of  its  customers,  in  return  for  which  a  some- 
what lower  rate  than  that  which  would  have  been  earned 
ordinarily  is  given.  In  one  case,  the  company  explained, 
the  substation  was  installed  when  the  demand  of  the  cus- 
tomer in  what  at  that  time  was  a  remote  district  made 
absolutely  necessary  a  substation  of  some  kind  in  close 
proximity  to  him,  although  the  business  then  in  sight  did 
not  warrant  the  construction  of  a  special  substation.  A 
lease  arrangement  was  therefore  made  under  which  from 
eight  to  ten  times  as  much  energy  has  been  sent  out  into 
the  general  system  as  has  been  supplied  to  this  individual 
customer. 

A  more  recent  substation,  having  a  7000-kw  equipment, 
is  located  in  a  large  department-store  building  in  the  heart 
of  a  very  heavy  demand  for  energy,  and  the  fact  that  the 


;.\BLE    II. THE    NEW    YORK    EDISON    COMPANY;    STATISTICS    OF   CONNECTED    INST.^LLATIONS,    MANHATTAN    AND    BRONX. 


Number  of 

Number  of 

Heating 

Storage 

Year. 

Customers. 

Meters  Set. 

Incandescent 

Arc 

Appliances, 

Battery,  etc.. 

Motors,  hp. 

50- Watt 

Lamps. 

Lamps. 

Kw. 

Kw. 

Equivalents. 

Dec.  31,  1902 

26,211 

33,691 

1,234,043 

16,481 

251 

1,386 

62,377 

2,343,721 

Dec.  31.  1903 

31,749 

40,230 

1,481,638 

19,975 

339 

1,880 

78,683 

2,851,463 

Dec.  31.  1904 

36,408 

46.961 

1,723,482 

25,437 

369 

2,076 

93,441 

3,320,310 

Dec.  31,  1905 

43,630 

56,572 

2,058,060 

27.627 

428 

2,324 

109,371 

3,878,666 

Dec.  31,  1906... 

55,050 

68.990 

2,575,652 

35,234 

570 

3,859 

141,407 

4,923,986 

Dec.  31,  1907 

65,323 

80.809 

3,057,294 

40,679 

921 

4,669    • 

169,588 

5,856,166 

Dec.  31,  1908..  .  . 

73,522 

90.283 

3.429,266 

43,123 

1  ,096 

4,420 

203,962 

6,729,926 

Dec.  31,  1909..  .  , 

84,995 

104,449 

3,813,889 

40,985 

1,230 

5,486 

224,391 

7.422,649 

Dec.  31,  1910.    .  . 

100.059 

121.853 

4,342,933 

40,410 

1,589 

6,571 

263,529 

8,584,725 

Dec.  31.  191 1 

119.971 

144.018 

4,912.428 

39.329 

2.283 

9,024 

309,187 

9,922,562 

price  differentials  for  various  classes  of  customers  under 
their  various  classes  of  service.  The  witness  stated  that  the 
company's  statistics  indicate  that  the  density  of  the  dis- 
tribution in  the  districts  of  wholesale  supply  is  from  twenty 
to  thirty  times  as  great  as  in  the  extended  network  sup- 
plying the  smaller  customers. 

Concerning  its  automobile  storage-battery  and  refrigera- 


company  was  able  to  obtain  such  facilities  in  this  district, 
where  real-estate  values  are  at  the  highest  point,  makes 
them  of  great  value  to  it.  The  output  from  this  station  to 
the  system  is  already  equal  to  that  supplied  to  the  building 
itself,  and  the  outlook  for  further  growth  is  excellent. 
Negotiations  are  now  in  progress,  the  company  stated, 
through  which  the  lease  of  the  premises  for  substation  pur- 


Hid 


ELECTRICAL     W  ( j  R  L  D . 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


poses  will  be  entirely  divorced  from  the  present  practice  of 
deducting  the  rental  from  the  price  of  energy  delivered  to 
the  owner  of  the  building. 

Attention  was  also  called  by  the  company  to  the  fact 
that  the  average  consumption  and  income  per  meter  and 
percustomer  is  continually  decreasing  for  all  classes  of  cus- 
tomers. Average  consumption  has  decreased  from  213 
kw-hr.  for  the  year  ended  July  31,  1908,  to  181  kw-hr.  for 
the  year  ended  July  31,  1912.  This  decrease  is  ascribed 
to  several  causes,  of  which  the  constant  extension  of  the 
company's  service  to  the  more  humble  classes  of  residences 
and  apartments,  by  virtue  of  the  lower  rates  and  the  greater 
extent  to  which  tungsten  lamps  are  used,  together  with  the 
reduced  cost  of  these  lamps,  was  probably  the  most  impor- 
tant. The  company's  policy  of  doing  everything  possible 
to  give  to  its  customers  the  benefits  of  all  improvements 
in  lighting  units  was  dwelt  upon  by  the  witness  at  length. 

In  substantiation  of  the  above  it  was  shown  that  tantalum 
lamps  were  first  delivered  to  the  customers  of  the  New 
York  Edison  Company  in  the  40-watt  size  in  October,  1906, 
at  which  time  the  price  of  these  to  customers  entitled  to 
free  renew^al  of  carbon  lamps  was  35  cents.  The  same 
type  of  lamp  is  furnished  under  schedules  that  went  into 
effect  April  i,  1912,  at  a  charge  to  such  customers  of  17.5 
cents  each.  Tungsten  lamps  were  first  supplied  to  con- 
sumers in  May,  1908,  the  charge  to  customers  entitled  to 
free  renewal  of  carbon  lamps  being  $1  at  that  time  for  the 
40-watt  lamp.  Under  prices  effective  Nov.  i,  1912,  this 
lamp  is  supplied  at  26  cents.  The  6o-w-att  lamp  in  May, 
1908,  was  supplied  to  the  free  renewal  customers  at  $1.25. 
It  is  now  supplied  for  33  cents.  The  loo-watt  lamp  as 
originally  supplied  cost  the  cu'stomers  $1.50.  It  is  now 
furnished  at  38  cents. 

A  series  of  tables  and  curves,  showing  the  statistics  of 
connected  equivalents  of  all  kinds  since  1902,  was  intro- 
duced in  evidence  by  the  company.  A  summary  of  these 
tnbles  appears  in  Table  II 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NE"WS. 


NEW    YORK    COMMISSION. 

Chairman  William  R.  Willcox  of  the  Public  Service 
Commission  for  the  First  District  announced  last  week 
that  conferences  between  the  commission,  the  Interbot- 
ough  Rapid  Transit  Company  and  the  Brooklyn  Rapid 
Transit  Company  on  the  operating  contracts  for  the  dual 
system  of  rapid  transit  are  drawing  to  a  close,  and  that 
within  a  short  time  the  commission  will  be  able  to  adver- 
tise those  contracts  for  public  hearing.  These  are  the  con- 
tracts by  which  the  companies  mentioned  will  get  an  oper- 
ating lease  for  forty-nine  years  upon  the  new  subway  and 
elevated  lines  in  the  dual  system  respectively  allotted  tn 
them.  This  system  will  embrace  more  than  Ooo  miles  nt 
single-track  underground  and  elevated  railroad  and  will 
cost  about  $350,000,000.  Aside  from  the  contracts  the 
commission  is  pushing  work  on  many  of  the  details  of  this 
vast  scheme  of  transportation.  Construction  work  on  Lex- 
ington Avenue,  Manhattan,  and  in  Brooklyn  and  the  Bronx 
is  going  on  to  the  extent  of  more  than  $70,000,000  already. 
Consents  of  property  owners  are  being  obtained  on  soirn: 
of  the  new  routes,  and  on  others  the  commission  has  ap- 
plied to  the  Appellate  Division  of  the  Supreme  Court  for 
a  determination  in  lieu  of  such  consents.  The  engineering 
department  is  rushing  work  on  the  plans  as  well  as  super- 
vising the  immense  amount  of  construction  work  alreadv 
going  on.  It  is  probable  that  the  first  part  of  the  dual 
system  will  be  placed  in  operation  some  time  next  year. 
This  part  will  be  the  Fourth  Avenue  subway  in  Brooklyn 
from  the  Manhattan  Bridge  and  its  connection  in  Manhat- 
tan, the  Centre  Street  loop  subway,  which  connects  the 
Williamsburgh  and  Manhattan  Bridges,  over  which  trains 


from  the  I'ourth  Avenue  subway  and  the  Brooklyn  Rapid 
Transit  elevated  lines  enter  Manhattan.  This  part  of  the 
dual  system  will  be  operated  by  the  New  York  Municipal 
Railway,  a  company  organized  by  the  Brooklyn  Rapid 
Transit  interests  for  the  purpose.  Eventually  that  com- 
pany's elevated  lines  to  Coney  Island  will  be  connected  with 
and  operated  as  a  part  of  the  Fourth  Avenue  subway, 

MARYLAND    COMMISSION. 

The  Maryland  Public  Service  Commission  has  now 
heard  all  the  arguments  in  the  gas  and  electric  rate  inves- 
tigation. Mr.  Ritchie  concluded  the  people's  case  after  the 
attorneys  for  the  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company  had  summed  up  all  of  their  arguments  why  the 
present  rates  should  stand,  and  it  was  generally  thought 
that  the  case  would  be  submitted  to  the  commission.  But 
unexpected  developments  occurred  later,  when,  by  consent 
of  the  commission,  Mr.  James  E.  Aldred,  president  of  the 
Consolidated  Company,  made  an  elaborate  and  extended 
statement  of  the  position  of  his  company.  The  burden  of 
Mr.  Aldred's  argument  was  that  the  people  of  Baltimore, 
having  through  their  representatives  in  the  State  Legis- 
lature and  City  Council  authorized  or  tolerated  the  issue 
of  all  securities  of  the  existing  company  and  those  com- 
panies now  merged  into  it,  should  not  escape  responsibility 
to  the  investor  who  has  purchased  these  securities.  He 
insisted  that  the  value  of  these  securities  should  not  be 
interfered  with  through  the  instrumentality  of  another 
agency  of  the  people.  Mr.  Aldred,  in  discussing  the  waste- 
ful and  mistaken  policy  of  competition,  appeared  to  have 
reached  a  conclusion  not  unlike  the  people's  contention. 
It  is  true  that  he  transferred  the  final  responsibility  from 
the  organizers  of  the  companies  to  the  Legislature  that 
approved  the  consolidation,  but  in  reference  to  the  financial 
justification  of  the  process  he  and  Mr.  Ritchie,  the  oppos- 
ing counsel,  seem  to  be  in  perfect  accord.  The  commis- 
sion will  take  the  matter  under  advisement  and  the  deci- 
sion is  not  really  expected  until  early  in  January. 

WISCONSIN    COMMISSION. 

The  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission  has  rendered  its 
decision  on  the  petition  of  the  Commercial  Club  of  Superior 
for  lower  lighting  rates.  The  investigation  showed  that 
the  revenues  of  the  Superior  Water,  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany from  its  lighting  service  were  high  enough  to  justify 
a  reduction  in  rates,  and  that,  furthermore,  the  rates  were 
inequitable  and  such  as  to  tend  to  retard  the  development 
of  at  least  certain  parts  of  the  business  involved.  The 
present  primary  rate  of  10  cents  net  per  kw-hr.  for  the  first 
four  hours'  use  per  day  of  the  connected  load  was  objec- 
tionable because  of  the  considerable  use  of  energy  to  which 
the  primary  rate  applies. 

The  evidence  in  the  case  centered  primarily  upon  the 
rate  of  income  and  the  amount  of  capital  properly  taken 
in  computing  the  total  return.  The  value  of  the  electric 
plant,  according  to  the  company's  books,  was  $620,900.  The 
cost  of  reproduction,  according  to  the  commission's  ap- 
praisal of  June  30,  1911,  was  $395,096,  and  the  present 
value  $295,575.  The  company's  total  valuation  included 
items  of  approximately  $120,000  for  discarded  apparatus, 
$61,000  for  discount  on  bonds,  reorganization  expenses 
and  depreciation  in  land  values.  In  addition  to  the  book 
value  the  defendant  claimed  considerable  amounts  for  go- 
ing value  and  working  capital.  Due  consideration  was 
given  to  these  contentions  by  the  commission  in  arriving 
at  a  value  to  be  used  for  rate-making  purposes.  In  dis- 
cussing the  company's  contention  that  all  bond  discounts 
on  6  per  cent  bonds  should  be  included  in  the  valuation, 
the  commission  pointed  out  that  the  question  to  be  deter- 
mined was  whether  the  capital  necessary  for  the  construc- 
tion of  the  plants  could  have  been  secured  on  any  better 
terms.  It  was  noted  that  the  development  work  was  car- 
ried on  about  the  time  of  the  panic  in  1893  ^"d  that,  while 
bonds  have  been  sold  to  local  investors  at  a  higher  price 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1137 


than  80  during  the  boom  period  in  Superior,  it  did  not  seem 
probable  that  a  higher  price  could  have  been  secured  from 
outside  investors  in  a  practically  untried  enterprise  with 
very  little  earning  power.  It  was  held  that  a  part  at  least 
of  the  bond  discounts  should  be  included  in  the  plant  value, 
for  ''if  business  enterprises  cannot  secure  capital  on  any 
better  terms,  then  it  necessarily  follows  that  such  bond  dis- 
counts must  represent  a  part  of  the  cost  of  securing  the 
capital."  The  commission,  however,  does  not  assume  that 
all  discounts  should  constitute  a  proper  addition  to  phys- 
ical value,  inasmuch  as  this  would  discriminate  in  favor 
of  the  company  with  poor  credit.  The  commission  was 
of  the  opinion  that  the  sum  of  $26,000  should  be  included 
in  the  value  of  the  electric  plant,  which  sum  represents  the 
estimated  amount  of  discount  over  the  prevailing  rate  of 
interest  necessarily  offered  in  the  open  market  to  secure 
funds  for  construction  purposes. 

iWhile  depreciation  at  the  rate  of  6.75  per  cent  on  the 
reconstruction  cost  was  provided  for  by  the  company  for 
the  year  191 1,  the  commission  held  that  a  rate  of  4.5  per 
cent  was  suflicient.  An  allowance  of  $11,500  for  working 
capital  was  included  in  the  valuation,  as  was  also  an  allow- 
ance of  $55,000  for  going  value.  In  its  consideration  of 
the  question  of  going  value  the  commission  noted  that  the 
investment  in  the  physical  property  of  the  defendant  com- 
pany was  greater  at  various  periods  than  the  innnediate 
business  of  the  company  required  and  that  upon  the  col- 
lapse of  the  boom  in  Superior  the  company  found  itself 
encumbered  with  plants  considerably  larger  than  necessary 
to  supply  the  needs  of  all  users.  "Going  costs  incurred 
during  periods  of  depression  become  a  burden  upon  suc- 
ceeding years  until  the  natural  condition  of  business  growth 
may  again  exist  and  the  company  is  able  to  recoup  itself 
for  early  losses.  It  is  not  clear,  however,  that  such  losses 
due  to  lack  of  growth  or  retrogression  of  community  de- 
velopment should  be  charged  in  their  entirety  against  the 
consumers,  even  though  the  sacrifices  of  the  owners  have 
been  prudently  made." 

The  .depreciation  which  has  taken  place  in  real  estate 
value  since  the  purchase  during  the  boom  period  was 
taken  into  consideration  in  determining  the  total  valua- 
tion. By  including  all  items  a  total  valuation  of  approx- 
imately $480,000  was  arrived  at,  and  it  appeared  that  the 
net  earnings  were  sufficient  to  yield  a  reasonable  return 
on  this  amount  and  to  allow  for  some  reduction  in  rates. 
It  was  pointed  out  that  a  determination  of  the  value  of 
the  electric  plant  for  rate-making  purposes  at  this  time 
was  complicated  by  the  fact  that  the  plant  had  reached  its 
economical  capacity  and  that  extensions  and  additions  must 
be  made  in  the  near  future.  The  investment  in  an  ade- 
quate plant  must  be  taken  into  consideration,  but  the  com- 
mission did  not  consider  it  advisable  to  make  present  con- 
sumers bear  the  entire  burden  of  these  future  additions, 
beyond  a  slight  increase  in  the  unit  costs. 

By  allowing  an  8  per  cent  rate  of  return  the  following 
unit  costs  were  arrived  at:  For  one  hour's  daily  use  of  the 
active  connected  load,  12.38  cents;  for  two  hours'  use, 
7.67  cents;  for  three  hours'  use,  6.10  cents;  for  five  hours' 
use,  4.85  cents;  for  ten  hours',  3.91  cents.  Upon  this  basis 
the  following  rate  schedule  for  incandescent  lighting  was 
ordered:  Primary  rate,  10  cents  net  per  kw-hr.  for  energy 
used  equivalent  to  or  less  than  the  first  forty  hours'  use 
per  month  of  the  active  connected  load;  secondary  rate, 
7.5  cents  net  per  kw-hr.  for  additional  energy  used  equiv- 
alent to  or  less  than  the  next  sixty  hours'  use;  excess  rate, 
5  cents  net  for  energy  in  e-xcess  of  100  hours'  use  per 
month  of  the  active  connected  load.  For  all  signs  and  out- 
side decorative  lighting  a  charge  of  6  cents  net  on  a  yearly 
contract  basis  will  be  made.  For  window,  showcase  and 
basement  salesroom  lighting  there  is  to  be  a  charge  of  7 
cents  net,  and  for  energy  utilized  for  heating  or  cooking 
purposes,  5  cents  net. 

In   Class   A,   consisting  of   residences,   flats   and   private 


rooming  houses,  the  active  connected  load  is  to  be  taken 
as  60  per  cent  of  the  connected  load  up  to  500  watts  and 
33.3  per  cent  of  the  connected  load  in  excess  of  500  watts. 
In  Class  B,  consisting  of  banks,  offices,  business  and  pro- 
fessional establishments,  public  halls,  depots,  etc.,  the  active 
connected  load  is  to  be  taken  as  70  per  cent  of  the  con- 
nected load  when  the  total  connected  load  is  equal  to  or  less 
than  2.5  kw.  If  the  installation  exceeds  2.5  kw  nominal 
rated  capacity,  55  per  cent  of  such  a  part  of  the  con- 
nected load  over  and  above  2.5  kw  is  to  be  taken  as  active. 
Ill  Class  C,  consisting  of  federal,  state  and  county  build- 
ings, churches,  hotels,  small  factories,  etc.,  55  per  cent  of 
the  connected  load  is  to  be  taken  as  active.  In  Class  D, 
consisting  of  sign  and  window  lighting  on  a  yearly  con- 
tract basis,  100  per  cent  is  to  be  regarded  as  active.  The 
minimum  bill  for  general  commercial  and  residence  light- 
ing is  to  consist  of  a  charge  of  5  cents  per  50-watt  unit  per 
month.  The  minimum  bill  for  heating  and  cooking  is  to  be 
$1  net  per  kw  installed. 

No  change  was  ordered  in  either  the  motor  service  or 
arc-lighting  rates,  although  it  developed  that  the  cost  of 
supplying  the  latter  was  greater  than  the  revenues  re- 
ceived. The  company  is  contemplating  the  substitution  of 
tungsten  lamps  for  the  present  7.5-amp  inclosed  alternating- 
current  arc  lamps,  and  the  commission,  therefore,  did  not 
think  it  advisable  to  make  any  recommendations  at  the 
present  time. 

CALIFORNIA     CO.MMISSION 

The  Railroad  Commission  has  ordered  a  reduction  from 
30  cents  to  25  cents  in  the  telephone  rates  between  San 
Francisco  and  Hayward,  and  Oakland  and  the  towns  of 
Mill  Valley,  Palo  Alto,  Redwood  City,  San  Mateo  and  San 
Rafael. 

The  commission  has  rendered  a  decision  granting  per- 
mission to  the  Southern  California  Utilities  Company  to 
issue  $10,000,000  of  bonds.  The  proceeds  of  these  bonds 
will  be  used  for  the  development  of  an  extensive  land  and 
irrigation  system  embracing  30,000  acres  in  Riverside 
County. 


Current   News  and  Notes 

Electrical  Energy  for  San  Diego  Exposition. — An 
arrangement  has  been  made  by  which  the  San  Diego  (Cal.) 
Consolidated  Gas  &  Electric  Company  will  supply  electrical 
energy  for  building  operations  during  the  construction  of 
the  Panama-California  Exposition  structures.  Construction 
will  extend,  probably,  over  a  period  of  three  years,  and  it 
is  expected  that  additional  motors  will  be  added  as  needed. 
The  initial  contract  is  for  motors  rated  at  142  hp  to  be 
used  to  operate  concrete  nii.xers,  woodworking  inachinery 
and  the  like. 


N.  E.  L.  A.  Rate  Research  Committee  Discusses  Forms 
FOR  Filing  Schedules. — A  well-attended  meeting  of  the 
rate  research  committee  of  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association  was  held  in  Chicago  on  Nov.  19  and  20.  Chair- 
man E.  W.  Lloyd  presided,  and  the  other  members  present 
were  Messrs.  S.  E.  Doane,  R.  S.  Hale,  Frank  W.  Smith, 
W.  K.  Winslow,  R.  A.  Philip  and  J.  D.  Lyon.  Mr.  William 
J.  Norton,  secretary  of  the  committee,  also  attended  the 
meetings,  which  were  held  at  his  office,  the  committee 
having  its  headquarters  this  year  in  Chicago.  President 
Frank  M.  Tait  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  and  Past-president  John 
F.  Gilchrist  attended  some  of  the  sessions.  The  committee 
devoted  considerable  time  to  a  discussion  of  the  complex 
subject  of  drafting  forms  for  the  filing  of  company 
schedules,  and  it  made  progress  in  covering  all  the  important 
phases  of  this  branch  of  its  work.  The  next  meeting  will 
iDe  held  in  Cleveland  on  Tan.  q  and  10. 


1 138 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol..  60,  No.  22. 


All-Night  Lighting  for  Minot,  N.  D. — The  city  of 
Minot,  N.  D.,  has  entered  into  a  new  contract  with  the 
Consumers'  Power  Company  providing  for  all-night  and 
every-night  service  in  place  of  the  former  schedule  based 
on  moonlight. 

*  *     * 

Demonstration  of  the  Pulmotor. — At  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  Westchester  County  Medical  Society  recently 
held  at  White  Plains,  N.  Y.,  a  demonstration  was  made  of 
the  pulmotor  which  the  Westchester  Lighting  Company  has 
purchased  for  use  in  resuscitating  victims  from  electric 
shock.  Much  interest  was  shown  by  the  medical  men 
present. 

*  *     * 

Chicago  February  Motor- Vehicle  Show. — The  annual 
Chicago  exhibit  of  commercial  motor  vehicles  will  be  held 
in  the  Coliseum  and  First  Regiment  Armory  from  Feb.  10 
to  IS,  1913.  Sixty-five  manufacturers  have  contracted  for 
space,  and  both  electric  and  gasoline  wagons  will  be  shown. 
The  number  of  exhibitors  showing  motor  vehicles  of  both 
types  will  be  larger  than  ever  before,  it  is  thought. 


Suburban  Extensions  Near  Minneapolis. — The  Minne- 
apolis General  Electric  Company  has  closed  a  ten-year  con- 
tract for  the  sale  of  electrical  energy  to  the  Northern 
Power  Company,  which  operates  in  the  villages  of  Ex- 
celsior, Deephaven,  Tonka  Bay,  Wazata  and  a  number  of 
other  communities  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Minnetonka  near 
Minneapolis.  In  this  area  there  is  at  present  a  summer 
population  of  about  12,000  and  a  winter  population  of  about 
5000.  To  serve  it  a  9-mile  continuation  of  the  transmission 
line  now  being  extended  to  Hopkins,  Minn.,  will  be  neces- 
sary. The  Northern  Power  Company,  which  is  rapidly 
extending  its  lines  to  all  of  the  summer  resorts  around  the 
lake,  will  shut  down  its  steam  generating  station  at 
Excelsior. 

+     *     + 

Water-Power  Development  in  Connection  with 
Canal  Systems. — The  New  York  State  Commission  on 
Barge  Canal  Operation,  which  has  recently  returned  from 
an  inspection  of  a  portion  of  the  Canadian  canal  system, 
reports  the  general  feasibility  of  water-power  development 
as  one  of  the  by-products  in  canal  construction  and  opera- 
tion. The  commission  has  pointed  out  that  the  Dominion 
government  in  connection  with  canalization  has  disposed  of 
the  accompanying  hydraulic  rights  by  lease,  and  coincident 
with  the  canal  construction  there  is  going  forward  the  crea- 
tion of  forebays  and  the  construction  of  power  houses  for 
the  development  of  several  thousand  horse-power.  Private 
capital  is  doing  all  the  development  work,  outside  of  the 
canals,  locks  and  dams,  under  twenty-one-year  leases,  with 
renewal  clauses  for  an  additional  period  of  forty-two  years. 

*     *     * 

The  Winds  of  the  United  States. — The  climatologist 
of  the  United  States  Weather  Bureau,  Mr.  P.  C.  Day,  has 
prepared  an  interesting  contribution  to  the  191 1  year  book 
of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  entitled  "The  Winds  of 
the  United  States  and  Their  Economic  Uses."  Mr.  Day's 
monograph  has  now  been  published  as  a  separate  pamphlet, 
h  discusses  changes  in  velocity  due  to  elevation,  hourly 
velocities,  high  winds  on  the  middle  Pacific  Coast,  winds 
in  mountain  regions,  the  daily  march  of  the  wind,  extreme 
velocities,  the  economic  use  of  wind  and  localities  favor- 
able for  the  successful  use  of  windmills.  The  bulletin 
states  that  one  of  the  most  promising  fields  for  the  future 
successful  development  of  power  from  the  use  of  the  wind- 
mill lies  in  the  possibilities  of  successfully  generating  and 
storing  electrical  energy,  which  may  be  used  later  for  the 
heating  and  lighting  of  country  or  suburban  homes,  charg- 
ing electric  motor  cars,  working  agricultural  machinery, 
cooking,  irrigation  pumping,  etc.     Electric  turbines  of  this 


character  are  now  in  successful  operation  in  England  and 
evidently  a  wide  field  of  usefulness  is  open  to  them  in  this 
country. 

*  *     * 

Basis  of  Rate  Making. — The  National  Civic  Federation 
has  recently  distributed  advance  sheets  of  that  portion  of 
its  compilation  and  analysis  of  public-utility  regulation  laws 
of  the  United  States  relating  to  the  specific  question  of 
rate  making.  This  is  one  of  the  fifteen  parts  of  the  com- 
plete compilation  and  is  printed  for  and  distributed  to  in- 
terested persons,  subject  to  subsequent  additions,  deductions 
and  alterations.  The  analysis  is  subdivided  under  four 
headings,  as  follows:  (a)  general  requirements  as  to  rea- 
sonableness of  rates;  (b)  elements  to  be  considered  as  a 
basis  for  reasonable  rates;  (c)  valuation  of  the  property 
of  utilities;  (d)  sliding  scale,  profit  sharing,  automatic  ad- 
justment, minimum  charge  and  graduated  charges.  Mr. 
John  H.  Gray,  i  Madison  Avenue,  New  York,  is  director  of 
investigation. 

*  *     * 

The  I.  E.  S.  Illumination  Primer. — "Light:  Its  Use 
and  Misuse,"  a  primer  on  light  and  illumination  which  has 
been  published  by  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society,  as 
noted  previously  in  these  columns,  has  already  gone  into  a 
second  edition.  Written  in  a  clear  and  comprehensive  man- 
ner for  popular  reading,  this  little  pamphlet  has  met  with 
inmiediate  favor.  It  has  occasioned  considerable  compli- 
mentary criticism  from  people  who  are  generally  supposed 
to  have  little  or  no  interest  in  the  subject  of  lighting.  From 
the  heads  of  engineering  and  physics  departments  of  schools 
and  colleges  the  society  has  received  numerous  letters  of 
commendation,  together  with  requests  for  quantities  of  the 
primer  for  distribution  to  students.  Architects,  engineers, 
oculists,  merchants  and  others  have  also  expressed  their 
appreciation  of  the  publication.  Several  lighting  companies 
are  planning  to  issue  it  to  their  customers.  One  large 
manufacturing  company  in  London  has  cabled  for  permis- 
sion to  print  and  distribute  a  large  edition  in  Europe.  It  is 
not  unlikely  that  many  additional  editions  will  be  printed. 


Depreciation  of  Public  Service  Properties. — Under 
the  title  "Should  Public  Service  Properties  Be  Depreciated 
to  Obtain  Fair  Value  in  Rate  or  Regulation  Cases?"  Mr. 
James  E.  Allison,  commissioner  and  chief  engineer  of  the 
St.  Louis  Public  Service  Commission,  presented  an  interest- 
ing report  to  the  commission  under  date  of  Sept.  11,  1912. 
Mr.  Allison  submitted  elaborate  arguments  in  support  of 
the  proposition  that  a  depreciation  reserve  fund  is  unnec- 
essary and  that  it  is  consequently  improper  to  deduct  de- 
preciation from  reproduction  cost  in  arriving  at  the  fair 
present  value.  Among  the  conclusions  presented  at  the 
end  of  the  report  are  the  following:  "A  review  of  this 
report  would  show  that  in  dealing  with  a  property  giving 
good  service  the  just  amount  to  be  earned  on  should  include 
the  cost  of  gross  value  of  the  property  efficiently  serving 
the  public  at  the  time  of  the  valuation,  unless  it  may  be 
shown  that  the  public  has  reimbursed  the  owners  of  the 
property  for  the  amount  of  the  proposed  depreciation.  In 
most  valuations  of  public  utilities  we  are  dealing  with  a 
situation  where  there  has  been  in  the  past  no  regulation  of 
rates  based  upon  a  reasonable  return  and  where  there  has 
been  no  legal  requirement  of  a  depreciation  fund.  . 
In  the  case  of  a  heretofore  unregulated  property  it  cannot 
be  shown  that  the  company  should  have  set  aside  deprecia- 
tion charges  to  accumulate  a  fund  equal  to  the  theoretical 
depreciation,  for  such  a  fund  would  be  needless.  .  .  . 
The  conclusion  seems  clear,  then,  that  in  all  cases  of  here- 
tofore unregulated  properties  we  cannot  justly  depreciate 
to  obtain  fair  value  unless  we  admit  the  justice  of  ex  post 
facto  laws  or  equivalent  regulation,  or  unless  we  interpret 
fair  value  to  mean  market  value  and  not  just  amount." 


November  30.  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1139 


Work  of  the  Commercial  Section,  N.  E.  L.  A. — A 
meeting  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Commercial  Sec- 
tion of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  will  be 
held  in  Chicago  on  Dec.  9.  Mr.  E.  W.  Lloyd,  general  con- 
tract agent  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  120 
West  Adams  Street,  Chicago,  is  chairman  of  the  section. 
Plans  will  be  discussed  for  the  work,  which  will  be  reported 
at  the  Chicago  convention  of  the  association  June,  1913. 

*  *     * 

Huge  Norwegian  Hydroelectric  Project. — It  is  re- 
ported that  financiers  have  asked  permission  of  the  Nor- 
wegian government  to  harness  the  Aura  and  Lilledal  Rivers, 
east  of  Molde,  in  the  Romsdalen  district,  Norway.  The 
scheme  involves  the  erection  of  a  dam  140  ft.  high  and  the 
transmission  of  water  through  a  tunnel  to  Sundalen,  where 
200,000  hp  could  be  developed.  The  estimated  cost  of  the 
project  is  $10,000,000  and  the  scheme  if  carried  out  will 
result  in  one  of  the  largest  hydroelectric  power  plants  in 
the  world. 

*  *     * 

Report  on  San  Francisco  Traction  Franchises. — Mr. 
Bion  J.  Arnold,  consulting  engineer,  has  submitted  to  the 
San  Francisco  Board  of  Supervisors  his  preliminary  report 
No.  13,  dealing  generally  with  present  transportation  con- 
ditions in  that  city  and  specifically  with  legal  and  franchise 
matters  and  charter  amendments  in  connection  therewith. 
An  appendix  to  the  report  contains  a  resume  of  the  present 
charter  provisions,  discussions  thereof  and  proposed  amend- 
ments, a  letter  transmitting  a  charter  amendment  recom- 
mended by  a  sub-committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  Delos  F. 
Wilcox,  E.  A.  Walcott  and  Bion  J.  Arnold,  a  synopsis  of 
the  amendments  by  Mr.  Wilcox,  and  the  text  of  the  charter 

amendment  as  adopted. 

*  *     * 

Conservation. — In  a  recent  number  of  the  bi-monthly 
bulletin  of  the  Indiana  State  Library,  issue  No.  5  of  Vol.  7, 
under  date  of  September,  there  is  published  a  list  of  selected 
books  and  papers  on  the  subject  of  conservation  and  natural 
resources.  The  bulletin  bears  the  title  "A  Guide  to  the 
Study  of  Conservation."  The  field  of  conservation  is 
divided  under  the  following  headings:  Lands,  waters, 
forests,  minerals,  vital  resources,  and  general.  A  list  of  the 
more  important  organizations  devoted  to  conservation  is 
also  contained  in  the  bulletin,  together  with  references  to 
magazine  literature  and  the  publications  of  the  federal 
government.  Mr.  D.  C.  Brown  is  the  librarian  and  secre- 
tary   of   the    Indiana    State    Library    Board,    Indianapolis. 

Ind. 

*  *     * 

N.  E.  L.  A.  Convention  Trip  Competition. — Last  season 
the  Brooklyn  Company  Section  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association  held  a  competition  the  winners  of  which 
were  sent  to  the  Seattle  convention  at  the  company's 
expense.  A  similar  competition  is  now  under  way.  the 
winner  to  have  a  free  trip  to  the  Chicago  convention  in 
June.  The  competition  is  open  to  all  members  of  the 
Brooklyn  Company  Section,  excepting  members  of  the  staff 
council  and  the  winners  of  the  1912  competition.  Each 
competitor  is  to  be  rated  on  the  following  basis:  For 
writing  a  paper  which  shall  be  accepted  for  presentation 
before  the  section  at  a  regular  meeting,  such  a  number  of 
points  as  the  merits  of  the  paper  shall  warrant,  in  no  case 
to  exceed  100  points.  An  additional  five  points  will  be 
given  to  competitors  who  submit  acceptable  papers  before 
Dec.  I,  1912.  Ten  points,  according  to  the  merits  of  the 
discussion,  will  be  given  for  taking  part  in  the  discussion 
of  papers  presented  at  any  regular  meeting.  One  point  is 
given  for  each  meeting  attended  by  the  contestant  during 

the  session. 

*  *     * 

Commissioner  Eshleman  on  Public  Utility  Regula- 
tion.— Chairman    John    M.    Eshleman    of    the    California 


Railroad  Commission  addressed  the  members  of  the  Boston 
City  Club  on  Nov.  21,  his  subject  being  "Control  of  Public 
Service  Corporations  by  a  Single  Commission."  Mr.  Esh- 
leman described  the  conditions  in  California  under  the  old 
regime  and  related  the  course  of  the  movement  which 
resulted  in  the  creation  of  the  Public  Utility  Commission. 
The  three  subjects  of  regulation,  he  said,  are  rates,  service 
and  securities,  and  all  of  these  should  be  regulated  regard- 
less of  the  character  of  the  utility.  Divided  authority  be- 
tween city  and  state  as  to  utilities  operating  within  and 
without  cities  means  duplication  of  work  as  many  times 
over  as  the  authority  is  divided.  It  is  obviously  wasteful, 
he  declared,  to  employ  a  number  of  agencies  to  accomplish 
that  which  could  be  better  done  by  one.  Mr.  Eshleman 
also  referred  to  the  need  which  all  public  service  commis- 
sions have  of  expert  assistance  and  advice.  Prof.  Bruce 
Wyman,  of  Harvard  University,  also  spoke  earnestly  on 
the  necessity  of  having  in  Massachusetts  a  commission 
with  powers  like  those  of  the  California  Commission  in- 
stead of  the  present  divided  commissions  with  limited 
powers.  Massachusetts  now  has  four  commissions,  the  con- 
solidation of  which  has  been  proposed. 


Activities  of  the  New  York  Companies'  Section, 
N.  E.  L.  A. — The  New  York  Edison  Company  has  extended 
an  invitation  to  all  Class  B  members  of  the  New  York 
Companies'  Section  to  enrol  in  its  commercial  educational 
courses.  These  are  conducted  by  a  special  corps  under  the 
direction  of  the  Educational  Bureau,  and  lectures  are  given 
each  week  by  various  experts  of  national  repute,  written 
examinations  being  held  after  each  lecture.  The  topic  for 
discussion  at  the  December  meeting  of  New  York  Com- 
panies' Section  will  be  "Meters."  At  the  meeting  to  be 
held  on  Jan.  20  Mr.  Frank  M.  Tait,  president  of  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association,  will  address  the  sec- 
tion, which,  it  is  claimed,  has  the  distinction  of  being  the 
largest  company  section.  It  has  been  decided  to  provide 
free  transportation  for  three  members  to  the  next  conven- 
tion of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  at  Chicago,  and  a  committee  has 
been  appointed  to  supervise  the  arrangements  for  a  con- 
vention trip  contest.  Prizes  are  being  offered  each  month 
by  the  publication  committee  of  the  section  for  the  best 
three  original  cartoons  drawn  by  Class  B  members,  the 
cartoons  to  be  published  in  the  company  section  bulletin. 


SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  Cedarmen. — The  Northwest- 
ern Cedarmen's  Association  will  hold  its  annual  meeting  at 
Duluth,  Minn.,  on  Jan.  7  and  8.  Mr.  H.  H.  McKinney, 
743  Lumber  Exchange,  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  is  secretary 
of  the  association. 

Texas  A.  and  M.  College  Branch,  A.  I.  E.  E. — -At  a 
recent  meeting  of  the  Texas  Agricultural  and  Mechanical 
College  Branch,  A.  I.  E.  E.,  College  Station,  Tex.,  Mr. 
S.  E.  Bowler,  of  Fort  Worth,  was  chosen  chairman  and 
Mr.  E.  S.  Lammers,  Dallas,  was  made  secretary.  Topics 
for  the  coming  sessions  of  the  year  have  been  announced 
as  follows:  Nov.  15,  "Electricity  as  Applied  to  the  Farm," 
by  Mr.  P.  W.  Walker;  "Central-Station  Design,"  by  Mr. 
M.  L.  Anderson.  Dec.  2,  "Comparison  of  Aluminum  and 
Mercury-Arc  Rectifiers,"  by  Mr.  H.  C.  von  Roseberg: 
"Unity  Power-Factor  Motor,"  by  Prof.  J.  E.  Lear.  Dec.  13, 
"Engineering  Experiment  Station  Work  at  the  University 
of  Illinois,"  by  Mr.  O.  B.  Wooten ;  "Gas-Electric  Plant  in 
a  Cement  Mill,"  by  Mr.  J.  F.  Brown.  Jan.  10,  "Steam- 
Turbine  Development,"  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Neff;  "Spherical  Pho- 
tometry," by  Mr.  R.  W.  Nolte.  Jan.  24,  "Efficiency  Engi- 
neering," by  Mr.  J.  H.  Proctor;  "The  Agricultural  and 
Mechanical   Central   Station."  by  Mr.   D.   H.   Levy. 


1 140 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


Annual  Meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee,  Iowa 
Electrical  Association. — The  annual  meeting  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  Iowa  Electrical  Association 
was  held  at  the  Hotel  Keokuk,  Keokuk,  la.,  on  Nov.  15. 
Mr.  W.  H.  Thompson,  of  Davenport,  was  elected  president 
of  the  committee  and   Mr.   H.   B.   Maynor,   of   Waterloo, 

vice-president. 

*  *     * 

Birmingham  Association  of  Electrical  Engineers. — 
At  the  November  meeting  of  the  Birmingham  Asrociation 
of  Electrical  Engineers  the  following  officers  were  elected 
for  the  ensuing  year:  President,  Mr.  F.  V.  Underwood; 
vice-president,  Mr.  D.  J.  Gaboury;  secretary-treasurer,  Mr. 
W.  H.  Fleming.  Mr.  Underwood,  the  newly  elected  presi- 
dent, is  superintendent  of  the  electric-lighting  department  of 
the  Birmingham  Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company.  Mr. 
Gaboury  is  electrical  engineer  for  the  Woodward  Iron 
Company.  The  Birmingham  association  has  enjoyed  a 
gratifying  growth  during  the  past  year  and  numbers  among 
its   members   many   of   the   leading   electrical   engineers   of 

the  South. 

*  *     * 

Baltimore  Section,  A.  I.  E.  E. — The  Baltimore  Section 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  met  on 
the  evening  of  Nov.  22  in  the  Physical  Laboratory  of  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  and  the  following  papers  dealing  with 
telephone  topics  were  presented:  "Toll  Line  Traffic,"  by 
Mr.  L.  McC.  Clarke,  traffic  engineer;  "Outside  Construc- 
tion," by  Mr.  L.  F.  Cromwell,  district  plant  engineer; 
"Telephone  Transmission,"  by  Mr.  H.  B.  Stabler,  equip- 
ment engineer,  and  "Electrolysis,"  by  Mr.  F.  T.  Iddings, 
chief  cable  tester.  All  of  the. authors  were  connected  with 
the  Chesapeake  &  Potomac  Telephone  Company.  After  all 
of  the  papers  had  been  read  a  general  discussion  ensued. 
At   the    December    meeting    of    the    section    a    dinner    will 

be  held. 

*  *     * 

New  Officers  for  Iowa  Electrical  Association. — A 
meeting  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Iowa  Electrical 
Association  was  held  in  Keokuk,  la.,  on  Nov.  15,  at  which 
Mr.  W.  H.  Thomson,  Jr.,  manager  of  the  Des  Moines 
Electric  Company,  was  elected  president  to  fill  the  vacancy 
occasioned  by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Paul  B.  Sawyer,  for- 
merly of  Dubuque,  and  Mr.  H.  B.  Maynard,  secretary  of  the 
Citizens'  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Waterloo,  la.,  was 
chosen  as  secretary  to  succeed  Mr.  A.  W.  Zahm,  whose 
acceptance  of  the  position  of  manager  of  the  Minneapolis 
Electric  Equipment  Company,  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  was 
noted  in  our  personal  columns  in  the  issue  of  Nov.  16. 
Following  the  transaction  of  regular  business,  the  members 
of  the  committee  were  guests  of  the  Mississippi  River 
Power  Company,  the  Stone-Webster  Company  and  the 
Hydraulic  Engineering  Company  of  Maine,  visiting  the 
power  house  and  dam  which  are  now  nearing  completion. 

*  *     * 

Baltimore  N.  E.  L.  A. — About  700  members  of  the  elec- 
trical division  of  the  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  & 
Power  Company  of  Baltimore  recently  had  a  social  rally  in 
the  Industrial  Building,  Greenmount  Avenue  and  Preston 
Street,  when  the  company  acted  as  host,  the  aim  being  to 
bring  its  busy  army  of  workers  into  closer  social  inter- 
course. Brief  talks  were  made  by  Mr.  Herbert  A.  Wagner, 
vice-president  of  the  company  and  head  of  the  electrical 
division;  Mr.  Douglass  Burnett,  manager  of  the  commercial 
department,  and  Mr.  E.  D.  Edmonston,  general  superin- 
tendent. Vice-president  Wagner  gave  a  thrill  of  delight  to 
his  audience  by  making  the  announcement  that  the  company 
would  send  five  of  its  employees,  selected  from  the  ranks, 
to  the  annual  meeting  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Asso- 
ciation to  be  held  in  Chicago  next  July.  The  men  are  to  be 
chosen  on  merit  in  the  progress  made  in  their  work  in  the 
interim.     The  company  will  defray  all  expenses  of  the  trip. 


New  York  Electrical  Society. — At  the  314th  meeting 
of  the  New  York  Electrical  Society,  which  was  held  in  the 
Engineering  Societies  Building  on  Nov.  25,  Mr.  Horatio  A. 
Foster  gave  an  interesting  talk  on  the  "Reminiscences  of  an 
Electrical  Engineer."  In  the  audience  were  several  of  the 
pioneers  in  the  electrical  field,  and'  Mr.  Foster's  address 
was  supplemented  by  remarks  from  Messrs.  T.  C.  Martin, 
William  J.  Hammer,  Elias  E.  Ries  and  C.  O.  Mailloux.  The 
secretary  announced  that  the  society  has  received  from  the 
New  York  Central  Railroad  an  invitation  to  make  a  visit 
of  inspection  on  Dec.  19  to  the  new  terminal  buildings  of 
the  company,  which  are  shortly  to  be  opened  to  the  public. 
He  also  referred  to  a  lecture,  the  date  of  which  will  be 
announced  later,  by  Mr.  Elmer  A.  Sperry  on  the  application 
of  the  gyroscope  to  the  flying  machine. 


American  Railway  Association  at  Chicago. — At  the 
fall  meeting  of  the  American  Railway  Association  held  at 
the  Blackstone  Hotel,  Chicago,  on  Nov.  20  the  committee 
on  electrical  working,  of  which  Mr.  George  Gibbs,  chief 
engineer  of  electric  traction  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad, 
is  chairman,  presented  a  very  short  report.  The  committee 
stated  that  it  had  held  no  formal  sessions  during  the  last 
summer.  Practically  no  comments  have  been  received  by 
the  committee  in  relation  to  its  report  submitted  last  sum- 
mer and  covering  third-rail  clearances  and  specifications  for 
overhead  crossings  of  electric  wires.  The  committee  is  now 
giving  attention  to  the  question  of  the  location  of  overhead 
working  conductors  which  are  required  for  alternating- 
current  traction  systems.  It  hopes  to  be  able  to  submit  a 
report  on  this  subject  at  the  meeting  of  the  association  next 
spring.  The  New  York  Central  &  Hudson  River  Railroad 
Company,  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad 
Company  and  the  Southern  Pacific  Company  were  elected 
members  of  the  committee  on  electrical  working.  About 
180  member  companies  were  represented  at  the  meeting  of 
the  association  by  about  200  delegates.  The  executive  com- 
mittee reported  that  the  membership  of  the  association  now 
comprises  349  companies  operating  264,000  miles  of  rail- 
road. The  next  meeting  of  the  association  will  be  held  in 
New  York  City  on  May  21,  1913. 


Annual  Meeting  of  the  Alabama  Light  &  Traction 
.Association. — At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Alabama  Light 
&  Traction  Association,  held  at  Birmingham,  Ala.,  on  Nov. 
14  and  15  in  the  auditorium  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
the  following  papers  were  presented:  "Street  Lighting," 
by  Mr.  A.  M.  Klingman,  of  the  National  Electric  Lamp 
.Association;  "Residence  and  Store  Lighting,"  by  Mr.  J.  C. 
Henniger,  of  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Association : 
"Street  Railway  Matters  and  the  Double-Deck  Cars,"  by 
Mr.  L.  D.  Mathes,  of  the  Montgomery  Traction  Company : 
"Retort  House  Practice,"  by  Mr.  C.  W.  Wallace,  of  the 
Montgomery  Light  &  Water  Power  Company;  "The  Small 
Tenement  Consumer,"  by  Mr.  A.  F.  Kersting,  of  the  Mobile 
Gas  Company ;  "Accounting  Matters,"  by  Mr.  V.  B.  Day, 
of  the  Montgomery  Light  &  Water  Power  Company ; 
"Rate  Research,"  by  Mr.  M.  W.  Offutt,  of  the  Alabama 
Power  Company ;  "Association  Work  in  the  South,"  by  Mr. 
B.  H.  Braymer,  Atlanta,  Ga. ;  "Increasing  the  Day  Load," 
by  Mr.  F.  V.  Underwood,  of  the  Birmingham  Railway,  Light 
&  Power  Company.  After  the  transaction  of  general  busi- 
ness at  the  final  session  the  election  of  officers  took  place, 
the  following  officers  for  the  ensuing  year  being  elected : 
President,  Mr.  C.  C.  Henderson,  president  and  manager  of 
the  Henderson  Light  &  Power  Company,  Greenville,  Ala.; 
vice-president,  Mr.  R.  O.  Ellis.  Selma;  secretary  and  treas- 
urer, Mr.  H.  O.  Hanson,  Mobile.  The  newly  elected  execu- 
tive committee  consists  of  Mr.  A.  H.  Ford,  Birmingham: 
Mr.  T.  K.  Jackson,  Mobile ;  Mr.  C.  E.  White,  Montgomery ; 
Mr.  A.  H.  Sparks,  Jasper,  and  Mr.  R.  C.  Rands,  Anniston. 


HYDROELECTRIC  ENERGY  FOR  COAL  FIELDS. 


Plants    Nos.   2   and   4,  Comprising    Initial     29,000-hp    Installation     of 
Appalachian    Power  Company  on    the  New  River. 


the 


Plans  for  Group  of  Hydroelectric    Stations  with    Common    Step-Up  Transformer    House — 88,000-Volt 
Transmission   Lines  with  "  Wishbone "  Cross-Arms  and   Suspension   Insulators. 


I 


OF  the  five  water-power  sites,  aggregating  225-ft. 
drop  and  75,000  hp,  which  the  Appalachian  Power 
Company  has  planned  to  develop  on  the  New  River 
in  Virginia,  two  plants,  totaling  29,000  hp,  are  now  com- 
pleted and  in  operation,  developing  hydroelectric  energy  for 
transmission  throughout  the  surrounding  rich  mineral  and 
agricultural  country.  The  developments  first  finished  are 
known  as  No.  2  and  No.  4  respectively,  and  from  them  as 
a  nucleus  88,000-volt  lines  have  been  built  to  Btuefield  and 
Coalwood,  W.  Va.,  and  to  Saltville  and  Roanoke,  Va. 

Of  special  interest  in  this  lay-out  is  the  provision  of  a 
common  transformer  house  which  receives  the  13,000-volt, 
60-cycle  output  of  the  several  water-power  plants,  regu- 
lating the  energy  developed,  and  stepping  it  up  to  88,000 
volts  for  transmission.  Four 
of  the  five  sites  are  located 
within  a  distance  of  5  miles, 
and  arrangements  have  been 
made  for.  extending  the 
transformer  station  to  house 
additional  equipment  as  the 
rest  of  the  plants  are 
built.  + 

DEVELOPMENT     AT     MOUNTAIN 
ISLAND. 

Site  No.  4  was  the  first 
plant  to  be  completed.  The 
development  here  utilizes 
Mouritain  Island  in  the  New 
River,  a  spillway  dam  1000 
ft.  long  having  been  built 
across  the  main  channel  of 
the  stream  at  the  head  of  the 
island.  In  this  way  the  nar- 
rower channel  on  the  north 
side  of  the  island  has  become 
a  natural  headrace  leading  to 
the  retaining  dam  and  power 
house  which  close  the  north 
channel  at  the  foot  of  the 
island  proper. 

From  the  plant  a  tailrac* 
has  been  excavated  for  a  dis- 
tance of  1800  ft.  down 
stream,  adding  15  ft.  of  head 
and  making  the  total  fall 
available  at  the  turbines  38 
ft.  To  excavate  this  tailrace 
required  the  removal  of 
66,000  cu.  yd.  of  rock.  The 
spillway  dam  is  of  the  solid- 
concrete,  gravity-section  type, 
keyed  into  and  seated  upon  the  solid  rock  of  the  river 
lottom.  In  average  section  the  spillway  crest  is  approxi- 
mately 17  ft.  high,  to  which  can  be  added  5  ft.  of  flash- 
boards.  From  the  principal  concrete  mass  there  project 
thirty  concrete  piers  at  32-ft.  intervals,  carrying  the  flash- 
board  bridge  at  a  height  12  ft.  above  the  sill  and  well 
out  of  the  way  of  any  possible  high  water.  The  spillway 
dam  is  provided  with  a  base  26  ft.  wide,  and  its  upper  flow 
surface  is  arranged  with  a  double  curve  to  discharge  the 


civerflow,  which  descends  to  the  level  of  the  lower  rapids. 
Concrete  has  also  been  used  for  the  foundations  and  bulk- 
head walls  of  the  power  house,  the  superstructure  being  of 
steel  and  brick.  The  building  measures  132  ft.  by  61  ft.  in 
plan  section  and  provides  for  three  main  3000-hp  units  and 
two  exciter  sets,  all  of  which  have  been  installed.  The 
waterwheels  are  of  the  vertical-shaft,  single-runner  Francis 
type  and  were  built  by  the  I.  P.  Morris  Company,  Phila- 
delphia. They  run  at  97  r.p.ni.  and  drive  General  Electric 
13,200-volt,  60-cycle,  three-phase  alternators.  Each  turbine 
has  its  own  13-ft.  by  21-ft.  inlet  passage,  leading  from  the 
tracks  and  headgates,  molded  in  the  solid  concrete.  The 
exciters  are  supplied  from  a  common  inlet  chamber 
which  is  equipped  with  branch  penstock  tubes. 

NEW   RIVER   PLANT   NO.   2. 

A  mile  and  a  half  from  the 
No.  4  development  above  re- 
ferred to  is  the  No.  2  site, 
the  second  plant  to  be  com- 
pleted of  the  initial  develop- 
ment. This  station  utilizes  a 
hydraulic  head  of  nearly  50 
ft.  and  contains  four  5000- 
kw  waterwheel  sets.  Its  solid 
concrete  dam  backs  up  the 
water  to  the  tailrace  level  of 
the  first-mentioned  develop- 
ment, a  distance  of  almost 
3  miles  measured  along  the 
bed  of  the  stream,  which  here 
swings  in  a  broad  bend  to 
the  south.  The  incident  rise 
in  level  of  the  stream  sur- 
face caused  by  the  No.  2  dam 
has  necessitated  the  reloca- 
tion of  nearly  4  miles  of  the 
original  grade  of  the  Norfolk 
&  Western  Railroad's  North 
Carolina  branch. 

At  the  second  site  the 
power-house  bulkhead  wall 
forms  a  part  of  the  main 
dam,  which  thus  has  an  over- 
all length  of  nearly  750  ft. 
The  spillway  section,  530  ft. 
long,  has  a  height  of  50  ft., 
measured  from  its  sill  to  the 
footing  on  the  bedrock.  The 
gravity  section  of  the  struc- 
ture has  SL  base  56  ft.  long 
and  is  designed  with  a  2.5 
per  cent  factor  of  safety 
against  overturning.  At  in- 
tervals of  30  ft.  piers  extend  15  ft.  above  the  spillway 
level,  carrying  the  foot-bridge  for  operating  the  Tainter 
gates  and  flashboards.  Six  of  these  spans  are  provided 
with  Tainter  gates  and  the  other  nine  are  arranged  for 
flashboards. 

Above  and  at  the  side  of  the  power  house  an  auxiliary 
spillway  has  been  built  by  cutting  through  a  ridge  to  a 
natural  sluice  or  gulley  paralleling  the  main  stream.  Addi- 
tional  spillway  length  of  nearly  200  ft.  is  secured  in  this 


Fig.    1 — Interior    of    Power    House. 


1 142 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


way,  providing   for  six  clear  31-ft.  spans  of  flashboards, 
similar  to  the  arrangement  used  on  the  main  dam. 

The  power-house  measures  in  plan  170  ft.  by  50  ft.,  not 
including  the  concrete  foundations  and  bulkhead  containing 
the  headgates  and  trash-racks.  The  superstructure  of  the 
station  building  is  of  steel  and  brick.  It  contains  four 
5000-hp  single-runner  Francis  type  waterwheels,  built  by  the 
Morris  company,  each  driving  a  13,200-volt,  6o-cycle,  three- 


Lleetrval  World 

Fig.  2— Map  of  Present  88,000-Volt  and  13,200-Volt  Lines. 

phase  General  Electric  generator  at  116  r.p.m.  The  con- 
crete draft  tubes  molded  as  a. part  of  the  foundations  dis- 
charge into  the  90-ft.  tailrace  excavated  from  the  solid  rock. 
Sixteen  thousand  cubic  yards  of  concrete  were  used  in  the 
plant  foundations  alone,  and  33,000  cu.  yd.  were  required 


STEP-UP  TRANSFORMER  SUBSTATION. 

Near  the  No.  2  site  just  described  is  located  the  step-up 
transformer  substation,  whose  position  is  thus  nearly  mid- 
way of  the  13,200-volt  lines,  connecting  it  with  the  future 
four  generating  stations,  two  of  which  are  already  operat- 
ing. The  electrical  control  equipment  of  these  plants,  it  will 
be  noted,  is  restricted  to  that  associated  with  the  generators 


1 

'i 

Fig.   4 — Sluice   Gates. 

and  13,200-volt  buses,  all  of  the  high-tension  and  transform- 
ing apparatus  being  installed  in  the  step-up  station  just 
referred  to. 

The   present   equipment   comprises   four   6ooo-kw   water- 
cooled  three-phase  General  Electric  transformers,  with  13,- 


SUttrual  World 


Fig.   3 — Plan   of    Power    House    No.    2. 


for  the  spillway.  With  the  reservoir  regulation  obtainable 
by  means  of  the  Tainter  gates,  it  is  possible  to  store  and 
conserve  the  flow  of  the  river  for  any  reasonable  daily  load- 
factor.  Midway  between  the  two  pairs  of  5000-hp  main 
units  there  have  been  installed  a  pair  of  turbine-driven 
exciter  sets.  These  exciter  sets  are  fed  by  means  of  a 
separate  penstock. 


200-volt  primaries  and  88,000-volt  secondaries.  Aluminum- 
cell  lightning  arresters,  with  outdoor  horn-gaps  mounted 
on  the  roof,  protect  the  88,000-volt  entries.  Vertical  roof- 
type  insulators  admit  the  arrester  taps,  the  cells  themselves 
being  located  in  a  separate  gallery  above  the  switch  room. 
The  main  line  conductors  are  carried  on  over  the  station 
roof  on  strain  insulators  and  drop  down  on  the  far  side  to 


NOVEMBEK   30,    igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1 143 


wall  entries,  connecting  through  choke  coils  to  the  Kilo 
oil  switches.  Provision  is  made  for  two  three-phase  circuits. 
Similar  oil  switches  connect  the  transformer  secondaries 
to  the  substation  buses,  which  are  carried  overhead  in 
the  switch  room.  Below  the  second-story  switch  room  are 
the  transformer  compartments  and  in  a  corridor  are  the 
13.200-volt  switching  apparatus,  aluminum-cell  arresters,  etc. 


Fig.    5 — Exterior    of   Transformer    House. 
88,000-VOLT    TRANSMISSION    LINES. 

From  the  step-up  substation  there  radiate  nearly  200  miles 
of  88,000-volt.  three-phase  circuits.  The  familiar  Byllesby 
"wishbone"  type  of  cross-arm  construction  has  been  used 
throughout  on  these  lines,  although  with  several  modifi- 
cations from  the  form  first  adopted  several  years  ago.  In- 
stead of  steel  angles,  6-in.  by  4-in.  oak  timbers  are  used  for 
arms,  being  pinned  to  the  pole  by  through-bolts  at  their 
center  points.  The  original  construction,  it  will  be  recalled, 
employed  a  two-thirds  spacing  of  the  pins.  The  bolts  for 
these  cross-arms  also  hold  in  place  the  3-in.  by  3-in.  by 
3/16-in.  steel-angle  bayonet,  7  ft.  long,  which  supports  the 
ground  cable  2  ft.  above  the  pole  top.  This  steel  bayonet  is 
earthed  by  a  ground  wire  running  down  the  pole  and  ending 
in  a  coil  buried  at  the  butt.  Forty-five-foot  poles  have  been 
adopted  as  standard.  Nineteen  feet  below  the  pole  peak  and 
8  ft.  below  the  lowest  line  conductor  a  pair  of  telephone 
wires  are  carried  on  pole  brackets.  Four-disk  suspension 
insulators  are  used,  the  distance  between  conductors  on  the 


Fig.  6 — Switchboards. 

same  side  of  the  pole  being  8  ft.  and  the  remaining  triangu- 
lar spacing  10  ft.  between  wires. 

The  Bluefield  transmission  line  crosses  the  Big  Walker 
Mountains  to  the  north  of  the  group  of  developments  and 
extends  across  the  state  line  into  West  Virginia,  reach- 
ing a  terminus  at  Coalwood.  Among  the  other  towns  served 
by  this  circuit  are  Welch,  Keystone.  Switchback,  Bramwell. 


Simmons,  Cooper  and  Pocahontas,  W.  Va.,  and  Graham  and 
Wytheville  in  old  Virginia.  Another  circuit  extends  al- 
most 45  miles  due  west  to  Saltville,  passing  Marion  en 
route.  Roanoke,  65  miles  northeast  of  the  step-up  substa- 
tion, is  reached  by  a  line  that  takes  in  Christianburg  on  the 
way,  and  from  a  point  at  the  No.  5  site,  20  miles  distant. 


Fig.  7 — Turbine-Driven   Exciters   In    Power   House   No.  4. 

an  88,000-volt  tie  line  branches  off  to  Bluefield  by  the  way 
of  Pulaski.  Substations  are  in  operation  or  being  built  at 
Roanoke,  Pulaski,  Bluefield.  Switchback,  Coalwood  and 
Saltville.  In  the  centers  of  the  coal-mining  load  and  at 
points  like  Wytheville  and  Galax  low-tension  substations 
have  been  built.  For  the  secondary  transmission  circuits 
13.200  volts  has  been  chosen  as  standard. 

SALE    AND    USES    OF    ENERGY. 

The  territory  in  Virginia  and  West  Virginia  centering 
about  these  two  developments  is  rich  in  many  varieties  of 
minerals,  including  the  famous  Pocahontas  coal,  iron,  zinc. 


Fig.   8 — Cross-Section   of   Step- up  Transformer   House. 

copper,  salt,  gypsum,  glass  sand,  clay,  etc.  With  water- 
power  available,  the  mining  properties  themselves  are  not 
only  being  developed  at  a  more  rapid  rate,  but  the  sur- 
rounding communities  are  feeling  the  stimulus  and  many  in- 
dustrial plants  are  being  established. 

The  Appalachian  Power  Company  has  acquired  the  elec- 
tric-lighting and  street-railway  systems  of  Marion,  Wythe- 


1 144 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


ville,  Pulaski,  Pocahontas,  Welch  and  Keystone  and  the 
street  railway  at  Bluefield,  all  of  which  are  within  50  miles 
of  the  water-power  developments.  A  contract  has  been 
closed  with  the  Roanoke  Railway  &  Light  Company  for 
energj'  to  operate  its  system  at  Roanoke.  The  steam  plant 
at  this  point  will  also  serve  as  a  relay  station  for  an  aux 

/Guard  Clamp  ^         ,  ^, 

Guard  Clamp 


EUetriea:  World 


Fig.   9 — Standard   Pole   and   Dead-End   Construction   for  88,000- 
Volt   Line. 

iliary  source  of  power  in  case  of  interruption  to  the  water- 
power  operation. 

By  the  terms  of  its  contract  with  the  Pocahontas  Consoli- 
dated Collieries  Company  the  hydroelectric  corporation  ac- 
quires the  use  of  the  collieries'  7500-hp  steam  turbine  plant 
at  Switchback,  which  will  be  employed  as  a  reserve  and  to 
supplement  power  from  the  hydraulic  developments.  Other 
concerns  in  the  coal  fields  which  have  contracted  for  the 
purchase  of  central-station  energy  are  the  Virginia  Poca- 
hontas Coke  &  Coal  Company,  the  American  Coal  &  Coke 
Company,  the  Zenith  Coal  &  Coke  Company,  the  Crystal 
Coal  &  Coke  Company,  the  West  Virginia-Pocahontas  Coal 
Company,  the  Coaldale  mines,  etc. 

The  Appalachian  Power  Company  is  operated  by  H.  M. 
Byllesby  &  Company,  engineers  and  managers,  Chicago. 
Mr.  H.  \\'.  Fuller  is  vice-president  and  general  manager  of 
the  power  company,  whose  executive  offices  are  at  Blue- 
field,  Va.  Messrs.  Viele,  Blackwell  &  Buck,  New  York, 
were  the  consulting  engineers  in  charge  of  construction  of 
the  plants,  high-tension  lines  and  high-tension  substations 
above  described.  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company  have  had 
charge  of  engineering  and  construction  in  connection  with 
the  various  electric  plants  purchased  by  the  water-power 
company  and  the  distribution  systems  in  the  coal  fields. 


THE     THURY      CONTINUOUS-CURRENT      SERIES 

SYSTEM,  WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO 

LONG-DISTANCE  TRANSMISSION. 


By  Alfred  Still. 

IN  a  previous  article  the  writer  described  briefly  the 
series  system  of  power  transmission  by  continuous 
currents  as  adopted  for  several  European  power  de- 
velopments and  summed  up  the  principal  advantages  and 
disadvantages  of  the  system.  The  present  article  has  special 
reference  to  straight  long-distance  transmission,  because, 
although  high-pressure  direct  current  may  be  used  on  the 
loop  system  with  any  number  of  motors  or  motor  substa- 
tions distributed  along  the  line — and,  if  desired,  with  any 
number  of  generating  stations  at  suitable  points  on  the  loop 
— it  will  generally  be  found  that  a  parallel  constant-pressure 
system  is  preferable  for  covering  a  large  industrial  area,  the 


simple  reason  being  that,  with  .the  series  system  having  a 
load  more  or  less  uniformly  distributed  along  the  loop,  the 
system  is  a  high-tension  transmission  at  the  start  only,  since 
the  required  voltage  decreases  with  the  distance  from  the 
generating  plant.  It  is  true  that  the  cost  of  the  insulation 
may  therefore  be  less  than  for  a  system  on  which  the  pres- 
sure is  high  throughout,  but  that  can  be  said  of  any  low- 
tension  system.  The  point  is  that  in  the  case  of  the  series 
loop  serving  a  wide  district  with  power  taken  off  at  intervals 
along  the  line  the  average  pressure  at  which  power  is  sup- 
plied to  the  motors  or  substations  is  only  about  half  that 
which  is  supplied  to  the  line  where  it  leaves  the  power  sta- 
tion. It  must  not  be  concluded  that  the  Thury  system  is 
not  well  adapted  to  supplying  several  motor  substations.  It 
is  an  easy  matter,  as  previously  mentioned,  to  connect  any 
number  of  motors  in  series  on  the  line,  but  in  order  to  get 
the  full  benefit  of  the  series  system  these  substations  should 
all  serve  a  comparatively  small  district  at  the  distant  end  of 
the  transmission  line. 

The  question  of  sparking  distances  and  the  behavior  of 
insulating  materials  when  subjected  to  continuous-current 
pressures  of  high  values  is  of  the  greatest  importance  when 
considering  the  relative  values  of  the  Thury  system  and  the 
more  common  three-phase  high-tension  transmission.  On 
the  assumption  of  the  theoretical  sine  wave,  the  ma.ximum 
instantaneous  value  of  an  alternating  emf  is  y/2  times  the 
root-mean-square  value,  and  comparisons  between  alter- 
nating-current and  direct-current  transmissions  are  usually 
made  on  this  basis,  which  makes  the  allowable  continuous- 
current  pressure  to  ground  or  between  wires,  for  the  same 
insulation  and  spacing,  ^2  times  the  working  pressure  of  an 
alternating-current  system.  The  ratio  should,  however,  be 
based  on  experimental  data,  and,  with  a  view  to  obtaining 
definite  and  conclusive  information  on  this  point,  Mr.  Thury 
conducted  some  years  ago  a  very  complete  set  of  com- 
parative tests  with  high  voltages,  both  continuous  and  alter- 
nating. The  results  of  these  tests  are  probably  more  favor- 
able to  the  alternating-current  systems  than  would  have 
been  the  case  had  they  been  conducted  on  existing  high- 
pressure  power  transmission  systems,  because  the  experi- 
mental alternator  used  in  the  tests  gave  a  rather  flat-topped 
emf  wave  without  any  irregularities.  The  tests  conducted 
to  determine  the  comparative  pressures  at  which  various 
insulating  materials  would  be  punctured  all  tend  to  show 
that  with  continuous  currents   something  more  than  twice 


00 


Fig.    1 — Continuous 
Current. 


E^xT^ 


E.A 


Fig.  2 — Three- Phase  Alternating 

Current. 


the  alternating  pressure  is  required  to  puncture  the  insula- 
tion, and,  in  regard  to  sparking  distances,  the  direct-current 
voltage  necessary  to  spark  over  a  given  distance  is,  on  the 
average,  double  the  alternating-current  voltage.  In  fact, 
this  very  complete  series  of  tests  seems  to  indicate  that  any 
existing  transmission  line  designed  for  a  definite  maximum 
working  pressure  with  alternating  currents  is  capable  of 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


"45 


being  used  to  transmit  continuous  currents  at  twice  this 
pressure.  It  is  also  interesting  to  note  that  insulators 
which  become  hot  when  subjected  to  high  alternating-cur- 
rent voltages  remain  cool  when  tested  with  continuous  cur- 
rents. In  fact,  the  leakage  losses  on  the  Thury  trans- 
missions are  small.  The  total  leakage  loss  over  about  3000 
insulators  on  the  St.  Maurice-Lausanne  transmission  (a 
distance  of  35  miles),  even  in  damp  weather,  is  something 
on  the  order  of  900  watts. 

As  an  indication  of  what  has  been  done  in  Europe  since 
the  introduction  of  the  Thury  system  twenty-three  years 
ago,  it  may  be  stated  that  there  are  at  present  about  fifteen 
separate  transmissions  in  operation,  in  Switzerland,  Italy. 
France,  Hungary,  Spain  and  Russia.  The  shortest  length 
of  loop  is  12.4  miles  (Batoum,  Russia),  with  a  line  pressure 
of  2600.  volts.  The  longest  is  224  miles  (112  miles  straight 
transmission),  this  being  the  Moutiers-Lyons  line  at  a  max- 
imum pressure  of  57,600  volts,  which,  however,  may  be 
doubled  in  the  future.  The  average  of  all  the  working 
lines  is  a  50-mile  loop  and  a  pressure  of  14,500  volts. 

As  an  example  of  what  might  be  done  at  the  present  time 
in  the  way  of  direct-current  transmission,  on  a  large  scale, 
it  is  probable  that  no  difficulty  would  be  experienced  in 
building  dynamos  of  a  large  size  with  5000  volts  on  one 
commutator.  Assuming  a  current  of  400  amp,  which  would 
probably  be  transmitted  by  two  or  more  conductors  con- 
nected in  parallel,  the  output  of  each  machine  would  be 
2000  kw  and  two  of  these  might  be  coupled  to  one  prime 
mover.  With. twelve  pairs  of  generators,  the  pressure  be- 
tween wires  would  be  120,000  volts  and  the  maximum  total 
output  48,000  kw.  There  would  be  very  little  new  or  ex- 
perimental engineering  work  in  connection  with  such  a 
scheme. 

It  is  usual  to  employ  two  insulated  wires  for  direct- 
current  high-pressure  transmission,  but  under  certain  con- 
ditions it  might  be  quite  satisfactory  to  use  the  earth  as 
the  return  conductor.  The  arrangement  with  two  wires 
and  the  entire  electric  circuit  insulated  from  earth  is  usual 
for  pressures  up  to  25,000  volts.  It  has  the  advantage  over 
any  grounded  system  that  any  point  on  the  circuit  may 
become  grounded  without  causing  a  stoppage,  and  repairs 
can  readily  be  carried  out  by  temporarily  grounding  two 
more  points,  one  on  each  side  of  the  fault.  The  facility  and 
safety  with  which  repairs  on  the  high-tension  system  can 
be  carried  out  by  grounding  the  point  where  the  work  is 
being  done  is  another  advantage  of  this  arrangement. 

If  a  ground  connection  is  made  at  both  ends  of  the  two- 
wire  transmission,  the  ground  wire  being  so  situated  as  to 
balance  the  load  as  well  as  possible,  an  arrangement  equiva- 
lent to  the  ordinary  three-wire  system  is  obtained.  The 
pressure  between  wires  may  then  safely  be  doubled  because 
the  potential  difference  between  any  one  wire  and  earth 
can  never  exceed  half  the  maximum  pressure  of  trans- 
mission. On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the  advantages  of  the 
ungrounded  system  are  lost. 

A  direct-current  transmission  to  any  economic  distance 
by  means  of  a  single  wire,  using  the  earth  as  the  return 
conductor,  is  by  no  means  an  impossible  scheme.  The 
ground  resistance  is  practically  zero,  the  loss  of  pressure 
being  almost  entirely  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the 
grounding  plates.  Tests  made  on  the  St.  Maurice-Lauzanne 
line  (35  miles)  gave  a  total  ground  resistance  of  0.5  ohm. 
Continuous  currents  of  the  order  of  100  amp  returning 
through  the  earth  do  not  appear  to  be  objectionable  in  any 
way.  By  taking  the  ground  connections  to  a  considerable 
depth  below  the  surface  the  current  density  at  ground 
level  would  everywhere  be  so  small  that  interference  with 
opposing  interests  would  hardly  be  possible. 

In  order  to  study  the  relative  costs  of  conductor  material 
required  for  the  series  direct-current  system  and  the  more 
common  three-phase  alternating-current  transmission,  a 
basis  of  comparison  is  necessary,  and  the  following  assump- 
tions will  be  made: 


(A)  Same  distance  of  transmission;  no  tapping  of  cur- 
rent at  intermediate  points. 

(B)  Same  total  amount  of  power  transmitted. 

(C)  Same  power  loss  in  conductors  (losses  due  to  leak- 
age or  capacity  of  lines  are  neglected). 

(D)  Same  insulation  used  on  both  systems. 

This  last  condition  is  practically  equivalent  to  stating  that 
the  maximum  value  of  the  voltage  shall  be  the  same.  It  is 
proposed  to  consider  the   following  four  conditions: 

(a)  Same  maximum  pressure  above  ground;  the  direct- 
current  voltage  being  V^  times  the  alternating- 
current  single-phase  voltage  (sine  wave  as- 
sumed). 


Ratio  ^  =  -^ 
E         y/2 


(O 


where  E  and  Ea  stands  respectively  for  the  continuous  and 
alternating  voltages  to  ground,     (See  Figs,  i  and  2.) 

(b)   Same    as    (a);    but    direct-current    voltage    double 
the  alternating  voltage. 

(2) 


„     .     £0         I 
Ratio  — =-  =  — 
E        2 


(c)  Same  pressure  between  wires;  the  allowable  direct- 

current  pressure  being  \/2  times  the  alternating- 
current  pressure. 

V3  £a  _  _!_.  .       £a  _  V2  ,    , 

2^       V2  £      V3 

(d)  Same    as    (c)  ;   but    direct-current    pressure   double 

the  alternating-current  pressure. 


y/ZEa       I  Ea  I 

„   =  —  ,  or  ratio  -=-  =  ^^^ 
2£  2  £        y^ 


(4) 


To  satisfy  the  condition  of  equal  total  power,  the  equa- 
tion is, 

2£X/  =  3£a^aCose  (5) 

and  for  equal  line  losses, 

2  PR  =  3  P„Ra  (6) 

where  /  is  the  current  per  conductor  in  the  direct-current 
transmission,  and  R  the  resistance  per  mile  of  single  con- 
ductor ;  while  la  and  Ra  are  the  corresponding  quantities  for 
the  three-phase  transmission. 

In  either  system  the  total  weight  (and  cost)  of  the  con- 
number  of  conductors 
ductors    IS    proportional    to  —  -  ,  .-   ^- 

resistance  of   each   conductor 

which  gives  the  relation. 

Cost  of  conductors,  direct-current  system  _  2  Ra 
Cost  of  conductors,  three-phase  system  3  i? 

but  Ra  can  be  expressed  in  terms  of  R  thus: 

By  (6) 

R   -^^'^ 

Ka  —         ,2 
3  'a 

and  by  (5) 

3  £0/0  cos  6 


(7) 


(8) 


/  = 


r 


2£ 
9  Ea'Ia   cos'  6 


(9) 


which,  when  put  for  /'  in  formula  (8).  gives, 
„        3£„=cos'6X-R 

2£ 

Thus  the  equation  given  by  (7)  becomes. 

Cost  of  conductors,  direct-current  system  _  £„"        , 
Cost  of  conductors,  three-phase  system  £' 

Assuming  the  very  common  value  of  0.8  for  the  poyver- 
factor  of  the  three-phase  system,  the  numerical  ratio  for 
the  four  conditions  previously  stated  would  be : 


1 146 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  22. 


(a)  For  same  maxiimini   pressure  to   ground,   with   sine 

wave  assumption, 

Direct-current  cost  cos''  6 

—— -_ = =  0.32 

Alternating-current  cost  2 

(b)  Same  as   (a),  but  allowable  direct-current  pressure 

assumed    to    be    double    the    alternating-current 
pressure, 
Direct-current  cost  cos"  6 


STROBOSCOPIC   EFFECTS  OBTAINABLE  WITH  IN- 
CANDESCENT FILAMENTS  AS   ILLUMINANTS. 


=  0.16 


Alternating-current  cost  4 

(c)  For   same   maximum   pressure   between    wires,    with 

sine  wave  assumed, 

Direct-current  cost  2 

-tt: 7- =  —  cos"  6  =  0.426 

Alternatmg-current  cost        3 

(d)  Same  as   (c),  but  allowable  direct-current  pressure 

assumed  double  the  alternating-current  pressure, 

,  Direct-current  cost  i 

'tt;^ :: =  —  cos' 6  =  0.213 

Alternating-current  cost        3 

The  transmission  line,  apart  from  the  cost  of  conductors, 
would  be  cheaper  for  the  direct-current  than  for  the  three- 
phase  scheme  because  there  are  fewer  insulators  required 
and  only  two  instead  of  three  conductors  to  string;  and  if 
a  grounded  guard  wire  is  erected  above  the  conductors, 
it  is  more  convenient  to  arrange  this  over  the  two  direct- 
current  conductors  than  over  the  tliree  alternating-current 
wires,  and  it  would  not  necessitate  the  same  total  height  of 
tower.  The  important  saving  is,  however,  in  the  conductors 
themselves.  Taking  the  figure  most  favorable  to  the  direct- 
current  scheme  (b)  the  alternating-current  conductors  to 
transmit  the  same  power  with  the  same  loss  would  cost  si.x 
and  a  quarter  times  as  much  as  if  direct-current  transmis- 
sion were  used,  and  even  under  the  assumption  (c)  most 
favorable  to  the  three-phase  scheme  the  cost  would  still  be 
2.35  times  the  cost  of  the  direct-current  conductors.  For 
the  purpose  of  getting  out  preliminary  estimates,  it  is 
certainly  safe  to  assume  that,  if  the  power  factor  of  the 
three-phase  load  may  be  taken  as  0.8,  the  cost  of  conductors 
on  a.  long-distance  direct-current  transmission  would  be 
only  one-quarter  of  the  cost  of  conductors  with  the  alternat- 
ing-current scheme  on  the  assumption  of  equal  PR  losses. 
The  fact  that  it  would  probably  be  uneconomical  to  allow 
the  same  losses  in  both  cases  does  not  render  the  comparison 
less  interesting  or  valuable. 

There  are  undoubtedly  conditions  in  this  country,  as  there 
are  in  Europe,  which  are  favorable  to  the  installation  of 
the  series  continuous-current  system,  and  it  is  not  easy  to 
understand  why  the  three-phase  alternating-current  system 
should  be  adopted  almost  without  exception  on  this  conti- 
nent while  apparently  little  consideration  is  given  to  possible 
alternative  methods  of  transmitting  power  to  a  distance. 
Of  course,  first  cost  of  plant,  operating  charges  and  re- 
liability have  to  be  taken  into  account  when  comparing  dif- 
ferent systems,  and  the  most  satisfactory  way  of  doing  this 
is  to  reduce  all  estimated  costs  to  the  common  basis  of 
annual  charges.  The  cost  of  the  direct-current  generators 
must  be  set  against  the  combined  cost  of  alternators  and 
exciters  and  step-up  transformers  with  all  intermediate 
switchgear. 

In  regard  to  reliability  it  is  true  that,  on  the  Thury 
system,  the  generators  have  not  the  protection  against 
lightning  disturbances  which  the  step-up  transformers 
afford  to  the  alternators  on  high-tension  three-phase  sys- 
tems, and  where  thunderstorms  are  prevalent  this  must  not 
be  overlooked,  as  the  cost  of  protective  apparatus  may  prove 
excessive.  In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
the  charges  of  electricity  in  the  upper  atmosphere  are  al- 
ways positive,  and  the  negative  wire  will  therefore  tend  to 
draw  a  lightning  discharge  away  from  the  positive  wire  or 
grounded  guard  wire.  But  to  how  great  an  extent  this 
would  affect  the  proper  disposition  of  the  wires  it  is  difficult 
to  say. 


By  C.  F.  Lorenz. 

THE  rapid  fluctuations  in  the  intensity  of  the  light 
from  incandescent  lamps  operated  on  alternating 
current  are  usually  looked  upon  as  an  evil  to  be 
avoided,  or  at  least  held  within  such  limits  that  flicker  and 
the  production  of  multiple  images  are  not  noticeable  to  an 


Fig.   1  —  Disks  a   and   b. 

objectionable  degree.  This  is,  of  course,  the  proper  view 
from  the  standpoint  of  lighting;  in  experimental  and  other 
work  it  is,  however,  often  desirable  to  have  a  source  of 
light  which  will  reproduce  as  light  fluctuations  any  fluctua- 
tions in  the  flow  of  electrical  energy  to  it. 

For  this  purpose  use  may  sometimes  be  made  of  various 
types  of  illuminants,  such  as  vacuum  tubes,  sparks,  arc 
lamps,  or  the  current-carrying  acetylene  flame,'  and  at 
other  times  to  various  devices,  of  which  one  example  is  an 
acetylene  flame  fed  through  a  manometric  capsule,  the 
diaphragm  of  which  is  also  the  diaphragm  of  a  telephone 
receiver,  and  another  is  the  "light  relay"  used  by  Korn^  in 
the  electric  transmission  of  pictures  (a  light  shutter  moved 
electromagnetically).  All  of  the  above  have  their  limita- 
tions, so  that  it  seems  worth  while  to  consider  another 
possibility,  namely,  the  use  of  wires  made  incandescent  by 
the  alternating  or  otherwise  varying  current — something  in 
the  shape  of  an  incandescent  lamp,  which,  if  applicable, 
would  have  at  least  the  advantages  of  convenience  and  re- 
liability. The  purpose  of  the  present  article  is  to  indicate 
what  results  may  be  expected  by  working  along  this  line. 
The  frequencies  at  which  such  wires  may  be  operated  as 
light  sources  for  stroboscopic  work  will,  of  course,  be 
comparatively  low,  though  it  will  appear  that  they  are  much 
higher  than  would  at  first  sight  be  expected.  This  limita- 
tion   to    low    frequency    need    not.    however,    prevent    such 


Fig.  2 — Disi<s  ,    and  J. 


sources  from  having  a  field  of  usefulness  of  their  own.  For 
excessively  high  frequencies  one  must  fall  back  on  the  dis- 
ruptive spark,  which  has  long  been  the  source  used  to  get 
instantaneous  views  of  very  rapid  processes  (for  example, 
the  operation   of   fire-arms).     In   this   connection   may  be 


^Phys. 

Zeit., 

Vol. 

8,   page   20; 

1907. 

'Phys. 

Zcil. 

Vol 

8,    page    18 

1907 

November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1147 


cited  the  recent  work  of  C.  Crantz  and  B.  Glatzel/  who 
were  able  to  obtain  100,000  photographs  per  second. 

GENERAL   CONSIDERATIONS  AS  TO  STROBOSCOPIC  EFFECTS. 

In  order  to  see  what  factors  determine  whether  or  not  in 
a  given  case  good  stroboscopic  effects  may  be  obtained,  con- 
sider a  rotating  disk  provided  with  a  number  of  dots  or 
other  marks  equally  spaced  along  the  circumference  of  a 
circle  the  axis  of  which  is  the  axis  of  rotation.  If  the 
disk  is  illuminated  by  an  intermittent  light  of  sufficiently 
high  frequency  and  such  that  the  interval  of  time  between 
two  illuminations  is  the  same  as  that  required  for  a  point 
on  the  circumference  to  travel  a  distance  equal  to  the  dis- 
tance between  two  dots,  then  the  row  of  dots  will  appear 
stationary  and  the  dots  will  appear  with  more  or  less  dis- 
tinctness, depending  on  the  conditions  of  the  experiment.  If 
the  illuminations  are  flashes  of  short  duration — that  is,  if 
the  ratio  of  the  interval  during  which  the  source  gives  out 
light  to  the  interval  of  darkness  is  small — then  the  marks 
will  appear  very  distinctly  and  with  sharp  outlines  no  matter 
what  the  nature  of  the  marks ;  in  particular,  no  matter  what 
the  ratio  of  their  width  to  their  distance  apart  may  be. 
This  is  not  the  case  if  the  flashes  are  not  instantaneous. 
If  the  marks  consist  merely  of  radial  lines,  so  that  the  ratio 
of  their  width  to  their  distance  apart  is  small,  and  if  the 
illuminations  are  not  instantaneous  flashes  but  endure  for 
a  considerable  fraction  of  a  period,  then  the  lines  may  be  so 
badly  blurred  that  they  will  not  show  at  all.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  marks  are  broad,  having  a  width  say  equal 
to  half  the  distance  between  their  centers,  then  they  may  be 
brought  out  very  well  by  the  same  illumination  which  had 
too  great  a  ratio  of  "light"  to  "dark"  to  show  the  narrow 
lines  at  all.  This  point  is  illustrated  by  the  photograph  c 
taken  with  the  light  from  a  lo-watt,  H5-volt  tungsten  lamp 
fed  with  30-cycle  alternating  current.  During  the  exposure 
the  disk  was  rotated  at  the  proper  rate  by  means  of  a 
synchronous  motor.  In  this  case  the  marks  are  triangles, 
such  that  the  width  of  a  mark  varies  from  zero  (apex  of 
triangle)  to  the  distance  between  marks  (base  of  triangle). 
It  will  be  noted  that  the  stroboscopic  effect  shows  best  half 
way  between  the  apex  and  base — that  is,  where  the  width 
of  the  mark  is  half  the  "pitch" — while  the  blurring  is  great- 
est where  the  mark  is  too  thin  and  where  it  is  too  broad, 
namely,  at  the  apex  and  base.  The  appearance  of  c  when 
at  rest  is  shown  by  d,  which  is  also  a  time  exposure,  taken 
while  the  disk  was  rotating,  but  with  an  illumination  con- 
sisting of  sharper  flashes.  The  disk  a,  on  which  the  marks 
are  fat  dots  having  a  diameter  equal  to  one-half  the  pitch, 
was  photographed  under  the  same  conditions  as  c. 

It  may  be  well  in  this  connection  to  emphasize  the  dis- 
tinction between  "stroboscopic  effect"  and  "flicker,"  both 
of  which  are  associated  with  intermittent  or  fluctuating 
light  sources.  The  former  consists  in  the  production  of 
multiple  images  when  objects  viewed  are  moved  while  illu- 
minated by  the  intermittent  light,  either  giving  the  appear- 
ance of  a  number  of  objects  strewn  along  the  path  along 
which  the  object  actually  is  moved,  as  is  the  case,  for  ex- 
ample, when  a  knife  blade  is  moved  sidewise  under  an  in- 
closed alternating-current  arc  lamp,  or  else  causing  the 
apparent  standing  still  of  a  rotating  object  when  the  multiple 
images  are  suitably  superposed — for  example,  a  rotating 
commutator  may  appear  to  be  standing  still  when  it  is  in  a 
dark  corner  and  the  intermittent  light  from  a  sparking 
brush  illuminates  it.  Stroboscopic  effects  may  be  obtained 
no  matter  how  high  the  frequency  of  the  intermittent  illumi- 
nation, and  the  sharpness  of  the  effect  depends  (for  one 
thing)  on  the  shortness  of  the  duration  of  the  successive 
flashes.  Flicker,  on  the  other  hand,  depends  primarily  on 
the  frequency  of  illumination,  not  occurring  if  the  frequency 
is  above  a  certain  limit,  this  limit  depending  in  any  partcu- 
lar  case  on  the  intensity  of  the  illumination,  condition  of  the 
eye,  and  the  like. 

'Ber.   d.  Deutsc'.i.  Phys.   Gcs..   May,   1912;   page  525. 


EFFECTS  OBTAINED  WITH  ORDINARY  INCANDESCENT  LAMPS. 

Used  in  the  ordinary  way — that  is,  supplied  with  alter- 
nating current  of  commercial  frequency  and  sine  wave-form 
— even  very  thin  filament  lamps  do  not  show  multiple  images 
to  an  extent  that  is  troublesome  from  the  standpoint  of 
lighting,  though  rather  marked  effects  may  be  obtained 
with  them  if  conditions  are  suitably  chosen.  Thus  the  com- 
bination of  such  a  disk  as  shown  in  a  and  b  with  a  lo-watt, 
no-volt  tungsten  or  carbon  lamp  gives  an  effect  that  is 
sufficiently  good  for  the  detection  of  synchronism  even  if 
the  frequency  of  the  current  supplied  to  the  lamp  is  as  high 
as  60  cycles  per  second  (120  illuminations  per  second). 
Evidently  there  are  two  reasons  for  the  lack  of  sharpness 
in  the  stroboscopic  effect  thus  obtained.  On  the  one  hand, 
he  energy  input  is  (approximately)  a  sine-squared  function 
of  the  time,  growing  and  dying  away  gradually  for  each 
illumination  instead  of  occurring  in  an  interval  of  time  that 
s  a  small  fraction  of  the  time  between  two  successive 
lluminations,  and,  on  the  other,  the  heat  capacity  prevents 
he  filaments  from  heating  or  cooling  instantaneously. 

Since  the  factor  which  retards  and  smooths  out  the  tem- 
perature fluctuations  is  the  thermal  capacity  of  the  filament, 
the  first  step  toward  making  the  latter  useful  as  a  source  of 
light  for  stroboscopic  work  is  to  choose  a  diameter  for  the 
filament  as  small  as  possible,  since  reducing  the  diameter 
reduces  the  thermal  capacity  in  a  greater  ratio  than  the 
radiation.  Assuming  that  the  diameter  has  been  reduced  as 
far  as  practicable,  the  following  methods  of  further  increas- 
ing the  stroboscopic  effectiveness  suggest  themselves: 

Operating  Flament  at  Excessive  Temperature.- — If  the 
lamp  is  used  at  abnormally  high  voltage,  one  would  expect 
the  outline  to  sharpen  on  account  of  the  increased  rate  at 
which  the  filament  radiates  its  energy.  On  trving  this  ex- 
periment it  was  found  that  the  sharpening  effect,  though 
easily  noticeable,  was  not  very  great  even  though  the  volt- 
age was  doubled.  Of  course,  the  improvement,  such  as  it 
is.  is  purchased  at  the  cost  of  diminished  lamp  life.  This 
effect  is  altogether  distinct  from  the  well-known  fact  in 
regard  to  "flicker,"  namely,  that  the  ease  with  which  the 
eye  can  detect  flicker  is  a  function  of  the  brightness. 

Use  of  Color  Screens. — When  a  body  is  gradually  heated 
to  incandescence  the  emitted  light  consists  at  first  practically 
entirely  of  radiations  of  long  wave-length,  giving  the  sensa- 
tion of  red,  radiations  of  shorter  wave-length  being  present 
only  to  a  very  small  extent.  As  the  temperature  is  raised 
the  strength  of  radiation  of  all  wave-lengths  is  increased, 
but  the  percentage  change  is  greater  for  the  short  wave- 
lengths. The  maximum  of  the  "energy  curve"  shifts  toward 
the  shorter  wave-lengths  as  the  temperature  is  increased, 
and  the  reverse  is  true  as  the  temperature  is  lowered.  It  is 
to  be  expected,  therefore,  that  a  lamp  will  give  sharper 
Stroboscopic  effects  when  its  light  is  filtered  through  a  blue 
glass  than  when  no  filter  is  used,  and  similarly  that  a  red 
glass  will  make  the  effect  less  sharp.  This  fact  is  readily 
observed,  but  on  account  of  the  loss  of  light  involved  in  the 
use  of  the  filter  it  will  probably  seldom  be  useful.  The 
effect  is  worth  mentioning,  however,  because  it  comes  into 
play  when  the  stroboscopic  phenomena  are  photographed, 
the  photograph  showing  the  outlines  a  little  more  sharply 
than  they  appear  to  the  eye,  because  the  ordinary  photo- 
grapic  plate  is  "color-blind"  to  everything  but  the  blue- 
violet  end  of  the  spectrum. 

EFFECT  OF  OPERATING  THE  FILAMENT  IN  A  GAS. 

By  far  the  most  effective  way  of  increasing  the  strobo- 
scopic effect  obtainable  with  the  light  of  an  incandescent 
filament  is  to  immerse  the  latter  in  an  inert  cooling  gas. 
Under  the  cooling  action  of  the  gas  the  filament  tempera- 
lure  follows  the  fluctuations  of  energy  input  much  more 
closely  than  when  the  filament  is  cooled  only  by  radiation. 
Of  course,  the  increased  stroboscopic  effectiveness  obtained 
in  this  way  is  purchased  at  the  cost  of  increased  specific 
consumption,  but  this  may  in  many  cases  be  of  no  moment. 


1 148 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22 


The  fact  that  a  gas  surrounding  a  filament  abstracts  heat 
Irom  the  latter  is,  of  course,  a  matter  of  common  knowledge, 
experimental  work  along  this  line  dating  back  to  the  experi- 
ment of  Andrews  (1840),  who  showed  that  a  greater  current 
was  required  to  heat  a  platinum  wire  to  a  certain  brightness 
in  hydrogen  than  in  a  vacuum.  For  a  given  wire  the  greater 
the  temperature  of  the  wire  the  less  is  the  proportion  of  the 


RESULTS   OF   LIFE  TESTS  ON  TREATED  AND  UN- 
TREATED   CHESTNUT    POLES. 


Fig.  3 — View  of  Filament  In   Rotating   IVIirror. 

heat  lost  by  the  wire  through  the  cooling  action  of  the  gas 
compared  with  that  lost  by  the  radiation,  this  being  due  to 
the  very  rapid  increase  of  radiation  with  temperature 
(fourth  power  for  a  black  body).  The  ratio  of  the  heat 
lost  through  the  gas  to  that  lost  by  radiation  is  not  inde- 
pendent of  the  diameter  of  the  wire,  but  is  very  much 
greater  for  a  small  wire  than  for  a  large  wire.  This  fact 
is  shown  by  all  published  experimental  data  bearing  on  the 
subject,  falls  in  with  the  latest  theory*  in  regard  to  the 
nature  of  the  transference  of  heat  from  a  hot  body  through 
a  surrounding  gas,  and  is  very  readily  established  by  simple 
experiment.  The  result  is  that  for  obtaining  stroboscopic 
effects  from  the  light  of  an  incandescent  filament,  for 
which  purpose  small  filament  diameters  are  chosen  anyhow, 
the  beneficial  effect  of  operating  the  filament  in  a  gas  is 
enormous. 

The  photographs  b  and  d  were  taken  by  the  light  from  a 
piece  of  wire  taken  from  a  no-volt,  25-watt  tungsten  lamp 
immersed  in  ammonia  at  one  atmosphere  pressure  and  sup- 
plied with  intermittent  current  having  the  energy  concen- 
trated in  sharp  pulses  (obtained  by  means  of  a  ten-part 
rotary  contactor  mounted  on  the  same  axis  as  the  disk). 
When  d  was  taken  the  frequency  of  illumination  was  60  per 
second,  while  for  b  the  frequency  was  run  up  to  120  per 
second.  The  effect  of  the  gas  is  further  shown  by  Figs.  3 
and  4,  which  record  the  appearance  of  the  same  filament  as 
viewed  in  a  rotating  mirror.  The  gas  in  this  case  was 
ammonia  at  three  atmospheres  pressure;  the  current  for 
Fig.  3  consisted  of  120  sharp  pulses  per  second,  while  for 
Fig.  4  it  was  ordinary  60-cycle  current.  It  is  observed  that 
even  in  the  latter  case  the  light  fluctuation  is  anything  but 
sinusoidal,  there  being  complete  extinction  during  a  large 
part  of  the  period.  This  is,  of  course,  explained  by  the  fact 
that  the  light  emitted  by  an  incandescent  solid  varies  much 
more  rapidly  than  its  temperature. 

The  above  examples  are  given  to  ca'l  attention  to  the 
possible   applicability    of    gas-immersed    filaments    in    many 


)))U)HMHn) 


Fig.  4 — View  of  Filament  in   Rotating   IVIirror. 

cases  when  an  illuminant  is  needed  which  is  capable  of  re- 
sponding promptly  to  variations  in  the  electrical  power 
supplied  to  it.  The  amount  of  gas  in  the  bulb  need  not  as  a 
rule  be  so  great  as  that  used  above  and  may  in  some  cases 
be  very  small,  and  to  avoid  undue  waste  of  energy  should 
in  any  particular  case  be  chosen  as  small  as  possible. 

'Langrauir,   Phys.   Rci'..   Vol.   35.   page  401:    1912. 


Some  years  ago  the  United  States  Forest  Service  co- 
operated with  the  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Com- 
pany in  undertaking  a  long-period  investigation  of  the 
seasoning  and  preservative  treatment  of  poles  with  re- 
gard to  their  durability.  Two  pole  lines  built  by  that  com- 
pany, and  known  as  the  Warren-Buffalo  line  and  the 
Poughkeepsie-Xewtown  Square  line,  were  selected  for  the 
experiments.  Periodical  observations  have  been  made  on 
1 1 64  30-ft.  chestnut  poles  set  between  Warren,  Pa.,  and 
Dayton.  N.  Y.,  and  on  seventy-two  30-ft.  chestnut  poles  set 
in  the  latter  line  near  Flanders  and  Morris  County  Junc- 
tion, in  northern  New  Jersey. 

The  experimental  poles  for  the  Warren-Buffalo  line 
were  cut  and  peeled  during  1902  and  1903  and  then  stacked 
in  single  tiers  on  skids  about  2  ft.  above  the  ground  to 
season.  In  June  and  July  of  1905  some  of  these  poles  were 
treated  with  various  preservatives  by  the  brush  method, 
others  were  coal-tar  creosoted  by  the  open-tank  method. 
The  preservatives  employed,  the  method  of  application  and 
the  absorption  secured  are  given  in  Table  I. 

TAHI.E    I. METHOD   OF   TREATMENT   OF   POLES   SET    IN    WARREN- 
BUFFALO   LINE. 


Condition 

Preservative  Used, 
Sold_as 

Method  ot 
Treatment. 

Absorption  Secured 
PER  Pole. 

When 
Set.* 

Aver- 
age. 

Lb. 

Maxi- 
mum, 
Lb- 

Mini- 
mum. 
Lb. 

Green 
Seasoned 
Seasoned 
Seasoned 

Seasoned 
Seasoned 
Seasoned 
Seasoned 
Seasoned 

Seasoned 

Seasoned 

Seasoned 

Seasoned 

Green 

Coal  tar 
Creolin 

Creolin 

Wood  creosote 

Wood  creosote 

S.P.F.  carbolineum 

S.P.F.  carbolineum 

Avenarius  carbolin- 
eum 
Avenarius  carbolin- 
eum 
Coal-tar  creosote 
Coal  -  car'c  reosote 
Coal-tar  creosote 

Untreated 

Untreated 

Brush,  one  coat 

Brush,  one  coat 

Brush,  two  coats 
Brush,  one  coat 

Brush,  two  coats 
Brush,  one  coat 

Brush,  two  coats 

Brush,  one  coat 

Brush,  two  coats 

Brush,  two  coats 
Open-tank 
Open-tank 

"3'.39 

7.60 
2.42 

5.43 
3. 55 
4.38 

1.98 

4.52 

7,77 
22.41 
15.20 

'4.13 

10.63 

3.63 
6.63 
5.13 
6.63 

2.25 

6.63 

11.75 

44.0 
39.0 

'2!88 

5.50 
1.75 
3.25 
1.38 
3.00 

1.13 

2.50 

4.13 
8.00 
4.00 

♦Describes  also  the  condition  at  the  time  the  treatment  was  applied. 

During  August  and  September,  1905,  613  treated  poles, 
together  with  551  untreated  seasoned  and  green  poles,  were 
placed  in  the  Warren-Buffalo  line,  which  extends  at  some 
places  along  roadsides,  at  others  through  cultivated  fields, 
wood  lots  and  meadows,  presenting  a  variety  of  soil  condi- 
tions. Poles  of  different  kinds  and  treated  according  to  the 
different  methods  were  set  in  successive  rotation  in  the 
line,  in  order  that  progressive  changes  in  soil  conditions 
might  not  destroy  the  value  of  comparison  between  the 
rates  of  decay  on  differently  treated  poles.  Taking  into 
account  the  green  and  seasoned  poles,  both  untreated  and 
treated  by  the  brush  and  open-tank  methods,  there  were 
thirty-four  poles  in  each  series,  and  the  series  was  re- 
peated twenty-four  times. 

Five  years  after  placement  of  the  poles  in  the  Warren- 
Buffalo  line  they  were  inspected  by  the  following  method: 
.\fter  the  soil  was  removed  from  the  base  of  each  pole  to 
a  depth  of  from  6  in.  to  I  ft.,  the  circumference  was  meas- 
ured at  or  close  to  the  ground  line.  Inasmuch  as  this 
measurement  was  made  to  determine  the  original  circum- 
ference, which,  unfortunately,  had  not  been  measured  when 
the  poles  were  set,  the  proper  point  at  which  to  take  the 
measurement  was  carefully  chosen.  After  the  first  meas- 
urement each  pole  was  carefully  examined  with  a  hatchet 
and  prod  for  decay  or  insect  injury.  Decayed  portions,  if 
of  anv  extent,  were  removed  with  a  hatchet  and  a  second 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1149 


measurement  of  the  circumference  was  then  made  at  the 
point  of  maximum  decay.  This  was  generally  found  to 
be  at  or  near  the  point  selected  for  the  first  measurement. 
Poles  which  appeared  to  be  sound  but  which  rung  hollow 
when  struck  with  a  hatchet  were  bored  to  determine  the 
thickness  of  sound  shell.  After  inspection  the  holes  were 
closed  up  with  creosoted  plugs  and  the  soil  was  replaced. 
The  results  of  the  inspection  are  summarized  in  Table  II. 

TABLE    II. CONDITION    OF    EXPERIMENTAL    POLES    IN    W.\RREN- 

BUFFALO    LINE   AFTER    FIVE    YEARS'    SERVICE. 


Condition  01 

Poles 

Description  op  Poles. 

AT  OR  Near 

Ground  Line. 

Conditidn 

S3 

Affected 

g1 

Whea 

with 

■br'i 

Set. 

(^ 

Decay. 

Preservative  Used, 

Method  of 

B 
a 

Sold  as 

Treatment. 

Per 

No 

Cent. 

2'^.; 

Z 

Green 

Untreated 

,04 

194 

100  0 

1.16 

Seasoned 

Untreated 

357 

355 

99.4 

1.01 

Seasoned 

Coal  tar 

Brush,  one  coat 

48 

47 

98.0 

0.95 

Seasoned 

Creolin 

Brush,  one  coat 

16 

16 

100.0 

0.89 

Seasoned 

Creolin 

Brush,  two  coats 

63 

44 

69.8 

0.42 

Seasoned 

Wood  creosote 

Brush,  one  coat 

21 

20 

95.2 

0.43 

Seasoned 

Wood  creosote 

Brush,  two  coats 

49 

12 

24.0 

0.06 

Seasoned 

S.P.F.  carbolineum 

Brush,  one  coat 

10 

3 

30.0 

0.10 

Seasoned 

S.P.F.  carbolineum 

Brush,  two  coats 

67 

9 

13.4 

0.04 

Seasoned 

Avenarius  carbolin- 
eum 

Brush,  one  coat 

8 

2 

25.0 

0.27 

Seasoned 

Avenarius  carbolin- 
eum 

Brush,  two  coats 

66 

9 

13.6 

0.04 

Seasoned 

Coal-tar  creosote 

Brush,  two  coats 

83 

12 

14.5 

0.02 

^Green 

Coal -tar  creosote 

Open-tank 

29 

0 

0.00 

0.00 

Seasoned 

Coal-tar  creosote 

Open-tank 

153 

1 

0.65 

Neg- 
ligi- 
ble 

The  experimental  poles  in  the  Poughkeepsie-Newtown 
Square  line  were  inspected  in  July,  1910,  approximately 
eight  years  after  being  placed.  The  method  of  inspection 
was  in  general  the  same  as  that  used  on  the  Warren- 
Bufifalo  line,  except  that  the  decayed  portions  near  the 
ground  line  were  first  removed,  after  which  three  circum- 
ference measurements  were  made,  one  3  ft.  above,  one  6 
in.  above  and  one  6  in.  below  the  ground  line.  The  results 
of  this  inspection  are  summarized  in  Table  III. 

TABLE    III. THE   POUGHKEEPSIE-NEWTOWN    POLE   LINE. 


Average 

Total 

Preservative 

Method 

Character  of 

Loss  in 

Number 

Used, 

of 

Ground  in 

Circumi'er- 

of  Poles. 

Sold  as 

Treating. 

Which  Set. 

ence  at 

Ground 

Line,  Inches 

10 

Untreated 

Sand 

2.27 

28 

Untreated 

Sandy  loam 

1.87 

8 

Untreated 

Crushed  stone 

1.77 

11 

Spiritine 

Brush 

Sandy  loam 

1.68 

10 

Avenarius   carbo- 
lineum 

Brush 

Sandy  loam 

1.63 

5 

Charred 

Sandy  loam 

0.71 

The  following  conclusions  were  deduced  in  reference 
to  the  poles  set  in  the  Warren-Buffalo  line.  Both  the 
green  and  seasoned  poles  butt-treated  with  coal  tar  creo- 
sote by  the  open-tank  process  showed  practically  no  decay 
at  or  near  the  ground  line.  The  poles  brush-treated  with 
two  coats  of  coal-tar  creosote,  and  preservatives  sold  as 
avenarius  carbolineum,  S.  P.  F.  carbolineum  and  wood 
creosote,  showed  but  little  difference  in  the  extent  of  decay. 
The  condition  of  these  poles  was  next  best  to  that  of  those 
treated  with  coal-tar  creosote  in  the  open  tank.  The  poles 
subjected  to  the  brush  method  of  treatment  with  only  one 
coat  of  preservative  showed  a  much  greater  loss  of  circum- 
ference  at   the   ground   line   than   those   treated   with    two 


coats.  The  untreated  poles  were  practically  all  more  or 
less  affected  with  decay  at  the  ground  line  and  exhibited 
the  greatest  loss  of  circumference,  the  green  poles  being 
decayed  on  the  average  more  than  those  which  had  been 
seasoned. 

The  untreated  poles  in  the  Poughkeepsie-Newtown 
Square  line  set  in  crushed  stone  showed  less  decay  at  the 
ground  line  than  similar  poles  set  in  sand.  The  poles  with 
charred  butts  showed  less  decay  at  the  ground  line  than 
similar  uncharred  and  untreated  poles  set  in  either  crushed 
stone  or  sand.  The  detailed  results  of  these  inspections 
are  presented  in  Circular  198  of  the  Forest  Service,  pre- 
pared by  Mr.  Carlile  P.  Winslow. 


OFFICE -BUILDING    PLANT    WITH   STORAGE 
BATTERY  FOR  NIGHT  OPERATION. 


The  new  eighteen-story  building  of  the  Modern  Wood- 
men of  the  World,  at  Omaha,  Neb.,  is  being  equipped  with 
a  Gould  140-cell  storage  battery  to  supply  energy  for  the 
elevators  and  house  lighting  from  midnight  until  6  a.  m., 
permitting  the  shut-down  of  the  engine  sets.  In  the  engine 
room,  in  the  basement,  there  have  been  installed  three 
1 1 0/220- volt  three-wire  units,  of  85  kw,  175  kw  and  250  kvv 
rating  respectively,  all  Crocker-Wheeler  generators  direct- 
connected  to  Harrisburg  Fleming  engines.  The  battery 
will  be  charged  through  a  Ridgway  five-unit  set,  comprising 
one  25-hp  motor,  two  50-kw,  30-volt  boosters  and  two  l-kw, 
8-amp  generators,  all  mounted  on  one  shaft  and  carried  on 
a  single  base  casting  16  ft.  by  2.5  ft.  The  regulating  cells 
will  be  controlled  through  a  hand-operated  end-cell  switch. 


FIve-UnIt   Battery-Charging  Set. 

The  Walker  twelve-panel  switchboard  is  provided  with 
I-T-E  circuit-breakers,  Weston  indicating  instruments, 
Bristol  recording  voltmeters  and  Sangamo  watt-hour  meters. 
Six  Otis  passenger  elevators  have  been  installed  to  serve 
the  eighteen  stories. 

For  night  ornamentation  the  cornice  of  the  structure  is 
marked  by  120  150-watt  tungsten  lamps  in  reflectors,  which 
burn  until  midnight.  For  renewing,  these  lamps  can  be 
reached  with  a  long-handled  replacer  from  the  eighteenth 
story.  Service  is  sold  to  tenants  by  meter,  the  Frank  Adam 
panel  boxes,  one  to  each  floor,  enabling  any  of  the  thirty 
circuits  to  be  connected  under  any  of  the  seven  meters.  In 
these  distribution  boxes  the  meter  risers  are  banked  in  two 
groups,  between  which  are  brought  out  the  circuit  contact 
studs.  Switch  clips  inserted  between  the  riser  buses  make 
the  connection.  The  storage  battery  in  the  Woodmen's 
building  is  to  be  relied  upon  to  furnish  relay  service  in  case 
of  plant  interruption,  besides  being  used  regularly  to  carry 
the  small  night  load  of  elevators  and  hall  lamps  from  12 
midnight  to  6  a.  m. 

Messrs.  Holabird  &  Roche,  Chicago,  were  architects  for 
the  Woodmen's  Building. 


I  ISO 


ELECTRICAL     \\-ORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


HOLIDAY  ELECTRICAL  DECORATIONS. 


The  approaching  holiday  season,  with  its  customary 
festivities  and  decorations,  presents  another  timely  opportu- 
nity for  the  central-station  solicitor  to  emphasize  the  safety 
and  cleanliness  of  decorative  electrical  illumination.  In  this 
connection  the  National  Fire  Protection  Association,  87 
Milk  Street,  Boston,  Mass.,  has  issued  a  holiday  fire  bulletin 
containing  warnings  in  reference  to  unsafe  methods  of 
decorating  stores,  churches,  bazaars  and  homes  for  the 
Christmas  season.  For  companies  desiring  to  make  use  of 
the  bulletin  the  association  will  supply  it  in  quantities  at 
$10  per  1000. 

Light,  inflammable  decorations  make  fires  easy  to  start 
and  easy  to  spread.  A  match,  a  gas  flame  or  an  electrical 
defect  may  accomplish  this.  Gas  jets  are  very  dangerous 
because  decorations  may  be  blown  against  them  by  air 
currents.  Electric  lighting  is  by  far  the  safest  and  the 
most  sanitary.  Christmas  trees  should  not  be  decorated 
with  paper,  cotton  or  any  other  inflammable  material,  but 
only  metallic  tinsel  or  other  non-inflammable  decorations 
should  be  used,  and  the  trees  should  be  securely  set  up  so 
that  children  in  their  excitement  may  not  tip  them  over. 
Cotton  should  never  be  employed  to  represent  snow;  as- 
bestos fiber  is  both  safe  and  satisfactory.  Candles  are  in- 
variably dangerous  and  miniature  electric  lamps  produce  the 
same  effect  without  the  danger.  It  is  well  to  remember 
that  the  Christmas  tree  itself  will  burn  when  the  needles 
have  become  dry.  A  timely  warning  may  also  be  given 
to  householders  not  to  make  any  change  whatsoever  in  their 
electric  wiring  without  consulting  the  electrical  inspector 
for  the  district. 


MOTOR-DRIVEN  PADDLEWHEEL  FLOAT  CARRIES 
SWING  BRIDGE. 


An  excellent  illustration  of  the  flexibility  with  which 
motors  can  be  applied  to  temporary  service  is  the  pon- 
toon operation  of  the  foot-bridge  used  to  span  the  North 
Branch  of  the  Chicago   River  at  Indiana   Street.  Chicago, 


Fig.   1 — Swing    Bridge   Carried   on    iMotor- Driven    Paddie    Fioat. 

during  the  reconstruction  of  the  main  bridge  at  that  point. 
The  temporary  truss  structure  is  of  12-in.  by  12-in.  wood 
beams  and  is  95  ft.  long  and  10  ft.  wide.  One  end  is  car- 
ried on  a  huge  iron  pin  and  rollers  bearing  on  the  approach 
piles.  The  other  rests  on  a  12-ft.  by  24-ft.  float  or  scow, 
equipped  with  motor-driven  paddlewheels,  enabling  the 
span  to  be  swung  open  to  permit  the  passage  of  vessels.     A 


40-hp,  550-volt  General  Electric  railway  motor  on  the  scow 
is  geared  to  the  paddle  shaft,  on  which  are  mounted  two 
8-ft.  wheels,  each  with  eight  3-ft.  blades.  A  housing  on 
the  scow  protects  the  motor  and  gearing  from  the  weather. 
The  bridge  tender's  cabin  is  on  the  free  end  of  the  bridge 
at  the  street  level  and,  besides  the  main  switchboard,  con- 
tains a  standard  railway-type  drum  controller  with  which 


Fig.  2 — Ciiicago  Swing    Bridge   Turned   by   IVIotor- Driven   Scow. 

the  motion  of  the  bridge  is  manipulated.  .\  3-hp  Robbins 
&  Myers  shunt-wound  motor,  operating  a  bilge  pump  for 
bailing  out  the  hull  of  the  scow,  is  also  controlled  from 
the  tender's  cabin.  The  bridge  can  be  swung  from  closed 
to  open  position,  or  vice  versa  against  the  river  current,  in 
from  thirty  to  forty-five  seconds.  Direct-current  energy  at 
550  volts  to  operate  the  bridge  is  purchased  from  the  Chicago 
Railways  Company,  being  fed  to  the  scow  motors  through 
flexible  cables  from  the  pivoted  end  of  the  bridge.  This 
temporary  foot-bridge  will  be  in  operation  for  a  year  or 
more  until  the  new  Indiana  Street  structure  is  completed. 
The  design  of  both  structures  was  carried  out  imder  the 
supervision  of  the  Department  of  Bridges  of  the  city  of 
Chicago. 


PRIVATE-GARAGE     CHARGING      RATES      UNDER 
RESIDENCE  CONTRACT  IN  ST.  LOUIS. 


One  of  the  progressive  electric-service  companies  that 
are  doing  much  to  encourage  the  use  of  electric  automobiles 
is  the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  of  St.  Louis. 
Its  most  recent  eft'ort  in  this  direction  is  the  promulgation 
of  a  plan  which  amounts  to  a  reduction  in  rates  for  elec- 
tricity for  private  garages.  Energ)'  to  charge  pleasure 
cars  at  home,  using  rectifiers  or  converters,  is  now  fur- 
nished, if  desied,  under  the  residence  contract,  which 
makes  possible  a  rate  of  6  cents  per  kw-hr.  after  the  first 
few  hours'  use  each  month.  The  monthly  minimum  bill  is 
now  only  $l  at  the  most,  and  the  service  for  the  automo- 
liile  charging  can  be  connected  through  the  regular  resi- 
dence meter,  with  no  extra  minimum,  if  desired.  For  truck 
installations  the  wholesale  rate  for  electricity  provides  lower 
rates.  The  central-station  company  is  advertising  exten- 
sively this  reduction  in  rates  for  private  garages,  and  it 
makes  the  interesting  statement  that  a  four-passenger  elec- 
tric coupe  can  be  operated  as  cheaply  now  as  the  old  one- 
horse   chaise. 

One  of  the  most  important  features  of  the  new  arrange- 
ment  is   the   discontinuance   of  the   old   monthly   minimum 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


"SI 


charge  on  rectifier  outfits.  The  electric-service  company 
is  co-operating  with  the  electric-vehicle  manufacturers  and 
agents  in  St.  Louis.  When  a  prospective  customer  has  sig- 
nified his  intention  of  purchasing  an  electric  pleasure  ve- 
hicle and  rectifier,  the  central-station  company  will  be  glad 
to  send  a  solicitor  to  the  customer's  residence  if  the  vehicle 
man  will  notify  the  sales  department  of  the  Union  Elec- 
tric Light  &  Power  Company.  The  company  maintains  an 
automobile  department,  of  which  Mr.  C.  E.  Michel  is  the 
energetic  manager,  and  it  believes  that  electric-vehicle  men 
should  all  act  together.  It  declares  that  all  electric  cars  are 
good,  even  though  some  may  be  better  than  others.  It 
points  out  that  one  manufacturing  concern  cannot  make 
all  of  the  sales,  and  even  when  it  finds  that  it  is  likely  to 
lose  a  particular  customer  it  will  profit  in  the  long  run  if 
it  says  a  good  word  for  the  electric  vehicle  in  general. 

Where  the  garage  is  connected  to  the  meter  in  the  house 
the  number  of  rooms  in  the  garage  will  be  added  to  the 
number  of  rooms  in  the  house,  and  the  energy  for  both  the 
residence  and  the  garage  will  be  billed  in  accordance  with 
the  primary  and  secondary  rates ;  that  is,  10  cents  per 
kw-hr.  for  the  first  4  kw-hr.  for  each  of  the  first  four 
rooms  or  less,  and  10  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  the  first  2.5 
kw-hr.  for  each  additional  room.  By  this  method  practi- 
cally all  of  the  energy  used  in  the  garage  will  be  billed  at 
6  cents,  which  is  the  secondary  rate. 

Where  a  separate  meter  is  used  for  a  garage  a  separate 
residence  lighting  contract  will  be  executed.  The  number 
of  rooms  in  the  garage  will  be  counted  and  if,  for  ex- 
ample, there  are  three  rooms,  the  bill  for  electricity  will  be 
on  the  basis  of  the  first  4  kw-hr.  for  each  of  the  three 
rooms;  that  is,  12  kw-hr.  at  10  cents,  or  $1.20.  For  all 
energy  in  excess  the  rate  will  be  6  cents  per  kw-hr.  If  the 
number  of  rooms  in  the  garage  is  six,  the  first  4  kw-hr.  for 
each  of  the  first  four  rooms  would  amount  to  16  kw-hr. 
and  the  first  2.5  kw-hr.  for  the  other  two  rooms  would 
amount  to  5  kw-hr.,  a  total  of  21  kw-hr.,  at  10  cents,  or 
$2.10,  as  the  primary  portion  of  the  bill,  all  the  remainder 
being  charged  at  6  cents. 


COURT-HOUSE  SIGNAL  LAMP  FOR  TOWN  POLICE. 


Attention  was  recently  called  in  these  columns  to  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  switches  controlling  the  "white-way" 
lighting  at  Marion,  Ind.,  in  the  office  of  the  chief  of  police, 
so  that  if  burglars  or  footpads  are  reported  in  the  down- 
town district  the  lamps  can  be  flashed  on  while  the  officers 
scour  the  streets  and  alleys  for  the  marauders. 

To  this  system  there  has  recently  been  added  a  red  signa. 
lamp  on  the  court  house  tower,  which  can  be  seen  from  all 
parts  of  the  city.  Patrolmen  are  instructed  to  keep  on  the 
look-out  for  this  lamp  and  if  they  see  it  burning  they  at 
once  call  headquarters  by  telephone.  A  sample  set  of 
flashing  signals  is  also  agreed  upon  to  summon  officers  to 
the  police  station,  etc. 


ELECTRICITY  "THE   MATCH-LESS   LIGHT. 


To  remind  prospective  and  present  users  of  electricity 
that  "the  match-less  light,''  and  it  alone,  is  free  from  the 
dangers  of  asphyxiation  and  poisoning  to  which  other 
modern  illuminants  are  likely  to  contribute,  a  Western  cen- 
tral station  has  had  printed  several  thousand  little  stickers 
on  the  subject  of  matches,  and  these  it  is  attaching  to  its 
literature.  The  legend  follows:  "The  Matches  That  You 
Use. — What  kind  of  matches  are  you  using?  More  than 
1000  chi'dren  died  in  the  United  States  during  the  past 
year  from  eating  the  tips  of  poisonous  phosphorus  matches. 
The  destruction  of  $30,000,000  worth  of  property  through 
fire  was  caused  by  them.     Many  of  the  employees   in   the 


factories  where  they  are  made  are  afflicted  with  a  horrible 
disease  called  'phossy  jaw,'  due  to  inhaling  the  phosphorus 
fumes.  And  the  presence  of  such  matches  in  the  kitchen, 
where  they  are  necessarily  in  close  proximity  to  food,  is 
now  believed  to  be  responsible  for  many  cases  of  so-called 
ptomaine  poisoning.  Hadn't  you  better  see  about  your 
matches?" 


CO-OPERATIVE  SIGN  OPERATION  IN  LINCOLN,  NEB. 

Two  large  co-operative  electric  signs  containing  the  ad- 
vertisements of  a  number  of  local  merchants  have  been 
operated  successfully  for  nearly  a  year  at  Lincoln,  Neb., 
and  a  third  such  sign  is  now  being  erected.  These  displays 
have  proved  to  be  good  business  for  the  central  station,  as 
well  as  the  very  best  kind  of  publicity  investments  for  the 
advertisers.  Fig.  i  shows  the  first  sign,  installed  by  the 
Lincoln  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company,  which  still  owns 
and  operates  it.  This  display  measures  35  ft.  by  50  ft.  and 
contains  2200  lamps.  The  spectacular  element  is  provided 
by  the  dragon  designs  with  scintillating  flasher  effects. 
Between  the  dragons  is  an  electrically  lighted  clock  dial. 


Fig.    1 — Co-operative    Electric    Signs,    Lincoln,    Neb. 

The  7-ft.  by  14-ft.  panel  spaces  are  rented  to  local  adver- 
tisers for  $40  per  month,  netting  a  central-station  income 
of  15  cents  per  kw-hr.  For  the  firm  name  at  the  top  of  the 
display,  above  the  clock,  $20  a  month  is  charged.  The 
druggist  pays  $30  for  his  fifteen-letter  line,  and  for  each 
night  the  "Baseball  To-morrow"  sign  is  illuminated  a  charge 
of  $1  is  made.  Tungsten  sign  lamps  are  employed  in  all 
the  unflashed  letters,  and  the  display  is  substantially  built 
on  a  steel  framework.  The  electric  company  makes  all 
renewals,  and  its  commercial  department  controls  the  sale 
of  space  on  the  sign.  Mr.  J.  E.  Shuff  is  contract  agent  for 
the  Lincoln  Gas  &  Electric  Company. 

The  second  co-operative  sign  in  Lincoln  was  promoted 
and  installed  by  a  large  Western  advertising  company  which 
itself  solicits  the  advertisers,  purchases  energy  from  the 
Lincoln  company  at  4.5  cents  per  kw-hr.  and  rents  the 
14-ft.  by  24-ft.  spaces  at  $35  per  month,  supplying  renewals, 
inspection,  etc.  This  display  measures  55  ft.  by  51  ft.  over 
all,  including  the  huge  white  columns  which  flank  the  sign 
spaces,  and  contains  1600  tungsten  lamps.  Both  this  sign 
and  that  owned  by  the  central  station  are  installed  on  low 
roofs  opposite  one  of  the  busiest  street  intersections  in  the 
city. 

The  advertising  firm  controlling  the  second  sign  is  now 
arranging  to  install  a  third,  reserving  the  disp'ay  last  de- 
scribed for  a  co-operative  announcement  of  the  various 
lines  of  goods  sold  by  a  local  merchant.  This  dealer  in 
men's  clothing  plans  to  contract  for  the  entire  sign,  placing 
his  store's  name  and  address  at  the  top  and  renting  the  six 
spaces    below   to    six    national    manufacturers    of    clothing. 


a  152 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


collars,  shoes,  underwear,  etc.,  whose  goods  he  sells.  The 
merchant's  name  will  appear  also  on  each  space,  but  the 
cost  will  be  mostly  defrayed  by  the  manufacturers,  each  of 
whom  will  pay  $35  per  month.  The  difference.  $70,  neces- 
sary to  make  up  the  $310  per  month  which  the  owner  of  the 


miv^ 


'-=:^NJR'4g-    LINCOLN  CLETANiNO 

^OME^:;  OUTFITTERS  rouoooo notiK cal:.  :■:■■ 
'  ^  '    RfCGS  DRUG  CUTTER  , 


Pig.   2 — Central-Station    Co-operative   Sign    in    Lincoln,    Neb. 

sign  charges  for  operation  and  maintenance,  will  be  met 
by  the  local  dealer.  The  flasher  equipment  of  this  display 
turns  on  the  six  individual  signs  in  pairs,  thus  assuring  that 
each  will  be  more  carefully  read  besides  improving  the  load- 
factor  of   the  display. 


depends  upon  a  principle  of  balanced  inductances  devised 
by  Mr.  J.  W.  Bard,  formerly  meter  superintendent  for  the 
Peoria  company. 

The  mechanism  of  the  recorder  introduced  into  a  Bristol 
or  similar  gage  consists  of  a  pair  of  coils  arranged  on  a 
form  pivoted  so  that  one  coil  can  go  deeper  onto  a  lami- 
nated wire  core,  while  the  other  moves  off  a  similar  core 
which  it  embraces.  The  frame  carrying  the  coils  is  actuated 
by  the  moving  pen  of  the  instrument,  attached  to  the  usual 
Bourdon  tube,  and  as  the  pen  moves  back  and  forth  in 
response  to  varying  steam  or  vapor  pressure,  one  coil  is 
moved  deeper  on  its  core  as  the  other  is  moved  farther  off 
its  corresponding  core,  and  vice  versa. 

At  the  distant  point  is  placed  a  recording  mechanism  like 
the  sending  mechanism,  except  that  the  steam-pressure  tube 
is  omitted  and  the  pen  arm  is  mounted  on  a  bearing  so  that 
any  motion  of  the  frame  carrying  the  movable  coils  may  be 
transmitted  to  the  pen  arm  and  thus  move  the  pen  back  and 
forth  across  the  chart.  One  coil  at  the  sending  end  is  con- 
nected to  one  coil  at  the  receiving  end  and  the  other  coil 
similarly  to  the  second  coil,  three  connecting  wires  being 
required  between  the  sending  and  receiving  points.  Sixty- 
cycle  current  is  impressed  on  the  circuit  and  the  operation 
of  the  mechanisms  is  then  as  follows : 

Assuming  one  coil  at  the  sending  end  standing  high  off 
its  core  and  the  other  low  on  its  core,  the  first  coil  has  small 
inductance  and  the  second  coil  high  inductance.  In  con- 
sequence a  large  current  will  tend  to  pass  in  the  first  coil 
at  the  distant  end  and  a  very  small  current  in  the  second 
coil  at  the  distant  end  connected  to  the  second  sending  coil. 
The  coils  at  the  receiving  end  will  immediately  move  to 
such  position  as  to  balance  the  inductance  of  the  two  coils 
at  the  sending  end.  By  a  proper  proportioning  of  the  coils, 
the  mechanism  at  the  receiving  end  can  thus  be  made  to 
duplicate  the  angular  position  of  that  at  the  sending  end. 


STATION  GAGE  RECORDING  HEATING  PRESSURE 
AT  DISTANT  CUSTOMERS'  PREMISES. 


To  insure  good  steam  pressure  on  its  heating  mains  the 
Peoria  (111.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company  has  a  recording 
Bristol  steam  gage  installed  at  the  end  of  its  longest  pipe 
line.  This  gage,  by  an  ingenious  electrical  arrangement,  is 
connected  to  similar  recording-gage  mechanisms  in  the 
heating  plant  3  miles  distant  by  ])ipe  line,  and  also  in  the 
office  of  the  district-heating  superintendent,  five  blocks 
from  the  station,  affording  at  both  places  a  continuous 
indication  and  record  of  the  pressure  at  the  lowest  point 
on  the  system.  A  minimum  pressure  of  i  lb.  per  sq.  in.  is 
required  on  all  customers'  installations,  and  with  the  fur- 
thest user  obtaining  this  pressure  sufficient  heat  is  assured 
all  intermediate  customers.     With  the  gage  indication  the 


Sender 

o 


Bristol  Kecording 
Pressure  Gage 


SuperinteDdent's 
Offlie 


No.  16  Wires 


Hc'ating'System 


Power  Plant 

EUetrieul  ^»rU 


Recording    Gages    Controlled    from    Low    Point    of    Steam-Heating 
System. 

terminal  pressure  can  be  intelligently  controlled  and  limited 
to  the  minimum  requirements,  saving  unnecessary  back 
pressure  and  waste.  A  similar  recording-gage  arrangement 
is  also  used  on  the  gas  lines  of  the  company,  the  gas  pres- 
sure in  the  downtown  section  being  automatically  reported 
at  the  governor  room  in  the  gas  plant,  a  mile  or  so  distant. 
The  scheme  of  control  of  these  distant  pressure  recorders 


COMPRESSED  AIR  FOR  STEAM  HAMMERS. 


A  Louisville  manufacturer  recently  shut  down  his  steam 
plant  and  converted  his  factory  to  central-station  drive, 
and  by  repacking  his  steam  hammers  he  has  been  able  to 
operate  them  successfully  on  compressed  air.  The  equip- 
ment converted  comprised  a  1500-lb.  and  a  6oo-lb.  hammer, 
and  air  is  furnished  by  a  two-cylinder  Ingersoll-Rand  com- 
pressor capable  of  compressing  372  cu.  ft.  of  free  air  per 
minute  to  120  lb.  pressure  per  square  inch.  The  com- 
pressor is  driven  at  175  r.p.m.  by  a  65-4ip  Allis-Chalmers 
motor.  Running  the  larger  hammer  under  test  conditions 
and  forging  up  forty  2-in.  steel  axles  per  hour,  or  as  fast 
as  the  attendant  could  feed  the  work,  the  compressor  motor 
consumed  about  40  kw-hr.  per  hour,  its  demand  varying 
s'ightly  above  and  below  40  kw.  In  making  the  conversion 
from  steam  to  air  operation  the  only  change  necessary  in 
the  hammers  was  the  repacking  of  their  pistons. 


TIPPING  PUBLIC-SERVICE  EMPLOYEES. 


Complaint  having  arisen  that  employees  of  the  San  Diego 
(Cal.)  Consolidated  Gas  &  Electric  Company  had  demanded 
and  received  tips  from  customers  for  connecting  gas  ranges, 
that  company  has  dismissed  the  employees  concerned,  after 
a  hearing,  and  as  a  protection  against  further  annoyance 
of  this  sort  has  prepared  a  small  card,  to  be  handed  to  new 
customers,  which  bears  the  following  notice : 

"Patrons  of  this  company  are  respectfully  requested  to 
offer  no  tips  to  employees  as  compensation  for  service  ren- 
dered. Employees  are  prohibited  from  receiving  tips,  and 
the  acceptance  of  a  tip  of  any  kind  is  considered  cause  for 
instant  dismissal.  No  money  should  be  paid  any  employee 
of  this  company  except  upon  presentation  of  proper  bill  on 
printed  form,  and  then  only  to  regular  collectors." 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


'153 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

ADAPTATION  OF  THREE-PHASE  ARRESTER  FOR 
TWO-PHASE  USE. 


JL 


Ipji^ 


lidra-Gap 


n 


c 


\r 


Charge 


Aluminum 

-Cell 

Arrester 


In  purchasing  lightning-arrester  equipment  for  some  two- 
phase  circuits  in  several  Kansas  City  substations  which  are 
likely  to  be  changed  to  three-phase  operation  shortly,  stand- 
ard three-phase,  2300-  I'hasc  No.  1  i'ii,i3o  No.  2 
volt  aluminum-cell  ar- 
resters were  selected 
and  adapted  temporar- 
ily to  two-phase  opera- 
tion as  shown.  For 
this  two-phase  protec- 
tion .  the  three-phase 
equipment,  it  will  be 
noted,  required  only 
four  elements  instead 
of  the  six  generally 
furnished.  By  the  use 
of  the  connections 
shown  both  arresters 
are  charged  from  a  sin- 
gle phase,  only  one  of 
the  second-phase  termi- 
nals being  led  to  the 
arrester.  This  uncon- 
nected side  and  the  cor- 
responding side  of  the 
first  phase  are  equipped  with  feeder  regulators,  the  static 
arresters  of  which  afford  ample  protection. 

As  furnished  by  the  manufacturer,  the  arrester  com- 
prised four  groups  of  elements  connected  to  a  common 
point,  with  the  far  side  of  one  of  the  groups  grounded  onto 
the  cell.  By  removing  one  jumper  the  various  group  taps 
were  made  available  for  two-phase  operation.  With  the 
charging-switch  blades  in  the  lower  position  both  phases 
are  connected  through  the  cell  to  earth.  With  the  switch 
up  energy  is  taken  from  the  first  phase  for  charging  both 
sets  of  arrester  elements.  This  arrangement  was  devised 
by  Mr.  R.  K.  McMaster,  electrical  engineer  of  the  Kansas 
City  Electric  Light  Company,  and  the  arresters  are  installed 
in  the  company's  substations  at  Fourth  and  Central  Streets 
and  Thirty-first  and  Holmes  Streets. 


Ground 

Reconnectlon   of  Three-Phase   Ar- 
rester on   Two-Phase   Circuit. 


QUARTZ-TUBE     MERCURY- VAPOR     LAMPS     FOR 
POWER-HOUSE  LIGHTING. 


Speaking  on  the  subject  of  the  quartz-tube  mercury- 
vapor  lamp  before  the  Electric  Club  of  Chicago  on  Nov.  14 
Mr.  George  C.  Keech,  illuminating  engineer  of  the  Cooper 
Hewitt  Electric  Company,  mentioned  the  use  of  these  units 
(which  have  a  mean-low-hemispherical  efficiency  of  0.25 
watt  to  0.3  watt  per  candle-power)  in  lighting  local  Chicago 
power  houses.  Six  770-watt  quartz-tube  lamps  are  installed 
in  the  Quarry  Street  station  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison 
Company,  where  they  light  an  area  463  ft.  by  56  ft.,  or 
4321  sq.  ft.  per  lamp.  The  lamps  are  hung  65  ft.  above  the 
floor  and  have  been  in  service  sixteen  months,  in  this  period 
burning  4300  lamp-hours.  The  total  renewal  cost  has  been 
$100,  or  about  0.3  cent  per  lamp-hour.  Tubes  as  now  manu- 
factured, said  Mr.  Keech,  have  average  lives  of  3000  to 
4000  hours,  although  certain  record  tubes  have  been  in 
service  7000  to  8000  hours.  Ultimate  failure  usually  results 
from  loss  of  vacuum,  the  degree  of  exhaustion  in  new  tubes 
being  about  one  in  one  million.  Quartz  tubes  which  have 
lost  their  vacuum  can,  however,  be  re-pumped  several 
times,  at  a  cost  of  $12  for  each  operation,  before  it  is  neces- 
sary finally  to  discard  them. 


New  uses  for  these  quartz-tube  lamps  are  being  found 
in  the  industrial  lighting  of  factories  and  yards,  in  photog- 
raphy and  moving-picture  manufacture,  for  bleaching,  for 
forcing  plant  growth  and  for  the  sterilization  of  water  and 
milk.  After  being  cleared,  the  water  to  be  sterilized  is 
passed  back  and  forth  three  times  through  the  light  of  the 
lamp,  receiving  the  full  actinic  rays,  which  effect  the 
destruction  of  any  bacteria  present.  An  equipment  manu- 
factured in  Chicago  is  capable  of  sterilizing  500  cu.  m  of 
water  per  day,  using  one  lamp.  Water  containing,  in  the 
bacteriologist's  parlance,  150,000  "bugs"  per  cu.  cm  is  ren- 
dered absolutely  sterile  when  it  emerges  from  the  apparatus. 
These  quartz-tube  lamps  have  also  been  used  for  testing 
fastness  of  colors  in  paints,  etc.,  the  bleaching  action  of 
the  ultra-violet  radiation  being  computed  to  have  a  fixed 
ratio  to  that  of  ordinary  sunlight. 

In  the  discussion  which  followed,  Mr.  Homer  E.  Niesz, 
Cosmopolitan  Electric  Company,  Chicago,  said  that  three 
quartz-tube  lamps,  supplied  with  direct  current  from  a 
rectifier,  have  replaced  twelve  arc  lamps  and  thirty-six 
incandescent  lamps  which  formerly  lighted  the  company's 
power  station.  For  the  arc  and  incandescent  lamps,  aggre- 
gating 9.6  kw,  2.6  kw  in  quartz  units  has  been  substituted, 
making  a  net  saving  of  7  kw.  Not  only  are  the  illumination 
and  diffusion  better,  said  Mr.  Niesz,  but  the  saving  of  energy 
resulting  will  alone  pay  for  the  installation  in  eighteen 
months. 


CONTROL    OF    THREE -WIRE    SYSTEM  WITH   IN- 
DUCTION REGULATORS. 


The  downtown  section  of  Peoria,  111.,  is  supplied  with 
iio-220-volt  alternating  current  over  three-wire  mains  from 
a  pair  of  2300-1  lo-volt,  200-kw  transformers  in  the  Peoria 
Gas  &  Electric  Company's  generating  station.  As  the 
sketch  shows,  these  transformers  have  their  primaries 
paralleled  and  their  secondaries  connected  in  series  to  fur- 
nish the  three-wire  service.  Owing  to  a  former  laxness  in 
the  requirements  for  the  balancing  of  large  lighting  loads, 
Peoria  has  a  number  of  lio-volt  installations,  besides  other 
cases  where  the  load  is  balanced  floor  to  floor,  all  of  which 
has  made  the  balanced-pressure  regulation  of  the  three-wire 
system  difficult,  as  the  transformer  bank  is  several  blocks 
distant  from  the  center  of  the  load. 

Regulation  of  the  three-wire  system  is  now  satisfactorily 
accomplished,  however,  by  contact-making  voltmeters  and 
relays  which  control  the  operation  of  the  induction-regu- 
lator sets  respectively  cut  into  each  primary  side  of  the 
three-wire  transformer  circuits.  This  controlling  equip- 
ment, which  is  in  duplicate  on  each  side,  is  adjusted  to 
maintain  the  pressure  at  the  distant  point  constant,  in  this 
way  holding  the  voltage  up  to  the  proper  value  as  well 


Contact-making  ^ 
Voltmeter  [vj 
anil  Helay       | 

2300  V.RcBulator 


2300  V. 


Pressure  Wires 
200-Kw.Tran3formers 


Point  of 
Regulation 


Pressure  Wires 


:ul   tt'ttrld 

Induction    Regulators   for    Controlling    Alternating-Current   Three- 
Wire  System. 

as  insuring  a  balance.  Pressure  wires  brought  back  through 
the  cables  control  the  operation  of  the  regulating  equip- 
ment, which  is  all  of  Westinghouse  manufacture.  With 
currents  of  600  amp  to  800  amp  flowing  in  the  line,  the 
regulators  at  all  times  effect  a  steady  pressure  balance  of 
the  system.  Mr.  L.  Owen  is  electrical  engineer  for  the 
Peoria  company. 


"54 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


DISTRIBUTION-MAIN  VOLTAGE  DROPS  IN 
KANSAS  CITY. 


A  study  of  the  various  voltage  drops  in  the  primary  mains 
of  the  Kansas  City  distribution  system  has  been  in  progress 
for  some  time,  until  now  complete  maps  and  data  are  avail- 
able showing  pressure  conditions  over  the  entire  system. 
The  accompanying  illustrations  show  the  method  of  inserl- 


3.85  V.S  27  K.W. 


Is  i20K.W. 


t^ 


31K.W. 


27  K.W. 


700'         3.28  V. 


^-'^^-      1SK.W.  O-*^-      40K.W.     0.52  V.        20K.W. 

Feeding  Point 


Fig.    1 — Condition    Before   Change    in    Feeding    Point. 

ing  the  data  on  maps  of  the  primary  mains.  Comparison  of 
these  two  figures  also  illustrates  the  advantage  obtained  by 
a  change  in  feeding  point  back  nearer  the  station,  resulting 
from  a  study  of  the  voltage  conditions  involved  in  the  first 
figure.  In  general,  loads  of  less  than  20  kw  have  been 
grouped  together  as  a  single  large  load,  since  the  drop 
occasioned  by  such  a  load  with  standard  wire  sizes  will 
amount  to  barely  one-quarter  of  I  per  cent.  This  assump- 
tion, as  pointed  out  by  the  electrical  engineer  of  the  com- 
pany, Mr.  R.  K.  McMaster,  at  the  recent  Kansas  convention, 
greatly  simplifies  the  calculations  necessary. 

Such  calculations  are  more  satisfactory  than  voltage 
measurements,  the  safe  and  necessary  assumption  only  being 
made  that  the  ratio  of  peak  amperes  to  transformer  kilo- 
watt capacity  for  the  entire  feeder  holds  also  for  the  in- 
vidual  transformers,  unless  the  character  of  service  varies 
widely  in  the  given  district.  While  feeder  loads  should  be 
as   heavy   as   practicable    for   the   size   of   wire   used,   the 


700 


1.02  Y. 
40K.W.     0.52  V.    ■2OK.W. 


Feeding  Point 


Elj-etrieai  lt'urj,i 


Fig.   2 — Effect   of   Change    In    Feeding    Point. 

desirable  current  densities  will  usually  be  independent  of 
the  wire's  carrying  capacity. 

Because  a  system  of  mains  has  a  reasonable  maximum 
drop  and  a  reasonable  maximum  current  density  in  the 
wire  it  does  not  follow  that  it  will  not  pay  to  make  changes. 
Figs.  I  and  2  give  an  actual  example  of  improvement  to  be 
obtained  at  practically  no  cost  by  moving  the  feeding  point 
back  nearer  the  station. 


Above  all,  it  is  most  important  to  keep  down  the  line  drop 
in  the  primary  mains  near  the  feeding  point.  If  the  drop 
in  the  first  1000  ft.  of  mains  is  2  per  cent,  it  may  be  reduced 
to  I  per  cent  by  replacing  670  ft.  with  wire  four  times  the 
size,  at  a  cost  trifling  compared  with  the  investment  saving 
effected  by  permitting  i  per  cent  additional  drop  on  long, 
lightly  loaded  primary  mains,  or  I  per  cent  additional 
secondary  drop. 

The  most  economical  location  of  the  feeding  point  with 
respect  to  the  load  center  varies  with  the  load  density.  In 
general,  the  feeding  point  should  not  be  the  load  center, 
but  that  main  which  feeds  back  toward  the  station  should 
be  shorter  than  the  others,  in  a  ratio  that  is  greater  for 
dense  than  for  scattered  loads.  About  one-half  is  a  good 
value  for  this  ratio  with  loads  of  200  kw  to  400  kw  per 
square  mile. 

REMOTE-CONTROLLED    OPERATION  OF  PEORIA'S 
ORNAMENTAL  LIGHTING. 


The  240  five-lamp  standards  which  light  the  downtown 
section  of  Peoria,  111.,  are  fed  in  groups  of  six  to  the  curb 
block  from  the  llo/220-volt  alternating-current  three-wire 
mains  and  are  turned  on  and  oft'  by  means  of  a  remote- 
control  pilot  circuit  which  operates  relay  switches  at  the 
feeding  points.      By   an   ingenious   arrangement   a   step-by- 


Control  Wire 


Messen^c-r 
Call  Box 


6J-C.«1>-.  TliiVf.Uu-f 


o  o 

(3     Lamps 

o  o 


Fig.   1 — Remote-Control   Circuit  for   Peoria's   Ornamental    Lighting. 

Step  mechanism  permits  the  four  60-watt  lamps  or  the 
single  loo-watt  units  to  be  turned  positively  on  and  oft', 
independently  of  the  others,  although  only  a  single  control 
wire  is  used. 

At  each  feeding  point  for  a  six-post  block  one  of  the 
relay  switches  shown  (Fig.  2)  is  installed  in  a  post  base. 
It  includes  a  looo-ohm  telephone  relay,  bridged  between  the 
control  wire  and  the  system  neutral,  and  the  50-ohm  switch 
magnet,  whose  winding  is  energized  through  the  relay 
contact.  This  operating  magnet  works  against  the  switch 
shaft,  rotating  it  90  deg.  each  time  the  magnet  is  energized. 
Pitman  rods  from  this  shaft  control  contacts  dipping  into 
the  two  mercury  cups,  one  for  the  top-lamp  circuit  and  the 
other  for  the  lower  lamps.  The  crank  pins  for  these  rods 
are  also  quartered  90  deg..  as  the  sketch  shows,  so  that  in 
succession  both  contacts  may  be  down,  or  one  up  and  one 
down,  or  both  up.  This  series  of  positions  is  passed  in  the 
course  of  one  rotation,  lighting  first  the  lower  lamps,  then 
the  top  lamps,  then  extinguishing  the  lower  lamps  and 
finally  extinguishing  the  top  lamps. 

Some  difficulty  was  at  first  experienced  in  timing  the 
impulses  to  operate  all  the  relays  and  switches  positively. 
but  the  mesenger  call-box  mechanism  finally  adopted  solved 
this  problem,  the  impulses  now  being  fixed  at  about  fifteen 
seconds'  duration  with  five-second  intervals.  Another  s'ight 
source  of  trouble  has  been  the  sensitiveness  of  the  relays  as 
first  installed.  A  heavy  blow  to  the  switch  post,  such  as  ? 
wagon  riding  over  the  curb,  would  cause  a  momentary 
closure   of   the   contact,   putting   the   corresponding   circuit 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


I '55 


out  of  step.  But  these  minor  difficulties  have  been  speedily 
cleared  out,  and  each  switch  before  being  installed  received 
a  test  of  500  operations  without  a  single  failure.  The 
switch  mechanism  is  inclosed  in  a  6-in.  by  lo-in.  iron  box, 
2  in.  deep,  with  fiber  entry  bushings  for  the  wires.  The 
outfits  cost  about  $12  each  as  made  in  a  local  shop.  The 
No.  10  control  wire  which  operates  the  forty  switches  has 
a  total   length   of   about  3   miles.     Each   relay  takes   about 


occupation  tax  payable  into  the  general  fund,  the  net  cost 
per  lamp  year  is  but  $68  to  $70.  According  to  the  city  elec- 
trician, Mr.  Waldemar  Michaelson,  the  cost  of  the  present 
installation  was  met  entirely  from  accumulations  in  this 
lighting  fund.  Omaha's  flame-arc  lighting  is  later  to  be 
extended  to  outlying  districts  of  the  city. 


INVERTED    MAGNETITE    LIGHTING    AT 
NATI  AND  CHATTANOOGA. 


cmciN- 


Fig.    2 — Switch    Box    Used    in    Post    Base    at    Feeding    Point. 

O.I  amp,  and  the  operating  magnets  2  amp  momentarily 
Mr.  C.  A.  Rich,  foreman  of  the  underground  department 
for  the  Peoria  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  devised  the  in- 
stallation  described. 


FLAME-ARC  LIGHTING    IN  OMAHA,  NEB. 

Omaha,  Neb.,  has  just  completed  the  installation  of  140 
lo-amp  flame-arc  lamps,  placed  four  to  the  350-ft.  block. 
The  downtown  thoroughfares  thus  illuminated  are:  Twelve 
blocks,  from  Jones  Street  to  California  Street,  on  Sixteenth 
Street ;  eight  blocks  on  Farnum  Street,  six  on  Tenth  and 
four  each  on  Fourteenth,  Fifteenth  and  Douglass  Streets. 
In  each  block  the  lamps,  two  on  a  side,  are  so  staggered  as 
to  bring  one  unit  to  each  90  ft.  of  street  length.  They  are 
hung  'from  ornamental  goosenecks  20  ft.  above  the  street 
surface.  In  each  block  it  was  found  possible  to  use  one  of 
the  two  former  lamp-posts  in  its  existing  position,  moving 
the  other  to  a  iil-u   location  to  cnnfnrni  to  the  installation  of 


A  trial  installation  of  twenty-two  "inverted"  magnetite 
post  lamps  is  in  operation  on  Race  Street,  Cincinnati,  dem- 
onstrating the  use  of  these  "New  Haven  units"  for  the 
complete  downtown  curb  illumination  of  the  city,  to  replace 
the  tungsten  lamps  in  refracting  reflectors  at  first  proposed. 
The  new  magnetite  lamps  are  of  the  6.6-amp  General  Elec- 
tric type,  carried  on  15-ft.  iron  posts  cast  locally  by  the 
Electric  Railway  Equipment  Company.  A  staggered  ar- 
rangement has  been  adopted,  the  posts  being  spaced  six  to 
the  block  on  each  side  of  Race  Street  from  Fifth  to  Seventh 
Street.  The  interval  between  posts  is  about  80  ft.  along 
each  curb,  or  one  lamp  for  each  40  ft.  of  street.  The  sec- 
tion installed  occupies  the  same  blocks  with  the  recent 
tungsten-post  experimental  installation  using  refracting  re- 
flectors, described  in  these  columns  at  the  time  of  its  erec- 
tion eighteen  months  ago. 

Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  is  also  to  have  a  magnetite  "white 
way"  throughout  its  business  district.  The  plans  recently 
adopted  call  for  114  ornamental  lamp  standards  with  6.6- 
amp,  75-volt  units,  similar  to  those  used  at  Cincinnati. 


CLUSTER  LIGHTING  REPLACES  ARCHES 
COLUMBUS,    OHIO. 


IN 


For  many  years  the  downtown  district  of  Columbus. 
Ohio,  has  been  lighted  by  carbon-filament  incandescent 
lamps  supported  from  slender  iron  arches  which  spanned 
the  streets  from  curb  to  curb.  In  its  day  this  system  of 
arch  lighting  produced  an  effect  which  was  considered  both 
novel  and  striking,  but  it  rapidly  became  obsolete  with 
the  advances  in  outdoor  lighting  during  the  past  few  years. 
On  the  occasion  of  the  city's  recent  centennial  celebration 


Flame-Arc    Street    LIgliting    at    Omaha,    Neb. 

the  two  new  posts  per  block.  The  Omaha  Electric  Light  & 
Power  Company  installed  the  entire  system,  including  con- 
duit, cable,  posts,  labor  and  repaving,  for  $15,000.  This  is,' 
of  course,  e.xclusive  of  the  lamps  themselves,  which  cost 
$32  each.  The  Omaha  company  is  under  contract  to  do  the 
city  lighting  for  $75  to  $85  per  lamp  year,  but  as  the  city 
receives  a  rebate  in  the  form  of  a  lighting  assessment  of  3 
per  cent  of  the  company's  gross  income,  besides  a  3  per  cent 


Fig.  1 — Spring  Street,   Lool<lng  West  from   Fourth  Street. 

a  new  and  modern  system  of  cluster  lighting  was  placed  in 
service,  in  honor  of  the  event. 

The  new  curb-lighting  system  consists  of  866  clusters 
mounted  on  ornamental  iron  posts,  each  bearing  one 
loo-watt  tungsten-filament  lamp  at  the  top,  surrounded  by 
four  6o-watt  lamps  inclosed  in  ball  globes  of  milk  glass,  as 
seen  in  Fig.  i.  The  lamps  are  wired  on  the  multiple  system 
throughout.    In  addition  there  are  thirty  alley  lamps  which 


1 156 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22 


form  part  of  the  system.     The  entire  installation  is  said  to 
have  cost  approximately  $101,500. 

The  posts  were  made  by  O'Brien  Brothers,  of  Columbus, 
from  a  competitive  design  selected  by  the  Merchants'  Asso- 
ciation. The  Erie  Lighting  Company,  Erie,  Pa.,  received 
the  contract  for  installation  and  wiring.  Energy  for 
operating  the  system  is  supplied  by  the  municipal  electric 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


Fig.    2 — Chestnut    Street,    Looking    West    from    Fourth    Street. 

plant.  During  the  centennial  the  thirty-seven  arches  and  125 
arc  lamps  in  the  cluster  district  were  left  in  service  to  give 
extra  illumination  and  decorative  effect  for  the  occasion. 
In  connection  with  the  ceremonies  of  throwing  the  switch 
which  set  the  new  installation  in  operation  for  the  first  time. 
Mayor  Karb  discoursed  on  the  new  era  in  street  lighting  and 
referred  to  the  unique  character  of  the  old  arches  and  the 
distinction  which  they  had  conferred  upon  the  city  in  years 
gone  by.  But  having  served  their  purpose  so  well,  and 
means  of  better  illumination  being  now  at  hand,  the  change 
seems  wholly  fitting. 


INTERCHANGEABLE     ILLUMINATED     SIDEWALK 

SIGN. 


The  accompanying  sketch  shows  a  simple  interchangeable 
electric-lighted  sign  to  be  seen  in  front  of  a  Kentucky 
moving-picture  theater  where  the  bill  is  changed  nightly 
and  the  sidewalk  announcement  must  be  varied  with  equal 
frequency.  There  are  two  2-ft.  by  3-ft.  panes  of  heavy 
diffusing  green  glass,  mounted  together  in  a  polished  brass 
frame  with  sufficient  interval  to  admit  the  half-dozen  lamps 
which  light  the  display.  Across  the  glass  panes  on  each 
side  are  fixed  brass  rods,  and  extending  to  within  about 
4  in.  of  the  brass  frame  on  the  edges  polished  brass  strips 


Hc-av 
Diffu; 


y  Green 
ng  Gl;l-a 


Polished  Brass  Frame 


r 


Blas^-^ 


Clear  Glass 
Slide  (1  I  Sin.) 
.vith  Painted  or 

Pasted  Paper 
Letter 


-Cle*r  Gla»s<£ 
Squares-^ 


T ON  I 


MMEL 


;;  Opening' 
for  Removing 
Letter  Slides 


Brass  Strip 
(Polished) 


Ettetrieal  WarU 


Interchangeable    Illuminated    Sidewalk    Sign. 

are  fastened  to  these  rods,  forming  slide-ways.  In  these 
grooves  are  placed  the  3-in,  by  4-in.  clear-glass  slides  on 
which  are  painted  the  individual  letters.  If  preferred,  paper 
letters  can  be  pasted  onto  the  glass  slides  and  used  inter- 
changeably to  make  up  the  words.  The  lamps  inside  the 
sign  are  lighted  through  an  extension  cord,  and  the  display 
presents  a  brilliant  appearance  lighted  from  both  sides. 


ANTISEPTIC    DEVICE. 

An  antiseptic  device  of  paper  has  been  invented  by  Mr. 
C.  V.  Fuller,  of  Nev;  York  City.  The  paper  is  pressed  into 
a  cone-shaped  form  and  its  middle  layer  is  adapted  to  absorb 
an  antiseptic  solution.  The  size  of  the  cone  conforms  to  the 
standard  mouthpiece,  the  edges  being  bent  over  in  a  manner 
such  as  to  lock  over  its  lip. 

TRANSMITTERS. 

Mr.  J.  J.  Comer,  of  Chicago,  has  devoted  his  attention  to 
the  production  of  a  differential  transmitter.  He  has  worked 
this  out  in  several  different  forms  and  obtained  three 
patents  covering  it.  The  main  principle  is  that  of  mount- 
ing the  movable  electrode  midway  in  the  carbon-granule 
chamber  so  that  granules  will  lie  on  both  sides  of  it.  It 
will  thus  be  seen  that  when  the  electrode  is  agitated  the 
granules  on  one  side  are  compressed  simultaneously  with 
the  release  of  the  granules  on  the  other  side.  Thus  by  the 
use  of  two  electrical  circuits  the  current  may  be  augmented 
in  one  while  decreased  in  the  other.  The  various  types 
of  instrument  described  comprise  a  stationary  granule 
chamber  with  a  moving  middle  electrode,  a  stationary 
middle  electrode  with  granule  chamber  driven  by  the 
diaphragm,  and  a  double  granule  chamber,  one  portion  on 
each  side  of  the  diaphragm,  and  two  middle  electrodes,  with 
either  electrodes  or  granule  chamber  stationary.  Mr. 
Comer's  patents  are  assigned  to  the  Automatic  Enunciator 
Company. 

A  sheet-steel  wall  set  is  the  subject  of  a  patent  granted 
to  Mr.  R.  H.  Manson,  of  Elyria,  Ohio,  and  assigned  to  the 
Dean  Electric  Company.  It  is  the  idea  to  produce  a  set 
the  elements  of  which  may  be  used  either  assembled  or 
individually.  To  this  end  the  bell  box  which  carries  the 
transmitter  in  its  face  is  provided  with  a  hollow  sub-base, 
which  in  turn  is  mounted  upon  a  sheet-steel  back-board 
with  the  usual  shelf.  The  bell  bo.x  may  be  used  as  a  whole 
set,  the  back-board  being  dispensed  with,  or  it  may  be  used 
with  a  back-board.  This  interchangeable  scheme  permits 
of  less  stock  being  carried. 


Letter  to  the  Editors 


SKIN-EFFECT  COEFFICIENTS. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs  : — There  seems  to  be  considerable  discrepancy  in 
the  published  values  of  skin-effect  coefficients,  especially 
for  the  larger  sizes  of  conductors  at  60  cycles.  Del  Mar, 
in  "Electric  Power  Conductors,"  and  Pender,  in  "Foster's 
Electrical  Engineers'  Pocketbook,"  base  their  calculations 
on  the  product  of  circular  mils  by  frequency.  Their  values 
are  in  substantial  agreement.  For  2,000,000-circ.  mil  copper 
Del  Mar's  value  becomes  1.29  and  Pender's  1.31.  For 
i.ooo,Qoo-circ.  mil  copper  Del  Mar's  value  becomes  1.09  and 
Pender's  1. 10. 

Kelvin's  values  in  the  "Standard  Handbook,"  based  on 
diameter,  interpolate  as   follows: 

2.ooo,ooo-circ.  mil,  stranded  diameter  1.944  value  1.77 

i.ooo.ooo-circ.  mil,  stranded  diarpjter  1.152,  value  r.i7 

Rushmore's  values,  as  given  in  the  June,  1912,  Proceed- 
ings A.  I.  E.  E.,  interpolate  from  the  curves  published  as 
follows : 

2,000,000-circ.  mil.  stranded  diameter   1.944,  value  2.15 
.     1,000,000-circ.  mil,  stranded  diameter   1. 152,  value  1.23 

There  is  over  60  per  cent  discrepancy  between  the  lowest 
and  highest  values  for  2,000,000-circ.  mil  cable.  Where 
such  discrepancies  exist  it  seems  as  though  the  various 
authorities  should  attempt  to  "get  together"  on  values  they 
can  all  agree  upon. 

Cleveland.  Ohio.  H.  S.  Wallau. 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


1157 


Digest  of  Current  Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Turbo-Converter. — F.  Greedy. — An  illustrated  paper  read 
before  the  Manchester  Section  of  the  (British)  Institution 
of  Electrical  Engineers  in  which  the  author  describes  a  new 
method  for  avoiding  the  difficulty  of  collecting  current 
from  the  commutator  of  a  turbo-generator.  The  turbo- 
converter  consists  of  an  induction  generator  combined  into 
one  machine  with  a  rotary  converter,  one  member    (pref- 


ladoction  GeneraU) 
Primary 


Converter  Annatu-" 


SquirreJ  Cage  Secoodary 
Fig.   1 — Connections  of  Turbo-Generator. 

erably  the.  primary)  being  mounted  on  the  converter  shaft 
and  revolving  with  it,  and  the  other  (usually  the  squirrel- 
cage  rotor)  being  mounted  on  the  turbine  shaft.  Fig.  i 
shows  a  diagram  of  the  connections.  In  the  case  of  a  four- 
pole  generator  and  four-pole  converter  let  the  converter  be 
running  at  1500  r.p.m.,  and  let  the  three-phase  induction 
generator  be  connected  to  three-phase  tappings  on  the  con- 
verter armature  through  the  hollow  shaft.  At  1500  r.p.m. 
three-phase  currents  at  50  cycles  will  flow  through  the  tap- 
pings on  the  converter  armature.  These  tappings  are  so 
connected  that  the  revolving  field  of  the  induction  generator 
rotates  the  same  way  as  the  converter  armature.  In  a 
four-pole'  machine  with  50-cycle  excitation  the  revolving 
field  will  also  go  at  1500  r.p.m.,  relative  to  the  primary 
winding  which  produces  it.  Hence  the  total  speed  of  the 
revolving  field  will  be  3000  r.p.m.  The  squirrel-cage  rotor, 
and,  therefore,  of  course,  the  turbine,  will  go  at  approxi- 
mately the  same  speed  as  the  field.  Hence  this  is  an  appa- 
ratus in  which  the  generator  runs  at  only  a  fraction  of  the 
speed  of  the  turbine.  Since  the  driving  torque  of  the  in- 
duction generator  also  drives  the  converter  as  a  direct- 
current  generator,  the  torque  exerted  between  the  rotor 
and  the  stator  of  the  induction  generator  must  be  identically 
equal  to  that  between  the  armature  and  the  field  of  the 
converter.  They  are,  in  fact,  the  same  torque  exerted  at 
different  points.  The  author  gives  characteristics  of  such 
a  turbo-converter  design. — London  Electrician,  Nov.  8. 
1912. 

Determining  the  No-Load  Losses  of  a  Machine. — A. 
Ytterberg. — The  author  first  discusses  the  well-known 
method  in  which  the  air,  bearing  and  iron  losses  of  a  ma- 
chine are  determined  by  letting  the  machine  run  down  from 
full  speed  to  rest  and  measuring  the  speed  at  any  moment. 
What  is  really  wanted,  however,  is  not  the  speed  but  the 
retardation.  The  author  shows  how  this  can  be  determined 
directly  by  simple  electrical  measurements.  In  Fig.  2,  M 
is  the  machine  under  test.  This  is  coupled  with  a  small 
l/20-kw  direct-current  generator  D,  which  is  separately 
excited  from  a  storage  battery.  The  brushes  of  the  generator 
are  connected  to  the  voltmeter  V  and  to  the  ammeter  A  in 
series  with  the  condenser  C,  as  shown  in  the  illustration. 
The  ammeter  shows  a  current  which  is  directly  proportional 
to  the  torque  at  any  moment  while  the  voltmeter  shows  at 
the  same  time  the  speed  of  the  machine.  Both  instruments 
are  read  simultaneously  at  proper  intervals.  The  method 
is   especially   suitable   for   determining   the   speed   curve   in 


starting  a  machine,  as  it  shows  exactly  all  the  irregularities 
in  the  change  of  speed,  etc.  By  using  a  cinematograph  or 
an  oscillograph  the  curves  can  be  plotted  automatically. — 
Hlek.  Zcit.,  Nov.  7,  1912. 

Mercury-Vapor  Rectifier. — Bela  B.  Schaefer. — An  illus- 
trated account  of  recent  progress  made  in  Germany  in  the 
construction  of  mercury-vapor  rectifiers  of  large  output. 
For  larger  outputs  it  is  necessary  to  give  up  the  use  of 
glass  and  to  employ  metallic  containers.  The  author  uses 
a  steel  cylinder  and  for  the  gas-tight  fitting  he  uses  an 
asbestos  packing  with  a  layer  of  mercury  on  the  outside. 
Gonsiderable  trouble  was  experienced  in  the  development 
of  large-size  rectifiers  from  the  phenomenon  of  "back- 
lighting." In  general  the  valve  action  of  the  rectifier  is 
perfect,  but  at  times  it  suddenly  ceases  and  the  current  passes 
in  the  reverse  direction.  This  action  means  a  short-circuit. 
Extended  experiments  showed  that  this  may  be  due  to  three 
different  causes.  Either  the  pressure  in  the  evacuated 
vessel  becomes  too  high  or  the  anodes  are  touched  by  con- 
densing globules  of  mercury,  thereby  assuming  the  property 
of  a  cathode,  or  the  anodes  are  touched  by  the  conducting 
vapor  current  which  rises  from  the  cathode.  In  order  to 
overcome  these  difficulties  the  construction  shown  in  Fig.  3 
is  used.  The  mercury  cathode  is  at  the  bottom  in  the  center, 
while  the  anodes  are  not  placed  in  the  axle  of  the  cylinder 
but  near  the  walls  at  the  top  of  the  evacuated  vessel  as 
shown.  In  this  way  it  is  also  possible  to  place  several 
anodes  within  the  vessel.  A  cooling  chamber  is  placed  on 
top  of  the  evacuated  vessel.  The  author  gives  figures 
which  show  that  the  mercury-vapor  rectifier  is  from  one- 
fourth  to  one-third  as  heavy  as  an  ordinary  converter.  The 
first  rectifier  of  this  kind  was  installed  in  an  iron  foundry  in 


Fig.  2  —  Method 
of  Determining  No- 
Load    Losses. 


Fig.    3 — Cross-Section    of    IVIercury 
Vapor   Rectifier. 


P'rankfort  last  year  for  80-kw  rating  and  has  been  con- 
stantly working  since  for  ten  hours  every  day. — Elck.  Zcit.. 
Nov.  7,  1912. 

Phase  Compensation  of  Induction  Motors. — A  note  on  a 
recent  British  patent  (No.  28,383,  Oct.  31,  1912)  of  Brown, 
Boveri  &  Company.  A  commutator  machine,  which  may 
have  an  adjustable  air-gap,  is  connected  to  the  induction 
motor  so  that  its  rotor  and  the  external  system  of  the  com- 
mutator motor  rotate  together.  The  magnetic  system  of  the 
latter  is  highly  saturated  throughout  or  in  parts,  and  the 
degree  mav  be  varied. — London  Elcc.  Eng'ing,  Nov.  7,  1912. 


1 158 


ELPSTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D . 


Vol.  60,   \o.  22. 


Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Lighting  with  Three-Phase  Lamps. — Walter  Schaeffer. 
— The  author  first  considers  the  general  requirements  of 
Hghting  large  areas,  like  streets,  squares,  etc.  He  then  com- 
pares the  use  of  3000-cp  two-electrode  ordinary  flame-arc 
lamps  with  the  use  of  12,000-cp  three-electrode  three-phase 
lamps.  The  former  are  suspended  at  9  m  (30  ft.)  above  the 
ground  and  the  latter  at  18  m  (60  ft.)  above  the  ground. 
The  comparison  is  carried  out  both  for  three-phase  lamps 
with  electrodes  of  9  mm  (23/64  in.)  thickness  and  with  elec- 
trodes of  12  mm  (15/32  in.)  thickness.  The  comparison  is 
made  for  lighting  an  area  of  180  m  by  270  m,  in  one  case 
with  six  i2,ooo-cp  three-phase  lamps  and  in  the  other  case 
with  twenty-four  3000-cp  two-electrode  lamps.  Under  all 
circumstances  the  use  of  three-phase  lamps  results  in  a 
great  saving  compared  with  the  ordinary  two-electrode 
lamps.  The  saving  of  electrical  energy  amounts  to  50  per 
cent  for  the  9-nim  electrodes  and  33^  per  cent  for  the 
i2-mm  electrodes.  The  saving  in  the  cost  of  carbon 
renewals  is  60  per  cent.  The  saving  in  the  cost  of  attend- 
ance is  60  per  cent  for  the  9-mm  electrodes  and  80  per  cent 
for  the  12-mm  electrodes.  The  first  cost  of  the  installation 
is  reduced  by  50  per  cent. — Elek.  Zeit..  Nov.  7,  1912. 

Exhaustion  of  Incandescent  Lamp  Bulbs. — An  illustrated 
description  of  the  system  of  A.  Stifter  for  automatic  cur- 
rent regulation  during  the  exhaustion  of  incandescent  lamps. 
The  apparatus  provides  for  the  automatic  switching  in  of 
lamps  when  such  a  vacuum  has  been  attained  that  the  fila- 
ment may  be  safely  brought  to  incandescence,  and  also  for 
automatic  opening  of  the  supply  circuit  in  the  event  of  the 
explosion  of  a  bulb  or  serious  deterioration  of  vacuum  by 
leakage  in  a  bulb  or  its  connections.  The  attendant's  duty 
is  limited  to  mounting  and  sealing  off  lamps.  Referring  to 
Fig.  4,  the  mercury-vacuum  meter  o  controls  a  local  circuit 
containing  the  switch  d ;  the  resistors  fe,  .  .  .  6;  are  of  any 
convenient  resistor  material  and  are  provided  with  inter- 
mediate platinum  contacts  fused  through  the  wall  of  the 
vacuum   gage.     When   the   mercury   has   risen   to   a   height 


Fig.  A — Automatic   Current   Regulation   for   Incandescent   Lamps. 

corresponding  to  that  vacuum  at  which  the  lamp  can  safely 
be  brought  to  incandescence  the  contact  c  is  closed  and  the 
current  path  is  from  the  local  battery  through  the  whole  of 
h  and  the  coil  d.  The  core  e  is  then  raised  so  far  that  the 
conducting  part  of  the  U-bar  /  (see  also  Fig.  5)  is  drawn 
into  the  mercury  cups  g,  thus  closing  the  lamp  circuit.  If 
the  filaments  have  been  mounted  properly  they  now  become 


duly  incandescent,  and  the  switch  /;  in  the  alarm-bell  circuit 
is  closed.  Above  the  coil  d  is  an  insulating  plate  i  carrying 
contact  bars  k.^,  k^,  the  construction  of  which  is  shown  in 
Fig.  6,  which  imagines  the  ring  of  bars  developed  into  one 
plane.  The  actual  arrangement  is  shown  in  plan  in  Fig.  7 
At  the  moment  when  f  closes  the  lamp  circuit  these  contact 
bars  make  no  connection  between  sections  w,,  m,,   etc.,  of 


I 


Figs.   5.   6  and   7 — Details  of  Arrangements  for  Automatic  Current 

Regulation, 

the  ring  /,  hence,  for  the  time  being,  the  lamp  current 
traverses  the  whole  of  the  liquid-resistor  column  n.  Mean- 
while the  lamp  vacuum  is  increasing,  and  when  the  mercury 
level  in  the  vacuum  gage  reaches  0  the  section  b,  or  b  is 
short-circuited,  and,  the  current  through  d  being  thus 
increased,  the  core  e  is  raised  further  and  the  conducting 
limbs  of  k  make  contact  between  m,,  m^,  thus  short-circuiting 
part  of  the  resistor  ;;,  with  the  result  that  the  lamps  burn 
more  brightly  than  before.  The  same  cycle  is  repeated  till 
by  the  time  the  mercury  in  the  vacuum  gage  reaches  b  the 
whole  of  II  is  short-circuited  and  the  lamps  are  supplied  at 
10  per  cent  over-voltage.  Suppose  now  that  a  lamp  explodes 
or  a  leakage  occurs  during  the  exhaustion,  the  mercury  level 
in  a  at  once  sinks  below  c,  the  coil  d  is  cut  out  of  circuit  and 
the  lamp  current  is  rapidly  reduced  as  fe,  k^,  etc.,  descend, 
and  finally  the  switch  /  is  opened.  The  core  e  descends 
under  its  own  weight  and  that  of  the  contact  gear;  no  con- 
trol spring  is  used.  The  opening  of  the  control  circuit  per- 
mits the  armature  of  r  to  fall,  with  the  result  that  the  alarm 
bell  u  at  once  commences  to  ring  and  attracts  the  notice  of 
the  attendant,  who  opens  h,  remedies  the  defective  condition 
and  recommences  the  exhaustion.  At  most  one  lamp  is  lost. 
When  dealing  with  lamps  of  abnormal  voltage  or  candle- 
power  a  second  liquid  resistor  may  be  connected  in  series 
or  parallel  with  n  after  opening  the  switch  x.  It  is  some- 
times recommended  that  lamps  should  not  be  brought  to 
incandescence  until  the  residua!  pressure  of  gases  in  the  bulb 
has  been  reduced  to  0.00013  atmosphere,  but  experience 
shows  that  no  damage  occurs  if  filaments  are  brought 
to  incandescence  when  the  pressure  reaches  0,00262 
atmosphere.  It  is  especially  important  that  the  point  c  be 
correctly  chosen  so  that  the  lamps  are  switched  in 
immediately,  but  not  before,  that  vacuum  is  reached  at  which 
the  filament  can  be  brought  to  incandescence  without  injury. 
Details  are  given  of  the  construction  of  the  standard  vacuum 
gage. — London  Elcc.  Rexnezv,  Nov.  i,  1912. 

Vapor  Lamps  mth  White  Light. — M.  Wolfke. — A  French 
illustrated  translation  of  his  German  paper  recently 
abstracted  in  the  Digest  on  a  new  vapor  lamp  emitting  white 
light,  a  cadmium-mercury  amalgam  being  used  in  a  fused 
quartz  globe. — La  Revue  Elec.,  Oct.  25,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

28,000-hp  Steam  Turbine. — An  illustrated  note  on  a  large 
steam  turbine  built  by  Escher,  Wyss  &  Company  for  the 
central  station  in  Essen.  At  1000  r.p.m.  its  output  is  22,500 
eiifective  hp,  with  an  admission  steam  pressure  of  10.5 
atmospheres  above  atmospheric  pressure,  a  steam  tempera- 
ture before  the  admission  valve  of  300  deg.  C.  and  a  vacuum 
of  91.5  per  cent.  The  turbine  can  develop  28,000  hp  and  for 
a  certain  time  even  30,000  hp.  It  has  fourteen  wheels  which 
with  the  axle  form  a  rotor  26,000  kg  (57,200  lb.)  in  weight. 
The  rotor  of  the  Siemens-Schuckert  generator  is  coupled 
rigidly  to  the  axle  of  the  turbine  and  weighs  60,000  kg 
(132,000  lb.).  For  their  attendance  the  turbine,  gen- 
erator and  condensing  plant  require  three  men,  who  are  not 
fully  occupied  all  the  time. — La  Reinie  Elec.  Oct.  25.  1912. 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


"59 


Traction. 

Electro-Pneumatic  Brake. — W.  V.  Turner  and  P.  H. 
Donovan.- — The  conclusion  of  their  long  Franklin  Institute 
paper  on  the  electro-pneumatic  brake  system  for  steam-road 
service.  The  authors  conclude,  first,  that  the  greatest  gain 
in  every  way  can  be  had  by  adding  the  electric  control  to 
the  most  improved  form  of  pneumatic  brake;  second,  that  it 
should  be  applied  to  both  the  service  and  emergency  func- 
tions of  the  brake;  third,  that  it  should  not  be  applied  to  the 
service  brake  only,  but  may  be  applied  with  considerable 
gain  to  the  emergency  brake  only,  and,  fourth,  that  the 
application  of  electric  control  to  the  brake  will  contribute 
to  safety,  economy  and  comfort  to  a  degree  impossible  of 
attainment  with  a  strictly  pneumatic  brake  and  to  an  extent 
far  beyond  any  consideration  of  expense  or  complexity. — 
Journal  of  Franklin  Institute,  November,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Mercury  Switcli. — A  description  of  a  mercury  switch 
designed  by  H.  S.  Hatfield  in  which  the  glass  globe  will  not 
deteriorate  in  course  of  time.  In  Fig.  8  G  B  is  the  glass 
bulb,  M  mercury,  P  E  platinum  electrodes  and  A  a  porcelain 
cup.     The  tubes  receive  a  special  annealing  treatment  and 


Fig.    8 — Section     of     Hatfield     Mercury    Switch. 

are  tested  for  air-tightness  and  strain  in  the  glass.  The 
spark  of  break  is  taken  up  on  the  small  porcelain  cup  A. 
The  illustration  is  full  size  for  10  amp,  and  500  volts  are 
broken  with  certainty.  How  rapidly  the  break  may  be 
repeated  depends  upon  the  nature  of  the  circuit ;  once  a 
second  is  not  too  much  on  a  load  of  incandescent  lamps. 
London  Elec.  Reviezv,  Nov.  i,  1912. 

Domestic  Uses  of  Electricity.— G.  Dettmar. — The  con- 
clusion of  his  long  paper  giving  details  of  the  use  of  electric 
heating  and  cooking  appliances  in  the  author's  household 
and  also  of  his  lighting  equipment.  Figures  are  given  for 
the  consumption  of  electric  energy  by  different  heating  and 
other  appliances. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov.  7,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Starting  Rheostats. — E.  Jasse. — A  French  translation  of 
his  German  paper  recently  noticed  in  the  Digest  on  a  method 
of  calculating  the  most  advantageous  dimensions  on  starting 
rheostats  so  as  to  prevent  their  becoming  unduly  hot  and 
so  as  to  reduce  their  weight  to  a  minimum. — La  Revue  Elec, 
Oct.  25,  1912. 

Aluminum  Conductors. — Huber  Stockar. — His  complete 
paper  read  before  the  Turin  Congress  of  Applied  Elec- 
tricity on  the  use  of  aluminum  for  electric  conductors.  The 
author  deals  with  both  bare  aluminum  wires  and  insulated 
cables  and  gives  the  different  properties  in  comparison  with 
copper.  His  conclusions  are  as  follows:  Aluminum  con- 
ductors must  be  installed  in  conformity  with  the  char- 
acteristic properties  of  aluminum.  While  their  method  of 
installation  is  different  from  that  of  copper,  it  is  not  any 
more  difficult.  The  use  of  aluminum  and  copper  in  the 
same  line  does  not  involve  any  detrimental  lack  of  homo- 
geneity. At  the  present  prices  of  aluminum  and  copper  the 
economy  possible  with  the  use  of  aluminum  is  so  great  that 
it  should  be  taken  seriously  into  consideration  in  practice. 
The  economy  is  greatest  for  bare  wires,  somewhat  less  for 
lines  with  large  sections  and  medium  spans,  less  for  trans- 
mission lines  of  great  length,  especially  with  sections  of  100 
sq.  mm  (0.155  sq.  in.)  and  more,  and  still  less  for  insulated 
cables  with   a  large  conductor   section   and   an   insulating 


material  other  than  rubber.  For  interior  wiring  with  small 
cross-section  aluminum  does  not  offer  any  remarkable 
economy.  For  telephone  and  telegraph  wires  aluminum 
does  not  seem  to  be  applicable  for  mechanical  reasons.  For 
conductors  buried  in  the  earth  aluminum  is  not  applicable 
on  account  of  chemical  attack. — La  Revue  Elec,  Oct. 
25,  1912. 

Bracket  Construction  for  High-Tension  Lines. — An  illus- 
trated description  of  the  Giros  and  Loncheur  Z-bracket 
used  on  the  215  miles  of  io,ooo-volt  single-phase  electric 
railways  radiating  from  Limoges  in  the  Haute-Vienne  dis- 
trict. Its  advantages  include  cheapness,  lightness,  strength 
and  flexibility. — London  Elec.  Review,  Nov.  i,  1912. 

Electrochemistry  and   Batteries. 

Saturation  Currents  in  Selenium. — F.  Kaempf. — If  an  in- 
creasing voltage  is  applied  to  a  selenium  cell,  then  the  cur- 
rent does  not  rise  in  proportion  to  the  voltage,  but  more 
rapidly;  that  is,  the  resistance  of  the  cell  decreases.  Char- 
acterized as  it  is  by  a  more  rapid  rise  of  the  current  in  pro- 
portion to  the  voltage,  this  reduction  recalls  what  happens 
in  the  surface  ionization  of  gases,  where  for  small  voltages 
the  current  increases  as  the  square  of  the  potential  dif- 
ference. If  this  analogy  is  more  than  a  mere  accident  the 
conductivity  of  selenium  and  similar  substances  may  be 
regarded  as  the  superposition  of  a  proper  conductivity  due 
to  dissociation  and  a  conductivity  developed  at  the  junction 
of  the  selenium  and  the  metallic  electrodes.  The  author 
undertook  to  examine  the  consequences  of  such  a  view,  and 
especially  to  test  the  possibility  of  obtaining  saturation  cur- 
rents in  selenium.  The  present  communication  gives  the 
proof  of  the  existence  of  such  a  saturation  current.  The 
saturation  current  requires  a  very  high  potential  gradient, 
something  like  12,000  volts  per  centimeter. — -Phys.  Zeit., 
Aug.  I,  1912,  translated  in  London  Electrician,  Nov.  8,  1912. 

Roentgen  Radiation. — H.  Pealing. — A  paper  on  the  dis- 
tribution and  quality  of  the  secondary  Roentgen  radiation 
from  carbon.  The  variation  of  the  distribution  of  the  scat- 
tered radiation  produced  in  carbon  by  means  of  Roentgen 
rays  differing  in  penetrating  power  was  investigated,  and 
unexpected  results  were  obtained.  When  hard  portions  of 
a  hard  primary  beam  were  used  the  ratios  of  /,,„  to  /„„  and 
of  /„  to  /„„  (where  h  is  the  intensity  of  the  scattered  radia- 
tion in  a  direction  making  an  angle  of  a  degrees  with  the 
primary  beam)  both  increased,  but  with  very  hard  beams 
both  decreased.  The  ratio  of  /,,,„  to  /„„  was  low  and  of  /„  to 
/„„  was  high  for  the  hard  portions  of  the  secondary  beam. 
The  amount  of  the  forward  radiation  was  always  consider- 
ably greater  than  the  radiation  sent  in  a  direction  opposite 
to  that  of  the  beam.  The  results,  though  apparently  con- 
tradictory, are  very  simply  explained,  since  when  the 
primary  beam  is  soft  the  secondary  beam  consists  of  scat- 
tered radiation  and  an  "extra"  radiation  which  is  softer 
than  the  primary.  The  proportion  of  extra  radiation  on 
the  forward  direction  is  very  much  greater  than  in  the 
other  direction.  When  the  primary  beam  is  hard  the 
secondary  beam  consists  of  scattered  radiation,  a  larger 
proportion  of  "extra"  radiation  than  when  the  beam  was 
soft,  and  hard,  fluorescent  carbon  radiation.  Confirmation 
of  these  views  was  obtained  by  a  study  of  the  relative 
absorbabilities  of  the  primary  and  secondary  beams. — 
Philos.  Magazine,  November,  1912. 

Delta  Rays  Produced  by  Beta  i?ay.f.— N.  Campbell.— An 
account  of  an  experimental  investigation.  One  of  the  par- 
ticular results  is  that  the  delta  rays  excited  by  beta  rays  are 
precisely  similar  to  those  excited  by  alpha  rays.  The  prop- 
erties of  the  delta  rays  are  a  function  neither  of  the  prop- 
erties of  the  ionizing  rays  nor  of  the  material  which  they 
ionize;  they  are  a  function  of  the  properties  of  some 
mechanism  which  is  concerned  in  all  ionization. — Philos. 
Magazine,  November,  1912. 

Thermo-Electricity. — O.  W.  Richardson. — A  mathe- 
matical paper  on  the  electronic  theory  of  thermo-electricity 


ii6o 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2, 


and  thermionic  effects,  replying  to  some  criticisms  by  Bohr 
and  Wilson  on  some  points  in  the  author's  theory.— PhUos. 
Magazine,  November,  19 12. 

Magnetic  Rays. — A.  Righi. — A  paper  on  magnetic  rays 
in  different  gases  with  reference  to  the  results  of  a  recent 
investigation  by  More  and  Rieman. — Philos.  Magazine, 
November,  1912. 

Mutual  Inductance. — H.  Nagaoka. — A  note  on  a  (British) 
Physical  Society  paper  in  which  methods  are  given  for  the 
rapid  calculation  of  the  mutual  inductance  of  two  coaxial 
circular  currents. — London  Electrician,  Nov.  8,  1912. 
Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Moving-Coil  Ohmmeter. — A  note  on  a  recent  British 
patent  (No.  22,740,  Oct.  31,  1912)  of  J.  W.  Record.  The 
current  and  pressure  coils  are  mounted  one  above  the  other 
on  the  same  axis.  Each  is  provided  with  a  separate  magnet ; 
the  pole  pieces  are  adjustable.  Only  the  current  coil 
embraces  the  iron  core  (as  in  the  ordinary  d'Arsonval  gal- 
vanometer). The  pressure  coil,  which  may  be  wound  in  a 
magnetic  or  non-magnetic  frame,  or  may  be  inclosed  in  a 
metallic  sheath,  is  preferably  of  elongated  form.  By  insert- 
ing a  resistor  of  adjustable  resistance  in  circuit  with  the 
pressure  coil  the  control  can  be  regulated  at  will.  Two 
pressure  coils  astatically  arranged  may  be  employed  so  as  to 
reduce  the  control  to  a  minimum.  It  is  claimed  that  this 
construction  enables  a  very  long  scale  to  be  obtained,  and 
the  instrument  is  very  light. — London  Elec.  Ending,  Nov. 
7,  1912. 

Poiver-Facior  Indicators. — A  note  on  a  recent  British 
patent  (No.  193,  Oct.  31,  1912)  of  the  British  Thomson- 
Houston  Company,  Ltd.,  and  the  General  Electric  Company 
of  this  country.  Two  relatively  movable  elements,  each 
consisting  of  two  or  more  relatively  displaced  windings  and 
phase-splitting  devices,  so  as  to  produce  in  each  element  a 
rotating  magnetic  field,  are  provided.  In  one  type  the 
stationary  element  may  be  formed  of  two  similar  coils  dis- 
placed 90  deg.,  connected  in  parallel  with  series  impedances 
of  different  time  constants.  The  movable  element  also  con- 
sists of  two  movable  coils  with  different  impedances.  The 
moving  coils  are  connected  in  shunt  through  a  non-inductive 
resistor.  Changes  of  frequency  do  not  affect  the  apparatus, 
but  a  change  in  the  power-factor  alters  the  relation  of  the 
currents  in  the  fixed  and  moving  coils,  so  that  the  latter 
rotate  to  a  new  position. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Nov. 
7,  1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

Automatic  Exchange  Telephone  Systems. — G.  H.  Green. 
—The  first  part  of  an  illustrated  article  in  which  early 
suggestions  for  automatic  telephony  are  referred  to  briefly 
and  the  fundamental  principles  underlying  modern  systems 
are  then  described  more  fully.  A  detailed  description  is 
given  of  the  circuits  of  the  "three-wire"  and  "two-wire" 
Strowger  systems,  and  reference  is  made  to  some  features 
of  interest  in  the  Epsom  and  G.  P.  O.  exchanges  recently 
opened. — London  Electrician,  Nov.  8,  1912. 

Correct  Time. — R.  M.  Hook. — A  paper  read  before  the 
(British)  Institution  of  Post  Office  Electrical  Engineers  on 
methods  of  transmitting  time  signals  from  the  main  solar 
clock  at  Greenwich  observatory  to  the  central  telegraph 
office  in  London  and  from  there  to  sub-chronopher  stations. 
Several  methods  for  the  physical  correction  of  clocks  are 
described. — London  Elec.  Review,  Nov.  i,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

Association  of  Szviss  Central  Stations. — Dettmar. — An 
account  of  the  general  meetings  of  the  Association  of 
Swiss  Central  Stations  and  the  Swiss  Electrical  Society 
held  in  Zurich  from  Oct.  28  to  30,  1912.  Ringwald  read  a 
paper  on  energy  rate  problems  and  described  a  rate  intro- 
duced by  him  with  low  prices  in  summer  and  higher  prices 
in  winter  in  order  to  get  a  uniform  load  during  the  year. 
He  was  against  flat  rates  for  large  consumers  and  insisted 
that  flat  rates  should  be  allowed  onlv  for  small  consumers. 


In  this  respect  Wyssling  and  Wikender  agreed  with  hin 
The  latter  spoke  of  the  introduction  of  the  flat  rate  fc 
small  consumers  in  many  German  stations  and  the  success 
ful  results  thereby  obtained.  Wille  read  a  paper  on  th 
revision  of  the  Swiss  factory  law  and  Wagner  a  paper  0 
advertising  propaganda  for  a  more  extended  use  of  elec 
tricity.  He  thinks  that  the  independent  wiring  contractor  i 
the  best  salesman  for  the  central  station  and  should  b< 
helped  along  as  much  as  possible.  The  committee  on  stand 
ardization  of  fuses  and  conductors  expressed  its  intention  ti 
co-operate  as  much  as  possible  with  the  German  Associatioi 
of  Electrical  Engineers.  A  report  of  the  committee  on  pro 
tective  devices  against  dangerous  high  voltages  was  rea( 
by  Ringwald,  who  stated  that  the  use  of  condensers  i: 
increasing  in  Switzerland  and  that  they  are  quite  successful 
Ringwald  said  he  considered  it  to  be  best  to  protect  th< 
station,  the  terminal  points  and  some  main  points  of  th< 
network,  but  not  every  branch.  The  branches  are  pro 
tected  largely  and  with  good  success  simply  by  chokinj 
coils.  He  thought  that  very  good  insulation  of  machine: 
and  transformers  was  more  effective  than  the  installatioi 
of  protective  devices  against  dangerously  high  voltages 
Several  excursions  were  made  to  power  plants  and  sub 
stations  and  to  the  Oerlikon  works. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Oct  ' 
24,  1912. 


Book  Reviews 

SuLL'    ApPLICAZIONE    DEI    PaRAFULMINI    ALLE    OfFICIXE    EI 

Edifizi.  By  Pasquale  Viscidi.  Rome:  Stabilimentc 
Tipo-Litografico  del  Genio  Civile.  52  pages,  12  illus 
A  short  treatise  presenting  the  theory  of  two  types  ol 
lightning  arrester  employed  principally  for  the  protectior 
of  buildings.  These  are  known  as  the  "Franklin  point"  anc 
the  "Faraday  cage."  The  construction  of  such  arresters  is 
thoroughly  discussed  and  a  series  of  practical  conclusions 
is  reached  for  guidance  in  making  installations. 


Small  W.\ter  Supplies.    By  F.  Noel  Taylor.    New  York; 

The  D.  Van  Nostrand  Company.     162  pages,  126  illus 

Price,  $2. 
A  practical  treatise  on  the  sources,  storage  and  distribu- 
tion of  water  for  domestic  uses  in  small  villages,  farms  and 
estates.  There  are  chapters  on  the  properties  of  water  and 
sources  of  supply,  wells  and  well  sinking,  flow  of  water  in 
channels  and  pipes,  pumping,  and  storage  and  distribution. 
It  is  written  throughout  in  a  simple,  direct  style  and  covers 
its  field. 


Magnetism  and  Electricity.  By  E.  E.  Brooks  and  A.  W. 
Poyser.  New  York :  Longmans.  Green  &  Company. 
624  pages,  413  illus.  Price,  $2. 
.\n  elementary  textbook  for  electrical  engineering  stu- 
dents, covering  the  general  field  of  electrical  science  and 
intended  as  preparatory  for  specialized  courses  either  in 
pure  science  or  electrical  engineering.  The  volume  was 
written  primarily  to  replace  Poyser's  "Advanced  Magnetism 
and  Electricity,"  originally  published  in  1892.  The  authors 
treat  the  subject  under  three  grand  divisions — electrostatics, 
magnetism  and  voltaic  electricity,  covering  the  ground  in  a 
manner  suited  for  advanced  courses  in  preparatory  schools 
or  elementary  courses  in  colleges  or  technical  schools.  In 
particular  the  authors  had  in  mind  the  entrance  require- 
ments of  English  universities  and  the  examinations  held  by 
the  British  Board  of  Education,  and  at  the  end  of  nearly 
all  of  the  thirty-five  chapters  they  give  a  series  of  questions 
taken  from  typical  examination  papers  of  the  universities 
and  the  board.  The  calculus  is  not  employed  throughout 
the  book,  except  in  the  appendix  chapter  on  transient  and 
oscillatory  currents.  Considered  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  field  covered  and  the  class  of  students  it  is  prepared 
for,  this  textbook  seems  very  satisfactory. 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1 161 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


ATTACHMENT-PLUG  RECEPTACLES. 


When  using  electric-heating  and  small  motor-driven  de- 
vices it  is  not  always  convenient  or  desirable  to  feed  them 
from  a  fixture  socket.  For  this  reason,  the  Cutler-Hammer 
Manufacturing    Company,    of    Milwaukee,    Wis.,    has    de- 


r 


i": 


Attachment-Plug    Receptacles. 

signed  and  placed  on  the  market  a  set  of  attachment  plug 
receptacles  to  fit  in  with  its  line  of  porcelain  and  composi- 
tion attachment  plugs.  The  caps  and  the  plugs  are  inter- 
changeable in  all  styles  so  that  any  plug  can  be  used  with 
any  receptacle.  A  round-base  receptacle  is  designed  for 
use  with  concealed  wiring,  while  the  rectangular-base  type 
is  particularly  suited  for  use  with  molding  work. 


SMALL    ELECTRIC    METERS   FOR  AUTOMOBILES. 


The  meter  illustrated  herewith  is  only  3  in.  in  diameter, 
and  is  designed  for  use  on  automobiles,  motorboats,  yachts 
and  small  switchboard  panels.  It  operates  on  the  D'Arson- 
val  principle,  having  a  moving  coil  and  a  permanent  mag- 
net, which  renders  it  free  from  residual  errors.  Its  high 
torque  and  high  damping  characteristics  make  it  suitable  for 
automobiles,  as  the  pointer  does  not  vibrate. 


Small    Electric    Meter. 

The  complete  movement  is  mounted  as  a  unit  and  may 
be  removed  for  repairs,  for  which  purpose  the  rim  and 
glass  cover  are  taken  off  and  two  screws  on  the  side  of 
the  movement  removed,  whereupon  the  entire  moving  ele- 
ment and  bearings  can  be  lifted  out  as  a  unit  and  can  be 
replaced  in  exact  position.  The  meter  may  be  repaired 
without  disturbing  the   alignment  of  the  magnetic  circuit. 


Owing  to  the  use  of  an  aluminum  pointer,  a  light  counter- 
weight is  allowed,  resulting  in  a  light-weight  movement 
and  small  wear  on  the  pivot  jewels.  The  full  length  of  the 
pointer  shows  on  the  dial,  thus  making  the  meters  easy  to 
read.  The  construction  is  such  that  the  meter  will  with- 
stand the  shocks  to  which  it  will  be  subjected  without 
losing  its  accuracy. 

The  scale  is  made  of  etched  metal  and  subtends  an  arc 
of  90  deg.,  giving  large  open  divisions.  The  zero  of  the 
ammeter  is  placed  in  the  center  of  the  scale,  so  as  to  indi- 
cate current  in  either  direction.  On  the  voltmeter  scales 
the  zero  point  is  omitted  in  order  to  obtain  wide  divisions 
and  greater  accuracy  around  the  s-volt  point,  which  is  the 
normal  cell  voltage  for  automobiles. 

A  flush  meter  is  made  for  mounting  on  dashboards  0.25 
in.  thick  or  less  and  will  then  project  in  front  of  the  board 
by  less  than  0.25  in. 

These  meters  have  been  placed  on  the  market  by  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  East 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


IMPROVED  SQUIRREL-CAGE  ROTORS. 


The  squirrel-cage  induction  motor  has  long  been  recog- 
nized as  a  most  substantial  and  reliable  apparatus.  How- 
ever, one  detail  of  construction  that  has  caused  more  or 


Fig.    1 — Rotor    Bar. 

less  trouble  is  the  joint  between  the  rotor  bars  and  the 
end  rings.  Various  forms  of  screwed  joints,  riveted  joints 
and  soldered  joints  have  been  employed  with  more  or  less 
success.  In  order  to  eliminate  excessive  heating  at  these 
joints  Fairbanks,  Morse  &  Company,  Chicago,  111.,  have 
employed  the  method  of  casting  on  the  end-rings  after  the 


Fig.    2 — Complete    Rotor    with    Cast-On     End-Rings. 

rotor  bars  are  assembled.  It  is  stated  that  by  this  process 
a  perfect  fusion  of  every  bar  with  the  metal  of  the  end- 
ring  is  secured  and  a  perfectly  solid  "cage"  is  produced. 
After  casting,  the  rings  are  finished  as  shown  in  Fig.  2 
and  a  deep  groove  is  cut  into  each  ring  down  to  the  union 
of  the  bars  and  the  rings,  so  that  the  integrity  of  each 
weld  can  be  inspected. 


Il62 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


GAS-ELECTRIC  HARVESTING  MACHINE. 


At  Elmhurst,  Cal.,  a  novel  adaptation  of  electricity  by 
the  use  of  a  gas-electric  harvesting  machine  has  been  seen 
in  the  fields  for  some  time.  This  harvesting  equipment  con- 
sists of  an  8o-hp,  six-cylinder  gasoline  tractor  hauling  a 
motor-driven  harvester.    On  the  rear  of  the  traction  engine 


Gas-Electric     Harvest^g     Machine. 

is  placed  a  20-k\v  direct-current  generator  driven  by  a  shaft 
extending  forvi-ard  and  belted  to  the  flywheel  of  the  engine. 
This  generator  is  totally  inclosed  to  exclude  dust  and  dirt. 
Instead  of  a  belt  or  rope  drive  for  the  harvester  it  is 
operated  by  a  25-hp,  230-volt  motor  directly  coupled  to  the 
thrashing  cylinder.  This  motor  is  also  inclosed  and  has 
forced  ventilation  through  a  pipe  extending  above  the 
machine.  It  is  claimed  that  this  gas-electric  harvesting 
equipment  will  head,  thrash,  reclean  and  sack  the  grain  for 
a  total  cost  of  80  cents  per  acre,  against  $3.50  per  acre  by 
the  old  method.  It  will  harvest  approximately  2200  bushels 
per  day  of  ten  hours.  The  electric  equipment  was  fur- 
nished by  the  General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 


PUSH-BUTTON  SURFACE  SWITCH. 


A  circular-base  surface  switch  has  recently  been  added 
by  the  Cutler-Hammer  Manufacturing  Company,  Mil- 
waukee, to  its  line  of  switches  designed  particularly  for 
molding  work.  This  switch  is  made  in  two  styles,  one 
having  a  label  holder  and  one  having  a  plain  cap  without 
label  holder.  Where  several  switches  are  located  at  one 
place  the  former  type  of  switch  is  adopted,  as  each  may 
carry  a  label  indicating  the  circuits  or  lamps  controlled. 
The  depth  of  this  new  switch  is  only  1.75  in,  and  the 
diameter  of  the  cover  or  cap,  which  is  of  polished  nickel. 


Push -Button    Surface    Switch. 

is  iji  in.  The  circular  porcelain  base  is  like  those  of  other 
surface  switches,  but  the  back  is  hollowed  out  for  circular 
loom  or  concealed  wiring,  or  for  surface  use. 

One  of  the  particular  features  of  this  switch  resides  in 
the  absence  of  a  protruding  button,  which  may  be  broken 
off  or  by  turning  the  wrong  way  be  disconnected  and  lost. 
The  mechanism  of  the  switch  is  so  arranged  as  to  eliminate 


the  rotating  button  and  substitute  therefor  the  straight 
push-bar.  which  cannot  be  removed  and  cannot  be  acci- 
dentally knocked  off  so  easily  as  can  the  button.  The  push- 
bar  is  provided  with  a  light  button  at  one  end  and  a  black 
button  at  the  other  for  indicating  whether  the  switch  is 
"on"  or  ''off." 


RECENT    ELECTRICAL    EQUIPMENT   FOR    X-RAY 
WORK. 


X-ray  "snap-shots"  one-tenth  of  a  second  in  duration 
now  sutlfice  to  photograph  the  thickest  parts  of  the  human 
body  with  an  accuracy  of  definition  far  surpassing  the  best 
work  done  a  few  years  ago  when  exposures  of  an  hour  or 
so  were  necessary.  This  remarkable  advance  in  practical 
X-ray  manipulation  can  be  traced  principally  to  the  im- 
provement of  the  electrical  equipment  for  supplying  high- 
tension  direct  current  to  the  Crookes  tube. 

Currents  of  75  to  100  milliamperes  at  well  above  100,000 
volts  are  now  used  regularly  in  certain  types  of  apparatus, 
and  the  modern  X-ray  tubes  with  their  huge  copper-inclosed 
tantalum  anodes  present  a  striking  contrast  to  the  flimsy 
equipment  employed  when  the  art  was  first  developed.     At 


h-i 


Fig.    1  —  Cabinet   with    Cover   Removed,    Showing    Transformer   and 
Synchronous   Switch. 

the  enormous  intensities  at  which  modern  tubes  are  worked' 
the  bombardment  of  cathode  particles  where  focused  on  the 
anode  develops  a  display  of  energy  almost  simulating  the 
electric  arc  in  brilliancy.  Despite  the  elaborate  provisions 
for  conveying  heat  away  by  means  of  the  copper  jackets, 
etc.,  the  normal  current  taken  by  one  of  these  tubes  would 
actually  destroy  it  if  applied  continuously  for  even  three 
seconds. 

The  history  of  the  electrical  apparatus  for  supplying 
energy  to  the  tubes  is  as  interesting  and  varied  as  that  of 
recent  arc  illuminants.  First  the  static  machine  was  em- 
ployed, but  the  current  obtainable  was  very  small  and  long 
exposures  were  necessary.  Certain  types  of  high-tension 
coils  were  also  used  about  this  time,  but,  while  more  power- 
ful, these  introduced  objectionable  "inverse"  currents,  de- 
tracting from  the  intensity  of  the  rays  developed  by  the 
properly  poled  currents.  After  this  experimentation  with 
alternating-current  apparatus,  the  tide  reverted  to  direct 
current.  Some  kind  of  rectifying  apparatus,  such  as  a 
chemical  or  rotary  converter,  was  employed  to  produce 
unidirectional  low-tension  current,  and  this  was  then  in- 
terrupted by  a  mechanical  or  electrolytic  device  in  connec- 
tion with  a  coil.    Unidirectional  current  at  the  tube  is  neces- 


November  .30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1163 


sary  for  best  results,  and  whatever  inverse  current  was  pres- 
ent in  the  secondary  output  of  the  coil  was  then  eliminated 
by  special  "valve  tubes"  inserted  in  the  Crookes-tube  cir- 
cuit. 

The  most  recent  and  very  logical  development,  howevei:, 
has  been  the  production,  first,  of  high-tension  alternating 
current  of  necessary  voltage,  bv  means  of   a  conimercial- 


Flg.    2 — Cabinet,    Tube    Stand    and     Photographic    Table. 

frequency  transformer  or  coil.  This  high-tension  current 
is  then  rectified  by  a  synchronously  driven  commutator,  the 
unidir'ectional  output  being  led  directly  to  the  X-ray  tube. 
Fig.  I  shows  an  equipment  of  this  kind  as  furnished  by  one 
of  the  leading  manufacturers  of  X-ray  apparatus,  the  Kel- 
ley-Koett  Company,  Covington,  Ky.  The  4-kw  transformer, 
stepping  up  from  220  volts  to  the  high-tension  pressure,  is 
seen  in  the  lower  compartment.  Above  at  the  left  is  a 
Wagner  i-kw  rotary  converter  whose  shaft  is  extended  to 
drive  at  synchronous  speed  the  rectifying  contact  arms 
which  sweep  past  the  fixed  segments.  For  X-ray  purposes 
the  converter  is  here  utilized  only  as  a  synchronous  motor, 
but  it  is  also  useful  for  supplying  direct  current  for  other 
purposes  about  the  physician's  office.  Where  only  direct- 
current  supply  is  available,  a  larger  rotary  is  provided  and 
arranged  to  be  run  inverted,  producing  alternating  current 
for  the  transformer  and  also  driving  the  rectifying  com- 
mutator at  synchronous  speeds. 

With  the  large  high-voltage  unidirectional  ot'.tput  of  a 
machine  like  this,  currents  of  100  milliamperes  and  even 
higher  can  be  delivered  to  the  tube,  producing  cathode  rays 
and  X-rays  on  a  scale  such  that  only  a  momentary  closure 
of  the  switch  is  necessary  to  make  a  picture  through  the 
thickest  part  of  the  body.  As  the  current  flow  is  entirely  in 
one  direction,  the  troublesome  inverse  is  avoided  and  valve- 
tubes  or  other  devices  are  not  needed.  For  making  chest 
skiagraphs  o.i  second  suffices,  while  for  abdominal  pictures 
0.25  second  may  be  required.  Lesser  sections  demand  cor- 
respondingly shorter  exposure.  The  spectacle  presented 
by  a  modern  tube  passing  100  milliampers  is  far  different 
from  the  pale  illumination  which  lighted  up  the  older  tubes 
operated  by  a  static  machine.  The  air  about  the  terminals 
crackles  to  the  point  of  break-down,  the  whole  tube  is 
suffused  with  a  bright  green  glow,  and  on  the  anode  termi- 
nal at  the  focal  point  of  the  cathode  rays  there  scintillates 
a  brilliant  spot  that  resembles  in  quality  and  intensity  an 


electric  arc  between  carbon  electrodes.  At  such  intensities, 
of  course,  the  transformer  switch  can  be  closed  only  mo- 
mentarily; for  three  seconds'  continuous  operation  of  the 
tube  would  destroy  it.    And  these  tubes  cost  $50  each. 

Fig.  2  shows  some  of  the  convenient  accessories  devel- 
oped for  modern  X-ray  examination.  Photography  is  now 
depended  upon  altogether  in  making  examinations,  the 
fluoroscope  and  direct  vision  being  no  longer  used  for 
serious  work.  The  tube  is  carried  in  a  lead-glass  shield  on 
the  adjustable  stand,  connection  being  made  to  the  supply 
terminals  through  retriever  cords.  A  spark-gap  bridges 
the  tube  to  prevent  overloading.  The  photographic  plate 
is  carried  on  a  slide  beneath  the  table  top,  provision  being 
made  for  quickly  changing  plates,  meanwhile  protecting  the 
others  against  exposure.  For  stereoscopic  pictures  two 
negatives  are  made,  the  tube  source  being  moved  a  pre- 
determined distance  after  the  first  picture  has  been  taken. 
When  examined  in  properly  arranged  illuminators,  the 
bones,  organs,  etc.,  are  all  shown  in  distinct  perspective. 
Based  upon  the  same  principle,  ingenious  and  accurate 
graphical  methods  of  locating  foreign  bodies  have  been 
devised.  One  operator  has  located  steel  chips  in  the  eye 
with  an  error  of  less  than  i  mm  in  all  of  a  dozen  cases. 
The  X-ray  has  an  admitted  field  in  the  direct  treatment  of 
skin  diseases.  With  modern  equipment  and  short  exposures 
the  danger  of  serious  burns,  so  prevalent  with  the  long 
exposures  of  weak  sources,  is  now  almost  eradicated. 


ELECTRIC  STOVE  AND  FIRELESS  COOKER. 


In  the  description  of  the  Quad  fireless  cooker  which  ap- 
peared in  these  columns  in  our  issue  of  Nov.  9  the  inference 
was  left  that  special  wiring  would  be  required  for  the 
device.  This  is  not  the  case,  as  the  cooker  can  be  fed  with 
energy  from  an  ordinary  lamp  socket.  According  to  the 
manufacturer,  the  A.  L.  Sykes  Manufacturing  Company, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  the  maximum  expenditure  is  600  watts. 
The  plates  are  designed  for  voltages  ranging  from  95  to  105, 
103  to  115,  115  to  125,  etc.,  up  to  250  volts. 


INSULATING  SHOES. 


The  St.  Helen's  Cable  &  Rubber  Company,  Ltd.,  War- 
rington, England,  has  brought  out  insulating  shoes  com- 
prising a  galosh  of  ordinary  type,  with  cross  rubber  ribs- 
vulcanized  upon  the  sole,  the  heel  and  the  instep,  as  shown' 
in  the  accompanying  illustrations.  The  ribs  do  not  addl 
materially  to  the  weight  of  the  shoe,  but  increase  consider- 


Insulating    Shoes. 


ably  the  safety  of  the  user,  since  the  amount  of  wear  is 
distinctly  visible  on  the  raised  surfaces  of  the  ribs,  whereas 
it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  tell  how  far  wear  has  affected 
a  flat  sole,  especially  as  it  takes  place  inside  the  shoe  as 
well  as  outside  the  shoe.  An  adjustable  ankle  strap  enables 
the  shoe  to  be  worn  on  various  sizes  of  foot,  over  the  shoe,. 
of  course,  with  comfort. 


1 164 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Voi.   60,   N  J 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


ELECTRICAL  TRADE  CONDITIONS. 


TAKEN  as  a  whole,  the  replies  received  from  electri- 
cal manufacturers  in  response  to  circular  letters 
asking  for  data  on  conditions  in  the  electrical 
luanufacturing  industry  in  1912  as  compared  with  those  in 
J911  show  that  the  year's  results  thus  far  have  been  highly 
satisfactory,  and  that  a  widespread  degree  of  optimism 
prevails  as  to  the  future. 

Reports  of  increases  of  from  20  per  cent  to  50  per  cent 
in  volume  of  business  are  exceedingly  numerous,  while  in 
some  instances,  notably  in  the  electric-vehicle  field,  in- 
creases of  as  much  as  300  per  cent  over  the  191 1  total 
are  shown.  The  general  tone  of  the  replies  shows,  how- 
ever, that  profits  have  not  increased  in  direct  proportion 
to  the  volume  of  sales.  A  great  many  reasons  for  increase 
in  volume  of  business  are  given,  among  which  natural 
growth,  decrease  of  trust  investigations,  improvement  in 
design  and  expansion  of  all  lines  of  trade  appear  most 
frequently. 

Increase  in  cost  of  raw  material  and  price-cutting  com- 
petition, accompanied  by  smaller  margin  of  profit  and  re- 
quiring an  increase  in  volume  to  clear  the  same  profit  as 
in  former  years,  are  among  the  chief  reasons  stated  as 
underlying  the  smaller  percentage  of  profit  reported. 

As  regards  the  outlook,  the  general  feeling,  as  noted 
above,  appears  to  be  very  cheerful,  and  no  great  changes 
in  price  are  looked  for.  From  our  replies,  uncertainty  as 
to  the  extent  of  tariff  legislation  by  the  next  administration 
IS  regarded  as  the  principal  drawback  to  future  expansion. 
In  substantiation  of  the  confidence  expressed  in  the  future, 
it  will  be  noted  that  practically  all  of  the  manufacturing 
companies  quoted  state  that  they  have  recently  made  or 
are  about  to  make  extensive  additions  to  their  manufac- 
turing facilities. 

The  list  of  questions  sent  out  is  as  follows:  (i)  How 
has  your  1912  business  compared  in  volume  and  profits 
with  that  in  191 1?  (2)  To  what  do  you  attribute  these 
increases  or  decreases?  (3)  What  is  your  opinion  on  the 
price  and  business  outlook  in  your  field  in  1913?  (4)  What 
do  you  consider  the  greatest  drawback  to  expansion  in  your 
field  and  what  remedy  do  you  suggest?  (s)  Are  you  con- 
templating any  extensions  to  your  works,  any  new 
financing,  the  establishment  of  any  new  branches,  or  the 
manufacture  of  any  new  products? 

We  wish  to  take  this  opportunity  to  express  to  the 
many  manufacturers  who  have  responded  to  our  inquiry 
our  appreciation  of  the  courtesy  which  they  have  rendered 
us. 

A  partial  list  of  responses  appears  below.  Others  will 
appear  in  a  subsequent  issue.  Where  names  are  omitted 
it  is  by  request  of  the  company  sending  the  information. 


ELECTRIC  VEHICLES:  (a)  Baker  Motor  Vehicle 
Company. — Our  pleasure-car  sales  alone  have  made  an 
increase  of  123  per  cent  in  the  past  year.  We  attribute  this 
to  better  and  more  extensive  advertising,  introduction  of 
new  models,  bigger  and  better  organization  and  satisfied 
customers.  No  price  changes  are  anticipated.  Boom  year 
is  expected  in  1913.  Lack  of  appreciation  of  the  economy, 
reliability  and  efficiency  of  electric  vehicles  is  the  greatest 
drawback.  This  must  be  overcome  by  persistent  educa- 
tional efforts.  We  are  contemplating  a  30  per  cent  increase 
in   factory  buildings. 

(b)  One  of  the  Largest  Manufacturers  of  Electric  Com- 
mercial Vehicles. — This  year's  business  shows  a  little  better 
than  the  usual  50  per  cent  annual  increase.  We  have  done 
the  greatest  small-wagon  business  in  our  history,  as  against 
two  years  ago,  when  40  per  cent  of  our  sales  were  5-ton 
trucks.  This  is  due  to  our  policy  of  selling  vehicles  only 
where  adapted  to  the  work  of  customers  and  to  co-operation 
with  the  latter.  It  is  too  early  to  forecast  next  year,  but 
we  regard  general  conditions  optimistically.  Competition 
of  inexperienced  manufacturers  who  cut  prices  to  get  quick 
distribution    is    regarded    as    the    greatest    handicap.      The 


situation  will  clarify  itself  when  business  concerns  buy 
motor  trucks  on  an  investment  basis.  We  shall  triple  our 
facilities  in  1913. 

(c)  Our  1912  business  shows  an  increase  of  300  per  cent 
over  that  of  191 1.  This  is  due  to  increasing  demand  for 
eificient  and  dependable  motor  vehicles,  operative  at  a 
saving  over  horse-drawn  methods  of  transportation.  Firm 
prices  and  at  least  100  per  cent  increase  in  business  are 
expected  next  year. 

STORAGE  BATTERIES:  (a)  A  Leading  Manufacturer. 
— Our  business  in  the  first  nine  months  of  1912  shows  an 
increase  over  the  corresponding  period  of  191 1  of  over 
60  per  cent.  This  is  attributed  to  the  great  growth  of  the 
electric-vehicle  industry.  Business  outlook  for  1913  is 
exceedingly  bright,  and  orders  we  are  now  receiving  are 
taxing  our  fullest  capacity.  We  are  engaged  at  present  in 
building  a  new  six-story  factory  and  a  new  four-story 
plating  building,  which  when  completed  will  more  than 
triple  our  output. 

(b)  Willard  Storage  Battery  Company. — Our  1912  busi- 
ness shows  a  decided  increase  in  volume  with  a  propor- 
tionate increase  in  profit,  due  to  development  along  various 
lines,  involving  a  demand  for  our  product  in  practically 
new  fields.  Outlook  for  business  next  year  is  excellent, 
with  no  need  for  changes  in  existing  prices.  We  have  just 
doubled  our  manufacturing  facilities. 

WIRE:  (a)  Rome  Wire  Company. — Business  this  year 
has  been  considerably  larger  than  that  of  1911,  and,  so  far 
as  we  can  judge  at  present,  has  been  of  a  satisfactory 
nature  as  to  net  profits.  This  we  attribute  to  general  busi- 
ness activity  in  all  lines.  We  look  for  a  very  large  output 
during  1913,  but  do  not  look  for  any  appreciable  changes 
in  the  price  situation.  While  prices  of  copper  have  ad- 
vanced during  the  past  year  and  will  probably  remain  at  a 
high  level  during  1913,  the  prices  of  finished  products  have 
been  very  close.  We  know  of  no  drawback  to  future  ex- 
pansion. We  deal  with  manufacturers  and  jobbers  whose 
business  should  continue  to  grow  for  years  to  come,  owing 
to  the  general  introduction  of  electrical  apparatus.  Will 
probably  build  an  extension  next  year. 

(b)  Electric  Cable  Company. — This  year's  business  shows 
a  material  and  most  satisfactory  increase,  due  to  natural 
and  heathy  growth  of  the  whole  electrical  industry,  great 
crops  and  a  general  feeling  of  optimism  throughout  the 
business  world.  As  regards  the  outlook,  when  all  of  the 
factories  accumulate  unfilled  orders  prices  will  naturally 
advance.  With  the  exception  of  ill-advised  tariff  reduc- 
tions, nothing  now  appears  which  could  affect  business  in 
1913.  We  see  no  serious  drawback  of  any  kind,  as  the 
production  of  light,  heat  and  power  electrically  is  growing 
rapidly.  We  are  now  erecting  at  Bridgeport  a  new  factory 
which  will  double  our  production. 

(c)  National  India  Rubber  Company. — Our  1912  business 
was  the  largest  in  our  history.  We  attribute  this  to  better 
business  conditions  in  all  lines  of  trade.  Are  contemplating 
general  expansion  in  all  our  lines. 

(d)  American  Insulating  Machinery  Company. — This 
year's  business  shows  at  least  a  25  per  cent  increase,  which 
we  attribute  to  renewed  confidence  in  business  circles 
throughout  the  country.  The  business  outlook  is  good  and 
prices  ought  to  be  better.  We  cannot  see  any  drawback  at 
present.  We  now  have  the  greatest  force  employed  since 
the  company  was  organized  and  have  business  ahead  for  six 
months.     Additions  to  equipment  are  contemplated. 

(e)  From  Other  Wire  Companies. — Our  rubber-covered 
wire  business  has  greatly  increased  over  that  in  191 1 — pos- 
sibly by  30  per  cent.  We  attribute  this  to  generally  better  con- 
ditions in  the  electrical  business.  Prices  for  rubber-covered 
wire  in  1913  will  remain  practically  the  same  as  at  present, 
subject,  of  course,  to  changes  in  the  copper  market.  Busi- 
ness looks  good  with  us  for  at  least  the  first  six  months 
of  the  year.  We  are  running  two  shifts  of  twelve  hours 
each  in  our  rubber-covered  wire  department  for  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  our  company,  which  was  established 
in  i8qo.  We  are  now  considering  an  increase  in  our  capital 
stock,  effective  Jan.  i,  1913. 


NOVEMBEK   30,    I9IS 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


ii6s 


(f)  This  year's  showing  is  considerably  ahead  of  last 
year's.  We  regard  this  as  due  to  a  better  feeling  generally, 
and  to  good  crops  and  low  stocks.  The  outlook  for  next 
year  appears  to  be  very  good.  Tariff  agitation,  creating 
uncertainty,  seems  to  be  the  greatest  drawback.  We  are 
not  contemplating  any  extensions. 

MOTORS:  (a)  Richmond  Electric  Company.— Our 
business  has  increased  over  40  per  cent  and  our  profits  over 
30  per  cent,  due  to  increased  demand  for  induction  motors 
and  to  changing  over  of  central  stations  from  direct  cur- 
rent to  alternating  current.  Lots  of  business  in  sight  for 
1913.  Prices  should  be  higher,  as  both  labor  and  material 
are  costing  more,  but  we  do  not  believe  that  prices  will  be 
raised.  The  greatest  drawback  to  expansion  seems  to  be 
from  foolish,  cut-throat  competition;  that  is,  the  attitude 
on  the  part  of  some  manufacturers  to  take  business  at  any 
price.  We  have  let  contracts  for  extensions  that  will  more 
than  double  our  floor  space.  We  are  increasing  our  line 
of  polyphase  motors  and  expect  to  build  them  as  large  as 
250  hp,  with  corresponding  sizes  in  alternators. 

(b)  Triumph  Electric  Company. — Our  business  shows  an 
increase  of  57  per  cent,  the  result  of  development  of  addi- 
tional apparatus  and  increased  advertising.  Lots  of  busi- 
ness is  in  sight  for  1913,  but  not  a  very  large  margin  of 
profits.  Our  brass  foundry  has  been  increased  in  size  three 
times  within  the  past  eighteen  months,  and  additional  ex- 
tensions are  contemplated.  We  propose  developing  a  line 
of  fractional  horse-power  motors  and  single-phase  motors 
in  the  future. 

From  Other  Motor  Manufacturers. — (c)  This  year's  busi- 
ness shows  an  increase  of  10  per  cent,  which  is  regarded 
as  due  to  natural  growth.  The  outlook  is  good.  We 
expect  to  enlarge  our  plant. 

(d)  The  volume  of  our  business  increased  about  25  per 
cent  this  year.  Attributed  to  general  betterment  of  condi- 
tions in  all  industries.  We  believe  that  business  will  be 
good  for  at  least  the  first  six  months  of  next  year.  After 
that  conditions  will  depend  upon  how  radical  the  tariff 
measures  of  the  new  administration  become.  We  consider 
that  the  monopolistic  tendencies  of  some  of  the  larger  com- 
panies are  the  greatest  drawback  in  our  field. 

(e)  Our  business  showed  a  substantial  increase  in  vol- 
ume, and  we  expect  fair  increase  in  profits.  We  ascribe 
this  partly  to  general  improvement  in  the  whole  business 
situation  and  partly  to  the  addition  of  further  lines  of 
manufacture.  We  look  for  the  present  situation  to  remain 
substantially  as  it  is  until  a  definite  line  can  be  had  by 
the  general  public  on  the  probable  results  of  tariff  changes 
at  the  next  session  of  Congress.  We  are  planning  to  in- 
crease our  capital. 

(f)  Our  business  this  year  was  about  twice  that  in  1911. 
This  is  due  to  natural  expansion.  We  regard  both  the 
price  and  business  outlook  as  very  good.  Monopolistic  ten- 
dencies seem  to  be  the  greatest  drawback.  We  have  just 
increased  our  facilities  about  30  per  cent  and  are  adding 
a  new  line  of  arc  welding  machinery  and  voltage  regu- 
lators. 

DIRECT -CONNECTED  UNITS:  From  a  Well- 
Known  Manufacturer. — Our  1912  and  1911  business  were 
about  the  same.  We  regard  the  prospects  as  having  im- 
proved. The  reciprocating  business  has  been  hurt  by  the 
steam  turbine.     We  are  now  making  both  kinds  of  units. 

SECOND-HAND  MACHINERY:  (a)  Messrs.  Duzets 
&  Son. — Business  with  us  for  the  year  1912  has  been  much 
greater  than  that  in  191 1,  and,  in  fact,  this  was  one  of  the 
best  years  we  have  had  since  we  have  been  in  business. 
We  attribute  this  to  more  extensive  advertising  and  to  the 
generally  better  financial  conditions  throughout  the  coun- 
try. We  honestly  believe  that  1913  will  show  up  consid- 
erably better  than  1912.  as  trade  conditions  are  growing 
better  every  day.  Disturbance  of  the  large  business  inter- 
ests has  been  the  greatest  drawback.  Regulation  of  them 
should  be  done  gradually,  not  spasmodically. 

(b)  This  has  been  the  largest  year  in  our  history  for 
volume  of  sales.  Our  profits  have  been  smaller  than  usual, 
for  two  reasons:  first,  the  high  cost  of  labor;  second,  our 
tonnage  is  constantly  increasing  faster  than  the  value  of 
our  shipments.  In  other  words,  second-hand  electrical 
machinery  is  continually  getting  lower  in  price,  so  that 
each   year  we   have   to   handle  a   much   greater   tonnage   to 


clear  the  same  amount  of  money.  We  think  our  increase 
in  business  is  just  a  normal  one  and  that  the  demand  for 
1913  will  be  fully  as  large,  and  even  larger. 

STEAM  TURBINES:  Our  business  in  1912,  in  com- 
parison with  191 1,  is  about  35  per  cent  greater.  We  believe 
that  the  business  outlook  in  our  field  for  1913  will  be  much 
better  than  it  was  this  year.  We  are  not  contemplating 
any  additions  to  our  works. 

OIL    ENGINES:    Remington    Oil    Engine    Company.— 

Both  volume  of  business  and  profits  increased  about  30  per 
cent  thisyear.  That  we  have  been  pushing  our  businessharder 
is  one  reason  for  this,  and  another  is  that  users  of  power 
are  beginning  to  realize  the  economy  of  oil  engines.  Con- 
ditions for  next  year  appear  to  be  very  favorable.  Lack  of 
knowledge  of  the  oil  engine  on  the  part  of  the  public,  and 
the  statements  of  some  manufacturers  of  oil  engines  that 
the  latter  will  operate  with  any  kind  of  oil  are  the  greatest 
drawbacks  in  our  line.  We  are  now  building  some  new 
types  of  engine  and  also  contemplate  building  larger  sizes. 

TRANSFORMERS:  An  increase  of  about  30  per  cent 
is  shown  by  this  year's  business.  This  was  due  to  generally 
good  trade  conditions  and  to  the  extensive  construction 
carried  on  by  central-station  companies.  Business  looks 
very  good  for  1913.  Prices  for  transformers,  comparatively 
speaking,  are  too  low.  The  greatest  drawback  in  our  field 
is  the  inability  of  the  supply-house  salesman  to  compete 
with  the  technical  experts  such  as  those  which  two  or  three 
of  the  largest  manufacturers  maintain.  The  remedy  points 
to  direct  representation,  which  will  eventually  eliminate  the 
jobber.  Are  contemplating  additions  which  will  double  our 
output. 

INCANDESCENT  BULBS,  ARC  GLOBES,  TUBING: 

(No  comparison  given.)  Sound  business  conditions 
existed  during  the  year,  due  to  enormous  crops  and  the 
starved  condition  of  the  railroads,  our  largest  consumers. 
The  future  must  depend  upon  the  attitude  of  the  new 
administration.  A  strong  fight  should  be  made  against 
unwarranted  tariff  reductions. 

TUNGSTEN  LAMPS:  Although  this  has  been  our  first 
year,  our  business  has  grown  steadily.  Generally  sound 
business  conditions,  our  own  activity  and  advertising  have 
been  the  causes  of  this.  We  think  the  outonk  is  very  good. 
Uncertainty  as  to  tariff  legislation  and  settlement  of  patent 
litigation  are  the  most  serious  drawbacks  just  now.  We 
are  planning  additions. 

CARBON  BRUSHES:  (a)  Our  business  showed  a  gain 
of  about  10  per  cent  this  year,  which  we  attribute  to  nat- 
ural conditions.  We  regard  the  outlook  for  business  in 
1913  as  substantially  the  same  as  it  was  this  year.  We 
expect  to  build  an  addition  in  the  spring. 

(b)  While  our  business  is  rather  young,  our  1912  total 
was  vastly  in  excess  of  that  in  191 1.  The  outlook  seems 
to  be  very  good. 

(c)  Pure  Carbon  Company. — (No  answer  given  to  ques- 
tion I.)  Prices  will  continue  about  the  same  as  this  year, 
and  business,  we  think,  will  improve.  The  greatest  draw- 
back is  the  lack  of  co-operation  between  carbon  manufac- 
turers. We  suggest  the  standardizing  of  carbon  products. 
We  are  planning  a  $23,000  addition  to  our  factory. 

HEATING  APPLIANCES:  (a)  The  volume  of  our 
business  increased  about  5  per  cent  this  year,  and  the 
profits  by  about  the  same  amount.  This  is  due  to  increased 
demand  for  electric  heating  devices.  The  business  outlook 
is  the  "best  ever."  Price  maintenance  should  be  better, 
but  we  don't  expect  that  it  will  be.  Non-standardization  of 
business  methods  of  central-station  companies  selling  elec- 
tric-heating devices  and  their  unfair  price  competition  with 
dealers  are  the  greatest  drawbacks.  Central  stations  should 
agree  with  dealers  in  their  territories  to  sell  electric  ap- 
pliances at,  say,  one-third  above  cost,  at  least. 

(b)  Our  business  thus  far  in  1912  shows  a  very  material 
increase  over  that  in  191 1.  This  is  probably  due  to  the 
broader  public  interest  taken  in  electrical  development  as 
well  as  to  the  natural  growth  we  have  enjoyed  for  many 
years.  Prices  will  remain  about  the  same.  The  greatest 
drawback  is  the  inability  to  keep  abreast  of  the  demand 
for  new  applications  and  for  further  application  of  devices 
already  on   the   market. 


ii66 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No,  22. 


CONTROLLERS,  CIRCUIT  BREAKERS, SWITCHES, 
RHEOSTATS,  PANEL  BOARDS,  ETC.:  (a)  This  year's 
business  has  been  satisfactory.  There  has  been  a  natural 
increase,  due  to  better  engineering  methods  and  generally 
sound  business  conditions.  We  think  the  outlook  is  some- 
what uncertain.  Better  engineering  advice  for  the  con- 
sumer would  assist  expansion  in  our  field. 

(b)  A  very  material  increase  in  volume  over  191 1,  but  a 
decrease  in  the  percentage  of  protit,  due  to  raising  of  prices 
for  raw  material.  We  attribute  the  foregoing  to  general 
expansion  of  the  electrical  trade,  to  holding  old  customers 
and  getting  new  ones.  It  looks  to  us  as  if  the  business  out- 
look for  1913  ought  to  be  first-rate.  We  are  decidedly  opti- 
mistic. Prices  ought  to  be  raised  in  some  lines  as  the  mar- 
gin of  profit  is  altogether  too  low.  This,  we  believe,  is  the 
consensus  of  opinion  of  manufacturers  in  our  line. 

(c)  Our  trade  has  increased  in  a  very  satisfactory  man- 
ner, due  to  the  quality  of  our  goods  and  our  ability  to  make 
prompt  shipments.  We  anticipate  a  material  increase  in 
business  next  year. 

(d)  We  have  had  an  increase  of  about  50  per  cent  over 
191 1  business,  due  to  natural  growth.  The  business  outlook 
is  good  as  far  as  quality  is  concerned,  but  the  price  outlook 
is  not  so  satisfactory,  on  account  of  cheap  competition. 
The  latter  is  the  greatest  drawback  in  our  line,  as  we  have 
certain  competitors  who  show  a  tendency  to  cut  prices 
even  at  the  sacrifice  of  quality.  We  doubled  our  factory 
capacity  this  year  and  will  probably,  from  present  indica- 
tions, be  obliged  to  make  still  further  increase  in  floor 
space. 

RAWHIDE  GEARS  AND  PINIONS:  (a)  The  volume 
of  our  business  increased  over  50  per  cent,  but  the  profits 
were  not  in  proportion.  The  increase  in  business  was  due 
to  general  conditions  and  the  decrease  in  profit?  to  extreme 
high  prices  for  raw  materials.  Prices  are  bound  to  ad- 
vance, and  business  next  year  will  be  good.  Have  just 
practically  doubled  our  capacity. 

(b)  Business  with  us  was  33  1-3  per  cent  greater  this 
year  than  last,  and  profits  will  show  some  increase.  This 
is  due  to  better  business  conditions,  and  therefore  to  greater 
demand.  The  year  1913  looks  like  a  record  year  to  us. 
We  are  just  completing  a  new  four-story  building  with  50,- 
000  sq.  ft.  of  floor  space,  and  are  installing  much  additional 
machinery  to  take  care  of  the  big  increase  in  business 
which   we   expect   in   the   next   two   years. 

WOODEN  POLES:  Naugle  Pole  &  Tie  Company.— 
Our  business  was  25  per  cent  greater  than  last  year's, 
owing  to  better  prices  and  to  improvement  in  business  con- 
tidence,  while  prices  have  followed  the  laws  of  supply  and 
demand.  The  outlook  seems  to  be  very  bright.  Our  great- 
est drawback  is  limited  supply.  We  are  now  going  into 
the  Western  cedar-pole  business,  because  the  demand  this 
year  has  been  for  long  poles,  and  the  supply  of  Michigan 
cedar  long  poles  has  been  almost  exhausted. 

STEEL  POLES  AND  LINE  MATERIAL:  Frank- 
lin Steel  Company. — Our  business  practically  doubled  this 
year  in  volume,  with  a  substantial  increase  in  the  percent- 
age of  profit.  This  has  been  due  generally  to  better  feeling 
with  regard  to  the  likelihood  of  cessation  of  political  perse- 
cution of  corporations,  and  specifically  to  advertising.  Our 
prospects  for  1913  are  indicative  of  a  still  larger  volume 
and  further  price  advance.  As  to  drawbacks,  we  think 
tariff  tinkering  with  finished  materials  the  greatest.  We 
believe  that  any  radical  revisions  should  be  confined  to  raw 
materials  or  products  upon  which  the  labor  cost  is  com- 
paratively small  as  compared  with  the  material  cost,  and 
that  trade  associations  should  present  facts  along  these 
lines  to  Congressmen.  We  are  doubling  the  capacity  of 
our  assembling  rooms  and  erecting  another  large  building 
for  new  work. 

ELECTRIC  WASHERS:  The  Maytag  Company.— This 
year's  sales  show  an  increase  of  200  per  cent.  Prices  will 
not  change,  while  the  outlook  appears  to  be  even  better 
than  in  the  past.  Lack  of  co-operation  from  central-station 
companies  is  our  greatest  handicap. 

MEASURING  INSTRUMENTS:  (a)  Our  1912  busi- 
ness shows  an  increase  of  about  50  per  cent  over  that  in 
191 1,  which  we  attribute  to  the  fact  that  we  are  a  growing 
company  rather  than  to  any  general  business  condition. 
The  bulk  of  our  business  is  done  with  the  large  public  serv- 


ice corporations.  If  the  larger  interests  are  willing  to 
spend  their  money  and  do  nothing  to  unsettle  confidence, 
there  is  no  reason  why  we  should  not  increase  in  the  same 
proportion  next  year.  We  are  now  arranging  for  a  new 
shop  which  will  give  us  three  times  the  capacity  of  our 
present  one.  We  are  expecting  to  put  out  some  new  de-  1 
signs  which  were  withheld  this  year  as  we  were  continually  f 
from  thirty  to  sixty  days  behind  on  our  orders. 

(b)  An  increase  of  about  20  per  cent  in  volume.  Much 
improvement  in  profits  owing  to  increase  in  proportions  of 
business  in  specialties  in  which  there  are  larger  margins, 
and  also  to  the  fact  of  our  product  having  become  better 
known. 

(c)  Keystone  Electrical  Instrument  Company. — Our 
1012  business  increased  about  50  per  cent  over  the  previous 
year.  Improvements  in  our  product  and  the  recognition  of 
these  improvements  by  the  trade  were  the  causes  of  this. 
We  are  most  optimistic  as  to  the  future.  We  fear  that  the 
greatest  drawback  is  the  unjust  division  of  the  markets  by 
large  electrical  interests.  We  will  triple  our  manufacturing 
space  after  Jan.   i. 

(d)  Esterline  Company. — This  year's  showing  will  be 
ten  times  that  in  191 1.  We  attribute  this  to  new  lines,  gen- 
eral improvement  in  business  conditions,  to  better  sales  or- 
ganization and  to  our  product  having  become  more  widely 
known.  We  think  the  outlook  is  excellent  and  expect  to 
do  even  better  next  year.  Our  only  drawback  has  been  to 
develop  our  organization  in  step  with  our  increasing  busi- 
ness. Labor  is  growing  more  scarce  all  the  time.  We 
trebled  our  floor  space  in  1912  and  have  already  taken  steps 
to  double  it  in  1913,  as  we  had  to  have  a  considerable  part 
of  our  work  done  outside  this  year. 

(e)  This  year's  business  has  been  greater  than  last 
year's,  due  to  improvement  in  general  trade  conditions,  es- 
pecially since  summer.  Next  year  looks  even  better.  We 
are   planning  extensions. 

(f)  Atwater-Kent  Manufacturing  Works. — Improve- 
ment in  both  volume  and  profits,  due  to  the  merits  of  our 
products.  The  outlook,  we  think,  is  very  favorable.  We 
have  just  moved  into  our  new  plant,  which  is  more  than 
double  the  size  of  the  one  vacated. 

(g)  Duncan  Electric  Manufacturing  Company. — Our 
business  and  profits  increased  approximately  71  per  cent, 
due  to  general  business  prosperity.  As  regards  the  outlook, 
if  they  monkey  with  the  tariflp,  they  are  simply  poking  a 
stick  into  the  business  beehive.  As  to  drawbacks,  the 
greatest  is  furnished  by  small  competitors  entering  the 
market  and  cutting  prices  with  inferior  apparatus  and  then 
going  into  bankruptcy.  We  have  just  let  a  contract  for  a 
new  addition  to  our  factory  for  an  additional  25,000  sq.  ft. 
of  floor  space. 


INDUSTRIAL  AND  FINANCIAL  NOTES. 


Says  Our  Utility  Securities  Are  Regarded  Highly  Abroad. 

— Henry  L.  Doherty,  upon  his  return  from  abroad  on  Nov. 
22,  stated  that  he  had  found  satisfactory  financial  conditions 
in  London.  One  element  of  the  situation  which  impressed 
him  to  a  considerable  extent  was  the  strong  tendency  which 
was  apparent  abroad  toward  investment  in  American  securi- 
ties. He  attributed  this  largely  to  the  Balkan  war  and  the 
Mexican  disorders.  Large  amounts  of  foreign  capital  have 
been  invested  in  Mexican  and  South  American  projects  in 
recent  years,  Mr.  Doherty  pointed  out,  but  in  view  of  the 
various  dissensions  that  have  arisen  in  Mexico,  Turkey  and 
elsewhere  London  financial  interests  have  given  more 
thought  to  the  merits  of  American  securities.  He  expects 
to  see  a  considerable  growth  in  this  sentiment  and  looks 
for  a  very  heavy  demand  for  American  securities  for  in- 
vestment within  a  reasonable  time.  Commenting  further, 
he  said,  in  part:  "The  investing  public  abroad  is  begin- 
ning to  realize  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  confine  itS'invest- 
ments  to  securities  that  yield  a  return  of  not  more  than  3 
or  3^  per  cent,  in  order  that  it  may  consider  its  money 
safely  invested.  For  that  reason  the  large  insurance  com- 
panies as  well  as  prominent  banking  interests  abroad  are 
investing  funds  in  securities  of  organizations  located  in  a 
country  which  is  free  from  all  disturbances.  I  was  agree- 
ably surprised  to  find  that  the  demand  for  public  utilities 
securities  in  London  and  on  the  Continent  is  growing  very 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


1 167 


rapidly.  On  some  of  my  other  visits  to  London  I  found 
more  or  less  skepticism  with  regard  to  the  investment  of 
foreign  capital  in  public  utilities  of  American  organization. 
On  this  visit,  however,  I  found  that  not  only  were  the 
prominent  banks  in  London  greatly  interested  in  public 
utility  stocks  and  bonds,  but  the  large  insurance  companies 
were  also  agreeably  disposed  toward  the  investment  of 
funds  in  such  securities."  Mr.  Doherty's  trip  abroad  was 
in  connection  with  the  financing  of  the  Utilities  Improve- 
ment Company,  formation  of  which  was  noted  in  these 
columns  Oct.   19. 

Substation  Apparatus  for  Plant  at  Shelburne  Falls,  Mass. 
— Among  recent  large  orders  received  by  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  for  transmission  ap- 
paratus is  one  from  the  Power  Construction  Company, 
Shelburne  Falls,  Mass.,  which  covers  the  equipment  of  five 
substations  to  be  operated  by  this  company,  and  consists 
of  the  following  apparatus:  Nine  300-kw,  600-voIt  direct- 
current,  three-phase,  6o-cycle,  self-starting  rotary  convert- 
ers; two  20oo-kw,  6oo-volt,  six-phase,  6o-cycle  commutating- 
pole  rotary  converters;  twelve  iio-kva,  13,200  to  rotary 
voltage,  single-phase,  2S-cycle  transformers;  six  700-kva, 
13,200  to  rotary  voltage,  25-cycle  air-blast  transformers,  and 
five  complete  substation  switchboards.  It  will  be  noted 
that  the  transformers  have  a  frequency  of  25  cycles  whereas 
the  rotary  converters  have  a  frequency  of  60  cycles.  The 
transformers  are  designed  for  operation  on  both  frequencies, 
but  for  the  present  will  be  operated  on  the  higher  frequency 
and  will  eventually  be  used  on  the  lower  frequency. 

Are  Installing  More  Station  Equipment. — The  Great 
Western  Power  Company,  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  is  adding 
to  the  equipment  of  its  San  Francisco  station  a  new  5000- 
kva  transformer  and  is  installing  in  the  Oakland  stations 
twelve  smaller  transformers,  six  of  200-kva  and  six  of  300- 
kva  capacity.  The  East  Creek  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company,  Inghams  Mills.  N.  Y.,  is  installing  additional  ap- 
paratus in  its  station  at  Inghams,  consisting  of  a  2200-kva 
two-unit,  two-bearing  frequency  changer  set,  a  25-kw  motor- 
generator  set,  three  1250-kva  transformers  and  a  switch- 
board. C.  D.  Parker  &  Company,  Palmer,  Mass.,  are  aug- 
menting the  equipment  of  their  power  stations  by  the  in- 
stallation of  a  number  of  transformers.  In  the  lot  are  in- 
cluded four  of  30-kva,  nine  of  loo-kva,  three  of  300-kva 
and  three  of  looo-kva  rating;  also  considerable  switchboard 
material.  All  the  apparatus  mentioned  above  has  been  pur- 
chased from  the  General  Electric  Company. 

Has  Sold  50,000  Electric  Laundry  Machines. — The  Hurley 
Machine  Company  of  Chicago,  celebrated  during  the  week 
ended  Nov.  23  the  sale  of  50,000  Thor  electric  home-laundry 
machines.  This  is  a  remarkable  record,  and  the  company 
believes  that  the  Thor  electric  washing  and  ironing  machine 
has  done  as  much  toward  popularizing  electricity  in  the 
household  as  any  other  electrically  operated  device.  The 
first  Thor  electric  home-laundry  machine  sold  was  pur- 
chased about  four  and  a  half  years  ago  and  is  to-day  in 
working  order  and  apparently  as  good  as  ever.  The  Hur- 
ley Machine  Company  feels  indebted  to  an  appreciable  de- 
gree to  the  central  stations  and  electrical  contractors  of 
the  country  for  their  co-operation  in  the  work  that  has 
made  possible  this  placing  of  50.000  motor-operated  labor- 
saving  devices  in  the  homes  of  the  country. 

May  Consolidate  with  Alabama  Traction,  Light  &  Power 
Company. — While  no  official  statements  have  been  made,  it 
is  believed  that,  through  the  recent  sale  of  a  large  block  of 
American  Cities  common  stock  by  Bertron,  Griscom  & 
Company  and  associates  at  $47.50  a  share,  and  the  placing 
under  option  of  another  large  amount  at  $65  a  share,  a 
change  in  control  of  that  corporation  will  take  place.  The 
sale  was  made  to  foreign  bankers,  who,  it  is  understood,  are 
closely  identified  with  the  Alabama  Traction,  Light  & 
Power  Company,  and  it  is  this  fact  that  has  led  to  the 
belief  in  financial  circles  that  a  consolidation  of  these  large 
interests  will  be  eflfected.  Details  of  the  plans  of  the  Ala- 
bama company  appeared  in  these  columns  March  16,  1912. 
Data  concerning  the  formation  of  the  American  Cities  Com- 
pany appeared  in  the  issue  of  May  25,  1911. 

Southern  California  Utilities  to  Issue  Bonds. — The  Cali- 
fornia Railroad  Commission  has  approved  the  application  of 
theSouthern  California  Utilities  to  issue  the  $10.000,000 bonds 
to  which  reference  was  made  in  these  columns  June  29,  1912. 


As  was  noted  Aug.  31,  an  English  syndicate  has  already 
underwritten  this  issue,  contingent  upon  the  approval  of 
the  commission.  The  Ramona  Power  &  Irrigation  Com- 
pany, the  Lake  Hemet  Water  Company,  the  Fairview  Land 
&  Water  Company,  the  Hemet  Town  Water  Company  and 
the  Hemet  Land  Company,  will  be  purchased  by  the  South- 
ern California  Utilities  with  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of 
these  bonds,  in  connection  with  an  irrigation  and  power 
project  which  that  company  will  carry  out  in  Riverside 
County,  Cal. 

Continental  Gas  &  Electric  Corporation  Organized. — The 

firm  of  Abbot  &  Eaton,  which  was  formed  in  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  this  fall  to  engage  in  engineering  work  and  direct  the 
operation  of  gas  and  electric  companies,  as  was  noted  in 
these  columns  Sept.  2i,  1912,  has  organized  the  Continental 
Gas  &  Electric  Corporation  under  Delaware  laws  with  a 
capitalization  of  $7,500,000  to  erect  and  operate  gas  and 
electric  plants.  The  new  concern  is  backed  by  Cleveland 
capital.  While  no  details  of  the  company's  plans  have  been 
announced,  it  is  understood  that  it  will  take  over  and  oper- 
ate several  public  utilities  in  Ohio  and  neighboring  states. 

Pennsylvania  Water  &  Power  V,oting  Trust  Expires. — 
The  voting  trust  of  the  Pennsylvania  Water  &  Power  Com- 
pany, which  was  created  two  years  ago  and  under  which 
the  common  stock  of  the  corporation  was  deposited,  has 
expired  and  the  free  stock  is  now  being  transferred  through 
the  Fidelity  Trust  Company,  of  Baltimore.  The  voting  trust 
was  formed  on  Feb.  7,  1910.  and  expired  Oct.  31,  1912.  It 
was  composed  of  J.  E.  Aldred,  president  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Water  &  Power  Company;  William  M.  Barnum  and 
C.  E.  F.  Clarke. 

Middle  West  Utilities  Sells  Bonds.— The  Middle  West 
Utilities  Company  has  sold  $3,000,000  5  per  cent  bonds,  se- 
cured by  a  first  and  refunding  mortgage  of  the  Central 
Illinois  Public  Service  Company,  to  N.  W.  Halscy  &  Com- 
pany, of  New  York  and   Chicago. 


NEW  YORK   METAL   MARKET  PRICES 

, ^Nov.  19 , 

Copper:  Bid.         Asked. 

Standard,  spot    17.20          17.50 

£       s     d 

London,   standard,   spot 77     18     9 

Prime  Lake   17.75 

Electrolytic     \7.62yi 

Casting    17.45 

Copper  wire,  base 19.00 

Lead    4.75 

Nickel    45.00 

Sheet  zinc,  f.o.b.  smelter 9.00 

Spelter,  spot    7.50 

Tin,    spot    49.62'4 

Aluminum: 

Prompt  delivery   26.00  to  26.50 

Future     26.00 

OLD    METALS 

Heavy  copper  and  wire   16.75 

Brass,  heavv    10.00 

Brass,  light    8.75 

Lead,  heavy    4.40 

Zinc,  scrap   6.12J4 

COPPER  EXPORTS   IN    NOVEMBER 
Toial  tons,  week  ending Nov.   19,  8,657 


, Nov.  25 

Bid.       Asked. 

17.05         

£  s  d 
76  13  0 
17.60  to  17.70 

17.50 

17.25  to  17.35 

19.00 

4.50 

45.00 

9.00 

7.50 

49.25 

26.00  to  26.50 
25.50  to  26.00 


16.00 
10.00 

8.75 

4.30 

6.12Ji 


Nov.  26,  12,987 


INDUSTRIAL  SECURITIES. 


Security. 


Capital  Stock 

Listed. 


AUis-Chalmers,  2d  assess, 
paid 

Allis-Chalmers,  pf.,  2d  as- 
sess, paid 

Amalgamated  Copper 

American  Tel.  &  Tel 

Crocker-Wheeler,  c 

Crocker- Wheeler,  pf 

Electric  Storage  Battery ,c. 

General  Electric 

Mackay  Cos. ,  c 

Mackay  Cos..  pf 

Western  Union  Tel 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M.,  c. 

Westinghouse.  E.  &  M.,  pf. 

*Last  price  quoted. 


tI7,15I,100 

14,034,700 

153,887.900 

334,712.300 

1,700,000 

500,000 

16,074,425 

77,726,700 

41,380.400 

50.000,000 

79,943.400 

31,685,300 

3 , 998 , 700 


Per  Cent.    Period 


1 
2 

IJ 

i" 

U 
1 

i 
1 
1? 


g"QUOTATI0N. 


Nov.  20  Nov.  26 


2i« 

10* 

85 
1423 

86* 
105* 

54i 
182* 

8Si* 

68 

78* 

80i 
123* 


21* 

10* 

843 
1421 

85* 
105i* 

54i 
184 

85i* 

68* 

79J 

81 
123* 


ii68 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


Personal 

Dr.  William  Marconi  is  expected  to  arrive  in  New  York 
early  in  January.     He  is  still  under  the  care  of  an  oculist. 

Mr.  C.  C.  Ousley  has  recently  been  appointed  to  the 
newly  created  position  of  assistant  to  the  president  of  the 
Kentucky  Electric   Company,  Louisville,  Ky. 

Mr.  William  J.  Meloney,  formerly  manager  for  the  West- 
ern Union  Telegraph  Company  at  Atlantic  City,  N.  J.,  and 
Altoona,  Pa.,  has  been  appointed  manager  at  Trenton,  N.  J. 

Mr.  Henry  L.  Doherty,  of  Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company, 
has  recently  returni-d  to  this  country  after  an  absence  on 
business  in  London,  England,  where  he  has  spent  a  number 
of  weeks. 

Mr.  C.  G.  Kilbourne,  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company, 
delivered  an  address  on  Nov.  21  before  the  Electrical  En- 
gineering Society  of  Columbia  University,  on  "The  Distri- 
bution System   of  a   Large   City." 

Mr.  E.  A.  Thompson  has  been  appointed  manager  of  the 
properties  of  the  Hillsboro  Electric  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany at  Coffeen,  111,,  and  will  also  look  after  the  company's 
afifairs   at    Fillmore   and    Donnellson. 

Mr.  John  M.  Eshleman,  chairman  of  the  Public  Utilities 
Commission  of  California,  at  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Bos- 
ton (Mass.)  City  Club,  delivered  an  address  on  "Control  of 
Public   Service   Corporations  by  a  Single   Commission." 

Mr.  W.  E.  Erwin,  who  for  the  past  seven  years  has  been 
assistant  superintendent  of  the  San  Bernardino  division  of 
the  Pacific  Electric  Railway,  San  Bernardino,  Cal.,  has  re- 
signed and  will  become  associated  with  the  Santa  Barbara 
(Cal.)   Consolidated  Electric  Company  as  superintendent. 

Mr.  H.  P.  Rust,  who  is  associated  with  Viele,  Blackwell  & 
Buck,  consulting  engineers  for  the  Great  Western  Power 
Company,  retains  his  connection  with  the  engineering  firm 
and  has  not  been  placed  in  charge  of  one  of  the  develop- 
ments of  the  Great  Western  Power  Company,  as  incor- 
rectly stated  in  our  issue  for  Nov.  23. 

Mr.  R.  A.  Sara  has  tendered  his  resignation  as  business 
manager  of  the  Power  Department  of  Winnipeg,  Canada. 
Mr.  Sara,  who  has  been  in  charge  of  the  organization  and 
business  of  the  department  for  eighteen  months,  will  return 
to  his  home  in  Toronto,  where  he  will  be  identified  with 
the   Hydro-Electric  Commission  of  that  city. 

Mr.  Theodore  D.  Crocker,  who  for  the  past  six  years  has 
been  connected  with  The  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  & 
Light  Company,  recently  resigned  his  position  to  become 
associated  with  the  Byllesby  interests  at  St.  Paul.  Mr. 
Crocker  was  vice-president  of  the  Milwaukee  company's 
section  of  the   National   Electric   Light   .Association. 

Mr.  Frank  L.  Dyer  has  resigned  as  president  of  the  vari- 
ous companies  manufacturing  devices  under  patents  of  Mr. 
Thomas  A.  Edison.  Mr.  Dyer  has  been  identified  with  Mr. 
Edison's  undertakings  for  the  past  ten  years  and  at  the  time 
of  his  resignation  was  president  or  director  and  legal  ad- 
viser for  nineteen  different  corporations  in  which  Mr.  Edi- 
son is  interested. 

Mr.  D.  G.  Baker,  works  manager  of  the  Olds  Motor 
Works,  Lansing,  Mich.,  and  formerly  manager  of  the  Blake 
&  Knowles  Steam  Pump  Works,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  has 
just  returned  from  Ghent,  Belgium,  where  he  concluded  ar- 
rangements with  Carels  Brothers,  the  largest  exclusive 
builders  of  Diesel  engines  in  Europe,  for  becoming  man- 
ager of  their  plant  at  that  place.  He  will  sail  in  a  few 
days  with  hi?  family  for  Belgium. 

Dr.  Frederick  Bedell,  professor  of  applied  electricity  at 
Cornell  University,  is  receiving  the  profound  sympathy  of 
his  many  friends  because  of  the  loss  of  his  father,  Mr.  Ed- 
win F.  Bedell,  who  died  on  Nov.  21,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
six,  at  his  home  in  Montclair,  N.  J.,  where  he  had  lived  for 
.ilmost  forty  years.  It  was  only  a  few  months  ago  that  the 
late  Mr.  Bedell  and  his  wife  celebrated  the  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  their  wedding.  Besides  Professor  Bedell,  the 
widow  of  the  deceased,  another  son  and  three  daughters 
survive  him. 

Mr.  Chauncey  L.  Williams  has  resigned  as  Western  man- 
ager of  the  Electrical  World  and  will  remove  from  Chicago 
to   New   York   to   accept   a   position   of   authority   with   the 


J.    M.    WAKEMAN. 


F.  W.  Dodge  Company,  publisher  of  the  Architectural 
Record,  "Sweet's  Index"  and  other  periodicals.  His  suc- 
cessor will  be  Mr.  Sam  A.  Hobson,  whose  interests  and 
activities  in  the  electrical  field  are  shown  by  the  fact  that 
he  was  one  of  the  founders,  the  first  Pluto  and  the  third 
Jupiter  of  the  Rejuvenated  Order  of  the  Sons  of  Jove.  Mr. 
Hobson  was  until  lately  manager  of  the  St.  Louis  office  of 
the  Fort  Wayne  Electric  Works. 
Mr.   J.   M.  Wakeman,   former  vice-president   of  the   Mc- 

Graw  Publishing  Com- 
pany and  general  mana- 
ger of  the  Electrical  World, 
after  an  absence  of  nearly 
two  and  one-half  years, 
the  greater  part  of  which 
has  been  spent  in  his  na- 
tive country,  England,  ar- 
rived in  New  York  last 
week  on  the  S.  S.  Adriatic 
for  a  visit  of  indefinite 
length.  His  headquarters 
for  the  immediate  future 
will  be  the  Hotel  Alvord, 
East  Orange,  N.  J.  Mr. 
Wakeman's  friends  will  be 
pleased  to  learn  that  as 
a  result  of  the  time  spent 
outdoors  in  France,  Italy, 
Belgium,  the  Austrian  Ty- 
rol, Scotland  and  Wales,  as  well  as  England,  he  appears 
many  years  younger  than  he  did  when  he  left  here. 

Mr.  Warner  M.  Skiff,  for  the  past  three  years  assistant 
manager  of  the  engineering  department  of  the  National 
Electric  Lamp  .'\ssociation,  has  been  appointed  manager  of 
the  engineering  department 
of  the  association  to  suc- 
ceed Mr.  Glenn  C.  Webster, 
who  has  assumed  the  man- 
agership of  the  Tungstolier 
Works  of  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company.  Mr.  Skiff 
was  born  Oct.  5,  1883,  in 
Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
received  his  high-school 
education.  His  technical 
education  was  obtained  at 
Case  School  of  Applied 
Science,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  in  1906.  While 
at  this  school  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Tau  Beta 
Pi  honor  fraternity  and 
later  was  elected  to  the  Sig- 
ma Xi  honor  society.  Dur- 
ing his  early  years  Mr.  Skiff  obtained  valuable  practical  ex- 
perience through  his  connection  with  the  Peerless  Electric 
Company,  of  Warren,  Ohio.  In  July,  1906,  he  joined  the 
engineering  department  of  the  National  Electric  Lamp  As- 
sociation, which  at  that  time  comprised  not  more  than  a 
half  dozen  men.  The  department  now  employs  nearly  a 
hundred  engineers  and  specialists.  Mr.  Skifif  is  a  member 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  the  Il- 
luminating Engineering  Society,  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  the  Cleveland  Advertising  Club  and  the 
Sons  of  Jove. 


WARNER    M.    SKIFF. 


Obituary 


Mr.  Charles  Bourseul,  who  has  been  credited  with  first 
suggesting  the  possibility  of  the  electrical  transmission  of 
speech,  died  in  Paris.  France,  on  Nov.  25,  at  the  age  of 
cigthy-three.  His  prophecy  was  regarded  at  the  time  as 
so  novel  and  incomprehensible  that  Du  Moncel,  by  whom 
the  account  was  first  published,  pronounced  it  a  wholly 
fantastic  idea.  Mr.  Bourseul  did  not  propose  or  construct 
any  mechanism  which  would  successfully  transmit  speech 
or  complex  sounds  by  electrical  means.  For  many  years 
he  had  been  receiving  a  pension  from  the  Post  Office  De- 
partment. 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1 169 


Construction 


FLORENCE,  ARIZ.— The  Florence  Improvement  Co.  has  applied  to 
the  Board  of  Aldermen  for  a  franchise  to  supply  water  and  electricity 
here.     The  question  will  be  submitted  to  the  voters. 

ALAMEDA,  CAL.— Contracts  have  been  awarded  by  the  electricity 
commission  for  construction  of  power  house  and  equipment,  aggregating 
$122,170  as  follows:  Construction  of  power  house  to  Kaufman  & 
Edwards,  $30,998;  regulators,  $6,785,  and  switchboards,  $10,440,  to  the 
General  Electric  Co.;  boilers,  $25,715,  and  oil  tanks,,  $3,758,  to  C.  C. 
Moore  S:  Co.;  turbine  unit,  $44,494,  to  Hunt,  Mirk  &  Co. 

IlEMET,  CAL. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  approved  the  appli- 
cation of  the  Southern  California  Utilities  Co.  to  issue  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  $10,000,000  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  its  plans  for  an 
irrigation,  power  and  land  system  in  Riverside  County.  The  project 
includes  the  purchase  of  the  property  of  the  Ramona  Pwr.  &  Irrig.  Co.,  at 
$350,000;  the  Lake  Hemet  Wtr.  Co.,  the  Fairview  Land  &  Wtr.  Co.,  the 
Hemet  Town  Wtr.  Co.  and  the  Hemet  Land  Co.,  at  $1,417,992;  for  the 
purchase  of  two-thirds  of  the  stock  of  the  California  Riverside  Land  Co., 
at  $3,150,000;  for  the  construction  of  power  plant  and  irrigation  system, 
$4,117,000.  The  remainder  of  the  fund  is  to  be  used  for  improvements 
of  lands,  water  sites  and  other  properties. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — The  city  of  Los  .'Xngeles  is  planning  to  install 
a  system  of  ornamental  street  lamps  on  Canal  Street,  in  the  Wilmington 
district;  also  on  Jefferson  Street  from  Central  Avenue  to  Vermont  Avenue. 
LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — Specifications  and  estimates  of  cost  for  the 
construction  of  a  section  of  street  railway  on  San  Pedro  Street  from 
Aliso  to  Ninth  Street  have  been  prepared  by  the  Board  of  Public  Works. 
The  cost  is  estimated  at  $208,520  and  calls  for  completion  in  eight  months. 
The  Pacific  El.  Ry.  Co.,  it  is  expected,  will  get  the  contract. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  Little  Rock  Pwr.  &  Wtr.  Co.,  of  Los 
Angeles  County,  has  applied  to  the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  per- 
mission to  issue  3000  shares  of  capital  stock  and  $5,000,000  in  bonds.  The 
greater  part  of  the  stock  is  desired  for  the  purchase  of  all  rights  and 
interest  to  water  and  water  rights  in  Little  Rock  Creek  in  Los  Angeles 
County.  The  proceeds  from  the  bonds  will  be  used  to  construct  a  power 
plant  and  distributing  system. 

MARVSVILLE,  CAL.— The  Oro  El.  Corpn.,  of  Oroville,  has  applied  to 
the  County  Supervisors  for  permission  to  erect  and  operate  an  electric 
distributing  system  in  Yuba  County.  R.  Leo  Van  der  Naillen  is  general 
manager. 

MODESTO,  C.-\L. — The  Modesto  &  Empire  Trac.  Co.  is  preparing  to 
extend  its  railway  30  miles  west  to  Newman. 

OROVILLE,  CAL. — The  Oro  El.  Corpn.  is  erecting  a  transmission  line 
to  the  Haseltine  and  East  Biggs  districts,  where  electricity  will  be  sup- 
plied for  lamps  and  motors.  The  company  contemplates  the  erection  of 
many  transmission  lines  to  radiate  from  Oroville.  A.  A.  Davis  is  local 
manager. 

PASADENA,  CAL.— R.  H.  Davis,  D.  M.  Linnard  and  others  are 
planning  a  proposed  ornamental  street-lighting  scheme  for  Los  Robles 
.Avenue,  from  Orange  Grove  Avenue  to  California  Street,  and  possibly 
on  to  Huntington  Drive,  a  distance  of  over  3  miles.  Over  200  posts 
similar  to  those  on  Orange  Grove  Avenue  will  be  erected. 

SAN  DIEGO,  CAL.— T.  H.  Wilson,  of  Vancouver,  B.  C,  Can.,  who  is 
said  to  represent  Canadian  capitalists,  has  acquired  a  site  on  the  bay 
front  at  San  Diego  and  will  soon  begin  work  on  the  construction  of  an 
electric  power  plant. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.— The  Coast  Counties  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has 
asked  the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to  purchase  the 
Davenport  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Davenport. 

SANTA  MONICA,  CAL.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  treasurer  of 
the  National  Soldiers'  Home,  Los  Angeles  County,  until  Dec.  11  for 
furnishing  and  installing  an  electric  passenger  elevator  in  the  hospital 
building. 

VISALIA.  CAL.— The  Mount  Whitney,  Pwr.  &  El.  Co.  has  applied  to 
the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  $250,000.  The  proceeds  will  be  used  for  the  construction  of 
generating  plants  and  reservoir  on  the  Kaweah  River.  The  application 
states  that  about  $350,000  has  been  expended  on  the  plant  and  that  it 
will  require  the  expenditure  of  about  $1,000,000  to  complete  it. 

WENGLER,  C.'\L. — The  Mount  Shasta  Pwr.  Co.  has  just  completed 
a  small  hydroelectric  power  plant  to  be  used  in  driving  a  7-niile  tunnel. 
The  tunnel  is  a  part  of  the  large  power  development  being  undertaken 
by  the  Mount  Shasta  Pwr.  Co. 

DENVER,  COL. — Arrangements  have  been  made  by  the  city  to  install 
new  lighting  systems  at  University  Park,  Lake  Place  and  Federal  Boule- 
vard, which  will  involve  an  expenditure  of  approximately  $40,000. 

ROCKY  FORD,  COL.— The  .Arkansas  Valley  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  con- 
templates extending  its  13,000-volt  transmission  line  from  Rocky  Ford  to 
Ordway,  a  distance  of  12  miles,  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  electricity 
to  the  towns  of  Ordway  and  Sugar  City.  The  work  will  be  done  by  the 
company  in  charge  of  E.  F.  Stone,  Pueblo,  superintendent  of  the  light- 
ing and  power  department.  Material  for  the  proposed  extension  has  been 
purchased.  W.  F.  Raber,  of  Pueblo,  is  vice-president  and  general 
manager. 

WALSENEURG,  COL.— The  plant  of  the  Walsenburg  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co., 


inside  city  limits,  has  been  taken  over  by  the  Trinidad  Elec.  Transmis. 
Ry.  &  Gas  Co.,  and  all  electrical  machinery,  engines,  etc.,  will  be  sold. 
The  ice-manufacturing  and  cold-storage  plants  will  be  continued,  and  a 
portion  of  the  boiler  plant  will  be  left  for  this  purpose. 

EAST  HADDAM,  CONN.— The  East  Haddam  &  Haddam  Bridge  Com- 
mission has  awarded  the  East  Haddam  El.  Lt.  Co.,  of  East  Hampton, 
Conn.,  a  contract  for  furnishing  electricity  for  operating  the  drawbridge 
and  for  lighting  the  bridge  under  construction  here  for  a  period  of  years. 

HIGG.ANUM,  CONN.— Plans  are  being  prepared  to  install  an  electric- 
light  system  here.  Electricity  for  operating  the  system  will  be  supplied 
by  the  East  Haddam  El.  Lt.  Co.,  of  East  Hampton,  which  has  a  plant  on 
the  Salmon  River  at  Leesville. 

WILLIMANTIC,  CONN.— The  city  has  entered  into  a  new  contract 
with  the  Willimantic  El.  Lt.  Co.  for  street  lighting  for  a  period  of  five 
years.  The  price  for  arc  lamps  has  been  reduced  from  $92  to  $80  per 
year.  The  new  contract  also  provides  for  not  less  than  80  incandescent 
lamps  at  $20.50  each  per  year. 

W.-\SHINGTON,  D.  C. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the 
Bureau  of  Yards  and  Docks,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Dec.  14  for  furnishing  two  75-k-va  steam-driven  alternating-current  gen- 
erator sets  and  switchboard  for  the  L'nited  States  naval  station  at  Guan- 
tanamo.  Cuba,  to  be  delivered  at  the  navy  yard,  Brooklyn.  N.  Y.  Specifi- 
cations can  be  obtained  on  application  to  the  bureau.  William  M.  Smith 
is  acting  chief  of  bureau. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau  of  Sup- 
plies and  .Accounts,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Dec.  10 
fcr  furnishing  supplies  at  the  navy  yards  and  naval  stations  as  follows; 
Washington,  D.  C,  Schedule  4967 — electric  locomotive.  Norfolk,  Va. 
Schedule  4991 — two  motors  for  engine  lathes;  Schedule  4990 — five  panels 
for  direct-current  generator  switchboards.  Application  for  proposals 
should  designate  the  schedule  desired  by  number. 

JACKSONVILLE,  FL.A. — Proposals  will  be  received  by  W.  M.  Bost- 
vvick,  chairman  of  trustees  for  the  water-works  and  improvement  bonds 
of  the  city  of  Jacksonville,  until  Jan.  6,  1913,  for  furnishing  and  install- 
ing lead-covered  underground  electrical  cables  in  accordance  with  plans 
and  specifications  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  board,  Jacksonville,  and  in 
the  office  of  W.  E.  Bleo,  consulting  engineer,  Washington,  D.  C.  Pro- 
posals are  requested  on  three  different  propositions  as  follows;  (1)  For 
furnishing  f.o.b.  cars  at  Jacksonville  the  several  items  of  said  cables 
as  called  for  by  specifications;  (2)  separate  prices  on  unit  basis  for 
furnishing  and  installing  said  ducts  and  manholes  constructed  by  the  city 
of  Jacksonville;  (3)  alternate  price  on  a  percentage  basis  for  installing 
said  cables  in  said  ducts  and  manholes  in  city  of  Jacksonville.  Copies  of 
plans  and  specifications  may  be  secured  of  the  consulting  engineer  upon 
deposit  of  $25,    which   will   be  refunded   upon   return   of  same. 

DOUGL.ASVILLE,  GA. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  .nstalla- 
tion  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  here,  for  which  bonds  have  been 
voted. 

BOISE,  ID.AHO. — The  Idaho  Trac.  Co.  has  been  granted  permission  to 
lay  tracks  on  certain  streets  in  the  city  of  Boise. 

ASSUMPTION,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  of  Mattoon, 
has  purchased  the  electric  light  and  power  plant  of  the  Consolidated  EI. 
&  Mfg.   Co.,  of  Assumption,  for  $40,000. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.— The  Trustees  of  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago 
have  entered  into  a  contract  with  the  city  of  Chicago  for  furnishing  elec- 
tiicity  to  operate  the  Fullerton  Avenue  pumping  station.  The  board  has 
also  authorized  its  president  to  sign  a  five-year  contract  with  the  trustees 
of  the  village  of  Wilmette  to  furnish  electricity  to  that  village.  Thomas 
A.  Smyth  is  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Sanitary  District 
of  Chicago. 

CHICAGO,  ILL. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  City  Electrician  Ray 
Palmer  for  illumination  of  streets  running  under  all  railroad  elevations. 
.A  request  for  an  appropriation  of  $74,000  has  been  filed  with  Comptroller 
Traeger  to  illuminate  the  375  subways  under  municipal  control.  A  gen- 
eral letter  has  been  sent  to  all  railroads  asking  them  to  take  care  of  the 
275  subways  which  they  are  compelled  by  ordinance  to  keep  lighted.  It 
is  estimated  that  7400  incandescent  lamps,  costing  $10  each,  will  be 
required    for    the    375    subways    under    municipal    control. 

CREAL  SPRINGS,  ILL.— The  city  authorities  have  closed  a  contract 
with  the  Creal  Springs  Hotel  Co.  whereby  the  latter  will  furnish  elec- 
tricity  for   street  lamps   until   May    1. 

DECATUR,  ILL. — The  contract  for  electrical  work  for  Macon  County 
Hospital  has  been  awarded  to  the  Rex  Electric  Company,  of  Decatur, 
for  about  $8,000. 

KEYESPORT,  ILL.— The  Springfield  &  Southern  Illinois  Trac.  Co. 
has  applied  to  the  Village  Board  for  a  franchise  to  operate  its  inter- 
urban  line  through  the  city.  A  franchise  will  soon  be  asked  of  the  City 
Council  at  Greenville. 

MARION,  ILL. — The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  has  purchased  the 
plant  of  the  Marion  El.  Lt.,  Wtr.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  $150,000. 

RICHMOND.  ILL.— The  Public  Ser.  Co.,  of  Waukegan,  and  the 
Equitable  El.  Lt.  Co.,  of  Lake  Geneva,  are  seeking  franchises  in  Rich- 
mond. The  Public  Service  Company  has  already  extended  its  system 
from  McHenry  to  Johnsburgh  and  is  said  to  be  contemplating  extending 
its   transmission   lines   to    Spring   Grove,    Solon   and   Ringwood. 

ROCK  FALLS,  ILL. — The  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Co.  has  offered 
the  city  of  Rock  Falls  $17,000  for  the  municipal   electric-light  plant. 


1 170 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


SPRIXGFIELD,  ILL. — The  city  commission  has  offered  to  purchase 
the  Fourth  Street  boulevard  lighting-system  from  the  Springfield  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  for  $10,000. 

WATSEKA,  ILL. — A  deal  has  been  closed  whereby  the  Central  Illinois 
Utilities  Co.  has  taken  over  the  electric  plants  in  Watseka,  Milford,  Gil- 
man  and  Onarga.  It  is  stated  that  the  new  company  proposes  to  build  a 
new  plant  near  the  junction  of  Sugar  Creek  and  the  Iroquois  River,  in 
the  western  part  of  Watseka,  to  cost  about  $100,000.  It  is  understood 
that  arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  new  owners  to  increase  tem- 
porarily the  output  of  the  Watseka  plant.  The  officers  of  the  company 
are:  L.  E.  Meyers,  president;  H.  L.  Clark,  vice-president  and  manager, 
and  H.  P.  Weston,  secretary  and  treasurer,  all  of  Chicago.  H.  J.  Frith, 
of  Watseka,  it  is  understood,  will  have  charge  of  the  plants  in  this  county. 

HAMMOND.  IND. — The  large  power  plant  of  the  Standard  Steel  Car 
Foundry  in  Hammond  was  destroyed  by  fire  recently,  causing  a  loss  of 
about  $250,000. 

HAMMOND,  IND.— The  Xorthefn  Indiana  Gas  &  EI.  Co.,  of  Ham- 
mond, has  begun  work  on  the  construction  of  a  power  plant  at  Indiana 
Harbor  and  Calumet  River,  to  cost  about  $1,000,000. 

MORRISTOWN,  IND. — Arrangements  have  been  made  between  the 
Town  Board  and  the  Indianapolis  &  Cincinnati  Trac.  Co.,  whereby  the 
company  will  furnish  electricity  in  Morristown  for  street-lighting  and 
domestic  purposes. 

AFTON,  lA. — The  citizens  have  voted  to  accept  the  proposition  of  the 
Creston  Mutual  El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Power  Co.  to  furnish  electricity  for  tfcc 
local  system.  The  Creston  company  will  erect  the  transmission  line  to 
the  Afton  city  limits. 

ANKENY,  lA. — The  Central  Iowa  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  which  was  recently 
granted  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  here,  will  secure  electrical  energy 
to  operate  the  system  from  the  high-tension  transmission  line  of  the  Fort 
Dodge,  Des  Moines  &  Southern  R.  R.  Co.  The  work  will  be  done  by 
the  railroad  company.  Frank  K.  Shuff  is  superintendent  of  tke  Fort 
Dodge,  Des  Moines  &  Southern  R.  R.  Co. 

ARMSTRONG,  lA. — P.  H.  Atwood  is  contemplating  the  installation 
of  an  electric-light  plant  in  connection  with  the  tile  factory. 

CEDAR  RAPIDS,  lA. — The  Iowa  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  will  build  an  addition 
to  its  power  house  in  this  city.  W.  G.  Dows  is  president  and  J.  D. 
Waedle   superintendent. 

CHELSEA,  lA. — At  a  special  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
grant  a  new  electric-light  franchise  to  Dows,  Smith,  Reed  &  Cook  was 
carried.  This  franchise  is  for  the  Iowa  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.,  which  recently 
purchased  the  local  electric  plant.  The  company  proposes  to  furnish  elec- 
tricity for  the  local  system  from  the  Cedar  Rapids  and  Marshalltown 
plants. 

CLEARFIELD,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  citizens  voted  to 
grant  a  10-year  franchise  to  a  local  company  for  the  installation  of  an 
electric  light  and  power  plant.  The  system  is  to  be  in  operation  before 
April,  1913. 

DALLAS  CENTER,  lA.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Adel  Mill 
Co.,  of  Adel,  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  Dallas  Center. 

FREDERICKSBURG,  lA.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $4,500  have  been 
voted  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant.  H.  S.  Kerssen  is  city 
clerk. 

HUDSON,  lA. — At  a  special  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
grant  a  franchise  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  and  power  plant 
was  carried.  Work  will  begin  at  once  on  construction  of  the  plant,  the 
cost  of  which  is  estimated  at  about  $5,000. 

HUMESTON,  lA. — At  a  special  election  held  recently  the  proposition 
to  grant  the  Leon  El.  Co.,  of  Leon,  a  20-year  franchise  to  operate  an 
electrjc-light  system   here  was  carried. 

KEOKUK.  lA.— The  Iowa  Tel.  Co.  has  taken  over  the  plant  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley  Tel.  Co.     The  exchanges  will  be  consolidated. 

LEON,  lA. — ^The  Leon  El.  Co.  has  begun  work  on  the  erection  of 
its  transmission  line  from  Leon  to  Garden  Grove  and  Humeston  to 
supply   electricity  for   lamps   and   motors   in   those   towns. 

MARSHALLTOWN,  lA.— The  Iowa  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  submitted 
a  proposition  to  the  City  Council  to  furnish  electricity  for  all  ornamental 
lighting  systems  at  a  rate  of  $2.25  per  month  per  post,  carrying  five- 
lamp  clusters. 

REDFIELD,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to  issue 
$15,000  in  bonds  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water- 
works system  was  carried. 

ROWAN,  lA. — J.  L.  Sinclair  is  considering  the  construction  of  an 
electric-light  plant  here. 

SCRANTON,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
install  an  electric-light  plant  here  was  carried.  Work  will  soon  begin  on 
installation  of  the  system. 

WHITING.  lA. — The  proposition  to  establish  an  electric-light  plant 
in  Whiting  will  be  submitted  to  the  voters  on  Dec.  2.  The  Alamo  Engine 
&  Supply  Co.,  of  Omaha,  Neb.,  has  charge  of  the  engineering  work. 

WINTHROP,  lA. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $5,000  have  been  voted  for 
the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant.  As  yet  no  engineer  has  been 
engaged. 

CIMARRON,  KAN. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  Roy  Baker,  city 
clerk,  Cimarron,  until  Dec.  6  for  furnishing  labor  and  materials  for  addi- 
tions  and   improvements   to   the   municipal    electric-light   plant   and   water- 


works system  as  follows;  Section  2 — tor  furnishing  all  cast-iron  pipe  and 
special  castings;  Section  3 — for  furnishing  all  materials  and  labor  (ex- 
cepting cast-iron  pipe,  specials,  valves  and  hydrants  and  transformers) 
for  constructing  water-works  distributing  system,  power  house,  well  and 
electrical  distributing  system;  Section  4 — for  furnishing  and  installing  on 
foundations  furnished  by  the  city  one  SO-hp  internal  combustion  engine; 
Section  5 — electrical  machinery.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  seen  at 
the  office  of  the  city  clerk,  Cimarron,  and  at  the  office  of  Worley  &  Black, 
engineers,    Kansas   City,    Mo. 

DODGE  CITY,  KAN.— The  Atchison.  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  Railway 
system  is  planning  to  build  a  power  house,  trestle  and  elevated  coal  bins 
in   Dodge  City  this  winter,  to  cost  approximately  $11,307. 

OTTAWA,  KAN. — Joseph  Heeler  is  interested  in  a  project  for  the 
organization  of  a  company  to  supply  electricity  to  the  Franklin  County 
farmers  between  Ottawa  and  Pomona,  Centropolis  and  Horaewood  and 
in  the  towns.  The  company  is  to  be  known  as  the  Overland  El.  Co.  and 
will  be  capitalized  at  $30,000.  Electricity  for  operating  the  system  will 
be  obtained  from  the  municipal  electric  plant  at  Ottawa. 

ELIZABETHTOWN,  KY.— The  property  of  the  Elizabethtown  El.  Lt. 
Co.  has  been  purchased  by  Harry  Reid,  of  Versailles,  representing  a 
Chicago  syndicate,  which  has  purchased  a  number  of  plants  in  Kentucky, 
including  those  at  Manchester,  Versailles  and  Somerset. 

FRANKFORT,  KY. — The  contract  for  the  new  lamp  standards  to  be 
erected  on  Main  and  St.  Clair  Streets  has  been  awarded  to  H.  I.  Wood 
&  Co.,  of  Louisville,   for  $3,250. 

HOPKINS\TLLE,  KY.— Plans  have  been  completed  by  the  Hopkins- 
ville  Business  Men's  Association  for  the  installation  of  ornamental  lamp 
standards   on  Ninth   and   Main    Streets. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY.— The  organ  factory  of  Henry  Pilcher's  Sons.  Louis- 
ville, will  be  equipped  with  electrically  operated  machinery  within  a  few 
months. 

LOUISVILLE.  KY.— The  Seelbach  Hotel  Co.,  of  Louisville,  has  ap- 
plied to  the  miinicipal  authorities  for  permission  to  close  an  alley  in  the 
rear  of  the  hotel  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  an  addition  to  its  power 
house.     The  cost  of  the  building  and  equipment  is  estimated  at  $50,000. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY.— The  George  G.  Fetter  Ltg.  &  Htg.  Co.,  of  Louis- 
ville, has  taken  over  the  contracts  for  installing  an  ornamental  street- 
lighting  system  on  Main  Street,  from  First  to  Seventh  Street,  and  has 
placed  the  first  lamp  standards  for  the  system.  These  contracts  were 
formerly    held   by   the    Louisville   offices   of  the   Federal    Sign    System. 

NEWPORT.  KY.— The  Union  Lt..  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Newport,  is  com- 
pleting arrangements  with  the  municipal  authorities  for  the  erection  of 
ornamental  lamp  standards  about  the  Court  House  Square  in  Newport. 

DE  RIDDER,  L.A. — The  City  Council  has  adopted  a  resolution  author- 
izing the  administration  to  secure  estimates  of  the  cost  of  installing  a 
municipal  electric-light  plant  and  also  submitting  the  proposition  to  issue 
bonds  to  pay  for  same  to  the  taxpayers. 

LEWISTON,  MAINE. — The  contract  for  installing  lamp  standards  for 
the  proposed  ornamental  street  lighting  has  been  awarded  to  the  Orna- 
mental Ltg.  Pole  Co.,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  at  $66  per  standard.  The 
plans  provide  for  the  installation  of  100  posts. 

EMMITSBURG,  MD. — A  company  has  been  organized  by  residents  of 
Emmitsburg  to  supply  electricity  for  lighting  the  town.  Power  for  oper- 
ating the  system  will  be  secured  from  the  new  power  plant  of  the  Fred- 
erick R.  R.  Co.  A  transmission  line  will  be  erected  from  Thurmont  to 
Emmitsburg.  The  company  will  be  capitalized  at  $6,000.  Dr.  J.  B. 
Brawner,  Dr.  E.  A.  Stone,  Annan  Horner  and  Albert  M.  Patterson  are 
interested. 

NEW  BEDFORD,  MASS.— The  New  Bedford  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  ir> 
response  to  a  petition,  has  agreed  to  extend  its  electric-light  service  from. 
Padanaram  through  Elm  Street  to  the  section  at  the  head  of  Appone- 
gansett, 

P.ALMER,  MASS. — The  Selectmen  have  granted  the  Warren  Pwr.  Co. 
a  franchise  to  install  and  operate  an  electric  system.  The  company  pro- 
poses to  develop  a  water-power  on  the  Quaboag  River,  near  West  Warren, 

BELLEVILLE,  MICH.— Work  has  been  started  on  the  dam  of  the 
Eastern  Edison  Co.  on  the  Huron  River.  The  cost  of  the  dam  is  esti- 
mated at  about  $200,000. 

DEERFIELD,  MICH.— Charles  Schroeder  &  Co..  proprietors  of  the 
local  electric-light  plant,  have  purchased  an  80-hp,  three-cylinder  oil 
engine  for  their  plant. 

DETROIT,,  MICH.— The  American  Lady  Corset  Co.,  of  Detroit,  will 
soon  be  in  the  market  for  a  500-kw  direct-connected  generating  unit  for 
its  power  plant. 

DETROIT,  MICH. — The  Greater  Detroit  Improvement  Association  is 
interested  in  the  project  to  install  an  ornamental  lighting  system  on 
Jefferson  Avenue  from  Montclair  Avenue  to  the  Chalmers  Motor  Car 
Company's  plant.  Representatives  of  the  Detroit  City  Gas  Co.  and  the 
Federal  Sign  Co.  have  submitted  proposii:ons  to  supply  the  necessary 
poles  and   maintain  the   lamps. 

ELKTON,  MICH. — The  Business  Men's  Association  contemplates  the 
erection   of  a   number  of  electric  arches  on   Main  Street. 

FLINT,  MICH. — The  Detroit  United  Railway  proposes  to  extend  its 
line  into  the  Fourth  \\'ard  from  the  north  side  of  the  river. 

FLINT.  MICH.— The  Durant-Dort  Carriage  Co.,  of  Flint,  Mich.,  is  in- 
the  market  for  a  large  generator  and  other  electrical  equipment  for  itE^ 
power  plant. 


November  30,   1912 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1171 


HOUGHTON,  MICH.— The  Sturgeon  River  Land  &  Improvement  Co., 
composed  of  New  York  capitalists,  has  purchased  18,000  acres  of  land 
lying  for  25  miles  along  the  Sturgeon  River,  south  from  Houghton,  from 
Walter  S.  Prickett,  of  Sidnaw.  The  consideration  was  $3,000,000,  and  it 
is  understood  that  the  como*  ry  will  develop  a  2000-hp  hydroelectric 
plant,  at  a  cost  of  $4,000,000.  The  company  proposes  to  supply  electricity 
to  the  mines  in  the  copper  country.  Transmission  lines  will  be  erected 
through  Globe  and  along  the  line  of  the  Copper  Range  mines  to  Portage 
Lake,  from  which  branches  will  be  run  to  scattered  mines.  Contracts  for 
lighting  cities   and  villages  will   be  sought. 

KALAMAZOO,  MICH.— The  Michigan  United  Trac  Co.  contemplates 
extending   its   railway   to   South   Haven. 

LANSING,  MICH.— The  Board  of  Water  Works  and  Electric  Lighting 
Commissioners  has  awarded  the  contract  for  six  new  boilers  for  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant  to  the  Wickes  Boiler  Co.,  of  Saginaw,  for 
$27,775. 

TRAVERSE  CITY.  MICH.— The  Citizens'  Tele.  Co.  will  reconstruct 
its  toll  line  between  McBain  and  Lake  City  and  the  Grand  Rapids  toll 
line  between  Cadillac  and  Leroy.  Considerable  new  work  will  be  started 
by  the  "company  in  the  spring.  Plans  are  also  being  prepared  for  the 
underground  conduit  into  the  court  house  and  also  for  the  high  school 
building.      Albert   Stacey,   of  Grand   Rapids,   is  superintendent. 

WHITEHALL.  MICH.— The  United  Home  Tel.  Co.,  of  Ludington 
and  Muskegon,  is  having  plans  prepared  for  the  erection  of  a  new 
exchange  building  here. 

COLO  SPRING.  MINN.— The  Union  Pwr.  Co.  has  begun  work  on  the 
erection  of  a  distributing  station   here. 

KENYON,  MINN. — The  Village  Council  has  granted  a  25-year  electric- 
light  franchise  to  the  Consumers'  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Stillwater.  A.  S.  Huey, 
of  Chicago,  111.,  is  president. 

NORTH  ST.  PAUL,  MINN.— Improvements  will  be  made  to  the  local 
system  of  the  Northwestern  Tel.  Exchange  Co.,  to  cost  from  $10,000  to 
$15,000.     Wires  will  be  replaced  with  cables  wherever  possible. 

OLIVIA.  MINN. — The  contract  for  furnishing  a  gas-producer  unit  for 
the  municipal  electric-light  plant  has  been  awarded  to  the  International 
Gas  Engine  Co.,  of  Minneapolis,  at  $5,687. 

OWATONNA,  MINN.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $10,000  have  been 
voted  for  the  installation  of  a  new  street-lighting  system. 

PIPESTONE,  MTNN.—The  City  Council  has  entered  into  a  new  con- 
tract with  the  Pipestone  El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  whereby  a  new  street- 
lighting  system  will  be  installed.  The  contract  is  for  a  period  of  ten 
years  and  calls  for  83  100-watt  multiple  or  series  tungsten  lamps,  two 
250-watt  tungsten  lamps  and  four  flaming-arc  lamps.  The  Council  has 
adopted  an  ordinance  granting  an  extension  of  the  company's  franchise 
for  21  years  from  Nov.   11,  1912. 

VaRGINIA,  MINN.— The  new  Range  Tel.  Co.  will  erect  an  administra- 
tion building  and  central  office  in  Virginia,  to  cost  about  $15,000. 

WANAMINGO,  MINN.— The  Consumers'  Pwr.  Co.  will  erect  trans- 
mission lines  from  its  power  plant  at  Cannon  Falls  to  Wanamingo  to 
supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  here. 

WOLVERTON,  MINN.— Steps  have  been  taken  by  E.  E.  Norton,  of 
Breckenridge,  to  organize  a  company  to  install  an  electric-Hght  plant 
here. 

ST.  JOSEPH,  MO.— The  St.  Joseph  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  contemplates 
building  an  addition  to  its  power  plant  on  Felix  Street,  increasing  the 
output  50  per  cent.  The  equipment  will  include  a  3000-kw  turbine  engine 
and  a  1000-hp  boiler.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at  $100,000.  J. 
H.   Van   Brunt  is  general  manager. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO. — The  North  Grand  Avenue  Improvement  Association 
has  appointed  a  committee  to  solicit  subscriptions  for  the  lighting  fund  for 
the  purpose  of  installing  a  new  lighting  system  on  Grand  Avenue,  from 
the  water  tower  to  Easton  Avenue.  Charles  C.  Weber  is  president  of  the 
association. 

RAVALLI,  MONT.— The  Mountain  States  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  is  plan- 
ning to  construct  a  telephone   line  between   Ravalli   and   Poison,   Mont. 

TERRY,  MONT.— The  Council  is  considering  the  question  of  granting 
a  franchise  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  here. 

DESHLER,  NEB.— The  Deshler  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  contemplates  extending 
its  system  to  neighboring  towns  and  will  also  furnish  electricity  for 
lamps  and  motors  to   farmers  along  its  lines. 

GOLCONDA,  NEV.— The  Golconda  Tel.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  just  finished 
a  survey  for  an  electric  transmission  line  from  Golconda  to  National 
and  McDermott.  The  line  is  to  be  built  immediately.  R.  E.  Tilden  is 
engineer. 

GOLDFIELD,  NEV.— The  Goldfield  Ore  Mining  Co.  will  install  elec- 
trically operated  apparatus,  including  hoist,  compressor,  sinking  pump 
and  miscellaneous  machinery. 

RENO,  NEV.^The  Reno  Smelting  &  Refining  Co.,  recently  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000,  is  planning  to  erect  a  custom 
smelter  east  of  Reno,  near  the  Truckee  River,  within  the  next  year,  at 
a  cost  of  $500,000.  An  electric  smelting  furnace  invented  by  John  S. 
Loder  will  be  used.  The  incorporators  are:  John  S.  Loder,  engineer  and 
metallurgist,  and  Marvin  E.   Hall,  both   of  Detroit,   Mich. 

KEYPORT,  N.  J.— The  Public  Utility  Commission  has  approved  the 
ordinance    of   the    Monmouth    County    Board   of   Freeholders   granting    the 


Middlesex  &  Monmouth  El.  Lt..  lit.  &  Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to  erect  a 
transmission  line  on  Kings  Highway  in  Middletown  Township. 

MOGOLLON,  N.  M. — Extensive  improvements  are  contemplated  in  the 
MogoUon  mining  district,  including  the  installation  of  a  central  power 
plant,  which  will  furnish  power  to  all  the  mines  in  this  district.  It  is 
also  proposed  to  erect  a  mill  of  1000  tons  capacity  at  the  tunnel  porUl. 
W.  J.  Weatherby  is  in  charge. 

FORT  PLAIN,  N.  Y.— The  Century  Cabinet  Co.  contemplates  the 
installation  of  a  power  plant  in  connection  with  its  works  at  Fort  Plains. 
Griggs  &  Holbrook.  5  William  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  are  engineers. 

FULTON,  N.  Y. — The  Volney  Paper  Co.  is  having  plans  prepared  for 
the   construction   of  a  power   house,   50   ft.   by   35   ft. 

GREAT  NECK,  N.  Y.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion of  the  Union  Free  School  District  No.  7  until  Dec.  14  for  the 
installation  of  heating  and  electrical  apparatus  in  the  new  high  school 
building.     William  T.  Towner,  320  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  is  architect. 

HAMBURG,  N.  Y.— The  property  of  the  Howard  A.  Pierce  El.  Lt. 
Co.,  of  Hamburg,  has  been  purchased  by  a  syndicate  of  Hamburg  and 
BufTalo  business  men.  The  new  owners  contemplate  improvements  to 
the  system.  The  officers  of  the  new  company  are:  Albert  Dodge,  presi- 
dent, and  Walter  Nurzey,  secretary,  both  of  Hamburg,  and  William  Mair, 
of   Buffalo,    treasurer. 

NEW  HAMBURG,  N.  Y.— The  village  of  New  Hamburg  has 
awarded  a  contract  to  the  Central  Hudson  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  of  Pough- 
keepsie,  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  village.  The  contract  provides  for 
22  lamps. 

ROME,  N.  Y. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  until  Dec.  2  by  A.  L. 
McAdam,  clerk  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  Court  House,  Utica,  N.  Y.. 
for  installation  of  elevators  at  the  County  Hospital  at  Rome.  Plans 
and  specifications  are  on  file  at  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  board.  Elmer 
E.    Palmer   is   engineer. 

HAMILTON,  N.  D. — The  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  in  Ham- 
ilton is  under  consideration. 

COLUMBUS.  OHIO. — Plans  have  been  prepared  for  the  installation 
of  an  incandescent  street-lighting  system  on  arc  circuits.  The  plans  pro- 
vide for  about  500  ornamental  lamp  standards,  each  carrying  five  100-watt 
tungsten  lamps.  For  underground  work  use  will  be  made  of  3-in.  Orange- 
burg fiber  conduit  laid  in  concrete.  The  cost  of  standards  wired  and 
installed  complete  is  estimated  at  $47.31  each;  that  of  No.  10  duplex  rub- 
ber-covered lead-incased  cable  installed  per  ft.  at  99.5  cents.  The  total 
cost  of  the  system  complete  is  estimated  at  $85,400  and  provides  for  plac- 
ing, the  standards  about  100  ft.  apart  on  the  same  side  of  the  street  and 
staggered.  This  requires  about  100  ft.  of  cable  per  standard.  Part  of 
the  work  will  be  done  early  next  summer.  H.  E.  Eichborn  is  superin- 
tendent  of   the    municipal   electric-light   plant. 

COSHOCTON,  OHIO.— The  Coshocton  Lt.  &  Htg.  Co.  will  install 
a  second  steam-turbine  engine  at  the  Fourth  Street  plant,  increasing  the 
output  to  2500  kw.  The  company  is  extending  its  transmission  lines  to 
Pleasant  Valley  and  expects  to  extend  its  lines  to  surrounding  towns 
to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors.     J.  Howell  is  manager. 

DELPHOS,  OHIO.— Plans  have  been  adopted  by  the  Commercial  Club 
committee  for  the  ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Main  Street.  The 
plans  provide  for  22  standards  each  carrying  a  five-lamp  cluster  and  12 
standards  carrying  a  three-lamp  cluster.  The  Cutter  boulevard  straight- 
arm  post  has  been  adopted. 

FREMONT,  OHIO.— The  Public  Service  Commission  has  authorized 
the  Fremont  Home  Tel.  Co.  to  issue  $25,000  in  capital  stock.  The 
proceeds  will  be  used   for  improvements  to  its  plant  and  system. 

MASSILLON.  OHIO.— The  Massillon  El.  &  Gas  Co.  contemplates  ex- 
tending its  transmission  lines  from  the  west  corporation  line  of  Massillon 
to  tlie  Wayne  County  line  and  thence  to  East  Granville.  The  company 
also  proposes  to  erect  a  transmission  line  from  Navarre  to  Brewster 
and  a  branch  from  Brewster  to  a  silica  sand  mill  in  Sugar  Creek  Town- 
ship.    Franchises  have  been  secured  for  the  proposed  lines. 

PAULDING,  OHIO. — The  municipal  authorities  are  considering  the 
question  of  purchasing  electricity  from  the  Auglaize  Pwr.  Co.  to  operate 
the  municipal  electric-light  and  water-works  plant.  It  is  proposed  to  con- 
nect with  the  company's  line  at  Charloe. 

TOLEDO,  OHIO. — Plans  and  specifications  for  the  new  power  plant, 
to  cost  $25,000,  for  the  new  county  tubercular  hospital  and  county  infir- 
mary, to  be  located  between  the  town  buildings  on  Arlington  Avenue, 
have  been  approved  by  the  County  Commissioners.  D.  L.  Stine  is 
architect. 

ENTERPRISE,  ORE. — The  Home  Tel.  Co.  is  planning  to  improve  its 
lines  in  Wallowa  County.  Work  on  the  line  between  Enterprise  and 
Joseph,  a  distance  of  about  7  miles,  will  begin  at  once. 

EUGENE,  ORE.— The  Oregon  El.  Ry.  Co.  will  extend  its  electric  line 
from   Eugene  to   Roseburg,  a  distance  of  about  65   miles. 

MARSHFIELD.  ORE.— The  C.  A.  Smith  Lumber  &  Mfg.  Co.  is 
building  an  electric  power  plant  in  connection  with  its  lumber  and  log- 
ging operations.  The  plant  is  nearly  completed.  The  equipment  will 
consist  of  one  mixed-pressure  2000-kw  General  Electric  turbine  and  one 
500-kw  high-pressure  turbine.  The  cost  of  the  plant  is  estimated  at 
about   $125,000.      Arno   Moreen   is   general   superintendent. 

MILTON,  ORE. — An  election  will  be  held  Dec.  10  to  vote  on  the 
proposition  of  issuing  $18,000  in  bonds  for  improvements  to  the  municipal 
lighting  system. 


1172 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


REDMOND,  ORE.— The  Council  has  granted  George  Jacobs,  of  Port- 
land, Ore.,  a  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric-light  plant 
here. 

BLAIRSVILLE,  PA.— The  Citizens'  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Johns- 
town, has  decided  to  close  down  its  electric  plant  in  Blairsville,  which  it 
purchased  several  months  ago,  and  furnish  electricity  from  the  Broad 
Street  station  to  operate  the  system  in  Blairsville.  Although  the  current 
will  be  supplied  by  the  Citizens'  company,  the  rights-of-way  and  fran- 
chise are  being  secured  by  the  Penn  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  which  is  connected 
with  the  local  company.  A  franchise  has  been  granted  to  the  Penn 
Pub.  Ser.  Co.  in  New  Florence.  The  Seward  Council  is  now  considering 
an  ordinance  granting  the  Penn  company  a  franchise  in  that  town.  In 
New  Florence  and  Seward  the  Penn  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  will  furnish  electricity 
for  lighting  streets,  residences  an,d  business  and  for  mines  and  other 
industries.  To  meet  the  increasing  demand  the  Citizens*  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  is  installing  a  substation  at  its  Broad  Street  plant.  August  Weiss  is 
manager. 

JOHNSTOWN,  PA.— The  Citizens'  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Johnstown, 
has  closed  a  contract  by  which  the  company  will  supply  electricity  for 
operating  the  machinery  and  lighting  the  Lochrie  Coal  Company's  mine 
at  Scalp  Level.  Surveys  are  now  being  made  for  extension  of  the  trans- 
mission line  from  Johnstown  to  Scalp  Level.  Plans  are  also  under  way 
by  the  company  for  extension  of  its  lines  through  Shade  Township,  which 
will  be  followed  by  the  extension  of  lines  through  the  entire  district. 
The  company  proposes  to  erect  transmission  lines  in  all  territory  in  Som- 
erset County  without  electrical  service. 

NORTHAMPTON.  PA.— The  Lehigh  Coal  &  Navigation  Co.  has 
awarded  the  contract  for  the  construction  of  a  substation  at  Northampton 
to  Robert  S.  Rathburn,  of  Allentown.  This  will  be  the  main  distributing 
station    for   this   county. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA.— Owing  to  the  failure  of  the  Philadelphia  El. 
Co,  to  submit  a  bid  for  the  street-lighting  contract  for  1913,  bids  for 
lighting  the  city  will  be  readvertised. 

CHARLESTON,  S.  C— The  Charleston-Isle  of  Palms  Trac.  Co.  is  con- 
templating the  purchase  of  additional  rolling  stock  and  will  build  about 
35  miles  of  new  track  and  line  work.  Jameg  Sottle  is  president  of  the 
company  and  W.  W.  Fuller  is  chief  engineer  and  general  superintendent. 
The  main  office  of  the  company  is  in  the  New  Charleston  Hotel  Building, 
Charleston.  The  company  supplies  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in 
Mount  Pleasant  and  Sullivan's  Island,  the  Government  Reservation  and 
the  Isle  of  Palms. 

LENNOX,  S.  D. — The  City  Council  is  considering  the  construction  of 
an  electric-light  plant. 

WATERTOWN,  S.  D.— At  an  election  to  be  held  Dec.  10  the  proposi- 
tion to  issue  $15,000  in  bonds  for  the  installation  of  a  cluster-lamp  light- 
ing system  next  spring  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote. 

JONESBORO,  TENN.— The  Eastern  Tennessee  Hydroelectric  Co.,  of 
Johnson  City,  contemplates  the  construction  of  an  electric-light  plant  in 
Jonesboro. 

GRAHAM,  TEX. — The  Graham  Lt.  &  Supply  Co.  is  constructing  an 
electric-Hght  plant  (three-wire,  llG-220-volt  system)  at  a  cost  of  about 
$7,500.  The  equipment  will  consist  of  a  65-kw  generator,  two  boilers  (100- 
hp  and  40-hp  respectively),  one  11-in.  by  16-in.  four-valve  Atlas  engine; 
25-cp  and  50-cp  incandescent  lamps  will  be  used  for  street  lighting. 

PORT  ARTHUR,  TEX.— The  Port  Arthur  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  recently 
organized  with  a  capital  stock  of  $600,000,  has  taken  over  the  electric 
plant  of  the  Port  Arthur  Trac.  Co.  The  new  company,  it  is  stated,  will 
also  provide  power  for  operating  the  interurban  electric  railway  which  is 
to  be  built  between  Port  Arthur  and  Beaumont,  a  distance  of  25  miles. 

VICTORIA,  TEX.— The  Victoria  Mfg.  Co.  is  planning  to  install  a 
500-kw  generating  unit,  consisting  of  steam  turbine  and  electric  generator, 
increasing  output  of  electric  plant  to  920  kw.  The  capacity  of  the  ice 
plant  will  be  increased  by  20  tons  and  the  factory  rebuilt.  The  cost  of  im- 
provements is   estimated   at   $40,000. 

OGDEN,  UTAH. — Preparations  are  being  made  by  the  Utah  Lt.  & 
Ry.  Co.  for  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  to  North  Ogden  to  supply 
electrical    service   here. 

MONTPELIER,  VT. — Plans  are  under  way  for  the  immediate  installa- 
tion of  3500-hp  additional  equipment  at  the  Pioneer  plant  of  the  Consol. 
Lt.  Co.  in  Montpelier. 

REUSENS,  VA.— The  Lynchburg  Trac.  &  Lt.  Co.,  Lynchburg,  is  plan- 
ning to  install  a  2500-hp  generating  unit  at  its  plant  in  Reusens,  to  cost 
about  $40,000.     A.  T.  Powell  is  purchasing  agent. 

BURBANK,  WASH.— The  properties  of  the  Burbank  Pwr.  &  Wtr.  Co. 
have  been  taken  over  by  the  Burbank  Co.,  recently  organized  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $666,700.  Operations  are  now  on  foot  for  a  development 
to  provide  sufficient  water  for  7000  acres.  The  officers  are:  Frederick  K. 
Struve,  of  Seattle,  president;  H.  Hubert,  of  Sanderson  &  Porter,  engi- 
neers, 52  William  Street,  New  York,  treasurer,  and  Elbeit  M.  Chandler, 
of  Burbank,  manager. 

CENTRALIA,  WASH.— The  Washington  El.  Co.,  which  proposes  to 
construct  an  electric  line  from  Vancouver,  Wash.,  to  Tacoma,  a  distance 
of  about  115  miles,  has  applied  for  a  franchise  to  operate  through  Cen- 
tralia. 

GLACIER,  WASH.— The  Washington  Anthracite  Pwr,  Co.  is  plan- 
ning to  erect  a  power  plant  on  Glacier  Creek,  about  4  miles  above  Glacier, 


to  supply  electricity  for  lighting  the  tunnels  of  the  company's  coal  mines 
here. 

KENT,  WASH.— The  city  of  Kent  will  install  street  lamps  on  First  and 
Second   Avenues  at  once. 

MORTON,  WASH. — The  Lewis  County  Commissioners  have  granted 
the  Morton  El.  Co.  permission  to  furnish  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors 
in    Morton. 

MOUNT  VERNON,  WASH.— The  Pacific  Northwest  Trac.  Co.  has 
been  awarded  the  contract  for  furnishing  electricity  to  light  the  city  of 
Mount  Vernon   for  a  period  of  five  years. 

VANCOUVER,  WASH.— The  Portland  Ry..  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  install- 
ing an  additional  1000-hp  transformer  in  its  substation  on  lower  Eighth 
Street.  The  company  will  remove  the  substation  which  was  built  by  the 
Mount  Hood  Co.,  east  of  Vancouver  Barracks,  to  a  site  which  it  has 
purchased  at  the  foot  of  Washington  Street.  The  cost  of  moving  and 
refitting  the  substation   is  estimated  at  about  $40,000. 

ZILLAH,  WASH.— The  North  Yakima  &  Valley  Ry.  Co.  will  install 
a  telephone  system  on  its  Zillah  branch.     Work  will  begin  at  once. 

BLUEFIELD.  W.  VA.— Convertible  notes  to  the  amount  of  $500,000 
liave  been  sold  by  the  Appalachian  Pwr.  Co.,  the  proceeds  of  which  will 
be  used  for  the  purchase  of  new  properties  in  Virginia  and  West  Virginia 
and  to  extend  the  plants  of  the  company.  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Co.,  of 
Chicago,  HI.,  are  engineers  and  managers. 

DALLAS,  WIS. — J.  A.  Anderson  contemplates  the  installation  of  an 
electric-light  plant  here. 

GREEN  BAY,  WIS.— The  business  men  on  West  Walnut  Street,  be- 
tween the  bridge  and  Broadway,  are  contemplating  the  installation  of 
luminous  arc  lamps  on  those  blocks.  It  is  proposed  to  erect  20  lamps. 
The  proposition  has  been  submitted  to  the  Green  Bay  Gas  &  El.  Co.  C. 
R.   Phenicie   and   David   MacNaughton  are  interested. 

MADISON,  WIS. — Mayor  Heim  will  appoint  a  Council  committee  to 
investigate  the  possibilities  of  obtaining  electrical  energy  outside  the  city 
.'or  municipal  use.  The  question  of  securing  power  from  the  Southern 
Wisconsin  Power   Company's  dam   at  Prairie  du  Sac  is  being  considered. 

NORWALK,  WIS. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $7,000  have  been  voted 
for  the  installation  of  an  electric-Hght  plant. 

EDMONTON,  ALTA,  CAN.— Arthur  G.  Harrison,  a  member  of  the 
Hoard  of  City  Commissioners,  announces  that  the  city  will  expend 
approximately  $1,500,000  for  street-railway  construction,  rolling  stock, 
equipment  and  substations  in  Edmonton  during  the  coming  year.  This 
is  exclusive  of  the  extensions  tn  St.  Albert  and  Calder  and  improvements 
to  the  present  system,  which  is  owned  and  operated  by  the  city.  Ar- 
rangements are  being  made  by  the  municipality  for  the  installation  of  an 
ornamental  street-lighting  system  on  Jasper,  Whyte  and  Namayo  Avenues 
and  First  Street.  The  plans  provide  for  three  standards  to  each  block, 
costing  from   $275   to  $300  each. 

KAMLOOPS,  B.  C,  CAN. — Tenders  will  be  received  by  J.  J.  Garment, 
city  clerk,  until  Dec.  5  for  1000-hp  steam,  pumping  and  electrical  equip- 
ment for  the  new  power  station.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  seen 
at  the  office  of  DuCane,  Dutcher  &  Co.,  consulting  engineers,  Vancouver, 
B.  C,  or  at  the  office  of  R.  S.  Lea,  New  Birks  Bldg.,  Montreal,  Que. 
Plans  and  specifications  may  be  obtained  upon  a  deposit  of  $15. 

NEW  WESTMINSTER,  B.  C.,'  CAN.— The  fire  and  light  committee 
has  decided  to  place  25  new  arc  lamps  and  a  number  of  smaller  lamps  at 
different  points  throughout  the  city.     P.  T.  Bowler  is  city  electrician. 

NEW  WESTMINSTER,  B.  C— The  British  Columbia  Electric  Ry.  Co. 
may  construct  a  line  from  New  Westminster  to  Port  Moody,  a  distance 
of  about  20  miles.  The  Board  of  Trade  and  Progress  Association  arc 
back  of  the  movement. 

VANCOUVER,  B.  C— Waugh,  Meisner  &  Bailey  have  been  awarded 
the  contract  for  the  installation  of  ornamental  lamp  standards  on  Hastings, 
East  Granville,  Carroll  and  Main  Streets,  Vancouver,  at  $19,400. 

DALHOUSIE.  N.  B.,  CAN.— The  ratepayers  have  voted  in  favor  of 
the  proposition  of  installing  an  electric-light  plant  here,  to  cost  about 
$20,000. 

CANNINGTON.  ONT.,  CAN.— At  an  election  held  Nov.  20  the  by-law 
providing  for  the  installation  of  an  electric  light  and  power  system  in  con- 
junction with  the  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission  was  carried. 

FOREST,  ONT.,  CAN.— Bids  are  being  received  by  Richard  Karr, 
town  clerk,  for  the  construction  of  an  electric-light  plant,  plans  for 
which  were  prepared  by  H.  A.  McLean,  of  Sarnia,  Ont.,  engineer. 

GALT,  ONT..  CAN. — A  movement  is  on  foot  for  lighting  the  roadway 
between  the  boundaries  of  Gait  and  Preston.  The  Township  Councils  of 
Waterloo  and  North  Dumfries  will  be  asked  to  co-operate  with  the  Hydro- 
Electric  Commission  in  the  matter.  The  lighting  of  this  road  will  be 
in  Llie  nature  of  an  experiment. 

NORTH  BAY,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  ratepayers  have  voted  in  favor  of  the 
by-law  providing  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant 
in  conjunction  with  the  Hydro-Electric  Commission.  The  proposition  to 
grant  the  Nipissing  Pwr.  Co.,  Toronto,  a  ten-year  franchise  was  defeated. 

TORONTO,  ONT.,  CAN,— The  Hydro-Electric  Commission  has  signed 
contract  with  five  municipalities  to  furnish  hydroelectric  power.  The  new 
towns  to  receive  service  from  the  commission  are  Brantford.  Paris,  Port 
Dalhousie,  Hrockville  and  Prescott.  Work  has  begun  on  the  extension 
of  the  transmission  line  from  Prescott  to  Brockville.  a  distance  of  20 
miles. 


November  30,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


"73 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  ELECTRICAL  PRODUCTS  CORPORATION,  of  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.,  has  filed  articles  of  incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000. 
The  incorporators  are:   C.   L.   Howe,  F.   E.   Sweeney  and  P.   D.   Howe. 

THE  ELECTRIC  SUPPLY  &  ENGINEERING  COMPANY,  of 
Staunton,  Va.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to 
$50,000.  The  officers  are:  W.  G.  Eager,  of  Staunton,  president;  L.  D. 
Hamilton,  of  Valdosta,  Ga.,  vice-president;  H.  C.  Godfrey,  of  Staunton, 
secretary  and  treasurer. 

THE  ELECTRIC  TACHOMETER  COMPANY,  of  Camden,  N.  J.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $750,000  to  deal  in  instruments 
for  measuring  and  indicating  speeds.  The  incorporators  are:  F.  A.  Kuntz, 
F.  S.  Muzzy  and  F.  S.  Saurman,  of  Camden. 

THE  KITTITAS  ELECTRIC  LAUNDRY  &  RENOVATING  COM- 
PANY, of  Ellensburg,  Wash.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock 
of  $15,000  by  W.  G.  Aebo,  L.  L.  Scott  and  C.  A.  Scott. 

THE  A.  L.  LEWIS  COMPANY,  of  Bluffton,  Ind.,  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  to  manufacture  and  deal  in  toys 
and, light  fixtures.  The  incorporators  are:  A.  L.  Lewis,  George  A.  Lewis 
and  T.  L.   Prall. 

THE  MIDWEST  ELECTRIC  &  SIGN  COMPANY,  -.f  Kansas  City, 
Mo.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1«,000  by  L.  A. 
Thomas,  M.  R.  and  H.  M.  Green,  F.  W.  and  G.  E.  Thomas. 

THE  PEERLESS  ELECTRIC  SIGN  COMPANY,  of  Dayton  Ohio,  has 
been  granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  for  the  purpose  of 
manufacturing  and  dealing  in  advertising  devices.  The  incorporators  are: 
W.  W.  Arnold,  F.  W.  Howell  and  J.  A.  McGee. 

THE  SPLITDORF  ELECTRICAL  COMPANY,  of  San  Francisco,  Cal., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $65,000  by  R.  W.  Suther- 
land and  F.  H.  &  J.  M.  Hanley. 


New  Incorporations 


LITTLE  ROCK,  ARK. — The  Arkansas  Interurban  Construction  Co. 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  to  build  an  inter- 
urban line  between  Little  Rock  and  Hot  Springs.  The  officers  are: 
W.  H.  Garanfio,  of  Little  Rock,  president;  W.  S.  Sorrells,  of  Hot 
Springs,  vice-president;  L.  Garrett,  of  Little  Rock,  secretary  and  general 
manager,  and  M.  B.  Moore,  of  Little  Rock,  treasurer. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.— The  Chicago  &  Northern  Interurban  Ry.  Co.  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  to  construct  a  railway 
from  Chicago  through  the  townships  of  Niles,  Maine  and  Wheeling.  The 
incor'porators  are:  W.  A.  Miller,  F.  W.  Hochspeier,  O.  J.  Smith,  W.  E. 
Swanson  and  G.   L.   Starbird,  all  of  Chicago. 

MOUND  CITY,  ILL.— The  Mound  City  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.,  of  Mound 
City,  111.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  to 
operate  electric,  water,  ice  and  steam  plants.  The  incorporators  are: 
H.  E.  Chubbuck,  W.  H.  Carnahan,  W.  J.  Achelpohl,  E.  W.  Fowler  and 
W.  H.  Creviston. 

QUINCY,  ILL. — -Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  for  the 
Mississippi  Valley  Trac.  Co.  to  build  an  interurban  line  from  Springfield 
to  Quincy.  The  company  is  capitalized  for  $25,000.  The  directors  are: 
George  M.  Skelly  and  W.  L.  Campbell,  of  Springfield;  Edward  Cooper, 
of  Kent,  Ohio,  and  J.  T.  Creogore,  of  Youngstown,  Ohio. 

ROCK  ISLAND,  ILL.— The  Coal  Valley  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  by  E.  E.  Walsh,  Jr.,  H.  M.  Walsh  and  Paul  Wagner.  The 
company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000  and  proposes  to  operate  electric  light 
and    power    plants. 

LAFAYETTE,  LA. — The  Louisiana  Trac.  &■  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  or- 
ganized with  a  capital  stock  of  $250,000  for  the  purpose  of  constructing 
a  system  of  interurban  electric  railways  to  run  from  Lafayette  to  the  Sa- 
bine River  and  from  Lafayette  to  Morgan  City,  Alexandria  and  Abbe- 
ville. The  charter  of  the  company  gives  it  the  privilege  of  supplying  elec- 
tricity for  lamps  and  motors  as  well  as  to  operate  traction  lines.  The 
officers  of  the  company  are:  J.  A.  Laundry,  of  Lake  Charles,  president; 
S.  T.  Woodring,  of  Calcasieu,  vice-president;  P.  O.  Moss,  of  Lake  Charles, 
secretary,  and  D.  J.   Landry,  of  Lake  Charles,  treasurer. 

VIRGINIA,  MINN.— The  Mesaba  Lt.  &  Power  Co.  has  been  incorpor- 
ated by  Arthur  McMillan,  of  Chicago,  111.;  R.  B.  Sperry.  of  New  York, 
N.  Y.,  and  Senator  James  P.  Boyle,  of  Eveleth.  The  company  is  capi- 
talized at  $1,000,000  and  proposes  to  generate  and  distribute  electricity 
for  lamps,  heat  and  motors. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO.— The  Eastern  EI.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  Charles  O.  Nelson,  Charles  P.  Salen, 
M.  A.  Salen,  Harmon  Austin  and  Helena  Smith. 

GUSHING,  OKLA.— The  Gushing  El.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorpor- 
ated with  a  capital  stock  of  $15,000  by  F.  M.  Overlees,  H.  Askin,  J.  W. 
Pollard,  all  of  Bartlesville. 

PITTSBURGH,  PA.— The  Greensboro  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  by 
C.  G.  Martin,  W.  R.  Hammer,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  S.  M.  Miller,  of  Edge- 
wood.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $5,000  and  proposes  to  operate  in 
Greensboro. 


PITTSBURGH,  PA.— The  Greene  Township  El,  Co.  has  been  granted 
a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  to  operate  in  Greene  Township. 
The  incorporators  are:  F.  J.  Taylor,  of  Munhall;  G.  T.  Smith,  of  Pitts- 
burgh, and  H.  C.  Dennison,  of  Bellevue. 

PITTSBURGH,  PA.— The  Cumberland  Township  El.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  to  operate  in  Cumberland 
Township.  The  incorporators  are;  H.  A.  Willard,  of  Bellevue;  G.  T. 
McConnell,  of  Millville,  and  C.  R.  Turton,  of  Aspinwall. 

ABILENE,  TEX.— The  Abilene  Gas  &  EI.  Co.  has  been  organized  by 
E.  T.  Thomas,  D.  Dellis  and  Glenn  A.  Smith,  all  of  Abilene.  The  com- 
pany is  capitalized  at  $275,000  and  proposes  to  install  and  operate  an  elec- 
tric light  and  power   plant  here. 

MANVEL,  TEX.— The  Suburban  Gardens  Tel.  Co.  has  been  incorpo- 
rated with  capital  stock  of  $10,000.  The  incorporators  are:  T.  E.  Scott. 
W.  R.  Scott  and  W.  R.   Allison. 


Trade  Publications 


FUEL  ECONOMY. — "Making  Heat  Produce"  is  the  title  of  a  paper 
pointing  to  a  definite  fuel  economy,  which  has  been  prepared  by  Dr.  S.  J. 
Herman  for  the  Diamond  Power  Specialty  Company,  80  First  Street, 
Detroit.  Mich.,  manufacturer  of  soot  blowers  for  all  standard  boilers 
Dr.  Herman  in  giving  the  result  of  his  research  work  has  divided  his 
material  into  four  parts,  as  follows:  "Making  the  Heat  Generated  Do 
Useful  Work":  "Cleaning  Removes  the  Soot  Evil";  "How  to  Cut  the 
Cost  of  Soot  from  the  Coal  Bills."  and  "The  Investigation  That  Proves 
the  Saving."  The  results  of  typical  tests  are  given,  with  a  numDer  of 
tables.  An  illustrated  appendix  showing  how  mechanical  soot  cleaning 
may  be  applied  to  variou.s  types  of  boilers  by  means  of  the  patented 
"Diamond"  soot  blowers  is  included. 

INSULATORS.— The  1912  catalog— No.  51— of  the  Brookfield  Glass 
Company,  2  Rector  Street.  New  York,  is  being  distributed.  It  is  8  in. 
by  lOJ/^  in.  and  contains  128  pages  of  specifications  and  illustrations  show- 
ing the  constructive  features  of  the  many  types  of  insulators  made  by 
this  company.  An  attractive  feature  of  this  vve!l-made  catalog  is  the  ap- 
pearance of  five  illustrations,  printed  with  green  ink  and  showing  in  exact 
size  the  Standard  insulator  used  by  the  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph 
Company,  the  extra-deep-grooved,  double-petticoat  insulator,  the  Nos.  2 
and  3  cable  insulators  and  the  high-voltage,  three-piece  insulator,  all  well- 
known  types  of  this  company's  products.  Electrical  engineers  particularly 
interested  in  central-station  matters  will  find  this  comprehensive  publica- 
tion of  the  Brookfield  insulators  of  interest  and  value  for  ready  refer- 
ence. 

ELECTRIC  CONTROLLING  APPARATUS.— A  number  of  bulletins 
recently  issued  by  the  Allen-Bradley  Company,  495  Clinton  Street,  Mil- 
waukee, Wis.,  have  been  assembled  within  heavy  pasteboard  covers  and 
contain  considerable  information  on  the  various  products  of  this  company. 
Among  them  may  be  mentioned  compression-type  resistance  units  (Bulle- 
tin B-I),  hand-operated,  direct-current  motor-starting  rheostat  (Bulletin 
B-2),  type  Z,  direct-current  automatic  motor  starter  (Bulletin  B-7),  direct- 
current  mill  and  crane  controllers  (Bulletin  B-15),  battery-charging  rheo- 
stats (Bulletin  B-40).  battery-charging  panel  (Bulletin  B-43),  alternating- 
current,  single-phase  motor  starters  (Bulletin  B-50),  starting  rheostats  for 
three-phase  slip-ring  induction  motors  (Bulletin  B-52),  and  others.  Each 
bulletin  contains  brief,  illustrated  descriptions  of  the  subject  matter, 
with  dimension  tables  and  wiring  diagrams. 

SINGLE- PHASE  MOTORS.— The  Century  Electric  Company,  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  is  distributing  a  forty-eight-page  catalog,  known  as  Bulletin 
No.  18,  which  deals  with  the  Century  single-phase  motors  and  their  many 
applications.  It  contains  a  comprehensive  description  of  the  design,  con* 
struction  and  operating  characteristics  of  this  company's  apparatus. 
Twenty-three  reasons  are  given  why  the  Century  single-phase  constant- 
speed  motors  are  preferred  by  so  many  central-station  managers.  The 
company  has  devoted  seventeen  years  to  the  design  and  construction  of 
these  motors.  There  are  many  illustrations,  showing  the  diverse  charac- 
ter of  the  apparatus  to  which  these  motors  are  employed,  among  others 
being  bread  and  cake  mixers,  ice-cream  freezers,  potato  peelers,  bottle 
washers,  vacuum  cleaners,  organ  blowers  and  heating  systems.  An  at- 
tractive cover,  excellent  illustrations  and  reading  matter,  and  the  print- 
ing of  the  cuts  in  a  color  of  ink  to  harmonize  with  the  covers,  combine 
to  make  a   very   creditable   catalog. 

MOTOR-DRIVEN  PERFORATOR.— Tlie  American  Perforator  Com- 
pany, 631  West  Jackson  Boulevard,  Chicago,  111.,  has  recently  placed 
on  the  market  an  automatic  consecutive  numbering  perforator,  which 
is  illustrated  and  briefly  described  in  a  four-page  leaflet  recently  issued 
by  the  company.  This  new  machine,  which  has  been  perfected  after 
almost  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  experiment  by  its  inventor,  Mr.  A.  L. 
Day,  the  president  of  the  American  Perforator  Company,  has  in  one 
instance  where  it  has  been  placed  in  use  numbered  automatically  and 
consecutively  about  4000  orders  a  day,  each  order  embracing  a  great 
many  pieces  of  paper.  The  machine,  which  is  motor-driven,  numbers 
all  papers  at  one  stroke,  resulting  in  a  great  saving  of  time  and  abso- 
lute accuracy.  The  apparatus  is  so  arranged  that  when  desired  a  date 
or  other  information  can  be  perforated  at  the  time  the  numbering  is 
being  done.  The  American  Perforator  Company  specializes  on  motor- 
driven    perforating    machines. 


1 174 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  22. 


Business  Notes 


THE  FRANCKE  COMPANY,  of  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  has  recently 
announced  that  in  the  future  the  Smith-Serrell  Company,  Inc.,  of  No.  90 
West  Street,  New  York  City,  will  act  as  general  sales  agent  for  the 
Francke   flexible   coupling. 

THE  H.  W.  JOHNS-MANVILLE  COMPANY  has  recently  opened  a 
branch  warehouse  at  No.  31 H  South  Broad  Street,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  in  con- 
nection with  its  Southern  agency  for  the  purpose  of  minimizing  delay 
in  deliveries  to  its  Southern  territory. 

MR.  J.  FRED  ROTH,  who  has  been  electric  light  inspector  for  the 
Hartford  (Conn.)  Electric  Light  Company  for  the  past  six  years,  has  re- 
signed his  position  with  the  company  to  enter  business  for  himself,  under 
the  firm  name  of  the  Cohn  &  Roth  Electric  Company.  290  Main  Street, 
Hartford,  Conn. 

W.  N.  MATTHEWS  &  BROTHER.  3722  Forest  Park  Boulevard,  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  are  now  represented  on  the  Pacific  Coast  by  Mr.  L.  E.  Sperry 
at  San  Francisco.  Mr.  B.  C.  Chase  at  Los  Angeles  and  Mr.  H.  G.  Behne- 
man  at  Seattle,  who  succeed  the  John  R.  Cole  Company,  which  formerly 
represented  Matthews  &  Brother  in  that  territory. 


THE  ALPHA  ELECTRICAL  SUPPLY  COMPANY,  now  located  at 
130  West  Thirty-second  Street,  New  York,  will  occupy  offices  at  116  West 
Twenty-ninth  Street,  New  York,  after  Feb.  1,  1913.  This  company,  which 
has  obtained  the  Eastern  selling  agency  for  the  Helios  Manufacturing 
Company,  Philadelphia,  is  developing  for  the  market  a  100-liour  flaming- 
arc  lamp. 

WAGNER  ELECTRIC  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY.— A  20  per 
cent  increase  in  capitalization  will  be  voted  by  the  stockholders  of  tlie 
Wagner  Electric  Manufacturing  Company  at  their  annual  meeting  on  the 
second  Monday  in  January.  This  increase  will  be  allotted  to  stockholders 
of  record  at  par  in  the  ratio  of  their  present  holdings  in  the  company. 
There  is  $1,500,000  common  stock  outstanding  at  present  and  no  preferred 
stock    or    bonds. 

THE  CANADIAN  PORCELAIN  COMPANY.— The  Canadian  Porcelain 
Company,  Ltd.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $300,000  to 
manufacture  vitrified  white  porcelain  for  electrical  and  other  purposes. 
The  company  has  purchased  a  20-acre  site  in  Hamilton,  Ontario,  and  will 
put  up  a  plant.  The  buildings  will  be  of  steel  and  brick  and  will  be 
ready  for  operation  next  spring.  Messrs.  John  Alden,  Charles  Palmer, 
of  Rochester,  and  Fred  D.  Palmer,  of  Gait.  Ontario,  are  the  principal 
directors. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED  STATES  PATENTS  ISSUED  NOV.  19,  1912. 
[Prepared  by  Robert  Starr  Allyn,   16  Exchange  Place,  New  York.] 

1,044,480.     SANITARY  SHIELD  FOR  TELEPHONE  TRANSMITTERS ; 

R.  W.  Bogart,  Jr.,  New  York,  N.  Y.     App.  filed  Nov.  9,  1911.     A  roll 

of  severable  paper. 
1,044,507.     ELECTRIC-SWITCH  MECHANISM;  E.  Edwards  and  G.  W. 

Briggs,   Rigby,    Idaho.     App.    filed    Nov.    20,    1911.      Electric-sign-flash- 
ing switch. 
1,044,521.     CONDUIT  FITTING:   M.' Havens,   Jr.,   Albany,   N.   Y.     App. 

filed   Feb.    18,   1910.     Two-piece  pot-head. 
1,044,538.     SELECTIVE    APPARATUS    FOR   PARTY   TELEPHONES; 

D.  W.  Kneisly,  Dayton,  Ohio.     App.  filed  Feb.  8,  1908.     Lock-out  and 

automatic  restorer.      (Improvement  on  patent  No.   860,920.) 
1,044,549.     ELECTRIC  BATTERY;  W.  H.  Lowe,  Brondesbury,  England. 

.•\pp.  filed  March  23,   1912.     Mechanical  support  of  the  electrodes. 
1,044,562.     ELECTRIC  RESISTANCE;   C.   A.   Mudge,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

.^pp.   filed  July  16,   1906.     Grid  resistance;   alloy  of  high  carbon,  iron 

aluminum   and   silicon. 
1.044,595.     CONTACT  SHOE;  F.  A.   Stuhlfeier,  Chicago,  111.     App.  filed 

May   19,   1909.     Pressure  device  and  teeth   for  cutting  sleet,  etc. 


1,044,751. — Electrical  Agricultural  System. 

1,044,609.  MEANS  FOR  CONTROLLING  ELECTRIC  MOTORS;  J.  T. 
Watson,  Copperhill,  Tenn.  App.  filed  Oct.  19,  1911.  Belt-conveyor 
system. 

1.044.640.  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE;  V.  A.  Fynn,  London, 
England.  App.  filed  May  23,  1911.  Motor  or  converter;  particularly 
for   storage-battery   vehicle. 

1.044.641.  ROTARY  CONVERTER;  V.  A.  Fynn,  London,  England. 
App.  filed  May  23,  1911.  Automatic  starting  from  the  alternating- 
current  side. 

1,044,700.     OZONIZER;    R.    D.    Small   &   O.    Linder,    Chicago,    III.     App. 

filed  April  4,    1911.     For  ventilating  systems,   refrigerators,   etc. 
1,044,717.     BINDING    POST;    P.    E.    Wiberg,    Glen    Ridge,    N.    J.     App. 

filed  Feb.  5,  1912.     A  clamp  adapted  for  wires  of  different  diameters. 

1.044.747.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  H.  P.  Clausen,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed  Feb.  3,  1902.  Metallic-circuit  central-energy  type;  line  and 
supervisory   signal  operation. 

1.044.748.  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM;  11.  P.  Clausen,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed  April  21,  1902.  Common  central-battery  system;  line-signal 
operation.     (Forty-four  claims.) 


1.044,751.  ELECTRICAL  AGRICULTURAL  SYSTEM;  C.  S.  Doney. 
Columbia  Falls,  Mont.  App.  filed  Feb.  27,  1912.  Trolley  system  for 
driving  plows,   etc. 

1,044,798.  WIRELESS-TELEPHONE  TRANSMITTER;  J.  P.  McCarty, 
K.  Dcuglas  and  F.  P.  Herrguth,  Oakland  and  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
.■\pp.  filed  May  17,  1909.  Wheatstone  bridge  and  high-tension  trans- 
former. 

1,044,819.  ELECTRIC  RAILWAY;  W.  B.  Purvis  and  A.  DeW.  Grit- 
man,  Sharon  Hill  and  Philadelphia,  Pa.  App.  filed  Dec.  1.  1909. 
Sectional  conduit  tbird-rail. 

1,044,825.  DOUBLE-ENDED  ELECTRIC  LAMP;  B.  Settecase,  Louis- 
ville, Ky.  App.  filed  March  6,  1911.  Terminal  rings  around  the 
middle;   for  signs. 

1  044.827.  MEANS  TO  CONTROL  MAGNETIC  CIRCULATION  IN 
ELECTRIC-CURRENT-PRODUCING  DEVICES;  E.  F.  Smith,  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio.  App.  filed  Oct.  1,  1910.  For  electric  tools  such  as 
drills  and  grinders. 

1,044,831.  STORAGE-BATTERY  GRID;  F.  F.  Wackwitz,  Cleveland, 
Ohio.     App.  filed  July  8,   1912.     Ribs  radiate  from  the  terminal. 

1,044.865.  TELEPHONE-EXCHANGE  SYSTEM;  W.  W.  Dean,  Elyria, 
Ohio.  App.  filed  .^ug.  8,  1904.  Metallic-circuit  common-battery  type 
with  a  pair  of   relays   for  each   line. 

1,044.885.  CONNECTOR;  W.  P.  Hammond,  Passaic,  N.  J.  App.  filed 
Nov.  4,  1911.  Annular  spring  jaw  clip  for  binding-post  connections, 
etc. 

1,044,901.  STEERING  INDICATOR;  F.  B.  Mills,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed  Feb.   7,   1912.     Rear  danger  signal   for  automobile. 

1.044.922.  PRIMARY  B.VITERY;  C.  B.  Schoenmehl,  Waterbury,  Conn. 
.■\pp.  filed  March  17,  1911.  Centrally  suspended  zinc  electrode.  (Im- 
provement on   patents   Nos.    687,647   and   687,648.) 

1.044.923.  CORD  TERMINAL;  C.  B.  Schoenmehl,  Waterbury,  Conn. 
.\pp.  filed  June  14,  1912.  Socket  and  perforated  plate  for  connec- 
tion to  binding  posts,  etc. 

1.044.927.  ELECTRICAL  RESIST.ANCE  FURNACE;  O.  Serpek,  Paris, 
France.  App.  filed  June  21,  1910.  Rotary  furnace  with  a  plurality 
of  resistance  elements  ernbedded  in  the  lining;  particularly  for  manu- 
facturing aluminum  nitride. 

1.044.928.  REVOLVING  ELECTRICAL  FURNACE  WITH  RESIST- 
.\NCE  ARRANGED  DIAMETRICALLY;  O.  Serpek,  Paris,  France. 
App.  filed  April  11,  1911.  A  plurality  of  pairs  of  electrodes;  for 
aluminum  nitride,  etc. 

1,044.944.  PULLEY  BRAKE  FOR  MOTOR-CONTROLLED  APPAR- 
ATUS; M.  Taigman,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  April  3,  1912.  For 
motor-driven  sewing  machines,  etc. 

1,044,950.  APPARATUS  FOR  ELECTRIC  LIGHTING;  W.  D.  Upte- 
graff,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  ."ipp.  filed  May  26,  1909.  Two  or  more  glow- 
ers having  different  characteristics. 

1,044  957.  ELECTRIC  FURNACE  FOR  PRODUCING  OXIDES  OR 
PHOSPHORUS  FROM  NATUR-^L  PHOSPHATES;  F.  S.  Wash- 
burn, Nashville,  Tenn.  App.  filed  June  17,  1912.  Vertical  charge 
feed  and   inclined  electrodes  above  the  hearth. 

1,044,978.  TROLLEY;  A.  F.  Bevard,  Carnegie,  Pa.  -App.  filed  July  19, 
1912.     A    yieldingly    mounted    harp. 

1.044,981.  COMBINED  TELEGRAPH  AND  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM; 
C.  L.  Bopp,  Hawkeye,  la.  .^pp.  filed  Nov.  27,  1909.  Balanced  sys- 
tem. 

1,044,984.  ELECTROMAGNETIC  REVERSING  GEAR;  R.  Brukwicki, 
Rakowo,  Germany.  App.  filed  March  28,  1912.  Electrical  and  me- 
chanical connection  between  the  armatures  of  two  synchronous  ma- 
chines. 

1,045,034.  TELEPHONY;  M.  L.  Johnson,  Chicago,  111.  App.  filed  Aug. 
10,  1911.  Pilot  clearing-out  indicator  controlled  by  line-signal  de- 
vices. 

1,045,043.  BLOCK-SIGNAL  SYSTEM;  W.  A.  Lacke,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed  Aug.  7,  1909.  Multiple-position  semaphore  automatically  con- 
trolled  by   the  movement   of   the   rolling  stock. 

1,045,051.  REFILLABLE  CARTRIDGE  FUSE;  E.  B.  Mallory,  Wilkins- 
hurg.  Pa.  App.  lilcd  Oct.  10,  1911.  Removable  end  caps,  washers 
and  terminals. 


n^ 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  DECEMBER  7,  1912. 


No.  23. 


PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  BY 

McGraw  Publishing  Company 

James  H.  McGkaw,  Pres.  C.  E.  Whittubset,  Sec'y  and  Treas. 

239  West  39th  Street,  New  York. 

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London  Office Hastings  House,  Norfolk  St.,  Strand 

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Canada,  $4.50;  elsewhere,  $6.  Foreign  subscriptions  may  be  sent  to  the 
London   oflBce. 

Requests  for  changes  of  address  should  give  the  old  as  well  as  the  new 
address.  Date  on  wrapper  indicates  the  month  at  the  end  of  which  sub- 
scription expires. 

Notice  to  .\dvertisers. 
Changes  in  advertisements  should  reach  the  New  York  office  ten  days  ia 
advance   of  the   date   of  issue.      New  advertisements   are   received   up   to 
Wednesday   noon   of  the  week  of  issue. 

Copyright,  1912,  by  McGraw  Poblishimc  Compant. 
Entered  at  the  New  York  Post  Office  as  Second  Class  Mail  Matter. 

Tht  circulation  of  Electrical  World  for  1911  was  965,500.     Of  Ihit  issue 

21,500  copies  are  printed. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  DECEMBER,  7.  1912. 


contents. 

Editorials    

December  Meeting  A.  I.  E.  E 

Annual  Convention  A.    S.  M.   E 

Meeting  of  Electric  Vehicle  .\ssociation  of  America 

Patent  Commission  Recommended  by  ttie  Board  of  Directors  of  the 

A.    I.    E.    E 

Medinah  Temple,  Chicago,  Where  N.  E.   L.  A.  Convention  Will  Be 

Held    

Prospects  of   Patent   Legislation 

Storage-Battery    Discussion    at    Chicago 

Meeting  of  National  Association  of  Railway  Commissioners 

Utilization    of    Electric    Irons 

Street- Lighting    Tables 

The  Hetch  Hetchy  Water  and  Power  Project  for  San  Francisco.... 

Current   News  and   Notes 

A   Unique   Utah   Water-Power 

Electricity  in   Metal   Mining  in   Colorado.     By   W.  J.  Canada 

Individual    Motor    Drive    in    Nut    and    Bolt    Factory 

The    Benefits   of   Water-Power   Development   and   Its   Relationship   to 

Navigation  Improvement.     By  James  E.  Hewes 

Design  of  Piping  for  Transformer  Oil,  Air  and  Cooling  Water.     By 

Fred     Buch 

Turbo-Alternator  Power  Plant  for  a  Large  Office  Building.  .*. 

Cost    of    Producing    Electrical    Energy    with   a    Low-Pressure    Steam 

Turbine      

Methods  of  Burning  Anthracite  Coaldust.     By  William  Kavanagh... 

Mr.   Byllesby  on   Rates  and   Relations  with   the   Public 

Co-operative    Stations    in    Rural    Districts 

Graded    Instruction    in    Rate-Making   and    Rate   Application 

Central-Station    Display    at    Youngstown,    Ohio 

Sale  of  Electrical   -Appliances   for   Regular   Lamp   Circuit  and  Their 

Effect  on  Load  and  Income.     By  S.  M.  Kennedy 

Christmas    Sales    of    Electrical    Appliances 

Reinforced-Concrete     Substation     at     Sacramento,     Cal.       By     R.     B. 

Mateer     

Colored  Wire  for  Switchboards  and  Panels 

Illumination   of   Buffalo   General   Electric   Company's   Office   Building 
Standard  Sizes  of  Conduit  for  the  Installation  of  Wires  and  Cables. 

Ornamental     Lighting    from     Trolley     Poles 

Letter  to  the  Editors: 

Electric-Heating    Devices.      By   G.    E.    Shepherd 

Digest  of   Current   Electrical   Literature 

Book    Reviews 

New   Apparatus   and    Appliances 

Industrial    and    Financial    Ne\vs [[ 

Directory    of    Electrical    Associations,    Societies,    Etc .., 

Weekly    Record    of    Electrical    Patents 


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1185 
1188 
1191 
1194 
1199 

1200 

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121.} 

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1240 


SOME  ENGINEERING  HINTS  FROM  UTAH. 

The  valley  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake  has  been  well  sup- 
plied with  hydroelectric  service,  yet  its  continuous  growth 
in  prosperity  has  called  always  for  still  more  power.  The 
latest  of  the  hydroelectric  plants  to  be  put  into  its  serv- 
ice is  described  in  this  issue.  This  is  the  Riverdale  plant 
of  the  Davis  &  Weber  Counties  Canal  Company.  Like 
many  other  important  projects  in  the  West,  this  started 
as  an  irrigation  system  and  it  is  only  lately  that  the  hydro- 
electric plant  has  been  developed.  Many  of  the  ditch  com- 
panies throughout  the  West  wasted  for  years  great  water- 
powers,  the  country  being  largely  agricultural  and  their 
whole  attention  being  directed  to  the  supply  of  irrigation 
water.  Hence  the  ditches,  drawing  their  water  from  the 
mountains  at  a  high  level,  brought  it  down  to  the  plains 
without  e.xtracting  the  energy  from  it.  The  process  re- 
minds one  of  the  early  phases  of  gold  mining,  when  the 
tailings  carried  away  the  major  portion  of  the  gold.  In 
this  instance  it  was  found  that  the  concrete  ditch  running 
far  up  into  the  Weber  Canyon  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
water  to  the  farms  on  the  plains  below  had  the  potential 
possibility  of  something  over  13,000  hp  with  a  200-foot 
head  available  between  the  high-level  canal  and  the  river 
whence  the  water  was  taken.  The  present  plant  utilizes 
3750   hp   of   this   amount. 

The  most  advantageous  point  for  a  plant  unfortunately 
was  one  where  the  ditch  was  carried  more  than  half  a 
mile  from  the  riverbed.  To  bring  the  water  to  the  wheels 
a  rather  unusual  construction  was  therefore  adopted,  con- 
sisting of  very  large  steel  penstocks  1400  ft.  long,  bringing 
the  water  about  half  way  from  the  ditch  to  the  river  in 
gaining  the  full  head  available.  About  the  same  length  of 
excavated  tailrace  connects  the  draft  tubes  of  the  plant 
with  the  river.  Most  of  the  drop  in  the  penstocks  is  in 
the  first  400  ft.  and  the  steel  tubes  are  carried  on  concrete 
saddle  piers  resting  on  gravel.  There  are  two  wheels,  one 
driving  a  2500-kw  unit,  the  other  a  1250-kw  machine.  The 
initial  diameter  of  the  penstock  for  the  former  is  87  in., 
of  that  for  the  latter  65.  The  lower  sections  of  the  pen- 
stocks are  about  double  the  thickness  of  the  upper  sections 
to  gain  the  necessary  strength  against  the  inertia  strains 
due  to  rapid  governing.  To  avoid  further  the  same  diffi- 
culty the  wheel  governors  automatically  work  by-pass 
valves  to  relieve  the  pressure,  as  well  as  the  turbine  gates 
themselves.  To  save  water  these  synchronous  relief  valves 
gradually  close  after  the  governor  movement  has  taken 
place  so  as  to  stop  the  water  without  undue  shock.  In  the 
generating  units  there  is  nothing  in  the  least  unusual  ex- 
cept perhaps  that  the  flywheels  are  rather  heavier  than 
those  commonly  employed  under  such  work. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  feature  of  the  plant,  how- 


1 176 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  60,  \'o.  23. 


ever,  is  an  ingenious  scheme  for  paying  Paul  without  rob- 
bing Peter.  Tliere  is  a  small  independent  ditch  line  which 
formerly  has  tapped  the  river  above  the  present  site  of  the 
plant.  By  arrangement  with  the  farmers  owning  it,  the 
water  from  this  ditch  at  times  of  low  water  is  deflected 
into  the  main  canal  of  the  power  plant,  where  its  entire 
200-ft.  fall  is  utilized.  Then  from  the  tailrace  an  equal 
amount  of  water  is  returned  to  the  ditch  at  a  sufficiently 
high  level  to  insure  its  full  and  adequate  flow.  One  loo-hp 
induction  motor  driving  a  centrifugal  pump  does  the  trick, 
the  total  lift  being  30  ft.  The  Riverdale  plant  therefore 
gains  a  200-ft.  head  from  the  water  and  puts  back  30  ft.  of 
head  to  meet  the  irrigation  requirements.  The  added 
water  of  the  little  canal  gives  325  hp,  and  this  unique  de- 
vice therefore  adds  a  net  225  hp  to  the  minimum  output  of 
the  plant  while  supplying  water  to  the  farms  below. 


UTILIZATION  OF  ELECTRIC  IRONS. 

An  article  printed  on  page  1183  in  this  issue  presents 
some  interesting  information  in  regard  to  the  sale  of  electric 
irons  by  central  stations.  Furnishing  an  off-peak  load  of 
considerablfe  importance,  the  use  of  this  energy-consuming 
device  has  received  much  attention,  in  many  cases  with  most 
gratifying  results.  The  present  article  does  not  disclose  any 
new  business  methods  but  again  directs  attention  to  the 
necessity  of  educating  the  public  as  to  the  advantages  of 
electricity  in  the  household. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  59  per  cent  of  all  central 
stations  reporting  are  selling  irons  at  list  price  or  above,  and 
still  more  interesting  is  the  fact  that  those  selling  at  this 
price  are  evidently  furnishing  irons  to  as  large  a  percentage 
of  their  customers  as  are  those  selling  below  list  prices. 
This  fact  inevitably  suggests  the  desirability  of  the  central 
stations  upholding  the  price  and  inviting  co-operation  from 
the  electrical  supply  dealers.  In  many  cases  the  central 
station  has  had  to  carry  the  whole  burden  of  local  adver- 
tising and  demonstrations,  and  it  has  consequently  felt 
justified  in  handling  the  matter  of  price  according  to  its  own 
ideas.  Where  nothing  is  to  be  gained  in  sales  the  central 
station  should  work  hand  in  hand  with  the  dealer  and 
derive  the  increased  income  on  the  sales  and  at  the  same 
time  the  increase  in  load  from  the  irons  sold  by  the  dealer. 
Co-operation  in  this  case  cannot  fail  ultimately  to  benefit 
the  central  station  and  incidentally  also  the  dealer. 


A  SUCCESSFUL  APPLLANCE  CAMPAIGN. 

We  have  frequently  called  attention  to  the  importance  of 
the  electric-heating-appliance  load  to  central  stations.  Cen- 
tral-station managers  have  been  in  this  matter  conserva- 
tive, slow  to  move,  and  generally  lukewarm.  It  has  taken 
a  good  many  years  to  bring  heating  appliances  of  the 
smaller  domestic  sort  into  anything  like  common  use,  and  the 
fault  has  by  no  means  been  attributable  to  the  appliances. 
If  one  were  to  attempt  to  analyze  the  reasons  whv  this 
particular  outlet  for  the  sale  of  electric  energy  has  been 
neglected,  he  would  probably  find  the  chief  one  to  lie  in 
the  fact  that  until  within  very  recent  years  lighting  was 
about  the  only  source  of  revenue  concerning  which  the 
central-station   man    was    really    enthusiastic.     In    earlier 


times  the  prices  for  lighting  were  higli.  prohibitively  high 
for  the  extended  use  of  electrical  appliances  generally,  and 
it  is  only  as  the  lighting  field  has  become  more  or  less  well 
covered  and  the  prices  for  energy  have  fallen  from  the  ex- 
ploitation to  the  commercial  basis  that  appliances  have  had 
a  fair  chance.  Even  now  a  good  many  central-station 
managers,  chiefly  among  the  older  and  less  progressive  men 
in  the  business,  look  on  the  small  consumer  as  unprofitable 
and  his  patronage  as  scarcely  worth  the  effort.  This  they 
do  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  the  gas  companies  live  and 
do  business  and  pay  fat  dividends  chiefly  on  the  very  class 
of  patronage  which  they  afifect  to  despise. 

The  account  we  publish  this  week  of  the  campaign  of 
the  Southern  California  Edison  Company  in  exploiting  the 
use  of  energy  for  other  purposes  than  lighting  and  motor 
service  will  be  a  revelation,  and  ought  to  be  a  spur,  to 
many  easy-going  managers.  Our  readers  are  familiar  with 
the  great  network  operated  by  this  extremely  energetic  and 
prosperous  company,  which  fully  realized  that,  while  its 
lighting  field  was  vigorously  exploited,  there  remained 
large  opportunities  for  the  sale  of  energy  to  constitute 
chiefly  a  day  load,  the  more  fully  to  load  its  lines  and  econ- 
omize its  water-power.  Hence  the  campaign  which  we  are 
here  considering.  It  started  several  years  ago  along  the 
ordinary  lines  of  advertising  and  circularizing,  with  a 
copious  display  of  household  appliances.  The  advertise- 
ments went  for  the  most  part  unread,  the  circulars  were, 
as  usual,  filed  in  the  waste-basket,  and  few  people  went 
out  of  their  way  to  see  the  appliances.  Then  the  com- 
pany changed  its  tactics  and  inaugurated  a  house-to-house 
still  hunt,  which  is  first,  last  and  always  the  most  effective 
way  of  getting  any  kind  of  business  which  really  needs 
pushing.  It  put  out  a  set  of  canvassers,  paid  largely  on 
commission,  who  promptly  began  to  sell  goods,  and  pres- 
ently the  sales  end  of  the  enterprise  was  on  a  business  basis. 

Last  year  the  sales  of  appliances  amounted  to  $120,000, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  business-getting  effort  was 
directed  to  only  a  few  kinds  of  appliances,  chiefly  those 
that  would  go  on  ordinary  lighting  circuits  and  furnish  a 
fair  amount  of  use.  Flatirons,  toasters,  grills  and  percola- 
tors were  the  chief  articles  sold.  About  25,000  appliances 
were  sold  last  year  alone,  bringing  the  total  on  the  circuits- 
up  to  about  90,000.  These  average  about  500  watts  in- 
consumption  when  in  use,  and  the  average  monthly  use  is 
from  ten  to  twelve  hours.  This  value  does  not  seem  large, 
but  in  th»  course  of  a  year  it  counts  up,  and  if  one  reckons, 
no  more  than  $5  per  year  per  appliance  in  the  sale  of  en- 
ergy, the  total  amount  of  income  derived  from  this  source 
rises  to  a  figure  not  by  any  means  to  be  despised  even  on' 
a  large  system,  particularly  when  one  considers  that  it 
is  gained  simply  by  a  slightly  more  effective  use  of  the 
existing  distributing  system,  to  which  it  adds  nothing  for 
expense.  The  curves  showing  the  load  due  almost  entirely 
to  these  various  appliances  in  a  substation  where  there  is- 
no  industrial  load  are  instructive  in  a  high  degree.  They 
indicate  that  the  business  won  is  practically  entirely  a  day 
load  and  almost  entirely  oft"  the  peak.  Large  as  have  been- 
the  returns  from  this  wise  and  well-conducted  campaign.  | 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  company  has  barely  * 
touched  the  larger  heating  business.    This  can  be  obtained! 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1 177 


on  terms  at  least  as  favorable  as  motor  business  and  is 
for  the  most  part  off-the-peak  business.  It  is  even  more 
desirable  in  character  than  is  motor  load.  Air-heating  ap- 
pliances are  used  chiefly  in  the  morning  and  after  sunset 
when  the  chill  of  the  evening  comes  on.  Electric  ranges 
as  a  rule  come  into  full  action  just  after  the  chief  lighting 
peak  is  passed.  They  inflict  very  little  lap-load  and  hence 
form  an  exceedingly  desirable  class  of  business.  This 
larger  work,  which  can  certainly  be  cultivated  in  many 
cities  with  admirable  results,  has  hardly  been  touched.  It 
deserves  assiduous  attention  as  the  means  of  building  up 
profitable  day  load  and  improving  the  load-factor.  At 
prices  already  familiar  in  motor  business  the  larger  heat- 
ing work  can  be  profitably  undertaken.  Profit  in  the 
smaller  heating  work  speaks  for  itself.  Unless  we  greatly 
mistake  the  situation,  the  next  ten  years  will  see  a  very 
large  increase  in  this  class  of  energy  consumption,  and  it 
is  time  for  enterprising  central  stations  to  wake  up  and 
make  the  most  of  their  opportunities. 


THE  LIFE  OF  PLANT. 

The  proper  estimate  for  depreciation  in  any  part  of  a 
plant  depends  on  the  probable  duration  of  life  in  the  part 
considered.  The  actual  duration  cannot  be  foretold  and 
will  depend  upon  the  quality  of  construction,  the  care  exer- 
cised in  operation,  the  degree  of  supervision  and  swiftness 
of  repairs,  not  to  mention  the  element  of  chance.  Never- 
theless, just  as,  although  the  actual  duration  of  any  par- 
ticular human  being  cannot  be  precisely  foretold,  yet  care- 
fully recorded  experience  will  enable  a  very  reliable  esti- 
mate to  be  obtained  of  the  average  life  of  a  thousand  hu- 
man beings,  so  too  can  a  similar  estimate  be  made  for  a 
thousand  individual  machines.  The  question  of  replace- 
ment or  supersession  during  the  working  lifetime  of  a 
plant  does  not  enter  into  this  consideration.  If  the  plant 
is  proper  to  install  at  the  time  when  installation  is  neces- 
sary, then  no  improved  plant  should  logically  be  allowed 
to  supersede  it,  for  economical  reasons,  unless  the  saving 
effected  by  such  new  plant  can  pay  interest  and  depreciation 
on  the  old  plant  over  and  above  its  own  charges.  Conse- 
quently, no  plant  can  properly  be  sold  off,  superannuated 
or  thrown  on  the  scrap  heap  for  economical  reasons  unless 
its  interest  and  depreciation  funds  have  been  protected. 

The  Electrician,  our  esteemed  British  contemporary,  has 
recently  collected  information  from  central  lighting  sta- 
tions of  more  than  twenty  years'  standing  as  to  what  por- 
tions of  the  original  plant  are  still  in  service.  The  pub- 
lished reports  referred  to  in  our  Digest  go  to  show  that  in 
Great  Britain  the  duration  of  life  for  engines  and  genera- 
tors is  often  more  than  twenty  years,  while  that  of  street 
mains  is  more  nearly  thirty  years.  These  indications  may 
be  regarded  as  satisfactory  from  a  purely  economical  stand- 
point. It  cannot  be  safely  deduced,  however,  that  because 
such  durations  of  life  have  been  found  in  Great  Britain 
similar  durations  might  have  been  expected  for  like  plants 
in  other  parts  of  the  world,  say  the  United  States  or 
Canada.  Rates  of  expansion,  habits  of  mind,  stability  of 
structure  and  tenure  are  all  very  different  in  rapidly  grow- 
ing countries  compared  with  countries  in  which  conditions 
have  long  been  established  by  settled  usage. 


In  any  newly  established  industry  whose  success  is  open 
to  question  the  depreciation  factor  is  so  doubtful  as  to  be- 
come secondary  in  importance.  Temporary  construction 
and  minimum  first  cost  become  salient  considerations.  Only 
persons  of  enterprise  and  abundant  confidence  will  risk 
money  in  the  venture.  .'Vfter  a  time,  as  the  enterprise  be- 
comes more  settled  and  its  prospects  more  secure,  capital 
becomes  more  willing  to  enter  the  plant.  The  excessive 
profits  that  encouraged  the  early  risks  dwindle,  but  the 
reasonable  profits  become,  instead,  more  definite.  Depre- 
ciation now  begins  to  be  considered  more  seriously.  As 
time  goes  on  and  the  enterprise  expands,  tTie  profits  tend 
to  fall  to  the  mean  value  for  the  particular  commercial 
period  and  country.  At  the  same  time,  the  rate  of  depre- 
ciation becomes  more  definitely  known  by  experience,  and 
its  exact  value  becomes  of  ever-increasing  importance.  A 
slight  increase  in  rate  of  depreciation  may  become  capable 
of  driving  capital  away  from  a  plant  whose  profit-producing 
capacity  is  limited  by  legislation  while  its  charges  have 
long  been  settled  by  experience. 


THE  ABSORPTION  OF  GASES  IN  VACUUM  TUBES. 

It  is  well  known  that  vacuum  tubes  tend  to  develop 
higher  vacuums  in  service.  That  is,  a  glass  tube  which 
originally  contained  air  but  which  has  been  exhausted  and 
sealed,  with  electrodes  in  its  walls,  tends  to  reach  a  higher 
degree  of  vacuum  after  it  has  carried  electrical  discharges 
for  some  time.  X-ray  tubes  and  Moore  tubes  are  instances 
in  point.  The  question  naturally  arises  as  to  whether  the 
residual  gases  disappear  by  chemical  or  by  physical  action. 
Do  they  combine  chemically  with  the  substance  of  the 
glass  walls  or  of  the  metallic  electrodes,  or  do  they  dis- 
appear from  the  gas  in  the  tube,  by  some  physical  action 
such  as  endosmose?  A  paper  recently  read  by  Mr.  S.  E. 
Hill  before  the  Physical  Society  of  Great  Britain  describes 
experimental  results  tending  to  favor  the  chemical  theory. 
It  was  found  that  small  quantities  of  hydrogen  introduced 
into  a  tube  that  had  improved  its  vacuum  showed  distinct 
hydrogen  absorption,  such  as  might  be  looked  for  if  the 
walls  of  glass  had  become  slightly  oxidized. 

In  practice,  the  increase  in  the  degree  of  vacuum  reached 
speedily  by  working  vacuum  tubes  is  so  marked  as  to  con- 
stitute in  many  cases  a  serious  difficulty.  Both  in  X-ray 
tubes  and  in  Moore  tubes  means  are  frequently  provided 
for  maintaining  automatically  the  desired  degree  of 
vacuum.  At  ordinary  atmospheric  pressures  it  is  known 
that  only  the  air  molecules  lying  near  to  the  walls  of  a 
glass  tube  have  much  chance  of  coming  into  contact  with 
the  walls.  All  the  more  remote  interior  molecules  spend 
their  time  in  rapid  vibratory  motion,  each  particle  tend- 
ing to  occupy  a  mean  position  from  which  it  is 
driven  only  by  wind  or  convection  currents.  In  a  vacuum 
tube,  however,  the  mean  free  path  of  the  residual  gas  mole- 
cules is  so  far  increased  that  each  molecule  may  expect  to 
come  into  contact  with  the  walls  at  fairly  frequent  inter- 
vals. Whether  the  action  of  absorption  be  chemical  or 
physical,  each  gas  molecule  becomes  subjected  to  the  ac- 
tion relatively  often.  A  distinctly  evident  rise  in  vacuum 
with  service  is,  therefore,  not  surprising. 


11/8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  23. 


DECEMBER  MEETING  A.  L  E.  E. 


A  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers will  be  held  in  New  York  on  Dec.  13  in  the 
Engineering  Societies  Building,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
high-tension  transmission  committee.  Two  papers  will  be 
presented  as  follows :  "Comparative  Tests  on  High-Tension 
Suspension  Insulators,"  by  Mr.  P.  W.  Sothnian,  and  "High- 
Frequency  Tests  of  Line  Insulators,"  by  Messrs.  L.  E. 
Imlay  and  Percy  H.  Thomas.  Following  the  technical  ses- 
sion the  meeting  will  adjourn  to  the  Institute  offices,  where 
a  smoker  will  be  held. 


ANNUAL  CONVENTION  A.  S.   M.   E. 


The  thirty-third  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Society 
of  Mechanical  Engineers,  held  in  the  Engineering  Societies 
Building,  New  York,  Dec.  3  to  6,  was  opened  Tuesday 
evening  with  a  reception  and  an  address  by  President  Alex. 

C.  Humphreys  on  the  subject  "The  Present  Opportunities 
and  Consequent  Responsibilities  of  the  Engineer."  During 
the  evening  the  results  of  the  recent  election  of  officers  were 
announced  as  follows:  President,  Prof.  W.  F.  M.  Goss, 
University  of  Illinois,  Urbana;  vice-presidents,  Messrs. 
James  Hartness,  Springfield,  Vt. ;  I.  E.  Moultrop,  Boston, 
Mass.,  and  H.  G.  Stott,  New  York;  managers— Messrs.  W. 
B.  Jackson,  Chicago;  H.  M.  Leland,  Detroit,  Mich.,  and 
Alfred  Noble,  New  York ;  treasurer,  Mr.  W.  H.  Wiley,  East 
Orange,  N.  J.  Reports  of  officers  and  committee  chairmen 
occupied  the  business  session  of  Wednesday  morning,  which 
was  followed  by  parallel  meetings  of  the  power-plant,  gas- 
power  and  textile  sessions  of  the  society.  The  paper  by 
Mr.  C.  R.  Weymouth,  "Dimensions  of  Boiler  Chimneys  for 
Crude  Oil,"  was  presented  in  the  author's  absence  by  Dr. 

D.  S.  Jacobus,  New  York.  Mr.  B.  N.  Bump  also  abstracted 
his  paper  on  "Tests  of  a  looo-hp,  Twenty-four-Tube-High 
B.  &  W.  Boiler."  The  technical  program  announced  was 
continued  over  into  Wednesday  afternoon  and  in  the  various 
specialized  sessions  held  on  succeeding  days  of  the  con- 
vention. On  Wednesday  evening  there  was  a  reception  and 
dinner  to  Prof.  J.  E.  Sweet,  and  on  Thursday  evening  Mr. 
R.  W.  Hunt  was  formally  honored  with  the  John  Fritz 
medal  for  1912. 

The  dinner  to  Professor  Sweet  was  the  first  ever  served 
in  the  Engineering  Societies  Building.  More  than  200  of 
the  members  and  guests  of  the  society  attended.  The  toast- 
master  was  Past-president  Ambrose  Swasey.  maker  of  the 
Lick,  Yerkes  and  other  telescopes,  and  the  address  of 
welcome  was  delivered  by  the  retiring  president  of  the 
society.    Dr.    Alexander    C.   Humphreys. 


MEETING    OF  ELECTRIC   VEHICLE    ASSOCIATION 
OF  AMERICA. 


Several  hundred  electric-vehicle  men  attended  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America  which 
was  held  at  the  Engineering  Societies  Building,  New  York, 
Nov.  26.  Mr.  Arthur  Williams,  of  the  New  York  Edison 
Company,  the  new  president  of  the  association,  acted  as 
chairman.  The  greater  part  of  the  evening  was  spent  dis- 
cussing the  papers  which  were  read  at  the  third  annual 
convention,  held  in  Boston  in  October.  In  one  of  the 
papers,  dealing  with  the  cost  of  electric-vehicle  operation, 
it  was  stated  that  a  looo-lb.  wagon  eflfected  a  saving  of 
$400  a  year  over  a  lOOO-lb.  horse  equipment,  and  that  a 
5-ton  electric  truck  effected  a  saving  of  $1,100  a  year  over 
a  horse  equipment  capable  of  doing  the  same  work.  These 
figures  were  gone  into  thoroughly  and  found  to  be  correct. 
Advertising  was  one  of  the  important  matters  brought 
p  members  agreed  that  last  year's  advertising  had 
..ed  good  results — in   fact,  the  spirit  of  approval 


was  so  general  that  the  association  expects  to  raise  $100,000 
for  advertising  next  year,  instead  of  $50,000,  which  was 
last  year's  advertising  appropriation. 

President  Williams  stated  that  the  New  York  Electric 
Vehicle  Association  will  probably  soon  take  its  place  as  a 
section  of  the  Electric  X'ehicle  Association  of  America. 
A  standard  design  for  an  official  garage  sign  was  adopted. 
It  consists  of  white  letters  reading  "Electric  Vehicle 
Charging"  on  a  blue  background,  with  the  emblem  of  the 
association  in  the  center.  The  sign  is  to  be  4  ft.  long  and 
2.5  ft.  wide.  It  will  be  sent  to  garages  everywhere  in  the 
United  States  which  have  electric-vehicle-charging  stations. 


PATENT    COMMISSION    RECOMMENDED  j  BY  THE 
BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS  OF  THE  A.  I.  E.  E. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  held  on  Nov.  8  resolutions 
were  adopted  recommending  to  Congress  the  creation  of  an 
unbiased  independent  commission  to  prepare  an  exhaustive 
report  on  the  patent  system,  with  recommendations  for 
whatever  legislation  may  be  needed.  The  text  of  the  reso- 
lutions is  here  given  in  full : 

"Whereas  there  are  pending  before  the  Congress 
numerous  bills  affecting  and  greatly  modifying  the  patent 
system  in  the  United  States ;  and 

"Whereas  the  patent  system  has  been  and  is  a  tremendous 
factor  in  building  up  the  present  industrial  prosperity  of 
this  country,  thereby  greatly  contributing  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  country  as  a  whole ;  and 

"Whereas  any  untoward  change  in  the  patent  situation 
might  disastrously  affect  this  condition  of  industrial  and 
general  prosperity  and  the  conditions  contributing  to  its 
continual  augmentation;  and 

"Whereas,  in  view  of  the  intimate  relation  of  the  patent 
system  to  the  general  welfare,  no  action  looking  toward  any 
radical  change  in  the  patent  system  should  be  taken  without 
most  careful  consideration ;  and 

"Whereas,  in  our  opinion,  proper  consideration  of  such 
important  changes  as  are  proposed  can  be  had  only  by  an 
unbiased,  non-partisan  commission,  made  up  of  men  froni 
various  walks  of  life  and  not  from  any  one  vocation  or 
interest, 

"Be  it  resolved.  That  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  acting  through  its  officers  and  board  of  directors, 
respectfully  urges  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  that  ilt 
provide  for  a  commission  made  up  of  unbiased,  independent, 
non-partisan  men  of  such  national  standing  as  will  com- 
mand the  respect  of  the  whole  country  and  chosen  from 
different  walks  of  life,  and  not  more  than  one  from  any 
one  calling  or  interest,  and  serving  without  pay ;  such  com- 
mission to  hold  public  hearings,  and  otherwise,  as  may 
appear  to  it  best,  to  make  a  thorough  and  careful  study  of 
the  American  patent  situation,  and  to  prepare  and  submit  a 
comprehensive  report  and  recommendations  to  Congress 
for  such  changes,  if  any,  as  may,  as  the  result  of  its  study, 
appear  to  it  expedient,  whether  in  the  Patent  Office,  in  the 
method  of  court  procedure  or  in  the  organic  patent  law, 
and  recommendations  as  to  the  legislation  it  would  propose 
for  effecting  said  changes;  and  that  we  further  respectfully 
urge  that  the  Congress  make  ample  provision  for  the 
expenses  of  said  commission ;  and 

"Be  it  resolved.  That  we  respectfully  urge  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  to  hold  in  abeyance  all  proposed  legis- 
lation affecting  the  patent  system  in  whatsoever  way  until 
such  time  as  the  said  commission  shall  have  had  ample 
opportunity  to  hold  the  said  hearings  and  make  the  said 
study  and  report;  and 

"Be  it  further  resolved.  That  these  resolutions  be  printed 
and  a  copy  be  sent  to  each  Senator  and  Representative  of 
the  United  States  who  is  a  member  of  the  Senate  or  House 
committee  on  patents." 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1179 


MEDINAH  TEMPLE,  CHICAGO,  WHERE  N.  E.  L.  A. 
CONVENTION  WILL  BE  HELD. 


As  this  issue  of  the  Electrical  World  goes  to  press  it 
seems  to  be  practically  decided  that  next  year's  convention 
of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  in  Chicago  will 
be  held  in  the  new  Medinah  Temple,  on  the  North  Side, 
during  the  first  week  in   June.     This  building  is  of  recent 


Fig.    1 — Exterior    of    New    Medinah    Temple,    Chicago. 

construction  -and  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  one  at  the 
corner  of  West  Jackson  Boulevard  and  South  Fifth  Avenue, 
in  the  central  business  district,  which  has  borne  the  same 
name.  It  was  erected  for  the  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine 
and  appears  to  be  well  adapted  for  the  purposes  of  a  great 
convention  such  as  that  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Asso- 
ciation. Its  large  auditorium  seats  5200  people  comfortably, 
and  its  check  room,  reception  room,  lobbies  and  other  facili- 
ties are  similarly  gaged  to  handle  a  throng  of  this  size  with 
ease.  Beneath  the  main  auditorium  is  a  dining  hall,  250  ft. 
by  120,  ft.,  which  will  be  used  to  advantage  for  manufac- 
turers' exhibits. 

Occupying  nearly  a  full  city  block,  with  frontage,  on 
Ohio,  Cass  and  Ontario  Streets,  the  building  is  within  easy 
walking  distance  of  the  City  Hall  and  is  also  reached  con- 
veniently by  frequent  street  cars  on  the  North  State  Street 
line.  The  exterior  suggests  Moorish  architecture,  with 
characteristic  arabesque  decorations,  and  is  attractive. 


',  /      1  »               *  -li*- 

i^-'*'^    ^^^^'^^ml 

i 

^      '^•m..**^^ 

^5^^ 

» 

b    —                 -—- .-                   A^ 

-'<i   i   • 

Mfc*-— — e.^^^'*^^~-    ^^       I^I^Hifli^^fi 

'■fW^  ■      * 

^^^^^^^L^^. 

^^^ 

:^^' 

Fig.    2 — View    of    IVIain    Auditorium,    Medinah    Temple. 

Exclusive  of  the  curtained  section  of  the  stage  behind  the 
proscenium  arch,  the  main  auditorium  measures  120  ft.  by 
214  ft.  in  plan  and  is  76  ft.  high  from  the  floor  to  the  peak 
of  the  central  dome.  A  large  part  of  the  main  floor  is 
occupied  by  a  raised  stage,  70  ft.  by  70  ft.,  which  will  accom- 
modate 1000  chairs,  in  addition  to  the  4200  permanent 
leather-upholstered  seats  on  the  three  levels,  main   floor, 


balcony  and  gallery.     The  arrangement  of  the  ,,  that 

of  a  great  semi-circle  about  the  stage,  and  \\w  acoustic 
qualities  are  excellent,  so  much  so  that  a  speaker  using 
ordinary  conversational  tones  from  the  rostrum  cm  be 
heard  distinctly  from  any  seat  in  the  auditorium,  despite 
its  large  size.  Each  level  is  supplied  with  numerous  exits 
which  open  on  soundproof  passages  extending  around  the 
building  outside  the  auditorium.  Iced  water,  pumped,  fil- 
tered and  refrigerated  by  electricity,  is  circulated  to  drink- 
ing fountains  near  the  various  exits.  Reception,  smoking 
and  toilet  rooms  are  also  at  hand  within  a  few  feet  of  every 
exit  on  all  three  levels. 

A  flat  gilded  dome,  50  ft.  in  diameter  and  rising  to  75  ft. 
above  the  floor  of  the  auditorium,  forms  the  central  ceiling 
design.  From  it  depends  a  huge  direct-indirect  lighting 
fixture  carrying  nearly  200  tungsten  lamps,  most  of  which 
are  concealed  in  reflectors  and  light  the  room  by  diffused 
reflection  from  the  ceiling.  Smaller  direct-indirect  fixtures 
light  smaller  domes  at  the  sides,  and  the  ceiling  panels  are 
marked  by  tungsten  clusters.  A  complete  switchboard  and 
dimmer  equipment  controls  the  6000  house  and  stage  lamps. 
Plug  outlets  along  the  border  of  the  projecting  stage  pro- 
vide for  the  connection  of  foot-lamps.  There  is  also  a 
permanent  foot-lamp  trough  beneath  the  proscenium.  A 
narrow  trap-door  is  lifted  back,  and  by  means  of  a  lever  the 
foot-lamp  reflectors  can  be  swung  up  into  place. 

The  Commonwealth  Edison  Company  supplies  electrical 
energy  for  the  Temple.  Low-pressure  steam  boilers  are 
operated  for  heating  the  building.  Motor-driven  blowers 
provide  ventilation,  supplying  161,000  cu.  ft.  of  air  per 
minute.  Messrs.  Huehl  &  Schmid,  Chicago,  were  the  archi- 
tects, and  W.  H.  Brown  &  Company,  also  of  Chicago,  in- 
stalled the  electrical  equipment. 


PUBLIC    SERVICE    COMMISSIONER  MALTBIE   AD- 
DRESSES NEW  YORK  EDISON  EMPLOYEES. 


Many  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company's  executive 
officers  and  more  than  400  of  its  employees  of  both  sexes 
were  present  in  the  company's  auditorium  at  4  p.  m.  on 
Dec.  4  to  hear  the  Hon.  Milo  R.  Maltbie,  of  the  Public 
Service  Commission  for  the  First  New  York  District,  speak 
on  "Public  Service  and  the  Public."  This  address  was  one 
of  a  series  of  addresses  to  be  made  on  important  topics 
during  December  and  January  by  prominent  men  in  various 
fields  to  the  employees  of  the  company  enrolled  in  its 
commercial  courses. 

Commissioner  Maltbie's  remarks  concerned  the  necessity 
for  the  existence  of  public-service  commissions  and  the 
benefits  that  are  enjoyed  by  public-service  corporations  and 
their  patrons  through  regulation.  He  distinguished  between 
the  non-restricted  methods  upon  which  a  private  business 
may  be  conducted  and  the  necessary  limits  which  must  be 
imposed  in  the  operation  of  a  public-service  corporation  so- 
that  the  business  of  the  latter  shall  be  carried  on  with 
fairness  to  it  and  to  its  customers. 

A  public-service  corporation,  unlike  a  private  concern, 
must  furnish  adequate  service,  he  said,  at  all  times  at 
reasonable  rates  and  in  a  fair  and  impartial  manner  to  all 
persons  who  agree  to  comply  with  its  regulations.  There  is 
an  obvious  need  in  a  community  for  the  existence  of  an 
authority  to  say  what  rates  shall  be  just.  The  whole  ten- 
dency of  the  electric-light  industry  since  its  origin,  he  said, 
has  been  to  reduce  competition,  and  consolidation  and 
unification  of  ownership  and  management  have  been  the 
result  of  this  trend.  While,  he  said,  elimination  of  com- 
petition has  not  been  a  characteristic  of  the  central-station 
industry  alone,  yet  in  that  field,  generally  speaking,  it  has 
gone  farther  than  it  has  in  many  other  lines  of  business. 
In  view  of  this,  the  speaker  said,  and  of  the  universal  trait 
of   human   nature   to   raise   prices   when    in   control   of   a 


iiSo 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


monopoly,  one  of  the  principal  reasons  warranting  the 
creation  of  public-service  boards  is  apparent.  The  benefits 
of  having  an  arbiter  by  whom  differences  between  a  com- 
pany and  its  customers  can  be  amicably  adjusted,  the  pro- 
tection afforded  security  holders  by  public-service  regula- 
tion and  the  satisfaction  accruing  to  both  company  and  cus- 
tomers from  meter  tests  made  by  the  commission  upon  com- 
plaint to  it  were  among  other  subjects  touched  upon  by  the 
speaker. 

Mr.  Arthur  Williams,  general  inspector  of  the  New  York 
Edison  Company,  offered  three  prizes  in  gold,  of  $15,  $10 
and  $5  respectively,  for  the  best  papers  written  by  em- 
ployees, based  upon  the  address. 

Mr.  John  W.  Lieb,  Jr.,  third  vice-president  of  the  com- 
pany, in  introducing  Mr.  Maltbie,  spoke  of  the  discernment 
and  judgment  which  had  been  shown  by  Associate  Justice 
Hughes  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  when, 
as  Governor  of  New  York,  he  selected  the  members  of  the 
original  commissions  in  the  two  districts  of  that  State. 


WESTERN    MEETING    OF    AMERICAN    PHYSICAL 
SOCIETY. 


The  Western  meeting  of  the  American  Physical  Society 
for  1913  was  held  on  Nov.  30  in  the  physical  laboratory  of 
Northwestern  University,  Evanston,  111.  Dr.  Henry  Crew, 
professor  of  physics  at  Northwestern  University,  presided 
and  Prof.  Ernest  Merritt,  of  Cornell  University,  performed 
his  duties  as  secretary.  Twenty-two  papers  were  pre- 
sented and  nearly  all  of  them  were  discussed.  The  papers 
relating  more  directly  to  electrical  science  may  be  men- 
tioned as  follows:  "The  Value  of  c  (elementary  electric 
charge),"  by  Prof.  R.  A.  Millikan,  University  of  Chicago; 
"Note  on  the  Distribution  of  Velocities  of  Photo  Electrons 
from  Thin  Cathode  Films  When  Illuminated  by  the  Mer- 
cury Arc,"  by  Profs.  Paul  H.  Dike  and  F.  C.  Brown,  Uni- 
versity of  Iowa;  "New  and  Old  Expressions  for  the  Varia- 
tion of  the  Mass  of  the  Electron  with  Increasing  Velocity." 
by  Prof.  Jakob  Kunz,  University  of  Iowa;  "The  Relation 
Between  Current  and  Time  Rate  of  Change  of  Electric 
Force,"  by  Prof.  Max  Mason,  University  of  Wisconsin ; 
"The  Stability  of  Residual  Magnetism,"  by  Prof.  N.  H. 
Williams.  University  of  Michigan;  "The  Effect  Upon  the 
Elastic  Properties  of  Copper  Wire  Produced  by  Increase 
of  Temperature  and  Passage  of  an  Electric  Current,"  by 
Prof.  H.  L.  Dodge,  University  of  Iowa;  "A  Method  of 
Producing  Light-Negative  Selenium."  by  Prof.  F.  C.  Brown, 
University  of  Iowa;  "The  Cause  of  the  .\pparent  Differ- 
ences Between  Arc  and  Spark  Sources  of  Light  in  the  Im- 
parting of  Initial  Speeds  to  Photo  Electrons,"  by  Prof. 
R.A.  Millikan. 


PROSPECTS  OF  PATENT  LEGISLATION. 


Representative  Oldfield,  of  Arkansas,  chairman  of  the 
House  committee  on  patents,  expects  to  make  a  vigorous 
effort  to  have  the  bill  known  as  the  Oldfield  patent  bill, 
which  has  already  been  favorably  reported  by  his  committee, 
passed  by  the  House  of  Representatives  at  this  session.  In 
all  probability  he  will  ask  for  a  special  rule  to  bring  the 
bill  before  the  House.  This  will  be  necessary  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  the  patent  committee  was  called,  under  the  call  of 
committees,  just  before  the  last  session  of  this  Congress 
adjourned  and  will  probably  not  be  reached  again  at  this 
session.  Representative  Oldfield  expects  to  ask  for  this 
rule  shortly  after  Jan.  i,  and  if  no  objection  to  granting  it 
is  made  by  the  leaders  of  the  House  the  bill  will  come  up 
shortly  thereafter. 

Representative  Oldfield  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  bill 
stands  a  good  chance  of  passage  at  this  session.     He  has 


discussed  it  with  Speaker  Clark,  Representative  Underwood, 
chairman  of  the  ways  and  means  committee,  and  other 
leaders  of  the  House,  and  he  is  encouraged  by  their  attitude. 

In  some  quarters  in  Washington,  however,  there  is  a 
tendency  to  believe  that  there  is  little  prospect  of  legislation 
at  this  short  session  of  Congress  on  other  than  appropria- 
tion measures.  It  will  be  necessary  to  pass  these  large 
supply  bills  in  the  short  space  of  three  months,  and  they  are 
greater  this  session  than  they  have  ever  been  before,  aggre- 
gating $823,315,455.  It  is  quite  certain  that  the  members 
of  the  present  Congress,  many  of  whom  will  not  return  after 
the  expiration  of  the  present  Congress  on  March  4,  would 
not  be  willing  to  allow  any  of  the  appropriation  measures 
to  be  handled  by  their  successors  even  if  they  could  do  so. 
The  Interior  Department  asks  for  approximately  $25,000,000 
more  than  it  had  in  the  last  appropriation,  the  War  Depart- 
ment for  $10,000,000  more  and  the  Navy  Department  for 
$24,000,000  more.  These  large  increases  mean  that  these 
bills  will  occupy  more  time  in  the  House  than  they  did  at 
the  last  session,  and  there  is  no  way  of  prolonging  the 
session  after  March  4. 

There  is,  therefore,  a  possibility  that  the  patent  bill  will 
not  be  reached  at  this  session,  a  fate  that  will  be  shared  by 
hundreds  of  other  measures  for  general  legislation.  In  this 
case,  it  will  more  than  likely  go  over  until  next  year,  as  it  is 
extremely  improbable  that  it  will  be  taken  up  at  the  extra 
session  of  Congress  which  is  to  be  called  by  President-elect 
Wilson  for  the  purpose  of  revising  the  tariff. 

Nevertheless,  Representative  Oldfield  will  ask  for  the 
special  rule  to  bring  the  bill  before  the  House,  and  he  is  of 
the  opinion  that  if  he  can  get  it  on  the  floor  it  will  easily 
pass,  as  he  is  convinced  that  a  majority  of  the  House  favor 
it.  No  further  hearings  will  be  held  in  regard  to  the  bill, 
nor  are  there  likely  to  be  any  hearings  on  any  patent  subject 
before  the  House  committee  this  winter.  Representative 
Oldfield  is  of  the  opinion  that  no  alterations  need  be  made 
in  the  bill  because  of  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in 
the  so-called  "Bathtub"  case,  and  he  will  try  to  bring  the 
bill  up  as  it  is. 


ELECTRIC 


TRANSPORTATION 
BOSTON. 


DISCUSSED  AT 


-\t  the  regular  weekly  gathering  of  the  Luncheon  Club 
branch  of  the  New  England  N.  E.  L.  A.  Section  in  Boston 
on  Nov.  22  an  illustrated  lecture  was  given  by  Mr.  Henry  C. 
Long,  of  Boston,  on  "Terminal  Electrification  in  Large 
Cities."  The  speaker  advocated  state  ownership  of  docks 
and  railroad  terminals  as  a  preliminary  to  complete  elec- 
trification, and  devoted  about  an  hour  to  the  discussion  of 
lantern  slides  illustrating  the  uses  of  electricity  in  modern 
freight  and  merchandise  handling,  emphasizing  the  applica- 
tion of  motor  hoists,  traveling  floors  and  cranes,  belt  con- 
veyors and  elevators  in  warehouses,  the  opportunity  for  the 
electric  truck  in  eliminating  street  congestion  and  raising 
the  efficiency  of  terminal  service,  and  the  great  advances 
lately  made  in  various  parts  of  the  world  in  the  loading  and 
unloading  of  vessels  by  motor-driven  equipment.  A  single 
warehouse  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  is  1000  ft.  long  and  is  equipped 
with  fourteen  electric  elevators,  elaborate  belt  conveyors 
and  a  movable  floor  system,  all  electrically  operated.  Sixty- 
four  freight  cars  can  be  unloaded  at  once  on  the  second 
floor.  Among  the  illustrations  were  several  showing  elec- 
tiically  driven  belt  conveyors  on  docks  in  Australian  cities, 
fruit-handling  apparatus  at  New  Orleans,  aerial  cranes  at 
Duluth,  Minn.,  and  modern  dock  equipment  at  Hamburg, 
Germany;  Liverpool,  England,  and  other  foreign  ports.  A 
four-track,  electrically  operated  belt-line  railroad  for 
Boston  passenger  and  freight  service  was  advocated,  and 
terminal  improvements  in  prospect  by  electrical  methods  at 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  were  outlined. 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1181 


THE  VALUE    OF    THE    ELEMENTARY    ELECTRIC 
CHARGE. 


CO-OPERATION  IN   PHILADELPHIA. 


From  the  viewpoint  of  those  interested  in  electrical 
science  no  doubt  the  most  interesting  and  important  paper 
read  at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Physical  Society  in 
Evanston,  111.,  on  Nov.  30  was  that  on  "The  Value  of  the 
Elementary  Electric  Charge,"  by  Dr.  R.  A.  Millikan,  pro- 
fessor of  physics  in  the  University  of  Chicago.  Dr.  Milli- 
kan's  demonstration  of  the  ionic  theory  by  the  behavior  of 
droplets  of  oil  in  air  when  subjected  to  electric  forces  has 
attracted  wide  attention.  The  present  paper  gives  a  report 
of  the  results  of  the  redetermination  of  all  the  factors  that 
enter  into  the  evaluation  of  the  elementary  electric  charge 
by  the  oil-drop  method.  The  chief  modification  of  the 
method  consists  in  working  at  all  pressures  between  2  cm 
and  76  cm  of  mercury  in  order  to  get  an  accurate  value  of 
the  correction  term  to  Stokes'  law.  The  final  result  was: 
e  =  4.774  X  10""  absolute  electrostatic  units,  e  standing  for 
elementary  electric  charge.  The  probable  error  is  not  more 
than  0.2  per  cent. 

In  order  to  get  the  value  of  c  it  was  necessary  to  deter- 
mine the  law  of  the  fall  of  the  drop  through  air  when  the 
mean  free  path  of  the  molecule  is  of  the  same  order  of 
magnitude  as  the  diameter  of  the  drop.  This  law  is  given 
by  the  empirical  equation 


X  =  6 


■K\j.a  vl  I 


/ 


0.874  +  0.35  £ 


1.7a_ 
I 


!)"■ 


where  A'  =  force  in  dynes  acting  on  the  drop, 
e=  the  Napierian  base, 
(J.  =  the  coefficient  of  viscosity  of  air, 
I  =  the  mean  free  path  of  the  gas  molecule, 
a  =  the  radius  of  the  drop,  and 
V  =  the  velocity  with  which  it  moves. 


This  equation  holds  down  to  — 

a 


4.     Beyond  this  point 


the  observations  have  not  been  carried  as  yet.     It  will  be 

/ 
seen   from   this  equation   that   for   values   of  —  >  0.4   the 

equation  takes  the  simpler  form 

X  =  6iraat'|l  +  0.874 


I  IT  u.  a  t'  I  I  +  0.874  —  I 


SOCIETY  FOR  ELECTRICAL   DEVELOPMENT,  INC. 


The  committee  appointed  at  the  conference  of  central- 
station  jobbing,  contracting  and  manufacturing  interests  at 
Association  Island,  New  York,  on  Sept.  3  to  arrange  for 
the  organization  of  a  society  or  association  to  carry  on  co- 
operative work  for  the  benefit  of  the  entire  electrical  in- 
dustry held  its  fourth  meeting  on  Dec.  2  in  the  Engineering 
Societies  Building,  New  York.  As  our  readers  will  recall, 
the  Society  for  Electrical  Development,  Inc.,  was  incorpo- 
rated under  New  York  laws  on  Nov.  13,  through  the  efforts 
of  this  committee,  to  establish  co-operative  relations  among 
the  different  electrical  interests  in  the  United  States,  Canada 
and  Mexico,  and  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  use  of 
electrical  energy  by  the  public.  At  the  meeting  on  Dec.  2 
a  sub-committee  on  finance  and  administration  to  carry 
out  additional  plans  was  appointed.  Sufficient  funds  to 
carry  on  the  work  were  advanced  by  members  of  the  organi- 
zation committee.  Much  progress  has  been  made  in  the 
development  of  a  practical  plan  for  accomplishing  the  pur- 
pose of  the  society,  but  there  is  yet  a  vast  amount  of  detail 
work  to  be  done  by  the  committee  before  the  latter  will 
have  its  suggestions  in  a  form  to  place  before  the  industry 
at  large.  The  next  meeting  will  be  held  either  in  the  latter 
part  of  this  month  or  early  in  January. 


Beginning  with  bi-monthly  meetings  of  the  inspectors 
of  the  Philadelphia  Fire  Underwriters'  Association,  ini- 
tiated several  years  ago,  an  informal  co-operative  move- 
ment is  making  considerable  headway  in  Philadelphia  under 
the  guidance  of  Mr.  Washington  Devereux,  chief  of  the 
electrical  department  of  the   Underwriters'   Association. 

A  few  months  ago  the  inspectors  and  district  managers 
of  the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company  were  invited  to  at- 
tend the  association  meetings.  Invitations  were  also  ex- 
tended to  city  inspectors,  electrical  contractors  and  their 
superintendents  and  foremen.  All  are  now  meeting  to- 
gether twice  a  month  to  discuss  the  code,  city  regulations, 
the  best  methods  of  co-operation  between  various  branches 
of  the  industry  and  how  they  can  most  effectively  join  in 
plans  for  increasing  business.  A  question  box  is  provided 
and  subjects  thus  brought  up  are  passed  upon  by  a  sub- 
committee, whose  reports  are  regularly  presented  at  the 
meetings.  One  result  of  these  electrical  conferences  is  a 
marked"  improvement  in  methods  of  installation,  due  to  a 
better  understanding  not  only  of  the  requirements  of  the 
code  but  also  of  the  reasons   for  the  various  rules. 


STORAGE-BATTERY  DISCUSSION  AT  CHICAGO. 


Storage  batteries  of  both  the  lead  and  nickel-iron  types 
were  the  topics  before  the  joint  meeting  of  the  Chicago 
Section,  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  the 
Electrical  Section,  Western  Society  of  Engineers,  held  in 
the  latter's  rooms,  Monadnock  Block,  Chicago,  Nov.  25. 

With  Mr.  Ernest  Lunn,  battery  engineer  for  the  Com- 
monwealth Edison  Company,  presiding,  the  program  was 
opened  by  Mr.  J.  L.  Woodbridge,  Electric  Storage  Battery 
Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  with  a  paper  entitled  "Eco- 
nomic Applications  of  the  Storage  Battery."  After  pointing 
out  that  the  storage  battery  is  the  only  electrical  device 
whose  output  is  taken  at  times  and  at  rates  differing  from 
those  at  which  its  input  is  taken,  Mr.  Woodbridge  described 
and  illustrated  methods  of  cell  control  by  means  of  the 
carbon-disk  regulator,  the  average-load  adjuster  and  cir- 
cuits for  securing  constant  net  charge.  While  American 
central-station  practice  usually  limits  battery  applications 
to  stand-by  service,  electric  railways  in  this  country  have 
found  batteries  profitable  investments  for  reducing  their 
peak-load   costs. 

.\fter  a  description  of  methods  of  manufacture  of  the 
Edison  nickel-iron  battery,  Mr.  H.  H.  Smith,  Edi- 
son Laboratory,  East  Orange,  N.  J.,  directed  attention 
to  some  of  the  interesting  characteristics  of  the  alkaline- 
type  cells,  particularly  their  ability  to  withstand  careless 
handling  and  charging,  high  rates  of  input,  etc.  At  in- 
ternal cell  temperatures  below  40  deg.  Fahr.  the  active 
material  of  the  nickel-iron  battery  becomes  dormant,  said 
Mr.  Smith,  but  with  proper  protection  and  handling  there  is 
no  good  reason  why  the  battery  itself  should  ever  be  chilled 
below  normal  operating  temperatures.  A  car-lighting  set 
on  an  Illinois  Central  Railway  car  was,  for  example,  oper- 
ated two  weeks  during  weather  ranging  from  32  deg.  to 
42  deg.  below  zero,  as  shown  by  a  recording  thermometer. 
The  lowest  temperature  reached  inside  the  battery  boxing 
was  8  deg.  below  zero,  but  the  battery  showed  no  diminution 
of  output.  Finally  the  train  was  caught  in  a  snowdrift  and 
the  cells  delivered  their  full  rated  output  while  the  cars 
were  stalled.  Electric  trucks  with  Edison  batteries  are  em- 
ployed successfully  at  Winnipeg,  Manitoba,  despite  tem- 
peratures 44  deg.  below  zero,  and  these  trucks,  according 
to  their  owners,  are  fully  satisfactory  under  all  weather 
conditions.  Nickel-iron  cells  have  energy  outputs  of  13  to 
16  watt-hours  per  pound  of  weight,  in  comparison  with  lead 
cells  at  about  10  watt-hours  per  pound.     .'Vn  exchange  plan 


Il82 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


for  automobile  lighting  batteries  is  now  being  introduced, 
with  exchange  stations  in  the  principal  cities.  Edison  cells 
have  also  found  an  important  use  in  connection  with  the 
heavy  ordinance  of  the  United  States  Army,  the  immunity 
of  the  cells  against  concussion  and  fumes  particularly  fitting 
them  for  this  purpose. 

In  the  discussion  Mr.  T.  Milton,  Chicago,  called  attention 
to  the  effect  of  the  internal  resistance  of  the  Edison  battery 
in  reducing  short-circuit  currents  to  about  sixteen  times  the 
normal  output.  Lead  cells  when  short-circuited  deliver 
currents  forty  to  sixty  times  the  normal  output,  he  said. 
Mr.  D.  McCrae,  Chicago,  referred  to  the  value  of  battery 
installations  for  central-station  stand-by  use.  Others  who 
took  part  in  the  discussion  were  Messrs.  Godfrey  Atkins, 

F.  F.  Schuchardt,  E.  H.  Freeman,  W.  Beck,  R.  H.  Rice, 

G.  W.  Cravens  and  Albert  Scheible. 


REDUCTION     OF     FIRE     RISK    BY    ELECTRICAL 
INSPECTION. 


At  the  regular  bi-weekly  Jovian  luncheon  held  at  the  Hotel 
Imperial,  New  York,  on  Dec.  4,  Mr.  Frank  E.  Watts,  reign- 
ing Jupiter,  who  presided  in  the  absence  of  Statesman 
Joseph  F.  Becker,  introduced  as  the  speaker  of  the  day 
Mr.  William  H.  Merrill,  manager  of  the  Underwriters' 
Laboratories,  Chicago,  whose  topic  was  "The  Basis  for 
General  Co-operation."  Mr.  Merrill  stated  by  way  of  intro- 
duction that  his  remarks  would  be  along  the  same  general 
lines  as  those  he  had  previously  made  before  the  electrical 
jobbers'  and  manufacturers'  associations. 

The  annual  fire  loss  in  America  is  approximately 
$250,000,000.  This  tremendous  sum  represents  a  total  waste 
and  is  an  enormous  tax  on  the  American  people.  In  propor- 
tion to  our  population  it  is  much  higher  than  the  losses 
sustained  abroad.  The  annual  loss  per  capita  in  this  country 
Mr.  Merrill  gave  as  $2.47,  which  compares  with  30  cents  to 
34  cents  per  capita  in  Europe.  But  the  heavy  loss  of  life  is 
a  still  more  serious  consideration.  The  speaker  referred  to 
many  of  the  great  disasters,  such  as  the  Iroquois  fire  in 
Chicago,  the  Slocum  disaster  in  New  York  and  others. 
These  horrors,  he  said,  are  soon  forgotten  by  the  general 
public  because  of  the  frequency  with  which  such  holocausts 
occur. 

The  National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters  maintains  a 
corps  of  experienced  engineers  who  go  from  city  to  city 
investigating  fires  and  their  causes  and  making  recommenda- 
tions for  diminishing  the  probability  of  such  losses  in  the 
future.  Mr.  Merrill  briefly  described  the  functions  of  the 
Underwriters'  Laboratories  in  Chicago  and  the  branch  main- 
tained in  New  York  City.  Carelessness,  he  said,  is  the 
greatest  factor  in  fire  waste  and  often  extends  beyond  the 
user  or  owner  to  the  contractor,  sometimes  to  the  jobber, 
and  even  in  some  cases  to  the  manufacturer.  He  referred  to 
the  great  success  of  the  National  Electrical  Code,  declaring 
it  to  be  the  most  universally  used  engineering  specification 
in  existence.  Nevertheless,  declared  Mr.  Merrill,  it  is  not 
by  any  means  used  to  the  extent  to  which  it  ought  to  be 
used,  particularly  in  the  smaller  places  and  outlying  com- 
munities. In  these  thinly  populated  districts  the  insurance 
companies  cannot  afford,  as  a  matter  of  economy,  to  enforce 
the  code,  and  in  some  parts  of  the  country  they  are  even 
restricted  by  state  laws  from  making  joint  inspections  with 
the  local  authorities.  He  expressed  himself,  nevertheless. 
in  favor  of  both  municipal  and  state  inspection. 

Since  the  members  of  the  Jovian  Order  are  so  generally 
representative  of  the  industry,  they  are  in  a  position,  in  Mr. 
Merrill's  judgment,  to  exert  much  influence  for  the  universal 
enforcement  of  the  code.  In  concluding  his  remarks  the 
speaker  emphasized  the  need  of  uniform  national  rules  and 
requirements,  in  place  of  the  non-uniformity  now  existent 
-".'  Mie  lax  enforcement  in  manv  districts.     The  safetv  to 


life    and   property    is    the    great    consideration    to    be    kept 
always  in  mind. 

A  vote  of  thanks  was  tendered  the  speaker  for  his 
remarks,  and  local  representatives  of  the  Underwriters  were 
offered  a  standing  invitation  to  attend  the  Jovian  luncheons 
and  keep  the  members  informed  in  reference  to  the  progress 
made  in  obtaining  more  strict  inspection  and  better  general 
enforcement  of  rules  and  regulations  intended  to  diminish 
fire  waste.  The  attention  of  the  members  was  again  drawn 
to  the  "rejuvenation"  which  will  be  held  at  Healy's 
Restaurant,  New  York  City,  on  the  evening  of  Dec.  16. 


MEETING  OF    NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  OF    RAIL- 
WAY COMMISSIONERS. 


The  twenty-fourth  annual  meeting  of  the  National  As- 
sociation of  Railway  Commissioners,  which  recently  con- 
vened in  the  city  of  Washington,  D.  C,  was  briefly  referred 
to  in  our  issue  of  Nov.  23.  The  reports  of  nineteen  dif- 
ferent committees  were  received  and  discussed  at  length, 
but  most  of  these  had  to  do  with  the  regulation  of  steam 
railroads. 

An  interesting  report  was  presented  on  the  subject  of 
railroad  taxes  and  plans  for  ascertaining  fair  valuation 
of  railroad  property,  in  connection  with  which  the  discus- 
sion of  methods  of  valuation  was  drawn  out  to  considerable 
length.  Methods  employed  in  various  states  were  taken  up 
and  many  differences  were  noted.  There  was  considerable 
discussion  of  the  percentage  allowance  to  be  added  to 
physical  property  for  such  items  as  engineering  and  super- 
vision, legal  and  general  expenses,  interest  during  con- 
struction, contingencies  and  "going  concern"  value. 

The  report  of  the  committee  on  rates  and  rate-making 
was  confined  practically  to  the  subject  of  freight  rates  and 
did  not  touch  except  in  a  broad  way  upon  the  problems  in- 
volved in  fixing  rates  for  public  utilities.  In  discussing  the 
methods  of  valuing  railway  properties,  Commissioner  Eshle- 
man,  of  the  California  Railroad  Cormnission,  made  the  fol- 
lowing interesting  statement:  "But  you  will  find  out  that  al- 
most every  fallacy  that  has  found  its  way  into  a  court  de- 
cision concerning  valuation  is  the  result  of  the  testimony  of 
an  engineer  on  things  that  are  not  engineering  questions. 
In  our  commission  we  have  the  greatest  confidence  in  our 
engineers,  but  we  try  to  limit  them  to  the  discussion  of 
those   physical  things   that   engineers   know   about." 

On  the  second  day  of  the  convention  Prof.  John  H.  Gray, 
of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  explained  to  the  assemblage 
the  work  which  he  has  undertaken  for  the  National  Civic 
Federation  in  compiling  and  analyzing  the  public-utility 
regulation  laws  of  the  United  States.  A  large  staff  has 
been  at  work  under  Professor  Gray's  direction,  and  it  is 
hoped  to  have  the  complete  compilation  ready  for  dis- 
tribution early  next  year.  The  report  of  the  committee  on 
rails  and  equipment,  having  special  reference  to  rail  fail- 
ures, took  up  much  of  the  time  of  the  third  day's  sesssion. 

On  the  fourth  day  the  report  of  the  committee  on  tele- 
phone and  telegraph  rates  and  service  came  up  for  con- 
sideration, and  a  brief  abstract  of  it  follows.  The  whole 
telephone  art  has  been  developed  to  its  present  state  of 
perfection  since  1876,  and  the  United  States  leads  all  other 
nations  in  telephone  development.  70  per  cent  of  all  the 
telephones  of  the  world  being  in  use  in  this  country.  The 
vital  question  of  competition  in  the  telephone  business  was 
taken  up  for  extended  consideration.  .'Ks  it  has  existed  in 
the  past,  competition  has  not  been  an  unmixed  blessing  nor 
has  it  brought  about  the  beneficial  results  which  its  advo- 
cates have  prophesied.  On  the  other  hand,  legitimate  com- 
petition has  helped  enormously  to  extend  the  use  of  the 
telephone,  has  been  an  excellent  school  of  experience  and 
has,  no  doubt,  in  most  cases  had  the  effect  of  keeping  rates 
within  bounds.     During  the  course  of  the   rapid   commer- 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1183 


cial  development  there  were  many  instances  of  abuse  m 
promoting  new  schemes  and  promising  enormous  prunts 
which  were  seldom  realized.  The  outcome  has  been  for 
the  most  part  a  serious  disappointment  and  an  economic 
waste  in  the  unnecessary  duplication  of  service,  which 
approximates  $10,000,000  per  annum.  The  report  raised 
the  question  as  to  whether  competition  in  the  telephone 
business  has  not  already  served  its  useful  purpose  and 
whether  regulated  monopoly  is  not  now  desirable  in  the 
interest  of  economy  and  efficiency.  In  relation  to  rates, 
the  report  states  that  they  have  not  been  built  up  on  any 
hard  and  fast  rules  or  strictly  scientific  cost  basis  but  rather 
have  been  the  outgrowth  of  adjustments  which  in  the 
judgment  of  the  companies  gave  promise  of  the  best  results 
for  the  expansion  of  the  business.  The  committee  con- 
siders that  there  are  many  unsolved  problems  in  analyzing 
the  cost  of  telephone  service  and  distributing  the  charges 
equitably  among  consumers  of  different  classes.  Men- 
tion was  made  of  the  difficulty  of  segregating  exchange 
plant  from  toll  plant  and  also  distributing  operating  costs 
between  these  two  divisions  of  service. 

The  telegraph  service  of  the  country  has  recently  been 
extended  by  the  close  relationship  created  between  some  of 
the  principal  telegraph  and  telephone  companies  and  by  the 
establishment  of  joint  rates  for  combined  service.  In  re- 
spect to  methods  of  accounting,  the  report  called  attention 
to  the  system  proposed  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission and  described  in  its  Accounting  Circular  No.  30. 
The  desirability  of  making  some  changes  in  the  proposed 
classifications  under  the  Interstate  Commerce  system  was 
brought  up  for  consideration.  Commissioner  Watson,  of 
Oklahoma,  discussed  the  report  briefly  and  stated  that  the 
Oklahoma  Corporation  Commission  has  devoted  its  en- 
ergies wherever  possible  to  preventing  the  establishment  of 
two  telephone  systems  in  the  same  city  or  town.  That  com- 
mission has  also  had  occasion  to  establish  rates  for  tele- 
phone service  and  has  found  it  necessary  to  make  complete 
valuations  of  the  telephone  companies'  property.  Many 
of  the  problems  arising  in  fixing  telephone  rates  have  not 
yet  been  solved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Oklahoma  com- 
mission. 

The  following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year : 
President,  Hon.  O.  P.  Gothlin,  of  Ohio;  first  vice-president, 
Hon.  L.  B.  Finn,  of  Kentucky;  second  vice-president, 
Hon.  ClifTord  Thome,  of  Iowa;  secretary,  Mr.  W.  H.  Con- 
nolly, of  Washington,  D.  C,  and  assistant  secretary,  Mr. 
William  Killpatrick,  of  Illinois. 


conspiring  and  confederating  for  the  purpose  of  doing  that 
which  is  denied  by  an  ordinance  can  and  should  be  enjoined. 
While  it  is  true  that  at  common  law  the  shareholder's 
identity  is  separate  from  that  of  the  corporation,  a  court  of 
equity  has  always  looked  to  the  substance  and  not  to  the 
form  and  in  a  proper  case  will  control  a  corporation  through 
its  shareholders,  as  well  as  by  any  other  means.  The  estab- 
lishment of  a  monopoly,  with  the  consequent  oppression,  is 
abhorrent  to  society  and  the  law,  and  a  court  of  equity  will 
look  beyond  a  fiction  in  order  to  enforce  a  contract  designed 
to  prevent  a  monopoly." 


COURT  DECISION  IN  RELATION  TO  CENTRAL-STA- 
TION COMPETITION  AT  LOUISVILLE,  KY. 


In  overruling  the  demurrers  filed  by  the  Kentucky  Electric 
Company  and  the  Louisville  Lighting  Company,  Judge 
Kirby,  of  the  Circuit  Court,  rendered  a  decision  which  pre- 
vents the  Kentucky  Electric  Company  from  selling  its  fran- 
chise, plant  or  capital  stock  to  the  Louisville  Lighting  Com- 
pany, the  Louisville  Gas  Company,  H.  M.  Byllesby  & 
Company  or  any  other  competing  company  or  interest.  The 
suit  was  filed  by  the  city  of  Louisville  last  June  for  the  pur- 
pose of  enjoining  the  Kentucky  Electric  Company  from 
selling  out  to  the  other  interests  mentioned  above.  Had 
such  a  sale  taken  place,  competition  in  the  central-station 
business  in  Louisville  would  have  been  entirely  removed. 
It  was  charged  in  the  petition  filed  by  the  city  that  the  Ken- 
tucky Electric  Company  was  seeking  to  sell  its  franchise  and 
other  property  to  the  defendants  for  the  sum  of  $3,000,000. 
The  following  broad  principle  laid  down  by  Judge  Kirby  in 
the  decision  will  interest  all  stockholders  in  public-utility 
enterprises: 

"That  a  stockholder  may  go  upon  the  market  and  sell  his 
stock  in  the  ordinary  course  of  trade  cannot  be  denied ;  but 


UTILIZATION  OF  ELECTRIC  IRONS. 


The  use  of  small  electric  heating  devices  has  grown  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  form  a  most  important  factor  in  the 
business  of  the  manufacturer  as  well  as  the  central  station. 
The  electric  flatiron  in  particular  has  become  a  very  popu- 
lar utensil  and  is  not  to-day  looked  upon  as  a  luxury  but  as 
a  time-saving  and  labor-saving  device  available  for  any 
family.  Progress  in  the  sale  of  irons  and  the  building  up 
of  most  extraordinary  load  curves  due  to  such  sales  have 
been  reported  in  these  columns  in  regard  to  a  number  of 
individual  central  stations. 

There  are  cases  such  as  at  Ahoona,  Pa.  {Electiical 
World,  Oct.  7,  191 1),  where  the  load  on  Tuesday  forenoon 
exceeds  that  of  the  evening  of  the  same  day  by  20  per  cent 
and  where  the  load  is  practically  even  from  8  a.  m.  to  9 
p.  m.  The  matter  has  been  the  subject  of  much  discussion 
at  the  meetings  of  electrical  societies  and  much  has  been 
written  in  technical  journals  in  regard  to  ways  and  means 
for  securing  such  an  off-peak  load.  The  most  effective  in- 
ducement has  probably  been  the  free-trial  offer,  which  has 
seldom  failed  to  procure  a  permanent  user  of  the  iron. 
The  price  of  an  electric  iron  has  often  been  the  principal 
obstacle  to  overcome  until  the  prospective  customer  has 
had  an  opportunity  to  form  a  closer  acquaintance  with  the 
advantages  it  offers. 

With  the  object  of  analyzing  the  general  situation  in 
regard  to  the  flatiron,  information  has  been  secured  from 
a  number  of  representative  central  stations,  a  total  of  491, 
in  regard  to  the  percentage  of  residence  customers  furnished 
with  electric  irons  by  the  central  stations,  the  price  at 
which  they  are  sold,  the  percentage  of  irons  sold  on  the 
free-trial  basis  and  the  difficulties  encountered  in  placing 
irons. 

The  tables  in  this  article  are  not  arranged  to  show  actual 
number  of  sales  under  various  conditions  of  price  and  free- 
trial  offers,  but  rather  to  indicate  the  average  of  the  per- 
centages reported  in  each  particular  group.  Each  station  is 
treated  as  a  unit  in  regard  to  sales  and  the  figures  give  the 
averages  of  the  total  number  of  units.  By  this  method  of 
representing  the  subject  it  is  believed  the  reader  will  ob- 
tain a  clearer  conception  as  to  the  average  condition  under 
which  irons  are  sold  than  if  the  actual  number  of  sales 
were  reported  in  each  particular  case. 

Referring  to  Table  I,  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  central 
stations  have  been  divided  up  in  seven  groups  according  to 
population  served.  In  regard  to  the  first  group  it  may  be 
said  that  the  number  of  irons  used  varies  greatly,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  small  communities  differ  very  much  as  to 
the  average  income  of  the  population,  some  being,  for  in- 
stance, mining  centers,  where  only  a  small  percentage  of  the 
residence  customers  are  furnished  with  irons,  while  on  the 
other  hand  in  a  number  of  suburban  and  other  communities 
with  a  well-to-do  population  up  to  95  per  cent  of  the  resi- 
dence customers  use  electric  irons.  In  groups  2,  3  and  4 
it  is  fairly  safe  to  state  that  the  average  cofties  very  close 
to  the  number  in  actual  use,  while  in  groups  5,  6  and  7 
the  figure  represents  merely  the  average  number  furnished 
by  the  central  stations.     In  cities  represented  in  these  groups 


ii8^ 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


there  are  always  a  number  of  supply  dealers  selling  irons 
which  the  central  station  has  no  means  of  recording  and 
which  in  many  cases  would  increase  the  averages  to  figures 
equal  to  those  of  the  other  groups. 

The  average  percentage  sold  on  free  trial  does  not  show 
the  variation  that  might  be  expected.  In  smaller  com- 
mimities  it  is  undoubtedly  a  good  deal  easier  to  apply  this 

TABLE  I. AVERAGE  SALES  OF  FLATIRONS  PER  CENTRAL  STATION 

GROUPED  ACCORDING  TO  POPULATION   OF  TOWNS  SERVED. 


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17            66 

17 

7 

12 

100,000  up 

37 

55 

ii 

33             67       !       . . 

method,  and  it  is  also  accompanied  with  considerable  less 
risk.  The  selling  price  in  the  larger  cities  is  higher  than  in 
small  towns.  Even  the  small  towns,  however,  show  an 
average  selling  price  of  18  per  cent  above  cost,  which  just 
about  corresponds  to  the  manufacturer's  list  price.  By  far 
the  larger  percentage  of  central  stations  expect  to  retain 
the  present  prices  during  1913.  In  all  groups  the  tendency 
seems  to  be  rather  to  decrease  the  price  than  to  increase  it. 
To  what  extent  this  will  influence  the  sale  of  irons  is 
doubtful,  as  it  is  shown  in  Table  II  that  the  price  does  not 
materially  affect  the  sale.  In  fact,  central  stations  selling 
at  35  per  cent  or  more  above  cost  have  had  the  largest 
average  sales. 

As  noted  above,  the  manufacturers'  list  price  is  between 
15  per  cent  and  20  per  cent  above  cost  price,  and  this  seems 
for  various  reasons  to  be  the  most  logical  selling  price. 
In  fact,  the  table  shows  that  as  a  whole  the  largest  number 
of  sales  are  made  at  this  price.     One  reason  which  should 

TABLE    II. RELATION    BETWEEN    SELLING    PRICE    AND    PERCENT- 
AGE OF  RESIDENCE   CUSTOMERS  FURNISHED  WITH    IRONS. 


Percentage  Added  to 
Cost. 

Percentage  of  Total 
Number  of  Central 
Stations  Reporting. 

Average  of  Percentages 
of  Customers  per  Sta- 
tion  Furnished   with 
Irons. 

0-5 

10 

49 

6-10 

16 

47 

U-IS 

15 

49 

16-20 

20 

50 

21-25 

19 

47 

26-30 

9 

47 

31-3S 

5 

58 

36  up 

0 

64 

not  be  overlooked,  being  of  very  great  importance,  is  that 
in  this  way  the  central  stations  will  not  be  competing  with 
the  supply  dealers  but  working  on  a  co-operative  basis, 
which  is  believed  to  be  of  greater  ultimate  advantage  to 
both  parties.  It  also  leaves  an  ample  margin  for  the  ex- 
penses of  soliciting  and  local  advertising. 

Table  III  shows  conclusively  the  effect  of  the  free-trial 


privilege.  The  percentage  of  stations  applying  this  method 
shows  that  its  advantages  are  well  appreciated.  The  dif- 
ference in  sales  between  the  group  not  allowing  free  trials 
and  those  availing  themselves  of  this  opportunity  to  its  full 
e.xtent  is  9  per  cent.  In  order  to  illustrate  the  importance 
of  such  a  difference,  take,  for  example,  a  station  having, 
say,  2000  residence  customers.  With  an  average  annual 
consumption  of  83  kw-hr.  per  iron,  which  is  a  very  con- 
servative estimate,  the  total  consumption  of  9  per  cent,  or 
180  irons,  would  make  14,940  kw-hr.  Sold  at  10  cents  per 
kw-hr.  this  would  mean  an  income  of  $1,490  for  off-peak 
service. 

The  difficulties  in  selling  electric  irons  may  be  summed 
up  as  lack  of  education  as  to  the  cost  of  operation  and  gen- 
eral advantages  of  the  electric  iron.  There  is  a  fear  on 
the  part  of  the  users  that  the  bills  will  be  run  up  exorbi- 
tantly through  the  use  of  an  electric  iron.  Admitting  that 
the  cost  of  operation  is  high  when  energy  is  sold  at  20 
cents  per  kw-hr.,  even  at  that  rate  irons  are  sold  and  used 
where  the  consumers  have  been  properly  educated  as  to 
the  iron's  advantages.  In  a  Western  city  selling  energy  at 
20  cents  per  kw-hr.  60  per  cent  of  the  consumers  have 
bought  irons  from  the  central  station  and  not  one  has  been 
sold  on  the  free-trial  basis.  Demonstrations  and  local  ad- 
vertising by  the  central  stations,  in  combination  with  the 
free-trial  off^er,  have  proved  to  be  the  most  effective  means. 
One  central  station  reports  that  after  some  advance  adver- 
tising and  a  few  days'  demonstration  at  the  central  station 
office  a  canvass  of  the  town  was  made,  in  which  40  per 
cent  of  the  total  residence  customers  were  furnished  with 

TABLE    III. RELATION    BETWEEN    FREE-TRIAL    SALES    AND    PER- 
CENTAGE OF  RESIDENCE  CUSTOMERS  PER  CENTRAL 
STATION    FURNISHED    WITH    IRONS. 


Percentage  Sold  on 
Free  Trial. 

Percentage  of  Total 

Number  of  Stations 

Reporting. 

Average  of  Percentages 
of  Customers  per  Sta- 
tion Furnished  with 
Irons. 

0 

12 

45 

1-25 

13 

49 

26-50 

20 

47 

51-75 

21 

53 

76-100 

34 

54 

irons.  Through  subsequent  canvasses  the  number  of  users 
has  been  brought  up  to  90  per  cent  of  the  total.  Forty  per 
cent  of  the  sales  were  made  on  the  free-trial  basis  and  all 
irons  were  sold  at  35  per  cent  above  cost.  This  forms  a 
very  striking  example  of  what  can  be  accomplished  by 
educating  the  public.  There  are  a  great  number  of  similar 
cases,  besides  instances  where  some  particular  difficulty  has 
to  be  overcome,  such  as  competition  with  natural  gas  sold 
at  22  or  23  cents  per  1000  cu.  ft.,  where  equally  good 
results  were  obtained  by  the  same  means. 

Again  referring  to  Table  I,  it  should  be  called  to  the 
reader's  -'ttention  that  of  the  group  of  stations  serving  a 
population  up  to  2000  10  per  cent  give  day  service  during 
only  one  day  of  the  week  or  have  no  day  service  at  all.  It 
is  remarkable  to  note  that  several  stations  with  only  one 
day  for  ironing  have  sold  irons  to  from  50  to  75  per  cent 
of  their  customers.  In  some  places  in  the  South  with  no 
day  service  from  25  per  cent  to  50  per  cent  of  the  customers 
use  electric  irons.  Among  other  remarkable  instances  may 
be  mentioned  one  central  station  in  Minnesota,  serving  a 
population  of  7000,  with  680  residence  customers,  where 
750  irons  have  been  sold.  A  station  in  Indiana  serving  a 
population  of  4150,  with  about  600  customers  and  no  day 
service,  has  nearly  200  irons  in  use.  A  station  in  Missouri 
serving  a  population  of  6300  has  furnished  very  nearly  all 
of  its  residence  customers  with  irons  and  has  given  them 
awav  to  the  remainder  of  its  customers,  so  that  now  all  of 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1185 


its  customers  have  irons.  In  this  case  70  per  cent  were 
sold  on  the  free-trial  basis  and  all  irons  were  sold  at  33 
per  cent  above  cost. 

It  has  been  remarked  in  a  number  of  instances  that  the 
afossip  among  housewives  plays  an  important  part  in  regard 
to  the  eventual  success  of  a  flatiron  campaign,  particularly 
in  smaller  communities.  If  a  customer  has  an  iron  which 
is  giving  satisfaction  in  every  respect,  the  neighbors  will 
hear  about  it,  and  this  will  help  to  stimulate  the  desire  to 
own  one  just  as  much  as  a  good  deal  of  advertising  and 
demonstrating.  Any  trouble  with  the  iron  will  spread  as 
rapidly  through  the  same  channels.  It  is  therefore  of  very 
great  importance  that  the  central  station  and  the  supply 
dealer  keep  in  stock  an  iron  of  reliable  make  and  one  with 
which  the  salesman  feels  that  he  can  give  a  positive  guar- 
antee. The  consumers  do  not  know  the  different  makes  of 
irons,  and  it  is  shown  that  in  90  per  cent  of  inquiries  by 
intending  purchasers  this  is  left  entirely  to  the  salesman  or 
his  advice  is  asked  in  regard  to  which  make  of  iron  is  best. 
Trouble  experienced  with  cords  and  terminals  has  consider- 
ably discouraged  prospective  buyers.  A  careful  considera- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  central-station  manager  as  to  the 
make  of  iron  to  carry  will  undoubtedly  show  its  effects  on 
the  sales  records. 


STREET-LIGHTING  TABLES. 


With  the  present  issue  will  be  found,  in  the  form  of  a 
supplement,  our  annual  street-lighting  schedules,  which 
hav€  been  prepared  in  conformity  with  a  plan  followed  con- 
tinuously since  1890,  when  the  schedule  devised  by  Mr. 
W.  H.  Frund  was  first  published. 

The  data  in  Table  No.  i  have  been  compiled  in  such  a 
manner  that  by  following  this  schedule  the  lamps  are  lighted 
one-half  hour  after  sunset  and  are  extinguished  one  hour 
before  sunrise,  giving  a  yearly  operation  of  about  3830 
hours.  An  "all-night"  lighting  schedule,  giving  a  yearly 
total  of  about  4000  hours,  could  be  obtained  by  lighting 
fifteen  minutes  earlier  and  extinguishing  fifteen  minutes 
later  than  shown  in  this  table. 

In  the  so-called  "Philadelphia  Moonlight  Schedule" 
(Table  No.  2),  beginning  the  fourth  night  after  new  moon 
advantage  is  taken  of  the  moonlight,  and  on  nights  when 
the  moon  is  full  or  nearly  so  the  lamps  are  not  lighted. 
On  other  moonlight  nights  the  lamps  are  extinguished  one 
hour  after  moonrise  and  lighted  one  hour  before  moonset. 
With  this  schedule  the  lamps  are  in  operation  about  2000 
hours  per  year. 

Table  3  is  calculated  according  to  the  system  of  Mr. 
Frund  and  ignores  the  moon  until  after  midnight  through- 
out the  year.  The  lighting  hours  after  midnight  are  the 
same  as  those  in  Table  No.  i.  except  that  the  lamps  are  not 
used  during  the  period  of  full  moon.  This  schedule  entails 
the  use  of  lamps  for  about  3000  hours  per  year. 

All  of  the  tables  are  based  on  mean  local  time  and  were 
calculated  for  latitude  40  deg.  north.  They  may  be  con- 
sidered as  correct  within  ten  minutes  for  any  place  in 
New  York,  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  Rhode  Island,  New 
Jersev,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Delaware,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  West  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Missouri,  Kansas, 
Nebraska,  Utah,  Colorado,  Nevada  and  northern  California. 
They  may  also  be  considered  correct  within  ten  minutes 
for  all  places  within  the  United  States  proper  during  the 
months  of  March,  April,  September  and  October.  The 
maximum  correction  factor  should  be  applied  in  June,  when 
the  nights  are  shorter  in  the  Northern  than  in  the  Southern 
States,  and  in  December,  when  the  reverse  is  the  case. 
During  these  months  the  disagreement  along  the  northern 
borders  of  the  United  States  and  as  far  south  as  Charleston, 
Birmingham  and  Los  Angeles  will  not  exceed  twenty 
minutes.  A  maximum  correction  factor  of  one-half  hour 
mav  be  assumed  for  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  and  Houston,  Tex. 


THE  HETCH  HETCHY  WATER  AND  POWER 
PROJECT  FOR  SAN  FRANCISCO. 

San  Francisco,  in  common  with  nearly  all  large  centers 
of  population  in  this  country,  is  engaged  with  the  problem 
of  conserving  for  the  future  an  adequate  supply  of  water 
for  domestic  and  public  uses.  The  city  authorities  have 
recently  filed  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  a  400-page 
report,  prepared  by  the  well-known  expert  on  water  sup- 
ply, Mr.  John  R.  Freeman,  and  a  staff  of  expert  assistants, 
describing  a  gigantic  water-supply  project,  which,  when 
fully  developed,  will  care  for  San  Francisco's  needs  for 
many  years.  This  report  is  the  result  of  two  years'  per- 
sonal study  of  the  problem  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Freeman  and 
his  staff.  The  needs  not  only  of  San  Francisco,  but  of  some 
twenty-six  neighboring  municipalities,  all  comprising  a 
proposed  metropolitan  water  district,  have  been  considered 
as  a  unit. 

It  is  proposed  to  make  use  of  portions  of  the  Hetch 
Hetchy,  Eleanor  and  Cherry  Creek  Valleys  within  and  near 
to  the  boundaries  of  the  Stanislaus  United  States  National 
Forest  Reservation  and  the  Yosemite  National  Park,  and 
the  watersheds  which  are  tributary  to  these  valleys  and  the 
Tuolumme  River,  situated  about  150  miles  directly  east  of 
San  Francisco  at  the  base  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains. 
While  the  city  of  San  Francisco  now  owns  in  fee  simple 
much  of  the  mountainous  territory  which  is  necessary  to 
the  accomplishment  of  this  huge  water-supply  project,  the 
titles  to  the  many  steep,  rocky  slopes,  one  of  the  dam  sites 
and  portions  of  the  valleys  remain  with  the  United  States. 
Therefore  the  development  of  this  project  comes  under 
the  regulation  of  the  federal  authorities.  Aside  from  its 
bold  and  interesting  features  as  a  water-supply  undertak- 
ing, a  large  hydroelectric  development  is  involved,  which, 
when  ultimately  completed,  will  produce  an  estimated  total 
of  157,000  mechanical  hp  for  high-tension  transmission  to 
distant  markets. 

The  citv  proposes  to  build  a  masonry  reservoir  dam 
about  300  ft.  in  height  above  the  riverbed  in  the  narrow 
gorge  at  the  outlet  of  the  Hetch  Hetchy  Valley,  by  which 
the  water  can  be  raised  about  270  ft.  above  the  nearly  level 
floor  of  the  valley.  An  aqueduct  will  be  constructed  from 
this  reservoir  to  the  city  of  San  Francisco,  largely  in  the 
form  of  a  tunnel  about  10  ft.  in  finished  diameter,  mostly 
deep  beneath  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  proposed 
aqueduct  between  the  Hetch  Hetchy  and"  the  Irvington 
gatehouse  on  the  hillside  overlooking  San  Francisco  Bay 
is  designed  to  deliver,  by  force  of  gravity,  without  pump- 
ing, a  quantity  of  water  somewhat  in  excess  of  400,000,000 
gal.  daily,  and  under  extreme  conditions  possibly  500,000,- 
000  gal.  per  day.  The  communities  to  be  supplied  will  re- 
quire in  the  immediate  future  for  domestic  and  municipal 
purposes  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  quantity  of  water 
which  can  be  transmitted  by  the  ultimate  development,  and 
according  to  present  plans  some  of  the  surplus  will  be  made 
available,  at  a  moderate  meter  rate,  for  irrigation,  prin- 
cipally in  connection  with  intensive  farming  and  truck 
gardening  in  the  San  Francisco  district. 

The  portion  of  tunnel  about  12  miles  in  length  next 
down  stream  from  the  Hetch  Hetchy  dam  will  be  delayed 
in  construction  for  some  years,  and  meanwhile  the  city 
proposes  to  divert  the  water  from  the  main  Tuolumne 
River  by  means  of  a  temporary  dam  at  a  point  about  i}4 
miles  upstream  from  the  confluence  with  Cherry  Creek. 
Tributary  reservoirs  will  ultimately  be  created  at  two  sites, 
one  at  Lake  Eleanor  and  the  other  at  Cherry  Creek,  dis- 
charging into  the  Hetch  Hetchy  through  an  8-ft.  under- 
ground tunnel. 

The  city  does  not  propose  in  the  immediate  future  to  con- 
struct any  plant  for  the  development  of  hydroelectric 
power,  but  plans  to  conserve  carefully  all  reasonable  oppor- 
tunities for  power  development  against  the  time  when  it 
may   become   expedient   to   undertake    such    developments. 


ii86 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


The  aqueduct  will  be  built  with  surge  shafts,  inclined  tun- 
nels and  appurtenances  suitable  for  the  attachment  of  tur- 
bine penstocks  and  with  forebays  for  receiving  water 
from  the  tailraces  of  future  turbines.  By  this  means  the 
only  added  cost  for  power  development  will  be  substantially 
that  of  the  power  houses  and  their  foundations,  the 
hydraulic  and  electric  machinery,  auxiliary  equipment  and 
the  high-tension  transmission  lines. 

There  is  only  one  power  drop  in  the  aqueduct  line  first 
to  be  constructed,  and  this  is  situated  close  beside  the  main 
highway  at  Moccasin  Creek,  6  miles  easterly  from  where 
the  aqueduct  line  crosses  the  main  Tuolumne  River  and 
about  141  miles  distant  from  the  city.  This  will  be  the 
site  for  Power  House  No.  i.  The  aqueduct  capacity  from 
the  temporary  intake  down  to  the  power  house  will  be 
somewhat  more  than  620  second-feet,  which  is  the  equiva- 
lent of  400,000,000  gal.  daily.  The  gross  fall  will  be  1425 
ft.  Under  working  conditions,  however,  the  net  fall  will 
be  about  1250  ft.  when  620  cu.  ft.  per  second  are  flowing. 
It  is  estimated  that  70,000  mechanical  hp  can  be  developed 
here  for  twenty-four  hours  per  day  under  exceptional  con- 
ditions for  efficiency  and  low  cost  of  operation. 

When  the  12  miles  of  aqueduct  upstream  from  the  tem- 
porary intake  to  the  Hetch  Hetchy  dam  are  constructed, 
another  power  drop  will  become  available  immediately  to 
the  rear  of  the  first  intake,  or  about  a  mile  upstream  from 
Cherry  Creek,  with  the  same  620  second-feet  of  water 
previously  mentioned.  Power  House  No.  2  will  be  situated 
at  this  point,  160  miles  distant  from  the  city  via  the  aque- 
duct route.  The  gross  fall  here  will  be  1425  ft.,  but,  under 
working  conditions  and  allowing  for  the  hydraulic  gradient. 
the  net  drop  will  be  1325  ft.  The  estimated  development  is 
75,000  mechanical  hp,  twenty-four  hours  per  day  through- 
out the  year. 

Power  House  No.  3  will  be  situated  at  the  Cherry- 
Eleanor  tunnel  to  the  Hetch  Hetchy  reservoir,  and  it  is 
estimated  that  12,500  mechanical  hp  can  be  developed 
here  when  the  ultimate  arrangements  are  completed.  The 
total  power  which  can  be  developed  on  these  three  sites, 
according  to  plans,  is  157,500  mechanical  hp,  which  will  be 
available  twenty-four  hours  per  day  and  365  days  in  the 
year.  It  is  also  estimated  that  200,000  hp  can  be  developed 
on  peaks.  At  all  three  sites  the  cost  of  the  power  house  and 
the  hydroelectric  equipment  will  be  exceptionally  small 
and  the  flow  of  water  uncommonly  constant  and  depend- 
able. Power  development,  however,  has  been  treated  as  sub- 
ordinate to  domestic  water  supply,  and  the  plans  have  been 
prepared  under  this  fundamental  policy,  so  that  hydroelec- 
tric energy  is  practically  a  by-product.  The  transmission 
line  would  be  erected  mostly  along  the  aqueduct  rights  of 
way  and  would  be  150  miles  long  to  San  Francisco  and  135 
miles  to  Oakland. 

To-day,  however,  with  cheap  oil  fuel  and  three  large 
hydroelectric  enterprises  bringing  electric  energy  to  the 
city  and  competing  actively  for  business  under  the  over- 
sight of  a  public  service  commission,  there  appears  to  be 
no  immediate  need  for  the  municipality  to  engage  in  the 
business  of  distributing  and  selling  electric  energy.  More- 
over, it  is  said  that  the  city  charter  will  not  permit  of  this. 
But  the  time  will  inevitably  arrive  when  the  power  privi- 
lege will  be  one  of  the  valuable  assets  in  this  water- 
supply  project.  There  will  doubtless  be  a  limit  to  the  era 
of  oil  at  present  prices,  and  the  demands  for  electric  energy 
are  undoubtedly  destined  to  grow  faster  than  the  popula- 
tion. Electrochemical  industries  which  require  large  quan- 
tities of  cheap  electrical  energy  would  also  be  attracted  to 
the  San  Francisco  district  and  enhance  its  prosperity. 

This  remarkable  report  is  devoted  mainly,  of  course,  to 
the  question  of  water  supply  for  domestic  and  public  con- 
sumption. It  is  copiously  illustrated  with  examples  of  simi- 
lar projects  undertaken  elsewhere.  It  was  published  by  au- 
thority of  the  San  Francisco  Board  of  Supervisors,  and 
have  been  on  sale  at  $3  each. 


ILLINOIS  LEGISLATIVE  HEARINGS  ON  PROPOSED 
PUBLIC-SERVICE    COMMISSION. 


During  the  period  of  the  hearings  of  the  Illinois  Legisla- 
tive Public  Utilities  Commission  in  Chicago  in  relation  to 
the  proposed  state  public-service  commission  or  commis- 
sions Mayor  Harrison  expressed  his  sentiments  in  a 
formal  way  by  sending  a  communication  to  the  City  Coun- 
cil. He  asked  the  aldermen  to  pass  a  resolution  to  the 
effect  that  if  public-service  commissions  are  found  neces- 
sary in  Illinois,  one  shall  be  appointed  having  jurisdiction 
over  Chicago  only,  with  its  members  appointed  by  the 
Maj'Or  with  the  consent  and  approval  of  the  City  Council. 
An  accompanying  resolution,  which  calls  for  local  self- 
government  in  the  matter  of  regulating  Chicago  utilities, 
was  sent  to  the  committee  on  judiciary.  However,  many 
of  the  aldermen  opposed  any  commission,  even  with  the 
appointing  power  vested  in  the  Mayor.  At  the  same  meet- 
ing a  resolution  was  introduced  in  the  City  Council  pro- 
viding for  the  creation  of  a  bureau  of  the  Chicago  city 
government  to  regulate  local  utilities.  This  matter  was 
sent  to  the  finance  committee. 

At  the  hearing  of  the  legislative  commission  on  Nov.  26 
the  first  witness  was  Mr.  James  F.  Meagher,  counsel  for 
the  People's  Gas  Light  &  Coke  Company.  Mr.  Meagher, 
speaking  for  himself,  adopted  a  rather  pessimistic  tone  and 
said  the  only  safety  he  could  see  for  public-service  cor- 
porations was  by  appealing  to  the  courts.  He  does  not 
think  that  public-service  commissions  are  apt  to  be  of  mucli 
benefit.  The  courts  will  give  a  real  consideration  to  the 
real  facts  when  the  occasion  arises.  They  are  not  much 
impressed  with  rates  for  public  utilities  made  simply  to 
carry  out  a  campaign  pledge  without  any  regard  to  what 
is  just.  The  function  of  rate-making  is  perhaps  the  most 
supreme  of  all  sovereign  powers  of  the  State,  yet  not 
one  man  in  a  thousand  understands  its  underlying  prin- 
ciples. If  the  utilities  must' go  to  the  courts  in  any  event, 
why  interpose  a  commission  ? 

There  was  some  discussion  of  the  local  gas  situation 
and  of  the  political  activities  of  Mayor  Harrison  and  the 
Seventy-Cent  Gas  League  in  this  matter.  Mr.  Meagher 
was  rather  sarcastic  in  telling  the  story,  but  nevertheless 
he  agreed  with  Senator  Edward  J.  Glackin,  of  Chicago,  a 
member  of  the  legislative  corrimission,  in  opposing  the  idea 
of  a  state  public-service  commission.  Senator  Glackin's 
ground  for  opposing  it  was  that  he  believed  in  "home  rule." 
while  Mr.  Meagher  was  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  practically 
useless  to  establish  such  a  commission,  as  the  utility  com- 
panies will  have  to  appeal  to  the  courts  anyway. 

Mr.  William  G.  Beale,  counsel  for  the  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company,  also  addressed  the  commission.  He  re- 
ferred to  the  problem  as  a  serious  one  and  said  that  he  was 
frank  to  say  that  if  he  had  to  decide  he  could  not  tell  off- 
hand what  his  decision  w-ould  be;  in  other  words,  he  was 
"on  the  fence."  Commission  regulation  seems  to  be  the 
present  accepted  way  of  regulating  the  rates  of  public-serv- 
ice companies:  nevertheless,  the  experience  of  the  Com- 
monwealth Edison  Company  of  Chicago  under  a  contract 
ordinance  made  with  the  city  authorities  has  been  quite 
satisfactory,  so  that  the  company  has  no  complaint  up  to 
the  present  time.  There  is  a  strong  sentiment  in  Chicago 
in  favor  of  "home  rule"  and  it  cannot  be  ignored.  It 
would  seem  to  be  all  right,  perhaps,  to  permit  a  munici- 
pality to  regulate  its  own  local  utilities,  and  yet  in  the  case 
of  telephone  service,  interurban  railway  service,  electrical 
transmission  and  no  doubt  other  utilities  one  utility  may 
serve  a  number  of  municipalities,  and  if  there  are  two  or 
more  commissions  regulating  its  affairs  there  would  be  a 
possibility  of  embarrassment  and  entanglement. 

At  the  session  of  Nov.  27  Mr.  William  J.  Pringle,  former 
alderman,  and  chairman  of  the  City  Council  committee  on 
gas,  oil  and  electric  light  during  the  administration  of 
Mayor  Busse,  declared  himself  in  favor  of  the  state  regu- 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1 187 


lation  of  public  utilities.  He  expressed  himself  as  un- 
decided as  between  one  or  two  or  more  commissions,  but 
said  that  if  there  were  only  one  commission  it  should 
arrange  to  spend  much  of  its  time  in  Chicago  and  to  be 
accessible  to  complaints  at  all  times. 

At  the  hearing  of  Nov.  29  all  of  the  ten  members  of  the 
legislative  commission  were  present  for  the  first  time  dur- 
ing the  hearings  in  Chicago.  Mr.  W.  H.  Sexton,  corpora- 
tion counsel  for  the  city  of  Chicago,  told  of  the  work  done 
by  the  city  on  the  proposed  passenger  subway  system  and 
also  discussed  the  gas  situation  in  Chicago.  In  relation  to 
the  latter  he  admitted  that  it  was  a  political  question  during 
the  last  mayoralty  campaign  and  said  that  he  thought  the 
adjustment  of  such  questions  must  always  be  treated  politi- 
cally when  arising  during  campaigns  for  the  election  of 
municipal  officers. 

Mr.  'Leonard  A.  Busby,  president  of  the  Chicago  City 
Railway  Company,  described  the  dealings  of  his  company 
with  the  local  transportation  committee  of  the  City  Council, 
through  which  complaints  of  service  are  handled  and  where 
the  relations  of  the  city  and  the  company  are  discussed, 
and  also  with  the  Board  of  Supervising  Engineers,  which 
acts  as  the  disinterested  expert  in  carrying  out  the  pro- 
visions of  the  1907  traction  settlement  ordinances.  Mr. 
Busby  explained  the  street-railway  ''through  routes"  from 
one  part  of  the  city  to  another  and  told  about  the  city's 
effort  to  bring  about  the  merger  of  the  surface  street-rail- 
way systems.  In  answer  to  a  question  he  made  some  inter- 
esting references  to  the  purchase  of  electrical  energy  from 
the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company.  The  railway  com- 
pany finds  it  cheaper  to  buy  electricity  than  to  make  it. 
The  rate  consists  of  a  primary  charge  of  $15  a  kilowatt  per 
year  and  a  secondary  charge  of  0.4  cent  per  kw-hr.  This 
is  a  very  low  rate,  but  the  company  is  using  slightly  in 
excess  of  45,000  kw. 

Mayor  Harrison  of  Chicago  was  the  "star  witness"  at  the 
morning  session  of  Nov.  30.  The  Mayor  had  been  sub- 
poenaed, but  his  first  statement  was  to  the  effect  that  a 
writ  was  not  necessary  to  secure  his  presence.  The  Mayor 
does  ntit  favor  state  regulation  of  public  utilities,  at  least 
in  Chicago.  The  entire  question,  he  thinks,  is  in  the  forma- 
tive period.  The  present  method  of  regulation  in  Chicago, 
by  committees  of  the  City  Council,  aided  by  expert  advice, 
is  satisfactory.  The  personnel  of  the  various  committees 
changes  but  slowly,  and  the  members  come  to  be  almost 
experts  themselves.  Chicago  has,  in  fact,  led  the  way  in  the 
municipal  regulation  of  utilities.  The  Mayor  would  be 
loth  to  see  any  step  taken  to  cause  the  city  to  lose  the 
advantage  it  has  gained  by  years  of  fighting.  Of  course, 
this  advantage  depends  on  the  honesty  and  ability  of  the 
aldermen,  but  that  would  also  be  true  in  the  case  of  a 
state  commission.  The  present  tendency  in  Chicago  is 
toward  the  permanent  employment  of  experts  as  heads  of 
departments.  As  an  instance  of  this  the  speaker  cited  the 
case  of  the  city  electrician,  a  well-qualified  man,  who  is 
now  engaged  in  making  an  investigation  of  the  rates  of 
the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company.  Mr.  Harrison  also 
mentioned  in  an  appreciative  manner  the  fact  that  the 
electric-service  company  has  made  a  number  of  voluntary 
reductions  in  rates.  He  hopes  that  Chicago  will  be  left  to 
handle  these  questions  itself.  The  heads  of  city  depart- 
ments should  be  experts  and  left  in  office  during  successive 
administrations  as  has  been  the  practice  for  many  years  in 
the  case  of  the  chief  of  the  Fire  Department. 

In  answer  to  questions  the  Mayor  explained  his  views 
on  the  transportation  situation.  Referring  to  the  conges- 
tion of  downtown  streets  he  made  the  interesting  announce- 
ment that  the  city  is  considering  the  project  of  securing  a 
site  on  the  Lake  Front  (Grant  Park")  for  the  parking  of 
automobiles,  so  that  no  automobile  shall  be  allowed  to  stand 
anywhere  else  in  the  downtown  district  for  more  than,  say, 
ten  minutes  at  a  time.  The  Mayor  also  declared,  in  answer 
to    another   question,   that   he   was   still   a    believer    in    the 


ultimate  municipal  ownership  of  local  utilities.  In  dealings 
with  utility  companies  service  should  be  the  first  considera- 
tion rather  than  monetarj'  compensation  to  be  paid  into  the 
city  treasury. 

Commissions  appointed  by  the  Governor  of  the  State  have 
not  always  given  good  service  in  Chicago,  according  to  the 
Mayor,  who  cited  the  records  of  some  of  the  park  boards  to 
prove  this.  In  any  appointive  commission  there  is  the  pos- 
sibility that  a  mistake  may  be  made  in  selection  owing  to 
an  error  of  judgment  or  political  "pull."  The  City  Council, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  elected  directly  by  the  people.  How- 
ever, if  the  Legislature  should  create  a  public-utility  com- 
mission for  Chicago  and  vest  the  power  of  appointment  in 
him.  Mayor  Harrison  promised  to  do  his  level  best  to  make 
good  appointments.  As  an  individual  the  Mayor  would  not 
say  that  he  would  oppose  the  creation  of  a  district  commis- 
sion for  Chicago,  He  declared,  however,  that  the  views  of 
the  Citv  Council  must  be  taken  into  account. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    FIRST    DISTRICT. 

Reports  of  accidents  on  the  railroads  and  street  rail- 
roads in  Greater  New  York  during  the  month  of  October 
were  summarized  and  a  report  given  out  by  the  Public 
Service  Commission  for  the  First  District  a  few  days  ago. 
The  total  number  of  persons  killed  was  29,  the  total 
number  of  serious  injuries  208,  and  the  total  number  of 
personal  injuries  3771.  All  accidents,  including  the  per- 
sonal injuries,  totaled  6263. 

NEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    SECOND    DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  District,  has  di- 
rected its  counsel  to  commence  an  action  against  the  New 
York  Telephone  Company  for  failure  to  comply  with  the 
commission's  order  made  on  Oct.  15,  1912,  directing  it  to 
furnish  telephone  service  to  the  Metropolitan  Telegraph  & 
Telephone  Company  in  accordance  with  the  demand  of  the 
Metropolitan  company  and  upon  the  payment  for  such 
service  one  month  in  advance,  and  to  place  the  name  of 
the  complainant  among  the  subscribers  in  the  usual  man- 
ner in  which  subscribers'  names  are  placed  in  the  directory. 
On  Nov.  II  the  commission  denied  the  petition  of  the  New 
York  Telephoiie  Company  for  a  rehearing  and  the  Metro- 
politan company  now  advises  the  commission  that  it  has 
not  been  furnished  with  service  nor  listed  in  the  directory. 

The  commission  has  given  its  approval  to  the  sale  of  the 
power  plant  of  the  Rochester,  Syracuse  &  Eastern  Railroad 
Company  at  Lyons  and  the  power  plant  of  the  Auburn  & 
Syracuse  Electric  Railroad  Company  at  Auburn  to  the 
Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Power  Company.  The  ap- 
provals are  given  upon  the  e.xpress  condition  that  they  are 
not  in  any  event  to  be  construed  as  an  authorization  for  the 
Niagara  company  to  distribute  power  or  electrical  energy 
or  to  operate  in  any  territory  whatsoever  as  an  electrical 
corporation  by  reason  of  any  agreement  which  would  other- 
wise require  the  authorization  or  consent  of  the  commis- 
sion. The  approval  is  also  not  to  be  construed  as  an  ap- 
proval of  any  construction  of  transmission  lines  by  the 
Niagara  company,  and  any  further  construction  requiring 
the  consent  of  the  commission  must  be  taken  up  in  a  sepa- 
rate proceeding. 

Under  the  terms  of  a  contract  approved  by  the  commis- 
sion the  power  company  is  to  sell  electric  power  to  the 
so-called  Beebe  roads  for  a  term  of  twenty  years  from 
Dec.  I,  1912.  A  provision  is  made  for  the  furnishing  of  all 
power  needed  for  the  operation  of  the  road  or  any  exten- 
sions, additions  and  improvements,  connecting  roads,  etc. 
The  railroads  agree  to  purchase  exclusively  from  the  power 
company  during  this  term  energy  delivered  to  the  transmis- 
sion lines  of  the  railroad  a't  the  Lyons  power  house  or  at 


ii88 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


one  of  the  substations  of  the  Rochester  road  located  near 
Lyons,  and  also  at  a  point  near  Halcomb,  Onondaga  County. 
Under  the  new  arrangement  the  electric  railroads  will 
have  not  only  the  service  of  the  Niagara,  Lockport  &  On- 
tario Power  Company,  but  the  benefit  of  the  steam  reserve 
plant  located  near  the  eastern  end  of  its  transmission  lines, 
which  will  give  to  the  railroad  company's  supply  of  power 
east  of  Rochester  better  regulation  and  greater  safeguards 
against  interruptions  of  service.  The  commission  has  also 
ciU'.horized  the  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Power  Com- 
pany to  incur  an  indebtedness  of  $600,000  for  the  purchase 
of  the  Lyons  plant  and  a  further  indebtedness  of  $226,000 
for  the  purchase  of  the  Auburn  plant. 

MASSACHUSETTS    COMMISSION. 

The  Mayor  of  Newburyport  has  petitioned  the  Gas  and 
Electric  Light  Commission  for  a  reduction  in  the  rates  now 
in  force  for  gas  and  electricity  on  the  system  of  the  New- 
buryport Gas  &  Electric  Company.  A  complaint  has  also 
been  filed  with  the  board  by  the  selectmen  of  Rockland 
against  the  prices  for  street  lighting  maintained  by  the 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  Abington  and  Rock- 
land. 

Hearings  have  been  concluded  by  the  joint  commission 
designated  by  the  last  Legislature  to  investigate  the  status 
of  holding  companies  in  Massachusetts,  and  a  report  on  the 
subject  will  be  made  to  the  next  General  Court  soon  after 
it  convenes  in  January.  The  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Com- 
mission and  the  Railroad  Commission  sat  as  a  part  of  the 
joint  board  in  the  hearings,  and  a  large  amount  of  testi- 
mony was  advanced  on  behalf  of  and  in  criticism  of  the 
holding  company  idea.  Representatives  of  central  sta- 
tion organizations  defended  the  voluntary  association  as  a 
necessary  device  for  financing  groups  of  public  utilities 
physically  or  legally  unrelated. 

NEW    JERSEY    COMMISSION. 

The  Board  of  Public  Utility  Commissioners  has  denied 
an  application  of  the  Trenton  Chamber  of  Commerce  for 
suspension  of  a  proposed  increase  of  50  cents  per  month 
in  the  charge  for  residence  telephone  service  by  the  Dela- 
ware &  Atlantic  Telegraph  &  Telephone  Company.  In 
ruling  on  this  matter  the  board  stated  that  the  ordinary 
application  for  the  suspension  of  increased  rates  comes  to 
the  board  without  any  specific  knowledge  on  its  part  of  the 
particular  circumstances  under  which  the  increase  is  made. 
The  board  has  been  for  some  time  investigating  the  rates 
charged  by  the  Delaware  &  Atlantic  Telegraph  &  Tele- 
phone Company  in  the  city  of  Camden.  The  proposed  in- 
crease in  Trenton  will  have  the  effect  of  aligning  Trenton 
rates  with  those  of  Atlantic  City  and  Camden.  The  board 
states  that  the  evidence  in  the  Camden  case  is  sufficient  to 
rebut  the  presumption  which  ordinarily  would  exist  in  fa- 
vor of  the  established  rate  in  Trenton.  The  increase  is 
declared  to  be  prima  facie  in  the  nature  of  eliminating  dis- 
criminatory and  preferential  rates  for  the  Trenton  area. 
At  a  recent  hearing  before  the  board  it  was  agreed  by  the 
Trenton  Chamber  of  Commerce  that  it  would  not  push  its 
complaint  as  to  the  reasonableness  of  the  Trenton  rates 
until  after  the  decision  of  the  board  on  the  reasonableness 
of  the  rate  charged  in  Camden. 

MARYLAND    COMMISSION. 

The  Frederick  Board  of  Trade  will  carry  to  the  Public 
Service  Commission  the  question  of  telephone  rates  in 
Frederick  County.  It  is  contended  that  the  rates  charged 
by  the  Chesapeake  &  Potomac  Telephone  Company  in 
Frederick  County  are  not  uniform  for  the  class  of  service 
given,  according  to  some  complaints  made  to  the  members 
of  the  Board  of  Trade.  Chairman  Laird  of  the  commis- 
sion has  informed  the  Frederick  Board  of  Trade  that  it 
may  bring  its  charges  before  the  commission  and  that  an 
early  hearing  will  be  given  the  case  as  the  Cambridge 
Board  of  Trade  has  a  similar  case  pending. 


OHIO    COMMISSION. 

The  Washington  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  of  Washing- 
ton C.  H.,  has  been  authorized  to  issue  $100,000  new  bonds 
with  which  to  retire  those  outstanding  and  make  exten- 
sions. For  the  purpose  of  making  other  improvements  the 
company  was  also  authorized  to  issue  $50,000  new  stock. 

On  a  second  application  the  Ohio  Traction  Company  was 
given  permission  to  issue  $750,000  additional  stock  with 
which  to  reimburse  the  income  account  for  money  spent 
in  making  improvements  during  the  past  five  years.  The 
second  application  was  filed  by  President  W.  Kelsey 
Schoepf  and  was  accompanied  by  an  exhaustive  brief  as 
to  why  this  step  should  be  taken. 

The  application  of  the  Dayton  Power  &  Light  Company 
for  permission  to  issue  $150,000  stock  to  exchange  for  the 
stock  of  the  ]\Iiami  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company,  which 
had  been  purchased  some  time  ago,  was  approved  by  the 
commission    recently. 

WISCONSIN    COMMISSION. 

In  the  case  of  the  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  &  Light 
Company  against  the  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission, 
Judge  Stevens  in  the  Circuit  Court  has  issued  an  order 
granting  the  request  of  the  plaintiff  for  a  stay  of  execu- 
tion of  the  judgment  rendered  against  it  during  the  pend- 
ency of  its  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court.  The  stay  of  exe- 
cution also  includes  the  order  of  the  commission  which 
called  for  the  sale  of  thirteen  street-car  fare  tickets  for 
50  cents.  Judge  Stevens  ordered  the  plaintiff',  however, 
to  continue  to  issue  a  coupon  with  every  sale  of  twelve 
tickets  which  will  be  good  for  one  fare  in  case  the  company 
loses  its  case. 


Current  News  and  Notes 


Telephone  Pioneers  of  America. — The  office  of  the  sec- 
retary of  the  Telephone  Pioneers  of  America  has  been 
removed  to  larger  quarters  at  30  Church  Street,  New  York. 
Room  730.     Pioneers  visiting  the  city  will  be  vi-elcomed. 

*  *     * 

Wireless  Tower  917  Ft.  High. — The  new  tower  of  the 
German  Wireless  Company's  station  at  Nauen  which  is  now 
in  course  of  erection  will  reach  a  height  of  917  ft.,  making 
it  the  highest  wireless  tower  in  the  world.  It  is  expected 
that  the  company  will  be  able  to  send  messages  nearly  6000 
miles,  or  practically  the  distance  from  Berlin  to  Chicago. 

^        *         :ic 

Officers  of  the  Electric  Club  of  Portland. — The 
Electric  Club  of  the  Portland  (Ore.)  Railway,  Light  & 
Power  Company  at  a  recent  meeting  elected  these  officers 
for  the  ensuing  year:  President,  Mr.  F.  W.  Hild,  general 
manager  of  the  Portland  Company ;  vice-president,  Mr. 
A.  C.  McMicken,  and  secretary,  Mr.  M.  B.  Grenfell.  A 
number  of  the  club  members  are  planning  to  take  up 
university  extension  work  under  the  auspices  of  professors 
from  the  LTniversity  of  Oregon. 

*  *     * 

Court  Denies  Edison's  Invention  of  Moving-Picture 
Film. — The  Court  of  Appeals  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
on  Dec.  2  delivered  an  opinion  denying  that  Edison  was  the 
inventor  of  the  moving-picture  film  and  reversing  the 
decision  of  a  lower  court  granting  an  injunction  and  dam- 
ages to  Mr.  Edison's  assignees  against  a  film  company  in 
Chicago.  The  court  declared  that  the  moving-picture  film 
was  neither  invented  nor  discovered  by  Mr.  Edison,  but  was 
the  production  of  a  maker  of  photographic  supplies.  In  its 
written  opinion  the  court  does  not  "dissent  from  the  proposi- 
tion that  Mr.  Edison  solved  the  problem  of  the  moving- 
picture  art  with  great  ingenuity  and  skill."  but  points  out 
that  "the  problems  he  solved  were  in  the  camera  apparatus 
wherein  his  true  claim  to  invention  lies." 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1189 


Gazetteer  of  the  Surface  Waters  of  California- 
The  October  issue  of  the  Monthly  Catalogue,  United  States 
Public  Documents,  announces  that  Part  II  of  Water  Supply 
Paper  No.  295,  entitled  "Gazetteer  of  the  Surface  Waters 
of  California,"  is  now  ready  for  distriluition.  This  portion 
covers  the  San  Joaquin  River  basin.  Part  I,  previously 
issued,  covered  the  Sacramento  River  basin. 

*  *     * 

Johns  Hopkins  Engineering  Society. — The  first  meet- 
ing of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Engineering  Society,  which  was 
recently  formed  by  the  students  in  the  technical'  school,  was 
held  during  the  past  week  in  the  physical  laboratory  of  the 
university.  The  meeting  was  addressed  by  Mr.  B.  Howell 
Griswold,  Jr.,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  university,  who 
has  been  largely  instrumental  in  persuading  the  last  Legis- 
lature to  appropriate  $600,000  for  the  erection  of  buildings 
for  the  technical  school  and  to  promise  a  yearly  gift  of 
$50,000  to  that  school. 

*  *     * 

International  Waterways  Commission. — President 
Taft  in  a  special  message  to  Congress  on  Dec.  3  asked  that 
appropriations  for  the  American  section  of  the  Interna- 
tional Waterways  Commission  be  continued  until  it  could 
make  final  recommendations  as  to  a  dam  at  the  outlet  of 
Lake  Erie  at  Buffalo  and  conclude  the  work  of  marking  the 
boundary  between  the  United  States  and  Canada,  which 
will  take  about  fifteen  months.  The  last  appropriation  for 
the  American  section  expired  with  the  opening  of  the 
present  session   of  Congress. 

*  +     * 

Proposed  Patent  Reform,  by  Texas  Attorney-General. 
— At  the  recent  gathering  of  the  National  Association  of 
Attorney-Generals,  held  in  St.  Louis,  Attorney-General 
Walthall  of  Texas  advocated  repealing  and  completely 
revising  the  present  patent  laws.  Mr.  Walthall  suggested 
that  a  patent  commission  be  named  to  fix  the  price  of  inven- 
tions and  to  remunerate  inventors  from  the  United  States 
Treasury.  The  government  could  then  collect  a  royalty 
upon  'the  use  or  sale  of  the  patented  article  and  thereafter 
release  the  invention  to  the  public. 

*  *     * 

Volume  IX  of  Public  Document  Catalogue. — It  is 
announced  in  the  October  Monthly  Catalogue,  United  States 
Public  Documents,  that  Vol.  IX  of  the  series  of  catalogs  of 
public  documents  of  the  United  States,  issued  from  tlie 
office  of  the  superintendent  of  documents,  is  now  ready.  It 
records  the  publications  of  the  legislative  branch  of  the 
government  which  were  ordered  printed  during  the  life  of 
the  Sixtieth  Congress,  March  4,  1907,  to  March  4,  1909,  and 
the  publications  of  the  executive  and  judicial  branches 
issued  during  the  two  fiscal  years  July  i,  1907,  to  June  30, 
1909.     The  catalog  fills   1830  large,  double-column,  closely 

printed  pages. 

*  *     * 

Reduction  of  Ohio  Liahilitv  Insurance  Rates. — 
Announcement  has  been  made  public  by  the  Ohio  State  Lia- 
bility Board  of  Awards  of  a  further  reduction  of  the  insur- 
ance rates  for  employers'  liability  under  the  State  insurance 
plan,  effected  through  a  revision  of  its  rule  in  reference  to 
ratings.  This  adds  still  more  to  the  reductions,  ranging 
from  15  per  cent  to  65  per  cent,  announced  recently.  In- 
dustries of  a  certain  class  showing  a  small  number  of  ac- 
cidents per  $100,000  of  payroll  will  benefit  from  the  added 
reduction.  In  order  to  equalize  this,  the  rates  will  be  in- 
creased where  accidents  prove  more  numerous ;  3  per  cent 
will  be  added  to  the  rate  for  every  accident  above  ten  for 

each  $100,000  of  payroll. 

*  *     * 

East  Boston  Tunnel  to  Be  Extended. — The  Boston 
Transit  Commission  has  begun  work  upon  an  extension 
of  the  East  Boston  tunnel  westward  from  Scollay  Square 
under    Bowdoin    Square    and    Cambridge    Streets    to    the 


vicinity  of  the  Charles  River  Basin.  The  tunnel  is  now 
operated  by  the  Boston  Elevated  Railway  Company  and 
since  its  completion  several  years  ago  has  provided  a 
short  route  between  the  heart  of  the  city  and  its  island 
suburb  at  the  east.  Upon  the  completion  of  the  extension 
facilities  will  be  available  for  continuous  transportation 
between  East  Boston  and  Cambridge  at  greatly  decreased 
running  times.  Two  new  subway  stations  will  be  built  in 
connection  with  the  work,  one  under  Scollay  Square  and 
the  other  under  Bowdoin  Square.  At  present  the  tunnel 
is  operated  with  a  stub-end  terminal  in  Boston  whicli 
seriously  limits  its  traffic  capacity. 

Saskatchew.\n  Coal  Fields. — According  to  latest  re- 
ports, there  are  2,000,000,000  tons  of  lignite  coal  in  the 
fields  south  of  Regina  and  Moose  Jaw,  in  the  Province  of 
Saskatchewan,  Canada,  in  addition  to  large  quantities  of 
such  fuel  extending  at  intervals  all  the  way  from  Estevan 
to  North  Battleford.  It  is  said  that  this  interesting  infor- 
mation is  divulged  in  a  report  to  the  provincial  government 
by  Air.  R.  O.  Wynn-Roberts  on  the  feasibility  of  develop- 
ing gas  and  power  from  the  lignite  deposits  throughout  the 
Province.  The  cost  of  producing  mechanical  power  in 
Regina  at  the  present  time  is  reported  to  be  about  $60  per 
hp-year.  It  is  therefore  expected  that  the  making  of 
briquettes  from  lignite  coal  and  the  development  of  both 
power  and  gas  from  the  same  source  will  be  practicable 
and  economical  and  will  prove  to  be  an  important  factor 
in  the  development  of  the  cities  throughout  the  Province. 

*  *     * 

Prize  Contest,  New  York  Companies'  Section,  N.  E.  L. 
A. — The  contest  committee  of  the  New  York  Companies' 
Section  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  has  for- 
mulated a  plan  for  determining  the  selection  of  delegates  to 
attend  the  Chicago  convention  next  year.  Prizes  of  $125 
each  will  be  allotted  to  the  four  leaders  in  the  contest.  The 
plan  proposed  in  awarding  points  is  as  follows :  Attendance 
at  meeting,  maximum  of  five  points  each  month ;  subject 
matter  for  the  bulletin,  maximum  of  five  points  each  month  ; 
securing  new  members  for  the  section,  maximum  of  five 
points  each  month;  suggestions  submitted  monthly  for  the 
benefit  of  the  lighting  industry,  maximum  of  fifteen  points 
each  month ;  discussion  at  monthly  meetings,  maximum  of 
thirty  points  each  month ;  presentations  of  monthly  papers 
to  the  contest  com.mittee,  maximum  of  forty  points  each 
month.  It  is  stipulated  that  the  papers  submitted  shall  con- 
tain not  fewer  than  1000  nor  more  than  2500  words. 

*  *     * 

Boston  &  Providence  Interurban  Line  to  Be  Built. — 
It  was  announced  at  Boston  last  week  that  the  proposed 
electric  high-speed  interurban  liae  planned  by  the  Stone  & 
Webster  interests,  to  be  built  between  Boston  and  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.,  will  be  carried  through  without  regard  to  the 
loss  in  right-of-way  which  the  company  had  expected  to 
secure  from  the  Southern  New  England  Railway  prior  to 
the  withdrawal  of  the  latter  from  New  England  at  the 
behest  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway.  Mr.  A.  Stuart  Pratt, 
of  Stone  &  Webster,  stated  in  this  connection  that  the 
company  would  in  all  probability  endeavor  to  obtain  its  own 
right-of-way  into  Providence.  Mr.  E.  S.  Webster,  of  the 
firm,  stated  that  no  negotiations  have  been  held  between 
the  promoters  of  the  new  company  and  the  New  Haven 
system.  '  Branch  lines  have  been  surveyed  to  New  Bed- 
ford, Fall  River  and  Taunton,  Mass.  The  new  line  is  ex- 
pected to  compete  with  the  New  Haven  lines  in  all  branches 
of  service. 

+     *     * 

Dewey  Decimal  System  Applied  to  Classification  of 
Engineering  Data. — In  1906  the  Engineering  Experiment 
Station,  University  of  Illinois,  Urbana,  111.,  issued  a  pub- 
lication entitled  "An  Extension  of  the  Dewey  Decimal 
System  of  Classification  Applied  to  the  Engineering  In- 
dustries," prepared  by  Prof.   L.   P.   Breckenridge  and   Mr. 


1190 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


G.  A.  Goodenough.  This  publication  was  issued  as  Bulletin 
No.  9.  The  original  publication  was  distributed  gratuitously, 
according  to  custom,  and  the  subsequent  demands  for  it 
were  such  that  a  s-econd  edition  was  printed  and  ultimately 
distributed.  Altogether  20,000  copies  were  sent  out.  The 
demand  having  continued,  it  was  finally  decided  to  revise 
and  print  a  new  edition,  which  is  limited.  A  revision  has 
been  made  in  accordance  with  the  191 1  edition  of  "Decimal 
Classification"  by  Mr.  Melvil  Dewey.  Copies  are  for  sale  at 
50  cents  each  and  may  be  obtained  by  addressing  Prof. 
W.  F.  M.  Goss,  director  of  the  Engineering  Experiment 
Station. 

*  *     * 

SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 
Southwestern  Gas  &  Electric  Association. — The 
next  annual  convention  of  the  Southwestern  Electrical  and 
Gas  Association  will  be  held  at  Galveston,  Tex.,  May  21-' 
24,  1913,  with  headquarters  at  the  new  Galvez  Hotel.  Mr. 
H.  S.  Cooper,  405  Slaughter  Building,  Dallas,  Tex.,  is  sec- 
retary of  the  organization. 

*  *     * 

Electrical  Association  of  the  Province  of  Quebec. — 
.^t  the  last  monthly  meeting  of  the  Electrical  Association 
of  the  Province  of  Quebec  it  was  decided  to  abolish  the 
monthly  meetings  and  in  their  stead  to  hold  weekly 
luncheons.  Professor  L.  A.  Herdt,  of  McGill  University, 
addressed  the  association  at  its  last  luncheon  in  Montreal, 

his  topic  being  "Recent  Developments  in  Electricity." 

*  *     * 

Electrical  Society  of  Columbia  UNivERsiTv.^The 
next  meeting  of  the  Electrical  Engineering  Society  of 
Columbia  University  will  be  held  on  Dec.  12  at  8:15  p.  m., 
in  Room  301  of  the  Engineering  Building,  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, ii6th  Street  and  Broadway,  New  York.  Mr.  R. 
B.  Treat,  of  the  Crocker-Wheeler  Company,  will  lecture 
on  "The  Application  of  Electric  Motors  to  Steel  Mills"  at 
this  meeting.  Mr.  Cornelius  Kroll  is  secretary  of  the 
association. 

*  *     * 

Detroit-Ann  Arbor  Section  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E. — At  the 
meeting  of  the  Detroit-Ann  Arbor  Section  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  held  Nov.  23  the  following 
officers  were  elected:  Chairman,  Mr.  J.  J.  Woolfender, 
Detroit;  vice-chairman,  Mr.  S.  G.  Dinsmore,  Detroit;  sec- 
retary, Mr.  R.  K.  Holland,  Ann  Arbor;  vice-secretary,  Mr. 
G.  W.  Krause,  Detroit.  During  the  evening  Mr.  Holland 
gave  a  talk  on  the  new  Barton  dam  of  the  Eastern  Michigan 
Edison  Companv  which  is  now  being  erected  at  Ann  Arbor, 
Mich. 

*  *     * 

December  Meeting  of  New  York  Companies'  Section, 
N.  E.  L.  A. — A  meeting  of  the  New  York  Companies'  Sec- 
tion of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  will  be  held 
on  Dec.  16  at  the  Edison  Auditorium.  The  topic  to  be  dis- 
cussed is  watt-hour  meters.  Mr.  Samuel  G.  Rhodes,  head 
of  the  meter  department  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company, 
will  preside,  and  it  is  expected  that  representatives  of  the 
General  Electric  Company,  the  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company,  the  Sangamo  Electric  Company 
and  also  representatives  of  various  central  stations  will  take 
part  in  the  discussion. 

San  Francisco  Electrical  Development  League. — At 
the  last  regular  monthly  meeting  of  the  Electrical  Develop- 
ment League  of  San  Francisco  the  guest  of  honor  was 
Mr.  Walter  A.  Chowen,  vice-president  of  the  Pacific  Surety 
Company.  Mr.  Chowen  read  a  paper  on  the  subject  of  the 
new  employers'  liability  law  enacted  by  the  Legislature  at 
its  last  session.  The  heavy  indemnities  for  which  employers 
are  liable  in  case  of  the  accidental  deaths  of  employees, 
ji.iyable  to  their  heirs,  have  discouraged  employers.  Mr 
''hfiwen  said,  from  engaging  married  men.  In  his  opinion. 
ilir  -.'.noption  of  a  strict  safety  appliance  law  would  tend  to 


lower  the  rates  of  liability  insurance.  Mr.  H.  V.  Carter  is 
president  of  the  league  and  Mr.  E.  B.  Strong  is  secretary- 
treasurer. 

*  *     * 

Minnesota  Section,  A.  I.  E.  E.— At  a  meeting  of  the 
Minnesota  Section,  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, held  at  McCormick's  cafe,  Minneapolis,  Nov.  11, 
Mr.  Lincoln  Nissley,  construction  engineer  for  H.  M. 
Byllesby  &  Company,  presented  a  paper  on  transmission- 
line  construction.  The  subject  was  discussed  by  Prof.  W 
George  P. .  Shepardson  and  Messrs.  R.  A.  Lundquist  and  ■ 
A.  Aspnes.  Mr.  W.  C.  Beckjord,  construction  engineer  for 
the  St.  Paul  Gas  Light  Company,  followed  with  an  illus- 
trated talk  on  the  erection  of  a  1700-ft.  span  over  the 
St.  Croix  River,  and  Prof.  W.  T.  Ryan  discussed  results 
of  tests  made  on  an  experimental  span. 

*  *     * 

Boston  Branch,  A.  I.  E.  E. — At  a  regular  monthly  meet- 
ing of  the  Boston  branch  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  on  Nov.  21  Mr.  H.  J.  W.  Fay,  assistant 
general  manager  of  the  Submarine  Signal  Company,  Boston. 
Mass.,  read  a  paper  en  the  application  of  electricity  to  sub- 
marine signaling.  The  author  described  the  development  of 
marine  signaling  from  the  earliest  days  of  beacon  fires  un 
dangerous  headlands  to  the  present  time,  and  outlined  the 
progress  made  in  the  design  of  apparatus  for  the  transmis- 
sion and  reception  of  under-water  signals  to  secure  clear 
and  accurate  indications  without  interference  by  outside 
noises.  Mr.  Fay's  discussion  of  the  subject  followed  the 
lines  of  his  paper  read  at  the  Boston  convention  of  the 
Institute  on  June  27. 

*  *     * 

Philadelphia  Electric  Company  Section  of  N.  E.  L.  A. 
— The  second  regular  meeting  of  the  Philadelphia  Electric 
Company  Section  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  for  the  season  1912-13 
was  held  in  the  Franklin  Institute  on  Nov.  18,  1912.  Pre- 
ceding the  meeting  a  dinner  was  held  at  the  Continental 
Hotel.  The  paper  of  the  evening  was  on  "Resuscitation 
from  Electric  Shock"  by  Dr.  Charles  A.  Lauffer,  medical 
director  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing 
Company.  After  Dr.  Lauffer's  paper  was  read  Mr.  B. 
Frank  Day,  chairman,  who  presided,  introduced  Mr.  W.  C. 
L.  Eglin,  a  member  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  Commission  on 
"Resuscitation  from  Electric  Shock,"  who  called  attention 
to  the  advantages  of  the  Schaefer  prone-pressure  method 
over  the  Sylvester  method  so  long  in  vogue.  Mr.  Maddox, 
of  Chester,  discussed  the  paper  of  the  evening  and  felt 
that  more  emphasis  should  be  placed  upon  this  important 
method  by  medical  schools.  The  discussion  was  followed 
by  a  demonstration  of  the  Schaefer  method  directed  by 
Dr.  Lauffer  and  Mr.  Eglin.  The  second  meeting  of  the 
Meter  Department  Branch  of  the  Philadelphia  Electric 
Company  Section  was  held  on  Nov.  i.  The  meeting  was 
addressed  by  Mr.  William  Bradshaw,  of  the  Westing- 
house Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  who  discussed 
many  problems  incident  to  the  design  and  manufacture  of 
the  electric  meter.  A  very  animated  discussion  followed 
the  address.  The  second  meeting  of  the  accounting  de- 
partment branch  of  the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company  was 
held  Nov.  12.  In  the  absence  of  the  chairman,  the  vice- 
chairman,  Mr.  G.  P.  Landwehr,  presided.  The  first  paper 
of  the  evening  was  "Filing  and  Indexing  and  Its  Aid  to 
Modern  Business,"  by  Mr.  W.  L.  Cowperthwait,  of  the 
consumers'  division.  A  general  discussion  followed  the 
reading  of  the  paper.  The  guest  of  the  evening  was  Mr. 
George  A.  Henrich,  district  manager  of  the  Burroughs 
Adding  Machine  Company,  who  spoke  upon  the  theme  "The 
Advance  of  Clerks  in  the  Accounting  Department."  The 
second  regular  meeting  of  the  commercial  department 
branch  was  held  Nov.  25,  Mr.  Walter  T.  Dyre  presiding. 
The  subject  of  the  evening  was  "Heating  Appliances,"  and 
Mr.  F.  W.  Smith's  paper,  as  originally  presented  at  Asso- 
ciation Island,  was  read. 


A  UNIQUE  UTAH  WATER-POWER. 

New  Riverdale  Plant  of  the  Weber  &  Davis  Counties  Company,   Utilizing 

Irrigation  Canal. 

1400  Ft.  of  8-Ft.    Penstocks    Carrying    Full    Pressure    of  200-Ft.    Head — Design    Adopted    to    Resist 
Impact  Heads — Synchronous   Relief  Valves  and  Water-Saving  Devices. 


IT  was  through  the  Weber  Canyon,  a  fortunate  rocky 
pass  in  the  Wasatch  Mountains  of  Northern  Utah, 
that  the  intrepid  builders  of  the  Union  Pacific  Rail- 
road, having  surmounted  the  crest  of  the  continent,  finally 
descended  into  the  broad,  fertile  valley  of  the  Great  Salt 
Lake,  already  a  thriving  region  of  Mormon  industry  and 
culture. '  Ogden,  then  the  chief  city  of  the  poplar-studded 
plain,  in  turn  underwent  a  distinct  movement  south  to  meet 
the  railroad,  leaving  the  old  civic  center  to  become  an 
outlying  residence  suburb  of  the  city  of  to-day.  But,  be- 
sides bringing  Ogden  its  intercourse  with  the  world  out- 
side and  moving  the  city  almost  bodily  a  couple  of  miles, 
the  Weber  River  and  the  Weber  Canyon  had  other  good 
things  in  store  for  this  community  of  Latter  Day  Saints, 
including  irrigation  of  the  countryside  for  miles  around 
and,  more  recently,  even  hydroelectric  energy  for  lighting 


unique,  having  huge  steel  penstocks  of  extraordinary 
length  under  full  hydraulic  head  and  special  features  of 
design  to  control  and  withstand  the  unusual  normal  and 
impact  forces  involved  in  these  great  moving  masses  of 
water.  Utilizing  its  own  available  resources  to  the  limit, 
the  plant  also  "borrows"  the  flow  of  an  independent  irri- 
gation ditch,  later  returning  it  to  the  lower  channel  by 
means  of  a  centrifugal  pump  after  extracting  the  net 
energy  of  nearly  200  ft.  of  fall,  which  would  otherwise 
be  wasted.  In  spite  of  the  difficult  natural  conditions  to 
be  overcome  and  the  completeness  and  excellence  of  its 
equipment,  the  present  plant  has  been  erected  at  a  very 
low  cost,  declared  to  have  been  less  than  $45  per  kw. 

The  point  of  diversion  of  the  main  irrigation-ditch  supply 
is  in  the  Weber  Canyon,  8  miles  from  the  power  house. 
The  30-ft.  channel  has  been  concreted,  rendering  it  water- 


I  (  1 1 


Fig.    1 — Panoramic    View    of    Riverdale  Development,    Near   Ogden,    Utah. 


the    city    and    operating    interuban    railways    connecting    it 
with  other  cities  in  the  valley  of  Zion. 

IRRIGATION    CANAL   AND   SITE. 

For  a  number  of  years  the  Davis  &  Weber  Counties 
Canal  Company  has  operated  an  extensive  irrigation  sys- 
tem supplying  a  large  district  near  Ogden.  By  means 
of  a  canal  extending  far  up  the  Weber  Canyon  and 
paralleling  the  railroad's  right-of-way,  water  is  diverted 
from  the  Weber  River  and  led  out  through  a  concreted 
channel  which  for  miles  skirts  the  foothills  and  marginal 
slopes  of  the  lower  river,  supplying  water  to  the  farms 
below  and  beyond.  Realizing  the  water-power  possibili- 
ties of  the  project  originally  installed  for  irrigation  pur- 
poses, it  was  found  possible  to  develop  over  13,000  hp  with 
the  200-ft.  head  available  between  the  canal  and  the  river. 
Of  this  total  capacity,  an  initial  installation  of  3750  hp 
has   now  been   completed. 

At  the  point  selected  as  the  most  advantageous  for  this 
development  the  river  flows  on  the  far  side  of  an  old, 
broad  flood-plain  (now  rich  farmland),  bringing  the 
natural  discharge  channel  more  than  half  a  mile  from  the 
hillside  canal.  The  water-power  plant  was  accordingly 
located  at  about  the  midpoint  of  this  2800-ft.  distance, 
being  supplied  through  steel  penstocks  1400  ft.  in  length, 
while  a  tailpiece  of  about  the  same  length  had  to  be  exca- 
vated to  connect  the  turbine  draft  tubes  with  the  river. 

In  many  respects  the  new  Riverdale  plant  is  therefore 


proof  and  permitting  higher  velocities  of  stream  flow  with- 
out danger  of  "washing"  the  sides.  Originally  325  cu.  ft. 
per  second  was  the  water  allowance  granted  the  irrigation 
company,  but  this  quantity  has  since  been  augmented  by 
additional  filings  of  300  cu.  ft.  per  second.  These  amounts 
do  not  include,  however,  the  18  cu.  ft.  per  second  obtained 
from  the  Riverdale  ditch  which  passes  the  plant.  From 
Sept.  15  to  April  15,  643  cu.  ft.  per  second  is  thus  available 
for  water-power  use.  During  the  remaining  months  of  the 
year  which  comprise  the  irrigation  season  only  318  cu.  ft. 
can  be  taken. 

GATEHOUSE    AND    PENSTOCKS. 

As  initially  installed,  there  are  at  present  two  principal 
waterwheel  units,  one  of  2500-kw  and  the  other  of  1250-kw 
rating.  Each  is  separately  supplied  from  the  gatehouse 
through  its  own  steel  tube,  about  1400  ft.  in  length.  To 
form  the  forebay,  the  30-ft.  concrete-lined  canal  on  the 
side  of  the  hill  has  been  wt:^ened  to  60  ft.  for  a  distance  of 
250  ft.,  providing  a  basin  which  is  in  part  closed  on  the 
plant  side  by  the  gatehouse.  This  concrete  and  brick 
structure  provides  four  penstock  openings,  including  two 
future  outlets  for  additional  2500-kw  units.  Trash  racks 
protect  the  intakes  of  the  present  penstocks,  which  can  be 
closed  respectively  by  96-in.  and  72-in.  sluicegates,  operated 
by  3-hp  induction  motors.  These  gates  work  under  19-ft. 
head  and  can  be  manipulated  from  the  power  house  or 
from  the  gatehouse  itself,  as  desired. 


1 192 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


In  the  first  400  ft.,  as  made  clear  by  the  accompanying 
illustrations,  the  penstock  tubes  drop  173  ft.,  reaching  the 
flood-plain  surface,  on  which  they  are  carried,  practically 
level,  for  a  distance  of  nearly  1000  ft.  to  the  power  house. 
Both  hillside  and  level  are  made  up  of  sand  and  gravel,  and 
on  this  the  steel  tubes  are  carried  by  about  twenty  concrete 
saddle  piers,   resting  directly  on   the   gravel-bed    footings. 


■     Fig.  2 — Irrigation  and  Power  Canal   Leaving  Weber  Canyon. 

The  steel  penstocks  vary  in  diameter  and  thickness  with  the 
normal  hydrostatic  head  and  hydraulic  impact  possible  for 
the  three  sections,  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  table. 

DIMENSIONS   OF   STEEL   PENSTOCKS. 


2500  Kw. 

1250  Kw. 

Diameter. 

Thickness. 

Diameter. 

Thickness. 

First  520  ft 

87  in. 
76  in. 

65  in. 

0.25  in. 
0.38  in. 
0.57  in. 

65  in. 
56  in. 
46  in. 

0  25  in 

Next  43  7  ft 

0  38  in 

Last  432  ft 

0  44  in 

The  velocity  of  the  water  through  the  penstocks  at  normal 
turbine  rating  is  about  6.6  ft.  per  second,  and  the  friction 
loss  a  little  over  4  ft.  of  hydraulic  head,  making  a  net  head 
of  200  ft.  available  at  the  machines  under  full-load  condi- 
tions. The  strength  of  the  lower  sections  of  the  penstock 
and  the  anchoring  of  the  tubes  has  been  designed  to  give 
a  factor  of  safety  of  three  when  withstanding  the  full 
inertia  impact  of  80  per  cent  rise  in  pressure  due  to  closing 
the  lower  valves  in  three  seconds.     This  feature,  coupled 


sea  level,  and  this  reduced  atmospheric  pressure  must  be 
taken  into  consideration  in  designing  draft  tubes,  relief 
valves,  etc. 

Variations    in    length    of    the   penstock    tubes   with    tem- 


Fig.  4 — Sectional    Elevation   of   Plant. 


perature  changes  are  provided  for  by  expansion  joints  with 
sliding  sleeves  and  fiber  packings.  There  are  four  of  these 
joints  in  each  pipe,  and  each  joint  permits  several  inches 
movement.  The  joints  are  mounted  on  concrete  founda- 
tions, firmly  anchored.  As  a  protection  to  the  steel,  the 
tube  interiors  are  lined  with  Sarco  compound.  The  Ryer- 
son  company  furnished  the  penstock  pipes.  Paralleling  the 
power-supply  penstocks,  a  wasteway  flume,  4  ft.  6  in.  wide, 
has  been  provided  for,  but  remains  unbuilt. 

POWER    HOUSE  AND  TURBINE   UNITS. 

Entering  the  power  house,  the  supply  lines  are  taken 
through  hydraulic  valves,  60  in.  and  42  in.  in  diameter  re- 
spectively, and  thence  enter  the  horizontal,  inward-flow, 
reaction-type,  single-discharge  waterwheel  units.  These  are 
Allis-Chalmers  machines  equipped  with  special  Allis-Chal- 
mers  oil-pressure  governors  which  regulate  within  1.5  per 
cent  for  load  changes  from  full  load  to  no  load.  Linked  to 
the  governors  are  synchronous  relief  valves  which,  with  the 
closing  of  the  turbine  wickets,  automatically  open  a  by-pass 
discharge  having  a  capacity  15  per  cent  greater  than  that 
of  the  turbine  itself  at  full  load.  In  this  way,  despite  sud- 
den changes  in  the  turbine-gate  openings,  the  amount  of 
water   flowing   in   the   penstock   pipes   is   not   immediately 


Fig.    3 — Head     House    with     Remote-Controlled     Headgates. 

with  the  extra  precautions  taken  to  secure  close  regulation 
of  turbine  speed  and  generator  voltage,  has  made  the  use 
of  a  surge  tank  unnecessary,  despite  the  long  pipe  lines. 
The  upper  lengths  of  the  pipes  are  protected  against  in- 
ward collapse  due  to  emptying  of  the  tubes  by  suitable  vents. 
As  the  altitude  of  the  station  is  4800  ft.,  the  barometer  level 
stands  much  below  the  normal   readings  of  places  nearer 


Fig.   5 — Waterwheel   Sets   In    Power   House. 

arrested  but  is  diverted  to  the  by-pass  channel,  thus  avoid- 
ing impact  heads  due  to  suddenly  stopping  the  long  moving 
columns.  These  synchronous  relief  valves  are  also  equipped 
with  water-saving  devices  which  ne.xt  slowly  close  the  by- 
pass openings,  reducing  the  penstock  flow  gradually,  without 
rise  in  pressure.  The  relief-valve  and  water-saving 
mechanisms  are  operated  positively  by  the  governors  and 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


"93 


can  be  adjusted  to  work  at  any  desirable  time  interval  for 
opening  and  reclosing  the  by-pass.  The  governors  use  oil 
at  200  lb.  pressure  and  exert  a  controlling  force  of  18,000 
ft.-lb. 

The  3750-hp  waterwheel  unit  is  direct-connected  to  a 
2500-kw  alternator,  and  the  2000-hp  unit  to  a  1250-kw 
alternator,  both  General  Electric  2300-volt,  60-cycle,  three- 


with  a  suction  lift  of  10  ft.  and  lifts  its  output  20  ft.  above 
its  center  line.  As  the  result  of  this  arrangement  for 
"borrowing"  the  Riverdale  Bench  Canal's  supply,  325  hp  is 
developed  by  the  main  turbines,  of  which  100  hp  is  required 
to  operate  the  pump,  making  a  net  gain  of  225  hp  in  case 
of  limited  water  supply  during  the  dry  season,  which  is  two 
months  in   duration. 


Fig.  6 — Step-Up  Transformers,    Riverdale   Power   House. 

phase  machines.  To  assist  in  speed  regulation,  both  sets 
carry  large  flywheels.  The  16,500-lb.  wheel  on  the  2500-kw 
set  has  a  moment  of  inertia  of  100,000  ft.-sq.-lb.,  while  the 
9000-lb.  wheel  on  the  smaller  unit  adds  58,000  ft.-sq.-lb.  of 
flywheel  effect.' 

EXCITERS    AND    AUXILIARIES. 

Excitation  for  the  main  alternators  is  provided  by  two 
50-kw,  125-volt  direct-current  generators,  one  driven  by  a 
2300-volt  induction  motor  and  the  other  by  a  small  water- 
wheel.  The  supply  for  this  exciter  turbine  is  taken  from  a 
cross  header  outside  the  power  house  having  valve  connec- 
tions to  both  penstock  pipes  so  that  either  line  can  be  used. 
A  Woodward  mechanical  governor  controls  the  speed  of  the 
exciter  turbine. 

As  has  been  mentioned,  the  Riverdale  Bench  Canal  is  a 
small  artificial  watercourse  which  supplies  about  18  cu.  ft. 
per  second  to  farms  in  the  flood  plain  of  the  lower  Weber 
River.  This  water,  used  for  irrigation  purposes,  was 
formerly  taken  from  the  river  at  a  point  above,  such  that 
only  enough  head  was  developed  to  distribute  the  supply  to 
the  ditches.  By  arrangement  with  the  farmers  owning  this 
independent  canal,  at  times  of  low  water  in  the  power-plant 


Fig.  8 — High-Tenslon  Structure  and  Line  Entries. 

ELECTRICAL    EQUIPMENT. 

The  2300-volt  output  of  the  generators  is  stepped  up  to 
the  transmission  pressure,  45,000  volts,  by  two  banks  of 
General  Electric  single-phase  transformers,  whose  oil  con- 
tent is  cooled  by  water  circulated  from  the  penstock  supply. 
Both  2300-volt  and  45,000-volt  buses  are  equipped  with 
remote-control  oil  switches,  and  the  outgoing  high-tension 
lines  are  provided  with  instrument  transformers  for  oper- 
ating ammeters,  voltmeters,  etc.  The  high-tension  line 
switches  have  overload  protection  supplied  by  series  relays 
inserted  directly  in  the  switch  leads.  Tubular  copper  buses 
have  been  used  for  all  45,000-volt  construction,  employing 
0.75-in.  tubing  with  i/32-in.  walls.  The  line  exits  are  made 
through  roof-type  insulators  and  are  protected  by  General 
Electric  aluminum-cell  arresters  with  horn-gaps  on  the  roof. 

The  Davis  &  Weber  Counties  Canal  Company,  for  which 
the  plant  was  built,  is  a  co-operative  organization  of  local 
farm  owners.  The  company  disposes  of  its  entire  output  at 
its  switchboard,  selling  to  wholesale  customers  who  operate 
and  maintain  their  own  transmission  lines.  The  Merchants' 
Light  &  Power  Company,  which  furnishes  street  lighting 
and  commercial   service  in   Ogden,   and  the   Salt   Lake  & 


Fig.   7— Oil    Switches   for   2300-Volt   and   45,000-Volt   Circuits. 

supply  the  separate  intake  is  closed  and  the  Riverdale  Bench 
supply  is  taken  far  above  through  the  Weber  Canyon  canal. 
Here  its  entire  200-ft.  head  is  utilized  by  the  plant  turbines, 
and  from  the  plant  tailrace  an  equivalent  quantity  of  water 
is  returned  to  the  Riverdale  ditch  (which  is  siphoned  under 
the  plant  foundations)  by  a  loo-hp,  2300-volt  induction 
motor  driving  a  centrifugal   pump.     This   pump   operates 


Fig.  9 — Valley  of  Weber  River  from  Gate  House. 

Ogden  Electric  Railway,  operating  interurban  service  be- 
tween these  two  cities,  are  the  principal  users  of  the  energy 
generated  in  the  Riverdale  plant. 

The  H.  A.  Strauss  Company,  Chicago,  designed  and 
superintended  the  erection  of  the  new  Riverdale  plant  for 
the  Davis  &  Weber  Counties  Canal  Company,  IVIr.  P.  D. 
Kline  being  resident  engineer  on  the  work. 


ELECTRICITY  IN  METAL  MINING  IN  COLORADO 


Wide  Application  Due  to  Adaptability  and  Low  Cost  as  Compared  with  Other 

Forms  of  Power. 


Its  Use  for  Driving  Hoists,  Pumps,  Drills,  Fans,  Railways  and  in  Various   Processes   Directly  Connected 

with  the  Recovery  of  Precious  Metal  from  Ore. 

By  W.  J.  Canada. 


METAL  mining  in  Colorado  has  experienced  rapid 
change  from  the  placer  mining  of  pioneer  days  to 
mining  of  low-grade  ores  from  definite  veins  at 
great  depths.  Variation  in  mining  methods  and  the  treatment 
of  ores  near  mines,  in  order  to  avoid  shipping  charges, 
naturally  followed.  Formerly  $20  ore  was  thrown  on  the 
dump  heap,  and  ores  yielding  from  $100  to  $300  a  ton  were 
not  uncommon;  to-day  the  average  return  in  the  Cripple 
Creek  district  is  $15  a  ton,  but  one-third  of  the  ore  mined 
does  not  yield  more  than  $3.50  a  ton. 

Where  available,  electrical  energy  is  usually  employed 
by  mine  and  mill  owners,  because  of  its  ready  adaptability 
to  variations  in  operation  to  which  such  plants  are  still 
subject  owing  to  difference  in  the  amount  and  nature 
of  the  ore.  Changed  speed, 
changing  load,  increasing 
number  of  miners  and  drills, 
taxing  one  portion  of  the 
treatment  process  beyond 
the  first  design,  all  indicate" 
advantages  in  electric  drive  ; 
and  when  efficient  power 
production  is  considered  in 
the  face  of  expensive  coal, 
and  frequently  bad  water, 
the  reason  for  the  popu- 
larity of  the  electric  drive 
is  apparent.  Besides  its 
use  for  general  mine  illu- 
mination, electricity  is  also 
employed  in  hoisting,  in 
compressing  air  for  drills, 
in  pumping  water,  in  driv- 
ing fans  for  ventilating 
shafts  and  tunnels  and  in 
locomotives  for  hauling  ore 
to  the  dumps  and  mills.  The  general  character  of  these  loads 
is  treated  separately  in  what  follows.  Alternating-current 
distribution  is  necessary,  owing  to  the  distances  covered, 
and  a  tension  of  440  volts  is  standard  in  all  districts,  making 
the  ready  interchange  of  motors  practicable. 

HOISTS. 

For  the  operation  of  mine  hoists,  occasionally  from  2000- 
ft.  levels  and  over,  accurate  control  is  necessary,  in  order  to 
safeguard  the  lives  of  miners  and  to  facilitate  loading  and 
unloading.  Variations  in  the  amount  of  ore  produced  often- 
times subject  the  hoist  to  overloads,  and  in  order  to  provide 
for  the  rapid  fluctuations  encountered,  considerable  reserve 
in  supply  is  necessary.  For  hoist  service  alternating-current 
motors,  with  external  resistance  in  the  rotor  circuits,  are 
generally  used,  with  drum  controller. 

Most  mines  operate  an  eight-hour  shift  from  7  a.m.  to 
4  p.  m.  The  mains  supplying  the  hoists  are  generally  over- 
fused  100  per  cent  beyond  normal  motor  rating,  and  the 
rating  of  the  motors  is  usually  considered  to  be  25  per  cent 
less  than  the  maximum  demand.  With  induction  motors 
and  maximum  speeds  of  500  ft.  a  minute,  about  15  hp  per 
bucket  ton  is  ordinarily  installed.  The  demand  generally 
approximates  1.5  kw-hr.  per  1000  ft.  per  ton  in  vertical 
shafts. 


Fig.    1- 


Typlcal    Metal    Reduct 
Company, 


In  the  past  it  has  been  the  practice  of  service  companies 
to  discourage  hoist  installations,  because  of  the  compara- 
tively low  income  derived  from  them  and  the  bad  effect  of 
the  load  on  the  line.  Except  in  the  case  of  very  large  hoists, 
such  loads  are  now  considered  desirable,  as  they  usually 
lead  to  other  business.  In  small  or  new  plants  the  motor 
may  be  rented,  but  even  if  purchased  outright,  the  total 
installation  costs  are  much  less  than  for  a  steam  plant,  and, 
with  reasonable  rates  for  service,  the  operating  costs,  in- 
cluding labor  and  service,  are  also  less.  For  "sinking" 
operations,  however,  the  possibility  of  failure  to  pull  men 
out  of  the  hole  before  "shots,"'  because  of  failure  of  supply, 
has  discouraged  electrical-hoist  applications  for  all  but 
finished  shafts.     The  initial  steam  plants  usually  installed 

for  sinking  shafts  have  per- 
sisted in  the  face  of  high 
fuel  and  labor  costs.  Where 
shafts  are  operated  in  con- 
junction with  tunnels,  and 
the  hoists  are  placed  within 
the  mine,  the  long  steam 
pipes  from  boilers  on  the 
surface  and  the  necessity 
for  two  operators  has  made 
the  change  from  steam  to 
electric  drive  a  foregone 
conclusion. 

The  rates  for  hoist-motor 
service  are  commonly  in- 
cluded in  the  general  mine 
charges,  but  since  the  maxi- 
mum demand  and  total 
average  daily  load  are 
readily  checked  and  sep- 
arated, a  flat  rate  is  often- 
times given.  Most  charges 
are  based  on  the  rating  of  the  motors  installed  plus  the 
kilowatt-hour  consumption. 

DRILLS. 

Drills  in  metal  mines  are  almost  all  operated  by  com- 
pressed air,  the  electrical  drills  thus  far  tried  having  been 
unsuccessful.  The  development  of  a  good  electric  drill 
would  obviate  the  trouble  caused  by  the  freezing  of  air  lines 
in  cold  weather  and  enable  extensions  to  be  made  more 
cheaply  and  quickly.  The  compressed  air  is  usually  sup- 
plied from  an  air  compressor  on  the  surface  through  an 
auxiliary  tank.  The  driving  of  the  air  compressor  by 
means  of  an  electric  motor,  automatically  controlled  by  dif- 
ferences in  pressure  in  the  receiver,  eliminates  the  necessity 
for  an  operator  and  avoids  boiler  troubles  and  danger  from 
fire.  Squirrel-cage  induction  motors  are  common  for  the 
smaller  compressors,  and  motors  with  external  resistance 
are  usually  employed  on  the  larger  compressors.  The  com- 
pressor load,  like  that  of  the  hoist,  extends  over  eight  hours, 
and,  while  intermittent  in  character,  is  not  subject  to  stop- 
pages and  excessive  variations  encountered  in  the  operation 
of  electric  hoists.  The  motor  installation  usually  averages 
10  hp  per  2'4-in.  drill  installed,  the  drills  requiring  about 
100  cu.  ft.  of  air  per  minute  at  100  lb.  pressure. 

Where  air  storage  is  possible,  the  electrical  operation  of 
the  compressors  for  mine  service  is  ideal,  although  many 


on    Mill,    Portland    Gold    Mining 
Victor,    Col. 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1 19s 


steam-driven  compressors  are  still  in  use  where  steam  hoists 
are  retained,  one  operator  attending  both.  The  service  for 
compressors,  if  not  included  in  the  total  charge  based  on 
readiness  to  serve  plus  energy  metered,  is  sometimes  ren- 
dered on  a  flat-rate  basis  of  about  40  kw-hr.  per  drill. 

PUMPS. 

Pumps    are    not    very    common    in    the    metal    mines    in 


..         \ 

T^^*— ■■■■ilhwiiJBM.           "  % 

r  *3 

Fig.    2^Mlne    Hoist    Under    Ground    in    Conundrum    Mine. 

Colorado,  as  the  latter  are  usually  in  mountainous  districts 
where  the  rainfall  is  light  and  the  surface  drainage  and 
evaporation  rapid.  Where  shafts  are  sunk  to  very  great 
depths,  multi-stage  centrifugal  or  triplex  pumps  are  in- 
stalled and  are  usually  geared  directly  to  squirrel-cage 
motors.  In  the  Cripple  Creek  district  drainage  tunnels  ren- 
der the  use  of  motors  unnecessary. 

Inasmuch  as  the  pumps,  when  installed,  call  for  constant 
twenty-four-hour  service,  the  load  is  most  desirable  for 
central  stations,  and  because  of  low  first  cost,  low  energy 
charge,  'non-attendance  and  minimum  rates,  electric  drive 
for  pumps  is  desirable  from  the  mine  operator's  viewpoint. 
When  not  installed  in  conjunction  with  other  machinery, 
the  energy  for  motor-driven  pumps  is  usually  sold  on  a 
flat  rate,  since  the  size  of  motor  required,  gear  ratio  and 
demand  are  readily  ascertained  when  the  load  is  constant. 


carbon  dioxide  enters  workings  under  certain  atmospheric 
conditions,  or  other  causes  may  render  the  installation  of 
fans  desirable.  With  eight-hour  shifts  it  is  necessary  to 
run  the  fans  longer  in  order  to  free  the  mines  from  gas 
before  the  arrival  of  the  workmen.  The  load  is  otherwise 
constant,  except  for  the  momentary  opening  of  shaft  or 
tunnel  bulkheads  during  shifts.  Squirrel-cage  induction 
motors   directly   connected  to  the  fans  are  ideal   for  this 


Fig.    A — 15-hp     induction     IVIotor     Driving    75-Ton    Crusher. 

service,  and  are  usually  started  from  the  mouth  of  the  mine. 
In  the  Conundrum  Mine  at  Cripple  Creek  a  15-hp  induction 
motor,  120  ft.  below  the  surface,  is  started  by  a  time  switch 
at  the  head  of  the  shaft  four  hours  before  the  shift  begins. 
The  fan  load  is  even  in  character  and  lasts  from  eight  to 
fourteen  or  more  hours  a  day.  The  use  of  motor-driven 
fans  avoids  high  steam-plant  costs,  with  sometimes  pro- 
hibitive lengths  of  steam  lines,  and  makes  automatic  starting 
possible,  with  ready  control  at  various  levels.  Energy  for 
fan  loads  is  sold  on  a  flat-rate  basis. 

RAILWAYS. 

Mine  railways  are  infrequent  in  Colorado  metal  mines,  but 
where  used  show  the  usual  advantages  over  hand  or  mule 
haulage.  The  cost  per  ton  of  ore  delivered  from  the  shaft 
or  tunnel  to  the  mill  or  dump  has  not  been  studied,  but  the 


Fig.  3 — Wiring  in   Sliaft   House,  Coiburn   Mine,  Victor,   Col, 

For  this  class  of  work  it  is  usual  to  install  8  hp  per  100  gal. 
on  a  loo-ft.  head. 

FANS. 

Since  in  hilly  countries  working  conditions  in  extensive 
mines  usually  develop  natural  drafts  by  combinations  of 
shafts  and  tunnels,  and  since  dangerous  gases  are  seldom 
encountered,  fans  are  rarely  used.     Occasionally,  however, 


Fig. 


Interior  of  Mill  at  Coiburn  Mine. 


increased  output,  due  to  the  use  of  mine  railways,  is  gen- 
erally recognized,  especially  where  all  of  the  output  has  to 
be  handled  through  one  outlet.  Direct-current  series  motors 
are  used  for  this  service,  the  trucks  being  equipped  with 
two  motors,  subject  to  series  parallel  control.  The  tension 
commonly  used  is  125  volts,  and  a  third-rail  system  is  em- 
ployed. ; 


1 196 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  So.  23. 


Although  a  load  of  this  character  is  not  altogether 
desirable,  it  is  usually  sought  by  centra!  stations,  since 
mines  large  enough  to  require  railways  generally  possess 
ore-treatment  plants,  and  the  latter  afford  constant  loads 
of  high  load-factor.  The  rates  for  service  on  mine  rail- 
ways are  usually  based  on  the  rating  of  the  installation,  plus 
the  energy  consumed,  the  motor  of  the  motor-generator  set 


Fig.  6 — 35- hp  Induction  Motor  Belted  to  Two  Five-Stamp  Batteries 
at    Prrmos    Mill,    Lal<ewood. 

being  considered  as  part  of  the  installation,  chargeable  to 
the  railway  system. 

ILLUM-INATION. 

The  lighting  of  metal  mines  offers  a  small  continuous  day 
load  of  about  eight  hours'  duration.  As  the  lamps  are 
seldom  used  during  mill  and  town  lighting  periods  and  the 
load  is  constant,  its  desirability  is  recognized.  Convenience, 
safety  and  generally  better  illumination  recommend  electric 
lighting  to  miners.  In  most  mining  districts  the  secondaries 
are  grounded  in  order  to  safeguard  the  lives  of  the  miners. 
Some  mines  are  bemg  wired  in  well-paiuted  iron  conduit 
with  marine  fittings;  but  packing-house  cable  construction, 
with  porcelain  petticoat  insulators,  and  lamps  in  composi- 
tion keyless  sockets  soldered  direct  to  cable  wires  and  with 
joints  well  painted,  appears  to  give  good  life.  Although 
lighting  rates  are  usually  included  in  the  charges  for  the 
entire  mine  service,  flat  rates  are  not  infrequent. 

Outdoor  transformer  installations  are  commonly  made  for 
mines,  and  even  for  mills.  Choke  coils  and  disconnecting 
switches  are  located  on  the  primary  circuit,  and  sometimes 
horn-gap  arresters  and  oil  switches  are  installed.  Primary 
voltage  in  the  various  districts  differs,  ranging  from  6600 
volts  in  the  Cripple  Creek  district  and  13,000  volts  in 
Boulder  to  as  high  as  24,000  volts.  The  secondary  circuits 
in  all  of  the  districts  have  a  potential  of  440  volts,  and 
separate  transformers  are  used  for  the  lamp  circuits,  or 
occasionally  taps  are  taken  from  the  440-volt  secondary 
windings  of  the  main  transformers.  Although  the  secondary 
of  the  motor  circuits  is  usually  grounded  as  a  precautionary 
measure,  this  does  not  obtain  in  the  Cripple  Creek  district, 
where  it  is  claimed  additional  transformer  troubles  have 
been  traced  to  this  cause.  While  motors  are  sometimes 
rented  of  the  public  utility  company  in  new  or  small  mines, 
the  transformers  are  in  all  cases  owned  by  the  utility 
company. 

MILLS. 

This  term  includes  all  ore-treatment  plants.  Wet  concen- 
tration requires  crushers,  rolls  or  stamps,  jigs,  trommels, 
shaking  tables,  tube  mills.  Chilean  mills,  sand  pumps,  driers 
and  melting  furnaces,  and  all  of  these  may  be  operated 
electrically.  In  cyanide  treatment,  crushers,  rolls,  tube 
mills,  Chilean  mills,  trommels,  shaking  tables,  sand  and 
solution  pumps,  agitators,  driers,  melting  furnaces  and 
various   applications   of   electrolysis   are   employed,    all    of 


which  offer  fields  for  electrical  application.  All  of  the 
processes,  with  the  exception  of  crushing  and  grinding,  are 
operated  in  both  types  of  mills  with  great  regularity,  since 
savings  of  metal  content  depend  on  known  conditions  and 
these  are  disturbed  by  starting  and  stopping.  Elevators, 
conveyors  and  railways  are  incidental  to  the  transportation 
of  ore,  crushed  ore,  concentrates  and  waste,  where  the 
arrangement  of  the  processes  makes  gravity  feed  impossible 
between  the  consecutive  stages.  To  secure  gravity  feed 
mills  are  customarily  built  on  the  steep  side  hills.  Chlorina- 
tion  having  been  abandoned,  the  electrical  production  of 
chlorine  has  ceased  to  be  a  promising  field,  and  the  roasting 
of  ores  in  revolving  metal  roasters,  so  inclined  that  the  ore 
feeds  from  the  lower  end,  has  also  been  practically  aban- 
doned, so  that  the  cyanide  process  now  predominates. 

CRUSHERS. 

Crushing  is  accomplished  in  jaw  or  disk  crushers,  the  out- 
put of  which  varies  with  the  size  and  hardness  of  the  ore, 
size  to  which  it  is  crushed,  speed  of  machines  and,  of  course, 
with  duration  of  operation.  Mills  supplied  from  mines  near 
at  hand  and  possessing  storage  bins  can  operate  crushers 
practically  continuously  during  mining  hours  or  even  longer. 
The  Portland  mill  crusher  at  Victor  operates  si.xteen  hours 
a  day  and  consequently  offers  a  good  load-factor  in  its 
crusher  plant  and  in  the  mill  as  a  whole.  In  sampling  mills 
the  ore  is  naturally  crushed  as  it  is  received  from  various 
sources,  and  the  operation  is  irregular.  Hand  feed  also 
means  irregular  operation  and  the  desire  to  crush  the 
twenty-four-hour  output  of  a  mill  in  from  five  to  eight 
hours  results  in  a  heavy  load.  The  crusher  motor  is  usually 
belted  to  the  machine  and  is  chosen  large  enough  to  meet 
all  the  usual  irregularities  of  operation.  Much  of  the  time 
the  motor  is  only  partially  loaded.  Practice  varies  so  that 
it  is  impossible  to  give  any  definite  rule  for  determining  the 
size  of  motor.  In  one  large  mill  a  9-in.  by  15-in.  crusher 
for  tungsten  ore  is  driven  by  a  15-hp  motor  and  handles 
40  tons  in  from  six  to  eight  hours,  grinding  it  to  2-in.  mesh. 
Usually  crushing  and  grinding  loads  are  combined  on  a 
single  motor  through  a  short  line  shaft.  Where  the  grind- 
ing is  divided  among  a  number  of  machines  and  storage  is 
provided  between  steps,  the  crusher  and  grinding  load 
becomes  a  desirable  one  from  a  central-station  viewpoint. 

Rolls  are  operated  in  pairs,  each  being  usually  belt-driven 
with    spring   compression.      One   mill   with    an    eight-hour 


Fig. 


7 — Wllfrey  Tables   Belted  to  5-hp   Induction   Motor,   Primos 
Tungsten    Mill, 


crushing,  grinding,  trommeling  and  elevator  load  of  300 
tons  is  operated  by  a  loo-hp  motor  belted  to  a  line  shaft. 
For  crushing  service  squirrel-cage  induction  motors  are 
usually  employed,  and  motors  of  the  external  resistance 
type  are  employed  in  large  mills.  Constancy  of  speed  is 
desirable,  although  not  so  important  as  in  subsequent  opera- 
tions ;  but  ready  control  is  a  feature  which  appeals  to  mill 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


"97 


operators.  In  making  rates  for  mills  the  crusher  plant  is 
usually  included,  although  by  itself  it  does  not  offer  an 
attractive  load  as  ordinarily  operated. 

MILLS. 

Tube  mills  and  Chilean  mills  both  grind  ore  of  from 
J4  in.  to  No.  12  mesh  to  a  fineness  ranging  from  50  to  200 
mesh,  so  that  with  correct  water  dilution  the  heavier  metal 
particles  will  be  separated  from  the  lighter  particles  on 
shaking  tables,  or  the  precious  metals  from  their  compounds 
in  chemical  solutions.  The  tube  mill  is  a  cylinder  tilted 
slightly  from  the  horizontal  through  which  the  crushed  ore 
passes  and  is  ground  in  transit  by  contact  with  selected 
hard  pebbles.  The  ore  is  fed  with  sufficient  water  to  wash 
it  to  and  through  the  mill,  and  if  the  cyanide  process  is  to 
follow,  the  water  added  may  also  contain  cyanides  and 
other  chemicals  to  assist  the  mechanical  separation  of  metal 
compouTids  from  the  ore  and  at  the  same  time  to  begin  the 
chemical  treatment. 

The  Chilean  mill  is  a  vertical  mill  fed  at  the  top  and 
emptied  of  its  contents  at  the  bottom.  It  usually  handles 
thicker  material  than  a  tube  mill,  and  the  ore  may  be  wet 
with  water  or  partly  by  weak  chemical  solution  as  in  the 
case  of  the  tube  mill.  Both  loads  are  constant  and  of 
twenty-four  hours'  duration.  The  tube  mills  are  ordinarily 
belted  to  the  motors  and  are  geared  to  automatic  feeding 
devices  which  add  more  or  less  water  and  greater  or  less 
ore  content,  according  to  the  amount  of  mechanical  or 
chemical  action  desired.  The  Chilean  mill  may  be  geared  to 
a  feeding  mechanism ;  but  it  is  more  often  fed  manually. 
Both  mills  revolve  at  from  30  to  60  r.p.m.,  the  Chilean  mill 
being  more  often  speeded  beyond  its  rating;  but  in  both  the 
output  is  increased  and  the  product  sometimes  bettered  with 
increase  in  speed.  Squirrel-cage  motors  are  always  em- 
ployed and  of  a  size  suited  to  the  normal  load. 

From  the  mill  owner's  viewpoint,  electric  drive  possesses 
the  advantages  of  constant  speed  without  watching,  easy 
control  and  ready  change  in  size  or  location  of  motor  to 
suit  changing  conditions  of  operation.  The  load  being  de- 
sirable, the  rates  for  electrical  energy  are  usually  low  and 
are  always  included  in  the  total  mill  charges. 


Stamps,   which   are   still   occasionally   employed,   usually 
deliver  a  less  uniform  product.    Heavily  weighted  hammers 


Fig.  8 — 35-hp  Induction  Motor  Driving  Pump  and  Compressor, 
Colburn    Mill. 

operated  by  cams  drop  into  cups,  through  which  ore  is 
slowly  fed  by  mechanical  means.  The  stamps  are  usually 
installed  in  batteries  of  five,  and  the  cams  are  staggered  on 
a  countershaft.  The  ore  is  fed  dry  to  the  stamps  in  either 
a  coarse  or  fine  state,  and  the  load  depends  only  on  the 
travel  of  the  hammer  and  its  frequency  of  operation.  No 
definite   rule   for   determining  the   power   demand   can   be 


given.  The  speed  ranges  from  80  to  100  r.p.m.,  and  the 
travel  from  3  in.  to  12  in.  In  one  mill  with  two  five-stamp 
batteries,  operated  at  90  r.p.m.  and  with  6-in.  strokes,  the 
demand  is  25  hp. 

SHAKING    TABLES. 

Wet  concentrating  tables  are  of  two  principal  kinds.    In 


Fig.   9 — Sampling    and   Zinc    Feeder   Plant   Driven   by   12-hp    Induc- 
tion   Motor,  Colburn   Mill. 

one  the  "pulp  "  has  water  added  to  it  and  the  coarser 
particles  of  the  heavy  metals  are  separated  frbm  the  slime, 
and  in  the  other,  known  as  slimers  and  vanners,  a  canvas 
rolling  over  drums  catches  the  heavy  metal  particles,  while 
the  remainder  wash  over  an  edge,  the  "concentrate  "  being 
later  washed  into  receptacles  as  the  canvas  turns  over  a 
drum  into  a  spray.  Both  kinds  of  tables  operate  under 
practically  continuous  load,  and  the  nature  of  the  process 
is  such  that  the  demand  depends  on  the  rapidity  of  shaking 
and  not  on  the  amount  of  pulp  passed  over  the  tables.  From 
the  mill  standpoint  electric  drive  for  concentrating  tables 
has  all  of  the  advantages  of  known  constant  speed,  without 
supervision,  and  is  an  ideal  load  for  central  stations.  At 
about  240  r.p.m.  Wilfrey  tables  average  about  2  hp  in 
demand.  Card  tables  about  2  hp,  Monnell  slimers  about 
I  hp  and  vanners  slightly  under  I  hp. 

JIGS. 

Jigs  are  employed  where  a  saving  is  to  be  efifected  from 
crushed  and  rolled  ores  without  reducing  them  to  slimes. 
After  passing  through  or  over  trommel  screens  to  exclude 
the  slimes,  the  coarser  particles  are  fed  into  jigs,  which  are 
U-shaped  hydraulic  pumps.  On  one  side  pistons  compress 
at  the  rate  of  from  150  to  200  strokes  a  minute,  and  on  the 
other  side  water  rises  through  perforated  plates  and  agi- 
tates all  particles  in  a  box  above,  so  as  to  wash  the  lighter 
particles  into  waste  pipes  or  grinding  apparatus  and  thereby 
reduce  them  to  slimes.  The  heavy  particles  are  constantly 
fed  to  recovery  bo.xes,  and  where  the  ore  is  free  milling 
this  system  gives  good  results  in  concentration.  As  jigs 
are  operated  continuously,  they  offer  a  desirable,  even  load 
for  central-station  circuits.  The  power  requirements  vary 
greatly  with  variously  determined  operating  conditions,  but 
for  ordinary  sizes  of  jigs,  speeds  and  amplitude  of  the 
piston  throw  the  demand  ranges  from  2  hp  to  7  hp  per  jig. 

AGITATORS. 

Agitators  are  employed  in  the  cyaniding  process  to  mix 
the  ore  slime  or  larger  particles  received  from  tube  mills, 
Chilean  mills  or  other  grinders  with  cyanide  and  other 
chemicals.  Iron  tanks  20  ft.  or  more  in  diameter  and  height 
are  used,  and  air  under  low  pressure  is  forced  through 
large  metal  pipes  introduced  into  the  bottom  of  the  tank, 
causing  a  general  upward  movement  in  the  center  and  a 
downward  movement  at  the  sides  of  the  tank.  The  air 
compressors  employed  for  this  purpose  are  operated  con- 


iipS 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


tinuously  twenty-four  hours  a  day.  The  solution  flows 
from  one  tank  to  another,  the  waste  being  gradually  re- 
moved through  hoppers  at  the  bottom,  and  the  solution 
becomes  clearer  in  transit  to  the  filters,  after  passing 
through  which  it  receives  its  final  chemical  treatment  for 


Fig.   10 — Tilting   Furnace  with    Electrically   Driven    Blower, 
Colburn   Mill. 

the  recovery  of  the  metals.  The  compressor  is  usually  belt- 
driven  from  a  short  line  shaft,  to  which  circulating  pumps 
and  other  apparatus  are  connected.  Owing  to  the  wide 
divergence  in  the  amount  of  air  required  by  different  mill 
operators,  no  general  rule  for  approximating  the  power 
demand  can  be  given. 

TROMMELS. 

Trommels  are  used  for  sizing  crushed  ore.  They  consist 
of  revolving  cylinders  covered  with  screens  of  various 
mesh  and  tilted  slightly  from  the  horizontal,  ranging  in 
size  from  3  ft.  in  diameter  and  5  ft.  in  length  upward.  The 
ore  is  automatically  fed  to  the  upper  end  of  the  machine, 
which  in  revolving  drops  the  under-size  material  through 
screens  connected  to  proper  receptacles,  and  the  larger  size 
material  is  carried  through  and  delivered  to  further  screens 
or  processes.  In  those  plants  where  the  trommels  are  asso- 
ciated directly  with  jigs  the  load  is  constant,  but  where  the 
trommel  forms  part  of  a  crusher  plant  operating  from  five 
to  eight  hours  the  load  is  intermittent.  In  either  event  no 
large  variation  in  the  demand  is  encountered  during  opera- 
tion, so  that  the  load  is  a  desirable  one  from  the  central- 
station  viewpoint.  Trommels  are  usually  belt-driven  from 
shafts  to  which  are  also  connected  crushers  and  rolls  or 
jigs  and  mills.  The  power  requirements  vary  with  the 
speed,  which  is  limited  to  a  range  of  from  30  to  60  r.p.m. 
From  I  hp  to  1.5  hp  is  required  in  a  slowly  driven  3-ft.  x 
5-ft.  trommel,  and  from  3  hp  to  4  hp  is  the  average  demand 
of  a  5-ft.  X  9-ft.  trommel. 

CONVEYORS. 

Conveyors,  elevators,  etc.,  are  installed  in  mills  where 
required  by  the  relative  locations  of  the  machines  and 
sequence  of  operations.  As  originally  laid  out,  mills  do  not 
require  conveying  apparatus,  but  re-processing  and  re-loca- 
tion of  machinery,  incident  to  growth  and  other  additions, 
render  the  use  of  a  conveyor  system  imperative.  The  loads 
£re  not  large  and  the  practice  is  to  drive  the  conveyors 
from  a  short  line  shaft,  which  also  drives  the  machines 


with  which  the  conveyors  are  associated.  In  large  mills 
portions  of  the  elevating  and  conveying  machinery  are 
driven  by  separate  motors.  The  load  is  generally  con- 
tinuous in  mill  operation  but  intermittent  in  crusher  plants, 
and  it  is  obviously  impossible  to  give  any  appro.ximation  of 
the  demand  of  such  a  load. 

PUMPS. 

Besides  the  centrifugal  pumps  used  for  handling  water 
and  the  weak  chemical  solutions  employed  in  the  cyanide 
process,  sand  pumps  are  used  to  handle  the  fine  and  coarse 
slimes  of  the  wet  concentration  process.  The  pumping 
loads  are  usually  constant  in  character  and  the  power  re- 
quirements depend  on  the  method  of  operation. 

ELECTROLYSIS. 

Electrolysis  is  employed  to  some  extent  in  connection 
with  the  recovery  of  metals  from  cyanide  solutions.  In 
the  Ajax  mill  at  Cripple  Creek  a  20-hp  motor  is  belted  to  a 
lo-volt,  isoo-amp  generator.  Energy  from  this  is  fed  to 
baskets  having  4-in.  by  4-ft.  cylindrical  graphite  anode 
centers,  the  surrounding  iron  forming  the  cathode,  and  the 
baskets  are  sunk  in  the  weak  chemical  solution  of  the  agita- 
tors to  hasten  the  chemical  separation  of  the  metals  from 
the  compounds  in  the  ore  slimes.  Electrolytic  methods  are 
also  employed  in  the  zinc  press  treatment  for  recovering 
metals  from  cyanide  solutions.  Instead  of  forming  zinc 
compounds  and  continuously  wasting  the  zinc,  the  gold- 
bearing  solution  is  passed  between  plates  spaced  so  that, 
with  proper  flow,  the  ion  travel  will  theoretically  cause  all 
of  the  gold  to  be  deposited  on  the  iron  cathode,  whence  it 
may  be  removed  as  a  precipitate.  In  the  Davis  precipitator 
a  semi-circular  tank  3  ft.  in  diameter  by  12  ft.  long  is  used 
to  hasten  the  process.  The  solution  in  flowing  through  the 
precipitator  is  intercepted  by  twenty-four  No.  12  gage  re- 
volving steel  disks,  which  are  perforated  to  permit  the  pas- 
sage of  the  solution  and  are  connected  as  cathodes.  Anodes 
consisting  of  numerous  %-in.  graphite  rods  are  hung  in 
the  solution  between  the  disks.  Conditions  are  so  greatly 
affected  by  other  processes  that  no  general  rule  for  power 
demand  of  electrolytic  applications  can  be  given. 

DRIERS  AND  FURNACES. 

The  electrical  drying  and  melting  of  ores  is  being  intro- 
duced to  some  extent,  the  drying  being  effected  in  brick 
furnaces  located  over  metal  plates,  under  which  heater  coils 
are  placed.  The  precipitate  bearing  the  metals  is  thus 
heated  to  remove  moisture,  so  that  the  material  may  be 
easily  shipped  or  handled.    It  is  necessary  to  make  very  low 


Fig.   11 — Interior  of   Tungsten    Mill    Power   Plant,    Nederland. 

rates  for  energy  for  this  work  in  order  that  electricity  may 
compete  with  steam.  From  10  kw  to  25  kw  is  required  in 
a  mill  drying  from  15  tons  to  30  tons  of  tungsten  precipitate 
a  month.  The  drying  of  gold  precipitate  from  cyanide 
solutions,  owing  to  the  small  total  quantities  handled,  does 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1199 


not  call  for  so  great  a  demand.  Electric  furnaces  of  the 
arc  type  are  also  occasionally  employed  to  melt  gold  and 
silver  from  their  precipitates,  although  oil-burning,  tilting 
furnaces  are  in  common  use.  The  demand  for  electric 
furnaces  is  large,  uneven  and  cannot  be  readily  fixed,  since 
it  depends  upon  many  conditions.  The  load-factor  of  the 
furnace  is  also  very  small. 

SAMPLING  AND   ASSAYING. 

Sampling  and  assaying  processes  are  incidental  to  mill 
operation.  Sampling  is  done  in  all  crushing  plants,  a  cer- 
tain percentage  of  the  ore  passing  through  the  main  crusher 
being  crushed  in  the  sampling  crusher  and  ground  in  sam- 
pling rolls  or  disk  grinder,  and  the  portion  of  the  product 
thus  treated  is  assayed  to  ascertain  the  quality  of  the  ore. 
The  load  is  intermittent  in  character  and  calls  only  for  the 
employjiient  of  small  motors  or  small  heaters.  When  asso- 
ciated .with  mills  the  load  offers  no  great  change  in  the 
general  character  of  the  demand. 

MACHINE    SHOPS. 

In  connection  with  all  mines  and  mills,  machine  shops  are 
to  be  found,  and  these  offer  small  day  loads  of  more  or  less 
intermittent  character.  On  the  whole,  the  installations  are 
not  large  enough  to  affect  the  load-factor  of  mills  greatly, 
but  oftentimes  they  improve  the  load-factor  of  mine  plants. 

GENERAL. 

From  the  foregoing  it  may  be  seen  that  mines  and  mills 
are  entirely  different  in  their  load  characteristics.  Both 
offer  a  day  load,  but  the  mine  load  usually  reduces  to  zero 
before  the  evening  lighting  peaks  come  on.  The  mill  load 
usually  extends  over  twenty-four  hours  and  is  more  or  less 
constant,  and  the  combination  business,  if  properly  devel- 
oped, should  show  a  heavy,  somewhat  uneven  day  load  in 
which  the  individual  plant  peaks  are  smoothed  off  by  the 
comparatively  small  size  of  any  one  drive. 


INDIVIDUAL   MOTOR    DRIVE    IN   NUT  AND  BOLT 
FACTORY. 


One  hundred  tons  of  nuts,  bolts,  railroad  spikes,  etc.,  per 
day  is  the  capacity  output  of  the  new  bolt  shop  of  the  In- 
land Steel  Company,  at  Indiana  Harbor,  Ind.  The  building 
itself  is  480  ft.  long  and  120  ft.  wide,  being  divided  longi- 


1 

m 

1 

-    i/ 

1 

—.-St-  ■  ■■ 

I 


Fig.   1  —  Motor-Driven   Planer  with   Group  of  Automatic   Starters. 

tudinally  into  an  8o-ft.  and  a  40-ft.  bay.  The  8o-ft.  bay,  in 
which  are  the  continuous  heating  furnaces,  is  spanned 
by  a  5-ton  Alliance  crane,  while  a  similar  35-ft.  traveler 
moves  the  length  of  the  machine  bay  in  which  the  automatic 
tools  are  installed.    One  end  of  the  structure  is  given  over 


to  a  machine  shop  containing  individual  motor-driven  tools 
of  all  kinds,  for  making  plant  repairs.  The  equipment  in- 
cludes lathes,  planers,  shapers,  drills,  milling  machines,  bor- 
ing mills,  etc. 

Outside,  in  the  main  shop,  are  the  automatic  machines 


•^'3-   2 — Automatic    IVlotor- Driven    IVlactiines   Removing    Burrs   from 

Nuts. 

which  manufacture  the  nuts,  bolts,  spikes  and  other  hard- 
ware. There  are,  altogether,  fifty-nine  of  these  motors, 
ranging  from  2  hp  to  100  hp  in  rating,  all  of  which  are 
started  by  Electric  Controller  &  Manufacturing  Company's 
automatic  controllers,  from  push-button  switches  mounted 
on  the  machines.  The  controllers  themselves  are  grouped 
in  metal  boxes  on  the  walls  near  by,  being  connected  with 
their  respective  motors  through  circuits  inclosed  in  conduit 
embedded  in  the  floor. 

The  ingenious  principle  of  these  series-coil  contactors 
has  already  been  described  in  these  columns.  Between  the 
moving  plunger  of  the  switch  and  the  rest  of  the  magnetic 
circuit  are  two  air-gaps,  one  always  tending  to  close  the 
switch  when  any  current  flows  through  the  coil  and  the 
other  tending  to  lock  the  switch  in  the  open  position  when 
the  current  in  the  coil  exceeds  a  certain  definite  adjustable 
value.  When  the  motor  is  connected  to  the  line  through  the 
coil  of  the  first  contactor  and  the  starting  resistance  the 
current  flowing  is  sufficient  to  lock  open  this  contactor.  As 
the  motor  accelerates  the  current  of  course  diminishes,  and 
when  it  has  receded  to  the  value  at  which  the  contactor 
is  adjusted  the  moving  plunger  at  once  operates,  closing 
certain  contacts  and  short-circuiting  a  portion  of  the  start- 
ing resistance.  The  rest  of  the  series  contactors  operates 
similarly  until  all  of  the  starting  resistance  has  been  short- 
circuited  and  the  motor  is  connected  directly  to  the  line. 

Since  the  controller  switch  cannot  close  until  the  motor 
current  has  fallen  to  its  predetermined  value,  automatic 
starting  is  effected  safely  and  with  minimum  current  in 
minimum  time.  The  device  also  permits  quick  stopping 
and  pre-setting  of  the  motor  field  resistance,  while  protect- 
ing the  equipment  against  both  overload  and  no-voltage 
conditions.  To  start  the  motor  the  workman  merely 
pushes  the  white  button  on  his  machine,  and  to  shut  it  down 
closes  the  black  button.  All  precautions  of  proper  accele- 
ration are  automatically  cared  for  by  the  controller 
switches  on  the  wall  opposite.  In  the  box  with  the  con- 
troller is  also  mounted  the  shunt-field  rheostat,  where  field 
control  is  desired. 

Probably  the  most  interesting  of  the  automatic  machines 
on  the  main  floor  of  the  bolt  shop  are  the  three  Youngstown 
spike  machines.  The  raw  stock,  delivered  at  a  cherry-red 
temperature  by  the  Ferguson  continuous  furnaces,  is 
handed  by  feed  rolls  over  to  vises  in  the  spike  machines,  in 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


which  it  is  held  while  the  spike  ends  are  being  pointed,  cut 
off  at  the  proper  length  and  then  headed  by  upsetting  in  a 
chilled  die,  each  machine  finishing  eighty-five  spikes  per 
minute.  Two  75-hp,  220-volt  Westinghouse  motors,  run- 
ning at  475  r.p.m.,  are  provided  to  drive  these  three  spike 
machines,  although  a  single  motor  suffices  during  ordinary 
outputs.  Space  has  been  left  at  the  end  of  the  shop  for  a 
future  installation  of  two  similar  machines  which  will  each 
have  an  output  of  10  tons  of  finished  spikes  per  day. 

In  the  rivet-heading  machines  near  by  the  raw  stock  is 
cut  to  length  and  headed.  There  are  six  of  these  Ajax  con- 
tinuous-feed rivet-headers,  capable  of  handling  material 
from  0.5  in.  to  1.5  in.  in  diameter  and  delivering  4000  rivets 
per  hour.  Each  header  is  driven  by  a  15-hp  Westinghouse 
motor.  The  raw  stock  is  heated  in  six  Ferguson  continuous 
furnaces,  fired  with  oil  under  air  blast.  These  26-ft.  fur- 
naces are  capable  of  pre-heating  i  ton  per  hour  and  com- 
prise four  combustion  chambers  in  which  the  oil  is  burned 
at  the  rate  of  24  gal.  per  ton  of  material.  The  fuel  is 
pumped  by  two  K"hp  Westinghouse  motors  geared  to 
3.75-in.  by  4-in.  pumps,  which  deliver  against  a  head  of  15 
ft.  Blast  is  provided  by  two  loo-hp  motors  operating 
blower  fans  which  move  46,000  cu.  ft.  of  air  per  minute. 
After  the  bolts  have  been  headed  they  are  threaded  in  the 
roll-threaders  or  in  the   rapid  horizontal  threaders.     The 


THE  BENEFITS  OF  WATER-POWER  DEVELOPMENT 

AND  ITS  RELATIONSHIP  TO  NAVIGATION 

IMPROVEMENT. 


Fig.   3— Semi -Automatic   Nut-Tapping    Machine   Operated   by 
5-hp   Motor, 

three  Parrel  roll-threading  machines  are  gear-driven  by  10- 
hp  motors,  and  the  two  Acme  three-spindle  rapid  horizontal 
threaders  are  run  by  ^-hp  motors.  The  threads  are  rolled 
cold,  material  being  thrown  up  from  the  valley  portion  to 
form  the  raised  thread,  which  is  of  an  outside  diameter 
larger  than  the  original  blank  bolt. 

Four  thousand  i-in.  nuts  can  be  delivered  daily  by  the 
four  hot-pressed  nut  machines.  After  being  rough-pressed, 
the  nuts  are  freed  from  burrs  in  a  special  milling  machine 
and  then  polished  and  cleaned  in  tumblers,  36  in.  in  diam- 
eter and  48  in.  long,  also  motor-driven.  Tapping  is  done 
by  National  semi-automatic  machines,  each  comprising  a 
gang  of  six  spindles,  which  are  fed  by  hand  and  can  be 
operated  separately  if  desired.  These  tapping  machines  are 
driven  by  5-hp  Westinghouse  motors  and  have  outputs  of 
950   i-in.  nuts  per  hour. 

Thirty-two  500-watt  tungsten  lamps  are  employed  to 
light  the  bolt  shop.  These  units  are  mounted  25  ft.  above 
the  floor,  at  intervals  of  20  ft.,  in  rows  40  ft.  apart.  One 
500-watt  lamp  thus  lights  800  sq.  ft.  of  floor  space.  During 
a  recent  twelve-month  period  the  cost  of  maintenance  and 
renewals  for  this  shop  lighting  was  $33,  little  more  than 
$1  per  lamp  per  year.  Mr.  R.  L.  Mcintosh  is  chief  elec- 
trician for  the  Indiana  Harbor  Works  of  the  Inland  Steel 
Company. 


By  James  E.  Hewes. 

IN  considering  the  problem  of  the  improvement  of  river 
navigation  one  cannot  ignore  the  importance  of  control 
of  floods  and  the  conservation  of  water-power  develop- 
ment. These  three  great  problems  are  so  closely  inter- 
dependent that  they  must  be  considered  simultaneously. 
The  combined  problem  is  one  for  a  commission  to  solve,  as 
the  writer  pointed  out  in  a  paper  read  before  the  American 
Electric  Railway  Association,  because  in  its  solution  the 
river  and  its  entire  watershed  must  be  considered  as  a 
whole. 

As  the  Mississippi  navigation  improvement,  for  example, 
is  now  being  carried  on,  the  river  is  divided  by  sections 
or  districts  and  each  district  is  in  charge  of  an  engineering 
officer  of  the  United  States  Army,  and  consequently  what 
work  is  done  in  one  district  has  no  relation  to  the  work  of 
another  district  or  to  the  problem  as  a  whole.  The  work  is 
carried  on  by  methods  that  change  as  often  as  some  enter- 
prising senator  or  congressman  can  obtain  an  appropriation, 
and  if  the  appropriation  is  exhausted  the  work  stops,  and 
what  work  is  done  may  or  may  not  aid  conditions  locally 
and  may  actually  be  detrimental  to  work  in  another  district. 
For  example,  the  dams  built  on  the  Kanawha  and  Ohio 
Rivers  have  deprived  posterity  of  the  benefits  of  hydro- 
electric development  because  they  are  not  of  sufficient 
height.  The  dams  are  in  many  cases  only  9  ft.  high  and 
cannot  be  used  for  hydroelectric  development,  nor  are  they 
of  great  use  in  holding  back  flood  waters,  because  the 
amount  of  water  they  retain  on  the  upstream  side  is  an 
almost  negligible  quantity,  whereas  had  they  been  con- 
structed as  high  as  the  Keokuk  dam  on  the  Mississippi  only 
one-seventh  of  the  number  would  have  been  required  and 
there  would  have  been  little  difference  in  the  total  cost. 
Then  navigation  could  have  been  maintained  during  times 
of  drought  and  the  period  of  winter  navigation  would  have 
been  greatly  increased ;  larger  boats  and  barges  could  have 
been  floated  and  vast  bodies  of  water  would  have  been  im- 
pounded ;  the  height  of  the  flood  crests  would  have  been 
materially  lessened,  and  the  development  of  approximately 
200,000  kw  would  have  been  made  feasible. 

A  great  deal  of  time  and  money  has  been  expended  by 
the  government  in  order  to  obtain  an  estimate  of  the  quan- 
tity of  water  flowing  down  the  rivers  of  the  Mississippi 
watershed,  but  as  yet  the  collection  of  data  is  insufficient  to 
be  of  much  help  in  the  solution  of  this  problem. 

PROPOSED     METHODS    OF    CONTROLLING    RIVER. 

A  system  of  levees  to  protect  the  lowlands  near  the  river 
has  been  advocated  by  engineers  who  consider  this  the  best 
means  of  preventing  damage  done  by  floods.  It  is  estimated 
that  the  sum  of  money  necessary  to  do  this  work  in  the 
lower  waters  of  the  Mississippi  will  exceed  $100,000,000. 
Other  engineers,  of  wide  experience,  have  stated  that  the 
cost  of  a  complete  system  of  adequate  levees  will  exceed  the 
cost  of  the  Panama  Canal.  However,  no  complete  estimate 
based  upon  a  scientific  analysis  of  this  subject  has  yet  been 
made.  Many  engineers  have  advocated  the  straightening 
of  the  bed  of  the  river  as  a  means  to  the  end.  There 
have  been  many  who  advocate  impounding  the  waters  of  the 
tributaries  of  the  Mississippi  at  the  mouths  of  these  rivers, 
thus  storing  the  water  for  irrigation  purposes  and  hydro- 
electric development  at  these  points.  However,  the  thing 
which  must  precede  the  adoption  of  any  of  these  plans  is  a 
complete  and  exhaustive  scientific  study  of  the  conditions 
to  be  met. 

The  part  of  this  problem  of  the  most  concern  to  public- 
utility  companies  is  that  relating  to  the  saving  and  im- 
pounding of  water  by  means  of  suitable  dams  and  to  insure 
that  the  government  will  not  build   dams   for  navigation 


December  7,  191 2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1201 


improvement  which  will  be  inadequate  for  hydroelectric 
development.  This  step  is  of  equal  importance  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  districts  near  the  dam  and  on  the  headwaters  and 
of  the  lowlands  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  because  in 
many  instances  the  impounding  of  a  large  amount  of  water 
on  the  headwaters  of  a  stream  will  greatly  lessen,  and  some- 
times will  prevent,  floods,  and  the  releasing  of  such  im- 
pounded water  in  time  of  drought  will  improve  the  naviga- 
tion of  such  streams  and  at  the  same  time  will  increase  the 
useful  hydroelectric  output. 

As  a  tentative  plan  for  the  co-operation  of  the  government 
and  the  public-utility  company  it  has  been  suggested  that 
the  energy  obtainable  would  be  worth  a  certain  sum  of 
money  to  a  public-utility  company  and  to  the  community  in 
which  such  a  development  could  be  made.  It  would  not  be 
profitable  for  such  a  company  to  pay  the  entire  cost  of  a 
development  sufficiently  large  to  impound  enough  water  to 
prevent  a  flood.  Since  a  company  could  make  a  profit  by 
distributing  the  electrical  energy  from  such  a  development 
if  it  paid  a  certain  price  per  kilowatt-hour  for  all  the  elec- 
trical energy  it  distributed  and  sold,  it  could  pay  for  the 
right  to  distribute  such  electrical  energy,  and  the  money  thus 
derived  could  be  applied  on  the  cost  to  the  government  for 
the  development  and  thus  assist  in  carrying  out  a  true 
conservation  policy.  Before  the  government  would  enter 
into  such  relationship  with  public-utility  corporations,  how- 
ever, its  present  attitude  would  have  to  undergo  a  change. 

The  true  conservation  of  the  government's  water-power 
sites  lies  in  the  use  of  them  by  the  present  generation  and 
not  in  the  saving  of  them  for  posterity.  All  the  energy  of 
flowing  streams  to-day,  if  sold,  would  mean  that  posterity 
would  be  just  so  much  richer.  Unlike  the  coal  in  the  mine 
or  the  wood  in  the  tree,  which  can  be  stored  and  saved,  the 
energy  of  the  water  is  forever  lost  when  it  has  flowed  down 
the  river. 

Certain  parts  of  this  problem  may  be  solved  at  once 
without  injury  to  any  general  scheme  that  may  be  decided 
upon  at  a  later  date  and  without  loss  of  benefits  to  the 
community.  For  instance,  that  part  pertaining  to  the  im- 
pounding of  water  at  the  headwaters  of  the  streams  can  be 
solved  by  co-operation  between  the  government  and  the 
public-utility  companies,  the  result  being  many  valuable  de- 
velopments which  could  not  be  accomplished  by  public-utility 
companies  alone.  Desirable  results  would  be  obtained  im- 
mediately if  the  government  could  be  induced  to  cease  build- 
ing small  dams  which  cannot  be  used  for  the  development  of 
electrical  energy. 

With  regard  to  the  future  policy  of  the  government  pro- 
gram of  levee  building,  attention  is  called  to  an  address  by 
Mr.  Marshall  Leighton,  of  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey,  before  the  American  Reclamation  Federation  in 
Chicago.  He  stated  that  in  the  solution  of  the  problem  of 
flood  prevention  levees,  except  for  certain  local  conditions, 
were  not  adequate  or  reliable,  and  that  the  efifect  of  levees 
on  the  Mississippi  River  was  to  raise  the  height  of  the  river, 
when  the  levees  held,  because  it  is  a  proved  fact  that  the 
river  banks  are  not  able  to  hold  the  water  in  the  river.  In 
other  words,  the  river  is  too  large  for  its  banks,  and  if  the 
levees  had  not  broken  during  the  floods  of  last  year  the 
damage  and  the  loss  of  life  would  have  been  much  greater. 

It  is  proposed  to  spend  $100,000,000  to  build  levees  which 
will  not  hold  the  river.  It  would  be  wiser  to  spend  some  of 
this  money  further  up  stream  and  impound  the  water  by 
dams  built  on  the  headwaters  and  in  the  tributary  rivers  than 
to  be  compelled  to  spend  a  vast  sum  of  money  each  year  to 
renew  the  broken  levees,  and  the  benefits  to  the  community 
at  large  would  be  greater. 

The  people  living  at  the  navigable  headwaters  of  a  river 
should  enjoy  the  rights  to  the  river  as  well  as  those  who 
live  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  If  the  government  spends 
millions  of  dollars  for  building  levees  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  a  similar  sum  should  be  used  at  other  points  on  the 
river,  provided  that  equal  benefits  will  thereby  accrue. 


DESIGN  OF  PIPING  FOR  TRANSFORMER  OIL,  AIR 
AND  COOLING  WATER. 


By  Fred  Buch. 

ONE  of  the  important  problems  in  power-house  design 
is  the  oil  and  cooling-water  piping  for  the  trans- 
formers, embracing  for  the  oil  system  the  storage 
tank,  oil-treating  outfit,  the  method  of  connecting  up  the 
transformers  and  the  emergency  overflows  for  quickly  dis- 
posing of  burning  oil.  The  compressed-air  and  vacuum 
system,  which  really  forms  part  of  the  oil  system  and  the 
cooling-water  piping  are  by  no  means'  so  complicated,  but 
here  too  there  are  some  important  details  not  to  be  over- 
looked. 

OIL    SYSTEM. 

Transformer  oil  is  used  for  insulating  the  coils  from  each 
other  and  from  the  core,  and  also  to  conduct  away  the  heat 
and  transfer  it  to  some  cooler  medium.  The  oil  is  gen- 
erally brought  to  the  power  house  in  tank  cars  or  in  barrels 
and  dumped  into  a  storage  reservoir,  whence  it  is  taken 
and  subjected  to  a  process  designed  to  eliminate  all  moisture 
and  matter  in  suspension.  It  is  then  caused  to  flow  into 
the  transformers,  where  it  acts  as  an  insulator  and  where 
it  is  kept  at  the  proper  temperature  by  cooling  coils, 
through  which  water  is  passed.  The  oil  is  permitted  to 
remain  in  the  transformers  until  its  insulating  qualities  are 
impaired  so  that  re-treating  becomes  necessary,  when  it  is 
passed    either    through    the   storage   tank    or   through    the 


MAIM  FT.CIIR 


OIL  REFURN  HOR 
FROM  TR/V15fORMERS 


-SUCnON-TO  OIL 
TREATIES  PRESS 


EMERGEnCr    OVeRFLOtV 


Br- PASS 
Fig.    1— Piping  for   Storage  Tank. 

treating  outfit  directly  and  thence  again  into  the  trans- 
formers. This  cycle  of  operations  is  gone  through  when- 
ever necessary  until  the  oil  finally  becomes  useless,  when  it 
is  discarded  and  replaced  with  fresh  oil. 

In  the  diagrammatic  layout  (Fig.  i)  the  means  for  get- 
ting the  oil  into  the  storage  tank  is  shown.  The  floor  fitting 
suitable  for  this  purpose  may  be  made  of  cast  iron  with  a 
brass  plug,  and  a  wrench  for  removing  the  plug  and  a 
funnel  fitted  with  a  strainer  should  be  provided.  The 
fitting  is  made  with  a  flange  on  top,  about  3  in.  deep  and 
tapped  both  top  and  bottom  for  3-in.  standard  wrought- 
iron  pipe.  It  is  set  into  the  concrete  floor,  the  top  of  the 
fitting  coming  flush  with  the  floor.  The  funnel  is  made 
14  in.  in  diameter  by  8  in.  deep,  the  lower  end  being 
soldered  to  a  3-in.  standard  nipple.  The  body  may  be 
made  of  No.  22  galvanized  iron  and  a  screen  of  10  by  10 
mesh,  No.  18  gage,  resting  in  the  funnel  serves  to  catch 
suspended  matter.  When  oil  is  received  in  barrels  the 
strainer  funnel  may  be  screwed  into  the  fitting  and  the  oil 
simply  dumped ;  when  received  on  tank  cars,  however,  a 
3-in.  pipe  with  a  strainer  end  may  be  connected  from  the 
fitting  into  the  tank  car  and  the  oil  pumped  out  by  the 
vacuum  system. 

STORAGE     TANK. 

The  storage  tank  should  be  large  enough  to  hold  one  and 
one-half  times  as  much  oil  as  is  contained  in  the  largest 
transformer,  as  it  may  become  necessary  at  any  time  to 
empty  the  latter  and  it  would  be  most  undesirable  to  choke 
up  the  system.  The  cylindrical  type  of  tank  shown  is 
preferable,  though,  of  course,  any  other  suitable  shape  or 
form   may   be   used.     The   tank   should   be   provided   with 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


a  manhole   for  cleaning  gage  glasses  covering  almost  the    shell  on  account  of  the  bending,  and  the  diameter  of  the 


entire  depth  of  the  tank,  filling  connection,  air  cock,  con- 
nection to  the  treating  outfit,  return  header  connection 
from  the  transformers,  and  a  large  emergency  outlet  with 
a  quick-opening  valve  to  release  the  oil  in  case  of  fire. 

A  3-in.  filling  connection  is  ample  for  any  size  tank  and 
it  is  not  advisable  to  use  a  much  smaller  pipe  on  account 
of  the  danger  of  clogging.  The  air  cock,  which  should  be 
located  several  feet  above  the  top  of  the  tank,  need  not  be 
any  larger  than  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  the  size  of  the 
connection  to  the  oil-treating  outfit  is  of  course  fixed  by 
the  size  of  the  suction  on  the  pump.  Usually  a  pipe  1.5  in. 
or  2  in.  in  diameter  will  be  found  ample  and  will  handle  the 
oil  as  fast  as  it  can  be  treated  if  the  continuous  treating 
process  is  resorted  to.  The  return  connection  from  the 
transformers  should  be  at  least  an  inch  larger  in  diameter 
than  the  emergency  discharge  provided  on  the  transformer, 
as  it  serves  the  purpose  of  carrying  ofif  the  burning  oil  in 
case  of  fire  or  explosion.  The  pipe  should  never  be  less 
than  4  in.  in  diameter  and  should  be  free  from  valves  and 
unnecessary  bends  except  at  the  tank,  where  a  by-pass  with 
quick  opening  gates  should  be  provided  as  shown.  There 
should  be  a  good  slope  in  this  pipe,  and  the  open  end  in 
the  case  of  a  water-power  plant  should  discharge  into  the 
tailrace.  The  drain  from  the  bottom  of  the  tank  need  not 
be  any  larger  than  the  return  header. 

Storage  tanks  are  usually  designed  for  loo-lb.  pressure 


6  go 

m 

u.  t-m 
o 


1 

SO£  J.    .  . 


♦*!*■ 


^  Mcuun 


IS 

■-*o 


OIL 


ro  TOP  OF 

TRANSFORMERS 


T»E*TIH^I 


Fig.    2 — Piping    [3lagram    for   Oil-Treating    Press 

per  square  inch,  and  the  following  formula,  found  in  all 
the  handbooks,  is  recommended  for  cylindrical  tanks : 
t  =  Pr-^S,  where  /  is  the  thickness  of  the  shell  in  inches, 

RIVETING  DATA  FOR  TRANSFORMER  OIL  TANKS. 


Thickness  of 
SheU,  In. 

Diameter  of 
Rivet.  In. 

Pitch  of 
Rivets.  In. 

Lap, 
In. 

A 

H 

i 

i 

li 

H 

A 

U 

i 

li 

A 

li 

1 

2 

A 

2» 

4 

2i 

A 

2i 

2f 

i 

n 

a 

2J 

21 

i 

1 

3 

3 

P  the  pressure  in  pounds  per  square  inch,  5'  the  safe  tensile 
strength  of  the  material,  and  r  the  radius  of  the  shell  in 
inches.    The  dished  ends  should  be  1/16  in.  heavier  than  the 


shell  may  be  taken  as  a  radius  for  the  dish.  The  riveting 
must  be  as  nearly  oil-tight  as  it  is  possible  to  make  it,  and 
the  accompanying  table  will  be  found  to  give  most  satis- 
factory results. 

All  pipe  connections  to  the  tank  should  be  fitted  with 
screwed  or  flanged  unions  to  make  easy  removal  possible. 
All  flanges  should  be  riveted  to  the  tank,  and  the  tank 
should  be  tested  hydrostatically  and  all  leaks  calked  tight 
before  it  is  painted.  The  tank  should  be  treated  on  the 
outside  with  a  shop  coat  of  red  lead  and  linseed  oil,  but 
should  not  be  painted  on  the  inside.  The  inside  should 
be  freed  from  rust  and  scale  and  should  be  slushed  at  the 
shop  with  a  good  coat  of  lubricating  oil.  All  openings 
should  be  blanked  with  wood  plugs  or  otherwise  while  the 
tank  is  in  transit  to  keep  out  cinders  and  dirt. 

OIL    TREATMENT. 

Oil  may  be  treated  by  running  it  through  a  filter,  dumping 
into  a  closed  tank  and  then  heating  it  either  electrically 
or  with  steam  until  all  moisture  is  evaporated ;  but  a  much 
better  way  is  to  pass  it  through  a  treating  press.  A  common 
form  consists  of  an  electrically  operated  pump  and  a  filter 
of  inclosed  blotters.  The  pump  forces  the  oil  through  the 
blotters,  the  latter  soaking  up  the  moisture,  and  the  oil 
thus  treated  is  discharged  into  the  transformers.  A  dia- 
grammatic layout  of  a  treating  press  with  all  the  necessary 
connections  is  shown  in  Fig.  2.  New  oil  in  being  treated 
is  sucked  through  the  press  from  the  oil-storage  tank  and 
discharged  through  the  three-way  cock  into  the  bottom  of 
the  transformers.  This  is  necessary  to  prevent  the  oil 
from  spraying  within  the  transformer,  as  spraying  causes 
the  oil  to  absorb  air  and  moisture. 
When  re-treating  the  oil  it  is  sucked 
through  the  three-way  cock  from  the 
bottom  of  the  transformer,  forced 
through  the  blotters  and  discharged 
into  the  top  connection,  thus  forming 
a  complete  circuit  and  not  only  pre- 
venting a  spray  but  allowing  the  oil 
to  be  treated  while  the  transformer  is 
in  operation.  The  vacuum  connection 
through  the  last-mentioned  pipe  is  for 
drying  and  cleaning  out  the  trans- 
formers, and  the  oil  trap  serves  the 
purpose  of  catching  the  drippings  and 
returning  them  to  the  press.  The  blotters  in  the  press  may 
be  removed  at  any  time  and  dried  out  for  re-use. 

Where  an  elaborate  system  is  not  required  this  form  of 
press  may  be  bought  in  portable  form  and  carried  from 
one  transformer  to  another  as  required,  thus  doing  away 
with  the  piping.     But  such  a  system  requires  extra  help. 

TRANSFORMER  PIPE  CONNECTIONS. 

The  transformer  should  be  connected  up  as  shown  in 
Fig.  3  and  as  described  in  part  in  the  foregoing.  Care 
should  be  used  to  get  flanged  or  screwed  unions  on  the 
outside  end  of  all  valves  so  that  a  transformer  may  be 
easily  removed  without  losing  any  of  the  oil.  Each  trans- 
former tank  should  have  a  suitable  opening  in  the  cover 
fitted  with  a  blow-out  flange  of  sheet  lead  or  other  like 
material  to  act  as  a  safety  valve  and  prevent  a  dangerous 
rise  of  pressure  internally.  There  should  also  be  provided 
a  quick-opening  valve  in  the  bottom  for  draining  off  the  oil 
and  a  small  test  cock  so  that  tests  of  the  oil  may  be  made 
at  regular  intervals.  Gage  glasses  and  a  thermometer  with 
electric  alarm  should  be  supplied  and  large  transformers  in 
compartments  should  be  mounted  on  wheels  and  set  on  rails 
so  that  they  may  be  pulled  out  for  inspection  and  repair. 
Forty-pound  rails  may  be  used  for  transformers  weighing 
up  to  ID  tons,  4S-lb.  rails  for  those  weighing  from  10  tons 
to  20  tons,  and  6o-lb.  rails  for  those  weighing  20  tons 
or  more. 


__SEIU«N  OIL 

-*        TD  BOTTSn  OF 

OILSU)>PLr-»  '       TMnSFORMERS 


FLOUR  LIHE 

FROM  OIL 

STORASE  WHK 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1203 


No  solder  or  other  readily  fusible  material  should  be 
used  to  hold  the  tank  together  or  make  it  oil-tight,  and  the 
water  cooling  coils  should  be  of  seamless  brass  tubing 
capable  of  withstanding  a  hydrostatic  pressure  of  not  less 
than  200  lb.  per  square  inch.  The  top  of  the  transformer 
rails  should  be  2  ft.  or  3  ft.  above  the  floor  proper  so  that 
transformers  may  be  pulled  out  and  set  on  a  transfer  truck. 
Each  transformer  should  be  penned  off  separately  in  a  fire- 
proof chamber  with  a  dam  built  across  the  doorway  up  to 
the  under  side  of  the  rails  so  as  to  form  a  receptacle  or 
catch  basin  for  the  oil  in  case  of  accident.  The  floor  should 
be  fitted  with  three  large  openings  with  strainers,  one  in 
the  middle  and  one  on  each  side  of  the  rails,  and  a  large 
pipe  with  a  good  slope  should  run  from  these  floor  drains 
to  a  point  outside  the  station.  There  should  be  no  valve  in 
this  pipe  and  no  other  drains  should  connect  to  it. 

The -cooling- water  connection  to  the  transformer  should 
be  fitted  with  a  flow  indicator  and  the  return  pipe  with  an 
open  funnel  unless  the  discharge  end  is  free  and  visible  as 
shown  in  the  diagram.  In  this  case  the  water  is  allowed  to 
run  to  waste  through  the  floor  drains,  where  it  can  always 
be  seen  by  the  operator  and  no  indicator  is  necessary. 

OIL  FILTER 

Where  oil  is  treated  by  heating  it  should  first  be  filtered 
through  cloth  bags  before  entering  the  treating  tank,  and 

5H£ErLUD 
BLOW-OUT  FIANSE 


tank  is  full.    The  filter  should  discharge  to  the  oil-treating 
tank  by  gravity. 

AIR  AND  VACUUM  SYSTEM. 

The  method  of  connecting  the  air  compressor  is  shown 
in  Fig.  2.  Air  is  used  for  cleaning  the  electrical  machinery, 
the  spaces  around  the  transformers,  the  galleries,  etc., 


^PQgMBLC  TOP 


OIL  TO  TRANiFORMER 
WHEN  r?E-Ti;EATINS 
WITH  OIL  PRESS 


EMERfiCNCr  OlSfH- 

t)UKK  onnme  valve  - 


CONN.  FOR  EMPTriNS        i 
TSANSF,  to    0/L  WtSS    ( 


V/ITH 

WHEH  TKANSF.  15  CNPrY_ 


fOOLIMG  WATER 


i  ,  X-*-UMION 


-FLOW  INDICATOR 


_FL20gLINE 


mun6  wmK  HBiS 

FiroM  VALVE  nuniFOLi. 


EMEKSENCy  OIL    OVKFIOIH  — - 


X,    COOLIMG    WATER  DI3CH 


lua;^     Qfo;    rat- 

Fig.  3 — Pipe  Connections  to  Transformer. 

for  this  purpose  the  tank  shown  in  Fig.  4  is  provided.  This 
tank  may  also  be  used  for  filtering  lubricating  oil,  but  in 
that  case  it  should  be  built  large  enough  to  hold  all  the  oil 
in  the  lubricating  system.  The  tank  consists  of  a  pan  A, 
in  which  are  punched  a  number  of  3>i-in.  diameter  holes. 
Hard-tin  thimbles  3-in.  long  and  2]/%  in.  in  diameter  at  the 
bottom  by  y/s  i"  diameter  at  the  top  are  provided,  one  for 
each  hole.  Bags  10  in.  deep  are  made  of  canton  flannel  to 
fit  tightly  over  the  thimbles,  and  the  bags  are  clamped 
between  the  edge  of  the  metal  and  the  thimbles  so  that 
when  it  is  desired  to  remove  a  bag  for  cleaning  it  is  neces- 
sary only  to  pull  out  the  thimble.  Oil  runs  into  the  pan  A 
and  filters  through  the  bags  onto  the  pan  B  and  into  the 
space  C  and  then  D,  E  and  F  respectively,  sedimentation 
of  any  particles  that  may  have  escaped  the  bags  taking  place 
in  the  compartments.  The  oil  then  passes  out  through  pipe 
G.  The  drain  cocks  in  the  bottom  are  provided  for  drawing 
off  the  sediment.  A  gage  glass  should  be  fitted  to  the  tank 
and  the  top  made  portable  for  cleaning  purposes.  The 
plates  forming  the  narrow  compartments  in  the  tank  should 
be  riveted  in  the  field,  as  compartments  made  in  the  shop 
invariably  fill  up  with  cinders  in  transit  and  on  account  of 
the  narrow  space  are  almost  impossible  to  clean.  An  over- 
flow thimble  3  in.  or  4  in.  high  should  be  fitted  in  the  pan^. 
and  where  the  tank  is  extensively  used  a  float  valve  should 
be  provided  to  shut  off  the  supply  automatically  when  the 


and 


iAUU  £LA$S 


'ORAin  COCKS - 

Fig.  4— Coll   Filter. 

for  lifting  the  transformer  oil  where  the  tanks  for  treating 
the  oil  are  elevated.  The  vacuum  system  is  connected  into 
the  tops  of  the  transformers  through  an  oil  trap  as  shown 
in  Fig.  2  and  is  used  for  cleaning  and  drying  out  the  trans- 
formers. A  connection  is  also  run  to  the  bottom  of  the 
storage  tank  by  which  oil  may  be  sucked  from  tank  cars  into 
the  system.  The  sole  purpose  of  the  trap  is  to  prevent  oil 
from  getting  into  the  air  compressor  and  to  catch  all  drip- 
pings and  return  them  to  the  oil-treating  press.  The  system 
shown  in  the  diagram  was  designed  for  a  power  house 
approximately  35  ft.  by  160  ft.  and  a  transformer  house 
35  ft.  by  80  ft.  There  were  five  3750-kva  main  generators, 
two  exciter  generators  and  five  large  transformers,  each 
holding  1600  gal.  of  oil,  stepping  down  the  potential  from 
110,000  volts  to  6600  volts.  The  air  compressor  used  was 
an  Ingersoll-Rand  8-in.  by  6-in.  horizontal,  belt-driven 
machine,  operating  at  150  r.p.m.,  compressing  and  deliver- 
ing 50  cu.  ft.  of  free  air  per  minute  at  80  lb.  pressure.  It 
was  required  to  produce  a  vacuum  in  the  air  receiver  of 
at  least  24  in.  of  mercury  when  referred  to  a  30-in. 
barometer  and  discharging  into  the  atmosphere. 

The  air  compressor  was  connected  as  shown  with  a  2j/2-in. 
screened  suction  from  the  atmosphere  and  a  lyi-in.  dis- 
charge to  the  air-receiver  tank  for  producing  pressure.  The 
ij4-in.  discharge  was  filtted  with  a  pressure  gage  and  a 
i-in.  relief  valve.  For  vacuum  a  2-in.  suction  was  fitted  to 
the  top  of  the  oil  trap  and  a  i>^.-in.  discharge  to  the 
atmosphere.  A  ij^-in.  cock  was  placed  in  the  discharge 
line  so  that  vacuum  could  be  produced  in  the  transformers 
without  raising  the  pressure  in  the  air-receiver  tank.  From 
the  oil  trap  a  l-in.  connection  was  run  to  the  oil  line  con- 


FUNCED  AN61C  VALVE5 

BASKET  STRAinCRS- 
CPFECTIVC  AREA  'TWICS 
AKCfi   OF  PIPE 

FL'eb  VALVrs 

—  T>  TtolDSFlJRMCS'i 

Fig.   5 — Valve   Manifold. 

necting  with  the  tops  of  the  transformers,  and  the  valves  at 
the  transformers  were  so  placed  (Fig.  3)  that  the  vacuum 
would  be  produced  only  through  the  very  top  of  the  cover. 
This  is  very  essential  while  filling  an  empty  transformer 
with  new  oil,  as  the  oil  is  pumped  in  slowly  through  the 
bottom  connection  while  the  air  is  drawn  off  through  the 
very  top.    Drippings  that  may  get  into  this  pipe  are  caught 


1204 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


by  the  oil  trap  as  explained  before  and  are  returned  to  the 
press,  so  that  nothing  is  wasted.  The  connection  from  the 
bottom  of  the  trap  to  the  treating  press  and  the  storage  tank 
was  made  lyi  in.,  as  that  was  the  size  of  the  pump  suction 
on  the  press. 

The  oil  trap  was  made  of  12-in.  standard  wrought-iron 
pipe  3  ft.  long,  fitted  at  the  lower  end  with  a  standard  pipe 
cap  and  drilled  and  tapped  for  the  i>^-in.  suction  line.  The 
latter  was  run  up  2  in.  inside  of  the  trap  to  avoid  catching 
muck.  The  cover  was  made  up  of  a  12-in.  standard  flange 
and  a  12-in.  blind  flange,  the  latter  drilled  for  the  2-in.  air 
compressor  suction  and  the  i-in.  connection  to  the  trans- 
formers. The  2-in.  air  compressor  suction  was  run  through 
the  cover  only  far  enough  to  fit  a  lock  nut  on  each  side, 
while  the  i-in.  connection  from  the  transformers  extended 
into  the  trap  18  in.  A  gage  glass  18  in.  long  was  fitted 
9  in.  above  the  bottom  of  the  trap. 

The  air  receiver  was  made  of  Y^-m.  tank  steel  with 
5/16-in.  dished  ends,  36  in.  diameter  by  84  in.  long.  It  was 
fitted  with  a  }^-\r\.  drip  from  the  bottom,  and  the  inlet  and 
outlet  connections  were  placed  on  the  side  as  shown.  It 
was  tested  at  the  shop  under  a  hydrostatic  pressure  of  150  lb. 
per  square  inch,  and  all  leakage  was  made  tight  before 
painting.  The  painting  consisted  of  a  coat  of  red  lead  and 
linseed  oil  applied  both  inside  and  out.  From  the  air 
receiver  tank  a  Ij4-in.  main  was  run  throughout  the  power 
house  with  i-in.  hose  connections  wherever  required. 

COOLING- WATER  SYSTEM. 

The  water  for  cooling  the  oil  in  the  transformers  may  be 
taken  from  the  penstock  intake  in  a  water-power  plant  and 
run  through  the  transformers  by  gravity  where  there  is 
sufficient  head.  Where  this  is  not  the  case  pumping  must 
be  resorted  to,  and  where  the  river  water  is  very  dirty  or 
full  of  silt  the  supply  should  be  taken  from  another  source. 
The  amount  of  water  required  for  each  transformer  is 
determined  by  the  makers  of  the  latter.  In  Fig.  5  is  shown 
a  valve  manifold  with  strainers  connected  so  that  one  of 
the  strainers  may  be  taken  out  and  thoroughly  cleaned  while 
the  other  filters  the  water  for  the  cooling  system.  This 
manifold  is  for  use  where  river  water  is  used.  A  rack  or 
screen  is  fitted  at  the  intake  end  and  is  made  accessible  for 
cleaning.  Water  is  piped  from  this  intake  to  the  valve 
manifold  and  from  the  manifold  into  the  system.  Each 
strainer  should  have  twice  the  effective  area  of  the  intake 
pipe,  and  the  end  of  the  cooling  water  line  should  be  fitted 
with  a  good-size  gate  valve  so  that  the  entire  system  may 
be  flushed  out  from  time  to  time.  As  the  cooling  water 
inlet  and  outlet  ends  on  the  transformers  are  usually  located 
on  the  front  or  side  of  the  machines,  it  is  advisable  to  run 
the  header  under  the  floor  or  at  least  under  the  transformer 
rails  to  facilitate  the  transformer's  removal.  All  other  con- 
nections to  this  line  should  be  so  arranged  that  repairs  or 
additions  of  any  kind  may  be  made  without  interfering  with 
the  transformer  cooling-water  supply. 


ELECTRICITY  IN  MINING. 


ELECTRICAL  SYMBOLS  FOR  MINE  MAPS. 


The  191 1  state  mining  law  of  Pennsylvania  requires 
that  the  location  of  all  stationary  electrical  apparatus  form- 
ing a  part  of  the  electrical  system  of  each  bituminous  coal 
mine  shall  be  shown  on  a  map,  and  that  the  map  shall  show, 
furthermore,  the  capacity  of  each  motor,  generator  or  trans- 
former and  the  nature  of  its  duty.  Since  the  passage  of 
this  law  some  discussion  has  arisen  as  to  the  best  symbols 
to  employ  in  carrying  out  the  requirements  of  the  act.  The 
matter  has  been  taken  up  by  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines, 
which  has  just  published  a  ten-page  pamphlet  on  the  sub- 
ject, as  Technical  Paper  22,  entitled  "Electrical  Symbols 
for  Mine  Maps,"  by  Mr.  H.  H.  Clark.  The  derivation  of 
the  symbols  proposed  is  carefully  covered,  and  the  bureau 
will  be  glad  to  receive  suggestions  for  changes  and  additions. 


In  his  presidential  address  before  the  South  Wales  branch 
of  the  Association  of  Mining  Electrical  Engineers,  in  its 
1912  session,  Mr.  Sydney  F.  Walker  gave  an  interesting 
historical  resume  of  the  course  of  events  relating  to  the 
introduction  and  development  of  the  uses  of  electricity  in 
the  mining  industry.  The  speaker's  pioneer  experiences 
with  the  use  of  electricity  in  mines,  dating  back  as  far  as 
1876,  were  reviewed,  and  incidents  relative  to  the  first  uses 
of  electricity  in  the  industry  were  cited. 

The  ignition  of  charges  of  blasting  powder  is  given  as 
the  first  operation  to  be  accomplished  with  the  aid  of  electric 
energy.  Energy  at  that  time  was  furnished  at  high  voltage 
from  either  a  static  machine  or  a  magneto-generator.  The 
bell  signal  was  the  next  electric  appliance  to  be  given  a 
trial  by  the  still  skeptical  colliery  managers,  who  then 
regarded  electrical  equipment  as  an  expensive  experiment. 
With  the  advent  of  the  alternating-current  lamp  at  the 
Paris  Exhibition,  in  1878,  another  use  of  electric  energy  in 
mines  was  immediately  recognized,  and  although  the  lighting 
apparatus  of  that  day  was  very  crude,  it  gave  fairly 
efficient  service.  The  generators  were  generally  of  Gramme 
manufacture  and  were  belted  to  Tangye  steam  engines. 
This  combination  of  machines  was  also  employed  in  later 
installations  where  parallel  circuits  of  incandescent  lamps 
were  used. 

In  regard  to  the  first  users  of  electric  energy  in  mining, 
the  speaker  pointed  out  the  discovery  by  M.  Fontaine  of  the 
fact  that  a  generator  could  be  run  as  a  motor  as  being  the 
most  important  step  toward  electrical  operation  of  mines. 
The  first  installation,  a  Siemens  generator  running  as  a 
motor  and  driving  a  pump,  proved  to  be  a  very  economical 
plant  in  comparison  to  the  previous  steam-driven  equipment. 
The  early  installations  were  all  operated  on  direct  current 
and  the  upper  limit  of  potential  was  declared  to  be  500  volts, 
owing  in  a  large  measure  to  American  railway  practice. 
However,  with  discovery  by  Tesla,  in  1885,  of  the  possi- 
bilities of  polyphase  operation,  coupled  with  the  extended 
areas  which  had  to  be  covered  in  the  mines,  the  lower- 
voltage  direct-current  plants  began  to  give  way  to  the  high- 
potential  three-phase  systems  because  of  their  greater 
efliciency  and  the  ease  with  which  the  voltage  could  be 
transformed  to  the  required  potential. 

In  conclusion,  the  speaker  dealt  with  the  question  of 
future  electrical  installations  in  mines  and  stated  that  the 
high-tension  direct-current  system,  as  employed  by  the 
Metropolitan  Electrical  Company  at  Willesden,  seems  to  be 
the  logical  successor  of  the  now  prevalent  three-phase 
plants.  It  was  stated  that  this  system  entails  less  loss  and 
gives  greater  copper  economy  than  any  other  now  in  use. 


TURBO-ALTERNATOR  POWER   PLANT  FOR  A 
LARGE  OFFICE  BUILDING. 


Non-condensing  turbine  sets  will  furnish  alternating- 
current  service  and  steam  heating  for  the  new  Railway 
Exchange  Building,  St.  Louis,  a  ten-story  structure  now 
being  erected  to  occupy  the  entire  city  block  bounded  by 
Locust,  Olive,  Sixth  and  Seventh  Streets.  Sixty-cycle  cur- 
rent will  be  generated  at  250  volts  and  distributed  through- 
out the  building  as  three-wire,  250-125-volt  service,  neutrals 
being  derived  from  each  of  the  three  250-volt  phases  by 
means  of  compensators.  Three  300-kw  rotary  converters 
vi'ill  furnish  direct  current  to  operate  the  elevators.  The 
plant  will  be  located  a  block  distant  from  the  office  building, 
in  the  warehouse  and  shipping  department  of  the  Barr  & 
Famous  dry  goods  interests  which  own  the  Railway  Ex- 
change Building.  The  latter's  basement  will  thus  be  avail- 
able for  valuable  commercial  uses.  A  tunnel  will  connect 
the  plant  with  the  office  structure,  conveying  steam  pipes 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


1 20s 


and  electric  cables,  and  also  providing  a  runway  for  re- 
moving waste  and  refuse  which  can  be  burned  in  the  plant 
boilers.  Three  750-kw  General  Electric  turbo-alternators, 
operating  at  3600  r.p.ra.  and  generating  250-volt,  three- 
phase  energy,  will  comprise  the  main  units.  These  are  to  be 
non-condensing  machines,  exhausting  into  the  steam-heating 
system.  At  atmospheric  exhaust  they  have  a  guaranteed 
steam  consumption  of  not  exceeding  31.6  lb.  of  steam  per 
kw-hr.  The  lighting  load  will  be  supplied  from  delta  con- 
nections between  the  three  phases,  which  will  be  balanced 
for  the  building  lighting  at  the  switchboard  in  the  basement. 
Auto-transformers  will  provide  the  three-wire,  250-125-volt 
neutral  points.  This  equipment,  as  well  as  the  rotaries  for 
the  elevator  service,  will  also  be  furnished  by  the  General 
Electric  Company.  The  Comstock  company,  Chicago,  has 
been  awarded  the  contract  for  wiring  the  office  building. 
The  Electric  Light  &  Development  Company,  of  St.  Louis, 
will  operate  the  new  Barr-Famous  Railway  Exchange  plant. 


COST  OF  PRODUCING  ELECTRICAL  ENERGY  WITH 
A  LOW-PRESSURE  STEAM  TURBINE. 


In  an  exhaustive  paper  read  before  the  Electrical  Sec- 
tion of  the  Western  Society  of  Engineers  and  the  Chi- 
cago Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers at  a  joint  meeting  held  on  Sept.  t.^,  191  i,  Mr.  Sam- 
uel G.  Neiler,  of  Neiler,  Rich  &  Company,  consulting  en- 
gineers, gave  an  illustrated  description  of  "The  Electrical 
and  Mechanical  Equipment  of  the  New  Passenger  Termi- 
nal of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway."  This  large 
and  unusually  interesting  installation  was  described  in  ar- 
ticles printed  in  the  Electrical  World  of  Aug.  19  and  26, 
191 1.  The  main  units  of  the  power  plant  consist  of  three 
vertical  cross-compound  reciprocating  engines  rated  at 
1 1 50  hp  each  and  directly  connected  to  750-kw,  250-volt 
direct-current  generators.  There  is  also  a  low-pressure 
steam  turbine  and  generator  unit  of  500-kw  rating.  Ex- 
haust steam  for  operating  this  machine  is  taken  directly 
from  the  main  exhaust  header.  Additional  exhaust  steam 
is  also  furnished  from  the  air  compressors,  boiler-feed 
and  vacuum  pumps.  This  low-pressure  turbine  was  de- 
signed to  be  in  use  practically  eight  months  of  the  year, 
the  exhaust  steam  from  the  engines  during  the  cold  winter 
months  being  utilized  for  the  heating  system. 

Mr.  Neiler  has  recently  made  a  reprint  of  his  paper 
and  has  taken  advantage  of  the  fact  to  add  some  informa- 
tion of  great  interest  about  the  economy  of  this  plant, 
which  is  of  particular  importance  owing  to  the  fact  that 
an  exhaust-steam  turbine  is  included  in  the  plant,  this 
being  perhaps  the  first  generating  plant  in  the  country  to 
be  designed  from  the  beginning  with  an  exhaust-steam 
turbo-generator  as  a  part  of  the  equipment.  Mr.  Neiler's 
statement  about  the  economy  of  the  plant,  referring  to 
the  year  ended  Sept.  I,  1912,  is  as  follows: 

"Since  writing  the  above  concerning  economical  results, 
the  plant  has  been  in  continuous  operation  for  a  period  of 
over  twelve  months.  It  has  been  possible  during  this  time 
to  determine  with  accuracy  the  amount  of  fuel  and  atten- 
dance, including  upkeep,  which  is  directly  chargeable  to 
each  portion  of  the  plant,  and  from  carefully  kept  records 
the  railway  engineers  have  computed  the  actual  cost  to 
produce  and  deliver  to  the  switchboard  a  unit  of  electrical 
energy. 

"During  this  period  the  average  monthly  kilowatt-hours 
generated  by  the  plant  have  been  385,000  or  at  a  yearly 
rate  of  4,620,000  kw-hr.  The  cost  of  producing  and  de- 
livering at  the  switchboard  during  the  winter  months  or 
heating  season  was  0.14  cent  per  kw-hr.,  while  throughout 
the  summer  months,  the  cost  was  0.445  c^nt  P^""  kw-hr. 

"These  figures  of  0.14  cent  and  0.445  cent  per  kw-hr. 
are  the  result  of  most  careful  analysis  of  operating  cost 


and  include  all  items  of  expense  such  as  fuel,  labor,  oil, 
waste,  supplies  and  repairs  but  do  not  cover  the  item  of 
interest  on  the  investment,  although  during  the  winter 
months  credit  is  taken  for  the  cost  of  heating. 

"With  seven  months  of  winter  and  five  months  of  sum- 
mer, the  average  cost  over  the  year,  based  on  the  pres- 
ent plant  output,  would  be  but  0.267  cent  per  kw-hr. 

"The  railway  requirements  are  such  that  in  any  event 
a  boiler  plant  and  certain  apparatus  and  machinery  would 
be  required  for  providing  service  of  varied  character  for 
the  terminal  station.  The  items  of  cost  have  been  divided 
by  the  railway  company,  and  that  part  of  the  investment 
amounting  to  $319,800  is  that  portion  of  the  whole  which 
is  directly  chargeable  to  the  isolated  plant — that  is,  the 
additional  boilers  installed  to  meet  future  electrical  re- 
quirements; the  complete  engine  and  generator  equip- 
ment with  foundations ;  the  switchboard  and  electrical 
work  in  connection  therewith,  together  with  that  part  of 
the  building  required  for  housing  the  isolated  plant. 

"The  railway  company  allows  11  per  cent  to  cover  in- 
terest, depreciation,  insurance  and  taxes  on  the  invest- 
ment  for  machinery,   apparatus  and  transmission. 

"For  purposes  of  this  paper  we  have  allowed  the  same 
percentage  on  the  power  house,  machinery,  foundations 
and  items  of  a  similar  nature.  The  total  fixed  charge, 
therefore,  of  11  per  cent  on  $319,800  per  kw-hr.,  with 
present  yearly  production  of  4,620,000  kw-hr.,  is  0.761 
cent.  This  is  loading  considerable  on  the  present  kilowatt 
output — first,  because  the  11  per  cent  on  the  cost  of  the 
building  and  foundations  is  large,  and,  second,  because 
the  present  kilowatt  output  is  not  what  is  to  be  eventually 
produced,  as  the  plant  is  designed  to  care  for  more  than 
double  this  amount.  The  total  yearly  charge  on  this  in- 
vestment is  made  against  the  present  kilowatt-hour  pro- 
duction. 

"Under  the  present  conditions  of  operation,  we  have  a 
total  cost  of  1.028  cent  per  kw-hr.,  this  item  including  all 
fixed  charges  upon  the  investment  incident  to  the  isolated 
plant,  all  labor,  fuel,  oil,  waste,  supplies  and  repairs,  in- 
cluding water. 

"The  total  overhead  charges  on  the  investment  as  al- 
lowed for  the  power  house  building  and  equipment,  in- 
cluding transmission,  installed  for  isolated  plant,  will  re- 
main as  the  fixed  charge  even  when  the  kilowatt  output  is 
doubled.  Therefore,  when  the  total  load  on  the  plant 
reaches  8,000,000  kw-hr.  per  year,  the  fixed  charge  will  be 
reduced  to  0.439  '^^"t  PS''  kilowatt-hour,  while  the  oper- 
ating cost  which  now  averages  0.267  cent  will  be  increased 
only  by  the  cost  of  fuel  and  water  and  removal  of  ashes, 
which  would  make  the  cost  per  kilowatt-hour  for  produc- 
ing at  the  rate  of  8,000,000  kw-hr.  per  year  0.386  cent  per 
kilowatt-hour,  or  a  total  cost  of  0.825  cent  per  kw-hr. 

"During  the  summer  of  1912  some  of  the  unassigned 
space  under  the  tracks  has  been  utilized  for  railway  de- 
partment purposes,  and  additional  heating  and  ventila- 
tion, together  with  light  and  power  service,  are  called  for. 

"As  a  matter  of  interest,  the  nature  and  extent  of  the 
various  classes  of  service  supplied  from  the  plant  are 
herewith  given  for  the  month  of  July,  1912:  The  plant 
produced  427,700  kw-hr.  Thirty-eight  million  cubic  feet  of 
free  air  was  compressed  to  loo-lb.  pressure.  The  elevator 
pumps  used  on  an  average  about  35  hp.  The  refrigerating 
plant  averaged  about  35  tons  of  refrigeration.  All  steam 
was  furnished  for  cooking  and  for  the  heating  of  water. 
To  produce  the  above,  56  tons  of  No.  5  washed  screen- 
ings was  burned  under  the  boilers.  The  market  price  of 
this  coal  is  $1.27  per  ton.  It  cost  the  railway  company 
82  cents  at  the  mines  and  the  freight  charge  is  45  cents. 

"Charging  all  items  of  fuel,  labor,  supplies  and  water 
for  the  above  service  directly  to  the  kilowatt-hour  pro- 
duction, the  cost  per  kilowatt-hour  delivered  to  the  switch- 
board is  0.93  cent,  and  this  during  a  month  when  no  heat- 
ing was  required." 


iJo6 


ELECTRICAL     WO  R  L  D 


Vol.  5o,  No.  23. 


METHODS  OF  BURNING  ANTHRACITE    COALDUST. 


By  William  Kavanagh. 
As  a  matter  of  economy  it  sometimes  becomes  necessary 
to  employ  the  dust  of  anthracite  coal  as  a  means  of  pro- 
ducing heat,  and  when  this  condition  arises  special  means 
must  be  employed  for  firing  the  coal.  Probably  the  most 
common  method  employed  in  this  country  is  that  of  mixing 
the  dust  in  some  rather  definite  proportion  with  bituminous 
coal.  Another  method  requiring  special  conditions  is 
encountered  when  the  coaldust  is  injected  into  a  furnace 
which  is  maintained  at  a  high  temperature.  Where  it  is 
desirable  not  to  use  any  bituminous  coal  at  all  the  dust  is 
sometimes  mixed  with  a  small  grade  of  hard  coal  and 
burned  under  a  forced  draft.  Although  briquetting  is  not 
yet  practised  to  any  great  extent  in  the  United  States,  this 
method  of  using  coaldust  has  been  widely  employed  in 
foreign  countries,  tar,  resin  or  clay  being  generally  used  as 
a  binder. 

The  usual  practice  when  burning  anthracite  dust  in  con- 
nection with  bituminous  coal  is  to  use  a  certain  number  of 
barrowfuls  of  dust  with  a  given  amount  of  soft  coal,  the 
proportions  used  being  varied  in  different  places  and  depend- 
ing almost  entirely  on  the  experience  of  the  fireman  or 
engineer.  Where  the  boilers  are  hand-fired  two  or  three 
barrowfuls  of  soft  coal  are  dumped  on  the  boiler-room  floor 
and  over  this  is  spread  one  or  two  barrowfuls  of  dust,  the 
shoveling  of  the  mixture  into  the  furnace  being  depended 
upon  to  form  a  more  intimate  union  of  the  different  grades 
of  coal.  In  some  cases  water  is  sprayed  over  the  mixture 
before  it  is  fed  to  the  furnace.  There  is  no  hard  and  fast 
rule  as  to  the  amount  of  water  to  use  in  wetting  down  the 
pile  of  dust,  but  it  will  be  found  that  the  mixture  when 
wetted  before  being  fired  is  better  enabled  to  hold  a  lump 
shape,  and  this  permits  coking,  which  produces  a  more 
favorable  condition  for  burning  the  dust.  Whenever  the 
mixture  is  fed  to  the  furnace  dry  there  is  little  tendency 
toward  coking ;  hence  a  smothered  fire  is  produced  and  poor 
combustion  is  the  result.  It  is  evident  therefore  that  the 
object  of  wetting  the  dust  is  to  produce  a  lump  formation 
which  will  facilitate  coking.  The  best  proportion  of  dust 
to  use  with  soft  coal  is  one  that  will  effect  a  rapid  dissipa- 
tion of  smoke  and  at  the  same  time  maintain  satisfactory 
steam  pressure. 

For  example,  if  one  barrowful  of  soft  coal  to  two  of 
dust  is  tried  and  difficulty  is  found  in  keeping  up  the  steam 
pressure,  the  proportion  should  be  changed  and  two  barrow- 
fuls of  soft  coal  to  three  of  dust  should  be  tried.  In  this 
way  the  proportion  that  will  best  suit  the  furnace  and  draft 
may  be  ascertained.  Natural  draft  is  the  best  to  employ, 
and  where  a  strong  draft  is  used  a  greater  proportion  of 
hard-coal  dust  can  be  used  in  the  mixture. 

Another  very  effective  method  which  is  employed  to  burn 
hard-coal  dust  and  eliminate  smoke  may  be  called  the 
"separated  method."  With  this  plan  the  different  coals  are 
not  mixed  until  they  are  placed  in  the  furnace  and  then  the 
dust  and  soft  coal  are  fed  in  layers.  In  order  to  operate 
this  system  of  burning  dust  and  soft  coal,  the  furnace  is 
cleared  of  all  ashes  and  a  bed  of  soft  coal  (preferably 
lumps)  is  laid  on  the  grate  bars  to  a  depth  which  is  propor- 
tional to  the  draft,  the  average  depth  of  this  lump  bed  being 
3  in.  or  4  in.  When  this  bed  becomes  incandescent  a  layer 
of  wet  coaldust  is  evenly  spread  over  the  fire,  and  when 
the  flames  appear  on  the  surface  of  the  dust  a  layer  of  wet 
soft  coal  is  evenly  spread  over  the  surface  of  the  dust,  and 
in  this  manner  the  layers  of  coal  are  alternated,  the  last 
layer  being  one  of  wet  coaldust. 

If  the  system  of  firing  just  described  is  continued  until  a 
very  heavy  fire  is  built,  no  more  firing  will  be  necessary 
during  the  greater  portion  of  the  day.  In  order  to  have  the 
alternate  layers  of  sufficient  thickness  it  is  necessary  to 
begin  firing  several  hours  before  steam  will  be  demanded 
from  the  boiler.     Where  steam  is  maintained  constantly  no 


difficulty  will  be  met  in  using  the  "separated  method,"  and 
with  this  system  the  firemen  have  tue  greater  portion  of 
the  day  for  themselves,  since  their  only  duty  consists  in 
occasionally  plugging  an  "air  hole."  When  banking  time 
arrives  little  ash  will  be  found,  as  the  mass  of  coal  is 
burned  to  a  honeycomb  and  can  easily  be  pushed  back  in 
preparation  for  banking.  There  will  be  practically  no 
clinker  and  the  amount  of  ash  obtained  from  a  twelve-hour 
run  with  a  grate  surface  of  30  sq.  ft.  will  not  exceed  four 
ordinary  ash  cans  full.  This  small  accumulation  of  ash 
may  appear  strange  to  those  not  conversant  with  this  system 
of  firing,  but  on  reflection  it  will  be  seen  that  the  honey- 
combed mass  is  practically  all  coke  and  the  most  economical 
plan  is  to  use  it  again.  It  should  be  mentioned  that  the 
first  layer  of  soft  coal  is  fired  dry,  but  that  afterward  both 
coals  are  wetted  before  they  are  fired.  This  method  of 
firing  soft  coal  will  be  found  satisfactory  in  cities  and 
towns  where  stringent  anti-smoke  laws  are  in  force. 

The  clay  used  for  briquetting  hard  coal  is  usually  yellow 
or  dark  brown  in  color  and  is  free  from  gravel  or  sand. 
In  preparation  for  mixing  with  the  coaldust  the  clay  is 
wetted  and  rolled  or  "walked"  into  a  pasty  mass  on  a  large 
flagstone.  A  bed  of  the  pasty  clay  is  then  spread  on  a  level 
surface  and  over  the  clay  a  layer  of  hard-coal  dust  is  placed; 
the  dust  is  then  rolled  into  the  clay  and  the  mixture  made 
level  to  receive  more  clay  and  coal.  These  alternate 
applications  of  clay  and  dust  are  continued  until  the  mass 
assumes  the  desired  pfoportions.  The  mixture  is  said  to  be 
"ripe"  for  briquetting  when  the  color  of  the  clay  has 
vanished  and  the  entire  mass  appears  black,  and  when  it  has 
reached  this  condition  it  is  spread  out  in  a  bed  varying  in 
thickness  from  2  in.  to  6  in.  and  the  briquettes  are  then  cut 
in  any  desired  form  and  put  to  dry,  preferably  by  sun  heat. 

Wliere  labor  is  cheaper  than  machinery,  briquetting  is 
sometimes  done  by  hand.  After  the  mixture  is  "walked" 
the  mass  is  shoveled  into  a  heap  and  persons  are  employed 
to  form  the  briquettes  by  hand.  These  small  briquettes 
formed  in  this  manner  are  called  "bums,"  and  after  being 
dried  they  are  stored  away  for  steaming  purposes.  When 
the  "bums"  or  briquettes  are  dry  they  will  stand  a  consider- 
able amount  of  rough  handling  before  losing  their  shape 
and  can  be  fired  in  the  same  way  as  furnace  coal. 


REPLACING   MANHOLE   TRAPS  WITH  WATER 
SEALS. 


Manhole 


The  Canton  (111.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company  has  installed 
several  12-ft.  water  seals  in  the  manholes  of  its  steam- 
heating  system  to  take  the 
place  of  condensation  traps 
formerly  used.  The  seals 
are  cheaper  to  build  and,  be- 
ing non-mechanical,  are  sim- 
pler in  operation,  making 
them  thoroughly  dependable. 
From  the  bottom  of  the 
manhole,  a  well  shaft  12-ft. 
deep  is  bored  with  a  large 
auger  and  then  cased  in  with 
a  length  of  8-in.  wrought- 
iron  pipe.  The  seal  loop  is 
formed  of  l-in.  or  1.5-in. 
pipe,  one  end  being  tapped 
to  the  6-in.  steam  main 
through  a  strainer.  At  its  other  end  the  seal  is  led  into  the 
manhole  sewer  connection.  A  back-head  of  3  lb.  to  4  lb. 
pressure  at  all  times  is  assured  by  the  12-ft.  water  column. 
This  method  of  installing  water  seals  for  handling  the 
steam  condensation  was  resorted  to  by  Mr.  E.  H.  Negley, 
manager  of  the  Canton  company,  after  experiencing  trouble 
with  traps  which  became  clogged  and  refused  to  work. 


Sewer 
Connection 


s'WrouBht-Iroa  Pipe 
for  Casing. 


Excavated  with 
Auger. 

EUrtrisal   TtoWJ 


Water  Seal   Used   to   Replace 
Manhole  Steam  Trap. 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1207 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


MR. 


BYLLESBY  ON  RATES  AND  RELATIONS  WITH 
THE  PUBLIC.  . 


On  the  occasion  of  a  recent  interview  reported  in  the 
MinneapoHs  Tribune  Mr.  Henry  M.  Byllesby,  president  of 
H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  which  controls  the  Minneapolis 
General  Electric  Company,  was  quoted  as  saying  that  he 
had  no  definite  information  in  relation  to  the  matter  of 
rates  at  the  present  time  but  that  the  people  of  Minneapolis 
could  be  certain  that  they  would  receive  absolutely  fair 
treatment.  According  to  the  newspaper,  Mr.  Byllesby  con- 
tinued :  "I  wish  to  state  emphatically  that  the  consumer 
element  has  at  least  a  fully  equitable  representation  in  every 
step  of  the  complicated  calculations  which  are  now  being 
pushed  to  a  conclusion.  Starting  years  ago  with  the  theory 
that  no  public-utility  company  could  possibly  be  successful 
if  operated  selfishly,  we  have  come,  through  years  of  ex- 
perience, to  a  definite  doctrine  and  practice  that  the  public 
is  our  partner."  Mr.  Byllesby  declared  further  that  all 
necessary  betterments  would  be  made  from  time  to  time 
and  that  the  Minneapolis  company  would  be  kept  where  it 
is  now — in  the  front  rank  of  public-utility  corporations. 


CO-OPERATIVE  STATIONS  IN  RURAL  DISTRICTS. 


Germany,  Sweden  and  Denmark  possess  a  number  of  co- 
operative electrical-supply  undertakings  successfully  man- 
aged by  farmers.  Denmark  alone,  with  a  population  of 
2,300,000,  having  about  thirty.     In  the  accompanying  table 


other  central-station  circuits  that  such  undertakings  thrive. 
Where  transmission  lines  traverse  a  district  farmers  along 
the  right-of-way  not  infrequently  form  co-operative  dis- 
tribution companies  which  buy  high-tension  energy  from 
the  central-station  company  and  transform  it  in  privately 
owned  substations  for  rural  distribution. 

In  planning  a  co-operative  system  the  promoters  canvass 
the  surrounding  country  to  ascertain  the  attitude  o£  their 
neighbors  toward  such  a  scheme  and  also  the  possible  light- 
ing and  motor  load  that  can  be  expected.  By  this  means 
the  size  of  the  station  is  determined.  It  has  been  the  prac- 
tice to  apportion  the  stock  among  the  consumers  according 
to  their  connected  loads,  one  share  being  allotted  for  each 
incandescent  lamp  and  ten  shares  for  each  horse-power  in 
motors.  Thus,  if  the  estimated  cost  be  $6,000  and  the 
connected  load  500  lamps  and  70  hp  in  motors,  1200  shares 
are  issued.  Usually  the  necessary  capital  is  furnished  by  a 
banker,  each  co-partner  giving  a  note  for  his  share  of  the 
capital.  In  this  way  no  actual  monetary  outlay  is  made  by 
the  owners  and  the  obligations  are  met  through  a  sinking 
fund.  The  property  consists  of  a  power  station  or  trans- 
former station,  distribution  lines  and  meters.  Wiring  of 
premises  is  also  done,  and  lamps  and  motor  installations  are 
made,  by  the  central-station  company,  the  cost  of  which  is 
paid  to  the  company  in  instalments  within  a  period  of  five 
years.  This  has  proved  to  be  a  great  inducement,  particu- 
larly to  small  farmers.  Small  motors  of  from  0.5  hp  to 
5  hp  for  pumping,  feed  cutting,  milking  machines,  etc..  are 
bought  by  each  farmer,  while  larger  motors  for  threshing, 
stone  cutting,  mill  grinding,  etc.,  are  usually  bought  by  a 


DATA    FOR    TWENTY-ONE    RURAL    SUBSTATIONS     IN     DENMARK. 


RATES      IN 

GENERATING  STATION. 

■gB 

CONNECTED. 

INCOME,  DOLLARS. 

3 

Interest,    Depre- 
ciation,  Sinking 
Fund. 

k 

CENTS. 

d 
X 

tribu- 
m  (In- 
Total 

■q 

i 

1 

d, 

v6 

>J 

•a 

"  3 
■"  9 

R 

V 

0. 

^ 

> 

Motive 
Power. 

0^ 

_^  0 

r 

Cost  of  Dis 
tion  Syste 
eluded  in 
Cost). 

Cost  per  ] 
descent  L 

2 

•o 

U 

B 
3 

3 

1  -^ 

2 

1 

Ih 

■2 

si 

2I 

< 

Expenses: 
Fuel,  Etc 

3 

u 

s 

0 

Steam 

1700 

7.00 

11 

245 

4 

10 

780 

158 

376 

5.5 

Gas       

1.'; 
12 

18 

4600 
.WSO 
2850 

2600 

"276' 

515 

17.90 

10.80 

7.30 

6.50 

13 

9 

18 

41 

270 
279 
390 
400 

14 
7 
2 

2 

43 

14 
2 

4 

'182 
350 
460 

VsV 

24 
81 

96"  ■ 

13.50 

6!66 
0.90 

1.22 

iV  ■ ' 
8.10 

20 

243 
375 
132 

178 

"so 

250 
375 

2:7 

9.1 
13.9 

5. 5 

Gas 

5.5 

Gas      

S.5 

Steam 

Wind 

5.5 

Oil  

]°o    I 

5450 

10.50 

42 

520 

3 

7 

815 

37 

96 

1.60 

5.35 

345 

700 

11.1 

5.5 

Wind 

Oil 

28 
27 
28 
34 

10     1 
28     1 

3600 
6250 
5650 
7900 

8300 

555 
820 
790 
830 

780 

6.50 
10.50 

9.00 
12.00 

11.00 

63 
50 
21 
49 

56 

553 
600 
625 
650 

750 

6 

5 

16 

13 

9 

12 
10 
50 
50 

26 

790 

iioo 

700 

31 

450 
18 

121 

27    ■■ 
190 

1.40 

IAS 
0.93 

2.60 

's'.Vo 

0.69 

450 
152 

465 

iooo 

700 

12.9 

13^5 
8.3 

5.5 

Gas 

5.5 

Gas        

5.5 

Oil 

S.S 

Gas 

5.5 

Wind 

Gas 

30 
22 
25 

7500 
6225 
6800 

1650 
2430 
1000 

9.40 
7.80 
8.40 

34 
60 
70 

800 
800 
800 

15 
10 
13 

18 
20 
40 

1250 

V65' 

166'" 

I'.SS 

V.Vs 

166 
315 

iioo 

ioJ 

5.5 

Gas 

5.5 

Oil 

5.5 

Steam 

75 

7450 

8.40 

50 

900 

1460 

154 

162 

775 

850 

11.6 

5.5 

Gas 

28 

9100 

3000 

10.00  ' 

SO 

900 

20 

64 

.... 

1 

5.5 

Oil 

28 

9050 

1265 

10.00 

64 

905 

11 

41 

940 

200 

75 

i.62 

590 

625 

6.9  1 

5.5 

Gas 

28 

7600 

1120 

7.60 

70 

1000 

6 

30 

5.5 

Oil 

34 
52 

20 

10800 
15600 

7300 

1840 
5150 

10.80 
13.00 

6.20 

82 
60 

80 

1000 
1200 

1200 

9 
24 

8 

32 
80 

20 

780 

IS6 

146 

60 

7.95 

460 
610 

475 

6.6 

11 

5.5 

oa 

5.5 

Gas 

5.5 

the  cost  of  construction,  running  expense,  income  and  other 
data  of  twenty-one  of  these  Danish  stations  are  given.  It 
will  be  noticed  from  this  table  that  by  charging  the  pre- 
vailing Danish  central-station  rate  of  11  cents  per  kw-hr. 
for  lighting  and  5.5  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  motor  service 
these  co-operative  plants  earn  9.8  per  cent  on  the  capital 
invested.    Naturallv.  it  is  only  in  rural  districts  remote  from 


group  of  farmers  and  are  permanently  mounted  on  cars  so 
as  to  be  easily  transported  from  one  farm  to  another. 

In  the  European  countries  mentioned  the  farmer  readily 
accepts  modern  improvements  and  appliances  which  facili- 
tate rational  cultivation  of  his  property,  and  the  advantages 
afforded  by  electricity  are  very  evident.  This  interest  is 
growing,  largely  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  farm  help. 


I208 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


INDIVIDUAL   DRIVE  IN  WOOD  SHOP. 


The  simplicity  and  convenience  of  individual  motor  drive 
is  well  illustrated  by  the  accompanying  view  of  the  new 
woodworking  shop  of  the  Omaha  &  Council  Bluffs  Railway 
Company  at  Omaha,  Neb.  All  of  the  various  machines, 
including  planers,  shapers,  band-saws,  circular  saws,  mold- 
ing cutters,  etc.,  are  separately  driven  by  short  belts  from 


Individual    Motor    Drive 


Wood    Shop. 


motors  mounted  near  by.  This  arrangement  has  consider- 
ably simplified  and  cheapened  the  type  of  building  construc- 
tion necessary,  as  compared  with  that  which  would  have 
been  required  for  overhead  belting.  Use  of  compact  self- 
contained  drives  has  also  resulted  in  less  elaborate  guards 
about  the  belts,  moving  pulleys,  etc.,  as  stipulated  by  the 
factory  ordinances. 

Sawdust  and  shavings  are  removed  from  each  machine 
by  a  system  of  exhaust  pipes  operated  in  connection  with 
a  motor-driven  suction  fan.  To  rid  the  room  of  sweepings, 
several  down-spouts  extend  to  the  floor  level,  ending  in 
flared  valves.  The  attendant  sweeps  the  sawdust  and  shav- 
ings up  to  these  openings,  opens  the  valves,  and  then  the 
debris  is  whisked  up  the  pipe  and  out  of  doors  into  the 
sawdust  pile. 

GRADED    INSTRUCTION    IN    RATE-MAKING    AND 
RATE  APPLICATION. 


The  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  St.  Louis, 
has  organized  a  school  to  train  employees  in  its  sales  depart- 
ment in  the  practical  aspects  of  making  rates  for  electrical 
energy.  The  men  seem  to  be  pleased  with  the  idea  and 
have  entered  into  the  plan  with  considerable  enthusiasm. 
The  school  is  divided  into  three  classes,  which  meet  every 
alternate  Saturday  afternoon. 

Class  I  is  the  largest,  with  about  fifty-eight  members.  It 
is  composed  of  those  who  do  not  thoroughly  understand  the 
question  of  rates,  motor  applications,  etc.  Class  2  is  for 
members  who  have  a  better  understanding  of  the  philosophy 
and  practical  application  of  rates  but  who  desire  preliminary 
information  relative  to  motor  applications,  the  application  of 
rates  to  large  installations  of  mixed  lighting  and  motor 
service  and  illuminating  engineering.  Class  3  is  the  most 
advanced,  and  here  the  discussion  of  rate  making,  with  its 
application  to  large  installations  of  all  kinds,  is  taken  up. 
In  this  class  also  such  other  subjects  are  discussed  as  the 
motor  requirements  of  various  classes  of  industrial  plants, 
the  workings  of  internal-combustion  engines,  steam  engines. 
etc.  A  student  will  advance  from  one  class  to  another 
when,  in  the  opinion  of  the  teacher,  he  has  absorbed  all  the 
information  provided  in  the  class  in  which  he  started  and. 


furthermore,  is  able  to  demonstrate  the  possession  of  this 
knowledge  by  blackboard  demonstrations  before  the  class, 
the  teacher  acting  as  the  critic. 


ELECTRIC  IRON  AS  FACTOR   IN  HOUSE  WIRING. 


Aside  from  its  value  as  a  day-load  builder,  the  electric 
iron  is  not  to  be  overlooked  as  a  factor  in  getting  wiring 
installed  in  old  houses  into  which  iron  users  move  from 
premises  equipped  for  electricity.  Usually  the  tenant  who 
has  been  accustomed  to  electrical  conveniences  chooses  a 
new  location  similarly  equipped,  thus  reducing  the  number 
of  wired  houses  vacant.  But  if  the  new  home  is  not  wired 
the  idle  electric  iron  serves  as  a  constant  reminder  to  have 
service  installed,  so  that  in  either  case  the  central  station 
profits.  In  fact,  certain  utility  managers  feel  that  they  can 
forego  the  ordinary  selling  profit,  and  even  the  income 
from  the  irons,  in  order  to  get  the  devices  into  the  hands 
of  the  public.  For  the  electric  iron,  once  used,  seems  to 
be  pretty  good  insurance  that  "once  a  customer,  always  a 
customer." 


GETTING  LANDLORDS  TO  WIRE  RENTED 
PROPERTY. 


The  Lawrence  (Kan.)  Railway  &  Light  Company  has 
been  directing  a  campaign  at  owners  of  rental  property 
which  remains  unwired,  seeking  to  show  landlords  that 
they  will  profit  from  such  investment  to  better  advantage 
than  from  any  other  outlay  they  can  make.  Besides  urging 
the  phrase  "Renting  signs  come  out  when  electric  light 
goes  in,"  the  company  makes  capital  of  the  point  that  the 


DONT  YOU  SHOW  ME 
ANY  MORE     HOUSES 
WITHOUT   ELECTRIC 
LIGHT  !t?*Mlf- 


^iliiiiiii<Miiiiiniiiiiiii|iiHiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiMili|llllililiwiil'iininniiiiiiiiiiiili|illllillliJiln 


KiMiiHiitiiirrfllKIII/lllbl'lltlV 


Post  Card   Mailed   to  Owners  of  Unwired   Rental   Property. 

tenant  who  insists  on  having  electricity  is  usually  of  the 
class  which  will  take  best  care  of  rented  property.  Elec- 
trically lighted  houses  sell  at  higher  prices  and  rent  more 
quickly  than  those  not  equipped  with  electricity.  Herewith 
is  reproduced  a  post  card  the  Lawrence  company  has 
mailed  to  a  number  of  owners  of  rental  property,  attacking 
the  problem  from  a  humorous  standpoint. 


December  7,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1209 


STIMULATING  INTEREST  IN  TUNGSTEN  LAMPS. 


The  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company 
of  Baltimore  has  adopted  a  rather  novel  method  of  impress- 
ing the  public  with  the  merits  of  the  tungsten  lamp.  The 
company  is  at  present  conducting  a  prize  contest  for  the 
best  answers  of  100  words  or  less  to  the  question,  "Why 
will  a  48-cp,  60-watt  tungsten  lamp,  properly  placed  with  a 
suitable  reflector  in  a  kitchen,  reduce  the  cost  of  living?" 
For  the  best  answer  a  cash  prize  of  $10  will  be  given  and 
for  each  of  the  three  next  best  answers  ten  60-watt  tung- 
sten lamps  will  be  given.  The  contest  will  close  Dec.  10 
and  notice  has  gone  out  with  each  consumer's  bill. 


CENTRAL-STATION  DISPLAY  ROOM    AT   YOUNGS- 
TOWN,  OHIO. 


The  Consolidated  Gas  &  Electric  Company  of  Youngs- 
town,  Ohio,  recently  entered  the  business  of  retailing  elec- 
trical energy-consuming  devices  and  opened  a  very  attractive 
electric  shop  in  the  heart  of  the  business  and  shopping 
district. 

The  display  room  is  richly  but  not  too  gorgeously  fur- 
nished and  occupies  a  space  of  approximately  3000  sq.  ft. 
on  one  of  the  most  prominent  corners  of  the  city.  Show 
windows,  with  a  depth  of  from  5  ft.  to  8  ft.,  provide  a 
generous  space  for  the  display  of  electrical  devices,  in- 
cluding portable  electric  lamps.  These  windows  are 
arranged  in  sections.  One  is  given  over  to  motor-driven 
household  articles  such  as  washing,  ironing  and  sewing 
machines.  Another  shows  a  large  assortment  of  heating 
and  cooking  appliances,  and  then  come  dry  batteries  for 
flashlights  and  ignition.  Next  to  these  there  is  a  display  of 
forge  blowers,  suction  and  residence-type  electric  fans,  and. 
last  but  not  least,  an  entire  section  is  given  over  to  the 
wiring  department  for  the  display  of  the  most  up-to-date 
fixtures  and  fittings. 

.\  large  spectacular  flashing  sign  on  the  building  is 
operated  by  a  nickel-plated  flasher,  inclosed  in  a  plate-glass 
case,    also    in    the    window,    which    arouses    comment    and 


Pjg     1 — Exterior   of    Electric   SInop.    Youngstown.    Ohio. 

interest.  In  the  center  of  the  display  room  a  circular 
marble-faced  display  counter  is  an  unusually  attractive 
feature,  owing  to  its  originality  and  possibilities  as  a  center 
for  demonstrations  of  the  articles  on  display.  An  installa- 
tion of  cashiers'  cages  has  made  it  possible  for  all  electric 
light  and  gas  bills  to  be  paid  at  the  electric  shop  :  also,  by 
arrangement  with  the  Republic  Railway  &  Light  Company, 


street-railway  tickets   for  all  local   lines  arc  sold   from  the 
ticket  window  especially  built  for  that  purpose. 

All  of  this  brings  people  in  contact  with  electrically 
operated  devices  for  the  simplification  of  housework.  In 
the  basement  will  be  located  a  large  commercial  display 
covering      motor-driven      ice-making      and      refrigerating 


Fig.    2 — Section    Devoted    to    Ornamental     Lamps    at    the    Electric 
Shop,    Youngstown,    Ohio. 

machines,  buzz  saws  and  band  saws  and  planers,  electric 
hoists,  etc.,  with  competent  men  in  charge.  Taken  as  a 
whole,  this  electric  shop  is  one  of  the  most  complete  of  its 
kind  in  the  country.  The  company  caters  to  all  trade  within 
a  radius  of  20  miles  along  its  distribution  lines. 


SALE  OF  FLATIRONS  AT  A  FAIR. 


Mr.  R.  E.  Flower,  manager  of  the  new-business  depart- 
ment of  the  Mobile  (Ala.)  Electric  Company,  is  of  the 
opinion  that  the  exhibit  of  an  electric  service  company  at  a 
fair  may  be  made  to  pay  for  itself  through  sales  of  elec- 
trical appliances.  He  demonstrated  this  belief  during  the 
Mobile  and  Gulf  Coast  Tropical  Fair,  which  ended  recently 
after  lasting  a  week.  At  this  show  the  Mobile  Electric 
Company  concentrated  its  effort  upon  the  sale  and  display 
of  electric  flatirons.  During  five  days  162  irons  were  sold, 
and  although  the  price  was  reduced  the  transactions  yielded 
a  snug  profit  over  all  expenses. 


SALE  OF  ELECTRICAL  APPLIANCES  FOR  REGULAR 

LAMP  CIRCUITS  AND  THEIR  EFFECT  ON 

LOAD  AND  INCOME. 


By  S.  M.  Kennedy. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  during  the  past  five  years 
concerning  the  value  of  electrical  appliances  to  the  central 
station  and  the  efforts  made  by  companies  to  advertise  their 
advantages  and  stimulate  their  use.  Many  excellent  plans 
have  been  adopted  in  various  cities,  and  usually  satisfac- 
tory results  have  been  reported.  Perhaps  no  company  in 
the  United  States  has  been  more  aggressive  in  this  depart- 
ment than  the  Southern  California  Edison  Company,  and  an 
outline  of  the  methods  employed  and  results  obtained  by 
this  company  during  the  past  year  may  be  of  general 
interest. 

The  earlier  methods  adopted  by  the  Edison  company  to 
have  its  consumers  use  the  various  electrical  appliances 
adapted  for  domestic  purposes  resulted  in  a  very  consider- 
able number  being  installed  prior  to  the  year  1909.  These 
earlier  efforts  were  confined  mostly  to  flatirons.  The  com- 
pany was  liberal  in  its  offers  to  put  irons  out  on  trial,  to  sell 
on  the  instalment  plan  and  to  loan  the  irons  for  indefinite 
periods,  provided  that  the  appliances  were  used  by 
consumers. 


ELECTRICAL     W  ( )  R  L  D 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


However,  about  three  years  ago  the  company  decided  that 
the  seed  had  been  sown  and  that  the  interest  and  demand 
were  such  that  the  day  of  "trials"  and  "loans"  had  passed 
and  that  thenceforward  all  appliances  put  out  should  be  on 
the  basis  of  straight  sales.  The  selling  of  these  appliances 
was  not  to  be  carried  on  by  spurts  or  so-called  campaigns, 
but  was  to  be  a  continuous  performance,  just  as  in  the  other 


Appliance 

[netallatlon 

Z.ird    StrPPt 

Record 

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Fig.  1 — Card   Record. 

departments  of  the  company   for  the  selling  of  energy  for 
light  and  industrial  purposes. 

KI.VDS  OF  .\I'PI.1.\NCES  SOU). 

The  experience  of  those  interested  in  this  work  demon- 
strated that  it  was  not  advisable  to  handle  appliances  wdiich 
had  not  been  fully  tested  and  proved  to  be  satisfactory  in 
the  great  essentials — namely,  consumption,  efficiency  and 
ilurabilitv.  If  there  were  a  doubt  about  any  make  or  type, 
the  company  could  not  afford  to  "get  behind"  such  an 
appliance  and  be  the  means  of  distributing  an  article  whicli 
would  cause  dissatisfaction  to  the  consumer  and  constant 
trouble  to  the  company.  This  was  the  first  great  considera- 
tion. The  next  consideration  was  to  push  appliances  which 
would  be  used  more  or  less  constantly  and  not  to  waste 
efforts  on  energy-consuming  devices  the  energy  consump- 
tion of  which  was  small  and  the  use  of  which  was  irregular 
The  third  consideration  was  to  obtain  appliances  which 
were  not  only  popular,  efficient,  durable  and  likely  to  be 
regularly  in  use.  but  also  of  a  consumption  not  to  exceed 
6  amp,  the  limit  fixed  by  the  authorities  for  lamp-socket 
installations. 

The  company  desired  to  load  its  lines  in  residence  dis- 
tricts without  adding  any  additional  expenditure  on  invest- 
ment account.  The  services,  transformers  and  meters  used 
on  lighting  circuits  could  be  utilized  for  supplying  energy 
for  heating  purposes.  The  company  was  not  anxious  to 
encourage  the  use  of  ranges,  large  air  and  water  heaters, 
etc.,  which  took  a  very  considerable  amount  of  energy  when 


operating,  until  these  appliances  were  well  past  the  experi- 
mental stage.  The  main  object  was  to  get  large  quantities 
of  efficient,  energy-consuming,  regularly  used  appliances  on 
the  lines,  and  to  do  it  as  rapidly  as  possible,  in  order  to 
obtain  the  additional  income  derived  from  the  energy  con- 
sumed in  the  uses  of  such  appliances. 

ATTITUDE  OF  DEALERS. 

The  Southern  California  Edison  Company  found  that  if 
large  quantities  of  desirable  electrical  appliances  were  to 
be  distributed  quickly  among  its  customers,  the  company 
itself  would  have  to  do  the  work.  It  was  true  there  were 
many  dealers  doing  business  in  the  cities  and  towns  where 
the  company  supplied  the  electrical  service.  It  was  true 
they  all  had  a  few  appliances  on  e.xhibition  and  all  said  they 
were  in  the  business.  But  in  most  cases  sales  were  made 
when  customers  went  into  their  stores  and  asked  concern- 
ing some  appliance  which  they  had  heard  about.  The 
Edison  company  had  water  going  to  waste  during  the  day- 
light hours;  it  had  big  steam  turbines  standing  idle,  waiting 
for  a  day  load ;  it  could  not  afford  to  await  the  time  when 
the  dealers  would  make  up.  A  large  and  satisfactory  load 
was  ready  to  be  taken  on,  only  wanting  an  invitation. 

METHODS  ADOPTED. 

At  that  time  it  was  thought  that  if  the  company  had 
showrooms  in  its  various  offices  there  would  be  many  more 
sales  of  appliances.  It  was  also  believed  that  liberal  adver- 
tising would  rapidly  increase  the  demand  for  useful  devices. 
These  methods  were  freely  tried,  but  still  the  sales  were 
relativelv  slow  and  not  in  the  quantities  desired.  Many 
customers  never  went  into  an  office  of  the  company,  many 


Southern  California  Edison  company 


Itth  .  19U 


It  Is  my  greac  pleasure  to  Inform  you  that  trie 
Southern  Calirornia  Edison  Company  has  secured 
an  electric  cofiee  percolator,  which  will  be 


sold  at  about  ine-thlrd 
electric  percolator  or. 
ranging  to  taice  the 


e  price  of  any 
fc  iDarKet    By  ar- 
Bntlre  Initial  output  of 
the  factorv  we  are  able  to  supply  Edison  con- 
eumers  with  this  beeuttful  appl lance  oooplete. 
Including  trie  coid  and  attachments  for  |^. 
a  price  whlcn  places  It  within  the  reach 
of  all . 

As  you  -Jill  note  by  the  picture  on 
the  margin,  this  percolator  attaches  to  any 
electric  light  socket    Its  capacity  Is 
seven  large  cups-   One  minute  after 
the  current  Is  turned  on  percolation 
commences  and  It  takes  about  ten 
minutes  to  prepare  the  coffea. 

Electricity  supplied  by  the  Edison 
service  makes  seven  cups  or  coffee 
for  less  than  1  cent    This  is  about 
the  cost  of  sufficient  egg  to 
clear  seven  cups  of  coffee.  If  you 
i  an  ordinary  coffee  pot.   The 
percoletor  clears  col  fee  without  the  use  of  egg. 


Other  points  or  advantage  charaoterlat ic  or  the 
lectrlc  percolator  are:  cleanliness:  the  speed  with 
rhlch  the  coffee  can  be  prepared;  the  jozlhess  and 
comfort  of  preparing  coffee  on  th^  table;  ^he  eaving 
In  cost;  and  the  absolute  certainty  that  your  coffee 
will  always  be  ol  trie  same  strength  and  ccnslstency. 

The  bast  coffee  Is  made  by  «  percolator  end 
._,  electric  la  the  best  percolator.   This  per- 
colator Is  better  than  other  percolators  because 
the  coffee  Is  poured  from  the  spout  end  not  from 
a  rauoet.  which  Is  apt  to  drip  and  stain  the 
rable  cloth   If  you  ane  a  lover  of  good  coffee, 
secure  ona  from  the  first  shipment. 

Of  the  first  consignment  I  have  secured  about 
jne  peroolator  to  every  fifteen  Santa  Ana  con- 
mers.  To  obtain  one  of  the  first,  be  in  lin.  at 
the  Edison  office  for  tre  opening  sale— at  9  A  M. 
n  Monday,  June  19tn      Yours  Truly 


District  Agent  - 


Fig.   2 — Advertisement   Used    in    a    Percolator   Campaign. 

never  read  the  advertisements  in  the  papers  nor  the  folders 
sent  by  mail.  But  the  customers  needed  the  appliances, 
although  they  did  not  all  know  it,  and  the  company  needed 
llieir  business  and  knew  it.  There  was  only  one  thing  to 
do,  namely,  to  send  good  salesmen  and  demonstrators  into 
the  homes  and  let  them  tell  the  story  and  make  the  sales. 
Three    vears    ago    the    Edisf^n    company    organized    an 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1211 


appliance-selling  department  for  field  work.  There  is  at  its 
head  a  chief  appliance  salesman,  and  he  engages  and 
superintends  the  work  of  his  own  assistants.  He  keeps  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  men  going  constantly,  not  spasmodically. 
These  salesmen  are  paid  a  small  salary  and  a  large  com- 
mission. They  are  satisfied  with  their  incomes,  and  those 
in  charge  are  satisfied  with  the  results  obtained.  The  com- 
pany operates  in  some  thirty  cities,  large  and  small,  with  an 
important  rural  business  in  intervening  territory.  A  regular 
house-to-house  canvass  is  maintained,  and  card  records 
(Fig.  i)  are  kept  showing  what  electric  appliances  are  in 
use  in  each  dwelling.  The  records,  of  course,  show  what 
appliances  are  not  in  use  and  what  may  yet  be  installed  in 
each  residence.  As  efficient  appliances  for  new  uses  are 
coming  out  every  few  months,  there  seems  to  be  no  limit  to 
the  possibilities  for  sales  to  householders. 

ADVERTISING. 

The  work  of  the  appliance  salesmen  has  been  much 
assisted  by  proper  advertising,  the  kind  that  pictures  the 
use  of  the  article,  creates  an  interest  in  it  and  paves  the  way 
for  the  salesman  when  he  makes  his  appearance.  The  flat- 
iron  is  the  greatest  seller  of  all  the  appliances,  but  the  sales 


50I1R[IE€TRICUBLE  RANGE  ^.f^ 
IT  FRIES,B0ILS,GIU1.LS,BR0ILS  AND  BAKES.  V^ 


Wt  WU  JTMT  HI  MLE 
JIT  SS.OO  KR  RUKE.inT1l 

u.1.  «rr«c«lit«T!. 


TinroiooEursniuirt 
n.iteB>niTi.M«N- 
m  m*  THE  Ftrran. 


in  ua  ramiK «  ourn  nu.  fm 

THETUHI-MME.  TUtnn  UMTIU 
«(  CEUT  fn  m  EUdMITY  um! 


JPnuTiTTT? 


Fig.    3 — Poster    Advertising    a    Tabie    Range. 

of  Other  devices  for  regular  use  are  now  reaching  con- 
siderable proportions.  Each  year  the  Edison  company 
brings  to  the  attention  of  its  consumers  at  least  one  new 
appliance  of  unusual  interest.  The  method  of  starting  the 
sale  is  a  communication  to  each  consumer  by  mail.  In  1911 
the  coffee  percolator  was  put  out  at  a  popular  price,  and  the 
accompanying  advertisement  (Fig.  2)  printed  in  colors 
produced  splendid  results.  In  June,  1912,  the  table  range 
was  advertised  as  illustrated  in  the  accompanying  reprint 
(Fig.  3),  but  printed  in  colors.  The  sales  of  this  new 
appliance  for  the  short  time  elapsed  have  been  heretofore 
unequaled  by  the  sales  of  any  other  electrical  appliance 
handled  by  the  company  for  a  similar  period.  This  is 
accounted  for  not  only  because  of  the  superior  character  of 
the  advertising,  but  also  because  the  company's  customers 
are  now  more  easily  interested  in  electrical  devices  than 
formerly  and  will  buy  more  readily  any  appliance  which  the 
company  pronounces  good  and  efficient. 

RESULTS   IN    SALES. 

As  has  been  stated,  the  eiTorts  of  the  appliance  salesmen 
are  directed  toward  selling  such  devices  as  use  a  reasonable 
amount  of  energy.  There  is  no  intention  on  the  part  of 
the  company  to  underestimate  the  value  of  such  devices  as 
have  small  consumption,  such  as  curling-iron  heaters,  cigar 
lighters  and  numerous  other  devices.  However,  just  as 
much  of  the  salesman's  time  is  used  selling  a  curling  iron 
as  a  percolator  or  a  toaster,  and  the  latter  is  the  most  useful 
to  the  consumer  and  the  most  valuable  to  the  company  when 
in  use.  Consequently  it  is  evident  that  the  method  adopted 
is  the  one  which  will  bring  the  most  satisfactory  results. 


Table  I  shows  the  quantities  of  appliances  sold  by  the 
Southern  California  Edison  Company  to  its  own  consumers 
during  the  year  1911. 

TABLE  I. ELECTRICAL  APPLIANCES  SOLD  IN    IQII. 


Irons 15,458 

Toasters 3,440 

Percolators 4,634 

Total 


Air  heaters. . . . 

Cooking 

Miscellaneous. 


The  percolator  sales  above  mentioned  covered  a  period 
of  seven  months  only.  For  the  last  seven  months  in  191 1 
and  the  first  five  months  in  1912  the  percolator  sales 
amounted  to  over  6000.  The  miscellaneous  sales  cover 
appliances  using  approximately  3  amp  and  up  and  include 
small  water  heaters,  kettles,  vacuum  cleaners,  washing 
machines  and  other  apparatus  of  similar  character. 

The  total  sales  of  electrical  appliances  of  the  classes 
herein  referred  to  made  by  the  Edison  company  to  its  con- 
sumers in  the  year  1910  were  I4,i35-  I"  1912  it  is  expected 
the  total  will  again  exceed  25,000  appliances.  In  1910  the 
percentage  of  flatirons  to  the  total  sales  was  seventy-nine, 
and  in  191 1  the  percentage  of  flatirons  to  the  total  sales  was 
sixty-one.  In  the  year  1912  it  is  expected  that  the  per- 
centage of  flatirons  to  the  total  sales  will  be  close  to  fifty. 
This  does  not  indicate  a  decrease  in  the  sale  of  irons  but 
rather  a  satisfactory  increase  in  the  sales  of  other  useful 
energy-consuming  devices. 

When  the  Southern  California  Edison  Company  first 
began  selling  electrical  appliances  in  quantities  it  was  con- 
sidered advisable  to  sell  most  of  the  articles  very  nearly  at 
cost  price.  The  use  of  electricity  for  other  purposes  than 
lighting  was  new  to  the  majority  of  people,  and  in  arousing 
interest  the  price  was  an  important  factor  in  many  cases. 
This  condition  gradually  changed  and  the  selling  became 
more  a  question  of  salesmanship  than  one  of  price.  In 
order  to  pay  the  expense  of  selling  and  handling,  the  prices 
of  the  leading  appliances  were  slightly  increased,  but  the 
sales  continued  to  increase  also.  The  company  employed 
better  salesmen,  and  the  customers  were  more  readily  in- 
terested than  previously. 

At  the  present  time  all  electric  appliances  with  two  or 
three  exceptions  are  sold  at  the  regular  retail  prices 
During  the  year  1912  the  company  sold  to  its  customers 
electric  appliances  for  home  use  to  a  total  gross  value  of 
approximately  $120,000.  The  net  profits  on  the  sales  were 
sufficient  to  cover  all  expenses  in  connection  with  the  sell- 
ing, delivering  and  handling  of  the  year's  output.  These 
expenses  included  salaries  and  commissions  to  salesmen, 
clerks,  storekeepers  and  drivers,  the  upkeep  of  delivery 
vehicles,  advertising  and  postage  and  such  expenses  as 
belonged  peculiarly  to  the  appliance-selling  department.  In 
addition  there  was  a  satisfactory  balance  on  the  right  side 
of  the  ledger  account.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  large 
output  for  the  year  of  energy-consuming  devices  did  not 
entail  any  additional  expense  to  the  company,  but  that  the 
department  was  self-sustaining.  This  was  the  condition 
aimed  at. 

INCOME  FROM   USE  OF  APPLIANCES. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  this  article  does  not  deal  with 
the  very  small  energy-consuming  devices,  of  which  there 
are  many,  nor  does  it  take  into  consideration  the  larger 
appliances  such  as  ranges,  water  heaters,  air  heaters  and 
the  like,  which  require  separate  circuits,  separate  meters 
and  lower  rates  for  service.  It  deals  with  appliances  using 
from  about  3  amp  to  6  amp  each,  which  may  be  connected 
on  a  lighting  circuit  in  any  room  in  a  house,  the  energy 
used  being  supplied  through  lighting  meters  at  lighting 
rates.  Each  kind  of  appliance  has  a  separate  value  to  the 
company,  from  the  standpoint  of  consumption,  depending 
upon  the  frequency  or  regularity  of  its  use.    The  Southern 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o.  Xo.  23. 


California  Edison  Company  has  made  very  conservative 
estimates  regarding  the  relative  values  of  the  various 
appliances  sold  to  its  customers,  and  figures  given  in  the 
accompanying  table  are  considered  within  the  mark. 

TABLE    II. — COMPARATIVE    FIGURES    ON    VARIOUS    APPLIANCES. 


.■\rticle. 


Average 

Consumption, 

Watts. 


Flatirons.               .    -    . 

,500 

Toasters 

;  111 

Coffee  percolators 

ilK) 

Grills  and  stoves 

500 

tiOO 

Miscellaneous 

300 

.Average 

.Monthly 

Use. 

Hours. 

Average 

Annual 

Consumption, 

Kw-Hr. 

l.i 

83 

10 

60 

It 

36 

5 

30 

12 

86 

5 

IS 

In  some  localities  the  above  estimates  of  annual  consump- 
tion will  be  considered  low.  However,  the  Edison  company 
m  its  calculations  has  based  its  estimates  on  the  minimum 
average  rather  than  on  the  maximum  average.  By  multi- 
plying the  average  annual  consumption  of  any  class  of 
appliance  by  the  rate  per  kilowatt-hour,  and  then  multiply- 
ing by  the  number  of  appliances  sold,  the  additional  annual 
mcome  from  the  sale  and  use  of  appliances  may  be  arrived 
at.  Of  course,  an  allowance  should  be  made  for  a  per- 
centage of  the  appliances  sold  by  the  company  being  out  of 
use  or  carried  away  to  other  cities.  To  offset  this,  how- 
ever, consideration  should  be  given  to  the  number  of 
appliances  bought  by  consumers  from  local  dealers  or 
brought  in  from  outside  points. 

Again,  when  estimating  income,  consideration  should  be 
given  to  the  fact  that  with  the  smallest  consumers  during 
certain  months  of  the  year  part  of  the  consumption  from 
the  use  of  appliances  goes  to  use  up  the  monthly  minimum. 
However,   such   consumption,   while    it   does   not   swell   the 


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67        89      10      11121234        56 
A,M.  Noon  P.M. 

E'cctriesi  IVarlri 

Fig.    4 — Typical     Day- Load    Curves    of    Substation     in     Residential 
Section    of    Los    Angeies. 

company's  income,  is  pleasing  to  tliose  consumers  who  dis- 
like to  pay  for  something  they  think  they  are  not  getting. 

EFFECT  ON    LOAD. 

Electric  appliances  when  sold  in  considerable  quantities 
are  bound  to  make  a  marked  impression  on  the  station  load 
and  a  consequent  improvement  on  the  load-factor.  Under 
some  circumstances,  where  a  dav  motor  load  is  carried  on 


circuits  supplying  residence  service,  it  is  difficult  to  demon- 
strate what  part  of  the  day  load  is  from  motor  business  and 
what  part  from  heating,  cooking  or  other  uses  for  service 
to  residences.  However,  the  accompanying  chart  (Fig.  4} 
shows  graphically  what  the  use  of  electric  irons  can  do  in 
building  up  a  load.  The  chart  represents  the  typical  day 
load  carried  on  one  of  the  Edison  company's  substations 
from  which  no  industrial  business  is  supplied.  It  shows 
curves  representing  Sunday,  Monday,  Tuesday,  Wednesday 
and  Thursday  day  loads.  Friday  and  Saturday  loads  are 
not  indicated  in  order  to  avoid  crowding  the  chart  too  much, 
but  the  curves  on  these  two  days  were  very  similar  in 
shape  to  Thursday's.  However,  they  indicated  the  gradual 
decreasing  of  the  load  toward  the  end  of  the  week.  It  will 
be  noted  that  a  marked  increase  in  the  demand  is  apparent 
on  Monday  afternoon.  The  highest  point  is  reached  on 
Tuesday  and  the  load  continues  high  all  day.  Wednesday 
morning  the  load  is  also  high,  but  there  is  a  decrease  in 
the  afternoon.  These  load  curves  indicate  the  weekly  use 
of  electric  irons  under  varying  domestic  arrangements. 

Some  of  the  strongest  evidences  of  the  actual  use  of 
electric  appliances  on  the  residence  circuits  are  to  be  found 
in  the  troubles  which  are  reported  when  the  service  on  any 
of  such  circuits  is  interrupted.  There  was  a  time,  not  long 
ago,  when  a  line  in  the  residence  district  could  be  killed 
without  causing  any  particular  complaint  during  the  day- 
light hours.  It  is  different  now.  Recently  it  was  neces- 
sary to  make  some  repairs  on  one  of  the  circuits  in  a 
portion  of  Los  .\ngeles  containing  practically  only  dwell- 
ings and  apartment  houses.  The  foreman  decided  to  do  the 
work  on  a  Sunday  morning,  w'hen  in  his  opinion  the  inter- 
ruption to  the  service  would  be  the  least  noticed.  Accord- 
ingly, the  supply  was  cut  off  about  8  a.  m.,  and  shortly 
afterward  the  company's  trouble  department  was  kept 
busy  explaining  over  the  telephone  the  reason  for  the 
interruption. 

The  Southern  California  Edison  Company  has  over  80,000 
customers  and  appro.ximately  90,000  electric  appliances  on 
its  lines  of  the  kinds  and  capacities  herein  described.  It  is 
very  evident  that  at  all  hours  a  large  number  of  these 
appliances  must  be  in  use,  and  it  may  be  the  time  is 
approaching  when  in  some  parts  of  the  company's  system 
duplicate  circuits  will  be  installed  in  order  to  avoid  inter- 
ruptions to  service  and  the  consequent  inconvenience  to 
consumers. 

In  southern  California  experience  shows  that  each  looo 
electric  irons  in  use  is  equivalent  to  a  load  of  33  hp 
operating  constantly  for  ten  hours  daily  every  working  day 
of  the  year,  A  further  calculation  indicates  that  approxi- 
matel)'-  1500  of  the  other  kinds  of  appliances  referred  to  in 
this  article  would  produce  a  load  similar  to  lOoo  irons. 
The  energy  supplied  for  this  kind  of  a  load  is  measured 
through  lighting  meters  and  is  billed  at  lighting  rates,  and 
there  need  rarely  be  any  extra  investment  in  lines  and 
transformers  to  handle  the  additional  business  represented 
by  the  use  of  even  large  numbers  of  appliances. 

The  aggressive  work  carried  on  in  the  selling  of  appliances 
in  southern  California  has  stimulated  the  business  to  a 
marvelous  extent.  Every  pleased  consumer  using  one  or 
more  of  these  devices  becomes  unconsciously  an  ardent 
advertiser,  as  the  novelty  of  doing  some  kinds  of  house- 
work by  means  of  electricity  and  the  satisfaction  resulting 
therefrom  is  told  by  neighbor  to  neighbor  and  passed  on 
from  house  to  house.  The  Edison  company  is  w'orking  in 
harmony  with  the  majority  of  local  dealers,  and  it  is 
probable  that  the  dealers  as  a  whole  are  selling  a  greater 
volume  of  electrical  appliances  per  capita  in  southern 
California  than  in  any  other  territory  in  the  United  States. 
This  condition  exists,  not  in  spite  of  the  large  volume  of 
appliance  sales  made  by  the  Edison  company,  but  probably 
to  a  great  extent  because  of  the  general  stimulation  to  the 
business  brought  about  by  the  policy  of  the  company  in  its 
appliance  department. 


December  y,  1912. 


ELECTRIC  A  I,     WORLD. 


1213 


CHRISTMAS  SALES  OF  ELECTRICAL  APPLIANCES. 


All  over  the  country  dealers  in  electrical  supplies  and 
electric-service  companies  are  preparing  for,  or  have  actual- 
ly begun,  Christmas  sales  of  electrical  appliances,  particu- 
larly such  as  are  used  in  the  household.  Electric  flatirons, 
toasters,  portable  lamps,  coffee  percolators,  grills,  small 
stoves  and  disks,  heating  pads,  washing  machines,  vacuum 
cleaners,  curling  irons  and  the  like  make  acceptable  Christ- 
mas gifts.  To  a  constantly  increasing  extent  a  special 
"drive"  on  them  is  made  during  the  holiday  season.  The 
Byllesby  properties,  for  instance,  report  that  in  their  sales- 
rooms perhaps  90  per  cent  of  the  sales  of  some  of  the  more 
luxurious  devices,  such  as  electric  chafing  dishes,  are  con- 
fined to  the  holiday  season.  Manufacturers  are  now  making 
special  efforts  to  bring  out  attractive  electrical  novelties 
about  this  time  of  the  year,  and  this  is  especially  true  in  the 
case  of  electric  toys,  which  are  now  available  in  a  bewilder- 
ing variety  and  at  a  wide  range  of  prices.  One  very  sensi- 
ble result  of  this  movement  is  the  substitution  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  of  electric  Christmas-tree  lighting  outfits 
for  the  familiar  Christmas-tree  candle,  which  has  been  the 
cause  of  so  many  fires. 


REINFORCED-CONCRETE  SUBSTATION  AT  SACRA- 
MENTO,   CAL. 


By   R.   B.  Mateer. 

Reinforced-concrete  construction  is  characteristic  of  all 
buildings  erected  by  the  Great  Western  Power  Company, 
one  of  the  large  generating  concerns  which  formerly  whole- 
saled all  their  output  but  which  now  are  completing  elabo- 
rate distribution  systems  in  the  five  counties  north  of  San 
Francisco,  Cal. 

Typical  of  the  standardization  policy  of  the  power  com- 
pany is  the  substation  recently  completed  at  Eighth  and 
"R"  Streets,  in  Sacramento.  The  substation  of  reinforced 
concrete  covers  a  space  30  ft.  by  42  ft.  and  consists  of  a 
main  floor  and  a  mezzanine  floor.     On  the  lower  floor  are 


Reinforced-Concrete    Substation. 

installed    two   banks   of   transformers,    each   consisting   of 
three  750-kw  water-cooled  units. 

Each  bank  of  three  transformers  is  connected  in  delta, 
receiving  current  at  a  potential  of  24,000  volts.  The  second- 
ary circuits  are  2400  volts,  three-phase,  from  which  single- 
phase  feeders  for  distribution  purposes  are  run.  The  24,000- 
volt  service  is  brought  from  a  substation  where  transforma- 


tion from  102,000  volts  to  24,000  volts  is  readily  accom- 
plished. Two  separate  feeders  are  brought  to  the  Eighth 
and  "R"  Street  substation,  and  after  entering  the  building 
a  simple  system  of  switching  is  provided,  permitting  of 
either  or  both  banks  operating  on  any  particular  feeder  and 
thus  preventing  a  complete  shut-down  by  reason  of  feeder 
trouble. 

Relay  switches  and  feeder  regulators  are  installed  on  the 
mezzanine  floor  and  provide  for  a  regulation  of  i  volt 
either  way  on  each  single-phase  feeder.  On  the  same  floor 
are  located  the  switches  on  the  24,000-volt  line,  also  the 
distribution  panels  and  meters. 

As  some  direct  current  is  desired  by  certain  consumers 
in  the  underground  commercial  section  for  the  operation  of 
elevators,  a  300-kw  direct-connected  synchronous  motor- 
generator  set,  consisting  of  a  4S0-hp  motor  and  a  300-kw 
interpole,  275  and  3So-volt  generator,  is  operating  con- 
tinuously, except  when  the  load  is  light,  when  it  is  carried 
by  a  smaller  set  consisting  of  a  150-hp.  2080-volt  Genera! 
Electric  motor  belted  to  a  loo-kw  multipole  generator. 

Wherever  substations  are  desired  structures  similar  to 
the  one  shown,  though  varying  in  equipment  according  to 
the  load,  are  installed  throughout  the  large  area  covered 
by  the  Great  Western  Power  Company. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

COLORED  WIRE  FOR  SWITCHBOARDS  AND 
PANELS. 


Colored-braid  wire  is  now  standard  for  switchboard-in- 
strument connections  in  the  stations  of  the  Kansas  City 
Electric  Light  Company  and  for  meter  circuits  in  its  cus- 
tomers' installations.  Red,  blue,  brown  and  yellow  are  used 
to  indicate  various  phases,  etc..  No.  12  being  specified  for 
series-transformer  connections  and  No.  14  for  voltmeter 
connections.  The  same  color  of  wire  is  in  each  case  asso- 
ciated with  the  same  phase  for  both  series  and  shunt  con- 
nections, so  that  when  connecting  up  a  polyphase  meter  it 
is  a  simple  matter  to  bring  similar  colors  to  similar  phase 
binding  posts.  On  any  given  switchboard  or  customer's 
panel  the  nomenclature  is  identical  throughout.     The  same 


EUetrieal  Wurid 


Series  Transformers 
Use   of   Colored    Wire   for    Instrument   Connections. 

rule  does  not  hold  between  different  installations,  but  the 
order  of  phase  rotation,  which  is  of  chief  importance,  is 
always  the  same  for  all  boards  on  the  system.  Black  is 
used  for  the  common  return  unless  there  is  a  third  wire,  in 
which  case  this  phase  receives  a  yellow  wire.  Manufac- 
turers furnish  this  colored  wire  at  a  cost  about  10  per  cent 
in  advance  of  regular  wire  prices. 


I2I4 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


CRADLE   CLAMP   FOR  HANGING  ARC  LAMPS. 

The  candle  used  for  hanging  arc  lamps  which  is  shown 
in  the  accompanying  sketch  has  proved  of  great  value  in 
installing  the  new  lo-amp  flame  lamps  at  Omaha,  Neb. 
These  lamps,  as  is  generally  known,  contain   an  annular 

row  of  loose  chemical  blocks 
inside  the  casing  and  above 
the  globe.  The  blocks  are  laid 
insecurely  in  place,  and  if  the 
lamp  is  tilted  much  while  be- 
ing hoisted  into  place,  one  or 
more  blocks  may  become  dis- 
lodged and  fall  into  the  globe, 
necessitating  lowering,  adjust- 
ing and  hoisting  the  lamp  all 
over  again.  If  the  lamp  be 
lifted  by  an  ordinary  rope 
loop,  it  cannot,  of  course,  be 
hoisted  vertically,  and  even  if 
hoisted  by  the  hanger  ring  it 
will  invariably  be  tilted  while 
being  pushed  over  and  trans- 
ferred to  the  permanent  sus- 
pension hook. 

The  rig  illustrated  was  de- 
vised by  Mr.  F.  Dickinson, 
who  had  charge  of  placing  the 
Omaha  lamps,  and  consists  of 
a  sirap-iron  ring  hinged  so  as 
to  open,  but  held  shut  to  clamp 
the  lamp  case  by  a  slip-ring  with  a  protective  collar  pin. 
The  suspension  bale  is  pivoted  to  the  hanger,  as  labeled  in 
the  illustration.  The  snap  in  the  center  is  of  help  when 
first  placing  the  lamp  in  the  cradle.  The  lamp  can  be  hung 
on  the  hook,  which  holds  it  free  of  the  man's  hands  while 
the  clamp  ring  is  being  closed  and  made  fast.  The  whole 
rig  is  then  hoisted  to  the  proper  height,  turned  90  deg.  from 
the  plane  of  the  paper  as  shown,  and  while  held  vertically 
with  care,  its  weight  supported  by  the  cradle,  is  pushed 
over  under  its  permanent  hanger  and  connected.  Use  of 
this  pivoted  device  has  enabled  the  work  of  hanging  the 
lamps  to  proceed  much  faster  and  has  saved  time  lost  in 
lowering  and  replacing  lamps. 


Hinge 


EUetrual  M'orU 

Cradle  Clamp  for  Hang- 
ing  Arc    Lamps. 


INTERCHANGEABLE    CONNECTIONS  FOR  FEEDER 
RESISTANCE. 


In  order  to  get  the  same  pressure  on  direct-current  mains 
near  the  station  as  in  outlying  sections  supplied  over  com- 
paratively long  feeder  lines,  some  engineers  have  actually 
gone  to  the  point  of  carrying  a  i,ooo,ooo-circ.  mil  cable  half 
the  length  of  one  of  the  longer  feeders  and  then  back  again 
to  the  mains  near  the  station,  in  this  way  obtaining  the 
desired  drop  in  voltage.  A  scheme  of  making  the  feeder 
resistance  adjustable  inside  the  station  itself  is  employed 
by  the  Kansas  City  Electric  Light  Company,  which  has  made 
good  use  of  some  standard  railway  grid  resistors  in  equip- 
ping a  short  heavily  loaded  feeder  that  terminates  within 
75  ft.  of  the  station  bus. 

Securing  the  largest  railway  grid  resistors  to  be  had  and 
neglecting  their  intermittent  rating  for  car  use,  special  tests 
made  showed  that  these  grids  would  carry  100  amp  con- 
tinuously. Pairs  of  these  grids  were  then  permanently 
paralleled,  and  groups  of  fifteen  such  pairs  mounted  in 
racks,  one  thirty-grid  group  being  provided  for  the  positive 
side  and  a  similar  group  for  the  negative,  as  the  sketch 
shows.  By  means  of  the  jumper  wires  and  lugs  used  with 
the  diverter  grids  on  the  cars  any  adjustment  from  full  to 
two-thirds  of  full  resistance  can  be  obtained.  The  arrange- 
ment of  jumpers  for  these  two  conditions  is  illustrated..  At 
full  load  the  75-ft.  1,000,000-circ.  mil  feeder  thus  equipped 


carries  1000  amp,  and  the  drop  across  the  resistance  banks 
is  about  10  volts.  With  all  resistance  in,  the  resistance  of 
the  grids  about  equals  the  resistance  of  1000  ft.  of  1,000,000- 
circ.  mil  copper  cable,  so  that  the  terminal  pressure  on  this 
short  line  is  about  equal  to  that  on  the  other  full-length 
feeders,  the  shortest  of  which  is  1000  ft.    The  resistor  grids 

No.  00  Wires  

1.000,000  CM. 

:PairlOO-Amp. 

Grid  Kesistore 

Paralleled 

Jumper  Arrangement  for 
Two-Thirds  Resistance. 
Interchangeable   Connections  for   Feeder   Resistance   Grids. 


Jumpers  for 
Full  Resistance. 


EUetrieal  World 


are  mounted  in  the  basement  of  the  Fifteenth  Street  direct- 
current  substation  without  any  special  provision  for  carry- 
ing off  the  heat  developed. 


A  ST.  LOUIS   THEATER   FRONT  WITH  9000 
TUNGSTEN   LAMPS. 


Nine  thousand  tungsten  lamps,  ranging  in  size  from  5 
watts  to  25  watts,  are  employed  to  light  the  loo-ft.  three- 
story  front  of  Talbot's  Hippodrome,  St.  Louis,  probably  the 
most  elaborately  illuminated  building  in  the  country.  Alto- 
gether in  stage,  auditorium  and  decorative  lighting  the 
Hippodrome  equipment  comprises  18,000  lamps,  and  8000 
others  are  used  in  roof  signs  throughout  the  city  to  adver- 


A 

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m 

! 

Lighting    of   St.    Louis    Hippodrome. 

tise  the  performances.  The  house  has  a  seating  capacity 
of  3000  and  is  run  as  a  lo-cent  vaudeville  theater  with 
continuous  shows  from  11  a.m.  to  11  p.m. 

Of  the  9000  lamps  on  the  front,  1 100  in  the  canopy  are 
25-watt,  lio-volt  units.  The  remainder  are  s-watt,  12-volt 
lamps,  supplied  through  an  inverted  rotary  converter  and 
transformers   from   the   220-volt   direct-current    svstem   of 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1215. 


the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company.  The  25-k\v 
rotary  delivers  two-phase  alternating  current  to  two  12-kw 
transformers  whose  rated  secondary  output  is  1000  amp  at 
12  volts.  A  flasher,  one  of  the  largest  ever  built,  heightens 
the  effect  of  the  display  lighting  by  switching  on  the  lamps 
with  various  chaser  effects.  The  central  cornice  first  ap- 
pears, the  light  running  from  lamp  to  lamp.  Then  in  suc- 
cession the  center 
windows  light  up,  and 
the  glow  thus  spreads 
over  the  whole  face 
of  the  building.  The 
display  recurs  on  a 
one-minute  cycle,  sev- 
enteen seconds  being 
occupied  in  ''building 
up"  and  three  seconds 
in  extinguishing  all 
the  decorative  lamps. 
The  Reynolds  flasher 
which  performs  this 
result  contains  twenty 
rolls  and  380  con- 
tact fingers,  controls 
eighty  -  four  circuits 
and  is  7  ft.  long,  6  ft. 
high  and  30  in.  deep. 
A  ys-hp  motor  drives 
it.  The  '  flasher  is 
mounted  in  a'  glass 
case  behind  the  bal- 
cony,- in  full  view  of 
the  second-story  audi- 
ence. All  flashing  of 
the  i2-volt  lamps  is 
done  on  the  secondary 
or  _  low-voltage  side, 
without  objectionable 
sparking  or  heating 
of  current  -  carrying 
parts,  although,  of 
course,  a  total  of  2000 
amp  at  12  volts  is  in- 
terrupted when  the 
circuits  are  broken. 

To    advertise    t  h  e 
Hippodrome  ten  roof 

signs  are  installed  in  prominent  positions  throughout  the 
city.  Eacli  sign  contains  from  600  to  800  lamps,  and  each 
has  a  flasher  device  with  kaleidoscope  effect. 


mil 

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3 


Fig. 


1 — Buffalo   General    Electric   Com- 
pany's Building  by  Day. 


HOLDER  FOR  REMOVING  STREET-SERIES 
RECEPTACLES. 


For  removing  and  replacing  street  series  receptacles  the 
line  department  of  the  Omaha  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company  finds  that  the  home-made  U-bar  device  illustrated 
has  many  advantages  over  the 
usual  pull-rope  extractor.  The 
holder  is  formed  of  two  U-bars 
with  a  slot  between  them  wide 
enough  to  span  the  flange 
on  the  porcelain  receptacle. 
Working  in  the  slot  are  a  pair 
of  light  springs  which  grip  the 
socket  just  firmly  enough  to 
prevent  it  from  falling  out  of 
the  holder  while  being  lowered. 
The  slot  itself  holds  the  flange 
firmly  against  any  vertical 
movement.  A  long  wooden  handle  is  attached  to  the  ho'dei 
through  a  spreader  bow  which  clears  the  lamp. 


Flange 


Spring 


Series  Receptacle 

liow  to  Handle 

Holder    for    Removing    Street 
Series     Receptacles. 


ILLUMINATION  OF  BUFFALO  GENERAL  ELECTRIC 
COMPANY'S  OFFICE  BUILDING. 


The  new  office  building  of  the  Buffalo  (N.  Y.)  General 
Electric  Company,  located  at  the  intersection  of  Genesee, 
Washington  and  Huron  Streets,  is  a  distinct  landmark  of 
Buffalo,   its  light   being  visible   at   night   for  a  distance  of 

about  15  miles  out  on 
Lake  Erie  and  the 
structure  itself  being 
the  highest  in  the  city. 
The  Electric  Building, 
as  it  is  called,  is  300 
ft.  high  and  consists 
of  a  main  structure 
of  four  stories  sur- 
mounted by  a  mon- 
umental tower  as 
shown  in  Fig.  l.  Be- 
ing faced  with  white 
glazed  terra  cotta, 
the  building  is  dis- 
tinctive both  by  day 
and  by  night,  and 
much  thought  has 
been  expended  in 
making  its  appearance 
by  night  especially  at- 
tractive. The  illumi- 
nation of  the  struc- 
ture both  within  and 
without  was  intrusted 
to  Mr.  W.  D'A.  Ryan. 
of  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company,  and 
the  building  is  said 
to  be  the  best  lighted 
edifice  of  its  kind  in 
the  world.  Certain- 
ly the  illustrations 
shown  herewith, 
which  are  reproduced 
from  undoctored  pho- 
tographs taken  at 
night  under  artificial 
light  without  the  aid 
of  flash-lights,  would 
seem  to  bear  out  this  contention. 

The  basement  and  first  and  second  floors  of  the  building 
are  occupied  by  the  Buffalo  General  Electric  Company : 
the  third  floor  is  occupied  by  the  Cataract  Power  &  Conduit 
Company,  and  the  fourteenth  floor  is  used  as  an  assembly 
room  for  employees  of  the  company.  The  other  floors  are 
rented  for  office  purposes. 

The  exterior  of  the  building  is  illuminated  by  magnetite- 
arc  lamps.  In  the  square  in  front  of  the  structure  is  a 
special  post  holding  five  6.6-amp  series  ornamental  luminous- 
arc  lamps,  and  along  the  curb  of  the  streets  on  which  the 
building  faces  are  lamps  of  the  same  type  and  rating.  On 
the  top  of  the  main  structure  and  also  on  the  cappings  at 
the  tower  steps  on  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
floors  6.6-amp  magnetite-arc  lamps  are  also  mounted  on 
standards,  while  topping  the  whole  are  three  30-in.  pro- 
jectors mounted  on  a  revolving  platform.  The  latter  are 
also  provided  with  motors  so  that  they  revolve  on  their  own 
centers  through  color  evolutions  produced  by  screens 
mounted  on  projectors. 

Semi-indirect  units  are  employed  for  the  general  interior 
illumination,  the  fixtures  being  designed  for  the  building. 
The  illumination  ranges  between  4  ft. -candles  and  6  ft. -can- 
dles and  the  power  consumption  averages  about  1.4  watts 
per  sq.  ft.  Either  direct  or  semi-indirect  lighting  is  possible 
in  the  offices,  the   main   units   there   installed  being  of  the 


Fig.   2 — Buffalo   General    Electric   Build- 
ing  at   Night. 


I2l6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  23. 


convertible  type.  The  thirteentli,  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
floors  are  fitted  with  special  fixtures  equipped  with  500-watt 
and  250-watt  lamps,  so  that  a  strong  light  is  thrown  through 
the  heavily  latticed  windows  while  the  room  itself  receives 
abundant  semi-indirect  illumination.     Fig.  2  shows  a  view- 


Fig.   3 — Rotunda    Illuminated    by   Semi- Indirect  Tungsten    Fixtures. 

of  the  building  at  night.  Tungsten  lamps  are  used  exclu- 
sively throughout  the  interior  of  the  building  and  their  ar- 
rangement, as  well  as  data  on  the  fixtures  employed  through- 
out the  structure,  was  outlined  by  the  illuminating  engineer 
in  charge  of  the  work  in  a  paper  before  the  Illuminating 
Engineering  Society  at  its  convention  in  Niagara  Falls, 
Ont.,   Sept.   16-19,   1912.     The  structure   as   a   whole   is   an 


■psp'^^^^^ 

^^^^^^P^                                                   -^JI^HjH 

■'i; 

W^     ^ 

rectlv  down  into  the  houses.  Installing  four  drop  cords  in 
each  house,  two  men  were  able  to  complete  an  entire  wiring 
job  in  twenty-five  minutes  at  a  total  cost  of  about  $6  per 
iiouse.  Even  rosettes  were  dispensed  with,  the  lamp  cords 
being  soldered  directly  onto  the  house  wires.  The  miners 
have  proved  to  be  good  customers  at  regular  meter  rates, 
their  bills  averaging  from  $1  to  $2  every  month. 


Fig.    4 — Exhibition     Room. 

ornament  to  the  city  of  Buffalo  and,  like  that  of  the  Denver 
Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company,  of  Denver,  Col.,  serves  to 
emphasize  the  fact  that  the  lighting  company. is  one  of  the 
great  concerns  of  the  city  while  at  the  same  time  dignifying 
the  use  of  electricity  for  advertising  purposes. 


HOUSE-TOP  DISTRIBUTION    CONSTRUCTION  IN  A 
MINERS'  VILLAGE. 


In  bringing  electric  service  into  a  miners'  village  of 
fifty-six  shacks,  all  alike  and  grouped  close  together,  it  was 
necessary  for  the  local  central  station  to  devise  some  means 
of  distribution  that  would  be  inexpensive  and  miss  the 
narrow  spaces  between  houses.  It  was  accordingly  decided 
to  mount  insulators  on  the  ridge-poles  of  the  various  houses, 
stringing  the  wires  from  top  to  top  without  other  pole  sup- 
port.    From  these  main-line  wires  drops  were  carried  di- 


FLAME-ARC  LAMPS   FOR    LUMBER-YARD 
LIGHTING. 


For  handling  lumber  after  dark  in  the  yard  of  the 
Thornton  &  Claney  Company,  2315  Elston  Avenue,  Chicago, 
the  masts  of  the  derricks  are  equipped  with  flame-arc  lamps. 
Each  of  the  three  75-ft.  derrick  masts  carries  four  long- 
hour  flaming  units,  affording  good  working  illumination  in 
the  yard  below,  within  the  radius  of  the  75-ft.  horizontal 
booms.  On  these  booms  trolleys  carrying  the  hoisting  grab- 
hooks    travel    back    and    forth,    hoist,    travel    and    rotation 


Motor-Driven    Lumber    Crane    Equipped    with    Flame-Arc    Lamps. 

motions  being  all  performed  by  motor  drive.  As  the  entire 
mast  structure  must  rotate  freely  in  any  direction,  the 
lamps  are  hung  from  a  frame  mounted  on  the  stationary 
swivel  ring  to  which  the  eight  steel-rope  guy  lines  are 
attached.  The  wires  supplying  energy  to  the  lamps  are 
carried  as  a  cable  on  marlin  hangers  using  one  of  the  guys 
as  a  messenger  wire.  A  ladder  on  the  main  upright  gives 
access  to  the  lamps  for  trimming. 


STANDARD    SIZES     OF     CONDUIT   FOR   INSTAL- 
LATION OF  WIRES  AND  CABLES. 


The  National  Electrical  Contractors'  Association  has 
recognized  the  necessity  and  the  desirability  of  accurate 
data  to  be  used  in  selecting  the  proper  sizes  of  conduit  for 
installations  of  wires  and  cables.  In  the  interest  of  estab- 
lishing a  national  standard  which  may  be  referred  to  in 
writing  conduit  specifications,  the  above  association,  after 
making  a  careful  study  of  the  actual  conditions  encountered 
in  making  installations,  has  prepared  and  officially  adopted 
a  group  of  six  charts,  on  which  this  information  is  shown 
in  an  elaborate  set  of  drawings. 

The  charts  show  the  conduits  and  conductors  full  size 
and  also  give  the  outside  diameter  of  the  conduit  and  the 
carrying  capacity  of  the  wire,  so  that  the  actual  working 
conditions  are  placed  before  the  designer  in  a  form  which 
is  very  convenient  to  use.  The  charts  are  so  made  up  that 
they  show  the  proper  sizes  of  conduit  to  be  used  with  one, 
two,  three,  four  and  convertible  three-wire  systems  and 
combinations  of  duplex  wires  in  sizes  Nos.  10,  12  and   14; 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1217 


single-wire  combinations  of  No.  14  wire  up  to  ninety  wires; 
combinations  of  No.  16  and  No.  18  fixture  wire  up  to  150 
wires,  and  combinations  of  telephone  wire  up  to  fifty 
pairs.  It  is  claimed  that  this  will  cover  practically  all  of 
the  data  necessary  for  any  installation.     In  the  past  there 


charts  are  mounted  on  heavy  pressboard  and  are  fitted  with 
an  eyelet  at  the  top  to  facilitate  hanging. 

The  work  and  expense  of  preparation  of  these  charts 
has  been  borne  by  the  National  Electrical  Contractors' 
Association,  and  in  order  that  they  may  soon  become  uni- 


Two  Wire  System 


/. 


standard    Size   of   Conduits   Recommended    by  the   National    Electric    Contractors'    Association. 


has  been  a  tendency  to  use  conduits  of  too  small  interior 
diameter,  and  in  the  preparation  of  these  charts  care  has 
been  taken  to  recommend  conduits  of  sufificient  size  to  meet 
all  working  conditions  and  at  the  same  time  to  keep  in 
mind  that  economy  in  installations  should  be  considered 
and  extravagant  sizes  of  conduit  not  recommended.    These 


versal  among  the  electrical  contractors  of  the  country  the 
association  is  prepared  to  furnish  them  at  cost.  The  illus- 
tration herewith  shows  a  portion  of  one  of  the  charts  re- 
duced. Mr.  W.  H.  Morton,  No.  41  Martin  Building,  Utica, 
N.  Y.,  is  the  secretary  of  the  National  Electrical  Con- 
tractors' Association. 


I2l8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23,. 


BUCKET  FOR  BAILING  POLE  HOLES. 


Recently  it  became  necessary  to  run  a  pole  line  through 
territory  which  was  rather  swampy,  entailing  considerable 
difficulty  in  keeping  water  out  of  the  holes  while  they  were 
being  dug.  It  was  found  impracticable  to  use  the  ordinary 
hand    pump,    because    the    amount    of    water    necessary    to 


Bucket   for    Bailing    Out    Pole    Hole. 

prime  the  pump  was  almost  as  much  as  the  water  in  the 
hole,  and  it  took  a  great  deal  of  time  to  pump  out. 

Mr.  Schuster,  of  the  Cosmopolitan  Power  Company, 
Chicago,  in  charge  of  the  work,  devised  a  little  scheme 
which  seems  new.  As  shown  by  the  accompanying  photo- 
graphs, a  heavy  galvanized  pail  was  taken  and  three  flat 
valves  from  an  ordinary  hand  pump  were  soldered  in  the 
bottom  of  the  pail.  All  that  is  necessary  to  pump  the 
water  out  of  the  hole  is  to  push  the  pail  down  into  the 
hole,  which  opens  the  valves,  allowing  the  water  to  run  in. 
The  withdrawing  of  the  pail  closes  the  valves  and  the 
water  can  be  emptied  out. 


ORNAMENTAL  LIGHTING  FROM  TROLLEY  POLES. 


Where  combination  lighting  arms  can  be  used  with  the 
tubular  poles  supporting  trolley  span  wires  a  dignified  and 
handsome  system  of  ornamental  illumination  is  obtained 
at  reduced  cost  for  fixtures  and  without  introducing  addi- 


night,  while  the  remaining  units  are  extinguished  at  11 
o'clock.  Lead-covered  2500-volt  cable  is  used  for  the  4-amp" 
series  circuits,  but  this  cable  has  developed  mysterious- 
grounds  where  the  lead  was  in  contact  with  the  iron  in  the- 
arms.  Bad  pitting  resulted  from  electrolytic  action,  so  that- 
the  lead  had  to  be  removed  and  the  cable  taped  and  covered^ 
with  insulating  compound  instead.  Despite  trolley-wire- 
vibrations,  the  lamps  have  shown  excellent  life  perform- 
ances. 

The  city  pays  for  the  outside  lamps  overhanging  the- 
street,  while  the  local  merchants  are  assessed  by  the  com- 
pany on  a  front-foot  basis  for  the  lamps  on  the  sidewalk- 
side.  The  schedule  earned  is  $15  a  year  or  $1.25  monthly 
for  operating  each  50-watt  lamp,  including  maintenance 
and  renewals,  the  company  furnishing  poles,  arms,  etc.  As- 
elsewhere,  this  plan,  by  which  the  company  is  required  to 
dun  merchants  for  street  lighting  (the  highest  bill  reaching, 
scarcely  $1.75),  has  hardly  proved  a  satisfactory  arrange- 
ment, as  it  causes  additional  collection  expense  and  is  a 
source  of  possible  dissension.  If  desired  later,  additional, 
arms  can  be  installed  on  the  present  posts,  making  four- 
lamp  standards. 


Trolley-Post   Street- Lighting   Standards. 

tional  structures  along  the  street.  Seven  blocks  in  the 
business  section  of  Emporia,  Kan.,  are  lighted  by  50-watt 
series  tungsten  lamps  installed  in  this  way,  two  to  a  pole, 
on  poles  70  ft.  apart,  or  ten  to  the  block.  As  the  street  is 
100  ft.  wide,  or  70  ft.  between  curbs,  the  posts  are  at  the 
corners  of  70-ft.  squares.  The  wiring  is  arranged  in  two 
circuits,  permitting  diagonal  lamps  at  crossings  to  burn  all 


Letter  to  the  Editors 

ELECTRIC-HEATING  DEVICES. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs  : — For  the  past  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  the  finm 
Shepherd  &  Burt,  with  which  the  writer  is  associated,  has- 
been  handling  electric-heating  devices.  During  the  earlier 
years  of  this  period  it  was  almost  impossible  to  arouse 
more  than  a  mild  interest  in  them.  However,  during  the 
last  few  years  there  has  been  a  great  awakening  and  ana 
increased  interest  is  being  manifested.  This  result  is' 
attributable  largely  to  the  growing  use  of  electricity  in 
general,  but  more  especially  to  the  direct  appeals  in  an- 
advertising  way  that  are  being  sent  out  by  nearly  all  manu- 
facturing companies.  Experience  shows  that  possibly  the 
greatest  single  point  involved  in  the  use  or  otherwise  of 
this  apparatus  hinges  on  the  question  of  the  rate  for  energy. 
There  is  no  doubt,  for  example,  that  a  rate  of  5  cents  or 
less  would  more  than  double  the  demand  for  this  apparatus 
in  this  territory.  It  is  believed  that  this  same  conditiort 
would  obtain  in  most  other  places  also.  It  would  seem,, 
therefore,  to  be  simply  a  case  of  the  central  station  deter- 
mining whether  the  largely  increased  consumption  at  the 
lower  rate  would  offset  the  loss  in  revenue  due  to  the 
lower  price  per  kilowatt-hour.  The  answer  to  this  question 
tc)-dav  among  aggressive  central  stations  is  believed  to  be 
in  the  affirmative. 

In  addition  to  the  fact  that  there  is  undoubtedly  a  large 
and  profitable  revenue  in  this  business  at  the  lower  rate 
indicated,  the  potential  benefits  which  invariably  follow  by 
reason  of  the  increased  popularity  of  electric  service  go  a 
long  way  toward  making  up  any  actual  loss,  due  to  the 
reduced  rate.  The  writer  believes  that  it  more  than  wipes 
out  this  reduction,  and  in  addition  actually  effects  an  in- 
crease in  revenue.  In  the  coal  regions,  where  fuel  is  the 
cheapest  on  earth,  almost  without  exception  the  lighting 
companies  are  asking  10  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  all  energy 
other  than  that  required  for  motors.  This,  of  course,  means 
a  lo-cent  rate  for  energy-consuming  devices. 

The  time  is  no  doubt  near,  if  not  actually  at  hand,  when 
these  companies  will  experience  a  full  realization  of  the 
enormous  possibilities  at  hand  in  the  energy-consuming- 
device  field.  Understanding  this,  they  will  offer  special 
rates  for  this  service  commensurate  with  the  volume  of 
business  thus  produced.  There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that 
this  idea  will  shortly  take  hold  among  central  stations 
throughout  the  country. 

Wilkcs-Barre,  Pa.  G.  E.  Shepherd. 


JDecember  7,  19 1 2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1219 


Digest  of  Current   Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Transformer  Design. — -M.  Vidmar. — A  highly  mathe- 
matical paper  in  which  the  author  first  describes  the  con- 

:Struction  of  a  transformer  with  cooling  ribs.  The  descrip- 
tion of  the  construction  is  followed  by  formulas  for  calcu- 
lating the  dimensions  so  as  to  reduce  to  a  minimum  the 
losses,  the  price  and  the  weight.  The  results  obtained  are 
illustrated  by  a  practical  example.  From  the  formulas  for 
a  single  transformer  those  for  the  whole  series  of  a  type 
may  be  derived,  and  the  general  laws  for  the  price,  linear 

•  dimensions,  weight  and  losses  are  given  for  such  a  series. — 
Elck.  u.  Masch.  (Vienna),  Nov.  10  and  17,  1912. 

Abnormal  Strains  in  Transformers. — C.  P.  Steinmetz. — 
The  author  analyzes  the  abnormal  strains  in  transformers 
in  a  very  simple  manner,  under  the  headings  of  over-volt- 

.age,  over-current  and  over-frequency  strains.  Efifective 
arresters,  choke  coils  and  heavy  end-turn  insulation  take 
care  of  the  first ;  heavy  current  conditions  may  be  handled 
by  a  stout  mechanical  design  and  the  provision  of  high 
reactances,  internal  and  sometimes  external;  while  in  guard- 
ing the  transformer  against  high-frequency  strains  resort 
may  be  made  to  a  combination  of  inductances  with  energy- 

■absorbing  devices,  the  former  to  guard  against  excessive 
intensity  of  traveling  waves,  the  latter  against  the  forma- 
tion of  standing  waves  from  whatever  traveling  waves 
may  appear  in  the  system. — Gen.  Elec.  Rez'iezv,  December, 
1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Large  Turbo-Generators. — An  article  on  three  30,000-hp, 
21,500-kva  steam  turbo-generators,  of  which  two  have  been 

■  erected  in  the  Dusseldorf-Reisholz  power  plant  of  the 
Rhineland  Westfalen  Electricity  Works,  while  the  third 
machine  is  at  present  being  installed  in  the  Essen  power 

:plant.  The  two  former  were  built,  one  by  the  Allgemeine 
Elektricitats  Gesellschaft  and  the  other  by  Brown,  Boveri 

•&  Company,  while  the  third  one  was  built  by  Escher,  Wyss 

.&  Company  and  the  Siemens-Schuckert  company.  The  two 
former  machines  have  now  been  in  operation  for  several 
months  and  have  proved  perfectly  satisfactory.     The  power 

-plant  at  Diisseldorf-Reisholz  now  contains  three  turbo- 
dynamos,  each  of  7150  kva  (installed  in  1903),  and  the  two 
new  sets  contain  each  21,500  kva.  The  total  rating  is 
therefore  65,000  kva.  The  pumps  for  cooling  water  and 
air  are  driven  partly  by  electric  motors  and  partly  by  steam 

■turbines.  Each  turbo-dynamo  requires  a  pumping  capacity 
of  280  kw  and  about  5000  cu.  m  of  cooling  water  per  hour 
for  condensation.     The  excitation  voltage  is  220  volts,  the 

■three-phase  generator  emf  5250  volts. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov. 
14.   1912. 

State-Oicned  ]Vater-Po7ver  Pl-ant. — The  second  cham- 
ber of  the  Parliament  of  the  State  of  Baden  in  Germany  has 
adopted  the  bill  on  the  erection  of  a  power  plant  utilizing 
the  Murg  water-powers  by  the  State  and  its  operation  by 
the  State.  The  electrical  energy  will  be  sold  at  as  low 
prices  as  possible,  and  if  it  is  sold  to  large  consumers  who 
may  sell   again  to  smaller  consumers,  it  will  be  stipulated 

■that  the  selling  price  must  be  very  low, — EJek.  Zeit.,  Nov. 
14.   1912. 

Electric  Winding  Engines. — A.  E.  du  Pasquier. — A 
paper  read  before  the  South  Wales  Institute  of  Engineers 
and  illustrated  by  diagrams.  The  author  considers  some 
of  the  more  important  principles  underlyir'  the  selection 
and  design  of  the  most  suitable  type  of  inder  for  any 
particular  conditions,  with  special  referen'  to  the  influence 
■of  drum  profile  on  the  performance  to  be  obtained. — 
London  Electrician,  Nov.   15,   1912. 


Corona. — F.  W.  Peek,  Jr. — An  article  on  a  further  in- 
vestigation into  the  nature  of  the  corona  and  the  dielectric 
strength  of  air  by  means  of  a  short  high-voltage  line.  The 
author  shows  how  corona  values  calculated  from  the  laws 
and  formulas  already  established  by  the  author  check  with 
values  as  actually  noted  on  working  lines  by  other  investi- 
gators. Pie  then  touches  on  the  practical  importance  of 
recent  experiments  with  the  stroboscope  and  the  discovery 
of  the  difference  between  the  corona  on  the  positive  and 
negative  halves  of  the  alternating-current  wave.  He  deals 
with  visual  corona  and  gives  a  theory  explaining  the  ap- 
parent greater  dielectric  strength  of  air  around  small  con- 
ductors than  around  large.  The  author  finally  discusses 
the  corona  limit  of  high-voltage  transmission. — Goi.  Elec. 
Rciiev.',  December,  1912. 

Traction. 

Autoconverter  for  Automobiles. — J.  N.  Jacousen. — Kn 
illustrated  article  on  the  use  on  automobiles  of  the 
"C.  M.  B.  autoconverter,"  which  has  already  been  described 
in  the  Digest.  In  Fig.  i  the  autoconverter  is  represented 
by  AB,  where  A  is  the  "motor  part"  and  B  the  "generator 


Fig.  1 — Diagram  of  Connections. 


part"  of  the  autoconverter.  According  to  the  direction  and 
strength  of  the  exciting  current,  the  voltage  of  B  is  either 
added  to  or  subtracted  from  the  supply  voltage  SS,  so  that 
the  voltage  impressed  on  the  motor  C  can  be  varied  between 
zero  and  twice  the  voltage  55'.  In  an  automobile  ^^  is  a 
storage  battery,  in  a  trolley  car  the  line.  C  is  the  driving 
motor  of  the  car.  G  is  a  rheostat  which  permits  the  ex- 
citing current  for  the  e.xcitation  winding  F  of  B  to  vary  in 
strength  and  direction.  There  is  a  second  e.xcitation  wind- 
ing H  provided  for  B.  This  is  in  series  with  the  motor  C , 
creating  an  mmf  in  opposition  to  that  of  F  when  B  furnishes 
energy  to  C.  The  motor  C  has  two  excitation  windings,  of 
which  one  D  is  directly  connected  to  the  storage  battery 
and  the  other  E  is  fed  from  the  autoconverter  B,  its  mmf 
changing  with  the  emf  of  B.  It  is  opposed  to  the  field 
created  by  D  when  the  motor  C  is  at  normal  speed,  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  strengthens  this  field  when  the  motor  is 
started  or  stopped.  The  control  arrangements  and  equip- 
ment of  the  car  are  described  in  some  detail. — La  Lumiere 
Elec,  Nov.  2,  1912. 

Gasoline-Electric  Automobiles. — A  note  on  a  recent 
British  patent  (No.  7992,  Nov.  7,  1912)  of  Allmanna 
Svenska  Elektriska  Aktiebologet.  To  obtain  the  smallest 
possible  machines  and  losses,  the  motor  torque  variations 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  23. 


should  take  place  with  a  minimum  change  in  the  main 
pressure  and  current.  This  may  be  obtained  by  the  driving 
motor  having  three  field  windings,  one  shunted  across  the 
generator,  another  in  series  with  the  armatures  of  the 
generator  and  motor,  producing  a  field  in  the  opposite  sense 
to  that  of  the  shunt  winding,  and  a  third  connected  to  the 
armature  of  the  exciter. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Nov.  14, 
1912. 

Single-Phase  Traction  in  Norway. — F.  Marguerre. — The 
conclusion  of  his  long  illustrated  article  on  single-phase 
traction  at  Rjukanfos.  The  500-hp  locomotives  and  their 
equipment  are  described  and  illustrated.  The  general  re- 
sults obtained  on  this  line  are  summarized.  Some  of  the 
early  troubles  e.xperienced  are  noted. — La  Liimiere  Elcc, 
Nov.  2,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Life  of  Plant. — A  long  editorial  on  the  life  of  plant  in 
electric  central  stations.  The  periods  for  the  repayment  of 
loans  of  municipal  stations  were  fixed  in  1906  by  the  London 
County  Council  as  fifty  years  for  buildings,  thirty  years  for 
mains  and  twenty  years  for  plant.  Robert  Hammond,  in  a 
paper  read  in  1907,  estimated  the  life  of  buildings  at  sixty 
years,  that  of  boilers  at  twenty,  engines  at  twenty-five, 
turbines  at  twenty,  armored  mains  at  twenty-five  and  mains 
laid  "solid"  or  in  ducts  at  thirty  years.  In  1906  Sir  William 
Preece  gave  the  following  figures :  Buildings,  eighty  years ; 
boilers,  twenty-two  to  twenty-five ;  generators,  thirty ; 
engines,  twent3'-five ;  armored  cables,  thirty-five,  and  mains 
laid  "solid,"  forty  years.  Data  as  to  life  of  plant  are  given 
from  actual  practice  of  British  central  stations  which  have 
been  in  operation  for  twenty  years  or  more.  The  figures 
given  show  that  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  years  is  by  no 
means  a  limiting  period  for  the  life  of  mains.  In  regard  to 
generating  plant,  this  may  have  a  useful  life  of  twenty 
years  or  perhaps  more,  but  owing  to  expansion  or  to  the 
introduction  of  more  efficient  types  of  plant  the  time  during 
which  it  may  pay  to  use  any  item  of  machinery  may  be 
considerably  less  than  twenty  years.  In  other  words, 
obsolescence  plays  a  part  and  may  become  an  important 
factor.  As  far  as  life  is  considered  (that  is,  the  time  during 
which  the  plant  is  capable  of  doing  its  work  efficiently)  there 
is  no  justification  for  the  shortness  of  the  periods  now  being 
allowed  by  the  London  County  Council  and  the  Local 
Government  Board,  provided,  of  course,  the  plant  is  prop- 
erly maintained.  But  a  substantial  fund  should  be  set  aside 
for  the  replacement  of  plant  should  this  be  necessary  before 
the  expiration  of  the  period  of  repayment  of  the  loan. — 
London  Electrician,  Nov.  8,  1912. 

Electric  Installation  at  Stonelcigh  Abbey. — An  illustrated 
description  of  the  electric  light  and  power  installation  at 
Stoneleigh  Abbey.  Kenilworth,  England.  In  addition  to  a 
very  extensive  lighting  installation  with  metallic-filament 
lamps  it  provides  for  the  electric  driving  of  the  farm  and 
estate  machinery.  The  system  employed  is  two-wire  direct 
current  at  100  volts.  The  power  plant  contains  two  Diesel 
engines  coupled  to  two  260-amp,  100/150-voIt  generators. 
A  batter)'  is  provided  with  fiftv-six  cells,  each  of  2000  amp 
at  ten-hour  rating.  It  is  capable  of  giving  a  discharge  of 
800  to  900  amp  for  short  periods  without  injury  and  can 
supply  power  to  a  40-hp  motor  in  the  sawmill,  or  to  the 
fire  pump,  for  several  hours.  For  fire  protection  a  very 
complete  electrical  pumping  plant  and  system  of  hydrants 
has  been  installed,  which  insures  the  provision  of  an  instant 
and  abundant  supply  of  water. — London  Elec.  Rei'iei^',  Nov. 
I,  1912. 

German  Electrical  Industry. — Statistical  figures  on  the 
German  stock  companies  building  electrical  machines,  ap- 
paratus, etc.,  or  selling  electrical  energy,  with  figures  on 
capital  invested,  income,  net  earnings  and  net  losses,  divi- 
dends, etc.  The  general  conclusion  is  that  the  electrical 
stock  companies  are  less  dependent  on  the  fluctuations  in 
the  general  industrial  situation  than   are  other  industrial 


stock  companies.  For  instance,  the  number  of  the  indus- 
trial stock  companies  which  show  a  net  loss  has  increased 
more  than  that  of  those  which  show  a  net  gain.  The  only 
exceptions  are  the  electrical  supply  companies.  Most  of  the 
companies  paid  last  year  dividends  between  5  and  10  per 
cent. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov.  14,  1912. 

Single-Plmse  Induction  Regulators. — A  note  on  a  recent 
British  patent  (No.  7697,  Nov.  7,  1912)  of  the  Siemens- 
Schuckert  company.  To  overcome  the  vibration,  which  is 
mainly  due  to  the  interaction  of  the  pulsating  magnetic  field 
and  the  stator,  auxiliary  windings  on  the  rotor  and  stator 
are  traversed  by  currents  differing  in  phase,  owing  to 
insertion  of  resistances,  inductances  and  capacities,  or  to 
connection  to  the  exciting  or  compensating  windings  of  a 
motor  controlled  by  the  regulator.  Alternatively  two  stators 
and  two  rotors  (mechanically  coupled  so  that  their  mean 
torques  are  opposed)  may  be  employed. — London  Elec. 
Eng'ing,  Nov.  14,   1912. 

Large-Capacity  Suntcli. — An  illustrated  description  of  a 
6000-amp  to  7000-amp,  750-volt,  three-phase  hand-oper- 
ated automatic  oil  switch  made  by  a  British  company. — 
London  Electrician,  Nov.  15,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Insulated  Cables.— A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent 
(No.  21,334,  Nov.  7,  1912)  of  F.  H.  Broomfield  and  E.  H. 
Tawn.  Impregnated  paper  or  fibrous  insulated  cables  often 
have  a  tendency  to  let  the  impregnating  material  flow  to 
the  lowest  part  of  the  cable.  A  method  is  described  for 
overcoming  this  and  for  providing  at  the  same  time  a  non- 
hygroscopic  insulation.  The  preferred  constitution  and 
approximate  percentages  by  weight  of  the  impregnating 
mixture  are:  Soft  cottonseed  pitch,  10;  second-quality 
castor  oil,  80;  gilsonite  asphaltum,  16;  cottonseed  oil,  2; 
heavy  lubricating  oil,  2;  pure  Venice  turpentine,  8;  carbon 
tetrachloride,  4;  light  petroleum  distillate,  40. — London 
Elec.  Eng'ing,  Nov,  14,  1912. 

Electrophysics   and    Magnetism. 

Recoil  Atoms  in  Ionised  Air. — A.  F.  Kovarik. — When  a 
radioactive  emanation  disintegrates,  the  atom  of  the  newly 
formed  substance  may  be  drawn  to  a  negatively  charged 
electrode,  and  it  seems  that  the  recoil  atoms  of  all  disin- 
tegrating radioactive  atoms  behave  like  positive  ions.  The 
author  investigated  whether  the  recoil  atoms  could  be  col- 
lected on  a  negatively  charged  electrode  when  the  air  be- 
tween the  plates  of  the  field  was  strongly  ionized.  His 
results  show  that  the  number  of  atoms  drawn  to  the  nega- 
tive electrode  through  ionized  air  would  diminish  with  the 
intensity  of  the  ionization  on  account  of  the  neutralization 
of  the  charge  of  the  atoms  with  the  negative  ions  of  the 
air.  An  investigation  was  also  made  showing  that  the 
number  of  recoil  atoms  drawn  to  the  negative  electrode 
increased  as  the  potential  difference  between  the  plates  was 
increased,  the  distance  remaining  constant,  and  also  that 
the  number  increased  as  the  distance  was  decreased,  the 
potential  difference  being  constant. — Pliilos.  Magazine.  No- 
vember, 1912. 

Magnetic  Properties  of  Manganese  and  Nickel  Steels. — 
S.  HiLPERT  AND  W.  Mathesius. — In  a  paper  read  before 
the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  the  authors  give  the  results  of 
an  investigation  in  which  the  magnetic  properties  (intensity 
of  magnetization  and  coercive  force)  of  previously  heat- 
treated  steels  were  measured  at  ordinary  temperatures.  In 
all  the  steels  the  magnetizability  after  quenching  from 
1200  deg.  C  was  greatly  increased  as  compared  with  that 
of  the  same  material  after  similar  treatment  at  lower 
temperatures  and  also  after  slow  cooling.  By  means  of 
systematic  thermal  treatment  in  combination  with  magnetic 
measurement  -t  has  been  shown  that  at  high  temperatures 
(above  1050  t.  C.)  substances  are  formed  which  at 
ordinary  temp  atures  are  strongly  magnetic  but  in 
spite  of  quenching  cannot  be  obtained  in  a  pure  state. 
All    the    steels,    with    the    exception    of    nickel    steel    with 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D 


31  per  cent  of  nickel,  showed  both  in  the  quenched 
and  in  the  slowly  cooled  specimens  an  increase  in  the 
niagnetizability  when  annealed  at  temperatures  between 
400  deg.  C.  and  450  deg.  C.  This  is  not,  in  any  case,  an 
aging  phenomenon,  but  is  the  result  of  a  new  state  which 
is  obtained  only  by  the  heating  process.  In  general,  it  has 
been  shown  that  the  circumstance  whether  or  not  the  heat 
treatment  has  been  carried  out  under  a  rising  or  a  falling 
temperature  has  a  decisive  influence  upon  the  magnetic 
properties. — London  Electrician,  Nov.  i,  1912. 

Heuslcr  Alloys. — P.  W.  Gumaer. — Heusler  alloys  are  the 
peculiar  manganese  alloys  composed  of  metals  which  ordi- 
narily are  non-magnetic.  The  object  of  the  present  author's 
investigation  was  to  study  the  effect  of  temperature  upon 
the  saturation  value  of  the  intensity  of  magnetization;  then 
to  determine,  if  possible,  from  the  data  obtained,  the  struc- 
ture of  the  molecular  magnets.  One  result  is  that  the 
temperature  of  magnetic  transformation  from  the  ferro- 
magnetic to  the  paramagnetic  state  was  established  at  310 
deg.  C.  for  the  alloys  containing  62  per  cent  copper.  The 
results,  while  not  extensive  enough  to  determine  the  num- 
ber and  kirids  of  atoms  in  the  elementarv  magnet,  are 
sufficient  to  show  that  the  alloys  obey  the  law  of  ferro- 
magnetism,  as  derived  by  the  present  molecular  theory. — 
Physical  Review,  October,  1912. 

Electrochemistry  and   Batteries. 

Electric  Welding. — V.  D.  Green. — The  first  part  of  an 
illustrated  article.  Disadvantages  of  the  arc  process  are 
that  the  results  depend  entirely  on  the  skill  of  the  operator, 
that  it  is  not  as  safe  as  the  resistance  process,  and  that  the 
difficulities  of  keeping  the  arc  reasonably  steady  become 
more  and  more  serious  as  the  work  to  be  done  becomes 
smaller.  The  welding  process  of  Elihu  Thomson  is  de- 
scribed and  the  limitations  of  the  electric  welding  process 
for  rods  and  bars  are  given.  Iron  and  steel  should  be  as 
soft  and  pure  as  possible  to  be  specially  suitable  for  electric 
welding. — London  Electrical  Review,  Nov.  15,  1912. 

Burning  of  Lugs  of  Accumulator  Plates. — Two  illustrated 
descriptions  are  given  of  the  procedure  in  lead  burning  for 
the  purpoSe  of  lengthening  the  lugs  of  storage-battery 
plates. — London  Elcc.  Ending,  Nov.  14,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

German  Reichsanstalt. — A  review  of  a  special  report  of 
the  work  of  the  Physico-Technical  Reichsanstalt  of  Ger- 
many from  1907  to  191 1.  In  general  the  scope  of  the  work 
has  remained  the  same.  Of  general  investigations  are 
mentioned  experimental  researches  on  the  foundations  of 
thermodynamics,  saturated  steam,  specific  heats,  mechanical 
equivalent  of  heat,  electric  and  thermal  properties  of  metals 
and  the  international  agreement  on  the  emf  of  the  Weston 
cell.  The  work  in  Department  I  included  investigations  on 
mechanics  and  heat,  electricity  and  magnetism,  standard 
resistances,  standard  cells,  precision  measurement  of  mag- 
netic fluxes,  formation  of  nitric  oxide  by  the  silent  dis- 
charge, electronegative  gases  and  radiation  theory.  The 
work  in  Department  II  included  tests  of  electrical  and 
magnetic  machines,  apparatus  and  appliances,  sources  of 
errors  in  electricity  meters,  alternating-current  instruments, 
methods  of  determining  the  stray  fluxes  in  transformers 
and  induction  motors,  measurement  of  capacities  and  in- 
ductances, the  absolute  unit  of  electric  resistance,  measure- 
ments and  wave-lengths  in  wireless  telegraphy,  electro- 
chemical valves  or  rectifiers,  tests  of  telephone  and  telegraph 
instruments  and  appliances.  The  magnetic  work  included 
the  design  and  calibration  of  apparatus  for  testing  mag- 
netic materials,  determination  of  initial  permeability  and 
measurement  of  high  inductions.  No  less  than  69,315 
thermometers  were  tested  and  extensive  work  was  carried 
out  on  fixing  the  temperature  scale  of  the  nitrogen  ther- 
mometer up  to  600  deg.  C,  and  the  hydrogen  thermometer 
scale  up  to  190  deg.  C.  For  high  temperatures  there  was  a 
steady,  rapid  increase  in  th«  number  of  electrical  and  optical 


pyrometers  tested.  In  the  optical  department  many  ijhotum- 
etric  investigations  were  made.  In  the  chemical  depart- 
ment methods  for  producing  pure  metals  were  developed 
and  the  influence  of  small  impurities  was  determined. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov.  14,  1912. 

Substitution  of  Direct  Current  for  Alternating  Current 
in  Cable  Tests. — J.  Delon. — A  description  of  an  apparatus 
which  permits  tests  of  long  cables  by  means  of  a  high  direct- 
current  voltage.  The  power  consumption  of  the  apparatus 
is  small  and  the  apparatus  can  be  easily  transported.  As 
shown  in  Fig.  2,  the  metallic  rod  E  is  mounted  on  a  hard- 
rubber  disk  revolving  around  an  axle  c.  Four  stationary 
brushes,  6„  b,,  b,  and  b„  are  arranged  as  shown,  b.  and  b, 
are  electrically  connected  together  and  with  one  terminal 
p  of  the  high-voltage  side  of  a  transformer.  The  other 
two  brushes  6,  and  b,  are  connected  to  one  plate  each  of 
the  condensers  C,  and  C,,  while  the  two  other  plates  are 
connected  together  and  with  the  second  terminal  po  of  the 
high-tension  side  of  the  transformer.  The  disk  is  revolved 
by  means  of  a  four-pole  synchronous  motor.  The  motor 
and  the  transformer  are  supplied  with  alternating  current 
from  the  same  source.  One  period  of  the  alternating  cur- 
rent corresponds,  therefore,  to  half  a  revolution.  Assume 
that  in  the  moment  when  the  voltage  becomes  a  maximum 
the  metallic  rod  E  is  in  the  position  b^b.^.  The  condenser  C, 
is  then  charged.     This  charge  remains  when  in  tlie  next  nm- 


Fig.   2 — Diagram   of   Connections  for  Testing   Cables   by   Direct 
Current. 

ment  the  contact  is  broken.  After  half  a  period  the  metallic 
rod  is  in  the  position  b^b,.  The  condenser  Cj  is  now  charged. 
The  voltage  has  the  opposite  value  since  the  direction  of  the 
current  has  meanwhile  been  reversed.  This  occurs  over 
and  over  again  for  each  half  period.  In  this  way  between 
the  outer  plates  of  the  two  condensers  a  voltage  is  soon 
produced  which  equals  double  the  maximum  value  or  2.8 
times  the  effective  value  of  the  alternating-current  voltage 
employed.  If  the  cable  to  be  tested  is  now  connected  be- 
tween A  and  B,  it  is  subjected  to  the  full  direct-current 
voltage  generated  by  the  apparatus.  In  this  way  very  high 
charges  can  be  produced  with  a  transformer  of  small 
capacity.  An  apparatus  of  this  kind  for  practical  use  has 
been  constructed  by  a  French  company.  It  is  transportable 
on  a  hand  wagon.  In  an  additional  note  by  L.  Lichtenstein 
it  is  pointed  out  that  with  the  increase  of  voltage  used  in 
cables  the  testing  of  the  cables  with  alternating  current  is 
practically  impossible  when  the  emf  reaches  from  30,000  to 
40,000  volts.  If  a  test  is  to  be  made,  direct  current  will 
have  to  be  used  and  the  method  of  Delon  has  tHerefore 
some  practical  interest. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov.  14,   1912. 

Magnetic  Tests  of  Sheet  Iron. — J.  Epstein. — Some  three 
vears  ago  the  author  showed  that  magnetic  tests  of  sheet 
iron  can  be  made  in  a  very  simple  way  in  the  testing  ap- 
paratus devised  by  him.  At  that  time  Gumlich  and  Rogow- 
ski  advised  that  the  introduction  of  the  author's  apparatus 


J  222 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


into  practical  use  should  be  delayed  and  their  own  recom- 
mendations awaited.  They  have  also  described  an  appa- 
ratus of  their  own  and  given  the  results  of  measurements 
made  with  it.  The  present  author  points  out  that  the 
■Gunilich-Rogowski  apparatus  is  considerably  more  com- 
plicated than  his  own  and  that  the  comparative  measure- 
ments given  do  not  show  any  higher  accuracy. — Elek.  Zeit., 
Nov.    14,   1912. 

Telegraphy,   Telephony  and   Signals. 

Automatic  Telephone  Exchanges. — G.  H.  Green. — A 
•continuation  of  his  long  illustrated  article  on  recent  devel- 
opments in  automatic  exchange  telephone  systems.  Early 
suggestions  for  automatic  telephony  are  referred  to  briefly 
and  the  fundamental  principles  underlying  modern  systems 
are  described  more  fully.  A  detailed  description  is  given 
■of  the  circuits  of  the  "three-wire"  and  "two-wire"  Strowger 
systems,  and  reference  is  made  to  some  features  of  interest 
in  the  Epsom  and  G.  P.  O.  exchanges  recently  opened. — 
London  Electrician,  Nov.  15,  1912. 

Fire  Alarm. — W.  Feli.enberg. — A  paper  illustrated  by 
various  diagrams,  describing  the  principal  systems  of  fire 
alarm  in  use  at  present  and  giving  wiring  diagrams. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov.  14,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

Fortieth  Anniversary  of  London  Electrical  Reinew. — An 
editorial  on  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  the  appearance  of 
the  first  issue  on  Nov.  15,  1872.  It  was  first  a  monthly,  but 
became  a  bi-weekly  in  six  months  and  a  weekly  a  few  years 
later.  The  issue  contains  a  congratulatory  article  entitled 
"Many  Happy  Returns,"  by  Sir  William  H.  Preece.  The 
original  title  of  the  paper 'was  Telegraphic  Journal,  and  in 
January,  1873,  the  words  "and  Electrical  Review"  were 
added. — London  Elec.  Review,  Nov.  15,  1912. 

Presidential  Address. — S.  D.  Schofield. — His  presiden- 
tial address  to  the  Yorkshire  Section  of  the  (British)  In- 
stitution of  Electrical  Engineers.  With  reference  to  the 
recent  coal  strike  in  England  the  author  urges  that  a  six 
months'  reserve  stock  of  coal  in  power  plants  is  by  no 
means  excessive.  Under  certain  conditions  it  is  sound 
.  policy  to  supplement  a  coal  reserve  by  storing  low-grade 
oils.  One  of  the  many  things  to  be  considered  in  the  future 
is  the  fixing  of  standard  pressures  and  frequencies,  since 
the  day  of  the  small  supply  stations  is  passing  away.  In 
many  instances  throughout  England  additional  consumers 
have  often  been  obtained  by  the  readiness  of  central  sta- 
tions to  step  in  and  supply  electrical  energy  at  short  notice, 
when  the  ordinary  power  units  (steam  or  gas)  have  broken 
down.  This  statement  is  made  to  emphasize  the  point  that 
"supply  engineers  should  be  always  open  for  business,  if 
there  is  a  margin  on  the  right  side  in  it,  even  if  it  compels 
them  temporarily  to  overload  plant  and  mains.  In  these 
days  of  first-class  plant  and  standardization  there  is  a 
tendency  to  practise  caution  until  it  ceases  to  be  a  virtue." — 
r.ondon  Electrician,  Nov.  8.  1912. 

Presidential  Address. — A.  A.  Day. — His  presitlential 
address  to  the  Manchester  local  section  of  the  (British  1 
Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers.  The  object  of  the  new 
articles  of  the  association  is  to  broaden  out  the  aims  of 
the  institution.  One  of  the  directions  in  which  the  insti- 
tution, perhaps  in  conjunction  with  the  government,  might 
work  would  be  to  aid  the  manufacturers  to  get  an  increased 
share  in  foreign  trade,  together  with  an  increase  in  the 
home  trade  which  must  come.  Owing  to  the  way  in  which 
electrical  supply  has  been  developed  in  England,  there  are 
far  tod  many  generating  stations,  and  to  obtain  the 
efficiency  due  to  large  outputs  at  good  load-factors  some  of 
these  will  have  to  be  converted,  in  whole  or  part,  into  sub- 
stations. A  reasonable  degree  of  standardization  should 
be  aimed  at.  "If  it  is  conceded  that  large  generating 
stations,  co-operation  between  existing  systems  of  supply 
and  uniformity  of  systems  of  supply  as  far  as  practicable, 
and  at  any  rate  in  adjoining  districts,  are  desirable,  is  it  not 


within  the  scope  of  the  institution  to  do  anything  toward 
attaining  these  objects  eventually,  and  moving  in  that  direc- 
tion now?  I  believe  it  is."  The  author  refers  to  very  large 
power  supply  schemes  and  thinks  that  to  arrive  at  a  scheme 
of  electrical  supply  like  that  indicated  by  Ferranti  it  is 
necessary  that  such  a  scheme  should  be  carried  on  with 
government  aid. — London  Electrician,  Nov.  8,  1912. 

Reinforced  Concrete. — E.  Schick. — A  review  of  the 
present  knowledge  of  the  relation  between  reinforced  con- 
crete and  electricity,  referring  to  the  action  of  lightning 
discharges  and  of  electric  supply  currents  and  telegraph 
and  telephone  currents  on  reinforced-concrete  structures. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  Oct.  31,  1912. 

Platinum. — Harry  E.  Keller. — A  Franklin  Institute 
paper  on  "platinum,  the  most  precious  of  the  metals."  After 
a  brief  historical  sketch  the  author  gives  an  outline  of  the 
different  platinum  minerals,  methods  of  extraction  and 
purification,  the  properties  of  platinum,  its  uses,  possible 
substitutes,  production  and  value.  From  1902  to  1912  the 
price  of  platinum  has  increased  from  75  cents  to  $1.70  per 
gram  for  crucibles  and  from  60  cents  to  $1.50  for  wire. — 
Journal  of  Franklin  Institute,  November,  1912. 

Accident  in  an  Electric  Bath. — An  article  on  a  recent 
accident  in  London  in  which  a  man  was  killed  by  a  shock 
while  he  was  being  treated  in  an  electric  bath  through 
which  a  current  of  0.4  amp  was  passed.  .\  diagram  of  the 
connections  is  given  and  it  is  shown  that  there  were  three 
possibilities  of  the  patient  receiving  a  severe  shock.  The 
need  for  supervision  of  electric  bath  establishments  is 
pointed  out.  The  design  of  the  apparatus  itself  is  said  to 
be  at  fault  and  this  is  stated  to  be  serious  because  the  board 
is  practically  of  standard  type  of  which  many  are  sold 
every  year. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Nov.  14.  1912. 


Book  Reviews  \ 

The  I-'reezing  Point,   Boiling  Point  and  Conbuctivity 
Methods.      By   Harry    J.   Jones.      Easton,    Pa. :     The 
Chemical    Publishing    Company.      75    pages,    15    illus. 
Price,  $1. 
The  second  edition  of  a  very  useful  little  book  which  gives 
a  combination  of  the  theory  and  the  technique  of  the  three 
important   physical-chemistry   methods   of   investigation   by 
means    of    freezing-point,    boiling-point    and    electric    con- 
ductivity measurements  on  solutions.    The  treatment  is  thus 
the  more  interesting  because  the  theory  of  the  subject   is 
elucidated   by   the   technique   while   the   practical   measure- 
ments are  explained  theoretically.     The  volume  will  be  of 
interest  to  all  students  of  physical  chemistry. 


Efficiency  as  a  Basis  for  Operation  and  W.\ges.  By 
Harrington  Emerson,  New  York :  The  Engineering 
Magaainc.  254  pages.  Price,  $2. 
The  third  and  enlarged  edition  of  a  very  entertainingly 
written  book,  which  is  neither  a  series  of  essays  on 
industrial  operations  nor  an  engineer's  textbook  on  costs  of 
production  in  factories,  but  a  kind  of  union  of  the  two. 
Mr.  Emerson  writes  in  a  very  incisive  and  philosophic  vein 
on  matters  of  everyday  manufacturing  routine.  His 
opinions  may  not  be  infallible,  but  they  are  always  sug- 
gestive and  stimulating.  The  book  is  divided  into  twelve 
chapters,  dealing  with  the  following  topics:  Typical 
inefficiencies  and  their  significance:  national  efficiencies; 
the  strengtii  and  weakness  of  existing  systems  of  organiza- 
tion ;  line  and  staff  organization  in  industrial  concerns: 
standards;  the  realization  of  standards  in  practice;  the 
modern  theory  of  cost  accounting;  the  location  and  elimina- 
tion of  wastes ;  the  efficiency  system  in  operation ;  standard 
times  and  bonus ;  what  the  efficiency  system  may  accom- 
plish; the  gospel  of  efficiency.  The  volume  'will  be  of 
interest  to  the  employer  and  the  business  man. 


December  7.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1223 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


PRESSURE-CONTROL  SWITCH. 


The  single-pole  switch  illustrated  is  arranged  for  the 
control  of  small  motors  driving  air  pumps,  compressors, 
etc.,  and  on  account  of  its  simplicity  and  dependability  of 
operation  has  an  especially  useful  application  for  the  draw- 


Pressure-Control     Switch. 

ing  of  beer  and  other  liquids  which  are  handled  by  com- 
pressed air.  The  sliding  contact  keeps  the  parts  clean  and 
free  from  dust  or  grit,  and  the  construction  insures  against 
burning  or  corrosion.  When  the  predetermined  air  pres- 
sure has  been  reached  the  switch  is  automatically  opened. 
Again,  when  set  for  the  minimum  value  the  switch  closes. 
The  contacts  are  equipped  with  interlocks  which  prevent 
movement  of  the  blade  until  the  actuating  piston  and  lever 
have  operated.  This  switch  is  made  by  the  Gorton  Electric 
Switch  Company,  City  Hall  Building,  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  and 
can  readily  be  attached  to  an\-  pump  operated  by  electric 
power. 


SHOWCASE  LIGHTING. 


By  J.  A.  Vessey. 
It  is  difficult  to  understand  why  the  average  central- 
station  man  will  jump  at  the  opportunity  afforded  for 
lighting  a  few  square  feet  of  show  windows  when  the  show- 
cases in  most  stores,  presenting  an  area  about  ten  times  as 
great,  are  allowed  to  remain  unlighted  and  neglected.     In 


Probably  the  salesman  would  hesitate  to  believe  at  first 
reading  that  only  from  25  per  cent  to  40  per  cent  of  the 
stores  use  any  showcase  lighting  at  all.  Furthermore,  a 
large  proportion  of  the  percentage  is  most  inadequately 
lighted.  Ordinarily,  four  2S-watt  lamps  will  suffice  to  light 
each  8  lineal  ft.  of  case  satisfactorily.  But  a  very  good 
rule  to  follow  for  proper  showcase  illumination  is  to  fix  it 
at  approximately  double  the  exterior  general  illumination. 
Experience  has  shown  that  an  intelligent  consideration  of 
these  two  figures  will  enable  any  central-station  solicitor  to 
make  recommendations  that  can  be  safely  relied  upon  to 
secure  desired  results  and  assure  in  many  instances  much 
new  business  in  a  field  which  has  as  yet  been  only 
"scratched"  on  the  surface. 

One  of  the  most  recent  methods  for  lighting  showcases 
is  the  so-called  Linolite  system  introduced  by  the  H.  W. 
Johns-Manville  Company,  New  York,  which  consists  of  a 
tubular  electric  lamp  nearly  a  foot  long.  These  lamps 
complete  with  reflectors  occupy  a  space  only  5  in.  deep  by 
2.5  in.  wide  and  can  be  easily  attached  to  or  detached  from 
the  case  by  means  of  spring  clips.  These  clips  are  readily 
adjusted  to  the  interior  of  the  showcase  and  firmly  support 
the  removable  shell  in  its  proper  position. 

An  ornamental  or  plain  stand-pipe  or  wire  conduit  is 
run  down  in  a  corner  and  through  at  one  end  of  the  case 
into  an  outlet  box  under  the  base  of  the  case.  A  single- 
pole  flush  switch  is  usually  provided  for  the  outlet  box  so 
that  the  lamps  of  each  case  may  be  individually  controlled 
when  desired. 


Showcases    in    a    New    York    Department    Store. 

a  recently  completed  modern  department  store  there  were 
only  250  ft.  of  show  windows,  while  the  interior  of  the 
store  contained  an  aggregate  of  nearly  4000  lineal  ft.  of 
cases,  affording  an  opportunity  for  the  sale  of  about  six- 
teen times  as  much  energy.  While  the  average  store  does 
not  have  4000  ft.  of  showcases,  it  does  have  sufficient  to 
make  a  very  inviting  proposition. 


VENTILATING  SYSTEM  FOR  TELEPHONE  BOOTHS. 


The  accompanying  illustration  shows  a  ventilating  system 
recently  installed  in  the  telephone  booths  of  the  South 
Station  at  Boston,  Mass.,  by  the  B.  F.  Sturtevant  Company 
of  Hyde  Park,  Mass.  The  booths  are  arranged  in  groups 
of  seven,  and  each  group  is  supplied  with  air  from  its  own 
plant,  which  consists  of  a  motor-driven  blower  and  a  system 
of  fiber  piping.  The  whole  equipment  is  placed  on  top  of  the 
booths,  and  the  fiber  pipe  running  the  full  length  of  the 
group  supplies  each  booth  with  air  through  its  own  separate 


Telephone    Booths    with    Ventilating    System. 

discharge  pipe.  At  the  point  where  this  pipe  enters  the 
booth  it  is  fitted  with  deflectors  especially  designed  to  pre- 
vent the  air  from  blowing  upon  the  head  of  the  occupant  of 
the  booth.  A  brass  ventilator  placed  at  the  bottom  of  the 
inner  door  and  one  at  the  top  of  the  outer  door  form  an 
exit  for  the  air  through  the  dead-air  space  in  the  door, 
which  offers  considerable  resistance  to  the  transmission  of 


1224 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o.  No.  23 


sound.  The  fan  and  motor  operate  so  noiselessly  that  the 
occupant  of  the  booth  is  not  disturbed  by  them.  The  fan 
operates  at  850  r.p.m.,  delivering  450  cu.  ft.  of  air  per 
minute,  or  64  cu.  ft.  to  each  booth.  There  is  a  complete 
change  of  air  in  the  booth  about  once  in  every  minute. 


STARTING   SWITCHES  FOR  ALTERNATING- 
CURRENT  MOTORS. 


The  Allen-Bradley  Company,  of  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  has  re- 
cently added  two  more  types  of  starting  switches  to  its  line 
of  alternating-current  motor-control  equipment.  These  two 
patterns  are  being  produced  in  different  sizes  and  forms. 
The  type  shown  in  Fig.  i  is  designed  for  starting  small 
alternating-current  motors  and  protecting  them  against 
no-voltage  and  overload  conditions,  and  is  intended  for  use 
with  motors  that  can  be  connected  directly  to  the  line  with- 
out a  starting  resistor  to  limit  the  current.  These  switches 
are  inclosed  in  dust-proof  cases  and  the  switch  contacts  are 
immersed  in  oil,  with  copper  electrodes  between  which  the 
current  is  broken  in  free  air.  The  facts  that  these  switches 
are  light  and  durable  and  may  be  placed  to  the  best  advan- 


system  remains  balanced.  To  start  a  motor  with  this  type 
of  switch  the  handle,  shown  in  Figs.  2  and  3,  is  pulled  up, 
which  raises  the  resistance  units,  makes  contact  between 
the  copper  and  graphite  electrodes  at  the  top  of  each  and 
closes  the  circuit  to  the  motor.  Raising  the  lever  still 
farther  increases  the  pressure  on  the  resistors,  which  in 
turn  increases  the  current  and  potential  at  the  motor  until 
energy  enough  is  supplied  to  turn  the  motor  over  and  ac- 
celerate it  to  full  speed.  When  the  starting  lever  has 
reached  its  highest  point  the  resistors  are  automatically 
shunted  out  of  the  circuit.  It  is  stated  that  this  entire 
operation  should  not  require  more  than  fifteen  seconds. 
This  switch  is  equipped  with  a  no-voltage  and  overload 
release  which  is  actuated  by  adjustable  relays  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  other  type  of  switch. 


TUNGSTEN-ALLOY  FILAMENT  LAMP. 


.\n  incandescent  lamp  made  of  an  alloy  of  tungsten  called 
"wirum"  has  recently  been  placed  on  the  market  by  the 
Brimsdown  Lamp  Works.  Kingsway  House,  London,  W.  C. 
England.      "Wirum"    is     a    composition     of    tungsten     and 


rtri'ilnairi' 


Fig.   1 — Starting  Switch 
for    Small    Motors. 


Fig.    2 — Resistor    Switch    witn 
Cover    Removed. 


tage  without  the  use  of  much  floor  space,  and  that  they  are 
inclosed  on  all  sides,  make  them  especially  well  adapted  to 
meet  the  service  which  is  required  in  planing  mills,  textile 
mills  and  grain  elevators,  where  inexperienced  help  must 
be  protected  and  the  fire  hazard  is  great.  This  type  is 
manufactured  in  four  forms.  Form  i  can  be  used  with 
single-phase  or  polyphase  motors,  and  can  be  arranged  for 
reversing  their  direction  of  rotation.  Only  one  movement 
is  required  to  start  the  motor ;  that  is,  the  handle  is  thrown 
from  the  "off"  to  the  "'running"  position  and  is  held  there 
by  a  latch,  which  may  be  released  to  stop  the  motor.  Under 
no-voltage  or  overload  conditions  two  adjustable  relays  and 
a  solenoid  operate  to  release  a  weight  which  disengages  the 
latch  on  the  handle.  It  is  claimed  that  the  relays  are  not 
sensitive  to  spasmodic  changes  in  current  and  operate  only 
on  a  bona  fide  overload.  Forms  2,  3  and  4  are  smaller, 
lighter  and  cheaper  designs  of  this  pattern  of  switch. 

The  second  type  is  a  resistor  switch  designed  for  starting 
squirrel-cage  induction  motors  rated  at  from  5  hp  to  50  hp, 
for  switching  them  into  and  out  of  the  circuit  and  for 
protecting  them  against  no-voltage  and  overload.  The  re- 
ji.stance  units  employed  are  of  the  graphite  compression  type 
•  -  so  placed  in   each   phase  and  equalized  that  the 


Fig.   3 — Resistor  Switch   Closed. 

another  metal  the  name  of  which  has  not  been  divulged. 
The  alloy  is  claimed  not  only  to  possess  the  strength  and 
efficiency  of  drawn  tungsten  but  to  withstand  crystallization 
for  a  longer  period.  It  is  said  also  to  retain  its  initial 
ductile  strength  during  the  life  of  the  lamp.  Lamps  with 
filaments  made  of  it  have  been  subjected  to  very  severe 
tests  in  railway  and  street-car  service  and  in  works  where 
constant  vibration  is  experienced,  with  excellent  results. 
It  is  possible  to  obtain  lamps  with  "wirum"  filament  for  all 
standard  voltages  in  sizes  from  8  cp  to  1000  cp.  The  smaller 
sizes  are  equipped  with  bayonet  base  and  the  larger  sizes 
with  screw  base.  ,      v.'''       ' 


OIL-DRYING  AND    PURIFYING    OUTFIT. 


To  obtain  the  best  service  as  well  as  to  economize  in  the 
use  of  oil  for  cooling  and  insulating  transformers,  high- 
tension  switches,  circuit-breakers,  electrolytic  lightning  ar- 
resters and  similar  apparatus,  it  is  necessary  to  employ 
some  method  of  cleaning  and  dehydrating  the  oil  from 
time  to  time.  The  transformer  and  switch  oils  now  in  use 
are  generally  stable  chemically  and  are  subject  to  only  very 


Deckmukk 


1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1225 


slight  change  clue  to  chemical  causes.  Switch  oils,  how- 
ever, from  the  nature  of  their  service,  suffer  deteriora- 
tion in  time  from  the  presence  of  carbonized  particles  of 
switch  contacts  and  also  of  the  oil  itself.  Both  transformer 
and  switch  oils,  moreover,  are  susceptible  to  moisture  and 
even  with  the  best  care  in  handling  and  in  operation  will 
absorb  water,  though  probably  at  a  very  low  rate.     Vari- 


.•fcO .,..,,,iiMi.i •»■  • — *\v 


Oil- Drying    and    Purifying    Outfit. 

ous  abnormal  conditions  which  occasionally  arise,  such  as 
transformer  burn-outs,  accidents  in  cooling  coils  in  water- 
cooled  transformers  and  severe  or  improper  operation  of 
switches,  may  seriously  impair  the  dielectric  strength  of 
the  oil  so  that  provision  should  be  made  for-  suitably  treat- 
ing the  oil  after  such  conditions.  Carefully  conducted  tests 
have  shown  that  the  presence  of  from  o.ooi  to  0.005  P^r 
cent  of  moisture  (one  part  in  100,000  to  20,000)  will  reduce 
appreciably  the  dielectric  strength  of  oil  below  the  stand- 
ard test  value  of  30,000  volts  between  J^^-in.  spheres 
spaced  0.015  ■".  apart  and  8  in.  below  the  oil  surface.  Fine 
particles  of  carbon,  dust  or  other  foreign  matter  in  sus- 
pension also  reduce  the  dielectric  strength  and  in  addi- 
tion form  undesirable  deposits,  necessitating  that  the  oil 
be  kept  free  from  sediment  as  well  as  moisture. 

The  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company 
has  placed  on  the  market  a  special  type  of  filtering  outfit  for 
this  service.  In  this  outfit  the  oil  is  forced  through  several 
layers  of  specially  prepared  filter  paper.  The  sediment  is 
strained  out  by  the  first  layer  of  paper  and  the  moisture  is 
tiiken  up  by  the  capillary  action  of  the  paper. 

The  complete  outfit  consists  of  filter  press,  motor,  pump, 
oil  strainer,  pressure  gage  and  piping,  the  whole  mounted 
on  a  neat  iron  base  cast  with  a  high  rim  that  forms  an 
inclosure  and  serves  as  a  drip  pan.  The  filter  press  proper 
is  made  up  of  a  series  of  flat  cast-iron  plates  and  frames, 
assembled  alternately,  with  the  filter  papers  between  them 
By  means  of  a  screw  and  lever  and  a  movable  cast-iron  end 
block  the  plates,  frames  and  papers  are  forced  tightly 
together. 

The  oil  enters  under  pressure  at  the  top  corner  through 
the  inlet  in  the  frames  and  fills  each  of  the  chambers 
formed  between  each  set  of  two  filter  packs.  From  these 
chambers  there  is  an  opening  and  the  oil  is  consequently 
forced  through  filter  papers  that  form  the  sides  of  the 
'■hambers.  The  filter  paper  thus  takes  up  the  moisture  and 
screens  the  sediment  from  the  oil.  The  filter  paper  is 
backed  in  each  instance  with  a  cast-iron  plate  with  small 
pyramids  covering  its  surface.  This  allows  the  flow  of 
oil  through  the  paper  but  still  supports  the  filter  paper. 

Motor-driven,  rotary-gear,  positive-pressure  pumps  are 
used  for  these  outfits.  A  wire-mesh  strainer  arranged  so 
that  it  may  be  easily  removed  for  cleaning  is  connected  in 
the  piping  to  remove  from  the  oil  the  larger  particles  of 
sediment  before  the  oil  enters  the  pump.  A  by-pass  is 
connected  around  the  pump  and  provided  with  a  relief  valve 
set  for  approximately  60  lb.  pressure.  If  the  pressure 
should  rise  to  this  value  owing  to  clogging  of  the  filter,  the 
valve  opens  and  allows  a  part  of  the  oil  to  circulate  back 


through  the  pump,  thus  relieving  the  pressure.  These 
pumps  will  develop  considerable  suction,  and  the  oil  to  be 
treated  may  be  readily  drawn  from  a  tank  below  the  level 
of  the  outfit. 

An  electric  oven  for  drying  the  filter  paper  is  generally 
used  with  the  filter  press.  The  oven  is  built  of  sheet  iron 
with  double  walls  and  adjustable  slides  are  provided  in  the 
top  of  the  oven  for  regulating  the  temperature  and  the  cir- 
culation of  air.  The  heating  elements  used  with  these 
ovens  are  known  as  the  bayonet  type  and  consist  of  slotted 
ribbon  resistance  metal  imbedded  in  pure  sheet  mica  and 
covered  by  a  sheet-steel  shell.  Standard  outfits  are  made  in 
two  sizes ;  the  large  size  has  a  normal  filtering  rate  of  from 
10  to  12  gal.  per  minute,  and  the  small  size  a  normal  filter- 
ing rate  of  from  2  to  3  gal.  per  minute. 


MOTOR-DRIVEN  AIR  COMPRESSOR  FOR  TORPEDO 
SERVICE. 


The  accompanying  illustration  shows  a  self-contained 
motor-driven  air  compressor  used  by  the  United  States 
government  on  battleships  in  connection  with  torpedo  serv- 
ice. The  compressor  was  designed  by  Mr.  R.  E.  Allgire 
and  built  by  the  Piatt  Iron  Works,  Dayton,  Ohio.  It  is  of 
the  four-stage,  single-acting  piston  type,  all  cylinders  and 
auxiliary  receivers  being  mounted  on  the  motor  frame. 
The  first-stage  and  fourth-stage  cylinders  are  mounted  on 
the  commutator  end  of  the  motor,  the  second-stage  and 
third-stage  cylinders  on  the  opposite  side,  counterbalanced 
cranks  being  provided  on  each  end  of  the  motor  shaft. 

The  air  entering  the  first-stage  cylinder  at  atmospheric 
pressure  and  temperature  is  compressed  to  about  42  lb. 
pressure  and  passes  thence  to  the  first-stage  cooler.  In  the 
following  stages  the  air  is  compressed  to  approximately 
225  lb.,  875  lb.,  2500  lb.  or  3000  lb.  per  sq.  in.  respectively, 
being  cooled  between  each  cylinder  to  practically  atmos- 
pheric temperature  in  the  coolers  through  which  it  passes 
in  going  from  one  cylinder  to  the  next.  The  highest  tem- 
perature reached  in  the  whole  operation  is  not  more  than 
290  deg.  Fahr.  The  compressor  cylinders  are  supplied  with 
water  jackets  which  help  to  preserve  low  operating  tempera- 
tures, the  circulation  of  the  water  being  maintained  bv  an 


IVIotor- Driven    Air  Compressor. 

attached  pump  of  the  rotary  type  which  is  driven  directly 
from  the  main  shaft. 

Careful  attention  has  been  given  to  the  lubrication  of 
the  machine,  both  the  splash  and  forced  systems  of  lubrica- 
tion being  employed.  Drains  are  provided  for  renewing 
the  oil  and  for  drawing  off  any  water  that  may  have  be- 
come  mixed   with   the   oil.      Provision    is    also   made    for 


1226 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  23. 


draining  the  coolers  of  each  stage  and  for  removing  all 
cooling  water  from  the  cooling  system  in  case  the  machine 
be  allowed  to  stand  idle  in  an  exposed  position  where  there 
is  danger  of  the  water's  freezing. 

The  electric  motor  for  the  compressor  was  furnished  by 
the  Fort  Wayne  Electric  Works  of  the  General  Electric 
Company.  It  is  of  the  semi-inclosed  type  and  is  designed 
to  carry  its  full  rated  load  of  80  hp,  continuously,  with  a 
speed  of  500  r.p.m.  when  operating  on  125  volts  direct 
current.  The  motor  is  especially  designed  for  the  service, 
the  armature  being  pressed  upon  the  compressor  crank 
shaft,  the  bonnets  arranged  to  accommodate  the  mounting 
of  the  compressor  parts,  and  the  base  being  especially 
heavy  to  insure  stability  of  the  unit.  The  frame  is  divided 
horizontally  to  facilitate  disassembling  without  removal  of 
all  the  compressor  parts. 

At  the  official  test  the  compressor  delivered  considerably 
more  than  the  required  50  cu.  ft.  of  air  per  hour  at  a 
pressre  of  2500  lb.  per  sq.  in.  when  running  at  rated 
speed.  It  also  met  the  requirements  of  a  half-hour's  service 
at  a  pressure  of  3000  lb.  without  undue  heating,  vibration, 
wear  or  other  trouble. 


ELECTRICALLY  DRIVEN  HIGH-SPEED  HACK-SAW. 

The  accompanying  illustration  shows  an  electrically  oper- 
ated high-speed  hack-saw  which  is  manufactured  by  E.  C. 
Atkins  &  Company,  of  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  and  electrically 
equipped  by  the  Crocker-Wheeler  Company,  of  Ampere, 
N.  J.  This  saw  is  so  constructed  that  it  automatically 
adapts  itself  to  the  size  of  the  work  and  utilizes  the  entire 
blade  at  each  stroke.  This  effects  a  saving  in  blades,  and 
this  saving  is  further  increased  by  the  addition  to  the 
machine  of  a  device  which  lifts  the  blade  slightly  above  the 
work  on  the  return  stroke.  In  order  to  allow  an  increase  in 
cutting   speed    a    complete    lubricating    system    is   provided 


Electrically    Driven    High-Speed    Hack-Saw. 

which  keeps  the  blade  cool  and  lengthens  its  life.  A 
special  attachment  is  also  provided  which  makes  it  possible 
for  work  to  be  cut  at  an  angle  as  great  as  45  deg.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  the  machine  is  fitted  with  an  automatic  stop,  an 
outside  rest  which  holds  the  work  in  place  until  the  cut  is 
complete  and  a  depth  gage  which  automatically  stops  the 
-aw  at  any  desired  depth. 


The  motor  which  is  used  to  drive  this  saw  is  a  J^-hp, 
230-volt,  550-1100  r.p.m.  direct-current  machine.  It  is  fitted 
with  a  regulator  which  gives  an  allowable  change  in  speed 
of  from  50  to  100  strokes  a  minute. 


OUTDOOR  HIGH-TENSION  TRANSFORMER. 


The  Pittsburgh  Transformer  Company,  Pittsburgh,  Pa., 
has  developed  a  noteworthy  type  of  outdoor  high-tension 
transformer.  It  is  generally  agreed  that  the  oil-cooled 
transformer  is  most  suitable  for  this  service  and  to  avoid 
the  necessity  of  drying  out  before  installation  the  outdoor 
transformer  is  shipped  with  the  case  filled  with  oil.  The 
operation  of  installing  is  therefore  reduced  merely  to  plac- 
ing the  transformer  in  position  and  connecting  to  the  cir- 
cuit. Both  the  high-tension  and  the  low-tension  leads  issue 
through  weatherproof  bushings  located  in  the  cover,  thus 
securing  a  highly  convenient  method  of  connecting  to  both 
the  incoming  line  and  the  load  wires.  The  losses  and  radia- 
tion surfaces  are  so  proportioned  that  low  temperatures 
are  maintained  at  all  times,  thus  reducing  to  a  minimum 
the  danger  of  oil  deposit  settling  on  the  elements  or  case 
and  preventing  proper  cooling. 


ELECTRIC  HEATING    OF    OLYMPIA,    LONDON, 
DURING  MOTOR  EXHIBITION. 


.\t  the  eleventh  international  motor  exhibition,  which  was 
held  at  Olympia,  London,  during  the  week  commencing  on 
Nov.  8,  electric  radiators  were  employed  to  heat  the  huge 
building  housing  the  exhibition.  This  is  said  to  be  the 
largest  trade  exhibition  ever  held  in  the  world,  and  it  is 
also  said  that  this  was  the  largest  undertaking  in  the  line  of 
electric  heating  ever  attempted  and  successfully  carried  out. 
Electric  radiators  were  decided  upon  as  being  most  efficient 
in  a  place  of  such  proportions  and  where  draft  is  unavoid- 
able. Radiant  heat  rays  have  the  property  of  passing 
through  air  currents,  heating  any  objects  or  persons  within 
their  range.  The  radiators  employed  were  all  of  the  same 
pattern,  specially  made  by  the  General  Electric  Company, 
Ltd.,  London,  for  this  occasion.  Each  radiator  was  equipped 
with  four  Robertson  radiator  lamps  and  copper  reflectors. 
The  bodies  were  constructed  of  sheet  metal  with  a  matte 
finish.  Perfect  control  of  the  heat  was  accomplished 
through   a   simple   switching   arrangement. 


COLORING  FOR  INCANDESCENT  LAMP  BULBS. 


Heretofore  great  difficulty  has  been  experienced  in  color- 
ing the  bulbs  of  incandescent  lamps  either  because  the  color- 
ing matter  was  too  short-lived,  or  because  it  would  crack 
from  the  expansion  and  contraction  of  the  glass  bulb,  or 
because  it  actually  shortened  the  useful  life  of  the  lamp 
itself  by  failing  to  radiate  the  heat  properly.  The  Electric 
Sales  Company,  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  has  recently  placed 
upon  the  market  a  lamp  lacquer  which,  it  is  claimed,  will 
overcome  all  of  these  difficulties  and  make  the  coloring  of 
lamp  bulbs  comparatively  easy  and  economical.  It  is 
stated  that,  according  to  tests,  the  life  of  this  lacquer  is 
greater  than  the  life  of  any  incandescent  lamp,  that  its 
coefficient  of  expansion  is  the  same  as  that  of  glass,  and 
that  it  has  a  high  heat  conductivity,  insuring  that  it  will 
not  be  a  factor  detrimental  to  the  long  life  of  the  lamp. 
This  product  is  now  for  sale  in  six  standard  colors, 
namely,  amber,  canary,  red,  blue,  green  and  white,  and  it  is 
possible  by  blending  these  colors  to  secure  many  other  tints 
and  shades.  It  is  said  that  the  cost  of  applying  this  lacquer 
is  verv  reasonable. 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


1227 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


ELECTRICAL  TRADE  CONDITIONS— I L 


THE  second  set  of  replies  which  we  have  received 
from  electrical  manufacturers  in  response  to  cir- 
cular letters  requesting  data  on  conditions  in  the 
electrical  manufacturing  field  in  1912  appears  in  part  below. 
As  was  the  case  with  the  first  set  of  responses  printed  last 
week,  the  present  instalment  indicates  that  the  year's  re- 
sults thus  far  have  been  highly  satisfactory  and  that  the 
outlook  for  next  year  is  believed  to  be  decidedly  promising. 

Many  of  the  replies  show  that  there  was  an  unusual 
growth  in  volume  of  business  during  the  current  year,  but 
that  the  percentage  of  profits  received  was  not  in  propor- 
tion. 'Price-cutting  competition  is  ascribed  in  most  cases  as 
the  chief  reason  for  this,  while  in  some  instances  increase 
in  the  cost  of  raw  materials  is  given  as  the  cause.  Most 
of  the  replies  attribute  the  improvement  in  volume  of  busi- 
ness to  the  more  settled  condition  of  general  trade  during 
the  present  year.  Other  reasons  given  are  the  natural 
growth  of  the  electrical  industry  and  advance  in  design. 

Confidence  is  expressed  bj'  the  majority  of  manufacturers 
in  the  outlook  for  next  year,  and  nearly  all  of  the  replies 
show  that  extensions  and  additions  are  being  made  to 
manufacturing  facilities  with  a  view  to  meeting  the  large 
demand  which  will  be  placed  upon  them.  Uncertainty  as 
to  the  retarding  influence  which  may  be  exerted  by  radical 
tariff  riieasures  on  the  part  of  the  administration  seems  to 
be  regarded  as  the  leading  obstacle  in  the  path  of  trade  ex- 
pansion next  year. 


INSULATING  MATERIALS:  (a)  American  Lava  Com- 
pany.— Our  sales  in  1912  were  the  largest  in  our  history, 
but  profits  were  smaller  in  proportion  to  the  business  done. 
The  increase  in  sales  was  due  to  the  general  increase  in  the 
use  of  lava  insulation  and  to  improved  conditions  in  the 
electrical  industry.  Profits  were  smaller  because  of  com- 
petition. The  outlook  for  1913  is  splendid.  We  will  in- 
crease our  capital  from  $20,000  to  $50,000  in  January,   1913. 

(b)  Hope  Webbing  Company. — Our  business  for  1912 
shows  an  increase  of  50  per  cent  over  that  in  igii.  Profits 
remained  nearly  the  same.  We  believe  this  was  due  to  the 
increased  demand  for  new  electrical  apparatus.  As  regards 
next  year,  we  think  that  the  outlook  is  good  and  that  prices 
will  be  slightly  higher.  We  are  increasing  the  size  of  our 
plant. 

(c)  A  New  York  Manufacturer. — We  have  had  a  sub- 
stantial increase  in  business  and  profits  this  year,  due  to 
increased  acquaintance  in  the  trade  and  to  the  new  lines  we 
have  added.  We  think  that  good  prices  and  business  will 
prevail  next  year  if  tariff  changes  are  not  too  radical.  We 
extended  our  works  in  1912  and  contemplate  considerable 
expansion  in  our  selling  organization  during  1913. 

(d)  An  Eastern  Manufacturer. — The  volume  of  our  busi- 
ness was  better  this  year,  but  the  profits  were  less.  We 
attribute  the  gain  in  volume  to  increase  in  all  manufacturing 
lines-.  We  think  the  outlook  in  our  field  for  191.?  is  poor. 
The  greatest  drawback  is  tariff  tinkering,  from  which  there 
will  be  no  relief  for  several  years.  We  are  not  going  to 
spend  a  cent  on  extensions  to  our  plant  and,  in  fact,  are 
curtailing  now. 

(e)  From  the  Same  Section. — Our  1912  business  has  been 
larger  in  volume  than  that  of  191 1,  but  profits  have  been 
less.  We  attribute  the  latter  to  the  price  war  among  com- 
petitors. We  regard  the  outlook  for  business  as  promising, 
but  think  that  the  chances  for  better  prices  are  not  very 
reassuring.  There  is  nothing,  in  our  opinion,  to  prevent 
a  healthy  growth.  We  have  just  completed  large  extensions 
and  additions  for  producing  vulcanized  fiber  of  all  kinds 
and  a  mill  to  produce  our  special  insulating  paper  in  rolls 
for  armature  winding. 

(f)  Another  Eastern  Manufacturer. — Our  1912  business 
has  shown  marked  improvement  in  both  volume  and  profits 
over  our  191 1  business.  We  attribute  this  increase  to  natural 
growth  as  well  as  to  increasing  understanding  on  the  part 
of  manufacturers  of  electrical  appliances  of  the  advantages 
to  be  derived  from  the  use  of  our  specialty.     We  consider 


the  business  outlook  in  our  field  for  1913  to  be  excellent. 
The  principal  drawback  to  expansion  in  this  field  is  lack 
of  standardization  and  co-operation  between  manufacturers. 
The  remedy  would  seem  to  be  the  establishment  of  definite 
standards  by  the  users.  We  do  not  contemplate  any  im- 
mediate extension  of  our  works,  though  we  will,  of  course, 
add  to  their  capacity. 

ELECTRICAL  MEASURING  INSTRUMENTS:  (a) 
Leeds  &  Northrup  Company. — Both  volume  and  profits  have 
been  better  tliis  year  than  they  were  in  191 1.  The  increase 
in  volume  has  been  due  to  normal  growth,  together  with 
introduction  of  new  and  improved  products.  The  increase 
in  profits  has  been  due  to  increased  business  and  increased 
manufacturing  efficiency.  We  regard  the  1913  outlook  as 
excellent. 

(b)  Hoyt  Electrical  Instrument  Company. — Our  business 
has  shown  an  increase  in  volume  this  year  of  a  little  over 
70  per  cent  and  the  margin  of  profit  was  very  satisfactory. 
We  attribute  this  to  the  flourishing  condition  of  the  coun- 
try in  general,  due  to  the  satisfactory  crops  of  the  past  few 
seasons.  As  regards  next  year,  we  can  see  no  cloud  in 
the  business  sky  as  yet.  We  would  not  ask  for  a  healthier 
condition  in  our  line.  Business  is  good,  collections  are  good, 
and  a  reasonable  margin  of  profit  is  easily  obtained.  We 
are   very   optimistic. 

(c)  Sangamo  Electric  Company. — Regarding  business 
conditions  during  the  past  year  as  compared  with  those  in 
191 1,  we  would  say  that,  in  addition  to  the  general  better- 
ment found  by  all  manufacturers,  our  company  has  ex- 
perienced a  growth  rather  out  of  the  ordinary.  The  com- 
bination of  new  conditions,  broader  lines  of  manufacture 
and  an  extended  sales  organization  has  resulted  in  an  in- 
crease of  90  per  cent  over  that  in  191 1,  and  there  is  every 
indication  that  1913  will  show  an  equally  good  record.  It 
is  very  improbable  that  the  prevailing  prices  on  meters 
will  be  increased,  while  the  central-station  industry  will 
continue  to  receive  the  benefits  brought  about  by  new 
competition  introduced  by  the  recent  patent  expirations. 
By  Jan.  i,  1913,  large  additions  to  our  factory  will  be  com- 
pleted and  in  full  operation.  Early  in  the  spring  work  will 
be  started  on  a  second  addition  which  advance  business  now 
booked  will  fully  warrant.  In  addition  to  the  regular  line 
of  meters,  we  will  also  introduce  during  1913  several  en- 
tirely new  lines  of  detail  apparatus  demanded  by  natural 
growth   of  the   business. 

ELECTRIC   VEHICLES:    S.    R.    Bailey   &    Company.— 

Prior  to  191 1  we  had  only  one  model,  the  victoria  phaeton, 
and  our  business,  although  satisfactory,  has  not,  of  course, 
been  very  large  under  the  circumstances.  We  have,  how- 
ever, been  developing  a  roadster,  and  while  our  production 
of  these  cars  was  slow  at  first,  we  have  put  out  a  consider- 
able number,  so  that  our  business  during  1912  will  be  very 
close  to  two  and  one-half  times  that  of  191 1.  We  think 
the  business  outlook  is  excellent,  and  with  our  roadster,  in 
two  or  three  slightly  different  forms,  we  expect  to  do  a 
very  much  larger  business  than  we  have  ever  done  before. 
We  think  that  the  greatest  drawback  to  expansion  in  our 
field  is  the  great  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  public  as  to  what 
may  be  expected  of  the  modern  electric.  There  is  a  very 
general  feeling  that  the  electric  car  is  nothing  but  a  vehicle 
for  town  use  and  that  it  is  slow  and  entirely  unsuited  to 
the  use  of  men.  We  have  undoubtedly  got  to  do  a  great 
deal  of  educational  work  to  make  people  realize  that  our 
car  is  an  ideal  vehicle  for  men  and  capable  of  far  greater 
speed  and  mileage  than  the  ordinary  person  has  any  idea  of. 

CIRCUIT-BREAKERS:  Cutter  Electrical  &  Manufactur- 
ing Company. — Our  1912  business  compares  very  favorably 
with  that  in  191 1.  We  attribute  this  to  the  fact  that  the 
country  has  been  running  on  about  three-quarters  time  for 
five  years.  Good  crops  furnished  the  impetus  for  expansion 
We  think  the  outlook  is  fine  and  that  business  will  be  good 
if  the  new  administration  is  not  too  radical.  The  greatest 
drawbacks  are  the  activities  of  politicians.  We  are  going 
to  build  a  new  factory  and  increase  the  number  of  our  dis- 
trict offices. 


1228 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


WATER-POWER  MACHINERY:  The  Trump  Manu- 
facturing Company. — Our  1912  business  has  been  of  greater 
volume  with  a  tendency  toward  better  prices  than  that  of  a 
year  ago.  We  attribute  these  increases  to  a  steadily  grow- 
ing demand  for  water-power  machinery,  due  to  the  awaken- 
ing of  our  country  to  the  vast  amount  of  energy  stored  up 
in  natural  resources.  We  are  of  the  opinion  that  business 
in  our  particular  line  is  steadily  growing  with  a  tendency 
toward  better  prices,  owing  largely  to  the  demand  for  high- 
grade  machinery.  We  consider  that  the  greatest  drawback 
in  the  water-power  machinery  field  is  the  lack  of  co-opera- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  builders  of  this  class  of  machinery. 
Together  with  this  is  a  deep-rooted  sentiment  that  water- 
power  machiner}-,  regardless  of  its  efficiency  or  quality, 
should  be  purchased  at  a  very  low  price.  Water-power 
users  have  been  slow  to  realize  that  each  development  con- 
fronts a  builder  of  water-power  machinery  with  a  new  and 
distinct  problem,  which  means  the  disregarding  of  standard 
equipments.  We  do  not  believe  that  there  is  any  other 
branch  of  manufacturing  that  requires  so  much  study  and 
invention  for  each  particular  case  as  does  the  manufacture 
of  turbine  waterwheels.  Without  co-operation  on  the  part 
of  the  builders  among  themselves  each  individual  builder 
is  more  or  less  handicapped.  We  feel,  however,  that  grad- 
ually this  condition  will  be  viewed  from  a  broader  stand- 
point, with  a  tendency  toward  higher  class  development. 
We  are  not  contemplating  any  extensions  to  our  works  at 
this  time.  We  are.  however,  continually  improving  our 
work.     We  think  that  a  little  tariff  trimming  won't  hurt. 

OIL  ENGINES  AND  REFRIGERATING  MACHIN- 
ERY: Our  fiscal  year  ends  June  30.  Since  July  i.  we  have 
had  a  slight  increase  in  .volume  of  business  as  compared 
with  that  in  the  same  period  last  year  and  profits  have  been 
in  about  the  same  ratio.  Bu-siness  in  this  line  in  1913  will 
depend  largely  upon  prices  of  fuel  oil,  which  affect  our  oil- 
engine business  materially,  and  also  upon  the  tariff,  which 
affects  many  of  our  customers.  The  greatest  drawbacks  in 
our  field  are  the  difficulty  of  securing  fuel  oil  at  reasonable 
prices  and  timidity  on  the  part  of  prospective  purchasers 
about  .increasing  their  plants  owing  to  uncertainty  about 
the  tariff.  The  remedy  is  plenty  of  fuel  oil  at  low  prices 
and  the  adoption  of  a  sound  and  reasonable  protective 
tariff. 

MOTORS,  GENERATORS  AND  APPLIANCES:  (a) 
C.  &  C.  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company. — This  com- 
pany, which  took  over  the  properties  of  the  Garwood  Elec- 
tric Company  on  Sept.  3,  reports  having  taken  a  number  of 
orders  since  its  organization  and  that  its  three-wire  gene- 
rator is  meeting  with  success.  It  has  also  booked  a  number 
of  orders  for  slow-speed  motors  in  connection  with  steam- 
heating  and  ventilating  systems.  It  reports  a  broad  demand 
for  its  various  specialties. 

(b)  A  Middle  Western  Manufacturer. — This  year's  busi- 
ness shows  a  very  nice  increase  over  last  year's.  This  has 
been  due  to  general  improvement  in  business  conditions. 
We  think  that  the  outlook  for  1913  is  quite  favorable. 
Radical  congressional  action  is  likely  to  disturb  conditions. 
No    extensions    are    contemplated. 

GAS  ENGINES:  The  Bruce-Macbeth  Engine  Company.— 

We  are  more  than  pleased  with  present  business  conditions. 
In  fact,  the  last  four  months  have  shown  a  marked  improve- 
ment over  the  corresponding  period  of  the  previous  year. 
The  prospects  for  the  immediate  future  are  of  the  best, 
and  we  cannot  but  believe  that  a  similar  condition  will  exist 
throughout  the  coming  year. 

RECIPROCATING  ENGINES:  Our  1912  and  191 1 
showing  has  been  about  the  same.  We  expect  some  im- 
provement in  1913.  The  greatest  drawback  in  our  line  is 
too  much  competition.  We  are  not  contemplating  any  ex- 
tensions  or   enlargements. 

FIXTURES:  (a)  The  Dale  Company.— Our  1912  busi- 
ness compares  very  favorably  with  that  of  1911  and  shows  a 
.slight  increase  so  far.  We  attribute  this  to  a  little  more 
settled  condition  in  general  trade.  We  take  a  very  opti- 
mistic view  of  future  conditions.  Prices,  we  think,  will  be 
more  steady,  but  if  any  changes  take  place,  they  will  be  of 
an  upward  trend.  Lack  of  co-operation  we  consider  the 
greatest  drawback  to  expansion  in  our  field.  If  more  of 
'"-  ■■  •'■■■t  together"  spirit  were  manifested,  it  would  mean  a 


more  healthy  condition.  We  are  constantly  devising  plans 
to  increase  general  efficiency  and  endeavor  to  keep  adding 
new    products    as   fast    as   possible. 

(b)  A  Middle  Western  Manufacturer. — An  increase  of  15 
per  cent  is  shown  by  our  1912  business  over  that  in  1911. 
We  attribute  this  to  the  increased  activity  of  central  sta- 
tions. We  think  the  outlook  is  good  and  that  prices  will 
be  about  the  same.  We  are  building  a  new  plant  in  one 
of  the  large  cities. 

CYLINDER   OIL:     E.   H.   Kellogg    &    Company.— The 

volume  of  our  business  has  increased  very  materially  this 
year,  and  we  expect  profits  in  the  same  ratio,  as  most  of 
our  sales  have  been  of  the  better  grades  of  oil.  This  im- 
provement has  been  due  to  an  energetic  sales  campaign  by 
our  traveling  representatives,  backed  by  our  ability  to  keep 
our  promises.  We  think  that  the  business  outlook  is  very 
encouraging.  As  to  prices,  the  results  of  the  past  few  years 
have  convinced  us  that  thoughtful  buyers  are  coming  more 
and  more  to  realize  that  the  best  goods  are  cheapest  in  the 
long  run.  The  greatest  drawback  in  our  field  is  the  pur- 
chasing agent  who  thinks  that  he  is  saving  money  when 
buying  at  the  lowest  price  offered.  We  are  continually  im- 
proving our  facilities  and  are  gradually  extending  our  Euro- 
pean branches. 

CHAIN  DRIVES:  Our  1912  business  has  shown  an  in- 
crease of  50  per  cent  in  gross  and  of  30  per  cent  in  net  over 
returns  in  191 1.  This  has  been  due  to  more  favorable  busi- 
ness conditions.  The  prospects  for  1913  are  good  for  at 
least  the  first  six  months  and,  with  favorable  crops,  this 
outlook  will  probably  continue.  We  are  putting  up  a  four- 
story  addition  to  our  plant.  We  manufacture  a  specialty 
which  is  influenced  only  in  a  minor  degree  by  the  general 
business  conditions,  although  anj'thing  like  the  1907  panic 
affects  us  materially.  Our  trade,  however,  is  so  diversified 
that  a  general  setback  in  one  line  of  manufacture  does  not 
materially  influence  the  whole. 

HOISTS:  .\s  regards  volume  our  business  in  1912  and 
that  in  191 1  were  about  the  same.  In  the  first  six  months  of 
the  year  profits  were  verj'  small,  but  in  the  last  half  they 
have  been  much  better,  so  that  we  think  1912  will  show  im- 
provement over  191 1.  This  has  been  due  to  more  confi- 
dence in  business  circles  and  less  dependence  upon  politi- 
cal conditions.  We  believe  that  there  will  be  more  business 
next  year  and  that  prices  will  advance.  The  greatest  draw- 
back in  our  field  is  too  much  competition  from  new  con- 
cerns which  do  not  have  data  as  to  costs.  Time  will  remedy 
this  as  these  new  concerns  get  educated  by  losing  money 
on  their  orders.    We  hope  to  extend  our  facilities  in  1913. 

REFILLABLE  FUSES:  Our  business  has  increased 
from  200  per  cent  to  400  per  cent  over  that  in  191 1.  This 
has  been  due  to  improvements  in  design  in  the  larger  sizes. 
Prices  will  be  a  little  higher,  and  the  business  outlook  for 
1913  looks  better  than  the  1912  outlook  did  at  this  time  last 
year.  There  is  no  great  drawback  in  our  field.  The  future 
looks  very  promising.  We  are  making  additions  to  our 
plant  which  will  give  it  three  times  its  present  capacity. 
This  work  will  be  finished  early  in  1913. 

FLASHERS:  Phelps  Manufacturing  Company.— The 
volume  of  our  1912  business  was  double  that  of  1911  and 
profits  were  three  times  greater,  owing  to  the  large  demand 
in  our  line.  We  think  the  outlook  is  good.  Next  year  we 
will  add  5000  sq.  ft.  more  room,  put  in  a  nickel-plating  plant 
and  about  one-half  as  much  more  machinery  as  we  now 
have,  and  will  make  a  number  of  new  devices. 

SOCKETS.  RECEPTACLES:  Harvey  Hubbell,  Inc.— 
Our  1912  business  has  been  considerably  in  advance  of  that 
in  191 1.  We  attribute  this  to  the  popularizing  of  electricity. 
The  present  outlook  is  favorable.  The  greatest  drawback  is 
the  excessive  cost  of  electric  energy  in  certain  localities 
where  it  is  steam-generated.  We  have  just  completed  a 
four-story  concrete  addition. 

ANNUNCIATORS,  SUPPLIES,  ETC.:  Business  with 
us  in  1912  and  1911  has  been  about  the  same  in  volume  and 
profits.  We  are  very  optimistic  as  to  1913  and  are  con- 
tinually expanding  both  in  our  floor  space  and  the  number 
of  our  products. 

ELECTRIC  SEARCHLIGHTS:  This  year's  business 
has  been  about  30  per  cent  better  than  that  of  the  preceding 
year.     We   think   the   outlook   is   good. 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1229 


INDUSTRIAL  AND  FINANCIAL  NOTES. 


Receiver  for  Central  Colorado  Power  Company. — G.   H. 

Walbridge,  14  Wall  Street,  New  York,  president  of  the 
Central  Colorado  Power  Company,  has  been  appointed  re- 
ceiver for  that  concern,  which  is  capitalized  at  $22,500,000. 
This  action  was  taken  in  the  United  States  District  Court 
at  Denver  on  Nov.  30,  upon  application  of  the  Knicker- 
bocker Trust  Company,  of  New  York,  acting  for  bondhold- 
ers under  the  first  mortgage.  The  action  was  not  unex- 
pected, as  it  had  been  known  for  some  time  that  the  cen- 
tral-station company  was  not  earning  the  5  per  cent  inter- 
est on  its  first-mortgage  bonds.  A  reference  to  this  and  to 
the  fact  that  a  reorganization  of  the  company  would  be 
eflfected  appeared  in  these  columns  Oct.  26.  The  company 
filed  a  mortgage  in  1906  covering  an  issue  of  $10,500,000 
first-mortgage  bonds  and  subsequently  filed  a  second  mort- 
gage for  $1,303,050  to  meet  the  interest  on  the  first  mort- 
gage from  Dec.  i,  1009,  to  June  i,  1912.  In  view  of  the 
foregoing  and  the  fact  that  the  company  had  permitted  con- 
struction liens  amounting  to  $115,000  to  remain  against  it, 
the  receivership  proceedings  were  instituted.  A  reorganiza- 
tion plan  providing  for  the  formation  of  a  new  company 
with  an  authorized  capital  of  $10,000,000  first-mortgage, 
thirty-year  5  per  cent  bonds,  $4,000,000  7  per  cent  preferred 
and  $15,000,000  common  stock  has  been  formulated  by  a 
protective  committee  that  has  been  organized.  The  pres- 
ent capitalization,  besides  the  bonds  previously  mentioned, 
consists  of  $15,000,000  common  and  $7,500,000  preferred 
stock. 

Boston  Edison  Business  Increasing. — Gross  earnings  of 
the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Boston, 
Mass.,  for  the  month  of  October  show  an  increase  of  9.63 
per  cent  over  October,  191 1,  compared  with  an  increase  of 
6.35  per  cent  in  September,  1912.  On  account  of  the  ex- 
penses incidental  to  the  conduct  of  the  1912  Electric  Show, 
which  it  is  understood  came  to  about  $50,000  net,  the  net 
gain  in  October  earnings  was  only  $6,122,  or  about  2.2  per 
cent.  For  the  four  months  of  the  fiscal  year  beginning 
July  I  the  gross  gain  in  revenue  has  been  $141,524,  or 
8.62  per  cent,  and  the  net  gain  $30,817,  or  3.39  per  cent. 
During  the  present  fall  the  company  has  had  to  meet  an 
extraordinary  demand  for  service  from  new  customers. 
The  slow  but  certain  growth  of  the  electric  vehicle  at  Bos- 
ton, the  electrification  of  large  industrial  plants  in  the 
suburbs  and  the  increasing  use  of  electricity  in  building  con- 
struction are  all  factors  in  the  company's  gains.  The  de- 
mand for  additional  distributing  facilities  in  the  outlying 
districts  located  within  20  miles  of  Boston  has  necessitated 
the  establishment  of  new  substation  service,  with  improved 
regulation  and  efficiency  of  operation.  The  outlook  for  a 
large  amount  of  extra  lighting  service  during  the  coming 
holiday  season  is  excellent. 

November  Incorporations  Show  Decrease. — The  output 
of  new  companies  in  the  Eastern  States  in  November  with 
an  authorized  capitalization  of  $1,000,000,  including  increases 
i'n  capital,  represented  $154,200,000.  according  to  compila- 
tion by  the  Journal  of  Conimerce.  New  York,  which  com- 
pares with  $174,495,000  in  October,  and  with  $150,593,400 
in  November  a  year  ago.  The  grand  total  of  all  companies 
incorporated  in  November  with  a  capital  of  $100,000  and 
over,  including  states  other  than  those  in  the  East,  was 
$222,855,000,   as   compared   with   $362,158,400   in    November, 

1911.  Among  the  large  companies  incorporated  last  month 
were:  The  Wisconsin  Edison  Company,  $12,000,000;  the 
Continental  Gas  &  Electric  Corporation,  $7,500,000;  the 
Idaho  Consolidated  Power  &  Utilities  Company,  $3,500,000; 
the  American  Telephone  Fire  Alarm  Company,  $5,000,000; 
the  Montpelier-Barre  Light  &  Power  Company,  $2,100,000; 
the  National  Electric  Utilities  Corporation,  $1,000,000, 
and  the   Electric  Tachometer  Company,  $750,000. 

Siemens  Companies  Will  Employ  More  Than  80,000  Per- 
sons by  Jan.  i. — From  a  comparison  made  recently  of  the 
number  of  employees  of  some  of  the  larger  German  con- 
cerns, it  appears  that  the  number  of  officers  and  employees 
of  all  classes  of  the  Siemens  concerns  as  of  the  end  of  July, 

1912,  was  75.908.  For  the  Allgemeine  Elektricitats-Gesell- 
schaft  the  corresponding  figure  was  approximately  65,000. 
while  the  announcement  of  the  Friedrich  Krupp  Company 
in   connection   with   its   centennial  jubilee   gave  a   figure   of 


71,221.  A  later  enumeration  shows  still  further  growth  in 
the  number  of  employees  of  the  Siemens  companies,  so  that 
it  is  probable  that  by  the  end  of  1912  the  latter  will  be 
employing  more  than  80,000  persons. 

American  Public  Utilities  Offering. — The  American  Pub- 
lic Utilities  Company,  through  a  syndicate  of  brokers,  is 
ofifering  $2,200,000  6  per  cent  preferred  and  $770,000  com- 
mon stock.  The  new  stock  has  been  issued  for  the  pur- 
pose of  acquiring  $2,000,000  par  value  common  stock  of  the 
Merchants'  Public  Utilities  Company  of  Indianapolis,  $299,- 
000  par  value  common  stock  of  the  People's  Light  &  Heat 
Company  of  Indianapolis,  and  $450,000  par  value  common 
stock  of  the  La  Crosse  (Wis.)  Gas  &  Electric  Company, 
and  to  furnish  more  working  capital.  A  list  of  the  public- 
utility  properties  taken  over  by  the  American  Public  Utili- 
ties Company  appeared  in  these  columns  June  24. 

J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Inc.,  Secures  Argentine  Con- 
tract.— Telegraphic  advice  has  just  been  received  by  J.  G. 
White  &  Co.,  Inc.,  of  the  award  to  their  London  associates, 
J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Ltd.,  of  railroad  construction  work 
in  the  Argentine,  amounting  to  about  $4,000,000,  from  cli- 
ents for  whom  they  have  carried  out  several  previous  con- 
tracts. This  new  contract,  like  the  others,  will  be  on  the 
usual  basis  of  cost  plus  a  fee.  The  railroad  to  be  construct- 
ed constitutes  the  connecting  link  in  the  through  system 
between  Brazil  and  the  Argentine  Republic,  with  terminals 
at  Buenos  Aires  and  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

Kings  County  (N.  Y.)  Electric  Light  &  Power's  New 
Bond  Issue. — Stockholders  of  the  Kings  County  (N.  Y.) 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  have  authorized  the  issu- 
ance and  sale  of  not  exceeding  $5,000,000  par  value  of  con- 
vertible 6  per  cent  debenture  bonds  dated  on  or  about 
March  i,  1913,  and  due  March  i,  1925.  These  bonds  are 
to  be  convertible  at  par  into  capital  stock  of  the  company 
after  three  years  and  within  twelve  years  from  the  date 
thereof.  When  issued  from  time  to  time,  they  will  be 
offered  to  stockholders  of  the  company  at  par  in  propor- 
tion to  their  holdings  of  stock. 

Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company  Acquire  St.  Joseph  (Mo.) 
Utility. — A  majority  of  the  $3,500,000  common  stock  of  the 
St.  Joseph  (Mo.)  Railway,  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company 
has  been  purchased  by  Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company  from 
E.  W.  Clark  &  Company  for  $60  a  share.  The  same  terms 
have  been  offered  to  all  stockholders  depositing  their  stock 
with  E.  W.  Clark  &  Company.  The  new  owners  will  take 
over  the  property  as  of  Feb.  i,  1913.  The  St.  Joseph  com- 
pany has  $1,560,000  5  per  cent  preferred  stock,  $3,500,000 
common  stock  and  $4,716,000  first-mortgage  bonds  out- 
standing. 

Allis-Chalmers  Business. — We  said  in  our  issue  of  Nov 
23  that  representatives  of  the  Allis-Chalmers  Company 
stated  that  business  was  improving  with  that  concern  and 
that  contracts  aggregating  68,500  kw  were  closed  by  it  in 
October.  We  have  been  informed  that  this  statement  should 
have  been  attributed  to  representatives  of  that  company 
in  the  Pittsburgh-Cleveland  district  and  that  in  that  dis- 
trict alone  contracts  aggregating  68,500  kw  were  closed  in 
October. 

Pennsylvania  Utilities  Merged.— The  Monongahela  Light 
Company  and  the  Oakmont  &  Vernon  Light,  Heat  &  Power 
Company  have  been  merged  into  a  new  company  known  as 
the  Duquesne  Light  Company  of  Pittsburgh,  with  a  capital 
of  $541,000.  M.  B.  Starring,  New  York,  is  president,  and 
J.  G.  Splane,  J.  S.  Weller,  T.  J.  Heard  and  R.  T.  Russell,  of 
Pittsburgh,  are  directors. 

Montreal  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Earnings.— In  the  six 
months  ended  Oct.  31  the  Montreal  Light,  Heat  &  Power 
Company  showed  a  surplus  over  all  charges  of  about  $171,- 
000  in  excess  of  that  shown  in  the  corresponding  period  of 
191 1.  The  increase  is  equivalent  to  about  i  per  cent  on 
the  company's  outstanding  stock,  or  at  the  rate  of  2  per 
cent  per  annum. 

Doubles  Its  Capital  Stock. — Notice  has  been  filed  with 
the  New  York  Secretary  of  State  by  the  Southwestern 
Telegraph  &  Telephone  Company  that  it  has  increased  its 
capital  stock  from  $20,000,000  to  $40,000,000,  has  extended 
its  corporate  existence  to  be  perpetual  and  has  increased 
the  number  of  its  directors  from  seven  to  fifteen. 


1230 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o.  No.  23. 


American  Public  Service  Company  Acquires  Texas  Prop- 
erties.— The  American  Public  Service  Company,  which  was 
incorporated  in  October  and  recently  increased  its  author- 
ized capitalization  to  $15,000,000  preferred  and  $10,000,000 
common  stock,  is  to  be  a  holding  company  for  gas  and 
electric  properties  in  Texas,  Louisiana  and  Oklahoma  con- 
trolled by  N.  W.  Halsey  &  Company  and  associates.  It 
has  taken  over  the  gas,  electric,  water  and  ice  properties 
in  Abilene,  Tex.,  that  were  recently  acquired  by  N.  W. 
Halsey  &  Company,  as  noted  Oct.  26,  and  were  formerly 
operated  by  the  Abilene  Light  &  Water  Company,  the  Abi- 
lene Gas,  Light,  Fuel  &  Power  Company  and  the  Abilene 
Ice  Company. 

National  Electric  Signaling  Company  to  Furnish  Wire- 
less Service. — We  are  informed  by  the  National  Electric 
Signaling  Company  that  it  expects  to  start  actively  in  the 
commercial  operation  of  wireless  telegraphy,  and  that  by 
early  spring  it  will  probably  be  in  a  position  to  offer  serv- 
ice under  attractive  conditions.  The  company  operates 
under  the  Fessenden  patents.  A  large  number  of  Fessenden 
sets  are  in  use  in  the  United  States  Navy,  including  several 
high-power  sets  such  as  those  at  Arlington,  Va.,  Key  West, 
Fla.,  and  Colon. 

Approved  Sale  of  Ohio  Property. — The  Ohio  Public 
Service  Commission  has  approved  the  sale  of  the  Miami 
Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company,  of  Piqua,  Ohio,  to  the 
Dayton  (Ohio)  Power  &  Light  Company.  As  was  stated 
in  these  columns  Oct.  26,  the  latter  has  been  awaiting  this 
approval,  prior  to  inaugurating  an  active  new-business  cam- 
paign in  Piqua. 

Increases  Its  Common  Dividend. — The  Northern  Ohio 
Traction  &  Light  Company  has  declared  a  quarterly  divi- 
dend of  il4  per  cent  on  its  common  stock,  payable  Dec.  15 
to  stock  of  record  Nov.  30.  .This  rate  represents  an  increase 
of  one-quarter  of  i  per  cent  quarterly  and  places  the  stock 
on  a  5  per  cent  per  annum  basis. 


ELECTRIC  SECURITIES. 


NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET  PRICES. 

, Nov.  25 > 

Copper:  Bid.  Asked 

Standard,    spot    17.05         

£       s     d 

London,    standard,    spot 76     15     0 

Prime    Lake    17.60  to  17.70 

Electrolytic    17.50 

Casting    17.25  to  17.35 

Copper  wire,  base....- 19.00 

Lead   4.50 

Nickel     45.00 

Sheet  zinc,   f.o.b.   smelter 9.00 

Spelter,    spot    7.50 

Tin,    spot    49.25 

Aluminum: 

Prompt    delivery    26.00  to  26.50 

Future     25.50  to  26.00 


OLD  METALS. 


Heavy  copper  and  wire. 

Brass,    heavy     

Brass,    light    

Lead,    heavy    

Zinc,    scrap    


16.00 
10.00 

8.75 

4.30 

6A2'A 


, Dec.  3 

Bid.       Asked. 

17.10         

£       s     d 

76     13     9 

17.65  to  17.70 

17.50  to  17.60 

17.35  to  17.40 

19.00 

4.35 

45.00 

9.00 

7.40 

49.50  to  50.00 

26.25  to  26.75 
26.00  to  26.50 


16.00 
10.00 

8.75 

4.30 

6.12'A 


COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  DECEMBER 
Total    tons   to    Dec.    4 


2,180 


INDUSTRIAL  SECURITIES. 


Security. 


QUOTATION. 


Capital  Stock 
Listed. 


Allis-Clialmers,  2d  assess, 
paid 

AlUs-Chalmers,  pi.,  2d  as- 
sess, paid 

Amalgamated  Copper 

Ai^ierican  Tel.  &  Tel 

Crocker- Wheeler,  c 

Crocker- Wheeler,  pf 

Electric  Storage  Battery ,c. 

General  Electric 

Mackay  Cos.,  c 

Macliay  Cos.,  pf 

Western  Union  Tel 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M.,  c. 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M.,  pf. 


$17,151,100 

14,034,700 

153,887,900 

334,712,300 

1,700,000 

500,000 

16,074,425 

77,726,700 

41,380,400 

50,000,000 

79.943,400 

31,685,300 

3.998,700 


^La£t  price  quoted. 


0 — Quarterly.           M — ^Monthly.           S — Semi-annually. 

A— Annually. 

Security. 

Outstanding. 

DIVIDEND. 

LAST     QUO- 
TATION. 

Percent. 

Period. 

Bid.   1 

Asked 

Adirondack  Electric  Power,  c. 
Adirondack  Elec.  Power,  pf. .  . 

$9,500,000 
2,500,000 

22J 

65 

23i 

67 

Amer.  Gas  &  Electric  (SSO),  c. 
Amer.  Gas  &  Electric  (S50),pf. 

2,500.000 
1,537,500 

li 

B 

85 
46i 

90 
47i 

Amer.  Light  &  Traction,  c .  . . 
Amer.  Light  &  Traction,  pf .  .  . 

10,395,400   1 
14,236,200 

2i 
l| 

8 

430 
109 

435 
112 

Amer.  Power  &  Light,  c 

Amer.  Pwr.  &  Lt..  6%  cum  pf. 

Amer.  Pwr.  &  Lt..  opt.  warr. .. 

Amer.  Pwr.  &  Lt..  6%  notes, 

■21              

5,631,400 
3,106,800 
1,604,000  1 

2,199,100 

6,000,000 
2,180,000 

3 

0  ■ 

s 

65      1 

?P 

99 

25 
76 

69 
86 

15 

100 

Appalachian  Power,  c 

Appalachian  Power,  pf 

25 
77 

3,000,000 
850,000 

1,100,000 

2i 

s 

12 
50 

93 

13 

55 

Asheville  Light  &  Power,  1st 
s.  f.  5s,  '42 

96 

Augusta-Aiken      Railway     & 

Electric,  s.  f.  5s.  '35 

Augusta-Aiken  Ry.  &  Elec,  c. 
Augusta-Aiken  Ry.  &  Elecpf. 

2.588,000 
2.250,000 
1.500,000 

2J 

"ij  ' 

s 

90 
23 

75 

94 
35 

85 

Augusta  Railway  &  Electric, 
1st  ^s    '40       .          

967,000 

4,037,000 
1,000,000 
4.283,000 

5 

13 

A 

100 

196 
87i 
95 

Butte  Electric  &  Power,  c 

Butte  Electric  &  Power,  pf 

Butte  Elec.  &  Pwr.,  1st  5s,  '51. 

198 
93 
97i 

Central  Maine  Power;  1st  5s. . . 

1,923.000 

5 

A 

97 

99 

Cities  Service,  c 

5,499,430 
10,195,360 

2,454,000 

2.000.000 

840,000 

1 
2i 

"ii  ■ 

M 
M 

S 
■   Q   ■ 

111 

87 

93i 

60 

85 

116 
89 

Columbus    Railway    Gas    & 

Electric,  1st  5s,  '36 

Columbus  Ry..  G.  &  Elec,  c.  . 
Columbus  Ry.,  G.  &  Elec.,pt. 

95i 

b's' 

Commonwealth  Edison,  cap. 

32   964   800 

7 

A 

143i 

Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  & 
Power  (Baltimore),  4is 

11,564,000 

2J 

s 

88 

881 

Consum.  Pwr.  (Mich.),  Ss,  '36. 

8,407,000 

25 

S 

96 

98 

Consumers  Power  (Minn.).  1st 
5s.  '29 

9,528,000 
3,659,000 

2i 
2i 

s 
s 

89i 
95 

92 

DallasElec.Corp.,  5s, '22...  .  . 

98 

Denver  Gas  &  EI.  Lt.,c 

Denver  Gas  &  El.  Lt.,  gen.  Ss. 

7,001,300 
6,000,300 

i 
2i 

M 

s 

220 
95 

■97' 

Empire  District  Electric,  5s. .  . 

1,923,000 

2i 

s 

87 

88 

Edison  El.  111.  of  Boston,  cap. 
stock 

15,603,700 

2i 

0 

284i 

Federal  Light  &  Traction,  c . .  . 
Federal  Light  &  Traction,  pf .  . 

4,750,000 
2,500,000 

■'ii' 

'  Q  ■ 

34 

81i 

36 
83J 

Kings  County  EL  Lt.  &  Pwr.... 

10,000,000 

2 

0 

130 

132 

Niagara  Falls  Power,  5s,  '32. ,. 

10,000,000 

2i 

s 

lOIi 

102  i 

Northern    Ohio    Railway    & 
Light,  4is,  '35 

17,544,000 

2J 

s 

86 

87J 

Northern  States  Power,  c.  .  .  . 
Northern  States  Power,  pf . .  . 

S, 975, 000 
8,386,700 

...... 

■   Q   ■ 

26} 

87} 

28- 
89i 

Pacific  Gas  &  Electric,  c 

Pacific  Gas  &  Electric,  gen. 

and  ref.  5s,  '42 

Pacific  Gas  &  Electric,  pf 

31,908,750 

20.000,000 
10,000,000 

u 

2i 

1. 

0 

s 
0 

6Si 

91J 
915 

65i 

9IJ 
92 

Philadelphia  Electric  ($25)... 

24,987.750 

Ii 

0 

23 

23J 

Portland  General  Electric.  Ss. 

8.000,000 

2i 

s 

lOOi 

102J 

Republic  Railway  &  Light,  c... 
Republic  Railway  &  Light,  pf . 

5,200,000 
6,360,000 

"li" 

•  0 

25i 

81 

27 
82J 

St.  Joseph's  R..  L..  H.  &  P.,  Ss. 

4,637,000 

2i 

s 

98i 

100 

Seattle  ElectricCo.,con.5s,'29.. 

7,417,000 

2i 

s 

98 

100 

Southern  Calif.  Edison,  5s,  *39. 

9,975.000 

2i 

s 

96 

98 

4,000,000 

9.343,150 
10,977,950 

2i 
...... 

s 
0  ■ 

100 

$21 
$50i 

101 

Standard  Gas  &  Elec.  ($50),  c. 
Standard  G.  &  Elec.  ($50),  pf.. 

$23 
$51 

Tennessee  R.,  L.  &  Pwr.,  c 

Tennessee  R.,  L.  &  Pwr.,  pf. . . 

20,000,000 
10,250,000 

■■ij" 

6  ■ 

23 

76i 

241 
77J 

Tri-City  Railwav  &  Light,  c . . . 
Tri-City  Railway  &  Light,  pf. . 
Tri-City  Ry.  &  Lt.,  Ss,^23 

9,000,000 
2,826,200 
8,207,000 

■■ij  " 

2* 

■   Q  ' 

s 

56 
94  i 

97J 

59 
95i 

Western  Power     

14,670,000 
6.000.000 

'b' 

'a 

26 
53 

27J 

Western  Power,  6%  cum.  pf.. . 

55i 

December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1231 


Personal 

Mr.  C.  E.  Lasher  has  resigned  as  contract  agent  and  chief 
engineer  of  the  Milford  (Mass.)  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company. 

Mr.  C.  C.  Ousley  has  been  appointed  assistant  to  Presi- 
dent R.  E.  Hughes  of  the  Kentucky  Electric  Company, 
Louisville,   Ky. 

Mr.  Edward  J.  Neary,  formerly  instructor  in  electrical 
engineering  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  has  joined 
the  staflf  of  Messrs.  H.  L.  Doherty  &  Company,  New  York. 

Mr.  G.  R.  Cardinal  recently  left  Schenectady  for  the  Pa- 
cific Coast,  where  he  will  act  as  specialist  on  heating  de- 
vices and  fan  motors  for  the  Pacific  States  Electric  Com- 
pany. 

Mr. -Thomas  Sproule,  of  the  Philadelphia  Electric  Com- 
pany and  member  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  committee  on  overhead- 
line  construction,  delivered  a  lecture  on  street  lighting  be- 
fore the  merchants  of  Chester,  Pa.,  on  Nov.  20. 

Mr.  Leonard  Work  has  resigned  as  engineer  in  the  Phila- 
delphia office  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufactur- 
ing Company  and  taken  up  work  with  the  Isthmian  Canal 
Commission  at   Pedro  Miguel,  Canal  Zone,   Panama. 

Mr.  Charles  Munson,  who  for  eight  years  has  been  super- 
intendent of  the  Cedar  Rapids  &  Iowa  City  Interurban  Rail- 
way, has  been  appointed  manager  of  the  properties  of  the 
Iowa   Railway   &   Light   Company  at   Marshalltown,   la. 

Mr.  Lincoln  Nissley,  of  the  engineering  department  of 
H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company,  read  a  paper  on  "High- Voltage 
Transmission  Lines"  at  the  November  meeting  of  the 
Minneapolis  Section  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers. 

Mr.  D.  E.  Weddersheim,  formerly  superintendent  of  the 
gas  department  of  the  Oregon  Power  Company,  Eugene, 
Ore.,  has  become  associated  with  the  new-business  depart- 
ment of  the  Western  States  Gas  &  Electric  Company, 
Stockton,   Cal. 

Mr.  A.  H.  Halloran,  vice-president  and  managing  editor 
of  the  Journal  of  Electricity,  Power  and  Gas,  San  Francisco, 
Cal.,  has  been  appointed  Statesman  of  the  Jovian  Order 
for  San  Francisco  by  Mr.  Frank  E.  Watts,  of  New  York 
City,    the    eleventh    Jupiter. 

Mr.  John  Anderson,  assistant  chief  engineer  of  the  Union 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  has 
been  appointed  engineer  in  charge  of  power  plant  of  the 
Milwaukee  companies  of  the  North  American  Company 
to  succeed  Mr.  C.  A.  Cahill. 

Mr.  Chauncey  D.  Parker,  of  C.  D.  Parker  &  Company, 
Inc.,  Boston,  has  been  elected  a  trustee  of  the  Massachusetts 
Lighting  Companies,  to  serve  for  a  period  of  four  years. 
Mr.  Bowen  Tufts,  also  of  Parker  &  Company,  was  elected 
to  serve  as  trustee  for  two  years. 

Mr.  James  A.  Fleet,  superintendent  and  manager  of  the 
electric  light  and  power  division  of  the  Cumberland  County 
Power  &  Light  Company,  Portland,  Maine,  has  resigned 
his  position,  to  take  effect  Dec.  21.  Mr.  Fleet  was  for- 
merly in  the  employ  of  Messrs.  J.   G.   White  &  Company. 

Mr.  J.  I.  Mange,  vice-president  of  the  Ithaca  (N.  Y.) 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  will  also  act  as  general 
manager  of  the  company  hereafter,  filling  the  position 
vacated  by  Mr.  Thomas  W.  Summers.  Mr.  Mange  will 
also  act  as  general  manager  of  the  Ithaca  Gas  Light  Com- 
pany. 

Mr.  W.  D'A.  Ryan,  illuminating  engineer  of  the  General 
Electric  Company,  has  been  invited  to  advise  on  the  light- 
ing plans  for  the  Panama-Pacific  Exposition.  It  was  erro- 
neously stated  in  our  Nov.  16  issue  that  Prof.  H.  J.  Ryan, 
of  Stanford  University,  would  design  the  illumination  of 
the  exposition. 

Mr.  Gordon  Kribs,  for  the  past  two  years  assistant  to 
the  chief  engineer  of  the  Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company 
of  Portland,  Ore.,  has  recently  become  associated  in  the 
same  capacity  with  the  Texas  Power  &  Light  Company, 
of  Dallas,  Tex.  Mr.  Kribs  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 


Mr.  Nicholas  Prakken  has  been  appointed  Chicago  man- 
ager for  the  Shepard  Electric  Crane  &  Hoist  Company,  of 
Montour  Falls,  N.  Y.,  with  a  Chicago  office  at  630  People's 
Gas  Building.  Mr.  Prakken  was  formerly  connected  with 
the  Chicago  sales  staflf  of  the  Sprague  Electric  Works. 

Mr.  Herbert  Markle,  formerly  manager  of  the  Consumers' 
Power  Company,  of  Stillwater,  Minn.,  has  been  transferred 
to  Bluefield,  W.  Va.,  where  he  will  become  general  manager 
of  the  Appalachian  Power  Company,  which  is  owned  by  the 
same  interests.  Mr.  Markle  succeeds  Mr.  H.  W.  Fuller, 
who  has  been  transferred  to  Louisville,  Ky. 

Mr.  George  A.  Orrok,  mechanical  engineer  of  the  New 
York  Edison  Company,  has  been  chosen  to  deliver  a  lec- 
ture on  power-house  design  before  the  students'  section 
of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  at  the 
Polytechnic  Institute  of  Brooklyn  on  the  evening  of  Dec.  7. 
The  lecture  will  be  illustrated  and  will  be  devoted  chiefly 
to  hydroelectric  generating  stations. 

Mr.  H.  W.  Fuller,  who  for  a  number  of  years  was  general 
manager  of  the  Washington  Railway  &  Electric  Company, 
Washington,  D.  C,  and  for  the  past  year  was  manager  of 
the  Appalachian  Power  Company  at  Bluefield,  W.  Va.,  has 
had  general  supervision  over  the  Louisville  (Ky.)  properties 
of  Messrs.  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company  given  to  him.  He 
will  relieve  General  G.  H.  Harries  of  much  of  his  work. 

Mr.  George  E.  A.  Fairley,  a  Baltimore  consulting  engi- 
neer, was  appointed  last  week  assistant  engineer  to  Mr. 
Chief  Raleigh  H.  Thomas  of  the  subway  commission  of 
Baltimore.  He  succeeds  Mr.  George  B.  Roberts,  who  re- 
signed several  months  ago,  and  will  assist  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  plant  for  the  extension  of  the  conduit  system 
out  of  the  $2,000,000  loan  approved  by  the  Baltimore  voters 
at  the  last  election. 

Mr.  Emerson  McMilUn,  chairman  of  the  board  of  di- 
rectors of  the  American  Light  &  Traction  Company  and 
well  known  in  public-utility  circles,  is  the  donor  of  the 
large  seismograph  recently  installed  in  the  American  Mu- 
seum of  Natural  History  in  New  York  City.  The  earth- 
quake recorder  was  made  in  Germany  and  was  presented 
by  Mr.  McMillin  to  the  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences, 
of  which  he  is  now  president. 

Mr.  Allen  E.  Ransom,  formerly  manager  of  the  industrial 
power  division  of  the  Seattle  (Wash.)  ofifice  of  the  Westing- 
liouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  is  now  assistant 
general  manager  of  the  Olympic  Power  Company,  Port 
Angeles,  Wash.,  where  he  is  associated  with  Mr.  Thomas  T. 
Aldwell,  vice-president  and  general  manager.  Mr.  Ransom 
has  had  a  varied  experience,  having  been  associated  with 
several  important  engineering  undertakings  in  Montana, 
Idaho  and  other  states.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the  Sheflfield 
Scientific  School  of  Yale  University,  class  of  1897,  and  is  an 
associate  member  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers. 

Mr.  Parker  H.  Kemble,  general  sales  manager  of  the 
Toronto  Electric  Light  Company,  Toronto,  Ontario,  has 
been  appointed  Jovian  Statesman  for  Ontario.  Mr.  Kemble 
was  recently  elected  first  vice-president  of  the  Canadian 
Electrical  Association,  to  succeed  Mr.  Bird,  who  became 
president  on  the  removal  of  Mr.  R.  F.  Pack  to  Minneapolis. 
Minn.  Since  going  to  Canada  Mr.  Kemble  has  taken  a 
deep  interest  not  only  in  the  Canadian  Electrical  Associa- 
tion but  also  in  the  Toronto  Branch  of  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Electrical  Engineers,  the  Canadian  Society  of 
Civil  Engineers,  and  many  other  organizations  with  which 
he  is  identified. 

Mr.  Sam  A.  Hobson  was  the  guest  of  honor  at  a  fare- 
well banquet  given  to  him  at  the  Mercantile  Club  in  St. 
Louis  by  the  League  of  Electrical  Interests  of  that  city 
on  Nov.  29.  Mr.  Hobson  is  the  president  of  the  League 
of  Electrical  Interests  of  St.  Louis,  and  during  his  six 
years'  residence  in  that  city  has  won  the  high  regard  of 
electrical  men  by  his  successful  eflforts  to  bring  about  a 
greater  degree  of  co-operation  among  the  men  engaged  in 
electrical  work.  Since  Dec.  I  Mr.  Hobson  has  been  West- 
ern manager  of  the  Electrical  World,  with  oflice  in  Chi- 
cago. At  the  farewell  dinner  Mr.  W.  A.  Layman  acted  as 
loastmaster,  and  laudatory  speeches  were  made  by  Messrs. 
Fred  B.  Adam,  F.  D.  Beardslee,  Ell  C.  Bennett,  Fred  John- 


1232 


ELECTRICAL     WiORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


son.  G.  E.  Cullman,  Walter  Robbins  and  A.  C  Einstein. 
Engrossed  resolutions  expressing  appreciation  of  Mr.  Hob- 
son's  worthy  traits  of  character  were  presented  to  the  guest 
of  the  evening,  who  was  also  the  recipient  of  a  handsomely 
mounted  walrus-leather  traveling  bag.  Coincident  with  the 
dinner  a  bo.x  of  roses  was  sent  to  Mrs.  Hobson,  and  later 
all  the  fiowers  with  which  the  tables  were  adorned  were 
added  to  this  floral  tribute. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Atkins,  general  superintendent  of  the  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Boston,  Mass.,  celebrated 
the  twenty-fifth  anniversarj'  of  his  connection  with  the  or- 
ganization on  Dec.  2  at  his  headquarters  in  the  Edison 
Building.  Scores  of  friends  called  during  the  day  to  extend 
their  best  wishes,  and  a  feature  of  the  occasion  was  the  re- 
ceipt of  a  new  disk  phonograph  from  emploj-ees  of  the  oper- 
ating bureau  containing  a  congratulatory  message  from  Mr. 
Thomas  A.  Edison,  who  expressed  the  hope  of  being  able 
to  felicitate  Mr.  Atkins  a  quarter  of  a  century  hence  upon 
his  fiftieth  anniversary  of  Edison  affiliation.  The  phono- 
graph also  contained  records  of  a  presentation  speech  and 
an  address  of  congratulation  from  employees  of  the  Edison 
company.  Mr.  Atkins'  electrical  career  began  in  Boston  in 
1884,  when  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  New  England 
Wiring  Company  as  a  helper.  He  joined  the  Boston  Edi- 
son Company's  staff  on  Dec.  i,  1887,  as  an  inspector,  and 
rapidly  rose  to  executive  responsibilities,  becoming  superin- 
tendent of  the  company  in  1890  and  general  superintendent 
in  1897.  To  Mr.  Atkins  is  due  the  credit  for  many  of  the 
most  successful  commercial  development  movements  of  the 
company,  and  to  his  advanced  ideas  and  modest,  forceful 
direction  of  their  execution  may  be  ascribed  in  no  small 
measure  the  great  increase  in  the  popularity  of  electric 
service  and  the  growing  good  will  of  the  public  observed  in 
recent  years  throughout  the  company's  expanding  territorj-. 

Mr.  R.  S.  Orr,  general  superintendent  of  the  Allegheny 
County    Light   Company,    Pittsburgh,    Pa.,    member   of   the 
executive  committee   of  the   National   Electric   Light  Asso- 
ciation   and    past-president 
of    the    Pennsj'lvania    Elec- 
tric  Association,   was   mar- 
ried recently  in   Pittsburgh 
to  Miss  Beryl  Riggs,  of  that  ^^^^ 

city.      Mr.    Orr    was    born  .^^Hf^  '•f^ 

Oct.  14.  1867,  in  Clarion 
County.  Pa.,  and  is  a 
graduate  of  Washington 
and  Jeflferson  College.  For 
two  years  after  his  gradua- 
tion he  taught  in  the  Wash- 
ington  and  Jefferson 
Academy,  leaving  that  in- 
stitution to  become  prin- 
cipal of  the  Ninth  Ward 
public  schools  of  Alle- 
gheny. About  February. 
1904,  Mr.  Orr  forsook  teach- 
ing as  a  profession  and  be- 
came general  contracting  agent  of  the  .\lleglieny  County 
Light  Company.  Within  a  short  time  he  was  made  acting 
superintendent  and  less  than  a  year  afterward  was  promoted 
to  the  post  of  general  superintendent,  a  position  which  he 
has  since  filled  wnth  credit  to  himself  and  his  company.  Mr 
Orr  effected  many  improvements  in  the  service  and  is  the 
mventor  of  a  method  of  reinforcing  decayed  wooden  poles 
with  concrete,  used  extensively  throughout  the  country  by 
telephone,  railway  and  lighting  companies.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Engineers'  Society  of  Western  Pennsylvania  and  of 
the  American  Electrochemical  Society  and  an  associate 
member  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 

Mr.  Horatio  A.  Foster  delivered  an  address  before  the 
New  York  Electrical  Society  on  Nov.  25,  on  "Reminiscences 
of  an  Electrical  Engineer."  Mr.  Foster  was  born  at  Bustle- 
ton,  Pa.,  on  Jan.  12,  1858.  His  electrical  engineering  began 
in  the  fall  of  1884,  with  the  Daft  Electrical  Company.  On 
.\pril  I,  1885,  he  was  sent  to  Baltimore  to  electrify  a  short 
branch  for  the  Baltimore  Union  Passenger  Railway  Com- 
pany. This  road, which  was  started  in  August,  1885,  is  said 
to  have  been  the  first  commercial  electric  railway  placed  in 
operation  in  the  United  States.     Later  he  became  connected 


R.    s.   ORR. 


with  the  Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company  at  Lynn, 
Mass.,  and  after  a  very  short  course  in  what  was  then  known 
as  the  expert  department,  he  was  sent  out  on  the  road  to 
repair  some  lighting  installations.  After  a  short  time  he 
was  sent  to  Maine  as  an  agent,  but,  not  being  a  salesman 
nor  having  any  taste  in  that  direction,  he  did  not  succeed  ■ 
very  well  and  subsequently  returned  to  Lynn,  where  he  f 
obtained  a  position  in  the  street  railway  motor  department. 
After  a  short  experience  in  the  testing  department  he  was 
sent  to  Philadelphia  as  a  repairer  of  Thomson-Houston  arc- 
light  machines.  In  the  fall  of  1888  he  was  appointed  super- 
intendent of  the  East  River  Electric  Light  Company  of 
New  York  City,  remaining  with  that  company  and  its  suc- 
cessors until  July,  1891.  At  this  date  he  was  appointed  ex- 
pert for  the  United  States  Census  Office,  for  compiling  data 
on  the  electrical  industry  of  New  York  State,  which  was 
the  only  state  in  the  L'nion  taking  an  electrical  census  in 
1890.  During  the  following  year  he  visited  every  central 
station  in  the  State  and  most  of  the  500  or  600  isolated 
plants  in  existence  at  that  time.  In  May,  1893,  he  accepted 
a  position  in  the  editorial  department  of  a  technical  journal, 
known  as  Electrical  Industries,  becoming  its  editor  for  the 
World's  Fair  in  Chicago.  Late  in  that  year  Mr.  Foster 
became  associated  with  Prof.  George  Forbes,  then  the  elec- 
trical engineer  of  the  Niagara  Falls  Power  Company,  and 
retained  this  connection  for  about  a  year  and  a  half,  having 
charge  of  his  New  York  office.  Early  in  1895  Mr.  Foster 
became  associated  with  the  Cataract  Construction  Com- 
pany, of  Niagara  Falls,  as  testing  engineer  for  determining 
the  cost  of  steam  power,  which  work  occupied  about  a  year 
and  a  half.  After  some  years  of  general  practice  as  con- 
sulting engineer,  Mr.  Foster  was  in  :90i  appointed  receiver 
of  a  brewery  trust  in  Philadelphia  which  had  failed.  During 
this  period  he  had  also  several  important  engineering  un- 
dertakings, one  of  which  was  the  valuation  of  land  for  10 
miles  along  both  sides  of  the  Susquehanna  River;  in  1906 
he  became  associated  with  Mr.  L.  B.  Stillwell,  having  direct 
charge  of  his  work  in  Baltimore  for  a  year  and  a  half,  dur- 
ing which  time  he  built  new  generating  stations  and  sub- 
stations and  enlarged  some  of  the  old  ones.  In  1898  he  be- 
came associated  with  Mr.  Bion  J.  Arnold,  Chicago,  in  his 
valuation  work,  making  appraisals  of  the  property  of  the 
Metropolitan  Traction  Company  in  New  York  City,  the 
Detroit  United  Railway  Company  and  the  Southern  Cali- 
fornia Edison  Company  at  Los  Angeles.  Since  that  time 
Mr.  Foster  has  been  working  on  valuation  of  public  utili- 
ties and  studying  traffic  conditions  and  other  matters  per- 
taining to  public  service.  Mr.  Foster  is  the  author  of  two 
books.  "Handbook  for  Electrical  Engineers"  and  "Valuation 
of  Public  Utilities."  and  has  frequently  contributed  to  the 
technical    press. 


Obituary 


Hon.  Samuel  W.  Emery,  chief  counsel  for  the  Rocking- 
ham County  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  Portsmouth. 
N.  H.,  the  New  Hampshire  Electric  Railways  and  other 
public  utilities,  died  suddenly  at  his  summer  home  in  Ports- 
mouth on  Nov.  29.  Mr.  Emery  was  fifty-eight  years  of 
age  and  a  graduate  of  the  Harvard  Law  School,  with  a 
political  record  including  service  in  the  New  Hampshire 
Legislature. 

Mr.  George  A.  Kimball,  for  the  past  fifteen  years  chief 
engineer  of  elevated  and  subway  construction  of  the  Boston 
Elevated  Railway  Company,  died  suddenly  at  his  home  in 
Arlington,  Mass.,  on  Dec.  3,  after  an  illness  of  about  two 
days.  Mr.  Kimball  was  one  of  the  best-known  civil  en- 
gineers in  the  electric  transportation  field  and  had  charge 
of  the  building  of  the  original  elevated  lines  in  Boston  in 
1901,  including  much  preliminary  work  in  connection  with 
the  building  of  the  Lincoln  power  station  and  the  selection 
of  multiple-unit  equipment  for  the  train  service.  He  was 
born  in  1850  in  Littleton,  Mass.,  and  was  educated  at  Apple- 
ton  Academy,  New  Ipswich,  N.  H.,  later  becoming  city 
engineer  of  Somerville,  Mass.,  and  a  member  of  the  Metro- 
politan Sewerage  Commission  at  Boston.  He  was  a 
director  of  the  .American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  and 
was  frequently   in   demand  as  an  expert. 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1233 


Construction. 


HEXT(->N,  ARK. — C.  C.  Kavanaugli,  of  Little  Rock,  and  associates, 
who  have  obtained  controlling  interest  in  the  Garland  Pwr.  &  Devel.  Co., 
which  controls  water  powers  on  Ouachita  River,  propose  to  construct  a 
large  dam  in  Garland  County,  about  45  miles  from  Little  Rock,  to  fur- 
nish power  for  a  hydroelectric  plant  which  will  supply  electricity  for  the 
central  and  southwestern  central  section  of  the  State.  Two  other  dam 
sites  have  been  secured  from  the  Garland  Co.,  and  Mr.  Kavanaugh  has 
options  on  controlling  interests  in  Polk  water-power  sites  above  naviga- 
tion on  Ouachita  River.  Electricity  generated  at  the  first  dam  will  be 
distributed  within  100  miles  of  Little  Rock.  The  company  contemplates 
supplying  electricity  to  rice  growers  in  Lonoke,  Prairie  and  Arkansas 
Counties  and  also  to  a  large  bauxite  developing  company  in  Saline 
County.  The  cost  of  the  hydroelectric  plant  and  transmission  system  is 
estimated  at  about  $3,000,000.  About  28,000  hp  will  be  developed.  The 
new  officers  of  the  Garland  company  are:  C.  C.  Kavanaugh.  president; 
W.  M.  Kavanaugh,  vice-president  and  treasurer,  and  D.  H.  Cantrell. 
secretary,  all  of  Little  Rock. 

LITTLE  ROCK,  ARK.— The  board  of  directors  of  the  Fourche  Drain- 
age District  has  instructed  Lund  &  Hill,  engineers  of  the  district,  to 
prepare  plans  and  advertise  for  bids  for  the  installation  of  a  pumping 
plant  to  be  erected  at  the  lower  end  of  the  district.  Estimates  are  to 
be  made  both  for  the  use  of  steam  and  electricity.  The  cost  of  the 
work  is  estimated  at  about  $100,000. 

HANDSBURG',  C.-\L. — Arrangements  are  being  made  to  equip  the  King 
Solomon  Mine  with  electric  hoisting  equipment  as  soon  as  the  substation 
ot  the  Southern  Sierras  Pwr.  Co.  is  prepared  to  furnish  the  electrical 
service. 

CHICO,  CAL. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  granted  the  North- 
ern El.  Ry.  Co.  permission  to  issue  $10,829,000  in  bonds,  the  proceeds 
to  be  used  for  the  extension  of  its  electric  railway  from  Sacramento  to 
Vallejo,  a  distance  of  about  60  miles.  The  company  will  also  build  a 
link  to  connect  its  present  system  north  of  Sacramento  with  the  electric 
railways  now   radiating  to   the   northeast  of   Oakland. 

EL  SEGUNDO,  CAL. — The  City  Trustees  are  considering  the  installa 
lion  of  a  street-lighting  system  here.  Series  tungsten  lamps  will  probably 
be   used.     Bids,  it  is  said,   are  wanted   for  poles  and   detail   material. 

FRESNO,  CAL. — Preliminary  surveys  are  being  made  by  the  San 
Joaquin  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  water-power  and  ditch  lines  near  Crane  V,-\l- 
ley,  where  it  proposes  to  build  the  No.  2  unit  of  its  power  houses. 

GLENDORA,  CAL. — ^An  election  will  be  held  on  Dec.  11  to  vote  on 
the  proposition  to  issue  $40,000  in  bonds,  of  which  the  proceeds  of 
$10,500  will  be  used  to  purchase  the  electric  plant  of  the  Glendora  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  and  $29,500  for  extending  the  lighting  system  throughout  the 
city. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL. — The  Board  of  Public  Works  has  approved  the 
plans  of  City  Electrician  R.  H.  Manahan  for  the  installation  of  an  orna- 
mental street-lighting  system  on  San  Pedro  Street,  from  Aliso  to  Jefferson 
Street,  a  distance  of  about  3  miles. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation until  Dec.  12  for  the  erection  of  the  main  building,  science  build- 
ing and  power  house  of  the  East  Los  Angeles  High  School.  The  power 
house  will  be  of  reinforced  concrete,  30  ft.  x  40  ft.  An  appropriation 
of  $150,000  has  been  made  for  the  work. 

QUINCY,  CAL. — The  Oro  El.  Corpn.,  of  Oroville,  has  applied  to  the 
Board  of  Supervisors  for  a  franchise  to  erect  a  transmission  line  for  the 
distribution   of  electricity   in   Plumas   County. 

QUINCY,  CAL.— The  Indian  Valley  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co..  of  Greenville, 
has  purchased  a  franchise  in  Plumas  County.  The  company  has  a  power 
plant  in  the  northern  part  of  the  county  and  will  transmit  and  distribute 
electricity  in  Quincy. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.— The  Pacific  Gas  &  EI.  Co.  is  planning  to 
extend  its  transmission  lines  to  Bolinas  and  Marshalls  to  connect  tlie 
Marconi  wireless  station  load, 

STOCKTON,  C.*\L. — Negotiations  are  under  way  for  the  consolidation 
of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  EI.  R.  R.  Co.  and  the  Modesto  &  Empire 
Trac.  Co.  nnder  the  name  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  Trac.  Co.  The 
new  company  is  to  be  capitalized  at  $1,500,000  and  proposes  to  build 
several   extensions  in   Stanislaus  County. 

STOCKTON,  CAL.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  L.  F.  Kuhn. 
clerk  of  the  City  Council,  until  Dec.  17  for  sale  of  franchise  as  applied 
for  by  James  W.  Goodwin  to  construct  and  maintain  an  underground 
and  overhead  electric  distributing  system  in  certain  portions  of  the  city. 
Bids  will  also  be  received  at  the  same  time  and  place  for  a  similar 
franchise  applied  for  by  John   Raggio. 

TELLURIDE,  COL.— The  Utah  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.,  which  recently  took 
over  the  property  of  the  Telluride  Pwr.  Co.,  proposes  to  increase  the 
capacity  of  the  present  plants  and  erect  new  plants,  as  the  company  will 
furnish  electrical  energy  to  operate  the  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  Railroad 
in  Utah,  which  is  to  be  equipped  for  electrical  operation.  The  Utah 
Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.  will  also  furnish  power  to  other  Utah  railroads.  The 
present  output  of  the  Telluride  company  is  about  37,000  hp. 

ROCKVILLE,  CONN. — The  Rockville  Gas  &  El.  Co.  proposes  to  erect 
3  or  4  miles  of  pole  line  for  street  lighting  and  commercial  lighting  dis- 
tribution system  in  the  town  of  Ellington.  William  Lewis  is  manager  of 
the  Rockville  Gas  &  El.  Co. 


SOUTH  NORWALK,  CONN.— The  managers  of  the  municipal  electric- 
light  plant  expect  to  purchase  within  the  next  few  months  some  4/0 
weather-proof  solid  line  wire  and  possibly  some  larger  size;  smaller  sizes 
will  be  purchased  from  time  to  time  as  required.  Some  ornamental 
street-lighting  fixtures  may  be  purchased.  Only  general  distribution 
extensions  and  minor  improvements  are  contemplated  by  the  company 
within  the  next  few  months.  A.  E.  Winchester  is  general  superintendent. 
WILLIMANTIC,  CONN.— The  Willimantic  Gas  &  Elec.  Co.  expects  to 
extend  its  distributing  system  to  connect  with  the  State  Epileptic  Colony 
at  Mansfield.  The  company  is  now  installing  three  50-lamp  rectifying 
outfits,  100  4-lamp  magnetite  arc  lamps  and  100  50-watt  series  incandes- 
cent lamps  complete.     William   M.    Lewis   is  manager. 

GEORGETOWN,  DEL.— The  Georgetown  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  expects 
to  purchase  50  meters  within  the  next  two  months.  The  company  contem- 
plates  adding  another  boiler,  engine  and  generator  to  its  plant. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. — Bids  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau  of  Sup- 
plies and  Accounts,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Dec.  17, 
for  furnishing  at  the  navy  yards  and  naval  stations  supplies  as  follows: 
Washington,  D.  C,  Schedule  5012—60  trolley  blocks;  Schedule  5011—16 
trolley  frogs,  insulators,  etc.,  2150  lb.  copper  trolley  wire,  188  lb.  rubber- 
covered  copper  wire,  90  chestnut  telephone  poles  and  8100  ft.  galvanized 
steel  strands.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Schedule  5015 — 12  connection  boxes; 
Schedule  5009 — railroad  crossings.  Norfolk,  Va.,  Schedule  5013 — 10,000 
lb.  granular  sodium  carbonate;  Schedule  5015—200  lb.  hydraulic  leather, 
etc.     T.  J.   Cowie  is  paymaster  general,  U.   S.  N. 

PENSACOLA,  FLA. — The  proposition  to  issue  $400,000  in  bonds  for 
municipal  improvements  will  be  submitted  to  the  voters  on  Dec.  30.  Of 
the  proceeds  $100,000  will  be  used  for  electric-light  plant  and  $100,000 
for  connecting  railroads. 

ADAIRSVILLE,  GA.— The  Georgia  Ry  &  El.  Co.,  of  Atlanta,  has 
been  granted  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  Adairsville. 

ATLANTA,  GA. — A  power  and  heating  plant  will  be  erected  on  Edge- 
wood  Avenue  by  Joel  Hart  to  supply  power  and  steam  heat  to  building 
now  under  construction. 

ALTON,  ILL. — The  Alton,  Granite  &  St.  Louis  Trac.  Co.  has  closed 
a  contract  to  supply  electricity  to  the  amount  of  4000  hp  for  the  new 
plant  of  the  Alton  Steel  Co.,  which  is  to  be  erected  here. 

ALVIN,  ILL. — The  contract  for  furnishing  electricity  to  the  village  of 
Alvin  has  been  awarded  to  R.  C.  Wilson  &  Co.,  of  Henning,  111.  Elec- 
tricity will  be  transmitted  from  the  power  plant  at  Potomac,  111.,  to  the 
substation  to  be  erected  here.  The  street-lighting  contract  provides  for 
20  incandescent  lamps  of  60  cp.  It  is  expected  to  have  the  system  com- 
pleted    by     June     1,     1913. 

ASHMORE,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  of  Mattoon,  has 
applied  to  the  Village  Board  for  a  franchise  to  operate  an  electric- 
lighting  system  in  Ashmore. 

BLUFFS,  ILL. — Local  residents  are  reported  to  be  interested  in  a 
movement  to  form  a  new  electric-light  company. 

BRACEMLLE.  ILL. — The  Village  Commission  has  awarded  the  Public 
Ser.  Co.  of  Northern  Illinois,  of  Chicago,  a  10-year  contract  for  lighting 
the  streets  of  the  village.  At  first  there  will  be  but  six  75-watt  lamps 
used. 

HERSCHER,  ILL.— The  officials  of  the  villages  of  CuUom,  Kempton, 
Caberry,  Buckingham  and  Herscher  have  united  in  a  movement  to 
secure  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  from  either  Kankakee  or  Chats- 
worth. 

JOHNSTON  CITY,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  of  Mat- 
toon,  has  purchased  the  property  of  the  Johnston  City  El.,  Gas  & 
Wtr.  Co. 

LEWISTOWN,  ILL.— C.  W.  King  and  Albert  Sandt  have  formed  a 
partnership  and  will  incorporate  under  the  name  of  the  Lewistown  El. 
Co.  A  new  41-year  franchise  has  been  asked.  Improvements,  it  is  under- 
stood, will  be  made  to  the  plant. 

MOUNT  MORRIS,  ILL. — The  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Co.,  of  Chi- 
cago, has  purchased  the  electric  plant  of  the  Kables  Bros.  Co.,  in  Mount 
Morris. 

NIANTIC,  ILL. — Residents  of  the  village  are  contemplating  the  in- 
stallation of  an  electric-light  plant  in  Niantic.  Electricity  for  the  system 
may  be   secured   from    the   Illionis  Trac.   System. 

PEORIA,  ILL. — The  East  Bluff  Improvement  Association  is  interested 
in  a  movement  for  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  sys- 
tem on  Knoxville  Avenue.     A.   V.   Thomas   is  president. 

RANKIN,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  granted  the  Central  Illinois 
Utilities  Co.,  of  Watseka,  a  franchise  to  operate  an  electric-light  plant 
in  Rankin  for  a  period  of  30  years. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND. — The  Indianapolis  Lt.  &  Ht.  Co.  is  preparing 
plans  for  an  addition  to  its  Mill  Street  station  which  will  give  the  com- 
pany sufficient  space  to  install  three  10,000-kw  turbine  equipments,  with 
the  usual  boiler  and  auxiliary  apparatus.  The  foundation  for  this  will 
be  laid  this  winter.  The  superstructure  will  be  started  early  in  the 
spring.  The  apparatus  to  be  installed  will  be  purchased  about  June,  1913. 
A  coal  storage  bin,  100  ft.  by  300  ft.,  28  ft.  deep,  in  which  the  company 
expects  to  store  from  25,000  to  30,000  tons  of  coal  under  water,  is  being 
completed.     Thomas  A.  Wynne  is  vice-president. 

MADISON,  IND. — The  Madison  Lt.  &  Ry.  Co.  on  Nov.  1  completed 
the  rebuilding  of  its  plant,  replacing  the  old  133-cycle,  single-phase  system 
with  a  60-cycle,  three-phase  system.     M.   F.  Tennis  is  treasurer. 


1234 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


sisting   of    stokers,    coal    and    ash    handling   system,    exciters,    pumps,    con- 
densers, oiling  system,  etc.,  switchboard,  instruments,  switches,   protectiv 


.AMES,  lA. — The  city  of  Ames  is  planning  to  build  a  new  power  house 
or  rebuild  the  present  one  and  to  purchase  two  boilers  and  engine 
direct-connected  to  generator  and  coal  and  ash  handling  machinery  during 
the  next  12  months.     Charles  E.  Warsaw  is  manager. 

CLEARFIELD,  lA. — John  Anderson  is  interested  in  the  company 
which  proposes  to  install  an  electric-light  system  here.  Gas  engines  will 
be  used. 

CLINTON,  I.A.— The  Clinton  Gas  &  El.  Co.  expects  to  erect  transmis- 
sion lines  to  Fulton,  111.,  a  distance  of  5  miles;  also  to  purchase  four 
water-tube  boilers,  two  1000-kw  turbines  and  auxiliary  equipment,  con- 
sisti 

densers,  „     . 

devices  and  material  for  distributing  system,  consisting  of  transformers, 
poles,  transmission  towers,  lightning  arresters,  insulators,  distribution 
cable  and  wire,  meters,  etc.,  and  equipment  for  lighting  systems  within 
the  next  six  months.     Thomas  Crawford   is  general  manager. 

DUNCOMBE,  lA. — G.  J.  Long  is  said  to  be  interested  in  a  company 
which  is  asking  for  a  franchise  to  install  and  maintain  an  electric  light 
and  power  plant  in  Duncombe. 

FORT  M.ADISON,  lA. — Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Dec.  17  for  construction  of  United  States  post  office  building,  including 
plumbing,  gas  piping,  heating  apparatus,  electric  conduits  and  wiring, 
interior  lighting  fixtures  and  approaches  in  Fort  Madison.  Drawings 
and  specifications  may  be  obtained  from  the  above  office  or  from  the 
custodian  of  site  at  Fort  Madison.  Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising 
architect. 

LE  MARS,  lA.— D.  H.  Maury  and  J.  W.  Alvord,  of  Chicago,  111.,  have 
been  engaged  to  make  an  appraisal  of  the  property  of  the  Le  Mars  Wtr. 
&  Lt.  Co.  with  a  view  of  the  plant  being  taken  over  by  the  city.  An 
election   will  soon   be   held  to  vote   upon   the   proposition. 

LEON,  lA. — The  Leon  El.  Co.  expects  to  purchase  within  the  next 
12  months  one  200-k-^v,  2300-volt,  three-phase,  60cycle  alternator,  one 
300-hp  engine  and  probably  a  200-hp  boiler,  one  generator  panel  and 
incandescent  street-lighting  apparatus.  The  company  is  constructing 
transmission  lines  from  Leon  to  Humeston,  Garden  Grove,  Leroy  Walden 
and  Van  Wert.     G.  A.  Havens  is  vice-president  and  secretary. 

MILTON,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to  grant  a 
25-year  franchise  to  L.  R.  SherriU,  of  Burlington,  la.,  to  install  and 
maintain  an  electric-light  and  power  plant  here  was  carried. 

PRESTON,  lA. — At  an  election  held  Nov.  22  the  proposition  to  issue 
$8,000  in  bonds  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  was  carried. 
G.  H.  Lucas  is  city  clerk. 

WALKER,  lA.— .-\pplication  will  be  made  by  W.  R.  Furman  for  a 
franchise  to  erect  a  transmission  line  from  Troy  Mills  to  Walker. 

ABILENE,  KAN. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
the  supervising  architect,  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Jan.  7  for  the  construction  complete,  including  plumbing,  gas  piping, 
heating  apparatus,  electric  conduit  and  wiring,  interior  lighting  fixtures 
and  approaches,  of  the  United  States  post  office  at  Abilene,  Kan.  Draw- 
ings and  specifications  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office  or  from  the 
custodian   of   site  at   Abilene.     Oscar   Wenderoth   is  supervising  architect. 

HUTCHINSON,  KAN. — The  United  Water,  Gas  &  EI.  Co.  is  installing 
one  2500-kva,  two-phase,  60-cycle,  2200-volt  Allis-Chalmers  turbo-genera- 
tor, with  necessary  additional  switchboards,  instruments,  auxiliaries,  etc., 
including  turbine-driven  exciter  unit  and  turbine-driven  condensing 
apparatus  made  by  the  Westinghouse  Machine  Co.  The  company  also 
is  erecting  a  6600-volt  transmission  line,  using  in  connection  therewith 
two  400-kw,  two  200-kw,  two  150-kw  and  two  75-kiv,  6600-2200-220-volt 
transformers.     J.  F.  Springfield  is  general  manager. 

SABETHA,  KAN. — Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Commercial  Club 
of  Sabetha  to  secure  estimates  of  the  cost  of  the  installation  of  an  orna- 
mental street-lighting  system  here. 

SALIN.A,  KAN.— The  Salina  Lt..  Pwr.  &  Gas  Co.  is  installing  one 
500-kw,  three-phase,  2200-volt,  60-cycle  Westinghouse-Parsons  turbo- 
generator, with  necessary  condensing  and  switchboard  apparatus.  J.  F. 
Springfield,  of  Hutchinson,  is  general  manager  and  W.  E.  McFadden 
local  manager. 

CUMBERLAND,  MD. — The  Edison  El.  Illg.  Co.,  of  Cumberland,  has 
applied  to  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  $50,000 
in  capital  stock.  The  proceeds,  it  is  stated,  will  be  used  for  improve- 
ments and  betterments  to  its  system. 

HAGERSTOWN,  MD. — The  Board  of  Trade  of  Hagerstown  has  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  promote  the  installation  of  an  ornamental  street- 
lighting  system  in  the  business  district.  A.  K.  CofTraan  is  a  member  of 
the  committee. 

AMHERST,  MASS.— The  Amherst  Gas  Co.  expects  to  erect  within 
the  next  six  months  a  transformer  and  switching  substation.  Contracts 
for  equipment  have  already  been  awarded.  The  company  is  completing 
a  distributing  system  for  street-lighting  and  commercial  service  in  the 
town  of  Hadley,  which  will  be  placed  in  service  Dec.  15. 

BOSTON,  MASS. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  Manus  J.  Fish, 
superintendent  of  public  buildings  of  the  city  of  Boston,  until  Dec.  23 
for  furnishing  and  installing  the  electric  generating  plant  for  an  office 
building,  the  annex  to  the  city  hall,  located  on  Court  Street,  Boston,  and 
other  work  incidental  thereto.  Drawings  and  specifications  may  be  se- 
cured at  the  office  of  Edward  T.  P.  Graham,  architect,  20  Beacon  Street, 
Boston,  for  which  a  deposit  of  $5  will  be  required. 


BOSTON,  MASS. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  Manus  J. 
Fish,  superintendent  of  public  buildings  of  the  city  of  Boston,  until 
Dec.  23  for  furnishing  and  installing  electric  wiring  and  lighting  fix- 
lures  in  an  office  building,  the  annex  to  the  city  hall,  located  on  Court 
Street,  Boston,  and  other  work  incidental  thereto.  Plans  and  specifica- 
tions may  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  Edward  T.  P.  Graham,  architect, 
20  Beacon  Street,  Boston.  A  deposit  of  $25  will  be  required  for  each 
complete  set  of  drawings  and  specifications  or  $5  for  each  set  of  fixture 
drawings  and  specifications,  which  will  be  refunded  upon  return  of  same. 

FALL  RIVER,  MASS. — Extensive  improvements  involving  an  ex- 
penditure of  over  $200,000  have  been  authorized  by  the  directors  of  the 
Fall  River  El.  Lt.  Co.  These  improvements  will  be  made  witliin  a  year 
and  will  include  the  installation  of  a  4000-kw  Curtis  turbine  engine  and 
complete  system  of  automatic  stokers  and  automatic  coal  conveyors.  The 
substation  on  Hartwell  Street  will  be  enlarged  and  a  new  switchboard 
installed. 

LAWRENCE,  MASS. — The  Lawrence  Gas  Co.  is  installing  a  5000  kva 
Curtis  horizontal  turbine,  furnished  by  the  General  Electric  Co.,  with 
necessary  condensing  outfit  supplied  by  Henry  R.  Worthington  Co.,  and 
switchboard  equipment  supplied  by  the  General  Electric  Co.  The  installa- 
tion of  this  machine  has  involved  the  erection  of  a  new  building.  The 
work  is  nearly  completed.  C.  J.  R.  Humphreys  is  vice-president  and 
agent. 

CHEBOYGAN,  MICH.— The  Cheboygan  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  ap- 
plied for  an  extension  of  its  franchises  for  operating  within  the  city 
limits.  The  question  will  be  submitted  to  the  voters  at  a  special  election 
to  be  held  on  Jan.  1.  The  company  also  contemplates  the  construction 
of  an  electric  railway  between  Cheboygan  and  Petoskey. 

DETROIT,  MICH. — The  Hayes  Mfg.  Co.  is  equipping  its  plant  for 
electrical  operation.  Electricity  will  be  secured  from  the  Detroit  Edison 
Illg.  Co. 

DETROIT,  MICI-L- The  Peninsular  Engraving  Co.  will  install  100 
direct-current  motors  and  one  freight  elevator  in  its  building  now  in 
course  of  erection. 

DETROIT,  MICH.— The  Ford  Motor  Co.,  of  Detroit,  is  installing  a 
2500-kw,  250-volt  direct-current  generator  to  be  driven  by  a  special 
engine  designed  by  Mr.    Gray,   chief  engineer  of  the   Ford   Motor   Co. 

DETROIT,  MICH.— The  Michigan  Lubricator  Co.  is  equipping  its 
plant  for  electrical  operation.  The  equipment  includes  17  motors,  three- 
phase,  400-hp.  and  transformers.  Electricity  for  operating  the  plant  will 
be  supplied  by  the  Detroit  Edison  Illg.  Co.  The  cost  of  the  installation 
is  estimated  at  about  $8,000. 

DETROIT,  MICH. — A  power  plant  is  being  installed  in  the  Dime 
Bank  Building  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors.  The  equip- 
ment will  include  five  200-kw,  250-125-volt,  three-wire  direct-current 
Crocker-Wheeler  generators  with  ball  engine.  .\  tunnel  will  connect  the 
Dime  Bank  with  the  Ford  Building  and  electricity  will  be  supplied  to 
the  tenants  of  the  Ford  Building  for  lamps.  T.  F.  Bowles  will  be  chief 
engineer  of  the  plant. 

GRAND  R.\PIDS,  MICH. — A  campaign  has  been  started  by  the  busi- 
ness men  on  South  Division  Street  to  extend  the  boulevard  street-light- 
ing system  on  that  avenue  as  far  as  possible. 

HOWELL,  MICH. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of 
new  machinery  in  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  next  year,  to  cost 
about   $12,000. 

ITHACA,  MICH.— A  150-hp  Murray  Iron  Works  boiler  has  been 
installed  at  the  municipal  electric-light  plant.  H.  E.  Churchill  is  super- 
intendent. 

MOUNT  CLEMENS,  MICH.— The  Eastern  Michigan  Edison  Co.  (St. 
Clair  Division)  will  install  18  100-watt  tungsten  lamps  on  Cass  Avenue 
as  an  experiment,  and  if  satisfactory  a  new  contract  between  the  city 
and  the  company  will  be  made  and  the  new  lamps  will  be  installed 
throughout  the  entire  city. 

REED  CITY,  MICH.— The  Osceola  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  Reed  City,  experts 
to  install  an  auxiliary  steam  plant  next  spring.  The  equipment  will 
include  one  lOO-kw,  three-phase  alternator.  B.  J.  Stall  is  secretary  and 
manager. 

RIVER  ROUGE,  MICH.— The  City  Council  has  engaged  Patrick 
Keating,  of  Detroit,  engineer,  to  supervise  improvements  that  are  to  be 
made  to  the  municipal  electric-light  plant.  The  cost  of  the  work  is  esti- 
mated at  about  $15,000.  and  it  will  include  changes  in  overhead  con- 
struction and  the   installation   of  additional   machinery. 

BRECKENRIDGE,  MINN. — The  Water  and  Light  Commission  is 
considering  the  question  of  installing  cluster  lamps  along  Minnesota  Ave- 
nue from  Second  to  Sixth  Street. 

PIPESTONE,  MINN. — All  bids  submitted  for  the  proposed  electric- 
lighting  system  at  the  Pipestone  Indian  School,  Minnesota  (which  were 
opened  by  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs.  Washington,  D.  C,  Nov 
20)  have  been  rejected.  Bidders  will  be  asked  to  submit  proposals  for  a 
modified  system, 

BILOXI,  MISS. — The  water-works  committee  of  the  City  Council  has 
adopted  the  plans  of  Superintendent  E.  L.  Castenera  for  the  installation 
of  electrically  operated  pumps  in  the  new  pumping  station.  The  plans 
provide  for  three  electrically  operated  pumps,  each  with  a  capacity  of 
750  gal.  per  minute. 

HELENA,  MONT.^The  State  Prison  Board  contemplates  asking  for 
an   appropriation    for   the   installation    of   an   electric   power    plant,   to   cost 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


123s 


about  $80,000,  to  serve  the  insane  asylum,  prison  and  tuberculosis  hos- 
pital. It  is  proposed  to  locate  the  plant  between  Warm  Springs  and  Deer 
Lodge. 

CLARKS,  NEB. — The  contract  for  the  construction  of  the  proposed 
municipal  electric-light  plant  has  been  awarded  to  the  Alamo  Engine  & 
Sup.  Co.,  of  Omaha,  Neb.,  W.  E.  Donner,  of  Grand  Island.  Neb.,  is 
engineer. 

CLAREMONT,  N.  H.— The  Claremont  Pwr.  Co.  has  installed  a  17- 
panel  switchboard,  replacing  the  one  destroyed  by  fire  on  Aug.  14,  1912. 
L.  N.  Wheelock  is  secretary  and  manager. 

.MONTAGUE,  N.  J. — The  Deleware  Hydro-Electric  Co.  and  associated 
interests  of  Camden,  N.  J.,  have  acquired  water-front  property  on  the 
Delaware  River  in  Montague  Township,  to  be  used  in  connection  with  the 
proposed  plans  to  construct  a  dam  across  the  Delaware  River  and  con- 
struction  of  a  hydroelectric  power  plant.  George  H.  B.  Martin,  of  Cam- 
den, is  interested  in  the  project.     Montague  has  not  a  post  office. 

NEWARK,  N.  J. — Property  owners  on  Springfield  Avenue  between 
High  and  Bergen  .^venues  have  requested  the  Public  Ser.  El,  Co.  to 
submit  estimates  of  cost  of  installing  flaming-arc  lamps  on  that  street 
similar  to  those  now  In  use  in  the  center  of  the  city. 

PENNS  GROVE,  N.  J.— The  Public  Utility  Commissioners  of  New 
Jersey  have  approved  the  franchise  passed  by  the  Borough  Council 
granting  the  Penns  Grove  El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  permission  to  install 
and  operate  an  electric-light  plant  here.  The  commission  also  gave  its 
approval  of  the  proposed  issue  of  capital  stock  and  bonds  by  the  company. 
GALLUP,  N.  M. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  Town  Trustees 
by  a  company  composed  of  local  business  men  for  a  franchise  to  build 
a  new  electric-light  plant  here. 

ALBANY,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted  the 
Bell  and  Independent  Tel.  Cos.  in  the  counties  of  Qinton,  Essex,  Frank- 
lin and  St.  Lawrence,  with  minor  extensions  into  Warren  and  Washing- 
ton Counties,  permission  to  consolidate  under  the  title  of  the  Mountain 
Home  Tel.  .Co.  The  commission  has  authorized  the  Mountain  company 
to  increase  its  capital  stock  from  $150,000  to  $1,000,000  and  to  execute 
a  mortgage  to  secure  a  maximum  issue  of  $2,000,000  in  bonds.  The 
Mountain  Home  Tel.  Co.  will  soon  issue  $633,000  in  capital  stock  and 
$1,004,200  for  the  purchase  of  the  property  and  business  of  the  Adiron- 
dack Home  Tel.  Co.  and  the  New  York  Tel.  Co.  in  the  territory 
affected  and   for  refunding  of  present  outstanding  bonds. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  Henry  S.  Thomp- 
son, commissioner.  Department  of  Water  Supply,  Gas  &  Electricity, 
Room  1904,  13  to  21  Park  Row,  borough  of  Manhattan,  until  Dec.  10, 
for  furnishing  and  maintaining  electric  lamps  for  lighting  streets,  avenues, 
public  buildings,  parks  and  public  places,  in  the  borough  of  Brooklyn, 
from  Jan.  1,  1913,  to  Dec.  31.  1913,  both  inclusive.  Blank  forms  may 
be  obtained  at  the  office  of  the  department  Room  2339,  Park  Row 
Building. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y. — The  Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.  con- 
templates the  purchase  of  supplemental  auxiliary  equipment  for  a 
I0,OOO-kw  steam-turbine  plant,  particularly  stokers  and  a  coal  and  ash 
handling  system,  within  the  next  four  months.  K.  B.  H.  Paine  is  gen- 
eral   manager. 

DUNDEE,  N.  Y. — E.  L.  Bailey,  owner  of  the  local  electric-light  plant, 
contemplates  within  the  next  six  months  the  erection  of  a  pumping  station 
for  the  village  water-works  system;  also  the  erection  of  lOJ^  miles  of 
electric  transmission  line  to  two  other  smaller  towns.  He  also  expects 
to  purchase  a  triplex  pump,  6  in.  by  8  in.  or  8  in.  by  10  in.,  for  the  water- 
works system;  line  protector  devices,  transformers  (step-up),  fuse  boxes, 
line  material,  lightning  arresters,  bare  copper  line  wire,  insulators,  arms, 
etc.,  and  transformers  for  lighting  system  within  the  next  six  months. 
MECHANICSVILLE.  N.  Y.— The  Mechanicsville  El.  Lt.  &  Gas  Co. 
is  changing  its  system  from  133  cycles,  single-phase,  to  60  cycles,  three- 
phase,  and  has  purchased  generators,  switchboards,  etc.  Edwin  Farrow 
is  president. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — .\  committee  has  been  appointed  by  the  Broadway 
.\ssociation  to  secure,  if  possible,  better  lighting  facilities  for  Broadway. 
It  is  proposed  to  adopt  a  plan  similar  to  that  adopted  by  the  Fifth  Avenue 
business  men. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— Plans  will  be  prepared  by  McKim,  Mead  &  White, 
architects,  160  Fifth  .\venue.  New  York,  for  the  erection  of  a  fireproof 
power  house  at  First  .\venue  and  Twenty-ninth  Street  for  the  Bellevue 
and  Allied  Hospitals,  foot  of  East  Twenty-sixth  Street.  The  proposed 
plant  will  supply  power  for  the  entire  hospital  group  situated  on  this 
block.     Dr.  John  W.  Brannan  is  president. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  R.  Waldo,  police 
commissioner.  Police  Department  of  the  city  of  New  York,  at  the  book- 
keeper's office,  headquarters  of  the  Police  Department,  240  Centre  Street, 
New  York,  until  Dec.  10,  for  furnishing  all  labor  and  furnishing  and 
erecting  all  materials  required  for  electrical  conductors  and  placing 
electrical  conductors  underground.  Copies  of  specifications  and  blank 
form  for  bids  may  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  the  commissioner,  and 
further  information  may  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  the  superintendent 
of  telegraph,  240  Centre  Street,  borough  of  Manhattan. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  Henry  S. 
Thompson,  commissioner.  Department  of  Water  Supply,  Gas  and  Elec- 
tricity, Room  1904,  lo  to  21  Park  Row,  borough  of  Manhattan,  until 
Dec.  10  for  furnishing  and  maintaining  electric  lamps  for  lighting  streets, 
avenues,  public  buildings,  parks  and  other  public  places  from  Jan.  1,  1913, 


to  Dec.  31,  1913,  both  inclusive,  as  follows:  No.  1— borough  of  Manhat- 
tan; No.  2— borough  of  the  Bronx;  No.  3— boroughs  of  Manhattan  and 
the  Bronx;  No.  4— borough  of  Queens,  and  No.  5— borough  of  Richmond. 
Blank  forms  may  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  the  department.  Room  2339. 
Park  Row  Building. 

PHILMONT,  N.  Y.— At  a  special  election  held  Nov.  26  the  proposition 
to  expend  $5,000  for  the  purchase  of  material  for  a  distributing  system 
for  lighting  the  village,  including  poles,  wires,  lamps,  other  fixtures  and 
line  equipment,  was  carried. 

POTSDAM,  N.  Y.— The  Northern  Pwr.  Co.  has  petitioned  the  Public 
Service  Commission  for  permission  to  erect  a  transmission  line  in  the 
village  of  Atnwerp,  the  town  of  Antwerp  and  the  town   of   Rossie. 

SODUS,  N.  Y.— The  Wayne  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to  erect  a  transmission 
line  from  Atlanta  to  Naples,  N.  Y.,  and  a  distributing  system  in  the 
village  of  Naples,  for  which  franchises  were  granted  Nov.  28.  On  the 
main  line  electricity  will  be  transmitted  at  11,000  volts,  three-phase. 
Equipment  will  be  purchased  for  above  distributing  system  and  street- 
lighting  system  for  Naples,  consisting  of  probably  75  40-watt  tungsten 
series  street  lamps,  including  constant-current  transformer,  regulator,  etc., 
within  the  next  12  months.  The  system  covers  Avoca.  Wallace.  Cohocton, 
Atlanta,  North  Cohocton  and  Naples.  The  company  has  street-lighting 
contracts  in  Cohocton,  Atlanta,  Avoca  and  Naples  for  a  period  of  five 
vears.  Street  lamps  have  been  turned  on  in  Cohocton  and  the  service 
will  soon  be  ready  in  Atlanta  and  North  Cohocton  and  later  in  Avoca. 
The  service  will  not  be  extended  to  Naples  until  next  summer.  G.  R. 
Mills  is   president. 

SOUTHAMPTON,  N.  Y.— The  Suffolk  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to 
purchase  a  new  boiler  and  engine  and  two  new  tub  transformers  during 
the  next  four  months.  W.  M.  Hambright  is  general  manager.  W.  M. 
Sheehan  &  Co.,   114  Liberty  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  are  engineers. 

STARKEY,  N.  Y.— Edward  L.  Bailey,  owner  of  the  Dundee  electric- 
light  plant,  has  applied  to  the  Town  Board  for  a  franchise  to  extend  the 
local  system  to  several  points  throughout  the  town,  to  include  Lakemont, 
Starkey  and  Glenora. 

SYRACUSE,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  authorised 
the  Syracuse  Ltg.  Co.  to  issue  $197,000  in  bonds,  to  be  sold  at  not  lest 
than  99,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  various  extensions  and  improve- 
ments to  its  gas  and  electric  service  in  Syracuse. 

WAYLAND,  N.  Y.— The  Wayland  Steuben  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to  pur- 
chase machinery  and  equipment  for  an  electric  power  plant  and  dis- 
tributing system  within  the  next  two  months.  John  Kimmel,  of  Way- 
land,  is  interested  in  the  company. 

WEEDSPORT,  N.  Y. — At  a  special  election  held  Nov.  26  the  tax- 
payers voted  in  favor  of  the  proposition  to  issue  $15,000  in  bonds  for  the 
installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant.  Niagara  power  will  prob- 
ably be  used  to  operate  the  system. 

WEST  SAND  LAKE,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  au- 
thorized the  Wynantskill  Hydro-Electric  Co.  to  execute  a  mortgage  to 
secure  an  issue  of  $50,000  in  bonds.  The  company  is  authorized  to 
issue  at  this  time  $4,500  in  capital  stock  and  $7,500  in  bonds,  the  pro- 
ceeds to  be  used  for  payments  due  for  additions  and  extensions  to  its 
plant  and  for  proposed  new  construction.  The  company  operates  in 
West  Sand  Lake,  Averill  Park  and  surrounding  country. 

MOUNT  OLIVE,  N.  C. — Extensions  are  contemplated  to  the  municipal 
electric-light  plant  within  the  next  six  or  eight  months,  which  will  include 
the  purchase  of  one  100-kva,  2300-volt,  three-phase  generator,  direct- 
connected,  and  probably  5  or  6  miles  of  wire  next  year.  S.  L.  Oliver  u 
manager. 

NEW  ROCKFORD,  N.  D. — F.  E.  Corson  and  associates,  of  Fargo, 
have  purchased  the  Wilson  electric  plant  franchise.  As  it  was  granted 
before  the  city  was  incorporated  the  new  owners  are  asking  a  new 
franchise. 

BRYAN,  OHIO. — The  City  Council  has  appropriated  $5,000  for  the 
installation  of  cluster  lamps  in  the  business  district.  Improvements  are 
being  made  to  the  municipal  electric  plant. 

CINCINNATI,  OHIO. — Plans  have  been  completed  for  the  erection  of 
a  new  10-story  office  and  exchange  building  by  the  Cincinnati  &  Suburban 
Bell   Tel.    Co.    at   Fourth   Avenue   and   Hammond    Street,   Cincinnati. 

CLYDE,  OHIO. — The  contract  for  rebuilding  the  municipal  electric- 
light  plant  and  water-works  system  has  been  awarded  to  the  Joseph  L. 
Skeldon  Engineering  Co.,  Spitzer  Building,  Toledo,  Ohio.  The  plant 
is  to  be  reconstructed  and  all  new  machinery  is  to  be  installed.  The  cost 
of  the  work  is  estimated   at   $35,000. 

DEFIANCE,  OHIO.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Auglaize  Pwr. 
Co.,  of  Defiance,  a  25-year  franchise  to  erect  and  maintain  transmission 
lines  through  this  city. 

DEFIANCE,  OHIO. — Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Dec.  14,  for  construction  complete,  including  plumbing,  gas  piping,  heat- 
ing apparatus,  electric  conduits  and  wiring,  interior  lighting  fixtures  and 
approaches  of  United  States  post  office  building  at  Defiance,  Ohio. 
Drawings  and  specifications  may  be  secured  at  the  above  office  or  from 
the  custodian  of  site  at  Defiance,  Ohio.  Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising 
architect. 

EAST  LIVERPOOL,  OHIO.— The  Board  of  Control  has  been  author- 
ized by  the  City  Council  to  secure  the  services  of  an  electrical  engineer 
to  prepare  an  estimate  of  the  cost  of  installing  a  municipal  electric-light 
plant. 


1236 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60.  No.  23. 


ELYRIA,  OHIO.— The  Cleveland,  Southwestern  &  Columbus  Ry.  Co., 
of  Cleveland,  has  applied  to  the  City  Council  for  a  franchise  to  supply 
electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in   Elyria. 

FOREST,  OHIO. — As  a  result  of  the  decision  of  the  Circuit  Court,  re- 
cently handed  down,  the  Hardin- Wyandotte  Ltg.  Co.,  of  Kenton,  is 
j-estrained  from  furnishing  electricity  for  lighting  the  villages  of  Forest 
and  Dunkirk.  Business  men  of  Forest  have  taken  steps  to  form  a  local 
company  to  furnish  electrical  energy  for  lamps  and  motors  here. 

LEETONIA,  OHIO. — The  Leetonia  El.  Co.  expects  to  purchase  mate- 
rial for  distributing  system  amounting  to  about  $1,000  and  electrical 
appliances  and  supplies  costing  about  $3,000  within  the  next  12  months. 
E.  H.  Geiselman  is  general  manager. 

NEW  KNOXVILLE,  OHIO.— The  New  Knoxville  El.  Co.  is  installing 
an  electric-light  and  power  system  here.  Electricity  for  operating  the 
system  will  be  purchased  from  the  Western  Ohio  El.  Ry.  Co.  Electrical 
energy  will  be  secured  from  the  station  5  miles  north  of  here,  which 
will  be  transmitted  at  6600  volts,  three-phase,  25  cycles.  The  New 
Knoxville  company  proposes  to  supply  electricity  for  lighting  the  streets 
of  the  village,  residences,  stores,  etc.,  and  also  for  power  purposes. 
Practically  all  material  has  been  purchased.  A.  H.  Steinecker  is  secre- 
tary. 

WASHINGTON  C.  H.,  OHIO.— The  Washington  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has 
received  authority  from  the  Public  Service  Commission  to  issue  $100,000 
in  bonds,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  to  retire  outstanding  bonds  and  to 
make  extensions.  The  company  has  also  been  authorized  to  issue  $50,000 
in   capital   stock   for  the   purpose   of   making   other  improvements. 

PONCA  CITY,  OKL.\.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  W.  M. 
Rawlings,  city  clerk,  until  Dec.  17,  for  furnishing  material  and  construct- 
ing improvements  to  the  water- works  system  in  Ponca  City.  Separate 
bids  will  be  received  as  follows:  (1)  For  transmission  line,  power  house 
and  erecting  machinery  furnished  under  separate  contract  with  necessary 
connections  complete:  (2)  for  furnishing  horizontal  turbine  pumps  of 
750,  450  and  350  gal.  per  minute,  complete  with  motors  and  starters,  in 
accordance  with  plans  and  specifications  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  city 
clerk,  Ponca  City,  and  at  the  office  of  Burns  &  McDonnell,  Scarrett 
Building,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  consulting  engineers.  Copies  of  plans  may 
be  secured  on  application  to  the  consulting  engineers  upon  payment  of 
$3  to  cover  cost  of  prints.     Fred  D.  Sparks  is  Mayor. 

ASTORIA,  ORE.— William  Hobson.  representative  of  the  Hammond 
Lumber  Co.,  of  Astoria,  has  asked  for  permission  to  construct  a  10,000-hp 
power  plant  on  the  north  fork  of  the  Satiam  and  Breitenbush  Rivers. 

CLINE  FALLS,  ORE.— George  Jacobs  has  applied  to  the  County 
Commissioners  for  permission  to  erect  electric  transmission  lines  and 
private  telephone  lines  in  this  vicinity.  An  electric  generating  plant 
will  be  installed  at  Cline  Falls. 

DAYTON,  ORE. — The  Pati  Tel.  Co.,  recently  organized,  will  soon  be- 
gin work  on  the  erection  of  about  50  miles  of  line.  Thomas  Reed  is 
president  of  the  company. 

GRANT'S  PASS,  ORE.— The  California-Oregon  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied 
to  the  City  Council  for  a  40-year  franchise  for  its  power  and  light  system, 
in  return  for  which  the  company  offers  to  pay  the  city  2  per  cent  of 
the  gross  revenue  in  the  city  and  make  certain  concessions  in  the  way 
of  street  lamps  for  a  period  of  10  years. 

OREGON  CITY,  ORE. — -Application  has  been  filed  with  the  state 
engineer  by  B.  T.  McBain,  of  Oregon  City,  asking  for  an  appropriation 
of  sufficient  water  from  Clackamas  River  to  develop  11,364  hp.  The 
plans  provide  for  the  construction  of  a  dam  30  ft.  high  and  a  canal  5 
miles  long,  at  a  total  cost  of  about  $1,000,000. 

REDMOND,  ORE.— The  Prineville  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.,  of  Prineville,  has 
secured  the  contract  for  furnishing  electric  lamps  in  Redmond.  The 
company  has  acquired  a  poA*er  site  on  Cliff  Falls  and  will  install  a 
hydroelectric  power  plant  there. 

SILVERTON,  ORE.— The  health,  fire  and  water  committee  of  the 
City  Council  is  considering  the  installation  of  a  cluster-lamp  lighting  sys- 
tem in  the  business  district   of  the  city. 

HARRIS  BURG,  PA. — Extensive  improvements  are  being  made  by 
the  Harrisburg  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  including  the  installation  of  a  2500-kva, 
2300-volt,  60-cycle  alternating-current  Westinghouse  horizontal- type 
turbine  unit,  with  necessary  switchboards  for  same;  four  1250-kw,  2300- 
6900-volt  transformers,  McClave-Brooks  furnaces,  grates,  blowers,  com- 
plete under-pressure  boilers  and  complete  coal-conveying  system.  The 
Ninth  Street  station  is  being  rehabilitated  as  a  main  distributing  station 
and  a  complete  switchboard  is  being  installed  to  take  care  of  the  distribu- 
tion of  both  alternating  current  and  direct  current  for  commercial,  resi- 
dential and  outlying  districts  of  the  city  of  Harrisburg  and  adjacent 
territory.  The  old  two-phase  distribution  system  of  the  former  Paxtang 
company  is  being  changed  over  to  a  three-phase  alternating-current  system, 
which  will  be  practically  completed  by  Jan.  1,  1913.  The  company  is 
installing  fiber  conduits  in  all  parts  of  the  commercial  district.  This 
underground  system  will  include  the  erection  of  three  complete  centers 
of  distribution  substations,  each  of  which  will  contain  four  200-kw,  6900- 
115-230-volt  transformers,  switchboards,  regulators,  etc.,  complete.  George 
B.  Tripp  is  vice-president  and  general  manager. 

HONESDALE,    PA.— The    Honesdale    Consol.     Lt.,    Ht.    &    Pwr.    Co. 

expects  to  purchase  within  the   next  three  months   one    150-kw,    2300-volt, 

60-cycle,    two-phase    engine-type    generator    and    one    generator    and    one 

feeder  panel   fox  :tlie,  above  machine.      F.   H.   Eisele  is  superintendent. 

IRWIN,   PA.— The  Council   has  authorized   the   West  Penn   El.   Co.    to 


replace  the   present   arc-lighting   system    with   tungsten   lamps.      Under   the 
new  system  85  tungsten  lamps  will  be  used. 

PITTSBURGH.  PA.— Notice  has  been  filed  with  the  State  Depart- 
ment at  Harrisburg  that  the  Monongahela  Lt.  Co.  and  the  Oakman  & 
Verona  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  have  been  consolidated  under  the  name  of 
the  Duquesne  Lt.  Co.,  of  Pittsburgh,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $541,000. 
N'.   B.  Starring,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  is  president  of  the  new  company. 

STOYESTOWN,  PA.— The  Stoyestown  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  will  soon  begin 
work  on  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  from  Stoyestown  to  Ferrell- 
ton.  The  company  will  supply  electrical  service  to  residents  along  the 
line  as  well  as  in  Ferrellton. 

TITUSVILLE,  PA.— The  Titusville  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  pur<:hased  and 
will  install  about  Jan.  1  one  300-hp,  four-cylinder,  257  r.p.m.  vertical  gas 
engine,  made  by  the  Titusville  Iron  Co.,  of  Titusville,  direct-connected 
to  a  200-kva,  three-phase,  2300-volt.  60-cycle  General  Electric  alternator 
and  one  motor-generator  set,  consisting  of  one  10-kw,  125-volt  exciter 
direct-connected  to  a  15-hp,  three-phase,  220-volt  motor,  and  additions  to 
switchboard,  consisting  of  one  Blue  Vermont  generator  panel,  one 
exciter  panel  and  one  feeder  circuit  panel.  Eugene  F.  McCabe  is  vice* 
president. 

TYRONE.  PA.— The  Home  EI.  Lt.  &  Steam  Htg.  Co.  has  just  finished 
the  installation  of  a  414-hp  Stirling  boiler,  complete  with  Foster  super- 
heater and  50-lamp  rectifier  set  for  4-amp  General  Electric  magnetite 
lamps,  and  is  now  installing  a  35-kw  motor-driven  exciter  and  motor 
driven  circulating  pump  for  condensing  water  and  a  steel-tower  railway 
crossing  over  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  at  Tyrone  for  transmission 
line  to  Bellwood.     P.  M,  Arndt  is  superintendent. 

JAMESTOWN,  R.  I.— The  Bay  State  Street  R.  R.  Co.,  which  fur- 
nishes electricity  in  Newport,  has  applied  to  the  Town  Council  for  per 
mission  to  exercise  the  electric-light  franchise  recently  purchased  from 
the  Jamestown  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  The  latter  company  never  availed  itself 
of   the   lighting  privilege. 

WOONSOCKET,  R.  I.— The  Blackstone  Valley  Gas  &  E!.  Co.  is  install 
ing  a  1250-kw  AUis-Chalmers  frefluency-changer  set  at  its  No.  1  steam 
station  on  Front  Street,  Woonsocket.  This  set  is  to  be  utilized  as  a 
connecting  link  between  its  25-cycle,  13,200-voIt  railway  distributing  sys- 
tem and  its  60-cycle,  2300-volt  commercial  lighting  and  power  system. 
In  addition  to  the  frequency-changer  set  and  necessary  switchboard 
equipment  an  extension  will  be  made  to  the  building.  The  cost  of  the 
entire  work  is  estimated  at  about  $30,000.  The  work  is  being  done  by 
the  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corpn.,  of  Boston.  Mass.  A.  F. 
Townsend  is  manager. 

FLANDREAU.  S  D.— The  Flandreau  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  contemplates 
the  purchase  of  one  75-kva  alternating-current,  engine-type  generator  and 
one  125-hp  gas  producer  and  engine  within  the  next  six  months.  A.  H. 
Savage,  614  Germania  Life  Bldg.,  St.  Paul.  Minn.,  is  president  of  the 
company. 

DECHERD.  TENN.— The  Stone  Pwr.  Co.  and  W.  G.  Cummins  have 
been  granted  a  franchise  to  install  an  electric  light  and  power  system 
in  Decherd.  They  are  now  extending  a  transmission  line  from  Win- 
chester along  the  boulevard,  which  will  be  illuminated  with  "Mazda" 
lamps  erected  on  every  other  pole. 

EAST  CHATTANOOGA,  TENX.^The  East  Chattanooga  Business 
League  is  negotiating  with  the  Chattanooga  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  for  the  installa- 
tion of  an  electric-light  system  here.  The  company,  it  is  said,  proposes 
to  install  a  transformer  station  between  Glass  and  Stewart  Streets  and 
furnish  electricity  for  lamps  on  Chamberlain  Avenue  and  Glass  Street 
first  and  extend  the  system  as  far  as  Boyce,  back  to  the  city  and  taking 
in  Avondale.  J.  L.  Wilhoite.  of  Chattanooga,  is  contract  agent  of  the 
company. 

MEMPIIIS,  TENN.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
the  Mississippi  River  Commission,  First  and  Second  Districts.  United 
States  Engineer  Office,  Room  20,  Custom  Office.  Memphis.  Tenn..  until 
Dec.  23  for  furnishing  turbines,  pumping  sets,  hot  well,  fe^-d-water  heater 
and  electric-light  plant  for  hydraulic  grader  No.  1205.  Further  informa- 
tion may  be  obtained  on  application  to  E.  M.  Markham,  major  engineers. 

ROGERSVILLE,  TENN.— The  Rogersville  El.  Co.  expects  to  erect 
two  transmission  lines,  one  12  miles  and  the  other  5  miles  long,  within 
the  next  12  months,  and  will  probably  purchase  one  56-in.  vertical 
waterwheel  within  six  months;  it  also  expects  to  purchase  within  the  next 
few  months  a  series  incandescent  street-lighting  system.  Vance  G.  Hale 
is  manager. 

ABILENE,  TEX. — The  gas,  electric  light  and  power,  water  and  ice 
properties  in  Abilene  will  be  taken  over  at  once  by  the  American  Pub. 
Ser.  Co.,  which  will  be  a  holding  company  for  the  gas  and  electric 
properties  in  Texas.  Louisiana  and  Oklahoma  that  are  controlled  by 
N.  W.  Halsey  &  Co.,  of  New  York.  N.  Y..  and  associates.  The  capital 
stock  of  the  company  was  recently  increased  to  $25,000,000.  The 
company  has  an  authorized  issue  of  $25,000,000  in  bonds,  of  which 
$2,000,000  will  be  issued  at  once. 

BALLINGER,  TEX. — Preliminary  surveys  have  been  finished  for  the 
proposed  irrigation  district  that  is  to  be  created  near  here.  The  plans 
call  for  the  construction  of  a  dam  across  the  Colorado  River,  forming 
a  storage  reservoir  sufficient  to  irrigate   129,000   acres  of  land. 

CLARKSVILLE,  TEX.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received- at  the  office  of 
the  supervising  architect,  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D,  C,  until 
Dec.   26   for   construction,   including   plumbing,   gas   piping,   heating   appar- 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


1^37 


atus,  electric  conduits  and  wiring  and  interior  lighting  fixtures,  of  the 
United  States  post  office  building  at  Clarksville,  Tex.  Copies  of  draw- 
ings and  specifications  may  be  had  at  the  above  office  or  from  the  cus- 
todian  of  site   at   Clarksville.      Oscar   Wenderoth   is   supervising   architect. 

MANVEL,  TEX. — The  Suburban  Gardens  Tel.  Co.,  recently  organized, 
will  erect  75  miles  of  telephone  line,  bids  for  which  will  be  received 
about  June  1,  1913.     T.  E.  Scott  is  manager. 

PARIS,  TEX.— The  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corpn.,  of  Boston, 
Mass.,  through  representatives  of  the  Texas  Trac.  Co.,  of  Forth  Worth, 
is  investigating  the  proposition  of  building  an  interurban  electric  railway 
between  Paris  and  Sherman,  a  distance  of  about  60  miles. 

OGDEN,  UTAH. — To  provide  for  the  increased  flow  of  water  resulting 
from  the  improvement  of  the  canyon  reservoir  and  the  enlargement  of 
the  Twelfth  Street  power  plant  the  Utah  Lt.  &  Ry.  Co.  is  planning  to 
build  a  concrete  tailrace  and  additional  reservoir  between  the  power 
station  and  the   Ogden   River,  to   cost  about   $30,000. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH.— Eastern  capitalists,  represented  by  M. 
n.  Hereley,  of  Chicago,  are  negotiating  for  the  purchase  of  the  property 
of  the  Salt  Lake  &  Ogden  El.  Ry.  Co.  The  new  owners  are  consider- 
ing the  extension  of  the  railway  south  from  Salt  Lake  City  and  north 
from  Ogden. 

MONTPELIER,  VT.— The  Consol.  Ltg.  Co.  is  building  an  addition  to 
its  boiler  room,  55  ft.  by  35  ft.,  and  is  installing  two  625-hp  boilers  and 
one  2500-kw  steam  turbine.  The  company  expects  to  install  within  the 
next  two  months  one  50-kw  exciter,  condenser  for  2500-kw  turbine,  coal- 
handling  apparatus  and  transformers  stepping  up  current  from  2300  volts 
to  13,200-22.000-33,000  volts.  It  also  expects  to  change  within  the  next 
12  months  30  miles  of  high-tension  lines  from  13,200  volts  to  22,000  or 
33,000  volts.  The  company  within  the  next  six  months  expects  to  pur- 
chase one  300-kw  transformer,  11,000-32,000-33,000  to  2300  volts.  All 
purchases  will  be  made  from  the  Boston  (Mass.)  office  of  C.  H.  Tenney 
&  Co.,  which  recently  took  over  this  company  and  also  the  Vermont 
Pwr.  &  Ltg.  Co.     H.   D.  Larrabee  is  manager. 

MANASSAS,  VA.— The  Town  Council  has  engaged  Harry  Stevens, 
consulting  engineer.  Union  Trust  Building,  Washington,  D.  C,  to  make 
surveys  and  prepare  plans  and  estimates  for  electric  light  and  power 
plants,  water  and  sewer  systems. 

PURCELLVILLE,  VA. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $5,000  have  been 
voted,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  street  lighting  and  other  improve- 
ments. 

CAMAS,  WASH.— The  Northwestern  El.  Co.  is  planning  to  install  a 
complete  lighting  and  power  system  in   Camas. 

CONCRETE,  WASH.— The  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corpn.,  of 
r.oston,  Mass.,  has  acquired  water  rights  of  the  Skagit  Pwr.  Co.  at 
Cedar  Bar,  and  will  build  a  large  dam  there  to  develop  the   water-power. 

KELSO,  WASH. — The  Washington-Oregon  Corpn.,  of  Vancouver,  will 
soon  begin  work  on  the  erection  of  an  auxiliary  power  plant  near  Kelso. 

MONROE,  WASH. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  board  of 
managers  of  the  Washington  State  Reformatory  until  Dec.  12  for  the 
following  apparatus  for  reformatory:  Engine,  generator,  switchboards, 
etc.  Plans  and  specifications  may  be  seen  at  the  office  of  the  superin- 
tendent and  at  the  office  of  Saunders  &  Lawton,  architects,  Alaska  Bldg.. 
Seattle,  Wash.     C.  B.  Roe  is  superintendent. 

PORT  ANGELES,  WASH.— The  Olympic  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to 
rebuild  the  dam  on  the  Elwha  River  washed  out  by  flood  at  a  cost  of 
about  $175,000.     Thomas  T.  Aldwell  is  vice-president  and  general  manager. 

TACOMA,  WASH. — The  Pacific  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  contemplates  the 
erection  of  a  three-story  and  basement  substation  in  South  Tacoma,  to 
cost  about  $100,000. 

SUPERIOR,  WIS.— The  Superior  Wtr..  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  recently 
installed  a  1000-kw  motor  generator  set  and  has  under  construction  a 
100-kw  booster  set.  William  H.  Winslow  is  vice-president  and  general 
manager. 

CALGARY,  ALTA.,  CAN. — Extensive  additions  are  being  made  to  the 
municipal  arc-lighting  system.  It  has  not  been  definitely  decided  yet  as 
to  whether  ornamental  lamp  standards  with  incandescent  lamps  will  be 
used  on  the  main  streets.  A  number  are  now  being  installed  for  inspec- 
tion and  tests.      R.   A.    Brown   is  superintendent. 

ALBERNI,  B.  C,  CAN. — A  by-iaw  has  been  passed  authorizing  an  ex- 
penditure of   $30,000   for   installation   of   an   electric-light   system. 

ESQUIMALT,  B.  C,  CAN. — Negotiations  are  under  way  between  the 
Council  and  the  British  Columbia  EI.  Ry.  Co.  looking  to  the  installa- 
tion of  an  electric-lighting  system,  consisting  of  300  80-watt  tungsten 
lamps.      C.    S.    Manchester,    of   Vancouver,    is    consulting   engineer. 

MIRROR  LAKE,  B.  C,  CAN.— Sufficient  capital  has  been  subscribed 
by  residents  of  this  municipality  to  cover  the  cost  of  the  installation  of 
an  electric-light  plant.     A.  Link  is  one  of  the  promoters. 

NELSON,  B.  C,  CAN. — Work  has  begun  on  the  installation  of  piping 
which  will  contain  the  cables  in  connection  with  the  new  three-lamp 
tungsten  cluster  lighting  system  here.  It  is  proposed  to  install  orna- 
mental   lamps    on   all    the    principal    streets    of    the   city. 

NEW  WESTMINSTER,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  New  Westminster  Pwr. 
Co.,  Ltd.,  contemplates  the  erectien  of  a  power  plant  to  supply  elec- 
tricity in  the  Eraser  Valley  District.  The  company  will  apply  for  water- 
power  rights  on  Brandt  Creek,  Indian  River,  Young  Lake  and  Norton 
Lake.      It    is    proposed    to   erect    a    500-acre-ft.    reservoir    at    Young   Lake, 


one  with  a  capacity  of  10,000  acre-ft.  at  Norton  Lake,  a  third  on  Indian 
River  to  hold  2500  acre-ft.,  and  a  fourth  to  handle  10  cu.  ft.  per  second 
flowing  from  Brandt  Creek. 

VICTORIA,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  Gordon  River  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Victoria, 
has  applied  to  the  government  of  British  Columbia  for  a  license  to  divert 
and  use  1200  cu.  ft.  of  water  per  second  from  the  Gordon  River.  The 
water  will  be  diverted  at  a  point  about  40  miles  northwest  of  Victoria 
and    will    be    used    for    power    purposes. 

WADENA,  MAN.,  CAN. — A  by-law  has  been  passed  authorizing  the 
expenditure  of  $20,000  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant.  The 
British  &  American  Engineering  Co.,  of  Winnipeg,  Man.,  has  the  con- 
tract,  which  is   to   be   completed   by   Jan.    5,    1913. 

WINNIPEG,  MAN.,  CAN. — The  municipal  fire,  water  and  light  com- 
mittee has  authorized  the  extension  of  the  Main  Street  cluster-lamp  light- 
ing system  to  the  northern  limits  of  the  city. 

SYDNEY.  N.  S.,  CAN.— The  Cape  Breton  El.  Co.,  of  Sydney,  re- 
cently submitted  a  proposition  to  the  Town  Council  for  street  lighting 
as  follows:  For  arc  lamps,  $86.07  each  per  year;  200-cp  incandescent 
lamps,  $62.62  per  lamp  per  year,  and  40-cp  incandescent  lamps,  $19.09 
each  per  year.     The  Council  has  decided  to  accept  the  20u-cp  lamps. 

BRECHIN,  ONT.,  CAN.— At  an  election  held  Nov.  22  the  by-law  pro- 
viding for  securing  hydroelectric  power  from  the  Ontario  Hydro-Electric 
Power  Commission  was  earned. 

CHESTERVILLE,  ONT..  CAN.— At  an  election  held  recently  the  by- 
law providing  for  the  installation  of  a  hydroelectric  power  system  was 
carried. 

DRYDEN,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  power  house  and  sluicegates  of  the  Dry- 
den  Timber  Pulp  &  Pwr.  Co..  Dryden,  were  destroyed  by  fire  on  Nov, 
28,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $100,000.  The  plant  was  under  construction 
and  nearly  completed.     Harris  &  Harris,  of  Toronto,  are  contractors. 

KINGSTON.  ONT.,  CAN.— J.  M.  Campbell,  of  the  Kingston  Milling 
Co.,  has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  utilities  committee  of  the  Coun- 
cil offering  to  furnish  the  city  with  power  to  the  amount  of  500  hp  ac 
H  cent  per  kw-hr.  The  power  would  be  generated  at  the  Kingston 
Mills,   about   5    miles   from   the   city. 

WALKERVILLE,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Ford  Automobile  Co..  Canadian 
branch,  is  installing  two  SOO-kva,  three-phase,  60-cycle,  4S0-vo!t  Crocker- 
Wheeler  alternators.  The  plant  was  designed  by  Mr.  Gray,  chief  engi- 
neer of  the  Ford  Motor  Co.,  of  Detroit,   Mich. 

WINDSOR,  ONT.,  CAN.— Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  in- 
stallation of  new  eo.uipment  for  the  municipal  electric-light  p-lant,  in- 
volving   an    expenditure    of    about    $20,000. 

WOODVILLE,  ONT..  CAN.— At  an  election  held  Nov.  21  the  rate- 
payers voted  in  favor  of  the  by-law  to  purchase  hydroelectric  power 
from    the   Ontario    Hydro-Electric    Commission. 

GRAND-MERE,  QUE.,  CAN. — Work  will  soon  begin  on  construction 
of  the  power  dam  in  connection  with  the  new  power  development  at 
the  paper  and  pulp  works  of  Laurentide,  Ltd.,  of  Grand-Mere.  The 
plans  provide  for  the  development  of  an  additional  25,000  hp  from  the 
Grand-Mere   Falls,   which  it   is  proposed   to   sell. 

REGINA,  SASK.,  CAN.— Sealed  tenders  will  be  received  by  the  City 
Commissioners  of  Regina,  Sask.,  until  Dec.  14  for  construction  of  power 
house,  laundry  and  refrigerating  plant  at  Regina  General  Hospital.  Full 
particulars  may  be  secured  upon  application  to  Wenger  &  Cockburn,  Room 
208,  Aldon  Block,  Twelfth  Avenue,  Regina.  Plans  may  be  seen  at  the 
office  of  the  Builders'  Exchange,  Winnipeg,  Man.,  and  at  the  office  of  the 
consulting    engineers,    Regina. 

SASKATOON,  SASK.,  CAN.— A.  G.  Sangster,  superintendent  of  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant,  has  submitted  an  estimate  to  the  City  Coun- 
cil for  material  required  for  extensions  for  the  year  1913  as  follows: 
2000  meters,  forty  30-kw,  fifty  20-kvv,  fifty  IS-kw,  and  ten  50-kw  trans- 
formers: 225.000  ib.  wire;  1200  35-ft.  poles,  600  40-ft.  poles,  100  4S-ft. 
poles,  100  50-ft.  poles;  cross-arms,  pins,  insulators,  hardware;  one  motor- 
service  wagon.     The  total  cost  of  the  above  is  estimated  at  $150,000. 

SUTHERLAND.  SASK.,  CAN.— The  town  of  Sutherland  is  consid 
cring  the   installation   of   a   nninicipal   electric   light   and    power    plant. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE    DIAMOND    GAS    &    ELECTRIC    ENGINEERING    COMPANY. 

ot  Anderson,  Ind.,  has  been  incorporated  by  I.  N.  Still  well,  L.  J.  Dia- 
mond and  H.  C.  Stillwell.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $50,000  and 
proposes  to  design  and  construct  electric  generating  plants  and  plants 
for   generating  gas. 

THE  EASTERN  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  has 
been  chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  to  do  a  general  electrical 
business.  The  incorporators  are:  Charles  Q.  Nelson,  Charles  P.  Salen, 
M.   A.    Salen,   Hermon  Arstin  and  Helena  Smith. 

THE  ELECTRIC  UNDERCURRENT  COMPANY,  of  Pennsboro.  W, 
Va.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000  by  H.  L. 
Lambert,  H.  J.  Scott,  C.  R.  Cunningham,  J.  G.  Young,  G.  P.  Fought 
and  E.  Z.  Weekly,  all  of  Pennsboro.  The  company  proposes  to  manu- 
facture   electrical    appliances. 


1238 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


THE  ELECTRIC  VEHICLE  B.'\T1'ERY  COMPANY,  of  Chicago, 
HI.,  by  Elbert  C.  Ferguson,  Guy  L.  Eames  and  Ella  A.  O'Neill.  The 
company  is  capitalized  at  $2,000  and  proposes  to  do  a  manufacturing  busi- 
ness. 

THE  ELSiMERE  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Elsmere,  Del.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to  manufacture  and 
deal  in  electrical  apparatus  and  to  carry  on  a  general  construction  busi- 
ness. The  officers  are:  A.  H.  Farge,  of  Batavia,  N.  Y.,  president;  R.  J. 
l-'orman,  of  Elsmere,  vice-president  and  treasurer,  and  R.  A.  Shurter,  of 
l-'lsmere.    secretary. 

THE  ROBINSON  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000  by  E.  B.  Robinson, 
R.  H.  Robinson  and  M.  P.  Ellis.  The  company  proposes  to  deal  in 
electrical   supplies. 

THK  UNION  LIGHT  &  SUPPLY  COMPANY,  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  to  deal  in  electric  lamps. 
The  incorporators  are:  Harry  Hechheimer,  414  Law  Building;  Charles  B. 
Slingluff  and  Parvis  Ralph. 


Trade  Publications 


New  Incorporations 

DAWSON.  GA.— The  Co-operative  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated by  J.  M.  Bell,  C.  D.  Cooke,  J.  E.  Morris,  J.  D.  Bell  and  R.  R. 
Martin,  all  of  Dawson.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000  and  will 
extend  its  line  through  Dawson,  Cuthbert,  Fort  Gaines,  Blakely  and 
other  towns. 

OLNEY,  ILL.— The  Commercial  Tel.  &  Tel.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  to  build  and  operate  telephone  and  tele- 
graph systems.  The  incorporators  are:  E.  E.  Gregg.  H.  H.  Kile  and 
H.  H.  Knipc. 

SHABBONA,  ILL.— The  Inter  Township  Tel.  Co.  has  been  organized 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  by  C.  H.  Wilkinson,  E.  J.  Brewer  and 
Charles  Schermerhorn.  The  company  proposes  to  erect  a  telephone  line 
to  connect  Lee,   Shabbona,   Waterman  and  Hinckley. 

INDIANAPOLIS.  IND.— The  Indianapolis  &  Cincinnati  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.  has  been  organized  as  an  auxiliary  company  to  the  Indianapolis  & 
Concinnati  Trac.  Co.'s  properties.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $900 
and  will  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  to  cities  and  towns  and 
rural  communities  along  the  route  of  the  traction  company's  lines. 

ROLFE,  KAN.— The  Rolfe  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $20,000.  The  officers  are:  C.  W.  Siefkin,  president; 
Robert  Bruce,  vice-president,  and  Ward  Ferguson,  secretary  and  treasurer. 

ADAIRVILLE,  KY. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  for  the 
Adairville  Lt.  &  Htg.  Co.  by  M.  E.  Orendorff,  G.  A.  Smith  and  J.  B. 
Fisher.      The   company   proposes   to   construct   an    electric-light    plant. 

GLASGOW,  KY. — ^The  Glasgow  Home  Tel.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  by  T.  P.  Dickinson,  W.  B.  Smith  and  H. 
P.   Myers. 

DETROIT,  MICH.— The  J.  W.  McNair  El.  Co.  has  filed  articles  of 
incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  cf  $15,000.  The  incorporators  are: 
J.  W,  McNair,  Jesse  Way  and  Alexander  Bell. 

MARCELLUS,  N.  Y.— The  Marcellus  Ltg.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  electricity 
in  Marcellus,  Skaneateles  and  Camillus.  Power  from  Niagara  Falls  will 
be  utilized,  a  transformer  station  having  been  erected  at  Marcellus  Falls. 
For  the  present  the  activities  of  the  company  will  be  confined  to  furnish- 
ing electrical  service  in  Marcellus  and  power  to  plant  of  the  Lawless 
Paper  Co.  at  Marcellus  Falls.  It  is  understood  that  service  later  will  be 
extended  to  the  towns  of  Skaneateles  and  Camillus.  The  directors  are: 
Frank  W.  and  Marion  E.  Knapp  and  Sidney  Slocombe,  of  Marcellus. 

THOM.\SVILLE,  N.  C— Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed 
for  the  Hambys  Creek  Tel.  Co.  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000,  by  J.  D. 
Carter,  A.   L.   Bowers  and  Luther  Grimes. 

MAGNUM,  OKLA. — The  Consolidated  Itidependent  TeL  Co.  has  been 
chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  The  incorporators  are:  D.  H. 
Wright,  T.  P.  Clay  and  J.  H,  Harriman. 

ASPINWALL,  PA.— The  Delafield  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  G.  B.  Fehr,  of  O'Hara  Township;  J,  G. 
Marks,  of  Aspinwall;  A.  H.  McNamee  and  J.  Millholland,  of  Pittsburgh, 
and  Lyman   C.    Shreve,  of  Erie. 

DUNKARD,  PA. — The  Dunkard  Township  El.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  by  U.  W.  Tinker  and  D.  M. 
McBride,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  C.  M.  Falck,  of  Bellevue.  The  office  of  the 
company  is  located  in  Pittsburgh. 

HARRISBURG,  PA. — Charters  have  been  granted  to  six  electric  com- 
panies to  operate  in  Lancaster  County,  as  follows:  The  Conoy  Township 
El.  Co..  Eden  Township  El.  Co..  West  Earl  Township  Co.,  Ephrata  Town- 
ship El.  Co.,  Upper  Leacock  El.  Co.  and  Earl  Township  El.  Co.  Each 
company  is  capitalized  at  $5,000  and  will  operate  in  the  district  named. 
W.  W.  Greist,  of  Lancaster,  is  one  of  the  incorporators. 

ORANGEVILLE,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Pine  River  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co., 
Ltd.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $200,000,  The  pro- 
visional directors  are:  F.  H.  Kilborn,  H.  B.  Smith  and  James  Garvie,  all 
nf  Owen   Sound. 


PIPE. — Bulletin  No.  11  of  the  National  Tube  Company.  Frick  Building, 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  refers  to  "National"  pipe  and  contains  a  detailed  state- 
ment defining  the  Spelletizing  process. 

COLORED  LAMP  HOODS.— Bulletin  No.  22  issued  recently  by  the 
Reynolds  Electric  Flasher  Manufacturing  Company,  617  West  Jackson 
Boulevard,  Chicago,  III  .  is  a  descriptive  folder  containing  illustrations  in  g 

color  of  so-called  Reo  hoods.  ■» 

ELECTRIC  VEHILLES.— The  Waverley  Company,  Indianapolis,  Ind., 
has  recently  issued  a  bulletin  for  dealers,  sizes  11  in.  by  16  in.  The  latest 
models  in  the  Waverley  line  are  illustrated  and  described  and  some 
forcible  selling  talk  to   dealers  is   included. 

BUSHINGS.— The  Federal  Sign  System  (Electric),  Chicago,  111.,  is 
sending  out  a  four-page  folder  illustrating  various  types  and  sizes  of 
bushings.  A  single,  small-size  bushing  joining  in  the  center  the  two 
pages  of  the  folder  gives  a  visual  idea  of  the  device. 

ELECTRIC  BLANKET.— The  National  Electric  Company,  506  South 
Fifth  Avenue,  Chicago,  111.,  has  issued  a  small  stretcher  that  tells  about 
the  "Ozone"  electric  blanket.  This  blanket  makes  it  possible  to  secure 
invigorating  sleep  in  fresh  air,  with  sufficient  warmth. 

HEADGATES  AND  HEADGATE  LIFTS.— C.  D.  Butchart,  Denver, 
Col.,  has  recently  issued  three  new  illustrated  bulletins.  No.  9  deals 
with  headgate  lifts.  No.  10  with  headgates  for  irrigation  reservoirs,  and 
No,  11  has  for  its  subject  standard  headgates  for  lateral  irrigation 
systems. 

LIFTING  MAGNETS. — An  attractive  catalog  devoted  to  Browning 
lifting  magnets  has  recently  been  brought  out  by  the  Browning  Engineer- 
ing Company,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  It  is  9  in.  by  12  in.,  and  contains  many 
illustrations  of  typical  installations  of  this  apparatus.  A  brief  description 
is  given  and  a  sectional  view  of  the  construction  of  the  magnet  is  shown 

SOCKETS. — Pass  &  Seymour,  Inc.,  is  distributing  Bulletin  750,  which 
deals  with  its  Presto  interchangeable  sockets.  The  arrangement  of  the 
inside  double  page — which  is  only  half  the  width  of  the  outside  pages — 
shows  how  it  is  possible  to  make  up  twenty-four  different  combinations 
of  sockets  or  receptacles  from  fifteen  parts.  A  part  of  one  socket  can  be 
pictorially  laid  against  some  other  type  and  the  resultant  combination 
is  graphically  shown. 


Business  Notes 


THE  -ALBERGER  PUMP  &  CONDENSER  COMPANY,  140  Cedar 
Street,  New  York,  announces  that  it  now  possesses  the  exclusive  right 
to  manufacture  and  sell  the  Hammond  meter.  This  device  is  used  for 
measuring   boiler-feed   water   and  other   fluids. 

THE  P.\CIFIC  ST.i^TES  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  307  First  Avenue 
South,  Seattle.  Wash.,  with  branch  offices  at  Portland,  Ore.,  San  Fran- 
cisco, Los  .-\ngeles  and  Oakland,  Cal.,  has  purchased  the  Hclabird  Elec- 
tric Company,  of  Seattle,  and  will  continue  to  carry  a  complete  stock 
of    electrical    supplies. 

THE  SOUTHERN  TIER  ENGINEERING  COMP.'\NY,  INC.,  has 
entered  the  engineering  field  in  the  section  of  New  York  State  known 
as  the  Southern  Tier,  with  its  offices  at  No.  738  Security  Mutual  Building. 
Binghamton,  N.  Y.  This  company  will  engage  in  the  consulting  and 
designing  branch  of  the  industry  and  will  specialize  in  energy  transmis- 
sion and  the  design  of  special  machines. 

THE  ALPHA  ELECTRIC.'\L  SUPPLY  COMPANY  in  January  will 
move  from  its  present  location  at  130  West  Thirty-second  Street  to 
116-118  West  Twenty-ninth  Street,  New  York.  In  its  new  quarters  it 
will  occupy  two  floors,  which  contain  8000  sq.  ft.  of  area,  and  it  is 
the  intention  of  the  company  to  open  one  of  the  best  equipped  and 
most  modern  electrical  supply  stores  in  New  York  City.  Mr.  John  F. 
Walsh    is    president   and    general    manager. 

FAIRBANKS,  MORSE  &  COMPANY,  Chicago,  111.,  have  announced 
that  Mr.  Cyril  J.  Atkinson,  patentee  of  the  Atkinson  gas  producer,  has 
become  associated  with  this  company.  A  number  of  Mr.  Atkinson's 
designs  will  be  incorporated  in  the  Fairbanks-Morse  gas  producers  at 
once,  and  his  services  will  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  public  for 
adapting  the  Fairbanks-Morse  product  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the 
various  industries  desiring  to  substitute   producer  gas  for   fuel  oil. 

LOTZ  &  SCHEIBLE. — Messrs.  Rudolph  W.  Lotz  and  Albert  Scheible 
have  announced  the  formation  of  a  partnership  under  the  firm  name  of 
Lotz  &  Scheible  for  the  purpose  of  practising  patent  and  trade-mark 
law  and  of  soliciting  patents  and  the  registration  of  trade  marks  in  all 
countries.  The  new  firm  will  have  offices  at  1601  McCorraick  Building, 
332  South  Michigan  Avenue,  Chicago.  Mr.  Lotz  has  devoted  the  past 
seventeen  years  to  practice  before  the  Patent  Office  and  the  United 
States  courts  in  matters  pertaining  to  patents  and  trade  marks.  Mr. 
Scheible  is  a  mechanical  and  electrical  engineer  and  solicitor  of  patents. 
He  is  a  graduate  of  Purdue  and  Cornell  Universities  and  has  had 
twenty  years*  practical  experience  with  the  development  of  inventions 
from  the  engineering  and  manufacturing  standpoint  and  as  an  expert 
in  patent  cases. 


December  7,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


1239 


Directory  of  Electrical  Associ- 
ations, Societies,  Etc. 

Alabama  Light  and  Traction  Association.  Secretary-treasurer,  11.  O. 
Hanson,  Mobile,  Ala. 

American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  Secretary, 
L.    0.    Howard,    Smithsonian    Institution,    Washington,    D.    C. 

American  Electric  Railway  Accountants'  Association.  Secretary- 
treasurer,  Matthew  R.   Boylan,  Public  Service  Railway  Co.,   Newark,  N.  J. 

American  Electric  Railway  Association.  Secretary,  H.  C.  Donecker, 
29   West   39th   St.,   New   York. 

American  Electric  Railway  Engineering  Association.  Secretary, 
H.   C.   Donecker,   29   West  39th   St.,   New   York. 

American  Electrochemical  Society.  Secretary,  Prof.  J.  W.  Richards, 
Lehigh    University,    South    Bethlehem,    Pa. 

American  Electro-Therapeutic  Association.  Secretary,  Dr.  J.  Wil- 
lard  Travell,   27  E.    11th   St.,   New  York. 

American  Institute  of  Consulting  Engineers.  Secretary-treasurer, 
Eugene  W.  Stern,  103  Park  Ave.,  New  York  City.  The  Council  meets 
the   first    Friday   of   every   month. 

American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary,  F.  L. 
Hutchinson,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York.  Meeting,  second  Friday  of 
each   month,   October-May. 

America.n  Physical  Society.  Secretary,  Ernest  Merritt,  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, Ithaca,  N.   Y. 

American  Water  W^orks  Association.  Secretary,  J.  M.  Diven,  271 
River   St.,   Troy,   N.    Y. 

Arkansas  Association  Public  Utility  Operators.  Secretary,  W.  J. 
Tharp,  Little  Rock,   Ark. 

Association  of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies.  Secretary,  Geo.  C. 
Halbertoh,   Pacific   Gas  &  Elec.    Co.,   San  Francisco,   Cal. 

Association  -of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary, 
James  Farrington,   Steubenville,   Ohio. 

Association  of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers.  Secretary-treasurer, 
Jos.  A.  Andreucetti,   Chicago  &  Northwestern   Railway,  Chicago. 

Association  of  Railway  Telegraph  Superintendents.  Secretary,  P. 
W.  Drew,  112  West  Adams  St.,  Chicago.  Annual  meeting,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
May    20,    1913. 

Colorado  Electric  Club.  Secretary,  C.  F.  Oehtmann.  Meets  every 
Thursday   at    Albany    Hotel,    Denver,    Col. 

Colorado  Electric  Light,  Power  and  Railway  Association.  Secretary. 
Thomas  F.    Kennedy,  900   15th  St.,   Denver,   Col. 

Electric  Club  of  Chicago.  Secretary,  W.  M.  Connelly,  1417  Monad- 
nock  Block,  Chicago.     Meets  every  Thursday  noon  at  Hotel   Sherman. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  New  York  State.  Secre- 
tary, Geo.  W.  Russell,  Jr.,  25  West  42d  St.,  New  York.  Annual  meeting, 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  21,   1913. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  State  of  Missouri.  Secre- 
tary, Ernest  S.  Cowie,   1613  Grand  Ave.,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  Wisconsin.  Secretary,  Albert 
Petermann,   Milwaukee,  Wis. 

Electrical  Credit  Association  of  Chicago.  Secretary,  Frederick  P. 
Vose,  Marquette   Building,  Chicago. 

Electrical  Credit  Association  of  Philadelphia.  Secretary-treasurer, 
John  W.  Crum,  1324  Land  Title  Building,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  Executive 
Committee  meets  second  and  fourth  Thursday  of  each  month. 

Electrical  Salesmen's  Association.  Secretary,  Francis  Raymond,  125 
Michigan  Ave.,  Chicago.     Annual  meeting,  Chicago,  January  each  year. 

Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Association.  Secretary,  Franklin  Over- 
bagh,  411    South   Clinton   St.,   Chicago,   III. 

Electrical  Trades  Association  of  Canada.  Secretary,  William  R. 
Stavely,  Royal  Insurance  Building,  Montreal,  Can. 

Electrical  Trades  Association  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  Secretary, 
Albert  H.  Elliot,  Harding  Building,  34  Ellis  St.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
Meeting,   San  Francisco,  second  Thursday  of  each  month. 

Electrical  Vehicle  -Association  of  America.  Secretary,  Harvey  Robin- 
son, 124  West  42d  Street,  New  York.  Meeting,  fourth  Tuesday  of  each 
month. 

Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America,  New  England  Section. 
Secretary,  W.  E.  Holmes,  46  Blackstone  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Meetings 
monthly  upon  notice. 

Empire  State  Gas  and  Electric  Association.  Secretary,  Charles  H. 
B.  Chapin,  Engineering  Societies  Building,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York. 

Florida  Electric  Light  and  Power  Association.  Secretary,  H.  C. 
Adams,  West  Palm  Beach,  Fla. 

Gas,  Electric  and  Street  Railway  Association  of  Oklahoma.  Secre- 
tary-treasurer, Prof.  H.  V.  Bozell,  Norman,  Okla. 

Illinois  State  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  H.  E.  Chubbuck, 
Peoria,   III. 

Illuminating  Engineering  Society.  General  Secretary,  P.  S.  Millar, 
Engineering  Societies  Building,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York.  Sections 
in  New  York,  New  England,  Philadelphia,  Chicago  and  Pittsburgh. 


Independent  Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  Greater  New 
York.  Secretary,  A.  Newburger,  1153  Myrtle  Ave.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Meetings  second  and  fourth  Wednesdays,  New  Grand  Hotel,  New  York. 

Indiana  Electric  Light  Association.  Secretary  and  treasurer,  J.  V. 
Zartman,   120  So.   Meridian  St.,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

Institute  of  Radio  Engineers.  Secretary,  E.  J.  Simon,  81  New  St., 
New  York.     Meeting,   first  Monday  of  each  month. 

International  Association  for  Testing  Materials.  Secretary,  H.  J. 
F.  Porter,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York. 

International  Association  of  Municipal  Electricians.  Secretary, 
C.  R.  George,  Houston,  Tex. 

International  Combustion  Engineers'  Association.  President, 
Charles  Kratsch,  416  W.  Indiana  St.,  Chicago.  Meeting,  second  Friday 
of  each  month  at  Lewis  Institute. 

International  Electrical  Congress.  Secretary,  J.  A.  Barr,  Expo- 
sition BIdg.,  San  Francisco,  Cal.     San  Francisco,  1915. 

International  Electsotechnical  Commission  (international  body 
representing  various  national  electrical  engineering  societies  contributing 
to  its  support).  General  secretary,  C.  le  Maistre,  28  Victoria  St.,  West- 
minster,  London,   S.   W.,   England.     Next  meeting  at  Berlin  in   1913. 

Iowa  Electrical  Association.  Affiliated  with  N.  E.  L.  A.  Annual 
convention,  Waterloo,  April  23-24,  1913.  Secretary,  H.  B.  Maynard, 
Waterloo,  la. 

Iowa  Street  and  Interurban  Railway  Association.  Secretary,  H.  E. 
Weeks,  Davenport,   la.     Annual  meeting,  April,   1913,   Waterloo,  la. 

Jovian  Order.  Jupiter  (president),  F.  E.  Watts,  Western  Electric  Co., 
New  York;  Mercury   (secretary),  E.  C.  Bennett,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Kansas  Gas,  Water,  Electric  Light  and  Street  Railway  Association. 
Secretary-treasurer,   W.  H.   Fellows,  Leavenworth,  Kan. 

Louisiana  Electrical  Contractors'  Association.  Secretary,  W.  H. 
Bower  Spangenberg,  625  Poydras  St.,  New  Orleans,  La.  Meets  second 
Thursday  of  each  month. 

Maine  Electric  Association.  Secretary,  Walter  S.  Wyman,  Water- 
ville,  Maine. 

Minnesota  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  E.  F.  Strong,  Chaska, 
Minn.      Sixth  annual  convention,   March   15-22,   1913. 

Missouri  Electric,  Gas,  Street  Railway  and  Water  Works  Associa- 
tion. Secretary-treasurer,  P.  W.  Markham,  Brookfield,  Mo.  Next 
convention  at  Mexico,  Mo.,  1913. 

National  Arm,  Pin  and  Bracket  Association.  Secretary,  J.  B.  Magers, 
Madison,   Ind. 

National  Association  of  Electrical  Inspectors.  Secretary-treasurer, 
Wm.   L.   Smith,  Concord,  Mass. 

National  District  Heating  Association.  Secretary,  D.  L.  Gaskill, 
Greenville,   Ohio.     Annual   meeting,   Indianapolis,   Ind.,   May  27-29,    1913. 

National  Electrical  Contractors'  Association  of  the  United  States. 
Secretary,  W.   H.   Morton,   41   Martin   Building,  Utica,  N.   Y. 

National  Electric  Credit  Association.  Secretary,  Frederick  P.  Vose, 
1343   Marquette   Building,   Chicago. 

National  Electric  Light  Association.  Executive  secretary,  T.  C. 
Martin,  Engineeiing  Societies  Building,  33  West  39th  St.,  New  York. 
Annual   meeting,   Chicago,   May,    1913. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Canadian  Section.  Secre- 
tary, T.   S.   Young,   220  King  St.   West,  Toronto,  Can. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Commercial  Section.  Secre- 
tary, E.  L.  Callahan,  29  West  39th  St.,  New  York. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Eastern  New  York  Section. 
Secretary,  R.  H.  Carlton,  General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady,  N.   Y. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Georgia  Section.  Secretary- 
treasurer,   M.   H.   Hendle,  Augusta,   Ga. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Michigan  Section.  Secretary, 
Herbert  Silvester,   18  Washington  Boulevard,   Detroit,  Mich. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Mississippi  Section.  Secre- 
tary, A.  H.  Jones,  McComb  City,  Miss. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Nebraska  Section.  Secretary- 
treasurer,  S.  J.  Bell,  David  City,  Neb. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  New  England  Section.  Sec- 
retary, Miss  O.  A.  Bursiel,  149  Tremont  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Northwest  Section.  Secre- 
tary, N.  W.  Brockett,  Pioneer  Building,  Seattle,  Wash. 

National  Electric  Light  Association,  Hydroelectric  and  Power 
Transmission  Section.  Secretary,  Farley  Osgood,  Public  Service  Elec- 
tric Company,  Newark,  N.  J. 

National  Fire  Protection  Association.  Secretary,  Ralph  Sweetland, 
141  Milk  Street,  Boston,  Mass.  Next  annual  meeting.  New  York,  March, 
1913. 

National  Independent  Telephone  Association.  Secretary-treasurer, 
Richard  Valentine,  Janesville,   Wis. 

New  England  Electrical  Credit  Association.  Secretary,  Alton  F. 
Tupper,  60  State  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  Directors  meet  lirst  Wednesday  of 
each  month. 


240 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


New  England  Electric  Devei-opment  Association.  Secretary,  Zenas 
\V.  Carter,  53  State  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

New  England  Street  Railway  Cli-b.  Secretary,  John  J.  Lane,  12 
Pearl   Si.,   Boston,    Mass.      Meets   last   Thursday   of  each   month. 

New  Orleans  Electkical  Contractors'  Association.  Secretary,  S.  J. 
Stewart,  312  Carondelet  St.,  New  Orleans,  La.  Meetings,  second  and 
fourth  Tuesday  of  each  month. 

New  York  Electrical  Credit  Association  (affiliated  with  the  National 
Electrical  Credit  Association).  Secretary,  Franz  Neilson,  80  Wall  St., 
N'ew  York.     Board  of  Directors  meets  second  Thursday  of  each  month. 

New  York  Electrical  Society.  Secretary.  G.  H.  Guy.  Engineering 
Societies  Building,  33  West  39th  St.,  New  York. 

New    York    Electric    Railway    Association. 
Dietz,   United  Traction  Company,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Ohio  Electric   Light  Association.      Secretary 
ville,  Ohio. 

Ohio  Society  of  Mechanical,  Electrical  and  Steam  Engineers.  Sec- 
retary,   Prof.    F.    E.    Sanborn.    Ohio    State    University,    Columbus,    Ohio. 

Pennsylvania  Electric  Association  (State  Section  N.  E.  L-  A.). 
Secretary-treasurer.  Walter  E.  Long,   1000  Chestnut  St..  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Pittsburgh    Electrical    Booster    Club.      Recording    Watt.    George    H. 


Secretary,     Charles    C 
D.    L.    Gaskill,    Green- 


Criss,  1806  Union  Bank  Building.  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  Meeting,  tirst  Mon- 
day  each   month. 

Railway  Signal  Association.  Secretary,  C.  E.  Rosenberg.  Bethlehem, 
Pa. 

Society  for  Electrical  Development,  Inc.  Secretary,  Philip  S.  Dodd, 
29  West  39th  Street.  New  York. 

Society  fob  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education.  Secretary, 
Prof.  H.  H.  Norris.  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

Southwestern  Electrical  and  Gas  Association  Secretary,  H.  S. 
Cooper,  405   Slaughter  Building,  Dallas,  Texas. 

Vermont  Electrical  Association.  Secretary-treasurer,  A.  B.  Mars- 
den,   Manchester,  Vt. 

Western  Association  of  Electrical  Inspectors.  Secretary,  W.  S. 
Boyd.  76  West  Monroe  St..  Chicago,  111.  Convention,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
Tan.  28-30,  1913. 

Western  Society  of  Engineers.  Electrical  Section.  Secretary,  J.  H. 
Warder,  1737  Monadnock  Block,  Chicago.  Regular  meeting,  fourth 
Monday  of  each  month,  except  January,  July  and  August.  Annual 
meeting,  Tuesday  after  Jan.  1  each  year. 

Wisconsin  Electrical  Association.  Secretary,  George  Allison,  Ste- 
phenson  Building.    Milwaukee,   Wis. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED    STATES    PATENTS    ISSUED    NOV.    26,    1912. 

(Prepared   by   Robert   Starr   Allyn,    16   Exchange   Place,   New    York.] 

1,045,141.  CIRCUIT-BREAKER;  VV.  F.  Hanst,  Carnegie,  Pa,  App. 
filed  May  25,  1911.  For  open-circuit  worn  on  local  battery  in 
telegraphy. 

1,045.147.  PROCESS  OF  MAKING  AND  MOUNTING  COMMUT.V 
TORS;  F.  P.  Huyck,  Toledo,  Ohio.  App.  filed  Dec.  4,  1909.  A 
ring   is  separated   into   segments   after   mounting. 

1.045.158.  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE;  R.  Lundell,  New  York, 
N.  Y.  App.  filed  Feb.  20,  1909.  Direct-current  machine  with  posi- 
tive  commutating  field. 

1.045.159.  INTERPOLE  FIELD  MAGNET;  R.  Lundell,  New  York, 
N.  Y.  App.  filed  Feb.  7,  1910.  Laminated  field  and  rigid  skeleton 
frame. 

1,045.212.     ELECTRICAL  CONTACT;  H.  F.   Stratton,   Cleveland,  Ohio. 

App.  filed  Aug.   19,   1912.     Yielding  contact  for  drum-type  controller. 
1,045,256.     OUTLET    BOX;    O.    Carman,    Indianapolis,    Ind.      App.    filed 

Sept.   28,    1908.     Adjustable  leveling  floor  plate. 

1,045,262.  TROLLEY  HANGER;  R.  O.  Couch,  Charleston,  W.  Va. 
App.  filed  May  24,  1911.  Parts  for  simultaneously  clamging  the 
wire    and    the    support. 

1,045,271.  SIGNALING  CIRCUIT  FOR  TRAIN  DISPATCHING;  J. 
C.  Field,  Orange,  N.  J.  App.  filed  April  5,  1911.  Party-line  se- 
lective   step-by-step   devices. 

1,045.280.  SPRING  CONNECTOR;  T.  G.  Grier  and  H.  M.  Fisk,  Chi- 
cago,  111.     App.    filed  April   8,    1912.      Binding   post  clip. 

1,045,288.  OIL  SWITCH;  E.  M.  Hewlett,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  App. 
filed    Feb.    23,    1906.       Fluid-pressure-operated    mechanism. 

1,045,291.  B.\TTERY-CHARGE  INDICATION;  W.  E.  Holland,  East 
Orange,  N.  J.  .-\pp.  filed  June  10,  1911.  Depends  upon  observing 
the  gas  bubbles  given   off. 

1.045,306.  BUSY-TEST  SYSTEM  FOR  PARTY-TELEPHONE 
LINES;  F.  R.  McBerty,  New  Rochelle,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Dec. 
18,    1909.      Separate    test    terminal    for    each    responsive    device. 

1,045310.  SANITARY  DEVICE  FOR  TELEPHONES;  I.  P.  Mills, 
San  Francisco,  Cal.  App.  filed  June  29,  1911.  .\ntiseptic  mouth- 
piece ring. 

1.045,318.  AUTOMATIC  KEYBOARD  PLAYER; 
Karlstad,  Sweden.  App.  filed  March  25,  1909. 
ting  tools  for  forming  impressions. 

1.045,320.  ELECTRIC  HEATER  FOR  RANGES; 
Binghamton,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Nov.  25,  1911. 
gas  stoves,  etc. 

1.045,332.  PORTABLE  ELECTRIC  WELDING  TOOL;  T.  W.  Shef- 
fer,   Berwick,  Pa.     .-Kpp.  filed  May   13,   1912.     Hand  tool. 

1.045,353.  INSULATOR  FOR  AUTOMATICALLY  SECURING  CON- 
DUCTING WIRES;  F.  Zachhuber,  Nuremberg,  Germany.  App. 
filed   Oct.   26,    1911.      Slotted   head  and   clamp. 

1,045,361.  RHEOST-\T;  L.  Beck,  Norwood.  Ohio.  App.  filed  Oct.  2. 
1909.     For  internal-combustion   motor  switchboard. 

1,045.394.  AUTOM.\TIC  SWITCH;  W.  Griebe  and  D.  C.  Ruth, 
Brooklyn,  N.  V.  -^pp.  filed  Nov.  18,  1911.  Cut-out  automatically 
operated   by    the   knee.      For    linotypes,    etc. 

1,045413.  INDUCTIVE  TELEPHONE  AND  TELEGRAPHING  IN- 
STALL.-VTION;  H.  Von  Kramer,  Erdington,  Birmingham,  Eng- 
land. App.  filed  Aug.  17,  1911.  Wireless  apparatus  for  railroad 
trade  use. 

1,045,444.  ELECTRIC  PIANO;  H.  K.  Sandell,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed  July  5,    1910.     Control   of  tone   modifying. 

1,045,463.  AUTOMATIC  SAFETY  DEVICE  FOR  RAILWAYS;  E. 
Unverricht,  Hamburg,  Germany.  App.  filed  Aug.  17,  1910.  Tilting 
circuit  changer. 

1.043.496.  AUTOMOBILE  CONTROL;  L  F.  Baker,  East  Orange,  N.  J. 
-Vpp.  filed  June  7.  1909.  Combination  gasoline  motor,  electric  gen- 
erator and  electric  drive. 

1,045,513.  TELEPHONE  EXCHANGE  SYSTEM;  E.  E.  Clement, 
Washington,  D.  C.  .^pp.  filed  .^pril  15,  1905.  Divided  multiple 
switchboard. 


C.     W.     Nystrom, 
Two    or   more   cut- 

L.     F.     Parkhurst, 
To    be    used    with 


1,045.536.     INSULATOR    PIN;    C.    G.    Ette,    St.    Louis.    Mo.      .\pp.    filed 

March  30,   1912.     Metal  pin  designed  to  avoid  breaking  the  insulator. 
1,045,538.     TROLLEY    MECHANISM;    D.    T.    Fisher,    Columbus,    Ohio. 

.'\pp.  filed  April   16,   1910.     Spring  and  hinged  support  for  mine  use. 

etc. 
1,045.546.  CENTRAL   ENERGY  TELEPHONE   SYSTEM;   C.   L. 

Goodrum,    Philadelphia     Pa.      App.    filed    April    6,    1903.      Line    and 

supervisory   signaling   devices. 
1,0-15,572.     SWITCH   AND    CONNECTING   DEVICE    FOR    ELECTRIC 

CONDUCTORS;    N.    D.    Levin.    Columbus,    Ohio.      App.    filed    March 

25,   1910.      Inclosed  contacts  for  mine  use,   etc. 

1,045,575.  METHOD  OF  LOCATING  SUBTERRANEAN  STRATA; 
H.  Lovry,  Gottingen,  Germany.  App.  filed  June  3,  1912.  Testing 
bv  means  of  wireless   waves   of  known   length. 

1,045.581.  FOLDABLE  SHOE  FOR  THIRD-RAIL  ELECTRIC  CARS; 
L.  A.  McCourrie  and  C.  F.  Raydure,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  App.  filed 
Tune   8.    1912.      Hinged    spring   pressed   and   adjustable. 

1.045,600.  TELEPHONE  TRANSMISSION  SYSTEM;  J.  C.  R. 
Palmer.  Brooklyn.  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Dec.  16,  1910.  For  long-dis- 
tance  substation    work. 

1,045,615.  ELECTRIC  SOLDERING  IRON;  F.  A.  Sandstrom,  Chi- 
cago, 111.  .^pp.  filed  Sept.  5,  1911.  .Arc  between  copper  tip  and  car- 
bon   pencil. 

1.045,626.  TERMINAL  FOR  BRANCH  LINES  OF  DIFFERENT 
CROSS-SECTION;  H.  Starcke,  Cologne,  Germany.  .\pp.  filed  Oct. 
2,    1911.      V-shaped   spring   clip. 

1,045.638.  ELECTROTHERMOSTATIC  TEMPER.\TURE  CONTROL- 
LER; B.  F.  Teal.  Glenside,  Pa.  App.  filed  July  30,  1910.  Motor- 
actuated    dampers   and   indicator. 

1,045.641.  V.APOR  ELECTRIC  DEVICE;  E.  Thompson,  Swampscott. 
Mass.  .'\pp.  filed  Dec.  7,  1906.  Gas  is  driven  into  an  extension 
and   sealed   off. 

1,045,659.  FUSE;  J.  H.  Alspach,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  .-^pp.  filed  March  1, 
1912.      Cartridge    type    with    detachable    cap    ends. 

1.045.679.  TOOL  FOR  MANIPULATING  WIRES  ON  HIGH-VOLT 
.■\GE  CIRCUITS;  T.  Cronin,  Wapakoneta,  Ohio.  .\pp.  filed  May  13. 
1912.  An  insulator  is  interposed  between  the  operating  and  handle 
ends. 

1.045.680.  IMPLEMENT  FOR  MANIPULATING  WIRES  ON  HIGH- 
VOLTAGE  CIRCUITS;  T.  Cronin,  Wapakoneta,  Ohio.  .\np.  filed 
May    13.    1912.      The   hantfle   carries  an   insulator  with   wire   hooks. 

1,045.686.  INDICATOR;  A.  F.  Dixon.  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed 
Sept.    26,    1908.      For    semi-automatic    telephone-exchange    trunk    line. 

1,045,692.  ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  A.  G.  FitzGerald.  Haverhill,  Mass. 
App.   filed  June   23,    1911.     Solenoid-operated. 

1,045,697.  CABLE  TERMINAL  STRUCTURE;  S.  P.  Grace,  Pitts- 
burgh. Pa.  App.  filed  Tan.  15.  1908.  .\ir-bell  cover  for  under- 
ground   cable   work. 

1,043.703.  ARC-LAMP  CUT-OUT;  C.  A.  B.  Halvorson,  Jr.,  Lynn. 
Mass.      .\pp.    filed    Aug.   27,    1908.      Spring-pressed   ball    contacts. 

1,045,706.  ELECTRIC  HORN;  M.  E.  Hepburn.  Elgin,  111.  App.  filed 
Oct.    26,    1911.      Electromagnetically    operated    diaphragm. 

1,043,718.  TRE.ATMENT  OF  SURFACES  OF  ALUMINUM  OR  ITS 
ALLOYS  FOR  THE  DEPOSITION  OF  METALS  THEREON; 
Q.  Marino.  Golders  Green,  London,  England.  ■\pp.  filed  .\pril  29, 
1912.  The  surface  is  treated  with  fluoride  and  potassium  tartrate. 
ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  A.  H.  Nero,  New  Britain,  Conn, 
filed    Oct.    7,    1911.      Two-piece    porcelain-base    and    lamp-socket 


1,045,733. 

-App. 

type. 
1.045.758. 

filed, 
1,045.769. 


Mass.       .App. 


TROLLEY;    L.    J.    Tetlow,    West    Springfield, 

May    12,    1911.      Spring    contacts. 

PROCESS     FOR     THE     REDUCTION     OF     SULPH.ATES; 

V.  Bollo  and  E.  Cadenaccio.  Genoa,  Italy.     -\pp.   filed  Nov.  21.   1910. 

The  material  is   healed   with  a   reducing  agent   and  a  catalytic   agent. 

1,045,773.     QUICK-ACTION    ELECTRIC    SWITCH;    J.    A.    Cole,    New 

York,    N.    Y.      App.    filed    Aug.    30,    1911.      The    parts    are    inclosed 

behind    the   switchboard. 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


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Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  DECEMBER  14,  1912. 


No.  24. 


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CONTENTS. 


Editorials     "  ■ '. 

N.  E.   L.  A.   Committee   Meeting  in   Chicago 

Nominations  for  Officers  of  A.  I.  E.  E 

The    President's    Message   to    Congress..^ ,' c  V I 

Rathenau  Medal  Founded  in  American  Museum  of  bafety 

I    E.  S.  Annual  Meeting., ,' ' ', ' '  m 

Recommendations  to  Congress  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy 

The  Electric  Vehicle  at  Boston 

Electrical    Progress    in    New    Zealand 

Patent  Legislation  in  New  Zealand 

President   Tatt   on   Export  Trade •  ■  •  •  • J'VffiVi^,^rv 

Report    of.  Patent    Office    Investigation    by    Economy    and    Efficiency 

Commission    * '  \'  ' '  '  i-L'    ■'     -n      *.-  „ 

Trial  of  Patent  Causes  Affected  by  New  Rules  of  Equity  Practice. . 
National  Civic  Federation's  Investigation  of  Public  Utility  Laws_. . 

Comment  on  Public  Service  Commission  Affairs  in  New  York  First 

District 

Public    Service    Commission    News 

Current  News  and   Notes : 

New    Norwegian    Hydroelectric    Project..^.... ''' r" vil    '<I\^',^ 

-"^^W  r  En"RoL-'uSv%fna^an'^d°l.^i:^  ^cD^nieXl-^: 

Motor-Driven  Winches  and  Pulley  Hoists.     By  H.  Thieme 

Electricity   Versus   Gas   for   Street  Lighting.     By  T.    Osborne 

Separation  of  Prompt-Payment  and  Quantity  Discounts 

Photometry  for  the  Central  Station •  • ■  ■ 

Extensive  Operations  of  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Company |. 

Cost  of  Underground   Conduit   Construction 

Safety  Rules  for   Electrical  Construction 

Ornamental  Street  Lighting  at  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y 

The   Tendency    in   Modern   Window   Lighting 

Semi-Indirect   Light    of   a    Chicago    Bank ^ 

Recent  Telephone  Patents 

Letters  to  the  Editors: 

A  National   Electrical   Testing  Laboratory.      By  M.   Sarbinsky . . .  . 
Methods  of  Computing  Depreciation.     By.  Halbert  P.  Gillette.... 

Digest  of  Current   Electrical   Literature 

Book     Reviews 

New  Apparatus  and  Appliances. 

Industrial  and   Financial  News 

Weeklv    Record    of    Electrical    Patents 


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1282 

.    1292 


GROWING  ELECTRICAL  EXPORTS. 

In  commenting  upon  the  returns  of  the  Department  of 
Commerce  and  Labor  for  electrical  exports  during  July,  we 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  data  had  been  thrown 
into  new  form.  The  old  divisions  of  electrical  instruments 
and  electrical  machinery — a  fairly  sensible  and  natural  dif- 
ferentiation between  things  one  can  handle  and  things  he 
cannot  lift — were  merged  into  a  new  classification  of  "elec- 
trical machinery,  appliances  and  instruments."  Here  is  cov- 
ered the  entire  range  between  a  delicate  wireless  set  and 
an  electric  motor  or  locomotive— but  if  one  cannot  get 
rather  fine  details,  the  whole  lot  of  stuff  might  just  as  well 
be  lumped  this  way.  And  yet  there  are  subdivisions  of 
various  kinds,  such  as  electrical  machinery  as  one  class  and 
motors  or  generators  as  another  class,  with  fans  thrown  in 
as  a  kind  of  intermediary  makeweight.  Then  there  are  arc 
and  incandescent  lamps,  motors,  telegraph  instruments  and 
telephones,  and  then  that  embracing  class,  like  Christian 
charity,  covering  a  multitude  of  exporters,  "all  others." 
The  joke  is  that  in  August  "all  others"  came  to  $1,398,159 
out  of  $2,100,761,  which  hardly  seems  fair.  We  feel  that  an 
"all  others"  class  is  subject  to  suspicion  and  explanation  and 
ought  to  show  just  who  the  contributors  were. 

Overlooking  these  essential  details,  it  is  interesting  and 
encouraging  to  note  that,  as  in  July,  the  figures  of  elec- 
trical export  for  both  August  and  September  show  consider- 
able increase.  The  total  for  July  was  $1,932,619,  as  com- 
pared with  the  same  month  in  191 1  of  $1,291,929.  In 
August  the  figures  were  $2,100,761,  as  compared  with 
$1,391,689,  while  in  September  the  returns  were  $1,852,400 
against  $1,500,600.  If  we  knew  a  little  more  about  our 
"all  others"  emigrant  electrical  apparatus,  it  would  be  possi- 
ble to  offer  some  modest  comments  on  the  course  of  trade, 
but  the  overwhelming  obscurity  of  two-thirds  of  the  values 
given  reduces  a  critic  to  the  position  of  one  trying  to  ex- 
plain under  just  which  thimble  the  Republican  vote  could 
be  found  in  the  last  political  campaign. 


THE  BERGEN  HYDROELECTRIC  FLANT. 

In  this  issue  there  is  described  an  important  project  for 
energy  transmission  which  has  just  been  carried  out  by  the 
city  of  Bergen,  Norway.  Situated  as  Bergen  is,  at  about 
60  deg.  north  latitude,  lighting  is  a  more  than  usually 
important  consideration  throughout  certain  months.  More- 
over, the  city  is  active  as  a  commercial  and  manufacturing 
center  and  an  important  port  with  a  considerable  amount 
of  shipbuilding.  The  mountains  of  Norway  lie  near  the 
coast  and  the  water-powers  therefore  are  not  remote  and 
are  advantageous  to  develop  on  account  of  generally  high 
heads.  From  a  hydraulic  standpoint  the  situation  is 
interesting.     The  west  coast  of  Norway  is  notable  for  very 


1242 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24. 


high  precipitation,  subject,  as  is  frequently  the  case  in 
similar  situations,  to  large  variations  from  place  to  place. 
In  this  case  the  hydraulic  resources  consist  of  an  upper  lake, 
which  receives  the  water  from  four  small  rivers,  and  a 
lower  lake,  600  ft.  below  and  somewhat  nearer  the  coast, 
which  unite  in  sending  their  discharge  into  a  third  lake 
22  miles  from  Bergen.  Here  the  present  plant  is  located. 
At  the  lower  level  the  precipitation  averages  100  in.  per 
year,  while  on  the  upper  drainage  area  the  average  rises  to 
150  in.  This  large  difference  between  drainage  areas  only 
a  few  miles  apart  is  both  instructive  and  characteristic. 
The  project  now  carried  out  involves  the  utilization  of  the 
lower  fall  of  a  little  over  500  ft.  and  the  regulation  of  the 
flow  at  the  upper  reservoir,  which  will  be  utilized  later. 

In  the  development  of  the  lower  fall  it  was  necessary  to 
carry  a  tunnel  2.5  miles  to  the  forebay  from  which  the  pen- 
stocks pass.  The  present  generating  equipment,  which 
utilizes  only  a  small  part  of  the  full  power  available,  consists 
of  three  3000-kw,  50-cycle,  three-phase  generators,  wound 
for  7250  volts.  These  are  directly  coupled  to  turbines  of  the 
Francis  type,  yielding  3500  hp  at  500  r.p.ni.  The  exciters 
running  at  the  same  speed  are  driven  by  wheels  of  the 
Pelton  type.  It  is  somewhat  interesting  to  see  these  two 
.•\merican  hydraulic  improvements  coming  into  their  own  in 
foreign  practice.  Each  generator  is  connected  to  its  own 
3000-kw  water-cooled  transformer,  with  which  ordinarily 
it  is  operated  as  a  unit.  In  case  of  a  breakdown  provision  is 
made  for  connecting  to  auxiliary  busbars  so  that  the  system 
can  be  worked  with  any  one  of  its  units  out  of  service.  This 
treatment  of  generator  and  transformer  as  a  working  unit 
tends  greatly  to  the  simplification  of  the  system  and  is  a 
scheme  decidedly  to  be  commended.  A  great  deal  is  some- 
times sacrificed  in  stations  to  secure  an  altogether  needless 
degree  of  flexibility.  One  does  not  require  in  a  steam- 
driven  station  that  each  steam  turbine  should  be  arranged 
so  as  to  operate  any  one  of  the  electrical  generators,  and 
there  is  no  particular  reason  why  water-driven  generator 
and  transformer  together  should  not  be  regarded  as  the 
fundamental  operating  unit. 

The  transmission  line,  about  22  miles  in  length,  is  worked 
at  approximately  50,000  volts  with  solid  hard-drawn  copper 
conductors  carried  on  three-disk  suspension  insulators.  The 
supporting  structure  carrying  the  double  circuits  with  a 
spacing  between  wires  of  about  6  ft.  we  commend  to  our 
readers  as  representing  an  important  development  in  line 
construction  well  known  abroad  but  little  honored  here. 
The  standard  support,  as  shown  in  our  illustration,  is  not  a 
tower  in  the  sense  in  which  the  word  is  used  here,  but  a 
carefully  designed,  although  slender-looking,  "A-frame." 
This  somewhat  flexible  structure  is  replaced  at  angles  and 
similar  points  of  special  stress  by  a  four-legged  anchor 
tower.  The  average  span  is  560  ft.  This  structure  of  skil- 
fully anchored  A-frames  is  both  economical  and  effective, 
and  the  fact  that  it  has  been  adopted  for  the  somewhat  for- 
midable winter  climate  of  Norway  ought  to  encourage  its 
more  frequent  trial  in  American  practice.  Work  in  the 
further  development  of  the  great  power  available  for  Bergen 
is  soon  to  be  undertaken,  and  within  a  short  time  that  city 
should  be  as  well  provided  with  hydroelectric  power  as  is 
any  place  of  its  size  in  the  world. 


THE  PRACTICAL  LIGHTING  ECONOMICS  OF  HIGH-PRESSURE  GAS. 

The  article  by  Mr.  T.  Osborne  on  the  competitive  tests  of 
electric  flame-arc  lamps  and  high-pressure  gas  lamps  in  the 
municipal  lighting  of  Manchester,  England,  contains  much 
that  is  worth  consideration.  The  municipal  authorities 
decided  to  make  a  thorough  examination  of  the  two  systems, 
two  well-known  experts  being  retained  to  investigate  the 
whole  matter.  Two  important  streets,  one  lighted  by 
magazine  flame-arc  lamps  and  the  other  by  "press-gas" 
lamps,  were  taken  for  comparison.  The  former  lamps  were 
equipped  with  clear  inner  globes  and  opalescent  outer  globes 
and  were  hung  27.5  ft.  above  the  center  of  the  street,  spaced 
roughly  120  ft.  At  the  important  angle  of  20  deg.  to  25  deg. 
below  the  horizontal  these  arc  lamps  give  a  little  short  of 
3000  cp  on  the  average,  and  each  lamp  contains  fourteen 
pairs  of  electrodes  having  an  average  life  of  at  least  five 
hours  per  pair.  The  minimum  illumination  produced  by  the 
lamps  spaced  as  described  was  fully  up  to  0.5  foot-candle,  a 
figure  we  take  pleasure  in  commending  to  the  consideration 
of  American  municipal  authorities.  The  press-gas  lamps, 
spaced  somewhat  more  closely,  gave  1750  cp.  Much  of  the 
article  is  directed  toward  the  analysis  of  costs,  which  would 
have  to  be  modified  if  one  were  making  similar  computa- 
tions for  American  conditions.  It  is  worth  noting,  how- 
ever, that  the  electrodes  cost  only  $18.24  per  1000  pairs,  a 
fact  of  interest  to  tariff  reformers. 

As  regards  reliability  of  service,  the  experts  found  a  con- 
siderable advantage  in  the  use  of  the  flame-arc  lamps, 
which,  moreover,  showed  less  variation  between  the  ex- 
tremes of  candle-power.  Either  system,  however,  seems  to 
have  been  reasonably  reliable.  On  the  basis  of  light  for 
equal  cost  the  flame-arc  lamp,  as  might  be  expected,  shows 
to  great  advantage,  costing  less  than  one-third  as  much  as 
the  equivalent  press-gas  lamps.  They  also  cost  less  in 
capital  charges  than  do  the  press-gas  lamps.  From  every 
point  of  view  the  flame-arc  lamps  are  better  than  the  press- 
gas  lamps  in  the  matter  of  economy,  and  indeed  it  was  found 
that  even  if  the  gas  lamps  had  been 'working  at  double  the 
efficiency  actually  reached  in  practice  they  still  would  have  , 
been  less  economical  than  the  electric-arc  lamps.  I 

The  results  of  these  tests,  which  will  well  repay  much  more 
than  a  cursory  examination,  are  quite  in  line  with  the 
results  of  impartial  investigation  elsewhere.  We  do  not  , 
attach  great  importance  to  figures  of  cost  made  in  frankly  I 
competitive  plants,  but  in  this  case  the  municipality  was 
operating  both  systems  and  desired  for  its  own  information 
the  real  facts  as  to  relative  economy.  Press-gas  lamps  fur- 
nish under  favorable  circumstances  an  admirable  and  fairly 
cheap  form  of  illumination,  much  cheaper  than  gas  lamps 
not  used  under  pressure,  much  cheaper  also  than  the  older 
forms  of  electric-arc  lamps ;  but  when  they  come  into  com- 
petition with  a  first-class  installation  of  modern  flame  or 
luminous-arc  lamps  the  balance  turns  quite  the  other  way. 
even  at  foreign  prices  for  gas.  In  this  country  the  dif- 
ference is  still  further  exaggerated,  and  the  reason  why 
press  gas  has  not  been  introduced  into  American  practice  to 
any  considerable  extent  becomes  suflSciently  evident.  In 
addition,  it  seems  to  be  a  general  rule  that  the  high-efiiciency 
gas  equipments  developed  abroad  do  not  in  their  original 
forms  give  as  good  service  on   American  as  on   European 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


1243 


gas-lighting  systems.  This  is  not  necessarily  to  the  dis- 
credit of  the  former.  It  merely  indicates  that  the  conditions 
of  maximum  efficiency  have  changed  and  that  the  burners 
must  be  modified  to  meet  these  conditions,  which  involves 
not  a  little  hard  work  and  development  expense.  Certainly, 
on  the  showing  of  Mr.  Osborne's  paper  there  is  very  little 
encouragement  for  American  municipalities  to  take  up 
press-gas  lamps  when  efficient  flame-arc  lamps  can  be 
obtained.  The  Manchester  flame-arc  lamps  undoubtedly 
showed  a  low  specific  consumption,  a  little  less  than  0.24 
watt  per  candle  for  the  light  at  the  useful  angle,  which  is  a 
very  good  performance  for  a  lamp  with  an  opal  globe.  The 
gas  lamps  apparently  showed  somewhat  higher  consumption 
than  had  been  reached  in  other  places,  but  the  discrepancy 
in  results  was  so  great  as  completely  to  swamp  any  variations 
of  such  sort.  On  the  showing  made  in  Manchester,  the 
American  central  station  has  little  reason  to  worry  about 
the  possible  introduction  of  press  gas  in  this  country. 


THE  PATENT  OFnCE. 

Elsewhere  will  be  found  an  abstract  of  the  report  of 
President  Taft's  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency, 
which  has  just  completed  an  investigation  of  the  Patent 
Office  under  the  authorization  of  Congress.  This,  as  we 
have  pointed  out  before,  is  but  one  of  the  phases  of  the 
broader  question  of  patent  reform  and  represents  a  piece- 
meal method  of  attack  not  best  suited  to  disposing  of  the 
subject.  Nevertheless,  the  report  calls  attention  to  some  of 
the  well-known  abuses  and  defects  under  the  present  system 
and  merits  careful  study.  The  housing  of  the  patent  depart- 
ments is  seriously  deficient  in  various  respects,  important 
among  which  is  the  large  fire  hazard.  The  examining  force 
is  deficient  and  underpaid,  and  the  administrative  super- 
vision which  the  commissioner  and  his  aids  are  now  able  to 
give  is  insufficient.  It  is  proposed  to  abolish  one  appeal 
within  the  office  in  order  to  expedite  procedure  and  also  to 
raise  the  initial  or  filing  fee  from  $15  to  $20  to  cover  fully 
the  cost  of  an  adequate  search  and  examination. 

One  of  the  prominent  abuses  under  the  present  system  is 
the  practice  of  keeping  applications  pending  in  the  office  for 
years.  This  it  is  proposed  to  correct  by  dating  a  patent 
from  the  time  of  filing  application,  allowing  perhaps  two 
years  for  getting  the  application  through  the  office  to  issue. 
It  is  recommended  that  the  important  work  of  digesting  and 
reclassifying  the  knowledge  of  each  art  down  to  date  be 
supported  by  a  special  appropriation  and  completed  as 
speedily  as  possible.  The  commission  exceeded  the  authority 
granted  by  Congress  and  canvassed  the  sentiment  for  a 
single  Court  of  Patent  Appeals,  which  it  favors,  and  set 
forth  the  German  and  English  laws  in  reference  to  com- 
pulsory license  and  working.  The  remedy  for  granting 
invalid  patents,  the  commission  concludes,  lies  in  perfecting 
the  examination  system,  which  is  now  inadequate.  No  hear- 
ings were  held  and  no  testimony  was  taken,  but  opinions 
were  solicited  by  circular.  If  the  work  of  the  commission 
is  open  to  any  substantial  criticism,  it  is  probably  in  the 
respect  that  the  replies  to  its  circulars  of  inquiry  were 
unduly  representative  of  patent  attorneys,  whose  views  of 
the  needs  of  the  situation  cannot  be  accepted  as  altogether 
altruistic. 


THE  SILVER  VOLTAMETER. 

We  print  on  another  page  of  this  number  the  first  two 
of  a  short  series  of  articles  by  Dr.  Rosa  and  his  collabora- 
tors at  the  Bureau  of  Standards  on  certain  experimental 
researches  with  the  silver  voltameter.  Our  readers  will 
remember  that,  in  consequence  of  the  action  taken  at  the 
London  International  Conference  on  electromagnetic  units, 
the  whole  of  electrical  engineering,  considered  as  a  quanti- 
tative performance,  rests  for  its  precision  upon  the  fun- 
damental standard  international  ohm  and  the  standard 
international  ampere.  These  concrete  standards  present 
themselves  in  our  various  national  laboratories,  respectively 
in  the  form  of  metallic  resistors  and  current  balances  that 
have  been  calibrated  by  silver  voltameters.  At  the  Chicago 
Congress  of  1893  the  chamber  of  delegates  adopted  the 
international  ohm,  volt  and  ampere,  the  first  defined  by 
reference  to  a  definite  mercury-column  resistor,  the  second 
in  terms  of  the  Clark-cell  emf,  and  the  third  in  terms  of 
electrolytic  deposit  in  a  silver  voltameter.  Here  were  three 
concrete  standards,  from  any  two  of  which  the  perform- 
ance of  the  third  could  be  predicted  by  Ohm's  law. 

.As  not  unfrequently  happens,  however,  when  generosity 
adds  surfeit  to  necessity,  the  excess  bred  discord.  Certain 
small  but  appreciable  errors  and  discrepancies  manifested 
themselves  in  voltmeters  or  ammeters  standardized  care- 
fully in  different  countries.  Some  of  these  countries  re- 
duced all  their  standards  ultimately  to  the  international  ohm 
and  volt,  others  to  the  international  ohm  and  ampere.  It 
became  evident  that,  so  long  as  there  were  three  funda- 
mental legal  standards  and  small  discrepancies  existed  be- 
tween them,  no  satisfactory  degree  of  international  agree- 
ment could  be  reached.  At  the  London  conference  of  1908  it 
was  therefore  agreed  that  the  ohm  and  ampere  should  be 
the  two  fundamental  international  standards,  and  that  the 
volt  should  be  determined  with  reference  to  these  two.  This 
plan  eliminated  the  pre-existing  ambiguity,  but  it  magnified 
the  importance  of  the  silver  voltameter  and  its  technique. 

The  series  of  articles  now  commenced  as  the  result  of  a 
large  amount  of  experimental  work  done  at  the  Bureau 
of  Standards  show  that  the  silver  voltameter  is  chemically 
contaminated  if  filter  paper  is  used  in  its  technique,  even 
though  that  paper  be  pure,  clear  and  carefully  washed.  It 
seems  that  pure  cellulose  in  the  filter  paper  enters  into  com- 
bination with  silver  nitrate  to  form  oxycelluloses  in  such  a 
manner  that  the  electrolytic  deposit  of  silver  from  such 
contaminated  solutions  is  slightly,  but  very  appreciably, 
heavier  than  from  solutions  which  have  not  come  into  con- 
tact with  cellulose.  Moreover,  the  character  of  the  metallic 
deposit  is  distinctly  altered  in  its  microscopic  appearance. 

The  story  told  by  the  series  of  articles  is  very  fascinating. 
from  the  standpoint  of  scientific  research,  and  also  of  great 
importance  from  the  standpoint  of  engineering.  It  is  not 
that  the  error  involved  in  engineering  measurements  is 
serious  industrially.  Few  engineering  measurements  have 
sufficient  precision  to  be  effected  thereby.  It  is  that  the 
intellectual  and  physical  agreements  between  the  standards 
kept  in  the  different  national  laboratories  of  the  civilized 
world  are  readily  capable  of  being  vitiated  by  an  over- 
looked flaw  in  organic  chemistry  as  applied  to  international 
engineering. 


1244 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24. 


N.  E.  L.  A.  COMMITTEE  MEETING  IN  CHICAGO. 


Following  the  decision  to  hold  next  year's  convention  of 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association  in  the  new  Medinah 
Temple,  Chicago,  during  the  first  week  in  June,  several 
important  committee  meetings  were  held  in  Chicago  this 
week.  The  first  was  that  of  the  executive  committee  of  the 
Commercial  Section,  which  was  held  on  Monday,  Dec.  9, 
in  the  Hotel  Sherman.  Mr.  E.  \V.  Lloyd,  of  Chicago,  the 
chairman  of  the  committee,  presided  and  Mr.  E.  L.  Callahan, 
of  the  same  city,  performed  his  duties  as  secretary,  assisted 
by  Miss  Gladys  Burkhalter,  assistant  secretary.  Other 
members  present  were  Messrs.  F.  H.  Gale,  Schenectady ; 
Douglas  Burnett,  Baltimore;  M.  C.  Rypinski,  New  York; 
N.  H.  Boynton,  Cleveland  (representing  J.  Robert  Crouse)  ; 
C.  A.  Littlefield,  New  York;  E.  McCleary,  Detroit;  J.  C. 
McQuiston,  Pittsburgh;  George  Williams,  New  York;  P.  S. 
Dodd,  New  York,  and  H.  J.  Gille,  St.  Paul.    . 

The  report  of  the  membership  committee,  of  which  Mr. 
J.  F.  Becker,  of  New  York,  is  chairman,  was  presented  and 
the  plan  of  campaign  for  securing  new  members  was  dis- 
cussed at  length.  It  was  decided  to  offer  a  prize  for  the 
person  who  secures  the  greatest  number  of  new  members 
for  the  Commercial  Section  before  the  Chicago  convention. 
From  the  publications  committee  Mr.  Burnett  reported 
that  130,000  copies  of  the  publications  of  the  Commercial 
Section  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  have  been  sold  or  distributed. 
Of  one  small  booklet,  "Electric  Service  in  the  Home," 
80,000  copies  have  been  printed  and  65,000  have  been  sold. 
A  follow-up  book  on  domestic  uses  of  electricity  will  be 
ready  about  Feb.  i.  There  will  also  be  publications  relating 
to  electricity  on  the  farm,  store  lighting  and  the  use  of 
electricity  in  small  motors. 

Mr.  Gale  reported  for  the  finance  committee,  of  which 
Mr.  T.  L  Jones,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  is  chairman. 

The  committee  on  electrical  salesman's  handbook  reported 
through  Mr.  Callahan,  its  chairman.  Supplementing  the 
book  distributed  at  the  Seattle  convention  the  first  quarterly 
supplementary  issue  has  been  mailed  already  to  members  of 
the  Commercial  Section.  The  second  quarterly  issue  will  be 
mailed  about  Jan.  I. 

The  committee  on  electricity  on  the  farm  has  been  divided 
into  three  geographical  sections,  Mr.  Stanley  V.  Walton,  of 
San  Francisco,  being  chairman  of  the  Western  States  sec- 
tion ;  Mr.  C.  W.  Pen  Dell,  of  Chicago,  chairman  of  the 
Middle  States  section,  and  Mr.  John  C.  Parker,  of  Roches- 
ter, chairman  of  the  Eastern  States  section. 

Mr.  R.  S.  Hale,  of  Boston,  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  wiring  of  existing  buildings,  sent  a  letter  which  indicates 
that  the  committee  will  have  an  interesting  report. 

For  Mr.  George  Harvey  Jones,  of  Chicago,  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  ice  and  refrigeration,  Mr.  Lloyd  reported 
that  the  committee  was  actively  at  work  and  would  un- 
doubtedly submit  a  valuable  report. 

Mr.  McQuiston  read  a  letter  from  Mr.  M.  S.  Seelman, 
Jr.,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  giving  a  report  of  the  recent  meet- 
ing of  the  committee  on  electrical  merchandising,  of  which 
Mr.  T.  I.  Jones,  of  Brooklyn,  is  chairman  and  Mr.  Seelman 
is  secretary.  This  meeting  was  held  on  Dec.  4,  and  a  good 
start  was  made  on  the  work  of  the  committee. 

For  Mr.  T-  Robert  Crouse,  of  Cleveland,  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  advertising,  Mr.  Boynton  presented  a  report 
showing  the  methods  that  are  being  taken  to  interest  mem- 
ber companies  in  the  subject  of  advertising. 

Much  interest  was  shown  in  the  report  of  the  committee 
on  education  of  salesmen,  of  which  Mr.  George  Williams 
is  chairman.  The  discussion  related  to  various  methods  of 
procedure,  as  by  company  lectures,  correspondence  courses, 
etc.  It  is  probable  that  before  any  method  is  adopted  the 
subject  will  be  presented  to  the  full  association  for  its  final 
decision. 

In  relation  to  short  cuts  in  executing  customers'  orders 
Mr.    Lloyd   reported    that   this    committee,    of   which    Mr. 


George  C.  Holberton,  of  San  Francisco,  is  chairman,  is  at 
work  and  can  report  progress.  The  deliberations  of  the 
full  committee  filled  a  long  and  busy  day  and  at  its  con- 
clusion the  members  of  the  committee  were  entertained  at 
dinner  at  the  Chicago  Athletic  Club  by  Mr.  Lloyd. 

The  next  meeting  of  the  executive  committee  of  the 
Commercial  Section  will  be  held  in  the  headquarters  of  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association  in  New  York  on  Jan.  31. 

A  brief  meeting  of  Mr.  Burnett's  committee  on  publica- 
tions was  held  on  Tuesday  morning  at  the  Hotel  LaSalle, 
and  on  Wednesday  there  was  a  meeting  of  the  exhibition 
committee,  of  which  Mr.  J.  C.  McQuiston  is  chairman  and 
Mr.  Walter  Neumuller  is  secretary.  Following  the  meeting 
of  the  committee  Chairman  McQuiston  entertained  the 
members  and  guests  at  luncheon. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  exhibition  committee  held  on  Dec. 
II  there  were  present  Messrs.  J.  C.  McQuiston,  of  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company;  F.  H. 
Gale,  of  the  General  Electric  Company;  S.  E.  Doane,  of  the 
National  Quality  Lamp  Division  of  the  General  Electric 
Company  ;  James  L  Ayer,  of  the  Simplex  Electric  Heating 
Company;  George  B.  Foster,  Chicago  (representing  John 
F.  Gilchrist,  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company),  and 
Frank  N.  Jewett,  of  the  Wagner  Electric  Manufacturing 
Company.  Mr.  H.  E.  Niesz,  manager  of  the  Cosmopolitan 
Electric  Company,  Chicago,  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
committee,  being  well  fitted  for  the  work  by  his  experience 
in  managing  previous  electrical  exhibitions.  Mr.  T.  C. 
Martin,  secretary  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Associa- 
tion, was  present  in  his  official  capacity,  and  Mr.  George 
W.  Elliott,  master  of  transportation,  was  present  at  the 
morning  session.  Mr.  Walter  Neumuller,  of  the  New  York 
Edison  Company,  who  has  served  as  secretary  of  the  com- 
mittee with  a  very  high  degree  of  efficiency  for  a  number 
of  years,  was  compelled  to  resign  that  position  owing  to 
pressure  of  other  duties.  Mr.  H.  C.  McConnaughy,  New 
York,  of  the  Dearborn  Drug  &  Chemical  Works,  a  member 
of  the  committee,  was  elected  to  succeed  Mr.  Neumuller  as 
secretary. 

Mr.  Niesz  and  Mr.  McConnaughy  were  empowered  to 
make  all  the  arrangements  for  holding  the  exhibition  in 
connection  with  the  1913  convention  of  the  National  Elec- 
tric Light  As.sociation  in  Medinah  Temple,  Chicago,  on 
June  2  to  5  inclusive.  The  exhibition  will  be  opened  with 
a  reception  on  Monday  evening  and  will  continue  until 
Friday  evening.  In  the  afternoon  the  members  of  the 
committee  visited  Medinah  Temple  and  inspected  the  facili- 
ties which  will  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  convention. 
The  visitors  were  much  pleased  with  the  building  and  the 
ease  with  which  it  can  be  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  such 
a  convention  as  the  next  annual  gathering  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  promises  to  be.  Plans  are  now 
being  formulated  for  appropriate  rooms  for  four  or  five 
sections  meeting  simultaneously.  The  next  meeting  of  the 
exhibition  conunittee  will  be  held  in  the  New  York  head- 
quarters of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  on  Jan.  30. 


NOMINATIONS  FOR  OFFICERS  OF  A.  I.  E.  E. 


Modifications  introduced  last  year  in  the  method  of  mak- 
ing nominations  for  the  various  offices  to  be  filled  at  the 
191 3  election  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers permit  advance  nominations  to  be  made  by  petition 
so  that  the  names  thus  received  may  be  mailed  to  the  mem- 
bership on  Feb;  i  on  the  official  nomination  forms.  An 
indorsement  of  not  less  than  fifty  members  is  necessary  to 
effect  such  publication,  and  it  is  necessary  for  the  petitions 
or  indorsements  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  secretary  not 
later  than  Jan.  25,  1913.  Copies  of  the  petition  form  may 
be  obtained  upon  application  to  the  Institute  headquarters, 
but  the  form  is  not  necessary,  indorsements  by  letter  being 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


I34S 


just  as  valid.  The  officers  to  be  elected  are  a  president  and 
a  treasurer  for  a  term  of  one  year,  three  vice-presidents 
for  a  term  of  two  years,  and  four  managers  for  a  term  of 
three  years. 


THE  PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE  TO  CONGRESS. 


President  Taft  sent  to  Congress  on  Dec.  3  a  message 
dealing  with  all  departments  of  the  government  except  the 
State  Department,  which  was  covered  in  a  separate  message 
taking  up  also  our  foreign  trade  relations,  as  mentioned 
elsewhere  in  this  issue. 

In  dealing  with  the  subject  of  the  tariff  Mr.  Taft  prac- 
tically turned  it  over  to  the  next  administration,  which  will 
take  office  on  March  4.     This  statement  was  significant : 

"Now  that  a  new  Congress  has  been  elected  on  a  platform 
of  a  tariff  for  revenue  only,  rather  than  a  protective  tariff, 
and  is  to  revise  the  tariff  on  that  basis,  it  is  needless  for  me 
to  occupy  the  time  of  this  Congress  with  arguments  or 
recommendations  in  favor  of  a  protective  tariff." 

That  portion  of  the  message  which  dealt  with  the  regula- 
tion and  control  of  water-power  is  especially  interesting. 
It  follows  in  full. 

"There  are  pending  before  Congress  a  large  number  of 
bills  proposing  to  grant  privileges  of  erecting  dams  for  the 
purpose  of  creating  water-power  in  our  navigable  rivers. 
The  pendency  of  these  bills  has  brought  out  an  important 
defect  in  the  existing  general  dam  act.  That  act  does  not, 
in  my  opinion,  grant  sufficient  power  to  the  federal  govern- 
ment in  dealing  with  the  construction  of  such  dams  to  exact 
protective  conditions  in  the  interest  of  navigation.  It  does 
not  permit  the  federal  government,  as  a  condition  of  its 
permit,  to  require  that  a  part  of  the  value  thus  created  shall 
be  applied  to  the  further  general  improvement  and  protec- 
tion of  the  stream.  I  believe  this  to  be  one  of  the  most 
important  matters  of  internal  improvement  now  confronting 
the  government.  Most  of  the  navigable  rivers  of  this  coun- 
try are  comparatively  long  and  shallow.  In  order  that  they 
may  be  made  fully  useful  for  navigation  there  has  come 
into  vogue  a  method  of  improvement  known  as  canalization, 
or  the  slack-water  method,  which  consists  in  building  a 
series  of  dams  and  locks,  each  of  which  will  create  a  long 
pool  of  deep  navigable  water.  At  each  of  these  dams  there 
is  usually  created  also  water-power  of  commercial  value. 
If  the  water-power  thus  created  can  be  made  useful  in 
the  further  improvement  of  navigation  in  the  stream,  it  is 
manifest  that  the  improvement  will  be  much  more  quickly 
effected  on  the  one  hand,  and.  on  the  other,  that  the  burden 
on  the  general  taxpayers  of  the  country  will  be  very  much 
reduced.  Private  interests  seeking  permits  to  build  water- 
power  dams  in  navigable  streams  usually  urge  that  they 
thus  improve  navigation,  and  that  if  they  do  not  impair 
navigation  they  should  be  allowed  to  take  for  themselves 
the  entire  profits  of  the  water-power  development. 

"Whatever  they  may  do  by  way  of  relieving  the  govern- 
ment of  the  expense  of  improving  navigation  should  be 
given  due  consideration,  but  it  must  be  apparent  that  there 
may  be  a  profit  beyond  a  reasonably  liberal  return  upon  the 
private  investment  which  is  a  potential  asset  of  the  govern- 
ment in  carrying  out  a  comprehensive  policy  of  waterway 
development. 

"It  is  no  objection  to  the  retention  and  use  of  such  an 
asset  by  the  government  that  a  comprehensive  waterway 
policy  will  include  the  protection  and  development  of  the 
other  public  use  of  water,  which  cannot  and  should  not  be 
ignored  in  making  and  executing  plans  for  the  protection 
and  development  of  navigation.  It  is  also  equally  clear  that, 
inasmuch  as  the  water-power  thus  created  is  or  may  be  an 
incident  of  a  general  scheme  of  waterway  improvement 
within  the  constitutional  jurisdiction  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment, the  regulation  of  such  water-power  lies  also  within 
that  jurisdiction. 


"In  my  opniion  constructive  statesmanship  requires  that 
legislation  should  be  enacted  which  will  permit  the  develop- 
ment of  navigation  in  these  great  rivers  to  go  hand  in  hand 
with  the  utilization  of  this  by-product  of  water-power, 
created  in  the  course  of  the  same  improvement,  and  that  the 
general  dam  act  should  be  so  amended  as  to  make  this  pos- 
sible. I  deem  it  highly  important  that  the  nation  should 
adopt  a  consistent  and  harmonious  treatment  of  these  water- 
power  projects  which  will  preserve  for  this  purpose  their 
value  to  the  government,  whose  right  it  is  to  grant  the 
permit.  Any  other  policy  is  equivalent  to  throwing  away 
a  most  valuable  national  asset." 

The  President  also  referred  to  the  new  rules  of  practice 
in  the  equity  side  of  the  federal  courts,  recently  promulgated 
by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  urged  the  necessity  of  similar 
reforms  in  the  common-law  side.  In  closing  he  called  atten- 
tion to  the  workman's  compensation  act  which  has  passed 
the  Senate  and  is  now  pending  in  the  House,  again  recom- 
mending its  passage. 


RATHENAU   MEDAL  FOUNDED  IN  AMERICAN 
MUSEUM  OF  SAFETY. 


A  gold   medal   has   been  placed   at  the   disposal   of   the 

American    Museum   of    Safety,    New   York,   by   Dr.    Emil 

Rathenau,  to  be  awarded  annually  for  the  best  device  or 

process    for    safeguarding   life    in    the    electrical    industry. 

The   medal   will    be    awarded    for   the 

first  time  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 

Museum  to   be   held  on  Jan.   21,    1913. 

It  is  elliptical  in  shape,  1.5  in.  wide  by 

2  in.  long  and  ys  in.  thick,  and  weighs 

3  oz.  The  medal  was  founded  in  com- 
memoration of  the  seventieth  birth- 
day of  Dr.  Emil  Rathenau,  organizer 
and  head  of  the  Allgemeine  Elektrici- 
tats  Gesellschaft  (General  Electric 
Company  of  Germany).  It  shows  a 
picture  of  the  donor  in  relief  and 
around  it  the  legend  "Emil  Rathenau, 
70  years  old,  Dec.  11,  1908."  On  the 
obverse  side  there  is  an  imperial  eagle 
with  a  bee  hovering  near,  and  above 
the  eagle  a  classic  representation  of 
forged  lightning.  Around  the  edge 
are  the  letters  and  words  "A.  E.  G.  B. 
E.  W.  fiir  Verdienst  und  Treue,"  the 

four  German  words  meaning  "for  merit  and  fidelity." 
There  are  no  restrictions  as  to  nationality  in  making  the 
award,  the  medal  being  international  in  scope. 


Rathenau  Medal. 


I.  E.  S.  ANNUAL  MEETING. 


The  Illuminating  Engineering  Society's  committee  on 
constitutional  revision,  which  has  considered  proposed 
amendments  to  the  constitution  of  the  society,  has  issued  a 
statement  in  which  the  principal  amendments,  three  in  num- 
ber, are  mentioned.  The  first  provides  for  the  establishment 
of  the  grade  of  sustaining  member ;  the  second  changes  the 
date  of  the  fiscal  year  to  begin  Oct.  i,  and  the  third  relates 
to  the  appointment  of  local  representatives  in  cities  where 
there  are  no  sections.  The  present  revenue  of  the  society 
is  inadequate  for  its  support  on  the  present  scale,  and 
desirable  extensions  of  the  society's  activities  cannot  be 
realized  unless  larger  funds  are  available.  An  increase  in 
the  annual  dues  of  members  being  opposed,  it  is  planned  to 
extend  the  membership  of  the  society  by  the  inclusion  of  a 
grade  of  sustaining  members,  consisting  of  individuals  or 
organizations  who  shall  be  elected  by  the  council  and  who 
shall  pay  certain  annual   dues.     The   amendment   fixes  the 


1246 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  60,  No.  24. 


maximum  amount  receivable  from  any  one  sustaining  mem- 
ber at  $250  a  year.  The  council  will  decide  whether  the 
sustaining  members  shall  pay  a  uniform  amount  or  whether 
the  dues  shall  be  graded.  The  advantage  of  the  change  in 
the  fiscal  year  to  correspond  with  the  period  of  the  society's 
activities  is  believed  to  he  one  realized  by  all  members. 

The  nominees  selected  by  the  board  of  nominations  to 
hold  office  for  the  coming  year  are :  President,  Mr.  Preston 
S.  Millar;  vice-president  from  Philadelphia  Section,  Mr. 
William  J.  Serrill;  vice-president  from  New  England  Sec- 
tion, Mr.  J.  W.  Cowles;  vice-president  from  Chicago  Sec- 
tion, Mr.  J.  R.  Cravath ;  vice-president  from  Pittsburgh 
Section,  Mr.  H.  S.  Evans;  general  secretary,  Mr.  J.  D. 
Israel;  treasurer,  Mr.  L.  B.  Marks;  directors,  Messrs.  C.  O 
Bond,  P.  W.  Cobb  and  W.  Cullen  Morris. 


RECOMMENDATIONS  TO  CONGRESS  BY  THE 
SECRETARY  OF  THE  NAVY. 


Secretary  of  the  Navy  George  von  L.  Meyer  sent  to 
Congress  on  Dec.  6  an  extended  report  containing  numerous 
recommendations  for  the  enlargement  and  improvement 
of  the  service,  among  which  are  important  references  to 
the  increasing  use  of  electricity  in  the  navy.  Aside  from 
engineering  interest  in  the.se  matters,  the  plans  of  the 
>Javy  Department  are  of  great  interest  to  electrical  manu- 
facturers and  contractors  who  bid  for  navy  contracts,  and 
on  this  account  we  have  quoted  somewhat  extensively 
from  the  report  in  what  follows.  The  department  finds  it 
advisable,  in  respect  to  organization  for  handling  electrical 
work,  to  place  all  such  work  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  bureau  of  steam  engineering.  On  this  point  tiie  report 
says  specifically: 

"Electricity  is  becoming  a  great  motive  power.  The 
General  Electric  Company  is  working  out  new  designs  for 
the  use  of  electricity  in  connection  with  turbines,  and  it  is 
important  that  in  the  machinery  departments,  both  ashore 
and  afloat,  our  officers  should  be  experts  in  this  line  of 
work. 

■'The  Vickers  Company,  England's  largest  shipbuilding 
concern,  successful  not  only  in  the  ships  it  builds  but  in  its 
returns  to  stockholders,  indicating  great  efficiency  and  econ- 
omy, has  found  it  advantageous  to  group  electricity  and 
steam  engineering  together. 

'The  practice  coincides  with  what  the  department  adopted 
here.  Everything  points  to  the  increased  use  of  electricity 
as  a  motive  power  for  the  engine  room  of  the  future; 
therefore  it  would  be  illogical  to  place  the  design,  installa- 
tion, care  and  maintenance  of  electrical  machinery  else- 
where than  in  the  hands  of  officers  who  are  charged  with  its 
operation  and  upkeep  under  actual  service  conditions  at 
sea.  This  is  particularly  evident  after  three  years'  suc- 
cessful experience  since  the  transfer  of  electrical  work 
from  equipment  to  steam  engineering." 

It  is  proposed  to  abolish  the  Bureau  of  Equipment  and 
distribute  its  duties,  assigning  electric  generators  and  ac- 
cessories, electrical  signal  apparatus  and  wireless-telegraph 
equipment  to  the  bureau  of  steam  engineering. 

"There  is  no  evidence  that  another  bureau  for  electrical 
work  will  be  required,  as  the  electrical  duties  of  the  old 
Bureau  of  Equipment  have  been  satisfactorily  handled  for 
three  years  by  the  Bureau  of  Steam  Engineering.  Further. 
the  tendency  is  to  consolidate  wherever  possible  so  as  to 
increase  economy  and  efficiency." 

In  reference  to  the  progress  made  in  planning  new  work 
as  recently  authorized  the  report  says: 

"Specifications  covering  the  electrical  work  on  the  battle- 
ships Nevada  and  Oklahoma  and  other  craft  authorized  by 
recent  legislation  have  been  formulated.  Plans  for  light, 
motor  service  and  interior  communication  for  the  new- 
battleships  Texas:.  New  York.  Oklahoma  and  Nc7'ada.  for 


gunboats  and  for  destroyers  43  to  50  inclusive  have  been 
prepared.  Fixtures  have  been  simplified  and  made  cheaper 
and  more  durable. 

"The  electrical  control  of  searchlights  has  been  rede- 
signed and  a  new  mechanical  control  has  been  developed. 
It  is  hoped  that  the  improvements  made  will  result  in  a 
perfectly  satisfactory  light  for  naval  purposes." 

.Since  1900  the  General  Board  has  furnished  annually  a 
consistent  and  continuing  program  of  ship  construction. 
This  year  the  new  construction  asked  for  includes  four 
battleships,  two  battle  cruisers,  sixteen  destroyers,  one  de- 
stroyer tender,  two  transports,  one  ammunition  ship,  six 
submarines,  one  submarine  tender,  one  supply  ship,  two 
gunboats,  two  seagoing  tugs,  one  dry  dock  and  one  sub- 
marine testing  dock.     Furthermore : 

"The  board  recommends  the  conversion  of  the  Prome- 
theus into  a  repair  ship,  and  if  this  is  approved  one  fuel 
ship  should  be  provided  for  the  building  program  to  replace 
the  Prometheus.  It  recommends  also  the  conversion  of  the 
cruiser  Baltimore  into  a  mine  transport,  the  San  Francisco. 
a  sister  vessel,  converted  to  this  purpose,  having  proved 
sufficiently  useful  to  warrant  the  expenditure  necessary  to 
convert  the  Baltimore.    .    .    . 

"The  paramount  need  of  the  navy  is,  however,  for  battle- 
ships, and  the  board  does  not  recommend  any  modification 
of  the  building  program  by  which  preference  in  building 
is  given  to  battle  cruisers  or  other  fleet  units  and  auxiliaries, 
which  will  interfere  with  the  ultimate  battleship  strength. 

"Since  1907  the  board  has  consistently  advocated  the 
policy  of  four  destroyers  for  each  battleship,  which  is  con- 
sidered essential  to  a  proper  balance  of  the  fleet.  Tenders 
in  the  proportions  of  one  to  sixteen  destroyers  have  be- 
come indispensable  fleet  auxiliaries. 

"The  loss  by  collision  at  sea  of  the  steamships  Republic, 
Merida,  Marcellus  and  Titanic  has  emphasized  the  urgent 
necessity  for  two  properly  designed  and  equipped  naval 
transports  for  use  one  on  the  Atlantic  and  one  on  the 
Pacific  coast.  The  only  vessels  at  present  available  for 
such  duty  are  the  Prairie  and  the  Buffalo.  The  former  is 
now  twenty-two  years  old  and  the  latter  twenty.  Both 
are  single-bottom  ships  and  entirely  lacking  in  water-tight 
subdivision,  having  been  originally  designed  as  freighters. 
They  further  lack  many  things  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
health  and  comfort  of  officers  and  men  on  large  expedi- 
tions." 

The  recommendations  for  other  types  of  vessel  were 
considered  in  detail,  and  then  the  subject  of  wireless  com- 
munication was  taken  up  at  some  length,  as  next  quoted: 

"Improvements  in  the  radio  equipment  of  the  fleet  and 
shore  stations  as  regards  increased  range  and  prevention  of 
interference  during  the  past  fiscal  year  have  been  made  as 
rapidly  as  the  appropriations  permitted.  The  purchase  of 
new  radio  apparatus  conforming  to  the  latest  requirements 
is  expensive,  but  the  marked  gain  in  efficiency  makes  such 
changes   imperative. 

"The  high-power  station  at  Arlington,  Va.,  is  now  in 
operation,  and  messages  have  been  exchanged  with  Key 
West  and  Colon.  It  is  the  first  of  the  proposed  chain  of 
high-powered  radio  stations,  the  others  to  be  erected  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  on  the  coast  of  California,  in  Hawaii. 
Guam,  the  Philippines  and  Samoa.  Valuable  results  as 
regards  the  control  of  the  fleet  at  sea  and  widespread 
dissemination  of  time  signals  and  storm  warnings  can  be 
obtained  when  these  stations  are  erected. 

"The  Navy  Department  is  maintaining  forty-one  shore 
stations  and  six  stations  on  light  vessels.  An  expedition 
is  now  in  Alaska  modernizing  and  improving  the  older 
stations  there  and  erecting  a  new  station  on  the  island  of 
Unalga.  The  chain  of  Alaskan  coast  stations  is,  in  con- 
junction with  the  inland  army  stations,  of  great  importance 
commercially  as  an  alternative  means  of  communication  in 
case  of  break-down  of  the  cable  or  land  telegraph  lines. 


December  14.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1247 


"As  Congress  has  enacted  legislation  regulating  radio- 
telegraphy  and  making  obligatory  the  opening  of  certain 
designated  naval  radio  stations  to  paid  cominercial  business, 
the  radio  work  and  expenses  of  the  department  will  be 
largely  increased.  It  will  be  necessary  to  modernize  and 
improve  the  apparatus  of  coast  stations  so  that  the  com- 
mercial work  may  be  successfully  handled.  It  is  expected, 
at  the  outset  at  least,  that  much  of  the  burden  of  inspection 
for  adjustment  of  commercial  stations  will  fall  upon  this 
department.  But  the  added  work  will  undoubtedly  prove  an 
Incentive  to  increased  efficiency  and  will  bring  the  naval 
stations  into  closer  touch  with  commercial  companies  and 
their  methods  of  operation,  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  mean  a 
better  appreciation  of  each  other's  work  and  cordial 
co-operation  in  regulation  and  the  minimization  of  inter- 
ference. 

"The  high-powered  radio  station  at  Arlington,  Va.,  con- 
ists  of  two  450-ft.  and  one  6oo-ft.  self-supporting  steel 
tower,  a  building  containing  radio  apparatus,  laboratories, 
storerooms,  offices,  living  quarters  for  operating  force,  etc., 
and  the  necessary  ground-wire  system,  water  supply,  roads, 
walks,  etc. 

"Since  the  introduction  of  high-frequency  quenched-gap 
radio  apparatus  the  most  urgent  work  of  the  department  has 
been  the  modernizing  of  old  installations.  This  work  has 
been  advanced  during  the  past  year  as  rapidly  as  limited 
funds  and  the  slow  deliveries  of  contractors  have  permitted. 
Much  in  this  line  remains  to  be  accomplished,  especially  in 
the  case  of  coastal  stations,  which,  as  a  result  of  pending 
legislation,  will  be  thrown  open  to  commercial  work.  All 
new  ships  commissioned  within  the  year  have  been  provided 
with  modern  apparatus,  but  it  has  not  been  possible  properly 
to  equip  the  entire  fleet  because  sufficient  funds  were  not 
available. 

"With  the  assignment  of  two  officers  for  the  administra- 
tion of  this  rapidly  expanding  branch  it  becomes  possible 
for  the  first  time  to  foresee  a  time  when  other  and  intrinsic- 
ally more  important  features  of  this  activity  will  be  upon  a 
satisfactory  basis.  These  features  relate  to  the  develop- 
ment of  radio  for  tactical  purposes,  experimentation  in  con- 
nection with  purely  naval  needs,  proper  supervision  and 
training  of  operators,  and  the  standardization  of  material 
and  operating  methods." 


THE  ELECTRIC  VEHICLE  AT  BOSTON. 


The  Electric  Motor  Car  Club  of  Boston  held  an  enthusi- 
astic meeting  at  the  Boston  City  Club  on  Dec.  5.  An 
extended  discussion  took  place  regarding  recent  progress  in 
the  electric  vehicle  field,  and  it  was  announced  that  after 
much  effort  about  1.5  miles  of  additional  parking  space  had 
been  secured  for  automobilists  in  and  near  the  downtown 
district  of  Boston.  Mr.  Alfred  Weatherbee,  of  the  Ander- 
son Electric  Car  Company,  emphasized  the  need  of  better 
garaging  facilities  in  the  theater  district,  and  it  was  decided 
to  interview  the  city  authorities  in  the  endeavor  to  obtain 
further  parking  privileges  in  the  downtown  streets  near  the 
theaters  after  business  hours. 

ELECTRIC   TRUCKS   FOR   FIRE   DEPARTMENTS. 

-A.  large  part  of  the  meeting  was  devoted  to  a  discussion 
of  the  growing  adaptability  of  the  electric  truck  to  fire 
department  service.  Mr.  M.  B.  Church,  of  the  Couple-Gear 
Freight  Wheel  Company,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  referred 
briefly  to  the  successful  use  of  electrical  equipment  at 
Springfield,  Mass..  notably  a  lo-ton  ladder  truck  capable  of 
running  27  miles  per  hour.  He  pointed  out  that  the  high 
speeds  attained  by  apparatus  of  this  kind  as  compared  with 
heavy  trucks  for  industrial  service  are  realized  by  the  use 
of  a  large  battery  working  for  a  short  time  through  a 
highly    efficient   motor   drive.     It   is   unusual    for   a   run   to 


exceed  ten  or  fifteen  minutes.  All  four  wheels  are  driven 
by  individual  motors  through  a  25  to  i  gear  reduction  with 
a  loss  of  not  over  3  per  cent  in  mechanical  transmission. 
It  would  not  be  feasible  to  maintain  such  high  speeds  over 
a  protracted  period.  At  a  recent  alarm  in  Springfield  not  a 
horse-hauled  unit  responded,  every  machine  being  of  the 
motor  type,  and  the  greater  part  of  these  were  electrics.  At 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  a  15,000-lb.  steamer  has  been  equipped  with 
two  Couple-Gear  wheels  and  runs  at  a  maximum  speed  of 
20  miles  per  hour.  At  a  recent  alarm,  this  machine  ran  0.75 
mile  and  turned  seven  corners  in  two  minutes,  while  a  two- 
horse  hose  wagon  from  the  same  house  consumed  four 
minutes  in  the  same  run. 

Mr.  Ira  Miller,  of  the  Couple-Gear  company,  stated  that 
complete  propositions  covering  the  electrification  of  fire 
departments  entire  were  now  being  presented  covering 
eighty-seven  pieces  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y. ;  thirty-two  pieces  at 
Worcester,  Mass. ;  eighteen  pieces  at  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  and 
twenty-eight  pieces  at  Hartford,  Conn.  In  this  work  the 
underwriters  are  showing  much  interest,  as  it  means  a  great 
reduction  in  fire  losses  as  well  as  decreased  operating  costs 
within  the  department.  In  each  of  the  above  cases  it  is 
estimated  that  the  cost  of  the  change  will  be  paid  for  by 
the  savings  resulting  within  five  years.  A  study  of  the  cost 
of  motorizing  the  Boston  fire  department  along  electrical 
lines  shows  that  this  can  be  done  for  $830,000,  and  that  the 
saving  will  be  at  the  rate  of  $150,000  a  year.    Reduced  rates 


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Rat'ntr  in  Pounds  EUctruai  n;>rut 

Curves  Showing   Relative   Economy  of  the  Three  Systems. 

are  offered  by  the  underwriters  in  municipalities  equipped 
with  motor-driven  fire  apparatus.  Extraordinary  maximum 
speeds  are  not  needed  even  in  fire  department  motor-truck 
service,  and  a  machine  capable  of  running  20  or  25  miles 
per  hour  represents  adequate  protection.  The  pioneer  work 
at  Springfield,  Mass.,  described  in  this  paper  in  the  issues 
of  July  22,  1911,  page  202,  and  Dec.  16,  1911,  page  1492,  has 
attracted  world-wide  attention,  and  the  installation  has 
already  been  visited  by  1300  chiefs  of  departments  from 
widely  separated  localities. 

RESEARCH    WORK   AT   MASSACHUSETTS   INSTITUTE   OF 
TECHNOLOGY. 

Mr.  H.  F.  Thomson,  special  research  assistant  in  the  elec- 
trical engineering  department  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology,  then  gave  an  informal  talk  upon  the  progress 
of  the  investigations  of  horse  and  motor  transportation 
being  carried  on  at  that  place  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Boston  Edison  company,  and  presented  the  accompanying 
diagram  of  total  expense  of  operating  a  looo-lb.  parcel,  a 
4000-lb.  furniture,  a  7000-lb.  beer  and  a  io,ooo-lb.  coal 
delivery  service  by  horse,  gasoline  and  electric  propulsion. 
The  data  now  being  analyzed  at  the  Institute  for  later 
deductions  are  based  upon  actual  field  costs  taken  from  the 
records  of  concerns  located  in  the  territory  between  Boston 
and  St.  Louis.     The  figures  from  which  the  accompanving 


1248 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24. 


curves  were  plotted  include  all  fixed  and  operating  charges 
and  show  a  substantial  economy  in  the  use  of  the  electric 
truck  within  its  field  of  action.  In  the  case  of  the  coal 
delivery,  for  example,  the  service  in  a  nine-hour  day  covers 
28  miles  in  case  of  the  electrical  equipment,  30  miles  with 
the  gasoline  and  19  with  horses.  The  loading  time  was 
determined  as  0.2  hour  and  the  unloading  time  was  taken 
as  0.7  hour.  A  three-horse  wagon  with  two  extra  horses 
was  required,  and  the  average  length  of  haul  was  3  miles, 
or  6  miles  per  round  trip.  The  total  cost  of  the  coal- 
hauling  service  was  45  cents  per  truck-mile  for  the  elec- 
trical outfit,  51  cents  for  gasoline  delivery  and  59.5  cents  for 
horse  haulage.  Mr.  Thomson  said  that  within  a  few  months 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  hopes  to  have  analyzed  enough 
operating  data  from  actual  service  to  furnish  a  basis  for 
predetermination  of  costs  with  fair  accuracy.  Over  100,000 
observations  have  now  been  made  upon  the  speed-time  per- 
formance of  transportation  equipment,  and  the  importance 
of  keeping  trucks  in  motion  has  been  found  to  be  a  vital 
factor  in  the  success  under  competitive  conditions.  The 
average  speed  of  gasoline  trucks  on  the  street  is  much  lower 
than  is  ordinarily  supposed,  and  the  electric  vehicle  suffers 
little  because  of  the  higher  speed  characteristics  of  such 
equipment.  The  rising  price  of  gasoline  and  horses  favors 
the  installation  of  electric  trucks.  The  latter  have  made  a 
splendid  showing  in  view  of  the  fact  that  there  are  now  240 
gasoline  truck  manufacturers  in  business  in  this  country 
compared  with  thirty-seven  builders  of  electric  trucks. 
Other  speakers  were  Mr.  F.  M.  Kimball,  of  the  General 
Electric  Company;  Mr.  E.  S.  Mansfield,  of  the  Boston 
Edison  company,  and  Mr.  C.  G.  Pillsbury,  of  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  Boston.  Mr. 
Kimball,  as  chairman  of  the  New  England  Section  of  the 
Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America,  urged  the  pub- 
lication of  comparative  operating  data  of  a  comprehensive 
kind  in  terms  understandable  to  the  average  business  man. 
He  stated  that  orders  for  electric  vehicle  accessories  are 
increasing  at  a  surprising  rate  and  voiced  his  impressions 
regarding  the  stability  and  growth  of  the  electric  truck 
business  throughout  the  country.  Mr.  Mansfield  suggested 
the  possibilities  of  a  closer  affiliation  with  the  national 
organization. 


ELECTRICAL   PROGRESS   IN  NEW   ZEALAND. 


The  Dominion  of  New  Zealand,  with  a  population  in 
1910  of  slightly  over  1,000,000  inhabitants,  imported  in 
the  same  year  goods  from  other  countries  to  the  value 
of  $81,505,227,  in  which  are  included  purchases  in  the 
United  States  having  a  value  of  $6,811,820.  In  Special 
Consular  Report  No.  57,  on  the  resources,  industries  and 
trade  of  New  Zealand,  prepared  by  Mr.  Henry  D.  Baker 
and  recently  distributed  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce,  there  is  considerable 
information  relating  to  electrical  progress  in  that  coun- 
try, from  which  the  following  is  taken. 

Electricity  has  numerous  popular  uses  in  New  Zealand, 
such  as  for  lighting,  heating,  cooking  and  ironing,  and  is 
used  industrially  in  a  great  variety  of  ways,  the  most  in- 
teresting of  which  are  for  shearing  sheep  and  milking 
cows.  The  demand  for  small  motors,  and  in  fact  for  all 
kinds  of  appliances,  lamp  ware,  etc.,  is  important,  but  un- 
fortunately American  manufacturers  participate  to  a  lim- 
ited extent  in  such  trade  and  English  competitors  control 
the  greater  part  of  it. 

Wellington,  Auckland  and  Dunedin,  three  of  the  lead- 
ing cities  of  New  Zealand,  have  electric  plants  furnish- 
ing energy  for  those  who  desire  to  use  it,  and  in  these 
cities,  especially  Wellington,  which  was  the  first  to  get  the 
benefit  of  cheap  electricity,  the  sale  of  such  appliances  ap- 
pears to  be  steadily  increasing.  In  many  of  the  smaller 
towns,  and  even  at  isolated  butter  factories  and  sheep  and 


dairy  farms,  where  water-power  is  accessible  and  cheaply 
developed,  many  electrical  appliances  are  in  use.  While 
water-power  has  not  been  utilized  on  so  large  a  scale  as  in- 
the  United  States,  and  the  use  of  electric  energy  for  big 
manufacturing  operations  is  unknown,  yet  electricity  has 
perhaps  had  wider  and  more  interesting  applications  than 
in  America,  and  perhaps  plays  a  more  important  part  in 
domestic  economy,  especially  in  country  districts,  where 
electricity  when  not  obtainable  from  water-power  is  gen- 
erated by  oil  or  steam  engines.  The  remarkable  increase 
in  the  use  of  milking  machines  and  the  substitution  of 
modern  machine  shearing  for  the  old  system  of  shearing 
sheep  by  hand  have  caused  an  ever-increasing  demand  for 
equipment,  especially  for  motors  of  about  6  hp.  Once 
such  equipment  is  installed  on  a  farm  or  station  it  is  also 
used  for  lighting,  heating,  sawing  wood,  etc.  In  differ- 
ent towns  of  New  Zealand,  especially  Wellington  and  Dun- 
edin, there  are  many  small  shops  dealing  in  electrical  ap- 
pliances and  making  attractive  displays  of  such  wares  in 
their  windows. 

The  electrification  of  the  railways  in  certain  sections  is 
now  under  contemplation  by  the  government,  especially 
where  there  are  long  tunnels,  such  as  the  one  between 
Christchurch  and  Lyttelton,  now  the  longest  in  the 
Dominion  (1%  miles  long),  at  the  Otira  Tunnel,  and  at  the 
Rimutaka  incline,  between  Wellington  and  Napier  in  the 
North  Island,  where  there  is  a  grade  averaging  1  ft.  in 
every  3  ft.,  requiring  two  or  three  engines  for  hauling 
trains  up  the  incline. 

Being  a  well-watered  and  mountainous  country,  it  is 
rich  in  water-power  resources.  According  to  statistics  for 
1910,  supplied  by  the  machinery  department  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  total  development  of  water-power  in  New  Zea- 
land is  only  19,353  hp.  This  represents  only  9.5  per  cent 
of  the  total  present  power  supply  (exclusive  of  railways) 
in  New  Zealand,  amounting  to  204,458  hp,  of  which  150,- 
137  hp,  or  73.4  per  cent,  is  suplied  by  steam  engines,  23,456 
hp,  or  1 1.5  per  cent,  by  gas  engines,  and  11,512  hp,  or  5.6 
per  cent,  by  oil  engines. 

It  is  evident  that  there  is  considerable  scope  for  the  em- 
ployment of  cheap  water-power  as  a  substitute  for  that 
now  generated  by  steam,  gas,  and  oil  engines.  It  is  esti- 
mated, however,  that  about  30,000  hp  generated  by  steam 
engines  in  saw  mills  and  flax  mills  would  probably  not  be 
changed  from  steam  to  water-power,  as  the  sawmills  have 
fuel  available  in  their  shavings  and  off-cuts  and  the  flax 
mills  are  generally  in  remote  spots  and  not  of  a  perma- 
nent nature.  Altogether  it  is  considered  possible  to  develop 
profitably  about  150,000  hp  for  the  present  industrial  needs 
of  the  country,  without  considering  the  possibility  of  fur- 
ther use  of  energy  by  the  government  railways,  which 
might  in  time  use  electricity  developed  from  water-power 
instead  of  steam. 

The  most  important  water-power  plant  in  the  country  is 
at  Waipori,  and  it  develops  5330  hp,  which  is  transmitted 
30  miles  to  the  city  of  Dunedin.  The  remainder  of  the 
19-353  hp  developed  in  New  Zealand  is  from  small  plants 
scattered  over  the  country  and  is  used  chiefly  for  mining 
purposes,  especially  at  Waihi  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
North  Island,  and  for  various  butter  factories,  etc.,  which 
develop  power  from  near-by  streams. 

The  rather  slow  utilization  of  water-power  in  a  coun- 
try where  it  is  so  plentiful  is  due  chiefly  to  popular  objec- 
tion to  private  exploitation  and  the  desire  that  all  water- 
power  should  be  owned,  controlled  and  developed  by  the 
government  itself.  The  Dominion  government  and  also 
the  various  municipal  bodies  that  might  undertake  such  de- 
velopment have,  perhaps,  been  more  cautious  in  assuming 
the  financial  risks  involved  than  private  companies  would 
have  been.  Consequently,  until  the  action  of  the  Dominion 
Parliament  last  year  in  making  provision  for  the  expen- 
diture of  $2,433,250,  little  serious  action  had  been  taken, 
except  as  to  the  surveying  of  possible  sites. 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


1249 


Among  the  larger  proposed  hydroelectric  developments 
is  one  at  Lake  Coleridge,  of  14,000  hp,  which  is  very 
favorably  situated  for  water  storage,  inasmuch  as  the  lake 
has  an  area  of  14  sq.  miles.  The  energy  will  be  trans- 
mited,  according  to  the  plans,  to  Christchurch,  70  miles 
distant.  This  project  was  described  at  length  in  our  issue 
of  May  II,  1912.  Next  in  importance  is  a  proposed  develop- 
ment on  the  upper  Hutt  River,  of  about  17,000  hp,  for  the 
benefit  of  Wellington  and  other  towns  in  the  vicinity,  re- 
quiring a  31-mile  transmission.  The  Lake  Coleridge  plant 
would  operate  with  a  470-ft.  head  and  the  latter  with  a 
285-ft.  head.  Another  scheme  contemplates  a  large  de- 
velopment at  Lake  Rotoiti  in  the  hot-springs  district,  with 
a  170-mile  transmission  to  Auckland,  delivering  26,000  hp. 
Several  other  projects  of  a  more  ambitious  character  have 
been  proposed,  but  are  not  seriously  considered  at  present 
and   are   not   likely   to   be   until   the   population    increases. 

The  demand  for  electricity  for  industrial  purposes,  such 
as  for  factories,  mining,  tramways  and  street  lighting,  and 
for  domestic  lighting,  heating  and  cooking,  is  increasing 
constantly.  The  public  has  become  so  educated  to  the  use 
of  electricity  that  the  need  for  its  cheap  development  by 
water-power  is  well  recognized  by  the  government  authori- 
ties, who  now  feel  that,  unless  they  are  prepared  to  permit 
private  capital  to  establish  water-power  works,  they  can 
no  longer  refrain  from  committing  themselves  to  the 
necessary,  e.xpenditures  and  risks. 

At  present  1,320,000  kw-hr.  of  electricity  are  sold  an- 
nually for  electric  lighting  in  Wellington,  742,000  kw-hr. 
in  Dunedin  and  369,620  kw-hr.  in  Christchurch.  In  Auck- 
land electric  lighting  has  just  been  introduced.  In  all  of 
these  cities  except  Dunedin  electricity  is  now  produced 
from  coal. 

Electric  street  lighting  is  already  fairly  well  developed 
in  Wellington  and  Dunedin,  562,000  kw-hr.  being  used  last 
year  in  Wellington  and  102,000  kw-hr.  in  Dunedin.  In 
Auckland  one  road  has  been  successfully  lighted  with  flame- 
arc  lamps,  and  no  doubt  the  system  will  be  extended  to  all 
the  maifi  thoroughfares.  In  Christchurch  street  lighting 
by  electricity  has  not  yet  been  attempted,  except  for  a  few 
arc  lamps  maintained  at  the  tramway  stopping  places.  The 
Minister  of  Public  Works  estimates  that  within  the  next 
five  years,  owing  to  the  introduction  of  cheap  electric 
energy,  Wellington  will  have  190  miles  of  streets  lighted 
with  220  arc  lamps  and  2000  incandescent  lamps;  Auck- 
land, 150  miles  lighted  with  200  arc  lamps  and  500  incan- 
descent lamps:  Christchurch,  170  miles  lighted  with  220 
arc  lamps  and  400  incandescent  lamps,  and  Dunedin,  180 
miles  lighted  with  240  arc  lamps  and  600  incandescent 
lamps. 

It  is  estimated  that  within  five  years'  time  there  will  be 
4200  electric  stoves  and  heaters  used  in  Wellington,  3200 
in  Auckland,  3100  in  Christchurch  and  3200  in  Dunedin. 

Among  the  electrochemical  industries  suggested  for  New 
Zealand  in  connection  with  the  development  of  its  water- 
power  is  the  manufacture  of  calcium  carbide,  the  imports 
of  which  are  increasing  each  year,  having  been  898  tons 
in  1907,  932  tons  in  1908  and  1667  tons  in  1909.  The  local 
manufacture  of  this  article  would  be  favored  by  the  fact 
that  the  freight  rate  on  it  from  Europe  to  New  Zealand 
and  Australia  is  very  heavy.  Probably  of  still  greater 
importance  to  New  Zealand  is  the  possibility  of  electric 
smelting  of  iron  and  steel,  as  the  country  is  fortunate  in 
having  iron-ore  deposits,  and  the  necessary  limestone  flux, 
within  easy  reach  of  water-power. 


within  four  years  of  the  date  of  issue,  or  within  two  years 
after  the  commencement  of  the  new  act,  may  be  revoked 
by  the  Supreme  Court  on  petition  of  the  Attorney  General 
or  any  other  person  having  his  permission.  The  new  patent 
legislation  of  New  Zealand  is  generally  along  the  lines  of 
the  English  act  except  that  the  requirement  of  the  latter  in 
reference  to  the  working  of  patents  has  been  omitted.  The 
provision  inserted  in  its  place  was  patterned  after  a  similar 
provision  in  the  Australian  act. 

The  Minister  of  Railways,  who  introduced  the  new  bill  in 
the  New  Zealand  Parliament,  made  a  speech  in  explanation 
of  it,  from  which  the  following  is  taken:  The  law  in 
regard  to  patents  has  been  materially  altered  in  all  portions 
of  the  world  during  the  past  few  years.  The  present  act  is 
consistent  with  the  desire  for  uniformity  of  legislation 
throughout  the  British  Empire.  Some  years  ago  the 
countries  of  the  Continent  of  Europe  commenced  to  enact 
laws  which  nullified  a  patent  granted  in  the  particular 
country  if  it  was  not  worked  in  that  country  within  a 
specified  number  of  years,  and  this  was  found  materially  to 
affect  the  business  of  Great  Britain.  In  1907  Great  Britain 
passed  an  act  on  similar  lines,  under  which  no  patent  will 
hold  good  in  that  country  unless  worked  there  within  a 
given  period.  The  new  Australian  act  was  passed  a  year 
later.  Under  the  terms  of  the  new  act,  if  a  New  Zealand 
patent  is  not  worked  in  that  country  within  four  years  after 
it  is  granted  it  may  be  revoked.  But  a  foreign  patentee  is 
adequately  protected  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  if  he  desires 
to  work  the  patent  he  may  arrange  with  a  New  Zealand 
manufacturer  to  take  it  up. 

It  is  somewhat  anomalous  to  think  that  any  country 
should  grant  an  inventor,  for  nothing,  a  monopoly  of  some- 
thing which  may  materially  hinder  the  progress  of  an 
industry  in  that  country;  but  such  was  the  effect  of  the 
former  patent  law  of  New  Zealand.  The  effect  of  the  new 
English  act  is  said  to  have  been  such  that  within  one  year 
over  $5,000,000  was  invested  in  Great  Britain  in  industries 
which  were  protected  by  English  patents.  There  are  now 
about  3800  patents  in  force  in  New  Zealand  and  about  1700 
applications  pending.  During  1910  about  150  applications 
were  filed  by  residents  of  the  United  Kingdom,  258  from 
Australia,  120  from  the  United  States,  15  from  Germany 
and  23  from  other  European  countries. 


PRESIDENT  TAFT  ON  OUR  EXPORT  TRADE. 


PATENT  LEGISLATION  IN  NEW  ZEALAND. 

The  Parliament  of  New  Zealand  passed  a  new  act  relating 
to  patents,  designs  and  trade-marks  which  took  effect  in 
July  and  differed  from  the  old  act  chiefly  by  the  insertion 
of  a  provision  that  any  patent  not  worked  in  New  Zealand 


Last  week  President  Taft  sent  to  Congress,  just  re- 
assembled for  the  short  session,  a  special  message  dealing 
with  our  foreign  trade.  He  declared  that  the  position  of 
the  United  States  in  the  moral,  intellectual  and  material 
relations  of  the  family  of  nations  should  be  of  vital  interest 
to  us  all.  The  tremendous  growth  of  the  export  trade  of 
the  United  States  has  already  made  that  trade  a  very  real 
factor  in  the  industrial  and  commercial  prosperity  of  the 
country.  The  fundamental  foreign  policies  of  the  nation, 
said  Mr.  Taft,  should  be  raised  high  above  the  conflict  of 
partisanship  and  wholly  dissociated  from  differences  as  to 
domestic  policy. 

The  President  in  eft'ect  characterized  diplomacy  as  the 
handmaid  of  trade.  Under  the  present  administration  he 
said  it  has  been  the  policy  to  place  our  diplomatic  relations 
in  sympathy  with  modern  ideas  of  commercial  intercourse. 
This  policy  has  been  characterized  as  substituting  dollars 
for  bullets.  A  high  tribute  was  paid  in  the  message  to  our 
diplomatic  and  consular  service,  and  a  recommendation  was 
made  for  an  increased  appropriation  in  order  to  extend  its 
work  and  increase  our  foreign  prestige.  There  is  need,  said 
the  President,  for  additional  legislation  enabling  the  chief 
executive  to  apply  to  any  or  all  commodities  of  a  country 
which  discriminates  against  the  United  States  a  graduated 
scale  of  duties  up  to  the  maximum  of  25  per  cent  ad  valorem 


1250 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24. 


provided  under  the  present  law.  Flat  tariffs,  said  Mr.  Taft, 
are  out  of  date,  and  nations  no  longer  accord  equal  tariff 
treatment  to  each  other  irrespective  of  the  treatment 
received.  Such  a  flexible  power  would  serve  to  moderate 
any  unfavorable  tendency  on  the  part  of  countries  from 
which  importations  into  the  United  States  are  substantially 
confined  to  articles  on  the  free  list,  as  well  as  on  the  part 
of  the  countries  which  find  lucrative  markets  in  the  United 
."^tates  for  their  products  under  existing  tariff's.  The  Presi- 
■  lent  believes  that  the  American  government  should  be 
equipped  with  weapons  of  negotiation  adapted  to  modern 
economic  conditions. 

In  President  Taft's  last  annual  message  he  remarked  that 
the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  191 1,  was  noteworthy  as  mark- 
ing the  highest  record  of  exports  of  American  products  to 
foreign  countries.  The  fiscal  year  of  1912  shows  that  this 
rate  of  advance  has  been  maintained,  for  the  total  domestic 
exports  had  a  valuation  of  approximately  $2,200,000,000  as 
compared  with  a  fraction  over  $2,000,000,000  for  the  pre- 
vious year.  During  the  fiscal  year  of  191 1  the  export  of 
articles  in  the  various  stages  of  manufacture,  not  including 
foodstuff's  partly  or  wholly  manufactured,  amounted  to 
approximately  $907,500,000,  the  growth  to  the  sum  of 
$1,022,000,000  for  the  fiscal  year  1912  representing  a  gain 
of  $114,000,000. 

The  President  devoted  considerable  space  in  the  message 
to  our  harmonious  relations  with  the  other  nations  of  the 
world  and  the  peaceable  and  friendly  settlement  of  such 
differences  as  have  arisen  on  occasion.  Congress  should 
fully  realize,  said  the  President,  the  conditions  which  obtain 
in  the  world  as  we  find  ourselves  on  the  threshold  of  our 
middle  age  as  a  nation.  In  his  own  words :  "We  have 
emerged  full  grown  as  a  peer  in  the  great  concourse  of 
nations,"  The  successful  conduct  of  our  foreign  relations 
demands  a  broad  and  modern  view.  The  opening  of  the 
Panama  Canal  will  mark  a  new  era  in  our  international  life 
and  create  new  and  world-wide  conditions  which  will  persist 
for  hundreds  of  years  to  come.  In  closing,  the  President 
said:  "With  continuity  of  purpose,  we  must  deal  with  the 
problem  of  our  external  relations  by  a  democracy  modern, 
resourceful,  magnanimous  and  fittingly  expressive  of  the 
high   ideals  of  a  great  nation." 


REPORT  OF  PATENT  OFFICE   INVESTIGATION  BY 
ECONOMY  AND  EFFICIENCY  COMMISSION. 


By  a  joint  resolution  approved  Aug.  21,  19 1 2,  Congress 
requested  the  President  to  cause  an  investigation  of  the 
Patent  Office  to  be  made  by  the  President's  Commission  on 
Economy  and  Efficiency.  The  resolution  directed  that  the 
commission  should  investigate  fully  and  carefully  the  admin- 
istration of  the  Patent  Office  with  a  view  of  determining 
whether  or  not  its  present  methods,  personnel,  equipment 
and  building  were  adequate  for  the  performance  of  its 
functions.  A  report  with  specific  recommendations  as  to 
what  changes  in  law,  what  increases  in  appropriations  and 
what  additional  building  accommodations  may  be  necessary 
to  make  the  Patent  Office  more  efiicient  and  economical  was 
required  to  be  made  by  Dec.  10.  It  was  further  directed 
that  recommendations  should  be  made  as  to  what  extent  any 
expenditures  recommended  should  be  met  by  increases  of 
Patent  Office  fees.  This  report  has  been  completed  and 
was  transmitted  to  Congress  by  President  Taft  on  Dec,  9, 
It  is  a  formidable  document  of  iioo  typewritten  pages.  An 
abstract  of  it  follows: 

NEW  BUILDING   NEEDED 

I  he   report  recommends  that  a  new  building,  especially 
designed,  equipped  and  furnished,  be  constructed  on  a  suit- 
able site  in  the  city  of  Washington  for  the  exclusive  use  of 
the  Patent  Office    The  commission  reports  that  the  space  in 
- -.  :ent  building  is   wholly  inadequate   for  the   efficient 


and  economical  transaction  of  busmess ;  that  the  rooms  are 
crowded  and  poorly  lighted  and  ventilated.  It  says  that 
some  of  the  rooms,  made  by  partitioning  off  the  old  hall 
formerly  used  to  exhibit  models,  have  ceilings  only  8  ft, 
high,  and  with  the  large  number  of  persons  employed  in  a 
room  of  this  kind  the  absence  of  adequate  ventilation  causes 
a  serious  loss  in  efficiency  and  injures  the  health  of  em- 
ployees. The  danger  of  fire  is  commented  upon,  as  the 
records  of  title  to  patents  and  other  papers  of  value  are 
exposed  to  loss  by  fire,  being  stored  in  wooden  boxes.  The 
halls  and  corridors  are  used  for  files.  Examiners  are  so 
crowded  that  careful  work  cannot  be  expected.  The  com- 
mission concludes  that  substantial  improvement  in  the  work 
of  the  Patent  Office  must  wait  upon  provision  being  made 
for  a  suitable  building,  adequate  for  the  needs  of  the  office 
and  especially  equipped  with  reference  to  the  nature  of 
the  work. 

An  appropriation  is  recommended  for  the  repair  of  the 
looms  occupied  by  the  Patent  Office,  for  the  installation  of 
suitable  lighting  and  ventilating  facilities  and  for  the  pur- 
chase of  new  furniture  and  equipment.  It  is  suggested  that 
the  urgent  need  for  more  room  be  met  temporarily  by 
moving  some  divisions  of  the  Interior  Department  from  the 
present  building  and  giving  the  space  to  the  Patent  Office. 

INCREASE  OF  FORCE  AND  SALARIES. 

It  is  recommended  that  the  number  of  employees  in  the 
office  be  increased  from  939  to  975.  with  an  increase  in  the 
pay  roll  of  $236,550.  The  principal  salary  increases  recom- 
mended are  for  the  commissioner,  from  $5,000  to  $7,500 ; 
lor  an  assistant  commissioner,  from  $4,500  to  $5,000 ;  ex- 
aminers-in-chief, from  $3,500  to  $4,500;  examiner  of  classi- 
fication, from  $3,600  to  $4,000;  examiner  of  interferences, 
from  $2,700  to  $3,600 ;  principal  examiners,  from  $2,700  to 
$3,600 ;  first  assistant  examiner,  from  $2,400  to  $2,700 ; 
second  assistant  examiners,  from  $2,100  to  $2,250,  A  force 
of  seven  supervising  examiners  to  aid  the  Commissioner  of 
Patents  in  the  administrative  work  of  the  office  is  recom- 
mended at  salaries  of  $4,000  each.  The  increase  in  force 
recommended,  in  addition  to  the  supervising  examiners,  is 
two  examiners-in-chief  at  $4,500  to  make  the  board  consist 
of  five  instead  of  three  members;  one  additional  examiner 
of  interference  at  $3,600;  one  assistant  to  chief  of  division 
of  trade  marks  at  $2,700;  one  assistant  to  chief  of  classi- 
fication division  at  $3,000 ;  twenty-seven  additional  first 
assistant  examiners  at  $2,700 ;  seventeen  additional  second 
assistant  examiners  at  $2,250 ;  six  additional  third  assistant 
examiners  at  $1,800,  and  the  reduction  of  the  number  of 
fourth  assistant  examiners  from  no  to  83.  In  the  clerical 
force  the  following  changes  are  recommended :  Thirteen 
additional  clerks  at  $1,400;  twenty  additional  clerks  at 
$1,200;  ten  additional  clerks  at  $1,000;  seventeen  additional 
clerks  at  $900,  This  recommendation  would  eliminate  fifty 
clerks  at  $720  in  the  provision  for  an  additional  number  at 
the  higher  grades.  Messenger  boys  engaged  in  collecting 
copies  of  patents,  of  which  nearly  11,000  copies  a  day  are 
sold,  are  recommended  for  increase  from  $360  to  $480.  The 
present  pay  roll  of  the  office  is  $1,311,010.  The  proposed 
pay  roll  will  be  $1,547,560. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  OFFICE. 

The  report  recommends  that  the  Commissioner  of  Patents 
be  relieved  from  the  duty  of  considering  cases  on  appeal 
from  the  board  of  examiners-in-chief  and  from  the  division 
of  trade  marks,  in  order  that  he  mav  give  his  entire  atten- 
tion to  the  administrative  work  of  the  office,  and  that  he  be 
assisted  in  the  administrative  work  by  one  assistant  com- 
missioner of  patents  and  seven  strpervising  examiners.  It 
is  pointed  out  that  adequate  control  of  the  methods  and 
procedure  of  the  forty-three  examining  divisions  in  the 
allowance  and  rejection  of  applications  for  patents  is  neces- 
sary to  secure  efficient  work.  The  commission  bases  the 
recommendation  that  the  Commissioner  of  Patents  be 
relieved  from   iudicial  work  upon  tlic  fact  that  the  number 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1251 


of  invalid  patents  issued  is  due  largely  to  a  failure  to 
supervise  and  control  the  work  of  the  examining  force, 
leaving  the  decision  on  applications  to  the  forty-three  prin- 
cipal examiners.  Their  decisions  if  favorable  to  the  issue 
of  patents  are  not  reviewed.  If  unfavorable,  the  applicant 
can  appeal.  The  commission  believes  that  if  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Patents  were  relieved  from  deciding  individual 
cases  and  had  the  aid  of  seven  supervising  examiners  he 
could  prevent  almost  entirely  the  issue  of  patents  which 
would  not  be  allowed  if  the  commissioner  had  the  time  and 
assistance  necessary  for  supervising  the  work  of  examiners. 
The  commission  reaches  the  conclusion  that  the  defects  in 
the  organization  and  procedure  of  the  Patent  Office  result 
in  a  lack  of  uniformity  in  the  work  of  the  examining 
divisions.  These  defects  are  due  to  the  organization 
remair>ing  the  same  as  it  was  fifty  years  ago,  when  the  busi- 
ness of  the  office  and  the  force  of  examiners  were  very 
small  as  compared  to  the  conditions  at  the  present  time. 
With  a  corps  of  examiners  numbering  nearly  400,  it  is  im- 
possible for  the  Commissioner  of  Patents,  with  his  present 
duties  of  deciding  cases  on  appeal,  to  give  the  administrative 
work  of  the  office  the  attention  that  is  essential. 

ABOLISH  ONE  APPEAL  IN  THE  OFFICE. 

Frequent  complaint  has  been  made  by  inventors  and 
others  having  business  with  the  Patent  Office  that  the  num- 
ber of  appeals  within  the  office  in  contested  cases  is  more 
than  is  jiecessary  and  results  in  delay  and  expense  to  in- 
ventors. The  commission  has  recommended  that  instead  of 
an  appeal  to  the  board  of  e.xaminers-in-chief  and  a  second 
appeal  to  the  Commissioner  of  Patents,  the  board  be  in- 
creased from  three  to  five  members  and  all  appeals  within 
the  office  be  taken  to  this  board,  thus  eliminating  the  one 
appeal  to  the  Commissioner  of  Patents.  This  plan  would 
allow  the  appeal  that  may  now  be  taken  from  the  decision 
of  the  commissioner  to  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  to  be  taken  from  the  board  of  examiners-in- 
chief,  whose  decision  would  be  the  decision  of  the  Patent 
Office. 

INCREASE  OF   PATENT  OFFICE  FEES. 

The  commission  recommends  that  the  fee  for  filing  an 
application  for  a  patent  be  increased  from  $15  to  $20,  and 
supports  its  recommendation  by  the  statement  that  the  fee 
of  $15  is  too  small  to  warrant  the  necessary  time  being 
given  to  the  examination  of  an  application.  It  expresses 
the  opinion  that  a  reasonable  increase  of  fees  is  justified 
when  the  service  rendered  is  improved.  This  change  in  fee, 
it  is  estimated,  will  increase  the  annual  revenues  of  the 
Patent  Office  $200,000.  It  is  estimated  that  the  total 
revenues  of  the  office,  which  now  show  a  small  surplus,  will 
equal  the  proposed  expenditures,  including  the  increases  in 
force  and  salaries  recommended. 

TERM  OF  THE  PATENT. 

.^n  important  recommendation  is  that  the  life  of  a  patent 
be  so  limited  as  to  expire  nineteen  years  from  the  date  of 
filing  the  application,  excluding  the  time,  not  exceeding  two 
years,  during  which  an  application  may  be  involved  in 
interference.  The  commission  reports  that  under  the  law 
which  allows  an  applicant  one  year's  time  in  which  to 
answer  any  action  of  the  Patent  Office  there  have  been  many 
applications  kept  pending  in  the  Patent  Office  for  ten  years 
or  more.  As  the  present  law  provides  that  a  grant  of  a 
patent  shall  be  for  seventeen  years  from  the  date  of  issue, 
it  is  possible,  under  the  present  practice,  for  an  inventor  to 
extend  the  life  of  his  monopoly  beyond  seventeen  years. 
The  commission  believes  that  the  remedy  is  to  make  the 
term  of  the  patent  commence  from  the  date  of  filing  the 
application,  as  is  done  in  foreign  countries.  It  is  also 
believed  that  a  reasonable  period  of  time,  which  it  suggests 
be  two  years,  be  allowed  in  addition  to  the  nineteen  years 
for  the  time  an  application  may  be  involved  in  interference 
proceedings  which  are  instituted  by  the  Patent  Office  and 
not  by  the  applicant. 


FACILITIES  FOR  EXAMINING  APPLICATIONS. 

The  commission  reviews  at  some  length  the  work  of 
reclassifying  patents  and  digesting  printed  publications  as 
an  aid  to  determining  quickly  and  accurately  whether  an 
applicant  is  entitled  to  a  patent,  which  work  has  been  in 
progress  for  some  years.  It  urges  an  appropriation  for  an 
adequate  force  to  complete  this  work  within  five  years  and 
emphasizes  the  importance  of  providing  the  best  facilities 
for  simplifying  and  making  more  accurate  the  search  by 
examiners  in  order  that  the  number  of  invalid  patents  may 
be  reduced. 

THE  OFFICIAL  GAZETTE. 

Raising  the  subscription  price  of  the  Official  Gazette  from 
$5  to  $10  is  recommended  and  a  change  in  the  method  of 
distributing  copies  of  this  publication  to  libraries  is  sug- 
gested. The  distribution  is  now  made  to  the  eight  libraries 
in  each  Congressional  district  that  may  be  designated  by  the 
member  of  Congress.  It  is  recommended  also  that  instead 
of  publishing  in  the  Gazette  the  first  five  claims  of  a  patent 
a  brief  or  summary  of  the  patent  be  published  so  as  to  give 
a  better  idea  of  the  patent  and  reduce  the  size  of  the  Gazette. 

PRINTING  TO  BE  DONE  AT  GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE. 

It  is  recommended  that  all  the  work  of  producing  the  pub- 
lications of  the  Patent  Office  be  turned  over  to  the  Govern- 
ment Printing  Office  and  that  that  office  be  equipped  to 
handle  the  work.  Part  of  it  is  now  done  at  the  Government 
Printing  Office  and  a  part  through  contractors. 

SUBJECTS    NOT  REPORTED  ON. 

In  concluding  its  report  the  commission  refers  to  several 
subjects  upon  which  it  was  not  authorized  to  make  recom- 
mendations, such  as  the  proposal  to  create  a  United  States 
Court  of  Patent  Appeals  to  have  the  jurisdiction  in  patent 
causes  now  exercised  by  the  circuit  courts  of  appeals  in  the 
nine  circuits  of  the  United  States.  It  reports  that  the 
creation  of  this  court  is  favored  by  practically  all  the 
attorneys  interested  in  patent  causes  and  by  inventors 
generally.  For  the  reason  that  the  subjects  did  not  come 
within  the  scope  of  its  investigation  the  commission  states 
that  it  makes  no  recommendations  concerning  litigation  in 
the  courts  nor  with  reference  to  the  suggestion  that  has 
been  made  to  create  a  patent  bar  and  to  require  that  a 
person  be  a  member  thereof  before  being  authorized  to 
practise  before  the  Patent  Office. 

THE  PATENT  MONOPOLY. 

Although  it  makes  no  recommendation  upon  the  subject 
of  the  extent  of  the  monopoly  granted  by  a  patent  or  the 
question  of  compelling  a  patentee  to  work  his  patent  or 
grant  a  license  to  others  to  do  so,  the  commission  sets  forth 
in  an  appendix  the  law  and  procedure  of  Germany  and 
England  on  these  subjects,  with  papers  discussing  the  patent 
systems  of  other  nations. 

IMPROVING  THE  PATENT  SYSTEM. 

After  a  review  of  the  history  of  the  United  States  patent 
system  the  commission  concludes  that  the  remedy  for  the 
evil  of  granting  invalid  patents  is  not  to  be  found  in  a 
departure  from  the  plan  of  granting  a  patent  only  after 
examination  but  in  perfecting  the  examination  system  estab- 
lished seventy-six  years  ago  and  afterward  adopted  by  other 
nations.  The  great  development  of  our  patent  system,  as 
shown  by  the  filing  of  70,000  applications  a  year  and  the 
grant  of  33,000  patents,  has  made  inadequate,  say  the  com- 
mission, the  organization  and  procedure  of  the  Patent  Office, 
as  well  as  the  procedure  in  the  courts.  The  commission 
expresses  the  opinion  that  to  meet  the  conditions  which 
cause  complaint  it  will  be  necessary  to  build  up  the  Patent 
Office  so  as  to  justify  making  its  decision  final  on  many 
questions  and  not  allow  every  question  concerning  the 
validity  of  a  patent  to  be  litigated  in  the  courts.  Then  a 
patent  will  be  more  than  a  preliminary  to  a  lawsuit,  where 
often  the  victory  rests  with  the  one  who  can  best  bear  the 
expense. 


125^ 


ELECTRICAL     W  ( )  R  L  D 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24. 


TRIAL  OF    PATENT    CAUSES   AFFECTED    BY  NEW 
RULES  OF  EQUITY  PRACTICE. 


Tlie  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  for  some 
time  past  had  under  consideration  the  revision  of  rules  of 
practice  in  the  equity  courts  of  the  United  States,  in  order 
to  correct  some  of  the  abuses  which  have  grown  up  under 
the  present  rules  and  to  expedite  the  administration  of 
justice.  After  long  consideration,  the  Supreme  Court  has 
recently  promulgated  a  new  set  of  rules  governing  practice 
in  the  United  States  courts  of  equity,  which  will  be  in  force 
on  and  after  Feb.  i.  Much  has  been  done  to  shorten  the 
trial  of  equity  causes  and  to  diminish  the  amount  of  legal 
quibbling  over  technicalities  and  immaterial  points  which 
has  been  such  a  prominent  feature  in  the  trial  of  patent 
cases. 

The  former  practice  of  allowing  much  testimony  to  be 
taken  before  masters  or  referees  will  be  changed,  and  in 
all  trials  in  equity  testimony  of  witnesses  will  be  taken 
orally  in  open  court  before  a  judge,  except  in  certain  cases 
referred  to  later.  The  court  will  also  pass  upon  the 
admissibility  of  all  evidence  offered,  as  in  actions  at  law. 
Where  there  is  exceptional  cause  for  departing  from  this 
general  rule  and  the  statutes  permit  it,  testimony  may  be 
taken  by  deposition  or  before  a  master.  But  in  any  such 
instance  the  depositions  of  the  plaintiff  must  be  taken  and 
filed  within  sixty  days  from  the  time  the  case  is  at  issue, 
and  those  of  the  defendant  within  the  next  thirty  days  after 
the  expiration  of  the  plaintiff's  period.  Depositions  in 
rebuttal  by  either  party  must  be  filed  within  twenty  days 
after  the  time  for  taking  the  original  depositions  expires. 

In  a  case  involving  the  validity  or  scope  of  a  patent  or 
trade-mark  the  District  Court  may,  upon  petition,  order  that 
the  testimony  in  chief  of  expert  witnesses,  which  is  directed 
to  matters  of  opinion,  be  set  forth  in  affidavits.  The  plain- 
tiff's affidavits  must  be  filed  within  forty  days  after  the  cause 
is  at  issue,  and  those  of  the  defendant  within  twenty  days 
after  the  plaintiff's  time  has  expired.  Fifteen  days  after  the 
expiration  of  the  time  limit  for  both  original  affidavits  is 
provided  for  the  filing  or  rebutting  affidavits.  Cross-ex- 
amination or  re-examination  of  affiants  must  take  place 
before  the  court.  The  evidence  offered  before  an  examiner 
or  like  officer  must  be  saved  and  turned  over  to  the  court. 

After  the  time  has  elapsed  for  filing  depositions,  the  case 
shall  be  placed  on  the  trial  calendar,  and  thereafter  no  other 
testimony  by  deposition  shall  be  taken  except  for  some 
strong  reason  shown  by  affidavit.  After  a  case  is  placed  on 
the  trial  calendar  it  may  be  passed  over  to  another  day  of 
the  same  term  of  court  by  consent  of  counsel  or  order  of  the 
court,  but  shall  not  be  continued  beyond  that  term  save  in 
exceptional  cases  and  upon  good  cause.  If  a  case  is  dropped 
from  the  trial  calendar,  it  must  be  reinstated  within  one 
year  by  the  application  of  either  party,  and  then  heard  at 
the  earliest  convenient  day,  or  the  suit  will  be  dismissed 
without  prejudice  to  a  new  one. 

Each  party  is  allowed  twenty-one  days  in  which  to  file 
interrogatories,  but  neither  party  shall  file  more  than  one 
set  without  permission  of  the  court.  Answers  to  interroga- 
tories are  required  within  fifteen  days  after  they  have  been 
served,  except  by  permission  of  the  court.  The  reference 
of  an  equity  case  to  a  master  will  be  the  exception  and  not 
the  rule,  save  in  cases  where  an  accounting  is  to  be  ren- 
dered. In  such  instances  it  will  be  the  duty  of  the  master  to 
expedite  the  hearings  and  return  his  report  to  the  court 
promptly.  The  master  is  to  have  full  power  to  regulate  all 
the  proceedings  in  every  hearing  before  him.  After  the 
master's  report  is  filed  with  the  court  each  party  will  be 
allowed  twenty  days  within  which  to  file  exceptions,  and  if 
none  is  filed  within  that  time  the  report  will  stand  con- 
firmed. But  when  exceptions  are  filed  they  shall  stand  for 
hearing  before  the  court,  if  then  in  session,  or  if  not,  at  the 
next  sitting  held  thereafter. 

Probably  one  of  the  most  important  reforms  thus  effected 


IS  tlie  abolition  of  the  practice  of  taking  expert  testimony 
before  masters  or  examiners.  As  is  well  known,  such  hear- 
ings have  been  dragged  out  to  an  interminable  length 
without  good  cause,  and  the  burden  has  fallen  heavily  on 
the  litigant  of  limited  means.  There  is  cause  for  congratu- 
lation, also,  in  the  fact  that  hereafter  the  way  of  the 
procrastinator  will  be  made  hard. 


NATIONAL    CIVIC  FEDERATION'S  INVESTIGATION 
OF  PUBLIC  UTILITY  LAWS. 


For  nearly  a  year  past  the  National  Civic  Federation  has 
been  conducting  an  investigation  of  the  regulation  of  public 
service  companies  under  federal,  state  and  municipal  laws. 
The  scope  of  the  work  includes  a  compilation  of  regulatory 
laws,  analyzed  and  annotated ;  the  formulation  of  a  model 
public  utilities  bill ;  the  preparation  of  a  special  report  on 
regulation  of  capitalization,  sliding  scale  and  profit-sharing, 
and  a  study  of  state  versus  municipal  regulation.  In  fram- 
ing a  model  public  utility  law  committees  on  the  following 
subjects  have  been  at  work:  accounts  and  reports,  capitali- 
zation, form,  franchises,  rates,  safety  of  operation,  and 
service.  The  investigation  as  a  whole  has  been  directed 
toward  the  problem  of  determining  what  constitutes  ade- 
quate regulation  of  public  utilities  and  to  what  extent  it  is 
desirable  or  necessary  for  the  state  to  go  in  regulating  the 
service  and  charges  of  railroads,  electric,  gas,  telephone, 
telegraph,  water  and  other  utilities  in  order  to  protect  and 
conserve  the  rights  of  consumers,  the  public  and  the  com- 
panies. In  connection  with  the  work  many  court  and  com- 
mission decisions  have  been  abstracted  and  digested.  The 
investigation  is  nearing  completion  and  a  report  will  prob- 
ably be  ready  at  an  early  date.  This  entire  work  has  been 
in  the  special  charge  of  the  department  on  regulation  of 
public  utilities,  of  which  Mr.  Emerson  McMillin  is  chair- 
man. Prof.  John  H.  Gray,  of  the  University  of  Minnesota, 
has  been  in  direct  charge,  and  has  been  assisted  by  Mr. 
William  B,  Kerr,  of  Chicago,  and  Prof.  Bruce  W'yman, 
of  Harvard  LIniversity. 


COMMENT     ON     PUBLIC    SERVICE     COMMISSION 
AFFAIRS  IN  NEW  YORK  FIRST  DISTRICT. 


At  a  time  when  the  subject  of  commission  regulation  of 
public  utilities  is  being  so  generally  studied  and  discussed, 
there  is  considerable  interest  in  the  status  of  the  Public 
Service  Commission  for  the  First  District  of  New  York, 
which  was  very  frankly  discussed  in  a  recent  article  in  the 
New  York  Evening  Post.  The  term  of  Chairman  William 
R.  Willcox  will  expire  on  Feb.  i  and  there  is  much  con- 
jecture as  to  whom  Governor-elect  Sulzer  will  appoint  in 
his  place.  The  Post  hints  that  the  situation  is  critical  and 
reports  recent  signs  of  political  activity  in  the  commission. 
The  query  is  naturally  as  to  whether  an  unusually  capable 
and  faithful  public  servant  will  be  succeeded  by  an  equally 
able  and  experienced  appointee,  or  whether  the  appoint- 
ment will  fall  under  the  political  spoils  system  to  an  in- 
cumbent whose  chief  qualification  will  be  the  indorsement 
of  the  local  political  leader.  It  will  be  very  widely  ad- 
mitted that  the  success  or  failure  of  commission  regulation 
depends  fundamentally  upon  the  character,  integrity  and 
ability  of  the  appointees  to  office  in  the  regulating  body. 

Under  appointment  from  former  Governor  Hughes,  who 
fathered  the  public  service  commission  law,  the  members 
of  the  first  commission  took  office  on  July  I,  1907.  The 
personnel  was  as  follows:  Chairman,  Mr.  William  R.  Will- 
cox ;  commissioners,  Messrs.  William  McCarroU,  Edward 
M.  Bassett,  Milo  R.  Maltbie  and  John  E.  Eustis.  The  Post 
said  of  these  appointments: 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1 253 


"VVillcox  had  been  park  commissioner  in  iMayor  Low's 
administration  and  later  postmaster  of  New  York  City; 
McCarroll  was  a  business  man,  president  of  the  American 
Leather  Company  and  one-time  president  of  the  New  York 
Board  of  Trade;  Bassett  had  been  a  member  of  the  Demo- 
cratic general  committee  in  Brooklyn  and  a  member  of 
Congress,  and  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Hughes; 
Maltbie  was  known  as  an  expert  on  municipal  affairs,  with 
no  political  affiliations  whatever;  Eustis  had  been  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Education,  and  was  commissioner  of  parks 
for  the  Bronx  under  Mayor  Low." 

When  the  terms  of  Messrs.  Eustis  and  Maltbie  expired, 
in  1909  and  1910  respectively,  Governor  Hughes  reappointed 
them  each  for  five  years.  When  Commissioner  Bassett's 
term  expired  in  191 1,  Governor  Dix,  who  had  succeeded 
Governor  Hughes,  appointed  Mr.  J.  Sergeant  Cram  to  the 
place,  Commissioner  Carroll's  term  expired  early  this  year, 
and  although  the  Legislature  refused  to  sanction  the  Gov- 
ernor's first  choice  for  the  position,  he  finally  succeeded  in 
appointing  Mr.  George  V.  S.  Williams.  Both  of  these 
appointments  have  been  criticised  as  violating  the  spirit  of 
civil  service  and  lowering  the  standard  of  the  commission. 

Attention  has  also  been  drawn,  as  a  possible  motive  for 
desiring  to  have  a  commission  which  will  be  friendly  to 
certain  interests  or  organizations,  to  the  unlet  subway  con- 
tracts for  $277,000,000  which  will  soon  be  awarded  and  the 
$125,000  annual  salary  list  of  some  thirty-two  subordinates 
whose  •  positions  are  not  protected  by  civil-service  rules. 
Under  the  administration  of  the  original  appointees  of 
Governor  Hughes,  an  efficient  non-partisan  organization 
was  built  up  and  the  commission  gained  a  national  reputa- 
tion of  high  order  as  the  result  of  its  work. 

That  there  is  need  of  vigilance  in  upholding  the  high 
standards  previously  established  in  the  commission's  work 
is  indicated  by  the  unusual  and  somewhat  astonishing  char- 
acter of  portions  of  Vol.  IV  of  the  annual  report  for  1910, 
covering  statistics  of  gas  and  electric  companies.  The 
section  on  ''Load  Factors  and  Rates"  is  particularly  in  evi- 
dence. This  portion  of  the  report,  which  occupies  twenty- 
eight 'pages,  is  characterized  at  many  points  by  a  style  of 
discussion  which  reveals  no  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
central-station  industry.  In  all  fairness  to  the  members  of 
the  commission  it  is  proper  to  point  out  that  this  portion  of 
their  report  is  virtually  an  appendix  and  was  compiled  by 
the  Bureau  of  Statistics  and  Accounts. 

The  following  quotation,  taken  from  the  report  in  refer- 
ence to  the  general  subject  of  load-factors,  is  an  example 
of  some  of  the  statements:  "Breakdown  and  periodical 
overhaulings  [of  machinery]  could  be  largely  reduced  or 
the  stoppage  and  delay  incident  to  them  done  away  with 
if  intervals  of  reduced  utilization  were  not  inevitable.  They 
could  be  provided  for  statistically  by  distinguishing  between 
the  rated  capacity  of  a  plant  and  its  actual  working  capacity 
for  a  given  period."  Another  interesting  statement  is  this: 
"Load-factors  are  of  special  interest  wherever  the  com- 
mercial product  is  a  serznce  rather  than  a  material  good.' 
Continuing  further  on,  the  report  says:  "Steadiness  of 
demand,  and  therefore  the  load-factor,  is  also  important  in 
relation  to  losses  in  distribution."  The  general  statement 
is  also  made  without  qualification  that  "One-third  of  the 
electricity  generated  may  be  'unaccounted  for.'  "  At  an- 
other point  a  statement  is  made  that  economy  requires  pro- 
ducing units  to  be  of  large  capacity,  the  tendency  being 
toward  still  larger  sizes.  This,  according  to  the  report, 
makes  it  impossible  closely  to  adjust  capacity  to  demand 
except  rarely  and  temporarily.  No  reference  is  made  to 
the  practice  of  subdividing  central-station  generating  units 
in  order  that  the  load  at  all  times  may  be  handled  on  an 
economical  basis.  The  remarkable  statement  is  also  made 
that  connected  load  is  of  significance  for  motor  loads  rather 
than  for  lighting  customers,  but  the  reason  for  this  view  is 
not  stated.  Another  definition  which  excites  comment  is 
the  following:     "The  diversity  factor  measures  the  differ- 


ence in  time  of  the  maximum  of  different  classes  of  busi- 
ness." The  Doherty  rate  system  is  attacked  and  a  number 
of  things  are  said  of  it  which  may  be  regarded  as  covering 
ground  which  at  least  is  debatable.  Probably  the  most 
amazing  statement  made  in  the  whole  report  is  that  next 
given:  "From  the  viewpoint  of  public  policy  in  relation  to 
fire  risk,  too,  the  general  use  of  gas  is  probably  as  yet  to  be 
preferred,  not  only  to  kerosene,  but  also  to  electricity."  The 
statistical  portion  of  the  report  is  extremely  voluminous, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  understand  the  value  or  purpose  of 
some  of  the  extremely  elaborate  tabulations,  particularly 
those  which  classify  employees  according  to  the  number  of 
days  employed  each  week,  whether  paid  by  the  hour  or  by 
the  day,  etc.,  with  the  classification  carried  through  the  year 
week  by  week. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    FIRST    DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  First  District 
has  requested  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment 
to  make  an  appropriation  of  $1,763,000  for  the  expenses  of 
the  commission  for  the  year  1913.  The  commission's 
budget  for  the  year  1912  was  $1,554,500.  While  the  com- 
mission for  the  First  District  is  a  State  commission,  the 
State  pays  only  the  salaries  of  the  commissioners,  the 
counsel  and  secretary,  and  all  the  other  expenses  are  paid 
by  the  city  of  New  York.  The  bulk  of  these  expenses  is 
incurred  for  rapid-transit  work,  which  will  take  more  than 
$1,300,000  of  the  total  budget  for  1913.  The  increase  over 
the  year  1912  is  due  entirely  to  the  increased  expenses  due 
to  work  on  the  new  system  of  subways.  Part  of  this  money 
will  be  returned  to  the  city  in  future  years,  for  the  oper- 
ating contracts  for  the  new  subways,  as  prepared  by  the 
commission,  will  include  the  engineering  expenses  of  the 
commission  as  part  of  the  cost  of  construction,  and  a 
sinking  fund  will  be  provided  to  amortize  this  cost  out  of 
the  earnings  during  the  life  of  the  operating  lease. 

The  commission  has  modified  the  orders  issued  by  it  last 
February  requiring  the  New  York  Railways  Company  and 
the  Third  Avenue  Railway  Company  to  set  aside  each  year 
a  specified  amount  of  money  as  an  amortization  fund  to 
make  up  the  difference  between  the  value  of  the  property 
and  the  securities  issued  by  the  companies  in  their  respective 
plans  of  reorganization,  and  also  providing  for  the  setting 
aside  each  year  of  20  per  cent  of  the  gross  earnings  as  a 
depreciation  fund.  In  the  case  of  the  New  York  Railways 
Company  the  amount  ordered  set  aside  for  amortization 
was  $108,000  each  year  plus  4  per  cent  upon  all  prior  pay- 
ments until  the  fund  shall  amount  to  $16,500,000.  In  the 
case  of  the  Third  Avenue  Railway  Company  the  amount  to 
be  set  aside  for  amortization  was  $180,000  plus  4  per  cent 
upon  all  prior  payments  until  the  fund  shall  amount  to 
$25,000,000.  These  amounts  of  $16,500,000  in  the  case  of 
the  New  York  Railways  Company  and  $25,000,000  in  the 
case  of  the  Third  Avenue  Railway  Company  were  the  sums 
respectively,  the  commission  held,  by  which  the  proposed 
security  issues  exceeded  the  value  of  the  property. 

The  new  orders  issued  modified  the  previous  orders  by 
canceling  the  requirement  for  the  establishment  of  this 
amortization  fund  in  the  case  of  each  company,  on  the 
ground  that  under  the  law  as  it  then  stood  the  commission, 
while  satisfied  of  the  necessity  for  providing  such  amortiza- 
tion funds,  was  not  warranted  in  ordering  the  companies  to 
provide  them.  The  commission  finds,  however,  that  it  had 
authority  to  order  the  setting  aside  of  20  per  cent  of  the 
gross  earnings  as  a  depreciation  fund  and  this  part  of  the 
order  is  allowed  to  stand. 

NEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    SECOND    DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  Second  District 
has  directed  its  counsel  to  commence  an  action  against  the 
Oswego   River   Power   Transmission   Company   by   a   man- 


1254 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24. 


danius  or  injunction  to  prevent  it  from  continuing  the  fur- 
nishing of  electricity  for  motor-service  purposes  to  certain 
manufacturing  establishments  in  the  city  of  Fulton.  The 
Fulton  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company,  which  is  now  oper- 
ating in  Fulton,  complained  to  the  commission  that  the 
Oswego  River  Power  Transmission  Company  had  a  permit 
granted  to  it  by  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Works  to 
erect  poles  and  string  wires  along  the  bank  of  the  Oswego 
Canal  in  the  city  of  Fulton  and  is  serving  electricity  for 
industrial  purposes  to  certain  manufacturing  establishments 
in  that  city.  The  commission  has  held  that  the  permit  con- 
stitutes a  franchise  and  that  the  Oswego  River  Company 
is  at  the  present  time  exercising  such  franchise  without  the 
permission  of  the  commission.  The  Oswego  River  Company 
claims  that  it  has  constructed  its  pole  line  and  strung  the 
wires  in  good  faith,  believing  that  it  is  not  obliged  to  apply 
to  the  commission  for  permission  to  exercise  its  rights  under 
this  permit. 

MASSACHUSETTS    COMMISSION. 

The  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission  has  received  a 
petition  from  the  Central  Massachusetts  Electric  Company 
appealing  from  an  order  of  the  Palmer  Selectmen  granting 
a  location  for  a  transmission  line  to  the  Warren  Power 
Company.  The  petitioner  avers  that  it  is  occupying  the 
local  electric-service  field  and  objects  to  the  entrance  of  a 
competitive  company.  A  similar  appeal  has  been  lodged 
with  the  board  in  connection  with  a  franchise  granted  the 
Connecticut  River  Transmission  Company  by  the  Selectmen 
of  Enfield.  Hearing  dates  will  be  assigned  by  the  commis- 
sion. Consumers  of  the  Lawrence  Gas  Company  have 
petitioned  the  board  for  a  reduction  in  the  price  of  gas 
to  80  cents. 

NEW   JERSEY    COMMISSION. 

The  Board  of  Public  Utility  Commissioners  has  denied 
tliat  the  New  Jersey  Gas  Company  possesses  the  right  to 
establish  a  minimum  bill.  Complaints  were  made  to  the 
board  by  the  borough  of  Elmer  and  others  that  the  New- 
Jersey  Gas  Company  was,  by  the  ordinance  granting 
a  franchise  to  the  company  it  succeeded,  restricted  to  a 
charge  which  was  not  to  exceed  $1.50  per  1000  cu.  ft. 
with  a  discount  of  8  per  cent  to  be  allowed  on  all  bills  paid 
within  fifteen  days  after  presentation.  The  company  estab- 
lished a  monthly  charge  of  50  cents,  to  be  paid  whether 
enough  gas  was  consumed  at  the  regular  rate  to  equal  this 
amount  or  not.  The  company  contended  that  this  did  not 
violate  the  ordinance,  in  that  the  minimum  monthly  charge 
of  50  cents  was  not  for  gas  furnished  but  for  being  in 
readiness  to  supply  gas.  This  construction  of  the  ordi- 
nance was  not  accepted  by  the  board.  In  its  finding  in  this 
matter  the  board  expressed  the  opinion  that  a  reasonable 
minimum  charge  is  proper,  provided  the  company  has  not 
contracted  itself  out  of  the  right  to  include  such  a  mini- 
mum charge  in  the  price  it  sets  for  gas ;  but  in  this  case 
the  company  had  contracted  itself  out  of  such  right. 

MARYLAND  COMMISSION. 

The  Maryland  Public  Service  Commission  has  received  a 
supplemental  brief  which  was  filed  by  Mr.  Albert  C.  Ritchie, 
people's  counsel  in  the  Baltimore  rate  hearing.  It  contained 
largely  a  criticism  of  the  statement  made  by  Mr.  J.  E. 
.\ldred,  president  of  the  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  & 
Power  Company,  at  the  close  of  the  argument  in  the  hear- 
ing before  the  Public  Service  Commission.  That  Mr.  Aldred 
is  mistaken  in  many  of  his  deductions  Mr.  Ritchie  under- 
takes to  show  in  two  ways,  first,  by  admissions  he  said  were 
made  by  Mr.  Aldred's  own  company  in  the  course  of  the 
hearing  and,  second,  by  liberal  quotations  from  the  report 
of  the  St.  Louis  Public  Service  Commission  in  a  very 
recent  case.  Mr.  Ritchie's  principal  attack,  in  this  supple- 
mental brief,  was  directed  toward  the  gas  and  electric  con- 
solidation of  1905  and  1906,  which  he  said  was  made  at  a 
time  when  "no  company  was  acting  as  a  club  on  the  existing 
companies  and  no  change  whatever  in  ownership  resulted. 


The  admitted  inflation  in  the  par  value  of  bonds  alone  has 
been  $9,672,000,  of  which  $7,102,000  were  the  result  of  the 
1905-6  consolidation."  Mr.  Ritchie  concludes  that  the  Balti- 
more public  certainly  should  not  be  required  to  pay  divi- 
dends on  this  "water."  He  said  that  Mr.  Aldred  proceeded, 
among  other  things,  to  attribute  the  company's  large  capi- 
talization to  "the  mistaken  policy  of  the  people"  in  per- 
mitting competition,  and  that  in  the  light  of  fairness  and 
equity  it  is  impossible  to  consider  putting  upon  the  present 
company  and  its  shareholders  the  burden  which  has  resulted 
from  the  mistaken  policy  in  the  past.  Mr.  Ritchie  said  that 
the  complainant's  brief  shows  conclusively  that  the  prin- 
cipal capital  inflation  occurred  in  1905  and  1906,  when  the 
syndicate,  composed  of  leading  New  York  and  Baltimore 
financiers,  issued  to  itself  securities  having  a  par  value  of 
$19,762,088  in  exchange  for  old  securities  having  a  par 
value  of  $13,123,018,  which  had  cost  not  more  than  $10,225,- 
554  and  which  represented  a  maximum  investment  of  not 
more  than  $3,131,117.  The  excess  of  new  par  value  over 
maximum  investment  was  thus  $16,630,971,  which  is  suffi- 
cient to  cover  all  of  the  preferred  and  common  stock  and 
$2,470,883  of  the  general-mortgage  bonds,  the  interest  and 
dividend  charges  on  these  watered  securities  amounting  to 
$882,795  every  year. 

Mr.  Ritchie  said  that  on  Nov.  19,  1912,  the  St.  Louis 
Public  Service  Commission  made  an  exhaustive  report  to 
the  Municipal  Assembly  of  St.  Louis  upon  the  United  Rail- 
ways Company  of  that  city.  A  copy  of  this  report  is  sub- 
mitted to  the  Maryland  commission.  The  St.  Louis  Com- 
pany's capitalization  is  $101,380,300,  but  the  commission 
found  that  the  fair  value  of  its  property  devoted  to  the 
public  service  was  only  $37,638,668,  and  that  a  fair  return 
on  this  was  6  per  cent.  The  commission,  therefore,  found 
that  the  company's  capitalization  exceeded  the  fair  value  of 
the  property  by  the  enormous  sum  of  $63,741,632.  In  this 
connection  the  commission  used  the  following  language, 
which,  he  said,  is  absolutely  applicable  to  the  overcapitaliza- 
tion of  the  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany: "The  evil  arising  from  the  overcapitalization  of 
public  utilities  is  one  of  the  greatest  to  be  contended  with 
in  their  proper  regulation.  Not  only  is  the  creation  of 
'water'  in  securities  against  the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  laws 
of  the  State,  but  in  the  case  of  public-service  companies  it  ' 
is  bound  ultimately  to  perpetrate  wrong  either  against  the 
purchasers  of  the  securities  or  against  the  consuming  pub- 
lic. It  appears  to  be  a  sound  principle  of  regulation  that 
the  public,  in  return  for  special  privileges  granted,  should 
be  required  to  pay  to  the  public-service  companies  reason- 
able return  only  upon  the  capital  actually  devoted  to  the 
public  service,  and  the  right  to  earn  on  inflated  capital 
should  be  denied.  The  extravagance  and  wastefulness  of 
overcapitalization  can  be  seen  immediately  by  taking  the 
example  of  a  company  which  has  issued  security  obligations 
in  excess  of  its  real  assets  and  then  is  obliged  to  obtain  mori.- 
capital  for  extensions,  betterments  or  replacements.  B\' 
its  former  issues  the  credit  of  the  company  is  impaired, 
and  the  new  issues,  if  sold  at  all,  must  be  marketed  at  an 
extravagant  discount.  It  cannot  reasonably  be  claimed  in 
such  a  situation  that  the  consequences  of  the  evils  created 
by  speculation  in  'franchise  values'  and  the  hopes  of  ex- 
ploiting the  public  should  be  assumed  by  the  public."  This 
unequivocal  stand  taken  by  the  St.  Louis  Public  Service 
Commission  presents  squarely  to  the  Maryland  Commis- 
sion, Mr.  Ritchie  said,  the  question  of  whether  regard  for 
the  character  of  capitalization  which  was  created  at  one 
stroke  in  1905-06  can  result  in  imposing  excessive  rafe"-. 

OHIO    COMMISSION. 

After  an  investigation,  based  upon  many  informal  com- 
plaints, the  commission  has  ordered  the  Putnam  Telephone 
Company  of  Ottawa  to  make  extensive  improvements  by 
March  i,  1913,  in  order  to  furnish  its  patrons  proper  ser- 
vice.    The  commission  really  acted  upon  its  own  initiative 


December  14.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


I2SS 


in  this  case,   since   no    formal   bill   of   complaint   had   been 
filed  with  it. 

WISCONSIN   COMMISSION. 

The  Southern  Wisconsin  Railway  Company  has  been  or- 
dered by  the  commission  to  re-route  its  cars  in  the  city  of 
Madison  in  such  a  manner  as  to  effect  a  five-minute  head- 
way over  the  principal  portion  of  its  system.  This  will 
necessitate  the  operation  of  additional  cars,  but  will  not, 
from  the  commission's  investigation,  reduce  the  rate  of  re- 
turn below  a  value  that  is  considered  fair  and  reasonable. 

CALIFORNIA    COMMISSION. 

The  Railroad  Commission  has  arranged  for  a  general 
reduction  in  electric-lighting  rates  in  southern  California, 
covering  a  large  portion  of  Los  Angeles  County,  San 
Bernardino  County,  Riverside  County  and  Orange  County. 
This  reduction  will  become  effective  on  Jan.   i,   1913. 


Current   News  and  Notes 

Louisiana  Sons  of  Jove  Plan  Electric  Parade. — On 
Feb.  I,  1913,  the  Louisiana  Sons  of  Jove  intend  to  have  an 
elaborate  electric  parade  in  New  Orleans  to  be  followed 
by  a  rejuvenation.  The  day  chosen  will  fall  just  in  the 
middle  of  the  Mardi  Gras  carnival  season,  the  first  parade 
of  which  will  be  held  on  Jan.  30  and  the  last  on  Feb.  4. 
Mr.  F.  B-.  Stern,  P.  O.  Box  201,  New  Orleans,  La.,  is  the 
statesman  for  Louisiana. 

*  *     * 

Moving  Pictures  Illustrating  Manufacturing  Proc- 
esses.— In  order  to  give  the  engineering  profession  in 
general  a  clearer  idea  of  the  manufacturing  processes  of 
its  various  products,  the  Siemens-Halske  Company,  of 
Berlin,  has  lately  furnished  lecturers  with  moving-picture 
films  showing  the  procedure  in  the  making  of  incandescent 
lamps  and  various  apparatus  and  machinery.  Such  lectures 
have  been  given  in  Germany,  Sweden  and  Switzerland  and 
have  been  received  with  much  interest. 

Workmen's  Compensation. — Continuing  the  movement 
begun  at  the  convention  of  the  National  Association,  the 
State  Council  of  the  National  Civic  Federation  will  meet 
in  New  York  City  on  Friday,  Dec.  20,  for  the  purpose  of 
determining  if  it  is  possible  to  agree  upon  the  essentials  of 
a  bill  that  will  be  satisfactory  to  all  parties  interested  in 
workmen's  compensation  legislation  for  New  York  State. 
The  conference  may  continue  for  several  days,  so  that  there 
may  be  adequate  discussion  of  every  question. 

*  *     * 

Commission  Proposed  for  Indiana. — The  institution  of  a 
public  service  commission  in  the  State  of  Indiana  is  the 
purpose  of  a  bill  drafted  by  Senator  B.  B.  Shively,  of 
Marion,  Ind.,  which  will  be  introduced  at  the  coming  session 
of  the  Legislature.  The  commission  will  be  empowered 
along  lines  similar  to  those  of  public  service  bodies  in  other 
states,  having  the  right  to  enfranchise  and  adjust  all 
matters  concerning  electric  light,  heat  and  power  com- 
panies, express  companies,  telephone  companies,  traction 
companies,  etc. 

*  *     * 

N.  E.  L.  A.  Resuscitation  Chart. — The  National  Elec- 
tric Light  Association  has  printed  and  distributed  40,000 
copies  of  its  resuscitation  chart  and  booklet.  The  chart  has 
also  been  printed  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines, 
the  United  States  Navy,  the  Chilean  Navy,  the  Bureau  of 
Mines  of  Colorado,  the  Industrial  Commission  of  Wisconsin 
and  various  industrial  associations  and  large  manufac- 
turers. Requests  have  been  received  for  copies  printed  in 
German,  French,  Spanish  and  Italian,  in  which  languages 
the  chart  will  doubtless  soon  be  published,  either  by  certain 
of  the  manufacturers  or  by  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association. 


Civil  Service  Examination  for  Laboratory  Assistant 
in  Physics. — The  United  States  Civil  Service  Commission 
announces  an  open  competitive  examination  for  laboratory 
assistant  in  physics  (male)  on  Jan.  8,  1913.  Eligibles 
resulting  from  this  examination  will  be  used  to  fill  vacancies 
as  they  occur  in  the  Bureau  of  Standards,  Department  of 
Commerce  and  Labor,  at  salaries  ranging  from  $900  to 
$1,200  per  annum.  Persons  desiring  to  take  this  examina- 
tion should  apply  at  once  to  the  United  States  Civil  Service 
Commission,  Washington,  D.  C,  for  Form  1312.  The  list 
of  cities  in  which  the  examinations  will  be  held  is  included 
in  Circular  No.  7,  issued  on  Nov.  27,  1912,  by  the  Civil 
Service  Commission. 

*  *     * 

Award  of  John  Fritz  Medal. — At  a  joint  meeting  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers,  the  American  So- 
ciety of  Mechanical  Engineers  and  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers  on  Dec.  5  in  the  auditorium  of  the 
Engineering  Societies  Building,  in  New  York  City,  the  John 
Fritz  medal  for  1912  was  awarded  to  Mr.  Robert  Woolston 
Hunt.  This  medal  was  presented  by  the  board  of  award, 
which  is  composed  of  representatives  of  the  three  above- 
named  societies  and  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers, to  Mr.  Hunt  for  his  contributions  to  the  early  devel- 
opment of  the  Bessemer  process.  The  meeting  was  called 
to  order  by  President  Alexander  C.  Humphreys  of  Stevens 
Institute,  and  he  introduced  Dr.  John  A.  Brashear,  who 
gave  a  short  talk  on  rolling  mills  in  the  early  days  of  the 
industry.  The  John  Fritz  medal  was  presented  by  Mr.  E. 
Gyppon  Spilsbury,  after  which  Mr.  R.  W.  Hunt  traced  the 
history  of  the  Bessemer  process  and  paid  tributes  to  the 
other  pioneers  who  had  been  in  the  work  with  him  and  had 
assisted  him  in  his  plans.  Following  Mr.  Hunt's  talk  the 
meeting  adjourned  to  the  reception  room  in  the  Engineer- 
ing Societies  Building  for  a  social  evening. 

*  *     * 

Electricity  as  Food.— Happy  the  electrician  without  the 
wherewithal  for  a  meal  and  the  lean,  lanky  lineman  with 
drawn  features  betraying  lack  of  nourishment,  for  it  has 
been  discovered  that  a  high-frequency  current  of  3  amp  at 
1000  volts  is  as  good  as  a  porterhouse  steak  and  that  a  few 
doses  of  the  "juice"  will  add  materially  to  one's  weight ! 
In  a  communication  to  the  French  Academy  of  Science 
Professor  Bergonie,  of  Bordeaux,  says  that  diathermy,  the 
method  of  applying  a  high-frequency  current  of  low  voltage, 
may  properly  supplant  food  by  furnishing  the  body  with  a 
great  quantity  of  heat.  According  to  the  professor  a  cur- 
rent of  from  2  amp  to  3  amp  at  a  tension  of  from  1000  volts 
to  2500  volts  furnishes  more  than  one-third  of  the  heat 
supplied  by  one's  daily  food.  Nor  is  there  any  danger  of 
dyspepsia  from  this  electric  food,  for  the  professor  is 
careful  to  state  that  it  does  not  provoke  the  least  pain. 
However,  60  cycles  is  not  a  high  frequency,  neither  is  133 
cycles,  so  that  it  would  not  be  advisable  for  a  lineman  on  a 
transmission  line  to  partake  of  this  phantom  meal  unless 
some  one  versed  in  the  Schaefer  method  of  resuscitation 
from  electric  shock  is  near  at  hand.  Besides,  since  the  food 
does  not  require  mastication  and  gives  no  pain,  it  may  lead 
to  gluttony. 

*  *     * 

SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 
Ohio  Electric  Association. — At  the  recent  meeting  of 
the  meter  committee  of  the  Ohio  Electric  Light  Association 
held  in  Columbus  plans  were  made  for  holding  meter 
conferences  at  Lima,  Canton  and  Columbus  in  the  near 
future.  It  is  the  purpose  of  the  committee  to  make  these 
conferences  of  special  interest  and  value  to  the  smaller 
of  the  central  stations,  which  have  not  as  yet  undertaken 
regular,  systematic  meter  testing.  Invitations  will  be  ex- 
tended to  all  public  service  companies  to  send  one  or  more 
representatives.  There  will  be  a  few  brief  papers,  a  question 
box,  and  general  discussion  open  to  all.  The  first  meeting  is 
planned  for  the  middle  of  January,  to  be  held  at  Lima,  Ohio. 


1256 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24. 


\'Ew  York  Jovi.an  Rejuvenation. — A  get-together  meet- 
ing and  rejuvenation  of  the  Jovian  Order  will  be  held  at 
Healy's  Restaurant,  New  York,  on  Dec.  16.  This  meeting 
is  considered  of  much  importance  by  reason  of  the  fact  that 
the  next  annual  convention  of  the  order,  which  now  has  a 
membership  of  Sooo  men  in  electrical  work,  will  be  held  in 
New  York,  the  home  city  of  Jupiter  Frank  E.  Watts. 

*  *     * 

VisiTi.xG  Meeting  New  York  Electrical  Society. — On 
Dec.  19  the  New  York  Electrical  Society  will  hold  a  visiting 
meeting  at  the  new  Grand  Central  Terminal.  On  this 
occasion  the  members  will  be  afforded  an  opportunity  to  see 
the  new  passenger  station  of  the  New  Y'ork  Central,  which 
will  be  completed  and  opened  to  the  public  about  the  middle 
of  January.     Engineers  of  the  railroad  will  act  as  escorts 

to  the  visiting  members. 

*  *     * 

Forthcoming  Byllesby  Convention. — The  fourth  annual 
convention  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company  and  affiliated  com- 
panies will  be  held  in  Chicago  on  Jan.  23  and  24.  Attend- 
ance will  be  limited  to  local  managers  of  out-of-town 
companies  and  to  department  heads  at  the  home  office. 
Business  sessions  will  be  behind  closed  doors  and  the  con- 
vention will  terminate  with  a  dinner  given  by  H.  M. 
Byllesby  &  Company  to  the  representatives  in  attendance. 

*  *     * 

New  York  Meeting  of  the  Harvard  Engineers. — The 
Harvard  Engineering  Society  of  New  York  held  its  reg^ilar 
annual  dinner  at  the  Harvard  Club,  New  York  City,  on 
Dec.  7.  More  than  one  -hundred  members  and  guests 
attended.  The  dinner  was  presided  over  by  President  A.  C. 
Jackson.  Profs.  I.  N.  Hollis,  A.  E.  Kennelly,  H.  L.  Smyth 
and  G.  C.  Whipple  attended  from  Harvard  University. 
Speeches  were  made  in  reference  to  the  recent  progress  of 
the  Graduate  Schools  of  Applied  Science  at  Harvard. 

*  *     * 

Meeting  of  the  Engineer  Draftsmen. — The  regular 
monthly  meeting  of  the  American  Society  of  Engineer 
Draftsmen  will  be  held  on  Dec.  19,  at  8:15  p.m.,  in  the 
Engineering  Societies  Building,  New  York.  Prof.  Walter 
A.  Rautenstrauch,  of  Columbia  University,  will  present  a 
paper  on  "Rational  Design  of  Machines,"  and  Prof.  Fred- 
erick R.  Hutton,  also  of  Columbia  University,  will  lecture 
on  "The  Relations  of  the  Engineer  and  the  Draftsman." 
Mr.  Walter  M.  Smyth,  74  Cortlandt  Street,  New  York,  is 
secretary  of  the  association. 

*  *     * 

Electric  Club  of  Chicago. — At  the  meeting  of  the  Elec- 
tric Club  of  Chicago  on  Dec.  5  Mr.  W.  S.  Kilmer,  of  New 
York,  illuminating  engineer  of  the  H.  W.  Johns-Manville 
Company,  gave  an  illustrated  talk  on  modern  methods  of 
hospital  lighting.  Fixtures  used  over  operating  tables,  in- 
direct and  semi-indirect  lighting  and  the  methods  of  lighting 
objects  for  microscopic  examination  were  described.  Mr. 
Sam  A.  Hobson,  president  of  the  St.  Louis  League  of 
Electrical  Interests,  who  has  removed  to  Chicago  as 
Western  manager  of  the  Electrical  World,  was  introduced 
and  made  a  few  remarks.  Mr.  Hobson  told  how  the  "get- 
together"  spirit  had  been  cultivated  in  St.  Louis,  and  he 
praised  the  work  of  the  entertainment  committee  of  the  St. 

Louis  organization. 

*  *     * 

Institute  of  Radio  Engineers. — The  final  meeting  of 
the  Institute  of  Radio  Engineers  for  the  year  1912  was  held 
at  Columbia  University,  New  York  on  Dec.  4.  Mr.  E.  J. 
Simon  read  a  communication  from  Dr.  G.  Seibt  describing 
in  detail  the  latter's  new  direct-reading  wavemeter  and 
added  some  interesting  data  from  his  own  experiences  witli 
the  instrument.  One  of  the  meters  was  shown.  The  com- 
mittee on  standardization  reported  further  progress,  stating 


that  some  of  its  conclusions  would  be  presented  before  the 
Institute  at  an  early  date.  Jan.  8,  1913,  was  chosen  for  the 
next  meeting,  at  which  the  results  of  election  of  officers  for 
the  new  year  will  be  announced  and  the  annual  reports  read. 

*  *     * 

Los  Angeles  A.  I.  E.  E.  Section. — One  of  the  most 
interesting  meetings  of  the  Los  Angeles  Section  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  was  held  on 
Nov.  26  at  Blanchard  Hall.  Mr.  F.  W.  Harris  read  a  paper 
on  "Oil  Switches  and  Circuit  Breakers."  He  described  the 
changes  taking  place  in  the  voltage  and  current  when  a 
circuit-breaker  operates  as  shown  by  the  oscillograph. 
Several  diagrams  were  shown  to  illustrate  difficult  points. 
The  speaker  told  of  the  results  of  many  tests  on  different 
types  of  breakers  which  indicate  that  the  direction  of  break 
(vertical  or  horizontal)  affects  but  little  the  efficacy  of  the 
breaker.  Mr.  Harris  described  the  apparatus  used  on  the 
New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad  electrification 
to  overcome  the  difficulties  encountered  in  the  use  of  circuit- 
breakers  on  lines  having  practically  no  impedance  and  which 
are  supplied  with  energy  from  low-reactance  turbo-gen- 
erators. 

*  *     * 

Formation  of  Utah  Electric  Club. — At  a  luncheon  in 
the  gold  room  of  the  Commercial  Club  of  Salt  Lake  City, 
Dec.  5,  the  Utah  Electric  Club  was  organized  with  140 
charter  members.  Persons  interested  in  all  branches  of  the 
electrical  industry  are  eligible  for  membership.  The  follow- 
ing officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year :  President, 
C.  B.  Hawley,  manager  Intermountain  Electric  Company, 
Salt  Lake  City;  vice-president, 'H.  R.  Bucks,  chief  elec- 
trician Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad;  secretary-treasurer, 
W.  W.  Torrence,  local  manager  General  Electric  Company, 
Salt  Lake  City;  directors,  John  Jones,  Westinghouse  Elec- 
tric &  Manufacturing  Company;  H.  M.  Fennemore,  Moun- 
tain States  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company;  Leo  Brenden- 
berger,  Telluride  Power  Company;  B.  W.  Mendenhall,  Utah 
Light  &  Railway  Company;  E.  H.  Eardley,  E.  H.  Eardley 
&  Brother,  and  R.  S.  Folland,  Capital  Electric  Company. 
Luncheon  meetings  will  be  held  every  Thursday  at  12:15 
p.  m.  in  the  Commercial  Club  Building.  Mr.  H.  T.  Plumb, 
engineer  for  the  General  Electric  Company,  was  elected 
chairman  for  December ;  Mr.  H.  F.  Holland,  of  the  Simplex 
Electric  Heating  Company,  chairman  for  January,  and 
Mr.  Bruce  Cramer  chairman  for  February.  These  gentle- 
men constitute  a  program  committee  in  charge  of  meetings. 

*  *     * 

Annual  Meeting  of  Agricultural  Engineers. — The 
American  Society  of  Agricultural  Engineers  will  hold  its 
annual  meeting  Dec.  26  to  28  at  the  Great  Northern  Hotel, 
Chicago.  In  the  afternoon  of  Dec.  26  President  H.  W.  Riley, 
of  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  will  deliver  the  presidential  address,  which 
will  be  followed  by  papers  on  agricultural  subjects  and  one 
by  Mr.  Eugene  Becker  on  "Isolated  Gas  Lighting  Plants." 
On  Dec.  27  Mr.  L.  W.  Chase  will  speak  on  "The  Testing  of 
Gas  Tractors"  and  Mr.  C.  F.  Hirshfeld  will  present  a  paper 
on  "The  Principles  of  Fuel  Oil  Engines."  In  the  afternoon 
of  the  same  day  the  following  papers  will  be  presented: 
"The  Standardization  Work  of  the  Society  of  Automobile 
Engineers,"  by  Mr.  Edwin  H.  Ehrman;  "Standards  in 
Agricultural  Engineering,"  by  Mr.  J.  B.  Davidson;  "Stand- 
ards in  Agricultural  Machinery,"  by  Mr.  J.  A.  King,  and 
"Standards  in  Gas  Tractor  Construction,"  by  Mr.  W.  J. 
Brandon,  following  which  the  final  discussion  on  rules  for 
testing  gas  tractors  will  take  place.  A  banquet  will  be  held 
in  the  evening.  On  Dec.  29  Mr.  Daniel  Scoates  will  present 
a  paper  on  "Laboratory  Exercises  in  Farm  Machinery" ; 
Mr.  H.  S.  Ramsower  will  speak  on  "The  Design  of  an  Agri- 
cultural Engineering  Building"  and  Mr.  L.  J.  Hart  on  "The 
Relation  Between  Shop  Work  and  General  Lectures  in 
Agricultural  Engineering."  Mr.  I.  W.  Dickerson,  Urbana, 
111.,  is  secretary  of  the  organization. 


NEW  NORWEGIAN  HYDROELECTRIC    PROJECT. 


Development   of   the    Water- Power    of    the   Samnanger 

City  of  Bergen. 


Watershed    for    the 


Watershed    with    an    Average    Precipitation    of    150    In.    Partly    Developed    for    Operating    35,000-hp 

Hydroelectric  Station — Possibilities  for  Impounding  an  Additional  3,000,000,000  Gal.  of  Water 

by    Regulation — Hydroelectric  and  Transmission    Features  of  Present    Installation. 


BERGEN,  one  of  the  most  picturesque  towns  in  Norway, 
lies  on  a  hilly  peninsula  between  narrow  fjords  on 
the  western  shore  of  Norway  and  is  surrounded  by 
seven  mountain  peaks  varying  in  height  from  1000  ft.  to 
over  2000  ft.  The  city  was  founded  about  1075  by  Olaf 
Kyrre  and  has  always  occupied  a  very  important  part  in  the 
commercial  history  of  Scandinavia.  In  1445  the  Hanseatic 
League  established  offices  there  and  for  at  least  four  cen- 
turies following  it  was  the  commercial  center  of  Norway. 
Not  until  the  nineteenth  century  was  its  population  exceeded 
by  that  of  Christiania,  the  latter  city  since  that  time  having 
taken  the  lead  as  a  manufacturing  and  commercial  center. 
Bergen  still  has  the  largest  mercantile  fleet  in  Norway,  with 
about  300  steamers,  a  most  remarkable  number  for  a  town 
of  70,000  inhabitants.  Among  engineering  trades  ship- 
building is  most  conspicuous,  there  being  three  large  wharfs 
within  Bergen's  borders. 

Though  situated  in  a  locality  where  large  amounts  of 
water-power  are  constantly  going  to  waste,  it  was  not  until 
February  of  this  year  that  the  lakes  fed  from  the  Samnan- 


ger watershed  were  harnessed  and  the  electrical  energy 
transmitted  to  Bergen.  In  1899  the  city  purchased  the  water- 
power  rights  and  made  plans  for  hydroelectric  developments 
on  Lake  Kvittingen,  but  these  plans  were  abandoned,  and  a 
steam  generating  station  was  built  instead  in  1900.  Since 
then  investigations  have  constantly  been  carried  on  for 
obtaining  reliable  data  on  precipitation,  run-off  and  other 
factors  in  determining  the  available  water  power  supply. 
In  June,  1909,  the  municipality  of  Bergen  decided  upon  a 
project  for  utilizing  the  water  of  Lakes  Kvittingen,  Kleive- 
vand.  Grondalsvand  and  Fiskcvand.  which  empty  into  Lake 
Frolandsvand,  22  miles  from  Ber"-en,  at  wdiich  place  the 
present  power  plant  is  located.  The  hydraulic  feature  of 
the  initial  development  now  finished  is  the  regulation  of  the 
water  of  Lake  Kvittingen,  by  means  of  a  tunnel  through 
which  the  water  supply  to  the  lower  reservoirs  can  be  regu- 
lated, and  the  building  of  a  tunnel  from  Lake  Fiskevand  to 
the  station  site.  This  work  was  commenced  in  July,  1909, 
and  the  station  began  operations  m  February  this  year. 
The  main  reservoir  at  Kvittingen  collects  the  water  from 


Fig.   1  —  Interior  of   Generating   Room   at   Frolandsvand. 


1258 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24j 


four  rivers,  the  Klungerdalselven,  Dukeelven,  Sotabotnvas- 
draget  and  Kvarndalselven.  From  Kvittingen  to  Kleivevand 
there  is  a  fall  of  about  too  ft.;  from  Kleivevand  to  Gron- 
dalsvand  there  is  a  drop  of  nearly  500  ft.,  and  from  the 


btcol     \>  ir 
Traaamisa  o 


Future       Watoi        Lerot 


JBcIotC-RcgiUUou.    -'  ^ 


Fig.   2 — Cross-Section    of    Embanl<ment   at    Lake    Kvittingen. 

latter  point  to  Fiskevand  a  30-ft.  fall  obtains.  The  last  fall 
is  encountered  between  Fiskevand  and  Frolandsvand,  where 
a  head  of  about  525  ft.  is  available.  The  total  drainage- 
area  of  Lake  Fiskevand  is  about  50  sq.  miles. 

The  daily  records  of  precipitation  at  the  lower  lake  from 
1903  to  1908  shows  an  annual  average  of  100  in.,  while  at 
Lake  Kvittingen  the  average  is  about  150  in.  The  average 
run-off  of  Lake  Kvittingen  during  the  same  period  has  been 
120  in.  Allowing  20  per  cent  for  evaporation  this  would 
indicate  an  annual  average  for  the  whole  drainage  area  of 
150  in.  The  maximum  precipitation  for  one  year  was  170  in. 
The  west  coast  of  Norway  is  noted  for  excessive  precipita- 
tion and  may  in  this  respect  be  compared  with  the  main- 
land near  Vancouver,  B.  C,  where  an  annual  precipitation 
of  160  in.  has  been  observed,  as  noted  in  the  Electrical 
World,  Oct.  12,  1912. 

The  plans  for  the  Samnanger  development  were  based 
on  an  average  precipitation  of  only  80  in.  and  a  storage 
capacity  of  700.000,000  gal.  of  water.     This  was  estimated 


power  stations  of  28,000  hp  and  35,000  hp  rating  respec- 
tively, or  together  developing  63,000  hp,  with  7000  hp  in 
reserve  at  each  station.  The  initial  development  referred 
to  above  involves  only  the  lower  fall  and  the  regulation  of 


Fig. 


enstocl<    and    Power    House. 


Fig.    3 — Plan    and    Sectionai    View   of    Penstock    and    P 

to  yield  1580  gal.  per  second  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Kleive- 
vand and  1700  gal.  per  second  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Fiske- 
vand, corresponding  to  7800  hp  and  9400  hp  for  the  upper 
and  lower  falls  respectively.  Taking  into  consideration  the 
prospective  diversity   factor,   it  was  decided  to  erect  two 


Lake  Kvittingen,  The  development  of  the  upper  fall  will 
be  commenced  within  a  short  time.  However,  changes  in 
the  original  plans  may  be  made,  so  as  to  place  the  future 
power  station  on  the  coast  and  connect  it  with  Lake  Kleive- 
vand by  a  tunnel  5  miles  long  and  a  pipe  line  0.6  mile  long. 
By  this  means  a  head  of  nearly  1000  ft.  can  be  obtained 

REGULATION     OF     LAKE     KVITTINGEN 

For  the  regulation  of  Lake  Kvittingen  a  tunnel  138U  ft. 
long  and  having  a  cross-section  of  65  sq.  ft.  was  built  from 
Lake  Kleivevand  to  a  point  85  ft.  below  the  level  of  Lake 
Kvittingen.  From  the  top  of  the  natural  embankment  a 
115-ft.  shaft  is  sunk  to  the  tunnel  and  two  sets  of  cast-iron 
gates  are  provided  for  regulating  the  flow.  One  set  is  in 
front  of  the  other  and  each  set  consists  of  three  gates 
sliding  in  cast-iron  guides.  From  the  gates  to  the  gate- 
house at  the  top  of  the  shaft  six  lattice-work  columns  ex- 
tend. Power  for  raising  the  gates  is  obtained  through  a 
steel-wire  transmission  from  a  30-hp  Francis  turbine,  in- 
stalled in  a  frost-proof  house  at  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel. 
This  turbine  receives  its  water  supply  through  a  pipe  run 
along  the  tunnel  and  terminating  inside  the  gates.  Through 
a  coupling  mechanism  in  the  gate- 
house any  or  all  of  the  gates  can  be 
operated  as  desired. 

When  the  construction  of  the 
tunnel  had  proceeded  to  a  point 
about  7  ft.  below  the  rock  surface 
at  the  bottom  of  the  lake,  nineteen 
holes  were  bored  and  charged  with 
500  lb.  of  dynamite.  For  receiving 
the  debris  of  the  final  blast  two 
excavations  in  the  bottom  of  the 
tunnel  were  made,  one  17  ft.  deep 
by  14  ft.  long  and  the  other  8  ft. 
deep  by  17  ft.  long.  At  the  time 
the  blast  was  set  off  the  valves 
of  the  turbine  were  open,  and  when  the  water  rushed  in  the 
turbine  started  to  run,  immediately  lowering  the  gates. 

RESERVOIR  AND  INTAKE. 

On  account  of  the  condition  at  the  bottom,  the  dam  was 


ower    House. 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     ^^■  O  R  L  D 


1259 


built  about  1000  ft.  below  the  outlet  of  Lake  Fiskevand.  It 
has  a  maximum  height  of  46  ft.,  the  length  at  the  bottom 
being  33  ft.  and  that  at  the  crest  150  ft.  The  down-stream 
."side   of   the   dam   is   constructed   of   lioulders   embedded   in 


Fig.   5 — Dam   at    Lake   Fiskevand. 


carrying  the  water  from  Lake  i'iskcvand  to  the  forebay, 
a  distance  of  2.5  miles,  has  a  cross-section  of  116  sq.  ft.  In 
constructing  the  tunnel  six  shafts  were  sunk,  each  shaft 
being  provided  with  electrically  operated   fans  for  ventila- 


Fig.  7 — Lake   Frolandsvand  with   Power  House   in    Background. 


cement  and  the  up-stream  side  is  composed  of  concrete  with  tion.     Two  years  and  four  months   were  required  in  com- 

a  facing  of  cement  and  sand  in  the  proportion  of  one  to  two.  pletiiig  this  work. 

A  sluiceway,  6.5  ft.  by  8.25  ft.,  was  bored  through  the  rock  The  forebay  is  divided  up  into  five  chambers,  one  for  each 

under  the  site  of  the  dam.     This  tunnel  is  equipped  with  pipe  line.    Each  chamber  is  protected  by  a  trash  rack,  screen 

gates  sliding  in  a  shaft,  which  are  operated  from  the  top  and  gate,  and  each  pipe  line  is  in  turn  also  provided  with 

of  the  dam.  a  gate  at  the  inlet  which  is  electrically  controlled  from  the 


*^'^T^?i^ 


Fig.  6 — Sectional   Views  and   Plan   of   Power   House. 


The  intake  to  the  main  tunnel  is  provided  with  trash  rack 
and  two  gates,  each  5.25  ft.  by  10  ft.  By  means  of  the 
sluice  tunnel  the  level  of  the  lake  can  be  lowered  to  a  point 
below  that  of  the  intake.  The  gates  at  the  intake  are 
operated  electrically  from  the  power  station.     The  tunnel 


power  house  and  is  equipped  with  brake  cylinders  filled  with 
glycerine  for  the  purpose  of  controlling  the  raising  and 
lowering  of  the  gates  and  preventing  water  hammering.  A 
sluiceway,  14  ft.  by  3.25  ft.,  is  opened  automatically  when 
the  water  reaches  a  certain  level.     Floats  in  the  forebav  are 


I26o 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24. 


electrically  connected  with  the  power  house,  so  that  the 
operator  is  apprised  when  the  water  reaches  a  certain  low- 
water  level. 

Provision  is  made  for  five  penstocks,  but  at  present  only 
two  are  installed.  Near  the  forebay  the  diameter  of  the 
pipe  is  5  ft.,  tapering  down  to  4  ft.  4  in.  at  the  bottom.  The 
thickness  of  the  pipe  at  the  top  is  0.28  in.,  increasing  to 
0.64  in.  at  the  bottom.  At  the  upper  end  of  the  pipe  line 
a  hand-operated  sluice  valve  is  installed  and  a  similar  valve 
is  provided  at  the  lower  end.  Beyond  this  valve  in  the  pen- 
stock is  a  cast-iron  plate,  protecting  the  system  from  water 
hammer.  This  plate  is  designed  to  break  at  a  pressure  50 
per  cent  above  normal.  A  s-in.  branch  is  taken  off  each 
•main  turbine  feeder  for  the  turbine-operated  exciters. 

POWER  STATION. 

The  power  house  is  a  brick  building  erected  upon  a 
foundation  of  concrete.  The  floor  area  of  the  present  gen- 
erating plant  is  136  ft.  by  42.5  ft.,  and  that  of  the  adjoining 
transformer  and  switch  house  is  76  ft.  by  26.5  ft.  Pro- 
vision is  made  for  an  addition  to  the  generating  room  of 
nearly  100  ft.  in  length,  the  foundations  for  which  are 
already  in  place.  The  total  generating  equipment  will  com- 
prise six  3500-hp  turbo-generator  sets,  two  sets  of  7000  hp 
each,  tvi-o  300-hp  exciters  and  one  300-hp  motor-generator 
set.  Three  3500-hp,  500-r.p.m.  Francis  turbines  are  installed 
and  space  is  provided  for  one  more  in  the  present  building. 
The  turbines  are  directly  coupled  to  the  generators  and  are 
not  provided  with  flywheels.  The  exciters  are  operated  by 
300-hp,  500-r.p.m.  Pelton  wheels.  These  latter  wheels  are 
made  by  the  Kvaerner  Bruk. 

The  generating  equipment  consists  of  three  3000-kw,  three- 
phase  generators,  wound  for  7250  volts  and  50  cycles.  These 
generators  are  cooled  by  means  of  blades  attached  to  the 
rotor,  which  direct  a  current  of  cold  air  to  the  field  poles 
and  through  ventilating  channels  in  the  stator  to  the  stator 
windings.  The  exciters  are  rated  at  200  kw,  115  volts,  1740 
amp  and  500  r.p.m.  There  is  one  3000-kw  water-cooled 
transformer  for  each  generator.  Ordinarily  the  energy  is 
transmitted  directly  from  each  generator  to  its  transformer, 
where  the  tension  is  stepped  up  to  47,125  volts.  In  case  of  a 
breakdown  or  other  trouble  the  generators  and  transformers 
can  be  connected  to  auxiliary  busbars  and  the  system 
operated  with  any  unit  out  of  service.  The  oil  switches  are 
located  on  the  second  floor,  are  fitted  with  time  relays  and 
are  operated  by  motors  controlled  from  the  switchboard. 
The  bus  compartments  and  instrument  transformers  are 
located  on  the  third  floor.     From  the  buses  the  high-tension 


Fig.    8 — Turbine-Driven    Exciter. 

lines  are  taken  through  oil  switches,  choke  coils  and  light- 
ning arresters  to  the  line. 

TRANSMISSION    LINE. 

The  transmission  line  is  designed  for  a  tension  of  50,000 
volts.  A  double  three-wire  circuit  of  35-sq.  mm  copper 
wire  is  carried  on  steel  towers,  the  spacing  between  wires 
being  not  less  than  6  ft.     The  intermediate  towers  are  of 


the  A-frame  type,  and  at  corners  and  other  places  where 
particular  stresses  occur  four-legged  anchor  towers  are 
used.  All  towers  are  of  angle-iron  construction  and  are 
set  in  concrete  foundations.  The  average  span  is  560  ft. 
and  the  maximum  750  ft.  Three-unit  suspension  insulators 
of  a  very  large  design  are  used.  The  conductor  is  a  solid 
hard-drawn  copper  wire  with  a  diameter  of  0.23  in.  and  a 


Fig.    9 — One    of   the    A-Frame    Towers. 

tensile  strength  of  about  60,000  lb.  per  square  inch.  The 
greatest  stress  on  the  wire  is  calculated  as  10,000  lb.  per 
square  inch  at  —  15  deg.  F.  (without  snow  or  ice  coating). 
The  engineering  data  presented  in  this  article  were  con- 
tained in  a  paper  by  Mr.  Ragnvald  Lie,  which  was  read  at 
a  recent  meeting  of  the  X'orwegian  Society  of  Engineers 
and  Architects  at  Christiania.  For  the  illustrations  we  are 
indebted  to  the  Tcknisk  Ukeblad,  the  organ  of  that  society. 


TANDEM    OPERATION    OF    MOTOR   AND   ENGINE. 


At  a  coal  mine  near  Peoria,  111.,  the  haulage  system  was 
recently  electrified  by  installing  a  loo-hp  motor  on  the 
engine  shaft,  allowing  the  cylinder  and  piston  rod  to  remain 
in  place.  Owing  to  delay  in  getting  the  second  of  two 
50-kw  transformers  ordered,  the  motor  outfit  using  one 
transformer,  while  ample  to  haul  a  full  train  of  cars  on 
level  track,  proved  to  be  slightly  overtaxed  when  drawing 
the  cars  up  a  short  grade  at  one  section  of  the  run.  As 
the  engine  had  not  been  dismantled  and  steam  was  still  kept 
up  in  the  boilers  for  other  purposes,  it  was  decided  to  try 
the  tandem  operation  of  engine  and  motor,  despite  the 
predictions  of  failure  made  on  all  sides. 

The  engine  governor  was  accordingly  set  for  a  speed  just 
below  that  of  the  motor  so  that  when  the  latter  was  carry- 
ing the  load  without  difficulty  all  steam  was  cut  off  from 
the  engine  cylinder.  During  all  ordinary  hauls  the  plant  is 
thus  electrically  operated.  When  the  grade  is  reached, 
however,  the  motor  speed  falls  slightly,  permitting  operation 
of  the  engine  governor  which  admits  steam  to  the  cylinder, 
so  that  the  engine  shares  the  load  and  the  train  is  easily 
pulled  over  the  peak  of  the  haul.  As  the  engine  is  called 
upon  for  only  two  minutes  at  a  time,  at  intervals  of  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  minutes,  its  steam  consumption  is  negligible. 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1261 


THE  SILVER  VOLTAMETER. 


PART  L 


By  E.  B.  Rosa  and  G.  W.  Vinal. 

THE  earliest  use  of  electrochemical  decomposition  as 
a  means  for  the  measurement  of  electricity  appears 
to  have  been  made  by  Gay  Lussac  and  Thenard  * 
about  181 1,  but  it  remained  for  Faraday  to  enunciate  the 
conditions  under  which  it  might  be  used  for  the  exact 
measurement  of  current.  He  declared  his  gas  voltameter  to 
be  the  "only  actual  measurer  of  voltaic  electricity  which 
we  at  present  (1833)  possess."  Because  of  this  he  named 
it  the  "volta-electrometer."  The  earliest  use  of  the  silver 
voltameter  of  which  we  are  aware  was  by  Poggendorff  in 
184;;.  Since  then  about  sixty  papers  dealing  with  this  instru- 
ment have  appeared,  but  the  diversity  of  opinions  as  to  the 
causes  of  the  anomalous  results  obtained  has  been  so  great 
that  the  present  authors  undertook  in  1909  a  systematic 
research  to  discover,  if  possible,  the  best  conditions  under 
which  the  voltameter  might  be  used  as  a  primary  standard 
for  the  measureriient  of  electric  current.  Before  describing 
their  own  work,  the  authors  wish  to  give  a  short  historical 
review  of  the  subject  up  to  1909. 

HISTORICAL  REVIEW. 

The  years  1880  to  1886  were  important  because  the  first 
series  of  aibsolute  determinations  of  the  electrochemical 
equivalent  of  silver  was  made  during  that  period.  The  first 
to  be  published  was  by  Mascart,  who  measured  his  current 
by  means  of  an  absolute  balance  and  obtained  a  value  which 
when  corrected  was  1.1156  mg  per  coulomb.  The  work  of 
F.  and  W.  Kohlrausch  was  expressed  in  terms  of  the  hori- 
zontal intensity  of  the  earth's  magnetic  field.  With  their 
tangent  galvanometers  and  several  forms  of  voltameter, 
they  obtained  the  final  result,  1.1183  mg  per  coulomb.  Lord 
Rayleigh  and  Mrs.  Sedgwick  investigated  carefully  the 
purity  of  their  materials,  the  inclusions  of  mother  liquor  in 
the  deposit,  the  effect  of  size  and  the  effect  of  temperature 
and  finally  designed  a  type  of  voltameter  that  has  been 
much  used  nearly  down  to  the  present  time.  Their  values 
for  the  electrochemical  equivalent  were  obtained  with  an 
absolute  current  balance.  They  found  1.11794  mg  per 
coulomb  to  be  the  correct  value. 

Thomas  Gray  in  1886  made  an  extended  investigation 
both  of  the  silver  and  the  copper  voltameters,  but  his  form 
of  instrument  (two  parallel  plates  in  a  glass  beaker)  has 
not  been  used  by  later  investigators.  A  comparatively  un- 
known paper  by  Novak,  published  in  Bohemian  in  1892,  was 
probably  the  first  to  suggest  the  formation  of  a  complex  ion 
at  the  anode  which  yielded  an  excess  of  silver  deposit  on 
reaching  the  cathode.  The  same  idea  was  probably  inde- 
pendently put  forward  by  Rodger  and  Watson  several  years 
later  and  again  proposed  and  emphasized  by  Richards, 
Collins  and  Heimrod  in  1899.  The  latter  made  no  absolute 
determination  of  the  electrochemical  equivalent,  but  on  the 
hypothesis  of  the  heavy  anode  ion,  determined  corrections 
to  be  applied  to  previous  determinations,  obtaining  1.1175 
mg  per  coulomb  as  the  mean  value.  They  originated  the 
porous-cup  voltameter,  which  was  very  satisfactory  and 
has  been  much  used  since. 

When  Kahle  published  the  results  of  his  extended  re- 
searches on  the  voltameter  in  1899,  he  noted  a  characteristic 
striated  appearance  of  the  deposit  when  the  solution  was 
used  several  times.  The  liberation  of  acid,  he  concluded, 
accompanied  the  formation  of  oxidation  products  at  the 
anode.  His  value  for  the  equivalent,  using  Clark  cells  as 
reference  standards,  was  the  same  as  found  by  the  Kohl- 
rausches.  Leduc  (1902)  believed  that  the  anode  current 
density  ought  to  be  very  small,  so  that  the  quantity  of  acid 
produced  should  be  a  minimum.     He  thought  also  that  the 

•These  and  other  references  will  be  discussed  in  more  detail  in  the 
full  paper  and  the  places  where  they  may  be  fownd  will  be  given. 


presence  of  AgOH,  if  in  solution,  is  not  detrimental,  and 
recommended  neutralizing  the  electrolyte  with  Ag^O. 
Mylius,  in  1902,  called  attention  to  the  possibility  of  pro- 
ducing a  red  silver  precipitate  by  the  action  of  filter  paper 
on  AgNOj.  The  significance  of  this  observation  was  ap- 
parently not  appreciated  until  recently. 

The  first  work  at  the  Bureau  of  Standards  on  the  volt- 
ameter was  by  Dr.  Guthe  in  1904,  who  compared  several 
different  forms  and  particularly  noted  the  difference  be- 
tween the  porous-cup  and  filter-paper  voltameters. 

Van  Dijk,  in  1906,  compared  the  porous-cup  and  filter- 
paper  forms  of  voltameter  and  found  the  difference  to  be 
0.023  per  cent,  which  he  ascribed  to  the  complex  ion  yielding 
an  excess  deposit  in  the  latter.  He  gives  as  the  electro- 
chemical equivalent  of  silver  1.1180  mg  per  coulomb. 
Duschak  and  Hulett  obtained  a  high  degree  of  reproduci- 
bility and  made  a  careful  analysis  of  their  deposits,  finding 
inclusions  amounting  to  about  o.oii   per  cent. 

The  important  recent  investigations  of  the  national  labo- 
ratories of  England,  France  and  Germany  have  been  pub- 
lished by  Smith,  Mather  and  Lowry;  Janet,  Laporte  and 
de  la  Gorce,  and  Jaeger  and  von  Steinwehr  respectively. 
Absolute  balances  were  used  to  measure  the  current  in  the 
first  two,  and  in  the  last  the  voltage  of  the  cadmium  cell 
was  determined  on  the  assumption  that  the  electrochemical 
equivalent  of  silver  is  1.118  mg  per  coulomb.  The  English 
and  French  work  was  based  on  the  filter-paper  voltameter. 

BUREAU    OF   STANDARDS   INVESTIGATION. 

The  work  of  the  present  authors,  carried  out  in  1908-09, 
is  described  in  the  first  of  a  series  of  four  papers.  In  the 
other  three,  in  which  Dr.  A.  S.  McDaniels  is  a  joint  author, 
the  continuation  of  the  work  during  the  years  1909-12  will 
be  described.  The  second  paper,  printed  below,  deals 
with  the  chemistry  of  the  voltameter  and  the  theory  of 
striated  deposits,  the  third  will  treat  largely  of  the  purifica- 
tion and  testing  of  materials  and  give  the  second  series  of 
quantitative  results,  while  the  fourth  and  last  paper  will 
give  the  results  subsequent  to  the  International  Technical 
Committee's  work. 

In  this  investigation  ten  platinum  and  two  gold  dishes 
have  been  used;  four  were  large  dishes  (350  cc),  four 
medium  (175  cc),  and  four  small  ones  (125  cc).  All  the 
dishes  of  one  size  were  adjusted  to  the  same  weight  to 
facilitate  the  weighings,  which  were  made  on  three  bal- 
ances (one  for  each  size  of  dish)  mounted  on  piers  in  a 
special  constant  temperature  room,  so  arranged  that  the 
balances  could  be  read  by  telescope  and  scale  from  outside 
the  room.  For  weighing  the  dishes,  similar  ones  reserved 
for  tare  were  used,  and  the  silver  was  counterbalanced  by 
special  silver  weights,  gold-plated.  Buoyancy  corrections 
were  thus  eliminated.  The  types  of  voltameters  used  were: 
(i)  the  Rayleigh  or  filter-paper  form;  (2)  the  Richards 
or  porous-cup  form;  (3)  the  Poggendorff  form  without 
septum,  excepting  a  glass  cup,  hung  under  the  anodes  or 
with  silk  around  the  anode;   (4)   the  siphon  type. 

The  deposits  were  timed  automatically  by  a  chronograph 
and  the  ticks  of  a  standard  Riefler  clock.  The  circuit  was  so 
arranged  that  the  current  could,  after  adjustment,  be  thrown 
on  to  the  voltameter  circuit  and  maintained  constant  to  a 
degree  usually  better  than  i  in  100,000  during  the  course  oi 
the  experiment.  Particular  attention  was  paid  to  the  insula- 
tion resistance.  The  reference  standards  were  a  Wolff 
manganin  coil  of  l  ohm  or  2  ohms  in  oil  and  four  standard 
cells  in  an  oil  bath  maintained  at  a  fixed  temperature.  The 
drop  in  potential  across  the  standard  resistance  was  made 
equal  to  the  voltage  of  one  of  the  cells  and  kept  so  by  regu- 
lating the  current.  As  a  further  check,  a  potentiometer 
was  also  included  in  the  circuit.  Our  reference  standards 
were  frequently  compared  with  the  standards  of  the  bureau, 
and  suitable  corrections  were  made. 

The  porous  cups  were  of  Pukal  ware  made  by  the 
Koniglich    Porzellan   Manufaktur   of   Berlin.      They   were 


1262 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  Xo.  24. 


prepared  by  filtering  dilulc  HNO^  through  the  pores,  and, 
after  eliminating  the  acid  by  distilled  water,  the  cups  wert 
,  soaked  in  pure  electrolyte.  Between  experiments  they 
were  kept  submerged  in  electrolyte. 

After  washing  the  deposits  and  replacing  any  loose  silver, 
the  cathodes  were  dried  in  an  electric  oven  at  150  deg.  C. 
After  cooling  they  were  placed  in  the  balance  case  for 
several   hours   before   weighing. 

The  first  e.xperiments  with  the  Rayleigh  voltameter 
showed,  as  a  mean  of  thirty-seven  e.xperiments,  the  value 
1. 01 866  volts  at  20  deg.  C.  for  the  \Veston  normal  cell, 
assuming  the  electrochemical  equivalent  of  silver  as  1.11800 
nig  per  coulomb,  as  defined  by  the  London  conference  of 
1908.  A  difference  of  about  forty  parts  in  100,000  was 
found  between  this  and  the  porous-cup  form,  the  latter 
giving  a  lower  value.  It  occurred  to  the  authors  that  if 
this  excess  were  due  to  the  filter  paper  letting  through  a 
complex  ion,  as  supposed  by  Richards,  doubling  or  tripling 
the  thickness  of  filter  paper  ought  to  decrease  the  dis- 
crepancy. But  it  was  found  that  using  two  or  three  sheets 
of  filter  paper  had  just  the  opposite  effect  and  also  in- 
creased the  striations,  which  were  soon  found  to  be  a  sure 
indication  of  a  heavy  deposit.  It  was  found  that  the 
excess  of  deposit  in  the  filter-paper  form  over  that  in  the 
porous-cup  form  depended  on  the  amount  of  filter  paper 
present,  and  that  the  porous-cup  voltameter  gave  the  same 
high  values  as  the  filter-paper  form  if  filter  paper  were 
wrapped  around  the  outside  of  the  porous  cup  or  if  the 
electrolyte  had  previously  been  contaminated  by  soaking 
filter  paper  in  it. 

When  solutions  were  repeatedly  used  in  a  filter-paper 
voltameter  the  deposits  were'  increasingly  heavy  with  each 
electrolysis,  but  a  similar  experiment  with  the  porous-cup 
voltameter  always  gave  the  same  weight  or  slightly  lighter. 
To  test  further  the  complex  ion  theory,  the  authors  tried  re- 
electrolyzing  some  of  the  electrolytes  saved  from  inside 
the  porous  cups ;  this  is  the  anode  liquid  which  should  give 
too  heavy  a  deposit  if  Richards'  theory  is  correct.  It  was 
found,  however,  that  if  the  electrolyte  was  free  from  filter 
paper  the  deposit  was  perfectly  normal. 

Many  of  the  deposits  were  examined  under  the  micro- 
scope and  also  photographed.  From  pure  electrolytes  the 
deposits  were  always  crystalline  and  non-striated,  and,  in- 
deed, the  appearance  of  the  deposit  was  found  to  be  a 
good  criterion  of  the  purity  of  the  electrolyte. 

It  was  found  that  to  produce  a  heavy  deposit  it  was  not 
necessary  to  bring  the  electrolyte  and  filter  paper  together, 
but  merely  to  make  up  the  electrolyte  with  water  that  had 
stood  over  filter  paper  for  a  short  time.  It  was  evident 
that  important  chemical  changes  were  produced  in  the 
electrolyte  by  the  filter  paper,  and,  accordingly.  Dr.  Mc- 
Daniels  joined  us  in  the  summer  of  1909  to  study  the 
chemistry  of  the  voltameter. 

With  the  porous-cup  form  the  authors  obtained  1.01828; 
volts  for  the  Weston  Normal  cell  at  20  deg.  C,  and  this  is 
very  close  to  the  final  result,  which  will  be  given  in  the 
last  paper  of  the  series. 


PART  II. 


By  E.  B.  Rosa,  G.  W.  Vinal  and  H.  S.  McDaniel. 
Deposits  made  from  pure  AgNO,  and  water  in  a  porous 
cup  voltameter  or  one  without  septum  are  beautifully 
crystalline  under  the  microscope,  as  shown  in  Fig.  I.  The 
crystals  have  sharp  faces  and  angles,  and  between  the 
crystals  the  platinum  surface  is  clean  and  bright.  From 
a  slightly  contaminatd  solution  the  deposit  is  often  in 
long  needle-shaped  crystals  or  imperfectly  crystalline  and 
striated.  As  the  amount  of  impurity  increases,  the  stri- 
ations increase  in  prominence  and  the  deposit  looks  more 
like  slag  with  no  easily  detected  crystalline  structure,  as 
in  Fig.  2.  For  excessive  amounts  of  impurities,  the  de- 
posits are  gray  and  look  more  like  lead  than  silver.     In 


this  qualitative  work  the  deposits  were  made  in  small 
voltameters  and  then   photographed. 

The  action  of  filter  paper  on  water  was  first  investi- 
gated, and  it  was  found  that  if  the  AgNO,  solution  was 
made  from  water  that  had  been  in  contact  with  filter 
paper  for  even  a  short  time  the  resultant  deposit  was 
strongly  striated  and  the  electrolyte  turned  a  reddish 
brown,  suggestive  of  a  colloidal  solution.  The  same  was 
true  no  matter  what  quality  of  filter  paper  was  used. 
Prolonged  washing  of  the  filter  paper  for  -twelve  days 
did  not  eliminate  the  effect.  Writing  paper,  blotting  paper, 
etc.,  all  produced  the  same  result,  as  did  also  papers  made 
exclusively  from  wood,  linen  or  cotton  rag,  and  of  the 
latter  substances,  wood  fiber  gave  the  most  exaggerated 
effects. 

The  addition  of  acid  to  the  ])ure  electrolyte  merely 
increased  the  number  of  crystals  by  decreasing  their  size 
and  did  not  affect  the  structure  of  the  deposit.  The  effect 
of  CuSOj  and  Cu(N03),  was  similar.  Silver  acetate  very 
greatly  increased  the  number  of  crystals,  making  the 
deposit  look  like  a  field  of  snow.  Gelatine,  often  used  as  an 
additional  agent  in  electroplating,  produced  exaggerated 
effects  and  a  yellow  solution  apparently  of  colloidal  silver 

By  Bredig's  method  a  considerable  quantity  of  colloidal 
silver  was  prepared.  It  was  first  of  a  neutral  tint,  but  after 
about  a  year  turned  to  an  olive-oil  color.  A  sample  of  this 
was  placed  in  a  U-tube  between  electrodes  with  120  volts 
ilifference  of  potential,  and  after  twenty  minutes  it  was 
certain  that  the  colloid  was  traveling  toward  the  cathode. 


Fig.    1 — Crystalline    Structure. 


Fig.    2 — Striated    Formations. 


and  on  reversing  the  current  it  moved  in  the  opposite 
direction  to  the  new  cathode,  finally  hanging  on  it  as  a 
loose  mass.  A  small  amount  of  this  material  added  to 
.\gNO3  and  electrolyzed  modified  the  deposit  in  appear- 
ance. By  using  a  porous  cup  as  a  filter,  this  colloid  could 
be  removed  from  solution,  which  suggested  filtering  a 
strongly  contaminated  .\gNO3  solution.  This  was  done, 
and  the  resulting  deposit  was  crystalline  and  entirely  free 
from  striations.  Because  of  the  importance  of  this  fact, 
further  tests  were  made  with  similar  results. 

A  systematic  study  of  the  chemistry  of  the  voltameter 
eliminated  the  possibility  of  the  observed  effects  being 
due  to  impurities  in  the  filter  paper  or  to  the  formation 
of  silver  hyponitrite,  as  suggested  by  Smith,  and  led  to 
a  question  of  the  behavior  of  cellulose  and  silver  nitrate 
solutions. 

The  present  authors  observed  in  their  qualitative  e.xperi- 
ments that  the  striations  could  be  produced  only  by  adding 
strong  reducing  agents  to  the  electrolyte.  Such  weak 
reducing  agents  as  starch  and  cane  sugar  were  without 
effect  This  fact,  together  with  the  possibility  of  pre- 
paring red  colloidal  solutions  by  the  action  of  filter  paper 
alone  on  silver  nitrate  solution,  showed  that  cellulose  must 
act  as  a  strong  reducing  agent.  The  identity  of  the  colloid  | 
was  fully  established.  Experiments  showed  that  the  ex-  ' 
tract  of  filter  paper  was  1000  times  as  active  in  reducing 
.\gNO3  as  cane  sugar,  and  emphasized  the  seriousness  of 
filter  paper  as  an   impurity.     The  result  of  a  long  series 


December  14.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1263 


of  experiments  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  reducing 
action  on  AgNO,  solutions  takes  place  through  the  forma- 
tion of  oxycelluloses,  probably  decomposing  into  furfur- 
aldehyde  or  some  of  its  homologues.  Since  pure  cotton 
cellulose  is  a  hexopolyose,  and  not  generally  considered 
as  yielding  furfuraldehyde,  careful  tests  by  Forster's  method 
were  made  which  showed  it  to  be  present.  A  pure  electro- 
lyte containing  o.ooi  per  cent  of  polymerized  furfural 
when  electrolyzed  gave  a  strongly  striated  deposit  similar 
to  that  of  the  filter  paper  voltameter.  It  is  the  author's 
belief  that  oxycelluloses  constitute  the  soluble  furfural- 
yielding  substances,  and  that  after  being  extracted  they 
are  again  formed  by  oxidation  in  the  air,  and  hence  the 
filter  paper  does  not  lose  its  power  to  produce  striated 
deposits.  The  oxycellulose  solution  is  colloidal  in  char- 
acter and -very  permanent.  When  it  is  added  to  silver 
nitrate  sol-ution  a  red  colloidal  solution  is  obtained  which 
is  not  readily  coagulated  owing  to  the  protective  action 
of  the  organic  colloid.  Some  of  the  hydrogel  obtained  from 
these  red  colloidal  solutions  was  found  by  analysis  to  be 
97  per  cent  pure  silver,  the  remaining  3  per  cent  being 
organic  material.  Further  confirmatory  evidence  is  ob- 
tained from  carefully  following  the  acidity  changes  of 
solution  of  AgNOj  treated  with  the  extract  from  filter  paper. 

With  such  good  evidence  of  the  presence  of  silver 
■colloids  in  contaminated  solutions  supported  by  actual 
observations  on  the  colloids  by  the  ultra-microscope,  it 
seemed  probable  that  the  excess  weight  and  the  changes  in 
structure  of  the  deposit  were  due  to  this  colloid.  The 
authors  have  formulated  a  theory  to  account  for  the 
changes  from  the  crystalline  deposits  of  pure  solutions  to 
the  non-crystalline  and  striated  deposits  of  the  impure  solu- 
tions. In  1876  Kirmis,  working  under  Helmholtz,  made  a 
study  of  the  various  forms  of  silver  deposit,  but  failed  to 
offer  any  explanation  of  the  cause  of  striations.  Nearly 
twenty  years  later  Behn,  working  under  Kundt,  published 
an  elaborate  study  of  striated  deposits.  He  carried  out 
many  ingenious  experiments  and  proved  conclusivelv  that 
the  direction  of  the  striae  is  the  direction  of  the  convec- 
tion currents,  as  we  have  also  done,  but  his  explanation  of 
filaments  in  the  liquid  as  the  cause  of  striations  is  not  satis- 
factory, as  he  himself  acknowledges.  The  explanation 
offered  by  Smith,  Mather  and  Lowry  is  somewhat  similar 
to  Behn's.  The  strongest  argument  against  their  theories 
is  that  the  striations  disappear  completely  when  the  electro- 
lyte is  pure,  all  other  conditions  remaining  the  same. 

Since  the  reducing  impurities  mentioned  which  produce 
■striations  also  produce  colloidal  silver  when  added  to  the 
electrolyte,  it  appears  that  the  first  essential  condition  for 
striations  is  the  presence  of  a  colloid  that  will  be  deposited 
on  the  cathode.  The  second  essential  condition  is  a  motion 
of  the  liquid  over  the  cathode  surface.  On  the  under  side 
of  a  horizontal  cathode,  where  convection  currents  along 
the  surface  are  eliminated,  the  deposit  is  characteristic  nf 
an  impure  solution  (if  that  is  used)  except  that  there  are  no 
striations.  This  and  numerous  other  experiments  estab- 
lish the  second  condition.  It  is,  of  course,  well  known  that 
the  deposit  from  a  cyanide  solution  of  silver  and  potassium 
appears  continuous  under  a  very  high  power  microscope, 
while  a  discontinuous  deposit  is  obtained  from  a  nitrate 
salt.  As  Ohm's  law  holds  in  the  electrolyte,  it  is  evident 
that  there  is  at  the  surface  of  the  platinum  a  potential 
difference  opposing  the  current  which  brings  the  electro- 
lyte in  contact  with  the  platinum  to  a  higher  potential 
than  that  of  the  electrolyte  in  contact  with  the  silver,  and 
so  the  currents  diverted  from  the  platinum  surface  find 
numerous  outlets  to  the  platinum  through  the  silver  crys- 
tals. The  surface  potential  difference  taken  in  connection 
with  the  specific  resistance  of  the  electrolyte  and  the  cur- 
rent density  determines  the  distance  apart  of  the  crystals 
and  the  striations  also,   as  will  be  shown. 

Based  on  these  experiments,  the  following  explanation  of 
striations  is  given  by  the  authors.    The  regular  crystalline 


growth  of  the  silver  takes  place  according  to  the  cubic  sys- 
tem. Each  ion,  deposited  as  an  atom,  is  constrained  to  occupy 
such  a  place  that  the  crystal  grows  into  a  definite  shape. 
But  this  growth  may  be  broken  up  by  the  relatively  large 
colloidal  particles  which  are  deposited  and,  if  present, 
these  form  new  nuclei  for  crystalline  growth.  The 
more  colloid  there  is  present,  the  more  the  regular  crys- 
talline structure  will  be  interfered  with.  When  the  cur- 
rent is  applied  the  deposit  begins  at  many  isolated  points 
without  definite  arrangement,  and  these  will  grow  into 
regular  crystals  if  allowed  to  take  their  own  course,  but 
if  the  colloid  destroys  the  crystalline  structure,  these  masses 
of  silver  will  grow  in  the  direction  of  the  convection  cur- 
rents of  liquid,  and  eventually  one  crystal  will  grow  into 
the  one  above  it  (if  the  currents  are  vertical  as  in  the 
cirdinary  voltameter)  and  that  in  turn  into  the  one  above 
it,  until  the  deposit  is  in  the  form  of  the  familiar  stria. 

In  the  case  of  pure  electrolyte  the  "crystallizing  force" 
overcomes  this  upward  tendency  of  the  convection  cur- 
rents, but  it  is  possible  to  force  striations  in  a  pure  electro- 
lyte by  making  the  velocity  of  the  liquid  over  the  surface 
great  enough  to  overcome  the  crystallizing  force.  This 
has  been  accomplished  by  rapidly  rotating  a  piece  of  plat- 
inum in  a  horizontal  plane  in  pure  electrolyte,  and  so 
obtaining  spiral  striae.  This  explanation  is  believed  to  be 
adequate  and  in  accord  with  all  the  known  facts. 

The  third  paper  of  this  series  will  give  in  detail  the 
processes  for  obtaining  silver  nitrate  of  sufficient  purity 
for  use  in  the  silver  voltameter  and  report  the  second 
series  of  quantitative  measurements.  The  methods  pre- 
viously used  for  purifying  the  salt  have  proved  to  be  unsat- 
isfactory for  work  of  the  highest  precision  with  the 
voltameter. 


MOTOR-DRIVEN  WINCHES  AND  PULLEY  HOISTS. 


By  H.  Thieme. 

MOTOR-DRIVEN  winches  and  pulley  hoists  meet  a 
real  want  in  industrial  circles  and  have  become 
very  popular.  The  compact  design  of  the  travel- 
ing winch,  which  allows  the  ground  surface  to  be  utilized 
to  its  fullest  extent,  has  won  for  itself  special  favor  on 
storage  grounds,  building  sites  and  in  workshops  where  it  is 
necessary  to  carry  objects  over  short  distances  e.xpeditious- 
ly.  The  traveling  which  can  not  only  be  operated  on  the 
lower  flange  of  the  I-beam  of  a  rigid  straight  or  curved 
track  but  can  also  be  attached  to  a  traveling  crane  or  to  the 
jib  of  a  slewing  crane  (Figs.  I  to  3).  Motor-driven  winches 
will  do  good  service  on  storage  grounds  when  the  area 
must  be  covered  quickly,  as  in  conveying  material  from 
railway  trucks  to  remote  sheds  and  for  handling  traffic  in 
the  reverse  direction.  It  is  also  worthy  of  particular  notice 
that  the  possibility  of  the  trolley  taking  curves  of  small 
radius  will  permit  objects  to  be  transferred  from  one  shop 
to  another  through  doors  and  passages  just  as  well  as  by 
means  of  rails  and  turntables,  but  with  the  additional  ad- 
vantage that  the  ground  area  remains  absolutely  free,  so 
that  safe  and  unimpeded  traffic  can  be  arranged.  In  such 
cases  the  traveling  winch  can  be  advantageously  fitted  with 
an  operator's  stand,  whereby  speeds  can  be  reached  which 
would  be  inconceivable  if  the  winch  were  controlled  from 
the  ground  by  means  of  ropes.  Heavy  winches  are  fre- 
quently fitted  with  rotating  frames  for  rounding  sharp 
curves. 

The  traveling  winches  are  designed  for  electric  hoisting 
movement  and  propulsion  by  hand,  or  both  movements  can 
be  effected  electrically,  a  special  motor  being  provided  for 
each  movement. 

The  pulley  hoists  will  be  found  frequently  in  combination 
with  traveling  or  slewing  cranes.  They  can  also  be  at- 
tached at  the  top  of  a  mast  or  column  and  are  therefore 
often  used  on  large  building  sites  as  a  convenient,  quick 


1264 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  Xo.  24. 


and  reliable  niean.s  of  transportation  for  all  sorts  of  build- 
ing material. 

The  pulley  hoist  also  performs  excellent  service,  in  com- 
bination with  heavy  electric  traveling  cranes,  for  raising 
loads  which  are  much  smaller  than  the  maximum  capacity 
of  the  crane  itself.  The  pulley  hoist  is  hung  on  the  crane 
hook  in  its  highest  permissible  position  and,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  the  smaller  hoisting  motor  of  the  pulley  hoist,  can 
raise  or  lower  the  lighter  loads  at  a  far  greater  speed.  Where 
this  method  is  not  adopted  it  is  either  necessary  to  select  a 
hoisting  motor  for  the  traveling  crane  of  much  higher 
capacity  than  is  actually  required  for  operating  the  crane 
with  heavy  loads  only  or  the  main  winch  must  be  com- 
plicated with  the  insertion  of  an  auxiliary  winch  or  me- 
chanical disengaging  device  which  would  for  the  most  part 
remain  unused.  The  separate  pulley  hoist  can  always  be 
employed  elsewhere  when  the  crane  is  handling  heavy  loads 
in  the  usual  course  of  its  duties. 

The  construction  of  the  hoisting  mechanism  is  made  very 
compact  by  the  employment  of  a  worm  drive  as  a  revolu- 
tion-reducing agent.    Such  a  drive  will  also  make  the  opera- 


Ffg.   1 — Ton    Pulley   Hoist   Showing   Crane-Hook   Attachment. 

tion  as  noiseless  as  possible,  because  the  wheel  gears  which 
are  still  necessary  will  run  at  a  comparatively  low  speed. 
The  worm  gears,  which  are  manufactured  by  the  Maschinen- 
fabrik  Oerlikon,  are  cut  out  of  first-class  steel  and  worm- 
wheels  are  fitted  with  a  band  of  phosphor  bronze.  The 
axial  pressures  are  taken  up  by  ball  bearings  immersed  in 
oil.  The  entire  worm  gear  is  inclosed  and  runs  in  an  oil 
bath.  By  exact  workmanship,  excellent  lubrication  to  which 
special  attention  is  given  and  a  relatively  small  specific  pres- 
sure a  very  high  degree  of  efficiency  is  attained  with  the 
multi-threaded  worms.  The  wear  and  tear  is  reduced  to  a 
minimum  by  the  employment  of  suitably  hard,  tough  mate- 
rial, such  as  steel  and  phosphor  bronze.  Wire  ropes  of 
plow  steel  with  a  high  breaking  strain  and  great  elasticity 
are  e,^clusively  used  as  carrying  agents.  The  winch  run- 
ning rollers  are  made  of  cast  steel ;  they  run  on  their  axles, 
which  have  runner  boxes  of  bronze  and  are  provided  with 
Stauffer  central  lubrication. 

The  driving  motors  are  designed  with  special  considera- 
tion for  the  requirements  of  operating  with  hoisting  appli- 


ances and  for  high  overloads.  They  are  coupled  with  the 
worm  gears  by  means  of  a  semi-rigid  coupling  designed  as 
a  brake  sheave  and  are  of  the  entirely  inclosed  type,  so  that 
the  interiors  are  protected  from  steam,  dust  and  inclement 
weather.  The  bearings  are  furnished  with  ring  lubrication 
and  the  shafts  are  of  first-class  steel. 

The  direct-current  motors  used  for  the  hoisting  movement 


Fig.   2 — Motor-Driven    Winch,   2-Ton   Capacity. 

are  compound-wound  motors.  The  speed  consequently  in- 
creases automatically  with  a  reduced  load  up  to  the  maxi- 
mum limit.  The  traveling  motors  are  series-wound  and  also 
have  the  above  characteristics.  With  three-phase  currents 
either  synchronous  motors  or  induction  motors  are  em- 
ployed. The  current  supply  is  taken  from  the  main  lines, 
laid  along  the  running  track,  bv  means  of  a  rolling  contact. , 


Fig.  3 — Motor- Driven   Hoist  with  Operator's  Stand. 

In  practice  the  average  motors  are  built  for  a  maximum 
torsional  moment  equal  to  two  and  one-half  times  the 
normal  moment.  They  can  stand  double  the  normal  number 
of  revolutions  (on  direct  current  generally  two  and  one- 
half  times)  and  frequent  sudden  reversals  without  hurt  to 
themselves.  They  comply  in  general  with  the  regulations  of 
the   Verband   Deutscher   Elektrotechniker    (Association   of 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1265 


German  Electrical  Engineers)  with  respect  to  overloading, 
temperature  rise  and  insulation  strength. 

The  control  of  the  motors  is  effected  from  the  ground  or 
from  an  operator's  stand  fitted  on  the  winch.  If  an 
operator's  stand  is  selected,  this  is  so  constructed  that  the 
operator  has  a  good  view  of  the  movements  of  the  load  in 
every  position,  even  though  the  stand  is  entirely  inclosed 
with  glass  windows.  The  motor  control  is  effected  by 
means  of  the  regulating  controllers  on  the  winches  or  by 
switching  over  in  the  case  of  short-circuit  motors.  The 
throw-over  switch  is  also  combined  with  this  control 
apparatus,  so  that  all  manipulations  for  starting,  regulating, 
slopping  and  reversing  a  motor  can  be  actuated  by  one 
single  control  agent. 

In  general  a  brake  is  provided  only  for  the  hoisting  move- 
ment. .A  strong  jaw  or  band  brake  is  used  which  acts  auto- 
matically on  the  coupling  between  motor  and  worm  gear, 
being  combined  with  the  hoisting  starter  or  put  in  action  by 
means  of  an  electromagnet  or  auxiliary  motor.  The  travel- 
ing mechanism  of  the  motor-driven  winch  with  operator's 
stand  is  provided  with  a  foot  brake,  if  this  is  considered 
necessary. 

The  traveling  winches  and  pulley  hoists  are  built  by  the 
Maschinenfabrik  Oerlikon  for  loads  up  to  11,000  lb., 
whereby  the  speeds  of  the  various  movements  can  be 
selected  to  suit  the  working  conditions  within  very  large 
limits.  This  allows  these  hoisting  appliances  to  meet  all 
modern  requirements  in  every  respect. 


ELECTRICITY  VERSUS  GAS  FOR  STREET  LIGHTING. 


By  T.  Osborne. 

ELECTRIC  lighting  for  the  streets  of  large  towns  has 
been  shown  to  be  superior  to  gas  as  the  result  of 
exhaustive  tests  made  by  experts  at  the  request  of 
the  electricity  and  gas  committees  of  the  city  of  Manchester, 
Englan^l.  At  present  several  important  streets  are  lighted 
by  flame-arc  lamps,  while  others  are  lighted  by  modern 
high-pressure  gas  lamps  of  high  candle-power.  It  was 
desired  for  the  future  guidance  of  the  municipal  authorities 
to  have  expert  opinion  as  to  which  system  yields  the  better 
results,  and  two  well-known  lighting  engineers,  Messrs. 
H.  T.  Harrison  and  J.  A.  Body,  were  instructed  to  make 
prolonged  investigations  and  to  submit  reports,  which  are 
summarized  below  so  far  as  they  apply  to  the  arc  lamps. 
Some  brief  reference  is  also  made  to  gas  lamps,  so  as  to 
make  the  data  on  arc  lamps  perfectly  clear. 

For  the  purpose  of  the  tests  two  important  streets  were 
selected  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  one  lighted  by  electricity 
and  the  other  by  gas,  and  four  lamps  on  each  were  sub- 
jected to  close  examination.  The  arc  lamps  are  suspended 
along  the  center  of  the  street,  at  a  clear  height  of  27  ft.  6  in. 
and  at  the  following  distances  apart,  114  ft.  7  in.;  116  ft. 
and  132  ft.  Tests  were  made  from  three  sets  of  positions  at 
a  height  of  15  in.  from  the  ground,  (l)  directly  below  each 
lamp,  (2)  at  the  center  of  the  street  half  way  between  each 
lamp,  (3)  on  the  curbstones  of  the  footpath  half  way 
between  each  of  the  lamps.  These  tests  were  for  horizontal 
illumination.  Direct-illumination,  or  candle-power,  tests 
were  made  4  ft.  from  the  ground  at  the  positions  mentioned 
above  and,  in  addition,  at  positions  6  ft.  6  in.  from  a  per- 
pendicular from  each  lamp.  The  gas  lamps  were  placed 
closer  together,  the  distances  ranging  from  98  ft.  6  in.  to 
118  ft.  6  in.  The  lamps  tested  are  of  the  "Metroplane" 
magazine  flame-arc  pattern,  with  clear  inner  globes  and 
opalescent  outer  globes. 

The  electric  lamps  are  connected  eight  in  series  on  a 
400-volt  circuit,  obtained  from  the  ordinary  distributing 
network  supplied  by  the  municipal  plant.  Each  lamp  takes 
an  average  of  583  watts,  and  the  circuits  are  so  arranged 
that  every  alternate  lamp  can  be  switched  off  when  desired. 


The  cost  of  the  electric  lamps  is  considerably  less  than  that 
of  gas  lamps.  The  cost  for  electrical  energy,  depending  as 
it  does  on  the  load  factor,  varies  for  the  half-night  lamps, 
which  burn  only  2000  hours  per  annum,  and  the  all-night 
lamps,  which  burn  4000  hours,  being  2.14  cents  per  kw-hr. 
for  the  former  and  1.31  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  the  latter. 
Thus  for  one  hour  the  cost  for  electrical  energy  would  be: 
(a)  Half-night  lamps,  583  watts,  at  2.14  cents  per  kw-hr., 
1.248  cents;  (b)  all-night  lamps,  583  watts,  at  0.655  cent  per 
kw-hr.,  0.764  cent. 

To  this  must  be  added  the  cost  of  carbon  electrodes  and 
labor.  Each  lamp  contains  fourteen  pairs  of  carbon  elec- 
trodes, which  during  the  tests  exceeded  five  burning  hours 
per  pair.  These  electrodes  as  used  at  present  cost  $18.24 
per  1000  pairs;  it  follows  that  one  hour  costs  0.36  cent.  It 
takes  two  men  fifteen  minutes  to  trim  and  clean  each  lamp. 
A  trimmer  and  an  assistant  are  employed,  earning  respec- 
tively 14  cents  and  12  cents  per  hour.  Thus  the  trimming 
and  cleaning,  should  the  lamps  be  cleaned  once  in  fifty 
hours,  would  be  12  cents  per  hour.  Togetlier  with  an  allow- 
ance for  repairs  and  for  maintenance,  this  makes  the  total 
cost  per  hour  for  the  electric  flame-arc  lamp  as  shown  in 
the  table. 

TOTAL    COST    PER     HOUR    FOR    FLAME-ARC    LAMP. 


Half-Night 

Lamps,  Cents 

per  Hour. 

All-Night 

Lamps,  Cents 

per  Hour. 

Electrical  energy 

Electrodes 

Labor 

Sundries            

1.250 
0.360 
0.120 
0.070 

0.764 
0.360 
0.120 
0.1S6 

Total 

1.800 

1.400 

As  lighting  and  extinguishing  are  automatically  carried 
out  by  time  switches,  no  charge  has  been  allotted  for  this 
service.  The  relative  capital  cost  of  the  plant  and  apparatus 
is  as  follows :  The  four  arc  lamps  tested  are  a  portion  of 
sixteen  along  the  same  street,  which,  including  all  acces- 
sories, are  stated  to  have  cost  erected  $2,707,  equal  to  $170 
per  lamp. 

The  high-pressure  gas  lamps  compare  very  unfavorably, 
as  the  total  cost  of  the  lamps,  lanterns,  poles,  suspension  and 
all  accessories  erected  amounted  to  $933,  equal  to  $233  per 
lamp.  These  figures  do  not  include  any  amount  for  series 
street-lighting  mains  in  the  case  of  the  arc  lamps,  or  any 
for  high-pressure  gas  mains  or  compressor  plant.  This 
obvious  flaw  is  due  to  the  peculiar  system  of  accounts  kept 
by  the  public  authorities.  The  experts  who  tested  the  lamps 
commented  on  the  absence  of  these  items.  The  capital  cost 
per  mile  of  street  would  be  as  follows:  For  the  arc  lamps, 
43.6  to  the  mile,  $7,532.08;  for  the  high-pressure  gas  lamps, 
49.34  to  the  mile,  $11,841.60.  The  relative  constancy  and 
reliability  of  the  light  sources  were  the  next  points  to  be 
considered.  During  the  two  months  in  which  the  four 
electric  and  four  gas  lamps  were  under  inspection  the 
maximum  variations,  exclusive  of  extinctions,  were  as 
follows:  (a)  Any  one  of  the  electric  lamps,  from  4400  cp 
to  2420  cp ;  all  the  arc  lamps,  from  4400  cp  to  2400  cp ; 
(b)  any  one  of  the  gas  lamps,  from  2058  cp  to  686  cp;  all 
the  gas  lamps,  from  2475  cp  to  686  cp.  It  is  essential  to 
point  out  that  these  variations  frequently  continued  over  only 
a  short  period  and  that  they  are  not  often  noticeable,  thus 
showing  that  the  variation  in  illuminating  power  of  the  gas 
lamps  is  more  than  that  of  the  electric  lamps.  The  total 
number  of  complete  extinctions  noted  by  the  experts  during 
the  two  months'  period  was  as  follows :  Arc  lamps,  June  14, 
one  lamp  out  for  eighty  minutes ;  July  19,  one  lamp  out  for 
twenty  minutes.  Gas  lamps,  June  16,  one  lamp  out  for 
twenty  minutes;  June  18,  one  lamp  out  for  sixty  minutes; 


1266 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24. 


June  23,  one  lamp  out  all  niglit ;  July  21,  oneiamp  out  all 
night.  The  electric  lamps  thus  worked  in  a  more  reliable 
manner.  In  comparing  these  results  and  failures  it  is 
essential  to  add  that  half  the  arc  lamps  burn  all  through  the 
night ;  that  is,  twice  the  number  of  hours  of  the  gas  lamps. 
It  follows,  therefore,  that  the  electric  lamps  are  consider- 
ably more  than  twice  as  serviceable  for  street  lighting,  from 
this  point  of  view,  as  the  gas  lamps.  The  dif¥erence  in  the 
degree  of  illumination  throughout  the  streets,  irrespective 
of  the  variations  in  the  candle-pow.er  of  the  light  source, 
was  4.5  per  cent  for  the  arc  lamps  and  4.8  per  cent  for  the 
gas  lamps.  It  will  be  noted,  therefore,  that  there  is  little  to 
*:hoose  between  the  gas  lamps  and  the  electric  arc  lamps  in 
ihis  respect. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  work  out  the  reduction  of  costs 
10  a  common  basis  of  candle-power  and  illumination.  The 
comparison  on  an  equal  basis  of  cost  may  be  made  as 
follows:  From  the  details  given  it  will  be  noted  that  for  a 
cost  of  1.4  cents  per  hour  the  arc  lamps  give  an  illuminating 
value  averaging  2970  cp — that  is,  at  the  important  angles, 
namely,  20  deg.  to  25  deg.  from  the  horizontal;  while  the 
gas  lamps  give  under  similar  conditions  only  1750  cp,  at  the 
cost  of  3  cents  per  hour.  Thus  the  candle-power  at  a  cost 
of  3  cents  would  work  out  as  follows :  Electricity  at  a  cost 
of  3  cents  per  hour  gives  6364  cp ;  gas  at  a  cost  of  3  cents 
per"  hour  gives  1750  cp,  or  electric  lamps  giving  2970  cp 
cost  1.4  cent  per  hour  and  gas  lamps  giving  2970  cp  cost  5.08 
cents  per  hour. 

From  a  comparison  on  an  equal  basis  of  illumination  the 
arc  lamps  also  have  an  advantage.  Dealt  with  from  this 
point  of  view  the  distances  at  which  the  lamps  are  spaced 
comes  into  the  calculation,  and  as  this  varies  owing  to  local 
conditions  it  will  be  desirable  to  take  a  unit  length  of  street, 
say  I  mile,  and  to  ascertain  the  number  of  lamps  of  either 
type  which  would  be  necessary  to  give  the  same  illumina- 
tion. As  the  arc  lamps  when  spaced  at  an  average  distance 
of  121  ft.,  or  43.6  to  the  mile,  produce  a  minimum  illumina- 
tion of  0.5  foot-candle  when  giving  an  average  of  2970  cp  at 
a  cost  of  $1,220  per  annum  while  burning  for  2000  hours,  it 
will  be  found  by  a  simple  calculation  that  fifty-four  gas 
lamps  giving  an  average  of  1750  cp  will  be  required  to 
produce  the  same  result,  placing  them  in  an  inferior  position 
as  compared  w^ith  the  electric  lamps.  Further,  as  the  gas 
lamps  cost   3   cents   per   hour — equal   to  $60   per   lamp   per 

COMPARATIVE  COST  OF  ARC  LAMPS  AND  GAS  LAMPS. 


Candle-power  of  lamps 

Number  of  lamps  to  the  mile 

Running  costs  per  lamp  per  hour  up  to 
11:30  p.  tn 

Capital  cost  per  mile  of  street 

Running  cost  1000  cp-houre 

Cost  per  annum  per  mile  equal  illumi- 
nation   

Minimum  illumination  basis  of  com- 
parison   

■Cost  per  mile  of  street  per  annum  up  to 
1 1 :30  p.m.  at  above  illumination  .  . 


Arc  Lamps. 


2970 
43.6 

1.4  cent 

$7,531 

0.472  cent 

$1,220 

0.5     ft.-candle 

$1,220 


Gas  Lamps. 


1750 
49.34 

3  cents 
$12,177 
1.714  cent 

$3,240 

0.39    ft.-candle 

$2.9fi0 


annum — when  burning  2000  hours,  the  comparison  works 
out  as'  follows:  Cost  per  mile  minimum  illumination,  0.5 
foot-candle:  for  four  arc  lamps,  $1,220;  for  four  gas  lamps, 
S3.240. 

In  the  figures  given  above  the  cost  of  energy  in  the 
electric  lamps  is  taken  at  the  all-night  rate.  When  they  are 
taken  at  the  half-night  rate  the  cost  would  amount  to  $1,508. 
\  general  comparison  of  the  two  systems  of  lighting  after 
I  f  :30  p.  m.  is  interesting.  The  figures  given  above  apply 
only  up  to  the  time  when  the  gas  lamps  are  turned  out 
and  every  alternate  arc  lamp  is  shut  off.     When  the  gas 


lamps  are  put  out  the  ordinary  gas  lamps  of  the  old  system, 
which  is  being  gradually  superseded,  are  relied  upon.  After 
11:30  p.m.  the  comparisons  of  cost  for  equal  illumination 
are  still  more  diverse,  as  in  the  case  of  the  gas-lighted  street 
in  which  the  tests  were  made  the  low-pressure  gas  lamps,  of 
which  there  would  be  eighty  to  the  mile,  and  the  cost  of 
which  cannot  be  taken  at  less  than  $9.60  per  lamp  per 
annum,  give  a  minimum  illumination  of  only  0.004  foot- 
candle  for  a  cost  of  $768  per  annum;  whereas  the  alternate 
arc  lamps  give  a  minimum  of  0.08  foot-candle,  twenty  times 
as  much,  at  about  the  same  cost.  To  enable  readers  to 
appreciate  the  details  given  above  they  are  given  in  a 
tabulated  form. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  even  from  a  hasty  examination  of 
these  figures  that  electric  lighting  can  be  carried  out  by  the 
c-lectrical  department  at  a  considerably  lower  cost  than  is 
possible  by  tlie  use  of  gas,  and  it  must  also  be  noted  that  as 
electrical  undertakings  are  of  relatively  modern  growtli 
many  economies  in  cost  of  ■  production  will  no  doubt  be 
effected  in  the  early  future.  It  may  be  added  that  had  the 
gas  lamps  been  working  at  double  the  efficiency,  or  if  the 
cost  of  electrical  energy  had  been  double  what  it  is,  the 
electric  arc  lamps  would  still  have  proved  to  be  more 
economical  for  an  equal  illumination. 

In  the  case  of  high-pressure  gas  lamps  better  efficiency 
has  been  obtained  in  other  towns  in  England.  This  has 
been  obtained,  however,  by  the  use  of  a  higher  pressure, 
which  necessitates  that  more  time  and  money  be  spent  on 
careful  periodic  adjustments. 

For  the  tests  detailed  above  three  photometers  were  used, 
one  being  a  portable  instrument  for  rough  measurements 
fitted  with  a  Bunsen  screen ;  the  other  two  were  universal 
photometers.  The  accuracy  of  this  instrument  is  high,  as 
the  flicker  attachment  is  used  for  direct  measurement,  thus 
reducing  to  a  minimum  any  error  due  to  variation  in  color 
of  the  light  sources,  and  for  horizontal  measurements  the 
arrangement  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Trade  was  used. 
Tests  were  constantly  and  independently  made  by  the  expert 
and  his  assistant  over  a  period  of  two  months,  and  as  the 
results  were  practically  identical,  it  follows  that  the 
accuracy  of  the  light  measurements  may  be  taken  as  within 
5  per  cent. 

The  artificial  illumination  of  streets  by  electric  lamps 
fixed  at  intervals  results  in  a  varying  degree  of  illumination, 
depending  on  the  distance  from  the  source  of  light,  and  as 
that  illumination  is  inversely  proportionate  to  the  square  of 
the  distance  and  depends  on  the  angle  at  which  the  light 
falls  on  the  surface,  it  wnll  readily  be  seen  that  much 
depends  not  only  on  the  candle-power  of  the  electric  lamp 
but  also  on  the  way  the  lamps  are  spaced  and  the  height  at 
which  they  are  erected.  With  the  object  of  taking  in  all 
the  factors — that  is,  candle-power,  distance  and  height — it 
is  becoming  the  practice  in  England  to  compare  the 
illumination  of  streets  by  ascertaining  the  minimum  hori- 
zontal illumination  of  a  screen  3  ft.  above  the  ground  level 
at  any  part  of  a  street.  This  minimum  factor  is  considered 
the  important  one  not  only  because  it  embodies  all  the 
others,  but  because  if  the  minimum  illumination  is  sufficient 
for  the  pedestrian  and  road  traffic  the  illumination  through- 
out the  remainder  of  the  street  will  be  ample.  The  tests  the 
results  of  which  are  discussed  above  included  photometric 
measurements  of  candle-power  and  illumination,  which  were 
carried  out  every  night  when  the  weather  permitted : 
periodic  measurements  of  the  electricity  consumed  to  check 
the  meters  installed,  and  also  daily  and  nightly  inspection 
of  the  lamps  to  check  consumption,  renewal  of  mantles, 
carbons,  cleaning  and  repairs.  During  the  tests  the  lamps 
were  operated  as  in  ordinary  practice;  that  is,  adjustments 
and  alternations  were  permitted  only  when  found  absolutely 
necessary.  In  the  case  of  the  flame-arc  lamps  the  reflector, 
ash  tray  and  support  were  modified  in  the  case  of  one  lamp 
to  demonstrate  that  the  shadow  cast  under  the  lamps  can 
be  eliminated. 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1267 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


SEPARATION  OF  PROMPT-PAYMENT   AND    QUAN- 
TITY DISCOUNTS. 


Upon  the  advice  of  the  Ohio  Public  Utility  Commission, 
the  Canton  Electric  Company,  of  Canton,  Ohio,  has  issued 
a  supplement  to  its  lighting  schedule,  separating  discounts 
granted  for  long-hour  and  quantity  use  from  those  allowed 
for  prompt  payments  made  within  ten  days.  When  the 
utility  law  was  first  passed,  the  company's  rules  provided 
that  all  'discounts,  whether  for  quantity  or  hours'  use,  should 
be  allowed  only  if  paid  in  ten  days  of  date  of  bill.  Before 
the  adoption  of  the  act  there  was  some  elasticity  in  applying 
this  rule,  particularly  where  the  bills  were  large  and  the 
discount  also- large.  After  the  passage  of  the  act  the  com- 
pany gave  all  hands  notice  and  then  rigidly  enforced  the 
discount  provisions. 

.\  customer,  however,  had  a  gross  bill  of  $9.80  which 
would  have  been  discounted  at  50  per  cent  had  he  paid 
within  the  discount  period.  He  appealed  to  the  commission, 
and  it  notified  the  company  to  separate  its  discounts  into 
prompt-payment  discounts  and  such  discounts  as  should  be 
allowed  for  long-hour  burning.  This  was  done,  as  the 
following  supplement  to  the  Canton  company's  lighting 
schedule  sets  forth : 

"Rate. — 10  cents  per  kw-hr. 

'Discounts  for  Quantity  and  Hours'  Use. — Over  $2  and 
over  two  hours'  daily  average  use,  10  per  cent;  over  $3  and 
over  three  hours'  daily  average  use,  20  per  cent;  over  $4 
and  over  four  hours'  daily  average  use,  30  per  cent ;  over 
$5  and  over  five  hours'  daily  average  use,  40  per  cent. 

"Prompt  Payment  Discount. — In  addition  to  the  discounts 
above  set  forth,  an  additional  discount  of  10  per  cent  will 
be  allowed  on  all  bills  which,  minus  the  discount,  amount  to 
more  than  $1,  provided  payment  is  made  within  ten  days 
from  date  of  bill" 


PHOTOMETRY  FOR  THE    CENTRAL^  STATION. 


.\t  the  November  meeting  of  the  New  England  Section 
uf  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society  Mr.  S.  R.  Keyes, 
of  the  Boston  Edison  company,  presented  a  paper  on 
"Central  Station  Photometric  Practice,"  illustrating  by 
apparatus  and  lantern  slides  the  methods  of  operation  of 
the  principal  types  of  photometers  now  in  service.  The 
author  emphasized  the  physiological  sensations  which  ren- 
der the  direct  estimation  of  light  values  difficult,  stating 
that  nearly  every  solicitor  connected  with  a  lighting  com- 
pany has  come  in  contact  with  a  customer  who  attempts  to 
"size  up'  the  qualities  of  an  illuminant  in  this  manner  and 
then  complains  of  the  lack  of  sufficient  light  because  he  is 
unable  to  see  anything  when  he  turns  away  his  eyes  from 
the  light  source.  The  balancing  of  lighting  effects,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  more  accurately  perceived  by  the  eye  and  is 
used  in  practical  photometric  work  with  great  success. 

After  describing  the  methods  of  using  the  photometer 
common  to  central-station  practice  the  speaker  emphasized 
the  desirability  of  testing  the  candle-power  of  returned 
lamps,  as  in  many  cases  these  are  found  to  be  so  good  as 
to  warrant  their  being  sent  out  again  under  the  system  of 
free  renewals  widely  in  vogue.  Such  work  is  usually  per- 
formed on  the  Bunsen  form  of  photometer,  as  speed  rather 
than  extreme  accuracy  is  the  desired  end,  and  this  form  of 
screen,  where  the  observer  uses  both  eyes,  is  less  tiresome 
when  employed  over  an  extended  period  than  is  the  Lum- 
mer-Brodhun  type  of  photometer. 


In  the  case  of  the  Boston  Edison  company,  the  lamp 
division  photometers  returned  lamps  in  the  above  manner, 
and  the  laboratory  department  obtains  samples  of  these 
lamps,  which  are  in  turn  tested  on  the  standard  photometer 
as  a  check  on  the  work  of  the  lamp  division.  Two  per  cent 
of  the  lamps  tested  by  the  latter  are  re-photometered  by  the 
former.  In  checking  these  lamps  on  the  laboratory  pho- 
tometer only  one  setting  is  made  of  each  lamp  against  ten 
or  twenty  in  ordinary  work,  as  it  has  been  found  that  with 
lights  of  the  same  color  the  Lummer-Brodhun  screen  is  so 
sensitive  that  the  requisite  accuracy  may  be  obtained  in 
this  way. 

When  a  Lunnner-Brudhun  sight  bo.x  is  available  measure- 
ments of  the  coefficient  of  dift'use  reflection  of  samples  of 
cloth,  wall  paper,  paint,  etc.,  may  be  vary  simply  and  easily 
made.  To  do  this  it  is  first  necessary  to  obtain  a  suitable 
test  plate  whose  reflection  coefficient  is  carefully  deter- 
mined. A  small  piece  of  Strathmore  drawing  board  such  as 
is  used  by  artists  answers  the  purpose,  such  a  test  piece 
having  a  coefficient  of  about  0.75.  The  plaster  disk  is 
removed  from  the  Lummer-Brodhun  sight  bo.x  and  the  test 
plate  is  cut  into  two  strips  of  such  dimensions  that  they  will 
fit  into  the  slot  in  the  sight  box  left  vacant  by  the  removal 
of  the  screen.  Two  lamps  of  approximately  equal  candle- 
power  are  then  procured  and  instaljed  at  each  end  of  the 
bar.  The  two  test  strips  are  inserted  in  the  sight  box  back 
to  back  and  the  carriage  is  set  at  the  zero  point  in  the 
center  of  the  scale.  A  balance  is  then  obtained  by  varying 
the  voltage  on  either  lamp  and  the  photometer  is  then  set 
ready  for  use.  One  of  the  test  plates  is  then  removed  and 
the  sample  to  be  tested  is  inserted  in  its  place.  The  sight 
box  is  shifted  on  the  bar  until  a  balance  is  again  obtained, 
and  the  reading  on  the  ratio  scale  gives  the  ratio  between 
the  reflecting  powers  of  the  sample  and  of  the  standard 
test  plate.  As  many  of  the  samples  tested  are  colored,  all 
inaccuracies  due  to  color  effect  with  this  form  of  screen  are 
introduced,  but  the  process  is  useful  where  it  is  desired  to 
obtain  data  on  wall  finishes  in  schoolrooms  and  the  like. 
Many  decorators  have  the  habit  of  mixing  a  small  quantit\ 
of  black  into  their  tints  for  reasons  best  known  to  them- 
selves. This  adulteration,  while  not  apparent  to  the  eye. 
reduces  the  reflection  coefficient  very  materially,  and  such 
points  are  detected  very  easily  by  the  foregoing  method. 

In  making  photometric  tests  of  arc  lamps  the  Boston 
Edison  Company  uses  a  counterbalanced  steel  frame  carry- 
ing two  plate-glass  mirrors  and  rotating  about  an  a.xis.  One 
mirror  is  placed  with  its  center  at  the  axis  of  rotation  and 
the  other  at  the  end  of  the  frame,  the  radius  of  swing  being 
about  6  ft.  The  lamp  to  be  tested  is  placed  with  its  center 
at  the  axis  of  the  frame  and  behind  the  central  mirror. 
The  light  from  the  lamp  is  reflected  from  the  mirror  at  the 
end  of  the  arm  to  the  mirror  at  the  axis,  and  from  there 
upon  the  photometer  bar,  which  is  placed  at  a  height  which 
brings  it  opposite  the  center  of  this  mirror.  The  first 
mirror  may  thus  be  swung  about  the  lamp  so  as  to  receive 
the  light  coming  from  any  angle,  the  central  mirror  always 
being  in  the  correct  position  to  receive  the  reflected  rays 
and  direct  them  to  the  photometer  screen.  A  device  of  this 
kind  is  useful  in  making  tests  of  candle-power  in  one  direc- 
tion or  in  obtaining  a  curve  showing  the  distribution  of 
light  aroimd  an  illuminant.  When  it  is  desired  to  obtain 
measurements  of  the  mean  spherical  candle-power  the 
integrating  sphere  is  employed. 

The  integrating  sphere,  consisting  of  a  hollow  metal  ball 
having  for  arc  lamp  work  a  diameter  of  about  2  m,  is  coated 
inside  with  a  flat  white  paint  and  a  small  opening  is  pro- 
vided in  one  side  into  which  is  fitted  a  window  of  diffusing 


1268 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24. 


glass.  The  lamp  to  be  tested  is  placed  inside  the  sphere  and 
an  opaque  white  screen  is  placed  between  it  and  the  window, 
so  that  the  direct  rays  from  the  lamp  are  prevented  from 
falling  on  the  latter.  When  these  conditions  are  obtained 
the  illumination  on  the  window  is  proportional  to  the 
spherical  candle-power  of  the  lamp  inside  the  sphere.  The 
constant  of  the  latter  is  obtained  by  introducing  an  incan- 
descent lamp  the  spherical  candle-power  of  which  has  been 
previously  determined.  On  the  outside  of  the  sphere  an 
arrangement  is  provided  for  comparing  the  illumination  of 
the  glass  window  with  a  standard  lamp. 

Measurements  of  foot-candles  are  made  on  the  street  by 
the  Boston  Edison  company  by  means  of  a  photometer 
carried  on  a  tripod  and  consisting  essentially  of  a  screen 
and  mirror  equipment  arranged  to  receive  and  compare  the 
light  from  the  external  source  with  that  given  by  a  6-volt, 
4-watt  tungsten  incandescent  lamp  which  has  previously 
been  calibrated  for  different  values  of  current.  The  lamp 
is  connected  in  circuit  with  a  milammeter,  a  "doughnut" 
type  rheostat  and  a  battery  of  dry  cells,  and  it  is  usually 
operated  somewhat  below  the  full  voltage  rating  of  the  fila- 
ment in  order  to  maintain  the  accuracy  of  the  calibration. 
The  latter,  on  the  portable  photometer,,  gives  the  observer 
the  foot-candles  of  illumination  on  the  screen  corresponding 
to  the  variations  in  current,  the  reading  of  the  photometer 
scale  being  referred  to  a  curve  carried  with  the  outfit. 


SUIT  TO  REMOVE  RIVAL  COMPANY'S  LINES. 


The  Glenwood  Springs  (Col.)  Light  &  Water  Company 
has  brought  suit  against  its  recently  organized  competitor, 
the  Mutual  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company,  also  of  Glen- 
wood Springs,  asking  the  federal  court  to  grant  an  injunc- 
tion enjoining  the  Mutual  company  from  maintaining  its 
wires  and  poles  on  the  same  side  of  the  streets  and  alleys 
as  its  own  circuits.  The  Glenwood  company,  which  began 
operation  in  1888,  declares  that  the  high-tension  lines  of  its 
rival  are  in  such  proximity  as  to  endanger  its  property  and 
the  lives  of  its  employees.  A  recent  expert  inspection  of 
the  parallel  lines  of  the  competing  central  stations  revealed 
the  fact,  as  reported  in  these  columns,  that  primary  and 
secondary  lines  were  in  some  places  only  a  few  inches 
apart,  involving  a  condition  of  large  fire  and  life  hazard  to 
the  consumers  of  both  companies.  The  suit  already  filed 
may  result  in  a  number  of  similar  suits  if  the  complainant 
company  is  successful  in  ousting  the  defendant's  lines  from 
its  own  side  of  the  alley. 


EXTENSIVE  OPERATIONS  OF  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 
UTILITIES  COMPANY. 


Recent  information  obtained  from  reliable  sources  in 
relation  to  the  extensive  operations  of  the  Middle  West 
Utilities  Company  of  Chicago,  all  within  the  last  six  months, 
is  of  much  interest.  The  purpose  of  the  company  is  to 
acquire  public-utility  properties,  particularly  in  the  smaller 
cities  and  towns,  and  to  organize  and  own  subsidiary  state 
companies  to  take  over  and  operate  the  properties  acquired 
in  their  respective  states.  In  pursuance  of  this  plan  the 
company,  through  its  subsidiaries,  has  already  purchased  a 
considerable  number  of  public  utilities  in  communities  of 
medium  size  in  several  states.  At  present  this  plan  of 
operation  has  been  particularly  developed  in  the  State  of 
Illinois,  and  more  or  less  in  Indiana,  Kentucky,  Oklahoma, 
Missouri  and  in  some  of  the  New  England  States.  The 
number  of  communities  served  and  properties  controlled  in 
various  states,  with  the  class  of  service,  is  given  in  the 
accompanying  table,  which  does  not  include  a  number  of 
properties  upon  which  the  company  has  options. 


In  each  of  the  states  or  group  of  states  mentioned  in  the 
following  table  there  is  or  will  be  a  separate  operating 
subsidiary  company  of  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Company. 
The  first  of  these  subsidiary  companies  was  the  Central 
Illinois  Public  Service  Company,  which  has  taken  over 
utilities  in  eighty-seven  communities  in  central,  southern 
and  western  Illinois.  Forty-nine  separate  generating  plants 
have  supplied  the  territory  of  this  company.  These  plants 
are  being  gradually  shut  down,  and  the  whole  territory  will 
within  a  very  short  time  be  served  by  the  transmission  lines 
of  the  company  from  perhaps  eight  plants,  and  ultimately 

DATA    OF    OPERATIONS    OF    MIDDLE    WEST    UTILITIES    COMPANY. 


Number  of  communi- 
ties served 

Electric      light      and 
power 

Gas 

Healing 

Ice 

Interurban  railways. 

Street  railways 

Water 

Population  served. . 


mi- 
nis. 


97 

97 

4 

10 

10 

2 

6 

9 

250,000 


Indi- 
ana. 


16 
8 
3 
1 
2 
3 
4 
120,000 


Ken- 
tucky. 


Mis-   i  Okla- 
souri.  I  homa. 


1 
3 
30,000 


I 


New 
Eng- 
land. 


15,000 


2  16 

2}  16 

.    i  4 


40.000  80,000 


Total. 


140 

140 
19 
13 
16 
4 
11 
16 
535,000 


this  number  will  be  reduced  probably  to  four  or  five  plants. 
The  company  is  now  building  at  Kincaid,  at  the  mouth  of 
one  of  the  largest  coal  mines  in  the  State,  in  the  center  of 
the  coal-mining  district  of  Christian  County,  a  steam  gen- 
erating station  of  modern  design  and  of  exceptional  location 
both  as  to  fuel  and  water.  This  plant  is  being  designed  by 
Sargent  &  Lundy,  of  Chicago,  and  it  is  expected  to  show 
exceptional  economy  in  the  production  of  electrical  energy. 
Ultimately  it  will  be  tied  to  the  general  transmission  system 
of  the  Central  Illinois  company. 

The  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Company  controls  the 
Central  Illinois  Traction  Company,  which  owns  and  operates 
an  interurban  electric  railway  between  Mattoon  and 
Charleston,  111. ;  has  also  interurban  franchises  in  the  towns 
of  Paris,  Kansas  and  Ashmore,  111.,  and  owns  and  operates 
the  local-street  railway  line  in  Paris,  111.  It  is  contemplated 
later  to  continue  the  interurban  railway  from  Charleston  to 
Paris,  111.,  and  this  extension,  when  completed,  will  connect 
with  an  interurban  line  now  operated  between  Paris  and 
Indianapolis,  thereby  giving  through  electric  service  from 
Mattoon,  111.,  to  all  interurban  points  in  Indiana,  Ohio  and 
Kentucky. 

A  company  will  be  organized  soon  by  the  Middle  West 
Utilities  Company  to  take  over  the  properties  controlled  in 
Indiana.  An  important  group  of  these  properties  is  in  or 
near  New  Albany,  Ind.,  across  the  Ohio  River  from  Louis- 
ville, Ky.  These  properties  practically  control  the  entrance 
of  interurban  electric  cars  into  the  city  of  Louisville  from 
all  northern  points.  The  Interstate  Public  Service  Com- 
pany, which  is  a  subsidiary  of  the  Middle  West  company, 
controls  over  60  miles  of  interurban  railway  in  the  central 
part  of  Indiana.  In  addition  to  extensive  electric  railway 
interests  in  Indiana  subsidiaries  of  the  Middle  West  com- 
pany own  the  utilities  in  many  of  the  towns  served  by  the 
interurban  lines.  These  utilities  will  be  connected  together 
by  transmission  lines  and  served  by  a  central  generating 
station  which  will  also  supply  the  interurban  railways.  In 
addition,  the  subsidiary  companies  in  Indiana  own  utilities 
in  towns  not  on  the  lines  of  their  interurban  railways  and 
are  now  negotiating  for  other  plants  or  franchises  in 
accordance  with  the  general  policy  of  serving  large  groups 
of  small  communities  from  a  central  power  station. 

Kentucky   has   as   a   subsidiary   company   the   Kentucky 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1269 


Utilities  Company,  most  of  the  properties  of  wliich  are 
located  in  the  "Blue  Grass"  region.  The  Kentucky  company 
controls  the  utilities  in  Shelbyville,  23  miles  from  Louis- 
ville, and  also  in  Somerset.  In  Kentucky  one  feature  of  the 
business  will  be  supplying  electricity  or  gas,  or  both,  to 
many  of  the  extensive  stock  farms  for  which  the  State 
is  noted. 

The  New  England  company,  which  is  not  designated 
more  particularly  in  the  circular  from  which  these  facts  are 
taken,  operates  in  the  States  of  New  York,  Vermont,  New 
Hampshire  and  Maine  and  is  spoken  of  as  having  a  gross 
income  of  $325,816  last  year.  The  New  York  and  Vermont 
divisions  of  this  company's  business  are  connected  by  trans- 
mission lines  serving  as  tie  lines  to  connect  two  generating 
stations.  Both  of  these  divisions  are  supplied  by  hydro- 
electric plants  with  steam  auxiliaries.  The  generating 
station,  of  the  New  Hampshire  division  is  a  steam  plant 
located  at  tidewater,  and  it  also  transmits  electrical  energy 
into  Maine.  The  New  England  company  also  owns  and 
controls  gas  and  street  railway  properties. 

As  to  the  financial  aspects  of  this  large  organization,  it 
is  interesting  to  note  that  the  entire  capitalization  is  repre- 
sented by  6  per  cent  preferred  stock  and  common  stock. 
The  authorized  issue  of  preferred  stock  is  $12,000,000,  of 
which  $5,000,000  has  been  issued,  and  the  authorized  issue 
of  common  stock  is  $12,000,000,  of  which  $7,000,000  has 
been  issued.  The  subsidiary  companies  are  independently 
financed  by  selling  a  reasonable  amount  of  bonds  on  the 
group  of  properties  they  respectively  operate,  thus  returning 
to  the  treasury  of  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Company  a 
part  of  the  capital  it  originally  invested  in  them.  The 
junior  securities  of  these  subsidiaries  are  retained  by  the 
Middle  West  company  and  represent  its  permanent  equity 
in  the  companies.  It  is  the  company's  policy  to  keep  these 
junior  securities  intact  in  its  treasury  as  far  as  possible. 
In  addition  to  the  income  from  the  securities  of  its  sub- 
sidiaries the  Middle  West  company  will  have  quite  a  large 
income  from  trading  in  and  participating  in  the  under- 
writing of  the  securities  of  other  public-utility  companies. 
It  will  also  receive  considerable  profit,  it  is  believed,  from 
financing,  engineering  and  supervising  its  subsidiary  com- 
panies. It  is  declared  to  be  the  policy  of  the  directors  of 
the  Middle  West  Utilities  Company  that  whatever  profits 
are  made  in  any  operations  affecting  the  company  shall  go 
directly  into  its  treasury  whether  these  profits  are  made 
from  financing,  underwriting,  engineering,  construction, 
management  or  supervision. 

Irrespective  of  the  profits  to  be  obtained  in  this  manner, 
the  earnings  of  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Company  from 
the  operation  of  its  subsidiary  companies  for  the  year  pre- 
ceding the  date  of  the  audits  of  Arthur  Young  &  Company 
and  other  public  accountants  were  $465,011.  This  sum,  it 
should  be  explained,  is  made  up  as  follows :  Surplus 
applicable  to  dividends  on  stock  of  subsidiary  companies  held 
by  the  Middle  West  company,  $369,371 ;  proportion  of 
interest  on  bonds,  $71,180;  interest  and  dividends  on  securi- 
ties of  other  than  subsidiary  companies,  $24,460.  The  gross 
earnings  of  the  subsidiary  companies  were  $3,948,812;  net 
earnings,  $1,297,302.  These  earnings,  however,  were  made 
previous  to  the  acquisition  of  the  properties  by  the  Middle 
West  company.  With  more  efficient  supervision  and  opera- 
tion it  is  believed  that  the  gross  earnings  will  be  increased 
and  the  proportionate  cost  of  operating  reduced. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  total  earnings  on  securities  held 
by  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Company  during  the  calendar 
year  1913  will  be  $845,000.  It  was  organized  under  the  laws 
of  Delaware  in  May,  1912,  by  Mr.  Samuel  Insull  and  his 
associates,  and  its  principal  office  is  in  Chicago.  Mr.  Insull 
is  the  president  of  the  company  and  the  vice-presidents  are 
Messrs.  Martin  J.  Insull,  John  F.  Gilchrist  and  Frank  J. 
Baker.  Mr.  Edward  J.  Doyle  is  the  secretary.  The 
directors,  in  addition  to  the  five  gentlemen  named,  are 
Messrs.    Louis    A.    Ferguson,    William   A.    Fox,   John    H. 


Gulick,  Frank  T.  Hulsvvit,  William  J.  Maloney,  Charles  A. 
Munroe,  F.  S.  Peabody,  Edward  P.  Russell,  Marshall  E. 
Sampsell  and  Frederick  Sargent.  Mr.  Hulswit  is  president 
of  the  United  Light  &  Railways  Company ;  Mr.  Peabody  is 
president  of  the  Peabody  Coal  Company  of  Chicago  and  is 
a  large  coal  producer,  and  Mr.  Sargent  is  the  well-known 
consulting  engineer. 


MOTOR-DRIVEN  ROTARY  VENEER  CUTTER. 


The  rotary  veneer  cutter  illustrated  has  a  loo-in.  knife 
which  shaves  off  a  continuous  strip  of  veneer  as  the  hard- 
wood log  is  rotated  on  the  huge  lathe.  By  an  adjustment 
of  the  feed  the  thickness  of  wood  removed  can  be  varied 
down  to  1/16  in.  The  main  drive  of  this  loo-in.  Coe  rotary 
cutter  is  effected  by  the  35-hp  motor  in  the  foreground 
tlirough  chain  gearing  and  a  friction  clutch.     On  the  gallery 


Motor- Driven    Rotary   Veneer   Cutter. 

is  seen  the  5-hp  motor,  with  extended  shaft  and  outboard 
bearing,  which  operates  the  two  feed  motions.  The  hard- 
wood log  hides  the  long  sharp  knife  in  the  picture.  As  the 
veneer  comes  from  the  cutter  it  is  cross-cut  into  desired 
lengths  for  furniture  finishing.  The  installation  is  that  of 
the  Louisville  Veneer  Mills,  which  purchase  their  elec- 
trical  energy    from   the   Louisville   Lighting   Company. 


BILLS    FOR    CHRISTMAS    APPLIANCES   PAYABLE 
FEB.   1. 


To  encourage  its  customers  in  the  selection  of  electrical 
Christmas  gifts,  as  well  as  to  insure  the  early  purchase  of 
these  presents,  the  Denver  Gas  &  Electric  Company  will 
defer  until  Feb.  i,  1913,  rendering  bill  for  all  appliances 
bought  during  the  first  sixteen  days  of  December. 

This  means  that  customers  who  bought  electrical  gifts 
early  will  not  have  to  pay  for  them  until  the  usual  strin- 
gency in  Christmas  funds  has  been  relieved.  The  offer 
was  explained  in  detail  in  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Clare  N. 
Stannard,  commercial  manager  of  the  company,  to  indi- 
vidual customers  under  date  of  Dec.  3.  Among  the  appli- 
ances featured  by  the  Denver  company  under  this  deferred- 
payment  plan  were  coffee  percolators,  egg  boilers,  tea 
kettles,  heating  pads,  boudoir  lamps,  library  lamps,  chafing 
dishes,  curling  irons,  bread  toasters,  electric  irons,  electric 
stoves,   luminous   radiators,   etc. 


12/0 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  24. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

COST    OF    UNDERGROUND    CONDUIT 
CONSTRUCTION. 


The  following  data  bearing  upon  the  cost  of  underground 
conduit  construction  in  a  New  England  city  of  40,000 
inhabitants  are  of  interest,  as  the  work  was  done  with 
careful  engineering  and  completed  within  the  past  three 
years.  The  total  cost  was  $141,800,  consisting  of  conduits, 
manholes  and  service  ducts,  $83.000 ;  cables,  $48,000.  and 
miscellaneous  expenses,  $8,854.  The  items  in  detail  were 
as  follows : 


CONDUITS,    MANHOLES    AND    SERVICE   DUCTS. 

23.393  ft.  of  conduits,  containing  257,300  duct-ft $63,940 

141  manholes 16,600 

8927  ft.  of  serWce  dnct  in  270  connections  to  buildings, 

poles,  etc 4,460        S85  ,000 

CABLES. 

Street  lighting: 

104,900  ft.  of  No.  6  cable S14.400 

Secondary  light  and  motor  service : 

18,000  ft.  of  \o.  4-0  cable,  30,000  ft.  of  No.  1-0  cable. 

8000  ft.  of  No.  2  cable,  12,000  ft.  of  No.  6  cable 13,300 

7000  ft.  of  No.    1  bare  wire,  15,000  ft.  of  No.  2  bare 
wire.  4000  ft.  of  No.  5  bare  wire,  6000  ft.  of  No.  8 

bare  wire 1 ,  100 

Installation  of  above  cables  and  wires,  including  mate- 
rials, apparatus  and  supervision 9,200         38,000 

Primar>'  lighting  circuits: 

18,530  ft.  of  No.  2-0  cable.  12,4.iO  fV  of  No.  1-0  cable, 

9780  ft.  of  No.  4  cable SS.IOO 

Installation  of  these  materials  and  supervision  included.         1 ,900         10,000 

Miscellaneous    expense   on    service   connections    to    73 

poles  and  lamps  and  rewiring  197  buildings 8  ,854 

Total S141,8S4 

The  average  cost  of  conduit  was  about  25  cents  per  duct- 
foot,  including  excavation,  back-filling  and  conduit  complete 
ready  for  cables,  with  maintenance  of  the  street  above  the 
conduit  for  one  year.  The  manhole  walls  were  of  brick, 
laid  in  cement,  8  in.  to  12  in.  in  thickness,  varying  in  depth 
from  3  ft.  to  12  ft.  Primary  cables  are  installed  in  the  same 
conduits  as  other  service  mains  but  in  different  ducts. 
Services  averaged  about  50  ft.  in  length,  the  individual  costs 
running  from  20  to  30  cents  per  foot. 


SAFETY  RULES  FOR  ELECTRICAL  CONSTRUCTION. 


Among  the  provisions  pertaining  to  electrical  apparatus 
in  the  booklet  of  safety  rules  just  issued  by  the  Inland 
Steel  Company,  Indiana  Harbor,  Ind.,  are  the  following, 
designed  to  protect  human  life  and  limb,  as  well  as  to 
facilitate  operation  about  the  mills: 

Ground  wires  shall  be  provided  for  frames  and  bedplates 
of  generating  machines,  all  electrically  driven  machinery, 
motors,  switchboard  frames  and  railings,  etc. 

Incandescent  lamps  or  clusters  of  150  watts  capacity  and 
over,  with  reflectors  or  shades,  shall  be  suspended  by  con- 
duit, rod  or  other  substantial  support  and  not  depend  upon 
electrical  feed  wires  for  support. 

Conductors  shall  be  of  rail,  bar  or  structural  shape  wher- 
ever practicable,  so  located,  protected  or  guarded  as  to 
minimize  the  danger  to  men  working  near  them.  \Mierever 
practicable  they  should  be  painted  yellow  to  distinguish 
them  from  ordinary  structural  work. 

There  shall  be  not  less  than  4  ft.  actual  clearance  between 
equipment  on  back  of  board  and  the  wall  or  other  struc- 
tures, and  the  ends  of  this  space  shall  be  guarded  by  rail- 
ings  or   screens   which   will    permit   clear   view   of   space 


back  of  board.  There  shall  be  no  doors,  cupboards,  storage 
or  obstruction  of  any  kind  behind  boards,  and  this  space 
shall  not  be  used  as  a  thoroughfare.  No  live  parts  carrying 
a  potential  of  over  275  volts  shall  be  mounted  on  face  of 
panels. 

All  exposed  parts  carrying  a  potential  of  from  275  volt> 
to  1000  volts  shall  be  painted  blue,  and  those  carrying  over 
1000  volts  shall  be  painted  red,  so  as  to  make  them  easil> 
distinguishable. 

Signs  warning  of  danger  shall  be  placed  on  all  pole- 
carrying  current  at  275  volts  or  over.  Where  a  lower 
voltage  is  carried  on  the  same  pole  a  high-tension  danger 
sign  .shall  be  mounted  on  or  immediately  below  the  lowest 
cross-arms  carrying  the  high  voltage. 

On  overhead  transmission  lines  or  open  main  wiring  in- 
side buildings  different  types  of  insulators  shall  be  used  for 
each  separate  class  of  service,  so  as  to  make  the  circuit- 
easily  distinguishable  for  reasons  of  safety  as  well  as  opera- 
tion. 

No  live  wire  of  any  voltage  shall  be  exposed  in  manhole- 


ORNAMENTAL  STREET  LIGHTING  AT  SENECA 
FALLS,  N.  Y. 


To  anyone  who  has  followed  the  progress  of  electrical 
development  it  is  clear  that  a  revolution  in  the  methods  of 
illumination    for  public   streets   is   under  way.     The   larger 


Fig.    1 — Five-Lamp    Standard 
at  Seneca   Falls,   N.   Y. 


Fig.  2 — Single-Lamp  Standard 
at   Seneca   Falls,   N.  Y. 


cities  have  made  great  strides,  as  evidenced  by  the  changes 
made  in  New  Haven,  Conn.;  Utica  and  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
and  Chicago,  111.,  the  latter  having  installed  ornamental 
posts  with  very  high-candle-power  lamps  to  supersede  the 
inclosed-arc  lamps  in  the  business  sections.  This  method  is 
much  too  expensive  for  small  cities  and  villages,  and  other 
means  of  bringing  about  a  change  must  be  sought.  The 
problem  has  been  solved  in  one  town  in  New  York  and  the 
results  may  be  of  interest. 

Seneca  Falls  has  a  population  of  approximately  7000  and 
possesses  two  main  streets.  These  were  previously  lighted 
by  6.6-amp  inclosed-arc  lamps,  together  with  a  line  of  five- 
lamp  ornamental  posts  on  one  main  street,  which  were 
illuminated  until  10:30  p.m.  (Figs.  I  and  2).  With  the 
usual  line  of  wooden  poles,  this  system  does  not  present  a 
very  attractive  appearance  by  day,  and  at  night  the  poles 
throw  shades  which  materially  reduce  the  lighting  effect. 
The  company  operating  at  Seneca  Falls  was  asked  to  recom- 
mend a  .system  for  the  remaining  business  street  that  would 


Deckmber  14.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1271 


be  ornamental  by  day  and  give  an  even  distribution  of  light 
by  night.  After  a  study  of  the  situation,  inquiries  were 
made  to  determine  vifhat  constitutes  a  system  attractive  in 
the  daytime  and  of  reasonable  cost.  Fortunately,  the 
engineers  of  the  Rochester  (N.  Y.)  Railway  &  Light  Com- 
pany had  been  making  studies  of  posts,  and  after  many  ex- 
lieriments,  had  selected  a  concrete  post  (Fig.  3)  surmounted 


Fig.   3 — Five-Lamp   Standards   at    Night. 

with  a  brass  cap  dipped  in  acid  to  impart  a  verdigris  effect 
and  bearing  on  top  of  the  cap  a  i6-in.  ball  globe. 

Two  of  these  posts  were  purchased  and  erected  in  Seneca 
Falls.  The  municipal  authorities  were  so  pleased  with  them 
that  orders  were  given  to  install  twelve  of  them  on  one 
street  at  once.  The  posts  are  spaced  98  ft.  apart  on  each 
side  of  the  street  and  staggered  so  as  to  impart  a  uniform 
degree  of  illumination  throughout  the  distance  lighted 
(Fig.  4).  These  lamps  have  now  been  in  operation  about 
three  months,  and  the  results  have  been  so  satisfactory  that 
the  village  lighting  committee,  alive  to  the  needs  of  the 
town  and  with  a  view  to  making  an  attractive  night  and 
day  display,  has  ordered  twenty-five  additional  posts  for 
immediate  installation  and  will  order  more  later,  as  soon  as 
the  funds  are  available. 

The  plan  for  street  lighting  in  Seneca  Falls  will  in  future 
call  for  the  elimination  as  far  as  possible  of  the  old-style 
arc  lamp  and  of  the  unsighth'  incandescent  pole  fixture. 
Indeed,  the  company  is  so  firm  in  its  belief  in  this  proposi- 
tion that  it  has  constructed  a  plant  in  Seneca  Falls  for  the 
purpose  of  manufacturing  the  posts  for  use  there  as  well  as 
elsewhere  in  the  territory  served  by  it.     The  lamps  are  of 


cost,  owing  to  subsequent  changes  in  the  method  of  installa- 
tion and  materials  used.  Approximately,  the  cost  was  as 
follows : 

Total  cost  per  post  erected $74.51 

Total  cost  per  foot  of  cable  laid 0.738- 

Total  annual  cost  of  new  lighting  to  the  village 288.00 

Previous    annual    cost    of    lighting    same    district    with    arc    and 

incandescent    lamps     158.00 

It  will  be  evident  from  the  foregoing  that  the  village  of 
Seneca  Falls  is  obtaining  with  this  system  a  very  much  better 
distribution  of  light  at  a  somewhat  higher  expense.  In  view 
of  the  results  obtained  and  the  satisfaction  on  the  part  of  the 
\illage  authorities,  it  has  been  thought  to  be  "good  business" 
to  encourage  the  more  general  use  of  this  method  of  street 
lighting,  which  is  attractive,  ornamental  and  a  good  adver- 
tisement for  the  Central  New  York  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany and  for  the  village.  The  Central  New  York  Gas  & 
Electric  Company  operates  in  Geneva.  Waterloo,  Seneca 
Falls,  Phelps,  Newark,  Palmyra,  Lyons  and  Clyde,  N.  Y. 
Mr.  A.  V.  Wainwright  is  the  general  manager.  The  mam 
office  of  tile  cimipany  is  located  at  Geneva. 


Fig.  A — Single-Lamp  Standards  at   Night. 

the  6.6-amp  series  type,  rated  at  60  cp,  and  are  connected  to 
the  regular  arc  circuit  by  means  of  a  lead-covered  single- 
conductor  No.  8  cable  laid  in  fiber  conduit  placed  about  i  ft. 
below  the  surface  of  the  sidewalk  and  just  inside  the  curb 
line.  The  lamps  burn  all  night  on  the  Electrical  World 
schedule  and  cost  the  village  $24  each  a  year.  The  cost  of 
installing  the   first  set  was  much   higher  than   the   present 


THE  TENDENCY  IN  MODERN  WINDOW  LIGHTING. 


In    Europe    quite    a    number   of    large    retail    stores    are 
springing    up,    patterned    after    the    American    department 


^^^S^ 

Fig.   1 — Window    Illumination    by   Concealed    Lamps. 

store.  Several  have  recently  been  established  in  London, 
and  the  method  of  lighting  the  windows  is  becoming  a 
matter  of  great  interest  to  illuminating  engineers.  The 
modern  tendency  in  such  cases  is  undoubtedly  toward 
making  the  actual  means  of  lighting  unobtrusive,  since  the 
illuminated  goods  are  the  important  thing.  Concealed  lamps 
in  specially  designed  reflectors  are  therefore  becoming 
usual.  The  form  of  reflector  used  naturally  depends  on  the 
dimensions  of  the  window,  special  designs  being  sometimes 
necessary  when  the  window  is  very  deep. 

At  the  same  time  that  window  illumination  has  been 
developing  on  these  lines  the  method  of  dressing  windows 
has  also  undergone  a  revolution.  The  present  tendency  in 
England  is  not  to  crowd  the  window  with  a  heterogeneous 
collection  of  articles  forming  something  like  a  catalogue  of 
contents,  but  rather  to  allow  plenty  of  space,  showing  only 
a  few  choice  samples.  Window  lighting  on  these  lines  is 
much  more  artistic.  Moreover,  when  the  public  comes  to 
recognize  that  the  contents  of  a  window  are  constantly 
changing  it  becomes  interested.  People  know  there  will 
always  be  something  new  to  see.  It  may  be  added,  also,  that 
this  style  of  dressing  is  much  more  favorable  to  the  illumi- 
nation. Nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  illuminate  a  win- 
dow in  which  the  goods  are  all  crowded  close  up  to  the  front 
glass.     If  the  entire  window  is  filled,  each  article  casts  a 


1272 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24. 


shadow   when   lighted   from   above  and   therefore   tends   to 
screen  the  Hght  from  other  objects  near  it. 

A  recent  article  in  the  llliDiiinating  Engineer  (London) 
which  contains  several  illustrations  of  the  lighted  windows 
of  Harrod's  stores,  a  large  and  well-known  establishment 
in  London,  draws  attention  to  these  facts.  In  Figs,  i  and  2 
some   typical   windows   are   shown,   and   it   will   be   noticed 


FI9. 


2 — Window   Illumination   by  Tungsten   Lamps   in   IVIirror-Glass 
Reflectors. 


that  concealed  light  sources  are  here  very  efifectively  em- 
ployed. The  pictures  give  a  good  idea  of  the  arrangement 
of  the  goods  and  the  bright  .illumination,  but  they  do  not, 
of  course,  bring  out  the  vivid  coloring  of  some  of  the  dis- 
plays. It  may  be  mentioned  that  the  frontage  of  these 
stores  occupies  about  400  ft.  and  the  whole  line  of  windows 
is  kept  illuminated  until  11  o'clock  each  night.  This  plan 
of  keeping  the  windows  alight  after  hours  is  becoming  very 
usual  in  London.  Well-lighted  windows  are  much  more 
attractive  at  night  time  than  during  the  day  and  "stand  out" 
better.  An  effectively  dressed  and  lighted  window  is  one 
of  the  best  advertisements  which  a  retail  merchant  can 
devise. 


SEMI-INDIRECT  LIGHTING  OF  A  CHICAGO  BANK. 


Translucent  "alabaster"  semi-indirect  lighting  fixtures 
have  been  used  effectively  in  re-equipping  the  room  occu- 
pied by  the  bond  and  savings  departments  of  the  First 
Trust  and  Savings  Bank,  Chicago.     The  illumination  fur- 


Fig.    1 — Detail   of  Semi. Indirect    Bowl. 

nished  by  these  units  is  essentially  general  and  decorative, 
the  working  light  for  the  writing  desks  and  tellers'  cages 
being  supplied  by  reflector  lamps. 

Twenty-eight  of  the  semi-indirect  fixtures  are  employed 
to  light  the  room,  which  is,  roughly,  60  ft.  wide  by  130  ft. 
long.  Each  fixture  contains  four  60-watt  tungsten  lamps. 
The  light  from  these  units  reaches  the  working  plane  both 


directly  through  the  diffusing  medium  of  the  heavy  Alba 
bowls  and  by  reflection  from  the  ceiling,  which  is  tinted  a 
cream  color.  The  bowls  measure  24  in.  in  diameter  and  are 
supported  by  four  bronze  chains  from  the  canopy,  42  in. 
above.  These  bowl  fixtures  take  the  place  of  the  clusters 
formerly  employed  and  are  controlled  from  flush  push 
switches  in  the  walls  near  the  respective  units,  enabling  any 
part  of  the  installation  to  be  lighted  at  will.  The  same  type 
of  lighting  is  used  both  in  front  and  behind  the  cashiers' 
cages.  Desks  and  counters  are,  however,  locally  illuminated 
by  reflector  lamps,  the  semi-indirect  fixtures  being  relied 
on  only  for  the  general  lighting.  In  the  trust  department 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  building  fixtures  of  the  exclusive- 
ly indirect  type  have  been  employed,  w^hile  the  counters  and 
cages  are  lighted  by  the  Frink  bank  system. 

The  effect  of  the  new  semi-indirect  fixtures  has  worked 
a  pleasing  transformation  in  the  appearance  of  the  savings 
department.  The  semi-indirect  units  avoid  both  the  glare  of 
exposed  light  sources  and  the  inevitable  black  bowls  of 
suspended  indirect  units.  The  translucent  bowls  employed 
measure  from  0.5  in.  to  0.375  '"•  '"  thickness  and  when 
lighted  are  transfused  with  a  uniform  intensity  which  con- 
ceals the  lamp  filaments  within,  at  the  same  time  admitting 
the  diffused  passage  of  the  light  with  minimum  loss.  The 
general  effect  is  very  handsome  and  has  been  the  subject  of 


Fig.  2- 


-Semi-lndirect   Illumination   of   First  Trust  and   Savings 
Banl<,  Ciilcago. 


comment  of  many  patrons  of  the  First  Savings  Bank.  The 
fixtures  were  furnished  by  the  T.  W.  Wilmarth  Company, 
Chicago,  the  Alba  bowls  being  supplied  by  the  Macbeth- 
Evans  Glass  Company. 


TAGGING  METER  LOOPS. 


The  meter  department  of  a  large  Western  central-station 
company  which  keeps  ten  or  more  wiremen  busy  wiring 
old  and  new  •  houses,  apartments,  etc.,  employs  one  man 
whose  sole  duty  is  to  check  and  tag  meter  loops  after  the 
wiring  is  in  place.  Aluminum  name  tags  are  used  for  this 
purpose,  the  company  having  purchased  outright,  for  $35, 
a  stamping  machine  similar  to  those  familiar  coin-operated 
devices  installed  about  railway  stations  and  other  public 
places.  The  aluminum  strip  out  of  which  the  plates  are 
punched  costs  about  75  cents  per  pound,  making  the  tags 
inexpensive  as  well  as  durable.  The  tag  inspector  first 
visits  the  job  while  the  wiring  is  being  installed  and  traces 
out  the  various  circuits,  making  notes  of  the  labels  needed. 
Returning  to  the  ofiice,  he  stamps  out  the  names  on  the 
plates,  and  on  the  next  day  he  affixes  the  tags. 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


1273 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


TELEPHONE    SYSTEMS. 

Mr.  H.  p.  Clawson,  of  Chicago,  has  devised  a  common- 
battery  system  with  which  local  battery  sets  may  be  used 
without  the  necessity  of  changing  the  switchboard  wiring 
and  without  permitting  a  constant  flow  of  current  through 
the  receiver  of  the  local  set.  This  result  is  accomplished 
by  shunting  the  receiver  circuit  of  the  local  battery  set  with 
an  impedance  coil  to  carry  most  of  the  direct  current  and  by 
including  in  the  receiver  and  bell  circuits  a  three-way  con- 
denser, one  terminal  being  connected  to  the  bell,  one  to  the 
receiver  and  one  to  line.  The  switchboard  circuit  is  one  in 
which  the  line  relay  is  shunted  by  a  low-wound  supervisory 
relay  ip  the  cord  circuit,  no  cut-of¥  relay  being  required. 
This  patent  is  assigned  to  the  Stromberg-Carlson  Telephone 
Manufacturing  Company. 

RECEIVER. 

An  electromagnetic  receiver  has  been  invented  by  Mr. 
L.  W.  Carroll,  of  Riverside,  111.  The  entire  mechanism  of 
the  receiver  is  mounted  in  a  cup  of  magnetic  material  and 
adapted  for  mounting  within  the  flared  end  of  the  receiver 
shell.      The   windings    are    disposed    on   both    sides    of   the 


Telephone    Receiver. 

diaphragm,  the  latter  lying  between  two  concentric,  hollow, 
slotted  poles.  Surrounding  each  of  these  pole  pieces,  but 
out  of  contact  with  them,  are  two  windings.  At  the  base 
of  each  is  a  high-impedance,  low-resistance  exciting  wind- 
ing, while  near  the  diaphragm  on  either  pole  is  a  high- 
resistance,  low-impedance  actuating  winding.  The  arrange- 
ment of  the  parts  is  well  shown  in  the  illustration. 


Letters  to  the  Editors 


A  NATIONAL  ELECTRICAL  TESTING  LABORATORY. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs  : — As  is  well  known,  municipal  electrical  codes  pro- 
vide rules  for  only  the  wiring  and  installation  of  electrical 
equipment.  But  the  safety  of  an  installation  depends  not 
only  on  the  method  of  doing  the  work  but  also  on  the 
quality  of  the  supplies  and  fittings  used.  The  most  available 
information  now  to  be  had  concerning  the  quality  and  safety 
of  electrical  fittings  consists  of  the  findings  of  the  Under- 
writers' Laboratories.  Hence,  in  safeguarding  electrical  in- 
stallations against  faulty  equipment,  municipal  inspection 
departments,  in  the  absence  of  other  information,  are  en- 
forcing the  findings  of  the  Underwriters'  Laboratories. 
These  findings  on  electrical  fittings  are  either  positive  ap- 
provals or  rejections.  The  enforcement  of  these  findings 
by  municipal,  and  sometimes  state  and  federal,  inspectors  is 
uniformly  rigid.  The  result  is  that  the  Underwriters'  Labo- 
ratories dictate  absolutely  what  electrical  equipment  shall 
be  used  by  the  people  of  this  entire  country,  and  the  dictates 
of  this  private  corporation,  which  is  in  no  way  controlled 


or  supervised  by  the  government,  are  enforced  absolutely 
by  government  officials. 

Without  questioning  the  integrity  of  the  Underwriters' 
Laboratories,  I  believe  that  this  is  a  condition  that  is  entirely 
wrong  in  principle.  That  public  officials  should  enforce 
the  mandates  of  a  private  unrestricted  corporation,  whether 
through  choice  or  necessity,  is  entirely  against  our  ideas 
of  right.  Furthermore,  this  action  by  public  inspection 
departments  places  a  tremendous  power  in  the  hands  of  the 
Underwriters'  Laboratories  to  discriminate  between  manu- 
facturers. While  I  do  not  claim  that  this  discrimination 
exists,  nevertheless  the  easy  possibility  of  such  discrimina- 
tion does  exist. 

I  believe  that  the  best  solution  of  this  difficulty  lies  in  the 
establishment  by  the  federal  government  of  a  testing  labo- 
ratory whose  activities  shall  parallel  those  of  the  Under- 
writers' Laboratories.  City  or  state  laboratories  of  this 
character  are  undesirable  because  of  the  expense,  the  un- 
necessary duplication  of  work  and  the  diversified  findings 
that  might  result,  which  would  handicap  the  manufacturers 
of  electrical  equipment.  The  acceptance  of  the  findings  of 
such  a  laboratory  need  not  be  made  obligatory  upon  cities  or 
states.  To  obviate  any  legal  difficulties,  the  laboratory  may 
be  established  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  determining 
what  equipment  is  suitable  for  use  on  government  work. 
The  findings  of  this  laboratory  can  then  be  legalized  by  any 
city  or  state  that  cares  to  do  so. 

I  furthermore  believe  that  the  establishment  of  such  a 
laboratory  would  encourage  small  manufacturers,  stimulate 
competition  and  bring  down  the  prices  of  some  lines  of 
electrical  fittings. 

The  difficulty  might  also  be  solved  in  another  way  if  the 
Underwriters'  Laboratories  should  consent  to  government 
supervision.  The  government  control  and  supervision  of 
these  laboratories  would  justify  the  enforcement  of  their 
findings  by  municipal   inspection  departments. 

M.   Sarbinsky, 

Cleveland,  Ohio.  City  Electrician. 


METHODS  OF   COMPUTING  DEPRECIATION. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — From  your  editorial  discussion  of  my  "unit-cost 
depreciation  formula,"  in  your  issue  of  Nov.  2,  I  see  that  I 
did  not  elucidate  certain  features  sufficiently.  I  also  see 
that  it  would  have  been  well  had  I  discussed  the  effect  of 
depreciation  in  calculating  "development  cost"  or  "going 
value." 

Speaking  of  the  "unit-cost  depreciation  formula,"  you 
say: 

"As  a  calculation  to  determine  the  most  that  a  second- 
hand machine  would  be  worth  to  a  given  purchaser,  the 
method  seems  flawless,  but  to  say  that  such  a  calculation 
fixes  in  every  case  the  present  or  depreciated  value  of  a 
plant  or  machine  is  a  proposition  which  is  hardly  proved 
by  the  presentment  of  the  case.  Clearly  the  method  requires 
modification  when  it  results  in  a  negative  present  value, 
or  a  value  less  than  the  scrap  or  salvage  value,  as  it  may 
do.  Notwithstanding  these  defects,  and  others  which  arise 
from  disregarding  financial,  legal  and  physical  factors  in 
depreciation,  the  method  is  decidedly  interesting." 

That  the  fact  of  the  formula  yielding  in  extreme  cases  a 
minus  "depreciated  value"  is  a  merit  rather  than  a  defect 
will  be  seen  if  one  considers  that  many  machines  in  actual 
use  are  worse  than  valueless.  It  has  frequently  been  said 
of  British  manufacturers  that  one  of  their  inherent  weak- 
nesses is  inability  to  see  that  much  of  their  machinery  is 
a  source  of  loss  because  more  modern  machinery  would 
greatly  reduce  their  unit  costs  of  production.  The  same 
thing  is  not  infrequently  seen  in  public  service  plants,  where 
certain  plant  units  are  so  depreciated  as  to  have  a  minus 


1274 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24. 


value  so  long  as  they  continue  to  be  used.  Is  it  not,  there- 
fore, a  merit  rather  than  a  defect  when  a  depreciation 
formula  discloses  this  condition  ?  Indeed,  does  not  the  fail- 
ure to  disclose  such  a  condition  prove  that  a  depreciation 
formula  is  defective?  Neither  of  the  two  most  commonly 
used  depreciation  formulas — the  straight-line  and  the  sink- 
ing-fund— shows  when  a  machine  has  attained  a  condition 
of  minus  value — a  profit-losing  condition  ;  and  this  alone 
serves  to  prove  the  lack  of  generality  in  those  two  formulas. 

Regarding  any  defects  in  the  "unit-cost  depreciation 
formula"  that  "arise  from  disregarding  financial,  legal  and 
physical  factors,"  I  think  you  must  agree  with  me  that  if 
such  defects  exist  in  my  formula  they  also  exist  in  the 
straight-line  and  in  the  sinking-fund  depreciation  formulas. 
However,  I  do  not  know  of  either  "financial  or  legal  factors" 
that  are  to  be  considered,  unless  you  refer  to  stipulations  in 
contracts,  franchises  or  laws.  Laws  on  depreciated  value, 
as  far  as  I  know,  are  not  restrictive  as  to  the  method  to  be 
used  in  estimating  accrued  depreciation,  nor  have  I  seen 
any  contract  or  franchise  that  prescribed  a  particular 
method. 

In  speaking  of  disregard  for  "physical  factors,"  I  take  it 
that  you  mean  such  physical  conditions  as  an  inspection 
may  disclose.  If  so,  the  same  disregard  of  "physical  fac- 
tors" may  be  raised  as  an  objection  to  every  depreciation 
formula.  I  would  not  be  understood  as  advocating  the 
universal  substitution  of  a  depreciation  formula  for  inspec- 
tion. There  are  many  cases  where  nothing  but  an  inspection 
will  disclose  the  depreciated  condition  of  a  plant  unit.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  are  many  other  cases  where  inspec- 
tion— at  least  such  as  it  is  practicable  to  apply— cannot  yield 
as  accurate  results  as  with  a  depreciation  formula.  Thus, 
given  the  ages  of  all  the  cross-ties  in  a  railway,  their 
depreciated  value  can  be  much  more  closely  estimated  by 
the  aid  of  a  depreciation  formula  than  by  inspection.  In- 
•^pection,  moreover,  cannot  ordinarily  be  used  to  determine 
functional  depreciation  with  any  degree  of  accuracy. 

In  my  article  on  depreciation  I  did  not  emphasize  suffi- 
ciently the  fact  that  the  "unit-cost  depreciation  formula"  is 
an  economic  depreciation  formula  founded  on  a  premise  that 
cannot  be  successfully  assailed.  The  "sinking-fund  depre- 
ciation formula"  also  purports  to  be  an  economic  deprecia- 
tion formula,  but  its  premise  lacks  generality  and  can  be 
successfully  disputed  in  every  case  where  maintenance  ex- 
penses rise  as  the  plant  unit  grows  older.  However,  there 
are  many  classes  of  plant  units  whose  annual  maintenance 
expense  is  either  almost  nothing  or  is  nearly  constant.  In 
that  case,  the  "sinking-fund  depreciation  formula"  applies 
correctly,  for  it  is  a  special  case  of  the  "unit-cost  deprecia- 
tion formula."  I  regard  this  as  a  very  important  deduction, 
for  it  establishes  definitely  the  limitations  and  the  correct 
uses  of  the  "sinking-fund  depreciation  formula,"  which  have 
hitherto  been  a  matter  of  dispute. 

The  "straight-line  depreciation  formula"  always  gives  a 
u;reater  accrued  depreciation  than  the  "sinking-fund  depre- 
ciation formula."  Hence  there  have  often  been  acrimonious 
disputes  between  the  respective  defenders  of  these  two 
formulas.  Each  side  has  been  able  to  indicate  the  fallacies 
in  the  contentions  of  the  opposite  side.  The  sinking-fund 
exponents  have  argued,  for  example,  that  the  first  year  of 
life  of  a  machine  is  worth  more  to  its  owner  than  its  last 
year  of  life,  not  only  because  repairs  are  less  in  the  begin- 
ning, but  because  delays  from  breakdowns  are  fewer.  Yet 
the  "straight-line  depreciation  formula"  ignores  entirely  this 
self-evident  condition  and  rates  one  year  the  same  as  an- 
other— the  last  year  the  same  as  the  first.  Never  has  a 
defender  of  the  straight-line  formula  been  able  to  answer 
this  objection.  But,  as  is  usual  when  the  logic  of  defense 
fails,  a  counter  blow  is  delivered — the  logic  of  the  attacker 
is  attacked.  The  straight-line  formula  exponents  have 
pointed  out  that  the  sinking-fund  formula  also  fails  to 
include  a  factor  for  current  repairs,  and  that  it  is  merely 
lioeaiug  the  question  to  point  to  the  rapid  building  up  of  the 


fund  at  the  end  of  life  of  the  plant.  A  sinking  fund  can 
never,  of  itself,  possess  any  logical  relation  to  actual  repair 
expenses.  This  objection  to  the  generality  of  the  sinking- 
fund  depreciation  formula  has  never  yet  been  answered  by 
one  of  its  defenders. 

In  brief,  both  of  the  old  depreciation  formulas  pretend 
to  show  the  economic  depreciation — for  what  is  deprecia- 
tion if  it  is  not  economic  loss?  Yet  both  of  the  old  depre- 
ciation formulas  fail  to  contain  a  factor  to  provide  for  the 
effect  of  a  rise  in  annual  maintenance  expense  toward  the 
close  of  the  life  of  a  machine,  and  thus  fail  to  give  con- 
sideration to  an  important  economic  condition. 

The  "unit-cost  depreciation  formula"  does  take  into  con- 
sideration the  economic  effect  of  a  rising  curve  of  repair 
expense,  for  it  is  predicated  on  this  broad  economic  prin- 
ciple: The  criterion  of  value  of  a  machine  is  the  cost  per 
unit  of  service  that  it  will  render  during  its  remaining  life. 

If  it  is  objected  that  this  criterion  introduces  the  element 
of  cost  where  we  are  really  in  search  of  value,  I  would 
reply  that  in  this  case  cost  and  value  are  identical.  Under 
open  market  conditions  the  value  of  a  given  plant  unit  is 
the  cost  of  securing  an  equivalent  plant  unit  that  will  render 
the  same  service.  The  "unit-cost  depreciation  formula"  is 
a  mathematical  tool  for  use  in  calculating  an  equivalency. 

The  last  paragraph  must  not  be  construed  as  an  indorse- 
ment of  the  theory  that  the  rate-making  value  of  a  public 
utility  is  the  depreciated  value  of  its  property.  In  my 
discussion  of  "Development  Cost  or  'Going  Value'  of  Public 
Service  Companies"  in  the  June  26  issue  of  Engineering 
and  Contracting  it  is  shown  that  accrued  depreciation  of 
public-utility  properties  is  ordinarily  ofifset,  and  frequently 
more  than  offset,  by  the  development  cost. 

Chicago,  III.  Halbert  P.  Gillette. 


[Note. — The  preponderance  of  legal  authority  upholds 
the  principle  that  in  appraisals  of  property  it  is  present 
value  which  is  controlling — not  the  value  which  existed  at 
some  previous  time  nor  that  which  may  be  expected  in 
the  future,  but  the  value  mow,  or  substantially  as  of  the  date 
on  which  the  value  is  in  question.  In  arriving  at  present 
values,  the  use  of  the  unit-cost  method  which  Mr.  Gillette 
proposes  might,  as  he  says,  result  in  a  negative  value  in 
the  case  of  such  property  as  machinery  which  had  become 
partially  or  wholly  obsolete  by  reason  of  advances  in  the 
art.  The  assignment  of  a  negative  value  amounts  to  the 
confiscation  of  the  residual  or  scrap  value  of  the  materials 
in  the  machine,  and  while  a  computation  which  shows  that 
the  machine  is  clearly  obsolete  and  uneconomical  imparts 
valuable  knowledge,  it  is  not  a  calculation  which  discloses 
the  second-hand  market  value  or  price  of  those  materials. 

The  unit-cost  method  also  introduces  in  the  determination 
of  property  values  questions  of  the  cost  of  the  service 
rendered  by  the  property,  which  is  affected  by  considerations 
of  the  manner  and  condition  of  use  of  the  property  and  the 
prices  of  labor,  fuel,  supplies,  etc.  The  influence  of  these 
factors  raises,  in  our  minds  at  least,  some  doubt  as  to  the 
admissibility  of  the  method  for  the  general  purpose  of 
valuation. 

The  failure  on  the  part  of  an  operating  company  to  lay 
aside  a  depreciation  reserve  fund,  its  equivalent  being  paid 
out  instead  as  profits  or  dividends,  amounts  to  paying  profits 
out  of  the  capital  or  investment  fund,  since  a  depreciation 
reserve  is  necessary  to  preserve  the  face  value  of  the 
original  investment.  Dividend  payments  from  capital,  un- 
der the  guise  of  profits,  are  illegal  under  the  laws  of  some 
states. 

The  manner  in  which  depreciation  advances  with  age, 
and  the  simultaneous  laying  aside  of  a  reserve  fund  to 
protect  the  shrinkage  in  value,  are  correlated  problems. 
Discussion  of  them  can  be  prolonged  to  great  lengths,  and 
such  discussion  is  much  to  be  desired ;  it  is  simply  our 
purpose  here,  however,  to  draw  attention  to  these  phaseJ 
of  the  general  problem  and  indicate  their  nature. — Editors.  | 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1 27s 


Digest  of  Current   Electrical   Literature 


ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

High-Speed  Dynamo-Electric  Machinery. — An  account  of 
the  discussion  which  followed  the  recent  paper  of  F.  Greedy 
on  the  turbo-converter.  Mr.  Miles  Walker  emphasized  that 
it  was  not  impossible  to  design  a  direct-current  generator  to 
run  at  a  very  high  speed.  Commutators  can  run  at  some- 
thing like  10,000  ft.  per  minute  without  any  difficulty 
whatever.  The  difficulties  that  have  arisen  in  turbo-gen- 
erators were  not  due  to  the  high  speed  of  the  commutators 
but  to  the  fact  that  sufficient  provision  had  not  been  made 
for  expansion  and  contraction.  High-speed  commutators 
can  be  built.  Mr.  J.  S.  Peck  said  that  the  final  solution  of 
the  problem  of  driving  a  large  direct-current  generator  at 
very  high  speeds  would  be  either  through  a  gear-reduction 
device  or  through  some  other  speed  reduction  arrangement 
such  as  a  rotary  converter  and  an  alternating-current  gen- 
erator. Mr.  G.  W.  Worrall  stated  that  the  difficulty  with  a 
direct-current  turbo-generator  is  not  exclusively  at  the  com- 
mutator, but  to  a  very  great  extent  it  lay  between  the  com- 
mutator and  the  armature.  He  had  observed  two  particular 
cases  of  serious  breakdowns ;  the  first  was  due  to  broken 
commutator  sections,  and  the  second  was  the  formation  of 
a  harbor  of  dust  among  the  connections  between  the  com- 
mutator and  the  outer  coil.  In  spite  of  the  many  difficulties 
in  Greedy 's  invention  and  its  many  objections  it  should  be 
seriously  considered,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  direct- 
current  part  of  the  armature  can  be  run  at  lower  speed. — 
London  Electrician,  Nov.  22,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Elimination  of  Color  Difference  in  the  Photometry  0] 
Incandescent  Lamps  by  Means  of  Multi-Voltage  Standards. 
— D.  H.  Tuck. — Candle-power  determinations  are  based  on 
the  operation  of  carbon  lamps  or  tungsten  lamps  at  a  fixed 
efficiency.  If  these  lamps  are  operated  at  other  efficiencies, 
the  different  color  resulting  makes  comparison  very  difficult. 
When  different  observers  make  photometric  measurements 
on  lamps  which  operate  at  an  efficiency  different  from  that 
at  which  the  primary  or  secondary  standard  lamps  are 
calibrated,  different  results  are  obtained  and  different  ex- 
perienced observers  will  repeat  their  readings  from  day  to 
day.  Several  combinations  have  been  more  or  less  success- 
fully used  to  eliminate  the  difference  in  the  color  of  the 
light  which   falls  on   either  side  of  the  photometer  screen. 


2.10 


0,2.00 


1.90 


lamps  is  selected  which  are  so  constructed  that  the  filaments 
are  strongly  anchored,  and  at  the  same  time  the  current 
comes  to  a  steady  value  in  less  than  45  seconds.  Select 
four  voltages  which  will  operate  these  lamps  at  different 
specific  consumption  between  4  watts  per  mean  horizontal 
cp  and  1.25  watts  per  mean  horizontal  cp.  At  these  voltages 
let  five  or  more  experienced  observers  make  at  least  nine 


i.sol 

0.80  1.00  1.20  1.40  1.60  1.80 

Log  Mean  Horizontal  Cundlcpower  £i.ciriai  ilow,/ 

Fig.  1 — Relation   Between  Candie-Power  and  Voltage   Logarithms. 


and  such  combinations  are  indispensable  when  a  large  num- 
ber of  lamps  are  to  be  accurately  calibrated  in  a  limited 
zone.  By  the  adoption  of  the  following  procedure  it  is 
possible  to  make  comparisons  of  lamps  operating  at  dif- 
ferent colors  once  and  for  all  at  some  convenient  time  and 
to  make  all  subsequent  comparisons  under  the  favorable 
conditions  of  a  color  match.    A  group  of  tungsten-filament 


10  20  so  10 

Mean  Horizontal  Candlepower 

Electrical  World 

Fig.  2 — Variation  of  Candle-Power  with   Voltage, 

independent  candle-power  determinations,  using  carbon  or 
tungsten  reference  standards.  If  the  logarithms  of  the  volt- 
age values  be  plotted  against  the  corresponding  logarithms 
of  candle-power,  the  mean  values  being  used,  the  resulting 
curve  will  be  a  straight  line.  Such  a  plot  made  from  the 
data  for  a  6o-watt  tungsten  lamp  is  shown  in  Fig.  i.  li 
values  are  read  off  from  the  logarithmic  plot  and  the  num- 
bers corresponding  to  these  logarithms  are  plotted  into  a 
direct  plot,  the  candle-power  voltage  curve  shown  in  Fig.  2 
may  be  constructed.  When  the  candle-power  voltage  curves 
have  been  constructed  for  a  group  of  multi-voltage  standard 
tungsten  lamps,  all  subsequent  comparisons  of  test  lamps 
may  be  made  against  these  multi-voltage  tungsten  standards 
when  these  lamps  are  operated  at  such  a  voltage  as  will 
produce  a  color  match  with  the  test  lamps.  The  procedure 
is  as  follows:  (a)  Using  the  substitution  method,  adjust 
the  voltage  of  the  comparison  lamp  to  give  a  color  match 
with  the  test  lamp  when  the  test  lamp  is  operated  at  the 
voltage  at  which  it  is  to  be  standardized.  If  necessary, 
insert   a   blue-glass  color  screen   between   the   photometer 


Test  Lamp 

— e 


Photometer 
Screea 


n- 


Xolor 
Glass 


Comparison.^ 

Lamp 

O 


Stauiiard 

Lamp 

O 


Photometer 
Screea 


'•'Oolor 
G.lass 


Comparison 

Lamp 
e 


Electrical  World 


Figs.   3   and   4 — Arrangements  of   Photometric   Apparatus. 

screen  and  the  comparison  lamp.  See  arrangement  No.  i  of 
Fig.  3.  (b)  With  the  voltage  of  the  comparison  lamp  at  the 
value  as  found  in  operation  (a)  and  the  color  screen,  if 
used,  in  place,  adjust  the  voltage  of  the  multi-voltage  tung- 
sten standards  to  give  a  color  match  with  the  comparison 
lamp.  See  arrangement  No.  2  of  Fig.  4.  (c)  Use  the  multi- 
voltage    tungsten    standard    lamps    at    these    voltages    as 


1276 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  24. 


standard  lamps  with  wliich  to  compare  the  lamps  that  are 
to  be  tested.  Sei;  arrangement  No.  i  of  Fig.  3. — London 
Elec.  Review,  Nov.  15,  1912. 

Spectral  Luminosity  Curve  of  the  Average  Eye. — H.  E. 
Ives. — An  abstract  of  an  American  Physical  Society  paper. 
Previous  papers  of  the  author's  series  have  recorded  an 
extended  investigation  of  methods  of  heterochromatic 
photometry.  As  a  consequence  of  this  investigation  a  set 
of  conditions  for  colored-light  photometry  have  been  sug- 
gested for  adoption,  as  follows:  (i)  The  use  of  the  flicker 
photometer;  (2)  an  illumination  of  25  meter-candles;  (3)  a 
photometric  field  of  2  deg.  diameter  surrounded  by  an 
approximately  equally  bright  field  of  25  deg.  diameter;  (4) 
the  use  of  a  normal  or  average  eye.  The  fourth  require- 
ment demands  a  knowledge  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
average  eye.  To  meet  this  need  spectral  luminosity  curves 
of  eighteen  observers  have  been  determined  by  the  method 
and  conditions  mentioned.  The  average  value  which  may 
be  considered  as  taken  by  a  sufficiently  large  number  of 
observers  to  be  adopted  as  standard  is  given  in  the  following 
table : 

LUMINOSITY  CURVE  OF  AN  EQUAL  ENERGY  SPECTRUM. 


0.44,< 
0.029 

0.45/1 
0.047 

0.46/1 
0.073 

0.47/1 
0.107 

0.48/1 
0.154 

0.49,. 
0.253 

0.50« 
0.363 

0.51/1 
0.596 

0.52/1 
0.794 

0.53  /I 
0.912 

O.S4p 
0.977 

O.SS/. 
1.000 

0.56/1 
0.990 

0.57/1 
0.948 

0.53/1 
0.875 

O.S9,< 
0.763 

0.60/1 
0.635 

0.61,1 
0.509 

0.62/1 
0.387 

0.63/1 
0.272 

■     0.64(1 
0.175 

0.65/1 
0.104 

0.06/1 
0.068 

0.67/1 
0.044 

0.068,1 
0.026 

The  figures  are  the  mean  of  eighteen  observers,  and  the  first 
four  and  last  three  figures  of  the  series  are  extrapolated. — 
Physical  Review,  November,  1912. 

Incandescent  Lamps. — A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent 
(No.  8086,  Nov.  14,  1912)  of  Peter  Cooper  Hewitt.  To 
diffuse  light  from  a  linear  source,  the  filament  is  surrounded 
by  a  diffusing  container  having  a  number  of  narrow,  shal- 
low concave  grooves,  not  more  than  0.02  in.  apart,  center  to 
center,  approximately  parallel  to  the  filament,  so  that  the 
rays  from  the  source  blend  in  the  field  of  illumination  to 
produce  the  effect  of  a  uniform  wide  blaze  of  light.  It  is 
suggested  that  the  container  be  of  brown  glass,  etched  on 
the  outside  and  smooth  inside. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Nov. 
21,  1912. 

Draunng  Tungsten  IVire. — A  note  on  a  recent  British 
patent  (No.  9788,  Nov.  14,  1912)  of  the  British  Thomson- 
Houston  Company,  Ltd.,  and  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany of  this  country.  When  a  tungsten  rod  or  wire  is  being 
swaged,  drawn  or  otherwise  worked  it  sometimes  becomes 
too  brittle  or  "short"  to  be  manipulated.  It  is  proposed  to 
get  over  this  difficulty  by  removing  the  skin  by  dipping, 
passing  through  or  otherwise  treating  the  metal  in  a  fusion 
of  an  oxidizing  salt,  or  else  by  grinding  or  otherwise. 
.After  this  the  working  is  continued. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing, 
Nov.  21,  1912. 

Generation,  Transmission  and  Distribution. 

French  IVater-Power  Stations. — H.  Bresson.^ — .\n  article 
giving  statistical  data  on  the  water-power  plants  along  the 
coasts  and  frontier  of  France  arranged  according  to  dis- 
tricts. For  each  plant  the  chief  figures  of  the  equipment 
are  given  and  a  diagram  shows  the  development  of  these 
plants  for  the  years  from  1880  to  1912. — La  Revue  Elec. 
Nov.  22,  1912. 

Electric  Main  Winding  Engines. — W.  Philippi. — An 
article  illustrated  by  diagrams  on  the  calculation  of  the 
economy  in  operation  of  electric  main  winding  engines  for 
mines.  The  economy  depends  on  the  system  chosen,  the 
first  cost  of  installation  and  the  power  cost,  as  well  as  on 
the   quantity   of   energy    used    in    the   winding   installation. 


The  principal  lines  of  investigation  which  must  be  con- 
sidered in  the  calculation  of  these  different  factors  are 
indicated,  and  data  are  given  on  the  results  which  have  been 
obtained  so  far  in  large  electric  winding  plants  in  com- 
parison with  steam  plants. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov.  21,  1912. 

Traction. 

Single-Phase  Versus  Direct  Current  for  Suburban  Trac- 
tion in  Australia.- — An  account  of  the  results  of  the  tenders 
for  the  conversion  of  the  Melbourne  suburban  lines  to 
electric  traction.  Complete  alternative  schemes  were  pre- 
pared on  the  direct-current  and  single-phase  systems.-  Some 
300  miles  of  track  are  involved  and  about  150,000,000  pas- 
senger journeys  per  annum,  while  the  total  cost  before  the 
work  is  completed  will  probably  be  nearer  $15,000,000  than 
$10,000,000.  The  specifications  were  drawn  up  in  such  a 
way  as  to  make  the  cost  of  the  two  systems  absolutely  com- 
parable. Direct  current  at  1500  volts  conveyed  by  an  over- 
head line  was  specified  in  the  one  case  and  single-phase 
current  and  an  ii,ooo-volt  overhead  wire  in  the  other,  the 
current  in  each  case  to  be  generated  as  three-phase  at  25 
cycles  and  20,000  volts.  Detailed  tenders  were  put  forward 
by  the  leading  manufacturers  of  both  systems  throughout 
the  world.  The  tenders  were  accompanied  by  stringent 
guarantees  as  to  the  energy  consumption,  and  the  repairs 
and  maintenance  costs  of  the  two  systems  were  compared  in 
detail.  The  result  has  been  a  somewhat  remarkable  victory 
for  the  direct-current  system.  For  a  suburban  system  of 
300  track  miles  with  a  schedule  speed  of  21  miles  per  hour 
and  a  traffic  of  150,000,000  passenger  journeys  per  annum 
the  single-phase  system  is  some  $3,500,000  more  expensive 
in  first  cost  and  some  $350,000  a  year  dearer  in  annual  cost. 
Electric  traction  may  not,  however,  in  future  be  confined  to 
the  suburban  raihvays,  and  the  Melbourne  authorities  have 
carefully  considered  the  question  of  system  in  relation  to 
the  country  lines  as  well,  in  view  of  their  possible  subse- 
quent electrification.  Alternative  schemes  have,  therefore, 
been  prepared  for  typical  lines  up  to  100  miles  distant  from 
Melbourne.  For  a  country  line  100  miles  long,  such  as  that 
to  Bendigo,  with  a  traffic  of  rather  less  than  2,000,000  pas- 
senger journeys  per  annum  and  a  freight  traffic  of  about 
1,600.000  tons  per  annum,  the  installation  of  the  single- 
phase  system  w'ould  cost  "a  few  thousand  pounds"  more 
than  that  of  the  direct-current  system,  while  the  annual  cost 
may  be  said  to  be  practically  the  same.  Two  features  which 
reduce  the  cost  of  the  direct-current  system  are  the  excep- 
tionally high  voltage  for  the  trolley  wire  and  the  use  of 
the  overhead  line. — London  Electrician,  Nov.  22,  1912. 

Ship  Propulsion. — A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent  (No. 
28,512.  Nov.  14,  1912)  of  the  British  Thomson-Houston 
Company,  Ltd.,  and  the  General  Electric  Company  of  this 
country.  .A.  number  of  induction  motors  driving  the  pro- 
pellers are  supplied  with  current  from  a  number  of  poly- 
phase induction  generators,  with  a  less  number  of  poles, 
driven  by  high-speed  turbines.  An  auxiliary  synchronous 
generator,  driven  by  an  adjustable-speed  motor  or  turbine, 
is  provided  for  setting  the  phases  of  the  main  generators. 
Means  are  provided  for  connecting  the  generators  in 
parallel  to  the  motors  and  for  connecting  them  in  concatena- 
tion for  low  ship  speeds  for  maneuvering. — London  Elec. 
Eng'ing,  Nov.  21,  1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Laying  Out  Angles  in  Transmission  Lines. — An  illus- 
trated description  of  three  very  simple  trigonometric 
methods  for  rapidly  determining  the  angle  through  which 
the  direction  of  a  transmission  line  in  course  of  plotting 
must  be  deviated  at  a  certain  place. — London  Elec.  Review, 
Nov.  15,  igi2. 

Electrophysics  and  Magnetism. 

Electromagnetic  Induction  and  Relative  Motion. — S.  J. 
Barxett. — A  new  discussion  of  the  old  problem  of  unipolar 
induction.      A    magnet    symmetrical    about    its    axis    and 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1277 


rotating  about  this  axis  uniformly  is  touched  in  two  points 
A  and  B  not  in  the  same  equatorial  plane  by  the  ends  A  and 
B  oi  a  wire  ACB.  A  steady  current  traverses  the  circuit 
thus  formed.  Which  is  the  seat  of  the  emf,  the  wire  or  the 
magnet?  That  is,  do  the  lines  of  magnetic  induction  rotate 
with  the  magnet  and  cut  the  external  conductor  ACB,  or 
do  the  lines,  like  the  external  conductor,  remain  fixed  while 
the  magnet  rotates  through  them  ?  The  author  tried  to 
solve  the  problem  by  the  following  method :  A  cylindrical 
condenser  is  placed  in  an  approximately  uniform  magnetic 
field  parallel  to  its  axis,  and  the  magnets  producing  the 
field  are  rotated  while  the  condenser  is  short-circuited  by  a 
wire  at  rest  like  itself.  While  the  magnets  are  still 
rotating  the  connection  between  the  armatures  of  the  con- 
denser is  broken,  and  the  condenser  is  tested  for  charge 
after  the  field  is  annulled,  or  the  rotation  stopped,  or  the 
condenser  removed.  It  was  argued  that  if  the  lines  of 
induction  moved  with  the  magnets  the  condenser  would 
receive  charges  which  could  be  computed,  and  that  it  would 
remain  uncharged  in  case  the  lines  remained  fixed  and  the 
magnets  moved  through  them.  However,  this  argument  is 
now  shown  to  be  wrong  and  it  is  shown  that  on  either 
hypothesis  the  condenser  systems  remain  uncharged.  Hence 
all  attempts  to  solve  the  problem  of  unipolar  induction  by 
the  measurement  of  charges  or  total  intensities  or  emfs  are 
vain.  Nevertheless,  the  proper  execution  of  the  experiment 
described  above  was  considered  to  be  important,  and  the 
author  gives  in  detail  the  execution  and  the  results.  The 
investigation  leads  conclusively  to  the  result  that  the  con- 
denser system,  when  it  remains  at  rest  and  the  system  pro- 
ducing the  field  rotates,  receives  not  more  than  a  minute 
fraction  of  the  charge  it  would  receive  for  the  same  relative 
motion  if  the  system  producing  the  field  remained  at  rest. 
Within  the  limits  of  error  of  the  experiments  the  fraction  is 
zero.^ — Physical  Reineiv,  November,  1912. 

Singing  Arc. — J.  E.  Hoyt. — An  account  of  an  experi- 
mental investigation.  Oscillograph  curves  are  reproduced 
from  photographs  of  varied  electrical  conditions  of  the 
singing  arc.  In  the  case  of  a  single  shunt  the  current  in  the 
arc  is  very  nearly  a  sine  curve  and  its  frequency  can  be 
approximately  determined  from  the  simpler  Duddell  for- 
mula. The  current  through  the  arc  is  approximately  that 
of  the  oscillating  circuit  superimposed  upon  the  direct  cur- 
rent. The  effect  of  adding  a  second  shunt  is  to  cause  the 
arc  current  to  deviate  largely  from  the  sine  form.  The 
current  is  evidently  considerably  affected  by  varying  condi- 
tions in  the  arc.  The  arc  potential  does  not  even  approxi- 
mately follow  the  variation  of  the  sum  of  the  potential  dif- 
ferences of  the  condenser  and  inductance.  The  effect  of 
introducing  another  shunt  is  to  produce  a  phase  shift  in  the 
condenser  potential  differences  which  may  have  the  same 
frequency  of  discharge  even  if  of  different  natural  fre- 
quencies. An  acoustic  oscillograph  was  also  constructed, 
and  there  are  reproduced  the  first  acoustic  curves  taken  of 
the  singing  arc,  and  possibly  the  first  reproductions  of 
simultaneous  electrical  and  acoustic  oscillations.  Ordinarily 
for  a  single  shunt  it  is  found  that  the  sound,  which  is 
isochronous  with  the  electrical  oscillations,  is  of  a  rather 
simple  form,  the  oscillograms  showing  only  a  single  har- 
monic. In  the  case  where  the  arc  current  is  more  complex, 
as  when  two  shunts  are  used,  the  resulting  sound  curve  is 
quite  complex.  In  the  latter  case  the  arc  responds  to  one 
or  the  other  of  the  shunt-circuit  frequencies,  depending,  for 
example,  on  the  separation  of  the  electrodes.  There  seems 
therefore  to  be  a  sort  of  tuning  effect,  regulated  by  some 
electrical  changes  produced  by  opening  or  closing  the  arc 
gap  more  or  less. — Physical  Revinv,  November,  1912. 

Absorption  of  Gases  in  Vacuum  Tubes. — S.  E.  Hill. — 
An  abstract  of  a  paper  read  before  the  Physical  Society  in 
London  giving  an  account  of  experiments  carried  out  to 
determine  whether  the  absorption  of  gases  caused  by  pass- 
ing a  discharge  for  some  time  through  vacuum  tubes  is  the 
result  of  a  chemical  action  or  is  a  mere  physical  absorption. 


In  order  to  eliminate  all  electrode  complications,  the  elec- 
trodeless  discharge  was  used  throughout.  The  bulbs  ex- 
amined were  of  soda  glass,  lead  glass,  Bohemia  glass  and 
Jena  glass.  The  absorptions  were  noted  at  different  pres- 
sures and  curves  plotted.  Continued  passage  of  a  discharge 
causes  a  "saturation"  effect  in  all  the  glasses.  After  two 
months  not  one  of  the  bulbs  had  recovered  any  of  its 
absorptive  power.  If  the  action  is  chemical,  it  is  natural 
to  expect  various  oxidation  products  to  have  been  formed. 
Testing  these  bulbs  with  hydrogen  one  woulJ  expect  a 
large  initial  absorption  tending  to  reduce  these  products. 
This  was  found  to  be  the  case  for  all  the  bulbs,  the  first 
reading  for  the  soda  glass  giving  95  per  cent  absorption  of 
hydrogen.  After  reducing  the  oxidation  products  one  would 
expect  a  reabsorption  of  oxygen  under  the  discharge.  This 
was  also  found  to  be  the  case.  The  conclusion  i;  that  the 
disappearance  is  not  due  to  physical  absorption  but  to 
definite  chemical  action. — London  Electrician,  Nov.  8,  1912; 
a  longer  account  of  the  paper  appears  in  London  Elec- 
trician, Nov    15,  1912. 

Magnetic  Flux. — F.  Emde. — The  induced  emf  depends  on 
the  rate  of  change  of  magnetic  flux,  and  the  latter  is 
accurately  defined  as  a  surface  integral  with  the  current- 
conducting  wire  as  boundary.  The  conception  of  this  sur- 
face is  simple  for  a  single  loop,  but  for  a  long  solenoid  the 
conception  of  the  surface  offers  some  difficulties  to  a 
beginner.  The  author  has  devised  a  model  for  illustrating 
this  surface.  It  is  not  a  screw  surface. — Elek.  u.  Masch. 
(Vienna),  Nov.  24,  191 2. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Use  of  Iron  in  Electric  Measuring  Instruments. — Dolivo- 
DoBROwoLSKY. — A  note  on  a  paper  read  before  the  Berlin 
Electrical  Society.  The  author  thinks  that  many  of  the 
commercial  instruments  now  on  the  market  are  too  sensitive 
in  their  mechanical  construction  so  that  their  accuracy  is 
impaired  by  rough  handling.  The  reason  is  to  be  found  in 
the  tendency  to  make  the  movable  system  as  light  as  pos- 
sible, which  means  the  application  of  weak  forces.  The 
author  favors,  on  the  contrary,  strong  forces  to  permit  a 
robust  construction  of  the  instruments.  For  this  purpose  he 
uses  a  magnetic  circuit  mainly  of  iron. 
The  detrimental  effect  of  remanence  and 
hysteresis  losses  is  reduced  by  using  an  air- 
gap  in  the  magnetic  circuit,  by  using  a 
special  steel  alloy,  and  by  making  the  mag- 
netic circuit  short.  The  author  exhibited 
wattmeters  built  by  the  Allgemeine  Elek- 
tricitats  Gesellschaft  according  to  this  prin- 
ciple and  called  "ferrodynamic"  instru- 
ments.— Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov.  21,  1912. 

Radiometer. — F.    W.   Jordan. — An   illus- 
trated paper  read  before  the  London  Phys- 
v--i™| —  ical  Society  on  an  improved  Joule  radiom- 

p— fli- — -^       eter  designed  to  show  the  existence  of  the 
'^^  Peltier  and  Thomson  effects   (Fig.  5).     A 

brass  tube  A  was  divided  longitudinally 
into  two  compartments  by  a  copper  plate  B. 
Two  rectangular  gaps  were  cut  in  diago- 
nally opposite  corners  of  the  partition  and 
two  sector-shaped  disks  of  copper  c  c  were 
soldered  to  the  edges  of  the  gaps  to  form 
the  horizontal  sides  of  the  channels  for  the 
current  of  air  between  the  compartments. 
The  partition  B  and  the  disks  c  c  were 
soldered  to  the  inner  surface  of  the  brass 
tube  A.  Two  light  mica  vanes  d  d  were  fixed  with  a  little 
shellac  to  a  fine  glass  stem  e.  A  small  silvered-glass  mirror 
m  was  attached  to  the  glass  stem  e,  and  the  whole  system' 
was  suspended  by  a  quartz  fiber.  The  flanged  ends  of  the 
brass  tube  A  and  the  brass  cover  plates  D  D  were  ground 
plane  and  screwed  together  tightly.  The  glass  tube  e  carry- 
ing the  torsion  head  was  fitted  over  a  short  brass  tube  fixed 


W 


Fig.    5— 
Radiometer. 


I27S 


ELECTRICAL     W  (J  R  L  D 


Vol   6o,  No.  24. 


centrally  to  the  upper  cover  plate.  The  motion  of  the 
vanes  was  limited  by  stops  to  about  20  deg.  The  air  in  the 
interior  of  the  apparatus  was  thus  practically  sealed  from 
communication  with  the  atmosphere  and  shielded  from  stray 
heat  by  the  brass  inclosure.  The  apparatus  was  fitted  inside 
a  concentric  brass  tube,  and  the  whole  was  mounted  on  a 
leveling  stand.  The  ends  of  a  short  length  of  eureka  resist- 
ance wire  /  were  soldered  to  two  leads  of  copper  wire.  The 
insulated  leads  were  fastened  together  and  to  the  inside  of 
a  narrow  glass  tube  with  paraflSne  wax.  The  glass  tube  was 
passed  through  a  circular  aperture  in  the  lower  cover  plate 
and  sealed.  A  pair  of  dummy  leads  were  similarily  mounted 
m  the  other  compartment  to  compensate  any  gain  or  loss 
of  heat  along  the  leads  to  the  resistance  loop.  The  deflec- 
tions produced  by  measured  currents  through  the  resistance 
loop  were  very  nearly  proportional  to  the  squares  of  the 
currents.  A  deflection  of  122  mm  on  a  scale  at  a  distance 
of  a  meter  from  the  mirror  was  produced  by  a  current  of 
4.75  milliamperes  through  the  resistance  of  10.5  ohms.  This 
gave  a  sensibility  of  0.52  mm  per  microwatt.  Alternating 
currents  producing  more  than  the  full  scale  deflection  could 
be  conveniently  and  accurately  measured  by  the  compensa- 
tion methods  of  H.  L.  Callendar  and  K.  Angstrom.  In 
Callendar's  method  the  heat  from  the  heater  would  be 
absorbed  by  the  current  through  a  thermo-junction  in  the 
same  compartment.  In  Angstrom's  method  the  heat  would 
be  balanced  by  the  heat  from  a  similar  resistance  in  the 
other  compartment.  A  calibration  with  direct  currents 
uould  be  necessary  in  every  case  to  measure  alternating 
currents. — London  Elcc.  RcT>ie7v.  Nov.  15,  1912. 

Telegraphy,  Telet)hony  and  Signals. 

Conference  of  Time. — An  account  of  the  proceedings  at 
the  International  Conference  of  Time  (de  I'Heure)  held  in 
October  in  Paris  with  reference  to  the  creation  of  an  inter- 
national commission  of  time  and  an  international  bureau, 
the  transmission  and  reception  of  time  signals  and  various 
problems  of  wave  transmission  in  general. — La  Revue  Elec, 
N'ov.  22,  1912. 

Telephone  Disturbances  from  Single-Phase  Railways. — 
F.  Marguerre. — An  article  illustrated  by  numerous 
diagrams  on  telephone  disturbances  caused  by  the  single- 
phase  railway  line  of  the  Rjukanfos  power  system  in  Nor- 
way. The  disturbances  were  found  to  be  produced  mainly 
by  the  higher  harmonics  caused  by  the  slots  of  the  single- 
phase  generators.  These  disturbances  become  greater  the 
higher  the  wattless  load.  This  is  explained  with  the  aid  of 
oscilligrams  and  theoretical  considerations.  Since  it  was 
impossible  to  change  the  pole-shoe  construction  it  was 
decided  to  provide  the  generators  with  a  resonance  circuit 
consisting  of  capacity  and  induction  and  connected  to  the 
terminals  of  the  machines.  The  object  of  this  resonance 
circuit  is  to  short-circuit  the  machine  for  about  550  cycles 
per  second  so  that  its  voltage  curve  contains  no  longer  any 
component  of  this  frequency.  This  remedy  has  been  found 
to  improve  the  conditions  considerably. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov. 

21,  1912. 

.Automatic  Telephone  Exchange. — G.  H.  Green. — A  con- 
clusion of  his  illustrated  article  on  recent  developments  in 
automatic  exchange  telephone  systems.  In  the  present  in- 
stalment the  author  describes  in  detail  the  two-wire 
Strowger  system  and  refers  to  some  interesting  details  in 
the  Epsom  exchange,  which  w-as  the  first  public  automatic 
exchange  opened  in  Great  Britain,  and  the  recent  General 
Post  OflSce  automatic  exchange. — London  Electrician,  Nov. 

22,  1912. 

Wireless  Telegraphy. — P.  Boudier. — For  tuning  wireless 
telegraph  transmitters  a  resonance  condition  is  produced 
between  the  circuit  charging  the  capacity  and  the  frequency 
of  the  current  supplied  to  the  capacity.  Two  methods  of 
calculating  the  resonance  condition  are  described.  The 
first  assumes  a  transformer  without  stray  flux  for  supplying 
energy  to  the  capacity.     This  method  is  not  applicable  to 


transformers  with  an  open  circuit  or  to  transformers  which 
have  different  cores  for  the  primary  and  secondary  wind- 
ings. The  author  has,  therefore,  devised  a  second  method 
which  is  more  general.  It  requires  a  no-load  test,  the 
measurement  of  the  primary  current  at  no-load  and  of  the 
primary  and  secondary  currents  at  short-circuit.  The 
author  gives  an  example  showing  the  advantages  of  this 
second  method. — La  Lumierc  Elcc,  Nov.  16,  1912. 

Miscellaneous.  I 

Presidential  Address. — William  Duddell. — His  presi- 
dential address  to  the  (British)  Institution  of  Electrical 
Engineers.  The  author  deplores  the  tendency  of  late  years 
to  limit  more  and  more  the  papers  read  before  the  institu- 
tion to  one  class  of  subject  dealing  with  generation,  dis- 
tribution and  the  cost  of  electrical  energy,  and  in  many 
cases  dealing  only  with  these  as  large  general  questions. 
There  are  very  many  other  applications  of  electricity  which 
give  work  to  many  men  and  which  employ  much  plant  and 
apparatus.  The  author  reviews  various  subjects  which 
might  be  discussed  in  papers,  especially  recent  progress  in 
telegraphy  and  telephony,  electrochemistry  and  electro- 
metallurgy, household  apparatus  and  subjects  from  the 
borderland  of  sciences,  like  electricity  and  chemistry,  elec- 
tricity and  sound,  and  electricity  and  radiation. — London 
Electrician.  Nov.  22,  1912 


Book  Reviews 

Ubungsaufgaben  aus  der  Gleich  und  Wechselstrom - 
TECHNiK.  By  Fritz  Hoppe.  Leipzig:  J.  A.  Barth. 
224  pages,  158  illus.  Price,  7.60  marks. 
A  carefully  prepared  short  textbook  on  the  elements  of 
direct-current  and  alternating-current  circuits,  with  numer- 
ous problems  and  examples.  The  book  is  divided  into  four 
chapters  dealing  respectively  with  the  following  subjects: 
The  general  elements  of  electrotechnics,  alternating-current 
principles,  measuring  instruments,  and  measurements.  An 
appendix  gives  a  detailed  description  of  the  author's  elec- 
trotechnical  laboratory.  The  descriptions  are  clear  and 
simple,  and  the  mathematical  work  is  of  a  practical  and 
arithmetical  nature.  The  work  will  commend  itself  to  stu- 
dents of  electrical  engineering  acquainted  with  the  German 
language  and  studying  at  home. 


Travaux  du  Laboratoire  Central  d'Slectricite.  Paris : 
Gauthier-Villars.  Part  I  (1884-1905),  514  pages, 
numerous  illustrations;  Part  II  (1904-1911),  483  pages, 
illus. 
Two  very  valuable  volumes  of  much  technical  and  his- 
torical significance.  They  contain  in  order  of  date  the 
principal  reports  and  published  tests  of  the  Central 
Laboratory  of  Paris  between  the  years  1884  and  1911 
They  represent,  therefore,  the  results  of  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  of  laboratory  work.  The  researches 
cover  a  great  variety  of  subjects,  from  the  testing  of  line- 
men's gloves  to  the  theory  of  the  singing  arc.  A  consider- 
able part  of  the  work,  however,  concerns  the  direction  of 
electric  lamps  and  illumination.  It  would  be  well  indeed  if 
each  and  all  of  the  electrical  laboratories  of  the  world  would 
build  up  and  collate  their  researches  in  such  a  manner  as 
that  shown  in  these  volumes.  In  this  way  it  would  be  pos- 
sible to  collect  into  a  relatively  small  compass  a  consider- 
able share  of  the  electrotechnical  work  in  each  nation, 
because  it  is  the  national  laboratories  that  naturally  lead 
the  way  and  set  the  example.  The  books  show  very  clearly 
the  remarkable  mental  aptitude  of  the  French  nation  in 
clear  conception,  orderly  arrangement  and  logical  deduction. 
The  work  has  been  assembled  with  much  care.  The  list  of 
subjects  appears  in  each  volume  at  the  end.  It  would  be  help- 
ful if  an  index  of  subjects  had  been  furnished  in  addition. 


Decembek  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1279 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


SMALL  CONTROLLING  RHEOSTAT. 


The  Allen-Bradley  Company,  of  Milwaukee,  has  placed 
upon  the  market  a  new  line  of  small  regulating  rheostats. 
These  rheostats  may  be  used  for  a  great  variety  of  pur- 
poses, such  as  speed  regulators,  field  rheostats,  laboratory 
rheostats,   battery  chargers,   meter  testers,   lamp  dimmers. 


Small    Controlling    Rheostat. 

medical  and  dental  work,  etc.  They  are  of  the  graphite 
compression  type  and  are  made  in  two  types,  which  are  alike 
except  that  one  is  provided  with  a  switch  which  short-cir- 
cuits the  resistor  when  the  resistance  has  been  reduced  to 
the  minimum.  Neither  type  is  arranged  to  open  the  cir- 
cuit at  any  time. 

The  resistance  is  varied  by  turning  the  hand-wheel,  and 
any  intermediate  value  can  be  obtained  between  the  mini- 
mum and  maximum.  The  rheostats  are  furnished  with 
practically  any  maximum  or  minimum  resistance,  and  the 
range  through  which  the  resistance  of  each  rheostat  may 
be  changed  by  turning  the  hand-wheel  is  in  about  the  ratio 
of  one  to  one  hundred. 


GUN-CARRIAGE-TYPE  SEARCH-LANTERN. 


.\s  a  result  of  the  co-operation  of  the  military  officers  and 
engineers  of  the  Austrian  government  with  the  electrical 
manufacturing  concern  of  Kolben  &  Company,  in  Prague, 
a  search-lantern  is  being  manufactured  by  that  company 
which  it  is  claimed  has  many  advantages  over  the  search- 
lanterns  formerly  used  in  connection  with  military 
maneuvers.  The  search-lantern  mounted  on  its  gun-car- 
riage truck,  together  with  a  60-hp  automobile  capable  of 
carrying  ten  men  and  hauling  the  lamp  at  a  speed  of  25 
miles  per  hour,  forms  a  unit  search-lantern  battery  capable 
of  traversing  very  rough  country  and  gaining  vantage 
points  quickly  which  would  otherwise  be  difficult  of  access 
to  a  party  in  charge  of  a  large  lamp.    The  body  of  this  gun- 


Gim-Carriage-Type    Search    Lantern. 

carriage-type  search-lantern  is  constructed  of  aluminum 
plates  .strengthened  with  stout  magnalium  rings,  making  it 
light  but  durable.  The  lamp  is  equipped  with  hand-wheels 
engaging  worm  and  gear  appliances  for  turning  it  in  any 
direction  or  elevating  it  to  any  angle.  One  man  can  operate 
these  gears  even  on  a  48-in.  lantern.  When  the  lantern  is 
in   transport   it  is   lowered  to   the  position   shown   in   the 


illustration  and  covered  with  a  heavy  leather  hood  to  kee]) 
out  the  dust,  but  in  the  operating  position  the  height  of  the 
optical  focus  is  90  in.  above  the  ground  line,  giving  ample 
clearance  over  small  objects  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  The' 
principal  parts  of  the  lamp  and  carriage  are  so  constructed 
that  in  case  of  emergency  the  whole  affair  may  be  taken 
down,  transported  by  hand  and  reassembled  in  a  new  posi- 
tion within  a  short  time  and  without  the  attention  of  an 
expert  operator.  The  automobile  carries  all  the  accessories 
that  are  needed  for  operating  the  lamp,  such  as  flexible  wire 
cables,  a  generator  supplying  energy  at  an  emf  which  can 
be  varied  from  63  volts  to  80  volts,  depending  on  the  distance 
of  the  objective,  reels  for  the  cables,  and  other  appliances. 
The  total  weight  of  a  46-in.  search-lantern  and  carriage  is 
2050  lb.  When  in  readiness  for  transportation  it  stands 
118  in.  in  length.  59  in.  wide  and  jd  in.  high. 


ELECTRIC  WATER  HEATER. 


The  Foster  Engineering  Company,  Ltd.,  Wimbledon,  Lon- 
don, has  devised  a  new  type  of  water  heater,  particularly 
suited  for  the  bathroom.  It  is  made  in  two  sizes,  one  con- 
taining enough  water  for  an  ordinary  hand  basin,  and  the 


Electric   Water   Heater. 

larger  one  of  sufficient  size  for  furnishing  water  for  a 
bath.  In  the  smaller  size  the  temperature  of  two  pints  of 
water  can  be  raised  from  55  deg.  to  no  deg.  Fahr.  in  one 
minute.  The  cost  of  changing  the  temperature  of  a  gallon 
of  water  from  55  deg.  to  no  deg.  Fahr.  is  stated  to  be 
2  cents  at  a  cost  for  energy  of  10  cents  per  kw-hr. 


GRIP   FOR   CONDUIT  JOINTS. 

The  conduit  grip  illustrated  herewith  is  notable  for  its 
simplicity  and  ease  of  application.     A  hole  is  bored   near 


Sections    of    Conduit    Joints. 

the  end  of  the  conduit  and  a  bifurcated  or  spreading  rivet 
is  hammered  in.  In  spreading  out,  the  rivet  removes  some 
of  the  paint  or  enamel  on  the  tube,  thus  bringing  about 
metallic  continuity.  If  for  any  purpose  it  be  desired  to 
remove  the  rivets,  special  pliers  for  this  purpose  are  em- 
ployed. This  conduit  joint  is  made  by  the  Electrical 
Conduits,  Ltd.,  18  Bennett's  Hill,  Birmingham,  England. 


I280 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o.  Xo.  24. 


ARMORED  FLEXIBLE  CABLE. 


A  flexible  cable  of  particularly  neat  appearance,  which 
makes  it  suitable  for  interior  use,  has  been  brought  out  bj' 
the  Armourduct  Manufacturing  Company,  Ltd.,  London. 
Besides  its  great  flexibility,  it  is  said  to  possess  extraordi- 


Armored     Flexible    Cable. 


nary  mechanical  strength.  The  illustration  shows  the  con- 
struction of  the  cable.  The  conductors  are  stranded  to- 
gether, made  circular  with  jute,  covered  with  rubber- 
proofed  tape  and  a  sheathing  of  vulcanized  rubber,  and 
finally  with  a  patented  rubber  cord  braid.  This  armoring 
is  said  to  be  fully  as  strong  as  any  metallic  armoring  and  on 
account  of  its  resiliency  to  be  less  susceptible  to  mechanical 
damage. 

AUTOMATIC   TUMBLER  CIRCUIT-BREAKER. 


There  has  recently  been  put  upon  the  market  an  auto- 
matic tumbler  switch,  which  is'  being  manufactured  by  the 
C.  W.  Denny  Company,  of  London,  England,  and  which  is 
claimed  to  be  the  smallest  circuit-breaker  now  in  existence. 
The  illustration  given  herewith  shows  the  type  of  switch 
which  has  been  designed  with  the  object  of  providing  an 
automatic  circuit-breaker  for  lines  operating  on  light  loads. 
This  particular  switch  is  intended  for  operation  on  circuits 
carrj'ing  not  over  5  amp  and  for  emfs  up  to  500  volts. 
These  switches  are  intended  to  replace  to  a  large  extent 


Automatic    Tumbler    Circuit-Breaker. 

the  ordinary  small  porcelain  bridge  fuses  and  tubular  fuses 
now  in  use  on  small  lighting  and  power  circuits  and  thus 
to  obviate  the  present  trouble  and  inconvenience  caused  in 
replacing  blown  fuses.  The  switch  is  also  well  adapted  for 
controlling  lamps  either  from  a  distributing  board,  which 
mav  be  fitted  with  double-pole  automatic  switches,  or  from 
separate  points  by   means  of   single-pole   switches.     It   is 


claimed  that  these  switches  are  also  suitable  for  service  as 
limit  switciies  on  a  flat-rate  system  and  may  be  used  as 
main  house-service  switches.  The  switch  is  actuated  by 
means  of  a  small  electromagnet  the  winding  of  which  is 
connected  in  series  with  the  switch  and  the  armature  of 
which  tilts  the  rocking  lever  and  releases  the  switch  blades. 
Since  the  operating  lever  is  not  in  any  way  fixed  to  the 
switch  blades  it  is  said  to  be  impossible  to  keep  the  switch 
closed  on  short-circuit. 


ILLUMINATION   OF    THE    LAWYERS'    CLUB,  NEW 
YORK. 


By  W.  H.  Spencer. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  great  improvement  in  the  art 
of  illumination  and  how  beautiful  effects  are  produced  with 
a  low  consumption  of  energy  and  low  cost  of  maintenance. 
This  improvement  is  most  evident  in  modern  hotels,  clubs, 
restaurants  and  cafes,  where  attractive  and  novel  illumi- 
nating effects  form  one  of  the  main  features  of  distinction. 
Instead  of  the  ordinary  equipment  of  chandeliers  and 
brackets  with  their  monotonous  arrangement   from  parlor 


Fig.    1  —  Main    Dining    Room    of    Lawyers'    Club. 

to  pantry,  the  main  rooms,  such  as  the  entrance  corridor, 
lounging  room,  dining  room,  banquet  room,  etc.,  receive 
individual  consideration  in  the  detail  of  construction  to 
provide  for  a  scientifically  and  artistically  designed  system 
of  illumination  that  will  blend  with  the  general  scheme  of 
decoration. 

In  the  illumination  of  the  Lawyers'  Club  there  are  several 
features  worthy  of  special  attention.  The  main  dining 
room  is  lighted  by  specially  designed  silvered,  rippled-glass- 
lined  Frink  reflectors,  equipped  with  so-called  Linolite  tung- 
sten lamps.  The  light  source  is  practically  uniform  and  all 
spots  and  disagreeable  shadows  are  eliminated.  Through 
the  aid  of  reflectors  an  evenly  distributed  light  is  obtained 
over  the  entire  ceiling  surface,  whence  it  is  diffused  through- 
out the  room.  _  In  the  dining  room  with  this  system  of 
illumination  the  physical  as  well  as  the  artistic  effect  can 
be  improved  very  materially  by  the  utilization  of  shaded 
table  lamps. 

Special  mention  should  be  made  of  the  illumination  of  the 
large  stained-glass  window  at  the  end  of  the  dining  room. 
This  window  is  20  ft.  wide  by  22  ft.  high  and  is  designed  to 
represent  emblematically  the  law  periods  from  the  Mosaic 
period  to  the  present  time.  It  is  admirably  executed  in 
masterfully  chosen  colors  and  beautifully  illuminated  by  an 
indirect  method  without  any  loss  in  color  value  and  without 
any  glaring  light  spots.  The  light  flux  is  so  evenly  dis- 
tributed over  the  diffusing  background  that  there  is  no  ap-- 


December  14.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1281 


parent  variation  in  intensity  on  any  part  of  tlie  window. 
The  diffusing  surface  is  tinted  with  pigments  that  ahsorb 
most  of  the  yellow  and  red  rays  of  the  lamps,  thus  pro- 
ducing a  remarkably  realistic  daylight  effect.  Specially  de- 
signed Frink  reflectors  are  made  use  of  in  order  to  carry 
out  this  purpose. 

In  the  reading  room  excellent  results  are  obtained  by  the 
use  of  Frink  semi-indirect  reflecting  chandeliers,  which  are 


"!f<:fm'. 


"^jg>- 


«^-< 


Fig.   2— Reading   Room   of   Lawyers'   Club,    New   York   City. 

well  adapted  for  this  purpose.  About  80  per  cent  of  the 
light  is  reflected  to  the  ceiling.  The  reflector  is  so  designed 
that  the  light  is  evenly  distributed  over  the  entire  ceiling 
surface  without  a  glaring  light  spot  directly  over  the  fixture. 
About  20  per  cent  of  the  light  is  diffused  through  an  ala- 
baster glass  bowl.  A  person  can  read  with  absolute  comfort 
and  without  eye  fatigue  while  sitting  in  any  position  in  any 
part  of  the  room. 

The  lighting  equipment  was  designed  and  executed  by 
L  P.  Frink,  for  whom  the  H.  W.  Johns-Manville  Company, 
New  York,  is  selling  agent. 


VIBRATING  RECTIFIER  FOR   CHARGING  THREE- 
CELL  BATTERIES. 


acted  upon  by  two  alternating-current  magnets  so  that  it 
vibrates  in  synchronism  with  the  alternations  of  the  current, 
and  arranged  to  reverse  the  connection  of  the  circuit  as  the 
current  reverses.  The  vibrating  arm  is  magnetized  by  cur- 
rent from  the  direct-current  side,  so  that  one  end  is  perma- 
nently north  and  the  other  end  permanently  south,  depend- 
ing on  the  way  the  battery  is  connected.  The  two  stationary 
electromagnets  are  wound  so  that  their  upper  ends  are  of 
the  same  polarity  at  each  instant.  When  the  alternating 
current  is  in  one  direction  the  upper  poles  of  both  stationary 


The  rectifier  illustrated  herewith  is  intended  for  charg- 
ing three-cell  lead  storage  batteries,  such  as  are  used  for 


Fig.    1 — Rectifier    for   Charging    Batteries. 

automobile  or  gas-engine  ignition  and  for  lighting  auto- 
mobiles from  an  alternating-current  circuit.  It  is  of  par- 
ticular benefit  to  the  motor-car  owner  who  has  a  three-cell 
battery  equipment,  as  it  enables  him  to  charge  his  batteries 
at  home,  at  small  expense  and  with  no  trouble  whatever, 
directly  from  his  lighting  circuit. 

The  apparatus  consists  essentially  of  a  polarized   relay 


Fig.   2 — Rectifier  with   Cover   Removed. 

magnets  are  north,  attracting  the  south  end  of  the  vibrating 
arm  and  repelling  the  north  end.  This  connects  the  alter- 
nating-current to  the  direct-current  circuit  in  one  direction. 
When  the  alternating  current  reverses,  the  pole  of  the  alter- 
nating current  magnets  become  south,  attaching  the  north 
end  of  the  vibrating  arm  and  repelling  the  south  end. 

This  reverses  the  connection  of  the  alternating-current 
to  the  direct-current  circuit,  but  as  the  direction  of  current 
has  also  reversed,  the  current  is  established  in  the  direct- 
current  circuit  in  the  same  direction  as  before.  The  re- 
versal of  the  connections  thus  takes  place  every  time  the 
current  reverses,  so  that  the  result  is  a  pulsating  direct 
current.  A  transformer  reduces  the  voltage  to  the  proper 
value. 

The  rectifier  can  be  operated  on  any  6o-cycle  alternating- 
current  circuit  of  100  volts  to  120  volts  and  will  charge  three 
cells  at  a  rate  of  6  amp  to  8  amp. 

The  device  is  simple  to  operate  and  so  compact  that  it 
can  be  conveniently  carried  along  with  the  tool  kit.  It  is 
made  by  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, East  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


GASOLINE-ELECTRIC  LADDER  TRUCK. 


A  new  high-powered  ladder  truck  of  the  gasoline-electric 
type  has  been  added  to  the  equipment  of  the  Pittsfield 
(Mass.)  fire  department,  as  a  result  of  a  study  of  fire 
hazards  in  that  city.  The  truck  is  one  of  the  first  of  its 
kind  to  be  installed'  in  New  England  and  is  a  75-ft.,  four- 
wheel-drive  aerial  hook  and  ladder  outfit.  It  is  propelled 
by  series  motors  geared  to  the  individual  wheels  and  has  a 
wheelbase  of  335  in.  Energy  is  supplied  by  a  direct-cur- 
rent generator  driven  by  a  gasoline  engine,  and  the  truck 
is  capable  of  making  a  speed  of  25  miles  per  hour  on  the 
level.  The  wheels  are  equipped  with  double  36-in.  by  3.S-in. 
tires,  and  the  wheels  are  all  connected  with  the  steering 
gear.  The  control  is  mounted  on  the  steering  wheel  shaft. 
The  truck  proper  was  made  by  the  American  LaFrance 
Engine  Company,  of  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  the  motors  and  gen- 
erators having  been  built  by  the  General  Electric  Company, 
Schenectady,    N.   Y. 


1 28-' 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol   6o.  No.  24. 


Industrial  and  Financial  Ne^vs 


ELECTRICAL   TRADE  CONDITIONS— IIL 


THE  final  instalment  of  replies  which  we  have  re- 
ceived from  electrical  manufacturers  and  others  in 
response  to  circular  letters  asking  for  data  on  con- 
ditions in  the  electrical  manufacturing  and  allied  fields  in 
1912  is  given  below.  Judging  from  all  of  the  replies  re- 
ceived, the  first  set  of  which  appeared  on  Nov.  30  and  the  sec- 
ond on  Dec.  7,  the  year  has  been  one  of  distinct  progress 
in  the  electrical  manufacturing  industry.  The  present  set 
of  replies  shows  in  most  instances,  as  did  the  preceding 
groups,  that  there  has  been  a  material  increase  in  the  volume 
of  business  done  this  year  as  compared  with  that  in  1911. 
In  many  cases,  however,  the  percentage  of  profits  has  not 
increased  in  proportion  to  this  gain.  Nearly  all  the  replies 
are  optimistic  as  to  the  prospects  for  next  year.  Reports 
of  extensions  and  additions  to  manufacturing  facilities  in 
order  to  meet  the  large  business  expected  in  1913  are  very 
numerous.  In  view  of  the  excellent  aspects  of  the  general 
irade  situation  and  the  continually  broadening  application 
ijf  electrical  energy  in  the  industrial  field  alone,  the  many 
expressions  of  confidence  on  the  part  of  electrical  manufac- 
turers in  the  outlook  in  their  line  for  next  year  seem  to  be 
decidedly  well  founded. 


LINE  MATERIAL:  (a)  An  Eastern  Manufacturer.— Our 

business  shows  increased  volume  this  year  as  compared  with 
last  year,  but  as  a  rule  this  was  taken  at  lower  prices.  We 
attribute  the  increase  in  volume  to  the  expansion  of  the 
country  and  the  decreased  prices  to  the  tendency  to  with- 
hold purchasing  until  after  election  and  to  buy  only  at 
known  bargains.  There  will  probably  be  good  business 
at  better  prices  next  year,  but  this  will  depend  upon  how 
soon  and  in  what  manner  the  tariflf  and  other  matters  of 
fundamental  importance  to  the  business  of  the  country  are 
determined  by  Congress  and  the  Supreme  Court.  We  think 
that  the  question  is  largely  up  to  Congress  and  our  next 
President.  The  Democrats  are  offered  the  opportunity  of 
making  possible  an  era  of  great  prosperity.  How  they  will 
meet  conditions  is  being  more  or  less  awaited  by  the  busi- 
ness world.  We  think  that  the  greatest  drawback  to  ex- 
pansion is  the  policy  of  buying  only  from  hand  to  mouth, 
or,  in  other  words,  the  feav  to  go  ahead  extensively,  and 
also  the  apparent  fear  that  present  prices  may  be  much 
higher  than  those  obtainable  next  year.  We  will  manufac- 
ture and  push  the  sale  of  new  products  required  by  the 
industry  next  year,  if  the  present  volume  of  business  is 
maintained. 

(b)  From  the  Same  Section. — Our  business  for  1912  up 
to  date  is  approximately  25  per  cent  greater  than  that  for 
the  same  period  of  191 1,  with  profits  on  a  much  better  basis 
than  in  1911.  We  attribute  our  increase  to  the  absolute 
necessity  for  electric  railways  to  purchase  inore  freely  in 
order  to  maintain  their  equipment,  as  they  have  lived  from 
hand  to  mouth  since  1908.  We  believe  that  1913  is  going 
to  be  a  very  good  year  if  there  is  not  too  much  tariflf  agi- 
tation and  the  world  financing  incident  to  possible  war  ex- 
penses does  not  limit  the  money  supply  for  public  utilities. 
We  think  the  greatest  drawbacks  in  our  field  are  the  cumu- 
lative effect  of  over-building  in  the  electric  railway  line  for 
years  past  and,  temporarily,  the  restrictions  imposed  by 
public  service  commisions.  This  latter  condition  we  believe 
to  be  ultimately  for  the  great  good  of  electric  railways  and 
those  engaged  in  manufacturing  materials  used  in  that  line 
of  business. 

INSULATED  WIRE  AND  CABLE:  (a)  An  Eastern 
Manufacturer. — The  volume  of  our  business  this  year  was 
larger  than  in  1911,  owing  to  the  increased  demand  which 
is  general  throughout  the  country.  The  basic  conditions 
for  a  good  volume  of  business  for  1913  are  excellent.  Only 
the  fear  of  radical  tariff  changes  will  upset  reasonable  ex- 
pectations. The  Sherman  law  demands  should  be  clarified 
for  business  honestly  capitalized  and  conducted  with  abso- 
lutely no  intent  toward  monopoly  or  monopolistic  control. 


Restraint  of  competition  should  not  per  se  be  considered 
restraint  of  trade.  Manufacturers  should  be  free  to  resort 
to  informal  discussion  with  one  another  on  market,  price 
and  trade  conditions  with  a  view  to  avoiding  excessive  com- 
petition and  trade  warfare.  All  this  is  rational  and  ethical 
and  represents  simply  the  idea  of  conservatism  and  co-oper- 
ation in  the  best  sense  applied  to  business.  It  is  right  for 
manufacturers  engaged  in  interstate  trade  to  try  to  main- 
tain the  value  of  honestly  invested  capital,  while  it  is  wrong 
to  use  any  means  to  acquire  or  attempt  monopolistic  con- 
trol either  of  any  industry  or  the  prices  that  govern  in  such 
industry.  We  do  not  contemplate  extensions  to  our  works 
other  than  those  of  minor  cost  and  importance  to  develop 
more    economical    manufacture. 

(b)  From  the  Same  Section. — The  volume  of  our  business 
in  the  latter  part  of  1912  has  exceeded  somewhat,  we  believe, 
that  entered  in  the  same  period  last  year.  The  first  part 
of  the  year  was  about  the  same.  We  attribute  the  increase 
to  more  sound  conditions  and  to  larger  buying  on  account 
of  reduction  in  stocks  on  hand.  Our  opinion  on  the  price 
and  business  outlook  is  a  very  optimistic  one. 

(c)  Detroit  Insulated  Wire  Company. — As  regards  1912 
results,  the  volume  of  our  business  has  increased  materially 
this  year,  but  profits  have  not  been  as  large  as  would  be 
desirable  and  equitable.  We  attribute  the  increased  volume 
to  general  business  improvement,  and  the  low  profits  to  ab- 
normally close  prices  caused  by  lack  of  knowledge  of  actual 
costs  on  the  part  of  a  number  of  manufacturers.  We  expect 
a  fair  increase  in  volume  and  better  prices  in  1913  than  the 
average  of  1912.  We  are  expanding  as  fast  as  capital,  time, 
men  and  brains  available  make  it  possible.  Settle  the  mat- 
ter of  tariff  and  the  country's  business  should  continue  to 
expand.  We  are  just  completing  enlargements  to  our  plant 
that  give  us  a  capacity  about  two  and  one-half  times  o'lr 
capacity  of  six  months  ago.  This  increase  has  placed  us  in 
a  position  to  manufacture  any  and  all  sizes  of  rubber-cov- 
ered wire  and  cable. 

INSULATING  MACHINERY:  New  England  Butt  Com- 
pany.— Up  to  Nov.  I  the  volume  of  our  business  for  1912 
was  practically  the  same  as  it  was  in  191 1  and  1910  for  the 
same  period,  with  a  slight  increase  over  191 1  appearing 
about  Nov.  I.  We  attribute  this  to  better  feeling  generally 
throughout  the  country  and  to  favorable  crop  reports.  Our 
opinion  regarding  the  outlook  is  that  business  will  be 
largely  improved  in  1913.  The  present  situation  in  many 
lines  shows  improvement.  Present  prices  will  be  maintained 
in  our  general  line  of  machinery.  Changes  may  occur  in 
our  foundry  department,  depending  upon  the  cost  of  iron, 
which  has  advanced.  We  are  not  considering  any  condition 
that  will  operate  as  a  drawback  in  our  field.  Competition 
may  arise  and  our  improved  methods  will  enable  us  to  meet 
it.  We  are  not  considering  any  extension  to  our  plant.  We 
have  adopted  scientific  management  to  increase  our  facili- 
ties, improve  our  product  and  create  better  opportunities  for 
our  employees. 

HIGH-TENSION  EQUIPMENT:  Delta  Star  Electric 
Company. — Business  conditions  have  been  very  satisfactory 
as  compared  with  those  in  191 1,  which  can  be  attributed  to 
the  natural  increase  in  demand  for  high-tension  equipment. 
The  development  in  high-tension  protective  apparatus  dur- 
ing the  past  year  has  been  along  the  lines  of  weatherproof 
equipment  for  use  in  connection  with  high-tension  outdoor 
substations.  Early  in  1913  a  new  line  of  automatic  and  non- 
automatic  air-break  high-tension  switches  will  be  an- 
nounced, their  special  application  being  in  the  protection 
of  outdoor  substations.  The  established  line  of  S.  &  C. 
high-tension  chemical  fuses  is  being  extended  as  new  con- 
ditions arise,  and  particular  attention  is  being  paid  to  the 
weatherproof  forms  up  to  and  including  66,000  volts. 

ONE  OF  THE  LARGEST  MANUFACTURERS  OF 
ELECTRICAL  EQUIPMENT.— This  year's  business 
shows  a  10  per  cent  increase  over  that  of  191 1.  This  has 
been  due  to  generally  prosperous  conditions.  We  are  not 
contemplating  enlargements. 


December  14,  1912-  ELECTRICA 

P  MECHANICAL  CONNECTORS  AND  TERMINALS: 
Dossert  &  Company. — Our  igi2  business  has  been  the  larg- 
est in  the  history  of  our  company,  and  an  increase  of  35  per 
cent  over  1911  is  already  assured.  We  attribute  the  increase 
to  the  general  expansion  and  development  that  have  taken 
place  in  the  production,  distribution  and  utilization  of  elec- 
trical energy,  conditions  which  have  been  accelerated  by  the 
co-operative  movements  that  have  been  participated  in  so 
generally  by  central-station,  manufacturing,  jobbing  and 
contracting  interests.  We  anticipate  continued  growth  and 
expansion  in  our  particular  field,  owing  to  the  steadily  in- 
creasing demand  for  our  products.  We  are  now  engaged 
in  the  work  of  doubling  the  capacity  of  our  manufacturing 
plant  and  are  planning  further  additions  of  men  and  ina- 
ehinery  early  in  1913.  The  fact  that  the  1913  automobile 
will  be  practically  a  moving  electric-power  plant  has  caused 
considerable  enlargement  of  the  field  for  our  devices. 

ARC' LAMP  AND  HEATER  CORD:  (a)  From  an  East- 
ern Manufacturer. — Our  business  in  arc  lamp  cord  has  been 
a  little  larger  this  year  than  in  1911,  which  we  attribute 
more  to  the  proved  quality  of  our  goods  for  the  special  pur- 
poses required  than  to  any  definite  improvement  in  general 
business.  We  do  not  see  any  likelihood  of  a  material  change 
in  the  situation  for  1913,  unless  too  much  of  a  boom  is 
promoted  now,  resulting  in  depression  later  on.  We  do  not 
contemplate  any  extension  of  our  works,  except  those  nec- 
essary for  improvement  in  processes,  as  production  in  our 
line  has  been  increased  in  the  past  few  years  faster  than 
demand. 

(b)  From  the  Same  Section. — Both  volume  of  business 
and  profits  increased  this  year,  owing  to  good  crops  and  to 
general  increase  in  the  wealth  of  the  country.  Conserva- 
tively speaking,  we  think  the  outlook  for  next  year  is  good. 

ELECTRICAL  SUPPLIES:  Manhattan  Electrical  Sup- 
ply Company. — We  have  had  a  substantial  increase  in  busi- 
ness and  profits  in  1912  over  1911.  We  attribute  this  in- 
crease to  the  prosperous  condition  of  business  in  general 
throughout  the  country.  We  believe  the  outlook  for  1913 
to  be  excellent  and  that  prices  will  be  fully  as  good  as  in 
1912.  We  do  not  know  of  any  particular  drawback  to  ex- 
pansion in  our  field.  We  have  recently  increased  our  cap- 
ital stock  from  $750,000  to  $5,000,000,  are  just  completing  a 
new  addition  to  our  main  factory  by  erecting  a  six-story 
building,  75  ft.  by  100  ft.,  and  have  also  acquired  a  plot  of 
real  estate  in  another  section  of  Jersey  City  on  which  we 
are  to  erect  a  carbon  plant.  In  July  of  this  year  we  opened 
a  new  branch  in  St.  Louis  and  are  contemplating  opening 
others. 

CONSTRUCTION  TOOLS:  Our  business  has  increased 
in  volume,  and  profits  have  increased  with  volume,  but  net 
profits  are  perhaps  less,  owing  to  higher  prices  for  material, 
which  additional  cost  we  have  thus  far  absorbed.  We  at- 
tribute the  improvement  to  general  activity  in  the  electrical 
industry.  Prices  will  probably  go  higher  unless  there  is  a 
lull  in  the  demand.  We  prefer  to  be  conservative,  however, 
until  the  reaction  due  to  the  change  of  administration  has 
had  time  to  reveal  indications.  We  have  outgrown  our  pres- 
ent capacity  and  are  planning  a  new  factory  to  combine  our 
two  separate  plants.  Building  will  probably  begin  in  the 
spring. 

CHOKE  COILS,  FUSES,  LIGHTNING  ARRESTERS, 
SWITCHES:  Railway  &  Industrial  Engineering  Company. 
— Our  1912  business  was  three  times  that  of  1911.  This 
was  due  to  our  extensive  campaign,  including  widespread 
advertising.  From  the  present  standpoint,  the  outlook  for 
next  year  is  good.  We  expect  to  have  all  the  business  we 
can  handle.  The  greatest  drawback  is  ultra-conservatism 
on  the  part  of  some  of  the  older  coinpanies.  We  recom- 
mend more  complete  testing  plants  for  operating  companies. 

CONDUIT  RODS:  This  year's  business  compares  very 
favorably  with  that  in  191 1.  Orders  for  the  year  have  been 
double  those  in  any  previous  year  since'  1907  but  have  not 
been  for  nearly  as  large  amounts  as  in  the  past.  As  regards 
:  the  future,  there  is  work  to  be  done,  but  when  it  will  be 
commenced  is  a  question.  We  are  continually  increasing 
the  size  of  our  plant  to  obtain  increased  output. 

CARBON  BRUSHES:  This  year's  business  shows  an 
increase  of  100  per  cent  over  that  in  1911.  We  attribute  this 
to  the  quality  of  our  product.    We  think  the  outlook  is  good. 


L     WORLD, 


1283 


SWITCHES,  SWITCHBOARDS  AND  PANEL- 
BOARDS:  During  the  first  three  months  of  this  year  busi- 
ness was  very  slow  with  us,  but  it  improved  later  on,  so 
that  in  the  last  six  months  and  to  date  it  has  been  ahead 
of  last  year's  showing.  As  regards  the  outlook,  we  expect 
that  the  cost  of  raw  material  will  remain  about  the  same  as 
it  is  at  present.  We  expect  a  great  increase  in  business  in 
electrical  lines  next  year.  We  have  added  12,000  sq.  ft.  of 
floor  space  to  our  factory  in  the  last  two  years,  are  employ- 
ing more  help  than  heretofore,  and,  in  general,  have  in- 
creased our  business  about  50  per  cent.  We  expect  to  add 
more   space  in  the  coming  year. 

TESTING  LABORATORIES:  Business  with  us  in  1912 
and  191 1  has  been  about  the  same,  showing  a  tendency  to 
increase  during  the  last  quarter  in  1912.  We  are  bullish  on 
the  outlook.  The  greatest  drawback  to  expansion  in  our 
line  is  careless  purchasing.  Purchasing  agents  know  less 
and  care  less  about  quality  than  about  price  and  are  in- 
fluenced more  by  glib  salesmen  than  by  knowledge  obtained 
by  tests  and  inspections.  The  remedy  is  to  educate  the 
purchaser  in  the  net  advantages  of  inspections  and  tests 
by  independent  and  competent  authorities. 

WIRING  SPECIALTIES:    Pass  &  Seymour,  Inc.— Our 

1912  business  shows  a  very  heavy  increase  over  that  of 
1911.  The  profits  will  probably  run  smaller  on  the  volume 
than  last  year.  We  attribute  the  increase  in  volume  to  the 
general  betterment  of  the  business  situation.  As  regards 
the  outlook,  business  should  be  good  if  changes  in  the 
tariff  are  not  too  radical.  Prices  will  probably  have  an 
upward  tendency.  We  shall  make  the  usual  additions  and 
extensions  to  our  line,  but  do  not  contemplate  any  building 
operations  of  note. 

FIXTURES.   SOCKETS   AND   RECEPTACLES:     Our 

igi2  business  shows  an  increase  in  volume  of  about  30  per 
cent.  The  percentage  of  profit  has  been  somewhat  lower 
on  account  of  the  increase  in  the  cost  of  material  and  labor. 
We  attribute  the  increase  in  business  to  generally  improved 
liusiness  conditions  and  to  the  extension  of  our  line,  par- 
ticularly in  the  direction  of  industrial  lighting.  Judging 
from  the  experience  of  the  past  few  months,  the  normal 
trend  of  business  should  be  upward  for  some  time  to  come. 

PORCELAIN    INSULATORS    AND    SPECIALTIES: 

Our  business  this  year  was  15  per  cent  more  in  volume  than 
in  igil  and  profits  have  been  somewhat  better.  We  attrib- 
ute this  to  the  large  building  and  construction  operations 
that  were  carried  on  during  the  year.  We  think,  as  regards 
the  business  outlook,  that  1913  will  be  a  considerably  better 
year  than  was  1912.  There  are  no  drawbacks  to  expansion 
in  our  field  as  far  as  we  can  see.  We  are  not  making  any 
extension^   at   the   present   time. 

GLASS  INSULATORS:  The  volume  of  our  business 
this  year  was  about  the  same  as  it  was  last  year,  but  our 
profits  were  less.  This  has  been  due  to  the  fact  that  there 
has  been  an  unwarranted  decrease  in  prices  on  the  part  of 
competitors  with  no  compensating  decrease  in  the  cost  of 
production.  We  are  pessimistic  as  to  prices  and  optimistic 
as  to  volume  as  regards  the  outlook  for  1913.  We  are  not 
increasing  our  manufacturing  facilities  at  present. 

INSULATED  TEST  CLIPS:  R.  S.  Mueller  &  Com- 
pany.— Both  volume  of  business  and  profits  show  a  very 
material  increase  over  returns  in  191 1.  This  has  been  due 
mostly  to  the  general  increase  in  business  activity,  but  also 
in  a  large  measure  to  the  growth  of  the  electrical  industry 
as  a  whole.  We  look  for  continual  improvement  in  prices 
and  volume  of  business  at  least  equal  to  that  of  the  last 
half  of  1912. 

POWER-STATION  ACCESSORIES:  This  year's  busi- 
ness was  much  better  than  that  in  191 1,  which  has  been  due 
to  the  buying  by  steam  railroad  companies.  We  think  the 
outlook  is  good.  The  greatest  drawback  is  in  the  Demo- 
cratic party  and  the  tariflf.  We  should  expand,  but  will  do 
nothing  until  the  policy  at  Washington  becomes  more 
clearly  defined. 

REFLECTORS:  Holophane  Works  of  General  Electric 
Company. — (No  answers  to  Questions  i,  2  and  4.)  The 
outlook  for  business  in  1913  is  excellent;  that  for  prices  is 
dubious.  We  are  building  a  new  glass  factory  and  a  new 
steel  reflector  factory  at  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  24. 


INSULATING  JOINTS,  SMALL  RESISTANCE 
UNITS:  Wirt  Electric  Specialty  Company. — Our  1912  busi- 
ness has  been  much  larger  than  that  of  191 1.  We  attribute 
this  to  the  natural  growth  of  incandescent  lighting,  partly 
due  to  the  tungsten  lamp.  We  expect  a  larger  business  in 
1913  and  also  to  advance  our  prices  owing  to  increase  in 
cost  of  labor  and  material.  The  greatest  drawback  in  our 
field  is  the  great  tendency  on  the  part  of  contractors  to 
use  the  cheapest  possible  material.  The  remedy  lies  in 
extension  of  the  underwriters'  local  inspection  and  label 
service. 

WOOD  PRESERVATION:  Business  with  us  was  very 
much  better  this  year  than  it  was  last  year.  This  has  been 
due  to  our  personal  efforts  and  solicitation.  We  think  the 
outlook  is  very  favorable.  The  greatest  drawback  in  our 
line  is  that  the  employees  in  the  dififerent  industries  do  not 
want  to  have  the  trouble  of  putting  the  preserver  on  the 
timber. 

SPRINGS:  Dunbar  Brothers  Company.— Our  1912  busi- 
ness shows  a  gain  of  about  20  per  cent  over  that  of  1911. 
We  attribute  this  to  greater  steadiness  in  the  financial  mar- 
kets. We  look  for  continued  advance  next  year  and  for 
possible  increase  in  prices.  Large  extensions  to  our  plant 
are  nearly  completed  and  others  are  contemplated. 

WOODEN  POLES:  Our  business  in  1912  has  been  about 
the  same  as  that  in  1911.     We  think  the  outlook  is  good. 


INDUSTRIAL  AND  FINANCIAL  NOTES. 


Kentucky   Utilities   Company   Enlarging   Its   Holdings.— 

A  trust  bond  in  the  sum  of  $5,000,000,  in  favor  of  the  Illi- 
nois Trust  and  Savings  Bank,  of  Chicago,  has  been  exe- 
cuted by  the  Kentucky  Utilities  Company  at  Elizabeth- 
town,  Ky.  This  corporation  recently  acquired  a  number 
of  Kentucky  utility  properties  and  is  planning  extensive 
development  of  these,  seeking  to  enter  other  cities  with  its 
lines  and  proposing  ultimately  to  operate  electric  railways 
as  well  as  central  stations.  The  mortgage  which  has  been 
executed  covers  the  electric  light,  power  and  water  plants 
at  Mount  Sterling,  Versailles,  Shelbyville,  Somerset,  Win- 
chester and  Elizabethtown.  The  company  plans  to  secure 
franchises  for  electric  service  in  Pleasureville,  Eminence 
and  New  Castle  in  the  near  future.  In  connection  with 
these  plans,  it  is  understood,  the  Kentucky  Utilities  will 
erect  and  equip  a  million-dollar  power  plant  at  Winchester, 
from  which  it  will  serve  a  wide  territory  in  that  section  of 
the  State.  Winchester,  Mount  Sterling,  Versailles,  Somer- 
set, Shelbyville  and  other  cities  will  be  supplied  with 
energy  from  this  plant,  it  is  stated,  and  interurban  railways 
will  be  constructed  between  these  and  other  points. 

Flaming  Arcs  for  Armories  and  Theaters. — The  H.  M. 
Hirschberg  Company,  agent  for  Plania  carbons  and 
Siemens  flaming-arc  lamps,  has  recently  received  a  number 
of  orders  for  lamps  to  be  used  for  armory  lighting  and  for 
outdoor  theater  illumination  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn. 
One  order  calls  for  forty-two  flaming  arcs  of  the  Alba  type 
for  the  armory  of  the  Twenty-second  Regiment,  N.  G.  N.  Y., 
and  another  is  for  thirty-eight  of  the  converging  type  for 
the  armory  of  the  Seventh  Regiment.  Fifty-three  lamps 
of  the  forty-hour  type  have  been  ordered  for  the  Fox 
.Audubon  Theater,  New  York.  This  building  occupies  the 
block  bounded  by  Broadway,  165th  and  i66th  Streets  and 
St.  Nicholas  Avenue,  and  the  entire  block  will  be  illumi- 
nated by  these  lamps.  Eighteen  lamps  have  been  sold  for 
use  at  two  other  theaters  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn. 
Samples  of  the  new  Siemens  125-hour  flaming-arc  lamp 
were  received  recently  by  the  Hirschberg  company. 

Central-Station  Service  for  Drop-Forging  Plant. — The 
L'nion  Drop  Forge  Company,  of  Chicago,  is  concentrating 
its  manufacturing  operations  at  its  large  North  Works  at 
1746  North  Forty-fourth  Avenue.  In  doing  so  it  has  en- 
tered into  a  contract  to  buy  electrical  energy  for  the  entire 
operation  of  its  factory  from  the  Commonwealth  Edison 
Company.  When  the  operations  now  carried  on  at  the 
West  Indiana  Street  plant  are  fully  established  at  North 
Works,  the  latter  will  require  about  1000  hp  in  electric 
motors.  Alternating-current  motors  arranged  for  both 
group  and  individual  drive  are  to  be  used.  The  present 
energy  requirements   of  the   company   are   supplied   by   the 


Sanitary    District     of     Chicago     and     from     isolated    steam 
plants. 

American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Subsidiaries  Absorbed. 
— The  Southwestern  Telegraph  &  Telephone  Company, 
which,  as  noted  last  week,  increased  its  capital  to  $40,000,- 
000,  will  take  over  the  properties  of  the  Bell  Telephone 
Company  of  Missouri,  the  Southwestern  Telephone  Com- 
pany and  the  Missouri  &  Kansas  Telephone  Company,  all 
of  which  are  subsidiaries  of  the  American  Telephone  & 
Telegraph  Company.  A  meeting  of  the  board  of  directors 
of  the  Southwestern  company  will  be  held  on  Dec.  17  to 
elect  as  officers  the  present  officials  of  the  Bell  Telephone 
Company  of  Missouri.  The  taking  over  of  the  three  con- 
cerns is  for  the  purpose  of  simplifying  operation  of  Bell 
Telephone  companies  in  the  Southwest  by  bringing  them 
under  one  management,  with  headquarters  in  St.   Louis. 

Call  for  Third  Allis-Chalmers  Assessment. — The  reor- 
ganization committee  of  the  Allis-Chalmers  Company  has 
called  for  a  third  instalment  of  the  assessment  on  the  pre- 
ferred and  common  stocks  of  that  company  under  the  re- 
organization plan.  This  instalment  calls  for  $6  per  share 
on  the  preferred  and  $3  per  share,  payable  Jan.  15,  on  the 
common.  Up  to  Dec.  4,  the  following  amounts  of  outstand- 
ing bonds  and  stock  of  the  company  had  been  deposited 
under  the  plan:  First  mortgage  5  per  cent  bonds,  $10,458,- 
000,  or  93  per  cent;  7  per  cent  cumulative  preferred  stock, 
$14,146,500,  or  88  per  cent,  and  common  stock,  $17,215,600, 
or  86  per  cent.  The  court  has  ordered  that  the  foreclosure 
sale  of  the  Allis-Chalmers  properties  take  place  on  Feb.  3. 
A  New  California  Company. — The  California  Railway  & 
Power  Company  has  been  organized  in  Delaware  to  ac- 
quire all  of  the  outstanding  capital  stock  of  the  United 
liailroads  of  San  Francisco,  the  San  Francisco  Electric 
Railway,  the  Sierra  &  San  Francisco  Power  Company  and 
the  Coast  Valley  Gas  &  Electric  Company.  The  new  con- 
cern has  an  authorized  capital  of  $50,000,000  common  stock, 
$10,000,000  7  per  cent  cumulative  preferred  and  $5,000,000 
prior  preference  7  per  cent  preferred  stock.  The  common, 
of  which  $40,000,000  has  been  issued,  and  the  preferred,  of 
which  $6,874,000  has  been  issued,  is  owned  by  the  United 
Railways   Investment  Company. 

Utilities  Improvement  OSfering  Taken  in  London. — An 
oflfering  of  $5,000,000  6  per  cent  preferred  stock  of  the 
Utilities  Improvement  Company  made  in  London  through 
Lloyds'  Bank,  Ltd.,  was  taken  at  once.  The  stock  was 
offered  at  £17  14s.,  or  $86,  a  share.  The  company  is  under 
the  management  of  Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company.  A  list 
of  the  properties  which  it  controls  appeared  in  these  col- 
umns Oct.  19. 

New  York  Edison's  Earnings. — It  is  believed  that  the 
balance  which  the  New  York  Edison  Company  will  have 
available  for  dividends  at  the  end  of  the  current  calendar 
year  will  be  the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  company. 
Estimates  place  this  at  19  per  cent  on  the  $50,400,400  stock 
outstanding,  which  compares  with  lyyi  per  cent  in  191 1, 
heretofore  the  record  year. 

San  Joaquin  Bond  Issue  Approved. — The  California  Utili- 
ties Commission  has  granted  permission  to  the  San  Joaquin 
Light  &  Power  Corporation  to  issue  $925,000  of  bonds.  Of 
this,  $320,000  of  bonds  are  to  be  issued  for  the  purpose  of 
discharging  indebtedness  and  the  balance  will  be  issued 
from  time  to  time  for  the  same  purpose. 

Southern  Power  Company  to  Build  New  Station. — Plans 
have  been  completed  for  the  construction  of  a  power  sta- 
tion at  Lookout  Shoals  on  the  Catawba  River,  about  12 
miles  from  Statesville,  N.  C,  and  some  60  miles  from 
Charlotte,  for  the  Southern  Power  Company.  About  16,000 
hp  is  to  be  developed  there. 

Toledo  Railways  &  Light  Reorganization. — About  86  per 
cent  of  the  bondholders  and  70  per  cent  of  the  stockholders 
of  the  Toledo  Railways  &  Light  Company  have  assented 
to  the  plan  of  reorganization  of  the  company  by  depositing 
their  securities  with  the  New  York  Trust  Company,  de- 
positary. 

Increases  Its  Capital  Stock. — The  Utah  Power  &  Light 
Company  has  increased  its  capital  stock  from  $1,000,000  to 
$40,000,000  for  the  purpose  of  merging  public-utility  com- 
panies in  Utah,  Idaho  and  Colorado,  as  noted  in  these  col- 
umns Oct.  19. 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1285 


Hydroelectric  Developments  on  the  Deerfield  River, 
Mass. — Our  attention  has  been  called  by  the  Power  Con- 
struction Company  to  a  misleading  statement  in  our  issue 
of  Nov.  23,  page  11 16,  to  the  effect  that  among  the  hydro- 
electric projects  under  construction  by  J.  G.  White  &  Com- 
pany, Inc.,  was  that  of  the  New  England  Power  Company, 
■on  the  Deerfield  River,  near  Shelburne  Falls,  Mass.  The 
facts  are  that  the  Chace-Harriman,  Baker-Ayling  interests 
of  Boston,  which  are  largely  interested  in  the  Connecticut 
River  Power  Company,  whose  plant  was  built  by  J.  G. 
White  &  Company,  owned  or  controlled  the  necessary  prop- 
•erty  and  flowage  rights  on  the  Deerfield  River  for  a  series 
of  hydroelectric  developments  there.  J.  G.  White  &  Com- 
pany's engineering  department  made  the  preliminary  studies 
and  reported  on  the  feasibility  of  the  project.  In  July., 
191 1,  the  Boston  interests  jointly  with  J.  G.  White  &  Com- 
pany organized  the  Power  Construction  Company,  to  which 
was  given  the  general  contract  for  all  engineering  and 
•construction  of  these  hydroelectric  developments,  with 
necessary  transmission  lines,  substations,  etc.  The  ul- 
timate scope  of  this  work  embraces  some  $15,000,000 
worth  of  construction  for  the  New  England  Power  Com- 
pany and  its  affiliated  interests  on  the  Deerfield  River. 
J.  G.  White  &  Company.  Inc..  initially  owned  45  per  cent 
of  the  capital  stock  of  the  Power  Construction  Company, 
but  in  August,  1912,  they  sold  their  interest  to  the  control- 
ling interest  in  Boston.  White  &  Company  have  from  the 
beginning  been  the  consulting  engineers  for  the  Power 
Construction  Company,  and  still  hold  this  relation.  There 
has  been  an  idea  in  some  quarters  that  the  Power  Con- 
struction Company  was  a  subsidiary  or  field  organization  of 
J.  G.  White  &  Company,  this  idea  having  originated  ap- 
parently from  the  fact  that  a  number  of  the  staff  of  the 
Power  Construction  Company  are  old  White  &  Company 
men,  and  because  the  relations  between  the  two  companies 
are  very  intimate  and  cordial. 

Personnel  of  the  Service  Engineering  Company.,  Inc. — 
Offices  have  been  opened  at  13-17  South  Eighteenth  Street, 
Philadelphia,  by  the  Service  Engineering  Company,  Inc.. 
which  has  been  formed  with  a  capitalization  of  $10,000  by 
several  men  of  broad  experience  in  the  manufacturing,  en- 
gineering and  traction  fields  to  engage  in  a  general  electri- 
cal and  mechanical  engineering  business.  The  activities  of 
the  new' company  will  include  the  repairing,  purchase  and 
sale  of  motors,  generators,  etc.,  and  the  installation  of  iso- 
lated plants,  switchboards,  etc.  Mr.  Frank  D.  Miller,  of  the 
National  Brake  Company,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  is  president  of  the 
new  concern,  and  Mr.  John  L.  Gould,  master  mechanic  of 
the  Reading  Traction  Company,  is  vice-president.  Mr.  T. 
Edgar  Kirk,  construction  engineer  of  the  Electric  Storage 
Battery  Company,  is  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  com- 
pany, and  Mr.  Harry  Branson,  formerly  superintendent  of 
rolling  stock  and  equipment  of  the  Philadelphia  Rapid 
Transit  Company,  is  its  shop  superintendent. 

Illinois  Traction  Subsidiaries  Increase  Capital. — Notices 
of  stock  increases  have  been  filed  by  subsidiaries  of  the 
Illinois  Traction  Company  as  follows:  Urbana  &  Cham- 
paign Railway,  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  from  $500,000  to 
$750,000;  Urbana  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company,  from 
$100,000  to  $150,000;  Decatur  Railway  &  Light  Company, 
from  $1,300,000  to  $1,375,000;  Peoria  Railway  Company,  from 
$1,000,000  to  $1,010,000.  and  Madison  County  Light  &  Power 
Company,  from  $100,000  to  $135,000. 

Applications  to  List  on  New  York  Exchange. — The  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company  has  applied  to  the  New  York  Stock 
Exchange  to  list  $23,297,000  additional  capital  stock  and 
$10,000,000  5  per  cent  debentures  due  1952.  The  Cumberland 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  has  applied  for  the  listing 
of  $15,000,000  twenty-five  year  first  and  general  mortgage  5 
per  cent  bonds  due  1937. 

Southern  Power  Bonds. — A  block  of  $1,000,000  hrsi- 
mortgage  5  per  cent  gold  bonds  of  the  Southern  Power 
Company  has  been  purchased  by  Harris,  Forbes  &  Com- 
pany, Perry,  Coffin  &  Burr  and  the  National  City  Bank, 
who  are  offering  the  same  to  investors.  Earnings  of  the 
company  in  the  past  year  were  over  five  times  the  annual 
bond  interest  charge. 

United  States  Independent  Telephone  Receiver  Dis- 
charged.— Following  the  filing  of  affidavits  by  all  of  the 
creditors   that  their  claims  had  been   satisfied,  the   receiver 


for  the  United  States  Independent  Telephone  Company,  of 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  has  been  discharged  and  the  dissolution 
of  the  company  and  forfeiture  of  its  charter  have  been 
ordered. 

Shawinigan  Water  &  Power  Increases  Its  Dividend  Rate. 
— A  quarterly  dividend  of  i>4  per  cent  on  its  stock,  payable 
Jan.  20  to  stock  of  record  Jan.  7,  has  been  declared  by  the 
Shawinigan  Water  &  Power  Company.  This  is  an  increase 
of  one-quarter  of  i  per  cent  in  the  quarterly  rate  and  places 
the  stock  on  an  annual  basis  of  6  per  cent. 

Canadian  Westinghouse  Dividend.— The  Canadian  West- 
inghouse  Company,  Ltd.,  has  declared  the  regular  quarterly 
dividend  of  ij4  per  cent  and  a  bonus  of  2  per  cent,  payable 
Jan.  10  to  stockholders  of  record  Dec.  31. 

Fort  Dodge  Light  &  Povyer  Bonds  Called.— All  of  the 
outstanding  5  per  cent  bonds  of  the  Fort  Dodge  Light  & 
Power  Company  have  been  called  for  payment  at  the  Chi- 
cago Title  &  Trust  Company  on  Feb.  i. 


NOVEMBER  STATEMENT  OF  COPPER  PRODUCERS' 
ASSOCIATION. 

The  November  statement  of  the  Copper  Producers'  As- 
sociation, issued  Dec.  9,  compares  with  the  October  state- 
ment as  follows: 

, — November,  Pounds — ,     , — October.  Pounds , 

Stocks    on    hand    in    the 

United    States    on    first 

of    month     76,744,964  63,065,587 

ProducUon     134,695.440  145,405.453 

211,440,404  208,471,040 

Domesric     deliveries 69,369,795  84,104,734 

Export     deliveries 55,906,550  47,621,342     ,,,  ,,^„,, 

Total    deliveries 125,276,345  131,726,076 

Stocks    on    hand    at    end  n,-,..r,tA 

ot  month    86,164,059  76,744,964 

NEW  YORK  MSr.\L  MARKET  PRICES. 

, -Dec.  3 ,  , — —Dec.  10 , 

Copper-                                                               Bid.          Asked.  Bid.        .'\sked. 

Standard,   spot    17-10          .....  le.S?"^      ..... 

£       s     d  £       s     d 

London,  standard,  spot 76     13     9  ."„'",  "^ 

Prime    Lake    17.65  to  17.70  17.60  to    7.65 

Electrolytic     17.50  to  17.60  17.45  to  17.50 

Casting    17.35  to  17.40  17.25  to  17.35 

Copper  wire,  base    19.00  19.00 

Lead                        4.35  4.35 

Nickel    45.00  45.00 

Sheet   zinc,    f.o.b.    smelter 9.00  9.00 

Spelter,    spot    '■''0  7.3/ "4 

Tin,   spot    49.50  to  50.00  49.05 

Aluminum ; 

Prompt  delivery    26.25  to  26.75  26.00  to  26.50 

Future     " 26.00  to  26.50  25.75  to  26.25 

OLD  METAL?. 

Heavy  copper  and  wire 16.00  16.00 

Brass,   heavy    10.00  10.00 

Brass,  light   8.75  8.50 

Lead,   heavy    4.30  4.15 

Zinc,    scrap    6.12J.^  6.12'/2 

COPPER  EXPORTi  liV  DECEMBER. 

Total  tons  to Dec.  4,  2,180  Dec.   11,  8,075 


INDUSTRIAL  SECURITIES. 


Security. 


Capital  Stock 
Listed. 


Per  Cent.    Period. 


AUis-Chalmers,  2d  assess. 
I)aid 

AUis-Chalmers,  pf.,  2d  as- 
sess, paid 

Amalgamated  Copper 

American  Tel.  &  Tel 

Crocker- Wheeler,  c 

Crocker- Wheeler,  pf 

Electric  Storage  Battery, c. 

General  Electric 

Mackay  Cos.,  c 

Mackay  Cos.,  pf 

Western  Union  Tel 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M..  c. 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M..  pf. 


$17,151,100 

14,034,700 

153,887,900 

334,712.300 

1,700,000 

500,000 

16,074,425 

77.726,700 

41,380,400 

50,000,000 

79,943,400 

31,685,300 

3,998,700 


1 
2 

U 
U 

i' ' 
U 
1 
} 
1 
1} 


0 
0 
0 
0 

Q 
0 


0 

Q 


Dec,  4.    Dec.  1 1 


21* 

8i* 
82i 

142 
85* 

lOSi* 
S4J 

183i 
SSJ* 
68* 
7  74 
80i 
123* 


2* 

6i 
74| 

13  7^ 
85* 

105* 
53? 

179j 
84* 
67i* 

III 
121 


*Last  price  quoted. 


1286 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  14. 


Personal 

Mr.  Charles  E.  Warsaw  has  succeeded  Mr.  F.  W.  Line- 

baugh  as  manager  and  superintendent  of  the  municipal  elec- 
iric-light  plant  at  Ames,  la. 

Mr.  S.  L.  Oliver  has  been  appointed  manager  of  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant  at  Mount  Olive,  N.  C,  in  place 
of  Mr.  T.  Eldridge,  resigned. 

Mr.  A.  R.  Law  has  been  appointed  chief  engineer  of  the 
Mutual  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  of  Alamosa,  Col., 
in  place  of  Mr.  E.  J.  Adams,  resigned. 

Mr.  D.  R.  Swing  has  been  appointed  general  superintend- 
ent of  the  municipal  water,  gas  and  electric  plant  at  Talla- 
hassee, Fla..  succeeding  Mr.  C.  H.  Ellis. 

Mr.  W.  R.  Maddex,  formerly  manager  of  the  municipal 
plant  at  Linton,  Ind..  has  resigned  and  accepted  a  similar 
position  with  the  Bicknell  (Ind.)  Light  &  Power  Company. 

Mr.  Frank  E.  Shepard.  president  of  the  Denver  Engineer- 
mg  Works  Company,  addressed  the  Colorado  Electric  Club, 
Dec.  5,  on  the  use  of  the  slide-rule  in  engineering  calcula- 
tions. 

Mr.  C.  H.  Kerner,  formerly  chief  engineer  of  the  Elkins 
(W.  Va.)  Power  Company,  has  been  made  chief  electrician 
of  the  company,  and  Mr.  Ralph  B.  Fields  has  been  appointed 
chief  engineer. 

Mr.  W.  D.  Weaver,  formerly  editor  in  chief  of  the  Electri- 
cal World  and  now  its  consulting  editor,  who  sailed  for 
southern  Europe  on  Oct.  7,  has  returned  to  his  home  in 
Charlottesville,  Va. 

Mr.  B.  J.  Tremaine  and  Mr.  F.  S.  Terry,  managers  of  the 
National  Quality  Lamp  Division  of  the  General  Electric 
Company,  are  both  undergoing  treatment  at  the  Battle 
Creek   (Mich.)   Sanitarium. 

Mr.  John  Charles  Van  Duyne  has  been  appointed  auditor 
of  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn. 
Mr.  Van  Duyne  was  formerly  chief  of  the  collection  bureau 
of  the  New  York  Edison  Company. 

Mr.  T.  H.  Mandell,  city  engineer  of  Lake  Charles.  La., 
has  been  appointed  chief  engineer  of  the  Louisiana  Power  & 
Traction  Company,  which  proposes  to  erect  an  electric 
railway  from  Lafayette  to  Lake  Charles,  La. 

Mr.  J.  F.  Roth,  for  many  years  connected  with  the  Hart- 
ford (Conn.)  Electric  Light  Company,  was  presented  with 
a  gold  watch  recently  when  he  severed  his  connection  with 
the  company  to  engage  in  electrical  contracting  work. 

Mr.  Louis  A.  Ferguson,  vice-president  of  the  Common- 
wealth Edison  Company,  of  Chicago,  who  was  afflicted 
with  a  painful  illness  last  May,  returned  to  his  desk  on 
Dec.  9  and  received  the  cordial  greetings  of  his  associates. 

Mr.  Anson  Wood  Burchard,  assistant  to  the  president  of 
the  General  Electric  Company,  and  Mrs.  Theodore  Hos- 
tetter  were  married  in  London,  England,  on  Dec.  5.  Mr. 
E.  W.  Rice,  vice-president  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, acted  as  best  man. 

Mr.  R.  F.  Trennert,  chief  electrician  of  the  Union  Tool 
Company,  Torrance,  Cal.,  and  formerly  electrician  on  the 
Los  Angeles  Aqueduct  project  at  Newhall  has  resigned  to 
take  up  work  as  electrical  engineer  with  the  Fairbank 
Morse  Company  at  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

Mr.  W.  F.  Ficklen,  Jr.,  formerly  sales  engineer  with  the 
Crocker-Wheeler  Company  and  who  previous  to  that  was 
connected  with  the  Moody  &  Almon  Company  on  central- 
station  work  in  Vermont,  has  been  appointed  superintendent 
of  the  Staunton  (Va.)  Lighting  Company. 

Mr.  Douglas  Sprague,  consulting  engineer  of  New  York 
City,  has  been  commissioned  by  the  municipal  lighting  com- 
mittee of  the  Common  Council  of  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  to 
draw  up  plans  and  supervise  the  erection  and  operation  of 
a  municipal  electric-light  plant  for  that  city. 

Prof.  Hylon  T.  Plumb,  who,  under  leave  of  absence  from 
Purdue  University,  has  been  serving  as  local  engineer  for 
the  General  Electric  Company's  Denver  office,  was  recently 
transferred  to  the  Salt  Lake  City  office  of  the  same  com- 
pany, with  headquarters  in  the  Newhouse  Building. 

Mr.  James  T.  Hutchings,  general  manager  of  the  Roches- 
ter   Railway   &   Light    Company,    Rochester,   N.   Y.,   was   a 


recent  speaker  before  the  Empire  State  Forest  Products 
-Association  at  Watertown,  his  subject  being  "The  Hydrau- 
lic Development  of  the  State  Through  Co-operation." 

Mr.  J.  W.  Lafiferty,  for  many  years  superintendent  of  the 
construction  department  of  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating 
Company  of  Brooklyn,  has  severed  his  connection  with  the 
company.  For  the  present  Mr.  L.  D.  Sharkey,  assistant 
superintendent,  has  been  placed  in  charge  of  the  depart- 
ment. 

Mr.  O.  C.  Hirtzel,  who  has  been  for  sixteen  years  treas- 
urer and  general  manager  of  the  Eureka  Company  and  its 
predecessor,  the  Eureka  Tempered  Copper  Works,  has  re- 
signed to  become  affiliated  with  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
&  Manufacturing  Company,  with  headquarters  in  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. 

Mr.  Samuel  G.  McMeen,  president  of  the  Columbus  Rail- 
way &  Light  Company,  Columbus,  Ohio,  is  scheduled  to 
deliver  a  series  of  lectures  before  the  engineering  classes  of 
the  Ohio  State  University.  The  first  lecture,  the  subject  of 
which  was  "Imagination  as  an  Engineering  Asset,"  was 
delivered  on  Dec.   13. 

Mr.  F.  W.  Harris,  who  has  been  with  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  as  a  designer  of 
switches,  fuses,  circuit-breakers  and  arc  lamps  for  many 
years,  has  severed  his  connections  with  the  company  and 
has  opened  an  office  in  the  Delta  Building,  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.  Mr.  Harris  is  developing  some  special  types  of  appa- 
ratus. 

Mr.  H.  C.  F.  Poste,  who  for  the  past  five  and  a  half  years 
has  been  electrical  superintendent  of  the  Massena  (N.  Y.) 
works  of  the  Aluminum  Company  of  America,  has  resigned 
to  accept  a  position  with  the  Canadian  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany at  St.  Timothee,  Quebec.  Mr.  Poste  will  have  charije 
of  the  power  house  and  of  all  work  on  the  Beauharnois 
Canal. 

Mr.  George  E.  A.  Fairley,  a  local  consulting  engineer  of 
Baltimore,  Md.,  has  been  appointed  assistant  to  Chief  En- 
gineer Raleigh  C.  Thomas,  of  the  Electrical  Commission  of 
the  city  of  Baltimore.  Mr.  Fairley  succeeds  Mr.  George  B. 
Roberts,  who  resigned  several  months  ago,  and  will  assist 
in  the  preparation  of  plans  for  the  extension  to  the  municipal 
conduit  system. 

Mr.  Guy  E.  Tripp,  chairman  of  the  board  of  directors  of 
the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  who 
sailed  for  Europe  on  Sept.  18  to  visit  the  various  foreign 
properties  in  which  the  company  is  interested,  returned  to 
New  York  on  Dec.  3  greatly  encouraged  with  the  outlook 
of  the  foreign  Westinghouse  companies.  He  was  particu- 
larly impressed  with  the  Italian  and  .'\ustrian  properties. 

Mr.  Herbert  Lutz,  chief  inspector  of  gas  and  electricity 
at  Hamilton,  Ont.,  for  the  Internal  Revenae  Department  of 
the  Dominion  government,  was  presented  with  a  leather 
chair  by  the  employees  of  the  Dominion  Power  &  Trans- 
mission Company  of  Hamilton,  Ont.,  on  Dec.  3.  Mr.  Lutz 
prior  to  his  present  appointment  was  connected  with  the 
Dominion  Power  &  Transmission  Company  for  twenty 
years. 

Mr.  James  F.  Hobart,  an  occasional  contributor  to  this 
journal,  inventor  and  designer  in  the  research  department  of 
the  Diamond  Match  Company,  Barberton,  Ohio,  resigned  his 
position  with  that  company  on  Dec.  5  to  become  superin- 
tendent of  the  Hanna  Breckenridge  Company  of  Fort 
Wayne,  Ind.  Mr.  Hobart  assumed  his  new  duties  on  Dec. 
g  and  will  be  engaged  in  introducing  improved  methods  and 
systematizing  old  ones  in  the  largest  machine  shop  in  the 
world  devoted  to  the  rebuilding  of  woodworking  machinery 
and  the  manufacture  of  hollow-blast  grate  bars. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Coman,  at  present  general  freight  and  passen- 
ger agent  for  the  North  Bank  and  affiliated  Hill  roads,  has 
accepted  the  position  of  vice-president  and  general  manager 
of  the  Northwestern  Electric  Company,  effective  early  next 
year  as  soon  as  his  successor  is  appointed.  The  North- 
western Electric  Company  is  controlled  by  the  Fleisch- 
hacker  interests  of  San  Francisco,  which  interests  are  also 
prominent  in  the  Great  Western  Power  Company,  and  it 
recently  obtained  a  franchise  for  distributing  electricity  for 
light,  heat  and  motor  service  in  Portland,  Ore.,  in  competi- 
tion with  the  Portland  Railwa}',  Light  &  Power  Company. 


December  14,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1287 


Construction 


GLOBE,  ARIZ.— The  Board  of  Supervisors  has  granted  Nathan  L. 
.Amster  a  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric  railway  from 
Globe  to  Live  Oak.  The  sale  of  the  local  franchise  will  be  decided  at 
an  election  to  be  held  on  Dec.  28. 

SUPERIOR,  ARIZ.— P.  H.  Hayes,  H.  Doggs,  J.  H.  Thompson  and 
J.  B.  Newman,  of  Globe,  have  formed  a  partnership  to  operate  certain 
copper  properties  near  Superior.  Electricity  will  be  used  to  operate  the 
machinery  at  the  mines,  which  will  be  secured  from  the  plant  at  Ray,  10 
miles  distant.  A  high-tension  transmission  line  on  towers  will  be  erected 
from   Ray  to  the  mines. 

GRAVETTE,  ARK.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  secretary 
oi  the  water  and  light  improvement  committee  of  Gravette,  Ark.,  until 
Jan.  6  for  furnishing  material  and  constructing  complete  water-works  and 
electric-light  system  for  the  town  of  Gravette  as  follows;  Two  25-hp  oil 
engines,  two  deep-well  pumps,  one  50,000-gal.  steel  tank  on  tower,  one 
30-kw  alternating-current  generator  and  appurtenances,  3250  ft.  of  6-in. 
cast-iron  pipe,  class  "B";  4600  ft.  4-in.  cast-iron  pipe,  class  "B";  1700  ft. 
2-in.  galvanized  pipe,  14  two-nozzle  hydrants,  valves  and  cast-iron  specials, 
33,000  ft.  No.  6  weatherproof  copper  wire  and  8500  ft.  pole  line.  Deep 
wells  have  been  driven  by  the  town.  Plans  can  be  secured  from  Nagel 
&  Petersen,  engineers,  Muskogee,  Okla.,  upon  payment  of  $10.  J.  F. 
Dorset  is  the  secretary  of  water  and  light  improvement  committee. 

FRESNO,  CAL.— The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  granted  the  San 
Joaquin  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  permission  to  issue  $925,000  in  bonds,  of  which 
$320,000  will  be  issued  at  once  to  discharge  outstanding  indebtedness 
and  the  balance  from  time  to  time  for  the  same  purpose. 

GLENDORA,  CAL. — The  City  Trustees  have  called  an  election  to  be 
held  on  Dec.  18  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  issue  $30,000  in  bonds  to 
establish  a  municipal  light  and  power  plant.  The  present  plant,  owned 
by  the  Glen(iora  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  will  be  taken  over  and  extensive  im- 
provements made. 

LA  CRESCENTA,  CAL.— The  Southern  California  Edison  Co.  is  to 
erect  a  distributing  system  in  this  district  to  the  Walton-Holmes  600-acre 
tract,  which  is  to  be  opened  to  the  public  soon. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  Los  Angeles  Ry.  Co.  is  planning  to 
extend  its  Eighth  Street  line  to  the  west  limits  of  the  city. 

ONTARIO,  CAL. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation  of 
ornamental  street  lamps  in  the  Bungalow  Park  subdivision  on  South 
Vine  Avenue.     A.  M.   Peddie  is  interested. 

PERRIS,  CAL. — Charles  P.  and  Benjamin  Rousseau,  of  Los  Angeles, 
have  purchased  the  H.  B.  Peabody  ranch,  near  Ferris,  and  propose  to  sink 
a  well  and  install  an  electric  pumping  plant. 

PLACERVILLE,  CAL. — Negotiations  are  in  progress  among  the  ranch- 
ers, the  United  States  Forestry  Service  and  the  Pacific  Tel.  &  Tel.  Co. 
for  the  erection  of  a  telephone  line  between  Tallac  and  the  Forestry 
Service  headquarters,  connecting  many  private  parties  on  the  route.  Evan 
Kelley,  forestry  supervisor,  is  endeavoring  to  carry  negotiations  through. 
REDDING,  CAL. — The  Northern  California  Pwr.  Co.  is  driving  a 
7D00-ft.  tunnel  from  Tamarack  Falls  reservoir  through  a  divide  to  Cow 
Creek  Valley,  where  the  conserved  water  from  Dry  Burney  Creek  will 
be  used  to  reinforce  and  govern  the  water  supply  of  the  Kilare  plant 
and  one  which  is  to  be  built  below  this  plant. 

REDLANDS,  CAL. — The  Board  of  Trustees  has  accepted  the  design 
for  ornamental  lighting  posts  submitted  by  the  H.  F.  Kierluff  Co.,  of  Los 
Angeles,  and  bids  will  be  asked  for  at  once  for  132  posts  and  connections. 
RIVERSIDE,  CAL.— Koebig  &  Koebig,  Title  Insurance  Building,  Los 
Angeles,  are  preparing  plans  for  the  Southern  California  Utilities  Co. 
for  a  hydroelectric  project  in  connection  with  the  development  of 
30,000  acres  of  land  in  the  San  Jacinto  Valley  in  Riverside  County.  The 
company  has  received  authority  from  the  State  Railroad  Commission 
to   issue   $10,000,000   in   bonds   to   carry   out  the   project. 

ROCKLIN,  CAL. — The  Town  Trustees  have  granted  the  Great  West- 
ern Pwr.  Co.,  of  San  Francisco,  a  franchise  to  erect  and  maintain 
transmission    lines    along    the    streets    and    alleys    of    Rocklin. 

SAN  BERNARDINO,  CAL.— The  Pacific  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Corpn.,  of  Los 
Angeles,  is  planning  to  erect  a  single  60,000-volt  transmission  line  between 
Los  Angeles  and  San  Bernardino,  via  Riverside  power  station,  a  distance 
of  about  65  miles.  This  is  in  connection  with  distributing  the  energy 
generated  at  the   Big  Creek  receiving  station  near  Los  Angeles. 

S.\N  FRANCISCO,  CAL. — Plans  are  being  prepared  by  the  United 
Railroads  to  extend  the  San  Bruno  Avenue  line  south  to  Railroad  Street. 
S.\N  FRANCISCO,  CAL. — The  Sierra  &  San  Francisco  Pwr.  Co.  has 
applied  to  the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to  purchase  the 
property  of  the  Gold  Mountain  Wtr.  Co.,  of  Tuolumne  County,  for 
$27,500. 

S.\N  JOSE,  CAL. — Surveys  have  been  completed  and  estimates  made 
of  the  cost  of  an  electric  railway  between  San  Jose  and  San  Francisco, 
for  which  plans  are  now  in  the  hands  of  R.  S.  Lovett,  president  of  the 
Harriman  lines. 

STOCKTON,  CAL.— The  Western  States  Gas  S:  EI.   Co.  has  applied  to 
the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  $307,000  in  bonds, 
the  proceeds  to  be  used  to   discharge  existing  obligations  and  for  future 
extensions. 


VISALIA,  CAL.— The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  authorized  the 
.Mount  Whitney  Pwr.  &  El.  Co.  to  issue  $250,000  in  bonds  to  be  used 
principally  for  work  on  the  new  hydroelectric  plant  on  the  Keweah 
River. 

ALAMOSA,  COL.— The  Mutual  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co,  contemplates  the 
purchase  of  six  oil  switches;  also  within  the  next  three  months  it  ex- 
pects to  purchase  25  meters,  five  5-kw  and  one  25-kw  transformer,  and 
within  the  next  two  months  one  rectifier  and  500  incandescent  lamps. 
H.   A.   Goodridge  is  manager. 

LAMAR,  COL. — The  Intermountain  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Lamar. 
is  changing  over  its  plant  and  entire  distributing  system  from  direct 
current  to  alternating  current.  The  company  has  installed  an  .Mlis- 
Chalmers  alternator  and  a  General  Electric  switchboard,  using  the  same 
boilers  and  engine.     W.  Corson  is  superintendent. 

TALCOTTVILLE,  CONN. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  Talcoti 
Brothers,  owners  of  the  local  electric-light  plant,  to  secure  electricity 
from  the  South  Manchester  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Tramway  Co.  to  operate  the 
local  system.  A  transmission  line  is  being  erected  to  the  Manchestei 
border  to  connect  with  the  lines  of  the  South  Manchester  company. 
Under  the  new  system  a  24-hour  service  will  be  established. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. — Bids  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau  of  Sup- 
plies and  Accounts,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Jan.  7, 
1913,  for  furnishing  at  the  navy  yard,  Washington,  D.  C,  seven  electric 
traveling  cranes,  as  per  Schedule  5045.  Applications  for  proposals  should 
designate  the  schedule  desired  by  number. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  of- 
fice of  the  chief  signal  officer.  War  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  un- 
til Dec.  18,  for  cells,  fuses,  etc.,  as  asked  for  under  Proposal  628.  Pro 
posals  will  also  be  received  until  Dec.  17  for  junction  boxes,  etc.,  as 
asked  for  under  Prcposal  627.  Bids  will  also  be  received  until  Dec.  16 
for  cable  splicers,  chests,  etc.,  under  Proposal  626. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. — Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  chief 
signal  officer.  War  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Dec.  21  under 
Proposal  629  as  follows:  Item  1 — five  fifty-line,  common-battery  switch- 
boards, equipped  with  50  common-battery  and  five  magneto  lines,  com- 
plete  with  arrester  cabinet;  item  2 — two  100-line,  common-battery  switch- 
hoards,  equipped  with  100  common-battery  and  10  magneto  lines,  com- 
plete with  arrester  cabinet,  in  accordance  with  specifications  and  draw- 
ings. 

CHIPLEY,  FLA. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  City  Council  by 
Messrs.  Hall  and  Gotha  for  a  franchise  to  install  an  electric-light  plant 
If  granted,  they  propose  to  build  an  ice  and  cold-storage  plant. 

OCALA,  FLA. — The  Florida  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to  install  within  the 
next  month  one  1200-kva,  three-phase,  60-cycle,  2200-volt  General  Elec- 
tric generator  and  one  S.  Morgan  Smith  waterwheel.  R.  C.  Camp  is 
president. 

OCALA,  FLA. — Plans  are  well  under  way  for  the  installation  of  an 
ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  Ocala.  The  lamps  will  first  be 
placed  about  the  Court  Square  and  later  will  be  extended  on  the  principal 
streets.  J.  S.  Caldwell  is  superintendent  of  the  municipal  electric-liplil 
plant. 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  FLA. — Bids  will  soon  be  asked  by  the  city  for  the 
installation  of  an  electric  fire-alarm  system. 

CANTON,  GA. — Improvements  are  contemplated  to  the  municipal  elec- 
tric-light plant  within  the  next  six  months  which  will  refluire  the  pur- 
chase of  one  100-hp  boiler,  one  100-kw,  2300-volt,  60-cycle  alternating- 
current  generator  and  one  150-hp  automatic  engine;  also  one  switchboard 
complete  for  handling  above  machine  and  a  60-kw  unit.  O.  P.  Gait  is 
superintendent. 

CARROLLTON,  GA.— H.  G.  Lowney  and  associates  of  the  Atlanta 
Carrollton  Ry.  Co.,  to  be  organized,  proposes  to  develop  the  water-power 
of  Belle  Shoals  on  Dog  River  in  Douglas  County,  23  miles  from  Car- 
rollton. The  cost  of  dam,  power  house  and  equipment  is  estimated  al 
about  $60,000.  It  is  proposed  to  organize  a  company  under  the  name  of 
the  Dog  River  Pwr.  Co.  to  carry  out  the  project 

ROME,  GA. — The  City  Council  has  appointed  a  committee,  consisting 
of  Aldermen  Copeland,  McDonald  and  Irwin,  to  make  investigations 
with  a  view  to  establishing  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  in  Rome. 

AMBOY,  ILL. — The  street-lighting  committee  has  incorporated  in  the 
contract  to  be  submitted  to  the  City  Council  plans  for  an  ornamental 
lighting  system. 

ASSUMPTION,  ILL. — The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  has  sub 
mitted  a  proposition  to  the  City  Council  offering  to  furnish  82  incan 
descent  lamps  at  $25  each  per  year.  It  is  proposed  to  erect  cluster  lamps 
in   the  business  section. 

BENLD,  ILL.— The  United  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  proposes  to  substitute  85 
series  tungsten  lamps  for  the  23  arc  lamps  and  the  33  incandescent  lamps 
now  in  use  in  lighting  the  streets  of  the  village. 

CLAYTON,  ILL. — The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.  is  negotiating 
for  the  purchase  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  in  Clayton. 

DECATUR,  ILL. — The  People's  Co-operative  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  seeking 
a  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric  plant  here. 

DU  QUOIN,  ILL. — The  boiler  shed,  engine  house,  electrical  machinery 
and  a  portion  of  the  tipple  of  the  Brilliant  Coal  Co.  were  destroyed  by 
fire   on   Dec.    4,   causing  a  loss  of  about   $5,000. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o.  No.  24. 


EAST  MOUNE,  ILL.— The  Automatic  Tel.  Co.  is  seeking  a  franchise 
in  this  village  to  operate  a  telephone  system  here. 

FARMINGTON,  ILL.— The  People's  El.  Ser.  Co.,  operating  electric 
platits  and  distributing  systems  in  Farraington,  Fairview,  London  Mills 
and  Cuba,  has  been  purchased  by  R.  F.  Wallace,  of  Peoria,  secretary  of 
the  Peoria  Gas  &  El.  Co.  The  new  company,  it  is  said,  will  make  exten- 
sions to  the  system,  including  the  erection  of  transmission  lines  to  Trivoli 
and  Hanna  City. 

HERRIN,  ILL.— The  plant  and  holdings  of  the  Interurban  El.  Co., 
which  supplies  electrical  service  in  Herrin  and  Carterville,  has  been  pur- 
chased by  the  Central  Illinois  Pub.   Ser.   Co.,  of  Mattoon. 

HILLSBORO,  ILL.— The  People's  Mutual  Tel.  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
50-year  franchise  by  the  Village  Board  of  Schrara  City  to  erect  and  oper- 
ate telephone  lines  through  that  village.  The  proposed  line  will  extend 
from  Hillsboro  to  Irving. 

KANE,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  granted  the  Central  Illinois  Pub. 
Ser.  Co.,  of  Mattoon,  a  50-year  franchise  to  install  and  operate  an 
electric-lighting  system  here. 

KIRKLAND,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  has  passed  a  resolution  notify- 
ing the  DeKalb  County  Tel.  Co.  to  remove  its  poles  and  wires  from  the 
streets  of  Kirkland,  provided  the  company  insists  on  enforcing  its  new 
toll  rates.  It  is  reported  that  money  has  been  raised  to  erect  a  telephone 
line  connecting  Fairdale,  Kirkland,  Kingston  and  Genoa. 

LEWISTOWN,  ILL.— The  Lewistown  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  has  applied  for 
a   franchise  to  construct  and  operate  a  telephone  system  in   Lewistown. 

MOUNT  MORRIS,  ILL.— The  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Co.,  of 
Chicago,  has  purchased  the  distributing  system  and  franchise  of  the 
Kable  Brothers  Co.  in  Mount  Morris.  The  sale  does  not  include  the 
power  house  or  equipment,  with  the  exception  of  one  engine  and  part 
of    the    switchboard. 

OLNEY,  ILL.— The  Commercial  Tel.  &  Telg.  Co.,  recently  incorpo- 
rated with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000,  will  take  over  the  telephone  lines 
owned  by  H.  H.  Knipe  in  Robinson,  Olney,  Fairfield  and  Salem.  The 
new  company  is  planning  to   rebuild  the  Olney  system. 

PEKIN,  ILL. — The  Commercial  Club  has  appointed  a  committee  of 
Court  Street  business  men  to  take  steps  to  secure  an  ornamental  street- 
lighting  system  on  Court  Street  between  Front  and  Seventh  Streets.  F. 
L.   Conklin  is  president  of  the  Commercial  Club. 

QUINCY,  ILL. — The  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Adams  County  ha-> 
granted  the  Quincy  Street  Ry.  Co.  a  franchise  to  extend  its  tracks  on 
Main  Street  to   Graceland   Cemetery. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.— The  Springfield  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  having 
refused  the  offer  of  $10,000  made  by  the  City  Commission  for  the  lighting 
system  on  the  Fourth  Street  Boulevard,  the  commission  will  have  plans 
prepared  for  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  for  the  boulevard,  to 
cost  about  $12,000.  The  system  was  installed  by  the  company  and  sold 
to  the  park  board,  but  a  court  decision  held  that  the  park  board  had 
no  control  over  tlie  street. 

SPRING  VALLEY,  ILL.— The  Spring  Valley  Gas  &  El.  Co.  contem- 
plates the  purchase  of  material  for  50  miles  of  transmission  lines  within 
the  next  three  months. 

STERLING,  ILL. — The  City  Council  is  investigating  the  street 
lighting  system  in  North  Dixon  with  a  view  of  installing  a  similar  system 
here. 

WAVERLY,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  of  Mattoon,  is 
said  to  be  negotiating  with  H.  J.  Rodgers,  of  Waverly,  for  the  purchase 
of  his  plant.  A  transmission  line  will  be  erected  to  Franklin  to  supply 
electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  in  that  city. 

WEST  BROOKLYN.  ILL.— The  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Co.,  of 
Chicago,  has  been  awarded  a  contract  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the 
town.  The  company  will  install  a  modern  lighting  system  here.  Charles 
B.   Yonts  is  contract  agent  for  the  company. 

ELWOOD,  IND.— The  Elwood  El.  Lt.  Co.  expects  to  purchase  within 
the  next  two  months  seven  new  switchboard  panels.  The  company  has 
recently  completed  the  erection  of  a  1500-kw  substation,  35,000  volts, 
the  installation  of  two  500-kw  non-condensing  turbines  and  the  erection 
of  a  3 5, 000- volt  transmission  line  to  Alexandria.  N.  M.  Argabrite  is 
manager. 

GOSHEN,  IND. — Improvements  will  be  made  to  the  arc-lighting  sys- 
tem and  the  park-lighting  system  in  the  business  portion  of  the  town.  It 
has  been  decided  not  to  sell  the  municipal  electric  plant  for  the  present 
at  least. 

GREENFIELD,  IND. — The  Commissioners  of  Hancock  County  have 
contracted  with  the  Terre  Haute,  Indianapolis  &  Eastern  Trac.  Co.,  of 
Terre  Haute,  for  electrical  energy  to  operate  the  county  electric  plant. 
W.  H.  Boyd  has  been  appointed  superintendent  of  the  county  electric  and 
heating  plant. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.— The  Board  of  Public  Works  has  awarded  the 
contract  for  the  installation  of  a  generator  in  the  City  Hospital  to  the 
Hatfield  El.   Co.,  to  cost  $2,773. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  Indiana  University  at  the  office  of  the  secretary, 
Eioomington,  until  Dec.  17  for  plumbing,  heating,  electric  wiring,  vacuum 
cleaners  and  electric  elevators  to  be  installed  in  the  Robert  W.  Long 
Hospital,  being  erected  in  the  city  of  Indianapolis  by  the  board  of  trustees 
of  Indiana  University.      Plans  and  specifications  are  on   file   at  the   office 


of  the  secretary  at  Eioomington,  and  at  the  office  of  R.  P.  Daggett  &  Co., 
architects.  956  Lemcke  Annex,  Indianapolis. 

KOKOMO,  IND.— The  Kokomo,  Marion  &  Western  Trac.  Co.  ex- 
pects to  purchase  during  the  next  four  months  a  new  condenser  to  bf 
used  in  connection  with  a  3500-kw  steam  turbine  and  generator  about 
to  be   purchased. 

MIDDLEBURY,  IND. — The  Town  Board  is  considering  a  proposition 
submitted  by  Pidgeon  Brothers,  who  recently  purchased  the  mill  in 
Middlebury,    to    furnish    electricity    to    light    the    town. 

PENDLETON,  IND. — The  managers  of  the  municipal  electric-light 
plant  expect  to  install  a  new  switchboard  and  four  transformers  and  to 
erect  about  4  miles  of  transmission  lines  within  the  next  two  months. 
F.   J.    Rector  is   superintendent. 

SHERIDAN,  IND.— The  Sheridan  Wtr.,  Lt.  &  Ht.  Co.  is  making  im- 
provements and  extensions  to  its  plant,  including  the  installation  of  two 
150-hp  Chandler  &  Taylor  boilers,  two  150-hp  engines  and  two  100-kw, 
2300-volt.  three-phase,  60-cycle  generators,  a  100-ft.  standpipe  and  5}4 
miles  of  watermains.  The  engines  have  not  yet  been  purchased.  C.  E. 
Layton   is  secretary  and  treasurer. 

ADEL,  lA.— The  Adel  Mill  Co..  which  was  recently  granted  a  fran- 
chise in  Dallas  Center,  8  miles  distant,  will  erect  a  transmission  line 
carrying  6000  volts  to  that  town.  The  street-lighting  system  in  Dallas 
Center  will  consist  of  about  75  series  tungsten  5.5-amp  lamps.  Ma- 
terial for  the  extension  has  been  purchased.  The  company  is  installing 
a  50-in.  Sampson  turbine  water  wheel,  which  with  the  two  already  in- 
stalled will  increase  the  output  of  the  water-power  plant  to  360  hp.  The 
company  also  has  an  auxil-ary  steam  plant  of  175  kw.  The  generating 
equipment  consists  of  one  100-kva  and  one  75-kw  Westinghouse  revolving- 
field  generator.  The  75-kw  generator  will  probably  be  replaced  with  a 
ISO-kw    machine    in   the   spring.      L.    M.    Macy    is   president. 

RED  OAK,  lA. — ^The  property  of  the  Red  Oak  El.  Co.  has  been  pur- 
chased by   the   Eaton-Abbott  Co.,  of   Cleveland,   Ohio. 

SHENANDOAH,  lA.— The  Eaton-Abbott  Co.,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  has 
purchased  the  property  of  the  Shenandoah  Artificial  Ice,  Ht.,  Pwr.  & 
Lt.  Co.  and  the  People's  Gas  Co.,  of  Shenandoah.  J.  A.  Masters  is 
president  of  the   Shenandoah  company. 

GARDEN  CITY,  KAN.— The  City  Council  has  passed  an  ordinance 
calling  for  a  special  election  to  be  held  on  Dec.  16  to  vote  on  the  proposi- 
tion of  issuing  $40,000  in  bonds  for  the  installation  of  a  municipal  elec- 
tric-light plant. 

MANHATTAN,  KAN.— The  Manhattan  Ice,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to 
purchase  within  the  next  two  months  equipment  for  multiple  tungsten 
lamps  for  ornamental  lighting  system  on  three  blocks.  Contract  for  posts 
has  been  placed  with  the  King  Foundry  Co.,  of  St.  Joseph,  Mo.  E.  A. 
Wright  is  manager. 

NEODESHA,  KAN. — The  managers  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant 
contemplate  the  installation  of  a  100-kw  alternating-current  generator 
within  the  next  six  months.     Charles  M.  Kimball  is  manager. 

NORTONVILLE,  KAN.— The  local  electric-light  plant  was  destroyed 
by  fire  recently,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $2,000.  Work  will  begin  at 
once  on  rebuilding  the  plant.  The  town  will  be  without  electric  service 
until    the   plant   is    rebuilt. 

OKETO,  KAN. — At  an  election  held  Nov.  25  the  proposition  to  issue 
bonds  for  the  installation   of  an  electric-lighting   system   was  carried. 

SALINA,  KAN.— The  Shellabarger  Mill  &  Elevator  Co.  has  awarded 
contract  for  construction  of  power  house,  40  ft.  by  80  ft.,  to  C.  W.  Sib- 
ley. The  plant  will  have  an  output  of  500  hp  and  will  supply  electricity 
to  operate  the  mill  elevators  and  machine  shops  of  the  company.  The 
contract  for  electrical  machinery  was  awarded  to  the  Busch-Sulzer  Co., 
St.  Louis,  Mo.     Gas  engines  will  be  used. 

SCRANTON,  KAN.— Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  City  Council  to 
secure  estimates  of  the  cost  of  installing  a  municipal  electric-light  plant 
here. 

WHITEWATER.  KAN.— The  Whitewater  El.  Co.,  a  subsidiary  of  the 
Whitewater  Milling  &  Elevator  Co.,  will  install  an  electric  plant  and 
small  ice  plant  here.  The  equipment  will  include  boilers,  equipped  with 
fuel  oil  burners;  two  engines,  40  hp  and  50  hp;  two  generators;  electrical 
efluipment  not  fully  decided  upon.  Estimates  are  now  being  made  for 
distributing  system;  30  incandescent  lamps  will  be  required  for  street- 
lighting  system  and  about  100  meters  will  be  required.  Most  of  the  work 
will  be  done  by  local  labor.     R.  H.  Farr  is  president  and  manager. 

GLASGOW,  KY.— The  Glasgow  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  placed  con- 
tracts for  new  machinery  for  its  plant.  It  is  expected  to  have  the  sys- 
tem completed  by  Jan.    1,   when  a  24-hour  service  will  be  established. 

LAVVRENCEBURG,  KY.— The  Lawrenceburg  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  win 
enlarge  its  power  plant  so  as  to  enable  it  to  furnish  electrical  service 
in   Versailles  and  Tyrone,  Ky.     Harry  Reed  is  manager. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY.— The  Louisville  Ltg.  Co.  expects  to  install  two 
motor-generator  sets  within  the  next  two  months.  P.  T.  GHdden  is 
general  manager. 

MIDDLEBORO,  KY.— S.  M.  Wilkes,  of  Lexington,  engineer,  has  an- 
nounced that  negotiations  are  under  way  for  the  construction  of  a  power 
plant  on  Cumberland  River  near  the  center  of  Bell  County.  The  plant 
when  completed  will  supply  electricity  within  a  radius  of  40  miles.  The 
Continental  Coal  Corpn.  is  said  to  have  already  contracted  for  energy 
for  14  of  its  mines.  Philadelphia  and  Chicago  capitalists  are  reported  to 
be  behind  the  project. 


December  14,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1280 


MOUNT  STERLING,  KY.— Deeds  have  been  filed  conveying  the 
properties  of  the  Mount  Sterling  Wtr..  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.,  of  Mount  Sterling, 
and  the  Winchester  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.,  of  Winchester,  to  the  Kentucky 
Utilities  Co.,  of  Louisville.  Extensive  improvements,  it  is  said,  will  be 
made  to  the  Mount  Sterling  system,  including  the  erection  of  transmission 
lines  over  the  county  in  order  to  supply  electricity  to  farmers  for  lamps, 
heat  and  motors.  Plans  are  also  being  considered  for  building  an  elec- 
tric railway. 

LAKE  CHARLES,  LA.— The  Lake  Charles  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Wks.  Co. 
contemplates  the  purchase  of  motor-driven  pumps  for  the  water-works 
system   in   the   near   future. 

PRESQUE  ISLE.  MAINE.— The  Maine  &  New  Brunswick  EI.  Pwr. 
Co.  expects  to  equip  within  the  next  30  days  3  miles  of  11,000-volt 
transmission  line  to  supply  electricity  in  Grand  Falls,  N.  B. ;  also  to 
erect  12  miles  of  11,000-volt  transmission  line  to  the  line  of  Caribou. 
Maine,  for  railway  substation.  The  company  also  expects  to  install 
switchboard  equipment  for  a  33, 000-volt  transmission  line  within  the  next 
two   months.      C.    O.    Austin   is  superintendent. 

CUMBERLAND.  MD.— The  Edison  El.  Illg.  Co.  is  installing  a  1000- 
kw  Curtis  turbine  with  4000-ft.  surface  condenser,  manufactured  by  the 
C.  H.  Wheeler  Mfg.  Co.,  Mullen  suction  valveless  air  pumps  and  Pratt 
foiced-diaft  cooling  tower.  The  company  expects  to  purchase  within 
three  months  one  450-hp  water-tube  boiler  with  feed  pumps  and  piping 
and  various  transmission-line  equipment,  transformers,  copper  wire,  etc. 
George  A.   Eyler,  electrical  engineer,  has  charge  of  the  work. 

CHICOPEE,  MASS.— The  Board  of  Aldermen  has  granted  the  Warren 
Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to  erect  transmission  lines  for  the  distribution  of 
electricity  in   Chicopee. 

TURNERS  FALLS.  MASS.— The  Franklin  EI.  Lt.  Co.  expects  to  erect 
within  the  next  three  months  a  substation  at  Millers  Falls  and  to  pur- 
chase equipment  for  a  300-kw  load  and  also  to  rebuild  the  entire  system  at 
that   place.      M.    H.    Mahoney   is  superintendent. 

WESTBORO,  MASS.— The  Westboro  Gas  &  El.  Co.  will  add  a  350-kw 
indicating  wattmeter.  The  company  has  recently  purchased  two  40-kw, 
6600-volt  to  2300-volt  transformers  for  substation  in  Westboro  to  replace 
two   20-kw   transformers.      H.    F.    Hemenway   is   superintendent. 

BAY  CITY,  MICH.— The  electric-light  committee  of  the  City  Council 
has  announced  its  decision  to  make  improvements  to  the  municipal  elec- 
tric-light  plant,   to  cost  about   $20,000. 

BENTON  HARBOR,  MICH.— The  Benton  Harbor-St.  Joe  Ry.  &  Lt. 
Co.  has  been  granted  a  30-year  franchise  for  crossing  any  and  all  high- 
ways in  Watervliet  Township  and  to  furnish  electricity  in  that  town. 
The  company  will  also  submit  the  same  proposition  to  the  people  of 
Hartford   Township. 

EATON  RAPIDS.  MICH.— The  Council  has  authorized  the  Board  of 
Public  Works  to  purchase  a  new  dynamo  to  replace  the  one  disabled  a 
few  weeks  ago. 

ECORSE,  MICH.— The  Worcester  Salt  Co.  is  reported  to  be  in  the 
market  for  a  150-kw,  125-volt  generator  to  be  direct-connected  to  Corliss 
engine.     W.   B.    Powell   is  superintendent. 

FRANKFORT,  MICH.— The  Benzie  County  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to  build 
within  the  next  eight  montlis  a  dam  and  complete  power  station  and  to 
purchase  within  four  months  poles,  wires,  arresters,  transformers,  arc 
lamps,  etc.  Contracts  have  been  placed  for  generators,  waterwheels  and 
switchboard   equipment. 

GLADWIN,  MICH.— The  dam  of  the  Gladwin  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  gave 
way  on   Dec.   4,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $25,000. 

VASSAR,    MICH. — One  of  the  dynamos  in  the  municipal  electric-light 
plant  was  totally  wrecked  on  Dec.  2.     A  new  generator  has  been  ordered. 
HINCKLEY,    MINN. — The    Village    Council   has   adopted   an   ordinance 
declaring    the    franchise    of    the    Hinckley    El.    Co.    forfeited.      The    fran- 
chise  was  terminated   owing   to   the   unsatisfactory   service   given. 

WARREN,  MINN. — At  present  the  municipal  electric-Hght  plant  is 
overloaded  and  new  equipment  wilt  be  needed,  which  will  include  a  125- 
kw.  250-volt  direct-current  generator,  engine  and  switchboard  panel  com- 
plete, and  also  recording  instruments.     W.  Haney  is  superintendent. 

MAGNOLIA,  MISS.— The  Magnolia  El.  Lt.  Co.  expects  to  purchase 
within  the  next  month  three  ammeters  and  three-pole,  double-throw  oil 
switches.     Javier  A.    Kramer  is  manager. 

MARCELINE,  MO. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  the  installation 
of  additional  power  equipment  within  the  next  six  months  for  the  mu- 
nicipal electric-light  plant,  but  nothing  definite  has  yet  been  decided  upon. 
L.   A.    Nickell    is   superintendent. 

LINCOLN,  NEB.— The  Board  of  Public  Lands  and  Buildings  has  de- 
cided to  close  down  the  lighting  plants  owned  by  the  State  and  secure 
service    from    private   companies   for    the   different   state   institutions. 

NORFOLK,  NEB. — Extensive  improvements  will  be  made  by  the  Ne- 
braska Tel.  Co.  to  its  local  system  during  the  next  few  months,  involv- 
ing an  expenditure  of  about  $56,000. 

SCOTTSBLUFF,  NEB.— The  Cross  &  Roberts  El.  Co.  expects  within 
the  next  six  months  to  erect  two  13.000-voIt  sabstations  and  to  purchase 
one  voltage  regulator  and  one  synchronous  panel;  also  19  miles  of 
transmission  equipment  for  13,000  volts,  three-phase;  No.  6  copper  wire. 
The  company  will  also  be  in  the  market  for  general  devices  for  use  on 
day  service.     F,   H.   Roberts  is  president. 

ROCHESTER.    N.    H. — Bids    will    be    received   at   the   office    of   the    su- 


pervising architect.  Treasury  Deparimeni,  Washington,  D.  c.  until 
Jan.  29  for  construction,  including  plumbing,  gas  piping,  keating  appa- 
ratus, electric  conduits  and  wiring,  interior  lighting  fixtures  and  ap- 
proaches of  the  United  States  post  office  at  Rochester,  N.  H.  Drawings 
and  specifications  may  be  obtained  from  the  custodian  of  site  at  Roches- 
ter. N.  H..  or  at  the  above  office.  Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising  archi- 
tect. 

HIGHTSTOWN,  N.  J.— The  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  llightsown.  has 
presented  a  plan  to  the  Council  to  change  the  present  arc-lamp  street- 
lighting  system   to  a  series  tungsten   circuit. 

NEWARK,  N.  J.— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  Board  ol 
Education,  Newark.  N.  J.,  until  Dec.  17  for  construction  and  erection  of 
special  lighting  fixtures  for  the  Newark  Normal  School  to  be  installed 
complete  by  Feb.  1.  1913.  Blank  proposals  can  be  obtained  at  the  board's 
construction  department,  fourth  floor,  city  hall,  where  drawings  and 
specifications  may  be  examined.     R.  D.  Argue  is  secretary. 

PASSAIC.  N.  J.— The  New  York  &  New  Jersey  Pwr.  Corpn.,  recenUy 
incorporated,  has  applied  to  the  Board  of  City  Commissioners  for  a  fi^e- 
year  light  and  power   franchise. 

ARTESIA.  N.  M. — The  Artesia  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  preparing  to  install 
additional  machinery  and  equipment  at  its  plant,  to  cost  about  $300,000. 
•  The  company  will  erect  transmission  lines  from  its  power  plant  in  Artesia 
to  farms  in  this  section  and  iurnish  electricity  to  operate  pumping 
plants.  Several  hundred  acres  are  being  developed  by  the  company,  upon 
which  it  is  boring  wells  and  installing  motors  and  pumps.  Among  the 
machinery  to  be  installed  are  two  450-hp  Diesel  engines.  John  C.  Keys 
is  president. 

CLOUDCROFT,  N.  M. — The  construction  of  an  electric  interurban 
railway  to  run  between  Cloudcroft  and  Carlsbad,  a  distance  of  about  100 
miles,  is  being  promoted  by  Morgan  Hand,  of  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  and 
C.  C.  Carroll.  The  promoters  also  contemplate  the  installation  of  a 
hydroelectric  plant  on  Penasco  River  to  provide  electricity  to  operate  the 
proposed  railway  and  also  for  the  towns  in  this  section. 

AMES,  N.  Y. — The  Ames  Improvement  and  Protective  Organization 
has  decided  to  accept  the  proposition  of  the  Montgomery  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr. 
Co.,  of  Canajoharie,  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  village.  The  con- 
tract is  for  a  period  of  five  years  and  calls  for  12  street  lamps. 

ARCADE,  N.  Y. — At  a  special  election  held  Nov.  27  the  propositioD 
to  issue  $9,500  in  bonds  for  the  purchase  of  additional  equipment  for  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant  was  carried.  A  new  boiler  and  dynamo  wilj 
be  installed. 

ORWELL,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted  the 
Salmon  River  Pwr.  Co.  permission  to  exercise  ten  franchises  for  the 
distribution  of  electricity  through  certain  towns  and  villages  in  Oswego 
and  Onondaga  Counties.  The  company,  which  is  controlled  by  the 
Niagara,  Lockport  &  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.,  proposes  to  construct  a  hydro- 
electric power  plant  on  Salmon  River  in  the  town  of  Orwell  and  to  erect 
transmission  lines  through  this  town  and  the  towns  of  Richland,  Albion, 
Parish,  Hastings  and  the  villages  of  Altmar  and  Central  Square,  Oswego 
County,  and  the  towns  of  Cicero,  Clay  and  Salina,  Onondaga  County,  to 
the  village  of  Solvay.  where  the  lines  will  connect  with  the  transmission 
lines   of   the    Niagara,    Lockport   &    Ontario    Pwr.    Co. 

OSWEGO.  N.  Y.— The  People's  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  of  Oswego,  is  experi- 
menting with  new  arc  lamps  with  a  view  of  improving  the  street-lighting 
system.  If  accepted,  the  lamps  will  be  installed  through  the  business 
district  first  and  later  throughout  the  entire  system.  R.  F.  Whitney  is 
manager. 

THIELLS,  N.  Y.— Plans  for  the  buildings  of  Letchworth  Village,  as 
the  institution  for  the  segregation  of  epileptics  and  feeble-minded  is  to 
be  known,  and  for  which  the  State  has  acquired  a  large  tract  of  land 
at  Thiells,  have  been  carried  to  the  point  where  contracts  can  be  let 
for  ten  buildings.  The  plans  call  for  a  total  expenditure  of  about 
$3,500,000.  At  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature  $457,000  was  appro- 
priated for  the  first  ten  buildings,  for  which  contracts  will  soon  be  ad- 
vertised. A  power  plant,  storehouse,  laundry  and  shop  will  be  included 
in  the  first  group  and  will  serve  the  entire  village  when  it  is  completed. 
Frank  A.  Vanderlip,  president  of  the  National  City  Bank,  of  New  York, 
is   president   of   the   board   of   managers    of   Letchworth    Village. 

WATERTOWN,  N.  Y.— The  International  Paper  Co.  is  planning  to 
erect  a  new  mill  and  power  plant  near  its  group  of  mills  at  Glen  Park, 
for  which  surveys  have  already  been  made.  The  new  building  will  be 
located  near  the  Woods  Falls  dam,  where  it  is  proposed  to  increase  the 
power  development  by  the  construction  of  a  new  concrete  dam  with 
bulkhead  and  flumes.  The  additional  development  will  make  it  possible 
to  operate  many  of  the  grinders  by  electricity.  The  mill  will  contain  a 
sulphite  plant  to  take  the  place  of  the  one  on  Sewall's  Island. 

WILLIAMSVILLE,  N.  Y. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the 
Board  of  Trustees  for  an  electric-light  system  for  the  village,  for  which 
contracts   will   be   awarded  in  a   few   days. 

ANDREWS.  N.  C. — Extensive  improvements  and  additions  are  con- 
templated to  the  municipal  eJectric-light  plant  within  the  next  12  months, 
which  will  include  the  erection  of  a  new  power  plant  and  increasing  the 
output  by  about  350  hp;  also  the  purchase  of  one  SOO-kw  generator,  one 
exciter,  watcrwheel  and  governor,  switchboard  and  fixtures,  and  also  ma- 
terial for  lighting  system,  including  cable  and  insulators;  also  for  elec- 
trical supplies  of  all  kinds.     James  A.  Thornton  is  superintendent. 

CHARLOTTE,  N.  C— The  Southern  Pwr.  Co.  will  construct  a  hydro- 
electric plant  to  develop  Lookout  Shoals  on  Catawba  River,   12  miles  from 


i2go 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o.  No.  24. 


Statesville.  Four  units  of  4000  hp  each  will  be  installed.  The  cost  of  the 
plant  is  estimated  at  $1,000,000.  W.  S.  Lee,  of  Charlotte,  is  chief  en- 
gineer. 

WILMINGTON,  N.  C— The  Tidewater  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to  build 
within  the  next  six  months  a  brick  substation  building  and  to  purchase 
within  the  next  three  months  one  500-kw  rotary  converter  and  two  250- 
kva  transformers  and  switchboards  for  rotary  and  transformers.  The 
company  is  now  erecting  one  264-hp  Babcock  &  Wilcox  boiler.  Raymond 
M.    Hunt  is  superintendent. 

FARGO,  N.  D.^Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  A.  R.  Watkins, 
city  auditor,  until  Dec.  23  for  furnishing  all  material  and  construction 
of  a  "white  way"  in  "white-way"  district  No.  2  of  the  city  of  Fargo, 
extending  on  Front  Street  from  Eighth  Street  to  First  Street,  according 
to  plans  and  specifications  which  are  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  city 
auditor. 

AKRON,  OHIO. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  city  authorities 
for  changing  the  street-lighting  system  in  the  business  district.  The 
plans  call  for  standards  set  50  ft.  apart,  with  lamps  aggregating  1200  cp. 
It  has  not  been  decided  how  many  lamps  will  be  used  to  the  standard. 

CINCINNATI,  OHIO.— The  Union  Gas  &  EI.  Co..  Cincinnati,  is  con- 
templating the  purchase  of  one  feed   pump  and  one  feed  heater. 

CINCINNATI,  OHIO. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office 
of  the  director  of  public  service.  City  Hall,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  until  Dec.  19 
'for  the  installation  of  an  electric-lighting  system  for  the  Gilbert  Avenue 
Viaduct.  Plans,  specifications  and  blank  proposals  can  be  obtained  at  the 
office  of  the  chief  engineer.  Department  of  Public  Service.  V.  T.  Price 
is  director  of  public  service. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  of- 
fice of  W.  J.  Springborn,  director  of  public  service,  Room  104,  City  Hall, 
Cleveland,  until  Dec.  18  for  furnishing,  lighting  and  maintaining  electric 
street  lamps  and  equipment  for  the  year  1913,  in  accordance  with  plans 
and  specifications  which  may  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  the  superintend- 
ent  of  street  lighting. 

HICKSVILLE,  OHIO.— The  HicksviUe  El.  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  con- 
templates within  the  next  two  months  the  purchase  of  one  40-kw  and  one 
75-kw,  2300-volt,  three-phase,  60-cycle  generator  with  switchboard;  also 
one  25-kw  transformer  and  other  smaller  transformers.  C.  M.  Lott  is 
president  and  manager. 

MASSILLON.  OHIO.— The  Massillon  El.  &  Gas  Co.  expects  to  erect 
within  the  next  three  months  16  miles  of  22,000-volt,  three-phase  trans- 
mission line  and  15  miles  of  2200-volt,  three-phase  transmission  line  and 
two  substations,  material  for  which  has  already  been  purchased.  The 
company  has  also  recently  placed  contracts  for  one  1250-kva,  2300-volt, 
three-phase,  60-cycle  General  Electric  turbine,  one  Le  Blanc  con- 
denser, Westinghouse,  and  five  50-lamp  General  Electric  rectifier  sets. 
R.  A.  Brooks  is  manager. 

MILAN,  OHIO. — The  Council  has  awarded  a  contract  to  Henry  Neu- 
fer,  of  Norwalk,  to  furnish  electricity  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the 
town,  also  for  commercial  lighting  and  domestic  purposes.  Mr.  Neufer 
proposes  to  erect  an  electric  plant  here,  work  on  which  will  soon  begin. 
The   municipal   plant   will   be  closed   down. 

NORWOOD,  OHIO. — Extensive  improvements  are  contemplated  to  the 
municipal  electric-light  system  within  the  next  90  days,  including  the  in- 
stallation of  350  to  400  alternating-current  series  street  arc  lamps,  one 
350-hp  gas  engine  and  one  200-kw  alternating-current  generator,  cooling 
tower,  switching  apparatus  for  generator  and  a  few  transformers  for 
alternating-current  system;  also  a  water  softener  of  3.000.000-gal.  capacity. 
H.    C.    Hubbell    is   superintendent. 

TULSA,  OKLA. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  City  Council  by 
Charles  Page  for  an  electric  light,  heat  and  power  franchise  in  Tulsa. 
The  proposition  will  be  submitted  to  a  vote  on  Jan.  20. 

HILLSBORO,  ORE. — The  Washington-Oregon  Corpn.  expects  to  erect 
within  the  next  two  months  8J^  miles  of  transmission  line  from  Forest 
Grove  to  Gaston,  Ore.,  and  to  build  a  22.000-volt  substation  at  Gaston. 
G.   M.  Turner  is  local  manager. 

ALTOONA,  PA. — The  City  Council  is  considering  the  question  of  sub- 
stituting tungsten  lamps  for  many  of  the  arc  lamps  now  in  use  in  the 
near  future.  The  Penn  Central  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  the  contract  for 
street  lighting. 

HAMBURG,  PA.— The  Hamburg  Gas  &  El.  Co.  expects  to  erect  within 
the  next  six  months  about  6  miles  of  high-tension  transmission  lines  and 
to  purchase  within  the  next  10  months  one  450-hp  water-tube  boiler.  A. 
?.   y\ltliouse  is  superintendent. 

SS'.XECA,  S.  C. — The  Concross  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  will  be  formed  to  take 
over  tlie  property  of  the  Seneca  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Seneca,  which  is  now 
constructing  a  hydroelectric  plant  at  Concross  Shoals,  4  miles  from 
Seneca.  Two  500-hp  turbines  and  other  machinery  are  being  installed. 
The  cost  of  the  work  is  estimated  at  about  $50,000.  Lewis  W.  Parker, 
of   Greenville,    S.    C,   is  interested   in   the  company. 

HUMBOLDT,  S.  D. — The  citizens  have  accepted  the  proposition  sub- 
mitted by  Mr.  Gronsdahl  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  plant  in 
Humboldt.  The  Town  Board  was  authorized  to  make  necessary  ar- 
rangements for  installing  the  system.  Electrical  energy  to  operate  the 
system  will  be  obtained  from  the  electric  plant  in  Hartford.  The  plans 
provide   for  a  24-hour  service. 

ELIZAr.ETHTOWN.   TENN.— The   Watauga    Pwr.    Co.    is   planning   to 


extend  its  transmission  lines  to  Jonesboro,  Morristown  and  Greenville, 
Tenn. 

AUSTIN,  TEX.— The  Independent  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Joplin,  Mo.,  has  been 
granted  a  permit  to  do  business  in  Texas.  The  company  is  capitalized  at 
$400,000   and   will   have   its   headquarters   in   this   city. 

BEEN'ILL?:,  TEX.— The  Beeville  Mfg.  Co.,  which  operates  the  local 
electric-light  plant,  has  increased  its  capital  stock  from  $10,000  to  $50,000. 

BRYAN,  TEX. — The  Bryan-College  Interurban  Ry.  Co.  is  preparing 
to  extend  its  railway  down  the  valley  of  the  Brazos  River  several  miles. 
O.  G.   Gammil  is  general  manager. 

DENISON,  TEX.— John  R.  CuUinane,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  asso- 
ciates are  promoting  the  construction  of  an  electric  interurban  railway 
that  is  to  extend  between  Denison  and  Durant,  Okla.,  a  distance  of 
about  30  miles.  The  same  interests,  it  is  stated,  also  contemplate  the 
installation  of  a  hydroelectric  plant  at  some  point  on  the  Red  River  and 
the  erection  of  transmission  lines  to  Durant,  Calera,  Colbert  and  Denison. 
The  construction  of  an  electric  railway  in  Durant  is  also  contemplated. 

EL  PASO,  TEX. — The  Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corpn.,  of  Bos- 
ton, Mass.,  will  soon  begin  work  on  construction  of  the  interurban  elec- 
tric railway  that  is  to  extend  from  El  Paso  down  the  Rio  Grande  River 
to   Fabens. 

FREDERICKSBURG,  TEX.— Work  has  begun  on  improvements  to 
the  local  electric-light  plant.  In  the  near  future  an  additional  generator 
will   be  installed.     The  entire  distributing  system  will  be  rebuilt. 

HEREFORD,  TEX.— The  Hereford  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to 
purchase  within  the  next  six  months  one  low-pressure  turbine  and  one 
condenser  for  exhaust  steam,  15  miles  of  bare  copper  wire,  motors, 
transformers  and  two  irrigating  pumps  for  wells  on  farm  8  miles  distant, 
F.   II.   Obertheir  is   owner. 

MINEOLA,  TEX.— The  Mineola  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.  is  in  the  market  for 
a  30-kw,  35-kw  or  40-kw,  2300-volt,  60-cycle,  three-phase  second-hand 
unit  for  winter  day  load.  It  must  be  direct-connected  to  turbine,  simple 
side-crank  engine.  The  company  will  also  award  contract  for  construc- 
tion of  10,000-gal.  water  tank  erected  on  a  100-ft.  tower.  It  will  also 
build  a  500-ton  ice-storage  plant,  to  be  insulated  with  cork,  and  will 
install  a  new  set  of  30-ton  steam  condensers,  equip  two  ice  tanks  with 
compressed-air  or  motor  lifts  and  two  vaults  with  compressed-air  or  motor 
elevators.     C.  M.  Dozier  is  manager. 

PARIS,  TEX. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Jan.  8,  1913,  for  construction,  including  plumbing,  gas  piping,  heating 
apparatus,  electric  conduit  and  wiring  and  lighting  fixtures,  of  the  annex 
to  the  United  States  post  office  at  Paris,  Tex.  Drawings  and  specifica- 
tions may  be  obtained  from  the  custodian  at  Paris,  or  at  the  above 
office.      Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising  architect. 

SMITHVILLE,  TEX.— The  Smithville  El.  Lt.,  Wtr.  &  Pwr.  Co.  ex- 
pects to  install  within  the  next  month  one  150-kw  Fairbanks-Morse  oil 
engine  and  one  100-k\'a,  60-cycle  Westinghouse  alternator  and  also  ex- 
pects to  purchase  within  the  next  three  months  one  50-kva.  60-cycle  al- 
ternator, one  2-kva  exciter,  two  25-hp  motors  to  drive  pumps  in  the 
pumping  plant;  also  one  deep- well  motor-driven  pump,  two  ammeters, 
one  voltmeter  and  switches  for  generator.  Emil  Buescher  is  owner 
and  manager. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH.— The  capita]  stock  of  the  Utah  Pwr.  & 
Lf.  Co.  has  been  increased  from  $1,000,000  to  $40,000,000.  This  company, 
which  was  formed  by  the  consolidation  of  14  of  the  largest  hydroelectric 
power  plants  in  Utah,  Idaho  and  Colorado,  will  supply  electricity  for 
railroads,  mines,  mills  and  smelters.  D.  C.  Jackling  is  president  of  the 
company. 

SPRINGFIELD,  VT.— The  John  T.  Black  Corpn..  electrical  depart- 
ment, expects  to  purchase  within  two  or  three  months  two  boilers,  one 
500-kw  turbine  with  all  auxiliaries,  one  15-kw  exciter  with  turbine,  one 
surface  condenser  for  500-kw  turbine,  one  or  two  boiler-feed  pumps,  one 
air  pump  and  a  small  amount  of  switchboard  material.  The  company  is 
now  erecting  6  miles  of  transmission  line  to  North  Springfield  and 
Gould  Mills.     J.   Gardner  Menut  is  manager. 

STAUNTON,  VA. — The  Staunton  Ltg.  Co.  is  now  erecting  a  substa- 
tion at  Waynesboro,  Va.,  and  is  installing  the  following  equipment:  two 
100-kva,  12,000-2200-volt,  60-cycle  General  Electric  transformers  at 
Waynesboro,  two  transformers  of  the  same  size  and  type  at  Staunton, 
and  also  three  extra  General  Electric  feeder  panels.  W.  F.  Ficklen,  Jr.. 
is    superintendent. 

CLE  ELUM,  WASH.— The  Kittitas  Ry.  &  Pwr.  Co.  will  begin  work  on 
construction  of  the  proposed  electric  line  to  the  Cle  Elum  mining  dis- 
trict in  the  spring.     Simon  Justham   is  interested. 

SATSOP,  WASH.— The  Montesano  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.,  of  Montesano,  and 
the  Elma  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  have  applied  to  the  County  Commissioners  for 
permission  to  erect  an  electric  transmission  line  along  the  county  road 
to  Satsop  and  upon  certain  streets  in  the  town. 

SEATTLE,  WASH,— Tlie  Seattle,  Renton  &  Southern  St.  Ry.  Co.  has 
announced  that  the  company  will  build  7  miles  of  road  in  the  near  future. 
E.  M.  Mills  is  interested. 

SEATTLE,  WASH.— The  Puget  Sound  Trac,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is 
planning  to  extend  the  Madison  Street  car  line  from  Broadway  to  Four- 
teenth   Avenue.     About   $125,000    will   be   expended. 

WESTON,  W.  VA.— The  Weston  El.  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Wtr.  Co.  has 
awarded  contract  for  a   1,000,000-gal    filtering  plant  to  the  Roberts  Filter- 


December  14.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1291 


ing  Co.,  of  Pliiladelphia.  Pa.  Motor-driven  pumps  will  be  used,  one 
1800  gal.  per  minute  and  the  other  700  gal.  per  minute.  J.  S.  Mitchell 
is  secretary  and  superintendent. 

WHEFXING,  W.  VA.— The  ornamental  street-lighting  system  for  the 
business  district  advocated  by  the  Board  of  Trade  will  soon  be  carried 
through.  The  ornamental  poles  will  be  erected  jointly  by  the  Wheeling 
Trac.  Co.,  the  West  Virginia  Trac.  &  Lt.  Co.,  and  the  Wheeling  Elec- 
trical Co.  George  W.  Lutz,  chairman  of  the  committee  of  board  of 
trade,    is    interested. 

CED.^RBURG,  WIS.— The  Common  Council  has  issued  $12,000  in 
bonds,  the  proceeds  of  which  are  to  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  pur- 
chasing a  new  engine,  switchboard  and  generator  for  the  municipal 
electric   plant. 

LA  CROSSE,  WIS. — The  contract  for  wiring  work  in  connection  with 
the  new  water  plant  was  awarded  to  the  Thill-Manning-Whalen  Co.  for 
$5,963.  The  work  will  consist  of  erection  of  transmission  line  from 
pump  house  to  substations,  all  materials  to  be  supplied  by  the  company. 
LANCASTER,  WIS. — The  Lancaster  El.  Lt.  Co.  is  considering  plans 
for  the  construction  of  a  new  plant.  The  company  expects  to  erect  trans- 
mission  lines   to   Fennimore,   Bloomington  and    Potosi. 

RICHLAND  CENTER,  WIS.— The  purchase  of  a  500-hp  direct-con- 
nected unit,  l!50-volt,  three-phase,  60-cycle,  for  the  municipal  electric- 
light  plant  is  under  consideration.     R.  H.   Strang  is  superintendent. 

EDMONTON,  ALTA.,  CAN. — Extension  and  improvements  are  con- 
templated to  the  Edmonton  Radial  Railway  during  the  winter,  including 
the  construction  of  two  new  substations;  also  the  purchase  of  one  750- 
kw  motor-generator  set.  two  500-kw  transformers  and  one  750-kw  trans- 
former. 

KAMLOOPS,  B.  C,  CAN — The  date  for  opening  tenders  for  furnishing 
lOOOhp  steam  and  electrical  pumping  equipment  for  the  new  power  sta- 
tion has  been  extended  from  Dec.  5  to  Dec.  19.  Ducane,  Dutcher  &  Co., 
Rogers  Building,  Vancouver,  B.  C,  are  consulting  engineers.  J.  J.  Car- 
ment   is  city   clerk. 

SOURIS,  MAN.,  CAN. — The  Town  Council  is  contemplating  the  in- 
sallation  of  an  electric-light  plant  to  cost  about  $40,000.  A  by-law 
will   be  submitted  to  the   ratepayers  in   December. 

DALHOUSIE,  N.  B.,  CAN. — We  are  informed  that  the  contract  for 
installing  the  proposed  electric-light  plant  will  not  be  awarded  before  spring. 
Willis  Chipman,  of  Toronto,  Ont.,  is  consulting  engineer. 

HAMILTON,  ONT.,  CAN. — Plans  are  under  way  for  an  addition  to 
the  transformer  station,  to  cost  about  $4,000.  George  H.  Lees  is  Mayor 
and    S.    H.    Kent   clerk. 

ST.  CATH.ARINES,  ONT.,  CAN. — Preparations  are  being  made  by 
the  Niagara.  St.  Catharines  &  Toronto  Ry.  Co.  to  build  a  new  power 
h«use   in    St.    Catharines. 

TORONTO,  ONT.,  CAN. — Plans  have  been  prepared  for  an  addition 
to  the  battery  house  of  the  Toronto  El.  Lt.  Co.,  on  Terauley  Street, 
to  cost  about  $8,000.  H.  G.  Salisbury,  12  Adelaide  Street,  Toronto,  is 
architect. 

TORONTO,  ONT.,  CAN. — The  Toronto  Pwr.  Co.  contemplates  the 
erection  of  a  transmission  line  from  Niagara  Falls  to  Syracuse  and  will 
enter  into  competition  with  the  Ontario  Pwr.  Co.  Plans  have  already 
been  prepared  for  the  transmission  line  in  New  York  State  and  will 
follow  a  right-of-way  secured  some  years  ago.  The  Toronto  company 
secures  its  energy  from  Niagara  Falls  through  the  Electrical  Develop- 
ment Co.  Sir  William  MacKenzie  is  president  of  the  Toronto  company. 
WEST  LORNE,  ONT.,  CAN.— Excavating  has  started  on  the  pro- 
posed electric-light  plant  of  the  West  Lome  El.  Lt.  Co.  Contract  for 
machinery  has  been  placed  with  the  Canadian  Fairbanks-Morse  Co.,  of 
Toronto.      W.   Webster   is   manager. 

MONTREAL,  QUE.,  C.\N.— The  stockholders  of  the  Cedar  Rapid 
Mfg.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Montreal,  have  authorized  an  increase  in  capital 
stock   from    $10,000,000    to    $15,000,000. 

MONTREAL,  QUE.,  CAN.— The  National  Hydro-Electric  Co.  has 
taken  another  step  toward  supplying  Montreal  with  power  from  its  pro- 
posed power  plant  at  Carillon  Falls.  The  company  at  present  is  operating 
a  small  plant,  but  is  contemplating  an  extensive  installation  capable  of 
developing  160,000  hp  and  which  will  involve  an  expenditure  of  about 
$10,000,000.  The  small  plant  will  be  used  in  connection  with  building 
the  large  plant  and  also  to  supply  electricity  to  neighboring  municipal- 
ities. The  company  has  a  Dominion  charter  enabling  it  to  do  business 
in  this  Province,  and  application  has  been  made  to  the  Provincial  Legis- 
lature to  give  it  the  right  of  placing  poles  and  wires  in  municipalities 
without  dealing  with  each  one  in  particular.  Power  is  also  sought  to 
use  the  Montreal  conduits  for  its  transmission  lines,  while  pending  the 
construction  of  conduits  it  is  asked  that  rights  for  poles  and  wires  be 
granted.  The  company  asks  for  permission  to  operate  in  Assumption, 
Terrebonne,  Two  Mountains,  Jacques  Cartier,  Laval,  Montcalm,  Joliette, 
Berthier,  Richelieu,  Missisquoi,  Vaudreuil,  Argenteuil,  Soulanges,  Cham- 
bly,  Chateauguay,  Eeauharnois,  Ottawa,  Iberville,  St.  John  and  Labelle. 
Mr.  Mills  is  president  of  the  company. 

MEXICO  CITY,  MEX. — The  Mexican  Mines,  Ltd.,  of  El  Oro,  Mex., 
has  applied  to  the  federal  Department  of  Fomento  for  a  concession  to 
use  the  water  of  the  Los  Ocotes  arroyo.  The  company  will  install  a 
hydroelectric  power  plant  to  generate  electricity  to  operate  the  machinery, 
etc.,  at  its  mines  in  El  Oro. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  AUTO  SAFETY  SIGNAL  LAMP  COMPANY  has  been  in- 
corporated under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware  with  a  capital  stock 
of  $100,000  by  L.  Abeles,  J.  J.  Drew,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  and  J.  G. 
Gray,    of   Wilmington,   Del. 

THE  BURGOON-MATHEWS  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Birming- 
ham, Ala.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $35,000  to 
deal  in  electrical  supplies.  The  officers  are  H.  W.  Mathews,  presi- 
dent; J.  W.  Ege,  vice-president,  and  C.  E.  Burgoon,  secretary  and 
treasurer. 

THE  CHICAGO  SAFETY  APPLIANCE  COMPANY,  of  Chicago, 
III.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  to  manu- 
facture safety  appliances  by  F.  A.  Lathrop,  F.  P.  Mason  and  S.  A. 
Dugger. 

THE  CONTINENTAL  ELECTRIC  &  MANUFACTURING  COM- 
PANY, of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock 
of  $10,000  by  I.  Cohen,  Samuel  Finkelstein  and  Eugene  L.  Fisk,  39 
West   Seventeenth   Street,    New    York,    N.   Y. 


New  Incorporations 

WILMINGTON,  DEL. — The  Eastern  Mexico  Pwr.  &  El.  Co.  has  filed 
articles  of  incorporation  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $300,000.  The  incorporators  are:  H.  E.  Latter,  W.  J. 
Maloney  and   N.    P.   Coffin,    of  Wilmington,   Del. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.— The  Chicago  &  Northern  Interurban  Ry.  Co. 
has  been  incorporated  with  a.  capital  stock  of  $100,000  by  W.  A.  Miller, 
F.  W.  Hochspeier,  O.  J.  Smith,  W.  E.  Swanson  and  G.  L.  Starbird. 
The  company  proposes  to  operate  a  railway  from  Chicago  through  the 
townships   of   Niles,    Maine   and   Wheeling. 

MULBERRY,  IND. — The  Mulberry  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $13,000  by  David  H.  Yund,  Martin  S. 
Strickel,  Albert  Welden,  Daniel  Rex  and  others.  The  company  proposes 
to  install  and  operate  an  electric  plant  in  Mulberry. 

OTTAWA,  KAN. — The  Overland  El.  Co.  has  been  organized  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $30,000  by  Joseph  Beeler  and  others.  The  company 
proposes  to  purchase  electricity  from  the  municipal  electric  plant  in 
Ottawa  and  distribute  same  between  Ottawa  and  Pomona,  Centropolis 
and  Homewood. 


Trade  Publications 


ELECTRICAL  ENGINEER'S  SLIDE-RULE.— Mr.  King  G.  Kellogg, 
consulting  engineer,  1836  South  Fifty-fifth  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  is 
distributing  a  four-page  leaflet  referring  to  a  new  electrical  engineer's 
slide-rule.  Mr.  Kellogg's  device  is  the  result,  as  stated  in  his  leaflet,  of 
the  demand  for  a  slide-rule  that  the  practically  but  not  technically  trained 
engineer  can  use  without  special  study.  This  rule  is  so  constructed  as 
to  solve  electrical  problems  directly  in  millivolts,  volts,  feet,  thousand 
feet,  circular  mils,  etc. 

REFLECTORS  AND  GLOBES.— The  General  Electric  Company,  Ltd., 
London,  England,  has  recently  issued  a  comprehensive  catalog  devoted  to 
Holophane  and  Holophane-Benjamine  products.  The  work  is  printed  on 
fine  art  paper  and  is  excellently  illustrated.  A  description  of  scientific 
illumination. is  given.  The  new  inverted  type  of  Holophane  bowls  used 
with  the  indirect  lighting  system  is  described  and  illustrated,  as  are  also 
the  "Uniflex"  reflectors  and  reflector  bowls.  The  general  arrangement 
of  the  catalog  is  good,  and  it  will  be  found  of  special  value  to  all  dealers 
handling  the  Holophane  line.  Ready  reference  to  any  particular  type  of 
lamp  has  been  made  exceptionally  easy  by  the  general  plan  of  the  book, 
which  gives  the  stock  number  opposite  each  different  type,  arranged  in 
numerical  order. 

ELECTRIC  SUPPLIES.— Simplex  Conduits.  Ltd.,  of  London,  Eng- 
land, has  issued  a  massive  catalog  of  504  pages,  size  S'/i  in.  by  11  in., 
which  will  interest  all  users  of  electric  lighting  and  motor-service  sup- 
plies. The  general  arrangement  of  the  catalog  is  excellent.  It  is  divided 
into  twenty  different  sections,  heavy  sectional  divisional  leaves  with 
tabs  on  which  is  printed  the  title  of  the  section  making  ready  reference 
to  any  particular  division  especially  easy.  Concise  details,  with  numer- 
ous illustrations,  are  given  of  all  classes  of  material  for  electric  wiring, 
and  prices  and  full  particulars  of  many  energy-consuming  devices  are 
included.  As  a  model  of  the  thoroughness  with  which  the  company  has 
handled  the  subject  of  conduits  in  this  catalog,  that  particular  section  is 
worthy  of  mention.  All  details  are  tabulated,  and  a  scale  illustration 
of  each  type  of  fitting  and  of  each  size  in  which  that  particular  type  is 
manufactured  are  given.  The  catalog  is  well  printed  on  fine  coated  paper, 
contains  good  illustrations,  an  exceptionally  complete  index  with  cross- 
references,  is  bound  in  red  cloth,  and  is  altogether  a  very  ambitious  and 
creditable  catalog  which  will  be  found  a  useful  volume  for  the  trade  in 
general. 


1292 


ELECTRICAL     W  O  R  L  D . 


Vol.  6o,  No.  24 


Business  Notes 


THE  SIEMENS-SCHUCKERTVVERKE.  G.  m.  b.  H.,  Berlin,  Germany, 
has  established  a  branch  office  in   Sao   Paulo,   Brazil. 

THE  EVENS  &  HOWARD  FIRE  BRICK  COMPANY  has  opened  a 
branch  sales  office  in  the  First  National  Bank  Building,  Chicago,  with 
H.  E.  Risker  in  charge.  The  general  offices  and  works  of  this  company, 
which  has  recently  brought  out  a  new  ventilated  boiler-furnace  arch,  are 
in  St.   Louis. 

THE  ARMATURE  &  MOTOR  WORKS,  66  West  Fort  Street,  Detroit. 
will  begin  a  general  repair  and  construction  business  on  Jan.  1,  Mr. 
J.  C.  Swach,  who  was  for  twenty-two  years  an  erecting  engineer  for 
the  Crocker- Wheeler  Company,  will  superintend  all  the  works,  and  Mr. 
W.  J.   Hartwig,   205  Jefferson  Street,  Detroit,  will  be  one  of  the  officers. 

CANADIAN  TUNGSTEN  LAMP  COMPANY.  Hamilton,  Ont.,  has  ar- 
rived at  a  settlement  with  the  Canadian  General  Electric  Company  in 
reference   to   a   patent  suit  concerning   tungsten   lamps   which   was   started 


by  the  latter  against  the  former,  and  has  secured  from  the  Canadian 
General  Electric  Company  a  license  to  manufacture  and  sell  lamps  wttb 
drawn- wire   tungsten   filaments. 

UNION  ELECTRIC  &  CONTRACTING  COMPANY.— Mr.  Frank 
Goodwyn,  who  for  the  past  few  years  has  been  general  sales  manager  of 
the  Canadian  Tungsten  Lamp  Company,  Ltd.,  and  of  the  Ontario  Lantern 
&  Lamp  Company,  Ltd.,  of  Hamilton,  Ont.,  has  severed  his  connections 
with  these  concerns  and  formed  the  Union  Electric  &  Contracting  Com- 
pany, with  Mr.  Ambrose  Moore.  The  company  is  carrying  on  a  general 
electrical  contracting  business,  with  an  office  at  No.  84  King  Street  East, 
Toronto,    Ont. 

ELECTRIC  MAINTENANCE  COMPANY.— The  Electric  Maintenance 
Company,  of  117  South  First  Street,  Louisville,  Ky.,  has  been  formed  to 
extend  expert  and  practical  service  to  users  of  motors  in  the  Gateway 
City.  Its  work  consists  in  regularly  inspecting  the  motor  equipment  of 
factories,  keeping  apparatus  in  repair,  etc.  In  this  way  equipment  of 
central-station  customers  is  kept  in  a  condition  of  maximum  efficiency, 
and  the  Electric  Maintenance  Company  is  supported  by  the  approval  of 
central   station   and  consumer  alike.      Mr.   E.   A.   Prince  is  manager. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED    STATES    PATENTS    ISSUED    DEC.    3.    1912. 

[Prepared  by   Robert   Starr  Allyn,    16   Exchange   Place.    New    York.] 

1,045,809.  HANGER  FOR  TROLLEY  WIRES;  O.  W.  Brenizer,  Phil- 
adelphia.   Pa.     App.    filed  .Tune   30,    1910.      Detachable   clamping  jaws. 

1.045.822.  PROCESS  OF  MAKING  BATTERY  PLATES;  E.  G. 
Dodge,  South  Orange,  N.  J.  App.  61ed  Nov.  4,  1911.  Copper 
oxide  is  fired  on  an  earthy  base. 

1.045.823.  BATTERY  PLATE;  E.  G.  Dodge,  Newark,  N.  J.  App.  61ed 
July    1,    1907.      Copper   oxide   on   a    fused   backing. 

1,045,845.     TELEPHONE    SYSTEM;    E.    R.    Hohbs,    Buhl,    Idaho.     App. 

filed  May  15.   1909.     Central-station  connection  between  magneto  and 

common-battery   line   circuits. 
1,045,862.     ELECTRIC   BATTERY;   G.   A.   Lutz,   Plainfield,   N.    T.     App. 

filed  July  29,    1909.      Circular  copper   oxide  and   zinc  plates. 

1.045.866.  CIRCUIT-BRE.\KER;  J.  N.  Mahoney,  Wilkinsburg,  Pa. 
App.    filed  Oct.  8,    1910.      Pneumatically  operatefl. 

1.045.867.  TROLLEY;  P.  A.  McCullough,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  App.  filed 
Oct.    14,    1910.      Wheel   with  contact   block. 

1,045,880.  BATTERY;  W.  Petschell.  Winnipeg,  Manitoba,  Canada. 
App.    filed    Feb.    27,    1911.      Sealed    carbon   and    zinc   type. 

1,045,892.  HIGH  AND  LOW  WATER  AL.-^RM  FOR  STEAM  BOIL- 
ERS; C.  E.  Robison,  Harrisburg,  Pa.  App.  filed  Feb.  16,  1911. 
Float-actuated. 

1,045,897.  SWITCH:  F.  J.  Seyerle.  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  App.  filed  Aug.  21, 
1911.       Knife    switch    with    thermostatic    device. 

1,045.909.  SYXCHROROTOR;  E.  G.  Thomas,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  App. 
filed  Oct.  23,  1909.  Elastic  driving  connection  between  the  driving 
and  driven  members. 


1,046,225. — Signaling   Device. 


1,045.911.  ELECTRIC  METAI^WORKING  M.-\CHINE;  E.  Thomson, 
Swampscott.  Mass.  App.  filed  March  4,  1911.  Work  holder  for 
welding    machine. 

1,045,925.  SERVICE  METER  SYSTEM;  C.  S.  Winston,  Chicago,  111. 
App.   filed  Jan.   9.    1908.     Two-wire  central-energy   telephone   register. 

1,045.948.  ELECTRODE  FOR  WELDING:  W.  B.  Cleveland  and  W.  E. 
Huber,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  App.  filed  March  15,  1909.  For  rail  bind- 
ing. 

1,045,953.  MULTIPLEX-TELEGRAPH  SYSTEM;  M.  M.  Davis  and 
.\.  J.  Eaves,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Feb.  7,  1912.  For  shunt- 
ing outgoing  signal  currents. 

1,045,959.  MOTOR-CONTROL  SYSTEM;  J.  Eaton,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
App.   filed  June   13,    1912.     Dynamic  braking. 

1.045.967.  TRANSMITTER  CASING;  F.  Gottschalk,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
App.    filed   Feb.    12.    1912.     Airtight   and   watertight  casing. 

1.045.968.  TELEPHONE  TRANSMITTER;  F.  Gottschalk,  New  York, 
N.  Y.  .\pp.  filed  Feb.  16,  1912.  Rolled  or  tempered  diaphragm  hav- 
ing initial   stress. 

1.045.969.  TELEPHONE  TRANSMITTER;  F.  Gottschalk  New  York 
N.  Y.     App.  filed  Feb.   10,   1912.     Watertight  construction. 

1,045,972.  SECTION  INSUL.ATOR;  F.  Guillot,  Schenectady,  N.  Y 
App.   filed   Oct.    10,    1907.     For   high-tension   trolley   lines. 

1,045,975.  ELECTRIC  WATER  HEATER;  C.  O.  Haskel,  Los  Angeles 
Cal.     App.  filed  Oct.   31,   1908.     Double-shell  casing. 

1,045,979.  SWITCHING  APPARATUS;  E.  C.  A.  Hoh,  Brooklyn  N  Y 
App.   filed   .^pril    1,   1910.     Electric   sign   flasher. 


1,045,981.     SAFETY    DEVICE     FOR    ELECTRIC    CIRCUITS;     E.    H. 

Jacobs,    Schenectady,    N.    Y.     App.    filed    -Aug.    22,    1910.     Control    of 

motor  circuits  for  machine  shops,  etc. 
1,045,985.     CRYOLITE     RUTILE    COMPOSITION;     E.     Kraus,     Lynn, 

Mass.     .App.  filed  Aug.   3,   1911.     Thermal  cut-out,  motor  starter,  etc. 
1,046,004.     V.\CUUM-TUEE    LAMP;    D.    McF.    Moore,    Newark,    N.    J. 

-App.    filed    Jan.    5,    1905.      Interior    non-arcing    electrode    of    porous 

material   impregnated  with  shellac. 
1,046,043.     METHOD    AND    APPARATUS    FOR    REDUCING    CHEM- 
ICAL  COMPOUNDS;    E.    Weintraub,    Lynn,    Mass.     App.    filed   Oct. 

27,    1909.     Hydrogen  acts  upon  boron   halid  at  high   temperature. 
1,046,057.     ELECTRIC-CONTROL      MECHANISM       FOR       DRIVING 

MECHANISM;    C.    A,    Dresser,    Chicago,    111.     App.    filed    Nov.    11, 

1911.     For  printing  presses,  etc. 

1.046.066.  ELECTRIC  WELDING;  J.  Harmatta,  Szepesvaraija,  Austria- 
Hungary.  .\pp.  filed  Dec.  3,  1903.  Spot  welding  broadly;  article 
and   process  claims. 

1.046.067.  MEANS  FOR  SECURING  CONDUCTOR  TERMINALS; 
G.  W.  Hart,  West  Hartford,  Conn.  App.  filed  May  20,  1912.  For 
automobile  switches,  etc. 

1.046.081.  V'APOR  ELECTRIC  APPARATUS;  C.  A.  Kraus  and  R.  D, 
Mailey,    Newton    Highlands    and    Lynn,    Mass.     -App.    filed    -Aug.    27, 

1909.  Electrode   attachment. 

1.046.082.  N'APOR  ELECTRIC  APPARATUS;  C.  A.  Kraus  and  R.  D. 
Mailey,    Newton    Highlands    and    Lynn,    Mass.     .App.    filed    June    30, 

1910.  Interior  electrode  supports. 

1.046.083.  VAPOR  ELECTRIC  APPAR.ATUS:  C.  A.  Kraus  and  R.  D. 
Mailey,  Newton  Highlands  and  Lynn,  Mass.  -App.  filed  June  30, 
1910.     .A  screen  between  the  electrodes. 

1.046.084.  JOINT;  C.  A.  Kraus,  Newton  Highlands,  Mass.  App.  filed 
Sept.   8,    1910.     Gaslight  joint   for  vacuum  tubes. 

1.046.085.  JOINT;  C.  A.  Kraus,  Newton  Highlands,  Mass.  .App.  filed 
March  2,   1910.     Gaslight  metal  joint. 

1.046.086.  VAPOR-ARC  CIRCUIT-BREAKER;  C.  A.  Kraus,  Newton 
Highlands,  Mass.  App.  filed  April  5,  1912.  Alternating-currenl 
transmission  system. 

1.046,103.     ELECTRIC    HEATER;     L.     F.     Parkhurst,    Pitlsfield,    Mass. 

.App.  filed  .April  26,   1909.     Fastening  device. 
1,046,119.     AUTOMATIC    OIL    SWITCH;    H.    L.    Smith.    Schenectady, 

N.   Y.     .App.   filed  May   17,    1906.     Indicating  attachment. 
1.046.154.     TROLLEY-POLE    STAND;    E.    U.    Down,    Bowling    Green, 

Ohio.     -App.   filed  June   9,   1911.     Quick,  detachable   support. 
1.046  211.     METHOD   OF  MAKING   ELECTRIC   COILS;   J.    L.    Milton, 

Chicago,    111.     .App.   filed    Nov.    12,    1910.     Wire   insulation   and   heads 

vulcanized  after  assembling. 
1.046,225.     SIGNALING   DEVICE;    C.    A.    Schindler,   West   Hoboken,    N. 

J.     -App.  filed  -April  6.  1912.     Glove  with  light  for  chauffeurs. 
1,046.227.     ELECTRICAL    CONNECTOR;    A.    J.    Seemann,    .Milwaukee, 

Wis.     App.  filed  Oct.  8,   1910.     Car  coupler. 
1,046.235.     TROLLEY;  L.  T.  Tetlow.  West  Springfield,  .Mass.     App.  filed 

March  28,  1912.     Wheel  contacts. 

1.046.239.  ELECTRIC  WELDING  MACHINE;  F.  Warren,  Cincinnati, 
Ohio.     App.   filed   .Aug.    11,    1911.     Die-controlling  hand-lever  support 

1.046.240.  ELECTRIC  WELDING  M.ACHINE;  F.  Warren,  Cincinnati, 
Ohio.     .App.   filed  -Aug.    11,   1911.     Spot  welding  of  boxes,  stoves,  etc. 

1,046,288.  ELECTRODE  FOR  SECONDARY  B.ATTERIES;  H.  Garde 
and  .A.  J.  -Adams,  London,  England.  App.  filed  April  14,  1910.  Thin 
coiled  electrode  of  the  Faure  type. 

1.046.384.  SWITCH;  J.  Gordon,  Jr..  East  Orange,  N.  J.  App.  filed 
May    10,    1911.     Hand   switch   with   segmented   contacts. 

1.046.409.  ICE-SCRAPING  ATTACHMENT  FOR  TROLLEYS:  S.  A. 
Bemis  (deceased),  Springfield,  Mass.  App.  filed  Oct.  12,  1910.  Non- 
rotative  scraper. 

1.046.410.  MECHANICAL  MOVEMENT  AND  ELECTRIC  LIGHT 
SOCKET;  T.  A.  C.  Both,  Maiden,  Mass.  App.  filed  Dec.  30,  1911. 
Key-socket   operator. 

1.046.411.  MECHANICAL  MOVEMENT  AND  ELECTRIC-LIGHT 
SOCKET;  T.  ,A.  C.  Both,  Maiden,  Mass.  .App.  filed  Dec.  30.  1911. 
Reversible  push-button. 

1,046,416.  JOINT;  C.  A.  Kraus,  Newton  Highlands,  Mass.  App.  filed 
.Aug.   27,    1909.     Insulated  gaslight  joint. 

1.046.421.  PROCESS  AND  APPARATUS  FOR  PRODUCING  CHEM- 
ICAL REACTIONS;  J.  L.  R.  Hayden,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  .App. 
filed   Feb.   13,   1909.     Oxygen  and  nitrogen  reaction  by  electric  arc. 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer  and  American  Electrician. 


^f 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  DECEMBER  21,  1912. 


No.  25. 


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NEW  YORK.  SATURDAY.  DECEMBER  21,  1912. 

CONTENTS. 

Editorials    1293 

Chicago    Traction    Situation 1296 

Plan    160,000-hp  Plant   for   Montreal 1296 

Illumination   and    Decoration    1296 

Electrical    Salesmanship    and    Education 1297 

Electric   Vehicle   Association   of   America 1297 

Range  of  Wireless  Communication   from  Sayville,  N.   Y 1297 

Third   Kennelly   Lecture   on    Ilypeibolic    Functions   in    Electrical   En- 
gineering        1298 

Oregon   Workmen's   Compensation   Act 1299 

Suit  to   Enjoin   Competitor  from   Indemnifying   Customers 1299 

Patent   Litigation    Over    Enamel    Insulation 1299 

Valuation  of  Public-Utility  Properties    1300 

Patent    Decision   in    Suspension    Insulator   Case 1300 

Louisville   Injunction    Hearing  Jan.    6 1301 

Rights  of  a   Foreign   Corporation  in   Kentucky 1301 

Right  of  Eminent   Domain   Over   Patents 1301 

Proposed    Investigation    of    High-Tension    Transmission    Hazards    by 

Bureau    of    Standards    1301 

Nomination  for  the  United  States  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations  1302 
Proposed  New  York  Citizens'  Committee  to  Safeguard  Appointments 

to    Public    Service    Commission 1302 

Sulzer  Bill  for  a  Single  Court  of  Patent  Appeals 1302 

Federal   Water-Power   Policy    1304 

Public    Service    Commission    News 1306 

Current    News   and   Notes 1306 

New  Terminal   for   New   York  Central 1309 

Efficiency   of  "Earths"   in   Radio-Telegraphy.      By  Charles  A.   Culver  1319 

Design  of  High-Pressure  Steam  Mains 1320 

Denver   Exhibit   of  Electrical   Appliances    1321 

Displacing  Steam  Power  in  a  General  Machine  Shop 1323 

Distant-Reading    Boiler-Level    Gage 1324 

Church   Illumination    from   Concealed    Linear   Units 1324 

Some    Practical    Suggestions    in    Relation    to    Industrial    Lighting.  . . .    1324 

Ornamental    Standards   of   St.   Louis   Public   Buildings 1325 

Wiring  Inspection   at   Boston 1326 

Letteks  to  the  Editors: 

Derivation    of    Formula 1326 

Cause    of    Condensation .- 1326 

Digest   of   Current    Electrical    Literature I327 

Book    Reviews     1330 

New  Apparatus   and   Appliances 1331 

Industrial   and    Financial   News I338 

Weekly   Record   of  Electrical   Patents 1348 


NEW  YORfC  CENTRAL  TERMINAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

As  an  engineering  undertaking  the  passenger  terminal  of 
the  New  York  Central  lines,  described  in  this  issue,  ranks 
among  the  largest  of  the  present  day.  Certain  phases  of 
the  design  and  construction  are  particularly  worthy  of  men- 
tion. The  use  of  electricity  as  motive  power  has  made  it 
possible  to  depress  the  tracks  below  the  surface,  the  entire 
system  of  tracks  and  yards  being  placed  below  the  street 
level  and  a  number  of  intersecting  streets  being  thereby  re- 
stored to  the  public.  Upon  the  area  above  the  yards — twenty 
city  blocks,  containing  about  46  acres — will  be  erected  build- 
ings which  will  undoubtedly,  in  time,  yield  to  the  company  a 
very  large  interest  on  the  capital  invested.  The  railway 
company  will  exercise  strict  supervision  in  regard  to  the 
architectural  features  of  the  buildings,  and  if  present  plans 
are  carried  out  this  most  distinctive  phase  of  the  develop- 
ment promises  to  be  of  much  importance  to  the  city  of 
New  York. 

The  most  noteworthy  feature  of  the  terminal — or,  more 
properly,  terminals — is  the  complete  segregation  of  incom- 
ing and  outgoing  traffic,  separate  buildings  being  provided 
for  each  class.  In  the  main  building,  for  outbound  traffic, 
local  and  through  travelers  are  kept  on  separate  levels — an 
arrangement  which  naturally  increases  the  capacity  of  the 
terminal  in  a  very  marked  degree  and  also  adds  to  the  com- 
fort of  the  traveling  public.  For  traction  purposes  energy 
is  received  from  a  generating  station  previously  described 
in  these  columns,  and  for  the  terminal  and  other  buildings 
erected  over  the  track  area  a  service  plant  has  been  installed. 
Ample  space  has  been  provided  for  future  enlargement  of 
this  plant  as  new  buildings  are  erected,  with  consequent  in- 
crease in  load  requirements.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  two 
chimneys  of  this  plant  have  the  exclusive  privilege  of  pour- 
ing smoke  over  this  restricted  district. 


REGULATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL  CORPORATIONS. 

Secretary  Nagel  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor  is  not  to  be  numbered  among  those  progressives 
who  spell  the  name  of  their  doctrine  with  a  capital  P. 
This  is  evident  from  the  comments  the  Secretary  makes 
in  his  annual  report,  submitted  this  week,  on  the  proposal 
to  create  a  federal  industrial  commission.  If  such  a  com- 
mission is  created,  Mr.  Nagel  does  not  believe  that  it  should 
have  powers  over  industrial  corporations  equal  to  those 
exercised  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  over 
railways.  In  particular  he  opposes  the  suggestion  (some- 
what tentatively  put  forth  by  at  least  two  members  of 
the  present  administration)  that  the  proposed  industrial 
commission  shall  have  power  to  fix  the  prices  at  which 
commodities  may  be  sold.  Not  the  maximum  of  control, 
but  an  effort  "to  preserve,  to  the  greatest  extent  consistent 


1294 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


witli  the  public  welfare,  the  element  of  self-regulation," 
should  be  the  aim  of  federal  regulation,  the  Secretary 
believes.  He  favors  the  establishment  of  principles  of 
conduct  which  would  impose  desired  restraints  and  at  the 
same  time  leave  "a  wide  field  for  individual  achievement." 

There  is  some  comfort  in  these  views  for  those  who 
have  wondered  what  incentive  for  individual  achievement 
will  be  left  after  we  are  all  properly  regulated  according 
to  the  most  radical  notions  of  the  day.  There  is  comfort 
also  for  those  who,  while  not  opposing  regulation  of  mon- 
opolies and  great  combinations,  are  fearful  that  federal 
control  of  industry,  once  begun,  will  not  stop  short  of 
fixing  prices.  We  have  seen  how  the  desire  to  eliminate 
railway  abuses  has  grown  into  an  appetite  for  fixing  rates 
and  controlling  almost  every  essential  of  management. 
Similarly,  the  intent  to  do  away  with  the  evils  of  monopoly, 
or  what  amounts  to  it,  may  develop  into  a  demand  that 
some  governmental  agency  fix  the  price  at  which  products 
of  mine,  farm  and  factory  may  be  sold.  Is  this  desirable 
or  necessary  to  the  proper  control  of  combined  capital? 
Secretary  Nagel's  words  are  an  invitation  to  think  before 
we  go  further  into  the  labyrinth  of  federal  industrial 
regulation. 


GOVERNHENT  REGULATION  OF  WATER-POWERS. 

The  recently  published  annual  report  of  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  Walter  L.  Fisher  deals  at  some  length  with  ques- 
tions of  water-power  policy.  Congress,  controlling  streams 
upon  the  public  domain  and  navigable  streams  in  general, 
should  be  in  position  to  carry  out  a  well-defined  and  com- 
prehensive policy  with  regard  to  permitting  development 
on  the  streams  within  its  control.  We  have  at  various 
times  discussed  the  supposititious  water-power  trust  in  its 
relations  to  government  policy  and  have  pointed  out  that 
the  particular  ownership  of  a  water-power  or  group  of 
water-powers  is  of  no  particular  interest  to  the  consumer. 
It  is  of  interest  to  him  that  the  government  should  make 
such  provisions  as,  first,  will  encourage  instead  of  dis- 
couraging the  development  of  powers,  and,  second,  will 
cause  them  to  be  developed  under  such  regulations  as 
shall  prevent  robbing  the  consumer  through  unwarrantably 
high  prices.  These  two  functions  the  government  can  well 
assume. 

So  far  as  prices  for  electrical  energy  are  concerned,  the 
utilization  of  water-power  is  in  the  same  condition  as  any 
other  regulated  public  monopoly.  The  acceptance  of  suit- 
able regulation  is  now  commonplace  and  no  particular 
objection  is  made  to  it.  The  vital  question  which  arises  is 
whether  the  necessary  control  of  the  water-powers  can 
best  be  exercised  by  the  federal  government  or  by  the 
states.  Experience  in  many  other  matters  related  to  gen- 
eral policy  indicates  very  clearly  that  federal  control  is  the 
only  means  by  which  a  consistent  policy  of  encouraging 
development  and  discouraging  extortion  can  be  carried  out. 
Within  limits,  the  states  do  effective  work  in  local  matters, 
but  they  have  no  well-defined  mutual  responsibilities,  and 
in  these  days  of  long-distance  transmission  the  utilization 
of  water-powers  becomes  an  interstate  affair.  A  con- 
sistent policy  requires  for  its  carrying  out  the  action  of 
the  general  government  so  that  advance  cannot  be  retarded 


by  discrepancy  between  state  regulations  or  by  the  control 
of  state  governments  by  big  industrial  combinations,  a  con- 
dition which  is  only  too  familiar  at  the  present  time.  The 
dread  of  Uncle  Sam's  long  reach  and  heavy  hand  is  a  far 
more  potent  inspiration  to  square  dealing  than  the  discus- 
sions in  a  dozen  wrangling  legislatures,  sometimes  of  none 
too  savory  reputation  as  to  motives. 

It  is  of  vital  importance  to  secure  the  passage  of  such 
laws  by  Congress  as  will  give  the  general  government  ade- 
quate control  in  hydraulic  enterprises  on  the  public  domain 
and  in  the  interstate  relation  arising  therefrom.  Such 
legislation  should  be  urged  upon  Congress  by  all  who  have 
the  economic  interests  of  the  country  at  heart.  The  new 
administration  comes  into  power  with  such  a  backing  of 
popular  and  congressional  support  as  has  scarcely  been 
known  in  the  history  of  the  country.  It  will  have  a  power 
of  doing  things  effectively  which  it  would  be  hard  to  match 
anywhere  in  the  world,  and  its  opportunities  for  usefulness 
are  therefore  extraordinarily  great.  The  matter  of  control 
of  water-powers  is  by  no  means  the  least  important  of  the 
questions  which  confront  it.  What  American  industry 
wants  is  a  cheap  and  bountiful  power  supply,  a  stoppage  of 
the  enormous  waste  which  is  now  going  on,  and  encour- 
agement to  legitimate  enterprises  for  utilizing  it. 


THE  RELATIVE  EFnCIENCY  OF  "EARTHS"  IN  RADIO-TELEGRAPHY. 

It  is  always  interesting  to  find  experimental  confirma- 
tion of  well-accepted  principles  extended  in  new  directions. 
A  little  more  than  a  year  ago  Prof.  Charles  A.  Culver 
described  in  our  columns  some  of  his  experiments  on 
various  methods  of  grounding  receiving  antennas  in  radio- 
telegraph stations.  On  page  1319  of  this  issue  he  presents 
the  results  of  a  somewhat  similar  investigation,  applied, 
however,  to  the  radiating  or  transmitting  station.  To  what 
might  be  considered  a  remarkable  degree  it  is  found  that 
the  arrangements  which  make  good  absorbers  also  prove  to 
be  good  radiators,  in  accordance  with  Prevost's  theory  of 
exchanges.  Nevertheless,  the  contradictory  departure  from 
symmetrical  results  at  both  points  when  the  earth  con- 
nection is  formed  from  several  wires  is  especially  worthy 
of  note.  Much  more  information  of  the  sort  that  Professor 
Culver  presents  is  necessary  before  we  can  hope  to  appre- 
ciate fully  the  function  of  the  earth  in  radio-transmission. 
A  very  considerable  amount  of  work  along  these  lines  has 
already  been  accomplished,  but  the  number  of  variable 
qualities  involved  is  so  large  that  it  is  only  through  masses 
of  experimental  results  that  we  may  expect  to  confirm 
existing  theories  or  to  establish  new  ones. 

In  studying  Professor  Culver's  paper  it  will  be  noted 
that  his  standard  earth  connection  bears  a  closer  re- 
semblance to  a  wire  telegraph  "ground"  than  to  the  sort 
of  distributed  wave-chute  normally  used  in  radio-signaling. 
Nevertheless,  when  matters  of  altered  current  density  and 
wave-front  distortion  and  the  consequent  changes  in  radi- 
ation factor  and  total  antenna  circuit  resistance  are  prop- 
erly compensated  for,  the  two  cases  become  very  closely 
analogous.  It  is  quite  generally  realized  that  true  radiation 
does  not  commence  until  the  field  energy  about  a  transmit- 
ting antenna  has  passed  one-quarter  of  a  wave-length  from 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


1295 


it.  The  magnetic  and  static  forces  within  that  region  are 
in  effect  chained  to  the  sending  station  and  must  continue 
to  rush  back  and  forth  from  the  vertical  wire,  whipping 
off  a  certain  percentage  of  energy  each  time  they  reach 
the  limit  of  the  quarter-wave  zone.  Since  the  induced 
fluxes  near  the  transmitter  have  linked  with  them  large 
currents  set  up  in  whatever  conductors  they  encounter, 
there  is  manifestly  opportunity  for  losses  of  energy  in  the 
ground  immediately  surrounding  a  sending  station.  It 
v/ould  seem  reasonable  to  expect  that  when  the  earth's 
surface  in  the  direction  of  a  receiving  station  is  made 
highly  conductive  by  stringing  wires  along  it  the  losses 
in  that  part  of  the  generally  emitted  wave  will  be  reduced 
and  the  effect  upon  the  receiver  heightened.  This  is  one 
of  the  points  that  Professor  Culver's  work  seems  to  con- 
firm in  actual  practice.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  great  deal 
more  will  be  done  along  these  lines,  using  extended  ground 
connections  and  longer  wave-lengths  and  including  deter- 
minations of  total  antenna  resistance  and  radiation  factor 
for  each  set  of  conditions. 


STUDIES  IN  THE  PHOTOMETRY  OF  LIGHTS  OF  DIFFERENT  COLORS. 

It  is  a  fact  familiar  to  photometrists  that  whereas  the 
judgments  of  different  trained  observers  are  likely  to  agree 
as  to  the  relative  candle-powers  of  two  different  steady  and 
stationary  lamps  of  the  same  color  compared  in  a  photom- 
eter, yet  their  judgments  are  not  likely  to  agree  when  the 
two  lamps  compared  differ  materially  in  color.  This  fact 
first  became  apparent  many  years  ago  when  gas  flames  were 
compared  for  candle-power  with  electric  arc  lamps  by 
means  of  the  wedge  photometer  or  the  Bunsen  grease-spot 
photometer.  It  is  not  possible  for  two  disputing  photom- 
etrists comparing  heterochrome  light  sources  to  select  a 
third  for  arbiter,  as  is  done  in  matters  of  equity  disputes 
and  arbitration  proceedings,  because,  whereas  any  compe- 
tent unbiased  arbiter  represents  the  norm  by  which  error 
due  to  mental  prejudice  may  be  eliminated,  the  arbiter 
photometrist,  however  free  from  prejudice,  is  also  likely 
to  err  in  his  judgments.  In  heterochrome  photometry  we 
are  all  more  or  less  blind. 

The  reasons  for  the  remarkable  uncertainty  and  in- 
definiteness  in  the  comparison  of  heterochrome  illuminations 
are  not  yet  beyond  dispute,  but  it  is  generally  believed  that 
we  have  three  separate  and  distinct  organs  of  color  sense 
located  in  the  retina  of  the  eye,  so  that  when,  for  example, 
a  red  light  is  compared  with  a  blue  light  the  mind  has  to 
estimate  the  relative  intensities  of  two  independent  sensa- 
tions; or,  to  use  an  exaggerated  illustration,  to  compare 
the  intensity  of  a  smell  with  the  intensity  of  a  taste.  When, 
however,  lights  of  the  same  color  are  being  compared  side 
by  side,  the  mind  has  only  to  estimate  the  relative  intensities 
of  sensations  of  the  same  sense.  It  has  been  known  for 
some  time  that  when  the  two  heterochrome  illuminations  to 
be  compared  are  impressed  on  the  retina  in  brief  impulses 
as  flickering  illuminations,  two  effects  are  capable  of  being 
produced.  That  is,  first,  the  difference  in  color  disappears, 
or  the  colors  of  the  two  illuminations  fade  into  a  common 
neutral  tint,  and,  second,  with  the  disappearance  of  color 
contrast  the  precision  of  comparison  pertaining  to  mono- 
chrome photometry  reappears.     In  other  words,  it  is  found 


that  different  observers  using  the  flicker  photometer  on 
lights  of  different  colors  are  able  to  agree  in  their  compari- 
sons within  about  the  same  limits  of  discrepancy  as  when 
lights  of  the  same  color  are  compared  in  the  ordinary  way. 
Nevertheless,  the  comparisons  of  heterochrome  lights  ob- 
tained by  means  of  the  flicker  photometer  have  been  felt 
not  to  be  the  same  as  should  be  obtained  by  a  normal  eye 
capable  of  comparing  two  different  colors  without  any  con- 
fusion of  sense.  The  flicker  photometer  gave  a  definite  and 
a  reproducible  comparison,  say  between  a  carbon  and  a 
tungsten  lamp,  but  not  a  true  comparison  of  their  candle- 
powers. 

A  series  of  papers  on  heterochrome  photometry  and  the 
flicker  photometer,  as  alluded  to  in  this  week's  Digest,  has 
recently  been  published  by  Dr.  Herbert  E.  Ives  in  the 
Philosophical  Magazine.  These  papers  contain  the  results 
of  some  interesting  researches  on  heterochrome  photometry 
made  in  the  laboratory,  which  tend  to  show  that  the  flicker 
photometer  is  not  only  much  superior  to  the  non-flicker 
photometer  in  dealing  with  lights  of  different  colors  but 
that  it  enables  a  correct  estimate  of  luminous  flux  of  any 
color  to  be  obtained  within  the  limits  of  error  of  mono- 
chrome photometry.  The  important  result  is  announced 
that  once  the  normal  spectrum  luminosity  curve  has  been 
obtained  experimentally  for  each  observer,  his  flicker-pho- 
tometer measurements  become  quantitatively  reliable  as  soon 
as  the  spectrum  of  the  lights  compared  is  known.  Ex- 
pressing the  same  result  in  another  way,  the  flicker-pho- 
tometer effect  of  any  given  intensity  of  luminous  flux  can  be 
predicted  when  the  spectrum  distribution  of  that  flux  and 
the  luminosity  sensibility  curve  of  the  observer's  eye  are 
known. 

Incidentally,  the  results  as  published  indicate  that  the 
eyes  of  different  observers  differ  very  appreciably  in  their 
visual  sensibilities  at  different  points  of  the  spectrum  as 
determined  by  the  flicker  photometer,  so  that  although  only 
a  small  percentage  of  persons  may  be  so  divergent  from  the 
general  mean  of  color  perception  as  properly  to  be  called 
color-blind,  yet  a  large  percentage  are  sufficiently  divergent 
to  be  classed  as  abnormal,  and  their  degree  of  abnormality 
may  be  definitely  assigned  for  each  point  of  the  spectrum 
with  reasonable  precision.  This  requires,  of  course,  that  a 
large  number  of  persons  shall  have  been  examined  flicker- 
photometrically,  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  mean  or  general 
average  curve  of  visual  sensibility.  Perhaps  this  average 
varies  from  race  to  race  of  men  and  from  age  to  age  of  the 
world.  It  is  admitted  to  vary  distinctly  at  different  ages  of 
one  and  the  same  individual. 

Hope  is  held  out  in  the  article  that  an  artificial  eye  may 
be  capable  of  being  constructed  and  developed  on  photo- 
electric principles  so  screened  and  adjusted  that  the  quanti- 
tative relations  of  luminous  radiation  falling  upon  it,  as 
revealed  say  by  a  suitable  galvanometer,  may  accurately 
correspond  to  the  optical  behavior  of  the  mean  normal 
human  eye.  Assuming  that  such  a  piece  of  apparatus  could 
be  perfected  and  maintained  indefinitely,  it  would  thus  be- 
come possible  to  lay  upon  the  shelf  of  a  museum  a  model 
inorganic  eye  which  should  serve  as  a  standard  of  reference 
of  visual  sensibilities  which  could  then  be  expressed  in 
known  units. 


129^ 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


CHICAGO  TRACTION  SITUATION. 


{By  Telegraph.) 
Negotiations  have  been  resumed  between  the  city  authori- 
ties and  the  surface  and  elevated  railway  companies  of 
Chicago  having  for  their  object  the  merger  of  all  the 
traction  interests  of  the  city,  or  at  least  a  working  arrange- 
ment for  universal  service,  with  transfers  between  surface 
and  elevated  lines  and  with  subways,  when  built,  on  the 
"one  city  one  fare"  principle.  The  present  plan  contem- 
plates the  removal  of  the  elevated  railway  union  loop  after 
the  building  of  a  downtown  subway.  At  conferences  held 
this  week  a  more  harmonious  spirit  has  been  exhibited  by 
the  Mayor  and  the  Aldermen  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
companies"  officers  and  lawyers  on  the  other.  One  stumbling 
block  heretofore  has  been  the  difficulty  of  fixing  a  fair 
valuation  of  the  elevated  railway  companies'  property. 
Mayor  Harrison  has  signified  a  willingness  to  discuss  a 
valuation  based  on  outstanding  bonds  plus  the  cost  to  the 
present  owners.  The  elevated  railway  companies  fix  this 
figure  at  about  $86,ooo,oco,  of  which  $36,000,000  is  the 
total  underlying  debt. 


A.  I.  E.  E.  AFFAIRS. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  on  Dec.  13  authority  was 
granted  for  the  organization  of  an  Institute  branch  at  the 
University  of  Washington,  Seattle,  Wash.,  thus  bringing 
the  number  of  University  branches  up  to  forty-six. 

A  request  from  the  Pittsfield  Section  that  an  Institute 
meeting  should  be  held  in  Pittsfield,  Alass.,  in  May,  1913, 
was  laid  over  until  the  meetings  and  papers  committee  could 
obtain  further  information. 

A  discussion  upon  the  general  subject  of  technical  com- 
mittees of  the  Institute,  with  more  particular  reference  to 
the  appointment  of  additional  committees  for  special  fields 
of  electrical  engineering  activity,  resulted  in  the  passage 
of  a  resolution  authorizing  President  Mershon  to  appoint  a 
special  committee  to  make  a  study  of  the  entire  subject  of 
technical  committees,  some  question  having  arisen  as  to 
the  relative  advisability  of  handling  additional  lines  of 
work  through  new  committees  or  through  sub-committees 
of  the  existing  technical  committees. 

President  Mershon  asked  for  the  views  of  the  board  in 
regard  to  the  desirability  of  the  Institute's  taking  up  the 
subject  of  depreciation  of  electrical  apparatus  and  ma- 
chinery and  the  allied  subjects  of  amortization,  going  value, 
etc.  There  was  much  discussion  on  this  question,  which  was 
considered  of  such  importance  that  the  president  was 
authorized,  in  appointing  the  special  committee  to  study 
the  work  of  technical  committees,  to  refer  to  that  com- 
mittee the  question  of  broadening  the  scope  of  the  work 
of  the  Institute  and  the  character  and  type  of  the  papers 
to  be  presented. 

The  electric  lighting  committee  reported  upon  the  Illumi- 
nating Engineering  Society's  primer  on  "Light,"  the  circu- 
lation of  which  the  Institute  had  been  asked  to  extend  as 
far  as  possible.  It  was  decided  to  give  publicity  to  the 
primer  by  a  special  article  to  appear  in  the  January  Pro- 
ceedings. 

Reports  were  read  from  the  Institute's  representatives  at 
the  fourth  national  Conservation  Congress,  Indianapolis. 
Ind.,  Oct.  1-4,  1912,  and  the  American  Mining  Congress, 
Spokane,  Wash.,  Nov.  25-28,  and  a  recommendation  from 
the  delegation  to  the  Conservation  Congress  that  the  In- 
stitute appoint  a  permanent  representative  upon  the  con- 
gress' advisory  board  was  referred  to  the  Institute's  public 
policy  committee. 

Upon  the  recommendation  of  the  board  of  examiners,  55 
applicants  were  elected  associates  and  119  students  were 
ordered  enrolled.    Past-president  Henry  G.  Stott  was  trans- 


ferred to  the  grade  of  fellow  under  the  regular  provisions 
of  the  constitution.  Eighty-nine  associates  and  eighty-nine 
members  were  transferred  to  the  grades  of  member  and  fel- 
low respectively,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the 
special  section  of  the  constitution. 


PROFIT  SHARIJfG  BY  BROOKLYN  EDISON 
COMPANY. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  directors  of  the  Edison  Electric 
Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn  held  Dec.  16  it  was 
voted  to  continue  the  practice  now  in  effect  for  two  years 
past  of  sharing  the  profits  of  the  year  with  all  employees 
of  the  company  who  have  been  in  the  service  for  two  years 
or  more.  The  amount  which  will  be  placed  to  the  credit  of 
the  Edison  employees  this  year  as  their  share  of  the  profits 
is  in  excess  of  $51,000.  Out  of  the  1800  employees  on  the 
payroll  of  the  company,  871  will  participate  in  the  profits; 
224  of  these  are  two-year  men;  141,  three-year  men;  74, 
four-year  men,  and  433,  five-year  men.  To  this  latter  class, 
representing  more  than  one-fifth  of  the  employees  of  the 
company,  the  profits  will  amount  to  approximately  full 
salary  for  a  calendar  month.  The  money  is  placed  in  an 
investment  fund  conducted  by  the  company  for  the  benefit 
of  the  employees,  where  it  pays  6  per  cent  interest,  com- 
pounded quarterly.  The  total  credit  to  employees  in  the 
Edison  fund  is  now  in  excess  of  $250,000. 


PLAN  160,000-HP  PLANT  FOR  MONTREAL. 

The  National  Hydro-Electric  Company  has  taken  fur- 
ther steps  toward  supplying  Montreal  with  power  from 
its  proposed  plant  at  Carillon  Falls,  Quebec.  A  small 
plant  is  already  in  operation,  but  it  is  planned  to  build  a 
very  extensive  installation,  w-hich  Mr.  Miles,  the  president 
of  the  company,  declares  will  cost  $10,000,000  and  will  be 
capable  of  developing  160,000  hp.  Power  from  the  smaH 
plant  is  to  be  used  for  the  construction  of  the  larger  one 
and  also  to  supply  neighboring  municipalities.  The  com- 
pany has  a  Dominion  charter,  enabling  business  to  be  done 
in  the  Province,  and  application  has  now  been  made  to  the 
Provincial  Legislature  to  grant  the  right  of  placing  poles 
and  wires  in  municipalities  without  dealing  with  each  one 
in  particular.  The  right  is  also  sought  to  use  the  Montreal 
conduits  for  the  company's  circuits. 

Among  the  places  in  which  the  company  asks  permission 
to  operate  are  Assomption,  Terrebonne,  Tw-o  Mountains, 
Jacques  Cartier,  Laval,  Montcalm,  Joliette,  Berthier, 
Richelieu,  Missisquoi,  'Vaudreuil,  Argenteuil,  Soulanges, 
Chambly,  Chateauguay,  Beauharnois,  Ottawa.  Iberville,  St. 
John  and  Labelle.  The  first  issue  of  bonds  and  debentures 
is  $12,000,000. 


ILLUMINATION  AND   DECORATION. 


At  a  combined  meeting  of  the  New  York  Section  of  the 
Illuminating  Engineering  Society  and  the  Art  in  Trades 
Club  on  Dec.  12  Mr.  George  Leland  Hunter  presented  a 
paper  entitled  "Color,  Shade  and  Texture,"  in  which  the 
dependence  of  illumination  upon  decoration  was  discussed 
in  detail.  The  author  showed  that  the  quality  and  quantity 
of  light  required  for  interior  illumination  depend  upon  the 
color  and  texture  of  the  wall  and  ceilings,  and  he  contended 
that  black  walls  can  never  be  illuminated.  He  expressed 
the  opinion  that  only  the  human  eye  is  able  to  judge  of  the 
adequacy  of  the  lighting.  He  said  that  if  a  room  appears 
poorly  lighted  it  is  poorly  lighted,  notwithstanding  readings 
that  may  be  obtained  upon  illumination  meters.  In  order 
to  secure  the  most  satisfactory  results  for  the  house  owner, 


December  21,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1297 


the  lighting  equipment  must  be  designed  in  conformity  with 
the  plans  of  the  architect  and  the  decorator. 

Mr.  P.  S.  Millar  called  attention  to  a  type  of  instrument 
which  accomplishes  the  result  desired  in  determining  the 
adequacy  of  a  lighting  equipment.  It  is  a  photometer  for 
measuring  the  brilliancy  of  an  illuminated  surface  rather 
than  the  light   incident   upon  the   surface. 

Mr.  Bassett  Jones,  Jr.,  claimed  that  it  is  not  necessary 
to  waste  light  in  illuminating  dark  walls.  Light  walls 
should  be  illuminated,  but  dark  walls  should  be  left  un- 
lighted.  Mr.  Jones  described  in  detail  a  black  background 
for  stage  purposes  which  is  devoid  of  reflection.  In  front 
of  a  close-mesh  black-cloth  screen  are  placed  two  black 
gauze  screens  which  absorb  most  of  the  rays  directed  to- 
ward the  background  and  practically  all  of  those  reflected 
from  the  black  cloth  screen. 

Mr.  G.  S.  Barrows  agreed  with  the  author  that  the  light- 
ing requirements  should  be  specified  by  the  architect,  but  he 
argued  that  the  lighting  equipment  should  be  designed  by 
the  illuminating  engineer. 

Mr.  G.  Nichols  remarked  that,  by  reason  of  the  many 
details  to  which  he  must  give  attention,  the  architect  is 
unable  to  devote  sufficient  time  to  the  lighting  features  to 
insure  satisfactory  results.  What  is  desired  is  co-operation 
between  the  illuminating  engineer  and  the  architect. 

Mr.  Albert  Jackson  Marshall  claimed  that  the  inability  of 
the  illuminating  engineer  to  carry  out  the  desires  of  the 
architect  is  generally  the  real  cause  for  the  unsatisfactory 
results  obtained. 

Mr.  Norman  Macbeth  stated  that  the  amount  of  money 
expended  for  lighting  equipment  is  relatively  so  small  that 
the  architect,  who  receives  his  pay  on  a  commission  basis. 
can  afford  to  spend  only  very  limited  time  on  the  lighting 
arrangements. 

Chairman  George  H.  Stickney  announced  that  at  the 
January  meeting  of  the  section  a  paper  entitled  "Lighting 
of  the  Auditorium  of  the  Armory  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,"  will  be 
presented  by  Mr.  B.  F.  Pierce. 

Mr.  Macbeth,  on  behalf  of  the  council  of  the  society, 
stated  that  steps  have  bf.en  taken  to  form  an  illuminating 
engineering  society  in  Germany,  the  movement  having  re- 
ceived the  indorsement  and  co-operation  of  the  government 
officials. 


the  purposes  for  which  it  exists  by  starting  a  movement 
for  the  adoption  of  methods  of  education  similar  to  those 
that  have  proved  so  successful  in  Germany. 


ELECTRICAL  SALESMANSHIP  AND  EDUCATION. 


At  the  semi-monthly  meeting  of  the  New  York  Jovians, 
Dec.  18,  Statesman  Joseph  F.  Becker  reported  that  eighty- 
eight  new  members  were  initiated  at  the  "rejuvenation" 
held  on  Monday  of  this  week.  The  New  York  Jovians, 
he  said,  now  have  sufficient  funds  to  carry  forward  their 
work  with  vigor,  and  several  committees  are  under  consid- 
eration to  take  charge  of  the  activities  of  the  order  in 
various  directions. 

Dr.  Samuel  Sheldon,  professor  of  electrical  engineering 
at  the  Brooklyn  Polytechnic  Institute  and  past- president  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  was  the 
only  speaker  at  the  meeting,  his  subject  being  "Salesman- 
ship and  Education." 

One  of  the  most  interesting  parts  of  Dr.  Sheldon's  talk 
was  a  brief  account  of  the  scientific  methods  of  German 
public  education,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  select  the 
work  for  which  a  pupil  is  best  fitted  and  to  specialize  in 
this  work  in  "continuation  schools"  after  elementary  edu- 
cation is  completed.  Of  119,000  German  salesmen  56  per 
cent  attend  continuation  schools.  In  Prussia  89  per  cent 
of  all  salesmen  attend  these  schools  for  the  purpose  of 
extending  their  knowledge  of  the  line  in  which  they  work. 
A  similar  system.  Dr.  Sheldon  said,  is  needed  in  the  United 
States,  not  only  to  train  men  but  to  discover  the  work  for 
which  they  are  best  fitted  and  to  keep  them  out  of  over- 
crowded callings.  Dr.  Sheldon  suggested  that  the  Jovian 
Order  could  do  a  most  useful  work  and  accomplish  one  of 


ELECTRIC  VEHICLE  ASSOCIATION    OF    AMERICA. 


At  the  regular  monthly  meeting  of  the  Electric  Vehicle 
Association  of  America  held  in  New  York  on  Dec.  17  a 
paper  entitled  "Central-Station  Influence  on  the  Electric- 
Vehicle  Industry"  was  presented  by  Mr.  Stephen  G.  Thomp- 
son, of  the  Public  Service  Electric  Company,  Newark,  N.  J. 
The  author  reviewed  briefly  the  increase  in  popularity  of 
the  electric  vehicle  within  the  last  two  years  in  the  territory 
covered  by  the  company  and  illustrated  his  point  by  means 
of  curves  showing  the  increase  in  both  industrial  and 
pleasure  vehicles.  An  analysis  of  the  figures  presented 
shows  that  50  per  cent  of  the  high-grade  trucks  now  in 
operation  within  the  territory  of  the  Public  Service  Electric 
Company  are  electrically  driven.  The  second  set  of  curves, 
showing  the  increase  in  kilowatt-hour  consumption  and  the 
increased  income  in  dollars,  together  with  the  curve  show- 
ing the  decrease  in  the  average  income  rate  per  kilowatt- 
hour,  were  of  special  interest  to  the  central-station  men 
present.  Among  those  who  took  part  in  the  discussion  were 
Messrs.  J.  Becker,  W.  P.  Kennedy,  E.  W.  Curtis,  H.  W. 
Hillman,  T.  F.  Bludworth,  J.  Harris  and  P.  D.  Wagoner. 


TESTS  OF  HIGH-TENSION  INSULATORS. 


"High-Tension  Insulator  Tests  and  Specifications"  was 
the  topic  of  a  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  held  in  New  York  on  Dec.  13.  Following 
the  technical  session,  a  smoker  was  held  in  the  Institute 
rooms,  where  refreshments  were  served. 

Messrs.  L.  E.  Imlay  and  Percy  H.  Thomas  presented  a 
report  on  "High-Frequency  Tests  of  Line  Insulators,"  a 
work  which  was  undertaken  to  find  an  explanation  for 
certain  phenomena  arising  from  lightning  and  affecting  in- 
sulators. A  paper  entitled  "Comparative  Tests  on  High- 
Tension  Suspension  Insulators"  by  Mr.  P.  W.  Sothman  was 
read  in  the  absence  of  the  author  by  Mr.  John  A.  Brundage. 
This  paper  dealt  with  the  methods  and  results  of  some 
interesting  tests  made  on  iio,ooo-volt  insulators  several 
years  ago  when  80,000  volts  represented  the  highest  exist- 
ing operating  pressure. 

The  papers  were  discussed  by  Messrs.  Ralph  D.  MershoH, 
Paul  M.  Lincoln,  F.  W.  Peek,  Jr.,  J.  A.  Sanford,  A.  O. 
Austin,  F.  M.  Farmer  and  R.  W.  Pope.  The  discussion 
closed  with  a  demonstration  by  Prof.  E.  E.  F.  Creighton  of 
actual  breakdowns  of  pin  and  suspension-type  insulators 
under  high-tension,  high-frequency  tests. 

Abstracts  of  the  papers  and  discussions  will  be  printed 
in  a  subsequent  issue. 


RANGE    OF   WIRELESS    COMMUNICATION    FROM 
SAYVILLE,  N.  Y. 

The  wireless  station  established  at  Sayville,  on  the  south- 
ern shore  of  Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  by  the  Telefunken  Wireless 
Telegraph  Company  of  the  United  States  is  in  daily  com- 
munication with  vessels  passing  between  America  and 
Europe  and  also  to  South  American  ports.  The  limit  of 
communication  shown  by  the  accompanying  map  is  5800  km, 
or  to  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar.  The  daily  ranges  of  com- 
munication with  several  of  the  ships  of  the  Hamburg- 
American  line  are  shown  on  the  map.  The  longest  distances 
are  worked  with  a  35-kw  plant  and  a  wave-length  of 
2800  m.     The  lesser  distances  are  operated  with   a  5-kw 


1298 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol,  6o,  No.  25. 


plant  and  a  wave-length  of  600  m.  Among  the  distances 
shown  on  the  map  are  the  following,  all  measured  from 
Sayville : 

To  the  steamship  Metapan,  3515  km;  to  the  Prim  Eitel 
Friedrich,  3500  km ;  to  the  Neckar,  920  km ;  to  the  San 
Juan,  2405  km;  to  the  George   Washington,  4250  km;  to 


EUtlrceal  World 

Ranges   of   Wireless   Communication    from    Sayville,    N.    Y. 

the  Moltke,  4600  km;  to  the  Berlin,  5800  km;  to  the  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  der  Grosse,  5250  km;  to  the  Franz  Josef  I, 
1480  km. 


ELECTRIC-VEHICLE  GARAGE  SERVICE. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Chicago  Section  of  the  Electric 
Vehicle  Association  on  Dec.  10,  Chairman  George  Har- 
vey Jones  invited  a  general  discussion  on  the  garage 
situation  as  affecting  electric-vehicle  operation.  He  com- 
pared this  situation  with  the  central-station  lighting  meth- 
ods of  twenty  years  ago,  when  flat  rates  prevailed,  as  they 
do  now  in  charging  for  garage  service.  Mr.  Jones  pointed 
out  that  the  measured-service  plan  is  the  logical  one  for 
garages  as  well  as  for  central  stations. 

Mr.  H.  Bachner,  of  the  Royal  Electric  Garage,  said  that 
there  are  good  facilities  for  electric  pleasure  vehicles  in 
Chicago,  but  that  not  much  has  been  done  in  providing 
garages  for  trucks.  The  garage  men  have  no  very  exact 
information  on  the  amount  of  electrical  energy  used  for 
commercial-vehicle  operation.  The  only  method  to  adopt 
is  to  measure  the  electrical  energy  used  to  charge  the  bat- 
teries on  customers'  commercial  wagons.  The  present  flat 
rate  for  electric  pleasure  vehicles  is  $35  a  month.  This 
includes  cleaning,  oiling,  polishing  and  slight  repairs  as  well 
as  electrical  energy.  But  in  the  case  of  both  pleasure  and 
commercial  vehicles  Mr.  Bachner  believes  that  the  electricity 
used  for  charging  batteries  should  be  paid  for  by  the  cus- 
tomer in  accordance  with  the  actual  amount  used. 

Mr.  Edwin  E.  Witherbee,  of  the  General  Vehicle  Com- 
pany, spoke  of  one  city  where  the  garage  owner  makes  a 
flat  storage  rate  of  $10  a  month  for  each  commercial  electric 
vehicle.  In  addition,  $10  more  is  charged  monthly  as  a  flat 
rate  for  washing,  oiling,  polishing  and  day-to-day  repairs. 
For  pleasure  vehicles  there  is  an  added  charge  of  $5  per 
month  for  delivery  to  customers  as  required.  Added  to 
these  flat  charges  a  rate  is  made  for  electricity  of  6  cents 
per  kw-hr.  for  the  first  300  kw-hr.  and  4  cents  per  kw-hr. 
for  all  energy  consumed  above  that  amount.  In  the  case  of 
one  3J^-ton  truck  making  from  28  miles  to  46  miles  a  day, 
these  rates  worked  out  from  $38  to  $41.60  a  month  for  total 
charges  of  all  kinds. 

In  the  discussion  Messrs.  George  H.  Kelly,  of  the  Baker 
Motor  Vehicle  Company,  L.  E.  Wagner,  of  the  same  com- 
pany, S.  H.  Peterson,  of  the  Anderson  Electric  Car  Com- 
pany, and  others  took  part.  The  need  of  a  large  downtown 
garage  for  electric  vehicles  was  conceded  by  all.  Mr. 
Ernest  Lunn,  of  the  Walker  Vehicle  Company,  remarked 


that  there  are  often  900  standing  electric  vehicles  on  the 
downtown  streets  of  Chicago  at  one  time.  One  large  garage 
could  be  used  for  the  storage  of  pleasure  vehicles  during 
the  daytime  and  for  the  charging  of  commercial  vehicles 
at  night.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  arrange  for  a 
joint  meeting  with  the  Garage  Owners'  Association,  at 
which  this  subject  will  be  discussed  further. 

Mr.  Lunn  presented  a  report  from  the  committee  ap- 
pointed on  behalf  of  the  organization  to  confer  with  the 
city  authorities  in  relation  to  the  movement  to  secure  a 
better  regulation  of  traffic  in  the  congested  downtown 
streets.  He  indicated  the  necessity  of  co-operating  with 
other  organizations,  and  after  an  informal  discussion  the 
committee  was  instructed  to  continue  its  work.  It  was 
pointed  out  that  all  manufacturers,  dealers  and  owners  of 
electric  pleasure  automobiles  are  much  interested  in  the 
outcome  of  these  traffic  regulations. 


LIFE   INSURANCE   FOR   EMPLOYEES'  CHRISTMAS 
GIFTS. 


Departing  from  its  customary  plan  of  giving  its  em- 
ployees turkeys  as  Christmas  presents,  the  New  York  & 
Queens  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  has  this  year 
completed  arrangements  by  which  each  employee  will  re- 
ceive the  gift  of  a  life-insurance  policy  for  the  amount  of 
his  yearly  wage  or  income,  good  for  twelve  months.  These 
policies,  issued  by  the  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Company, 
will  be  paid  to  the  family  or  nearest  relative  should  the 
employee  die  from  accident  or  otherwise  during  the  year. 
Three  hundred  and  fifty  employees  will  benefit  from  this 
arrangement  of  a  blanket  policy,  which  aggregates  $300,000 
in  amount,  the  premium  to  be  paid  by  the  company.  Em- 
ployees receiving  up  to  $3,000  a  year  will  benefit  to  the 
full  amount  of  their  incomes,  although  no  employee  will 
be  insured  for  more  than  $3,000.  Mr.  C.  G.  M.  Thomas, 
vice-president  and  general  manager  of  the  New  York  & 
Queens  Company,  also  announces  the  installation  of  a  safety 
bureau,  which  will  inspect  plants  and  employees'  working 
conditions  and  suggest  precautions  and  plans  for  improve- 
ment. 


THIRD    KENNELLY    LECTURE    ON    HYPERBOLIC 
FUNCTIONS  IN  ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERING. 


On  Dec.  12  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly,  of  Harvard  University, 
gave  the  third  of  his  series  of  five  lectures  on  the  applica- 
tion of  hyperbolic  functions  to  electrical  engineering,  at 
the  Polytechnic  Institute,  Brooklyn,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  The  topic  for 
this  lecture,  previously  announced,  was  "The  Behavior  of 
Alternating-Current  Lines  of  Uniform  Linear  Conductor 
Impedance."  The  lecturer  first  discoursed  upon  the  funda- 
mental differences  between  simple  numeric  or  scalar  quan- 
tities and  directed  or  vector  quantities,  pointing  out  that 
the  characteristic  formulas  for  direct-current  lines  of  uni- 
form linear  resistance  and  leakance  are  immediately  appli- 
cable to  the  alternating-current  case  if  interpreted  vectorial- 
ly.  Dr.  Kennelly  spoke  almost  entirely,  as  before,  from  lan- 
tern slides,  many  of  which  illustrated  graphically  the  prop- 
erties of  different  hyperbolic  functions  and  the  results  ob- 
tained by  applying  these  functions  to  transmission-circuit 
problems. 

Any  vector  quantity  in  two-dimensional  space  such  as 
A  Zp,  where  A  is  the  so-called  modulus  or  numerical  mag- 
nitude and  p  is  the  argument  or  angle  of  direction  with 
respect  to  an  axis  of  reference,  can  be  resolved  into  two 
rectangular  components, 

A  l^  =  Acos^-\-jsm^  (i) 

where  ;'  is  the  imaginary  operator  V  —  ^   which   implies 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1299 


that  the  component  sin  p  is  perpendicular  to  the  component 
cos  p.  The  X  axis  in  rectangular  or  Cartesian  co-ordinates 
is  the  axis  of  reals  and  the  Y  axis  is  the  axis  of  imaginaries. 
The  simple  attenuation  constant  a  =  y/  r  g  in  the  direct- 
current  case,  where  r  is  resistance  and  g  is  leakance  per 
mile  of  line,  now  becomes 

a  Zp  =  V  (r  +  jx)  {g  +  jb)  (2) 

where  x  is  the  linear  inductive  reactance  and  h  the  shunt 
capacity  susceptance.  Thus  a  is  now  a  vector  or  complex 
imaginary  quantity  and 

aZp  =  a.-fya,  (3) 

The  total  hyperbolic  angle  of  the  line  is 

ezp  =  /azp  =  9,-fye,  (4) 

The  significance  of  a,  is  that  in  each  mile  of  the  line  the 
potential  or  the  current  diminishes  or  attenuates  in  value 
by  the.  factor  £"",  and  in  the  entire  line  the  shrinkage  is 
e"'",  or  r^,.  The  imaginary  portion  a,,  when  employed  in 
the  expression  £"•'''2,  represents  the  change  of  angle  or  phase 
in  one  mile. 

Dr.  Kennelly  then  took  up  the  effect  of  terminal  reflection 
and  the  process  of  building  up  the  potential  and  current 
distribution  in  a  uniform  linear  circuit.  The  formulas  for 
potential  and  current  at  the  receiving  end,  in  terms  of  the 
same  quantities  at  the  transmitting  end,  involve  hyperbolic 
functions  of  6,  such  as  tanh  9,  sinh  6,  etc.  Lantern  slides 
were  presented  showing  the  loci  of  such  functions,  in  order 
to  familiarize  those  in  the  audience  with  their  general 
character.  Tables  of  hyperbolic  functions  of  complex  an- 
gles, Dr.  Kennelly  said,  will  soon  be  published. 

Then  the  speaker  passed  on  to  the  consideration  of  non- 
uniform or  artificial  equivalents  of  real  lines,  for  laboratory 
investigations.  The  nominal  and  equivalent  n  lines  for 
different  impressed  frequencies  were  discussed,  and  specific 
illustrations  were  shown  by  means  of  lantern  slides.  Views 
of  the  artificial  line  employed  by  the  speaker  were  also 
presented,  including  the  special  form  of  Drysdale  poten- 
tiometer used  in  taking  measurements  of  current  and  poten- 
tial. He  stated  that  the  hyperbolic  formulas  derived  for 
calculating  transmission-line  characteristics  had  all  been 
carefully  verified  by  laboratory  tests  on  this  artificial  line. 

The  next  lecture  on  Jan.  9  will  be  devoted  to  the  calcula- 
tion of  long  alternating-current  power  transmission  lines 
by  the  hyperbolic  method. 


is  believed  that  practically  all  employers  and  employees  will 
come  under  the  provision  of  the  proposed  statute.  The 
Oregon  law  calls  for  the  flat  payment  of  an  amount  equal 
to  3  per  cent  of  the  company's  payroll.  In  addition  to  this 
the  workman  is  required  to  pay  an  amount  equal  to  one- 
half  of  I  per  cent  of  his  wages  and  the  State  of  Oregon  is 
required  to  make  a  contribution  equal  to  that  made  by  the 
workmen,  so  that  the  net  result  is  that  the  payments  will 
amount  to  4  per  cent  of  the  payroll.  The  fund  will  be 
handled  by  a  commission  of  three,  appointed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor. It  has  been  the  experience  in  Washington  that  the 
payments  made  by  the  commission  in  that  State  have  been 
rather  small,  and  the  Oregon  committee  has  arbitrarily  in- 
creased the  size  of  the  payments  to  be  made  under  the 
Oregon  law.  The  average  amount  of  the  increase  over  the 
Washington  payments  is  28  per  cent,  and  in  addition  first- 
aid  services  to  the  injured  are  also  provided,  which  is  not 
done  under  the  Washington  law. 


OREGON  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION  ACT. 


SUIT  TO  ENJOIN  COMPETITOR  FROM  INDEMNIFY- 
ING CUSTOMERS. 


Fifty  members  of  the  Portland  Section  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  met  on  the  evening  of  Dec.  10 
to  discuss  the  proposed  workmen's  compensation  act,  which 
will  be  submitted  to  the  Oregon  Legislature  early  in 
January.  The  proposed  act,  which  was  prepared  by  a 
committee  appointed  by  Governor  West  consisting  of  repre- 
sentatives from  labor  organizations,  employers  and  the  state 
grange,  provides  for  an  industrial  insurance  commission  and 
a  state  industrial  insurance  fund.  The  State  of  Washington 
already  provides  industrial  insurance  by  means  of  a  law 
some  of  the  more  important  features  of  which  are  that 
every  company  which  has  employees  engaged  in  hazardous 
occupations  is  compelled  to  act  under  its  provisions  and 
that  the  payments  made  by  the  companies  vary  in  percentage 
according  to  the  risks  incurred  by  the  employees. 

The  proposed  Oregon  law  differs  very  materially  from 
the  Washington  statute,  and  from  present  indications  it 
seems  highly  probably  that  it  will  pass  the  Legislature  in 
substantially  its  present  form.  Unlike  the  Washington  law, 
it  will  not  be  compulsory,  and  companies  and  their  em- 
ployees may  elect  to  take  advantage  of  its  provisions  if  they 
so  desire,  but  if  the  employer  does  not  elect  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  provisions  of  the  law  he  loses  the  common-law 
defenses  he  may  have  previously  enjoyed,  such  as  con- 
tributory negligence,  fellow-servant  rule,  etc.,  and  hence  it 


"We  will  indemnify  and  hold  you  harmless  against  any 
damages  you  may  sustain  by  reason  of  discontinuing  such 
electric  service  as  you  now  have."  That  the  Louisville 
Lighting  Company  be  enjoined  by  the  court  from  employing 
this  clause  in  its  contracts  with  consumers  has  been  asked 
in  a  suit  filed  against  that  corporation  by  the  Kentucky 
Electric  Company,  also  of  Louisville.  The  plaintiff,  in 
filing  the  petition  asking  for  the  injunction,  has  declared 
that  the  Louisville  Lighting  Company  employs  unfair  and 
unlawful  means  of  visiting  the  plaintiff's  customers  sys- 
tematically and  inducing  them  to  break  their  contracts  upon 
the  promise  of  immunity  from  trouble  or  loss.  This  suit  is 
the  third  to  be  filed  against  the  Louisville  Lighting  Com- 
pany within  two  weeks.  In  two  actions  the  Kentucky 
Electric  Company  is  the  plaintiff,  asking  $250,000  damages 
from  the  defendant  because  of  alleged  unfair  means  of 
infringing  the  plaintiff's  business  and  asking  that  the  clause 
referred  to  be  enjoined.  In  the  other  Leo  Klarer,  a  butcher, 
asks  reparation  on  behalf  of  several  hundred  customers  of 
the  Louisville  Lighting  Company  in  the  aggregate  sum  of 
$1,000,000,  alleging  exorbitant  and  discriminatory  rates  on 
the  part  of  the  defendant  and  asking  that  a  special  master 
■  be  appointed  by  the  court  to  investigate  the  matter  with  the 
view  of  reparation. 


PATENT  LITIGATION  OVER  ENAMEL  INSULATION. 


For  the  past  twenty-one  years  there  has  been  litigation 
involving  the  use  of  enamel  insulation  in  electric-heating 
devices  and  resistors,  illustrated  by  flatiron  rheostats  and 
devices  in  which  a  heating  conductor  is  both  insulated  from 
and  attached  to  its  support  by  means  of  enamel.  This  liti- 
gation has  been  carried  on  between  the  Simplex  Electric 
Heating  Company  and  its  predecessor  on  the  one  side  and 
the  Ward  Leonard  Electric  Company  and  allied  interests 
on  the  other. 

A  final  decision  has  been  recently  handed  down  by  the 
Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  of  the  Southern  District  of  New 
York,  written  by  Judge  Lacombe,  deciding  that  the  enamel 
devices  of  the  Ward  Leonard  Electric  Company,  which  em- 
ploy glass-enamel  coatings,  do  not  infringe  the  Morford 
patent.  No.  490,034,  granted  Jan.  17,  1893,  to  Mr.  Thomas 
E.  Morford,  for  an  electric  heater.  The  contention  of  the 
Simplex  Company  has  been  that  the  "enamel"  of  this  Mor- 
ford patent  included  an  enamel  coating  made  of  glass  or  in 
which  glass  was  an  essential  ingredient.  The  contention  of 
the  Ward   Leonard   Electric   Company  has  been   that  the 


1300 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


patent  of  the  Simplex  Company  issued  to  Alorford  was,  by 
a  disclaimer  in  the  patent,  limited  to  a  non-glass  enamel 
and  that  patents  to  ;\Ir.  H.  Ward  Leonard  covering  glass- 
enamel  coatings  were  outside  of  the  scope  of  the  patent 
owned  by  the  Simplex  Company. 

Many  years  ago  Mr.  Leonard  sued  the  Simplex  Company, 
alleging  infringement  of  his  glass-enamel  patents,  and  the 
Simplex  Company  sued  the  Ward  Leonard  Company,  al 
leging  that  the  Ward  Leonard  glass-enamel  coatings  were 
infringements  of  the  Morford  patent.  The  decision  of 
Judge  Lacombe  upholds  the  contention  of  the  Ward  Leon- 
ard Company  that  its  enamel  apparatus  does  not  infringe, 
but  the  question  of  whether  the  Simplex  devices  are  glass- 
enamel  devices  viithin  the  scope  of  the  Ward  Leonard  pa- 
tents is  still  unsettled. 

These  litigations  forcibly  illustrate  the  bad  practice  under 
the  present  system  of  patent  litigation.  The  controversy 
started  with  an  interference  in  1891.  The  first  litigation 
was  commenced  in  1893,  and  the  final  decision  as  to  the 
Morford  patent  has  just  been  reached  in  1912,  two  years 
after  the  patent  had  expired  and  twenty-one  years  from  the 
beginning  of  the  controversy.  Each  side  has  employed  suc- 
cessively three  dififerent  sets  of  lawyers  and  the  end  is  not 
yet.  Had  the  new  rules  of  equity  practice  in  the  federal 
courts,  which  go  into  force  on  Feb.  i,  1913,  governed  the 
procedure  in  this  action  from  the  first,  it  is  probable  that 
there  would  have  been  a  very  great  saving  of  time  and 
monev  on  both  sides. 


PATENT    DECISION    IN    SUSPENSION    INSULATOR 

CASE. 


VALUATION  OF  PUBLIC-UTILITY  PROPERTIES. 


In  the  course  of  an  address  delivered  before  the  Asso- 
ciated Engineering  Societies  of  St.  Louis,  Dec.  11,  on  the 
subject  of  "Central-Station  Statistics  and  Accounting,"  Mr. 
Hermann  Spoehrer,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Union 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  made  some  interesting 
observations  on  the  broader  aspects  of  his  subject.  He 
pointed  out  that  in  the  valuation  of  public-utility  properties 
allowance  must  be  made  for  intangible  property  as  well  as 
for  tangible  property.  These  intangible  values  may  vary 
according  to  local  conditions.  In  some  places  an  allowance 
is  made  for  franchise  value,  and  in  addition  the  going  value 
is  to  be  taken  into  account.  The  relation  of  the  going  value 
to  the  value  of  the  physical  property  varies.  Cases  were 
mentioned  where  the  value  of  the  intangible  property  has 
been  fixed  at  from  6.5  to  20  per  cent  of  the  value  of  the 
physical  property.  Under  the  heading  of  "intangible  prop- 
erty" may  be  mentioned  the  item  of  "superseded  property." 
Investment  in  "superseded  property,"  where  the  expendi- 
ture was  prudently  made  at  the  time  but  has  been  wiped 
out  by  some  sudden  change  in  the  art,  should  not  be  charged 
against  current  earnings. 

Mr.  Spoehrer  also  described  the  various  methods  em- 
ployed in  determining  "value"  and  discussed  in  an  illumi- 
nating manner  the  cost-of-reproduction  theory  and  other 
considerations  to  be  taken  into  account  in  the  study  of  this 
complicated  subject.  The  matter  of  allowing  interest  dur- 
ing construction  was  also  treated. 

"Accrued  depreciation,"  so  called,  said  the  speaker,  is 
based  upon  the  expiration  of  a  portion  of  the  life  of  prop- 
erty which  is  not  yet  ready  for  replacement  but  which 
must  be  replaced  when  withdrawn  from  service  in  future. 
The  presence  of  such  "accrued  depreciation"  does  not  mean 
that  the  property  is  not  maintained  at  100  per  cent  service 
value. 

The  fallacy  of  deducting  "accrued  depreciation"  from 
the  replacement  cost  to  arrive  at  the  value  of  the  property 
for^  rate-making  purposes  was  explained  at  some  length. 
This  theory  is  fully  set  forth  in  the  case  of  the  Westchester 
Lighting  Company  before  the  Public  Service  Commission 
of  the  Second  District  of  New  York. 


An  important  decision  has  been  handed  down  by  the 
Commissioner  of  Patents  in  the  interference  case  known 
as  Steinberger  versus  Hewlett.  This  case  arose  through 
an  appeal  taken  by  Mr.  Louis  Steinberger,  president  and 
general  manager  of  the  Electrose  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  from  a  decision  of  the  examiner- 
in-chief  confirming  the  decision  of  the  examiner  of  inter- 
ferences awarding  priority  of  invention  to  Mr.  E.  M.  Hew- 
lett, of  the  General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady,  N.  Y., 
for  a  disk  strain  insulator  comprising  suspension  members 
partially  enveloped  by  a  mass  of  insulating  material  and 
having  a  disk  portion  provided  with  annular  collars  or 
flanges  extending  in  opposite  directions  therefrom  and  gen- 
erally parallel  with  the  suspension  members.  The  merit  of 
this  particular  construction  was  the  diminished  surface 
leakage  brought  about  by  draining  and  disposing  of  the 
water  which  would  collect  upon  the  insulator  in  rainy 
weather.  The  record  shows  that  Steinberger  filed  his  ap- 
plication for  a  patent  on  this  device  on  Jan.  20,  1908,  and 
that  the  patent  was  issued  on  Nov.  17,  1908,  No.  904,370. 
The  application  by  Hewlett  was  filed  April  20,  1907,  this 
being  prior  to  the  application  filed  by  Steinberger.  Thus 
the  two  applications  were  pending  contemporaneously,  and 
Steinberger's  application  went  to  issue  while  Hewlett's  ap- 
plication was  still  in  the  office.  Notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  Steinberger's  patent  had  actually  been  issued,  his 
application  was  afterward  declared  to  be  in  interference 
with   Hewlett's  claims   for  a  similar   device. 

This,  incidentally,  discloses  one  of  the  serious  defects 
of  the  present  methods  in  the  Patent  Office,  exhibiting  the 
fact  that  in  the  case  of  two  independent  applications  pend- 
ing for  the  same  invention  it  is  possible  for  one  of  these  to- 
be  allowed  and  a  patent  issued — even  in  the  case  of  the 
junior  or  last  application — without  first  declaring  an  inter- 
ference. An  excellent  illustration  is  thus  afforded  of  the 
inherent  weakness  of  a  patent  as  granted  under  the  present 
system.  An  inventor  cannot  be  positive  that  his  title  to  his 
patent  is  valid  and  secure  until  considerable  time  has  elapsed 
and  it  has  been  completely  adjudicated  by  the  courts. 

One  of  the  unusual  circumstances  in  this  instance  is  the 
fact  that  the  senior  party,  Hewlett,  took  no  testimony  at  the 
interference  hearings,  electing  to  rest  his  case  upon  his 
filing  date.  Steinberger,  however,  raised  the  issue  of  origi- 
nality and  contended  that  he  had  disclosed  the  invention  to 
Mr.  H.  W.  Buck,  a  consulting  engineer  of  New  York  City, 
by  means  of  a  letter  and  a  sketch,  forwarded  to  the  latter 
on  or  about  Oct.  7,  1905.  This  disclosure  was  said  to  be 
the  result  of  an  invitation  from  Buck  to  Steinberger  ta 
manufacture  some  disk  or  suspension  insulators  of  electrose 
in  accordance  with  a  certain  proposed  design.  A  number  of 
designs,  according  to  the  testimony,  were  submitted,  one  of 
which  made  use  of  a  corrugated  disk.  The  records  also 
show  that  a  joint  application  claiming  the  invention  was 
filed  by  Buck  and  Hewlett  on  Feb.  15,  igo6,  and  assigned 
to  the  General  Electric  Company,  but  finally  abandoned 
Nov.  17,  1909.  However,  on  April  20,  1907,  Hewlett  filed 
a  separate  and  individual  application  for  the  same  invention, 
also  assigned  to  the  General  Electric  Company,  which  his 
counsel  contends  justifies  no  further  presumption  than  that 
Hewlett  and  Buck  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  they 
were  not  the  joint  inventors  but  that  Hewlett  was  the  sole 
inventor. 

The  opinion  handed  down  in  this  case  then  takes  up  the 
question  whether  the  disclosure  made  to  Buck  by  Stein- 
berger in  October,  1905,  was  a  disclosure  of  the  invention 
at  issue,  and  reaches  an  affirmative  conclusion  on  the  ground 
that  there  was  no  substantial  difference  between  Stein- 
berger's corrugated  design  and  Hewlett's  annular  collars  or 
flanges  attached  to  the  disk.  There  was  also  in  evidence 
an  earlier  patent  issued  to  Steinberger,  No.  913,439,  filed 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


1301 


Nov.  27,  1905,  and  issued  Feb.  23,  1909.  This  filing  date, 
the  decision  notes,  is  one  month  and  twenty  days  after  the 
date  of  Steinberger's  letter  of  disclosure  to  Buck  and  much 
earlier  than  any  date  which  could  be  awarded  to  Hewlett. 
The  opinion  holds  that  this  earlier  patent  clearly  discloses 
the  idea  and  means  of  providing  dry  spaces  so  that  the 
insulation  would  not  be  impaired  or  totally  destroyed  by 
falling  rain  or  moisture.  The  opinion  sums  up  the  case  as 
follows: 

"In  view  of  the  disclosure  and  of  the  record  presented — 
viz.,  the  filing  of  a  joint  application  by  Buck  and  Hewlett, 
followed  by  a  sole  application  of  Hewlett,  both  disclosing 
the  invention  of  the  issue — there  is  no  other  conclusion 
possible  than  that  Hewlett  derived  this  invention  from 
Steinberger  through  Buck,  and  this  conclusion  is  all  the 
more  justified  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  Hewlett  did  not 
testify  or  present  any  record  in  his  own  behalf  to  establish 
that  he  was,  in  fact,  the  inventor  of  the  issue." 

An  important  and  interesting  statement  of  broad  prin- 
ciple is  also  disclosed  in  the  commissioner's  opinion,  as 
follows: 

"Where  in  a  case  involving  the  question  of  originality 
an  inventor  who  is  available  as  a  witness  fails  to  take  the 
stand  when  the  facts  in  his  favor,  if  any  there  be,  are 
peculiarly  within  his  knowledge,  the  legal  presumption  fol- 
lows that  his  testimony  would  be  unfavorable  to  his  case." 

In  substance,  the  opinion  holds  that  in  the  light  of  the 
record  the  refinements  of  language  in  the  claims  should  not 
be  controlling,  and  the  words  "corrugations,"  "flanges," 
and  "collars"  as  employed  in  this  particular  case  are 
synonymous.  It  was  held  that  Steinberger  is  the  original 
inventor,  and  the  decision  of  the  examiner-in-chief  was 
reversed.  An  appeal  has  been  taken  by  Hewlett  to  the 
Court  of  Appeals  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  case 
is  obviously  an  important  one  because  of  the  present  state 
of  the  insulator  art  and  the  extended  use  of  suspension 
insulators  in  high-tension  transmission. 


LOUISVILLE  INJUNCTION  HEARING   JAN.  6. 

By  agreement  of  the  attorneys  for  both  sides,  the  argu- 
ment on  the  motion  of  the  Kentucky  Electric  Company,  of 
Louisville,  Ky.,  for  an  injunction  to  restrain  the  Louisville 
Lighting  Company  from  indemnifying  or  agreeing  to  in- 
demnify customers  which  it  may  secure  by  inducing  them 
to  break  contracts  already  established  will  be  heard  in 
Judge  Quarles'  court  Jan.  6.  Mr.  Anthony  J.  Carroll  repre- 
sents the  plaintiff  in  this  suit,  and  Judge  Alex.  P.  Humphrey 
is  counsel  for  the  defendant. 


RIGHT  OF  EMINENT  DOMAIN  OVER  PATENTS. 


RIGHTS  OF  A  FOREIGN    CORPORATION   IN   KEN- 
TUCKY. 


Whether  or  not  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company, 
as  a  New  York  corporation  possessing  no  charter  in  Ken- 
tucky, has  a  right  to  possess  property  and  enjoy  the  privi- 
leges of  a  corporation  of  Kentucky  was  argued  recently 
before  Judge  Walter  Evans,  of  the  United  States  Court, 
Western  District,  at  Louisville,  Ky.  The  Louisville  &  Nash- 
ville Railroad  Company  is  the  plaintiff  in  the  suit  against 
the  Western  Union,  seeking  to  remove  the  poles  and  wires 
of  the  defendant  company  from  its  rights-of-way  in  the 
South,  on  the  ground  that  its  contract  with  the  defendant 
for  telegraph  service  has  terminated  and  that  it  desires  to 
establish  its  own  lines  and  conduct  its  own  telegraph  busi- 
ness. Arguments  by  Col.  Henry  L.  Stone  and  other  attor- 
neys representing  the  railroad,  and  by  Judges  A.  E.  Rich- 
ards and  Alex.  P.  Humphrey  were  heard  by  the  court,  and 
a  week's  time  was  allotted  both  sides  in  which  to  file  their 
briefs. 


According  to  the  annual  report  of  Solicitor  Henry  W. 
Miller  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  the  act  of  June  25, 
1910,  authorizing  the  owners  of  patents  used  by  the  gov- 
ernment to  bring  suit  in  the  Court  of  Claims  for  compen- 
sation, may  prove  to  have  a  greater  effect  than  was  at 
first  supposed,  in  simplifying  the  whole  matter  of  com- 
pensating patentees  for  the  use  of  their  inventions  by  the 
government.  The  Supreme  Court  recently  held  in  the  case 
of  Crozier  versus  Krupp  (224  U.  S.,  290)  that  inasmuch 
as  the  owner  of  a  patent  has,  under  the  statute,  a  remedy 
for  any  wrong  done  to  him  by  the  government,  such  owner 
could  not  obtain  an  injunction  against  the  manufacture  by 
a  contractor  of  the  patented  article  if  intended  for  the  gov- 
ernment's use.  This  decision,  according  to  Mr.  Miller, 
places  the  act  mentioned  in  the  category  of  legislation  exer- 
cising the  right  of  eminent  domain  and  frees  the  hand  of 
the  Navy  Department  to  appropriate  and  use  without  delay 
the  property  rights  of  a  citizen  without  depriving  him  of 
just  compensation.  This  privilege,  he  said,  is  of  great  value 
to  the  department  at  all  times  and  will  save  it,  in  the  event 
of  war,  from  annoyances  of  a  kind  that  have  reflected  dis- 
credit on  the  patriotism  of  some  citizens  in  the  past. 


TELEPHONE  MERGER  AT  LIMA.  OHIO. 


Mr.  C.  J.  Cable,  president  of  the  Lima  Telephone  &  Tele- 
graph Company,  has  announced  the  purchase  of  the  plant 
of  the  Central  Union  Telephone  Company  at  Lima.  The 
two  systems  will  be  merged  and  the  local  company  will 
occupy  the  Central  Union  exchange.  It  is  said  that  no 
material  change  in  the  rates  will  be  made,  although  the 
Central  Union  has  about  7000  subscribers.  New  stock  will 
be  sold  to  secure  funds  to  pay  for  the  property. 

This  merger  is  representative  of  the  widespread  move- 
ment which  is  well  under  way  in  the  telephone  industry. 
Competition  is  disappearing  and  the  Bell  subsidiary  com- 
panies are  taking  over  many  small  independent  properties, 
while  in  other  cases  the  Bell  companies  have  sold  their  local 
plants  to  independent  interests.  Lima  is  a  prosperous  Ohio 
city  of  about  31,000  population. 


PROPOSED     INVESTIGATION     OF     HIGH-TENSION 

TRANSMISSION  HAZARDS  BY  BUREAU  OF 

STANDARDS. 


On  Dec.  9  Representative  Cox,  of  Ohio,  secured  the  con- 
sent of  the  House  of  Representatives  to  an  amendment  to 
the  legislative  bill,  accepted  by  a  vote  of  63  to  19,  providing 
for  an  appropriation  of  $15,000  for  an  investigation  by  the 
Bureau  of  Standards  of  the  hazards  attending  the  high- 
tension  transmission  of  electric  energy.  The  amendment 
was  as  follows : 

"To  investigate  the  dangers  to  life  and  property  due  to 
the  transmission  of  tiie  electric  current  at  high  potentials 
and  the  precautions  to  be  taken  and  the  best  method  of  con- 
struction, installation  and  operation  to  be  followed  in  the 
distribution  and  return  of  such  current  in  order  to  reduce 
to  a  minimum  such  dangers ;  also  to  investigate  the  best 
means  of  protecting  life  and  property  from  lightning,  in- 
cluding personal  services,  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
in  the  field,  $15,000." 

In  introducing  the  resolution  Mr.  Cox  said  in  explanation^ 
of  it: 

"The  provision  here  is  that  the  Bureau  of  Standards  shall 
now  make  practical  use  of  certain  laboratory  apparatus 
which  was  purchased  under  an  authority  granted  during  the 


1302 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25- 


session  of  the  last  Congress.  Let  me  remind  members  of 
this  House  that  every  state  in  the  Union  which  is  keeping 
step  with  the  progress  of  the  age  has  created  a  so-called 
public-utilities  commission,  and  it  is  the  purpose  of  this 
subdivision  of  state  governments  not  only  to  regulate  the 
rates  which  are  assessed  against  individuals  but  to  protect 
in  the  largest  measure  possible  human  life.  Living  in  the 
North,  as  many  of  us  do,  I  think  we  have  a  measurably 
full  appreciation  of  the  tremendous  dangers  which  now  are 
part  of  the  great  industrial  activities  of  this  age.  In  our 
neighboring  State  of  Indiana  the  most  important  question 
now  is  the  passage  of  a  workman's  compensation  act,  in 
order  that  there  may  be  taken  from  the  courts  every  piece 
of  litigation  which  joins  to  personal-injury  cases.  The 
President  of  the  United  States,  in  submitting  his  message 
here  the  other  day,  dilated  upon  the  importance,  the  pro- 
priety and  the  justice  of  this  legislation.  We  want  to  go 
deeper.  We  want  to  touch  a  more  important  fundamental 
of  this  subject  by  preventing  this  harvest  of  deaths.  The 
public-utilities  commissions  in  the  States  desire  to  install 
certain  safety  devices  which  will  be  fair  to  corporations 
and  which  will  be  fair  also  to  the  people.  They  want  to 
know  what  the  best  safety  devices  are,  and  then  they  can 
standardize  them. 

"Civilization  now  calls  upon  this  Republic,  through 
Representatives  here  assembled,  to  give  to  the  highest 
authority  in  this  land,  the  Bureau  of  Standards,  the  task  of 
determining  the  safety  devices  which  ought  to  be  installed 
in  order  that  public-utilities  commissions  in  the  States  can 
then  have  them  standardized  and  applied.  The  cost  is  only 
$15,000  per  year.  The  apparatus  for  experimentation  has 
been  purchased.  I  want  to 'remind  gentlemen  that  I  have 
in  my  hand  now  press  clippings  from  the  newspapers  of  the 
day  covering  but  a  short  time,  and  yet  they  tell  the  story 
of  countless  human  tragedies.  I  do  not  want  to  appeal  in 
any  improper  way  to  the  sentiment  or  the  impulse  of  this 
House,  but  there  is  not  a  provision  in  this  bill  which  is  half 
so  important  to  the  country  as  the  amendment  which  has 
just  been  introduced." 

As  the  result  of  objections  to  the  amendment  by  Repre- 
sentative Johnson,  of  South  Carolina,  there  was  an  extended 
debate  and  the  proposed  investigation  was  indorsed  by 
Messrs  Cannon  and  Buchanan,  of  Illinois;  Hobson,  of 
Alabama,  and  others.  Much  of  the  discussion  centered 
around  the  relative  importance  of  this  and  other  investiga- 
tions by  the  Bureau  of  Standards  and  whether  the  protec- 
tion of  property  should  be  superior  to  the  protection  of 
human  life.  There  is  said  to  be  little  doubt  that  the  Senate 
will  concur  in  the  amendment. 


NOMINATIONS   FOR   THE    UNITED    STATES    CDM- 
MISSION  ON  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS. 


Nominations  of  nine  individuals  to  compose  the  United 
States  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations  were  sent  to 
the  Senate  by  President  Taft  on  Dec.  17.  These  nomina- 
tions were  as  follows :  Representing  the  general  public, 
Senator  George  Sutherland,  of  Utah;  Mr.  George  B. 
Chandler,  a  member  of  the  Connecticut  Legislature,  and 
Mr.  Charles  S.  Barrett,  of  Union  City,  Ga.,  president  of 
the  Farmers'  Union.  Representing  capital,  Mr.  Frederic 
A.  Delano,  of  Chicago,  former  president  and  now  one  of 
the  receivers  of  the  Wabash  Railroad ;  Mr.  Adolph  Lew- 
isohn,  of  New  York,  owner  of  copper  mines  and  a  manu- 
facturer, and  Mr.  Ferdinand  C.  Schwedtman,  of  St.  Louis, 
Mo,  an  electrical  engineer  and  also  vice-president  of  the 
National  Manufacturers'  Association.  Representing  labor, 
Mr.  Austin  B.  Garretson  of  Iowa,  president  of  the  Order 
of  Railway  Conductors;  Mr.  John  B.  Lennon,  of  Bloom- 
ington.  111.,  treasurer  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
and  Mr.  James  O'Connell,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  vice- 
president  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 


The  commission  was  authorized  by  act  of  Congress  ap- 
proved Aug.  23  and  its  main  purpose  will  be  to  discover 
the  underlying  causes  of  dissatisfaction  in  the  industrial 
situation  and  report  its  conclusions  thereon.  The  scope  of 
the  investigation  will  be  exceedingly  broad,  covering  all 
phases  of  the  mutual  relationships  among  employers,  wage- 
earners  and  the  public.  The  act  appropriated  $100,000  for 
the  use  of  the  commission  for  the  fiscal  year  to  end  on 
June  30,  1913.  The  final  report,  accompanied  by  testi- 
mony taken  at  the  hearings,  must  be  made  not  later  than 
Aug.  23,  1915. 


PROPOSED  NEW  YORK  CITIZENS'  COMMITTEE  TO 

SAFEGUARD  APPOINTMENTS  TO   PUBLIC 

SERVICE  COMMISSIONS. 


Copies  of  a  letter  proposing  the  formation  of  a  state-wide 
citizens'  committee  to  secure  non-partisan  appointments  to 
fill  vacancies  in  the  two  public  service  commissions  have 
been  sent  to  well-known  men  in  every  county  in  New  York 
State.  These  letters  were  signed  by  Messrs.  William  J. 
Schieffelin,  chairman  of  the  Citizens'  Union;  Seth  Low, 
former  Mayor  of  New  York,  and  J.  Hampden  Dougherty, 
Dr.  Henry  Moscowitz,  Eugene  A.  Philbin  and  Allan  Robin- 
son. The  letter  calls  attention  to  the  vacancies  in  the  two 
commissions  which  it  will  become  Governor-elect  Sulzer's 
duty  to  fill  in  the  near  future  and  points  out  the  great  im- 
portance of  selecting  the  new  incumbents  on  the  principle 
of  fitness  for  office.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  appointees 
are  selected  on  the  basis  of  political  party  patronage  it  seems 
certain  that  these  great  commissions  will  be  turned  over  to 
the  party  bosses  as  spoils. 

There  are  unlet  subway  contracts  in  New  York  City 
amounting  to  nearly  $300,000,000,  and  there  are,  moreover, 
exempt  positions  under  the  commission  paying  a  total  of 
$135,000  annually  in  salaries.  These  conditions  furnish  the 
strongest  temptation  to  political  organizations  to  secure 
control  of  the  patronage  which  would  be  theirs  if  only  their 
favorites  could  be  appointed  to  fill  the  approaching  vacancies 
in  the  two  commissions.  The  letter  also  states  that  it  will 
be  the  object  of  this  citizens'  committee  for  non-partisan 
public  service  regulation  to  inform  the  people  of  the  State 
of  the  critical  situation  and  to  urge  upon  the  Governor 
and  the  Legislature  the  great  importance  of  upholding  the 
principle  of  appointment  to  the  public  service  commissions 
on  the  sole  basis  of  individual  fitness,  as  inaugurated  by 
Governor  Hughes,  and  not  of  political  party. 


SULZER  BILL  FOR  A  SINGLE  COURT  OF  PATENT 
APPEALS. 


It  is  expected  that  the  bill  introduced  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  shortly  before  the  close  of  the  last  session 
by  Representative  Sulzer,  Governor-elect  of  New  York, 
providing  for  a  United  States  Court  of  Patent  Appeals,  will 
take  an  important  place  in  any  patent  legislation  which  it 
is  attempted  to  pass  at  this  session  of  Congress.  A  hearing 
was  held  on  the  bill  on  Dec.  6,  and  others  will  probably  be 
held  during  the  winter. 

The  bill  provides  for  five  judges,  four  of  whom  shall 
constitute  a  quorum ;  for  a  clerk  and  marshal  who  shall 
perform  the  same  duties  as  those  performed  by  similar 
officers  of  the  Supreme  Court;  for  the  same  costs  and  fees 
now  exacted  in  the  Supreme  Court ;  that  the  President  shall 
appoint  a  chief  justice  of  the  proposed  court,  and  acceptance 
of  that  office  by  a  judge  of  the  circuit  court  or  district 
court  shall  vacate  his  office  as  circuit  or  district  judge;  that 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1303 


the  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  shall  designate  from 
among  the  judges  of  circuit  and  district  courts  four  judges 
to  sit  as  associate  justices  of  the  proposed  court,  two  for 
three  years  and  two  for  six  years,  all  appointments  after 
the  first  appointments  to  be  for  six  years;  that  associate 
judges  so  appointed  shall  not  lose  their  offices  as  judges 
of  the  circuit  court  or  district  court  as  the  case  may  be; 
that  a  term  of  the  proposed  court  shall  be  held  annually  at 
Washington  beginning  in  October,  provided  there  is  a 
quorum  of  four  present;  that  the  senior  associate  justice 
shall  serve  as  chief  justice  in  the  absence  of  the  chief 
justice;  that  the  chief  justice  shall  receive  a  salary  of 
$10,000  a  year;  that  the  circuit  judges  sitting  as  associate 
judges  shall  receive  not  more  than  $9,500  per  annum  for 
holding  both  judgeships;  that  district  judges  shall  receive 
while  sitting  as  associate  judges  not  more  than  $11,000  per 
annum  for  holding  both  judgeships. 

The  bill  provides  furthermore  that  the  proposed  court 
shall  have  jurisdiction  to  hear  and  determine  appeals  and 
writs  of  error  from  final  judgments  and  decrees  in  the 
circuit  courts  of  the  United  States  in  cases  relating  to 
patents  for  inventions  and  from  final  judgments  and  decrees 
in  cases  relating  to  patents  for  inventions  rendered  by  any 
other  court  having  jurisdiction  to  hear  and  decide  such  cases 
in  the  first  instance,  provided  that  it  shall  have  no  jurisdic- 
tion in  cases  originating  in  the  Court  of  Claims,  all  such 
appeals  to  be  taken  within  six  months  after  the  entry  of  the 
order,  judgment  or  decree  sought  to  be  reviewed;  that  the 
practice,  procedure  and  forms  of  the  Supreme  Court  shall 
be  used;  that  whenever,  by  an  interlocutory  order  or  decree 
in  a  circuit  court  of  the  United  States  or  other  court  having 
jurisdiction  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States  to  hear  and 
decide  in  the  first  instance  cases  arising  under  the  patent 
laws,  in  a  case  in  which  an  appeal  may  be  taken  from  the 
final  decree  of  such  court  to  the  proposed  court,  an  injunc- 
tion or  restraining  order  shall  be  granted,  or  refused,  or 
modified,  an  appeal  may  be  taken  from  such  order  or 
decree  by  the  party  aggrieved  to  the  proposed  court,  pro- 
vided that  the  appeal  must  be  taken  within  thirty  days  from 
the  service  of  the  notice  of  entry  of  such  order  or  decree; 
and  it  shall  take  precedence  in  the  appellate  court,  and  the 
proceedings  in  other  respects  in  the  court  below  shall  not 
be  stayed  unless  otherwise  ordered  by  that  court,  or  the 
proposed  court,  during  the  pendency  of  such  appeal. 

Further  clauses  stipulate  that  in  every  case  determined 
by  the  proposed  court  upon  appeal  or  writ  of  error  the 
case  shall  be  remanded  to  the  circuit  court  of  the  United 
States,  or  other  court  from  which  it  came,  for  further 
proceedings;  that  all  appeals  and  writs  of  error  in  cases 
in  which  appellate  jurisdiction  is  by  the  act  conferred  upon 
the  proposed  court  and  which  shall  have  been  pending  with- 
out hearing  in  the  United  States  circuit  courts  of  appeals 
or  other  courts  of  appellate  jurisdiction  for  less  than  three 
calendar  months  prior  to  the  taking  effect  of  the  act  shall 
be  transferred  to  the  proposed  court  and  be  heard  and 
determined  as  though  they  had  been  taken  there  from  the 
trial  courts  by  appeal  or  writ  of  error,  without  further 
payment  for  certifying  the  record  or  any  new  or  additional 
docket  or  calendar  fees;  all  other  appeals  and  writs  of  error 
in  cases  in  which  appellate  jurisdiction  is  by  the  act  con- 
ferred upon  the  proposed  court  and  which  shall  be  pending 
in  the  United  States  circuit  courts  of  appeals  or  other  courts 
of  appellate  jurisdiction  at  the  time  of  the  taking  effect 
of  the  act  shall  remain  and  be  heard  and  determined  by  the 
courts  in  which  they  may  be  pending  respectively  as  though 
the  act  had  not  been  passed;  that  after  the  taking  effect  of 
the  act  no  appeal  or  writ  of  error  shall  be  taken  from  any 
circuit  court  or  other  court  of  the  United  States  to  any 
circuit  court  of  appeals  or  other  appellate  court  in  any 
case  in  which  an  appeal  or  writ  of  error  may  be  taken  to 
the  proposed  court  under  the  provisions  of  the  act,  and 
that  the  act  shall  take  effect  six  months  from  its  passage. 

The  first  hearing  on  the  bill  was  held  before  the  House 


sub-committee  on  the  judiciary,  Representative  H.  Garland 
Dupree,  of  Louisiana,  presiding  as  acting  chairman.  He  was 
assisted  by  Representative  J.  Beall,  of  Texas.  Statements 
were' made  by  Messrs.  Charles  F.  MacLean  and  Charles  C. 
Copeland,  of  New  York  City;  Mr.  James  T.  Hoile,  secre- 
tary of  the  Merchants  and  Manufacturers'  Association,  of 
New  York,  and  Mr.  Frank  S.  Gardner,  secretary  of  the 
New  York  Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation. 

Mr.  MacLean  pointed  out  that  the  bill  was  drawn  before 
the  law  doing  away  with  the  Circuit  Court  as  it  formerly 
existed  went  into  effect  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  al- 
though it  was  introduced  Aug.  14,  1912.  He  said  there  had 
been  criticism  because  of  the  high  salary  of  the  judges. 
He  declared  the  bill  was  drawn  in  accordance  with  the 
modern  trend  to  create  a  court  which  would  occupy  itself 
entirely  with  one  matter — patent  cases — to  the  end  that  there 
should  be  a  continuity  of  decisions,  to  the  end  further  that 
persons  serving  as  judges  in  the  proposed  court  should 
not  only  be  peculiarly  qualified  for  the  consideration  and 
decision  of  cases  involving  technical  matters  in  patent  cases 
but  also  should  have  special  knowledge  of  mechanics, 
kinetics  and  dynamics. 

"The  persons  who  have  interested  themselves  in  the  prog- 
ress of  this  bill,"  Mr.  MacLean  said,  "especially  members 
of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation  of  New  York, 
are  of  opinion  that  the  persons  appointed  as  judges  of  this 
court  should  have  special  qualifications  for  such  judiciary. 
Many  years  ago,  for  example,  in  what  are  called  the  'driven- 
weir  cases,  there  were  decisions  in  different  parts  of  the 
country  sustaining  the  driven-well  patents  until  at  last  it 
was  the  opinion  that  those  patents  would  stand  in  any 
jurisdiction.  The  case  came  up  before  a  court  in  which 
Justice  Blanchard  presided  and  the  driven-well  patents  were 
all  set  aside.  The  so-called  Mergenthaler  patents  came  up 
in  New  York  before  a  justice,  an  accomplished  man  whose 
experience  had  been  originally  in  a  rural  district  and  who 
did  not  profess  to  have  any  special  acquaintance  with  me- 
chanics, and  the  case  resulted  in  a  decision  that  made  the 
Mergenthaler    patent    practically    invulnerable." 

Mr.  MacLean  said  that  one  objection  others  have  offered 
to  the  bill  is  that  the  court  is,  under  the  act,  to  sit  in  the 
capital.  He  did  not  think  that  was  important,  because  only 
counsel  as  a  rule  are  required  to  make  journeys  for  ap- 
pearance at  such  courts,  evidence  being  taken  by  deposition. 
He  thought  it  was  useless  to  wait  for  forming  a  Court  of 
Patent  Appeals  until  the  entire  procedure  of  the  courts  had 
been  revised.  All  reforms,  he  said,  were  brought  about  by 
discontent  and  each  of  them  had  been  largely  a  special 
reform,  such  as  this  proposed  new  court. 

Permission  was  extended  to  Mr.  MacLean  to  add  to  his 
remarks,  when  revising  the  record  of  his  hearing,  and  he 
was  asked  to  furnish  the  committee  with  a  statement  show- 
ing the  volume  of  patent  litigation  in  this  country  and  the 
necessity  for  the  creation  of  the  proposed  special  court. 

Mr.  Copeland  spoke  in  regard  to  the  indorsements  of 
the  bill  bv  various  organizations.  He  promised  to  furnish 
the  committee  with  written  duplicates  of  these.  Speaking 
as  to  the  necessity  for  the  act,  he  said : 

"It  was  my  privilege  to  interview  many  of  the  leading 
patent  lawyers  of  New  York  State  with  regard  to  this  bill. 
Judge  Dwyer,  of  Dwyer  &  Taylor,  who  is  Mr.  Edison's 
lawyer  and  who  represents  a  number  of  large  corporations, 
said'  to  me  that  there  would  be  more  than  ample  work  for  a 
specialized  court  to  do,  and  further  that  it  would  be  a  great 
relief  to  the  other  federal  courts  to  take  up  the  cases  which 
they  had,  many  of  which  were  outside  of  their  regular 
cases.  I  might  say  that  nearly  all  the  leading  patent  attor- 
neys have  indorsed  this  measure,  and  that  the  American 
Bar  Association  has  indorsed  it.  Judge  Robert  S.  Hulse, 
of  Taylor  &  Hulse,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  writes  me:  'I  have 
given  much  time  and  labor  to  the  advocacy  of  this  bill.  I 
wrote  the  original  bill  some  ten  or  twelve  years  ago  and 
have   followed   its   course   from   one   Congress  to   another 


1304 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


ever  since.  Its  fundamental  provisions  remain  unchanged. 
The  need  for  the  court  is  as  great  to-day  as  it  ever  was.' " 

Mr.  Copeland  then  read  from  a  letter  from  Mr.  S.  O. 
Edmonds,  of  Edmonds  &  Edmonds,  New  York  City,  in 
which  the  latter  said :  "I  offered  a  resolution  yesterday  at 
a  special  meeting  of  the  committee  on  patents  and  trade- 
marks of  the  New  York  County  Lawyers'  Association  ap- 
proving the  Sulzer  bill  and  urging  its  early  passage.  In 
addition,  I  have  prepared  and  am  now  circulating  a  petition 
which  I  expect  to  have  signed  by  the  leading  members  of 
the  patent  bar  here  in  New  York."  Mr.  Copeland  further 
produced  indorsements  from  Mr.  Henry  Houston  Kenyon, 
of  New  York;  Mr.  Charles  C.  Bulkley,  of  Bulkley  &  Durand, 
Chicago,  and  Mr.  Arthur  L.  Morsell,  of  Morsell  &  Cald- 
well, Milwaukee.  He  also  said  that  every  patent  bar  asso- 
ciation in  this  country  and  almost  without  exception  every 
leading  commercial  organization  has  indorsed  the  bill. 

Mr.  Frank  S.  Gardner,  secretary  of  the  New  York  Board 
of  Trade  and  Transportation,  submited  a  copy  of  a  report 
from  a  committee  appointed  in  the  interests  of  the  bill. 

Mr.  James  T.  Hoile,  secretary  of  the  Merchants  and 
Manufacturers'  Association,  of  New  York,  submitted  a 
statement  in  which  he  said  that  the  layman  has  become 
wedded  to  the  idea  that  to  be  interested  in  a  patent  is  to  be 
interested  in  a  lawsuit.  "The  government,"  he  said,  "gives 
us  a  piece  of  paper  which  is  practically  an  order  to  go  to 
court."  He  explained  the  necessity  for  the  court  from  a 
business  and  commercial  point  of  view. 


FEDERAL  WATER-POWER  POLICY. 


On  Dec.  16  President  Taft  sent  to  Congress  the  annual 
report  of  Secretary  of  the  Interior  Walter  L.  Fisher,  a 
considerable  portion  of  which  was  devoted  to  the  subject 
of  water-power  regulation  and  the  proper  attitude  of  the 
government  toward  the  leasing  of  federal  water-power  sites. 
What  follows  is  taken  from  Mr.  Fisher's  report. 

"There  is  no  more  important  subject  now  pending  before 
Congress  and  the  country  than  the  adoption  of  a  definite 
and  comprehensive  water-power  policy,  both  with  regard 
to  streams  upon  the  public  domain  and  navigable  streams 
not  on  the  public  domain.  During  the  past  year  the  subject 
has  received  much  attention  in  Congress  and  elsewhere. 
The  hearings  before  the  National  Waterways  Commission 
were  especially  important  and  resulted  in  a  unanimous  re- 
port *  which  marks  at  least  a  definite  step  forward  toward 
a  constructive  water-power  policy.  Bills  have  been  intro- 
duced providing  for  the  definite  adoption  of  such  a  policy 
with  respect  to  public  lands.  The  passage  of  two  bills  by 
Congress  authorizing  dams  in  certain  navigable  streams  and 
the  discussions  over  these  bills  and  over  the  forceful  mes- 
sages in  which  they  were  vetoed  have  clearly  pointed  out 
the  necessity  for  amendment  of  the  general  dam  act  and 
have  suggested  the  amendments  which  would  be  appropriate. 

"When  it  became  apparent  that  Congress  was  not  likely 
to  act  with  respect  to  water-power  sites  upon  the  public 
domain,  a  series  of  conferences  was  arranged  between  the 
representatives  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the 
Department  of  the  Interior  for  the  purpose  of  drafting  a 
comprehensive  revision  of  the  regulations  of  these  two  de- 
partments with  respect  to  permits  for  water-power  develop- 
ment in  the  national  forests  and  on  the  public  domain  gen- 
erally. The  revised  regulations  were  put  into  effect  by  the 
Department  of  the  Interior  on  Aug.  24,  1912,  so  that  their 
effect  might  be  carefully  considered  by  those  who  are  in- 
terested in  water-power  development,  and  on  Nov.  18,  1912, 
a  largely  attended  conference  with  representatives  of  im- 
portant water-power  interests  and  of  the  state  conservation, 
water  and  railroad  commissioners  of  California  was  held 
in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  for  the  purpose 


^Senate    Document    N'o.    469,    Sixty-second    Congress,    second    session. 


of  discussing  the  relations  between  the  state  and  national 
governments  with  respect  to  water-power,  and  especially  of 
considering  such  modifications  in  the  laws  and  regulations- 
as  might  be  suggested  in  order  to  co-ordinate  the  functions 
of  the  nation  and  the  states  and  make  the  regulations, 
whether  state  or  national,  sufficiently  liberal  to  encourage 
vigorous  development  and  at  the  same  time  to  protect  ade- 
quately the  public  interests.  The  conference  demonstrated 
the  feasibility  of  eft'ective  co-operation  for  the  reconciliation 
or  adjustment  of  the  different  interests,  state  and  national, 
public  and  private.  Many  helpful  suggestions  were  made,, 
which  are  now  under  consideration. 

"The  fundamental  purpose  of  a  rightly  considered  water- 
power  policy  is  the  encouragement  and  stimulation  of  the 
development  and  use  of  this  great  natural  resource  for  the 
benefit  of  the  public  and  along  lines  which  will  protect  and 
promote  the  public  interest.  Its  object  is  development,  but 
development  for  the  benefit  of  the  public.  The  first  public 
interest  is  that  the  water-power  shall  be  developed  and 
utilized,  but  some  forms  of  development  and  utilization  are 
obviously  better  calculated  to  promote  the  public  interest 
than  are  other  forms.  It  is  therefore  essential  that  we 
should  determine  what  form  of  development  will  best  pro- 
mote the  public  interest. 

"So  far  as  government  itself  does  not  undertake  the 
development  of  water-power  it  is  therefore  necessary  and 
desirable  that  we  shall  offer  to  those  private  interests  which 
do  undertake  its  development  a  sufficient  opportunity  for 
profit  and  a  sufficient  protection  of  their  investment  to 
secure  the  largest  measure  of  development  for  which  there 
is  a  present  market  or  for  which  a  market  can  profitably 
be  created.  It  must  be  equally  apparent,  however,  that  to 
the  extent  to  which  we  offer  an  unnecessary  inducement  we 
are  depriving  the  community  of  the  very  benefits  upon  which 
the  present  theories  of  industrial  society  depend. 

"Above  all,  we  must  make  certain  that  those  who  receive 
special  privileges  connected  with  water-power  development 
shall  in  fact  proceed  by  appropriate  degrees  and  within 
appropriate  times  to  develop  the  available  water-power  to 
its  highest  capacity,  having  due  regard  to  the  possibilities 
of  marketing  the  product.  We  must  make  certain  that  the 
electric  energy  thus  created  shall  be  made  available  to  the 
community  in  appropriate  ways  at  appropriate  prices.  If 
it  is  not  to  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  the  community  but 
is  to  be  devoted  directly  to  the  private  purposes  and  per- 
sonal advantage  of  the  permittee,  some  method  must  be 
found  by  which  the  public  will  receive  its  share  of  the 
profit  which  the  permittee  may  make  over  and  above  that 
which  is  a  necessary  and  reasonable  inducement  for  his 
investment. 

"The  theory  of  our  present  law  in  these  particulars  ap- 
pears to  be  that  the  only  way  in  which  the  public  interest  can 
properly  be  protected  is  by  providing  that  the  permit  may 
be  revoked  at  any  time  by  the  official  who  grants  it.  To-day, 
however,  the  revocable  feature  of  the  existing  law  is  a 
serious  and  unjustifiable  obstacle  to  the  development  and 
utilization  of  one  of  the  nation's  greatest  natural  resources. 
It  should  be  stricken  out  of  the  law,  but  it  should  be  striken 
out  only  if  there  are  inserted  in  its  place  statutory  pro- 
visions which  will  define  or  authorize  the  appropriate  ex- 
ecutive agency  to  define  by  regulations  the  conditions  and 
limitations  upon  which  the  permit  is  issued  and  for  a 
breach  of  which  it  shall  be  canceled. 

"It  would  seem  to  be  axiomatic  that  where  any  govern- 
mental agency,  whether  state  or  federal,  owns  or  controls 
a  natural  resource  that  agency  should  take  such  steps  and 
adopt  such  policies  as  will  insure  that  this  natural  resource 
is  being  utilized  for  the  benefit  of  the  community.  If  the 
particular  agency,  state  or  federal,  is  called  upon  to  expend 
moneys  for  the  protection  or  improvement  of  the  resource 
and  the  resource  itself  can,  without  detriment  to  the  com- 
munity, be  made  to  produce  revenues  out  of  which  such 
expenditures  can  be  paid,  this  course  should  be  adopted. 


Dkcember  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


1305 


'Jhe  proposition  thus  laid  down  seems  to  be  conceded,  re- 
luctantly in  some  cases  but  freely  in  others,  by  those  who 
are  interested  in  water-power  development.  As  a  rule  also 
Ihey  concede  further  that  if  water-power  is  being  developed 
iind  used  directly  by  the  permittee  for  its  own  financial 
profit  and  not  as  a  public  utility,  the  particular  govern- 
mental agency  issuing  the  permit  can  and  should  require 
Ihe  payment  of  such  substantial  compensation  as  the  facts 
in  any  given  case  may  warrant. 

"Upon  the  other  hand,  however,  they  vigorously  contend 
that  much,  if  not  most,  of  the  water-power  development 
upon  navigable  streams  and  upon  the  public  domain  is,  in 
fact,  in  the  nature  of  a  public  utility,  in  that  it  is  devoted 
to  the  generation  of  electric  current  which  is  sold  by  the 
permittee  for  general  consumption  by  the  public  for  light, 
heat  or  power.  They  now  state  frankly  that  this  develop- 
ment shoitld  be  treated  as  a  regulated  public  monopoly. 
Some  of  them  contend  that  for  this  reason  no  compensation 
whatever  should  be  exacted  by  the  government  which  grants 
the  permit,  but  on  the  other  hand  those  private  interests 
whose  representatives  are  really  candid  are  preparing  to 
admit  that  public  regulation  of  these  utilities  is,  generally 
speaking,  not  yet  efiicient,  and  that  to  the  extent  to  which 
it  fails  to  be  efiicient  the  government  is  justified  in  exacting 
compensation.  They  admit  further  that  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  control  of  the  situation  and  upon  broad  general 
principles  of  public  policy  the  government  is  justified  in 
imposing  a  nominal  compensation  even  in  cases  where  pub- 
lic regulation  appears  to  be  reasonably  effective,  and  that 
provision  for  periodic  readjustment  of  this  compensation 
will  be  a  useful  check  in  securing  such  efficient  regulation. 
Indeed,  the  only  controversy  of  importance  appears  to  be 
whether  the  federal  government  or  the  states  shall  control 
the  granting  of  water-power  permits  and  shall  collect  the 
compensation. 

"So  far  as  concerns  water-power  concessions  upon 
streams  which  are  not  navigable,  the  federal  government 
is  directly  concerned  to-day  only  where  the  application  is 
for  the  use  of  some  portion  of  the  federal  domain.  The 
important  question  is  whether  the  federal  government  should 
retain  its  control  over  such  power  sites  and  upon  what  con- 
ditions the  concession  shall  be  issued.  The  suggestion  is 
made  frequently  by  those  who  are  in  one  way  or  another 
representing  either  present  or  future  investment  in  water- 
power  development  that  such  power  sites  and  their  control 
should  be  turned  over  to  the  respective  states  in  which  they 
are  situated.  It  is  suggested  that  in  some  way  or  other  a 
failure  to  do  this  is  a  usurpation  of  federal  power  and  an 
unfair  discrimination  against  the  Western  States.  It  is 
interesting,  however,  to  note  that  the  ordinary  citizens  of 
these  states  are  not  at  all  concerned  over  federal  usurpation 
or  unjust  treatment.  They  recognize  that  the  federal  gov- 
ernment has  full  legal  power  to  dispose  of  the  public  domain 
as  wise  policy  may  direct.  They  do  not  fear  federal  usurpa- 
tion, but  seek  federal  co-operation  in  supplementing  state 
and  local  powers,  so  that  the  natural  resources  shall  be 
utilized  for  the  public  benefit  primarily  of  the  locality  in 
which  these  resources  are  situated,  and  thus  ultimately  for 
the  benefit  of  the  nation  as  a  whole.  They  suspect  that  the 
real  purpose  of  those  who  urge  the  turning  over  of  the 
federal  domain  to  the  states  is  that  they  may  escape  the 
longer  and  the  stronger  arm  of  the  federal  government  and 
may  take  advantage  of  the  more  limited  resources  and  gov- 
ernmental  facilities   of  the   individual   states. 

"There  is  no  real  conflict  between  the  nation  and  the 
states  upon  this  subject.  In  fact,  there  can  be  no  real  solu- 
tion of  these  aspects  of  the  problem  until  the  interest  and 
the  functions  of  the  nation  and  the  states  are  co-ordinated 
and  they  are  working  together  for  the  same  essential  ends. 
In  general,  all  of  the  streams  which  are  susceptible  of 
water-power  development  are  also  of  great  importance  for 
domestic  use,  for  irrigation  or  for  navigation.  All  of  them 
depend  to  some  degree  upon  protection  and  aid  of  some 


kind  and  from  some  source  for  one  or  more  of  these  uses. 
Increasingly  that  source  tends  to  be  the  nation  and  not  the 
states. 

"Theoretically  the  states  can  develop  and  protect  the 
streams  and  the  watersheds  of  the  streams  within  their  re- 
spective borders,  and  if  these  streams  are  interstate  in 
character  the  states  affected  can  unite  in  plans  and  ex- 
penditures for  their  joint  protection  and  development. 
Practically,  however,  the  tendency  is  increasingly  in  the 
direction  of  federal  action  upon  such  matters.  Some  of  the 
individual  states  are  developing  effective  policies  of  water 
conservation,  but  it  is  the  federal  government  after  all 
which  is  called  upon  to  make  the  chief  expenditures  for  the 
development  of  navigation  and  for  the  protection  of  the 
forest  cover  around  the  sources  and  along  the  watersheds 
of  both  navigable  and  non-navigable  streams.  It  is  the 
federal  government  which  will  be  asked  to  build  the  reser- 
voirs in  which  to  impound  the  flood  waters  at  their  source 
so  that  devastation  may  be  prevented  and  stream  flow  be 
made  regular  and  beneficent.  It  is  the  federal  government 
which  has  established  and  is  maintaining  the  forest  reserves 
by  withdrawing  appropriate  areas  on  the  public  domain  and 
purchasing  other  areas  in  the  Appalachian  and  other  moun- 
tains of  the  Eastern  States.  The  states  which  are  jointly 
interested  in  the  disposition  and  development  of  interstate 
waters  not  only  do  not  co-operate  with  each  other  but  are 
in  fact  antagonistic.  No  better  illustration  of  this  can  be 
found  than  in  the  present  attitude  of  state  officials  and  some 
citizens  of  Colorado  toward  the  utilization  of  the  waters 
of  the  Rio  Grande  for  the  irrigation  project  in  Texas  and 
New  Mexico  authorized  by  Congress  partly  for  the  benefit 
of  these  states  but  largely  in  settlement  of  an  international 
controversy  with  Mexico. 

"If,  then,  the  nation  is  to  perform  these  important  func- 
tions, if  it  is  to  make  these  expenditures,  if  it  is  to  be  the 
arbiter  and  harmonizer  of  conflicting  state  interests,  there 
would  seem  to  be  every  reason  why  the  nation  should  retain 
the  fullest  measure  of  control  necessary  or  appropriate  to 
enable  it  to  perform  these  functions  effectively. 

"It  is  true  that  much  of  the  hydroelectric  energy  devel- 
oped under  federal  permit  will  be  sold  to  local  communities 
and  their  inhabitants  for  general  lighting,  heating  and 
power  purposes,  and  that  the  local  communities  affected 
are  therefore  vitally  concerned  in  the  character  of  the 
service  rendered  by  the  permittee  and  in  the  charges  for 
this  service.  The  improvement  of  long-distance  transmis- 
sion will  tend  to  change  this  local  interest  into  an  interest 
interstate  in  character,  and  this  change  will  lead  to  the 
necessary  assertion  of  the  federal  power  over  interstate 
commerce,  as  has  been  the  case  in  the  field  of  railroad 
enterprise,  but  until  that  time  comes,  and  except  as  it  does 
come,  it  should  be  a  fundamental  principle  of  federal  water- 
power  policy  to  relegate  to  the  states  and  their  delegated 
agencies,  whether  such  agencies  be  the  local  municipalities 
or  the  public-utility  commissions,  the  important  function  of 
regulating  the  service  and  the  rates  of  hydroelectric  public 
utilities.  It  should  equally  be  a  feature  of  federal  policy 
to  utilize  the  revenues  derived  from  water-power  permits 
solely  for  the  purposes  of  water  development,  thus  return- 
ing to  the  local  communities,  not  by  any  nice  adjustment  of 
particular  expenditures  to  particular  receipts,  but  as  a  gen- 
eral policy,  the  contributions  which  these  communities  may 
directly  or  indirectly  make  to  the  federal  treasury.  Where 
the  local  community  is  efficiently  regulating  the  rates  and 
services  of  these  permittees,  the  federal  charge  should  be 
nominal  in  amount,  but  it  should  be  susceptible  of  periodic 
readjustment,  so  that  official  inquiry  may  be  made  into  the 
extent  to  which  local  regulation  is  efficient,  and  if  for  any 
reason  .such  regulation  is  not  effective  and  the  permittee  is 
enjoying  an  unconscionable  profit,  this  profit  may  be  di- 
minished by  appropriate  increases  of  the  federal  charge. 
Such  a  policy  can  in  no  way  injuriously  afifect  the  legitimate 
interests  of  the  private  investor  or  the  local  community." 


i3o6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NEWS. 


NEW   JERSEY    COMMISSION. 

The  commission  has  recently  approved  uniform  systems 
of  accounting  for  electric  light,  heat  and  power  companies, 
gas  companies,  water  companies  and  street-railway  com- 
panies. Numerous  hearings  have  been  held  by  members 
of  the  board,  and  there  have  been  many  conferences  during 
the  past  year  between  the  board's  accountant  and  representa- 
tives of  the  utilities  affected,  and  the  uniform  systems  of 
accounts  adopted  are  the  result.  A  pamphlet  containing 
the  uniform  system  for  each  utility  has  been  served  on 
each  of  the  companies  affected,  with  an  order  of  the  board 
requiring  its  adoption,  the  order  becoming  effective  on 
Dec.  31  of  this  year.  The  system  of  accounting  as  adopted 
by  the  board  is  comprehensive,  and  the  board  has  notified 
each  of  the  utilities  affected  that  its  order  does  not  con- 
template that  all  the  accounts  are  pertinent  to  the  facts  and 
circumstances  of  every  company,  without  regard  to  its 
size  and  importance,  but  that  in  all  cases  where  there  is 
doubt  as  to  the  pertinency  of  any  account  the  utilities 
should  communicate  promptly  with  the  board,  and  that 
the  board  will  aid  them  to  comply  in  a  reasonable  manner 
with  its  order. 

Notice  has  been  given  by  the  board  to  every  municipality 
in  the  State  operating  any  form  of  public-utility  service 
for  which  the  uniform  systems  of  accounts  have  Iseen  pre- 
scribed, notifying  such  municipalities  of  the  provision  of 
the  law  which  requires  that  "every  municipality  operating 
any  form  of  public-utility  service  shall  keep  the  accounts 
thereof  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  board  for  the  ac- 
counting of  similar  public  utilities." 

MARYLAND    COMMISSION. 

The  Maryland  Public  Service  Commission  has  received 
additional  data  bearing  upon  the  operating  expenses  of  the 
Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company.  These 
data  are  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  the  commission's  in- 
formation up  to  date  and  having  the  matter  of  reasonable 
operating  expenses  considered  in  connection  with  the  elec- 
tric rate  question. 

To  pay  for  improvements  and  extensions  made  to  its 
property  between  Dec.  i,  191 1,  and  Oct.  31,  1912,  the  Con- 
solidated Gas,  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  has  filed 
a  petition  with  the  Maryland  Commission  for  authority  to 
issue  $747,000  of  4>2  per  cent  bonds.  The  proposed  issue 
is  a  part  of  the  improvement  bonds  now  remaining  in  the 
treasury  of  the  company.  Schedules  of  the  improvements 
made  and  planned  are  filed  with  the  petition  and  both  the 
gas  and  electric  divisions  are  included.  Mr.  Albert  C. 
Ritchie,  assistant  general  counsel  to  the  commission  and 
people's  counsel  in  the  rate  investigation,  has  not  decided 
whether  to  oppose  the  request. 

OHIO  COMMISSION. 

In  its  annual  report  to  the  Governor,  the  Public  Service 
Commission  severely  criticised  the  railroads  and  traction 
companies  on  many  points.  It  recommends  that  the  laws 
be  amended  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  2  cents  a  mile 
the  maximum  for  interurban  companies,  without  the  10- 
cent  minimum  charge.  It  is  suggested  that  the  minimum 
be  no  more  than  5  cents.  It  was  stated  that  in  certain  in- 
stances where  electric  roads  have  no  competition  from 
steam  lines  the  rates  have  been  increased  to  more  than  2 
cents  a  mile  and  the  commission  has  been  powerless  to  in- 
terfere. In  most  cases,  however,  the  traction  rates  are  2 
cents  a  mile  or  less. 

The  commission  recommends  that  the  law  be  changed 
so  as  to  permit  utility  corporations  to  sell  more  bonds  than 
stock,  if  this  be  desirable.  It  is  stated  that  investors  often 
prefer  bonds  to  stocks  and  that  these  corporations  have,  for 
this  reason,  often  been  compelled  to  sell  their  stock  at  too 
low  a  figure.     Such  a  change  would  remedy  the  trouble 


to  a  certain  extent.  In  order  to  overcome  this  situation  the 
commission  admits  that  it  has  permitted  some  of  the  com- 
panies to  overcapitalize,  when  assured  that  the  proceeds 
of  the  stock  issues  would  be  honestly  spent  in  improve- 
ments and  extension.  It  was  better  to  take  such  a  step  to 
improve  a  bad  situation  than  to  allow  it  to  go  on  without 
hope  of  improvement,  the  report  stated. 

The  commission  feels  that  there  should  be  some  way  to 
compel  witnesses  to  attend  the  hearings.  Some  of  the 
companies  refuse  to  pay  their  men  for  the  time  spent  in 
attending  the  hearings  and  it  has  been  difficult  at  times  to 
have  them  present.  It  is  suggested  that  this  trouble  be 
remedied  by  legislation. 

INTERSTATE  COMMERCE  COMMISSION. 

The  twenty-sixth  annual  report  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission,  submitted  to  Congress  on  Dec.  16,  in- 
cludes a  recommendation  that  the  authority  of  the  com- 
mission over  telegraph  and  telephone  corporations  be  more 
explicitly  defined. 

Current   News  and  Notes 

Electric  Club  of  Chicago  Investing  Its  Money. — 
During  its  existence  of  less  than  five  years  the  Electric 
Club  of  Chicago  has  accumulated  a  comfortable  surplus. 
At  the  meeting  of  Nov.  21  it  was  voted  to  invest  $3,000  of 
the  funds  of  the  club  in  the  5  per  cent  first-mortgage  gold 
bonds  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company.  Mr.  John 
R.  Harmon  is  treasurer  of  the  club,  which  has  a  member- 
ship of  350. 

*     *     * 

"Electroforce." — The  students  of  the  School  of  En- 
gineering of  Milwaukee  have  started  a  monthly  magazine 
known  as  Electroforce,  which  is  said  by  the  sub-title  to  be 
"a  technical  magazine  for  everybody."  The  paper  is 
attractively  printed  and  illustrated,  and  the  youthful  editors 
are  evidently  enthusiastic  and  very  much  in  earnest.  They 
say  that  the  paper  is  not  published  for  financial  gain,  "but 
for  the  uplift  of  electricity  and  minds  electrical."  Readers 
are  assured  that  "trash  will  be  refused  and  not  published, 
and  subjects  of  interest  and  vital  importance  only  will 
appear."  The  paper  "is  not  published  by  a  set  circle  of  men 
and  foisted  upon  the  electrical  public  as  are  other  publica- 
tions." No,  indeed;  "Electroforce  is  the  official  organ  of 
the  world  electrical,  the  instrument  by  which  all  of  us  can 
be  heard,  and  it  is  the  tie  that  binds  all  members  of  the 
electrical  family  whatever  each  one's  part  in  its  glorious 
activity  is." 

Memphis  Telephone  Ordinance  Held  Invalid. — In  the 
case  of  the  Cumberland  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company 
against  the  city  of  Memphis,  the  United  States  Circuit  Court 
of  Appeals  has  handed  down  a  decision  to  the  effect  that  the 
city  has  no  authority  to  regulate  the  rates  charged  for 
service  by  the  company.  The  case  is  remanded  to  the 
United  States  District  Court  at  Memphis  with  directions 
to  grant  the  injunction  desired  by  the  company.  In  the 
opinion,  which  was  written  by  Judge  Denison,  it  is  stated 
that  the  power  to  regulate  the  rates  of  a  public  utility 
is  a  legislative  one  held  by  the  State  and  not  by  the  city 
and,  therefore,  the  rate  ordinance  enacted  by  the .  City 
Council  of  Memphis  is  invalid.  It  is  held  by  the  court  that 
the  Legislature  of  Tennessee  has  not  granted  to  municipali- 
ties either  specifically  or  indirectly  the  right  to  regulate  the 
rates  charged  by  telephone  companies,  although  it  has 
.specifically  granted  them  the  right  to  regulate  district-tele- 
graph, gas,  street-car,  belt-line-railroad  and  switching  com- 
panies. If  the  rates  charged  in  Memphis  are  unreasonably 
high,  the  court  says  that  the  Legislature  will  doubtless  pro- 
ceed to  regulate  them  or  delegate  that  authority  to  munici- 
palities, although  it  has  not  yet  done  so. 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


i,W 


Oil-Land  Reserve  Set  Aside  for  the  United  States 
Navy. — President  Taft  on  Dec.  12  signed  an  order  placing 
in  reserve  for  the  use  of  the  navy  several  thousand  acres 
of  rich  oil  land  in  southern  California.  This  will  increase 
the  total  navy  reserve  of  oil  lands  to  nearly  45,000  acres. 
According  to  an  estimate  made  by  the  Geological  Survey, 
the  oil  supply  in  the  withdrawn  area  should  last  the  navy 
for  thirty-five  years. 

Central  Station  Controversy  at  Kenton,  Ohio. — The 
controversy  between  the  city  of  Kenton  and  the  Hardin- 
Wyandot  Lighting  Company  will  probably  be  amicably  set- 
tled within  a  short  time,  although  it  has  been  in  the  courts 
for  months.  As  a  result  the  city  expects  to  secure  a  re- 
duction in  the  gas  rate,  elimination  of  the  meter  charge 
and  the  .construction  of  a  new  plant  in  return  for  allowing 
the  company  to  furnish  electric  energy  to  other  towns. 


Patent  Commission  Recommended  by  New  York  Man- 
ufacturers' Association. — At  a  recent  meeteing  held  in 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  the  Manufacturers'  Association  of  New 
York  adopted  resolutions  urging  Congress  to  provide  a 
non-partisan  commission  to  consider  the  whole  question 
of  the  revision  of  the  patent  law  and  practice.  It  was  also 
voted  to  request  that  the  commission  hold  public  hearings 
in  New  York  and  in  other  cities  where  it  may  be  deemed 
advisable.' 

*  *     * 

Workmen's  Compensation  Bill.- — A  new  workmen's 
compensation  bill  has  been  drafted  by  the  executive  board 
of  the  New  York  State  Federation  of  Labor  for  presenta- 
tion to  the  next  Legislature.  The  proposed  law  would 
apply  to  all  workshops  and  would  include  longshoremen, 
chauffeurs  and  drivers  of  automobile  trucks  as  men  en- 
gaged in  hazardous  occupations.  The  compensation  fund 
would  be  contributed  entirely  by  the  employers.  The  bill 
also   provides    for   a   state   commission   to   administer   the 

funds.     ' 

*  *     * 

Secretary  of  the  Interior  Fisher  Recommends  New 
Patent  Office  Building. — The  annual  report  of  Secre- 
tary of  the  Interior  Walter  L.  Fisher  to  President  Taft  for 
the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30  indorses  the  recommendation 
of  the  Commissioner  of  Patents  for  a  new  building  for  the 
United  States  Patent  Office.  Secretary  Fisher  emphasized 
the  crowded  condition  of  the  present  quarters,  the  serious 
fire  risk  which  now  exists,  and  the  general  lack  of  efficiency 
under  present  conditions.  The  annual  report  of  the  Com- 
missioner of  Patents  was  abstracted  in  our  issue  of  Aug. 

3,  page  233. 

*  *     * 

Lwestigation  of  Public  Utility  Regulation. — The 
National  Civic  Federation  has  recently  distributed  pre- 
liminary page  proofs  of  three  portions  of  its  "Compilation 
and  Analysis  of  Public  Utility  Regulation  Laws  of  the 
United  States,"  dealing  with  inter-corporate  utility  rela- 
tions, franchises,  and  stocks  and  bonds.  Each  of  these 
parts  is  one  of  sixteen  similar  portions  of  the  total  com- 
pilation and  analysis,  being  printed  and  distributed  to  in- 
terested persons  for  criticism  and  suggestion.  We  have 
made  previous  announcements  from  time  to  time  of  the 
distribution  of  other  portions  of  this  compilation,  and  else- 
where in  this  issue  there  appears  a  general  summary  of  the 
whole  investigation  and  its  progress  up  to  this  time. 

*  *     * 

Hearings  on  Tariff  Revision. — According  to  Repre- 
sentative Underwood,  the  Democratic  leader  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  the  tariff  hearings  before  the  ways  and 
means  committee  will  be  finished  by  the  end  of  January,  if 
possible.    This  commitee,  of  which  Mr.  Underwood  is  chair- 


man, is  already  fortified  with  what  it  regards  as  very  full 
information  regarding  all  the  tariff  schedules.  By  adopting 
a  schedule  of  hearings  beginning  Jan.  6,  it  is  hoped  to 
give  everyone  interested  an  opportunity  to  present  opinions 
on  any  particular  schedule.  Schedule  C — metals  and  manu- 
factures— will  come  up  for  hearing  on  Friday,  Jan.  10. 
This  program  of  activity  on  the  part  of  the  committee  is  in 
anticipation  of  an  extra  session  of  the  new  Congress,  the 
call  for  which  it  is  expected  will  be  issued  by  President- 
elect Wilson  soon  after  he  takes  office  on  March  4. 

*  *     * 

Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  Wins  Over 
Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad  Company. — During 
August  last  the  reciprocal  contract  between  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company  and  the  Louisville  &  Nash- 
ville Railroad  Company,  under  which  the  telegraph  company 
occupied  the  railroad  right-of-way  with  its  pole  lines,  ex- 
pired. The  railroad  company  then  ordered  the  telegraph 
company  to  remove  its  lines  and  equipment,  and  the  matter 
was  taken  into  the  courts.  On  Dec.  17  a  decision  was 
handed  down  by  Judge  Evans  in  the  federal  court  holding 
that  the  railroad  company  had  no  right  to  force  the  tele- 
graph company  to  remove  immediately  its  equipment  from 
the  railroad  system  in  the  State  of  Kentucky  The  decision 
was  based  on  an  act  of  the  Kentucky  Legislature  which 
gives  a  telegraph  or  telephone  company  the  privilege  of 
condemning  a  right-of-way  along  the  road  of  a  common 
carrier.  Judge  Evans  also  held  that  the  matter  of  com- 
pensation for  a  right-of-way  should  be  left  to  a  jury. 

*  *     * 

Retirement  of  Intangible  Values. — Testifying  before 
the  arbitration  board  which  has  been  reviewing  the  wages 
and  working  conditions  of  the  Chicago  City  Railway  Com- 
pany, Mr.  Bion  J.  Arnold,  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Super- 
vising Engineers,  Chicago  Traction,  discussed  tangible  and 
intangible  values.  He  said  that  he  had  been  thinking  of 
some  method  of  improving  the  Chicago  traction  settlement 
ordinance  ever  since  its  passage  five  years  ago  and  had 
concluded  that  some  provision  should  have  been  made  for 
retiring  the  intangible  value  placed  on  the  property.  This 
intangible  value  might  have  been  retired  by  dividing  the 
net  profit  into  three  parts  instead  of  two,  as  required  now, 
one  part  to  be  set  aside  to  retire  intangible  value  and  the 
other  two  to  go  to  the  city  and  company.  This  method  has 
been  recommended  for  the  proposed  charter  at  San  Fran- 
cisco. Mr.  Arnold  went  on  to  say  that  he  believed  that  the 
fund  set  aside  to  retire  intangible  value,  with  interest, 
would  more  than  pay  the  amount  required  in  twenty  years. 

*  *     * 

Sanitary  District  Declares  Against  Commercial  Sale 
OF  Energy.— One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago,  after  reorganization  as 
the  result  of  the  recent  election,  was  to  adopt  a  resolution 
making  an  important  declaration  of  policy.  The  trustees 
control  the  hydroelectric  development  of  the  Chicago  Drain- 
age Canal,  and  the  resolution  sets  forth  the  new  board's 
attitude  toward  the  sale  of  electrical  energy.  By  its  terms 
it  is  declared  to  be  the  future  policy  of  the  trustees  to 
supply,  as  far  as  practicable,  its  entire  output  of  electrical 
energy  for  the  uses  of  the  various  municipalities  within 
the  limits  of  the  Sanitary  District  and  in  particular  for  the 
city  of  Chicago  for  electric  street  lighting.  A  considerable 
portion  of  the  electrical  energy  generated  by  the  Sanitary 
District  at  the  Lockport  (111.)  water-power  station  is  sold 
to  commercial  concerns,  but  it  is  now  declared  to  be  the 
policy  of  the  board  to  withdraw  from  the  industrial  field  as 
fast  as  practicable.  To  some  extent  the  Sanitary  District 
has  been  in  competition  with  the  Commonwealth  Edison 
Company,  the  Cosmopolitan  Electric  Company  and  the  Pub- 
lic Service  Company  of  Northern  Illinois  in  the  sale  of 
electrical  energy  to  private  consumers,  mostly  owners  of 
industrial  plants. 


i3o8 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


Electrical  CoNSTRUcnoN  at  Greeley,  Col.- — Greeley, 
Col.,  whose  population  is  8000,  has  just  enacted  a  new  ordi- 
nance making  mandatory  the  grounding  of  transformer  sec- 
ondaries throughout  the  city  and  the  use  of  conduit  in  all 
new  wiring  or  rewiring  inside  the  fire  limits. 

*  *     * 

Proposal  to  Combine  Smoke  Inspection  and  Boiler 
Inspection  in  Chicago. — Following  accusations  of  "graft" 
against  one  of  the  deputy  smoke  inspectors,  the  Aldermen 
of  Chicago  have  under  consideration  a  plan  of  combining 
the  bureau  of  smoke  inspection  with  that  of  boiler  inspec- 
tion. 

*  *     * 

"Home  Rule"  Demanded  by  Aldermen  for  Chicago 
Utilities. — As  the  result  of  the  recent  "home-rule"  agita- 
tion following  the  visit  of  the  Illinois  Legislative  Public 
Utilities  Commission,  the  Chicago  City  Council  has  adopted 
a  resolution  protesting  against  commission  control  over 
Chicago  public  utilities. 

*  *       ^N 

Workmen's  Compensation. — President  E.  W.  De  Leon, 
of  the  Casualty  Company  of  America,  recently  delivered 
an  address  before  the  Insurance  Society  of  New  York  on 
"Some  Phases  of  Workmen's  Compensation  in  the  United 
States."  One  very  pronounced  phase  of  the  universal 
movement  for  workmen's  compensation,  said  the  speaker, 
is  the  tendency  toward  monopolistic  state  insurance  schemes, 
some  of  which  he  declared  to  be  radical  and  socialistic  in 
the  extreme.  He  surveyed  the  situation  in  the  several 
states  which  have  adopted  workmen's  compensation  laws 
and  indorsed  the  broad  humanitarian  principle  of  the  move- 
ment. 

*  *     * 

How  Hard  Is  the  Way  of  the  Inventor. — In  a  letter 
to  the  editor  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  under  date  of 
Dec.  17,  Mr.  George  H.  Benjamin,  of  New  York,  in  re- 
ferring to  the  $10,000  offer  by  a  railroad  president  for  a 
satisfactory  automatic  train  stop,  said :  "Every  inventor 
who  has  ever  had  anything  to  do  with  the  railroads  knows 
that  it  is  hopeless  to  attempt  to  get  the  management  of  any 
railroad  to  assist  him  in  any  way  (as  by  the  use  of  track 
for  experimental  purposes)  to  perfect  his  invention,  and, 
further,  that  if  he  submits  his  invention  to  such  manage- 
ment he  takes  the  risk  of  having  the  invention  disclosed  to 
signal  or  other  companies  in  which  the  management  is 
pecuniarily  interested,  which  generally  results  in  an  inter- 
ference in  the  Patent  Office  and  a  freezing  out  of  the 
inventor  by  reason  of  the  very  heavy  expense  involved." 

*  *     * 

SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 
Meeting  of  New  York  Electrical  Society. — The  315th 
meeting  of  the  New  York  Electrical  Society  was  held  in 
the  new  Grand  Central  Terminal,  New  York  City,  Dec.  19. 
The  members  were  aft'orded  an  opportunity  of  inspecting 
the  new  passenger  station  of  the  New  York  Central's  Rail- 
road under  the  guidance  of  the  railroad  company's  engi- 
neers. Special  souvenir  pamphlets  containing  illustrated 
descriptions  of  the  various  buildings  were  distributed. 

*  *     * 

Michigan  Section,  A.  I.  E.  E. — Mr.  J.  J.  \\'oolfenden, 
superintendent  of  engineering  construction,  Smith,  Hinch- 
man  &  Grylls,  Detroit,  Mich.,  was  chosen  chairman  of  the 
Detroit-Ann  Arbor  Section,  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  at  its  recent  meeting  in  Detroit.  Mr. 
Ray  K.  Holland,  Ann  Arbor,  was  elected  secretary,  and 
Mr.  G.  W.  Krause,  Detroit,  vice-secretary.  The  feature  of 
the  technical  program  was  a  talk  by  Mr.  Holland  on  the 
new  Barton  dam  of  the  Eastern  Michigan  Edison  Com- 
pany now  under  construction  near  Ann  Arbor. 

*  *     * 

Joint  Meeting  of  Milwaukee  Electrical  Societies 
Planned  for  February. — Plans  are  under  way  for  a  group 


meeting  of  Milwaukee  engineering  and  electrical  societies 
about  the  middle  of  February.  The  societies  which  will 
probably  take  part  are  the  Milwaukee  Electrical  League, 
Chicago  Section  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society, 
Wisconsin  Engineering  Society,  Milwaukee  Section  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and  the  local 
members  of  the  American  Electrochemical  Society.  The 
meetings  will  be  held  at  the  Auditorium  and  it  is  believed 
that  there  will  be  a  large  attendance  of  out-of-town  engi- 
neers. Mr.  Francis  A.  Vaughn,  of  Milwaukee,  who  is 
chairman  of  the  Chicago  Section  of  the  Illuminating  Engi- 
neering Society,  is  one  of  those  taking  an  interest  in  the 
projected  gathering. 

*  *     * 

Plans  of  Chicago  Jovians. — Arrangements  are  being 
made  to  hold  a  Jovian  banquet  at  the  Hotel  Sherman, 
Chicago,  on  the  evening  of  Jan.  10.  Mr.  George  C.  Rich- 
ards, statesman  for  Illinois,  assisted  by  Messrs.  M.  S.  Hart, 
A.  R.  Dean,  Arthur  J.  Selzer,  C.  E.  Waddington,  Sam  A. 
Hobson  and  A.  A.  Gray,  is  making  the  plans.  Invitations 
will  be  extended  to  a  number  of  men  prominent  in  electrical 
circles  in  Chicago.  It  is  expected  that  Mr.  Frank  E.  Watts, 
reigning  Jupiter,  will  be  in  attendance  and  that  addresses 
will  be  made  by  several  other  men  prominently  identified 
with  the  industry.  At  this  banquet  plans  will  be  outlined 
for  a  "rejuvenation"  which  will  be  held  during  March  as 
a  preliminary  for  a  monster  "rejuvenation"  and  banquet 
which  will  be  held  in  connection  with  the  convention  of 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association  in  Chicago,  June 
2  to  5. 

*  *     * 

Meter  Meeti.xg  of  the  New  York  Companies'  Section, 
N.  E.  L.  A. — The  regular  monthly  meeting  of  the  New 
York  Companies'  Section,  N.  E.  L.  A.,  held  on  Dec.  16, 
was  devoted  to  a  discussion  of  "Recent  Developments  in 
Methods  of  Electrical  Measurement,  with  Particular  Ref- 
erence to  Watt-Hour  Meters."  Three  papers  were  pre- 
sented, all  illustrated  with  numerous  lantern  slides,  by  Mr. 
W.  F.  Howe,  of  the  General  Electric  Company;  Mr.  R.  C. 
Lanphier,  of  the  Sangamo  Electric  Company,  and  Mr. 
William  Bradshaw,  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manu- 
facturing Company.  In  the  discussion  Mr.  F.  W.  Smith, 
of  the  United  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  spoke 
briefly  of  his  recollections  of  old-time  meter  troubles,  and 
Mr.  C.  A.  Littlefield,  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company, 
told  some  reminiscences  of  his  early  experiences  with 
meters.  It  is  proposed  at  a  later  date  to  have  Mr.  S.  G. 
Rhodes  tell  of  some  of  the  methods  of  the  central  stations 
in  maintaining  accuracy  of  meters  after  installation. 

*  *     * 

Reunion  of  Former  Students  of  Massachusetts  In- 
stitute OF  Technology. — On  Jan.  17  and  18  a  general 
reunion  of  former  students  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology  will  be  held  at  the  Hotel  Plaza,  New  York 
City.  The  four  principal  events  will  be  the  departmental 
luncheons  and  the  mass  meeting  on  Jan.  17  and  the  class 
luncheon  and  the  banquet  on  Jan.  18.  Prof.  D.  C.  Jack- 
son, Prof.  Elihu  Thomson  and  Mr.  Gano  Dunn  will  ad- 
dress the  gathering  of  former  students  of  electrical  engi- 
neering. At  the  mass  meeting  the  plans  for  the  new  site 
and  buildings  on  the  banks  of  the  Charles  River  in  Cam- 
bridge will  be  discussed  by  President  Maclaurin,  Mr.  John 
R.  Freeman,  '76,  and  Profs.  Dewey,  Noyes  and  Sedgwick. 
Open  house  will  be  maintained  at  the  Technology  Club,  17 
Gramercy  Park,  during  the  reunion,  and  an  informal 
smoker  will  be  held  on  the  evening  of  Jan.  17.  Among 
the  speakers  announced  for  the  banquet  are  President  Mac- 
laurin, President  A.  C.  Humphreys  of  Stevens  Institute  of 
Technology  and  Mr.  John  V.  Bouvier.  Detailed  informa- 
tion regarding  the  reunion  can  be  had  from  Mr.  Benjamin 
Hurd,  chairman  of  the  local  committee  in  charge  of  ar- 
rangements, 17  Gramercy  Park. 


NEWTERMINAL  FOR  NEW  YORK  CENTRAL  LINES 


I 


lectrical  Features  of  the  Largest  Railway  Station  in  the  World,  Located  in 
the  Heart  of  New  York.  City  and  Now  Nearing  Completion. 

Outline  of  Former  New  York  Central  Lines  Terminal  Facilities — Special  Features  in  Construction  and 

Arrangement  of  Sub-Surface  Station  and  Buildings  Within  Terminal  Area — Service 

Station  for  Supply  of  Electricity  and  of  Hot  Water  for  Heating. 


lines  started  in   September, 

will  involve  an  expenditure 

Buildings  now  in  use  are 


THE  monumental  New  York  City  terminal  building 
of  the  New  York  Central  lines,  at  Forty-second 
Street,  Manhattan  Borough,  is  now  nearing  com- 
pletion. Some  parts  of  it  have  been  in  use  for  a  few  weeks, 
and  in  January,  1913,  the  remaining  and  larger  portion  of 
the  terminal  building  will  be  finished  and  opened  to  the 
public.  The  formal  opening  of  the  building  will  not,  how- 
ever, mark  the  completion  of  the  work  of  improvement 
which  the  New  York  Central 
1903,  and  which,  when  finished, 
of  approximately  $180,000,000. 

to  be  torn  down  and  new  ones  erected,  tracks  are  to  be 
laid  and  new  highways  to  be  built  on  ground  which  has  not 
been  open  to  the  public  since  the  New  York  Central  lines 
procured  this  tract,  then  farm  land,  for  the  first  Grand 
Central  Station.  Within  a  comparatively  short  time,  how- 
ever, the  work  will  be  finished. 

In  addition  to  the  terminal  building,  the  improvements 
will  include  the  erection  of  many  noteworthy  buildings 
upon  the  area  between  Forty-second  Street  and  Fifty- 
sixth  Street  and  between  Madison  Avenue  and  Lexington 
Avenue,  comprising  thirty-two  city  blocks.  There  will 
then  be  added  to  the  city  an  entirely  new  section  which 
in  dignity  and  harmony  of  architecture  will  be  unequaled 
in  Greater  New  York.  A  new  civic  center  with  museums, 
hotels,  clubs,  theaters  and  high-class  business  buildings  will 


be  established  where  there  was  formerly  only  an  un- 
sightly railway  yard  with  its  smoke,  dirt  and  noise.  This 
transformation  has  been  made  possible  only  through  the 
substitution  of  electricity  for  steam  as  the  motive  power 
for  traction  and  through  the  extensive  use  of  electricity 
for  various  other  purposes. 

PREVIOUS    TERMINAL    F.^CILITIES. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  description  of  the  new  terminal 
and  its  construction,  it  may  be  appropriate  to  recount  in 
a  few  words  the  history  of  the  development  of  the  terminal 
facilities  of  the  New  York  Central  lines  in  New  York  City. 

In  1832  the  first  station  was  built  by  the  New  York  & 
Harlem  Railroad,  which  is  now  a  part  of  the  New  York 
Central  system.  From  this  station,  which  was  located  at 
Fourteenth  Street,  the  cars  were  drawn  by  horses  down 
Center  Street  to  City  Hall,  where  the  track  ended  without 
any  terminal  facilities.  The  next  step  was  the  building  of 
a  station  in  1857  on  Fourth  Avenue  between  Twenty-sixth 
Street  and  Twenty-seventh  Street  on  a  part  of  the  site 
now  occupied  by  the  Madison  Square  Garden.  Below 
Twenty-sixth  Street  the  cars  were  hauled  by  horses,  and 
north  of  this  point  by  steam  locomotives,  until  a  short  time 
later,  when  the  use  of  steam  was  discontinued  south  of 
Fort-second  Street. 

The  traffic   soon  exceeded  the   facilities   at  the  Twenty- 


Thj       1— Geiici.Tl     View     of     Grand     Central     Terminal. 


13  lo 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o.  Xo.  25 


sixth  Street  station,  and  in  1871  the  original  Grand  Cen- 
tral Station  was  built.  In  1900  the  station  was  enlarged 
to  accommodate  about  60,000  passengers  daily,  the  number 
of  tracks  was  increased  and  three  stories  were  added  to 
the  building.  It  soon  became  evident,  however,  that  a 
radical  reconstruction  was  necessary  to  meet  the  increas- 
ing traffic  requirements.  As  early  as  1899  the  use  of  elec- 
tricity within  the  terminal  was  discussed,  but  it  was  not 
until  1903  that  the  objectionable  atmospheric  conditions  in 
the  Park  Avenue  tunnel  and  the  congestion  of  traffic  at  the 
terminal  brought  about  legislative  action  directing  the  com- 
plete abandonment  of  steam  locomotives  in  Park  Avenue 
south  of  the  Harlem  River  within  a  period  of  five  years, 
terminating  July   I,   1908. 

MAGNITUDE    OF    PRESENT   DEVELOPMENT. 

The  first  and  principal  object  in  erecting  the  present 
terminal  was  to  provide  a  station  large  enough  for  suburb- 
an and  through  passenger  traffic  as  well  as  mail  and  ex- 
press service  for  many  years  to  come.  It  is  estimated  that 
the  terminal  will  accommodate  70,000  outbound  passengers 
per  hour  and  a  considerably  larger  number  of  incoming 
passengers  with  a  maximum  of  200  in-coming  and  out- 
going trains  per  hour  on  two  levels  of  tracks.  The  whole 
station  can  take  care  of  30,000  people  simultaneously  with- 
out subjecting  them  to  uncomfortable  crowding.     The  plans 


present  several  office  buildings  for  the  railroad  company, 
the  United  States  mail  and  the  express  companies,  one 
building  for  exhibition  purposes,  and  a  plant  and  substation 
for  furnishing  heat,  water,  air  and  fire  services  as  well  as 
electrical  energy.  All  of  the  remaining  building  areas 
between  the  street  lines  north  of  Forty-fifth  Street,  shown 
in  Fig.  5,  will  be  taken  up  by  buildings,  one  hotel,  one  club 


Fig. 


-First   Grand    Central   Terminal,    Built   1871. 


Fig.     2 — Twenty-sixth     Street     Terminal,      Built     1857. 

for  handling  baggage,  mail  and  express  are  on  an  equally 
extended  scale. 

Referring  to  Figs,  i,  5  and  10,  it  will  be  noted  that  all 
tracks  are  below  the  street  level.  Above  the  upper  level 
of  tracks  are  carried  transverse   streets,   the  center  being 

COMP.'\R.\TI\E   DATA   ON    THE    LARGE    PASSENGER   TERMINALS    IN 
THE     WORLD. 


Terminal. 

Total 
Area, 
Acres. 

Number 

of 
Tracks. 

Length  of 
Tracks. 
Miles. 

Grand  Central.  New  York 

70 
28 
10.9 

8 
11.2 
11 

8. 75 

68 
21 
32 
16 
31 
18 
18 

Pennsylvania.  New  York  . . 

16 

Chicago  &  Northwestern.  Chicago 

Saint-Lazare.  Paris. .  .                               . 

Frankfort-on-the-Main                          

Waterloo,  London 

2.7 

3,5 

taken  by  Park  Avenue,  which  at  Forty-fifth  Street  is  di- 
verted to  the  east  and  west  around  the  terminal  building 
and  extends  south  on  an  elevated  structure  above  Forty- 
second  Street,  joining  the  street  level  of  Park  Avenue 
at  Fortieth  Street.  A  total  of  ij4  miles  of  new  streets  and 
viaducts  has  been  built. 

Besides  the  terminal  building  proper  there  are  in  use  at 


building  and  one  office  building  being  under  construction 
at  present. 

The  total  area  of  the  station  is  70  acres.  It  has  sixty- 
eight  tracks  with  a  total  length  of  nearly  32  miles.  Com- 
parative data  in  regard  to  the  principal  passenger  stations 
in  the  world  are  given  in  the  accompanying  table. 

The  amount  of  excavated  material  is  about  3,000,000 
cu.  yd.  and  there  has  been  erected  118,600  tons  of  steel, 
which  is  over  twice  as  much  as  was  used  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  existing  subway  in  New  York  City  and  Brook- 
lyn. 

CONSTRUCTION. 

When  the  work  of  improvement  of  the  Grand  Central 
Terminal  was  commenced  in  1903  all  trains  entered  the 
terminal  through  the  four-track  masoftry  tunnel  in  Park 
Avenue,  the  southerly  limit  of  which  was  at  Fifty-sixth 
Street.  Thence  to  Forty-ninth  Street  the  track  ascended 
about  17  ft.  in  an  open  cut  and  entered  an  open  yard, 
remaining   at  the   street   level   to   the   station.     The   yard 


g 

^^Lm 

^^Bim,  . 

^^ 

H^jiiilO  iiais 

^' 

Fig.    A — Grand    Central    Terminal,     Remodeled     1900. 

covered  an  area  of  22  acres  and  had  11.3  miles  of  tracks. 
Vehicular  traffic  vvas  carried  across  the  yard  by  inclines, 
with  a  long-span  truss  bridge  over  Forty-eighth  Street,  and 
by  a  girder  bridge  over  the  cut  in  Park  Avenue  between 
Fifty-first  Street  and  Fifty-second  Street.  Seven  foot- 
bridges, elevated  above  the  street  level  and  approached  by 
stairs,  crossed  the  yard  at  as  many  cross-town  streets. 


DECKMinOR    21.    igij. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


131' 


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Fig.   5 — Looking   South   from    Fiftieth   Street,   Showing    Property   Available   for   Building   Purposes   Over  Yards. 


Fig.  6— View  Showing   New  Tracks  to  the   Left  and  Old  Ones  to  the   Right   with    Excavations   and    Erection    of   Steel    Construction    in 

Progress     In     Center. 


I3I2 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


The  preliminary  work  in  the  reconstruction  consisted  in 
shifting  city  sewers,  gas  and  water  mains,  in  moving  the 
buildings  on  the  site  of  the  yard  extension,  in  removing  a 
number  of  the  old  transverse  bridges  and  re-erecting  some 
of  them  in  new  positions,  and  in  relocating  and  readjusting 
much  of  the  switch  and  signal  plant.  It  is  estimated  that 
about  25  miles  of  pipes  and  sewers  were  removed  or  re- 


within  the  excavated  area.  A  temporary  station  had  at  the 
same  time  been  established  in  an  old  office  buildhig  at  Lex- 
ington Avenue  and  Forty-third  Street  into  which  the  sub- 
urban traffic  was  transferred.  Excavation  was  then  com- 
menced in  the  central  portion  of  the  yard.  This  portion 
is  now  also  finished  and  the  work  on  the  west  side  of  the 
yard  is  in  progress.  The  total  excavation  amounts  to 
3^096,750  cu.  yd.,  about  2,000,000  cu.  yd.  of  this  being  rock. 
It  was  the  original  intention  to  transfer  the  traffic  to  the 
new  east  side  station  before  removing  the  old  train-shed. 
This  plan  could  not  be  carried  out  because  of  the  increase 
in  traffic  and  the  progress  of  excavation.  It  was  therefore 
decided  to  remove  the  shed  while  train  service  was  main- 
tained at  the  old  station.  To  accomplish  this  result  and  to 
reduce  to  a  minimum  the  possibility  of  accident  by  falling 
material  use  was  made  of  a  traveler,  the  outline  of  which 
conformed  to  the  general  contour  of  the  train-shed,  span- 
ning all  platforms  with  heavy  floors  extending  the  entire 
width  of  the  shed.     The  supports  of  the  traveler  rested  on 


Fig.    7 — Restaurant    on    Suburban    Level. 

placed,    more    than    one-third    of    this    being    accomplished 
before  general  excavation  was  commenced  in  the  yard. 

About  Sept.  I,  1903,  excavation  was  first  commenced  on 
the  west  side  of  Park  Avenue,  alongside  the  wall  of  the 
old  tunnel  between  Fiftieth  Street  and  Fifty-seventh  Street. 
This  excavation  was  carried. down  to  the  bottom  of  the 
tunnel  and  two  new  tracks  were  laid.  In  1904  work  was 
commenced  on  the  excavation  of  the  east  side  of  Park 
Avenue  from  Fiftieth  Street  to  Fifty-seventh  Street,  where 
a  trench  wide  enough  for  three  new  tracks  was  carried 
down  to  final  grade.  These  excavations,  which  extended 
across  the  entire  width  of  Park  Avenue,  were  completed 
under  considerable  difficulty.  Where  crossovers  in  tracks 
occur  it  was  necessary  to  omit  the  columns  to  provide  track 
clearance.  In  some  cases  the  tunnel  roof  is  now  supported 
by  riveted  trusses  150  ft.  long  and  10  ft.  high.  During 
the  construction  traffic  was  maintained  on  the  sidewalks, 
which  were  carried  over  the  excavation  on  temporary 
wooden  trestles. 

The  increased  number  and  length   of  the  tracks  in  the 


Fig.    8 — Express   Concourse. 

tunnel  increased  the  facilities  for  regular  traffic  and  for 
contractors'  trains  carrying  excavated  material  from  the 
yard  excavations.  Storage  space  for  contractors'  trains 
was  provided  on  the  area  west  of  Lexington  Avenue  for- 
merly occupied  by  buildings.  Excavation  for  the  depressed 
yard  between  Park  Avenue  and  Lexington  Avenue  was 
then  made  and  retaining  walls  and  new  tracks  were  built 


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Fig.   9 — IVIain   Waiting    Room. 

five  intermediate  platforms  and  were  carried  on  heavy 
cast-iron  wheels  which  rolled  on  standard  lOO-lb.  rails.  It 
had  a  length  of  65  ft.,  contained  370,000  ft.  of  lumber,  65 
tons  of  bolts  and  washers  and  33  tons  of  plates  and  cast- 
ings and  was  equipped  with  six  derricks  operated  by  two 
steam  engines.  The  traveler  was  first  erected  at  the  north- 
ern end  of  the  shed  and  moved  south  toward  the  main 
building  as  fast  as  the  shed  was  removed  and  replaced  by 
temporary  wooden  canopies.  By  means  of  this  traveler 
there  was  removed  a  total  of  600  ft.  of  train-shed,  con- 
taining 1350  tons  of  wrought  iron,  350  tons  of  cast  iron, 
90,000  sq.  ft.  of  corrugated-iron  roofing,  60,000  sq.  ft.  of 
glass  and  500,000  bricks,  the  train  service  being  maintained 
in  the  meantime  without  interruption. 

When  all  traffic  had  been  transferred  to  the  temporary 
station,  the  old  building  was  torn  down,  excavations  were 
made  and  the  new  structure  was  erected  on  its  site. 

THE    NEW    TERMINAL. 

In  designing  the  new  terminal  careful  consideration  has 
been  given  to  the  actual  car  and  train  requirements  and 
their  probable  future  increase,  and  to  the  necessary  fa- 
cilities for  unloading  mail,  express  and  baggage,  together 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1313 


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Fig.   10 — Cross-Sectional   View,   Showing   Train   Room,   Concourses  and   Waiting    Rooms   and   Also   City   Subways. 


Fig.    11 — Suburban    Concourse    with    Train    Gates    to    the     Right     Opposite    the     Inclined     Way    from     Forty-Second     Street. 


1314 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  25. 


with  adjuncts  for  cleaning,  stocking  and  preparation  of 
equipment  for  the  return  journey.  From  the  accompany- 
ing illustrations  it  will  be  noted  that  there  are  two  levels  of 
tracks,  the  upper  one  for  express  service  and  the  lower  one 
for  local  service.  Underneath  the  lower  level  of  tracks 
three  transverse  and  two  longitudinal  subways  are  provided 
for  transfer  of  mail,  baggage  and  express,  and  for  building 
and  yard  piping  and  ducts  for  electric  feeders. 

The  main  building  extends  from  Forty-second  Street  to 
Forty-fifth  Street  between  Depew  Place  and  Vanderbilt 
Avenue,  covering  an  area  at  the  street  level  301  ft.  wide 
and  722  ft.  long.  Below  the  street  level  the  station  will 
be  745  ft.  long  and  455  ft.  wide.  The  faqade  of  the  build- 
ing, which  is  finished  in  Indiana  limestone  with  a  base  of 
Stony  Creek  granite,  is  composed  of  three  arches,  each 
33  ft.  wide  and  60  ft.  high,  supported  by  heavy  columns  and 
surmounted  by  a  statuary  group  representing  Progress, 
supported  by  mythological  figures  symbolizing  physical  and 
mental  energy. 

The  principal  room  is  the  express  concourse,  a  magnifi- 
cent inclosure,  275  ft.  long,  120  ft.  wide  and  125  ft.  high. 
It  is  finished  in  Botticino  marble  and  buff-tinted  stone,  with 
six  large  dome-shaped  windows  in  the  ceiling.  Here  the 
traveler  will  find  all  the  facilities  usually  provided  in  the 
waiting  room  of  a  railroad  station;  that  is,  ticket  offices, 
information  bureau,  parcel  room,  baggage-checking  booth, 
etc.  The  facilities  are  arranged  so  that  the  movement  of 
the  traveler  is  a  progressive  one,  the  railroad-ticket  win- 
dow coming  first,  the  sleeping-car  ticket  window  next, 
then  the  baggage-checking  ofiice  and  so  on.  Tliere  is  a 
total  of  forty-eight  ticket  windows.  Immediately  upon  en- 
tering the  concourse  the  train  gates  are  in  full  view  and 
the  indicators  are  so  conspicuous  that  the  desired  track 
and  train  can  be  ascertained  from  any  part  of  the  room. 
From  the  concourse  passengers  proceed  to  the  platforms, 
which  are  reached  by  broad  ramps  of  easy  grade,  the  dif- 
ference in  level  being  only  3  ft. 


Fig.    12 — Track    Layouts   for   Suburban    and    Express    Level 
Respectively. 

Underneath  the  main  concourse  is  the  suburban  con- 
course, which  is  of  the  same  dimensions,  excepting  as  to 
the  height  of  ceiling.  The  interior  arrangements  are  iden- 
tical with  those  of  the  main  concourse.  The  most  strik- 
ing feature  of  the  suburban  level  is  the  main  ramp  from 
lie  entrance  at  the  corner  of  Forty-second  Street  and  Van- 
derbilt Avenue  and  particularly  the  part  of  the  ramp  from 


the  Interborough  subway  level  to  the  concourse.  It  is  a 
marble  corridor  40  ft.  wide  descending  between  the  main 
waiting  room  an;l  concourse.  It  is  flanked  by  the  great 
columns  of  the  main  concourse,  and  above  are  suspended 
five  enormous  "iehting  fi.xtures  of  bronze. 

The  waiting  room,  situated  between  the  main  concourse 
and  Forty-second  Street,  is  a  large  room,  artistically  treated 


Fig.    13 — Plan    of    Service    Plants    and    Substations. 

in  buff  stone  and  marble,  and  so  located  that  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  pass  through  it  in  going  to  and  from  the  trains, 
and  it  is  thus  free  from  the  hurrying  crowds.  Adjoining 
the  waiting  rooms  are  the  men's  and  women's  rooms,  bar- 
ber shop,  baths  and  private  dressing  rooms. 

The  women's  waiting  room  is  especially  attractive.  It 
has  a  quartered-oak  floor  and  wainscoting  and  is  filled 
with  comfortable,  movable  chairs.  Adjoining  this  room 
are  a  ladies'  telephone  room,  a  hair-dressing  parlor  and  a 
ladies'  shoe-polishing  room.  There  is  also  a  rest  room  with 
doctors  and  nurses  in  attendance. 

Adjoining  the  concourse  on  the  suburban  level  is  the 
restaurant.  It  is  an  inviting  room  with  a  grotto-like  ef- 
fect, composed  of  Gustavino  arches  of  cream-colored  tile. 
Here,  too,  is  a  modern  barber  shop  with  dressing  room. 

Provision  has  been  made  for  the  future  erection  of  a 
twenty-story  office  structure  over  the  concourse  of  the  main 
building  when  additional  room  is  required.  To  provide  for 
this  building  excessively  large  columns  have  been  erected, 
some  of  which  weigh  approximately  i  ton  to  the  lineal  foot 
per  column.  Approximately  28,930  tons  of  steel  was  used 
in   the  main  building. 

INCOMING    STATION. 

The  station  for  incoming  travel  now  under  construction 
is  located  just  across  Vanderbilt  Avenue  from  the  main 
building,  between  Forty-third  and  Forty-fourth  Streets. 
It  will  have  sub-surface  connection  with  the  main 
building,  and  e.xits  to  the  street  and  subways  entirely  in- 
dependent of  the  main  or  outbound  station.  It  is  said  to  be 
the  first  instance  in  terminal  construction  where  the  incom- 
ing travel  has  been  provided  for  in  a  building  erected  espe- 
cially for  the  purpose.  The  platforms  are  so  arranged  that 
a!l  arriving  passengers  will  pass  a  certain  point  in  view  of 
those  who  may  be  waiting  ft>r  them.  From  this  building 
there  are  passageways  below  Vanderbilt  Avenue  to  the  out- 
going station  and  direct  exits  to  the  subway,  street  and 
Biltmore  Hotel.  There  is  a  large  waiting  room  above  the 
express  level  tracks. 

TRACKS    AND     PLATFORMS. 

In  the  old  stations  the  trains  ran  into  what  are  known 
as  "dead-end"  tracks  under  the  train-shed.  The  trains  had 
then  to  be  drawn  back  to  Mott  Haven,  north  of  the  Har- 
lem River,  for  cleaning  and  to  prepare  them  for  the  next 
trip,  after  which  they  had  to  be  drawn  again  through  the 
tunnel  into  the  terminal.  This  arrangement  virtually 
halved  the  possible  capacity  of  the  tunnel  for  passenger 
service. 

The  present  arrangement  of  tracks  for  the  suburban  and 
express   levels   is   shown   in   Fig.    12.     The   suburban   level 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


131S 


contains  a  total  of  twenty-seven  tracks.  There  are  seven- 
teen station  tracks  against  platforms,  two  of  which  are 
reserved  for  baggage,  and  provision  is  made  for  five  ad- 
ditional tracks  west  of  the  station  tracks.  The  storage 
yards  are  located  north  of  the  station  tracks.  A  loop  is 
provided  for  switching  the  trains  from  the  incoming  track 
or  storage  track  to  the  outgoing  track. 


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Fig.    14 — Exterior    of    Service    Plant    and    Substations. 

The  station-track  construction  is  of  creosoted  yellow  pine 
blocks  placed  in  concrete,  the  rails  being  fastened  to  the 
wooden  block  by  means  of  screw  spikes. 

The  platforms,  which  are  built  of  concrete,  vary  in 
width  from  14.33  ft.  to  26  ft.  Passenger  platforms  are 
4  ft.  above  the  top  of  the  rail  so  as  to  avoid  steps  to  the 
cars,  while  baggage  platforms  are  4  ft.  3  in.  above  top  of 
rail.  Under  the  platforms  arrangements  are  made  for  pip- 
ing and  electric  conduits. 

The  steel  columns  supporting  the  viaducts  and  buildings 
are  protected  by  incasing  them  in  a  concrete  pier  for  a  dis- 
tance-/ ft.  above  the  top  of  the  rail  where  they  are  adja- 
cent to  a  running  track,  and  4  ft.  6  in.  above  the  top  of 
the  rail  where  they  are  adjacent  to  a  storage  track.  Above 
the  protection  pier  the  columns  and  girders  are  insulated 
by  using  concrete  placed  on  wire  cloth. 

The  express  level  has  forty-two  tracks,  of  which  six  are 
for  baggage,  two  for  mail,  three  for  the  American  Express 
Company,  and  five  for  storage  purposes.  Incoming  trains 
will  arrive  on  the  west  side  at  the  incoming  station.  The 
track  construction  is  similar  to  that  on  the  suburban  level. 
The  first  cost  of  this  construction  is  heavy,  but  the  main- 
tenance charges  are  low  and  cleanliness  is  assured.  Water 
pipes  are  carried  under  the  platforms,  to  which  hose  is 
connected  to  enable  the  tracks  to  be  frequently  flushed. 

TERMINAL    SUBWAYS. 

There  are  three  transverse  subways  below  the  lower  level 
of  tracks,  one  at  Forty-third  Street  for  mail  conveyors 
and  baggage  trucking  and  one  at  Forty-fifth  Street  for 
baggage  trucking.  These  subways  also  contain  piping  and 
wiring  conduits.  The  third  transverse  subway  is  at  Forty- 
eighth  Street  and  is  for  piping  only.  On  the  westerly  side 
of  the  terminal  a  longitudinal  pipe  subway  connects  with 
the  three  transverse  subways. 

Outgoing  baggage  is  loaded  on  electric  trucks  and  low- 
ired  on  elevators  to  the  baggage  subway  and  again  raised 
by  elevators  to  the  platform  of  the  designated  train.  By 
Lhis  arrangement  the  passenger  platforms  are  kept  free 
of  baggage  trucks. 

ELECTRICITY    IN     THE    TERMINAL. 

Attention  has  previously  been  called  to  the  important  part 
electricity  plays  in  this  undertaking.  In  fact,  the  terminal 
las  been  made  possible  only  through  electricity.  Its  use  for 
Taction  purposes  which  is  undoubtedly  of  greatest  im- 
;ortance  will  not  be  treated  in  the  present  article,  nor  will 
:he  illumination  of  the  terminal.  The  latter  will  be  de- 
scribed fully  in  a  later  issue. 


The  electric  signal  system  installed  is  the  largest  in  the 
■United  States.  The  controlling  apparatus  is  housed  in  a 
four-story  building  which  is  located  below  the  street  level 
at  Forty-ninth  Street.  The  signal  system  for  the  suburban 
level  is  said  to  be  the  largest  ever  constructed  and  has  400 
levers,  each  one  of  which  operates  a  switch  or  signal.  On 
the  floor  above  is  the  system  for  the  express  level,  contain- 
ing 362  levers.  To  each  forty  levers  a  man  is  assigned 
who  carries  out  the  directions  of  a  train  dispatcher.  The 
movement  of  the  trains  is  indicated  by  electric  lamps  on  a 
chart  which  is  a  fac-simile  of  the  track  layout  of  the  rail- 
road yards. 

A  feature  is  the  means  employed  for  advising  gatemen 
on  the  concourse  when  to  open  the  gates  and  admit  pas- 
sengers to  the  trains.  An  electric  lamp  is  placed  in  the 
hand-rail  in  front  of  each  gate,  and  when  the  train  is  made 
up  and  ready  to  receive  passengers  the  conductor  presses  a 
button,  which  lights  this  lamp,  and  thus  notifies  the  gate- 
man.  At  the  moment  the  train  is  due  to  leave  the  gateman 
closes  the  gate  and  presses  a  button  located  on  the  same 
hand-rail,  which  lights  a  lamp  on  the  platform,  notifying 
the  conductor  that  the  gate  is  closed. 

All  passenger  elevators  throughout  the  terminal  are  op- 
erated by  electric  motors,  as  are  also  the  dumb-waiters  for 
parcel  delivery  and  for  the  restaurant.  Cooking  in  the 
restaurant  is  performed  on  electric  stoves,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  broiling,  for  which  there  is  provided  a  char- 
coal stove.  The  drinking  water  furnished  throughout  the 
terminal  is  filtered,  ozonized,  cooled  and  pumped  by  elec- 
tricity. Electrically  operated  vacuum  and  compressed-air 
plants,  refrigerators  and  other  appliances  are  installed  in 
the  terminal.  All  the  ventilating  fans  used  for  the  supply 
of  fresh  air  and  the  exhaust  of  vitiated  air  are  motor- 
driven.  ' 


Fig.  15 — Ramp  from  Forty-second  Street  to  Suburban   Level  on  the 
Left    and    Restaurant    on    the    Right. 

DRAINAGE    AND    PIPING. 

Through  a  low-level  sewer  in  Forty-sixth  Street,  con- 
necting the  terminal  with  the  river,  the  entire  area  of  the 
terminal  will  be  drained  by  gravity  with  the  exception  of 
the  three  subways.  Sumps  are  built  in  the  latter  and  the 
water  collected  is  raised  to  the  sewer  by  centrifugal  pumps 
automatically  operated  by  motors.     The  yard  is  piped  for 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


/7y77Z77777777777777Z777777777777 

Fig.   16 — Plan   and   Section   of  Engine   Room   In   Service  Plant. 


Fig.   17 — Isometric   Plans   of   Heating    Equipment,   Showing   Steam    Connections  and  Water  Connections   Respectively. 


I 


December  21,  19 12. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1317 


supplying  hot  and  coM  water,  steam,  compressed  air  and 
vacuum-cleaning  connections  to  every  car.  Offices  and  rest 
rooms  for  employees  are  placed  at  convenient  places  about 
the  terminal  A  complete  fire-protection  system  is  installed 
on  both  levels  with  nearly  300  hose  connections.  The  fire- 
alarm  system  has  125  call  boxes  connected  to  a  central 
point  from  which  the  city  fire  department  may  be  called  if 
required  to  assist  the  station  fire  department. 

SPECIAL     FEATURES. 

An  important  feature  in  the  construction  of  the  terminal 
is  the  elimination  of  stairways  accomplished  by  the  use  of 
ramps,  or  inclined  ways.  Another  feature  is  the  complete 
segregation   of   through   and  local   inbound   and   outbound 


other  buildings  within  the  terminal  area  a  service  plant  has 
been  constructed  between  Forty-ninth  Street  and  Fiftieth 
Street.  The  building  is  60  ft.  long  by  90  ft.  wide  and  is  of 
steel  and  brick  construction,  carried  on  steel  columns  above 
the  tracks.  The  street  level,  or  the  first  floor  of  the  plant, 
is  used  for  the  removal  of  ashes  and  also  provides  space 
for  hot-water-heating  pumps,  converters,  boiler-feed  pumps, 
elevator  pumps,  fire  pumps,  house  pumps,  etc. 

The  boilers,  of  which  there  are  ten  installed  on  the  second 
floor,  are  of  the  water-tube  type  and  have  an  aggregate 
rating  of  6000  hp.  There  is  space  reserved  on  this  floor 
for  two  additional  635-hp  boilers,  and  on  the  third  floor 
there  is  space  reserved  for  twelve  boilers  of  a  combined 
rating  equal  to  that  of  the  boilers  on  the  second  floor.     The 


Fig.    18— General   View   of    Engine    Room    of   Service    Piant. 


traffic.  Separate  waiting  rooms  and  concourses  for  the 
local  and  through  traffic  are  provided  and  a  separate  station 
for  the  incoming  traffic,  which  eliminates  all  counter  cur- 
rents of  travel  and  the  confusion  resulting  therefrom. 

The  tracks  are  arranged  on  two  levels,  the  upper  for 
through  business,  the  lower  for  local  traffic,  and  both  are 
connected  with  loops  which  circle  around  under  the  main 
building.  After  the  passengers  are  unloaded,  the  trains  are 
taken  around  the  loop,  the  baggage  cars  are  shunted  to 
special  baggage  tracks,  and  the  train  proceeds  to  a  storage 
yard,  or,  if  it  is  a  local  train  scheduled  to  leave  within  a 
short  time,  it  is  placed  by  one  of  the  outgoing  platforms. 

SERVICE    PLANT. 

For  the  purpose  of  furnishing  heat  and  electrical  energy 
for  lighting  and  motor  service  to  the  terminal  buildings  and 


space  now  used  as  a  temporary  engine  room  can  also  be 
used  for  boilers  should  necessity  require,  which  would  re- 
sult in  a  total  equipment  of  17,400  hp. 

Overhead  coal  storage  bins  are  provided  having  a  total 
storage  capacity  of  3000  short  tons.  Coal  is  delivered  by 
cars  on  the  track  level  or  by  trucks  on  the  street  level, 
emptying  through  chutes  into  a  balanced  skip  hoist,  which 
elevates  the  coal  at  a  rate  of  60  tons  an  hour  to  the  coal 
bins.  As  soon  as  it  has  passed  through  an  automatic  coal- 
weighing  hopper,  the  coal  is  delivered  by  a  small  belt  con- 
veyor to  a  horizontal  distributing  belt  conveyor,  which  dis- 
tributes the  coal  in  the  overhead  coal  bins.  In  addition, 
there  is  a  5-ton  motor-operated  crane  for  delivery  of  coal 
direct  from  wagons  to  boilers.  For  the  street  delivery 
there  is  a  40-ton  motor-operated  screw  conveyor  which 
delivers  into  the  skip-hoist  hopper. 


I3i8 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


Natural  draft  is  provided  by  two  steel-plate  brick-lined 
stacks,  each  having  an  internal  diameter  of  17  ft.  and  a 
height  of  200  ft.  above  the  grates.  Flues  and  intakes  are 
of  ^-in.  wrought-iron  plates  with  2-in.  book-tile  lining. 
Forced  draft  is  provided  by  two  steam-operated,  310-r.p.m. 
blowers.  A  feed-water  heater  raises  the  temperature  of 
the  feed  water  for  the  boilers. 

Electrical  energy  for  present  needs  is  generated  by  three 
500-kw,  275-volt  direct-current  machines  driven  by  directly 
connected  horizontal,  non-condensing  turbines,  operating 
at  1625  r.p.m.  and  180  lb.  steam  pressure  superheated. 
The  energy  supply  from  these  generators  is  used  for  motor 
service  and  during  the  non-heating  season  also  for  lighting. 
The  lighting  circuits  are  designed  for  120-volt  service  and 
the  motor  circuits  for  240-volt  service. 

For  heating  the  terminal  buildings  hot  water  is  supplied 
by  two  systems  at  different  pressures  and  temperatures. 
Ultimately,  when  higher  buildings  are  erected,  a  third  sys- 
tem will  be  installed.  At  present  the  low-pressure  system 
circulates  about  3500  gal.  a  minute  at  a  varying  temperature, 
while  the  intermediate-pressure  system  circulates  about 
1020  gal.  a  minute.  On  a  panelboard  near  the  circulating 
pumps  meters  are  mounted  for  recording  the  circula- 
tion of  water  in  supply  and  return  pipes  and  also  the 
temperature  of  the  water  of  each  system.  The  water 
is  heated  by  exhaust  steam  in  three  6000-gal.  even-flow 
heaters.  In  case  the  exhaust  steam  is  insufficient  for  heat- 
ing purposes,  reduced-pressure  live  steam  is  obtained 
through  duplicate  reducing  valves  in  the  live-steam  connec- 
tions. For  the  circulation  of  hot  water  four  14-in.,  one 
stage  centrifugal  pumps  rated  at  3000  gal.  a  minute  are 
provided,  each  pump  being  operated  by  a  directly  connected, 
variable-speed,  170-hp  motor  and  controlled  by  a  starting 
rheostat.  Space  is  provided  for  additions  to  the  heating 
equipment  to  meet  any  possible  demand.  All  buildings  in 
the  terminal  area  will  be  equipped  for  hot-water  heating 
furnished  from  this  plant. 

The  freight  and  baggage  elevators  throughout  the  termi- 
nal are  of  the  hydraulic  plunger  type.  Within  the  service 
plant  there  has  been  installed  one  5-in.,  four-stage  elevator 
pump  with  a  capacity  of  500  gal.  a  minute  and  operated  by 
a  iio-hp,  i7co-r.p.m.  electric  motor,  which  is  controlled  b'v 
an  automatic  starting  device  of  the  '•make-and-break"  type. 


Fig.    19 — Hot-Water    Mains    and    Steana-Operated    Fire    Pumps    to 
the     Left. 

Starting  the  motor  when  the  pressure  in  the  tank  is  reduced 
to  225  lb.  For  the  same  purpose  there  are  two  horizontal, 
steam-operated,  tandem-compound  elevator  pumps,  each  one 
rated  at  500  gal.  a  minute.  Space  is  provided  for  a  750- 
gal.  pump.  A  duplex  two-stage  steam-operated  air  com- 
pressor regulates  the  pressure  of  the  air  cushion  in  the 
elevator  surge  tank. 


For  sanitary  purposes  there  has  been  installed  one  steam- 
operated,  tandem-compound  house  pump,  rated  at  1500  gal  a 
minute,  and  for  hot  water  in  the  lavatories  two  4-in.,  two- 
stage,  250-gal.  pumps,  each  operated  by  a  20-hp,  900/1800- 
r.p.m.  motor,  have  been  furnished.  Two  2So-gal.  heaters 
furnish  hot  water  for  lavoratory  service. 

Fire  service  throughout  the  terminal  is  supplied  from  the 


Fig.    20 — Circulating     Pumps    for    Hot-Water     Heating. 

service  plant.  For  this  purpose  there  is  one  Underwriters' 
centrifugal  pump  rated  at  1000  gal.  a  minute  against  150-lb. 
pressure,  directly  connected  to  a  135-hp,  1400-r.p.m.  motor. 
For  the  control  of  this  unit  there  is  a  control  panel  equipped 
with  an  800-amp  circuit-breaker,  rheostat,  knife  switch  and 
fuses.  There  are  also  two  Underwriters'  steam-operated 
duplex  pumps,  one  rated  at  1500  gal.  a  minute  and  the 
other  at  1000  gal.  a  minute. 

Condensation  in  piping  throughout  the  service  plant  is 
collected  by  traps  and  carried  by  gravity  to  a  tank  on  the 
first  floor,  whence  it  is  raised  to  the  feed-water  heater  on 
the  second  floor  by  means  of  two  steam-operated  duplex 
pumps.  In  addition  to  the  above  the  service  plant  has  the 
usual  equipment  of  feed  pumps,  oil  separators,  etc. 

A  30,000-gal.  storage  tank  is  located  in  the  southeast 
tower  of  the  building;  two  15,000-gal.  tanks  for  fire  service 
are  temporarily  installed  under  the  second-floor  boiler  room, 
and,  in  addition,  two  4000-gal.  tanks  are  placed  on  the 
ground  floor. 

Compressed  air  for  various  uses  in  the  terminal  is  fur- 
nished by  two  horizontal  air  compressors  driven  by  cross- 
compound  Corliss-type  engines.  One  has  a  capacity  of 
1000  cu.  ft.  and  the  other  of  2000  cu.  ft.  of  free  air  a 
minute.  These  are  installed  in  the  engine  room  on  the 
second  floor. 

TERMINAL     SUBSTATION. 

For  handling  part  of  the  lighting  load  a  isoo-kw  rotary 
converter  has  temporarily  been  installed  in  the  traction  sub- 
station at  Fiftieth  Street,  which  receives  alternating  current 
at  11,000  volts  from  the  Port  Morris  generating  station  at 
140th  Street  and  Long  Island  Sound.  The  latter  station 
was  described  in  the  Electrical  World.  Sept.  29,  1906,  and 
the  traction  substation  in  the  issue  of  Oct.  27,  1906.  At 
present  a  terminal  substation  is  being  erected  in  the  space 
immediately  south  of  the  traction  substation,  as  shown  in 
Fig.  13.  This  building  will  be  of  brick  and  steel  construc- 
tion, 112  ft.  long  and  40  ft.  wide,  and  is  designed  to  contain 
five  5000-kw  rotary  converters,  which  will  receive  high- 
tension,  three-phase,  25-cycle  alternating  current  from  the 
Port  Morris  generating  station  and  deliver  direct  current  at 
270  volts  to  the  terminal  system. 

In  the  basement  of  this  substation  space  will  be  provided 
for  a  storage  battery  having  150  cells  and  an  output  of 
16,000  amp  for  twenty  minutes. 


December  2I,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1319 


EFFICIENCY  OF    "EARTHS" 
RAPHY. 


IN    RADIO-TELEG- 


By  Charles  A.  Culver. 

Continuing  an  investigation  the  first  part  of  which  was 
reported  in  the  Electrical  World  of  Dec.  2,  1911,  the  writer 
has  recently  studied  the  relative  efficiency  of  various  forms 
of  earth  connections  at  the  radiating  station.  The  condi- 
tions under  which  the  tests  were  made  were  as  follows : 
A  radiating  station  was  erected  on  the  Beloit  College 
campus  at  Beloit,  Wis.,  consisting  of  a  single  vertical  No. 
16  copper  wire,  19.6  m  (64.4  ft.)  in  length,  supported  by  and 
properly  insulated  from  an  iron  flagpole.  This  aerial 
was  connected  to  a  closely  coupled  transmitting  instrument 
actuated  by  means  of  a  ^-kw  transformer.  A  motor-driven 
circuit-breaker  was  inserted  in  the  primary  circuit  of  the 
above  transformer  by  means  of  which  signals  of  fairly 
constant  value  could  be  radiated  for  a  period  of  several 
hours  at  a  time.  A  square  galvanized- wire  screen  of  34  '"• 
mesh,  measuring  61  cm  on  a  side,  was  buried  in  the  earth 
at  a  depth  of  18  cm  and  served  as  a  standard  earth.  The 
radiating  system,  when  connected  to  this  or  to  the  various 
earth  connections  referred  to  later,  was  carefully  tuned  by 
means  of  a  delicate  ammeter  to  the  fundamental  of  the 
oscillating  system.  The  wave  length  when  connected  to 
standard  earth  connection  was  approximately  275  m. 

The  receiving  station  was  set  up  at  the  College  Athletic 
Field,  an  approximate  distance  of  1.2  km  from  the  campus 
station,  and  consisted  of  a  single  vertical  wire  9.5  m  long 
connected  to  a  loosely  coupled  transformer  and  silicon 
detector.  A  piece  of  wire  netting  laid  upon  the  grass 
served  as  earth  connection.  The  shunted  telephone  method 
was  employed  in  measuring  the  incident  energy. 

The  radiating  system  was  connected  to  various  types  of 
earth  connections  and  the  efficiency  of  a  given  arrange- 
ment was  determined  by  noting  the  relative  amount  of 
energy  that  reached  the  receiving  station.  A  piece  of  wire 
netting  of  the  same  dimensions  as  the  standard  earth  con- 
nection when  laid  upon  the  grass  showed,  in  a  number  of 
tests,  a  relative  efficiency  of  100  per  cent.  In  one  or  two 
tests  it  proved  to  have  an  efficiency  of  approximately  75 
per  cent.  The  above  piece  of  netting  when  supported  on 
two-shed  porcelain  insulators  18  cm  above  the  ground  gave 
a  mean  relative  efficiency  of  65  per  cent.  A  galvanized- 
iron  pipe,  2.5  cm  in  diameter  and  80  cm  long,  driven  ver- 
tically into  the  ground,  showed  a  relative  efficiency  in  a 
number  of  tests  of  100  per  cent,  but  in  one  or  two  instances 
the  efficiency  fell  to  approximately  75  per  cent. 

The  efficiency  of  an  earth  connection  consisting  of  30  m 
of  No.  16  copper  wire  laid  upon  the  grass  proved  to  be  a 
function  of  its  direction  with  respect  to  the  receiving  sta- 
tion. The  resonance  curve  when  employing  such  a  con- 
nection was  very  flat,  rendering  the  measurements  difficult 
to  make.  However,  in  all  positions  such  an  earth  connec- 
tion proved  to  be  relatively  inefficient  when  compared  with 
the  types  above  mentioned.  It  was  found  that  when  an 
earth  wire  was  laid  upon  the  grass  in  such  a  position  that 
it  pointed  directly  away  from  the  receiving  station  it  ha-d 
a  relative  efficiency  of  approximately  10  per  cent.  When 
in  a  position  at  90  deg.  to  a  line  joining  the  two  stations 
the  efficiency  was  somewhat  higher,  approximately  15  per 
cent.  When  the  earth  wire  pointed  directly  toward  the  re- 
ceiving station  the  relative  efficiency  proved  to  be  about 
20  per  cent.  All  of  the  above-mentioned  tests  were  re- 
peated a  number  of  times  under  varying  weather  conditions, 
though  in  general  it  should  be  said  that  the  ground  was 
fairly  moist.  As  was  to  be  expected,  the  numerical  values 
varied  somewhat  froin  day  to  day  but  the  general  results 
were  as  already  stated. 

In  addition  to  the  above  experiments  further  tests  were 
carried  out  in  a  preliminary  way,  in  order  to  determine  the 
feasibility  of  utilizing  a  continuous  metallic  conductor  as 
an  earth  connection  between  stations.     A  radiating  station, 


similar  to  the  one  described  above,  was  set  up  near  a 
street-car  track  and  about  three  blocks  distant  from  a  re- 
ceiving station.  Tests  were  made  to  determine  the  relative 
amount  of  energy  reaching  the  receiving  station  when  using 
pieces  of  wire  netting  as  earth  connections  and  when  both 
stations  were  connected  to  the  rails.  Although  no  special 
eft'ort  was  made  to  make  perfect  contact  with  the  rails,  and 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  earth  was  very  wet  owing 
to  recent  heavy  rains,  the  energy  reaching  the  receiving 
station  when  both  stations  were  connected  to  the  same  rail 
was  approximately  twice  as  great  as  it  was  when  both 
stations  were  utilizing  netting  as  earth  connections.  It  is 
our  purpose  to  conduct  further  and  more  careful  tests  along 
this  line. 

The  results  of  the  tests  herein  recorded  and  those  re- 
ported in  the  previous  paper  tend  to  show  that,  in  general, 
there  is  little  difference  in  the  efficiency  of  metal  plates, 
nets  or  vertical  solid  conductors  when  buried  in  or  laid 
upon  the  surface  of  the  earth.  This  apparently  holds  true 
for  both  radiating  and  receiving  stations,  with  the  possible 
exception  of  the  wire  net  when  insulated  from  the  ground 
at  the  oscillator.  However,  when  employing  such  a  balanc- 
ing capacity  the  resonance  curve  is  more  sharp  than  with 
the  other  forms  of  earth  connections  tested,  due  doubtless 
to  the  diminished  damping.  The  possibility  of  sharp  tuning 
might  in  this  particular  case  compensate  for  the  lower  gross 
efficiency  value. 

When,  however,  one  considers  the  case  of  wires  used  as 
earth  connections  the  problem  presents  interesting  and  im- 
portant variations.  At  both  the  radiating  and  receiving 
stations  an  earth  wire  exhibits  a  directive  effect,  this  being 
particularly  true  with  the  receiving  system.  The  maximum 
efficiency  apparently  results  when  the  wires  point  toward 
the  corresponding  station.  Upon  referring  to  the  previous 
paper  it  will  be  seen  that  at  the  receiving  station  an  earth 
wire  several  times  the  length  of  the  aerial  shows  a  decidedly 
higher  efficiency  than  the  other  forms  of  connections  tested, 
while  at  the  radiating  station  the  use  of  such  a  wire  shows  a 
very  low  efficiency.  The  natural  conclusion,  from  an  engi- 
neering point  of  view,  would  be  that  where  a  given  station 
is  to  be  utilized  for  both  receiving  and  radiation  it  would 
be  better  practice  to  combine  the  two  types  of  earth  con- 
nections; that  is,  to  install  a  metallic  plate  or  grid  in  con- 
tact with  moist  earth  and  in  addition  to  this  to  arrange 
one  or  more  earth  wires  of  as  great  length  as  local  physical 
conditions  will  permit.  Further,  if  the  suggested  earth- 
wire  system  were  so  arranged  that  it  could  be  independently 
connected  to  the  aerial  system  when  being  employed  to 
receive  signals,  one  could  not  only  intercept  a  greater 
amount  of  energy  than  when  utilizing  the  common  form 
of  earth  connection,  but  by  a  suitable  arrangement  of  parts 
it  ought  to  be  possible  to  determine  the  approximate  direc- 
tion from  which  the  signals  were  being  radiated.  In  short, 
it  would  appear  to  be  possible  to  design  a  radio-goni- 
ometer based  on  the  operation  of  the  earth  wires  rather 
than  upon  the  functionating  of  the  aerial  wires  as  in  the 
Bellini-Tosi  system. 

Aside,  however,  from  the  practical  aspects  of  the  above 
facts,  the  theoretical  questions  involved  in  the  unlike  be- 
havior of  the  two  stations  when  operating  with  earth  wires 
are  worthy  of  careful  consideration.  A  satisfactory  ex- 
planation of  this  and  related  phenomena  is,  however,  not 
probable  until  further  data  are  at  hand.  The  preliminary 
experiments  of  connecting  to  an  iron  rail  and  other  tests 
of  a  similar  character  performed  by  the  writer  in  1907' 
tend  to  show  that  signaling  along  a  railway  system  might 
possibly  be  carried  out  with  the  expenditure  of  a  compara- 
tively small  amount  of  energy. 

As  a  whole  the  experiments  described  above,  together 
with  those  of  True'  and  Kiebitz,'  tend  to  show  that  that  part 


^Physical  Revieiv,  September,  1907. 

=/.  d.  Drahtl.    Teleg.,  November,   19n. 

"Electrician,   March   8,    1912. 


1320 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


of  a  radio-telegraphic  equipment  which  forms  the  earth 
connection  is  of  equal  importance  with  the  aerial  part 
of  the  oscillating  system.  In  attempting  to  set  electric 
waves  in  motion  over  or  in  the  earth's  surface  we  are  deal- 
ing with  a  non-homogeneous  conductor  of  practically  in- 
finite extent  and  having  in  general  a  comparatively  high 
resistance.  An  appropriate  consideration  of  these  facts 
may  in  time  profoundly  modify  our  existing  views  of  the 
propagation  of  electric  waves. 


EFFECT  OF  AIR  ON  CONDENSER  OPERATION. 


From  some  extended  studies  of  the  quantity  of  air  en- 
trained in  feed-water  and  prime-mover  exhausts,  measured 
by  fixing  the  free  oxygen  chemically,  Mr.  George  A.  Orrok, 
mechanical  engineer  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company, 
presented  the  following  results  before  the  A.  S.  M.  E.  meet- 
ing at  New  York,  Dec.  4,  giving  the  percentage  of  air  by 
volume  obtained  at  atmospheric  pressure: 

187  deg.  Fahr. 

Mechanically  entrained  in  feed  water,  average  of  ten  tests 0.0151 

In  solution  in  feed  water,  average  or  ten  tests 0.9160 


Total  air  in  feed  water  from  open  heaters 0.9311 

52  deg.  Fahr. 

In  solution  in   Croton   water,  average   of  three  samples 4.325 

80  deg.  Fahr. 

In  solution  in  hot-well   water,  average  of  four  tests 0.269 

These  results  show  that  Croton  water  gives  off  most  of 
its  dissolved  air  in  passing  through  the  open  heaters,  the 


89.0 
28.8 
28.6 

28.1 
28.2 

1  28.0 

2  27.8 


•g  27.4 


s 


27.2 


§  27.0 
o 

>  26.8 
26.6 
26.4 
28,2 
26.0 


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£  -  4000  K.w. 
G  — 8500K.W. 
.H- 8700  K.w. 

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10  20  30  ^        40  50  60 

Cubic  Feet 'Air  per  Minute 

Effect  of  Air   Leakage  at  Constant   Load. 


70 


amount  of  air  oecluded  in  the  feed  water  (0.931  per  cent) 
being  comparatively  small.  The  fact  is  thus  established 
that  very  little  air  came  into  the  condenser  from  the  feed 
water.  There  is,  also,  little  chance  for  further  leakage 
between  .the  pump  and  the  last  condenser  stage,  since  the 
system  is  under  pressure  up  to  this  point. 

To  ascertain  the  effect  of  known  quantities  of  air  on  the 
vacuum,  orifices  of  various  sizes  were  installed  at  the  top 
of  the  condenser  so  that  the  introduced  air  might  mix  with 
the  incoming  steam.  The  amounts  of  air  entering  the  con- 
denser were  checked  up  by  the  air  delivered  into  the  air 
bell  from  the  air  pumps.  The  results  are  shown  by  the 
accompanying  curve. 

The  air  discharged  by  the  dry  air  pump  at  atmospheric 
pressure  and  temperature  from  units  of  5000  kw  to  20,000 
kw  rating  varies  from  i  cu.  ft.  per  minute  when  the  units 
are  in  the  best  condition  to  15  or  20  cu.  ft.  where  ordinary 
leakage  is  present,  and  to  30  cu.  ft.,  or  perhaps  40  to  50 
cu.  ft.,  where  the  units  are  in  very  bad  condition. 


Most  of  this  leakage  comes  into  the  condenser  and  ex- 
haust passages  through  minute  leaks  in  the  cast-iron  shells, 
gaskets  and  expansion  joints.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to 
detect  these  leaks  with  a  candle  flame,  but  most  of  them 
may  be  located  by  filling  the  condenser  with  warm  water 
under  a  slight  head.  That  portion  of  the  leakage  occurring 
in  the  dry  air  pump  and  piping  may  be  detected  by  the  shut- 
off  test  on  the  pump.  The  volume  of  this  leakage  is  larger 
than  generally  supposed  and  is  much  larger  when  the  pump 
is  warm. 

During  the  foregoing  experiments,  in  which  four  different 
kinds  of  dry  air  pumps  were  investigated,  it  became  evident 
that  the  volumetric  efficiency  of  a  pump  working  between 
;4  lb.  and  15  lb.  absolute  is  very  poor  indeed.  The  difficul- 
ties of  keeping  valves,  pistons,  glands  and  packing  tight 
against  such  a  tenuous  fluid  as  air  at  vacuum  pressures  are 
of  much  greater  moment  than  is  usually  believed. 


DESIGN  OF  HIGH-PRESSURE  STEAM  MAINS. 


During  the  past  three  years  there  has  been  a  marked  im- 
provement in  the  design  of  pipes,  fittings  and  valves  used 
in  modern  high-pressure  steam  installations.  These  im- 
provements became  necessary  because  the  higher  steam 
pressures  and  temperatures  now  in  common  practice  greatly 
increased  the  mechanical  strain  on  the  piping,  thereby  ren- 
dering the  maintenance  cost  of  the  older  systems  prohibitive 
and  greatly  decreasing  the  reliability  of  the  plant. 

In  laying  out  mains  for  the  high  temperature  of  super- 
heated steam,  the  engineer  is  practically  limited  to  two 
suitable  joints,  that  is,  the  Van  Stone  type  and  the  welded 
flange.  Each  of  these  has  its  advantages  and  both  are  used 
in  the  most  modern  systems.  In  making  the  improved  Van 
Stone  joint,  the  end  of  the  pipe  is  first  reinforced  by  welding 
a  collar  on  the  outside ;  the  end  is  then  belled  out  and  faced 


Design  of  High-Pressure  Steam  Mains. 

on  both  sides.  A  disadvantage  of  this  type  of  joint  pointed 
out  by  the  committee  on  steam  turbines  of  the  Edison  asso- 
ciation is  the  V-shaped  depression  at  the  point  where  two 
pieces  of  pipe  join.  This  acts  as  a  small  water  pocket  and 
in  time  through  continued  expansion  and  contraction  de- 
stroys the  gasket  and  develops  a  leaky  joint. 

A  joint  having  a  welded  flange  of  the  same  inside  di- 
ameter as  the  piping,  and  with  grooves  in  the  faces  of  each 
flange  containing  a  ring,  when  properly  made  will  hold  good 
for  the  life  of  the  pipe  and  render  repairs  practically  un- 
necessary as  no  water  can  come  in  contact  with  the 
gaskets. 

Some  engineers  recommend  that  every  fitting  possible  be 
omitted  from  steam  lines  and  welded  nozzles  substituted. 
The  latter  may  be  placed  in  any  position  or  angle,  and  by 
the  elimination  of  flanges  they  serve  to  decrease  the  weigh 
of  the  piping  system  greatly.  They  are  certainly  mucl 
rhore  flexible,  and  by  their  use  from  50  per  cent  to  75  pe; 
cent  of  the  joints  ordinarily  thought  necessary  may  b( 
omitted.  The  method  of  construction,  however,  is  very  ex 
pensive,  as  it  requires  more  accurate  machine  work  an( 
careful  erection,  but  when  once  installed  it  needs  prac 
tically  no  attention.  Its  increased  use  is  doubtless  due  t< 
recent  developments  in  electric  welding  which  have  renderec 
it  possible  to  make  each  weld  as  strong  and  as  reliable  a 
any  other  portion  of  the  piping  system. 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1321 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


SOME   CENTRAL-STATION  EPIGRAMS. 


Novel  and  epigrammatic  "slogans"  indicate  the  spirit  of 
co-operation  which  exists  between  the  Kentucky  Electric 
Company,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  the  local  newspapers. 
Col.  Robert  E.  Hughes,  president  of  the  "Ky-El-Co,"  is  a 
veteran  newspaper  man,  as  is  also  his  assistant,  Mr.  C.  C. 
Ousley,  and  the  "slogans,"  which  were  first  introduced  upon 
the  happy  occasion  of  the  press  dinner  tendered  the  news- 
paper representatives  when  the  company  christened  its  new 
electric  building,  have  become  part  of  the  advertising  of 
the  central  station. 

Three  of  the  leading  newspapers  in  Louisville  are  the 
Courier-Journal,  the  Herald  and  the  Times.  The  greetings 
extended  by  the  Ky-El-Co  to  the  fourth  estate  are  couched 
in  the  following  terms:  "We  herald  the  night  as  the  Herald 
heralds  the  day" ;  "The  courier  of  the  light  welcomes  the 
fellows  from  the  Courier  of  the  news,"  and  "We  are  for 
good  times  at  all  times  for  the  Times."  In  another  part  of 
the  exhibition  room,  where  motor-driven  ice-cream  freezers 
are  exhibited,  is  the  trenchant  phrase :  "Electric  ice  cream 
— 'sleet  off  the  trolley.'  " 


PRESENCE   OF   MIND  IN  SAVING  A  LIFE. 


While  installing  some  transformers  at  Bartholomew's 
brewery,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  Toby  Martin,  the  company's 
electrician,  came  in  contact  with  a  switch  carrying  440  volts 
alternating  current.  His  hands  contracted  about  the  con- 
nection, rendering  him  powerless  to  let  go  or  to  make  an 
outcry.  Ray  Flaherty,  of  the  Rochester  Railway  &  Light 
Company's  wiring  staff,  working  near  by,  saw  the  un- 
fortunate man's  plight  and  first  tried  to  pull  him  away. 
Failing  in  this,  his  presence  of  mind  came  to  the  rescue, 
and,  grabbing  up  a  wooden  step-ladder,  he  struck  Martin  a 
heavy  blow  across  the  legs,  removing  their  support  so  that 
in  falling  Martin's  hands  were  pulled  clear  of  the  contact. 
Martin  fell  to  the  ground  apparently  lifeless,  but  Flaherty 
immediately  began  the  prone  method  of  artificial  respiration 
and  in  a  few  minutes  the  victim  regained  consciousness. 
Flaherty  has  received  deserved  congratulation  both  on  his 
coolness  of  action  in  freeing  Martin  and  on  his  endurance 
in  resuscitating  the  injured  man.  All  employees  of  the 
Rochester  company  practise  the  prone  method  of  artificial 
respiration  once  a  month,  and  this  familiarity  with  resuscita- 
tion resulted  in  the  practical  and  timely  application  above 
noted. 


EMPLOYER  AND  MAN. 


A  serious  difficulty  created  by  the  substitution  of  the  big 
concern  for  the  small  employer,  as  pointed  out  by  Mr.  A. 
Hugh  Seabrook,  general  manager  of  the  St.  Marylebone 
plant,  London,  England,  in  a  recent  discussion,  is  the 
tendency  of  the  big  employer  to  lose  touch  with  his  people. 
Too  often  he  degenerates  into  a  thing  not  of  flesh  and  blood, 
but  an  intangible  entity. 

It  will  not  add  to  the  general  efficiency  if  the  employee 
becomes  accustomed  to  regarding  his  employer  as  some  un- 
approachable person  who  takes  no  personal  interest  in-  him 
or  his  welfare  and  practically  does  not  know  of  his  exist- 
ence as  an  individual. 

There  should  not  be  a  gulf  between  the  manager  or 
sub-manager  and  the  workman.  Each  is  an  indispensable 
unit — of  varying  importance,  it  is  true,  but,  all  the  same. 


indispensable — in  the  scheme  of  organization,  and  where 
this  fact  is  realized  it  almost  naturally  follows  that  a  spirit 
of  co-operation  arises  between  the  various  units.  If  man- 
agers only  realized  that  each  man  is,  or  should  be,  an  expert 
at  his  own  particular  employment,  it  would  result  in  a 
mutual  respect  between  officer  and  man  which  in  many 
cases  is  sadly  wanting. 

Appreciation  of  service  is  one  of  the  most  important 
factors  bearing  on  individual  and,  consequently,  general 
efficiency.  It  is  where  the  big  concern,  and  especially  the 
municipally  managed  concern,  is  so  liable  to  failure.  In 
businesses  where  appreciation  is  absent  the  worker  is  soon 
turned  into  something  resembling  an  automatic  machine, 
mechanically  entering  and  leaving  the  works  or  office  and 
doing  a  set  amount  (usually  the  least  possible)  in  as  long 
a  time  as  possible. 

He  becomes  a  clock  watcher,  and  it  is  by  no  means  all 
his  fault;  it  is  chiefl/  the  fault  of  the  system  of  manage- 
ment. 

Too  often  one  sees  the  effect  of  continual  inappreciation 
and  discouragement  upon  once  competent  men  in  big  posi- 
tions. They  gradually  get  into  the  way  of  doing  just 
sufficient  to  hold  their  positions  and  no  longer  take  any 
initiative  or  make  suggestions  of  any  kind,  because  their 
spirit  has  been  killed  by  discouragement. 


DENVER  EXHIBIT  OF  ELECTRICAL  APPLIANCES. 


As  will  be  seen  by  inspection  of  the  accompanying  pic- 
tures, which  represent  views  in  the  salesrooms  of  the  Denver 
Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company,  the  recent  exhibit  which 
that  company  made  of  the  industrial  and  household  uses  of 
electricity  was  of  an  unusually  interesting  character.  This 
exhibit,  which  was  shown  in  the  handsome  building  of  the 
company,  followed  an  exhibition  of  industrial  gas  appliances 
which  also  aroused  considerable  interest. 

In  the  exhibit  which  is  illustrated  the  electrical  applica- 
tions shown  were  numerous  and  varied.  The  spectator  saw 
on  one  hand  a  mercury-arc  rectifier  in  operation,  charging  a 


Fig.    1 — Salesrooms   of    Denver   Company. 

Storage  battery.  Not  far  distant  was  an  electric  potato 
peeler,  which  is  something  of  a  novelty.  By  co-operation 
with  a  Denver  manufacturer  of  garments  the  machinery 
used  in  the  making  of  men's  clothing  was  shown  in  opera- 
tion in  a  show  window,  everything  being  driven  by  electric 
motors.  With  the  products  of  this  show-window  factory  a 
regiment  of  1620  men  could  be  equipped  in  a  week  or  ten 


1322 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


\'oL.    60,    \"o.    25. 


days.  Other  devices  shown  in  operation  were  ice-cream 
freezers,  vacuum  cleaners,  washing  machines,  ironing 
machines,  mangles,  etc. 

A  particularly  interesting  display  was  that  of  an  electric 
pumping  plant,  which  shows  how  the  Northern  Colorado 
Power  Company  has  recently  reclaimed  25,000  acres  of  land 
by   installing   electric   irrigating   equipment   of   this   nature 


Fig.  2 — Denver  Exhibit  of  Appliances. 

under  practical  working  conditions.  A  miniature  Colorado 
ranch  attracts  much  attention;  here  the  tiny  alfalfa,  potato 
and  other  fields,  as  well  as  the  orchards,  are  shown  under 
irrigation,  the  water  being  pumped  by  electricity. 

Motion  pictures  are  displayed  afternoon  and  evening,  one 
of  the  films  being  that  shown  by  the  VVestinghouse  Electric 
&  Manufacturing  Company  at  the  Seattle  convention  of  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association  last  June.  This  repre- 
sents the  equipment  of  the  average  American  home  with 
various  electrical  conveniences.  Another  set  of  motion  pic- 
tures displayed  by  the  Northern  Colorado  Power  Company 
shows  a  pumping  plant  in  operation. 

The  industrial  and  domestic  electrical  exhibit  of  the  com- 
pany attracted  throngs  of  people  to  the  company's  sales- 
rooms from  10  a.  m.  to  10  p.  m.  It  is  believed  that  the 
advertising  value  of  these  special  exhibits  is  most  important, 
while  a  fairly  satisfactory  number  of  actual  sales  has  been 
recorded.  Following  the  industrial  exhibit  it  is  planned  to 
hold  another,  demonstrating  the  various  styles  of  illumina- 
tion, with  beautiful  lamps,  fixtures,  window  displays,  electric 


Fig.   3 — Refrigerating   Equipment. 

signs,  special  designs  in  flashing  effects,  etc.,  in  many  varied 
and  attractive  forms.  This  exhibit,  beginning  early  in 
December,  will  last  until  New  Year's,  including  the  holiday 
season.  Mr.  Clare  N.  Stannard,  the  secretary  and  com- 
mercial manager  of  the  company,  is  planning  on  making  a 
very  attractive  exhibit,  introducing  many  novel  effects 
which  it  is  hoped  will  stimulate  the  Christmas  sales  of  elec- 


trical appliances.  The  exhibits  so  far  held  are  thought  to  be 
very  beneficial  to  the  company,  one  result  being  that  the 
building  and  salesrooms  are  made  a  place  of  popular  resort, 
enabling  the  company  to  demonstrate  its  electric  service  in 
a  great  variety  of  ways.  The  enterprise  shown  by  the 
company  seems  to  be  appreciated  by  the  public  and  causes 
favorable  comment. 


DIFFUSING  RESUSCITATION 
AT  DAYTON. 


KNOWLEDGE 


Copies  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association's  rules 
for  resuscitation  from  electric  shock  have  been  placed  in 
the  hands  of  every  policeman  and  fireman  in  Dayton,  Ohio, 
through  the  good  offices  of  the  Dayton  Lighting  Company. 
(  harts  and  chained  copies  of  the  booklets  have  also  been 
imt  up  in  various  public  offices  about  the  city,  so  that  the 
rules  may  be  instantly  available  for  reference  in  case  of 
emergency.  Other  copies  have  been  placed  in  the  public 
schools,  manual-training  establishments,  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and 
similar  places  of  public  resort  where  need  for  the  rules 
might  arise.  In  addition  to  circularizing  Dayton  with  the 
resuscitation  instructions  as  above,  the  company  further 
contemplates  placing  charts  in  hotel  lobbies,  railway  sta- 
tions, car-stopping  points,  etc. 

President  F.  M.  Tait  of  the  Dayton  company  recently 
ofTered  to  members  of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  the  suggestion  that 
each  company  mail  copies  of  the  resuscitation  charts  and 
booklets  to  physicians  in  its  community.  If  this  were  done, 
it  should  prove  an  efifective  method  of  directing  the  atten- 
tion of  the  medical  profession  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
to  the  merits  of  the  Schaefer  method  of  resuscitation. 


A  LABOR-SAVING  METER  TRUCK. 


The  accompanying  illustration  shows  a  meter  truck  which 
is  in  service  at  the  laboratory  of  the  United  Electric  Light 
Company,  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  the  equipment  being  a 
home-made  means  of  facilitating  the  handling  of  meters 
between  the  shelves 
of  the  company's 
stockrooms  and  the 
testing  department  in 
the  basement  of  the 
headquarters  offices. 
The  truck  is  5  ft.  6  in. 
long  by  2  ft.  wide  and 
is  built  with  double 
shelves,  its  carrying 
capacity  when  loaded 
being  forty-two 
meters.  The  frame  is 
mounted  on  rubber- 
tired  wheels  and  is 
equipped  with  sub- 
stantial grab-handles 
bolted  to  the  base  of 
the  truck  with  iron 
straps.  The  use  of 
rubber-tired  wheels 
enables  the  truck  to 
be  run  about  at  rea- 
sonable speed  without 

endangering  the  moving  elements  of  the  meters  or  their  sus- 
pensions. Since  the  installation  of  the  truck  it  has  been 
found  that  meters  can  be  handled  much  more  rapidly  and  at 
less  expense  than  was  possible  by  means  of  the  old  and 
burdensome  method  of  carrying  them  by  hand  from  the 
stockrooms  to  the  testing  department  or  other  parts  of  the 
laboratory  where  they  might  be  needed. 


Rubber-Tired   IVIeter  Truck. 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


1.323 


SELLING  ELECTRIC  CHRISTMAS  TOYS. 


An  elaborate  plan  of  featuring  its  new  Christmas  toy 
department,  fully  stocked  with  all  things  electrical,  has 
been  commenced  by  the  Kentucky  Electric  Company,  of 
Louisville,  Ky.,  and  is  attracting  widespread  attention  in 
the  Gateway  City.  In  its  new  office  building  the  com- 
pany has  installed  a  complete 
assortment  of  trains,  autom- 
atons, etc.,  the  plan  being  that 
this  department  shall  show  a 
direct  sales  profit,  since,  in  mat- 
ter of  fact,  the  consumption  of 
electricity  traceable  to  the  use 
of  the  toys  will  scarcely  be  suffi- 
cient to  justify  their  sale  at  cut 
rates.  The  feature  of  the  pres- 
ent Yuletide  exhibition  is  a 
miniature  city  block  rigged  up 
with  electric  toys.  There  is  a 
street-lighting  system,  a  toy 
moving-picture  theater  realistic- 
ally outlined  in  incandescent 
lamps,  a  surface  railway  threading  the  thoroughfares,  and 
an  interurban  line  serving  the  "residential  heights"  which 
overlook  the  "business  district."  Another  window  of  the 
building  is  occupied  by  a  display  of  domestic  appliances, 
chafing  dishes,  toasters,  etc. 


was  $900,  and  that  of  the  steam  boiler  for  power  and  heat- 
ing was  $600.  The  plant  was  operated  by  one  attendant 
at  $15  per  week,  and  the  cost  of  coal  delivered  at  the  boiler 
was  $4  per  ton.  The  yearly  cost  of  operation  was  deter- 
mined to  be  $1,664.80,  including  fixed  charges,  the  items 
being:  Interest,  depreciation  and  repairs,  15  per  cent,  $225; 
coal.  155  tons  at  $4,  $620;  engineer,  $750;  oil,  waste  and  ash 


lii  ■  r.atT  Cutur.  Vki 
17    -   Utile  10" 
16  -  S|ictd  Lather 


■  Ut)„ 


uo" 


2U  -  Latin-  22" 

•n  ■  Latiie  la 

21;  .  Lntlii;  -JO 

23  -  Luthf  24" 

24  -  RtiDoved 

25  -  Lathe  20 
2e  -  Removed 

27  -  Vertical  Mill.  Bullard  „ 

28  -  Band  batv  for  Wood  ;iC  „ 

29  -  Surface  Planer  for  Wood  18 

30  ■  Circular  Saw  10  " 

Ul  '  Carborunduzit  Wheel.  Double  Head  10 

32  -  Speed  Lathe 

33  -  Lathe  Hi" 

34  ■  Uthe  lli" 
3.',  ■  Lathe  lli" 

36  -  Automatic  Scren  Machine 

37  -  Uaelcbaw  10"    „ 

3^  -  Oil  Sc|crrator  30  Diameter 


iVccfn 


Fig.  2 — Arrangement  of   Machines  on  Second   Floor. 


DISPLACING    STEAM    POWER    IN  A  GENERAL 
MACHINE  SHOP. 


In  connection  with  the  introduction  of  the  motor  drive 
into  a  small  general  machine  shop  in  its  territory,  the 
Worcester  (Mass.)  Electric  Light  Company  recently  made 
an  analysis  of  the  cost  of  power,-  comparing  the  yearly 
operating  expenses  and  fixed  charges  under  steam  service 
with  those  estimated  under  the  electric  drive.  The  work 
was  done  by  the  power  engineering  department  of  the  com- 
pany, which  indicated  the  engines  and  prepared  plans  show- 
ing the  desirable  location  of  machines  and  motors.  The 
group  drive  was  recommended  for  the  installation  in  ques- 
tion, the  estimated  cost  of  the  change  being  but  $607.  Al- 
though only  a  few  motors  were  required,  the  case  illustrates 
the  value  of  taking  all  the  factors  of  interest,  depreciation, 
fuel  and  labor  cost  into  account  in  endeavoring  to  secure 
business  of  this  kind,  and  the  methods  employed  are  along 
lines  useful  in  a  great  variety  of  installations.     The  results 


5  lip,,  120OR.P.3I. 


Fig.   1 — Ground-Floor   Plan   of   Machine  Shop. 

of  the  survey  showed  that,  taking  all  costs  into  account,  the 
plant  could  be  operated  for  $143  less  per  year  by  electricity 
than  with  steam,  and  the  manufacturer  signed  a  contract 
on  the  strength  of  the  analysis. 

The  plant  was  formerly  operated  by  an  engine  the  average 
load  of  which  determined  by  indicator  cards  was  15.3  hp, 
with  a  probable  maximum  of  25  hp.    The  cost  of  this  engine 


removal,  $40;  feed  water,  29,800  gal.,  at  o.ooi  cent  per  gal., 
$29.80;   total  cost,   steam   operation,   $1,664.80. 

With  the  exception  of  two  machines,  the  group  system  of 
driving  was  advised,  and  the  arrangement  of  motors  and 
shafting  recommended  was  as  shown  in  the  accompanying 
drawings.  Six  of  the  machines  have  since  been  removed, 
but  the  remainder  are  indicated  by  numbers  on  the  drawing 
and  the  size  and  type  of  each  machine  are  shown  in  the 
accompanying  table.  In  general,  the  machines  included 
millers,  shapers,  drills,  lathes,  planers,  saws  and  other  equip- 
ment used  in  machine-shop  service. 

The  motors  required  were  four  in  number,  including  a 
5-hp  outfit  running  at  1200  r.p.in.  and  belt-connected  to  the 
28-in.  by  8-ft.  planer,  machine  No.  5,  on  the  first  floor;  a 
lo-hp  motor  wound  for  the  foregoing  speed  for  main  shaft 
driving  on  this  floor;  a  5-hp,  1800  r.p.m.  motor,  belted  to 
a  Bullard  vertical  mill,  and  a  lo-hp,  1200  r.p.m.  motor,  for 
general  shaft  driving  on  the  second  floor.  The  estimated 
cost  of  the  two  lo-hp  motors  was  $176  each,  the  planer 
motor  costing  $90  and  the  mill  motor  $65.  The  installation 
of  the  motor  drive  rendered  advisable  the  disconnection  of 
the  shafting  and  belting  shown  in  dotted  lines  in  Fig.  i, 
thus  improving  the  mechanical  conditions  and  offering  a 
means  of  power  economy. 

Arrangements  were  made  for  heating  the  plant  by  low- 
pressure  steam  from  the  boiler  through  a  direct  connection, 
and  it  appeared  from  the  investigation  that  40  tons  of  coal 
would  be  needed  each  winter  for  this  purpose.  The  esti- 
mated   cost    of    operation    with    electricity    was:      Interest, 

depreciation  and  repairs,  15  per 
cent,  $91  ;  energy  at  $89.10  per 
month,  $1,070;  coal  for  heating, 
40  tons,  at  $4,  $160;  labor,  200 
days  at  $1,  $200;  total  cost  elec- 
trical operation,  $1,521. 

The  investigation  showed  that 
even  in  a  small  plant  a  careful 
study    of    costs    will    frequently 
indicate  economies  in  the  use  of 
the    electric    drive,    where    the 
heating    costs    and    all    charges 
are    taken    into    account.      The 
fixed    charges    under    electrical 
operation  might  well  be  below  those  with  steam  expressed 
on   a   percentage   basis,   but   even   allowing  the   same   rate, 
the  motor  drive  showed  a  saving  on  the  total.     The  col- 
lateral  advantages   of   the    electric    drive,    and   notably   the 
manufacturer's   independence   of   skilled   attendance   in   the 
power  department,  were  also  factors  in  his  decision  to  adopt 
electricity. 


1  -  Removed 

2  -  Removed 

3  -  Removed 

4  -  B.  &  S,  .MllliDe  .MachlDo 

5  -  Planer  28's  S' 

6  -  Sbaper  titockbridse 

7  -  Planer  20 'x  C' 
S  -  Planer  00"i  'J  ' 
0  -  lest  Stand  fcr  Siiapera 

10  -  Carhorundiim  Wheel,  Double  Head  10 

11  -  Turret  Uthe  14  ' 

12  -  Removed 

13  ■  Radial  Drill  24" 

14  -  Grind  Stone  3' 

15  -  Vertical  Drill  24" 


1324 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


A  LARGE  ELECTRIC  SIGN  FOR  MILWAUKEE. 


One  of  the  largest  permanent  electric  signs  in  the  West 
is  being  erected  on  the  roof  of  the  fourteen-story  Majestic 
Building,  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  for  a  nearby  department  store. 
The  sign  will  comprise  two  lines  reading  "Gimbel's — at  the 
Bridge,"  20-ft.  letters  being  used  in  the  name  and  5-ft. 
letters  in  the  words  giving  the  location.  The  steel  frame 
already  completed  measures  62  ft.  high  and  125  ft.  long. 
Energy  for  the  1400  lamps  in  the  display  will  be  furnished 
by  the  Commonwealth  Power  Company,  whose  substation 
is  located  under  the  sidewalk  near  the  building. 


ORNAMENTAL  STREET  LIGHTING    PROPOSED  [W 
OKLAHOMA  CITY. 


If  the  proposal  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Okla- 
homa City  IS  carried  out,  an  ornamental  street-lighting 
system  will  be  installed  in  the  district  surrounded  by  the 
Santa  Fe  railroad  tracks,  Hudson  Avenue,  Reno  Avenue 
and  Second  Street  and  also  e.xtending  north  on  Broadway 
from  Second  Street  to  Broadway  Circle.  This  plan  calls 
for  the  erection  of  591  posts  and  is  said  to  have  the  approval 
of  the  city  administration,  which  has  agreed  to  bear  20  per 
cent  of  the  cost  of  installation,  maintenance  and  operation. 
The  remainder  is  to  be  borne  by  the  property  owners,  the 
whole  matter  being  handled  by  the  city  treasurer's  office  on 
a  taxation  basis. 


DISTANT-READING  BOILER-LEVEL  GAGE. 


As  pointed  out  in  an  illustrated  article  on  page  1109  of 
the  Electrical  World  of  May  25,  1912,  the  new  gas-burning 
8ooo-kw  central  station  of  the  Kansas  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany, Wichita,  Kan.,  is  so  arranged  that  the  pressure  gages, 
valves  and  gas  burners  of  the  back-fired  furnace's  are 
brought  down  to  the  main  turbine-floor  level,  where  they 
can  be  manipulated  by  the  engine-room  attendants.  Water- 
level  gages  as  well  are  now  installed  in  this  lower  firing 
aisle,  so  that  the  water  level  in  the  drums,  20  ft.  above, 
can  be  inspected  from  below  without  going  aloft  to  the 
front  of  the  boilers  to  ascertain  this  information. 

The  novel  long-distance  level  gage  used  comprises  a  float 
chamber  connected  to  the  upper  drums,  while  suspended 
from  this  float  chamber  is  a  i-in.  pipe  terminating  in  a 
gage  glass.  This  entire  system  is  filled  with  water  at  boiler 
pressure,  and  in  the  upper  chamber  floats  a  hollow  copper 
ball  carrying  a  slender  aluminum  rod  1/12  in.  in  diameter, 


/•Ball-Float 


.Marnier 

Gas  Burner  for 

Back-Fired 

BoLler 

Distant-Reading  Boiler-Level  Gage. 

which  depends  down  through  the  i-in.  pipe,  its  lower  end 
being  visible  in  the  glass  chamber.  This  forms  the  marker 
which  indicates  the  boiler-water  level,  the  whole  rod  and 
float  rising  and  falling  with  changes  in  the  upper  level. 
The  devices  have  been  in  use  several  months,  and  in  this 
■ime,  according  to  Mr.  C.  B.  Tingley,  chief  engineer  for  the 
^Vichita  company,  have  given  thorough  satisfaction. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

CHURCH    ILLUMINATION    FROM  CONCEALED 
LINEAR   UNITS. 


Tungsten  linolite  units  concealed  behind  the  vertical 
colunuis  supporting  the  roof  arches  provide  a  novel  form 
of  indirect  illumination  for  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Cathedral  of  St.  John  at  Denver,  Col.    Except  for  the  lamps 


Church    tlluminated   from   Concealed    Linear   Units. 

on  tile  altar,  the  sole  lighting  of  the  auditorium  is  furnished 
by  these  27-volt  linear  units,  which,  with  their  reflectors,  are 
hidden  in  vertical  recesses  on  the  altar  sides  of  the  wall 
columns.  The  lamps  are  fed  through  conduit  from  the 
secondaries  of  low-voltage  transformers  mounted  in  the 
ceiling  space  above. 

The  building  is  190  ft.  long,  with  a  40-ft.  nave  and  jYi-it 
side  aisles.  One  hundred  and  twenty  feet  of  linear  lighting 
units  have  been  employed,  aggregating  1920  cp.  Control  of 
these  units  is  efifected  from  the  altar.  The  effect  of  the 
installation  is  to  give  unusual  diffusion  in  the  main  room 
as  well  as  a  high  degree  of  illumination  on  the  altar.  An 
important  incidental  effect  is  the  emphasis  which  the  light- 
ing puts  on  the  architectural  details  of  the  church  interior, 
the  groins  of  the  arches  being  particularly  accentuated. 
The  installation  was  made  by  Mr.  J.  Fischer.  Denver. 


SOME  PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS  IN  RELATION  TO 
INDUSTRIAL  LIGHTING. 


Mr.  Ward  Harrison,  of  the  National  Electric  Lamp 
Association,  Cleveland,  delivered  a  well-prepared  address 
on  "Industrial  Lighting"  before  the  Chicago  Section  of  the 
Illuminating  Engineering  Society  on  Dec.  11.  Mr.  Harri- 
son said  that  the  value  of  proper  factory  lighting  lies  in  the 
fact  that  it  enables  the  workman  to  do  his  work  quickly, 
accurately,  cheerfully  and  safely  during  artificial-ilknnina- 
.•  tion  hours.  He  advocated  a  considerable  number  of  units. 
In  spacing,  the  distance  between  lighting  units  should  not 
be  more  than  twice  the  vertical  distance  between  the  units 
and  the  working  plane.  Steadiness  of  light  is  important, 
and  the  speaker  quoted  from  the  Illuminating  Engineering 
Society's  "Primer  of  Illumination"  to  prove  this.  To  secure 
steadiness  of  lighting  in  factories,  he  advises  that  motors 
and  lamps  be  operated  on  separate  circuits,  although  it  is 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


13^5 


difficult  to  induce  factory  owners  to  go  to  this  expense. 
Care  must  be  taken,  if  25-cycle  circuits  are  used,  to  select 
such  lighting  units  that  there  will  be  no  objectionable  flicker. 
Any  incandescent  lamp  taking  less  than  0.5  amp  will  usually 
flicker  on  25  cycles. 

Intensity  of  light  may  vary  from  0.25  ft.-candle  to  50  or 
more  ft. -candles.  However,  these  are  extremes  in  both 
cases.  The  former  figure  is  probably  the  lowest  intensity 
to  be  considered  in  any  aspect  of  industrial  lighting,  while 
the  latter  is  given  as  the  intensity  over  a  very  small  area, 
where  it  is  necessary  to  provide  a  very  brilliant  light  at, 
say,  a  certain  part  of  a  machine.  Probably  90  per  cent  of 
all  industrial  lighting  installations  will  fall  between  i  ft.- 
candle  and  6  ft.-candles.  In  many  installations  5  or  6 
ft. -candles  is  not  now  considered  too  high,  as  the  great 
point  is  to  make  the  illumination  serve  to  help  the  work- 
man to  -do  his  work  in  the  most  efficient  manner. 

Glare- has  been  defined  as  light  out  of  place.  Considering 
each  individual  working  position,  there  should  be  no  near-by 
sources  of  light  having  high  intrinsic  brilliancy.  Further, 
there  should  be  no  light  sources  of  any  sort  in  the  direct 
range  of  vision  when  the  workman  is  looking  at  his  work. 

Mr.  Harrison  spoke  of  the  need  of  uniformity  of  illumi- 
nation and  said  that  specular  reflection  should  be  avoided. 
It  is  worth  while  to  provide  the  workroom  with  sufficient 
light  to  give  it  a  bright,  cheerful  appearance.  This  will 
counteract  the  tendency  of  the  men  to  slow  down  when  it 
begins  to  grow  dark. 

The  speaker  advised  his  hearers  not  to  lean  too  heavily 
on  the  convenient  and  easily  used  portable  photometer  in 
figuring  the  cost  of  lumens.  He  described  tests  which  seem 
to  show  that  ordinary  high  temperatures,  such,  for  instance, 
as  those  caused  by  operating  the  lamp  in  an  inclosing  globe, 
have  no  unfavorable  effect  on  tungsten  lamps. 

Curves  were  exhibited  to  show  candle-power  depreciation 
during  the  life  of  tungsten  lamps.  Considering  the  useful 
life  of  a  lamp  to  end  when  it  has  fallen  to  80  per  cent  of 
its  initial  efficiency,  the  average  efficiency  in  horizontal 
candle-power  was  shown  by  tests  to  be  93.5  per  cent.  Old 
lamps  take  slightly  less  current  than  new  ones,  contrary  to 
the  general  impression.  Efficiency  life  curves  show  that 
when  both  the  cost  of  energy  and  the  cost  of  lamp  renewals 
are  taken  into  consideration  it  makes  little  difference 
whether  tungsten  lamps  are  burned  to  75  per  cent  or  150 
per  cent  of  their  rated  life.  The  operation  of  tungsten 
lamps  in  series  on  multiple  circuits,  as  is  done  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  in  outdoor  work,  should  be  discouraged. 
With  the  rapid  advance  in  the  design  of  tungsten  lamps, 
changes  in  operating  characteristics  make  series  connection 
across  multiple   circuits  inadvisable. 

Reflectors  received  considerable  attention  in  the  closing 
portion  of  the  address.  Porcelain  enameled  reflectors  were 
said  to  have  a  general  efficiency  of  about  65  per  cent.  Tests 
conducted  to  exhibit  the  loss  of  efficiency  due  to  the  collec- 
tion of  dust  showed  that  after  forty  weeks'  use  without  be- 
ing cleaned  enameled-steel  reflectors  were  80  per  cent  effi- 
cient, prismatic  glass  about  68  per  cent  and  translucent 
glass  about  64  per  cent.  Mr.  Harrison  said  that  the  use 
of  all  types  of  glass  reflectors  in  industrial  plants  is  decreas- 
ing. He  thinks  the  enameled  steel  reflector  somewhat 
preferable  to  the  aluminum  type  for  this  class  of  work. 
Practically  all  new  reflectors  are  one-piece  units.  Water- 
glass  (slicate  of  soda)  has  been  used  successfully  in  coat- 
ing brass  lamp  bases  and  sockets  to  protect  them  from  acid 
fumes  in  factories.  As  to  the  color  of  reflecting  surfaces 
in  reflectors  for  incandescent  lamps  it  was  pointed  out  that 
bluish-tinted  reflectors  should  be  avoided  owing  to  the 
characteristic  spectrum  of  the  lamp. 

The  discussion  took  the  form  of  a  lively  debate  over  the 
merits  of  various  types  of  reflectors,  representatives  of  rival 
manufacturers  showing  unanimity  in  only  one  thing,  and 
that  was  zeal  in  advocating  the  several  designs  of  glass  and 
metal   reflectors   which   were   chamoioned. 


ORNAMENTAL  STANDARDS  OF  ST.  LOUIS  PUBLIC 
BUILDINGS. 


Twenty-five  five-lamp  tungsten  standards  provide  orna- 
mental lighting  for  the  Market  Street  side  of  the  St.  Louis 
City  Hall  Square,  containing  the  municipal  offices  and 
municipal  courts  building.     The  posts  are  mounted  on  the 


inn 

^^^H^^L^I 

ill 
It  • 

1     ^ 

m^  1 

Fig.    1 — Tungsten    Post    Lighting,    St.    Louis   City    Hall    Square. 

Stone  coping  which  separates  the  lawn  from  the  sidewalk, 
and  each  carries  four  40-watt  lamps  and  one  6o-watt  lamp, 
contained  in  12-in.  and  i6-in.  balls  respectively.  The  up- 
rights measure  8  ft.  and  are  supported  by  four  scroll  feet 
on  the  3-ft.  x  3-ft.  stone  blocks  at  a  height  of  22  in.  above 
the  sidewalk.  A  massive  ring  forms  the  mounting  for  the 
four  lower  arms,  the  main  shaft  extending  through  the 
center  of  this  device  for  the  support  of  the  top  lamp.     Al- 


Fig.   2 — Ornamental    Standards,    St.    Louis    Public    Library. 

though  the  posts  are  of  iron,  they  were  coated  first  with 
copper  bronzing,  followed  by  an  application  of  green  paint, 
which  effectively  simulates  the  appearance  of  verdigris  on 
bronze,  lending  much  to  the  appearance  of  the  standards. 
The  posts  were  furnished  by  the  Frank  Adam  Electric 
Company,  St.  Louis. 

On   the   steps   and   approaches   to   the   St.    Louis   Public 


I32<5 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6c,  N'o.  25. 


Library  a  rather  extraordinary  but  handsome  design  of 
post  is  employed.  The  7-ft.  upright  presents  a  succession 
of  exfoliating  leaves,  rising  from  a  square  pediment  which 
is  borne  by  four  tortoises.  The  main  lighting  unit  is  in- 
closed in  a  i2-in.  ball  around  which  is  arranged  a  corona 
of  eight  3-in.  globes  concealing  25-watt  lamps. 


WIRING  INSPECTION  AT  BOSTON. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  New  England  Section  of  the  Na- 
tional Electric  Light  Association  held  at  Boston  on  Dec.  13 
Mr.  James  E.  Cole,  head  of  the  Wire  Department  of  Bos- 
ton, delivered  an  illustrated  address  upon  electrical  inspec- 
tion. The  history  of  central-station  development  was  out- 
lined, and  the  speaker  touched  upon  the  causes  leading  to 
the  establishment  of  underground  service  by  electric  rail- 
way, lighting  and  other  public  utilities.  After  briefly  re- 
counting the  legislation  which  led  to  the  organization  of 
the  Boston  Wire  Department,  Mr.  Cole  exhibited  a  great 
number  of  lantern  slides  of  poor  wiring  construction  in 
buildings  prior  to  systematic  inspection  under  the  auspices 
of  the  municipality.  For  about  twenty  years  this  work  has 
been  carried  on  with  admirable  results,  and  the  speaker 
gave  special  credit  to  the  local  central-station,  telephone, 
telegraph  and  railway  interests  for  their  co-operation  in 
cutting  down  the  fire  and  accident  hazards  of  both  exterior 
and  interior  wiring.  Probably  80  per  cent  of  the  reports 
tn  the  department  contending  that  specific  fires  are  caused 
by  electricity  are  found  to  be  utterly  mistaken. 

The  Wire  Department  deals  not  only  with  all  classes  of 
electrical  conductors,  whether. they  are  installed  in  the  open, 
inside  buildings  or  underground,  but  also  covers  the  instal- 
lation inspection  of  all  electrical  devices  and  materials. 
The  commissioner  is  made  the  sole  judge  of  what  consti- 
tutes proper  insulation  and  safe  installation.  It  is  required 
by  law  that  the  commissioner  be  notified  of  all  wiring  to 
be  installed  within  a  building,  with  a  penalty  of  from  $10 
to  $50  for  failure  to  notify.  The  department  also  makes 
special  analyses  of  all  fires  supposed  to  have  been  caused 
by  electricity. 

An  important  part  of  the  address  dealt  with  actual  causes 
of  electrical  fires  as  determined  by  the  department.  Many 
of  these  causes  are  apparently  trifling,  as  in  the  failure  to 
shut  off  the  heater  switches  in  a  large  mansion  which  was 
equipped  with  electric  plate  warmers  in  the  butler's  pantry, 
the  warmers  having  been  installed  without  notifying  the 
Wire  Department.  The  equipment  was  placed  on  the  floor- 
ing of  the  cupboard  with  only  thin  asbestos  paper  between 
the  heaters  and  the  floor  boards,  the  heaters  being  covered 
by  a  Russia  iron  cabinet  and  the  whole  inclosed  in  a 
wooden  closet.  The  afternoon  before  the  fire  carpenters 
and  plumbers  were  at  work  in  the  house  preparatory  to 
opening  it  for  the  winter.  Through  an  oversight  the 
heaters  were  left  in  circuit  for  hours,  the  floor  boards  be- 
came ignited,  and  the  fire  spread  to  the  rest  of  the  build- 
ing, causing  a  loss  of  over  $180,000. 

In  another  case,  a  theater  fire  was  caused  by  a  plush  drop 
curtain's  coming  into  contact  at  the  fringe  with  the  border 
lamps,  but  the  prompt  action  of  the  staff  prevented  its 
spreading.  A  fire  which  is  of  special  significance  in  its 
relation  to  the  holiday  season  and  its  hazards  occurred  in 
a  store  where  a  lamp  cord  became  fraved  and  swung 
against  a  brass  rod,  which  was  in  contact  with  a  cash 
carrier  system  suspended  by  a  hook  the  point  of  which  was 
in  contact  with  a  gas  pipe.  Electricity  passed  through  the 
carrier  system  to  ground ;  the  brass  rod  contact  arced  over, 
igniting  ribbons  carried  by  the  rod,  and  hot  metal  and 
sparks  were  thrown  into  waste  paper  beneath.  The  fire 
was  quickly  put  out,  but  there  was  danger  of  a  serious 
blaze.  In  another  establishment  a  crudely  designed  electric 
sign  was  left  with  the  current  on  after  the  store  closed  for 
the  night,  and  as  the  lamps  were  installed  in  thin  wooden 


partitions  the  device  overheated  and  was  soon  ruined.  It 
had  not  been  inspected  because  the  owner  had  failed  to 
notify  either  the  Underwriters  or  the  Wire  Department. 
Other  causes  of  fires  were  touched  upon,  including  a  high 
tide  which  submerged  series  arc-lighting  wires  carried  un- 
der the  structure  without  proper  protection ;  leaving  a 
lighted  incandescent  lamp  in  contact  with  a  wooden  parti- 
tion in  a  department  store  during  reconstruction  of  the 
display  space,  and  pushing  fixture  wire  joints  in  behind  the 
insulating  joint  between  a  combination  bracket  and  a  gas 
pipe. 


Letters  to  the  Editors 


DERIVATION  OF  FORMULA. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs  : — In  the  issue  of  the  Electrical  World  for  Nov.  9, 
page  994,  Mr.  Louis  Cohen  gave  a  derivation  for  an 
approximate  formula  for  the  inductance  of  aerial  split  con- 
ductors. I  should  like  to  call  attention  to  a  previously  pub- 
lished derivation  which  is  equally  short  and  more  accurate, 
in  that  the  mutual  inductance  of  wires  is  not  assumed  to  be 
unchanged  by  dividing  the  conductors.  This  method,  which 
consists  of  superposing  systems  in  equilibrium,  will  be  found 
in  Professor  Karapetoff's  "Magnetic  Circuit,"  Chapter  XI, 
Problem  21.  The  method  is  applied  to  a  line  split  in  two 
parts,  but  it  can  easily  be  applied  for  any  arrangement  of 
split  conductors. 

Using  Mr.  Cohen's  notation  and  denoting  in  addition  the 

diagonal    distance   between   conductors    by    D',    Professor 

Karapetoff's  formula  becomes: 

D  D' 

L  =  I  (logf [-  logc  —   +  0.597)  cm, 

a  a 

while  Mr.  Cohen's  formula  is, 

L  =  I  (logc  —  +  log,  —  -f  0.597)  cm. 
a  a 

On  account  of  its  greater  simplicity  and  accuracy,  the 

method  of  superposition  would  seem  to  be  preferable. 

Ithaca,  N.  Y.  John  F.  H.  Douglas. 


CAUSE  OF  CONDENSATION. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — In  your  issue  of  Nov.  16  is  an  article  by  Mr.  F.  G. 
Waldenfels  on  "Conduit  Versus  Open  Work  in  Places  Sub- 
ject to  Moisture,  Corrosive  Fumes,  Steam,  Etc."  In  the 
second  column,  on  page  1050,  he  discusses  the  cause  of  con- 
densation in  a  pipe  that  ran  over  some  boilers  to  distributing 
cabinets.  In  explaining  the  condensation  he  says:  "Cold 
air  entered  at  the  service  pipe  and  traveled  down  through 
the  service  cabinet,  then  continued  until  it  encountered  the 
hot  air  in  the  conduit  above  the  boilers.  The  temperature 
in  the  basement  was  very  high  and  on  the  first  floor  it  was 
very  low,  and  the  consequence  was  that  condensation  took 
place  when  the  hot  and  cold  air  met."  It  may  seem  a  little 
like  splitting  hairs  to  question  that  explanation,  which  in  no 
manner  affects  the  fact  that  condensation  was  responsible 
for  the  trouble,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  from  purely  a 
physical  viewpoint  his  explanation  is  a  little  erroneous. 
If,  in  Fig.  41,  the  cabinet  in  the  boiler  room  were  her- 
metically sealed,  it  is  doubtful  if  any  condensation  would 
occur.  It  seems  that  the  cause  of  condensation  was  mois- 
ture-laden air  at  no  deg.  Fahr.  entering  the  cabinet  within 
the  boiler  room.  This  air  on  passing  through  the  pipe  en- 
tered the  cold  room  above  and  consequently  the  moisture 
was  condensed.  It  does  not  seem  quite  reasonable  that  the 
condensation  was  due  to  cold  air  passing  from  above,  be- 
cause its  humidity  would  decrease  as  the  air  became  heated 
in  the  pipe  over  the  boiler. 

Madison,  Wis.  C.  M.  Jansky. 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


1327 


Digest  of  Current   Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Single-Phase  Commutator  Motors. — M.  Latour. — The 
author  reviews  the  different  types  of  single-phase  com- 
mutator motors  which  have  been  tried  in  the  single-phase 
traction  experiments  of  the  French  railroad  company  "du 
Midi."  The  characteristic  features  of  the  different  motor 
types  are  reviewed  with  special  reference  to  former  pub- 
lications and  patents  of  the  author.  The  author  has  for- 
merly shown  that  in  the  simple  repulsion  motor  the  currents 
produced  in  the  short-circuit  winding  by  the  rotation  gen- 
erate a  cross-field  which  in  combination  with  the  main  field 
yields  a  rotary  field  at  synchronism  and  assures  good  com- 
mutation at  this  speed.  This  fundamental  property  has 
decided  the  future  of  the  repulsion  motor.  The  author's 
compensated  repulsion  motor  has  the  essential  properties  of 
the  simple  repulsion  motor,  besides  being  able  to  operate 
with  unity  power-factor.  In  series  motors  an  artificial 
cross-field  may  be  produced  according  to  a  German  patent 
of  the  Oerlikon  company  and  an  Austrian  patent  issued  to 
the  author  in  April,  1904.  Under  the  name  of  elliptic-field 
motor  the  author  has  described  a  motor  which  has  since 
become  known  as  a  doubly-fed  series  motor  and  has  been 
developed  by  Richter,  Alexanderson  and  Osnos.  The 
author  then  deals  with  the  importance  of  the  "friction 
area" ;  that  is,  the  area  of  contact  of  the  brushes  with  the 
commutator.  To  reduce  the  friction  area  is  a  very  im- 
portant point  of  the  design  of  all  single-phase  commutator 
motors.  This  leads  to  the  result  that  high  peripheral  speeds 
of  the  commutator  are  advantageous.  The  design  of  high- 
speed motors  then  leads  to  the  use  of  a  gear  transmission. 
This  is  a  characteristic  feature  of  the  locomotives  of 
Jeumont,  of  the  Westinghouse  Company  and  of  the  Oerlikon 
Company,  which  seem  to  be  perfectly  satisfactory  in 
mechanical  respects.  In  principle  the  use  of  high  speeds  is 
possible  with  repulsion  as  well  as  series  motors.  But  with 
repulsion  motors,  in  which  the  number  of  poles  is  deter- 
mined by  the  speed,  the  frequency  of  15  cycles  per  second 
leads  to  a  design  with  a  small  number  of  poles.  This  results 
in  certain  difficulties  which  can  be  overcome  by  various 
devices  of  the  author  (several  short-circuits,  etc.).  There- 
fore, it  is  possible  to  build  the  repulsion  motor  for  the  speed 
conditions  of  the  series  motor.     But   for  a  given  current 


excitation  winding  it  is  possible  to  produce  a  cross-field 
which  is  proportional  to  the  current  and  independent  of  the 
speed.  In  order  to  reduce  the  losses  of  a  motor  it  is  advan- 
tageous to  use  a  low  frequency,  narrow  auxiliary  poles,  a 
small  air-gap,  high  speed,  and  high  number  of  poles.  For 
a  frequency  of  15  cycles  per  second  it  is  possible  to  reduce 
the  losses  so  that  they  are  insignificant.     To  simplify  the 


Fig 


Stator   of    Series    Motor. 


intensity  the  same  voltage  between  commutator  segments  is 
the  more  dangerous  at  starting  the  smaller  the  number  of 
poles.  However,  the  repulsion  motor  is  inferior  at  a  fre- 
quency of  15  with  respect  to  both  weight  and  efficiency. 
The  repulsion  motor  requires  more  iron  and  more  copper. 
The  author  discusses  the  conditions  of  commutation  at  vary- 
ing speed.    He  shows  that  by  a  certain  arrangement  of  the 


Fig.   2— Diagram   with    Excitation    Colls   in    Parallel. 

design  of  the  series  motor  with  auxiliary  flux,  the  author 
has  devised  the  arrangement  of  Fig.  i,  which  represents  the 
stator  of  a  series  motor.  The  circles  a  represent  the  cross- 
section  of  the  compensation  winding  placed  in  slots  all 
around  the  periphery  of  the  stator.  In  the  slots  b  c  d  e  this 
winding  is  represented  by  f  ^h  i.  The  slots  b  c  d  e  also 
contain  the  excitation  winding  which  is  to  produce  the  field 
of  the  motor.  The  cross-sections  of  this  winding  are  repre- 
sented by  the  rectangles  j  klm.  The  slots  b  c  de  contain 
finally  the  third  auxiliary  winding  (represented  by  the 
triangles  nopq),  which  produces  a  field  displaced  by  90 
deg.  with  respect  to  the  field  of,  the  motor.  Those  cross- 
sections  which  carry  at  any  moment  the  current  in  the  same 
direction  (for  instance,  from  the  back  of  the  paper  to  the 
front)  are  cross-hatched.  At  any  moment  the  total  current 
in  slot  b  equals  the  total  current  in  slot  d  but  has  the 
opposite  sign.  The  same  is  true  for  c  and  c.  There  is,  how- 
ever, a  non-symmetry  between  the  slots  b  and  d  on  one  side 
and  c  and  e  on  the  other  side  with  respect  to  the  total  cur- 
rent. When  the  conductors  ;  and  I  on  one  side  and  k  and  m 
on  the  other  side  are  connected  together  it  is  possible  to 
form  two  coils  for  the  excitation  winding,  which  have  the 
general  appearance  of  the  coils  of  a  compensation  winding 
as  they  are  usually  made  to  comprise  the  interval  ti  between 
two  poles.  These  excitation  coils  jl  and  mk  may  be  con- 
nected in  series  or  in  parallel.  If  they  are  connected  in 
parallel  a  resistance  iv  may  be  employed,  as  shown  in  Fig.  2, 
so  as  to  produce  a  phase  difference  between  the  two  cur- 
rents, assuring  perfect  commutation  without  any  additional 
winding.  The  motor  may  be  built  as  easily  as  the  pure 
series  motor  and  has  the  correct  commutation  field. — Elek. 
Zeit..  Nov.  28,  1912.  Practically  the  same  article,  but 
slightly  enlarged  in  a  few  details,  in  Elek.  ti.  Masch. 
(Vienna),  Dec.  i,  1912. 

Alternating-Current  Commutator  Motors. — Marius  La- 
tour. — An  article  which  the  author  submitted  in  January, 
1901,  to  L'Eclairage  Electrique,  but  which  was  not  pub- 
lished. It  is  now  published  with  an  introductory  note  con- 
cerning the  original  date  by  the  then  editor  of  that  paper, 
C.  F.  Gilbert.  Latour's  article  deals  with  the  use  of 
auxiliary  poles  in  a  series  motor  and  their  excitation  by 
current  of  suitable  phase  displacement. — La  Lumicre  Elcc, 
Nov.  16,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Lighting  Generators  for  Automobiles.— C.  J.  Webb. — The 
first  part  of  an  illustrated  description  of  the  electrical 
exhibits  at  the  recent  Olympia  Motor  Car  Exhibition  in 
London.     The  author  gives  a   review  of  the   features  of 


1328 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


various  lighting  generators  for  automobiles.  The  first  is 
the  Leitner  generator  (Fig.  3).  The  chief  feature  of  this 
machine  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  self-regulating,  no 
mechanical  or  electro-mechanical  devices  being  employed. 
The  field  magnets  are  shunt-wound,  the  shunt  winding  being 
connected  up  to  subsidiary  brushes  DD'  working  on  the 
same  commutator  as  the  main  brushes  CC  but  arranged  at 
right  angles  thereto.  When  the  speed  of  rotation  is  low 
these  brushes  collect  current  and  increase  the  excitation  of 
the  fields,  but  as  the  speed  of  the  armature  increases  the 
magnetic  field  flux  is  distorted  in  the  direction  of  rotation, 
the  result  being  that  the  voltage  of  the  subsidiary  brushes 
is  first  reduced  to  zero,  and  then  actually  becomes  reversed 
in  sign,  this  negative  current  weakening  the  magnetic  field 
to  a  greater  and  greater  extent  according  as  the  tendency 
for  the  output  to  rise  becomes  greater.  The  generator  is, 
therefore,  automatic  in  action  at  all  speeds.  Other  lighting 
generators  described  are  the  P.  &  R.  and  the  Lucas.  In  the 
latter  a  mechanical  device  consisting  of  a  slip  clutch  is  pro- 
vided to  insure  constant  output  with  varying  speed.  The 
belt  pulley  through  which  the  armature  is  driven  is  fur- 
nished with  a  small  friction  clutch  in  which  the  frictional 
surfaces  are  engaged  and  disengaged  by  an  automatic 
centrifugal  governor,  the  whole  being  self-contained  in  a 
dust-proof  and  oil-proof  casing.  The  result  is  that,  how- 
ever fast  the  pulley  may  be  revolving,  the  armature  shaft  to 
which  it  is  indirectly  coupled  cannot  exceed  a  certain  pre- 
determined speed.  When  the  armature  attains  its  maximum 
speed  the  friction  clutch  is  automatically  disengaged  by  the 
governor  and  the  driving  effort  momentarily  ceases.   When- 


Fig.   3 — Diagram   of  Variable- 
Speed    Dynamo. 


Fig.  4 — Section  of  Broit 
Dynamo. 


ever  the  speed  drops  the  clutch  again  takes  up  the  drive.  The 
chief  feature  of  the  Brolt  generator  is  the  addition  to  the 
two  main  poles,  which  are  excited  by  a  shunt-wound  coil  con- 
nected to  the  brushes,  of  two  auxiliary  poles  at  right  angles 
thereto  (Fig.  4)  ;  the  latter  are  unwound  but  are  excited  by 
the  cross-magnetization  caused  by  the  working  current  in 
the  armature.  Two  brushes  are  placed  m  the  neutral  posi- 
tion relative  to  the  main  poles,  they  being  made  wide  enough 
to  short-circuit  several  armature  coils  during  the  period  of 
commutation.  The  action  of  the  machine  is  as  follows: 
When  the  armature  is  revolved  a  voltage  is  induced  between 
the  brushes  exactly  as  in  any  ordinary  generator  and  the 
machine  commences  to  charge  the  battery  as  soon  as  the 
necessary  speed  is  reached.  The  load  current  in  the  arma- 
ture exercises  a  cross-magnetizing  tendency  which  creates 
a  magnetic  flux  in  the  auxiliary  unwound  poles  provided  to 
receive  it.  The  armature  coils  short-circuited  by  the  brushes 
cut  this  cross-flux,  and  in  consequence  there  is  produced  in 
them  a  short-circuit  current  which  is  proportionate  to  the 
cross-flux  and  to  the  speed  of  rotation.  Any  increase  of 
speed  is  immediately  accompanied  by  a  proportionate  in- 
crease in  the  short-circuit  current,  which  demagnetizes  the 
main  field  and  keeps  the  output  constant.  Again,  if  the  out- 
put current  should  tend  to  increase,  an-  increased  cross- 
magnetization  results,  which,  in  turn,  increases  the  short- 


circuit  current,  thereby  preventing  any  increase  in  voltage. 
The  automatic  regulation  of  output  is,  therefore,  obtained 
by  purely  electrical  means,  there  being  no  moving  parts 
whatever  except  the  armature. — London  Elcc.  Review,  Nov. 
22,  1912. 

Spectral  Luminosity  Curve  of  the  Average  Eye. — H.  E. 
Ives. — The  paper  in  full,  an  abstract  of  which  has  already 
been  given  in  the  Digest.  It  concludes  his  long  series  of 
articles  on  the  photometry  of  lights  of  different  colors. — • 
Philos.  Mag.,  December,  1912. 

Chemistry  and  Electric  Lighting. — O.  Ksuh. — An  Eng- 
lish translation  of  his  recent  German  article  on  the  im- 
portance of  chemical  research  on  electric  lighting  inven- 
tion.— London  Electrician,  Nov.  29,  1912. 

Generation,    Transmission   and    Distribution. 

Grounded  Versus  Unearthed  Neutrals  on  Alternating- 
Current  Systems.' — -J.  S.  Peck. — A  paper  read  before  the 
British  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers.  The  only  two 
real  advantages  of  grounding  are  (a)  the  limiting  of  the 
voltage  between  line  wires  and  earth  and  (b)  the  possi- 
bility of  cutting  off  any  wire  or  feeder  in  the  event  of 
a  "ground"  upon  it.  The  chief  objection  to  grounding  is 
the  fact  that  the  system  cannot  be  operated  with  a  ground 
on  any  line  wire.  The  author  discusses  the  question  of 
grounding  the  neutral  from  the  point  of  view  of  gener- 
ating plant,  high-voltage  transmission  circuits  and  low- 
voltage  distribution  circuits.  Three  classes  of  generator 
service  are  considered.  First,  in  the  case  of  a  generator 
supplying  energy  to  a  network  of  underground  cables,  it  is 
becoming  general  practice  to  ground  the  generator  neutrals. 
It  seems  advisable  to  try  connecting  the  generator  neutrals 
solidly  together,  especially  in  the  case  of  turbo-generators, 
where  there  is  no  angular  variation  in  speed  and  therefore 
less  chance  of  circulating  currents.  Should  satisfactory 
operation  be  impossible,  then  only  one  generator  should  be 
connected  to  the  neutral  busbar,  or  resistance  may  be  in- 
serted between  each  generator  and  the  neutral  busbar.  Of 
the  three  methods,  that  of  connecting  the  neutrals  solidly 
together  is  undoubtedly  the  simplest  and  best,  while  the 
method  of  operating  with  a  ground  on  only  one  generator 
comes  next  in  simplicity.  The  second  class  of  service  is 
that  of  generators  supplying  energy  to  overhead  transmis- 
sion circuits  without  transformers.  With  this  arrangement 
in  the  majority  of  cases  the  weight  of  the  argument  is  in 
favor  of  operating  with  the  generator  neutrals  unground- 
ed. The  third  class  of  service  is  that  of  generators  supplying 
energy  to  overhead  transmission  line  through  step-up  trans- 
formers. In  this  case  it  is  extremely  desirable  to  ground 
the  neutral  or  else  to  ground  the  low-tension  side  of  the 
transformers.  It  is  preferable  to  ground  the  neutral  point 
of  the  generator  through  a  rather  low  resistance.  If  it  is 
not  desired  to  connect  permanently  to  ground,  then  a  spark 
gap  should  be  used  in  the  ground  connection.  The  author 
concludes  that  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  continuity  of 
service  will  demand  that  the  system  be  operated  with  an 
ungrounded  neutral,  and  that  in  general  the  transform- 
ers should  be  connected  in  delta  on  both  the  high-tension 
and  the  low-tension  windings. — London  Electrician,  Nov. 
29,  1912. 

Traction. 

Direct-Current  Versus  Single-Phase  Traction. — An  edi- 
torial referring  again  to  the  recommendation  recently  made 
by  Merz  and  McLellan  on  the  use  of  continuous  current 
with  an  overhead  line  at  1500  volts  for  the  extensive  Mel- 
bourne tramway  system  after  a  thorough  comparison  of 
single-phase  and  direct-current  traction.  The  present 
writer  seems  to  think  that  the  comparison  has  not  been 
perfectly  fair  in  every  respect.  For  single  phase  the  fre- 
quency of  25  cycles  was  adopted  in  consideration  of  the 
motor  load,  but  a  frequency  of  15  cycles  would  have  caused 
considerable  saving.  For  the  cost  of  altering  ordinary 
telegraph  and  telephone  wires  nine  times  as  much  money 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1329 


was  allowed  for  the  single-phase  in  comparison  with  the 
direct-current  system.  With  direct  current  at  a  pressure 
of  1500  volts  the  currents  to  be  collected  are  so  large  in 
comparison  with  those  in  the  single-phase  system  at  a 
pressure  of  10,000  volts  or  15,000  volts  that  very  destructive 
arcing  is  likely  to  result  and  thus  raise  the  cost  of  main- 
tenance very  materially.  "The  claims  of  the  high-tension 
continuous-current  system  will  require  very  ample  demon- 
stration before  the  single-phase  system  can  be  disregarded." 
— London  Electrician,  Nov.  29,  1912. 

Electric  Traction  in  Italy. — G.  Calzolari. — An  illus- 
trated article  on  electric  traction  on  the  old  Giovi  line  be- 
tween Genoa  and  Milan  and  between  Genoa  and  Turin. 
The  three-phase  system  with  3000  volts  and  15  cycles  is 
used  with  electric  locomotives.  Energy  is  supplied  from  a 
steam  station  containing  two  5000-kw  turbo-generators. 
Since  the  three-phase  motors  of  the  locomotives  when  run- 
ning at  a  speed  above  synchronism  are  changed  into  gen- 
erators and  return  energy  into  the  line,  a  water  resistor  is 
provided  in  the  power  plant  for  the  dissipation  of  the  excess 
of  energy  which  is  not  required  at  that  time  by  a  train. 
The  arrangement  of  the  water  resistor  with  its  automatic 
switch  connections  is  described  in  great  detail. — Elck.  Zeit., 
Nov.  28,  1912. 

Paris. — A  note  on  the  reorganization  of  the  tramways  of 
Paris,  France.  Up  to  the  present  the  system  of  the  Com- 
pagnie  des  Omnibus  in  Paris  has  been  operated  in  a  number 
of  different  ways,  including  steam,  compressed  air  and 
secondary  batteries.  It  has  now  been  decided  to  convert 
the  whole  system  to  electric  traction,  direct  current  being 
used  in  conjunction  with  an  overhead  wire  in  the  outlying 
districts  and  with  a  conduit  in  the  more  central  areas.  It  is 
thus  hoped  to  provide  a  better,  more  organized  and  speedier 
service  than  has  been  possible  up  to  the  present.  The 
system  will  be  supplied  with  energy  from  the  stations  at 
St.  Denis  and  Vitry,  three-phase  current  at  a  pressure  of 
12,500  volts  and  a  frequency  of  25  cycles  being  used.  This 
will  be  transformed  by  rotary  converters  to  direct  current 
at  600  volts  in  six  substations.  There  will  be  thirty  car 
depots.  Two  types  of  car  have  been  decided  upon,  one  a 
bogie  type,  containing  fifty-five  seats,  and  the  other  having 
a  long  wheelbase  and  forty-five  seats,  this  type  being  par- 
ticularly intended  for  lines  where  the  gradients  are  steep 
and  traffic  heavy. — London  Electrician,  Nov.  22,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Protective  Covering  of  Rubber  Cables. — F.  Fernie. — The 
author  questions  whether  the  ordinary  impregnated  braiding 
of  rubber  cable  does  not  do  more  harm  than  good.  As 
soon  as  the  waterproof  qualities  that  a  braiding  may  have 
are  destroyed  it  becomes  a  positive  danger  to  the  cable 
rather  than  a  help,  for  it  serves  as  a  sponge  to  hold  mois- 
ture in  close  contact  with  the  rubber  and  by  capillary  con- 
ductance helps  to  maintain  the  supply  of  moisture.  It  thus 
serves  as  a  moist  "earth"  in  contact  with  the  rubber.  Wires 
which  are  simply  taped  largely  avoid  this  disadvantage,  and, 
further,  a  well-mipregnated  tape  can  be  made  more  water- 
proof than  braiding.  The  author  has  immersed  rubber 
cable  in  various  solutions  for  a  long  period  without  being 
able  to  detect  any  deterioration  in  the  rubber,  as  shown  by 
its  stretching  qualities.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  same 
cable  be  immersed  and  an  electrical  pressure  be  maintained 
between  the  conductor  and  the  liquid,  the  rubber  will  in 
some  cases  deteriorate,  generally  in  spots  rather  than  along 
its  whole  length.  The  same  thing  may  often  be  noticed 
where  "neutral"  cables  are  placed  alongside  "live"  con- 
ductors, the  latter  being  faulty  and  the  former  apparently 
uninjured,  although  the  braiding,  may  be  dripping  wet. 
From  this  it  would  appear  that  electrical  pressure  and  mois- 
ture combined  cause  the  failure  of  the  rubber.  If  this  be 
the  case,  the  difficulty  could  be  got  over  by  grading  the 
insulating  covering  of  the  cable  so  that  the  whole  or  nearly 
the   whole    fall    of    potential    between    the    conductor    and 


ground  should  take  place  across  an  inner  insulating  wrap- 
ping, and  that  this  should  be  protected  by  an  outer  wrap- 
ping impervious  to  water  but  yet  having  a  very  low  elec- 
trical resistance.  This  outer  layer  would  thus  be  in  the 
same  position  as  the  rubber  in  a  neutral  cable  and  would 
not  tend  to  fail.  Of  course,  this  object  is  completely  ob- 
tained by  putting  a  lead  or  other  metal  sheath  over  the 
rubber.  Apart  from  metal  sheathings,  the  nearest  ap- 
proach to  this  condition  is  the  cab-tire  sheathed  cable. — 
London  Electrician,  Nov.  29,   1912. 

Installations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Cost  of  Electricity  in  Various  Central  Stations. — 
Friedrich  Ross. — The  author  refers  to  a  recent  article  by 
Hase,  who  claimed  that  municipal  gas  plants  give  better 
financial  results  to  a  city  than  municipal  electric  central 
stations.  The  present  author  comes  to  different  results  on 
the  basis  of  statistical  data  which  are  given  in  several 
tables.  He  finds  that  the  figures  for  interest  and  amortiza- 
tion of  the  capital  investment  are  about  the  same  in  both 
cases.  The  author  concludes  that  it  is  more  economical  for 
a  city  to  urge  the  use  of  electricity  for  interior  lighting 
and  for  motors  than  to  advocate  the  use  of  gas.  The 
following  data  are  abstracted  from  a  table  in  the  article. 
They  relate  to  thirty-eight  typical  European  central  stations. 
Those  marked  with  an  asterisk  are  transmission  systems 
delivering  energy  over  extended  areas: 


Vienna 

Upper  Silesia* .  .  .  . 

Essen 

Hamburg 

Cologne 

Frankfort-on-Main 

Dortmund* 

Reisholz* 

Schoneberg 

Dresden 

Hagen  (Mark)*...  . 

Amsterdam 

Dortmund 

Dns-^eldorf 

Strasburg, 

Charlottenburg. . , . 

Chemnitz 

Elberfeld 

Breslau 

Magdeburg . 

Barmen 

Bremen 

Siegen* 

Mannheim 

Duisberg 

The  Hague 

Rheydt 

Wiesbaden 

Leipzig 

Crefeld 

Altoiia 

Erfurt 

Potsdam 

Neuss 

Agram 

Deuben 

Nymwegen 

Pressburg* 


.5  8 

> 


97 
87 
76 
.58 
32 

31 
24 
27 
22 
22 

21 
19 
19 
16 

17 

16 

14 
13 
13 
12 

11 
11 
10 
10 
9 

8 
8 
7 
6 
6 

S 

s 
s 

3 
3 

3 
2 
1 


.2  c 

a-?  I 


S  o 
^  ... 


<->  S 


E  - 


2.1 

0.5 

0.925 

3.54 

1.225 

1.45 

0.675 

0,975 

1.975 

1.85 

0.825 

1.325 

1.3 

1.275 

2.775 

1.25 

1.35 

1.325 

1.375 

1.4 

1.3 

2.475 

1.2 

1.375 

1.2 


1 

325 

1 

275 

2 

2 

2 

02  s 

I 

.65 

3 

4 

2 

425 

1 

35 

1 

OS 

1 

475 

1 

9 

1 

45 

1 

925 

15.4 
12.4 
13.0 
8.1 
12.7 

19.7 

6.3 

7.3 

13.4 

14.5 

8.7 
12.3 
10.4 
14.6 

7.0 

17.6 
15.2 
9.3 
16.1 
20.8 

11.4 
16.1 

s.s 

14.4 
U.2 

19.2 
8.6 

16.9 
19,3 
19.0 

14.9 
13.3 
24,7 
7.8 
13.1 


1.75  11.7 

1.625  9.0 

2.6  I   22.6 


1,9 

0.65 

0.75 

3.2 

1.175 

1.375 

0.9 

1.67S 

1.55 

1.75 

1.0 

1.425 

1.875 

1.875 

2,9 

1.8 

1.325 

2.025 

2.075 

1.4 

1.8 

1.9 

0.825 

1.8 

1.2 

1.4 

1.675 

2.025 

2.5 

1.175 

2.25 

2.15 

1.125 

1.55 

0.95 


V   OJ 


5.75 

5.7S 

2.075 

6.45 

2.95 

4.05 

1.375 

2.425 

4.4 

4.825 

1.8 

4.6 

3.6 

4.375 

4.975 

4.8 
3. 75 
3.325 
5.3 
4.775 

3.65 

6.1 

2.125 

4.325 

2.67S 

4.5 

2.65 

6.25 

7.8 

4.225 


".S3 
"oSg 


0.7725 
0.3675 


0,685 
0,54 


0.51 
6! 625' 


0 

7 

425 
075 
IS 


3.925 

3.1 

8.45 


0.5425 
0.5875 

6!82.r 

0.705 

0,58 

0,8075 

0.585 

0.5425 

0.98 

0,5825 
0.7225 

l!627S 
0.9225 

1.1125 
0.90 
0 ,  905 
0.6775 


0.79 

0.8475 

0,5525 

0,865 

0.85 

0.775 

0.8925 

0.4675 


The  table  in  the  article  also  gives  figures  on  the  load- 
factor,  the  age  of  each  plant  and  other  matters.— £/<? A'.  Zeit., 
Nov.  28,  1912. 

Municipal  Otvnership. — Fasolt. — The  author  thinks  that 
the  lack  of  success  of  municipally  owned  or  operated  sta- 
tions is  due  less  to  municipal  ownership  than  to  the  fact 
that  the  municipalities  do  not  want  to  pay  sufficiently  high 
salaries  to  attract  the  best  men  for  the  management.  Fig- 
ures from  German  practice  are  given. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov. 
28,    1912. 


1330 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


Electrophysics  and  Magnetism. 

Effect  of  Magtietic  Fields  on  Resistance. — C.  W.  Heaps. 
— An  account  of  a  series  of  experiments  the  chief  results 
of  which  are  as  follows:     For  paramagnetic  and  diamag- 
netic  metals  a  transverse  field  produces  a  greater  increase 
of  resistance  than  does  a  longitudinal   field,  and   for  small 
magnetizing  forces  the  increase  is  proportional  to  the  square 
of  the  field  strength.     Crystals  of  lead  sulphide  in  a  mag- 
netic  field   behave   like   an   isotropic   paramagnetic   or   dia- 
magnetic  metal.    The  resistance  of  iron  pyrites  is  unaltered 
by  a   magnetic  field;   at  least,  if  there  is  a  change  it   is 
smaller  than  2  X  10"  per  ohm  for  a  field  of  10,000.    What- 
ever the  direction  of  the  magnetizing  force,  the  resistance 
of    molybdenite   decreases,    and    it   decreases   much    in    the 
same   way   as   does   the    resistance   of    Heusler   alloy    in   a 
longitudinal   field.     The  behavior  of  magnetite   in   a  mag- 
netic, field  indicates  that  this  mineral  has  a  very  complex 
internal  structure.     It  has  different  properties  along  differ- 
ent axes  even  w^hen  subjected  to  magnetizing  forces  much 
greater   than   are   necessary    to   produce    saturation.      For 
fields  greater  than  4000  or  5000,  after  the  magnetization  has 
reached  a  maximum,  the  dR/R   (the  change  of  resistance 
divided  by  the  resistance  in  zero  field)  and  the  field  strength 
H  are  always  connected  in  a  linear  relation.     Indeed,  this 
seems  to  be  the  case  for  everything  examined,  provided  a 
large  enough  field  is  had. — Philos.  Mag.,  December,  1912. 
Electrochemistry  and   Batteries. 
Electrolytic   Tanning. — A  note  on  the   installation   of   a 
demonstration    plant   of   the    Groth    system    of    electrolytic 
tanning.     A   pure   and   strong   tanning   of   heavy   hides    is 
produced  in  six  weeks  or  less  as  compared  with  an  even 
number  of  months  by  an  ordinary  process,  while  the  quality 
of  the  leather  produced  is  good.     The  electrolytic  plant  is 
entirely  automatic. — London  Electrician,  Nov.  29,  1912. 
Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 
Measuring  the  Thomson  Effect. — H.  R.  Nettleton. — An 
abstract  of  a    (British)    Physical   Society  paper  giving  an 
investigation   of   the    distribution    of    temperature    down    a 
conductor  conveying  an  electric  current   and  at  the  same 
time    moving    uniformly    through    two    fixed    temperature 
sources.    The  effect  of  the  Thomson  heat  on  the  distribution 
is   seen   to   be    exactly    similar   to   the   effect   of    a    small 
impressed  velocity.     This  result  is  applied  to  mercury  to 
measure  the  Thomson  effect  by  comparing  the  alteration  of 
temperature  dT^  at  a  point  near  the  middle  of  the  gradient 
caused  by  reversing  a  current  of  /  amperes  with  the  altera- 
tion of  temperature  dT,  at  the  same  point  due  to  a  flow  of 
mercury  of  m  grammes  per  second.     It  is  shown  that  with- 
out any  approximation  as  to  emissivity  loss  or  magnitude  of 
Joulean  heat  2  IS /ins  =  dTJdT^,  where  s  is  the  specific  heat 
of  mercury  and  S'  the  specific  heat  of  .:iectricity.    Working 
with  currents  of  from  4  to  9  amp  and  with  flows  of  different 
magnitudes,  but  never  exceeding  I  cm  per  hour,  consistent 
values   of   S   are  obtained,   the  value  at   61   deg.   C.   being 
1.52  X  10''  calories  per  degree  Centigrade  per  coulomb.    The 
thermo-j  unctions,  which  were  of  iron  and  constantan,  were 
fused  through  the  glass  tubes  with  inappreciable  distortion. 
—London  Electrician,  Nov.  22,  1912. 

No-Load  Loss  of  Watt-Hour  Meters. — H.  Bueggeln. — 
An  article  pointing  out  the  serious  energy  losses  due  to  the 
current  passing  continuously  through  the  voltage  coils  of 
watt-hour  meters  in  distribution  systems  with  many  cus- 
tomers who  use  current  only  for  a  short  time.  The  matter 
is  especially  serious  in  distribution  systems  in  agricultural 
districts.  A  good  alternating-current  meter  consumes  at 
no  volts  continuously  at  least  I  watt  and  at  220  volts  1.5 
watts.  The  yearly  consumption  is  therefore  8.76  kw-hr. 
at  no  volts  and  13.14  kw-hr.  at  220  volts. — Elek.  Zeit., 
Nov.  28,  T912. 

Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 
Loud-Speaking   Telephone. — A  note  on  a   recent   some- 
what remarkable  British  patent  (No.  17,028,  Nov.  21,  1912) 


of  A.  Vojen.  "A  loud-speaking  telephone  receiver  is  made 
of  irgn  or  platinum  and  provided  with  a  specially  treated 
wire  of  copper  or  aluminum,  which  enables  it  to  dissociate 
under  the  influence  of  a  varying  electric  current.  It  is  also 
provided  with  a  double  plate  and  two  horns,  the  movements 
of  which  are  independent.  An  ordinary  transmitter  is  used 
at  the  other  end  of  the  line.  It  is  said  that  the  radioactive 
dissociation  of  the  wire  reacts  chemically  with  the  iron 
and  sets  free  sufficient  energy  to  actuate  the  membrane  of 
the  receiver,  by  bombardment,  so  as  to  give  audible  speech 
even  if  the  person  at  the  transmitter  is  11  ft.  distant  from 
his  instrument." — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Nov.  28,  1912. 

Submarine  Telephone  Cables. — -J.  G.  Hill. — The  first 
part  of  a  mathematical  article  on  the  loading  of  submarine 
telephone  cables  giving  a  comparison  between  coil-loaded 
and  continuously  loaded  cables  w-ith  special  reference  to 
some  actual  cables  of  both  types  between  England  and 
Belgium. — London  Elec.  Reznew,  Nov.  29,  1912. 

Miscellaneous. 

Electric  Welding. — V.  D.  Green. — A  continuation  of  his 
illustrated  paper  giving  notes  on  electric  welding.  After 
discussing  the  welding  of  copper  he  gives  details  of  welding 
machines,  especially  of  that  of  Elihu  Thomson  and  of  the 
automatic  switch  of  the  author. — London  Elec.  Review, 
Nov.  22,  1912. 

Austria-Hungary. — An  article  giving  statistical  data  of 
the  electrical  export  trade  of  Austria-Hungary  in  the  first 
half  of  1912. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov.  21,  1912. 

Laboratory. — W.  Brown. — An  article  on  the  equipment 
of  the  electrical  engineering  laboratories  of  the  Royal 
College  of  Science  in  Dublin,  Ireland. — London  Electrician, 
Nov.  29,  1912. 


Book  Reviews 

R.'KTGEBER  FUR  DIE   OkONOMISCHE  ErZEUGUNG   UND   VeRWER- 

TUNG    Elektrischer    Energie.       By    Adolf    Prasch. 

Vienna:      Druckerei    und    Verlags-Aktiengesellschaft. 

Part  II,  316  pages,  14  illus.  Price,  2.80  marks. 
The  second  volume  of  a  book  on  the  economical  produc- 
tion and  use  of  electrical  energy.  It  deals  with  a  number 
of  practical  questions  concerning  the  cost  of  installing 
electric  light  and  motor  service,  especially  in  relation  to 
plants  which  are  situated  in  Austria.  Although  there  are 
not  a  great  many  illustrations  or  diagrams  to  be  found  in 
the  book,  there  are  numerous  tables  of  costs,  dimensions, 
and  other  details  for  the  guidance  of  consumers,  purchasers 
or  operators.  In  the  appendices  are  some  useful  lists  of 
rules  as  applied  in  Austria  to  electric  plants  and  installa- 
tions. 


Practical  Mathematics.    Part  I.   Arithmetic  with  Applica- 
tions.    By   Claude   Irwin   Palmer.     New  York:     Mc- 
Graw-Hill Book  Company.     136  pages,  20  illus.    Price, 
75  cents.     Part  II.     Geoinetry  with  Applications.     150 
pages,  130  illus.    Price,  75  cents. 
A   very  practical  pair  of  elementary   little  volumes  on 
arithmetic   and   geometry   as  applied  to  the   needs  of  the 
artisan  and  workman.     From  this  standpoint  the  books  have 
been  prepared  with  much  skill  and  judgment.     Nearly  all 
of  the  numerous  examples  and  problems  have  been  specially 
prepared   from  actual  practice  in  shopwork,  building  and 
construction.     In  this  way  the  books  are  well  adapted  as 
primers  for  home  study  by  adults  who  may  desire  to  brush 
up  the  arithmetic  and  geometry  of  their  past  school  days. 
Mechanics  seeking  to  become  foremen  or  foremen  seeking 
to  equip  themselves   for  contracting  will  be  likely  to  find 
much  help   from  these  little  volumes.     It  would  be  well  if 
such  books  could  be  introduced  into  schools  for  the  sake 
of  the  practical  suggestiveness  of  the  problems  used. 


December  21,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1331 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


A  CABINET-TYPE  FLASHER. 


The  Reynolds  Electric  Flasher  Manufacturing  Company, 
of  Chicago,  has  developed  for  the  market  a  motor-driven 
flasher  which  is  entirely  incased  in  a  cast-iron  cabinet.  The 
illustration  shows  this  flasher  with  the  hinged  cover  hang- 
ing down  to  expose  the  interior  arrangement.     The  appa- 


Interlor  of   Electric   Flasher. 

ratus  consists  of  a  motor  built  for  continuous  flasher  duty, 
a  train  of  gears,  a  revolving  brush,  four  contacts  and  the 
necessary  fuses  and  terminals.  Its  construction  involves 
a  new  principle,  as  the  only  moving  current-carrying  mem- 
ber is  a  feeder  brush.  The  contacts  are  stationary  and 
there  is  little  wear,  while  the  simplicity  of  the  apparatus 
renders  it  unlikely  to  get  out  of  order.  An  unusually  quick 
make-and-break  is  obtained,  and  loads  up  to  10  amp  for 
each  contact  are  handled  with  little  arcing.  The  cabinet 
type  of  flasher  may  be  used  for  from  one  to  four  circuits. 
In  connecting  it  in  service  it  is  only  necessary  to  attach 
mains  to  the  various  binding  posts.  The  size  of  the  cabinet 
is  10.5  in.  by  9.5  in.  by  5.5  in.,  which  permits  installation  in 
confined  spaces.  The  manufacturer  claims  that  the  device 
meets  all  of  the  Underwriters'  rules  and  has  the  further 
advantage  of  low  initial  cost. 


ACID-PROOFING  THE  FLOORS  OF  BATTERY  ROOMS. 


A  great  deal  of  attention  is  being  given  to  the  proper 
method  of  acid-proofing  the  floors  of  battery  rooms.  While 
it  is  recognized  that  nothing  can  be  done  to  make  concrete 
acid-proof  in  itself,  floors  of  such  material  have  been 
treated  with  linseed  oil  thinned  down  with  gasoline ;  but 


•Z  Layero  ftjflfKX  Fhtt  en  Concrete  Surface  vritb  Ji^  Sfope 

fy  Joints  rilled  With  Hydrac  Compound      ^Vitiified  BricK 


/""' 


■  o  *  ;«  •  .-.f  ■ 


- S  Layers  Htjdrex  re/t  cemented  ,.  -. 

toget/ier  with  Mydrex  Compownd      P'^ 


Cross-Section    of    Battery    Room    Floor. 

this  method  retards  the  action  of  the  acid  only  temporarily. 
Acid-proofing  preparations  have  been  tried  by  one  of  the 
leading  concrete  construction  companies  of  New  England, 
but  have  not  proved  a  uniform  success. 

The  general  construction  of  the  floor  of  a  battery  room 
consists  of  vitrified  brick  or  tile  placed  on  a  concrete  base. 
Leading  authorities  state  that  the  best  way  to  make  such  a 


floor  acid-proof,  is  to  place  several  layers  of  acid-resisting 
felt,  cemented  together  with  an  acid-resisting  compound, 
between  the  brick  and  the  concrete.  An  approved  method 
of  doing  this  is  to  give  the  concrete  floor  first  a  coating  ol 
hot  compound  and  then  lay  in  this  several  thicknesses  of 
felt,  lapped  so  that  the  joints  of  one  layer  break  joints  with 
the  under  layer.  Where  this  procedure  is  followed  it  is 
unnecessary  to  use  sand  for  embedding  the  brick.  To  pro- 
tect the  walls  and  any  columns  in  the  battery  room,  it  is 
advisable  to  turn  up  the  felt  for  a  foot  or  so  at  the  walls 
or  columns,  putting  three  courses  of  brick  against  the  felt 
and  pouring  the  compound  behind  the  brick  so  as  to  make 
a  tight  joint. 

Two  products  known  as  Hydrex  felt  and  Hydrex  com- 
pound have  recently  been  put  on  the  market,  and  it  is 
stated  as  the  result  of  tests  of  the  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany that  neither  the  felt  nor  the  compound  when  used  in 
the  floors  of  battery  rooms  is  at  all  affected  by  sulphuric- 
acid  solutions.  This  company,  which  is  noted  for  using 
large  factors  of  safety  in  all  of  its  construction,  takes 
extra  precautions  in  acid-proofing  floors,  usually  specifying 
two  distinct  courses  of  several  layers  of  acid-resisting  felt, 
cemented  together  with  acid  compound. 

The  accompanying  illustration  shows  a  section  through 
a  battery-room  floor  in  which  the  above-mentioned  prod- 
ucts are  used.  Hydrex  felt  and  compound  are  made  by 
the  Hydrex  Felt  &  Engineering  Company,  120  Liberty 
Street,   New   York. 


COMPRESSION  RESISTOR  FOR  CONTINUOUS-DUTY 
CONTROLLER. 


For  continuous-duty  controllers  or  rheostats  of  the  graph- 
ite compression  type  dissipating  over  10,000  watts  the  use 
of  many  comparatively  small  inclosed  compression  units 
connected  in  series  becomes  unnecessarily  expensive  and 
complicated,  although  for  some  service  this  construction 
has  advantages  that  make  it  worth  while.  To  do  away 
with  this  construction  when  it  is  not  necessary,  the  Allen- 
Bradley  Company,  of  Milwaukee,  is  using  prepared  graphite 
plates  of  two  different  sizes,  one  6  in.  in  diameter  and 
0.25  in.  thick  and  the  other  4  in.  in  diameter  and  0.1875  in- 
thick.  These  are  suspended  alternately,  face  to  face,  one 
6-in.  plate  and  then  one  4-in.  plate,  by  asbestos  cords  from 
a  horizontal  rod.  This  construction  affords  a  large  area 
over  which  to  dissipate  the  heat  and  also  has  the  advantages 
gained  by  the  horizontal  suspension  described  in  the  Elec- 
trical World  of  Nov.  16  last,  page  1059.  A  resistor  of  this 
type  has  a  dissipating  capacity  of  about  2  kw  per  foot,  and 


Compression    Resistor   for   Continuous-Duty   Controller. 

as  a  range  of  i  to  200  can  be  obtained  between  the  maxi- 
mum and  minimum  resistance  without  perceptible  steps  in 
between,  a  very  satisfactory  rheostat  is  obtained. 

The  accompanying  cut  shows  (with  casing  removed)  a 
continuous-duty  resistance  armature  controller  used  in  con- 
nection with  an  automatic  starter  for  a  40-hp,  220-volt 
motor  driving  a  fan.    The  speed  of  this  fan  can  be  set  at 


1332 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


any  value  from 
or  lowered  with 
zontal  columns 
nected  in  series. 
of  a  pilot-wheel, 
the  right.  The 
metal  drum. 


rest  up  to  the  maximum  speed  and  raised 
absolute  smoothness.  There  are  two  hori- 
of  resistor  plates  in  this  controller  con- 
The  pressure  is  applied  to  both  by  means 
screw  and  equalizing  mechanism  shown  at 
entire  device  is  protected  by  a  perforated 


PORCELAIN-CLAD  REACTORS. 


In  central  stations  distributing  alternating  current  pro- 
tective reactors  in  connection  with  lightning  arresters  on 
overhead  lines  have  been  in  successful  use  for  a  long  time. 
In  recent  years  prominent  engineers  have  advocated  and 
central  stations  have  adopted  protective  reactors,  connected 
to  generators,  transformers,  busbars  and  feeders  in  gen- 
erating stations.  These  reactors  are  placed  at  some  or 
all  the  points  where  they  are  considered  most  necessary, 
as  follows:  (i)  On  the  leads  of  generators  or  trans- 
formers feeding  busbars;  (2)  on  the  busbars  between  dif- 
ferent sections  of  buses,  and  (3)  on  the  feeder  circuits  fed 
from  the  busbars. 

The  protective  reactors  so  located  fulfil  the  main  func- 
tion of  limiting  the  amoimt  of  current  that  may  flow  from 


nators  the  necessity  of  protective  reactance  on  generators 
and  sections  of  busbars  has  become  apparent,  and  the 
larger  central  stations  have  led  the  way  to  the  solution  of 
this  important  problem  by  the  extensive  adoption  of  these 
devices.  Their  experience  has  demonstrated  to  be  un- 
founded the  fears  of  complications  or  disturbances  caused 
by  the  reactors  upon  the  operation  of  switches,  under- 
ground cables,  transmission  lines,  etc. 

Protective  reactors  on  the  station  end  of  cable  feeders 
have  been  recommended  and  are  now  being  introduced  in 
this  country.  Their  effect  upon  the  operation  of  different 
systems  is  illustrated  in  the  series  of  curves  (Figs.  I,  2,  3 
and  4),  which  show  the  energy  output  at  the  time  of  a 
short-circuit  on  a  cable  feeder,  with  or  without  protective 
reactances. 

The  curves  indicate  that  the  feeder  protective  reactors 
keep  the  output  of  energy  into  the  short-circuit  within  safe 
operating  limits,  and  this  action  is  more  effective  the  nearer 
the  short-circuit  is  to  the  station.  As  the  energy  output  of 
the  station  has  the  effect  of  slowing  down  the  generators 
and  thereby  throwing  out  of  step  the  synchronous  appa- 
ratus on  the  system,  it  will  be  seen  that  protective  reactors 
on  feeders  are  nearly  as  important  for  the  continuity  of 
service  as  protective  reactances  on  generators. 

The    commercial    value    placed    upon    the    continuity    of 


400.000 
380.000 
360,000 

\4I 

vL 

A    160,000  K.W.BuB,08neMt«tReaotanoe   a^J 

\     1       \C      50.000  K-W.BuB,  Geoemor  RtaotMcc    .T^ 

3W.00U 

\    !      -D       25,000  K.W.DUB,  Oeneralor  Reactance   a^ 
A          \Ae  15O,iJ00fc.W.Bu3,  Giaicrator  Reactance    :i^ 

320,0C0 

I      1              EiUanul  Rcactiun;o  0(i, Feeder  Reactance  o'.'Jfr 

\     1  iBfi  100,000  ILW.Biis,  Goneratot  Reactance    tlfj  ' 

\  11  ,         Eitenml  Reactauco  Cf^, Feeder  Reactance  O/Jri 

'    \  ll  C/f      50,000  lu'n'.Bua.  Generator  Reactance   :{fj 

280.000 

C  J  \\          Esttinal  Reactance  C^t.Feedcr  Reactance  O-O^; 
--    -\\\l>a      26.000  K.\V.Bu3.  Goneratot  Rcaotanco  3^ 

\  U        Erternal  Reactance  CbI. Feeder  Reactance  a £!«£ 

\    Wa 

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owatts 

1 

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0       0.2     0.4    0.C    0.3     LO    1.2    1,4     1.0    LS   2.0 
DisLuucc  of  Short  Circuit  froai  Station  (Miles) 

Fig.   1 — Powei"  Output   In   Short  Circuit  on 
Cable   from   6600-Volt,   25-Cycle    Bus. 


160.000 


-A 

Mil 

A 

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A     150,(»0K.W.Ba.Oon.  U.«l.  art 
S     100,000  E.W  Boi  U«n.  Bead.  3^ 

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D       25.0C0  a.W.Biu  Qoa.  tteoi:t.  StJ 

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EiUO-D.  R-Bcl,ori.F«d„Kco«.lf[ 
P^^OOO  S.W.Bns   G".  Rttcl.  3ti_   ' 
y      E»uQ.D.  B«wt.G^.Feod«Eoaei.l^ 

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0.2     0.4     0.0    0.8     1.0     1.2     1.4    1.0    1.S  iO 
Distance  of  Short  Circuit  trom  Station  (Miles) 

Fig.   2 — Power  Output   in   Sfiort  Circuit  on 
Cable    from    13,200-Volt,   25-Cycle    Bus. 


100.000 

/ 

-> 

A  0 

jnentor  Reactance 

1 

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B    Generator  Reactance    5  (^ 

20,000  K.W.Bufl 
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Distance  ol'  Sliort  Circuit  from  Station  (Miles) 

Fig.   3 — Power   Output  in   Short  Circuit  on 
Cable    from    6600-Volt,    25-Cycle     Bus. 


any  part  of  the  system  into  a  short-circuit  in  apparatus  or 
connections  inside  the  station  or  close  to  the  station.  By 
so  limiting  the  abnormal  flow  of  current  into  a  short  cir- 
cuit, the  generating  system  as  a  whole  is  relieved  from 
possible  disastrous  effects  of  short-circuits.  Also,  at  the 
time  of  disturbance  on  the  system,  when  the  generating 
frequency  and  voltage  are  momentarily  lowered,  the  re- 
actors will  reduce  the  energy  output  and  thereby  minimize 
the  change  in  frequency  which  often  throws  out  of  step 
the  synchronous  apparatus  at  the  substations  and  the  gen- 
erators of  interconnected  stations.  The  added  reactance 
also  makes  the  circuit  more  reliable  for  synchronous  oper- 
ation. 

PRACTICAL    APPLICATIONS. 

In  all  central  stations  operating  high-speed  turbo-alter- 


service  must  determine  the  outlay  and  the  extent  and  de- 
gree of  protection  connnercially  warranted  in  any  particu- 
lar locality. 

PORCELAIN-CL.\D    REACTOKS. 

The  Metropolitan  Engineering  Company,  of  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  has  developed  a  full  line  of  these  reactors  to  meet 
the  requirements  for  the  smallest  and  largest  generators 
and  circuits,  ranging  from  150-kw  to  20,ooo-kw  sizes.  The 
company  manufactures  three  classes  of  reactors  as  fol- 
lows :  Generator  reactors  for  large  turbo-generators  and 
large  transformers;  busbar  reactors  for  sections  of  bus- 
bars or  tie  buses  between  stations,  and  feeder  reactors 
for  distributing  feeders  or  auxiliary  apparatus  at  stations, 
and  also  for  small  turbo-generators  in  stations  of  small 
size. 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1333 


GENERATOR    REACTOR. 

The  construction  of  these  coils  is  illustrated  in  the  pho- 
tographs. The  coil  consists  of  a  series  of  horizontally 
wound  spirals  supported  and  insulated  by  porcelain  arms 
having  suitable  recesses  for  the  windings  (Fig.  5).  The 
arms  are  assembled  radially  as  vertical  walls  between   a 


100.000 

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90,000 

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us  . 

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entor 
IS 

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1            j           1           IG.OOO  K.W.UuB 

Fig. 


00.10.2    0.4  0.8  L2  1.6  2.0 

Distance  ol;  Short  Circuit  from  Station  (Miles) 
hlwtr\tal  WurU 

ower  Output   in   Short  Circuit  on   Cable  from   13,200-Volt, 
25-Cycle    Bus. 


center  core  of  concrete  or  alberene  stone  (Fig.  6)  and  an 
outer  inclosing  wall  built  up  of  special  porcelain  seg- 
ments (Fig.  7).  These  cellular  compartments  so  formed 
allow  natural  ventilation  for  the  coil.  The  whole  is  sup- 
ported at  the  two  ends  by  heavy  concrete  headers  (Fig.  8) 
securely  held  by  a  nuinber  of  brass  bolts  with  insulating 
mica  tubes  passing  through  the  heads  and  the  wall  of 
special  porcelain  segments  from  top  to  bottom.    Ventilating 


Fig.  S — Porcelain  Arms 
for  20.000  and  7000- kw 
Turbo-Generator  Protec- 
tive Reactors. 


Fig.  6 — Center  Core  for 
Generator  Protective  Re- 
actor. 


holes   are   connected   with    each   vertical   cellular   compart- 
ment of  the  coil. 

The  winding  consists  of  insulated  and  specially  stranded 
cables,  securely  fastened  at  the  ends  to  terminals  passing 
through  porcelain  bushings  cast  into  the  concrete  heads. 
Fig.  9  shows  the  sectional  drawings  of  a  large  generator 
reactance.  Fig.  lo  shows  three  large  coils  in  different 
stages   of   construction.      The   last   coil    to   the   left    shows 


a  layer  of  solid  arms  which  are  added  to  the  top  and  bot- 
tom to  increase  the  insulation  between  the  winding  and 
the  header.  Fig.  ii  is  a  top  view  of  a  coil  under  construc- 
tion, showing  the  way  the  winding  is  laid  in  the  porcelain 
arms,  and  Fig.  14  is  a  photograph  taken  of  a  set  of  three 
280-kva,  6600-voIt,  25-cycle   reactor   coils  in  service.     The 


J 


Fig.  7 — Porcelain  Seg- 
ment for  Inclosing  Wall 
of  Generator  Protective 
Reactor, 


Fig.  8— Concrete  Header  and 
Terminal  Bushing  of  Generator 
Protective    Reactors. 


coils  are  resting  upon  eight  small  concrete  pillars  and  in- 
sulators which  allow  space  for  natural  ventilation.  The 
constants  of  each  coil  are  as  follows : 

Number  of   turns 34 

Reactance   in    ohms 0.0914 

Reactance    in    percentage 4.2 

Equivalent     resistance 0.00204 

Ohmtc     resistance 0.00195 

Calculated  alternating-current  resistance 0.00198 

Current,    amps 1750. 

I-R     losses,     kw 6.05 

Foucault   losses,    kw 0.186 

Total    losses,    kw 6.236 

Temperature  rise  full  load  for  three  hours,  deg.  C 32. 

The  heating  is  very  small  and  considerably  less  than 
the  heating  allowed  for  the  generators.  Each  coil  is  tested 
at  five  times  the  working  potential. 

The  main  standard  parts  are  adaptable  to  a  practically 
unlimited  range  of  sizes  of  reactors.  In  fact,  by  merely 
changing  the  number  and  shape  of  slots  in  the  radial  arms 
all  parts  can  be  used  in  the  construction  of  coils  having 
single   or   double   conductor   windings,    a   different   number 

Alica  Lining 


Mica  Lining  c     t-         a    a  «       . 

Section  A-A  Section  C-C 

L'lcctrieat  World 

Fig.    9 — Section    of    280-kva,    25-Cycle,    1750-amp    Reactor. 

of  turns  in  each  layer  and  a  smaller  or  greater  number  of 
layers.  By  so  varying  the  constants,  the  builder  can  meet 
all  conditions  of  size  of  generators,  sections  of  busbars  and 
voltages  and  frequencies  of  systems. 

BUSBAR    REACTORS. 

These  are  made  of  the  same  design  and  construction  as 
the   generator   reactors   by   proper   change   of   the   number 


1334 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  2S- 


and  shape  of  slots  in  the  radial  arms  and  varying  the  num- 
ber of  layers  in  each  coil  so  as  to  obtain  the  desired  amount 
of  reactance.  It  will  be  seen,  however,  that  with  a  very 
slight  increase  in  the  height  of  the  coil  the  value  of  reac- 
tance can  be  greatly  increased.  For  instance,  the  280-kva, 
25-cycle  reactor  of  Fig.  9  is  59  in.  in  diameter  and  55  in. 


13).     The  coils  are  thoroughly  inclosed  and  self-cooled  up 
to  carrying  capacities  of  several  thousand  kilowatts. 

CHARACTERISTICS    OF    PORCELAIN-CLAD   REACTORS. 

These  developments  were  the  outcome  of  several  years' 
investigation,    experimenting    and    careful    design,    supple- 


E 

^^^^^Cte!>i 

■ 

H 

^^^ 

^8 

iT 

H 

IK/ 

•■ 

H 

^^^K'~^^ 

"-fH 

iniB^^B 

1 

E 

|HH 

A.^ 

^^1 

Fig.   10 — Generator   Protective   Reactors   Under  Construction. 

high,  while  a  504-kva  reactor  would  be  59  in.  in  diameter 
and  673/2  in.  high,  the  height  of  copper  in  each  case  being 
30  in.  and  423/2  in.  respectively. 

FEEDER    REACTORS. 

In  this  case  the  amount  of  current  to  be  handled  is  neces- 
sarily smaller  than  in  the  types  of  reactors  previously  men- 
tioned. The  coils  therefore  are  of  considerably  smaller 
dimensions  both  in  floor  space  and  in  height.  The  general 
outer  construction  (Fig.  12)  is  the  same  as  in  the  larger 
coils,  but   the   pancake   windings    (Fig.    15)    are  made  of 


Fig.   13 — Feeder   Protective   Reactors. 

mented  by  practical  tests  under  the  most  severe  operating 
conditions  of  central  stations.  The  coils  are  porcelain-clad 
and  the  windings  are  imbedded  at  their  supports  in  walls 
of  smooth  porcelain  insulators.  This  fireproof  and  insu- 
lating material  was  selected  for  its  good  electrical  and  me- 
chanical qualities,  which  are  entirely  unaffected  even  by 
high  temperatures.  The  smooth  glazed  surfaces  of  the 
porcelain  also  facilitate  the  inspection  and  cleaning  of  the 
coils.  While  the  selection  of  material  gives  a  large  factor 
of  electrical  safety,  the  almost  monolithic  construction  in- 
sures mechanical  safety. 


Fig.    11 — IVIultlple    Winding    tor    Large 
Reactor. 


12 — 22-kva.    25-Cycle    Feeder    Protec- 
tive   Reactor. 


Fig. 


14 — Three  280-kva,  25-Cycle   Reactors 
In   Service. 


insulated  copper  bands  spirally  wound.  The  cotton  braid 
insulation  is  thoroughly  saturated  with  "petrite"  and  the 
coil  is  firmly  taped  and  saturated  with  "petrite"  and  baked. 
These  coils  are  placed  on  the  porcelain  arms  and  the  suc- 
cessive coils  are  connected  in  series.  The  terminals  are 
brought  out  at  the  heads  through  porcelain  insulators  (Fig. 


The  selection  of  the  type  of  winding,  pancake  windings 
in  series  in  place  of  a  drum  winding,  gives  a  shorter  and 
more  "squatty"  coil,  a  condition  essential  to  reduce  flux 
leakage  and  therefore  obtain  the  greatest  reactance  per 
turn.  This  series  arrangement  of  pancake  windings  also 
produces  the  minimum  potential  gradient  between  any  two 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1335 


points  of  the  coil;  hence  it  gives  the  largest  electrical  fac- 
tor of  safety.  This  feature  is  of  greatest  importance  in 
extra  high-potential  reactors,  as  with  the  increase  in  num- 
ber of  turns  and  the  number  of  layers  of  pancake  coils  the 
total  difference  of  potential  is  gradually  distributed  from 
the  top  to  the  bottom  layer  with  good  insulation  between 


ELECTRIC  ABSORPTION  DYNAMOMETER. 


Fig.    15 — Section    of   22-kva,   25-Cycle    Feeder    Protective    Reactor. 

each  layer,  as  in  a  transformer  with  different  coils  in 
series. 

The  special  stranding  used  to  reduce  the  Foucault  losses 
in  reactors  of  large  amperage  was  the  result  of  a  minute 
analysis  of  the  sources  of  these  losses,  which  were  effectu- 
ally overcome  by  a  simple  process  of  making  the  cable. 
Elimination  of  Foucalt  losses  also  made  it  possible  to  have 
the  windings  insulated  throughout  with  a  special  insulation 
which  protects  the  windings  against  moisture  and  foreign 
objects  accidentally  falling  or  being  magnetically  drawn  into 
the  coil. 

The- reactors  are  compact,  self-supporting  and  porcelain- 
clad.  They  are,  therefore,  easily  installed  and  do  not  re- 
quire bracings  between  sets  of  coils  to  hold  them  firmly  in 
place.  The  conductors  are  insulated  throughout  to  prevent 
short-circuits  from  foreign  objects  falling  or  being  thrown 
into  the  coil.  Each  coil  is  tested  to  ground  at  five  times 
the  working  potential.  The  heating  is  very  small  and 
considerably  less  than  the  heating  of  the  generator  itself, 
which  is  obtained  by  a  special  treatment  and  design  of  the 
stranded  conductors.    When  in  place  they  do  not  offer  diffi- 


While  the  engineering  profession  is  generally  familiar 
with  the  electric  generator,  few  engineers  are  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  its  uses  as  an  electric  absorption  and  trans- 
mission brake.  Its  value  in  the  scientific  testing  of  auto- 
mobile engines  has  created  a  considerable  demand  for  a 
laboratory  instrument  of  this  description,  and,  despite  this 
fact,  there  are  said  to  be  only  two  manufactures  in  the 


Fig.    16 — 900-kva,   60-Cycle,   2000-amp.    Busbar    Protective    Reactor. 

culties  for  their  own  safeguard  and  therefore  are  eminently 
suitable  for  installation  in  existing  stations  where  the  origi- 
nal layout  did  not  provide  for  the  installation  of  reactors 
Otherwise,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  exclusive  space  for 
the  installation  of  larger  coils  and  independently  provide 
for  their  own  safeguard. 


Fig.   1 — Regulating   Resistor  and  Chart. 

country  who  offer  a  complete  equipment.  In  consideration 
of  the  arrangement  being  entirely  electrical,  a  detailed  de- 
scription, relating  to  one  of  the  most  improved  machines, 
may  prove  of  interest. 

The  dynamometer  consists  merely  of  a  direct-current, 
variable-voltage  generator  of  a  special  design,  with  a  num- 
ber of  mechanical  additions,  the  principal  one  being  the 
arrangement  for  swinging  the  frame.  This  frame  is  circu- 
lar in  shape,  of  cast  steel  and  fitted  with  compensating 
poles,  the  armature  being  rather  long  and  consequently 
small  in  diameter  in  order  to  reduce  the  peripheral  speed. 
Use  is  made  of  a  heavy  shunt  winding  energized  by  a 
separate  source  of  energy  at  a  constant  potential,  the  field 


Fig.  2 — Absorption    Dynamometer. 

being  depended  upon  entirely  for  adjustment  of  the  braking 
power. 

Each  bearing  housing  has  a  turned  circular  extension, 
which  supports  the  complete  carcass  through  ball  bearings 
fitted  into  pedestal  standards,  which  in  turn  are  bolted  onto 
the  base  plate,  thus  allowing  the  field  frame  to  swing  in- 


1336 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


\'oL.  60,  No.  25. 


dependently.  The  principal  function  of  this  whole  swing- 
ing arrangement  is  to  measure  the  torque  exerted  between 
the  armature  and  field,  which  is  accomplished  by  attaching 
at  a  given  radius  from  the  shaft  center  an  adjustable  torque 
link  connected  to  a  double  suspension  beam  scale  bolted 
securely  to  the  stationary  dynamometer  base.  The  general 
equation  used  to  ascertain  the  horse-power  exerted  at  the 
shaft  is:  2  7i  7?(F5-^  33,000  =  hp,  R  being  the  radius  of 
pull  from  center  of  shaft,  5  the  speed  in  revolutions  per 
minute,  and  IV  the  weight  in  pounds  indicated  on  scale. 
The  most  convenient  radius  of  pull  is  1.315  ft.  from  the 
center,  which  simplifies  the  equation  to  hp  =  6'r^-=-4000, 
while  the  still  more  convenient  equation  of  hp  =  SW  -h-  iooo 
necessitates  the  use  of  a  pull  radius  of  63  in.  The  torque 
thus  measured  includes  all  losses  concerned  excepting  arma- 
ture windage  and  friction  of  the  ball  bearings,  which  in 
most  cases  may  be  neglected.  The  speed  is  measured  by  a 
Hopkins  electric  tachometer  whose  magneto  is  geared  I  to 
I  from  the  dynamometer  shaft.  The  millivoltmeter  used  in 
connection  with  the  tachometer  is  calibrated  in  two  scales 
ranging  from  0  to  500  and  o  to  2000  r.p.m.  This  is  used 
in  addition  to  a  lo-in.  diameter  centrifugal  tachometer,  two 
instruments  being  preferable  owing  to  the  obvious  impor- 
tance of  securing  the  correct  speed. 

In  order  to  centralize  the  control  of  the  enaine  under  te?t. 


Fig.   3 — Gasoline    IVlotor    Under   Test. 

a  remote-control  switchboard  is  used,  the  principal  switches 
being  of  the  solenoid  clapper  type  actuated  by  snap  switches 
placed  on  a  control  table.  Voltmeters  and  ammeters  are 
used  so  that  the  output  of  the  dynamometer  may  be  kept 
within  reasonable  limits,  these  readings  being  unnecessary 
in  the  final  calculation.  A  feature  is  the  ease  and  flexibility 
of  control  throughout  the  whole  test,  every  adjustment  being 
made  from  the  master-control  station,  which  is  usually 
placed  close  to  the  switchboard  and  within  good  view  of 
the  torque  scales  on  the  dynamometer.  It  contains  three 
remote-control  switches,  a  large,  shunt-field  adjustable  re- 
sistor, together  with  a  torque  and  horse-power  curve.  In 
order  to  crank  over  the  engine  under  test,  the  snap  switch 
on  the  control  panel  marked  "start"  closes  two  single-pole 
solenoid  switches,  thus  connecting  the  dynamometer  directly 
across  the  circuit  as  a  motor,  through  one  step  of  the  arma- 
ture resistor.  This  provides  a  good  cranking  speed  of 
500  r.p.m.,  at  which  point  the  engine  starts  running  under 
its  own  power,  the  throttle  and  spark  levers  being  con- 
veniently attached  to  the  master  control  table.  To  provide 
load  for  the  engine  another  main  solenoid  switch  is  auto- 
matically operated,  which  connects  a  large  load-absorbing 
resistor  directly  across  the  dynamometer  terminals,  through 
a  circuit-breaker,  this  one  action  converting  the  brake  from 
a  motor  to  a  generator.  A  special  shunt-field  regulator  is 
placed  under  the  control  table,  connected  in  series  with 
the  dynamometer  field,  having  eighty  contacts  and  so  pro- 
portioned as  to  control  the  voltage  between  approximately 


15  volts  and  300  volts  at  any  speed  between  500  and  20OC 
r.p.m.  The  load-absorbing  resistor  is  proportioned  so  that 
it  absorbs,  at  the  low  voltage,  approximately  i  hp  with  a 
maximum  equal  to  the  full  capacity  of  the  machine.  In 
series  with  the  eighty-step  field  rheostat  is  placed  an  inter- 
polated resistor  having  a  resistance  equal  to  that  contained 
between  each  of  the  main  resistor  steps  and  divided  between 
thirty  contacts,  so  making  in  all  2400  available  load  points. 
The  handle  controlling  the  large  field  resistor  is  connected 
to  an  automobile  steering  column,  in  turn  keyed  to  the 
contact  lever,  and  consists  of  an  i8-in.  diameter  steering 
wheel  with  internal  spark  and  throttle  control. 

Using  this  arrangement,  the  complete  test  may  be  con- 
ducted by  one  operator,  and  as  the  whole  of  the  control 
mechanism  is  concentrated  at  one  point,  his  undivided  atten- 
tion may  be  given  to  the  engine  under  test.  A  feature  de- 
veloped especially  for  manufacturers  of  carburetors  enables 
one  to  note  the  action  of  this  device  at  the  moment  a  car 
starts  to  descend  the  opposite  slope  of  a  steep  hill  which 
it  has  just  climbed,  many  makers  claiming  that  "flooding" 
takes  place  at  this  point.  In  order  to  produce  these  condi- 
tions, the  dynamometer  when  acting  as  a  brake  to  the  engine 
should  automatically  become  the  prime  mover,  so  producing 
the  same  effect  as  the  rear  wheels  driving  the  engine.  The 
change  from  dynamo  to  motor  is  produced  by  a  voltage 
relay  so  introduced  as  to  disconnect  the  load  resistor  and 
at  the  same  instant  connect  the  power  circuit  to  the  dyna- 
mometer, only,  however,  at  that  moment  when  both  voltages 
are  appro.ximately  equal,  thus  keeping  the  engine  at  the 
same  speed. 

For  measuring  the  power  absorbed  by  reciprocating  ma- 
chinery such  as  pumps,  centrifugal  blowers,  grinding  mills, 
etc.,  the  possibilities  of  the  electric  transmission  dynamom- 
eter are  almost  unlimited.  It  is  an  adjustable  speed  motor 
in  itself,  capable  of  a  very  wide  speed  range  and  of  testing 
machines  having  speeds  from  100  to  3000  r.p.m.  It  auto- 
matically shows  at  a  glance  the  exact  horse-power  e.xerted 
at  the  shaft  of  the  machine  under  test,  no  ammeter  or 
voltmeter  readings  being  necessary;  while  its  speed  may  be 
finely  and  closely  adjusted  (steps  of  less  than  three  revolu- 
tions being  easily  possible)  throughout  the  entire  range, 
merely  by  turning  the  rheostat  handle.  Steel  frame  and 
commutating-pole  construction  enable  a  large  machine  to 
be  made  light  enough  to  be  easily  transportable.  The 
dynamometer  is  made  by  the  Diehl  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Elizabethport,  N.  J. 


REVERSING  ELECTRIC  MOTOR  DRIVE  FOR 
MACHINE  TOOLS. 


The  successful  application  of  reversing  motors  directly 
connected  for  driving  machine  cutting  tools  has  been  an 
objective  in  the  minds  of  manufacturers  for  eight  or  ten 
years,  though  it  was  more  or  less  of  an  experiment  until 
recently.  The  use  of  this  form  of  drive,  even  in  the  first 
stages  of  its  development,  empiiasized  strongly  that  it 
possessed  many  advantages  over  older  methods  of  reversing 
through  clutches  or  belt  shifters.  The  General  Electric 
Company  has  recently  placed  on  the  market  a  reversing 
adjustable-speed  directly  connected  motor  drive  that  has 
been  carefully  tested  and  tried  out  in  service. 

The  motors  for  this  service  are  mounted  in  any  place 
on  the  machine  or  floor  convenient  for  mechanical  connec- 
tion. They  are  of  the  standard  commutating-pole  type 
with  a  speed  range  of  250  to  1000  r.p.m.  at  230  volts,  up  to 
and  including  loo-hp  planer  rating.  These  combinations  of 
speeds  allow  the  motor  in  the  majority  of  cases  to  be  coupled 
directly  to  the  driving  shaft  of  the  machine. 

The  control  consists  of  a  contactor  panel  and  master 
switch.  The  contactor  panel  is  mounted  on  the  side  of  the 
planer   housing,    or   in    any    other   convenient    place.      The 


December  21, 


19 1 2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


1337 


panel  is  made  up  of  eight  contactors,  similar  in  appearance 
to  a  series  contactor,  but  actuated  by  shunt,  series  or  dif- 
ferential coils  in  such  a  manner  as  to  eliminate  entirely 
electrical  disk  interlocks.  An  additional  precaution  is  taken 
by  using  mechanical  interlocks  to  prevent  the  possibility  of 
short-circuits. 

In  order  not  to  brake  dynamically  from  a  higli  speed  in 
one  violent  step,  means  have  been  taken  to  accomplish  this 
in  three  distinct  steps,  braking  slowly  from  high  speeds  and 


Fig.   1 — A   48-in.   Pond    Planer,   Motor   Driven. 

then  quickening  the  brake  action  at  lower  speeds.  This 
could  not  be  accomplished  with  one  step  of  resistance ;  for 
at  the  lower  speeds  the  braking  action  becomes  almost  nil, 
dragging  out  the  process  unnecessarily.  The  entire  braking 
is  completed  in  the  shortest  possible  time  without  undue 
shock.  After  voltage  failure  with  the  master  controller  in 
the  running  position,  the  motor  may  be  started  by  simply 
closing  the  breaker  upon  return  of  voltage  to  the  line. 
Cutting  and  return  speeds  are  entirely  independent  of  each 
other,  so  that  it  is  possible  to  use  the  slowest  cutting  speed 
and  the  highest  return  speed,  or  vice  versa,  in  any  combina- 
tion not  exceeding  four  to  one. 

The  complete  equipment  comprises  the  circuit-breaker, 
motor,  contactor  control,  with  pendent  switch  if  desired, 
master  switch,  two  dogs,  main  operating  lever,  au-xiliary 
operating  lever  and  bearings  for  the  auxiliary  shaft.  On 
account  of  variance  in  location,  bends  and  length  in  indi- 
vidual   machines,    the   au.xiliary   shaft    and   the   connecting 


A  belt-driven  planer  or  other  machine  of  approximately 
lo-hp  rating,  running  at  a  cutting  speed  of  25  ft.  per 
minute,  will  drop  in  speed  2.5  ft.  to  5  ft.,  or  10  to  20  per 
cent,  while  cutting  to  a  value  of  10  hp,  if  this  approach 
the  carrying  capacity  of  the  belt,  owing  to  size,  speed  or 


Fig.   2 — Two   96-in.    Newton   Slotters   with    Reversing    Motors. 

slackness.  If  the  cutting  speed  be  increased  to  50  per  cent 
with  the  same  depth  of  cut  and  feed,  the  speed  will  fall 
while  cutting  to  nearly  what  it  was  originally,  the  power 
input  increasing  only  slightly  or  to  the  limit  of  the  belt 
capacity.  The  maximum  slip  will  be  reached  when  the 
machine  is  stalled,  the  power  input  remaining  approximately 
constant  and  the  loss  being  entirely  due  to  friction  from 
belt  slippage.  This  slippage  loss  is  demonstrated  in  the 
tabulation  of  tests  made  with  a  recording  ammeter  and  given 
herewith.  The  motors  used  were  all  230-volt  machines. 
The  speeds  noted  are  average  feet  per  minute  for  complete 
cutting  and  return  strokes. 

Briefly  summarized  the  salient  operating  features  claimed 
by  the  manufacturer  for  the  reversing,  adjustable-speed 
direct-connected  motor  drive  are :  maximum  cutting  speed 
sustained  uniformly,  affording  greatly  increased  production; 
rapid  acceleration  on  the  return  stroke ;  reverses  remarkably 
close  to  a  line  at  the  end  of  the  cut;  economical  operation 


TESTS    FOR 

SLIPPAGE 

LOSS    MADE    WITH 

RECORDING    AMMETER. 

M 

ACHINE. 

Not  Cutting. 

Cutting. 

Return. 

Type 
Dnve. 

Size 

Motor,  Hp. 

Input, 
Amp. 

Cut,  In. 

Stroke. 

Cut  To- 

Type. 

Size. 

Feet  per 
Minute. 

Time, 
Seconds. 

Feet  per 
Minute. 

Time, 
Seconds. 

Feet  per 
Minute. 

Time, 
Seconds. 

tal  Cy- 
cle, 
Seconds 

Planer. . . . 

..|36in.xl0ft. 

Belt 

10 

33 

fxl-16 

8.5  ft. 

31.9 

16.0 

28.3 

18.0 

72.8 

7.0 

25.0 

Planer., . . 

.  .;  .?6  in.xIOft. 

Reversing 

10 

51 

1x1  16 

8.5  ft. 

53.2 

9.6 

52.7 

9.8 

91.0 

5.6 

15.4 

Planer.. . . 

..    36in.xlO£t. 

Belt 

10 

38.5 

Jxl-16 

8.5  ft. 

33.3 

15.4 

28.0 

18.2 

72.8 

7.0 

25.2 

Planer.... 

.  .'  36  in.xlOft. 

Reversing 

10 

56 

ixl-16 

8.5  ft. 

53.7 

9.5 

53.2 

9.7 

91.0 

5.6 

15.3 

Planer. . . . 

....    72  in.x22  ft. 

Belt 

40 

95 

ixl-16 
1x1-16 

10  ft.  1  in. 

22.9 

26.4 

17.1 

35.4 

59.3 

10.2 

45.6 

Planer 

.  .     72  in.  x22  ft. 

Reversing 

35 

120 

ixl-16 
Ixl-16 

10  ft.  1  in 

34.8 

17.4 

34.4 

17.6 

73.7 

8.2 

25.8 

rods   from   this    shaft   to   the   operating   lever   and    master 
switch  are  not  included. 

As  a  general  proposition,  the  saving  arising  from  apply- 
ing power  direct  to  machine  tools  is  considered  the  amount 
of  friction  load  which  has  thus  been  eliminated.  This  often 
reaches  as  much  as  50  per  cent,  yet  it  is  in  reality  only  a 
part  of  what  may  be  realized,  as  proved  by  numerous  tests. 


and  upkeep;  any  speed  desired  within  a  ratio  of  four  to 
one;  many  speed  combinations,  allowing  the  slowest  cutting 
and  highest  return  speed  to  be  combined;  freedom  from 
shocks,  permitting  quick  reversal  without  jar;  quiet  opera- 
tion; sparkless  commutation,  and  positive  and  safe  control 
of  all  movements  of  the  machine  within  easy  reach  of  the 
operator. 


1338 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


Industrial  and  Financial  News 


REGARDED  collectively,  the  trade  situation  presents 
a  somewhat  unsettled  aspect  at  this  time.  While 
with  the  approach  of  the  end  of  the  year,  with  its 
attendant  period  of  inventor3'-taking,  the  customary  de- 
crease in  the  rate  at  which  new  business  is  being  placed 
is  now  in  evidence,  reports  from  the  trade  centers  still  indi- 
cate that  the  majority  of  business  houses  are  having  nearly 
all  they  can  do  to  fill  the  orders  already  on  their  books. 
In  numerous  instances  manufacturers  have  sufficient  work 
on  hand  to  keep  their  plants  in  operation  at  full  capacity 
for  months  ahead,  and  in  many  such  cases  new  business  is 
not  being  sought  or  taken  when  offered,  as  the  outlook  for 
raw  materials  is  regarded  as  somewhat  uncertain,  both  as 
to  supply  and  as  to  the  prices  at  which  they  may  be  ob- 
tained within  the  ne.xt  few  months.  There  is  also  the  ten- 
dency to  withhold  commitments  until  the  scope  of  revision 
of  the  tariff  schedules  becomes  more  clearly  defined,  so  as 
to  be  in  a  position  to  get  such  advantages  as  may  arise  from 
decided  reductions.  This  feeling,  being  exceedingly  broad- 
cast and  cumulative,  is  exerting  a  powerful  retarding  influ- 
ence upon  the  entire  trade  situation.  Among  other  un- 
favorable or  retarding  influences,  all  of  which  bear  with 
varying  strength  upon  the  trade  outlook,  may  be  mentioned 
the  European  dissensions  with  their  widespread  disturbance 
upon  the  world's  money  markets  and  the  temporary  un- 
settling of  conditions  from  the  investigation  of  the  money 
trust,  regardless  of  any  ultimate  benefit  that  may  arise 
from  this  source.  Among  the  favorable  elements  are  the 
continual  month-to-month  increases  in  bank  clearings,  the 
record  proportions  of  the  holiday  trade  in  all  sections,  the 
large  gains  in  the  gross  earnings  of  the  railroads  and  the 
decrease  in  the  number  of  business  failures  throughout  the 
country.  In  the  face  of  these  cross-currents  and  disturbing 
elements,  the  continual  expansion  in  the  earnings  of  public 
utility  and   allied   companies   is   conspicuous. 


Says  Centralization  of  Public-Utility  Ownership  Restricts 
Purchasing    of    Equipment    to    Favored    Manufacturers. — 

Several  replies  to  our  circular  letters  asking  for  information 
on  electrical  trade  conditions  this  year  were  received  too 
late  to  be  included  in  the  summaries  which  appeared  in  the 
three  previous  issues.  Among  the  belated  responses  are 
several  from  manufacturers  of  motors,  all  of  whom  report 
substantial  increase  in  the  volume  of  their  business  this 
year  over  that  in  191 1.  One  manufacturer  reports  a  15  per 
cent  increase  in  volume,  but  states  that  the  profits  have 
been  reduced  by  price-cutting  on  the  part  of  the  large  com- 
panies in  his  field.  He  believes  that  economic  conditions 
as  a  whole  are  favorable  for  a  good  volume  of  business 
next  year,  but  he  is  not  so  optimistic  as  to  the  percentage 
of  profits  to  be  realized  upon  this  volume  by  the  smaller 
manufacturers.  He  feels  that  the  large  interests  in  the 
field  dominate  the  price  situation  and  place  prices  for 
motors  and  generators  on  a  level  where  the  smaller  manu- 
facturers, with  relatively  limited  resources,  cannot  com- 
pete with  material  advantage.  One  effect,  this  manufac- 
turer says,  of  the  broad  tendency,  so  much  in  evidence  at 
this  time,  to  centralize  the  ownership  of  public  utilities  in 
the  hands  of  small  groups  with  great  financial  strength 
is  to  restrict  buying  of  electrical  materials  for  these  utilities 
from  any  but  a  favored  few  manufacturers.  Along  this 
line,  he  says  in  substance,  so  close  is  the  connection  in 
many  cases  between  the  financial  interests  owning  or 
financing  public  utilities  and  those  interested  in  the  larger 
manufacturing  companies  that  pressure  is  not  infrequently 
brought  to  bear,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  upon  those 
in  charge  of  the  management  of  utilities  to  purchase  the 
necessary  equipment  from  the  manufacturers  with  whom 
the  financial  groups  are  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  affiliated. 
Another  manufacturer  of  motors  reports  a  very  substan- 
tial gain  in  the  volume  of  his  business  this  year  and  notes  a 
growing  appreciation  among  foreign  central-station  oper- 
ators of  the  advantages  accruing  to  them  and  their  cus- 
tomers through  the  use  of  single-phase  motors,  as  evidenced 


by  the  increased  amount  of  this  business  he  is  receiving 
from  abroad.  He  attributes  the  improvement  in  his  field 
this  year  to  a  broader  recognition  on  the  part  of  central- 
station  operators  of  the  merits  of  single-phase  power  dis- 
tribution. He  considers  that  the  greatest  drawback  in  his 
field  is  "the  fact  that  so  many  engineers  in  charge  of  the 
distribution  of  energy  have  either  not  had  suflicient  busi- 
ness experience  to  appreciate  that  the  ideal,  as  far  as  dis- 
tribution is  concerned,  may  be  followed  only  in  so  far  as 
it  is  financially  practicable,  or  that  these  same  parties  are 
not  willing  to  take  a  chance  and  definitely  ascertain  the 
results  to  be  secured  from  single-phase  power  distribution. 
I  may  state,  however,  that  this  condition  is  rapidly 
changing  to  the  financial  advantage  of  the  central-station 
operator  through  the  saving  in  cost  of  getting  ready  to 
serve  and  the  saving  in  transmission  lines  and  their  up- 
keep." 

Mississippi  River  Hydroelectric  Energy  for  Wagner  Com- 
pany.— One  of  the  interesting  applications  which  will  be 
made  of  the  electrical  energy  transmitted  from  the  Keokuk 
Dam  on  the  Mississippi  River  to  St.  Louis  will  be  the 
operation  of  the  large  manufacturing  establishment  of  the 
Wagner  Electric  Manufacturing  Company  which,  as  is  well 
known,  is  located  just  west  of  the  St.  Louis  city  boundary. 
The  terminal  station  for  the  transmission  line  from  Keokuk 
to  St.  Louis  is  placed  within  sight  of  the  Wagner  factory, 
and  the  work  of  building  it  is  now  well  under  way.  The 
Wagner  company  has  entered  into  contract  with  the  Sub- 
urban Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  of  St.  Louis  for  all 
the  energy  necessary  for  the  motor  operation  and  lighting 
of  its  group  of  administration,  service  and  factory  build- 
ings. The  manufacturing  company  has  a  modern  power 
plant  of  its  own,  but  this  will  be  shut  down  except  in  win-  1 
ter,  when  the  boilers  will  be  used  to  supply  steam  for  heat-  " 
ing.  Two  three-phase,  13,000-voIt  lines  will  be  built  be- 
tween the  terminal  station  and  the  power  plant  of  the 
Wagner  company.  One  of  these  will  be  operated  at  25 
cycles  and  the  other  at  60  cycles.  At  the  Wagner  factory 
a  wide  range  of  current  is  needed  for  testing  various 
classes  of  motors  and  other  machinery  and  instruments. 
For  instance,  alternating-current  motors  are  made  for  the 
following  frequencies:  25,  30,  40,  42,  50,  60,  66  2/3,  80,  lOO, 
1-5.  133  and  140  cycles.  Up  to  and  including  the  66  2/3- 
cycle  machines  the  motors  are  built  for  single-phase,  two- 
phase  and  three-phase  operation;  from  80  to  140  cycles  the 
motors  supplied  are  of  the  single-phase  type  only.  In  addi- 
tion the  company  may  be  called  on  to  supply  any  or  all  of 
these  motors  for  no,  220,  440.  550,  1 100  or  2200-volt  opera- 
tion. Thus,  a  supply  of  electricity  having  widely  varying 
characteristics  is  needed  for  testing  purposes  alone.  It  may 
be  remarked  that  the  company  is  very  busy  and  is  building 
an  extensive  addition  to  the  large  general  machine  shop. 
One  of  the  newer  departments  is  devoted  to  the  manufac- 
ture of  electric  starters  for  gasoline  automobiles,  and  it  is 
rushed  with  work  on  these  interesting  little  machines. 

Luminous  Arcs  for  Providence,  R.  I. — Contracts  have 
been  awarded  for  the  1500  6.6-amp.  luminous  arcs  which  are 
to  be  installed  in  the  city  of  Providence,  R.  I.  Of  this 
total,  850  are  to  be  on  ornamental  iron  poles  and  650  are  to 
be  on  ornamental  brackets  on  wooden  poles.  Contracts  for 
the  lamps,  regulators  and  rectifiers  have  been  placed  with 
the  General  Electric  Company  and  the  contract  for  the 
poles  and  brackets  has  been  given  to  the  Lundin  Electric 
&  Machine  Company,  of  Boston.  The  Narragansett  Elec- 
tric Lighting  Company,  which  supplies  electric  service  in 
Providence  and  numerous  other  communities  in  Rhode 
Island,  recently  installed  an  8ooo-kw  Westinghouse-Parsons 
turbine  in  its  station. 

West  Virginia  Utility  Company  Enlarges  Its  Holdings. — 
The  West  Virginia  Water  &  Electric  Company,  which  was 
incorporated  in  November  with  $1,000,000  capital  stock,  has 
purchased  the  Kanawha  Water  &  Light  Company,  operat- 
ing in  Charleston,  W.  Va..  and  formerly  owned  by  the 
United  States  Natural  Gas  Company. 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1339 


Growth  of  Copper  Production. — The  copper  industry  in 
the  United  States  has  shown  a  notable  growth,  according 
to  the  United  States  Geological  Survey.  In  1845,  when 
important  production  of  copper  in  this  country  practically 
began,  the  output  was  but  224,000  lb.,  but  it  increased  100 
per  cent  the  following  year  and  gained  by  rapid  strides 
until  1850,  when  the  production  was  1,456,000  lb.  In  1870 
it  was  28,224,000  lb.;  in  1890  it  was  259,763,092  lb.;  in  1900 
it  had  increased  to  606,117,166  lb.;  in  1909  it  passed  the  bil- 
lion mark,  with  1,092,951,624  lb.,  and  in  1911  it  exceeded  all 
previous  records  with  a  production  of  1,097,232,749  lb.  The 
world's  production  in  1911  was  1,958,201,285  lb.,  of  which 
56  per  cent  was  the  output  of  the  United  States.  It  is  note- 
worthy that,  unlike  areas  producing  most  other  metals,  not 
one  of  the  leading  copper  districts  of  the  United  States, 
several  of  which  have  been  active  producers  for  a  period 
of  thirty  years  or  more,  has  been  worked  out  or  showed  a 
marked  decrease  in  its  ability  to  produce  copper.  Twelve 
districts'situated  in  eight  states  have  each  contributed  over 
100,000,000  lb.  to  the  copper  output  of  the  country,  or  a 
total  of  94  per  cent  of  the  whole  output  of  the  United 
States  since  1845.  Four  of  these  districts  are  in  Arizona, 
two  in  California  and  one  each  in  Montana,  Michigan. 
Nevada,  New  Mexico,  Tennessee  and  Utah.  Two  districts 
stand  out  prominently,  the  Butte  district,  Montana,  whicli 
has  contributed  over  one-third  of  the  output  of  the  country, 
and  the  Lake  Superior  district,  Michigan,  with  a  production 
of  a  little  less  than  one-third  of  the  total  output. 

Montana  Power  Company's  Personnel. — Perrnanent  01- 
ganization  of  the  Montana  Power  Company,  which  was  re- 
cently incorporated  in  Trenton,  N.  J.,  with  a  capitalization 
of  $100,000,000,  in  accordance  with  plans  outlined  in  these 
columns  on  Nov.  23,  has  been  completed  with  the  election 
of  the  following  officers  and  directors:  President,  Charles 
W.  Wetmore;  vice-presidents.  Max  Hebgen,  Charles  Nor- 
man Fay,  Alfred  Jaretzke  and  Charles  R.  McCabe;  secre- 
tary and  treasurer,  P.  E.  Bisland;  assistant  secretary  and 
treasurer,  Henry  F.  Kroyer;  directors,  W.  S.  Brayton,  of 
East  Orange,  N.  J.;  George  F.  Canfield,  Percy  Chubb, 
Charles  Martin  Clark,  Charles  A.  Coffin,  William  E.  Corey, 
Marcus  Daly,  Charles  Norman  Fay,  Alfred  Jaretzke,  Sydney 
Z.  Mitchell,  Charles  H.  Sabin,  Frederick  Strauss  and 
Charles  W.  Wetmore,  all  of  New  York  City;  W.  K.  Wig- 
ham,  London;  Thomas  F.  Cole,  Duluth,  Minn.;  J.  G.  Schmid- 
lapp,  Cincinnati;  Elliott  Wadsworth,  Boston,  and  Max 
Hebgen,  John  G.  Morany,  John  D.  Ryan  and  William  G. 
Thornton,  all  of  Butte,  Mont.  As  previously  stated,  ex- 
tensive hydroelectric  developments  will  be  made  by  the 
company.  More  than  8000  hp  in  electrical  energy  will  be 
furnished  by  the  latter  to  the  Butte,  Anaconda  &  Pacific 
Railway,  and  details  of  a  contract  through  which  some 
20,000  hp  will  be  supplied  to  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  & 
St.  Paul  Railway  are  being  completed.  The  names  of  the 
companies  merged  into  the  Montana  Power  Company  ap- 
peared in  these  columns  Nov.  23. 

Changes  in  Hess-Bright  Manufacturing  Company. — The 
stock  holdings  in  the  Hess-Bright  Manufacturing  Company, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  formerly  owned  by  Mr.  Henry  Hess,  have 
been  purchased  outright  by  the  Deutsche  Waffen  und 
Munitionsfabriken,  of  Berlin,  Germany.  Mr.  Hess  has 
retired  in  order  to  give  his  attention  to  his  various  other 
interests.  The  controlling  interest  in  the  company  lemains 
in  America  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  F.  E.  Bright,  president  and 
former  vice-president  and  treasurer,  who  will  direct  the 
future  policies  of  the  concern.  The  latter  is  making  large 
additions  and  betterments  to  its  German  works  and  is  also 
improving  its  facilities  for  American  distribution. 

Dismiss  Suit  Against  Evansville  (Ind.)  Utility  Merger. — 
The  suit  brought  by  several  citizens  of  Evansville,  Ind.,  a 
few  months  ago  to  prevent  the  merger  of  the  Evansville 
Public  Utilities  Company,  the  Evansville  Gas  &  Electric 
Light  Company  and  the  Evansville  &  Southern  Indiana 
Traction  Company,  on  the  ground  that  the  consolidation 
was  in  violation  of  the  anti-trust  laws  of  Indiana  and  in 
restraint  of  trade,  has  been  dismissed  by  Judge  William 
Blakey  of  the  Superior  Court. 

Nebraska  Telephone  Financing. — The  Nebraska  Tele- 
phone Company,  of  Omaha,  has  applied  to  the  Nebraska 
State  Railroad  Commission  for  authority  to  issue  $1,313,000 
refunding  bonds. 


General  Electric's  Balance  Sheet. — The  general  balance 
sheet  of  the  General  Electric  Company  as  of  Aug.  31,  1912, 
compares  with  that  of  Dec.  31,  191 1.  as  shown  by  the  fol- 
lowing table: 

Assets 

Aug.  31,  1912  Dec.  31,  1911 

Patents,  franchises  anj  good-wiill $93,398  $1 

Factory,    plants,    etc 22,734.857  19,538,925 

Keal     estate.... 749,978  448,095 

Stocks   and   bonds 28,699.257  28,707,843 

Cash     12,640,277  17,898,709 

Notes   and   accounts    receivable 16,317,731  19,098,106 

Due    from   allied    companies 5,182,611  2,891,761 

Work    in     progress 955,397  399,708 

Inventories      29,089,601  26,062,511 

Consignments      367,472 

Total     '.$116,463,108     $1 15,399.131 

Liabilities 

Capital     stock $77,703,200  $77,335,200 

Debentures     2,437,500  2,806,000 

.Accounts     payable 2,177,707  4,305,173 

Accrued     taxes 237.706  207,044 

.Advance   payments   on   contracts 463.520  147,153 

Accrued     interest 10,851  33,014 

Dividends     payable 1,545,654 

Surplus      33,432,624  29,019,892 

Total $116,463,108     $115,399,131 

Since  Aug.  31,  1912,  $10,000,000  more  debenture  bonds  have 
been  issued.  The  report  of  the  company  for  the  eight 
months  ended  with  Aug.  31,  1912,  showed  net  earnings  of 
$7,516,037,  which  is  equal  to  9.7  per  cent  on  the  capital 
stock,  and  with  a  continuation  of  the  eight  months'  rate  net 
profits  for  the  year  1912  should  be  equal  to  14.52  per  cent 
on  the  same  amount  of  stock,  as  against  13.66  per  cent  in 
the  year  191 1.  As  previously  stated,  stockholders  of  the 
company  as  of  Dec.  31  are  to  receive  a  stock  dividend  of 
$30  a  share.  This  will  increase  the  capital  stock  of  the 
company  to  $105,000,000. 


NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET   PRICES. 

,—_ — Dec.  10 ,  r- — Dec.  17 , 

Copper:                                                               Bid.          Asked.  Bid.       Asked. 

Standard,   spot    16.87}4      16.75          

£       s     d  £       s     d 

London,  standard,  spot 75      10     0  74       7     6 

Prime   Lake    17.60  to  17.65  17.50tol7.60 

Electrolytic     17.45  to  17.50  17.40  to  17.50 

Casting    17.25  to  17.35  17.25  to  17.50 

Copper   wire,   base 19.00  19.00 

Lead 4.35  4.35 

Nickel    45.00  45.00 

Sheet   zinc.  Lo.b.   smelter 9.00  9.00 

Spelter,  spot    l.iTVi  7.35 

Tin.  spot 49.05  49.87  J^ 

Aluminum: 

Prompt   delivery    26.00  to  26.50  26.00  to  26.50 

Future    25.75  to  26.25  25.75  to  26.25 

OLD  METALS. 

Heavy  copper  and  wire 16.00  16.00 

Brass',   heavy   10.00  10.00 

Brass.   I'ght' 8.50  8.50 

Lead,  heavy 4.15  4.15 

Zinc,  scrap   6.12^2  6.12>^ 

COPPER   EXPORTS   IN   DECEMBER. 

Total  tons  to Dec.  11,  8,076  Dec.  18,  15,534 


INDUSTRIAL  SECURITIES. 


Security. 


AlHs-Chalmers,  2d  assess. 
paid 

AUis-Chalmers,  pf-,  2d  as- 
sess, paid 

Amalgamated  Copper 

American  Tel.  &  Tel 

Crocker- Wheeler,  c 

Crocker- Wheeler,  pf 

Electric  Storage  Battery ,c. 

General  Electric 

Mackay  Cos.,  c 

Mackay  Cos.,  pf 

Western  Union  Tel 

Westinghouse.  E.  &  M.,  c, 

Westinghouse,  E.  S:  M.,  pf, 

♦Last  price  quoted. 


Capital  Stock 
Listed. 


$17,151,100 

14.034,700 

153,887,900 

334,712,300 

1,700,000 

500,000 

16,074,425 

77,726,700 

41,380.400 

50.000.000 

79,943,400 

31,685,300 

3,998,700 


DIVIDEND. 


Per  Cent.    Period 


1 
2 
IJ 

1} 

'2" 
li 
1 
! 
1 
1} 


Q 

8 

Q 


Q 
0 

8 


Dec.  11.  Dec,  I 


2* 

V4l 

137} 
SS* 

105* 
53} 

179} 
84* 
67i* 
72i 
75J 

121 


li 

6i* 

'If 

140 

85* 
104* 

53 
18IJ 
83 
66| 
73I 
76} 
121* 


1340 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


Personal 

Mr.  L.  A.  Keene  has  been  appointed  new-business  agent 
of  the  Baton  Rouge  (La.)  Electric  Company. 

Mr.  E.  D.  Charles  is  the  superintendent  of  the  municipal 
plant  at  Tecumseh,   Neb.,  succeeding  Mr.   F.   S.  Freemole. 

Mr.  L.  E.  Butler  is  the  successor  of  Mr.  A.  W.  Wagner 
as  manager  of  the  Huron  (S.  D.)  Light  &  Power  Company. 

Mr.  James  T.  Watson  has  succeeded  Mr.  C.  L.  Wheeler 
as  manager  of  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  at  P  tlaski, 
Tenn. 

Mr.  George  R.  Brown  has  been  appointed  manager  of  the 
Missoula  (Mont.)  Light  &  Water  Company  in  place  of  Mr. 
S.  R.  Inch,  resigned. 

Mr.  Henry  L.  Doherty  was  elected  treasurer  of  the  New 
York  Academy  of  Sciences  at  the  annual  meeting  held  in 
New  York  on  Dec.  16. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Mattimore  has  been  appointed  superintendent 
of  the  Consumers'  Power  Company,  White  Bear  Lake, 
Minn.,  succeeding  Mr.  H.  B.  Meacham. 

Mr.  W.  A.  Croxton,  who  has  been  manager  of  the  plant 
of  the  Texas  Light  &  Power  Company  at  Gainesville,  Tex., 
has  resigned  to  engage  in  business  at  Elgin,  III. 

Mr.  Emerson  McMillin,  the  well-known  public-utility 
manager,  was  re-elected  president  of  the  New  York  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences  at  its  annual  meeting  this  week. 

Mr.  C.  C.  Henderson,  president  of  the  Henderson  Light  & 
Power  Company.  Greenville,  Ala.,  was  recently  elected 
president  of  the  .\labama  Light  &  Traction  Association. 

Mr.  Frank  M.  Tait,  president  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  is  scheduled  to  speak  at  a  meeting  of 
the  New  York  Companies'  Section  to  be  held  Jan.  20,  1913. 

Mr.  P.  M.  Richards  has  been  appointed  superintendent  of 
the  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  at 
Metropolis.  III.    Mr.  G.  A.  Shafer  was  the  former  incumbent. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Lieb,  Jr.,  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company, 
•will  lecture  on  "Rates"  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  New- 
York  Companies'  Section,  N.  E.  L.  A.,  to  be  held  Feb. 
59,  1913- 

Mr.  A.  W.  Lindgren  has  resigned  his  position  as  manager 
and  superintendent  of  the  Huntington  Beach  (Cal.)  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company.  His  successor  is  Mr.  H.  L. 
Heffner. 

Mr.  W.  E.  McFadden,  formerly  connected  with  the  Kansas 
■district  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  has  been  ap- 
pointed manager  of  the  Salina  (Kan.)  Light,  Power  &  Gas 
Company. 

Mr.  Samuel  Insull,  president  of  the  Commonwealth  Edi- 
son Compan}-  of  Chicago,  111.,  together  with  Mrs.  Insull 
and  their  son,  sailed  on  the  S.S.  Mauretania  for  England 
on  Dec.  17. 

Mr.  George  F.  Brockman,  formerly  connected  with  the 
Public  Service  Company  of  Northern  Illinois,  has  been  ap- 
pointed superintendent  of  the  municipal  lighting  plant  at 
Herington,  Kan. 

Mr.  F.  O.  Dolson,  formerly  connected  with  the  engineer- 
ing department  of  the  Pelton  Water  Wheel  Company,  has 
entered  the  employ  of  the  Pacific  Power  &  Light  Company 
of  Portland,  Ore. 

Mr.  H.  G.  Overbeck  has  been  appointed  secretary,  treas- 
urer and  general  manager  of  the  Glenwood  Light  &  Water 
Company,  Glenwood  Springs,  Col.,  in  place  of  the  late 
Mr.  F.  H.  A.  Lyle. 

Mr.  Nelson  B.  Hazeltine  has  been  appointed  Philadelphia 
manager  of  the  .\dams-Bagnall  Electric  Company  as  suc- 
cessor to  Mr.  R.  C.  Campbell,  who  went  to  London  for  the 
General   Motors    Company. 

Mr.  R.  S.  Johnston,  who  succeeded  Mr.  W.  C.  Duncan  as 
new-business  manager  at  Lawrence,  Kan.,  has  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  commercial  department  of  the  Parsons  (Kan.) 
Railway  &  Light  Company. 

Mr.  Irving  P.  Lord,  president  and  general  manager  of  the 
Waupaca  (Wis.)  Electric  Light  &  Railway  Company,  has 
become  practically  the  sole  owner  of  the  property,  having 
bought  out  the  other  shareholders. 


Mr.  W.  R.  Molinard,  general  manager  of  the  Oklahoma 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Oklahoma  City,  Okla.,  addressed 
the  local  Chamber  of  Commerce  earlier  in  the  month  on 
the   subject   of   "Industrial   Suggestions." 

Mr.  L.  J.  Geer,  who  for  the  past  thirteen  years  has  been 
connected  with  the  Texas  Light  &  Power  Company  at 
Gainesville,  Tex.,  as  chief  engineer  and  superintendent,  has 
been  promoted  to  the  position  of  manager. 

Mr.  Harry  D.  Falls,  for  many  years  secretary,  treasurer 
and  manager  of  the  Brazil  (Ind.)  Electric  Company,  has 
been  appointed  superintendent  of  the  Terre  Haute,  Indian- 
apolis  &  Eastern   Traction   Company  at  Brazil. 

Mr.  B.  E.  Blanchard,  associate  editor  of  Popular  Electricity, 
addressed  the  Electric  Club  of  Chicago  on  Dec.  12  on  some 
of  the  marvels  of  latter-daj^  electricity.  The  talk  was  illus- 
trated and  was  an  interesting  popular  exposition. 

Prof.  John  A.  Hunter  of  the  mechanical-engineering  de- 
partment. University  of  Colorado,  Boulder,  Col.,  spoke 
before  the  Dec.  12  meeting  of  the  Colorado  Electric  Club, 
Denver,  on  the  subject  of  "Engineering  Efficiency." 

Mr.  Stuart  Wilder  has  been  appointed  electrical  engineer 
for  the  Westchester  (N.  Y.)  Lighting  Company,  succeeding 
to  the  position  made  vacant  by  the  recent  death  of  Mr.  J. 
T.  Cowling.     Mr.  Wilder  was  Mr.  Cowling's  assistant. 

Mr.  Arthur  Williams,  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company, 
has  been  appointed  by  Mayor  Gaynor  of  New  York  a  mem- 
ber of  the  committee  of  one  hundred  which  is  to  arrange 
next  fall  for  the  celebration  of  the  300th  anniversary  of  the 
settlement  of  Manhattan  Island. 

Mr.  Charles  Piez,  president  of  the  Link  Belt  Company, 
of  Chicago,  was  elected  president  of  the  Illinois  Manufac- 
turers' Association  at  the  recent  annual  meeting.  At  the 
same  time  Mr.  E.  N.  Hurley,  of  the  Hurley  Machine  Com- 
pany, was  chosen  as  second  vice-president. 

Mr.  J.  D.  Murphy,  formerly  contract  agent  and  superin- 
tendent of  the  Hoisington  (Kan.)  Electric  &  Ice  Company, 
has  been  made  manager  of  that  company  and  also  of  the 
Great  Bend  Water  &  Electric  Company.  Mr.  Murphy  will 
make  his  headquarters  at  Great  Bend,  Kan. 

Mr.  Edwin  Gruhl,  New  York,  assistant  to  the  president  of      , 
the  North  American  Company,  has  been  appointed  a  mem-      I 
ber  of  the  rate-research  committee  of  the  National  Electric       ■ 
Light  Association.     Mr.  Gruhl  was  formerly  chief  statisti- 
cian for  the  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission. 

Mr.  C.  N.  Garland,  late  of  the  R.  D.  Wood  Company  of 
Philadelphia  and  formerly  of  the  faculty  of  the  University 
of  Illinois,  has  joined  the  firm  of  Woodmansee,  Davidson 
&  Sessions,  consulting  engineers  of  Chicago,  111.  Mr.  Gar- 
land has  specialized  in   combustion  engineering. 

Mr.  S.  R.  Inch,  for  several  years  manager  of  the  electric 
light  and  street  railway  properties  at  Missoula,  Mont.,  has 
resigned  his  position,  to  take  effect  Jan.  i,  1913,  in  order 
to  accept  the  post  of  general  superintendent  of  the  Utah 
Power   &  Light   Company  at  Salt   Lake   City,  Utah. 

Mr.  C.  F.  Richardson,  superintendent  at  Brazil,  Ind.,  of      . 
the   Terre   Haute,   Indianapolis    &   Eastern   Traction   Com- 
pany,  has   severed   his   connection   with   that   company   and 
accepted  the  position  of  general  manager  of  the   Southern 
Illinois  Railwaj'  &  Power  Company  at  Harrisburg,  111. 

Mr.  George  D.  Rosenthal,  of  St.  Louis,  district  manager 
for  the  General  Electric  Company,  has  been  suggested  as  a 
candidate  for  Mayor  of  St.  Louis  by  the  Mirror  of  that  city. 
This  paper  says  that  "Mr.  Rosenthal  is  being  favorably  con- 
sidered all  over  town  as  a  man  who  would  'get  something 
done.'  " 

Mr.  Charles  F.  Prichard,  vice-president  of  the  Lynn  Gas 
&  Electric  Company,  Lynn,  Mass.,  recently  delivered  a  lec- 
ture on  "Gas:  Its  Manufacture,  Uses  and  Possibilities"  at  a 
meeting  of  the  members  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  in  that  city.  The  lecture  was  given  at 
Burdett  Hall. 

Mr.  Harvey  C.  Garber,  for  many  years  an  official  of  the 
Central  Union  Telephone  Company,  one  of  the  Middle 
West  subsidiaries  of  the  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph 
Companj',  has  resigned  to  become  vice-president  of  the 
Ralston  Steel  Car  Company,  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  with  head- 
quarters in   New  York  City. 


December  21,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1341 


Mr.  W.  G.  Chace,  of  Messrs.  Smith,  Kerry  &  Chace, 
Toronto,  Ont.,  has  succeeded  the  late  Mr.  C.  B.  Smith  as 
president  of  the  Crane  Falls  Power  &  Irrigation  Company, 
Ltd.,  which  is  building  a  12,000-hp  hydroelectric  station  and 
a  7000-hp  substation  near  Boise,  Idaho,  to.  supply  electrical 
energy  for  irrigation  purposes. 

Mr.  F.  N.  Boyer,  assistant  district  manager  of  the  General 
Electric  Company  in  Chicago  and  one  of  the  most  widely 
known  of  the  electrical  men  of  the  West,  left  on  Dec.  17 
for  an  extended  vacation  in  southern  California.  Mr.  Boyer 
has  not  been  in  the  best  of  health  of  late,  and  his  trip 
is  partly  for  rest  and  recuperation. 

Mr.  Fred  J.  Neagle,  formerly  with  the  Blackstone  Val- 
ley Gas  &  Electric  Company  of  Pawtucket,  R.  I.,  was  pre- 
sented with  a  gold  watch  by  his  office  associates  recently 
when  he  resigned  from  the  company  to  accept  the  position  of 
assistant  treasurer  of  the  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company 
of  Abington   &  Rockland,  North  Abington,  Mass. 

Mr.  Samuel  E.  Edwards  has  resigned  from  the  Indiana 
Lighting  Company,  of  Lafayette,  Ind.,  and  purchased  a 
third  interest  in  the  Wolever  Electric  Company,  electrical 
contractor,  Lafayette.  Mr.  Edwards  was  in  the  employ  of 
the  lighting  company  for  eighteen  years,  and  at  the  time 
of  his  resignation  was  manager  of  all  outside  work  of  the 
company. 

Mr.  R.  E.  Brown,  manager  of  the  Consumers'  Electric 
Company  at  Mankato,  Minn.,  was  elected  chairman  of  the 
reception  committee  which  will  entertain  Governor  Eber- 
hart  on  a  forthcoming  visit.  Mr.  Brown  several  years  ago 
served  the  Minnesota  Electrical  Association  as  acting  presi- 
dent, and  he  was  recently  chosen  president  of  the  Mankato 
Automobile  Club. 

Mr.  Arthur  Tuttle,  who  was  chief  accountant  for  the 
United  Water,  Light  &  Traction  Company,  of  Somerset, 
Ky.,  has  been  appointed  auditor  of  the  Kentucky  Utilities 
,  Company.  The  latter  corporation  was  recently  organized 
with  $5,000,000  capital  and  has  acquired  electric-lighting 
properties  at  Somerset,  Versailles,  Elizabethtown  and  other 
points.     Its  Kentucky  headquarters  are  at  Lexington. 

Mr.  Edward  B.  Ellicott,  who  has  been  electrical  engineer 
for  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago  for  several  years,  was 
re-elected  to  that  position  on  Dec.  13.  At  the  same  time 
Mr.  Lyman  E.  Cooley  was  elected  as  consulting  engineer 
in  place  of  Mr.  Isham  Randolph,  resigned.  The  recent  elec- 
tion changed  the  political  complexion  of  the  board  of  trus- 
tees, but  Mr.  Ellicott  was  retained  without  reference  to 
politics. 

Mr.  George  B.  Foster,  of  the  president's  office  of  the 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  Chicago,  has  been  be- 
reaved by  the  recent  death  of  his  mother,  Mrs.  Mary  C. 
Foster,  who  died  this  month  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight  years. 
Mrs.  Foster  was  a  native  of  Chicago  and  had  lived  in  that 
city  all  her  life.  Her  father,  Cyrenius  Beers,  was  one  of 
the  first  settlers  in  Chicago  and  a  member  of  the  first  City 
Council. 

Mr.  John  Hunter,  chief  engineer  of  power  plants  of  the 
Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  of  St.  Louis,  has 
been  elected  president  of  the  Engineers'  Club  of  St.  Louis. 
This  organization,  which  is  one  of  the  oldest  engineering 
clubs  in  the  country,  has  350  members.  With  it  are  affili- 
ated the  local  members  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers,  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers, 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and  the 
American  Society  of  Engineering  Contractors. 

Mr.  E.  B.  Greene,  general  manager  of  the  Penn  Central 
Light  &  Power  Company,  .'Kltoona,  Pa.,  recently  celebrated 
the  twenty-ninth  anniversary  of  his  entrance  into  the  elec- 
trical business.  Mr.  Greene  began  as  an  employee  of  the 
Bellefonte  (Pa.)  Electric  Light  Company,  and  for  a  great 
many  years  was  in  charge  of  the  Edison  Electric  Illumi- 
nating Company  of  Altoona  prior  to  its  absorption  by  the 
present  company.  He  succeeded  Mr.  E.  T.  Penrose  as  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  Penn  Central  Light .  &  Power  Com- 
pany early  this  year. 

Mr.  E.  D.  Smith,  until  recently  chief  engineer  of  the 
Board  of  Education  of  St.  Louis  and  formerly  superinten- 
dent of  power  stations  for  the  United  Railways  Company 
of  St.  Louis,  is  now  superintendent  of  the  Mississippi  River 
Power  Distributing  Company,  which  is  the  local  company 
distributing  in  St.  Louis  and  its  environs  electrical  energy 


received  from  the  hydroelectric  development  on  the  Missis- 
sippi River  at  Keokuk,  la.  Mr.  Smith  is  a  graduate  of  the 
electrical  engineering  department  of  the  University  o) 
Missouri,  class  of  1901. 

Mr.  Ferdinand  Charles  Schwedtman,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
who  on  Dec.  17  with  eight  others  was  appointed  on  the 
recently  created  United  States  Commission  on  Industrial 
Relations,  was  born  in  Osnabriick,  Germany,  May  13,  1867 
He  was  educated  at  Hanover,  Germany,  and  Amsterdam. 
Holland,  and  at  Cooper  Union,  New  York  City,  having  comt 
to  the  United  States  in  i88i.  He  was  chief  engineer  of  the 
Missouri  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  from  1889  tc 
1899  and  was  founder  and  general  superintendent  of  tht 
Wagner  Electric  Manufacturing  Company  of  St.  Louis 
from  i8gi  to  1904.  He  is  also  president  of  the  Louisiana 
Contracting  Company,  and  has  a  number  of  electrical  anc 
mechanical  inventions  to  his  credit.  Mr.  Schwedtman  it 
now  president  of  the  Citizens'  Industrial  Association  anCj 
also  vice-president  of  the  National  Association  of  Manufac- 
turers. 

Mr.  William  Brown  Dickson,  who  was  elected  president 
of  the  International  Steam  Pump  Company  recently,  was 
born  in  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  Nov.  6,  1866.  In  1881  he  securec 
employment  in  the  Homestead  Steel  Works  and  after  pass- 
ing several  years  at  manual  labor  in  the  mills  was  trans 
ferred  to  the  office,  acting  at  first  in  a  clerical  capacity  and 
subsequently  receiving  rapid  promotion  through  varioui 
grades  up  to  that  of  assistant  to  the  president  and  managing 
director  of  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company.  Mr.  Dicksor 
became  a  junior  partner  in  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company. 
Ltd.,  in  1899  and  on  the  formation  of  the  United  States 
Steel  Corporation  in  1901  accompanied  Mr.  C.  M.  Schwab 
to  New  York  as  assistant  to  the  president  of  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation.  Later  he  was  elected  a  vice-pres- 
ident of  that  corporation,  which  position  he  held  until  May 
I,  1911,  when  he  retired  from  active  business.  Mr.  Dickson 
succeeds  the  late  Benjamin  Guggenheim,  who  went  down 
with  the  ill-fated  Titanic. 


Obituary 


Mr.  Herman  Samuels,  member  of  the  Baltimore  con- 
tracting firm  of  the  Kingsbury-Samuels  Electric  Company, 
died  suddenly  on  Friday,  Dec.  13.  He  was  prominent  in 
fraternal  circles  and  took  much  interest  in  the  Baltimore 
Electrical  Contractors'  Association.  He  was  in  his  fifty- 
fifth  year. 

Mr.  Alfred  P.  Boiler,  president  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Consulting  Engineers  and  a  former  vice-president  of  the 
American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  died  at  his  home  in 
East  Orange,  N.  J.,  on  Dec.  9.  Mr.  Boiler  was  formerly 
chief  engineer  of  the  Manhattan  Elevated  Railway  and  con- 
sulting engineer  of  the  Department  of  Public  Parks  of  New 
York    City. 

Mr.  Henry  F.  Coggshall,  for  many  years  manager  of  the 
Fitchburg  (Mass.)  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company,  died  at 
his  home  on  Dec.  14  after  a  short  illness.  Mr.  Coggshall 
was  eighty-eight  years  of  age  and  was  associated  with  the 
local  gas  company  from  its  foundation  in  1853,  his  manager- 
ship, which  later  came  to  include  the  electric  service  of 
the  organization,  extending  from  that  year  to  1909,  when 
the  property  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Tenney  interests 
of  Boston. 

Mr.  Paul  H.  Bate,  one  of  the  best  known  of  the  solicitors 
of  the  contract  department  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison 
Company,  died  at  his  home  in  Western  Springs,  III.,  near 
Chicago,  recently.  Mr.  Bate  was  a  patent  lawyer  by  pro- 
fession and  his  early  life  was  spent  in  New  York,  where  he 
practised  for  a  number  of  years.  He  went  to  the  Chicago 
Edison  Company,  as  it  was  then  called,  in  1900  and  since 
1904  had  been  connected  with  the  isolated-plant  division  of 
the  contract  department  of  that  company.  Mr.  Bate 
achieved  something  of  a  national  reputation  among  electri- 
cal men  in  1908,  when  he  was  awarded  the  first  prize  of 
$500  by  the  Co-operative  Electrical  Development  Associa- 
tion, working  in  conjunction  with  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  for  his  contribution  offered,  in  a  compe- 
tition, as  the  basis  of  the  power  section  of  the  "Solicitor's 
Handbook." 


•342 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  23. 


Construction 


CULLMAN,  ALA. — The  city  expects  to  purchase  within  the  next  six 
months  a  carload  of  30-ft.  and  35-ft.  poles  and  some  lightning  arresters 
and  also  expects  to  renew  contract  for  incandescent  lamps  within  the 
next  four  months.  B.  Kiel  is  superintendent  of  the  municipal  electric- 
light  and  water  plant. 

COTTON  PLANT,  ARK.— The  Cotton  Plant  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  contem- 
plates within  the  next  12  months  the  erection  of  60  poles  and  5000  ft.  of 
line  wire,  and  the  purchase  of  one  lOO-hp  Corliss  engine  within  the  next 
10  months;  also  within  the  next  two  months  it  expects  to  purchase  one 
boiler-feed  pump  for  125-hp  boiler.  Within  the  next  12  months  the  com- 
pany expects  to  purchase  50  meters,  six  lightning  arresters,  5000  ft.  No.  8 
insulated  wire  and  four  transformers.     J.    L.   Diamond  is  superintendent. 

SULPHUR  SPRINGS,  ARK.— The  plant  of  the  Sulphur  Springs  EI. 
Lt.  Co.  was  recenily  destroyed  by  fire,  causing  a  loss  of  about  $12,000. 
The  city  is  at  present  without  electrical  service.  J.  H.  Bexten,  of  Omaha, 
N^eb.,     is  president  of  the  company. 

BURBANK,  CAL.— The  -Pacific  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  planning  to  erect  a 
transmission  and  distribution  line  to  Bur  bank,  a  distance  of  about  10 
miles.     The  proposed  line  will  carry   10,000  volts. 

DOWNIEVILLE.  CAL.— C.  J.  York,  proprietor  of  the  Uownieville 
foundry,  has  purchased  the  interests  of  William  Dubuque  and  M.  A. 
Costa  in  the  Downieville  EI.  Lt.  Co.  and  is  now  sole  owner  of  the  prop- 
erty. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— The  Pacific  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Corpn.  has  purchased 
the  electric  distributing  system  of  the  Eagle  Rock  Water  Co. 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAL.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  at  the  oflfice  of 
the  United  States  Reclamation  Service,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  until  Jan.  22, 
1913,  for  furnishing  hydraulic  and  electrical  apparatus  for  St.  Mary's 
storage  unit.  Milk  River  project,  Montana,  For  particulars  address 
United  States  Reclamation  Service,  605  Federal  Building,  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.,  or  Washington,  D.  C.     A.  P.  Davis  is  acting  director. 

NORDHOFF,  CAL. — The  State  Railroad  Commission  has  authorized 
the  Ojai  Pwr.  Co.  to  issue  $25,000  in  capital  stock,  the  proceeds  to  be 
used  for  the  construction  of  an  electric-light  plant  in  NordhofT.  The 
company  was  also  granted  a  certificate  of  public  convenience  and  neces- 
sity to  exercise  its  franchise  rights. 

OCEANSIDE,  CAL.— The  Oceanside  El.  &  Gas  Co.  contemplates  the 
purchase  of  one  lOQhp  horizontal  tubular  boiler,  140-lb.  pressure,  within 
the  next  six  months;  also  expects  to  purchase  within  two  months  switch- 
board equipment  for  150-kw,  11,000-volt  transmission  line  and  material  for 
a  10-mile,  11,000-volt  transmission  line  for  irrigating  plants  of  5  hp  to 
25  hp,  including  motors,  meters,  transformers,  three-phase,  60-cycle. 
Eugene  V.  Griffes  is  manager. 

RED  BLUFF,  CAL.— The  Tehama  County  Pwr.  &  Transportation  Co. 
has  sold  all  its  water  rights  on  Mill  Creek  in  Tehama  County  to  the 
Northern    California    Pwr.    Co.,    of    San    Francisco. 

RIVERSIDE,  CAL.— The  County  Supervisors  have  granted  the  Pacific 
El.  Ry.  Co.  a  franchise  to  construct  a  line  on  Magnolia  Avenue  from 
the  city  limits  westward  to  Corona. 

STOCKTON,  CAL.— The  Oro  El.  Corpn.,  of  Oroville,  has  applied  to 
the  Board  of  Supervisers  of  San  Joaquin  County  for  a  blanket  franchise 
lor  a  pole  line  in  this  county.  This  franchise  is  sought  to  enable  the 
Oro  company  to  supply  electricity  to  farmers  in  various  parts  of  the 
county.     Bids  will  be  received  for  the  franchise  until  Jan.  7. 

LIMON,  COL.— The  Lincoln  County  Ice  &  El.  Co.,  recently  incorpo- 
rated, will  begin  work  immediately  on  the  construction  of  a  plant  in 
Limon.  The  first  installation  will  consist  of  two  100-kw  electric  gen- 
erating units  and  a  10-ton  ice  plant.  The  company  contemplates  extend- 
mg  its  service  to  several  small  cities  in  eastern  Colorado,  where  fran- 
chises have  been  promised.  The  general  offices  of  the  company  are 
located  at  509  Colorado  Building,  Denver.  Albert  C.  Jahl  is  general 
manager. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
chief  signal  officer,  W^ar  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Dec.  28 
for  equipment  for  one  5-kw  radio  station  in  accordance  with  Signal 
Corps  specification  No.  566,  under  Proposal  No.  630.  Captain  W.  L. 
Clarke  is  disbursing  officer. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  Bureau  of  Sup- 
plies and  Accounts,  Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Jan.  7, 
1913,  for  furnishing  at  the  navy  yard,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  the  following 
supplies  as  per  Schedule  5065:  Miscellaneous  composition  pipe  fittings 
and  miscellaneous  copper  seamless  drawn  tubing;  Schedule  5060 — 20  long- 
burning  arc  lamps;  255  steel  reflector  fixtures,  etc.  Applications  for 
proposals  should  give  the  schedule  desired  by  number.  T.  J.  Cowie  is 
paymaster  general,  U.   S.   N. 

ORLANDO,  FLA. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $10,000  have  been  voted 
to  purchase  the  electric  equipment  from  the  Orlando  Wtr,  &  Lt.  Co. 
J.  Lloyd  Minnis  will  have  charge  of  the  installation  of  the  new  system. 

DOERUN,  GA.— J.  B.  McCrary  &  Co.,  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  have  purchased 
a  $12,000  bond  issue  recently  voted  by  the  city  of  Doerun  for  improve- 
ments to  lighting  and  power  system  here. 

ELBERTOX,  GA.— R.  C.  Turner,  city  electrician  of  Atlanta.  Ga.. 
v.ho    was   engaged   by   the   City   Council   to   make   an   investigation    of    the 


municipal    electric-light    plant,    has    recommended    the    erection    on    a    site 
on   the   railroad   of   a   steam    generating    plant    which   can   be   operated   in- 
dependently of  the  water-power  plant.     The  cost  of  the  plant  is  estimated 
at   about  $12,000. 

SYLVESTER,  GA. — The  municipal  electric-light  plant  has  been  en- 
larged recently,  at  a  cost  of  about  $16,836.  O.  E.  Green  is  superin- 
tendent. 

ASHTON,  IDAHO.— Former  United  States  Senator  W.  A.  Clark,  of 
Montana,  has  purchased  a  power  site  on  the  north  fork  of  the  Snake 
River  near  Ash  ton.  It  is  understood  that  a  hydroelectric  power  plant 
will  be  built  and  transmission  lines  erected  into  Montana  and  Idaho  at 
a  cost  of  about  $750,000, 

BOISE,  IDAHO.— The  Southern  Idaho  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  Idaho 
Trac.  Co.  are  planning  to  make  extensive  improvements  to  their  systems 
in   this  city. 

CALDWELL,  IDAHO.— The  Mountain  Slates  Tel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  is 
planning  to  reconstruct  its  toll  and  service  lines  in  the  city  of  Caldwell 
and  vicinity.  Several  extensions  into  the  country  are  planned.  The 
cost   of  the  work  is  estimated  at  about  $75,000. 

POCATELLO,  IDAHO.— Application  has  been  made  to  the  City  Coun- 
cil by  J.  D.  Browning,  of  Pocatello.  and  L.  R.  Martineau,  of  Salt  Lake 
City,  Utah,  for  two  franchises  in  Pocatello.  Both  are  for  a  term  of  50 
years.  The  first  is  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-lighting  system  and 
the  other  for  a  street  railway. 

CHICAGO,  ILL. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  Ray  Palmer, 
city  electrician,  Room  60S,  City  Hall,  Chicago,  until  Dec.  27,  for  furnish* 
ing  the  city  of  Chicago  with  lamps  on  certain  parts  of  streets  in  different 
sections  of  the  city  for  one  year  from  Jan.  1,  1913,  as  per  specifications 
on  file  in  the  office  of  the  city  electrician.  Proposals  must  be  made  out 
on  blanks  furnished  by  said  official. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  Ray  Palmer, 
city  electrician,  608  City  Hall,  Chicago,  111.,  until  Dec.  27,  for  furnishing 
and  delivering  to  the  Department  of  Electricity,  city  of  Chicago,  sundry 
material  and  supplies  for  the  year  1913,  strictly  in  accordance  with  speci- 
fications on  file  and  samples  which  can  be  seen  in  the  office  of  said 
official,  and  in  approximately  the  following  quantities:  875  doz.  outer 
globes  for  arc  lamps;  1300  doz.  inner  globes,  heat  resisting,  for  arc 
lamps;  600  doz.  16-cp  incandescent  lamps;  16,000  100-watt  series  tungsten 
lamps;  50  doz.  40-watt  tungsten  lamps  for  three-wire  circuits;  100,000 
incandescent  mantles;  150  gross  mica  chimneys;  700  boxes  glass  "sides" 
(44  lights  in  a  box);  400  boxes  glass  '"tops"  (64  lights  in  a  box);  50 
boxes  glass  "doors'*  (54  lights  in  a  box).  Proposals  must  be  made  upon 
blanks  furnished  by  the  city  electrician. 

CHICAGO,  ILL. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  Ray  Palmer, 
city  electrician,  608  City  Hall,  Chicago,  111.,  until  Dec.  27,  for  furnishing 
the  Department  of  Electricity,  city  of  Chicago,  111.,  with  arc-light  carbons 
for  electric  use,  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  specifications  on  file  in 
the  office  of  said  official  and  in  approximately  the  following  quantities: 
480.000  14-in.  by  H-in.  copper-coated  carbons;  100.000  12-in.  hv  '4-in. 
copper-coated  carbons;  140.000  12-in.  by  0.510-in.  to  0.520-in.  solid  high- 
grade  carbons;  140,000  12-in.  by  0.510-in.  to  0.520-in.  cored  high-grade  car- 
bons; 40,000  12-in.  by  0.510-in.  solid  high-grade  carbons,  special  gage; 
12.000  pairs  white-flame  carbons  for  Stave  arc  lamps,  upper  carbon  dimen- 
sions 10J4  in.  by  20  mm,  lower  carbon  dimensions  8>i  in.  by  18  mm; 
365.000  12-in.  by  K-m-  white-flame  carbons  for  G.  E.  Lynn  arc  lamps. 
Proposals  must  be  made  out  on  blanks  furnished  by  the  city  electrician. 

MATTOON,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  recently  in- 
corporated, has  taken  over  the  following  plants:  Fruit  Growers'  Re- 
frigerating &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Anna;  Central  Ice  Co.,  of  Mounds;  Citizens' 
Wtr.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Carbondale;  Interurban  El.  Co..  of  Carterville; 
Interurban  El.  Co.,  of  Herrin;  Fruit  Growers'  Refrigerating  &  Pwr.  Co. 
and  Marion  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Wtr.  Co.,  of  Marion;  Johnson  City  El.,  Gas  & 
Wtr.  Co.,  of  Johnson  City,  and  People's  Lt.,  Wtr.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Har- 
risburg.  The  new  company  proposes  to  supply  electrical  service  to  vari- 
ous districts  from  one  large  central  plant,  distributing  electricity  in 
small  towns  where  the  patronage  warrants.  The  general  offices  of  the 
company  are  located  in  Mattoon. 

MURPHYSBORO,  ILL. — The  City  Council  is  contemplating  a  change 
in   the  street-lighting  system. 

MURRAYVILLE,  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  of  Mat- 
toon,  is  negotiating  with  the  Village  Board  and  will  probably  seek  a 
franchise  to  distribute  electricity  in  Murrayville.  A  transmission  line 
will  be  erected  from  the  plant   at  Roodhouse. 

OREGON,  ILL. — Arrangements  are  being  made  by  the  business  men 
for  the  installation  of  boulevard  lamps  here.  It  is  proposed  to  erect 
the  lamps  in  both  the  residence  and  the  business  districts. 

PERU,  ILL. — The  contract  for  the  installation  of  a  new  turbine  en- 
gine and  other  equipment  has  been  awarded  to  the  Westinghouse  El.  & 
Mfg.  Co.   for  $10,690.     The  area  lighted  by  the  city  will  be  increased. 

ROCK  ISLAND,,  ILL.- — The  voters  have  approved  a  proposition  to 
grant  a  25-year  franchise  to  the  Tri-City  .\utomatic  Tel.  Co.  to  operate 
a  telephone  system  in  Rock  Island.  The  company  already  has  a  franchise 
to  operate  in  Moline,  III.,  and  the  proposition  has  been  ratified  by  the 
voters  of  Davenport,  la.,  but  it  must  be  passed  upon  by  the  Davenport 
Council. 

ANDERSON.  IXD. — Residents  in  North  .Anderson  have  filed  a  petition 
with  the  City  Council  asking  for  electric-light  service  in  that  district. 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1343 


CONNERSVILLE,  IND.— The  Ilydro-Electric  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  expects 
to  erect  within  the  next  few  months  a  boiler  room  and  install  two  250-hp 
Sterling  water-tube  boilers,  one  500-kw  AlHs-Chalmers  turbo-generator, 
Dofler-Ieed  pump,  surface  condenser  with  necessary  pumps,  generator  and 
exciter  panel  with  necessary  instruments.  Machinery  has  already  been 
purchased. 

INDIANAPOLIS.  IND.— The  Merchants'  lit.  &  Lt.  Co.  expects  to  pur- 
chase within  the  next  eight  months  one  10,000-kw  turbo-generator  and 
eight  500-hp  boilers.     E.  Darrow  is  manager. 

ROCKVILLE,  IND.— The  installation  of  a  Chandler  &  Taylor  100-hp 
boiler  in  the  municipal  electric-light  plant  has  been  completed.  B.  H. 
Freeland  is  superintendent. 

TERRE  HAUTE,  IND.— The  Terre  Haute,  Indianapolis  &  Eastern 
Traction  Co.  has  been  granted  a  franchise  by  the  Commissioners  of  Vigo 
County  to  erect  transmission  lines  over  all  the  public  highways  in  the 
county.  The  company  proposes  to  extend  transmission  lines  to  the  coal 
fields  and  supply  electricity  to  the  mines  for  lamps  and  motors;  also  to 
several   towns  along  the   route. 

WINONA,  IND.— The  Winona  El.  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  is  planning  to  erect 
additional  transmission  lines  and  install  additional  generators  or  turbines. 
The  street-lighting  system  in  Warsaw  will  be  changed.  Theodore  C. 
Frazer  is  manager. 

ARMSTRONG,  lA.— The  Armstrong  Cement  Works  has  awarded  con- 
tracts for  the  installation  of  an  electric  light  and  power  plant  as  follows: 
To  the  Murray  Iron  Works,  of  Burlington,  la.,  for  engine,  boiler,  feed- 
water  heater  and  pump;  to  the  Electrical  Machinery  Co.,  Minneapolis, 
Minn.,  for  one  75-kva,  three-phase  alternating-current  generator  and 
three-panel  switchboard;  to  Page  &  Hill,  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  for  poles; 
to  the  Electric  Appliance  Co.  for  Packard  transformers,  Sangamon  meters 
and  line  material.  The  plant  will  be  put  in  operation  about  Feb.  1. 
Ageton  Brothers,  of  Estherville,  la.,  have  charge  of  construction  of 
plant.     P.  H.  Atwood  is  manager. 

BUFFAIlO,  lA. — H.  C.  Blackwell.  superintendent  of  the  Tri-City  Ry. 
&  Lt.  Co.,  has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  Town  Council  for  furnishing 
electricity  for  lighting  the  town. 

DES  MOINES,  lA. — Carl  Scholz,  manager  of  the  mining  department 
of  the  Rock  Island  lines,  is  interested  in  a  company  which  proposes  to 
erect  an  electric  power  plant  to  supply  electricity  for  industrial  purposes 
in  Des  Moines.  The  plant  will  be  erected  near  the  mines  of  the  rail- 
road between  Dallas  and  Melcher  on  the  St.  Paul  &  Kansas  City  Short 
Line,  about  18  miles  south  of  Des  Moines,  at  a  cost  of  about  $200,000. 
About  16,000  hp  will  be  transmitted  to  Des  Moines.  If  present  plans  are 
carried  out,  work  on  the  proposed  plant  will  begin  in  the  spring. 

KEOKUK,  lA. — The  Keokuk  El.  Co.  has  completed  its  substation  and 
expects  to  change  over  to  hydroelectric  power  within  the  next  six  months. 
The  steaip  plant  will  be  abandoned.  The  entire  town  has  been  rewired 
preparatory  to  changing  to  25-cycle  system.     A.  D.  Ayres  is  manager. 

MARCUS,  lA. — At  an  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to  grant 
K.  C.  Gaynor,  of  Sioux  City,  a  franchise  to  install  an  electric  light  and 
heating  plant  was  carried.  The  cost  of  the  proposed  plant  is  estimated  at 
about  $15,000. 

OAKVILLE,  lA. — The  town  has  voted  to  grant  a  franchise  to  R.  B. 
X'aught,  of  Burlington,  la.,  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors 
in   Oakville. 

RED  OAK,  lA. — Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  super- 
vising architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Jan.  21, 
for  construction,  including  plumbing,  gas  piping,  heating  apparatus,  elec- 
tric conduit  and  wiring,  interior  lighting  fixtures  and  approaches,  of  the 
United  States  post  office  at  Red  Oak,  la.  Drawings  and  specifications 
may  be  obtained  from  the  above  office  or  from  the  custodian  of  site  at 
Red    Oak.      Oscar   Wenderoth   is   supervising   architect. 

WHITING,  lA. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $10,000  have  been  voted  for 
tke  installation   of   a  municipal   electric-light   plant. 

CEDAR  POINT,  KAN. — The  Town  Council  is  securing  estimates  of 
the  cost  of  the  installation  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  in  Cedar 
Point.  It  is  expected  that  an  election  wilt  soon  be  called  to  vote  on  the 
proposition   to  issue  bonds  for  same. 

DODGE  CITY,  KAN. — The  Midland  Wtr.,  Lt.  &  Ice  Co.  expects  to 
purchase  within  the  next  two  months  one  carload  of  poles.  A.  E.  Aben- 
haus  is  cashier. 

MOLINE,  KAN. — The  proposition  to  issue  $50,000  in  bonds  for  con- 
struction of  an  electric-light  plant  and  water- works  system  will  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  voters  in  the  near  future.  The  Eenham  Engineering  Co., 
American  National  Bank  Building,  Oklahoma,  Okla.,  has  been  engaged 
by  the  city  to  prepare  plans  for  the  proposed  work. 

OTTAWA,  KAN. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington.  D.  C,  until 
Jan.  18,  for  the  construction,  including  plumbing,  gas  piping,  heating  ap- 
paratus, electric  conduit  and  wiring  and  lighting  fixtures,  of  the  United 
States  post  office  at  Ottawa,  Kan.  Drawings,  and  specifications  may  be 
obtained  at  the  above  office  or  from  the  custodian  of  site  at  Ottawa,  Kan. 
Oscar    Wenderoth    is    supervising    architect. 

TOPEKA,  KAN. — The  output  of  the  Topeka  Edison  Co.  will  be  in- 
creased from  25  to  30  per  cent  by  the  installation  of  additional  equipment 
during  the  next  year.  W.  B.  McKinley,  of  Champaign,  111.,  is  president 
of  the  company  and  A.   H.  Purdy.  of  Topeka,  general  superintendent. 


COVINGTON,  KV.— The  City  Council  is  investigating  the  feasibility 
of   establishing  a  municipal   electric-light  and   power   plant  kere. 

ELI2ABETHTOWN,  KY.— The  Kentucky  Utilities  Co.,  of  Louisville, 
has  taken  over  the  property  and  holdings  of  the  Elizabethtown  El.  Lt 
Co.,  which  was  purchased  some  time  ago.  Extensive  improvements  are 
to  be   made  to  the  local   plant. 

HENDERSON,  KY.— The  city  of  Henderson  expects  to  erect  a  chim- 
ney 250  ft.  high  by  12  ft.  6  in.  in  diameter  at  the  municipal  electric- 
light  plant  and  to  purchase  one  750-kw  turbine  and  two  400-hp  water- 
tube  boilers,  200  arc  lamps,  transformers  and  rectifiers  for  metallic-fiame 
or  magnetite  street-lighting  system.     L.   P.   Hite  is  superintendent. 

LEXINGTON,  KY.— The  Lexington  Utilities  Co.  expects  to  purchase 
within  the  next  few  months  irons,  toasters,  curling  irons,  motors,  etc., 
for  its  electrical  appliance  and  supply  department.  Eugene  Creed  is  busi- 
ness manager. 

VERSAILLES,  KY. — The  franchise  to  erect  transmission  lines  for  the 
distribution  ol  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  on  the  Versailles  and 
Midway,  the  Versailles  and  Shryock's  Ferry  and  the  old  Lexington  and 
Frankfort  turnpikes  in  Woodford  County,  which  was  offered  at  public 
sale,  was  purchased  by  Harry  Reid  for  the  Kentucky  Utilities  Co.,  of 
Louisville,   for  $50. 

NEW  ORLEANS.  LA.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  F.  S. 
Shields,  secretary,  at  the  office  of  the  Sewerage  and  Water  Board.  Room 
508,  City  Hall  Annex,  New  Orleans,  La.,  until  Feb.  18,  1913,  for  work 
to  be  executed  under  contracts  *'49-D"  and  "52-D*'  respectively,  trans- 
mission line  and  power  cables  for  drainage  system.  Approximate  quan- 
tities of  each  contract  as  follows:  "49-D'* — 230  square  cypress  poles; 
72,000  ft.  350,000-circ.  mil  insulated  conductor;  75,000  ft.  No.  0000  insu- 
lated conductor.  "52-D"— 21,000  ft.  lead-covered  or  armored  cable. 
George  G,   Earle  is  general  .superintendent. 

SHREVEPORT,  L.\. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Louisiana 
Texas  Trac.  Co.  a  franchise  to  build  terminal  properties  and  to  use 
streets  in  connection  with  an  interurban  electric  railway.  The  company 
proposes  to  build  an  electric  railway  between  Shreveport  and  East  Texas 
points. 

CANTON,  MAINE.— Estimates  of  the  cost  of  installing  an  electric- 
light  system  in  Canton,  energy  to  operate  the  system  to  be  supplied  from 
Livermore  Falls  plant,  have  been  submitted  by  John  H.  Maxwell,  pres 
ident  of  the  Livermore  Falls  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co. 

KEZAR  FALLS,  MAINE.— The  Kezar  Falls  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  was 
wrecked  recently  by  water  undermining  tke  bulkhead.  It  is  understood 
that  the  power  house  will  be  taken  down  and  rebuilt  next  spring  as  soon 
as  the  weather  will  permit.  Electricity  for  lamps  is  now  being  furnished 
by  the  Kezar  Falls  Woolen  Co. 

ATHOL,  MASS.— The  Athol  Gas  &  El.  Co.  has  recently  completed 
an  addition  to  its  power  house  and  has  installed  one  450-hp  Sterling 
water-tube  boiler,  one  General  Electric  SOO-kw  steam  turbine  and  addi- 
tional switchboard  equipment  for  above  machine. 

FALL  RIVER,  MASS.— The  Board  of  Aldermen  has  granted  the 
Southern  Massachusetts  Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to  lay  conduits  in  the  streets 
of  the  city  for  carrying  electric  wires,  in  order  to  extend  and  improve 
the  electric  light  and  power  service  in  the  city. 

FITCHEURG,  MASS.— The  County  Commissioners  have  decided  to 
install  an  electric-lighting  system  at  the  South  Fitchburg  house  of  cor- 
rection to  replace  the  gaslight  system  now  in  use. 

MARLBORO,  MASS.— The  Marlboro  EI.  Co.  expects  to  purchase  this 
month  three  150-kva,  13,000-6900  volt  transformers  and  one  20-kva  pole- 
type  regulator  with  necessary  circuit  breaker,  switches,  etc.  It  also 
expects  to  erect  a  concrete  garage,  45  ft.  by  27  ft.,  to  accommodate  fout 
cars.     D.  W.   Halliday  is  general  manager. 

NORTH  ATTLEBORO,  MASS.— The  North  Attleboro  Electric  Ligkt 
S:  Water  Department  expects  to  purchase  within  the  next  12  months  two 
250-hp  water-tube  boilers,  one  300-kw  steam  turbine  and  one  500-kw 
steam  turbine.  The  company  has  purchased  electrical  energy  from  the 
Union  El.  Lt.  &•  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Franklin,  Mass.,  since  Sept.  1.  William 
Plattner  is  manager. 

WARREN,  MASS.— The  Warren  Pwr.  Co.,  which  proposes  to  con- 
struct a  hydroelectric  plant  near  West  Warren  and  Palmer,  would  like 
to  communicate  with  manufacturers  of  wooden  stave  pipe  (California  red- 
wood or  other  wood),  7 'in.,  8  in.,  9  in.  and  10  in.  in  diameter;-  also 
with  manufacturers  of  the  Diesel  oil  engines.  The  officers  of  the  com- 
pany are  located  at  62  Stebbins  Street,  Springfield,  Mass.  John  T.  F. 
MacDonnell   is  treasurer. 

ALBION,  MICH. — A  committee  has  been  appointed  by  the  Mayor  to 
take  up  the  question  of  installing  a  modern  street-lighting  system  in  the 
business  district. 

"ANN  ARBOR,  MICH. — Contracts  have  been  awarded  by  Smith,  Hinch- 
nan  &  Grylls,  architects,  for  the  new  power  house  for  the  University  of 
Michigan,  for  the  erection  of  the  building  and  installation  of  equipment 
amounting  to  $256,000  as  follows:  To  the  Newton  Engineer  Co.,  of  Mil- 
waukee, Wis.,  for  construction  of  building  and  the  tunnel  connecting  the 
power  house  with  the  several  campus  buildings,  the  hospitals  and  the 
Hill  Memorial,  for  installation  of  the  boilers  to  the  Wickes  Boiler  Co.,  of 
Saginaw,  and  for  steel  work  to  the  Toledo  Steel  Co.  Other  contracts 
will  be  awarded  later.  The  new  power  house  will  be  erected  in  the 
"cat-hole  district." 


1344 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol    6o.  No.  25. 


BAY  CITY,  MICH. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  Electric 
Light  Department  of  the  city  of  Bay  City.  Mich.,  until  Jan.  2,  1913, 
for  turbo-generator,  switchboard,  condenser,  water-tube  boilers  and  at- 
tachments, in  accordance  with  specifications  on  file  in  the  office  of  the 
said   department 

BOYNE  CITY,  MICH.— The  W.  H.  White  Co.  is  building  a  new  power 
plant  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  steam  capacity  of  Mill  No.  1 
and  the  flooring  plant.  A  350-hp  boiler  is  being  installed  at  the  flooring 
plant. 

DETROIT,  MICH.— The  Morgan  &  Wright  Co.  is  enlarging  its  works 
and  will  install  new  equipment  in  the  power  plant,  doubling  the  boiler 
capacity. 

DETROIT,  MICH.— The  Detroit  United  Railway  Co.  is  preparing  to 
double-track  its  railway  from  Detroit  to  Mount  Clemens,  work  to  start 
in   the  spring. 

GREENVILLE,  MICH.— The  R.  J.  Tower  El.  Co.  contemplates  the 
reconstruction  of  dam  and  the  purchase  of  additional  wateswheels  within 
the  next  12  months.     R.  J.  Tower  is  manager. 

HILLSDALE,  MICH.— The  Board  of  Public  Works  expects  to  purchase 
stokers,  coal  and  ask  handling  machinery  system  within  the  next  12 
months  for  the  municipal  electric  light  and  water  plant.  J.  C.  Hanson  is 
manager. 

KALAMAZOO,  MICH.— =-Work  will  begin  in  the  spring  on  the  removal 
jf  all  overkead  wires  on  Water  Street.  An  underground  conduit  system 
vill  be  installed. 

MUSKEGON,  MICH.— The  Shaw-Walker  Co..  which  is  erecting  a 
tour-story  building  for  the  manufacture  of  furniture,  will  soon  be  in 
the  market  for   electrical   equipment. 

PETOSKEY,  MICH. — The  city  of  Petoskey  expects  to  purchase  within 
:he  next  12  montks  a  set  of  automatic  stokers  for  three  boilers  in  the 
municipal   electric-light   plant.      John   W.    Lovelace   is   city   electrician. 

PONTIAC,  MICH.— The  Pontiac  Pwr.  Co.  has  received  authority  from 
Jie  State  Railroad  Commission  to  issue  $5,000  in  bonds,  the  proceeds  to 
be  used  for  improvements  and  extensions  to  the  local  power  plants. 

WYANDOTTE,  MICH.— The  Detroit  Valve  &  Fitting  Co.  is  reported 
to  be  in  the  market  for  a  250-kw  direct-current  generator. 

BEMIDJI,  MINN.— The  Warfield  EI.  Co.  contemplates  the  purchase 
of  one  500-hp  Corliss  engine  direct-connected  to  500-kw  generator  and  a 
condenser  within  tke  next  six  months.     A.  A.  Warfield  is  secretary. 

FULDA,  MINN.— The  Fulda  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co,  contemplates  making  im- 
provements to  its  plant  and  erecting  transmission  lines  to  Kinbrea  and 
Dundee. 

LAKE  CITY,  MINN.— The  Board  of  Water  and  Light  Commissioners 
of  Lake  City  may  change  its  system  from  alternating  current,  110-220- 
2300-volt,  single-phase,  to  three-phase,  and  may  possibly  purchase  within 
the  next  12  months  two  tub  transformers,  50  lamps  each,  for  magnetite  or 
similar  lamps  to  replace  the  open  arc  lamps  now  in  use.  The  erection  of 
a  water  tank  or  construction  of  a  reservoir  of  from  200,000  gal.  to  300,000 
?al.  capacity  within  the  next  12  months  is  contemplated.  J.  Cole  Doughty 
is  president  of  the  board. 

MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN.— The  City  Council  has  authorized  Dr.  Hall 
to  offer  the  Park  Board  electricity  generated  at  the  garbage  disposal 
plant  to  light  Camden  and  Fairview  Parks  at  $60  per  lamp  per  year  and 
3  cents  per  kw-hr.  for  other  service.  Inspectors  Allen  and  Frank  Over- 
holt  and  Superintendent  J.  E.  Anderson  were  directed  to  confer  with 
Andrew  Rinker,  city  engineer,  on  plans  to  utilize  for  electric  lighting 
purposes  the  water-power   near  St.   Anthony   Falls  owned  by  the  city. 

NORTH  ST.  PAUL,  MINN.— The  State  Board  of  Investment  has 
approved  the  application  of  the  town  of  North  St.  Paul  for  a  loan  of 
$8,000   with   which   to   make   repairs   to   its   electric-light   and   water   plant. 

OWATONNA,  MINN. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  installation 
of  a  new  street-lighting  system  to  cost  about  $8,500.  The  plans  provide 
for  the  erection  of  50  cast-iron  posts  carrying  6.6-amp  inverted  magnetite 
arc  lamps.  The  underground  work  includes  the  laying  of  2-in.  loricated 
conduit.  No.  6  lead-incased,  rubber-covered  wire  (seven-strand)  wrill  be 
used.  The  conduit  will  be  laid  by  day  labor  and  it  is  expected  that  the 
rest  of  the  work  will  be  done  in  the  same  way.  Lamps  and  posts  are 
yet  to  be  purchased.     Harvey  S.  Dartt,  city  engineer. 

MONTICELLO,  MISS.— Bids  will  be  received  until  Jan.  7.  1913,  by 
J.  H.  Teunisson,  clerk  of  board  of  supervisors  of  Lawrence  County, 
Monticello,  Miss.,  for  heating,  lighting  and  plumbing-  work  in  the  new 
court  house  at  Monticello,  as  per  plans  and  specifications  prepared  by 
R.   H.   Hunt,  architect,   Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

PORT  GIBSON,  MISS.— The  purchase  of  one  250-hp  water-tube 
boiler  for  the  municipal  electric  light  and  water  plant  within  the  next 
four  months  is  contemplated,     H.  D.  Brownlee  is  superintendent. 

CLAYTON,  MO.— The  Western  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.,  recently  organized  by 
H.  C.  Garneau,  F.  R.  Mott  and  Joseph  Dixon,  Jr.,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
proposes  to  install  an  electric  plant  in  Clayton  and  supply  electricity  in 
Clayton,  Wellston  and  Ferguson,  Mo. 

HOPKINS,  MO. — The  business  men  of  Hopkins  have  asked  the  Lee 
El.  Co.,  of  Clarinda,  la.,  to  submit  estimates  of  the  cost  of  extending  its 
line  from  Bedford,  la.,  to  Hopkins,  a  distance  of  10  miles,  to  supply 
electricity  here. 

MARYVILLE.   MO. — Plans  are  being  considered   by   the  business   men 


for    the    installation    of    an    ornamental    street-lighting    system    on     Main 
Street. 

ST.  CHARLES,  MO.— The  St.  Charles  EI.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  pur- 
chased a  75-kw  Westinghouse  generator  belted  to  an  Ideal  engine.  W,  G, 
Ghiseltn  is  manager. 

BILLINGS,  MONT.— Bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  super- 
vising architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington  D.  C,  until  Jan.  23, 
for  construction,  including  plumbing,  gas  piping,  htiting  apparatus,  elec- 
tric conduit  and  wiring  and  lighting  fixtures,  of  the  United  States  post 
office  at  Billings,  Mont.  Drawings  and  specifications  may  be  obtained 
at  the  above  office  or  from  the  custodian  of  site  at  Billings,  Mont.  Oscar 
Wenderoth    is   supervising   architect. 

WORDEN,  MONT. — The  Farmers'  Tel.  Co.,  recently  incorporated  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $10,000,  will  erect  its  telephone  system  entirely  in  the 
rural   districts. 

TECUMSEH,  NEB.— Edwin  Bartels  has  applied  to  the  Village  Board 
for  a   franchise   to   operate  an  electric-light   plant  in   Tecumseh. 

AUSTIN,  NEV.— The  Austin  Nevada  Consol.  Mining  Co.  will  install 
a  power   plant.      H.   G.   Richardson  is   president  of  the  company. 

CARSON  CITY,  NEV. — Electric  equipment  will  be  installed  in  the 
North  Carson  Mine  and  a  transmission  line  erected  from  Carson  City. 
Mr.    Symmes  has   charge  of  the  mine. 

EAST  ELY,  NEV. — The  Ely  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  contemplates  some  changes 
to  its  lighting  system  within  the  next  year,  but  has  not  decided  what  will 
be  done;  will  probably  purchase  about  50  electric  irons  during  the  coming 
season. 

EXETER,  N.  H.— The  Exeter  Ry.  &  Ltg.  Co.  has  petitioned  the  Public 
Service  Commission  for  approval  of  an  issue  of  $25,000  in  capital  stock. 

EXETER,  N.  H.— The  Exeter  &  Hampton  EI.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
Public  Service  Commissioner  for  approval  of  an  issue  of  $25,000  in  capital 
stock. 

BRIDGETON.  N.  J. — The  Board  of  Public  Utility  Commissioners  has 
granted  the  Bridgeton  EI.  Co.  permission  to  issue  $75,000  in  bonds  to  the 
American  Rys.  Co.,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  extensions  and  improve- 
ments to  its  plant  and  system  in  Bridgeton. 

DOVER,  N.  J. — The  Board  of  Water  Commissioners  has  requested  the 
Eastern  Pennsylvania  Pwr.  Co.  to  submit  two  bids  for  two  electric  triplex 
pumps  of  300  gal.  capacity  per  minute  and  one  electrically  driven  cen- 
trifugal pump  of  75  gal.  per  minute  for  the  city  water-works  system. 
The  Council  has  authorized  the  board  to  enter  into  a  contract  with  the 
company  for  electrical  energy  for  pumping  at  a  rate  of  2  cents  per 
1000  gal. 

HADDONFIELD,  N.  J. — Leading  citizens  and  borough  officials  are 
considering  the  question  of  establishing  a  municipal  electric-light  plant. 

LIVINGSTON,  N.  J. — Bids  will  be  received  by  the  Board  of  Education 
until  Dec.  30  for  construction,  complete,  including  heating,  ventilating 
and  electrical  work,  of  a  new  public  school  building,  plans  and  specifica- 
tions for  which  were  prepared  by  Ernest  E.  Twist,  architect,  Passaic. 
S.  B.  Winans  is  clerk  of  board  of  education. 

MANASQUAN,  N.  J. — A  committee,  consisting  of  Councilmen  Moore, 
Thorp  and  Curtis,  has  been  appointed  by  Mayor  William  F.  Lefferson  to 
ascertain  the  cost   of  installing  a  lighting  plant   for   Manasquan   Borough. 

TRENTON,  N.  J. — The  Board  of  Public  Utility  Commissioners  has 
approved  of  a  bond  issue  of  $139,000  by  the  South  Jersey  Gas.  El.  & 
Trac.  Co.,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  extensions  to  its  plant  and  system. 

BATAVIA,  N.  Y. — The  Public  Service  Commission,  Second  District, 
has  authorized  the  Genesee  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  to  execute  a  mortgage  on  its 
property  to  secure  an  issue  in  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $750,000,  6f  which 
$47,000  is  to  be  issued  at  once  to  cover  the  expense  of  new  construction. 
etc. 

CASTLETOX,  N.  Y. — The  Schodack  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Castleton,  has 
applied  to  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  authority  to  take  over  the 
local  electric-light  plant  now  operated  by  L.  M.  Lansing;  also  for  per- 
mission to  issue  $7,000  in  capital  stock. 

DEPOSIT,  N.  Y. — The  Deposit  El.  Co.  expects  to  purchase  within  the 
next  six  months  one  250-kva,  2300-volt,  60-cycle,  three-phase.  200  r.p.m. 
generator  and  exciter  and  one  generator  panel  for  switchboard.  The  com- 
pany has  purchased  a  new  lighting  system  for  Hancock,  consisting  of 
six  350-cp,  19  200-cp  and  36  32-cp  street  series  Mazda  lamps  with  shades 
and  goosenecks.     John  D.  Mickle  is  secretary  and  manager. 

FRANKLINVILLE,  N.  Y. — The  Ontario  Knife  Co.  contemplates  the 
installation  of^  a  power  plant,  to  cost  about  $25,000.  The  company  at 
present  purchases  power,  heat  and  light  from  the  Empire  EI.  Co.,  of 
Franklinville. 

LOCKPORT,  N.  V. — The  Board  of  Aldermen  has  decided  to  authorize 
the  installation  of  80  additional  arc  lamps,  10  to  be  placed  in  each  ward, 
to  be  ready  for  service  by  Jan.   1. 

NORWICH,  N.  Y. — The  Norwich  Gas  &  El.  Co.  is.  securing  the  right- 
of-way  for  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  from  Norwich  to  Oxford 
via  the  towpath  of  the  old  canal.  On  completion  of  the  new  line  elec- 
tricity for  operating  the  Oxford  system  will  be  transmitted  from  Nor- 
wich and  the  local  plant  will  be  closed  dowm.  The  company  will  also 
supply  electricity  to  residents  along  the  line  between  the  two  towns. 
When  the  new  system  is  completed  a  24-hour  service  will  be  established 
in   Oxford. 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1345 


GASTONIA,  N.  C— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $2,500  have  been  voted 
for  extensions  to  the  municipal  electric-light  system. 

HAMLET,  N.  C— The  Yadkin  River  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Rockingham,  is 
installing  a  series  incandescent  street-lighting  system  in  Hamlet,  consist- 
ing of  n  lamps  of  32  cp.     L.  H.  Couch  is  superintendent. 

DEVILS  LAKE,  N.  D.— The  power  plant  at  the  Fort  Totten  Indian 
School  was  destroyed  by  fire  on  Nov.  27.  It  is  proposed  to  construct 
a  temporary  plant  so  that  the  school  work  can  be  continued.  The 
Ji)oilers  are  intact  and  can  be  used  for  a  time,  at  least  until  new  equip- 
ment is   installed.      C.  Zeibach   is  superintendent. 

AKRON,  OHIO,— The  Public  Service  Commission  has  granted  the 
Northern  Ohio  Trac.  &•  Lt,  Co.  permission  to  increase  its  capital  stock 
by    $2,000,000. 

ALLIANCE,  OHIO.— The  Alliance  Gas  &  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to  erect 
within  the  next  12  months  an  engine  room  of  concrete  and  steel  and  to 
purchase  within  the  next  six  months  one  1000-kw  turbine  and  to  enlarge 
switchboard  to  meet  requirements.  Material  for  distributing  system  will 
be  purchased  as  required.     W.  J.   Rose  is  general  manager. 

ARCHBOLD.  OHIO.— The  Archbold  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to 
install  within  the  next  four  weeks  a  storage  battery  to  take  care  of  day 
load.  The  company  has  discarded  its  steam  plant  and  is  using  oil  engines, 
and  may  add  another  engine  in  the  near  future  to  provide  for  its  increas- 
ing business.     R.   S.  Rodenhuis  is  manager. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO.— The  Public  Service  Commission  has  authorized 
the  Caxton  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Cleveland,  to  issue  $1,000  in  capital  stock,  the 
proceeds  to  be  used  for  organization  purposes.  The  company  was  organ- 
ized for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors  and 
steam  in  the  city  of  Cleveland. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office 
of  W.  H.  Kirby,  secretary  of  the  director  of  public  service,  until  Dec.  26 
for  copper  wire  for  the  Municipal  Electric  Light  Department  of  the  city 
of  Cleveland,  in  accordance  with  specifications  which  may  be  obtained 
in  the  office  of  the  engineer  of  construction.  Room  319,  City  Hall.  W. 
J.    Springborn  is  director  of  public  service. 

DELTA,  OHIO. — The  capital  stock  of  the  Cass  County  Home  Tel.  Co. 
has  been  increased  from  $150,185  to  $200,085. 

KINGSVILLE,  OHIO.— The  Conneaut,  Kingsville  &  Ashtabula  Ry. 
Co.  has  purchased  property  north  of  Kingsville  upon  which  it  proposes 
to  erect  a  new  power  kouse  in  the  near  future.  W.  H.  Hawley  is  presi- 
dent. 

LORAIN,  OHIO.— The  George  E.  Milligan  Co.,  which  recently  took 
over  the  lighting  plants  in  this  city,  has  closed  a  contract  with  the  Cleve- 
land Stone  Co.  to  supply  energy  to  the  amount  of  1500  bp  at  its  quar- 
ries in  South  Amherst.  A  substation  will  be  erected  at  South  Amherst 
at  a  cost  of  between  $8,000  and  $9,000,  and  electricity  will  be  supplied 
to  various  quarries  operated  near  the  village.  The  Milligan  company 
will  erect  a  transmission  line  from  Lorain  as  well  as  from  the  substation 
to  the  quairies. 

NELSONVILLE,  OHIO. — The  managers  of  the  municipal  electric- 
light  plant  expect  to  purchase  within  the  next  12  months  a  carload  of 
poles,  some  underground  conduit,  distributing  cable,  some  meters  and  sup- 
plies for  extension;  also  transformers,  incandescent  lamps,  posts  for 
cluster  lamps,  etc.;  also  two  large  electrically  driven  turbine  pumps  for 
water-works.      C.    C.    Sharp   is   director  of   public   service. 

TOLEDO,  OHIO.— Plans  have  been  submitted  to  the  City  Council  for 
lighting  the  Cherry  Street  Bridge.  The  plans  provide  for  the  erection 
of  58  arc  lamps  on  ornamental  standards,  at  annual  cost  of  $2,610.  If 
plans  are  adopted,  the  Toledo  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  will  erect  and  maintain  the 
lamps. 

YORKVILLE,  OHIO. — The  contract  for  installing  an  electric-light 
plant  in  the  new  hotel  in  Yorkville  has  been  awarded  to  the  Blumenthal 
Elec.  Co.  The  proposed  plant  will  have  sufficient  output  to  furnish  elec- 
tricity to  the  nearby  residences  as  well  as  the  hotel. 

INGERSOLL,  OKLA. — Preparations  are  being  made  for  the  installa- 
tion of  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  for  which  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  $5,000  have  been  authorized.  Bids  will  soon  be  asked  for  the 
work.     B.  F.   Blue  is  town  clerk. 

OKLAHOMA  CITY.  OKLA. — The  Chamber  of  Commerce  has  in  hand 
a  plan  providing  for  an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  in  the  district 
bounded  by  the  Santa  Fe  Railroad  tracks,  Hudson  Avenue,  Reno  .Avenue 
and  Second  Street,  also  extending  north  on  Broadway  from  Second 
Street  to  Broadway  Circle.  The  proposed  plan  calls  for  the  erection  of 
591  posts,  allowing  from  10  to  14  posts  to  each  square  in  the  district. 
The  plan  has  the  approval  of  the  city  officials,  who  have  agreed  to  bear 
20  per  cent  %i  the  cost  of  installation,  maintenance  and  lighting,  the 
other  80  per  cent,  to  be  borne  by  the  property  owners.  It  is  expected 
that  the  plan  will  be  carried  out. 

ASHLAND,  ORE. — A  special  election  will  be  held  to  vote  on  the 
proposition  to  issue  $25,000  in  bonds  for  the  installation  of  a  lighting 
system   in  Ashland. 

CLINE  FALLS,  ORE. — George  Jacobs,  of  Portland,  has  purchased  the 
power  site  of  the  Crook  County  Wtr.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  in  Cline  Falls  and 
will  erect  a  transmission  line  from  the  falls  to  Prineville,  a  distance  of 
about  20  miles.  A  hydroelectric  power  plant  will  be  erected  here  in  the 
near    future. 

INDEPENDENCE,    ORE. — A    stock    company    has    been    organized    by 


the  American  bottom-land  farmers  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  tele- 
phone system  in  the  vicinity  of  Independence.  The  proposed  line  will 
extend   south  from   Independence  8  miles. 

MADRAS,  ORE.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Cove  Pwr.  Co.  a 
franchise  to  erect  and  maintain  electric  transmission  lines  within  the  city 
limits. 

NEVVBERG.  ORE.— The  Yamhill  El.  Co.  expects  to  purchase  within 
the  next  three  months  a  500  kw  generator  and  turbine  and  condensing 
apparatus,  three  exciters  for  above  and  switchboard  panel.  C.  J.  Edwards 
is  manager. 

PORTLAND,  ORE.— The  Multnomah  Central  Ry.  Co.  is  planning  to 
extend  its  electric  railway  from  Sandy  to  Cherry ville.  Ore.,  for  which 
right-of-way  is  now  being  secured. 

PANAMA. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the  gen- 
eral purchasing  officer,  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C, 
until  Jan.  30,  1913,  for  turnishing  material  and  equipment  for  the  Cristo- 
bal-Balboa transmission  line,  including  steel  track-span  bridges,  copper 
wire,  insulators,  ground  plates  and  equipment  for  substations.  Blanks 
and  general  information  relating  to  this  circular  (No.  752)  may  be  ob- 
tained from  this  office  or  the  offices  of  the  assistant  purchasing  agents, 
24  State  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  614  Whitney-Central  Building,  New 
Orleans.  La.,  and  1086  North  Point  Street,  San-  Francisco,  Cal.  Major 
F.    C.    Boggs   is  general   purchasing   agent. 

EASTON,  PA.— The  Easton  &  Washington  Trac.  Co.  is  said  to  have 
announced  plans  for  extending  its  railway  from  Port  Murray  to  Hack- 
ettstown,  N.  J.,  a  distance  of  about   10  miles. 

MARCUS  HOOK,  PA.— The  Beacon  Lt.  Co.,  of  Chester,  has  pur- 
chased a  site  in  Marcus  Hook,  on  which  it  proposes  to  erect  a  large 
substation. 

MOUNT  PLEASANT,  PA.— Edward  H.  Wise,  of  Wheeling,  W.  Va., 
representing  the  Mountain  Pwr.  Co.,  of  West  Virginia,  has  applied  to 
the  Borough  Council  for  a  25-year  franchise  to  install  and  operate  an 
electric-light  system   in  Mount  Pleasant. 

PITTSBURGH,  PA.— Notice  has  been  filed  with  the  State  Depart- 
ment announcing  the  consolidation  of  the  Monongahela  Lt.  Co.  and  the 
Oakmont  and  Verona  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  under  the  name  of  the  Du- 
quesne  Lt.  Co.,  of  Pittsburgh,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $541,000.  The  of- 
ficers are:  M.  B.  Starring,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  president;  C.  S. 
Mitchell,  of  Pittsburgh,  controller;  J.  G.  Splane,  J.  S.  Weller,  J.  J.  Heard 
and  R.  T.  Rossell,  directors,  all  of  Pittsburgh. 

SHARON,  PA. — The  Borough  Council  has  rejected  the  proposition 
of  the  Shenango  Valley  El.  Lt.  Co.  to  furnish  street  lamps  at  $48  each 
per  year.  The  Council  has  decided  to  build  a  municipal  electric-light 
plant,  at  a  cost  of  $85,000,  and  has  instructed  Sidney  Miller,  engineer, 
of  Pittsburgh,  to  secure  estimates  of  cost  of  same. 

STOYESTOWN,  PA.— The  light,  heat  and  power  companies  of  Beaver- 
dale,  Listie  and  Jenners  have  been  merged  with  the  United  Lt.,  Ht.  & 
Pwr.  Co.,  of  Stoyestown,  making  the  combined  capital  stock  $50,000.  A 
transmission  line  is  now  being  erected  to  Ferrellton,  Jenner  Cross  Roads 
and  Jennertown,  which  will  give  the  company  a  total  of  over  30  miles  of 
main  lines.  The  officers  of  the  company  are:  E.  E.  Long,  president; 
C.  E.  Weigle,  vice-president;  Valentine  Muller,  secretary;  Calvin  Fulton, 
treasurer,  and  Herman  W.   Berkey,  general  manager. 

PASCOAG,  R.  I,— The  Blackstone  Valley  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  of  Woon- 
socket,  has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  taxpayers  of  the  Pascoag  Fire 
District,  offering  to  supply  electricity  in  Pascoag  for  street  and  com- 
mercial lighting.  A  committee  has  been  appointed  to  confer  with  the 
company  in  relation  to  the  matter.  The  same  committee  will  also  in- 
vestigate the  municipal  electric-light  plant  and  report  as  to  the  probable 
cost  of  rebuilding  the  plant. 

PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.— The  Narragansett  El.  Ltg.  Co.  has  been  granted 
a  permit  for  the  erection  of  an  addition  to  its  power  plant,  80  ft.  by  164 
ft.,  five  stories  high,  on  South  Street.  It  is  proposed  to  install  a  large 
steam  turbine  which  will  practically  double  the  output  of  the  plant.  The 
boiler  house  will  also  be  enlarged.     Arthur  B.  Lisle  is  general  manager. 

WESTERLY,  R.  I. — The  Westerly  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to  install  at 
the  Norwich  &  Westerly  Trac.  Company's  substation  at  White  Rock  in 
the  town  of  Stonington,  within  the  next  four  months,  one  400-kva  fre- 
quency changer;  this  to  be  purchased  for  the  traction  company.  The 
Westerly  company  also  expects  to  purchase  within  the  next  four  months 
one  or  two  panels  for  its  power  station.  At  present  the  company  is 
erecting  a  pole  line  to  Bradford,  5  miles  distant,  and  is  planning  to  extend 
its  lines  to  Weekapaugh  in  the  near  future.  The  Mystic  Pwr.  Co.,  con- 
trolled by  the  Westerly  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  expects  to  extend  its  pole  lines 
to  Old  Mystic,  Conn.     M.   H.   Spellman  is  manager. 

SPARTANBURG,  S.  C— The  Spartanburg  Ry..  Gas  &  EI.  Co.  con- 
templates the  construction  of  a  new  power  plant  near  Spartanburg. 

RAPID  CITY,  S.  D. — The  Dakota  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to  purchase  within 
the  next  four  weeks  30,000-volt  switching  and  meter  apparatus  for  feeder 
line.     W.   R.  Putnam  is  general  manager. 

MEMPHIS,  TENN.— The  West  Tennessee  Trac.  Co.  has  completed 
surveys  and  secured  right-of-way  and  will  begin  work  about  Jan.  1  on 
construction  of  its  proposed  electric  railway  between  Memphis  and 
Arlington,  a  distance  of  about  25  miles.  B.  G.  Sargent  is  vice-president 
and  general  manager.  Headfluarters  of  the  company  are  located  at  the 
Southern  Express  Building,  Mempliis. 


1346 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  25. 


SOLTTH  PITTSBURG,  TENN.— A  new  100-hp  engine  will  be  installed 
in  the  local  electric-light  plant,  owned  by  J.  W.  Adams,  of  Chattanooga. 
Mr.  Adams  proposes  ultimately  to  contract  with  the  Eastern  Tennessee 
Pwr.  Co.,  of  Parksville,  for  electricity  generated  at  the  hydroelectric 
plant  near  Parksville  and  will  construct  and  operate  an  electric  railway 
between   South  Pittsburgh  and   Richard   City. 

ABILENE,  TEX. — The  Abilene  Gas  &  El.  Co.  contemplates  the  erection 
of  power  house,  transmission  lines  and  the  purchase  of  material  for 
distributing  system,  including  transformers,  poles,  lightning  arresters, 
insulators,  wire,  meters,  etc.,  within  the  next  three  months.  The  com- 
pany contemplates  the  purchase  of  boilers  within  the  next  four  months. 
BAY  CITY,  TEX.^The  Bay  City  Ice  &  Lt.  Co.  has  opened  an  office 
and  salesroom  in  the  center  of  Bay  City,  transferring  its  business  head- 
quarters from  the  plant.  Day  service  has  been  inaugurated  and  W.  C. 
Duncan,  local  manager,  is  now  carrying  on  an  aggressive  campaign  for 
motor  service  and  appliance  business.  The  company  hopes  to  secure  the 
contract  for  furnishing  electricity  to  pump  the  city  water.  For  this  pur- 
pose a  20-hp  motor  will  be  required.  Plans  are  also  under  way  to  erect 
48  five-lamp  standards  around  the  town  square. 

BRADY.  TEX. — The  City  Council  has  purchased  the  water  and  light 
plant  of  the  Brady  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co.  for  $42,200,  to  be  owned  and 
operated  by  the  municipality. 

DENISON,  TEX. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  City  Council  by 
J.  F.  Strickland,  of  Dallas,  president  of  the  Texas  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.,  and 
associates  for  a  30-year  franchise  to  construct  and  operate  an  electric- 
light  and  power  plant  in  the  city.  A  deal  has  been  closed  whereby  Mr. 
Strickland  and  associates  have  purchased  58  acres  of  land  on  the  Okla- 
homa side  of  the  Red  River,  just  north  of  Denison,  where  it  is  proposed 
to  erect  a  large  power  plant. 

EL  CAMPO.  TEX.— The  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co.  of  El  Campo,  W.  A.  Hiddle- 
son,  receiver,  contemplates  improvements  to  its  system  within  the  next 
two  months,  including  entire  new  brickwork  around  boilers  and  rear- 
ranging burning  equipment.  The  company  would  like  to  receive  bids  on 
poles  and  expects  to  purchase  within  the  next  12  months  miscellaneous 
station  and  distributing  equipment  as  needed. 

HOUSTON,  TEX. — The  Houston  Ltg.  &  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to  erect  an 
extension  to  boiler  room  and  make"  changes  in  engine  room  within  the 
next  six  months,  contract  for  which  will  be  let  to  local  parties.  The 
company  has  purchased  two  Babcock  &  Wilcox  boilers,  one  Curtis  6250- 
kva  turbo-alternator,  one  75-kw  Curtis  turbo-exciter,  with  condensing 
apparatus  and  necessary  switching  equipment  for  above.  W.  H.  Chapman 
is  president  and  general  manager. 

JOURD  ANTON.  TEX.— A  combined  electric-light  and  ice  plant, 
creamery,  ice-cream  factory  and  bottling  works  will  be  established  in 
Jourdanton.     G.  B.   Smith,   of  San  Marcos,  is  interested  in  the  project. 

NACOGDOCHES,  TEX.— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  S.  R.  Mc- 
Kinney,  secretary,  until  Jan.  15,  1913,  for  construction  of  an  electric- 
light  plant.  The  cost  of  the  proposed  plant  is  estimated  at  about  $20,000. 
PARIS,  TEX.— The  Texas  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.  expects  to  purchase  within 
the  next  12  months  one  150-hp  to  200-hp  boiler  and  equipment  for  2  or  3 
miles  of  pole  line  and  150  magnetite-arc  lamps.  John  A.  Porter  is  local 
manager. 

TIMSON,  TEX.— The  local  electric-light  plant  has  been  purchased  by 
P.  W.  McKittrick,  owner  of  the  Timson  Bottling  Works,  who  will  operate 
it  in  connection   with   his  other  business. 

BELLOWS  FALLS,  VT.— A  deal  has  been  closed  whereby  Chace  & 
Harriman,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  who  control  the  Connecticut  River  Pwr.  Co., 
which  has  a  hydroelectric  plant  on  the  Connecticut  River  at  Vernon,  hav^ 
purchased  the  property  of  the  Bellows  Falls  Canal  Co.  and  the  Fall 
Mountain  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  which  owns  and  operates  the  electric  light 
and  power  plant  in  Bellows  Falls.  In  addition  to  the  water  privilege, 
with  dam,  etc.,  the  purchasers  secure  several  plots  of  ground  and  an 
auxiliary  plant  located  on  Saxtons  River. 

NEWPORT  NEWS,  VA.— The  Common  Council  has  adopted  the  re- 
port of  the  special  light  committee  and  has  directed  that  a  contract  be 
prepared  whereby  the  city  will  enter  into  agreement  with  the  Citizens' 
Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  a  term  of  five  years  with  a  privilege  of  taking 
advantage  of  the  ten-year  terni.  The  plan  provides  for  lighting  the 
business  section  with  luminous-arc  lamps  and  the  residential  sections  with 
250-watt  lamps  and  100-watt  lamps.  The  cost  of  the  proposed  system  for 
a  ten-year  contract  will  be  $10,755  per  year,  and  for  a  five-year  contract 
the  cost  will  be  $11,477. 

NORFOLK,  VA. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  oflice  of 
the  supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Jan.  8,  1913,  for  a  conduit  and  wiring  system,  gas  piping  and  lighting 
fixtures  at  the  United  States  custom  house  at  Norfolk.  Va.,  in  accordance 
with  drawings  and  specifications  copies  of  which  may  be  had  at  the  above 
office  or  at  the  office  of  the  custodian,  Norfolk.  Oscar  Wenderoth  is 
supervising  architect. 

RICHMOND,  VA. — The  Board  of  Aldermen  has  granted  the  Rich- 
mond &  Henrico  Railway  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and 
motors  in  Richmond. 

WEST  POINT,  VA.— The  People's  Lt..  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Corpn.  expects  to 
purchase  within  the  next  12  months  material  for  lighting  system,  includ- 
ing poles,  conductors,  lamps,  sockets,  transformers,  etc.,  for  100-lamp 
series  incandescent  street-lighting  system. 

KELSO,  WASH. — The  Washington-Oregon   Corpn.,  of  Vancouver,  con- 


templates the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Cowlitz  River,  between  Kelso  and  Castle  Rock,  thereby  serving  the 
town  of  Lexington  with  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors.  The  line  will 
also  be  extended  across  the  river  to  Ostrander.  making  a  total  distance 
of  about   15  miles. 

MORTON,  WASH.— The  Morton  El.  Co.,  which  was  recently  granted 
a  franchise  to  furnish  electrical  service  here,  will  secure  electricity  to 
operate  the  system  from  the  plant  of  the  Lake  Creek  Shingle  Co. 
Broadbent  &  Francis  are  promoters  of  the  Morton  company. 

SATSOP,  WASH. — The  County  Commissioners  have  granted  the  ElmeT 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Elma,  and  the  Montesano  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  a  franchise 
to  erect  transmission  lines  over  the  country  roads  to  the  town  of  Satsop. 
VACOLT,  WASH.— The  Northern  Clarke  County  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  suc- 
cessor to  the  Yacolt  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  contemplates  the  purchase  of  three 
or  four  small  single-phase  (2-hp  to  l5-hp)  motors  and  also  small  motors; 
also  the  purchase  of  household  labor-saving  devices  of  all  kinds.  C.  K. 
Miller  is  secretary. 

BUCKHANNON,  W.  VA.— The  Buckhannon  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  expects 
to  purchase  within  the  next  three  months  one  200-kw  generator,  two 
250-kva,  3600  r.p.m.,  60-cycle,  2300-volt  generators,  two  turbo-generators, 
one  1,000,000-gal.  centrifugal  electrically  driven  pump,  one  16-60-hp 
induction  motor  arranged  for  direct  connection  to  centrifugal  pump, 
switching  equipment  for  generators,  etc.,  one  constant-current  trans- 
former, one  single  panel,  one  lightning  arrester,  120  plain  gooseneck 
brackets  and  sockets  complete.     J.   G.   Mayfield  is  general   manager. 

CHARLESTON,  W.  VA.— The  West  Virginia  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co.,  of 
Charleston,  W.  Va.,  has  acquired  the  property  of  the  Kanawha  Wtr.  & 
Lt.  Co.,  of  Charleston,  and  proposes  to  make  extensions  and  improve- 
ments to  the  properties. 

FAIRMONT,  W.  VA.— The  Monongahela  Valley  Trac.  Co.  has  de- 
cided upon  locations  for  its  substation  between  Clarksburg  and  Weston. 
One  of  these  will  be  located  in  Interstate,  another  in  Janelew  and  the 
third   south   of   Weston. 

CLINTONVILLE,  WIS. — Plans  are  being  considered  for  improve- 
ments to  the  municipal  electric-light  and  water  plant  within  the  next  six 
months,  which  will  include  the  purchase  of  one  tandem  compound  en- 
gine, feed-water  heaters  and  two  boilers,  one  boiler-feed  pump  and  three- 
phase    switchboard    complete.      George    C.    Stewart    is    superintendent. 

DE  PERE,  WIS.— The  De  Pere  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  is  considering  the 
question  of  installing  new  60-cycle,  three-phase  equipment  in  its  plant. 
L.    L.  Tessier  is  superintendent. 

FORT  ATKINSON,  WIS.— The  Water  and  Light  Commission  expects 
to  purchase  a  150-kw  to  200-kw  engine-driven  generating  set  for  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant  within  the  next  12  months.  W.  L.  Leonard 
is  manager. 

KAUKAUNA,  WIS. — John  I.  Beggs,  president  of  the  Wisconsin  Trac, 
Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Appleton,  Wis.,  has  secured  a  99-year  lease  on 
the  new  power  house  and  water-power  of  the  Green  Bay  &  Mississippi 
Canal  Co.  at  Kaukauna,  which  was  built  about  six  years  ago  but  owing 
to  legal  complications  has  never  been  operated.  Mr.  Beggs  proposes  to 
put  the  plant  in  operation  as  soon  as  possible  and  to  supply  electrical 
service  to  cities  in  this  vicinity.  High-tension  lines  will  also  be  erected 
between  Appleton  and  Kaukauna,  making  the  Kaukauna  plant  an  auxili- 
ary to  the  Appleton. 

MILWAUKEE.  WIS. — The  City  'Council  has  granted  the  Milwaukee 
El.  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  a  franchise  to  extend  its  car  tracks  on  Wells  Street 
from    Eleventh    to    West   Water   Street. 

SHEBOYGAN,  WIS. — The  installation  of  an  ornamental  street- 
lighting  system,  to  consist  of  approximately  60  units,  is  agitated.  The 
Sheboygan  Ry.  &  El.  Co.  furnishes  the  street-lighting  service. 

COQUITLAM,  B.  C,  CAN. — The  British  Columbia  EI.  Co.  has  been 
awarded  a  contract  for  supplying  the  roundhouse  of  the  Canadian  Ry. 
Co.    at    Coquitlam    with   electricity    for   lamps   and   motors. 

KAMLOOPS,  B.  C,  CAN. — The  contract  for  construction  of  Barriere 
River  dam  and  flume  (bids  for  which  were  opened  Dec.  5)  has  been 
awarded  to  W.  Greenless,  of  Vancouver,  B.  C,  for  $80,290.  J.  J.  Gar- 
ment is  city  clerk. 

NANAIMO,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  Nanaimo  El.  Lt.,  Pwr.  &  Htg.  Co. 
contemplates   extensive   alterations   and   improvements   to   its   plant. 

NEW  WESTMINSTER,  B.  C,  CAN.— The  Western  Canada  Pwr.  Co. 
has  been  awarded  the  contract  to  supply  power  to  Factory  D  of  the 
Dominion  Match  Co.  and  to  the  British  Columbia  Transport  Co..  of 
Sapperton. 

WINNIPEG,  MAN.,  CAN. — Prof.  L.  A.  Herdt  has  submitted  a  report 
to  the  Board  of  Control  recommending  the  erection  of  a  second  trans- 
mission line  to  Point  du  Bois,  adding  two  units  to  the  plant  there  and 
enlarging  the  McPhillips  Street  substation.  The  entire  project  would 
cost  about  $700,000. 

CLINTON,  ONT.,  CAN. — The  Town  Council  has  decided  to  submit 
a  by-law  at  the  municipal  election  to  appropriate  $33,000  to  purchase  the 
property  of  the  Clinton  El.  Lt.  Co..  to  erect  a  transformer  station  and 
to  secure  power  from  the  Ontario  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission  at 
$39  per  hp  per  year.  The  commission  has  quoted  prices  for  furnishing 
service  in  this  district,  including  Goderich,  Clinton.  Hensall  and  Exeter. 
based  on  1500  hp.  Goderich  will  use  700  hp,  Clinton  400  hp  and  the 
rest  will  be  taken  by  adjoining  municipalities. 


December  21,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1347 


CORNWALL,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Town  Council  has  entered  into  an 
agreement  with  the  Stormont  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  furnishing  gas  and 
electricity  for  lighting  the  town  for  a  period  of  ten  years,  subject  to 
the  approval  of  the  ratepayers.  Under  the  new  contract  the  town  is  to 
have  a  greatly  improved  system  of  street  lighting  at  a  reduction  of  $750 
per  year. 

HAMILTON,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Hamilton  Hydro-Electric  Board  has 
decided  to  order  from  the  Ontario  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission 
another  1000  hp  of  electricity  for  local  use.  The  present  contract  is 
for  2000  hp. 

SCARUORO,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Township  Council  has  adopted  a  res- 
olution asking  for  expert  advice  and  the  early  installation  of  electrical 
service  over  the  West  Danforth  and  Kingston  Road  district,  the  energy 
to  be  furnished  by  the  Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission  on  the  same 
basis  as  that  proposed  in  York  Township.  A  resolution  was  adopted  ask- 
ing the  Hydro-Electric  Commission  to  take  over  the  district  and  send  in 
experts  to  solicit  subscribers. 

TORONTO,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  improve 
the  lighting  system  of  the  Queen  Street  subway  and  place  cluster  lamps 
on    Victoria   Street   from   King  Street  to   Adelaide   Street. 

TORONTO,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  apply  to 
the  Ontario  Railway  Board  and  the  Ontario  Hydro-Electric  Power  Com- 
mission for  an  order  to  compel  all  electric,  telephone  and  telegraph  com- 
panies operating  under  provincial  charters  to  place  all  their  wires  under- 
ground   in    the    downtown    districts. 

YORK,  ONT.,  CAN.— The  Weston  Hydro-Electric  Commission  has 
notified  the  Township  Council  that  it  would  furnish  electricity  for  light- 
ing the  Weston  Road  from  the  southwestern  boundary  to  Butt  on  wood 
Avenue.  The  lamps  will  be  placed  under  the  supervision  of  the  road 
commissioner,  and  the  cost  for  100- watt  lamps  would  be  $12  each  per 
year. 


Trade  Publications 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  BROWN-LEWIS  RAILWAY  SUPPLY  COMPANY,  of  Chi- 
cago, 111.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500  by  Frank 
T.  Murray,  Charles  W.  Paltzer  and  Frank  S.  Righeimer.  The  company 
proposes  to  manufacture  and  deal  in  motor,  tractor  and  trailer  trucks  and 
all    steel    products. 

THE  WILLIAM  G.  CAMPBELL  COMPANY,  of  Jersey  City,  N.  J., 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  by  \V.  G.  Camp- 
bell, of  Philadelphia,  Pa.;  H.  E.  Moore,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  De  P. 
Stagg,  of  Hackensack,  N.  J.  The  company  proposes  to  do  a  general 
manufacturing  and  selling  business,  forging,  foundry,  mechanical  and 
electrical  work. 

THE  DE.-XN  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Morristown,  N.  J.,  has  been 
chartered  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  to  carry  on  an  electrical  and 
mechanical  engineering  business,  etc.  The  incorporators  are:  W.  W. 
Dean.  II.  I..   Dean  and  E.  A.  Quayle,  Jr.,  of  Morristown,   N.  J. 

THE  DYNAMAGNETO  COMPANY,  of  Augusta,  Maine,  has  filed 
articles  of  incorporation  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  for  the  purpose 
of  manufacturing  and  dealing  in  electrical  machinery,  etc.  I.  S.  Kera- 
ney,  of  Augusta,   Maine,   is  president  and  treasurer. 

THE  ELECTRIC  FURNACE  COMPANY  has  filed  articles  of  in- 
corporation under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware  with  a  capital 
stock  of  $1,000,000.  The  incorporators  are:  W.  J.  Maloney,  N.  P. 
Coffin   and    E.    B.    Davis,   of   Wilmington,    Del. 


New  Incorporations 

DECATUR,  ILL. — The  People's  Co-operative  Lt.  Co.  has  been  incor 
porated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  by  George  W.  Mueller,  Frank 
L.  Suffer  and  James  D.  Johnson.  The  company  proposes  to  sell  elec- 
tricity. 

KOKOMO,  IND. — The  Indiana  Rys.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $3,000,000.  The  directors  are:  George  J.  Marott, 
John  H.  HoUiday,  Alexander  R.  Holliday,  Henry  Kahn,  Lee  Hall, 
■  Thomas  C.   Reynolds  and  L.   J.   Kirkpatrick. 

PHILLIPS,  MAINE. — The  Washington  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $600,C|ip  for  the  purpose  of  owning  and  operating 
electric  railways  and  to  do  a  genera!  real-estate  business,  farming,  mining, 
etc.  J.  H.  Byron  is  president  and  N.  P.  Noble,  treasurer,  both  of 
Phillips. 

HELENA,  MONT. — Articles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  for  the 
Thompson  Falls  Pwr.  Co.  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000,000.  The  com- 
pany proposes  to  develop  and  utilize  the  water-power  of  the  Clark  Forks 
River  and  to  transmit  and  distribute  electricity  and  gas;  also  to  carry  on 
a  general  mining  business  as  well  as  the  purchase  and  sale  of  timber 
lands.  The  incorporators  are:  John  D.  Ryan,  of  Butte;  John  G.  Morony, 
of  Great  Falls;  William  D.  Thornton,  Max  Hebgen  and  Cornelius  F. 
Kelly,  of  Butte. 

SPRINGFIELD,  NEB.— The  Platte  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  C.  has  been  incor- 
porated with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  by  W.  B.  Leffler,  J.  Slander  and 
P.  C.   Stander. 


LIGHT  REGULATOR.— The  "Dim-a-Lite,"  by  means  of  which  fivt- 
changes  of  light  are  possible,  is  the  subject  of  a  small  eight-page  illus- 
trated folder  issued  by  the  Wirt  Electric  Specialty  Company,  Philadelphia 

TECHNICAL  DATA  BULLETIN.— The  Delta-Star  Electric  Company. 
617  West  Jackson  Boulevard.  Chicago,  111.,  is  distributing  a  thirty-two- 
page  bulletin  which  contains  numerous  data  relating  to  high-tension  dis 
tribution, 

OIL  ENGINES. — Catalog  C-12  of  the  Remington  Oil  Engine  Company. 
120  Broad  Street,  New  York,  contains  thirty-four  pages  of  illustrated  de- 
scriptive material  referring  to  stationary  oil  engines  and  outlines  the 
method    of    operation. 

CONNECTORS.— Dossert  &  Company.  242  West  Forty-first  Street. 
New  York,  have  issued  a  four-page  illustrated  folder  entitled  "The  Use 
of  Dossert  Connectors  in  Signal  Work,"  reprinted  from  a  recent  issue  ot 
The  Signal  Engineer. 

INDIRECT  ILLUMINATION.— The  National  X-Ray  Reflector  Com- 
pany, in  recent  additions  to  its  loose-leaf  literature,  calls  attention  to  so- 
called  "semi-indirect"  lighting  fixtures  and  prints  testimonial  letters  cov- 
ering various  classes  of  installations. 

WIRE. — The  Standard  Underground  Cable  Company,  Pittsburgh,  Pa., 
has  recently  issued  an  illustrated  stretcher,  6  in.  long  by  16.5  in.  when 
unfolded,  which  starts  off '  with  the  statement  that  over  400  miles  of 
''Standard"  wire  is  woven  into  the  twenty-five  stories  of  the  new  McAlpin 
Hotel  in  New  York.  Some  of  the  reasons  for  its  use  in  this  building 
as  well   as  in  other  prominent  buildings  are  given. 

ELECTRICAL  MACHINERY.— The  Arthur  Jones  Company,  223  South 
Clinton  Street,  Chicago,  has  just  issued  No.  13  of  "Jones'  Black  Book 
of  Bargains"  in  electrical  and  mechanical  power  equipment.  This  list, 
which  supersedes  all  previous  publications  by  the  same  company,  cata- 
logs and  illustrates  a  large  variety  of  new  and  used  electrical  apparatus, 
including  generators,  motors,  engines,  transformers,  meters,  instruments, 
etc. 

VEHICLE  BATTERIES.— "Instruction  Book  for  the  Operation  of 
'Exide'  Vehicle  Batteries"  is  the  title  of  an  eight-page  leaflet  which  is 
being  sent  out  by  the  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.  In  a  succinct  manner  it  gives  the  necessary  information  for  tlie 
owner  of  an  electric  vehicle  who  desires  to  keep  his  battery  in  good 
working  order.  These  instructions  cover  the  "Ironclad-Exide,''  "Exide," 
"Hycap-Exide"  and  "Thin-Exide"  batteries. 

HOUSEHOLD  APPLIANCES.— Of  four  recent  publications  of  Lan- 
ders, Frary  &  Clark,  New  Britain,  Conn.,  Bulletin  No.  289  refers  briefly 
to  the  general  line  of  electrical  specialties;  No.  352  deals  specifically 
with  coffee  percolators  and  coffee  machines;  No.  331  tells  about  the 
Thermo-cell  sadiron,  while  a  twenty-four-page  booklet,  "Universal  Home 
Needs — Electric,"  covers  coffee  percolators,  shaving-mugs,  teapots,  tea-ball 
samovars,  chafing  dishes,   portable  water  heaters,   toasters  and  sadirons. 

GENERAL  ELECTRIC  BULLETINS.— Among  the  various  bulletins 
that  have  recently  been  issued  by  the  General  Electric  Company  are  the 
following:  Bulletin  No.  A4039,  devoted  to  direct-current  motor-starting 
and  speed-regulating  rheostats  and  panels,  superseding  Bulletins  No.  4600, 
4559  and  4532  on  the  same  subject:  Bulletin  No.  A4034,  dealing  with  type 
"W"  long-life  flame-arc  lamps  for  street  illumination  and  designed  to 
operate  on  alternating-current  series  circuits;  Bulletin  No.  A4004,  which 
describes  the  G-E  steam  flow  meter;  Bulletin  No.  4993,  which  describes 
type  RI  single-phase  motors;  Bulletin  No.  4036,  which  deals  with  direct- 
current  exciter  panels  for  use  in  connection  with  alternating-current  gen- 
erator panels  when  for  any  reason  speed  control  of  exciters  is  desired, 
these  panels  being  designed  for  controlling  exciters  of  capacities  ranging 
from  5  kw  to  100  kw,  and  Bulletin  No.  A4037,  which  tells  about  isolated 
and  small  plant  switchboards  for  use  with  gasoline-electric  sets  and  for 
alternating  and  direct  current,  which,  while  designed  primarily  for  use 
with  the  G-E  gas-electric  generating  sets,  are  suitable  for  use  in  any 
generating  units  of  the  same  rating  and  are  intended  for  small  lighting 
plants. 


Business  Notes 


THE  ADAMS-BAGNALL  ELECTRIC  COMPANY  announces  the  ap- 
pointment of  Mr.  Nelson  B.  Hazel  tine  as  manager  of  its  Philadelphia 
office. 

THE  ARMATURE  AND  MOTOR  WORKS,  660  West  Fort  Street, 
Detroit,  plans  to  start  in  business  Jan.  1.  Mr.  J.  C.  Swack,  twenty-two 
years  with  the  Crocker-Wheeler  Company  as  erecting  engineer,  will  be 
superintendent.  Mr.  W.  J.  Hartwig,  205  Jefferson  Avenue,  is  to  be  one 
of  the  officers  of  the  new  corporation. 

WOODMANSEE,  DAVIDSON  &  SESSIONS,  consulting  engineers  of 
Chicago,  III.,  announce  that  Mr.  C.  N.  Garland  has  become  associated 
with  them  as  combustion  engineer,  and  that  after  Jan.  1,  1913,  in  addi- 
tion to  their  present  line  of  work,  they  will  be  prepared  for  consultation 
on  the  design  and  operation  of  producer-gas  and  water-gas  apparatus, 
gas-power  installations,  gasification  of  low-grade  fuels  and  the  application 
of   gas   to    the   various    heating   problems. 


1.548 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


\'oi..  60,  No.  25. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED  ST.AiTES  PATENTS  ISSUED  DEC.   10,  1912. 
I  Prepared  by   Robert  Starr  Allyn,  16  Exchange  Place,  New  York.] 

1  046,431.  ELECTRIC-LAMP  SOCKET;  R.  B.  Benjamin.  Chicago,  111. 
App.  filed  June  7,    1909.      Shade-holder  attachment. 

1.046,464.  METHUD  OF  MAKING  HOMOGENEOUS  MECHANICAL 
JUNCTURES:  A.  B.  Herrick.  New  York.  N.  Y.  App.  filed  June  4, 
1909.  Electrically  welded  copper  rail  bond. 
1  046  465.  ELECTRICAL  SHUNT  CONNECTIONS;  A.  H.  Hoyt,  Pena- 
cook.  N.  H.  App.  filed  May  24,  1911.  Flat-bar  connection  for  meters. 
etc. 

1  046,471  AUTOMATIC  ELECTRIC  PIANO  PLAYER;  L.  J.  Le  Pon- 
tois,  New  Rochelle,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Aug.  3,  1908.  Operator  in 
the  casing. 

1046  473    SYSTEM  OF  CONTROL;   C.   E.  Lord,  Milwaukee,  Wis.  App. 

'      tiled    Nov    30     1910.      Successive  automatic  switches. 

1  046.499  AUTOMATIC  CONTROLLING  SWITCH  FOR  ELECTRIC 
CIRCUITS;  G.  J.  Schneider.  Detroit.  Mich.  App.  filed  March  6, 
1911.      Thermostatic   switch    for   heaters,   etc. 

1046  500     DRIVING    OF    SINGLE-PHASE    MOTORS;    K.    Schnetzler, 

'  Baden,  Switzerland.  App.  filed  Feb.  11,  1910.  Two  motors  are  me- 
chanically  connected   and   driven   from   a  three-phase   system. 

1  046  514  ELECTRICALLY  HEATED  HOSIERY  FORM;  F.  M.  Vogel, 
Pittsfield,   Mass.      App.   filed  Oct.    21,    1911.      Flat-shaped. 

1,046.543.  THERMOSTAT;  D.  Beatty.  Berkeley,  Cal.  App.  filed  Jan. 
23.    1912.      Adjustable    mercury    tube. 

1.046.547.  INCANDESCENT  ELECTRIC  LAMP;  F.  Benz,  Jr.,  Hale- 
don,  N.  J.  App.  filed  Sept.  23,  1910.  Spider  support  for  the  fila- 
ment. 

1  046  554  TELEPHONE  RECEIVER;  C.  L.  Chisholm,  Marysville,  New 
Brunswick,  Canada.  App.  filed  Jan.  21.  191C.  Rigidly  supported 
diaphragm. 

1.046.597.  SIGNAL  DEVICE  FOR  RAILWAYS;  J.  and  W.  H.  Jen- 
nings. Greenwood.  Ind.  App.  filed  Aug.  24,  19II.  Cross-over  sig- 
nal set  by  the  trolley   wheel. 

1.046,601.  POLYPHASE  MOTOR  CASCADE  DRIVING  SYSTEM;  C. 
de  Kando, .  Budapest,  Austria-Hungary.  App.  filed  Dec.  13,  1906. 
Rheostat    connection    for    induction    motors. 

1.046,630.  ALARM  ATTACHMENT  FOR  INCUBATORS;  J.  C.  Mun- 
son,  Ponliac,  111.  App.  filed  -June  17,  1912.  Thermostatically  oper- 
ated  lever   mechanism. 

1.046.634.  ELECTRICAL  SIGNAL  DEVICE;  H.  A.  Parrish.  Kalama- 
zoo. Mich.'  App.  filed  Feb.  23,  1911.  Automatic  tripping  device  for 
trolley-blfick    signals. 

1.046,639.  ELECTRIC  WELDING  MACHINE;  R.  C.  Pierce,  Cincin- 
nati. Ohio.  App.  filed  Sept.  30,  1911.  Adjustable  spot-welding  de- 
vice   for    boxes,    etc. 

1.046.677.  REFLECTING  ELECTRICAL  LAMP;  E.  H.  Tate,  Los  An- 
geles, Cal.  -\pp.  filed  April  30,  1910.  External  and  internal  re- 
flector surfaces. 

1.046,685.  MAGNETIC  SEPARATORS;  G.  Ullrich.  Broken  Hill,  New 
South  Wales,  Australia.     App.  filed  July  29,   1908.     For  ore  grading. 

1.046.688.     MOTOR-STARTING   CONTROLLER;   T.    Varney   and   C.    G. 

Tarkington,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  and  Chicago,  111.     .^pp.  filed  May  9,  1911. 

Manually   closed   circuit   interrupters   with   mechanical   interlock. 
1.046.703.     RAILWAY  SIGNALING  SYSTEM;  A.  J.  Wurtz,  Pittsburgh, 

Pa.      App.   filed  Jan.  9,   1911.     Traffic-controlling  relay  for  each  block 

section. 
1.046.705.     ELECTRICAL  FUSE  HOLDER;  H.  W.  Young,  Chicago,  111. 

App.    filed   -April   24,    1912.      Special   caps   for   cartridge   type. 

1.046.708.  PORTABLE  RHEOSTAT  FOR  WELDING  APPARATUS; 
J.    M.    Y'ount.    San    Francisco.    Cal.      App.    filed    June    10.    1912.      A 

frame  on  wheels  adapted  to  be  lifted  by  a  hoist. 
1,046,714.     TELEGRAPHY;    M.    O.    Anthony,    Englewood,    N.    J.      App. 

tiled  June   8,   1909.      Signal   generating   apparatus. 
1.046,722.     SUPPORT     FOR     INCANDESCENT-LAMP     FILAMENTS; 

G.  W.  Beadle,  East  Orange,   N.  J.     App.   filed  July   19,   1909.     Freely 

movable   member  pasted   to  the  filament. 
1.046,724.     MACHINE  FOR  MANUFACTURING  SUPPORTS  FOR  IN- 
CANDESCENT-LAMP  FILAMENTS;    G.    W.    Beadle,    East    Orange, 

N.  J.     App.   filed  Nov.   22,    1909.     For  inserting  wire  anchors  in  the 

lamp  stems. 
1,046,743.     MEANS    FOR    INSUL.ATING    ELECTRICAL    MACHINES; 

W.    A.   Dick,   Pittsburgh,   Pa.      App.   filed   Feb.   3,    1910.      Commutator 

clamping  ring  insulation. 
1,046,748.     ELECTRIC-VEHICLE    MOTOR    AND    MEANS    FOR    SUS- 
PENDING THE  SAME;   G.   M.   Eaton,  Wilkinsburg,  Pa.     App.  filed 

Sept.  8,  1908.     Suspended  above  the  truck  axles. 
1,046,750.     ELECTRIC    METER;    J.     B.     Entz,    Cleveland,    Ohio.       App. 

filed  March  17.   1910.     A  dynamometer   releases  a  magnetic  brake. 
1.046.759.     CONNECTING   DEVICE   FOR  ELECTRIC  CONDUCTORS; 

D.   T.   Fisher.   Columbus.   Ohio.      App.   filed   Feb.   24,    1910.      Inclosed 

connection  for  mines,  etc. 
1.046.765.     ELECTRIC  SIGNALING  SYSTEM;  C.  F.  Frank,  New  York, 

N.    Y.      App.    filed   Nov   1,    1911.      A   series   of   signaling   devices;    for 

instance,  for  electric  train  control. 
1,046.777.     ELECTRIC  HEATING  APPAR.ATUS;   W.   S.  Hadaway,  Jr., 

East   Orange,   N.   J.      App.    filed   May    1,    1909.      Thermostatic   control 

for  sadirons,   etc. 
1.046.780.     CONNECTIONS  BETWEEN  METALLIC  FILAMENTS  AND 

FEED    WIRES    OF    ELECTRIC    INCANDESCENT    LAMPS;     F. 

Hanaman.  Budapest.  Austria-Hungary.     App.  filed  May  20,  1909,    Em- 
ploys a  metal  phosphide. 
1.046.782.     ELECTRIC     DISPATCH     SYSTEM;     K.     Hansel,     Vienna, 

Austria-Hungary.     App.   filed  Feb.  2,   1907.      Electrically  driven  letter 

carrier. 
1,046,785.      ELECTRIC    INCANDESCENT    LAMP;    R.    H.    Henderson, 

East  Orange,  N.  J.     App.  filed  March  23,  1911.     Filament  support. 
1,046.794.     RAILWAY    SIGNAL    DEVICE;    J.     and     W.     H.     Jennings. 

Greenwood.   Ind.     App.    filed   Aug.   24,    1911.      Automatically   operated 

by  movement   of  a  train. 


1,046,796.     ELECTRIC    SWITCH;    J.    D.    Johnson.    Boston.    Mass.      App. 

filed  Jan.  2,  1912.     Rotary  key  snap  switch  with  indicator. 
1.046,816.     ELECTRIC    RESISTANCE    UNIT;    E.    N.    Lightfoot,     New 

York,  N.  Y.     App.  filed  Dec.   14,  1911.     Triangular  convolutions. 
1.046,819.     GAS  FIXTURE;  H.  Lyon,  Gloucester  City,  N.  J.     App.   filed 

June   17,   1910.     Electrically  ignited  inverted  burner. 

1.046.822.  TENSION  DEVICE;  H.  D.  Madden,  Bloomfield,  N.  J.  App. 
filed   March  23,    1911.      For  winding  tungsten  filaments,  etc. 

1.046.823.  ELECTRICAL  SWITCH  CONTACT;  F.  R.  McBerty,  New 
Rochelle.  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Feb.  27,  1908.  Platinum  foil  with  elec- 
trolytically  deposited   backing. 

1.046.824.  METHOD  OF  MAKING  BIMETALLIC  PLATES;  F.  R. 
McBerty,  New  Rochelle,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Feb.  27,  1908.  Platinum 
with  electrolytically  deposited  copper. 

1,046,834.     CORE      STRUCTURE      FOR      DYNAMO-ELECTRIC      MA. 

CHINES;    C.    B.    Mills,    East    McKeesport,    Pa.      App.    filed    May    9, 

1911.      Knurled  shaft  and   laminated  core. 
1,046.854.      ELECTRIC    SWITCH;    R.    L.    Ramsay,    Corpus    Christi,    Tex 

App.   filed  Jan.    30,    1911.     Swinging   telegraph-line   knife  switch. 

1.046.859.  ELECTRICALLY  HEATED  RECEPTACLE;  J.  M.  Roe 
Sunnyside,  Wash.  App.  filed  July  17,  1912.  Heater  for  coffee-pots, 
etc. 

1.046.860.  ELECTRICAL  CIRCUIT  PROTECTOR;  C.  A.  ^olfe,  Adrian, 
Midi.  App.  filed  April  21,  1902.  Self-restoring  thermostatic  circuit- 
breaker. 

1,046,868.  STRAIN  INSULATOR;  E.  E.  Schmid,  New  York,  N.  Y, 
App.    filed   Dec.    27,    1910.      Interlocking  saddles. 

1,046,883.  ELECTRIC  MEASURING  INSTRUMENT;  H.  C.  Specht 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.  .\pp.  filed  Dec.  2.  1909.  For  accurately  determining 
slight  variations  from  a  predetermined  relatively  large  current. 

1.046.887.  ELECTRIC-HEATING     DEVICE;     W.     Stanley.     Great     Ba 
rington.    Mass.      App.    filed    May    13,    1909.      The    heating   element    is 
cast   inside    of   a    metal    form. 

1.046.888.  ELECTRIC  HEATER;  W.  Stanley,  Great  Harrington,  Mass. 
.App.  filed  May  13,  1909.  A  resistance  conductor  is  cast  in  a  wall  of 
the   receptacle. 

1,046,899.  PUSH  SWITCH;  G.  B.  Thomas  and  E.  Anderson,  Bridge- 
port, Conn.  App.  filed  Aug.  11,  1911.  Connection  between  the  push- 
button and  rocker. 

1,046,914.  NUT  HOLDER;  W.  M.  Webb,  Philadelphia.  Pa.  App.  filed 
April  13.  1912.  Spring  device  for  anchoring  a  nut  in  a  lamp  holder, 
etc. 

1.046,918.  ELECTRIC  INCANDESCENT  LAMP  WITH  BIPARTITE 
BULB;  P.  Weisse  and  S.  Bloch,  Gronau,  Hanover  and  Charlotten- 
•  burg,  Germany.  App.  filed  April  1,  1912.  Special  joint  between  the 
parts. 

1,046,928.  COMMUTATOR:  C.  Zenk,  Wilkinsburg.  Pa.  App.  filed 
May   21.    1912.      Bars  molded   in   an   insulating  body. 

1,046,934.  TRANSFORMATION  OF  DIRECT  CURRENTS;  P.  Amsler. 
Baden.  Switzerland.  .'\pp.  filed  March  29,  1912.  Mechanical  coup- 
ling  of  motor  and  dynamo  with   special   windings. 

1.046.952.  AUTOMATIC  TELEPHONE  SY'STEM;  E.  Bios.  Schoneberg. 
Germany.  -App.  filed  Dec.  21.  1909.  Two  current  impulses  per  digit; 
the  selectors  have  only   a  short   linear  movement. 

1.046.953.  SPEED  RESPONSIVE  SWITCH;  P.  J.  and  C.  D.  Bodine, 
Chicago,  111.  App.  filed  Nov.  8,  1911.  Centrifugal  switch  with  arc 
blow-out. 

1,646,968.  INCANDESCENT-LAMP  SOCKET;  L.  J.  Castonguay,  Bridge- 
port, Conn.     App.  filed  Jan.  21,   1910.     Key  switch. 

1.046.982.  SOUND  REPRODUCING  AND  AMPLIFYING  APPA- 
RATUS; F.  J.  B.  Coderio,  Newton  Center,  Mass.  App.  filed  March 
18,  1912.     Sounding-board  diaphragm  and  magnet. 

1,046,985.  ELECTRICAL  DEVICE;  J.  Creedon,  North  Philadelphia.  Pa. 
App.  filed  Dec.  20.  1911.  Gloves  to  be  worn  by  policemen  for  giving 
shocks. 

1,047.004.  ELECTRIC  HEATING  DEVICE;  J.  C.  Dimmick.  Los  An- 
geles. Cal.  -App.  filed  Jan.  16.  1912.  A  casing  with  heat-storage 
element. 

1.047,045.  ELECTRIC-LIGHTING  DEVICE  FOR  MOTOR-VEHICLE 
LAMPS;  H.  D.  Grinnell,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  March  21, 
1908.     Spark  ignition   for  gas  lamps. 

1.047.059.  INSULATOR   SUPPORT   FOR    LINE   WIRES;   H.    L.    Hoy 
book.    Tyler,    Tex.      App.    filed    March    14,    1912.      Separable   insulator 
and  bracket. 

1.047.060.  ELECTRICALLY  GENER.NTED  STEAM  VULCANIZER; 
A.  C.  Hulbert,  Santa  Rosa,  Cal.  App.  filed  Oct.  10,  1910.  Readily 
insertable   heating  element. 

1,047,069.  SIGNALING  MACHINE;  A.  C.  Kail.  United  States  Navy. 
.App.  filed  Oct,  17.  1911,  Radial  arms  for  day  and  night  semaphore 
signaling, 

1.047.084.  CORNER  IRON  FOR  PANELBOARDS;  H.  Krantz,  New 
York,   N.   Y.     .App.   filed  May    1,    1911.      Sheet-metal  clamp. 

1.047.085.  METERING  PANEL;  H.  F.  Igfentz,  New  York,  N.  Y.  App. 
filed  Oct.   20,    1911.      Selective  switchil^   system. 

1.047.086.  PANELBOARD;  H.  F.  Krantz.  New  York.  N.  Y.  App.  filed 
Nov.    10.   1911.      Switch  and  fuse  holders  and  connections. 

1.047,088,     ELECTRIC   COOKING   UTENSIL;    F,    Kuhn,   Detroit.   Mich. 

App.  filed  April   5.   1911.     Hot  plate  and  guard. 
1,047.105.     -ALARM  LOCK:  L.  Nagy,  New  York.  N.  Y.     App.  filed  Sept, 

9.  1911.     .Alarm  sounded  upon  movement  of  any  part  of  the  mechanism 

of  a  door  lock. 
1,047,110.     STREET-CAR   SIGNAL;    A.   O.    Nichols,    Omaha,   Neb.      App. 

filed   April   2,    1909.      Co-acting  operators  on   passing  cars. 

1.047.120.  SANITARY  DEVICE  FOR  TELEPHONE  MOUTHPIECES; 
G.  S.  Bennett,  San  Francisco,  Cal.  App.  filed  Jan.  16,  1911.  A  roll 
of  paper  for  a  shield. 

1.047.121.  SANITARY  GUARD  FOR  TELEPHONES;  G.  S.  Bennett. 
San  Francisco.  Cal.  App.  filed  March  8.  1911.  Protective  covering 
automatically   shifted   when  the  desk  stand   is  lifted. 


Electrical  World 

The  consolidation  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer   and  American  Electrician. 


Vol.  6o. 


NEW  YORK,  SATURDAY,  DECEMBER  28,  1912. 


No.  26. 


PUBLISHED  WEEKLY  BY 

McGraw  Publishing  Company 

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Copyright,  1912,  by  McGraw  Publishing  Company. 
Entered  at  the  New  York  Post  Office  as  Second  Class  Mail  Matter. 

The  circulation   of  Electrical   World  for   1911   was  965,500.      Of  tliis  issue 
18,000  copies  are  printed. 

NEW  YORK.  SATURDAY.  DECEMBER  28.  1912. 

CONTENTS. 

Editorials      1349 

Edison   Medal    for   William    Stanley 1352 

Goat    Rock    Hydroelectric    Development 1352 

Sanitary    District's   Schedule    of   Depreciation 1352 

Public    Christmas    Tree    in    New    York   City 1352 

Central     Station     Consolidation 1353 

Electromedical   Division   for   New  York  Edison   Company 1353 

Street-Lighting    Discussion    at    Pittsburgh 1353 

Effect   of   Electric   Current   on   Concrete 1354 

Tests     of     High-Tension     Insulators 1355 

National  Civic  Federation  Conference  on  Workmen's  Compensation..    1358 
Alleged  Fraudulent  Use  of  the  Mails  in  Promoting  Electncal  Schemes   1359 

Protect'on   of   Intellectual    Property 1359 

Factory  Lighting  Legislation 1360 

Public-Service  Women  Workers 1360 

Reduction  in  Ontario  Commission  Rates 1361 

Public   Service  Commission  News 1361 

Current  News  and  Notes 1362 

Electric  Development  in  New  England 1365 

Disturbances  of   Potential  and  Current  Produced  in  an   Active  Con- 
ducting  Network   by   the   Application   of  a  Leak   Load.      By  A.   E. 

Kennelly    1373 

Steam  Turbines  with  Exhaust  Disks 1376 

Louisville*  Central-Station    Sign I377 

The  Forward  Movement  in  St.  Louis 1377 

The  Electric  Heater  in  Color  Printing I377 

Central-Station    Statistics    and    Accounting 1377 

Records,  Forms  and  Files  for  Solicitors.     By  J.  E.  North 1377 

Duties  Performed  by  the  Small  Motor.     By  George  J.  Kirchgasser.  . .    1378 

"St.    Lou'S    White-Way"    Lamp    Replacing    Gas    "Arcs" 1380 

Ornamental    Lighting    in    Chattanooga,    Tenn 1380 

Lighting  of  a  Denver  Cathedral 1380 

Letters  to  the  Editors: 

Wireless  Comrrunication  from  Sayville,  N.  Y.     By  Richard  Pfund.  .    1381 

Proper    Basis    for    Energy    Charges.      By    P.    R.    Moses 1381 

Digest  of  Current  Electrical  Literature .' 1383 

Book  Revieu  s 1386 

New    Apparatus    and    Appliances 1387 

Industrial  and  Financial  News 1392 

Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 1400 


AN  IMPORTANT  NEW  ENGLAND  TRANSMISSION  SYSTEM. 

Until  very  recently  New  England  was  conspicuous  for  the 
absence   of   important   transmission  networks.      What   had 
been  done  was  merely  the  commonplace  installation  of  a 
few  useful  and  not  very  large  plants.    Three  years  ago  the 
system   of   the   Connecticut   River  Transmission   Company 
was  put  in  operation,  starting  with  a  plant  at  Vernon,  Vt., 
now  aggregating  about  2000  kw.    Its  lines  stretch  eastward 
to  Fitchburg,  Clinton  and  Worcester  and,  acting  as  a  whole- 
sale dealer  in  energy,  the  svstem  has  made  rapid  growth. 
Now,  under  the  corporate  organization  of  the  New  England 
Power  Company,  another  large  development  is  being  added 
to  reinforce  the  system  and  nearly  double  its  rating.     This 
new   enterprise,   described   el.sewhere   in   our   columns,   in- 
volves the  utilization  of  the  water-power  on  the  Deerfield 
River,  which  rises  in  southern  Vermont.     The  stream,  with 
a  total  drainage  area  of  a  little  over  500  sq.  miles,  is  more 
important  than  this   area   would   indicate.      It  has   liberal 
available    fall   and   takes    its    rise   in   that    plateau   of   the 
southern  Green  Mountain  territory  which  is  conspicuous  as 
having  the  largest  rainfall  in  this  part  of  the  country.    As 
in  any  mountainous  stream,  the  flow  is  very  variable,  and 
one  of  the  important  features  of  the  present  project  is  the 
building  of  a  storage  reservoir  at  Somerset,  Vt.,  to  hold 
2,500,000,000  cu.  ft.  of  water.    Three  plants  are  now  being 
erected,  all  very  similar,  each  of  6ooo-kw  rating  in  three 
units.     The  plants  are  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Shel- 
burne  Falls  and  operate  under  heads  of  about  60  ft.  each. 
They  are  of  simple  design  with  details  thoroughly  worked 
out  and  present  in  themselves  no  very  striking   features. 
The  hydraulic  design  is  in  each  case  comparatively  simple 
except  in  the  case  of  the  upper  plant,  known  as  No.  4,  in 
which  a  tunnel  some  500  yd.  long  had  to  be  cut  to  give 
ready  access  to  the   forebay.     Such   tunnels  are  common 
in  the  far  West  but  a  decided  rarity  east  of  the  Rockies. 

The  inauguration  of  service  from  these  new  plants,  with 
the  interconnection  and  extension  of  transmission  lines 
throughout  a  large  part  of  central  and  western  Massachu- 
setts, means  a  great  deal  to  the  consumers  of  low-priced 
energy  in  the  populous  municipalities  of  this  intensely  ac- 
tive manufacturing  and  commercial  region,  and  the  pro- 
posed extension  of  a  120,000-volt  system  into  Rhode  Island 
gives  a  new  angle  of  outlook  on  the  future  of  wholesale 
electrical  distribution  in  the  territory.  Again  we  see  the 
economic  possibilities  of  high-tension  transmission  in  locali- 
ties widely  separated  geographically  but  tied  together  elec- 
trically by  transmission  lines  specially  planned  to  insure 
continuity  of  service.  The  value  of  a  double  transmission 
line  loop  needs  no  emphasis  for  the  operating  man,  and  yet 
it  is  doubtful  if  any  feature  of  the  scheme  outside  the  pro- 
visions for  water  storage  is  of  greater  importance  to  the 
success  of  the  enterprise. 


I3S0 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26, 


The  uniformity  of  plant  design  possible  in  the  Deerfield 
work  is  striking.  In  each  of  the  three  stations  closely 
parallel  hydraulic  and  electrical  equipment  and  arrange- 
ment have  been  followed,  the  waterwheels,  generators,  ex- 
citers, penstocks,  oil  switches,  transformers  and  lightning 
arresters  being  of  the  same  design  in  each  instance,  save 
for  a  slight  difference  in  runners  in  the  wheels  of  one  sta- 
tion. Three  2000-kva  units  directly  driven  by  horizontal 
turbines  operating  under  heads  of  from  60  ft.  to  64  ft.  are 
installed  in  each  plant;  the  pressure  is  raised  from  2300 
volts  to  66,000  volts  in  two  3000-kva  transformers,  and  .the 
disposal  of  auxiliary  apparatus  and  outgoing  lines  is  so 
nearly  alike  in  the  several  plants  that  a  wide  possibility  of 
interchange  of  equipment  exists.  As  the  stations  are  located 
at  the  foot  of  a  narrow  bank  on  the  side  of  the  river  in  each 
case,  the  vertical  scheme  of  design  was  followed  to  advan- 
tage, transformers  and  oil  switches  being  located  above  the 
generating  room,  with  well-planned  steel  structures  for  the 
support  of  the  high-tension  lines  on  the  roof.  The  clear-cut 
arrangement  of  these  lines,  the  liberal  spacing  allowed,  pro- 
vision for  rapid  discharge  of  oil  from  transformers  into 
the  river  in  an  emergency,  excellent  crane  and  hoisting 
facilities,  use  of  asbestos  barriers  in  low-tension  oil-switch 
compartments,  and  the  adoption  of  remote  control  without 
excessive  investment  in  automatic  switching  devices,  are 
noteworthy  features  of  each  station.  Of  the  interesting  de- 
tails, mention  should  be  made  of  the  frequency-changer 
substations  being  built  in  the  Hoosac  Tunnel  and  Worcester 
districts,  the  former  to  supply  energy  to  the  electric  train 
service  in  the  historic  bore  and  the  latter  to  furnish  the 
street  and  interurban  railway  systems  of  Worcester  with 
cheap  transmitted  energy  while  operating  in  parallel  with 
or  supplementary  to  existing  steam-turbine  plants.  The 
provision  for  future  waterwheel  driving  of  the  Hoosac  fre- 
quency changers  as  double  generators  is  a  further  refine- 
ment making  for  flexibility  and  economy  of  operation. 
These  are  only  the  "high  spots"  of  one  of  the  most  signifi- 
cant developments  thus  far  made  in  New  England — a  work 
accoinplished  by  a  local  self-contained  field  engineering 
organization  in  the  face  of  many  difficulties  and  in  barely  a 
year  and  a  half  from  the  preparation  of  the  detailed  de- 
signs. 


SOME  FHENOMENA  OF  ELECTROLYSIS.      • 

Besides  offering  much  valuable  subject  matter,  the  recent 
paper  on  electrolytic  injuries  to  concrete  presented  before 
the  National  Association  of  Cement  Users  by  Dr.  E.  B. 
Rosa  points  a  moral  regarding  possible  dangers  from  elec- 
trolysis which  should  not  be  neglected.  The  tyro  in  en- 
gineering, when  he  thinks  of  electrolysis  at  all,  considers 
it  in  terms  of  the  academic  equations  which  have  been 
impressed  on  his  mind  or  sought  in  his  textbooks  and 
cheerfully  figures  out  from  the  electrochemical  equivalents 
concerned,  if  he  can  find  them,  just  what  are  the  possibil- 
ities of  damage  and  what  the  phenomena  to  be  anticipated. 
But  the  recent  investigations  of  the  Bureau  of  Standards 
turn  the  searchlight  on  the  subject  in  a  way  which  ought  to 
be  very  illuminating  to  the  student  or  even  to  the  experi- 
enced but  somewhat  too  theoretical  engineer. 

The  important  fact  which  stands  out  is  that  much  of  the 


damage  done  during  electrolysis  may  be  from  secondary 
causes  which  are  not  at  all  obvious  from  an  examination 
of  the  ordinary  electrochemical  conditions.  For  instance, 
the  damage  done  in  reinforced  concrete  by  corroding  the 
iron  at  the  anode  is  absolutely  secondary  to  the  mechanical 
effects  of  the  products  of  corrosion,  which  produce  stresses 
exceeding  2  tons  per  square  inch  and  quite  capable  of  crack- 
ing the  concrete.  Nor  was  it  to  be  expected  offhand  that 
secondary  chemical  damage  (not  in  the  least  directly  re- 
lated to  the  electrochemical  action  as  such,  but  none  the 
less  important)  would  occur  at  the  cathode.  The  ordinary 
student  gets  the  idea,  and  carries  it  with  him  into  his 
engineering  practice,  that  the  neat  equations  of  a  textbook 
of  chemistry  tell  the  whole  story,  although  the  fact  is  they 
are  frequently  guilty  of  concealing  part  of  the  truth.  In 
reinforced-concrete  structures  the  condition  of  passivity 
of  the  iron  is  a  matter  of  fundamental  importance,  and 
the  relation  of  this  to  the  substances  produced  even  sec- 
ondarilv  by  electrolysis  is  quite  as  important  as  current 
density  at  the  point  considered.  In  the  same  way  struc- 
tures buried  in  the  earth  are  subject  to  various  kinds  of 
secondary  actions  resulting  from  electrolysis  but  not  pro- 
portional in  their  effects  to  the  flow  of  electricity.  It  is 
eminently  unsafe  to  confine  one's  attention  to  anode  dam- 
age alone,  for  secondary  cathode  damage  is  liable  to  occur 
at  any  time  and  to  be  serious,  particularly  in  the  soil  of  a 
city  which  is  full  of  salts  of  one  sort  or  another  capable  of 
taking  part  in  the  general  phenomena  of  electrolysis. 

And  it  must  further  be  remembered  that  it  is  not  safe  to 
predict  on  the  basis  of  common  laboratory  tests  shown  in 
the  textbooks  that  chemical  action  will  or  will  not  take 
place  under  the  complex  conditions  resulting  from  the  un- 
known flow  of  even  a  known  quantity  of  electricity  between 
two  electrodes  in  unknown  condition  and  through  an  elec- 
trolyte certainly  non-homogeneous  and  containing  some- 
times very  unexpected  substances.  The  effect  of  mere  time 
in  producing  chemical  action  and  the  far  greater  effect  of 
reagents  in  a  nascent  state,  as  when  produced  by  electro- 
lytic action,  cannot  be  predicted  offhand.  The  indications 
of  textbook  chemistry  on  these  matters  are  uncertain  and 
not  alwavs  correct.  It  has  long  been  known  to  organic 
chemists,  for  instance,  that  certain  reactions  which  at  a 
given  temperature  and  under  given  conditions  apparently 
fail  completely  will,  with  the  long  lapse  of  time,  go  on  even 
lo  a  fairly  good  yield.  So-called  catalytic  actions,  too,  in 
which  the  presence  of  an  apparently  inert  additional  sub- 
stance starts  an  active  reaction,  are  perfectly  familiar,  but 
are  generallv  forgotten  as  possible  factors  in  the  accidental 
chemistrv  of  engineering.  The  question  of  electrolysis  of 
underground  structures  is  so  important  that  it  deserves  a 
good  deal  more  systematic  study  than  it  has  yet  had,  not 
merely  in  the  way  of  investigating  the  flow  of  electricity 
but  in  finding  out  what  the  primary  and  secondary  effects 
of  that  flow  really  are,  considering  the  nature  of  the  elec^ 
trolyte.  The  presence  of  saline  material  or  other  impuri- 
ties in  the  soil  and  the  protective  or  injurious  action  of 
the  accumulation  of  by-products  make  an  immense  differ- 
ence in  the  practical  effect  of  current.  The  subject  is  one 
which  ought  to  be  examined  in  a  systematic  manner  and 
on  a  fairly  large  scale  and  would  afford  a  good  topic  of 
inquiry  for  some  of  our  engineering  schools. 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1351- 


CENTRAL-STATION  CONSOLIDATION. 

Consolidation  of  central  stations  and  other  public  utilities 
into  groups,  large  and  small,  under  a  single  control  has 
already  reached  proportions  that  make  this  movement  com- 
parable to  the  combination  of  capital  in  the  industrial  field 
and  the  massing  of  our  railways  into  great  systems.  In  one 
form  this  movement  was  begun  at  least  as  far  back  as  the 
date  of  the  organization  of  Stone  &  Webster  in  1889.  An- 
other form  of  public-utility  combination  is  represented  by 
the  pioneer  American  Light  &  Traction  Company,  incor- 
porated in  1901.  Since  these  organizations  were  formed 
we  have  seen  the  tendency  they  represent  grow  until  the 
formation  of  a  public-utility  holding  company  or  the  absorp- 
tion of  one  by  another  is  almost  a  weekly  occurrence. 

An  investigation  just  completed  by  this  journal  to  dis- 
cover the  status  of  all  central  stations  in  cities  of  5000 
population  or  more  shows  that  in  11 59  cities  there  are 
528  syndicate  or  holding-company  plants,  524  independent 
companies  and  205  municipal  plants.  In  ninety-five  of  the 
cities  reported  syndicate  or  independent  plants  share  the 
field  with  municipal  plants.  This  showing  does  not,  how- 
ever, represent  the  full  extent  to  which  central-station  con- 
solidation has  proceeded,  for  the  reason  that  it  omits  several 
hundred  syndicated  plants  in  towns  of  less  than  5000  popu- 
lation. The  Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  for  example, 
supplies  electricity  in  209  towns,  gas  in  fifty  towns  and 
water  in  twenty-five  towns,  few  of  this  number  being 
represented  in  the  above  total  of  528  syndicate  plants.  An- 
other group  of  holding  companies,  all  headed  by  Mr.  Samuel 
Insull,  controls  the  public  utilities  of  about  250  communities. 
One  of  the  subsidiaries  of  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Com- 
pany alone  supplies  service  in  eighty-seven  small  towns 
and  cities.  Another  member  of  this  group,  the  Central 
Illinois  Public  Service  Company,  has  bought  fifty-five  Illi- 
nois electric  properties  since  .'\ugust  of  this  year,  most  of 
them  in  small  towns.  The  Doherty  and  Byllesby  groups  of 
properties  also  represent  large  aggregations  of  plants  and 
capital,  while  the  holding  companies  controlling  from  five 
to  a  dozen  plants  are  too  numerous  to  permit  of  mention. 
An  estimate  of  1200  as  the  number  of  central  stations  or 
other  related  public  utilities  under  syndicate  control  is 
probably  close  to  the  mark.  The  number  of  communities 
served  by  syndicate-owned  plants  is,  of  course,  far  larger. 

A  fact  that  shows  the  difiiculty  of  taking  a  central-station 
census  .and  at  the  same  time  illustrates  one  of  the  best 
reasons  for  the  combination  of  these  industries  is  found  in 
the  case  of  the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Company. 
The  eighty-seven  communities  now  served  by  this  company 
were  originally  supplied  by  forty-nine  separate  generating 
plants.  These  have  been  rapidly  shut  down,  and  in  a  short 
time  eight  plants,  and  ultimately  four,  will  take  the  place 
of  the  forty-nine  original  plants.  Evidently,  if  anything 
of  this  kind  is  to  become  the  rule,  we  shall  have  to  count 
the  syndicate-owned  plants  quickly  or,  like  the  oysters  that 
walked  along  the  beach  with  the  walrus  and  the  carpenter, 
they  will  be  too  well  swallowed  up  to  make  enumeration 
possible. 

This  is  an  outline  of  the  facts  regarding  consolidation  in 
an  industry  that  now  represents  $10,000,000,000  of  capital, 


that  is  calling  for  $500,000,000  of  investment  next  year,  and 
in  one  way  or  another  serves  the  larger  part  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  United  States.  In  the  face  of  such  facts  it  is 
the  custom  to  ask  what  we  are  going  to  do  about  it.  Is 
consolidation  of  public  utilities  desirable?  No  one  answer 
can  be  made  to  this  question  because  the  form  and  results 
of  the  combinations  differ  greatly.  In  some  cases,  such  as 
that  of  Stone  &  Webster,  control  is  accomplished  without 
retention  of  ownership.  In  other  cases  all  the  stock  of 
controlled  companies  is  owned;  in  others  only  a  fraction  is 
retained  by  the  holding  company.  In  some  cases  too  high 
prices  have  been  paid  by  the  holding  company  and  excessive 
stock  and  bond  issues  have  been  made.  As  a  rule,  not 
enough  has  been  put  into  equities  in  controlled  companies. 
But  when  this  has  been  said  the  worst  has  been  told. 

As  against  occasional  instances  of  loose  financing  'and 
inadequate  depreciation  reserves  or  insufficient  maintenance, 
or  both,  is  to  be  placed  the  better  service  rendered  by  the 
large  company  having  greater  resources  in  men  and  capital 
than  the  small  company  can  command.  On  the  credit  side 
of  the  ledger  there  is  also  the  economy  in  operating  a 
group  of  properties,  in  purchasing  for  many  plants  instead 
of  one,  and  in  the  possibility  of  making  a  few  plants  tied 
together  with  transmission  lines  do  the  work  of  many. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  more  than  a  few  of  the  public- 
service  corporations  in  large  and  prosperous  communities 
could  ever  afford,  or  be  able  to  raise  the  money  to  furnish, 
the  service  that  is  provided  by  companies  conmianding  large 
amounts  of  capital.  This  involves  no  reflection  upon  the 
ability  of  small-plant  managers.  In  fact,  their  abilities  are 
not  in  question,  merely  their  command  of  capital,  and  in 
this  respect  there  is  no  doubt  about  the  advantage  offered 
by  holding  companies  having  within  themselves  or  by  finan- 
cial associations  the  means  for  securing  the  capital  needed 
for  extensions  or  improvements.  How  enormous  this  need 
has  become  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that,  exclusive  of  bonds 
issued  for  refunding  purposes  and  in  exchange  for  stocks, 
the  new  capital  investment  in  public  utilities  in  the  past 
three  years  totals  $750,000,000,  of  which  all  but  $100,000,000 
is  in  the  form  of  bonds. 

Monopoly  of  public  utilities,  especially  under  public  serv- 
ice commission  regulation,  is  not,  except  in  special  cases, 
offensive  to  public  opinion,  and  this  feeling  has,  so  far,  been 
extended  to  cover  with  indifference,  if  not  active  approval, 
the  operations  of  holding  companies.  Whether  or  not  this 
attitude  on  the  part  of  the  pubHc  will  continue  depends 
largely,  if  not  wholly,  upon  the  results  of  central-station 
consolidation.  If  the  movement  becomes  one  of  financial 
exploitation,  it  will  be  checked.  B.ut  if  it  works  out  to  the 
advantage  of  the  public  and  the  investor,  it  will  doubtless  go 
on.  The  public,  as  represented  by  commissions  and  legisla- 
tures, will  not,  however,  be  as  lenient  with  the  holding  com- 
pany or  consolidation  of  to-day  as  it  was  with  the  over- 
capitalized and  under-maintained  public  utility  of  the 
past.  It  will  not  wait  for  bankruptcy  and  poor  service  to 
demonstrate  that  management  is  faulty.  This  fact  is  a 
safeguard  against  possible  evils  and  contains  a  promise  that 
we  shall  secure  the  blessings  of  concentration  in  public- 
utility  control  without  the  disadvantages  of  the  earlier  move- 
ment of  the  same  nature  among  railways  and  industrials. 


1352 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  26. 


EDISON  MEDAL  FOR  MR.  WILLIAM  STANLEY. 


By  the  unanimous  vote  of  all  the  members  of  the  Edison 
medal  committee,  the  fourth  Edison  medal  has  been  awarded 
to  Mr.  William  Stanley,  Great  Harrington,  Mass.,  "for 
meritorious  achievement  in  invention  and  development  of 
alternating-current  systems  and  apparatus."  Arrangements 
for  the  formal  presentation  of  the  medal  to  Mr.  Stanley 
have  not  yet  been  completed. 


GOAT  ROCK  HYDROELECTRIC  DEVELOPMENT. 


The  hydroelectric  development  of  the  Columbus  (Ga.) 
Povirer  Company  at  Goat  Rock,  on  the  Chattahoochee 
River,  was  officially  opened  on  Dec.  19.  Invited  guests 
of  the  company  were  conducted  by  special  train  from 
Columbus  to  Goat  Rock,  which  is  about  15  miles  above 
Columbus,  to  witness  the  ceremonies  incident  to  the 
event,  lunch  being  served  at  the  power  house.  The  Goat 
Rock  hydroelectric  development  was  designed  by  the  Stone 
&  Webster  Engineering  Corporation  and  comprises  a  gen- 
erating station  with  an  ultimate  output  of  40,000  hp,  the 
present  installation  being  10,000  hp,  and  a  concrete  dam 
1500  ft.  long  and  70  ft.  high.  The  machine  tension  of 
12,000  volts  is  at  present  stepped  up  to  66.000  volts  for 
transmission;  but  it  is  expected  that  110,000  volts  will  be 
the  tension  ultimately  adopted.  The  length  of  line  from 
Goat  Rock  to  West  Point  is  17.8  miles;  that  from  West 
Point  to  Lagrange,  17.2  miles;  that  from  Lagrange  to 
Newnan,  26.3  miles,  and  that  from  Columbus  to  Newnan, 
75  miles.  The  transmission  line  is  designed  to  transmit 
12,000  hp  as  a  maximum,  the  rest  of  the  energ>'  being  used 
at  Columbus.  The  Hardaway  Contracting  Company  was 
the  general  contractor  for  the  work. 


SANITARY  DISTRICT'S  SCHEDULE  OF  DEPRECIA- 
TION. 


In  the  recently  adopted  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago,  as  reor- 
ganized after  the  November  election,  there  is  some  interest- 
ing information  about  methods  of  charging  and  the  schedule 
of  depreciation  adopted  for  the  electrical  department  of  this 
municipal  corporation.  As  is  well  known,  the  Sanitary 
District  develops  hydroelectric  energy  from  the  Chicago 
Drainage  Canal  at  Lockport,  111.,  and  sells  electricity  to 
other  municipal  corporations  and  to  private  consumers, 
although  the  tendency  is  to  curtail  the  industrial  use  of  the 
energv  produced.  It  is  provided  that  the  receipts  of  the 
electrical  department  shall  be  applied  first  to  the  expenses  of 
the  department,  including  taxes  and  insurance,  and  second. 
to  the  creation  of  a  sinking  fund  to  be  used  to  replace  worn- 
out  and  antiquated  equipment  and  to  purchase  improved 
machinery.  But  if  this  fund  exceeds  the  annual  deprecia- 
tion charge,  with  accumulations  on  the  different  classes  of 
building  and  apparatus  according  to  the  schedule  adopted, 
such  excess  may  be  used  for  other  purposes.  The  official 
schedule  of  depreciation  in  per  cent  is  as  follows :  Power- 
house buildings.  2;  electrical  equipment,  power  house,  4; 
main  transmission  line,  4;  substation  building,  2;  electrical 
equipment  substation,  4;  miscellaneous  equipment,  5;  Lock- 
port  and  similar  equipment.  5 ;  miscellaneous  transmission 
lines,  5. 

Rates  for  electrical  energy  are  divided  into  two  classes, 
depending  on  whether  sold  for  public  or  for  private  use. 
All  energy  sold  to  private  consumers  must  be  disposed  of 
in  such  manner,  according  to  the  rules,  as  to  bring  to  the 
Sanitary  District  the  greatest  net  revenue,  without  dis- 
crimination. Rates  charged  private  consumers  shall  be 
based  upon  the  cost  of  delivery,  based  on  the  load-factor. 


but  where  consumers  contract  for  electricity  at  times  when 
its  consumption  does  not  affect  the  peak  load  on  the  plant, 
those  customers  may  be  classified  separately  and  given 
uniform  special  rates.  Xo  contract  is  to  be  made  between 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago 
and  users  of  the  electrical  energy  generated  by  it  for  any 
period  in  excess  of  five  years. 


PUBLIC  CHRISTMAS    TREE    IN  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


While  bands  played,  chimes  rang  and  choral  societies  sang 
familiar  Christmas  carols,  the  immense  Christmas  tree 
erected  in  Madison  Square  Park,  New  York  City,  was 
lighted  before  a  great  throng  of  men,  women  and  children 
on  Christmas  Eve.  A  snowstorm  visited  the  city  the  day 
before  Christmas  and  nature  continued  to  powder  the 
branches  and  obliterate  every  trace  of  artificiality  for  some 
time  after  the  electricians  had  completed  the  trimmnig 
of  the  tree.  The  idea  of  a  tree  for  all  the  people  was 
developed  by  Mrs.  J.  B.  F.  Herreshoff,  and  the  Adiron- 
dack Club  presented  the  city  with  the  finest  specimen  in  its 
park.  It  is  63  ft.  high  and  the  lower  branches  have  a 
sweep  of  25  ft.     The  hope  is  to  typify  in  it  the  Christmas 


New    York's    Public    Christmas    Tree. 

spirit  and  also  to  make  the  placing  of  outdoor  Christmas 
trees  in  large  cities  a  national  custom.  Of  course,  it  would 
not  be  possible  for  the  tree  to  appear  in  all  its  beauty  with- 
out the  shimmering  gleams  of  electric  lamps,  and  the  New 
York  Edison  Company  took  it  upon  itself  to  see  that  these 
were  not  missing.  At  the  top  of  the  tree  is  a  lo-in.  star 
studded  with  frosted  white  lamps.  These  are  connected 
to  a  dimmer  located  at  the  base  of  the  tree,  and  the  "Star 
of  Bethlehem,"  as  it  is  called,  is  gradually  brought  up  to 
full  brilliancy.  The  rest  of  the  tree  is  decked  with  3000 
white,  red,  green  and  blue  lamps  ranging  in  rating  from 
8  cp  to  4  cp.  When  the  star  reaches  its  most  brilliant  point 
the  varicolored  lamps  on  the  branches  below  wink  here  and 
there  into  life,  one  cluster  after  another,  until  all  are  lighted. 
The  tree  will  be  lighted  every  night  until  the  new  year,  and 
various  singing  societies  have  volunteered  to  supply  the 
entertainment  for  the  nights  until  the  dawn  of  1913. 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1353 


CENTRAL-STATION  CONSOLIDATION. 


In  the  accompanying  table  are  given  the  results  of  an 
investigation  into  the  ownership  or  control  of  central  sta- 
tions in  cities  having  a  population  of  5000  or  more.  Every 
effort  has  been  made  to  secure  exact  data  in  each  case,  but 
there  may  be  trifling  errors.  These,  however,  would  not 
materially  aft'ect  the  percentages  of  each  class  of  stations. 
Companies  in  large  cities  serving  a  number  of  surrounding 
communities  are  included  with  "syndicates"  in  this  com- 
pilation. 


ELECTROMEDICAL     DIVISION    FOR    NEW    YORK 
EDISON  COMPANY. 


State. 


Alabama.  .  -  . 

Arizona 

Arkansas. 
California . 
Colorado  . 

Connecticut. 
Delaware. . .  . 

Dist.  of  Col.. 
Florida ...... 

Georgia 


Idaho 
Illinois,  , 
Indiana. 
Iowa. . . . 
Kansas. . 


OS'S 
So  0. 

•SS<£ 


Kentiit:ky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts.. 


Michigan.  .  . 
Minnesota. , 
Mississippi. 
Missouri. . . 
Montana . , . 


Nebraska 

Nevada 

New  Hampshire. 

New  Jersey 

New  Mexico .... 


New  York 

North  Carolina 
North  Dakota... 

Ohio 

Oklahoma 


Oregon 

Pennsylvania.  . 
Rhode  Island 
South  Carolina. 
South  Dakota  . 


Tennessee. .  . 
Texas . . . 

Utah 

Vermont. .  .  . 
Virginia 


Washington,... 
West  Viriginia. 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 


Total 

Percentage , 


73 
50 
23 
24 

20 

11 

21 

S 

102 

47 
22 
16 
25 
V 

13 

1 

14 

52 

4 

71 
14 
4 
74 
16 

7 

124 

14 

13 
4 

10 

38 

4 


11 

13 

3^ 

4 

1159 


3    m 


2 
12 

1 
38 

15 
0 
1 


4 
1 
3 
44 
2 

38 
3 
2 

20 
6 

4 
70 
14 


Oc 

>  i;  c 
"■§£ 

V.   C   ^ 

4)^1;  o 
■^^^ 
E.& 


-°  S  5 


474  460 

40.9    I  39.7 


Q.D.-C 

^■5  C- 


Sag 

U    U   r- 


1 

1 

130 
II  .2 


2 
30 


aj  *j  c 


Syndicate  plants  operate  to  the  exclusion  of  others  in 
474  cities,  but  there  are  thirty-one  places  where  they  com- 
pete with  municipal  plants,  twenty  cities  where  they  share 
the  field  with  independent  plants  and  three  communities 
where  they  compete  with  both  independent  and  municipal 
establishments,  making  the  grand  total  of  syndicate  opera- 
tions 528. 

While  there  are  460  places  where  independent  plants 
operate  alone,  there  are  sixty-four  cities  where  they  com- 
pete with  syndicate  or  municipal  plants,  or  a  total  of  524 
independents. 

To  the  130  municipal  plants  that  serve  their  communities 
exclusively  should  be  added  seventy-five  in  places  where 
there  are  also  independent  or  syndicate  plants. 


The  contract  inspection  department  of  the  New  York 
Edison  Company  will  hereafter  be  reinforced  by  an  elec- 
tromedical division  whose  object  it  will  be  to  gather  in- 
formation of  an  electromedical  nature  and  spread  it 
broadcast  among  the  hospitals,  doctors,  nurses,  etc.,  of  the 
city.  A  trained  nurse  has  been  engaged  to  supervise  the 
work  and  to  keep  in  touch  with  progress  in  this  branch 
both  in  this  country  and  abroad.  It  is  felt  that  electricity 
will  be  more  widely  employed  if  those  engaged  in  medical 
work  are  kept  informed  of  developments,  and  it  is  the  pur- 
pose of  the  New  York  Edison  Company  to  undertake  this 
work  and  to  keep  on  file  in  its  Forty-second  Street  office 
descriptive  matter  on  all  domestic  and  foreign  electromed- 
ical appliances  as  well  as  to  make  an  exhibit  of  some  of 
the  apparatus  itself.  Visits  will  be  made  by  the  nurse  to 
hospitals,  clinics,  etc.,  in  various  parts  of  the  country  in 
order  that  the  practical  applications  of  electricity  in  them 
may  become  familiar  and  made  available  to  the  medical 
profession  in  New  Yo:k  City. 


SOCIETY  FOR  ELECTRICAL  DEVELOPMENT. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  executive  and  public  policy  com- 
mittees of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association 
held  in  New  York  on  Dec.  17,  at  which  Mr.  Arthur  Wil- 
liams presided,  Mr.  Henry  L.  Doherty,  chairman  of  the 
organization  committee  of  the  Society  for  Electrical  De- 
velopment, Inc.,  gave  a  complete  exposition  of  the  plans 
and  purposes  of  that  society.  The  latter,  as  has  been  noted 
heretofore,  was  recently  incorporated  for  the  purpose  of 
conducting  a  broad  co-operative  movement  for  the  benefit 
of  the  entire  electrical  industry  and  is  an  outcome  of  the 
conference  held  at  Association  Island,  New  York,  in  Sep- 
tember, between  representatives  of  central-station  com- 
panies, electrical  manufacturers,  jobbers  and  contractors. 
Mr.  Doherty  stated  that  $125,000  has  been  raised  by  the 
manufacturers  participating  in  the  movement.  The  two 
committees  voted  unanimously  that  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association*  give  its  support  and  indorsement  to  the 
plan,  the  substance  of  which  is  to  raise  by  small  dues  from 
the  participants  a  fund  which  in  the  aggregate  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  enable  the  society  to  secure  effective  national  pub- 
licity for  electrical  service  and  apparatus. 


STREET-LIGHTING   DISCUSSION  AT  PITTSBURGH. 

The  illumination  of  streets  and  public  places  was  the 
topic  of  the  meeting  of  the  Pittsburgh  Section,  A.  I.  E.  E., 
held  on  Dec.  12  jointly  with  the  local  section  of  the  Illumi- 
nating Engineering  Society.  Prior  to  the  session  Chairman 
E.  L.  Farrar  announced  plans  for  the  annual  Institute 
section  banquet  to  be  held  at  the  Hotel  Schenley,  Pittsburgh, 
Feb.  8.  President  Mershon  will  be  the  guest  of  honor  and 
a  number  of  prominent  local  men  will  speak.  Mr.  H.  E. 
Longwell,  consulting  engineer  for  the  Westinghouse  Ma- 
chine Company,  will  act  as  toastmaster. 

In  the  absence  of  the  author.  Prof.  H.  S.  Hower,  as 
chairman  of  the  Pittsburgh  Section,  I.  E.  S.,  read  the  first 
paper,  "Gas  and  Gasoline  Lighting,"  prepared  by  Mr.  Victor 
Westermeyer.  This  paper,  an  attempt  to  show  the  supe- 
riority of  gas  over  electric  lighting  for  city  streets,  aroused 
humorous  criticism  from  the  audience,  which  seemed  to  be 
composed  entirely  of  electrical  men. 

The  second  paper,  presented  by  Mr.  C.  E.  Stephens, 
Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  on  "The 
Illumination  Requirements  of  First-Class  Streets  as  Met 
by  Arc  and  Tungsten  Light  Sources,"  covered  the  subject 


1354 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


very  iullv,  giving  the  particular  uses  of  each  illumiliant 
together  with  figures  and  data  for  securing  the  best  results. 
He  advocated  10  to  i  as  a  ratio  of  maximum  to  minimum 
intensity  in  residence  districts,  and  5  to  I  in  congested  down- 
town districts. 

The  third  paper  of  the  evening,  prepared  by  Mr.  C.  A.  B. 
Halvarson,  and  read  by  Mr.  C.  J.  Mundo,  local  secretary 
of  the  L  E.  S.,  related  to  "New  Types  of  Ornamental 
Luminous-Arc  Lamps  for  the  Lighting  of  Parkways,  Busi- 
ness and  Residential  Streets."  This  paper  took  the  place 
of  one  scheduled  to  be  read  by  Mr.  C.  M.  Axford.  The 
lighting  requirements  of  such  special  districts  were  de- 
scribed and  figures  given  for  the  proper  heights  for  illumi- 
nants. 

In  the  discussion  Mr.  H.  N.  Mueller  took  exception  to  the 
figures  given  on  gas  and  gasoline  lighting  as  compared  with 
arc  lighting.  Mr.  Berford  Brittian  referred  to  the  limita- 
tions of  the  Cooper  Hewitt  quartz-tube  lamp  for  street 
lighting  since  it  is  restricted  to  use  on  direct-current 
multiple  circuits  or  alternating-current  circuits  through 
rectifiers. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Reed  said  that  high-pressure  gas  is  used  con- 
siderably in  Europe.  The  increase  in  pressure  has  made 
larger  units  available,  and  such  units  are  in  many  cases 
more  efficient.  Where  foliage  is  dense,  arc  lamps  suspended 
22  ft.  above  the  ground  at  300-ft.  intervals  may  give  poor 
illumination  compared  with  tungsten  lamps  hung  at  a  height 
of  12  ft.  The  latter  often  require  underground  distribution, 
whereas  overhead  construction  can  be  used  with  the  arcs. 
Such  conditions  may  make  the  tungsten,  system  expensive 
if  the  city  requires  it,  but  the.  city  rules  must  be  followed 
in  any  case,  and  since  these  vary,  each  citv  has  its  own  prob- 
lems to  work  out. 

Mr.  Alan  Bright  called  attention  to  some  of  the  types 
of  posts  now  being  used.  One  city  on  the  Pacific  Coast  has 
native-limestone  posts  modeled  in  Spanish  mission  style. 
Other  posts  are  decorated  with  flowers,  clematis  vines,  etc. 

Mr.  H.  H.  Magdsick  said  that  while,  compared  with 
carbon  lamps,  gas  lighting  is  cheaper,  tungstens  have  made 
electric  lighting  still  more  economical.  In  Cleveland  a  gas 
unit  costs  $20.71  per  year,  while  a  6o-cp  tungsten  lamp, 
considering  all  costs  including  loss  in  lines,  etc.,  costs  $10.81 
at  2  cents  per  kw-hr.,  $14  at  3  cents,  and  $17.21  at  4  cents. 


EFFECT  OF  ELECTRIC  CURRENT  ON   CONCRETE. 


-At  the  ninth  annual  convention  of  the  National  Associa- 
tion of  Cement  Users,  held  in  Pittsburgh,  Dec.  10  to  13, 
an  important  paper  on  the  "Effect  of  Electric  Current  on 
Concrete"  was  presented  by  Dr.  E.  B.  Rosa,  assistant 
director ;  Mr.  Burton  McCollum,  associate  physicist,  and 
Mr.  O.  S.  Peters,  assistant  physicist.  United  States  Bureau 
of  Standards. 

During  the  last  few  years  attention  has  been  called  to  the 
possibility  of  damage  to  reinforced-concrete  structures  by 
stray  currents  from  electric  railways  and  other  power 
sources,  giving  rise  not  only  to  serious  corrosion  of  the 
reinforcing  material  but  also  to  cracking  and  disintegration 
of  the  surrounding  concrete.  Numerous  laboratory  experi- 
ments tend  to  confirm  the  observations  in  regard  to  destruc- 
tion of  the  concrete,  but  give  rise  to  conflicting  theories  as 
to  the  cause  of  the  phenomena  observed. 

Recognizing  the  great  practical  importance  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  acting  in  response  to  requests  from  numerous 
sources,  the  Bureau  of  Standards  has  since  1910  been  con- 
ducting a  thorough  investigation  of  the  cause  and  extent 
of  damage  to  concrete  by  electric  current  and  the  best 
method  of  mitigating  the  trouble  under  practical  condi- 
tions. 

The  investigation  has  been  conducted  along  the  follow- 
ing lines : 


{1)  Laboratory  studies  of  the  cause  and  nature  of  the 
phenomena  caused  by  the  passage  of  electric  currents 
through  concrete. 

(2)  Observation  in  the  field  with  the  view  of  establish- 
ing definitely  the  probable  extent  of  the  danger  in  practice 
and  the  circumstances  under  which  trouble  is  most  likely 
to  occur. 

(3)  A  study  of  the  various  possible  means  of  mitigating 
trouble  from  this  source,  leading  to  specific  recommenda- 
tions based  thereon. 

The  reports  of  previous  investigators  that  the  passage 
of  current  from  an  iron  anode  into  normal  concrete  caused 
destruction  by  cracking  were  only  partly  confirmed.  This 
effect  did  not  occur  in  most  of  the  specimens  tested  when 
the  potential  gradient  was  less  than  about  15  volts  over  a 
distance  of  3  in.,  or  about  60  volts  per  foot  of  anode. 

Among  the  numerous  theories  that  have  been  advanced 
for  the  cracking,  the  one  which  attributes  it  to  oxidation 
of  the  iron  anode  following  electrolytic  corrosion  has  been 
fully  established.  The  oxides  formed  occupy  2.2  times  as 
great  a  volume  as  the  original  iron,  and  the  pressure  result- 
ing from  this  increase  of  volume  causes  the  block  to  crack 
open.  The  mechanical  pressure  developed  at  the  iron  anode 
surface  by  corrosion  of  the  iron  has  been  found  to  reach 
values  as  high  as  4700  lb.  per  square  inch,  more  than  suf- 
ficient to  account  for  the  observed  phenomena  of  cracking. 
Metals  which  do  not  form  insoluble  products  of  corrosion 
and  all  non-corrodible  anodes  never  cause  cracking. 

Suggestions  that  copper-coated  steel  or  aluminum  be  used 
as  reinforcing  material  have  been  shown  to  be  imprac- 
ticable, since  the  copper  coating  is  readily  destroyed  and 
the  aluminum  is  attacked  by  the  alkali  in  the  concrete. 

The  corrosion  of  iron  anodes  in  normal  concrete  is  very 
slight  at  temperatures  below  about  50  deg.  C,  owing  to  the 
inhibiting  effect  of  the  hydrated  lime.  For  any  fixed  tem- 
perature the  amount  of  corrosion  for  a  given  number  of 
amp-hours  is  independent  of  the  current  strength. 

The  rapid  destruction  of  anode  specimens  at  voltages 
from  60  to  100  or  more  is  made  possible  mainly  by  the 
heating  effect  of  the  current,  which  raises  the  temperature 
above  the  limit  mentioned  above.  If  the  specimen  be 
artificially  cooled,  no  appreciable  corrosion  occurs  and  no 
cracking  results. 

In  the  specimen  tested  the  potential  gradient  necessary 
to  produce  a  temperature  rise  to  50  deg.  C,  with  conse- 
quent corrosion,  was  about  60  volts  per  foot.  For  air-dried 
concrete  it  is  much  higher.  This  shows  that  under  actual 
conditions  corrosion  from  stray  currents  may  be  expected 
only  under  special  or  extreme  conditions. 

Since  the  passivity  of  iron  in  concrete  is  due  chiefly  to 
the  calcium  hydrate  present,  it  appears  probable  that  old 
structures,  in  which  the  hydrate  has  been  largely  converted 
into  the  carbonate,  will  be  more  susceptible  to  the  effects 
of  electric  current  than  the  comparatively  new  concrete 
with  wliich  the  foregoing  experiments  have  been  made. 
The  increase  in  the  corrosion  would,  however,  be  partly 
offset  by  the  increase  in  the  resistance  of  the  older  con- 
crete. 

The  addition  of  a  small  amount  of  salt  to  concrete,  as  is 
frequently  done  to  prevent  freezing  while  setting,  has  a 
twofold  effect.  First,  it  greatly  increases  the  initial  con- 
ductivity of  the  concrete,  thus  allowing  more  current  to 
flow,  and.  second,  it  destroys  the  passive  condition  of  t,lie 
iron  at  ordinary  temperatures,  thus  multiplying  by  many 
hundreds  of  times  .the  rate  of  corrosion  and  consequent 
deterioration  of  the  concrete.  Salt  should,  therefore,  never 
be  used  in  structures  that  may  be  subjected  to  electrolytic 
action.  Further,  reinforced-concrete  structures  built  in 
contact  with  sea  water  or  in  salt  marshes  are  very  sus- 
ceptible to  trouble   from  electrolysis. 

Specimens  of  normal  concrete  carrying  currents  increase 
their  resistance  a  hundredfold  or  more  in  the  course  of  a 
few    weeks,    which    fact    still    further    lessens    danger    of 


December  28.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


I3S5 


trouble.  The  rise  of  resistance  is  in  general  due  to  the 
precipitation  of  calcium  carbonate  within  the  pores  of  the 
concrete,  thus  plugging  them  up.  A  slight  amount  of  salt 
prevents  this  precipitation  and  consequent  rise  of  resist- 
ance, thus  still  further  emphasizing  the  detrimental  effect 
of  the  presence  of  salt. 

Contrary  to  the  observations  of  previous  investigators,  a 
distinct  softening  of  the  concrete  near  the  cathode  was 
observed.  This  begins  at  the  cathode  surface  and  slowly 
spreads  outward,  in  some  cases  J4  i"-  or  more.  After 
exposures  to  the  air  this  softened  layer  becomes  very  hard 
again,  but  it  remains  brittle  and  friable.  This  softening 
effect  causes  practically  complete  destruction  of  the  bond 
between  the  reinforcing  material  and  the  concrete,  reduc- 
ing it  to  a  few  per  cent  of  its  normal  value.  Unlike  the 
anode-  effect,  which  becomes  serious  in  normal  concrete 
only  in  comparatively  high  voltages,  the  cathode  effect 
develops  at  all  voltages,  the  rate  being  roughly  propor- 
tional to  the  voltage  in  a  given  specimen.  For  this  reason 
it  may  frequently  occur  in  practice  and  is,  therefore,  a 
more  serious  matter  practically  than  the  anode  effect  about 
which  so  much  has  been  heard. 

The  softening  of  the  concrete  at  the  cathode  is  due  chiefly 
to  the  gradual  concentration  of  sodium  and  potassium  near 
the  cathode  by  the  passage  of  electric  current.  The  alkali 
in  time  becomes  sufficiently  strong  to  attack  the  cement. 

Observations  have  shown  that  the  softening  of  the  con- 
crete talves  place  only  very  close  to  the  cathode,  the  main 
body  of  the  concrete  remaining  perfectly  sound  without 
loss  of  strength.  Because  of  this  effect  the  method  of  pro- 
tecting reinforced-concrete  buildings  by  connecting  the 
reinforcing  material  as  a  cathode  to  a  battery  or  booster 
would  be  much  more  dangerous  than  no  protection  at  all. 

The  only  effect  which  an  electric  current  has  on  unrein- 
forced  concrete  is  to  cause  a  migration  of  the  water-soluble 
elements.  Consequently,  in  the  absence  of  electrodes,  the 
ultimate  effect  of  current  flow  on  the  physical  properties 
of  the  concrete  is  not  materially  different  from  that  of 
flow-w^ter  seepage,  which  also  removes  the  water-soluble 
elements.  Non-reinforced-concrete  buildings  are  there- 
fore immune  from  trouble  due  to  stray  earth  currents. 
They  might,  however,  be  injured  by  the  grounding  of 
power  wires  carried  in  conduits  embedded  in  the  concrete, 
since  these  conduits  would  then  act  as  electrodes. 

Conditions  arise  in  practice  which  will  cause  damage 
from  stray  currents,  but  this  danger  has  been  greatly  over- 
estimated. Waterproofing  reinforced  concrete  increases 
its  resistance  and  diminishes,  accordingly,  the  danger  from 
anode  or  cathode  effects.  Practically  all  of  the  waterproof- 
ing agents  now  on  the  market  intended  to  be  mixed  with 
concrete  are  of  little  value  as  preventives  of  electrolysis. 
Waterproofing  membranes,  however,  when  applied  to  the 
surface,  are  more  effective  and  may  have  considerable 
effect  in  preventing  the  entry  of  earth  currents  into  the 
concrete. 

Painting  or  otherwise  coating  iron  with  an  alkali-resist- 
ing metal  preservative  before  embedding  it  in  concrete  may 
serve  to  minimize  the  dangers  of  electrolysis,  but  no  such 
•coating  has  been  found  that  does  not  prevent  the  formation 
of  the  bond  between  the  concrete  and  iron  when  the  con- 
crete sets. 

All  circuits  within  a  building  should  be  kept  free  from 
grounds  directly  on  a  portion  of  the  building  itself.  If 
the. supply  comes  from  a  central  station,  the  local  circuits 
should  be  periodically  disconnected  and  tested  for  grounds 
and  incipient  defects  in  the  insulation. 

All  pipe  lines  entering  concrete  buildings  should,  if  pos- 
sible, be  provided  with  insulating  joints  outside  the  build- 
ings. If  a  pipe  line  passes  through  a  building  and 
continues  beyond,  one  or  more  insulating  joints  should 
be  placed  on  both  sides  of  the  building.  If  the 
potential  drop  around  the  insulated  section  is  8 
volts  or  10  volts  or  more,  the  insulated  portion  should  be 


shunted  by  means  of  a  copper  cable.  The  grounding  of 
electric  conduits  to  water  pipes  and  ground  plates  is  in 
general  not  to  be  recommended  in  the  case  of  concrete 
structures. 

Lead-covered  cables  entering  such  buildings  should  be 
insulated  from  the  concrete.  Wooden  or  other  non-metallic 
supports  which  prevent  actual  contact  between  the  cable 
and  the  concrete  will  give  sufficient  insulation  for  this  pur- 
pose. Such  insulation  is  desirable  for  the  protection  of 
the  cable  as  well  as  the  building.  The  fact  that  a  fairly 
large  voltage  reading  may  be  obtained  should  not  be  taken 
as  sufficient  evidence  that  the  trouble  is  due  to  electrolysis. 
The  distance  between  the  points  and  particularly  the  char- 
acter of  the  intervening  medium  are  of  much  greater  im- 
portance than  the  mere  magnitude  of  the  voltage  reading. 
As  a  precautionary  measure,  however,  all  potential  read- 
ings about  a  reinforced-concrete  structure  should  be  kept 
as  low  as  possible. 


TESTS  OF  HIGH-TENSION  INSULATORS. 


At  the  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  held  in  New  York  Dec.  13  under  the  auspices  of 
the  high-tension  transmission  committee  the  subject  of 
high-tension  msulators — tests  and  specifications — was  given 
consideration,  as  briefly  noted  last  week. 

HIGH-FREQUENCY    TESTS. 

The  work  on  "High-Frequency  Tests  of  Line  Insulators" 
reported  by  Messrs.  L.  E.  Imlay  and  Percy  H.  Thomas  was 
undertaken,  the  author  explained,  to  clear  up  discrepancies 
between  the  repeated  punctures  occurring  through  the  heads 


Arrangements   for    High- Frequency   Tests. 


of  certain  insulators  due  to  lightning  and  the  refusal  of  the 
same  insulators  to  be  punctured  by  a  25-cycle  testing  set. 
For  the  tests  a  500-kw,  750,000-volt  transformer  was  used, 
one  side  being  grounded  and  the  other  connected  to  the 
discharge  apparatus  as  the  sketch  (Fig.  i)  shows.  The 
plate  was  of  sheet  iron,  9  ft.  by  8  ft.,  which,  suspended  3.5 
ft.  from  the  ground  plate  (a  transformer  tank),  had  a  ca- 
pacity estimated  at  o.oooi  microfarad.  The  transformer 
was  protected  by  three  air-core  choke  coils:  A,  twenty-two 
turns,  i8-in.  diameter ;  B,  ten  turns,  24-in.  diameter,  and  C, 
200  turns.  The  insulator  under  test  carried  a  half-inch 
brass  rod  which  also  served  as  an  electrode  for  the  spark- 
gap.  The  insulator  pin  was  well  grounded,  and  a  measur- 
ing needle-gap  spanned  the  interval  from  pin  to  conductor. 
The  general  method  was  to  raise  the  voltage  until  a  dis- 
charge occurred  across  the  series  gap  onto  the  insulator. 
The  result  of  this  breakdown  was  in  most  cases  so  to  re- 
duce the  applied  voltage  that  the  arc  proper  would  drop 
out,  leaving  the  series  gap  nearly  intact.  Thus  the  next 
alternation  would  be  obliged  to  reproduce  nearly  the  orig- 
inal breakdown  voltage  on  the  gap.  The  effect  was  to  give 
a  succession  of  static  sparks  lasting  one  or  two  seconds. 


I3S6 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


as  distinguished  from  the  holding  of  an  arc  over  the  gap. 
In  later  tests  the  opposite  effect  was  secured,  a  single  static 
spark  occurring  each  time  the  voltage  vi^as  raised,  followed 
by  a  mild  arc. 

The  eleven  groups  of  experiments  carried  out  included 
both  normal  flash-over  tests  in  air  and  oil  using  60-cycle 
pressure  and  high-frequency  tests  made  with  the  apparatus 
shown  in  the  sketch.  A  surprising  feature  of  the  high- 
frequency  tests  was  the  puncturing  of  the  2-in.  thickness  of 
elcctrose  in  the  head,  from  pin  to  conductor,  despite  the  fact 
that  in  the  60-cycle  test  these  same  insulators  had  flashed 
over  the  surface,  even  under  oil,  rather  than  puncture 
through  the  head.  Some  of  these  elcctrose  insulators  then 
had  their  standard  forms  modified  by  turning  off  portions 
of  the  petticoat,  drilling  holes,  sawing,  etc.  These  test  re- 
sults showed  that  the  resistance  to  high-frequency  stress 
bore  little  relation  to  that  of  normal  60-cycle  strain.  Sim- 
ilar tests  were  then  continued  using  porcelain  insulators,  the 
results  indicating  that  the  manner  of  failure  at  high  fre- 
quency was  not  peculiar  to  elcctrose.  Surmising  that  the 
effect  of  high  frequency  was  due  to  a  special  distribution  of 
stresses  and  potential,  other  insulators  were  tested  with 
sheet-lead  bands  covering  their  waists,  the  result  being  that 
these  units  stood  up  longer  than  any  similar  insulators,  even 
with  reduced  petticoats. 

Unless  misleading,  because  of  unexpected  causes,  the  au- 
thors believe  that  these  tests  reveal  that  many  line  insulators 
now  in  service  may  be  expected  to  break  down  by  punctur- 
ing under  the  attack  of  lightning  rather  than  by  discharge 
over  the  surface,  wdiich  is  recognized  as  the  desired 
characteristic — in  spite  of  the  fact  that  these  insulators 
may  have  been  thoroughly  tested  on  normal-  frequencies  in 
the  usual  way  and  may  have  then  always  flashed  over  the 
petticoats  as  intended.    The  fact  shown  in  these  tests,  that 


NEW  PINS  BOLT  STEEL 
UPSET  AT  UPPER  END 


Cllj-ljfrriO  LOCKNUTS 
"«:  w.t  PIPE  SIZE 

^M'  PIPE  THREAD 
WITHOUT  TAPER 


Fig.  2 — Section    of   Insulator   Finally   Adopted. 

an  insulator  which  did  not  puncture  at  250,000  volts  on  60 
cycles  (under  oil)  punctured  after  a  comparatively  few 
shocks  of  high-frequency  discharge,  and  without  apparently 
i'pposing  a  resistance  of  much  over  100,000  volts  (lo-in., 
2.v4-cm,  spark  gap),  shows  how  little  can  be  determined 
.'rom  the  60-cycle  tests  as  to  the  lightning-resisting  capacity 
of  an  insulator. 


An  estimate  of  the  natural  oscillation  frequency  of  the 
discharge  circuit  would  be  roughly  of  the  order  of  1,000,000 
cycles  per  second  or  higher.  While  the  highest  voltage  of 
the  high-frequency  tests  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  300,- 
000  volts  to  350,000  volts,  and  the  quantity  of  the  discharge 
great  for  laboratory  tests,  it  was  of  course  far  short  of 
lightning  conditions  in  both   particulars.     The   frequency. 


H.  T.  TESTING  TDAHS, 

Connections  of  Two  Transpormebs  fob  330,000  Volts 


CoiniKOTiONS  OP  SraOLE  TRANSFORaERS  for  230,000  Volts 
Fig.  3 — CircLiits  of  High-Tension  Transformers. 

however,  may  have  been  comparable  with  that  of  lightning. 

With  the  aid  of  a  combination  of  resistors  and  condensers, 
the  authors  offered  an  explanation  for  the  results  observed. 

In  the  matter  of  new  designs  of  insulators  to  resist  high- 
frequency  discharges  much  research  should  be  made,  but, 
the  authors  feel,  there  are  some  guiding  principles  already 
clear:  First,  the  more  widely  the  live  conducting  parts  of 
an  insulator  are  separated  from  the  pin,  the  less  will  be  the 
stress;  second,  the  more  nearly  uniform  the  electrostatic 
field  between  these  elements,  the  better  the  condition ;  third, 
wide  and  thin  petticoats  add  very  little  strength  to  the  high- 
tension  insulator,  for  the  electrostatic  capacity  of  the  sur- 
faces is  very  great  with  regard  to  the  capacity  of  parts 
nearer  the  pin.  The  heavy  ball  of  insulating  material  at 
the  head  of  the  pin  is  likely  the  chief  reliance  of  the  in- 
sulator at  high  frequency. 

Fig.  2  shows  the  insulator  and  pin  finally  adopted.  The 
pin  has  an  iron  base  for  attaching  to  the  cross-arm  and  a 
metal  sleeve  with  conical  bore  to  receive  the  wooden  pin, 
which  is  secured  in  place  by  screwing  the  sleeve  and  base 
together.  To  prevent  absorption  of  moisture,  the  wood  is 
impregnated  with  bakelite.  This  pin  construction  will  with- 
stand a  60-cycle  breakdown  test  of  120,000  volts  dry  and 
85,000  volts  wet. 

COMPARISON    OF    SUSPENSION    INSULATORS. 

Mr.  p.  W.  Sothman's  paper,  "Comparative  Tests  on  High- 
Tension  Suspension  Insulators,"  read  in  the  author's  ab- 
sence by  Mr.  John  A.  Brundage,  detailed  methods  and  re- 
sults of  some  interesting  tests  made  of  the  competitive 
iio,ooo-volt  insulators  offered  by  manufacturers  at  a  time, 
several  years  ago,  when  80,000  volts  represented  the  highest 
existing  operating  pressure.  The  electrical  test  equipment 
used  comprised  two  50-kw,  2200/1 50,000- volt  transformers 
in  series,  fed  by  a  25-kw,  220/2200-volt  transformer,  mak- 
ing available  a  maximum  potential  of  about  330,000  volts 
(Fig.  3),  A  water  rheostat  in  the  primary  of  the  high- 
tension  transformer  controlled  the  delivered  pressure,  which 
was  read  on  an  alternating-current  voltmeter  previously 
calibrated  with  a  spark-gap.  All  tests  were  performed  in 
darkness,  and  record  photographs  were  taken  of  each.  The 
following  order  was  preserved:  (i)  Dry  test;  (2)  wet 
test;  (3)  parallel  test,  dry  and  wet;  (4)  puncture  test  under 
oil;   (5)   mechanical  test. 

The  dry  tests  comprised  both  flash-over  tests  on  the 
separate  units  to  exclude  weak  elements  and  potential  tests 
on  the  complete  insulators  and  parts.  In  the  wet  tests  45- 
deg.  "rain"  was  applied  at  rates  of  from  0.25  in.  to  0.53  in. 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


I3S7 


of  precipitation  per  minute,  measured  by  special  cups.  In 
the  parallel  tests  the  pressure  was  raised  by  steps  on  the 
groups  of  competing  insulators,  the  failing  sets  being  re- 
moved as  they  were  eliminated  by  breakdown.  Immersion 
in  oil  was  resorted  to  in  order  to  obtain  puncture  tests  with- 
out surface  flash-overs.    A  screw  testing  machine,  provided 

DRY  TEST. 


Type. 

Number 

of 

Units. 

Brush  Discharge 

Becomes  Visible 

at 

Heavy    Static^  Dis- 
charge but  No_i;^ 
Flash-over. 

A 

5 

150  kilovolts 

330  kilovolts 

C 

5 

250  kilovolts 

330  kilovolts  on  top 

D- 

5 

250  kilovolts  on  hook 

330  kilovolts  at  point 
of  hook 

E 

7 

200  kilovolts  on  cotter 
pin 

Not  excessive  atl330 
kilovolts  ..;~ 

F 

5 

250  kilovolts 

Not  excessive  at  330 
kilovolts 

with  a  heavy  dynamometer  attachment,  applied  the  tension 
for  the  mechanical  tests. 

On  account  of  the  difficulty  of  measuring  the  watts  en- 
ergy loss  for  the  various  insulators  under  the  test  condi- 
tions and  voltages,  the  investigators  decided  to  compare 
qualitative  rather  than  quantitative  results.  It  was,  in 
general,  assumed  that  the  power  loss  of  an  insulator  makes 
itself  manifest  in  a  proportionate  display,  mostly  luminous, 
although  this  in  turn  is  related  to  the  gradual  or  partial 
appearance  of  the  luminosity.  Accompanying  are  the  re- 
sults from  the  dry  and  wet  tests.  With  two  exceptions  all 
the  insulators  safely  withstood  three  times  line  voltage. 

The  first  visible  discharge  occurred  invariably  around  the 
top  section,  in  the  form  of  streamers  radiating  from  the 
edge  of  the  top  skirt.  The  subsequent  break-down  of  the 
insulator  appeared  to  grow  gradually  with  increasing  volt- 
age. 

As  a  rule,  more  or  less  active  discharge  alwa>s  took  place 
around  the  pin  of  the  insulator  within  the  hollow  of  the 
petticoat,  on  all  types  designed  along  the  orthodox  lines  of 
a  pin  insulator.  This  discharge  is  practically  absent  in  the 
one-piece  insulator,  which  is  not  provided  with  an  inner 
petticoat. 

Although  the  link  feature  appears  excellent  from  a  me- 
chanical standpoint,  according  to  the  author,  it  creates  un- 
favorable stresses  in  the  air  between  the  disks  and  in  the 
holes  within  the  disks.  Where  use  is  made  of  a  metal  cap 
and  pin,  the  stresses  in  the  porcelain  are  higher  closer  to 
the  pin  and  decrease  gradually  and  uniformly  toward  the 
cap.  But  the  diameter  of  the  pin,  together  with  the  voltage 
it  assumes,  remains  the  determining  factor  for  the  highest 
stress  of  the  porcelain  within  the  cap.     For  this  reason,  it 

WET  TEST    (0.5   IN.   WATER  PER   MINUTE). 


Type. 

Sections. 

Discharge  Becomes 
Visible  Below 

Failure  Occurs 
at 

A 

5 

150  kw. 

160  kw. 

C 

5 

225  kw. 

265  kw. 

D 

5 

250  kw. 

280  kw. 

E 

7 

225  kw. 

260  kw. 

E 

8 

250  kw. 

300-310  kw. 

F 

5 

250  kw. 

300  kw. 

seems  that  no  advantage  is  gained  by  the  use  of  a  two- 
piece  insulator.  Theoretically  correct,  the  idea  of  using 
two  thicknesses  of  porcelain  would  appear  to  offer  a  larger 
margin  of  safety.  In  practice  the  idea  cannot  be  worked 
out  to  its  full  efficiency  for  the  size  of  the  pin  cannot  be 
increased  without   correspondingly   increasing  the   size  of 


the  cap,  making  an  insulator  of  this  sort  too  bulky  and  alto- 
gether impracticable. 

Final  selection  of  the  type  E  insulator  was  made  in  con- 
sequence of  various  favorable  considerations.  Type  F  is  of 
European  design  and  manufacture,  and  its  selection  would 
have  entailed  several  difficulties,  especially  in  regard  to  de- 
livery. Type  E  was  hence  found  to  be  the  most  suitable 
and  practical  insulator,  both  from  an  engineering  and  a 
commercial  point  of  view.  The  diameter  was  subsequently 
changed,  however,  from  10  in.  to  11  in.  and  the  ball-and- 
socket  joint  universally  adopted. 

From  numerous  tests  of  the  strain  insulators  offered  it 
was  found  that  none  of  the  types  recommended  by  the 
manufacturer  met  the  requirements  of  the  specifications 
for  wet  test.  Excessive  leakage  at  voltages  below  the 
standard  fixed  in  the  specification  (220  kilovolts)  made 
their  use  as  strain  insulators  prohibitive.  In  every  case 
failure  of  the  insulator  did  not  occur  suddenly,  but  very 
gradually.  Distress  begins  to  be  visible  at  voltages  as  low 
as  no  kilovolts,  this  distress  increasing  in  almost  direct 
proportion  with  the  voltage. 

In  summing  up  the  experience  gained  during  the  fore- 
going investigations,  especially  with  regard  to  testing,  the 
following  points  are  presented  as  worthy  of  future  con- 
sideration and  discussion : 

What  design  test,  for  example,  should  be  specified  for 
insulators  intended  to  work  at  a  certain  voltage?  In  the 
present  case  a  dry  test  of  three  times  line  voltage  was 
specified.  Experience,  however,  seems  to  indicate  that  even 
though  the  insulator  may  meet  this  arbitrary  condition,  its 
safety  against  failure  in  actual  operation  is  not  thereby 
assured.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  an  insulator  is  never 
endangered  by  the  steady  static  forces  but  rather  by  those 
sudden  transient  movements  caused  either  by  external  or 
internal  disturbances.  Therefore,  to  guard  against  failure, 
tests  of  different  character  will  be  necessary. 

At  first  sight,  it  must  appear  as  if  the  manner  in  which 
the  insulator  is  supported  during  tests  is  of  no  importance. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  proximity  of  large  grounded  or 
ungrounded  bodies  will  materially  affect  the  distribution  of 
static  field  around  the  insulator,  especially  when  tests  are 
performed  with  one  side  grounded. 

The  kilowatt  capacity  of  the  testing  outfit  cannot  be  too 
large,  for  the  puncture  of  a  weak  insulator  may  never  be 
discovered  but  for  the  power  back  of  the  transformer.  Volt- 
age regulation  should  be  accomplished  by  means  which  do 
not  alter  the  shape  of  the  alternating-current  wave  form, 
and  this  latter  should  be  a  true  sine  curve.  The  method  of 
regulating  the  voltage  of  the  alternator  by  controlling  its 
field  current  seems  to  offer  the  most  advantages. 

In  reference  to  the  determination  of  voltage,  each  method 
has  drawbacks.  The  spark-gap  setting  is  susceptible  to 
atmospheric  conditions  and  may  also  introduce  oscillations. 
Measurement  of  the  breakdown  voltage  of  an  insulator 
cannot  be  determined  by  a  spark-gap  alone,  but  must  be 
supplemented  by  a  volt-meter  reading.  Undoubtedly  the 
best  test  is  by  means  of  a  static  voltmeter  of  suitable  design. 

The  effect  of  frequency  on  test  results  is  another  point 
not  appreciated  sufficiently.  The  charging  current  increases 
with  the  frequency  so  that  an  insulator  will  test  differently 
at  60  cycles  and  at  25  cycles.  The  effect  of  power-factor 
is  also  open  to  discussion. 

At  the  present  time,  declared  the  author  in  conclusion, 
there  appears  to  be  a  rather  unwarranted  tendency  of 
manufacturers  and  operating  companies  to  use  excessive 
voltages.  A  system  is  already  in  operation  at  145,000  volts 
and  quite  recently  another  company  has  contemplated  the 
use  of  180,000  volts.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  operation  at 
110,000  volts  has  not  yet  reached  a  stage  of  maturity  and 
the  further  fact  that  phenomena  occur  on  such  lines  which 
were  not  anticipated  and  which  even  now  are  far  from 
being  fully  understood,  considerable  caution  should  be  dis- 
played before  attempting  the  use  of  still  higher  voltages. 


»358 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


.A  few  years  ago  the  suspension  lype  of  insulator  was 
lieralded  as  the  solution  for  line  insulation  up  to  any  voltage 
at  which  it  would  be  practicable  to  operate  for  many  years 
to  come.  The  factor  limiting  the  use  of  high  voltages  so 
far  as  the  line  was  concerned  was  then  considered  to  be 
■the  effect  of  corona  and  leakage  into  the  atmosphere.  But 
from  past  experience  it  is  almost  certain  that  these  views 
will  need  revision  and  that  a  systematic  and  thorough  study 
■of  the  properties  of  insulators  is  urgently  required. 

Examples  of  the  rather  uncertain  conditions  manifesting 
themselves  in  a  high-voltage  power  transmission  system 
are  mainly  the  behavior  of  oil  circuit-breakers  when  large 
amounts  of  power  have  to  be  handled,  the  lightning-arrester 
problem  and  even  the  high-tension  transformers.  Most 
of  this  apparatus,  as  will  be  admitted  by  the  manufacturing 
•companies,  is  yet  in  the  stage  of  development,  and  it  is  very 
gratifying  to  see  that  a  large  amount  of  study  is  being  de- 
voted at  the  present  time  to  render  these  devices  more  reli- 
able in  service. 

The  above  criticism  should  not  be  taken  as  an  indication 
of  extreme  conservatism,  but  under  the  prevailing  condi- 
tions it  is  almost  imperative  that  a  word  of  caution  be 
■spoken  to  prevent  extravagant  use  of  the  higher  voltages 
when  the  use  of  lower  voltages  would  answer  the  purpose 
equally  w-ell,  and  especially  when  the  difficulties  which  are 
encountered  with  these  extreme  voltages  may  endanger  the 
financial  prospects  of  a  particular  power  proposition. 
Discussion. 

Mr.  Ralph  D.  Mershon,  president  of  the  Institute,  sug- 
gested, in  opening  the  discussion,  the  possibility  of  arrang- 
ing low-frequency  tests  to  gi\'e  an  equivalent  indication  of 
high-frequency  conditions  for  testing  insulators,  although 
■also  recoimnending  extension  of  the  high-frequency  tests. 
He  discussed  mathematically  the  relation  between  "string 
ratio"  and  flash-over  distances  for  suspension-tj'pe  insu- 
lators. 

Mr.  Paul  M.  Lincoln,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  questioned  whether 
the  insulators  tested  had  themselves  really  been  subjected 
to  high-frequency  discharges,  pointing  out  that  with  high 
rates  of  decadence  of  the  oscillatory  currents  it  might  be 
■doubtful  whether  more  than  a  few  high-frequency  alterna- 
tions per  cycle  actually  reached  the  insulator.  The  authors, 
declared  the  speaker,  had  presented  no  data  to  show  how 
many  times  per  second  the  insulator  was  actually  "hit." 
Mr.  Lincoln  held  that  at  least  part  of  the  differences  in 
•breakdown  noted  at  various  frequencies  were  directly  due 
to  the  relative  ionization  of  the  intervening  air. 

Mr.  F.  W.  Peek,  Jr..  Schenectady,  X.  Y.,  pointed  out  that 
arc-over  does  not  invariably  indicate  the  best  insulator  for 
all  conditions  of  service,  since  sudden  impulses,  like  surges 
or  lightning  discharges,  usually  result  in  punctured  por- 
celain. In  selecting  an  insulator  it  may  therefore  be  best 
to  specify  a  certain  arc-over  voltage  and  string  efficiency. 
Generally,  concluded  Mr.  Peek,  high-frequency  failures  may 
be  traced  to  localized  potentials,  probably  secondary  effects. 
X'eedle-gap  methods  of  voltage  measurement  are  likely  to 
be  inaccurate,  depending  as  they  do  on  many  atmospheric 
factors,  humidity,  etc. 

Mr.  J.  A.  Sandford,  East  Liverpool,  Ohio,  called  attention 
to  the  importance  of  the  time  element  in  testing  insulators, 
since  a  unit  which  could  withstand  200,000  volts  momen- 
tarily might  fail  at  125,000  volts  applied  continuously.  The 
"parallel  test"  outlined  by  the  authors  was  the  only  one, 
insisted  Mr.  Sandford,  which  need  not  be  largelv  decided 
by  individual  judgment,  although  here  also  enters  the  factor 
of  personal  discrimination  to  a  slight  degree.  In  closing 
Mr.  Sandford  also  pointed  out  that  the  large  manufacturers 
of  insulators  are  without  doubt  the  ones  best  equipped  and 
best  experienced  to  carry  out  tests. 

The  discussion  closed  with  a  demonstration  by  Prof.  E. 
E.  F.  Creighton,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  of  actual  breakdowns 
of  pin  and  suspension-type  insulators  under  high-tension, 
h!?b- frequency   tests.     In   a   written    communication    Prof. 


Cieighton  called  attention  to  the  lack  of  data  on  spark-gap 
potentials  at  high-frequency  discharges,  although  in  general 
the  higher  the  frequency  the  lower  is  the  potential  necessary 
to  bridge  a  given  gap.  Properties  of  the  circuits  themselves 
also  introduce  other  differences  in  tests  made  at  60  cycles 
and  at  high  frequencies. 

Mr.  A.  O.  Austin,  Barberton,  Ohio,  laid  special  emphasis 
on  dry  tests  of  insulators,  and  recommended  designs  rather 
calculated  to  meet  surface  stress  and  dielectric-strength 
conditions.  To  produce  the  same  degree  of  reliability,  in- 
sulators operating  under  diverse  conditions  may  require 
wide  modifications  of  several  of  the  many  factors  of  design. 
The  writer  decried  the  sacrifice  of  electrical  characteristics 
to  appearance  in  certain  foreign  insulators. 

Mr.  F.  M.  Farmer,  New  York,  urged  standardization  of 
test  methods,  especially  for  '"rain"  tests,  and  also  recom- 
mended better  definitions  of  insulator  parts.  Pointing  out 
the  necessity  for  conscientious  factory  tests,  Mr.  Farmer 
urged  that  routine  inspections  be  made  more  rigid  and  se- 
vere, as  far  as  was  consistent  with  reasonable  cost  and. 
fairness  to  the  manufacturer. 

Mr.  R.  W.  Pope,  New  York,  referred  to  the  use  of  glass 
insulators  for  high-tension  lines,  European  practice  includ- 
ing even  ioo,ooo-volt  construction  of  this  type.  Glass  can 
be  more  carefully  controlled  during  manufacture,  although 
American  engineers  have  failed  to  take  advantage  of  its 
desirable  qualities.  Suspension  insulators  of  glass  could  be 
made  to  meet  all  the  requirements  now  fulfilled  by  porcelain. 
Mr.  Pope  submitted  test  figures  showing  dry  and  wet  flash- 
over  results  obtained  with  glass  units. 


NATIONAL  CIVIC  FEDERATION  CONFERENCE    ON 
WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION. 


On  Dec.  20  representatives  of  capital  and  labor  met  in 
conference  under  the  auspices  of  the  National  Civic  Fed- 
eration to  consider  legislation  for  workmen's  compensa- 
tion. Mr.  J.  P.  Holland,  of  the  executive  committee  of  the 
New  York  State  Federation  of  Labor,  favored  the  bill 
prepared  by  the  National  Civic  Federation  and  enumerated 
the  three  following  principles  as  essential  to  the  interest 
of  the  workman : 

(i)  That  the  right  to  compensation  and  the  amount  of  it 
for  particular  injuries  or  deaths  be  so  definite  as  to  leave 
as  little  as  possible  for  controversy  or  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  the  injured  workman's  right  to  and  amount  of  com- 
pensation. 

(2)  That  the  workman  or  his  family  be  so  protected  in 
the  making  of  their  settlements  after  injury  that  advantage 
cannot  be  taken  of  them  or  an  unjust  or  delayed  settle- 
ment forced  upon  them. 

(3)  That  the  workman  and  his  dependents  be  secured 
against  the  insolvency  of  the  employer  or  other  con- 
tingency, so  that  his  compensation  will  be  sure. 

Mr.  F.  V.  Whiting,  general  claims  attorney  of  the  New 
York  Central  Railroad,  favored  an  elective  compensation 
law.  He  also  described  the  operation  of  the  Michigan  act 
which  went  into  effect  Sept.  I.  A  motion  was  made  that 
the  conference  place  on  record  its  opinion  in  favor  of 
making  the  employer  express  his  agreements  to  pay  com- 
pensation in  an  affirmative  manner  and  that  his  consent  be 
not  automatically  taken  for  granted.  Over  this  question, 
however,  the  conference  disagreed,  and  no  conclusion  was 
reached.  The  proposition  for  a  State  board  to  administer 
the  compensation  act  was  indorsed,  as  well  as  a  schedule 
fixing  specific  amounts  of  compensation  for  particular  in- 
juries or  death.  The  policy  of  exclusive  state  insurance 
was  rejected  by  vote  of  the  conference.  Messrs.  S.  H. 
Wolf,  a  consulting  actuary,  and  E.  H.  Letchworth,  repre- 
senting the  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad  and  several  electric 
companies  in  Buffalo,  objected  to  state  insurance. 


December  28,  igi2. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


T359 


ALLEGED  FRAUDULENT    USE  OF    THE    MAILS  IN 
PROMOTING    ELECTRICAL    SCHEMES. 


The  federal  government  has  recently  commenced  action 
against  two  concerns  whose  names  will  be  familiar  to  many 
connected  with  the  telephone  and  telegraph  industries.  The 
post  office  authorities  have  raided  the  offices  of  the  Sterling 
Debenture  Corporation,  which  promoted  many  enterprises 
■by  means  of  circulars  sent  through  the  mails  soliciting  stock 
subscriptions.  A  recent  and  lamiliar  example  of  such  pro- 
motion was  the  Telepost  Company,  founded  on  the  rapid 
chemical  telegraph  invented  by  Mr.  P.  B.  Delany.  This 
■company  announced  that  it  would  inaugurate  a  superior 
telegraph  service  covering  the  entire  country  at  extremely 
low  rates,  but  the  attempt  was  commercially  a  failure,  and 
many  of  the  company's  offices  were  recently  closed.  No 
■criticism  of  Mr.  Delany's  system,  however,  is  involved  in 
the  proceedings.  The  Sterling  Debenture  Corporation  is 
charged  with  using  the  mails  to  defraud,  and  its  methods 
have  been  under  suspicion  for  some  time  past.  Many  of  its 
present  and  former  officers  have  been  indicted. 

The  other  instance  is  a  return  of  indictments  against 
Elias  J.  Beach  and  Adolph  B.  Benesch  for  having  used  the 
United  States  mails  to  defraud  the  investors  in  stock  of 
the  American  Telegraph  Typewriter  Company.  An  in- 
■dictment  was  returned  also  against  Dr.  George  A.  Card- 
well,  the  inventor  whose  telegraph  typewriter  machine 
formed  the  basis  of  the  company's  operations.  It  is 
charged  that  the  company's  circulars,  which  were  widely 
distributed  through  the  mails  for  the  purpose  of  soliciting 
stock  subscriptions,  were  lurid  and  misleading.  It  is  said 
that  the  American  Telegraph  Typewriter  Company  has  re- 
centlv  changed  hands,  however,  and  that  renewed  efforts 
will  be  made  to  develop  a  market  for  the  extremely  in- 
genious printing  telegraph  of  which  Dr.  Cardwell  is  the 
inventor. 


PROTECTION  OF  INTELLECTUAL   PROPERTY. 


At  the  Detroit  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Chemical  Engineers  held  this  month  President  L.  H.  Baeke- 
land  delivered  a  stirring  address  on  "Protection  of  Intel- 
lectual Property  in  Relation  to  Chemical  Industry,"  which 
should  be  read  by  all  who  have  anything  at  stake  in  the 
proposed  revision  of  the  patent  system.  On  account  of  its 
length  his  address  cannot  be  given  here  in  full,  but  the 
following  extracts  from  it  will  convey  the  main  features. 

Referring,  by  way  of  introduction,  to  the  distinctions  be- 
tween real  and  intellectual  property.  Dr.  Baekeland  said, 
in  part: 

"Except  for  restrictions  put  on  ownership  by  taxes,  prop- 
■erty  rights  are  practically  perpetual  and  can  be  transferred 
only  by  accepted  methods,  as,  for  instance,  sale,  barter,  in- 
heritance or  donation.  In  some  rare  instances  there  may  be 
expropriation  for  public  purposes  (or  eminent  domain),  but 
even  then,  some  suitable  compensation  is  usually  made. 

"But  when  it  comes  to  protect,  even  for  the  short  period 
of  seventeen  years,  the  most  logical,  the  most  legitimate 
personal  property,  intellectual  property  as  embodied  in 
patent  rights,  with  all  that  it  involves,  with  enterprises  de- 
pending thereon,  based  often  on  the  work  of  a  lifetime,  then 
our  law  courts  are  woefully  deficient,  on  account  of  the 
uncertainties,  delays  and  enormous  expenses  connected  with 
the  adjudication  of  patent  rights.  All  this  works  over- 
whelmingly in  favor  of  the  litigant  with  the  well-filled  purse, 
the  large  corporation." 

Article  I,  Section  8,  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  provides  that  "Congress  shall  have  power  to  promote 
the  progress  of  science  and  the  useful  arts  by  securing  for 
limited  times  to  authors  and  inventors,  the  exclusive  right 
to  their  respective  writings  and  discoveries." 

Commenting  on  this  clause  of  the  Constitution,  Dr.  Baeke- 
land continued  as  follows : 


"This  proclamation  lifted  the  right  of  a  patentee  at  once, 
far  beyond  the  mere  privilege  conferred  by  most  other 
countries,  which  grant  patents  not  only  to  the  real  inventors 
or  originators  but  also  to  those  who  are  first  to  introduce 
unpublished  inventions  into  their  respective  countries.  With 
some  legitimate  pride,  we  can  say  that  in  this  respect  at 
least  American  patent  law  stands  head  and  shoulders  above 
the  laws  of  Germany,  France  and  England. 

"Up  to  about  thirty  years  ago  our  patent  system  covered 
tolerably  well  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  intended.  It 
stimulated  individual  inventions  and  promoted  numerous 
private  enterprises.  Since  then,  with  the  extraordinary 
growth  of  our  nation,  with  the  tremendous  increase  of 
aggregations  of  capital  for  industrial  enterprises,  and  more 
especially  with  the  astonishing  increase  in  the  ramifications 
of  applied  science,  our  patent  system  has  become  totally 
inadequate  to  the  needs  of  the  country;  it  suits  our  nev) 
conditions  in  about  the  same  way  as  baby  clothes  fit  an 
overgrown  boy. 

"Our  patent  system,  although  bashed  on  an  excellent  funda- 
mental law.  has  now  degenerated  into  a  set  of  exceedingly 
complicated  technicalities  of  law  practice,  a  system  of  legal 
acrobatics,  whereby  any  contestation  before  the  courts  can 
be  turned  into  'perpetual  motion'  to  the  advantage  of 
wealthy  litigants,  and  whereby  the  individual  patentees  of 
slender  means  and  the  small  industrial  concerns  find  them- 
selves under  smothering  disadvantages  when  opposing  rich 
antagonists.  In  this  way  our  patent  system,  instead  of  ac- 
complishing its  intended  purposes  of  stimulating  individual- 
ity, simply  reinforces  the  rich  and  big  industrial  enterprises 
and  discourages  the  individual  inventor  unprovided  with  a 
liberal  bank  account." 

The  new  rules  of  equity  practice  recently  promulgated  by 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  and  effective  on  Feb.  i 
next,  were  referred  to,  and  the  opinion  was  expressed  that 
their  efficiency  would  be  increased  by  the  inauguration  of 
a  single  court  of  patent  appeals.  The  evil  of  trying  patent 
cases  before  non-technical  judges  was  also  very  forcibly 
brought  out,  and  the  following  extract  was  quoted  from 
an  opinion  by  Judge  Hand  in  the  case  of  the  Parke-Davis 
Company  versus  H.  K.  Mulford  Company  (189  Fed.  Rep., 
95),  decided  last  year: 

"I  cannot  stop  without  calling  attention  to  the  extraordi- 
nary condition  of  the  law  which  makes  it  possible  for  a  man 
without  any  knowledge  of  even  the  rudiments  of  chemistry 
to  pass  upon  such  questions  as  these.  The  inordinate  ex- 
pense of  time  is  the  least  of  the  resulting  evils,  for  only  a 
trained  chemist  is  really  capable  of  passing  upon  such  facts, 
e.  g..  in  this  case  the  chemical  character  of  Von  Furth's 
so-called  'zinc  compound,'  or  the  presence  of  inactive  or- 
ganic substances.  In  Germany,  where  the  national  spirit 
eagerly  seeks  for  all  the  assistance  it  can  get  from  the  whole 
range  of  human  knowledge,  they  do  quite  differently.  The 
court  summons  technical  judges,  to  whom  technical  ques- 
tions are  submitted  and  who  can  intelligently  pass  upon  the 
issues  without  blindly  groping  among  testimony  upon  mat- 
ters wholly  out  of  their  ken.  How  long  we  shall  continue 
to  blunder  along  without  the  aid  of  unpartisan  and  authori- 
tative scientific  assistance  in  the  administration  of  justice, 
no  one  knows;  but  all  fair  persons  not  conventionalized  by 
provincial  legal  habits  of  mind  ought,  I  should  think,  to 
unite  to  effect  some  such  advance." 

The  benefits  of  the  German  patent  system,  in  Dr.  Baeke- 
land's  opinion,  can  easily  be  introduced  in  America  and 
would  take  all  technical  issues  over  the  validity  of  patent 
claims  from  the  jurisdiction  of  our  equity  courts  and  bring 
them  before  a  special  court  constituted  of  judges  qualified 
by  the  necessary  technical  knowledge.  In  further  reference 
to  the  German  system,  he  said: 

"During  recent  years  Germany  has  been  trying  to 
broaden  its  patent  laws  more  and  more  toward  the  principles 
set  forth  in  the  American  Constitution.  For  instance,  it  has 
practically  eliminated  the  system  of  compulsory  licenses  ex- 


1360 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  60,  No.  26. 


cept  in  some  rare  instances  where  public  welfare  is  involved. 
If  only  we  could  borrow  some  of  the  more  efficient  methods 
with  which  the  German  patent  law  is  administered  and 
enforced,  we  might  succeed  in  making  an  American  patent 
real  property  for  poor  and  rich  alike,  instead  of  a  pretext 
for  expensive  and  endless  litigation,  with  all  the  advantages 
it  gives  to  the  richer  litigant,  to  the  detriment  of  the  con- 
sumer, who  in  the  end  pays  the  bill." 

The  Oldfield  bill  amending  the  patent  statutes,  as  now 
pending  before  Congress,  came  in  for  extended  criticism  at 
the  hands  of  the  speaker,  who  cited  various  arguments  to 
show  that  recall  of  the  right  to  impose  license  restrictions 
in  connection 'wth  the  sale  of  patented  artcles,  and  the  en- 
forcement of  compulsory  licenses  from  patent  owners  as  a 
remedy  for  the  suppression  of  inventions,  introduce  new 
evils  worse  than  those  which  now  exist.  Speaking  of  the 
last  feature  of  the  bill  he  mentioned  among  other  points  the 
following: 

"It  does  not  take  into  consideration  that  in  numerous 
instances  a  patentee  or  an  assignee  possesses  a  series  of  so- 
called  alternative  patents  which  can  be  used  to  bring  about 
identical  or  similar  technical  results  by  modified  means. 
Among  such  alternate  patents,  the  best  or  the  most  suitable 
is  used,  absolutely  irrespective  of  any  other  reason  or  inten- 
tion to  suppress  their  use.  Yet  without  the  exclusive  pos- 
session of  every  one  of  these  patents,  the  invention  would 
not  sufficiently  protect  against  competitors,  and  the  field 
would  be  so  much  reduced  as  not  to  make  it  worth  while 
to  put  one's  best  energies  to  the  development  of  the  inven- 
tion." 

Dr.  Baekeland  devoted  a  considerable  part  of  his  address 
to  the  far-reaching  effect  of  chemical  inventions  and 
brought  out  the  fact  that  it  is  usually,  if  not  almost  in- 
variably, a  long  road  from  the  creative  or  purely  inventive 
stage  to  commercial  production  and  success.  Under  modern 
conditions  the  inventor  requires  the  co-operation  of  the 
financier,  the  manufacturer  and  the  distributer.  In  closing 
his  address  he  said : 

''But  there  is  urgent  need  of  reform  in  our  patent  system 
by  simplifying  procedure  in  the  Patent  Office  as  well  as  in 
the  courts  by  insuring  better,  quicker  and  less  expensive 
means  for  adjudicating  the  title  and  validity  of  patents. 
Only  such  a  reform  will  bring  about  the  result  that  all  per- 
sons, great  and  small,  poor  and  rich  alike,  may  be  stimulated 
by  the  advantages  of  our  patent  system,  instead  of  making 
a  patent  an  expensive  but  powerful  instrument  available 
only  to  the  wealthy. 

"Whatever  simplifies  and  lessens  the  cost  of  the  admin- 
istration of  our  otherwise  excellent  fundamental  patent  law 
gives  the  enterprising  man  with  small  means  a  better  chance 
of  competition  by  inventive  progress  and  merit  against 
ponderous  aggregations  of  capital.  By  such  reform,  which 
insures  such  healthy  competition,  the  nation  is  sure  to  be 
benefited." 


PUBLIC-SERVICE  WOMEN  WORKERS. 


The  Public  Service  Corporation  of  New  Jersey,  which 
controls  the  greater  part  of  the  gas,  electric-lighting  and 
electric  railway  business  of  the  State,  has  announced 
through  its  president,  Mr.  Thomas  N.  McCarter,  that  it 
will  put  into  effect  on  Jan.  i  next  a  minimum  wage  of  $9  a 
week  for  its  women  employees,  of  whom  there  are  some 
300.  In  announcing  the  minimum  wage  scale  President 
McCarter  said:  "A  careful  investigation  led  to  the  con- 
clusion that  a  young  woman  can  supply  herself  with  the 
necessities  of  life,  so  that  she  can  live  decently  and  have  a 
fair  margin  for  ordinary  comforts,  on  an  income  of  $9  a 
week.  That  she  could  do  so  on  less  and  be  free  from  the 
pitfalls  and  temptations  which  beset  young  women  who  are 
thrown  in  contact  with  the  world  is  not  so  obvious.  Al- 
rliough  the  Public  Service  Corporation  has  been  paying  to 


young  women  wages  which  compared  more  than  favorably 
with  the  compensation  given  for  equal  ability  and  service  in 
other  lines  of  activity,  the  minimum  wage  rate  was  below 
$9  weekly.  The  maximum  was  much  higher  than  that." 
The  company  has  already  in  effect  old-age  pensions,  sick 
and  accident  benefits  and  life  insurance  for  all  its  perma- 
nent employees  of  the  various  railway,  electric  and  gas  prop- 
erties, numbering  approximately  10,000. 


FACTORY-LIGHTING  LEGISLATION. 


The  New  York  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission, 
which  has  been  at  work  for  about  two  years  studying  the 
conditions  that  exist  in  factories  and  workshops,  with 
special  reference  to  safety,  hygiene  and  sanitation,  has  pre- 
pared a  series  of  bills  dealing  with  this  subject,  which  will 
shortly  be  submitted  to  the  Legislature. 

One  of  these  bills  provides  for  the  creation  of  an  advisory 
board  to  construe  the  labor  law,  to  modify  rules  and  to  for- 
mulate such  additional  legislation  as  may  be  required.  The 
present  bills  relate  exclusively  to  factories,  workrooms  and 
industrial  establishments,  but  it  is  proposed  to  widen  the 
scope  of  the  laws  to  cover  other  classes  of  buildings. 

Among  the  bills  proposed  by  the  commission  is  one 
relating  to  the  lighting  of  factories  and  workrooms.  By  the 
enactment  of  this  bill  the  State  of  New  York  will  be  the 
first  in  the  Union  to  pass  legislation  compelling  the  owners 
of  factories  and  workrooms  to  provide  proper  and  sufficient 
lighting. 

The  New  York  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission 
sought  the  co-operation  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering 
Society  in  the  final  preparation  of  the  proposed  bill  relating 
to  lighting,  and  the  society  appointed  the  following  com- 
mittee to  consider  the  technical  features  of  the  bill :  Messrs. 
E.  M.  Alger,  M.  D.,  eye  specialist;  W.  H.  Gartley,  engineer 
of  works  United  Gas  Improvement  Company,  Philadelphia ; 
H.  E.  Ives,  physicist,  Philadelphia ;  C.  L.  Law,  bureau  of 
illuminating  engineering.  New  York  Edison  Company;  P.  S. 
Millar,  Electrical  Testing  Laboratories,  New  York ;  Fred  J. 
Millar,  director  and  assistant  to  president  Union  Typewriter 
Factories,  Ilion,  N.  Y.,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  and  Bridgeport, 
Conn. ;  G.  H.  Stickney,  lamp  department  General  Electric 
Company,  Harrison,  N.  J. ;  M.  C.  Whitaker,  Columbia 
University,  New  York  (formerly  superintendent  Welsbach 
Company),  and  L.  B.  Marks,  consulting  illuminating  en- 
gineer. New  York.  Mr.  Marks  is  the  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee. 

The  committee  held  two  meetings  and  presented  its  report 
at  the  public  hearing  on  the  proposed  bill  held  at  the  County 
Court  House,  New  York  City,  on  Dec.  6. 

The  recommendations  of  the  committee  were  accepted  by 
the  commission  at  a  later  meeting.  These  recommendations 
were  subscribed  to  by  a  committee  representing  the 
American  Museum  of  Safety. 

Three  important  sections  of  the  amended  bill  are  as 
follows : 

"All  passageways,  and  all  moving  parts  of  machinery 
unless  properly  and  sufficiently  guarded,  where,  on  or  about 
which  persons  work  or  pass  or  may  have  to  work  or  pass  in 
emergencies,  and  all  other  portions  of  the  factory  that  the 
Commission  of  Labor  may  require,  shall  be  kept  properly 
and  sufficiently  lighted  during  working  hours." 

"A  proper  and  adequate  light  shall  be  kept  burning  by  the 
owner  or  lessee  in  the  public  hallways  near  the  stairs  upon 
the  entrance  door  and  upon  the  other  floors  on  every  work- 
day in  the  year  from  the  time  when  the  building  is  opened 
for  use  in  the  morning  until  the  time  it  is  closed  in  the 
evening,  except  at  times  when  the  influx  of  natural  light 
shall  make  artificial  light  unnecessary." 

"All  workrooms  shall  be  nrnperlv  and  adenuately  lighted 


Decemblh  2ii.   1912 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


i36l 


during  working  hours.  Artificial  illuminants  v.:  every  work- 
room shall  be  installed,  arranged  and  used  so  that  the  light 
furnished  will  at  all  times  be  sufficient  and  adequate  for  the 
work  carried  on  therein,  due  regard  being  given  to  the  pre- 
vention of  strain  on  the  vision  and  glare  in  the  eyes  of  the 
workers.  The  advisory  board  to  the  Department  of  Labor 
may,  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  this  chapter,  make  and 
from  time  to  time  change  or  modify  rules  and  regulations  to 
provide  for  adequate  and  sufficient  natural  and  artificial 
lighting  facilities  in  all  factories." 


REDUCTION    IN    ONTARIO    COMMISSION    RATES. 


A  saving  of  more  than  $100,000  will  be  effected  for  the 
Ontario'  municipalities  which  purchase  Niagara  Falls 
energy  from  the  Ontario  Hydroelectric  Commission  under 
the  new  rates  announced  by  the  chairman,  Hon.  Adam 
Beck,  on  Dec.  5.  The  reductions  in  the  price  of  energy- 
apply  to  all  but  five  municipalities  taking  service  from  the 
commission,  and  according  to  Mr.  Beck  the  new  rates  are 
more  than  sufficient  to  cover  not  only  the  various  charges 
figured  in  the  cost  of  the  water-power  but  the  sinking-fund 
instalments  as  well.  The  progress  which  the  Ontario 
transmission  project  has  made  during  its  short  existence 
is  indicated  by  the  fact  that,  although  it  was  not  planned 
to  burden  the  purchasers  of  energy  with  sinking-fund  an^ 
depreciation  charges  until  1914,  the  commission,  after 
scarcely  more  than  a  year  of  operation,  is  in  a  position  not 
only  to  make  reductions  in  rates  but  to  make  them  after 
adding  in  the  sinking-fund  charges.  In  fact,  it  is  declared, 
the  system  practically  earned  sinking-fund  charges  the  first 
twelve  months.  ''At  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year  on  Oct.  31,'' 
said  Chairman  Beck,  ''we  had  a  surplus  of  $62,000,  which 
we  can  apply  to  sinking  fund  and  depreciation  account  for 
adjustment  among  the  various  municipalities."  This  sur- 
plus falls  only  $10,000  short  of  paying  the  whole  sinking- 
fund  charges,  $72,000  for  the  first  year.  A  little  more 
than  a  month  ago  the  chairman  announced  a  list  of  pro- 
posed reductions  in  the  cost  of  energy  that  covered  all  but 
seven  or  eight  of  the  municipalities  taking  service.  The 
rates  made  at  that  time  were  based  on  the  estimated  con- 
sumption of  energy  for  this  year.  The  rapid  increase  in 
consumption  during  November,  however,  upset  all  calcu- 
lations, and  the  commission,  in  going  over  the  new  rates 
in  the  light  of  the  following  month's  loads,  found  that 
still  further  reductions  were  necessary  even  after  meeting 
the  cost  of  the  hydroelectric  energy  at  Niagara  Falls,  the 
cost  of  transmission,  administration,  interest  on  the  money 
advanced  by  the  Province  and  maintenance  charges 
and  setting  aside  surplus  enough  to  meet  the  sinking-fund 
charges.  Should  the  increase  in  consumption  during  the 
coming  year  warrant  it,  it  is  intimated  that  still  further 
reductions  may  be  made.  The  total  connected  load  of  the 
system  is  now  about  34.000  hp,  compared  with  aboui  15,000 
hp  a  year  ago, 

PUBLIC  SERVICE  COMMISSION  NE'WS. 


NEW    YORK   COMMISSION,    FIRST   DISTRICT. 

By  adopting  an  opinion  rendered  by  Commissioner  Milo 
R.  Maltbie,  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  First 
District  has  declared  illegal  certain  contracts  made  by  the 
New  York  Edison  Company  with  Gimbel  Brothers  and  the 
Broadway  Realty  Company.  The  commission  holds  that 
the  Edison  company  has  violated  the  law  against  discrimi- 
nation in  rates  by  selling  energy  under  the  two  contracts 
at  lower  rates  than  were  available  to  the  general  public 
according  to  its  published  schedules  and  contracts.  The 
commission  took  no  further  action  at  this  time,  accepting 
Commissioner    Maltbie's    recommendation    "that    a    reason- 


able amount  of  tune  be  allowed  the  Edison  company  to 
advise  the  commission  what  course  it  will  pursue  in  the 
light  of  the  findings  and  principles  herein  set  forth."  The 
opinion  was  rendered  after  hearings  on  the  complaint  of 
George  Stadtlander  and  others  against  the  New  York 
Edison  Company  and  the  complaint  of  Julius  Ewoldt  and 
others  against  the  New  York  Edison  Company.  The  com- 
plainants asserted  that  the  arrangement  made  between  the 
New  York  Edison  Company  and  the  parties  named  was 
discriminatory  and  in  violation  of  the  Public  Service  Com- 
missions law.  Section  65  of  this  law  says,  in  substance, 
that  no  gas  or  electric  corporation  shall  charge  any  person 
or  corporation  more  or  less  for  gas  or  electricity  than  it 
charges  any  other  person  or  corporation  for  a  similar  serv- 
ice, and  that  no  such  corporation  shall  make  or  grant  any 
undue  or  unreasonable  preference  to  any  person  or  cor- 
poration. It  was  also  alleged  that  the  company  had  vio- 
lated the  order  of  the  commission  requiring  the  publication 
of  its  rate  schedules  and  forms  of  contracts. 

In  the  case  of  the  contract  with  Gimbel  Brothers  the 
commission  finds  that  the  Edison  company  has  been  supply- 
ing that  firm  with  electric  energy  for  its  department  store 
at  Sixth  Avenue  and  Thirty-third  Street  for  a  net  cost  of 
2j4  cents  per  kw-hr.,  when  the  published  rate  for  such 
service  was  not  less  than  3  cents.  This  was  accomplished 
by  two  contracts,  in  one  of  which  the  company  agreed  to 
supply  electric  energy,  in  excess  of  a  certain  amount 
annually,  for  3  cents  per  kw-hr.  and  in  the  other  of  which 
the  Edison  company  agreed  to  rent  from  the  firm  space  in 
its  basement  for  a  substation  and  to  pay  therefor  as  rental 
the  difference  between  2^4  cents  per  kw-hr.  and  the  price 
charged  under  the  other  contract  for  electricity.  The  re- 
sult was  that  the  firm  has  been  getting  its  energy  for  2j4 
cents  per  kw-hr.  "In  the  present  case,"  says  the  opinion, 
"the  rental  provision  is  not  only  unreasonable,  but  the 
method  of  computing  the  rental,  the  terms  of  the  agree- 
ments and  the  method  of  accounting  thereunder  are  such 
as  to  convince  the  commission  that  the  whole  arrangement 
is  illegal  and  has  been  so  from  the  beginning."  The  Edison 
company,  it  is  held,  should  have  contracted  to  pay  the 
market  value  of  the  space  rented,  "leaving  the  customer  to 
pay  the  lawful  rate  for  the  energy  consumed,  i.e.,  the  rate 
paid  by  every  other  consumer  of  the  same  class."  The 
making  of  the  rental  dependent  upon  the  quantity  of 
energy  consumed  in  one  building  "could  hardly  fail  to  re- 
sult in  actual  discrimination  during  some  part,  if  not  during 
the  whole,  of  the  time  covered  by  the  lease."  Similar  find- 
ings were  made  in  the  case  of  the  Broadway  Realty  Com- 
nany.  which  made  a  contract  March  10,  1904,  with  the  New 
York  Edison  Company  to  supply  electric  energy  for  the 
Bowling  Green  Building  at  Nos.  3  to  11  Broadway.  This 
contract  also  covered  the  use  of  certain  space  in  the  base- 
ment of  that  building  by  the  Edison  company  for  storage 
batteries  and  other  apparatus. 

Counsel  for  the  commission  has  been  directed  to  prepare 
a  form  of  amendment  to  the  Public  Service  Commissions 
law  for  presentation  to  the  Legislature  giving  jurisdiction 
over  telephones  and  telegraphs  within  the  First  District 
to  the  commission  for  that  district.  The  First  District 
embraces  the  territory  within  the  boundaries  of  Greater 
New  York,  and  while  it  exercises  control  over  railroads, 
gas  and  electric  companies  in  that  territory,  the  jurisdiction 
over  telephones  and  telegraphs  within  the  city  is  vested 
in  the  commission  for  the  Second  District.  The  First 
District  commissioners  feel  that  all  corporations  subject 
to  regulation  within  the  First  District  should  be  placed 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  commission  for  that  district. 

NEW    YORK    COMMISSION,    SECOND    DISTRICT. 

The  Public  Service  Commission  for  the  Second  District 
has  made  an  order  to  all  parties  interested  in  the  Medina 
Gas  Company  to  show  cause  before  the  commission  why 
the  patrons  of  that  company  in  Medina  should  not  have 
a  reasonable  and  adequate  service  of  gas.     The  company 


1362 


ELECTRICAL     ^VORLD. 


Vol.  60,  No.  26. 


went  into  the  hands  of  a  receiver  in  191 1,  Milford  W. 
Childs,  of  Medina,  being  appointed  receiver.  On  Nov.  19, 
1912,  the  property  was  sold  at  foreclosure  and  bid  in  by  Mr. 
Thomas  G.  Hinos  as  trustee.  Up  to  the  present  time  there 
has  been  no  confirmation  of  this  sale,  and  the  amount  re- 
quired to  be  paid  by  the  purchaser  to  obtain  a  deed  of  the 
property  has  not  been  determined.  The  attorney  for  the 
purchaser  advises  the  commission  that  he  has  no  right 
to  operate  the  plant,  which  is  still  in  the  possession  and 
control  of  the  receiver.  The  receiver  informs  the  com- 
mission that  he  has  not  sufficient  funds  to  continue  the 
operation  of  the  plant.  The  commission  will  endeavor  at 
this  hearing  to  find  a  way  in  which  the  plant  may  resume 
operation  and  the  people  of  Medina  be  furnished  with  Gas. 

OHIO  COMMISSION. 

Authority  has  been  granted  by  the  Public  Service  com- 
mission for  the  consolidation  of  the  Miami  Light.  Heat  & 
Power  Company  and  the  Piqua  Electric  Company,  both  of 
Piqua,  under  the  name  of  the  former.  The  business  will 
continue  as  it  has  been  conducted  by  the  companies  sepa- 
rately. The  company  will  issue  $150,000  6  per  cent  cumu- 
lative preferred  stock  and  $150,500  common  stock.  This 
stock  is  to  be  exchanged  for  the  outstanding  stock  of  the 
two  companies. 

Under  authority  from  the  commission  the  Dayton  Light 
&  Power  Company  will  purchase  the  Xenia  Gas  &  Electric 
Company  of  Xenia  at  a  stipulated  price  of  $149,750.  The 
company  is  to  have  permission  to  issue  preferred  stock  to 
the  amount  of  the  purchase  price.  Of  this,  $100,000  will 
be  exchanged  for  bonds  and  the  remainder  will  pay  for  all 
except  five  shares  of  the  stock  of  the  Xenia  company. 

MICHIGAN   COMMISSION. 

Patrons  of  the  Home  Telephone  Company  of  Detroit, 
Mich.,  have  complained  to  Mayor  Thompson  that  the 
Michigan  State  Telephone  Company  is  preparing  to  increase 
their  rates  when  it  takes  possession  of  the  local  company's 
exchange.  Notice  has  been  given  them  by  the  Home  Tele- 
phone Company  that  their  contracts  will  terminate  and 
that  the  company  has  sold  its  property  to  the  Michigan 
State  Telephone  Company  and  is  going  out  of  business. 
Corporation  Counsel  Lawson  stated  last  week  that  the  con- 
tract for  consolidation  provided  that  the  rates  should  not 
be  higher  than  those  charged  by  the  Michigan  State  Tele- 
phone Company  at  the  time  of  consolidation,  li  patrons 
feel  that  the  rates  are  too  high  the  matter  may  be  taken 
before  the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  adjustment,  he 
said.  That  is  the  only  course  open.  Some  of  the  patrons 
of  the  Home  company  feel  that  the  consolidated  companies 
should  be  governed  by  the  franchise  given  the  old  co-oper- 
ative company  which  was  purchased  by  it.  However,  it 
seems  that  the  courts  have  held  that  some  of  the  provisions 
of  this  franchise  were  not  good  and  the  status  of  others 
has  been  changed.  It  is  said  to  be  doubtful  whether  this 
franchise  is  legal. 

WISCONSIN   COMMISSION. 

The  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission  has  ordered  the 
Matteson  Telephone  Company  to  discontinue  its  present 
practice  of  giving  rebates  to  subscribers  owning  a  portion 
of  their  telephone  equipment  and  in  lieu  thereof  to  credit 
such  subscribers  with  a  yearly  rental  sufficient  to  pay  inter- 
est and  depreciation  upon  the  cost  of  such  equipment.  Al- 
though the  question  of  rates  was  not  involved  in  the  com- 
plaint, the  investigation  showed  that  the  present  revenue 
was  not  sufficient  to  provide  for  the  necessary  depreciation 
fund  nor  to  permit  of  a  reasonable  return  upon  the  invest- 
ment. An  increase  in  rates  was  therefore  ordered,  which 
amounted  to  an  increase  of  16  per  cent  for  local  telephones 
and  60  per  cent  for  rural  telephones.  The  rates  were  based 
upon  a  depreciation  allowance  of  6.5  per  cent  and  the 
interest  rate  of  7.5  per  cent. 

The  Eastern  Fond  du  Lac  County  Telephone  Company 


was  authorized  to  increase  its  rates  from  $12  per  telephone 
per  year  to  $14.  The  Random  Lake  Telephone  Company 
was  empowered  to  discontinue  its  present  flat  rate  of  $I0' 
per  telephone  per  year  and  to  substitute  therefor  a  schedule 
of  rates  ranging  from  $18  for  single-party  business  service 
to  $12  for  rural  service.  The  La  Crosse  Literurban  Tele- 
phone Company  was  authorized  to  issue  $15,000  of  6  per 
cent  bonds  and  $18,000  of  preferred  stock,  the  revenues  to 
be  used  to  liquidate  an  outstanding  indebtedness  and  tO' 
provide  for  extensions  and  improvements. 

CALII-0RNI.\    COMMISSION. 

A  decision  was  recently  rendered  establishing  rates  for 
the  Hawthorne  Electric  &  Water  Company,  operating  in 
Los  Angeles  County.  The  commission  has  adopted  an 
annual  report  form  to  be  used  by  all  electric,  gas,  water 
and  telephone  companies. 


Current  News  and  Notes. 

Public  Service  Commission  Amendment  Defeated  in 
Colorado. — The  official  count  of  the  vote  at  the  November 
election  in  Colorado  shows  that  the  proposed  constitutional 
amendment  providing  for  a  public  utilities  court  and  com- 
mission w-as  defeated.  Thirty-two  proposed  constitutional 
amendments  were  voted  on,  and  among  those  adopted  were 
provisions  for  the  recall  of  judicial  decisions  and  the  recall 

of  elective  officers. 

*  *     * 

PuLMOTORS  Revive  Seven  Pittsburgh  Firemen. — Forty 
minutes  after  they  had  been  pronounced  dead  from  suffoca- 
tion, seven  of  the  twelve  firemen  hurt  in  a  conflagration 
which  threatened  to  sweep  Pittsburgh's  Monongahela  River 
front  Dec.  25  were  revived  at  the  Homeopathic  Hospital, 
and  all  are  now  expected  to  recover.  The  pulmotors  used 
were  part  of  the  rescue  equipment  of  the  State  Mining 
Institute.  The  fire  started  in  the  First  Avenue  structure 
used  as  a  repair  shop  by  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manu- 
facturing Company.  Shortly  after  the  firemen  entered  the 
building  a  wall  collapsed,  imprisoning  the  twelve  men  in  the 
fumes  of  burning  insulation.  Seven  were  unconscious  when 
rescue    parties    reached   them. 

*  *     * 

Organ  for  the  New  England  Electric  Development 
Association. — The  Silk  Cord,  which  will  make  its  initial 
appearance  in  January,  is  the  name  of  a  new  monthly  pub- 
lication for  which  the  Electric  Development  Association, 
53  State  Street,  Boston,  Mass..  will  stand  sponsor.  This 
little  periodical  is  to  be  purely  educational  and  to  stimulate 
in  the  minds  of  the  public  an  interest  in  the  use  of  elec- 
tricity for  many  purposes  besides  lighting,  and  thus  eventu- 
ally to  benefit  the  dealer  by  the  increased  use  of  appliances 
and  the  central  station  by  the  increased  use  of  energy.  The 
dissemination  of  information  of  the  character  which  the 
first  number  contains  cannot  but  result  in  wider  knowledge 
and  more  general  use  of  electricity. 

*  *     * 
Gifts  to  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. 

— In  the  annual  report  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology,  made  public  recently,  President  MacLaurin 
savs  more  than  $3,000,000  has  come  to  the  institution  out- 
side of  Massachusetts.  Ptesident  MacLaurin  preserves  the 
anonymity  of  the  man  who  gave  $1,000,000  to  help  build 
the  new  home  of  the  institution  in  Cambridge.  The  donor 
is  referred  to  as  "Mr.  Smith."  Other  gifts  are  those  of 
Mr.  Pratt,  who  left  $750,000  for  endowment  of  the  depart- 
ment of  naval  architecture  and  marine  drawing;  $40,000  for 
the  summer  camp  in  engineering,  $50,000  for  research  in 
industrial  chemistry,  and  a  gift  of  the  Deering  library  by 
Thomas  Vail.    There  are  a  number  of  smaller  benefactions. 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1363: 


Electric-Service  Earnings  in  Manila. — A  recent  sta- 
tistical publication  relating  to  the  Philippine  Islands  shows 
that  the  gross  earnings  of  the  electric-service  company  in 
the  city  of  Manila  for  the  year  1911  were  $661,487.  For 
the  year  1910  the  corresponding  figure  was  $5/9.345.  show- 
ing an  increase  of  14  per  cent. 


Suffragettes    Disable    Public    Telephones. — A   press 

dispatch  from  England  dated  Dec.   19  is  authority  for  the 

statement  that  the  suffragettes  of  that  country  have  opened 

a  new  avenue  of  attack  against  the  tyrant  man  by  turning 

their  attention  to  public-telephone  stations.     It  is  said  that 

in  Nottingham  on  the  date  mentioned  the  women  agitators 

cut   the   wires   serving   telephones   in   eight   or   nine   public 

booths.. 

*     *     * 

Railroad  Shops  at  Dilworth  to  be  Electrified. — The 
Union  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company  is  completing  its 
transmission  line  to  Dilworth,  Minn.,  and  when  this  is 
done  the  Northern  Pacific  shops  at  the  latter  place  will  be 
operated  by  electricity.  Some  time  ago  a  contract  was 
signed  with  the  railroad  company  by  which  the  latter 
agreed  to  take  electrical  energy  at  the  rate  of  between  300 
hp  and  400  hp  for  use  in  its  shops  at  Dilworth. 


Indiana  Manufacturers  Favor  Workmen's  Com- 
pensation Law. — At  a  meeting  of  the  members  of  the 
Manufacturers'  Bureau  of  Indiana  held  in  Indianapolis  on 
Dec.  20  sentiment  was  expressed  in  favor  of  the  enactment 
of  a  compulsory  workmen's  compensation  law  and  for  a 
better  system  of  factory  inspection.  Some  of  the  manu- 
facturers present  expressed  a  desire  for  legislation  author- 
izing stock  and  mutual  insurance  companies  to  carry  in- 
dustrial hazards. 

*  *     * 

"Mental  Anguish"  Damages  Not  Allowed. — Judge 
Humphrey  of  the  United  States  District  Court  for  the 
Southern  District  of  Illinois  has  awarded  damages  of  $17.40 
against  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  because  of 
delay  in  the  delivery  of  a  telegram  sent  in  1904.  The  plain- 
tiff, Mrs.  Cora  D.  Gookins,  sued  for  $100,000  damages  on 
the  ground  of  mental  anguish  suffered  because  of  failure  to 
receive  the  telegram  in  time  to  know  that  her  husband  was 
dying.  The  judge  ruled  that  mental  anguish  is  unprovided 
for  tjy  the  federal  statutes  and  said  that  there  could  be  no 
verdict  except  for  the  expenses  to  which  the  plaintiff  was 
put  because  of  the  delay. 

*  *     * 

Benefit  Performance  of  Commonwealth  Edison  Or- 
chestra.— The  Commonwealth  Edison  Orchestra,  assisted 
by  Sybil  Sammis  McDermid,  soprano,  will  give  a  popular 
concert  in  Orchestra  Hall,  Chicago,  on  Jan.  16.  This  con- 
cert is  for  the  benefit  of  the  members  of  the  orchestra,  and 
tickets  are  sold  for  50  cents  each.  The  Commonwealth 
Edison  Orchestra  is  composed  entirely  of  employees  of  the 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  and  the  organization  has 
been  brought  to  a  high  degree  of  efficiency  by  the  director, 
Mr.  M.  L.  Eastman.  Its  members  have  given  a  great  deal 
of  their  own  time  to  rehearsals,  and  the  benefit  is  intended 
to  give  an  opportunity  to  express  appreciation  of  this  un- 
selfish work. 

*  *     * 

Central  Station  Comes  to  the  Rescue  After  Munici- 
pal Plant  Accident. — On  Dec.  10  the  municipal  plant  at 
St.  Peter,  Minn.,  suffered  an  acpident  to  its  boilers,  dis- 
abling it  for  a  period  of  two  weeks  or  more.  The  Con- 
sumers' Power  Company  at  Mankato  was  called  upon  for 
help,  and  by  prompt  action  Manager  Brown  of  that  com- 
pany was  able  to  give  service  in  St.  Peter  without  serious 
interruption.      The    newspapers    of    Mankato    commented 


favorably  on  the  promptness  with  which  the  Consumers' 
Power  Company  was  able  to  meet  an  unexpected  emer- 
gency. This  company  has  been  negotiating  with  the 
municipality  of  St.  Peter  for  some  time  with  the  idea  of 
furnishing  electrical  energy  at  wholesale  to  the  city. 


Valuation  of  Public  Service  Properties. — Reprints, 
have  been  distributed  by  Stone  &  Webst-er  of  an  article  in 
the  October  edition  of  their  Public  Sen-ice  Journal  entitled 
"Valuation  of  Public  Service  Properties,"  by  Mr.  L.  R. 
Nash.  The  author  states  that  appraisals  are  most  com- 
monly made  for  one  of  the  following  purposes :  Firsts 
determination  of  rates  or  charge  for  service ;  second,  as- 
sessment of  taxes;  third,  limitation  of  security  issues; 
fourth,  fixing  prices  for  purchase  or  sale.  Valuation  is 
discussed  by  the  author  from  these  several  standpoints. 
The  decisions  of  courts  and  commissions  are  frequently 
referred  to. 

*     *     * 

Repeal  of  Tarsney  Act. — President  Walter  Cook  in, 
nis  address  before  the  American  Institute  of  Architects  at 
the  Washington  (D.  C.)  meeting  this  month  severely  criti- 
cised the  repeal  of  the  Tarsney  act,  which  authorized  the 
designing  of  government  buildings  by  architects  not  regu- 
larly in  the  government  employ.  The  effect  of  this  will' 
be,  said  Mr.  Cook,  that  the  design  of  government  build- 
ings will  be  turned  over  to  an  official  factory  to  be  ground 
out  by  the  yard.  While  the  probable  reason  for  the  repeal 
has  been  thought  by  some  to  be  one  of  economy,  it  is. 
feared  in  other  quarters  that  the  removal  of  the  competi- 
tive system  under  which  outside  architects  formerly  sub- 
mitted designs  for  government  buildings  will  now  be- 
superseded  by  a  system  of  favoritism. 


Rupert  Claims  Pre-eminence  in  Electric  Heating. — - 
The  enterprising  young  city  of  Rupert,  on  the  Minidoka 
government  reclamation  project  in  Idaho,  lays  claim  to  the 
distinction  of  having  more  houses,  both  business  and  resi- 
dence, heated  by  electricity  than  any  other  city  in  the  United 
States.  Electric  kitchen  ranges  are  also  being  installed  in 
many  residences.  "All  of  this  has  been  made  possible," 
according  to  the  Reclamation  Record,  issued  under  the 
authority  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  "by  reason  of  the 
fact  that  the  electricity  as  a  by-product  of  the  government 
work  is  supplied  at  a  very  low  rate  to  the  consumer.  In 
1904  the  Minidoka  project  was  a  sage-brush  desert  unin- 
habited and  remote  from  transportation.  To-day  its  1500 
farms  are  practically  all  occupied,  and  it  has  three  growing 

towns  and  a  railroad." 

*     *     * 

Exploitation  of  the  Principle  of  Surface  Combus- 
tion.— According  to  newspaper  reports,  the  Standard  Oil 
interests  have  been  negotiating  for  the  sole  rights  to  exploit 
commercially  the  principle  of  surface  combustion  perfected 
by  Prof.  W.  A.  Bone,  of  the  University  of  Leeds,  England, 
and  Prof.  C.  E.  Lucke,  of  Columbia  University,  New  York 
City.  Reference  to  the  surface-combustion  principle  was 
contained  in  the  report  of  the  prime  movers  committee  of 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association  at  the  Seattle  con- 
vention last  June,  and  still  earlier  Professor  Bone  delivered 
a  lecture  on  his  work  before  the  American  Gas  Institute, 
at  St.  Louis,  in  October,  191 1.  Briefly  the  method  consists 
of  forcing  an  explosive  gaseous  mixture  through  the  inter- 
stices of  a  porous  refractory  incandescent  solid,  when  a 
greatly  accelerated  combustion  will  take  place,  under  certain 
conditions,  without  the  development  of  any  flame.  The  re- 
fractory substance  is  then  practically  in  a  state  of  flameless 
incandescence,  and,  according  to  Professor  Bone,  this 
method  of  combustion  will  substantially  increase  the  general' 
efficiency  of  industrial  heating  operations  wherever  it  can 
be  conveniently   applied. 


1364 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  60,  No.  26. 


Production  of  Lumber  in  the  United  States. — The 
Forest  Service  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agri- 
culture has  published  a  diagrammatic  map  of  the  United 
States,  size  21  in.  by  28  in.,  which  shows  graphically  the 
production  of  lumber  for  1910  by  states  and  species.  The 
statistics  of  the  lumber  cut  are,  therefore,  made  instantly 
available.  The  figures  on  which  this  work  is  based  are 
those  collected  and  presented  by  the  Bureau  of  the  Census, 
which  carries  on  this  work  in  co-operation  with  the  office  of 
the  Forest  Service. 

*     *     * 

Control  of  "Wireless"  in  Canada. — Legislation  on 
wireless  telegraphy  has  been  outlined  by  Hon.  J.  D.  Hazen, 
Minister  of  Marine  and  Fisheries,  before  the  Canadian 
House  of  Commons  at  Ottawa.  The  bill,  which  follows  the 
recommendations  of  the  radio-telegraphic  convention  held  in 
London.  England,  requires  the  installation  of  wireless  appa- 
ratus on  all  ships  carrying  more  than  fifty  passengers  and 
plying  between  ports  more  than  200  miles  apart.  It  provides 
that  the  government  may  fix  fees  for  the  licensing  of  opera- 
tors, and  also  for  holding  examinations  for  persons  desiring 
licenses  and  the  framing  of  regulations  to  govern  operators. 
The  bill  enacts  that  operators  on  land  stations  in  Canada 
must  be  British  subjects  and  must  take  an  oath  of  secrecy. 
It  also  fixes  penalties  for  such  infractions  of  the  rules  as 
the  sending  of  false  distress  signals.  Federal  officer  are 
authorized  by  the  bill  to  take  possession  of  wireless  stations 
at  any  time  and  to  censor  wireless  messages.  Provision  is 
also  made  for  the  handling  of  wireless  messages  by  land 
lines  and  cables. 


SOCIETY  MEETINGS. 

Northwest  Convention  for  Seattle,  September,  1913. 
—The  executive  committee  of  the  Northwest  Electric  Light 
and  Power  Association,  a  geographical  section  of  the 
N.  E.  L.  A.,  has  voted  to  hold  the  next  annual  convention 
of  the  association  at  Seattle,  Wash.,  Sept.   lo,  11   and  12, 

1913- 

*  *     * 

Electrical  Section  of  Western  Society  of  Engineers. 
— At  a  meeting  of  the  Electrical  Section  of  the  Western 
Society  of  Engineers  held  in  Chicago  on  Dec.  23  officers 
of  the  section  for  the  ensuing  year  were  nominated  as  fol- 
lows: Chairman,  Mr.  R.  F.  Scliuchardt;  vice-chairman,  Mr. 
F.  T-  Postel;  member  of  executive  committee,  Prof.  P.  B. 
Woodworth. 

*  4:      « 

Mississippi  Electric  Association. — April  21,  22  and  23, 
1913,  have  been  chosen  as  the  dates  for  the  fifth  annual 
meeting  of  the  Mississippi  Electric  Association,  which 
will  be  held  at  Natchez.  It  is  planned  to  meet  at  Vicksburg 
on  the  morning  of  April  21,  when  the  members  and  their 
guests  will  board  the  steamer  Concordia,  which  will  leave 
that  city  at  noon.  During  the  trip  on  the  river  the  first 
day's  session  of  the  convention  will  be  held.  A  number 
of  enjoyable  entertainment  features  have  been  planned  for 

that   evening. 

*  *     * 

Ladies'  Day  at  the  Electric  Club  of  Chicago. — For 
the  first  time  in  its  history  the  Electric  Club  of  Chicago 
entertained  ladies  at  the  weekly  luncheon  on  Dec.  19.  A 
large  number  of  the  wives  and  women  friends  of  members 
were  present.  The  principal  after-luncheon  speaker  was 
Mrs.  Minona  Fitz-Jones,  who  took  as  her  subject  "The 
Greatest  Discovery  of  the  Age."  This  discovery,  the 
speaker  said,  was  Woman,  and  she  proceeded  to  argue  in 
favor  of  the  participation  of  women  in  political  life.  Mr. 
F.  P.  Vose,  former  president  of  the  club,  made  a  few  felic- 
itous remarks,  and  President  Gray  expressed  the  thanks  of 
he  club  to  the  ladies  for  their  attendance. 


Colorado  Electric  Club. — At  the  midweek  luncheon  of 
the  Colorado  Electric  Club  at  Denver,  Dec.  19,  greetings 
were  received  from  the  Utah  Electric  Club  of  Salt  Lake  I 
City,  recently  organized  by  former  members  of  the  Denver  ■ 
club  on  that  club's  plan.  The  speaker  of  the  day,  Mr. 
Frank  I.  Newhouse,  in  discussing  "Agricultural  Colorado,"  ■ 
declared  that  the  Mountain  State  leads  all  others  in  the  f 
extent  of  its  irrigated  land,  adding  also  that  Colorado 
grows  50  per  cent  more  wheat  and  oats  per  acre  than  any 
state  to  the  East.  Mr.  Newhouse  directed  special  atten- 
tion to  the  numerous  applications  of  electricity  on  Colorado 
farms  for  irrigation  pumping,  thrashing,  etc.  The  attend- 
ance at  the  meeting  numbered  120. 

*     *     * 

Bronx  Electric  Company  Meeting. — At  a  meeting  of 
the  department  members  of  the  Bronx  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany, New  York,  Dec.  11,  !\Ir.  Alfred  B.  Cruikshank,  the 
company's  counsel,  spoke  on  the  subject  of  some  legal  aspects 
of  public-service  corporations.  First  outlining  the  process 
of  incorporating  such  a  utility,  he  pointed  out  its  distinctions 
from  the  ordinary  small  partnership  and  went  on  to  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  economic  value  to  the  general  welfare  of 
large  fortunes  wisely  administered.  Investment  of  capital 
on  such  a  scale,  he  declared,  produces  general  prosperity 
which  results  in  the  uplift  and  improvement  of  all  classes. 
Mr.  B.  C.  Sprague,  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  de- 
livered an  illustrated  lecture  on  electric  heating  appliances. 


Joint  Meeting  of  Sections  of  N.  E.  L.  A.,  A.  I.  E.  E. 
and  W.  S.  E.  in  Chicago. — Three  sections  united  in  a  joint 
meeting  held  in  Association  Hall,  Chicago,  on  Dec.  23. 
They  were  the  Chicago  Section  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company 
Section  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  and  the 
Electrical  Section  of  the  Western  Society  of  Engineers. 
The  principal  speaker  of  the  evening  was  Mr.  W.  L.  Abbott, 
chief  operating  engineer  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison 
Company  and  president  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Sec- 
tion of  the  N.  E.  L.  A.  Mr.  Abbott's  subject  was  "The  New 
Northwest  Station  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company," 
and  his  address  was  illustrated  by  lantern-slide  pictures. 
Mr.  Bion  J.  Arnold  opened  the  discussion,  and  there  were 
music  by  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Orchestra  and  singing 
by  Miss  Hallberg.     Prof.  P.  B.  Woodworth  presided. 


Meeting  of  the  Electric  Motor  Car  Club  of  Boston. — 
At  the  Hotel  Thorndike  on  Dec.  19  about  sixty  members  . 
and  guests  viewed  an  electrically  illuminated  Christmas 
tree  which  occupied  the  center  of  the  dining  room,  and 
after  a  short  business  meeting  Mr.  L.  L.  Edgar,  of  the 
Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Boston,  dis- 
tributed souvenirs,  many  of  which  were  of  a  humorous 
character.  Music  by  a  male  quartet  and  original  verses  by 
Mr.  E.  S.  Mansfield  also  contributed  to  the  occasion.  Dur- 
ing the  business  meeting  it  was  announced  that  the  club  now 
has  seventy-three  paying  members,  and  a  proposition  to 
establish  a  garage  and  agency  building  near  the  North 
Station  in  Boston  was  discussed.  It  was  also  given  out  that 
several  officials  of  the  large  textile  and  express  companies 
are  about  to  join  the  club  to  further  the  advance  of  the 
electric  truck  in  their  fields  through  the  co-operation  of  the 
organization.  The  plans  for  the  advertising  campaign  in 
1913  include  co-operative  publicity  shared  in  the  news- 
papers by  both  gasoline  and  electric  truck  interests.  The 
limitations  of  each  type  are  such  that  competition  is  less 
keen  than  was  formerly  believed.  The  following  com- 
mittees were  named:  Publicity,  Messrs.  Albert  Weatherby, 
H.  F.  Thomson,  P.  E.  Whiting,  D.  C.  Tiffany  and  F.  N. 
Phelps;  civic  relations,  Messrs.  J.  W.  Bowman,  D.  C. 
Tiffany  and  Day  Baker. 


ELECTRIC  DEVELOPMENT  IN  NEW  ENGLAND 


The  Four-Million-Dollar   Initial  Project  of  the    New  England   Power  Com- 
pany on  the  Deerfield  River  in  Massachusetts  and  Vermont. 

A  Description  of  the  Four    Generating    Stations,  Storage     Reservoir    and  Transmission    Lines  of  the 

System,  Which   Reaches  Many  Important  Industrial  Cities  in  Central  New  England  and 

Ties    Together  for  Co-operative  Service  the   Deerfield  and   Connecticut  River 

Transmission  Systems. 


A  HYDROELECTRIC  development  of  profound  in- 
dustrial significance  is  rapidly  approaching  com- 
pletion on  the  historic  and  beautiful  Deerfield 
River,  in  Massachusetts  and  Vermont,  with  comprehensive 
plans  for  future  expansion  of  storage  and  generating  facili- 
ties which  rival  many  of  the  water-power  enterprises  of 
the  Far  West.  From  the  economic,  hydraulic  and  electrical 
standpoints  the  work  now  in  progress  is  of  broad  interest, 
for  it  marks  the  advance  of  low-priced  energy  into  new 
manufacturing  and  transportation  fields  in  Massachusetts 
hitherto  unreached  by  marketed  power.  It  insures  the 
efficient  interchange  of  electricity  between  the  Deerfield  and 
Connecticut  River  systems  of  electrical  generation  and 
transmission,  and  furnishes,  both  in  the  standardization  of 
plant  designs  adopted  and  the  storage  facilities  under  way, 
a  convincing  illustration  of  the  possibilities  of  conservation 
of  capital  and  natural  resources  attainable  by  modern  engi- 
neering practice. 

CONNECTICUT   RIVER   TRANSMISSION    COMPANY. 

The  realization  of  the  commercial  benefits  of  hydroelectric 
power  distributed  over  large  areas  received  a  marked  stimu- 
lus in  Massachusetts  in  1909.  when  the  66,000-volt  system  of 
the  Connecticut  River  Transmission  Company  was  placed 
in  operation.  The  developments  of  this  company  were  de- 
scribed in  the  Electrical  World  of  Sept.  9,  1909,  and  consist 
in  brief  of  a  20,000-kw  water-power  plant  located  on  the 
Connecticut  River  at  Vernon,  Vt.,  and  a  steel-tower  trans- 
mission system  extending  southeast  through  the  Gardner, 
Fitchburg,  Clinton,  Marlboro  and  Worcester  districts.  The 
company  operates  in  general  as  a  wholesaler  of  energy  and 
supplies   electricity    at    an    average    rate    of    sligiitly    under 


I  cent  per  kw-hr.  Prior  to  the  advent  of  this  system  hydro- 
electric developments  in  New  England  were  rather  restricted 
in  scope,  and  central  stations  serving  comparatively  limited 
areas  sought  with  few  exceptions  the  small-power  market. 
The  electrification  of  large  industrial  plants  and  the  ar- 
rangement of  reciprocal  power  contracts  between  these 
plants  and  the  transmission  company  followed  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  electrical  service,  and  the  latter  has  increased 
so  rapidly  that  its  present  yearly  output  exceeds  that  of  the 
combined  central  stations  of  Massachusetts  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Boston  Edison  Company. 

Through  the  reciprocal  power  contract,  the  steam  gen- 
erating plant  formerly  used  by  the  consumer  is  held  in 
reserve  as  an  auxiliary  capable  of  supplying  energy  to  the 
circuits  of  the  transmission  company  in  an  emergency,  and 
by  this  means  an  investment  in  steam-plant  equipment  by 
the  latter  is  avoided.  The  Connecticut  River  Company's 
development  has  been  carried  out  under  the  general  direc- 
tion and  control  of  the  Chace-Harriman  interests  of  Boston, 
and  these  interests  are  closely  identified  with  the  Deerfield 
utilization  under  the  corporate  organization  of  the  New 
England  Power  Company.  The  entire  work  of  engineering 
and  construction  is  being  handled  by  the  Power  Construc- 
tion Company,  of  Shelburne  Falls,  Mass.,  an  organization 
created  about  eighteen  months  ago  to  engage  in  engineering 
and  construction  work  in  general,  and  headed  by  Mr.  George 
W.  Bunnell.  Messrs.  J.  G.  White  &  Company,  of  New 
York,  and  Charles  T.  Main,  of  Boston,  were  retained  as 
advisory  engineers  in  connection  with  the  general  project, 
but  all  designing  and  the  immediate  supervision  of  con- 
struction has  been  handled  by  the  Power  Construction  Com- 
pany. 


Fig.    1— View   of   Station    No.   3   from    Last   Tower. 


1366 


i:  L  E  C  T  R  I  C  A  L     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


OUTLINE  OF  DEVELOPMENT. 

The  present  development  comprises  the  building  of  a 
storage  reservoir  at  Somerset,  Vt.,  which  will  hold  2,500,- 
000,000  cu.  ft.  of  water,  the  construction  of  a  power  house 
building  to  be  used  as  a  temporary  substation  near  the 
Hoosac  Tunnel  and  of  three  6000-kva  generating  stations  in 
and  near  Shelburne  Falls,  and  the  erection  of  transmission 


Fig.  2 — Headwaters  of  Plant   No.  3. 

lines  connecting  the  Shelburne  Falls  plants  with  the  Vernon 
plant  of  the  Connecticut  River  company  by  direct  tie  and 
by  a  high-tension  cross-country  steel-tower  installation  be- 
tween the  Shelburne  Falls  and  Worcester  districts.  This 
will  form  a  double-line  loop  through  the  latter  district  back 
through  Clinton  to  Vernon  and  Shelburne  Falls.  Right-of- 
way  has  been  secured  from  the  Worcester  district  south- 
eastward through  the  Blackstone  Valley  in  anticipation  of 
an  early  extension  of  the  system  into  Rhode  Island  and  the 

Providence   market.     The   esti-       

mated  cost  of  the  initial  devel- 
opment is  about  $4,250,000.  The 
Shelburne  Falls-Worcester  dis- 
trict line,  terminating  at  Mill- 
bury,  Mass.,  has  been  designed 
for  ultimate  operation  at  120,- 
000  volts,  while  the  remainder 
of  the  system  is  designed  for 
66,000  -  volt  transmission.  At 
Millbury  power  will  be  deliv- 
ered to  the  Worcester  Consoli- 
dated Street  Railway  Company's 
transmission  system  through  a 
frequency  -  changer  substation 
which  is  to  be  located  near  the 
existing  steam-turbine  gener- 
ating plant  of  the  railway  com- 
pany. A  corresponding  delivery 
of  power  will  be  made  to  the 
Boston  &  Maine  Railroad  in  the 
western  part  of  the  State  for 
the  operation  of  electric  train 
service  in  the  Hoosac  Tunnel 
and  lines  of  the  Berkshire 
Street  Railway  Company,  the 
present  Zylonite  steam  plant 
being  utilized  as  an  auxiliary. 
At  Ware  energy  will  be  deliv- 
ered to  a  branch  transmission 
line  owned  by  the  Central  Massachusetts  Electric  Com- 
pany for  supplying  electricity  to  the  Warren-Palmer  dis- 
trict, and  similarly  energy  will  be  delivered  from  the  Ver- 
non plant  and  its  interconnecting  lines  to  the  Keene  (N.  H.) 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  over  a  19,000-volt  branch  running 
northeast  from  the  Vernon  station  to  the  latter  company's 
district.     With  the  extension  of  the  120.000-volt  lines  from 


Millbury  to  the  Providence  district,  the  construction  of  a 
second  loop  transmission  line  through  Danielson  and  Put- 
nam, Conn.,  is  planned,  with  connection  back  to  Millbury 
through  Webster,  Mass.  Further  proposed  extensions  cover 
the  territory  including  Bennington,  North  Adams  and 
Pittsfield,  with  a  branch  transmission  line  from  Fitchburg 
to  Nashua,  N.  H.,  and  Lowell,  Mass.  With  the  completion 
of  these  lines  the  system  will  extend  from  a  point  near  the 
New  York  state  line  on  the  west  to  the  Boston  Edison 
Company's  territory  on  the  east,  supplying  power  in  four 
of  the  six  New  England  States  and  placing  the  whole  prob- 
lem of  electrical  distribution  i'n  the  populous  municipalities 
of  central  Massachusetts  upon  a  new  footing. 

DRAINAGE  AREAS  UTILIZED. 

The  Deerfield  River,  which  is  the  principal  tributary  of 
the  Connecticut,  rises  in  the  southwestern  part  of  Vermont, 
being  formed  by  the  conflux  of  a  number  of  small  streams 
draining  an  area  of  about  189  sq.  miles.  The  only  outlet  of 
the  stream  is  through  a  single  narrow  valley  at  the  south. 
The  branch  of  the  river  which  retains  the  name  of  Deer- 
field  rises  in  the  town  of  Stratton,  Vt.,  and  flows  south 
through  Somerset  into  Searsburg,  where  its  volume  is  con- 
siderably increased  at  its  junction  with  a  large  brook  called 
the  East  Branch,  which  rises  in  the  town  of  Somerset.  Near 
the  headwaters  of  this  brook  the  first  reservoir  is  to  be 
built  in  connection  with  the  development.  From  the  town 
of  Searsburg  the  Deerfield  River  flows  easterly  into 
Wilmington,  where  it  receives  another  notable  addition 
from  the  North  Branch.  From  Wilmington  it  flows  south 
into  Whitingham,  westward  into  Readsboro,  and  thence 
across  the  Massachusetts  boundary.  In  the  latter  State  the 
river  flows  several  miles  through  the  narrow  valley  above 
mentioned,  where  the  elevations  of  the  hills  at  the  sides 
vary  from  800  ft.  to  2000  ft.  above  sea  level. 

At  Hoosac  Tunnel  the  river  makes  a  sharp  bend  eastward 


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and  flows  rapidly  for  a  few  miles  through  a  hilly  valley, 
which  gradually  becomes  more  level  upon  approaching 
Charlemont.  The  valley  again  narrows  about  2  miles  west 
of  Shelburne  Falls,  where  the  town  boundaries  of  Charle- 
mont, Colrain  and  Buckland  meet.  The  river  here  takes  a 
sharp  turn  around  a  hill,  flows  north  through  a  deep  ravine, 
and   then   bends   to   the   east,   receiving   the   waters   of   the 


December  28,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1367 


North  River.  In  southern  Vermont,  from  Davis  Bridge  to 
the  state  line,  and  thence  to  Scott's  Bridge,  west  of  Shel- 
burne  Falls,  the  drainage  area  of  the  river  is  229  sq.  miles, 
and  the  drainage  of  the  North  River,  also  extending  north- 
ward into  Vermont  from  the  Shelburne  Falls  district,  covers 
an  area  of  loo  sq.  miles,  making  a  total  watershed  of  518 
sq.  miles  between  the  extreme  headwaters  of  the  Deerfield 
River  and  the  generating  plants  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Shelburne  Falls.  East  of  Shelburne  Falls  the  river  flows 
for  10  miles  through  a  precipitous  valley,  then  passe.s 
through  wide  meadowlands  and  discharges  into  the  Con- 
necticut River  southeast  of  Greenfield.  The  drainage  area 
of  the  Connecticut  River  at  Vernon  is  about  6300  sq.  miles. 

SOMERSET    RESERVOIR. 

The  Somerset  reservoir  is  now  under  construction  and 
will  be  formed  by  the  erection  of  an  earth  dam  built  across 
the  East  Branch  at  the  terminus  of  a  narrow-gage  lumber 
railroad  connecting  the  site  with  the  main  line  of  the 
Boston  &  Maine  Railroad  at  Zoar.  The  height  of  the  dam 
above  extreme  low  water  will  be  100  ft.,  producing  an 
available  storage  capacity  of  2,500,000,000  cu.  ft.,  with  the 
water  at  the  level  of  the  spillway  crest.  With  4  ft.  of 
flashboards  on  the  dam,  however,  this  storage  can  be  raised 
to  2,700,000,000  cu.  ft.  The  downstream  face  of  the  dam 
is  to  have  a  slope  of  2.5  to  i,  the  upstream  slope  being  3  to  i, 
the  top  width  being  20  ft.  and  the  length  of  the  dam  about 
2000  ft.  The  dam  is  to  be  paved  on  its  upper  slope  to 
prevent  damage  due  to  wave  action.  The  reservoir  above 
will  have  an  area  of  about  3  sq.  miles. 

Like  many  other  New  England  streams,  the  Deerfield 
suffers  from  extreme  variations  in  its  flow,  which  ranges 
from  a  normal  discharge  of  about  1300  second-ft.  at  Shel- 
burne Falls  in  an  average  year  to  a  maximum  of  28,000 
second-ft.  under  flood  conditions.  It  is  estimated  that  with 
the  completion  of  the  four  hydroelectric  plants  above  out- 
lined and  the  filling  of  the  Somerset  Reservoir  112,000,000 
kw-hr.  of  salable  energy  can  be  produced  on  the  Deerfield 
River  even  in  a  dry  year. 

As  shown  in  the  accompanying  drawing,  the  Somerset 
dam  will  be  about  480  ft.  thick  at  the  base  and  will  be  pro- 
vided with  a  concrete  pipe  tunnel  about   12  ft.  in  diameter 


a^JSKSi^H^^^ 


SUetrieal  World 


Fig.  4 — Cross-Section   Through   Plant   No.  2 

carrying  two  delivery  pipes  each  4  ft.  in  diameter,  to 
facilitate  drawing  water  from  the  reservoir  for  power 
service.  Gates  are  to  be  furnished  at  the  upstream  end,  and 
these  will  be  equipped  with  operating  mechanism  permitting 
the  use  of  the  water  in  part  before  the  completion  of  the 
reservoir.  About  30  sq.  miles  are  immediately  tributary  to 
tlie  latter.    At  a  later  date  a  second  storage  reservoir,  which 


will  contain  4,500,000,000  cu.  ft.  of  water,  is  to  be  built  at 
Davis  Bridge,  about  4  miles  from  the  Massachusetts  bound- 
ary, in  Vermont,  and  this  storage  basin  will  be  operated  in 
series  with  the  Somerset  reservoir.  This  will  require  a  dam 
about  195  ft.  in  height,  and  when  completed  and  used  in  con- 
junction with  the  final  development  of  seven  water-power 
sites  on  the  river,  with  an  average  gross  head  of   1050  ft. 


H  ii 


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Fig.  5 — Interior  of   Plant   No.  3. 

total,  it  is  estimated  that  the  plants  of  the  New  England 
Power  Company  will  produce  236,000,000  kw-hr.  per  year. 
With  the  present  development  of  three  generating  stations 
in  the  Shelburne  Falls  region,  supplemented  by  the  Somerset 
dam  and  not  including  the  Hoosac  hydroelectric  station,  an 
aggregate  net  head  of  386  ft.  being  utilized,  the  output 
attainable  even  under  the  conditions  of  a  dry  year  will  be 
70,000,000  kw-hr.  The  construction  of  the  Hoosac  hydro- 
electric plant,  with  the  installation  of  the  waterwheels 
planned  for  that  station,  will  add  12,000  kva  to  the  gen- 
erating capacity  of  the  present  Deerfield  plants  of  the  New 
England  company,  making  a  total  of  30,000  kva  installed  in 
the  four  stations. 

TYPICAL  PL.\NT  DESIGN. 

A  striking  feature  of  the  development  is  presented  in  the 
similarity  of  the  design  employed,  both  from  the  hydraulic 
and  electrical  standpoints,  in  the  generating  stations  now 
under  construction.  Each  of  the  three  plants  at  Shelburne 
l-alls  is  equipped  with  three  2000-kva  units,  consisting  of  a 
2300-volt,  three-phase,  6o-cycle  General  Electric  revolving- 
field  alternator  driven  through  a  horizontal  shaft  by  a 
3000-hp  double-runner,  central-discharge  Wellman-Seaver- 
Morgan  turbine  operating  at  257  r.p,m.  The  heads  at 
Stations  3  and  4,  in  Shelburne  Falls,  are  the  same,  64  ft., 
and  the  head  at  Station  2,  east  of  Shelburne  Falls,  at  a 
point  on  the  river  known  as  Upper  Bardwell's,  is  60  ft.  In 
general,  each  station  consists  of  a  brick  and  steel  building 
with  concrete  foundations  erected  at  the  lower  end  of  a  row 
of  penstocks  delivering  water  to  the  wheel  casings,  which 
are  located  outside  the  station  and  connected  by  short  shafts 
with  the  generators.  The  latter  are  mounted  in  an 
operating  room  which  extends  the  entire  length  of  the 
building.  The  switchboard  in  each  case  is  installed  on  the 
operating  floor  opposite  the  wheel-shaft  entrances.  At  one 
end  is  a  2300-volt  bus  structure,  with  low-tension  oil 
switches  installed  in  concrete  cells  having  asbestos  inter- 
mediate barriers,  the  cables  from  the  machines  being  run 
to  the  cells  in  conduit  which  is  laid  in  the  floor.  A  gallery 
is  provided  at  the  end  of  the  operating  room  above  the  bus 
cells  to  carry  a  storage  battery  for  operating  switch  and 
other  minor  equipment.  In  the  upper  story  extending  along 
the  station  over  the  operating  room  is  a  transformer  and 
high-tension  oil-switch  room  designed  for  66,000-volt 
service  and  equipped  with  a  50,000-lb.  chain  hoist  for 
handling  transformers  between  this  room  and  the  operating 
floor  below.     Upon   the  tar  and  gravel   roof  is  mounted  a 


1368 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


steel  and  pipe  frame  structure  supporting  the  insulators 
which  carry  the  incoming  and  outgoing  lines,  with  horn- 
gaps  and  lightning-arrester  connections. 

Below  the  station  the  turbines  discharge  through  draft 
tubes  into  a  tailrace  connecting  directly  with  the  river,  as 
shown  in  the  accompanying  drawings.  The  chief  differ- 
ences between  the  three  plants  in  the  Shelburne  Falls  dis- 


Fig.   6 — Switching   Tower. 

trict  lie  in  the  arrangements  made  for  the  supply  of  water 
to  the  penstocks  and  the  local  relations  of  the  high-tension 
wiring  to  the  transmission  lines  of  the  system.  All  pen- 
stocks are  built  of  riveted  steel  varying  in  thickness  from 
34  in.  at  the  upper  ends  to  5/16  jn.  at  the  bottom.  Lombard 
governors  with  30,000-lb.  rating  are  used  in  all  stations,  a 
short  lever  and  rocker-arm  connection  being  made  between 
the  governor  and  the  spindle  controlling  the  gate  movement 
within  the  wheel  casings. 

STATION  4. 

Plant  No.  4,  located  about  i}4  miles  above  Shelburne 
Falls,  is  the  first  station  of  the  present  development  encoun- 
tered in  descending  the  Deerfield  River.  The  station  is 
located  on  the  east  side  of  a  hill  around  which  the  stream 
sweeps  in  approaching  the  plant,  and  the  water  supply  is 
drawn  from  the  river  on  the  further  side  of  the  hill  by  a 
tunnel  1580  ft.  long,  the  intake  being  built  at  one  side  of  the 
solid  concrete  dam  which  has 
been  constructed  across  the 
river  goo  ft.  below  Scott's 
Bridge.  The  river  surrounds 
the  hill  on  three  sides,  flow'ing 
north,  east  and  south  until  it 
reaches  the  power-house  site, 
directly  opposite  the  first  bend 
at  the  dam,  and  the  difference  in 
altitude  made  possible  the  devel- 
opment of  a  64- ft.  head  through 
the  use  of  a  tunnel,  and  with 
4  ft.  of  flashboards  on  the  top 
of  the  dam  a .  pondage  of  320 
acre-ft.  is  secured.  The  dam  is 
about  235  ft.  long  at  the  crest 
and  is  built  at  an  angle  with  the 
stream  to  give  a  greater  length 
of  spillway  in  times  of  high 
water.  It  is  anchored  in  solid 
rock,  has  a  maximum  height  of 
50  ft.,  a  thickness  at  the  base  of 
28  ft.  and  a  width  at  the  top  of  the  spillway  of  4  ft.  At 
the  lower  end  of  the  dam  an  installation  of  sluicegates 
42  ft.  in  width  has  been  made,  and  the  water  for  power- 
plant  service  is  drawn  through  an  inlet  chamber  with  stop 
logs,  gate  and  screens  into  the  tunnel  on  an  axis  at  right 
angles  to  the  flow  of  the  river. 

The  gate  equipment  was  supplied  by  the  Exeter  Machine 


Works,  of  Pittston,  Pa.  The  gate  weighs  38,000  lb.  and  is 
built  of  steel  plates  and  26-in.  I-beams  and  is  raised  and 
lowered  past  a  ^-in.  bronze  wearing  plate  on  the  side  by  a 
pair  of  5-in.  steel  screw  steams  terminating  at  the  top  in  a 
horizontal  bevel  gear  meshing  with  a  shaft  which  is  driven 
by  a  is-hp  motor.  The  gate  is  13  ft.  8  in.  high  and  14  ft. 
wide,  and  the  driving  motor  is  a  2300-volt  induction  ma- 
chine mounted  on  an  I-beam  framing  at  the  top  of  the  gate 
shaft. 

THE    TUNNEL. 

The  tunnel  is  a  concrete-lined  bore  through  the  rocky 
hillside  and  has  a  horseshoe  section  equivalent  in  area  to  a 
circle  13  ft.  in  diameter.  The  inside  diameter  of  the  tunnel 
is  13  ft.,  and  the  use  of  Blaw  steel  forms  was  a  feature  of 
its  construction.  The  tunnel  is  built  with  its  highest  point 
near  the  middle,  in  order  to  facilitate  complete  drainage  in 
case  the  water  is  shut  off.  The  normal  capacity  of  the 
tunnel  is  1650  second-ft.,  and  it  discharges  into  a  forebay 
located  on  the  east  side  of  the  hill.  The  forebay  is  provided 
at  its  eastern  side  with  screens  and  gates  and  is  connected 
with  three  penstock  intakes  as  shown  in  the  accompanying 
plan.  A  200-hp  motor-driven  air  compressor  supplied  with 
power  from  the  Vernon  plant  of  the  Connecticut  River 
Transmission  Company  was  used  in  the  excavation  of  the 
tunnel,  and  electrically  operated  contracting  equipment  was 
employed  wherever  possible  in  the  work  on  the  three  sta- 
tions in  the  Shelburne  Falls  district.  The  energy  con- 
sumption reached  a  maximum  of  about  85,000  kw-hr.  per 
month  during  the  height  of  the  construction  period. 

THE  PENSTOCKS. 

The  penstocks  at  all  three  stations  each  have  an  inside 
diameter  of  10  ft.  and  in  Stations  3  and  4  they  are  about 
160  ft.  long  and  are  anchored  into  the  hillside  by  concrete 
piers  26  ft.  apart.  Two  gates  about  7  ft.  x  12  ft.  in  size  are 
provided  for  each  intake,  provision  being  made  for  the  use 
of  stop  logs  and  double  sluicegates  in  the  dam  at  Station  3, 
as  shown  in  the  accompanying  drawing. 

From  the  penstock  intakes  to  the  switchboard.  Plants  3 
and  4  are  practically  identical  in  design.  The  turbine 
casings  are  located  outside  the  station  buildings,  as  stated, 
but  are  designed  so  as  to  admit  of  handling  the  runners 
and  shafting  through  the  end  which  projects  into  the  power 
house.     Access  to  the  interior  is  had  through  a  manhole  in 


EUelrual  Wtrld 


Fig.   7 — Plan    View    of    Entire    Plant 


the  casing  outside  the  building  in  addition  to  the  end  plate 
construction  in  the  power  house  wall.  A  15-ton  hand- 
operated  traveling  crane  of  Northern  manufacture  serves 
the  entire  generator  room,  which  is  about  31  ft.  wide  by 
94  ft.  long  inside.  The  governors  are  operated  under  oil 
pressure  supplied  by  a  4-in.  by  6-in.  triplex  pump,  which  is 
belted  to  the  wheel  shaft  inside  the  generator  room,  and 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1369 


the  governor  rotation  is  effected  by  a  belt  connection  to 
the  wheel  shaft.  The  generators  are  installed  along  the 
middle  of  the  operating  room  with  about  22  ft.  between 
shaft  centers  and  deliver  energy  directly  to  the  low-tension 
switches  and  buses  as  outlined  above.  Each  of  the  three 
plants  is  provided  with  two  loo-kw,  125-volt  exciters,  and 
each  is  direct-connected  on  a  horizontal  shaft  lo  a  2300-volt 
General  Electric  induction  motor  running  at  900  r.p.m. 
The  transformer  equipment  of  each  of  these  stations  con- 
sists of  two  3000-kva  General  Electric  oil-insulated,  water- 
cooled  units  wound  with  2300-volt  primaries  and  66,000-volt 
Y-connected  secondaries,  with  solenoid-type  oil  switches 
of  the  same  make  for  both  low-tension  and  high-tension 
service.  The  former  are  provided  with  series  relays  and 
an  associated  tripping  rod  in  place  of  series  transformers. 

FURTHER    ELECTRICAL    DETAILS. 

Noiie  of  the  plants  is  provided  with  a  turbine-driven  or  a 
steam-driven  exciter,  since  energy  is  available  either  from 
the  transmission  lines  connected  with  other  plants  for  the 
operation  of  the  motor-generator  exciters  or  temporarily 
from  the  small  storage  batteries  supplied  for  the  oil-switch 
service.  The  main  generators  deliver  503  amp  per  terminal 
at  full  load  and  are  designed  for  a  maximum  temperature 
rise  of  40  deg.  C.  when  carrying  full  load  for  twenty-four 
hours  at  80  per  cent  power-factor,  and  with  a  maximum 
rise  of  50  deg.  C.  when  operated  at  25  per  cent  overload 
for  two  hours.  The  high-tension  oil  switches  are  of  the 
remote-control  type,  having  a  rating  of  150  amp  at  70,000 
volts,  and  are  mounted  on  the  floor  of  the  transformer  room 
below  the  steel  structure  supporting  the  incoming  and  out- 
going leads,  and  are  connected  by  short  leads  run  overhead 
to  the  transformers. 

Copper  tubing  has  been  largely  used  in  the  inside  wiring 
of  the  high-tension  sections  of  the  stations  on  account  of 
the  tendency  of  solid  leads  to  sag  and  get  out  of  line  even 
in  moderate  spans.  In  each  station  the  transformers  are 
installed  upon  rails  leading  to  a  central  opening  about  9.5  ft. 
by  II  ft.  in  dimensions.  The  rails  are  carried  in  the  open- 
ing by  steel  I-beams  which  can  be  removed  after  a  trans- 
former has  been  raised  from  them  by  the  hoist,  so  that  the 
unit  can  then  be  lowered  to  the  room  below.  Cooling  water 
for  the  transformers  is  provided  at  each  station  by  a  lyi-in. 
Lawrence  centrifugal  pump  which  is  connected  with  a 
li/2-hp,  no-volt  induction  motor  running  at  1800  r.p.m. 
Around  each  transformer  is  built  a  wall  of  concrete  8  in. 
deep,  with  a  short  brick  section  which  can  easily  be  knocked 
out  on  the  side  nearest  the  hatchway  leading  to  the  oper- 
ating room.  This  basin  serves  as  a  temporary  receptacle 
for  oil  in  case  of  leakage.  In  addition  to  this  each  trans- 
former is  equipped  with  a  3-in.  pipe  and  quick-acting  lever 
valve  by  which  the  inclosed  oil  can  be  discharged  into  the 
river  in  case  of  an  emergency. 

The  operating  rooms  in  these  stations  are  lighted  by 
eighteen   lOO-watt  tungsten  lamps  with  prismatic  reflectors 


C.L.  of  Baseot  Dam 


boards.  The  auxiliary  panels  are  fitted  with  integrating 
wattmeters,  testing  jacks,  transfer  switches  and  potential 
plugs. 

TYPICAL     SWITCH  HOARD     STATION. 

A  typical  switchboard  controls  three  2000-kva  generators, 
wound  for  2300  volts,  two  loo-kw  exciters  equipped  with 
speed-limiting  circuit-breakers,  two  3000-kva  transformers 


Intake  End 


Grade  of  Tiinnel  =  0.004 
Fig.  8 — Cross-Section  of  Earth  Dam. 


carried  in  pairs  on  pipe-frame  brackets  as  shown  in  the 
accompanying  photograph,  the  lamps  being  located  about 
16  ft.  above  the  floor.  In  each  station  the  switchboard  is 
installed  in  front  of  a  row  of  auxiliary  panels  placed  37  in. 
behind  the  former,  allowing  a  clearance  of  33  in.  between 
the  latter  and  the  wall.  All  field  rheostats  are  mounted  on 
angle-irons  which   are  carried   on  the  top  of  the   switch- 


Fig.  9 — station    No.   3,   Under  Construction. 

and  four  outgoing  66,000-volt  transmission  lines.  The 
operating  board  is  16  ft.  4  in.  long  and  contains  ten  panels, 
with  the  usual  synchronizing  bracket  and  switch  plugs,  a 
Tirrill  regulator,  a  high-tension  feeder,  recording  and 
meter  panel  and  remote-control  switches,  reed-type  fre- 
quency indicator,  power-factor  indicators,  wattmeters  and 
ammeters.  The  generator  switches  are  equipped  with 
instantaneous  overload  relays  and  differential  relays  are 
placed  in  the  circuits  of  the  oil  switches  controlling  the 
transformers.  Graphic  recording  voltmeters  are  installed 
in  each  station.  The  switchboard  in  Station  3  includes  a 
panel  for  service  to  a  local  cutlery  mill  which  was  changed 
to  electric  drive  when  the  hydraulic  development  was  made 
at  the  generating  station.  At  Plant  2  only  two  high-tension 
feeders  are  to  be  installed  at  present,  but  with  these  excep- 
tions the  operating  switchboards  are  closely  alike.  .\11 
alternating-current  instruments  are  equipped  with  trans- 
formers so  that  not  more  than  250  volts  is  taken  into  the 
cases.  Electrolytic  lightning  arresters  with  horn-gaps,  dis- 
connecting switches,  choke  coils  and  alarms  are  provided 
in  each  plant,  the  arresters  being  placed  in  the  transformer 
room  opposite  the  high-tension  oil  switches. 

All  relay  and  instrument  circuits  are  equipped  with 
standard  testing  jacks,  transfer  switches  and  potential  plugs 
mounted  on  the  auxiliary  panels  and  so  arranged  that  stand- 
ardizing meters  can  be  connect- 
ed without  interfering  with  oper- 
ation. All  automatic  switches 
are  equipped  with  alarm-bell  re- 
lays. The  neutrals  of  auxiliary 
transformers  and  switchboard 
meters  are  tied  into  a  separate 
ground  plate  and  into  the  steel 
frame  of  the  building.  The 
main  transformers  are  con- 
nected in  delta  on  the  low-ten- 
sion sides,  and  the  neutrals  on 
the  high-tension  sides  are  carried  on  insulators  for  a 
short  distance  away  from  the  transformer  cases  so  that 
they  may  be  disconnected  and  the  system  operated  un- 
grounded if  necessary.  There  are  two  barriers  provided 
for  each  set  of  three  2300-volt  disconnecting  switches, 
yi-in.  outer  asbestos  panels  being  used,  with  34-in-  as- 
bestos  sheets   between   buses.      On   the   main    switchboard 


Outlet  End 

£kclrieat  tVartd 


'370 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


bo,  .\u.  26. 


panels  is  installed  a  dummy  bus  showing  connections  be- 
tween machines,  buses  and  outgoing  lines,  with  the  usual 
pilot  lamps.  In  addition  to  the  latter,  pilot  lamps  are  pro- 
vided for  indicating  the  position  of  disconnecting  switches 
in  the  high-tension  wiring  and  in  the  2300-volt  circuits 
within  the  stations,  the  lamps  being  cut  in  and  out  by  hand 
switches  located  near  the  disconnectors. 

HIGH-TENSION    ROOF    STRUCTURES. 

The  accompanying  illustration  shows  the  mechanical  ar- 
rangement of  high-tension  lines  on  a  typical  station  roof. 
All  lines  are  dead-ended  on  strain  insulators  fastened  to 
the  station  wall,  and   from  these  lines  taps  are  carried  to 


parapet  wall  which  is  farthest  away  from  the  high-tension 
lines. 

STATION     3. 

Station  3  is  located  in  the  heart  of  Shelburne  Falls,  about 
1500  ft.  from  the  Boston  &  Maine  Railroad  station  and  at 
the  foot  of  a  conduit,  canal  and  penstock  system  which 
starts  from  a  dam  crossing  the  river  just  above  a  large 
cutlery  plant,  which  formerly  utilized  a  portion  of  the 
stream.  The  stream  passes  over  a  ledge  at  this  point  and  has 
been  utilized  since  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century 
for  saw-mill,  grist-mill  and  other  work.  At  the  crest  of 
the  falls  part  of  an  old  crib  dam  was  used  by  the  construc- 


£lt<lrieal  IforU 


Fig.   10 — Section   Through    Plant   No.   3, 


msulators  supported  on  steel  framework  as  shown  in  the 
photograph.  The  insulators  taking  the  taps  from  the  in- 
coming lines  are  built  with  four  petticoats  and  are  mounted 
on  horizontal  framing  consisting  of  steel  I-beams  installed 
in  pairs  latticed  together  by  diagonal  bracing  on  both  top 
and  bottom.  In  general,  these  lines  are  spaced  about  8  ft. 
apart  horizontally  and  are  carried  transversely  across  the 
roof  between  frames  at  a  height  of  about  10  ft.  The 
horizontal  framing  is  supported  at  its  ends  in  each  case 
by  steel  uprights  fastened  into  the  concrete  of  the  trans- 
former room  ceiling.  All  posts  are  provided  with  copper 
flashing  and  asphaltum  sealing  against  the  leakage  of  mois- 
ture into  the  building.  As  the  high-tension  lines  cross  the 
roof  taps  are  taken  off  and  lead  to  the  transformer  and  oil- 
switch  room  below,  these  lines,  placed  with  centers  5  ft. 
apart,  being  carried  through  the  roof  by  Thomas  five-part 
roof  bushings.  Transverse  high-tension  leads  are  carried 
along  the  roof  above  the  incoming  (or  outgoing)  lines,  and 
selector  knife  switches  are  installed  at  various  points  to 
enable  the  lines  to  be  paralleled  or  the  station  cut  out  of 
service  without  carrying  the  high  voltage  into  the  trans- 
formers. On  the  opposite  side  of  the  roof  from  the  enter- 
ing conductors  are  installed  the  horn-gaps,  with  operating 
rods  extending  through  the  roof  to  hand  levers  placed  in 
the  transformer  room.  From  the  horn-gaps  short  vertical 
taps  are  carried  through  Thomas  bushings  to  the  electrolytic 
arresters  inside  the  building,  the  verticals  being  provided 
with  additional  insulators  in  the  course  of  the  drop  to 
obviate  the  possibility  of  cumulative  vibration.  A  brick 
parapet  is  provided  on  three  sides  of  the  roof,  and  the 
whole  area  is  illuminated  by  i6-cp  incandescent  lamps  in- 
stalled in  waterproof  sockets  and  supplied  with  energy 
through  auxiliary  station  leads.  The  transformers  in  all 
stations  are  provided  with  General  Electric  "capillary" 
thermometers  giving  the  temperature  of  the  windings  with 
much  greater  accuracy  than  was  possible  with  the  mercurial 
equipment.  As  shown  in  the  photograph,  the  roof  is  pitched 
to  drain  directly  into  the  river.  Access  to  the  roof  in  the 
various  stations  is  had  by  an  iron  ladder  leading  from  the 
transformer  room  to  a  small  pent-house  placed  near  the 


tion  company  in  the  building  of  a  new  concrete  dam  12  ft. 
high,  17  ft.  thick  at  the  base  and  460  ft.  long,  extending 
diagonally  across  the  river.  An  intake  delivers  water  to  a 
17-ft.  by  i2-ft.  tunnel  passing  under  the  cutlery  factory, 
discharging  into  an  open  canal  and  terminating  in  a  fore- 
bay  above  the  power  house,  which  is  about  1800  ft.  down- 
stream from  the  dam.  The  capacity  of  the  conduit  is  1650 
second-ft.  Gates  and  screens  are  provided  at  the  intake 
and  also  at  the  lower  side  of  the  forebay,  where  the  pen- 
stocks start  downward  to  the  wheels.  The  tunnel  section 
is  of  reinforced-concrete  construction  and  is  about  600  ft. 
long.  The  power  house  is  situated  at  the  head  of  a  pondage 
belonging  to  the  Shelburne  Falls  plant  of  the  Greenfield 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  the  tailwater  of  the 
former  being  immediately  utilized  by  the  latter  within  the 
limits  of  its  capacity.  The  penstocks  at  Station  3  are  160  ft. 
long  and  the  general  design  of  the  plant  is  similar  to  that 
of  Station  4. 

STATION     2. 

About  2  miles  below  Shelburne  Falls  a  concrete  dam  has 
been  constructed  across  the  river  in  a  narrow  gorge,  and 
on  this  site  Plant  2  is  being  built.  Except  on  its  hydraulic 
side  and  in  minor  details,  the  station  practically  duplicates 
the  two  others  just  described.  The  dam  has  a  height  of 
60  ft.  and  is  50  ft.  thick  at  the  base  and  5  ft.  wide  at  the 
top,  its  length  being  about  375  ft.  The  spillway  is  of  an 
ogee  shape,  and  the  power  house  is  located  at  one  end  of 
the  dam  on  the  downstream  side.  Short  penstocks  connect 
intakes  on  the  upstream  side  of  the  dam  with  the  wheels, 
the  intakes  being  equipped  with  screens  and  gates  to  meet 
all  anticipated  operating  conditions,  while  the  dam  is  pro- 
vided with  sluicegates  which  facilitate  the  discharge  of 
water,  ice  and  debris.  The  location  of  this  station  at  the 
bottom  of  the  gorge  greatly  facilitated  handling  materials 
during  construction  by  gravity,  and  an  extensive  sand- 
washing  and  stone-crushing  plant  was  a  feature  of  the 
work.  Electric  power  was  used  widely  in  the  operation  of 
the  field  machinery,  including  hoists,  compressors,  cable- 
ways,  etc. 


Df.cember  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAf.     WORLD 


1371 


FUTURE   STATION. 

The  site  of  the  so-called  Station  i  is  near  the  outlet  of 
Dragon  Brook,  on  the  Deerfield  River  and  about  2  miles 
below  Station  2.  Preliminary  work  on  this  site  indicates 
that  an  initial  development  of  about  4000  kva  may  be  de- 
sirable, but  for  the  present  this  will  be  held  in  abeyance. 

STATION     5. 

Station  5,  the  so-called  Hoosac  plant,  is  located  about  3 
miles  north  of  the  southern  terminus  of  the  Hoosac  Tunnel 
&  Wilmington  Railroad  at  Hoosac,  Mass.  Although  this 
plant  will  be  used  at  present  only  as  a  frequency-changer 
substation,  in  the  near  future  it  will  be  equipped  with  com- 
plete hydraulic  power-producing  facilities.  Water  will  be 
conducted  to  the  power  house  from  a  concrete  diverting 
dam  located  in  the  Deerfield  River  about  Yi  mile  below 
Monroe  Bridge,  a  conduit  and  canal  13,800  ft.  long  being 
required.  The  canal  will  have  a  capacity  of  750  second-ft. 
and  will  deliver  water  at  an  average  net  head  of  200  ft., 
and  the  conduit  will  be  a  reinforced-concrete  flume  of 
rectangular  cross-section.  At  the  generating  station  three 
4000-kva  units  will  be  installed,  each  equipped  with  a 
25-cycle  generator  and  a  60-cycle  generator,  so  that  the 
requisite  interchange  of  frequencies  may  be  made  between 
the  transmission  system  and  the  distribution  circuits  and 
power  plant  of  the  railway  company  operating  through  the 
Hoosac  Tunnel. 

FREQUENCY-CHANGING    UNITS. 

The  present  equipment  of  the  Hoosac  station  will  consist 
of  three  3000-kva  transformers,  which  will  reduce  the  po- 
tential from  66,000  volts  to  2300  volts,  three  150-kw  exciters, 


necticut  River  Company's  system  in  case  of  a  shortage  of 
water  at  any  of  the  hydroelectric  stations  in  other  parts 
of  its  territory.  The  waterwheels  to  be  installed  later  will 
be  rated  at  about  6000  hp  each.  The  ii,ooo-volt  machines 
are  designed  so  that  either  single-phase  or  three-phase 
energy  may  be  obtained  from  them.  Both  generators  are 
mounted  on  a  common  bedplate,  with  three  bearings.  The 
winding  of  this  three-phase-single-phase  machine  is  star- 
connected,  with  one  terminal  arranged  for  grounding,  and 
the  rotor  is  provided  with  a  damping  device.  The  regula- 
tion specified  is'  such  as  to  give  not  over  fifteen  times 
normal  current  on  dead  short-circuit  with  normal  no-load 
field  current,  the  short-circuit  to  be  placed  directly  across 
one  phase  without  the  interposition  of  reactance  coils.  The 
machines  are  designed  to  operate  in  parallel  with  the  gen- 
erators now  in  the  Zylonite  station  in  either  single-phase 
or  three-phase  service.  The  latter  regulate  for  sudden 
changes  of  load  substantially  as  if  provided  with  constant 
field  strength,  uninfluenced  by  armature  reaction.  When 
used  in  conjunction  with  a  Tirrill  regulator  the  machines 
will  not  vary  5  per  cent  above  or  below  normal  voltage. 
The  alternating-current  generators  in  the  Hoosac  station, 
No.  5,  are  to  be  provided  with  adjustable  resistance  to  give 
a  15  per  cent  voltage  variation  by  hand  control.  Inverse 
time  element  relays  are  provided  in  the  generator  circuits. 
A  Tirrill  regulator  is  being  installed  in  this  station  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  the  power  factor  of  the  alternators  run 
as  synchronous  motors  at  from  80  to  100  per  cent. 

To  meet  the  requirements  of  heavy  freight  service  in 
the  Hoosac  Tunnel,  the  25-cycle  machine  in  each  unit  is 
to  be  capable  of  delivering  4300  kva   for  twenty   minutes 


:'1"f^3Ef . 


Figs.    11,   12  and   13 — Exterior  Details   In    and    Near   Station    No.   3. 


switching  apparatus,  lightning  arresters  of  the  aluminum 
type  and  three  frequency  changers,  each  consisting  of  a 
3000-kva,  three-phase,  60-cycle,  2300-volt  generator  direct- 
connected  to  a  3000-kva,  single-phase,  25-cycle,  11,000-volt 
alternator.  These  60-cycle  generators  will  be  operated  as 
synchronous  motors  in  supplying  power  to  the  railway  com- 
pany and  later,  when  the  waterwheels  are  installed  in  this 
station,  both  machines  can  be  run  as  generators  if  desired, 
or  one  as  a  generator  and  the  other  as  a  motor.  This  gives 
a  highly  flexible  interconnection  between  the  systems  and 
will   enable  the  Zylonite  plant  to   feed  back  into  the  Con- 


of  each  hour  at  70  per  cent  power-factor  and  during  the 
remaining  forty  minutes  of  each  hour  the  machine  is  to  be 
capable  of  operating  at  a  load  of  2000  kw  at  90  per  cent 
power-factor,  with  a  final  temperature  rise  not  exceeding 
50  deg.  C.  by  thermometer  or  60  deg.  C.  by  resistance 
measurement.  The  60-cycle  machines  are  designed  to  deliver 
3000  kva  at  80  per  cent  power- factor  with  a  maximum  tem- 
perature rise  of  40  deg.  C.  after  twenty-four  hours'  run  and 
a  50-deg.  C.  rise  after  two  hours'  run  at  25  per  cent  over- 
load. When  running  as  a  synchronous  motor,  the  machine 
is  to  be  capable  of  driving  the  25-cycle  generator  with  a 


137 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


temperature  rise  not  exceeding  50  deg.   C.  when  operated 
at  80  per  cent  power-factor  leading. 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  installation  of  conduits  in  the 
floors  of  the  various  stations,  the  switchboards  are  mounted 
on  channel  irons  and  the  conduits  are  brought  in  through 
the  floor  to  nipples  and  insulated  bushings  connected  with 
previously  prepared  holes  in  the  framing.  The  termina- 
tion of  each  lead  or  wire  is  properly  marked  and  the  loca- 
tion of  the  holes  at  the  proper  pofnts  along  the  switchboard 
base  insures  rapid  and  reliable  work  by  the  interior  wiring 
forces. 

TRANSMISSION     LINES. 

The  present  transmission  system,  including  lines  now 
under  construction,  comprises  two  three-phase  circuits  of 
No.  I  copper  between  a  point  opposite  Station  4  on  the 
Deerfield  River  and  Shelburne  Falls  and  the  Vernon  sta- 
tion of  the  Connecticut  River  Power  Company,  a  distance 
of  16  miles;  two  similar  lines  each  1/3  mile  long,  extending 
from  the  former  point  to  Station  4;  two  No.  I  copper  lines 
extending  a  distance  of  14  miles  from  Station  4  to  the 
Hoosac   plant    (Station   5)  ;   two   lines   extending   from   the 


connecting  the  Deerfield  system  with  that  of  the  Amherst 
Power  Company. 

WIRING    SCHEME. 

The  general  wiring  scheme  followed  in  the  construction 
of  Station  4  is  typical  of  that  used  in  the  remaining  plants. 
Two  sets  of  2300-volt  buses  are  provided,  the  selection 
being  made  by  disconnecting  switches  without  going  to  the 
expense  of  installing  oil  switches,  although  a  single  oil 
switch  is  provided  in  each  generator  circuit.  The  low-ten- 
sion sides  of  the  step-up  transformers  are  provided  with  a 
2300-volt  oil  switch  and  two  knife-switch  selectors,  so  that 
any  generator  or  transformer  may  be  operated  on  either 
2300-volt  bus  in  parallel  or  independently.  Each  high-ten- 
sion circuit  passes  from  a  transformer  through  an  oil  switch 
to  a  bus  section  interconnected  with  that  of  the  other  unit 
by  a  tie  switch  of  the  oil  type.  From  the  oil  switches  the 
high-tension  leads  pass  to  the  roof  structures,  where  pro- 
vision is  made  for  by-passing  the  station  and  for  connect- 
ing the  lightning  arresters.  A  2300-volt  auxiliary  bus  for 
supplying  induction  motors  driving  exciters,  lighting  and 
small   power   transformers   in    the   station    is   also   installed 


Figs.    1+.    15   and    16 — Interior   Views   of   Typical    Completed    Plant. 


junction  opposite  Station  4  down  the  river  3J4  miles  to 
Station  2,  with  two  yi-mWe  taps  to  Station  3;  two  lines  of 
No.  00  copper  extending  60  miles  from  Station  2  eastward 
to  Millbury,  Mass.;  two  tie  lines  extending  14  miles  from 
Millbury  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Greendale  substation  of  the 
Connecticut  River  Transmission  Company,  outside  of 
Worcester,  and  the  existing  double  three-phase  lines  of  the 
latter  between  Worcester  and  Vernon,  with  the  branches 
previously  mentioned.  The  Shelburne  Falls-Millbury  line, 
designed  for  120,000-volt  operation,  will  be  equipped  with 
75-ft.  steel  towers  supplied  by  the  American  Bridge  Com- 
pany of  New  York.  A  transformer  station  will  be  erected 
for  this  service  at  Shelburne  Falls. 

Between  Station  2  and  Millbury  there  is  a  No.  4  cop- 
per-clad telephone  circuit  carried  on  separate  poles.  The 
line  between  Shelburne  Falls  and  the  Hoosac  station  is  car- 
ried on  pin-type  insulators  supported  on  75-ft.  Milliken 
towers,  with  47S-ft.  spans.  Two  circuits  of  No.  2  copper 
form  the  tie  lines  between  Millbury  and  Greendale.  An- 
other tie  line  is  to  be  installed  at  Leverett  Junction,  Mass., 


with  provision  for  taking  this  service  from  either  of  the 
main  2300-volt  buses.  Switches  between  the  generator 
buses  and  the  transformer  primaries,  between  the  main 
buses  and  the  2300-volt  service  bus  and  between  the  trans- 
former secondaries  and  the  outgoing  lines  are  automatic. 
The  principal  sub-contractors  of  the  work  are  F.  T.  Ley  & 
Company,  Springfield,  Mass.,  who  are  building  Station  3. 
and  the  Vernon-Shelburne  Falls  line;  Fraser,  Brace  & 
Company,  New  York,  for  Stations  2  and  4,  and  the  B.  F. 
Smith  Company,  Pawtucket,  R.  I.,  for  Station  5.  The  Chi- 
cago House  Wrecking  Company,  Chicago,  111.,  supplied  ma- 
terials for  the  erection  of  seven  six-room  bungalows  for 
the  use  of  operators  employed  at  generating  stations  out- 
side the  center  of  Shelburne  Falls.  These  homes  are  wired 
for  electrical  service  and  are  as  complete  in  all  the  details 
as  comfortable  residences  of  moderate  cost.  The  main 
office  of  the  Power  Construction  Company  is  at  Shelburne 
Falls,  Mass.,  the  branch  oflices  in  Boston  being  combined 
with  those  of  the  Connecticut  River  Transmission  Com- 
pany at  50  Congress  Street. 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1373 


DISTURBANCES   OF    POTENTIAL    AND    CURRENT 

PRODUCED  IN  AN  ACTIVE  CONDUCTING 

NETWORK  BY  THE  APPLICATION 

OF  A  LEAK   LOAD. 


By  a.  E.  Kennelly. 

IN  measuring  the  potentials  at  various  points  along  an 
artificial  alternating-current  transmission  line  of  the 
general  type  indicated  in  Fig.  i  with  an  electrostatic 
voltmeter,  it  is  evident  that  because  such  a  voltmeter  re- 
ceives no  appreciable  current  its  application  to  the  line  at 
any  point  cannot  disturb  the  steady-state  distribution  of 
potentials  and  currents.  If,  however,  the  potential  to  be 
measured  at  any  point  exceeds  the  range  of  the  static  volt- 
meter, a  high-resistance  leak  may  be  applied  to  the  point. 


PROPOSITION. 

The  changes  of  potential  and  current  produced  at  a 
point  P  in  a  network  of  conductors,  supplied  by  any  con- 
stant emfs,  by  the  application  of  a  leak  at  some  point  Q, 
are  equal  to  the  values  produced  at  P  by  the  action  of  the 
initial  emf  at  Q  inserted  in  the  leak  at  Q,  all  the  other 
emfs  in  the  system  being  put  to  zero. 

.'APPLICATION    TO    A    DIRECT-CURRENT    ARTIFICIAL    LINE. 

The  above  proposition  may  be  best  explained  with  ref- 
erence to  particular  cases.  In  Fig.  i  an  artificial  direct- 
current  line,  of  five  similar  T-sections,  is  supplied  with  a 
constant  potential  of  100  volts  at  the  sending  end  A,  and  is 
grounded  at  the  receiving  end  B,  through  a  resistance  of 
750  ohms.     The  distribution  of  potentials  and  currents  over 


Fig:   1 — Artificial    Line   of   Five    Direct-Current  T- 


Sections,   with    100  Volts  Applied  at  the  Sending   End  A 

Ground    ThroLigh  750   Ohms. 


ICIccfrical   U-ui-ld 

and  the  Receiving  End   B  to 


A 


£     -  3 

■^  o  ^ 

CO   *=*  ^ 
t-   i-l  CO 

°  5 


250" 


0.073134'a 

18. 283  y 


750 

AA/WWh 


0.015113a 
3.778t'   11.3352' 


CO 
1-H 

o 


EUecriml  WorU 


Fig.  2 — Artificial   Line   Loaded  with   a   Leak  of  0.1    IVIillimho  at  Junction  3. 


and  the  voltmeter  may  then  be  connected  across  some  frac- 
tional part  of  this  resistance.  In  carrying  out  this  plan, 
the  question  presented  itself  as  to  the  extent  of  the  change 
in  potential  occurring  at  the  point,  due  to  the  application 
of  the  leak,  and  what  correction  should  be  applied  to  the 
observed  potential  as  compensation  for  the  effect  of  such 
a  leak.  The  inquiry  naturally  led  to  a  consideration  of  the 
effect  of  applying  a  known  leak  load  to  any  given  network 
of  direct-current  or  alternating-current  circuits,  not  merely 
at  the  point  of  leak  application  but  also  at  any  other  point 
in  the  network  system.  The  solution  to  this  problem  is  so 
simple  that  it  would  seem  unlikely  to  have  hitherto  escaped 
the  notice  of  electrical  engineers.  As,  however,  the  writer 
has  been  unable  to  find  the  solution  in  electrical  textbooks 
or  in  technical  literature,  it  is  here  offered,  on  the  assump- 
tion that  it  may  be  new.  It  may  be  stated  in  the  form  of  a 
proposition  as  follows: 


the  line  is  indicated  in  the  figure.  Thus,  at  the  junction 
point  3,  the  potential  is  48.052  volts  and  the  current  in  the 
line   0.036105   amp. 

Fig.  2  shows  the  corresponding  distribution  of  potentials 
and  currents,  after  a  leak  of  o.i  millimho  (10,000  ohms) 
has  been  applied  to  junction  point  3.  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  potential  at  this  point  has  thereby  been  reduced  to  45.648 
volts,  a  reduction  of  2.404  volts,  or,  to  five-figure  precision, 
2.4034  volts.  The  potential  falls  all  along  the  line  when 
the  leak  is.  applied;  but  nowhere  does  it  fall  so  much  as  at 
the  leak  point  3. 

Fig.  3  shows  the  initial  leak  point  emf  of  48.052  volts 
inserted  in  the  leak,  and  all  other  emfs  suppressed.  This 
means  that  the  constant-potential  point  A  is  grounded.  The 
resulting  distribution  of  pressure  and  current  over  the  line 
now  indicates  the  precise  amounts  of  change  in  the  values 
effected  by  the  application  of  the  leak.    Thus  at  junction  3, 


1374 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


the  leak-load  point,  the  potential  is  — 2.4034  volts,  and  this 
is  the  change  in  the  potential  at  that  point  due  to  the  appli- 
cation of  the  leak.  Again,  at  junction  0,  the  potential  in 
Fig.  3  is  — 0.596  volt  and  the  line  current  — 0.000795  amp. 
These  are  the  changes  in  potential  and  current,  respectively, 
effected  at  point  o  by  the  application  of  the  leak.  Figs,  i 
and   2   show,   in   fact,   that   the   potential    fell    from    11. 931 


bisection  of  the  system  if  the  system  is  perfectly  insulated. 
If,  however,  the  insulation  is  defective,  the  zero-potential 
surface  will  not,  in  general,  divide  the  system  equally.  That 
is,  the  upper  and  lower  portions  will  not,  in  general,  be 
symmetrical,  and  in  such  cases  the  division  of  the  system 
assists  the  computation. 

In  Fig.   5   the  potentials  and  currents  over  the  positive. 


0 

0 

II 

II 

«5 

60 

Fig.    3 — Artificial    Line   Grounded    at   A   and   with   the    Emf   of   48.052   Volts    Inserted    Outwardly    in   the    Leak    Load    at   3. 


volts  to   11.335   volts,   and   the  line   current   from   0.015908 
amp  to  0.015 1 13  amp. 

Moreover,  in  Fig.  3  the  drop  of  potential  in  the  leak  is 
45.648  volts,  and  this  is  equal  to  the  potential  at  the  leak 
in  Fig.  2. 

APPLICATION    TO    A    TWO-WIRE    ELECTRIC-LIGHTING    SYSTEM. 

As  another  example  of  the  proposition,  applied  to  a 
simple  network  of  conducting  feeders  and  mains,  Fig.  4 
shows  a  storage  battery  of  250  volts  and  0.005  ohm  internal 
resistance,  connected  at  AA  to  a  pair  of  feeders  AB,  A'B', 
each  of  0.0042  ohm  resistance.  From  the  feeding  point  BE', 
mains  BC,  B'C.  and  BDE,  B'D'E',  extend  laterally.  At 
CC  is  connected  a  motor  with  a  steady  counter  emf  of  240 
volts  and  a  total  resistance  of  0.025706  ohm.  At  DD'  is  a 
steady  load  of  1.32  ohms,  or  0.75758  mho.  At  BE'  is  a 
leak  load  of  10  ohms,  or  o.i  mho,  which  may  be  applied  or 
removed   at   will   by  means  of   the   switches   shown.     It   is 


or  upper,  half-system,  are  indicated  with  the  switch  at  E 
open,  so  that  the  leak  load  is  off.  In  Fig.  6  the  corre- 
sponding distribution  is  shown  after  the  switch  at  E  has 
been  closed  and  the  leak  applied,  the  emf  in  the  battery  at  A, 
and  in  the  motor  at  C ,  being  supposed  to  have  remained 
substantially  unchanged.  The  potentials  on  the  system  have 
fallen  everywhere,  but  nowhere  so  greatly  as  at  the  leak- 
load  point  E  (0.606  volt).  Finally,  in  Fig.  7  the  initial 
emf  at  E,  121. 518  volts,  is  inserted  in  the  leak,  the  two 
other  emfs  in  the  system  being  supposed  suppressed  or  put 
equal  to  zero.  The  drop  of  potential  in  the  leak  resistance 
is  now  120.912  volts,  or  equal  to  the  leak-load  voltage  in 
Fig.  6.  The  potential  at  E  is  — 0.606  volt,  the  amount  of 
the  change  in  potential  at  E  due  to  the  application  of  leak 
load.  At  each  and  every  point  of  the  system  it  will  be  ob- 
served that  the  potentials  and  currents  in  Fig.  7  are  equal 
to  the  changes  effected  between  Figs.  5  and  6  by  the  appli- 
cation of  the  leak  load. 

DEMONSTRATION    OF    THE    PROPOSITION. 

The  following  proof  of  the  proposition  is  very  simple  and 
yet  appears  to  be  rigorous.     It  depends  upon  the  postulate 


Eluetric^  tt'ortd 


Fig.  4 — Two-Wire   Network  Supplied  by  a  Storage   Battery  at  AA' 
and  Supplying  a  Motor  at  CC  and  a  Resistance  Load  at  DD' 

required  to  find  the  effect  at  any  or  all  points  in  the  system 
due  to  the  application  of  this  load. 

It  is  convenient,  although  not  necessary,  to  divide  the 
system  into  two  parts,  one  above  and  the  other  below  the 
zero-potential  surface.  The  former  part  of  the  system  is 
indicated  in  Fig.  5.     There  is  but  little  advantage  in  this 


Fig. 


5 — Positive    Side    of    Network    Before    Application    of 
Leak    Load. 


that  in  any  network  of  conductors  operated  by  steady  emfs 
the  potential  at  any  point  is  the  algebraic  sum  of  the  poten- 
tials which  each  emf,  taken  singly,  would  produce  there,  the 
other  emfs  being  temporarily  put  to  zero.  The  same  propo- 
sition applies  to  the  current  at  any  point.  This  preliminary 
proposition    of    the    summation    of    separate    potential    and 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1375 


current  distributions  is  easily  proved  and  is  supposed  to  be 
known."  Thus,  in  Fig.  6,  the  potential  and  current  at  the 
point  D,  say,  is  the  sum  of  the  values  produced  by  the 
storage  battery  emf  of  125  volts  acting  alone  and  that 
produced  by  the  motor  counter  emf  of  120  volts  acting 
alone. 

We  may  call  the  state  of  the  system  represented  in  Fig.  5, 


Elaelrieat  nWia 


Fig.   6 — Positive  Side  of   Network  with   Leak   Load   Applied. 

before  applying  the  load,  the  unloaded  state,  and  that  repre- 
sented in  Fig.  6,  after  applying  the  load,  the  loaded  state. 
It  is  evident  that  the  loaded  state  of  the  system  may  be 
brought  back  to  the  unloaded  state  in  either  of  two  ways, 
namely:  (i)  By  removing  the  leak  load  at  E;  (2)  by  re- 
taining the  leak  load  at  E,  but  inserting  in  this  leak  load  an 
emf  £,-,  equal  and  opposite  to  the  potential  V  existing 
there,  in  the  unloaded  state,  on  the  line.  Thus,  if  in  Fig.  5 
we  apply  in  the  leak  at  E  an  emf  of  121. 518  volts  upward, 
or  from  ground  to  line,  we  shall  exactly  neutralize  the 
effect  of  the  leak  and  no  current  can  flow  through  the  leak 
in  either  direction.  Consequently,  by  applying  the  same 
121. 518  volts  upward  through  the  leak  at  E  in  Fig.  6,  we 
shall  restore  the  unloaded  state  to  the  line  and  reproduce 
the  potential  and  current  distributions  of  Fig.  5. 

The  changes  from  the  loaded  to  the  unloaded  state  will 
thus  be  effected  by  inserting  the  emf  Ev  upward,  in  the  leak 
at  E.  But  the  effect  of  this  new  emf  Ec  on  the  system  can 
be  found  by  putting  all  the  other  emfs  to  zero;  so  that  Ev 
shall  be  the  only  emf  active.  Therefore,  the  change  from 
the  unloaded  to  the  loaded  state  must  be  just  the  reverse, 
or  must  be  equal  to  the  change  of  potential  and  current  dis- 
tributions due  to  — Ev  acting  alone;  that  is,  to  the  emf  E,- 
acting  downward  in  the  leak  at  E,  all  the  other  emfs  in  the 
system  being  put  to  zero. 

ALGERR.MC    EXPRESSION     FOR    THE    CHANGE    OF    POTENTIAL    AT 
THE    LEAK    POINT. 

In  a  complicated  network  of  conductors  the  algebraic 
expression  of  the  potential  or  current  at  a  given  point,  due 
to  inserting  E^  volts  in  the  leak,  with  all  other  emfs  at  zero, 
may  be  very  complicated.  The  expression  takes,  however, 
a  very  simple  form  in  the  case  of  the  change  of  potential 
at  the  leak  point  itself.  Let  R  be  the  total  resistance,  in 
ohms,  to  ground,  or  zero  potential,  from  the  leak  point. 
In  Fig.  7  this  resistance  would  be  ED  plus  the  joint  resist- 
ance of  the  load  at  D  and  the  section  beyond,  the  latter  com- 
prising DB  plus  the  joint  resistance  of  the  two  branches 
BA  and  BC  to  ground.  Let  r  be  the  resistance  of  the  leak, 
in  ohms.  Then  the  potential  at  the  leak  being  V  volts  in  the 
unloaded  state  and  v  volts  in  the  loaded  state,  we  have  from 
an  inspection  of  Fig.  7: 


V 


r 

R+1- 


numeric  Z   (l) 


The  ratio  jj-  =  d,  of  the  loaded  to  unloaded  potentials  at 

the  leak  may  be  called  the  depression  factor,  at  the  leak. 
In  the  case  of  Figs.   I,  2  and  3  the  depression   factor  is 

45.648 

-z: =  0.94998.     In  the  case  of  Figs.  4,  K,  6  and  7  it  is 

48.052  ^^^  &     t.  o.  / 

120.912 

=  0.995.     The  factor  k,  which  must  be  applied  to 

121.518 

the  observed  potential  at  the  leak  in  the  loaded  state  to 

V 
find   the   potential   in   the   unloaded   state,   is   ^  =  — ,   the 

V 

reciprocal  of  the  depression  factor,  and  may  be  called  the 
correcting  factor  of  potential,  at  the  leak.  In  Figs,  i  to  3 
it  is   1.05265  and  in   Figs.  4  to  7  it  is  1.0050. 

If  instead  of  using  resistances  we  use  conductances,  and 
make  G  =  i/R,  the  conductance  of  the  system,  in  mhos, 
from  and  at  the  leak  point,  also  g  =  i/r,  the  conductance 
of  the  leak  load,  in  mhos,  then,  substituting  in  (i),  we 
obtain^ 


k  = 


V       G- 


numeric  Z  (2) 
numeric  Z   (3) 


PROPERTIES  OF  THE  PARTICULAR  CASE. 

Certain  incidental  properties  of  the  artificial  line  of  Figs. 
I  and  2  leak-loaded  at  a  junction  may  be  noted,  although 
these  properties  are  aside  from  the  main  proposition  above 
considered.  It  will  be  observed  that  at  and  beyond  the 
loaded  junction  3  the  depression  factor  of  voltages  and 
currents  remains  constant  at  0.94998.  This  property  per- 
tains to  any  artificial  line  supplied  with  impressed  emf  at 
the  sending  end  and  leak-loaded  at  a  junction.  It  also 
applies  to  the  smooth  line  equivalent  to  the  artificial  line. 
The  hyperbolic  angles  of  the  various  junctions  are  ap- 
pended in  Figs.  I  and  2,  from  which  it  appears  that  the 
unloaded  line  subtends,  at  A,  2.3381  hyperbolic  radians, 
while  the  loaded  line  subtends  only  1.8538  radians.     More- 


El4/«trwii  Wvrld 


Fig.    7— Positive    Side   of    Network   with    Emf    of   121.518   Volts 
Applied   Outwardly  in   the    Leak   Load. 

over,   the   leak  load  produces  a  discontinuity'  in  the  line 
angle  at  junction  3. 


'It  is  to  be  noted  tliat  altliough  the  potentials  and  currents  in  a  net- 
work due  to  independent  emis  are  tlius  summative.  the  powers  and 
energies     are    not. 


^Formula  (2)  was  obtained  by  the  writer  in  a  particular  case  published 
in  1896,  without  the  generality  of  the  result  being  then  perceived.  See  an 
article  "On  the  Measurement  of  the  Insulation  Resistance  of  Continuous- 
Current  Three-Wire  Systems  While  at  Work,"  by  E.  J.  Houston  and  A.  E, 
Kennelly,  the  Electrical  World,  Vol.  XXVIII,  July  25,  1896,  page  95, 
formula    (7). 

""Artificial  Lines  for  Continuous  Currents  in  the  Steady  State,"  by 
A.  E.  Kennelly,  Proc.  Amer.  Acad,  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Vol.  44,  No. 
4,  pages  97-130,  Aug.  26,  1908.  "The  Application  of  Hyperbolic  Func- 
tions to  Electrical  Engineering  Problems,  '  by  A.  E.  Kennelly,  London 
University  Press,  1912.  "The  Distribution  of  Voltage  and  Current 
Over  TT  Artificial  Lines  in  the  Steady  State,"  by  A.  E.  Kennelly,  the 
Electrical   World,  Aug.   10,   1912,  page  306. 


1376 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


Fig.  8  presents  the  graphs  of  potential  and  current  accord- 
ing to  Figs.  I  and  2.  The  broken  line  A4D^E2FiGB  rep- 
resents the  potential  along  the  unloaded  artificial  line.  The 
contacting  smooth  curve  is  a  hyperbolic-sine  curve  and 
represents  the  potential  along  the  corresponding  smooth  line, 
equivalent  to  the  artificial  line.  The  dotted  broken  lines 
a4'd2'e2'fi'gb     represent     the     corresponding    artificial-line 


V        4        IV       3        III       2        II        1        1         0 

Distance  Pooition  from  KecuLviny  I'^n ^  o£  .Vrtificinl  Line 

EUetriejl  IlorW 

Fig.  8 — Distributions  of  Potential  and  Current  Over  Loaded  and 
Unloaded  Artificial  Line.  Solid  Curves  for  the  Unloaded  State, 
Broken   Curves  for  the   Loaded   State. 

and  smooth-line  potential,  in  the  loaded  state.  The  curve 
is  in  this  case  two  distinct  hyperbolic-sine  curves,  united 
at  3'. 

Similarly,  the  line  currents  in  the  unloaded  and  loaded 
states  are  presented  by  the  lines  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
figure.  The  smooth  curve  is  a  catenary,  or  hyperbolic- 
cosine  curve,  for  the  unloaded  state,  .<4, 4,3,2, i,B,.  The 
dotted  curve  is  a  succession  of  two  different  catenaries, 
namely,  fl,,4',,3',  and  3,,2j,ij,fc,.  The  zigzag  straight  lines 
give  the  corresponding  currents  in  the  artificial  line. 

If  such  a  line  be  leak-loaded  at  a  point  whose  hyperbolic 
angle  is  6.,  and  whose  angular  distance  from  the  sending 
end  is  6,  hyps.,  then  the  conductance  on  the  receiving-end 
side  of  the  leak  is  yo  coth  6^  mhos,  where  yo  is  the  "surge 
conductance,"  in  mhos,  of  the  equivalent  smooth  line.  Simi- 
larly, the  conductance  to  ground  on  the  sending-end  side  is 
yo  coth  6,  mhos.  The  total  conductance  to  ground,  from 
and  at  the  leak  load,  is  thus : 

G  =  yo  (coth  e,  +  coth  6^)  mhos  Z  (4) 
The  correcting  factor  of  the  leak  load,  at  the  junction  to 
which  it  is  applied,  is  then  by  (3) 

yo  (coth  6,  -f  coth  e,)  +  g 


k  =  - 


=  1  + 


yo  (coth  6,  +  coth  9,) 
g 


numeric  Z  (5) 
numeric  Z   (6) 


To  (coth  6^  + coth  6.) 
This  is  the  factor  by  which  the  observed  potential  must  be 
multiplied  in  order  to  correct  for  the  leak.  In  the  case 
presented  by  Figs,  i  and  2,  yo  =  0.00069633  mho,  g  =  0.000 1 
mho,  61  =  1.6346  hyps.,  6j  =  0.7035  hyp.,  from  which  k  = 
1.05265. 


It  needs  no  formal  demonstration  to  make  clear  that  both 
the  general  proposition  of  leak-load  disturbances  and  the 
foregoing  formulas  apply  immediately  to  any  single-fre- 
quency alternating-current  network  in  which  the  emfs  im- 
pressed on  the  system  remain  constant,  both  as  to  magnitude 
and  phase.  The  formulas  must  then,  however,  be  inter- 
preted and  computed  vectorially,  or  in  two  dimensions.  In 
such  a  case,  if  the  argument  of  the  vector  leak-load  ad- 
mittance g  differs  considerably  from  that  of  the  general 
admittance  G  of  the  system,  the  modulus  of  the  vector  sum 
G -\- g  may  be  less  than  the  modulus  of  G.  The  potential 
at  the  load  point  would  then  be  raised,  instead  of  lowered, 
by  the  application  of  the  leak. 

LIMITATIONS     OF     THE     PROPOSITION. 

It  will  be  evident  that  the  proposition  and  formulas 
above  considered  can  apply  strictly  only  when  each  and  all 
of  the  emfs  impressed  on  the  system  remain  constant  and 
all  of  the  resistances,  including  that  of  the  leak,  also  re- 
main constant.  In  many  practical  cases  these  conditions 
will  be  substantially  met. 

CONJUGATE     PROPOSITION     FOR     THE     DISTURBANCES     PRODUCED 
BY    A    SERIES    LOAD. 

It  may  also  be  stated,  and  demonstrated  by  similar  reason- 
ing, that  if  a  series-impedance  load  is  inserted  in  a  line  at 
any  point  of  a  conducting  network,  which  is  subject  to  any 
stead)-  emfs,  then  if  /  be  the  current  strength,  in  amperes, 
on  the  line  conductor,  prior  to  inserting  the  load  therein, 
and  R  be  the  resistance  of  the  load  in  ohms  (Z  the  im- 
pedance in  any  alternating-current  case),  then  the  dis- 
turbance, at  any  point  of  the  system,  will  be  such  as  an 
impressed  emf  of  ■ — IR  volts  would  produce  at  that  point, 
if  it  were  inserted  in  the  load,  when  all  the  other  emfs  are 
put  to  zero.  The  illustration  of  this  proposition,  however, 
properly  demands  a  separate  monograph. 


STEAM  TURBINES  WITH  EXHAUST  DISKS. 


A  French  engineer  has  recently  pointed  out  that  there  is 
a  certain  pressure  limit  beyond  which  a  steam  turbine  ceases 
to  benefit  by  any  further  expansion.  If,  however,  part  of 
the  exhaust  steam  is  removed  to  the  condenser  at  that 
pressure,  the  remainder  can  be  further  expanded  in  the 
turbine  with  advantage.  On  this  basis  a  turbine  has  been 
constructed  with  an  additional  set  of  blades,  called  the  ex- 
haust disks  (marked  I  in  the  accompanying  illustration), 
through  which  five-eighths  of  the  steam  is  permitted  to  pass, 
the  rest  being  diverted  into  the  condenser  (6)  by  the 
diaphragm  (2)  and  guide  blades  (5).  By  this  means  nearly 
4  per  cent  extra  power  is  gained,  and  a  further  advantage 
can  be  secured  by  continuing  the  diaphragm   (2)    so  as  to 


steam  Turbine  with   Exhaust  Disks. 

divide  the  condenser  into  two  chambers  corresponding  to 
the  passages  (3  and  4),  although  the  circulating  water  is 
provided  by  a  pump  common  to  both.  The  pressure  in 
compartment  4  is  lower  than  that  in  compartment  3,  and  a 
resultant  increase  in  efficiency  of  6.8  per  cent  has  been 
recorded  as  a  result  of  tests  that  have  actually  been  made  in 
the  use  of  this  device. 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1377 


Central  Station 

Management,  Policies  and  Commercial  Methods 


LOUISVILLE   CENTRAL-STATION  SIGN. 


A  large  electric  sign  56  ft.  wide  and  35  ft.  high,  contain- 
ing 3400  lamps,  is  being  erected  above  the  roof  of  the  new 
office  building  of  the  Kentucky  Electric  Company,  of  Louis- 
ville. The  top  edge  of  the  sign  will  rise  more  than  loo  ft. 
above  the  street  level,  making  the  display  visible  throughout 
the  retail  business  district.  Household  uses  of  electricity 
provide  the  theme  of  the  story  to  be  unfolded  by  the  flash- 
ing lamp's.  A  woman  reading  under  electric  light  will  be 
shown  by  the  first  display  in  one  of  the  four  circles  which 
form  the  features  of  the  sign.  The  second  portrays  a 
woman  using  an  electric  iron,  and  the  third  will  show  the 
modern  seamstress  seated  at  her  electric  sewing  machine, 
the  needle  flashing  back  and  forth  and  the  cloth  advancing 
in  lifelike  manner.  The  fourth  will  show  a  woman  oper- 
ating a  noiseless,  dustless  electric  vacuum  cleaner.  The 
center  of  the  design  will  contain  a  mammoth  incandescent 
lamp,  10  ft.  high  and  5  ft.  wide,  with  streamers  spreading 
12  ft.  from  tip  to  tip.  As  one  circle  after  another  flashes 
up  the  effect  will  be  enhanced  by  a  pyrotechnic  display  of 
sparks  from  whirling  dynamos. 


desired  results.  A  special  2000-watt  regulator  heater  was 
made  up  and  placed  directly  under  the  ink  receptacle  of  the 
press,  thus  heating  the  ink  and  also  radiating  enough  heat 
to  keep  the  prints  from  becoming  chilled. 


THE  FORWARD  MOVEMENT  IN  ST.  LOUIS. 


At  last  month's  meeting  of  the  Union  Electric  Light  & 
Power  Company  Section  of  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association  in  St.  Louis,  President  Hull  presided  and,  after 
the  regular  business  of  the  meeting  had  been  transacted, 
Prof.  A.  S.  Langsdorf,  of  Washington  University,  delivered 
an  interesting  and  instructive  talk  on  "Power  Development 
at  Niagara  Falls,"  using  many  lantern-slide  pictures.  The 
music  for  the  evening  was  furnished  by  the  Union  Electric 
Orchestra.     The  meeting  closed  with  moving  pictures. 

The  social  and  welfare  work  of  the  Union  Electric 
organization  is  assuming  such  proportions  that  the  present 
quarters  in  the  general  offices  at  Twelfth  and  Locust  Streets 
are  now  inadequate.  To  meet  the  changed  conditions,  the 
company  has  leased  additional  space  on  the  fifth  floor  of 
the  adjoining  Star  Building,  which  will  be  used  as  a  lunch 
room,  library  and  assembly  room.  In  addition  to  the 
orchestra,  glee  club,  bowling  team  and  baseball  team,  the 
company  is  outlining  a  welfare  association,  one  feature  of 
which  will  be  a  mutual-benefit  loan  fund. 

Beginning  Jan.  i,  the  Union  Electric  Section  of  the 
N.  E.  L.  A.  will  issue  a  monthly  publication,  to  be  known 
as  the  Union  Electric  BuUcti)i.  Through  the  influence  of 
this  paper  it  is  hoped  to  bring  non-member  employees  into 
the  fold,  to  the  end  that  all  of  the  company's  forces  may 
be  welded  together  in  a  band  of  social  and  business  fellow- 
ship and  work  as  a  unit  for  the  common  good. 


THE  ELECTRIC  HEATER  IN  COLOR  PRINTING. 


CENTRAL-STATION  STATISTICS  AND  ACCOUNTING. 

Addressing  the  Associated  Engineering  Societies  of  St 
Louis  on  Dec.  11,  Mr.  Hermann  Spoehrer,  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  the  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company 
of  St.  Louis,  read  a  paper  on  "Central-Station  Statistics 
and  Accounting."  Mr.  Spoehrer  gave  an  interesting  dia- 
gram to  show  that  during  the  last  decade,  even  before  the 
advent  of  regulation,  the  price  of  electricity  in  St.  Louis 
has  decreased  steadily  while  that  of  nearly  all  other  com- 
modities has  increased.  Many  factors  have  entered  into 
the  decrease  in  the  cost  of  producing  electrical  energy,  but 
no  doubt  a  considerable  portion  of  the  reduction  may  be 
attributed  to  the  careful  scrutiny  of  monthly  detailed  state- 
ments of  cost.  The  speaker  then  went  on  to  describe,  with 
the  aid  of  lantern  slides,  the  classification  of  accounts  em- 
ployed. To  secure  the  information  which  is  now  compiled 
would  have  meant  an  almost  prohibitive  expense  only  a 
few  years  ago,  but  by  the  use  of  the  Hollerith  tabulating 
system  data  of  this  sort  can  now  be  secured  at  comparative 
small  cost  and  compiled  with  great  accuracy.  Mr.  Spoehrer 
described  the  machines  and  perforated  cards  used  in  this 
system,  going  into  considerable  detail. 


According  to  information  received  from  the  heating 
bureau  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company,  as  a  result  of  an 
experiment  tried  by  the  Van  Dyck  Gravure  Company,  an 
entirely  new  field  has  been  opened  up  for  the  electric  heater. 
The  company  in  question  does  some  very  delicate  color 
printing,  and  in  the  past  a  great  deal  of  trouble  has  been 
experienced  in  cold  weather  from  chilled  ink  and  chilled 
prints.  Various  heating  methods  were  tried,  but  an  electric 
heater  was  the  only  apparatus  that  would  bring  about  the 


RECORDS,  FORMS   AND   FILES   FOR   SOLICITORS. 

By  J.  E.  North. 
In  the  majority  of  cases  central-station  solicitors  do  not 
keep  proper  records  of  the  investigations  which  they  make. 
Especially  is  this  true  among  the  smaller  companies  where 
the  solicitors  are  few  in  number.  Realizing  the  advantage 
of  such  records  and  files,  the  writer  has  for  some  time  used 
the  accompanying  forms  in  connection  with  his  work  for 
the  Springfield  (Ohio)  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company: 


FORM    No.    1. 

Date. 


Name    of    Company 

Man  to  See 

Nature    of    Business 

Hp  of  Boilers Hp   of   Engines Gas Steam 

Hp  of  Motors  Operated  by  Central   Station 

Cost  of  Coal  per  Month Cost  of  Gas  per  Month 

Total  Cost  of  Power  per  Month 

Hours  Factory  Works  per  Month No.  Employees 

Ma.ximum  Hp  Demand .Average   Hp  Demand 

Per  Cent  Fuel  Made  in  Plant 


Form  No.  i  is  used  after  the  first  call  has  been  made  on 
the  manufacturer.  The  information  given  out  by  the  super- 
intendent or  general  manager  is  also  copied  on  this  form, 
but  it  is  not  unusual  to  find  that  the  man  in  charge  of  the 
factory  has  mistaken  ideas  about  the  amount  of  energy 
needed.  His  estimate  of  the  average  demand  is  often  from 
50  to  100  per  cent  higher  than  is  later  proved  to  be  the  case. 
By  checking  the  hp-hours  per  month  against  the  coal  or 
gas  consumed,  the  solicitor  can  usually  convince  the  manu- 
facturer of  his  mistake.  Naturally,  the  prospective  cus- 
tomer is  next  interested  to  know  what  is  actually  going  on 
in  his  industrial  department.     The  solicitor  then  arranges 


1378 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


for  a  test,  and  while  this  test  is  being  made,   additional 
information  is  secured  for  filling  out  Form  No.  2. 

As  soon  as  the  test  has  been  made  on  the  plant  Form 
No.  I  is  corrected,  and  after  the  information  to  fill  out 
forms  No.  i  and  No.  2  has  been  secured  a  draftsman  starts 
at  the  engine  and  makes  a  scale  drawing  of  all  shafting, 
showing  location  and  size  of  hangers,  location  and  size  of 


FORM  No.  2. 


Date. 


Name   of    Company 

Value  of  Present  Equipment... 

Fixed  Cliarges  per  "Year: 

Depreciation 

Obsolescence 
,  Taxes 

Fire  Insurance 

Boiler  Insurance 

Liability  Insurance 

Profit 

Value   of  Space 

Damaged    Stock 

Building   Depreciation 

Operation   Expense   per   Year: 
Coal 
Gas 
Labor 
Oil 

Water 
Waste 
Packing 
Ash    Removal 
Boiler   Repair 
Engine  Repair 
Belt  Repair 
Superintendence 
Delays 


pulleys,  and  location  and  kind  of  machine  driven.  A  report 
is  made  on  each  machine  so  that  after  the  drawing  is  com- 
pleted the  company  is  prepared  to  make  recommendations 
on  group  and  individual  drive.  The  subject  of  wiring  and 
millwright  work,  cost  of  motors,  pulleys,  gears,  etc.,  is  next 
taken  up.  With  this  information,  Form  No.  3  can  be  filled 
out. 


FORM   No.   3. 


Date. 


Kame    of    Company 

Cost  of  Motor  Installations: 

Motors 

Wiring 

Pulleys 

Belts  or  Gears 

Millwright  Work 
Fixed   Charges   per   Year: 

Interest 

Depreciation 

Taxes 

Profit 
Operating  Expense  per   Year: 

Repairs 

Energy 


The  engineer  has  now  completed  his  part  of  the  work 
and  he  becomes  the  salesman.  A  combined  report  and 
proposition  is  prepared  for  the  prospective  customer.  A 
sheet  which  is  used  as  an  index  makes  it  easy  to  refer  to 
any  part  of  the  report  or  proposition.  The  report  sect'on 
covers  the  information  secured  on  the  plant,  outlining  pres- 
ent costs  carefully.  The  salesman  is  then  ready  to  present 
the  proposition,  which  is  accompanied  by  the  scale  draw- 
ing, showing  present  location  of  engine,  shafts,  pulleys, 
machines,  etc.,  and  changes  which  are  recommended.  The 
proposed  arrangement  of   motors   is   also   outlined,   giving 


speed  of  motors,  location,  size  of  pulley  and  belts  necessary, 
advice  concerning  gears  and  couplings,  etc. 

Finally,  comparison  is  made  in  costs  of  operation,  giving 
reasons  why  motor  drive  should  be  used.  Meanwhile  the 
contract  is  held  ready  for  signature,  and  a  well-filled 
fountain  pen  is  on  hand  in  case  the  prospective  customer 
should  not  care  to  discuss  all  the  details.  Of  course,  all 
prospective  customers  do  not  use  the  fountain  pen  imme- 
diately, but  it  may  be  confidently  expected  that  they  will 
later,  and  the  information  is  kept  on  hand  at  all  times. 

It  is  not  unusual  to  have  the  manufacturer  telephone  to 
inquire  about  the  size  of  a  pulley  or  the  speed  of  a  certain 
shaft  in  his  factory.  The  central-station  office  also  keeps 
in  touch  with  the  motor  salesmen  in  the  territory,  filing 
copies  of  their  reports  on  various  factories,  when  available. 
Newspaper  clippings  concerning  fires,  explosions,  accidents, 
etc.,  are  also  filed.  When  a  photograph  might  be  of  possible 
value,  arangements  are  made  to  secure  one. 


DUTIES  PERFORMED  BY  THE    SMALL   MOTOR. 


By  George  J.  Kirchgasser. 

The  great  increase  in  the  number  of  individually  driven 
machines  in  all  lines  of  manufacture  has  opened  up  a  wide 
field  for  motors  of  from  %  hp  to  10  hp  or  15  hp.  The 
directly  driven  devices,  such  as  vacuum  cleaners,  etc.,  which 
have  been  developed  have  increased  the  need  for  motors  of 
such  sizes  as  were  in  the  past  considered  unimportant  by 
designing  engineers,  many  of  whom  were  apt  to  prefer 
work  on  apparatus  of  horse-power  rating  in  the  hundreds 
or  thousands. 

It  is  surprising  to  find  that  many  of  the  small  motors 
in  use  are  not  of  the  most  widely  advertised  makes,  but 
are  made  by  manufacturers  less  universally  known  but  who 
have  limited  their  output  to  motors  of  small  sizes  and  who 
have  good  motors  to  offer  because  of  their  specialization. 
That  the  building  of  small  motors  and  the  expending  of 
special  efforts  in  this  field  are  profitable  is  also  evidenced 
by  the  work  done  by  the  manufacturers  of  large  electrical 
apparatus  during  the  past  few  years.  The  small  motor  of 
to-day  is  more  efficient  than  that  of  five  years  ago,  and  the 


Fig.    1 — Automatic  Skip-Hoist   Controller. 

manufacturers  have  studied  the  application  and  developed 
motors  to  meet  the  various  requirements.  Central  stations, 
as  well  as  motor  manufacturers,  now  employ  men  to  study 
motor  applications  in  the  different  industries,  and  most  of 
these  industries  require  motors  of  small  size.  The  printing 
establishment,  the  woodworking  plant,  the  machine  shop, 
the  bakery,  the  laundry,  etc.,  have  each  some  individual 
features. 


December  28.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


1379 


Laundry  machinery,  for  instance,  cannot  be  designed  to 
suit  the  motors,  and  hence  the  electrical  apparatus  must  be 
made  to  fill  the  requirements  of  the  several  types  of  laundry 
machinery,  such  as  extractors,  washing  machines,  etc.  The 
most  widely  known  motor  built  may  fail  and  the  most 
obscure  may  operate  satisfactorily  upon  the  same  machine. 
It  is  not  only  a  matter  of  horse-power,  efficiency  and  speed 


Fig.   2 — Remotely   Controlled    Field    Rheostat. 

but  also  one  of  right  design  and  winding  to  meet  the 
peculiarities  of  the  service.  Extractors  require  a  motor 
providing  a  good  starting  torque,  and  here  vertical  inclosed 
motors  with  compound  winding  are  used  to  a  considerable 
extent.  As  the  "small  motor"  manufacturer's  products 
come  within  the  field  in  which  the  majority  of  these  precise 
applications  are  required,  his  advice  can  be  used  to  advan- 
tage if  his  experience  covers  a  long  enough  period. 

The  small  motor  in  the  role  of  auxiliary  device  is  shown 
in  several  of  tiic  accompanying  illustrations.  In  Fig.  i 
two  J^-hp  Crocker-WIieeler  direct-current  motors  are  used 


ill  I II 1 1 


Fig,    3 Motor-Driven    Alternating-Current    Theater     Dimmer. 

operating  the  "slow-down"  cross-head  for  an  automatic 
blast-furnace  skip-hoist  controller.  In  Fig.  2  a  large  cross- 
head-type  remote-controlled  dynamo-field  rheostat  is  shown. 
A  >^-hp  vertical  Watson  motor  operates  to  move  the  con- 
tact brushes  over  the  cross-head-type  commutator  by  means 
of  worm  and  gear  transmission.  This  motor  automatically 
keeps  the  voltage  of  the  generator  constant  during  load 
changes  by  varying  the  amount  of  resistance   in   the  field 


circuit.  Fig.  4  shows  a  motor  of  the  same  capacity  on 
an  automatic  reversing  panel  for  controlling  washing  ma- 
chines in  a  large  laundry.  The  drums  operated  by  this 
motor  carry  segments  which  when  revolved  make  contact 
with  stationary  fingers.  The  motor  driving  the  washing 
machines  is  brought  up  to  speed  in  one  direction,  stopped 
and  accelerated  in  the  reverse  direction.  The  auxiliary 
small  motor  mounted  on  the  panel 
is  automatically  controlled. 

On  each  end  of  the  frame  shown 
m  F"ig.  3  there  is  a  slate  panel  hav- 
ing a  great  many  segments  con- 
nected to  resistor  grids  and  a 
double-ended  contact  lever.  This 
apparatus  is  an  automatic  dimmer 
installed  in  the  Masonic  lodge  room 
at  Seattle.  The  'A-hp  Wagner 
single-phase  motor  is  used  to  drive 
two  shafts  through  a  high  worm- 
gear  reduction  mechanism.  Each 
panel  controls  220  40-watt  tung- 
sten lamps  arranged  on  a  three- 
wire  system.  Four  push-buttons 
placed  at  the  Master's  desk  allow 
dimming  one  part  of  the  room  and 
brightening  others  or  the  dimming 
or  brightening  of  all  together.  The 
motor  provides  the  power  for  mov- 
ing the  contact  arm  and  carries  out 
the  will  of  the  operator,  who  is 
located  at  a  distance  from  the  dim- 
ming apparatus. 

Practically  all  the  machines  used 
in  the  present-day  printing  establishments,  bindery,  electro- 
tvping  and  engraving  plants  are  driven  by  small  motors. 
The  matrix  roller  equipment  used  in  newspaper  plants 
(Fig.  5)  is  driven  by  a  Sprague  i-hp  motor  through  a  pinion 
and  worm  transmission. 

The  field  for  the  product  of  the  manufacturer  of  small 
motors  is  widening  rapidly  every  day.  The  number  of  uses 
to  which  an  auxiliary  can  be  put  is  increasing,  the  number 
of  new  devices  which  can  best  be  directly  driven  by  small 
electric  motors  is  increasing,  and  in  every  line  of  manu- 
facture direct  drive,  or  at  least  individual  drive,  of  every 


A — Washing.  Machine 
Control   Panel. 


Pig.    5 — Matrix     Roller    Operated     by     1-hp     Motor. 

class  of  machinery  is  being  installed  to  a  greater  extent  than 
before. 

In  one  plant  there  are  installed  about  forty  machine  units 
individually  driven  by  small  motors.  None  of  these  motors 
is  of  a  rating  greater  than  10  hp.  There  is  only  one  case  of 
group  drive  in  this  shop,  and  this  requires  a  shaft  only  12  ft. 
long  and  is  also  driven  by  a  small  motor,  one  of  3  hp  being 
sufficient. 


i38o 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


Wiring  and  Illumination 

"ST.  LOUIS  WHITE- WAY"  LAMP   REPLACING 
GAS  "ARCS." 


The  Union  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  St. 
Louis,  is  meeting  with  conspicuous  success  in  introducing 
its  "St.  Louis  white-way  lamp,"  recently  illustrated  in  this 
journal.  In  the  first  six  weeks  of  the  campaign  about  500 
of  the  units  were  placed.  The  fixture  consists  of  a  500-watt 
or  400-watt  tungsten  lamp  with  white-enameled  steel  re- 
flector. It  is  suspended  from  a  bracket,  usually  attached  to 
a  building,  for  outdoor  lighting  or  from  a  chain  attached 
to  the  ceiling  for  indoor  use.  The  fixture  is  sold  outright 
or  installed  on  a  maintenance  basis.  In  either  case  the 
charge  for  energy  consumed  is  additional.  In  many  cases 
the  new  unit,  which  was  designed  by  the  electric-service 
company,  is  used  to  replace  gas  "arcs,"  merchants  finding 
it  not  only  a  better  source  of  light  but  much  less  trouble- 
some to  maintain. 

The  maintenance  rate  for  these  units  is  $1.50  per  month, 
no  charge  being  made  for  installation,  although  the  energy 
consumed  by  the  unit  is  billed  extra.  If  desired,  the  fixtures 
will  also  be  sold  outright,  being  installed  in  place  and  con- 
nected to  existing  wiring.  The  design  of  fixture  adopted  is 
most  simple  and  substantial,  corresponding  in  outward  ap- 
pearance to  the  rugged  simplicity  of  the  tungsten  unit  itself, 
and  merchants  of  the  Missouri  metropolis  have  been  quick 
to  realize  the  advantages  of  the  new  electric  lamps  in  con- 
trast with  the  unsatisfactory  and  unsanitary  gas  units. 


ORNAMENTAL  LIGHTING  IN  CHATTANOOGA,  TENN. 

Merchants  of  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  have  co-operated  to 
install  ornamental  lighting  standards  in  the  retail  business 
district,  paying  a  charge  of  $2  per  front  foot  per  annum 
to  defray  the  cost.  The  work  of  erecting  thirteen  orna- 
mental bronze  standards,  each  containing  one  6-in.  by  i6-in. 
and  four  6-in.  by  14-in.  Alba  balls,  along  Market  Street 
between  Fourth  and  Fifth  Streets  has  been  completed. 
The  standards  were  made  by  the  Casey-Hedges  Company 
and  were  erected  and  connected  by  the  Terrell-Hedges 
Company,  both  of  Chattanooga. 

Arrangements  have  also  been  made  with  the  Chattanooga 
Railway  &  Light  Company  whereby  energy  is  to  be  supplied 
free  of  charge  for  a  luminous-arc  lighting  system  of  orna- 
mental design  along  both  sides  of  Market  Street  from  Sixth 
Street  to  the  Terminal  Depot.  This  service  will  be  ex- 
tended as  the  merchants  complete  the  installation  of  the 
necessary  equipment.  The  present  agreement  is  to  continue 
in  force  three  years,  after  which  the  municipal  authorities 
will  doubtless  maintain  the  system. 

An  example  of  the  "trade-creating"  value  of  ornamental 
lighting  is  afforded  by  the  newly  installed  ornamental  sys- 
tem along  two  and  one-half  blocks  of  Market  Street,  Chat- 
tanooga, from  the  downtown  district  to  the  Bijou  Theater. 
Trade  has  been  made  to  follow  the  light  for  this  distance 
up  a  steep  hill  and  to  the  crest,  where  the  theater  stands. 
The  merchants  in  the  zone  affected  by  the  improvement 
express  themselves  as  delighted  with  the  "pulling  power" 
«f  the  ornamental  standards  judged  from  their  standpoint. 


LIGHTING  OF  A  DENVER  CATHEDRAL. 


An  interesting  combination  of  direct  ceilitig  illumination 
and  indirect  decorative  lighting  is  the  electrical  installation 
in  the  Cathedral  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  at  Denver, 
Col.,  recently  dedicated  by  Cardinal  Farley.  This  structure 
was  built  of  Colorado  marble  at  a  cost,  exclusive  of  the 
fixtures,  approaching  $500,000.    Before  the  illumination  was 


installed,  hovyever,  an  extended  investigation  was  made  of 
existing  methods  of  church  lighting  by  Mr.  J.  D.  Marshall, 
illuminating  engineer  of  Denver,  whose  study  resulted  in 
the  adoption  of  direct  lighting  of  the  nave  from  accessible 
ceiling  lamps  and  indirect  lighting  of  the  groined  arches  by 
lamps  above  the  column  capitals,  the  effect  being  unusual 
accentuation  of  the  architectural  features. 


Fig.    1 — Interior    of    Cathedral,    Denver,    Col. 

The  accompanying  picture,  Fig.  i,  shows  the  artificial 
illumination  of  the  interior  looking  toward  the  sanctuary. 
Fig.  2  is  a  plan,  while  Fig.  3  is  an  elevation  through  the 
nave.  All  of  the  circuits,  100  in  number,  are  controlled  from 
a  marble  switchboard  in  the  right-hand  sacristy.  The  prin- 
cipal illumination  is  from  one  eight-lamp  and  ten  four-lamp 
ceiling  clusters,  each  lamp  being  a  250-watt  tungsten  in  a 
helmet  reflector.  These  units  are  supported  in  metal  bands 
inside  the  plaster  rings  and  are  removable  into  the  roof 
space,  having  armored  cable  connections  from  conduit  out- 
let boxes.  In  the  aisles  ceiling  domes  made  up  of  single 
40-watt  lamps  furnish  auxiliary  illumination,  the  same  ar- 
rangement being  followed  in  the  chapels. 

Decorative  effects  of  unusual  beauty  are  obtained  from 
lamp  clusters  above  the  capitals  of  the  columns  supporting 
the  arches.  Of  these  there  are  four  six-lamp  groups,  twelve 
four-lamp  groups  and  four  two-lamp  groups  at  the  tops  of 
the  40-ft.  columns,   illuminating  the  main   arches,  besides 


r 


36 X-S-^ 

£tcetncal  It'orW 

Fig.  2 — Elevation  Section  Through  Cathedral. 


some  ninety-si.x  lamps  at  the  tops  of  the  20-ft.  columns, 
illuminating  the  aisle  and  chapel  arches.  The  half  columns 
of  the  sanctuary  have  their  capitals  marked  by  two-lamp 
clusters.  The  main  column  lamps  and  those  of  the  sanctuary 
are  60-watt  units,  while  those  in  the  aisles  and  chapels  are 
40-watt  units.  All  are,  however,  out  of  view  of  the  con- 
gregation, being  sunk  in  the  hollows  of  the  capital  tops. 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


1381 


The  arches  are  of  light,  cream-tinted  plaster,  with  ribs  of 
white  plaster. 

Illumination  is  afforded  the  altar  by  tungsten  lamps  above 
each  figure,  and  the  stations  receive  effective  emphasis  from 
twin  bunghole  lamps  concealed  in  the  recesses  of  the  lower 
sides  of  the  plaster  frame.  The  tower  lighting  is  effected 
from  the  capitals  of  the  supporting  columns. 


Etcctriaut  Wurli 

Fig.   3 — Plan   of   Lighting   in   Denver  Cathedral. 

The  cost  of  the  electrical  equipment  for  the  cathedral 
approximated  $5,000.  The  switchboard  and  auxiliary  panel- 
boards  were  built  by  the  Carstarphen  Electric  Company, 
which  installed  the  lighting  equipment. 


RECENT  TELEPHONE  PATENTS. 


In  the  earlier  days  of  telephone  operation  no  one  knew 
what  circuit  practices  would  prove  best  suited  for  com- 
mercial use,  and  this  condition  led  to  the  production  of  a 
great  number  of  circuits,  each  of  which  exhibited  a  possible 
scheme  for  accomplishing  some  necessary  function.  In  a 
patent  just  issued  to  Mr.  C.  L.  Goodwin,  the  application  for 
which  has  been  pending  ten  years,  there  is  described  a 
switchboard  circuit  system  using  three-wire  multiple  and 
two-wire  cords.  Line  and  cut-ofif  relays  are  provided,  the 
latter  being  wired  to  a  jack  spring  which  is  so  placed  that 
the  tip  of  the  plug  connects  it  to  the  tip  side  of  the  line 
where  the  operating  battery  is  available.  This  patent  is 
assigned  to  the  Stromberg-Carlson  Telephone  Manufac- 
turing Company. 

A  patent  granted  to  Mr.  H.  P.  Claussen,  which  was  ap- 
plied for  eleven  years  ago,  describes  a  system  using  two 
batteries  in  series.  Both  jacks  and  cords  are  three-wire, 
the  low  resistance  supervisory  relay  being  wired  between 
the  tip  and  ring  of  the  plug,  while  the  high-resistance  line 
relay  is  wired  between  tip  and  ring  springs  of  the  jack. 
Thus  when  a  plug  is  in  the  jack  the  supervisory  relay  shunts 
out  the  line  relay.  Only  one  limb  of  the  line  is  energized 
through  the  cord  strand,  the  second  limb  being  permanently 
connected  through  an  induction  coil  to  the  grounded  side 
of  the  battery. 

Another  patent  granted  to  the  same  inventor  describes  a 


single-battery  system  with  two-wire  cords  and  three-wire 
multiple.  Here  again  the  line  relay  is  connected  between 
two  jack  springs,  but  in  this  case  the  plug  tip  puts  a  short- 
circuit  around  it  by  contacting  with  both  springs  simulta- 
neously. Again,  only  one  side  of  the  line  is  energized 
through  the  cord,  the  other  side  being  permanently  con- 
nected. Both  these  patents  are  assigned  to  the  Stromberg- 
Carlson  Company. 

RECEIVER    ATTACHMENT. 

Mr.  J.  E.  Ross,  of  Springfield,  Mo.,  has  brought  out 
an  attachment  for  receivers  consisting  of  an  ear-cap  nipple 
so  designed  that  it  may  be  readily  clamped  upon  a  standard 
receiver,  where  it  registers  with  the  sound  aperture.  This 
nipple  is  made  of  flexible  material,  it  being  the  idea  that 
the  nipple  shall  engage  the  orifice  of  the  user's  ear. 


Letters  to  the  Editors 

WIRELESS  COMMUNICATION  FROMSAYVILLE.N.Y. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs: — We  are  pleased  to  hear  of  the  ranges  obtained 
with  Telefunken  apparatus  from  the  Sayville  (L.  I.)  station 
as  noted  in  your  article  on  page  1297  of  the  Electrical  World 
for  Dec.  21,  but  wish  to  say  that  the  Sayville  station  does 
not  belong  to  this  company  but  is  owned  and  operated  by 
a  separate  and  distinct  organization  called  the  Atlantic 
Communication   Company. 

Richard  Pfund, 
General  Manager  Telefunken.  Wireless  Telegraph  Com- 
pany of  the  United  States. 

New  York,  N.  Y. 


[Although  the  Sayville  station  is  under  the  management 
of  the  Atlantic  Communication  Company,  this  company 
employs  the  Telefunken  system  of  wireless  telegraphy. 
From  Dr.  K.  G.  Frank,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  com- 
pany, we  learn  that  the  map  with  the  above  article  indicates 
merely  some  records  of  the  range  of  the  station  as  equipped 
at  present  and  in  communication  with  small  stations  on 
board  ships  and  does  not  show  the  maximum  limit  of  com- 
munication. As  a  result  of  experiments  now  being  carried 
on  it  is  expected  that  the  range  will  greatly  exceed  the 
distances  shown  on  the  map. — Eds.] 


PROPER  BASIS  FOR  ENERGY  CHARGES. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Electrical  World: 

Sirs  : — In  your  issue  of  Nov.  30,  1912,  under  "New  York 
Edison  Company's  Answer  to  Rate  Discrimination  Charge," 
you  state  ".  .  .  the  company  submitted  a  very  lengthy 
reply,  which  was  an  admirable  justification  of  central- 
station  rates  as  a  whole."  Further,  you  summarize  the 
defense  of  the  practice,  as  follows:  ".  .  .  the  whole- 
sale consumer  is  entitled  to  consideration  in  the  making 
of  a  rate  to  fit  his  conditions  of  service,  and  to  credit  for 
the  reduced  cost  of  serving  him,  by  reason  of  the  propor- 
tionately less  cost  to  him  than  to  the  small  customer  for 
plant  equipment,  general  expenses  such  as  management  and 
clerical  expenses,  better  credit,  less  accounting,  less  meter- 
reading  expenses,  etc.,  smaller  distribution  expenses  neces- 
sary in  serving  him  and  better  inherent  load-factor  and 
larger  output  required,  on  which  the  cost  of  giving  electric 
service  so  largely  depends." 

Referring  to  the  first  item  in  the  above  statement — that 
the  wholesale  consumer  costs  less  for  plant  equipment — is 
this  true?  Most  of  the  wholesale  consumers  in  New  York 
City   are   made   up   of   aggregations   of    retail   consumers. 


1382 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


P'or  example,  in  all  the  large  and  even  in  moderate-size 
apartment  houses  and  loft  buildings  the  individual  tenants 
are  practically  obliged  to  buy  from  the  landlord,  who  makes 
a  contract  for  all  the  electricity  used  in  the  building  under 
the  "wholesale"  schedule.  However,  each  tenant  has  an 
individual  meter  and  has  precisely  the  same  conditions 
of  service  as  would  exist  if  he  had  made  a  contract  directly 
with  the  New  York  Edison  Company.  The  only  difference 
is  that  the  New  York  Edison  Company  sends  one  bill  to 
the  landlord  instead  of  bills  to  individual  tenants,  but  the 
New  York  Edison  Company  reads  the  separate  meters  and 
delivers  the  readings  to  the  landlord.  In  what  way  is  the 
plant  investment  less  in  this  case? 

Or  take  the  case  of  a  wholesale  consumer,  such  as  a  large 
department  store.  Such  stores  get  the  lowest  rate  solely 
because  of  their  large  annual  quantitative  use  of  electrical 
energv.  The  plant  investment  required  for  such  stores  is 
far  greater  than  for  small  consumers  and  is  even  greater 
than  the  plant  investment  required  for  apartment-house  use. 
This  follows  from  the  fact  that  the  peak  load  is  used  the 
smallest  length  of  time,  and  the  cost  per  kilowatt-hour  is 
greatest.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  rate  for  electrical 
energy  to  the  large  department  store  is  less  than  one- 
quarter  of  the  rate  for  energy  to  the  small  consumer.  The 
consumers  that  cost  the  least  to  supply,  because  of  their 
long-hour  use,  such  as  the  United  Cigar  Stores  or  Childs' 
restaurants  or  small  jewelry  stores,  pay  the  maximum 
price — four  times  the  price  charged  their  competitors  who 
happen  to  have  their  business  in  the  department  store. 

The  next  item  cited  is  general  expenses,  such  as  manage- 
ment, clerical  expenses,  better  credit,  less  accounting,  less 
meter-reading  expenses,  etc.  There  can,  of  course,  be  no 
difference  in  any  of  these  expenses  where  the  wholesale 
consumer  is  merely  an  aggregation  of  retail  consumers. 
And  in  the  other  cases  the  difference  is  no  greater  than 
the  difference  in  freight  transportation'  where  the  man  who 
ships  one  carload  is  charged  exactly  the  same  as  the  man 
who  ships  a  thousand.  Nor  is  there  any  difference  between 
such  cases  and  the  case  of  the  man  who  buys  a  thousand 
cubic  feet  of  gas  and  the  man  who  buys  a  million  cubic 
feet  of  gas  a  year.  It  has  generally  been  held  that  the 
average  cost  of  such  expenses  must  be  assessed  equally  on 
all  users  of  light,  as  any  other  basis  would  lead  to  rates 
varying  with  every  foot  of  distance  that  the  consumer  was 
away  from  the  central  station,  because  the  nearer  cus- 
tomers would  certainly  cost  less  to  supply. 

In  regard  to  the  item  "better  credit,"  this  contention 
does  not  seem  to  be  borne  out  by  the  facts,  because  the 
small  consumer  is  obliged  to  deposit  the  full  amount  of 
his  monthly  bill  in  advance,  and  if  he  does  not  pay  his 
bill  immediately  when  due  each  month  his  supply  may 
be  cut  off.  In  the  case  of  a  strictly  wholesale  consumer 
(one  of  the  minority  of  wholesale  consumers  not  made  up 
of  an  aggregate  of  small  consumers),  it  is  true  that  there 
is  less  accounting  and  less  meter-reading  expense ;  but 
this  amounts  to  perhaps  5  per  cent  of  the  total  cost  of 
the  service  and  certainly  would  not  appear  to  justify  a 
difference  of  400  per  cent  in  selling  price. 

The  next  item  is  smaller  distribution  expenses  necessary 
in  serving  him  and  better  inherent  load-factor.  By  Mr. 
H.  G.  Stott,  in  a  paper  before  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  and  by  a  number  of  other  investi- 
gators, it  has  been  shown  that  while  the  maximum  for 
any  single  residence  is  very  high  in  comparison  with  the 
average  use.  yet  the  maxima  for  a  number  of  residences 
do  not  coincide;  whereas  in  such  cases  as  department-store 
work  the  maxima  of  several  department  stores  will  very 
closely  coincide.  It  follows  from  this  that  a  central  sta- 
tion has  to  install  only  20  per  cent  plant  equipment  for  a 
given  maximum  load  in  residence  service  as  compared  with 
70  to  80  per  cent  for  a  given  maxima  in  department-store 
service.  In  manufacturing  buildings,  of  course,  the  in- 
herent load-factor  is  much  better  than  in  either  residence 


or  department-store  work,  but  notwithstanding  this  the 
manufacturing  building  does  not  get  a  better  rate — ui  fact, 
it  gets  a  rate  not  nearly  so  good  as  the  large  department 
store  because  the  manufacturing  building  is  seldom  of  the 
size  of  the  large  department  store,  and  in  many  cases  the 
tenants  of  the  manufacturing  building  are  paying  the 
full  retail  rate,  or  over  four  times  the  rate  paid  by  the 
large  department  store,  in  spite  of  their  better  load-factor. 

It  would  seem  to  me  to  be  self-evident,  after  considera- 
tion of  these  conditions,  that  there  can  be  no  justification 
for  a  differential  in  rate  based  on  the  monthly  or  yearly 
quantity  of  electrical  energy  used — or,  rather,  on  the  amount 
of  the  bill.  Such  a  differential  is  clearly  against  all  the 
modern  tendency  of  rate  legislation  and  is  exactly  con- 
trary to  the  policy  adopted  in  municipal  affairs.  The  mod- 
ern tendency  is  to  assess  the  taxation  on  those  who  are 
most  able  to  bear  it ;  and,  of  course,  charge  for  electricity 
is  in  reality  a  tax  just  as  much  as  charge  for  water  or 
street  cleaning,  only  for  purposes  of  economy  the  city  turns 
the  work  of  supplying  electricity  over  to  a  private  corpo- 
ration while  retaining  supervision  of  its  operation. 

The  statement  is  made  in  the  company's  answer  that  "As 
a  result  of  the  rate  reduction  placed  in  effect  by  the 
company  on  July  I,  191 1,  there  was  a  total  decrease  in 
revenue  ...  of  approximately  $1,250,000,  of  which 
$850,000  .  .  .  was  to  the  benefit  of  the  small  light- 
ing consumer."  There  must  be  an  error  in  this  statement, 
because  the  rate  reduction  applied  only  to  consumers  using 
over  $25  worth  of  energy  a  month,  and  the  result  was 
simply  to  allow  landlords  of  smaller  apartment  houses  and 
smaller  loft  buildings  to  combine  profitably  the  accounts 
of  their  tenants  where  it  had  not  been  profitable  to  do 
so  before.  Hence  the  tenants  very  seldom  got  any  of 
the  benefits  of  such  combination,  or,  if  they  did  get  the 
benefits,  it  was  only  to  a  very  limited  extent,  the  landlord 
getting  the  benefits  almost  wholly.  Naturally,  this  did  not 
increase  the  use  of  electrical  energy. 

Another  statement  is  made  that  if  the  company  did  not 
have  the  large  wholesale  customers,  which  it  is  only  able 
to  secure  at  the  lower  rates  of  its  schedule,  its  output  would 
be  enormously  reduced  and  it  would  then  be  necessary  to 
charge  the  smaller  classes  of  consumers  a  higher  rate  than 
at  present.  This  is  the  usual  argument  advanced  in  de- 
fense of  the  practice  of  obtaining  wholesale  consumers 
at  no  matter  what  price,  and  it  is  precisely  the  same  argu- 
ment that  was  used  to  defend  the  rate  rebate  practices  in 
the  matter  of  the  railroads.  It  is  economically  unsound  and 
has  no  basis  of  fact.  Unless  a  sale  of  electrical  energy 
carries  with  it  its  proper  proportion  of  the  fixed  charges 
— general  expense,  taxes  and  all  the  other  items  making  up 
the  total  cost — it  cannot  result  in  a  reduction  of  rate  to 
the  small  consumer.  This  is  clearly  shown  in  the  case 
of  the  New  York  Edison  Company  itself.  Notwithstanding 
its  enormous  growth,  the  cost  of  production  has  increased. 

In  conclusion,  it  is  my  opinion  that  either  one  or  two 
rates  for  electricity  will  be  adopted  in  the  near  future. 
That  is.  either  a  single  rate — such  as  the  rate  for  gas — 
which  shall  apply  to  all  electricity  used,  or  a  double  rate — 
that  is,  a  low  rate  for  all  electrical  energy  used  off  the 
peak  and  ajiigher  rate  for  energy  used  during  the  peak. 
.■\ny  other  .system  of  charging,  based  on  the  amount  of  the 
bill  or  on  the  "average  use  of  the  maximum  demand"  or 
on  the  "maximum  demand"  itself,  is  not  justified,  nor 
does  it  accord  with  the  method  adopted  for  charging  in  any 
other  public-utility  supply. 

A  double  rate  would  more  nearly  approximate  a  correct 
basis  of  charge,  provided  the  higher  rate  was  made  equal 
to  the  rate  for  off-peak  load  plus  the  fixed  charges  on  the 
total  investment  required  for  supplying  the  peak.  In  other 
words,  the  peak-load  period  would  bear  the  total  invest- 
ment cost  required  for  its  supply,  in  addition  to  its  pro- 
portion of  other  costs. 

Me-v  York.  N.  Y.  P.  R.  Moses. 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


1383 


Digest  of  Current  Electrical  Literature 

ABSTRACTS  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  ARTICLES  APPEARING  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  PERIODICAL  PRESS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Generators,  Motors  and  Transformers. 

Self-Excitation  and  Braking,  with  Recovery  of  Energy  of 
Alternating-Current  Motors  with  Series  Characteristics. — • 
A.  ScHERBius. — The  author  starts  his  discussion  with  the 
direct-current  series  motor  and  shows  that  it  is  possible  to 
determine  from  the  magnetization  curve  alone  an  upper 
limit  of  the  efficiency  for  which  braking  of  the  machine  is 


Fig.    1 — Diagram    Showing   Correct    Phase    Relation. 

possible  with  the  recovery  of  electrical  energy.  The  single- 
phase  commutator  motors  with  series  characteristics  behave 
qualitatively  like  the  direct-current  series  machine,  but  the 
various  types  differ  greatly  from  each  other  and  from  the 
direct-current  macliines.  The  pure  series  conduction  motor 
is  in  this  respec'.  most  unfavorably  situated,  while  the  poly- 
phase series  motor  is  better  and  the  repulsion  motor  is  most 
favorable  in  this  respect.  The  trouble  with  the  single-phase 
series  conduction  motor  is  that  those  periods  of  time  in 
which  the  machine  is  not  saturated  have  a  very  unfavorable 
effect  on  the  self-excitation  phenomena.  This  condition 
suggests  the  remedy  shown  in  Fig.  I.  £  is  the  excitation 
winding,  T  a  series  transformer.  The  flux  of  this  trans- 
forrrier  is  in  time  quadrature  with  the  armature  current.  It 
is  therefore  a  maximum  when  the  armature  and  the  flux  0 
are  zero.  The  transformer  is  always  saturated.  The  con- 
nections shown  in  Fig.  2  would  not  be  suitable  since  the 
field  of  the  transformer  is  in  time  phase  with  the  flux  0. 
By  means  of  experimental  tests,  it  has  been  found  that  with 
the  connections  of  Fig.  2  very  little  more  electrical  energy 


Fig.    2 — Incorrect     Time-Phase     Relation. 

can  be  recuperated  in  braking  than  with  the  pure  series 
conduction  motor,  while  other  things  being  equal  and  with- 
out artificial  resistance  about  50  per  cent  of  the  loading 
rating  can  be  returned  as  useful  power  to  the  network  with 
the  connections  of  Fig.  i. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Dec.  5,  1912. 

Commutator  Motors  Under  Short^Circuit. — A  note  on  ex- 
periments recently  made  with  the  object  of  investigating 
the  action  of  commutator  motors  under  short-circuit  and 
when  producing  a  useful  braking  action.  The  conclusions 
arrived  at  are  as  follows:  When  single-phase  commutator 
motors  with  series  characteristics  are  used  to  provide  a 
useful  braking  action,  current  is  delivered  to  the  line  of  the 


same  magnitude  as  the  machine  would  take  if  driven  as  a 
motor  at  the  same  speed  and  pressure,  in  addition,  a  cur- 
rent is  supplied  of  the  same  magnitude  and  type  as  would 
be  produced  by  the  machine  when  short-circuited  and  run- 
ning at  the  same  speed,  but  the  heating  and  sparking  which 
this  current  gives  rise  to  are  such  that  the  action  becomes 
impracticable.  Only  machines  with  shunt  characteristics 
can  be  utilized  for  producing  a  useful  braking  action. — 
From  the  London  Engineer,  abstracted  in  the  London  Elec- 
trician, Nov.  29,  1912. 

Armature  Reaction  in  Lap- Wound  Machines. — W. 
LuLOFS. — The  circulating  currents  in  a  lap-wound  armature 
due  to  unequal  pole  strengths  are  usually  supposed  to  pro- 
duce an  armature  reaction  largely  tending  to  remedy  in- 
equalities in  the  magnetic  field.  The  author  shows  that 
only  in  the  case  of  the  four-pole  machine  is  this  counter- 
balancing true.  This  is  in  agreement  with  the  fact  well 
known  in  practice  that  the  four-pole  lap-wound  machine  is 
far  superior  to  those  having  more  poles. — London  Elec- 
trician, Nov.  29,  19 12. 

Production  of  High-Frequency  Currents. — Marius  La- 
tour. — The  author  has  formerly  shown  that  for  the  produc- 
tion of  polyphase  currents  of  high  frequency  the  proposal 
of  Goldschmidt  to  aggregate  in  one  single  machine  a  series 
of  machines  connected  in  cascade  has  no  advantages  with 
respect  to  efficiency  and  specific  power  over  the  older  pro- 
posal for  the  use  of  the  series  of  machines.  In  the  present 
article  the  author  shows  that  the  cascade  connection  of 
several  machines  represents  no  real  complication.  He 
further  shows  that  the  generation  by  reflection  of  a  single 
alternating  current  of  high  frequency  is  less-  efficient  than 
the  generation  of  the  system  of  polyphase  currents. — 
La  Lumierc  Elec,  Nov.  23,  1912. 

Magnetic  Leakage  in  Transformers. — J.  Murray  Weed. — 
The  first  part  of  an  article  in  which  the  author  discusses  in 
an  elementary  manner  the  reactance,  eddy-current  loss  and 
mechanical  stresses  resulting  from  magnetic  leakage  in 
transformers.  As  an  introduction,  the  fundamental  for- 
mulas for  magnetomotive  force,  magnetic  density  and  in- 
duced voltage  are  given,  supplemented  by  a  few  statements 
outlining  the  relationship  between  the  applied  voltage,  the 
exciting  current,  the  magnetic  flux  and  the  induced  second- 
ary voltage.  In  the  present  instalment  formulas  are  derived 
for  the  calculation  of  reactance  and  energy  loss  from  eddy 
currents  in  the  conductors,  the  calculation  of  any  phenomena 
dependent  upon  magnetic  leakage,  however,  being  of  neces- 
sity only  approximate,  since  it  is  impossible  to  define  exactly 
the  leakage  field,  and  since  for  the  purpose  of  simplifying 
equations  it  is  best  to  disregard  many  factors  that  have 
more  or  less  bearing  on  the  result. — Gen.  Elcc.  Rci\.  Decem- 
ber, 1912. 

High-Voltage  Transformers. — H.  H.  Hodgman. — An 
article  giving  some  practical  notes  on  the  installation  and 
operation  of  high-voltage  transformers  with  recommenda- 
tions for  inspecting  and  cleaning;  drying  and  duration  of 
the  drying  run,  methods  of  sampling,  testing,  drying  and 
straining  the  oil,  filling  of  transformers,  putting  them  in 
service  and  finally  operation. — Gen.  Elec.  Rev..  Decem- 
ber, 1912. 

Material  for  Dynamos. — A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent 
(No.  27,261,  Nov,  28,  1912)  of  the  British  Thomson- 
Houston  Company  and  the  General  Electric  Company  of 
this  country,  A  bearing  material  is  made  by  combining  a 
sulphide  of  molybdenum  or  tungsten  with  copper,  or  a  sul- 
phide of  molybdenum  with  oxide  of  conper  and  tin  together 
with  carbon  or  graphite  suitably  treated  may  be  used.  A 
brush  material  is  made  from  copper  and  metallic  material 


I3«4 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Mo.  26. 


|l 


alloyable  therewith  and  containing  molybdenum  sulphide. — 
London  Elec.  Eng'Ui^,  Dec.  5,  1912. 

Lamps  and  Lighting. 

Lighting  with  Low-Voltage  Metallic-Filament  Lamps. — 
Max  Howald. — A  paper  read  before  the  Dortmund  Elec- 
trical Society  on  a  system  in  which  14-volt  metallic-filament 
lamps  are  used,  with  a  special  transformer  for  each  lamp  or 
for  each  group  of  lamps  which  are  lighted  or  extinguished 
at  the  same  time.  Each  transformer  is  connected  in  parallel 
to  the  line,  and  when  it  is  disconnected  the  primary  circuit 
is  broken  so  that  there  are  no  no-load  losses.  The  14-volt 
lamps  are  clieaper  by  from  40  to  70  per  cent  than  standard 
metallic-filament  lamps  of  no  volts  or  more.  Fourteen- 
volt  lamps  have  one  short,  strong  filament  from  3  cp 
upward  and  two  filaments  in  parallel  from  16  cp  upward. 
With  these  results  it  is  easy  to  produce  a  very  far-reaching 
subdivision  of  the  light  by  using  i6-cp,  lo-cp  and  3.5-cp 
lamps.  The  transformers,  which  are  called  "reductors," 
are  stated  to  be  light  and  efficient.  Niethammer  has  tested 
such  transformers  from  10  volts  to  750  volts.  The  weight 
is  49  grams  per  watt  for  the  smallest  types  and  13. 1  grams 
per  watt  or  less  for  the  largest.  The  efficiency  is  88.8  per 
cent  for  the  smallest  types  and  97.1  per  cent  for  the  largest 
types.  Wedding  tested  a  number  of  lo-cp  lamps,  each  with 
its  own  transformers,  for  420  hours.  The  average  specific 
consumption  was  1.13  watts  per  cp.  Similar  tests  of  a 
number  of  32-cp  lamps,  each  with  its  own  transformer,  gave 
a  consumption  of  1.08  watts  per  cp.  In  both  cases  the 
power  consumption  includes  the  transformer  loss.  The 
advantages  of  the  system  are  the  low  price  of  the  lamps, 
their  long  life  and  the  possibility  of  using  low  candle- 
power.  These  lamps  are  thought  to  be  especially  suitable 
for  agricultural  districts. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov.  28,  1912. 

Tungsten  Lamps  with  Parabolic  Reflectors. — -G.  H. 
Stickney. — To  obtain  the  best  results  from  parabolic 
reflectors,  the  light  source  should  approximate  a  point  as 
nearly  as  possible,  since  from  the  principle  of  the  reflector 
only  those  rays  of  light  that  emanate  from  the  exact  focal 
point  are  reflected  in  a  beam  parallel  to  the  axis.  The  larger 
the  source  the  more  divergent  the  beam.  The  crater  of  the 
electric  arc  fulfils  this  optical  requirement  better  than  any 
other  illuminant  and  has  been  supreme  in  high-power  work. 
The  development  of  the  concentrated  tungsten-filament 
lamp,  however,  has  been  responsible  for  the  present  exten- 
sive adoption  by  automobile  manufacturers  of  electric  head- 
lamps, which  has  resulted,  of  course,  in  the  installation  of 
complete  electric-lighting  outfits  in  almost  all  cases.  The 
author  points  out  that  the  shorter  the  focal  length  of  a 
parabolic  reflector  for  a  given  diameter  the  greater  the 
amount  of  light  flux  in  the  beam,  and  therefore  the  desira- 
bility of  as  small  a  lamp  bulb  as  is  consistent  with  good 
design;  also,  that  it  is  important  that  the  light  source  be 
accurately  centered  at  the  focal  point  and  that  the  reflecting 
surface  be  kept  in  perfect  condition. — Gen.  Elec.  Review, 
December,  1912. 

Addition  of  Luminosities  of  Different  Colors. — H.  E. 
[vES. — A  fundamental  requirement  of  any  method  of  meas- 
urement is  that  its  renderings  shall  conform  to  two  geomet- 
rical axioms.  The  first  of  these  is  that  things  equal  to  the 
same  thing  shall  be  equal  to  each  other ;  the  second,  that 
the  whole  shall  be  equal  to  the  sum  of  its  parts.  This  paper 
discusses  the  methods  of  heterochromatic  photometry  from 
the  standpoint  of  these  axioms.  It  is  shown  that  only  one 
method — the  flicker  method — strictly  conforms  to  the  re- 
quirements in  question.  From  the  results  of  tests  given  the 
conclusion  is  drawn  that  under  the  conditions  of  high 
illumination  and  small  field  size  specified  the  arithmetical 
sum  of  the  parts  as  measured  agrees  with  the  measured 
value  of  the  whole,  by  the  flicker  method,  for  observers  of 
normal  color  vision.  As  to  the  fundamental  characteristics. 
of  the  flicker  method,  it  is  said  that  it  surpasses  all  other 
photometric   methods   in   sensibility    and    reproducibility   in 


the  presence  of  color  difference.  It  agrees  at  high  illumina- 
tions with  the  equality-of-brightness  method,  when  the 
latter  is  freed  from  the  psychological  uncertainties  inherent 
in  its  use.  It  measures  at  high  illuminations  what  may 
fairly  be  termed  the  true  brightness.  Brightnesses  equal 
to  the  same  measure  are  equal  to  each  other  and  the  sum  of 
the  measurements  of  the  parts  is  equal  to  the  measurement 
of  the  whole.  In  the  opinion  of  the  writer  the  flicker 
photometer  should  be  adopted  as  the  standard  instrument 
for  making  heterochromatic  comparisons  in  the  standard- 
izing laboratory. — Philos.  Mag.,  December,  1912. 

Spider  for  Metallic  Filaments. — A  note  on  a  recent  British 
patent  (No.  27,263,  Nov.  28,  1912)  of  G.  Liidecke  and  the 
Brimsdown  Lamp  Works.  Drawn  metallic  filaments  are 
wound  in  a  continuous  length  in  the  form  of  loops,  so  that 
the  filament  is  kept  over  its  whole  length  in  a  perfectly 
loose  condition,  without  it  being  necessary  to  corrugate  the 
filament  or  to  forego  in  any  way  the  regular  shape  of  the 
filament.  To  this  end  the  filament  is  passed  loosely  through 
hooks  of  upper  and  lower  supporting  arms,  as  well  as 
through  hooks  of  middle  supporting  arms,  of  which  one  is 
provided  for  each  leg  of  each  loop.  These  middle  sup- 
porting arms  are  made  of  thin  soft  wires  with  one  or  more 
bends,  which  allow  the  filament  to  slacken  by  a  movement 
of  the  corresponding  supporting  hook  toward  an  imaginary 
straight  line  between  the  hooks  of  the  corresponding  upper 
and  lower  supporting  arms. — London  Elec.  Ending,  Dec.  5, 
1912. 

German  Illuminating  Society. — G.  Dettmar. — Under  the 
auspices  of  the  German  Reichsanstalt  a  German  illuminating- 
society  has  been  founded.  The  first  general  meeting  will  be 
held  in  February,  1913. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Dec.  5,  1912. 

Illuminating  Engineering  Society. — Douglas  S.  Martin. 
— A  long  review  of  the  activities  of  the  Illuminating  En- 
gineering Society  of  America,  with  very  complimentary 
comments  on  its  scope  and  work. — London  Electrician,  Dec. 
6,  1912. 

Generation,   Transmission   and   Distribution. 

French  Transtnission  Plant. — J.  Reyval. — The  first  part 
of  an  illustrated  article  on  a  large  electric  distribution 
system  in  the  north  of  France.  It  supplies  energy  to  the 
district  of  Lille,  Roubaix,  and  Tourcoing,  which  has  600,000 
inhabitants.  In  the  past  it  had  no  electric  distribution 
system.  It  is  now  to  be  supplied  with  energy  from  the 
Wasquehal  power  plant,  which  contains  at  present  six  turbo- 
generators, two  of  1750-kw,  two  of  3500-kw  and  four  of 
6500-kw  rating.  Two  more  turbo-generators  of  6soo-kw 
rating  are  in  course  of  construction  and  another  turbo- 
generator of  10,000  kw  will  be  installed  later,  so  that  the 
total  rating  will  be  about  45,000  kw,  of  which  15,000  kw  will 
be  used  as  reserve. — La  Lumiere  Elec,  Nov.  23  and  30,  1912. 

Voltage  Regulation  of  Polyphase  Feeders.— M.  Unger. — 
Satisfactory  voltage  regulation  of  polyphase  feeders  by 
means  of  feeder  regulators  automatically  controlled  by  con- 
tact-making voltmeters  requires  that  the  phase  displacement 
between  the  currents  in  the  windings  of  the  contact-making 
voltmeter  shall  be  the  same  as  the  displacement  between  the 
voltage  and  the  current  of  the  feeder  under  regulation,  and, 
furthermore,  that  the  actual  value  of  the  compensating  cur- 
rent in  the  voltmeter  winding  shall  be  proportional  to  the 
current  producing  the  line  drop,  if  this  is  to  be  corrected  for 
addition  to  the  variations  in  the  supply.  The  article  con- 
stitutes, primarily  a  discussion  of  a  number  of  methods  of 
connecting  automatically  controlled  single-phase  and  poly- 
phase regulators  to  polyphase  feeders,  the  simpler  of  which 
answer  all  ordinary  requirements  for  balanced  load  and 
unity  power-factor,  while  the  more  elaborate  are  intended 
to  bring  about  a  fulfilment  of  the  conditions  outlined  above 
in  those  cases  where  the  load  is  unbalanced  and  the  power- 
factor  low. — Gen.  Elec.  Rev.,  December,  1912. 

Fuel  Investigation. — E.  Bornstein. — An  article  on  the 
newly  founded  Kaiser  Wilhelm  Institute  for  fuel  investiga- 


December  28.  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1385 


tion  in  Muelheim  on  the  Ruhr,  Germany.  The  investiga- 
tions to  be  taken  up  by  this  institution  will  cover  all 
phenomena  of  direct  combustion,  of  production  of  producer 
gas,  of  by-product  coking,  etc. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Dec.  5,  1912. 
Peat.^j.  Teichmuller. — The  first  part  of  a  paper  read 
before  the  German  Association  of  Electrical  Engineers  on 
the  relation  between  the  peat  industry  and  electrical  engi- 
neering, with  special  reference  to  the  power  plant  in  the 
Wies  peat  deposit  district  in  Ostfriesland,  Germany.  After 
some  notes  on  the  geology  of  peat  the  author  gives  a  review 
of  the  development  of  the  peat  industry  in  Holland  and  Ger- 
many. The  paper  is  to  be  continued. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Dec. 
12,  1912. 

Traction. 

Electric  Traction  in  Italy. — -G.  Calzolari. — The  conclu- 
sion of  his  article  on  the  first  step  in  the  projected  electri- 
fication of  the  State  railways  of  Italy.  The  mountain  line 
running  to  the  north  from  Genoa  through  the  Giovi  tunnel 
was  particularly  suitable  for  electric  traction  and  especially 
for  the  three-phase  system.  The  installation  is  described  in 
detail.  The  present  instalment  deals  with  the  feeder  line, 
substations,  trolley  wire  construction  and  electric  locomo- 
tives and  gives  a  comparison  between  electric  and  steam 
traction. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Dec.  5,  1912. 

Electric  Traction  in  Berlin. — The  first  part  of  a  second 
official  memorandum  issued  by  the  German  Railway  Depart- 
ment on  electric  traction  on  the  Berlin  city,  loop  and  sub- 
urban railways.  After  extended  experiments  the  railway 
department  has  given  permission  to  place  electric  locomo- 
tives at  the  rear  of  a  train  so  as  to  push  instead  of  pulling 
it.  Electric  traction  will  permit  the  succession  of  trains  on 
the  city  railway  at  90  seconds  intervals.  With  steam  trac- 
tion this  is  impossible.  The  article  is  to  be  continued. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  Dec.  5,  1912. 

Block  System. — A  discussion  of  the  block  system  to  be 
used  in  the  electric  operation  of  the  Berlin  City  and  Ring 
Railroad.  It  is  shown  that  automatic  block  systems  do  not 
represent  by  any  means  a  superior  form  of  protection  as 
compared  with  perfect  hand-operated  block  systems.  Auto- 
matic block  systems  have  been  evolved  only  on  account  of 
the  lack  of  good  attendants  for  the  signals,  but  they  do  not 
offer  the  same  safety  as  perfect  hand-operated  systems. 
The  train  density  depends  in  the  main  not  on  the  choice  of 
the  block  systems  but  on  the  general  management  and  the 
electric  condition  of  the  train.  The  devices  by  which  trains 
are  automatically  stopped  when  they  pass  a  stop  signal  can 
be  used  in  any  signal  system. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov.  21,  1912. 

Railophone. — H.  von  Kramer. — An  illustrated  description 
of  his  railophone  system,  which  permits  communication  by 
telephone  between  trains  en  route  and  stations.  The  railo- 
phone depends  on  electromagnetic  induction,  and,  as  has 
already  been  described  in  the  Digest  from  trials  made  in 
England,  wire  coils  connected  to  a  telephone  are  provided 
on  the  train,  while  induction  is  produced  from  a  cable 
circuit  in  the  track. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Nov.  21,  1912. 

Ins'allations,  Systems  and  Appliances. 

Electrical  Industry  in  Spain. — von  Scheven. — Exact 
statistical  data  on  the  development  of  the  electrical  industry 
in  Spain  are  scarce.  At  present  2480  electric  plants  exist  in 
Spain  with  about  420,000-hp  rating.  Of  these  1360  are 
electric  central  stations  and  1120  isolated  private  plants  and 
factories.  In  the  district  of  Catalonia  large  developments 
are  expected  in  the  next  few  years.  While  in  the  past  the 
large  electric  stations  of  Catalonia  were  all  steam  stations, 
three  large  corporations  have  recently  been  formed  for  the 
development  of  water-power  in  the  Pyrenees.  From  400,000 
hp  to  500,000  hp  are  to  be  developed,  but  for  the  present 
only  100,000  hp  will  be  taken.  The  first  of  these  corpora- 
tions is  the  Canadian  group  headed  by  Dr.  Pearson  (200,000 
hp).  The  second  is  a  corporation  founded  by  the  Paris 
General  Electrical  Company  and  the  Swiss  Company  for 
Electrical  Industry,  which  is  part  of  the  Siemens-Schuckert 


group  of  interests.  The  third  company  has  been  founded  by 
the  electrical  company  of  central  Catalonia  (120,000  hp  to 
220,000  hp). — Elek.  Zeit.,  Dec.  5,  1912. 

Operation  of  Synchronous  Machines  in  Parallel. — Lee 
Hagood. — The  conclusion  of  his  serial  on  the  operation  of 
synchronous  machines  in  parallel.  In  the  present  instal- 
ment he  gives  in  detail  the  system  used  by  the  Utica  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  which  is  an  example  of  a  system 
operating  under  the  condition  of  automatic  voltage  control 
by  means  of  synchronous  machines  located  at  the  principal 
centers  of  distribution.  The  unique  feature  of  this  voltage 
control  is  that  the  automatic  voltage  regulators  are  applied 
only  to  synchronous  condensers. — Gen.  Elec.  Rev.,  Decem- 
ber, 1912. 

Time  Switch. — A  note  on  a  recent  British  patent  (No. 
21,141,  Nov.  28,  1912)  of  H.  S.  Hatfield.  A  liquid  contained 
in  a  hermetically  sealed  vessel  is  heated  by  a  constant  cur- 
rent so  that  some  of  it  is  distilled  to  another  part  of  the 
vessel.  The  alteration  in  tlie  level  of  the  liquid  may  make 
or  break  a  circuit,  or  the  vessel  may  be  so  pivoted  that  it 
overbalances  after  a  certain  time. — London  Elec.  Ending, 
Dec.  5,  1912. 

Power-Limiting  Readors.—E.  D.  Eby. — An  illustrated 
article  describing  recei:'.  designs  of  power-limiting  reactors, 
with  special  reference  to  the  physical  construction  of  the 
apparatus,  such  as  method  of  winding,  bracing,  spacing  and 
supporting,  and  the  structure  of  the  core. — Gen.  Elec.  Rev., 
December,  1912. 

Wires,  Wiring  and  Conduits. 

Voltage  Drop  on  Overhead  Lines. — Nils  Forrsblad. — 
The  dimensions  of  an  overhead  line  should  not  be  based  on 
the  voltage  drop  (the  difference  between  the  full-load  volt- 
ages at  the  transmitting  and  receiving  ends),  but  on  the 
"voltage  variation"  (the  difference  between  full-load  volt- 
age and  no-load  voltage  at  the  receiving  end)  while  the 
generator  voltage  is  constant.  The  author  shows  that  this 
voltage  variation  in  a  long-distance  transmission  system 
equals  the  voltage  drop  calculated  by  neglecting  the  capacity. 
But  in  order  to  determine  the  transformers  it  is  necessary 
to  know  the  increase  of  voltage  due  to  capacity.  This 
increase  of  voltage  on  a  long-distance  line  due  to  capacity 
when  calculated  in  percentage  is  practically  independent  of 
the  distances  between  wires,  the  cross-section  of  the  wire 
and  the  voltage  of  transmission.  It  changes  as  the  square 
of  the  transmission  distance  and  of  the  frequency  and 
equals  about  0.57  per  cent  for  a  transmission  distance  of 
100  km  (60  miles)  and  a  frequency  of  50  cycles  per  second. 
A  numerical  example  is  added. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Dec.  5,  1912. 

Electrochemistry  and   Batteries. 

Damage  by  Electrolysis  in  Mining. — E.  W.  Stevenson. — 
An  article  on  the  serious  results  which  sometimes  occur 
owing  to  the  damage  done  to  piping,  metal  beams  and 
sheathing  of  supply  cables  by  stray  return  current  where 
a  grounded  return  is  used.  For  mine  work  generally,  when 
lead-cased  cables  or  armored  or  both  types  are  used,  where 
it  is  impossible  to  prevent  current  *rom  getting  astray,  the 
outer  sheathing  should  be  carefully  and  solidly  bonded  to 
the  grounded  return  circuits. — London  Electrician,  Nov. 
29,  1912. 

Units,  Measurements  and  Instruments. 

Micro-M onophone. —Tht  micro-monophone  is  a  tuning 
fork  kept  in  permanent  vibration  by  means  of  a  microphone 
contact.  This  apparatus,  devised  by  Emanuel  Kostalecky, 
is  preferable  to  the  familiar  tuning-fork  interrupters  in  that 
its  sound  is  much  purer,  while  the  current  curve  approaches 
much  more  closely  to  a  sinusoidal  form.  The  arrangement 
of  the  apparatus  is  represented  in  Fig.  3,  A  tuning  fork  L 
is  fi.xed  on  the  center  of  a  resonance  box  R  placed  on  a 
strip  of  cloth  j.  The  resonance  box  may  be  mounted  on 
feet,   and  the   apparatus   is   then   set   working   more   easily. 


1386 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


but  the  sound  given  off  by  the  tuning  fork  is  weaker.  The 
prongs  of  the  tuning  fork  are  situated  in  the  field  of  the 
electromagnet  E,  on  which  is  superposed  the  field  of  the 
permanent  magnet  P.  The  coils  of  the  electromagnet  are 
arranged  in  series  with  the  microphone  M,  fixed  with  the 
hinges  C  C  at  the  closed  end  of  the  resonance  box.  The 
hinges  allow  the  microphone  to  be  displaced  within  certain 
limits  in  adjusting  the  microphone  contacts.  The  current 
of  the  battery  goes  through  the  microphone  and  by  way  of 
the  wire  D  to  the  electromagnet  E,  thus  reinforcing  the 
permanent  magnetic  field.  In  order  to  set  the  apparatus 
working,  the  microphone  is  inclined  until  the  lower  carbon 
electrode  touches  the  resonance  box.  While  the  apparatus 
works  with  different  inclinations  of  the  microphone,  and 
even  in  its  vertical  position,  it  is  found  to  be  most  efficient 
when  the  electrode  touches  the  sounding  board.  The  tuning 
fork  having  been  set  vibrating  by  means  of  one  or  two 
slight  knocks,  the  vibrations  are  transmitted  by  the  res- 
onance box  to  the  microphone,  and,  when  the  battery  cir- 
cuit is  completed,  the  magnetic  field  undergoes  variations, 
which  react  on  the  tuning  fork,  and  thus  on  the  microphone. 
On  account  of  this  mutual  action  the  tuning  fork  will  vibrate 


Fig.   3 — The    Micro- Monophone. 

as  long  as  the  battery  circuit  is  completed.  By  reducing  the 
current  intensity  the  purity  of  the  sound  is  increased.  The 
microphone  rod  should  have  such  dimensions  as  readily  to 
follow  the  vibrations  of  the  tuning  fork.  After  prolonged 
use  the  contacts  are  liable  to  be  impaired.  The  carbon  rod 
should  then  be  turned  round  so  as  to  renew  the  points  of 
contact.  When  the  currents  produced  by  the  micro-mono- 
phone  are  to  be  used  for  experimental  purposes,  the  pri- 
mary of  a  small  transformer  is  arranged  in  series  with  the 
microphone  and  electromagnet. — London  Elcc.  Reznew, 
Nov.  29,  1912. 

Alternating-Current  Instruments. — A  note  on  a  recent 
British  patent  (No.  24,442,  Nov.  28,  1912)  of  H.  Abraham 
and  J.  Carpentier.  "In  the  field  of  and  in  parallel  with  an 
alternating-current  electromagnet  is  a  movable  coil  con- 
nected to  a  circuit  in  which  the  reactance  is  always  positive 
and  determines  the  value  of  the  restoring  directive  force, 
so  that  the  coil  is  in  stable  equilibrium  in  a  position  de- 
pending on  the  resistance  and  reactance  of  the  circuit  but 
independent  of  the  supply  pressure."  The  arrangement  may 
be  adapted  to  measure  frequency,  capacity  and  current  and 
to  order  transmitters,  etc. — London  Elec.  Eng'ing,  Dec.  5, 
1912. 


Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Signals. 

International  Conference  on  Time. — The  final  report 
of  the  international  conference  on  time  recently  held  in 
Paris.  One  of  the  interesting  decisions  reached  is  that  the 
universal  hour — that  is,  the  hour  of  the  meridian  of  Green- 
wich— is  to  be  determined  by  an  international  bureau  with 
its  seat  in  Paris  and  that  hour  is  to  be  transmitted  from  the 
Eiffel  tower  to  stations  in  other  countries.  In  other  words, 
England  shall  receive  from  Paris  the  exact  hour  of  Green- 
wich. The  proposition  to  this  eff'ect  was  made  by  the  leader 
of  the  German  delegation. — La  Lumiere  Elec.,  Nov.  22,  1912. 

Generation  for  Telegraph  Plants. — The  telegraph  station 
in  Marseilles,  France,  recently  introduced  generators  in- 
stead of  primary  and  storage  batteries.  The  description  of 
the  generator  plant  is  given.  It  is  more  expensive  than  a 
storage  battery  but  is  expected  to  have  a  longer  life.  More- 
over, the  yearly  saving  of  cost  of  maintenance  is  expected 
to  cover  the  whole  yearly  amortization  of  the  installation. — 
Elek.  Zeit.,  Dec.  5,  1912. 

Telegraph  and  Telephone  IVirenien. — Karl  Scheibe. — 
The  author  calls  attention  to  the  lack  of  suitable  wiremen 
for  telegraph  and  telephone  installations  in  Germany  and 
makes  recommendations  to  improve  the  training  of  such 
wiremen. — Elek.  Zeit.,  Dec.  5,  1912. 


Book  Reviews 


By 
A. 


Die  Elektrischen  Einrichtungen  der  Eisenbahnen 
R.  Bauer,  A.  Prasch  and  O.  Wehr.  Vienna : 
Hartleben.  420  pages,  353  illus.  Price,  6  marks. 
The  third  edition  of  a  good  treatise  on  the  electric  signal- 
ing plant  and  equipment  on  the  Austro-Hungarian  railroad 
system,  intended  for  the  use  of  artificers,  trainmen  and 
junior  electrical  assistants,  whereby  the  principles  and  use 
of  the  apparatus  may  be  privately  studied  and  become  more 
generally  understood.  The  work  is  descriptive  and  abun- 
dantly illustrated.  The  physical  underlying  principles  are 
explained  with  the  aid  of  the  most  elementary  algebra. 
The  principal  sections  of  the  work  relate  to  the  following 
subjects.  Fundamental  principles;  telegraphy;  electric 
railroad  signals;  telephony;  operation  of  apparatus  and 
systems.  An  excellent  index  of  subjects  is  appended.  The 
book  will  interest  railroad  men  desiring  information  on 
German  and  Austrian  electric  signaling  equipments. 


L.A  Tecnic.^  delle  Correnti  Alternate.  By  Giuseppe 
Sartori.  Milan :  Ulrico  Hoepli.  558  pages,  397  illus. 
Price,  12  lire. 
The  second  and  enlarged  edition  of  Vol.  I  of  an  excellent 
textbook  on  alternating-current  circuits  and  machinery. 
This  volume  is  qualitative  and  descriptive  in  its  treatment, 
leaving  the  quantitative  part  of  the  work  for  the  second 
volume.  The  book  is  abundantly  and  clearly  illustrated, 
machinery  and  apparatus  being  described  in  their  general 
principles  rather  than  in  their  constructive  details.  The 
work  has  been  well  brought  up  to  date  since  the  first  edition 
appeared,  some  of  the  most  recent  apparatus  being  de- 
scribed and  illustrated.  In  clearness,  logical  method,  sim- 
plicity and  yet  thoroughness  of  treatment  this  is  one  of  the 
best  alternating-current  textbooks  in  the  Italian  language. 


Les  Canalisations  Isolees.  By  J-  Grosselin.  Paris: 
Gauthier-Villars.  96  pages,  28  illus.  Price,  3.75  francs. 
A  short  textbook  for  students  of  elementary  electrical 
engineering  on  insulated  conductors  and  cables.  The  book 
is  the  outcome  and  resume  of  a  course  of  lectures  given  by 
the  author  at  the  ficole  Superieure  d'filectricite.  The  book 
is  divided  into  three  sections,  dealing  respectively  with  the 
following  subjects:  Construction  of  cables,  electrical  phe- 
nomena, and  acceptance  conditions. 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1387 


New  Apparatus  and  Appliances 


RAILWAY    WATT-HOUR  METER. 


MEDIUM-SIZED   WATERWHEEL  UNIT. 


With  a  railway  watt-hour  meter  installed  on  the  cars  the 
performance  of  the  car  equipments  can  be  checked  and  any 
trouble  that  reduces  their  efficiency  discovered  and  removed. 
Moreover,  it  is  often  desirable  to  make  a  comparison  be- 
tween dififerent  cars  which  may  run  over  the  route  at 
•different  times,  and  the  watt-hour  meter,  measuring  the 
energy  consumed,  affords  data  for  such  comparison  even 
though  the  voltage  varies  to  such  an  extent  as  to  make 
results  obtained  by  other  means  worthless. 

The  meter  shown  in  the  illustration  is  contained  in  a 
cast  aluminum-alloy  case,  and  all  parts,  with  the  exception 
of  the  shunt,  which  is  in  a  compartment  in  the  back  of  the 
base,  are  mounted  on  a  cast-aluminum  frame  completely 
insulated  from  the  base  and  cover. 

The  rotating  element  or  armature  is  a  cupped  copper 
punching  attached  to  a  shaft  which  is  carried  in  a  ring- 
stone  end-stone  bearing  at  the  bottom  and  a  ring-stone 
bearing  at  the  top.  The  end-stone  bearing  is  secured  to 
the  bottom  of  the  German-silver  vessel  which  serves  as  a 
container  for  the  rotating  armature  and  the  mercury  in 
which  it  is  immersed.     The  immersion  of  the  armature  in 


Mercury    Watt-Hour    Meter. 

mercury  does  away  with  a  commutator,  frictional  contacts 
and  sparking  troubles.  By  partly  supporting  the  moving 
■element  in  the  mercury  wear  on  the  bearings  is  very  slight. 

The  register  has  a  large  round  dial  with  a  sweep  hand 
which  makes  one  revolution  for  every  100  kvv-hr.,  each 
division  on  the  dial  corresponding  to  a  kilowatt-hour.  There 
are  also  three  small  dials  with  hands  which  make  one  revo- 
lution per   1000,   10,000  and   100,000  kw-hr.   respectively. 

The  top  of  the  German-silver  vessel  is  provided  with  a 
cap  to  prevent  the  mercury  running  out  when  the  meter 
is  tipped  to  one  side.  A  disk  attached  to  the  meter  shaft 
and  rotating  between  the  poles  of  two  sets  of  permanent 
magnets  serves  as  a  means  of  calibration. 

The  watt-hour  meter  is  of  rugged  construction  to  with- 
stand the  excessive  vibration  incidental  to  this  service.  In 
order  to  carry  out  this  feature,  high  insulation  has  been 
provided  together  with  long  creeping  distances  between 
live  parts  and  the  case,  and  a  high  potential  test  of  5000 
volts  alternating  current  is  applied  for  one  minute.  The 
■case  is  made  dust-proof  by  accurately  machining  the  sur- 
face which  rests  on  the  base  and  by  the  use  of  a  heavy  felt 
■dust  pad  as  a  further  safeguard.  This  watt-hour  meter 
is  manufactured  by  the  General  Electric  Company. 


The  Trump  Manufacturing  Company  has  placed  on  the 
market  a  line  of  waterwheel  units  in  medium  sizes  which 
are  said  to  be  proving  very  popular.  In  the  accompanying 
illustration  is  shown  a  scroll-case  turbine  of  the  Trump- 
Francis  type  which  is  indicative  of  the  style  of  unit  now 


Medium-Sized    Waterwheel     Unit. 

being  generally  manufactured.  The  entire  equipment,  con- 
sisting of  turbine,  generator  and  governor,  is  mounted  on 
a  single  base  in  order  to  insure  better  alignment.  The 
mechanism  controlling  the  gates  of  the  turbine  is  entirely 
outside  the  wheel  casing,  thus  making  it  accessible  without 
entering  the  wheel  case  proper.  All  working  parts  and  the 
buckets  of  the  wheel  are  made  of  bronze,  and  the  bearings 
used  on  the  main  shaft  are  of  the  ball-and-socket  ring- 
oiling  type.  The  entire  set  is  designed  with  the  idea  of 
making  it  compact  and  self-contained.  The  equipment 
which  is  shown  in  this  view  is  intended  for  use  on  a  head 
of  200  ft. 


READING  LAMPS  GIVING  DIFFUSED  LIGHT. 


The  light  from  reading  lamps  usually  either  comes 
directly  from  the  bright  filaments  of  the  bulb  or  is  directly 
reflected  from  some  highly  polished  surface,  often  produc- 
ing glare  on  the  paper.  The  only  protection  to  the  eyes  of 
the  reader  is  gained  by  the  interposition  of  some  shade 
between  the  lamp  and  the  eye  or  by  the  use  of  ground  or 
translucent  glass.  An  entirely  new  type  of  reading  lamp 
has  recently  been  invented  by  Mr.  George  W.  Cassidy  and 


Fig.    1 — Plain    Type    of    Desk    Lamp. 

placed  on  the  market  by  the  Cassidy  &  Son  Manufacturing 
Company,  133  West  Twenty-third  Street,  New  York  City. 
The  reflector  has  been  designed  with  the  idea  of  concen- 
trating the  light  from  a  portable  lamp  over  a  limited  area 
and  preventing  the  direct  rays  of  the  bulb  from  striking  the 
eyes  of  the  reader.  As  a  result  of  study  and  investigation 
it  was  concluded  that  diffused  reflected  light  produces  the 


i:lectrical   world. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


most  efficient  illumination  on  the  working  plane,  and  this 
idea  has  been  applied  in  the  above  lamp. 

The  electric  bulb  in  this  lamp,  called  the  "Afterglow" 
lamp,  is  so  placed  jnside  a  reflector  that  both  the  direct 
rays  from  it  and  those  from  the  reflector  are  thrown  up- 
ward against  a  larger  and  specially  prepared  surface  which 
occupies  the  position  of  the  shade  in  an  ordinary  lamp  and 


Fig.  2 — Ornamental  Uesk  Standard. 

is  so  shaped  that  it  reflects  the  light  outward  and  downward 
on  the  book  or  paper  with  a  strong  intensity,  so  that  the 
print  or  writing  is  easily  read  without  fatigue  to  the  eye. 
According  to  photometric  tests,  a  60-watt  tungsten  lamp 
produces  an  illumination  of  6  ft. -candles  at  a  distance  of 
24  in.  from  the  center  of  the  lamp ;  3.5  ft. -candles  at  a  dis- 
tance of  34  in. ;  2.5  ft. -candles  at  a  distance  of  42  in.  and 


Fig.    3 — Table    Lamp    Giving    Diffused    Light. 

I  ft-candle  at  a  distance  of  54  in.  With  a  loo-watt  lamp 
the  values  were  about  40  per  cent  greater,  which  is  very 
much  more  than  is  required  by  the  average  reader,  and 
even  with  this  increased  flux  of  light  there  is  no  glare  or 
eye  strain.  In  the  above  tests  the  illumination  measure- 
ments were  made  with  the  plane  of  the  photometric  disk 
as  nearly  as  possible  at  right  angles  to  the  incident  light. 


thus  giving  normal  and  not  horizontal  illumination  values. 
The  normal  measurements  were  made  in  preference  to  the 
horizontal  as  the  average  reader  seated  away  from  a  table 
usually  holds  his  book  in  a  position  normal,  or  almost  nor- 
mal, to  the  light. 


NEW  INDIRECT  LIGHTING  FIXTURES, 


Illustrated  herewith  are  types  of  the  recently  brought  out 
Alexalite  indirect-lighting  fixtures  made  by  the  Alexalite 
Company  of  New  York,  for  which  the  Central  Electric 
Company  of  Chicago  is  the  Western  agent.  The  illustra- 
tions show  the  plain  type  and  the  more  elaborate  designs 
with  engraved  or  "Gothic"  bowls.  The  light  from  the 
large  tungsten  lamps  used  in  these  fixtures  is  entirely 
screened    from   the   direct   line   of   vision.     Only   diffused 


Fig.    1 — Gothic    and    Plain     Bowls. 

light  is  effective  for  illumination.  The  interior  of  the 
Alexalite  reflector  vision  is  coated  with  a  fired  porcelain 
enamel.  The  agent  of  the  manufacturer  says:  "One  of 
the  strongest  points  of  advantage  of  the  Alexalite  is  its 
monolux  feature.  The  effect  can  readily  be  understood  by 
comparing  the  life  of  the  large  "Mazda"  unit  employed  in 
the  Alexalite  with  that  of  a  corresponding  number  of 
smaller  lamps  giving  the  same  amount  of  light.  These 
figures  may  be  taken  from  any  lamp  manufacturer's  guar- 
antee. This  is  one  of  the  many  reasons  why  the  manu- 
facturer adopted  the  monolux  feature  in  this  unique  lighting 
unit."  A  large  number  of  installations  of  this  fixture  have 
been  made  both   East  and  West.     One  of  the  most  con- 


Fig.  2 — Fixture  with   Engraved   Bowl. 

spicuous  is  in  the  Greenhut-Siegel-Cooper  department  store 
in  New  York.  The  old  arc  lamps  in  this  building  were  taken 
out  and  2800  Alexalite  fixtures  were  installed,  and  it  is 
stated  that  during  the  first  six  months'  operation  these 
fixtures  showed  a  saving  of  $2,700  over  the  arc  lamps  pre- 
viously used,  at  the  same  time  giving  a  most  efficient  illumi- 
nation. 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1389 


INSTALLING  ELECTRIC  SERVICE  TABLES  AT  NEW 
ORLEANS. 


The  New  Orleans  Railway  &  Light  Company  is  having 
success  in  installing  a  number  of  electric-service  tables 
devised  by  its  contracting  agent,  Mr.  W.  E.  Clement,  in 
houses  and  buildings  which  would  be  otherwise  too  costly 


Electric   Service  Table   and   Appliances. 

or  difficult  to  wire.  As  described  in  the  Electrical  World  of 
Sept.  7,  page  512,  this  table  conceals  a  self-contained  cut- 
out box,  a  fuse  panel,  and  a  meter  board,  besides  a  number 
of  plug  outlets,  so  that  no  other  house  wiring  is  required 
than  a  conduit  run  from  the  street  drop  to  the  table  entry. 
The  table  is  designed  to  permit  the  use  of  electric  de- 
vices, reading  lamp,  cooking  appliances,  etc.,  in  rooms  or 
buildings  where  the  ordinary  wiring  and  service  entry 
might,  prove  objectionable. 

Several  of  these  tables  have  been  utilized  for  supplying 
service  in  boarding  houses  otherwise  unwired.  In  one 
large  boarding  house  three  tables  are  already  installed,  the 
first  one  having  accomplished  the  sale  of  the  other  two. 
Several  physicians  whose  offices  are  unwired  also  make 
use  of  the  tables  for  supplying  their  electrical  equipment, 
examining  lamps,  etc.  The  Electric  Development  Com- 
pany of  New  Orleans  builds  the  tables.  At  New  Orleans 
they  are  being  installed  in  homes,  complete,  for  $17.50,  this 
price  allowing  a  commission  for  the  salesman  and  a  fair 
profit  besides.  Experience  in  placing  the  tables  has  shown 
the  cost  of  wiring,  installing,  etc.,  to  be  only  about  $1  each 
where  connected  in  upstairs  apartments  and  $2.50  each  for 
first-floor  installations  on  account  of  the  additional  wire 
and  labor.  This  low  cost  has  in  part  been  due  to  the  plan 
of  sending  out  a  wagon  load  of  the  tables  at  a  time.  Deal- 
ers in  electrically  operated  meat  choppers,  cofifee  grinders, 
cash  registers,  pianos,  etc.,  are  reported  to  be  looking  on 
the  service  tables  as  helps  in  marketing  their  own  wares, 
for  often  such  apparatus  sales  are  blocked  on  account  of 
prospective  customers  being  unequipped  for  electricity  and 
not  willing  to  wire. 

Many  well-to-do  persons,  as  well  as  those  in  moderate 
circumstances,  who  are  fully  able  to  bear  the  small  expense 
of  installing  electricity,  have  resisted  all  the  efforts  of  the 
commercial  department  to  become  central-station  custom- 
ers, urging  their  objections  to  having  their  homes  "torn 
up"  and  undergoing  the  expense  of  wiring.  Usually  the 
women-folk  of  these  same  families  are  highly  desirous  of 
enjoying  such  conveniences  as  electric  fans,  irons,  etc.,  and 
in  such  instances  the  electric-service  table  is  proving  to  be 


a  ready  compromise  for  introducing  electricity  into  the 
household.  Once  installed  the  table  itself  forms  a  valuable 
entering  wedge  for  more  extended  electric  service  in  the 
apartment  or  home.  The  campaign  now  under  way  in 
New  Orleans  directed  at  the  occupants  of  furnished  rooms, 
boarding  houses  and  other  unwired  buildings  is  expected  to 
result  in  the  addition  of  many  such  devices  as  reading  lamps, 
irons,  fans,  grills,  sewing  machines,  motors,  vacuum  clean- 
ers, etc.,  to  the  central  station's  lines. 


ROTARY  JET  CONDENSER. 


A  new  type  of  rotary  jet  condenser  and  high-vacuum 
rotary  air  pump  has  recently  been  placed  on  the  market  by 
the  Manistee  Iron  Works  Company  of  Manistee,  Mich.  It 
has  been  the  aim  of  the  manufacturers  to  design  a  rotary 
jet  condenser  which  will  retain  the  simplicity  of  the  ejector 
condenser  together  with  the  economy  and  certainty  of  action 
of  the  barometric  condenser.  It  is  stated  that  a  considerable 
number  of  these  machines  have  been  running  over  sufficient- 
ly long  periods  and  under  conditions  diverse  and  exacting 
enough  to  demonstrate  the  claims  made  for  them. 

The  condenser  is  a  development  of  the  so-called  Rees 
"Roturbo"  centrifugal  pump,  recently  described  in  these 
columns,  the  unique  feature  of  which  is  the  employment  of 
a  revolving  hydraulic  accumulator  or  pressure  chamber. 
In  the  case  of  the  condenser  this  pressure  chamber  is  used 
to  lift  the  condensing  water  as  an  ordinary  centrifugal  pump 
would  lift  it  to  a  height  up  to  25  ft.  and  give  it  an  initial 
pressure  after  raising  it.  The  water  flows  up  the  suction 
pipe  into  this  revolving  pressure  chamber  or  water  drum  A, 
on  the  periphery  of  which  nozzles  B  are  arranged  not  less 
than  }i  in.  or  J4  in.  in  diameter  on  the  smaller  and  up  to 
^  in.  or  I  in.  on  the  larger  sizes.  These  nozzles  allow  the 
water  to  escape  from  the  pressure  drum  in  radiating  from 
the  shaft  (but  still  rotating  as  a  whole  with  the  impeller) 
across  a  space  C  (Fig.  i)  into  which  the  steam  is  allowed 
to  exhaust  through  openings  F. 

As  these  fan-shaped  jets  are  rotating  edgewise  at  a  com- 
paratively high  speed  the  area  swept  by  them  is  very  great, 
although  the  space  occupied  by  the  impeller  is  comparatively 
small.     In  this  zone  the  steam  and  water  are  mixed  and  the 


Fig,  1 — Sectional   View  of   Rotary  Condenser. 

condensation  takes  place.  After  the  water  jets  have  traveled 
radially  some  distance  so  that  the  broad  parts  of  the  water 
fans  have  all  combined  to  form  a  complete  ring  of  spray 
and  condense  the  steam,  the  problem,  as  in  the  case  of  all 
other  condensers,  is- to  extract  the  condensate  and  air,  and 
it  is  at  this  point  that  the  new  condenser  differs  in  prin- 
ciple from  other  types. 


I0i90 


ELECTRICAL     VV  O  R  L  D 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


Instead  of  giving  the  water  jets,  as  they  leave  the  injec- 
tion nozzles  in  the  drum,  sufficient  energy  to  extract  them- 
selves from  the  vacuum  chamber  and  carry  with  them  with- 
out further  assistance  the  air  and  condensate,  as  in  the  static 
ejector  or  rotary-wheel  air  pumps  described  above,  or  in- 
stead of  letting  the  condensate  accumulate  in  the  bottom  of 
a  large  condenser  chamber,  where  the  air  is  separated  and 
from  which  the  air  and  water  are  independently  extracted 


Fig.    2 — Rotary    Condenser    and    Driving    Motor. 

by  auxiliary  apparatus,  the  rotating  jets  of  spray  or  con- 
densate with  the  entrained  air  are  in  this  condenser  picked 
u[)  by  tlie  blades  of  an  exhausting  fan  D.  concentric  with 
the  rotating  pressure  drum  and  of  a  much  larger  diameter, 
leaving  a  large  steam  space  between  the  water  drum  and 
the  exhausing  fan,  the  whole  forming  a  single  rotary  mem- 
ber. By  means  of  the  exhausting  fan  the  condensate  with 
the  entrained  air  is  ejected  from  the  chamber. 

Fundamentally  these  rim  blades  are  the  equivalent  of  the 
mixing  cone  and  the  neck  or  ''shock  zone"  of  the  old 
ejector,  adapted  to  be  rotated  to  give  an  exhausting  effect 
due  to  centrifugal  force.  As  the  neck  of  the  stationary 
ejector  is  the  seat  of  most  of  the  losses  due  to  shock,  or  the 
sudden  change  of  velocity  of  the  water  from  the  high  speed 
at  which  it  is  projected  across  the  vacuum  chamber  to  the 
nnich  lower  velocity  of  the  mixture  of  air  and  water  in  the 
neck,  where  the  initial  compression  of  the  air  takes  place 
and  where  the  volume  of  air  is  suddenly  reduced,  the  me- 
chanical  ejection    of   the   condensate   and   the   initial   com- 


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Barometer  =30" 


25H      10        20        30        40        60       60        70 

Steam  Ooadensed  (Thousand  Lbs.  per  Hour) 


Fig.    3 — Performance    Curves    for    Standard    Sizes    of    Condensers. 

pression   of  the  air   by   means  of  the   fan  blades  helps  to 
remove  some  of  the  old  difficulties. 

It  is  claimed  that  these  exhausting"  fan  blades  also  form 
an  automatic  regulator  which  deals  with  fluctuating  con- 
ditions of  steam  or  vacuum  without  any  speed  regulation. 
For  instance,  when  building  up  the  vacuum  on  starting  the 
condenser^  or  if  the  vacuum  is  reduced  below  the  normal 
valtie  when  running,  the  rim  blades  are  practically  empty 


and  the  condensate  is  swept  out  through  the  exhausting 
fan  at  full  speed.  If  the  vacuum  rises  above  the  normal 
value,  thus  exerting  a  greater  backward  pull  tending  to 
cause  the  old  trouble  of  "choking,"  the  rim  blades  fill  up 
with  water  to  a  greater  depth  the  higher  the  vacuum,  and 
because  of  the  extra  centrifugal  force  created  by  the  greater 
radial  depth,  and  therefore  the  weight  of  the  water  carried 
around  by  the  fan  blades  exercises  a  greater  exhausting 
effect  when   running   at   constant   speed. 

It  is  the  manufacturer's  claim  that  this  feature,  which 
allows  for  long  jets  and  a  greater  area  for  condensation 
than  was  possible  even  in  the  ejector  condenser,  as  well 
as  the  impinging  jets  which  form  the  finest  spray,  enables 
the  apparatus  to  be  used  for  the  largest  size  condensers, 
without  any  au.xiliary  apparatus  for  extracting  the  air  or 
condensate. 

Fig.  2  shows  an  outside  view  of  a  condenser  which  is 
capable  of  handling  30,000  lb.  of  steam  per  hour  with  28-in. 
vacuum,  and  of  its  driving  motor.  When  the  condenser  is 
used  as  an  air  pump  the  same  design  of  impeller  is  used, 
and  practically  the  only  difference  in  design  is  that  the 
external  casing  is  of  a  different  shape  and  has  a  smaller 
opening  for  the  entrance  of  the  air  than  would  have  been 
the  case  had  it  been  intended  for  a  steam  condenser. 

According  to  the  maker's  claims,  jet  condensation  is  the 
ideal  method,  apart  from  any  consideration  of  the  water 
conditions,  because  of  the  intimate  mixture  of  the  steam  and 
condensing  water ;  consequently  cooling  towers  and  spray 
coolers  with  ponds  are  largely  used  where  an  unlimited 
supply  of  good  water  is  not  available,  so  as  to  be  able  to 


Fig.    4 — iVIotor    Driving    Water    Pump    and    Condenser. 

use  the  cooling  water  which  mixes  with  steam  over  and 
over  again  and  draw  the  boiler-feed  water  from  the  dis- 
charged condensate.  The  manufacturing  company  cites  as 
a  broad  illustration,  and  to  show  the  effects  of  the  water 
conditions  on  the  type  of  condenser  used,  that  all  ocean- 
going steamships  use  surface  condensers,  because  it  would 
not  pay  to  throw  the  condensed  steam  away  with  the  salt 
condensing  water  and  distil  fresh  water  from  the  sea  for 
boiler  feeding,  but  that  all  the  steamers  on  the  Great  Lakes 
between  this  country  and  Canada  adopt  jet  condensers  be- 
cause they  can  use  the  lake  for  boiler  feeding. 

Fig.  3  shows  the  performance  curves  of  standard  sizes 
of  these  condensers  with  varying  volumes  of  steam,  etc. 
In  this  curve  allowance  has  been  made  for  3  cu.  ft.  of  free 
air  per  minute  per  10,000  lb.  of  steam  condensed  per  hour 
for  reciprocating  engines  and  half  of  this  amount  for  steam 
turbines. 

To  use  these  curves  with  28-in.  vacuum — for  instance, 
for  a  steam  turbine  using  30,000  lb.  of  steam  per  hour — 
take  the  left-hand  side  and  follow  the  vertical  line  above 
28  in.,  until  the  curve  marked  60  deg.  is  reached;  then, 
passing  along  this  line  horizontally  to  the  right  until  the 
vertical  line  from  30,000  lb.  of  steam  is  met,  a  point  is 
arrived  at  on  the  curve  marked  40  hp,  120,000  g.p.h.  This, 
therefore,  gives  the  horse-power  required  for  this  condenser 
together  with  the  amount  of  condensing  water. 

Fig.  4  shows  a  recent  installation,  consisting  of  a  con- 
denser and  water  pump,  directly  connected  to  a  three-phase 
motor.  The  pump  is  used  to  lift  the  water  from  the  con- 
denser to  the  top  of  a  cooling  tower. 


December  28,   1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1391 


LARGE  ANGLE-TYPE  MULTIPLE  WATER 
STRAINER. 


The  accompanying  illustration  shows  one  of  the  large 
multiple  water  strainers  recently  built  by  the  Lagonda 
Manufacturing  Company,  of  Springfield,  Ohio,  for  the 
Southern  California  Edison  Company,  to  be  used  for  re- 
moving sticks,  fish,  leaves,  seaweed  and  other  trash  from 
the  water  supplied  to  the  wheels  at  the  generating  stations. 
The  strainer  contains  three  filtering  baskets,  each  of  which 
has  a  free  straining  area  equal  to  the  cross-section  of  the 
pipe  line.  This  allows  one  basket  at  a  time  to  be  removed 
for  cleaning  without  interfering  with  the  operation  of  the 
strainer.  It  is  claimed  that  the  low  velocity  in  the  strainer 
due  to  the  increased  cross-section  gives  the  impurities  ample 
time  to  settle  and  eliminates  wear  caused  by  the  erosive 
action  of  water  moving  at  a  high  velocity.     This  strainer 


Angle-Type    Water   Strainer. 

is  noteworthy  not  only  because  of  its  large  size,  but  because 
it  is  of  the  angle  type,  the  entrance  and  exit  for  the  water 
being  at  90  deg.  to  each  other.  When  installed  for  opera- 
tion the  strainer  will  be  buried  beneath  the  floor  of  the 
power  house,  with  only  the  hand-wheels  and  the  top  of  the 
bonnet  projecting  above.  When  the  baskets  are  to  be 
cleaned  they  are  elevated  to  the  cleaning  chamber  and  re- 
moved in  an  upright  position,  thereby  allowing  the  contents 
to  be  carried  to  some  convenient  place  to  be  emptied. 


CO-OPERATIVE  CENTRAL-STATION  ADVERTISING. 


One  evidence  of  the  development  of  electric-lighting 
companies  is  the  change  in  the  character  of  their  adver- 
tising. For  years  it  has  been  the  custom  for  central  sta- 
tions to  use  large  space  in  newspapers  two  or  three  times 
a  year  to  extend  greetings  to  their  subscribers  or  to  thank 
them  for  their  patronage.  As  this  use  of  space  could  not 
and  was  not  expected  to  sell  electric  energy,  it  was  looked 
on  as  a  "sop"  to  the  newspapers  and  probably  did  the  cen- 
tral station  more  harm  than  good  with  the  public. 

To-day  the  more  progressive  companies  are  using  smaller 
space  but  are  advertising  consistently,  running  carefully 
prepared  advertisements  twice  or  three  times  a  week.  They 
are  advertising  not  only  electric  service  but  energy-con- 
suming devices   of   every  kind   as  well.     The  consumption 


of  an  electric  truck,  for  example,  will  average  about  $250 
per  year,  and  that  of  a  pleasure  vehicle  about  $60.  House- 
hold appliances — washing  machines,  vacuum  cleaners, 
chafing  dishes,  bakers,  broilers,  toasters,  fans,  etc. — allow 
the  use  of  advertisements  that  accomplish  two  things;  they 
assist  in  getting  the  appliances  into  use,  thereby  increasing 
consumption,  and  they  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  economy 
of  the  article  advertised  is  only  one  of  the  many  comforts 
and  conveniences  possible  to  those  having  electric  light  in 
their  homes.  They  are  showing  store  owners  that  increased 
store  and  window  lighting  and  sign  lighting  will  augment 
their  sales.  They  are  showing  factory  owners  that  central- 
station  service  will  cut  their  manufacturing  costs. 

The  progressive  manager  realizes  that  good  newspaper 
advertising  will  bring  new  customers  and  will  also  greatly 
increase  the  consumption  of  his  present  subscribers. 
Solicitors  are  needed  by  the  larger  companies  to  follow  up 
inquiries  and  to  close  contracts,  but  they  cannot  accomplish 
what  can  be  done  by  newspaper  advertising.  A  solicitor 
could  not  possibly  call  upon  each  householder  in  his  terri- 
tory oftener  than  once  every  three  or  four  months.  A 
newspaper  advertisement  will  call  upon  every  householder 
twice  or  three  times  each  week,  will  present  new  argu- 
ments, and  will  not  allow  him  to  forget  the  advantages  and 
economies  of  electric  service. 

Central-station  advertising  has  increased  greatly  since 
the  inauguration  of  co-operative  advertising  service.  The 
advertising  campaign  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Com- 
pany of  Chicago  has  been  widely  approved,  and  it  has  long 
been  the  desire  of  several  managers  of  smaller  companies 
to  devise  some  means  that  would  enable  all  companies  to 
maintain  a  consistent  advertising  campaign  similar  to  that 
of  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company.  The  cost  of 
obtaining  drawings,  preparing  cuts  and  copy  has  made  a 
consistent  campaign  impossible  for  any  except  a  few  of  the 
largest  companies.  A  good  advertising  drawing  costs  from 
$20  to  $50.  Add  to  this  the  cost  of  preparing  copy,  making 
cuts,  etc.,  and  the  total  for  a  year's  campaign  of  125  or  150 
advertisements  is  enormous.  By  co-operation  this  cost 
can  be  cut  to  a  figure  that  would  allow  even  the  smaller 
companies  to  participate.  Such  an  arrangement  would  be 
profitable  for  each  central  station  and  would  also,  by  foster- 
ing a  nation-wide  advertising  campaign,  be  of  considerable 
benefit  to  the  electrical  industry  as  a  whole. 

The  details  of  preparing  this  advertising  were  turned 
over  to  the  William  D.  Mcjunkin  Advertising  Agency  of 
Chicago  and  New  York,  which  has  for  years  prepared  the 
advertising  for  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  the 
New  York  Edison  Company  and  other  lighting  companies, 
and  in  July,  1912,  this  co-operative  service  for  central 
stations  was  inaugurated. 

The  service  furnished  includes  ten  new  advertisements 
each  month  prepared  on  timely  subjects.  A  reserve  supply 
of  twenty-five  advertisements  is  given  when  a  central  station 
enters  upon  the  campaign,  making  a  total  of  145  advertise- 
ments supplied  during  the  year.  A  matrix  of  each  adver- 
tisement is  furnished  so  there  is  no  further  cost  for  cuts. 
In  a  few  of  the  smaller  towns  where  the  newspapers  can- 
not use  matrices  electrotypes  are  supplied  them.  A  valuable 
feature  of  the  service  is  the  fact  that  while  the  matrix  or 
electrotype  is  made  of  the  illustration  only,  a  proof  of  each 
advertisement  is  furnished  complete,  showing  both  drawing 
and  copy,  style  of  type  and  set-up,  etc.  Thus  the  central- 
station  manager  can  add  any  special  ofifer  he  may  have  to 
make,  or  he  can  revise  or  entirely  rewrite  the  copy  if  he 
wishes  to  do  so.  Many  of  the  large  companies  which  have 
their  own  advertising  departments  prefer  to  do  this. 

LTnder  this  co-operative  plan  the  cost  for  each  contract- 
ing company  is  small,  the  expense  being  divided  among  the 
subscribers.  Besides  the  economy  and  efficiency  of  these 
advertisements  to  individual  companies,  it  is,  beyond  doubt, 
an  enormous  benefit  to  the  industry  as  a  whole  to  have  this 
advertising  used  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 


1392 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD.  Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 

Industrial  and  Financial  News 


ASIDE  from  the  usual  holiday  slackening,  the  trade  sit- 
uation has  not  changed  materially  this  week.  Activity 
prevails  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  country. 
.Although  sentiment  is  somewhat  divided  as  to  what  the 
coming  year  will  bring  forth  in  the  industrial  and  commer- 
cial field,  there  is  no  doubt  that  conditions  are  favorable 
for  decided  expansion.  Many  plans  for  the  future  will,  of 
course,  be  withheld  until  the  tariff  program  of  the  new  ad- 
ministration assumes  a  tangible  form,  and  trade  growth  wiil 
be  checked  proportionately,  but  nearly  all  of  the  many  ele- 
ments that  usually  foreshadow  a  period  of  good  business 
are  in  evidence  at  this  time.  The  volume  of  the  country's 
foreign  trade  is  a  source  of  much  encouragement.  The 
figures  for  the  month  of  November  were  the  highest  on 
record.  The  value  of  the  exports  was  $277,898,681,  which 
compares  with  $254,640,152  in  October,  and  the  value  of 
the  imports  was  $153,134,995.  The  total  exports  in  the 
eleven  months  ended  with  November  also  exceed  any 
previous  showing,  being  $2,148,563,324,  as  against  $1,867,- 
619,610  in  the  same  period  a  j'ear  ago.  Imports  in  the  cor- 
responding periods  w^ere  $1,664,309,560  and  $1,391,684,958 
respectively.  The  total  value  of  foreign  trade  for  the  period 
is  in  excess  of  $3,800,000,000. 


A    Bond    House    View    of    Municipal    Ovynership. — The 

attitude  of  a  prominent  New  York  bond  house  upon  the 
municipal  ownership  of  public  utilities  is  expressed  in  some 
detail  in  the  following  statement,  which  is  part  of  a  letter 
written  a  short  time  ago  by  that  concern  to  the  Mayor  of 
Cleveland,  O.:  "Having  in  the  past  been  responsible  for  the 
distributing  of  very  large  amounts  of  city  of  Cleveland 
bonds,  we  believe  that  we  can  with  good  grace  express 
to  you  a  thought  or  two  relative  to  the  continued  issue  of 
bonds  by  your  city.  From  long  experience  in  the  placing 
of  investment  securities,  it  has  been  necessary  for  us  to 
study  carefully  the  credit  situation  of  municipalities  and 
their  relationship  to  public  enterprises.  We  have  reached 
the  conclusion  that,  while  it  is  reasonable  and  proper  for 
cities  to  control  a  certain  nature  of  enterprise  and  improve- 
ments, it  is  inadvisable  to  broaden  unnecessarily  their  inter- 
est in  public  utility  matters.  We  believe  that  it  is  most 
essential  that  the  cities  control  their  water  plants,  park  sys- 
tems, schools,  fire  and  police  departments,  etc.,  but  believe 
they  are  taking  an  unwise  step  when  they  engage  in  mis- 
cellaneous and  general  business  enterprises.  We  believe 
that  the  preponderance  of  experience  will  indicate  that  a 
better  service — in  the  long  run  a  more  economical  service — 
has  been  rendered  when  these  matters  have  been  in  the 
hands  of  private  enterprise  and  capital,  with  the  city  having 
supervisory  control  of  these  situations.  New  York  City  has 
engaged  in  municipal  ownership  of  some  of  the  utilities 
with  e.xceedingly  undesirable  results.  The  cases  which  may 
be  cited  are  its  ferries  and  docks,  which  cause  an  exceed- 
ingly heavy  draft  upon  the  city  to  cover  the  deficit.  It  has 
just  come  to  our  knowledge  that  the  city  of  Pasadena,  Cal, 
lias  brought  an  action  in  the  courts  of  California  to  restrain 
the  private  electric  company  from  making  low  rates  for  its 
product,  the  city  claiming  that  the  rates  are  so  low  that  the 
city  enterprise  is  not  able  to  compete  with  them,  and  that 
the  latter  is  showing  drastic  losses  in  this  particular  busi- 
ness. These  cases  could  be  extended  to  a  very  large  num- 
ber, but  we  believe  the  general  experience  will  be  along  the 
lines  of  the  one  just  indicated.  Some  of  the  cities  of  the 
country  have  under  way  the  creation  and  control  of  various 
public-utility  enterprises,  all  requiring  a  very  large  issue  of 
securities  and  city  control  and  management;  and  as  a  rule 
their  municipal  credit  is  being  very  largely  damaged  and 
the  prices  of  their  bonds  continually  seeking  a  lower  level. 
The  credit  of  the  largest  corporation  of  the  largest  city  or 
state  or  nation  can  be  impaired  or  destroyed  by  abuse,  and 
it  is  our  judgment  that  if  the  city  of  Cleveland  or  any  other 
city  enters  the  public-utility  field  on  a  very  large  scale  and 
backs  such  undertakings  with  its  public  credit,  the  said 
public   credit   is   bound   to   receive   very   great   damage   and 


injury.  We  trust  that  this  will  not  happen  to  the  city  of 
Cleveland,  but  that  the  city  will  undertake  the  management 
of  those  things  which  are  properly  within  its  province  and 
allow  private  capital  and  business  to  take  charge  of  those 
matters  which  are  within  their  proper  province.  We  trust 
that  you  will  pardon  us  for  bringing  this  matter  to  your 
attention,  but  we  feel  we  are  in  a  measure  involved  owing 
to  the  large  transactions  that  we  have  had  in  the  past  in 
placing  the  city  of  Cleveland's  securities." 

Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company  Assume  Charge  of  Sedalia 
(Mo.)  Utility. — .Active  management  of  the  Sedalia  (Mo.) 
Light  &  Traction  Company  has  been  assumed  by  Henry  L. 
Doherty  &  Co.,  who  acquired  the  property  at  foreclosure 
sale  on  June  7,  1912.  The  City  Light  &  Traction  Company, 
which  was  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  Missouri  in 
August,  1912,  in  the  interest  of  the  Doherty  company,  is 
the  successor  to  the  Sedalia  Light  &  Traction  Company. 
The  Sedalia  Light  &  Fuel  Company  is  also  owned  by  the 
same  interests.  H.  D.  FrueaufI,  formerly  general  manager 
of  the  Pueblo  (Col.)  Gas  &  Fuel  Company,  has  been  ap- 
pointed general  manager  of  the  Sedalia  property  and  has 
entered  upon  his  new  duties.  E.  W.  Pfenning  is  the  new 
secretary  of  the  company,  and  D.  F.  Webster  will  be  su- 
perintendent of  the  electric  and  traction  lines.  J.  E.  Harsh 
is  to  have  charge  of  the  new-business  department  that  has 
been  created  by  the  new  managers.  About  $150,000  is  to 
be  spent  upon  improvements  and  betterment?  in  the  next 
two  years.  In  connection  with  the  changes  in  ownership 
the  Sedalia  Democrat  devoted  three  columns  of  its  issue  for 
Dec.  20,  1912,  to  a  biographical  sketch  of  Henry  L.  Do- 
herty. 

Public  Service  Electric  (N.  J.)  to  Enlarge  Its  Marion 
Station. — Work  has  been  started  on  a  ninety-thousand- 
dollar  addition  to  the  Marion  power  station  of  the  Public 
Service  Electric  Company,  New  Jersey,  to  provide  facilities 
for  the  increased  lighting  and  industrial  business  in  the  ter- 
ritory served  by  the  plant.  The  dimensions  of  the  new 
section  will  be  76  ft.  x  200  ft.  L.  C.  Becker  &  Brother,  Inc., 
of  Newark,  N.  J.,  have  the  contract  for  the  masonry  and 
the  Lackawanna  Steel  Company  will  do  the  structural  iron- 
work. .\  contract  has  also  been  let  for  a  new  9000-kw 
turbo-generator  to  be  installed  in  the  new  building.  This 
will  bring  the  rating  of  the  plant  to  67,000  kw.  The  plant 
was  originally  designed  to  admit  of  additions  as  required. 
When  first  opened,  on  Dec.  24,  1905.  its  rating  was  8000  kw. 
It  has  since  been  enlarged  several  times,  and  with  the  new 
unit  installed  its  rating  will  have  increased  more  than  eight- 
fold. 

Westinghouse  Electric  Doing  a  Record  Business. — It  is 
understood  that  the  present  fiscal  period  of  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  ending  in 
March,  1913,  has'  so  far  been  the  largest  year  in  the  history 
of  the  company  as  to  gross  and  net  profits.  It  is  fully  ex- 
pected that  the  gross  business  of  191 1,  amounting  to 
$38,119,312,  and  heretofore  the  record  total,  will  be  exceeded 
this  year  by  an  appreciable  percentage,  in  view  of  the  large 
increase  that  has  been  shown  in  orders  in  the  last  six 
months  of  the  calendar  year.  The  company  is  working  at 
full  capacity  at  present  and  is  employing  more  men  than 
ever  before.  On  Nov.  i,  1912,  it  had  14,700  men  on  its  pay- 
roll, as  compared  with  11,500  at  the  corresponding  time  in 
1911.  It  is  said  that  the  foreign  subsidiaries  of  the  West- 
inghouse company  will  make  the  best  showing  in  their  his- 
tory this  year. 

Authorizes  Purchase  of  Xenia  (Ohio)  Property. — The 
Ohio  Public  Utilities  Commission  has  authorized  the  pur- 
chase of  the  Xenia  Gas  &  Electric  Company  by  the  Dayton 
Power  &  Light  Company.  The  latter,  to  consummate  the 
transaction,  has  obtained  permission  to  issue  preferred 
stock  to  the  amount  of  the  sale  price,  which  was  stipulated 
as  $149,750.  The  Dayton  company's  gross  earnings  in  the 
eleven  months  ended  Nov.  30,  1912,  were  $610,899.  as  com- 
pared with  $560,183  in  the  corresponding  period  of  1911, 
and  the  net  income  after  all  deductions  was  $139-319,  as 
compared  with  $92,631. 


December  28.  10 12 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1393 


The    Copper    Market    as    Seen    by    a    Consumer. — The 

National  Conduit  &  Cable  Company,  in  its  monthly  review 
of  the  copper  market,  says:  "There  is  a  contraction  of  busi- 
ness in  the  copper  market  at  this  writing,  and  it  is  probable 
that  the  period  of  dullness  may  last  a  little  longer.    A  slow- 
ing down  in  the  force  of  the  buying  movement  as  the  year 
end  approaches  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  however,  but  it 
is  expected  that  after  a  few  weeks  demand  will  be  decidedly 
more  active.     November  buying  reached  considerable  vol- 
ume, but  lately  buyers  have  adopted  a  waiting  policy  and 
transactions   are   consequently  within   narrow   limits.     The 
steady    tone    of    the    market    was    an    encouraging    feature 
of  the  situation,  and  this  tendency  suits  manufacturers  who 
have  to  base  their  operations  months  ahead  on  the  position 
of  copper.     A  staple  market  is  of  immense  consequence  to 
the  legitimate  consumer,  and  hence  whatever  tends  to  de- 
velop sound   conditions  and  prevent  spectacular  price  fluc- 
tuatiotis  will  greatly  promote  permanent  enterprise  among 
the   manufacturing   industry.     Manufacturers   will   continue 
to  buy  heavily  so  long  as  the  market  for  copper  is  based  on 
sound   and   normal    conditions,    and   the   brass   and   copper 
mills   of   the   country   may   be   expected   to   operate   at   full 
capacity  just  so  long  as  it  appears  evident  that  there  is  a 
substantia!   foundation   for  confidence   to   rest   on.     During 
the  last  twelve  months   there  has  been   a  great  revival   in 
the  consumption  of  copper,  and  during  the  same  period  the 
visible  supply  of  copper  has  undergone  a  heavy  reduction. 
For  years  the  copper  situation  seemed  to  baffle  any  attempt 
to  place  it  in  a  fundamentally  sound  condition,  but  at  last 
demand  swelled  to  such  enormous  proportions  that  the  for- 
midable   surplus    succumbed    to    repeated    attacks    and    the 
great  mountain  of  idle  copper  has  shrunk  from  385,038,014 
lb.  on  April  i,  1911,  to  183,111,259  lb.  on  Dec.  I,  1912,  a  de- 
crease  in  twenty  months  of  201,926,755  lb.     United   States 
stocks  are  less  than  half  what  they  were  eighteen  months 
ago  and  are  over  25,000,000  lb.  less  than  a  year  ago.     Recent 
prices  of  I7J4  were  maintained  by  the  large  selling  interests, 
but  with  a  temporary  halt  in  new  demand  the  volume  of 
business    was    comparatively    light.      Some    outside    copper 
was  offering  at  fractional  quotations,  but  the  supply  from 
this  quarter  was  limited  and  little  business  resulted.     There 
are  indications  that  stocks  in  manufacturers'  hands  at  home 
and  abroad  will  need  replenishing  soon,  and  this  naturally 
lends  'considerable  sentimental  support  to  the  market.     In 
remarkable    contrast    with    the    late    demoralization    in    the 
market  value  of  the  copper  shares  is  the  serenely  calm  con- 
dition  of  the   American   copper  metal  market.     The   sharp 
decline    in    the     shares     equaled    a     depreciation     of    over 
$148,000,000  in  the  market  value  of  some  thirty-six  of  the 
best  known  copper  shares  from  the  high  point  in  1912,  and 
during   all    this    excitement    the    best   grade    of   electrolytic 
copper  was  worth   i7^@i7Mc.  a  lb.     The  stability  of  the 
copper  market   is  the  present  feature  of  the   situation  and 
is  evidence  that  the  metal  has  worked  itself  into  a  really 
strong  position." 

■  Kings  County  (N.  Y.)  Electric  Light  &  Power's  Earn- 
ings.— The  combined  statement  of  the  earnings  of  the 
Kings  County  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company  and  those 
of  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brooklyn 
for  the  month  of  November,  1912,  shows  a  surplus  of 
$87,164,  as  compared  with  $120,791  for  the  same  month  last 
year.  Gross  operating  revenue  for  the  month  was  $470,452, 
as  compared  with  $449,580  in  November,  191 1.  Total  oper- 
ating expenses,  however,  increased  $47,131,  being  $308,723 
last  month,  as  against  $261,592  in  the  corresponding  month 
iast  year.  In  the  eleven  months  ended  Nov.  30,  1912,  gross 
operating  revenue  was  $4,664,982,  as  compared  with  $4,- 
252,817  in  the  same  period  last  year.  Total  operating  ex- 
penses were  $3,062,328,  as  compared  with  $2,673,168,  an 
increase  of  $389,160.  The  profit  and  loss  surplus  for  the 
eleven  months  was  $836,216,  as  compared  with  $888,232  for 
the  corresponding  period  of  191 1.  The  directors  of  the 
company  have  voted  to  issue  $2,500,000  of  the  $5,000,000 
6  per  cent  debenture  bonds  authorized  by  the  stockholders 
at  a  special  meeting  held  Nov.  26,  igi2,  this  amount  of  the 
proposed  issue  having  been  approved  by  the  Public  Service 
Commission  for  the  First  New  York  District  on  Dec.  17, 
1912. 

Commonwealth  Power,  Railway  &  Light  Meeting.— Di- 
rectors of  the  Commonwealth  Power,  Railway  &  Light 
Company  are   to   meet   in   New   York   on   Jan.  6   to   declare 


the  regular  quarterly  dividend  of  i'A  per  cent  on  the  pre- 
ferred stock.  In  view  of  the  good  gains  in  the  carnmgs  of 
the  company,  many  of  the  stockholders  are  expectmg  some 
action  to  be  taken  at  this  meeting  toward  inaugurating 
dividends  on  the  common  stock.  Earnings  in  the  twelve 
months  ended  Sept.  30,  1912,  were  at  the  rate,  of  6.4  per  cent 
on  the  $12,000,000  common  stock  outstanding. 

To  Dissolve  American  Railways  &  Lighting  Company.— 
Following  the  acquisition  last  June  by  the  Texas  Power  & 
Light  Company,  a  subsidiary  of  the  Electric  Bond  &  Share 
Company,  of  the  properties  of  the  American  Railways  & 
Light  Company,  the  latter  has  filed  a  certificate  of  dissolu- 
tion with  the  Secretary  of  State  for  New  Jersey.  The  com- 
pany had  an  authorized  capital  stock  of  $3,000,000.  Details 
of  the  formation  of  the  Texas  Power  &  Light  Company  and 
its  acquisition  of  public-utility  properties  in  Texas  have  ap- 
peared previously  in  these  columns. 

Three  Independent  Telephone  Companies  Absorbed.— 
Three  more  independent  telephone  and  telegraph  compa- 
nies have  been  absorbed  by  the  Bell  Telephone  Company 
of  Pennsylvania.  The  companies  taken  over  are:  The 
Northeast  Independent  Telephone  Company,  of  Northeast, 
Pa.;  the  Broken  Straw  &  Still  Water  Telephone  &  Tele- 
graph Company,  of  Youngsville,  Pa.,  and  the  Sheffield  Tele- 
phone Company,  of  Sheffield,  Pa.  These  companies  serve 
more  than  1000  subscribers  and  have  several  hundred  miles 
of  toll   lines. 

Electrical  Securities  Corporation  Financing.— The  stock- 
holders of  the  Electrical  Securities  Corporation  have  au- 
thorized an  increase  of  $500,000  in  the  company's  common 
stock,  making  the  total  authorized  $2,500,000.  The  directors 
have  declared  a  common-stock  dividend  of  25  per  ceiit  in 
common  stock  to  holders  of  the  common  alone.  This  is 
payable  Dec.  31  to  holders  of  record  Dec.  24.  The  General 
Electric  Company  is  the  owner  of  all  of  the  common  stock 
and  as  such  will  receive  the  entire  dividend. 

Duquesne  Light  Company  Makes  Large  Increase  in 
Capital  Stock.— The  Duquesne  Light  Company,  which  is  a 
subsidiary  of  the -Philadelphia  Company  and  supplies  a  large 
portion  of  the  East  End  of  Pittsburgh  with  electric  service, 
has  filed  notice  at  Harrisburg  of  an  increase  in  its  capital 
stock  from  $541,000  to  $25,000,000.  It  is  understood  that 
this  foreshadows  a  consolidation  of  several  smaller  cor- 
porations already  under  control  of  the  Duquesne  company, 
with  a  view  to  facilitate  management. 

Utica  Home  Telephone  Company  Sold.— Advice  has 
been  received  by  the  Public  Service  Commission  for  the 
Second  New  York  District  from  the  Utica  Home  Telephone 
Company  that  on  Dec.  7,  1912,  pursuant  to  authority  from 
the  commission,  it  sold  and  conveyed  all  its  physical  prop- 
erty and  business  to  the  New  York  Telephone  Company 
for  the  sum  of  $250,000  and  the  assumption  of  the  payment 
by  the  latter  company  of  $463,100  par  value  of  outstanding 
bonds  of  the  Utica  company. 

San  Joaquin  Light  &  Power's  Gains.— A  recently  issued 
statement  shows  that  the  operations  of  the  San  Joaquin 
Light  &  Power  Company  extend  through  seven  counties 
of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  and  into  sixty-two  cities  and 
towns.  On  Oct.  31,  1912,  the  company  had  14,206  light  cus- 
tomers, 1287  power  customers  and  4724  gas  customers,  with 
332  miles  of  60,000-volt  and  322  miles  of  30,000-volt  trans- 
mission line,  and  1595  miles  of  distributing  system. 

Great  Northern  May  Electrify  New  Route.— It  is  stated 
that  the  Great  Northern  Railroad  will  electrify  its  new 
route  now  under  construction  from  Lewiston,  Mont.,  to 
New  Rockford,  N.  D.,  a  distance  of  about  530  miles.  The 
road  is  being  built  by  the  Montana  &  Eastern  Railway 
Company,  which  is  controlled  by  the  Great  Northern. 

Will  Consolidate  Harrisburg  (Pa.)  Steam  Heat  &  Power 
Company. — The  Harrisburg  Steam  Heat  &  Power  Com- 
pany is  to  be  consolidated  with  the  Harrisburg  Light,  Heat 
&  Power  Company.  The  stock  of  the  latter  is  owned  by  the 
Harrisburg  Electric  Service  Company. 

To  Merge  Northern  and  Central  Colorado  Companies.. — 
Negotiations  are  now  in  progress  looking  toward  a  merger 
of  the  Central  Colorado  Power  Company  and  the  Northern 
Colorado  Power  Company.  The  combined  capitalization  is 
about  $50,000,000. 


t394 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  Xo.  26. 


NEW  YORK  METAL  MARKET  PRICES. 

, Dec.  17 , 

^-opper:  Bid.         Asked. 

Standard,   spot    16.75          

£        s     d 

London,    standard,    spot 74       7     6 

Prime    Lake    17.50  to  17.60 

Electrolytic     17.40  to  17.50 

Casting     17.25  to  17.50 

Copper    wire,    base 19.00 

Lead     4.35 

Nickel     45.00 

Sheet   zinc,    f.o.b.   smelter 9.00 

Speher,    spot    7.35 

Tin,   spot    49-87;.^ 

Aluminum; 

Prompt    delivery     26.00  to  26.50 

Future     25.75  to  26.25 

OLD    METALS. 

Heavy  copper  and  wire 16.00 

Brass,    heavy    10.00 

Brass.    light    8.50 

Lead,    heavy    4.15 

Zinc,    scrap    6.12J4 

COPPER  EXPORTS  IN  DECEMBER. 
Total  tons  to Dec.   18,   15,534 


, Dec.  25 , 

Bid.       Asked. 

17.00         17.37^ 

£       s     d 

75     15     0 

17.60  to  17.65 

17.50  to  17.55 

17.35  to  17.40 

19.00 

4.35 

45.00 

9.00 

7.35 

50.25 

26.25  to  26.50 
26.50  to  26.37}^ 


16.00 
10.00 

8.50 

4.15 

6.12^ 


Dec.  24.   18,834 


INDUSTRIAL  SECURITIES. 


Security. 


I  Capital  Stock 
Listed. 


Per  Cent.    Period. 


Allis-Chalmers,   2d  assess. 

paid S17,1SI 

Allis-Chalmers,  pf.,  2d  as- 
sess, paid 14,034,700 

Amalgamated  Copper 153  ,  887 ,  900 

American  Tel.  &  Tel 334.712.300 

Crocker- Wheeler,  c 1 ,  700 .  000 

Crocker-Wheeler,  pf 500,000 

Electric  Storage  Battery ,c.       16.074 , 425 

General  Electric 

Mackay  Cos.,  c 

Mackay  Cos. .  pf     

Western  Union  Tel 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M..  c, 

Westinghouse,  E.  &  M.,  pf. 


,100 


77,726,700 
41,380.400 
50,000,000 
79,943.400 
31,685,300 
3,998,700 


.... 

Q 

li 

Q 

13 

u 

Dec.  J  8  Dec.  24 


2 

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1 


13 


Q 
Q 

8 

o 
0 


^n 

140 

8,1* 

104* 

li 

181* 
82 
66i 
73i 
76} 

121* 


u* 

4}* 

7.H 

140 
85* 

104* 
53i 

183i 
82* 
66i* 
75} 
79* 

12U 


*Last  price  quoted 


Personal 


Mr.  W.  O.  Hensgen  has  been  appointed  inspector  at  Chi- 
cago for  the  new  radio  service  of  the  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor. 

Mr.  H.  L.  Aller  has  been  appointed  manager  of  the  Pa- 
cific Gas  &  Electric  Company  of  Phoenix,  .\riz..  in  place  of 
Mr.   R.  G'.  Whitmarih.  resigned. 

Mr.  E.  W.  Pfenning,  of  Joplin,  Mo.,  has  been  appointed 
secretary  of  the  City  Light  &  Traction  Company  of  Sedalia, 
Mo.,  and  will,  among  other  duties,  assist  General  Manager 
Frueauff. 

Mr.  Mason  H.  Lytle  has  been  apointed  business  agent  of 
the  Miami  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Company  of  Piqua.  Ohio. 
Mr.  Lytle  was  formerly  connected  with  the  Dayton  (Ohio") 
Power  &  Light  Company. 

Mr.  William  H.  Blood,  Jr.,  past-president  of  the  Electric 
Vehicle  Association  of  America,  will  have  a  banquet  ten- 
dered to  him  by  the  association  on  Jan.  16,  1913,  at  Del- 
monico's.   New  York   City. 

Mr.  R.  B.  Hamner,  for  many  years  manager  of  the  Sedalia 
(Mo.)  Liglit  &  Traction  Company,  has  recently  retired  and 
will  spend  the  winter  in  taking  a  much-needed  rest  with  his 
family  at  San  Antonio,  Tex. 

Mr.  J.  E.  Harsh,  formerly  contract  agent  for  the  Empire 
Di.strict  Electric  Company,  Joplin,  Mo.,  has  been  placed  in 
charge  of  the  new-business  department  of  the  City  Light  & 
Traction  Company,  Sedalia,  Mo. 

Mr.  J.  N.  Bidwell  has  been  promoted  to  the  position  made 
vacant  by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  H.  M.  Hovey  in  the  signal- 
ing department  of  the  joint  engineering  staff  serving  the 
Wisconsin  railroad  and  tax  commissions. 


Mr.  H.  M.  Hovey  has  withdrawn  from  the  sigiialng  de- 
partment of  the  joint  engineering  staff  serving  the  Wis- 
consin railroad  and  tax  commissions  to  serve  as  a  consult- 
ing engieer  for  group  of  interurban  electric  railways  in  the 
State  of  Indiana  in  connection  with  an  extensive  block 
signaling  installation. 

Mr.  D.  F.  Webster,  connected  formerly  with  the  Se- 
dalia (Mo.)  Light  &  Traction  Company,  will  remain  with 
its  successor — the  City  Light  &  Traction  Company — as 
superintendent  of  the  electric  and  traction  lines  and  will 
have  direct  charge  of  extensive  improvements  which  the 
company  intends  making, 

Mr.  H.  D.  Frueauff,  formerly  with  the  Pueblo  iCcA.)  Gas 
&  Fuel  Compan}-,  has  been  appointed  general  manager  of 
the  City  Light  &  Traction  Company,  of  Sedalia,  Mo.  This 
company  was  incorporated  last  summer  under  the  laws  of 
Missouri  to  succeed  the  Sedalia  Light  &  Traction  Company 
and  is  controlled  by  Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company. 

Mr.  W.  N.  Fashbaugh  has  been  appointed  general  su- 
perintendent of  traffic  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company,  with  headquarters  in  New  York  City.  His  ap- 
pointment becomes  effective  Jan.  i.  Mr.  Fashbaugh  has 
previously  been  connected  with  the  handling  of  traffic  mat- 
ters of  the  Western  Union  organization  in  the  capacity  of 
traffic  engineer.  He  is  an  associate  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 

Mr.  Emerson  L.  Franklin  has  resigned  as  general  super- 
intendent of  the  Eastern  Pennsylvania  Power  Company, 
Easton,  Pa.,  effective  Jan.  1.  Mr.  Franklin  was  formerly 
superintendent  of  the  Easton  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  and 
when  Messrs.  Meikleham  &  Dinsmore,  of  New  York, 
bought  up  the  propertj'  and  consolidated  it  with  that  of 
the  People's  Consolidated  Service  Company,  thus  eliminat- 
ing competition  in  Easton,  Mr.  Franklin  was  made  general 
superintendent. 

Mr.  Belvidere  Brooks,  for  some  time  past  general  man- 
ager of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  will  be 
advanced  on  Jan.  i  to  the  position  of  vice-president,  in 
charge  of  commercial  and  public  relations,  with  headquar- 
ters in  New  York  City.  Numerous  other  changes  in  titles 
among  the  Western  Union  officials  will  take  place  on  the 
same  date.  The  company  has  long  maintained  six  operating 
divisions  covering  the  whole  countrj',  each  in  charge  of  a 
general  superintendent.  On  Jan.  x  the  several  general  su- 
perintendents will  be  appointed  general  managers,  with  the 
same  general  duties  as  before.  Mr.  A.  G.  Saylor  will  be- 
come general  manager  of  the  Eastern  division,  with  head- 
quarters in  New  York  City;  Mr.  T.  P.  Cook  will  head  the 
Western  division,  with  headquarters  at  Chicago;  Mr.  W.  J. 
Lloyd  will  have  headquarters  at  Denver  in  charge  of  the 
Mountain  division;  Mr.  C.  H.  Gaunt  will  become  general 
manager  of  the  Pacific  division,  with  headquarters  at  San 
Francisco,  and  Mr.  H.  C.  Worthen  will  be  general  manager 
of  the  Southern  division,  with  headquarters  at  .Atlanta.  No 
appointment  of  general  manager  for  the  Gulf  division  has 
yet  been  announced. 

Mr.  George  M.  Yorke,  engineer  of  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company,  has  been  appointed  general  superin- 
tendent of  plant  of  the  same  company,  effective  Jan.  I.  Mr. 
Yorke  was  graduated  from  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology'  in  1893,  taking  the  degree  of  S.  B.  in  electrical 
engineering.  He  soon  entered  the  employ  of  the  American 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Companj',  serving  in  various  capaci- 
ties in  the  long-distance  operating  department.  In  1899  Mr. 
Yorke  was  transferred  to  the  engineering  department  of 
the  company  in  New  York  City,  remaining  there  until  1908, 
when  he  was  appointed  assistant  general  superintendent  of 
plant  at  the  time  the  long-distance  operating  department 
was  completely  reorganized.  Mr.  Yorke  served  in  this 
capacity  until  the  Bell  Telephone  interests  assumed  active 
supervision  of  the  operation  of  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company,  and  at  that  time  he  was  appointed  engi- 
neer, with  general  jurisdiction  over  the  system.  He  has 
had  a  long  and  varied  experience  in  the  telephone  and  tele- 
graph business  and  has  had  in  his  charge  the  design  of  much 
of  the  long-distance  plant  of  the  American  Telephone  & 
Telegraph  Company.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and  is  widely  known  in 
the  telephone  and  telegraph  industry. 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


1395 


Construction 


BIRMINGHAM,  ALA.— J.  M.  Dewberry,  president  of  the  Tidewater 
Pwr.  Co.,  has  announced  that  his  company  is  ready  to  begin  work  on  the 
construction  of  a  power  plant  as  soon  as  the  City  Commission  will  grant 
an  electric  power  franchise  in  Birmingham.  The  company  already  has  an 
electric  light  franchise  in  the  city.  The  power  plant  will  be  located  on  the 
Warrior   River,   near   the  coal  mines  of  the  company. 

GLENDALE,  ARIZ.— The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  has  approved  the 
contract  under  which  the  municipality  of  Glendale  will  be  supplied  with 
electricity  from  the  transmission  lines  of  the  Reclamation  Service  which 
pass  near  by. 

BENTON,  ARK.— The  Garland  Pwr.  &  Devel.  Co.  has  engaged  Ford, 
Bacon  &  Davis,  115  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  as  engineers  in  con- 
nection with  the  construction  of  hydroelectric  plants  on  Ouachita  River 
to  develop  28,000  hp.  The  cost  of  the  hydroelectric  plant  and  trans- 
mission system  is  estimated  at  about  $3,000,000.  C.  C.  Cavanaugh,  of 
Little   Rock,   is  president. 

HUNTINGTON.  ARK.— The  Coal  &  Gas  Belt  El.  Co.  expects  to  pur- 
chase within  the  next  30  days  a  carload  of  25-ft.,  30-ft.  and  35-ft.  white 
cedar  poles  (6-in.  tops)  and  copper  wire,  and  will  install  within  the  next 
six  months  one  187j-^-kva  steam  turbo-generator  in  the  Huntington  power 
station,  orders  for  whicli  have  already  been  placed.  Within  the  next 
three  months  the  company  expects  to  purchase  $2,500  worth  of  wiring 
supplies.     L.  E.  Lake  is  secretary. 

ALHAMBRA.  CAL. — Notices  have  been  posted  for  the  installation  of 
an  ornamental  street-lighting  system  under  the  Vrooman  act  to  be  ex- 
tended on  Main  Street  for  3  miles,  from  Ihe  western  to  the  eastern 
city  limits,  and  also  on  Garfield  Avenue  for  about  2  miles,  making  a 
total  of  5  miles.  The  rein  forced-concrete  mission  style  of  post  will  be 
used,  each  carrying  three  lamps. 

ARROYO  GRANDE,  CAL.— The  State  Railroad  Commission  has 
granted  the  Midland  Counties  Gas  &  El.  Co.  permission  to  purchase  the 
controlling  interest  in  the  Russel  Robison  Wtr.  &  El.  Co.,  of  Arroyo 
Grande,  from  the  Coalinga  Wtr.  &  El.  Co. 

LOS  ANGELES.  CAL.— The  City  Council  has  authorized  the  city  at- 
torney to  draw  an  ordinance  providing  for  the  installation  of  boulevard 
electroliers  on  Seventh   Street  to  Hoover  Street. 

MONTAGUE,  C.^XL. — Preliminary  surveys  are  being  made  for  a  hydro- 
electric and  irrigation  project  near  Montague  by  Symmes  &  Means, 
engineers,  of  San  Francisco.  Water  is  to  be  taken  from  Upper  Klamath 
River  and  dropped  into  Shasta  Valley.  It  is  estimated  that  about  40,000 
hp  may   ultimately  be   developed. 

SAN  BERNARDINO,  CAL.— The  second  trackless  trolley  line  in 
California  will  soon  begin  operation  from  Grava,  in  El  Cajon  Pass,  to 
the  rock  quarries  back  in  the  mountains.  The  line  will  be  extended  in 
the  spring  to  a  summer  resort  in  Big  Pine  Canyon. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.— The  San  Francisco-Oakland  Terminal  Ry. 
Co.  has  applied  to  the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to 
exercise  franchise  rights  for  a  street  railway  on  Euclid  Avenue  and 
Eunice   Street,    Berkeley. 

SAN  JACINTO,  CAL.- — The  City  Trustees  have  accepted  the  proposi- 
tion of  the  Southern  Sierras  Pwr.  Co.  for  additional  street  lamps.  Under 
the  new  arrangements  the  lamps  will  burn  all  night  and  will  cover  an 
area  several  times  the  size  of  the  present  lighted  territory. 

WILLOWS,  CAL.— The  Oro  El.  Corpn.,  of  Oroville,  has  applied  to 
the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  the  County  of  Glenn  for  a  franchise  to 
erect  and  maintain  a  transmission  line  for  the  distribution  of  electricity 
for  lamps,  heaters  and  motors  in  Glenn  County.  Sealed  bids  will  be  re- 
ceived by  W.  H.  Hale,  clerk  of  board,  for  the  sale  of  said  franchise 
until  Jan.   7. 

YREKA,  CAL. — The  California-Oregon  Pwr.  Co.  (Siskiyou  division) 
expects  to  erect  within  the  next  three  months  a  600-kw.  60,000-volt  out- 
door substation  and  3  miles  of  60,000-volt  transmission  line ;  also  to 
purchase  one  60,000-volt  pole-top  switch.  O.  G.  Steele  is  division  super- 
intendent. 

GLENWOOD  SPRINGS,  COL.— The  Glenwood  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  may 
possibly  in  the  spring  erect  a  transmission  line,  about  3  miles,  into  the 
suburban  district,  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  electricity  for  lamps  to 
a  group  of  small   farms.     H.   G.  Overbeck  is  general  manager. 

HARTFORD,  CONN.— Notice  has  been  filed  by  the  Norwich,  Colches- 
ter &  Hartford  Trac.  Co.  that  it  proposes  to  petition  the  next  General 
Assembly  for  an  amendment  of  its  charter  so  as  to  extend  the  time  of 
construction  to  Dec.  1,  1917,  to  increase  its  capital  stock  from  $1,000,000 
to  $2,000,000,  and  for  the  right  to  supply  electricity  for  lamps  and  motors 
in  the  towns  of  Glastonbury  and  Marlborough. 

HARTFORD,  CONN.— The  Farmington  River  Pwr.  Co.  has  applied  to 
the  General  Assembly  for  an  amendment  of  its  charter  giving  it  the 
privilege  of  supplying  electricity  in  Suffield  and  Enfield.  By  its  present 
charter  the  company  has  the  right  to  operate  in  the  towns  of  Windsor, 
Bloomfield,  Windsor  Locks,  West  Hartford  and  Hartford.  The  com- 
pany also  asks  for  permission  to  increase  its  capital  stock  from  $250,000 
to  $500,000  if  necessary,  and  also  to  issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
$150,000. 

LYME,  CONN. — The  Lyme  El.  Co.  has  petitioned  the  General  Assem- 
bly   for    an    amendment    to    its   charter    giving   the    company    the    right    to 


distribute  and  sell  electricity  in  Crescent  Beach;  also  for  permission  to 
erect  transmission  lines  to  supply  the  service. 

MONTVILLE,  CONN.— A  petition  for  a  charter  for  the  Kitemaug  El. 
Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  will  be  presented  to  the  next  Legislature  by  William  E. 
Walker,  of  Norwich;  Frank  W.  Browning,  of  Kitemaug,  and  Charles  W. 
Comstock,  of  Montville.  The  promoters  propose  to  construct  a  power 
plant  on  the  bank  of  the  Thames  River  in  Montville  to  supply  electricity 
in  the  towns  of  Montville,  Ledyard  and  Waterford.  It  is  also  proposed 
to  erect  a  steam    power  plant. 

NEW  HAVEN,  CONN.— The  Housatonic  Pwr.  Co.  will  petition  the 
incoming  State  Legislature  for  power  to  construct  a  series  of  new  dams 
on  the  Housatonic  River,  which,  however,  is  essentially  a  readjustment 
of  old  powers  given  to  the  company  by  the  State  Legislature.  The  plans 
call  for  a  dam  across  the  Housatonic  River  between  Pootacuck  River  and 
Southville,  to  have  a  height  35  ft.  above  the  present  surface  water. 
Another  dam  is  to  be  located  between  the  pool  of  the  lower  dam  and 
Lover's  Leap.  5  ft.  high.  The  petition  also  forecasts  a  third  dam.  25  ft. 
liigh,  at  Roxbury  Falls  on  the  Shepaug  River,  about  6  miles  north  of 
the  Housatonic.  These  dams  are  to  be  used  sooner  or  later  for  the  local 
development  of  electric  power.  The  plans  contemplate  ultimately  the 
construction  of  a  high  dam  across  the  Housatonic  River  just  below  the 
mouth    of    the    Shepaug   River. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C— Sealed  bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of 
the  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  Department  of  Agriculture,  Washington, 
1).  C,  until  Dec.  31  for  furnishing  at  the  power  house  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  an  electric  generator  and  bedplate.  Specifications 
and  full  information  may  be  obtained  upon  application  to  the  chief  clerk 
of   this   department.      W.    M.    Hays,    acting  secretary. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. — Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  elec- 
trical engineer  in  charge  of  the  automatic  scales  at  the  office  of  the 
secretary.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until  Jan.  15,  1913, 
for  furnishing  and  installing,  complete,  automatic  weighing  and  record- 
ing scales  for  customs  service,  in  accordance  with  specifications,  copies 
of  which  may  be  obtained  at  that  office.  James  F.  Curtis  is  assistant 
secretary. 

ATLANTA,  GA.— The  City  Council  has  granted  Joel  Hurt,  presi- 
dent of  the  Atlanta  Realty  Corpn.,  a  permit  to  erect  a  power  plant,  to 
cost  $150,000,  in  connection  with  a  large  building  on  Edgewood   Avenue. 

SPRINGFIELD,  GA.— Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $10,000  have  been 
voted  for  the  installation  of  an  electric-light  system  and  construction  of 
a  school   building. 

BOISE,  IDAHO. — The  Crane  Pwr.  &  Irrigation  Co.,  Ltd.,  expects  to 
complete  within  the  next  12  months  a  I2,000-hp  hydraulic  power  plant 
and  a  7000-hp  substation  to  supply  electricity  for  pumping  water  for  irri- 
gating purposes.  Equipment  has  been  purchased  for  the  plant,  consisting 
of  four  Allis-Chalmers  quadruple  turbines  of  3000  hp  each  and  Allis- 
Chalmers-  generators  of  2000  kva,  with  switching  equipment  for  both 
power  house  and  substation  and  also  material  for  a  66, 000- volt  trans- 
mission line,   62  miles  long.     Oswald  H.   Scott  is  secretary. 

BATAVIA.  ILL. — The  City  Council  is  contemplating  the  purchase  of 
a  new  engine  for  the  municipal  electric-light  plant,  to  cost  about  $7,000. 

DUNDEE,  ILL.— The  Village  Board  of  West  Dundee  has  decided  to 
install  an  electric-light  plant  to  light  the  streets  of  the  village. 

FARMINGTON,  ILL.— The  People's  El.  Sen  Co.  is  extending  its 
transmission  line  from  Middle  Grove  to  the  Newcolm  Farm,  which  will 
be  equipped  with  electrically  driven  machinery  and  water-works  system. 
The  McCourtney  grain  elevator  at  Middle  Grove  will  also  use  electrically 
driven  machinery. 

FRANKLINVILLE.  ILL.— The  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co.,  of 
Mattoon,  has  applied  to  the  Village  Board  for  a  SO-year  franchise  to  dis- 
tribute electricity  in  this  village. 

GALESBURG,  ILL.—The  City  Council  has  granted  Weinberg  Brothers 
a  30-year  franchise  to  distribute  electricity  on  certain  streets  of  the  city. 

HAMMOND,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  entered  into  a  contract  with 
E.  B.  Leavitt,  proprietor  of  the  city  garage,  whereby  Mr.  Leavitt  will 
supply  electricity  to  maintain  35  lamps  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  city. 

LEWISTOWN,  ILL.—The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Fulton  County 
fel.  &  Teleg.  Co.  a  25-year  franchise  to  operate  a  telephone  system  in 
this  city. 

LINCOLN,  ILL. — The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Lincoln  St.  Ry. 
Co.  a  20-year  franchise  to  lay  tracks  on  Eighth  and  State  Streets  in 
Lincoln. 

LINCOLN,  ILL, — The  City  Council  is  considering  the  proposition  to 
purchase  the  property  of  the  Lincoln  Wtr.  &  Lt.  Co.,  to  be  owned  and 
operated  by  the   municipality. 

METROPOLIS,  ILL. — The  purchase  of  one  100-kva,  three-phase,  60- 
cycle  direct-connected  engine  and  geneiator  with  switchboard  for  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant  is  contemplated  within  the  next  30  days.  P. 
M.    Richards  is  superintendent. 

NEPONSET,  ILL. — The  Village  Board  is  considering  a  proposition  to 
dispose  of  its  municipal  electric-light  plant.  It  is  said  that  two  companies 
are  negotiating  for  its  purchase  and  that  both  contemplate  erecting 
transmission  lines  to  Buda,  Sheffield  and  other  nearby  towns  if  the  sale 
is  consummated. 

PEKIN.  ILL. — The  Tazewell  County  Board  of  Supervisors  has  decided 
to    erect    ornamental    lamps    on    four    sides    of    the    County    Court    House 


1396 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD. 


Vol.  6o,  No.  ^6. 


square,    provided    the    merchants    install    a    similar    number    on    opposite 
sides  of  the  streets. 

PESOTUM,  ILL.— The  Village  Board  has  a>varc!ed  a -contract  for 
lighting  the  streets  of  the  village  to  the  Central  Illinois  Pub.  Ser.  Co., 
of  Mattoon.  A  transmission  line  will  be  erected  from  Mattoon  to 
Presotum  to  furnish  the  service 

RAYMOND,  ILL. — Application  has  been  made  to  the  Village  Board 
by  W.  B.  Adams,  of  Taylorville,  for  a  SO-year  franchise  to  erect  trans- 
mission lines  to  supply  electricity  in  this  village.  The  company  pro- 
poses to  install  an  electric-light  and  ice  plant  and  water-works  pumping 
station. 

SILVIS,  ILL. — The  Automatic  Home  Tel.  Co.,  which  was  granted  a 
franchise  in  Moline  and  Rock  Island,  has  petitioned  the  Village  Board 
for  a  franchise  to  operate  a  telephone  system  in  Silvis. 

.\LEX-ANDRLA,  IND. — The  old  power  house  of  the  Central  Indi- 
ana Ltg.  Co.  here  is  being  dismantled  and  will  be  converted  into  a  sub- 
station to  distribute  electricity  transmitted  from  the  power  houses  at 
Kiwood  and  Muncie. 

COLUMBUS,  IND.— The  City  Council  has  decided  to  replace  25  arc 
lamps  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city  with  tungsten  lamps.  Provision  was  also 
made  to  install  tungsten  lamps  in  other  parts  of  the  city  until  the  ca- 
pacity of  the  municipal   plant  is  reached. 

KENDALLVILLE,  IND. — C.  J.  Munton,  manager  for  the  receiver  of 
the  Toledo  &  Chicago  Interurban  Ry.  Co.,  has  announced  that  the  bond- 
holders have  contracted  with  the  General  Electric  Co.  for  equipment 
necessary  to  change  the  system  from  alternating  current,  3000  volts,  to 
direct  current,  600  volts.  This  change  will  refluire  the  erection  of  four 
substations. 

LOGANSPORT,  IND. — Improvements  are  contemplated  to  the  munici- 
pal electric-light  plant  within  the  next  few  months,  including  the  in- 
stallation of  a  surface  condenser  tor  40,000  lb.  of  steam  and  coal  and 
ash   handling  machinery.     J.    H.    Stewart  is  engineer  and  superintendent. 

NEWCASTLE,  IND. — Franchises  have  been  secured  by  M.  E.  Graston, 
representing  the  Union  Trac.  Co.,  in  the  towns  of  Kennard,  Shirley  and 
Wilkinson  to  erect  transmission  lines  for  the  distribution  of  electricity 
for  lamps  and  motors  in  those  towns.  Contracts  have  also  been  secured 
by  the  company  for  street  lighting  in-  these  towns.  Negotiations  are  also 
under  way  with  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Willow  Branch  for  a  franchise 
in  that  town. 

TERRE  HAUTE,  IND.— The  Terre  Haute,  Indianapolis  &  Eastern 
Trac.  Co.  expects  to  install  within  30  days  one  6250-kw  General  Electric 
turbine   and   auxiliaries.      Contracts   have   been    placed   for   efluipment. 

DYERSVILLE,  lA.— The  Dyersville  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  contemplates  the 
installation  of  an  electric-light  plant,  provided  a  renewal  of  franchise  is 
granted. 

FOREST  CITY,  lA.— The  Forest  City  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr,  Co.  expects  to 
make  extensive  improvements  to  its  plant  about  next  June,  including  the 
construction  of  a  new  power  house,  installation  of  boilers,  generators, 
switchboards,  pumps,  etc.     F.  Kellogg  is  president  and  manager. 

HERINGTON,  K.\N. — Extensions  are  contemplated  to  the  municipal 
electric-light  plant  within  the  next  seven  months.  The  plant  is  now 
furnishing  electricity  to  the  town  of  Hope  over  a  three-phase  circuit  of 
9J4   miles.     George  F.  Brockman  is  superintendent. 

HOISINGTON,  KAN.— The  Hoisington  El.  &  Ice  Co.  expects  to  pur- 
chase within  the  next  five  months  three  50-kw,  13,200-2300-volt  trans- 
formers for  the  Hoisington  substation  and  within  the  next  three  months 
expects  to  purchase  a  carload  of  25-ft.  (7-in.  top)  cedar  poles.  J.  R. 
Murphy  is  manager. 

PARSONS,  KAN. — A  committee  has  been  appointed  to  make  investi- 
gations of  municipal  ownership  of  electric-light  plants.  H.  H.  Brown, 
L.  J.  Beagle  and  J.  L.  Waite,  Sr.,  are  members  of  the  committee. 

TOPEKA,  KAN. — A  petition  has  been  presented  to  the  City  Commis^ 
sioners  by  the  property  owners  of  North  Topeka  asking  for  an  exten- 
sion of  the  ornamental  street-lighting  system  to  North  Topeka.  The  pro- 
posed extension  will  extend  from  Melan  Bridge  north  on  Kansas  Avenue 
to  Gordon   Street. 

FULTON,  KY. — The  property  of  the  Fulton  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
purchased  by  capitalists  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  for  about  $40,000.  Improve- 
ments and  additions  will  be  made  to  the  plant  involving  an  expenditure 
of  about  $40,000.  G.  K.  Mittenberger,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  is  president  of 
the  new  corporation.  Judson  H.  Broughton  and  W.  C.  Morehead  are 
also   interested  in  the  new  company. 

MUNFORDVILLE,  KY.— A  company  has  been  organized  in  Mun- 
fordvillc  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  an  electric  light  and  power  plant 
here.     Work  will  begin  on  plant  as  soon  as  franchise  can  be  secured. 

PARIS,  KY. — The  Paris  Gas  &  El.  Co.,  which  was  recently  purchased 
by  the  Kentucky  Utilities  Co.,  has  closed  contracts  with  the  City  Council 
for  furnishing  electricity  for  lighting  the  streets  of  the  city  for  a  period 
of  two  years.     The  system  is  to  be  extended,  eliminating  gas  lamps. 

SOMERSET,  KY.— The  Kentucky  Utilities  Co.,  which  recently  took 
over  the  property  of  the  United  Wtr.,  Lt.  St  Trac.  Co.,  will  begin  im- 
provements on  the  local  plant.  It  is  proposed  to  build  a  new  plant  at 
a  cost  of  about  $75,000. 

BATON  ROUGE,  LA.— The  City  Council  has  granted  the  Baton  Rouge 
El.  Co,  a  franchise  providing  for  the  construction  of  an  electric  railway 
from  Lafayette  Street  out  Florida  to  Tenth  Street,  on  Tenth  Street  to 
North    Boulevard,    on    North    Boulevard    to    East    Boulevard,    and    down 


East   Boulevard  to   Reddy   Street.     Work  is  to  begin  at  once  on   the  pro- 
posed railway. 

PORTLAND,  MAINE.— Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect.  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Jan.  6,  for  an  electric  elevator  in  the  United  States  post  office,  Portland, 
Maine,  in  accordance  with  plans  and  specifications,  copies  of  which  may 
be  obtained  at  the  above  office.  Oscar  Wenderoth  is  supervising  archi- 
tect. 

SANFORD,  MAINE.— The  Cumberland  County  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.,  of 
Portland,  has  acquired  the  property  of  the  Ossipee  Valley  Pwr.  Co., 
which  supplies  electrical  service  in  Sanford,  Alfred  and  Waterboro. 

BALTIMORE,  MD. — Plans  have  been  prepared  by  the  Consolidated 
El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  for  the  construction  of  a  one-story  concrete  boiler 
house,  50  ft.  by  78  ft.,  to  be  erected  at  the  foot  of  Leadenhall  Street, 
at  a  cost  of  about  $50,000.  The  structure  will  be  of  sufficient  size  to 
accommodate  two  450-hp.  boilers. 

FREDERICK,  MD. — Plans  are  being  considered  by  the  city  officials 
lor   improvements  to  the   municipal   electric-light  plant. 

ROCKVILLE,  MD.— The  Potomac  El.  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Washington.  D. 
C,  has  been  granted  permission  to  extend  its  electric  transmission  lines 
from  Rockville  along  the  Frederick  Road  to  Gaithersburg,  and  from 
Frederick  Road  along  the  roads  leading  to  Derwood  and  Washington 
Grove. 

BOSTON,  MASS.— The  directors  of  the  Boston  &  Maine  Railroad 
Co.  have  appropriated  $2,800,000  for  purchase  of  equipment  and  im- 
provements to  the  property,  of  which  $800,000  will  be  used  for  automatic 
block  signals,  electric  lighting  and  fans  in  dining  cars  and  for  improve- 
ments to  shops. 

EDGARTOWN,  MASS.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the 
County  Commissioners  of  Dukes  County,  Edgartown,  Mass.,  until  Jan. 
10,  1913,  for  wiring  and  equipping  the  county  court  house  for  electric 
lighting,  in  accordance  with  specifications  which  may  be  seen  on  applica- 
tion to  the  commissioners  or  the  clerk  of  courts.  William  D.  Harding 
is  a  member  of  the  commission. 

LEOMINSTER,  MASS.— The  Leominster  El.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  ap- 
plied for  permission  to  issue  1500  shares  in  capital  stock  to  be  issued  at 
$100  each,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  additions  and  improvements  to 
its  plant. 

MILLBURY,  MASS.— The  Worcester  Consol.  St.  Ry.  Co.  contemplates 
the  erection  of  a  transformer  station  near  the  power  house  on  Provi- 
dence  Street   in   Millbury. 

NORTH  AD.\MS,  MASS.— The  North  Adams  Gas  Lt.  Co.  has  applied 
to  the  State  Board  of  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commissioners  for  per- 
mission to  issue  4000  shares  of  capital  stock  at  $130  per  share,  the  pro- 
ceeds to  be  used  for  additions  and  improvements  to   its  property. 

FRANKFORT,  MICH.— The  Benzie  County  Pwr.  Co.  is  reported  to 
have  purchased  the  property  of  the  Frankfort  El.  Lt.  Co.  and  will  take 
over    the   system   at   once. 

J.'\CKSON,  MICH. — The  Commonwealth  Pwr  Co.,  Jackson,  has  ap- 
plied to  the  State  Railroad  Commission  for  permission  to  issue  $457, OOC 
in  bonds,  to  be  divided  among  nine  subsidiaries  of  the  corporation  for 
improvements  and  extensions  as  follows:  The  Pontiac  Pwr.  Co.,  $5,000; 
Flint  El.  Co.,  $9,000;  Consumers'  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Kalamazoo,  $19,000;  Bay 
City  Pwr.  Co.,  $4,000;  Saginaw  Pwr.  Co.,  $27,000;  Grand  Rapids  & 
Muskegon  El.  Co.  $92,000;  Economy  Pwr.  Co.,  $14,000;  Commonwealth 
Pwr.  Co.,  of  Jackson,   $86,000,  and  Au  Sable  El.   Co.,  $201,000. 

BOYD,  MINN. — Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $7,500  have  been  voted  for 
the  installation  of  an  electric-light  system  in  Boyd. 

CROOKSTON,  MINN.— The  Red  River  Farm  &  Land  Co.  contem- 
plates a  1500-kw,  60-cycle,  three-phase  hydraulic  development  on  Red 
Lake  River,  4  miles  east  of  the  city,  within  the  next  six  months,  and  ex- 
pects to  purchase  waterwheel,  generating  equipment,  switchboard,  etc.  E. 
Peterson    is    interested    in   the   company. 

MADISON,  MINN. — Improvements  are  being  made  to  the  municipal 
electric-light  plant,  including  the  installation  of  two  lOO-kw  alternating- 
current,  direct-connected  units,  new  transmission  lines  for  commercial 
lignting  and  power  service.  The  new  lighting  system  is  to  be  com- 
pleted about  March  1.     J.  C.  Bang  is  manager. 

ROCHESTER,  MINN. — The  Zumbro  Pwr.  Co.,  which  proposes  to  build 
a  hydroelectric  plant  on  the  Zumbro  River  in  the  towns  of  Mazeppa  and 
Zumbro,  has  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  City  Council  to  supply  elec- 
tricity here. 

WHITE  BEAR  LAKE,  MINN.— The  Consumers'  Pwr.  Co.,  of  White 
Bear  Lake,  contemplates  the  purchase  of  100  meters,  several  transformers 
and  a  quantity  of  No.  8  wire  for  services;  also  wires  for  numerous  ex- 
tensions.    J.   W.   Mattimore  is  superintendent. 

LEE'S  SUMMIT,  MO. — The  property  of  the  Lee's  Summit  El.  Lt.  & 
Pwr.  Co.  has  been  purchased  by  Earl  T.  Thompson,  of  Mayview,  for 
$8,000. 

OSCEOLA,  MO.— C.  R.  Hunt,  of  Osceola,  and  Nathan  E.  Utt,  1718 
Harris  Trust  Building,  Chicago,  III.,  are  interested  in  a  project  to  con- 
struct a  hydroelectric  power  plant  on  the  Osage  River.  It  is  proposed  to 
build  a  14-ft.  reinforced-concrete  dam  to  develop  4000  hp  at  a  cost  of 
about  $600,000.     A  company  will  be  organized  to  carry  out  the  project. 

PACIFIC,  MO. — At  a  special  election  held  recently  the  proposition  to 
grant   the    Pacific    El.    Co.    a   new    franchise   was   carried.     .\    new   street- 


December  28,  1912. 


ELECTRICAL    WORLD. 


1397 


Hghting  contract  was  also  granted.  The  Mississippi  River  Pwr  D.stnb. 
Co  has  purchased  the  holdings  of  the  Pacific  El.  Co.  and  will  erect  a 
transmission  line  from  St.  Louis  to  Pacific,  furnishing  power  from  the 
Keokuk  dam. 


HARVARD,  NEB.— The  Harvard  El.  Co.  expects  to  purchase  elec- 
trical appliances  and  supplies,  including  flatirons,  electric  washing  ma- 
chines and  vacuum  cleaners,  within  the  next  six  months.  A.  W.  Ferson 
is  manager. 

LOUISVILLE,  NEB.— The  Platte  EI.  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  recently  or. 
ganized,  proposes  to  build  a  hydroelectric  power  plant  on  the  Platte  K.ver 
about  IK  miles  west  of  Louisville.  The  officers  are;  W.  B.  Lefler,  ol 
Springfield,  president;  James  Stander,  of  Louisville,  secretary,  and  P. 
C.    Stander,   of    Louisville,   treasurer. 

CARSON  CITY,  NEV.— The  Truckee  River  General  Irrigation  Co.  is 
planning  to  erect  new  transmission  lines.  Special  rates  will  be  made  for 
electricity  for  irrigation  purposes,  and  it  is  expected  that  many  pump.ng 
plants  will  be  installed  along  the  line. 

CONCORD  N  H.— The  Concord  El.  Co.  has  submitted  a  proposition 
to  the  Board'  of  Public  Works  for  improving  the  street-lighting  system 
by  the  inMallation  of  60-cp  and  200^p  tungsten  lamps.  The  proposed 
plan  calls  for  96  additional  lamps  at  an  additional  expense  of  only  $268 
per  year.  .  , 

EXETER  N  H.— The  Exeter  &  Hampton  El.  Co.  has  petitioned  the 
Public  Service  Commission  for  authority  to  operate  an  electric  system  m 
the  town  of  Stratham. 

HILL    N     H.— The   Public   Service   Commission   has   granted    Frank  K. 

Woodward  permission  to  operate  an  electric  system  in  the  town  of  Hill. 

KEENE    N    H.-The  Keene   Gas   &   El.   Co.   and  the   Ashuelot  Gas  & 

El    Co    have  applied  to  the  Public   Service  Commission  for   authority  to 

operate  an  electric  system  in  the  town  of  Westmoreland. 

NEWARK    N.  J.-Work  has  been  started  on  an  addition  to  the  Marion 

ri:r::d:l-dre>^:^^t^:m^p:t.^^^ 
— rt^a^^^:ork^pi=r^.cB£^^^^ 

'--:'  l^r;';orr  TL'::s"the':ddlio:-  wm  bra^^rVimately 
;';o"oo";  A  ntrac't'has  ai:o  been  awarded  for  a  POOO-Uw  t-bo-generator 
installed  in   the  new  building.     This  will   give  the   plant   an   output 

of  67,000  kw.  ^  t  ^    .1     „„ 

CASTLETON  N.  Y.-Th*e  Schodack  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Corpn.,  of  Castleton 
ha^  b«n  Janfed  permission  by  the  Public  Service  Commission,  Second 
DTstric,  to  purchase  the  local  electric-light  plant,  owned  by  L_  M^  /-an^ 
sing  and  to  issue  $7,000  in  capital  stock  for  such  purpose.  Eventually 
the  company  proposes  to  extend  its   operations  to  adjoining  towns. 

NFW  YORK  N  Y.-Sealed  bids  will  be  received  by  the  Board  ot 
HeaUh  of  ?he  Department  of  Health,  Centre  and  Walker  Streets  New 
Health    oitnep  ^^^  furnishing  and  installing  electric  and  gas- 

York,  N.  Y,  ""'"  ""^        •  ^       ,^ijh   a„   necessary   alterations   and    other 

"'T'  alTaT'there'to  fo  two  c  ncrcte  pavilions  on  the  ground  of  the 
work  '"/'dental  thereto    tor  tw  ^^^^^  ^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^^  ^^^ 

^•^J^Z^t:  fl°;ht  IXrmation  may  -^ --"teferir  pfD" 
of  the  chief  clerk  of  the  Department  of  Health.     Ernst  J.  Lederle.  r 

^^OSWEGO^V^Y'-Arrangements   are  being   made    for    the   installation 
OSWEGO,    N.  J.                 B  ^^^  ,.^,j3  through  Fruit 

of  electric  lamps  along  th^  Plank  Kod  ^^^^    ^^^^    subscribed. 

Valley    to    Southwest    Oswego,    tor    wm  extension  of   lighting 

The   residents   a.on.  t  e         .  bave^also  askedjo^^    ^^^^^^^^^^ 

l^e'rYand  Rufus  Ha:kins  are  members  of  the  committee  in  charge  of 
""wirTTtMSVILLE     N.    Y.-The    contract    for    installing    an    electric- 

[^Id's'Lt  l^^ps  on  Main   Street  and  30  on  the  side  streets. 

CHARLOTTE    N.  C.-The  Board  of  Aldermen  has  adopted  the  propo- 
CHARLOilt,  1  .  g      j^^„    p„,.    Co.    for    the    installaaon    of    an 

sition  -''^■"'^^^^^^f  .;,^„\  „  and  has  authorised  the  executive  board 
ornamental  street-. ghtingsste  ^^^   ^^  ^^^   ^^^^^^^^   ^^^ 

'"/  for'uie  in  alfaton  of  new  magnetite  arc  lamps  to  replace  those 
vidcs  for   the   .nstallatio  ^.^^^^.^^   ^.^^^._^^_    ^^^^^^   ^,^^j^^ 

„ow  "^  7;^  ";,;P;ed  on  ornamental  standards.  Wires  in  this  district 
iTbe placed  uXiround.     W.  S.  Lee  is  vice-president  and  gener.il  man- 

aeer   of   the   company. 
VtFVELAND    OHIO.-Sealed   proposals   will   be   received   at  the   office 
CLEVELAiNU,  uri  ^^^    jg^^   City   Hall, 

"\'^^an"2  m3  for  fibe  nduit  for  the  municipal  electric-light  plant, 
r:  crdan;e"wit;;ians  and  specifications  which  ma,  ^eob^^ned  in  the 
office  of  the  engineer  ot  construction,  Room  319,  City  Hall.  W.  J. 
Springborn  is   director  of   public  service. 

rTFVFTAND  OHIO.— Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office 
of  the  secretary 'of  director  of  public  service.  No.  104  City  Hall,  Cleve- 
of  the  se"«"y  °  paper-insulated    cable    for    the    municipal 

land,    until    Jan.    2.    1913      for    P  pe  ^^.^^.^^   ^^^   ^^    ^^. 

red^i'thelce  T^  Ze.^nZ  of  con'structlon.  Room  319,  City  Hall. 
W    J    Springborn  is  director  of  public  service. 

KENTON,   OHIO.— The   Hardin-Wyandotte   Lt.    Co.   has   been   granted 


an  extension  of  its  franchise  for  a  period  of  ten  years,  in  return  for 
which  the  company  agrees  to  erect  a  new  plant  and  install  new  street 
lamps  in  the  city. 

LINDSEY,  OHIO.— The  village  of  Lindsey  has  sold  $3,500  in  bonds, 
the  proceeds  to  be  used  for  the  erection  of  a  transmission  line  to  con- 
nect with  tlie  line  of  the  Lake  Shore  El.  Ry.  Co.,  2  miles  south,  to  trans- 
mit electricity  to  Lindsey   for  street  lighting. 

MARYSVILLE,  OHIO.— The  Marysville  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  is  erecting 
complete  new  three-phase,  2300-volt  primary  lines  and  new  three-wire 
secondary  lines  and  is  now  installing  two  250-kva,  three-phase,  60-cycle, 
2300-volt,  36D0-r.p.m.  Curtis  horizontal  steam  turbo-generators,  Le  Blanc 
condensers,  new  seven-panel  switchboard,  complete,  manufactured  by 
General  Electric  Co.,  transformers  (250  kva),  lightning  arresters,  dis- 
connecting switches  and  all  new  induction  meters.  The  company  expects 
to  purchase  within  the  next  12  months  a  complete  new  coal-handling 
system.      F.   C.   Jeannot  is  superintendent. 

PAULDING,  OHIO. — Extensive  improvements  are  contemplated  to  the 
municipal  electric-light  plant  and  water-works  system  within  the  next 
six  months,  changing  the  system  from  direct  current  to  alternating  cur- 
rent. These  improvements  will  include  the  purchase  of  one  200-hp 
tubular  boiler,  two  engines  (150  hp  and  100  hp),  two  generators,  two 
motor-driven  deep-well  pumps,  switchboard  with  about  four  panels,  with 
instruments  for  same,  500  poles,  15  transformers  (5  kw  to  10  kw),  light- 
ning arresters  and  100  tungsten  series  street  lamps.  L.  O.  Farnsworth 
is  superintendent. 

SPRINGFIELD,  OHIO.— The  Springfield  Merchants'  Association  is 
reported  to  have  been  notified  that  the  municipality  has  decided  to  in- 
stall ornamental  street  lamps  upon  Main  and  High  Streets  from  Spring 
to  Yellow  Springs  Street,  upon  Livingstone  Street,  Fountain  Avenue, 
Center,  Wittenberg  Avenue,  Lowry  Avenue,  Plum  Street  and  Yellow 
Springs  Street.  Property  owners  are  to  be  assessed  for  the  cluster 
lamps,  while  the  city  will  pay  for  the  installation  and  supply  electricity 
to  maintain  the  lamps. 

XENIA,  OHIO.— The  Dayton  Pwr.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  applied  to  the 
Public  Service  Commission  for  permission  to  take  over  the  property  of 
the  Xenia  Gas  &  El.  Co.  The  Dayton  company  proposes  to  erect  a  high- 
tension  transmission  line  to  Xenia.  Arrangements  will  be  made  to  serve 
electricity  in  the  rural  districts  along  the  line.  The  company  is  negoti- 
ating with  the  Dayton  &  Xenia  Trac.  Co.  to  furnish  energy  to  operate  the 
traction  system. 

ALBANY,  ORE.— J.  B.  Coffey,  receiver  for  the  Northwestern  Long 
Distance  Tel.  Co.,  has  petitioned  the  Circuit  Court  for  permission  to 
complete  arrangements  for  a  joint  telephone  line  with  the  Home  Tel. 
Co.  from  Albany  to  other  Linn  County  points. 

BEND,  ORE.— The  property  of  the  Bend  Wtr.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  purchased  by  Charles  A.  Brown  and  Kempster  B.  Miller,  of  McMeen 
&  Miller,  of  Chicago,  111.,  the  corporation  being  known  as  the  Central 
Oregon  Pwr.  Co.  Included  in  the  sale  are  the  entire  water,  light  and 
power  plant  equipment  and  water  rights  in  Bend,  240  acres  at  Benham 
Falls  and  80  acres  at  Lava  Falls,  both  including  the  power  rights  of 
these  two  falls  12  miles  south  of  here.  Work  will  be  resumed  immedi- 
ately on  the  power  house,  operations  having  been  held  up  pending  the 
deal.  The  power  house  will  be  20  ft.  by  IQO  ft.  A  350-kw  turbo-gener- 
ator unit  will  be  installed.  T.  H.  Foley  will  be  retained  as  general 
manager. 

EUGENE,  ORE. — The  City  Council  has  ordered  the  installation  of  30 
additional  street  lamps.  The  street-lighting  service  is  furnished  by  the 
Oregon  Pwr.  Co. 

PORTLAND,  ORE. — An  investigation  is  being  made  by  the  East  Side 
Business  Men's  Club  of  the  practicability  of  the  city  of  Portland  acquir- 
ing and  operating  a  municipally  owned  telephone  and  messenger  system. 
L.  M.  Lepper  is  chairman  of  the  club. 

TILLAMOOK,  ORE.— The  United  Rys.  Co.,  of  Portland,  contem- 
plates the  construction  of  an  electric  railway  from  Banks  to  Tillamook, 
a  distance  ot  about  40  miles. 

DOYLESTOWN,  PA. — The  Borough  Council  is  contemplating  replac- 
ing the  present  arc-lamp  street-lighting  system  with  incandescent  lamps. 
HARRISBURG,  PA. — The  Capitol  Park  Extension  Commission  has 
purchased  the  property  of  the  Harrisburg  Steam  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  and  its 
accessories,  for  $117,500.  The  steam-heating  company  will  soon  change 
hands  and  the  new  owners  plan  to  erect  the  new  plant  in  conjunction 
with  the  plant  of  the  Harrisburg  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  on  Ninth  Street. 

KITTANNING,  PA. — Papers  have  been  filed  at  the  Capitol  at  Har- 
risburg announcing  the  transfer  of  the  Manor  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  the 
Ford  City  Pwr.  Co.  and  the  Armstrong  El.  Co.  to  the  Kittanning  El.  Lt. 
Co. 

MOUNT  PLEASANT,  PA.— The  Borough  Council  has  granted  the 
Mountain  Pwr.  Co.  a  franchise  to  install  and  operate  an  electric-light 
plant  here.  Edward  H.  Wise,  of  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  is  interested  in  the 
company. 

NEW  CASTLE,  PA. — The  Select  Council  has  passed  an  ordinance 
authorizing  the  proposition  to  issue  $200,000  in  bonds  for  the  mstalla- 
tion  of  a  municipal  electric-light  plant  to  be  submitted  to  a  vote. 

PORTAGE,  PA. The   Penn  Central  Lt.   &  Pwr.   Co.,  of  Altoona,  has 

begun  work  on  the  erection  of  a  substation  in  Portage,  which  will  be 
used  in  connection  with  supplying  energy  to  a  large  coal  territory  in 
Cambria  County. 


1398 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD, 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


STATE  COLLEGE,  PA.— The  property  of  the  Nittany  Lt..  Ht.  &  Pwr. 
Co.,  of  State  College,  has  been  taken  over  by  a  new  electric  company  in 
which  A.  J,  Musser  and  Asbury  Lee,  of  Clearfield,  and  J.  S.  Fisher,  of 
Indiana,  are  interested.  The  new  corporation  has  charters  for  companies 
in  several  towns  in  Center  County. 

WEST  READING,  PA.— The  Borough  Council  has  awarded  the  con- 
tract for  street  lighting  to  the  Metropolitan  El.  Co.,  of  Reading,  for  a 
period  of   10  years,  at  its  bid  of  $21    per  lamp  per  year. 

JAMESTOWN,  R.  L— The  Town  Council  has  granted  the  Bay  State 
Street  R,  R.  Co.  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  for  lighting  in  Jamestown 
for  a  period  of  25  years. 

PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.— The  Lundin  El.  &  Machine  Co.,  of  Boston, 
Mass.,  has  secured  the  contract  for  850  new  lamp-posts  and  650  new 
brackets  to  be  used  in  connection  with  the  new  lamps  to  be  erected  in 
this  city. 

HURON,  S.  D. — The  Huron  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  expects  to  purchase  within 
the  next  six  months  a  carload  of  30-ft.  poles  (7  in.  top),  25,000  ft.  of 
distribution  cable,  50,000  ft.  No.  14  wire,  200  electric  meters  and  5000 
incandescent  lamps;  also  200  irons,  15  washing  machines  and  about 
$2,000  worth  of  wiring  supplies,  etc.     L.   E.  Butler  is  manager. 

CHATTANOOGA,  TENN.— The  citizens  of  North  Chattanooga  are 
considering  the  organization  of  a  corporate  body  to  represent  their  inter- 
ests in  arranging   for  a  new  lighting  plant  and  system  in  that  suburb. 

DECHERD,  TENN. — The  Stone  Pwr.  Co.,  which  was  recently  granted 
a  franchise  in  Decherd,  will  supply  the  service  for  the  present  from 
Winchester.  Three  substations  will  be  erected,  one  at  Winchester,  the 
second  at  Decherd  and  the  third  at  Tullahoma.  The  equipment  of  the 
plant  consists  of  two  26-in.  Trump  waterwheels  (280  hp)  and  one  180-kw, 
60-cycle,  alternating-current  General  Electric  generator.  Contracts  for 
the  work  have  already  been  awarded.  H.  T.  Brown,  of  Winchester, 
Tenn.,  is  engineer  in  charge  of  the  work.  H.  A.  Walmsl^  is  secretary 
of  the  company. 

MORRISTOWN,  TENN.— Arrangements  are  being  made  to  install  a 
new  street-lighting  system  in  Morristown.  Ornamental  bronze  lamp 
standards  will  be  used. 

NASHVILLE,  TENN.— The  Nashville  St.  Ry.  &  Lt.  Co.  has  awarded 
contract  for  the  erection  of  a  substation  on  the  Lebanon  turnpike.  This  sta- 
tion will  be  used  for  distributing  electricity  generated  at  the  Ocoee  and 
Great  Falls  plant  in  Nashville. 

PULASKI,  TENN. — Within  the  past  three  months  a  new  plant  has 
been  erected  to  replace  the  old  steam-driven  municipal  electric  plant. 
The  equipment  of  the  new  plant  consists  of  one  200-kva,  2300-volt  al- 
ternating-current Westinghouse  generator,  switchboard,  225-hp  Diesel  oil 
engine,  together  with  all  necessary  auxiliary  apparatus  and  a  series  tungs- 
ten street-lighting  system.     James  T.   Watson  is  manager. 

BREMOND,  TEX. — The  Bremond  El.  Lt.  Co.,  which  has  just  com- 
pleted its  electric-light  plant,  contemplates  the  installation  of  an  ice 
plant  in  the  near  future. 

FORT  STOCKTON,  TEX.— The  Fort  Stockton  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  ex- 
pects to  erect  within  the  next  two  months  10  miles  of  2200-volt  transmis- 
sion lines  to  furnish  electricity  to  city  and  irrigated  lands  and  contem- 
plates the  purchase  of  oil  burners,  oil  meters,  water  pump,  two  trans- 
formers and  tungsten  street  series  lighting  equipment;  also  vacuum 
cleaners,  washing  machines,  etc.  The  company  also  expects  to  purchase 
within  one  month  40-ft.  and  50-ft.  poles,  secondary  racks,  etc.  The 
company  has  already  purchased  two  125-hp  Walsh  &  Weidener  boilers,  one 
125-hp  Bates  Corliss  engine,  one  80-kva,  three-phase  alternator,  with 
switchboards,  etc.  R.  B.  Dudley  is  constructing  engineer  and  manager. 
GILMER,  TEX. — The  property  of  the  Gilmer  Lt.,  Ice  &  Pwr.  Co.  has 
been  purchased  by  Albert  Manuel  Co.,  of  Dayton,  Ohio.  The  new 
owners  contemplate  improvements  to  both  the  electric  and  ice  plants. 

MOUNT  PLEASANT,  UTAH.— rAn  agreement  has  been  entered  into 
between  the  city  of  Mount  Pleasant  and  the  Mount  Pleasant  Mill'S:  Pwr. 
Co.  whereby  the  city  will  take  over  the  electrical  plant  of  the  latter,  to 
be  owned  and  operated  by  the  municipality.  The  city  expects  within  the 
next  six  months  to  erect  a  new  power  plant  and  to  purchase  generating 
equipment  for  same,  including  generators,  turbines  and  waterwheel.  The 
distributing  system  will  be  changed  from  single-phase  to  the  three- 
phase  system.  A.  C.  Wall  is  manager  of  the  Mount  Pleasant  Mill  & 
Pwr.  Co. 

RICHMOND,  VA.— The  Richmond  &  Henrico  Ry.  Co.,  which  was 
recently  granted  a  franchise  to  supply  electricity  in  Richmond,  will  pre- 
pare plans  at  once  to  install  a  distributing  system  here.  It  is  stated 
that  the  new  franchise  will  necessitate  the  laying  of  underground  con- 
duits in  Broad,  Main  and  other  streets  in  the  underground  district, 

COLFAX,  WASH.— The  Inland  Tel.  &  Tel.  Co.,  of  Spokane,  Wash., 
has  applied  for  a  franchise  to  construct  a  telephone  system  in  Whitman 
County.  The  company  will  erect  a  telephone  line  from  Spokane  to 
Colfax,  a  distance  of  about  55  miles,  with  branch  lines  extending  to 
every  town  in  Whitman  County. 

EPHRATA,  WASH. — Money  has  been  subscribed  by  the  citizens  of 
Ephrata  for  the  immediate  installation  of  a  modern  metallic  telephone 
system  between  Ephrata  and  Moses  Lake,  a  distance  of  about  20  miles. 
PULLMAN,  WASH. — The  City  Council  is  considering  the  question 
of  increasing  the  street-lighting  facilities.  Two  propositions  are  under 
consideration,  one  of  installing  tungsten  lamps  and  the  other  to  erect 
about  20  more  arc  lamps  in  the  residence  section. 


SEATTLE,  WASH.— Frank  P.  Hall,  telephone  expert,  engaged  by  the 
City  Council  to  prepare  estimates  of  the  cost  of  the  installation  of  a 
municipal  telephone  system,  has  submitted  to  the  Council  his  report,  in 
which  he  estimates  the  cost  of  a  system  providing  for  20.000  telephones 
at  $3,112,180;  for  30,000  telephones  at  $3,574,180,  and  for  40,000  tele- 
phones at  $4,314,253.  The  report  has  been  referred  to  the  utilities  and 
finance   commission. 

TACOMA,  W.\SH. — The  contract  for  installing  electrical  equipment 
in  the  New  National  Realty  Building,  Tacoma,  has  been  awarded  to  the 
Evans-Dickson    Co.,   725    Commerce   Street,    Tacoma. 

BLUEFIELD,  W.  VA. — The  Appalachian  Pwr.  Co.,  operating  in  Vir- 
ginia and  West  Virginia,  expects  to  complete  within  the  next  three 
months  substations  and  lines  now  under  construction.  G.  G.  Wilder, 
of  Bluefield,   is  manager. 

ELKINS,  W.  VA. — Sealed  bids  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  the 
supervising  architect,  Treasury  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  until 
Jan.  28  for  construction,  including  plumbing,  gas  fitting,  heating  appa- 
ratus, electric  conduits,  wiring  interior,  lighting  fixtures  and  approaches, 
of  the  United  States  post  office  at  Elkins,  W.  Va.  Drawings  and 
specifications  may  be  obtained  at  the  above  office  or  from  custodian  of 
site  at   Elkins.      Oscar   Wenderoth   is  supervising  architect. 

EAU  CLAIRE,  WIS.— The  Chippewa  Valley  Ry.,  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  ex- 
pects to  erect  within  the  next  four  months  7  miles  of  13,000-volt  trans- 
mission line  and  to  purchase  material  for  same;  the  company  also  expects 
to  purchase  within  the  next  six  months  tub  transformers,  rectifiers  and 
152   arc   lamps.     George  B.   Wheeler  is  general   manager. 

FREDERICK,  WIS. — Gotfred  Grimh  has  closed -a  deal  whereby  he 
has  become  owner  of  the  water-power  at  Clam  Falls.  A  new  concrete 
dam  wrll  be  built  and  a  high-tension  transmission  line  erected  next  sum- 
mer. Mr.  Grimh  will  furnish  electricity  to  other  manufacturers  as  well 
as  to  operate  his  own  mill. 

KILBOURNE,  WIS. — The  managers  of  the  municipal  electric-light 
plant  expect  to  purchase  within  the  next  four  months  one  75-kw  and  one 
30-kw  frequency-changer  set,  a  Tirrill  voltage  regulator  and  necessary 
switchboard   equipment.      David   G.    Howey   is  superintendent. 

LA  CROSSE,  WIS.— The  La  Crosse  Interurban  Tel.  Co.  has  received 
authority  from  the  Wisconsin  Commission  to  issue  $15,000  in  bonds  and 
$18,000  in  capital  stock,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  to  liquidate  outstanding 
indebtedness  and  to  provide   for  extensions  and  improvements. 

WAUPACA,  WIS.— The  Waupaca  EI.  Lt.  &  Ry.  Co.  expects  to  change 
its  light  and  power  service  from  single-phaae.  high  frequency,  to  three- 
phase,  60-cycle,  and  to  build  a  new  concrete  dam.  Witliin  the  next  few 
months  the  company  expects  to  purchase  two  new  waterwheels  and  one  or 
two  new  three-phase,  60-cycle  generators.  Irving  P.  Lord  is  president  and 
general  manager. 


New  Industrial  Companies 

THE  ELECTRIC  VEHICLE  MAINTENANCE  COMPANY,  of  Chi- 
cago, 111.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,500  to  repair 
electric  vehicles.  The  incorporators  are:  William  Knoblach,  William  C. 
Russell  and  H.  A.  Tarantores. 

THE  FOREMAN  MOTOR  &  MACHINE  COMPANY,  LTD.,  of 
Toronto,  Ont.,  Can.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$40,000  by  G.  H.  Foreman,  T.  H.  Sharp  and  Robert  Petman,  all  of 
Toronto.  The  company  proposes  to  manufacture,  install  and  utilize  ma- 
chinery and  other  apparatus  to  generate  and  distribute  light,  heat  and 
power. 

THE  GOTTSCHALK  WATERPROOF  SANITARY  TRANSMITTER 
COMPANY,  of  Augusta,  Maine,  has  been  incorporated  to  manufacture 
and  deal  in  all  kinds  of  telephone  transmitters  and  instruments.  The 
company  is  capitalized  at  $400,000.  E.  M.  Hussey,  of  Augusta.  Maine,  is 
president  and  treasurer. 

THE  INLAND  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  HI.,  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000  to  manufacture  and  deal  in 
electrical  supplies  and  automobile  supplies.  The  incorporators  are:  John 
D.   Clancy,  George  B.   Cohen  and  John  E.  Anderson. 

THE  INTERSTATE  EQUIPMENT  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY, 
of  Chicago,  III.,  has  been  incorporated  by  Henry  H.  Russell,  Harry  C. 
Kribbs  and  Joseph  Fay.  The  company  is  capitalized  at  $5,000  and  pro- 
poses to  manufacture  and  deal  in  electrical  supplies  and  devices. 

THE  NORTHRUP  BURGLAR  ALARM,  INC.,  of  San  Francisco, 
Cal.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  by  L.  A. 
Northrup,  John  Rasmussen  and  M.  E.  Reilly. 

THE  PAWSON  ENGINEERING  &  CONSTRUCTION  COMPANY. 
of  Palmyra,  N.  J.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000 
by  P.  Weigel,  Jr.,  of  New  Brunswick;  R.  E.  Greasley  and  N.  R.  Van 
r.ooslirl,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.  The  company  proposes  to  do  general  me- 
chanical,  electrical   and  architectural    engineering  and    construction   work. 

THE  ROBINSON  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  has 
been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000  to  do  a  general  electrical 
supply  and  manufacturing  business.  The  incorporators  are :  E.  B.  Rob- 
inson, R.  H.  Robinson  and  M.  P.   Ellis. 

THE  ROSS  POWER  COMPANY,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  has  been  incor- 
porated  with   a  capital   stock   of   $20,000  by   Robert   M.   Zeppenfeld,  John 


December  28,  1912. 


E  L  E  C  T  R  I  C  A  r.     WORLD. 


1399 


W.  Mackey  and  Edgar  D.  Weiss.  The  company  proposes  to  manufac- 
ture and  deal  in  engines,  machinery,  boilers  and  complete  equipment  for 
power  houses. 

THE  SANIT.VRY  WATERPROOF  TELEPHONE  COMPANY,  of 
Augusta,  Maine,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000 
to  manufacture  and  deal  in  telephone  instruments.  E.  M.  Hussey,  of 
Augusta,   is  president  and  treasurer. 

THE  STARRETT  ELECTRIC  COMPANY,  of  Chicago,  111.,  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000  to  manufacture  and  deal  in 
electrical  and  mechanical  appliances.  The  incorporators  are  Henry  T. 
Slarrett,   Austin  H.   Martin   and  William  J.   Candlish. 

THE  TIME  IMPULSE  MACHINERY  CORPORATION,  of  New 
York,  N.  Y.,  has  been  incorporated  by  Herbert  C.  Sparks,  Waldemar 
Kaempftert,  and  John  J.  Pheelan,  261  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y.  The 
company  is  capitalized  at  $10,000  and  proposes  to  manufacture  and  deal 
in    generators,    timers,    controllers,    semaphores,    signals    and    indicators. 

THE  TRUMBULL-VANDERPOEL  ELECTRIC  MANUFACTURING 
COMPANY,  of  Litchfield,  Conn.,  has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital 
stoct  of  $50,000  by  Charles  F.  Flynn,  George  R.  Trumbull  and  Floyd 
L.  Vanderpoel.  The  company  proposes  to  manufacture  electrical  appli- 
ances. 


Trade  Publications 


New  Incorporations 

OCALA,  FLA.— The  Lake  Weir  Lt.  &  Wtr.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000  and  the  following  officers:  R.  L.  Martin, 
president  and  treasurer;  L.  W.  Duval,  vice-president,  and  D.  S.  Woodrow, 
secretary. 

LOUISVILLE,  MISS. — .-\rticles  of  incorporation  have  been  filed  for 
the  Louisville  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co.  with  a  capital  stock  of  $30,000  by  F.  H. 
Woodward  and  M.  H.  Woodward.  Plans  and  specifications,  it  is  said, 
are  being  made  for  the  proposed  plant. 

PATERSON,  N.  J. — The  Pequannock  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $125,000  by  R.  W.  Smith,  E.  C.  Smith,  of  Mon- 
roe, N.  Y.,  and  E.  A.  De  Yoe,  of  Ramsey.  The  company  proposes  to 
distribute   electricity   for   lamps  and   motors. 

MIDDLETOWN,  N.  Y.— The  New  York  &  New  Jersey  Pwr.  Corpn. 
has  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000  by  Edward  N. 
Abbey,  Charles  A.  Bruce  and  Thomas  Roberts,  1040  Simpson  Street, 
Brooklyn,   N.   Y. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.— The  Upper  Hudson  El.  &  R.  R.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000  by  Edward  A.  Stevens, 
Frank  S.  Tainter  and  Marcus  H.  Horton,  215  Montague  Street,  Brook- 
lyn. The  company  is  a  consolidation  of  the  Schoharie  Lt.  &  Pwr.  Co., 
of  Schoharie;  Catskill  Illg.  &  Pwr.  Co.,  of  Catskill,  and  the  Upper  Hud- 
son   EI.    Railroad   Companies. 

HENDERSONVILLE,  N.  C— The  Manufacturers'  Pwr.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  by  W.  S.  Montgomery,  John  A.  Law,  George  E.  Ladsliaw 
and  H.  L.  Bomar,  of  Spartanburg,  S.  C;  Joseph  Lee,  of  Landrum,  S.  €., 
and  William  A.  Law,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.  The  company  is  capitalized 
at  $700,000  and  proposes  to  construct  a  hydroelectric  plant  and  trans- 
mission system.  The  company  has  purchased  1200  acres  of  land  on  Green 
River,  extending  over  a  territory  of  12  miles  between  Hendersonville  and 
Saluda.  W.  S.  Montgomery  is  president  of  the  company  and  George 
E.   Ladshaw  is  engineer. 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO.— The  Republic  El.  Co.  has  been  incorporated 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000  by  Louis  G'reisser,  A.  S.  Mann,  Solomon 
Paskind,  E.  Marte  and  G.  H.   Mann. 

WILLARD.  OKLA.— The  Pioneer  Tel.  Co.  has  been  chartered  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $5,000.  The  incorporators  are:  O.  Nossaman,  George 
W.   Thompson,  of  Willard,  and   Guy  D.   Bulen,  of  Yelton,   Okla. 

JOHNSTOWN,  PA.— The  New  Florence  &  CokeviUe  El.  Co.  has  been 
granted  a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  The  incorporators  are: 
J.  W.  Blough,  H.  E.  Thompson  and  R.  C.  Taylor,  all  of  Johnstown. 

MONONGAHELA,  PA.— The  Monongahela  Township  EI.  Co.  has  been 
incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000  to  operate  in  Monongahela 
Township.  The  incorporators  are:  H.  L.  Simmons,  L.  C.  Lamb,  of 
Knoxville,  and  J.  S.  Monroe,  of  Pittsburgh.  The  office  of  the  company 
is  located  in   Pittsburgh. 

PITTSBURGH,  PA.— The  Luzerne  Township  El.  Co.  has  been  char- 
tered to  operate  in  Luzerne  Township.  The  company  is  capitalized  at 
$5,000  and  the  incorporators  are:  J.  S.  Tannehill,  of  Canonsburg;  E.  E. 
Beach    and    E.    E.    Bauer,    of    Pittsburgh. 

SHARPSBURG,  PA.— The  Guyasuta  El.  Lt.  Co.  has  been  granted  a 
charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000.  to  operate  in  Sharpsburg.  The 
incorporators  are:  G.  B.  Fehr,  of  O'Hare  Township;  J.  G.  Marks,  of 
Aspinwall;  A.  H.  McNamee  and  J.  MillhoIIand,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  Lyman 
C.  Shreve,  of  Erie.     The  office  of  the  company  is  located  in  Pittsburgh. 

W.^SHINGTON,  PA.— The  Peters  Lt.,  Ht.  &  Pwr.  Co.  has  been  granted 
a  charter  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000,  to  operate  in  Peters  Township. 
The  incorporators  are:  J.  M.  Ralston,  C.  M.  Brownlee,  of  Washington, 
and  J.  L.  Cockins,  of  Canonsburg. 

SANFORD,  S.  C— The  S.  J.  Tel.  Co.  has  been  incorporated  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $100,000  by  D.  E.  Mclver,  C.  L  Williams  and  K.  C. 
Woodell. 


REFLECTORS. — A  sixteen-page  publication  has  recently  been  issued 
by  the  National  X-Kay  Reflector  Company,  Chicago,  111.,  entitled  "Great 
est  Efficiency   in   Reflection  of  Light." 

ELECTRICAL  SUPPLIES.— The  Mohawk  Electrical  Supply  Company, 
329  South  Warren  Street,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  is  sending  out  Catalog  No.  4. 
which  is  briefly  descriptive  of  the  supplies  which  it  handles. 

BATTERIES.— The  Willard  Storage  Battery  Company.  Clevelaml, 
Ohio,  devotes  Bulletin  No.  44  to  electric-lighting  batteries.  Class  A,  antl 
starting  batteries.  Class  B,  for  automobiles.  Ther.e  batteries  are  de 
signed   for  the  unusually   bard  service   required  on   an   automobile. 

VIBRATOR  AND  HAIR-DRYING  APPARATUS.— The  Sanax  Com 
pany.  Inc.,  125  East  Twenty-third  Street,  New  York,  is  sending  out  a 
descriptive  illustrated  folder  referring  to  the  "Generator"*  hand  vibrator, 
the  "Sanax"  electric  vibratory  apparatus  and  the  "Fon"  electric  hair- 
drying  apparatus  and  hot-air  douche. 

ORNAMENTAL  STREET  LIGHTING.— The  Flour  City  Ornamental 
Iron  Works,  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  have  issued  an  attractive  illustrated 
twenty-four-page  booklet  which  gi'ifes  some  interesting  information  on 
"Modern  Municipal  Illumination."  Many  pleasing  designs  made  by  the 
lamp  standard  department  are  shown. 

TRANSFORMERS.— Catalog  No.  27  of  the  Kuhlman  Electric  Company, 
Elkhart,  Ind.,  deals  with  its  standard  line  of  transformers.  The  twenty- 
four  pages  are  devoted  to  a  general  description  of  these  instruments,  witk 
illustrations  and  diagrams.  Some  performance  data  and  details  of  con- 
struction and  assembling  of  the  Kuhlman  single-phase  high-voltage  trans- 
former are  given. 

CALENDAR. — The  Brown  Instrument  Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  is 
sending  out  an  attractive  calendar  for  1913,  on  which  appears  a  half-tone 
illustration  of  the  U.  S.  S.  IVyoming,  the  largest  warship  in  the  world, 
on  which  Brown  pyrometers  are  used  for  indicating  stack  temperatures. 
These  instruments  are  also  used  on  other  United  State  warships.  A  copy 
of  this  calendar  will  be  sent  to  anyone  interested. 

CALENDAR. — The  H.  M.  Hirschberg  Company,  32  East  Twentieth 
Street,  New  York,  agent  for  Siemens  flaming-arc  lamps  and  plania 
carbons,  is  sending  out  to  its  customers  a  handsome  calendar,  about  16  in. 
long  by  8J4  in.  wide.  The  heavy  bristol-board  is  covered  with  fine  era- 
bossed  paper,  and  a  raised  medallion  showing  a  charming  photograph  of 
a  woman's  head,  placed  in  the  center  of  the  calendar,  enhances  its 
attractiveness. 

WATER-TUBE  BOILERS.— The  Stirling  water-tube  boiler  has  been 
made  the  subject  of  an  attractive  sixty-eight-page  book  recently  issued 
by  the  Babcock  &  Wilcox  Company,  85  Liberty  Street,  New  York.  It 
tells  the  history  of  this  widely-known  apparatus  from  the  time  it  was 
first  placed  on  the  market  up  to  its  being  acquired  by  the  Babcock  & 
Wilcox  Company.  The  boiler  and  its  auxiliaries  are  fully  described  and 
beautifully  illustrated,  and  a  chapter  on  the  care  and  management  of 
the  Stirling  boiler  is  included,  as  well  as  some  useful  tables  showing  the 
results  of  tests  on  these  boilers  with  various  fuels.  Full-page  illustra- 
tions showing  installations  of  this  apparatus  in  various  industries  lend 
additional  interest  to  the  publication.  The  book  is  well  printed  on  fine 
coated  paper,  the  tj'pograp'ny  is  good,  and  it  is  well  bound  between  blue 
cloth  covers. 

TRIUMPH  MOTOR  PLANER  DRIVE.— Bulletin  No.  501,  which  bear. 
the  imprint  of  the  Triumph  Electric  Company,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  givei 
a  description,  with  illustrations,  of  a  comparatively  new  development,  that 
of  the  Triumph-Monitor  reversing  motor  planer  drive.  This  motor  ap- 
pHcation  is  said  to  have  attracted  the  attention  of  shop  superintendent, 
and  master  mechanics  all  over  the  country.  Several  years  ago  the 
Trrumph  company  began  a  series  of  experiments  with  a  view  to  develop- 
ing apparatus  especially  designed  for  planer  drive.  The  present  appa- 
ratus is  the  result  of  such  work,  and  embodied  in  the  motor,  the  com- 
pany states,  are  many  interesting  inventions.  It  is  said  that  planer 
operators  conservatively  state  that  direct  drive  increases  the  output  of 
a  planer  at  least  50  per  cent,  owing  to  the  higher  platen  .speeds  and  the 
use  of  deeper  cuts  and  coarser  feeds.  A  good  illustration  of  the  motor 
planer  is  given,  together  with  a  number  of  speed  curves  and  four  sketchea 
showing  sequence  of  controller  operations  in  starting  motor. 

AUTOMATIC  STOKERS. — A  recent  forty-eight-page  publication  issued 
by  the  American  Engineering  Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  deals  with 
"Facts  Concerning  the  Operation  of  Taylor  Stokers."  These  data  are 
the  results  of  actual  tests,  obtained  by  the  company  from  the  users  of 
Taylor  stokers.  The  tests  were  evidently  very  thorough,  and  each  per- 
formance was  carefully  observed  and  recorded.  Central-station  men  at 
well  as  electric  street-railway  companies  will  find  much  of  interest  and 
value  in  the  detailed  statements  of  the  tests  by  the  Boston  Elevated  Rail- 
way Company,  the  Old  Colony  Street  Railway,  the  Narragansett  Electric 
Lighting  Company,  the  Waterside  station  of  the  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany, the  New  York  Central  Railroad,  the  viaduct  power  station  of  the 
Cleveland  Railway  Company,  the  Detroit  Edison  Company,  the  Milwaukee 
Electric  Railway  &  Light  Company  and  others.  Wherever  the  subject  of 
stokers  is  being  considered  this  pamphlet  will  be  of  direct  interest,  es- 
pecially the  tables  showing  the  principal  results  of  the  tests,  coal  and 
ash  analyses,  percentages  by  weight,  test  data  and  results,  flue-gas 
analyses,  heat  balance,  percentage  of  total  heat  in  coal,  and  computed  re- 
sults.    A  number   of   curves  are   also  included. 


1400 


ELECTRICAL     WORLD 


Vol.  6o,  No.  26. 


Business  Notes 


THE  DEARBORN  DRUG  &  CHEiMICAL  WORKS,  McCormick  Build- 
ing, Michigan  Avenue  and  \'an  Buren  Street,  Chicago,  111.,  have  changed 
their  name  to  the   Dearborn  Chemical   Company. 

THE  INDUSTRIAL  INSTRUMENT  COMPANY,  Foxboro,  Mass.. 
maker  of  the  Foxboro  recording  instruments,  is  now  represented  at 
Birmingham,  Ala.,  by  Mr.  Jonathan  Haralson,  electrical  and  mechanical 
engineer,   with   offices   at   2116   South   Tenth   Avenue. 

THE  GREENWOOD  ADVERTISING  COMPANY,  Knoxville,  Tenn., 
manufacturer  of  "Individuality"  electric  signs,  is  mailing  to  its  friends 
Christmas  tokens  in  the  shape  of  useful  pocket  watches  whose  dials  have 
the  company's  name,  "Greenwood,"  replacing  the  standard  arrangement 
of  figures. 

THE  FORT  WAYNE  ELECTRIC  WORKS  OF  GENERAL  ELECTRIC 
COMPANY  have  moved  the  Cincinnati  district  office  from  the  Union 
Trust  Building  to  704  and  70S  Provident  Bank  Building.  The  old 
quarters  were  practically  destroyed  by  fire  on  Dec.  10  and  the  company 
was  in  its  new   offices  on  Dec.   12. 

THE  STUART-HOWLAND  COMPANY,  Boston,  Mass.,  has  moved 
into  much  larger  quarters  at  131  Federal  Street,  where  the  available 
floor  area  will  be  double  that  at  its  recent  location.  This  is  the  third 
time  that  this  cencern  ha?  been  compelled  to  move  in  the  past  twelve 
years,   owing  to   increased  business. 

THE  YARN  ALL-WARING  COMPANY,  formerly  at  1109  Locust 
Street,  Philadelphia,  has  moved  to  Chestnut  Hill,  Philadelphia,  having 
assumed  management  of  the   factory  and  sales  of  the  Nelson   Valve  Com- 


pany. Mr.  D.  Robert  Yarnall  has  become  vice-president  and  general 
manager,  while  Mr.  Bernard  G.  Waring  has  become  vice-president  and 
manager  of  sales  of  the   Nelson   Valve   Company. 

THE  ELECTRICAL  DEVELOPMENT  COMPANY,  of  New  Orleans, 
La.,  hds  been  organized  to  build  the  Clement  electric-service  tables,  the 
basic  patents  on  which  it  has  acquired  from  Mr.  W.  E.  Clement,  contract- 
ing agent  for  the  New  Orleans  Railway  &  Light  Company.  Mr.  Lyman 
C.  Reed  is  president,  Mr.  D.  H.  Homes  is  vice-president  and  Mr.  C.  B. 
Murphy  's  secretary-treasurer.  Mr.  W.  H.  B.  Spangenburg,  also  of  New 
Orleans,  is  a  member  of  the  board  of  directors.  The  Clement  table  was 
described  and  illustrated  on  page  512  of  the  Electrical   World  of  Sept.  7. 

THE  UNDERFEED  STOKER  COMPANY  OF  AMERICA  has  re- 
ceived, through  its  Kansas  City  office,  Commerce  Trust  Building,  an 
order  from  the  Kansas  State  Agricultural  College  to  equip  the  entire  col- 
lege heating-plant  installation  of  eight  boilers  with  Jones  underfeed 
stokers.  A  few  years  ago  the  college  installed  three  different  types  of 
mechanical  stokers  in  three  separate  boilers,  any  one  of  which  would  carry 
the  shop  and  power  load.  After  one  year's  trial  and  tests  of  the  different 
types  the  Jones  company  received  the  contract  for  the  complete  equipment, 
as  above   noted. 

CRAVENS  ELECTRIC  COMPANY.— The  Cravens  Electric  Company, 
12  South  Jefferson  Street,  Chicago,  has  been  appointed  selling  agent  for 
the  C  &  C  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Garwood,  N.  J.,  for 
Chicago  and  surrounding  territory.  It  is  also  selling  agent  for  the 
Eastern  Electric  Lamp  Company  of  Boston.  Its  own  manufacturing  ac- 
tivities are  confined  to  the  production  of  switchboards,  distribution  panels, 
disconnecting  switches,  choke  coils  and  other  power-controlling  apparatus. 
The  C  &  C  company  makes  motors,  dynamos,  electric-welding  sets  and 
other  direct-current  machinery. 


Weekly  Record  of  Electrical  Patents 


UNITED  STATES  PATENTS  ISSUED  DEC.   17,  1912. 
[Prepared    by   Robert    Starr   Allyn,    16    Exchange   Place,   New    York.] 

1  047,151.  ELEVATOR-CONTROLLING  APPARATUS:  W.  Baxter  Jr., 
Jersey  City,  N.  J.  App.  filed  Aug.  4,  1905.  Slowing  down  and  arc 
prevention. 

1047,158  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE;  C.  E.  Bonine,  Elizabeth, 
N.  J.  App.  filed  Dec.  29,  1905.  Commutation  of  direct-current  van- 
able-speed   motors. 

1,047,235.  ELECTRIC-ARC  LAMP;  A.  D.  Jones,  Holloway,  England. 
App.  filed  June  30,  1911.  Inclosed  mineralized  carbons.  Improve- 
ment  on    patent   No.    935,518. 

1,047,245.  ELECTRIC  SWITCH;  G.  C.  Kanuff,  Chicago,  111.  App. 
filed   May    19,    1911.      Push-button   and    rocking   lever. 

1047,255  TRACTION  ELEVATOR  SYSTEM;  D.  L.  Lindquist,  Yonk- 
ers.  N.  Y.  App.  filed  July  1,  1908.  Motor  control  with  electromag- 
netic  brake. 

1,047,260.  ELECTRIC-CIRCUIT  CONTROLLER;  R.  H.  Manson,  Ely- 
ria,    Ohio.      App.    filed    Dec.    27,    1909.      Key-locked   switch. 

1  047.264.  AUTOMATIC  FIRE-ALARM  SYSTEM;  A.  H.  McNeil. 
Chingford,  England.  App.  filed  Dec.  1,  1911.  Electropneumatic 
system. 

1.047.276.  SPEED-CONTROLLING  DEVICE:  B.  G.  Nelson,  Milwau- 
kee, Wis.     App.  filed  March  20,   1911.      Indicator   for  motor  vehicles. 

1.047.277.  ELECTRICAL  SWITCH:  A.  P.  Nichols.  Seattle,  Wash. 
App.   filed   March  29,    1911.      Delay  action;   quick  throw. 

1.047.293.  TELEPHONE  ATTACHMENT;  M.  M.  Reynolds,  New  York. 
N.  Y.     App.  filed  May   18,   1911.     Auxiliary  support  for  the  receiver. 

1.047.294.  TELEPHONE  INSTRUMENT;  M.  M.  Reynolds,  New  York, 
N.    Y.      App.    filed    Sept.    1,    1911.      Receiver    support. 

1,047.334.     TELEGRAPH    SYSTEM;    B.    F.    Thompson,    Arlington,    Md. 

App.    filed    Jan.    17,    1911.      Quadruplex    telegraphy    without    neutral 

relays. 
1,047,372.     ELECTRIC  SWITCH;   H.   R.    Bickford,   Monterey,   Cal.   App. 

filed   April   5,    1912.     Lever  mechanism   for  a  knife  switch. 
1.047,389.       HEATER:     W.     R.     Cooper,     London,     England.       App.     filed 

March    11,    1912.      Electric    water    heater    and    storage. 

1.047.414.  ELECTRICAL  SWITCH;  B.  D.  Horton,  Detroit,  Mich. 
App.  filed  Sept.  5,  1912.  Protected  type  carried  by  the  cover  of  a 
receptacle. 

1.047.415.  CIRCUIT  CONTROLLER;  S.  P.  Hull,  Yonkers.  N.  Y. 
App.  filed  July  28,  1912.  For  the  tappet  bars  of  interlocking  rail- 
way   switches    and    signals. 

1.047.417.  ELECTRICALLY  HEATED  COOKER;  A.  J.  Kercher, 
Berkeley,  Cal.  App.  filed  Jan.  21,  1911.  "Fireless"  cooker  with 
automatic    switch. 

1.047.418.  ELECTRICALLY  HEATED  COOKER;  A.  J.  Kercher,  Berke- 
ley, Cal.  App.  filed  Nov.  13.  1911.  Vacuumized  receptacle  contain- 
ing liquid. 

1,047,463.  SUPPORTING  AND  CONTROLLING  MECHANISM  FOR 
ELECTRIC  SWITCHES;  J.  S.  Thompson,  Mill  Valley,  Cal.  App. 
filed  March  2,  1912.     For  line-insulator  connection. 

1,047.502  ART  OF  MANUFACTURING  LAMP  FILAMENTS;  W.  D. 
Coolidge,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  App.  filed  Aug.  24,  1907.  Simul- 
taneous  treatment   of   a   number   of   filaments. 

1,047,520.  LAVA  VAPOR  TUBE:  J.  L.  R.  Hayden,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
App.    filed   Aug.    9,    1907.      Self-glazed    lava. 

1,047,523.  CLAMPING  EAR  FOR  TROLLEY  WIRES;  C.  J.  Hixson, 
Schenectady,  N.  Y.     App.  filed  Aug.  25,  1911.     Sleeve-operated  jaws. 


1,047.524.  CONTACT  TERMINAL  FOR  INTERRUPTING  ELECTRIC 
CIRCUITS:  G.  Honold,  Stuttgart,  Germany.  App.  filed  Feb.  1,  1911. 
Spark   ignition. 

1,047,536.  TEMPERATURE-REGULATING  DEVICE;  A.  J.  Kercher, 
Berkeley.   Cal.     App.  filed  Nov.    18,   1911.      For  heat-storage  cookers. 

1.047.540.  MANUFACTURE  OF  TUNGSTEN  FILAMENTS  FOR  IN- 
CANDESCENT ELECTRIC  LAMPS:  A.  Lederer,  Vienna,  Austria- 
Hungary.  App.  filed  April  10,  1906.  Bendzendin  tungstate,  and  ag- 
glutinant  paste. 

1.047.541.  SUPPORT  FOR  METALLIC-GLOW  FILAMENTS  FOR 
ELECTRIC  INCANDESCENT  LAMPS:  A.  Lederer,  Vienna, 
Austria-Hungary.  App.  filed  .-\ug.  25,  1906.  Refractory  oxide  im- 
pregnated with  a  metal  that  is  hard  to  fuse. 

1.047.545.  APPARATUS  FOR  THE  PRODUCTION  OF  HIGH-PO- 
TENTIAL ELECTRIC  CURRENTS:  D.  G.  McCaa,  Lancaster,  Pa. 
App.  filed  June  28,  1909.  For  producing  either  unidirectional  pulsat- 
ing  or  an  alternating   current. 

1.047.546.  HANGER  FOR  TROLLEY  WIRES;  W.  A.  McCallum,  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio.  App.  filed  May  21,  1910.  Insulating  connection. 
(Improvement  on  patent  No.   955,185.) 

1,047.557.  ELECTRICAL  LOW-SPEED  CUT-OUT;  M.  F.  Owens,  Hart- 
ford, Conn.  App.  filed  Nov.  23,  1911.  Time-delayed  action  for  re- 
frigerating apparatus,  etc. 

1,047,560.  SIGNALING  APPAR.'^TUS  FOR  HOSPITALS;  W.  M. 
Perry  and  A.  E.  Boozer,  Columbia,  S.  C.  App.  filed  June  20,  1911. 
Enunciator   and   hall-displayed   signals. 

1,047,575.  ELECTRIC  SWITCH:  F.  Schneider,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  App. 
filed  June  8.   1911.     Push-button  type  with  latch  for  electric  tools,  etc. 

1.047.593.  TURBO-ELECTRIC  SHIP  PROPULSION;  E.  Thompson, 
Swampscott,  Mass.  App.  filed  Jan.  16.  1911.  Turbine-driven  gener- 
ator   and    motor-driven    screws:    three-phased. 

1.047,643.  HIGH-FREQUENCY  OSCILLATOR:  A.  A.  Jahnke,  San 
Francisco,  Cal.     App.   filed  Feb.  25,   1910.     Spark-gap  device. 

1,047,692.  TROLLEY;  J.  Para,  Elizabeth,  N.  J.  App.  filed  Aug.  19, 
1912.      Inclined  guide  wheels. 

1,047,742.  ELECTRICAL  RESISTANCE;  F.  Buchanan,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
App.  filed  March   18.   1912.      Independently  supported  units. 

1,047.744.     ARC-LIGHT  CUT-OUT:  C.  L.  Bundy.  Philadelphia,  Pa.    App. 

filed  July  8,   1910.    Plug  type.     (Improvement  on  patent  No.  836,482.) 
1,047.772.      SELF-LOCKING  KNIFE  SWITCH:    C.  J.   Embree,   Chicago, 

111.     App.   filed   Dec.    15,   1908.      Motor-controlled   oil-brake  switch. 

1,047,788.  TELEPHONE  APPAR.\TUS:  E.  A.  Graham,  Brookley,  Lon- 
don,   England.      App.   filed   Dec.    1,   1911.      Sound-amplifying  device. 

1,047,810.  ELECTRIC  TIME  INDICATOR  AND  ALARM;  F.  Hope- 
Jones.  London,  England.  App.  filed  Aug.  2,  1910.  Wheel  drive  of 
dial  movement. 

1,047,821.  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINE;  J.  C.  MacFarlane  and  H. 
Burge,  Chelmsford,  England.  App.  filed  Feb.  17,  1911.  Multipolar 
yoke  construction. 

1,047,833.  .\PPARATUS  FOR  AUTOMATICALLY  C0NNE(7riNG  UP 
THE  SUBSCRIBERS  OF  TELEPHONE  EXCHANGES;  J.  Peticky, 
Prague,  Austria-Hungary.  App.  filed  March  7,  1905.  Call  and  ex- 
change selective  mechanism. 

1,047,858.  TURBO-ELECTRIC  PROPULSION  OF  VESSELS;  E. 
Thompson,  Swampscott,  Mass.  App.  filed  Jan.  16,  1911.  A  pair  of 
turbo-driven  field  magnets  and  a  pair  of  armature-carrying  screw 
shafts. 

1,047,864.  PROCESS  OF  PRODUCING  PHOSPHORUS  FROM  MIN- 
ERAL PHOSPHATES:  F.  S.  Washburn,  Nashville,  Tenn.  App. 
filed  June   17,    1912.      -Arc  type  of   furnace  reaction. 

1,047,897.  SPRING- FASTENING  DEVICE:  J.  Schade,  Jr.,  New  York, 
N.   Y.     App.  filed  Dec.    13,   1906.     Coiled  wire-spring  jaws. 


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